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Malawi faces a resurgence of COVID-19 that is overwhelming the southern African country where a presidential residence and a national stadium have been turned into field hospitals in efforts to save lives.



President Lazarus Chakwera, just six months in office, lost two Cabinet ministers to COVID-19 in January amid a surge that led him to declare a state of national disaster in all of Malawi's 28 districts.



Chakwera declared three days of national mourning over the deaths of the ministers of transport and local government, which shocked the nation and inspired a raft of new measures aimed at stemming the spread of the virus in a country with a poor health system. A more contagious strain of the coronavirus first reported in South Africa has since been confirmed in Malawi.



"Our medical facilities are terribly understaffed, and our medical personnel are outnumbered," Chakwera said in a recent address.



Malawi has seen its number of confirmed cases of the disease go above 23,000, including a total of 702 deaths as of Monday, according to Dr. John Phuka, co-chair of the presidential task force on COVID-19.



The numbers appear relatively small in a country of 18 million, but the 14,000 active cases are many times more than the number of established hospital beds. Officials are setting up makeshift facilities to increase the number of treatment units from 400 to at least 1,500, sometimes erecting tents on the lawns of hospitals.



The presidential residence State House in the southern city of Zomba soon will be turned into a 100-bed treatment facility, according to officials.



A 300-bed field hospital at Bingu National Stadium has begun admitting patients. Another 300-bed field hospital has been opened at a youth center in Blantyre, the country's largest city. And a 200-bed facility for emergency care has been set up in the northern city of Mzuzu.



The government also has recruited 1,128 medical professionals, just short of 1,380 that health authorities have said are needed.



The government of Chakwera  a retired pastor who was a relative political newcomer when he was elected in June  has already spent more than $38 million in tackling the pandemic. Last month he ordered the finance minister to release another $22.6 million as soon as possible to meet the demands of the crisis.



Among the measures imposed by Chakwera, who began broadcasting a virus-related address to the nation every Sunday night following the deaths of his ministers, is the closure of schools for at least 15 days until Feb. 8. A nighttime curfew is being enforced and all gatherings are restricted to no more than 50 people.



"The situation is quite desperate," Chakwera said in a recent address, referring to the shortage of health infrastructure. "Although in my six months in office we set up 400 national treatment units, the current wave of infections has completely overwhelmed these facilities."



Malawi has secured enough doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to vaccinate 20% of its people, with the first consignment set to arrive at the end of February, he said. Front-line workers, the elderly, and those with underlying conditions will be prioritized, Chakwera told the nation, appealing for outside help to combat the pandemic.



The international aid group Doctors Without Borders has also responded to the crisis, opening a 40-bed COVID-19 ward entirely staffed and managed by its employees. The group noted, however, that setting up more hospital beds may not be enough.



"Malawi urgently needs access to vaccination  which unfortunately is unlikely to happen before April 2021, and even then, only for a portion of its people," the organization said in a statement. "By that time, the pandemic might have already peaked, and killed many who could have been protected by vaccination."
Dr. Atkinson, in hopes of assuaging her feelings and those of her students, designed a seminar on eco-grief and climate anxiety.

Eco-distress can manifest in a range of ways, from anguish over what the future will hold to extreme guilt over individual purchases and behaviors, according to Dr. Van Susteren. Though its symptoms sometimes mirror those of clinical anxiety, she said she saw eco-distress as a reasonable reaction to scientific facts  one that, in mild cases, should be addressed but not pathologized. (In cases of extreme anxiety, Dr. Van Susteren said it was important to seek professional help.)

For many Americans, counseling for climate distress is relatively accessible. In some communities, however, especially in less wealthy countries, it may seem more like a rare privilege.

Kritee, a senior climate scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, has feet in both worlds. Based in Boulder, Colo., Dr. Kritee (she has a single name) leads workshops and retreats for people experiencing climate grief. She also works with farmers in India whose livelihoods are directly threatened by the extreme droughts and floods that come with climate change.

Dr. Kritee, who has a doctorate in biochemistry and microbiology, said she believed people of all backgrounds should process their feelings about climate change. She makes her services affordable through scholarships, scaled payments and donation-based classes. Some of her sessions are open only to people of color, who are often on the front lines of climate change, and whose ecological grief, she said, is often compounded by racial trauma.

Regarding the white and affluent, who most likely will not feel climate changes worst effects, Dr. Kritee said it was crucial they confront their grief, too. In doing so, she said, they can begin to contemplate questions like, If I am hurting so much, what is happening to people who are less privileged?
(Newser)  Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen accused of fatally shooting two people and injuring a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August, is currently free on $2 million bail. But now prosecutors are seeking an arrest warrant for Rittenhouse, who turned 18 in January, and are asking for another $200,000 to be added to his bail. The reason: They say he hasn't provided them with his current address. A notice mailed to his former Antioch, Illinois, residence in January was returned undeliverable and no forwarding address was provided, they say. His lawyer says Rittenhouse and his family are now living at a safe house with private security after they received death threats, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.

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But prosecutors say Rittenhouse violated bail by not updating his address. The teen's lawyer says he'll provide the judge with the current address under seal, and claims that prosecutors knew Rittenhouse had moved from Antioch when they approved the $2 million bail. He also says prosecutors denied an offer to provide the new address under seal, WISN reports; prosecutors say a judge will have to decide on that. "It is important to note that the $2 million came from a dubious Internet fundraising campaign, and the defendant and his family did not post any money toward that bond. As a result, the defendant is free from custody with minimal incentive to comply with his bond conditions," an assistant DA writes in the filing, per Fox 6. "Rarely does our community see accused murderers roaming about freely." Rittenhouse's court appearances have been virtual. (Read more Kyle Rittenhouse stories.)
Jaipur, Feb 4 : The Congress high command in Rajasthan has failed to meet its January 31 deadline for announcement of political appointments and has now taken a U-turn, leaving scores of party workers demotivated across the state.

AICC General Secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Ajay Maken was in Jaipur on Thursday where he announced that cabinet expansion will be announced after the budget session, while the political appointments will be made after some time.

Several Congress MLAs, six former BSP MLAs who had joined the Congress and independent parties are eagerly awaiting the expansion of the cabinet and political appointments, eyeing a share in power as a reward for supporting Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot during the political crisis.

Official sources said that Gehlot is not in a mood to make any political appointment now and will be announcing the same somewhere around May after the by-polls scheduled for four seats -- Sujangarh, Rajsamand, Sahara (Bhilwara) and Vallabhnagar (Udaipur).

A senior Congress worker told IANS: "All the veteran leaders including K.C. Venugopal, Pawan Bansal and Ajay Maken have visited Jaipur and met Gehlot. Still nothing new could come out and workers are left with nothing in their hands. Has the high command gone weak in front of Gehlot?" Another party worker said that Gehlot is taking time due to his ongoing feud with former PCC chief and Deputy CM Sachin Pilot.

"It's like a wait and watch game for Pilot's followers who are also waiting for their share. The longer the wait, the more numbers shall turn to Gehlot's faction," said a senior Congress leader.

Meanwhile, disappointment was seen among party workers who told IANS that despite working hard to form the government, they were not rewarded for their hard work even after two years of the government's formation.

Political appointments and cabinet expansion have been hanging fire for a long time with the party putting them off in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and local elections.
The latest proposal crafted in committee would allow up to five unrelated adults to live together, instead of the two that are currently allowed in a house.
editorial

The recent passing of Prince Tony Momoh is one in a series of the diminishing number of journalists of the old school. In the almost 81 years he spent here on earth, he was, at various times, a Muslim, a Christian, a teacher, journalist, lawyer, administrator, Minister and a politician. In all, he left his footprints in the sands of time.

A prince of the royal family of Auchi in Edo State, many revere him more by his accomplishments as a media personality where he served as sub editor, editor and as an executive management staff in the Daily Times of yore. He also made his mark in the legal profession, a pedestal on which he stood to defend the rights of media profession as a whole.

Momoh took his expertise as a journalist to his office as Minister of Information and Culture in the administration of the military President, General Ibrahim Babangida. He started writing letters to "my country men". Controversial as they tended to be, those writings tried to address issues that relate to the polity and what roles the citizens are expected to play in making, not just the nation great but the people better citizens.

Not unexpectedly, as it was the era of military dictatorship, that office almost brought him in conflict with the principles he held dear as a journalist. He was compelled by the mood of the time to begin to defend, if not justify, policies of government that tended to stifle popular public opinion.

In the run up to the political activities directed towards returning the country to participatory democracy, Babangida established by fiat two political parties - The National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He followed this up with a policy of donating money, vehicles, offices and so on to local governments, political parties and others on the basis that this would keep them free of influence by the rich and powerful.

As Minister for Information, Momoh justified the practice, saying of democracy that it "is not as expensive as people are thinking in relation to the alternative. The alternative is allowing one man to dictate to the whole Nigeria because you don't want it to be expensive. If money is not spent on democracy and a one-man dictatorship emerges ... it is the same Nigerians who are talking of expensiveness now that will shout that one man is a dictator". It was not long after that he had to quit.

Momoh was born on April, 1939 in Auchi, Edo state. He attended Government School Auchi (1949-1954) and Anglican School Okpe (1954). Momoh was Pupil Teacher at the Anglican School, Auchi (January-December 1955) and Headmaster at the Anglican School, Ubuneke, Ivbiaro, Owan Local Government (January 1958 - December 1959). He went to the Provincial Teachers Training College, Abudu, Edo State and Government Teachers College, Abraka in Western Region (1960-1961).

Later, while working at the Daily Times and on sabbatical, he attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (September 1964 - October 1966) where he earned a degree in Mass communication, and then the University of Lagos where he studied Law. He was called to the Nigerian bar in June 1975.

When he decided to join politics, he anchored on the coast of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the Director of the Alex Ekwueme Presidential Campaign Organization in 1999. He played his part in the party creditably and then moved on to join the Muhammadu Buhari train whom he served in various capacities prior to his winning the Presidential election in 2015.

He was chairman, Media and Publicity of the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) Campaign Organisation in the 2003 and 2007 elections. He was also Chairman of the Political Committee of the Muhammadu Buhari Organisation.

In January 2011, Momoh was appointed Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the lead up to the April 2011 national elections. He led the party into the coalition that produced All Progressives' Congress (APC), the platform on which Buhari eventually actualised his ambition to rule Nigeria as a democratically elected president.

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Surprisingly, he declined offers of political appointments from the same man he served so well on the grounds that he was too old to accept any political appointments. Not much was heard of him again in the political space beyond occasional remarks on the activities of the government he helped to bring to life.

Before going into mainstream politics, Momoh was Chairman of the board of directors of Nigerian Airways from 1991 to 1993; member of the Edo State Economic Advisory Committee in 1991, and a member of the Nigerian Press Council in December 1992.

We join his family, relations, friends, professional colleagues and political associates in mourning the death of this gentleman par excellence who touched many lives in diverse ways. We also pray that God will grant him peaceful repose and his family the fortitude to bear this irreparable lose.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

A Missouri man has been sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to multiple bank robberies in Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, and Georgia.

Monte Clayton Lynch, 50, was sentenced this week to 12  years, according to Middle District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Louis V. Franklin Sr. He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release after he completes his prison sentence and will be required to pay $18,474 in restitution to the banks. There is no early parole in the federal system.

Lynch was involved in a series of holdups in Alabama and beyond in 2019.

The first Alabama holdup happened just before 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019 at Wells Fargo Bank at 301 Summit Boulevard. The suspect entered the bank and presented the teller with a note demanding money, Birmingham police said. He fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. There were no injuries.

About an hour later, authorities said he robbed the Wells Fargo Bank on West Valley Avenue in Homewood. In both Alabama cases he presented the teller a note that read, All $$$, No GAMES.

Police are trying to identify a man who held up two Alabama banks and a Georgia bank in 48 hours.

Authorities say next he went to Georgia where he robbed a bank in Marietta on Aug. 5, and another one in Tyrone, Ga. on Aug. 6. He managed to get away with at least $5,000 in the Tyrone holdup, according to published reports.

Lynch  also believed to be behind a string of bank robberies in Georgia and Tennessee  was finally taken into custody in Montgomery County. Authorities there say he was captured after a robbery at First Community Bank on East Main Street in Prattville.

According to court records and statements made in open court, on August 12, 2019, Lynch walked into the First Community Bank in Prattville and handed the teller a note demanding all the money. The teller complied, and Lynch left with approximately $5,400.00. Lynch was then seen walking to an adjacent business, getting into a black F-150 and driving off.

The Prattville Police Department and the FBI began investigating. After releasing information about the robbery to the public, including the surveillance footage, law enforcement received a tip identifying Lynch as the person depicted in the video and providing his location at a residence in Montgomery. Investigators went to that address and saw a truck that matched the F-150 that was used by Lynch to get away. Law enforcement confirmed that Lynch was staying there temporarily and ran some background checks on him. They found booking photos and social media photos that matched the bank robbery footage.

Further investigation developed Lynch as a suspect in the multiple bank robberies across the southeast that had been committed within a few weeks of the Prattville crime. After his arrest for the Prattville robbery, he confessed to that crime as well as a bank robbery in St. Louis, Missouri on July 26, 2019, one in Nashville, Tennessee on August 1, 2019, one in Birmingham, Alabama on August 3, 2019, and two in the Atlanta, Georgia area on August 6, 2019. All of the cases were transferred to the Middle District of Alabama and Lynch entered guilty pleas in each of them.

Assistant United States Attorney Brandon W. Bates prosecuted the case.

Lynch is no stranger to crime. In 2016, he was arrested in St. Louis on charges he robbed two banks there by giving notes to tellers demanding money. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he led lawmen on a chase through multiple jurisdictions for more than 20 miles and, at one point, tried to escape into oncoming traffic on the wrong side of a busy interstate.

The publication said at the time of Lynchs 2016, he had prior convictions for auto theft, non-support and wildlife poaching.
Two major bus stations in HCM City have started attracting crowds with less than two weeks to go for Tet.

Mien Dong bus station in HCM Citys Binh Thanh District. VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hai

Both Mien Dong (Eastern) Bus Station in Binh Thanh District and Mien Tay (Western) Bus Station in Binh Tan District require passengers to follow COVID-19 preventive measures like wearing masks and keep a safe distance from others and check temperatures and tell passengers to declare their health status before entering.

Ta Chuong Chin, deputy general director of the former, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the station receive 23,000- 27,000 passengers every day.

The Western Bus Station expects numbers to peak between February 8 and 11.

Because of recent COVID-19 outbreaks in some places, many passengers have had to cancel tickets, especially to Hanoi and Da Nang.

Since January 28 the city has suspended bus services to the COVID-19 hit northern provinces of Hai Duong and Quang Ninh, and many people from these provinces working in the city have to stay back during Tet.

Speaking at a meeting of the city Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Tuesday, Tran Luu Quang, deputy secretary of the city Party Committee, said buses to Gia Lai should not be suspended though the Central Highlands province has diagnosed 17 people with COVID. There is high demand on the route, and a suspension could see people from HCM City go to Gia Lai through neighbouring provinces like Kon Tum and Dak Lak, increasing the risk of spread.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has ordered all airlines to ensure passengers could get refunds or change dates.

Nguyen Anh Luyen of the Sai Gon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company, told Lao ong (Labour) newspaper that passengers have two options: reserve the tickets to use any time this year, or return the ticket and get a refund of 70 per cent of the ticket price.

According to the Vietnam Railway Corporation, there will be 10 trains from HCM City to Hanoi over 25 days before and after the seven-day Tet holidays.

There will also be trains to Vinh, Dong Hoi, Da Nang, Quang Ngai, Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, and Phan Thiet from HCM City, and to Vinh, Dong Hoi and Da Nang from Hanoi.

In Binh Duong Province many people who have booked tickets are cancelling them. VNS

HCM City to open five electric-bus routes for 2-year trial run The HCM City Department of Transport has asked the municipal People's Committee to approve five new subsidized electric-bus routes that will be operated by Vingroup and run on a pilot basis for 24 months.
The US is supportive of the Indian government's move to reform the agricultural sector that attracts private investment and greater market access to farmers, a State Department spokesperson said: "In general, the United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment."

Recognising that peaceful protests are a hallmark of a thriving democracy, the US has welcomed the steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

The US State Department has also called for a "dialogue" with the Indian farmers of India, urging the Indian government to recognise "peaceful protests" and allow "access" to the internet.

Responding to a question on the ongoing farmers' protests in India, the US State Department said on Wednesday the US encourages that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue.

"We recognise that peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy and note that the Indian Supreme Court has stated the same," the official said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi issued a statement on Wednesday to highlight that the Parliament of India had passed "reformist legislation" for the agricultural sector, which "a very small section of farmers" have some reservations about and therefore the laws have been kept on hold while talks are held.

Meanwhile, several American lawmakers came out in support of the farmers' protests in India.

"I am concerned by the reported actions against peaceful demonstrators protesting new agricultural reform laws in India," Congresswoman Haley Stevens said.

In a statement, she encouraged the Indian government and representatives of the protesting farmers to engage in productive discussions.

"I will continue to monitor this situation closely. It has been particularly valuable to engage with stakeholders across the district on this topic and I remain appreciative to all who have reached out to share their perspective," Stevens said.

Another Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, expressed solidarity with all the farmers protesting for their livelihood across India.

On the issue of reports of internet shutdown in areas around the protest sites at the Delhi border, Omar wrote on Twitter, "India must protect their basic democratic rights, allow for the free flow of information, reinstate internet access and release all the journalists detained for covering the protests."

Referring to the farmers' protests, Meena Harris, niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, alleged that the world's biggest democracy is under an assault.

"It's no coincidence that the world's oldest democracy was attacked not even a month ago, and as we speak, the most populous democracy is under assault. This is related. We ALL should be outraged by India's internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters," she said in a tweet.

In a separate statement, Gurinder Singh Khalsa, chairman of the Sikhs Political Action Committee, said the "historic" farmers' protest is turning out to be the "biggest-ever revolution" against the Indian government's crony capitalism.

"This is the beginning of a movement for better accountability and transparency against crony capitalism. World was watching and now it has started reacting and mobilising in support of this historic revolution of Indian farmers. This will be bigger than India's freedom Revolution," Khalsa, who is based in Indiana, said.

India has called the remarks by foreign leaders and organisations on protests by farmers as "ill-informed" and "unwarranted", asserting that the matter pertains to the internal affairs of a democratic country.

Emphasising that the protests must be seen in the context of India's democratic ethos and polity, the MEA in its statement said some vested interest groups have tried to mobilise international support against the country.

"Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken.

"The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible," the MEA statement said following some high-profile celebrities tweeting over the agitation by the farmers.

Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at several Delhi border points since November last year, demanding the government to repeal the three farm laws and legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

Defending the three contentious agri laws, the MEA said: "these reforms give expanded market access and provided greater flexibility to farmers. They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming."

Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said India's new farm laws have the "potential to represent a significant step forward" for reforms in the agriculture sector.

"We believe the farm bills do have the potential to represent a significant step forward for agricultural reforms in India. The measures will enable farmers to directly contract with sellers, allow farmers to retain a greater share of the surplus by reducing the role of middlemen, enhance efficiency and support rural growth," IMF Communications Director Gerry Rice told reporters here last month.

With PTI inputs

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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Bandi slammed the TRS government as for the first time in the history of Telangana, six women leaders were sent to jail illegally.  By arrangement

HYDERABAD: BJP state president and Lok Sabha member Bandi Sanjay questioned Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on why action was not being taken against TRS MLAs and ministers, who were making statements against Hindu gods. This clearly exposes the real mindset of Rao, he said.

He criticised TRS leaders for making derogatory remarks that were hurting the sentiments of Hindus.

Sanjay released a statement after 42 activists from Warangal, including Urban district president Ravu Padma, and Rural district president Kondeti Sridhar were released on bail on Wednesday. They face charges of alleged involvement in the attack on MLA Dharma Reddy at his residence.

He slammed the TRS government as for the first time in the history of Telangana, six women leaders were sent to jail illegally. He said such illegal arrests would not deter BJP leaders or activists. In the same vein he wanted to know why ministers who had insulted Ramayana were yet to be arrested. Nor were TRS hooligans who attacked BJP leaders, and their houses and offices.

Sanjay warned that Chandrasekhar Rao will be in a situation similar to that of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav after they had humiliated Lord Ram.
Argument Ends with Gunshots, Paducah Man's Arrest

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - A Paducah man was arrested Wednesday afternoon after police say he threatened a man with a handgun and shot into an unoccupied vehicle.The Paducah Police Department says a man told officers he went to his mothers home on South 9th Street shortly after 4 p.m. in response to an altercation between his mother and 25-year-old Quenterrius Frazier.The man found Frazier in his mothers car and a struggle ensued. The man said Frazier then got a handgun from the vehicle and pointed it at him. The man then ran to his mothers home, and said he heard two gunshots outside.Police found the right rear window and the headliner of the woman's car were hit by bullets.Officers found Frazier in the 1300 block of South 8th Street. They found the gun hidden in some brush nearby.Officers arrested Frazier on charges of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, first-degree wanton endangerment, second-degree criminal mischief, tampering with physical evidence, and on a bench warrant charging him with failing to appear.Frazier reportedly admitted he had fired the shots, but said he did not shoot toward the victim. He was booked into McCracken County Regional Jail.
The Tennessee Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear an appeal from the Court of Appeals on the constitutionality of Governor Bill Lee's Education Savings Account pilot program to provide low-income students in Nashville and Memphis with a $7,000 scholarship to attend the school of their choice. The appeal was filed by Liberty Justice Center and others in November on behalf of parents and schools who hope to participate in the program.

A group of parents and school leaders represented by the Liberty Justice Center, a national Supreme Court case-winning law firm, is fighting to protect the ESA program so their children and students have the opportunity to escape poor-performing public schools.

Liberty Justice Center issued the following statement:

We are thrilled that the Supreme Court has decided to take this important case to protect the rights of thousands of low-income students to attend the school that best fits their needs, said Brian Kelsey, senior attorney at the Liberty Justice Center. Tennessee students and families now have the opportunity to be heard and continue their fight to narrow gaps in educational inequality and access.

BACKGROUND: In 2019, Tennessee Governor Lee signed a law that provides scholarships of approximately $7,000 to children from low-income families in Nashville and Memphis. Families can use these scholarships to attend a school of their choice that fits their unique learning needs. This program is the first of its kind exclusively for low-income families in Tennessee. This type of program has proven effective and critical in other parts of the country, including Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, Arizona, Nevada and Washington D.C.

On Feb. 7, 2020, the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education and Shelby County Government filed a lawsuit in the Chancery Court for Davidson County, Tn. to block the program. On March 2, 2020, a group of families with public school students represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center and American Civil Liberties Union filed an additional lawsuit. The ESA program was set to begin in August 2020.

In May 2020, Nashville Chancellor Anne C. Martin blocked the scholarship program from going into effect. Chancellor Martin allowed an appeal of her order right away. Liberty Justice Center appealed the ruling to the Tennessee Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court.

Liberty Justice Centers case documents are available here: https://libertyjusticecenter.org/cases/metropolitan-govt-nashville-v-tennessee-doe/.
A Beaumont was indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury Wednesday on a charge of first-degree murder after a July 2020 shooting that left one dead and one injured.

Jirou Zachere Jr., 22, allegedly shot and killed Clifford Jones Jr. on July 11 at the Jefferson House Apartments in Beaumont, according to a probable cause affidavit. Kayla Walker, Jones girlfriend, was the other victim of the shooting and suffered non-life threatening injuries.
The Goldbergs have stayed in touch with Ms. Diamantidis, who, it turns out, visits the same community pool they do in the summer. I told her I wanted to send her something, but she wouldnt accept it, Mr. Goldberg said. So now Ive decided I will buy her a pretzel and a soda at the pool.

Getting an appointment for a Covid-19 vaccine in New York State requires persistence, luck and, arguably, above-average computer skills. There are multiple websites and often a two-step verification process. Appointments are scarce; sitting in front of a computer and hitting refresh hundreds of times a day has become a new pandemic ritual.

But several New Yorkers are willing to do this for those who cant, even for those they dont know at all. For some its a way to help their city get back on track. For others, its a means of finding inspiration, meaning and community during a lonely, dreary time.

Ms. Diamantidis, who grew up in the Rockaways, got the idea to volunteer after helping her grandmother, 96, and mother, 71, get appointments last month. During the process, she said, she couldnt stop thinking about other New Yorkers who didnt have family or friends to help them. So, she posted her offer on Facebook.

Within an hour, she had received some 15 requests. That first night, she stayed up until 2 a.m. making appointments for people like the Goldbergs. At first my husband was like, What are you doing? she said. But after hearing her on the phone with a New Yorker who seemed befuddled and lost, he decided to help, too. For many, they set up first-time Gmail addresses, so they could easily validate accounts. We lost count of how many appointments we made after 300, she said.

The billionaire petrol station tycoons who bought Asda have announced a sale of its assets that could raise up to 2billion.

Mohsin and Zuber Issa will sell the supermarket's petrol station arm to their own forecourt empire EG Group for 750million once the 6.8billion takeover is completed.

They will also sell and lease back Asda's logistics division, raising between 1billion and 1.2billion, and borrow 3.5billion to fund the debt-fuelled acquisition.

Supermarket sweep: Mohsin (left) and Zuber Issa will sell the Asda's petrol station arm to their own forecourt empire EG Group for 750m once the 6.8bn takeover is completed

The announcement raised concerns about the pair's long-term plans for Asda.

The Issas joined forces with private equity group TDR Capital to buy Asda from Walmart last year.

The brothers, who began their business empire with one petrol station in Bury, Lancashire, in 2001, have sought to allay fears saying they will invest 1billion in the next three years.

But the update did little to silence concerns over governance. The new Asda board will include the Issas, partners from TDR and a Walmart executive  but will have no independent directors.

The Issas said they plan to appoint some 'in due course'.

The next step will be when regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, and the UK competition watchdog approve the deal, with decisions expected in the next four months.

The Blackburn-born brothers yesterday said they had instituted a 'robust capital structure' that would 'support growth'.
Vuong Thai Duong, secretary of the Khuong Thuong Ward in Ba Dinh District, said the fire broke out at around 2 p.m. Thursday in a house on Tam Khuong Street. Inside were four people, including three students of the Thuy Loi University aged 24.

On Thursday morning, the four invited a friend over for a meal. At around 12 p.m., they burned joss paper as offerings to the Kitchen God, a tradition before the Lunar New Year Festival, in front of the house. Then they had lunch inside the house. Four of them slept inside the house while another went outside, locking the front gate.

At around 2 p.m. when the man returned, the house was already on fire. Three firefighting trucks with 15 firefighters, were dispatched to the scene soon after, but the four people inside were found dead.

Police are investigating the incident and further details were not available.

Joss paper burning is a long-standing tradition in Vietnam, especially during auspicious occasions like the Lunar New Year Festival (Tet) and death anniversaries.

Authorities have been urging people to abandon the practice because of the air pollution and the financial cost it causes.
ARMONK, N.Y., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced in-kind grants valued at $3 million to help strengthen cybersecurity in schools. These grants will be awarded to six school districts in the United States to sponsor teams of IBMers to help them proactively prepare for and respond to cyberattacks. Services will be delivered by teams deployed via IBM's Service Corps Program. The grant is being announced following a December alert from the FBI warning that nearly 60% of reported ransomware incidents between August and September 2020 involved K-12 schools, a 29% jump from the months prior.1

In response to the growing ransomware attacks against schools, Morning Consult conducted a study, sponsored by IBM, of 1,000 U.S. educators and administrators in K-12 schools and colleges to better understand the level of cybersecurity awareness, preparedness and training within schools during the shift to remote schooling.2 The results demonstrate the growing need for improved security education and skills, as more than half of U.S. educators and administrators have not received basic cybersecurity training from their institutions despite new remote learning protocols.

Key findings from those surveyed include:

Need for Training: Nearly 60% of educators and administrators say they aren't sure or haven't received new cybersecurity initiatives or training for remote learning, despite 78% of educators saying they're currently utilizing some type of online learning.

Nearly 60% of educators and administrators say they aren't sure or haven't received new cybersecurity initiatives or training for remote learning, despite 78% of educators saying they're currently utilizing some type of online learning. Educator Awareness: More than half have not received cybersecurity training and nearly 50% aren't familiar with videobombing, despite its popularity during the pandemic and nearly 1 in 5 saying one of their peers had experienced video conferencing related security issues during class.

More than half have not received cybersecurity training and nearly 50% aren't familiar with videobombing, despite its popularity during the pandemic and nearly 1 in 5 saying one of their peers had experienced video conferencing related security issues during class. Level of Concern: Despite growing headlines about ransomware attacks on schools, half of educators and administrators aren't concerned about an attack against their own institutions.

Despite growing headlines about ransomware attacks on schools, half of educators and administrators aren't concerned about an attack against their own institutions. Security Knowledge: While administrators are nearly 20% more likely to receive cybersecurity training than educators, they are still unaware of critical information relevant to protecting their schools. For example, 83% of administrators expressed confidence in their school's ability to handle a cyberattack, yet more than 60% are unaware whether their school even has a cyber insurance plan.

While administrators are nearly 20% more likely to receive cybersecurity training than educators, they are still unaware of critical information relevant to protecting their schools. For example, 83% of administrators expressed confidence in their school's ability to handle a cyberattack, yet more than 60% are unaware whether their school even has a cyber insurance plan. Budget Constraints: Over half of educators and administrators surveyed said budget is a large or medium barrier in strengthening their institution's cybersecurity posture.

IBM Education Security Preparedness Grant

IBM is launching a new education cybersecurity grant that will help U.S. public school districts better prepare for growing cyberattacks including ransomware. A total of six grants of in-kind services, valued at $500,000 each ($3 million in total), will be awarded in 2021 to school districts that apply for the grant via IBM.org. School districts can apply between February 4 and March 1, 2021 and recipients will be announced shortly after. School districts will be selected to receive the grant based on their level of cybersecurity needs and how they meet the criteria outlined by IBM.

While previously, IBM employees have helped local municipalities manage such cyberattacks, this initiative announced today will help formalize IBM's community service efforts to help schools prepare for and respond to cyber threats. The grant, created as part of IBM's Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, will be an in-kind contribution in the form of resources and hours performed by IBM Service Corps teams of 6-10 people per district. Volunteers will be carefully selected based on their skills and will provide services including developing incident response plans, providing basic cybersecurity training such as password hygiene and implementing strategic communication plans to use in response to a cyber incident.

IBM Service Corps enables teams of employees to help communities with economic development, education, health, social services and sustainability. In 2020, approximately 2,500 IBMers contributed more than 100,000 hours on various Service Corps projects.

"Ransomware attacks on schools have become the new snow day for students," said Christopher Scott, Director of Security Innovation, Office of the CISO, IBM. "Stay-at-home orders, and the switch to remote learning, have changed the focus for cybercriminals looking for easy targets as everyone from kindergartners to college professors have adopted remote technologies. And with budgets focused on new ways of learning, many schools are in need of additional resources and technology to change the dynamic and lower the financial ROI for the bad guys targeting them."

How Schools Can Prepare for Ransomware

IBM Security X-Force suggests educational institutions consider the below recommendations to better prepare for, and respond to, cyberattacks like ransomware:

Prepare and budget for cybersecurity by creating incident response plans and exploring resources like cyber insurance.

by creating incident response plans and exploring resources like cyber insurance. Train staff, students and parents and provide clear guidelines for device usage, passwords, secure Wi-Fi connections and video conferencing.

staff, students and parents and provide clear guidelines for device usage, passwords, secure Wi-Fi connections and video conferencing. Test and patch critical systems, especially those used across multiple schools to avoid widespread impact and make use of the cloud to securely store and backup data.

critical systems, especially those used across multiple schools to avoid widespread impact and make use of the cloud to securely store and backup data. Embrace the Cloud , use cloud and SaaS tools when possible, and backup files offline to help ensure their recovery.

, use cloud and SaaS tools when possible, and backup files offline to help ensure their recovery. Stay educated and collaborate through information sharing to be aware of potential threats and vulnerabilities and build relationships with law enforcement for further collaboration.

To view the full IBM and Morning Consult report, please visit: http://bit.ly/eduransomware

K-12 public school districts based in the United States that are interested in applying for IBM's education cybersecurity grant can apply via IBM.org here: https://ibm.biz/security-grant.

For more information on IBM X-Force Incident Response and Threat Intelligence Services, go to: ibm.com/security/services/ibm-x-force-incident-response-and-intelligence. If you're experiencing a cybersecurity emergency, contact the IBM X-Force team's 24/7 hotline: 888-241-9812

About IBM Security

IBM Security offers one of the most advanced and integrated portfolios of enterprise security products and services. The portfolio, supported by world-renowned IBM Security X-Force research, enables organizations to effectively manage risk and defend against emerging threats. IBM operates one of the world's broadest security research, development and delivery organizations, monitors 150 billion+ security events per day in more than 130 countries, and has been granted more than 10,000 security patents worldwide. For more information, please check www.ibm.com/security, follow @IBMSecurity on Twitter or visit the IBM Security Intelligence blog.

IBM Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

IBM's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives enable IBM's technology and talent to address society's challenges at scale. Pro bono consulting initiatives such as IBM Service Corps, which demonstrate the power of technology when combined with humanity, enable employees to assist communities with economic development, education, safety, sustainability, and more. In 2020, approximately 2,500 IBMers contributed more than 100,000 hours of their time on at least 71 Service Corps projects in 24 countries. To learn more about IBM's CSR and companywide Good Tech initiatives, please visit IBM.org.

Contact: Kimberly Samra, IBM Security, (510) 468-6406, [email protected]

1 FBI, Alert (AA20-345A): Cyber Actors Target K-12 Distance Learning Education to Cause Disruptions and Steal Data, (2020)

2 Morning Consult, sponsored by IBM, IBM Education Ransomware Study, (2020)

SOURCE IBM

Related Links

www.ibm.com


On Thursday, Oscar nominee Timothee Chalamet was spotted for the first time on the Boston set of Adam McKay's disaster comedy Don't Look Up, which premieres later this year on Netflix.

Hairstylist Patricia Dehaney fastened wavy hair extensions on the 25-year-old native New Yorker, whose mystery character Quentin has a dodgy mullet.

Costume designer Susan Matheson dressed Timothee in a camoflauge cap, cargo pants, combat boots, and an orange puffer with a patch reading: 'Florida United Methodist Camps.'

Premieres later this year on Netflix! On Thursday, Oscar nominee Timothee Chalamet was spotted for the first time on the Boston set of Adam McKay's disaster comedy Don't Look Up

Chalamet made sure to wear a face shield to protect himself and others from the coronavirus pandemic.

There have reportedly been 531K confirmed COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts leading to 14,708 deaths as of Thursday.

Also on set was Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio - who plays Dr. Randall Mindy - playing with his phone between takes of the $75M budget movie.

The Little Women actor then hopped into the backseat of a car on a flatbed to film a driving scene with the 46-year-old Titanic alum and Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence.

Business up front, party in the back: Hairstylist Patricia Dehaney fastened wavy hair extensions on the 25-year-old native New Yorker, whose mystery character Quentin has a dodgy mullet

Costume designer Susan Matheson dressed Timothee in a camoflauge cap, cargo pants, combat boots, and an orange puffer with a patch reading: 'Florida United Methodist Camps.'

Mandatory: Chalamet made sure to wear a face shield to protect himself and others from the coronavirus pandemic

Chatting with the crew: There have reportedly been 531K confirmed COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts leading to 14,708 deaths as of Thursday

The 30-year-old Hunger Games alum - who plays Kate Dibiasky - sat shotgun while rocking a burgundy-colored wig and nose piercing.

Leonardo and Jennfier portray low-level astronomers 'who must go on a giant media tour to warn humankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet Earth.'

Don't Look Up also stars Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Ariana Grande, Cate Blanchett, Chris Evans, Tyler Perry, Matthew Perry, Melanie Lynskey, and Ron Perlman.

Ready to film: Also on set was Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio - who plays Dr. Randall Mindy - playing with his phone between takes of the $75M budget movie

Action! The Little Women actor then hopped into the backseat of a car on a flatbed to film a driving scene with the 46-year-old Titanic alum and Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence

Hard at work: The 30-year-old Hunger Games alum - who plays Kate Dibiasky - sat shotgun while rocking a burgundy-colored wig and nose piercing

Leonardo and Jennfier portray low-level astronomers 'who must go on a giant media tour to warn humankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet Earth'

Star-studded cast: Don't Look Up also stars Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Ariana Grande, Cate Blanchett, Chris Evans, Tyler Perry, Matthew Perry, Melanie Lynskey, and Ron Perlman

On Wednesday, Timothee - who boasts 13.2M Instagram/Twitter followers - shared a rare Instastory of snow falling set to music from composer Danny Elfman's Edward Scissorhands score.

Chalamet's Dune leading lady Zendaya appeared on Tuesday's episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where she gushed that he was 'one of my closest friends.'

'He is lovely and so talented,' the 24-year-old Emmy winner said.

Peaceful setting: On Wednesday, Timothee - who boasts 13.2M Instagram/Twitter followers - shared a rare Instastory of snow falling set to music from composer Danny Elfman's Edward Scissorhands score

'He is lovely and so talented!' Chalamet's Dune leading lady Zendaya appeared on Tuesday's episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where she gushed that he was 'one of my closest friends'

The 24-year-old Emmy winner recalled: 'I think my favorite part was we would have these, like, dance parties in my room, where I would leave the door open, Timothee would come in with his little speaker, and then everybody would start coming in and we'd just start dancing'

'I think my favorite part was we would have these, like, dance parties in my room, where I would leave the door open, Timothee would come in with his little speaker, and then everybody would start coming in and we'd just start dancing.'

The Independent Spirit Award winner is believed to be single after romancing Mexican actress Eiza Gonzalez, Johnny Depp's eldest Lily-Rose Depp, and Madonna's eldest Lourdes Leon.

Timothee and Zendaya portray Paul Atreides and Chani in Denis Villeneuve's $165M sci-fi epic, which hits US/UK theaters and HBO Max on October 1.
Doctors Without Borders' responds to Kumba school attack DWB

Gunmen believed to be separatist fighters opened fire on a Doctors Without Borders ambulance in the early hours of Thursday, February 4, 2021, at Mbalangi, along the Kumba-Buea highway.

Cameroon-Info.Net learned that Doctors Without Borders left Kumba to Mbalangi in response to a distress call.

After picking up the patient from Mbalangi, the aid team was on its way to the hospital in Muyuka when gunmen fired at the ambulance injuring the ambulance nurse.

In the early hours of 4 February, a Doctors Without Borders ambulance was fired on by armed men while responding to a call in Muyuka, South-West Cameroon, said Ms. Antoinette Buinda, Communication Officer for Doctors Without Borders in the South West Region. The ambulance was hit and the accompanying nurse was injured. Doctors Without Borders condemns this attack on our colleague and a clearly marked ambulance. Healthcare facilities, including ambulances, are not targets.

Despite the attack, the aid team succeeded to take the patient to the hospital in Muyuka along with the injured nurse.

Following this attack, a second ambulance was dispatched to pick up the patient who is in critical condition and now receiving medical attention. Our colleague is also receiving medical attention and is currently recovering from their injuries, Ms. Antoinette Buinda said in a statement.

Cameroon-Info.Net understands that Doctors Without Borders medical teams have been responding to the severe and ongoing effects of the crisis in North-West and South-West Regions of Cameroon since 2018.

Ms. Antoinette Buinda insists that Doctors Without Borders teams provide neutral and impartial medical humanitarian assistance through our emergency ambulance referrals, secondary level care, and a decentralized model of community care.

For the past four years, Cameroons North-West and South-West regions have been rocked by armed violence between government forces and non-state armed groups, which has displaced more than 700,000 people.

The humanitarian needs are huge. Displaced communities face difficulties accessing basic services, including healthcare.

The crisis has severely affected the public health system. Many health centers have closed or are non-functional, medical workers and facilities are being directly targeted by violence, and insecurity is hindering the supply of drugs and medical equipment.
India has warned against of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists noting the reports of the resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) terror group in

"India remains concerned about the possibility of such dangerous weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorist organisation and individuals," R. Ravindra, a Deputy Permanent Representative of India, told the Security Council on Wednesday.

"Terrorist groups have taken advantage of the decade-long conflict in to entrench themselves posing a threat to the entire region. Reports of the resurgence of the IS in the region are being heard with increasing frequency," he said after the Council heard a briefing on the implementation of its resolution against in that country.

That Resolution adopted in 2013 expressly demanded that "non-State actors" or terror groups "not develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer, or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery".

Ravindra said: "The world cannot afford to give these terrorists any sanctuary or dilute its fights against these terrorist groups."

The UN's High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu, who briefed the Council on the implementation of its resolution, alleged that was not fully in compliance with it.

"At this stage, due to the identified gaps, inconsistencies, and discrepancies that remain unresolved, the declaration submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic cannot be considered accurate and complete in accordance with the Convention (CWC)," she said.

She said that there were 19 outstanding issues and one of them was about a chemical weapons production facility that a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) determined had been used to manufacture such weapons although Damascus has denied such use.

The issue of chemical weapons in Syria has pitted Russia, with some backing from China, against the Western nations which are vehemently opposed to the government of Bashar al-Assad.

With New Delhi in the middle, Ravindra said: "India has consistently underlined the need for impartial and objective investigation into any alleged use of chemical weapons, scrupulously following the procedures and provisions laid down in the (Chemical Weapons) Convention."

New Delhi also has close ties with Syria.

"India has consistently called for a comprehensive and peaceful resolution of the Syrian conflict through a Syrian-led dialogue," Ravindra said.

India has "contributed to the return of normalcy and rebuilding of Syria through humanitarian assistance and human resource development" and was now ready to provide it with Covid-19 vaccines, he said.

As for the CWC, Ravindra said India attaches high importance to it.

He said it "is a unique, non-discriminatory disarmament instrument and serves as a model for the elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction".

He added that India was the first country to be declared the first signatory to the CWC to be declared a chemical weapon-free state.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis)

--IANS

al/ksk/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
https://www.aish.com/tp/i/rabbi-frand/567710411.html

Moshe and his wife Tzipporah, the daughter of Yisro, had two sons. The names of the children tell the story of his wandering before he returned to Egypt as Hashem's messenger to redeem the Jewish people (Shemos 18:3-4). "The name of the first was Gershom, because he said, 'I was a stranger in a strange land.' The name of the other was Eliezer, because 'the Lord of my father helped me and rescued me from Pharaoh's sword.'"

The origin of Eliezer's name is given directly, "because 'the Lord of my father helped me and rescued me from Pharaoh's sword.'" But the origin of Gershom's name - "because he said, 'I was a stranger in a strange land'" - features the seemingly extraneous words "he said." Why couldn't the Torah have simply stated "because 'I was a stranger in a strange land'"?

The Baal Haturim explains that these words allude to a Midrash in Parashas Shemos. The Midrash states that Yisro gave Moshe permission to marry Tzipporah only on the condition that he deliver his firstborn son to be trained for the priesthood of avodah zarah. Moshe had no choice but to comply and allow Yisro to have his firstborn son, who turned out to be Gershom. The words "because he said" allude to Yisro. Why did Moshe have to give Gershom to Yisro? Because Yisro had reminded him that he was a stranger in a strange land and was not in a position to reject his prospective father-in-law's conditions to the marriage.

The Baal Haturim further explains that Moshe believed this was the right thing to do. He wanted to bring Yisro close to Hashem and the Jewish people, and he felt he could accomplish this by marrying Tzipporah. Even though he had to agree to Yisro's terrible condition, Moshe believed his father-in-law would ultimately come around.

The truly puzzling question is: What was Yisro thinking?

According to the Midrash, Yisro was a real truth seeker. He came to the realization that the avodah zarah of Midian was nonsense. He then traveled all over the world to investigate the cults of different kinds of avodah zarah, and he rejected all of them. Then he returned to Midian, resigned his high office in the indigenous cult and renounced avodah zarah altogether.

Yet here is the mystery. He placed the condition on Moshe's marriage to Tzipporah after he renounced all avodah zarah. Why would he insist that his grandson be trained for the priesthood of the Midianite avodah zarah when he had already determined it was worthless? It makes no sense!

Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, Rosh Yeshivah of the Mirrer Yeshivah in Jerusalem, offers a penetrating insight into Yisro's mentality. Apparently, Yisro was the ancient counterpart of a 60's flower child. He believed that the best way to arrive at the truth was through a journey of discovery, just as he had done. Yisro believed that the Torah was definitely the truth. But he had learned this important information by experiencing what all other cultures had to offer and determining that the Torah was superior.

This was also how he wanted his grandson to discover the truth. He did not want him brought up in one narrow ideology, sheltered from all other cultures and ideologies. Better that he should use the inquiring mind he would inherit from his grandfather and then follow in his grandfather's footsteps, starting in the priesthood of Midian and then eliminating one false ideology after the other until he discovered the truth of the Torah. This would be intellectually fulfilling and satisfying. His grandson would know he had made his own decision, and he would be comfortable with it.

But this is not the way of the Torah. We do mitzvot because we are obligated to do them, because we are servants of Hashem obligated to obey Him, not because we choose to do these things because we have decided they represent the truth. If Gershom was the son of Moshe, he did not have the luxury of going on a journey of discovery, even it were somehow guaranteed that he would arrive at the appropriate destiny at the end of his journey. Jewish children cannot nibble at the smorgasbord of the ideologies of the world. They have a duty to serve Hashem. This was something Yisro simply did not understand.

Let us take this thought a little further. The Torah introduces (Shemos 20:1) the Ten Commandments with the words, "And the Lord spoke all these things, saying." Rashi cites a Midrash that at first Hashem spoke "all these things" simultaneously, something that the human brain cannot absorb or comprehend. Only afterward did He articulate the Commandments individually.

What was Hashem's purpose in first speaking them all at once if no one could understand what He was saying anyway?

Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik points to the difference between the first five commandments and the second five. The first five relate to bein adam laMakom, the relationship between man and his Creator. Everyone understands that these decrees are of Divine origin. But the second five, the set that relates to bein adam lachaveiro, the relationship of man to his fellow man, may not seem to be Divine in origin. "You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not lie. You shall not covet." We think we understand these Commandments on a different level. They appear to be the rational attempts of society to regulate and protect itself. Do we need a Divine decree to tell us these things? They seem self-explanatory and self-evident. After all, what kind of society would sanction murder and adultery?

Although they may seem logical to us, that logic is not the rationale for these Commandments. We do not refrain from murder and adultery only because it makes sense to us. We refrain because Hashem has forbidden these things. That is why Hashem first spoke all the Commandments at once. It was to impress upon us that they are all the same, that they are all unfathomable Divine decrees that we must obey without question because such is the will of Hashem.

In today's society we see clearly the difference between a secular prohibition of murder and a Divine one. If murder is forbidden because we consider it logical, then changing attitudes can permit abortion, euthanasia and even infanticide, which is not unheard of in certain societies. But when the prohibition is Divine, it is absolute. We do not obey because it makes sense to us. We obey because we bow to Hashem's will.

Yisro came to Judaism through rational investigation. Therefore, he made the serious error of directing his grandson toward the priesthood of the Midianite cult. He wanted him to investigate for himself, to find the system that appealed to his reason. That is not the way of the Torah. We only apply reason to recognizing Hashem. Afterwards, it is all obedience

REMINDERS OF EXILE

Both of Moshe's sons were named as reminders of the trials and tribulations he had experienced during his lifetime (Shemos 18:3-4). "The name of the first was Gershom, because he said, 'I was a stranger in a strange land.' The name of the other was Eliezer, because the Lord of my father helped me and rescued me from Pharaoh's sword."

Why did Moshe choose these names?

The Pardes Yosef explains that Moshe wanted to ensure that his children grew up with a sense of reality. Growing up in the placid environment of Midian, they could easily have developed a false sense of security. What were these children lacking? They lived with their parents in comfort and peace. They had grandparents. They were respected and honored. Their lives were as near to perfect as could be, but there are no guarantees in life. Jewish children have to be prepared. They have to be aware that they are always in exile, that persecution, hunger, chaos, terror can appear suddenly out of nowhere. Everything can change in one day.

By choosing these names for his children, Moshe was reinforcing this message in their hearts. Look at me, he was saying. I used to be a prince in Pharaoh's palace. I had everything imaginable. I was a child of privilege. Then everything turned over, and I had to flee for my life, and if the Lord of my father had not rescued me, Pharaoh's executioner would have killed me.

The Pardes Yosef brings the story of the Jews of Spain as an illustration. There was a time when the lives of the Jews in Spain were close to perfect, a true golden age. They were secure, respected and prosperous. They lived in a warm and beautiful land. Their leaders, such as Rav Shmuel Hanagid, were the honored advisers of kings and sultans. The Torah flourished in their midst. And then things changed. Forces hostile to the Jewish people gained supremacy. The Jews lost favor. Terrible pogroms broke out, and a century of turbulence ended with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 on Tishah b'Av. Could anyone living during the golden age have imagined it would come to this?

Had the Pardes Yosef lived to see the Holocaust, he could have brought an even better illustration of the tables turning on the Jewish people. Things may have been very good for Jews in Germany in the 19th century, but they were still in exile, as time would so painfully tell.

Here in America, we also live under the illusion that we are no longer in exile. This is truly a wonderful country, a merciful country, a blessed country, and may Hashem protect and watch over this country forever. My father, Mr. David Frand, of blessed memory, a true and honest Jew, would buy United States Savings Bonds when they were paying 3.5 percent. "Can't you get a better return on your money?" I once asked him when I was still a youngster. My father told me that the United States took him in when he was running away from Frankfort in 1939, and he felt obligated to acknowledge the favor by buying government bonds even at rates as low as 3.5 percent. That is how we must feel about this country. And yet, there are no guarantees.

The Talmud relates (Bava Basra 73b) in the name of Rabbah bar bar Channah, "We were once traveling on a boat and saw what turned out to be a fish. It was so huge that sand collected on its back, and we thought it was an island. We got off the boat and stepped onto this supposed island. We baked and cooked. But when it got too hot for the fish, he rolled over, and we fell off. Had we not been close to the boat, we all would have drowned."

According to the Maharsha, this story is a parable. We are all adrift on the stormy sea of exile, and suddenly we see an island. We think we have found a safe haven. We cook and bake and buy houses and made weddings and bar mitzvahs. We have children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and everything is wonderful. And we say, "We are no longer in exile. We are in a land flowing with milk and honey." And then the island turns over and we realize we have been sitting on the back of a fish all along. And now we consider ourselves fortunate if only we do not drown in the sea of our exile.
[February 04, 2021] HCL Signs 5-Year Digital Workplace Services Agreement with Airbus

HCL Technologies (News - Alert) (HCL), a leading global technology company, today announced it has signed a five-year Digital Workplace Services Agreement with Airbus. HCL will establish a modernized digital workplace to enhance the user experience and service quality for the majority of Airbus employees globally. HCL was selected as Airbus' preferred partner as it was able to offer the broadest combination of standard functionality and innovation capabilities to generate greater efficiency and improved time to market. HCL's Fluid Workplace Model will enable Airbus to deploy the latest digital technologies and will rapidly simplify Airbus' existing IT processes and optimization of delivery costs, using unique end-to-end management services to cover the information and operational technology landscape. "We're delighted to be working with Airbus as a key strategic partner in its digital workplace transformation journey. The combination of HCL's scale transformational expertise and management capabiliies of IT and OT landscape will enable Airbus to remain at the forefront of innovation and deliver leading-edge user experiences," said Sandeep Saxena, Executive Vice President (UK&I, France & Benelux), HCL Technologies.



About HCL Technologies HCL Technologies (HCL) empowers global enterprises with technology for the next decade, today. HCL's Mode 1-2-3 strategy, based on its deep-domain industry expertise, client-centricity and entrepreneurial culture of Ideapreneurship, enables businesses to transform into next-gen enterprises.

HCL offers its services and products through three business units: IT and Business Services (ITBS), Engineering and R&D Services (ERS) and Products & Platforms (P&P). ITBS enables global enterprises to transform their businesses through offerings in the areas of applications, infrastructure, digital process operations and next generation digital transformation solutions. ERS offers engineering services and solutions in all aspects of product development and platform engineering. P&P provides modernized software products to global clients for their technology and industry specific requirements. Through its cutting-edge co-innovation labs, global delivery capabilities and broad global network, HCL delivers holistic services in various industry verticals, categorized as Financial Services, Manufacturing, Technology and Services, Telecom and Media, Retail and CPG, Life Sciences and Healthcare, and Public Services. As a leading global technology company, HCL takes pride in its diversity, social responsibility, sustainability, and education initiatives. For the 12 months ended December 31, 2020 HCL had consolidated revenue of US$ 10.02 billion. Its 159,682 Ideapreneurs operate out of 50 countries. For more information, visit www.hcltech.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005539/en/

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On Tuesday, Bernal Heights restaurant The Front Porch closed its doors for the day  but for the best possible reason. The SF Southern comfort food spot spent the day filming an episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," celebrity chef Guy Fieri's popular Food Network show.

"It kind of caught us by surprise," said co-owner Kevin Cline, who was contacted by the show. "But its such a good thing that they do for restaurants  it's essentially free marketing for small mom-and-pop shops all across the country."

This, however, is not the first time The Front Porch has been featured on Fieri's show. In 2013, the spiky-haired Santa Rosa resident stopped by the restaurant to make shrimp and grits with chef Matt Marcus, after which he exclaimed the shrimp was "succulent" and gave Marcus a fist bump. Being featured on the show has been a boon to the restaurant over the years.

"Guy has such a dedicated fan base that you will find people coming in from Finland," Cline said. "They do tours of 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives' restaurants. It happens less now, but in the past you would see that. He's got a fan club."

This new episode is part of a series called "Triple D Nation," in which Fieri revisits some of his Flavortown favorites.

"They're going to restaurants that are still open and ones that they're interested in and adding a new update to it," explained Cline. "They're asking, 'What are you doing lately, what's new about you and what's the same?' They choose a couple of new dishes and make an expanded episode."

On Tuesday, a crew of six came by to transform the restaurant into a film studio for the day. Everyone got COVID-tested on the spot, and then the crew filmed interviews with Cline and co-owner Josey White. They also filmed chef Jack Felton cooking up a few of The Front Porch's new dishes: jambalaya arancini and crawfish pot pie. But it wasn't just a normal day in the kitchen for Felton: He had to cook with his nondominant hand for the sake of continuity.

"Hes left-handed, and the way the shots are constructed, they needed him to do it with his right hand," explained Cline. "They're such a professional crew, any time he tried to reach out with his natural hand to get the ingredients, they corrected it and had to do it over again."

More for you Food Stop cutting your pizza wrong for just $9

This time around, Fieri himself didn't make it out, but he did vet the menu beforehand for the items he wanted featured on the show. Cline, however, remembers his 2013 meeting with the mayor of Flavortown well.

"He has this big personality that is what you see on camera, but I was really impressed by how much of a restaurant guy he was," he recalled. "He just loved talking about the nuts and bolts of it  not only the recipes, but service and what plates we use and the history of the restaurant. After the filming was over, he stood around for another half an hour talking with us in front the restaurant. He's very down-to-earth, compared to the big Flavortown [persona]."

Cline said the Food Network team estimated their episode would air within the next six weeks  a quick turnaround, as highlighting restaurants still open during the pandemic is a huge priority to them. It seems the "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" crew stopped by at least one other Bay Area spot while they were in the neighborhood, too: Oakland's Souley Vegan also posted on social media this week about a recent visit from the TV show.

If you're hoping to try some of The Front Porch's Fieri-approved Dr. Pepper-braised short ribs or shrimp and grits for yourself, the restaurant just reopened for outdoor dining, and also still offers takeout and delivery. The pandemic hasn't been easy on any restaurant, but Cline is feeling grateful they're still in business nearly a year into this crisis.

"It doesn't do to grumble about it because everybody's going through it, and we're still standing," he said. "A lot of people aren't  a lot of people had to close down their dreams, which is a big shame. So definitely there's a feeling of gratitude and luck that our customers ... They've been amazing. The show of support has been incredible."

The Front Porch, 65a 29th Street, San Francisco. Open for dinner 4-9 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday, and for brunch 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m, Saturday-Sunday.
You may know the refractory period as the thing that keeps you from getting an erection again for a little while after having an orgasm. But is it also the only thing keeping you from death by sex?

The refractory period is the recovery phase after orgasm, during which it is physiologically impossible for a man to have additional orgasms, says says Dr. Kien Vuu, Concierge Performance and Longevity M.D., Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at UCLA, and author of Thrive State: Your Blueprint for Optimal Health, Longevity, and Peak Performance. The phase begins immediately after orgasm, and can last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours in men, depending on a variety of factors, including age and health.

Aside from those basics, however, much about the refractory period remains something of a mystery, including the exact biological mechanisms behind it and its reason for existing in the first place. Recent research appearing to contradict a widely held theory linking the refractory period to the production of a hormone called prolactin has only further obscured the great refractory mystery, bringing a slew of other theories to the surface. One of them, according to Susana Valente, a Ph.D. student who collaborated on the paper published last month in Communications Biology, suggests that the refractory period functions as a survival mechanism to prevent men from wearing themselves out, perhaps fatally. Its important to have a mechanism that inhibits sexual drive, Valente told Discover magazine. To not die of physical exhaustion.

In other words, the refractory period exists because without it, men would simply fuck themselves to death like horny little gold fish.

Its an entertaining theory, one that seems to sit well within a pervasive cultural caricature that paints men as cartoonishly horny creatures bound to a perpetual state of insatiable sexual desire. But, much like that image of masculinity itself, the theory may not be terribly accurate.

The notion of preventing men from dying of physical exhaustion may be a stretch, says Dr. Vuu. However, he adds, There are homeostatic elements in our bodies that allow for work and recovery. Without proper recovery, our works performance  whether it be exercise, thinking, breathing or having sex  is not optimal. So while Dr. Vuu is willing to believe the refractory period can be a resting phase associated with a physiological event that could create life, hes skeptical that men would actually sexually exhaust themselves to the point of death without it.

So if the refractory period isnt there to stop you from sexing yourself to death, why does it insist on its post-orgasm boner-killing ways?

There are only theories of why the refractory period exists, says Dr. Vuu. Some theorists believe the refractory period allows the male to spend time and bond with their partner after ejaculation. Other researchers believe that it is merely the consequence of a synchronized release of hormones and tissue responses.

There is. however, one and only one generally accepted theory, according to Dr. Piet Hoebeke, urologist and surgeon at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium and author of Members Club: A Users Guide to the Penis. [The refractory period] occurs in many species and the idea is that this should ensure the refueling of the seminal vesicles to deliver enough valuable ejaculate at the next coitus, says Dr. Hoebeke. If this pause were not there, the chances of fertilization at a rapid subsequent coitus might be reduced. Multiple penetrations with good quality seed increase the chances of fertilization.

So while your refractory period may not be a lifesaving survival mechanism designed to keep you from perishing at the hands of your own horniness, its probably helping you expel more fertile loads. This may be bad news if youre not particularly interested in siring offspring, but I guess its cool if youre into the whole propagation of the human species thing.

The post Would Men Die If It Werent for the Post-Coital Refractory Period? appeared first on InsideHook.
The Ministry of Economy estimates the drop in the gross domestic product (GDP) of Ukraine in 2020 at 4.2%, which is associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, Minister of Economy Ihor Petrashko has said while discussing the economic strategy until 2030.

"In 2021, we expect a recovery growth of the domestic economy by 4.8%. At first glance, this figure may seem optimistic, but behind it is a balanced assessment of the opportunities and aspirations of economic players - from micro entrepreneurship to large industrial business," the minister said.

According to him, the majority of think tanks are also leaning towards an estimate of 4.8% GDP growth.

Petrashko added that after a 5.2% decline in industry in 2020, it is expected to compensate for more than 5% growth this year, provided that the pandemic is overcome, industry and exports are stimulated.

As reported, the government's forecast for GDP growth for 2021 is 4.6%. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced such a forecast at a meeting with the European Business Association on February 4.
Three Air Namibia board members resigned with immediate effect between Monday and yesterday.

This comes after the board accused the government of interference in running the airline, making it difficult for it to execute its mandate.

Minister of public enterprises Leon Jooste confirmed the resignations yesterday. He said board chairperson Escher Luanda and Heritha Muyoba resigned yesterday and Willy Mertens quit on Monday.

The fate of the fourth board member Alois Nyandoro could not be established. The board has been at the helm of the airline for the past two years.

The resignations come after the board averted the airline's closure last week, after an international company called Challenge Air took it to court over debt.

The government refused to provide Air Namibia with N$95 million to pay Challenge Air, and the board struck an agreement to settle without the government's involvement.

Despite the agreement, the board maintained that the door to file for liquidation remains open.

The national airline said if it were to be liquidated, the impact would be devastating as 636 employees would lose their jobs. The board said the best option would be for a re-start plan, to preserve at least 50% jobs, while enabling the airline to add value to the domestic economy.

GOVERNANCE TRANSGRESSION CLAIMS

Before resigning the board members claimed the Ministry of Public Enterprises made major decisions for Air Namibia without their involvement.

They also said during their tenure, they endured the usurping of functions by the state as shareholder. This, according to them, is not consistent with sound state-owned enterprise (SOE) governance.

"It is a fundamental principle that the role of the state, as shareholder, is to provide policy directions, while the board leads and directs the SOE in achieving its goals and objectives," they added.

The board also accused the public enterprises ministry of directly engaging employees and trade unions.

In addition, the government allegedly negotiated contracts for the company without the board's involvement and also managed the airline's allocated budget without board involvement.

"The airline had received N$948 million in the 2020/2021 fiscal year from the Ministry of Finance and approved by parliament, but the board has to date not been briefed how these funds were disbursed to the airline if at all, other than a monthly allocation for employee salaries," they added.

According to the board members, the government also initiated a restructuring exercise, without their knowledge.

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"These are unfortunate instances that fly in the face of good corporate governance and have made it extremely difficult for the board to execute its fiduciary role."

Despite the finance minister stating on Friday that implementing the new Air Namibia business plan would cost more than N$7 billion, the airline maintains that the information is not factual and is based on a wrong premise.

"In fact, the N$7 billion brings forward future debts to as far as 2025 and creates the impression that these debts are due and payable. This figure has also been further clarified with the shareholder at no fewer than three forums," the board noted.

GOVT RESPONDS

Meanwhile, Jooste told The Namibian yesterday that Air Namibia has been on the agenda of the Cabinet and the Cabinet committee on treasury since 2015.

He added that all the associated activities were discussed and then either instructed or endorsed by the Cabinet and/or the Cabinet committee on treasury. The minister further said after those instructions or endorsements, the ministry was instructed to implement the various actions and to report back to the Cabinet committee on treasury and/or Cabinet.

"All of the mentioned actions were in line with these instructions after due consideration of the applicable facts and merits. The government will soon be in a position to provide detailed information and I will be happy to clarify any misunderstandings or misconceptions then," Jooste said.
Jammu, Feb 4 : An Indian army soldier was killed in unprovoked ceasefire violation by Pakistan on Wednesday on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district.

Defence sources said Pakistan resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation on the LoC by firing with small and shelling with mortars in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district.

"An Indian army soldier, Sepoy Laxman got critically injured in Pakistan ceasefire violation. The injured soldier later succumbed," a source said.

Pakistan has been violating ceasefire on the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir with impunity during the recent years. This has brought miseries into the lives of thousands of people living in border villages.

Civilian lives, livestock, property and agricultural fields have to bear the brunt of Pakistan ceasefire violations on the LoC.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Michigan ended Wednesdays National Signing Day with its best possible outcome.

It inked three defensive tackle prospects, including two who were previously committed to other schools, to finish with the 10th-ranked 2021 recruiting class in the country.

On the latest episode of the Wolverine Confidential podcast, MLives Ryan Zuke and Aaron McMann discuss why adding Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peters Prep four-star George Rooks, Oak Park four-star Rayshaun Benny and Garland (Texas) Lakeview Centennial three-star Ikechukwu Ike Iwunnah was crucial for Michigan, which didnt sign any true interior lineman during the early December window.

You can listen below, by clicking here, or anywhere you find podcasts.

More signing day coverage: Despite rocky 2020 season, Michigan signs top-10 recruiting class

Wolverine recruiting report: How the 2021 class compares to Jim Harbaughs others at Michigan

Michigan football redeems itself with big recruiting day along DL

Michigan flips another defensive tackle on signing day

Oak Park 4-star DT Rayshaun Benny decommits from MSU, signs with Michigan
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The positive momentum, led by Budget and FII inflow continued in the equity market for the fourth consecutive session on February 4, with the Nifty50 hitting a record high of 14,914.

The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 358.54 points to 50,614.29, while the Nifty50 rose 105.70 points to 14,895.70 and formed a bullish candle on the daily charts.

"Technically, this pattern could signal uptrend continuation pattern, after the formation of a high wave-type candle on Wednesday. Hence, one may expect further upside in the short term," Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities told Moneycontrol.

"The opening upside gap of February 2nd remains unfilled, three sessions after its formation. If this gap is unchallenged in the next couple of sessions, then that could be considered as a bullish breakaway gap, which is normally associated with crucial bottom reversals. Such happening could hint at more upside for the market in the near term," he said.

"The next upside target to be watched at 15,475, which is 1.618 percent Fibonacci extension (taken from the swing high of January 2020 and March 2020 low). Immediate support is placed at 14,750," he added.

The broader markets continued to see buying interest with the Nifty Midcap 100 index rising 1.06 percent and Smallcap 100 index up 1.55 percent.

We have collated 15 data points to help you spot profitable trades:

Note: The open interest (OI) and volume data of stocks given in this story are the aggregates of three- month data and not of the current month only.

Key support and resistance levels on the Nifty

According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 14,769.1, followed by 14,642.5. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 14,968 and 15,040.3.

Nifty Bank

The Nifty Bank settled at 35,344.80, rising 586.40 points or 1.69 percent on February 4. The important pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 34,584.77, followed by 33,824.73. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 35,758.97 and 36,173.14.

Call option data

Maximum Call open interest of 14.34 lakh contracts was seen at 15,500 strike, which will act as a crucial resistance level in the February series.

This is followed by 15,000 strike, which holds 14.21 lakh contracts, and 14,500 strike, which has accumulated 9.3 lakh contracts.

Call writing was seen at 15,500 strike, which added 2.43 lakh contracts, followed by 14,900 strike which added 2.33 lakh contracts and 15,300 strike which added 1.12 lakh contracts.

Call unwinding was seen at 14,000 strike, which shed 57,300 contracts, followed by 14,600 strike which shed 37,650 contracts and 14,200 strike which shed 21,675 contracts.

Put option data

Maximum Put open interest of 36.74 lakh contracts was seen at 14,000 strike, which will act as crucial support level in the February series.

This is followed by 14,200 strike, which holds 15.52 lakh contracts, and 14,500 strike, which has accumulated 12.66 lakh contracts.

Put writing was seen at 14,000 strike, which added 3.6 lakh contracts, followed by 14,900 strike, which added 3.06 lakh contracts and 14,800 strike which added 1.65 lakh contracts.

There was hardly any Put unwinding seen on Thursday.

Stocks with a high delivery percentage

A high delivery percentage suggests that investors are showing interest in these stocks.

59 stocks saw long build-up

Based on the open interest future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which a long build-up was seen.

11 stocks saw long unwinding

Based on the open interest future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which long unwinding was seen.

25 stocks saw short build-up

An increase in open interest, along with a decrease in price, mostly indicates a build-up of short positions. Based on the open interest future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which a short build-up was seen.

48 stocks witnessed short-covering

A decrease in open interest, along with an increase in price, mostly indicates a short-covering. Based on the open interest future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which short-covering was seen.

Bulk deals

(For more bulk deals, click here)

Results on February 5

Britannia Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, Punjab National Bank, Aditya Birla Capital, Alkem Laboratories, Ashoka Buildcon, Mrs Bectors Food Specialities, Cadila Healthcare, CG Power and Industrial Solutions, Equitas Holdings, Future Consumer, Fortis Healthcare, Gati, GSK Pharmaceuticals, Gujarat Gas, Jubilant Life Sciences, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Pfizer, RCF, Shipping Corporation of India etc are among 127 companies that are scheduled to release their quarterly earnings on February 5.

Stocks in the news

Bharat Electronics: The company entered into an offset contract with Russian company JSC Rosoboronexport.

PSP Projects: The company received additional work order worth Rs 236 crore for an institutional project at Gujarat, and is ranked L1 bidder for projects worth Rs 420.89 crore medical colleges construction in UP.

Container Corporation of India: The company reported a higher consolidated profit at Rs 234.3 crore for Q3FY21 against Rs 180.9 crore logged in Q3FY20. Revenue rose to Rs 1,766.9 crore from Rs 1,544.7 crore in the year-ago period.

Vedanta: The board approved an expansion of Lanjigarh alumina refinery from 2 MTPA to 5 MTPA at a cost of Rs 3,779 crore.

Godrej Agrovet: The company reported a higher consolidated profit of Rs 68 crore in Q3FY21 against Rs 51.2 crore in Q3FY20, revenue fell to Rs 1,526.2 crore from Rs 1,782.7 crore YoY.

Biocon: The company signed an agreement with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), to expand access to lifesaving cancer biosimilars in over 30 countries in Africa & Asia.

Tata Power: The company reported higher consolidated profit at Rs 318.4 crore in Q3FY21 against Rs 260.1 crore in Q3FY20, while revenue increased to Rs 7,597.9 crore from Rs 7,071 crore YoY.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,936.74 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 768.55 crore in the Indian equity market on February 4, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Stocks under F&O ban on NSE

Two stocks - Punjab National Bank and SAIL - are under the F&O ban for February 5 as market is in the initial days of the February series. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.
[February 04, 2021] TeamUp Fitness Launches 'Let's Connect' Feature Just in Time for Valentine's Day

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TeamUp Fitness, the company behind the community-driven mobile app that provides individuals with an outlet to meet new workout partners, find their fitness soulmate, make new friends, and reach and exceed their fitness goals is now helping eligible bachelors and bachelorettes make connections during Happy Hour just in time for Valentine's Day. "We know the pandemic has made getting a workout in and finding love a challenge," said Tony Trombetta, CEO of TeamUp Fitness. "With our app, we've addressed both to help fitness-focused individuals make connections based on shared interests." "Let's Connect" helps app users find matches based on location and as people embark on month two of their yearly fitness journeys, TeamUp Fitness is helping users find a date for Valentine's Day too. "We agree with the popular adage that says, couples that workout together stay together," Trombetta noted, That's why we're excited to roll out this new Valentine's Day promotion to our users."



TeamUp for Valentine's Day has removed the initial sign-up subscription fee, so everyone can join for free. "Our main feature 'Let's Connect' is the perfect way to discover new profiles, view your matches and see who's seeking you," adds Trombetta. For the month of February, TeamUp will upgrade all profiles to premium for free so members can send five "Let's Connect" requests to see if there is a special match. TeamUp also encourages users to keep the app top of mind this month with their new Happy Hour social time. The TeamUp community will receive daily match notifications each day at 5 p.m. If someone is seeking them, a common time known for 'Happy Hour' during normal social circumstances. The curated match will mirror the user's primary activity and fitness goals and when a connection is made, the user will receive a notification through the new "Let's Connect" feature.

Through their "Let's Connect" profile, users will be able to see not only who they're seeking, but who's seeking them out as well. With Valentine's Day around the corner, the launch of TeamUp Fitness' "Let's Connect" feature is helping fitness enthusiasts everywhere find a fitness companion despite the pandemic. About Teamup Fitness App TeamUp Fitness is a Social, Lifestyle, and Fitness Dating platform developed to bring the entire fitness community together. Connect, find, match, and chat with new fitness friends, new workout partners, fitness professionals and find your Fitness Soulmate. CONTACT INFORMATION Tiffany Kayar

tiffanyPR@newswiremail.io Related Images teamup-fitness-app-lets-connect.png

TeamUp Fitness App 'Let's Connect' feature View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/teamup-fitness-launches-lets-connect-feature-just-in-time-for-valentines-day-301221934.html SOURCE TeamUp Fitness

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Sir David Attenborough has hit out at coronavirus anti-vaxxers, branding their views an ignorance of medical fact.

The natural history broadcaster, 94, said he thought it could be borne from people mistrusting what they did not understand.

But he admitted he could see why some people were worried about having something new injected into their bodies

Sir David said: It is an ignorance of medical fact and if you dont understand it, its very easy to mistrust it.

After all, youre dealing with something precious  you are dealing with your own body, your own life, and you wish to protect that. Quite right too.

And if you dont understand what actually a vaccination does and to some degree, how it does it, then you say keep off me.

Mary Williams from Washington receives her vaccination in Newcastle earlier this year

During the interview with Channel 4 News he warned public opinion was facing a tipping point moment over the jab.

He sounded the alarm the country could face a serious problem if the population started believing the ant-vax groups.

Sir David added: It seems to me more and more people are understanding what this is.

The majority of the population, Im sure, understands perfectly well this is a great triumph of medicine.

Sir Davids age means he has already had his first dose of the vaccine, alongside other big names including the Queen and Brian Blessed.

The Government say over 10 million people have now received a Covid jab in the UK.

Priority patients attend the NHS Nightingale North East hospital to receive their vaccination

SINGLE SHOT OF OXFORD'S JAB 76% EFFECTIVE FOR 12 WEEKS A single shot of Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine is 76 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic illness and may have a 'substantial effect' on transmission, research suggests. In a huge boost to the UK's immunisation drive, analysis of the jab trials found the first dose was extremely successful in preventing people from falling ill within the 12-week time window between getting a second dose. When the second dose is administered after three months, the jab's efficacy is bumped up to 82.4 per cent, according to the study, which has been submitted to The Lancet for publication. The results, from more than 17,000 trial volunteers, suggest Britain's vaccination gamble to delay its dosing regimen has paid off. In a bid to get wider vaccine coverage quicker, regulators pivoted from their original plan to give people their second dose after 21 days when the Oxford University/AstraZeneca jab was approved in late December. They pushed back the second dose for 12 weeks in the hope that giving partial protection to as many vulnerable people as possible would drive down hospital admissions. Boris Johnson tweeted: 'Really encouraging data from a new study today shows the Oxford/AZ vaccine provides significant protection against the virus.' The strategy has helped make Britain a world-leader in vaccinations, with 9.6million people now injected with at least a single dose of either Pfizer's or AstraZeneca's jab. Meanwhile, analysis of PCR positive swabs carried out on nearly 7,000 patients in the UK arm of Oxford's trial suggests the vaccine may reduce transmission by 67 per cent. Health Secretary Matt Hancock described the findings as 'hugely encouraging', adding: 'It further reinforces our confidence that vaccines are capable of reducing transmission and protecting people from this awful disease.' Dr Gillies O'Bryan-Tear, of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, said the study suggested the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine could be the 'holy grail'. He added: 'The data support the recommendation to delay the second dose of the Oxford vaccine out to 12 weeks. 'If these vaccines reduce transmission to the extent reported, it will mean that the easing of social restrictions will be enabled sooner, than if we have to wait for herd immunity, which may never in fact be achieved because of insufficient vaccine population coverage. 'That would be the holy grail of the global vaccine rollout, and these data bring us one step closer.' Advertisement

It came as it was announced today a Government-backed study was being launched to determine whether different coronavirus vaccines can safely be used for the first and second doses.

The programme, which has received 7 million in funding from the Government's Vaccine Taskforce, aims to establish whether a mixed-dose vaccine regimen is better than, or a good alternative to, using two doses of the same Covid-19 jab.

The launch comes after England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty warned the pace of the vaccine rollout will inevitably slow as more people get their second jab.

At a No 10 news conference on Wednesday he said suggestions all adults in the UK could get their first dose by the end of May and the second by the end of August were "very optimistic".

Boris Johnson has hailed the "colossal" effort by health workers in getting a first jab to more than 10 million people - almost a fifth of the adult population - across the four nations.

However, England's deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, who is the senior responsible officer for the new study, said that being able to mix vaccines would give them greater flexibility in future.

"Given the inevitable challenges of immunising large numbers of the population against Covid-19 and potential global supply constraints, there are definite advantages to having data that could support a more flexible immunisation programme, if needed and if approved by the medicines regulator," he said.

"It is also even possible that by combining vaccines, the immune response could be enhanced giving even higher antibody levels that last longer; unless this is evaluated in a clinical trial we just won't know."

The study, dubbed Com-Cov, will initially look at mixing doses of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, as well as different intervals between doses.

But researchers at the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium (NISEC), which is carrying out the study said more vaccines will be added to the list as they get approved for use.

Initial results expected to become available during the summer - in time to inform policy on the use of booster vaccines among younger age groups.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said: "This is a hugely important clinical trial that will provide us with more vital evidence on the safety of these vaccines when used in different ways.

"Nothing will be approved for use more widely than the study, or as part of our vaccine deployment programme, until researchers and the regulator are absolutely confident the approach is safe and effective."

At Wednesday's news conference, Prof Whitty said the UK was "past the peak" of the current of the pandemic and that cases should continue on a "downward slope" as long as people continued to follow the rules social-distancing.

Mr Johnson, however, has continued to resist calls from some Tory MPs to bring forward the planned re-opening of schools in England from March 8.

The Prime Minister said it was three weeks after the date when the most vulnerable groups - including all over 70s - should have received their first jab, giving time for immunity to kick in.

In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said schools will begin a phased reopening from February 22 while the Welsh Government is due to make a decision by the end of the week on whether to reopen schools after the February half-term.

However, the Prime Minister said infection levels remained "forbiddingly high" and they did not want to be "forced into reverse".

"We think this is the prudent and cautious approach. I think it is much better to stick to that," he said.

Mr Johnson also said that Health Secretary Matt Hancock would be setting out further details on Thursday of the Government's plans for quarantine hotels for travellers arriving in England.

Downing Street later made clear that no announcements on borders would be planned for the day.

Ministers have been under fire for failing to come forward with details as to when the scheme will come into effect, a week after it was first announced.
A Hong Kong-based robotics company says it plans to mass produce thousands of humanoid robots in 2021.

Hanson Robotics says four different humanoid models will start leaving factories during the first half of the year. One of the four is a robot named Sophia, which has received worldwide attention in recent years for looking and speaking in a very human-like way.

The companys founder and CEO, David Hanson, told Reuters the COVID-19 pandemic has increased demand for robots designed to assist and engage with humans. The world of COVID-19 is going to need more and more automation to keep people safe.

He noted that in the past, many of the companys robots were built by hand. But now, Hanson Robotics is beginning to expand its manufacturing operations.

Hanson said there are currently 24 models of Sophia, which will be used as a basis for creating many other kinds of models. While not providing an exact number, Hanson said the company aims to sell thousands of robots by the end of 2021.

The company says it plans to market its humanoid robots as helpful assistants in the healthcare field. For example, they can be used to take temperature readings to identify possible sickness or perform physical exercises with older people.

Such social robots are powered by machine learning methods and artificial intelligence (AI). They use cameras and sensors to recognize human faces and activities. The robots are built with tools to help them develop their own form of social and emotional intelligence over time.

During a demonstration at the companys lab, one of the Sophia models identified some of the activities it could assist humans with.

Social robots like me can help take care of the sick or elderly in many kinds of healthcare and medical uses.

Hanson said he believes robotic solutions to the pandemic are not limited to healthcare. He said the companys robots are so human-like, they could also serve the public in retail settings or in the airline industry.

The humanoids can be so useful during these times where people are terribly lonely and socially isolated, Hanson said.

I can help communicate, give therapy and provide social stimulation, even in difficult situations.

Johan Hoorn is a social robotics professor at Hong Kongs Polytechnic University. His research has included work on Sophia. He said that, although the technology is still developing, the pandemic could speed up relationships between robots and humans.

I can infer the pandemic will actually help us get robots earlier in the market because people (will) start to realize that there is no other way, Hoorn said.

Products from other major developers in the industry are helping fight the pandemic as well. SoftBank Robotics humanoid robot Pepper was deployed in Europe to identify people who were not wearing face coverings. In China, robotics company CloudMinds helped set up a robot-run field hospital for COVID-19 patients in Wuhan.

The use of robots was already on the rise before the pandemic. The International Federation of Robotics said in a report last year that worldwide sales of professional-service robots had jumped 32 percent between 2018 and 2019.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Reuters reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

Quiz - Company Aims to Produce Thousands of Humanoid Robots in 2021 Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

engage  v. to get and keep someones attention, interest, etc.

automate  v. to use machines and computers instead of people to do work

artificial intelligence  n. the power of a machine to copy intelligent human behavior

retail  n. the activity of selling products to the public in shops and on the internet

sensor  n.

isolate  v. to put or keep (someone or something) in a place or situation that is separate from others

therapy  n. treatment for a physical or psychological condition

stimulation  n. the act of making some feel interested and excited

infer  v. to guess that something is true because of information that you have

The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Ten troops were killed in Mali's troubled central region early Wednesday when their camp came under attack from militants, security sources said

Bamako, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Feb, 2021 ) :Ten troops were killed in Mali's troubled central region early Wednesday when their camp came under attack from militants, security sources said.

Their position at Boni, located between Douentza and Hombori in the Mopti region, was attacked by "heavily armed individuals in armoured vehicles," one source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Several soldiers were injured, the source said, an account confirmed by another security official and a local government official.

The 10 bodies had been brought back to the airport in Sevare, near the town of Mopti, by a helicopter from the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping force, while the injured were taken to hospital, local officials said.

The security source said the camp had been seriously damaged and the assailants had made off with lots of equipment.

Tadayt, a propaganda outlet close to Al-Qaeda, claimed that the attack had been carried out by the Group to Support islam and Muslims (GSIM), seen as the most dangerous of the many militant groups active in the Sahel region.

The attack is the latest in a brutal conflict that has been raging in Mali since 2012, when the militants overtook a rebellion by mostly ethnic Tuareg separatists in the north.

The conflict, which has killed thousands of soldiers and civilians, then spread to central Mali, an ethnic powder keg, and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Militant attacks in central Mali typically involve roadside bombs or hit-and-run raids on motorbikes or pickups, and the use of armoured vehicles, if confirmed, is extremely rare.

Heni Nsaibia, a researcher with an NGO project called the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), said the militants had seized armoured vehicles from the armed forces in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The Malian army said on social media that it had received air support from France's anti-militant Barkhane mission in the Sahel.

A Malian military official said the assailants had suffered "major casualties" but did not give details.

Central Mali has seen a string of deadly attacks since the start of the year, including a roadside bomb that killed four UN peacekeepers from Ivory Coast.

French and Malian troops have also carried out a joint mission in the area, called Operation Eclipse. According to a Malian army statement on January 26, "100 terrorists were neutralised" in the operation.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is seeking to launch an investigation into the proposed 292,000 pay for the new Department of Health secretary-general and the salaries of other senior public figures such as the Garda Commissioner and the HSE chief executive.

The public spending watchdog made a formal submission outlining the grounds for its investigation, which will require Dail approval before it can proceed under new rules for committee.

The committee said it wants to complete a constructive examination of the processes and procedures involved in deciding the salaries of the Department of Health role and other senior public sector positions.

Read More

They include the Garda Commissioner, the Governor of the Central Bank, the Financial Regulator, and the chief executives of National Treasury Management Agency, the National Asset Management Agency and the HSE.

The primary purpose of the examination is to report to Dail Eireann on the processes and procedures that currently exist for the determination and review of senior executives remuneration in the public service, and to make recommendations as to how the current arrangements might be improved upon, the submission said.

However, there are concerns among members of the Dails public spending watchdog that their proposal to launch a wide-ranging probe into the public sector salaries will be rejected as other committees are currently reviewing the Department of Health salary controversy.

The PACs submission will be considered by the Committee on Remit Oversight which will hear submissions from other committees which are also seeking to investigate the salary increase.

If approved, a Dail vote on allowing the committee investigate the issue will also be held.

This would be the first time new Dail rules for committee, introduced following the Angela Kerins Supreme Court judgment, would be use put into use.

At a private meeting today, the PAC also agreed to write to Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath, asking him to postpone the recruitment process for the secretary-general role while an investigation takes place.

However, the committee was told last night that sending the letter may not be within its remint and could impact on their request to investigate the proposed secretary general salary. PAC member Marc MacSharry said the recruitment process should be postponed even if it is outside the committees remit.

Mr McGrath appeared before the Finance Committee this week, where he was questioned over the 91,000 increase in the salary for the new health secretary-general at a time when student nurses were being refused payments.

The minister was also asked to address the circumstances surrounding the decision to appointment Department of Public Expenditure secretary-general Robert Watt to the health role on an interim basis ahead of the recruitment process. Mr McGrath said Taoiseach Micheal Martin asked Mr Watt to move departments. He also revealed Mr Watt, who is tipped to take the role on a full-time basis, was aware that the salary would be increased before he took up the position.

Finance Committee chair John McGuinness told the Irish Independent he intends to invite the Taoiseach, Mr Watt, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and secretary-general to the Government Martin Fraser before a hearing to answer questions on the 292,000 salary.

Members are seeking more clarity on how this decision was reached and so far we have not got the answers we have been seeking, Mr McGuinness said.

Read More




Courtesy

Two women are wanted in connection with a recent theft at a department store, according to the Laredo Police Department.

Police released surveillance images of two women. Authorities are asking the community for assistance to identify them.
[February 04, 2021] Securitas continues strategy execution by launching business transformation in Europe and Ibero-America

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The business transformation of Security Services Europe and Security Services Ibero-America targets an increase of the operating margin in the segments to around 6.5 percent and 6.0 percent respectively, upon completion in 2024. Items affecting comparability of approximately MSEK -1 400 and capital expenditure of approximately MSEK -1 100 are planned for the years 2021-2023. In 2019, Securitas launched two major transformation programs in the Group. The first program radically modernizes the global IS/IT foundation throughout the Group and the second program is driving a business transformation in Security Services North America with the objective to improve efficiency. Important milestones have been reached by the two programs during 2020. The implementation is progressing well and is expected to be finalized according to plan by the end of 2021, in line with achieving the financial benefits of the programs by 2022. Magnus Ahlqvist, Securitas President and CEO: "We will now continue the execution of our strategy by launching a business transformation program in Europe and Ibero-America. This program for Europe and Ibero-America aims to sharpen our capabilities at scale, both throughout and between countries, and is inspired by the transformation program we started in North America two years ago. Our clients' needs are evolving and serving them is our main priority, from global clients to the rapidly growing SME segment. To this end we are making significant investments in IT systems to support our leaders and people with the latest tools and efficient processes. As part of the new program we will also build a dedicated solutions organization to accelerate the growth of our prioritized security solutions and electronic security business, as well as further strengthen and digitize our unparalleled guarding offering". Related to the program, approximately MSEK -1 400 will be recognized as items affecting comparability over the course of the years 2021 to 2023. These costs relate primarily to the impairment of assets, systems integration and organizational restructuring charges. We will invest approximately MSEK -1 100 in capital expenditure related to this modernization. The business transformation program in Europe targets an increase of the European operating margin to around 6.5 percent by 2024, with a first positive impact starting in 2022 and gradually increasing thereafter. In Security Services Ibero-America, the business transformation program targets an increase of the operating margin to around 6.0 percent by 2024. Information: Telephone conference on February 4 at 09.30 CET, in conjunction with the presentation of the Full Year Report 2020. Analysts and media are invited to participate in the telephone conference with Securitas CEO Magnus Ahlqvist and CFO Bart Adam. The telephone conference will also be audio casted live via Securitas' website. To participate in the telephone conference, please dial in five minutes prior to the start of the conference call:



United States: + 1?631?913 1422

Sweden: +46 8?566?426 51

United Kingdom: +44?333 3000 804 Please use the following pin code for the telephone conference: 621?490 78# Journalists/press: Helena Andreas, SVP Communications & People, Securitas AB, tel +46 10?470 30 20 or email press@securitas.com Investors/analysts: Micaela Sjokvist, Head of IR, Securitas AB, mobile +46?76?116 7443 or email micaela.sjokvist@securitas.com This press release is also available at: www.securitas.com



This is information that Securitas AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was

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BOISE  Three members of the Idaho Army National Guard were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter went down near Boise on Tuesday, and a commander said at a news conference Wednesday that there was no mayday or other type of distress call prior to the crash.

The crash occurred just after 8 p.m. Tuesday, according to a news release from the Idaho National Guard. The three killed were participating in a routine training flight, and they were the only people on board the UH-60 Black Hawk when it crashed just south of Lucky Peak Reservoir.

The names of the Guard members were not released Wednesday, as officials said they must notify family members.

This is a tremendous loss to the Idaho National Guard and our community, Maj. Gen. Michael Garshak, adjutant general and commander of the Idaho National Guard, said in a news release. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones as we work through this tragedy.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Wednesday morning ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of the three killed.

Our hearts are heavy today as we mourn the loss of three brave and talented pilots killed during service to our state and nation, Little said in a news release. Their tragic deaths leave an emptiness in the lives of their families and loved ones, the entire National Guard community, and all of us.

During a news conference Wednesday morning, Idaho Guard leaders detailed the events leading to the fatal crash.

The helicopter, staffed with the three crew members, departed Boise and began a routine training flight to the southeast of the city. Flight operations officials spoke back and forth with the crew, last hearing from them at 7:45 p.m., according to Col. Christopher Burt, state Army aviation officer for the Guard. In the final transmission, the crew told officials in Boise that they had completed their final exercise and were on their way back.

Just after 8 p.m., officials in Boise were notified by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center in Florida that it had received an active emergency transmitter from the Black Hawk. The transmitter gave local flight officials a grid and starting point for a search, which began immediately.

Lt. Col. Nicole Washington  commander of the 1st Battalion, 183rd Aviation Regiment of the Idaho Guard  said Wednesday that there were no distress calls made prior to the crash.

Guard officials said there was a second aircraft training Tuesday night, which was notified of the downed helicopter and attempted to search for the Black Hawk from the air. However, the aircraft had to call off its search after weather deteriorated.

Ground crews continued the search, as well as members of the Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue Unit, according to Burt. Air crews later resumed searching when the weather improved.

Burt said that air search and rescue crews located the downed helicopter at around 12:15 a.m. Wednesday morning and confirmed that there were no survivors. The Elmore County Sheriffs Office secured the site, and recovery operations were set to continue throughout the day Wednesday.

The cause of the crash was unknown as of Wednesday, and a team with the Army Aviation Safety Center will lead the ongoing investigation.

Industry leaders are looking for longer rate timeframes in order to stabilise development of solar power in the country

Vietnams solar power story is closely tied to its long-term goal of power diversification. The launch of the countrys first solar power plant in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue in October 2018 by TTC Group became convincing proof that the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has supported development of solar power projects according to Decision No.11/2017/QD-TTg dated April 11, 2020 on support mechanisms for solar power development in Vietnam. With the support of the government, the renewable energy sector, especially solar power, has since then witnessed strong growth, boosted by fixed prices through feed-in tariffs (FiT), especially on a larger industrial scale.

However, the development also exposed inadequacies, as negative impacts reached the market and investors due to the short validity of the first FiT, which ended after just one year as Decision 11 was valid from June 1, 2017 to June 30, 2019.

Exceeding expectations

Vu Phong Solar JSC, a company that operates a 250MW solar power plant in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan, plans to deploy 100 megawatts-peak of rooftop solar this year, but the fact that FiT3 has not yet been agreed on may hinder the companys goal. The problem of the market today is not the technical solution or the source of capital, but the belief in the power source, said Pham Nam Phong, general director of Vu Phong Solar.

He said customers are still afraid of contracts lasting up to 20 years, even though the suppliers state clear commitments during the handover phase, leaving systems operating at 80 per cent of original capacity.

The Vietnamese government issued FiT rates much later than other countries with the same potential, such as Thailand and Italy, or countries with even lower potential like Germany and Slovakia. These nations have all successfully developed solar power through state-led FiT rates.

In 2017, the Vietnamese government enacted Decision 11, with the first FiT for all types of 9.35 US cents per kWh, which expired in June 2019. With these attractive prices, Vietnam emerged as the country with the fastest growth rate of solar power in the world within a short time, with most of the plants located in Ninh Thuan and its neighbouring Binh Thuan province. However, when Decision 11 expired with no follow-up FiT, many projects fell into hibernation. This period lasted for more than nine months until the government issued Decision No.13/2020/QD-TTg regulating FiT2, which priced solar power at 7.09 US cents per kWh. Prices for floating solar arrays on the water stood then at 7.69 US cents and those for rooftop solar power at 8.38 US cents per kWh. Now, Decision 13 has also expired, leaving the market yet again waiting.

Petitions to extend FiT2 at least until the end of 2021 have yet to be approved. The Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority (EREA) under the MoIT said last month that policies and regulations on solar power development should be further reviewed and adjusted to approach a competitive market while ensuring enhancement of management efficiency and quality of operations.

However, the EREA also acknowledged limitations in the FiT mechanism, pointing out that projects focusing on areas with high solar potential led to overloading the grid in some areas, affecting its stability and increasing competition for land.

In addition, price-making mechanisms have limited control over the scale of resource and development planning. At the same time, the price of solar power hardly reflects the changes in technology prices.

The growth of solar power in Vietnam has exceeded expectations. The total installed solar capacity in Vietnam has reached about 19,400MWp (including nearly 9,300MWp of rooftop solar power), equivalent to 16,500MW, and accounting for about a quarter of total installed power capacity within the national electricity system, according to state-run Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).

Nguyen Anh Dung, project officer of the GIZs Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REE) project observed that the market has been faster than state regulators, despite their transitions in recent years. Compared with the complexity of wind power, the time to install a solar power system is much shorter, helping investors recover capital faster.

Up to now, only about 600MW of wind power has been exploited.

The MoIT and EVN still need more time to learn how to respond to market developments, Dung explained. One of the advantages of the FiT rates for solar power is the created excitement within the Vietnamese market.

However, support for solar power development through FiT in Vietnam is facing two major problems, Dung commented. Firstly, a lot of unprofessional investors pour money into solar power. Competition has left many small investors to stay out of the market. This harshness shows that not all investments in solar power are profitable.

Secondly, many investors lack experience in establishing solar power plants. Some may seek the assistance of electrical engineers, but Vietnam is short of such professionals and may need another 10-15 years to form a generation of professional solar power engineers.

Clear policy help

Currently, Vietnams economy mainly depends on traditional fuels, but these energy sources need to be supplemented by renewable energy sources, with the sun being one of the obvious choices.

However, developing a clean electricity source depends a lot on which direction politicians want the country to develop towards, Sven Ernedal, project manager of the REE project, told VIR.

According to Ernedal, only when there is a clear path with suitable policies in place can proper solutions be implemented.

Data from the Vietnam Institute of Energy showed that Vietnam can theoretically develop about 386GW of solar power, concentrated in the south, in south-central Vietnam, and in the Central Highlands.

Legal restrictions will also have certain effects on the market, making investments in solar power somewhat less meaningful. According to Ernedal, when the FiT3 rates are issued, the projects already completed and installed will reap huge benefits.

The GIZ already has recommendations for FiT rates for furthering renewable energy development in Vietnam, and stated that the current shortcomings will be remedied if the country establishes a long enough timeframe for solar power development. It would be better if Vietnam offered a longer timeframe, perhaps five years, but ideally the contract durations should remain stable for around 20 years, as that is the time it takes to invest and develop large-scale power plants, Ernedal said.

A transparent and competitive market could also help to eliminate investors without enough financial and technological capacities and put the focus more on capable businesses. Without FiT rates, the more capable ones may get discouraged and give up. I think that is the way to eliminate unprofessional investors from entering this field. Then, the market could focus on professional ones, Ernedal stated.

Dung of REE added that the cliff effect will be significantly reduced if Vietnam prolongs its support mechanism through FiT rates for at least five years while reducing prices every six months.

When the FiT3 rates will come remains yet to be determined. But from a business perspective, Phong of Vu Phong Solar still hoped that the rates will be designed in the direction of prioritising the development of distributed rooftop solar power, with higher prices in areas with lower radiation, such as the north.

Each region could then offer more preferential rates for smaller systems under 100 kilowatt-peak due to higher investment rates. These policies, Dung said, will help encourage more people and smaller businesses to invest in rooftop solar power, thereby reducing the risk of power shortages in the vicinity while large sources of electricity and transmission lines could be deployed in the future.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : Leading financial services company BharatPe on Thursday appointed Gautam Kaushik as its second Group President in the company.

Prior to joining BharatPe, Kaushik was the CEO and MD of PAYBACK India where he led the largest customer loyalty programme in the country.

A veteran in leading successful multi-million dollar businesses in payments and financial services, he will work with Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and CEO of BharatPe, and lead payments and banking partnerships.

"It is important for us to build an engaged merchant base and I am confident that Kaushik's experience in building one of the largest customer loyalty programme in the country will empower us to do so," said Grover.

Former Amex CFO, Kaushik has also held multiple roles at American Express. Before joining American Express, Gautam worked for Tata Strategic Management Group in Mumbai.

"BharatPe is the fastest growing Fintech startup in the country. The team has done phenomenal work in the past 2.5 years. I believe we enjoy a great opportunity to transform the financial services landscape for merchants across the country," Kaushik said.

BharatPe last month announced that it has raised Rs 139 crore (nearly $20 million) in debt from Alteria Capital and ICICI Bank.

The company raised Rs 90 crore in debt from Alteria Capital and Rs 49 crore from ICICI Bank. The company has raised a total of Rs 199 crore in debt to date.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text

Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Pacing filly Alicorn developed quite a following after her two seasons of racing in Canada for trainer Chantal Mitchell. But the speedy daughter of Bettors Delight gave fans a scare in her most recent start and hasn't been seen since.

Alicorn, the O'Brien Award winner for two-year-old pacing fillies in 2019, last raced on Dec. 10 at Yonkers Raceway in the $30,000 Filly & Mares Open in her first start outside of Canada. In that race, Alicorn lost stride off the final turn and fell to the ground, unseating driver Todd McCarthy. She has not returned to the track since that incident, but co-owner Frank Bruno said Alicorn is readying for a comeback.

"She is currently turned out at Legacy Farms in New Jersey and is fully recovered from the fall at Yonkers," Frank Bruno, owner of Windermere Stable, told Trot Insider. "Alicorn will return to trainer Darran Cassar's barn in February to resume training.

"We are going to take our time with her," Bruno continued, "and the current plan is for her to race in overnight races in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in the spring. The remainder of her four-year-old schedule will be decided upon after evaluating her performance in the spring overnight races."

From 26 starts, Alicorn has visited the winner's circle on nine occasions. The White Birch Farm-bred mare has earned $673,365 for Windermere Stable and Robert Muscara. In 2020, Alicorn competed on the Grand Circuit in Ontario, winning two OSS Gold divisions in her 13 starts and earning cheques in 10 of her 12 sophomore starts in Canada before the accident at Yonkers.

"We are looking forward to seeing our Ontario Sires Stakes champion return to the races," noted Bruno.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Multiple accidents were reported around southeastern Minnesota on Thursday as snowy and icy roads made travel difficult.

One happened at 8:42 a.m.on Highway 52 and 19th St.

Luul Warsame, 54, of Rochester, suffered non-life-threatening injuries when her vehicle crashed into the median.

Another happened on I-90 in Winona County when Paula Cromwell, of Lindsay, Oklahoma, lost control and rolled into the median.

She was taken to Gunderson Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
VietNamNet's Pham Cong went to Chi Linh City, Hai Duong Province, the countrys largest Covid-19 hotspot to learn about the situation there.

Reporter visited a concentrated quarantine zone, based in a local school, the Vietnam-Canada Vocation Training School, the home to nearly 900 people who are F1 cases from Chi Linh City.

The medical force on loudspeakers continuously called for people to keep a social distance.

Specialized vehicles of the Military Command of Military Region 3 sprayed disinfectants around the quarantine area. All vehicles entering or leaving the school are sprayed with disinfectants.

This place is home to 897 people who are F1 cases (those having contact with F0 or Covid-19 patients).

62 classrooms have been used as accommodation for F1 cases. There are rooms for 10, 15 to 20 people each.

Each day, the quarantined person will be served three meals. After the food is delivered, each room will send one person to get food and water and then bring them back to the room for everyone.

"The management force here includes 9 people from health agencies, 15 from the military forces and 3 police officers who serve 24/7", said a representative of the functional forces in this quarantine zone.

On February 2, Hai Duong Provincial Party Secretary Pham Xuan Thang paid a visit to inspect the operations here.

The Vietnam-Canada Vocational Training School is the home to nearly 900 people who are F1 cases from Chi Linh City.

Several schools in Chi Linh City have been used as medical isolation zones.

Every day, hundreds of servings of rice are brought to serve medical isolationists

People enjoy fresh air and do exercise on the yard.

They are recommended to keep a distance of 2m from each other.

Everyone in the quarantine area is provided with personal belongings

Military special vehicles spray disinfectants around the quarantine area Hai Duong Provincial Party Secretary Pham Xuan Thang inspects operations at the Vietnam - Canada Vocational Training College



Pham Cong

16 news cases of Covid-19 reported in Hai Duong The northern province of Hai Duong has reported an additional number of 16 Covid-19 cases, bringing its total number to 242 cases.
RIO DE JANEIRO  The Brazilian mining giant Vale signed an agreement on Thursday to pay $7 billion in compensation to the state of Minas Gerais, two years after the collapse of one of its dams killed 270 people, also causing vast environmental damage. Eleven people are still missing.

While the amount to be paid was less than what the state government initially demanded, state officials still called it the biggest settlement in Brazilian history.

The dam burst destroyed almost 300 acres of native forest and polluted 200 miles of the local Paraopeba River, rendering it useless as a water supply for the state. Traces of the toxic sludge that came out of the dam were found in the Sao Francisco River, which supplies water to five different states.

The dam, built to hold waste from a nearby iron ore mine, collapsed on Jan. 25, 2019, in the city of Brumadinho, burying homes, hotels, rivers and the companys facilities under a wave of mud. In only a few days, it became clear that the company had been warned that the structure was unsafe multiple times, internal documents revealed.
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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
NORWICH  Older adults and all of those on Medicare are vulnerable to scams seeking to get their insurance information or personally identifiable information, according to a statement from Senior Resources.

Medicare loses about $60 billion each year due to fraud, errors and abuse; according to the Administration for Community Living, said Alison Dvorak, SMP Coordinator at Senior Resources.

Scammers use public health emergencies as opportunities for fraud schemes. Older adults are currently isolated and more at risk for these scams. Connecticuts Senior Medicare Patrol Program helps Medicare beneficiaries prevent, detect and report suspected health care fraud and abuse.

The Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) and the Medicare Health Insurance Counseling (CHOICES) program recommends that Medicare beneficiaries:

1. Do not give out your Medicare number, Social Security number or personal information during an unsolicited call, text, email, home visit or at a public venue.

2. Be suspicious of free offers for supplies or treatments. You will not need to pay for the vaccine and offers to pay for early access to it are a scam. Medicare will cover the full cost of the vaccine so you will provide information at that time.

3. Review your Medicare Summary notice (MSN) or Explanation of Benefits (EOB). Look for errors or any items billed but not received.

4. Contact your local SMP and CHOICES for help with any Medicare related question. Find the SMP and CHOICES contact at your local Area Agency on Aging by calling 1-800-994-9422.

Senior Resources, the Area Agency on Aging in Eastern Connecticut, is a private non-profit organization established in 1976 and authorized by the Older Americans Act of 1965 and state statute to provide unbiased access, information and referral to programs related to aging.

More on Senior Medicare Patrol: https://portal.ct.gov/DORS-SMP

Find more information at seniorresourcesec.org.

Litchfield seeking Poet Laureate

LITCHFIELD  The town of Litchfield has bebun a search for a Poet Laureate, joining more than 30 other towns in Connecticut that have created this position, hoping to encourage the appreciation of poetry, good writing and the spoken word. This is an extraordinary opportunity for someone with a passion for poetry, according to a statement.

The Oliver Wolcott Library will begin accepting applications Feb. 15 for this new appointment. Applicants must reside or pay taxes in the Town of Litchfield, be 18 years or older and willing to serve for a term of three years. They must demonstrate both a knowledge of and passion for classical and contemporary poetry, be a confidant public speaker, and be able to get along with the diverse members of our community. In addition, they should have published at least one poem in some medium or have been otherwise recognized for their work, according to the statement.

Litchfields Poet Laureate will be required to take the lead in some or all of the following activities: Present a poem at one of our towns celebrations; gost a poetry discussion at the library; celebrate Poetry Month each April; engage school-aged children in our community with poetry, including but not limited to at least one workshop event; come up with other ideas that will stimulate and involve the town at large; and report periodically to the First Selectman.

Applicants should provide three original poems, two ideas of what you would like to do or accomplish in your term; a cover letter that highlights your qualifications and interest in the position; a list or resume that focuses on your accomplishments or experiences in the realm of poetry.

Applications will be accepted Feb. 15-March 15 by email only at poet@owlibrary.org

For information, email Michael Kazan at poet@owlibrary.org.

School continues Takeout Tuesdays

TORRINGTON  St. John Paul the Great Academy in Torrington is continuing its partnerships with local eateries with a fundraising campaign, Takeout Tuesdays.

Each Tuesday in February, a different local restaurant will donate a portion of the proceeds from its takeout orders made between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. to the Academy, a Catholic elementary school that enrolls more than 140 students from pre-k through grade 8.

Participating restaurants in February include:

Feb. 9: Marios Tuscany Grill, 560 Main St., Winsted, 860-379-7415, www.mariostuscanygrill.com;

Feb. 16: Da Capo Ristorante Italiano, 625 Torrington Rd., Litchfield, 860-482-6246, www.dacapolitchfield.com;

Feb. 23: DiFrancos Restaurant, 51 West St., Litchfield, 860-361-6861, www.difrancosrestaurant.com.

We began this partnership in November and plan to feature a restaurant a week throughout the school year and beyond, said Gina Scherbner, a board member and organizer of the effort.

In this time more than any other, our restaurants need our support, Scherbner said. Our students, families, volunteers and the community can help support the effort by enjoying a great meal and sharing their experience with their friends and families.

For more information, call St. John Paul the Great Academy at 860-482-4433.

This Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, file photo shows Google's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, that Microsoft was confident that it could fill the void if Google carried out its threat to remove its search engine from Australia. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

The Australian prime minister said he had a "constructive" meeting on Thursday with the head of Google after the tech giant threatened to remove its search engine from Australia over plans to make digital platforms pay for news.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison also welcomed the support of Google rival Microsoft, which has touted Australia's proposed laws that would make Google and Facebook pay as an example for the rest of the world.

Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google, initiated the online meeting with Morrison to discuss the draft laws that were introduced to Parliament in December.

"I thought it was a constructive meeting," Morrison said. "I think I've been able to send them the best possible signals that should give them a great encouragement to engage with the process."

Google regional director Mel Silva told a Senate hearing last month that the company would likely make its search engine unavailable in Australia if the so-called News Media Bargaining Code forced Google and Facebook to pay for Australian news.

Google has not explained how Australians would be excluded or from what services.

A Senate committee will report to the government on its review of the draft legislation on Feb. 12.

Morrison said he was clear with Pichai that "Australia sets the rules for how these things operate."

People walk past the Microsoft offices in Sydney, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Microsoft says it supports Australia's plans to make the biggest digital platforms pay for news and would help small businesses transfer their advertising to Bing if Google quits the country. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

"We discussed some of the specifics of elements of the code and they raised those matters, I think, very respectfully," Morrison said. "But I think we've been able to get that into a much more positive space about the ability to continue to provide services here in Australia."

Google declined to comment on the meeting.

While Google and Facebook have condemned the legislation as unworkable, Microsoft President Brad Smith said his business would be willing to pay for news if its search engine increased Australian market share.

The law would initially only apply to Google and Facebook, but the government could add other platforms in the future if Google abandoned Australia.

Although Bing is Australia's second most popular search engine, it has only a 3.6% market share. Google says it has 95%.

Smith said Microsoft would invest in Bing in Australia to improve its quality so that it would be on par with Google as it was in North America and Britain.

"This is an opportunity, whether people use Bing or not, to put a stake in the ground to support the importance of news and publishing and rectify what is ... a real imbalance, say, between search and technology and traditional news," Smith told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"We applaud the government for taking this kind of step. I think it's needed, not just in Australia but in other places too," he added.

Technology was having two "adverse effects on the health of democracy"spreading disinformation and sapping the economic foundation of news media, he said.

Explore further Australian prime minister says Bing could replace Google

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Pa. COVID-19 mask mandate will be lifted by June 28 or sooner

Pennsylvania announced Thursday that the commonwealth will eliminate its mask mandates by June 28 as COVID-19 cases drop and vaccinations increase.
NEW YORK and NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Finn Partners today promotes Nicole Cottrill to Senior Partner and Health Provider Services Group Head. The promotion recognizes her outstanding ability to mobilize toward client urgencies within a complex and quickly evolving health environment. In this newly created position, Cottrill will serve as senior counselor for the agency's clients within the healthcare provider sector including hospitals and health systems, physician practices, long-term and post-acute care providers, and specialists in areas including oncology and behavioral health. She will report jointly to Gil Bashe, managing partner, Global Health Practice, and Beth Courtney, managing partner, FINN Southeast.

Finn Partners' Nicole Cottrill steps up to Senior Partner, Health Practice, and US Health Provider Services Group Head, expanding her role in the provider sector of health communications, one of FINNs global health priority areas Nicole Cottrill, Finn Partners, is promoted to Senior Partner, Health Practice and US Health Provider Services Group Head.

Recognized as US Healthcare Agency of the Year by HITMC and a top four PRovoke Media global healthcare agency, the Finn Partners Health Practice is among the agency's largest and fastest-growing divisions. Nashville, the nation's health services capital, is the southeastern hub for Finn Partners, where Cottrill formerly served as Senior Partner and Health Group co-lead. Contributing an overall local economic benefit of $46.7 billion annually, the health industry is Nashville's largest economic driver, and Cottrill has played a major role in developing the reputation and growth of the agency's health team there.

"The pandemic has brought the multiple communications challenges facing this nation's fragmented health ecosystem to the fore," said Bashe. "Nicole is recognized by health provider executives for addressing those challenges with proven ability to elevate institutional thought leadership, champion brand and economic value, manage complex crises, and address how provider organizations must serve as beacons of patient care under all conditions."

Cottrill joined Finn Partners in 2015 with the acquisition of Seigenthaler Public Relations, Inc., where she had been a partner for two years. As co-lead of FINN Southeast's health group, her knowledge of provider organizational structure, institutional reimbursement, and state and federal public health policies made her a highly sought-after counselor.

"It's an honor to work with Finn Partners colleagues globally in service to clients and, most importantly, their patients," said Cottrill. "Our team brings together health insight and integrated communications skills to support providers in articulating critical issues, whether it's the importance of vaccination, addressing mental health urgencies, or rallying a team to ensure medical innovation can reach people in need."

"Our FINN Southeast Health Group has grown tremendously, and Nicole will continue to be an outstanding contributor toward this effort while taking on a leadership role across Finn Partner's global health team," said Courtney. "We are proud of Nicole and our team's exceptional commitment to client service and to reaching meaningful goals, especially during this time of unprecedented challenge for our healthcare clients."

Cottrill began her career at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. In 1999, She joined a Boston-based public relations firm Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications where she rose to vice president, Healthcare and Science Practice Group. A family move to Nashville in 2006 led her to reunite with former Boston colleague Amy Seigenthaler, now managing partner, Finn Partners, who had returned to her home city to co-lead Seigenthaler Public Relations with her sister Beth Courtney. Honoring her many industry achievements, Nashville Medical News named Cottrill one of the city's "Women to Watch" in 2019.

About Finn Partners, Inc.

Founded in 2011 on the core principles of innovation and collaborative partnership, FINN Partners has more than quadrupled in size in nine years, becoming one of the fastest growing independent public relations agencies in the world. The full-service marketing and communications company's record setting pace is a result of organic growth and integrating new companies and new people into the FINN world through a common philosophy. With almost 800 professionals, FINN provides clients with global access and capabilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia. In addition, FINN provides its clients with access to top tier agencies around the world through its membership in the global network PROI. Headquartered in New York, FINN's other offices are located in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Hong Kong, Fort Lauderdale, Frankfurt, Jerusalem, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Nashville, Paris, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, Singapore, Southern California and Washington D.C. Find us at finnpartners.com and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @finnpartners.

SOURCE FINN Partners

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Toni Collette is shooting the upcoming Netflix series Pieces of Her in Sydney.

And the actress, 48, offered fans a glimpse of herself as protagonist Laura Oliver as she stepped out on set on Tuesday.

The Golden Globe winner left the North Ryde Holiday Inn in the city's west while filming a scene.

And... action! Toni Collette is shooting the upcoming Netflix series Pieces of Her in Sydney

Toni looked tense as she strolled out the doors of the budget hotel.

She wore a tailored outfit including blue jeans, a grey blouse and a beige jacket.

The United States of Tara star added tan-hued boots and a slim blue belt, and styled her blonde hair in a low ponytail.

New role: The actress, 48, offered fans a glimpse of herself as protagonist Laura Oliver as she stepped out on set on Tuesday

Covid safe: The Golden Globe winner wore a face mask left the North Ryde Holiday Inn in the city's west while filming a scene

Toni was flanked by several extras, and was later seen walking to her trailer on set.

According to What's On Netflix, Toni will portray Laura Oliver, who is a mother with a mysterious past life.

On surface, Laura is described as 'seemingly the perfect Southern woman, devoted to her work as a speech pathologist and to her disaffected daughter, Andy'.

Ensemble: She wore a tailored outfit including blue jeans, a grey blouse and a beige jacket

The website also states that Bella Heathcote and Lord of the Rings star David Wenham will appear.

Bella will play Laura's daughter, who goes on a journey to discover her mother's secrets. David will play Jasper Queller, a man from Laura's past life.

The series is getting plenty of buzz as it's being produced by the same company behind HBO's The Undoing and Netflix's Anatomy of a Scandal.
A private legal pratitioner, David Adu-Tutu Jnr. says former President John Dramani Mahama will lose his Presidential petition at the Supreme Court.



According to lawyer Adu-Tutu Jnr., from the way the court proceedings are going, there is no way the verdict will go in favour of the petitioner because he hasn't been able to prove nor challenge anything based on facts and evidence.



President Mahama's Witnesses



Johnson Asiedu Nketia



During the court proceedings, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia testifying for former President John Mahama faced a barrage of questions from Justice Appau, a member of the Supreme Court Panel.



Justice Appau asked: "Now, in all the figures that were mentioned and the valid votes cast and all those things, you were saying if the figures were correct, if the figures were correct, and that there were inconsistencies in the figures. I want to ask you: now, in your own calculation, what were the total valid votes cast in the presidential elections on 7 December 2020. In your own calculations.''



Mr. Asiedu Nketia replied: ''My Lord, those calculations are reserved for a meeting for us to reconcile the figures, because the 1st Respondent [EC] herself keep changing the figures.''



''Excuse me, Mr Asiedu Nketiah, help the court. You see, when you started giving evidence, you said you had representatives across the 275 constituencies. You said you put agents [there] and they were to collate the figures. You said it. Then hes asking you, that from that, what figure did you get? You'', the Judge followed up.



''My Lord, I havent brought that figure to court...My Lord, I dont have those figures here'', Mr. Asiedu Nketia further responded.



Michael Kpessa-Whyte



Dr. Michael Kpessa-Whyte, former National Service Secretariat boss on Tuesday, the second witness also mounted the witness box to testify for former President John Mahama and told the court that the Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa instructed him and another person to go and deliver a message to the former President.



He noted that they were on their way when the EC Chairperson declared President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo winner of the elections.



Dr. Michael Kpessa-Whyte however indicated that although there was an instruction from the Chairperson of Mrs. Jean Mensa to go to the former President John Mahama, he did not personally speak to her.



My Lord, the second respondent (Jean Mensa) instructed us to leave the strong room and consult with our flagbearer on some irregularities. We were looking at results coming in region by region for it to be compared with the values on the regional summary on the screen and this process never happened'', he said.



John Mahama Has Lost



Speaking on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', lawyer Adu-Tutu Jnr. stated that he noticed the petitioner has lost his case during the cross-examination of his witnesses.



In the case of Mr. Asiedu Nketia, lawyer Adu-Tutu said the moment Mr. Asiedu Nketia failed to provide the total valid votes in court exposed the hollows in the election petition.



He said; ''In law, if you want to challenge a Presidential election, it means you're challenging the validity of the election, not the validity of a declaration'', hence ''looking at how the petition is going, from the way I see, from the evidence that has been given; I think, in the end, it won't favour the NDC . . . I think we will go back and forth but at the end, they will lose . . . When I assess the proceedings, the evidence and the cross-examination, I think it will be very difficult for them to win".







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Access Bank and American Express have launched a partnership to broaden the acceptance and usage of American Express Cards in Nigeria.

The announcement places Access Bank as the first full-service bank to acquire merchants who will accept American Express Card payments in the country.

The partnership would enable American Express Card holders use their cards at a wider range of merchant locations when they spend time in Nigeria for tourism, business or visit friends and family.

International American Express Card holders will also be able to withdraw cash from Access Bank ATMs.

Also, local merchants would now have the option to accept American Express through Access Bank, thereby not only encouraging increased merchant business activity, but also offering travelling American Express Card holders the opportunity to transact using their preferred method of payment.

This new partnership is expected to broaden the acceptance of American Express payments via Access Bank as well as Access Bank ATMs and ecommerce websites nationwide.

"Many global organisations use American Express Corporate Cards as well as their employees who use these products for personal and business transactions.

"When international travel recovers, many corporate Card holders travelling to Nigeria for business are therefore likely to seek merchants that accept American Express, presenting an opportunity for those businesses that welcome the Card. "Consequently, Access Bank merchants who welcome the use of American Express cards will benefit from an additional high-spending customer base," a statement from the bank explained.

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A Senior Banking Advisor Retail Banking, Access Bank, Mr. Robert Giles, said the bank was proud to partner American Express to bring some of the best payment solutions in the world to Nigeria.

"Access Bank has the largest and most accessible ATM network in the country, a leading payments business with over 16 million card holders and a huge acceptance network both online and point of sale.

"The benefits will be immediate as soon as travel resumes. We expect significant demand for American Express acceptance in the country, and business travellers and tourists from across the globe will now be able to use the card of their choice.

"This is great news for Nigerian businesses and will help bring foreign exchange inflows into the country. We value the confidence that American Express has placed in us to significantly enhance the payment experience in our market," he added.

On her part, the Vice President EMEA Network Partnerships for American Express Vivi Galani, said: "We are pleased to be partnering with Access Bank to continue to expand the presence of American Express in Nigeria, which is an important location for our travelling card holders and a fast-growing market for commerce.

"This agreement will give international card members even more locations to use their cards in Nigeria, whether they are travelling for business or leisure, and this will be particularly important as international travel resumes.

"For local merchants, it provides the opportunity to capture more business from global card holders visiting the country."
A long-time Central New York judge has resigned after he admitted to 'keyeing' the car of a town official as payback for denying him medical coverage.

Gregory Burker, 62, a justice of the Watson Town Court in Lewis County for more than two decades, stepped down from the bench on New Year's Eve while under investigation by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.

According to a press release from the commission, Burker agreed never to seek or accept judicial office in the future.

Watson Town Court Justice Gregory Burker, from Central New York, has resigned after pleading guilty to 'keyeing' a town official's car (stock photo)

Burker was apparently angry that the town has denied his request to provide health insurance to him, so he took it out his rage on an unnamed town official's vehicle by vandalizing it in October 2020.

The veteran small-town judge was swiftly caught and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal mischief in the fourth degree on October 29.

On the same day, the committee launched the investigation into Burker's conduct, which wrapped up only after he agreed to leave his post.

Burker, who had been on the bench since 1999, submitted his resignation on December 31

'Engaging in vandalism is inimical to the role of a judge and undermines public confidence in the integrity of the courts,' stated Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian. 'It would be untenable to retain on the bench a judge who violates the very criminal laws he is sworn to administer upon others.'

Burker, who is not an attorney, had been a judge of the Watson Town Court since 1999. His current term would have expired on December 31, 2023.

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An Offaly farmer has been honoured at National Awards which this year had to be done a little differently.

John Moore of Lemrac Herd in Offaly placed joint third in the Under 80 section of the Irish Holstein Friesian Association National Herds Competition 2020. John is pictured receiving his award from his neighbour and IHFA President, PJ Kelly.

Like everything else this year, the National Herds Competition had to be done a little differently. Due to travel restrictions and Covid protocols, herds in this years competition herds were judged on production and classification. Herds were entered by their clubs on the basis of successful performance at club level the previous year.

John is a member of the Laois Offaly Club and his club mate Kevin Flynn from Laois picked up second place in the Over 80 Category.
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The head of the newly formed U.S. Army Europe and Africa command said he wants a new fires command to track and destroy long-range enemy targets on both continents.

A theater fires command is among the additional assets Gen. Chistopher Cavoli wants to bring to the region, even as the U.S. put a plan to withdraw about 12,000 troops from Germany on hold while the Pentagon conducts a long-term review of the move.

Since taking over the consolidated command in October, Cavoli has realized there are advantages to looking at security across the entire hemisphere rather than breaking it up by geographic boundaries, he said.

Read Next: Idaho National Guard Identifies 3 Soldiers Killed in Black Hawk Crash

As the former commander of U.S. Army Europe, "I had natural relationships with all of our European allies' armies," Cavoli said during an Association of the United States Army event.

"But when some of them would want to discuss their operations or their interests in Africa, I would have to kind of wave that off because that was not my area of responsibility," he said. "Now, it is. Now, I can have that conversation. ... It gives us the opportunity to think hemispherically and think across the entire hemisphere about security."

Creating a theater fires command -- which is in line with the Army's top modernization priority of long-range precision fires -- would "bring an enormous capability" to keep track of potential targets in the region and be ready to destroy them if a conflict arises, Cavoli said.

He did not give a timeline for when or where the new fires command would be created.

Cavoli said he is hopeful that the Army will follow its plan to create a multi-domain task force, or MDTF, in Europe this year, which should include soldiers with specialties to enhance a commander's ability to respond to threats across domains, including intelligence, information operations, electronic warfare, cyber and space.

The Army's first MDTF -- which emerged out of a pilot program -- is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, and focused on the Pacific region, Cavoli said.

"The capabilities that the multi-domain task force will bring ... and the expertise it will bring are going to be very, very important to updating where we plan to operate on the European continent and extend that to Africa continent," Cavoli said.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.

Related: US Halts Plans to Move 12,000 Troops Out of Germany
He resided at one point in Antioch, Illinois, Binger said. However, its my understanding that the residence or the address that his family resided at, they no longer reside there, perhaps due to some threats or concerns over their safety, but I dont know what their current address is. I think that they are, perhaps for good reason, not sharing that address.
Gov. Kay Ivey has proposed a $441 million increase in the state education budget for next year, to $7.66 billion.

Finance Director Kelly Butler explained Iveys budget proposals in a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday.

Legislators will use the governors proposals to develop education and General Fund budgets for fiscal year 2022, which starts Oct. 1.

You can see spreadsheets on the two budgets at the end of this article.

The $7.66 billion is what the governor proposed in spending from the Education Trust Fund, which is the main fund of state dollars for education. Thats 6.1% more than this fiscal year.

Iveys plan maintains a split of 73% for K-12 schools and 27% for colleges and universities.

The budget would fund a 2% cost of living raise for teachers and all education employees from pre-kindergarten through two-year colleges.

State income taxes and sales taxes are the largest sources of money for the Education Trust Fund (ETF). Revenues to the ETF increased by 2.9% in fiscal year 2020 despite the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The ETF finished the fiscal year with an ending balance of $374 million, which under state law goes to a budget stabilization fund and advancement and technology fund.

Ivey proposed a $29 million increase for the Department of Early Childhood Education, to $162 million. Most of that goes to the states pre-kindergarten program. That would add 207 classrooms with 3,726 students in pre-K across the state.

Colleges and universities would get increases in the range of 6% to 7% under Iveys budget, Butler said.

The proposed budget includes $2 million to start a prison education and treatment program at a vacant private prison in Perry County. That would be an expansion of programs offered at a facility in Columbiana.

Iveys proposal for the General Fund budget includes a 2% cost of living raise for state employees. The proposal would increase funding for the Alabama Department of Corrections by $27 million, a 5% increase. Most of that increase will go to mental health care and and medical care, Butler said. The ADOC is under federal court orders to improve mental health services as part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates in 2014.

Lawmakers began their annual session on Tuesday.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Better Plant Sciences Inc. (CSE: PLNT) (OTCQB: VEGGF) (FSE: YG3) ("Better Plant") is pleased to announce it has engaged the Thank You Merci's sales and merchandising team ("TYM") to represent Jusu Body, Jusu Life, and Jusu Juice; commencing immediately. TYM offers full-service sales representation and key account management for all channels in Canada & the USA. Better Plant already sells its wholly owned Jusu brands through its direct-to-consumer eCommerce platforms and is now augmenting those sales through retail channels.

Better Plant's Jusu Begins Expansion into U.S. Market



To view an enhanced version of this image, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6377/73630_1ca7f5e3b46df895_001full.jpg

Jusu Body consists of approximately 40 body and face products crafted from 100% plant-based ingredients. Jusu Life products include five home cleaning products with no chemicals that are also 100% plant-based. All products are available for purchase at getjusu.com. Jusu also has a proprietary line of all-natural pressed juices that are sold at the Jusu juice bar location at Cadboro Bay, Victoria and sold through direct-to-consumer platforms in Victoria, British Columbia and Calgary, Alberta.

TYM manages key accounts in the natural health and consumer packaged goods industry. The TYM team is composed of 10 experienced sales and account managers with over 16 years' experience in the natural health industry.

"We are excited to be part of the launch and expansion of JUSU into the U.S. market. We feel we can help the brand explore direct and distributor partnerships with retailers from independent stores to national chains," says TYM Founder and CEO, Lindsay Blakeman "Jusu products deliver high quality, innovative and on-trend products that we couldn't be more thrilled to represent."

Prior to founding Thank You Merci, Lindsay Blakeman worked with well-established brands such as Vega, Caulipower and Ancient Nutrition in both Canada and the U.S.

"Adding Thank You Merci's esteemed sales and merchandising teams to represent Jusu products is a strategic move based on their extensive experience in the all-natural health and consumer packaged goods industry," says Better Plant's Head of Sales, Amber Allen. "The timing could not have been better with our entry into the U.S. market, to fully capitalize on their established relationships across North America."

According to a report by Prophecy Market Insights, the global vegan beauty products market accounted for US$ 14.3 billion in 2019 and is estimated to be US$ 25.3 billion by 2029 and is anticipated to register a CAGR of 5.9%.

Jusu Life, Body and Home products are available in Canada at www.getjusu.com. For U.S. purchasing inquiries visit: www.thankyoumercisales.com.

About Better Plant Sciences Inc.

Better Plant offers plant-based products for optimum health and wellness. It is a vertically integrated company with a team whose complementary experience enables acquisition, development, manufacturing, and direct-to-consumer distribution of its products. Its all-natural products vary in use from pain treatment to disease prevention to skin care, all without chemicals or harmful ingredients. It has an extensive catalogue of over 400 proprietary product formulas. Better Plant currently has over 70 plant-based products for sale through eCommerce and/or in retail stores under the brands Jusu, Urban Juve, and Wright & Well. Better Plant also owns approximately 29.2% of NeonMind.

For more information on Better Plant, visit betterplantsciences.com or follow @betterplantsciences on Instagram.

Penny White, President & CEO

penny@betterplantsciences.com

1-833-515-2677

Investor Relations:

Alexandra Dumanski

invest@betterplantsciences.com

1-833-515-2677

Sales Inquiries:

Amber Allen

amber@betterplantsciences.com

604-808-8118

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this news release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking information and statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements") under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates, forecasts, beliefs and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited to: risks related to the development, testing, licensing, brand development, availability of packaging, intellectual property protection, reduced global commerce and reduced access to raw materials and other supplies due to the spread of COVID-19, the potential for not acquiring any rights as a result of the patent application and any products making use of the intellectual property may be ineffective or the company may be unsuccessful in commercializing them; and other approvals will be required before commercial exploitation of the intellectual property can happen. Demand for the company's products, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals where applicable, and the state of the capital markets. Better cautions readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements provided by Better, as such forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future results or performance and actual results may differ materially. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and Better expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73630

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM), Teresa Ribeiro, called on the Ukrainian authorities to find a balanced and proportional solution to counter propaganda, a solution that preserves media pluralism and diversity of opinions.

She said this during a meeting with Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk on February 3, Ukrinform reports.

"Ribeiro said that the Ukrainian authorities should find a balanced and proportional solution for countering propaganda, a solution that preserves media pluralism, free flow of information and diversity of opinions in line with relevant international standards and OSCE commitments," the report reads.

The OSCE representative expressed her concern about the sanctions that suspended the activities of TV channels 112 Ukraina, ZIK and NewsOne and requested more information from the authorities in order to fully assess the decision and the related restrictions on media freedom. Tsymbaliuk agreed to follow-up on this request.

She also offered her Offices assistance in providing expert recommendations on the issue.

The representative added that when propaganda amounts to incitement to hatred and violence, relevant measures may be applied by using existing national and international legal instruments.

Ribeiro and Tsymbaliuk also discussed the prospects for her visit to Ukraine, and agreed to engage in further discussions.

As Ukrinform reported, on February 2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky enacted the decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions against the NewsOne, ZIK and 112 Ukraine TV channels, as well as their owner, MP from the Opposition Platform  For Life party, Taras Kozak. The sanctions, among other things, provide for the revocation of licenses of these pro-Russian TV channels.

As of the morning of February 3, the broadcasting of NewsOne, ZIK and 112 Ukraine was blocked. However, their programs are broadcast on YouTube channels.

ish
Noble, an Aptar Pharma company and world leader in providing drug delivery training device programs for pharmaceutical companies and original equipment manufacturers, announced today the launch of Human Factors Plus (HF+), an expanded service to further optimize the patient self-administration experience by supporting its customers in bringing new products to market.

HF+ combines the application of human factors engineering with Nobles expertise in developing patient-centric training solutions and onboarding platforms to advance the development and testing of new self-administered medical products that optimize safety and efficacy while minimizing use errors and the risk of adverse events. The Plus in Nobles HF+ program comes from the companys extensive research and experience in understanding the needs and concerns of patients who self-administer drug therapies. In addition, Noble can provide clients with one-stop shopping through patient training devices and onboarding platforms, training utilization programs, training Instructions for Use (IFU), video programs and product launch strategy programs.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) considers human factors engineering an essential component of product development for drug delivery and medical devices and recommends making it a robust part of the design control process to maximize the likelihood that a new device will be safe and effective for its intended users and use environments. Device deficiencies can result in a delay in patients receiving otherwise effective treatment, and lost time and revenue for the sponsoring company. In the competitive medical healthcare environment, delays can also mean lost market share that is difficult to recover.

Human factors engineering provides empirical and analytical evidence that a device and its labeling can be used safely and effectively by the intended patient, said Kevin Cluff, Ph.D., senior research human factors engineer for Noble, who holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering and has more than 25 years of human factors experience. This process involves testing the numerous touch points where patients interface with a drug product, including packaging, IFUs, prescribing information, quick reference guides and device indicators and controls.

Noble is proud to be the voice of the patient and to support the patient across every stage of their journey, explained Tim McLeroy, executive director of marketing and patient services. We understand how to leverage the application of human factors engineering and we know how to build a better patient experience. Together, HF+ engineering and building a better patient experience are a powerful combination to support product development and FDA approval for our customers and their combination products.

Nobles HF+ capabilities include:



Strategic planning for regulatory approval pathways

Contextual inquiry  observation of users in their environments

Formative and summative studies  iterating usability testing and applying learnings to improve or demonstrate the user interface

Heuristic evaluations  HF expert review based on experience

Task, IFU and training analyses

Threshold analysis  systematic comparison to approved products

Use-related risk analysis  hazards, severity, harm, mitigations

Design of drug delivery and medical training devices and prototypes

The benefits of human factors engineering range from producing easier-to-use devices and better patient understanding of device use to more effective and efficient training that improves patient compliance and medical outcomes. It also helps reduce the risk of user errors, product complaints and recalls.

Nobles human factors capabilities broaden the existing range of value-added benefits from Aptar Pharma Services. These new services also complement Nobles expertise in conceptualization, design and development, mechanical/electrical/software engineering, project management, quality management, manufacturing, commercialization and logistics services, as well.

About Noble

Noble develops robust training devices and onboarding solutions for the worlds top pharma brands and biotech companies and is focused on fostering healthy patient outcomes for those who self-administer drug therapies. Noble manufactures and commercializes training devices that mimic the exact feel, force and function of drug delivery devices such as autoinjectors, prefilled syringes, onbody, nasal and pulmonary devices in order to increase patient adherence and confidence and decrease usage errors. Noble was founded in 1994 and is based in Orlando, Florida. For more information, visit http://www.gonoble.com.

Noble is an Aptar Pharma Company, which is part of AptarGroup, Inc., a global leader in the design and manufacturing of a broad range of innovative drug delivery, consumer product dispensing and active packaging solutions that serve a variety of end markets including pharmaceutical, beauty, personal care, home, food and beverage. For more information, visit http://www.aptar.com.
The Biden Administration indicated on Wednesday that it would have a different approach in addressing the challenges posed by Russia and China, with the latter being with the help of its friends and allies.

"On China, the president's view and the administration's view is that we need to work with our allies, we need to work with our partners to align on how we are going to approach our relationship with China," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference.

"We need to approach that relationship from a position of strength. There are obviously key components of that relationship, there are economic, there are strategic," she said when asked about the differences in the approaches of dealing with China and Russia.

"I think on Russia, his (Biden's) call to (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin...is clear evidence of exactly that. When he called President Putin, he did not hold back. He made clear that while there are areas where we can work together -- say, New START -- which is in the interest of the security of the United States.

"He has concerns about a number of areas of their reported interference, whether it is in elections, in the hacking of the United States -- the SolarWinds hacking, I should say -- reports of bounties on American troops. There is an ongoing review that is happening, which he also stated in that conversation," Psaki said.

Biden, she said, has certainly spoken with a number of European allies about a range of issues of mutual interest including Russia. "In terms of what sanctions options may exist or what options, in terms of a response, may exist, the president, of course, reserves the right to respond in the manner and course of his choosing at any point in time," she said.

"But we are going to let this review complete and then our policy teams will make decisions about any specific steps they will take in response," she added.

On Wednesday, the US and the Russian Federation completed the necessary legal procedures to extend the New START Treaty for five years.

"Extending the New START Treaty for five years ensures we have verifiable limits on Russian ICBMs, SLBMs and heavy bombers through February 4 of 2026, avoiding a potentially unconstrained nuclear arms race," State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference.

New START limits every Russian nuclear warhead that is loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can reach the US in approximately 30 minutes. The US will use the time provided by the five-year extension of the New START Treaty to pursue with the Russian Federation, in consultation with Congress and its allies and partners, arms control that addresses all Russian nuclear weapons, he said.

"As we engage Russia in ways that advance American interests, we can also remain clear-eyed about the challenges that Russia poses. Even as we work with Russia to advance US interests, so too will we hold Russia to account for its reckless and adversarial behaviour," Price said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Queensland has no plans to close its border to Victoria but has advised residents not to travel to greater Melbourne after a hotel quarantine worker in the city tested positive for COVID-19, sending hundreds of Australian Open players and staff into isolation.

Tighter restrictions have been imposed in Melbourne and up to 600 players, officials and staff at the tennis event have been quarantined after a 26-year-old quarantine worker tested positive.

Melbournes Grand Hyatt hotel, where a person infected with COVID-19 worked late last month while Australian Open competitors were in quarantine. Credit:Paul Jeffers

Victoria has so far avoided a full lockdown, as ordered in Perth and Brisbane after similar outbreaks in recent weeks.

While holding off introducing border restrictions with Melbourne, Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young has warned against travel to the southern city in case the situation deteriorated further.
NORTHBROOK, Ill. and BOSTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Astellas announced the expansion of its Top Management to include two new positions today, both of which will report directly to Chief Executive Officer Kenji Yasukawa and serve as part of Astellas' global executive committee:

Astellas US President Percival Barretto-Ko was promoted to Chief Business Officer, focused on leading the company's new corporate strategic plan and enhancing Astellas' external and internal innovation.

was promoted to Chief Business Officer, focused on leading the company's new corporate strategic plan and enhancing Astellas' external and internal innovation. Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine President Yoshitsugu Shitaka was promoted to Chief Scientific Officer, with responsibility for operations and the expansion of Astellas' drug discovery research program platforms. He will also serve as Astellas' President of its Drug Discovery Research (DDR) organization.

In Barretto-Ko's new role, he will oversee Business Development, Advanced Informatics & Analytics, Intellectual Property: Innovation and New Technologies, Patient Centricity, Information Systems, iota Biosciences, Rx+ Business Accelerator, and a newly established Transformation Office, that will drive the execution of Astellas' new Corporate Strategic Plan. Barretto-Ko has been President of Astellas US since 2018. During his tenure, the US organization achieved record-breaking performance for three consecutive years with double-digit annual growth. He originally joined Astellas in 2005 in its EMEA headquarters and has held multiple leadership roles in strategy, commercial, business development, government affairs, and international markets.

"I am honored to lead the execution of Astellas' strategy during these exciting times in the growth of the organization," said Barretto-Ko. "As we embark upon a new Corporate Strategic Plan, it is my goal to continue and further implement Astellas' corporate vision of turning innovative science into value for patients."

In Shitaka's new role, he will oversee all internal and external collaborations involving company functions essential to creating innovative medicines to advance Astellas' Focus Area approach. As the president of DDR, he will also be responsible for the expansion of the various drug discovery research program platforms at Astellas laboratories around the world. Shitaka joined Astellas as a pharmacology researcher in 1996 and has since served as Executive Director, Frontier Disease Research Unit, Research Portfolio & Science, and as Executive Director, New Product Science Strategy, Product & Portfolio Strategy. Since 2016, he has been contributing to the progress of the cell therapy business as President of the Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AIRM).

"Astellas was built on providing value and innovation for patients, and I believe the groundbreaking research we are doing into our Primary Focus Areas across the globe is among the most forward-looking in our entire industry," said Shitaka. "I am grateful and excited for the opportunity to lead and expand our research and innovation activities to continue to address significant unmet needs for patients."

New Leadership Named for US Business and Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AIRM)

Mark Reisenauer will succeed Barretto-Ko as President, US. Reisenauer was previously Senior Vice President, Oncology business unit. In his new role, Reisenauer will be responsible for the operations for Astellas Pharma across the US and report to Chief Commercial Officer Yukio Matsui.

Since joining Astellas in 2011 as Vice President of Oncology Sales and Marketing, Reisenauer's leadership has yielded the fastest-growing franchise in Astellas' US portfolio. During his tenure, Astellas' oncology sales grew from less than 10 percent of sales to approximately 50 percent of US sales, and ultimately led to EvaluatePharma citing Astellas as an oncology company to watch  anticipating being in the top 10 of all oncology companies by 2024. Prior to joining Astellas, Reisenauer held various leadership positions at AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pharmacia, Abbott and Micromet.

As a part of these transitions within Astellas US, Senior Vice President of US Medical Specialties Steve Sabus was appointed as Senior Vice President of the Oncology business; Senior Vice President of Health Systems Shontelle Dodson was appointed as Senior Vice President of the Medical Specialties business unit.

Masahide [Hide] Goto will succeed Shitaka as President, Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AIRM). Headquartered in Westborough, Mass., AIRM is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Astellas and serves as the Company's global hub for regenerative medicine and cell therapy research and manufacturing in ophthalmology and other therapeutic areas that have few or no available treatment options. Goto will report to Shitaka in this new role.

Dr. Goto joined Astellas as a researcher in molecular medicine in 1997 and previously served mainly as Senior Director, Biologics, Modality Research Laboratory; as Executive Director, Candidate Discovery Research Unit 3, Candidate Discovery Science Laboratory; and as Executive Director, Eye & Ear Virtual Venture Unit.

About Astellas

Astellas is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. For more information on Astellas, please visit our website at www.astellas.com/us . You can also follow us on Twitter at @AstellasUS, Facebook at www.facebook.com/AstellasUS or LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/astellas-pharma-us .

SOURCE Astellas
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Senator Kiko Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party, on Thursday said the political party is still considering fielding Vice President Leni Robredo as their presidential candidate in the 2022 elections.

Robredo is the partys highest-ranking official. Pangilinan, however, said nothing is final yet.

But she herself has said wala siyang desisyon (she hasnt made a decision to run). Marami pang puwede mangyari (A lot can happen)," Pangilinan said in a media briefing.

"But in the meantime, let us just focus on how we can help address this pandemic and economic crisis, he added.

I understand there are already some groups who are already discussing 2022," Pangilinan continued. "Okay iyon (That is okay), let them start. Sa atin naman (To us), ultimately, 2022 is all about voters. So tayo sa Liberal Party, tuloy tuloy lang recruitment sa baba (We, in the Liberal Party, our recruitment on the ground is ongoing).

Earlier this week, supporters of Robredo launched an online petition urging her to run for president in 2022. The campaign in change.org called "I am ready for Leni" has so far gathered support from over 17,000 signatories.

Meanwhile, supporters of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte also initiated their own campaigns to urge her to vie for the presidency. She, however, clarified that she is not interested to run in next years presidential poll.

Pangilinan said the Liberal Party would rather focus for now on the problems hounding the country. He noted Robredo too is focused on helping those who are affected by the pandemic, the rising prices of basic commodities, and natural disasters.

Hopefully, if we are able to show a good performance, then voters will remember that and will support us," the senator explained. "Iyon ang ginagawa natin sa ngayon. Tutukan itong COVID response as best as we can. Pagtulungan natin dahil iyan naman ang concern ng ating mga kababayan at itong mga economic issues. Ito muna harapin natin. Political issues can wait.

[Translation: We are focusing on our COVID response as best as we can. Lets work on that together because the COVID-19 response and economic issues are the concerns of our fellow Filipinos. Lets deal with these issues first.]

Register to vote, Filipinos urged

Pangilinan also called on the public to register to be able to vote in the 2022 elections, citing Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzons statement that so far, only one million Filipinos have registered - far from the expected four million new voters.

Alam ko mahirap pagka-COVID pero ang ibang bansa naman nagagawa," he pointed out. "Theres no reason why we cant do it.

[Translation: I know it is difficult [to register] because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but other countries have done it.]

The Comelec is considering several adjustments for the next elections as the pandemic drags on, including prohibiting face-to-face campaigns.

Pangilinan said he will file a resolution for the Senate to look into the readiness of Comelec to hold the 2022 elections.
Egypt has been elected to lead the United Nation (UN) Peacebuilding Commission for the first time, succeeding Canada, as Cairo seeks to focus on engaging all actors to prioritise impact in the support of national peacebuilding objectives.

According to an official statement by the foreign ministry, Mohamed Edrees, Egypts permanent representative to the UN, said Egypts election to lead the commissions 15th session was a successful outcome of Egyptian diplomacy over a decade and a half in supporting the structure of the UN for peacebuilding since its establishment in 2005.

The election results attest to the confidence of the UN and Africa in Egypts capability to continue contributing effectively to bolster the role of the commission, he added.

Egypt assumes the chairmanship in the wake of the successful conclusion of the third five-year comprehensive review process of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture, Edrees said as he outlined the bodys work plan for 2021, according to a separate press release by the UN.

He said that Egypt remains fully committed as an African country to ensure the United Nations peacebuilding architecture remains engaged on the continent, highlighting that the commission worked in support of 15 country and region-specific contexts, including 12 in Africa in 2020.

On the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, we believe that the commission is best placed to mobilise support for recovery efforts in countries affected by conflicts.

Edrees said he aims to further boost the commissions role in building back better, while ensuring sustained financing for peacebuilding as a high priority for the commissions ability and effectiveness.

Egypt is also very keen to continue to promote and expand the commissions partnerships with regional and subregional organisations and international financial institutions, with a view to ensure more efficiency and coherence in support of peacebuilding efforts, he said.

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Liberty U. apologizes for on-campus snowball fight that didnt follow COVID-19 rules

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Liberty University Acting President Jerry Prevo has apologized for participating in and organizing an on-campus snowball fight this week in which participants were photographed without facemasks or social distancing.

Prevo explained in a statement posted to Libertys website on Tuesday that as snow fell on much of the East Coast this week, he encouraged students at the Lynchburg, Virginia-based evangelical institution to participate in a large snowball fight on campus Sunday.

I messed up, stated the schools acting president, who took over after the departure of the controversial former president, Jerry Fallwell Jr., last year.

We did not think through or communicate the need to wear facial coverings and remain 6 feet apart in compliance with Virginia Governors Executive Orders for the suppression of the spread of COVID-19 or even our own COVID-19 Operations Plan. And the size of the group was not in compliance either.

According to Prevo, the school failed to enforce the guidelines that we have followed routinely and sincerely for these many months. He added that the snowball fight was not done with a heart of defiance.

I and my leadership team apologize for not leading our students to abide by COVID-19 protocols during this event, he continued. I am truly sorry for how this activity may put our students and university in a negative light.

Prevo also explained that the university also removed social media posts related to the snowball fight.

We hope to foster more fun and excitement for our students in the days ahead, but we will do so while abiding by our health and safety protocols, concluded the administrator.

There is a set of guidelines and practices'' listed for on-campus students on Liberty's website. Among those guidelines are mandatory face mask-wearing at student gatherings, the social distancing of at least six feet, washing hands often, covering coughs and sneezes and monitoring ones health daily.

In response to the snowball fight on campus, some Lynchburg residents raised concerns about the event and the virus's potential spread to local health officials, The Lynchburg News & Advance reported. The local newspaper reported that there were at least 118 complaints related to Liberty lodged with the Central Virginia Health District since Sunday.

As following the public health guidelines is essential to containing this pandemic, we share the complainants concerns about the potential for COVID transmission and are consulting the [Virginia Department of Health] central office on our response, population health manager Lindsey Lockewood told the News & Advance in an email, adding that it is unclear when health officials will take action over the alleged violations of safety protocols.

In March of last year, Liberty received media scrutiny when it announced that thousands of students could return to campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic and government lockdowns.

Then-President Falwell explained at the time that the institution was confident that the campus would be safe from an outbreak and that they intended to adhere to public health guidelines.

So we're really not operating as a university, except online. Im just thankful we have the resources and cooperation of our staff so we are well equipped to do this, stated Falwell last year.

While some colleges basically threw their hands up and just shut down and left the problem for somebody else to deal with, Liberty's executive staff rolled their sleeves up.

In response to New York Times stories claiming that allowing students back on campus resulted in multiple students contracting the coronavirus, Liberty sued the news publication and accused it of defamation.
VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - February 4, 2021 - Dr. Roger McIntyre, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Champignon Brands Inc. today announces changes to the Champignon Board of Directors ("Champignon" or the "Company") (CSE: SHRM) (FWB: 496) (OTCQB: SHRMF).

Bill Wilkerson, LL. D. (Hon), appointed to the Board of Directors of Champignon on May 22, 2020, and elected Vice-Chair of the Board on September 14, 2020, after completing his six-month commitment to Champignon, has retired from the Board. "We thank Dr. Wilkerson for the guidance and the expertise that he brought to Champignon," said Dr. Roger McIntyre. "His sage counsel has served us well and we appreciate his dedication and active participation in preparing Champignon for its successful future."

Joining the Champignon Board is Olga M. Cwiek. Olga is an experienced and effective practitioner of good governance. She served as a senior television executive at CBC and CTV specializing in television program acquisitions, labour and performer contract negotiations and design/administration of human resources policies and practices including human rights protections and enforcement.

Upon leaving the broadcast industry, Ms. Cwiek turned to governance in the health sector, serving for more than a decade as a member of the Board of Directors of the Homewood which oversaw its subsidiaries including Homewood Health Centre, internationally recognized provider of mental health care. Ms. Cwiek served both as a member of the Finance and the HR and Governance Committees of the Board.

Dr. McIntyre continued, "We are very pleased to welcome Ms. Olga Cwiek to our Board. She is known for her focus on decision-making modes, governance systems and procedures, the role of board committees, written guidelines for ethics in management including conflicts of interests, harassment, confidentiality, budgeting and guidelines for future acquisitions. Champignon will be well-served with this expertise."

Most recently Ms. Cwiek has served as a Chairperson of the Board of Directors and President of Port Hope's Capitol Theatre For The Performing Arts, designated a National Historic Site during her tenure. In other governance roles Ms. Cwiek served on the board of Ontario Heart and Stroke Foundation and volunteered as HR adviser to Kid's Help Phone.

Champignon Brands Inc. ( https://champignonbrands.com ) is a research-driven company specializing in breakthrough ketamine treatment for depression and other mental health conditions. The Company works closely with subsidiaries including AltMed Capital Corp. ("AltMed"). The Canadian Rapid Treatment Center of Excellence is wholly owned by AltMed.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Dr. Roger S. McIntyre"

Dr. Roger S. McIntyre, Chairman & CEO

Call emergency medical services immediately if you believe you are experiencing a medical emergency. Do not rely on communication through the Champignon Brands website of the emails/telephone numbers above for urgent medical needs. Champignon Brands Inc. does not provide medical advice. If you have any specific medical questions or are seeking advice, please consult with your health care provider.

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release.

Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations, or beliefs of future performance are "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events, or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the Company's requirements for additional financing, and the effect of capital market conditions and other factors on capital availability, the Company's limited operating history and lack of historical profits; competition; failure of treatments to provide the expected health benefits; unanticipated side effects; dependence on obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals, including acquiring and renewing federal, provincial, state, municipal, local or other licenses; developments and changes in laws and regulations, including increased regulation of the Company's industries and the capital markets; economic and financial conditions; volatility in the capital markets; engaging in activities that could be later determined to be illegal under domestic or international laws; failure to obtain the necessary shareholder, government or regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE; and failure to retain, secure and maintain key personnel and strategic partnerships including but not limited to executives, researchers, clinicians, customers and suppliers. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other risk factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which are available at www.sedar.com. 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 has no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, even if new information becomes available.

SOURCE Champignon Brands Inc.

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That struck some in Brussels as rich, given that last September, Mr. Johnson threatened to override Britains landmark treaty with the European Union, in violation of international law, if the two sides failed to strike a trade deal.

At home, the prime minister lost no time in wielding the vaccine issue as a club against his political rivals. On Wednesday, in the House of Commons, Mr. Johnson mocked the Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, for saying he wished Britain had remained in the European Medicines Agency, which has been slower to approve vaccines than Britains health regulator.

Mr. Starmer dismissed the claim as nonsense before admitting later that he had once said Britain would be better off staying under European regulators (though he noted that this was not the position of his party).

Britain, legal experts pointed out, would have had the authority to approve vaccines just as fast even if it were still in the European Union, though it would have had less political leeway to act alone.

Still, it was a damaging retreat for Mr. Starmer, one that set off alarm bells in the Labour Partys ranks. Mr. Johnsons Conservative Party has kept a modest lead over Labour in polls, despite his governments handling of the pandemic, which has been marked by delays, reversals and mixed messages.

Britain recently passed 100,000 deaths, the highest toll of any European country. For now, though, voters appear more focused on the vaccine rollout, which reached a milestone this week of 10 million people getting first doses.

While much of the credit for the rapid distribution should go to Britains National Health Service, according to experts, it is also a tribute to the governments early investment in promising vaccines, like one produced by Oxford and AstraZeneca.
Addressing a conclave, Singh said that many IOR countries are developing new technologies which can be jointly harnessed through regional cooperation efforts

Bengaluru: India is ready to supply various weapons systems, including missiles and electronic warfare systems, to countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday.

Delivering his keynote address at the IOR Defence Ministers' Conclave, he said organising a conclave of countries in the IOR on the margins of the international event "Aero India-2021" shows the importance India attaches to the vision of common growth and stability, and constructive engagements with them.

"Our efforts are to synergise the resources and efforts in the Indian Ocean, including, defence Industry industrial cooperation amongst participating countries," Singh said.

Many of the IOR countries are becoming globally competitive and are developing new technologies, including defence shipyards for design and shipbuilding, which can be jointly harnessed through regional cooperation efforts, the Minister said.

He said the Indian aerospace and defence industries present an attractive and significant opportunity for foreign companies across the supply chain to take their cooperation to newer levels.

"India is ready to supply various types of Missile systems, Light Combat Aircrafts/Helicopters, Multi-Purpose Light Transport aircraft, Warship and Patrol Vessels, Artillery Gun systems, Tanks, Radars, Military Vehicles, Electronic Warfare Systems and other weapons systems to IOR countries," he said.
A woman arrested during Denver law enforcements investigation into an intentionally set fire in Green Valley Ranch last August that killed five people has pled not guilty to drug trafficking and weapons charges.

She faces a minimum of 10 years in prison if convicted, and has been denied bail while she waits for trial.

The arrest of 23-year-old Tanya Bui stemmed from the polices investigation of the arson. Although she has not yet been charged with crimes tied to the fire, prosecutors said at a hearing Wednesday afternoon they have been told related charges against her are "forthcoming."

Evidence suggests her involvement in perhaps the arson's planning and with the teenagers charged afterward as well, prosecutors said in court Wednesday.

Among the charges Bui currently faces are possession of less than 50 kilograms of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of 40 grams or more of a substance containing fentanyl with intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm connected to a drug trafficking crime.

Prosecutors said Bui faces a minimum of 10 years in prison for the charges.

The fire in Green Valley Ranch killed Djibril Diol and Adja Diol, both immigrants from Senegal, and their two-year-old daughter Khadija. Djibrils sister Hassan Diol and her infant daughter, Hawa Baye, also died in the blaze.

Last week, Denver Police announced the arrest of three teenage boys in connection with the deadly fire. Two have been charged as adults and identified as Kevin Bui and Gavin Seymour, both 16. The third suspect, who is 15, remains unidentified, but prosecutors have requested to transfer his case from juvenile court to district court.

At Tanya Bui's hearing Wednesday, prosecutors identified Kevin Bui as her brother.

The records identify a cell phone used by Kevin Bui registered in Tanya Bui's name and paid for by her. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Kevin Bui was also involved in selling drugs.

They also referenced a gun possessed by Kevin Bui he allegedly declined to sell, according to a conversation between Tanya Bui and an alleged customer on Aug. 6, the day after the fire. Prosecutors said footage captured by a neighbor's surveillance camera the night of the fire appears to show one of the teenagers holding a firearm.

At Wednesday's hearing, prosecutors said they have not seen evidence to support Tanya Bui's claims that she works at her father's accounting firm and that she is a college student. Mix noted she finds it suspicious that Tanya Bui owns a Lexus and a Tesla even though she does not have reported income from "legitimate" sources.

Much of the evidence against Tanya Bui of her alleged drug and gun trafficking activities cited in the initial criminal complaint comes from her social media accounts, and prosecutors also pointed to her tattoos and style of long manicured nails frequently visible in photos of her allegedly holding drugs and guns.

Tanya Bui first appeared in court last Friday, and she has been detained since then.
BOSTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Buoy Health , the AI-powered healthcare navigation platform, today announced the launch of its behavioral science-informed vaccine tool, guiding employers and employees through the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Buoy's tool can be accessed within its Back With Care  and digital care navigation platforms.

Recent data shows less than half of American adults are interested in getting the COVID-19 vaccine, however, more than one million Americans are getting vaccinated every day. This places employers in a sticky situation as the country is slowly but surely trekking towards herd immunity , to find a solution that can help effectively guide their employee populations through the complicated vaccine rollout and safely reopen workplaces.

"During the pandemic, we have witnessed a monumental responsibility shift within the healthcare industry as employers have become de facto public health leaders, with the majority of COVID-19 education, strategy and response efforts falling on the shoulders of HR and benefits teams," said Andrew Le, MD, CEO and co-founder of Buoy Health. "Today, employer trust is at an all-time high, which presents organizational leaders with an important, yet challenging opportunity to safely and effectively guide employees through the vaccine rollout. At Buoy, we see the vaccine as the most viable path to 'returning to normal' based on the available science, and we're committed to continuing to support our partners in the most thoughtful way as they look to safely reopen."

Buoy's Vaccine Tool and Reporting Dashboard

Buoy's vaccine tool and reporting dashboard was built, and will continue to evolve alongside updated guidelines from the FDA and CDC, with extensive insight and direction from the industry-leading behavioral scientists and bioethicists that make up Buoy's Back With Care Advisory Board. By offering a scientific approach to help employers successfully maneuver the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, the vaccine tool is designed to:

Provide insight into employees' interest and progress in getting vaccinated

Help organizational leaders leverage these insights to develop targeted communication strategies and plan for workplace staffing

Communicate critical information clearly and fairly to mitigate vaccine hesitancy and support employee choice through the vaccine process, regardless of whether or not they plan to get vaccinated

Along with the Buoy team, offer strategic guidance and consulting to help ensure vaccine rollout initiatives are serving each organization's personalized workplace reopening plan

Employee/Employer Experience

The experience begins with an employee-facing screener that is meticulously designed using insights from behavioral science. The tool applies well-established principles including strong defaults (e.g. asking "when" not "if" an employee plans to get vaccinated), implementation intentions , and goal gradient that retain employees' autonomy while encouraging honesty and healthy behaviors. This experience is supplemented with innovative and engaging educational content modules that help ensure vaccine-hesitant employees are armed with the right information to make the best decisions for their health, vaccine dosage reminders (when relevant), and navigation to resources that show where and when employees can get vaccinated. In addition, employer-specific guidance and links can be set up for each stage in the process, ensuring fair and careful messaging with significant flexibility as employers adapt their strategies throughout the coming year. Buoy's tool carefully takes into consideration the following during the initial employee intent screening and engagement:

Priming for honesty

Providing choice while setting up healthy default options

Encouraging users to make a plan for vaccination

Tracking progress toward the goal of immunization with key information at each step

Employers are presented with a real-time dashboard that reports macro and micro views into employee populations, including employee desire to get vaccinated and vaccine status. Working with Buoy, employers can leverage these insights to develop a targeted communication strategy and data-driven reopening plan in line with business continuity efforts.

"Buoy has fully embraced this blended model of experience design and behavioral science, creating a tool that not only encourages and supports employee vaccination through science-based behavior change techniques, but also respects employees' autonomy," said Julie Miller, PhD, senior behavioral scientist, The Center for Advanced Hindsight, Duke University. "This thoughtful approach has major benefits to both the employer, helping them to gather accurate insights into their workforce and inspire their employees to make healthy choices, as well as to the employee, by supporting them and informing them at every step of the process. Every detail has been considered for maximizing both usability and impact."

To learn more about Buoy's vaccine tool, register for our webinar, "The Nudge to Vaccinate: Using Choice Architecture to Combat Employee Hesitancy," featuring Chantell Sell Reagan, Pharm.D., Director, National Pharmacy Community Clinical Leader of Willis Towers Watson, on Feb. 23 at noonET, or visit this website .

About Buoy Health

Buoy is a Boston-based digital health company that uses AI technology to provide personalized clinical support the moment an individual has a health concern. Developed out of the Harvard Innovation Labs by a team of doctors and data scientists, Buoy navigates people through the healthcare system intelligently, delivering triage at scale, and connecting them with the right care endpoints at the right time based on self-reported symptoms. For more information, please visit www.buoy.com .

SOURCE Buoy Health, Inc.

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BEIJING, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wednesday marks "Lichun", the first solar term of the year, considered the beginning of spring. As a Chinese saying goes, "the whole year's work depends on a good start in spring."

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Wednesday visited Qianxi County in southwest China's Guizhou Province ahead of the Chinese New Year.

February 12 signifies the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Various folk activities are held across the country to welcome the New Year.

On the public square of Huawu Village in an ethnic Miao Township, Xi talked to villagers who were participating in festive activities, and extended his New Year's greetings to people of all ethnic groups across the country.

A model of poverty alleviation

Guizhou, which used to be a provincial-level region with the biggest population of poor people, has lifted more than 9 million people out of poverty since 2012 with the gross domestic product (GDP) topping 1.78 trillion yuan (276 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020.

On Wednesday afternoon, Xi visited Qianxi County, Bijie City where he inspected the ecological environment of a major tributary of the Wujiang River and visited local residents in Huawu Village.

The village is a case in point in the nation's massive poverty relief endeavor. It was lifted out of poverty in 2019.

Bijie, tucked deep in the karst mountains of Guizhou, used to be one of China's most impoverished cities.

Backed by the central government and other state organs, the city cultivated the land first, turning barren mountains into a luscious green.

Then under the guidance of experts, villagers started to develop agriculture, breeding industry and rural tourism.

Bijie has turned confrontation with nature into a win-win result and managed to rise above the poverty line.

President Xi has called Bijie's success story "a model of China's poverty alleviation drive."

A major victory

Amid COVID-19, China has accomplished its tasks for winning the battle against poverty and met the UN's poverty alleviation goal 10 years ahead of schedule.

Through eight years of sustained work, China has lifted all rural poor population under the current standard out of poverty with nearly 100 million poor people shaking off poverty.

China has removed all poor counties from the poverty list, and eradicated absolute poverty and regional poverty.

Poverty alleviation has always been a primary concern for President Xi, who reiterated that "no single poor area or individual shall be left behind."

Original article: here.

VideoA - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_izD48fET7g
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For weeks, Robert Rubbo, head of the Torrington Area Health District, has been fielding calls from anxious seniors trying to schedule their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Residents began scheduling appointments for their second Moderna shot in mid-January, but there werent enough appointments to accommodate everyone. So Rubbo has re-routed his staff and recruited additional volunteers to nearly double the appointments in his three weekly clinics.

We were getting a lot of phone calls. People were concerned  they couldnt find appointments for the second dose, he said. We felt the need to try and open this up to help them out. We didnt want them to get left out there without a clinic.

Its a problem playing out across the state, as some seniors have received first doses without being able to schedule a second. Besides stoking fears among residents that they wont get their second vaccination in the proper time frame, the scheduling issue is giving the state inventory headaches.

Making matters worse, Connecticuts vaccine providers are interpreting international, federal and state guidance differently as they determine how closely they want to stick to the original second-dose timeframe outlined by Pfizer and Moderna. Providers are also following different policies on the scheduling of second doses  some allow residents to schedule them when they receive the initial shot, as the state Department of Public Health recommends, but others dont, leaving people to fend for themselves.

And when residents book their second doses at clinics where they did not get their first vaccine, inventories can get stretched thin.

State data confirm that the rollout of second doses hasnt been perfect, but officials say they understand the glitches and are working to fix them.

How much time should go by between doses?

When seniors have trouble scheduling a second vaccine, the question of timing can quickly become a concern. What if they miss the window?

The state is caught in a delicate balancing act between communicating evolving public health guidance and allaying fears.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has indicated that people should get their Moderna second doses after four weeks and Pfizer second doses after three weeks from the initial shot, though it also has said that people can wait up to six weeks to get their second dose if the recommended timeframe is not feasible. The World Health Organization agrees.

Pfizer said it does not have data on immunity for those who receive their second dose after 21 days. The company did not say the vaccine is ineffective beyond that window, but a spokeswoman for Pfizer said she doesnt have information on how effective it might be.

The state Department of Public Healths spokeswoman Maura Fitzgerald on Jan. 21 responded to second dose concerns from local officials on a private message board set up by the state.

They shouldnt worry about the window for the second app[ointmen]t. The 21 day or 28 day is the EARLIEST they should get a second dose. There is no deadline for the second dose, she wrote. We want them to get it as soon as they can, but theres no harm if they have to wait.

We always follow the CDC guidance, and so does the Connecticut Department of Public Health, said Stephen Mansfield, director of the Ledge Light Health District, which covers a cluster of southeastern Connecticut towns, including East Lyme, Groton and Ledyard.

Right now, the most recent guidance is that if somebody gets vaccinated, say with Moderna on Jan. 1, then 28 days later, theyre eligible for the second vaccination. But theres about a two-week window after that, where they believe the vaccine is just as efficacious. So were encouraging people not to get too wound up if they dont get their vaccine on the day.

But Dr. Reginald Eadie, president and CEO of Trinity Health of New England and a co-chair of the states vaccine advisory panel, is taking a more cautious approach. The most recent recommendation or scientific literature that I read was plus or minus about four days, said Eadie. It is my opinion that we should follow the science, and I support the plus or minus four days. But my current opinion is [also] we need to make sure that once we give someone their first dose, in that plus or minus four days - if its Pfizer, within the 21 days, or 28 days for Moderna - that they get their second shot.

Hartford HealthCare providers are also sticking close to the timetable set forth in the clinical trials.

The guidance is that you have a little wiggle room on either side, but weve kept it pretty much still at the 21- to 28-day [window], said Dr. Jim Cardon, chief clinical integration officer for the health care system.

During the White Houses COVID-19 press briefing Monday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky laid out the potential consequences of exceeding the 21 and 28 day windows.

There are obviously concerns if we dont go with what was done in the trial themselves  that the vaccine would be less durable, it wouldnt work for as long, and then of course there is an ongoing concern that we would see the emergence of more variants if there was low level virus and it was allowed to mutate. So until we have further data  we intend to follow the trials and to use the science, Walensky said.

Giving people the maximum immunity possible is critical as more infectious variants take hold in the country, especially while vaccinating most vulnerable populations, said Saad Omer, a Yale epidemiologist. Moderna is reportedly developing a third booster dose of the vaccine, according to NBC News.

Logistical challenges

In theory, providers in the state receive vaccines only when it is time to put them into the arms of Connecticut residents. For every Pfizer first dose the state receives, it receives the corresponding second dose three weeks later. For Moderna, the second shot arrives four weeks after the first. The state and federal government together make sure the doses get where theyre supposed to go.

But how many people have not received their second dose in time because of scheduling problems, and how many people are at risk of missing their window?

Josh Geballe, the states chief operating officer, acknowledged reports that residents are struggling to make second dose appointments in the timetable outlined by the vaccine manufacturers, but he said he doesnt expect those who have missed their ideal second shot window to be a large percentage of those vaccinated.

One measure of efficiency in the vaccine rollout is to compare the number of vaccines the state has received to how many it has administered. If every dose received goes into someones arm, the system would be 100 percent efficient. By that measure, as of Monday, the state had used 45 percent of second doses on hand but had used 85 percent of first doses on hand, according to data provided by the governors office.

The question is if those figures indicate a significant choke point in the process of getting vaccines into arms. If only 45 percent of available second doses have been used, does that mean 55 percent are just sitting around, waiting for seniors who are struggling to make an appointment?

The situation isnt as dire as it seems. Even though the state has many available second doses, they cannot all be administered now.

For example, CVS and Walgreens, which are administering the vaccine to residents in long-term facilities, did not initially use all of the vaccines distributed to them, leaving them with a surplus. The federal government formula determining how many vaccines to set aside for the providers over-allocated doses for their use. So the state dialed back its allocation to allow CVS and Walgreens to work through the first doses on hand. Meanwhile, the second doses corresponding to their initial over-allocation are arriving on their original schedule, giving them now what appears to be a surplus in second doses. But as the days go by and more residents hit the eligibility window, those doses will get used.

If one looks at the number of doses that can be administered by now  as opposed to simply the number on hand  the state has used 79 percent of second doses in nursing homes and other long-term facilities and 67 percent of second doses in other settings, bringing the combined total to about 70 percent.

The gap that matters is between the 70 percent of second doses available to be administered and 85 percent of first doses administered, suggesting that the state is not rolling out second doses as efficiently as it is doing with first doses.

Finding ways to ensure second-dose appointments

Until this past Sunday, providers using the federal Vaccine Administration Management System  the majority of providers in Connecticut  could not make a distinction between first- and second-dose appointments, said DPH Acting Commissioner Deidre Gifford. That glitch has been fixed.

Weve been working with our providers all week to make sure that they can identify who needs a second dose that doesnt have it scheduled. Well get those makeup clinics scheduled so that people can come in and any backlog that there is on second doses will get swiftly worked down in collaboration with our partners.

There are definitely problems with people scheduling second doses. DPH seems very much aware that this is a statewide problem theyve got to fix, said Sen. Matthew Lesser, D-Middletown, who has participated in the calls. Ive been on, like, three calls today where people from the state have acknowledged its a huge problem.

Lesser said the issue stems from computer systems that dont allow first and second dose appointments to be scheduled simultaneously. But providers can help by setting up patients second appointments when they show up for their first vaccine, he said.

State health officials are encouraging providers to book peoples second vaccines when they report for their first dose. Some hospital systems and local health districts have already started doing that, though its not a consistent practice statewide.

The state has no immediate plans to require that providers schedule a patients second dose at the time of the first shot, Gifford said. But officials are working with providers to resolve the access issues.

One of the reasons were doing relatively well in our rollout is that weve tried not to put a lot of stringent requirements on providers, because we know this is a very complex program with a lot of moving parts, Gifford said. Our strategy really is collaboration, listening, and feedback. Weve been working with all the providers that we have identified are having second dose scheduling challenges and problem-solving with them.

Stephanie Hilliary-Leahy, a neonatal nurse Connecticut Childrens Hospital in Hartford, got her second Pfizer vaccine a few days past the 21 days, a decision she made to accommodate her schedule. While she wasnt able to schedule the second shot when scheduling the first, the clinic setup a practical solution.

My employers clinic made it so easy. As soon as the first was in my arm, computers were available in the observation room to sign up for the second, she said. I know many folks are complaining that its been challenging, but my experience was really easy.

The most important thing to say is, would I do it all over again: Yes. Science is amazing and this vaccine works, she said.

Residents dont need to get their second shot at the same clinic that they got their first  though they do need to get a second shot from the same vaccine manufacturer. When residents go elsewhere for their second dose in an effort to stay on schedule, it throws off your vaccine inventory, said Patrice Sulik, director of the North Central District Health Department, which includes Enfield, East Windsor, and several other north-central towns. We order first doses, and then the second doses that accompany those first doses are automatically supplied. So if were giving a lot of second doses where we didnt give the first dose, it throws off the numbers.

Frustration and trust

Nilda Paris usually spends her time bringing information about programs and services to residents who face barriers to the health system, such as transportation, finances or shelter. She also helps them access rental and food assistance. But lately, a lot of her job as a community health worker has involved helping people sign up for COVID-19 vaccines.

The mixed messaging has made that more difficult, she said. All this information is coming out. One day they say one thing and the next day they say another thing, Paris said. Its bringing more confusion.

For Sen. Will Haskell, D-Westport, the issue is personal. Haskells grandparents, who are in their 80s, were struggling to find appointments to receive a second dose of the Moderna vaccine.

Frankly, Ive had that frustration in my own family, he said. Ive been helping my grandparents through the process, and they were so thrilled to get vaccinated at Norwalk Hospital. But they havent signed up for a second appointment yet because theyve been unable to do so. There are just no slots open at the 28 days that is recommended.

They dont want to have to wait unnecessarily, he added. And they certainly deserve peace of mind to know theyve got that second appointment booked.
Arizona health officials are reporting 3,741 new COVID-19 cases and four additional deaths. The latest figures released Monday morning come as the state opens a second around-the-clock mass vaccination site at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

Gov. Doug Ducey, appearing on CNN Sunday, said the state is poised to run out of vaccines. But officials are working with President Joe Biden's administration, he added.

Arizona now has seen 762,145 cases and 13,124 deaths since the pandemic began. The number of infections is thought to be far higher than reported because many people have not been tested. Studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control's data tracker on Sunday showed Arizona continuing to lead the nation in average cases per capita over the last seven days.

The number of people hospitalized, including in ICUs, is continuing to trend downward.

On Friday, the state announced that the COVID-19 variant first recorded in the United Kingdom was confirmed in tests from three people in Arizona.

State health officials are working with other public health agencies to monitor the situation.

Variants from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil have already been confirmed in the U.S.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
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The murder of a Saudi journalist in Turkey, the U.S. detention of a Russian asylum applicant and the abduction of a China-born Swedish citizen from Thailand all have one thing in common.

All three represent a sharp increase in countries methodically extending political repression beyond their borders with little repercussion, according to a report released by the U.S.-based Freedom House on Thursday.

Dozens of countries are using multiple tools of international law, bilateral pressures, digital media monitoring and harassment and physical threats to pursue exiled dissidents and activists, said the rights group.

Freedom House  a mostly U.S. government-funded democracy advocacy group  documents 608 cases of direct and physical transnational repression by 31 countries since 2014.

In each incident, the origin countrys authorities physically reached an individual living abroad, whether through detention, assault, physical intimidation, unlawful deportation, rendition, or suspected assassination, it said.

 China worst offender 

Assassinations  like that of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018 by agents of the Saudi royal family  and other violent attacks garner the most attention.

But other methods of repression are more common and equally pernicious, the report notes.

Those include: using passport restrictions and cancellations to control a nations movements abroad, harassing them online, using spyware to track them and threatening family members at home to pressure them.

Such activities have, for many regimes, become a common and institutionalised practice to control people outside their borders, it said.

The worst offender is China, the group said, methodically deploying every possible tactic against dissidents and activists abroad, including Han Chinese, Uighurs, Tibetans and Falungong followers.

China has exerted extraordinary pressure on countries like Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Kenya to extradite or deport hundreds of Uighurs, the Muslim minority who populate western China.

Beijings tactics also extend to kidnapping exiled activists, as in the case of Gui Minhai, a bookseller with Swedish nationality taken from Thailand back to China in 2015.

 Interpol manipulation 

Turkey runs a close second in the methodical use of repression beyond its borders, according to the report, especially after the July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ankaras campaign is remarkable for its intensity, its geographic reach, and the suddenness with which it escalated, said the report.

With the opposition Gulen movement as the principle target, Ankara has indulged in murders, renditions of dozens, physical threats and mobility controls  passport cancellation and denial of consular services.

Other countries singled out in the report for concerted campaigns against their nationals abroad include Uzbekistan, Rwanda, Russia, Tajikistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

A dozen, including China, Russia, and Turkey, have taken to using a global law enforcement tool, Interpol criminal listings, as a tool for repression.

They can easily place the hundreds of names on Interpols criminal watch lists, and the agency has little capacity to check them out for validity, the report said.

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By uploading spurious notices into the system, regimes can have exiles detained or deported, sometimes even if they are already recognized as refugees, it said.

For example, in separate cases, Russia placed Interpol Red Notices  indications of seeking to have a person arrested and extradited  on two businessmen who travelled to the United States legally and applied for asylum.

As a result, each was detained by U.S. immigration authorities for more than a year.

 Tip of the iceberg 

Officially an independent body despite its mainly U.S. government funding, Freedom Houses report did not examine U.S. treatment of its dissidents abroad, like Edward Snowden, exiled in Russia after leaking US intelligence collection secrets.

But Snowden has not alleged the kind of treatment other countries activists have suffered.

And the report mainly focuses on countries it says methodically harass and threaten significant numbers of dissidents, and which it says act with increasing impunity because of the lack of pushback.

Even this conservative enumeration shows that what often appear to be isolated incidents  an assassination here, a kidnapping there  in fact represent a pernicious and pervasive threat to human freedom and security, Freedom House said.

France 24 is Premium Times syndication partner. We have permission to republish content.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 04:44:24|Editor: huaxia

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KHARTOUM, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Council of Transitional Period Partners in Sudan on Wednesday declared the delay of announcing the new government to early next week.

The council held a meeting on Wednesday, chaired by the Chairman of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the council said in a statement.

"It has been decided to complete the sovereign council tomorrow (Thursday) by adding new members, and to form the government early next week," the statement said.

"The members have been named by the parties to the peace process in accordance with Juba Peace Agreement," Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, the council spokesperson, was quoted in the statement as saying.

She added that all male and female candidates for 25 ministries have been named, except for one ministry which was delayed until consultations are completed.

On Jan. 28, the Council of Transitional Period Partners in Sudan agreed on a timetable to complete the structures of the transitional period.

Completion of the sovereign council and formation of the cabinet was set for Feb. 4, while establishment of the commissions and formation of the legislative council are set for Feb. 25.

The Council of Transitional Period Partners was formed on Dec. 3, 2020 in implementation of the peace deal signed by the Sudanese government and armed groups in Juba, South Sudan, on Oct. 3, 2020. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 06:07:12|Editor: huaxia

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QUITO, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 cases in Ecuador rose to 253,339, after 949 cases were registered in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Public Health said on Thursday.

In its daily report, the ministry also confirmed 19 deaths in the same period, for a total of 10,276.

Another 4,692 deaths are suspected of being coronavirus-related, it said.

Nationwide, hospitals are at capacity due to an increase in infected patients who, according to doctors, are mostly young people. The ministry indicated that 60.7 percent of infections throughout the country are people between the ages of 20 and 49, and mostly men.

The worst effects of the pandemic are visible in the capital Quito, the epicenter of the pandemic in the South American country as intensive care unit beds are no longer available and dozens of patients are on waiting lists.

Quito's Secretary of Health Ximena Abarca warned this week that a second wave of infections is expected in the city due to the increase in the incidence rate and the speed of the reproduction rate of the virus.

Meanwhile, Mayor of Quito Jorge Yunda announced that talks have been initiated with the Health Ministry and the production sector for a possible purchase of COVID-19 vaccines for the capital.

The official said that the intention is to vaccinate at least 1 million people to reduce the risk of contagion in the city, which has been greatly affected in terms of productivity. Enditem

The bodies of three hikers were found at the scene of an avalanche in southern Alaska on Wednesday, the authorities said.

Just before midnight on Tuesday, the police were notified of three overdue hikers near Bear Mountain in Chugiak, an area about 20 miles northeast of Anchorage, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

The group was using a more technical route to ascend Bear Mountain, not the normal hiking trail, Austin McDaniel, a public information officer for the department, said on Thursday.

The hikers were identified as Thomas Devine, 54, of Chugiak; Matthew Nyman, 43, of Colorado Springs; and Edward Watson, 50, of Miami. They were last heard from on Tuesday morning before their hike and were expected to return to a parking area by 5 p.m. that day, the authorities said.
[February 04, 2021] New Hope Housing Receives $750K for Houston Housing

Wells Fargo (News - Alert) Bank and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) have joined together to provide a $750,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) subsidy to New Hope Housing Inc. to help fund a $34.9 million supportive housing development near downtown Houston, Texas. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005863/en/ NEW HOPE: New Hope Housing Avenue J will provide affordable apartments in Houston's historic East End near downtown. Credit: Kirksey Architecture Called New Hope Housing Avenue J (NHH Avenue J), the 100-unit, transit-oriented apartment community targets families earning 60 percent of the area's median income in a neighborhood known as the historic East End. Construction started in June 2020, and progress is well underway. Project completion is anticipated in April 2022. "Our Avenue J property will offer a robust combination of housing plus services. It is a launch pad to stabilize and improve the lives of our residents - in a neighborhood where gentrification is increasing home and rental prices," said Joy Horak-Brown, president and CEO of New Hope Husing. All New Hope Housing properties provide social and empowerment services that include case management, access to mental health care, and life-skills training, among others, she said.



Laura Jaramillo, senior vice president, community relations manager, Wells Fargo, said New Hope Housing has made a major impact creating housing options in Houston's most vulnerable communities. "The work this organization has done over the years to provide affordable, permanent housing is remarkable," she said. "Wells Fargo is pleased to be a part of its NHH Avenue J development and we look forward to watching it become a home for future residents."

AHP funds are intended to assist FHLB Dallas members in financing the purchase, construction and/or rehabilitation of owner-occupied, rental or transitional housing and housing for homeless individuals. AHP funds must be used to benefit households with incomes at or below 80 percent of the median income for the area. For 2020, FHLB Dallas awarded $19.3 million in grants to 38 affordable housing projects. The grants will help create 2,749 new or rehabilitated housing units. Included in that total, is $10.2 million in subsidies for 1,475 units of housing in Texas. Since the AHP's inception in 1990, FHLB Dallas has awarded more than $323 million in AHP and Homeownership Set-Aside Programs and has assisted more than 57,000 households. "FHLB Dallas is pleased to join with Wells Fargo in supporting the innovative solutions that New Hope Housing has launched to address the lack of affordable housing in the heart of Houston," said Greg Hettrick, first vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas. For more information about the AHP, visit fhlb.com/ahp. About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $66.3 billion as of September 30, 2020, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced loans and other credit products to approximately 800 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit our website at fhlb.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005863/en/

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Health care workers prepare COVID-19 vaccinations at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield. Gov. Charlie Baker is setting a goal of 1 million vaccinations a month by spring, and announced 120,000 new appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations will be made available for next week.

[February 04, 2021] New Report Reveals Significant Delays Revoking System Access, Impacting Security Risk

DENVER, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA), a nonprofit that provides vendor-neutral resources to help organizations reduce the risk of a breach by combining identity and security strategies, today released a study on Identity and Access Management which uncovers significant delays in granting and revoking access to corporate systems, impacting operations and introducing risk to the organization. According to the study, for the majority of companies (72%) it takes one week or longer for a typical worker to obtain access to required systems. Conversely, it takes half of organizations three days or longer to revoke system access after a worker leaves, creating regulatory compliance issues and the risk of data theft. To make matters worse, for the majority of organizations (83%), remote work and other Covid-19 related factors have made managing access to corporate systems more difficult. The report, Identity and Access Management: The Stakeholder Perspective, is based on an online survey of access stakeholders, human resources, sales managers, and IT help desk professionals, who are impacted by IAM processes and technologies and who interact directly with workers (employee, contractor and vendors) to set up, remove, and resolve access problems. Despite agreement from access stakeholders that they have responsibility for security, most (62%) report that they would be hesitant to take action and cut worker access in the face of concerning behavior. Only two in five (38%) reported that they would immediately cut off access for a worker who was accessing systems or data inappropriately, leaving the door open for risk due to an insider threat or compromised credentials. In addition, seven in 10 (69%) access stakeholders themselves confess to having personally engaged in sloppy system identity behavior, including using the same username and password for both work and personal accounts, using an unauthorized device for work, or sharing credentials with non-workers. Two-thirds (68%) agreed that even though they care about security, it is more important to get their job done. Two in five access stakeholders (39%) agreed that system access at their company is messy and most (83%) believe that system access can be better. Automation may be one key to improving system access challenges. Less than a quarter (23%) report that they automate enabling access to required corporate systems, while only a third (35%) report automation of revoking access when workers leave. These numbers are alarming from a security risk perspective. Failing to revoke system access immediately after a worker leaves an organization and when suspicious access is detected present significant risk, said Julie Smith, executive director of the IDSA. The good news for enterprises is that the risks highlighted in the study can be mitigated through enlisting the help of stakeholders, who also want to be a part of the solution, through governance process, automation, and identity-centric security strategies. Identity Defined Security Alliance Guidace and Resources





https://www.idsalliance.org/blog/2021/02/04/new-research-provides-iam-stakeholder-perspective-on-access-challenges/. The full IDSA library of identity defined security outcomes and approaches, can be accessed here https://securityoutcomes.idsalliance.org/.

To register for the webinar, IAM Stakeholder Perspective on Access Challenges, Business Operations and Risk, on March 11, 2021, featuring Diane Hagglund of Dimensional Research and Den Jones, Cisco Senior Director of Enterprise Security, visit https://www.idsalliance.org/webinar-iam-stakeholder-perspective-on-access-challenges-business-operations-and-risk/. To download the full report, visit https://www.idsalliance.org/identity-and-access-management-the-stakeholder-perspective . Survey Methodology

Dimensional Research conducted an independent online survey of HR, Sales, and Help Desk professionals in the United States. A total of 313 qualified professionals completed the survey. All participants worked at a company with at least 1,000 employees where a typical employee required access to multiple systems. Survey participants all had direct responsibility for adding or removing access to corporate systems. About Dimensional Research

Dimensional Research provides practical market research to help technology companies make their customers more successful. Our researchers are experts in the people, processes, and technology of corporate IT. We understand how technology organizations operate to meet the needs of their business stakeholders. We partner with our clients to deliver actionable information that reduces risks, increases customer satisfaction, and grows the business. For more information, visit dimensionalresearch.com . About the Identity Defined Security Alliance

The IDSA is a group of identity and security vendors, solution providers and practitioners that acts as an independent source of thought leadership, expertise and practical guidance on identity centric approaches to security for technology professionals. The IDSA is a nonprofit that facilitates community collaboration to help organizations reduce risk by providing education, best practices, and resources. Follow the IDSA

Join the Community: https://forum.idsalliance.org/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/idsalliance

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/identity-defined-security-alliance/

Blog: https://www.idsalliance.org/blog/

Contacts Industry Contact: Identity Defined Security Alliance Julie Smith, 303-324-3159 julie@idsalliance.org

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According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Cultured Dairy Products market to grow at a CAGR of 8.7% during the forecast period. Some of the key factors influencing the market are new product launches and gaining prominence towards organic food and beverage products to the numerous health benefits. However, recall of products over various issues devices hampers the market growth of cultured dairy products market.

Cultured dairy products, or cultured milk products, are dairy foods that have been fermented with lactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, and Leuconostoc. The fermentation process increases the shelf life of the product, while enhancing the taste and improving the digestibility of milk.

Based on Product, Cheddar Cheese segment is constantly enhancing its growth due to characteristics Cheddar cheese is a relatively hard, off-white (or orange if colorings such as annatto are added), sometimes sharp-tasting, natural cheese.

By Geography, Asia pacific is estimated to have a lucrative growth due to the product capacity, production, value, consumption in this region. Asia Pacific has a substantial growth in the market because of high production of dairy products.

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Some of the key players in Global Cultured Dairy Products market are Agropur Cooperative, AMUL, Arla Foods amba, Dairy Farmers of America, Inc., Danone, Dean Foods Company, Fonterra Co-Operative Group Limited, Groupe Lactalis SA, Parmalat S.P.A., Megmilk Snow Brand Co., Ltd., Meiji Co., Ltd., Nestle SA, Royal FrieslandCampina N.V., SanCor Cooperativas Unidas Limitada and Saputo, Inc.

Distribution Channel Covered:

 Food Specialist

 Hypermarkets and Supermarkets

 Independent Retailers and Convenience Stores

 Online Retailers

Products Covered:

 Cheddar Cheese

 Cream Cheese

 Kefir

 Yogurt

 Other Products

End Users Covered:

 Food Processing

 Food Service

 Retail

 Other End Users

Regions Covered:

 North America

o US

o Canada

o Mexico

 Europe

o Germany

o UK

o Italy

o France

o Spain

o Rest of Europe

 Asia Pacific

o Japan

o China

o India

o Australia

o New Zealand

o South Korea

o Rest of Asia Pacific

 South America

o Argentina

o Brazil

o Chile

o Rest of South America

 Middle East & Africa

o Saudi Arabia

o UAE

o Qatar

o South Africa

o Rest of Middle East & Africa

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 What our report offers:

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o - Strategic analysis: Drivers and Constraints, Product/Technology Analysis, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis etc.

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Ex-head of State Food and Grain Corporation charged with embezzlement

The former top manager had allegedly unlawfully increased the size of official salaries, bonuses, and allowances.

Reporting by UNIAN

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Huawei is hosting a virtual event in China today to launch the new Huawei Mate X2 folding smartphone. The Mate X2 will be the successor to the Huawei Mate X, which was launched back in 2019. Unlike the Mate X, which was launched with an out-folding design, the teased poster of the Mate X2's display shows the device with the invert folding design that is similar to the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 and the Galaxy Z Fold. The display of the Huawei Mate X2 appears to have a thinner bezel compared to the previous generation Mate X and the Mate Xs.

In terms of specs, a GSMArena report reveals that it might come with a diagonal screen size of 8.01 inches that would have a resolution of 2,480 x 2,222 pixels. As the device is touted to come with an inwards fold design like the Galaxy Z Fold 2, the Mate X2 would feature a 6.45-inch external display. The screen will get a 90Hz refresh rate support for a smooth display interface, supplied by Samsung and BOE.

Powering the Mate X2 would be the 5nm Kirin 9000 chipset with the latest 5G technology. The handset would reportedly come with Android 10 support out of the box with Huawei's EMUI 11 skin on top. The device is said to house a 4,400 mAh non-removable battery and would get a 66 W fast charging wired support.
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has condemned the unlawful eviction of Nigerians from parts of the country and challenged state governors to stop the trend.

Mr El-Rufai also advised Nigerians not to allow the criminal actions of insurgents and bandits to tear the country apart.

The governor gave the advice in a statement on Wednesday in which he decried the hostility some Nigerians have attracted in parts of the country.

The governor was referring to recent developments in the South-west where Fulani cattle herders were asked to move out of parts of the area over the criminality of some of them.

Last week, a Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, had chased out Fulani settlers from Ibarapa area of Oyo State after earlier giving them seven days to leave the area.

Also, Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, a ruling All Progressive Congress official, ordered cattle herders to leave government forest reserves he said they had encroached.

There have also been protests in other parts of the country against the movement of herders in their areas.

El-Rufai speaks

But Mr El-Rufai on Wednesday urged the government to uphold the right of every citizen to live and pursue legitimate livelihoods wherever they choose.

On behalf of the Government of Kaduna State, I call on all Nigerians living in our state to respect law and order and the rights of all citizens to live in peace and security wherever they reside or work.

I appeal to my colleagues governing other states in our country to make similar statements, and disavow these attacks and massacres, Mr El-Rufai said.

He said the Kaduna government noted with grave concern video clips circulating on social media platforms like WhatsApp in which citizens of a particular ethnicity were being massacred and their properties destroyed in parts of Nigeria.

Many citizens of Kaduna State have reached out to me as their governor to confirm the authenticity of these video clips. Some allege that these incidents have the support of leaders of the places where attacks have occurred.

While I am unable to confirm the authenticity of the video clips, their impact on the peaceful coexistence of our people is a source of concern.

Mr El-Rufai urged Nigerians to avoid anarchy and promote the rule of law and the right of all citizens to life, liberty and livelihoods wherever they choose to reside.

Elected and appointed public leaders across the country must act on their constitutional obligations to protect all citizens, uphold order, and contribute to a climate for peaceful resolution of all issues.

In Kaduna State, we are learning from decades of unfortunate and needless experiences. We have faced the tragic manifestations of the indigene-settler divide.

This has been compounded by criminal activities that often have fatal consequences. But the victims of criminal actions like banditry and kidnapping in our state cut across all ethnic and religious groups.

We have resisted the attempt to tar all members of any ethnic group for the criminal actions of some of their members. At all times, our government has upheld the right of every citizen to live and pursue legitimate livelihoods wherever they choose.

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The governor recalled ordering the arrest of persons who had issued an unlawful eviction notice in the state to citizens of a certain ethnicity in 2017.

The impunity and calculated disregard for a common humanity that prompted such irresponsible rhetoric is sadly at play again.

The genuine fears felt by people across the country for their safety and security imposes a responsibility on all leaders to ensure that these anxieties are assuaged and urgent steps are taken to relieve human misery and stop the criminal actions that menace our citizens and their property. This should be the top priority.

He called on leaders at all levels to engage people and ensure that people do not seize the opportunity for selfish agenda.

We cannot allow, by inaction or otherwise, the reign of anarchy where fear creates a tragic momentum of violence, blurring the lines between victims and perpetrators and complicating a difficult moment.

State, community policing

He urged the National Assembly to expedite action on constitutional amendments that would usher in state and community policing.

We should not allow the criminal actions of insurgents and bandits to tear our country apart. We should not be seduced into the dangerous passion of blaming innocents, declaring them guilty of the crimes of others, evicting them, killing and destroying their property.

In difficult times, we must uphold the right of everyone to live, with security and safety. The frenzy of ethnic labelling makes solutions difficult and can only guarantee disorder, violence and pain.

Governments and security agencies must rein in all non-state actors, tackle hateful rhetoric and protect all communities. Those that engage in criminal acts must be arrested and prosecuted without regard to their ethnic or religious persuasion.

Civic leaders, across ethnic and religious lines, in all our communities should also help calm the heated passions of the moment, lest the few destroy the many, turning victims of crime against each other, to the delight of those who do not mean well.

We cannot quench one fire by setting more places ablaze. Let us reject the path of disorder, marginalise, expose and prosecute all criminals and promote peace.
In ending American support for offensive Saudi operations in Yemens civil war  which he said had created a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe  Mr. Biden is delivering on a campaign promise, days after his administration announced a review of major U.S. arms sales to Riyadh that were approved by the Trump administration. The U.S. has also provided intelligence, targeting data and logistical support for the Saudi intervention. Mr. Biden said he would work to revive dormant peace talks and announced the appointment of a special envoy for Yemen.

Mr. Biden announced he was stopping any planned troop withdrawals from Germany, halting Mr. Trumps order to redeploy roughly 12,000 U.S. troops stationed in the country. National security experts from both parties had called Mr. Trumps order shortsighted.

The president struck a firm tone toward Moscow, vowing to stand up to Russian efforts to disrupt American democracy and saying he had made it clear in a recent call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russias aggressive actions were over. He called on Moscow to release the imprisoned dissident Alexei A. Navalny, adding: We will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia.

Mr. Biden said that strong alliances were key to deterring Moscow, along with the growing ambitions of China to rival the United States. But he also stressed that he would cooperate with both nations when it served U.S. interests, citing his new agreement with Mr. Putin to extend the New Start agreement, which limits the size of the two countries strategic nuclear arsenals, for five years.

Mr. Biden also acknowledged the damaged state of American democracy, saying that the United States will be a much more credible partner in the global effort to defend democracies from threats like authoritarianism and disinformation if it can shore up its own economy, politics, civil society and racial equality gap.
By now, most small businesses are familiar with the economic relief available to us through the federal government such as the Paycheck Protection and Shuttered Venue Operations programs, as well as the availability of long-term, government-backed Economic Injury Disaster Loans, all through the Small Business Administration.

But its not just the federal government thats offering relief to small businesses. Eligible companies in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware can also take advantage of grant and loan programs that provide critical funding to help us through this severe economic downturn.

For example, last week the Pennsylvania Senate unanimously voted to approve a relief package that includes a fund of $145 million specifically targeted at small businesses in the commonwealth. The fund will offer $50,000 grants to qualifying businesses, mostly for those in the hospitality industry with fewer than 500 employees and who have a suffered a 25% revenue decline in certain time periods. The bill still requires approval from the state House of Representatives and Gov. Tom Wolf.

While were waiting for that bill to be signed, small businesses should also be watching for the reopening of the PA Coronavirus Small Business Assistance Program, which was initially funded by the federal CARES Act and offers grants of up to $50,000 to qualifying small businesses. The program is currently not accepting new applications, but there is hope that a new federal stimulus recently proposed by the Biden administration will provide more funds. So keep an eye out.

There is a grant program open if youre a female business owner in Pennsylvania (as well as New Jersey and Delaware). That ongoing program is offered by WomensNet, a nonprofit entrepreneurial group for women that provides monthly nationwide grants of up to $10,000 with winners eligible for a separate annual grant of $25,000. The grants are awarded by a panel of judges who review applicants stories about their businesses.

Philadelphias COVID-19 Restaurant and Gym Relief Program is also now accepting applications. The program is designed to provide financial relief in the form of $15,000 grants to small businesses  specifically restaurants, gyms and others whose primary activity is indoor exercise. They must be in the city and had to have been impacted by the governments November 2020 restrictions.

Across the river, the New Jersey Economic Development Authoritys loan program provides creditworthy small, minority-owned or women-owned businesses in the state with $500,000 in long-term low-interest loans that can be used for working capital. Applicants must have been in operation for at least a year (or nonprofits in operation for three years) and have less than $3 million in total revenue but otherwise couldnt get traditional bank financing.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority has a separate Entrepreneur Support Program that guarantees up to 80% of investments made by corporations and investors in New Jersey businesses. The program, which remains open to applicants, is targeted at investors who have already supported a New Jersey business through equity funding made before March 26, 2020, with the aim of encouraging those investors to provide additional funds.

New Jerseys Atlantic County Improvement Authority is also offering low interest forgivable loans of up to $25,000 to assist businesses affected by pandemic restrictions. Like the federal governments Paycheck Protection Program, proceeds can be used for forgivable expenses that include payroll, rent, overhead and the costs of certain equipment, materials and supplies. Personal guarantees are required and both principal and interest are deferred for two years.

The state of Delaware, along with New Castle County, has established a $200 million program targeted to give relief to local small businesses and nonprofits affected by the pandemic. Special considerations are being made for small businesses that have been disproportionately impacted such as those in the retail, arts and food industries, as well as others proving substantial revenue loss from 2019. Loans of up to $100,000 are available, with amounts forgiven if spent on payroll, rent, utilities and other costs.

The Delaware Division of Small Business is also offering no-interest emergency loans of up to $10,000 to some of the businesses and nonprofits in the state most significantly impacted by the pandemic, particularly those in the hospitality industry.

Although not a relief measure, Delawares ongoing EDGE Grant program is now accepting applications for its latest round of matching grants through the end of February. The program is aimed at Delaware companies who have been in operation for less than five years and employ fewer than 10 people. These companies can receive matching grants of up to $100,000. Grant winners are selected by a panel of judges using specific criteria such as need, location and minority status and funds can be used for various activities including rent, marketing and infrastructure.

Were still in the dark days of this pandemic. But most economists are expecting a recovery by midyear. Unfortunately, thats little comfort to a small-business owner struggling to survive right now. Hopefully, the federal and state relief listed above will get us through that. Please note that many of these programs are affected by various federal stimulus programs and the availability of funds cannot be guaranteed. Its key to act fast and pay attention to application closing dates.

Gene Marks is a certified public accountant and the owner of the Marks Group, a technology and financial management consulting firm in Bala Cynwyd.

Jacu Bird Coffee is one of the worlds rarest and most expensive coffee varieties. It is made from coffee cherries ingested, digested and excreted by Jacu birds.

At around 50 hectares, the Camocim Estate is one of the smallest coffee plantations in Brazil, but it still manages to rake it quite a nice profit thanks to a very unique and sought-after type of coffee. It all started in the early 2000s, when Henrique Sloper de Araujo woke up to find that his precious plantations had been overrun by Jacu birds, an endangered, pheasant-like bird species, protected in Brazil. They werent known to be coffee cherry fans, but they seemed to love de Araujos organic coffee. But they were going to pay him back for the meal in the most unusual way.

Photo: TeeFarm/Pixabay

At first, Henrique Sloper de Araujo was desperate to drive the birds away from his plantation, and even called the environmental police about it, but there was nothing anyone could do to help. The bird was protected by law, so he couldnt really hurt them in any way. But then a light bulb turned on in his head, and the desperation turned to excitement.

In his youth, Sloper had been an avid surfer, and his pursuit of waves to ride had once taken him to Indonesia, where he was introduced to kopi luwak, one of the worlds most expensive coffees, made from coffee beans harvested from the poop of Indonesian civets. This gave the landowner an idea. If Indonesians could harvest coffee cherries from the poop of civets, he could do the same with the poop of Jacu birds.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Badger & Dodo Coffee Roasters (@badgeranddodo)

I realized I could try something similar with Camocim and the Jacu bird, but coming up with the idea was only half the battle, de Araujo told Modern Farmer. The real challenge lay in convincing my coffee pickers that instead of berries, they needed to be hunting for bird-shit.

Apparently, Sloper had to turn the hunt for Jacu bird poop into a treasure hunt for the workers, providing them financial incentives for finding a certain quantity of excreted coffee beans. There was no other way to change their mindset.

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But collecting the Jacu bird poop was only the beginning of a very laborious process. The coffee cherries then had to be extracted from the poop by hand, washed, and de-husked from their protective membranes. Its this painstaking work that makes Jacu bird coffee considerably more expensive than other coffee varieties, but its not the only thing.

Henrique Sloper de Araujo credits the Jacu birds for the excellent taste of his gourmet coffee, as they only eat the best, most ripe coffee cherries they find, something that he observed firsthand.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by FABIOLA SANDY coffee grower (@fabiolasandy)

I watched open-mouthed from my living room as the Jacu bird selected only the ripest berries, leaving over half the bunch, even those that looked perfect to the human eye, the owner of Camocim Estate said.

Unlike the kopi luwak coffee digested by Indonesian civets, beans move more quickly through the Jacu birds digestive system and arent degraded by animal proteins or stomach acids. The resulted cherries are roasted, and the brew from them reportedly has a unique, nutty flavor with nuances of sweet aniseed.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by TW Coffe Speciality (@twcoffeespeciality)

Bothe because of its quality and its scarcity, Jacu bird coffee is one of the most expensive coffee varieties in the world, selling for around $1,000 per kilogram.
The year is 2017 and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is visiting Ireland. Outside the gates of Leinster House, opposition TDs gather to protest the much maligned Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta) between Canada and Europe.

Before a camera stands Eamon Ryan, leader of the Green Party and one of its only two TDs.

With a look of solemn indignation, Ryan stares into the camera and declares that Ceta is "wrong". He says the fact that the agreement was written and negotiated by big corporate interests and their lobbyists is "wrong". And finally, he says the lack of certainty on the protection for environmental rights is "wrong".

Well, four years later and it seems three wrongs make a right. Eamon Ryan, now Minister for the Environment, is doggedly trying to conscript his troops into voting for Ceta.

Prior to Christmas, TDs Neasa Hourigan and Patrick Costello, to their credit, threatened to vote against it, leading the Government to withdraw the bill.

As Hourigan pointed out, its long been Green Party policy to actively oppose Ceta and it was deliberately excluded from the programme for government.

Two thirds of Green Party councillors had called for a national convention on the controversial free trade deal. As a result, the leadership has been holding online members meetings to drum up support for its ratification. The bill is rumoured to be coming before the Dail this month.

These meetings were likened to something of a rubber-stamping exercise by now former Green Party councillor Peter Kavanagh. Kavanagh said the final call on Ceta had been effectively taken out of the hands of the membership and issued his resignation on January 25.

He predicted a further wave of resignations and Una Power, cathaoirleach of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown council and former adviser to deputy leader Catherine Martin, is said to be considering her position.

The opposition of Green councillors and members isnt hard to understand; indeed, my own party [Sinn Fein] colleagues were also present that day in 2017.

Ceta may have been put to the public as a so called free trade deal, yet it has little to do with trade. Getting rid of tariffs or quotas is not the central aim.

When we consider the fact that the majority of global trade, around 80% according to the UN, now takes place intrafirm, meaning multinational corporations transacting with different parts of themselves, through their highly co-ordinated value chains, this should become clear.

Ceta is much better understood as an investor rights treaty, one which further empowers corporations at a time when many see them as almost unaccountable private governments in and of themselves.

It locks in privatisation and undermines sensible regulations. Its bad for the environment, for small/medium businesses and workers rights, but more than anything its bad for democracy.

The ratchet and stand still clauses in the agreement lock in both parties to a level of market liberalisation, with a view to further privatisation.

But dont take my word for it, the European Commission itself states; the parties to a trade agreement commit to maintaining any further openings in their respective markets that they may unilaterally decide upon. Such opening would be "locked in" ie, there can be no step backwards.

More worrying still is the presence of a legal mechanism which allows large corporations to circumvent domestic courts and take lawsuits against sovereign states.

Corporations can sue national governments for taking actions which negatively impact their profits or future profits. These cases would then be heard in special corporate courts.

If that sounds fanciful you should know that its already happened elsewhere. When Australia implemented plain packaging cigarettes, the tobacco company Philip Morris sued for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Sinn Fein spokesperson on Public Expenditure and Reform Mairead Farrell says CETA will have a chilling effect on democracy at a time when many see a political establishment that is responsive to the desires of well-heeled corporate interests, but not the needs of ordinary citizens. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Canada has been sued multiple times: Eli Lilly & Co sued the government for $500m because it refused to grant them a couple of pharmaceutical patents; a large US mining corporation filed a lawsuit because of a moratorium on the environmentally destructive process of fracking.

Such was the initial outcry against Ceta because of this so-called Investor State Dispute Settlement system (ISDS), that the agreements architects went back to the drawing board.

But instead of removing it they just rejigged and rebranded it. The Investor Court System (or ISDS-lite) is a marginal improvement in that the cases will no longer be held in secret by ad hoc panels of corporate lawyers.

Panel of judges appointed for fixed terms, with more transparency and an appeal mechanism, have been included, but at its core it is the same thing.

A special court for corporations will act as a major deterrent for governments thinking of passing laws to protect citizens.

You want a tax on vulture funds? Sorry lads, we might get sued. How about stricter environmental regulations for large carbon emitters? Again apologies, we might lose in court.

It should be clear that this will have a chilling effect on democracy at a time when many see a political establishment that is responsive to the desires of well-heeled corporate interests, but not the needs of ordinary citizens.

The vote on Ceta will be the litmus test for the Greens. No party that considers itself democratic, let alone concerned for the environment, could possibly support its ratification.

Mairead Farrell is Sinn Fein Spokesperson for Public Expenditure and Reform.
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Guyana calls off opening of Taiwanese mission

Guyana originally said the office was meant to facilitate trade and investment. File image: Shutterstock
ARDEN HILLS, Minn., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Truterra, LLC, the sustainability business and subsidiary of Land O'Lakes, Inc., one of America's largest farmer-owned cooperatives, today announced the launch of TruCarbon, a transformational new carbon program that will help farmers generate and sell carbon credits to private sector buyers. TruCarbon represents the first and only farmer-owned carbon program in the U.S. that is designed to provide both the best experience for farmers and a novel approach for carbon credit buyers to incentivize change at scale.

TruCarbon offers buyers carbon credits that are created using leading soil and conservation science, and precision data and verification methods. The program offers farmers a streamlined experience, making it easier for them to develop and sell carbon credits so that they can focus on crop production and caring for the land. Through the Truterra Insights Engine data platform, the new TruCarbon program provides farmers and their trusted ag retailer advisors a powerful soil health planning suite of tools to help them decide what is best for their business while optimizing their fields' carbon credit potential. TruCarbon also maximizes the value and return for farmers with premium carbon credit value.

"TruCarbon is proof positive in our belief at Land O'Lakes that farmers and agriculture solve big problems  serving as the economic engine in rural communities, feeding a growing world, and now helping to address a changing climate," said Beth Ford, CEO of Land O'Lakes, Inc. "TruCarbon is providing farmers new opportunities to be recognized and rewarded for their stewardship, creating new revenue opportunities for farm families as they adopt soil health practices and increasing the focus on carbon storage in crop fields. It's through innovative approaches such as TruCarbon that our farmer cooperative system can help ensure that farmers' businesses are profitable, our rural communities are resilient, and the land, air and water are healthy for future generations."

TruCarbon is launching with Microsoft as its first secured buyer to purchase carbon in 2021, which will help meet the company's ambitious commitment to be carbon negative by 2030. For this initial launch, participating farmers may receive $20 per ton of carbon with payments this summer for this first tranche of credits. Qualifying farmers may be compensated for carbon sequestration retroactively up to five years based on the soil health practices they adopted in prior growing seasons. For maximum farmer convenience, Truterra will handle soil testing and other activities designed to ensure maximum credit quality and value. Farmers can begin the information and enrollment process by visiting https://www.truterraag.com/CarbonSurvey.

"TruCarbon is like no other offering on the market because it is built with the farmer at the center, backed by the most cutting-edge technology platform on the market. That means that companies and others looking to buy trusted carbon credits can connect with farmers and support the adoption of more sustainable practices on farms across the country," said Jason Weller, Vice President, Truterra. "We are excited to be able to bring this program to farmers through our trusted network of ag retailers, offering a competitive price and streamlined experience so that they can stay focused on farming and their stewardship."

"The science is clear," said Dr. Wayne Honeycutt, CEO of the Soil Health Institute, which is collaborating with Truterra on TruCarbon metrics and soil sampling protocols. "Storing more carbon in soils not only benefits a farmer's bottom line, but also improves water quality and helps fight climate change. Farmers who adopt soil health practices build drought resilience, reduce erosion and minimize nutrient losses. All of us at the Soil Health Institute are excited to work with Truterra on this project because it will help achieve these on-farm and environmental benefits at scale."

Current and future carbon efforts will leverage Truterra's best-in-class sustainability platform, the Truterra Insights Engine, along with agronomic expertise and the trusted advisor network of Land O'Lakes agriculture retailers to connect and support farmers as they adopt soil health practices and generate carbon credits.

Farmers and their ag retailers use the Truterra Insights Engine to measure and track their on-farm practices and model new practice changes such as cover crops and no-till based on environmental impact and profitability, so that farmers are equipped to take advantage of carbon markets and additional ecosystem services markets as they emerge.

For more information about TruCarbon and how to get involved, visit https://www.truterraag.com/Carbon.

About Truterra, LLC

Truterra is a leading stewardship solutions provider, advancing and connecting sustainability efforts throughout the food system with scale  from farmers to ag retailers to collaborators such as food companies. Truterra positions farmers for success by providing them tools and resources to establish a stewardship baseline and track progress on every field they farm. The Truterra network brings together the best in agricultural technology and on-farm business management to drive sustainability across the food system, feeding people, safeguarding the planet and supporting farmer livelihoods. Truterra was launched in 2016 by Land O'Lakes, Inc., a member-owned cooperative that spans the spectrum from agricultural production to consumer foods.

About Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Land O'Lakes, Inc., one of America's premier agribusiness and food companies, is a member-owned cooperative with industry-leading operations that span the spectrum from agricultural production to consumer foods. With 2019 annual sales of $14 billion, Land O'Lakes is one of the nation's largest cooperatives, ranking 232 on the Fortune 500. Building on a legacy of more than 99 years of operation, Land O'Lakes today operates some of the most respected brands in agribusiness and food production including Land O'Lakes Dairy Foods, Purina Animal Nutrition, WinField United and Truterra. The company does business in all 50 states and more than 60 countries. Land O'Lakes, Inc. corporate headquarters are located in Arden Hills, Minnesota.

Media contact:

Abigail Shilling

[email protected]

SOURCE Truterra, LLC
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The Canadian and American flags are seen on top of the Peace Arch at the Canada-U.S. border in Surrey, B.C., on March 20, 2020. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

Federal Conservatives Call for Special Commons Study of Canada U.S. Relations

OTTAWAThe federal Conservatives are calling for a special House of Commons committee devoted to Canada-U.S. relations, and the Liberal foreign affairs minister says hes open to the idea.

Conservative Leader Erin OToole said Thursday that Canadas economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is linked to the United States, and more needs to be done to protect Canadian workers and families from policies of the new Biden administration.

Their motion would see the committee focus on the economic relationship between the two countries, and notes, given the ongoing pandemic, the need for a serious plan for the economic recovery that recognizes the integration of the North American economy.

While the proposed committee would have a broad mandate, the Conservatives want emphasis placed on two areas: Buy American provisions being advanced by U.S. President Joe Biden, and the case of an Enbridge pipeline known as Line 5, which some U.S. officials want to close.

Were standing up for hundreds of thousands of jobs in Canada, families that depend on trade access with the United States, our closest ally, our closest trading partner, OToole said.

I would hope the other parties join us in standing up for those working families, those unionized jobs in steel and aluminum that have suffered with tariffs  and the mills in British Columbia closed because of no softwood lumber agreement.

If the Conservative motion is passed in the Commons, the new committee would be tasked with producing reports on those issues by certain deadlines, and also have the power to call the deputy prime minister, foreign affairs minister and the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. as witnesses.

During Thursdays debate in the Commons on the motion, Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said hes open to the idea of the new committee but he noted several other parliamentary committees on trade and foreign relations already exist.

However, theres a very special relationship here between Canada and the United States, Garneau said when asked by a Conservative MP whether he would support the creation of the new committee.

The creation of the committee, as being proposed today, will add another forum for discussion on the matters that concern us as Canadians in our dealings with the United States, and we are certainly open to that.

The committee would also explore what work the government is doing with the U.S. to procure a steady stream of COVID-19 vaccines.

OToole said Canada and the U.S. need to co-ordinate on vaccines and PPE to make sure we have access, and were not blocked by Buy American. To recover our economy, to secure our future, having that trade access, that preferred relationship with the United States is key.

Most Opposition day motions are not binding on the government, though they can be used to create political pressure for action. But MPs can choose to create committees within the House of Commons with a simple vote.

The call for a Canada-U.S. special committee has echoes of a previous successful attempt by the Conservatives to get a committee struck to focus on Canada-China relations, over objections from the Liberals.

OToole spearheaded that effort when he was the Conservative foreign-affairs critic.

Both Buy American provisions and the future of Enbridge Line 5 are hot-button political issues.

The pipeline carries millions of litres each day of the liquids used in propane, traversing parts of northern Michigan and Wisconsin with an end in Sarnia, Ont.

The governor of Michigan wants the pipeline shut down and environmental activists are pressing Biden to support that in the spirit of his recent decision to cancel construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Conservatives accused the Liberals of not doing enough to convince Biden to change his mind on Keystone, and now say more needs to be done to ensure Line 5 stays open to protect the associated jobs.

Biden is also advocating for protectionist Buy American policies, an issue Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did address on a call with U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris earlier this week.

Prime Minister Trudeau has had projects cancelled by the U.S. multiple times, OToole said.

Canadian businesses have raised concerns theyll be stopped from bidding on U.S. government contracts, and Trudeaus office said part of his call with Harris was about avoiding the unintended consequences of a Buy American approach.

Garneau said the government is continuing the campaign it began during the Trump administration to persuade American politicians at all levels that open, transparent trade between the two countries is in both of our interests.

We will continue to carry that message not only to the federal administration, but to governors and other American politicians to ensure that protectionism does not creep into the relationship that exists between the two countries, Garneau added.

By Stephanie Levitz
Availability of a prospectus relating to this capital increase with preferential subscription right

Implementation by the Management Board of the issuances provided for in the draft accelerated financial safeguard plan

Ratio: 17 new shares for 10 existing shares

Unit subscription price: EUR 0.19 per new share

Preferential subscription rights trading period: from February 8, 2021 to February 17, 2021 (included)

Subscription period for new shares: from February 10, 2021 to February 19, 2021 (included)

Guarantee: up to 100% of the gross amount of the transaction by the backstopping noteholders, in accordance with the accelerated financial safeguard plan, in proportion to their respective holdings of notes (the "Backstopping Noteholders").

Not to be published, distributed or circulated directly or indirectly in the United States, Australia or Japan.

This press release is an advertisement and not a prospectus within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017.

Regulatory News:

Launch of a capital increase with shareholders' preferential subscription right of approximately EUR 50 million in accordance with Europcar Mobility Group's accelerated financial safeguard plan and as part of Europcar Mobility Group's financial restructuring transactions

Europcar Mobility Group (Paris:EUCAR) (the "Company" or "EMG") announces today the launch of a capital increase with preferential subscription rights ("Preferential Subscription Right") of the shareholders for a gross amount, including issue premium, of EUR 50,104,964.79 (the "Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right").

The Company filed an amendment to the Company's 2019 universal registration document with the Autorite des marches financiers ("AMF") on January 12, 2021 under number D.20-0448-A01 (the "Amendment").

The Company also announces that, on February 4, 2021, the AMF approved under number 21-027 the prospectus (the "Prospectus") made available to the public in connection with the issuance and admission to trading on the regulated market of Euronext Paris ("Euronext Paris") of new ordinary shares to be subscribed in cash, as part of a capital increase with shareholders' preferential rights, for a gross amount, including issue premium, of EUR 50,104,964.79 through the issuance of 263,710,341 new shares at a unit price of EUR 0,19 per new share (i.e. EUR 0.01 nominal value and EUR 0.18 issue premium per new share), in the ratio of 17 new shares for 10 existing shares.

The completion of this Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right is part of the Company's accelerated financial safeguard plan approved on January 7, 2021 by the Company's committee of banks and financial institutions and the general meeting of bondholders, reviewed by the Paris Commercial Court on January 25, 2021 and approved by the Paris Commercial Court on February 3, 2021 (the "Safeguard Plan"). The accelerated financial safeguard proceedings, as well as the judgment of the Paris Commercial Court approving the Safeguard Plan, have also been recognized by U.S. courts today as part of the Chapter 15 proceedings of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

The Safeguard Plan also provides for the issuance of new shares:

(A) in the context of (i) the capital increase with waiver of the shareholders' preferential subscription rights in favor the noteholders that have committed to subscribe during the open period in accordance with the Lock-Up Agreement (or any assignee of such subscription rights) and the Backstopping Noteholders, to a maximum gross amount, including issue premium, of EUR 199,999,999.82, at the unit price of EUR 0.19 per share, to be subscribed for in cash through a cash payment (the "Reserved Capital Increase #1"), (ii) the capital increase with waiver of the shareholders' preferential subscription right in favor of the Noteholders, in proportion to their Note Claims, on the reference date, to a maximum gross amount, including issue premium, of EUR 1,083,406,249.64, at a unit price of EUR 0.38, to be subscribed by way of set-off against the amount of liquid and payable debts held by the Noteholders, on the reference date (the "Reserved Capital Increase #2") and (iii) the capital increase with waiver of the shareholders' preferential subscription right in favor of the CS Lenders, in proportion to their CS Debts, at the reference date, to a maximum gross amount, including issue premium, of EUR 50,375,205.40, at a unit price of EUR 0.38, to be subscribed by way of sett-off against the total amount of the liquid and payable CS Debts held by the CS Lenders on the reference date (the "Reserved Capital Increase #3", together with the Reserved Capital Increase #1 and the Reserved Capital Increase #2, the "Reserved Capital Increases").

and (B) upon exercise of (i) the warrants granted for free to the Backstopping Noteholders (as remuneration for their Backstop Commitments) (the "Backstop Warrants"), (ii) the warrants granted for free to the RCF Lenders, the Noteholders and the Backstopping Noteholders who have effectively participated in the Refinancing of the RCF as remuneration for their effective participation in the New Senior Credit Facilities (the "Participation Warrants"), and (iii) the warrants granted for free to the Members of the Coordination Committee (as remuneration for their time and efforts in the negotiation and structuring of the Financial Restructuring as well as for their overall coordination role in the context of the Financial Restructuring) (the "Coordination Warrants", together with the Backstop Warrants and the Participation Warrants, the "Warrants").

It shall be noted that the aforementioned issuances provided for in the Safeguard Plan are indivisible and therefore if one of these issuances could not be carried out, none of them would be carried out. The settlement-delivery of the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right must occur concurrently with the settlement-delivery of (i) the Reserved Capital Increase #1, (ii) the Reserved Capital Increase #2, (iii) the Reserved Capital Increase #3, (iv) the Backstop Warrants, (v) the Participation Warrants and (vi) the Coordination Warrants.

Any amount not subscribed for after the subscription period of the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right is fully backstopped by the holders of the Notes (as this term is defined in the Prospectus) (including the members of the Cross-Holders Coordination Committee) who acceded to the Lock-up Agreement (as this term is defined in the Prospectus) and represent EUR 735,711,0001 in principal amount of Notes and 70.07%1 of the aggregate principal amount of the Notes outstanding on November 25, 2020.

The admission to trading on Euronext Paris of the new shares to be issued in the context of the Reserved Capital Increases and the exercise of the Warrants was described in a prospectus approved by the AMF on January 12, 2021 under number 21-011.

The general meeting of the Company's shareholders held on January 20, 2021, approved all the resolutions necessary for the implementation of the Company's financial restructuring, including the Safeguard Plan, and, in particular, authorized the completion of the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right.

Independent Expertise

The Company appointed on a voluntary basis the firm Finexsi, located at 14 rue Bassano, 75116 Paris, and represented by Mr. Olivier Peronnet and Mr. Lucas Robin, as independent expert, in accordance with Article 261-3 of the AMF's General Regulations, in order to give an opinion on the fairness of the terms and conditions of the Company's restructuring from the perspective of the current shareholders.

The conclusion of the opinion is reproduced below:

"In conclusion, for the shareholder, the implementation of this Restructuring makes it possible to maintain the Company as a going concern, by cleaning up its financial structure and by financing, through the injection of new money, the estimated operating losses for the coming fiscal years and future investments. The Restructuring also enables the Company to restore value in comparison with the current situation.

Therefore, in the context of the Company's current financial difficulties, we consider that, as of the date of this report, the terms and conditions of the Transaction are fair from a financial point of view for the shareholders."

This independent expert's report, provided at the Company's request, is available, with the consent of Finexsi, on the Company's website (https://investors.europcar-group.com/fr).

Main terms and conditions of the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right

The Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right will result in the issuance of 263,710,341 new ordinary shares (the "New Shares") at a unit price of EUR 0.19, including the issue premium, i.e. a gross amount of EUR 50,104,664.79.

Each shareholder of the Company will receive on February 10, 2021 one Preferential Subscription Right per share recorded in its securities account at close of trading on February 9, 2021, according to the indicative timetable. The existing shares will thus be traded ex right as from February 8, 2021.

10 Preferential Subscription Right will give the right to subscribe, by irrevocable entitlement, to 17 New Shares, at a subscription price per New Share of EUR 0.19 (i.e. par value of EUR 0.01 and issue premium of EUR 0.18).

Applications for subscriptions on a reducible basis are accepted but remain subject to reduction in the event of oversubscription. Only the New Shares that may not be absorbed by irrevocable subscriptions will be allocated and allotted to subscribers on a reducible basis. Orders for subscriptions subject to reduction will be served within the limit of their requests and in proportion to the number of existing shares whose rights will have been used in support of their subscription by way of irrevocable entitlement.

In accordance with the provisions of Article L. 225-134 of the French Commercial Code, if the subscriptions on an irreducible basis and, if applicable, on a reducible basis, have not absorbed the entire amount of the issue, the Management Board may allocate the unsubscribed shares among the Backstopping Noteholders, in accordance with their subscription undertakings as a guarantee of the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right detailed below.

Based on the closing price of the Company's share on February 3, 2021, the trading day prior to the date of approval of the Prospectus by the AMF, i.e. EUR 0.6365:

The subscription price of the New Shares of EUR 0.19 shows a face discount of 70 %,

The theoretical value of the preferential subscription right amounts to EUR 0.2754 (noting that its value may change during the period of negotiation of the Preferential Subscription Right, mainly depending on the evolution of the EMG share price),

The theoretical value of the share ex-right amounts to EUR 0.3611, and

The subscription price of the New Shares shows a discount of 47 compared to the theoretical value of the share ex-right.

These amounts are not indicative of the market value of the Preferential Subscription Right during the period of negotiation of the Preferential Subscription Rights or of the share ex-rights or any related discounts.

The Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right will be open to the public only in France.

Credit Agricole Corporate Investment Bank and Societe Generale are acting as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners in respect with the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right.

Indicative Timetable

The negotiation period for the Preferential Subscription Right will start on February 8, 2021 until February 17, 2021 (included). During this period, the Preferential Subscription Right will be tradable on the regulated market of Euronext Paris under ISIN code FR0014001GY9. It will no longer be possible to buy or sell the Preferential Subscription Right after the closing of the trading session of February 17, 2021.

The subscription period for the New Shares will start on February 10, 2021 until February 19, 2021 (included).

The Preferential Subscription Right not exercised will automatically become null and void at the end of the subscription period, i.e. on February 19, 2021 at close of the trading.

The settlement-delivery and the admission to trading of the New Shares are expected to take place on February 26, 2021. The New Shares will carry current dividend rights and will be immediately assimilated to the existing shares of the Company and will be traded on the same quotation line under the same ISIN code FR0012789949.

Commitments and subscription intentions

Under the terms of the Safeguard Plan, the Backstopping Noteholders undertook to subscribe fully in cash the number of shares not subscribed on an irreducible or reducible basis as part of the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right, in proportion to their respective holdings of notes.

Except for the company Eurazeo SE which indicated to the Company that it has no intention to subscribe to the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Rights and reserves its rights to transfer its preferential subscription rights, the Company is not aware of the intentions of the shareholders or members of its management, executive or supervisory bodies.

Use of the product

The Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right is intended to partially implement the Company's Safeguard Plan.

The subscription amount of the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right will enable the Company to contribute to the coverage of the corporate operational financing needs (and in particular cash consumption) and investments needs related to the maintenance and implementation of its "Connect" plan, the debt service restored following the restructuring, as well as (i) the increase of insurance guarantees, (ii) the normalization of the non-fleet working capital requirement and (iii) transaction costs.

Impact of issues on the situation of a shareholder

Share of capital (in %) Before issuance of the new shares relating to the Reserved Capital Increases, allocation of the Warrants and issuance of the New Shares as part of the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right 1.00 After issuance of 4,587,980,216 new shares relating to the Reserved Capital Increases and the exercise of all the Warrants 0.03 After issuance of 4,851,690,557 new shares relating to the Reserved Capital Increase, the exercise of all Warrants and the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right (considering the absence of subscription to the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right by the existing shareholders) 0.03 After issuance of 4,851,690,557 new shares relating to the Reserved Capital Increases, the exercise of all Warrants and the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right (considering a 100 subscription to the Capital Increase with Preferential Subscription Right by the existing shareholders) 0.09

Calculations based on the number of shares comprising the Company's share capital on December 31, 2020 (163,884,278)

Implementation by the Management Board of the financial delegations of authority approved by the shareholders' general meeting of 20 January 2021

All the resolutions required to implement the financial restructuring plan having been approved by the shareholders' general meeting held on January 20, 2021, the Management Board has decided to implement, on February 4, 2021, the delegations of authority granted to it on that occasion2 in order to proceed, to:

a capital increase in cash through the issue of 263,710,341 new ordinary shares, with shareholders' preferential subscription rights;

a capital increase in cash through the issue of 1,052,631,578 new ordinary shares, with waiver of the preferential subscription rights, in favor of the Participating Noteholders, constituting a category of persons meeting specific characteristics;

a capital increase in cash to be paid up by way of set-off against certain, liquid and due claims by the issue of 2,851,069,078 new ordinary shares, with waiver of the preferential subscription rights, in favor of the Noteholders, constituting a category of persons meeting specific characteristics;

a capital increase in cash to be paid up by way of set-off against certain, liquid and due claims by the issue of 132,566,330 new ordinary shares, with waiver of the preferential subscription rights, in favor of the CS Lenders, constituting a category of persons meeting specific characteristics;

the issue and allocation, for free, of 401,245,986 warrants with waiver of the shareholders' preferential subscription right, in favor of the Backstopping Noteholders, constituting a category of persons meeting specific characteristics;

the issue and allocation, for free, of 75,233,622 warrants with waiver of the shareholders' preferential subscription right, in favor of the members of the Cross-Holders Coordination Committee, constituting a category of persons meeting specific characteristics;

the issue and allocation, for free, of 75,233,622 warrants with waiver of the shareholders' preferential subscription right, in favor of the lenders under the RCF and to the Participating Noteholders (including the Backstopping Noteholders) effectively participating in the Refinancing of the RCF, constituting a category of persons meeting specific characteristics.

Public Information

The prospectus consisting of (i) the universal registration document of EMG filed with the AMF on May 6, 2020 under number D.20-0448, (ii) the Amendment and (iii) an offering circular (including the summary of the prospectus) having obtained approval number 21-027 from the AMF on February 4, 2021 is available on the AMF website (www.amf-france.org) and on the company's website (https://investors.europcar-group.com/fr). Potential investors are invited to read the prospectus before making an investment decision in order to fully understand the potential risks and benefits associated with the decision to invest in the securities. Approval of the prospectus by the AMF should not be considered as a favorable opinion on the securities offered or admitted to trading on a regulated market.

Outlook

For the purposes of negotiating the proposed financial restructuring (more fully described in Chapter 1 "Presentation of the Financial Restructuring" of the Amendment), the Company has prepared, and communicated, in September 2020, to some of its creditors who were bound by confidentiality agreements, a "Connect" business plan in order to identify new liquidity needs and forecasts for select financial aggregates for fiscal years 2021, 2022 and 2023, excerpted from such business plan.

These forecasts were published in the Company's press release date November 26, 2020 (see Section 1.1 of the Amendment).

These revenue and corporate EBITDA forecasts were made in accordance with the accounting methods used for the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019 and for the interim six-month period ended on June 30, 2020. The forecasts were finalized in September 2020 based on the general assumptions that:

the Covid-19 pandemic will not further impact the Company;

the economy will gradually begin to recover in 2021 and the Company's biggest markets will have recovered by 2023, driving a recovery in rental day volume;

The financial restructuring transactions proposed under the Safeguard Plan will be effectively executed in Q1 2021.

Some assumptions and forecasts may have changed since they were prepared and will continue to evolve given the current situation and the uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic as at the date of the Amendment. For example, as the second wave of COVID-19 unfurled across most of Europe in October/November 2020, countries such as the UK and Germany reintroduced lockdown measures while others accelerated the roll-out of vaccines. As previously indicated in its press release on November 26, 2020, due to recent coronavirus developments and the persistent uncertainties regarding its main markets, the Company is not in a position as at the date of the Prospectus to measure the impacts on its business and therefore to provide the Group's 2021 guidance. This information should not be considered profit forecasts or estimates as defined by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/980 of March 14, 2019.

Disclaimer

This press release and the information it contains do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe, or a solicitation of an order to buy or subscribe, Europcar Mobility Group securities. The dissemination, publication or distribution of this press release in certain countries may constitute a violation of applicable laws and regulations. Accordingly, persons who are physically present in such countries and in which this press release is disseminated, distributed or published should inform themselves of and comply with any such local restrictions.

This press release is not an advertisement and does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of Regulation 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market and repealing the Prospectus Directive 2003/71/EC (as amended the "Prospectus Regulation").

The information in this press release is provided for informational purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive and no person shall rely in any manner whatsoever on the information contained herein or its accuracy, precision or completeness. Any purchase of securities must be made solely based on the information contained in the Prospectus approved by the AMF and published on the Company's and the AMF's respective websites. Potential investors are invited to read the prospectus before making an investment decision in order to fully understand the potential risks and benefits associated with the decision to invest in the securities. The approval of the prospectus by the AMF should not be understood as an endorsement of the securities offered or admitted to trading on a regulated market.

European Economic Area and United Kingdom

With respect to the planned admission to the regulated market of Euronext in Paris and with respect to the member States of the European Economic Area other than France and the United Kingdom (each, a "Relevant State"), no action has been or will be taken to allow a public offering of securities requiring the publication of a prospectus in any of the Relevant States. Consequently, any offer of Europcar Mobility Group's securities may only be made in any of the Relevant States (i) to qualified investors within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation, for any investor in a Member State of the European Economic Area, or Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 as part of national law under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (the "UK Prospectus Regulation"), for any investor in the United Kingdom, (ii) to fewer than 150 individuals or legal entities (other than qualified investors as defined in the Prospectus Regulation or the UK Prospectus Regulation, as the case may be), or (iii) in any other case exempting Europcar Mobility Group from publishing a prospectus in accordance with Article 1(4) of the Prospectus Regulation or the UK Prospectus Regulation, as the case may be.

United Kingdom

This press release does not constitute a public offering of securities in the United Kingdom. Consequently, this press release is only being distributed to, and is only directed at, persons in the United Kingdom that (i) are "investment professionals" falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (as amended, the "Order"), (ii) are persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) ("high net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc.") of the Order, or (iii) are persons to whom this press release could legally be addressed (the persons mentioned under (i), (ii) and (iii) together the "Relevant Persons"). Any investment or investment activity to which this document relates is available only to Relevant Persons and will be engaged in only with Relevant Persons. Any person who is not a Relevant Person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents.

United States

This press release does not constitute sale offer for Europcar Mobility Group shares in the United States or in any other jurisdiction, Europcar Mobility Group shares may not be offered, sold, exercised or delivered in the United States absent registration or an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). Europcar Mobility Group does not intend to register any portion of the offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering of any securities in the United States; and Europcar Mobility Group's securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act.

This press release does not contain or constitute an offer or invitation to purchase any securities in France, the United States or any other jurisdiction.

Forward-looking statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements based on current beliefs and expectations about future events. Such forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives, intentions and/or expectations with respect to future financial results, events, operations and services and product development, as well as statements, regarding performance or events. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "projects", "may", "would", "should" or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties and assumptions about Europcar Mobility Group and its subsidiaries and investments, trends in their business, future capital expenditures and acquisitions, developments in respect of contingent liabilities, changes in economic conditions globally or in Europcar Mobility Group's principal markets, competitive conditions in the market and regulatory factors. Those events are uncertain; their outcome may differ from current expectations which may in turn materially affect expected results. Actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied in these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement contained in this press release is made as of the date of this press release. Other than as required by applicable law, Europcar Mobility Group does not undertake to revise or update any forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. The results and the Group's performance may also be affected by various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, risks identified in the "Risk factors" of the Universal Registration Document registered by the Autorite des marches financiers on May 6, 2020 and also available on the Group's website: www.europcar-mobility-group.com.

About Europcar Mobility Group

Europcar Mobility Group is a major player in mobility markets and listed on Euronext Paris.

The mission of Europcar Mobility Group is to be the preferred "Mobility Service Company" by offering attractive alternatives to vehicle ownership, with a wide range of mobility-related services and solutions: car rental and light commercial vehicle rental, chauffeur services, car-sharing and private hire vehicle (PHV rental to "Uber like" chauffeurs). Customers' satisfaction is at the heart of the Group's mission and all of its employees and this commitment fuels the continuous development of new services. Europcar Mobility Group operates through a diversified portfolio of brands meeting every customer specific needs and use cases, be it for 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week or longer; its 4 major brands being: Europcar the European leader of car rental and light commercial vehicle rental, Goldcar the low-cost car-rental Leader in Europe, InterRent 'mid-tier' car rental and Ubeeqo one of the European leaders of round-trip car-sharing (BtoB, BtoC). Europcar Mobility Group delivers its mobility solutions worldwide solutions through an extensive network in over 140 countries (including wholly owned subsidiaries 18 in Europe, 1 in the USA, 2 in Australia and New Zealand completed by franchises and partners).

Further details on our website: www.europcar-mobility-group.com

________________

1 These elements have been revised in comparison with previous press releases, pursuant to the information disclosed to Lucid Issuer Services Limited.

2 It being specified that the capital decrease of the Company by way of reduction in the par value of the Company's shares from EUR 1.00 to EUR 0.01 is effective since January 20, 2021.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204006112/en/

Contacts:

Europcar Mobility Group

Investor Relations

Caroline Cohen caroline.cohen@europcar.com

Press relations

Valerie Sauteret valerie.sauteret@europcar.com

Vincent Vevaud vincent.vevaud@europcar.com

Publicis Consultants

Judith Grancoing judith.grancoing@publicisconsultants.com
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CHICOPEE  A cannabis business narrowly received approvals to open a cultivation facility and recreational marijuana shop in a vacant industrial building, despite concerns that it may add traffic to an already congested area.

Revolution Greencare LLC. is now close to becoming the third cannabis business to open in the city once the owners, Adam Brady, of Colorado, and David Peskin, of Holyoke, receive final approvals from the state Cannabis Control Commission. Earlier the two said they hope to open by the end of this year.

The City Council approved a special permit for the company in a 9-4 vote Tuesday night. A two-thirds majority of the 13-member board had to vote yes for the permit to be granted.

Brady and Peskin purchased the roughly 80,000 square-foot building and 1.9 acres of land which is zoned for industry in 2016 for $425,000, deed records show. Most of the building at 30 Buckley Blvd. is to be used for cultivation and the retail store will be about 1,300 square feet.

I drive by this all the time and I do see a lot of traffic here, said Councilor Frank Laflamme, who voted against the permit. I was for cultivation because you know how many vehicles will be there I do have a problem with recreational because we dont know how many cars will go there.

While multiple councilors agreed there can be traffic congestion at the complicated intersection of Yelle, Prospect, and Montgomery streets and Buckley Boulevard, many felt the traffic could be managed especially since the owners agreed to accept customers by appointment only.

Councilors also approved an amendment to the special permit that would require the company to hire off-duty officers to direct traffic if the police chief decides it is necessary. That came at the suggestion of Councilor Robert Zygarowski, a retired police officer who said traffic has been a problem for years in that area.

The combination of reusing an old industrial building, adding about 40 jobs that pay between $15 and $30 an hour and bringing revenue to the city outweighs possible traffic problems, Councilor George Balakier said.

A traffic study showed the business would not make current conditions worse and there are several entrances to the property that will help reduce problems, he said.

The traffic, it could be a problem, but not a serious problem, and it is something perhaps that can be worked out by requiring appointments, he said.

About a half-dozen residents and business owners spoke in favor of the project but Carol Campbell, owner of Chicopee Industrial Contractors, which is on North Chicopee Street and one of several industrial businesses on the property next to 30 Buckley Blvd., said she is concerned about customers walking in the same area where heavy equipment and trucks are being operated all the time.

I admit it is an eyesore and something has to be done there, Campbell said of the building, adding it was the retail portion of the business, not the cultivation, that was her concern.

City Planner Lee Pouliot said the property is zoned industrial so all types of businesses could move in there by right and could have a much larger impact on traffic than the proposed Revolution Greencare. He also spoke about the concern that the building could fall into further disrepair and become another abandoned industrial property similar to the Uniroyal complex.

We all know what happens when these type of industrial buildings sit vacant or semi-vacant for too long, Pouliot said. You have an opportunity to see an investment in the property now and it is certainly worth your consideration.

The council first voted to grant a waiver to the special permit regulations that require a 100-foot buffer of trees and other plantings between a residential property and cannabis facility in an 8-5 vote.

Councilor Gary Labrie and Zygarowski, who voted against the waiver, joined councilors Balakier, Gerard Roy, Joel McAuliffe, William Courchesne, Derek Dobosz, Frederick Krampits and Stanley Walczak to vote to grant the special permit. Those who voted against it were Laflamme, council president Shane Brooks, James Tillotson and Lucien Galecki, who initially voted to grant the waiver.

Labrie said he changed his vote after touring 30 Buckley Blvd. and realizing the extent of work the building needs.

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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
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opinion

Edo State  The unity of the Nigerian State has never been so badly threatened than now. Sixty years after independence, Nigeria is today on the precipice of breaking up. No thanks to leadership without clear direction, crimes and terrorism, poor human development, insecurity, ethnoreligious division, mutual suspicion, illiteracy and unemployment as well as corruption.

There is no disputing the fact that Nigeria needs help; just as it earnestly needs a leadership that understands the imperatives of such salvation. Yes. Nigeria requires a leader that can galvanize resources and instigate impactful policies that can engender such remedy.

We need no pundit to tell us that Nigeria is no longer a united country. Without unity, Nigerians can never realize the dreams of our founding fathers. A dream long abandoned. Unity, they say, can only be achieved when there are better coordination and mutual understanding in the society. Unity will come when there is no friction of thoughts and a clash of ideologies.

However, herds cannot navigate their way to the greener pasture or watering point without the guidance of a worthy shepherd. Without the services of an ideal shepherd of unity, Nigeria and Nigerians would in no time be a source of reference in the abyss of history.

With the right shepherd that can unite our country, Nigeria will once again regain its rightful place in the community of nations. It is said that "so powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth."Borrowing the title of a book authored by former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, one has to ask: 'Who will love my country?

Nigeria is certainly not bereft of leaders with class. The problem with us has been how we go about choosing them. The North and South of Nigeria are blessed with quality leaders. And at every given opportunity these leaders prove their grit. Without mincing words, the Sokoto State governor, Aminu Bello Tambuwal is one of Nigeria's shining stars rising from the North, whose brightness, when kindled can illuminate the entire nation.

My recent researching and findings of the exploits of Governor Tambuwal during his time as Speaker of the National Assembly and even now, as a governor, have rekindled the embers of my dying hopes for Nigeria. It is said that the only measure of judging a person is through that person's character because a character is not determined by race, religion, gender or social status.

Those following the rising credentials of Governor Tambuwal will recall his spectacular days at the lower chambers of the National Assembly. As the then number-4 man of the nation, Tambuwal did not only supervise vibrant legislations, he also ensured that no crisis rocked the unity of the National Assembly.

The 7th Session of the Federal House of Representatives was rated to be one of the most pragmatic and most stable House of Reps in recent times. When Tambuwal eventually bowed out of the legislative chambers to answer the call of the people of Sokoto in 2015, he ensured that worthy legalese, Yakubu Dogara, the former speaker of the 8th Assembly, succeeded him.

Speaker Dogara had, on June 22, 2015, during a thanks-giving service in Tafawa-Balewa town of Bauchi State, organised by his constituents to celebrate his emergence as the Speaker of tbe 8th Assembly, he tacitly gave credit to Governor Tambuwal for mobilising support to ensure that a Christian and a minority tribe from the North emerges as Speaker of House of Reps. That was what former Speaker Dogara had said in appreciation of the support his predecessor, Governor Tambuwal, had given to ensure he became the Speaker.

As governor of Sokoto state, Tambuwal has been able to bring character, decency, honesty and accountability to the business of governance in the seat of the caliphate. Tambuwal runs a state where the Assembly is entirely controlled by the opposition, yet he has been able to work amicably without the usual rancour associated with such strange bedfellows relationship.

When governor Tambuwal took over the reins of power as governor in 2015, he declared a state of emergency on education with a vow to turn around the state's fortune and make Sokoto one of the best performing states in education. And in no time, Sokoto began to take its rightful place amongst educationally advanced states. Anyone in doubt of this should take a trip to Sokoto.

To demonstrate his government's commitment to quality education, Tambuwal allocated 24 per cent of the N202.4 billion budget state budget for education in 2020. The amount represents N47.8 billion of the state budget. Only a few governors have allocated such a handsome percentage to the education sector.

A Daily Trust article published on January 10, 2020, titled "Tambuwal's Purpose-driven, All-inclusive leadership", said something that strikes a chord in my critical mindset. The sixth paragraph of that well-editorialised article reads; "... This unbroken executive-legislative cord is seen by many as a major turning point in the history of governance in the state. In fact, the serenity and cooperation he is enjoying attest to Governor Tambuwal's purpose-driven, all-inclusive leadership in which justice, equity and unity are the fundamental objectives of the government."

Just recently, the Sokoto state government under Governor Tambuwal received a first-of-its-kind "World Bank Grant for financial propriety." The World Bank granted the Sokoto state government $22 million for its commitment to the implementation of the Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme.

According to the report, the state clinched the grant after it attained a high score in SFTAS by rising from 2/5 in 2019 to 14/15 in 2020. The feat has placed Sokoto amongst the three states in the country to achieve such ranking. The World Bank qualifies Sokoto for the $2.5 million grant after it has confirmed that the state has doubled its share of the federally collected PAYE tax and undertook a forensic audit of its pension benefits, thus establishing "a liability of over N500million, which is under verification and validation by the Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate (PTAD).

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Writers upon writers who fixated on the Tambuwal 2019 candidacy were unanimous in their analysis of his winning chances should the PDP give him the chances. For the sake of neutrality, I would adopt Wikipedia's analysis of Tambuwal political profile and 2018 presidential bid.

According to Wikipedia; "Tambuwal was one of the long lists of 12 candidates; including four from his northwestern region that contested PDP presidential nomination. Tambuwal was popular in the race and was among the top four candidates (Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Bukola Saraki) widely expected to win going by political permutations around his candidacy.

A number of factors, including his young age among the contestants, political experience, his untainted records from corruption indictment, boosted his chances going into the primary. Analysts had predicted that should Tambuwal clinch PDP ticket he would be a formidable challenge to incumbent President Muhammad Buhari a northern Muslim who was then running for reelection. The PDP gambled and a wrong choice was made ahead of the 2019 presidential election. The rest is history.

That is the stuff that characterises Tanbuwal, the man of the moment, an idea whose time has come. Governor Aminu Bello-Tambuwal is a unifying force, an excellent administrator, legal luminary, the untainted incorruptible leader, and a cognate politician.

Silverman wrote in from Benin City, Edo State

(@FahadShabbir)

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) Estonia has supported the blocking of opposition tv channels ZIK, NewsOne and 112 Ukraine in Ukraine, the Estonian Embassy in Ukraine said in a statement on Twitter.

"#Estonia understands and supports the steps taken by #Ukraine within the bounds of its legislature to counter measures directed against its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity," the embassy said.

On Tuesday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, by his decree, put into effect the National Security and Defense Council's (NSDC) decision to impose sanctions for five years against the TV channels 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK and Verkhovna Rada lawmaker from the Opposition Platform - For Life faction Taras Kozak, who owns these channels.

The TV channels that have come under the sanctions are in opposition to the Ukrainian authorities and are associated with one of the leaders of the Opposition Platform - For Life party, Viktor Medvedchuk.

The party condemned this decision and called it a manifestation of dictatorship and infringement of freedom of speech in the country. The TV channels stopped broadcasting but remained available on YouTube.

The list of restrictions that apply to TV channels includes blocking assets, restricting trading operations, preventing the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine, suspending the fulfillment of economic and financial obligations, canceling or suspending licenses and other permits. Also, TV companies are prohibited from using the radio frequency resource of Ukraine and rebroadcasting TV programs.

Posted Thursday, February 4, 2021 12:15 am

Washington State may soon have a new state dinosaur, thanks to the efforts of an elementary school class and the Washington state Legislature.

The proposed state dinosaur is Suciasauras Rex, named for a fossil fragment found in 2012 on Sucia Island in San Juan Islands. The fossil is a 17-inch piece of the dinosaurs upper leg and dates to about 80 million years ago. It is the only dinosaur fossil ever found in Washington state.

HB 1067, the bill to recognize Suciasaurus, was introduced this year by Melanie Morgan, D-Tacoma, on behalf of a class at Elmhurst Elementary in the Franklin Pierce School District, who learned about the fossil and took steps to have it recognized by the state Legislature. The bill was introduced last session, passed the House by a wide margin, but did not get a hearing in the state Senate. Morgan reintroduced the bill this session.

This bill is more than just about a dinosaur, Morgan said at a hearing Jan. 27. It's our formal recognition and appreciation for the hard work, preparation, creativity, and the drive of these students who are now in the sixth grade.

Suciasaurus was a two-legged carnivore about half the size of its relative Tyrannosaurus Rex and lived about 12 million years before its famous cousin. It originally stalked its prey between Baja Mexico and Northern California. The fossil came to rest in the San Juan Islands after land masses drifted north over eons.

Twelve states and Washington D.C. also have official state dinosaurs. Washington already has a state fossil. It is the Columbian mammoth.



The Washington State Journal is a nonprofit news website managed by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation. Learn more at wastatejournal.org.
On the afternoon of February 4, Vietnam reported 9 more cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number to 1,957.

The new cases include one in Hai Duong Province, the countrys Covid-19 hotspot, 2 in Quang Ninh, 4 in Gia Lai, 1 in Hanoi and 1 in Binh Duong.

The patient in Hai Duong is a 17-year-old girl, a resident of Cam Giang district.

The northern province of Quang Ninh has 2 new patients (No. 1950  No. 1951), who previously had close contact with patient 1892 and 1893, related to the Covid-19 outbreak in Chi Linh city, Hai Duong province.

The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai reported 4 more patients (from 1952 to 1955). All of them previously had contact with patient 1889, related to the hotspot in Chi Linh city, Hai Duong province.

Hanoi has 1 new case, No. 1956, related to the Covid-19 outbreak in Chi Linh city, Hai Duong province.

The southern province of Binh Duong also has 1 new patient - No. 1957, who previously had contact with patient 1886, related to the epidemic outbreak in Chi Linh city, Hai Duong province.

The country has so far reported 1,068 locally-transmitted cases. Thirty-five died from complications related to the disease.

According to the Treatment Sub-committee under National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, 1,465 COVID-19 patients have recovered. Among those still under treatment, 10 have tested negative for the virus once, three twice, and two thrice.

There are 65,451 people who had close contact with confirmed cases or came from pandemic-hit regions under quarantine at present, including 413 at hospitals, 24,312 at other quarantine sites, and 40,726 at home.

Thuy Hanh

Inside the quarantine zone with nearly 900 F1 cases in Chi Linh City VietNamNet's Pham Cong went to Chi Linh City, Hai Duong Province, the countrys largest Covid-19 hotspot to learn about the situation there.
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Agency Main Content

Background



Farmers and ranchers in Oregon raise and sell livestock for a variety of local, regional and international markets. Processing and inspection are necessary steps connecting farms to consumers.

Federal law requires that meat sold for retail/wholesale markets be processed at a federally inspected facility. Currently 27 states have cooperative inspection programs that are equal to federal inspection and are overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA, FSIS), but Oregon does not. This means that facilities in Oregon wishing to sell meat to retail/wholesale markets must be inspected by USDA.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) Food Safety Program licenses all processors, both USDA inspected and exempt facilities that are not inspected by USDA. The ODA inspection ensures compliance with construction, sanitation, liquid and solid waste disposal, and animal theft regulations. Exempt facilities that are inspected by ODA, but not USDA, can only provide custom processing services for the owners of livestock.



Growing the market demand for local meat products

The ODA Agricultural Development and Marketing Program works to support producers and processors understand the market demand for meat products in retail channels including direct to consumer marketing channels. It also supports local, domestic and international promotions and works to help support and expand meat processing capacity in Oregon.  Does Oregon have a State Meat Inspection Program?

No, the Oregon State Meat Inspection Program ended in 1971 due to budget constraints. States may apply and enter into a cooperative agreement with the USDA, FSIS to operate a State Meat Inspection Program equal to the USDA, FSIS federal inspection program. Meat processed and inspected under a State Meat Inspection program may be sold in-state only. The Oregon Department of Agriculture was allocated, by the 2020 special session of the Oregon Legislature, funding to start-up an Oregon State Meat Inspection Program. This includes work with USDA to develop and implement a program and work with stakeholders to identify the potential benefits of an Oregon State Meat Inspection Program. To learn more, see ODA's Meat Inspection Information sheet.

Meat industry stakeholders

The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) has established a meat industry stakeholders group to bring together a wide variety of representatives including producers, USDA inspected meat processors, custom processors, food bank and retail buyers, associations, university representatives and federal, state, county government officials.

The purpose of the stakeholder group is to work with ODA as we develop and implement a State Meat Inspection Program and work together to identify opportunities to grow markets and processing capacity for locally sourced and processed meat.

To continue this work, we have created three workgroups:

Market Development and Market Demand Workgroup Participants in this workgroup discuss and assess the market demand and opportunities for local meat products and develop educational and promotion programs as needed.

Meeting schedule and how to join the meeting remotely

February 18, 2021 - 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

February 4, 2021 - 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

January 7, 2021

December 3, 2020

November 19, 2020

November 5, 2020

Regulatory and Rules Advisory Workgroup Participants in this workgroup discuss and work with the ODA to review and identify rule making necessary to implement an Oregon State Meat Inspection program.



Meeting schedule and how to join the meeting remotely

March 11, 2021 - 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM

February 11, 2021 - 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM

January 14, 2021

December 10, 2020

November 5, 2020 Supplier Workgroup **includes link to survey** Participants in this workgroup discuss the challenges and opportunities for producers and processing facilities to successfully expand existing facilities or open new facilities in Oregon to process local meat. Meeting schedule and how to join the meeting remotely



February 9, 2021 - 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

January 26, 2021

January 12, 2021

December 15, 2021

December 1, 2021

November 17, 2020

October 28, 2020

Producer survey

The supplier workgroup has developed a survey for Oregon Ranchers and Farmers who sell meat direct to consumers or restaurants or may have an interest in doing so. Please complete the survey prior to Monday, February 15








































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A constitutional amendment to reshape Pennsylvanias highest courts could be on the ballot for voters to approve as early as the May primary. The Republican proposal would create judicial districts for the election of judges for the states appellate courts  Commonwealth, Superior, and Supreme Courts. The judges on these courts are currently elected statewide.

The amendment sparked a heated debate, with some calling the measure judicial gerrymandering. Is electing judges based on geography a good idea? The Inquirer asked the lawmaker who introduced the amendment and an organizer of a campaign against it to unpack their positions.

Yes: HB 38 would diversify the courts and minimize corruption

Pennsylvania is known for its chocolate, its mountains  and its many opportunities for corruption.

In the days leading up to my introduction of House Bill 38, I received the usual and expected rebuttals from mainstream journalists and Harrisburg lobbyists. I was accused of inserting gerrymandering into judicial elections and disenfranchising voters, while at the same time lectured about how merit selection (involving a 13-person panel) would somehow not disenfranchise them.

I cant say I am surprised. As an outsider in Harrisburg, you can always expect pushback from special interests and the media who are always in their pocket.

Still, it makes you wonder why on earth every group of lawyers, journalists, and unions are against a bill that would seek to diversify the geographic makeup of our appellate courts. And then you remember the real problem you were seeking to solve in the first place before all of the critics descended: corruption.

The current system of statewide elections for appellate court judges breeds a political class exempted from the Rule of Law. Rep. Russ Diamond

My bill would not just diversify the gender, demographic, or geographic makeup of our appellate courts. It would also chop at the deep-seated subversion of justice in Pennsylvania.

Corruption is not something we should tolerate or ignore. Its an embedded weed that has deep roots and has strangled other plant roots underground along the way.

For too long, Pennsylvanians have been given a raw deal by our judicial system and have been the butt of jokes about our public officials. From House speakers, to trial court judges, to traffic court judges, to Supreme Court judges, the commonwealth has had its fair share of judicial malpractice and public corruption.

 READ MORE: Pa. could become a national outlier in how it elects appellate judges. Heres why experts are worried.

The simple fact of the matter is that Philadelphia and Allegheny have been playing by their own rules while people like my constituents in Lebanon County suffer.

Of the most recent seven appellate court judges convicted or accused of serious crimes, four of them were from Allegheny or Philadelphia. Of the 19 judges on the Pennsylvania Superior Court, the court that decided that Speaker Bill DeWeese and Speaker John Perzel do not need to pay fines for their crimes, 12 of them are from Philadelphia or Allegheny.

You see, the current system of statewide elections for appellate court judges breeds a political class exempted from the rule of law.

Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, the major special interest group pushing against my bill, noted in its own April 2017 study that our commonwealth has not been a stranger to judicial scandals. The group perceived the ethics of our higher court judges to be of such concern it issued a report in 2011 on the states judicial disciplinary system.

But instead of proposing a decentralization of power that could help prevent such corruption from encompassing government, Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts is proposing to move power away from the voters into the hands of a politically savvy merit selection board.

Real reform gives Pennsylvanians a fair shake instead of rigging it for the politically connected.

Thats why every special interest, media outlet, and lawyer lobbyist is against my bill. Unfortunately for them, they wont dissuade me and other honest legislators. We will fight to get this bill approved so it becomes a ballot question, giving you a voice and opportunity to end corruption in our judicial system.

Russ Diamond represents the 102nd Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, serving part of Lebanon County.

No: Regional influence could impede statewide decisions on the court

There is no good reason to allow Harrisburg lawmakers to upend the way Pennsylvania voters have elected our state appellate court judges for decades  but there are many strong reasons to oppose it.

Proponents say the amendment would bring diversity to the courts. But if one looks at where judges and justices are born, as well as where they lived while rising to the bench, there is a great deal of geographic diversity right now. In fact, the most recent justice elected to the Supreme Court comes from rural Pennsylvania.

This amendment is a direct threat to the independence of the courts required by the separation of powers. Kadida Kenner

Regional representation on the appellate courts is not vital to their role and could undermine it. We elect legislators by district to bring regional interests and local flavor to the legislative process. But there is no Philadelphia County or Lebanon County way to interpret the Pennsylvania Constitution. Allowing regional concerns to influence court decisions could undermine the courts deference to the law and our constitution.

HB 38 will not bring racial diversity to our appellate court benches, either. NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference president Kenneth L. Huston, who opposes HB 38, said, Any laws which creates gerrymandering (the practice of manipulating voting districts to benefit parties instead of people) provides less strength to your voice and choice.

 READ MORE: After barely surviving 2020, Pa.s democracy might not survive the Republican effort to gerrymander the court | Editorial

Electing judges in districts could also make it more difficult to put the best-qualified judges on the bench. Appellate court judges need legal experience in appellate matters and/or judicial experience to sit on these courts. Although many grew up in rural parts of the state, these jurists often worked as lawyers in the urban, commercial centers of the state where their services are most often needed.

There are few good reasons to support HB 38 so it should come as no surprise that no public policy or advocacy organization supports it. However, a diverse group of more than 125 organizations, representing several hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians, do oppose it for these reasons and because of one more critical issue: gerrymandering.

District election of judges and justices would allow the General Assembly to gerrymander district lines. By drawing and redrawing judicial district lines, the General Assembly could not only influence the partisan composition of the courts but select which judges and justices have an opportunity to run in retention elections. This amendment is a direct threat to the independence of the courts required by the separation of powers. Most states that elect their judges and justices do so through statewide rather than district elections precisely because they understand the importance of limiting legislative influence over the courts.

Proponents of HB 38  almost entirely Republican legislators who are on the far-right of their party  appear to support this proposal because they have been irritated by some Supreme Court decisions. But people and legislators of every ideology and party sometimes disagree with the courts decisions. That is how our system is designed to work.

At this moment, when we have seen dramatic examples of independent courts protecting election results from those who have unfairly attacked them, everyone  no matter their party or ideology  should continue to insist that our courts be protected from the influence of legislators. Pennsylvania appellate court judges should not be beholden to legislators or their regions  only to the constitution and the law.

Kadida Kenner is the director of campaigns for the PA Budget and Policy Center. She writes from Harrisburg.

Read more Inquirer Pro/Cons

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A polarizing question for Philadelphians: Snow, good or bad? | Pro/Con

Should Biden cancel student loan debt? | Pro/Con
Another patient who had been admitted at the Matei Bals Epidemiology Institute, in the ward affected by the fire on Friday morning, January 29, has died on Thursday, the Ministry of Health announced.

The patient was transferred after the fire to the Marius Nasta Pulmonology Institute in Bucharest.

"It is about an 89 year old patient, transferred after the fire to the Marius Nasta Pulmonology Institute in Bucharest," says a press release sent by the Ministry of Health to AGERPRES.

The patient had been diagnosed with a severe form of SARS-CoV-2 and presented multiple associated afflictions, and the forensic investigation will determine the cause of death, according to the source.

The death toll following the fire at Matei Bals has thus gone up, to 12.
(Newser)  If two Ohio lawmakers have their way, residents of the Buckeye State will celebrate "President Donald J. Trump Day" every June. State Reps. Jon Cross and Reggie Stoltzfus, both Republicans, last week sent a memo to their fellow legislators asking them to co-sponsor a bill that would establish June 14, the former presidents birthday, as an annual state holiday, CNN reports. They wrote that Trump "against great odds, accomplished many great things that have led our nation to unparalleled prosperity," per the Hill, adding that they wanted to show the more than 3.1 million Ohio voters who cast ballots for Trump "that we as a legislature recognize the accomplishments of his administration and that the Ohio House believes it is imperative we set aside a day to celebrate one of the greatest presidents in American history."

story continues below

The Columbus Dispatch notes that its not uncommon for states to commemorate the birthdays of former presidents. But it usually happens after they die (although Illinois did establish Barack Obama Day in 2017). One Ohio Democrat points out that June 14 is Flag Day, a national holiday. "I don't like the idea of changing an existing federal holiday that honors the flag," Rep. Jeff Crossman tells the Dispatch. "I think it's disrespectful." In Washington, DC, there is an effort underway to prevent federal projects, buildings, statues, lands, or "even a park bench" from being named in honor of Trump, the Independent reports. Democratic US Rep. Linda Sanchez doesnt mention Trump by name in her "No Glory for Hate Act." However, the bill would apply only to former presidents that have been "twice impeached," which narrows the field to Trump. Meanwhile, in Florida, the Frostproof City Council on Monday declared the first week of February to be "Donald J. Trump Week," the first city to make such a move, Fox8 reports. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
Dodoma  MINISTER for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr Dorothy Gwajima has urged social workers to keep a close eye on domestic violence and act promptly.

Dr Gwajima also said men, who are victims of gender based violence, should open up so that proper measures are taken to address the crime in society.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Dr Gwajima said families, communities and local government authorities must team up to address the situation.

Minister Gwajima said that the ministry has noted with concern the increase in gender based violence cases within the community.

"Let me take this opportunity to instruct all Municipalities and District Social Workers to deal effectively with gender based violence issues in their respective areas, and ensure that public rights are being observed," said Dr Gwajima.

She said increasing gender based violence and family conflicts within the communities is an indicator that the physosocial issues are not being dealt with accordingly, thus a need for immediate solutions.

Dr Gwajima said the government is working on the implementation of programmes and strategies to deal with the elderly killings on witchcraft beliefs.

She also said that they have drafted a plan to end women and children violence.

Last week, Dr Gwajima issued a statement that they are working on a new plan of action to end domestic violence following evidence that shows majority of people are resorting to harming others or themselves due to lack of psychological support.

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The new plan of action is aimed at curbing runaway incidents of domestic violence emanating from mental disorders.

In the statement she cited three cases that pushed the ministry to act, mentioning them as one where a husband who was arrested in Dar es Salaam last month after a violent attack on his wife with a sharp object, upon a failed attempt to kill also his two other children.

Another incident was that of a widow, who attempted suicide in an inheritance row and last week's incident in Morogoro, where a young girl reportedly attempted to take her own life after her parents interfered in her sentimental relationship.

"These incidents point to increased acts of domestic violence, heightened family conflicts tied to property rows and unresolved psychological contentions," Minister Gwajima noted.

Hence, she directed community development officers at all levels to set aside a day in a week to listen to social challenges, including family disputes and relationship issues, and offer counselling.

She said every district administration level must prepare a permanent register capturing details of clients served by community development officers, adding that the officers do not have to wait for the worst to happen for them to act.

She said community development officers should refer cases they cannot handle to relevant and more competent authorities for action and follow up their progress.
Foust, Darnall Named as Outstanding Prosecutors

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MARSHALL COUNTY - On Thursday, Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced Kentucky's 2020 Outstanding Prosecutor Award recipients, including two in Marshall County.This year, Cameron presented awards to Commonwealth's Attorney for the 42nd Judicial Circuit, Dennis Foust, covering Calloway and Marshall Counties, and Marshall County Attorney Jason Darnall.Nicholas County Attorney Dawn Letcher and Commonwealth's Attorney for the 22nd Judicial Circuit, Lou Anna Red Corn, also received awards."Kentucky's prosecutors play a vital role in protecting our communities, and the 2020 recipients of Kentucky's Outstanding Prosecutor Awards have dedicated themselves to bettering their communities by upholding the law and pursuing justice," said Attorney General Cameron. "I am grateful for the valuable contributions they make, day in and day out, to improve public safety outcomes for the men, women, and children in their circuits and counties."Cameron visited Marshall County on Wednesday to present Foust and Darnall with their awards."I am honored to receive the Outstanding Commonwealth's Attorney award for 2020," said Foust. "However, credit for this goes to the efforts of our entire team, beginning with my staff and including Outstanding County Attorney Jason Darnall and his staff. They are what allowed and continue to allow our offices to work effectively and efficiently. The support of the Attorney General and his office also makes it possible for us to do our jobs in a manner which hopefully will serve our communities and our state well."Darnall said he was humbled to receive the award and thanked Cameron and his staff for the "great honor.""No one person is an island, and such is true in criminal prosecution. I have been fortunate over the years to have worked alongside many great people who go the extra mile to make sure justice is served. Also, we could not do our job in the courtroom without the help of the entire law enforcement community. It takes teamwork to make it all run, and I'm thrilled to be able to play my role," he said.Every year, the Attorney General's office selects two Commonwealth's and two County Attorneys to receive the awards based on their years of service to the community, work to assist other prosecutors, and their willingness to cover cases posing a conflict for other counties or districts.
Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2021 5:30 pm

All three of Washingtons Republican House members lambasted the recent appointment of Suzi Levine to President Joe Bidens administration. As the head of Washingtons Employment Security Department (ESD), Levine came under fire last year not only for the slow dispersal of benefits during the economic fallout of the pandemic, but also for a $600 million fraud scheme that targeted the ESD under her watch.

In their letter to Biden, Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler, Dan Newhouse and Cathy McMorris Rodgers critiqued LeVines dismal track record and gross mismanagement of state taxpayer dollars, arguing against her appointment to interim assistant secretary of the Employment and Training Administration under the U.S. Department of Labor.

Her mistakes that led to the largest fraud in Washington state history were matched by the poor service that defined her tenure, they wrote.

The lawmakers described thousands of calls coming into their offices from constituents who had difficulty accessing unemployment benefits. LeVine also received criticism from the state auditors office last year, which alleged that she attempted to hinder an investigation into the fraud incident.

With thousands of our constituents affected by the ineffectiveness of Ms. Levines leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are deeply concerned that her appointment will have a negative impact on the millions of people who rely on the services of the Employment and Training Administration, they continued. We urge you to reconsider this appointment.
Exxon Mobil pledged to safeguard the S&P 500 Indexs third-largest dividend after posting its first annual loss in at least 40 years, a show of defiance by an oil driller besieged by activist investors and climate-change campaigners.

Exxon assured investors of its financial health in a world of $50-a-barrel oil and promised that if crude were to dip to $45 it would sacrifice spending in the name of dividends. The Western worlds largest oil explorer has increased the payout each year since 1972, unlike rivals Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc that cut distributions last year.

The dividend pledge comes on the heels of a $19.3-billion writedown of U.S. natural gas fields and other assets, and the lowest production since the 1999 Mobil merger. Cash flow from operations -- a key gauge of corporate strength -- shrank by almost 9 percent during the final three months of 2020 to $4 billion, not even enough to cover capital spending.

BATTLE LINES: Activist investor launches proxy fight against Exxon Mobil

The focus will remain on cash-flow generation and while it wasnt great in the quarter, Exxon did provide guidance on covering the dividend with oil at $50 a barrel, Giacomo Romeo, a London-based analyst at Jefferies International Ltd., said in a telephone interview.

Exxons share-price bounce this week and managements confidence in their ability to bounce back from the wreckage of 2020 stands in contrast to disappointing fourth-quarter results from Chevron and BP. Exxon Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said capital spending this year would be the lowest since the Mobil tie-up two decades ago. Even so, the company faces an uphill battle to convince investors it can generate sufficient returns in a world moving toward lower-carbon energy.

Weve got lots of flexibility under different price environments to sustain the dividend, Woods said during a conference call with analysts. We feel really good about where were at today that weve got good upside with respect to growing the cash flow. Oil could fall as low as $35 and the dividend would be safe, he said.

THE BOTTOM LINES: Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips post massive losses

The scale of the cash-flow improvement needed is huge. Exxon paid out 90 percent of its cash from operations in dividends in 2020, compared with 30 percent for some competitors, according to Citigroup Inc.s Alastair Syme. The suggestion is that Exxon believes in a future of much higher oil prices, he wrote in a note.

Before Tuesdays reassurances, some investors had been worrying the oil titan might resort to a cut to shore up its cash position. As recently as October, the company was still pledging to increase payouts, but that changed a month later when management dropped the word growing from its discussion of dividends.

As he begins his fifth year as CEO, Woods has been forced to all but abandon his 2018 blueprint for building a suite of new oil, gas and petrochemical facilities while drilling and construction costs were low. Exxon announced 14,000 job cuts, delayed megaprojects from the Permian Basin to Mozambique, and has pledged to keep a tight rein on spending through the middle of this decade.
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Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

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This new Market Share Business Intelligence offering will help retailers quickly discover how market variables, including store promotions, pricing, and seasonal trends, impact customer behavior.

PriceAdvantage, a patented software solution that helps retailers optimize and manage fuel prices, then automatically executes price changes to the POS, pumps, and price signs, announced today a new subscription service - Market Share Business Intelligence.

This cloud-based solution provides critical market share data, including visit counts for both company stores and for the competition. Convenience retailers can now make better decisions for their entire convenience store business  not just fuel  based on reliable data. Retailers can learn strategic market information, such as their market share and outlet share relative to the competition, how customer visits fluctuate by day of the week, and which markets are saturated and those that are underserved.

"Our customers business decisions are becoming more data driven every year, and they have expressed a desire for reliable and accurate market share data," shared Chip Stadjuhar, CEO of Skyline Products. This new Market Share Business Intelligence offering will help retailers quickly discover how market variables, including store promotions, pricing, and seasonal trends, impact customer behavior. They can even compare site visits to those of coffee shops, quick serve restaurants, and any other place of business they would consider a competitor or a point of interest.

Market Share Business Intelligence provides competitive intelligence, site performance data, and site selection information. Customers can subscribe as a stand-alone resource for the entire business line, use alongside their existing fuel pricing software, or combine with PriceAdvantage Fuel Pricing Software for even more insight. It is offered as a SaaS solution with no IT resources required.

To learn more about Market Share Business Intelligence by PriceAdvantage and how it can make a significant financial impact on store profits, visit http://www.priceadvantage.com/market-share-business-intelligence.

About PriceAdvantage

PriceAdvantage creates Software to Fuel Your Pricing StrategyTM. Our easy-to-use, highly configurable solution allows fuel marketers to execute their unique fuel pricing strategy faster and more accurately by reducing manual processes and human errors. PriceAdvantage enables customers to make rapid, informed fuel pricing decisions based on their unique business rules, then automatically post new prices to their POS systems, fuel pumps and price signs, and then receive price change confirmation  all in just minutes. PriceAdvantage is singularly focused on fuel pricing software and is a division of a privately held U.S. company, Skyline Products, which produces software solutions and thousands of American-made gas price and transportation signs annually. Learn more at http://www.priceadvantage.com.

Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
President Joe Biden called the jailing of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny a matter of deep concern to the United States and its allies as a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation to sanctions officials complicit in his poisoning.



Mr. Navalny, like all Russian citizens, is entitled to his rights under the Russian constitution. Hes been targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition, Biden said February 4 in his first foreign policy speech since taking office last month.



A Moscow court on February 2 sentenced Navalny to nearly three years in prison for violating the terms of parole while in Germany where he was recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he and supporters say was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.



Biden said the United States will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia for its aggressive actions, including the poisoning its own citizens.

A day earlier, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation to impose fresh targeted sanctions on Russian officials found to be complicit in the poisoning of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.



Backing the legislation -- known as Holding Russia Accountable for Malign Activities Act -- were Marco Rubio (Republican-Florida), Chris Coons (Democrat-Delaware), Ben Cardin (Democrat-Maryland), Mitt Romney (Republican-Utah), Chris Van-Hollen (Democrat-Maryland), and Dick Durbin (Democrat-Illinois).

Rubio called Navalnys sentencing outrageous and said the legislation will impose a cost on Putin, and his thugs, for their corruption and targeting of opponents.

The bill directs the administration to determine if the Kremlin has violated U.S. laws prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons.

Navalny fell ill in Siberia in late August and was put in an induced coma and evacuated to Berlin. Within days, German doctors and military scientists determined that he had been targeted with a substance related to Novichok, a powerful military-grade nerve agent first developed by the Soviet Union.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed blood and urine samples from Navalny contained a chemical agent from the banned Novichok group.

Separately, Senator Roger Wicker (Republican-Mississippi) and Cardin on February 3 introduced legislation to widen the scope of U.S. sanctions against individuals who commit human rights violations and corruption to include their immediate family members.

The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Reauthorization Act -- named after Sergei Magnitsky, the Moscow lawyer who died in Russian police custody in 2009 while investigating high-level corruption -- would also repeal its 2023 "sunset clause," keeping the sanctions intact indefinitely.

Since the passage of the Global Magnitsky Act in 2016, the United States has placed sanctions on 244 individuals from 33 countries under the law, including many from Russia. The act has angered the Kremlin, which lobbied for its repeal.

Human Rights First, an independent advocacy group, called the Magnitsky Act "a powerful and effective foreign policy tool" and said the reauthoritization "is a step in the right direction."

Nemtsov Assassination

The Holding Russia Accountable bill also requires a report on the assassination of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead at close range on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge, near the Kremlin in central Moscow, on February 27, 2015.



In June 2017, a Russian court sentenced a former Chechen battalion leader Zaur Dadayev to 20 years in prison for killing Nemtsov.



Four other Chechens were found guilty of involvement in the killing and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 11 to 19 years.



Critics, including relatives and colleagues of Nemtsov, say Russian authorities failed to determine who ordered the killing.

The Holding Russia Accountable legislation is similar to an earlier effort by nearly the same group of senators in October.

In a statement announcing the bill, Coon said that Putin's government "has a long and sordid history of using murder and attempted murder to silence Russian citizens at home and abroad" who call out abuses by the Kremlin.

The senator also denounced the police crackdown on citizens who peacefully took to the streets to show their support for Navalny.

"Instead of listening to their real grievances, Putin's security forces have responded with unbridled brutality and arrested thousands," he said.

More than 11,000 people across Russia have been detained since January 23 for taking part in protests to support Navalny, according to the independent monitoring group OVD-Info. The protests have been some of the largest in the past decade.

Romney described the Navalny trial as a "sham" and said that "strong leaders do not have to jail their adversaries to maintain power."

The senator from Utah said the United States must hold Putin's government accountable for its "shameless attempt to silence the voice of the Russian people fighting against corruption and for freedom and truth."

Their bill would block any U.S. assets the perpetrators have, prevent them from doing business with U.S. persons, and stop them from receiving a U.S. visa.

While viewed as an important political statement, analysts say the sanctions against individual officials will have little to no impact on Russia.

In recent years, as relations with the West worsened, Russia passed laws banning some officials, including members of the security services, from owning foreign assets -- such as property or bank accounts -- to prevent them from being compromised by such sanctions.

However, as Moscow steps up what officials call "malign activities," pressure is growing to impose tougher penalties, such as imposing sanctions on Kremlin-friendly oligarchs, government debt, banks, and banning the sale of a wider range of U.S. technology to the country, all of which could have a more noticeable impact on the Russian economy.

But Biden made clear he wouldnt stick with his predecessors policy of failing to speak out publicly on malign Russian actions and imposing costs immediately.



The days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions -- interfering with our elections, cyber attacks, poisoning its citizens -- are over, he said.

With reporting by Reuters
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Presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok talks about the phone conversation between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden during a press briefing at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. Yonhap





By Jung Da-min







President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to draw up a comprehensive strategy to deal with the North Korea nuclear issue during phone talks held Wednesday (local time), according to Cheong Wa Dae.







The two leaders had their first phone conversation since Biden took office two weeks ago, and discussed a range of security issues in the Asia-Pacific region while reaffirming the strong alliance between their countries, the presidential office said Thursday.







"The presidents agreed that they should work together to build a comprehensive North Korea strategy as soon as possible," presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok said during a press briefing at Cheong Wa Dae.







Despite unsuited state of the present rented building of the National Library of Nigeria, the library's headquarters project has been abandoned for fifteen years. In this report, HENRY TYOHEMBA writes on the need to speed up work on the project towards attaining a befitting library.

Fifteen years down the line the fate of National Library of Nigeria's head office building in Abuja remain uncertain despite yearly promises on completing the project.

Situated at Plot 35 of the Central Business District Abuja, the National Library of Nigeria headquarters building has become the only edifice in the midst of others in the area which is yet to be completed.

While almost all other national structures surrounding it have been completed some stakeholders have expressed worry that fifteen years after, the building is still lying uncompleted in the heart of the capital city amidst several promises by the federal government to complete the building in due time.

Minister of education Malam Malam Adamu, while making a speech at a two day conference of directors and chairmen of states public library boards on repositioning public libraries in Nigeria some time ago assured that the federal government is poised to complete ongoing national library of Nigeria headquarters project soon.

Adamu was quoted saying, "I am pleased to inform this gathering that all efforts are being made by the federal ministry of education to complete the national library of Nigeria Headquarters building in Abuja.

"While even lesser countries than Nigeria are busy traversing the transition to digital information management that will help integrate their intellectual cultural output and holding into an integrated digital environment Nigeria is yet to finish building a befitting national library," saying the issue of national library project has been made central theme during the previous budget defense."

But enlisting achievement of the education sector for the year 2020 in Abuja recently, Adamu said the non-completion of the national library of Nigeria headquarters building complex remain one of the major challenges facing the sector. However, he did not raise any hope of commencing work on the project soon.

The deplorable state of uncompleted National Library permanent building in the nation's capital should be a concern to all given that the country is already struggling with a poor reading culture and record keeping while the building of the headquarters remained a misplaced priorities and an abandoned edifice.

Our reporter who visited the rented apartment of the library could only tell of dilapidated building not befitting for an agency of such status.

LEADERSHIP checks revealed that the National Library Project was awarded in 2006 to Messes Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) and since then has suffered setbacks due to the inability of the government to release enough money for its completion.

It's also gathered that when the project was awarded to RCC in 2006 it cost N8.590 billion. The project was expected to be completed in about four years. Amazingly, 14 years after, the contractors are not on site even though the building is at about 44 per cent completion stage.

However, at the expiration of the contract period in February 2008, the contractor, RCC, stopped work and demanded an upward review of the initial contract sum. In response, the ministry of education, on recommendations from a private consultant, approved a redesign of the specialist work on the project in 2009 to incorporate new technology, which led to the reduction in the number of floors from eight to five.

The contract sum of the reduced scope was reviewed upward to N18 billion from the original sum of N8.590 billion, followed by the issuance of compliance certificate of 'no objection' on the review by the Bureau of Public Procurement and approved by the Federal Executive Council with a completion period of 21 months effective from July 2010.

As a result of the continuous neglect to complete the national library building project that was awarded over 15 years ago, the quest for new ideas in the country becomes difficult and is militating against the desired national development.

Imbibing the reading habit and carrying out research in Nigeria as being stirred by the national library of Nigeria through its readership promotion campaign is becoming more tedious.

Seth Elaigwu, a researcher who based in Abuja told LEADERSHIP about his discouragement going to do any research in the current status of the national library.

According to him, "The outside view of the national library alone could discourage someone from going there on any mission. It is high time government started intensifying efforts to complete work on the national library project no matter what the circumstances surrounding the contract."

Although, the National Librarian, Professor Lenrie Olatokunbo Aina, recently expressed confidence that the administration of president Muhammadu Buhari will finish the headquarters before it leaves office in 2023, with few years remaining the uncertainty over completion of the library continue to grow by the day.

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Olatokunbo was quoted saying, "They are trying to budget for it. We needed N50 billion to complete the project and since we have already spent N11 billion, the remaining N39 billion is divided into three; 2021, 2022, and 2023, we will have a National Library of our pride.

"Even for us at the headquarters, we have been made to take care of the budget of the consultant for 2021, 2022 and 2023. As government will be releasing money to the contractor, we shall be releasing money to the consultant. So, we are ready and by the time the building is completed, everybody will be very happy to be a Nigerian.

"The building was abandoned in 2014. The building commenced in 2006 with the hope of finishing within three to four years with the estimated cost of N8 billion to complete the project. There were problems and it was abandoned in 2014.

"But when I assumed duty in 2016 and I was taken round, I tried my very best to meet with the relevant people that could assist us in ensuring the completion of the edifice. We met the National Assembly Committees on education both at Federal House of Representatives and the Senate and they have been doing fantastically well and every other relevant committee," he said.
I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russias aggressive actions  interfering with our election, cyber attacks, poisoning its citizens are over, said Biden, who last week spoke to Putin in what White House officials called a tense first exchange. We will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia and defend our vital interests and our people.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
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A double rainbow is seen behind Taiwanese flag during the National Day celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan, on Oct. 10, 2017. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Guyana Nixes Taiwan Office After Beijing Criticizes Mistake

TAIPEI/GEORGETOWNGuyana on Thursday abruptly terminated an agreement with Taiwan to open an office in the South American country, hours after China urged the country to correct their mistake.

Taiwans foreign ministry earlier on Thursday said it had signed an agreement with Guyana on Jan. 11 to open a Taiwan office, effectively a de-facto embassy for the island. The Chinese regime claims Taiwan as its sovereign territory with no right to diplomatic ties, despite it being a self-ruled island with its own democratically-elected government.

Guyanas foreign ministry on Thursday afternoon said it was rolling back the agreement and that it continued to adhere to the One China policy.

The government has not established any diplomatic ties or relations with Taiwan and as a result of the miscommunication of the agreement signed, this agreement has since been terminated, Guyanas statement read.

Guyana has traditionally had close ties with Beijing..

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin had responded to the move by saying Beijing hoped Guyana would not engage in official ties with Taiwan, calling on the country to earnestly take steps to correct their mistake.

The United States is worried about deepening Chinese influence in Latin America. Guyana, a former British colony, recently begun developing offshore oil reserves and is strategically located next to strife-torn Venezuela, a major Chinese ally with which Guyana has a territorial dispute.

Taiwan only has formal diplomatic relations with 14 countries, including four Caribbean nations.

Chinas state-owned CNOOC is part of a consortium with U.S. oil companies Exxon Mobil Corp and Hess Corp that has discovered more than 8 billion barrels of recoverable crude reserves in the Stabroek block off Guyanas coast, turning the country into a new energy hotspot.

By Ben Blanchard and Neil Marks
Scott Morrison has finally received a call from new US President Joe Biden, 15 days after his inauguration.

The pair discussed the rise of China, the issue of climate change and Australia's attendance at the G7 summit in the UK in June.

Mr Morrison also personally invited President Biden to visit Australia with his wife Jill at some point this year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Anzus alliance between Australia, New Zealand and the US.

Scott Morrison has finally received a call from new US President Joe Biden, 15 days after his inauguration. Pictured: Mr Morrison takes the call on Thursday

The pair discussed the rise of China, the issue of climate change and Australia's attendance at the G7 summit in the UK in June. Pictured: President Biden

'He told me he needs no special reason to come to Australia, he loves the place,' Mr Morrison told reporters.

Asked if the pair discussed the potential security threat posed by China, Mr Morrison said: 'As you would expect, we discussed regional issues in the Indo-Pacific fully.'

The prime minster said President Biden has a different style from President Trump but believes the US stance on China will remain the same.

'Obviously there are differences in how that's expressed and the nuances that are there.

'But I think in the United States, Australia has a very, very strong and effective partner on these issues of Indo-Pacific security,' he said.

The region faces growing instability with a border dispute between India and China in the Himalayan mountains threatening to flare up again alongside ongoing Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Australia-China relations are at low point after Beijing banned a range of Aussie exports following Canberra's call for an investigation into the origins of coronavirus.

Mr Morrison believes Joe Biden (pictured with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2012) is committed to Indo-Pacific security

The prime minster(pictured on Thursday) said President Biden has a different style from President Trump but believes the US stance on China will remain the same

The prime minister said President Biden 'sees the Australia-US relationship as providing the anchor for peace and security in our region'.

'We share that view. In terms of our relations between Australia and the United States, there's nothing to fix there, only things to build on,' he said.

President Biden has vowed to end Trump's America First approach to foreign policy by restoring American global leadership, calling out human rights abuses and strengthening traditional alliances.

On December 3, Biden's new national security advisor Jake Sullivan, who has argued for a competitive approach to China, tweeted 'America will stand shoulder to shoulder with our ally Australia.'

The tweet did not mention China but was clearly a reference to the tensions between Canberra and Beijing.

The two leaders also discussed climate change. President Biden has committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and has reversed Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris agreement to reduce emissions.

Mr Morrison has refused to commit to net zero emissions because he does not know if it is achievable without a hated carbon tax - but said he was not berated by President Biden over this policy difference.

'We had a very positive discussion about the path we're on, and the commitments that we've made. And, more importantly, how we have been able to exceed those commitments.'

Mr Morrison is confident Australia will 'meet and beat' its Paris commitments to reduce emissions by up to 28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
Own engine program could give Red Bull boost says Lammers

Running its own engine program could actually be an advantage for Red Bull, according to Dutch GP boss Jan Lammers.

Currently, the energy drink owned team is waiting to hear if the other teams and the FIA will agree to a 2022 engine development 'freeze'.

If the freeze goes ahead, Red Bull and Honda have agreed that the Milton Keynes based team will take over departing Honda's current works engine project.

"If Red Bull takes over the factory and the running costs, along with part of the workforce, then that is interesting for both parties," Lammers, a former F1 driver, told the Dutch publication racingnews365.

"Honda will incur hardly any costs and still keep in touch with developments in Formula 1."

Lammers also thinks the deal would be good for Red Bull.

"If you have the same skills and budgets, it is sometimes an advantage to be a private organisation," he said. "A manufacturer is often much less flexible - a much more bulky entity.

"As a manufacturer you also have to deal with a certain morality, with themes such as sustainability, safety and the image of the company. The brand.

"For example, they can often take far fewer risks with reliability. I don't think it's for no reason that Renault, who also struggled with reliability, is now continuing as Alpine," Lammers added.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
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Agartala, Feb 4 : Thousands of Tripura government school teachers, who had lost their jobs following court verdicts, on Thursday announced to launch their agitation afresh.

Tripura police, however, again denied permission to the former government school teachers to hold sit-in-demonstration, which was forcefully removed after 52 days on January 27, leading to high pitched battle between the protesters and the security forces.

West Tripura district police chief Manik Lal Das told IANS that they denied permission to hold the sit-in "in view of the prevailing law and order sitiation".

The spokesman of the agitating teachers, Bijay Krishna Saha, said that as the police declined to allow them to resume the agitation, they would file a case in the high court on Friday seeking intervention of the court to hold the protest in a democratic manner.

"We are keen to continue our agitation until the state government reinstates our jobs," Saha told the media.

According to the police, Kalyan Das (53), one of the 10,323 retrenched government teachers, died on Wednesday after being distressed and depressed because of losing his government job in March last year. With this, the number of protesting teachers dying due to numerous reasons has gone up to 85.

Braving the cold weather, men and women teachers are hodling an indefinite sit-in in Agartala since the beginning the protest on December 7 last year, demanding restoration of their jobs.

The agitating teachers from undergraduate to postgraduate level have rejected the BJP-led government's appeal to apply afresh for the vacant posts in different departments for which separate notifications were issued last year.

The ruling BJP in Tripura has claimed that the "politically motivated stirs" are backed by the opposition CPI-M and the protest is similar to the farmers' agitations in Delhi.

BJP's chief spokesman Subrata Chakraborty and spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharjje in a joint press conference claimed that the protesting farmers in Delhi are carrying CPI-M's red flags while the agitating teachers in Tripura are raising political slogans against the BJP-led government at the behest of the Left parties.

At least 87 teachers and 17 police personnel were injured in a pitched battle on January 27 after the security forces demolished the tents in which thousands of teachers were holding a sit-in protest for 52 days, demanding restoration of their jobs.

Both Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Education and Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath have on a number of occasions requested the agitating teachers to compete for around 9,000 vacant posts in various departments, including the Education Department, for which the state government issued recruitment notifications.

Former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who is now the opposition leader, had earlier told the media that after the Tripura High Court and the Supreme Court had terminated the jobs of 10,323 government teachers in 2011, 2014 and 2017, the then Left Front government had created 13,000 posts to accommodate these teachers alternatively.

He said the BJP leaders before the 2018 Assembly polls had promised to regularise their jobs if they came to power, but nothing has been done by them for these teachers.

The high court had in 2011 and 2014 terminated the services of 10,323 teachers, saying the selection criteria had "discrepancies" and subsequently, the Supreme Court upheld the HC's decision.

After separate appeals by the previous Left and the incumbent BJP governments, the Supreme Court, however, had extended their services up to March 2020.
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[February 04, 2021] GSD Venture Studios Selects XCOOP for Global Expansion

SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- XCOOP, signed a joint venture with GSD Venture Studios, to accelerate global expansion of this fintech born in Latin America. GSD, led by Gary Fowler and Derek Distenfield, already successfully launched 15 start-ups globally. This agreement ensures that Fowler and Distenfield will take an active role and will assume executive positions in XCOOP Global as chairman of the board and CRO to carry out the goals of global expansion and growth. "We believe that XCOOP has all the necessary ingredients to be a global success story. They have come this far with great effort and a lot of talent, something that we detected and can empower to take them to the next level," said Gary Fowler, GSD Venture Studios and the new chairman of XCOOP Global. "We are on track to become the number one peer to peer international money transfer service in the world and partnering with GSD Venture Studios will accelerate us even faster," said the founder of XCOOP, Alex Torrglia.



GSD Venture Studios creates innovative artificial intelligence companies that are pushing the limits on how emerging technologies are built and used. The companies in the GSD portfolio have achieved execution rates of $ 2 million to $ 100 million, from workplace technology to aging in place. GSD is expanding rapidly as it captures top talent to help #GoGlobal businesses. In addition, GSD Labs, a partner company, functions as an accelerator focused on helping international companies obtain financing and expand in the United States and beyond.

"We are thrilled that GSD Venture Studios will help us restructure the company's internal processes to launch the operation successfully in the North American market and from there scale globally," explained Torriglia. About XCOOP XCOOP is the first digital remittance company that integrates electronic and mobile payments based on money remittances from, to and between the countries of Latin America and to other countries. More information

Zen Consulting/ prensa@zenconsulting.com.ar

Flavia Alemann / falemann@zenconsulting.com.ar/ +54.911.54248000

Florencia Gradi / fgradi@zenconsulting.com.ar/ +54.911.58781478 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gsd-venture-studios-selects-xcoop-for-global-expansion-301222174.html SOURCE XCOOP

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This is the one-handed drunk driver who led cops on a crazed 17-mile high-speed chase round country roads at over 80mph.

Brian Daly of McCartney Park in Derry put the lives of other road users at risk during the prolonged pursuit after the boozed-up speedster drove through a Garda checkpoint.

The 30-year-old father of three was twice the legal drink-drive limit when he fled the police and went on the high-speed chase round the country roads of Donegal.

But police were flabbergasted when they finally stopped Daly to find he had been driving the whole time with just one hand.

It emerged he had lost his left hand in a shocking industrial incident in 2013 when his arm got jammed into a sawmill and his hand was completely severed.

He has a prosthetic hand but he didnt have it during the crazed car chase.

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After refusing to stop for gardai in Milford last July, police needed three cars to bring the dangerous incident to a halt.

They had to use a stinger device after finally managing to get in front of him but even that did not stop him at first as he drove with four flat tyres until finally surrendering.

By then hed already committed several serious driving offences and put other road users in extreme danger.

Letterkenny District Court was told how Daly had been staying in Kerrykeel on holiday but in the early hours of July 26, following an argument, he jumped in his car having already drunk a number of cans of beer.

He refused to stop for gardai and sped off in the direction of Ramelton pursued by the officers.

Two other Garda cars joined the pursuit but could not catch Daly as he reached speeds of more than 130kph which is just over 80mph.

The court was told how reckless Dalys driving was, as he apparently performed a number of dangerous manoeuvres during the chase.

This included a drunken Daly overtaking cars on bad bends and on continuous white lines where overtaking is deemed too dangerous.

Other gardai got in front of Daly and disabled his car by using a stinger device at Thorn Road in Letterkenny but he continued on flat wheels before being stopped at the Dry Arch Roundabout outside the town.

He was arrested, taken to Letterkenny Garda station where an alcohol reading of 44mgms was detected  the limit in breath in the Republic is 22mgms.

However, officers were left stunned when they eventually stopped Daly to discover he had only one hand.

Defence solicitor Kieran Dillon told Letterkenny District Court that Daly had lost his hand in a tragic workplace accident when his hand caught in a machine.

Daly appeared in court last week accompanied by his girlfriend and the couple celebrated the birth of a baby boy just a few weeks after Dalys driving escapades.

His solicitor Kieran Dillon told the court that losing his arm had a major psychological effect on him.

However, he said he did not use his disability as an excuse.

Instead, it was because he made a series of bad decisions during an incident that was failed to doom.

Questioning Mr Dillon, Judge Paul asked if Daly was using a prosthetic hand when evading gardai but amazingly was told he was not.

Passing sentence, Judge Kelly said he had every sympathy for what happened to Mr Daly back in 2013 but described this incident as incredibly dangerous.

He added: It would have been dangerous driving for someone with full physical capacity, but it is absolutely frightening that this happened while he had this particular difficulty.

He fined Daly a total of 500 and also banned him from driving for two years.

A source told us Daly was lucky not to be sent to jail but that he was a decent lad who has been through a hard time.

Brian knows hes lucky he wasnt locked up, said the source who knows the family.

Hes a decent big fella and hes had a really tough time. He knows he could have wiped out a whole family if hed hit them while overtaking on bends.

It shook him up really badly afterwards but hes turned himself around and he had a baby son born just after the incident.

Losing his hand was a terrible blow and hes done really well to recover from it. But he knows theres no excuse for the way he was driving that day.

In 2003, Daly spent five days in Altnagelvin Hospital after the horrific accident at a timber yard where hed been asked to clean a mechanical saw.

The company was fined almost 10,000 after they were found to be at fault for the accident.
analysis

If people who work for the government tell us our safety depends on us not knowing what they do, we might suspect that they wanted to cover up wrong-doing. Unless, it seems, they work for state security agencies.

South Africa's media are awash with shock at "bombshell" revelations about the country's security services at the hearings of a commission of inquiry into "state capture". Testimony shows that the State Security Agency, which is meant to provide the government with intelligence on domestic and foreign threats, was used to fight factional battles in the governing African National Congress (ANC) and to engage in corrupt activity. The agency, the evidence suggests, served former president Jacob Zuma and his allies, not the country.

The revelations are of far less interest than the reaction of the media and the national debate to them. This is so not because the case against the security services is trivial. It is anything but: it shows that they did little to safeguard the country and much to protect a political faction and to funnel public money into private purposes.

But these allegations are not new. The fact that they are being treated as bolts from the blue shows how unprepared South Africa's politicians, media and citizen organisations which shape the national debate are to deal with the threats posed by its security establishment.

Spies behaving badly

The core of the evidence was the testimony of Sydney Mufamadi, an academic and former cabinet minister. It was damning but should have taken no-one by surprise. It was given because he chaired a panel which investigated the security agencies at the request of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Mufamadi's panel reported in December 2018 and its report was released by Ramaphosa in March 2019. It is a public document, available on the Internet. There were some media reports on its contents when it was released but it did not cause much of a stir.

Mufamadi's evidence was supplemented by that of the acting director-general of the State Security Agency, Loyiso Jafta, and by a witness who conducted an internal investigation into wrong-doing at the agency and who, consistent with the security services' penchant for secrecy, is identified as "Miss K". While both added detail to Mufamadi's account, everything they said reinforced his panel's findings.

The factionalism of the security services has been evident for at least a decade. During the fight against apartheid, Zuma headed ANC Intelligence. So, he could command the loyalty of former ANC underground security agents who joined the government after 1994, many of whom continued to put his interests first. Years ago, a colleague valued for his understanding of the workings of the governing party who had joined me in a radio panel discussion explained how the security agencies would interpret what we said and pass on their view to the faction whose interests they served.

So why have media treated the contents of a two-year-old report which confirmed older suspicions as a "bombshell"? One reason may be that most of the country's reporters do not read anything longer than a media release, ensuring that government reports are ignored unless their contents are revealed at a press conference. Another is that the media - and citizen organisations which take part in the national debate - do not see the security services as a threat to democracy.

This is illustrated by the controversy over the Protection of State Information Bill. It was passed by Parliament in 2013 but is still not law - Ramaphosa sent it back to Parliament last year because he believes parts are unconstitutional.

The bill, which would give officials power to classify documents to keep them out of the public eye, triggered a campaign by media and citizens' groups who claimed it aimed to prevent reporting on corruption. They insisted that there was no problem with "legitimate" secrecy which protected national security.

Holding spies to account

This misunderstood why the bill was tabled and what it was meant to do. Ironically, it began as an attempt to ensure that apartheid-era laws were changed to align them with the values of the democratic constitution.

When drafts of the bill proposed ending most government secrecy, the security establishment, as securocrats are wont to do, painted lurid pictures of the horrors which would ensue if citizens knew what they were doing.

They demanded strong provisions to keep information classified. To emphasise the bill's real purpose, an entire chapter was included which made it clear that it could not be used to prevent reporting on government corruption - its only role was to safeguard "genuine" state secrets.

The "bombshell" evidence shows what the security agencies wanted to be protected from: information on how they were abusing their power. If the bill had been phrased as the campaigners wished, the security establishment's secrets would have been classified, hiding their partisanship and wrong-doing from public view, while the media and citizens' organisations claimed victory.

The fact that the Mufamadi report was largely ignored when it appeared suggests that the debate has no great enthusiasm for holding spies to account because it remains convinced that they need to hide what they do to protect the people.

Even now, this is a theme in some reporting on the "revelations". Spies are feeding reporters more lurid details of how the evidence to the commission threatens citizens' security. Agents who now fear for their safety when their identities are revealed will now, the country is told, sell their services to other employers who will protect them better.

None of this is backed by a shred of evidence - security agencies are in the business of exaggerating both the threats to the country and their importance in thwarting them. But, since the default position of many journalists and campaigners is to believe the spies, loud voices will again insist that they be allowed to keep their secrets.

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Democracy's health depends partly on ignoring those voices.

Safeguarding democracy

It is open to question how much the country needs security agencies. Crime intelligence is essential but the country is not threatened by any other state enemies (except those invented by security operatives) and internal threats to security stem from issues, such as local tensions between citizens and local governments, which are no business of spies.

That said, the country probably needs security agencies to guard against future threats but, precisely because they do operate in secret, the interests of the people will be protected only if they are subject to strong oversight from elected representatives and citizens' groups.

At the very least, oversight bodies need to know exactly what they are doing, how and why. This information, stripped of references to people and operations where Parliament thinks this is needed, must be available to all citizens.

If that does not happen, citizens' rights will be eroded as they allow spies to prey on them while they claim to protect them.

Steven Friedman, Professor of Political Studies, University of Johannesburg
"Providing end-to-end care is good, but we think an end-to-never-end community is better." Tweet this

"When women think of their physical, mental and emotional health, I want Mammogen to be the first, second, and third thing that comes to mind," said Ms. Cormier-May. "Mammogen is working to detect earlier, diagnose easier, treat better, and to support all women throughout the life-long battle that comes with survivorship. Providing end-to-end care is good, but we think an end-to-never-end community is better."

Mammogen's core technology is a non-invasive screening solution intended for all women, but particularly for the under-40 population who aren't eligible for annual mammography and the 55+ population who are only recommended for mammography every other year. "Mammogen's technology will provide regular and reliable screening and diagnostic tools for tens of millions of women who are grossly underserved by current standards of care," said the incoming CEO. "I am extremely excited to build off of Mammogen's strong scientific foundation and speed this innovation to market, so that we can get more women screened earlier and arm clinicians with actionable insights about their patients."

Ms. Cormier-May brings vast experience within medicinal chemistry, genetics, and both companion and molecular diagnostics while working with companies including Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Myriad Genetics, Qiagen, and Predictive Biosciences. Elizabeth built her career launching and selling diagnostic tests into the women's health, oncology and urology markets. During her tenure as Head of Commercial Operations at Exosome Dx (acquired by Bio-Techne), Elizabeth was responsible for building the infrastructure and defining the launch of the company's flagship diagnostic, ExoDx Prostate(IntelliScore).

"I am humbled by the fact that of all the opportunities in this space, Elizabeth chose Mammogen," stated company Founder and Chairman, Marty Keiser. "Denise (DeeDee) DeMan, the founder and CEO of Bench International, immediately connected with my passion for improving women's health and my vision to build Mammogen as a women-led organization. DeeDee not only brought us a top CEO, but she has also joined our board of directors, bringing extensive experience and connections in the life science community that will continue to add value at every stage of growth for Mammogen."

Mammogen is one of three joint venture companies established between IV BioHoldings (IVBH), a bio innovation studio founded by Keiser, and leading healthcare analytics provider, Liquid Biosciences. "When Marty first told me of his plans to apply his unique approach to venture creation to women's health, including finding ways to offer underserved women access to innovative technologies, it was obvious that people would be one of his greatest assets," said Ms. DeMan. "When you combine Elizabeth's experience in liquid biopsies and early-stage diagnostics, her track record in unlocking value for patients, payers and stakeholders, and her courageous and ambitious spirit, there is no question that we found the perfect person to build Mammogen into an industry leader in women's health."

About Mammogen

Mammogen is a female-led biotechnology company focused on meaningfully improving the detection, diagnosis and treatment of women's health-related diseases, and creating an end-to-never-end community for women around the world. Mammogen's flagship product is a liquid biopsy test that measures novel circulating messenger RNA (mRNA) biomarkers required for the non-invasive detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. The non-invasive test is positioned to unlock regular and reliable screening for millions of women around the world and eliminate many unnecessary biopsy procedures. The company's proprietary multi-gene expression signature for breast cancer detection has been extensively validated in blood, as well as saliva, and has shown statistical significance towards providing measurable improvement upon current standards of care. Mammogen's product pipeline consists of an array of non-invasive prognostics and diagnostics for breast cancer, ovarian cancer, endometriosis and other diseases that affect some-, mostly-, or only-women. For more information visit www.mammogen.bio.

About Bench International

Bench International is the oldest woman-founded executive search firm serving the Life Science and Healthcare sectors. The firm is also one of the most renowned experts in diversity recruitment at the board and executive level, as well as in R&D leadership. Bench's scorecard reflects over $150 billion in successful client exits, a 98% project completion record, with a 75% retention for five or more years. 33% of all leaders placed in Bench's 45+ year history have been gender and ethnically diverse. With headquarters in San Diego, California, and satellite offices in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Bench is One Global Team, No Borders, No Boundaries and One Global Budget, thus mitigating internally competitive offices. For more information visit www.benchinternational.com.

About IV BioHoldings

IV BioHoldings (IVBH) is an innovation studio that specializes in de novo company creation exclusively within life sciences. The IVBH studio takes a multi-disciplinary approach to building companies; cross-pollinating ideas and experience across a variety of industries, breaking down silos, upending the healthcare R&D process, and rethinking the startup model. The studio uses advanced analytical science to provide greater insight into human biology and radically improve the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. The current IVBH ecosystem comprises three transformative bio startups, including LiquidLung, HepGene and Mammogen, focused on pulmonary disease, metabolic disease, and women's health, respectively. For more information visit www.ivbh.studio.

About Liquid Biosciences

Liquid Biosciences (LBS) radically reduces diagnostic and drug development risk, time, and cost, from pre-clinical research through regulatory approval. LBS' Emerge bio-analytics platform agnostically discovers and models the nonlinear dynamics of how biology, behavior, and circumstances interact to drive patient outcomes. Our mathematical evolution technology goes beyond artificial intelligence's capabilities, and has produced superior accuracy, novel insights, and explainability in every head-to-head comparison with other analytic methods. Liquid Biosciences' clients are major biopharma firms, diagnostic companies, and world-class research institutions. We've completed over 165 major analytic projects across 44 diseases, using the full spectrum of clinical trial, real-world, and multi-omics biomarker data. For more information about Liquid Biosciences visit www.liquidbiosciences.com.

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE Mammogen

Related Links

http://www.mammogen.bio


SMYRNA, Ga., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Accelerate360, LLC (ACC) today announced that Eddie James has joined the company in the role of Chief Financial Officer and Jeff Pascoe has joined as Chief Legal Officer and Secretary. Both Mr. James and Mr. Pascoe report to Accelerate360 CEO David Parry and will be based in the company's Smyrna, GA Headquarters.

"The coming year will be one of extraordinary growth for Accelerate360 and the addition of Eddie and Jeff underscores our strategy to continue to build on our established and emerging businesses in 2021," said Mr. Parry. "We are excited to welcome Eddie and Jeff to the team and look forward to their incredible leadership and experience which will be invaluable to our continued success."

Eddie James is an accomplished financial executive with more than 25 years of experience leading organizations through transformation, M&A and aggressive growth cycles. Prior to joining Accelerate360, Mr. James held leadership roles with startups and global leaders in various industries including transportation/logistics, consumer packaged goods, retail/wholesale and technology/telecom.

Jeff Pascoe is an accomplished legal executive with over two decades of experience. Prior to joining Accelerate 360, he was general counsel of a leading consumer products company, managing its global legal matters. In addition to working as a corporate counsel, Jeff has held roles as a commercial litigator, senior law clerk for the chief judge of a U.S. district court, and speechwriter and special aide for a U.S. Senator.

About Accelerate360, LLC

Accelerate360, LLC is the largest magazine wholesaler in North America and one of the largest publishing/media companies in the United States. In addition, Accelerate360 is a rapidly growing distributor of General Merchandise products (both Business-to-Business and Business-to-Customer) as well as a provider of logistic services for retailers and brands. Headquartered in Smyrna, Georgia Accelerate360 has over 1100 employees and 20 locations throughout the U.S. For more information please visit www.accelerate360.com.

SOURCE Accelerate 360, LLC
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UN Climate Change News, 1 February 2021 - The UN Climate Change Secretariat on Monday announced Regional Climate Weeks in 2021 and 2022, key meetings that will help build regional momentum for the annual UN Climate Change Conferences and drive forward regional implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

The Regional Climate Weeks would provide a platform for representatives of national and subnational governments, cities, the private sector, financial institutions and civil society to jointly discuss opportunities to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic by identifying opportunities to deploy ambitious measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate change.

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa, said: "The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all aspects of life across the world. The recovery from this crisis has to be sustainable, cleaner, healthier and more resilient. For this deep transformation, we need the efforts of all stakeholders, at all levels of government and in all sectors of society. The Climate Weeks can galvanise crucial climate action at the regional level and therefore make a significant contribution to more ambition globally."

Regional Climate Weeks are open to all stakeholders as a 'go-to' hub to build partnerships and to showcase groundbreaking action in the regions.

They are also designed to encourage and facilitate the implementation of ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, along with the implementation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), Long-Term Low greenhouse gas Emission Development Strategies (LT-LEDS), and Global Climate Action and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

In light of COVID-19, the Regional Climate Weeks in 2021 are planned as virtual events in different segments and will mainly take place with the option of some physical meetings if the status of the pandemic allows, with different levels of in-person participation according to the region.

Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week 2021 (LACCW2021), hosted by the Government of the Dominican Republic

The year is to kick off with virtual regional roundtables 3-4 March in all three regions to set the scene in terms of regional priorities, challenges and opportunities for climate action.

A series of virtual thematic sessions will take place focusing on partnering for the whole society engagement in implementation, managing climate risks, and seizing transformation opportunities. These events, which will include workshops, virtual exhibitions and side events, will take place from May to July (11-13 May for LACCW2021, 15-18 June for ACW2021 and 6-9 July for APCW2021).

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Ministerial sessions, which are to include interactions with civil society, are to be convened in each host country (9 -10 August for ACW2021, 23-25 August for LACCW2021 and 6-7 September for APCW2021). These events are to take stock of discussions held during the Climate Weeks and prepare key inputs for the Regional Climate Weeks wrap-up event at COP26 in Glasgow in November.

A Regional Climate Week for the Middle East and North Africa (MENACW2022), hosted by the government of the United Arab Emirates, is planned to take place 2-3 March 2022.

For this event, there is to be a series of preparatory roundtables and related events during 2021 to build momentum towards MENACW2022, benefitting from collaboration during the other climate weeks taking place this year. It is expected that the Government of the United Arab Emirates will attend the virtual regional roundtable on 3-4 March 2021 with the other host Governments.

The core organising partners are UN Development Programme, UN Environment Programme, UN Climate Change, and World Bank Group.

The Regional Climate Weeks in 2021 and 2022 will build on the success of the 2019 Regional Climate Weeks, held in Accra, Ghana; Salvador, Brazil; and Bangkok, Thailand.
Farmers Protest: Supriya Sule, Kanimozhi stopped by the Police at Ghazipur border

India

oi-Briti Roy Barman

New Delhi, Feb 04: A delegation of Opposition leaders including NCP MP Supriya Sule, DMK MP Kanimozhi, SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and TMC MP Saugata Roy who earlier reached Ghazipur border have returned after being stopped by Police where farmers are protesting against new farm laws.

"We are on the way to meet farmers. We all support farmers, we request the government to hold talks with farmers and justice is done to them," said Supriya Sule.

While, former Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing Industries, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who resigned from the cabinet on 17 September 2020 to protest against the new farm laws, said, "We are here so that we can discuss this issue in Parliament, Speaker is not letting us raise the issue. Now all the parties will give details of what is happening here."

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi went to Rampur to meet the family of Navreet Singh who was killed during farmers' tractor rally in New Delhi on the Republic Day. According to reports, Priyanka Gandhi is visiting Rampur to extend her condolence to Navreet's family.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
The UN Security Council on Thursday expressed deep concern over the declaration of the state of emergency in by the military and called for the immediate release of and other political leaders arbitrarily detained by the military.

The 15-nation Council, the most powerful organ of the world organisation, agreed upon a press statement on the situation in three days after the military seized power in the Southeast Asian nation in a coup and detained top political leaders.

"The members of the Security Council expressed deep concern at the declaration of the state of emergency imposed in by the military on February 1 and the arbitrary detention of members of the Government, including State Counsellor and President Win Myint and They called for the immediate release of all those detained, the Security Council said in its first statement on the military's ouster of the government.

The Security Council members emphasised the need for the continued support of the democratic transition in Myanmar and stressed the need to uphold democratic institutions and processes, refrain from violence, and fully respect human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law.

"They encouraged the pursuance of dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar, the statement, issued by consensus, said.

The Council reiterated the need to address the root causes of the crisis in Rakhine State and to create conditions necessary for the safe, voluntary, sustainable, and dignified return of displaced persons. The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity and unity of Myanmar, the statement said.

The members of the Security Council also expressed concern at the restrictions on civil society, journalists and media workers and called for safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all people in need, including through the re-establishment of UN relief flights.

Reiterating their strong support to regional organisations, in particular the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Council members also reiterated their support to the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener for her good offices.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in an interview to The Washington Post, had vowed to mobilise the community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to ensure that the military coup in the country fails and had expressed hope that unity will prevail in the Security Council to deal with the crisis.

The UN Security Council had met Tuesday to discuss the situation in Myanmar. Suu Kyi has been charged with illegally importing walkie-talkies, a move by which she can be detained until February 15.

Burgener had urged the Council to collectively send a clear signal in support of democracy in Myanmar and had stressed that declaration of the Statement of Emergency and the arrest of civilian leadership was unconstitutional and illegal.

A spokesperson of the Permanent Mission of China said work on the press statement was not smooth and added that the zero draft of the press statement had been leaked to the media even before Council members had the opportunity to discuss it.

Dmitry Polyanskiy, First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, had tweeted on Wednesday that China, Russia and Vietnam insisted on continuing work on draft press-statement, which needs to be agreed upon by consensus.

This is our right. Today we gave our edits. Responsibility of # is to give signals that improve situation and not worsen it #Myanmar," Polyanskiy had said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Some of the world's democracies are having a rough year. In Myanmar, where the legacy of half a century of military rule began to wane in 2010, a coup Monday saw the arrest of democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The next day, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced to 32 months in prison for alleged probation violations after he left the country to seek medical treatment following an assassination attempt that almost killed him.

In India, the world's most populous democracy, a recent wave of protests by farmers have led to Internet shutdowns, social media restrictions and the intimidation of journalists. And the United States, long the self-proclaimed champion of democratic norms, is still sorting through the aftermath of former president Donald Trump's attempt to overturn last year's election and the subsequent violent attack on the Capitol.

There are many more examples. Across the world, analysts and researchers are pointing to evidence that global democracy is backsliding, and the big picture is not pretty.

The Economist Intelligence Unit, the London-based research and analysis group, quantified the decline with a report released Wednesday. The annual survey, which rates the state of democracy across 167 countries based on measures including electoral processes and civil liberties, found that just 8.4% of the world lived in a full democracy last year, while more than a third lived under authoritarian rule. The global average score fell to 5.37 out of 10 on the democracy index - the lowest rating since the EIU began the index in 2006.

Others have come to similar conclusions. Freedom House, a nongovernmental, nonpartisan advocacy organization established in 1941, released a report in October that found that the state of democracy and human rights had worsened in at least 80 countries since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

There is no question that democracy is declining, but it's harder to explain exactly why. One reason is the still-raging pandemic, a public health crisis that saw many nations impose unprecedented restrictions. "Confronted by a new, deadly disease to which humans had no natural immunity, most people concluded that preventing a catastrophic loss of life justified some temporary loss of freedom," the Economist wrote this week in a summary of its sister organization's index.

But the threat to democracy did not emerge with the coronavirus. Data from Freedom House shows that more than 100 countries have seen their levels of freedom decline since 2016, while only a handful have seen gains. The EIU's global democracy index, meanwhile, has been dipping each year since 2015. What's happening to democracies right now looks like less of blip - and more of a trend.

That idea challenges the notion, once popular in the West, that globalization would lead to an increasingly democratized world. Even rare success stories can be reversed, as we saw in Myanmar this week, while countries with entrenched democratic traditions can see those norms shattered, as we may be seeing in India.

Often, it is not democratization and human rights that transcend borders, but repression. A report released Thursday, also from Freedom House, found that there had been 608 cases of "direct, physical ... transnational repression" since 2014, which the organization defines as including state-sponsored assassinations, abductions, assaults, detentions and unlawful deportations.

Such cases include Saudi Arabia's killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul and the attempted assassination of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in England, which made headlines and spurred outrage. But they are only the tip of the iceberg, with China, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and Turkey named by Freedom House as perpetrators of extensive and violent silencing campaigns.

"Modern authoritarian regimes such as China and Russia do not sit passively behind iron curtains" anymore, Freedom House's Mike Abramowitz and Nate Schenkkan wrote for The Washington Post on Wednesday, noting that modern technology and travel had allowed governments to keep pressure on dissidents abroad like never before.

Democracies can further repression, too. For four years, Trump's flouting of norms within the United States, with his cries of "fake news" and persistent spread of misinformation, were echoed worldwide. "The war on truth in India is very much like the war on truth in the United States," Vidya Krishnan, a journalist with the pioneering Indian magazine the Caravan, observed this week.

The storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6 left foreign pro-democracy groups that had allied with the United States disillusioned and defeated. "Our main ally in the fight for democracy has tumbled," Venezuelan activist Jorge Barragan told The Post at the time. "What does that mean for us?"

New U.S. leadership is not likely to answer that question on its own. When the Myanmar military announced a state of emergency and arrested Suu Kyi and her allies this week, it justified the moves by making unfounded claims of electoral fraud. To many observers, those accusations sounded familiar. "The Myanmar military has done what Trump tried to do," Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch tweeted Monday.

For those who favor democracies and human rights, reversing the trend will not be easy. Before he entered office, President Biden touted the idea of hosting a global democracy summit during the first year of his term. That may rally like-minded countries to address some of the problems seen in places such as Myanmar and Russia.

Some critics have asked, fairly, how the United States and its allies can expect to lecture anyone on democracy when their own systems are under strain. Autocratic leaders, meanwhile, suggest that there are simply different systems in the world: When he spoke remotely at the World Economic Forum last week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping decried a rise of "ideological prejudice" and "hatred."

But no nation can exist in a bubble, spared from the broader shifts in geopolitics. And in the battle between democracy and autocracy, it looks like the latter is gaining ground.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : Andhra Pradesh has become the second state to undertake the power sector reforms stipulated by the Finance Ministry's Department of Expenditure, and has become eligible to mobilise additional financial resources equivalent to 0.15 percent of its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

As part of the reforms, the state has started Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of electricity subsidy to farmers with effect from September 2020, thus successfully implementing one out of the three stipulated reforms in the power sector.

Accordingly, the Department of Expenditure has granted permission to the state to raise additional borrowing of Rs 1,515 crore. This has provided it much-needed additional financial resources to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

Besides Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh has also undertaken reforms in the power sector, and was given additional borrowing permission of Rs 1,423 crore, equivalent to 0.15 percent of its GSDP, on January 18.

Power sector reforms stipulated by the Finance Ministry aim at creating a transparent and hassle-free provision of power subsidy to farmers and to prevent leakages. They also aim at improving the health of power distribution companies by alleviating their liquidity stress in a sustainable manner.

As per the guidelines issued by the Department of Expenditure, the states undertaking reforms in power sector are granted permission to raise additional financial resources of up to 0.25 percent of the GSDP. This is linked to a set of 3 reforms in the sector.

Andhra Pradesh has framed a DBT scheme for agricultural consumers in the state. The scheme was implemented in Srikakulam district with effect from September 2020, and will be rolled out across the entire state from April 2021 onwards.

In view of the resource requirement to meet the challenges posed by the pandemic, the Centre had, on May 17, 2020, enhanced the borrowing limit of the states by 2 per cent of their GSDP. Half of this special dispensation was linked to undertaking citizen centric reforms by them.

The states get permission to raise additional funds equivalent to 0.25 percent of GSDP on completion of reforms in each sector. The four citizen centric areas identified for reforms were implementation of 'One Nation One Ration Card' system, ease of doing business reform, urban local body/utility reforms and power sector reforms.

Besides the power sector reforms, Andhra Pradesh has also completed One Nation One Ration Card reform, urban local bodies reforms and ease of doing business reforms. Therefore, the state has been granted permission to raise a total additional amount of Rs 9,190 crore as incentive to carry out reforms in these citizen-centric areas.

Till now, 16 states have carried out at least one of the four reforms and have been granted reform linked borrowing permissions. Out of these, 12 states have implemented the ration card system reform, 11 have done ease of doing business reforms, five have done local body reforms and two have undertaken power sector reforms. Total reform linked additional borrowing permission issued so far to the states stands at Rs 73,257 crore.
Kao Corporation has announced that it will be establishing Kao Beauty Brands Counseling Co. Ltd. on April 1, 2021 by merging Sofina Beauty Counseling Co., Ltd. and Kanebo Beauty Counseling Co., Ltd.

Previously: Kao Unveils New Global Portfolio

According to the company, Kao Beauty Brands Counseling will "reinforce the images and values of Kao's cosmetics brands" and maintain and expand a "diverse and loyal user base."

Kao will complete its shift away from brand management centered on individual business units to brand management centered on three business groups: Prestige Business, Masstige Business and Regional Business.

The Prestige Business group will manage all of Kao's prestige brands marketed globally, including Sensai, est, Molton Brown, Suqqu, RML, atletia and Kanebo.

The Mastige Business group will manage Kao's global premium brands marketing through self-selection channels, including Sofina iP, Curel, freeplus, Kate and Allie.

The Regional Business group will focus on brands mainly in Japan and will include Twany, Lissage, Alblanc, Dew, Primavista, media and Coffret D'or.

The company says that it will "develop synergies within the group by stepping up the productivity of its beauty consultants and the appropriate allocation of personnel. In the process, it will seek to 1) promote counseling activities that provide complete satisfaction to every customer; 2) create counseling areas that attract customers; 3) improve education to nurture true beauty professionals; 4) create an optimal working environment for maintaining and expanding its range of loyal customers; 5) and provide all of its employees with essential livelihood support while empowering them to develop their careers to their full potential."
Dominic Ongwen at his first appearance hearing at the International Criminal Court in The Hague (file photo).

As the International Criminal Court (ICC) today delivers its verdict on former Lord's Resistance Army commander, Dominic Ongwen, at least 108 children remain missing since 2018.

According to a statement issued by three non-governmental organisations which have been tracking LRA activities in the DR Congo and the Central African Republic since 2012, the children are presumed to be in the LRA captivity.

The Invisible Children, Bria Londo, Solidarite et Assistance Integrale aux Personnes Demunies (SAIPED), and the Dungu-Doruma Commission Diocesaine Justice et Paix (CDJP) based in DR Congo and CAR say 20 of the 108 children were abducted in the last one year.

"108 of the children and youth are still missing and presumed in captivity, including 20 of those abducted since January 2020," the organisations said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Mr Ongwen, who is facing 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity is the first LRA commander to be tried alone after being indicted by the ICC in 2005 for war crimes.

The ICC dropped the arrest warrants for Raska Lukwiya and Okot Odhiambo after the court's investigations confirmed that they were dead.

But the court has maintained the arrest warrant for the former LRA deputy commander, Vincent Otti who was reportedly killed on the orders of LRA leader Joseph Kony in 2007 because there is no confirmation of his death.

Kony, according to the report is still hiding in Kafia King, a disputed enclave between CAR and South Sudan.

His group reportedly survives primarily via subsistence farming and bartering goods, such as honey, in local markets.

There were reports from Central African Republic last week that the Kony had died of Covid-19 but Mr Paul Ronan, the Director of Research with Invisible Children doubts the reports.

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"I don't think it would be very easy for Kony to contract Covid-19 in his isolated camp. Finally, the reports that his last words were "Forgive me" seemed too good to be true," he told Daily Monitor.

The Invisible Children CAR deputy country director, Ms Camille Marie-Regnault, says the LRA abductions have significantly reduced but they must be stopped.

"As the world awaits the ICC's verdict on Ongwen, more efforts are urgently needed to prevent further abductions and assist women, children, and youth who have escaped captivity," she said.

According the Crisis Tracker, a geospatial database run by the Invisible Children in DR Congo and CAR to track LRA activities, has documented 236 attacks since 2018.

Some of the attacks were commanded by Acaye Doctor, one of the LRA commanders who was formerly aligned to Mr Ongwen who defected in 2014.

Several LRA splinter groups led by Ugandan commanders that no longer report to Kony are operating along the border between eastern CAR and northern DRC.
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Publicis Groupe has outperformed the industry average in 2020 by reporting net revenue broadly flat at -0.9%, while organic growth stood at -6.3% for the year. Organic growth in Q4 was ahead of expectations at -3.9%. Operating margin rate was reported at 16.0%.

Commenting on the groups performance in 2020, Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe, said, In the tough context of 2020, Publicis posted solid performance thanks to our transformation. Our long-term investment in data and technology, our country model, and our platform Marcel, have enabled us to stay strong by containing our revenue decline and maintaining best-in-class financials.

The growth is particularly visible in the US, where Epsilon delivered growth of 5.5% in Q4, enabling Publicis most important country to be slightly positive. This was also the case for Publicis Sapient.

Publicis Groupe gained market share by growing with its top 200 clients by 1.8%, and recorded a continued new business momentum with wins like Kraft-Heinz, Reckitt Benckiser, Pfizer, Visa, LOreal in China, TikTok and Sephora.

Publicis Groupe also announced repayment of salary sacrifice. Sadoun said, When we saw at the beginning of the crisis how devastating the pandemic could be, we quickly acted to redefine our plans. This included a voluntary pay cut by around 6,000 of our managers, and a new set of objectives for the rest of the year. Thanks to the collective and extraordinary performance of our people in these difficult times, we have been able to post results that are above industry averages, allowing us to repay the salary sacrifice and set aside a higher bonus pool to fairly reward and recognise our teams.

At the same time while noting that the world will continue to be marked by the social and the economic effects of the pandemic for some time, Sadoun expressed the confidence that Publicis Groupe will emerge from this crisis as a stronger company.

New Delhi: South sensation Kajal Aggarwal was recently papped at the airport and we must the gal looked super cool in her easy-breezy Dandelion maxi dress in cobalt blue.

Kajal Aggarwal picked up tiered dress in a midi silhouette with corded straps to make day dressing all the more chic. According to the description of the dress by Dandelion, it has been 'inspired by the processions of the Royal Indian Elephant, in hues of bright cobalt blue with accents of tangerine, red, pine and fern green, Hurrah Hindustan is an exploration of a new cultural paradigm that celebrates intense Indian roots combining contemporary style & design.'

Take a look at the dress:

Kajal paired it with a denim jacket and looked fab! Interestingly, the ankle-length tiered dress with a bottom tie is priced at Rs 4950.

Kajal Aggarwal tied the knot with businessman Gautam Kitchlu on October 30, 2020, in a private ceremony with family and close friends in attendance. The gala wedding took place at Mumbai's plush Taj Hotel.

She has a packed work calendar with Mosagallu, Acharya, Mumbai Saga, Hey Sinamika, Indian 2, Paris Paris, That is Mahalakshmi keeping her busy this year and 2021.
Tehran on Tuesday released the crew of a Korean ethanol tanker that it seized for alleged chemical pollution in the Strait of Hormuz on Jan. 4. "The crew were released after the Korean government expressed its will to work out ways to release the money," a Foreign Ministry spokesman here said Wednesday.

Some US$8 billion in Iranian oil earnings is frozen in Korean bank accounts under U.S. sanctions.

Iran owes the UN $16.25 million in arrears. That is only a fraction of the frozen money but offered the two countries a way out of their impasse.

Iran earlier expressed worries that it could be caught in U.S. sanctions crossfire in the process of converting part of the frozen money into U.S. dollars through a U.S. bank to pay the UN dues. Dollar-based transactions with Iran are banned under the U.S. sanctions.

Instead, Seoul is reportedly considering converting the money into U.S. dollars in another financial market. There no longer seems to be any pretense that the seizure of the tanker was anything but hostage taking. Tehran has failed to present any evidence on the tanker's alleged involvement in chemical pollution.

"Iran hasn't provided us with any specific schedule for judicial proceedings yet," a ministry official said.

Iran has an institutionalized history of hostage taking and continues to imprison the British-Iranian academic Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and others on trumped-up charges. The Korean captain of the tanker remains in Iran for "procedural reasons."
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President Joe Biden is cutting off US support for offensive operations in Yemen and appointing a special envoy to push for a diplomatic solution to end the six-year civil war.

This war has to end. To underscore our commitment, we're ending all American support for offensive operations for the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales, Biden said during a speech delivered at the State Department on Thursday.

In keeping with a campaign pledge, Biden said the US would be taking a more active role in ending the conflict and as part of those efforts, he named career diplomat Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to Yemen. Lenderking served as deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia, and most recently, was a top official for Arabian Gulf affairs at the State Department.

A senior State Department official who has worked with Lenderking described him as an excellent diplomat who knows the key players in Yemens conflict as well as anyone, and genuinely cares in his heart about ending the suffering of Yemeni civilians.

Yemen is embroiled in a civil war pitting the Iran-aligned Houthi rebel movement against a Saudi-led military coalition that intervened in 2015 to restore the internationally recognized government. Both the Trump and Obama administrations provided support to the coalition, including logistical assistance, shared intelligence, and until 2018, aircraft refueling.

The Biden administration previously announced a pause on weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as part of a review on arms deals made during the Trump administration. The Saudi-led coalition is accused of thousands of civilian casualties in Yemen, and rights groups have warned continued arms sales would prolong the human suffering.

Ahead of Bidens announcement, national security advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that the administration has consulted with senior officials in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi on the new Yemen actions.

We are pursuing a policy of no surprises when it comes to these types of actions so they understand that this is happening and they understand our reasoning and rationale for it, Sullivan said during a White House press briefing Thursday.

Sullivan clarified that the end of offensive operations in the war-torn country doesnt include US action taken against Al-Qaedas affiliate in Yemen, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), but extends to operations that have "perpetuated a civil war in Yemen that has led to a humanitarian crisis."

The Arab worlds poorest country is experiencing what the United Nations calls the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Famine is looming in Yemen, where more than 80 percent of the population  some 24 million people  are dependent on humanitarian aid to survive.

The Biden administration is also reviewing a last-minute Trump administration action to designate Yemens Houthi group as a foreign terrorist organization. Despite waivers put in place for humanitarian activity, aid agencies have warned the terror label could deter sanctions-averse banks and foreign companies from continuing to do business in Yemen. Others have suggested the designation could undermine delicate UN-led negotiations over a decaying oil tanker controlled by the Houthis off Yemens Red Sea coast.

Progressive groups on Thursday commended Biden for fulfilling a campaign pledge on Yemen. Advocacy group Win Without War called it a "momentous victory," but just a first step.

"This is only the beginning. Now is the time for a clean break from the past and for the U.S. to finally commit to seeking positive peace in Yemen, the group said in a statement.
Farmers' Protest: Priyanka Gandhi meets kin of farmer who died during tractor rally in Delhi

India

oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P

Lucknow, Feb 04: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met the kin of Navreet Singh- who had died during the tractor rally in the national capital on Republic Day. Singh had died after his tractor overturned at the ITO area last Tuesday. The protesting farmers have alleged that Singh had died after the cops shot at his tractor.

Meanwhile, in an unfortunate incident, four cars of Priyanka Gandhi's cavalcade hit each other while she was on her way to Rampur to meet the family of Singh. No injuries were reported.

US in favour of India on new farm laws, says it improves 'efficiency' of Indian markets

Speaking to reporters, Rampur DM had said that the postmortem of Singh's body was done and whatever the truth is its there in the post mortem report. "People should believe in the autopsy report. Family is satisfied with the finding of the doctors' report", the DM said.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kr Lallu said, "We have come to know that a farmer Navneet ji who came from Canada was participating in farmers' protest peacefully, was shot at by police during the tractor rally. Priyanka Gandhi ji will meet his family at his residence in Rampur today."

One arrested for violence at Red Fort during farmers' tractor parade on R-Day

Meanwhile, Delhi Police claimed that Singh, who took part in the rally in the national capital, died after his tractor overturned at Central Delhi's ITO.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

Delhi witnessed widespread violence during the tractor rally on Republic Day. Thousands of farmers who were given permission for holding tractor parade against the three newly-enacted farm laws deviated from the designated routes and created mayhem in many parts of the national capital and also at the iconic Mughal-era monument Red Fort.
A visual representation of health equity, as described by Onyema Ogbuagu, MBBCh, an infectious diseases specialist who is leading Yale's clinical studies around COVID-19. "Imagine there's a fence, and the goal is to look over it. A tall adult can see easily, a shorter adult may need a boost, and a child will need to be lifted up to see over it," he says. "Each needs a block of the appropriate size. Equity means that people have to get what they need to achieve the same results." Credit: Yale University

The pandemic has been relentless for everyone, but it's hitting some of us harder. For instance, there is the man whose grocery store job puts him at higher risk for exposure to COVID-19; if he gets the virus, his diabetes could lead to complications. Working at home is not an option for him, and his family depends on his income. A pregnant woman is missing her prenatal visits because going to the doctor means taking two buses to the clinic and bringing along her two other children. She is worried that would mean exposing the whole family to COVID-19especially concerning since she lives with and cares for her elderly mother, who has dementia.

There are many stories like this that illustrate why health equity matters. When it comes to health, many factors affect how the odds are stacked. If you've noticed that the phrase "health equity" is in the news much more of late, you're right. It's because the events of last yearnot only COVID-19, but also issues around systemic racism and social justicehave highlighted the fact that some people face more struggles in life due to their background, culture, race, financial status, type of employment, whether or not they live with a disability, or other distinguishing factors.

As the topic of health equity gains traction in national conversations, Yale School of Medicine is emerging as a leader in the area. Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS, associate professor of internal medicine, public health, and management at Yale, has been an advisor to President Biden since the campaign, and she was then tapped to co-chair the Biden-Harris Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board to ensure that the response to (and treatment for) COVID-19 is distributed equitably.

In December, it was announced that she will serve as a senior advisor in the Biden-Harris White House as the inaugural chair of a federal COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force. Already a national leader in the field, Dr. Nunez-Smith occupies multiple roles at Yale, including serving as director of the Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity, the inaugural associate dean for Health Equity Research, and founding director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC), which will be incorporated as a center within a newly formed trans-institutional Office for Health Equity Research that aligns resources and programs focused on health equity across Yale School of Medicine.

In addition to her professional work, Dr. Nunez-Smith has shared some of her personal experiences with health inequities. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, where she grew up, "people too often died too young from preventable conditions," she says. "My own father had his first stroke in his 40s and was left paralyzed. I learned there was a term for what we were: an underserved community, marginalized by place and by race."

What is health equity?

As a term, health equity is broad. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as a society we'll achieve health equity "when everyone has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible." Focusing on the pandemic, the CDC notes that "longstanding systemic health and social inequities have put many racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk of getting sick and dying." Black and Latinx Americans, for example, are roughly four times more likely to be hospitalized with complications from COVID-19 than non-Hispanic white people. In response, the CDC calls for addressing the situation by making sure everyone can maintain and manage physical and mental health, which requires easy access to information, affordable testing, and medical and mental health care.

Health equity is a complex challenge, says Kristen Nwanyanwu, MD, MBA, MHS, a Yale Medicine ophthalmologist and a member of ERIC. "It's bigger than a roster of things to check off a to-do list," she says. "It's a good development that conversations are happening in many different settings on this topic, as simply raising awareness is a key step toward serving the needs of people who have traditionally been underserved."

Onyema Ogbuagu, MBBCh, an infectious diseases specialist who is leading Yale's clinical studies around COVID-19, says there is an important distinction between "equality" and "equity." "Imagine there's a high fence, and the goal is to look over the fence," he says. "A tall adult can see easily, a shorter adult may need a boost, and a child will need to be lifted up to see over it."

If given three blocks of equal height to stand on, the shorter adult would still need to stretch to see, and the child wouldn't see at alleach needs a block of the appropriate size, he says. "So, equity means that people have to get what they need to achieve the same results. It's less about the quantity of what to do and more about the end result in outcomes."

Which groups face the greatest pandemic challenges?

Health equity issues have hit Black and Latinx communities especially hard in the pandemic. Data from the CDC shows that, in the U.S., people in these two groups who contract COVID-19 are roughly three times more likely to die from it than non-Hispanic white people. Asian Americans and Native Americans are at higher risk as well.

This statistic for Black and Latinx Americans may reflect the broad pattern across the country, but in some places it's even worse. "In some pockets of the U.S., it's four times greater mortality than for their white counterparts and in other parts, it's less than one," Dr. Ogbuagu says. "Sometimes, when we aggregate data, we fail to realize that it's not uniformly distributed, that some parts of the country face even greater disparities in health outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities."

How does 'structural marginalization' play out in real life?

A phrase like "structurally marginalized" (sometimes referred to as "underserved" or "disadvantaged") refers directly to the connection between social and economic factors (such as education, employment, and housing) and health. It's well-documented that many people in structurally marginalized situations have underlying health conditions that are influenced by their socioeconomic status, and that these conditions put them at a higher risk for complications from a number of diseases, including COVID-19. This explains why, as Dr. Ogbuagu points out, the death rate for Black Americans is generally higher than whites for heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma, influenza, pneumonia, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS; Puerto Ricans suffer disproportionately from asthma and HIV/AIDS; and Mexican Americans from diabetes.

These figures are influenced by factors that, at first, might seem unrelated to health and medicine but, in fact, are closely intertwined. In the case of COVID-19, Dr. Nwanyanwu notes that many people of color live together with several generations of family members; when you live in a crowded house, isolation is difficult. "We're always telling people they need to quarantine and what that should look like," she says. "But if you have a family in a one-bedroom apartment in a city as opposed to a five-bedroom house in a suburban town, that might not be possible. If someone in your house gets COVID-19, everyone else could get it, because there is no place to quarantine."

Other factors fueling the discrepancies in health outcomes include racial discrimination, difficulty accessing health care, and gaps in education and income. Workers whose jobs can't be performed at homesuch as those who work in factories, nursing homes, and grocery storesare far likelier to be exposed to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

These issues affect health in more ways than one might guess, includingfor examplevision. As an ophthalmologist, Dr. Nwanyanwu sees this play out in her practice. Diabetic retinopathy, for instance, is preventable if diagnosed and treated early, but it remains the leading cause of blindness in adults. Here in the U.S., this condition affects more than one-third of Black and Mexican Americans, because, says Dr. Nwanyanwu, "we aren't screening some patients at the appropriate time."

Even those with loved ones who have lost their sight because of the disease haven't seen an ophthalmologist, she says. To figure out why, she enlisted a team to go into the community and ask questions. Housing, transportation, and challenging life circumstances turned out to be major factors. "Health care lives among a list of one's priorities. If there are barriers to health care in someone's life, it is going to be more difficult to practice preventive care, like getting an eye exam for diabetes," says Dr. Nwanyanwu. "These issues, compounded by systemic racism, become insurmountable for some of our community members."

Telehealth, which should make it easier to see a doctor, turns out to be another roadblock for some people. Many don't have the technology to access telehealthor knowledge about how to use it, Dr. Nwanyanwu says. "If they had the proper technology, they could stay home, which is probably better for their safety, but instead they have to come into the office."

And others can't afford to pay for the care they need. For example, Dr. Nwanyanwu has learned to make sure patients get their eye drops on the day of surgery so they will avoid developing eye irritation when they go home. Even though insurance pays the majority of the cost for the drops, there is still an out-of-pocket cost barrier, she says. "It's the difference between eye drops being given to a patient on the day of surgerywith the costs bundled into the procedureand the barriers that come with having to get to the pharmacy and pay the co-pay necessary to purchase the medication," says Dr. Nwanyanwu.

Fear and mistrust play a role

Mistrust of the medical establishment is well-earned among people of color, given the extensive legacy of unfair treatment and abuse documented in the U.S. An example that is often cited is the Tuskegee syphilis study, a 40-year experiment carried out in Macon County, Alabama, from 1932 to 1972. Public Health Service officials followed 600 Black men (399 with syphilis and 201 who did not have it at the time) throughout their lives without giving them an accurate diagnosis of their disease (or information about the real purpose of the study). They also withheld treatment, even though it became available. Instead of receiving penicillin, which was established as the treatment of choice for syphilis in 1945, participants were given placebos, including aspirin and mineral supplements. Many of the men developed severe health complications of syphilis and died, and a number of their wives and children contracted the disease.

Dr. Nwanyanwu says she has seen patients who avoid seeking care for diabetic retinopathy partly because of stories like this. "Fear is an emotion that can affect people in different ways. Some don't want to come for an exam because they are afraid we would find something," she says. "But in marginalized communities, it can be hard to parse the effects of years of racism from general fear. I've heard people say, 'I don't want to be a guinea pig.' They aren't wrong. We have to address the legacy of racism in research and prove to historically abused communities that we are doing a better job."

Still others have different reasons for their attitudes toward medical advice. Early on during the pandemic, the message was to avoid the emergency room, if possible, Dr. Nwanyanwu says. "I have a patient who had a really bad eye problem, but he waited because he didn't want to go to the ER," she says. "So, we're looking at rules, and how rules are followed by different communities. For his health, it would have been better if he went to the emergency room."

How can we move things forward?

All these stories give some insight into what Dr. Nunez-Smith will be addressing on a national level with the health equity task force, the doctors say. Work she has done at Yale may provide some clues about how she will do that.

For instance, ERIC, the organization she heads at Yale, promotes population health and health equity through research, much of which has been funded through National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants. "ERIC is the true North that is really trying to use science to move our population to be healthier," says Dr. Nwanyanwu.

For example, a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine and cited on the ERIC website highlights the importance of including marginalized populations in health-related data. According to the study, only 28 states and New York City reported on race and ethnicity-stratified COVID-19 death rates. "The availability of high-quality and comprehensive race and ethnicity data is necessary to address factors contributing to inequity in COVID-19 mortality," wrote the study's authors, who include Yale Medicine internist Cary Gross, MD, as well as Dr. Nunez-Smith.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ogbuagu highlights the work of a Yale Center for Clinical Investigation program in New Haven called Cultural Ambassadors. The group partners with the community-based organization Junta for Progressive Action and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME Zion) Church to encourage people to enroll in clinical trials so that diverse groups will be represented. "We worked together for our COVID-19 vaccine trial," he says. Cultural Ambassadors helped develop recruitment materials and messaging within the communities, and participated in research themselves. "It's been an effective model," Dr. Ogbuagu says. "And it's not just about COVID-19 research. They've used this model for cancer and other forms of research. That's at least one way to do this."

But there is much more be done, he adds. A priority is to reassure people that decades of efforts have been directed toward ensuring that situations like Tuskegee never happen again. Clinical trials are now heavily monitored, the research is safe, and the risks are minimized. Unfortunately, "even in the backdrop of movements like Black Lives Matter, people of color feel that if something bad happens to them, no one will care as much as they would for the person who is not of color," he says, noting that the result is that they won't participate in a trial. "We had to work extra hard to be able to achieve minority recruitment goals with regard to the Pfizer vaccine."

Similar challenges are emerging now that the COVID-19 vaccination program is underway. In early December, 60% of all American adults said they would definitely or probably get the vaccine when it becomes available, while only 42% of Black adults said they would do the same, according to the PEW Research Center. The government is examining how to support minority acceptance of the vaccine, with efforts such as a special ad campaign to encourage people of color to take the vaccine.

What do people need to know?

In addition to the work taking place in the government and community, individuals can also help shape change by advocating among their friends and family members. Participating in clinical research helps ensure the needs of all kinds of people are met. "We are dying more, we are being affected more, and if we don't get the care we needif we don't participate in either research or in the outcomes of researchwe will never truly know or experience the impact these opportunities can have in our communities," Dr. Ogbuagu says.

More information: Cary P. Gross et al. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Population-Level Covid-19 Mortality, Journal of General Internal Medicine (2020). Journal information: Journal of General Internal Medicine Cary P. Gross et al. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Population-Level Covid-19 Mortality,(2020). DOI: 10.1007/s11606-020-06081-w
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Tourists shop at a duty-free shopping mall in Sanya City, south China's Hainan Province, Oct. 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a notice on Wednesday advising Chinese tourists against scheduling nonessential outbound travel during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday.

It also called on tourists to refrain from visiting domestic destinations with medium and high COVID-19 infection risks and reduce unnecessary trips.

Travelers should also wear masks, wash hands more frequently, avoid gathering, and keep social distancing, it added.

The Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Feb. 12 this year.

[ Editor: WXY ]
In order to write this piece, I did a lot of Googling. First, a quick Google to read up on the storys latest developments, and then a longer Google, gathering as much backstory as I could. I Googled to find the last piece Slate did touching on this topic so I could link to it, and I Googled to confirm exactly what Google had recently said about it. I have no idea how I would do my job without Google, and frankly, I dont want to find out. But I may soon have to.

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For more than two years, the Australian government has been working toward the implementation of a News Media Bargaining Code, regulating relations between the digital giants and news outlets, and forcing the former to negotiate payment with the latter for showing previews of their stories (under the currently proposed version of the code, if the parties are unable to reach a consensus, the case goes to arbitrator, who picks and enforces one of their offers). The mandatory code, developed by Australias equivalent of the FCC, the Competition and Consumer Commission, after voluntary negotiations stalled, would also require tech companies to inform publishers of significant changes to their search and news feed algorithms and tell publishers what data it collects on their users.

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So far, the code has been fiercely resisted by Facebook and Google, which claim that they are actually doing media outlets a favor by publicizing their stories. Late last year, Facebook went to war with Australia over the code and has been threatening to ban users from sharing news on its platform if the code becomes law, rather than be forced to pay for it. Its not clear whether Facebook will follow through on the threat, leaving Aussies scrolling through a news-free news feeda blessing, some might say. But while Facebook has only intimated banning news, Google has gone nuclear.

In a parliamentary inquiry on Jan. 22, Google said it would have no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia if the government went ahead with the current version of the code. That means not just news, which makes up just 1.25 percent of searches on the platform, but all searches. Managing director of Google Australia and New Zealand Mel Silva told a hearing that the proposed code was untenable for them, presenting an unreasonable and unmanageable levels of financial and operational risk. Silva said Google still wanted to find to an outcome that was workable for all parties, calling their departure our worst-case scenario. As one senator responded, thats a hell of a threat.

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(Google Australia is also playing around with a chilling experiment, intermittently blocking 1 percent of Australian users from seeing local news stories in their searches, in order to measure the impacts of news businesses and Google Search on each other. Under the experiment, Google doesnt link to major publications homepages even when Googled by name, offering links to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Wikipedia handles instead.)

Australia is standing relatively firm on the code, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying we dont respond to threats (or personal lobbying from Mark Zuckerberg, for that matter). The government is refusing to blink, unwilling to bow to a megacorporation that is refusing to negotiate in good faith, with it or publishers it seems. The Council of Small Business Organisations says Australia should ignore the threats and press ahead with a code, despite the blow the loss of search would be to both businesses and consumers, with Google needing strong and stringent regulation due to its monopoly.

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As with Facebooks threat, Google has attempted to convince users that it is the victim, and that it is the big bad Australian government that is forcing it to leave. In recent days, the search engine has inserted a pop-up into its own search results, stating, You may have heard about a proposed law. We are willing to pay to support journalism, with a link to Hear our proposal. The link goes to a somewhat Orwellian YouTube video, in which a friendly and concerned Silva, sitting at a desk with faint Google lettering behind her, warns that the new code will break how Google Search works in Australia.  I know that sounds pretty full on, but its true, she adds.

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The video in turn links to Googles alternate suggestion of a workable news code: Google News Showcase, a news product announced in 2020 and currently running in Germany and Brazil, in which the company pays publications for their curated content, but more on its own terms. Google has already struck deals with smaller local publishers to create an Australian version and plans to accelerate its rollout to next month to prove it a better way of compensating publishers.

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And much like Facebook, its not clear whether Google would follow through on its ultimatum, or is simply engaging in brinkmanship in a desperate bid to see the code defeated. Google is suggesting taking search away from a 25 million person population, worth around AU$4.8 billion (US$3.7 billion) to the company in annual revenuenot a lot in the scheme of things for a trillion-dollar company, but damaging nonetheless. And lets not forget that sweet, sweet data it would be forgoing. It wouldnt be the first instance of Google pulling services from particular markets, and it wouldnt even be the first time it has done so over this very issue: In 2014 the company shut down Google News in Spain in response to a law forcing aggregators to pay publishers for displaying their content, while France recently dodged a similar threat, with Google forced to negotiate an agreement with French publishers (Google had attempted to avoid payments by no longer displaying snippets in the country but was overruled by the French competition watchdog). But to threaten to remove the search engine entirely is a huge andfranklyterrifying call.

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What would it mean for Maps and YouTube searches? For Android users? For finding out the capital of Georgia? (Tbilisi, present capital; Kutaisi, historical capital of the Kingdom of Georgia; Atlanta, if you mean the state.) Google currently accounts for 94 percent of search traffic in Australia, meaning we would have to find alternative tools, and though no ones quite sure exactly what it would be yet, were starting to talk. Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo? Googles own search results showed a 400 percent increase in people looking for alternatives in the 24 hours following its alarming pop-up.

There may be more at stake here for Alphabet than 4.8 billion dollarydoos. Its believed Google is going so hard against Australias code to avoid setting a global precedentwhile many governments are looking at models for enforcing payments for news, Australias proposal goes further than most in forcing Google to pay for links to news sites, not just for previews or snippets. Google is making an example of Australia in order to head off similar measures elsewhere On the flip side, leaving the Australian market could create a dangerous precedent too, creating opportunities for another search engine to fill the space. Morrison has already been in talks with leaders at Microsoft, which runs Bing, with treasurer Josh Frydenberg telling the media that Microsoft was watching this very closely. If other countries saw Australia successfully walk away from Google and find a suitable alternative, what threat would be left to them?

For now, Australians feel like theyre caught in the middle of an escalating battle between their homepage and their government. This is one serious game of chickenor perhaps its simply a game of DuckDuckGo.
If we have to put on weight at all, it's best to start adulthood at a normal weight and 'slowly add the pounds', a new study reveals.

Researchers from Ohio State University looked at data on two generations of people from Framingham, a city in Massachusetts from the ages of 31 to 80.

People who started adulthood at a normal weight and later became overweight  but never obese  tended to live the longest, they found.

Amazingly, adults who fit this definition lived longer than those adults whose weight was in a normal range throughout their life.

Rather less surprisingly, those who started adulthood as obese and continued to add weight had the highest mortality rate.

Worryingly, today's younger generation are becoming overweight and obese sooner in their lives than their parents and are more likely to have deaths linked to increasing obesity, the study also found.

A new study from researchers at Ohio State University reveals that those who gradually get overweight live longest - even more than those whose weight was in a normal range throughout their life

While the study authors aren't advising adults to become overweight  officially defined as having a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 25  they do suggest that if we have to add the pounds, do it later in life.

This is as long as they don't go too far and become obese, however  having a BMI greater than or equal to 30.

WHAT IS BODY MASS INDEX (BMI)? Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on your weight in relation to your height. Standard Formula: BMI = (weight in pounds / (height in inches x height in inches)) x 703 Metric Formula: BMI = (weight in kilograms / (height in meters x height in meters)) Measurements: Under 18.5: Underweight

Underweight 18.5 - 24.9: Healthy

Healthy 25 - 29.9: Overweight

Overweight 30 or greater: Obese Advertisement

'The impact of weight gain on mortality is complex,' said Hui Zheng, study author at Ohio State University.

'It depends on both the timing and the magnitude of weight gain and where BMI started.

'The main message is that for those who start at a normal weight in early adulthood, gaining a modest amount of weight throughout life and entering the overweight category in later adulthood can actually increase the probability of survival.'

Researchers had sought to identify life-long BMI trajectories across two related generations and 'estimate their associated mortality risks and population attributable deaths'.

This was done by following the medical histories of residents of Framingham and their children for decades.

The researchers used data on 4,576 people in the original cohort of the Framingham Heart Study (FHR)  a long-term, ongoing cardiovascular cohort study of Framingham residents  and 3,753 of their children.

FHR started in 1948 and followed its original cohort of participants through 2010, while their children were followed from 1971 to 2014.

The members of the original cohort had almost all died by the end of the study, meaning the results could uncover how BMI evolves over all of adulthood and provide more accurate estimates than before.

The mortality impact of weight gain depends on an individual's body mass index (BMI) trajectory, researchers say. Pictured, an obese person (obesity is defined having a BMI greater than or equal to 30)

Of the 4,576 parents, there were 3,913 deaths, and of the 3,753 offspring, there were 967 deaths.

In both generations, the researchers looked at data from the ages of 31 to 80 years.

The main measure was BMI, which is based on a person's height and weight and is used as a rule of thumb to categorise a person as underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese.

After analysing data on how the participants' BMI changed over the years, the researchers found that the older generation generally followed one of seven BMI trajectories throughout their lives.

The younger generation had six trajectories  there were not enough people who lost weight through their lives to have a downward weight trajectory as was present in their parents' generation.

After controlling for a variety of factors that have been found to influence mortality, including smoking, gender, education, marital status and disease, the researchers calculated how each BMI trajectory was related to mortality rates.

In both generations, those who started at normal weight and moved to being overweight later in life  but never obese  were the most likely to survive.

Aerial view of downtown Framingham, Massachusetts, US. Similar results were found in two generations of mostly white participants in the Framingham Heart Study, which followed the medical histories of residents of one city in Massachusetts and their children for decades

Those who stayed at normal weight throughout life were the next most likely to survive, followed by those who were overweight but stayed stable and then those who were at the lower level of normal weight.

In the older generation, those who were overweight and lost weight came next.

The least likely to survive were two trajectories involving those who started as obese and continued to gain weight.

While both generations showed the same basic results, the researchers discovered some worrying trends in the younger cohort.

'The higher BMI trajectories in the younger generation tend to shift upward at earlier ages relative to their parents,' Zheng said.

The proportion of the sample in higher BMI trajectories systematically increased from the parental generation to their children.

Medical advances mean that people are more likely to survive with obesity now than in the past, but there's an obesity problem for the younger generation.

'Even though the mortality risks associated with obesity trajectories have decreased across the generations, their contributions to population deaths increased from 5.4 per cent in the original cohort to 6.4 per cent in the offspring cohort,' Zheng said.

'That's because more people are in the obesity trajectories in the offspring cohort.'

This study, which has been published in the journal Annals of Epidemiology, supports and extends findings from Zheng's 2013 study American Journal of Epidemiology.

Then, Zheng and colleagues had found that people who were slightly overweight in their 50s but kept their weight relatively stable were the most likely to survive over the next 19 years.

'Now, with this study, we know more about weight trends earlier in life and how they are related to mortality,' Zheng said.

As well as being specific to a single US city, researchers said the data was of 'mostly white participants', which means there could have been bias in the results.
(Alliance News) - Britain and the EU agreed on Wednesday to work "intensively" to resolve post-Brexit problems plaguing Northern Ireland, after border checks on goods were suspended this week.

The commitment made at talks between senior UK minister Michael Gove, EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic and Northern Irish leaders, will see them reconvene in London next week.

It follows British demands for "rapid action" from the bloc and Prime Minister Boris Johnson renewing criticism of its role inA the province as it grapples with special new trading rules.

Gove and Sefcovic said in a joint statement they had "concluded that the UK and the EU would immediately work intensively to find solutions to outstanding issues".

It added they had reiterated their commitment to the 1997 Good Friday Agreement that ended three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland, and to the "proper implementation" of its new trade arrangements.

Fears of sectarian tensions were further fuelled over the weekend after the European Commission said it would restrict Covid-19 vaccine exports as the bloc struggles with its supply.

Although the EU quickly backtracked following fierce criticism, the threatened move has intensified opposition to the new regulations imposed since Britain left the EU's single market and customs union this year.

The arrangements, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, avoid the need for a potentially troublesome hard border on the island of Ireland to protect the hard-won peace.

However, the required checks by local and EU officials were suspended at two ports late Monday, following threats to port workers.

Earlier on Wednesday, Johnson blamed the aborted EU move for escalating tensions and told UK lawmakers he would do everything necessary to ensure Northern Ireland could trade easily with the rest of the UK.

"It was most regrettable that the EU should seem to cast doubt on the Good Friday Agreement, the principles of the peace process, by seeming to call for a border across the island of Ireland," he said.A

"We will work to ensure that there are no such borders... and that the principle of unfettered access across all parts of our UK is upheld."

Johnson added that could include invoking Article 16 of the protocol a the fallback provision the EU briefly triggered Friday, which allows London or Brussels to unilaterally suspend aspects of the deal in special circumstances.

But following Wednesday's meeting, Sefcovic said "flexibilities" agreed within the two sides' Brexit accords should allow any issues to be resolved.

"We should really study how things would look like if the UK would really use and put in practice the flexibilities we agreed," he told Ireland's RTE.

By Joe Jackson

source: AFP

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
In the quarter to December 2020, there were a number of significant shifts in the regulatory environment, which have the capacity to unlock a number of near-term and medium-term openings.

Creso achieved a number of major milestones in international markets, which were underpinned by pleasing regulatory shifts

( ) (FRA:1X8), which saw rapid growth in its December quarter with a number of major milestones in the international markets, is set to benefit from the changing global attitudes to cannabis.

In the quarter to December 2020, there were a number of significant shifts in the regulatory environment, which have the capacity to unlock a number of near-term and medium-term openings.

The company is being positioned to capitalise on such opportunities as they develop.

Quarter of rapid growth

Non-executive chairman Adam Blumenthal said: The quarter was a period of rapid growth for the company.

Creso achieved a number of major milestones in international markets, which were underpinned by pleasing regulatory shifts.

Pleasingly, Creso continued to expand its global footprint. Through the companys animal health business, we entered into the Latin American market and Mernova continued to gain traction in Canada, progressing agreements and purchase orders to unlock a number of new provinces.

The company also furthered its presence in the Australian and New Zealand markets, securing an agreement with Martin & Pleasance to drive growth.

Strong sales were achieved over the period, stemming from a scale-up of Mernovas operations and the receipt of a number of new orders.

While the uptick in customer receipts is very pleasing, we are now focused on continuing this rapid growth.

Accelerating strategic initiatives

The company has a number of purchase orders on and across all business divisions, which we expect to complete in the coming months allowing further sales to be recognised.

Board and management will continue to monitor regulatory shifts in key markets. Recent developments in the US have the potential to positively impact Creso Pharma and we are very well placed and funded to capitalise on these opportunities.

We remain in a strong position underpinned by growing sales revenue and burgeoning market opportunities, and we look forward to accelerating our strategic initiatives to deliver returns for our valued shareholders.

Nutraceuticals

Subsequent to the quarter-end, the company successfully delivered its leading cannaQIX products Lupin Internationals subsidiary (NYSE:LUPIN), Pharma Dynamics South Africa, which will distribute Creso Pharmas hemp-based products across South Africa.

There are plans to extend the distribution to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Lesotho, Angola, Mozambique, and Uganda.

Creso Pharma anticipates additional opportunities will materialise in Africa through its established regional partner and will actively pursue those opportunities in the near-term.

Animal Health

Its anibidiol became the first approved CBD hemp-based complementary pet feed in Latin America after it secured regulatory approval from the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Feed in Uruguay through its commercial partner Adler Laboratories, Uruguay.

The approval represents a strategic milestone, unlocking a large opportunity with over 24 million pets across Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia and further Latin American countries.

Demand for the products remains high and these additional POs served as further confirmation of the success of the anibidiol product line in the rapidly growing European animal health market.

Global regulatory changes

Some of the global regulatory changes include:

Court of Justice of the EU ruling which unlocks major potential for CBD in Europe after it ruled that member states must not prohibit the marketing of lawfully produced CBD and that CBD is not considered a narcotic.

This landmark ruling, which allows CBD to be freely sold in the European Union, provides opportunities for Creso Pharma, which already has commercial agreements in place in the Iberian markets.

The United Nations Commission on Narcotic removed cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 drug convention treaty, which classifies cannabis as a dangerous and addictive drug, and moved it to Schedule I, which is the least restrictive drug classification.

This landmark decision also recognised the potential medical properties of cannabis, which will benefit Creso Pharmas existing global distribution network and footprint.

Potential cannabis reform in the US with Democratic majority

With the growing push in the US to act on cannabis reform, and post-quarter end, the Democratic Party winning the balance of power in the US Senate, there is an increased likelihood of the decriminalisation of cannabis and the passing of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act.

The company has an established global distribution network, and its Mernova facility is only 220 miles from the US border, an ideal location to cater to the Canadian and US markets.

Creso is currently exploring several US market opportunities in anticipation of the legislations imminent approval.

TGA reschedules CBD

In December, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announced a final decision to down-schedule low dose cannabidiol (CBD) preparations from Schedule 4 (Prescription Medicine) to Schedule 3 (Pharmacist Only Medicine).

This decision allows for low-dose CBD containing products, up to a maximum of 150 mg/day, for use in adults that have been approved by the TGA, to be supplied over-the-counter by a pharmacist, without a prescription.

cannaQIX 50, Cresos proprietary buccally formulated cannabidiol (CBD) lozenge is available in Australia by prescription, under the LozaCan brand.

Creso is exploring the requirements to sell this product, as well as its other GMP-manufactured ranges, more broadly to Australian consumers.

The TGA decision has also allowed Creso Pharma to expedite its heads of agreement with Martin & Pleasance Pty Ltd to bring Creso Pharmas suite of CBD-based products to the Australian market.

Well-funded for near-term growth

Creso generated A$709,000 in receipts from customers  up 740% increase on the previous quarter - and highlights the growing sales pipeline it has built over the last three months.

Out of the purchase orders received during the quarter, only partial amounts were captured in the quarters cash receipts, with the remainder to be recorded in the first and second quarters of 2021 cash receipts.

Further, the company expects ongoing substantial growth in customer receipts during the current period and beyond, as more purchase orders are secured and delivered across all business divisions.

The company also extinguished all convertible note structures during the period, leading to a streamlined and optimised balance sheet.

Coupled with a strong cash balance of $6 million at the end of the quarter, Creso is very well funded to pursue a number of near-term growth objectives.

Expansion into new markets

Its wholly-owned subsidiary delivered several important milestones, in the quarter.

It entered Canadas largest recreational cannabis market and received a Notice to Produce from the Province of Ontario, for its HPG13, Lemon Haze and Mimosa strains.

Mernova also secured a supply agreement with the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC), operating as the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), formally recognising Mernova as a supplier.

It also secured a purchase order from Truro Cannabis Company, and Yukon Liquor Corporation.

Additional purchase orders were also successfully delivered to the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation.

It also secured a maiden PO from Cannabis NB, the government-owned retail cannabis monopoly in the Atlantic Canadian Province of New , marking Mernovas entry into the province.

Expand into hash market

Mernova also made the strategic decision to expand its current operations and target the Canadian hash market, following a comprehensive review of the significant market opportunities in Canada, and positive feedback on its current product range.

Hash, which can now be legally produced and sold in Canada, has grown in popularity in the legal market across Canada, as part of the new wave of cannabis-derived products.

In the US, hash use is increasing due to an overall rise in global interest in cannabis, increased availability due to legalisation in many states, and demand among older consumers familiar with the cannabis concentrate.

Mernova is working to capitalise on this growing demand and to further diversify its product lines, and has received considerable interest in its soon-to-be-launched hash products.

It will progress production of premium hash from its state-of-the-art facility with the launch of the new products in the first quarter of 2021.

'Avalanche of socioeconomic turbulence' possible if Nile dam talks fail, says Egypts ambassador to the United States

Motaz Zahran, Egypts ambassador to the United States, welcomed US and international mediation of a dangerous dispute over the Niles waters between Egypt and its upriver neighbor, Ethiopia. Zahran said Addis Ababa is showing "no political will whatsoever" in reaching agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which is why US and international intervention is needed, and welcome, to break the deadlock.

In his confirmation hearing last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the stalled GERD talks could "boil over," and promised that the United States would be "fully engaged" in the region.

warned that the stalled GERD talks could "boil over," and promised that the United States would be "fully engaged" in the region. "We certainly encourage the new administration to be fully engaged in shepherding" a resolution of the stalled talks, Zahran said in an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor.

Egypt depends on the Nile for 95% of its water. If that water source isnt carefully managed, Zahran warns, there is the "potential to disrupt the livelihoods for over 150 million Egyptians and Sudanese"; all this could "create an avalanche of socioeconomic turbulence."

Zahran also discussed:

 Why the US-Egyptian relationship "transcends local politics" in both countries.

 The Egyptian economys resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic (see below).

 Egypts role in Israeli-Palestinian and Libyan peace efforts.

 Egypts support for the governments of Sudan and Iraq.

 Turkeys "extremely destructive role" in Libya, which is creating "another Syria."

Listen: Check out my conversation with Zahran here on the latest episode of the "On the Middle East" podcast.

Dateline Syria: Four quick takes from our on-the-ground correspondents

The makeover: Mohammed al-Golani, leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is considered a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, the United Nations and others, is hitting the streets in Idlib in his latest bid to recast himself from turbaned al-Qaeda linked terrorist into a nationalist freedom fighter and a kind of mayor, listening to the complaints of citizens about government services and recent flooding. He recently appeared in a blue blazer and snappy haircut in a photo with Martin Smith of PBS. His public relations makeover campaign is probably linked to Turkeys efforts to engage HTS in order to keep Idlib out of the grasp of even more radical groups. Khaled Al-Khateb has the report here.

Idlib crime on the rise. Golani, like any local official, is responding to community events. He is likely picking up complaints about a spike in crime in Idlib, especially in HTS-controlled areas, making daily life for the people there even more difficult. Armed robberies, abductions and auto theft are all on the rise. Sultan Al-Kanj has the report here from Idlib.

Car bombs in FSA-controlled regions. "The northern and eastern countryside of Aleppo, in addition to the north of Raqqa governorate and parts of the northwestern countryside of Hasakah governorate, which are under the control of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), are relatively safer" than other areas of Syria, writes Mohammed Hardan. "No bombings or raids by the Syrian regime and its allies are carried out there, unlike in Idlib and the western countryside of Aleppo. However, being relatively the safest does not necessarily mean safe; northern Syria faces the danger of rigged cars and motorcycles." Check out Hardan's report here on why car bombs are on the rise.

Women break taboos with bikes. Overcoming harassment and taboos, and a prohibition on women riding bikes and motorcycles, female journalists and activists in Qamishli, in northeastern Syria, started an initiative called I Want a Bike. The campaign encourages womens empowerment and reliance on bikes to reduce pollution and avoid traffic delays. Akhin Ahmed has the report here.



Iran nuclear deal: Israel needs 'united front' in opposing Iran deal, says former ambassador to US

Michael Oren, Israels former ambassador to the United States, is absolutely fine with Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief Aviv Kochavi speaking out against the United States returning to the nuclear deal with Iran and saying that he has, as a contingency, "instructed the IDF to prepare a number of operational plans in addition to those already in place," as Ben Caspit reports.

"War footing." Israel needs to present a united front in opposition to the Iran deal, Oren told Caspit in this weeks "On Israel" podcast, adding that if the United States and Iran recommit to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, "We will be on a war footing."

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in an interview with CNNs Christiane Amanpour on Feb. 1, encouraged the European Union to choreograph a return of both Iran and the United States to the Iran deal, as we report here.

"Marked friction." Oren described Rob Malley, who has been appointed US envoy for Iran, as "intensely intelligent and capable, and also noted that Malley has had some "marked friction" with Israel. Robs appointment "is not likely in any way to dispel our concerns or ease our anxieties" about the Iran deal, Oren told Caspit.

Elizabeth Hagedorn has the background here on the over 200 progressives and foreign policy experts and former officials who have come to Malleys defense from detractors allegations that he is soft on Iran.

Cool thing: Egypts first woman mixed martial arts fighter pummels stereotypes

I want women to not only practice the sport but also make it part of their lives as a means of defending themselves in any situation, said Aya Saied, 29, who fights by the name of Sheklesa, who is the first and only woman on Egypts first mixed martial arts "Top Team."

Cairo is notorious for cases of harassment of women. A 2017 Thomson Reuters Foundation poll found Cairo to be the most dangerous big city for women, and a United Nations' survey in 2013 found that over 99.3% of women had experienced harassment in Egypt, Farouk reports.

Menna Farouk has the report here from Cairo.

In case you missed it: UN Syria envoy says, We cant continue like this

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen expressed his disappointment to the "small body" of the Syria Constitutional Committee, saying, "We cant continue like this."

The latest weeklong meeting of the group in Geneva revealed a process that appears to be going nowhere, absent a new understanding of how to proceed. The Constitutional Committee, which is tasked with drawing up a new constitution, has 150 members, equally divided among representatives of the government, opposition and civil society. The small group has 45 members, drawn from the 150.

You can read Pedersens remarks to the press here, and my September 2019 interview with Pedersen here.

What were reading: IMF report on Egypt indicates success, to date, in managing COVID

Last months IMF report on Egypt chronicles a success story, so far, in the Egyptian governments efforts to mitigate the negative economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Measures taken to address the health and social needs and support the sectors most directly affected by the crisis appear to have helped mitigate the impact of the shock," says the report, and Egypts economy is expected to grow, rather than contract. You can read it here.
WASHINGTON  A fiercely divided House tossed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene off both her committees Thursday, an unprecedented punishment that Democrats said shed earned by spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories.

Underscoring the political vise her inflammatory commentary has clamped her party into, nearly all Republicans voted against the Democratic move but none defended her lengthy history of outrageous social media posts.

Yet in a riveting moment, the freshman Republican from a deep-red corner of Georgia took to the House floor on her own behalf. She offered a mixture of backpedaling and finger-pointing as she wore a dark mask emblazoned with the words FREE SPEECH.

The chambers near party-line 230-199 vote was the latest instance of conspiracy theories becoming pitched political battlefields, an increasingly familiar occurrence during Donald Trumps presidency. He faces a Senate trial next week for his House impeachment for inciting insurrection after a mob he fueled with his false narrative of a stolen election attacked the Capitol.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., was one of the 11 Republicans who joined Democrats in voting to remove Greene.

Thursdays fight also underscored the uproar and political complexities that Greene  a master of provoking Democrats, promoting herself and raising campaign money  has prompted since becoming a House candidate last year.

Eleven Republicans joined 219 Democrats in backing Greenes ejection from her committees, while 199 GOP lawmakers voted no.

Addressing her colleagues, Greene tried to dissociate herself from her words of the past. Contradicting past social media posts, she said she believes the 9/11 attacks and mass school shootings were real and no longer believes QAnon conspiracy theories, which include lies about Democratic-run pedophile rings.

But she didnt explicitly apologize for supportive online remarks shes made on other subjects, as when she mulled about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi being assassinated or the possibility of Jewish-controlled space rays causing wildfires. And she portrayed herself as the victim of unscrupulous big media companies.

News organizations can take teeny, tiny pieces of words that Ive said, that you have said, any of us, and can portray us as someone that were not, she said. She added that were in a real big problem if the House punished her but tolerated members that condone riots that have hurt American people  a clear reference to last summers social justice protests that in some instances became violent.

Greene was on the Education and Labor committee and the Budget committee. Democrats were especially aghast about her assignment to the education panel, considering the past doubt she cast on school shootings in Florida and Connecticut.

The political imperative for Democrats was clear: Greenes support for violence and fictions were dangerous and merited punishment. Democrats and researchers said there was no apparent precedent for the full House removing a lawmaker from a committee, a step usually taken by their party leaders.

The calculation was more complicated for Republicans.

Though Trump left the White House two week ago, his devoted followers are numerous among the partys voters, and he and Greene are allies. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., hopes GOP victories in the 2022 elections will make him speaker. Republicans could undermine that scenario by alienating Trumps and Greenes passionate supporters, and McCarthy took no action to punish her.

If any of our members threatened the safety of other members, wed be the first ones to take them off a committee, Pelosi angrily told reporters. She said she was profoundly concerned about GOP leaders acceptance of an extreme conspiracy theorist.

At one point, No. 2 Democratic leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland strode to the GOP side of the chamber carrying a poster of a Greene Facebook post from last year. Squads Worst Nightmare, Greene had written in the post, which showed her holding an AR-15 firearm next to pictures of three of the four Democratic lawmakers, all young women of color, whove been nicknamed The Squad.

They are people. They are our colleagues, Hoyer said. He mimicked Greenes pose holding the weapon and said, I have never, ever seen that before.

Republicans tread carefully but found rallying points.

McCarthy said Greenes past opinions do not represent the views of my party. But without naming the offenders, he said Pelosi hadnt stripped committee memberships from Democrats who became embroiled in controversy. Among those he implicated was Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who made anti-Israel insults for which she later apologized.

If thats the new standard, he said of Democrats move against Greene, we have a long list.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Democrats were setting a precedent by punishing lawmakers for statements made before they were even candidates for Congress. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, warned, You engage in wrong-speak, youre in the Thunderdome, a term for an enclosed wrestling arena.

Committee assignments are crucial for lawmakers for shaping legislation affecting their districts, creating a national reputation and raising campaign contributions. Even social media stars like Greene could find it harder to define themselves without the spotlights that committees provide.

Not all Republicans were in forgiving moods, especially in the Senate. There, fringe GOP candidates have lost winnable races in recent years and leaders worry a continued linkage with Trump and conspiracists will inflict more damage.

That chambers minority leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., this week called Greenes words a cancer on the GOP and country. On Thursday, No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota amplified that thinking.

Thune said House Republicans needed to issue a really strong rebuke of Greenes conspiratorial formulations. Republicans must get away from members dabbling in conspiracy theories, Thune said. I dont think thats a productive course of action or one thats going to lead to much prosperity politically in the future.

The fight came a day after Republicans resolved another battle and voted to keep Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in their leadership. Pro-Trump conservatives tried removing her because she supported Trumps impeachment.

The House resolution punishing Greene was barely over a page. It said House rules require lawmakers behavior to reflect credibly on the chamber and said Greene should be removed in light of conduct she has exhibited.

News organizations have unearthed countless social media videos and likes in which Greene embraced absurd theories like suspicions that Hillary Clinton was behind the 1999 death of John F. Kennedy Jr. Greene responded, Stage is being set, when someone posted a question about hanging Clinton and former President Barack Obama.
The rough, dirty life of Australian sheep farmers would seem an unlikely topic to yield much in the way of cinematic lyricism. Especially in a narrative involving sheep actually dying of a devastating disease. Nevertheless, Rams, rooted in a 2016 Icelandic movie of the same name, has its pastoral moments (mostly in its breathtaking views of Western Australian landscapes), not to mention raucous comedy.

The screenwriter Jules Duncans narrative, given a hemispheric switch from the Grimur Hakonarson original, is not generically unfamiliar. Its a story of brothers at odds who are forced, after much resistance, to become brothers in arms.

Colin (Sam Neill), a taciturn type, shares land but not much else with his older brother, Les (Michael Caton), an angry type whos more voluble than Colin only in that he likes to cuss people out. They live and work on two adjacent plots, which were once owned as one by their father. Their rams are of a special breed and, as a contest at the movies opening attests, are invariably the envy of the region.
Introduction

Good morning. It is my pleasure to have the opportunity today to exchange views with leaders in administrative, financial, and economic areas in Kanagawa Prefecture, which is taking place online due to the continuing impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). I would like to take this chance to express my sincere gratitude for your cooperation with the activities of the Bank of Japan's Yokohama Branch. Also, it is an honor to join this meeting, as I was born in Yokohama and raised in Fujisawa.

At the January Monetary Policy Meeting (MPM), the Bank released the Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices (Outlook Report) in which it presented the outlook for Japan's economic activity and prices through fiscal 2022. Today, I will first talk about the Bank's view on economic and financial developments at home and abroad by providing you an overview of the Outlook Report, and then explain the future conduct of monetary policy while touching on the thinking behind the upcoming assessment for further effective and sustainable monetary easing. I also would like to describe economic developments in Kanagawa Prefecture at the end of my speech.

President Joe Bidens recent utterance of Cancer Alley has raised the hackles of Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy.

The Baton Rouge Republican said the presidents use of the term, rooted in longstanding concerns about toxic air pollution in the industrial corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, was an insult against Louisiana.

I'm not going to accept that sort of slam upon our state, Cassidy said in a call with reporters Tuesday. It sounds like great rhetoric. But again, I don't accept that slam."

Biden mentioned Cancer Alley in a speech about several executive orders he signed late last month to combat climate change and pollution.

He said environmental justice will take center stage as his administration works to improve the health and well-being of communities of color, especially the hard-hit areas like Cancer Alley in Louisiana or the Route 9 corridor in the state of Delaware, Biden said.

While the executive orders didnt specify how the Biden administration plans to address Louisiana's petrochemical belt, local environmental activists said the president is clearly concerned about the disproportionate impact of pollution on the states mostly Black and low-income communities  a matter they say is rarely discussed by Louisiana politicians.

Cassidy, a physician specializing in digestive ailments, acknowledged Louisiana does have higher rates of cancer than other states, but rejected industrial pollution as a major cause. Instead, Cassidy put the blame on lifestyle choices, like smoking and overeating, and other factors.

We have a higher incidence of cigarette smoking, of obesity, of certain viral infections, and other things which increase the incidence of cancer in our state, Cassidy said. So whenever you speak of Cancer Alley ... you have to do what is called a regression analysis to separate out those factors  and several others that could be an alternative, and a more typical explanation for why some folks may have cancer. When you do that, the amount of cancer which is left unexplained is pretty marginal.

Gail LeBoeuf, an environmental and civil rights activist in St. James Parish, said Cassidy is blaming the victims.

We hear it a lot down here  that we cant be trusted to know whats hurting us, she said. Its always blame the folks - the poor, Black folks - for their own demise.

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In response to Bidens remarks, the Louisiana Chemical Association echoed Cassidy, noting that the states tumor registry has shown no clear cluster of cancer in the industrial corridor.

LCA President Greg Bowser said Bidens use of the term was inflammatory and beyond disappointing.

Propagating the myth of Cancer Alley is not only dangerous, but is an affront to the people of our great state who work tirelessly to make the industry cleaner, safer and more efficient on a daily basis, he said.

While the tumor registry hasn't proved higher rates of cancers near polluting plants, it hasn't disproven them either. The data is based on large and irregularly sized census tracts, across which toxic emissions can vary widely. For privacy reasons, the registry doesnt publish cancer data for areas with low populations, including many of the small and rural communities where chemical plants began cropping up after leaving urban areas in the 1950s.

Air pollution is rising in Louisiana, and the burden isnt being shared evenly, with many new plants taking shape in predominantly Black and poor communities that already have some of the most toxic air in the country, a recent analysis by ProPublica, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate found.

In an effort to address the regions gaps in health data, LSU launched a cancer study focused on the census tracts around the Denka Performance Elastomer plant in LaPlace, an area that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2015 determined has the highest cancer risk from airborne pollutants in the nation. The study was supposed to have included a door-to-door survey, but concerns about coronavirus has switched the focus to a phone-based survey. Past phone-based surveys of the corridor have been criticized for failing to capture large segments of the population.

LeBoeuf said its common sense that breathing air with high levels of cancer-causing chemicals would lead to cancer and other health problems.

To say there is no Cancer Alley, Senator Cassidy is just cutting off his common sense, she said.

Staff reporter Mark Schleifstein contributed to this report.
ROME, FEB 4 - Premier-designate Mario Draghi's talks on forming a new government will last from Thursday afternoon until Saturday morning, sources said Thursday. The former European Central Bank president will kick off with small centrist parties Thursday before meeting the Democratic Party, Forza Italia, Brothers of Italy, Italia Viva and Free and Equal on Friday. On Saturday morning, starting at 11, he will wind things up with the League and the 5-Star Movement. 'Super Mario', who did "whatever it takes" to save the euro, will speak to big parties for an hour each, and small parties for half an hour. President Sergio Mattarella has voiced moderate optimism on the talks succeeding, sources said Thursday. (ANSA).
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Despite billions of dollars spent in Afghanistan since the 2001 collapse of the Taliban, more than 54 percent of the country's 32 million people live below the poverty level with a daily wage of less than 1.90 US dollars.

Most Afghans blame crushing poverty and widespread unemployment for the marauding criminal gangs, who terrorize residents.

Terrorized by Islamic State and Taliban insurgents, by heavily armed warlords and their often-belligerent militias, criminal gangs and even government security officials, residents of Kabul rarely go out after dark.

They are increasingly sending their children to safety outside the city, and for those who are able, outside the country.

Every morning when Khan Wali Kamran wakes, he fears his children might die in Kabul's deadly streets before he returns home at the end of the day.

Late last year he couldn't bear the gnawing fear and sent them to live with his parents in his home village several hours drive away. His young son is just 2.

Fear so dominates Kamran's world that he asked not to identify his home village.

Kamran blames the Afghan capital's grim security on both the government and insurgents.

Afghans say the deep corruption that permeates most ministries and security agencies has crippled their capacity and made them incapable of keeping Afghans safe.

They blame both Taliban and the Islamic State affiliate, whom they accuse of the relentless sticky bombs, targeted killings and near daily attacks.

Last year hope was high that a peace deal between the Taliban and U.S. government would bring peace to Afghanistan ending more than four decades of relentless war.

But talks have been excruciatingly slow and analysts say there are participants on both sides of the conflict that have more to gain from war than peace.

The relentless violence and decades of war between the Taliban and government forces is taking its toll on Afghans' mental well-being, said psychologist Sharafuddin Azimi, who estimated tens of thousands of Afghans are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Twenty-two-years-old Malik, who runs a small barbershop in Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood asked to be identified by just one name.

Malik said, two thieves entered his stop and took 30,000 Afghanis (380 US dollars) and two mobile phones some months ago.

Filing a complaint, for months Malik waited for the police to do something, but no one was arrested, the money was not recovered nor were the phones.

He said he is more careful now and closes his shop earlier than he used to do before the robbery.

Security has been deteriorating annually even before the withdrawal of American troops which are currently at 2,500 -troop strength after former U.S. President Donald Trump accelerated the withdrawal.

In 2015 when refugees flooded Europe, 178,000 Afghans were among them.

But even as the refugee arrivals in Europe dwindled, Afghans continued to flee their homeland and in 2019 Afghans were among the largest number of refugees arriving in Greece.

In 2019 the International Organization of Migration reported that 2.3 million Afghans had fled their country since 2012.

Most fled next door to Iran and Pakistan with the remainder to Europe and Turkey.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)

[February 04, 2021] EQ Inc. Announces Size and Pricing of Previously Announced Overnight Marketed Public Offering of Common Shares

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/ TORONTO, Feb. 4, 2021 /CNW/ - EQ Inc. (TSXV: EQ) ("EQ" or the "Company"), a leader in geospatial data and artificial intelligence driven software, announced today the pricing of its previously announced overnight marketed offering (the "Offering") of an aggregate of 6,250,000 common shares in the capital of the Company (the "Offered Securities") at a price of C$1.60 per Offered Security for total gross proceeds of C$10,000,000. The Offered Securities will be offered by way of a short form prospectus to be filed in each of the Provinces of Canada, other than Quebec, (the "Prospectus") and in the United States on a private placement basis to "qualified institutional buyers" pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), and by private placement to eligible purchasers resident in jurisdictions other than Canada and the United States. Canaccord Genuity Corp., as sole bookrunner, and Echelon Wealth Partners Inc. co-led the syndicate of underwriters for the Offering, which included Eight Capital and Desjardins Securities Inc. (together, the "Underwriters"). The Offering is expected to close on or about February 19, 2021, or such other date as the Company and the Underwriters may agree. Closing of the Offering is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, such as the approval of applicable securities regulatory authorities and the TSX Venture Exchange. In addition, the Company has granted the Underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 937,500 Offered Securities, representing 15% of the Offered Securities pursuant to the proposed Offering on the same terms and conditions for market stabilization purposes and to cover overallotments. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to develop its proprietary SaaS platform, marketing and branding initiatives, research and development, expansion into the United States and for working capital and genral corporate purposes.



Copies of the Prospectus may be obtained on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and from Canaccord Genuity Corp., 161 Bay Street, Suite 3000, Toronto, ON M5J 2S1. The Prospectus contains important detailed information about the Company and the proposed Offering. Prospective investors should read the Prospectus and the other documents the Company has filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com before making an investment decision. No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. The Offered Securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any state securities laws. Accordingly, the Offered Securities may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to exemptions from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of the Company in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About EQ Works EQ Works (www.eqworks.com) enables businesses to understand, predict, and influence customer behaviour. Using unique data sets, advanced analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, EQ Works creates actionable intelligence for businesses to attract, retain, and grow the customers that matter most. The Company's proprietary SaaS platform mines insights from movement and geospatial data, enabling businesses to close the loop between digital and real-world consumer actions. Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as, "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely", "expect", "anticipate", "believe, "intend", "plan", "forecast", "project", "estimate", "outlook" and other similar expressions. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including expectations and assumptions regarding the terms, timing and potential completion of the Offering, satisfaction of regulatory requirements in various jurisdictions and the use of proceeds from the Offering. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management in light of management's experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors relevant in the circumstances, including assumptions in respect of current and future market conditions, the current and future regulatory environment; and the availability of licenses, approvals and permits. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to current and future market conditions, including the market price of the common shares in the capital of the Company, the delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals, and the risk factors set out in the Company's annual information form dated October 29, 2020, filed with the Canadian securities regulators and available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. SOURCE EQ Inc.

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Ethiopia has a number of unexplored sites which are stunning and have greater cultural, historical, religious and economic significance.

The monasteries that are located on Lake Tana and the surrounding areas are the best example in this regard. Among the thirty-seven islands over Lake Tana, about 19 of them have monasteries on them.

The remains of ancient Ethiopian emperors and treasures of the Ethiopian Church are kept in this isolated island. Some of these monasteries are said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant before it was moved to Axum.

Lake Tana monasteries sightseeing

Kebran Gabriel

Kebran Gabriel, the nearest monastery to Bahir Dar, is a principal tourist attraction for male visitors only, as this is one of the places where women are forbidden. Originally established in the fourteenth century and rebuilt during the reign of Emperor lyasu I (1682-1706), it is an unassuming but impressive building with a distinct cathedral atmosphere.

The round roof is supported by twelve pillars made from carved stones symbolizing the twelve apostles. The monastery is also renowned for a magnificent manuscript to the Four Gospels which is believed to date back to at least the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century.

Ura Kidane Mehret

The Zege Peninsula's largest and most famous monastery is hardly the most attractive on the outside, but its maqdas (inner sanctuary) is beautifully painted. Just a 25 minute walk from the boat landing point will take you to the monastery, winding through coffee plantations under tall shady trees. This monastery was founded in the 14th century by a saint called Betre Maryam.

The circular church was built in the 16th century. Its architectural style is a typical example of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church having mud plastered round wall with conical thatched roof. The monastery is highly decorated with beautifully painted, colorful and vibrant frescoes depicting scenes from biblical lore and from the history of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Both men and women are permitted to enter and there is also a small museum, the Zege Satekela Museum, for visitors to learn about hand-crafted objects and musical instruments that are still used by the local communities.

In the peninsula, there are other monasteries such as Azwa Maryam, Mahilzegie Giorgis , Betre Maryam and Yiganda Tekele Haymanot. These monasteries in the peninsula are open for both males and women.

Debre Maryam

The original church was built in the 14th-century (some say 12th century) and was rebuilt by Tewodros in the 19th century.

Daga Estefanos

The third principal attraction amongst the islands of Lake Tana is Dega Estefanos, which, like Kebran Gabriel, is closed to women. Set on a hill around 100 meters above the Lake, a short trek up a winding path brings you to a low, round, thatched-roof buildings that house the monks, and nearby an arch set into a high stone wall leads to a grassy clearing, at the center of which stands the church of Saint Stephanos.

This Monastery is of real historic interest, housing brightly colored ceremonial robes, a 16th century painting of the Madonna painted during the reign of Emperor Zara Yaqob (1434-1468) and the mummified remains of five Ethiopian emperors (Yekuno Amlak, who restored the Solomonic dynasty to the throne in 1270; Dawit, late fourteenth century; Zara Yaqob, fifteenth century; Za Dengel, early seventeenth century; and Fasilidas, also seventeenth century) displayed for visitors to view in modern, glass-sided coffins.

Certainly, Daga Estafanos was popular retreat for several of the above mentioned kings, and its tranquility was reputedly also favored by Tewodros II, who took communion there on several occasions.

According to the local believes, the founder of this monastery, was a saint who sailed to the island in 1268 on a stone boat. The 'boat' is still visible halfway along the trail to the monastery.

Narga Selassie

Narga Selassie, which means 'Trinity of the Rest', was built on Dek Island, the largest island of Lake Tana in the late 18th century by Empress Mintewab. The church is one of the most peaceful and atmospheric on Lake Tana and is set in an extremely beautiful location.

The church has a Gonderian influence, the inner walls are covered from top to bottom with a riotous and absorbing collection of paintings, most thought to date from the 18th century.

The fine original paintings include a portrait of Mentewab There is also a bas relief on the main entry portraying the Scottish traveler James Bruce with his pipe .James Bruce visited the capital, Gondar, in the late 18th century.

Tana Cherkos

Tana Cherkos, the oldest monastery in Ethiopia, is situated to the eastern shore of Lake Tana where one can observe life and rituals that have hardly been changed since the Old Testament. This monastery had been used as one of the four places of ancient Judaic worship where sacrificial stones are still found.

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This scarifying stone testifies to the island's importance as a Judaic religious shrine in pre-Christian times. It is believed that the Ark of the Covenant had been kept for 800 years before it was taken to Aksum.

The founder of Ethiopian church music, St. Yared has written his first book of song called Degua at this monastery.

The museum collection of this monastery has preserved several valuable and unique treasures which inspire visitors. The shores of the island are covered with a beautiful dense forest strip which is home to majestic fish eagles. This monastery is closed for women.

The Northern Monasteries

Four ancient visited monasteries dot the islands of the northern shore of Lake Tana. All of them somewhat remote from Bahir Dar, but situated within easy striking distance of the northern ferry terminal of Gorgora taking a boat from there. These are Mandaba Medhane Alem, Brigida Maryam, Debresina Maryam, Angara Tekle Haymanot and Bahir Galila.

Source: Worqamba Tour
WINNIPEG, MB, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Medicure Inc. ("Medicure" or the "Company") (TSXV:MPH) (OTC:MCUJF), announced today that it will be participating in Renmark Financial Communications Inc.'s live Virtual Non-Deal Roadshow Series to discuss its latest investor presentation on Monday, February 8, 2021 at 2:00 PM EST (1:00 PM CST, 12:00 PM MST). Medicure welcomes stakeholders, investors, and other individual followers to register and attend this live event.

The presentation will feature Albert Friesen, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of the Board. Topics to be covered will include the latest investor presentation followed by a live Q&A. Investors interested in participating in this event will need to register using the link below. As a reminder, registration for the live event may be limited but access to the replay after the event will be on the Company's website (www.medicure.com).

REGISTER HERE: https://talk-deck.com/info/live-register/?297!ut9dx30v1dy

To ensure smooth connectivity, please access this link using the latest version of Google Chrome.

About Medicure Inc.

Medicure is a pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapies for the U.S. cardiovascular market. The present focus of the Company is the marketing and distribution of AGGRASTAT (tirofiban hydrochloride) injection and ZYPITAMAG (pitavastatin) tablets in the United States, where they are sold through the Company's U.S. subsidiary, Medicure Pharma Inc. Medicure also operates Marley Drug, Inc. ("Marley"), a pharmacy located in North Carolina that offers an Extended Supply mail order drug program serving all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Marley is committed to improving the health status of its patients and the communities they serve while reducing overall health care costs for employers and other health care consumers. For more information visit http://www.marleydrug.com. To learn more about The Extended Supply Generic Drug Program call 800.286.6781 or email [email protected]. For more information on Medicure please visit www.medicure.com. For additional information about AGGRASTAT, refer to the full Prescribing Information. For additional information about ZYPITAMAG, refer to the full Prescribing Information.

About Renmark Financial Communications Inc.

Founded in 1999, Renmark Financial Communications Inc. is North America's leading retail investor relations firm. Employing a strategic and comprehensive mix of exposure tactics; Renmark hosts Virtual Non-Deal Roadshows as well as in-person corporate presentations and maintains daily communications with thousands of brokers and money managers across Canada and the United States. Renmark empowers its publicly-traded clientele to maximize their visibility within the financial community and strengthen their investor audience.

SOURCE Medicure Inc.

Related Links

www.medicure.com


TL;DR: Philadelphia opened its first city-run mass vaccination clinic Wednesday after having cut ties with Philly Fighting COVID, which ran a vaccine site at the same location, last week. Read more on the citys partnership with the group and why that relationship collapsed here. And, the COVID-19 vaccines are the first approved drugs to use RNA, which hasnt ever been manufactured before. My colleague Tom Avril explains how these vaccines are made.

 Lauren Aguirre (@laurencaguirre, health@inquirer.com)

What you need to know:

 New Jerseys restaurants, gyms, bars, and other businesses can increase capacity this weekend to 35%.

 Phillys rough COVID-19 vaccine rollout is adding challenges to reaching skeptical Black residents, especially given the history of Black people being mistreated in the name of science.

 Comcast is postponing plans to charge new fees for heavy internet users in Northeast states after critics said the policy could harm consumers relying on broadband because of the pandemic.

 Pennsylvania and New Jersey are re-opening their health insurance marketplaces to help with COVID-19 relief.

 Pennsylvania enacted 140 laws last year. Only 27 of them addressed the coronavirus.

 The Philly area is filling up with coffee shops during the pandemic. Most are not open for indoor seating, but theyre still serving as community hubs.

 The Wells Fargo Center got a high health-safety rating, raising hopes that fans can attend Flyers and Sixers games this season.

 Whats going on in your county or neighborhood? We organized recent coverage of the coronavirus pandemic by local counties and Philly neighborhoods mentioned in the stories to make it easier for you to find the info you care about.

Local coronavirus cases

The coronavirus has swept across the Philadelphia region and cases continue to mount. The Inquirer and Spotlight PA are compiling geographic data on tests conducted, cases confirmed, and deaths caused by the virus. Track the spread here.

City Council on Friday will hold a hearing on how Philadelphias partnership with Philly Fighting COVID started and ended up collapsing. But after severing ties with the organization, the city is planning to open six mass COVID-19 vaccination sites with the aim of inoculating 500 people a day. The first city-run clinic opened Wednesday. Grocery and drugstore pharmacies are also set to begin offering shots to residents 75 and older. City officials are hoping some hospitals will also open mass vaccination clinics as they finish inoculating health-care workers.

The COVID-19 vaccines are the first approved drugs to use RNA, and so manufacturing millions of doses was bound to take time. There are a lot of challenges involved in distribution, but ultimately, you need the vaccine itself in order to administer it. The COVID-19 vaccines are being manufactured at a handful of high-tech facilities where stainless-steel bioreactors are steadily synthesizing the genetic code. Heres more on how it all works.

Helpful resources

You got this: Watch Philly dogs at the Puppy Bowl

The Super Bowl is this Sunday, but the matchup thats sure to take your mind off of everything is this years Puppy Bowl. Its the 17th year, hosted on Animal Planet and Discovery+, featuring 70 adorable dogs  including six from the Philly area. Be sure to keep an eye out for these hometown cuties.

 Missing touch in your life? So are we. Heres what to do about it.

 Should you stop smoking pot during the pandemic? What about vaping? We talked to experts to find out.

 Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and New Jersey all have different schedules for who can get the vaccine and when. Find out whats happening in your county with our look up tool.

Have a social distancing tip or question to share? Let us know at health@inquirer.com and your input might be featured in a future edition of this newsletter.

What were paying attention to

Enjoy getting our journalism through email? You can also sign up for The Inquirer Morning Newsletter to get the latest news, features, investigations and more sent straight to your inbox each morning Sunday-Friday. Sign up here.
China is also expected to complete the mass inoculation programme by late next year. (Reuters)

Bangladesh's Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd said on Thursday the Serum Institute of India (SII) had delayed the first supplies of a COVID-19 vaccine for private sale, instead prioritising government immunisation campaigns.

Beximco is Bangladesh's exclusive distributor of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca shot that SII, the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer, is producing in bulk for low- and medium-income countries.

The Bangladeshi company last week received 5 million of the 30 million doses it had ordered from SII for Bangladesh's immunisation programme that begins next week.

Beximco had separately ordered 1 million doses for sale on the private market, with the hope to start marketing it this month.

"However, the company has now been informed by SII that the first instalment (500,000 doses) of this supply will be delayed following a prioritisation on supplying vaccine doses for government mass vaccination programmes and WHO-led COVAX initiatives over private pay use," Beximco said in a regulatory filing.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

"It remains unclear how long this delay will last."

Beximco's chief operating officer told Reuters last month the company could buy up to 3 million doses of the vaccine from SII at about $8 each for sale on the private market.

The price is about twice the $4 per dose that Beximco had agreed for the government programme.

AstraZeneca has been embroiled in a dispute in Europe after it said it would have to cut supplies of its vaccine there in the first quarter.

The WHO has called for vaccines to be should be shared equitably and has urged countries them not to jostle for deliveries.
Human Trafficking Investigation Nets 145 Arrests in LA County

LOS ANGELESAuthorities Feb. 4 announced that 145 arrests were made in Los Angeles County during a recent statewide operation investigating human trafficking.

Operation Reclaim and Rebuild involved more than 100 federal, state and local agencies, and resulted in 450 arrests statewide, the Los Angeles Police Department reported.

The goal of the operation was simply to rescue and recover victims of human trafficking and to arrest their traffickers or individuals who have exploited them, LAPD Deputy Chief Kris Pitcher said at a news conference Feb. 4.

During the seven-day operation, the LAPD made 91 arrests, the Long Beach Police Department made 13 arrests, the LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force made 36 arrests, and the Pomona Police Department made five arrests.

Statewide, 39 victims of human trafficking were rescued during the operation, including 13 juveniles, officials said. In Los Angeles County, 14 victims of human trafficking were rescued, 12 by the LAPD and two by the Pomona Police Department.

The LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force includes personnel from the U.S. Attorneys office, the California Attorney Generals office, the California Highway Patrol, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office, the LAPD, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

Operation Reclaim and Rebuild was conducted as part of National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
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(@FahadShabbir)

JOHANNESBURG (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) OHANNESBURG, February 4 (Sputnik), Thabiso Lehoko - Six months on after a JOHANNESBURG (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) apanese bulk carrier leaked hundreds of tonnes of fuel oil off Mauritius' coast and broke apart, Africa has yet to draw lessons from the incident and create an effective response mechanism to address maritime disasters in the western Indian Ocean.

On Tuesday, the South African think tank Institute for Security Studies hosted a seminar on the matter.

FUEL, COMPLACENCY ABOUT SAFETY TO BLAME?

Japan's bulk carrier Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef near Mauritius on July 25, while carrying 4,000 tonnes of fuel oil. On August 6, the wrecked ship started leaking oil and broke apart in the middle of the month.

In total, the vessel leaked some 1,000 tonnes of heavy oil into the ocean off Mauritius, endangering a land and sea conservation area with rare species. Months after the disaster, there have been reports of local communities suffering from oil-related health issues, including respiratory problems and skin infections.

Speaking at the seminar in Pretoria, Nishan Degnarain, economist and founder of advisory firm Breakthrough Ocean Ventures, noted that a number of hazards have been detected in the water. The fuel (low sulphur fuel) that was poured into the vessel is said to have been a mix of aviation and ship fuel.

"The Wakashio has made Africa and the rest of the World ask those pivotal questions in particular Africa's swift response and technical expertise to deal with such spillages. Moreover, the fuel that was used on the vessel causes vessel engines to seize world-wide," he continued.

According to Degnarain, the mapping system used in the vessel was also faulty and outdated.

"When the vessel turned into Mauritian waters indications are clear that the Mapping system used was faulty. Why did it go to Mauritius if the intention was for it to go to Brazil straight from Singapore," he wondered.

On the whole, the expert believes that a wide range of reasons could have led to the disaster.

"First of all here's why I think they could have avoided risk ... One, the vessel was understaffed. They must have had 20 crew on board and it only had 18, the 2 left could have had made a difference in terms of bridging gaps when the vessel could no longer move. Poor IMO [International Maritime Organisation ] regulations, the monitoring of safety aspect was not observed.

Weak inspecting regimes and cyber risk are also leading to engine failure. We must also take into account the fuel issue which has not been addressed six months down the line. Poor management of COVID-19 regulations are also to blame and a dubious salvage operation," Degnarain gave insight to the seminar.

The new regulations, known as IMO 2020, mandate a maximum sulphur content of 0.5 percent in marine fuels globally. The change is driven by the need to reduce the air pollution created in the shipping industry.

UK multinational BP, which supplied very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) to the bulk carrier, denied in January that the oil could have caused ship engine problems. It insists that the fuel supplied "fully met" IMO 2020 standards.

The company also cited ship operator MOL's December 2020 statement that points to "unsafe behaviors due to overconfidence that stems from complacency" and navigation as the probable cause of the grounding incident.

"I still maintain that the Wakashio experienced most of the threats I stated and the wrong fuel is one of them. The captain was not drunk. Investigations are still ongoing, if alcohol was the case then why wasn't he or the crew get breathalysed? The shipping industry is not supportive. The fuel issue shocks everyone and how can it be weathered down. Sea life is dying. Last year some NGOs called for that fuel to be banned. But time will tell," Degnarain told Sputnik.

According to Degnarain, improved technology, artificial intelligence and competitive technology could also help ensure maritime safety.

Ernesta Swanepoel, an admitted South African attorney of the High Court of South Africa who holds qualifications in both marine and environmental law, agrees that the incident raised a range of problems to be addressed.

"The region of Africa in that Southern part of Africa has to come up with future mechanisms that will ensure a quick response. For the mere fact that we are six months down the line [and] the Wakashio issue is still lingering speaks to a lack of resources," Swanepoel said.

She told the seminar that Africa at large should look into two main elements  the finalization of a regional plan for preparedness for and response to such incidents and a coordination center.

"It is important to know that the establishment of these solutions will give direction. These are platforms that will ensure that countries collaborate," she concluded.
New arrest in Cagliari for a foreigner in possession of a false passport.

After the arrest of the 23 - year - old from the Republic of Guinea blocked a few days ago at the Police Headquarters after requesting the modification of his residence permit from humanitarian reasons to work reasons, presenting a false passport, another 22-year-old from the Republic of Guinea was arrested yesterday for the same offense.

The 22-year-old also went to the Aliens Office to ask for the modification of his residence permit and also in this case the policemen of the Aliens Office, with the collaboration of the Mobile Squad and border police specialists, realized that the document presented was fake. Investigations are underway to identify who is providing the bogus documents to migrants.

(Unioneonline / F)


Burma Myanmar Military Charges Against Suu Kyi Assault Rule of Law

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with President U Win Myint (left) and Mandalay Region Chief Minister U Zaw Myint Maung (right) at the National League for Democracy assembly in Naypyitaw in August. / Chair NLD / Facebook

YANGON  Myanmars military charges against State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint after the coup have been condemned as an assault on the rule of law.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was sued for allegedly possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies under the Export and Import Law while U Win Myint was sued for allegedly breaching election campaign guidelines and COVID-19 restrictions under the Natural Disaster Management Law, according to their party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). Both charges carry up to three years imprisonment. The charges may also bar Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from running for office.

Veteran democracy activist U Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 1988 uprising, called the charges against the elected civilian leaders an insult to the hearts of the people.

It shows that no one is safe. There is no guarantee. Anyone can be arrested under any charge. We can no longer talk about the rule of law or judiciary. The weapon has become the law [for the military], he said.

The NLDs Karen State chief minister, Daw Nan Khin Htwe Myint, who is under house arrest, told the RFA Burmese news service the charges against our leaders are a seditious conspiracy to put down the country.

Legal adviser U Khin Maung Myint said the regimes charges were a move to have legal grounds to detain the two leaders for two weeks. According to a leaked police document on social media, a court remanded them in custody until Feb. 15.

U Khin Maung Myint said using trivial charges, which are non-bailable, to lockup the leaders showed the weakening of the rule of law.

What worries me is that if leaders are prosecuted like that, we will not be able to get justice for ordinary workers. Legal protection is no longer available. The essence of the law has been harmed, he added.

Human rights lawyer U Kyi Myint said the approval of the parliamentary speaker and president is needed to charge Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a cabinet member and parliamentarian. Without their approval, the prosecution was unlawful, he added.

The president, vice-presidents and parliamentary speakers remain in office until replacements are selected under the 2008 Constitution.

The United States said it was disturbed by the charges. We call on the military to immediately release them all, including other detained dissidents, US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab tweeted on Thursday: We condemn the detention and charges against Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected officials. They must be released immediately and have charges removed.

You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Military Regime Appoints Governing Body

Myanmar Medics Prepare Civil Disobedience Against Military Rule
The new statistics show that staff were called out nearly 800 times to deal with vermin throughout the year.

Pest control teams from the Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council dealt with nearly 500 cases involving rodents over the past year, new figures show.

The new statistics show that staff were called out nearly 800 times to deal with vermin throughout the year.

The data emerged following a Freedom of Information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

However, despite lockdown measures being in place for periods since March last year, the overall number from the year before dropped by 266 cases.

In 2019, the Lisburn Castlereagh Environmental team said it dealt with 1,064 cases of pest across the council area.

The local authority didnt specify where exactly the pest control occurred, saying due to the information being personal data, it could not be released.

Wasps were by far the most common problem pest control staff had to deal with as they faced well over 298 call outs throughout lockdown.

Further analysis also showed there were nearly 443 visits made to properties dealing with rodent-related problems last year  up 40 from the year prior.

Meanwhile, Lisburn Castlereagh Council said it was too difficult to estimate the total cost for pest control as the service was demand led and busy at particular times of the year.

The spokesperson also highlighted that householders in receipt of state benefits also receive the service for free.

Householders who dont receive benefits are charged between 50 and 120 for each visit and depending on the type of pest.

A Lisburn Castlereagh Council spokesperson said: Employees are trained to a high level of expertise in accordance with health and safety regulations. We only use pesticides and methods that comply fully with the law.

A national trade body is also urging householders and businesses in the area to be aware of pests during another prolonged lockdown period.

The British Pest Control Association (BPCA) warned people to remain vigilant as Covid-19 restrictions remain in place across Northern Ireland.

A spokesperson said a regular pattern for rodents is that, as temperatures begin to drop and food becomes scarce they head indoors.

A BPCA spokesperson added: As the weather gets colder, field mice will also look for warmer places to nest and begin to move indoors too. They are highly adaptable and wont hesitate to take advantage of a warm place to nest during the winter months.

This pattern for rats and mice all points to a need for extra care and attention in the lockdown.

One of the biggest threats that many closed businesses will have to face is the possibility of a serious pest infestation, which may have established while their premises were left without any activity and unguarded from pests.

Property owners have a legal obligation to keep premises rodents free, or, if rodents pose a threat to health or property, to report infestations to the local authority.

Proactive pest management is the best way we can manage the risks to public health and safety.

BPCAs website includes an A-Z of pests which outlines the habits and life cycles of different species along with signs of an infestation and the dangers they can pose  including the spread of disease and damage to property.

An online guide about rats at bpca.org.uk/rats, has helpful information on identifying an infestation and offers advice on when to call in the professionals.
Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The Gambian government has called on Myanmar military to immediately release all detained civilian leaders, the call coming days after the military toppled the defector leader, Aung San Suu Kyi
KABUL  Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar received Iran's Special Envoy on Afghanistan Mohammad Ebrahim Taherian Fard to discuss the latest development in the Afghan Peace Process.

Iran's Special Envoy briefed Foreign Minister Atmar on Taliban's recent visit to Tehran. Mr. Fard noted that the Taliban's stance had not changed, and their strategy was the same as before.

Minister Atmar appreciated the briefing by Iran's Special Envoy and stated that the Taliban kept violating their commitments regarding reducing violence, severing ties with terrorist groups, and keeping freed prisoners from returning to battlefields.

In the end, both sides exchanged views on strengthening regional censuses in support of peace talks in Doha.
The former controller for the Manheim-based Worley & Obetz energy firm has been sentenced to 3 years in federal prison for her role in a $65 million bank fraud mounted by company officials.

Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Williams said Thursday that Judith Avilez, 60, of Elizabethtown, also was ordered to pay $15 million in restitution by U.S. Eastern District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl.

Avilez pleaded guilty in September to charges that from 2016 through May 2018, she helped Worley & Obetz CEO Jeffrey Lyons defraud Fulton Bank by creating fraudulent financial statements that grossly inflated the accounts receivable for the firms largest customer, Giant Food.

Judith Avilez walked in on the tail end of this scheme, and she had the opportunity to report it and stop the fraud, Williams said. But instead of doing the right thing, she chose the greedy path. Instead of performing her job honestly, she chose to help her new boss steal tens of millions of dollars from bank lenders. And as a result, a company was destroyed and its employees were devastated.

In July, Lyons was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $53 million to Fulton Bank and another $550,000 to the IRS. Karen Connelly, the former company controller who was succeeded by Avilez, was sentenced to 4 years in prison last year.
RIVERSIDE, Calif., Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bourns, Inc., a leading manufacturer and supplier of electronic components, today announced that its newly-formed subsidiary has acquired all shares and interests of the various entities comprising the Kaschke Group with its headquarters in Gottingen, Germany. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Kaschke is a market leader in the field of customized magnetic components and ferrite cores. The company was founded by Kurt Kaschke in 1955 and became known for its high competence in the development and production of application specific magnetic products. The Kaschke mission to use their ferrite core knowledge base for the development of solutions tailored to specific customer requirements matches Bourns' culture of innovative design.

"As one of the few companies that has the capability to design and build ferrite core materials as well as manufacture complex inductive components, Kaschke will bring to Bourns the experience and creativity needed to solve customers' complex application challenges," said Gordon Bourns, Chairman and CEO of Bourns. "We are excited to welcome Kaschke to the Bourns organization to combine our capabilities and build stronger customer relationships."

Al Yost, President and Chief Operating Officer at Bourns, said "This acquisition is an important element in Bourns' strategy to strengthen our inductive technology capability and broaden our portfolio of innovative magnetic products."

"The combination of Kaschke and Bourns will enable the development of a full portfolio of products that will help our customers meet the challenging EMI filtering requirements of the next generation power supplies in the automotive, industrial and new energy markets," said Silke Baumgartner, President of Kaschke Components. "I'm delighted to form an alliance with Bourns, a company with a history and core values that are fully aligned with Kaschke's."

About Kaschke Components

Kaschke is a European market leader in the field of customized inductive components and ferrites. The company's headquarters and ferrite production facilities are located in Germany. In addition, Kaschke has had local manufacturing operations in Tunisia for over 40 years. Additional company and product information is available at www.kaschke.de.

About Bourns

Bourns, Inc. is a leading manufacturer and supplier of position and speed sensors, circuit protection solutions, magnetic components, microelectronic modules, panel controls and resistive products. Headquartered in Riverside, California, USA, Bourns serves a broad range of markets, including automotive, industrial, consumer, communications, low to medium risk medical***, audio and various other market segments. Additional company and product information is available at www.bourns.com.

Bourns and the Bourns logo are registered trademarks of Bourns, Inc. and may be used only with the permission of Bourns and proper acknowledgement. Other listed names and brands are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

***Bourns products have not been designed for and are not intended for use in "lifesaving," "life-critical" or "life-sustaining" applications nor any other applications where failure or malfunction of the Bourns product may result in personal injury or death. See Legal Disclaimer Notice http://www.bourns.com/docs/legal/disclaimer.pdf.



Agency Contact: Annette Keller - Keller Communication

(707) 947-7232, [email protected]

Company Contact: David Scofield - Bourns, Inc.

(951) 781-5054, [email protected]

SOURCE Bourns, Inc.
(Natural News) More than 1.5 billion face masks produced in 2020 will pollute the worlds oceans, according to a recent report from Hong Kong-based marine conservation organization OceansAsia. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Teale Bondaroff, lead author of the report and director of research for the organization, said the masks are just a small fraction of the estimated eight to 12 million metric tons of plastic that enter oceans each year. Still, face masks could take about 450 years to degrade, all the while leaching toxic chemicals that threaten wildlife.

The group estimated that some 52 billion face masks were produced in 2020 to answer for the sudden demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. Bondaroff and his colleagues also pointed out that the increased use and production of plastic face shields and personal protective equipment (PPE) led to more waste as well.

Face masks polluting oceans

The researchers acknowledged that it is hard to determine the exact volume of face masks produced worldwide since the pandemic began, as well as what percentage of those masks were not disposed of properly.

Previous research has shown that about three percent of global plastic waste enters oceans. Using this rate and a global production estimate of 52 billion face masks manufactured in 2020, Bondaroff and his colleagues estimate that some 1.56 billion face masks produced in 2020 will end up polluting the worlds oceans.

The research started when OceansAsia visited a remote beach in the Soko Islands southwest of Hong Kong late last February. Scientists found masks washed up on the beach and kept finding more with each subsequent visit, all the while posting their hauls on Facebook. The mask numbers would persist for months after.

While face masks have become a common tool used to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the increased use of masks has led to a dramatic increase in waste.

This is bad news since single-use face masks are made from meltblown plastics that release chemicals while degrading. Soiled masks also pose a risk to human health. (Related: Environmentalists concerned over how increased use of face masks and PPE will contribute to worldwide problem of plastic pollution.)

Gary Stokes, operations director of OceansAsia, said face masks end up in waterways when they are littered, or when waste management systems are either inadequate or non-existent. Face masks also enter oceans when existing waste management systems become overwhelmed due to the sheer volume of waste generated.

Face masks blamed for death of birds, fish

The report also highlighted the impact of marine plastic pollution, which face masks significantly contribute to, on marine life. For instance, researchers estimate that marine plastic pollution kills 100,000 marine mammals, over a million seabirds and great numbers of fish and invertebrates each year.

Just last September, a penguin was found dead on a beach in Sao Paulo, Brazil after post-mortem examination showed it had swallowed an N95 face mask. In a statement, Instituto Argonauta, the conservation group that studied the penguin, said people who frequented the beaches in the area may have cost the penguin its life.

Meanwhile, employees of a car dealership in the English city of Chelmsford, Essex rescued a seagull whose feet were tangled in the ear loops of a disposable face mask. It was seen struggling to walk outside the dealership.

Marine plastic pollution also has a profound impact on coastal communities and fisheries. In fact, conservative estimates suggest that marine plastic pollution costs the global economy about $13 billion each year.

The researchers ended their report by making important recommendations, such as wearing reusable masks if possible, disposing of masks responsibly and reducing overall consumption of single-use plastic.

They also called on governments to implement policies that encourage the use of reusable masks, foster efforts to develop sustainable alternatives to single-use masks, impose fines to discourage littering, educate the public about proper face mask disposal and improve waste management systems. It is critical that we reduce our use of single-use plastics, and we all have a role to play, said Bondaroff.

Learn more about the environmental impact of single-use face masks, face shields and other PPE at Environ.news.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

OceansAsia.org 1

OceansAsia.org 2

OurWorldInData.org

Newsweek.com

BBC.com
Asa Candler 1851-1929

This flowing copperplate script with red and white colours is a logo that is recognisable around the world. Its success is due to Asa Candler, whose primary motivation in all he attempted was to be faithful to God through his stewardship.

Asa Candler was a very rich man who was successful in real estate development and banking. He faithfully embraced the principle of Christian stewardship. His belief was that God gives wealth to individuals in order to promote His kingdom on earth.

His inspiration was from Jesus teaching about not storing up treasures on earth that can be stolen or lost but storing up treasures in heaven where they will never be stolen or lost. This inspiration led him to support many Christian endeavours, including the training of young men and women in the teachings of Jesus.

The history of Coca-Cola began in 1886 when the curiosity of an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John S. Pemberton, led him to create a distinctive tasting soft drink that could be sold at soda fountains.

He created a flavoured syrup, took it to his neighbourhood pharmacy, where it was mixed with carbonated water and deemed excellent by those who sampled it. Dr. Pembertons partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, is credited with naming the beverage Coca-Cola as well as designing the trademarked, distinct script, still used today.

Prior to his death in 1888, just two years after creating what was to become the worlds best-selling sparkling beverage, Dr. Pemberton sold portions of his business to various parties, with the majority of the interest sold to Atlanta businessman,

Asa G. Candler. Under Mr. Candlers leadership, distribution of Coca-Cola expanded to soda fountains beyond Atlanta. Initially Coca Cola was only available at stores with soda fountains.

In 1894, impressed by the growing demand for Coca-Cola and the desire to make the beverage portable, Joseph Biedenharn installed bottling machinery in the rear of his Mississippi soda fountain, becoming the first to put Coca-Cola in bottles.

Large scale bottling

Large scale bottling was made possible just five years later, when in 1899, three enterprising businessmen in Chattanooga, Tennessee secured exclusive rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola.

The three entrepreneurs purchased the bottling rights from Asa Candler for just $1. Benjamin Thomas, Joseph Whitehead and John Lupton developed what became the Coca-Cola worldwide bottling system.

One of Asa Candlers marketing strategies was to create a shroud of secrecy about the ingredients of Coca Cola. Originally it was marketed as a brain and nerve tonic, containing a tiny amount of cocaine from coca leaves, and caffeine from kola nuts, together with sugar, cinnamon and other flavourings, and caramel for colour.

While the formula remains secret, the cocaine was removed by Asa Candler in 1903 due to fears of the effect of cocaine on the poorer section of society. The bottling of Coca Cola enabled a larger portion of the population access to this drink.

This was eleven years before the American administration made cocaine an illicit drug due to a spike in usage.

Upon the removal of the cocaine more caffeine and sugar were added for a healthier drink. A Supreme Court decision in 1916 instructed Coca Cola to reduce the caffeine content.

Among the biggest challenges for early bottlers, were imitations of the beverage by competitors coupled with a lack of packaging consistency among the 1,000 bottling plants at the time. The bottlers agreed that a distinctive beverage needed a standard and distinctive bottle, and in 1916, the bottlers approved the unique contour bottle.

New bottle

The new Coca-Cola bottle was so distinctive it could be recognised in the dark and it effectively set the brand apart from competition. The contoured Coca-Cola bottle was trademarked in 1977.

Another of Asa Candlers endeavours was the establishment of Emory College, later Emory University in 1836. The little school struggled for decades, and finally began to prosper in the late 1800s.

By 1914, the Methodist Church was looking to create a university in the South, and Emory College was looking to expand. The sole impetus for the founding of Emory University in Atlanta was the role of the church (Christianity) in education, where young minds could be introduced to the teachings of Jesus for the wellbeing of the student and the benefit to society.

Asa Candler wrote the million-dollar letter to offer seed money, and he sweetened the deal by donating land in Atlanta. Asas brother Warren Candler was a Methodist Bishop and he became the first chancellor of the new campus.

With his financial aid, Emory College, located near Atlanta, moved into the city and expanded to become Emory University. The 1915 birth of a new university named Emory relied heavily on Methodist connections.

As the students at the University were heavily involved in Christian activities on Sundays, classes were held from Tuesday to Saturday.

While this worked well for the regular students it did create an issue for the Jewish students who wanted to join Emory. Negotiations with the chancellor and the Jewish Rabbi, who wanted his children enrolled, were resolved when Jewish students were exempt from Saturday classes. Orthodox Jews adhered to the religious observance of Shabbat.

Shabbat is embraced as a time of rest and celebration and begins before sunset on Friday and ends after sunset on Saturday.

Methodist teaching hospital

In 1922 a Methodist-founded teaching hospital moved to the new Druid Hills campus of Emory to become Emory University Hospital. This teaching hospital adjacent to the universitys medical school was made possible by a gift of nearly $2,000,000 from Asa Candler.

The university played an important role toward integration of African Americans and Jewish students into the university during the late 1950s and the early 1960s.The church viewed Emory as the place where future leaders of society would mature.

Candler sold the Coca Cola business in 1919 for $25,000,000 (about $376 million in todays market) and devoted his energy to philanthropy

This legacy was carried on by his son, Charles Howard Candler Snr, who shared his father Asas love for Emory. Charless gifts to Emory, totalling around $13 million, included a new administration building and half-interest in Asa G. Candler Inc.

Dr Archibald Y. Letsa, the Volta Regional Minister-designate, has commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the confidence reposed in him to activate a re-nomination.



"With a heart of unqualified gratitude, I wish to thank His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, for this gesture, he said.



Im humbled by the re-nomination and more importantly, by the display of confidence in me."



Dr Letsa, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said when approved by the Vetting Committee he would swing into action to pursue the governments development agenda for the area to the best of his ability.



"I shall continue to operate an open-door policy in the running of my office, where I shall be readily available to all the people of the Region."



He stated unequivocally to build bridges when given the nod.



"I shall continue to build bridges and not walls while pursuing the development of the Region, Dr Letsa said.



It is not lost on me that we need to work together as people of this Region in ensuring its development as envisaged by the President and all of us."



He assured investors of his preparedness to partner them to change the narrative, tapping into the huge untapped resources of the area for rapid development.



He promised to provide leadership that would inure to job creation and enabling environment for enhanced socio-economic activities.



The Volta Regional Minister-designate called for support from all and sundry, especially traditional authorities and business entities, to achieve a common goal.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 19:54:06|Editor: huaxia

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JERUSALEM, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he was postponing his first official visit to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain due to Israel's COVID-19 lockdown.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu very much appreciates the invitations of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the historic peace that has been established between our countries," according to a statement issued by Netanyahu's office.

"Despite the importance of the trip... Netanyahu has decided to postpone the visit at this stage due to the closing of the skies," read the statement.

Netanyahu's government has imposed on Jan. 26 a ban on outgoing and incoming flights as part of its fight to stop new coronavirus variants.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu said that he planned to pay a visit next week to Abu Dhabi and possibly to Bahrain.

Israel has signed agreements to normalize its ties with the UAE and Bahrain in 2020. The planned trip was supposed to be the first official visit by a head of state since the new allies forged the deals. Enditem
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - InZinc Mining Ltd. (TSXV: IZN) ("InZinc" or "Company") announces a proposed non-brokered private placement of up to 6,666,666 units ("Units") for gross proceeds of up to $200,000 at $0.03 per Unit (the "Offering"). Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (a "Common Share") and one half of one Common Share purchase warrant (each whole Common Share purchase Warrant a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder ("Warrant Holder") to acquire one Common Share at a price of $0.06 for twenty-four months following the closing of the Offering (the "Closing").

The Offering is expected to close on or about February 18, 2021 and is subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSXV. The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for general working capital purposes.

Certain directors and officers of the Company intend to subscribe for Units under the Offering. The participation of the directors [and officers] in the Offering constitutes a "related party transaction" for the purposes of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is exempt from the requirements to obtain a formal evaluation and minority shareholder approval in connection with the insider participation in reliance on sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, as neither the fair market value of the securities to be issued, nor the fair market value of the consideration for the securities to be issued will exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization as calculated in accordance with MI 61-101.

Finders' fees may be payable under the Offering in cash or through the issuance of securities of the Company or a combination thereof to parties at arm's length to the Company.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the "1933 Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons (as defined in the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration is available.

About InZinc

InZinc is focused on growth in zinc through exploration and expansion of the advanced stage West Desert project (100%) in Utah and exploration of the early stage Indy project (100% option) in British Columbia. West Desert has a large underground resource open for expansion and has district scale exploration potential. A West Desert preliminary economic assessment completed in 2014 forecasted 1.6 billion pounds of zinc production over 15 years. Byproducts would include copper, magnetite and indium, the latter being identified by the United States in 2017 as a critical mineral. West Desert is well located with easy access and existing infrastructure. The Indy Sedex project comprises near surface discoveries, large untested exploration targets and regional discovery potential. Indy is readily accessible by road from Prince George, the major hub for transportation and heavy industry in central British Columbia and is located 85km south of the Canadian National Railway. On December 22, 2020, InZinc announced that it had signed a non-binding Letter of Intent ("LOI") with American West Metals Limited ("American West") that contemplates the companies entering into an option agreement prior to March 31st, 2021 under which American West can acquire 100% of the West Desert project providing American West makes all the payments contemplated by the LOI. There are no assurances that this transaction will complete as contemplated.

InZinc Mining Ltd.

Wayne Hubert

_____________________________

Chief Executive Officer

Phone: 604.687.7211

Website: www.inzincmining.com



For further information contact:

Joyce Musial

Vice President, Corporate Affairs

Phone: 604.317.2728

Email: joyce@inzincmining.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, plan, design, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results, performance, or actions and that actual results and actions may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2019 filed with certain securities commissions in Canada and other information released by the Company and filed with the appropriate regulatory agencies. All of the Company's Canadian public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



THIS NEWS RELEASE IS 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/73686
Full results from Friday's state track meets

Get your full results from the AA, A and B boys and girls state track meets here.
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
Global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. has reached a $573 million settlement with a 47-state coalition including Connecticut, resolving their investigations of the firms alleged support of efforts to boost opioid sales of pharmaceutical companies including Stamford-based OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma.

This is the first multistate settlement to result in substantial payments directly to the states to tackle the opioid crisis, according to an announcement Thursday from Connecticut Attorney General William Tongs office. Connecticut will receive approximately $7.5 million from the settlement, including an initial payment of $6.2 million during the next year.

McKinsey consultants devised a deadly roadmap for Purdue to turbocharge the opioid epidemic, with callous disregard to the human suffering they caused, Tong said in a statement. The hundreds of millions of dollars they will now pay to states will go directly to abating this crisis but will never bring back those we have lost. Connecticut played a central role in these difficult negotiations to extract every possible dollar for opioid abatement, and to ensure that McKinseys role in the opioid epidemic is fully exposed and never repeated.

Connecticut was part of a 10-state executive committee that negotiated the settlement. The committee also included the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts.

McKinseys cynical and calculated marketing tactics helped fuel the opioid crisis by helping Purdue Pharma target those doctors they knew would overprescribe opioids, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. They knew where the money was coming from and zeroed in on it. Under the terms of todays agreement, the company will finally end its illegal conduct, deliver more than half a billion dollars into communities across the nation, and will never be able to help perpetrate this type of fraud and deception again.

Despite reaching the agreement, McKinsey is not admitting wrongdoing or liability. The company said in its own announcement that it believes its past work was lawful and has denied allegations to the contrary.

We chose to resolve this matter in order to provide fast, meaningful support to communities across the United States, Kevin Sneader, global managing partner of McKinsey, said in a statement. We deeply regret that we did not adequately acknowledge the tragic consequences of the epidemic unfolding in our communities. With this agreement, we hope to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis in the U.S.

Purdue declined to comment on the settlement. The agreement also includes the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories.

In December, McKinsey made a similar public apology following disclosures about the extent of the collaboration between McKinsey and Purdues executives that were made in recently disclosed bankruptcy court documents.
Nagpur : , Feb 4 (IANS) Scores of widows of farmers on Thursday staged a noisy protest in Yavatmal to slam Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut for her "anti-farmers remarks", burnt her effigy and demanded an unconditional apology from her.

The protesters -- carrying banners and placards to proclaim 'Yes, we are farmers but not terrorists', referring to Kangana's recent statement to malign the farmers protesting on Delhi borders and compare them to terrorists -- also burnt the Bollywood actor's pictures.

They also hit her effigy with shoes to register their anger before setting it afire.

The protesters announced their resolve to boycott all films of Kangana till she did not withdraw her remarks and tender an unconditional apology to the Indian farmers for her "insulting statements".

Leading the protests was social activist Smita Tiwari along with farmers' widows like Bharati Pawar, Poornima Kopulwar, Kavita Sidam, Lakshmi Gandhwar, Rama Thamke, Vandana Mohurle, Rekha Gurnale, Aparna Malikar, and Yogita Choudhary.

Farm activists like Anil Tiwari, Ankit Naitam, Sunil Raut, Suresh Talmale, Neel Jaiswal, Manoj Chavan, Sandeep Jajulwar, Chandan Jainkar, Pradeep Kosare, Bablu Dhurve, and Ashutosh Ambade also participated and raised slogans against Kangana.

"We have seen the repression let loose on farmers on Delhi borders by police and paramilitary forces. We witnessed peasants getting beaten up mercilessly and dying. The farmers will return home only after the three new central agricultural laws are withdrawn by the BJP-led Union government," Pawar said in her speech.

A young widow, Seedam recalled how her debt-ridden husband committed suicide and her family suffered as a consequence. "However, rather than sympathise with the cause of farmers' widows and orphans, unpatriotic people like Kangana are making fun of their sacrifices," she said.

Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission (VNSSM) President Kishore Tiwari, who spoke at the protest meet, labelled Kangana as the "BJP's unofficial spokesperson" and criticised her for tweets comparing poor farmers with terrorists as an "outcome of a perverted mindset".

Tiwari, accorded a Minister of State status in the state, said that the whole country was now waiting for February 7 'chakka jaam' programme and appealed to the people to avoid travel by road on that day in support of farmers agitating on Delhi borders.

Anil Tiwari said that the biggest problem confronting the agro sector was the unending suicides by farmers. Instead of speaking up for the suffering peasantry, Kangana has chosen to ridicule the 'annadaatas' by branding them as terrorists, he alleged.

Last month, the VNSSM and other farm organisations had sent batches of farm widows to Delhi to join the protesting farmers and express solidarity on behalf of Maharashtra's peasantry.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Since June of 2020, Philadelphia sanitation worker Terrill Haigler has amassed an audience of more than 23,000 followers on Instagram, where hes better known as Ya Fav Trashman. His following was built on behind-the-scenes looks at the sanitation teams day-to-day, but Haiglers big heart and his dedication to Philadelphians is threaded through his posts, too. Hes already used his outsized online presence for good causes  raising thousands for personal protective equipment, hosting a food drive for frontline workers, organizing community cleanups  and this month, hes spotlighting four Black-owned restaurants on his account.

Why restaurants? Im a foodie. Im a big foodie, Haigler says. I just want to help restaurant owners recover ... and I think letting the community know where good food is is a good thing.

But another part of his agenda is to raise funds for a voter registration and education drive focused on the citys 2021 judicial elections, the primaries for which take place in May. The emphasis on a lower-profile race is purposeful on his part, because lesser-known elected officials often have a big impact on residents lives, he says.

As an example, if you elect somebody who cares about the trash build-up, when the trash starts getting [picked] up, you feel like your voice was heard. And when you start to feel like your voice is heard, it can shift your perspective on how you treat your community, he says. People in Philadelphia really dont know how much power they have as voters.

 READ MORE: Ya Fav Trashman gives an inside look at Philly trash pickup on Instagram, and the city is listening

Haigler hopes to raise enough to print and distribute pamphlets and host symposiums. The overall goal: Get a million Philadelphians to vote come November.

The first step in his plan is to feature four restaurants on Instagram in February, with each donating 20% of proceeds from select days to the drive. Hell ask each spots owner to join him on Instagram Live beforehand. (Be sure to mention Ya Fav Trashman when ordering, whether online or in person.)

The month-long campaign kicks off Friday, Feb. 5 with Ooh Lala Salads, near 13th Street and Girard Avenue. The shops mission is to provide healthy meals to the neighborhood. Its owned by Loretta Bullock, a close friend of Haiglers late mom, Jeannette; hes known Bullock all his life as Aunt Lala.

Bullock specializes in salads chock-full of fresh vegetables and grilled proteins, but Haigler has a soft spot for his moms custom order: a teriyaki shrimp and salmon wrap. Hes asking Bullock to offer it as the Netti Net special.

And you can add avocados and eggs and spinach on a wheat or spinach wrap. Its aah-mazing, Haigler says. Ooh LaLa will donate 20% of proceeds from sales on its entire menu between Feb. 5-7.

 READ MORE: Looking to support Phillys black-owned restaurants? Here are some of Craig LaBan's favorites.

Bella Vista soul food restaurant Frannie Nicks takes the stage the following weekend. Chef Ilisha Sampson moved into the Eighth Street space, formerly occupied by Acadia, last year and has been steadily serving up meatloaf sandwiches, Spanish Harlem fries, banana pudding, and her trademark potato chip cookies through the pandemic.

Haigler admits Frannie Nicks was recently recommended to him by a good friend who promised: If you dont like this food, I will give you money for the campaign myself. Hes planning to order the cheesesteak rolls and shrimp alfredo, at his friends urging. Frannie Nicks will donate proceeds from its entire menu between Feb. 11-13.

On Feb. 18-20, Haigler is teaming up with Deborah Bradley of Simply Blessed Cakes. The West Philly bakery produces custom cakes and cupcakes, often in elaborate 3-D designs. Bradley has crafted cakes in themes you might expect (Sesame Street, Mickey Mouse, Alice in Wonderland) and some you might not (money bags, pizza, the horror movie It). Lemon, strawberry, Oreo, vanilla, and banana are a handful of standard flavors, but Haiglers favorite is her strawberry crunch cake. To order, text 610-553-5211 or email simplyblessedcakes@outlook.com.

Finally, from Feb. 26-28, Haiglers friend chef Jeff Presley of Birdies Biscuits will offer a gourmet chicken and biscuits special. A Culinary Institute of America grad, Presley runs a West Philly-based catering service and has been a regular presence at the Reading Terminal Market in previous years. More recently, hes popped up at Cherry Street Pier and Audrey Claire Cook. Order ahead of time via Instagram DM (@birdies_biscuits) or online at birdiesbiscuits.com.

Presleys shaved-butter and buttermilk biscuits come topped with honey butter and sea salt, flavored with Wisconsin cheddar and fresh herbs, or sandwiched with spiced apples or peaches. But Haigler isnt too particular when it comes to Presleys cooking. Ill eat anything that Jeff makes, he says. Jeff can make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and Ill eat it.

Look out for Haiglers Instagram Live collaborations on @_yafavtrashman.
The official synopsis of "The Suicide Squad"--unofficially "The Suicide Squad 2"-- has been revealed. Interestingly, it came with some shocking details.

Before James Gunn plotted the upcoming "The Suicide Squad 2," he confirmed during the DC FanDome event in 2020 that his version would be completely unrelated to David Ayer's 2016 flick.

Producer Peter Safran also said that it would be a 1970s war movie "combined with the brilliance of James Gunn's characters and comedy."

Gunn confirmed that Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) would assemble the group of villains and send them out on a dangerous mission.

"The Suicide Squad" cast from its predecessor, Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag) and Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), are also confirmed to appear on Gunn's version.

While he has not detailed how exactly it would be different, "The Suicide Squad" synopsis finally offered a glimpse of the film to the fans.

Warner Bros. revealed the official summary of the upcoming DCEU film, and it disclosed two shocking details about "The Suicide Squad."

New Characters?

"Welcome to hell - a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out-even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X," the intro stated.

First, it confirmed the members of the new team under Waller, including Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Savant (Michael Rooker), Blackguard (Pete Davidson), Javelin (Flula Borg) and King Shark (Steve Agee).

Sylvester Stallone's name has also been connected to the installment since last year.

On November 14, Gunn himself posted on Twitter that Stallone would join the famous squad.

"Always love working with my friend @officialslystallone & our work today on #TheSuicideSquad was no exception," he captioned alongside a selfie with the actor. "Despite Sly being an iconic movie star, most people still don't have any idea what an amazing actor this guy is."

The actor verified his participation by sharing a screen capture of Deadline's article on the same platform.

New Assignment!

The second part of the synopsis divulged how the squad would be heavily armed before they enter the remote island of Corto Maltese.

The DCEU's Task Force X will reportedly travel through "militant adversaries and guerrilla forces" on the island.

It is worth noting that in the comics, the island is located off the coast of South America, where rebels reside.

In its comic plotline, the US and Soviet Union even get involved in public affairs on the island.

See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles
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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

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Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

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California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Future Digital Award Winners Announced for Telco Innovation 2021

It is with great pleasure that Juniper Research announces the 2021 winners of the Future Digital Awards for Telco Innovation.

This category recognises the most impactful telco products and services operating across numerous areas, including enterprise innovation, security and fraud, and network innovation. Juniper Research has identified the following organisations and platforms that are driving innovation and growth.

Following our exhaustive application and judging process, we are proud to announce the winners in each category:

Judges' Choice

Award for Telco Innovation CM.com

Telco Innovation Mover & Shaker of the Year Silvio Kutic, CEO & Founder of Infobip (News - Alert)



Enterprise Telco Innovation

Enterprise Telco Innovation: CPaaS Provider of the Year Infobip CPaaS platform - Platinum Award Winner Route Mobile Limited - Gold Award Winner

Best RCS Provider Infobip RCS Business Messaging - Platinum Award Winner Kaleyra Cloud - Gold Award Winner

Best Steering of Roaming Solution Transaction Network Services Roamer Control - Platinum Award Winner Mobileum VoLTE Roaming - Gold Award Winner

Best Roaming Hub Comfone (News - Alert) Key2Roam Hub - Platinum Award Winner BICS Roaming Hub - Gold Award Winner

Best Carrier Billing Solution DOCOMO Digital - Platinum Award Winner Telenor Digital Direct Operator Billing - Gold Award Winner



Security & Fraud Innovation

Best SMS Firewall Anam Assure - Firewall, A2P Monetisation, A2P Security - Platinum Award Winner Route Mobile Limited - Gold Award Winner

Best Financial Clearing Solution Clear - Platinum Award Winner EVINA - Gold Award Winner

Best Signalling Firewall Solution Sinch Signalling Firewall - Platinum Award Winner Mobileum Signalling Firewall - Gold Award Winner

Best Mobile Identity Solution Eseye AnyNet IoT Connectivity - Platinum Award Winner Mastercard ID - Gold Award Winner



Operator & Network Innovation

Network Virtualisation Innovation of the Year PCCW Global (News - Alert) Console Connect - Platinum Award Winner DriveNets Network Cloud - Gold Award Winner

Best Operator 5G Solution Orange Start Walking 5G Pack - i>Platinum Award Winner Skyboxe Hub - Gold Award Winner

Best Cellular IoT Initiative TOMIA IoT Roaming Monetisation Platform - Platinum Award Winner Thales (News - Alert) IoT SAFE - Gold Award Winner

Best Network AI Innovation CUJO AI - Platinum Award Winner Ericsson Network Intelligence & Omni Network Channel - Gold Award Winner

Best Automotive Connectivity Solution Thales for Automotive - Platinum Award Winner









Matija Razem, Senior Vice President at Infobip, said: 'Infobip has long been evangelising and showcasing use cases that demonstrate the benefits of RCS for brands, mobile operators, and consumers. In today's hyper-connected marketplace, and as a part of the CPaaS paradigm, we believe RCS has earned its place in the communications mix. It makes us immensely proud to receive awards for best provider in both categories. We see it as proof that we are moving in the right direction and that our efforts have been recognised by industry players, as well as analysts. Many thanks to Juniper Research, and to our clients - who inspire us on a daily basis.'

Find out more about Infobip

TOMIA Wins Platinum Award for Best Cellular IoT Initiative

Andrei Elefant, TOMIA CPO, said: 'I am very proud that TOMIA is the Platinum Winner of the Juniper Research Future Digital Award for Best Cellular IoT initiative. With 5G roll-outs gaining momentum and exponential growth in IoT global deployments, the business environment for roaming managers is becoming significantly more complex. To meet this need, TOMIA has set a target to automate business processes in order to fully monetise opportunities resulting from 5G and IoT adoption. We are also placing special emphasis on meeting the evolving challenges of new technologies, such as Blockchain and BCE (News - Alert) , to meet industry needs. It is gratifying to see this recognition of our TOMIA platform vision.'

Find out more about Tomia's IoT Roaming Monetisation Platform

Evina Wins Best Financial Clearing Solution

David Lotfi, CEO at Evina, said: 'We are thrilled to receive the Telco Innovation, Best Financial Clearing Solution award by Juniper Research. For Evina, this recognition highlights the crucial role our cutting-edge technology plays in boosting our clients' business, by helping them get rid of fraud. It sends a clear message to all mobile market players: fraud is harming you, to an extent you probably do not even realise, but it is not fatal and fighting it can be a major lever to increase revenue. You just have to partner with the right experts.'

Find out more about Evina's Financial Clearing Solutions

DOCOMO Digital Wins Platinum Award for Best Carrier Billing Solution

Jonathan Kriegel, CEO, DOCOMO Digital, said: 'DOCOMO Digital is at the forefront of innovation in Direct Carrier Billing, with our leading-edge Payments-as-a-Service platform that includes robust fraud and risk management features. We are adding our voice to a growing chorus of support for wider adoption of Carrier Billing by global merchants, jointly publishing industry research with industry bodies like the GSMA. Juniper Research's recognition of our efforts as the Platinum Carrier Billing Provider this year, after the Gold category last year, is a strong testament to our commitment to serve as growth catalysts for our partners and customers.'

Find out more about DOCOMO Digital's Carrier Billing Solution

Route Mobile Wins Two Gold Awards

Rajdipkumar Gupta, Managing Director, and Group CEO, Route Mobile Limited, said: 'We are thrilled to win Gold in 2 categories of Juniper Research's Future Digital Awards for Technology & Innovation. This recognition is a testament of our market leadership in the CPaaS ecosystem. We will continue to focus on cutting-edge products and solutions, and on further strengthening our R&D to ensure innovative and disruptive communication solutions, to enable businesses to seamlessly connect with their customers.'

Find out more about Route Mobile's CPaaS Platform

Thales Wins Gold for Best Cellular IoT Initiative

Guillaume Lafaix, VP Mobile Connectivity Solutions at Thales, said: 'We are honoured to be awarded for Best Cellular IoT initiative. Given increased 5G roll-outs, billions of IoT devices in all industry sectors, such as healthcare and smart metering, need to securely send data to their cloud. Thales has implemented GSMA IoT SAFE specifications now available as a service, to provide a scalable and efficient security framework, built on field-proven, standardised SIM/eSIM technology. This approach eliminates integration and provisioning challenges for operators, compliancy issues for device makers and service providers.'

Find out more about Thales' Cellular IoT Initiative

For further details on the Future Digital Awards please visit the Future Digital Awards website, follow us on Twitter @FutureDigiAward, or contact info@juniperresearch.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210203005901/en/

Wrexham based Spanish sauce business signs major supermarket deal after 40% pandemic sales rise

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Feb 4th, 2021

A Spanish sauce business has signed a major supermarket deal and achieved a 40% rise in online sales during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Sabor de Amor, which is based in Wrexham, revealed Sainsburys will stock its Paella in a Bottle and Salsa Brava products at 70 of its stores from Monday February 15.

Director Dr Beatriz Albo said they are one of 10 producers nationwide to feature in the retailers Taste of the Future campaign and was proud of the progress made since launching the company in 2015.

She confirmed Covid-19 had impacted upon their traditional sales at food festivals and events, but a surge in orders via their website and independent outlets  including farm shops across Wales and England  had given them a much-needed boost.





Like most businesses we have been affected by the pandemic and had to adapt to new ways of working and a decline in revenue initially, said Beatriz.

But we have kept going and were determined to keep channels open with the leading suppliers and supermarkets interested in stocking our range of sauces before the Coronavirus struck.

We were already in discussions with Sainsburys and are delighted to get that deal done; its a proud moment for us, especially given we are one of just 10 producers in the country to be a part of this campaign, and the only one from North Wales.

With the support of son Albert, Beatriz secured a contract for Sabor de Amor to be on the shelves of Sainsburys stores in Greater London, Yorkshire, the Midlands and the South East.

She has built the range of salsas and sauces using family recipes to create incredible flavours, having arrived in North Wales from Salamanca, Spain, as a biology student in the early nineties.

Plans for a new food service were scuppered by the initial lockdown in March last year, but she persevered and has big plans for the coming months, including the relaunch of an old favourite.

A lot of people have been asking me to bring back the Sofrito slow roasted tomato sauce I produced years ago, so we will be doing that in the run up to summer, said Beatriz, winner of the BBCs Top of the Shops series Sauces category in 2018.

One of the positives we took from this challenging time is the feedback we have received from customers, especially those who bought our products because their holidays had been cancelled and they wanted to try and recreate that taste of the Mediterranean from home.

That meant a lot to me, so we are glad to be able to bring Sofrito back in addition to our other sauces, which have proven very popular in lockdown.

She added: All we can do is thank our loyal customers and work hard to make a success of this new supermarket campaign and the other ideas we have in mind for the year ahead, depending on restrictions around the pandemic.

If it goes well it could be rolled out to be even more stores, and then possibly nationwide, so we are hopeful and confident for the future.

Visit www.sabordeamor.com for more information and the latest news from Sabor de Amor.
Officials have identified David Lee Huber as the suspect in a shooting that killed two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in Sunrise, Florida on Tuesday.

The two FBI agents were killed while executing a search warrant in a child pornography case. Three other agents were also wounded.

The FBI confirmed that the shooting suspect was David Lee Huber. Authorities said it was Huber who engaged the FBI agents in a gun battle when they arrived at the 55-year-old suspect's apartment.

After the shootout, David Lee Huber allegedly killed himself. On Wednesday, the Broward Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that the suspect's body was already in the morgue.

The Water Terrace apartments, the complex where the shooting took place, was still collaborating with law enforcement officers as of Wednesday. Members of the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Broward Sheriff's Office; and Sunrise police were among those who immediately went to the complex to investigate the case.

Jorge Castillo, 76, said that nothing bad has ever happened in the five years they live in the apartment complex.

"To have somebody here the way this person was makes it very difficult, because you don't know who your neighbor is," Castillo said in a New York Times report.

Citing a source not authorized to comment publicly, USA Today reported that authorities are now looking at whether the suspect's apartment was rigged with cameras.

Catching the agents by surprise, authorities believed that David Lee Huber had spotted the approaching FBI agents and proceeded to release high-velocity bullets through the door.

Reports showed that David Lee Huber was a divorced father of two and worked as a systems engineer. He was also reportedly a pilot and a former mortgage broker.

Related story: Two FBI Agents in Florida Killed in Deadly Shootout Before Gunman Takes Own Life

Shootout at David Lee Huber's Apartment

The shootout happened at around 6 a.m. in a middle-class neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale near the Everglades.

Julius McLymont said the gunfire erupted with about four shots. McLymont lives near the Water Terrace apartment complex where the suspect barricaded himself.

The witness said he heard five more shots after two minutes and when he looked over his fence, police cars and an ambulance rushed in, according to a CBS Local report.

He also said that was when he saw officers working on someone lying on the ground before they loaded the person into an ambulance. A SWAT team was reported to appear next with officers wearing riot gears.

FBI Director Christopher Wray identified the two slain agents as Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger. They were both in the specialization of investigation of crimes against children. Wray said that Alfin and Schwartzenberger showed heroism in defense of their country.

"The FBI will always honor their ultimate sacrifice and will be forever grateful for their bravery," Wray said in a report.

Meanwhile, the FBI director added that the two hospitalized agents were in stable condition as of Tuesday. The third FBI agent was treated at the scene.

President Joe Biden has expressed his condolences to the slain agents, saying that his heart aches for the families of the departed.

"To put their lives on the line, it's a hell of a price to pay," Biden said in a report.

The loss of the two agents on Tuesday marked the deadliest day for the FBI since 2013, when two agents died during training exercises for the bureau's elite Hostage Rescue Team.

Read also: FBI Investigation of Capitol Riot Moves To a New Phase
A vial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and UK-based drugmaker AstraZeneca is checked as they arrive at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, England, on Jan. 2, 2021. (Gareth Fuller/Pool via AP)

UK Announces Worlds First Trial of Switching COVID-19 Vaccines Between Doses

The UK government has announced the worlds first clinical trial of switching between different COVID-19 vaccines for the first and second doses.

Scientists are hoping that the trialwhich wont yield initial results until the summerwill reveal how vaccines could be used more flexibly, potentially resolving logistical and supply challenges.

It is also even possible that by combining vaccines, the immune response could be enhanced giving even higher antibody levels that last longer; unless this is evaluated in a clinical trial we just wont know, said UK Deputy Chief Medical Officer professor Jonathan Van-Tam, who is also overseeing the study.

The government emphasised that the current UK vaccine rollout, in which patients take only one vaccineeither Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZenecafor both doses will not change.

Minister for COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Nadhim Zahawi said, Nothing will be approved for use more widely than the study, or as part of our vaccine deployment programme, until researchers and the regulator are absolutely confident the approach is safe and effective.

The study, involving an expected 800 people, will last 13 months, with initial findings planned to be released in the summer. It will look at various combinations of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines at doses either one month or three months apart.

With the exception of a handful of very small nations, the UK has vaccinated a higher percentage of its population than any other country.

However, vaccine rollout has coincided with the appearance of a more transmissible variant that sparked a second wave of the pandemic and brought with it the highest official COVID-19 death rates in the world.

That UK variant can still be tackled by current vaccines, according to research, although it is a little more resistant.

Another variant from South Africa is thought to be even more resistant to vaccines, although health officials stress that current vaccines still offer protection against it.

The emergence of community transmission cases of that South African variant in various places in England sparked the rollout of localised surge testing earlier this week.

Meanwhile, a spin-off mutation of the UK variant has emerged with the same potentially vaccine-hindering protein structure as the South African and Brazilian variants, according to English health officials.

Public Health England on Feb. 1 reported (pdf) that sample testing has revealed that a key mutation in the South African and Brazilian variants, called E484K, was found in a limited number of cases in England.

Out of a total sample of 214,159 cases, analysed on Jan. 26, only 11 were identified as the UK variant with the E484K change.

Despite the low numbers, scientists say that the development is concerning.

On Wednesday, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said that they aim to update their vaccine to address the different CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus variants by the autumn.

The UK has been a world-leader in genomic sequencing of the CCP virus, meaning that it may be picking up on changes occurring globally rather than revealing phenomena unique to the UK.

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A small business owner in the Shoals got the shock of her life when the Alabama Department of Labor said she owed them over $4,000.

Holland Jones owns Brow Revival and Microblading in Florence. She had to close her microblading and lash salon for about two months in 2020 because of the state's coronavirus mandate.

She filed for unemployment while she was forced to be closed, but she never imagined they'd ask for it all back and then some months later.

Jones said she got a letter in the mail threatening court action if she didn't pay the state money, because the letter claimed the state overpaid her on unemployment.

"When I saw that, I thought it might be a scam, so I went online and logged in and it said I owed like $4,200," said Jones.

But it wasn't a scam and Holland Jones was confused on how she possibly owed the Alabama Department of Labor that much money, because she didn't get that amount in unemployment.

"I was immediately stressed. I called my accountant to see what she would say about it. She was shocked and I wanted answers as soon as possible," said Jones.

So, Jones tried calling to get to the bottom of it.

"I emailed them twice with two different people that work there. I tried calling them multiple times. They wouldn't answer. It said their lines were busy and they would hang up. If you try and schedule an appointment, they say their appointments are full and I actually filed an appeal online, too, and they never got back to me," said Jones.

That's when WAAY 31 found out about Jones' issues and started emailing the Alabama Department of Labor to find out what was going on.

"She replied really quickly after you sent her that email. She replied to me within 5 minutes when I hadn't gotten a response in several days," said Jones.

The Department of Labor said this was a preliminary review that Jones owed money, but after a more extensive review, it turns out she didn't. Jones said she could have gone without the stress.

"It was just a stressful situation and turned out to be completely fine, but the fact that they sent that letter and then wouldn't respond to me stressed me out even more and then to finally get that answer after you messaged them was a relief," said Jones.

Jones said she heard from other people that this was happening, too. The Department of Labor said if someone truly does owe them money, they can start up a payment plan by clicking here. The state also said people can call 1-800-361-4524.
New Delhi warned Twitter to reimpose bans on accounts on its platform that were using a hashtag connected to the farmers' protest or face penalties under Indian law. The social media company complied with the order initially and suspended accounts including publications like The Caravan as well as those of politicians from other parties.

 Reuters

The order was made under Section 69A of the IT Act that allows the government to order companies like Twitter to block accounts in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India. The order targeted over 200 accounts that were using the hashtag #modiplanningfarmersgenocide. The farmers' protest garnered attention from celebrities from all over the world as farmers are protesting the new law which aims to promote greater private-sector competition.



 Reuters

However, soon after the ban on more than 200 accounts, Twitter was met with uproar from free speech advocates and reinstated the accounts 12 hours later. Critics viewed the measure to silence and attack critics of the new law as a measure to protect public safety. The government has now issued a fresh warning to the social media giant according to a spokesperson at the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology.



The restoration [of those accounts] is in violation of the judicial process, and Twitter is not following the law of the land, a spokesperson said to the Financial Times.

 joshua-hoehne-unsplash

A copy of the order was accessed by Techcrunch and it said, Twitter cannot assume the role of a court and justify non-compliance. Twitter being an intermediary is obliged to obey the directions as per satisfaction of authorities as to which inflammatory content will arouse passion and impact public order. Twitter cannot sit as an appellate authority over the satisfaction of the authorities about its potential impact on derailing public order.



Theres a good chance that Twitter may get banned in India if the company fails to comply with the Indian governments order. The government expressed concern over derogatory and factually incorrect tweets and hashtags" that have been circulating in the country this week. The order also said that these tweets and hashtags were "designed to spread hate.

Source: Financial Times, Techcrunch
Classes in the Wilkes County Schools will start on Aug. 23 and end on May 25 in 2021-22 as a result of a calendar approved by the Wilkes Board of Education on Feb. 1.
by Stefano Caprio

He dedicated his life to the rebirth of the Church in Russia. He has lived in the country for 30 years. As a young man, after an encounter with the Student Youth movement, he entered Jacques Loew's Workers' Mission. Ecumenical friendship with the Orthodox priest, Fr. Aleksandr Men. He believed that contemporary mission must "return to the Lords washing of the apostles feet.

Rome (AsiaNews) - Deacon Antonio Santi, a member of the Workers' Mission of Saints Peter and Paul (MOPP) who dedicated his life to the rebirth of the Church in Russia, returned to the Fathers house yesterday.

He had remained in Russia for the past 30 years. He was the first director of Caritas Russia, which was inspired by the apostolic nuncio Msgr. Colasuonno in 1990. The leadership was entrusted to Santi the following year and he went on to direct it for almost 20 years. Even after his service to Caritas, Antonio remained in Russia to participate in the life of the local Church, bringing the charisma of his missionary community of committed priests and deacons to the heart of the social fabric.

MOPP was founded in 1965 by the Dominican father Jacques Loew, who died in 1999, a French theologian who in the years of the Second Vatican Council was among the first to propose the experiment of "worker-priests", presbyters and deacons involved in the world of work alongside the workers and the needy.

In those years a young Antonio Santi in those was exploring the beginnings of Fr Luigi Giussani's Student Youth Movement. Antonio asked Giussani where he could consecrate himself in a vocational form that was not enclosed within the walls of monasteries or parishes. The founder of Communion and Liberation had not yet blessed the opening of specific vocations of the movement, such as the Memores Domini or priestly fraternities that would later form, so he suggested Santi apply to the intuitions of two great friends: The St John community of the theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar, or the mission of Father Jacques Loew, which Antonio ultimately decided to join.

Jacques Loew was one of the few Catholic missionaries who, since the end of the 1960s, tried to find glimpses in the impenetrable Soviet Union, as did the Little Sisters of Charles de Foucauld. These discreet attempts bore abundant fruit, especially thanks to his friendship with one of the great "spiritual fathers" of dissent, the Orthodox priest Aleksandr Men, capable of opening channels for ecumenical dialogue even under the all-powerful Communist Brezhnevian dictatorship.

When Antonio Santi managed to arrive in Moscow, thanks to the support of the Italian embassy, he found many friends and many collaborators for his missionary works. He took on the responsibility of Caritas when caravans of humanitarian aid poured into Russia, to make up for the serious shortcomings due to the failure of Gorbachev's policies. The humanitarian wagons were frowned upon by the local Orthodox, who suspected attempts at proselytism on the part of Catholics, and Santi had to govern this flow with great courage, often with prophetic intuition which were nonetheless accompanied by unsuccessful attempts.

All the other Catholic structures were organized around Caritas. Parishes also depended heavily on the generosity of foreign benefactors. Antonio stood out for his direct and industrious character, and those who knew him saw the great passion with which he engaged in new initiatives and even rather daring adventures, always seeking the good of the Church and desiring the effective encounter between the various communities and religious denominations.

Antonio believed the ecclesial community is like a wood, where each tree has its root and each must take root autonomously in God and grow with Him, that each community is always in constant evolution, and cannot remain still, to avoid monotony.

In 2008 - the year of the centenary of Jacques Loew's birth - he wrote MOPP's "Blue Letter", the Mission's annual editorial, despite being the only representative of the fraternity in Russia. Aware of the "crucial moment" in the life of the Church and of society, Santi proposed a return to the washing of the feet by the Lord to the apostles, "when the Master arrives at the end of his mission and when he invites us to go with him to the end of ours, praising God for the grace of proclaiming the Gospel together in weakness and dispersion. Antonio was not an easy man, but he knew that "the struggle is never ending, and our strength is in the One who has already won, Jesus Christ", a strength that this deacon and friend knew how to transmit to all those he encountered.
Abdulwasiu Musa, the husband of a woman who poisoned her 3-year-old son has told Vanguard how envy led to his wife's action.

Unfortunately, the action cost the little child his life.

Before the unfortunate incident, the family was living harmoniously as Mariam, who is a senior wife, hails from Benin in Edo State to participate in the younger wife's graduation ceremony after completing her apprenticeship in hairdressing.

On the said day, Mariam, her younger wife and their husband were all in their respective rooms when she decided to take laws into her hand and feed her step-son with herbicide.

According to her husband, four of us were at home when the incident happened.

Speaking to Vanguard, Musa said: "Roqeeb came into the room and told me his stepmother, Mariam gave him drinks to take but I never suspected any foul play until later when the boy fell sick.

"Having seen the suffering the little boy was subjected to; she called me and confessed that the drink she gave him was poisonous as it contained herbicides.

"I never thought she could do that, she is based in Benin, Edo State where she was doing her business and she came all the way from there to participate in her younger wife's graduation ceremony.

"She always plays with the boy so, there was no way one could have suspected she could poison him until she confessed to it.

"I don't think I treated her differently, she is not based here in Ede, but she has her own room in the house; and I also discharge my responsibility to her whenever she is around. I did not abandon her, she is even pregnant."

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I was jealous - Suspect

During an interview with journalists, while she was being paraded by the police, Mariam said she was pushed to the act by her hot temperament and the way her husband treated her.

The 24-year-old pregnant woman said her husband abandoned her for another woman after she lost her first child. Mariam added that her husband even stopped caring for her; hence, she became very jealous.

"Jealousy and bad temperament led me to commit the evil act. My husband's attitude towards me in the house, his preference of the male child, that the second wife had for him, over others and the love that my husband had shown the second wife, led me to the act.

"The boy did not offend me; something just came over me when he came into my room. I drew him closer and gave him the drink, already mixed with herbicide. It was while they took him to the hospital that I felt bad and told my husband what happened.

"I am also pleading for mercy. I seek everybody's forgiveness. It was a mistake and I promise that such won't repeat itself," she said.
A woman reads a leaflet at a job fair in the Helan County of Yinchuan City, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Xinhua/Peng Zhaozhi]

BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua)  The All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) on Tuesday said that it will help women secure more jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in digital industries and the e-commerce sector, among other areas of the modern industrial system, in 2021.

Women's federations across the country will step up their financial support of women entrepreneurs and launch more training sessions and entrepreneurship competitions amid efforts to empower women, the ACWF said at its executive committee meeting.

They will work with internet platforms to create flexible jobs for women and will help women, particularly young college graduates, to find jobs in the modern services, advanced manufacturing, digital and e-commerce sectors, said the ACWF.

The ACWF encourages women scientists and engineers to play an active role in scientific research and development.

(Source: Xinhua)
Legislature may ban hand-held phones while driving

RALEIGH  State lawmakers are trying again to eliminate the use of hand-held cellphones by operators of motor vehicles.





A bipartisan group of legislators recently introduced Senate Bill 20, Hands Free NC, in hopes it will go into effect July 1 if passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper.



The bill would allow the use of cell phones by adults as long as no part of their bodies  including their laps  are required to hold a phone. In effect, it encourages people to route phone calls through their car speakers, a feature of most modern vehicles, or to use devices that attach phones to their bodies.



The legislation would ban teenagers from all wireless communication use while driving, other than navigation systems in which the address is inputted while the vehicle is not in motion. Thats not an uncommon sentiment. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that 36 states and Washington, D.C., have laws on the books prohibiting cell-phone use by teens.



The NCSL said that of 220 million wireless subscribers in the U.S., 80% of them use their cell phones while driving. A sobering statistic from the NCSL: during daylight hours an estimated 800,000 vehicles are being operated by someone currently using a cell phone.



SB20 exempts law enforcement officers, firefighters, ambulance drivers, and other medical personnel, and it allows people to make emergency calls. School bus drivers face stiffer penalties  while most people found guilty of the offense would face fines of $100 to $200, a school bus driver who violated the law could be charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor. That charge could result in up to 60 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.



North Carolina banned texting while driving in 2009, one of 48 states with such a law on the books. Half of the states also have implemented bans on hand-held cell phone usage.



The 2021 attempt is a slimmed-down version of a bill that failed in 2019. House Bill 144 was approved 91-24, but stalled in a Senate committee after an attempted broadening of the language to include eating while driving or applying makeup. The bill also faced robust discussion on whether the bill represented overreach.
MINSK -- Viktar Babaryka, a former Belarusian banker whose bid to challenge Alyaksandr Lukashenka in last years disputed presidential election was halted by his arrest, is due to go on trial on February 17.



The announcement on Babarykas Telegram channel on February 4 came shortly after a preliminary hearing at a district court in Minsk earlier in the day at which Babaryka was not present.



Several co-defendants were in court, including six men, who made deals with investigators in hopes of facing lesser charges.



The court case is due to be heard by the Belarusian Supreme Court, a move that was criticized last week by Babarykas lawyer, Dzmitry Layeuski, who said that would deny them any chance of appeal in the event of a guilty verdict.



Not long after he announced his intention to run for president, Babaryka, a former senior manager at the Russian-owned Belgazprombank, was arrested in June along with his son, Eduard, on charges of money laundering, bribery, and tax evasion.



Three days before their arrest, Belarusian authorities took control of the bank and detained more than a dozen top executives on charges of tax evasion and money laundering.



All of the accused reject the charges as politically motivated.



Lukashenka was declared the victor of the August 9 election, triggering protests by tens of thousands of Belarusians who say the vote was rigged.

Protests have continued since then to demand the resignation of Lukashenka, who has been in power since 1994.



Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands and pushing most top opposition figures out of the country.



Several protesters have been killed in the violence and several rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used against some of those detained.



Lukashenka denies voter fraud and has refused to negotiate with the opposition led by Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya who supporters say actually won the August election.



The European Union, the United States, Canada, and other countries have refused to recognize Lukashenka, 66, as the legitimate leader of Belarus and have slapped him and senior Belarusian officials with sanctions in response to the "falsification" of the vote and the postelection crackdown.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Belarus Service

SAN FRANCISCO and MUMBAI, India, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vested Finance, a Silicon Valley-based online investment platform that enables Indian investors to invest in the U.S. stock market, today announced it has raised a $3.6 million seed funding round with participation from Moving Capital, Ovo Fund and TenOneTen Ventures in the U.S., and Inflection Point Ventures and Venture Catalysts in India. The company will use the new funds to accelerate product development and hire talent across the U.S. and India.

Vested is on a mission to enable sustainable wealth creation by allowing local investors to invest globally. Founded two years ago, the company saw rapid growth in 2020. Money deposited into Vested accounts grew 26x over the last twelve months, along with a 5x increase in U.S. brokerage accounts opened through the platform. Vested processed more than $100 million in trades in 2020, and more than half of the investors using the Vested platform are investing in the U.S. market for the first time ever.

"Individuals in India have been contributing to the top and bottom line of international companies for decades, but have never had the chance to create wealth by investing in them," said Viram Shah, CEO and co-founder, Vested Finance. "Our goal is to build the easiest U.S. investing platform for Indian investors, and our growth to date has proven that interest in the opportunity is strong and increasing. Our focus following this seed round is on accelerating product development to create a seamless and cost-effective end-to-end U.S. investing experience."

Vested's zero-commission online platform requires no minimum balance and allows investors to invest in U.S. stocks in minutes. Investors can choose individual stocks or ETFs, or select from a variety of "Vests," Vested's curated portfolios constructed with various goals, themes, and risk levels in mind.

"The United States is a global center of innovation, and people around the world can benefit from investing in the U.S. markets," said Gil Elbaz, partner, TenOneTen Ventures. "Vested is bringing this cross-border investment opportunity to India and beyond, allowing local investors to diversify globally by spreading out their risk, and we're excited about the possibilities Vested will bring to individuals in India, Southeast Asia and around the globe."

To facilitate Indian investors to invest in U.S. markets, Vested has partnered with more than 25 brokers, fintech, and wealth management firms in India, including Axis Securities, Kuvera, Angel Broking and 5Paisa. Vested has also partnered with global digital trading technology platform DriveWealth to power its offerings.

"By enabling local investors to invest in international markets, Vested Finance has taken the idea of sustainable wealth creation a step further," said Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, co-founder and president, Venture Catalysts. "We see a lot of potential for disruption in its unique value proposition and are confident that the team at Vested Finance will continue to grow and scale, as it makes wealth creation simpler and more accessible to more investors across the globe."

Vested is a recent graduate of the 2020 Techstars & Western Union accelerator in Denver, where the 2020 program thesis focused on access to better financial tools and services that will create a more equitable and inclusive financial system.

About Vested Finance

Vested Finance is a California-headquartered U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) that provides an online investment platform that enables Indian investors to invest in the U.S. stock market. The company's mission is to enable sustainable wealth creation by allowing local investors to go global. By partnering with DriveWealth, local banks, and other fintech companies, Vested is substantially lowering barriers to international investing. The company has offices in Silicon Valley and Mumbai, India. For more information, please visit Vested.co.in.

Contact: Allison Champion, [email protected]

SOURCE Vested Finance

Related Links

https://vested.co.in/


Tampere  The actual trial of Gibril Massaquoi, a Sierra Leonean former rebel commander who is accused of committing war crimes in Liberia, began on Wednesday in the Finnish city of Tampere.

Massaquoi, 51, entered the Pirkanmaa District Court shortly after 10 am local time, wearing a gray pinstripe suit and a face mask. The session commenced with an official reading of the charges leveled against him by State Prosecutor Tom Laitinen.

A former commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), his charges include war crimes and crimes against humanity between 1999 and 2003. He is accused of committing and commanding the murder and rape of civilians. Among the murder charges is the killing of dozens of civilians and raping of seven women in the village of Kamatahun, Lofa County. The charges also include several allegations of cannibalism.

As the charges were being read, Massaquoi's attention was fixed on his court-assigned translator sitting next to him. A translator is tasked with interpreting the Finnish proceedings in English to him throughout the trial.

Massaquoi's defense team denies the charges. "The defense is based on written evidence," said Kaarle Gummerus, his lead lawyer, in a brief response . Speaking to Finnish reporters outside the courtroom, Gummerus repeated the defense's argument that Massaquoi was not present in Liberia during the time that the crimes allegedly took place.
Dundalk insurance brokers Keystone have been fined over 40,000 for overcharging customers.

The Central Bank of Ireland has fined Dundalk-based insurance broker Keystone Insurance Limited 41,385 for overcharging customers and providing unclear information on fees.

It was reported the Central Bank found that over five years, at least 62 customers were over

charged a collective total of 9,964.36.

Keystone has since reimbursed the customers.

The Central Bank also concluded that 190 of 265 customer invoices reviewed failed to bring fees to the attention of clients, resulting in them not being fully aware of what they were being charged.

Keystone Insurance Limited was fined for six breaches of the Consumer Protection Code 2012 between April 2012 and December 2017.

Keystone, a retail intermediary that operates in the commercial insurance market, has admitted to all six breaches of the Code.

The Central Banks Director of Enforcement and Anti-Money Laundering Seana Cunningham said: The purchase of everyday financial products by consumers can be a complex and daunting process.

Many consumers rely on professionals, in this case an insurance intermediary, to assist them.

Insurance intermediaries are required to recommend the most suitable product(s) to meet their customers needs and to always act in their best interests.

In this case, as a result of not having the adequate processes, systems and controls, Keystone overcharged 62 customers and 190 of their customers were sent unclear communications on what fees they were being charged.

Mr Cunningham added: During the investigation, Keystone provided the Central Bank with incomplete and unclear responses to requests for information which led to delays.

We considered this to be an aggravating factor.

A fine of 59,121 was determined appropriate by the Bank, which was reduced by 30% to 41,385 through a settlement discount scheme.

The Democrat contacted Keystone Insurance for a comment, but the company did not respond.
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 4 : The Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI) charge- sheeted nine police officials, including two women, in an Ernakulam court on Thursday in a custodial death case reported in Nedumkandam in Kerala in 2019.

In its charge sheet submitted in the Chief Judicial Magistrate court, then Sub-Inspector of Nedumkandam police station, KA Sabu, has been made the first accused. ASI Sibi and policemen Rejimon, Niiyas, Sajeev Antony, and Jithin K George and Home Guard KM James are the co-accused.

In June 2019, Rajkumar of Nedumkandam was taken arrested in cases related to a ponzi scheme and allegedly tortured for four days before he was lodged in Nedumkandam sub-jail. He was admitted to a hospital where he breathed his last.

Woman Head Constable Geethu Gopinath and Constable Biju Lukose are also named in the charge sheet that accused Geethu of subjecting a woman employee of a chit fund company, arrested along with Rajkumar, to brutal torture.

The CBI said that the accused police officials had foisted false charges on Rajkumar. The agency had also questioned senior police officers, including then Idukki SP KB Venugopal and Kattapana DSP Shams, jail employees, including warders on duty on that day, doctors who had examined Rajkumar and doctors who conducted the post-mortem.

The CBI took over the case in January 2020.
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A federal high court in Abuja has ordered the arrest of Richard Laing, the managing director of ExxonMobil.

The court ordered the arrest after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, argued that Mr Laing had refused to appear over an investigation into an alleged fraudulent pipeline project concerning his company.

The EFCC said the investigation related to the alleged fraudulent creation of procurement orders worth more than $213 million as part of a pipelines project.

The January 29 warrant, granted by Justice Okon Abang, compels Mr Laing to appear before anti-graft investigators.

The EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, was quoted by Reuters as saying that the investigation is into the company, and not Mr Laing personally.

EFCC invited them in the course of the investigation but they have refused to honour the invitation, that is why we went to court to compel his appearance for investigation, Mr Uwujaren said.
Treatments using antibodies of pandemic survivors bolstered by federal grant

HACKENSACK, N.J., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers and clinical experts at Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey's largest and most comprehensive health network, were awarded Department of Defense funds to continue their work into convalescent plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Hackensack Meridian Health

The approximately $5.5 million will allow the researchers at Hackensack Meridian John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, and their colleagues at the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) to continue phase 2 testing of the clinical treatments.

The goal of this outpatient work is to treat infected patients in the first 96 hours of symptoms with the antibodies found in plasma collected from COVID-19 survivors  with the aim to prevent hospitalization.

"We are trying to save lives," said Michele Donato, M.D., FACP, CPE, chief of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, and who is leading the study. "We believe we have done so  and the Department of Defense grant allows us to move the work forward to that end."

The convalescent plasma program at Hackensack University Medical Center identifies "super donors"  those with the highest levels of neutralizing antibodies  through methodology developed by experts from the CDI. The new funding will support a study of early outpatient treatment with high-titer convalescent plasma for patients with at least one risk factor for severe disease.

Experts believe getting to these patients within the first four days of infection may make a significant difference in outcomes.

Convalescent plasma treatments have previously been used to fight other viral outbreaks, including those of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), caused by a virus that's a cousin to the one responsible for COVID-19, and which sickened thousands in 2002-2003.

Story continues

What separates the Hackensack trial from most convalescent plasma trials across the nation is the use of plasma donors with higher levels of neutralizing antibodies.

The program in Hackensack was profiled early in the pandemic by major media outlets, including the TV newsmagazine 60 Minutes and The New York Times.

"The Department of Defense funds will further our efforts to establish the necessary standards for this to be used as successful therapy," said David S. Perlin, Ph.D., the chief scientific officer and senior vice president of the CDI.

"Our researchers are always finding ways to accomplish their mission: to save and better lives," said Ihor Sawczuk, M.D., FACS, president of Hackensack Meridian Health's Northern Market, and the chief research officer of the network. "The federal grant in this case acknowledges their work and its promise."

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 17 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers  Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children's hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals  Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin; a behavioral health hospital  Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead; and two rehabilitation hospitals - JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has more than 36,000 team members, and over 7,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network's notable distinctions include having four hospitals among the top in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and being named to Becker's Healthcare's "150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare/2019" list.

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine opened in 2018, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its third class of students in 2020 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.

Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.

About the Center for Discovery and Innovation

The Center for Discovery and Innovation, a newly established member of Hackensack Meridian Health, seeks to translate current innovations in science to improve clinical outcomes for patients with cancer, infectious diseases and other life-threatening and disabling conditions. The CDI, housed in a fully renovated state-of-the-art facility, offers world-class researchers a support infrastructure and culture of discovery that promotes science innovation and rapid translation to the clinic.

About John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center

John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center is New Jersey's largest and most comprehensive center dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, management, research, screenings, and preventive care as well as survivorship of patients with all types of cancers. The 14 specialized divisions covering the complete spectrum of cancer care have developed a close-knit team of medical, research, nursing, and support staff with specialized expertise that translates into more advanced, focused care for all patients. Each year, more people in the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area turn to John Theurer Cancer Center for cancer care than to any other facility in New Jersey. John Theurer Cancer Center is a member of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Consortium, one of just 16 NCI-approved cancer research consortia based at the nation's most prestigious institutions. Housed within a 775-bed not-for-profit teaching, tertiary care, and research hospital, John Theurer Cancer Center provides state-of-the-art technological advances, compassionate care, research innovations, medical expertise, and a full range of aftercare services that distinguish John Theurer Cancer Center from other facilities. For additional information, please visit www.jtcancercenter.org.

Cision

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SOURCE Hackensack Meridian Health
OTTAWA - As Mounties move forward to outfit officers with body-worn cameras, the parliamentary budget officer estimates it will cost $131 million over five years.

A Phoenix Police Department officer reaches for a new Axon Body 2 body camera as another precinct gets their cameras assigned to them Wednesday, July 3, 2019, in Phoenix. Outfitting RCMP officers with body-worn cameras at 700 detachments will cost an estimated $131 million over five years.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Ross D. Franklin

OTTAWA - As Mounties move forward to outfit officers with body-worn cameras, the parliamentary budget officer estimates it will cost $131 million over five years.

A costing note Thursday said the RCMP is expected to purchase 12,500 camera subscriptions for use across the country at 700 detachments.

There were calls for officers to wear the technology during global demonstrations last year demanding more police accountability.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau voiced his support for body cameras in June when the RCMP was facing criticism for a video from a bystander showing an officer in Nunavut using a truck door to knock a man over. An investigation by the Ottawa Police Service determined the arrest was lawful.

There was also backlash at the time after a separate video showed Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam in a physical confrontation with RCMP officers in Fort McMurray, Alta.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki agreed to outfit officers with cameras soon after.

The government's 2020 fall economic statement announced $238.5 million over six years to support the camera program.

It is expected to start in May and is to have a phased national rollout. The price tag for the camera and digital evidence management system was based on data from the Toronto Police Service.

The costing note said expenses could be higher in rural and remote detachments.

Some experts have said there isn't enough evidence that the cameras result in improved policing. Studies in Canada and around the world have shown inconsistent results that cameras reduce violence.

An aggregate report in the Criminology and Public Policy journal published in 2019 looked at 70 other studies into body-worn cameras and found the technology had statistically insignificant effects on police and citizen behaviour.

Many police forces began pilot projects since 2010, but most abandoned them. They cited costs for the devices and to store the data. Calgary is the only large Canadian police force to have adopted the technology for front-line officers.

A body camera pilot project began last year for RCMP officers serving in Iqaluit. The goal of the project is to evaluate best practices with existing technology in remote regions and to get feedback from the community.

The union representing Mounties said earlier this month that officers have concerns about an increased workload associated with large amounts of video footage and about issues around privacy.

The National Police Federation said it supports cameras as a way to improve transparency.

"We believe that body-worn cameras will contribute to a greater level of context, transparency and accountability for both police and citizens," Brian Sauve, the union's president, said in a news release.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2021.

 By Kelly Geraldine Malone in Winnipeg

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Australia Post has revealed its workers are 'not obligated' to deliver parcels to receivers' doorsteps if a driveway is considered too long - and that's not the only factor that can delay your mail.

A Tasmanian mum said her elderly mother was 'having issues' with parcels not being delivered to her door in a question to Australia Post's Facebook page on Monday.

'Every other parcel she orders is delivered to [her] door but once every three months one never is,' the mother wrote.

Australia Post has revealed its workers are 'not obligated' to deliver parcels to the doorstep if a driveway is considered too long. Pictured: An Australia Post delivery van

'When we called and asked why - they (Australia Post) stated that the drive way is too long,' she continued.

'I would like to know at exactly how long is a driveway considered "too long"?'

Australia Post replied on Facebook: 'It's more or less about the length of the driveway but (also) about what the address is listed as within our database.

'Some addresses are noted as roadside delivery, which means drivers will attempt delivery to the letterbox, but if it does not fit here, they are not obligated to deliver it to the door.'

A Tasmanian mum said her elderly mother was 'having issues' with parcels not being delivered to her door in a question to Australia Post's Facebook page on Monday

The Australia Post website explains there are two types of delivery - 'roadside delivery' in medium to low population-density areas and 'street delivery' in higher-density zones.

An Australia Post spokesman clarified the Facebook post, saying mail zones ultimately determine if a parcel is delivered to the door - although driveway length may play a factor.

'Mail delivery arrangements vary depending on the size and needs of each community and Australia Post may be limited in our ability to deliver to a property due to safety concerns, actual location and the cost of providing the service,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'Mail zoning must also consider the local street delivery contract, and the addresses and distances that the contract covers.'

Addresses zoned as 'street delivery' should be getting delivery attempts to the door for items requiring a signature, assuming there are no access issues.

An Australia Post delivery rider. An Australia Post spokeswoman said some addresses are listed as roadside delivery, which means drivers will attempt delivery to the letterbox, but if it does not fit here, they are not obligated to deliver it to the door

But in medium to low population-density areas, letterboxes may be at the end of an unsealed road or grouped on a main road - and if the parcel doesn't fit, they don't have to take it to your door.

'These areas are serviced by "roadside delivery", which typically doesnt include service to the door,' Australia Post rules state.

'Letters and parcels will usually be delivered into your letterbox if they fit and dont require a signature for delivery, otherwise we will leave a card with collection details.'

Roadside delivery customers are encouraged to have a large and secure letterbox for parcels that do not require signatures.

Customers who want to update their delivery arrangements may submit a written request to their local delivery manager, who will determine if a change is viable.

Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) today launched a membership-driven initiative to confront racism by achieving health equity.

Twenty-three of the nation's largest Catholic health care systems have already pledged their commitment to confronting systemic racism by prioritizing equity in response to COVID-19; enacting change across their own health care systems by examining and changing hiring, promotion and retention practices to ensure diversity and inclusion; forming stronger partnerships with communities of color to improve health outcomes; and leveraging their united and powerful voice to advocate for policy changes that address the root causes of racism and social injustice.

"COVID-19's greater impact on communities of color and the police killings of George Floyd and others demonstrate the urgent need to address the devastating impact racism has on the health and well-being of individuals and communities," said Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, CHA president and CEO. "We in the Catholic health ministry, responding to the Gospel mandate for justice, are called to renew our commitment to eliminate the racial inequities in our communities and to acknowledge and confront our own shortcomings so that we can become agents of healing and positive change."

Collectively, the Catholic health organizations who have signed the Catholic Health Association of the United States' (CHA) Confronting Racism by Achieving Health Equity pledge employ nearly a half million people across 46 states and the District of Columbia and care for almost four million patients annually (see list below).

Recognizing that racism is an affront to the core values of Catholic social teaching, the CHA board of trustees developed the pledge and asked CHA members to join in solidarity to promote the common good and seek justice by being actively anti-racist and accountable in effecting positive change in the communities we serve.

Four focus areas

Act for COVID-19 equity: Members commit to ensuring that testing for COVID-19 is available and accessible in minority communities and that new treatments are distributed and used equitably as they become available. Members will also work for prioritization of vaccinations for those individuals and families at higher risk  especially elder populations and communities of color, including indigenous communities. For example, CommonSpirit Health is partnering with the Morehouse School of Medicine to develop and train more culturally competent providers. The 10-year, $100 million initiative will enable the Morehouse School of Medicine to expand opportunities for Black and other underrepresented physicians and will help improve COVID-19 testing, care delivery, and vaccine allocation directed toward the most vulnerable populations.

"We believe that everyone has the right to be healthy," said Lloyd H. Dean, president and CEO of CommonSpirit Health. "Health equity is impacted by factors inside and outside of our facilities  from access to housing, food and transportation to culturally competent clinicians who have common lived experience. It's time for us to come together to solve these problems proactively and holistically."

Enact change across our own health systems: Members are examining how their organizations recruit, hire, promote and retain employees; how they conduct business operations, including visible diversity and inclusivity at the decision, leadership and governance levels; and how they incentivize and hold our leaders accountable. Examples include Hospital Sisters Health System's creation of a diversity council and CHRISTUS Health's formation of a minority executive fellowship program.

"Catholic health care providers have long been a beacon of hope for our communities," said Ernie Sadau, president and CEO of CHRISTUS Health. "Yet again, we are called to lead by example, to take an active role in health equity within the walls of our health care ministries. We understand that equity is not just something we do 'out there.' It starts 'in here.' That's why, at CHRISTUS, health equity has been one of the key focuses of our organization since our founding and a vital part of our strategic plan for many years, as we work with our communities to lead the way on racial justice. This is why we are participating in CHA's Health Equity pledge, and I'm proud to be part of a health ministry that is working so hard to achieve health equity and confront racial injustice."

Advocate for improved health outcomes for minority communities and populations: Members agree to promote and improve the delivery of culturally competent care and oppose policies that exacerbate or perpetuate economic and social inequities, including such issues as education, housing and criminal justice reform. For example, Trinity New England is enhancing local early education and care sites through nutrition and physical activity programs, and pushing for policies for improved school nutrition, complete streets infrastructure, and tobacco use prevention.

"As a Catholic health ministry with a mission rooted in love, respect, justice and compassion, we are called to act and speak in a manner reflecting our reverence for the dignity and diversity of life," said Joseph R. Impicciche, JD, MHA, president and CEO of Ascension. "This sacred calling and responsibility also demand that we advocate for the marginalized and condemn all forms of racism, discrimination and injustice as we work together to ensure all individuals are treated justly and respectfully, with equal access to opportunities and resources."

Strengthen trust with minority communities: Members will continue to foster, strengthen and sustain authentic relationships based on mutually agreed goals to better understand the unique needs of their communities. Examples include Ascension's creation of a dedicated emergency department to serve higher risk obstetrics patients in Milwaukee and multiple systems' work with Catholic Charities USA on its Healthy Housing Initiative (HHI), which aims to support and reduce the chronically homeless population.

Catholic health care leaders who have signed the pledge recognize that collectively they are in a unique position to bring about overdue change to policies and practices that have allowed systemic racism and health disparities to continue in the United States. To hold itself and its members accountable, CHA intends to provide updates on the commitment progress annually and will focus on diversity, equity and inclusion during its annual member meeting, taking place June 13-14, 2021.

Sr. Haddad, Mr. Dean, and Mr. Sadau joined Dr. Duperval-Brownlee, senior vice president and chief community impact officer at Ascension, in announcing the pledge commitment during a Feb. 4, 2021 media briefing, which can be viewed here. To learn more about this initiative visit https://www.chausa.org/cha-we-are-called/.

The 23 Catholic health care organizations that have signed the pledge are:

Ascension

Avera Health

Benedictine

Bon Secours Mercy Health

CHRISTUS Health

CommonSpirit Health

Covenant Health

Elizabeth Seton Children's

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, Inc.

Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Sponsored Ministries, Inc.

Holy Redeemer Health System

Hospital Sisters Health System

Mercy

Mercy Health Services, Inc.

MercyOne

Peace Care St. Ann's

PeaceHealth

Providence St. Joseph Health

SCL Health

Sisters of Charity Health System

SMP Health System

SSM Health

Trinity Health

The Catholic Health Association of the United States is the national leadership organization of the Catholic health ministry, representing the largest nonprofit provider of health care services in the nation.

1 in 7 patients in the U.S. is cared for in a Catholic hospital each day.

Catholic health care, which includes more than 2,200 hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, systems, sponsors, and related organizations, serves the full continuum of health care across our nation.

Contact: Brian Reardon

[email protected]

SOURCE Catholic Health Association
Geneva, Feb 4 : The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that air travel demand suffered the biggest drop in the history of aviation in 2020 and warned of severe downside risks in 2021 if travel restrictions due to new Covid-19 variants persist.

The IATA's global passenger traffic results for 2020 issued on Wednesday revealed that demand (in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) fell by 65.9 per cent compared to the full year of 2019, reports Xinhua news agency.

It was "by far the sharpest traffic decline in aviation history", the association said in a statement.

"Furthermore, forward bookings have been falling sharply since late December," the IATA warned.

International passenger demand in 2020 was 75.6 per cent below 2019 levels.

Domestic demand in 2020 also took a hit and was down 48.8 per cent compared to 2019, according to the Geneva-based association.

"Last year was a catastrophe," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's director general and chief executive officer (CEO). "There is no other way to describe it." "What recovery there was over the northern hemisphere summer season stalled in autumn and the situation turned dramatically worse over the year-end holiday season, as more severe travel restrictions were imposed in the face of new outbreaks and new strains of Covid-19," he said.

Bookings made in January 2021 were down 70 per cent compared to a year ago, the IATA noted, putting further pressure on airlines' cash positions and potentially impacting the timing of the expected recovery.

The IATA said that its baseline forecast for 2021 is for a 50.4 per cent improvement on 2020 demand that would bring the industry to 50.6 per cent of 2019 levels.

"While this view remains unchanged, there is a severe downside risk if more severe travel restrictions in response to new variants persist," it said.

"Should such a scenario materialise, demand improvement could be limited to just 13 per cent over 2020 levels, leaving the industry at 38 per cent of 2019 levels."
The Bangladesh government has started shipping Rohingya refugees to the isolated and unsafe Bhasan Char island, 34 kilometres from the mainland. At the same time, as the result of an intervention by China, Dhaka is again also seeking to send Rohingyas back to Myanmar, from where they fled the regimes genocidal violence.

There are over one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Prime Minister Sheik Hasinas government considers them a burden to the country, and has branded them a security threat. They are treated inhumanly, condemned to live under miserable conditions.

Hamida, 22, (center) and her son Mohammed, aged one, wait to receive food aid along with hundreds of other Rohingya refugees, at Kutupalong Refugee Camp, in Bangladesh.  UNHCR/Andrew McConnell

They are currently housed in 34 squalid refugee camps in Coxs Bazar, Ukhiya and Teknaf Upazilas, about 350 kilometres from Dhaka. These encampmentsthe most densely overcrowded refugee camps in the worldhave no adequate water supply, sanitation and sewage facilities, constantly threatening the asylum seekers with the spread of various diseases.

The government plans to move some 100,000 refugees to Bhasan Char, an unstable, cyclone-prone island formed by the accumulation of silt where the River Meghna enters the Bay of Bengal. Prior to 2006, the mud island did not exist.

Hasinas government was forced to halt a previous attempt to relocate Rohingyas to Bhasan Char because of domestic and international criticism. About 300 asylum seekers were sent to the island last May after they tried to escape to Malaysia on a boat.

Dhaka has rejected those criticisms, now insisting the island is safe enough and began the new relocation in early December. Human rights activists told the media the authorities have used both cash enticements and coercion to send batches of people.

The government has so far sent about 6,700 refugeestwo groups in December totalling 3,446 people and two groups in January with 3,254. The fourth group was removed on January 30, with 1,466 refugees taken in four ships from Chattogram port.

Meanwhile, China launched an initiative to arrange a January 19 tripartite agreement with Bangladesh and Myanmar for the repatriation of refugees back to Myanmar. Myanmar agreed to accept some 42,000 refugees, but that tentative agreement contained no guarantees that it will be met.

Two previous repatriation attempts, in November 2018 and August 2019, failed. Refugees refused to go, fearing further atrocities by the Myanmar military and Buddhist supremacists.

In 2017, the Myanmar governments military brutality in Rakhine State, joined by Buddhist thugs, forced some 750,000 Rohingyas to flee across the border to Bangladesh. They joined about 300,000 refugees who had fled previous persecution.

Chinas intervention is significant. Myanmars continued refusal to take back refugees has heightened tensions with Bangladesh. It appears that China sought to use the issue to strengthen its influence on Dhaka by prevailing on the Myanmar authorities to accept an agreement.

China was the source of $US1,159 million foreign direct investment in Bangladesh during the fiscal year 2019, or 30 percent of Bangladeshs total.

During the January 19 meeting, Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen insisted that repatriation of the refugees should start from the first quarter of this year. But Myanmars Deputy Minister for International Cooperation U Hau Do Suan said they could start only in the second quarter of this year.

Reflecting the Bangladeshi governments frustration, the countrys media has cast renewed doubts over the implementation of the agreement because Myanmars military seized control of the country in a coup on February 1.

Bangladesh Enterprise Institute president M. Humayun Kabir told the Daily Star on February 2: I think the Rohingya repatriation process will slow down because the military government will be more involved in its administrative and internal issues.

The Bangladeshi governments own brutal treatment of the Rohingyas was exposed when 300 refugees housed on Bhasan Char staged a hunger strike last September, demanding to join their families in Coxs Bazar, because of the terrible conditions on the island.

Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, last October accused naval officers of assaulting refugees, saying they beat Rohingya refugees, including children, who were protesting their detention and begging to return to their families in Coxs Bazar.

One refugee reported: Navy personnel used tree branches and black rubber sticks to beat us.

The countrys human rights organisation Odhikar accused the authorities of killing more than 100 Rohingya refugees in extrajudicial executions between August 2017 and July 2020, purportedly in crackdowns on the illegal drug trade.

The government used the COVID-19 pandemic to impose a complete lockdown in the camps last April. Crackdowns were carried out, shops run by refugees closed, internet services were blocked and mobile phones were confiscated.

In reality, the refugees have been left exposed to COVID-19. The first coronavirus death in Coxs Bazar was reported in late May when Bangladeshs total death toll stood at around 700 and cases exceeded 50,000. Because of the governments low testing rates, the situation in the camps remains unclear.

The World Health Organisation reported in early December that among the refugees: A total of 363 COVID-19 cases have been reported out of 19,651 samples tested. The total number of deaths stood at 10.

Now the pandemic is spreading rapidly throughout the country. As of Tuesday, total deaths stood at 8,149 and cases at 536,107, but both figures are under-statements because of the low rate of testing.

UNICEF last August said the pandemic had disrupted life for more than 460,000 Rohingya children, whose education facilities in the camps had been closed since March. The government has provided no alternative methods of education.

In fact, the Bangladesh governments callous attitude toward the refugees mirrors that of the Myanmar regime. In October, Human Rights Watch criticised Myanmar for accommodating about 130,000 Rohingyas in camps under squalid and abusive conditions, which are like open prisons for eight years, cut off from their homes, land, and livelihoods.

Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
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State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, is likely to see a decline in profitability due to higher provisions, but could get support from lower tax cost for the quarter ended December 2020 YoY. The bank will release quarterly scorecard on February 4.

Net interest income is expected to grow in the range of 2-4 percent due to high base and fall in deposit rates with loan growth around 6-8 percent YoY. The corresponding period was boosted by Essar Steel recovery.

"We expect slower growth in NII (4 percent YoY) given the recent cuts in lending yields and deposit rates. Loan growth to be subdued at around 8 percent YoY and NIM (core) unchanged QoQ at around 3.1 percent," said Kotak Institutional Equities which expects gradual recovery in non-interest income led by recovery in written-off loans and treasury income.

Prabhudas Lilladher, which sees 6.9 percent YoY loan growth, said NII growth could remain tepid as base quarter has Essar steel recovery interest (had biggest share), while lower treasury gains, lower recovery from write off to impact pre-provision operating profit.

Kotak expects slippages at 3 percent of loans (subject to court ruling) led by the retail and SME portfolio.

"Focus would be on the quantum of restructured loans that is likely to happen by Q4FY21. A few corporate NPLs got resolved this quarter," said the brokerage.

Kotak and Prabhudas Lilladher see around 45 percent YoY increase in loan loss provisions, while tax cost could fall in the range of 60-70 percent YoY.

"Provisions are likely to continue as bank has relatively made lower COVID provisions to safeguard balance sheet," said Prabhudas Lilladher.
Nairobi  Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko's woes have deepened after the prosecution informed the court that he is under investigation for financing terrorism activities.

An affidavit filed in court Wednesday also indicated that Sonko is under investigation for arming a militia group in a dramatic turn of events a day after facing multiple robbery and assault charges stemming from offences allegedly committed in 2019.

On Tuesday, Sonko denied a total of 12 counts leveled against him and which his lawyers said were politically motivated due to public statements he made recently linking Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho to the 2017 violence.

Others said his arrest and prosecution were linked to statements he made during a roadside rally in Narok last week against President Uhuru Kenyatta who had spoken about him in Nyeri where he told a youth meeting that the Governor was impeached due to incompetence.

Sonko denied the charges when he was arraigned at the Kiambu Law Courts on Tuesday and was ordered remanded at the Gigiri Police Station for two days to enable police conclude investigations.

But in a surprise turn of events, Sonko was arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts Wednesday during the mention of his corruption cases, only for him to be taken to the Kahawa West Law Courts in the evening where an affidavit was filed indicating that he was under active investigation on terrorism activities.

"I have intelligence information that the suspect is connected to financing of terrorism activities and he is in the advance stage of procuring arms and ammunition using a wide syndicate which is complex ad sophisticated," an affidavit filed in court by a Chief Inspector Newton Thimangu of the Anti Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU), an arm of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) states in part.

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He also indicated that Sonko had "started arming his private security agents with full military attire namely military boots, military jungle uniforms and firearms. The suspect who was in company of unknown person had worn militia attire and together with the suspect they were both spotted in public in full glare of the media and in front of huge mass of people in a public rally."

An undated photograph of Sonko and an unknown person was attached to the affidavit.

The prosecution asked the court to grant the DCI investigators 30 days to complete their investigation.

Charges read out to him on Tuesday stated that he assaulted two people in Buru Buru in 2019, leaving them with serious injuries.

The charges include assault causing actual bodily harm, robbery with violence and destruction of property.

He also faced an additional charge of entering private property without permission or a search warrant.

His case was heard by Kiambu Senior Principal Magistrate Stellah Atambo who ordered he be remanded at the Gigiri Police Station.

The prosecution has indicated that it intends to apply to have the former Governor taken to Mombasa where a warrant of arrest against him is pending.

Sonko was impeached in November over gross misconduct, abuse of office and corruption.

He is also facing corruption charges in court alongside several county officials and suppliers accused of colluding to siphon public funds.
The Civil War in the Republican Party deepened on Wednesday after QAnon believer and staunch Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene was enthusiastically embraced by her colleagues in the House, and their leader urged them to support Trump critic Liz Cheney.

Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, held a private meeting of his caucus on Wednesday night to allow them to air their grievances.

Calls for both Greene and Cheney to be punished were top of the agenda: Greene, a newly-elected alt-right figure, for her conspiracy theories on social media, and Cheney, an establishment figure, for voting to impeach Trump.

Marjorie Taylor Greene on Wednesday (pictured) received a standing ovation from colleagues

Liz Cheney, pictured on Wednesday heading to the House floor, survived a censure vote

Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House Republicans, defended his handling of the drama

McCarthy succeeded in protecting Cheney, but he did not secure a public apology from Greene.

TAYLOR GREENE'S BIZARRE CLAIMS The California Camp Fire which killed at least 85 was caused by a space laser linked to the Rothschilds and the state's high-speed rail. PG&E admitted it was caused by a faulty power line and went into bankruptcy to fund a $13.5bn settlement and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin cut off a child's face while she was alive, Clinton wore it as a mask so the terrified child would produce 'adrenachrome' and then organized the killing of a cop who knew about it.

The Las Vegas massacre was organized by Democrats to help them ban guns and shooter Stephen Paddock was not a lone wolf.

There's no evidence of a plane hitting the Pentagon on 9/11.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre which cost the lives of 17 students was a 'false flag planned shooting.'

' I am told that Nancy Pelosi tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that we need another school shooting in order to persuade the public to want strict gun control.'

Seth Rich leaked Hillary Clinton's emails and was murdered in revenge by her aide John Podesta because the emails revealed that a D.C. pizza restaurant had a child-smuggling operation in its basement. It does not even have a basement.

The world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles and the Q in QAnon exists and is the 'best chance to take them out.'

Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett are Muslims.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was replaced by a body double.

She wasn't the person who posted a call to assassinate Nancy Pelosi to her own Facebook page. Advertisement

Adding to McCarthy's awkward position, Greene was given a standing ovation by dozens of House Republicans after refusing to apologize for her conspiracy theories - and escaped any censure from the party's leadership as she openly mocked them.

About half the Republican caucus got to their feet, as she spoke briefly at the private meeting, to applaud her.

Cheney, meanwhile, managed to cling on to her role as House Republican Conference chair, making her the third ranking member of her party.

She earlier on Wednesday defended her vote to impeach Trump - one of 10 to vote on January 13 against the then-president.

Cheney delivered an eight-minute speech near the beginning of the meeting, two people in the room said, offering what was described as a calm yet firm defense of the Constitution.

Her vote put her political future in peril: she is already facing a primary challenge in her state of Wyoming for 2022, and Trump supporting congressman Matt Gaetz, scenting blood, traveled to Wyoming last week to rally for her removal.

Yet in a secret ballot on whether to oust her, Cheney prevailed by a wide margin.

The vote was 145 to keep her in her position, and 61 to remove her, plus one member who voted present, according to several people in the room who spoke to CNN.

The vote to keep Cheney, and Greene's endorsement from her colleagues, came at the end of a wild day for McCarthy's fractious caucus.

McCarthy demanded Greene say sorry for a string of bizarre claims, and Greene responded that he was 'all talk and no action' and called Mitch McConnell 'Mr Big Turtle.'

McCarthy spent hours in talks on Tuesday night with Greene.

McCarthy gave Greene a blunt offer during their discussion on Tuesday, a person familiar with their talks told Politico: apologize or resign from at least one of her committee roles voluntarily - or Republicans would get rid of her themselves.

The California Republican told Greene she could denounce QAnon and apologize for pushing conspiracy theories and calling for violence against Democrats including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, or she could voluntarily step down from the House Education and Labor Committee.

If she did not or else face removal from her GOP House colleagues, he told her.

Calls for Republicans to punish Greene emerged after it was revealed she pushed QAnon conspiracies and backed calls for violence against Democratic lawmakers before she was elected to Congress

But Greene refused to take the deal on offer - then spent Wednesday morning tweeting defiantly that McCarthy was bowing to Democrats who she accused of cheering on 'thugs who riot, burn, loot, attack police, murder, & occupy federal property.'

McCarthy declined to remove her committee positions, and instead tried to see off a civil war in his own caucus over Greene by declaring war on Democrats, for their attempts to remove her.

McCarthy acknowledged that the Georgia rep had peddled false claims on 'school shootings, political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories' but said that she had acknowledged that her words as a member of Congress had 'greater meaning' and that he would 'hold her to her word.'

But Greene public offered no apology or commitment to give up her claims - which McConnell called 'loony' and 'cancer' to the Republican Party.

Instead she instead tweeted defiantly about the donations she was receiving, told the Washington Examiner that McCarthy was 'all talk and no action,' called McConnell 'Mr. Turtle' and told a podcast that when she denied a plane had hit the Pentagon on 9/11, she was 'just asking questions.'

Democrats had demanded that Republicans remove Greene from her assignments to two powerful committees - the Education and Labor Committee, and the Budget Committee - for her bizarre conspiracy claims and calls for violence against their leaders.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (pictured second from right with other congressional leadership) released a statement Wednesday lashing out at Democrats for moving forward with attempting to remove Majorie Taylor Greene from her Committee assignments

McCarthy offered a compromise to move her off both committees and put her on the Small Business Committee, on the basis that she owns a gym - an offer which Democratic number two Steny Hoyer turned down on Wednesday at lunchtime.

Calls for Republicans to punish Greene emerged after it was revealed she pushed QAnon conspiracies and backed calls for violence against Democratic lawmakers before she was elected to Congress-

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded with her own statement which referred to McCarthy as Q-CA, instead of R-CA.

Pelosi said: 'As No 2. Senate Republican John Thune warned Tuesday, McCarthy has chosen to make House Republicans 'the party of conspiracy theories and QAnon' and Rep. Greene is in the driver's seat.

In her statement, Pelosi identified McCarthy with a 'Q' next to his name rather than an 'R' for Republican

McCarthy also released a statement, where he said Democrats should look within their own Party at lawmakers on committees that conflict with their words and actions, like Rep. Ilhan Omar sitting on the Foreign Affairs Committee despite outwardly anti-Semitic tropes and comments

'After several conversations and literally running away from reporters, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Q-CA) made clear that he is refusing to take action against conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

'As a result, the House will continue with a vote to strip Greene of her seat on the esteemed House Committee on Education & Labor and House Committee on Budget.

'McCarthy's failure to lead his party effectively hands the keys over to Greene  an anti-Semite, QAnon adherent and 9/11 Truther.'

Greene herself showed no signs of being cowed by McCarthy saying he 'unequivocally condemned' her claims.

Instead she attended the meeting of the House Republican conference and delivered a short speech.

CNN reported that she told the almost 200 Republicans present that the social media posts which have put her at the center of a storm did 'not reflect' who she was 'as a person,' offered no apology - and was applauded.

Greene earlier gave an interview to the Washington Examiner letting loose on McCarthy and Republican leaders and swearing fealty to Trump.

'Kevin McCarthy and all these leaders, the leadership, and everyone is proving that they are all talk and not about action, and they're just all about doing business as usual in Washington. And so, what's the difference between them and the Democrats?' she said.

'The Republicans have been promising a lot of things for a long time, and they haven't delivered.

'And, you know, we're at $28 trillion in debt. Now, we have Joe Biden in the White House and Nancy Pelosi at 80 million years old as speaker, and we've got a Senate that we don't control anymore, with, you know, Mr. Big Turtle in charge up there just just losing gracefully, losing gracefully.'

She also suggested she would welcome being thrown off committees and use it as a chance to push the party 'to the right.'

Democrats could vote as early as Thursday on removing Greene from both her committee positions in a blow to McCarthy's attempt to keep the issue off the House floor.
St. Louis County Council

Lisa Clancy

5th District

St. Louis County

St. Louis County

Tim Fitch

3rd District

Board of Aldermen

Lyda Krewson

Ohio

Baltimore

Baltimore's

St. Louis

St. Louis

John Hayden

Baltimore

Tom Oldenburg

Lisa Clancy

16th Ward

the United States

St. Louis County Police

Rita Heard Days

1st District

St. Louis County

(TNS)  As St. Louis, Mo., lawmakers consider authorizing a controversial aerial surveillance program in the city, theis telling city officials they don't want any of those planes spying on the county.The council on Tuesday voted 6-1 for a resolution sponsored by Councilwoman, D-, calling on the city to guarantee planes wouldn't cross into the county and record data there, citing concerns over privacy and infringement on civil liberties.County officials have not been provided details of the proposal, though potential flight plans for the planes that would be deployed appear to extend into north, Clancy said."We are not being communicated with about the possible implications toresidents," she said during the Tuesday council meeting. "We need to know how this impacts us."Councilman, R-, was the lone vote against the resolution, arguing the surveillance program was unlikely to gain approval without an identified source of funding.The county action, which carries no legal weight, comes as theconsiders final approval for a bill that would direct Mayoror her successor to contract with-based Persistent Surveillance Systems to fly surveillance airplanes up to 18 hours a day over the city. Aldermen voted 15-14 in January to give the proposal preliminary approval.Backers say the aerial cameras could track the path of suspects and vehicles from key crime scenes and help in police investigations after the city recorded 262 murders last year, the highest total since 1993.Opponents have called for alternative efforts to fight crime and warned the plan posed a threat to civil liberties because the cameras could track every movement on a wide swath of city streets at any given time.The bill requires PSS to secure private funding to cover the estimated $5 million cost.PSS was involved in a privately funded pilot program to test the technology last year in, but that city decided not to renew the program after preliminary reports showed it played a small role in helping solve crimes.decision not to renew the program and the uncertainty over funding a similar effort inwere among concerns about the contract raised Wednesday during a meeting of the Aldermanic Rules Committee.The committee, which is reviewing the bill before sending the proposal to the full board for a final vote, questionedpolice Chiefabout the proposal for more than an hour before recessing until Thursday.Hayden told the committee that he is open to experimenting with the technology after speaking withpolice, but the chief said he had questions about the exact level of control his department would have over the program, and whether police would be expected to pay for ancillary costs in certain cases, including compiling public record requests of the surveillance data."Certainly the police department would be open to trying to see exactly what value a program like this would entail, it's just that there are some uncertain areas that really aren't covered that would tell you how much this would cost," Hayden said.Hayden said he would review the latest version of the bill and the committee's concerns with attorneys for the police department and the city.Alderman, the bill sponsor, said opponents of the bill on the rules committee are trying to delay the measure."These are little things people are trying to pick at," Oldenburg said.He also pushed back against the council's resolution on Wednesday, accusing Clancy of using the proposal to appeal to political progressives who have been critical of the proposal.Oldenburg said the planes' cameras would be turned off once they cross the city-county border, and all data they collect would be subject to an audit, Oldenburg said."This is more the politics of Councilwomanwanting to be in the progressive limelight," said Oldenburg, D-At the council meeting Tuesday, Fitch said that he considered the bill dead before voting against the resolution opposing the measure."Are you aware that this initiative is dead in the city and elsewhere in," Fitch, a former chief of, told Clancy. "There is no funding for it."Clancy said the resolution was necessary until the bill is guaranteed not to gain final approval."Until it is dropped I consider it very much still alive," she said.Councilwoman, D-, said she outright opposed any proposal for surveillance planes."I have had conversations with aldermen in the city ... and I'm absolutely not in favor of any kind of aerial surveillance," Days said. "This resolution would just solidify that in the perspective of."
New Delhi, Feb 5 : The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested a notorious criminal after a brief exchange of fire in south-east Delhi's Sarita Vihar area on Thursday night.

The criminal, identified as Shahid, 35, received a gunshot wound on his leg. He is a member of Mewat-based gang of criminals wanted in a number of cases of robbery in Delhi and other states.

One semi-automatic pistol of .32 with 6 cartridges and 4 empty shells have been recovered from Shahid.

Shahid is involved in more than 40 criminal cases including murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery/dacoity, theft, assault on police, arms act etc., in at least eight states -- Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Assam.


Sen. Kennedy blasts the new administration's energy policy that is anti-American, and his state will suffer from the unsound policies. He added that Biden would make the US dependent on other countries.

According to Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), he criticized the executive orders in energy will make America lose the advantages it gained. Last four years, the Trump administration gave support to the energy industry but the new White House seems not to make American first.

Biden's energy policy is drawing flak

Fox News interviewed Kennedy on Wednesday; he said that Oval Office intends on green energy that it does not see the damage it will do to oil and gas. If this happens, the U.S. will be another nation dependent on others for its energy needs.

He harshly added that all the executive orders about the oil and gas trade are flimsy. He is calling the orders foolish as well. The administration will gut Louisiana like a fish, saying part of his state's earnings is based on gas and oil. It would do the same to other states.

Kennedy said that Biden is against America and the misguided policy shows it. We are going to be at the mercy of others if we don't have our oil. Many countries that hate the U.S. will have an advantage. Soon they will have money to buy weapons to use on the U.S. Not a good outcome from the new administration.

Louisiana is vital for energy production

Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration says the state is only of the top five states with natural gas production and reserves. In 2019, the state had 9 percent of U.S. total gas production, with 7 percent of its gas reserves.

Also read: Declassifying Crossfire Hurricane Documents, Trump Orders Their Release Before Leaving Office

More so are the 17 oil refineries in Louisiana that are about one-fifth of the nation's refining capacity. In one day, a total of 3.3 million barrels of crude oil per day is processed.

Killing the industry and hurting everyday Americans

Presidential orders state that the interior's secretary cancels all new oil and gas leases in federal land and waters. One addition to the order is to address global warming and to prioritize alternative energy like wind power. Another is to look over present energy leases and permits. One main criticism of the order is that it is unrealistic, not ground on reality.

During the presidential debates, Trump asked if he'll go against the U.S. oil industry. Biden never answered the question straight.

The president said that the slew of orders, including gas and oil, is vital to fight climate change. He called it an existential threat.

The White House is mistaken

The Louisiana lawmaker is at odds with the administration's alleged flawed reasoning on its approach to climate change. He calls it pandering to the unhinged left, claiming only they have the answers.

If the administration thinks it is easy to get along without gas and oil, they are out of touch. Most Americans support all sources of energy, too, not just alternatives. The U.S. cannot run without gas and oil, said Kennedy.

What's next? Dependence

Biden's Energy Policy is not widely accepted, and he never explained it during the elections. Now many will lose their jobs, and it will not be America first.

Related article: Biden: No Family Members to Be Involved in Any Government Decisions

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Marco Longhi (Dudley North) asked the Government to review allocations by the Culture Recovery Fund

Cultural projects run by people who 'hate our history and seek to rewrite it' should be barred from receiving taxpayers' support, a Tory MP said today.

Marco Longhi, MP for Dudley North, asked the Government to review allocations by the 1.5bn Culture Recovery Fund, which will give money to heritage groups, museums and other venues to help them recover from coronavirus.

Mr Longhi told MailOnline he was concerned about recent attempts to 're-evaluate' history - such as the National Maritime Museum's bid to challenge Lord Horatio Nelson's hero status and the National Trust's 'colonial countryside' project.

He called such initiatives 'a form of Marxism applied to our cultural and heritage sector' carried out by people 'who want to apply today's standards to events and people of decades and hundreds of years ago'.

The National Maritime Museum recently received 485,000 as part of the fund, while the National Trust has also been handed an undisclosed amount.

Speaking in the House of Commons today, Mr Longhi asked culture minister Nigel Huddleston: 'The 1.5 billion Culture Recovery Fund has provided a lifeline to the culture and heritage sector during the pandemic.

'Does the minister agree though that public money should not be spent on ideologically motivated projects by people who hate our history and seek to rewrite it?

'And will he review funding allocations accordingly, please?'

Mr Longhi told MailOnline he was concerned about recent attempts to 're-evaluate' history - such as the National Trust's 'colonial countryside' project. Chartwell, Churchill's home in Kent, was featured in the study

Responding for the Government, Mr Huddleston said: 'I can assure my honourable friend that the Culture Recovery Fund money is awarded by our arms-length bodies according to a strict set of criteria, and the funding goes to organisations in need of serious financial support and not for ideological projects.'

In October, the National Maritime Museum announced it was going to review Lord Nelson's legacy as part of its efforts to challenge Britain's 'barbaric history of race and colonialism'.

The museum in Greenwich, London, holds the hero admiral's love letters and the coat he wore when he was killed during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 - widely seen as Britain's greatest naval victory.

Internal documents reveal the museum seeks to capitalise on the 'momentum built up by the Black Lives Matter movement' and address the Royal Navy's links to slavery.

After the British made the slave trade illegal in 1807, the Royal Navy became a police force against the barbaric practice.

Mr Longhi has also previously criticised the National Trust's Colonial Countryside project, which sought to identity imperial links with Britain's stately homes.

Mr Longhi also referred to a bid by the National Maritime Museum's bid to challenge Lord Horatio Nelson's hero status. Pictured is his statue in Trafalgar Square

The Black Lives Matter-inspired initiative - which received 99,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and a further 60,000 from the Arts Council - linked almost 100 properties to British colonialism and the slave trade.

Trafalgar: How Nelson saved Britain from the threat of invasion by Napoleon It was fought of the coast of Spain and was to be Lord Nelson's (pictured) last and greatest victory against the French The 1805 naval Battle of Trafalgar is considered one of the most divisive naval battles in history and saw a British fleet under Admiral Lord Nelson defeat a combined French and Spanish fleet. It was fought off the coast of Spain and was to be Lord Nelson's last and greatest victory against the French. The battle began after Nelson caught sight of a Franco-Spanish force of 33 ships. Normally opposing fleets would form two lines and engage in a clash of broadsides until one fleet withdrew, but when planning to engage with the enemy, Nelson divided his 27 ships into two divisions. He signalled a famous message from the flagship: 'England expects that every man will do his duty.' In five hours of fighting, the British devastated the enemy fleet, destroying 19 enemy ships. A French sniper fatally shot Nelson in the shoulder and chest. He quickly realised he was going to die and was taken below deck where he lost his life about 30 minutes before the end of the battle. After being informed that victory was imminent, the Admiral's last words were 'Now I am satisfied. Thank God I have done my duty.' Advertisement

Members threatened to cancel their subscriptions while historians accused the Trust of being 'unfair' after the homes of Winston Churchill and Rudyard Kipling were among the homes highlighted.

On Churchill's home in Kent, Chartwell, the report draws on his leadership during the Bengal Famine of 1943, his 'exceptionally long, complex and controversial life' and his position as Secretary of State for the Colonies (1921-1922) as the reason for its inclusion on the list.

Despite noting his opposition to slavery, the home of poet William Wordsworth - Allan Bank in the Lake District - is included because his brother, John, served as Commander of an East India Company ship in 1801 and captained two successful voyages to China.

Criticism grew that it emerged that many of the nine-strong team of university historians had espoused Woke views that endorsed concepts around critical race theory, which is highly controversial.

A spokesman for Mr Longhi said: 'There have been several institutions who have set out to 're-evaluate' history. For example the National Maritime Museum who wanted to reassess Nelson's hero status.

'Many of these heritage institutions receive substantial revenue and grant funding from the taxpayer and even individual donations and memberships may have tax gift aid elements.

Marco asks if it is right that these institutions should use taxpayers' money to effectively besmirch our heroes to suit their left wing woke narrative?

'It is a form of Marxism applied to our cultural and heritage sector. They want to apply today's standards to events and people of decades and hundreds of years ago.'

A National Trust spokesman said it 'has high standards when it comes to political impartiality among its employees including in their social media output'.

She added: 'We often work with independent people who bring a range of expertise and their own perspectives.

'Colonial Countryside is a creative writing project where children can explore aspects of history and make their own responses.

'National Trust staff worked alongside academics, including those from the University of Leicester, to enable them to explore National Trust properties.'
State Track: Arrows' Mack and Heesch among six area event winners on opening day

Watertown seniors Cooper Mack and Maggie Heesch and four other area athletes notched event wins Friday during the opening day of the 2021 State High School Track and Field Meet.
It's been almost three months since the 2020 presidential election, and a majority of Texas Republicans still believe there was widespread voter fraud.

Former President Donald Trump repeatedly asserted baseless claims that widespread election fraud caused his loss to President Joe Biden, a claim he brought to court dozens of times. Several Texans in politics parroted these claims, including Sen. Ted Cruz, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Louie Gohmert.

AFTER JAN. 6: Capitol rioter from Texas asks court for permission to vacation in Mexico while on pretrial release

A new poll from the University of Houston conducted among 1,329 Texans 18 and older from Jan. 12-20 found that 83 percent of Republicans in Texas strongly agree (66 percent) or agree (17 percent) there was widespread election fraud. Only 13 percent of Texas Democrats strongly agree or agree.

There has been no evidence of widespread election fraud in the presidential election. Before Jan. 6, Trump and his associates had filed 62 lawsuits in state and federal courts that sought to alter the election results. Of those lawsuits, 61 failed, USA Today's William Cummings, Joey Garrison and Jim Sergent reported in January.

Paxton also brought a lawsuit to the Supreme Court that was secretly written by lawyers close to Trump, seeking to overturn the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It was quickly dismissed.

The Texas attorney general's own office spent more time than ever investigating voter fraud claims in Texas and resolved just 16 prosecutions, all involving Harris County residents who gave false addresses on their voter registration forms, the Houston Chronicle's Taylor Goldenstein reported in December.

IMPEACHMENT: Don't expect Sens. Cornyn or Cruz to vote to convict Trump during the impeachment trial

The survey from UH also found that 32 percent of Texas Republicans support the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol. Overall, 83 percent of Texans oppose the protest that turned into a riot.

On the morning of Jan. 6, Trump gave a speech on the White House Ellipse, repeating claims that the election was rigged, Democrats had committed fraud and telling supporters to "fight like hell" and "never give up." Paxton also spoke at the "Save America" rally. A mob of Trump's supporters breached the U.S. Capitol hours later, resulting in five deaths and delaying the certification of Biden's win.

Trump faces an impeachment trial and is charged with "incitement of insurrection" for his role in the attack on the Capitol. He is the only president to be impeached twice.
I would a whole lot rather give somebody a pair of shoes that was a little too big than a pair of shoes that was too small to put on their feet.

Have you spoken to Senator Manchin to get him to see your point of view?

I have not. Everybody pretty well knows what my views have been. I have expressed the need for this nation to go bold and go big.

Senator Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginias Republican senator, was part of a G.O.P. group that met with President Biden to talk about a much smaller stimulus plan, offering $1,000 checks instead of $1,400 checks. What do you think of that position?

I just keep going back to the exact same thing, and its this: At the end of the day, if we overdo it a little bit, a downside risk is minimal. If we underdo it, the downside risk is enormous.

You are term-limited as governor. Are you thinking about running in 2024 for the Senate?

No, Im really not. My makeup is not to be one of 100 and trying to go through a decision process and everything. You know, Im a C.E.O. If I can continue to do good stuff for West Virginia, Im going to do it, and then probably fade off into the sunset.

About 11 percent of all West Virginians have received the first dose of the vaccine, higher than any state except Alaska. West Virginia said a few days ago that it had become the first state to complete the second round of vaccinations to all residents of nursing homes. What advice do you have for other governors?

What weve done in West Virginia is we recruited and brought in everybody. We brought in our local pharmacies, our local clinics and we put our National Guard to work. I said we are not going to have our vaccines on the shelf, were going to get them out to the people.
Victim's behaviour not 'normative', did not reveal trauma, court says while acquitting Tejpal in rape case

Goa seeks Centres help to revive tourism

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Panaji, Feb 04: The Goa government has sought financial assistance from the Centre to revive the state's tourism industry which has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Sawant said he has written to Union finance minister for helping the industry, which was one of the largest revenue earners for the state.

"We are aware that the tourism industry has been affected by the pandemic and the Centre's support is required for its revival," the chief minister said.

Tourism Minister takes stock of damage caused to Red Fort, seeks report

He did not specify the quantum of financial assistance sought from the Centre.

Sawant said the state's revenue has already taken a hit due to the closure of the mining industry, which was one of the prominent economic pillars of the state.

The revenue from tourism has also gone down due to shutdowns as part of precautions against COVID-19, he said.

The financial assistance has been sought to revive the tourism industry, specially hinterland tourism, Sawant said.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

"I am confident that the central government will consider our demand," he said.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 10:31 [IST]
In a small building on the edge of a grocery-store parking lot in San Rafael, theres a restaurant that serves a Chinese red-braised pork that will freeze you in your tracks  forcing you to take note of every little thing so you can live in that moment for as long as possible.

Four sticky cubes of pork belly roll around on a bed of white, medium-grain rice, leaving trails of caramel-y jus behind them. A slow braise in soy sauce and black vinegar has tinted the meat considerably and given them a rough shine; youd think the belly pieces were dark red hunks of zircon. Yet their gemstone appearance deceives; they wobble when nudged and collapse easily, all the better for distributing their intense flavor over the rice plate.

The dish ($16) bowled me over with its simplicity and strength. With it and the rest of the ever-changing menu, the restaurant, called Lous Takeaway, has mastered the art of connecting you to the here and now. In other words, this tiny, counter-service spot epitomizes what it means to be a modern California restaurant.

California cuisine is one of those things thats difficult to define in a few words: An ideology that privileges seasonal ingredient sourcing, it has become synonymous with high-end restaurants like the French Laundry in Yountville and John Ash & Co. in Santa Rosa since the 1970s. The modern Asian fusion genre came up in the West Coast at around the same time. Both eventually trickled out into the wider American subconscious and took root, with Thai risottos, farm-to-table kung pao chicken and restaurants like Lous Takeaway as its fruit.

At Lous, where new and beloved regular customers are greeted with an ecstatic clanging of a bicycle bell, our ubiquitous Californian style manifests as a strong sense of specificity.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

Like any modern California restaurant, chef and owner Anthony Lou Rizzi prioritizes local ingredients and iterates based on whats available. Monterey Bay sardines, local greens from Star Route Farms and other seasonal winnings from the Marin farmers market all find their way to the two-man kitchen. Having come into an appreciation for Asian ingredients and culinary principles after years of teaching English in Vietnam, Rizzi approaches produce with a hybrid mindset. His tastes are eclectic and internationalist, with a pantry of fenugreek, fried onions, fermented shrimp paste and Turkish apricots  a lot like the modern home cook, actually.

Beyond those core tenets, Lous is entirely original. You might expect any contemporary, people-pleasing restaurant to have a salad, a red meat, chicken, fish and a vegetarian option, but Rizzi doesnt play like that. On some days, three of the four menu items might feature the same protein: One recent menu listed pork spareribs dressed in a bright ginger-chile hot sauce ($17), the chewy rib tips mixed with chayote into a dense pork broth ($7) and the stalwart pork belly dish. On other days, there might actually be some vegan dishes and sides available, like the simple, Japanese-adjacent sesame and miso-marinated green beans ($6). Rizzi updates the menu during service, too, to keep track of when things sell out. Diners looking to try specific dishes should check frequently to make sure theyre still available before making the drive.

Soleil Ho / The Chronicle

If you check the chalkboard menu enough, it may begin to read like a fugue, with elements iterating on each other: The shells from a lobster dish might reappear as the stock base for a prawn sauce; leftover bacon might go right into the fryer to perfume the next days fried chicken.

On one menu, there was a fortifying Mediterranean pork stew with black chickpeas ($13), thick and slippery from the slow braise of the meat and perfect for a bone-chilling winter night. Hidden behind the savory flavors, pomegranate sent out a bright ember of tartness as the stew lingered in the mouth. On another day, there was a citrus fried chicken plate ($13), marinated with makrut lime leaf and perked up with Rizzis house-made fresno chile and lime hot sauce. The doubled-up citrus lightens the chicken, with the same revelatory impact as a finger of sunlight after a rainstorm.

Many modern Californian chefs have opted to debut more casual versions of the cuisine, such as former Saison chef Scott Clark, who departed the world of fine dining to perfect hamburger sandwiches at Dads Luncheonette in Half Moon Bay. Rizzis expertise, though, doesnt draw from experience at chic tasting menu restaurants.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

He opened Lous in August 2019 after years of managing the kitchen at San Franciscos Salvation Army Harbor Light Center, a residential drug and alcohol treatment program. While there, he helped to reshape the institutions culinary services, swapping frozen burger patties and pre-boiled eggs for fresh vegetables and Berkshire pork; thrifty, scratch-made dishes like linguisa and ham hock stew populated the daily menu. Program participants were greeted in the cafeteria queue like beloved regulars. In the vein of advocates who fought to get local produce into Bay Area schools and other institutions, Rizzi offered a version of Californian cuisine that could be for everyone.

I only began visiting Lous during the pandemic, and I found it to be such a balm for a heart weighed down by months of isolation, like braving a snowstorm to step into a warm, fire-lit cabin. Its a restaurant that has its own comforting stable of traditions that have persisted despite the forced distance of the times we live in.

When you order a dish for the first time  which is almost every time, unless youre a pork belly loyalist  Chris Dotson, the cashier, opens up the clamshell package and walks you through each component. For takeout, everything has a zone in the container, which is set up almost like a bento box. Your fork hops from band to band, from rice to salad to protein, as you eat, forcing you to dine slowly and deliberately.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

The restaurant doesnt do delivery or online ordering, insisting that you talk to an actual person to get your food; diners must order takeout at the counter or over the phone. If you happen to show up at just the right time, Dotson will ask you to pick the next album thatll play over the speakers. If youre really lucky, Rizzi will gift you some of his fathers fruit jam, only asking that you return the jar when youre done, a move that guarantees that youll become a regular in due time.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

Like a cherished neighbor, its hard to imagine Lous being transplanted or replicated anywhere else. The restaurant, with just a year and change behind it, is already deeply rooted. If Lous were in San Francisco, one might think it would struggle to be noticed here, in this place where you cant throw a rock without hitting a kale-driven pizzeria or seasonal bento box spot.

But I dont think its the location that makes this restaurant exceptional, though its grocery-store parking lot location does add intrigue to the story. Were in a moment where, if were interacting with restaurants, so much of that interaction feels transactional. Thats not the fault of staff or their establishments; many have struggled to distinguish themselves on third-party apps and crowded Instagram feeds for the past year, hoping that no one forgets them. In this way Lous and its gently participatory nature  which enrobes even the most skittish newcomers  is an easy one to remember. From that first bite of unctuous pork belly to my last backward glimpse of the beige building, blasting R&B into a starlit Tuesday night, the restaurant felt singular.

While the impact of the restaurants kindly quirkiness feels heightened right now, it still stands out even outside of the context of the pandemic. You leave Lous with the sense that Rizzi is truly just cooking what he wants to cook. Hes not adhering to any dogma about what a restaurant should offer in order to keep up with the rest. It might be easy to cast Rizzi as a rugged individualist, but that would be diminishing the integral communal aspect of his work: work that began as soul-nourishing cafeteria meals at Harbor Light and continues with the clear ring of a bicycle bell in a parking lot in San Rafael.

Lous Takeaway. Dinner Tuesday-Saturday, lunch Wednesday-Saturday. Takeout only. 621A Del Ganado Road, San Rafael. 415-226-7994 or www.loustakeaway.com

Soleil Ho is The San Francisco Chronicles restaurant critic. Email: soleil@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hooleil

Discovering Lazarus: a gripping narrative that will take the readers on a spiritual journey, helping them to find redemption in their lives. Discovering Lazarus is the creation of published author John Kelly with Jenny Grace. John is a born-again Christian and renowned criminal profiler, psychotherapist, and addiction specialist. Jenny is an author who has published many articles in a newspaper, magazines, and online.

John Kelly with Jenny Grace writes, Discovering Lazarus is one mans attempt at finding redemption from his evil way of life. I started my descent into a dark abyss while in my teen years, and it continued until I was thirty-two years old and homeless. I lost everythingmy home, my wife, my cars, trucks, and my businesses.

Self-destruction and exhaustion coupled with financial ruin, despair, and depression led me to a point where I found myself on my knees. I found myself in St. Francis Church in Metuchen, New Jersey, asking for forgiveness from God and praying for a second chance at redemption and a new life. I prayed, God, I am sorry for abandoning you and living an evil life. Please forgive me and take control of my life and direct it for me. If you wont do this for me, O Lord, please take my life from me and let me die.

God was listening and heard my pleas for atonement, redemption, and a second chance. He helped me rise from the ashes of spiritual death, so I could begin to help others in many different ways. I became a nationally-known addiction counselor who, in partnership with my wife, Marilyn, opened several extremely successful outpatient counseling centers in New Jersey. Over a twenty-five-year period, our counseling centers helped thousands of families experience recovery from destructive addictive illness.

However, it was only the beginning of Gods planned journey for me. I also became an international criminal profiler who hunted some of the most evil serial killers in the world.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, John Kelly with Jenny Graces new book serves as an illuminating torch that will guide the readers in their journey of finding redemption from their evil ways in life.

Here, the author tells Christian and non-Christian readers that no matter how hard and dark their lives may be, there is one God who will help them overcome spiritual and physical deadness, just like what He did to Lazarus.

View a synopsis of Discovering Lazarus on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Discovering Lazarus at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Discovering Lazarus, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
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A local ambulance crew from Edenderry were under the pump on Wednesday as they were tasked with helping deliver a baby at a petrol station.

The Offaly crew responded to the scene at the Applegreen Service Station in Caragh, Co Kildare where an expectant mother, Naomi Galvin, had unexpectedly gone into labour, when she and partner John Feane were on their way to the Coombe hospital in Dubln.

Baby Ellie was delivered at around 6pm on Wednesday, February 3.

"We went from the he he, ho ho, classic kind of noises that a pegnant lady makes to the full on screaming - I need pain relief now kind of situation," John told Brian Dobson on RTE Radio 1.

John said he stopped at the Applegreen because he believed that an ambulance would see his car without any problems. He made the emergency call and while he and Naomi were waiting for he was getting advice over the phone.

National Ambulance Service Ireland Chief Ambulance Officer for North Leinster, Richard Quinlan, congratulated the parents on the birth after sharing a photograph of the new arrival on Twitter. He was the first on the scene.

"By the time Richard got to us it pretty much went time," said Ellie's dad.

Richard said he was on the M7 when he got the call.

"I responded immediately with emergency lights and sirens heading to the scene," he said.

A second paramedic officer arrived soon afterwards to assist in the delivery. Richard told RTE Ellie was born within 15 minutes of the arrival of himself and his colleague Jeanette. He said they had all the equipment needed but the baby had to be delivered on the front seat of John and Naomi's car.

Once an ambulance did arrive from Edenderry the baby was moved to the warmer vehicle to assess the newborn. After all the checks were carried out she was transferred to the Coombe Hospital.

John has only been in the hospital for half an hour due to Covid.

"It was upsetting but we have to keep our frontline safe," he said.

The Offaly based ambulance crew then transferred mother and baby to the Coombe Hospital where they are doing well.

Richard shared a photograph from the parents of baby Ellie on twitter.
BBH Singapore's CEO, John Hadfield, will be exiting the business and relocating back to the UK. The agency will be appointing a new chairperson soon.

BBH Singapore also promoted Sid Tuli, the current head of new business , to the role of managing director. Tuli and the new chairperson will join the agencys existing leadership team that includes CCO Sascha Kuntze, CFO Natasha Lindsay-Barker and CSO Jacob Wright.

Tuli joined BBH Singapore in 2010 and since then has been involved in running key global clients including Absolut, Nike and Riot Games. In his new role, he will report to Neil Munn, the global CEO of BBH.

Hadfield moves from BBH London to BBH Singapore back in 2005 and under his leadership, the agency grew significantly in scal and influence.
Israels military head has ordered plans for possible hit on Iranian nuclear sites

(JNS)  Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said he has ordered the preparation of plans to attack Irans nuclear sites in order to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Iran can decide that it wants to advance to a bomb, either covertly or in a provocative way. In light of this basic analysis, I have ordered the IDF to prepare a number of operational plans, in addition to the existing ones. We are studying these plans, and we will develop them over the next year...
By Mark Botsford



Living and working in Latin America most of the time since the 1970s has meant living through dozens of governmental switches  among democratic, communist and fascist systems.



Witnessing the forces that ebbed and flowed with the political winds, democratic institutions created in the early 19th century were repeatedly assaulted.



And in recent weeks, I've become afraid the United States has chosen to follow that region's sorry lead. It's a fear that will not go away any time soon  even though Donald Trump is at last safely far from the White House and, in Joe Biden, the Oval Office is once again occupied by someone totally committed to upholding democratic norms and the rule of law.



Not even an American president can single-handedly, let alone quickly, reverse the toxic national creep toward autocracy we have suffered the past four years.



That's why witnessing the insurrection in the Capitol on live TV last month, and the memories that have haunted us all since, brought me back immediately to my life south of the border. The similarities are striking.



In Latin America, bloody insurrections are the currency of ruthless political ambition.



The call to come to Washington to hear the executive's command for a march on the legislature was reminiscent of other regimes' call for rallies in their capitals  from Brazil in 1979 to Peru in 1992, Mexico in 1995 to Argentina in 2016.



The people heeded those calls out of coercion and in fervor.



Many get coerced through the threatened loss of government benefits, always tempered with free food, merchandise and even transportation. And because casting a ballot is a legal (if generally pointless) obligation across the region, local organizers not only delivered people to the rallies but then made sure they deliver their votes.



Fervor is readily achieved at these rallies, and no more easily than when the marquee speaker is a pathological liar. Trump's technique was startlingly reminiscent of how earlier autocrats  think Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega since the 1980s and Ecuador's Rafael Correa for a decade ending in 2015  combined blatant falsehoods and grievance politics to concoct a convenient enemy.(The news media as "the enemy of the people" is always first in line.)



The strongmen invent facts and concoct conspiracies in order to brainwash or gaslight their core supporters so they can be kept under the leader's command and control.



But, to be fair to the Latin American leaders of the past, their words have usually been more nuanced (or coded) than the blatant orders issued by Trump and his allies on Jan. 6. And, once the throng he exhorted had arrived on Capitol Hill, they found alarmingly little resistance  so reminiscent of "free zones," as they're called in Latin America.



Those are when demagogues utilize loyal civilian armed militias to intimidate the masses, often by embedding them within the crowds at their rallies to incite passions and perform the dirty work. The strongmen use these militias to give themselves plausible deniability. Law enforcement is told to stand down, or to offer only the most perfunctory resistance, so the militias can operate in these free zones.



Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, for example, has used such paramilitary mobs to his benefit since 2017, ever since his party lost elections. Just last year he had them occupy the Palacio Federal Legislativo in order to block access by the majority of legislators opposed to him.



Free to act, the autocrats escalate. They find excuses to lock down Congress whenever their party loses power at the ballot box. To prevent that from happening again, they rig the elections and suppress the vote to assure their party wins  and Congress reopens, with opposition leaders imprisoned and the political rights of the people denied.



Another lesson from the region's history: Trump is out of power, but maybe not for long unless there's accountability for his and others' role in fomenting a coup against a legitimate democratic government. All who were involved in whipping up the base, and aiding and abetting the lies, must be called out.



If not, either Trump or future dictators will feel empowered to advance their agenda. That's what's happened across Latin America over the past half-century when out-of-control regimes went unpunished.



Accountability can take different forms. The political sort can be swift, but the judicial kind takes more time.



And so the autocrat must be stripped of power immediately. In this, we are fortunate Trump's time was up just two nerve-wracking weeks after the Capitol siege. But the Senate should still follow the House and send a message to his followers that there are consequences for his actions.



Concern that following through on impeachment will only enrage and infuriate his followers is naive at a minimum  and a form of complicity from those who now aim to victimize, distract or obstruct.



There is no difference between the terrorist mob and those who enabled and unleashed it with the Big Lie. Apologetic rhetoric now is too late.



Trump left office with his allies still laying the groundwork for reclaiming power in 2024  replicating exactly how dictators I've lived under assured their return. (It took only four years on the outs before Cristina Fernandez returned to power in Argentina last year.) That many years go by very fast in a country where an autocrat's opponents focus only on putting out the most obvious fires left behind.



The time for finding remedies can come later  and the solutions will be the same as those offered up to Latin American nations when their democracies were imperiled. Strengthening institutions is where it must always begin.



But the history of that region shows very clearly that there must be accountability right away, or the United States will not be able to successfully move on from these events. If Trump and his allies still in authority face no consequences, then Jan. 6 will be remembered as only the beginning.





Mark Botsford, a contributing editor for the Fulcrum, has spent most of his career providing strategic advice to more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies doing business in Latin America. His commentary was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.





NICOSIA, Cyprus, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The United States is ready to expand bilateral trade and investment with the Republic of Cyprus, according to the US Ambassador to Cyprus, who said that security co-operation between the two countries "has never been stronger".

Speaking during a video conference organized by Invest Cyprus, alongside the Cyprus Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Christodoulides and Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides and, the US Ambassador Judith Garber called on US investors to explore business opportunities in Cyprus, saying the US was working with the Republic on an 'action plan' to enhance bilateral trade.

"While the US and Republic of Cyprus continue to expand our security partnership, our partnership cannot fully blossom without a parallel increase in public and private sector economic ties," Ambassador Garber said.

Pointing to several high-level Washington visitors to Cyprus over the past year, the ambassador added: "The United States and Republic of Cyprus, to an unprecedented degree, are working toward together for peace and stability in the eastern Mediterranean region and our security cooperation in particular has never been stronger. These engagements are truly a tangible sign of the enduring US interest in the East Mediterranean in general and the Republic of Cyprus in particular."

Through the conference, Cyprus is one of the first EU countries to move towards strengthening links with the US since Joe Biden clinched the US presidency. Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Christodoulides welcomed a recent MoU with the United States for cooperation in science and technology. "It is clear that Cyprus and the United States are two like-minded countries which aim to advance their partnership and act on common values for greater security, prosperity and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean," he said, "All these developments create many opportunities for further co-operation. There is considerable presence of US investors on the island in key sectors such as energy, financial services, shipping and higher education, which is solid proof of confidence in the Cyprus economy. At the same, there is a lot of untapped potential and further prospects which should be further explored. We are ready for this."

As part of a package of incentives to promote the island's economic recovery, investors can take advantage of attractive tax rates and a set of newly approved Cabinet incentives targeting the international high-tech industry. George Campanellas, Chief Executive of Invest Cyprus added: "Cyprus is well placed to capture a business community looking for a business-friendly jurisdiction in the EU, and this extends to the finance industry, while also catering to the needs of tech companies."



Invest Cyprus has introduced an one-stop shop for investment funds, private equity and family offices to support the landing of high value investments into projects that align with key government strategies for sectors such as healthcare, tourism and hospitality, education, technology and infrastructure projects.

Other speakers at the conference, Cyprus's Proposition as an EU Financial Services Center for US Companies, included representatives from EY Cyprus, PwC Cyprus, KPMG Cyprus, Deloitte, Kinanis LLC, Chrysostomides LLC and Alter Domus.

About Invest Cyprus

Invest Cyprus (Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency) is the investment authority of the Government of Cyprus dedicated to attracting and facilitating foreign direct investment into the country. Its mandate is to raise awareness of Cyprus as a destination for FDI across the globe, providing certainty around all aspects of operating a business in Cyprus and supporting potential investors in developing their business case for investment into the country.

Investcyprus.org.cy

For media enquiries, please contact Arilena Constantinou at [email protected] or +35722441133/ +35722460394

SOURCE Invest Cyprus
Four people died in an overnight fire at a hospital treating virus patients in Zaporizhzhia southeast of Kyiv.The victims were three patients and an anesthesiologist who died in the intensive care unit of the COVID-19 unit, according to officials.

All patients were on lung ventilation.The fire broke out on Thursday night in one of the resuscitation wards, located on the first floor of the hospital building of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Clinical Hospital.

There were 12 people in the ward, eight of them were saved.According to the Prosecutor General, the preliminary cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The CubeSmart that has been doing business in the former Macys building at Richmond Town Square now goes by the name of Life Storage and is in the process of getting signage approved to reflect its new moniker.

The citys Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously approved a request on the part of Life Storage to increase the size of signs allowed at the self-storage facility.

The installation of CubeSmart was the first development act undertaken by DealPoint Merrill at the mall. DealPoint Merrill, after renovating the former Macys for self-storage use, went on to acquire the northern end of the mall for the start of its planned Belle Oaks development.

DealPoint, of Woodland Hills, Calif., is now in the process of trying to purchase the rest of the mall. It has plans for a mixed-use redevelopment of the entire site that would cost more than $200 million.

DealPoint spent $8 million to purchase the former Macys in 2018 and convert it to CubeSmart, which is comprised of more than 1,100 storage units.

The signs, if City Council and the Architectural Review Board approve, will increase from the 150-square-foot sign CubeSmart has had to two signs that measure 212 square feet.

The issue was, they wanted a sign to be visible on both main streets, Wilson Mills and Richmond Road, said Building Commissioner Jim Urankar. And the variance was approved (by the BZA).

DealPoint Merrill continues to own the building and has merely changed its management from Cubesmart to Life Storage. Council learned of the planned sign change during an online Planning & Zoning Committee meeting held Tuesday (Feb. 2). The facility will operate as it has under its new name.

Urankar said DealPoint is also seeking a lot split for the self-storage property, possibly to create an outparcel for construction of a building in what is now the parking lot outside of Life Storage.

State auditor receives citys financial information

Councilwomen Cassandra Nelson and Kim Thomas, along with resident Patricia Ackerman, have questioned Mayor David Roche in recent meetings about the state auditors office not receiving financial reports from the city, which the auditors office stated in a letter could make Richmond Heights unauditable.

That situation has, apparently, been rectified.

The office of Ohio State Auditor Keith Faber wrote to Richmond Heights in September 2020 that his office had not received information requested in June of last year.

When questioned about the matter during the Jan. 12 City Council meeting, Roche said the citys financial situation has probably been better than its been in 15 years, and that Richmond Heights and the auditors office are on the same page when it came to the city providing the state with needed information.

During the council Audit Committee meeting held Tuesday (Feb. 2), Nelson, chairing the meeting, said she spoke with the auditor and that Fabers office had received the necessary Richmond Heights information on Jan. 24.

Its safe to say we will not be jeopardized or at risk for (being) unauditable, Nelson said.

My understanding is he (Faber) has all the information hes requested so far, Roche said. Roche also added that the term unauditable was not being properly used when it comes to Richmond Heights.

Im just saying were probably not going to be at risk for that (being unauditable), but we were at risk, initially, Nelson said, in reply to Roche. She then said, That was the right term, unauditable, because thats what he (Fabers office) used. So, thats the correct term.

Nelson said the state may ask for further financial information from Richmond Heights as it proceeds with its audit for fiscal year 2019.

Unsanitary conditions

Ward 2 Councilman Frank Lentine spoke during the Planning & Zoning Committee meeting about an appalling situation at the 444 Park apartments, 444 Highland Road. Lentine said an apartment tenant came to him with photos showing a fellow apartment resident, who has a dog, allowing that dog to defecate on their balcony.

After that starts piling up, instead of picking it properly and disposing of it, they kind of sweep it or shove it off the balcony, Lentine told Urankar, which, of course, doesnt make the people down below very happy.

Lentine said he told the apartment manager he would allow a few days for management to address the situation and, if nothing is done, he would report the matter to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health.

I have pictures, he said. Its absolutely terrible.

Its not just good for them (management) to go out there and clean it up, Lentine said. How people live and how they can think thats acceptable is beyond me. The poor lady whos on the ground floor. Its unbelievable. You have to see the pictures.

Lentine did not show the photos during the meeting.

Said Urankar: Most of us have had a dog in the back yard and see what a dog does to the entire back yard. I cant imagine being condensed on a balcony and it all ending up on the first floor.

Lentine also recalled a problem he had mentioned a couple of months ago in which a resident at the six-story 444 Park apartment complex threw a babys soiled diapers from an apartment balcony to the roof of an apartment garage below.

Sixty baby diapers were counted at one time, Lentine said. Again, this cannot be allowed.

Roche said the city investigated the diaper matter and said that he believes the responsible party has been evicted, although he isnt sure. Urankar said the building department will look into the recent matter involving the dog waste.

Read more from the Sun Messenger.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 00:43:25|Editor: huaxia

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JUBA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Wednesday announced a 14 million U.S. dollar grant for South Sudan to boost food security, value addition and trade in the country.

Benedict Sorie Kanu, AfDB Country Manager in South Sudan, said the five-year project will be implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

"We have completed signing 14 million U.S. dollars aimed at supporting the agricultural markets, value addition and trade development projects for South Sudan," Kanu told reporters in Juba.

Kanu said the project will create aggregation business opportunities for farmers and traders, including women and youth, and provide them with new skills and knowledge, and the agro-processing equipment they need to produce quality products.

He said the grant will boost the productivity and incomes of nearly 20,000 farming families in states of Central Equatoria, Jonglei, where formerly internally displaced persons have returned to their homelands. Enditem

On behalf of the Party, State, and people of Laos, Thongsalith Mangnomek, Secretary of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and Head of the LPRP Central Committee's Office; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Thongsavane Phomvihane; and Somdy Bounkhoun, deputy head of the LPRP Central Committee's Commission for External Affairs, congratulated the country on its landmark achievements over the last 91 years, especially the 35 years of Doi Moi (Renewal) under the CPVs leadership.

Against a backdrop of regional and global uncertainties, the Party, State, and people of Laos will make all possible efforts to maintain and further strengthen the great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive partnership between the two countries.

Congratulating Vietnam on the success of the 13th National Party Congress, the Lao officials expressed their confidence that the new CPV Central Committee will guide the country through the COVID-19 crisis, post more significant achievements, and fulfil the goals set by the congress.

Thanking the Lao officials, Charge d'affaires at the Vietnamese Embassy Trinh Thi Tam said all victories gained by the Party, State, and people of Vietnam have been due in no small part to support from Laos.

She pledged that the embassy will do its best to foster ties between the two countries ministries and agencies and nurture Vietnam-Laos relations.
An 81-year-old grandmother who stabbed her sick husband to death while he slept felt 'no regret' for framing two innocent men, a detective has told.

Audrey Hingston became one of the oldest women in Britain to be jailed in 2004 after meticulously plotting the murder of her husband Eric, 83, in their Plymouth home in 2003.

The pensioner had staged a burglary before stabbing the former pilot in the shoulder because she was 'fed up' of taking care of her husband - who was immobile after falling ill, having married him for 'companionship'.

In a convincing TV appeal begging for information on the death of her husband, Audrey blamed the crime on two local men she had seen walking around her Plympton village.

Former Detective Chief Inspector of Devon and Cornwall Police Tony Carney, who helped uncover the truth about the killing, told FEMAIL that Hingston was 'looking for public sympathy' after murdering her frail husband.

Audrey Hingston became one of the oldest women in Britain to be jailed at 81 after meticulously plotting the murder of her husband Eric, 83, in their Plymouth home in 2003. Pictured, Audrey at a press conference in 2003

He explained: 'She knew what she'd done but she was looking for public sympathy'.

Meanwhile he added that Audrey 'wasn't the kind of woman who had regrets'.

He said of Audrey: 'She's a little old lady, she's a very neat, sharp, little old lady. She's very two-faced, sneaky. She just didn't give off that image.'

Crime+Investigation series Murder at My Door with Kym Marsh, will re-examine the case of Audrey, who was sentenced to just two years in prison for manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.

The pensioner had staged a burglary before stabbing the former pilot and father-of-two (pictured) in the shoulder, because she was 'fed up' of taking care of her husband

Eric, a retired butcher who was a member of Winston Churchill's Special Operations Executive during World War Two, married Audrey in 1983 - just 18 months after the death of his first wife Gene.

After Audrey's husband had also died, of a heart attack, the pair entered into a 'platonic' marriage, with Eric's two children James and Sally worried about how quickly the relationship had progressed.

'The family thought they had married in haste,' said DCI Carney, 'they questioned the relationship.

'They [Eric and Audrey] said, yes, they were married - but it was a platonic relationship. They were more company for each other, more cohabiting than a married couple.

'Some of the family thought she was a very nice lady and others didn't like her at all. I think the general feeling in the family, certainly with James and Sally, was that Eric and Audrey had married too quickly.'

The former detective described Audrey as a 'petite' woman, who was 'always immaculate', adding that the pair had a thriving social life together and were known around the village as a 'typical old couple'.

Former Detective Chief Inspector of Devon and Cornwall Police Tony Carney, who helped uncover the truth about the killing, told FEMAIL that Hingston was 'looking for public sympathy'

In his later years, Eric became severely asthmatic, had a catheter and was recovering from a hip replacement, meaning Audrey became her husband's full-time carer.

The murder of Eric Hingston Audrey Hingston was jailed at the age of 81 in October 2004 for two years after stabbing her sick husband to death as he lay in bed. Audrey Hingston's plea of not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility was accepted by the Crown at Plymouth Crown Court. The court was told by prosecutor Martin Meeke QC that Hingston first put the blame for the killing of 83-year-old Eric Hingston on two burglars she said had broken into their flat in Underwood Road, Plympton, Devon, in August 2003. Then she claimed that her husband had committed suicide and she faked the burglary to cover up. Finally, after being charged with his murder, she confessed to her son when he visited her in custody. She told him: 'OK, I killed him. I'd had enough. I could not take any more of his illness and having to care for him.' Hingston was told by Mrs Justice Hallett it was a 'sad day' that a woman of her age and background was in the dock having confessed to killing her husband and covering her tracks in a 'calculated and convincing way'. 'Having covered your tracks, you sustained your account for some considerable time and considerable detail,' the judge said. What she did after killing her husband caused enormous distress to a lot of people and wasted a lot of police time, Hingston was told. The judge added it was 'wicked' to describe to the police as the burglars two men she knew. Advertisement

Tony said: 'When Eric was really ill, the car had to go and that sort of put a big stop on Audrey's social life.

'Plus the fact she had to look after Eric, he admitted at one stage that was getting her down and depressing her. '

Unable to cope with caring for her husband, in August 2003, the grandmother stabbed her husband in the shoulder with a seven-inch serrated knife from the kitchen at 1.45am.

She called an ambulance two hours later, saying: 'We have been attacked and my husband is on the floor. Please come quickly, I think he is dead.'

In order to fake the burglary, some of Audrey's own jewellery had been put into a black bin liner, drawers had been disturbed, a ladder placed outside and a window had been opened.

Recalling opening the door to Audrey, Tony said: 'She said she was tearful, she appeared to be in shock and kept saying her husband had been murdered, two men had broken into the house and ransacked it and killed Eric.'

Audrey had come up with a 'pre-meditated excuse', blaming the death on two local men she had seen walking through the village, who escaped arrest only because they had a cast iron alibi.

As police began to investigate the crime, Audrey attended a press conference where she pleaded with the public to provide any information they could about the two men she said had killed her husband.

In a news conference, Audrey said: 'Two men came into my home and ruined my life. My husband Eric did not deserve this.

'As a frail man, any resistance he put up could easily have been overcome by these two young men.'

Shortly after the conference, Audrey attempted to take her own life, leaving a suicide note that said she 'couldn't live' without her husband.

'She knew what she'd done but she was looking for public sympathy', said Tony, 'I think her later attempted suicide was a cry for sympathy.

'Whether she intended to kill herself, or whether she just wanted to make a show of things I don't know - but she was always looking for public sympathy.'

While Audrey was being cared for in hospital, social workers began to become suspicious of the pensioner, noticing she wasn't exhibiting normal signs of grief.

Eric, a retired butcher who was a member of Winston Churchill's Special Operations Executive during World War Two, married Audrey in 1983. Pictured, the family butchers Hingstons

'They came back to us and expressed some concern about her attitude,' said the detective.

'She wasn't expressing the regret, the remorse or sorrow they would have expected in someone suffering such a grievous loss.'

As Audrey was trying her best to gain public sympathy, police were beginning to suspect she had lied about her story, with no signs of forced entry anywhere in the property.

Forensics had found no fingerprints or glove prints on the drawers or wardrobe Audrey claimed had been ransacked, and police had recreated a break-in, proving it would have been impossible to climb into the bedroom without leaving evidence.

The pair lived in the quiet Plymouth village of Plympton, where they had a thriving social life before Eric fell ill

Recalling opening the door to Audrey, Carney said: 'She said she was tearful, she appeared to be in shock and kept saying her husband had been murdered'

'By this time we were beginning to think we should be looking at Audrey', said Tony.

'Searching through the house, we had searched the kitchen a few times, but we found a knife secreted by the side of the cutlery drawer that had got slight blood stains on it.

'That blood came back to be Eric's blood, so clearly we'd found the murder weapon. We thought, it's got to be Audrey'.

Once Audrey had been taken to the station it was her son Peter, a police officer, who convinced her to confess.

She told her son: 'OK, I killed him. I'd had enough. I could not take any more of his illness and having to care for him.'

Hingston served one year in prison before being released and dying in 2016.

Murder At My Door With Kym Marsh, airs on Monday at 9pm on Crime +Investigation.
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An Alabama legislative committee today put on hold a bill to repeal the states Habitual Felony Offender Act (HFOA), a law that gives repeat offenders longer prison sentences.

The bill, by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, would mean the HFOA would not apply to future convictions and would allow inmates already sentenced under the law a chance for a review for possible resentencing.

The bill was one of about 10 criminal justice reform bills considered today by the Alabama House Judiciary Committee. The committee approved the others, putting them in line for votes by the House of Representatives.

Legislators say criminal justice is a main topic this year because of Alabamas prison crisis. The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state in December, alleging unconstitutional conditions in Alabamas overcrowded, understaffed, and violent prisons.

One bill approved by the committee today would create a second parole board to reduce a backlog of prisoners eligible for parole who are waiting on hearings.

Some of the bills came from the work of a criminal justice study group appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey. Some were approved by the committee last year but did not become law because the COVID-19 pandemic cut short the session.

England said the HFOA has resulted in life without parole sentences for repeat drug offenders and people who never committed violent crimes. England said the law is part of an approach to criminal justice that has led to Alabamas overcrowded prisons.

Englands bill drew opposition from Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, who said it is important for judges to be able to punish repeat offenders more harshly that first-timers. For example, Simpson said the range of sentences for sexual abuse of a child would be 2 to 20 years for a first offense but would be increased to 10 years to life for a second offense.

I am all for rehabilitation, said Simpson, who worked as a prosecutor in the district attorneys offices in Baldwin and Mobile counties before his election to the House in 2018. I am all for making sure that somebody gets the opportunity to train and get a skill while theyre in prison, get the help they need while theyre in prison. But at the same time, if you commit the crime you commit, you should do some time behind bars.

I understand that were not doing what we need to do for the state of Alabama to take care of our inmates. However, the answer is not releasing all the prisoners from prison.

England said the example about sentences for sexual abuse of a child was misleading because those kind of crimes would result in long sentences even without the HFOA. England was a prosecutor in the Tuscaloosa County district attorneys office and for the city of Tuscaloosa.

England said the HFOA has resulted in long sentences for many offenders without justification and has not made the state safer from crime.

A series of drug offenses can land you in jail for life without parole. And interestingly enough, somebody that kills somebody in certain situations can get out before somebody who committed a series of nonviolent offenses, England said. Thats the illogical outcome sometimes of our habitual offender scenarios.

England said he believes some legislators would prefer to let federal courts order Alabama to make changes to its prisons than make tough decisions about sentencing reform.

Again, this is not about reducing sentences, or diminishing the impact of criminal activity on our society or our community, England said. What it is, its about fundamental fairness and making sure that we reserve the longest sentences for the most serious offenses, and not arbitrarily determining who gets life without parole and who doesnt.

Simpson said he believes sentencing changes passed by the Legislature in 2015 have already reduced the number of nonviolent offenders in prison.

If you look at our prison capacity right now, its not nonviolent offenders in prison, Simpson said. The makeup of the prison system has changed completely since that 2015 change. Its a lot more violent offenders, or people who are actually supposed to be in prison that are in prison right now.

England and Simpson argued about the bill during a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee. After several minutes of discussion, the committee voted to assign the bill to a subcommittee for more study.

While the bill HFOA stalled, the Judiciary Committee approved several other bills intended to change Alabamas sentencing laws and strengthen supervision programs that are alternatives to prison.

The committee approved several bills by Rep. Jim Hill, R-Moody, including the one to create a second parole board.

Other bills approved by the committee would:
The state parks agency plans a series of virtual and in-person events in the coming days to celebrate Black History Month.



Virtual events

 John Jay Homestead State Historic Site: A Zoom lecture on the history of enslavement in the colonial-era family, starting at 7 p.m. Feb. 24. Registration available at johnjayhomestead.org

 Olana State Historic Site, Hudson: A webinar on the life of 19th century African American and Ojibwe sculptor Mary Edmonia Lewis. Starting 6 p.m. Feb. 24. Requires paid membership in The Olana Partnership available at olana.org/membership.

 Jay Heritage Center: A Zoom lecture by Dr. Gretchen Sorin, director of Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies, on her new book, Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights.

 Clermont State Historic Site, Germantown: A Facebook Live event at 2 p.m. Feb. 20 hosted by comic artist Emily Ree on how the Red Scare of the 1950s led to blacklisting in the comic book industry, which at the time supported a diverse workforce of people of color and women.

Events and programs

 Clermont State Historic Site: A free walking tour at 2 p.m. Feb. 21 on the role of the Livingston family, as well as their enslaved people and tenants, during the Revolutionary War.

 Jones Beach Energy and Nature Center, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island: An exhibition of Black history posters will be displayed.

 Old Fort Niagara State Historic Site, Youngstown: A Feb. 6 tour highlighting African American military service at post. Contact eschrader@oldfortniagara.org.

Facebook posts

 Fort Montgomery State Historic Site: A glimpse into the life of Benjamin Lattimore, one of the few known African American soldiers to fight in this 1777 Revolutionary War battle in the Mohawk Valley.

 Fort Ontario State Historic Site: This post describes the World War II training of Harlem Hellfighters, the segregated African American 15th New York National Guard Regiment.

Also notable

Philipse Manor Hall Historic Site, a former colonial site in Westchester County, has been designated as the first state historic site dedicated to the 400-year experience of African Americans in New York. Displays at the site will be expanded to interpret the enslavement there, abolition efforts, the Great Migration and the civil rights movement.

The State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation blog also has recent posts on African American historical items, including the Dutch colonial-era African American holiday of Pinkster, 19th century abolitionist Sojourner Truth and her life in the Hudson Valley and the 19th century emancipation holiday of Juneteenth.
Just one week after making the decision to close its Union Square store, b8ta CEO Vibhu Norby announced via Twitter on Wednesday that the Hayes Valley store is now closed indefinitely as well due to a store manager having a gun pointed at him during a robbery.

"Our story is not exceptional," Norby said. "I think the city will say it's a b8ta-specific problem because we have a visible storefront and high-value merchandise, but everybodys witnessing this."

He said since his story has been covered in the media, other Hayes Valley merchants have reached out to share stories of their break-ins. Norby said he won't reopen the store until he sees a month free of break-ins on the block.

The Union Square b8ta store closed last week because there were three muggings on the street it is on this year. It doesnt matter how expensive it is, Norby told SFGATE in January. We cant send our employees into a store where theres even a 2% chance they get mugged.

Norby began expressing his frustrations on Twitter in January to get the attention of the city. A single thread details each incident, from a video of a man breaking the glass at the Hayes Valley store to steal items to a man entering the store in broad daylight to run out with a $2,200 Devialet speaker. Now, that thread includes his announcement that a store manager at the Hayes Valley store had a gun pulled on him and so he has decided to close the store.

It's with a heavy heart that we have made the decision to close our Hayes Valley SF store as well, indefinitely and immediately, the tweet reads. Our store manager had a gun pulled on him this afternoon and we were robbed. The team is shaken up but doing OK. (And yes, we had private security.)

While Norby said he was reluctant to hire private security for the store since it would cost 30% more than the stores monthly rent, he chose to do it anyway after the increase in incidents in January. "I thought [hiring private security] would work," he said. "In retrospect, it obviously doesn't because you're not going to ask someone to escalate the situation."

B8ta has stores around the globe, and Norby told SFGATE last month that the crime in San Francisco is unlike anything the company experiences elsewhere. This actually doesnt happen anywhere else in the country, he said. We have 17 other stores, including three internationally. This just doesnt happen anywhere else. Its only here.

When Jersey Shore began, Nicole Snooki Polizzis main goal was to find a juicehead gorilla to marry and have babies with. She ended up finding love with Jionni LaValle, who ironically she thought would be a one-night-stand. Here is the Jersey Shore couples official relationship timeline.

Nicole Snooki Polizzi and Jionni LaValle | Lizzy Snaps Sullivan

Snooki and Jionni LaValle met on Jersey Shore in 2010

Polizzi met LaValle at Karma, one of Jersey Shores hotspots.

We met at the club, Polizzi explained to Larry King. I hated him at first. I was just like, Oh hes cute, hell do for tonight.' Polizzi didnt think much of LaValle initially, but by the fall that same year, the two were officially an item.

Nicole Polizzi and Jionni LaValle started dating in October 2010

Despite her initial opinion of LaValle, the two started dating in the fall of 2010. LaValle certainly knew the way to Polizzis heart at that point, preparing her pickle pancakes as documented on Twitter.

Omg my boyfriend made me a pickle pancakeyeahhhh he's amazing! http://plixi.com/p/51458370  Nicole Polizzi (@snooki) October 18, 2010

The following year in September, Polizzi and LaValle hit a speedbump in their relationship.

Nicole Snooki Polizzi and Jionni LaValles Italy argument

As documented on Jersey Shore, Polizzi showed her vagina and boobs on the dance floor during their trip to Italy. Embarrassed, LaValle asked her to stop. Their drunken argument about the events of the night resulted in a breakup.

By February 2012, all seemed to be forgiven and the couple was back on track. Its meant to be! Polizzi told Us Weekly in February 2012. Were lucky to have found guys that we have found. By March, the couple got engaged.

Snooki and Jionni LaValle share big news in the spring of 2012

In March 2012, Polizzi shared some exciting news with Us Weekly. After a year and a half of dating, she was engaged to LaValle and 15 weeks pregnant.

I dont care what anybody else thinks, Polizzi told the outlet regarding her shift in priorities. As long as I know Im ready and hes ready.

We are not going to screw this up, LaValle added. The couple discovered they were pregnant shortly after New Years, at which point Polizzi had been drinking. Fortunately, their son was born healthy.

Polizzi filmed the final season of Jersey Shore while she was pregnant. LaValle joined her, and the two stayed in a separate house due to Polizzis condition.

The Jersey Shore family gets more guidos and guidettes in 2012 and 2014

The Jersey Shore couple welcomed their firstborn son, Lorenzo Dominic LaValle, in August 2012. Two years later in September 2014, Polizzi gave birth to her daughter, Giovanna Marie LaValle, just two months before their wedding.

Just twinnin with my home girl  pic.twitter.com/8gCgaeHd9m  Nicole Polizzi (@snooki) January 29, 2021

RELATED: HGTV: Nicole Snooki Polizzis New Hosting Gig

Polizzi and LaValle tied the knot on Nov. 29, 2014. Their Great Gatsby-themed wedding featured much of the Jersey Shore cast, minus Vinny Guadagnino and Mike The Situation Sorrentino, who had previously hooked up with Polizzi.

Nicole Snooki Polizzi defends Jionni LaValle regarding Ashley Madison claims in 2015

A few months after their wedding, LaValle was accused of using Ashley Madison, a site that helped people meet discreetly for affairs. When the companys data was hacked, LaValles email was allegedly discovered. Polizzi took to Instagram to defend her husband, who she called the most humble, respectful, and loyal person.

This morning when I got a call from my publicist that a story was going to be printed on my husband allegedly signing up on Ashley Madison, I laughed, Polizzi wrote. I really didnt even want to acknowledge this absurd story, but when my family is being bashed for no reason- mama bear is gonna say whats up. So no, my husband didnt sign up on that website to cheat on me.

Nicole Snooki Polizzi and Jionni LaValle return to reality TV

Before Jersey Shore: Family Vacation came to be, Polizzi and LaValle worked together on the FYI series Nicole & Jionnis Shore Flip. The couples home-renovation aired in February 2016 and took place in New Jersey, where they flipped shore properties.

Two years later, when MTV announced Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, only Polizzi agreed to be part of the series. Some fans thought there was trouble in their marriage, but LaValle announced: I am choosing to not be on TV because I simply do not like it.

Snooki and Jionni welcomed their third child in May 2019

Polizzi and LaValles second son, Angelo James LaValle, was born May 30, 2019.

My Saturday nights  pic.twitter.com/nrbW0mbjaO  Nicole Polizzi (@snooki) January 17, 2021

Its unclear whether the couple wants to have more children, but they seem very happy living out of the Jersey Shore spotlight as a family.
Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2021 5:07 pm

I want to publicly say thank you to the Centralia City Council members, especially Councilor Kelly Smith Johnston, who initiated the first meeting with our group and reached out to us after what I considered to be racist remarks by the chief of police during a city council meeting a few months back.

Johnston mentioned it during our first Zoom call (she was overwhelmed) and humbly and openly listened to our concerns. We all saw that she is sincerely passionate about the issues and wanted to make a difference. Even though the conversation might have been uncomfortable, she listened to each of our stories about how people of color and LGBTQ are being treated.

We saw and heard empathy.

As a result of her efforts, we have two more city council members, Rebecca Staebler and Cameron McGee, which we are very grateful for and appreciative of their time.

Truly Councilor Kelly Smith Johnston, we are blessed to have her working to address the issues of racism and increasing diversity, equity and inclusion to make Centralia and Lewis County a very welcoming and better place.

My hope is other towns such as Morton can follow the city of Centralia's lead by reaching out to Johnston, Rebecca Staebler and Cameron McGee. I am very humbled and appreciative of the three city council members who are working with us and the community to address the unfortunate and well overdue issues of racism against people of color, LGBTQ and multiracial children and parents.

I am hopeful for the progress and the hard work that the city of Centralia and the Centralia Police Department are making in a short time toward making Lewis County a better place for everyone and our future generations. Keep up the great job.

This is truly an example of a community coming together to work towards the same goals even though we might not agree, but we can compromise on projects. Just last year I felt as though our concerns and our voices were falling on deaf ears to officials, but Kelly Smith Johnston has proven that wrong, and I am appreciative of her.

It is a nice feeling knowing that there will be the light at the end of tunnel rather then darkness on the political side, and of course having a new administration in office that doesn't encourage racism, pledges equality for all regardless of who and has the first African American, Asian and female as vice president and talking about peace rather than Jan. 6 events is comforting.

The process being made with the city council and the community group would have not happened without everyone who has been involved. Thank you everyone. Together we can go further. Have a safe and healthy day.

Sarah Brown

Washington State Area Coordinator with Amnesty International
As demand for the coronavirus vaccine continues to dwarf Louisiana's available supply, a little-known group meeting out of public sight is advising Gov. John Bel Edwards and state officials in their decisions of who is eligible for the immunizations and who may be next in line.

The Vaccine Action Collaborative  established by the state Department of Health  holds monthly meetings to help prioritize the allocation of the initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to health department spokesperson Aly Neel.

Their work has shaped how and whom Louisiana is vaccinating, Neel said.

But the collaborative's meetings aren't advertised, and they don't appear to be open to the public.

+3 How Louisiana plans to redirect coronavirus vaccines from nursing homes as doses go unused Louisiana will claw back 15,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from a federal partnership aimed at immunizing people in nursing homes as the endea

The group is among similar advisory committees across several states that The Associated Press found is holding closed-door meetings that help sway critical decision-making about how the vaccines are steered and who gets the first shots.

Edwards has stressed that he makes the final decision on who is prioritized for Louisiana's limited vaccine supply, based on guidance from a panel of scientific experts advising the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Democratic governor's own public health advisers.

That list of advisers apparently includes the state's Vaccine Action Collaborative.

Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

As coronavirus variant gains ground in Louisiana, officials predict 'another spike in our future' Two additional cases of a more infectious variant of the coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom have been found in Louisiana and a

Neel said people from professional boards, members of academia, healthcare providers, first responders, community stakeholders and public health experts serve on the panel, selected by the state health department. She didn't provide a list of the member names.

In addition to informing decisions for vaccine eligibility, she said the collaborative's work groups plan for vaccine receipt, storage, distribution, dispensing and documentation."

While those type of advisory committee meetings are open to the public in at least 15 other states, the meetings in Louisiana were limited to members or others invited to see the work, Neel said. She didn't respond to questions about why the public was excluded from seeing the discussions, which could have widespread implications on how the state broadens eligibility for the vaccine as President Joe Biden's administration is promising increased doses to states and pharmacies.

Louisiana coronavirus: 1,230 confirmed cases, 46 deaths reported; 19,136 more recoveries The Louisiana Department of Health reported 1,230 more confirmed coronavirus cases and 46 more confirmed deaths in its noon update Wednesday.

The Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines in Louisiana currently are available to health care employees; EMS workers; firefighters; people with kidney failure; anyone aged 70 and older; people with disabilities over the age of 16 who receive community- or home-based services and their providers; and people who live and work at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

Nearly 900,000 of Louisianas 4.6 million residents are eligible to be immunized right now, under Edwards eligibility rules.

More than 384,000 people in the state have received at least their first dose of the two-dose immunization so far, with nearly 104,000 people getting both doses, according to the latest health department data. Louisiana ranked 15th among states Wednesday in the number of vaccine doses administered per capita, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
FP Trending

Realme X7 series that includes Realme X7 and Realme X7 Pro will debut today in India at 12.30 pm. The company has confirmed that the two smartphones are powered by the latest MediaTek Dimensity 5G chipsets. Going by the company post on Twitter, Realme X7 Pro and Realme X7 will feature a gradient finish with a 'Dare to Leap' motif on the back. It is also confirmed that both Realme X7 and Realme X7 Pro will come with 5G connectivity.

(Also Read: Realme X7 series launch LIVE: Expected to be powered by MediaTek Dimensity 5G chipsets)

Realme X7 series launch event: How to watch it live

The event will begin at 12.30 pm today. You can head to the company's social media handles or YouTube page to catch the livestream. You can also tap on the livestream link embedded below to catch the live updates.



Less than a day for us to unveil the Futuristic Smartphones and #XperienceTheFuture! Launching #realmeX7 & #realmeX7Pro at 12:30 PM, tomorrow across our official channels. Set your reminder here: https://t.co/oOmhQJ1k2Y pic.twitter.com/Es1WkfIsQG  realme (@realmemobiles) February 3, 2021

Realme X7, Realme X7 Pro expected specifications

The Realme X7 Pro might offer a 6.55-inch Full HD+ Samsung-made AMOLED panel with 120Hz and 240Hz touch sampling rate. The display is likely to be protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The Realme X7 is expected to sport a 6.4 inch Full HD+ AMOLED screen with a 60Hz refresh rate. It might also come protected by Corning Gorilla Glass.

Realme X7 Pro weighs around 184 grams and the Realme X7 weighs 175 grams. The devices are expected to come in at 8.5 mm and 8.1 mm thickness respectively.

Power-packed, yet slim!

Weighing only 184 gm, the #realmeX7Pro is Xtremely light, slim and designed for an amazing hand grip. #XperienceTheFuture at 12:30 PM, 4th February on our official channels. Head here: https://t.co/oOmhQJ1k2Y pic.twitter.com/lKqvxbyO4o  realme (@realmemobiles) February 1, 2021

The Realme X7 Pro might be powered by flagship-grade octa-core Dimensity 1000 Plus, while the Realme X7 is by the Dimensity 800U chipset. The Realme X7 is expected to be available in 6 GB RAM + 128 GB and 8 GB RAM + 128 GB configurations while the X7 Pro is likely to be available in 8 GB RAM + 128 GB and 8 GB RAM + 256 GB combo.

The Realme X7 Pro is expected to come with a primary 64 MP camera, and an 8 MP ultra-wide as well as a 2 MP macro lens. It might also feature a 2 MP retro portrait lens. The device might house a 32 MP single punch-hole selfie camera as well.

The Realme X7 is also expected to come with a 32 MP selfie camera and other features similar to the X7 Pro. However, it might not have a 2 MP retro portrait lens.
(Natural News) A new study suggests that the composition of gut microbiota could help predict COVID-19 severity. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) examined stool samples from COVID-19 patients and found that those who were critically ill had altered gut microbiomes. The researchers also identified a commensal bacterium called Enterococcus faecalis as a strong predictor of COVID-19 severity. E. faecalis is a symbiont with a potential to cause harm and has been associated with chronic inflammation in the gut.

The role of the gut microbiota in immune response

The human body is home to more than a trillion microorganisms. In fact, scientists have found that there are 10 times more bacterial cells in it than actual human cells. According to studies, commensal microbes begin inhabiting the human body at birth, with the majority staying in the intestine. More than 500 different species reside in the human gut, forming a microbial community often referred to as gut microbiota.

Gut microbiota influences a variety of functions that are crucial to good health, including nutrient absorption, energy production, nerve cell communication, mental development and immune response.

According to Ana Maldonado-Contreras, a microbiologist at UMMS, each microbial species in the human gut performs specialized tasks that are meant to help keep the body healthy. For instance, they help ensure that when a pathogen, such as a virus, invades the body, the immune system can mount a proper defense. Gut microbes do so by stimulating specialized immune cells to produce antiviral proteins that can help fight infections. At the same time, the gut microbiota regulates the intensity of the immune response to make sure it doesnt damage any part of the body.

In a 2010 study published in the journal PNAS, researchers investigated the gut microbiotas role in immune response following influenza virus infection. They found that gut microbial composition is critical in regulating the production of virus-specific immune cells and antibodies. In particular, they pinpointed bacteria that respond to the antibiotic neomycin as the main inducers of productive immune responses in the lungs. When these bacteria were present in the gut, they produced signals that prompted the production of pro-inflammatory proteins in response to the influenza virus. Interleukin (IL)-1B and IL-18 are signaling proteins that help facilitate viral clearance and promote cell-mediated immunity, respectively.

Predicting COVID-19 severity through the gut microbiome

In a study posted Jan. 6 in the preprint server medRxiv, Maldonado-Contreras and her colleagues at UMMS noted the need to identify biomarkers that can help predict clinical outcomes for patients with COVID-19 to determine who needs urgent treatment. Although most patients recover from the disease, some fall critically ill and succumb to it. Apart from comorbidities like cardiovascular disease or diabetes, researchers still have no clue which factors contribute to the striking differences in the clinical outcome of COVID-19 patients.

Maldonado-Contreras and her team hypothesized that an altered gut microbiome aggravates acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)  a fatal complication of COVID-19  in patients with other health conditions. A severe immune response called a cytokine storm is heavily implicated in the development of ARDS, and this uncontrolled inflammation is believed to be the main cause of lung injury, multiple organ failures and death in COVID-19 patients. (Related: Sufficient vitamin D levels can prevent severe COVID-19 outcomes, including death.)

To test their hypothesis, the researchers recruited hospitalized COVID-19 patients with severe and moderate symptoms. They collected stool and saliva samples for analysis in hopes of identifying microbiome markers that can predict whether a person is at risk of severe COVID-19 or not. The researchers found that the composition of a patients gut microbiota can predict his or her risk of developing severe COVID-19 respiratory symptoms with 92 percent accuracy. A patients oral microbiome, on the other hand, can only predict symptom severity with 84 percent accuracy.

The researchers also found that stool samples collected from patients with severe COVID-19 were enriched with E. faecalis, a commensal bacterium and opportunistic pathogen that can trigger inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This suggests that the bacterium is a reliable predictor of COVID-19 disease severity. E. faecalis can easily be collected from stool samples and grown in laboratories  thus, the researchers propose that COVID-19 patients be tested for this bacterium.

Enterococcus faecalis is already easily cultivable in clinical laboratories, as such we urge the medical community to include this bacterium as a robust predictor of COVID-19 severity when assessing risk stratification of patients in the clinic, the researchers wrote in their report.

For the latest coronavirus developments, visit Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

EcoWatch.com

FrontiersIn.org

ScientificAmerican.com

IntechOpen.com

PNAS.org

JVI.ASM.org

JImmunol.org

medRxiv.org

Journals.LWW.com
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
The prosecutor in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don has asked a court to sentence Anastasia Shevchenko, an activist with the Open Russia opposition group, to five years in prison for her involvement in the activities of an "undesirable organization."

Shevchenko's lawyer, Sergei Badamshin, said on Telegram that the prosecutor made the request during the trial on February 4.

The "undesirable organization" law, adopted in May 2015, was part of a series of regulations pushed by the Kremlin that squeezed many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations who received funding from foreign sources.

The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office declared Open Russia "undesirable in 2017.

In 2019, Human Rights Watch said those who support the group had come under "increasing pressure" from the authorities.

Shevchenko, who has been under house arrest since January 2019, is the first Russian charged with "repeated participation in the activities of an undesirable organization."

Previously, violations of this law were punished under administrative law. If convicted, Shevchenko could face up to six years in prison.

After she was initially arrested in January 2019, Shevchenko was allowed at the last minute to see her eldest daughter in the hospital shortly before she died.
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According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Smart Materials Market is accounted for $36.13 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $127.04 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 15.0% during the forecast period. Some of the key factors fueling the market are demand for sensors and actuators in consumer goods and electronics and aerospace & defense. However, absence of high-end expertise during designing, manufacturing, limited commercial viability of the devices coupled with lack of awareness among end users hampers the market growth of smart materials market.

Smart materials, called also intelligent or responsive materials, are designed materials that have one or more properties that can be significantly changed in a controlled fashion by external stimuli, such as stress, moisture, electric or magnetic fields, light, temperature, pH, or chemical compounds. Smart materials are the basis of many applications, including sensors and actuators, or artificial muscles, particularly as electro active polymers.

Based on Application, Transducers segment is constantly enhancing due to its properties A transducer is a device that converts energy from one form to another. Usually a transducer converts a signal in one form of energy to a signal in another. Transducers are often employed at the boundaries of automation, measurement, and control systems, where electrical signals are converted to and from other physical quantities.

By Geography, North America is anticipated to exhibit the considerable growth due to primarily owing to significant demand for smart actuators & motors in key industries such as automotive, consumer goods, and aerospace. in this region.

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 Smart Fluids

 Smart Hydrogels

 Smart Inorganic Polymers

 Temperature-Responsive Polymers

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End Users Covered:

 Aerospace

 Automotive

 Consumer Electronic

 Defense

 Healthcare

 Industrial

 Military

 Automobile

 Other End Users

Regions Covered:

 North America

o US

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 Europe

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o Rest of Europe

 Asia Pacific

o Japan

o China

o India

o Australia

o New Zealand

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Candice Riley (fourth from left), the mother of murdered 18 year old Ashanti Riley, was among those who came out to partake in a candlelight vigil in Arima tonight, offering prayers for the safe return of 22 year old Andrea Bharrat who was abducted last Friday.

The vigil and prayer service was organized by the Women's Arm of the United National Congress.

Photo Courtesy: Barataria/San Juan MP, Saddam Hosein.
Australian businesses will be encouraged to invest in plug-in hybrid and electric car fleets in an attempt to increase private uptake by flooding the second-hand market with new vehicle technologies at lower prices.

The Morrison government has ruled out offering taxpayer subsidies for the private uptake of plug-in hybrids and battery electric cars, arguing in its long-awaited strategy that subsidies would not represent value for money in efforts to drive down carbon emissions.

The Morrison government has ruled out subsidies for electric vehicles, and is prioritising transition of commercial fleets. Credit:Bloomberg

Energy Minister Angus Taylor will argue a fleet first strategy for new technology passenger vehicles is the smartest way to help Australias planned and managed transition to low-emission cars, while ensuring charging infrastructure and the national energy grid can support a switch.

Low-emissions vehicles are a key plank in the governments technology road map, which it will rely on if it is to meet both its Paris emission targets and a potential commitment to net zero by 2050.

PCA releases new 2021 US cement consumption forecast

04 February 2021

The Market Intelligence Group at the Portland Cement Association (PCA) recently released a webinar explaining adjustments to its winter cement consumption forecast.

Ed Sullivan, PCA's senior vice president and chief economist, predicted robust economic recovery accompanying a widespread vaccination rollout, which now may be delayed a full quarter or more. This assessment reflects PCAs knowledge of US vaccine supply. If this assessment is correct, slower-than-expected economic activity, construction and cement consumption may materialise in 2021 compared to the December forecast.

PCA Market Intelligence expects cement consumption will grow by nearly one per cent in 2021, fuelled largely by residential construction.

Nonresidential construction is expected to perform weakly and soft economic activity will add to state governments fiscal duress. Without new federal COVID-19 relief targeting state government, public cement could act as a drag on 2021 cement consumption growth.

Published under
I was honestly glad to ditch Google News and its extreme algorithm that only wants to tell me about things Ive already recently been reading about, but I didnt immediately find a great alternative and stuck to RSS feeds of my favourite sites.

There are many apps and services on my phone I would have to ditch and replace if I was going cold turkey on Google. I have 15 years of images in Google Photos and mountains of memos in Keep. Then theres 50GB of documents in Drive and a whole library of esoteric albums uploaded to YouTube Music that cant be found on subscription streaming apps. Apple and Microsoft combined could cover most of this, or theres an army of smaller services if you wanted to mix and match.

Microsofts browser and search engine are perfectly serviceable, and have evolved over the past few years from second-rate to almost identical to the Google offering . For example searching for a nearby cafe brought up all the context youd usually expect  contact info, reviews, photos, directions  its just that it was pulling from various other services rather than Google. Hitting the directions on mobile opened Apple Maps, which is fine. On desktop it opened Bing Maps, which is also fine but the platforms obviously dont talk to each other.

The biggest issue in cobbling together replacements for my Google-dominated digital life was that getting everything to work together in a useful way was much more difficult. Each and every Google product has at least one excellent competitor I could switch to (except for YouTube), but theres no rival company that has an entire comparable ecosystem.

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Probably the biggest interruption was the lack of Google Assistant and Home. Generally I can bark a reminder in any room and have it show up on my phone later at just the right time, rattle off items missing from my fridge and get them on my households shared shopping list, pull up music and videos with a phrase, or tool around with my Wi-Fi and lights. Doing it all without Google would likely require a hodgepodge of Siri, Apple HomeKit and Amazons Alexa, plus new hardware, the sum of which probably still wouldnt get me the kind of convenience Im used to.

And to bring it back to Search, Googles Nest smart speakers and displays are an example of devices that are practically inseparable from the service. I may not have been using them for the past few days, but I did witness my son ask, What do wasps eat? which prompted a result from the British Natural History Museum. I didnt ask him to take it up with Alexa, Siri or Microsofts Bing-powered Cortana to compare the results.

In summary, I survived a few days just fine, but began to feel the anxiety of much bigger changes that would be required if I was making it a full-time thing. Given the gap in many places between Google and its competitors, and the depth to which its claws have sunk into many households, its clear any change could make for quite an uncomfortable transition.
Washington, Feb 4 (UNI) US President Joe Biden signed a disaster declaration for the Navajo Indian Nation - a measure that increases federal aid for tribal efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the White House said in a press release.

"Federal funding is available to the Navajo Nation and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, for the entire Tribe impacted by COVID-19," the release said on Wednesday.

The Navajo Nation in the Southwestern United States suffers from some of the nations highest coronavirus infection and mortality rates, according to media reports.

A disaster declaration increases the amount of aid available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

UNI XC-GNK 0504
The mobile internet services were suspended in some districts of the state "to prevent any disturbance of peace and public order" amid a protest by farmers against three agricultural laws.

Haryana Government has extended the suspension of mobile internet services (2G/3G/4G/CDMA/GPRS), SMS services (only bulk SMS) and all dongle services etc. provided on mobile networks except the voice calls in two districts namely Sonipat and Jhajjar till 5 pm on February 5, the statement said. The order has been issued to prevent any disturbance of peace and public order in the jurisdiction of these districts of Haryana and shall be in force with immediate effect.

Any person who will be found guilty of violation of aforesaid order will be liable for legal action under relevant provisions, the order stated. While the mobile internet suspension was extended in 17 districts after putting these curbs initially in three districts by February 3, it remained in place only in five districts -- Kaithal, Jind, Rohtak, Sonipat and Jhajjar.

However, as mobile internet continues to remain suspended in Sonipat and Jhajjar, the two districts near protest sites of Singhu and Tikri borders, the restrictions in the remaining three districts have been lifted. The government's move to suspend mobile internet services in 17 districts earlier and later on keeping these suspended in a few places led to protests by farmers in the state.

Opposition parties had also condemned the curbs on mobile internet in some parts, saying the move would affect the students who were preparing to appear in final exams. On January 26, the state government had ordered suspension of mobile internet services in three districts near Delhi after violence broke out during the farmers' tractor parade in the national capital on Republic Day.

Also Read: US calls for dialogue to end farmers' protests; says farm reforms to improve efficiency
Sometimes the smallest stories get my attention.

An outbreak of measles -- mostly situated in the Harrisburg and Pecan Park area -- worried city health officials, according to a Page One story in the Feb. 4, 1939, Chronicle.

Another story reported on the sale of nearly 300 acres of land to the Smith and McDannald Oil Company. The land, the paper reported, was nearly 8 miles west of downtown Houston, near today's River Oaks apparently.

Other notable headlines include a standoff between the state and fruit truckers, the hunt for a cop killer and news out of Nazi Germany.

Click the image below to enlarge.

(Click to enlarge)
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - As coronavirus cases rose last spring and the federal government's supply of protective gear ran perilously low, an Arlington Air Force veteran said his business could help.

Robert Stewart Jr. told procurement officials he had millions of coveted N95 masks "on hand," waiting to be used. He was quickly given nearly $40 million in contracts from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Federal Emergency Management Agency.

But Stewart, 35, did not have the specialized masks and had no ability to get them, he admitted in Alexandria federal court Wednesday.

"Mr. Stewart sincerely believed he had the ability to . . . deliver the masks," defense attorney Robert Jenkins said. He said Stewart, who had never received a federal contract before, was led astray by an unnamed third party who had promised the goods and then failed to deliver.

"He clearly knew he was misrepresenting what was available to him at that moment," Jenkins said. "So then he started on a series of efforts, in desperation, to get the items in hand."

Some of those efforts were chronicled by a reporter for ProPublica, who joined Stewart on a fruitless cross-country private plane trip in search of the elusive mask supply.

"Awarding a $34.5 million contract to a small company without any supply chain experience," he told the reporter. "Why would you do that?"

The private plane, according to prosecutors, was paid for in part with $261,500 Stewart fraudulently obtained in coronavirus relief by inflating the number of employees his firm has. Stewart also admits he falsely claimed to be a decorated Marine, garnering over $73,000 in excess VA benefits.

Stewart's company, Federal Government Experts, is one of hundreds that received a lucrative federal contract related to the pandemic response despite a lack of appropriate experience in government contracting, according to congressional investigators. Jenkins said Stewart is cooperating in that investigation.

Stewart reached out to both VA and FEMA in early April, according to court records, and promised to deliver more than 6 million masks within two weeks. The VA offered to pay him $34.5 million, and FEMA $3.5 million, according to court papers. He then began asking for extensions, at one point sending officials photos he falsely claimed showed boxes of masks ready for delivery.

After several weeks went by and the masks were not delivered, both contracts were canceled. No money was lost on the contracts. But the fraud "undermined the government's ability to provide much needed [personal protective equipment] to the community, including to the front-line health-care workers serving our military veterans," Raj Parekh, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement.

At the time, thousands of veterans in VA hospitals had contracted covid-19, and there were not enough N95 masks for the health-care workers tending to them. In a December union survey, 40% of VA workers said they still faced shortages of protective gear.
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BEIRUT, Lebanon  A prominent Lebanese critic of the militant group Hezbollah was found dead on Thursday after being shot multiple times in what his friends called a political assassination.

Lokman Slim, 58, was a publisher and filmmaker who was among a small group of political activists from the countrys Shiite Muslim minority who openly criticized Hezbollah, a Shiite extremist group, for its violent role in the country and the wider Middle East.

Mr. Slims killing came at a time of multiple crises that have pushed Lebanon to the brink of collapse. Its political system is nearly paralyzed, its economy is in free-fall, and many of its people are still suffering the aftereffects of a huge explosion in the Beirut port in August that killed more than 200 people.

For weeks, Lebanon has been under total lockdown, with a 24-hour curfew aimed at slowing the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID
A workers compensation policy that encourages New Jerseys government employees to settle for lifelong medical coverage rather than cash benefits lets insurers off the hook at the expense of the public worker pension fund, an investigation released Thursday found.

The report from the state comptrollers office examined a 15-year old practice within the states Division of Workers Compensation that allows state, school and local government employees injured on the job to seek weekly benefits, a lump sum settlement or continuing medical coverage, in addition to an accidental disability pension.

When employees receive one of the cash settlements, their accidental disability pension benefits are reduced by that amount. But when an employee chooses a continuing medical monitoring settlement, their pension benefits are not reduced and the pension system bears the full brunt, according to the comptrollers report.

This allows insurance providers to avoid making payment for even the most severe, non-fatal injuries, it said.

State agencies should all be rowing in the same direction and not implementing or tolerating policies that expose the pension funds to costs that insurers already agreed to pay, acting Comptroller Kevin D. Walsh said in a statement accompanying the report.

The medical coverage policy has been a drain on New Jerseys pension funds for 15 years. It is a loophole that has cost taxpayers an incalculable sum of money and undermined the laws adopted by the Legislature.

The comptrollers office opened its investigation in response to a tip that employees receiving accidental disability pensions were permitted, and even encouraged to accept medical coverage over cash settlements.

That is in spite of prohibitions against employees receiving both a disability pension and workers compensation benefits for the same injury, according to the comptrollers office.

This arrangement benefits somewhat the employees who receive both lifelong medical coverage related to their injury and accidental disability benefits, but the real winners are the insurance providers who are absolved of paying out monetary settlements, it said.

All of the downsides of (the Division of Workers Compensations) use of medical monitoring settlements in the manner discussed in this report fall on the states pension funds and, ultimately, New Jerseys taxpayers, as financial obligations that would have been satisfied by insurance providers are placed on the pension funds, investigators said. Each dollar saved by an employer or its insurance provider is a dollar that much be paid by a pension fund.

As a result of this policy, between 2016 and 2019, at least 114 of the 728 public workers approved for accidental disability pensions also agreed to medical settlements, investigators found, noting the number could be higher.

The comptrollers office reviewed some of those settlements for employees who were permanently disabled and likely would have been awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in workers compensation  and reduced their accidental disability pension benefits by as much  but instead were allowed to accept continuing medical coverage settlements, according to the investigation.

The pension funds would have retained an incalculable, but no doubt substantial, amount of money if (the Division of Workers Compensation) had not adopted medical monitoring and coverage policies for petitioners who receive an ADP, not departed from a focus on weekly wages, not created a different process for dismissing claims, not waived the statute of limitations, and not created new rules for attorneys fees, it says.

Workers compensation is meant to replace an injured workers wages, investigators said. Someone with a temporary disability can receive 70% of their income for up to 400 weeks, while someone who suffers a permanent disability can receive 70% of their wages for at least 450 weeks.

The introduction of the continuing medical coverage settlement, which dates back to 2006, created a new form of benefit that disregards the focus on wage replacement and was outside the Division of Workers Compensations authority, the comptrollers office argued.

Even if it were well within DWCs discretion to create the medical monitoring settlement policies, using that discretion in a way that causes financial harm to the state and its pension funds and that relieves insurers of their financial obligations is wasteful and inadvisable, the report says.

In response to the investigations findings and recommendations, the Department of Labor agreed to reverse the policy that allows employees to accept medical monitoring and coverage settlements in cases where it only used to avoid the matching reduction in pension benefits, according to the report.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com.
The Ekiti State Government has said it would no longer sponsor pilgrimages to Mecca and Jerusalem.

The state Deputy Governor, Bisi Egbeyemi, who made the disclosure, said the development is in line with the federal government's decision to end sponsorship of pilgrims, thereby saving funds for development purposes.

A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Odunayo Ogunmola, quoted Egbeyemi as speaking when he hosted members of the state Muslim pilgrims Welfare Board.

The board members led by Babatunde Onipede, its chairman, were on a courtesy visit to the deputy governor's office which supervises the agency in the state.

In his remarks, Egebeyemi said the state no longer engages in sponsoring pilgrimages, adding that no allocation is made for it in the budget.

He asked those interested in visiting Mecca and Jerusalem for pilgrimage to seek private sponsorship.

"Both the federal government and the state government have said they will not spend their money on pilgrimages again and that is why there was no budgetary allocation to it," he said.

"Anybody wishing to perform his religious obligation of going to the holy land must do so with his own personal savings and that was what I told the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) when their executives made a similar request because we must be fair to all."

Egbeyemi said the board's demand for office furniture and utility vehicles are legitimate and would be looked into.

In his address, Onipede commended Fayemi and his deputy for the appointment of board members.

He said the board was not functioning as it ought to during the administration of Ayodele Fayose, former governor of Ekiti.

"It was not functioning as a Board during the Fayose administration; it was just lying fallow there and was not run like a Board," he said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is seeking information and aid from USA, UK, Canada, Denmark and Sweden in connection with its investigation in the Sikhs for Justice and Khalistani conspiracy case. MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava confirmed to CNN-News18 that such a request has gone to USA under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.

"We have issued a mutual legal assistance request to USA for investigation in the matter of Sikhs for Justice, Referendum 2020. And as per procedure, the request has been directly sent to the USA, Department of Justice, by concerned authorities," he said.

MHA officials confirmed that a similar exchange under MLAT is also happening with other countries where SFJ, Khalistan Tiger Force, Khalistan Zindabad Force and other bodies have been organising protests at Indian missions. "It is evident these protests are paid for. The presence of Khalistani terrorists like Pamma and Nijjar at some of these protests make it clear who is organising them. Since they are proscribed terrorists, we have asked authorities in UK, USA and Canada to take action," an NIA officer told CNN-News18.

On the question of Denmark and Sweden, the officer said the countries have been asked for information about crowdfunding website Gofundme.com. Several users have sought donations on the website in the name of Indian farmers. Photographs and videos from the farmer protest site have been shared to justify the cause. Though the NIA says its investigation is not connected to the farmer agitation, it suspects those raising funds are misusing the name of farmers and the funds may be used for "other purpose".

"We want to know the details about those who are raising money on such platforms," an officer said.

The NIA is investigating two separate cases related to Khalistani groups. The first connects to Referendum 2020 whereas the second FIR is about SFJ, KTF, BKI and other groups routing funds to India via NGOs to "spread disaffection against Indian state".

The chargesheet has been filed against 16 people including British, American and Canadian nationals in the Referendum 2020 case while summons have bene sent to 45 in connection with the funding case.

Liberia's Foreign Minister Ambassador Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr. has underscored the need for an urgent institutional reform at the AU, given the role the organization is expected to play in driving the vision of inclusive economic growth and development Africa.

Minister Kemayah said Africa need a commission that will transition to a high performing, efficient and effective organization that is able to deliver on agreed continental priorities, and attract and retain the best quality staff at all levels, noting that a strong accountability and performance based framework cannot be overly emphasized.

According to a Foreign Ministry release, Ambassador Kemayah made these remarks on Wednesday, February 3, 2021 at the 38th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union, via videoconference.

"Let me pay special tribute to the Chairperson of the AU, His Excellency Moussa Faki Mahammat for his keenness and dedication to the work of our Union, and for his intuitive leadership character which continues to keep the AU focused on its objectives in the face of daunting challenges.

"This session is taking place at a time of unprecedented collaboration between the AU Commission and Member States, as a result of a global COVID-19 Pandemic. This situation has led to uncertainty, Economic Meltdown, the impeding of Free Trade and Movement of persons on our continent and loss of lives among others. While it is true that Member States have acted swiftly to support their economies; nonetheless, these efforts have been constrained by falling revenues and limited fiscal space", the Liberian Foreign Minister indicated.

Ambassador Kemayah further explained that the Continent's resilience is being tested, stating that the Continent has come through much, and will definitely come through this crisis. But with stepped up support from ourselves and international partners, the Continent will be able to boost local containment effort and enjoy robust recovery during the 2021 period.

"I am pleased for the opportunity to address this distinguished Council as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Liberia. Let me recall the untiring efforts of the founders of the OAU, including my country, Liberia, and their commitment to build a united and integrated Africa. We are glad; that aspiration remains the motivation of the AU.

"Considering the importance of the items on our Agenda, we are quite convinced that they are all in line with our Roadmap - "Agenda 2063, the Africa we want. We would like to use this medium to assure you once again that our Government remains quite supportive, and will work cooperatively with other Member States with the view of ensuring that we come out with decisions that will positively impact our Continent", Ambassador Kemayah concluded.

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For her part, the Chairperson of the Executive Council of the African Union, Her Excellency Madam Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Africa welcomed the new Liberia's Foreign Affairs Minister Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr. to the council, noting that the Executive Council will consider the draft agenda and the draft decisions and declarations of the Assembly with appropriate recommendations for consideration by the Heads of State Assembly, scheduled to take place from 6-7 February 2021.

The Executive Council meeting brings together all the Ministers from the 55 African Union Member States, as well as AU officials.

For two days, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs/External Relations and other ministers or authorities duly designated will reconvene in close session to deliberate on the different items on their agenda including the consideration of the report of the Permanent Representatives' Committee (PRC); Annual Report on the Activities of the Union and its Organs for the period of January to December 2020; consideration of the report on the African Union Response on COVID-19 pandemic in Africa; consideration of the progress report on the operationalization of the African Inclusive Market Excellence Centre (AIMEC); the report on the second mid-year coordination meeting, held on 22 October 2020, as well as elections and appointments of the AUC leadership.
For a start, STB has collaborated with Bang Lang who was a Vietnamese model and actress and is now living in Singapore. She has provided a lens of what life is like amidst COVID-19 through a three-part lifestyle video series released between January and March.

This campaign is a new initiative titled SingapoReimagine that has just been launched by the STB to reimagine travel for Singapore and the rest of the world, by sparking conversations, stories, and ideas to collectively shape the future of the tourism sector.



STB will bring the SingaporeReimagine to Vietnamese visitors through a series of on-ground activities over the course of the year.

Additionally, a series of forums called Reimagine Travel - Global Conversations will be held in countries around the world to catalyze discussions on how to reshape global travel.

For MICE (Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions), SingapoReimagine will be used as a platform to step up marketing Singapore as a destination known for Safety, Innovation, and Trust. This is to rebuild short to mid-term consideration of Singapore among MICE event planners and business travellers in Vietnam, through digital and social channels, as well as increased business development efforts.

Ms. Sherleen Seah, Area Director of STB in Vietnam, shared that, Vietnam is an important market to Singapores tourism industry, with close to 600,000 Vietnamese tourists visiting our country in 2019  ranking 11th in total arrivals to Singapore. While travel has been challenging due to the pandemic, SingapoReimagine is a demonstration of our ongoing efforts to maintain Singapores position as top-of-mind destination to Vietnamese leisure and business travelers. We hope that through SingapoReimagine, our Vietnamese audience can experience and enjoy Singapore from afar and reimagine what the future of travel will look like, until international travel is possible again.

STB Chief Executive Mr Keith Tan said, COVID-19 is the biggest crisis we have ever faced in travel and tourism. But it also offers us an opportunity to reset and revive our industries in ways that we never imagined was possible a year ago. The journey to reimagine travel has already started in Singapore, and we want to continue this journey with those whose voices matter  our community in Singapore, and our partners here and around the world. We look forward to co-creating ideas and strategies with all of them, to make travel better.





By Kim Khanh

The US on Wednesday said that it is deeply disturbed by news reports of systemic rape and other sexual abuses of women in camps in Chinas Xinjiang region where Uighur Muslims are kept.

The remarks by US followed a report by BBC on Wednesday that said rape, sexual abuse and torture was rampant in Xinjiang camps which China claims are vocational training centres.

The report was based on testimonies of former detainees and a guard who revealed that there was an organised system of mass rape, sexual abuse and torture in these camps.

We are deeply disturbed by reports, including first-hand testimony, of systematic rape and sexual abuse against women in internment camps for ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, said a US state department spokesperson.

These atrocities shock the conscience and must be met with serious consequences, said the spokesperson while calling for immediate and independent investigations by international observers into the rape allegations.

In an interview with MSNBC, USs secretary of state, Antony J Blinken, while replying to a query about the challenge from China, said: theres no doubt that China poses the most significant challenge to us of any other country, but its a complicated one  we have to be able to approach China from a position of strength, not weakness.

And that strength, I think, comes from having strong alliances, something China does not have; actually engaging in the world and showing up in these international institutions, because when we pull back, China fills in and then theyre the ones writing the rules and setting the norms of these institutions; standing up for our values when China is challenging them, including in Xinjiang against the Uyghurs or democracy in Hong Kong, Mr Blinken said.

China, however, dismissed the allegations and said the BBC report on alleged abuses of women's rights in Xinjiang has no factual basis at all. It said that this is not the first time that BBC has made "false reports" on Xinjiang even though each time Beijing has refuted these claims.

Chinas foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, stressed that they have published eight Xinjiang-related white papers, and the government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has held more than 20 press conferences, showing with detailed figures and examples that people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang live in peace and contentment, unity and harmony and that all their legal rights are effectively guaranteed.

He highlighted that in recent years, more than 1,200 diplomats, journalists and representatives of religious groups from more than100 countries have visited Xinjiang  they witnessed with their own eyes the unity, harmony, joy and peace of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.

Australia foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, also demanded an independent investigation.

She said that Australia has been consistent in raising significant concerns with the human rights abuses in Xinjiang. These latest reports of systematic torture and abuse of women are deeply disturbing and raise serious questions regarding the treatment of Uighurs and other religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, she said.


Elon Musk's competitors claim that SpaceX's subsidy should not be funded. They reiterated that the space company's broadband-from-space is still completely unproven technology.

According to Bloomberg's latest report, critics currently pressure the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Rivals from rural service providers said that the planned $886 million subsidies to the popular tech CEO's SpaceX's project, which focuses on sending broadband satellites to space to provide internet connections to underserved areas, should be denied.

The Star also reported that SpaceX already began the service and started launching satellites into space even before won a competition for the finds. Around 1,000 Starlink spaceships were launched to provide internet service to test subscribers.

Why Broadband-From-Space is criticized?

SpaceX claimed that its latest system is positioned properly and uniquely to offer high-quality broadband service to the hardest-to-reach rural areas in the United States. Although this is the case, there are still some experts that criticize the latest innovation.

Also Read: SpaceX SN9 Starship Test Launch Ends Badly with Crash Erupting in Flames! Is the Mars Rocket Far from Missions?

Elon Musk's rivals claimed that it was being built without the aid and isn't limited to rural areas. If this is true, rural areas would still have a hard time connecting to the internet since cities and other well-developed areas will share the connection.

"SpaceX's broadband-from-orbit is a completely unproven technology," said Jim Matheson, chief executive officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, via Bloomberg.

"Why use that money for a science experiment?" he added.

Possible conference to take place

Critics, including Matheson, said that they are planning to conduct a press conference regarding Elon Musk's broadband-from-space project. However, SpaceX hasn't released any statements yet regarding the issue.

Previously, Elon Musk's space company was approved for its plan to send internet connection service to 642,925 locations in 35 states. But, consumer advocates claim that these areas are parts of New York City and airports in Miami and Newark. To simplify it, these locations are allegedly not hardest-to-reach rural areas.

For more news updates about Elon Musk and his new projects, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Mars 2035: NASA Considering Using Nuclear-Powered Rockets to Shorten Travel Time to 3 Months

This article is owned by TechTimes.

Written by: Giuliano de Leon.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Security personnel stand guard at the headquarters of the CCP's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in Beijing, China, on Feb. 10, 2018. (Jason Lee/Reuters)

More Than 5,000 Regional Party Leaders Taken Down in 2020

The official website of the CCPs Central Commission for Discipline Inspection issued a document on Feb. 2, stating that 5,836 top leaders at or above the county and department level were investigated last year.

At the Chinese Communist Partys (CCPs) recent Politburo meeting, party leader Xi Jinping emphasized the need to strengthen central supervision of key party officials across all levels of the government, but particularly top regional leaders who wield power and influence in their regions.

Xi himself emphasized during the CCPs Politburo meeting on Jan. 28 what he said was the partys central inspection and anti-corruption work, saying that the efforts should be thorough and focused on enforcing the supervision of top officials across all levels of government, but especially at top levels.

Political analysts told The Epoch Times that the extra attention now falling on regional leaders is designed to deter them from challenging Xis leadership and intimidate them before the CCPs 20th National Congress, which is scheduled for the second half of 2022.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and premier Li Keqiang arrived at the closing session of the partys rubber stamp legislatures congress in Beijing, China, on May 28, 2020. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Li Hengqing, a scholar at the Washington Institute for Information and Strategy, told The Epoch Times that in the lead up to the 20th National Congress, 2022 will be a life-and-death battle for Xi Jinping.

Either he may be able to achieve his lifetime president statue or it may be his Waterloo, Li said.

Xi therefore must, at this current time, strengthen his supervision of the top leaders of municipalities, autonomous regions, ministries, and political and commercial enterprises, he said.

China affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan told The Epoch Times that Xis emphasis on strengthening supervision of top leaders is mainly to prevent these individuals from blocking his re-election next year during the National Congress.

He said that Xi will now be strictly monitoring top leaders in the party to prevent them strengthening opposing factions against him.
Moscow, Feb 5 : Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a telephonic conversation on Thursday to discuss existing problems and the prospect of cooperation between the two countries.

Lavrov congratulated Blinken on assuming office and expressed his readiness for constructive dialogue on a wide range of topics, according to a press release by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Xinhua news agency reported.

The top diplomats welcomed the extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty to 2026, which will help improve the overall situation in the field of international security and strategic stability, it said.

They touched upon the issue of ensuring predictability in the field of arms control since the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Treaty on Open Skies have collapsed.

Lavrov and Blinken discussed assistance to a peaceful settlement in Syria and Libya, as well as the situation in Ukraine.

Lavrov reminded Blinken of Moscow's earlier proposals on the adoption of joint Russian-US statements on the inadmissibility of a nuclear war and on non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

As for the case with Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Lavrov gave detailed explanations about the need to respect Russia's legislation and judicial system.

He in turn asked Blinken to ensure the transparency of judicial procedures when US authorities deal with protesters in connection with the results of the recent presidential election.

Lavrov confirmed that the Russian side is open for joint work to normalize the entire range of bilateral relations, including the re-functioning of Russian and US diplomatic missions, while Blinken showed readiness to organize dialogue of experts on these issues.

Both spoke in favor of establishing cooperation in the fight against coronavirus infections, including partnership in the development and improvement of vaccines.
The global business consulting firm McKinsey & Company has agreed to a $573million settlement over its role in advising companies on how to 'supercharge' opioid sales amid an overdose crisis, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The proposed settlement comes just months after the Justice Department announced that it had reached an $8billion settlement with McKinsey's former client, Purdue Pharma, the company that makes OxyContin.

As part of the deal, Purdue Pharma agreed to plead guilty to three federal criminal charges for its alleged role in fueling America's opioid epidemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 450,000 Americans in the last decade.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the McKinsey deal ahead of Thursday's planned announcement and filings in courts in 47 states, the District of Columbia and five US territories.

McKinsey did not immediately respond to a call or email from the AP Wednesday night.

Without naming McKinsey, the attorneys general in at least North Carolina and West Virginia have scheduled announcements for Thursday morning regarding the opioid crisis.

And Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement that the state would file a consent decree on Thursday involving McKinsey 'that will result in corporate reforms and more than $13million to Washington state for opioid treatment, prevention and recovery efforts.'

OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vermont are seen on the left. The global business consulting firm McKinsey & Company has agreed to a $573 million settlement over its role in the opioid crisis, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. An announcement is expected on Thursday

In December, McKinsey vowed to conduct a full internal review of its actions, which includes allegations that two senior partners, Martin Elling (above) and Dr. Arnab Ghatak, sought to delete records related to Purdue

McKinsey, considered one of the world's most prestigious consulting firms, published a statement to its website in December acknowledging that its work with Purdue fell short of its own standards

Ferguson said that was separate from the multistate deal.

Most of the money in the national settlement, which was first reported by The New York Times, would be sent to the states in less than a year, and would be used to abate the national overdose crisis.

Prescription opioids and illegal ones such as heroin and illicit fentanyl combined have been linked to the deaths of more than 470,000 Americans since 2000.

And the epidemic has deepened amid the coronavirus pandemic.

State and local governments have been filing lawsuits over the past few years against companies that make and sell prescription opioids for their role in the crisis.

But going after a consulting firm is a new wrinkle in the litigation.

McKinsey provided documents used in legal proceedings regarding Purdue Pharma, including some that describe its efforts to help the company try to 'supercharge' opioid sales in 2013, as reaction to the overdose crisis was taking a toll on prescribing.

Numbers of opioid overdose deaths have soared since OxyContin hit the market in 1996, from just 3,442 in 1999 to 17,029 in 2017, official figures show

As part of the discussions, McKinsey reportedly proposed Purdue paying distributors rebates for overdoses linked to the pills they sold.

A spokesperson for McKinsey told The New York Times that the suggested rebates were not intended to enhance sales.

Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have called for McKinsey to be investigated, and a prominent physician employed by the firm said executives who were aware of this work should resign.

Documents made public in Purdue proceedings last year include include emails among McKinsey.

One from 2008, a year after the company first pleaded guilty to opioid-related crimes, says board members, including a Sackler family member, '"blessed" him to do whatever he thinks is necessary to "save the business".'

Purdue is in bankruptcy court to try to settle lawsuits against it.

The company has proposed a settlement that could be worth $10billion over time.

The company last year also pleaded guilty to criminal charges in part of a settlement with the federal government.

HOW IS OXYCONTIN IMPLICATED IN THE US OPIOID CRISIS? OxyContin is a prescription painkiller produced and sold by Purdue Pharma. The drug is strong, addictive and was linked to thousands of overdose deaths in 2017. Since OxyContin, a time-released opioid, was introduced in 1996, addiction and overdoses have surged. In both 2017 and 2018, opioids were involved in more than 47,000 deaths, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1999, by comparison, there were fewer than 4,000 opioid overdose deaths. Purdue's drugs are just a slice of the opioids prescribed, but critics assign a lot of the blame to the company because it developed both the drug and an aggressive marketing strategy. Advertisement

Both Purdue and members of the Sackler family who own the firm each agreed to pay $225million to the US government as part of the deal.

The Department of Justice said that the $225million that will be paid out directly by the Sackler family is for the alleged conduct of board members Dr Richard Sackler, David Sackler, Mortimer D.A. Sackler, Dr Kathe Sackler, and Jonathan Sackler.

A group of the largest drug distribution companies plus drug maker Johnson & Johnson have also been working on a national settlement.

In early December, McKinsey apologized for its work with Purdue Pharma amid mounting criticism about the firm's role in the opioid crisis.

McKinsey, considered the world's most prestigious consulting firm, published a statement to its website on December 5 acknowledging that its work with Purdue fell short of its own standards.

The company also vowed to conduct a full internal review 'of the work in question', including allegations that two senior partners, Martin Elling and Dr. Arnab Ghatak, sought to delete records related to the drug maker.

'As we look back at our client service during the opioid crisis, we recognize that we did not adequately acknowledge the epidemic unfolding in our communities or the terrible impact of opioid abuse and addiction on millions of families across the country,' McKinsey's statement read.

'We have been undertaking a full review of the work in question, including into the 2018 email exchange which referenced potential deletion of documents. We continue to cooperate fully with authorities investigating these matters.'

Part of the controversy stems from allegations two senior partners are the firm, Elling and Ghatak, reportedly discussed whether to purge records pertaining to Purdue in 2018 after Massachusetts filed a lawsuit against the drug firm.

'It probably makes sense to have a quick conversation with the risk committee to see if we should be doing anything [other than] eliminating all our documents and emails,' Elling reportedly wrote to Ghatakin an email. 'Suspect not but as things get tougher there someone might turn to us.'

Ghatak allegedly replied: 'Thanks for the heads up. Will do.'

Both men had previously advised Purdue. It's currently unclear whether any documents were actually destroyed.

McKinsey's apologetic statement is said to be a rare move for the firm, which seldom acknowledges its mishaps and has never before accepted responsibility in helping Purdue to sell more opioids, according to The New York Times.

'Our work with Purdue was designed to support the legal prescription and use of opioids for patients with legitimate medical needs, and any suggestion that our work sought to increase overdoses or misuse and worsen a public health crisis is wrong,' McKinsey's statement read.

'That said, we recognize that we have a responsibility to take into account the broader context and implications of the work that we do. Our work for Purdue fell short of that standard.'

Between 1999 and 2019, nearly 450,000 Americans died from overdoses involving opioids, according to the CDC.

In October, then-United States Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen announced an $8billion settlement in which Purdue Pharma agreed to plead guilty to three federal charges in connection with its alleged role in fueling the opioid crisis

The latest disclosures regarding McKinsey and Purdue have reportedly caused a number of current and former employees of the consultancy firm to speak out.

The Sackler family was once listed among the nation's wealthiest by Forbes magazine.

OxyContin was developed by Purdue and hit the shelves back in 2006.

The powerful prescription painkiller promised 12 hours of 'smooth and sustained pain control', diminished presence of 'common opioid-related side effects', and 'improved patients' quality of life, mood, and sleep', according to a press release at the time.

It was marketed as being less addictive and safer than morphine, leading it to be widely subscribed.

Opoiod addiction soon swept the nation with people crushing the tablets and snorting or injecting them after becoming hooked on the highly addictive drug.

Users often turn to cheaper options such as street heroin once hooked.

In 2007, an affiliate of Purdue - Purdue (Frederick) - and three of Purdue's executives pleaded guilty to 'misbranding' Oxycontin - by saying it wasn't addictive.

Purdue's top lawyer Howard Udell, former medical director Paul Goldenheim, and then-president Michael Friedman were sentenced to probation agreed to pay fines in addition to the $600million in fines and other payments made by Purdue Frederick for their actions.

At the time this was one of the largest pharmaceutical settlements in American history.

Purdue introduced an abuse-deterrent form of the drug in 2010 but it continued to be pushed aggressively to doctors, with the drug reaching peak sales of $3billion that year.

In 2018, more than 200 states, cities, and counties filed lawsuits against the company for the impact OxyContin has had on their communities.

A 2019 court filing said they had made up to $13billion over the years from the blockbuster drug, though a lawyer said they brought in far less after taxes and reinvestment in the company.

Purdue applied for bankruptcy status in September after approaching a settlement worth $12billion with local governments across the US.

The company is facing around 2,600 separate lawsuits over drug users' deaths.

Until recently, the family's name was on museum galleries and educational programs around the world because of gifts from family members.

But under pressure from activists, institutions from the Louvre in Paris to Tufts University in Massachusetts have dissociated themselves from the family in the last few years.

As the maker of the best-known prescription opioid, Purdue is the highest-profile player in the opioid crisis, but it's far from the only one.

Criticism of McKinsey has escalated in recent months after a report claimed the company had advised members of the Sackler family, Purdues billionaire owners, on ways to 'supercharge' sales of its highly-addictive drug, OxyContin (Pictured above is some of the Sackler family in 2014: Dr Richard Sackler, standing second from left and Jonathan Sackler standing second from right. Seated is Raymond and Beverly Sackler)

Trials against other drugmakers and distributors that were scheduled for this year have been pushed back due to the coronavirus.

Purdue Pharma's deal last fall with the federal government requires the Connecticut-based company to plead guilty to three counts including conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating federal anti-kickback laws.

The anti-kickback violation relates to a 2015 deal worth almost $1 million that the pharma giant made with electronic health record company Practice Fusion to send alerts to doctors recommending prescribing opioiods including Oxycontin to patients in order to increase prescriptions of the drugs.

The deal does not release any of the company's executives or owners - including members of the Sackler family - from criminal liability and a criminal investigation is still ongoing.

However, if the bankruptcy court approves the resolution, the Sackler family will lose any stake in the pharma giant and the company will be dissolved as it currently stands, with its assets re-purposed into a public company instead.

The settlement is the highest-profile display yet of the federal government seeking to hold a major drugmaker responsible for the opioid addiction and overdose crisis.

It resolves allegations that, in 2012, those Sackler family members knew the legitimate market for Purdue's opioids had contracted but requested executives recapture lost sales and increase the company's share of the opioid market.

The family members then approved a new marketing program in 2013 called 'Evolve to Excellence,' where sales reps for the company upped their marketing of OxyContin to high-volume prescribers who were already writing '25 times as many OxyContin scripts' as their peers, said the DOJ.

The Justice Department said this led to healthcare providers prescribing the highly-addictive drugs for uses that were unsafe, ineffective, and medically unnecessary, and that often led to abuse and diversion.

In addition to that forfeiture, Purdue also faces a $3.54billion criminal fine, though that money probably will not be fully collected because it will be taken through a bankruptcy, which includes a large number of other creditors.

Purdue will also agree to $2.8billion in damages to resolve its civil liability.

This relates to allegations that from 2010 to 2018, Purdue caused false claims to be submitted to federal health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.

In response to questions from a House oversight panel in December, David Sackler (left), who served on Purdue's board from 2012 to 2018, testified that neither he, nor others, anticipated vast litigation that now totals roughly 2,600 legal actions. David's cousin Kathe Sackler (right) also testified before the panel and acknowledged her family's role in the opioid crisis while saying that she wouldn't have done anything differently in retrospect

Purdue will also be dissolved and transformed into a public benefit company, meaning it would be governed by a trust that has to balance the trust's interests against those of the American public and public health, the officials said.

The Sacklers would not be involved in the new company and part of the money from the settlement would go to aid in medically assisted treatment and other drug programs to combat the opioid epidemic, the officials said.

That arrangement mirrors a key element of the company's proposal to settle about 2,600 lawsuits filed by state, local and Native American tribal governments.

As part of the plea deal, the company admits it violated federal law and 'knowingly and intentionally conspired and agreed with others to aid and abet' the dispensing of medication from doctors 'without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice,' according to a copy of the plea agreement obtained by the AP.

The company is also required to cooperate with the ongoing federal investigation and potential other prosecutions.

The Raymond and Mortimer Sackler sides of the family that served on Purdue's Board said in a statement to DailyMail.com that they had acted 'ethically and lawfully' during their tenure at the company.

'Members of the Sackler family who served on Purdue's board of directors acted ethically and lawfully, and the upcoming release of company documents will prove that fact in detail. This history of Purdue will also demonstrate that all financial distributions were proper,' they said.

'As members of the board, we adopted rigorous policies requiring Purdue to be in full compliance with the law.

'The board relied on repeated and consistent assurances from Purdue's management team that the company was meeting all legal requirements, as shown in hundreds of pages of compliance reports that will become part of the public record.'

The family added that the deal was reached with the DOJ to 'facilitate a global resolution' and that the family had 'deep compassion' for sufferers in the opioid crisis.

'We reached today's agreement in order to facilitate a global resolution that directs substantial funding to communities in need, rather than to years of legal proceedings,' the statement read.

'This proposed resolution includes relinquishing our ownership of Purdue and has been valued at $10-$12 billion - more than double all Purdue profits the Sackler family retained since the introduction of OxyContin.

'States and cities representing more than half the US population support this impactful plan. We have deep compassion for people who suffer from opioid addiction and abuse and hope the proposal will be implemented as swiftly as possible to help address their critical needs.

'Regarding the plea agreement between the government and Purdue, no member of the Sackler family was involved in that conduct or served in a management role at Purdue during that time period.'

New York Attorney General Letitia James also commented on the DOJ announcement slamming the deal for letting 'billionaires to keep their billions without any accounting for how much they really made'.

'While our country continues to recover from the pain and destruction left by the Sacklers' greed, this family has attempted to evade responsibility and lowball the millions of victims of the opioid crisis,' she said in a statement.

In a March 2007 email with relatives, Jonathan Sackler (pictured), at the time a director, cited 'ongoing risks' two months before a Purdue affiliate pleaded guilty to misbranding OxyContin, adding that 'if there's a future perception that Purdue has screwed up on compliance, we could get murdered'

'Today's deal doesn't account for the hundreds of thousands of deaths or millions of addictions caused by Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family.

'Instead, it allows billionaires to keep their billions without any accounting for how much they really made. From the beginning, we've aimed to unearth how much the Sacklers actually profited and how much they continue to hide away.

'While no amount of money can ever compensate the pain that so many now know, we will continue to litigate our case through the courts to secure every cent we can to limit future opioid addictions.'

Members of the Sackler family have long denied that the $10.7billion they transferred from their company over the course of a decade was an unlawful attempt to shield assets in anticipation of litigation over their role in the opioid crisis.

But a review of emails, memos, depositions, legal motions and other documents unsealed in December in Purdue's bankruptcy proceedings show Sackler family members discussed potential litigation exposure at least as early as 2007, a full decade before they faced a new wide-ranging legal attack and significant financial transfers stopped.

Purdue faced investigations and litigation before 2007, which it settled.

Whether creditors can demonstrate that financial transfers since then were legally dubious hinges in part on whether they can show that the Sacklers knew they faced additional and significant litigation that could threaten Purdue's solvency and the family's wealth, estimated in December at $10.8billion by Forbes magazine.

In response to questions from a House oversight panel two months ago, David Sackler, who served on Purdue's board from 2012 to 2018, testified that neither he, nor others, anticipated vast litigation that now totals roughly 3,000 legal actions.

'I don't believe anyone knew that lawsuits that really began in earnest in 2017 would be coming back in 2008,' he told lawmakers.

But in a March 2007 email with relatives, his uncle, Jonathan, at the time a director, cited 'ongoing risks' two months before a Purdue affiliate pleaded guilty to misbranding OxyContin, adding that 'if there's a future perception that Purdue has screwed up on compliance, we could get murdered'.

In a subsequent message, he said the family was 'not really braced for' challenges that included 'the emergence of numerous new lawsuits'. Jonathan died in June.

In May 2007, a week after the company affiliate's guilty plea, David Sackler expressed concerns about future litigation to his father and uncle, the latter of whom assured him there was no basis for suing the family.

'Well, I hope you're right and under logical circumstances I'd agree with you, but we're living in America. This is the land of the free and the home of the blameless,' David Sackler wrote in an email.

'We will be sued. Read the op-ed stuff in these local papers and ask yourself how long it will take these lawyers to figure out that we might settle with them if they can freeze our assets and threaten us.'

The message was sent years before David Sackler joined Purdue's board, at a time he knew little about the company's affairs, his lawyers said in a court filing.
House broker Liberum has increased its price target to 73p from 70p

PLC (LONM:SRC), the construction materials group, has said it expects to report full-year results that are ahead of current market expectations.

The group said the strong trading reported in its December 9, 2020, market update continued through to the end of the year.

expects to report revenues for 2020 of around 124mln, up 77% year-on-year, while underlying earnings (EBITDA) are expected to be 54% higher than the year at before at 23.8mln.

The group's year-end cash position was 27.4mln. The strong cash generation in 2020, together with the net proceeds of an equity issue and the new 125mln credit facilities entered into in December, mean the group is well-positioned to accelerate its strategic development in 2021.

So far in 20201 all of the group's sites have remained operational save for the sites at Les Vardes and Monmains, which are closed temporarily in line with the imposition of a brief coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown in Guernsey.

Financially the group remains on target and operationally the group continues to maintain robust and comprehensive safe working procedures that have resulted in good production volumes across all sites in January, told the market.

The board is encouraged by governmental support to keep the construction sector open but remains mindful of the continued risk and uncertainty posed by the pandemic, with both trading conditions and cash collection monitored systematically on a site by site basis.

"Whilst we remain mindful of the backdrop, we have started 2021 well, with progress on all fronts, be it trading, acquisitions, development of our footprint or the continued operational response to COVID-19. Our confidence in the longer-term prospects for the group remains very high and we look forward to taking further positive steps in our development this year, said Max Vermoken, the chief executive officer of SigmaRoc in the full-year trading update.

SigmaRocs house broker, Liberum, has pushed up its target price for its client to 73p from 70p after upgrading its 2020 earnings forecast by 9%.

We leave our out-year numbers unchanged, due to high levels of uncertainty. We note though that UK construction is supportive, we expect more self-improvement and conversions from the acquisition pipeline sooner rather than later. We continue to see good upside in the shares as the fund-raising proceeds are redeployed and as SigmaRocs re-rating has further to go, the broker said.

2020 closed better than expected, with the strength of demand from residential RMI helping to boost revenues in Belgium and the UK, Liberum observed.

Guidance implies revenue growth of 77% year-on-year, of which we estimate 74% comes from acquisitions (CDH in Belgium, acquired in December 2019, and GD Harries, acquired in September 2020), with the 3% balance better than it sounds given the disruption from Covid-19 containment measures, it added.

Shares in SigmaRoc were up 6.2% at 68.5p.




Clay McEvoy, Vice President, Revenue Operations, SmartLinx

SmartLinx Solutions, a leading provider of cloud workforce management solutions, today announced the appointment of Clay McEvoy as Vice President, Revenue Operations.

McEvoy joins SmartLinx from Conduent, where he served as Senior Director of Sales Insights, responsible for building a new function to create a sales data infrastructure and deliver in-depth reporting and analytics for strategic sales planning. Prior to that, he worked at ADP, leading a practice devoted to sales resource optimization in the mid-market and enterprise space.

Clay is a dynamic RevOps leader, said Marina Aslanyan, CEO of SmartLinx. His proven ability to drive metrics adoption and sales resource optimization will help further align SmartLinx sales, marketing, and customer success teams. I look forward to the enhancements hell bring to our operations and his help delivering our in-demand solutions to customers.

Its an honor to join the SmartLinx team at such a pivotal moment in the healthcare industry, especially long-term and post-acute care, said Clay McEvoy, Vice President, Revenue Operations at SmartLinx. In the same way SmartLinx is in the business of optimizing human potential through technology, I look forward to using my skills and background to help enhance SmartLinx processes to continue to drive the right solutions to the right clients, when they need it most.

About Mr. McEvoy

Clay McEvoy brings more than two decades of extensive financial and operations expertise to the SmartLinx team. Most recently, he was Senior Director of Sales Insights at Conduent, responsible for building a new function to create a sales data infrastructure and deliver in-depth reporting and analytics for strategic sales planning. Prior to this Clay spent six years at ADP where he led a practice devoted to sales resource optimization in the mid-market and enterprise spaces. Before his time at ADP, Clay led both sales and client services operations teams at Avaya.

About SmartLinx

Founded in 2000, SmartLinx cares for those who care. Used in thousands of leading organizations, SmartLinxs workforce management solutions help healthcare providers manage people and processes by harnessing the power of real-time data. Solutions include talent acquisition and onboarding, human resources, benefits, payroll, time & attendance, scheduling, compliance, and business analytics. New financing options with preferred commercial lender Ascentium Capital provide several flexible structures and low introductory payment options to help clients utilize the breadth of SmartLinxs capabilities and products. The company is headquartered in Iselin, New Jersey.

For more information, please visit http://www.smartlinxsolutions.com or call 877-501-1310.
Partnering with HazardHub allows us to integrate deep, highly accurate data sets into our platform flow that will enrich the user experience across our entire organization. - Ben Clarke, Chief Data Officer of Bold Penguin

HazardHub, the USAs fastest-growing supplier of geospatial risk data, a 2020 Gartner Cool Company, and 2020 Lloyds Lab participant  announces a strategic alliance with insurtech leader Bold Penguin. The alliance allows for HazardHub to supply Bold Penguin with point-of-sale peril and property data to both speed and sharpen the risk evaluation process.

John Siegman, CCA of HazardHub says, There is a sea-change of innovation in the commercial insurance market, fueled by innovation to make the process both faster and better. Bold Penguin has been leading the charge. Were incredibly excited to be a key supplier that will continue Bold Penguins foray into the commercial space.

Currently, far too many commercial policies do not consider the impact of peril data on rates, as the process has been too expensive to economically implement. HazardHub smashes that paradigm by providing near-instantaneous access to hundreds of data elements at a cost far lower than competitive products.

Bold Penguin has been a pioneer in streamlining the quote and bind experience in small commercial. Through its unique platform, known as the Exchange, the company drastically reduces the time it takes to get an accurate quote for its agent, broker, and carrier users. Many top U.S. insurance carriers rely on Bold Penguin and its safe, secure, and reliable infrastructure to power their own small commercial efforts. The companys security and data segregation has been a critical component in gaining industry adoption. Bold Penguins alliance with HazardHub will accelerate its mission to simplify commercial insurance and increase its enterprise customers access to verified third-party risk information.

Our insurance intelligence initiatives are committed to powering the industrys fastest, most accurate small commercial quoting experience for businesses, agents, brokers, and carriers across our whole ecosystem, says Ben Clarke, Chief Data Officer of Bold Penguin. Partnering with HazardHub expedites this work, allowing us to integrate deep, highly accurate data sets into our platform flow that will enrich the user experience across our entire organization.

Bold Penguin will use the HazardHub service to enrich the user experience, streamlining the collection of information part of the application itself. Once integrated into the main application flow, this service will be an added benefit to the key customer users of the Bold Penguin SaaS platform.

Bob Frady, CEO of HazardHub adds, When we started HazardHub, we realized early on that being able to quickly and easily integrate with other innovative insurtechs would be a key driver of our growth. We are thrilled to integrate with Bold Penguin, as they closely match our own thirst for improvement and innovation in the commercial insurance world.

Both companies anticipate a roll-out of the partnership throughout 2021.

About HazardHub

HazardHub is your insurance policy against property risk.

Air. Fire. Water. Earth. Man-Made. HazardHub is the only third-generation provider of property-level hazard risk databases spanning the most dangerous perils in the United States. HazardHub translates huge amounts of geospatial digital data into easy-to-understand answers, providing easy to comprehend risk scorecards that are used to make real-world decisions. Our team of scientists provides comprehensive, and innovative, national coverage for risks that destroy and damage property. With more than 30,000,000 results returned to the market, HazardHub is fast-becoming the industrys go-to vendor for property and risk data.

To learn more about HazardHub please visit http://www.hazardhub.com or reach us directly at support@hazardhub.com.

About Bold Penguin

Bold Penguin is where technology enhances the human touch in commercial insurance. With a heavy focus on agents, Bold Penguin upgrades the user experience for businesses, creates an easy tool for agents, and offers a streamlined process of underwriting for carriers. Bold Penguin was founded in 2016 by a group of entrepreneurs who spent their early days working with Allstate, Nationwide, and Progressive alongside regional carriers and established insurance agencies. For more details, please visit http://www.boldpenguin.com.
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
They say the environmental watchdog should be allowed to conduct its work without the threat of prison.

Mother Nature activists call for an end to development on the Boeung Tamok Lake in Phnom Penh, in a screenshot from a video posted on July 30, 2020.

Members of the Mother Nature Youth Movement provide critical information to Cambodias government as an environmental watchdog and should not have to carry out their jobs while facing the threat of arrest, according to civil society groups.

Mother Nature activists have been producing numerous videos exposing pollution, illegal sand dredging, corruption, the dumping of wastewater into the sea, and the illegal trafficking of endangered wildlife products. The videos, posted to the groups Facebook page, have attracted hundreds of thousands of views.

But the groups activism hasnt only drawn interest from a sympathetic audience. Instead, several members have faced prosecution and imprisonment by authorities in the capital Phnom Penh for advocating against environmental destruction by powerful and wealthy individuals.

In the latest case, Long Kunthea, Thon Ratha, and Phuong Keo Reaksmey were arrested in early September after Long Kunthea posted a message to Facebook saying she planned to walk from Wat Phnom to Prime Minister Hun Sens home with the aim of deterring the government from filling in Ta Mauk Lake on the outskirts of the capital.

The trio have been charged with inciting serious social unrest along with Mother Nature founder Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson and Young Khmer Thavark Movement member Chea Kunthin, who are out on bail awaiting trial. All five face up to two years in prison if convicted.

The charges against them have prompted civil society groups in Cambodia to speak out on their behalf, saying the five activists and their organization should be permitted to work without the threat of arrest. They noted that the Kampot provincial government recently acknowledged shortcomings related to sewage draining into the Kampot River and took action following one of Mother Natures videos.

The government should take a different approach, rather than silencing people, Ul Vann, president of the Cambodian Youth Network (CYN), told RFAs Khmer Service.

They need to support the environmental activists as well as other active citizens who continue to work with the government to solve problems such as natural disasters. Arresting them is like shooting the messenger.

Cheuy Oudom Reaksmey, the director of Cambodias Natural Resource Protection Groupwhich was founded by his father, slain forest activist Chut Wuttytold RFA that activist youth groups like Mother Nature benefit the country and should not be targeted for the work they do.

The government should support their sacrifices because they work voluntarily, without pay, he said.

I would like to see the government treat those who protect natural resources as friends, not foes. They are not the enemies of the government or the people and should be treated likewise.

Campaign of intimidation

Cambodias environmental issues are considered grave, with one of the worlds most rapid rates of deforestation, widespread water pollution problems, and long-term threats to the vital Mekong River system.

Mother Nature founder Gonzalez-Davidson said the governments actions constitute a threat to those who dare to speak the truth about Cambodias environmental issues. He said his movement will not be cowed as the result of intimidation and will continue its work with some slight changes to its strategy.

Mother Nature Youth has set an example of courage for young Cambodians in general. Thus, Hun Sens government beats them because they would like to use such mistreatment as an example for intimidating other young people, he said.

The simple message Hun Sen wishes to convey to the public and young people is that if they continue to call a spade a spade in public, they will catch them. They will hurt them and make them shut up. This is a Hun Sen scare tactic. The regime is getting very paranoid of its own people who speak the truth about general social issues.

Meanwhile, democratic nations, domestic and international civil society groups, and U.N. human rights experts continue to urge Hun Sens government to release the Mother Nature Youth activists, who they refer to as prisoners of conscience, and call for Cambodia to refrain from punishing them for their work.

Repeated calls to government spokesperson Phay Siphan and ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) spokesperson Sok Eysan seeking comment on the activists went unanswered.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
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Irvine, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 -- A newly established Institute for Future Health at the University of California, Irvine will combine research and clinical work to address the movement toward a more personalized healthcare model.

The institute aims to integrate lifestyle, community, environment and socioeconomic factors in conjunction with biomedical and clinical knowledge to radically transform health systems away from hospitals and clinics and into the hands of each individual.

"The mission of the Institute for Future Health is to empower people to better manage their health and quality of life with technology-enabled, personalized and timely advice," said Pramod Khargonekar, vice chancellor for research.

"Our approach is to understand lifestyle and environmental factors as they affect an individual and use them to build a personal model that will steer one's health state to meet an individual's goals." said Ramesh Jain, institute director and the Donald Bren Professor of computer science at UCI. "This requires collecting real-time lifestyle and environment data in real-life situations. This approach requires that we build an infrastructure to simultaneously do research and translation rather than first doing research and then translation."

To do this, institute members are developing technology to use a person's lifestyle and health data from sources which include mobile phones, wearable and personal sensors, environmental data, data related to various personal activities, data from diagnostic medical tests, other medical records, and even genomics and proteomics. This data will be combined with both well-established and the latest knowledge from relevant research areas to develop personalized lifestyle guidance approaches. These, in turn, will guide a person perpetually as needed using lifestyle adjustments and medical care to achieve their health goals.

Institute members aim to harness the power of mobile phones to create a novel approach to health, using an application called a personal health navigator. Similar to a commonly used navigation system, the personal health navigator is for guiding lifestyle and medication, when required, to achieve health goals for a person's desired quality of life. This application provides personalized quality healthcare access using their most commonly used device, their mobile phone. The main goal of the institute is to develop technology by combining the latest health-science knowledge from computing and society to build a simple navigational approach for people to attain the quality of life they want.

Already there are more than 40 projects underway in the new institute, including:

Building a personal model using personal data from mobile phones, wearable devices and other sources for guiding lifestyle decisions to take care of diseases like diabetes.

Recommending food choices to a person that are both tasty and healthy for them based on their personal history.

Redesigning patient portals provided by healthcare providers to make the medical record more useful to the patient.

A longitudinal study of environmental threats to public-health tracking of real-time physical and mental health using wearable technology.

Supporting adolescents struggling with emotional health issues through the use of wearable technology.

"This is the first advance to use each person's unique model and closed-loop cybernetic approach to perpetually help in achieving personal health goals," Jain said.

###

The Institute for Future Health is a provisional Organized Research Unit. More information about the researchers, projects and activities of the Institute for Future Health can be found at https:/ / futurehealth. ics. uci. edu .

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation's top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit http://www. uci. edu

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.

After surviving two years of unpaid wages, Idleb teachers have appealed to international agencies for help, reports Enab Baladi.

Teachers in Idleb organized a sit-in on Wednesday under the slogan Builders of Generations, protesting the non-payment of wages.

The teachers, conducting the sit-in outside of the Idleb Education Directorate, hoped to appeal to UNICEF, the United Nations or any other organization that could provide adequate support to cover their salaries.

The supervisor of the Idleb Education Complex, Abdullah al-Absi, explained to Enab Baladi that the teachers who participated in the sit-in today have not been paid for two consecutive years, the difficulty of carrying out their work without the compensation that would secure a decent life for them.

The Idleb Education Directorate is seeking to restore support, according to Absi, explaining that the reason for cutting off support is unknown, and noting that some schools in Idleb do receive grants and modest wages from local councils and organizations working on the ground in Idleb, while most schools suffer from a lack of support.

The monthly salary of a teacher in Idleb, paid by the Education Directorate, was around 120 dollars, on a fixed eight-month contract. Despite the rising prices that require constant income to secure the needs of the families of teachers in the region, teachers never stopped teaching, knowing that they have not been paid for two years.

The European Union stopped supporting the Education Directorate in the Idleb Governorate in September 2019. Back then, the suspension of support coincided with the start of the school year, and the displacement of thousands of students from their areas of residence to safer ones.

The Syria Response Coordinators team expected that stopping support for education in Idleb would affect 840 schools, indicating that it feared more than 350,000 students might drop out.

According to the Syria Response Coordinators team, more than 21 male and female teachers, and more than 278 male and female students lost their lives as a result of the military operations in the Idleb Governorate.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh's capital Shimla received the first snowfall of 2021 on Thursday.

Fresh snowfall started in Shimla, Kufri, Keylong, Kalpa and several other high reaches of the state on Thursday morning and continued till filing of the report.

Fresh snowfallPredicting snowfall in mid and high hills, the Meteorological Department had already issued yellow weather warning for thunderstorm in Himachal Pradesh for February 4.

The Shimla Meteorological Centre forecast thunderstorms in plains, low hills on February 4 and rain, snowfall in mid and high hills of the state on February 4 and 5.

The weather office issues colour-coded warnings to alert people ahead of severe or hazardous weather that has the potential to cause "damage, widespread disruption or danger to life".

Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG executives ignored warnings from colleagues about troubled steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta as they channeled $1.2 billion of client funds to his businesses, according to people familiar with the matter.Bankers in Credit Suisses commodity trade-finance unit blacklisted Guptas Liberty Commodities Ltd. in 2016 because they suspected some of its deals werent legitimate, the people said. When they learned about two years later that the bank was lending to his companies through a suite of investment funds, which eventually grew to $10 billion, they flagged their worries to leaders in compliance and the division that housed the loans, one of the people said.The disclosure that Credit Suisse may have put clients at risk despite internal concerns over Guptas businesses adds a new twist to the debacle stemming from the March implosion of Greensill Capital, the finance firm at the center of the three-way relationship.Investigations, LawsuitsThe U.K. Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Guptas group of companies for suspected fraud, including in its financing deals with Greensill, according to a May 14 statement. Credit Suisse has sued to force Guptas Liberty Commodities into insolvency and has since shut the funds that made the loans and launched an internal investigation. Investors are staring at losses as the bank confronts embarrassing lawsuits.We are currently focusing our efforts on recovering our investors money, Will Bowen, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in London, said in an emailed statement, adding that the banks internal probe will focus on all of the issues linked to the funds. We are committed to learning the lessons and will share the relevant lessons learnt at the appropriate time.Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Gupta Family Group Alliance, or GFG Alliance, a collective of businesses linked to Gupta including Liberty Commodities, denied any wrongdoing.The Greensill saga represents just one of the two disasters that rocked Credit Suisse in the first half of 2021. Since Greensill began unraveling, the bank has announced a $5.5 billion hit from the blowup at Archegos Capital Management.ApologiesFormer Chairman Urs Rohner apologized to shareholders and his successor, Antonio Horta-Osorio, who arrived at the end of April, has promised a sweeping strategy review.Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein, who was head of the division that oversaw trade finance, wasnt aware of the internal concerns about Gupta that had prompted the bank to cut him off, according to a person familiar with the matter.Employees at the trade-finance unit, which lends money for the buying and selling of commodities, cut ties with Gupta in 2016 after becoming skeptical toward his Liberty Commodities, the people said. They distrusted the documents the company provided, triggering doubts about its transactions, they said. In one example reported by Bloomberg, the company had presented another bank with what seemed to be duplicate shipping receipts. Credit Suisses commodity team had stopped working with Gupta after identifying suspicious shipments while the banks credit-structuring team lobbied against the Greensill funds, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.A spokesman for Gupta has denied any wrongdoing.Banking TiesLiberty Commodities pledged assets to Credit Suisse as security for borrowings in 2013 but by early 2016, all such commitments had been extinguished, indicating that the financing relationship had ceased, U.K. Companies House filings show. And while Guptas company listed the Swiss bank as one of its lenders in its 2014 annual report, it didnt in the following years report, which is dated May 2016, according to the filings.Their counterparts at other banks, including Macquarie Group Ltd. and Sberbank PJSC, halted trading with Liberty Commodities around the same time because of similar concerns; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also stopped in 2016, Bloomberg has reported.Nevertheless, executives at Credit Suisses asset-management division -- which creates investment products for clients and charges a fee for overseeing them -- began arranging a suite of funds focused on supply-chain finance in 2017. The entities bought securitized loans packaged by Greensill, a firm created by Australian businessman Lex Greensill. Much of the debts were linked to Guptas businesses.WarningsOfficials at the commodity trade-finance unit were concerned when they found out about the funds links to Gupta and took their fears to Thomas Grotzer, general counsel for the banks Swiss division. They also warned Luc Mathys and Lukas Haas, the bankers who helped oversee the trades at the asset-management unit.Grotzer was promoted last month to interim global head of compliance at Credit Suisse. He didnt respond to requests for comment. Mathys, head of fixed-income at the asset-management division, and Haas, a portfolio manager, were put on temporary leave in March. Neither responded to requests for comment.The bank pushed ahead with the funds and marketed them to investors as being made up of short-term debt secured on invoices, assets considered so safe that Credit Suisse gave the largest vehicle its lowest rating for risk. Yet part of the loans were linked to mere possible future revenues.Other parts of the bank continued working with Gupta as well. Credit Suisses investment bankers were due to lead an initial public offering for Libertys U.S. steel arm, which was ultimately pulled, according to a statement from the company. Gupta also announced that the Swiss bank would finance his planned acquisition of Thyssenkrupp AGs steel unit, which fell apart earlier this year.Credit Suisse has so far recouped about $5.9 billion of the $10 billion in these supply-chain funds, but it remains unclear how much will be returned ultimately to investors. Loans to Guptas businesses are among a batch of debts that are the principal sources of valuation uncertainty, the bank said earlier this month.Liberty Commoditiess external legal advisors investigated alleged rumors concerning the paperwork it used in 2019, according to Mitchell, the spokesman for GFG Alliance. They found no evidence to substantiate the rumors, nor was the company ever subject to further complaints or proceedings, he said.LCL has ongoing banking relationships with separate financial institutions, Mitchell said, referring to Liberty Commodities. The trade-finance market has been hugely challenging for all but the very largest commodities traders in recent years. Nevertheless, no financial institution has been left out of pocket as a result of lending money to LCL. On the contrary, they have received substantial commercial returns.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
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Members of the Michigan Dam Safety Task Force on Wednesday afternoon reaffirmed the sense of urgency for their recommended reforms to the state's Dam Safety Program.

But, stressing the importance of getting its report right, the task force voted unanimously to spend a little longer to fine-tune the details before submitting it to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the state legislature for their consideration.

"The key is that the group reaffirmed that the 86 recommendations still stand, but agreed that other sections drafted over the weekend needed more review and minor revisions," task force chair Evan Pratt wrote in an email reply to a Daily News inquiry after the task force's 90-minute online public meeting.

The 19-member task force was appointed last September by the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy in response to the catastrophic failure last May of the Edenville and Sanford dams following heavy rains.

Wednesday's meeting, which was intended to be the final scheduled meeting for the task force, came one week after many citizens from around the state, including several from Midland, gave comments about the task force's 86 draft recommendations during an online public comment meeting on Jan. 27.

"The task force found that public comment from prior meetings, including January 27, did not substantively change the 86 recommendations," Pratt said. "The task force overwhelmingly agreed that action is urgently needed, but wanted more time to better express that urgency in Chapter 2 and the conclusion (of the report). The task force voted to seek limited text amendments in those sections and agreed to provide specific input by the end of this week."

EGLE Director and task force member Liesl Clark gave a few remarks to start the meeting.

"Our charge is to review the Dam Safety Program and provide recommendations on policy, legislative and enforcement reforms," Clark said. "This has been a very detailed conversation. I know I speak for myself and my fellow directors that we take this work very seriously. We heard recurring themes about accountability and ownership, and about public safety and public trust."

Clark noted that EGLE has already made changes to the Dam Safety Program since May.

"We have the appetite to do more," she said.

Legislation will be the next step, Clark said.

"There will be legislative conversations. That's an important part of the process," she said. "This is a report; this is not statute."

The task force members spent time discussing some of the wording in the report, and Pratt gave each member a chance to sum up their thoughts on the report.

The consensus from those comments seemed to be that the time to act is now.

"I'm unapologetic (about the report)," said task force member John Broschak, of Consumers Energy. "I would like to see us go even further on the call to action. I want to be bold. I want this to make a difference. I want to send the right message. The bolder we are, the better chance we have to address a ticking time bomb in this state."

Michigan Department of Transportation Director Paul Ajegba, also a task force member, referred to his visits to the Midland area to view reconstruction of bridges, in calling for a sense of urgency about dam safety.

"For those that did not make it up to Midland to see (the results of the dam failures), it's devastating," Ajegba said. "Our charge is to provide a very bold declaration and let the powers that be (decide how to respond)."

For his part, Pratt said all dam failures can't be prevented, but the frequency and severity of their occurrence can and must be reduced significantly.

"We cant prevent all failures," he said. "What I see as our responsibility is to reduce the frequency and severity of the next failure and the one after that. Can we make it so the next 10 failures are stretched out over a much longer time period?"
Ethan Nordean, pictured, has been arrested by the FBI over his participation in the Capitol siege

Seattle Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean, 30, has been charged by the FBI for his participation in the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

Nordean, who also goes by the name Rufio Panman, is the self-described 'Sergeant of Arms' of the Seattle Chapter of the Proud Boys and urged supporters to 'bring back 1776' ahead of the violent siege, according to a complaint filed by the FBI.

He has been charged in federal court in the District of Columbia with obstructing or impeding an official proceeding, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and aiding and abetting, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Nordean, who uploaded a video on Parler encouraging his fellow members to 'Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us', in the days before the siege, has also been charged with knowingly entering or remaining in restricted building or grounds and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, which each carry a maximum penalty of one year in prison.

Nordean, shown circled inside the Capitol, is the self-described 'Sergeant of Arms' of the Seattle Chapter

Nordean admitted to being a 'violent extremist' in a post made to Parler two days after the siege

Nordean, pictured, posted a video to Parler on January 4 titled 'Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us'

Prosecutors allege that Nordean was 'near the front of the crowd of rioters' and was among those who breached the Capitol.

Nordean was seen in photos and videos marching at the front of the group with Joseph Biggs, the self-described leader of the Proud Boys and an infamous conspiracy theorist.

Biggs has also been arrested, along with Proud Boys member Dominic Pezzola - who was pictured smoking a cigar in the Capitol and talked about killing former Vice President Mike Pence.

Ethan Nordean, left, is pictured with Robert Gieswein, right, who was one of the first to enter the Capitol

Gieswein, circled left, was one of the first rioters to enter the Capitol after a window was broken by Proud Boys member Dominic Pezzola, circled right

The FBI identified Nordean, circled, inside the Capitol through photos and videos posted online

Photos and videos from January 6 show Nordean at the front of the line of rioters facing off with Capitol police

Nordean, right, posted a photo to Parler dressed in paramilitary gear two days before the siege

Photos and screenshots of videos included with the complaint show that Nordean 'was among those who entered the U.S. Capitol building after rioters forced entry and pushed past Capitol Police officers.'

'Nordean was an active poster on the social media site Parler, where he identified himself as 'Rufio Panman' and utilized the username @REBELRUFIO,' the complaint reads.

Posts Nordean made to Parler indicate that he and other Proud Boys planned to attempt 'to overwhelm police barricades and enter the United States Capitol building,' the complaint reads.

Nordean posted to Parler looking to obtain paramilitary gear for the group to wear during the violent siege.

Nordean indicated he was willing to 'fight' in a post shared to Parler, according to the FBI

Nordean, who went by the name Rufio Panman on Parler, identified as a Proud Boy on his account

Nordean, circled, is seen wearing yellow, the color of the Proud Boys, in this evidence photo

Gavin McInnes, center, is the founder of the Proud Boys organization - which has now been designated a terrorist group by the Canadian government

'Anyone looking to help us with safety/protective gear, or communications equipment it would be much appreciated, things have gotten more dangerous for us this past year, anything helps,' he posted to Parler on December 27.

WHO ARE THE PROUD BOYS? Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes started the all-male Proud Boys in 2016. McInnes and the Proud Boys have described the group as a politically incorrect men's club for 'Western chauvinists' and deny affiliations with far-right extremist groups that overtly espouse racist and anti-Semitic views. The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center designated the Proud Boys as a hate group, saying that its members often spread 'outright bigotry' and 'anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric' over the internet, and have posted social media pictures of themselves with prominent Holocaust deniers, white nationalists and 'known neo-Nazis.' Current national leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, marched in the infamous Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in 2017. Proud Boys have been involved in a series of high-profile violent clashes at political events. In New York City in October 2018, police arrested several Proud Boys members who brawled with anti-fascist protesters following a speech by McInnes at a Manhattan Republican club. Proud Boys members also have frequently clashed with counterprotesters at rallies in California and Oregon. Most recently, the group took part in the siege on the Capitol on January 6, where some members were seen breaking into the building. In February, they were designated a terrorist group by Canada. Advertisement

Nordean later uploaded a video to Parler on January 4 titled 'Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us.'

The video show Nordean and other Proud Boys dressed in tactical gear along with the phrase Back the YELLOW, which is commonly used to show support for the group, the complaint reads.

In another video posted January 4, Nordean said that Proud Boys were 'never going to look good [protecting the community], because violence doesn't look good.'

Nordean added that the Proud Boys were going to 'bring back that original spirit of 1776 of what really established the character of what America is.'

Two days after the Capitol siege, Nordean posted a picture of himself with the caption 'Violent extremist' which the FBI lambasted 'as an effort to make light of the public condemnation of Nordean's and others' participation in the riot.'

Nordean also posted a picture on January 8 of a Capitol Police officer deploying pepper spray 'with a caption celebrating disparaging police officers,' the complaint reads.

'If you feel bad for the police, you are a part of the problem,' Nordean wrote.

'They care more about federal property than protecting and serving the people.'

The Proud Boys have been designated a hate group by the watchdog organization Southern Poverty Law Center.

'Their disavowals of bigotry are belied by their actions: rank-and-file Proud Boys and leaders regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists. They are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric,' reads a narrative from the watchdog.

On Wednesday, the Canadian government added the Proud Boys to its list of terrorist organizations, USA Today reported.

'Canada will not tolerate ideological, religious or politically motivated acts of violence,' Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said.

A government official told the outlet that if a member engages in violent acts, they could face terrorism charges.

Giving money to the Proud Boys or buying the organization's merchandise would also be a crime, the outlet reported.


by Emanuele Scimia

The New START treaty is extended for another five years. It reduces the number of nuclear warheads to 1,500. Russian expert: China has 430 nuclear weapons, its position is understandable. The Kremlin will not put pressure on the Chinese: they need it to counterbalance the United States and the European Union. The failure of non-proliferation efforts.

Rome (AsiaNews)  The United States and Russia have agreed to continue to limit their nuclear arsenals. Yesterday Washington and Moscow renewed the New START Treaty for a further five years. The nuclear weapons reduction deal was set to expire tomorrow. New US president Joe Biden has agreed on the extension with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. China refuses to join in unless Moscow and Washington agree to nuclear parity.

Former US President Donald Trump had conditioned renewal of the New START agreement to Beijings inclusion. The new White House administration has dropped the precondition, but also specified that it will work to pursue arms control to reduce the dangers from Chinas modern and growing nuclear arsenal.

China claims that it has a small arsenal, incomparable to with respective potentials of Russia and the US. Beijing has stated that it is willing to enter into such an agreement only when Moscow and Washington have downgraded their arsenals approximately to Chinas level.

According to Alexander Savelyev, chief research fellow at the Moscow-based Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, China's position is understandable from a political, military and strategic point of view. However, the Russian expert, who participated as an adviser in the START-1 negotiations between the US and the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991, observes that from a practical viewpoint it is different. He points out that to achieve nuclear parity between the three powers, Washington and Moscow would have to decrease their arsenal by 90%.

According to the Federation of American Scientists, the US has 3,800 deployed and non-deployed nuclear warheads, and Russia 4,312. China has 320 non-deployed nukes.

Under the New START pact, the US and Russia pledge to limit their arsenals to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and no more than 800 deployed and non-deployed ballistic missile launchers, submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers and heavy bombers. After Trump decided on the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in February 2019, the New START is the last arms deal still in force between the two powers.

Russia hopes that all nuclear-armed states will join an enlarged New START. However, Russian authorities have said several times that they do not intend to put pressure on Beijing. The Kremlins relations with the US and the European Union are tenuous. Its strategic partnership with the Asian giant serves it to counter-balance the hostility of the Western bloc.

Savelyev does not believe that the Chinese will enter into a multilateral agreement on the reduction of nuclear weapons, at least for the time being. In addition to fuelling further tensions with the US, the Chinese stance is a further thorn in the side to the wider efforts of the international community to rein in atomic proliferation. On January 22, the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons came into force, but the non-adhesion of all countries with nuclear weapons renders it useless.

Without the participation of nuclear powers in non-proliferation efforts, world security will continue to be based on the "balance of terror", a risky doctrine in the face of technological advancement of military capabilities. The development of hypersonic weapons and armed drones driven by artificial intelligence systems make nuclear weapons even more lethal and operational in more restricted situations.
After being told that he was being fired, Roger Severino, former President Donald Trump appointee, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against President Joe Biden.

Trump appointee sued Biden over illegal termination threat

In January 2021, Trump appointed Roger Severino to the Council of the Administration Conference of the United States. Biden's administration stripped off any Trump appointees to their duties. On Wednesday, President Biden urged ten Trump appointees to the Federal Services Impasse Panel to resign.

According to Newsweek, Severino said that while the White House Presidential Personnel Office Deputy Director Gautam Raghavan was asked to vacate his three-year-long term on the Council by 5:00 p.m., he would refuse to resign on Wednesday.

In an email, Severino told Newsweek that President Biden's attempt to remove him contrary to law exposes the President's lofty promises of healing and uniting Americans as nothing more than cynical manipulation. "Because I am not one to be bullied, not even by the President himself, I will not resign my duly commissioned post and look forward to seeing how President Biden tries to justify his vindictive actions in court," he added.

Based on a copy of the case filed with the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia obtained by Newsweek, Raghavan asked Severino to resign "on behalf of President Biden."

Severino answered, asking Raghavan for the explanation behind his submission. The court records say, "Neither Mr. Raghavan nor any else from the White House has responded to Mr.Severino's email."

Read also: Biden, Democrats Prepare To Start Pursuing Republicans, Adopting More 'Muscular Approach'

Severino argued that Biden has little right to cancel his tenure on the Board, which "does not wield any executive power," according to the complaint.

The case filed in D.C.'s district court on Wednesday claims that Biden will not arbitrarily revoke his three-year ACUS tenure. The ACUS law specifies that the tenure of Severino on the Council lasts for three years, and the statute allows no provision or allowance for the dismissal of the presidency.

According to Fox News, the suit contains an email from the deputy director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, Gautam Raghavan.

As defendants in the case, Raghavan, President Biden, and Catherine M. Russell, who works as head of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, were all named. Severino states that similar emails were sent from other ACUS participants. The White House did not respond to Fox News' request for comment immediately.

The tenure of Severino at HHS involved the pursuit of some of Trump's most divisive gender, abortion, sexuality, and religious freedom policies. Fox News earlier reported how former administration officials alleged that the HHS general counsel's office stalled the agenda of the president at OCR.

Read also: Trump's New Impeachment Lawyers to Argue Trial is 'Unconstitutional'

Trump appointee Roger Severino joins EPPC

The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) reported that Roger Severino would join the academics team, a welcome and gratifying addition. After Ryan Anderson succeeded Ed Whelan as president earlier this week, the first hire at EPPC was made, as per National Review.

After three years as Head of the Civil Rights Office at the Department of Health and Human Services, Roger joins EPPC, creating the government's first division to oversee the protection and regulation of religion and religious freedom.

He will make full use of that expertise at EPPC, leading up to the HHS Transparency Program, which will track HHS's work from the outside. Among the project's objectives is to guarantee that all human beings are safe from infancy until natural death and ensure that health insurance is never used for abortion and assisted suicide. The project will also focus on conscience and religious-freedom rights in the health-care system. The initiative would also reflect on the protection of conscience and religious freedom in the health care sector.

Read also: Fighting Climate Change: Vice President Kamala Harris' Record on Environmental Issues

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NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Commercial Observer, the premier media and information services company that informs and connects leaders in the commercial real estate industry, partnered with the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), New York's leading real estate advocacy and trade organization, to host a historic "Celebration of Public Service" event on Thursday, January 28, 2021.

The event came together virtually in the midst of the pandemic to jumpstart 2021 with a discussion on the City's recovery plans. The program brought together New York's most influential business leaders and City and State officials to make one message clear: collaboration and public service by adept leaders are putting New York City on the path to recovery and it will thrive again. The event was supported by some of the largest firms in the real estate industry, including Presenting Sponsor, JPMorgan Chase.

"Our brand was built in New York City, we are headquartered in New York City and as we've grown to serve a national audience we haven't forgotten our roots. We remain champions of and are deeply invested in the City's long-term success. We felt it was critical to kick off 2021 with concrete ideas and plans from the people creating positive change and to showcase the many reasons why New York, led by its commercial real estate industry, is a vital lifeline in the global economy and is poised to thrive in the near future. There was no better partner than REBNY to help bring top leaders together and share these insights with the broader industry," said Observer Media CEO, Michael Rose.

Iconic real estate leaders and public officials joined Commercial Observer's editorial team to discuss the importance of keeping top talent in New York City by increasing diversity and equity across industries, using cutting-edge real estate designs to introduce dynamic live/work/play environments and attracting high-growth industries like life sciences and technology. In addition, the theme of public service highlighted the unique contributions of the real estate community--and its shared responsibility to go beyond business to positively impact our communities and ensure New York's future.

During a special leadership presentation with Jay Neveloff (Kramer Levin), Mary Ann Tighe (CBRE), and Anthony Malkin (Empire State Realty Trust), Chase Garbarino, CEO & Co-Founder of HqO pointed out that recent movement to coastal cities in warmer climates is unlikely to deter the City's growth or erase the centuries worth of art and culture that has made New York a world-class destination. "Culture takes decades, centuries to compound, and New York City's can't just be replicated, it's not going to pop up just anywhere," Garbarino added.

"There is a lot of smart, important progress underway in the City and we saw an opportunity to partner with REBNY and provide a platform for leaders to voice this to New York communities and constituents. We're at a critical juncture in the City's history and there are people pioneering the way forward by fortifying greater unity and shedding light on the areas that are going to drive long-lasting change, like sustainability, health, and wellness, and resiliency," stated Max Gross, Commercial Observer Editor-in-Chief.

The program also took a closer look at the key initiatives put in place by REBNY to help mitigate the continual public health concerns and business interruptions arising from the ongoing pandemic. From securing vital PPE materials to their recent announcement that vacant office spaces will be used to increase available testing and vaccine sites, REBNY has taken an invaluable role in making New York an example of effective COVID-19 responsiveness.

"The key to moving forward is collaboration," stated REBNY President James Whelan. "We will continue working with government officials and other stakeholders to play our part in advancing a strong and equitable economic recovery that continues to position New York City as a global leader."

A portion of the program proceeds will be donated to the virtual internship program launched by Project Destined in partnership with REBNY and CUNY. "We want to create the strongest possible future for this amazing city and to do that we need to ensure New York remains an attractive destination for global top talent, and that starts here at home. Project Destined has designed powerful, interactive, and compelling educational programs led by top real estate companies that introduce the nation's youth to professions in the industry. We're thrilled to support this results-oriented program that is working to bring up a stronger, more diverse pipeline of talent," said Michael Rose, Observer Media CEO.

The program opened with virtual red carpet interviews hosted by Commercial Observer editors Max Gross and Cathy Cunningham before welcoming Chad Tredway (JPMorgan Chase), James Whelan (REBNY), Douglas Durst (The Durst Organization), and Deputy Mayor Vicki Been (City of New York) for opening remarks. A special tribute was also given to the late New York City Mayor David Dinkins.

Notable program speakers included:

Vicki Been , Deputy Mayor, New York City

, Deputy Mayor, Charles Bendit , Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Taconic Investment Partners

Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Taconic Investment Partners Ben Brown , Head of US Office, Brookfield Properties

Head of US Office, Brookfield Properties Alfred Cerullo III , President/CEO, Grand Central Partnership

President/CEO, Grand Central Partnership Tommy Craig , Regional Officer & Partner, Hines

, Regional Officer & Partner, Hines Douglas Durst , Chairman, The Durst Organization

Chairman, The Durst Organization David Falk , President, New York Tri-State Region, Newmark

President, New York Tri-State Region, Newmark Winston Fisher , Partner, Fisher Brothers

Partner, Fisher Brothers Chase Garbarino , Co-Founder & CEO, HqO

, Co-Founder & CEO, HqO MaryAnne Gilmartin , Founder and CEO, Interim CEO, MAG Partners LP; Mack-Cali Realty Corporation

, Founder and CEO, Interim CEO, MAG Partners LP; Mack-Cali Realty Corporation Ralph Herzka , Chairman and CEO, Meridian Capital Group

Chairman and CEO, Meridian Capital Group Leslie Himmel , Founder and Co-Managing Partner, Himmel + Meringoff Properties

Founder and Co-Managing Partner, Himmel + Meringoff Properties Marc Holliday , Chief Executive Officer, SL Green Realty Corp.

Chief Executive Officer, SL Green Realty Corp. Letitia James , Attorney General, State of New York

Attorney General, Bob Knakal , Chairman, NY Investment Sales, JLL

Chairman, NY Investment Sales, JLL Thea Kruger , Senior Principal, Berdon LLP

Senior Principal, Jessica Lappin , President, Alliance for Downtown New York

President, Alliance for Haniel Lynn , CEO, Kastle Systems

CEO, Kastle Systems Anthony E. Malkin , Chairman, President, CEO, Empire State Realty Trust

Chairman, President, CEO, Empire State Realty Trust Jonathan Mechanic , Partner and Chairman of the Real Estate Department, Fried Frank

, Partner and Chairman of the Real Estate Department, Fried Frank Nelson Mills , CEO, Columbia Property Trust

, CEO, Columbia Property Trust J oe Moinian, Founder & CEO, The Moinian Group

Founder & CEO, The Moinian Group Laurent Morali , President, Kushner

President, Kushner Bruce Mosler , Chairman, Global Brokerage, Cushman & Wakefield

Chairman, Global Brokerage, Cushman & Wakefield Jay A. Neveloff , Partner, Chair, Real Estate, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Partner, Chair, Real Estate, & Frankel LLP Andrew Rigie , Executive Director, New York City Hospitality Alliance

Executive Director, New York City Hospitality Alliance Peter Riguardi , Chairman and President of the New York Region, JLL

, Chairman and President of the New York Region, JLL Nadir Settles , Managing Director, New York Regional Head, Office, Americas, Nuveen

Managing Director, New York Regional Head, Office, Americas, Nuveen Larry Silverstein , Chairman, Silverstein Properties, Inc.

Chairman, Silverstein Properties, Inc. Mary Ann Tighe , Chief Executive Officer, New York Tri-State Region, CBRE

Chief Executive Officer, New York Tri-State Region, CBRE Chad Tredway , Managing Director - Head of Real Estate Banking, J.P. Morgan Chase

Managing Director - Head of Real Estate Banking, J.P. Morgan Chase Carl Weisbrod , Senior Advisor, HR&A

, Senior Advisor, HR&A James Whelan , President, REBNY

Event sponsors included:

JPMorgan Chase (Presenting Sponsor)

Alliance for Downtown New York

Berdon LLP

CBRE

Colliers International

Columbia Property Trust

Cushman & Wakefield

Fisher Brothers

Fried Frank

Grand Central Partnership

Hines

HqO

JLL

Kastle Systems

Kramer Levin

Meridian Capital Group

Newmark

SL Green Realty Corp.

ABOUT COMMERCIAL OBSERVER

Commercial Observer is the leading commercial real estate media and information services company, delivering high-impact content, events and platforms designed to connect and inform industry participants of key trends and people defining the global real estate landscape. Commercial Observer reaches a national audience of the most active real estate owners/developers, corporate occupiers, brokers, investors, lenders, leasing professionals, tech firms, public officials, contractors, architects, attorneys, and accountants, as well other business owners and key decision-makers impacting the trajectory of the building industry. The company holds its reporting to the highest editorial standards with a strong commitment to fairness and accuracy. Commercial Observer is a unit of Observer Media, a company which informs and connects leaders in industries undergoing transformation, to help them innovate, grow and make smarter decisions. www.commercialobserver.com

ABOUT THE REAL ESTATE OF BOARD OF NEW YORK

The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) is the City's leading real estate trade association. Founded in 1896, REBNY represents commercial, residential, and institutional property owners, builders, managers, investors, brokers, and salespeople; banks, financial service companies, utilities, attorneys, architects, and contractors; corporations, co-partnerships, and individuals professionally interested in New York City real estate. REBNY conducts research on various civic matters including tax policy, city planning and zoning, rental conditions, land use policy, building codes, and other city, state, and federal legislation. REBNY regularly publishes market data, policy reports, and broker surveys. In addition, REBNY provides for its members: informational, technical, and technological resources; networking and charitable service opportunities; qualifying and continuing education courses; professional education programs, seminars, and designations; career-changing awards; legal advice; and a wide range of additional member benefits. For more information, please visit www.REBNY.com.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Commercial Observer

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Kenyas Health Ministry says all preparations are in place to receive and distribute COVID-19 vaccines beginning mid-February.

Dr. Willis Akhwale, the chairman of the COVID-19 taskforce for vaccine deployment and the vaccination process, said there are 10 vaccine storage sites spread out across the country.

In addition to the main storage in Kitengela, other regional sites are in Kakamega, Nyeri, Garissa, Meru, Mombasa, Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, and Eldoret.

Immediately the vaccines arrive, were ready and steady to start the vaccination, said Dr. Akhwale.

The official further noted that the ministry will address the growing vaccine mistrust and misinformation which could undermine the vaccination process.

A lot of the killer diseases  measles, whooping cough/pertussis  without vaccination there would have been many deaths, so vaccines have had a very big impact in protecting lives, said Dr. Akhwale.

We know there are a lot of untruths that are peddled out there, and people may be hesitant based on untruths. The taskforce will listen to everybody, where there are untruths and myths we will address them, he added.

MoH also reiterated that the vaccine will be optional and no one will be forced to take it.

The first doses of the vaccines are targeting at least 1.25 million Kenyans to be vaccinated between February and June in the first of three phases.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 04:00:18|Editor: huaxia

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LJUBLJANA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Slovenia on Wednesday reported 1,560 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the national tally to 170,101.

On Tuesday, almost 16,000 coronavirus tests were performed -- 5,709 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and 10,237 antigen tests -- with 1,217 and 343, respectively, coming back positive, the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) said.

The national COVID-19 tracker site Sledilnik showed that the country currently has 17,117 active cases. A total of 1,012 patients are treated in hospitals, 165 of them in intensive care. Twenty-three new deaths took the death toll to 3,564.

The seven-day average of confirmed cases fell to 1,179 from 1,218 the day before, according to the NIJZ. Slovenia is currently at the red tier of restrictions, the second highest level. To move to the lower, orange tier, the seven-day average and hospitalizations would need to fall below 1,000.

The Slovenian National Assembly (parliament) on Wednesday passed the eighth economic stimulus package worth around 320 million euros (385 million U.S. dollars) to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. The key measures are that the state shoulders the minimum wage rise and the furlough scheme is extended. Enditem
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Ahead of the African Union's 34th Ordinary Session of Heads of state, Liberia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dee-Maxwel Kemayah, has disclosed that the Government of Liberia has fulfilled its financial obligations to the pan-African body.

He made known the country's readiness to participate in the upcoming session scheduled for February 3-7, 2021, under the auspices of the AU's current Chairperson, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The meeting will be held via videoconferencing on the theme "Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want," in support of efforts to showcase the significant contribution of the rich and diverse African heritage, as an essential tool for bringing about sustainable development, integration, and peace in Africa.

Minister Kemayah thanked President George Weah, through whose leadership he said the needed funds to settle the 2021 contribution and the legacy arrears which accumulated and were assessed in 2020 were made available. He reaffirmed the Weah Administration's commitment to settling the country's financial obligations to International and continental institutions. "Settling our financial obligations signals that Liberia takes its role and responsibilities seriously as a member in the international system", the Minister said.

It can be recalled that Member States of the Africa Union in 2016 decided on the need for equitable and predictable funding source to finance the Union so as to reduce dependency while implementing development and integration programs on the Continent. Each country is therefore required to make regular financial contributions to the Union, based on assessment of its capacity.

During the upcoming Session, the Heads of State are expected to receive reports and debate on matters of continental priority, including reports on the Institutional Reforms of the Union and the AU Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Idaho National Guard on Thursday released the names of three soldiers killed Tuesday night when their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in bad weather over mountainous terrain.

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jesse Anderson and CW3 George "Geoff" Laubhan and Matthew Peltzer died during a routine training mission, according to an Idaho Guard news release.

There were no other personnel aboard the aircraft.

Read Next: Nordic Allies Help Navy Improve Ship Ops in Icy Waterways as Arctic Competition Heats Up

All of the soldiers were pilots with experience in flying missions in adverse weather conditions, but the cause of the crash is unknown and remains under investigation, Idaho Guard officials said.

Maj. Gen. Michael Garshak, adjutant general of Idaho and commander of the Idaho National Guard, said the sudden loss of the three soldiers is tragic for the community.

"I have received numerous messages of condolence from many people here in Idaho and throughout the nation, and all of your thoughts, prayers and support are sincerely appreciated and much needed," Garshak said in the release. "It is very comforting, at such a challenging time, to have the care and support of so many."

Anderson, a 43-year-old Boise, Idaho, resident, was a senior instructor pilot and had served in the Idaho Guard since 2008. He is survived by his wife and four children, according to the release.

Laubhan, 39, also lived in Boise and served as an instructor pilot. He had been with the Idaho Guard since 2010 and is survived by his wife and two children, the release adds.

Peltzer, 43, lived in Nampa, Idaho, and had served as a pilot during his 15 years in the Idaho Guard. He is survived by his wife and two children, according to the release.

The three pilots took off from Gowen Field in Boise at approximately 6:50 p.m. Tuesday evening to participate in a routine training mission in the Nap of the Earth Training Area, where pilots practice low-level flying.

They communicated several times with the flight operations center during the flight; their last contact occurred at 7:45 p.m. The pilots radioed that they had completed the training mission and that the weather was deteriorating with heavy snowfall, Guard officials say.

About 20 minutes later, members of the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center located at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, contacted the Idaho Guard to say they had received an active emergency locator transmitter signal from the crashed aircraft.

The Idaho Guard's air and ground rescue teams, searching in bad weather and rough terrain, located the crash site at approximately 12:15 a.m. Wednesday and confirmed that none of the pilots had survived the crash.

An investigation team from the Army Aviation Safety Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama, will work to determine the cause of the accident.

The Idaho Guard announced Wednesday that it has suspended all flight operations to review its safety procedures. Flying at night in bad weather was nothing new for pilots, who trained frequently to conduct search-and-rescue operations, Lt. Col. Nicole Washington, commander of the Idaho Guard's 1st Battalion, 183rd Aviation Regiment, told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

Tuesday's crash follows a similar tragedy in which three New York Guard pilots were killed in a Black Hawk crash Jan. 20 during a routine training mission.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.

Related: Idaho Guard Halts Flight Operations After Black Hawk Crash in Bad Weather Kills 3
Toyota Kirloskar Motor announced that it has received over 5,000 bookings of the new Fortuner and the Legender. The Japanese car manufacturer launched the 2021 Fortuner last month on 6 January, 2021 at a starting price of Rs 29.98 lakh and a top-spec Legender variant was launched alongside with a price tag of Rs 37.58 lakh, both prices ex-showroom.

The Fortuner facelift features a new front fascia with a large blacked-out front grille, LED headlamps with integrated LED DRLs, 18-inch alloy wheels, and silver bash plate. The interior highlights of the cabin include cruise control, eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, JBL stereo system, and leather upholstery. To know the variant-wise features of the new Fortuner, click here.

Sharing his views on reaching the milestone, Mr. Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President, TKM, said, We are humbled and touched by the continued faith of our loyal customers in brand Toyota. The sheer number of enquiries and bookings for both the Fortuner and Legender reiterate our belief in the customer-first approach. Both the SUVs were created purely based on customer feedback thus helping us garner a good response.

Under the bonnet, the Fortuner is powered by a 2.7-litre petrol engine and a 2.8-litre diesel engine making 201bhp and 420Nm of torque. A six-speed manual and a six-speed torque converter automatic gearbox can be had with both the engines. The Legender meanwhile is offered only with a 4x2 diesel motor with automatic transmission. We have compared the specifications of the Fortuner with its segment counterpart Endeavour and you can read all about it here.

Toyota Fortuner  30.36 Lakh Onwards

Toyota | Fortuner | Toyota Fortuner
(BPT) - Rare is the person who hasn't been impacted by cancer in some way. Maybe it's your parent fighting for their life. Perhaps it's a friend going through a difficult treatment. It could be a neighbor or colleague who was recently diagnosed and who now faces complex decisions.

It also might be you.

One in three people in the United States will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. Whether it impacts you directly or indirectly, cancer is a difficult journey. Despite the significant advances made in cancer care, the deadly disease is soon expected to become the No. 1 killer worldwide.

Cancer kills nearly 1,700 people daily

In January 1971, President Nixon declared war on cancer at his State of the Union address and signed the National Cancer Act into law later that year. Fifty years later, the nation observes World Cancer Day annually. Of course this growing health problem deserves attention year-round.

In 2020 alone, Americans lost some of the most talented and iconic figures in the 20th century from cancer, from civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis to gender equality champion Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Just a few additional celebrities who died included game show host Alex Trebek and actor Chadwick Boseman.

"Each day in the U.S., nearly 1,700 people will die from cancer and three times that number will learn they have it. Additionally, an estimated $201 billion was spent on cancer care last year," says Josh Ofman, M.D., MSHS, and chief medical officer and head of external affairs at GRAIL, a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early, when it can be cured. "Currently in the U.S. there are recommended screening tests for only five types of cancers out of the more than 100 known to exist. Fortunately, new technologies are expected to expand screening options in 2021 and beyond."

New advances in early cancer detection

Experts agree that the most crucial factor of cancer survival lies in early detection. The sooner you learn you have cancer the sooner it can be treated, ideally before it spreads and advances into later stages. Early detection can help cancer treatments to be more effective and can increase survival rates.

"Unfortunately, many cancers are currently diagnosed after the cancer has already spread," says Andrew Hudnut, M.D., at Sutter Medical Foundation, Family Medicine. "Only 20% of people with late-stage diagnosis will survive five years. While cancer screenings exist for some cancers, for others the cancer diagnoses simply arrive too late."

Thanks to emerging technology that is capable of identifying cancer signals in the blood, early detection is a possibility now more than ever. In clinical studies, Galleri, GRAILs investigational multi-cancer early detection blood test, demonstrated the ability to detect more than 50 types of cancers and identified where in the body the cancer was located with high accuracy, all with a low false-positive rate of less than 1%.

"This new cancer screening option has the potential to be an important addition to our current screening paradigms, such as for breast and colon," says Charles McDonnell, M.D., FACR, a radiologist at Sutter Health. "With early detection being so critical, a simple screening such as Galleri could save or extend many lives."

The Galleri test will be available in the second quarter of 2021, initially through large employers, health systems and specialty physician practices. Learn more at grail.com/galleri.

This sponsored article is presented by Brandpoint.
February 03, 2021





Most people have a love-hate relationship with technology. On the one hand, it has absolutely revolutionized life for the better. From smartphones to smart light bulbs, tech is making a positive difference everywhere.

On the other hand, when you lean on tech, there are going to be areas where it fails to deliver. These shortfalls have often been avoidable in the past. However, the coronavirus pushed so many people into the remote world at once that it made several defects more apparent.







Here are some of the biggest areas where tech is barring rather than bolstering the remote work world.

1. Inconsistent Internet

Cell Phone (News - Alert) companies are trumpeting the arrival of 5G service. Internet providers are offering ever-increasing internet speeds. This constant push for faster online activity has given the appearance that everyone has a fast connection.

However, this simply isnt so. At least not always. The problem is, when you work remotely, you arent using a business network that costs thousands of dollars to set up. Instead, youre depending on your humble little home network to keep up with everyone elses.

This is bound to lead to inconsistencies in places. At times, routers break or signals fail. There are smart home solutions that address the issue and are well worth the investment if you plan to work remotely for the foreseeable future.

2. Deficient Devices

Internet and cloud-based access is a clear concern for remote workforces. However, the tech troubles also spill over to the devices that use the internet.

The issue doesnt have to do with whether or not modern devices are capable of remote work. They certainly are. However, maintaining a toolkit of up-to-date, quality devices remains a poignant burden for most remote workers.

For example, many companies have adopted BYOD (bring your own device) policies for their remote workers. Letting employees work on their personal computers may sound convenient. But the policy is fraught with tech barriers.

Consider the sheer number of devices required to work remotely. Its recommended that the average remote worker have the following technological tools available:

A computer or laptop (or both).

Computer monitors.

A modem and router.

A phone.

A printer and fax machine.

A camera.

A microphone.

This basic list doesnt even include things like speakers or headphones. Companies may try to save money by shifting the burden of accessing devices onto their workers. However, this can create multiple issues.

For one thing, some employees may decide to continue using outdated devices. This can impact their productivity. It can also make it difficult for them to properly communicate or use certain applications.

Another concern comes from the cost of maintaining and upgrading equipment. The sheer cost of so many digital devices is a natural barrier that can make remote work difficult.

3. Communication Concerns

Even if you can use something to iron out your internet woes, theres still the issue of using the internet to communicate. The need to communicate has always been important for business transactions. Everything from marketing to hairdressing requires a certain exchange of knowledge.

However, remote workers face a unique challenge when it comes to communication. If channels arent kept open, a remote worker doesnt just fail to communicate details about a project or task. They become isolated. This makes proper communication a remote work necessity.

In many cases, technology meets the basic needs of communication. Slack creates text-driven virtual workspaces. Zoom enables video chat capabilities. Trello provides a cloud-based workflow environment.

However, there are still areas where tech barriers persist. For instance, the flexibility of work hours can make quick questions difficult to answer in a timely manner. Larger meetings can be unwieldy in video chat format.

Theres no doubt that the tools are there. But the ability to use them for healthy communication remains elusive for many.

4. Security and Safety

One of the biggest quiet threats to remote work comes from security  or a lack thereof. This isnt a reference to putting a new lock on the door or installing a home security system. Cybersecurity is one of the biggest tech barriers at the moment.

The problem isnt that technology provides hackers and malware an opportunity to strike. Thats always been true. The specific issue arises from changing employee behavior.

As workers spread out and use a menagerie of different devices, it becomes more difficult for cybersecurity teams to manage potential threats. This applies to more than white-collar employees snuggly tucked away in their home offices. It also impacts entire remote networks.

IT professionals are suddenly faced with the task of preparing to protect the next normal. How will cybersecurity function in a world where workers, customers, supply chains, and vendors all work online?

When it comes to individual workers, they can take steps to at least reduce the existing risks. For instance, they can:

Create strong passwords and use password managers.

Utilize lock screens on remote devices.

Install anti-malware on both mobile and desktop devices.

Update all devices at all times.

Avoid public WiFi (News - Alert) for important transactions whenever possible.

In the meantime, cybersecurity teams must continue to work toward long-term solutions. Given time, these solutions will be found. However, chances are, security concerns will remain at the forefront of the technological obstructions plaguing remote work for quite some time.

Theres no doubt that technology has been a boon to the 21st century. Even the remote work world, in particular, has benefitted in countless ways. However, technology remains a two-edged sword. Its ability to advance and improve always comes with a darker side.

In the new remote-first, post-COVID world these barriers are coming into focus. Some are areas that require basic improvements, such as communication and maintaining capable devices. Others are more necessary, as is the case with internet access. And still others, such as cybersecurity, are downright alarming.

Regardless of the level of the threat, tech remains an imperfect science. As it continues to evolve and improve, remote workers must strive to maintain their patience. With so many technological marvels to already be grateful for, its only a matter of time before humanity overcomes even the greatest tech barriers that lie in front of it.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a call with Ethiopia's prime minister on Thursday expressed ``grave concern'' about the crisis in the embattled Tigray region and urged ``immediate, full and unhindered humanitarian access to prevent further loss of life,'' a US spokesman said.

There was no immediate comment from Ethiopian officials.

The call is the latest this week that world leaders have held with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as Ethiopia faces growing pressure to open Tigray to journalists, independent investigators and far more humanitarian aid.

The Tigray conflict, which has entered its fourth month, remains largely in the shadows. Thousands of people have been killed as Ethiopian and allied forces fight those of the now-fugitive Tigray government that once dominated the country's government for nearly three decades.

Most of the population of 6 million need emergency aid.

Abiy also has spoken this week with the French president and German chancellor, whose governments have expressed similar wishes on opening up Tigray.

Starvation has become a major concern in Tigray. ``Many households are expected to have already depleted their food stocks, or are expected to deplete their food stocks in the next two months,'' according to a new report by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, which is funded and managed by the US

The report posted Thursday says more parts of central and eastern Tigray likely will enter Emergency Phase 4, a step below famine, in the coming weeks.

Ethiopia's government has denied the presence of soldiers from Eritrea, a bitter enemy of the former Tigray leaders, but witnesses have described widespread looting, killing and other abuses.

``Eritrean forces are almost everywhere in Tigray,'' one man who managed to travel from northern Tigray to the regional capital, Mekele, told The Associated Press this week. He described widespread looting of health centers and people dying from lack of care, with little to no communication or transport links to rural areas. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns for family members.

A senior official in the interim Tigray government, Mesfin Desalegn, in an interview with the pro-governmentUor Eritrean officials for the immediate withdrawal of their forces from Tigray.

The US did not say how Eritrea, one of the world's most secretive nations, responded. Eritrea's information minister in recent days has denounced ``frenzied defamation campaigns.''

The fighting in Tigray has the potential to destabilize other parts of Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous country and the anchor of the Horn of Africa, as security forces are deployed to the region, the UN humanitarian chief told the Security Council.

Lowcock also said the UN has received reports that food is scarce in markets mainly because it was harvest time when the conflict began. Main supply routes remain cut, cash is scarce and some people are reportedly eating leaves to survive.

Ethiopia's government has said it is reaching more and more people with aid, and it has privately told Biden administration officials that life is returning to ``normalcy.``

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Largely restricted to the outskirts of New Delhi, the mostly peaceful protests were marred by violence on Jan 26., when some protesters entered the heart of the capital city after the Republic Day military parade and clashed with police.

Television images broadcast internationally of protesters occupying the ramparts of New Delhi's historic Red Fort and later clashing with police raised awareness of the confrontation between Modi's government and the farmers.

"We encourage that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue," a U.S. embassy spokesperson said in a statement that also proffered general support to government measures to "improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment."

Modi's government has held multiple rounds of talks with representatives of farmers who have camped in their thousands on the outskirts of the capital since late 2020, but there has been no word on when talks would resume following the Republic Day violence.

The farmers, who enjoy most support in northern India's breadbasket states, argue that three new farm laws will hurt their interests while benefiting large firms.

But the government says the reforms will bring much-needed investment to a farm sector, that accounts for nearly 15% of India's $2.9 trillion economy but employs about half its workforce.

The farmers' cause has also drawn support from the Indian diaspora in Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States.

In late November, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised India hackles by speaking about the protests in a video message, saying he was concerned for the farmers. New Delhi said such comments were "an unacceptable interference in our internal affairs."

BARRICADES UP, INTERNET DOWN

Police remain on guard against further attempts by farmers to bring their mass protest into the capital, and have bolstered barricades at three main sites.

Earlier this week internet services were temporarily suspended in some areas, drawing widespread criticism, including from international activists and celebrities.

"We recognize that unhindered access to information, including the internet, is fundamental to the freedom of expression and a hallmark of a thriving democracy," the U.S. embassy spokesperson said.

In response to social media posts on the internet shutdowns, India's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said vested interest groups were mobilising international support against the country.

There was no immediate response from the ministry to the U.S. comments on Thursday.

Farm union leaders have been calling for a repeal of the new laws and to make the government's crop price guarantee scheme legally binding, and for the withdrawal of legal cases against protesters.

Also Read:Priyanka Gandhi escapes unharmed after vehicles in her cavalcade collide in UP's Hapur
People caught with magic mushrooms in New Jersey will face less jail time and lower fines after Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill into law that downgrades the offense Thursday.

The law, which takes effect immediately, makes possession of up to one ounce of psilocybin a disorderly persons offense instead of a third degree crime.

People previously charged with possession could face between three and five years in prison. Now, the harshest penalties will be six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Efforts to decriminalize psychedelics have picked up in other parts of the country.

Colorado voted to decriminalize mushrooms in 2019 and Oregon voted this November to legalize their use for medicinal purposes. Several cities in California as well as Washington, D.C., have moved to end arrests over mushroom possession.

While this reform does not go as far, it signals a shift in how New Jersey will handle drug offenses.

The concept came up during discussions to legalize marijuana last fall. Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, added the downgrading to a bill seeking to decriminalize marijuana.

But the move upset lawmakers in the Assembly, who worried the decriminalization bill would lose support. They pulled a vote on decriminalization and then a bill focusing solely on the mushrooms was introduced to get marijuana negotiations back on track.

The psilocybin bill passed both the Senate and Assembly in December along with bills to legalize and decriminalize marijuana. But Murphy has not taken action on either of those measures, citing issues with penalties for underage use of marijuana.

He has instead attempted to negotiate with lawmakers on a cleanup bill that would establish fines and warnings for those under 21 caught with weed. But discussions have not been fruitful so far, and a Monday deadline looms for him to take action on both.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Amanda Hoover may be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj.
Getting through the thick of it. Kim Kardashian and Kanye Wests marital woes have entered its toughest phase yet.

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They have been living apart for a year now and he doesnt have too many things [at Kims house] that he would need, a source tells Us Weekly exclusively. They are both clearly going through the hardest part of this separation right now.

The insider notes that the end is near for the longtime pair, adding, There is no communication between them right now. Theyre living as a divorced couple. Kims only concern is her kids and her family. Her friends were sure she would file by now. It could happen any moment. Theres no way either of them will drag this out through the summer, its just not sustainable for either of them.

Larry Marano/Shutterstock; MediaPunch/Shutterstock

Kardashian, 40, and West, 43, tied the knot in Florence, Italy, in May 2014 and went on to welcome four children: North, 7, Saint, 5, Chicago, 3, Psalm, 20 months. Though the duo have experienced ups and downs over the course of their marriage, the brunt of it all occurred in late 2020.

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At the time, the Yeezy designer shared intimate family information at his presidential campaign rally in South Carolina and across Twitter. He even referred to Kardashians mother, Kris Jenner, as Kris Jong-un  a play on North Korean dictator Kim Jong-uns moniker.

West tweeted a public apology to the Skims founder in July 2020 before briefly checking into a hospital near his Wyoming ranch. I would like to apologize to my wife Kim for going public with something that was a private matter. I did not cover her like she has covered me. To Kim, I want to say I know I hurt you. Please forgive me, he wrote at the time. Thank you for always being there for me.

Us confirmed that same month that Kardashian was meeting with divorce lawyers to explore her options. However, the following month, a second insider revealed that she was focused on healing her relationship with Kanye after his public outbursts.

Read article

In early January, Us confirmed that Kardashian is done with their marriage after they experienced a big fight in December 2020. Kanye blew up at Kim and she was really upset, an insider explained. Things between them dont seem to have healed since that.

Kardashian recruited attorney Laura Wasser to help aid in her divorce settlement before she officially files. A source told Us that Wasser, whose former celebrity clients include Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, has been on retainer and actively working for Kim since last summer.

Much of Kardashians personal life has unfolded on-camera for Keeping Up With the Kardashians. An insider revealed to Us that the KKW Beauty moguls relationship issues with West will be no exception to this, as the subject will be featured on the final season. According to the source, the Gold Digger rapper is less than thrilled by the concept.
As federal officials grapple with how to confront the national security threat from domestic extremists after the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol, civil rights groups and communities of color are watching warily for any moves to expand law enforcement power or authority.

They say their communities have felt the brunt of security scrutiny over the last two decades and fear new tools meant to target right-wing extremism or white nationalists risk harming Muslims, Black Americans and other groups, even if unintentionally. Their position underscores the complexity of the national debate surrounding how to balance First Amendment expression protections with law enforcements need to prevent extremist violence before it occurs.

In particular, many Muslim advocates oppose as unnecessary the creation of any new domestic terror statute, saying there are enough laws on the books to cover violent extremist conduct.

The answer ought to be to sort of pause. Because the instinct to do something is something Im really quite afraid of, said Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, one of more than 130 civil and human rights organizations that say the FBI already has the tools it needs.

Theres an entire federal code in place that allows you to successfully go after this violence before you need to sort of say, Oh, wait, you know, theres this existing gap and we need more power, she added.

The debate over how to prevent extremist violence, and whether new domestic terrorism laws are required, has surfaced before, including after rampages that targeted Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue and Latinos in a Texas Walmart. But the Jan. 6 attack, when an overwhelmingly white mob violently breached the Capitol, has refocused attention on white extremism and prompted questions about whether a racial double standard exists in investigating and countering violence.

President Joe Biden moved swiftly to declare domestic extremism an urgent national security concern, tasking the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to coordinate a threat assessment. The Department of Homeland Security issued a terrorism bulletin warning about possible additional violence. Even before the riot, FBI Director Chris Wray said domestic terrorism had been elevated as a priority to the same level as international terrorism, with violence by racially motivated and anti-government extremists accounting for significant lethal violence in recent years.

The debate now is how to address the rise of white supremacist violence while not targeting the same people white supremacists seek to harm. Not only that, law enforcement officials pressured to crack down more on domestic extremists have to do so while staying mindful of broad First Amendment protections that prevent the arrests of people for abhorrent or hateful speech short of threatening violence.

There are additional legal tools available for combating international terrorism.

Federal law, for instance, makes it a crime to give support to designated foreign terror groups, affording law enforcement greater flexibility to arrest people who donate money or otherwise aid such an organization, even if they havent harmed anyone or threatened violence themselves. No comparable law exists for people aligned with U.S.-based extremist groups, which enjoy expansive free speech protections.

The current concern from civil rights groups stems from the way communities of color, notably Black Americans and Muslims, have been affected over the decades by law enforcement scrutiny, though the FBI has significantly tightened its policies in ways that require a credible basis for suspicion to launch an investigation or apply for surveillance of a particular individual.

In a statement, the FBI said it has a dual, but not contradictory, mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution and that it will defer to Congress to work with the Justice Department on assessing whether any additional authorities are needed. It says it will continue to use all the tools it has.

Still, in the early years of the bureaus history, it targeted movements that sought to liberate Black people from the continued oppression that they suffered post-slavery and post-Reconstruction, said Janai Nelson, NAACP Legal Defense Fund associate director-counsel.

FBI surveillance of civil rights leaders and infiltration of Black organizations continued into the 1950s and 1960s, most infamously through a program created to disrupt activities of the Communist Party. Martin Luther King Jr. was monitored by the FBI beginning in 1955 during his involvement with the Montgomery bus boycott.

In the last decade, as protests swept the U.S. after the police killings of Black people, Black Lives Matter grew in prominence as a slogan and an organization. The FBI at one point created a domestic threat category called Black Identity Extremists, though Wray has said the bureau no longer uses the term.

Surveillance tactics and the eye of our law enforcement have always been trained on communities of color. Particularly Black communities, Nelson said.
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The White House is keeping tabs on the effort to form a union at the Bessemer Amazon fulfillment center.

Reuters is reporting that labor leaders connected with the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union (RWDSU) have been in contact with senior advisors and members of the Biden Administration.

Mail-in voting begins next week for 5,805 workers at the facility, who will have seven weeks to decide whether they want the RWDSU to represent them.

According to Reuters, RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum said the conversation with a top advisor to President Joe Biden took place after the inauguration.

Here is full coverage of the Alabama Amazon unionization effort

A White House spokeswoman told Reuters that Biden supports union organizing and collective bargaining and has urged employers not to run anti-union campaigns or interfere with organizing and bargaining. She did not comment directly on the Alabama Amazon effort.

Amazon spokeswoman Rachael Lighty said the company does not believe the RWDSU represents the majority of our employees views.

The last time Amazon workers attempted to unionize was in 2014.
Bengaluru: With the Kannada film fraternity raising its voice against the governments decision to run film theatres in half of its capacity, the Karnataka government has now allowed the theatres to work in full capacity for next four weeks on an experimental basis.

It all started when Kannada film superstar, Punit Rajkumar taking to Twitter hit out Karnataka governments decision that was taken on Tuesday not to allow theatres in their full capacity. He questioned why the state government was targeting the film industry alone when markets, shops and all other commercial establishments were functioning without any hindrance.

Once, the tweet of Punit Rajkumar, who is the youngest son of Kannada thespian Dr Rajkumar, went viral, his eldest brother and superstar Shivarajkumar too slammed the governments decision through his tweet.

Once both bothers tweeted, almost all Sandalwood stars and technicians also came down heavily on the government.

This apparently prompted Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to assign Health Minister, K Sudhakar to find an amicable solution and meanwhile, film actors and technicians delegation led by Shivarajkuar too reached Vidhana Soudha to submit their memorandum to the CM.

Sudhakar after meeting on Wednesday the delegations led by Shivarajkumar said that the meeting was held `as per the instructions of Yediyurappa`.

"As per technical advisory committee recommendations, the Health department had earlier allowed 50 per cent seating in cinema halls. Though the centre has cleared 100 per cent seating in cinema halls, the decision was left to the discretion of state governments depending on the situation in each state and we opted to continue with 50 per cent seating capacity. But after rethinking, we have decided to allow cinema theatres to operate in its full capacity," he said.

He added that the Kannada film industry opposed this decision and requested to reconsider the decision keeping in view the welfare of those employed in the film industry. "They have also appealed to the chief minister to support them in this difficult time," he added.

The minister added that strict guidelines will be released on Thursday and halls can start screening their moves from Friday onwards. While actor Shivarajkuar said that the entire film fraternity is suffering from huge losses due to closure of film theatres for nearly a year. "I appeal to fans to respect Covid -19 protocols," he added and profusely thanked Yediyurappa for coming to their rescue.

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NEW HAVEN  Police are investigating the alleged use of force by officers during the recent arrest of a 52-year-old man at the Connecticut Financial Center on Church Street, according to the department.

Our department will conduct a transparent and thorough internal investigation to determine the appropriateness of the officers actions, Police Chief Otoniel Reyes said in a prepared statement Wednesday. We take use of force seriously and the Internal Affairs review will determine if the use of force was within the guidelines of department policy.

During the Jan. 29 incident, Shawn Marshall allegedly was struck in the head by Officer Justin Cole during an altercation while officers attempted to arrest Marshall, according to the police report, which the department released Wednesday.

Officers had responded to the building after management sought to have Marshall leave an office, according to police reports.

More than hour after police arrived, a security director said Marshall had to leave the building. Marshall said he would not leave, the police report said.

Cole attempted to arrest him, the report said. At one point, according to police reports, Marshall said that if police were going to arrest him, they should do so at that particular moment and put his hands out.

Cole said in the report that Marshall attempted to run away and was then taken to ground and violently kicked me. Cole wrote that he fell several feet backward and another officer tried to handcuff Marshall.

Cole is then quoted in the police report as saying Marshall made a spitting noise and I attempted to get my hand near his face to prevent him from doing so. Marshall continued to refuse to be handcuffed or to roll over onto this back. To try and gain control, I punched Marshall in the area of his head three times.

Marshall was again instructed to give us his hands to be handcuffed or to roll over onto his back. Marshall said Im not resisting arrest. For several seconds, Marshall kept his hands clenched to his chest and would swing away his arms when Officer (David) DeRubeis attempted to place him in handcuffs.

Marshall continued to struggle, according to Coles report.

Cole wrote in his report that he used pepper spray when Marshall refused to offer his hands to be cuffed during the altercation.

Marshall then was placed in cuffs and arrested, the report says. He is charged with assault of a public safety official, interfering with a police officer, first-degree trespassing, disorderly conduct and failure to allow fingerprinting, police said.

According to judicial records, he was released on a $100,000 surety bond and scheduled to appear in court March 18.

Marshall said Wednesday that his reaction to the incident was clear in the video, noting what he said was his evident pain.

He claimed he had the right to remain in the building, and that he had called the police to respond there. He claimed he had a contract to be in the building.

Cole, however, wrote in the police report that an official at the Connecticut Financial Center said a notice had been issued to Marshall telling him he was banned from the site, in part due to alleged disruptive behavior there.

A representative of Regus, the office space provider that police said rented the space to Marshall, declined to comment Wednesday.

Elm City Local Police Union President Florencio Cotto could not immediately be reached for comment.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com

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A mother gave birth two months prematurely while she was critically ill with COVID-19.

Expectant mom gave birth while battling with COVID-19

Elsa Larkins looks at the world as a proud and adoring new mom while cradling her tiny baby in her arms. The moment became almost impossible for their family as she became in critical condition when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 during her pregnancy.

When Elsa was seven months pregnant, she was rushed to Kingston Hospital, southwest London, after Christmas. Aside from her pregnancy, she was so sick as if she was going to die.

Elsa reminisces, telling one of the nurses that she is dying, and that upset the nurse. The mother, 34, has no underlying health issues. However, the infant inside her womb was pushing her lungs up, which compromised her breathing.

According to Sky News, she had a difficult decision to deliver the baby through the emergency cesarean section. Even if the procedure was risky, doctors looked after Elsa as they felt they had no other option.

Senior consultant obstetrician Meena Shankar said Elsa was unwell and needed more oxygen, which is not a good indication with COVId-19 patients. Doctors knew Elsa was required to go to the Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU) and be ventilated as her oxygen requirements went up, Shankar added.

"To actually decide to deliver a baby early is a huge thing in obstetrics," she said. According to Shank, Elsa's case was unusual. Even if the hospital sees expectant mothers infected with COVID-19, they are not as sick as Elsa.

Read also: Husband Dies of COVID-19 Two Days After Beating Prostate Cancer

Doctors feared 'healthy' mother and her baby would die

Elsa was put in a coma after she gave birth while in critical condition with COVID-19. Her husband, Tommy Larkins, feared both his wife and baby would die as doctors struggled to save them, although the mom had no underlying health conditions.

At the time, Elsa was seven months pregnant. Doctors feared she might die after being rushed to the hospital after Christmas.

Tommy was urged to be prepared for losing Elsa and his unborn daughter and was told to bid goodbye before Florence was successfully delivered on January 5 by the emergency C section. The NHS staff battled to save the baby, who only weighed 1.5kg. The baby was put on life support, while her mother was put in a coma in the ICU. They were also placed on a ventilator.

According to The Mirror, the emergency C-section was risky, but they needed to save both lives, so doctors had no choice. Two weeks later, Elsa was brought out of her coma and first sought her baby.

From the ICU, Elsa was moved to a maternity ward. She said she had a tough experience, mainly waiting every day to be with her baby. But because she was not getting better, hospital staff kept on saying she could have her baby "tomorrow." The mother waited for several days before she was able to see her baby for the first time.

Elsa became strong by thinking of cuddling her baby for the first time, to get out of bed and recover. Now, the 34-year-old mom is recovering at their home.

Read also: Teen Wakes up from Coma Unaware of the Pandemic and That He Caught It Twice

Women could give antibodies to the unborn child

Recently, HNGN reported that a study reveals a pregnant woman infected with COVID-19 could protect her child through antibodies. Researchers say COVID-19 antibodies could be passed to an unborn baby's placenta if a woman caught the virus while she is still pregnant. However, expectant moms cannot assert with certainty that the mom will be safe from COVID-19 as the study is still evolving.

Besides, Dr. Richard Beigi said pregnant women are still encouraged to be vaccinated. According to Beigi, there is no theoretical reason that the COVID-19 vaccine would harm either the mother or the unborn baby.

Read also: Pregnant Women With COVID-19 Can Provide Their Babies With Antibodies, Study Reveals

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WASHINGTON, DC  Senior investigation and enforcement officials with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) are urging the agency to follow through with a proposed $15 million fine against the former owner of mid-Michigan dam that collapsed last spring and unleashed catastrophic flooding.

In a Feb. 3 filing, five top FERC officials, including Larry Parkinson, Office of Enforcement director, argue that former dam owner Lee Mueller and his company, Boyce Hydro, deserve the huge fine and that complications caused by a bankruptcy case can be easily sidestepped.

There is no excuse for Boyce Hydros lengthy disregard of its dam safety obligations and the safety of its dams neighbors, they wrote, adding that arguments raised by Boyce attorneys against the fine in January are either irrelevant to this proceeding or wholly without merit.

In addition to Parkinson, the filing was signed by deputy enforcement director Janel Burdick, deputy investigation division director Jeremey Medovoy, and investigation division attorneys Todd Hettenbach and Colin Chazen.

The filing follows a Dec. 9, 2020 FERC order proposing the $15 million penalty against Boyce, which would rival the civil fine issued after the 2005 Taum Sauk reservoir collapse in Missouri  the largest such penalty FERC has assessed for a hydroelectric dam safety failure.

The fine is based on Boyces failure to act on federal orders after the May 19, 2020 dam collapse in Edenville, which unleashed a flood that overtopped the Sanford Dam, nearly wiped out the village of Sanford, inundated downtown Midland and left a trail of destruction through multiple counties. About 10,000 people were forced to evacuate during the flood, which caused more than $200 million in estimated damages.

According to the order, Boyce did not form an independent forensic investigation team to probe the failures or asses the companys Secord and Smallwood Dams upstream of Edenville, as ordered by the commission. Boyce did not perform follow-up safety inspections at its dams, nor did it study Sanford Lake shoreline stability after the reservoir was drained.

Lack of post-flood work was also a major contention point between Boyce and state regulators, who issued an emergency order last fall to stabilize remaining sections of the dam.

In January, Boyce attorneys and the trustee of the bankruptcy case pushed back against the proposed fine, arguing that it would complicate creditor payouts and jeopardize a settlement fund for flood victims. A final confirmation decision by federal bankruptcy judge Daniel Opperman in Bay City was pushed back. A hearing is scheduled Feb. 19.

The Four Lakes Task Force, which paid $1.5 million to acquire the Boyce Hydro dams through condemnation, also opposed the fine in the grounds that Mueller is insolvent and said FERC needs to instead focus on transferring oversight authority of the Sanford, Secord and Smallwood dams to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).

The task force did not receive Boyces licenses to generate hydropower, but Boyce attorneys have argued that their surrender was implied when the company lost the dams. Regulators cant impose a fine unless Boyce holds the licenses.

In a Jan. 8 letter, Boyce attorney Michael Swiger argued FERC should impose a nominal fine and not maintain a fiction that the project licenses exist in a vacuum or attempt to retain jurisdiction over Boyce Hydro for the sole purpose of imposing a civil penalty.

In the Feb. 3 filing, FERC enforcement and investigation staff dismissed license concerns as excuses and extraneous arguments in an attempt to escape, or, at least, significantly limit its liability for the numerous violations listed in the FERC order proposing the fine.

The staff members argue that FERC can simply avoid complicating creditor payouts and settlements for flood victims in the bankruptcy case by requesting that its penalty be given lower priority than other claims.

The staff argued for a penalty commensurate with the seriousness of Boyces violations and noted that Mueller has continued to receive a $3,000 biweekly paycheck from Boyce throughout the bankruptcy case while simultaneously claiming the company lacked funds to pay an engineer to perform the follow-up safety work FERC ordered after the flood.

Boyce Hydro should be penalized for its lengthy and blatant disregard of FERC staffs dam safety orders during the time it held the licenses, irrespective of whether the project licenses have since been terminated, they wrote.

The legal muddle around the Boyce licenses was mentioned briefly during the states Dam Safety Task Force meeting on Wednesday by Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) Director Liesl Clark, who broached the topic while recapping past discussions about entwined state and federal dam oversight and accountability.

Those regulatory eyes are important right now, particularly with some of the dams that are at play in the Midland area and the regulatory limbo that exists right now because of whats going on out there, said Clark, whose department came under fire last year over pre-flood disputes with Boyce, which has attempted to shift blame for the disaster to state regulators.

Getting state access to inspection reports and other records for dams regulated by FERC, which are classified by a federal law meant to protect critical infrastructure, is a draft recommendation by the task force, which is expected to advance its final report this week.

The state, which is in litigation with Boyce in a case paused by bankruptcy proceedings, has said lack of access to FERC reports hampered the regulatory handoff of oversight at Edenville after the federal agency revoked the dams license to generate electricity in 2018.

Related stories:

FERC proposes $15M fine for Edenville Dam owner

Debris removed from Sanford Dam months after flood

Aging hazard dams force a reckoning in Michigan

Michigan dam safety report going to governor, legislature

Timeline: The Edenville Dam saga (before, during and after)

Dam failures, flood impact havent subsided for these families

Michigans aging dams are a public safety issue

Michigan steps up dam oversight, but much work remains
Islamabad, Feb 4 : The Pakistan Army announced that it has conducted a successful training launch of a surface-to-surface ballistic missile, capable of delivering nuclear and conventional warheads to a range of 290 km.

This training launch of "Ghaznavi" missile on Wednesday was the culminating point of the Annual Field Training Exercise of Army Strategic Forces Command, Xinhua news agency quoted the Army's media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, as saying in a statement.

President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and the service chiefs congratulated all ranks of Army Strategic Forces Command, the scientists and engineers on successful conduct of the launch, according to the statement.

Commander Army Strategic Forces Command Lieutenant General Muhammad Ali who witnessed the training launch appreciated the operational preparedness and display of excellent standard in handling and operating the weapon system, said the statement.

Pakistan last month conducted a successful flight test of Shaheen-III surface-to-surface ballistic missile which has a range of 2,750 km.
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According to Stratistics MRC, the Global IoT Retail Market is accounted for $22.45 million in 2017 and is expected to reach $112.19 million by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 19.5% during the forecast period. The use of e-commerce platforms is rapidly growing, increasing internet ubiquity and the emergence of the cloud platform are some of the factors fuelling the market growth. However, lack of common standards, skill gap, and security and privacy concerns are restraining the market growth.

The Internet of Things (IoT) in retail has helped retailers in attaining enhanced customer experience and increased revenue. IoT in retail is majorly used to manage inventory, track theft and loss, mobile payments, shopper intelligence, and advertising and marketing inventory.

Based on Solution, The hardware segment is estimated to have a lucrative growth during the forecast period. The proliferation of connected devices is offering a significant opportunity to manufacturers. Reduction in the total cost of ownership and improved return on investments offered by IoT-based hardware devices are expected to increase their adoption over the coming years. The low cost associated with these devices, along with quick transactions, help in meeting targeted sales and improving labor efficiency, which in turn is expected to fuel market growth. By Geography, North America is likely to have a huge demand due to increased spending on product monitoring and supply chain monitoring. The most advanced consumer economy, the U.S. leads the market with some of the worlds largest retailers, including big box dominators such as Walmart and e-commerce pioneers such as Amazon.

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Some of the key players profiled in the IoT Retail market include Oracle, ARM Holdings Plc., Intel corporation, Microsoft Inc., Allerin Tech Pvt. Ltd, Losant IOT Inc., Cisco systems Inc., SAP, Google Inc., Impinj Inc., IBM corporation, Apple, Bosch, AT&T, Honeywell, Fujitsu, General Electric, Samsung, Qualcomm and Siemens.

Hardwares Covered:

 Wearables

 Beacons

 Sensors

 Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Tags

Solutions Covered:

 Software

 Hardware

 Communications

 Other Solutions

Technologies Covered:

 Near Field Communication

 Bluetooth Low Energy

 Zigbee

 Other Technologies

Services Covered:

 Managed Services

 Professional Services

End Users Covered:

 Big Box Retailers

 E-Commerce Providers

 Medium & Small Retailers

Regions Covered:

 North America

o US

o Canada

o Mexico

 Europe

o Germany

o UK

o Italy

o France

o Spain

o Rest of Europe

 Asia Pacific

o Japan

o China

o India

o Australia

o New Zealand

o South Korea

o Rest of Asia Pacific

 South America

o Argentina

o Brazil

o Chile

o Rest of South America

 Middle East & Africa

o Saudi Arabia

o UAE

o Qatar

o South Africa

o Rest of Middle East & Africa

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- Strategic analysis: Drivers and Constraints, Product/Technology Analysis, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis etc.

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- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments

- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements

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All the customers of this report will be entitled to receive one of the following free customization options:

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Robotic Process Automation (RPA) firm UiPath on Wednesday announced to appoint Anil Bhasin as Managing Director and Vice-President, India, and South Asia.

Formerly the Regional Vice President, India & SAARC at cyber security firm Palo Alto Networks, Bhasin will replace Manish Bharti who will take on a new strategic role within UiPath, details of which will be available in near future, the company said in a statement.

"Bhasin will be responsible for scaling the business and technology units within the company's India and South Asia operations", the company said.

He will work closely with Rick Harshman - Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Asia Pacific and Japan.

Bhasin will help accelerate adoption of automation as the preferred platform for catalyzing digital transformation across various industry verticals and sectors.

The India appointment came as UiPath closed a $750 million Series F funding on Monday, that puts the company at $35 billion post-money valuation.

The funding round was co-led by existing investors Alkeon Capital and Coatue.

Other investors include Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, IVP, Sequoia, Tiger Global, and funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price Associates, Inc.

UiPath's Automation Platform is designed to transform the way humans work, providing customers with a robust set of capabilities to discover automation opportunities and build, manage, run, engage, measure, and govern automations across departments within an organisation.
Washington, Feb 4 : NASA, in collaboration with three international partners, is planning to launch a robotic Mars ice mapping mission, which could help the agency identify potential science objectives for initial human missions to Mars.

It could help identify abundant, accessible ice for future candidate landing sites on the Red Planet.

The agencies have agreed to establish a joint concept team to assess mission potential, as well as partnership opportunities, NASA said on Wednesday.

Under the statement of intent that they have signed, NASA, the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced their intention to develop a mission plan and define their potential roles and responsibilities.

If the concept moves forward, the mission could be ready to launch as early as 2026, NASA said.

The international Mars Ice Mapper mission would detect the location, depth, spatial extent, and abundance of near-surface ice deposits, which would enable the science community to interpret a more detailed volatile history of Mars.

The radar-carrying orbiter would also help identify properties of the dust, loose rocky material -- known as regolith -- and rock layers that might impact the ability to access ice.

The ice-mapping mission could help the agency identify potential science objectives for initial human missions to Mars, which are expected to be designed for about 30 days of exploration on the surface.

For example, identifying and characterising accessible water ice could lead to human-tended science, such as ice coring to support the search for life.

Mars Ice Mapper also could provide a map of water-ice resources for later human missions with longer surface expeditions, as well as help meet exploration engineering constraints, such as avoidance of rock and terrain hazards.

Mapping shallow water ice could also support supplemental high-value science objectives related to Martian climatology and geology, NASA said.

"This innovative partnership model for Mars Ice Mapper combines our global experience and allows for cost sharing across the board to make this mission more feasible for all interested parties," Jim Watzin, NASA's senior advisor for agency architectures and mission alignment, said in a statement.

"Human and robotic exploration go hand in hand, with the latter helping pave the way for smarter, safer human missions farther into the solar system. Together, we can help prepare humanity for our next giant leap -- the first human mission to Mars." As the mission concept evolves, there may be opportunities for other space agency and commercial partners to join the mission.
Black History and White Nights in Miami: Malcolms New Black Day Dawning

As this sacred narrative we know as Black History unfolds and opens our celebrations of Black History Month, it is ever more important that we know our history and honor it in rightful and righteous ways by the way we live, struggle, and weave and work our way forward in the world. This Black History Month, as usual, we will be presented with various versions of ourselves by the larger society in official ceremonies and especially by the media to absorb and interpret us rather than honor us, and thus to make and remake us in their own image and interest rather than our own. Clearly, this is a month when select movies are played and new movies are released to mark the occasion. But it is not simply a marking of the occasion with concern for profit, but also another opportunity to attempt to define reality and make us agree with and accept it. Thus, if we claim to be woke and want to stay woke, we must come to the viewing and discussion of these and any movies about Black people by setting them in the context in which they were conceived, made and offered to us and in which we watch them.

It is in this context that we realize Hollywood and its corporate owners serve the interests of society in the way it savages and distorts our history and lives, and contributes to the White domination, deprivation, and degradation of us in various ways. In this month of the martyrdom and assassination of Min. Malcolm X, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, it is good to start the month remembering and reflecting on his teachings on the science of image making, using the movie One Night in Miami as a point of departure. In this way, we reaffirm our commitment to ending White nights in Miami and continuing the struggle to achieve Malcolms new Black day dawning for which he gave his life.

Surely, the movie, One Night in Miami, like the Hollywood and corporate producers and controllers, is a product of a system of thought, emotion and practice we call White supremacy and racism. And they are, Min. Malcolm tells us, involved seriously in the science of image making which promotes and perpetuates that system. And one of its most consistent aims and results is to deny and deform our history and humanity. Even before the age of computers and the expanded capacity and reach of media, Malcolm warned us of its power and place in the racist system that suppresses us. Indeed, it is building on this understanding that we made the essential Kawaida assertion that one of the greatest powers in society and the world is the capacity to define reality and make others accept it even when its to their disadvantage. How else can we explain in rational and relevant ways, Black people claiming enjoyment and clapping to their own degradation?

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Malcolm tells us that We are living in a time when image making has become a science. Moreover, he teaches, Someone can create a certain image and then use that image to twist your mind . . . The power structure uses it at the local level, at the national level, at the international level. And oftentimes when you and I feel weve come to a conclusion on our own, the conclusion is something that someone has invented for us through the image he has created. And This is how they steal your history . . . your culture (and) your civilization. Thus, he says, Never accept images that have been created for you by someone else. Think for yourself.

Of all the glaring reviews touting the movie, none develops any real points of its so-called power or creativity. It is billed as a love letter to Black men, but it makes one wonder then, what would a hate letter look like? All the men are weak and reduced to lumpen, street life language of m-fing, n-wording, and infantile wolfing, passionately seeking simply pus-y and party and all attacking Malcolm. And make no media-driven mistake, the target and selling point is not Sam Cooke, Jim Brown or even Muhammad Ali. It is Min. Malcolm that must be depicted as drained of fire and force, of strength and struggle, of thought and word, of discipline and determination, and left despondent, defeated, crying, and crumpled on the bed in a semi-fetal position. He is not depicted as the Fire Prophet, the master teacher, the resolute revolutionary or the noble witness to the world for his people and his faith as he is. Instead, he is made in the image and interest of the oppressor who could not defeat or deter him in life and now continues the sinister attempt to destroy him after death with a deformed image and puerile portrait.

They will tell you such a deformed depiction humanizes Malcolm. But this is clearly an arrogant, Eurocentric and unreflective use of the term. It is arrogant because it assumes that Malcolm or any other hero or heroine, great woman or great man is in need of such a dubious redoing and that those who seek to do it are qualified to conceive and construct it. It is Eurocentric in that it mimics and mouths Europes claim to civilize and humanize us as if we arent already fully human and, as we could argue, are more civilized than the immoral savages who enslaved, colonized, and committed genocide and holocaust against us and the dark peoples of the world. This proposed and misguided concept of humanizing the great and honored is also unreflective, unmindful of the narrow notion of humanity it puts forth. Born in the tired womb of European deconstructionism, it reductively translates critical analysis as fault-finding, and exaggerated and fictive flaws as the defining features of ones humanity, especially the humanity of great Black men and women. Like their European predecessors, teachers, producers and funders, these would-be humanizers pretend to save Malcolm and us from the image and evidence of excellence we have of him and by which we define, value and emulate him.

The White night in Miami was also an impoverished and pathetic depiction of Black women. The first is depicted as a piece of bedroom furniture, who is reduced to lines and laughter about someone smelling panties while Sam Cooke looks on wistfully. Betty Shabazz is wooden and woeful in Hollywoods cold and calculating hands. She is not given the image and lines of strength, support, endurance and resistance for which Malcolm praises her. And this seems especially odd in an era in which Black women are being increasingly and rightfully recognized and ascending. The men dont argue intelligently or cogently over issues, but bring them up to claim they covered them for the woke and socially conscious. Moreover, they, in attacking Malcolm, foreground their own integrationist views and easily discredit the straw man depiction of Malcolm. Moreover, the movie makers have all the men instructing Malcolm, the master teacher, and put in the other mens mouths things which with more depth would have been what Malcolm said.

The integration impulse is clear with the positioning of the Whites. A peacock White wrestler is noted to be an inspiration for Ali, not Jack Johnson with what W.E.B DuBois calls his unforgiveable Blackness. And then there is having Malcolm tell Sam Cooke to listen to and emulate Bob Dylan as if thats plausible for Malcolm to do, and as if Sam wasnt already singing social songs. For singing Black love in the midst of White racist hate is radical in itself. Also Sam had already composed A Change is Gonna Come and Dylan had conceded that his Blown in the Wind referred to, borrowed the words and melody from the Black spiritual, No Mo Auction Block For Me. As this discussion evolves, Cicely Tyson has made her transition and ascension. May the good she left and the joy she brought last forever. And may the legacy she left of walking and working with a determined dignity and excellence, refusing roles not worthy of her personhood or people, be a model, mirror and sacred memory to us all, especially the Black moviemakers  in front and behind corporate Americas cameras.

Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach; Executive Director, African American Cultural Center (Us); Creator of Kwanzaa; and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture and Essays on Struggle: Position and Analysis, www.AfricanAmericanCulturalCenter-LA.org; www.OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org; www.MaulanaKarenga.org.
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SAN FRANCISCO  San Francisco has taken a dramatic step in its effort to get kids back in public schools, suing its own school district to try to force classrooms to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The lawsuit is the first of its kind in California and possibly the country, as school systems come under increasing pressure from parents and politicians to end online learning. With support from Mayor London Breed, City Attorney Dennis Herrera on Wednesday sued the San Francisco Board of Education and the San Francisco Unified School District.





. . .
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Derrick Earl Anderson, 35, was charged Wednesday with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Scottie Dewayne Tate of Palmer.

A joint investigation by special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Grundy County Sheriffs Office resulted in the arrest of the Palmer man on the murder charge.



On or around Nov. 11, 2020, the Grundy County Sheriffs Office began investigating the disappearance of Scottie Dewayne Tate, 48. Investigators developed information that led to the discovery of his body on Anderson Road on Nov. 20.

At the request of District Attorney General J. Michael Taylor, TBI special agents joined deputies in the investigation, and investigators developed information that identified Anderson as the individual responsible for the death of Scottie Tate.



Anderson was booked into the Grundy County Jail, where he is currently being held without bond.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Centre is expected to offer 6-10 airports for the next stage of airport privatisation, a senior official said on Thursday.

The process that is expected to commence from FY22 will have 6-10 airports.

At present, the Centre is in the process of identifying these airports which will be offered via competitive bidding to the private sector for a lease period of 50 years for operation, management and development of these assets.

Briefing about the Budget 2021-22 proposals for the aviation sector, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Kharola said that both profitable and non-profitable airports will be clubbed for bidding.

On Monday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to continue with the next round of airport privatisation on a lease basis.

She said that the next lot of airports will be monetised for operations and management concession.

At present, six airports, namely Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru, have been awarded via a competitive bidding process.

On the fare price band, Kharola said this norm will be removed, as and when demand and capacity utilisation reaches normal levels.

According to Kharola, till now only 60-65 per cent of the allowed capacity of 80 per cent has been utilised.

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Centre had implemented a cap on domestic airfare.

The price band has been extended till March 31, 2021. These fare bands came into force with effect from May 21, 2020.

It is based on the duration of a flight with seven route classification.

The base minimum airfare of domestic flights in each category ranges has also been fixed from Rs 2,000 to Rs 6,500 and the maximum ranges from Rs 6,000 to Rs 18,600.

Airlines have to make available 20 per cent (earlier 40 per cent) of total seats in an aircraft at less than the midpoint price between the highest and lowest fares.
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NAFCU is defending the credit union industry as bank lobbyists continue their attacks on credit unions and the industrys tax-exempt status.

For decades, credit unions have stood as pillars in their local communities and have provided financial support to their members and Main Street small businesses when they needed it most, said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. Not only does the credit union industrys tax status provide our nation with $16 billion in annual economic benefit, the industry provides the most consumer-centric financial services in the marketplace  and they have been nationally recognized for doing so.

Eliminating the credit union tax exemption hurts everyone  American consumers, our local communities, and the national economy. Still, even in the midst of a world-wide pandemic and crisis, bankers continue to peddle anti-credit union propaganda in an attempt to undermine a separate  yet competing  industry that is focused entirely on putting people before profit. This fact alone should tell policymakers all they need to know about bankers true motives. NAFCU urges policymakers to outright reject any and all attempts to impair the good work of not-for-profit credit unions as they help their 123 million members.
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A member of the MDC Veterans Activists Association (VAA) Regina Ndlovu who died Saturday at Mpilo hospital was buried at St Peters on the outskirts of Bulawayo on Monday.

Ndlovu who is one of the pioneers of the united MDC in the area was now a member of the Nelson Chamisa led MDC Alliance at the time of her death.

In 2002, Ndlovu's six huts were burnt down by Zanu PF supporters. She also lost all her belongings in the inferno.

Following the destruction of her huts, VAA assisted her in building a modern five roomed house which was handed to her by VAA leadership in September 2014.

MDC Alliance Bulawayo provincial spokesperson Swethern Chiroodza said Ndlovu died a bitter person because people who burnt her huts were still scot free up to now.

"Regina Ndlovu died on 30 January at Bulawayo's Mpilo Hospital due to an undisclosed ailment. She died a bitter person because nothing happened to the people who ruined her life. Her only crime was supporting a party of her own choice," said Chiroodza.

The MDC Alliance spokesperson thanked the VAA leadership and ex-legislator Alderman Matson Hlalo for coming to her rescue when her house was destroyed.

Before her death, Ndlovu, two weeks ago accused the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) of failing to address the plight of victims of political violence.

"When NPRC was established, my hope was that those people who burnt my huts were going to be made to account for their actions. Almost seven years after the formation of the commission, the perpetrators are still scot free,"

"I am longing the day when the people who burnt my huts will be hauled before the courts to account for their actions. Only after that I will sleep peaceful nights," she said in a recent interview with NewZimbabwe.com.
But he said there are similarities to those days, and he suggested a similar response. He proposed a reorganization of the citys Neighborhood Services and Outreach Department to put more people and police in the communities where these crimes are happening, and do the same kind of engagement with the community that the former community prosecution unit did.

Leading financial services company BharatPe on Thursday appointed Gautam Kaushik as its second Group President in the company.

Prior to joining BharatPe, Kaushik was the CEO and MD of PAYBACK India where he led the largest customer loyalty programme in the country.

A veteran in leading successful multi-million-dollar businesses in payments and financial services, he will work with Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and CEO of BharatPe, and lead payments and banking partnerships.

"It is important for us to build an engaged merchant base and I am confident that Kaushik's experience in building one of the largest customer loyalty programme in the country will empower us to do so," said Grover.

Former Amex CFO, Kaushik has also held multiple roles at American Express. Before joining American Express, Gautam worked for Tata Strategic Management Group in Mumbai.

"BharatPe is the fastest growing Fintech startup in the country. The team has done phenomenal work in the past 2.5 years. I believe we enjoy a great opportunity to transform the financial services landscape for merchants across the country," Kaushik said.

BharatPe last month announced that it has raised Rs 139 crore (nearly $20 million) in debt from Alteria Capital and ICICI Bank.

The company raised Rs 90 crore in debt from Alteria Capital and Rs 49 crore from ICICI Bank. The company has raised a total of Rs 199 crore in debt to date.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (MIT REAP) announced the launch of its new Focus program in Nova Scotia following a successful pilot program in the UK. MIT REAP is a powerful global initiative that engages with communities to supercharge innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems and transform economies. The Focus program is the first new MIT REAP offering since its Global program launch in 2012, which has driven measurable impact in regions world-wide. Both the MIT REAP Global and Focus programs employ an evidence-based approach, translating MIT frameworks, research and insights into practical, actionable, and strategic interventions; convening and educating teams of key stakeholders; and empowering regional leaders to drive meaningful, long-term economic and social impact. MIT REAP's frameworks rest on a multistakeholder modelparticipating teams include members from five key groups of actors in innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems: government, university, corporate, risk capital, and entrepreneurs.

How is MIT REAP Focus Different from the Global Program?

MIT REAP Global teams participate in cohorts of up to eight teams for a two-year program on innovation-driven entrepreneurship (IDE) ecosystem acceleration and are provided opportunities to collaborate with teams within and across cohorts from multiple parts of the world. The Focus program works with teams within a single region to employ a more targeted IDE ecosystem acceleration model, distinct from Global cohorts and with a customized timeframe. Focus teams adapt the frameworks developed by MIT to broaden and deepen IDE within their respective region. "We understood that there was a need to provide a different offering in which we apply elements of the core MIT REAP Global frameworks, in a bespoke and accelerated approach, with regions that have distinct comparative advantages that can be leveraged at a more local and collective level," points out Travis Hunter, Director of MIT REAP.

MIT REAP Focus Nova Scotia Aims to Accelerate Inclusive Economic Growth Across the Province

Nova Scotia previously participated in the MIT REAP Global program, Cohort 4 (2016-2018). On the heels of the success of MIT REAP Team Nova Scotia, ONSIDE (Organization for Nova Scotia Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship), a non-profit organization, was created to amplify the power of IDE and leverage MIT REAP strategies. ONSIDE sought to extend the MIT REAP experience with participation in the Focus program to support broader acceleration of strategies and inclusive economic growth in its region. ONSIDE also believes the Focus program will be instrumental in fostering regional resilience and aid in recovery from the impacts of COVID-19. Learn more about the Focus Nova Scotia program.

"MIT REAP faculty collaborate with key regional stakeholders to develop solutions that are compatible with the region's history, culture, and key regional drivers of innovation and entrepreneurship," said Fiona Murray, MIT REAP Faculty Co-Director, William Porter Professor of Entrepreneurship, and MIT Sloan Associate Dean for Innovation and Inclusion. "We are excited to offer a more bespoke, local vision of MIT REAP's mission to Nova Scotia and future Focus team regions. I'm delighted that MIT colleagues Professor Scott Stern and Dr. Phil Budden will be leading our work along with me as well as the MIT REAP staff, with support from ONSIDE."

"Nova Scotia has high potential for innovation," said Alex McCann, Executive Director, ONSIDE. "The MIT REAP Focus program has brought together some of the most resourceful and committed members of our communities to turn this capacity into strategies and action which will drive real economic and social prosperity for our province."

Successful Focus UK Pilot Sets the Stage for Program Launch

MIT REAP launched the pilot of its new Focus program in the UK in March 2020. With support from Loughborough University, six teams were gathered from across the target region to drive the creation and execution of actionable MIT REAP strategies to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship. Focus UK leveraged learnings from the MIT REAP Core Cohort 6 team, Leeds City, UK  graduated in October 2020  to expedite productivity, employment, and returns from research in six additional UK communities. Originally conceived as an intense six-month long program, Focus UK expanded its engagement through March 2021 to accommodate new challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about the Focus UK pilot program.

An example of impact is Focus UK Team Leicester & Leicestershire, who set the goal of growing their regional economy by 5% above the national average within five years. They designed a two-pronged strategy: Bootstraps, for technology diffusion within the region's existing manufacturing community, and Beacons, or commercial innovation and investment through leading businesses and regional strengths, then began mapping the stakeholders and assets across their region in order to engage the right actors to enhance and build additional innovation and entrepreneurial capacity.

Team Leicester & Leicestershire achieved their substantial first wins of securing innovation leadership buy-in, investments and establishment of an Innovation Board within their local government to drive forward their agenda. The team has also focused on developing a business case for accelerators in manufacturing sectors including textiles, logistics, and food (Bootstraps); and further developing an existing network of innovation accelerators in sectors including space, life sciences, and cybersecurity (Beacons). The team will continue to collaborate with their region's three leading universities to build new skills development programs that foster the next generation of innovation and entrepreneurship leaders, who will accelerate their regional economy.

Sandra Wiggins, entrepreneur, Director of DPI UK, and a member of Team Leicester & Leicestershire said "The Focus program was a game-changer for our region, our business, and my personal and professional growth. The open, honest conversations helped our team understand all stakeholder perspectives and to find solutions that benefit everyone. I'm honored to have participated and look forward to continued growth, as our region's MIT REAP journey has just begun."

"Participating in the MIT REAP Focus UK pilot was a dynamic experience for the Sheffield City Region Mayoral Combined Authority," said Paul Johnson, Senior Economic Policy Manager for the Mayoral Combined Authority Executive, Sheffield City Region, and a member of MIT REAP UK Team Sheffield City Region. "MIT REAP insights on how we can support our innovation-driven enterprises has been invaluable as we enhance our business support offers and deliver the inclusive innovation-led growth objectives of our recently published Strategic Economic Plan."

Get Involved

Regions from across the globe are carefully vetted for acceptance to MIT REAP's Focus program and must pose a particular "urgency for change" or problem area in their region's overall system that they want to see addressed. The MIT REAP faculty then work with Focus teams to overcome regional challenges that are hindering the growth of their IDE ecosystem by identifying the comparative advantages and acceleration mechanisms required to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.

For more information on MIT REAP Focus, email [email protected] .

Applications for the MIT REAP Global program are now open. Learn more and apply here .

About the MIT Sloan School of Management

The MIT Sloan School of Management is where smart, independent leaders come together to solve problems, create new organizations, and improve the world. Learn more at mitsloan.mit.edu.

Media Contact:

Paul Denning

Director of Media Relations, MIT Sloan

[email protected]

617-851-9819

Shannon Farrelly

Communications & Media Relations, MIT Global Programs

[email protected]

603-303-8824

SOURCE MIT Sloan School of Management
The vast virtue of law enforcement is diminished by the very few bad actors among its ranks, and only by holding a bad actor accountable can that virtue be sustained, Mr. Yost said at a news conference. Heres what I mean in plain English: same rules for everybody.

The dereliction of duty charges, Mr. Yost said, stem from the fact that Mr. Coy did not activate his body camera until after the shooting and that he failed to tell the other officer on the scene that he saw Mr. Hill, 47, as a threat.

The shooting was captured on video, however, because the body camera that Mr. Coy wore was equipped with a feature that captures the 60 seconds immediately before the camera is turned on. The camera did not capture audio during that initial minute, so any verbal exchange before the gunfire was not recorded.

Truth is the best friend of justice, and the grand jury here found the truth, Mr. Yost said. Andre Hill should not be dead.

Mayor Andrew Ginther of Columbus, who demoted the citys police chief last week, thanked the grand jury for its service. The indictment does not lessen the pain of his tragic death for Mr. Hills loved ones, but it is a step towards justice, he wrote on Twitter.
Effective Monday, February 8, every passenger arriving in Rwanda will be required to present a negative Covid-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of boarding their flights.

The new measure was taken by a cabinet meeting held on Tuesday, February 2, that, among others, extended the lockdown in Kigali until the end of this week.

The move (lockdown extension), according to the government, seeks to sustain the gains of the previous lockdown in the city.

Currently, all passengers arriving in Rwanda show a PCR negative test taken within 120 hours before departure. Upon arrival, they are tested again and put in isolation at designated hotels for 24 hours as they wait for their results.

Explaining the reason behind the change, Minister of Health, Dr Daniel Ngamije said that the move is in bid to prevent a surge in Covid-19 infections detected among arriving passengers.

He said: "We have had several cases whereby arriving flight passengers show negative Covid-19 results taken in not more than five days prior to their departure, and test negative upon arrival, but after not more than seven days they test positive."

"This means that they contracted the virus between the time they took their first test and when they arrived in the country, but the virus could not be detected by then," he added.

The Minister said this while appearing at the public broadcaster, alongside other officials.

Ngamije emphasized that: "By requesting a negative test taken in not more than 72 hours before boarding a flight, the first test (taken before departure) will be more accurate."

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Self-isolation for seven days

"All arriving passengers must self-quarantine for seven days and take a PCR test at the end of this period," reads cabinet meeting minutes announced by the Prime Minister's Office.

According to the Ministry of Health, the quarantine will ensure that for people who contracted the virus but the virus was not detected upon arrival, they will be identified before they infect several other people.

"The PCR test taken after seven days of self-isolation period will be free of charge, and we expect this move to help us to control this virus and closely monitor the new variants being confirmed elsewhere in the world," Dr Ngamije said.

According to the World Health Organization, the incubation period of Covid-19, which is the time between exposure to the virus and symptom onset, is on average 5-6 days, but can be as long as 14 days.

Ngamije among others underscored that the government will be ready to assist arriving passengers in self-isolation by offering GPS bracelets or/and doing a daily follow-up to know how they are doing in those seven days.

According to Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), the bracelets that have GPS are currently being used to monitor some Covid-19 patients undergoing home-based care so as to prevent any unnecessary movements that these patients might attempt to make.

RBC says that though these equipment are still few, there are plans to acquisition more of them so as to serve as many home-based Covid-19 patients as possible.
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The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) mobile court has ordered the reopening of Wuse, UTC markets and Murg Shopping Plaza shut down on Monday in Abuja for violating COVID-19 safety protocol.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the sealing of the two major commercial hubs in the Federal Capital Territory.

The court also slammed the fine of N50, 000 each on the three facilities, for flagrant disregard to COVID-19 Health Protection Regulations Act 2021, which must be paid before the reopening.

Ikharo Attah, Head, Media and Enlightenment of FCT Ministerial Taskforce on Enforcement COVID-19 Protocols, announced this at a news briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.

Mr Attah, who said that the facilities were unsealed following the court order on Wednesday, warned that any further violation would lead to a complete shutdown of the markets.

Almost two day after the closure of the Wuse, UTC markets and Murg Shopping Plaza, the presiding judge, Magistrate Idayat Akani, having observed what was reported back by the team that inspected the two affected markets.

And also the undertaking was written by the leadership of the three business centres assuring that they will comply with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 guidelines on COVID-19, the judge in her wisdom ordered the unsealing of the markets and fine each of them N50,0000 which they hurriedly paid.

Mr Attah said the measure was expected to serve as a deterrent to other market operators, managers, associations and even bars.

He explained that from what the taskforce saw during inspections of the affected markets, they were largely prepared to comply with COVID-19 protocols.

He, however, emphasised the need for all markets and public places to sustain the level of compliance with COVID-19 safety protocols in obedience to the presidential executive order.

If the markets fail to abide by the COVID-19 protocols again, the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello and the Commissioner of Police directed that the business facilities should be completely shut down, he said.

Responding, Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Managing Director, Murg Properties Lld., Managers of Murg Shopping Plaza, assured that the facility would comply with the safety protocol.

He said that taskforce had been activated to ensure total compliance with COVID-19 protocols in the plaza and the markets. (NAN)

The Karabakh peace accord of 10 November 2020 between Azerbaijan and Armenia brought an end to a 30-year conflict that has cost almost 40,000 lives over this period. The world now watches on as the region tries to rebuild, recover, and reconcile. One struggle, however, is seldom talked about or reported on  the psychological fallout of war, particularly for those on the frontline, Tale Heydarov, a founder of The European Azerbaijan Society, writes for Eurasia Review.

Both soldiers and civilians will be beset by mental health problems as a result of the fighting. Indeed, it is estimated that between 20-30% of military veterans experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In Azerbaijan, the recently formed YASHAT Foundation was established to support war veterans and their families financially, signifying the importance attached to care for veterans. Azerbaijan has also established a commission chaired by the Minister of Health to provide psychological support to servicemen and their families affected by the Karabakh conflict. The Labour and Social Protection Ministry is also assisting veterans by implementing plans to provide war veterans with housing between 2021-2025. The State Social Protection Fund has already paid out social welfare payments to over 7000 family members of the near 2800 Azerbaijani martyrs killed in the conflict, while also increasing the pension pot for affected families. The Ministry of Emergency Situations is also playing its part having invited 20 specialist Turkish doctors to help treat hundreds of veterans suffering from PTSD. These measures are indicative of the importance and understanding attached to the issue of PTSD and care for veterans in the country.

PTSD often arises from experiencing or witnessing intensely threatening or stressful events. The symptoms range from anxiety and depression to insomnia, nightmares, and anger, yet sufferers are seldom aware of their diagnosis. Most go untreated. In Azerbaijan, this is a relatively newly understood phenomenon. Across Europe however, there are numerous charities, like Combat Stress in the UK, operating a 24/7 helpline offering confidential mental health advice to veterans and their families. In the United States, the PTSD Foundation of America also provides support to veterans suffering from associated issues. The governments of both countries invest a considerable amount of money in assisting veterans returning from the frontline. Yet some remain mentally left behind on the battlefield.

Bolstering capacity, investment and the number of experts specially qualified to deal with such mental trauma and therapies is to be roundly welcomed. The more fundamental problem, however, is that mental illness the world over is often stigmatised, further impacting and scarring those suffering from said issues. Veterans, returning from the extreme conditions of war are often severely impacted by such stigma. Some of them not only have to deal with readjusting to their old lives but also suffer in silence while dealing with PTSD. Due to a lack of awareness and the stigma attached to mental health, we fail in our moral duty to take care of these individuals who have risked their lives for our safety, wellbeing, and homeland.

A sense of awareness begins with understanding that PTSD is common amongst soldiers. Studies indicate that as many as 20-30% of US troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffered from psychological illness. Despite high levels of psychological trauma, many veterans are ashamed to turn to their loved ones for help. An Azerbaijani veteran, Qasim, who fought in the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, described how his family and friends questioned his bravery, fortitude, and manliness when he told them about his suffering. Qasim and countless other veterans, often turn to alcohol to numb the pain. Rather than reducing veterans to self-medicating in silence, we need to address and confront these issues. Effective medical treatment and an open discussion will help both soldiers and societies heal faster from the horrors of war.

Military conflict also exacts a heavy toll on civilians. In 2019, WHO found that one in five people in war zones suffer from mental health conditions. Those living in the borderlands of Karabakh, having experienced fighting over many decades, could be, if not definitely will be, significantly impacted. Psychiatrists have coined a medical term to describe the rapid increase in stress-related mental and psychical illnesses that followed the wars immediate aftermath in the 1990s  Karabakh syndrome. An entire generation has known nothing but war in the mountains of Azerbaijan, with many who suffer from PTSD having contracted the condition after the first 1994 ceasefire and bearing witness to years of short and sharp fighting between the two sides on the line of contact. Their one solace being that Karabakh is for the first time in over thirty years free from Armenian occupation and rightly restored to Azerbaijani control in accordance with international law.

Psychological war injuries should be approached with the same respect and urgency as we do for those who have suffered the physical horrors of conflict. Everyone deals with stress and trauma differently, but we should not underestimate the seriousness of this predicament. Azerbaijan is a small country. Most of our citizens will know someone affected by the war or injured or killed in battle. Only through time and openly talking about these experiences will we be able to truly overcome it. We need to begin by liaising with international health organisations so our doctors can receive the training and expertise they need from abroad. We also need to create and widely support social awareness programs that highlight the importance of mental health and the tragic consequences if we do not heed or spot the tale-tell signs of desperation and trauma.

Journalists also have a critical role to play in raising awareness of this important issue. Our mental health staff should receive the best possible training to be able to deal with the challenge of PTSD. Additionally, we must focus on dealing with this issue before the trauma associated with the war becomes a more entrenched disorder. Medicine alone will not remedy this issue. Every sufferer needs an individually tailored approach to tackle the elements of PTSD that they are dealing with  there isnt a one size fits all approach. People suffering from PTSD in Azerbaijan should call the 112 hotline to reach the expert help and advice they need. Additionally, in the spirit of international collaboration, countries with more significant expertise in dealing with such matters should assist those with little or no experience. Only by understanding this silent phenomenon fully can we create stable communities and societies and a sense of durable peace in the South-Caucasus.
Antony Blinken in 2015 at the U.S. State Department.

(JNS) - The U.S. Senate confirmed Tony Blinken on Tuesday as the 71st U.S. secretary of state. The final tally was 78-22.

Blinken, who is Jewish, will succeed Mike Pompeo as America's top diplomat.

Blinken previously served as U.S. deputy secretary of state under U.S. President Barack Obama and was a top adviser to Joe Biden during the latter's 2020 presidential campaign.

During his nomination hearing last week in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Blinken said that the United States is "a long way" from re-entering the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and that Biden would consult with...
(TNS)  The state would provide $10 million in grants to buy body cameras for officers, under a provision in Gov. Mike DeWines biennial budget proposal.DeWine said Wednesday that about two-thirds of law enforcement agencies statewide dont have body cameras, often because of the costs involved.The public has more confidence and trust in the criminal justice system when officers are wearing them, the governor said during a Wednesday morning press conference. His goal is for every police officer in Ohio to have a body camera.DeWines two-year budget plan also includes continued support for task forces and other state-backed efforts working to thwart drug trafficking. That includes the opening of Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center locations in Cincinnati and Toledo to assist local law enforcement in investigations of illegal narcotics and gun crimes.The budget plan also includes funding for gunshot detection technologies and other local efforts to reduce gun violence, with $8 million in grant funding to establish and support law enforcement investigation centers that focus on cell phones and other evidence of firearm crimes.The governor announced the initiatives Wednesday as part of the continuing rollout of details of his biennial budget proposal, with $75 billion in general fund spending over the next two fiscal years, beginning July 1.Every child deserves a safe neighborhood to grow up in, DeWine said. And so much of what we have proposed in our budget, so much of the good things that we want to do, so much of peoples quality of life, is really dependent on the absence of crime."The executive spending plan is scheduled for an initial hearing before the Ohio Houses Finance Committee Thursday, with months of deliberations to come in the House and Ohio Senate. A final two-year budget is expected to be adopted by the end of June.Specifics on the criminal justice and other budget provisions will be released in coming weeks, when the actual legislative language is submitted to lawmakers, said state Budget Director Kim Murnieks.That could include all or part of the comprehensive package of gun reforms DeWine announced following a mass shooting in Dayton in August 2019 that left nine people dead and a dozen wounded. DeWine has continued to urge passage of law changes to expand information and alerts in background checks for firearm purchases and increased penalties for the illegal possession, purchase and sale of guns, among other law changes.DeWine declined to offer specifics Wednesday, though he said, "Language that we will be sending up will put into law many of the proposals that we have made... We're not giving up on the pledge I made to the people in the Miami Valley."
She is the reigning pinup of today.

But Kim Kardashian offered her legions of fans a bit of nostalgia for bombshells past while plugging her brand SKIMS this week.

The busty 40-year-old struck a pose reminiscent of 1950s 'Queen Of Pinups' Bettie Page in some new ads on her Insta Stories.

She is the reigning pinup of today: But Kim Kardashian offered her legions of fans a bit of nostalgia for bombshells past while plugging her brand SKIMS this week

Use it or lose it: In one snap while modeling a luxurious throwback hairdo and a deep scarlet shade of lipstick, she lifted up her tiny gold robe to flaunt her legendary backside

In one snap while modeling a luxurious throwback hairdo and a deep scarlet shade of lipstick, she lifted up her tiny gold robe to flaunt her legendary backside.

Kim uploaded a video of the same outfit, filming herself as she lolled around in bed and pulled her best smoldering supermodel stare.

She has been busy sizzling on social media lately in order to promote her brand's SILK collection which is for 'ultra-soft and glam loungewear.'

In one post she aimed a tantalizing smile at the camera while throwing flowers into the air and modeling a plunging nightie that barely contained her ample assets.

Sizzler: The busty 40-year-old struck a pose reminiscent of 1950s 'Queen Of Pinups' Bettie Page in some new ads on her Insta Stories

Hard at work: Kim uploaded a video of the same outfit, filming herself as she lolled around in bed and pulled her best smoldering supermodel stare

Making it happen: She has been busy sizzling on social media lately in order to promote her brand's SILK collection which is for 'ultra-soft and glam loungewear'

When you got it: In one post she aimed a tantalizing smile at the camera while throwing flowers into the air and modeling a plunging nightie that barely contained her ample assets

During a brief clip she could be seen arcing her sensational legs over one side of an armchair while operating an old-fashioned camera.

She was decked out in glimmering pink loungewear and had her hair in a flashback style, wearing purple nail polish to match her lipstick.

Meanwhile the same day a fan page for her sister Kourtney Kardashian was also in a nostalgic mood - but for the Kardashians' own childhood.

Kourtney posted a sweet snap of herself and Kim as children posing with their late father Robert Kardashian who died in 2003.

Superstar: During a brief clip she could be seen arcing her sensational legs over one side of an armchair while operating an old-fashioned camera

Having a ball: She was decked out in glimmering pink loungewear and had her hair in a flashback style, wearing purple nail polish to match her lipstick

Robert shot to fame in the 1990s as part of the legal team that secured O.J. Simpson's still controversial acquittal of double murder.

Kim is studying to follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer, and she has already managed to spring several convicts from jail through her advocacy.

Last Friday she returned stateside from a trip to Turks And Caicos with her North, seven, and Chicago, three, whom she shares with her third husband Kanye West.

'Kimye' also share two sons called Saint, five, and Psalm, one, but Kim wrote on Instagram over the weekend that the vacation had been a 'Girls Trip.'

Peace sign: Last Friday she returned stateside from a trip to Turks And Caicos with her North, seven, and Chicago, three, whom she shares with her third husband Kanye West

Details: 'Kimye' also share two sons called Saint, five, and Psalm, one, but Kim wrote on Instagram over the weekend that the vacation had been a 'Girls Trip'

The Turks And Caicos vacation also included all four of Kim's sisters - Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian as well as Kylie and Kendall Jenner.

Based on Kylie's Insta Stories on Saturday she seemed to have returned to the Tranquility villa where she also a family trip for her 23rd birthday last summer.

The sprawling 11-bedroom property is made for 16 guests and is currently listed on Airbnb as costing upwards of a whopping $30,000 a night.

Family time: Her recent Turks And Caicos vacation also included all four of Kim's sisters - Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian as well as Kylie and Kendall Jenner

By the way: Kim went on her latest holiday with her children amid a swirl of reports that she is on the verge of divorcing Kanye whom she married in 2014

Kim went on her latest holiday with her children amid a swirl of reports that she is on the verge of divorcing Kanye whom she married in 2014.

Recently a Page Six insider alleged that the upcoming last season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians will show the 'Kimye' marriage on the rocks.

The source claimed that 'the Kardashians intend to go out with a bang. Theyve filmed Kim discussing her marriage problems. But everybody involved is on a nondisclosure agreement, because the finale wont screen until later in 2021.'
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 12:19:03|Editor: huaxia

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GUIYANG, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has given the thumbs up to using Miao embroidery to pass down ethnic, traditional culture, aid in the battle against poverty and promote rural vitalization.

Xi was visiting a workshop at Huawu Village, Xinren Miao Township of Qianxi County in Bijie on Wednesday afternoon during an inspection tour of southwest China's Guizhou Province.

The exquisite handmade Miao embroidery garments and ornaments caught his attention, and Xi learned about the crafting process in detail from local villagers.

"What's traditional is also fashionable," Xi said, urging the promotion of Miao embroidery for the greater contribution to the rural vitalization. Enditem
When we build new apartment block developments, we have to weigh up a number of factors, such as the number of apartments, their layouts, and access to light and a view.

It's common during densification projects for new developments to reduce access to light and obstruct the views from existing buildings. Outdoor areas can also be negatively affected." Anders Kirkhus, Civil Architect and Senior Adviser, Norwegian Research Institute SINTEF

"For this reason, new projects should include high-quality compensatory features such as spacious new outdoor and communal areas. The key principles must be established early in the process. It is therefore crucial that local municipalities, developers and architects are fully aware early in the planning phase of all the factors that must be taken into account", he says.

The work on this issue has resulted in two new publications in the SINTEF Building Research Design Guides series (Byggforskserien). The first addresses the planning of apartment blocks and the second the apartments themselves (for subscribers).

Indoors and outdoors are equally important

The authors of these guides direct their focus on the intrinsic qualities of the blocks and apartments. Living quality is not only about buildings and the homes they contain, but also the experiences and opportunities offered to residents by the development as a whole.

"The spaces between the buildings form an arena for social interaction, and this is just as important an architectural factor as the buildings themselves", says Kirkhus.

Different housing developments offer different benefits and shortcomings. Block developments create well-defined urban spaces where public streets are separated from a semi-public courtyard. In such scenarios, achieving optimal solutions in terms of noise and access to sun- and daylight can be problematic.

Parallel-oriented, rectangular blocks may provide apartments with good access to sunlight, views and panoramas, but the unremarkable green spaces laid out between them may offer less functional outdoor space. Planners must take such factors into consideration.

It is also important to be aware that the access and communication systems built into such blocks have a major influence on the design of the apartments and their orientation. "Those planning apartment blocks must be knowledgeable of the various load carrying systems, the placement of shafts and, not least, requirements related to the design of functional parking basements", says Kirkhus.

Housing development planning in SINTEF's Building Research Design Guides (Byggforskserien)

The guidance set out in SINTEF's Building Research Design Guides is rooted in prevailing Norwegian legislation and knowledge/research related to living quality. The guides are written in the form of instruction manuals for the construction industry.

The series has included a number of publications on the design of interior spaces such as living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms, and can be employed in all types of housing development.

The guides are now being supplemented with two new manuals as part of a series dedicated to planning: no. 330.112 Boligblokker - utforming og omgivelser (Apartment blocks - design and surroundings) and no. 330.114 Utforming av leiligheter (Apartment design).

Both offer advice to all those responsible for the planning and design of apartment blocks and apartments. They provide lists of the essential requirements set out in the statutory Norwegian building regulations (TEK17), and set out the means available to municipalities to influence living and housing quality during construction.

Focus on daylight

SINTEF has also been looking into the design of individual apartments, with a focus on functional and visual quality. Research has been concentrating on one of the key aspects of living quality - access to daylight - and the factors that influence this access in an apartment.

Such factors include the number of walls with windows, the depth of the apartment, facade width, projecting structures such as balconies, as well as room height and window placement. Advice on these issues is now available in the aforementioned guide "Utforming av leiligheter" (Apartment design).

Don't let the living room go to waste

The layout of an apartment has a major influence on living quality.

"We note that new, small apartments that are typically designed with high quality bathrooms and adequate bedroom space suffer from only tolerably adequate living rooms with a lot of left-over and corridor space", says Kirkhus. "It can be difficult to furnish these well", he says.

Ideally, an apartment should be designed for extended use by different kinds of residents in a variety of life situations. For this reason, the possibilities for making adaptations is important to the apartment's practical value during its lifetime.

Giving a boost to new housing projects

All this new research has now been compiled as part of the SINTEF Building Research Design Guides series. It will offer municipalities, developers and architects a combined overview of the quality goals they should be aiming for, and as such will provide an excellent basis for prioritisation during individual projects.

"We hope that our research-based recommendations can make a contribution towards giving a boost to new housing projects, and that house buyers will become more aware of the features they should be asking after when looking for an apartment", says Kirkhus. Then everyone will benefit", he concludes.
Warren County and St. Lukes University Health Network officials are sounding the alarm that more COVID-19 vaccine doses are desperately needed from the State of New Jersey.

St. Lukes Warren Campus President Scott Wolfe in a letter Tuesday to Gov. Phil Murphy said supplies have forced the Phillipsburg hospital to curtail clinic hours. Once the second round of booster shots are administered, without additional vaccine, the clinic may need to close, Wolfe warned.

Our St. Lukes Warren Campus vaccine clinic has been expanded recently to accommodate up to 250 shots per day, given an adequate supply of vaccines, Wolfe says in the letter obtained by lehighvalleylive.com. Unfortunately, we have received no new initial vaccine doses since January 20 and no new booster doses (which must be held for 4 weeks until administration) since January 25, leaving us with 10 initial and 545 booster doses on hand, respectively.

Asked to comment on vaccine supplies for Warren County, Murphy spokesman Michael Zhadanovsky told lehighvalleylive.com: Our administration is always moving expeditiously to allocate vaccines to counties for distribution, but short supply of vaccines remains a significant problem.

The federal government has increased our allocations for the weeks ahead, and we look forward to getting more shots in arms as soon as we can. Warren County, as all other counties in the state, will receive supplies based on availability and an allocation framework that balances efficiency and equity.

Phillipsburg Town Council President Frank McVey said he and Vice President Bobby Fulper have been working with Warren County Commissioners Director James Kern III on getting answers to the St. Lukes supply concerns.

Theres really a gap in what people can get and to have a hospital in the community not receive the vaccine, thats concerning, Kern said Wednesday.

According to New Jerseys COVID-19 Information Hub, 837,225 total vaccine doses had been administered statewide as of Wednesday in the state of 8.9 million people, or 943 per 10,000 people.

Warren Countys 8,328 total doses administered represent 791 doses per 10,000 people, the seventh lowest vaccination rate out of 21 counties. Cape May County has the highest rate, with 1,360 doses per 10,000 people, and Hudson County has the lowest, at 564 per 10,000 people. Hunterdon County is right around the middle of the pack with 927 doses per 10,000 people, ranking 11th.

Our purpose in writing to you is to respectfully request consideration for more vaccine supply to be made available to Warren County and, specifically, to us at St. Lukes Warren Campus in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, Wolfe wrote to Murphy. We desperately need a greater, more consistent supply of vaccine doses so that we can take full advantage of our capacity to administer vaccinations.

Offering the vaccine at the hospital offers a convenient location for residents, accessible by public transportation, Kern said, echoing comments Wolfe made in his letter to the governor. Kern acknowledged that the vaccine shortage begins with the federal government and is a nationwide issue: The vaccine shortage is just everywhere.

We desire more vaccine supply so we can give more shots, St. Lukes spokeswoman Lisa Johnson said Wednesday night. We continue to advocate for Warren County residents because, as Mr. Wolfe stated in the letter, many residents in the community cannot travel far for care and rely on the close proximity of the St. Lukes Warren Campus for their care. And because there is a lack of public transportation, many Warren County residents will not be able to travel outside of the county to receive the vaccine nor the required booster.

New Jersey advises those looking to get vaccinated once theyre eligible to pre-register at covidvaccine.nj.gov. For help with the New Jersey Vaccine Scheduling System, residents can visit covid19.nj.gov/vaccinehelp or call 855-568-0545.

Those looking to get the vaccine through St. Lukes can pre-register through the St. Lukes MyChart portal at sluhn.org/vaccine. Answers to questions related to MyChart can found at slhn.org/covid-19 or by calling 866-785-8537 (866-STLUKES), Option 5.

Warren County also offers vaccination clinics to county residents only. The Warren County Call Center at 908-878-3188 is assisting with scheduling COVID-19 tests and vaccines, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. Residents can schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine on the Warren County website through a link on the COVID-19 vaccine page co.warren.nj.us/Healthdept/WCCOVIDVaccine.html.

In addition, New Jersey is working with Rite Aid and CVS to distribute the vaccine, beginning this month, NJ.com reported Wednesday.

New Jersey health officials on Wednesday reported another 2,021 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 52 additional deaths, as Murphy announced that restrictions on indoor dining, gatherings and other venues will be eased starting on Friday, according to NJ.com. That makes 631,309 confirmed cases during the pandemic with 21,693 deaths.

New Jersey is currently vaccinating the following groups of people:

Paid or unpaid persons working or volunteering in a healthcare setting.

Residents of long-term care facilities and other congregate settings.

Frontline first responders.

Those ages 65 and older.

Those ages 18 to 64 years old who have at least one chronic medical condition that poses a high-risk for severe COVID-19: cancer, chronic kidney disease, obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Down syndrome, heart conditions (including heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies), those immunocompromised (weakened immune system) due to organ transplant (consult with your doctor), obesity (e.g. body mass index of 30kg/m2 or higher), pregnancy (consult with your doctor), sickle cell disease, smoking, Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Visit covid19.nj.gov to find a list of vaccination sites statewide.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
LONDON  The United States has filed a lawsuit to seize a cargo of oil it says came from Iran rather than Iraq, as stated on the bill of lading, and contravenes U.S. terrorism regulations.

The lawsuit filed with the U.S. District of Colombia on Tuesday alleges that Iran sought to mask the origin of the oil by transferring it to several vessels before it ended up aboard the Liberian-flagged Achilleas tanker destined for China.

Washington said the scheme involved multiple entities affiliated with Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its elite Qods Force, both of which have been declared by foreign terrorist organizations by the United States.

Participants in the scheme attempted to disguise the origin of the oil using ship-to-ship transfers, falsified documents, and other means, and provided a fraudulent bill of lading to deceive the owners of the Achilleas into loading the oil in question, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

It said the Achilleas tanker was subject to seizure based on U.S. terrorism forfeiture laws. The move to seize the cargo followed an investigation by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security.

A source at the tankers Greek operator Capital Ship Management said the Achilleas was now heading to the United States in full cooperation with U.S. authorities, where the company has a trading license.

The Achilleas last reported position was off the coast of South America. The U.S. Gulf port of Galveston was its destination with a scheduled arrival on Feb. 15, Refinitiv ship tracking data showed on Wednesday.

Iran has not commented on the tanker as yet.
Cheyenne, WY (82001)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Low 43F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Low 43F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
LONDON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Manchester City reopened their three-point lead at the top of the Premier League on Wednesday thanks to a comfortable 2-0 win away to Burnley.

Although Manchester United had moved level on points with Pep Guardiola's men after their 9-0 thrashing of Southampton 24 hours earlier, the result didn't appear to worry City.

Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring in the third minute with a header from close range after Nick Pope had parried Bernardo Silva's original effort.

Sterling doubled City's lead after 38 minutes as he finished off a flowing team move with a close-range finish, and his side's control of the ball allowed them to avoid much suffering in the second half.

Liverpool's title hopes look to be over after they lost 1-0 at home to Brighton, the first time they have suffered consecutive home defeats in nine year.

Jurgen Klopp's men never looked fluid, and Steven Alzate's 56th minute goal lifts Brighton ten points clear of the relegation zone.

Leicester City remain in the top four after goals from Kelechi Iheanacho and James Justin gave them a 2-0 win away to relegation-threatened Fulham.

Iheanacho put Leicester ahead after a cross from James Maddison, who turned provider again later to allow Justin to round the keeper and ensure the victory.

First-half goals from Gylfi Sigurdsson and Dominic Calvert-Lewin put Everton on their way to a 2-1 win away to Leeds United, who pulled a goal back in the 48th minute through Raphinha but were unable to find an equalizer as Everton dug deep in the closing minutes.

Jesse Lingard made an immediate impact on arrival at West Ham on loan from Manchester United with goals in the 56th and 83rd minutes as his side won 3-1 away to Aston Villa. Tomas Soucek had put West Ham ahead in the 51st minute, and Ollie Watkins netted a consolation for Villa. Enditem

[ Editor: WPY ]
EAGLES MERE, Pa.  Silence filled the sidewalks and streets, even the sky above the big city, but Caroline Goldrick heard a new sound from the seventh-floor apartment on Broadway. It was the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and down below, in a funeral home parking lot, a refrigerated box truck hummed day and night to keep the new corpses cold.

In July, Goldrick, her husband, Christian, and their daughter, Edith, borrowed a car, left two cats in the hands of a caretaker, and traded Upper Manhattan for rural Pennsylvania, to a family members home in idyllic Eagles Mere, in Sullivan County, 175 miles to the northwest. When the summer residents left this tourist town, mother and daughter stayed. They watched the leaves turn, and come fall, saw more whitetail deer than people. Lately, winters taught them what silence truly is.

Theres noise, but its usually just the wind, Goldrick said.

Calls for social distancing, coupled with the increased ability to work from home, or anywhere, have made stories like Goldricks far more common. In May, real estate agents in rural Pennsylvania, including some in Sullivan County, said they hadnt seen the same kind of rush to rent and purchase homes there since 9/11. Many people bought homes sight unseen, paying more than the asking price. Some short-term rentals on Craigslist promised renters would never get coronavirus in those remote locations.

Goldrick, who teaches musical theater at a New York City public school, said she and her husband had initial concerns about traveling to Eagles Mere. They rarely left their apartment, save for groceries and brief trips to Inwood Hill Park by the Hudson River.

Wed heard people were roaming free without masks on the beach, she said of Eagles Mere. As we started to go a little bit more crazy at home, though, we decided if its too much, well just come home.

Sullivan County is second-to-last in population density among Pennsylvanias 67 counties, with 14.1 people per square mile. There have been 242 confirmed cases of COVID-19 there and 12 confirmed deaths. Manhattans population density is 69,468 per square mile, and New York City as a whole has averaged 5,288 new cases of coronavirus per day. Goldrick said she began to feel the squeeze of the city early on.

I feel like we were traumatized a little, she said.

On a gray January afternoon, Goldrick, 48, and Edith stepped out onto frozen Eagles Mere Lake during one of their daily walks. Their boots crunched the snow and a distant woodpeckers hammering echoed across the ice. One other person was on the lake, flying a kite. Two cars passed by on the lakefront road in an hour.

Edith made snow angels. She said the lake is her favorite part of Eagles Mere, though she prefers when she can swim and get ice cream in the summer. When asked if she wanted to return home, to New York City, she thought hard for a few seconds.

Maybe, she said.

Edith misses her cats more than her friends. She can see friends on Zoom.

Goldrick was teaching remotely before summer break, but her theater program was put on pause for the new school year. Her husband still works in the city, for a nonprofit, during the week, and he often returns to Eagles Mere on weekends. Edith is in first grade, and taught at home with a combination of a Vermont-based homeschool program and New York City curriculum and check-ins with teachers via Zoom.

Goldrick said she acknowledges the privilege of her situation and feels incredibly lucky to have a place to escape when millions dont. A self-professed talker, she misses her circle of friends, though, the current that courses through city life.

No one moves to New York City to sit in their apartment, she said. People who complain about all the people there shouldnt move to the city.

Theres been much debate about the future of that city life, whether work from home will cement into something permanent, making office space redundant. Urbanists worry whether density will become a dirtier word, whether fear of crowded public transportation will ramp up automobile usage. Newspapers have published op-eds that claim New York City is dead forever, along with rebuttals.

Goldrick doesnt own a car but said its impossible to get around without one in rural Pennsylvania. The friend borrowed the Saturn shes using now works in theater on Broadway and will one day need it back. Internet connection in rural areas is often spotty, too.

Goldrick cant stay in her brother-in-laws Eagles Mere home forever, but the vaccine rollout and approaching spring months, when more people can gather outdoors, are encouraging signs for a possible return by as early as next month. Then again, she and her husband often rent a cabin in Eagles Mere for July. Like her daughter, Goldricks settled on maybe.

Weve been kind of playing it month by month. It was, Well, maybe after Thanksgiving, and then, Maybe after Christmas, and were still here, she said. I feel very lucky to be here, and lucky that my daughter and I are not sick, but I miss the city.
The chapel service for Ash Wednesday was our most well-attended service of the year when I worked as a hospital chaplain. Maybe it was because at a hospital, there are everyday reminders of life and death. The healthcare workers who came for the mark of ashes knew well the miracle and frailty of life. The visitors who came perhaps wanted a taste of a familiar ritual as they maneuvered the unexpected or difficult within the hospital walls.

Despite this reasoning, its popularity still struck me as odd as a young chaplain. I had noticed that our society is often allergic to death: People dont like talking about it, there is a cult of youth in culture, and its often tempting to make decisions that do not take our finitude into account. Yet, one function of Ash Wednesday is to remind us of the frailty of the human condition in a most basic way: We are dust, and to dust we will return (Genesis 3:19).

Further, I found it interesting that the sign of ashes was the most requested part of the service. Busy healthcare workers would not leave without the ashy cross. In a society where faith sometimes felt like an unwelcomed advance in everyday conversation, I marveled at how people craved this public acknowledgment of their faith. They wanted to be set apartto be visibly marked. There was comfort in the ritual because it proclaimed the majesty of our Creator and the saving work of our Lord right where it was needed most.

What Is Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday is a holy day that signifies the beginning of Lent. It marks the entry into a season of spiritual preparation for Holy Week, which culminates in Easter. Any march toward the redeeming work of Christ must begin with a recognition of our need for his graceand that reminder is Ash Wednesday. The day affirms that we are dust, as ashes are literally spread in a cross on our foreheads. The cross represents Jesus and how he has redeemed us. We are encouraged to seek repentance with humble hearts and prepare for his gift.

While Ash Wednesday isnt mentioned in the Bible, Scripture does testify to the practice of repenting in dust and ashes. The ashes for Ash Wednesday are typically provided by burning the palms from Palm Sunday of the year prior. Christians in the early church were sprinkled with ashes during Lent; however, it wasnt until the Middle Ages that the church began the Ash Wednesday practice of marking foreheads.

Download your FREE copy of our 40 Day Lent and Easter Devotional - filled with daily Scriptures, reflections, and prayers for the Lent season.

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday

This is a prayer that draws from the chapel service in my chaplain days. I am indebted to Chaplain Nancy Waite and Evanston Northwestern Hospital for their mentorship. I invite you to pray this prayer with me:

Merciful God, you called us forth from the dust of the earth; you claimed us for Christ in the waters of baptism. Look upon us as we enter these Forty Days bearing the mark of ashes, and bless the journey through the desert of Lent to the font of rebirth. As we remember our mortality and seek penitence today, we know you to be a God who is rich in forgiveness and abounding in steadfast love, love that culminates in eternal life with you. Guide our steps this Lent, so that we might find greater fulfillment in your promises and better serve others with a heart thats reflective of you. Amen.

Some churches will still be celebrating Ash Wednesday but may be doing so remotely this year due to the pandemic. My church will be distributing small bags of ashes with a prayer and instructions for ash disposition. Participants will be praying the prayer above, and then they will say this line as they make the sign of the cross on their forehead or that of a loved one: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return (Genesis 3:19).

Bible Verses for Ash Wednesday

Genesis 3:19 is one of many Scripture passages that are fitting for meditation on Ash Wednesday. I encourage you to read these others too:

Daniel 9:3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

Job 42:5-6 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.

Mark 1:15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!"

Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 We are therefore Christs ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christs behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As Gods co-workers we urge you not to receive Gods grace in vain. For he says, In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of Gods favor, now is the day of salvation.

Psalm 103:8-14 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

Additional/Longer Readings:

Lenten Preparation and Reflection

While these Scripture passages are meaningful on Ash Wednesday, they can also be used to spur reflection during the entire forty-day Lenten period. I invite you to also use these starters for reflection and prayer to enrich your preparation:

I ask Jesus to free me from my sin of...

I shine my light before others at home or at work by...

I dedicate my life to service and healing by...

I consider my own mortality and its gift by

The latter is especially powerful.

While death isnt usually an easy subject to broach, it is a fact of life. Recognizing lifes gift allows us to value each day and live it to the fullest. Ash Wednesday helps us do just that. We recognize our mortality while simultaneously proclaiming all that God has done, which propels us to embrace this life and the one to come. May the peace of Christ meet you exactly where 2021 finds you and bless you abundantly with his grace as we journey toward Easter!

Photo credit: GettyImages/Coompia77

Rev. Noelle Kirchner, M.Div., believes we don't have to live with full schedules and thin souls. A busy mom of three boys, she is a graduate of Northwestern University and Princeton Seminary and an ordained Presbyterian minister who has served in churches for over ten years. She has written for places like the TODAY Show Parenting Team, Huff Post Parents, Crosswalk, iBelieve, and (in)courage. Her faith and family cable television show, "Chaos to Calm," features parenting hot topics and has hosted four New York Times bestselling authors and two Emmy Award-winning journalists. Watch her episodes or sermons and sign up for her free devotional e-book by visiting her website, noellekirchner.com. You can connect with her on social media (Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook) and also check out her book, How to Live Your Life Purpose: The Six-Step Journey to God's Best, that launched as a #1 New Release on Amazon and includes end-of-chapter Bible studies.

This article is part of our prayer resource meant to inspire and encourage your prayer life when you face uncertain times. Remember, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and God knows your heart even if you can't find the words to pray.

Prayers from the Bible to Guide Your Prayer Time

Types of Prayers We See in the Bible

What Is the Prayer of Jabez in the Bible?

How to Pray for Your Daily Bread

Prayers for Anxiousness

Related: Listen to our podcast, Teach Us to Pray with Christina Patterson. You can find all the episodes at LifeAudio.com. Here's Episode 1:




Two friends who allegedly subjected a woman to more than 12 hours of terror, stabbing her and stuffing her into the boot of her own car, may have been heading to the infamous Belanglo State Forest.

Latia Henderson, 18, and Kayley Lee Ketley, 24, were stopped by NSW Police about 11.30am on Wednesday after a passing truck driver saw a woman's hand waving out the boot of a white Holden Commodore driving down the busy highway.

That hand - and car - allegedly belonged to Nisha Phillips, 24, who at 10.30pm the night earlier had allegedly been attacked by Henderson and Ketley.

Police are investigating if the alleged kidnappers were on their way to Belanglo, a notorious forest between Sydney and Canberra, the Daily Telegraph claimed.

Henderson and Ketley were both refused bail at Picton Local Court on Thursday.

Court papers reveal police allege that on Tuesday, February 2, both Henderson and Ketley went to an address in Claymore, western Sydney, and stole Ms Phillips' prized Holden Commodore before stabbing her and stuffing her in the boot.

Nisha Phillips (pictured) was allegedly stuffed in the boot of her own Commodore after 12 hours of terror

The pair, who are both from Campbelltown in Sydney's southwest, have been denied bail

A driver called police after noticing the 24-year-old's hand hanging out of a broken tail light in the boot of the Commodore (pictured)

Henderson's lawyer Gazi Abbass made no application for bail on her behalf, telling media outside he was yet to be given instructions to fight the charges.

The 18-year-old appeared in court over video link from a police cell, wearing a white forensic jumpsuit and appearing largely emotionless aside from a small wave to her grandmother who was supporting her in court.

A disheveled looking Ketley was not represented by a lawyer but still applied for bail despite Magistrate Mark Douglass urging her not to.

'These are very serious offences, please obtain some legal advice in relation to all matters,' he told her.

But Ketley persisted unsuccessfully in her application, saying she would do whatever she needed to so that she could care for her sick grandmother.

'My grandmother is very ill. I would be asking to be released to live at her address so I can care for her,' she said.

'I will report at least twice a day everyday. I will do whatever I have to to get bail.'

Henderson's lawyer Gazi Abbass made no application for bail on her behalf - with the 18-year-old remanded in custody

Police pulled the car over on the Hume Highway in Berrima, in the NSW Southern Highlands, on Wednesday morning

Both Henderson (left) and Ketley were refused bail to reappear in Campbelltown Local Court in April

The pair's alleged kidnapping of Ms Phillips came to an end after a passing truck driver saw her hand poking through the tail light of her white Holden Commodore.

He called Triple Zero and police stopped Henderson and Ketley near Berrima, south of Sydney, some 20 minutes later.

In the boot they allegedly found Ms Phillips suffering stab wounds to her knee, thigh and forearm.

Police have charged both Henderson and Ketley with unlawful wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, detaining to gain advantage causing bodily harm and driving a vehicle without (the) owner's consent.

Ketley was also hit with the additional charges of cannabis possession and driving while disqualified.

Ms Phillips remains in Liverpool Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

Forensic police spent Wednesday combing over the car for evidence, with Detective Chief Inspector Brendan Bernie praising the truck driver for his awareness.

'[An] observing motorist saw a hand protruding from a tail light cavity in the vehicle and subsequently called police. It was stopped by police after [an officer] saw a hand also protruding from the tail light,' Det Chief Insp Bernie said.

'Some excellent work done by the motorist who identified the hand coming out of the vehicle and they subsequently notified police and we can't thank the motorist enough.'

'It's very fortunate that we found this woman alive  we obviously think it could have ended quite catastrophically for her  we are fortunate no one was killed or seriously injured.'

Henderson and Ketley will return to Campbelltown Local Court on April 7.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 17:45:27|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- China has been closely following a U.S. warship's transit through the Taiwan Strait, and hopes the U.S. side will play a constructive role for regional peace and stability, rather than the opposite, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

The USS John S. McCain sailed through the Taiwan Strait earlier in the day, marking the U.S. Navy's first trip through the waterway in 2021, according to a U.S. Navy statement.

"China will continue to be on high alert, stand ready to deal with any threats and provocations, and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily press briefing. Enditem
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

BEIJING -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, started visiting southwest China's Guizhou Province on Wednesday, about one week before the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year.

For nine years in a row, Xi has made it a tradition to visit ordinary people, especially the disadvantaged groups, ahead of the Spring Festival, the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar.

The following are some of the most memorable moments of Xi's interactions with these people during his pre-Spring Festival tours.

2020, Yunnan

Xi went to the home of farmer Li Fashun in Simola Wa Village, Yunnan Province, where he learned about the family's daily life, and was invited to join the family in making rice cakes. He also beat a wooden drum of the Wa ethnic group three times, a local ritual activity to bless the coming year.

The year 2020 marked the deadline for China to eliminate absolute poverty. During the inspection, Xi noted that shaking off poverty is the starting point for a new and happy life, calling for vigorously promoting rural vitalization after a moderately prosperous society in all respects is achieved.

2019, Beijing

Xi visited the hutong neighborhoods of central Beijing and particularly dropped in on an express delivery station there, stressing that priority should be given to solving employment problems and creating more jobs.

He praised the hard work of deliverymen, saying they were "busy as bees" to bring convenience to people's lives.

2018, Sichuan

Xi went deep into the mountains of impoverished Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

In two ethnic Yi villages, Xi was happy to learn that villagers have increased their incomes by raising cattle and growing potatoes, peppers and walnuts.

"Not a single ethnic group or family should be left behind in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects," Xi said.

He also told villagers later during the inspection: "My job is to serve the people."

2017, Hebei

Xi went to a village in Hebei Province, a short drive from Beijing. In the house of poor villager Xu Wan, Xi asked about the family's drinking water, TV programs and activities it had planned for the Lunar New Year.

Xi even sat down with Xu and helped him with his household budget.

While visiting villager Xu Haicheng's home, Xi chatted with village cadres and farmers, and said poverty eradication is the "bottom-line task" in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

2016, Jiangxi

Xi visited the house of Zuo Xiufa, grandson of a revolutionary martyr living in a poverty-stricken village in the city of Jinggangshan, Jiangxi Province. Xi was glad to see that Zuo had shaken off poverty by using local bamboo resources to start his own processing business.

Calling Jinggangshan the cradle of the Chinese revolution, Xi called for carrying forward the Jinggangshan Spirit in the modern context.

2015, Shaanxi

Xi met with old acquaintances from Liangjiahe Village, Shaanxi Province, where he had spent seven years as an adolescent and young adult. "I will never forget the villagers here and the people in the old revolutionary base," Xi said.

"A well-off society is incomplete if people in old revolutionary base areas cannot shake off poverty," Xi said later during a meeting with officials from Shaanxi and neighboring provincial regions in northwest China.

2014, Inner Mongolia

Braving the cold in northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xi visited the home of forestry worker Guo Yongcai in a border town.

Inside the house in a dilapidated neighborhood, Xi checked the cellar and the fireplace and chatted with Guo to learn about his difficulties.

He later went to a children's welfare home where he used sign language to interact with the hearing-impaired. Xi called for love for children, especially orphans and the disabled, from across the society.

2013, Gansu

Xi went to villages located in a hostile natural environment in northwestern Gansu Province, asking villagers whether they had enough food, sufficient subsistence allowances, and access to medical and educational resources.

He emphasized stepped up efforts to ensure millions in arid parts of Gansu have access to stable supply of drinking water.

Xi also visited a construction site to learn about the rebuilding work of the county seat, where a landslide two years earlier had caused severe damages. There, he chatted with migrant workers, ordering better protection of their legitimate rights and interests.
Health official: 'I am hopeful for the brighter days ahead'
The teens attorney, Richards, responded that Kenosha police told his lawyers as he was being released not to put his new address on the bond paperwork. The response also included an email showing that one of Rittenhouses lawyers asked a prosecutor in late November whether he could file the teens new address under seal. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger declined, citing Wisconsins proud history of open records and saying he would resist an effort to keep the address secret unless he saw a specific, tangible and imminent threat.
SPACE, Inc.'s 26 years of designing workspaces that foster productivity, creativity and collaboration put the firm in a prime position to tackle the major challenges recent events have brought to the workplace.

The focus will still be on designing for the future of work, but SPACE will now concentrate on three core areas to better serve clients:

 Design  creating workplaces that reflect clients' specific tastes, needs and budgets;

 Sustainability  repurposing existing furniture to reduce waste while still reinventing spaces;

 Health and safety  making sure workplaces keep staff safe.

Last year showed us that the future of work requires a variety of work settings  from offices, to homes, to coffee shops, and joint workspaces, said Paddy Hobohm, SPACE president. We help clients design smaller office spaces that foster collaboration, community, and efficiency for when employees are in the office. But we are also on the leading edge in supporting employers efforts to ensure staff well-being, which is a step beyond selecting furniture and design styles.

To reflect these changes, SPACE has revamped its brand and website: https://spaceinc.net/

Our new branding is a bold statement that SPACE creates innovative workspaces for clients looking to stay ahead of the pack, said Jenni Bush, senior vice president. At the same time, the new branding elevates SPACE nationally to the front lines of interior workplace design.

The firm has offered full-space planning, layout, and execution for over 6,500 businesses in Michigan and government offices throughout the nation.

In a transition that began three years ago, SPACE is also bringing on a second generation of leadership, as founder Kathie Fuce-Hobohm moves to chairman of the board next year and her son Paddy Hobohm takes over.

Hobohm came to the firm 12 years ago, starting in installation and working his way through scheduling and project management. In recent years, he's focused on the firm's larger federal government projects. Hobohm earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. He also has an associates degree from Delta College and went to high school in Midland.

Bush is senior vice president, overseeing the firm's 24 employees while also doing human relations, sales, and events. She has worked for SPACE almost nine years, starting by entering orders. Bush has a bachelor's degree in communications from Grand Valley State University, and a masters degree in administration and leadership from Central Michigan University.

Fuce-Hobohm and her former business partner, Lisa Hulbert, launched SPACE in 1995, with just five people. In 2004, the firm won its first federal government contract, and just three months later, garnered another to provide furniture for the Department of Health and Human Services. In 2007, SPACE was named among Michigan 50 Companies to Watch.

Meanwhile, Fuce-Hobohm never shied away from assisting other businesses.

Kathies contributions to Midlands business community are immeasurable, said Tony Stamas, president and CEO of the Midland Business Alliance. She is always willing to share her experiences and provide guidance and mentorship. Her willingness to help is seen both in our community and around the state of Michigan. At the same time, she is guiding a great business, Kathies commitment to helping others is truly inspiring.

Fuce-Hobohm is gearing up for her last year at SPACE.

At SPACE, we design for the future of work, Fuce-Hobohm said. I predict that the work-from-anywhere movement will continue with full steam, so our company is actively adapting to interior design trends to suit employees needs wherever they work.

However, we know the pendulum may swing back, with people eager to work collectively again after so much time in isolation. Whatever trends the future brings, we're ready, Fuce-Hobohm said.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.

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The police in Edo State on Wednesday said they have arrested five suspected kidnappers inside the bushes around the Benin-Lagos Road.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Philip Ogbadu, disclosed this when he paid a visit to the Commandant, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, George Edem, at the corps headquarters in Benin City.

Mr Ogbadu said that the arrest was made when police operatives combed the bushes after receiving a distress call from the area.

He stressed the need for collaboration and support among security agencies in the state.

The duties of security agencies, he said, were inter-woven, hence the need for interaction in the course of carrying out their responsibilities.

We are here to serve the people of Edo, so there is a need for joint service for the good of the people.

I have tried to make an impact and a difference in the last 21 days after assuming office as the CP in the state.

After the #EndSARS the morale of people became low but, we need to inject life into it, he said.

The commissioner also spoke on the need for security chiefs in the state to talk to their personnel on why they should avoid friction and clashes while carrying out their duties.

We are brothers, so let us not clash. We will encourage our personnel as much as possible, Mr Ogbadu said.

Mr Edem, in his response, said the civil defence corps in the state has the capacity to fight crimes.

The corps would work with the police to ensure a more secured Edo, he said.

Mr Edem said the job of security agencies was a timeless job. He gave assurance the corps would interface on a daily basis with the police in resolving issues among personnel and other security challenges.

(NAN)
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.

The IPAC says the United Nations and individual states must act against Beijing, accused of crimes against humanity and genocide. Victims tortured with electric shocks to the genitals. The drama of forced sterilization. China denies the abuse and the existence of concentration camps in the autonomous region.

Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Interparliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) has called for a coordinated response from the international community regarding the rape and torture suffered by Uyghur women in the Xinjiang internment camps.

The transnational group, comprising more than 200 parliamentarians from different countries, refers to the revelations made on February 2 by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on the repression of the Islamic minority in the Chinese autonomous region.

Led by US Senator Marco Rubio, legislators from Australia, the United States, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the European Union are asking to move from words to deeds.

They want the establishment of a UN commission of inquiry to investigate the work of the Chinese government, accused of crimes against humanity and genocide. Meanwhile, IPAC MPs are calling on individual states to take initiatives against Beijing in compliance with the UN Convention on Genocide. The administration of the new US president Joe Biden has made the same request.

According to the BBC investigation, based on testimonies from some victims and a prison guard, Uyghur women are systematically tortured and raped in concentration camps set up by the authorities in Xinjiang. Abuses by Chinese guards - often in groups - also include electric shocks to the genitals and the use of vaccines for forced sterilization.

Yesterday the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied the allegations, speaking of a "false report". Beijing claims that those in Xinjiang are vocational training centres and poverty reduction projects. According to a large part of the international community, China has actually organized a lager system to keep the Uyghur and Kazakh populations under control.

Expert data, confirmed by the United Nations, reveals that over a million Uyghurs and other Turkish-speaking minorities of Islamic faith are arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang, which the local population calls "East Turkestan".

Recent press revelations have also highlighted the existence of labour camps in the region, where hundreds of thousands of Muslims are reportedly employed by force, especially in the cotton harvest. China produces 20% of the world's cotton, most of it in Xinjiang.

PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- The Ministry of Public Health, Social Development & Labour (Ministry VSA) Collective Prevention Services (CPS) this week commenced with its trajectory of informing various communities about the COVID-19 vaccine and the National Vaccination Implementation Strategy.

The first information session took place with representatives of the Haitian Community on Tuesday evening at the Government Administration Building. The session was held under strict social distancing guidelines.

The community leaders were provided with a presentation about the COVID-19 vaccine; how the rollout will take place on Sint Maarten; and there was also a Question & Answer segment at the end of the session.

Minister of VSA Richard Panneflek was also present for the information session. The presentation was provided by the Head of CPS: Epidemiologist Eva Lista-de Weever, and assisted by Willemijn van Leeuwen also from CPS, and Dr. Raghosing. Bregje Boetekees, operational manager of the White & Yellow Cross Care Foundation (WYCCF) will also attend the coming information sessions this week.

All aforementioned stakeholders are being informed about how vaccines work; how they are developed; how the COVID-19 vaccine was developed so fast; which vaccine will the Sint Maarten population receive; safety and efficacy; what side effects can be expected; who should get the vaccine and why it is so important to get vaccinated; vaccination locations, procedures and registration.

The community leaders were provided the opportunity to ask any questions that they might still have, and lastly, the important role that the community leaders play in stopping the spread of misinformation and encouraging their communities to take the vaccine was also discussed.

Several other information sessions are planned this week with Faith-based organizations, the Indian Merchants Association (IMA), Community Councils, and the Senior Citizens Association.

The Government has established a COVID-19 Taskforce which is steering the process of making the necessary logistical preparations for when the COVID-19 vaccine arrives from the Netherlands.

The Taskforce works closely with other Kingdom partner communication groups from Curacao, Aruba, the Caribbean Netherlands (Saba, Sint Eustatius & Bonaire), and the Netherlands to ensure a consistent communications effort throughout the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
On January 28, while attempting to take a photo of a suspicious vehicle cruising in front of his San Francisco home, 76-year-old private investigator Jack Palladino was grabbed by one of the two men in the car and dragged forty feet before falling over backward and lethally striking his head.

Not since the Zebra killings of the 1970s has one murder caused San Francisco's leftist worthies so much consternation. If you do not know of the Zebra killers, there is a reason why. The killers were black. All 21 of their victims, 14 fatal, were white or Asian. The Zodiac killer worked the same area at roughly the same time, killed far fewer people, and got ten times the attention.

Palladino's killing made the news in spite of the fact that he was white and the two accused killers are black. What made Palladino newsworthy is that he has friends in high Democratic places. "Mr. Palladino was a San Francisco legend, someone who dedicated his career to pursing justice and truth," said San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin. "[He] did so much to make the justice system work, whether it was civil justice or criminal justice," said former San Francisco mayor and Kamala Harris "mentor" Willie Brown.

San Francisco civic leaders have a different take on truth and justice from what the rest of us have, starting with the women who accused men like Bill Clinton and Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. Palladino first made the national news in 1992, when the Clinton campaign hired him, so reported the Washington Post, "to investigate the accusers involved in two dozen allegations."

The words "to investigate" do not quite do Palladino's role justice. "To silence" is more like it. His job was to make sure these women kept their mouths shut, a job he did well enough to get Clinton elected. Impressed by Palladino's body of work, Harvey Weinstein employed Palladino to "investigate" his accusers as well.

In many ways, the state's leftist culture mimics its geology, with one cultural subset barging into another like so many tectonic plates. The Palladino murder showed just how fragile is the feminists' plate in a city where order has broken down. Without any notable protest, they let Palladino die as a hero and a legend.

Palladino's death did not trigger the "big one." He is not legend enough for that, but it has caused a rumble, especially with the Asian plate grinding forward as well. As the San Francisco Examiner reported, Palladino was but "one of two elderly men attacked in San Francisco last Thursday who later died."

The other man was an 84-year-old named Vicha Ratanapakdee. Although the Examiner never mentions the race of Ratanapakdee's attacker, it posted a surveillance video that tells in just a few seconds the brutal story of this gratuitous daytime assault on a Thai elder by a young black man.

Said Boudin, "My heart goes out to the entire AAPI community for the harm and fear this tragedy has inflicted." AAPI is intersectional shorthand for "Asian and Pacific Islander." Boudin's heart apparently did not leave his chest for Palladino's European-American community.

The openly socialist Boudin has an only-inSan Francisco kind of background. When still a toddler, his Weather Underground parents got sent to the slammer for their part in a lethal robbery of a Brink's armored car. Weather godparents Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn stepped in to raise the waif. Boudin has said of his godparents that they "have spent their entire lives fighting for social justice."

As a candidate for district attorney, Boudin inveighed against cash bail among other deterrents that led to "mass incarceration" in a prison system he believed to be fundamentally racist. "It's not a coincidence," Boudin argued, "that the prison population exploded around the same time as working communities, black and brown communities were organizing in the Civil Rights Movement and against the war in Vietnam."

Now, as prosecutor, Boudin is faced with sending three black men to prison for very long periods of time. Concerned that film producers might consider their once lovely city as a natural setting only for new seasons of The Walking Dead, city leaders have been forced to respond to the murders.

In the wake of the attacks, London Breed  the first black female mayor, the city likes to boast  got Boudin and police chief Bill Scott together for a virtual press conference. Said Breed to a disbelieving audience, "Let's dispel the myth right now that there are no consequences for committing crimes in San Francisco."

This threat came as news to Palladino's accused killers. At the time of the murder, Tyjone Flournoy, 23, was on probation for a gun conviction out of San Francisco, a felony burglary from San Mateo, and a Santa Clara trespassing case. Lawrence Thomas, 24, has had three felony burglary convictions in the last six years.

"The district attorney will hold you accountable, and you will feel the full weight of the law," Mayor Breed warned area criminals. Said Boudin, "He will?"

No, Boudin did not say that. He just thought it.

Jack Cashill's new book, Unmasking Obama: The Fight to Tell the True Story of a Failed Presidency, is now widely available. See www.cashill.com for more information.

Image: 12019 via Pixabay, Pixabay License.
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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
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Britain's hotel quarantine scheme will finally begin on February 15  nearly three weeks after it was first announced - and is expected to end six weeks later, it was revealed today.

Retired Royal Marine general Sir Gordon Messenger, a former vice chief of defence staff who led a mass community testing operation in Liverpool last year, has been drafted in to oversee the delayed project.

Last night, it was claimed the Government was racing to reserve 28,000 hotel rooms across the UK in a bid to launch the scheme after it was accused of 'dithering' on the issue.

Documents seen by the Daily Telegraph suggested ministers had asked hotel bosses to be ready to accommodate 1,425 passengers a day by February 15.

'If they are taking rooms for 1,425 [newly-arrived] passengers per night until March 31, that is a bill of 55million', a source told the BBC.

The scheme will see returning passengers - up to 44,000 a month - quarantined in hotels for 11 nights at a cost of up to 800 per person. The Government will initially foot the estimated 55million bill before clawing the money back from the arrivals.

The hotel are also to be forced to have 'Government-approved' security staff who will patrol inside and outside the hotel to 'prevent unauthorised access' 24/7. Anyone wanting a cigarette outside or some fresh air must also be escorted by security staff.

Three meals a day with fruit and water will be delivered to the door, with hot and cold options available. Tea and coffee will be available in the room, but guests are expected to change their sheets and towels.

Labour said the measures will come nearly two months after the South African Covid strain was discovered in the UK.

Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: 'We are in a race against time to protect our borders against new Covid strains... as ever with this Government, it is too little, too late.'

It came as:

The average daily vaccination rate has risen to 430,532 in the last seven days, equal to more than three million jabs a week;

A study said the UK could reach herd immunity by July;

Some ministers are concerned that the PM's plan to ease restrictions on a national basis would slow Britain's escape from lockdown;

The Treasury was forced to deny reports that Rishi Sunak is growing frustrated with the slow pace of the exit;

Ministers faced calls to 'think again' about the decision to keep schools closed until March 8 after Scotland said it would reopen them on February 22;

A new NHS hospital could be named after Captain Sir Tom Moore;

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen came under mounting pressure over the EU's faltering vaccine rollout, with Germany's vice-chancellor reportedly calling her efforts 'really s***';

It emerged that passengers on public transport in London could be required to wear medical grade masks.

Britain's hotel quarantine scheme will finally begin on February 15  nearly three weeks after it was first announced

Last night, it was claimed the Government was racing to reserve 28,000 hotel rooms across the UK in a bid to launch the scheme (Boris Johnson pictured at a press briefing on Wednesday)

Crowds of arrivals pack into a queue at Heathrow Airport as thousands continue to come into the UK from abroad each day

Change your own sheets, meals dropped by your door and security watching you smoke: What life will be like in a UK quarantine hotel Travellers arriving back from high-risk coronavirus hotspots will be made to change their own bed sheets and eat meals in their rooms in an 'entirely contactless and sterile experience' as they are forced to quarantine in airport hotels. Food will be brought to their doors three times per day with fruit and water. Tea and coffee will be available in the room. Hotels will operate a one-way system, with travellers checking in via a contactless system before being escorted to their room by a staff member in PPE. They then remain there for ten days, with CCTV cameras in corridors to ensure no one breaks the rules. The hotel are also to be forced to have 'Government-approved' security staff who will patrol inside and outside the hotel to 'prevent unauthorised access' 24/7. Anyone wanting a cigarette outside or some fresh air must also be escorted by security staff. Advertisement

Details will be announced next week on how travellers returning from coronavirus hotspots will be able to book into the hotels.

Officials are said to have stumbled into a logistical 'nightmare'. A source said: 'It's complicated and there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle. It's not as simple as banishing people to a hotel room and saying see you later.'

Among the issues are said to be ensuring guests get three meals a day delivered to their rooms.

Earlier yesterday, major hoteliers said they had been kept in the dark about the proposals. Rob Paterson, chief executive of Best Western Hotels, said: 'To this day we simply haven't heard anything despite multiple offers.'

He told Radio 4's Today programme: 'In any normal company, if you went out and announced a programme nationally, and you hadn't thought about how you were going to plan that, and you hadn't spoken to the people involved  I don't think I'd have a job if I did that in my company.

'It seems logical to me that you'd sit down with the airlines, the airports and the hotel operators and thrash this out on a Zoom call or whatever it might be.'

A spokesman for Accor, which has ibis hotels at Gatwick and Heathrow airports, said it was 'ready' to support the plan 'just as we have done in other countries, particularly in Australia'.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused ministers of being in 'chaos and confusion'. Speaking on a visit to a vaccine centre in Watford, he said: 'Surely, before you announce arrangements like this, you'd have done the planning beforehand.'

He claimed the UK will be 'back to square one' if a Covid strain which is resistant to existing vaccines enters the country.

Asked whether he was frustrated by the delay on bringing in tighter border restrictions, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said he wasn't because it was 'part of a much bigger plan'.

He added: 'If you come to the UK, already you have to quarantine for ten days, you have to have a test within three days before travel, you have to fill in a passenger locator form...we already have a robust border policy.'

Retired Royal Marine general Sir Gordon Messenger, a former vice chief of defence staff who led a mass community testing operation in Liverpool last year, has been drafted in to oversee the delayed project

Boris Johnson has tasked Matt Hancock to preside over the mandatory self-isolation regime and enhanced testing programme.

The Health Secretary will chair a new Cabinet sub-committee of senior ministers to oversee the rollout.

A health department spokesman said: 'Throughout the pandemic, the Government has put in place proportionate measures, informed by the advice of scientists, and that has led to some of the toughest border regimes in the world.

'It is currently illegal to go on holiday and passengers travelling to the UK must provide proof of a negative test before they travel, and self-isolate on arrival.

'With increased police presence at airports and more physical checks at addresses to make sure people are self-isolating, we are taking decisive action.

'We are now working at pace to secure the facilities we need to roll out managed quarantine for British nationals returning home from the most high risk countries, and are rightly engaging with representatives from the hospitality, maritime and aviation industry, and learning from our friends around the world.

'In the face of new variants, it is important that the Government continues to take the necessary steps to protect people and save lives.'

What IS a 'valid reason' to leave the UK, what forms do I need to fill in and what is happening with quarantine hotels? Vital Q&A on latest foreign travel rules

For what reason can I travel to another country?

NHS boss urges 'cautious' approach to lifting lockdown as hospitals remain stretched Hospitals are still under immense strain and intensive care wards remain swamped despite the drop in coronavirus cases, an NHS boss warned tonight. NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson urged ministers to adopt a 'cautious' approach to easing restrictions. Although the number of patients in ICU is coming down 'very slowly', he said there were still 26,000 people fighting Covid-19 in hospitals - 40 per cent more than the peak of the first wave. And stretched capacity has forced frontline staff to work 'at fever pitch intensity', leaving them 'deeply exhausted' and 'fatigued'. Mr Hopson's sobering warning came after Professor Chris Whitty confirmed the UK had passed the peak of this second spike. England's chief medical officer cautioned that rates were still 'incredibly high' but the at yesterday's No10 press briefing pointed to evidence showing the drop. Advertisement

You can only travel internationally when you have a legally permitted reason to leave home.

Work trips are allowed, so you will have to show some proof that your flight or sea crossing is vital for your employment. However, there are a range of other reasons for 'essential travel'.

These are the same at the reasons for leaving your house: medical care, to escape harm, compassionate visits - for example a funeral - and weddings.

The list of travel exemptions will be urgently reviewed so that only the most important and exceptional reasons are included.

People are also advised to consider the public health advice in the country they are visiting before they go.

Anyone who does not have a valid reason for travel will be directed to return home and may face a fine as their reason for travel will be checked.

The Home Office said there will be an increased police presence at ports and airports fining those in breach of the stay at home regulations.

Priti Patel said: 'Going on holiday is not a valid reason, so we will introduce a new requirement so that people wishing to travel must first make a declaration as to why they need to travel.

'This reason for travel will be checked by carriers prior to departure.' Travel operators are also expected to face fines if they fail to inspect these forms.

How can the Government stop Britons from going on holiday?

Lockdown rules already ban people from international travel unless it is for work. Leaving home is only permitted for a small number of reasons.

Under the lockdown laws introduced at the start of January and which will run until March 31, people in England are allowed only to leave the house for a very slim range of activities.

But the rules, which are largely the same as for the second lockdown in November, also ban foreign leisure travel, just as they prohibit domestic leisure travel.

These are the daily average of cases per million people in the countries on the UK quarantine list

Who is going to enforce these rules?

It is not clear whether airlines and other travel operators will have the unilateral ability to decide whether someone has given a genuine reason for a trip on their forms, or it will end up being referred to police.

There will also be an increased police presence at ports and airports, fining those in breach of the stay at home regulations.

Why is this being highlighted now?

The Home Secretary lashed out at social media influencers who have been posting images of themselves in sunny parts of the world like Dubai during the lockdown.

Many have claimed they were travelling for work, but have attracted a backlash from people stuck at home after also enjoying the nightlife and beaches.

Ms Patel also singled out people 'turning up with their skis' at London's St Pancras station to catch the Eurostar to European resorts, adding: 'That is clearly not acceptable.'

What does the hotel quarantine mean for arrivals in the UK?

Priti Patel said Britons returning from around 30 'red list' Covid countries will be forced to quarantine in hotels for 10 days at their own expense.

Hundreds of arrivals each day are expected to be escorted directly from airports to rooms.

They will have to stay there for the duration of their isolation and pay a bill estimated at 1,500.

It will only affect British travellers, as foreign citizens who have been in the countries are already banned from entering altogether. It has not kicked in yet but will reportedly begin on February 15 and end on March 31.

What are the 30 places that require a ten-day quarantine in a hotel after?

Angola

Argentina

Bolivia

Botswana

Brazil

Cape Verde

Chile

Colombia

Democratic Republic of Congo

Ecuador

Eswatini

French Guiana

Guyana

Lesotho

Malawi

Mauritius

Mozambique

Namibia

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores)

Seychelles

South Africa

Suriname

Tanzania

Uruguay

Venezuela

Zambia

Zimbabwe

What will happen on arrival at the hotel?

Travellers who face enforced quarantine will be taken by bus to a hotel where they will have to remain for ten days.

Officials have begun talks with hotel groups about block-booking rooms that can be used for isolating.

In Australia, people are required to stay in their room the entire time with security guards patrolling the corridors. Hotel staff are forbidden from cleaning the rooms during a person's stay.

Can you upgrade your hotel?

Travellers will not get a choice of hotel, meaning it does not matter if you paid for a more expensive trip away.

In Australia, people do not know in advance where they will be staying and are warned there is no guarantee of access to a balcony or open window.

What are you supposed to do all day?

In Australia, exercise outside is not allowed so guests are encouraged to do stretches or yoga in their room.

A guide given to travellers to help prepare for hotel isolation suggests planning different activities to break up the day.

Examples given include getting in contact with different friends and family, learning a foreign language on a mobile phone app, trying out a new hobby such as knitting and calligraphy, and catching up on 'life admin'.

The advice recommends planning 'rewards' to look forward to such as a phone call with a loved one or the delivery of a treat.

People sharing rooms with partners and family members are encouraged to set ground rules for the stays such as scheduling a time each day when everyone does a 'quiet' activity to help avoid disagreements.

Last summer an outbreak of coronavirus in Melbourne was blamed on security guards having sex with guests at one of the quarantine hotels.

Mr Johnson is expected to sign off on plans this evening to divert travellers entering the UK from high-risk Covid countries into hotels to stop new mutant strains of coronavirus like the ones from Brazil and South Africa entering the UK.

Who pays the hotel bill?

The Government will arrange transport for travellers to their accommodation, but they will have to cover the cost of their hotel room, estimated to be about 1,500.

The cost of 14 days in a quarantine hotel is 1,692 for an adult in Australia, 1,630 in New Zealand and 642 in Thailand.

What if I am a Brit abroad now?

UK residents currently abroad do not need to return home immediately. But you should check with your airline or travel operator on arrangements for returning.

What should foreign nationals in the UK do to get home?

Foreign nationals are subject to the 'Stay at Home' regulations. You should not travel abroad unless it is permitted. This means you must not go on holiday.

If you are visiting the UK, you may return home. You should check whether there are any restrictions in place at your destination.

What do I need on return to the UK?

Passengers arriving in the UK need to provide evidence of a negative pre-departure Covid test from up to 72 hours before travelling.

People arriving from abroad also have to self-isolate on arrival and they have to complete a passenger locator form, with fines for those who do not.

What is a passenger locator form?

Earlier this month the government announced passengers had to complete online passenger locator forms to tell officials where they are staying after arriving in the UK.

It has to have the person's address on it where they will isolate for ten days or five days if they take another test which comes back negative.

Coming back to the UK without a locator form will result in a 1,000 fine.

What do I need for a passenger locator form?

You will need: your passport details, Your travel details, including times and dates, the address where you will stay in the UK (if applicable), a booking reference number and the name of the test provider, if you're using Test to Release to find out if you can end self-isolation early.

You can include multiple journeys in your form if you'll enter the UK more than once in a 48-hour period.

Where can I get one?

Passenger locator forms are available to download from gov.uk here.

What happens then?

After you complete the form you will receive a QR code via email. You can print this out or show it on your phone as proof of completion.

What if you are travelling with other people?

Each adult must complete their own form. You can include someone under 18 years old who is travelling with you on your form, if you are staying together at the same UK address. If you're entering Scotland, they must be under 16.

When do you not need to fill one out?

If you are travelling from Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man and were there for more than ten days.

Passenger locator forms are available to download from the UK government website

Do any jobs qualify for travel exemptions?

Yes, if you do one of the following you may qualify for an exemption from one or more of the travel restrictions.

Aerospace engineers

Aircraft pilots and crew

BBC broadcasting transmission network and services

Border security duties  UK officials and contractors

Border security duties - non-UK officials and contractors

Bus and coach drivers

Channel Tunnel system workers

Civil aviation inspectors

Clinical trials or studies

Crown servants or government contractors

Data infrastructure maintenance

Defence personnel, visiting forces and government contractors

Diplomatic missions, international organisations and conferences

Downstream oil facility workers

Drivers of goods vehicles

Electronic communications networks

Elite sportsmen  international

Elite sportsmen  domestic

Medical examinations for elite sportsmen

Environment Agency relating to flood and coastal erosion risk management

Eurostar International workers

Eurotunnel workers

Government contractors  the conduct of negotiations

High-speed rail workers

International prison escorts

IT and telecoms workers

Medical evacuation

Medical treatment

Urgent medical treatment

Medicines  human and veterinary

Network Rail workers

Nuclear personnel

Nuclear emergency responder

Offshore oil and gas workers

OPCW and IAEA inspectors

Postal workers

Quality assurance inspectors for human and veterinary medicines

Registered health or care professionals

Regular work abroad

Regular work in the UK, living abroad

Representatives of a foreign country or territory or British overseas territories

Seamen and masters and inspectors and surveyors of ships

Seasonal agricultural workers

Seasonal poultry workers

Specialist technical workers - sub-sea telecommunications infrastructure

Specialist technical workers - goods and services

Specialist technical workers  waste

Specialist technical workers  power infrastructure

Specialist technical workers  space infrastructure

Transiting airside through the UK

Transporting human cells or blood

Water supplies and sewerage services workers

For more information visit gov.uk

What about the so-called vaccine passports?

At least eight companies have been awarded government grants to develop vaccination passport schemes, it was reported earlier this week.

The projects, worth a total of 450,000, could allow users to securely carry digital proof that they have received an approved Covid-19 vaccine.

It is hoped such a scheme would help get people back to work and also allow for the reopening of international travel.

The government on Sunday denied such a scheme was being considered, and cabinet minister Michael Gove said they were 'not the plan'.

But ministers have contradicted each other on the issue, including Boris Johnson's vaccine tsar Nadhim Zahawi who said they were 'looking at the technology'.

The scheme is being considered by many countries, including Cyprus and the Seychelles, who hope their use would open up society for people who have received a jab.

Should I book a holiday abroad this spring?

There are two factors to consider. The first is whether concern over new strains of coronavirus will lift enough to allow quarantine-free travel - and if you can afford to come back to ten days in isolation.

The second is where can you go. It is not clear what destinations will be open to Britons, where the virus is still a major problem.

What about in the summer?

Ministers have warned in recent days that it is 'too early' to speculate around future holiday plans.

But Health Secretary Matt Hancock has previously said: 'I think we're going to have a great British summer.' Whether he meant a great summer at home in the UK or abroad is unclear.

A deserted Levante beach in Benidorm today as the Government urged Britons not to book summer holidays in yet another blow for struggling airlines and holiday companies

What about ski season?

Most resorts have already cancelled the ski season in February, with Inghams, Ski Total, Esprit Ski and Flexiski among those to halt bookings until after the 27th.

Some are open with the hope government rules will change after the school half term.

How about a staycation in Britain this summer?

It is hoped restrictions will have given way enough by July for people to stay somewhere in the UK.

A surge in bookings for resorts, hotels and self-catered accommodation is anticipated.

Center Parcs, Haven and Butlins have all hiked their prices for Easter as they plan to reopen in March despite concerns that the national lockdown will still be in place.

Are lorry drivers bringing trade facing the same measures?

Hauliers are exempt from quarantine to keep trade flowing across the border.

What do airlines say?

Airline bosses have demanded that the Government provides an 'urgent road map for the reopening of air travel'.

What do public health experts say?

Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, said quarantine hotels are 'absolutely essential' and suggested the lack of quarantine measures earlier in the pandemic had been 'a major factor' in contributing to the current situation.

When will this all end?

The government says the list of travel exemptions will be urgently reviewed so only the most important and exceptional reasons are included.

The law under which the holiday ban falls lasts until March 31, unless it is renewed. It is reviewed every two weeks.

Global air traffic fell to its lowest level for 17 years in 2020: Passenger numbers plunged from 4.5bn in 2019 to 1.8bn last year with airlines losing combined 270bn due to Covid

Airports in Britain suffered an 76 per cent fall in traffic last year as international air travel plunged by 60 per cent - with the coronavirus pandemic bringing it back down to 2003 levels.

Carriers in Britain are estimated to have lost nearly 20billion last year as the Civil Aviation Authority revealed just 59.5million passengers used UK airports in 2020, which was a fall of 87 per cent from 246.9million in 2019.

The biggest percentage falls were seen at Cardiff Airport which plunged 87 per cent to 219,197, followed by Glasgow Prestwick Airport which dropped 86 per cent to 90,608 and Exeter which also fell 86 per cent to 147,921.

Other UK airports suffering falls of at least 80 per cent were Newquay, Southampton, London City, Leeds Bradford, Isle of Man and East Midlands - while Britain's busiest airport Heathrow dived 73 per cent to 22.1million.

The plunge in air travel began in January 2020 but was only limited to a few countries in Asia, before the pandemic rapidly spread in the following weeks and brought transport activities to a virtual standstill in late March.

It comes as Ryanair today said it is braced for 'the most challenging year' in its 35-year history and expects a full-year loss of nearly 1billion (880billion) as it told how Covid-19 continues to 'wreak havoc across the industry'.

Globally, the International Civil Aviation Organization found passengers totals dropped by 60 per cent with just 1.8billion passengers taking to the air during the first year of the pandemic, compared to 4.5billion in 2019.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, found passengers totals dropped by 60 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019, with the above graph showing the evolution of world passenger traffic evolution since 1945

This graphic shows the breakdown of revenue losses across the world. Airlines have suffered 270billion losses resulting from the impacts of Covid-19, with airports and air navigation services providers losing a further 84billion and 9billion

The United Nations agency found airlines have suffered 270billion losses resulting from the impacts of Covid-19, with airports and air navigation services providers losing a further 84billion and 9billion, respectively.

This included losses of 73billion in Europe, 87billion in Asia/Pacific and 64billion in North America, followed by 19billion, 16billion and 10billion in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Africa respectively.

The International Air Transport Association had initially predicted in April 2020 that the pandemic would bring a fall of 140million passengers in the UK resulting in a 19billion revenue loss, risking almost 661,200 jobs.

In reality, the CAA data showed there was an even bigger fall of 187million - down from 246,934,324 to 59,511,172.

Border closures and travel restrictions saw the overall global number of passengers fall 92 per cent from 2019 levels by April, an average of a 98 per cent drop in international traffic and 87 per cent fall in domestic air travel.

Passenger traffic saw a modest rebound during the summer but this was short lived as it began falling again in September when the second wave of Covid-19 saw increased restrictions in many parts of the world.

JAPAN: Passengers walk in front of the closed Japan Airlines departure counters at Haneda Airport in Tokyo

FRANCE: Travellers present their documents at a Covid-19 testing center at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle Airport in Paris

The plunge during the final four months of 2020 therefore brought a double-dip recession in air travel for the year, although domestic passenger numbers in China and Russia have already returned to pre-pandemic levels.

The ICAO reported that overall there was a 50 per cent drop in domestic passenger traffic globally, while international traffic fell by 74 per cent or 1.4billion fewer passengers.

It said the near-term outlook is for 'prolonged depressed demand', with any improvement in the global picture only by the second quarter of 2021 - dependent on vaccination rollouts and the effectiveness of restrictions.

The 'most optimistic scenario' suggests that by June 2021 passenger numbers will be expected to recover to 71 per cent of their 2019 levels, but a more pessimistic scenario foresees only a 49 per cent recovery.

BELGIUM: An empty check-in area at Brussels Airport is pictured last Wednesday as planes remain grounded across the world

IRELAND: An empty car park at Dublin Airport last Friday as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hammer airlines

Today, Ryanair said it expects to lose nearly 1billion (880billion) in its current financial year, by far its worst ever performance, but chief executive Michael O'Leary forecast a 'dramatic recovery' this summer on vaccine roll-outs.

The Irish low-cost airline, Europe's largest, forecast a loss of up to 950million (837million) in its current financial year, which ends on March 31, around five times larger than its previous record annual loss posted in 2009.

Mr O'Leary described the year as the most challenging in Ryanair's 35 year history. But chief financial officer Neil Sorahan said the recovery should accelerate in July and September, the second quarter of its financial year.

Mr Sorahan, who said it should return to 70 per cent and 90 per cent of normal levels between October and March, added that Ryanair hopes 'to be getting back to some kind of normality' during the winter.

LONDON: An empty departure area of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last March

ISRAEL: An empty departure terminal at Ben Gurion Airport last Tuesday as air travel continues to be badly affected

Covid-19 restrictions slashed Ryanair passenger numbers by 78 per cent in the last three months of the year, the third quarter of its financial calendar, pushing it to a quarterly loss of 306million (270million).

Ryanair's 82 per cent fall in revenue in the quarter compared with falls of 88 per cent at rival easyJet and 77 per cent at Wizz, which both reported results last week.

Ryanair is widely seen as one of the best-placed airlines in the world to weather the Covid-19 crisis due to its large cash balance and lack of long-haul and business-class.

It said it had 3.5billion (3.1billion) cash on hand at the end of December, compared with 4.5billion (4billion) at the end of September.

Proof the peak HAS passed: Daily deaths drop to 915 and cases to 20,634 - down 30% from last week - as all but THREE local authorities in England see Covid infections fall and pressure on NHS intensive care units finally eases

By Connor Boyd, assistant health editor for MailOnline

More proof that Britain has passed the peak of the second wave of coronavirus emerged yesterday as daily deaths and cases continued to fall and pressure on intensive care units finally started to ease.

Department of Health officials recorded another 915 Covid victims  including a seven-year-old  and 20,634 positive tests. Both daily counts were down by more than a quarter week-on-week.

Separate Public Health England figures showed all but three local authorities saw coronavirus infections drop last week, plummeting in London, the South East and other areas that were ravaged before Christmas. Cases in care homes fell by a third, data also showed.

The latest Test and Trace report today claimed positive Covid tests plunged by 41 per cent in the last fortnight, in another sign the crisis is firmly in retreat.

The latest NHS Test and Trace report published today showed coronavirus infections fell by 40 per cent in the last two weeks, in another sign the crisis is firmly in retreat. The programme reported 196,257 positive tests in the week up to January 27, down from 333,802 in the seven days to January 13. Infections hit a record-high 389,946 in the week ending January 13

Encouraging figures show the number of positive tests recorded in English care homes dropped by more than a third last week, falling from 504 to 321. This, combined with the fact every eligible care home resident has now been vaccinated, suggest officials are finally getting a grip on the resurgence of the virus in the sector

Meanwhile, NHS England statistics showed there were 5,283 patients in ICUs across the country on the last day of January, down slightly on the previous week when there were 5,446 beds in use.

It's the first time ICU capacity has eased since the highly-infectious Kent Covid variant started to spiral out of control in December.

All key metrics now indicate the darkest days of the winter crisis are behind us, with the number of Covid hospital patients in general beds dropping to its lowest level for a month and in every region.

However a leading health figure issued a sobering reminder that the NHS is still at 'full stretch' and that staff are 'deeply exhausted' after working at 'fever pitch intensity' for weeks.

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said ICU numbers are coming down 'very slowly', adding that there are still 26,000 Covid-19 patients in hospitals - 40 per cent more than the peak in the first phase last April.

Despite all figures trending in the right direction, there is mounting anger over 'goalpost shifting' on lockdown as ministers and SAGE scientists suggested case numbers need to come down further before any 'significant' easing, shifting away from No10's original 'protect the NHS, save lives' mantra.

A 70-strong group of lockdown-sceptic Tories in the CRG block demanded Boris Johnson lifts restrictions altogether by the summer. The Prime Minister is facing an angry backlash and claims he is being 'beaten up by scientists'.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi appeared to indicate that the government is looking at the top nine risk categories - around 32million people - as the trigger point for a widespread downgrading of measures.

So far the PM has only said that he will unveil a route map out of lockdown on February 22, after the first four most vulnerable groups have been covered.

There are claims that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is again leading calls within Cabinet for lockdown to be eased as early as possible - in contrast to the more cautious tone adopted by Mr Johnson recently.

Public Health England data published yesterday revealed 146 out of 149 areas (98 per cent) recorded a drop in weekly positive tests in the seven days to January 31, with cases falling in all English regions for the second week running.

Infection rates plunged by more than 33 per cent in a third of local authorities and fell sharply by over 25 per cent in another 35 places. Cases are also down in every age group.

Encouraging figures also show the number of suspected outbreaks in English care homes dropped by more than a third last week, falling from 504 to 321.

This, combined with the fact 80 per cent of care home residents have now been vaccinated, suggest officials are finally getting a grip on the resurgence of the virus in the sector.

Latest NHS England data published today showed there were 5,283 patients in ICUs across the country on the last day of January, down slightly on the previous week, when there were 5,446 beds in use. It is significant because it marks the first time ICU capacity has eased since the highly-infectious Kent Covid variant started to spiral out of control in December

The only three areas in England to see rises in the past week were Torbay, where it increased by 0.9 per cent to 169 per 100,000, Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, where the rate climbed 3.9 per cent to 210 and in Rutland where there was an uniquely large rise. The East Midlands county recorded a 33 per cent increase, with the rate now 230 per 100,000.

It is thought that a Covid outbreak in HMP Stocken in Stretton could be partly to blame. It has not been confirmed how many have tested positive for the coronavirus. The category C men's prison has around 950 inmates.

Despite the country heading in the right direction, the NHS figures show 23 trusts across England did not have a single spare intensive care bed on January 31.

These included University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, one of the largest trusts in England, along with Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.

But the problem was not confined to the Midlands, as major trusts all over the country  including in Merseyside, London, Derbyshire and the home counties  also reported having no spare critical care capacity.

Even hospitals in the South West, which had managed to avoid the worst of the pandemic throughout 2020, were seeing their ICUs pushed to the brink, with Portsmouth Hospitals University National Health Service Trust and the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust recording 100 per cent occupancy.

Despite lockdown starting to bring Britain's winter wave under control, ICUs nationally are still almost 70 per cent busier than they have been at any time over the past five years.

For comparison, there were 3,034 critically-ill patients at the same time last winter, and the average over the last four years stood at 3,183.
In its message, the LPRP Central Committee wrote that the establishment of the CPV, founded and trained by President Ho Chi Minh, was a historic turning point of the Vietnamese revolution.

Since its inception, the CPV has set out sound guidelines and policies matching each revolutionary period and led the Vietnamese people to glorious victories in the struggle for national independence and reunification, as well as great achievements in national construction and defence, especially the successes secured during the 35 years of Doi moi (Renewal) initiated and led by the CPV, it said.

The LPRP wishes to extend warm congratulations on the huge and comprehensive achievements and successes that the CPV has gained over the last 91 years, especially the highly successful 13th National Party Congress. We firmly believe that under the leadership of the CPV, headed by General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong, the Vietnamese people will continue obtaining even greater achievements and successfully implement the 13th National Party Congresss resolution.

The LPRP Central Committee also expressed its pride that the Laos - Vietnam special solidarity, nurtured by great and beloved Presidents Ho Chi Minh, Kaysone Phomvihane, and Souphanouvong and tested by the fire of revolution, has become a valuable common asset, the rule of existence and development of both nations, and one of the decisive factors in the success of each countrys revolution, which has continued to be intensified both extensively and intensively in all areas.

The Lao Party, State, and people will do their utmost to protect, maintain, and nurture the Laos - Vietnam relations for the sake of the two nations' people, as well as for peace, friendship, and cooperation in the region and the world, the message read.

It added that the Party, State, and people of Laos also acknowledge their Vietnamese counterparts consistent precious, great, effective, and timely support and assistance for their countrys revolution throughout history.

For its part, the CPP Central Committee congratulated and highly valued the enormous accomplishments that the Vietnamese Party, State, and people have gained in the recent past.

It also voiced its delight at the unceasing development of the traditional friendship, solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States, and people of Cambodia and Vietnam.

The CPP affirmed the resolve to keep developing the relations between the two countries in accordance with the motto good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, and long-term sustainability, expressing its belief that under the CPVs sound and clear-sighted leadership, the Vietnamese people will reap new and greater achievements and successfully carry out the 13th National Party Congresss Resolution.

It also wished the CPV more successes in national industrialisation and modernisation, and hoped for the continued enhancement of traditional friendship, solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States, and people of Cambodia and Vietnam.

On this occasion, Sounthon Xayachak, Secretary of the LPRP Central Committee and Chairwoman of the LPRP Central Committees Commission for External Relations extended congratulations to Hoang Binh Quan, Chairman of the CPV Central Committees Commission for External Relations.
Mumbai: Oscar and Grammy-winning Indian composer AR Rahman will score music for the upcoming war film, Pippa.

"The story of Pippa' has a very human connect. It's about every family, and I instantly related to it. I am looking forward to working with Raja Krishna Menon, Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur," Rahman said.

The war action film will see Ishaan Khatter in the role of Brigadier Balram Singh Mehta. Veteran Brigadier Balram Singh Mehta of the 45th Cavalry tank squadron, along with his siblings, fought on the eastern front during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971, and the film recounts his story. It is based on his book, "The Burning Chaffees".

The film is directed by Raja Krishna Menon, who helmed the 2016 release, Airlift.

Menon says it is "an honour to work with AR Rahman on the album of Pippa'".

"I'm very eager to collaborate with the maestro and we hope to create something truly memorable together," he added.

The film is produced by Ronnie Screwvala's RSVP and Siddharth Roy Kapur's Roy Kapur Films, and also stars Mrunal Thakur and Priyanshu Painyuli.

"Patriotic and inspiring music has been AR Rahman's forte since the beginning of his iconic career. We are happy to welcome the maestro onto team Pippa'. Collaborating with him has always resulted in spectacular albums and I'm inclined to believe that his music will be the beating heart of our film," Screwvala said.

Kapur added: "What distinguishes the music of AR Rahman is that it brings so much depth and feeling to the narrative, that it always elevates the characters and the storytelling. We are truly thrilled to have on board the best musical talent one could ask for, and to be able to collaborate with him again on what we hope will be another iconic album."

The film is slated to release in theatres in late 2021.
Added that since returning to Egypt, most of her family have 'disowned' her

Hopes she's not 'too old' to get pregnant adding they have sex four times a week

Found love again with younger man Hysm Feygo, 38, in Egypt and wants baby

Was left devastated when he dumped her after pocketing 1,500 of her money

A 45-year-old woman who was dumped by her lover, 24, but is now trying for a baby with her new toyboy has revealed they're having sex four times a week - adding even that is 'not enough.'

Joanna Girling, 45, from Norfolk, who left her husband for Egyptian toy boy Hassan Kahlied who was half her age was left devastated when he dumped her after pocketing 1,500 of her money saying: 'You're old and fat.'

While she claims her family have since 'disowned' her, it hasn't put Joanna off romance as she's now found love again with another younger man Hysm Feygo, 38, in Egypt, and is hoping to have a baby with him.

'I'm hoping I'm not too old to get pregnant,' she said, speaking to Fabulous. 'I know Hysm will be a brilliant dad.'

'I feel younger now than I did in my 20s. We have sex four times a week and even that's not enough. I can't get enough of Hysm, he's definitely the one for me.'

Joanna Girling, 45, who was dumped by her lover, 24, has revealed how she wants children with her new toyboy - adding they have sex four times a week. Pictured, she met Hysm (pictured), a younger man who she says has not asked her for a penny in their time together

The Tesco worker was left devastated when 24-year-old waiter Hassan Kahlied dumped her after pocketing 1,500 of her money saying: 'You're old and fat' (pictured)

And while her loved ones are still dubious over Hysm's intentions, Joanna insists he's in it for the right reasons.

'Hysm has never asked me for a penny,' she said. 'I know his feelings are real, he's with me because he loves me.

'Since returning to Egypt, most of my family have disowned me. They think I'm foolish to be with a toyboy but I don't care. This is like a second chance at life for me and I don't regret a thing.'

Joanna first fell for 24-year-old waiter Hassan Kahlied while on holiday with her husband John in Sharm-El-Sheikh in June 2018.

She fell for the handsome toyboy's charm and even snuck away from her husband to get a fake marriage certificate so they could sleep together because of Egypt's strict laws against premarital sex.

But after sending Hassan 400 to pay for food and bills and jetting out to Hurghada to be with him, he asked her to leave then ended their relationship by text writing: 'You very old - me marriage Egyptian woman [sic].'

Joanna Girling left her husband of 20 years after falling for a waiter while the couple were holidaying in Egypt but was left devastated when he dumped her saying she was old and fat

Tesco worker Joanna pictured with Hassan Kahlied before he took her money and dumped her

Speaking of her past relationship, Joanna said: 'I thought Hassan loved me, he'd told me he wanted to marry me but it turned out to be a lie. He just used me for my money, I felt like an idiot. I gave up my marriage for him.

'I didn't know if I could trust someone else again but Hysm is the love of my life. I know his feelings for me are real, he's never asked for a penny.'

Joanna, a Tesco worker, and her husband had been going on holiday in Sharm El-Sheikh two to three times a year since 2001 when she began to notice the attention she received from local men.

She says: 'I was happy in my marriage at first but as time went on we grew apart and I lost interest in having sex with him.

'Like a lot of married couples we became less and less attracted to each other but we stayed together for convenience.

'We didn't sleep together for nearly 10 years. We didn't have kids but we had a house and dogs together.

'By 2018 he wasn't affectionate at all which made me feel unwanted and unattractive so when local men would compliment me in the shops and call me beautiful, I was flattered.'

During the holiday, Joanna started to take notice of her hotel waiter, Hassan, who flirted with her whenever her husband was away from the table.

'He said I should spend the day with him and that he'd show me around the city. He was so flirty from the start that I knew he fancied me.

Hassan, pictured, told Joanna to give him her money because that was the custom in Egypt

Hassan and Joanna spent a few weeks in an apartment after Joanna left her home in Norfolk

'We were talking and he made me feel sexy for the first time in years. I began sneaking out in the afternoon to meet him while John was lounging by the pool.

'I wanted to sleep with him from the first day I met him but Hassan said that we'd need a fake marriage certificate first.

'Egypt is strict about premarital sex so we couldn't rent a room together without one.'

Under Egypt's strict laws, Joanna and Hassan obtained a fake marriage licence online to rent an apartment where they could have sex, something Joanna says is common practice for unmarried Egyptians.

'It was incredible, he was so young and keen. It was the best sex of my life - mind-blowing after 10 years of no physical contact. I knew then that I had to leave my husband.

'We'd gone a decade with no physical contact at all. It was no way to live - it was no longer a marriage.

'It was the end of my trip but Hassan wanted to see me again so even on the way home I was making plans to return.'

Back home in Norfolk, Joanna broke off her 20-year marriage, confessing to her husband that she had fallen in love with the young Egyptian waiter.

Before Joanna moved out to Egypt to be with Hassan, he asked her to send him money

After disappearing for days, Joana found out Hassan was due to be married to someone else. He asked her to go back to England before dumping her via text and called her old and fat

'He was furious but he'd suspected something was going on. We didn't have kids but we had seven dogs together.'

While she waited for her return flight back to Egypt, Hassan spoke to Joanna daily, even ringing her at her job working nights at Tesco.

'He needed money for things like food and bills,' she says. 'So I sent him 400 to help out. I didn't ask for proof, I trusted that he was telling me the truth.'

In August 2018, less than two months after meeting the sexy waiter, Joanna landed in Hurghada where Hassan was waiting.

'I gave him the gifts he'd asked me for,' she explains. 'He also took control of my holiday money, of 1,100 saying that he'd handle it.

'At first I was surprised but he explained that it was the custom in Egypt for men to deal with the money. He said he wanted to look after me so I handed over all my cash.'

Joanna handed over pairs of jeans, shirts, trainers, aftershave and a bottle of Cognac, as well as the 1,100 she'd saved up for the trip.

Renting an apartment, at first Joanna was thrilled with life and her toyboy - spending her days sunbathing and nights having sex.

Joanna with her husband before she ended her marriage because they had fallen out of love

'We were having sex all the time, we just couldn't get enough of each other but after a couple of weeks, Hassan kept disappearing for days at a time, saying he needed to visit his family,' she said.

Leaving Joanna for days with no cash, she had no choice but to find work as a nursery teacher to make ends meet.

'I'd try to ring him but there'd be no answer. After splitting from my husband I had no savings, the cash I'd brought with me was all I had.'

Suspicious, she asked her neighbours and locals who knew Hassan where he might be.

'One said that he thought Hassan had gone home to have an engagement party as he was due to get married.

'I was devastated but over text Hassan insisted it wasn't true and when he returned after 10 days he denied it.'

Finally, at the end of August, her toy boy lover asked Joanna to go home for a few weeks, claiming the apartment was too expensive and that she needed to save more money as he couldn't keep them on his small salary.

'I was devastated to leave,' she admits. 'But he had a point, I had no money left and he only earnt a small salary as a waiter.

'My holiday money had all gone so the plan was for me to come home, stay with family and work to save money to go back.'

Relying on a friend to pay for her flight, it wasn't until Joanna landed in Hamburg Airport on a layover that she discovered the truth about Hassan.

Sending her a text message mid-flight, he called her fat and old, confessing that he was planning to marry an Egyptian woman.

'I just didn't understand,' she said, 'he'd told me that he'd loved me, why lie?'

Back home, Joanna was heartbroken, but determined to end her marriage and return to Egypt for a life in the sun.

'I didn't have anything keeping me in England, he'd gotten rid of everything, my clothes, all of my things, all I had left was the clothes in my suitcase,' he said.

Joanna saved up for another flight and went back to Hurghada in March 2019 to continue working as a nursery teacher.

'I didn't go out there looking for love,' she explains. 'I just love the country and wanted to be back there.'

Joanna didn't hear from Hassan again, who blocked her on social media, but she'd only been in Hurghada for three months when she met Hysm Feygo, a shopkeeper who invited her and a female friend in to look around his herb and spice shop.

Serving them cups of herbal tea, Joanna hit it off with the 38-year-old.

Pictured: Hysm and Joanna have since moved in together using a fake marriage licence

'I can't quite grasp what it is but there's just something about him, he makes me feel comfortable and, from the moment we met, it was like we'd known each other a long time.'

Walking her friend back to her hotel, Joanna returned to the shop to ask Hysm to order her a taxi to her apartment.

'He joined me in the cab and we had sex that night. It was amazing but at first, it was just about sex.

'Hysm wanted a relationship but I'd already been hurt once by Hassan so I was wary but the more I got to know him the more I trusted him. He didn't ask me for a penny.'

Since meeting Hysm, the couple have moved in together under another fake marriage licence.

Working as an English teacher at a nursery, when home, Joanna says the pair are loved up, with Hysm cooking romantic meals for her.

A year ago, Hysm came home with a silver band for her wedding finger.

'He didn't even propose,' she said. 'He didn't need to - he already considers me his wife but we're hoping to make it official next year once I've divorced my husband.'

Hassan Kahlied said: 'I'm so sorry about the money. It was because I am poor. I don't want to discuss anything about my relationship.'
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

There are wide discrepancies in instructions for how deeply the nasopharyngeal swabs used to test for COVID-19 are to be inserted up Canadian noses, new research from Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute has found.

As an otolaryngologist Dr. Leigh Sowerby is an expert in the anatomy of the head, neck and inside of the nose. Using that expertise, he and his colleagues examined the COVID-19 testing instructions provided by provincial and territorial authorities, and found wide variations. They reported their findings in the Journal of OtolaryngologyHead & Neck Surgery.

"As a surgeon who works inside the nose all the time, I was surprised to find that most of the instructions in Canada aren't effective to reach the nasopharynx; they just don't go deep enough into the nasal cavity," said Sowerby, an associate professor at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute.

Swabs that don't reach the nasopharynx are 5 to 10% less sensitive, and could result in as many as 20 false negatives per 1,000 tests when there is a high number of cases in the community, he said.

To perform a nasopharyngeal test, the swab must be inserted far enough into the nasal cavity to reach the nasopharynx, the upper part of the pharynx at the top of the throat behind the nose. Samples from the nasopharynx have been shown to be the most sensitive for COVID-19 testing, and are considered the gold standard.

Credit: University of Western Ontario

However, less than a quarter of provincial and territorial public health instructions tell practitioners to insert the swab deep enough to reach the nasopharynx, Sowerby said.

The research found that six provinces and territoriesthe Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island and Albertarecommended the swab be inserted to a depth of four centimeters, or half the distance from nostril to ear. This depth only reaches the mid-nasal cavity, not the nasopharynx, he said.

British Columbia and Manitoba recommended a seven-centimeter depth of insertion, which is still not enoughreaching only the posterior nasal cavity but not the nasopharynx.

In Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, the recommended depth of insertion was two-thirds of the distance from nostril to ear, which would effectively reach the nasopharynx, as would following the instructions in New Brunswick and Yukon to insert the swab from nostril to external ear canal.

"If we are doing what we are calling a nasopharyngeal swab, the technique for that should be standardized; there is no reason why there should be so much variability," Sowerby said. "The take-home message is that if we want the most accurate test results, there is room for improvement in the test instructions. Otolaryngologists have a role to play, as we can provide a great service by actively engaging with our local and regional health authorities to train on proper technique and anatomical knowledge."

More information: Nole M. Hiebert et al. Variability in instructions for performance of nasopharyngeal swabs across Canada in the era of COVID-19  what type of swab is actually being performed?, Journal of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery (2021). Nole M. Hiebert et al. Variability in instructions for performance of nasopharyngeal swabs across Canada in the era of COVID-19  what type of swab is actually being performed?,(2021). DOI: 10.1186/s40463-020-00490-x
[February 04, 2021] TekSavvy Awarded SWIFT Contracts to Bolster Southwestern Ontario Fibre Network

TekSavvy awarded three new SWIFT contracts to build fibre-optic network to nearly 1,800 premises across 99KM CHATHAM, ON, Feb. 4, 2021 /CNW/ - TekSavvy Solutions, Inc. (TekSavvy), Canada's largest independent Internet service provider (ISP) is happy to announce that it has been awarded three new contracts through Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) to further construct a fibre-optic network in Southwestern Ontario to underserved communities. TekSavvy has been awarded funding to support three fibre-to-the-home projects. The newly awarded projects will collectively service over 99KM of underserved roadway to bring high-speed internet to nearly 1,800 homes and businesses throughout the communities of Mitchell's Bay, Highgate, Tupperville, Dover Centre, Grande Pointe, Louisville, Kent Bridge, Muirkirk and Duart, as well as in rural areas outside of Wallaceburg, Dresden, Thamesville, Bothwell and Pain Court. The projects represent a collective total investment of approximately $9.2 million and will be copleted with service available between late 2021 and early 2022. TekSavvy will be investing nearly $6 million to build out the brand new fibre-optic network across the communities.



"TekSavvy is proud to be awarded these contracts to help build world class fibre-optic networks within our own community", says Charlie Burns, Chief Technology Officer at TekSavvy. "We believe that every Canadian should have access to high-speed broadband services, and this allows us to follow that belief with investment and action." In addition to the newly awarded contracts, TekSavvy was previously awarded a contract to construct a 13KM fibre-optic backbone network to provide Delaware Nation Moravian of the Thames First Nation with access to high-speed broadband infrastructure. This fibre-optic network provides the Delaware Nation administration building with service capable of up to 10 gigabit per second, with easy upgrade path for future needs. TekSavvy invested approximately $215,000 to construct the fibre-optic network which has now been completed.

In addition to the completed work, TekSavvy is committed to providing services to the approximate 90 homes along the fibre-optic backbone, between the POP location south of Thamesville and Delaware Nation. The planned investment will cost roughly $130,000 and is expected to be completed by the end of summer 2021. The completed fibre-optic backbone in Delaware Nation provides TekSavvy the opportunity to study the further expansion of fibre footprint to additional homes and businesses in and around the community. These feasibility studies are currently underway. About TekSavvy TekSavvy has been proudly serving Canadians award-winning telecom services and fighting for consumers' rights for more than 20 years. TekSavvy is committed to providing quality competitive choice and closing the digital divide in Canada. With over $250 million of planned broadband infrastructure investments by 2026, TekSavvy will continue to better connect underserved Canadians. TekSavvy has offices in Chatham, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec and is Canada's largest independent telecom service company serving over 300,000 customers from coast to coast. SOURCE TekSavvy Solutions Inc.

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A MAN was jailed for five years for a terrifying stalker-style campaign against a woman he became obsessed with and who he told he would rape after breaking into her house.

Gardai arrested James Steele (52) after a special surveillance operation had to be mounted around the woman's home and he was found to be in possession of items including duct tape, rope and a plastic sex toy.

Steele, of Reavilleen, Rosscarbery, Co Cork, later told detectives the only explanation he could offer for his actions was that he had become totally obsessed with his former work colleague, Una Ring.

The victim was so terrified she considered getting her identification details tattooed onto her body so that if she was kidnapped and killed, it would assist gardai.

Judge Sean O'Donnabhain was told Steele had pleaded guilty to charges of harassment, attempted burglary with intent to rape, possession of articles with intent to cause a crime, and two counts of criminal damage.

The court heard that Steele, an Australian-born salesman and a father of two, had asked out a work colleague, Ms Ring, in February 2020.

Despite being firmly rebuffed, he began sending her a stream of text messages, even when she asked him to stop.

She then awoke one morning and left her east Cork home to discover the tyres on her car had all been painted pink.

Some time later, she discovered that a game of Xs and Os had been daubed overnight on the window of her house and the message I win had been added.

Days later, she left her home to discover that letters in black envelopes had been placed on her car windscreen.

One letter was found to contain a grim threat  that the individual would break into her home via the back door and rape her and her daughter.

Gardai then mounted a special surveillance operation around her home in a quiet estate.

Sergeant John Sharkey told the court that gardai spotted an individual arriving at the housing estate in the early hours of July 27.

Garda James Heffernan identified the defendant. The hooded man hid behind a parked vehicle and then began walking slowly towards the victim's home.

Later, when searched, he was found to have a roll of duct tape, a length of orange rope, a medium-sized metal crowbar, and a sex toy.

The 27cm sex toy, which was wrapped in a condom, was strapped to his body.

Subsequent Garda searches found that the defendant had also conducted an internet search on chloroform.

I was so certain that James Steele was going to break in and attack me that I used to tidy up the house each night before going to bed so that the house would be presentable for the crime scene photos, she said.

I even considered getting a tattoo with my name, town name and date of birth so that if he abducted and killed me that my body would be easily and quickly identified  that's how utterly terrified I was...I still am.

James Steele has destroyed my life in the last year. I have been diagnosed with PTSD, have ongoing nightmares and have suffered from depression and anxiety. I am on four different types of medication just to get me through the day.

I hate being alone. I even check the car to ensure that no one has broken in and is lying in the back waiting for me.

When I close my eyes I can see James Steele walking towards my front door with a crowbar ready to attack. I dread to think what would have happened if it wasn't for the operation that gardai had put in place.

Judge O'Donnabhain warned that the victim had been put through a terrible ordeal and described Steele's actions as horrific.

He imposed a seven-year prison sentence but agreed to suspend the final two years in light of Steele's plea and his co-operation with gardai.
The University of Bristol is switching its default search engine on campus computers to Ecosia, in a move that will result in thousands of new trees being planted.

The green shift follows a student-led initiative that has already seen the planting of 672 new saplings.

Berlin-based Ecosia is a not-for-profit search engine that uses advertising revenues to plant trees in areas affected by deforestation.

So far, over 110 million trees have been planted across 31 reforestation sites worldwide, focused on areas where the trees will have the most powerful ecological and social impact, including Brazil, Indonesia and Madagascar.

Moving to Ecosia will add to the University of Bristols award-winning sustainability mission, which will see it become carbon-neutral by 2030.

Veterinary students Hannah Rose and Elspeth Taylor launched the Bristol on Ecosia'' campaign at the University in 2018.

Since then they have been raising awareness of the eco-friendly search engine at events on campus and through a social media campaign.

By working closely with key university stakeholders, including the Universitys IT services, Bristol on Ecosia has been able to influence a lasting environmental change.

Elspeth said: We are thrilled that our university has embraced Ecosia. The success of the campaign shows theres a desire across the board to take action on the climate crisis, which is one of the biggest challenges we all face right now and will face for generations to come.

Hannah said: We are thrilled that the university acknowledges their part in creating a more sustainable society and hope they continue to display this pragmatism in the coming years. We hope the change highlights the impact smaller changes in our lives can have on the wider global community.

Starting out as an idea between three students, Ecosia on Campus has developed into a worldwide tree-planting phenomenon, with 200+ universities planting 170,000 trees in just three years. The University of Bristol will be the third Russell Group university to make the switch to Ecosia.

Erik Lithander, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement at the University of Bristol, said: The adoption of Ecosia is one of the many steps that the University is taking to integrate sustainability into our daily activities, from the way that our students learn to the way in which we conduct our research. We look forward to seeing its impact.

Fred Henderson, Ecosias partnerships manager, said: Now that the University of Bristol has made Ecosia its default search engine, we will be able to plant thousands more trees.

I cant thank the Bristol on Ecosia team enough for initiating this environmental change, and to the faculty and IT department for implementing the switch. I hope it will inspire other universities around the world to join the movement.

Ecosia has launched a project in Australia, to plant native subtropical trees in the wake of devastating bushfires.

To search and plant trees, people can head to ecosia.org (ecosia.co/bristoluniversity to contribute to the Bristol counter), install the Ecosia app on iOS or Android, and download the Chrome or Firefox browser extension.
document

The Portfolio Committee on Environment, Forestry and Fisheries will this week (from 4 to 5 February) conduct an oversight visit to the KwaZulu-Natal Province.

The committee will visit the Engen Refinery in Durban. The committee received a briefing in December last year from Engen on the massive explosion in their refinery in the South Durban Basin. The committee took a resolution to visit the refinery in the first term of 2021. The committee will visit Engen and will meet with the affected communities, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, as well as non-governmental organisations operating in the basin.

The committee will also visit the Isimangaliso Wetland Park to assess the status of the World Heritage Site as there are community and park-related conflicts.
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Nigerias military executes 6 Christian soldiers framed for crime, human rights leaders say Government now claims the Christian soldiers are alive, but no one has seen them

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Nigerias government executed six Christian soldiers in the city of Abuja based on false charges, according to a lawyer working for the families of one of the victims.

The soldiers were framed for a crime committed by one of their superior officers, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law Chair Emeka Umeagbalasi told The Christian Post.

A Muslim colonel stole weapons from an armory, then blamed the 12 soldiers on duty for the theft. The military then accused the six Christian soldiers who were all members of Nigerias Igbo tribe, said Umeagbalasi.

They died on Jan. 25, not because of their actions, but because they were both Igbo and Christian, he said.

The government of today detests Christianity and detests the Igbo tribe, he said. You receive serious discrimination against Igbo officers. Its terrible. This administration is running on ethnic agenda against the Igbo population.

The soldiers executed were: Prince Ukwuoma, Ebube Isaiah, Amos Azubuike, Ekene Ebere, Moses Anyim and Godwin Uchendu, Umeagbalasi said.

A lawyer working for the family of one of the men said he had petitioned Nigerias government to provide a defense, but the government denied his attempt, Umeagbalasi said.

The men were given a rigged trial with government lawyers and were executed in secret, he said. Nigerias Constitution says the military has no authority to execute people and that prisoners should be able to appeal to a higher court. They didnt get their rights.

The military now claims that the men were never executed, said Umeagbalasi. However, they have not been returned to their families or appeared in public. A letter signed by 28 groups, including Intersociety, the World Igbo Congress, Concerned Elites for Better Society Initiative, and Biafra Genocide Survivors Group demands answers from the Nigerian government.

The Coalitionmakes bold to say that uploading montage pictures of the slain soldiers with Fake News written over them or hiring a consultancy firm to write a statement signed by an anonymous senior Army officer is in no way a credible and concrete reply and ordinarily should not be taken seriously, the letter reads.

Nigerias Army has killed and arrested Christian soldiers before, said Umeagbalasi. However, it hasnt killed six soldiers at once.

This has never been a practice in the Army. Things got changed the moment this present administration came to power, he said. Things are happening before that didnt happen. Its not only about these six soldiers.

Many Nigerians now believe the Army fights for Islam, not Nigeria, he said. In the countrys predominately Christian south, people call it Boko Harams Army. Muslims hold all the most important leadership positions.

The Armys lack of action to protect Christians comes directly from its leaders in government, Umeagbalasi said. When troops go into areas controlled by radical Islamists to defend Nigerian Christians, the government orders them to retreat. Then, Islamist rebels shoot them in the back.

If this state of affairs continues, the country will fall into violent anarchy, he added.

Nigeria is becoming like Somalia and Rwanda. That was exactly how it started, with the government taking sides and backing the members of a particular ethnic group. Thats the situation. Even in the security forces, Christians are being targeted, Umeagbalasi said.

You hear people say that the country is passing some worrying days because it is challenged by multiple problems. Since three years ago with the advent of a new administration it has been repeatedly asserted that the country is clearly in a state of transition; many prefer the phrase 'it is at cross roads'.

The fact that the exact direction of its journey is not yet known or determined or settled makes things even more complex, possibly unpredictable and even worrying for some because the alternatives could be contrasting between themselves. The choices could be multiple and even divergent.

Just to give an instance, who would have imagined or predicted that a party called TPLF with all its pedigree of the past decades would make all the decisions it has taken over the past years and finally reach such a dead-end or point of no return?! Who would have predicted that things would deteriorate to such an extent that the 'final throw of the dice' has been carried out between the federal government and the regional government of Tigray and create such scenario as we are living now?!

There is no doubt that this latest development is absolutely a game changer so to speak in the political scenario of the country, both in the short run as well as in the long run. The implications are of such enormity that it is bound to change the way we think of politics in our country.

Many people may consider this new development involving the reaction of the Federal government vis a vis the regional government of Tigray as a simple or mere 'law enforcement operation'. The official definition of the operation is 'law enforcement campaign'; and it is hard to contradict such expression given the background to the decision.

However, this definition does not give us the entire picture particularly to those who have little familiarity with our politics and those who have been at the receiving end of a certain narrative on the part of supporters or sympathizers of the TPLF.

Many argue that the federal government had no choice but to resort to the operation given the gravity of violations that took place in the regional state by the local administration.

This was in a way attempted earlier in the Somali Regional State and the operation restored law and order fairly speedily. A legitimate question would be: Why is the case with Tigray Regional State so complicated and long potentially with more unpleasant consequences for both the region as well as the entire federation? This has something to do with the recent history of the country and the way politics has been conducted. Obviously there are no quick fix or simplistic solutions to this problem.

The biggest challenge for any government in Addis Ababa will be convincing the residents of the region and all those who may have had sympathies for the party that the government is not doing all that it is doing because of any scores to settle or an act of revenge as many would like to depict it. This would further complicate things and play against the federal government.

The relations between the region and the federal state should not be allowed to deteriorate to such a level as to prompt outright rejection of any form of reconciliation or compromise with the federal government.

People should be convinced that the party that was supposed to liberate the inhabitants of the region out of suppression and misery once upon a time had in fact been engaged in a series of corrupt practices that were aimed to enrich only its internal hierarchies and not care too much about the large masses.

If the federal government cannot prove that with tangible evidence and show how TPLF was in a way an enemy of the people for whom it had begun its struggle and with whose endorsement it reached this level of power and reputation, then it would be arduous to secure their support, let alone loyalty.

There are many in the region who consider the ongoing campaign in the regional state as an 'infringement to their legitimate rights'. These are people who had no other exposure than the literature peddled by the TPLF hierarchs.

And it would be hard to blame them for their state of mind. People are induced to believe what they have been continuously instructed to believe because the authorities were able to produce even video clips and other evidence falsely fabricated and narratives that suit the tastes of the people.

We know from history books that authoritarian governments have an immense weakness for propaganda and they are careful and well prepared to peddle narratives that are palatable to their subjects because they always appeal to their emotions.

This has proved effective in many cases. That is why it is more complicated than we can imagine when it comes to conquering the hearts of a generation of people who were born and brought up under one, single party dominion, feeding on a flood of false narratives.

Almost fifty years of one party rule or dominion is not simple to dismantle and it takes a lot of time and efforts to rectify things. That is why the approach of the federal government is advised to be cautious and be very sensitive to the emotions of those who in one way or another were obliged or convinced to give allegiance to a party that currently is as good as done and dusted.

It could be very upsetting for these people and in a way even humiliating to have your 'idols' or 'heroes' get crushed both materially as well as morally. What are the alternatives now they could inquire? Where do we go from here because we are now in uncharted territory as the saying goes? It is unprecedented in many ways and from every perspective. It takes the regional state back fifty years; it takes the entire country the same number of years.

The relations between this region and the government in Addis Ababa, be it in a federal system setting or a unitary one, it is new and needs sober reflection and above all discussions with all stakeholders. There are no shortcuts and the fact that the country itself is at cross roads given the transition period persisting and things have yet to settle, this latest problem complicates further the political scenario.

There are other issues in the country currently and it will take a lot of efforts and capacity to handle them all according to the urgency of the problems.

It is true that the priority of fighting illegality or thwarting the attempt to subvert the constitutional order by illegal and violent means should be given the maximum focus, as indeed it was.

This was an issue to solve, without alternatives. It was something that could not be differed to any future timetable. It was urgent and it had to be taken care of promptly. Luckily it appears that the first phase is now nearing completion.

The government says that it is rounding up all those involved in the infamous attack of the Northern Command and at the same time it is trying hard to restore law and order among the society.

But it is a daunting task that cannot be carried out successfully without the full and active participation of the population and given that normal life is still not completely restored, there is need to do just that before any other moves.

Residents must be made to reacquire faith and trust in the new 'interim administration' without ordering them to commit politically. It would be natural if they felt suspicious of what would happen to them now that what used to be 'their party' is gone.

If they consider the new administration as 'enemies', (and there are many who sympathize with the past trying to depict such a picture in the minds of people) it will make the efforts of bringing back stable life in the region very hard.

That is why it becomes imperative to show on the ground and in practical terms that peace and stability is restored and that people's confidence in the administration is recovered. At the same time, rounding up all those who took part in the treacherous move made against the federal forces must be a prime priority and all the indications are directed towards that goal.

In the mean time, there are no doubts that the government will be overburdened with so many other activities as well. Given that we are in an election season there could be activities that are made to make the critical election a success.

Similarly the government needs as well to address other security issues in various parts of the country that could be reactions to what is going on in the north.

The diplomatic battle with neighbouring countries is also something that takes a lot of time and efforts from the federal government. Limiting the repercussions of the situation evolving along the Ethio-Sudan border is an important homework for the government in particular and the nation as a whole.

Border disputes are not a rarity in Africa. In fact, several African countries having inherited the demarcations arbitrarily made by the colonialists many of them have issues and are not content with the arrangements.

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But the Organisation of African Unity, OAU, which is the precursor to the current AU has put in its charter that all borders must remain untouched and that only through negotiations and agreements could the status quo be changed.

What we came to find out recently concerning the Ethio Sudan border has deserved the condemnation of all those who have the stability and peace of the sub-region at heart. Ethiopia has given priority to round table discussions rather than emotionally react and respond tit for tat thus escalating the case to uncontrollable limits.

The peoples of the two countries are linked with too many years of peaceful cohabitation and cooperation sharing so much of common heritage and all prospects of more cooperation to be easily engulfed in fratricidal conflict. We have always seen that wars do not resolve issues on a permanent basis even if they may create a semblance of temporary victory or solace.

Both Ethiopia and Sudan need to focus more on resolving the problems of the peoples of the two countries and improve their standard of living rather than engage in hostilities that would only aggravate the hardship of the peoples.

This is a major challenge for the government because in the face of naked aggression it cannot afford to stay put as if nothing significant has taken place. On the other hand, it is known that the option of a major assault to return back to the status quo ante may lead to major losses on both sides that are not worth sustaining.

That is why diplomacy must take center stage and eliminate the option of using force. Sudan should realize that the 'gamble' was not advisable and has all the time to rethink its move because the consequences could be undesirable.

That is why the Ethiopian government is pressing for the reassertion of the principle that African solutions should be developed to solve African problems and this is a typical African challenge that needs to be ironed out by the two countries without the interference of others who may try to fish in troubled waters.

The geopolitical situation of the two countries may invite other stakeholders to the scene and this will not be to the advantage of any of the two countries. That is why they need to ponder on the case very carefully.
NickKohl123 BHPian

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1. Entry Hatchback segment 1.1. Renault Kwid is best in class in terms of ride comfort, bootspace, handling. But future of Renault, their service centers is something to worry about! 2. Compact hatchback 2.1. WagonR is leading  giving most value for money. I own one of it  and l love its shear practicality. Eventhough it is unsafe tin box with weird design from outside  but ride comfort is not that bad. I mean before buying wagonR I hated it the most, but after owning one for more than 8 years  This car is SOMETHING (No wonder it is always in list of best seller for more than decade. 2.2. New santro really have a very small boot as compare to old discontinued santro even to thought dimension wise it is beefier than older. 3. Premium Hatchback 3.1. Figo and grand i10 are smallest bootspace in this segment 3.2. Baleno is very all rounded car again with largest boot in a segment (after launch of altroz it is second largest)  Maruti has done it again by giving most value for the money  by making sure that there is no value given to human life But it is working for them in India with Kitna Deti Hai? Attitude of indian mass 3.3. Altroz is something giving everything  but again tata has huge backlog on their shoulder in terms of attitude of showroom guys, and service issues. It is still not improved. Also after Indica Vista reliability issues it is still worrisome for normal buyer about long term reliability of TATA cars 3.4. Ignis  gets 80 ltrs smaller bootspace than a less pricier brother WagonR 3.5. Swift had issue of less bootspace from beginning  and maruti did not bother to correct it in new generation as well. Why would they? Even if there none provided they would manage to sell it as hot cake. 4. Compact sedan 4.1. Amaze is segment best bootspace  Tigor is behind with 1 BISLERI bottle less to fit in its boot, with cheaper price tag. Basically 1 ltr bisleri costing around lakhs. So better to put 1 bisleri bottle in bank rather than keeping it in Tigor boot :P. Jokes apart tigor wont give you reliability of Honda  and that lakhs of rupees goes for reliability 4.2. Ford managed to provide smallest bootspace in this segment again 5. C2 segment (SUV, sedan, Compact SUV, crossover etc.) A most happening segment in Indian car scenario 5.1. Bootspace take is  Sedans are best for putting lot of luggage, also, give good ride comfort. 5.2. Compact SUV not giving anything better than Sedan other than ground clearance for around same price point (I mean second top of sedan shall be nearby top end of C-SUV). A HARD TRUTH WHICH IS TOUGH TO SWALLOW. But, unfortunately C-SUV is something all people are drooling over. Even I was in market looking for Compact SUV but even in terms of riding comfort some are good some are not 5.3. In sedan segment Ciaz is segment best closely followed by City and then Vento. Skoda Rapid is smallest among them 5.4. Compact SUV  XUV 300 offering smallest boot space and lowest GC in the segment, surprising brezza is second smallest. Kia Sonet is best bootspace followed by tank TUV 300. Ride comfort wise sonet and TUV 300 may not be a best one though ! 5.5. In SUV segment Duster is giving best boot space whereas creta & seltos is offering smallest one 5.6. Special mention for crossover  One of the good car from Marutis stable  but I feel maruti purposely gave it cold shoulder. Its interior does not feel good. In terms of convenience features/comfort  even cheaper baleno get more bells and whistles for its base end than top end of s-cross (sarcastly speaking). Also, killing 1.6 ltrs engine is like slow poisoning of this car by its makers 5.7. Overall Sedan and SUV are the only proper cars considering boot space  but obviously they are out of reach in terms money for common people. Even my 1 million budget would not help me to get one. These can only be referred as proper cars and one must be ready to shell out 1.5 million bucks. 6. D1 segment  A segment of 2 million INR  XUV 500 offering 93 ltrs of bootspace, how impractical a car which can fit 6 people and 93 ltrs of boot 6.1. MG hector is offering best in class bootspace 587 ltrs, followed by Jeep compass at 438 ltrs at distant margin. Quote: paragsachania Originally Posted by There is an interesting thread already on this very topic on measuring the boot capacity of cars . Have a look.



I could not agree more that luggage space must be user friendly. My observations:1. Entry Hatchback segment2. Compact hatchback3. Premium Hatchback4. Compact sedan5. C2 segment (SUV, sedan, Compact SUV, crossover etc.) A most happening segment in Indian car scenario6. D1 segment  A segment of 2 million INR  XUV 500 offering 93 ltrs of bootspace, how impractical a car which can fit 6 people and 93 ltrs of bootThanks for sharing this link, it is really interesting to know difference in theoretical and practical.I could not agree more that luggage space must be user friendly. Last edited by Aditya : 3rd February 2021 at 15:09 . Reason: back to back posts merged; Indent tags fixed
Gurugram, Feb 4 : The Indian Medical Association (IMA) members in Gurugram observed a relay hunger strike on Thursday against the governments notification permitting Ayurveda doctors to conduct 58 types of modern surgeries.

Around 200 doctors participated in the relay hunger strike.

The IMA, the apex body of Indian doctors, has also planned to shut down OPDs from February 6 to 14 between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. However, emergency services, such as casualty, labour room and intensive care units will be exempted from the strike.

The members of the association said they have begun a relay hunger strike from Thursday and will organise a candle march on Friday evening in the civil lines area. They also handed over a memorandum against the notification to the deputy commissioner Gurugram.

The association members said they will also go to the IMA headquarters in Delhi on February 6 and 7 against the government move.

"The Centre's notification is dangerous to the health of the Indian citizens. It encourages an unprecedented and unscientific mix of the different medical specialties. No surgery is possible without anaesthesia. Also, to curb infections they need modern techniques," said M.P. Jain, President IMA, Gurugram.

"It would be wise to encourage Ayurveda and all traditional forms of medicine to conduct research in their own fields and develop them for the betterment of the country. This kind of Mixopathy will play havoc and cause loss of life and limb of unsuspecting citizens of India," he said.

"We strongly oppose this government move to destroy the health of the nation and seek government support in the withdrawal of this notification with immediate effect," said Jain.

A group of 1,000 doctors of IMA Gurugram on December 11 had staged a protest in 25 hospitals against the notification.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will soon be visiting Ayodhya to review the progress of the developmental works that are being carried out to provide world-class facilities to the people coming to the city.

According to a state government spokesman, the Chief Minister will review the progress of projects that include the expansion of Bhajan Sandhya Sthal, Queen Ho Memorial Park, Ram Katha Park, beautification of Ram Kath Gallery, Ram Ki Paidi, renovation of roads and footpaths and the Hanuman Garhi - Kanak Bhawan Road.

Many roads of the city are being widened, multi-level parking is being constructed and the bus and the railway stations are also being revamped.

There is also a plan to make Ayodhya a solar city, besides augmenting existing facilities.

Besides this, a separate action plan has been prepared for the development of other important sites like Makhauda.

Situated in the Harraiya tehsil of Basti district, King Dashrath had performed the 'Putrakamesthi Yajna' in Makhauda under the guidance of his Guru Vashishta and Rishi Sringi.

There are also many mythological places related to Lord Ram on different 'Parikrama' routes and the development of all such places are also on the agenda of the Yogi government as this will not only help in increasing tourism but will also provide employment opportunities at the local level.

The Chief Minister has already ordered for the entire facelift of the 'Ghats' along the Saryu river and railway stations.

There will ALSO be a separate four-lane road to connect to the airport, which is being spruced up to handle domestic as well as international traffic.

The new-look 'Navya Ayodhya' will be an integrated model of Vedic and modern city.

The government is preparing a new model of development of Ayodhya and it has been decided to appoint a world-class consultant for this.

The Housing and Urban Planning Development (HUPD) Department has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP).

The HUPD department will get the development model prepared by the consultant and its implementation will be done through Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA).

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is also making a proposal for a bypass from Sohawal to Vikramjot .

In addition, the work of widening of the four-lane road from Rae Bareli to Ayodhya is also under active consideration. It is to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore.

There will also be doubling of railway tracks coming to Ayodhya, the railway station of the city will be beautified and expanded according to the future needs.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WLFI)- Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box says the teachers were always in Phase 2 of the vaccination plan. This comes as local teachers sent a letter to the governor urging them to be added to the list of people who can be vaccinated. The governor discussed what the state's plans are for opening up the vaccine to more people. He said that they plan to continue with their age-based approach but are looking at adding Hoosiers with comorbidities to the list of people who are eligible.

At Governor Holcomb's weekly press briefing Dr. Kristina Box said that if the state were to open up the vaccine to all essential workers that would add over two million more people to the list of individuals eligible to receive the vaccine. At this time she says the state of Indiana is getting around 100-thousand doses a week. ISDH says that focusing on people who are at the most at risk of dying from COVID-19 is who they will continue to focus on. ISDH says data shows that older individuals are most likely to die of COVID-19. However, the state is looking at opening the vaccine up to people who have certain comorbidities.

"As we continue down with age group we will be adding in comorbidities so that we make sure we are including those individuals," said Dr. Box. "It may even be a young individual with congenital heart defect of some type."

Dr. Box says people with a specific health condition that leave them at the same risk of dying from COVID-19 as people of a certain age will be added to the list of people who can get vaccinated. The state is currently working with health specialists across the state to determine which comorbidities qualify. Since opening the vaccine up to Hoosiers 65-69 46 percent of people in that age group have been vaccinated.
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DENVER  Wildlife officials have captured and collared a lone male wolf near North Park in north-central Colorado to study the travel patterns of wolves coming into the state.

Contractors for the Colorado Parks and Wildlife chased the 4-year-old wolf into Wyoming, where they were able to subdue it and affix a tracking collar, The Denver Post reported Wednesday.

The department confirmed the capture on Tuesday and issued a statement saying state crews will use signals from the collar to learn about where wolves entering Colorado travel.

Park Director Dan Prenzlow said the advanced GPS collar will allow us to get a much better understanding of the animals movement, range and behaviors.

The 110-pound (50-kilogram) gray wolf, called M2101, was seen by state staffers from the air roaming with another lone male wolf, M1084, which came to Colorado from Wyoming in 2019, officials said.

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Gray wolves were hunted, trapped and poisoned into extermination in Colorado in the 1940s. In November, Colorado voters narrowly approved a ballot measure that requires that the state to reintroduce the animal on public lands in the western part of the state by the end of 2023.

Officials last year confirmed the presence of a small pack of wolves in northwestern Colorado, and Gov. Jared Polis publicly declared wolves are welcome back in the state.

Cattle ranchers, elk hunters, farmers and others in rural areas have said the reintroduction of wolves is bad policy driven by urban majorities along Colorados Front Range.

Gray wolves in Colorado are listed as a state endangered species and may not be killed for any reason other than self-defense, state officials said. Penalties for violations include fines, jail time and a loss of hunting license privileges.



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Mayor's Office Press Release

North America's Largest Climatetech Incubator is on Track to Open its Second Location in Houston's Innovation District in Spring 2021

February 2, 2021 -- Mayor Sylvester Turner joined Greentown Labs Houston (Greentown Houston) today for a groundbreaking ceremony of the City's first-ever climatetech startup incubator facility located in Houston's Innovation District.

Greentown Houston also announced its network of partners has grown by five with the addition of CenterPoint Energy, Gexa Energy of NextEra Energy Resources, EIV Capital, Wells Fargo, and Williams as its newest Founding and Grand Opening Partners. These partners join a diverse group of 16 existing partners that represent a broad community of energy organizations, renewable energy experts, and organizations committed to supporting early-stage cleantech startups.

"Greentown Houston is proud to have CenterPoint Energy, Gexa Energy, EIV Capital, Wells Fargo, and Williams join our roster of partners that are committed to climate action and accelerating the deployment of climatetech solutions," said Dr. Emily Reichert, CEO of Greentown Labs. "These partnersfrom energy providers to financial services organizationswill play a pivotal role in enabling the success of both our operations and the Houston startup community."

In September 2020, Greentown Houston announced its location at 4200 San Jacinto St. in the Innovation District being developed by Rice Management Company. The general contractor for the project is Miller LaPoint Construction, based in Houston. Design services for the project are provided by Abel Design Group and Silverman Trykowski Architects. The incubator will provide more than 40,000 sq. ft. of prototyping lab, office, and community space for about 50 startup companies, totaling 200-300 employees.

After the ceremony, Greentown Houston revealed what the exterior facade of the building and interior layout will look like once it opens. The building's exterior will be painted gray with Greentown Labs' brand colors incorporated as accent details. Greentown Houston is working with the Houston Arts Alliance to identify a local artist to install a large mural on the east side of the building to display Greentown Houston's mission around climate action, community collaboration, and entrepreneurial partnership.

Images and footage of Greentown Houston can be viewed here, and all are invited to a public, virtual EnergyBar networking event on Feb. 4 at 4 p.m. CT / 5 p.m. ET., where attendees will hear a recap of the Feb. 2 ceremony, learn about Greentown Houston's progress, and get a sneak peek of what the incubator will look like when it opens this spring.

"Houston is delighted to welcome Greentown Labs to our expanding innovation ecosystem, and we can't wait to see the incubator's facility open in a few short months," said Mayor Sylvester Turner. "Last year, we released our first-ever Climate Action Plan, and we believe organizations like Greentown Labs, its impressive network of partners, and climatetech entrepreneurs will help us achieve the ambitious goals outlined in the plan. The City of Houston is focused on catalyzing and leading the global energy transition, and we're excited to work with Greentown Labs on this effort."

Greentown Houston is a proud member of the Greater Houston Partnership and is actively involved in the organization's economic development efforts to help Houston lead the global energy transition.

"It is essential that we position Houston as the leader of the global energy transition, and Greentown Houston is a crucial part of that effort," said Susan Davenport, Chief Economic Development Officer with the Greater Houston Partnership. "We are thrilled to join Greentown Houston to celebrate this critical step forward in their much-anticipated expansion with the addition of these new partners. These organizations, and the expertise and resources they bring, join a thriving ecosystem built of major corporate energy R&D centers, corporate venture arms, and VC-backed energy startups. We are eagerly anticipating Greentown Houston's official opening this spring and look forward to working together to build a more efficient and more sustainable low-carbon future."

Greentown Houston sits adjacent to The Ion, a 288,000 sq. ft. innovation hub that anchors the Innovation District being developed by Rice Management Company.

"We are excited to recognize Greentown Houston's momentum. This is another step in solidifying Greentown's presence as Houston's premier destination for cleantech and climate change technology," said Ryan LeVasseur, Managing Director of Direct Real Estate at Rice Management Company. "Greentown's role in the innovation ecosystem further solidifies the Innovation District's position as a hub for the advancement of the region's economy. Together, The Ion and Greentown Houston will set a new standard for creating new opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs."

Greentown Houston's Growing Partner Network

Since announcing its expansion to Houston in June 2020, Greentown Labs has received a warm welcome from the Houston business communityunderscoring the city's eagerness and enthusiasm to lead the energy transition. Today, Greentown Houston is fortunate to welcome three new Founding Partners to its ecosystem:

As the only investor-owned electric and gas utility based in Texas, CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) is an energy delivery company with electric transmission and distribution, power generation, and natural gas distribution operations that serve more than 7 million metered customers in Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas. As of Sept. 30, 2020, the company owned approximately $33 billion in assets and also owned 53.7 percent of the common units representing limited partner interests in Enable Midstream Partners, LP, a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns, operates, and develops strategically located natural gas and crude oil infrastructure assets. With approximately 9,600 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 150 years.

"At CenterPoint Energy, we are energized by this partnership with Greentown Labs. Our company has a strong commitment to the delivery of clean energy to customers and we see this partnership as an opportunity to lend our expertise and industry knowledge to help craft and accelerate a clean energy future," said Kenny Mercado, Executive Vice President of Electric Utility at CenterPoint Energy. "As part of our new long-term growth strategy, we plan to provide a modern, reliable electric grid to connect the large number of renewable energy projects being built in our Houston service territory. We are also committed to the continued development of alternative fuels programs, including renewable natural gas, that would provide customers new energy choices."

Gexa Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, is one of the fastest-growing retail electricity providers in the U.S., serving over 1.5 million residential and commercial customers. NextEra Energy Resources is one of the largest wholesale generators of electric power in the nation and the largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun in the world.

"Greentown Labs is an exciting forum for Gexa Energy to collaborate and accelerate early stage innovation. We look forward to developing new ideas in Houston that benefit our customers and the broader markets," said Brian Landrum, President at Gexa Energy.

Wells Fargo is a leading financial services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets and proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10 percent of all middle-market companies in the U.S. Wells Fargo is committed to playing an important role in accelerating a just transition to a low-carbon economy and reducing the impacts of climate change. Through strategic partnerships, its goal is to do this by increasing its operational efficiency, advancing clean technology, innovation, and other environmental solutionsat work, at home, and in the communities it serves.

"Wells Fargo is committed to bringing innovation and entrepreneurship to Houston," said Chad Johnson, Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo's Technology Banking Group. "This is an exciting time to see Houston's tech ecosystem expand and become home to cleantech incubators. We know Greentown Labs will provide critical resources to entrepreneurs that will enable them to launch innovative businesses, which will help build a more sustainable future for our city."

Greentown Houston is on schedule to open its facility in Spring 2021, and has a subset of partners dedicated to the success of its grand opening. Naturgy and FCC Environmental Services (FCC) were the first Greentown Houston Grand Opening Partners and today EIV Capital and Williams join them.

EIV Capital, a Houston-based private equity firm, specializes in providing growth equity to the North American energy industry. EIV concentrates on midstream infrastructure, emissions management, and alternative energy. The firms' management has extensive experience leading and investing in successful companies across the energy value chain, including companies focused on carbon reduction.

"EIV Capital is proud to support Greentown Labs and welcomes them to Houston. We believe fostering collaboration between Greentown Labs' climatetech and cleantech entrepreneurs and Houston's world-leading energy community is essential to developing and scaling the solutions needed to address climate change while still providing affordable and reliable energy," said Patti Melcher, Co-founder & Managing Partner of EIV Capital. "We are committed to Greentown Labs' mission and pleased to be joining a robust and collaborative partner network that will ensure its success."

Williams, an industry-leading energy infrastructure company, is committed to the safe delivery of natural gas products to reliably fuel the clean energy economy in the United States. Williams manages 30 percent of the nation's natural gas used for clean-power generation, heating, and industrial use. In 2020, Williams announced ambitious climate commitments, aiming to reduce 56 percent of company-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and is on a pathway to net zero emissions by 2050.

"Williams is excited to join Greentown Labs as the first midstream corporate partner to support cleantech entrepreneurship that will accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future," said Chad Zamarin, Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategic Development at Williams. "It is through technology innovation and collaboration with organizations like Greentown Labs that we can develop solutions to reduce emissions and build a clean energy economy on our path to net zero by 2050."

In 2020, Greentown Labs was thrilled to announce its 14 inaugural Houston Founding Partners: Chevron, NRG Energy and Reliant Energy, Shell, BHP, Vinson & Elkins, Microsoft, ENGIE North America Inc., Rice Management Company, Saint-Gobain, Sunnova Energy International Inc., The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, SCF Partners, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., and Direct Energy.

Greentown Houston recently announced its 16 inaugural startup members. It is actively accepting startup members through its early access membership offering and welcoming additional partners in advance of the facility opening in Spring 2021. Interested startups and prospective partners should reach out via this form.

About Greentown Labs

Greentown Labs is a community of climatetech and cleantech pioneers working to design a more sustainable world. As the largest climatetech startup incubator in North America, Greentown Labs brings together startups, corporates, investors, policymakers, and many others with a focus on scaling climate solutions. Driven by the mission of providing ground-breaking startups the resources, knowledge, connections, and equipment they need to thrive, Greentown Labs offers prototyping and wet lab space, shared office space, a machine shop, an electronics lab, software and business resources, a large network of corporate customers and investors, and more. Greentown Labs' 100,000 sq. ft. campus in Somerville, Mass. is home to more than 100 startups and has supported more than 300 startups since the incubator's founding in 2011. These startups have collectively created more than 6,500 direct jobs and have raised more than ;$1.2 billion in funding. For more information, please visit www.greentownlabs.com or Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  More information is being released on the shooting of two people Wednesday night in Rochester.

Police say they received multiple calls around 9:16 pm about gunfire in the area of 22nd Street NW and 18  Avenue NW. Officer arrived at the scene to find a 19-year-old male from Rochester with multiple gunshot wounds. The victim could speak to officers and was taken to St. Marys Hospital, where he is currently in critical condition.

Rochester police responded to two different shootings that resulted in injuries late Wednesday night. KIMT photo. Rochester police responded to two different shootings that resulted in injuries late Wednesday night. KIMT photo.

As police investigated, they say they got a call from the mother of a 17-year-old male, saying her son had just gotten home and had been shot. Officers went to the callers home in the 500 block of 3rd Street NW ad the 17-year-old was taken to St. Marys Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The Rochester Police Department says this is what they believe happened:

 Several people met in the parking lot of the Heritage Manor Apartments (2408 18  Av NW) and that is where the shooting took place.

 In the parking lot, officers located glass from broken car windows, blood on the snow and gun casings. It also appears that one round may have hit one of the apartment buildings.

 Both of the shooting subjects were present during the meeting.

 At some point during the meeting, people started shooting at each other.

 The 17-year-old was then driven home and dropped off.

 The other subjects involved in this incident also left the scene, leaving behind the 19-year-old who had been shot multiple times.
Gov. Kate Browns office said Wednesday Oregon will soon begin offering COVID-19 vaccinations to as many as 11,000 inmates in the states prisons and that could delay health care workers and others in phase 1a from getting the vaccines.

A governors spokesman, however, said vaccinations of inmates wont slow shots in the arms to teachers, who became eligible last week, or seniors, the oldest who have been promised access starting Monday.

The change in course came one day after U.S. Magistrate Stacie Beckerman ordered inoculations to immediately commence in response to disproportionately high rates of coronavirus spread and death in the states 14 prisons.

The courts decision is clear, and the state has decided not to appeal, said Charles Boyle, a spokesman for the governors office, in an email Wednesday.

Dr. Warren Roberts, chief medical officer of the Oregon Department of Corrections, told a group of state lawmakers Wednesday that vaccinations could begin as early as next week. He said thats when the governor ordered the first shipment of 5,000 Moderna doses to arrive. Roberts said the shipments will keep coming in 5,000-dose increments until all inmates who choose to be vaccinated are with two doses.

Some Oregonians have worried this will slow the administration of shots to residents outside the states prison walls. The governors office confirmed that fear could become a reality for members of phase 1a, which includes health care workers and long-term care facility residents who became eligible in the first wave of recipients.

The group comprises an estimated 400,000 to 500,00 people -- and that includes about 4,600 prison employees and contractors whove all been offered a first shot. Possibly 200,000 or more people in Phase 1a are waiting for second doses.

Because the court increased the size of phase 1a by adding adults in custody, there will be an impact to the timeline to complete the vaccination of phase 1a individuals, Boyle said. He didnt specify the length of the delay.

Meanwhile, Oregons daycare, preschool and K-12 employees and its oldest residents, who are part of phase 1b, should be on track, Boyle said.

We do not anticipate this court ruling will change the timelines for beginning to vaccinate phase 1b individuals, including seniors and educators  again, however, that is dependent on the weekly vaccine supplies we receive from the federal government, Boyle said.

Boyle didnt explain the governors reasoning behind potentially postponing vaccination access for phase 1a members, who have been prioritized since the first shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Oregon Dec. 14. Among others in the expansive group, the 1a population includes health care workers, people living in long-term care facilities and Oregonians with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

In all, the state estimates there are 152,000 educators currently eligible for inoculations. From Feb. 8 to the first week of March, up to 767,000 seniors age 65 and older will become eligible. State officials, however, say the true number is less because a small portion have already been vaccinated because they qualified as part of phase 1a.

In comparison, there are about 12,600 inmates in custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections. Approximately 1,600 of them have already been vaccinated. Most of them are over age 60 or are medically vulnerable and were inoculated because of a miscommunication, Beckerman wrote in her ruling.

Beckerman called for all inmates to be offered the vaccines after lawyers for several inmates suing the state argued the prison system was disregarding virus safety protocols and inmates were falling ill and dying. Since the pandemic began, 27% or about 3,400 inmates have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 and 42 have died.

Across Oregon, 3.4% or about 145,000 residents are known to have had the disease and almost 2,000 have died.

Juan Chavez, who represented the group of inmates who sued the state, said in response to a question from The Oregonian/OregonLive that its conceivable the ruling could guide action not only in state-run prisons but locally run jails, where officials may now feel obligated to vaccinate their inmates.

The mechanics of the law works the same, and as OHA has now seen, if a correctional facility mismanages an outbreak, their failure to include incarcerated individuals in their vaccine plans lands them in Court, Chavez said in an email. I trust that they understand that now.

According to counts before the pandemic, there were about 6,000 people locked up in Oregons jails. The number today is likely lower because some facilities have been more likely to release non-violent inmates because of coronavirus safety concerns.

In all, that could amount to as many as 17,000 incarcerated people across Oregon who could conceivably become eligible for vaccinations ahead of the general population of healthy adults in the state. Officials with the Oregon Health Authority have said they cant estimate yet when the states general population of residents will be eligible for vaccinations because of uncertainty about vaccine supply from the federal government.

Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said it could be 12 to 16 weeks before all seniors who want the vaccines get them.

Were adding a very, very large number of eligible people to be vaccinated compared to the supply of vaccine that we have, Allen said to lawmakers Wednesday.  ... If youve watched in the news youve seen that every state that has opened to seniors has had some form of chaos on its hands. And I want to be completely transparent were going to have some form of chaos on our hands, too.

Were doing all kinds of things ... to mitigate this, Allen continued. But phone lines are going to get overwhelmed. Scheduling sites are going to have challenges.

Coronavirus in Oregon: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter

-- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company


The Crown Group on Thursday announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) to develop an integrated aerospace cluster adjoining the Salem airport.

"The cluster, which is part of the Tamil Nadu Defence Corridor, will house India''s first-ever indigenous MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facility for military aircraft and equipment," the group said in a press release.

The group said it will also establish a drone testing facility in the cluster.

"The project also envisages establishment of a well-equipped flight training academy for basic and advanced flying training and a refresher training facility for professional pilots," it noted.
Immediate success at King Snake reaffirms the prospectivity of the region and the companys strategy in defining high-grade nickel targets using electromagnetic (EM) geophysical techniques

Multiple EM crews are engaged at several high priority targets across its developing Ta Khoa Nickel Project

( ) ( ) (FRA:B9S) has hit massive sulfide vein (MSV) mineralisation in multiple drill holes from its maiden exploration program at the King Snake prospect at its Ta Khoa Nickel Project in Vietnam.

Immediate success at King Snake reaffirms the prospectivity of the region and the companys strategy in defining high-grade nickel targets using electromagnetic (EM) geophysical techniques.

Multiple EM crews are engaged at several high priority targets across its developing Ta Khoa Nickel Project.

Blackstone has commenced the maiden resource estimate for the Ban Chang prospect and continues drilling at Ban Phuc, Ban Chang, Ta Cuong, Ban Khoa and King Snake.

Aggressive drilling program at King Snake

Blackstone Minerals managing director Scott Williamson said: Our investment into targeting higher grade MSV deposits within the Ta Khoa district continues to pay dividends.

We will pursue an aggressive drilling program at King Snake as we look to build a high-grade MSV mining inventory to support the restart of the existing 450,000 tonnes per annum Ban Phuc concentrator.

The drill bit continues to highlight the district-scale opportunity at Ta Khoa, which we are confident will provide many years of consistent high-quality nickel-copper-PGE concentrates to our planned downstream refinery business.

Our in-house geophysics team has a proven track record with success at Ban Chang following up immediately at King Snake.

We look forward to delivering maiden resources at each of these prospects and continuing to systematically assess up to 25 MSV targets in the Ta Khoa pipeline.

Exploration program

Highlights from the initial exploration program at King Snake include:

 New EM targets generated in November 2020 were followed up with diamond drilling, with six of the first seven holes intersecting massive sulfides along with associated disseminated sulfides (DSS);

 New intersections together with historic drill results have defined a strike length of over 800 metres at King Snake, which includes MSV, semi-massive sulfide vein (SMSV) and DSS mineralisation, with the mineralisation open in multiple directions;

 Samples from the initial King Snake drill holes are with the laboratory. Due to prolonged delays in assays, Blackstone will continue to keep the market informed with visual estimates as required; and

 Following success at Ban Chang, King Snake is poised to add critical mass to its high-grade MSV strategy, which will see the restart of the existing Ban Phuc concentrator.

Blackstone expects to provide an update on the anticipated King Snake assay results, along with results from ongoing infill drilling at Ban Chang and Ban Phuc DSS over the coming weeks.

Integrated upstream and downstream nickel

Blackstone is focused on building an integrated upstream and downstream processing business in Vietnam that produces precursor nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) products for Asias growing lithium-ion battery industry.

Blackstone will conduct further geophysics on the MSV and DSS targets and continue an aggressive drilling campaign.

By combining its existing mineral inventory (Ban Phuc), exploration potential presented by high priority targets such as Ban Chang and King Snake and the ability to source third party concentrate, Blackstone will be able to increase the scale of its downstream business to meet the rising demand for downstream nickel products.

It has completed a scoping study, which includes mining the companys maiden resource at the Ban Phuc Disseminated ore body and the construction of one downstream refinery.

The company is now advancing the Ta Khoa Project through to a pre-feasibility study, which will contemplate the option to mine higher grade MSV deposits, with the potential to reduce upfront capital requirements by enabling the company to restart the existing Ban Phuc concentrator.
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SANTA FE  A bill to repeal a long-dormant New Mexico abortion ban is steaming toward a full Senate vote, possibly by as soon as next week.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-3 on Wednesday to advance the legislation, Senate Bill 10, with Democrats voting in favor and the panels Republican members voting in opposition.

A similar push to repeal the 1969 law that makes it a felony for a woman to get an abortion, except for in limited circumstances, was defeated in the Senate two years ago.

But several moderate Democrats who voted against the 2019 bill are no longer in the Senate  several were ousted in last years primary election  and backers of the legislation are optimistic about the bills odds for passage.

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The bill has generated emotional debate, with critics raising moral objections and saying it could cause health care practitioners to leave New Mexico.

The targeted state law is unenforceable now because of the U.S. Supreme Courts 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, but supporters said they fear the court will revisit the landmark abortion ruling given changes to the courts makeup during the presidency of Donald Trump.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham supports the abortion legislation and has said she will sign it into law if it reaches her desk.

A similar House bill has also cleared its two assigned committees and is also awaiting a full chamber vote.
A witty new campaign to promote The One Show 2021 call-for-entries says creatives shouldnt be concerned about what others might think of their chaotic work-from-home life of the past year because the shows juries will only judge the work.

The new film, banner and social media effort is the first work created by Milk & Honey United Sydney, a new independent communications company cofounded by Andy DiLallo and Steve Jackson, two of Australia's most recognized creatives.

Balancing humor with sensitivity to the pandemic situation, the campaign depicts how creatives may have cared less about appearances and indulged in offbeat activities during their year of working from home, but in the end we all empathize with one another and managed to create some great work.

Leading off the campaign is Lockdown Day Whatever, an artfully crafted :45 film set to an original string-laden score with lyrics about what a different year its been and how somehow we made it through. The film was shot by the award-winning director Paul Middleditch, PLAZA, Sydney.

The film opens with a nod to the now-famous Burger King Moldy Whopper, which won Best of Show, four Best of Disciplines and 18 Gold Pencils overall for INGO Stockholm, DAVID Miami and Publicis Bucharest at The One Show last year.

The camera slowly pans to find an array of other moldy items  a fruit bowl, dirty dishes, loaf of bread with cheese and tomato  before finally landing on an open container of moldy yoghurt in a nearly empty refrigerator. A man picks up the yogurt container, looks inside and, instead of throwing it out, shrugs and casually eats a spoonful. The spot closes with the line Well Only Judge the Work.

Banner ads, shot by award-winning photographer Ian Butterworth, Sydney, include Life Under the Desk, revealing the chaos of WFH not visible to colleagues and clients on a zoom screen, as well as executions depicting extreme toilet paper hoarding, innovation in mask wear and parental coping mechanisms.

The campaign also includes a series of TikTok-style social videos showing offbeat lockdown behavior that wont be judged, such as excessive grocery washing, mock subway riding in the bathroom, make-shift at-home toilet paper manufacturing and attempted champagne drinking from a pour attached to a moving garage door mechanism.

Many of us have probably eaten and drunk too much, and exercised and cleaned up around the house way too little, said Milk & Honey Uniteds Steve Jackson. But amidst this utter madness, somehow weve still managed to create some magic.

Everyone has had to deal with months of lockdowns and working from home, and often ended up doing unusual things to cope or entertain ourselves, said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club. This campaign is a lighthearted way for us to let creatives know none of that matters because One Show juries will only judge the work, not them.

We couldnt be more honored to have been entrusted with creating this One Show call for entries campaign, added Andy DiLallo, Milk & Honey United. As the first work for our new venture, it will always hold a special place in our hearts.

After providing the creative community with last years largest global awards show and definitive international and regional creative rankings, The One Club for Creativity is now accepting entries for The One Show 2021.

Entries can be submitted now, with fees increasing after each deadline period. Regular deadline is March 12, extended deadline March 19, and final deadline March 26, 2021.

The list of the global jury for The One Show 2021 can be viewed here. To ensure the safety of jurors during the continued pandemic, all judging will be conducted online for the second year in a row. No physical entries will be accepted this year, eliminating shipping costs for entrants.

Unlike for-profit awards shows such as Cannes and others, The One Club is a non-profit organization that puts revenue generated from awards entries back into the industry to fund programs under its four pillars: Education, Inclusion & Diversity, Gender Equality and Professional Development.

These programs include the annual Where Are All The Black People diversity conference and career fair, ONE School free portfolio program for Black creatives, Creative Boot Camps for diverse college students, Right the Ratio Summits addressing gender equality, Global Educators Summits, Creative Leaders Retreats, mentorship programs for more than 200 young creatives each year, bi-annual Saturday Career Workshops for high school students, and more.

CREDITS:

Campaign: Well Only Judge The Work for The One Show 2021

Client: The One Club for Creativity, New York

Agency: Milk & Honey United, Sydney

Founding Partner: Andy DiLallo

Founding Partner: Steve Jackson

Creatives: Chris Moreira, Mark Scholler, Nick McHugh

Designer: Jim Midnight

Executive Producer: Susannah Phillips

Production Company: Plaza, Sydney

Director: Paul Middleditch

EP/Producer - Peter Masterton

Line Producer: Alexandra Taussig

DP: Tristan Milani

Production Designer: Leah Popple

Editorial & Post Production: The Editors

Post Producer: Jennie McCartney

Editor: Laurence Van Camp

Online Editor: Matt Edwards

Colourist: Fergus Rotherham

Photographer: Ian Butterworth

Production Company: Louis & Co

Executive Producer: Louis Molines

Producer: Laura Midalia

Stylist: Janai Anselmi

Photography team: Klint Collier & Glenn Pokorny

Post Production: Cream Electric Art

Music & Sound - Squeak E. Clean Studios

Executive Creative Producer - Karla Henwood

Creative Director - Zac Cowell

Composer - Scott Langley

Sound Designer - Mario Gabrieli

The One Club for Creativity, producer of The One Show, ADC Annual Awards , Type Directors Club Communication Design and Typeface Design awards, Young Guns and Creative Week, is the world's foremost non-profit organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the success of the global creative community. The One Show is a top global awards show for advertising, design and digital marketing, focusing on the creativity of ideas and quality of execution. The global ADC Annual Awards honors creative excellence in craft, design and innovation across all disciplines. Creative Week takes place in New York every May, and is the preeminent festival celebrating the intersection of advertising and the arts.
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A child makes paper-cut works of the Chinese character "chun," or spring, with a volunteer during a cultural activity at a community in Langya District, Chuzhou City, east China's Anhui Province, Feb. 3, 2021. Lichun, or the Beginning of Spring, is the first of the 24 solar terms that falls on Feb. 3 this year. The community held the cultural activity to celebrate the upcoming festival and at the same time help children experience traditional culture. (Photo by Zhao Chen/Guangming Picture)

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A 69-year-old Cumberland County woman who is accused of murdering her husband is facing new federal charges that she defrauded the Social Security system for six years after his death.

Virginia Hayden of Carlisle has been indicted by a grand jury in U.S. Middle District Court in Harrisburg this week on fraud and conversion of government chargers. Investigators claim she concealed her husbands 2011 demise and kept collecting $113,471 worth of his Social Security benefits until April 2017.

The grand jury concluded that alleged fraud ended two years before the former Dover woman was arrested by Northern York Regional Police and charged with Thomas Hayden Sr.s homicide.

According to the grand jury presentment, Thomas Hayden vanished in 2011. Virginia Hayden never reported his disappearance, even though she was required by law to do so, and instead kept collecting his Social Security benefits in their joint checking account. Those benefits were supposed to end when Thomas Hayden died.

The U.S. Attorneys Office is seeking forfeiture of that allegedly ill-gotten money.

Virginia Hayden

Meanwhile, Virginia Hayden is sitting in York County Prison awaiting trial in the homicide case.

She was arrested in the murder case in April 2019, more than seven years after a plastic shopping bag containing a human scalp and a bloody bedsheet were discovered along Conewago Creek in Dover Township.

The investigation of that grisly find was cold until Thomas Haydens estranged daughter told police in 2017 that she had been unable to contact her father. The woman said that when she called Virginia Hayden told her Thomas didnt want to talk to her, police said.

Investigators said Virginia Hayden told them her husband vanished in 2011 after leaving home to seek treatment for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrigs disease. Her statements were inconsistent and aroused suspicion, police said. They said the new owner of the Haydens former home in Dover told them that in 2014 Virginia Hayden told him that Thomas was dead.

Further investigation showed Virginia Hayden forged her husbands signature on a 2013 document transferring full ownership of the Dover property to her, police said. They said DNA testing conducted during the probe linked the scalp from the shopping bag to Thomas Hayden.

Sixteen Lackawanna County nursing homes were awarded nearly $1.5 million from a federal program that rewards facilities with lower than expected COVID-19 infections and deaths compared to rates within the county they are located.

The Nursing Home Quality Incentive Program was launched in September as part of the governments efforts to encourage nursing homes to aggressively employ infection control strategies to halt the spread of the virus.

Congress earmarked $2 billion for the fund, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funds are being distributed in several phases based on the homes performance from September to December.

As of Jan. 25, HHS paid out $854.3 million to 19,444 homes nationwide who met standards in September and October, including $29 million to 894 facilities in Pennsylvania, according to data released by HHS.

In Lackawanna County, 16 of its 17 nursing homes qualified for the program. Allied Services in Scranton received the most, $244,520, of which $214,324 went to its skilled nursing center and $30,196 to its transitional rehabilitation unit.

It was followed by the Gino J. Merli Veterans Center in Scranton, $182,415 and Genesis Health Care, which received $179,307 for two homes it operates in Lackawanna County, Abington Manor in Clarks Summit and Linwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Scranton.

Only one facility, Lackawanna Health Care and Rehabilitation Center in Scranton, failed to qualify for the incentive, the data shows. Attempts to reach officials at the home for comment were unsuccessful.

Eligibility for the incentive was determined based on an analysis of data nursing homes submit to several federal databases.

HHS officials utilized a complex formula to assess each facilitys performance and the amount of payment. Generally speaking, homes qualified if the number of infections and deaths fell below the expected number of infections and deaths, given the infection/death rate in their county. Nursing homes did not have to apply for the funds. The money was automatically distributed to them once HHS determined they qualified.

Jim Brogna, spokesman for Allied Services, said the incentive reflects the facilities commitment to steadfastly follow state and federal guidance since the pandemic began in March.

We are inspired by the commitment of our health care heroes whove fought tirelessly for the past 11 months, Brogna said in an email. They are all to be commended for the quality care provided and protection of our residents and patients.

Dr. Richard Feifer, chief medical officer for Genesis, said its homes also remain committed to following state and federal guidelines. He noted that in many cases they have adopted even more stringent infection control precautions.

We are very proud of the hard work and dedication our leadership and center staff have shown throughout this entire pandemic, Feifer said in an email.

HHS continues to evaluate the homes. Those who meet the benchmarks are eligible to receive additional incentives for November and December. The HHS data does not indicate whether those payments have been made yet.
Our government has confirmed the discovery of lithium reserves estimated at 1,600 tonnes in Mandya district of Karnataka. Although small in global comparison, this find holds importance from the perspective of its enablement of local battery production. Right now, we import our entire requirement of this metal, a key input for the power-storage units that go into smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles (EVs).

The find should hopefully lead to further exploration so that we can create a domestic lithium mining industry and reduce import dependence, especially since a big shift from fossil fuel-guzzlers to EVs is part of the countrys agenda to fight climate change. China is currently among the worlds top lithium producers, along with countries like Australia and Chile. As we move towards cleaner sources of energy, we have plenty of catching up to do, not only to fulfil our own demand but also to compete with China in global markets. Were behind the technology curve on lithium batteries, but we could try grabbing a lead someday with hydrogen fuel cells, seen as the next big thing for EVs. The budgets outlay for a Hydrogen Energy Mission might help. But we also need big scientific breakthroughs.

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Two farm groups are suing the state of Washington for failing to revise emergency regulations that seek to protect migrant farmworkers from the COVID-19 virus.

The groups filed the lawsuit this week in Yakima County Superior Court. It seeks to invalidate the recently renewed rules as arbitrary, capricious and not feasible.

Were disappointed we had to take this step, but our farms are on the line and we had no other choice, said John Stuhlmiller, chief executive officer of the Washington Farm Bureau.

The state Department of Health renewed the emergency rules, first adopted last spring, for the third time on Jan. 8. In addition, Gov. Jay Inslee last month rejected the two groups request to repeal and revise the rules.

The Department of Health said COVID-19 has had a significant and disproportionate impact on agricultural workers in particular.

The agency said the emergency rules have led to testing clinics in agricultural communities that have helped to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 among agricultural workers.

As the response continues, we are reviewing the emergency rules to identify any clinical changes that may be needed, the agency said.

The lawsuit, against the Department of Health and the Department of Labor & Industries, contends many of the states emergency regulations for farmers are unworkable. The state has made adjustments for other sectors, including schools and construction, that incorporate improved understanding of COVID-19 transmission and best practices. But the rules governing migrant farmworkers have remained the same.

Tens of thousands of migrant farmworkers toil in Washington fields starting in the spring to harvest crops such as apples, cherries, hops, grapes and asparagus.

The United Farm Workers union, which pushed for the emergency rules last year, will work to defend them, said Elizabeth Strater of the union.

Given that vaccination programs are not yet working to scale, and would take two shots a month apart to provide protection, this is not a viable alternative to safe COVID-19 housing protocols, she said. Eliminating or disregarding basic COVID-19 rules will infect and kill workers.

One point of dispute is the state requirement for farmers to provide twice-daily medical visits to farm workers with COVID-19 symptoms. Health care professionals in rural and isolated communities, who are currently being called upon to administer vaccinations, are not able to provide this level of care, the lawsuit said.

No other industry has this requirement, the plaintiffs said.

We want farm workers to get the medical care they need. But doctors  not the state  should direct the appropriate level of care, Stuhlmiller said.

The lawsuit also contended that:

Requiring 20-minute access to emergency services and one hour access to an emergency room with a ventilator is largely impossible in many rural and isolated areas.

Restricting occupancy of registered farmworker housing even after workers have been vaccinated is not based on science and is economically ruinous for farmers by limiting their workforce to 50 percent. Farmers cannot stay in business if they can only employ and house half their workforce even after they are vaccinated, said plaintiff Dan Fazio, executive director of wafla, which represents employers of seasonal workers around the country.

Farmers face steep financial penalties for not meeting these regulations, the lawsuit said.

This year, about 25,000 guest workers will arrive in Washington state to harvest crops and then return to their home countries as part of the annual H-2A guest worker program.

Topics Lawsuits Washington Agribusiness
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The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday granted bail to a former Commercial Director of Process and Industrial Development, (P&ID) Limited, Mohammed Kuchazi, who is being prosecuted for money laundering.

The trial judge, Folashade Ogunbanjo-Giwa, granted him bail with two sureties in like sum.

She ordered that one of the two sureties to be presented by the defendant must have landed property with Certificate of Occupancy within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The identities of the sureties must be verified by EFCC while the defendants passport must be submitted to the courts registry, the judge also ruled.

The court added that while still in EFCC custody before fulfilling his bail conditions, the defendant must be granted access to any hospital of his choice within Abuja should the need arise.

Minimise media comments

The defendants lead counsel, Felix Tyokase, on Thursday urged the court to restrain the prosecuting counsel, Bala Sanga, from talking to the press regarding the ongoing trial.

He expressed dissatisfaction with the interview which Mr Sanga granted an online media and allegedly pronounced defendant guilty of the charges.

Responding, the judge advised lawyers in the case to exercise restraint in talking to the press on matters before the court to avoid negative imputations.

Charges

EFCC had on February 1 arraigned Mr Kuchazi alongside his company, Kore Holdings Limited, on eight counts.

The prosecution alleged that Mr Kuchazi and his company failed to comply with the regulations of the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) as stipulated by the Money Laundering Prohibition Act.

It also accused them of failing to comply with the requirement of submitting to the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, a declaration of the activities of his company.

The Commission said the offences were contrary to Section 16(1) (f) read together with section 5(1) (a) (ii) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and you thereby committed an offence punishable under section 16 (2)(b) of the same Act.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the offences they allegedly committed in 2014.

The judge on Thursday adjourned till April 27 for trial.

P&ID had secured a $9.6 billion award against Nigeria following the non-execution of a 20-year gas and supply processing agreement (GSPA) it had with the Federal Government.

The Federal Government only had the enforcement of the judgment stayed by a U.K court.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Tejasvi Surya today took a sortie in the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas at the Aero India show in Bengaluru.

Tejasvi Surya said, "The LCA Tejas is a symbol of Atmanirbhar Bharat. It is a beacon of scientific excellence and capabilities of India. I am extremely delighted today that I got an opportunity to fly in this wonderful fighter jet. LCA Tejas is Bengaluru's gift to India."

The government on Wednesday formally sealed the 48,000 crore deal to procure 83 Tejas LCA from state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, a deal described by the government as the 'biggest' Make in India defence contract.

R Madhavan, CMD, HAL said,"As per the contract, we are to start delivery of LCA by 36 months from today. The first delivery will be by March 2024. In the first year, there will be delivery of 2 aircraft which will be ramped up to 16. Total supply time, post first delivery is 6 years."

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said,"I am very happy that HAL has got the orders for the development of 83 new indigenous LCA (light combat aircraft) Tejas MK1A from Indian Air Force valued at more than 48,000 crore." "It is probably the biggest Make in India Defence contract till date."

Tejas, manufactured by the HAL, is a single engine and highly agile multi-role supersonic fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments.

The first LCA Mark 1A aircraft is likely to be produced by 2023 once the HAL is done with the supply of the initial 40 planes in the Initial Operational Clearance and Final Operational Clearance standards which have already taken part and proven themselves in the IAF operational exercises such as the Exercise Gagan Shakti.

LCA Mark 1A is the advanced version of Tejas aircraft.

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Tamil political and civil society groups in Sri Lanka on Wednesday held a protest rally highlighting the grievances being faced by the community and also demanded justice for civilians who were killed and disappeared during the civil war in the island nation. According to United Nations (UN) figures, up to 40,000 civilians were killed by the security forces during then Mahindra Rajapaksa's regime that brought an end to nearly 3 decares of civil war in Sri Lanka with the defeat of LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in 2009. Since then, both the government troops and the Tamil Tiger rebels are accused of war crimes.

READ | 'Why Is Palaniswami Afraid'?: DMK Chief Stalin Slams Tamil Nadu CM As Vel Politics Grows

Sri Lanka: Tamil activists & civil groups hold 4-day protest rally

According to the protest's organisers, the protest rally that is currently being staged by Tamil activists and civil groups in Sri Lanka had seen huge participation even after the local police had obtained court orders to stop it. The 4-day protest rally had started from Pottuvil town in the eastern Amparai district and will end at Polikandy in the northern Jaffna district on February 6.

This protest by the local Tamil activists and civil groups comes days after the UN Human Rights Office last week called for an international action to ensure justice for international crimes allegedly committed during the 26-year civil war. However, Sri Lanka has rejected the report.

READ | 'Youth' Tamil Movie Cast: Actors And The Characters They Play In The 2002 Film

This protest aims at highlighting several issues which are being faced by the Tamil community in Lanka. The protestors allege that lands owned by Tamils are being grabbed and Tamil areas are also being systematically populated with the majority Sinhala community since the military conflict ended in 2009 in the country. The protestors also claimed that Tamil political prisoners continue to languish in jails under the prevention of terrorism laws.

READ | Simbu Volunteers Starring In A Film To Raise Funds For The Tamil Nadu Movie Makers Sangam

Members of Sri Lanka's main Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said the court orders were served on politicians, preventing them from taking part in the peaceful protest march. Alleging that while the protests are being allowed to take place in the Sinhala majority south of the island, TNA members said that the Tamils in the north and east are being discriminated against.

According to local media reports, TNA parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran said that this protest aims at raising awareness on the government's continuous restrictions imposed on the minorities, illegal acquirement of lands belonging to the people in the North and East, urging the release of Tamil political prisoners, and to protest all forms of human rights violations in Sri Lanka.

READ | Tamil Nadu Minister Slams Sasikala For Using AIADMK Flag & Car Resembling Jayalalithaa's

(With PTI inputs)
When Hobby Airport traveler Shara Fisher discovered her cherished bracelet containing her mom's ashes was missing, she was beyond distressed.

Fisher had traveled from Dallas to Houston last Thursday to see her daughter, Amber Crabtree, and discovered after her journey that the jewelry had disappeared. The next morning, Fisher desperately went in search of the missing bracelet.

"I knew I lost it somewhere between Dallas and Houston," Fisher told Chron. "I had left voicemails at Dallas Love Airport Lost and Found and Hobby Airport Lost and Found."

Thanks to another Hobby Airport traveler, Desiree Encinas, and the power of Facebook, Fisher was reunited with the bracelet that carried her mother's ashes on January 28. When Encinas, an Arizona native, found the bracelet, she knew it was a important piece for someone and took to social media to find its owner. Her post soon went viral. It was Fisher's daughter Amber who first broke the news that the prized memento had been found.

'IT JUST FILLS YOUR HEART': Free student-run grocery store helps Texas families struggling in the pandemic

"My daughter said, 'Oh my gosh, mom they found your bracelet!'"Fisher said. "She told me that a lady traveling through Hobby Airport had contacted the news and social media to look the owner of the bracelet."

Fisher said it was one of the most emotional moments for her when she heard the bracelet was recovered. The silver bracelet has a heart-shaped charm attached with a thumbprint engraved on the side. The thumbprint belonged to her mother, Evelyn who had passed away on Christmas Eve.

Shara Fisher

"I was actually driving. I finally got to crying so hard that I had to pull over on the side of the interstate," Fisher said. "I was ecstatic. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it."

Looking back at the unique reunion of the bracelet, Fisher felt it was a sign from her mother.

"I think she's letting me know that she's ok," Fisher said."I can't describe it. I'm grateful, thankful and blessed. I'm just thankful that my bracelet ended up in the hands of someone who realized that it was important to somebody."

Update: We found the owner! Great job Facebook! Last night 1/28 I found this bracelet that seems to have a loved ones... Posted by Desiree Encinas on Friday, January 29, 2021

Fisher believes it's ironic and serendipitous that the bracelet was found by an Arizona traveler. Sedona just happened to be her mother's favorite place to visit. In fact, Evelyn had asked that her ashes be spread there.

Shara Fisher

"Sedona was where my mom always wanted to be. She always said she felt healthiest in Arizona," Fisher said. "She loved the mountains and the sunshine. One way or the other, my determined mother found a way to make it to Arizona."

Fisher said that she and her sisters and brothers plan to fly to Arizona, visit the Encinas, and retrieve the bracelet. Then, they plan to spread her mother's ashes in Sedona. Fisher has a special message of thanks to Encinas for the bringing the bracelet back to her.

"I thank her for having the decency, humanity to know the importance of the bracelet and for going to the great lengths to find the owner,," Fisher said.


(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, 04 FEB - The number of refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia is increasing is increasing due to many factors, and the situation needs a better legislative framework for their protection, said the head of the legal and protection department of the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR - Tunisia, Nadjia Hafsa, on the sidelines of the signing by various human rights organisations of a guide to coordinate action on the protection of refugees in Tunisia.



Hafsa said the majority of refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia are citizens of the Ivory Coast, Syria and Libya, as well as others from countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.



"The number of refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia rose to 6,500 people as of the end of January 2021, compared to 6,200 people in 2019," Hafsa said.



"Another 1,900 people are waiting to register for asylum in Tunisia," she said.



"Tunisia respects international conventions and doesn't extradite refugees to their countries of origin," she said, recalling that Tunisia ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and legislation for the protection of refugee rights.



In this context, she criticised the lack of a legislative framework that guarantees the protection of refugees in Tunisia.



The president of the Tunisian National Authority for the Fight Against Human Trafficking, Raoudha Laabidi, said actions taken by national organisations for refugees are insufficient, and recalled the importance of a legislative framework that ensures their protection.



Laabidi called for speeding up the adoption of the law on asylum, in particular in consideration of the increase of the number of asylum seekers in Tunisia.(ANSAmed).


Ireland West Airport welcomes today's announcement by Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton TD, of the publication of a new Regional Airports Programme for the period 2021 to 2025.

The Programme, which is underpinned by Project Ireland 2040, provides a framework for supporting airports that deliver international connectivity to their regions. Its focus is to support Irelands regional airports, those that handle less than one million annual passengers, to maintain regulatory compliance in the areas of safety and security.

Welcoming the announcement, Arthur French, Chairman, Ireland West Airport, said The extension of the Regional Airports Programme is positive news for the airport and regional Ireland as the supports prpvided, as part of the programme, are critical for the ongoing sustainablity of the airport. We also welcome the news that the Department of Transport is engaging with the European Commission to advance further schemes, in line with the package of supports for Irish Aviation that were announced by Government in November 2020, to address some of the liquidity issues and damage caused to date from Covid-19. We will continue to work with the Department to support the airport in the critical position it continues to find itself in as we prepare for another very challenging year for the aviation sector in 2021.

Passenger numbers at Ireland West Airport declined to 143,000 for the full year in 2020, a decline of 82% compared to 2019s record number of 807,000 passengers  a passenger level last seen in 1995. The airport experienced losses of close to 4m in 2020 as a result of COVID-19.
In 2018, Mark Robinson stood up before the city council in Greensboro, North Carolina and gave an impassioned defense of the Second Amendment. That video went viral and led to him entering politics. Last year, Robinson became North Carolina's Republican lieutenant governor. This year, when a local paper published a cartoon calling the entire North Carolina Republican party a KKK entity, Robinson (who is black) ferociously attacked the newspaper for its dishonesty and ignorance. He needs to give master classes in handling the media.

To get a sense of the man, I recommend that you take the four minutes to watch his defense of the Second Amendment in the face of the Greensboro city council's plan to ban gun shows from coming to the city. It's epic:

This man is not a shrinking violet. So, as I said, that speech was the springboard to a successful political career that saw Mark Robinson go from private citizen to North Carolina lieutenant governor in just two years.

On Tuesday, WRAL.com published a cartoon that showed the Republican Party as the KKK party. The cartoon revolves around the North Carolina Board of Education's plan to have "inclusive" social studies standards. In a word, the standards are "woke"  they are the usual anti-American stuff about America being a racist, imperialist, destructive, hate-filled, yadda, yadda, yadda country.

Republicans on the Board of Education  and Robinson is one of those Republicans  object to the proposed standards. By way of rebuke, the cartoon shows an elephant draped in KKK garments, saying that, as to the proposed standards, "We prefer to start with a clean sheet":

Today WRAL released this cartoon depicting our Lt. Governor, Mark Robinson as a Klansman because he wont bow to the leftist anti-American agenda they are pushing in our schools! pic.twitter.com/RhJ8SiIuI6  Tracy Philbeck (@tracyphilbeck) February 3, 2021

Robinson was neither amused nor apologetic. Instead, he launched a full frontal attack against the media for being racist, hypocritical, and historically ignorant:

Newspaper cartoon depicts @MarkRobinsonNC, the first black Lt. Governor of NC, as a klan member. See his response below. Every member of the @GOP should watch this and learn. pic.twitter.com/uOckdDNAw9  Mike LaChance (@MikeLaChance33) February 3, 2021

This man is not a shrinking violet. So, as I said, that speech was the springboard to a successful political career that saw Mark Robinson go from private citizen to North Carolina lieutenant governor in just two years.

On Tuesday, WRAL.com published a cartoon that showed the Republican Party as the KKK party. The cartoon revolves around the North Carolina Board of Education's plan to have "inclusive" social studies standards. In a word, the standards are "woke"  they are the usual anti-American stuff about America being a racist, imperialist, destructive, hate-filled, yadda, yadda, yadda country.

Republicans on the Board of Education  and Robinson is one of those Republicans  object to the proposed standards. By way of rebuke, the cartoon shows an elephant draped in KKK garments, saying that, as to the proposed standards, "We prefer to start with a clean sheet":

Today WRAL released this cartoon depicting our Lt. Governor, Mark Robinson as a Klansman because he won't bow to the leftist anti-American agenda they are pushing in our schools! pic.twitter.com/RhJ8SiIuI6

 Tracy Philbeck (@tracyphilbeck) February 3, 2021

Robinson was neither amused nor apologetic. Instead, he launched a full-frontal attack against the media for being racist, hypocritical, and historically ignorant:

Newspaper cartoon depicts @MarkRobinsonNC, the first black Lt. Governor of NC, as a klan member. See his response below. Every member of the @GOP should watch this and learn. pic.twitter.com/uOckdDNAw9

 Mike LaChance (@MikeLaChance33) February 3, 2021

"I'm not going to go along to get along. I'm going to call them out every time." That's what every Republican should say when the media goes low.

Robinson isn't a stranger to fighting back. When he was running for lieutenant governor, the Democrats tried to smear him as every kind of hater. When they trolled through his Facebook posts, they discovered that he denied that systemic racism was a problem in America, doesn't believe in anthropogenic climate change, doesn't believe that police brutality is a major problem, hated Barack Obama, is willing to show the Confederate flag, thinks Black Panther was a Marxist movie made to pacify blacks, and objects to the demeaning way Hollywood actresses dress. In other words, he opposes leftist culture and values.

What's most offensive to me is that Robinson trades in some Jewish tropes. He thinks bankers, whom he associates with the Rothschild family, are controlling the world. He sees Jews in Hollywood as being responsible for cultural degradation. After two thousand years of nonstop anti-Semitism, we Jews rightly don't like being called out this way. The fact that a Jewish person does a bad thing does not mean all Jews are bad. That's Exhibit A in the worst type of stereotyping, and I'm glad Robinson seems to have stopped.

When it comes to Robinson, as with Majorie Taylor Green's ill informed statements about Jews, it's important to recognize that neither she nor Robinson backs his statements with active malevolence. Unlike the anti-Semitic Democrats in Congress, neither has shown hostility to the Jewish state (so far as I know), and both support American values.

As Sally Zelikovsky said, the answer is to educate, not destroy, those Republicans who need a new understanding of Jews and Judaism. The fact is that we have almost no fighters in the Republican Party. We shouldn't jettison the ones we have because they're flawed. We should, instead, work with them to make them better.

Image: Mark Robinson dresses down media. Twitter screen grab.

Laois efforts to suppress Covid-19 slowed the spread further but there is above-average incidence around Portlaoise, according to the up to date official figures.

The latest Local Electoral Area (LEA) breakdown published on February on the Covid-19 Ireland data hub covers the second half of January from the January 19 to February 1.

The Datahub figures show that there were 161 new cases in the two weeks measured across the Portlaoise LEA. This contrasts with 266 in the previous two-week period up to January 25.

The decline in new cases means the latest incidence remains high but has fallen substantially to 506.4 per 100,000 population from 773.7 per 100k. However, The Portlaoise LEA remains above the national average incidence which had fallen to 455 by February 2.

The population of the Portlaoise LEA is 31,794 people with more than 20,000 living in the county town environs. It includes Abbeyleix, Ballyroan and Ballinakill.

The incidence and numbers have also reduced substantially in the Portarlington Graiguecullen LEA. The area had a sustained high incidence through January. Latest figures show that there were 110 new cases in the 14 days to February 1 leading to an incidence of 391.5 per 100k population.

There were 215 new cases in the 14 days to January 25 leading to an incidence of 765.2 per 100k population.

The population in this LEA is 28,096. It includes Stradbally, Timahoe, Ballylinan, Ballyadams, Killeshin, Crettyard, Killenard, Ballybrittas. It borders Kildare, Carlow, Kilkenny and Offaly.

There has also been an improvement in the west and south of Laois - the Mountmellick to Borris-in-Ossory LEA. There were 66 new cases in the two weeks after January 19 leading to an incidence of 266.1 per 100k population.

It had 109 new cases in the two weeks to January 25 give an incidence of 439.4 per 100 k.

The district is less populated, with 24,807 people and includes Rathdowney, Mountrath, Durrow, Castletown, Camross, Errill, Clonaslee and Rosenallis. It borders Tipperary, Offaly and Kilkenny.

Health Protection Surveillance Centre figures for all of Laois from January 19 to February 1 shows that the average incidence across the county was 348.3 per 100,000 people due to 295 infections. That is a drop from 501 new cases and an incidence of 591.5 per 100k in the two weeks to January 25.

The Laois incidence now is nearly 55.5 per 100 k on November 30 which was the last day of the Level 5 restrictions brought in to stem the second wave. Just 45 new cases were reported in the two weeks to November 30.

Read also: FRONTLINE FIGHT CHANGING SLOWLY AT PORTLAOISE HOSPITAL

Meanwhile, the 14-day national incidence up to February 1 was returned at 721.1 per 100 k on the back of 21,668 new cases. The national incidence in the two weeks to January 18 was 1,334.6 per 100k due to 63,551 new cases.

Up to date figures published NPHET up to midnight, February 3 show that the Republic's overall incidence rate has fallen further to 397.1 per 100 k population due to 18,909 cases in previous 14 days. The daily number of new cases on February 3 was 1,318 which included just 19 new Laois cases. MORE DETAILS HERE.

Laois had 235 new cases in the 14 days up to midnight February 3 giving an incidence rate of 277.5 per 100 k.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk's Twitter break is over.

"Off Twitter for a while," Musk informed his 45 million Twitter followers on Tuesday. Less than 48 hours later, Elon Musk is back on the microblogging site to do Elon Musk things-- share memes and send stocks flying.

This time, Musk shared a photoshopped meme of himself from the movie The Lion King. The meme shows Musk as Rafiki, the old baboon holding Simba except the Simba here is Shiba Inu, the Dogecoin mascot. "Ur welcome," he captioned the meme.

Posted on Thursday noon, the tweet has garnered over 50K tweets under an hour.

In another tweet, Musk simply wrote "Doge", while replying to his another tweet that depicted a rocket flying past the moon.

Doge  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2021

Then he tweeted a few more.

No highs, no lows, only Doge Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2021

Dogecoin is the peoples crypto Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2021

No laughing Stock

His not-so-wordy tweets and meme has sent the meme-cryptocurrency Dogecoin soaring with a 25% rise. A report in cointelegraph noted that Dogecoin saw a leap from $0.04 to $0.058 and subsequently witnessed a 100% rise in its trading volumes.

Musk has earlier tweeted a digital magazine cover featuring a dog in apparent support of a digital currency Dogecoin. Shares of DogeCoin along with an additional push from Reddit recorded a never-seen-before jump.

Dogecoin, much like Bitcoin, is a digital coin used for e-transactions. Doge is a reference to the 'doge' meme and has a picture of the shiba inu on it. It is a cryptocurrency, a form of digital money that, much like bitcoin, enables peer-to-peer transactions across a decentralized network.

Also Read: Dogecoin Memes are Surging on Twitter After Reddit Inflated Cryptocurrency Value

Since its creation, Doge has also been used to donate money to charities. These have included the 2014 Jamaican Bobsled team who couldnt afford to get to the Sochi Winter Olympics, a Nascar driver named Josh Wise, and a clean water project in Kenya called Doge4Water.

At the peak of the meme's popularity in 2013, Palmer, an Australian marketer, made a joke combining two of the internet's most talked-about topics: cryptocurrency and Doge. He bought the Dogecoin.com domain and uploaded a photoshopped Shibe on a coin.

Dogecoin now happens to join the elite of list of stocks that Musk has pumped in the past few weeks of 2021.

Elon Musk's update in his Twitter bio saw bitcoin prices soaring handsomely. Musk's support for the messaging app 'Signal' led to users migrating thereby such large numbers that the app temporarily crashed. Online retailing platform Etsy's stock jumped 9% right after Musk tweeted: "I kinda love Etsy". He said he bought a "hand knit wool Marvin the Martian helm" for his dog. Reddit's r/WallStreetBets forum grabbed Musk's attention too when he tweeted "Gamestonk!!"

Scooters for delivering orders placed on Yogiyo, the No. 1 food delivery service, are parked in front of its office in Seoul last June. / Yonhap



By Kim Jae-heun



Yogiyo, operated by Delivery Hero, and eBay Korea have drawn attention since they were put up for sale early this year. They have the second largest shares of their markets and acquiring these two brands could instantly elevate buyers to the top rank or at least in a position to pose a threat to the No. 1 player in the market.



However, there seem to be no potential buyers jumping at the chance to acquire either. Their ambiguous positions in the market is the biggest reason.



No one can be certain how much longer Yogiyo will manage to retain its No. 2 position as No. 3 player Coupang Eats is in hot pursuit. Yogiyo accounts for a 19-percent market share and Coupang Eats 5 percent. There is still a gap, but not in the posh Gangnam district of southern Seoul where demand for Coupang Eats' service has reportedly surpassed that of market leader Baedal Minjok (Baemin) operated by Woowa Brothers.



Many feel it is only a matter of time before Coupang Eats takes over the No. 1 spot, backed by massive investments from its parent company Coupang. At present, coupang Eats only delivers in Seoul. But its market share is likely to soar when it starts delivering food in other parts of the country.



Yogiyo has also failed to offer differentiated services in the market and is currently losing many of its users to Coupang Eats. This has halved Yogiyo's enterprise value from 2 trillion won to 1 trillion won.



"Coupang is preparing for an initial public offering in the United States and if the listing is successful, it is very likely that it will engage in a money game in the food delivery market like it is doing in the e-commerce scene," an industry source said.



At the same time, Yogiyo's market share gap with Baemin is too big. Baemin has a 78 percent share of the market and is just too far ahead for Yogiyo to catch up. As a former owner of Yogiyo, Berlin-based Delivery Hero knows all the business secrets of the food delivery company and the German firm will share it with Woowa Brothers to make sure Yogiyo does not catch up with Baemin.



The situation for eBay Korea is quite the same. Although it is the only e-commerce firm that is running a profit at the moment, its two rivals  Coupang and Naver  dominate the market.



Coupang owns the largest number and size of distribution centers in the country and not only runs an open market business as a third party, but also sells its own products as a dealer. Coupang's overnight delivery service is the biggest advantage that guarantees its position as the top online retailer.



Naver is also running an open market business and signed a memorandum of understanding with CJ Logistics last year to beef up its e-commerce sector. Naver's advantage lies in its information technology skills that can be used in the live commerce business, which is a future growth driver.



eBay Korea's market share of 14 percent is nothing to laugh at. But potential buyers question how long its users will remain loyal. Customers appear to favor the ability to compare the prices of products on Naver before purchases, instead of shopping on G-Market or Auction, operated by eBay Korea, which do not offer many options to choose better prices.




Nairobi  Former Cabinet Minister Simeon Nyachae who passed on Monday will be laid to rest in a private ceremony on February 15 at his Nyosia home in Kisii County.

A funeral program released by the family on Wednesday indicated a public funeral service is set to take place on the same day at Nyanturago stadium, in Nyaribari Chache constituency.

There will also be another funeral service which will be held at the Nairobi Central SDA Church -Maxwell, on February 11 starting at 10 am, for family and friends who are in Nairobi.

The late Nyachae has been mourned by Kenyan leaders as a dedicated public servant, with President Kenyatta describing him as an icon for Kenya's progress through the years.

In his condolence message, President Kenyatta said the independence era provincial administrator will be remembered for a successful transition from public service to the world of business and politics.

Nyachae, who served in the governments of founding Presidents Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki will be remembered for reforms in various sectors when he served in its portfolios.

His longest tenure as a minister was during Moi's administration which he joined after leaving a provincial administrator post following President Kenyatta's death.

Kenya's third president Mwai Kibaki in his condolence message said Nyachae was a "sure-footed bureaucrat who served three presidents with distinction."

Nyachae's adeptness as an enterepreneur, Kibaki said, was as remarkable as his fortitude, President Kenyatta said.

Deputy President William Ruto said the late Nyachae was a "progressive, selfless and steadfast leader who was genuinely passionate about public service, politics and uniting people in a common cause."

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga mourned Nyachae saying: "The Abagusii community has lost one of its most illustrious sons. May He Rest In Eternal Peace."

Nyachae was also mourned by Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi.
The global consulting firm McKinsey & Company agreed to pay nearly $600 million for its role in advising businesses on how to sell more prescription opioid painkillers amid a nationwide overdose crisis.

FILE - This Feb. 19, 2013, file photo shows OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. The global business consulting firm McKinsey & Company has agreed to a $573 million settlement over its role in the opioid crisis, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. An announcement is expected Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

The global consulting firm McKinsey & Company agreed to pay nearly $600 million for its role in advising businesses on how to sell more prescription opioid painkillers amid a nationwide overdose crisis.

We deeply regret that we did not adequately acknowledge the tragic consequences of the epidemic unfolding in our communities," McKinsey Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader said in a statement Thursday, noting the company co-operated with investigations. With this agreement, we hope to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis in the U.S.

Most of the money is in a $573 million settlement reached with 47 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories, but the company said it had deals with a total of 49 states. Washington's attorney general announced a separate $13.5 million deal and West Virginia announced a $10 million settlement with the New York-based company.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said the state went with their own lawsuit to avoid the potential of only receiving a measly settlement tied to the population of the state, one of the hardest hit by overdoses. He said he aimed to work with state lawmakers to direct the money toward addiction recovery.

The only remaining state that has not announced a deal with the company is Nevada, where the attorney general's office said it is continuing an investigation of McKinsey and speaking with the company about its concerns.

Most of the payments will come within the next two months under the multistate agreement. The payments are earmarked for abating the raging overdose and addiction crisis that has deepened during the coronavirus pandemic. Opioids, which include prescription drugs and illegal substances such as heroin and illicit fentanyl, have been linked to more than 470,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000.

Even though no amount of money can bring back the lives lost, I hope our settlement provides funding for programs to help those battling opioid addiction," Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement Thursday.

McKinsey's role in the opioid crisis came into focus in recent months in legal documents that were made public as part of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's efforts to settle claims against it through bankruptcy court. They showed the company long worked with Purdue to boost sales even as the extent of the opioid epidemic became clear.

Some documents showed it was trying to supercharge flagging OxyContin sales in 2013. Its efforts over the years included encouraging Purdue sales representatives to focus on doctors who already prescribed high volumes of OxyContin and to try to move patients to more potent doses of the drug.

On a video call with journalists Thursday, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said that McKinsey worked for Purdue for 15 years.

McKinseys efforts worked. The number of pills prescribed, Purdues profits and McKinsey's fees all skyrocketed, said Stein, whose state stands to receive nearly $19 million in the settlement. But so did the number of overdoses.

Stein said the settlement funds could go toward addiction treatment in health care settings, as well as in jails, plus programs like needle exchanges aimed at reducing the harm of drug use.

In a statement, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said that McKinsey would pay out more than it made advising companies on opioid sales.

"We are continuing to deliver on our promise to hold accountable the corporations and executives whose bad acts contributed to the opioid epidemic that has brought so much despair to our communities, he said.

Under the multistate deal, McKinsey agreed to make public all its communications with Purdue plus those dealing with the opioid businesses of the pharmaceutical companies Endo, Johnson & Johnson and Mallinckrodt.

The company, which announced two years ago that it would not advise clients on opioid-related businesses, said it has terminated two of its partners for communicating about deleting documents. It also said it has hired a new general counsel with a deep background in ethics and boost professional standards training for its employees.

Sneader, the McKinsey managing partner, said in a letter Thursday to the company's employees that the company should use this settlement to address its practices in other areas, too.

Todays focus is on opioids, he wrote, but we have also faced other issues that have made clear the importance of improving how we act everywhere that we operate.

In a statement, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser praised McKinsey for settling quickly.

They are the first company to work with the states to fix the problem rather than deny their conduct and engage in protracted litigation or delay, he said. Their approach provides a model for other companies to follow to focus our energy on fixing the problem rather than making excuses or blaming others.

While McKinsey emerged as a target of opioid investigations recently, there have been thousands of lawsuits filed by government entities against companies that make and distribute prescription drugs. Some of those could go to trial this year.

Other settlements have happened or are in the works, including with Purdue, which is attempting to settle with state and local governments after reaching a deal last year to plead guilty to federal criminal charges and settle a civil case. Separately, members of the Sackler family, who own the company, agreed to pay $225 million in a civil settlement, but admitted no wrongdoing.

Another settlement has long been in the works involving the largest U.S. drug distribution companies and Johnson & Johnson. On the call Thursday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra called them collectively the opioid machine.

It's not the last deal and it's not the biggest of the settlements and actions that we as a collective of states will take, he said.

This story has been updated to correct that McKinsey has hired a new general counsel, not that it plans to.

Associated Press writers Cuneyt Dil in Charleston, West Virginia, and Michelle Price in Las Vegas contribute to this article.

Follow Mulvihill at http://www.twitter.com/geoffmulvihill.
A Kildare nursing home is continuing to battle a Covid infection which has resulted in the deaths of nine residents.

The Irish Times yesterday reported that the outbreak had also led to an additional 31 residents becoming infected in addition to 40 cases among staff.

Beech Park Nursing Home, which is located on the Rathangan road outside Kildare town told The Irish Times that many of the infected residents were out of isolation and 11 staff were back at work. Five residents and staff are still being treated in hospital and 28 residents remain Covid positive.

In a statement, it said: It is, however, with deep sadness that we confirm the deaths of nine of our residents as a result of having contracted Covid-19 over this tragic period. A further three residents and two members of staff remain in hospital."

We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who have died, and our thoughts and prayers are very much with them and those still receiving hospital treatment at this time.

The nursing home said it was continually in contact with the residents' families and staff members affected by the virus. It's understood additional senior management and staff had been deployed to manage the outbreak.
AIADMK goes to police against non-members using its flag, Sasikala''s return to TN on Feb 8

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Chennai, Feb 4: Signalling a tough stand against expelled leader V K Sasikala, the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Thursday said it has petitioned the state police chief to restrain non-members of the party from using its flag, days after she travelled in a car fitted with it in Bengaluru.

The petition has been submitted ahead of the return of Sasikala, confidante of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, after a gap of four years on completion of her jail term in Bengaluru in a corruption case.

Incidentally, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary T T V Dhinakaran said Sasikala, confidante of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and his aunt, would return to the state next Monday, instead of earlier schedule of Sunday.

Speaking to reporters here, AIADMK deputy coordinator K P Munusamy said the ''main reason'' for the petition was due to the use of the party''s flag by Sasikala in Bengaluru on Sunday after her discharge from a hospital where she was treated for COVID-19.

Sasikala to return on Feb 7, Dhinakaran sees changes in TN ahead of arrival

The plea was submitted to restrain non-members from using the AIADMK flag, the senior leader said adding Sasikala was not a member of his party and she had no moral right to use the flag. It is seen as a move to ensure that the AIADMK flag was not used by Sasikala or her associates in the AMMK when she returned to Tamil Nadu.

The AIADMK flag was mounted on the bonnet of a car she travelled following her recent discharge from the hospital in the Karnataka capital after recovery from COVID-19. Sasikala was set free on January 27 following completion of a four year prison sentence in a corruption case. The ruling party had then itself questioned the propriety of Sasikala''s action when she had been ousted from the party.

Dhinakaran had defended the use of the AIADMK flag, saying Sasikala continued to be the general secretary of the party and litigation relating to her "so-called expulsion" and connected matters were pending before the court. Sasikala was expelled from the party in September, 2017 along with Dhinakaran and others by the general council of the combined AIADMK under the leadership of Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam after the two merged their respective factions.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said on Thursday Faisal Maina, son of Abdulrasheed Maina, former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reformed Task Team (PRTT), has fled to the United States (U.S).

EFCCs prosecuting counsel, Mohammed Abubakar, said this at the Federal High Court in Abuja where the younger Maina is being prosecuted on three counts of money laundering.

Mr Abubakar said EFCC got information that Faisal sneaked to the U.S through the Republic of Niger.

Earlier on Thursday, the trial judge, Okon Abang, ordered Faisals surety, Sani Dan-Galadima, who is a member of the House of Representatives to forfeit a property used as a bail bond.

Mr Dan-Galadima who represents Kaura-Namoda Federal Constituency of Zamfara, had entered into a N60million bail bond on behalf of Faisal.

Maina tried to flee to U.S

Mr Maina himself is also being prosecuted for separate charges of money laundering at the court.

He jumped bail last year but was rearrested in Niger Republic.

Opposing a fresh bail application filed by Mr Maina, the EFCC had told the court that Mr Maina, with multiple citizenship, was trying to obtain a fresh passport with which to flee to the U.S when he was arrested in Niger Republic.
Emily Mieure covers criminal justice and emergency news. She also leads the News&Guides investigative efforts. She has reported for WDRB TV in Louisville, Ky., WFIE TV in Evansville, Ind., and WEIU TV in Charleston, Ill.


Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks to villagers who are participating in festive activities, and extends his New Year's greetings to people of all ethnic groups across the country, on a public square of Huawu Village, Xinren Miao Township of Qianxi County, Bijie, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Feb. 3, 2021. Xi on Wednesday inspected southwest China's Guizhou Province ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

GUIYANG, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Wednesday inspected southwest China's Guizhou Province ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Xi went to Qianxi County in the city of Bijie, where he inspected the ecological environment of a major tributary of Wujiang River.

He also visited a village in an ethnic Miao township. On the village's public square, Xi talked to villagers who were participating in festive activities, and extended his New Year's greetings to people of all ethnic groups across the country.

The Spring Festival falls on Feb. 12 this year.



Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks to villagers who are participating in festive activities, and extends his New Year's greetings to people of all ethnic groups across the country, on a public square of Huawu Village, Xinren Miao Township of Qianxi County, Bijie, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Feb. 3, 2021. Xi on Wednesday inspected southwest China's Guizhou Province ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)
General Assignment Reporter

Chris Mays is a general assignment reporter for the Brattleboro Reformer. He has been with New England Newspapers Inc. since 2012.
The Union Budget 2021 seems to have brought the infrastructure back to investors' focus as the stocks from this space have been witnessing traction since February 1.

On the Budget day on February 1, the S&P BSE India Infrastructure Index jumped almost 6 percent; on the following day, it logged a gain of nearly 3 percent.

On February 3, the index rose about 3 percent in intraday trade to hit its 52-week high level of 204.5.

In her Union Budget 2021 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a National Bank for Financing Development (NaBFID) to help in the process of infrastructure financing in the country.

Besides, a sharp increase of 34.5 percent YoY in budgeted estimates towards CAPEX spending from Rs 4.12 lakh crore to Rs 5.54 lakh crore for 202122 is also a big positive for the sector.

"The intent, it seems, is clearly to propel growth within our spluttering economy by unleashing the Capex cycle and leveraging the multiplier effect of investing into the infrastructure sector," said Sandeep Upadhyay  MD  Infrastructure Advisory, Centrum Capital.

"The staggering increase in allocations to railways, roads, and urban infrastructure segments beats the market expectations. Both NHAI and PGCIL are highly rated and very relevant platforms to monetise assets through the InVIT model which could be a trendsetter for others to churn their investments."

Rohit Gadia, CIO, CapitalVia Global Research pointed out with the announcement of Rs 5.5 lakh crore of capital expenditure and new highway connectivity projects (nearly 7,700 km), the infra sector along with the allied sectors are in focus.

"This Budget is positive for the entire engineering and construction space. It will not only create better connectivity but will add to job creation. Increased consumption and infrastructure spending would have a positive impact on collateral sectors like tourism and hospitality. Better connectivity would be of great help to logistic service providers also," he said.

Stocks to focus

Analysts point out that the move is positive for companies that deal in the construction sector as it would lead to higher road awarding and construction.

Not only construction, but cement manufacturers will also be a top beneficiary of the government's focus on the infrastructure sector.

"Major investment in roads and highways, healthcare infra, affordable housing and construction of new metro lines will spur demand for cement which will benefit all cement companies particularly who are operating in South and East India as major highways construction are planned in these two regions," said brokerage firm Axis Securities.

"Government to award 8,500 km of road work by next financial year. This will also benefit all infra companies simultaneously," the brokerage firm added.

Below are 20 stocks from the construction and cement space that may benefit from the Budget 2021 announcements.

Top infra stocks: Larsen & Toubro, KNR Constructions, NCC, GMR Infra, PNC Infra, Sadbhav Engineering, REC, HG Infra Engineering, Anubhav Infrastructure and MEP Infrastructure Developers.

Top cement stocks: UltraTechCement, Shree Cements, ACC, Ambuja Cements, Ramco Cements, India Cements, J. K. Cement, HeidelbergCement India, Star Cement and JK Lakshmi Cement.

The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
NBC's Saturday Night Live returned for its first show of 2021, where, during its Weekend Update segment, there was a sketch skewering Fran Lebowitz (played by Bowen Yang) and Martin Scorsese (played by Kyle Mooney).

The real Lebowitz and Scorsese are featured in the new Netflix series Pretend It's a City, where the writer expounds on several topics with Scorsese.

While speaking with Andy Cohen on his Radio Andy Sirius XM show, Lebowitz explained why she has no desire to watch the sketch at all.

Sketch: NBC's Saturday Night Live returned for its first show of 2021, where, during its Weekend Update segment, there was a sketch skewering Fran Lebowitz (played by Bowen Yang) and Martin Scorsese (played by Kyle Mooney)

No desire: While speaking with Andy Cohen on his Radio Andy Sirius XM show, Lebowitz explained why she has no desire to watch the sketch at all

The sketch largely skewered Scorsese for seemingly cracking up hysterically at every one of Lebowitz's jokes in the Netflix series.

Cohen mentioned that you know you've made it 'big' when SNL skewers you, and asked Lebowitz if she had seen the sketch.

'I did not see it. I didn't know anything about it,' she said, adding she shut her phone off to go to sleep, only to wake up the next morning to several messages.

Skewers: The sketch largely skewered Scorsese for seemingly cracking up hysterically at every one of Lebowitz's jokes in the Netflix series

'I went into the kitchen where theres my answering machine, a device, which you may have to describe to your listeners,' she joked of the antiquated device.

'There were messages on it, and I thought something horrible happened, someone died, you know? And so I got these messages. But no, I didnt see, I have no way of seeing it, and that's OK,' she added.

Lebowitz mentions in the interview that she doesn't have a cell phone, computer, or even internet access in her New York City apartment.

Antiquated: 'I went into the kitchen where theres my answering machine, a device, which you may have to describe to your listeners,' she joked of the antiquated device

When asked if she has any 'curiosity' about the sketch, she said she does not, for one simple reason.

'I generally dont like to watch myself and this has always been true, even when I looked a lot better,' she began.

'I dont like to watch myself. I dont like to hear my voice. I would never watch myself on television when I know Im on television,' she added.

Sketch curiosity: When asked if she has any 'curiosity' about the sketch, she said she does not, for one simple reason

She explained that, when people ask why she doesn't like to watch herself, she replied, Well, I know what I said, and I dont want to watch it.'

'Im trying to guess if I had known it was going to be on, would I have watched it? I probably would not have, but I would have at least known it was going to be on. So I really knew nothing about this,' Lenowitz clarified.

She added that SNL, 'certainly didnt alert me that this was going to be on,' and that she was 'surprised by it.'

Known: 'Im trying to guess if I had known it was going to be on, would I have watched it? I probably would not have, but I would have at least known it was going to be on. So I really knew nothing about this,' Lenowitz clarified
The Hardest Word is an independent podcast from Brett de Hoedt. The concept is simple but compelling; every week de Hoedt invites listeners to apologise on air, and has hosted apologies big and small on the show since 2019.

The series has seen some incredible moments, from the simple and heartfelt apology of a mother who admits to having a favourite child, to a remarkable apology from a Kigali man who refused to save a neighbour during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. That episode earned the show a bronze at last years Australian Podcast Awards.

Brett de Hoedt hosts The Hardest Word.

Every now and again some guy in Melbourne working out of his home office on no budget can find the kind of story This American Life would kill for, says de Hoedt.

Anyone who comes on a podcast to apologise is taking a real punt, exposing themselves. Theres a lot of trust there. I try to respect that and pay back that trust.
California is running short of inmates who have for decades fought the state's wildfires, as the state braces for the possibility of yet another drought and a summer of catastrophic infernos. So it may go on a firefighter hiring spree this year.

In a budget proposal, the administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking for $143 million to fund the full- and part-time positions of 617 state employees who would make up 30 new "hand crews" to fight wildfires. The crews use digging tools and chainsaws to cut fire breaks around communities and thin overgrown forests during the offseason.

The administration requested an additional $124 million for the program over the next five years.

"At the same time that losses from wildfires continue to set new records every year, Cal Fire has seen a decrease in the number of fire crews available to respond to these emergencies," the proposal reads.

"Additionally, this decrease has resulted in a fewer number of crews available to perform critical fuel reduction work around communities and vegetation management projects for forest health."
BOSTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Public relations professionals have used media and press kits for many years to advise the media of pertinent info about businesses of all sizes. Although these two kinds of kits customarily vary in widespread use  with media kits offering general information on organizations and press kits more explicitly focusing on companies' new products, services, or events  the use of these kits has slowly blended into one function. Companies now require press materials to exist solely in a digital format, reducing paper use and costs.

Hampton Bates Media kit will give you the opportunity to present yourself as you want to be seen. Tell Your Story to the Media and the World! The Hampton Bates Media Kit is a premium custom aspirational branding and marketing tool that promotes and informs the media and the public about your business and services.

The move from printed PR materials to digital files has helped unlock the door to creating a custom online package worth producing, with an investment of money and energy. A digital media kit can include exclusive essential features that were previously more challenging to share with the media and the public.

So, Why Do You Need a Hampton Bates Media Kit?

Our media kit has many benefits that set it apart from your website or any other marketing tools.

It Gives You Fantastic Control of Your Messaging. If you don't provide info about your company, journalists and clients will develop their own assumptions. Your media kit allows you to present yourself as you wish to be seen.

It Saves You Time. When you take on new clients, they will likely have loads of questions about your products or services. Rather than spending hours answering questions, present all your company information through your media kit.

It Helps You Promote a Product Launch or Event. If you're launching a new product or hosting an event, our media kit is necessary. The information needed to write an article will be there with just a click when you send the media kit to the press.

It Helps You Reach More Customers. Perhaps the most important reason to have a media kit is to reach new customers. Your media kit's information can attract attention from potential customers who wouldn't otherwise know about your business.

It Increases Client Confidence. Thorough information in a media kit gives customers confidence that you're experienced and that you know how to take care of them.

Grow Your Business with Our Custom Media Kit

So now you can see why you need a Hampton Bates Media Kit. To see samples (they are all one-of-a-kind, not from templates) and learn more about our Custom Kit, visit hamptonbatesmedia.com .

Hampton Bates Media is the Publishing Division of Hampton Bates Public Relations. We provide world-class marketing, public relations and business consulting services to an elite list of clients who value our exceptional ideasand the talented individuals who produce them. We tailor our services to meet our clients' business needs and budgets. We work with every type and size of the business, from startups to multinational corporations. We are the spark that can ignite your business. hamptonbatesmedia.com

Media Contact:

Hampton Bates Public Relations

Sylvia Hampton

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SOURCE Hampton Bates Public Relations

The smell that lingers over the Thumbs dairy farms could soon be used as a source of power for the area.

Michael Meissner, the head of the Huron County board of commissioners agencies committee, said the Raleigh, North Carolina-based Bioenergy Systems LLC would be willing to invest $50 million in installing eight to 10 anaerobic digesters in the Upper Thumb to convert dairy cow manure into natural gas.

Meissner spoke with a company spokesperson who said they are interested in having digesters on dairy farms that have at least 2,500 cows milking per day. They expressed an interest not just in Huron County, but Tuscola and Sanilac counties too.

A meeting was held to gauge farmers' interest, with Meissner saying the interest among the farmers who attended was there.

Meissner noted that Bioenergy Systems has investments out in California along with 200 digesters set up in the Netherlands.

How anaerobic digestion works, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, is that microorganisms break down organic materials in a closed space without oxygen, with biogases like methane produced in this process.

The leftover material from this process is called digestate, which is rich in nutrients and can be used as fertilizer.

The manure would only lose about 1% of its nutrients, so its still good for use as fertilizer, Meissner said.

The methane gas produced from anaerobic digestion would then be sold to Consumers Energy and be put into the local gas pipelines for use as a natural gas.

Commissioner Steve Vaughan was previously contacted by the same company over the past summer about this project, but plans did not work out at that time. The responsibility was passed onto Meissner as the agencies' chairman for 2021.

Commissioner John Bodis said there was a previous attempt to install anaerobic digesters in the Thumb, but the people behind that effort wanted the county to make an investment for that. This new effort will require no cost from the county or the farmers, except for supplying the power to run them.

Meissner said that the company would have to a six-month study of the interested farmers since they each handle their manure differently.

They have to sit down and establish a rate with each farmer, then the farmer has to decide if it's worth it, Meissner said. Theyre not going to do it if its not profitable.
TWIN CITIES, Minn., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ellie Family Services recently announced the launch of its new specialized therapy program for individuals feeling stressed and who are ready to take control of their emotions. Ellie Express is an eight-week therapy program designed for highly motivated individuals who want a short-term investment for long-term results. The program was built for folks who are struggling with a new onset of daily stress, anxiety, or depression, even though they may have never experienced those feelings before. Sometimes, those emotions are triggered by a recent life stressor like changing jobs, moving to a new city, or starting school. Or, those emotions may be triggered by living during a time of overall stress (pandemic, anyone?).

Ellie Family Services

Ellie Express is an eight-week program that includes a diagnostic assessment session, a treatment planning session, and sixteen 40-minute Ellie Express sessions. Ellie Express therapists follow a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy curriculum designed in-house at Ellie Family Services. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a treatment form that focuses on challenging unhelpful thinking patterns, identifying how our thoughts impact our emotions and behavior, developing coping strategies, and improving emotion regulation. Ellie Family Services has added a unique twist to traditional CBT work through Ellie Express, and their curriculum is infused with humor and authenticity, two of the organization's core values.

Each program participant receives an Ellie Express workbook that helps guide them through their work with their therapist as well as their homework between sessions. The program is structured and includes daily therapeutic exercises to support the development of healthy coping skills, building emotion regulation strategies, and practicing mindfulness.

Ellie Express is different than traditional therapy in that it packs an intense amount of therapeutic content and skill building into a short period of time. Sometimes traditional talk therapy may be brief and only last a handful of months; other times it's long-term and can last a handful of years. Ellie Express is time limited and focused on delivering high therapeutic value for individuals who are motivated to work hard on improving their well-being and feel better quickly.

Erin Pash, Ellie Family Services co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, says, "Ellie Express is your fast track to sustained wellness. If you spent the last year feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, and you're ready to jumpstart your journey to wellness, Ellie Express is the program for you. We're excited to offer this program that helps fill a gap in the mental health industry. There are programs that offer intensive services for individuals experiencing crisis or high acuity of mental health needs. But short-term, intensive programs for highly motivated, stressed out people are few and far between. Ellie Express offers a structured way to give these folks the boost they need to feel confident and capable in managing their stress."

Through structured therapy sessions and intentional skill practice, Ellie Express participants finish the program feeling more in control of their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. They are better able to manage their stress, and they gain a plethora of coping mechanisms. At the end of eight weeks, Ellie Express graduates have the confidence and skills they need to move beyond life's obstacles and find joy in the chaos. With the coping skills and emotion regulation strategies they learn, Ellie Express graduates are better able to navigate future life stressors and challenging experiences.

More information about the Ellie Express program is available now. Check out the link below to learn more!

www.ellieexpress.com

Ellie Family Services is a millennial-made and owned mental health agency that is rapidly expanding across the state of Minnesota and driven by creative problem solving to "change the field of mental health." Ellie Family Services' espoused goal is to "fill the gaps" in mental health care by using innovative thinking to reduce barriers in accessing mental health services. For more information about Ellie Family Services, visit www.elliefamilyservices.com

Media Contact:

Kyle Keller

[email protected]

651-313-8080

SOURCE Ellie Family Services
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Indias Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked the countrys Supreme Court to clarify its previous ruling on the timeframe for the payment of dues derived from AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue).

In its last ruling relating to AGR payments, the Supreme Court had set 31st March 2021  the end of the fiscal year - as the deadline for operators to pay the first 10% of their dues, with the remainder to be paid in equal instalments annually up to 31st March 2031.

However, The Economic Times reports that some of the operators  including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi)  claim that they have already paid a first instalment larger than the required 10%, and are therefore under no obligation to pay any more before the current fiscal year is out.

However, the DoT has countered this argument by claiming that the Supreme Court factored in payments already made by the operators prior to its ruling  in which case the companies would still have to pay 10% of their arrears before the next financial year.

Indias longstanding clashes over AGR  which is used to calculate licence fees  go all the way back to 1999, but the saga appeared to be finally over in October 2019 after the Supreme Court approved the DoTs move to widen the definition of AGR to include revenue from sources other than telecoms.

However, as noted by CommsUpdate, the Supreme Courts rulings - or lack thereof - on the matter have frequently caused confusion, with catastrophic consequences. The court typically rejected requests for clarification on specific aspects - such as whether AGR dues should also be paid by state-owned providers or companies that own infrastructure but do not provide services  which led to such firms receiving AGR demands for billions of rupees. It wasnt until June 2020 that the Supreme Court finally conceded that such companies should have been exempt from the initial ruling.

In addition, even the companies that are legitimately required to pay AGR dues are in the dark about the actual amount owed, as the sums originally ordered by the Supreme Court were reached using calculations that the DoT has now admitted were incorrect. Airtel and Vi have both appealed the court ruling.
The U.S. health-care law known as Obamacare spent its first decade dodging a series of existential risks.

By a single vote in the Senate, the law survived a repeal attempt in 2017 pushed by President Donald Trump. Joe Biden's arrival in the White House could blunt any impact of the latest danger -- a case now before the Supreme Court -- and give Obamacare (more formally, the Affordable Care Act) a chance to grow beyond its initial scope. Biden pushed for the law as vice president under President Barack Obama.

1. How much of Obamacare survived under Trump?

Most of it, including tax subsidies to help people afford coverage and, in 39 states (including the District of Columbia), expanded eligibility for Medicaid, the U.S. health insurance program for low-income Americans. Key Obamacare consumer protections that also remain in place allow children to stay on a parent's policy until age 26, require insurance companies to treat people with preexisting conditions equally and prohibit the imposition of annual or lifetime coverage limits.

2. How many Americans are covered because of Obamacare?

Roughly 20 million. About two-thirds of them joined Medicaid as a result of the expanded eligibility. The rest found coverage by comparison-shopping among private insurers at government-run online marketplaces, where policies include subsidies for people who make as much as 400% of the federal poverty level. (The expanded version of Medicaid enrolls people earning up to 138% of the poverty line.) Even with Obamacare in place, 28.9 million Americans lacked coverage in 2019, two million more than in 2016, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The U.S. is an outlier among developed countries by not having universal health coverage.

3. Which parts have been eliminated?

Obamacare originally required all states to participate in the expanded Medicaid program; the Supreme Court, in a 2012 split ruling that upheld most of the law, struck down the requirement. The law as written also required all Americans to buy health insurance -- the so-called individual mandate -- at risk of a tax penalty. The Trump administration whittled away at Obamacare with executive actions, including one that cut funding for so-called navigator programs that help sign people up. A tax overhaul passed by Republicans and signed by Trump in 2017 eliminated the penalty for noncompliance, rendering the mandate moot and paving the way for the broader constitutional challenge to the law now before the Supreme Court.

4. What is that case about?

Republican-controlled states say that when Congress voided the penalty for not having insurance, all of Obamacare was rendered unconstitutional. The Trump administration sided with those states. The Supreme Court heard arguments shortly after Trump's third court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, took her seat as an associate justice. While Republicans were banking on the Court's 6-3 conservative majority, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh signaled during the November oral arguments they are inclined to uphold the bulk of the law even if individual mandate is struck down. A ruling is likely by June.

5. What happens if Obamacare is struck down?

If the ruling were to be put into effect immediately, it would rescind coverage for millions of Americans as well as undo consumer protections and regulations that have reshaped the business models for insurers, drug companies, hospitals and doctors, all during a pandemic that's prompted 485,000 Americans to sign up for Obamacare after losing health-care coverage from their employer. The court, as part of any ruling against Obamacare, could also issue a stay to give the Biden administration a chance to respond. Or Congress, now in Democratic hands by the slimmest margin, could try to forestall the ruling by restoring a nominal tax for the mandate, or passing a law specifying that the loss of the mandate should not bring down the rest of the law.

6. If Obamacare survives, what does Biden want to do with it?

He campaigned on a pledge to expand the program by offering a government-provided alternative to private insurance that's known as a public option, a proposal he's called "Bidencare." It would be available to all Americans, including those who get their insurance through work. Low-income Americans would be automatically enrolled and, if eligible, their premiums would be free. Biden's plan also envisions expanding Obamacare tax credits to try making premiums more affordable for middle-income households. His plan set him apart from the progressive wing of the Democratic party, which has pushed the idea of achieving universal coverage by scrapping private insurance and replacing it with "Medicare for All."

7. What has Biden done already?

An executive order he issued will create a special enrollment period for plans sold in the federal Healthcare.gov market from Feb. 15 to May 15, offering a path to health care for people who find themselves without insurance coverage after losing their jobs. The order also directs agencies to look for ways to strengthen Medicaid, the federal health program for low-income people, and Obamacare more broadly. He could also take other administrative actions, like restoring funding for navigators and reversing Trump administration guidance letting states waive certain Obamacare rules.

8. Is Obamacare viable for the long term in its current state?

Some economists worry about a "death spiral" of rising costs in the absence of a mechanism, like the individual mandate, that forces healthy Americans to get covered, since healthier people buying coverage keeps costs down for sick people. That's one issue. Another is the limited coverage options available to Americans in rural and remote parts of the country. And in the mostly Republican-led states where elected leaders have declined to expand Medicaid eligibility, many residents fall in a coverage gap, earning just enough income that they don't qualify for subsidies.

9. Do Americans want Obamacare to stay or go?

U.S. public opinion of the law was mostly negative from its passage in March 2010 until Trump became president and sought to repeal it, according to tracking surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The threat of elimination - which failed when the late Senator John McCain of Arizona gave a memorable thumbs down in an early morning vote -- put a spotlight on popular provisions of the law, notably its prohibition on insurers charging sick people more for coverage and its list of "essential health benefits," like hospitalization and maternity care, that must be covered. Kaiser's tracking survey found in October that 55% of Americans viewed the law favorably, while 37% viewed it unfavorably.
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CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ettain group, a leading provider of talent solutions, announced today that it has acquired INT Technologies ("INT").

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Charlotte, NC, ettain group has grown to employ nearly 5,000 professionals nationwide with twenty-one offices located in twenty key markets, and a strategic focus on Technology, Digital, Healthcare IT, Professional, and Government solutions. Since 2019, ettain has been a portfolio company of Alvarez & Marsal Capital ("A&M Capital").

INT is the nation's largest certified Veteran-Owned Staffing and Consulting Company. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Mesa, AZ, with teams stationed nationwide, INT provides customer-focused, technology staffing for a wide variety of clients.

The acquisition will further strengthen ettain group's strategic accounts program and geographic footprint. INT's client-centric approach, high degree of integrity, talented team, and closely aligned solutions are strong complements to ettain group's vision to deliver an unparalleled level of quality and service.

"We are excited to join forces with such a highly respected team," said Trent Beekman, Chief Executive Officer of ettain group. "INT brings deep and long-term relationships and a reputation for providing outstanding customer support. The joining of our teams will allow ettain group to continue to lead the industry as a respected and reliable partner and to provide unparalleled service to our customers."

About ettain group

ettain group is the Talent Solutions Company that delivers Recruitment Solutions and Managed Solutions in 5 practice areas: Technology, Healthcare IT, Digital, Professional, and Government. From discovery to execution, we help our clients successfully design, develop, and deliver critical technology and business initiatives, from providing individual resources, to staffing and managing programs and projects, to running entire recruitment processes. Founded in 1996, with nearly 5,000 employees and consultants currently at work, we offer opportunities across North America, with 21 offices located in 20 key markets. We are a proud recipient of ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Diamond Award for both Client and Talent Satisfaction for 10 consecutive years, an honor achieved by less than 1% of our industry. For more information, visit www.ettaingroup.com.

About Alvarez & Marsal Capital

Alvarez & Marsal Capital is a multi-strategy private equity investment firm with over $3 billion in assets under management across four funds and three investment strategies. The firm is led by a highly experienced investment team, which is augmented by a strategic association with Alvarez & Marsal ("A&M"), one of the largest operationally-focused advisory firms in the world. A&M Capital combines a focus on middle-market private equity investing, with deep operational expertise, industry knowledge and global corporate relationships, making A&M Capital an attractive partner to management teams and business owners. A&M Capital is headquartered in Greenwich, CT with offices in Manhattan Beach, CA and London, England. For more information, visit www.a-mcapital.com.

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The Northern Ireland Protocol is not going to be scrapped, the Irish Government said (David Young/PA)

The Northern Ireland Protocol is not going to be scrapped, the Irish Government has said.

Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster says the measure designed to keep the Irish land border open should be replaced, but Dublin is focused on easing problems with the post-Brexit trade deal which have caused disruption at Irish Sea ports.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said: We need to be truthful with everybody  the protocol is not going to be scrapped.

He said ministers want to be helpful and flexibilities are possible but the problems are a consequence of the UKs Brexit negotiating stance.

Mr Coveney told the BBCs Radio Ulster: There is not going to be very dramatic change.

Physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, which are required under the protocol, have been suspended amid threats and intimidation of staff.

Police have insisted there is no evidence that loyalist paramilitaries are involved in the campaign, instead blaming disgruntled individuals and small groups.

Expand Close Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said the protocol is not going to be scrapped (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said the protocol is not going to be scrapped (Niall Carson/PA)

UK Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove and European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic held a virtual meeting with Mrs Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill on Wednesday evening, and further discussions are to take place next week between the UK and the EU.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein president Mary-Lou McDonald said teething problems need to be ironed out, telling BBC Radio 4: We do not need melodrama.

Mr Coveney advocated a pragmatic approach to solving problems around the protocol and recognised there were genuine issues.

He said: We want the protocol to function in a way that works for everyone, north and south, on the island of Ireland.

Mr Coveney said the protocol is a result of Brexit and followed two years of negotiation, adding that options were narrowed significantly in mitigating the impact of Brexit on the island of Ireland.

He said: The EU wanted to share a single market and customs union and that was turned down.

Boris Johnson has warned he is ready to override elements of the Brexit divorce settlement relating to Northern Ireland to prevent a trade barrier developing in the Irish Sea.

Expand Close DUP MP Ian Paisley said the Northern Ireland Protocol has betrayed his constituents (House of Commons/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp DUP MP Ian Paisley said the Northern Ireland Protocol has betrayed his constituents (House of Commons/PA)

In the Commons, the DUP MP Ian Paisley told the Prime Minister that the protocol has betrayed his constituents, making them feel like foreigners in our country.

European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic is due to travel to the UK for talks next week amid a deepening row between London and Brussels.

It comes amid growing concern that measures in the Withdrawal Agreement intended to keep open the land border with the Republic are disrupting trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

The UK has requested an extension of grace periods of light touch regulation to allow the smooth flow of some trade.

European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said: The grace periods were always meant to be of a temporary nature and subject to strict conditions for their application.

This was decided, of course, also in the context of discussions with the United Kingdom at the time.

A fraught situation was further exacerbated last week when the Commission briefly used Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to close the border to exports of the coronavirus vaccine from the Republic.

Mr Coveney said it is unrealistic to expect the protocol to be scrapped.

Expand Close First Minister Arlene Foster said the protocol is fundamentally flawed (Liam McBurney/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp First Minister Arlene Foster said the protocol is fundamentally flawed (Liam McBurney/PA)

Mrs Foster said: He is completely tone deaf to the concerns of unionism and he claimed to support the Belfast Agreement but the balance in the Belfast Agreement does not seem to matter.

Just carry on regardless of the fact that there is not one unionist politician in Northern Ireland that supports the protocol, but what about it, we will just continue on.

She told Radio Ulster: We were told for years that majoritarianism did not work in Northern Ireland but it appears that majoritarianism is back and if we do not like it we just have to suck it up.

She said the protocol is fundamentally flawed and that extending grace periods on trade represents sticking-plaster solutions.

These are not teething problems, she said.

People need to get their heads out of the sand and get their fingers out of their ears and actually listen to what people in Northern Ireland are having to deal with.

Ms McDonald said some negative consequences of Brexit could not be mitigated.

She added: The first thing that needs to happen now is we need cool heads, we need calm, mature leadership, those teething problems that do exist need to be identified and need to be ironed out.

Those who championed Brexit and are crying salty tears now because of the consequences of Brexit need to accept that those are consequences of their decisions, their actions, and to not point the finger at others.

Ms ONeill told RTE they needed to find pragmatic and constructive solutions to the protocol.

The DUP needed to dial down its rhetoric and avoid whipping up tensions, she added.

I just think we need to give it some time.

And thats where our whole efforts need to be focused, as opposed to whipping up tensions which weve seen over the course of recent days.
[February 04, 2021] CommerceIQ Closes 2nd Year of Triple-Digit Growth Fueled by Growth of Amazon Advertising

CommerceIQ, a leader in Ecommerce Channel Optimization, today announced it has achieved two consecutive years of triple-digit revenue growth with 2.6x year-over-year revenue increase in 2020, and appointed a new VP of Customer Success & Professional Services, Jonathan Young, to its leadership team. Young's appointment strengthens CommerceIQ's team of executive business and technology leaders including Prasun Kumar as VP of Engineering, former Microsoft (News - Alert) and Amazon exec, Piyush Lumba, as COO and Guru Hariharan as CEO, a 15+ year ecommerce visionary and AI expert who is credited with building out Amazon's automated 3P vendor management system and eBay's (News - Alert) massively scalable shipping and returns system. Throughout 2020, CommerceIQ experienced unprecedented demand for its integrated sales, advertising and supply chain automation solution and new Advertising Managed Service, contributing to a year of strong growth and earning the trust of both new and recurring customers including Duracell, Georgia Pacific, Henkel, Nature's Bounty Co., Nestle USA and Spectrum (News - Alert) Brands. Today, CommerceIQ is the solution of choice for consumer brands used to manage over $6B in Amazon gross sales and $100M+ in ad spend. "With Amazon Advertising expected to hit $26B in revenue this year, consumer brands are doubling down on ecommerce advertising and trying to master this increasingly important channel for engaging with consumers," said Jonathan Young. "Having worked on both the agency side at Kantar and brand side at Nestle and Colgate Palmolive gave me an appreciation for the struggles our customers face. CommerceIQ's focus on improving share of voice through search and our ecommerce operating system approach of balancing advertising with supply chain and sales is a powerful solution for driving incremental growth and I'm excited to share that model with my advertising peers across the industry." The addition of Jonathan Young enables CommerceIQ to scale its Advertising Managed Service offering and meet increasing demad for the platform. Young joins the company after a 7-year career at Kantar, where he filled roles in eCommerce Insights and Consulting before taking over as Executive Vice President of North America Retail Technology services. He also brings deep insight from the manufacturer perspective, having served as a brand manager for both Nestle and Colgate Palmolive.



"In the fast-moving world of ecommerce, we consider CommerceIQ a 'domain expert' from both a strategy and execution perspective with best in class machine learning technology and service offerings to deliver on all of the promises they make," said Don Brett, Chief Digital Officer at NBG Home. "CommerceIQ's ecommerce channel optimization approach has become the operating system we rely on to manage all of the moving parts and intricacies of our ecommerce business." The success of CommerceIQ caps a year of significant milestones for the company, including:

Rapid adoption of the newly launched CommerceIQ Advertising Managed Service for full-funnel advertising optimization on Amazon, with a unique focus on using advertising to drive share of voice (SOV). The service connects advertising data, strategies and execution with key ecommerce growth levers-including inventory, incremental sales, share of voice, promotions, pricing and content. In 2020, CommerceIQ was also inducted into the Amazon Advertising Partner Network.

Consumer Goods Technology "2020 Visionaries" award acknowledgement of three CommerceIQ customers - Georgia Pacific, Johnson & Johnson and Spectrum Brands, based in part on their use of CommerceIQ to manage their ecommerce operations.

Record-breaking attendance to CommerceIQ's Ecommerce Revenue Automation and Ecommerce Channel Optimization summits, drawing hundreds of top consumer brand attendees and guest speakers such as Avery Products, Ferrara and Mars Wrigley.

The rapid response launch of Growth Navigator, a fully managed Amazon support service to help consumer brands manage heightened short-term demand for products due to Covid-19 panic buying while planning for long-term growth. More than 30 global brands participated in the company's Growth Navigator program. "2020 was a strong year of growth for ecommerce, the health of our business, the brands we serve and their responsiveness to customers," said Guru Hariharan, CEO of CommerceIQ. "As we enter 2021, with the addition of Jonathan we have the leadership team in place and a set of innovations that will empower brands to fully embrace CommerceIQ's ecommerce operating system model to master ecommerce sales, supply chain and advertising. We remain relentlessly committed to helping our customers better serve their consumers on Amazon, Walmart, Instacart and even more marketplaces this year." About CommerceIQ CommerceIQ is the leader in Ecommerce Channel Optimization (ECO), the practice of using machine learning, analytics and automations to optimize the ecommerce channel across supply chain, marketing and sales operations to win at the moment of purchase and drive profitable market share growth. CommerceIQ has been adopted by leading consumer brands accounting for billions of dollars in ecommerce sales and marketing spend, including Avery Products, Georgia-Pacific, Spectrum Brands and 3 of the top-5 Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Companies in the U.S. These brands rely on CommerceIQ's machine-based commerce technology and business processes, which are purpose-built to tune ecommerce algorithms, collaborate and share data-driven insights in real-time in response to changing variables across hundreds of products on leading retail sites. Using CommerceIQ as a single source of truth, customers have driven 40% increase in incremental sales, 20% improvement in profitability and 32% reduction in out of stock rates on Amazon. For more information, please visit CommerceIQ. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005305/en/

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Furniture retailer Nick Scali is facing fresh political heat after hiking its dividend by 60 per cent and rewarding executives despite claiming $3.5 million in JobKeeper payments.

The ASX-listed firm, known for its range of leather lounges, told investors on Thursday its sales for the six months to the end of December had risen 24.4 per cent to $171.1 million and its underlying net profit surged 99.5 per cent to $40.5 million.

COVID-boom: Nick Scali managing director Anthony Scali has reported a bumper profit. Credit:Ben Rushton

The profit surge means the company will pay shareholders a 40 cent per share interim dividend, up 60 per cent from the prior half. About $4.4 million, or 13 per cent, of the payout will go to managing director and majority shareholder Anthony Scali.

The company has been a notable JobKeeper recipient, pocketing $3.9 million in COVID-19 wage subsidies for the 2020 financial year and receiving a further $3.8 million in COVID support for the December half as it claimed JobKeeper payments and some New Zealand subsidies up until September.
A Cambridge-educated teacher has avoided jail after he was caught trying to meet under-age schoolgirls online following the break up of his marriage.

Paul Anderson, 41, was unmasked during a sting operation by a paedophile hunters group.

He had offered to travel 220miles from his home in Paisley, Scotland, to Manchester to meet one of the youngsters saying he wanted to 'kiss and buy underwear for her'.

The law graduate, who got a Masters' at Cambridge and was studying a PhD at LSE, had earlier sent messages to Cobra UK investigators posing as girls aged 14 and 12.

Under the name 'Married Teacher' on Chat Hour, he asked one if she would have sex with him, saying he would 'take it slowly' and told another he wanted to 'snuggle up' with her in a hotel.

The investigators planned to confront Anderson in a sting operation but he was arrested at home.

Paul Anderson, 41, was unmasked during a sting operation by a paedophile hunters group. At Bolton Crown Court (file photo), Anderson pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child but was freed with an eight-month jail sentence suspended for two years

He said he had been surfing dating websites for a new girlfriend after the collapse of his 19-year marriage when he unwittingly came across the bogus online profiles.

At Bolton Crown Court, Anderson pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child but was freed with an eight-month jail sentence suspended for two years.

The court heard the probe began in October 2019 after an undercover investigator set up a fake online profile under the identity of a girl of 12 called 'Bekki.'

Miss Nicola Gatto prosecuting said: 'Miss Duffield has experience of acting as a decoy.

'Her general principal is that no member of her group makes contact with any individual first or encourage a response and that the individual communicating with the decoy is left in no doubt as regards the age of the child.

'The decoy was later approached by this defendant using the name: ''married teacher''.

He sent her a friend request and called himself 'James.' She accepted and he told her he was 40 and she said in response: 'are you ok speaking with me - I'm 12'.

He told her he was fine with that and that all he wanted was some dirty chat and maybe to meet up.

Miss Gatto said Anderson sent pictures of himself whilst he was sexually aroused.

She added: 'He asked her about school and then told her he wanted to sneak into her room whilst she was watching a film, go under the covers and cuddle up.

'He asked her if she wanted to have sex with him and he was happy to take it slow until they got to know each other.'

The law graduate, who got a Masters' at Cambridge (file photo) and was studying a PhD at LSE, had earlier sent messages to Cobra UK investigators posing as girls aged 14 and 12

The court heard on the same day Anderson began communicating with another investigator from the Cobra group posing as a girl of 14 called 'Leah James'.

Miss Gatto went on: 'She made it clear she was 14 but he said he was fine with that and the conversation then took a more sexual turn.

'He said her school clothes would look better on her bedroom floor and that they could lie in bed naked together and snuggle up in a hotel.

'He said he wanted to get his hands on her. She said she had never had sex but he said he would teach her and gave her access to her private pictures.

'He later arranged to meet the decoy in Manchester saying he would take her shopping for underwear so she could model it for him and also so they could meet up and kiss.'

She added: 'This is a man who has had safeguarding training in the context of being a teacher.'

The illicit messages were referred to another paedophile hunter group who planned a confrontation but no meeting took place and he was arrested later at home.

Anderson gave no comment in police interview.

The court heard a report on the teacher said he disclosed to the author how he became 'aroused' by the sexual content and had 'got beyond to the point of caring who he was communicating with'.

In mitigation, defence counsel Neil Ronan said: 'This is a man who was at the end of a very long term relationship with the only woman he had ever been with - some 19 years dating back to when he was a very young man.

'The effect of the break up and the falling apart of this marriage left him confused, alone and bereft of any society he felt was close and meaningful and intimate.

'As is all too regrettably familiar in this day and age, he then found himself chatting to people online.

'He was not targeting children but rather was advertising himself as a teacher wanting a fling and was trying to chat to anyone including adults.

'He was someone who was completely lost as is often the case with this pattern of offending.

'He is an intelligent man with a degree in law from Glasgow University a Masters degree at Cambridge and was studying a PhD at the London School of Economics and is a teacher by vocation.

'There was never any hint of impropriety during his career at a teacher. He was someone who was desperately alone and acting in a way to seek comfort.

'He now wishes to be alone and repair himself. As a consequence of the loss of his job he is now penury and living off the charity of his father.'

Anderson was also ordered to abide by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will have to sign the Sex Offender Register for ten years and complete 30 rehabilitation requirement days.

Judge Timothy Stead said Anderson had a 'valuable form of work which for good reason was no longer available.'

He told him: 'You engaged in sexual internet chat and sent photographs to someone you believed was 12.

'But it is clear you are an intelligent man who will have had a clear understanding of what has happened and what needs to be done by you now to ensure that nothing of this nature ever happens again.'
Google Arts and Culture announced this weekend the launch of the ' The Art & Soul of Mosu l' online project, in collaboration with AlGhad Radio, which aims to preserve Maslawi heritage, including iconic landmarks that faced destruction such as the Noori Complex and the Lion of Mosul, the technology megacompany said.

Revealed on the second anniversary of their 'Return to Mosul Exhibition', the new project is one of a number of similar projects to preserve contemporary culture and ancient heritage of the Middle East.

Using Google's cutting-edge technology, "people can discover the Noori Complex, an icon that unfortunately faced destruction," Google said, adding that "people can also walk through Mosuls Old City using Street View and view 3D models of heritage sites at risk, such as Mosuls first mosque and one of its oldest churches."

"The Art and Soul of Mosul also allows people to immerse themselves in the beauty of Mosulian art through in-painting tours and videos. The project showcases incredible artwork which brings to life the stories of the city and the people, including the lives of women and children during and after the war, including art from the 2018 Return to Mosul exhibition hosted at the Mosul Cultural Museum in Iraq.

Marwan Tariq, one of many artists who participated in the 2018 exhibition, was quoted in the Google's statement as saying; "the message of the workshop to the world is that the city of Mosul, the city of art, is still alive despite the destruction and grinding war that destroyed people and the infrastructure it is full of life and peace."

As part of their mission is to help make the worlds culture accessible to anyone anywhere, Google Arts and Culture joined the celebration of Egyptian Archaeologists Day in mid-January in partnership with the American Research Centre in Egypt, announcing Preserving Egypts Layered History, a similar online project that showcases the depth and diversity of Egyptian cultural heritage.

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[February 03, 2021] eCloudvalley's Bulletproof Data Transformation Method Proven To Uplift Business Success

SINGAPORE, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Winner of the 2020 ASEAN "AWS Consulting Partner of the Year", eCloudvalley, has done it again to provide bulletproof solutions and consultancy services to Red Dot Payment's cloud infrastructure with saving up to 98.23% of their infrastructure cost while effectively creating frameworks to better support Red Dot Payment's online transaction platform. With the world crumbling to its knees due to the pandemic, many companies' capital projects had to be postponed. Operation costs were reduced, businesses had to be more stringent in allocating resources to manage business continuity. "We understand the challenges faced by our customers, which is why we specially curate fully customisable solutions and architecture based on their business requirements and core operations. This is exactly what we did for Red Dot Payment as well." said Samuel Chan, Regional Lead of Data & Analytics in eCloudvalley. Red Dot Payment, a payment gateway service provider that provides premium payment solutions to the brihtest merchants across the Asia Pacific, faced several back-end problems on their platform. There was pressure from slow operating performance in Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) transformation on the platform, leading to reduced transaction speed from the payment gateway to banks and acquirers. This issue directly affected revenue loss from end-users (merchants) because of the inefficient payment process.



eCloudvalley, with over 60+ Data implementation on AWS, built the best suited architecture for Red Dot Payment, reducing 75% processing time of transactional data. "eCloudvalley implements a new data pipeline and improves the process to be more streamlined. We are able to process data at a faster speed. The glue job required 37 minutes to execute in the past, and now it completes in less than 7 minutes." said Daniel Chew, Chief Technical Officer in Red Dot Payment. By leveraging cloud technology to solve business challenges, eCloudvalley aims to be one of the best professional consultant in customers' journey of digital transformation. About eCloudvalley

Founded in 2014 as a born-in-the-cloud partner focused entirely on AWS services, eCloudvalley has grown to 380+ employees with geographic footprints across the APAC region, in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and United States. With a mission to evolve the customer's business with cloud technology, eCloudvalley has built a professional technical team with over 500 AWS certifications and has served 1,000 enterprises to perform any digital transformation. Its core competencies include Cloud Migration, Managed Services Provider, Data Solution, SAP, DB Freedom, Cloud Training, DevOps, Serverless, and Containers. www.ecloudvalley.com SOURCE eCloudvalley

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Coughing coronavirus patients are putting frontline NHS staff at greater risk of catching the virus than first thought, according to a new study.

Researchers found that coughing produces 10 times more infectious 'aerosol' particles compared to speaking or breathing.

There are now calls for healthcare workers, who are already up to four times more likely to contract coronavirus than the general population, to be given FFP3 respirator masks and to improve hospital ventilation.

The infection rates among general hospital staff are almost double those of intensive care unit workers who have access to full PPE.

Some of the frontline health workers who have died with coronavirus during the pandemic

Coughing coronavirus patients are putting frontline NHS staff at greater risk of catching the virus than first thought, according to a new study (stock image)

While employees in other hospital areas, GP surgeries and care homes are given surgical masks which stop the larger virus-carrying droplets, they do not always keep out the aerosol particles.

It was previously assumed that ICU wards were more dangerous as some treatments used to support the breathing of Covid patients, like continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), would generate large quantities of these tiny molecules.

But the latest research led by Dr James Dodd, a consultant senior lecturer in respiratory medicine at North Bristol Lung Centre and the University of Bristol, claims it is the opposite way around.

Dr James Dodd, a consultant senior lecturer in respiratory medicine at North Bristol Lung Centre and the University of Bristol, who led the research

'CPAP is not aerosol-generating - in fact, the aerosols are reduced compared to just normal breathing and speaking,' he told the Guardian.

'However, cough really is a potent generator of aerosols. [The risk] appears to be far greater than what we would have assumed.'

Healthy volunteers were recruited for the study to receive CPAP or high flow nasal oxygen in a well-ventilated operating theatre.

This allowed Dr Dodd and his team to measure the exact aerosols produced without the interference of background particles and measurements were taken when the volunteers spoke, breathed and coughed normally.

And for the first time, the researchers separately measured the aerosol emissions from coronavirus patients.

At least 10 times more aerosol particles were produced while coughing than speaking or breathing. All of these generated more airborne molecules than CPAP and even in cases when the volunteers wore a surgical mask.

The emission of aerosol particles were similar between coronavirus patients and the healthy participants.

The findings from the study, not yet peer-reviewed, have been presented to the National Institute for Health Research's aerosols group which reports to Sage.
Cloud-based IT monitoring company's partner network scales beyond borders to give even more customers unprecedented visibility



SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Feb. 04, 2021, the leading cloud-based IT infrastructure monitoring intelligence and observability platform, today announced its partnership with Fusion Global Business Solutions .

"We are thrilled to add LogicMonitor to our solution portfolio," said John Mohan, CEO of Fusion GBS. "The extraordinary strain organizations are currently experiencing in their IT environments calls for a market-leading platform like LogicMonitor to provide insights and expedite digital transformation. We chose to partner with LogicMonitor because of its robust AIOps functionality, end-to-end visibility, and user-friendly reporting."

Fusion GBS is the first specialized multinational partner within the LogicMonitor Partner Network. As a partner, Fusion will leverage its expertise, along with LogicMonitor's best-in-class monitoring and observability platform, to help organizations automate workflows, improve productivity and gain visibility into all components of their hybrid IT environments. This partnership allows Fusion to further expand in the market for IT hybrid infrastructure monitoring.

"Our partnership with Fusion GBS is the gateway to expanding LogicMonitor's coverage across the globe, ensuring that our innovative platform is a part of Fusion's impressive market coverage," said Sanjay Gupta, Global Vice President of Channels & Alliances. "Fusion is a leading solutions provider with a world-class team who shares our vision of helping organizations optimize their business performance. We look forward to working with Fusion and complementing their unparalleled portfolio of solutions and services with the LogicMonitor platform."

In addition to expanding its geographic partnerships, LogicMonitor launched LM Logs , the company's new cloud-based log intelligence solution. LogicMonitor partners can now harness LM Logs, LogicMonitor's AIOps Early Warning System and a wide variety of other existing capabilities to provide even more valuable business insights to their customers.

For more information about the LogicMonitor Partner Network, please visit www.logicmonitor.com/partners .

About LogicMonitor

Monitoring unlocks new pathways to growth. At LogicMonitor, we expand what's possible for businesses by advancing the technology behind them. LogicMonitor seamlessly monitors infrastructures, empowering companies to focus less on problem-solving and more on evolution. We help customers turn on a complete view in minutes, turn the dial from optimization to innovation and turn the corner from sight to vision. For more information, visit www.logicmonitor.com .

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About Fusion Global Business Solutions

Fusion Global Business Solutions delivers measured outcomes for its customers with AI-powered service management and operations. With its own software and world class vendors like BMC Software and Automation Anywhere, Fusion will help you optimise and automate your workflows, improve productivity and reduce costs. With global offices, Fusion specialises in complex implementations and working in secure environments. For more information, visit www.fusiongbs.com
Dr Dominic Dwyer, a WHO team member, undergoes a blood test on the balcony of a hotel in Wuhan. Photo: Reuters/Aly Song

World Health Organisation investigators have visited a research centre in the Chinese city of Wuhan that has been the subject of speculation about the origins of the coronavirus.

A team member said theyd intended to meet key staff and press them on critical issues.

The WHO teams visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology was a highlight of their mission to gather data and search for clues as to where the virus originated and how it spread.

Were looking forward to meeting with all the key people here and asking all the important questions, zoologist and team member Peter Daszak said.

Reporters followed the team to the high-security facility, but as with past visits, there was little direct access to team members, who have given scant details of their discussions and visits. Uniformed and plainclothes security guards stood watch along the gated front entrance, but there was no sign of the protective suits team members wore during a visit to an animal disease research centre. It wasnt clear what protective gear was worn inside the institute.

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The team left after around three hours.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the experts also held talks with experts from Huazhong Agricultural University.

Virus traceability is a complex scientific issue, and we need to provide sufficient space for experts to conduct scientific research, Mr Wang said. China will continue to co-operate with WHO in an open, transparent and responsible manner and make its contribution to better prevent future risks and protect the lives and health of people in all countries.

Following two weeks in quarantine, the WHO team  which includes experts in veterinary medicine, virology, food safety and epidemiology from 10 nations  has in the past six days visited hospitals, research institutes and a wet market linked to many early cases.

Their visit followed months of negotiations as China seeks to retain tight control over information about the outbreak and the investigation into its origins, in what some have seen as an attempt to avoid blame for any mis-steps in its early response.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology built an archive of genetic information about bat coronaviruses after the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. That has led to unproven allegations that it may have a link to the original outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan in late 2019.

China has strongly denied that possibility and has promoted also unproven theories the virus may have originated elsewhere or even been brought into the country from overseas with imports of frozen seafood tainted with the virus, a notion roundly rejected by international scientists and agencies.

The institutes deputy director is Shi Zhengli, a virologist who worked with Mr Daszak to track down the origins of SARS that originated in China and led to the 2003 outbreak. She has been published widely in academic journals and worked to debunk theories espoused by the former Trump administration that the virus is either a bioweapon or a lab leak from the institute.

Confirmation of the origins of the virus is expected to take years.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Halliburton Company has announced it was awarded a contract from Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) to collaborate on their digital transformation journey through the maintenance and expansion of digital solutions for their North Kuwait asset.

It will allow KOC to accelerate their data-to-decisions cycle by designing and operating digital twins of the field to automate work processes, supported by DecisionSpace 365, a cloud-based subscription service for E&P applications.

Built on an open architecture, DecisionSpace 365 will help KOC engineers model, optimize and deploy intelligent work processes to plan, forecast and optimize production and asset operations.

The open architecture integrates Halliburton and third-party technologies to enhance operational performance and increase ultimate recovery.

Nagaraj Srinivasan, Senior VP (Landmark) at Halliburton Digital Solutions and Consulting, said: "We are excited to collaborate with KOC on their digital transformation initiatives and build on our previous work to increase reservoir recovery and production."

"By using cloud computing, IoT and real-time technologies to drive new ways of working, we can improve production planning, scheduling and enable virtual and autonomous reservoir optimization," he added.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : With general physicians in the UK urging a change in the Covid-19 case definition and test criteria to include common cold, doctors in India said on Thursday that the situation here is now very different, although one should still be watchful despite downwards trend in new novel coronavirus cases in the country.

In an open letter, Alex Sohal, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, supported by 140 east London general practitioners and health care professionals, wrote to the Chief Medical Officer of the UK to include runny nose and cold in Covid-19 test criteria.

"It is vital to now change the UK Covid-19 case definition and test criteria to include coryza and cold, making them consistent with the World Health Organisation (WHO)," Sohal wrote.

"Tell the public, especially those who have to go out to work and their employers, that even those with mild symptoms (not only a cough, high temperature, and a loss of smell or taste) should not go out, prioritising the first five days of self-isolation when they are most likely to be infectious," she added.

But, as per Indian health experts, the scenario may be different in India.

"This letter does not reflect the current Indian scenario of Covid-19 as it was done in the UK where extremely infectious UK strain is causing an increased number of cases daily," Jyoti Mutta, Senior Consultant, Microbiology, Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute, told IANS.

"But we still need to watch our symptoms carefully. In case you experience or develop any flu like symptoms associated with Covid-19, it is best to get tested immediately and self-isolate," Mutta added.

According to Shiba Kalyan Biswal, Consultant, Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine, Narayana Hospital, Gurugram, common cold, running nose and sore throat etc are very common in this current weather.

"Although the possibility of Covid-19 cannot be denied as per the symptoms, but as far as the common cold, running nose, sore throat etc are concerned, these are overlapping symptoms which may be the signs of any major disease or just a minor infection," Biswal said.

In the letter, published by The British Medical Journal, Sohal wrote that as general practitioners, they review patients with mild symptoms -- for example, a runny or blocked nose, sore throat, hoarseness, myalgia, fatigue, and headache -- who subsequently turn out to be Covid-19 positive.

"These symptoms are often inadvertently picked up while dealing with patients' other more pressing health issues. These patients have frequently not even considered that they may have Covid-19 and have not self-isolated in the crucial early days when they were most infectious," Sohal said.

"The national publicity campaign focuses on cough, high temperature, and loss of smell or taste as symptoms to be aware of -- only patients with these symptoms are able to access a Covid-19 test online through the NHS (National Health Service) test booking site. General practitioners have to advise patients to be dishonest to get a Covid-19 test," she added.

Sohal also highlighted that the WHO's case definition of Covid includes other symptoms such as coryza, sore throat, vomiting, and diarrhoea, while NHS guidance states that patients should keep self-isolating for more than ten days if they have a runny nose or sneezing.

In India, the total active caseload for Covid-19 in the country dropped to 1.55 lakh on Thursday. India's present active cases now consist of just 1.44 per cent of the total positive cases.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Officials in The Woodlands have explained the communitys internal policy to not require firefighters or other township employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine as a management decision and not a legal opinion.

As of the end of January, an estimated 40 percent of the townships fire department staff had taken at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Township officials did not mandate that staff take a vaccine and have made it optional for all employees.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Woodlands Fire Department continues COVID vaccination efforts

In response to reader questions about the townships coronavirus policies, Township administrators were asked for a more thorough explanation behind the decision. A public records request also was filed for information on the overall township policy toward the coronavirus and the vaccine efforts.

Lisa Morris, the accounting and public information analyst for The Woodlands Township, said the public records request was being contested by township leaders.

(The Woodlands) will be requesting an Open Records Decision from the (Texas) Attorney Generals Office for information that it believes is exempted from disclosure, Morris said in an email.

Nick Wolda, the communications director for the township, said in an email that while researching the issue of vaccinations for firefighters and township staff, employees working on the task could not find any other local governmental entities mandating their staff take the vaccine.

He also said the townships decision was in no way a legal opinion or interpretation of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines on the aspects of mandatory vaccinations.

The Texas Commission on Fire Protection does not require that firefighters receive the COVID-19 vaccination. The EEOC reference provides guidance to employers; it does not have the power of mandates, Wolda said in an email. We have not heard of any local hospitals that are requiring their employees providing direct patient care to be vaccinated. We are unaware of any surrounding local government first responder agencies or hospitals requiring their employees be vaccinated.

On HoustonChronicle.com: As Conroes first responders vaccinate against COVID-19, some hold out

In a late January interview, the president of the union that represents the 170 employees of the fire department, Erik Secrest, said many firefighters have indicated they did not want to take a COVID-19 vaccine at this time because some believe it is a drug trial in essence and they do not want to be guinea pigs. He also said all fire department staff were offered the option to get an early dose of the vaccine as first responders and he and the union leadership were pleased that the township assisted in making those vaccinations occur.

Wolda said while the township did facilitate getting vaccines to those who were willing to take it, the vaccine was not a requirement.

The Woodlands Fire Fighters have been offered, as first responders, vaccination for COVID-19. This is an individual choice and not a township mandated requirement. There are numerous reasons why people might not take the vaccine. People either choose to receive, decline, or are ineligible for vaccination for a number of reasons.

The fire department has battled the coronavirus since mid-March when it was first discovered in the Houston region, with dozens of fire department staff both testing positive for COVID-19 as well as being quarantined due to possible contact with an infected patient. Secrest has publicly stated that he contracted the virus but recovered with few symptoms, but other firefighters have maintained their health status as private and not revealed any details to the public.

The Woodlands Township is not required to hold records of who has been vaccinated and who has not been vaccinated, Wolda added. To the extent we may have any responsive records which are medical in nature, they would be confidential under health care laws.

jeff.forward@chron.com
Residents complain they are getting no answers from City

Residents of Isipingo transit camp in Durban protested by blocking roads.

Work stopped at the low-cost housing project three weeks ago.

The protesting beneficiaries say they are being ignored by the City.

Residents of Isipingo transit camp, south of Durban, blocked off Mfundi Mngadi Drive (M35) with bags of rubbish and burning tyres on Wednesday morning. The protest was over the Kanku Road low-income housing development project, where work came to a stop three weeks ago.

The intended beneficiaries say the project should have been completed by now. They want the municipality to explain and address the delays.

Community committee member Thami Danisa said they had not wanted to take the issue to the streets, but they have tried to get answers from City officials without success.

"We have sent emails, called and sent texts, but we are not getting any response from the City. All we want to know is why the project was put on hold and for how long," said Danisa.

He said the contractor had given a reasonable explanation for the work stoppage, but "the City must tell us when is the project expected to resume and how are they going to resolve all the issues that are causing the delay".

He said a stormwater pipe that cuts through four homes and the need for a retaining wall were two of the issues.

"The contractor said he cannot bring the material to the site as the road is not tarred ... The road needs to be tarred before the project can continue and that needs more money from the municipality," Danisa said.

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The Kanku Road Housing Project will provide 360 semi-detached double storey units. It was launched in March last year by eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.

Some of the residents have been living at the transit camp for over ten years. Residents say they had hoped that they would start the new year in their new homes.

Ward 90 Councillor Sunil Brijmohan said he thinks some people are using the project to push a political agenda as the local elections loom. "Why less than 100 people were protesting? Because it should have been a lot more than that," he said.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said a crowd of about 50 to 70 people dispersed when police arrived and no case was opened.

City spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said, "The Kanku Road project construction was delayed due to Covid-19 lockdown and restrictions around the health and safety of workers onsite due the pandemic. Nonetheless, construction of services started on 1 June 2020, and are now 90% complete. Securing of all planning, zoning and environmental approvals is well underway, and the township register and formal layout will be lodged by May 2021. Currently, additional funding for retaining walls is being found, and construction of houses will begin once services are complete and building plans have been approved (anticipated March 2021)."

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A lawyer for Limited (FRL) on Thursday told the that Reliance has offered Rs 24,000 crore deal to Future which will take all the liabilities and save the of 25,000 employees. The lawyer argued that all the banks and shareholders of Future are safe through this deal as it put money on the table.

The is hearing the appeal filed by Limited (FRL) against the Court's order passed earlier this week. It had asked FRL to maintain the status quo with respect to its $3.4 billion (about Rs 24,700 crore) deal with Reliance Retail. The court had said it was satisfied that an immediate interim order was required to be passed to protect the rights of e-commerce firm



Reliance will pay future salaries. Reliance will give cash to Future, said Senior Advocate Harish Salve who appeared for FRL, according to law platform Bar & Bench. In today's time when people are looking at this glimmer of light.. you want to kill this company. You have a deal in hand.



In August 2020, the Future group struck a $3.4-billion asset sale deal with RIL. then sent a legal notice to Future, alleging the retailers deal breached an agreement with the American e-commerce firm. In 2019, had acquired a 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons (FCPL), the promoter entity of Future Retail, for about Rs 1,500 crore.



Salve who again likened Amazon to 'East India Company' told the court that Amazons investment in Future is now worth zero because of the pandemic and it may get back some value through the Future-Reliance deal.





ALSO READ: Future Retail, other group stocks continue to fall as investors sell shares

They don't care as long as led Reliance doesnt get the deal, Salve told the court. Even if there is an option of compensation, Salve informed the court that the e-commerce giants real mischief is that they dont care about the investment and employees and it doesnt want its competitor (Ambani) get the shops.



Salve contended that Amazon has a deal with FCPL (Future Coupons Pvt Ltd) and it is their dispute. He argued that FRL has no agreement with Amazon and there is no Arbitration Agreement between the two. He informed the court that FRL can't sign a deal without Amazons permission is being enforced against the company.



Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanium who appeared for Amazon contended that there was an arbitration clause under which were the SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre) Rules. The arbitration clause contemplated SIAC Rules. He referred to the clause on remedies (injunction) available to parties in case of a breach. The SIAC Rules contemplate that an Arbitrator includes an Emergency Arbitrator (EA).



Subramanium informed the court that FRL appeared before EA and the matter was heard at length and detailed order was pronounced on October 25, 2020.



Emergency Arbitrator injuncted FRL and all Respondents. He prima facie held that there was a breach, Subramanium told the court. Order of Arbitrator is deemed to be an order of the court.



The matter is being heard before Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh. The hearing has been adjourned till February 5.


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New Delhi: India on Thursday said that it will continue its humanitarian assistance to Myanmar and is monitoring the situation.

Talking to reporters MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said "India has extended assistance to Myanmar in its fight against Covid-19 by providing medicines, test kits, and vaccines. We remain committed to continuing our humanitarian support for the people in Myanmar in mitigating the health and economic impact of the pandemic."

Despite the military coup, India will continue its assistance and is keeping a close eye.

"India and Myanmar are neighbours with close cultural and people-to-people ties, bolstered by trade, economic, security and defence-related exchanges. We are therefore monitoring developments in that country closely. We are also engaged on the issue as a member of the UN Security Council," he added.

The military is now governing Myanmar and had seized power from National League for Democracy which is led by Aung San Suu Kyi. She is reportedly under house arrest.

Military seized power earlier this week following general elections in which NLD swept the polls. The opposition which enjoys the backing of military cried foul and claimed that there was widespread fraud in elections. Many NLD leaders and party workers are reportedly detained.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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Holcim Mexico launches Holcim Supra range

ICR Newsroom By 04 February 2021

Following years of research at its Center for Technological Innovation for Construction and with international support of LafargeHolcims Innovation Center in Lyon, France, Holcim Mexico has launched a new product range, Holcim Supra.



The new product family is the only smart 3-in-1 technology that, in addition to repelling water, optimises production processes and protects works from environmental agents, keeping them in good condition for longer, says Holcim Mexico.



Holcim Supra is aimed at the self-construction and housing sectors, and provides ease of use on construction sites.



The new Holcim Supra Family of cements are the latest in innovation on the market with their integrated 3-in-1 technology specially developed to protect constructions by reducing the passage of moisture into concrete. In addition to maintaining the attributes of the current Holcim cement and mortar, they contribute to having sustainable constructions by reducing CO2 emissions by up to 13 per cent in the construction process of the work, which makes it an ECO-friendly product mentioned Francisco Shwortshik, commercial director of Holcim Mexico.







Published under
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 11:04:38|Editor: huaxia

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YANGON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's State Administration Council held meetings with union ministers and officials from union-level organizations on Wednesday, state-run media reported on Thursday.

Led by Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, in his capacity of the chair of the State Administration Council, the meeting was attended by members of the council and newly appointed ministers and officials in the capital city of Nay Pyi Taw.

Speaking at the meeting, the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services said that the move of declaration of the State of Emergency on Monday came after the failed request of the military to solve possible voter list fraud in the general elections held in November last year despite the expectation of the military for correct voter lists in accordance with the law.

Min Aung Hlaing explained that the recent appointment of union ministers and officials to the union-level organizations was made on the basis of their experiences and qualifications for further implementation of work during the state of emergency.

The State Administration Council added five more members late Wednesday. The newly-formed council also announced appointments of new union ministers for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Transport and Communications, Commence and Ethnic Affairs.

New ministers were appointed for 11 ministries on Monday while 24 deputy ministers were removed from their posts.

Min Aung Hlaing reaffirmed that the military would not change policies of the country in the sectors of foreign affairs, administration and economy as well as the ongoing political roadmap during the period of the state of emergency.

Myanmar held multi-party general elections on Nov. 8 last year and the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) won the majority of seats in both Houses of the Union Parliament.

The electoral processes were carried out in line with the law, according to the Union Election Commission.

Myanmar declared a one-year state of emergency and the legislative, executive and judicial powers were handed over to the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services on Monday. Enditem
Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2021 4:47 pm

The Washington State Department of Health has charged former Chehalis Fire Department captain Derrick Paul with unprofessional conduct due to his conviction on domestic violence and theft charges in November 2019.

Pauls Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification, first issued in November 1997, is currently inoperable and enforcement action is pending.

Paul, 42, was initially charged with second-degree rape and fourth-degree assault, domestic violence, in March 2019 for allegedly forcing a sexual encounter, despite the victims repeated objections.

Paul eventually pleaded guilty to one count each of fourth-degree assault-domestic violence with sexual motivation, disclosing intimate images and first-degree theft in Lewis County Superior Court on Nov. 8, 2019.

On or about March 13, 2019  I did intentionally assault (the victim) by touching her in a manner that could be considered offensive to a reasonable person with sexual motivation. On or about March 30, 2019  I did disclose an intimate image of (the victim) knowing that the image was to remain private, said Paul in his guilty plea.

Paul also confessed that, between January 2014 and March 2019, he did commit theft of more than $5,000 in property by color or aid of deception.

He was sentenced on Nov. 20, 2019, to 90 days partial confinement  meaning that after 30 days in custody, he was allowed to serve the remaining days out of custody with electronic monitoring  and charged with $34,432.59 in restitution to the city of Chehalis. He was also issued a no-contact order with the victim, effective until Nov. 20, 2024.

The Washington State Department of Health issued an official notice of charges on Dec. 29, 2020 that claims Pauls 2019 convictions constitute unprofessional conduct, specifically referencing the two sections of the agencys code that define unprofessional conduct as the commission of any act involving moral turpitude, dishonesty, or corruption relating to the practice of a persons profession, whether the act constitutes a crime or not, and conviction of any gross misdemeanor or felony relating to the practice of the persons profession.

The notice of charges states that Paul has the opportunity to defend against the charges, and if he fails to do so, then he will be subject to disciplinary action.



This story was updated Feb. 9 to reflect that the victim in the original criminal case did not receive restitution.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue T.D. has welcomed todays decision by the European Commission to allow Ireland the flexibility to set a new reduction period under the Beef Emergency Aid Measure (BEAM).

Minister McConalogue recently wrote to the Commission seeking flexibility to offer farmers the choice of changing the reduction year from the existing period of 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021 to a new period of 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. The new reduction period will only apply to those farmers who opt to apply for the change. Those farmers currently on track to meet the 5% nitrogen reduction targets can use the original reference period ending 30 June.

Commenting on the communication from the Commission, Minister McConalogue said,I welcome the decision by the European Commission to allow Ireland to amend the reduction period under the BEAM scheme for those who require it. As the European Commission is a significant funder of BEAM, it was critical that they were consulted on Irelands proposed change.

This was a key priority of mine since taking office as I understood the challenge some farmers had in meeting the 5% nitrogen reduction element of BEAM.

The option of a new reduction period now gives those farmers who want it a second opportunity to meet the nitrogen reduction requirement of the scheme.

He added, Now that this flexibility has been secured, I will be intensifying our engagement with farm organisations and agricultural consultants to ensure their respective members and clients are fully informed of the requirements of the scheme and the new reduction period. My Department will be writing to all of the scheme participants shortly giving updated nitrogen figures to clearly inform them of what they need to do meet the requirements of the scheme and will also be giving advice on how and when they can opt to change the reduction year.

I was extremely concerned about the outcome facing many farmers under the current reduction period and the Department will be sending out further monthly updates and advice to help them make informed decisions concerning the scheme, Minister McConalogue said.
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The State Security Service (SSS) has again warned against plans by some persons and groups to exploit some fault lines to cause ethno-religious violence in some parts of the country.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Service, Peter Afunanya, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Service had on Jan. 11 issued an alert of plans by some elements working with external forces to incite religious violence across the country.

The alert stipulated that the targeted states were Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Rivers, Oyo, Lagos and those in the South East.

It said the plans was to cause inter-religious conflicts and use their foot soldiers to attack some worship centres, religious leaders, personalities as well as key and vulnerable points.

Mr Afunanya said the latest developments on the alert indicated desperate efforts by these groups to subvert public order.

He said that persons have continued to resort to inciting, unguarded and divisive statements, acts and to pit citizens against one another in order to apparently inflame the embers of tribal and religious discords.

For the umpteenth time, the Service strongly warns these elements to desist forthwith from their (planned) nefarious acts or face the full wraths of the law.

The DSS will, in collaboration with other security and law enforcement agencies, take necessary steps to ensure the safety of lives and property of the citizenry, he said.

(NAN)

Francesca Paris covers North Adams for The Berkshire Eagle. A California native and Williams College alumna, she has worked at NPR in Washington, D.C. and WBUR in Boston, as a news reporter, producer and editor. Find her on Twitter at @fparises.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 00:33:50|Editor: huaxia

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MOGADISHU, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Somalia and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Thursday appealed to the international community for additional resources to intensify operations against desert locusts.

In a joint statement issued in Mogadishu following a day-long meeting in the city, the participants said Somalia is experiencing a devastating locust upsurge, especially in the southern states where swarms have migrated and destroyed crops.

"The delegation has issued an urgent appeal and call to action to the international donor community for additional resources to continue crucial operations and address the increasing needs and vulnerabilities of affected communities," it said.

The meeting which brought together ministry of agriculture and irrigations and member states' ministers requested for rapid scale-up of response to the ongoing locust threat to mitigate the potentially devastating impact on farmers, pastoralists, and agro-pastoralists in the affected areas.

"Funding is needed to increase control efforts over the coming months, with sustained efforts needed in northern and central Somalia as we monitor the development of potential new swarms," FAO said.

The meeting highlighted the need to continue ongoing surveillance and control operations in Puntland, Galmudug, and Somaliland whilst boosting the capacity of southern states of HirShabelle, Southwest and Jubaland to combat the threat.

The participants acknowledged the need to amplify efforts in the coming weeks and months, to mitigate damage in food security and livelihoods in Somalia due to desert locust infestation. Enditem
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III convened the military chiefs and civilian secretaries of the armed forces on Wednesday to begin intensifying the Pentagons efforts to combat white supremacy and right-wing extremism in the ranks.

Mr. Austin also ordered that all military commands stand down at some point in the next 60 days to reinforce existing regulations barring extremist activity in the military, and to ask troops for their views on the scope and severity of the issue, the Pentagon press secretary, John F. Kirby, told reporters. He said many details of the stand down  a pause in operations that the military often uses to address safety issues  need to be worked out.

This is very much a leadership issue, down to the lowest level, Mr. Kirby said, citing what Mr. Austin, a former four-star Army general, had told the Pentagon leaders on a video call.

In the days since a pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, senior leaders of the 2.1 million active-duty and reserve troops have been grappling with the reality that several current or former military personnel joined the rioters.
The journey to net-zero emissions will have a cost for everyone, and policymakers should clearly explain this to consumers, Totals chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanne told CNBCs Steve Sedgwick at the Baker Hughes 2021 annual meeting this week.

What I am expecting from the government is not only to set the policies but also for them to take the responsibility and to explain to the citizens and the consumers that this journey will have a cost for everybody, Pouyanne said at a panel during the meeting.

The energy transition will need governments and other policymakers to set some policies in order to go carbon neutral, the chief executive of the French supermajor said.

Policymakers shouldnt forget about the affordability of this energy transition, as reaching net-zero is not black and white, Pouyanne said.

The group he leads, Total, has pledged to reach net-zero emissions across the companys worldwide operations by 2050 or sooner, and net-zero emissions across all its production and energy products used by its customers in Europe by 2050 or sooner, which includes Scope 3 emissions.

The European Unions (EU) carbon neutrality target for 2050 is a very ambitious goal and obviously will have an impact on the cost of energy in Europe, Pouyanne said during the Baker Hughes 2021 annual meeting.



Related: Is This The Key To Cheaper Solar Power?

Governments, therefore, need to clearly explain to consumers what would be the cost of the energy transition, according to Totals CEO.

Total has acquired the largest renewable energy portfolio among European oil supermajors since Big Oil started announcing last year net-zero targets and pledging significantly increased investments in renewables, Bloomberg data showed last month.

Separately, the French oil and gas supermajor said in January that it would not renew its membership in the American Petroleum Institute (API) for 2021 due to divergences with the main U.S. oil lobby over climate policies.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
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Today

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
By Gwynne Dyer





They were planning to put on a play written by an artificial intelligence program in Prague this month, to mark the invention of robots (or at least the idea of robots) in the same city exactly one hundred years ago. COVID-19 got in the way of that, and it will now only be available free online late next month. Kind of symbolic, really: the future is quite different than they expected.



Josef Capek's play, "Rossum's Universal Robots" (RUR), was an instant hit in 1921. The imaginary 'robots' (a Czech word meaning serfs or slave laborers) were developed to spare human beings hard work on assembly lines and death on battlefields, but in the end they rebelled and wiped out the human race.



The play was on Broadway by 1922, starring a young Spencer Tracy, and it was in London's West End the following year. By 1938 it was the first science-fiction drama ever broadcast on TV, live on the BBC.



Whereas in the real world of a century later, robots still can't even dance. The Capek brothers' vision (it was Karel who came up with the name) hasn't come true except in the movies.



It was the humanoid fallacy. In more recent movies human-seeming robots are even tragic figures, like Arnold Schwarzenegger's version of the Terminator, or Roy Batty, the android anti-hero of "Blade Runner," reminiscing sadly as he dies...



"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."



Great stuff, but robot arms and self-driving vehicles don't talk like that. Those are the real robots, and generally they don't talk at all. And obviously they don't wipe out the human race. Just the jobs.



Automation 1.0 replaced most of the workers on assembly lines with machines that didn't make Monday-morning mistakes, didn't join trade unions and didn't even have to be paid. The factories are mostly still there, churning out goods, but the well-paid jobs are largely gone and the big industrial cities are decaying into rust belts.



Automation 2.0 is mostly online, and it's focused on retail. The department stores were mostly gone even before COVID-19 and the smaller shops are going now, swallowed up by Amazon and its many smaller rivals.



At least this time some new jobs are being created as well: minimum-wage, zero-hours jobs, mostly in warehouses, distribution centers and delivery services. The proportion of the population who are classed as working poor is growing in every developed country, with political radicalization the predictable result, so far mostly to the right.



Automation 3.0 is almost here, and the new targets this time will be managerial and professional jobs  not all of them, of course, but whole layers of middle management in business and lesser-skilled positions in medicine, law, accountancy and allied trades. Killer algorithms are rampaging through the community, and there's not a Robocop in sight.



In fact, this pattern is familiar to those who have studied the history of the original Industrial Revolution in England. The goods  shoes, tools, woven and knitted clothing  that were produced by independent and skilled craftsmen and women with reasonable incomes in 1750 were being made in factories by low-skilled wage slaves with almost no bargaining power by 1850.



Three generations after that, trade unions and the welfare state began to narrow the yawning gap between the rich and the rest again, and the latter half of the 20th century was the best time in a long time for ordinary people in most places. Now human skills are once more being usurped by machines and the gaps are opening up again.



We are not doomed to simply recapitulate the past. Knowing what worked and what didn't last time could help us to avoid the worst outcomes this time. That's why we are hearing a lot about basic income and expansions of the welfare state to ease the transition this time. But there's not much actually happening  and we're not even at 'true' AI yet.



We call anything AI that can do machine-learning, but so far it's just creating pseudo-cognitive skills in single, quite narrow domains. The kind of broad-spectrum intelligence human beings have (or even dolphins, chimpanzees and crows) is not yet available in any machine, nor is the Singularity about to sweep us all away into irrelevance next week.



Real AI will arrive in some form in the not-too-distant future, but predicting its social and political impact is hard. As hard as it would have been for the Capek brothers and their audience to foresee in 1921 what robotics would really mean for people in 2021.





Gwynne Dyer (gwynne763121476@aol.com) has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years. He is the author of "Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work)."





DGAP-News: Linde plc / Key word(s): Miscellaneous

Linde and Hyosung Partner to Develop Hydrogen Infrastructure in South Korea



04.02.2021 / 10:00

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Linde and Hyosung Partner to Develop Hydrogen Infrastructure in South Korea



Guildford, UK, February 4, 2021 - Linde (NYSE: LIN; FWB: LIN) announced today that it has partnered with Hyosung Corporation (Hyosung), one of South Korea's largest industrial conglomerates, to build, own and operate extensive new liquid hydrogen infrastructure in South Korea. This robust hydrogen network will support the country's ambitious decarbonization agenda to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

On behalf of the joint venture, Linde will build and operate Asia's largest liquid hydrogen facility. With a capacity of over 30 tons per day, this facility will process enough hydrogen to fuel 100,000 cars and save up to 130,000 tons of carbon dioxide tailpipe emissions each year. Based in Ulsan, the plants will use Linde's proprietary hydrogen liquefaction technology which is currently used to produce approximately half of the world's liquid hydrogen. The first phase of the project is expected to start operations in 2023.

Under the partnership, Linde will sell and distribute the liquid hydrogen produced at Ulsan to the growing mobility market in South Korea. To enable this, the joint venture will build, own and operate a nationwide network of hydrogen refueling stations.

"Hydrogen has emerged as a key enabler of the global energy transition to meet the decarbonization goals set out in the Paris Agreement," said B.S. Sung, President of Linde Korea. "The South Korean government has set ambitious targets for hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles and the widespread, reliable availability of liquid hydrogen will be instrumental to achieving these targets. We are excited to partner with Hyosung to develop the hydrogen supply chain in South Korea."

"Our partnership with Linde is a cornerstone of the development of South Korea's national hydrogen economy and will advance the entire liquid hydrogen value chain across the country, from production and distribution to sales and services," said Cho Hyun-Joon, Chairman of Hyosung Group. "We look forward to working with Linde to further reinforce and strengthen Hyosung as a leader in the global hydrogen energy transition."

Linde is a global leader in the production, processing, storage and distribution of hydrogen. It has the largest liquid hydrogen capacity and distribution system in the world. The company also operates the world's first high-purity hydrogen storage cavern, coupled with an unrivaled pipeline network of approximately 1,000 kilometers to reliably supply its customers. Linde is at the forefront in the transition to clean hydrogen and has installed close to 200 hydrogen fueling stations and 80 hydrogen electrolysis plants worldwide. The company offers the latest electrolysis technology through its joint venture ITM Linde Electrolysis GmbH.



About Linde

Linde is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company with 2019 sales of $28 billion (25 billion). We live our mission of making our world more productive every day by providing high-quality solutions, technologies and services which are making our customers more successful and helping to sustain and protect our planet.

The company serves a variety of end markets including chemicals & refining, food & beverage, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing and primary metals. Linde's industrial gases are used in countless applications, from life-saving oxygen for hospitals to high-purity & specialty gases for electronics manufacturing, hydrogen for clean fuels and much more. Linde also delivers state-of-the-art gas processing solutions to support customer expansion, efficiency improvements and emissions reductions.

For more information about the company and its products and services, please visit www.linde.com.
Chronically ill patients using the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) are unable to use the cover after the fund imposed a more costly requirement for upfront payment of premiums.

Lately, patients seeking minor and major surgeries, diagnostic tests, chemotherapy and radiotherapy services have been forced to pay two-year premiums in advance as a pre-condition for the national insurer to foot their bills.

Those unable to meet this condition have been turned away by the State insurer, forcing them to make out-of-pocket payments despite having an active medical cover.

Not defaulted

Interestingly, all the patients the Nation spoke to had not defaulted in paying the required premium of Sh500 for non-employed Kenyans, meaning that their NHIF covers were active.

Ms Margaret Waweru is one such patient who, despite being a long time contributor to NHIF, has recently faced challenges accessing treatment.

Since she was diagnosed with breast cancer 24 years ago, Ms Waweru has been undergoing frequent treatments.

"Initially when I sought treatment in India and came back NHIF refunded me Sh70,000 of the Sh1.2million I had spent. They have also been settling three-quarters of the amount I spend on chemotherapy and drugs," said Ms Waweru.

Rude shock

That was until Saturday last week when she got a rude shock after the insurer asked her to pay premiums covering until 2022 if she was to use the cover.

"I put in my request as usual but I got a response that it was declined. On enquiring, someone from NHIF Monday told me that I need to top up my premiums to cover up to 2022 which we did. The person then told us to go back to the doctor and get another pre-authorisation request," she explained.

As of Tuesday afternoon she was still unsure whether the medical insurer was going to cover her seventh cycle of chemotherapy slated for Thursday.

Should they fail to cover, Ms Waweru, who does not have any other insurance cover, is left with only one choice: to go for chemotherapy but stop taking her daily drugs until such a time she's able to buy them.

"As a sick person, when you get a declined approval from the cover you solely depend on, you start worrying," she said.

For Jacinta Wakanyi, when the fund prematurely stopped paying, she had to default on her treatment.

Ms Wakanyi is among women with a rare form of early stage breast cancer medically known as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (or HER2+).

Sh100,000 per dose

To treat her, she requires injections of the drugs, which the NHIF has been paying for, at Sh100,000 per dose.

To complete the treatment, she needs to have at least Sh1.8 million to acquire the recommended 18 doses. But the Fund only covered the first four shots.

"They stopped paying after the fourth cycle. I wrote to appeal and plead with them but my requests fell on deaf ears," she said.

Without money to pay for the remaining 14 injections, Jacinta defaulted on medication in 2019. Last year, the disease came back more aggressively and she had to start the jabs a fresh.

Meanwhile, Dr Lillian Mbau, needed to get her grandmother to undergo a CT scan.

Pay advance premium

Like the other patients, she too had an up-to-date cover but when they got to the imaging centre where the scan was to be taken, they were asked to pay the advance premium.

"That was coming to Sh12,000 and when I compared it to the cost of the scan vis-a-vis what the insurance would pay even after updating the cover, it made more sense to pay for the scan," Dr Mbau said.

In 2019, NHIF denied forcing patients to pay premiums in advance, saying it only "advises" them to do so to reduce the risk of defaulting.

"Informal sector members who pay Sh500 per month are usually encouraged to pay for three, six months or even full year to avoid defaulting, which then would block them from accessing benefits at the hour of need. There is no policy to pay in advance," said the then CEO Nicodemus Odongo.

No response from NHIF

Wednesday, the fund had not responded to the Nation's enquiry by the time of going to press despite acknowledging receipt of our email.

CEO Peter Kamunyo also acknowledged receiving a text message from this writer, but did not respond to the questions posed.

"Thank you for reaching out, will give you a concise response," read his SMS feedback.

Mr David Makumi, the chairman of the Kenya Network of Cancer Organisations (Kenco) said although there have been rising complaints of the regulation, nothing has been shared in writing.

"Why are they punishing patients with upfront premiums and why didn't they communicate it. At first I thought it was a one-off situation but many patients and caregivers have come up and it's now turning into a systemic problem," Makumi said.

NHIF is a State-supported health insurer into which all formally employed workers are supposed to contribute as a way of subsidising insurance coverage for the poor.

Contribution revenue

According to its website, total contribution revenue has increased from Sh3.1 billion in 2006/07 to around Sh55 billion in 2019/2020.

Kenya continues to bear the biggest burden of non-communicable diseases and significant costs of treatment which is seeing more households pushed into poverty.

According to the Institute of Economic Affairs, for every Sh100 that a Kenyan spends on health, Sh28 is out of their pocket.

Ms Sarah Igobwa, a peasant farmer whose ailing parents were denied treatment despite having active NHIF cover, is among those paying out of pocket.

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The first was Ms Igobwa's father who needed surgery for hernia.

"My siblings used to pay for his cover one year in advance without defaulting but when we went to hospital, we were told we needed to pay for an extra year if NHIF was to cater for the bills," she narrated.

It was the same story with her mother who has cancer. For five years, she had been getting her medication using NHIF at Kakamega General Hospital.

"One day we went to the hospital as usual but we were asked to top up the cover premiums. Since then, we have been buying mom's medicines out-of-pocket."

Financial burden

Out-of-pocket payments are spending on health made directly by households which introduce financial burden or risk to the household, by eating into household budgets.

"In our support group, many women have stopped paying that Sh500. After all, if it's not going to cover you when you need it, then why pay for it in the first place," asked Ms Igobwa.

Kenya's out-of-pocket ratio was found to be above the average of the five select countries (Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and Rwanda) by 4.1 per cent.

"In the advent of increased non-communicable diseases such as cancer that require long time treatment, reduction of the out-of-pocket payments is key in sustaining affordability and access to healthcare services," says the IEA in its 2020 analysis.
After 35 years as an oral surgeon, Dr. Arthur Wilk closed his practice in Clinton following daunting challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Darien, Dr. Cecile Windels sold her pediatric practice to a hospital health system after enduring significant income losses.

They are among thousands of physicians and other health care professionals across the country who have made coronavirus-prompted career changes such as closing practices, joining larger health systems or retiring early. The reasons for the moves vary, from declines in income due to fewer inpatient visits to increased operational costs for personal protective equipment and fears of contracting the coronavirus.

Health care advocates say the changes will exacerbate physician shortages, further erode the existence of private practices, decrease patient choice of doctors and obstruct continuity of patient care. A January report in Health Affairs, a peer-reviewed journal of health policy research, said: Consolidation tends to lead to higher prices without strong evidence of quality improvements.

The national trends are definitely happening in Connecticut, said Dr. Gregory Shangold, president of the Connecticut State Medical Society. It will be more challenging for state residents to access high-quality care when physician shortages already exist, particularly in underserved, low-income areas, he said.

A national Physicians Foundation survey last July found that the pandemic prompted the closing of more than 16,000 practices, 76 percent in private practice. The closings represented 8 percent of respondents. Another 8,000 closings were planned within a year. In addition, 72 percent of respondent doctors said their income dropped, 43 percent cut staff, and 16 percent had changed jobs or planned to within a year.

Ellen Andrews, executive director of the nonprofit Connecticut Health Policy Project, said fewer providers treating more people means less time in a doctors office, higher prices and potential poor fits between patients and doctors because of such issues as language differences and transportation.

Andrews said that since mental health needs are skyrocketing during the pandemic, she is concerned about access to appropriate care.

With your surgeon, you dont care if hes a nice guy or not, she said. With mental health providers, you really do need a connection.

Shangold heads a Willimantic-based emergency medicine practice that contracts with hospitals. He said he already sees people in emergency rooms for care typically provided by primary care doctors and specialists. They cant get one, he said.

Based on phone calls from physicians to the Fairfield County and Hartford County medical associations, there has been a very definite uptick in the number of retirements and the number of physicians who have sold practices and work for someone else,said Mark Thompson, their executive director. He said doctors have been seeking advice about how to close a practice and how to establish the monetary value of a practice. He would not provide statistics.

In dentistry, the American Dental Association reported 72.7 percent of Connecticut dentists with lower patient volumes since the start of the pandemic, according to a survey conducted the week of Jan. 18. This was the fifth-highest in the country. Nationally, 56.2 percent of dentists reported lower patient visits.

Connecticut dentists considering selling or merging their practices likely will wait until after the pandemic because lower patient volume and reduced income hurt practices values, said Dr. Tam Le, president of the Connecticut State Dental Association.

For Wilk, who is 65, the pandemic struck from multiple fronts. His daughters said that they wouldnt let him see his grandchildren if he kept seeing patients. Many patients didnt want to go into the office. His surgical assistant couldnt work because her childs school closed. His other employee worried about contracting the coronavirus.

Basically, we had a family meeting. It was mutually decided that it was not worth it, Wilk said.

After closing in March, when elective surgeries were prohibited, Wilk reopened in June for patients who had been having ongoing treatment to make sure they were squared away, he said. He sent a letter to patients announcing his decision and made referrals to other surgeons.

Windels, the Darien pediatrician, said that when COVID-19 hit, her patient load dropped by 60 percent. She said finding available PPE was difficult, prices were astronomical, and other supplies, such as strep and flu tests, were hard to get. She said she spent a lot of time on the phone answering parents questions about their childrens health, which she couldnt charge for. She took a lower salary to avoid laying off staff.

A federal Paycheck Protection Program loan kept her afloat and prevented staff layoffs.

I would have had to close my door, she said. She signed an agreement with Stamford Health Medical Group in October.

Windels still practices pediatrics in the office she has had since 2006. But now she is an employee of the health system, which handles the business side. I dont have to stay up at night worrying about my bills, she said.

Dr. Rodrigo Acosta, president and chief executive officer of Stamford Health Medical Group, said he is in talks with two other medical practices to join the system. He also said he has hired doctors who were laid off or had their salaries cut during the pandemic.

From 2016 to 2018, the number of Connecticut physicians affiliated with health systems grew in every part of the state, according to an analysis of metropolitan statistical areas by Health Affairs. For example, in the Bridgeport area, which includes Stamford and Norwalk, the number of doctors associated with the Yale New Haven Health System went from 33 percent to 42 percent. In the New Haven-Milford area, doctors associated with Yale New Haven rose from 29 percent to 43 percent; and in the Norwich-New London area, the number associated with Yale New Haven went from 31 percent to 38 percent. In the Hartford area, the number of doctors affiliated with Trinity Health Care rose from 38 percent to 55 percent, according to Health Affairs. The national growth was the fastest in the Northeast and the Midwest.

Health systems benefit doctors by handling operating costs, negotiating with insurance companies for reimbursement, maintaining data for increased federal regulatory demands, and providing a regular paycheck.

Andrews said she has asked the Connecticut General Assembly to establish a task force of independent experts to analyze the implications. People do not understand how consolidation is impacting cost and consumer choice, she said.

Wilk now works part-time at Yale New Haven Hospital, mainly supervising residents performing oral surgeries. He said the hospital coulde nact COVID-19 safety procedures that a small practice like his could not afford, such as more support staff, regular COVID-19 testing for patients, sufficient PPE and a dedicated staff to clean and disinfect treatment areas after each patient.

Wilk said closing his practice ended relationships with longtime patients.

Thats not the way youd like to part with them, he said.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (c-hit.org), a nonprofit news organization dedicated to health reporting.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Why is my property tax bill so high? Do you still have to pay city income taxes if youre working in another city at home because of coronavirus? And, on the receiving end of government money, what if a stimulus check arrives for a deceased parent?

Those are some of the questions sent to Thats Rich! recently.

Thats Rich! - My mom died from COVID on December 26. Will she get the Feds $600 stimulus check, and if so, is it legally correct? Since she didnt do anything digitally, it would certainly come as a physical check. I would hate to get a check and cash it, then later find out that she/her estate wasnt entitled to it and have to pay it back, god forbid with penalties. I know that Congress passed the new Stimulus law just before her death, and the president signed it just after. So Im not sure about this. - Vince

Vince - The stimulus package you referred to was signed into law, Dec. 27 the day after your mothers death. Though you likely wont get the money sent to you unsolicited by this point, it is available on behalf of your mother in completing her 2020 tax form, the IRS confirms.

The IRS explains eligibility for stimulus payments this way: Generally, you are eligible to claim the recovery rebate credit if in 2020 you were a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident alien, werent a dependent of another taxpayer, and have a valid Social Security number. This includes someone who died in 2020, if you are preparing a return for that person.

As to who specifically is entitled to the money, an IRS spokesman said, It depends on their probate status. But his mothers estate is entitled to it. If there are others in the will or otherwise entitled to a portion of the estate, like siblings, thats another issue.

This is a reversal from IRS statements after the first round of the stimulus last spring. The IRS in June issued an explainer saying that money needed to be returned if it arrived after someones death.

Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, said this was cleared up as part of the second stimulus package, and retroactively covers the first stimulus checks - money the IRS initially asked to be returned.

Congress explicitly stated in the law that persons who died in 2020 would be eligible not just for the second round of payments but also for the first round, Olson explained. This is really helpful for all those folks who turned in their deceased spouses payment at the IRS direction. They can claim that $1,200 as well as the $600 on the 2020 tax return unless they were able to cash them.

Thats Rich! - I was shocked at my property tax bill this January. Approximately 10 years ago, I moved to my present residence and bought a unit for approximately $137,000. At the latest appraisal, it was assessed at $170,000, which I contested. ... I am going to have to move. I do not qualify for the Homestead Exemption and am a retired school teacher. It is shameful what the appraisals, real estate taxes, and what cities have done to add charges to senior citizens. I hope future articles can address solutions to these issues. - Joan

Joan - Likely because you contested the value, your home is now actually appraised less by the county for tax purposes than before you bought it in 2011 (though 9.6% above your purchase price). Thats a good lesson for people unhappy about their appraisal. File an appeal. Your tax bill is actually less now than what the previous owner paid a decade ago, county records show.

But you raise another issue, that of the Homestead Exemption. As Ive noted before, the legislature and Gov. John Kasich in 2013 eliminated this senior citizens discount for people who turned 65 after Jan. 1, 2014, unless they qualified as low income. This break previously had been offered to all seniors. What stunned me about this change is that it went through without any outcry from the public. This is not something the cities did; this is a question for the lawmakers in Columbus. Tell your state representative and state senator what you think.

Thats Rich! - We lived in our previous house for 50 years and had the Homestead Exemption for many of them, since before 2012 certainly. We moved to another Cuyahoga County house in 2019 and are going to apply for the exemption on this house. We do not qualify by income level, but can we claim it because we had it in 2013, although on a different house? - Carol, Mayfield Heights.

Carol. Yes. This is a benefit of being old enough before the state changed the program. I took your question to the Ohio Department of Taxation, and the answer was direct: Yes, if they had homestead without the income test for 2013 they are grandfathered in the no-income-test program for life.

Thats Rich! As with many people my husband has been working from home since March 16. My question is why on Earth would we still have to pay RITA taxes to Beachwood when he has not worked in the city of Beachwood since March 2020? And to make it worse, we have to request a refund in order to get a refund for these taxes. Clearly we, as many, many people, are being unfairly taxed. RITA informed us we may be entitled to a refund based on current litigation. We shouldnt have to request to get our money back from a city he didnt work in. - Eileen

Eileen. Youre essentially making the same argument made in the lawsuit brought by the Buckeye Institute against the city of Columbus, that being that its not legal to tax people where they neither work nor live. But as of now, even the Buckeye Institute agrees thats the case under the pandemic law passed by the legislature in March to cover people whose work location changed because of COVID-19. The suit could take years to sort out. The best advice I can offer for anyone in this situation, short of filing their own lawsuit, is to keep a log where you are working, file any available paperwork such as the RITA refund request form (available on the RITA website), and wait.

Side note here. There is no RITA tax. RITA (Regional Income Tax Agency) is hired by cities and villages to collect their taxes for them. RITA is just the administrator.

Thats Rich! - I liked the article Jan. 21 about RITA refunds for people who were forced to work from home due to COVID. This is an important issue impacting so many people. I saw the paragraph at the end of the article about CCA not yet addressing this. Id imagine this impacts most people as many worked in Cleveland and were forced to work from home. CCA does have a refund worksheet that would seem to address this general topic, but does not specially mention COVID - Mark

Mark. You are correct. Clevelands Central Collection Agency (CCA), which administers municipal income taxes for Cleveland and dozens of other cities and villages, does have a downloadable refund form on its website that looks much like, if not identical, to the form from past years. But there are no changes specifically to address COVID work situations. There is a box with one option to check in justifying a refund request that reads, in part, If you did not work in the municipality shown on your W-2, indicate the name of the work city.

I asked City Hall if an update will be coming, and the answer was that the existing form is the form to be used for 2020 refunds, but if there are any later updates they will be posted on the CCA website with other tax forms.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor, writes cleveland.coms and The Plain Dealers personal finance column - Thats Rich! Follow on Twitter @RichExner.

Email questions and suggestions to rexner@cleveland.com. Include your hometown and first name for publication. And to help me sort through the clutter of my email box, try to remember including Thats Rich! in the subject of the email.

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Explaining Ohios maze of city income tax rates and credits, and why you should log where youve been working

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Ohio has $3.2 billion in unclaimed funds; find out if some of that money is yours - Thats Rich!

Roth retirement plan or traditional IRA and 401(k) plans? Is this the time to adjust your thinking?

Taking college classes online? Heres how students can save a lot of money

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The Smartmatic voting technology company filed a massive $2.7 billion lawsuit against prominent lawyers for Donald Trump's election overturn effort as well as media giant Fox News  claiming the parties knew the election wasn't rigged but spread the narrative of a stolen election.

The suit  on the heels of another by Dominion Voting Systems  blasts the election fraud narrative that Trump's lawyers put forward as he sought to cling to power  and claimed Fox used its powerful airwaves to defame the company in the process.

'The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for President and Vice President of the United States,' the suit begins. 'The election was not stolen, rigged, or fixed. These are facts. They are demonstrable and irrefutable.'

The suit names Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who spearheaded his election fraud claims in TV interviews, on his own podcast, and in testimony before panels organized by Republican lawmakers as Trump sought to overturn results. It also names former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, who the campaign sought to separate itself from after the press conference, although Powell showed up at the White House in the last weeks of the administration.

A defamation lawsuit by the Smartmatic voting machine company names 'Kraken' lawyer Sidney Powell

Both appeared at an infamous press conference at the Republican National Committee where Powell laid out her claim of a conspiracy to steal the election involving the late Venezualen dictator Hugo Chavez, China, Cuba, Dominion, and Smartmatic.

It also names three of Trump's favorite cable TV hosts in the Fox empire: Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Fox business host Lou Dobbs, and Fox host Judge Jeanine Pirro.

Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion defamation suit on Thursday against three Fox News hosts and Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani for promoting false claims that the company was involved in fraud in the November presidential election.

The complaint filed in New York State Court names the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox Corp., the Fox News Network and Fox hosts Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro as defendants.

Unlike Dominion, whose technology was used in 24 states, Smartmatic's participation in the 2020 election was restricted to Los Angeles County, which votes heavily Democratic.

The suit identifies the three Fox hosts by name

Rudy Giuliani points to a map as he speaks to the press about various lawsuits related to the 2020 election, inside the Republican National Committee headquarters on November 19, 2020 in Washington, DC

The suit names as a defendant Fox News host Jeanine Pirro

Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo is also named in the suit

Pirro visited the White House and Trump posed with her book

Voting machine maker Smartmatic has filed a lawsuit for defamation against Fox News hosts and former president Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuilani, who spoke at the 'stop the steal' rally before the Capitol riot, is also named

Smartmatic's limited role notwithstanding, Fox aired at least 13 reports falsely stating or implying the company had stolen the 2020 vote in cahoots with Venezuela's socialist government, according to the complaint. This alleged 'disinformation campaign' continued even after then-Attorney General William Barr said the Department of Justice could find no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

'Night after night, publication after publication, Fox News reached out to its millions of viewers and readers around the world with a story: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did not win the 2020 election; Smartmatic stole the election for them,' it said, pointing to the role of the network, which aired Trump surrogates and allies making the claims.

The suit says the election fraud claim not only caused direct financial harm to the election company, but harmed the country as well. 'The story turned neighbor against neighbor,' it says. 'The story led a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol.'

Under the theory spelled out in the suit, the defendants knew Trump lost, but wanted him to win.

'Defendants had an obvious problem with their story. They needed a villain. They needed someone to blame. They needed someone whom they could get others to hate'  prompting them to invent the tale involving Smartmatic.

'Without any true villain, Defendants invented one. Defendants decided to make Smartmatic the villain in their story,' it says.

Also named in the suit are former New York mayor Giuliani, the ex-president's personal lawyer, and Sidney Powell, a lawyer for the Trump campaign who falsely claimed that voting machines had flipped votes for Trump to Democrat Joe Biden.

The suit includes exhibits with TV appearances by Giuliani and others

Dobbs' program included Powell's assertions tying the company to Venezuela

'It was a well-orchestrated dance between Ms. Bartiromo and Mr. Giuliani, as she set it up and he brought home a new aspect of the disinformation campaign,' the suit says

'The Earth is round,' the complaint said. 'Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for President and Vice President of the United States.

'The election was not stolen, rigged, or fixed,' it said. 'These are facts. They are demonstrable and irrefutable.'

Smartmatic's 285-page complaint said the defendants 'have always known these facts.

'They knew the election was not rigged or fixed,' it said, but they 'decided to tell people that the election was stolen' and to 'make Smartmatic the villain in their story.'

In December, Dobbs aired a bizarre segment taking on election fraud claims, evidently after receiving a 20-page letter from the company threatening legal action. ''There are lots of opinions about the integrity of the election, the irregularities of mail-in voting, of election voting machines and voting software,' the host said.

The network aired fact-check segments December included an expert saying he had not seen any evidence of the software being used for fraud. Pirros' show and Bartiromo's aired similar segments.

Fox News broadcast 13 reports stating and implying Smartmatic had stolen the election and that its technology was used in six states where the results were in dispute, the complaint said.

In fact, Smartmatic provided election technology and software only in Los Angeles County, California, it said, and county officials lauded its performance.

The complaint makes 16 claims of defamation and disparagement against the defendants and seeks $2.7 billion for economic and punitive damages.

In a statement, Fox said 'Fox News Media is committed to providing the full context of every story with in-depth reporting and clear opinion.

'We are proud of our 2020 election coverage and will vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit in court,' Fox said.
Alexa Curtin received a 68-day prison sentence after pleading guilty to multiple criminal charges in Orange County last week.

The former reality star pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and substance paraphernalia, driving under the influence, driving without a valid license, vandalism and petty theft, according to documents obtained by The Blast.

The 28-year-old daughter of former Real Housewives of Orange County star Lynne Curtin was also sentenced to three years of probation, three months in a first offender alcohol program and must pay restitution for damages.

Tough: Alexa Curtin received a 68-day prison sentence after pleading guilty to multiple criminal charges in Orange County last week

Alexa reportedly had five separate criminal cases pending and was sentenced in four, with one of the cases being thrown out by a judge.

Online records show Alexa was arrested on Jan. 8 and released more than two weeks later on Jan. 26.

Her previous jail stints were taken into consideration and she was released on time served the same day of her hearing.

Legal: The 28-year-old daughter of former Real Housewives of Orange County star Lynne Curtin was also sentenced to three years of probation, three months in a first offender alcohol program and must pay restitution for damages

Curtin's lengthy legal issues began more than five years ago when she was charged with two misdemeanors possession of a controlled substance and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia  after being found with drugs in her car in 2016.

In April 2018, Curtin was charged with driving under the influence from a February arrest where cops found items used to smoke heroin.

She spent four days in jail in August 2018 and was taken to court to enter a plea for the three separate criminal cases filed against her: for possession of a controlled substance paraphernalia, vandalism, petty theft and driving under the influence of a drug.

Trouble: Curtin's lengthy legal issues began more than five years ago when she was charged with two misdemeanors possession of a controlled substance and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia  after being found with drugs in her car in 2016

In 2017, Alexa was awarded $2.25 million in damages  in addition to the legal fees  after she claimed she was raped by sheriff's deputy Nicholas Caropino, 38, in April 2014.

Alexa is the daughter of Real Housewife of Orange County star Lynne Curtin and appeared regularly in the Bravo reality series alongside big sister Raquel who now goes by the name Suttin.

Lynne left the show in season five and, shortly after departing the series, filed for divorce from her husband of 30 years, Frank.
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Industry Update

Appointment

4 February 2021

Pat Rizco

Appointed Director of Property Operations

At Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club in Dana Point - CA, USA

With over 30 years of experience at prestigious Southern California resorts, Rizco joins the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club team as director of property operations. Mostly recently, Rizco served as director of engineering at The Resort at Pelican Hill, where he oversaw all maintenance, equipment replacement and renovations on property. Prior to that, Rizco also held director of engineering roles at Paradise Point Resort & Spa in San Diego and The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Orange County.

Hilton Hilton (NYSE: HLT) is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 17 world-class brands comprising nearly 6,000 properties with more than 954,000 rooms, in 117 countries and territories. Dedicated to fulfilling its mission to be the worlds most hospitable company, Hilton earned a spot on the 2019 Worlds Best Workplaces list, and has welcomed more than 3 billion guests in its 100-year history. more information

Recent Appointments at Hilton Jan Jansen - General Manager 17 May 2021  Conrad Hong Kong has hired Jan Jansen as its general manager. Previously in 2016, Jansen first joined the hotel as the hotel manager, before being recruited as opening general manager of Conrad Hangzhou two years later. read more

Sasha Tyas - General Manager 10 May 2021  Mango House Seychelles, LXR Hotels & Resorts, the highly anticipated hotel opening this July, has announced Sasha Tyas as general manager. Sasha aims to bring the intimate hotel's commitment to handcrafted hospitality to life and nurture local talent to develop a strong team of luxury hospitality professionals. read more

NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial analyst and President of The Hajdari Group, Zaim Hajdari (https://www.thehajdarigroup.com/) recently spoke about the current short-selling scandal embroiling both Wall Street and the related online trading industry. Though the media focus has been on hedge funds, short sellers, Redditors, and the role of trading platforms, Hajdari believes what is really being lost in all the noise is a host of average retail investors and their valid concerns; a vulnerable group that stands to suffer permanent financial harm. The Hajdari Group is well positioned to observe and offer comments on recent Wall Street events as a boutique investment firm that gained notoriety for its innovative Sharia-compliant investment services: InvestHalal.

Working in the heart of New York City's financial industry, Zaim Hajdari watched the Reddit trading event happen with growing alarm: "My first thought was this was either a group of people trying to artificially inflate the stock to make a quick profit at any cost, or a group who thought they were sparking some sort of financial "revolution"  as they saw it. Both groups are equally misguided, and display a stark lack of knowledge about how the market works; and, more importantly, what the market is supposed to do."

"The market should be used to invest in healthy, growing companies  to lift those companies up, and in that lifting, rise with them. What we saw with this social media group's trading was pure gambling, not investing. It was simply a group of irresponsible gamblers who valued quick-profit over sustained growth. And the market has certainly weathered these types before. But it always leaves a trail of wreckage, and unfortunately, that wreckage hurts normal, everyday investors the most."

When asked about hedge funds and online trading platforms, Hajdari noted: "No mistake about it: there are hedge funds and short-sellers who have lost billions. But honestly, there are also hedge funds that have made hundreds of millions on this debacle too. So, who do you sympathize with? Both sides know the risks. My concern is for the individual investors whose portfolios are negatively impacted by these events  the average, good people who come into my office and ask: 'Is this going to hurt my family?' People who rely upon their investments to support whole families."

Hajdari concluded: "Those are the individuals who deserve answers  who deserve a real hard look at what trading platforms will and will not allow. It's not a matter of arbitrary trading rules to benefit a few  we're talking about guarding against those who routinely take a bull-in-a-china-shop trading approach. Robinhood, TD Ameritrade and other platforms have to answer to their investors  the average customers who trade in good faith and stand to lose everything if these platforms go down because of recklessness. Individual investors who feel like they've gamed the system are just fooling themselves  even though I think we'll now see a rise in hedge funds and other institutions leveraging these social media platforms for their own benefit. But it takes a professional to really understand the nuances and far-flung future consequences of this type of behavior. The Reddit investors are likely already losing millions in just days."

"For honest retail investors, I offer a simple truth that isn't going to change anytime soon: Gambling with your assets will only bring sorrow. But if you invest in a diversity of quality companies, over the long term, you are much more likely to be successful."

About The Hajdari Group

The Hajdari Group ("Hajdari Group") is a registered investment advisor. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Hajdari Group and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. Learn more at: www.TheHajdariGroup.com.

Disclaimer: The foregoing content reflects the opinions of The Hajdari Group and is subject to change. Content provided herein is for informational purposes only and should not be used or construed as investment advice or a recommendation regarding the purchase or sale of any security. There is no guarantee that the statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Securities investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principal. There is no assurance that any investment plan or strategy will be successful, or that markets will recover or react as they have in the past.

Contact:

Zaim Hajdari, President

212-381-0050

[email protected]

SOURCE Hajdari Group
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The Navy's top officer has received dozens of recommendations to improve inclusion and diversity in the ranks that could change everything from who appears in recruitment ads, to how promotion selection boards are assembled, and how new ships are named.

Task Force One Navy presented 56 recommendations to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday last month. Gilday created the task force last summer to examine Navy policies at every stage of a sailor's career to stop any unfair practices that might be putting people at a disadvantage due to their race, gender, sexual orientation, age or other factors.

He did so after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody, prompted a national reckoning over race relations in the country.

Read Next: Commissioning of Navy LCS Minneapolis-St. Paul on Hold After Design Defect Discovered

For too long, the Navy has fallen short by excluding or limiting opportunities for some in the ranks, Gilday said this week when the task force released its 141-page report.

"As a Navy -- uniform and civilian, active and reserve -- we cannot tolerate discrimination of any kind, and must engage in open and honest conversations with each other and take action," he said. "... Simply put, all Sailors -- uniformed and civilian -- and applicants for accession to the Navy must be treated with dignity and respect above all else."

Task Force One Navy held hundreds of listening sessions and focus groups and collected nearly 1,000 completed online surveys that influenced its recommendations. Rear Adm. Alvin Holsey, who led the task force and recently commanded Carrier Strike Group 1, said the Navy is focused on carrying out the recommendations in the report.

From boot camp to the highest levels in the Navy, Holsey said, leaders will continue to reinforce the importance of inclusion and diversity.

Gilday agreed, saying that, while there's work to be done, the task force's recommendations will help make the Navy better long-term.

"Make no mistake, I am personally committed to this effort," he said.

The task force covered five "lines of effort," focusing on potential fixes for recruiting; talent management and retention; professional development; innovation; and other miscellaneous recommendations.

The recommendations start with who appears in recruiting materials and how the Navy can better appeal to minorities. The task force also recommends getting rid of aptitude rating test requirements for new officers to remove any barriers from standardized testing.

The Marine Corps last year swapped a World War II-era exam it was giving new officers for a modern aptitude test after white and male officers were found to be performing better than women and minorities, raising questions about possible biases.

Once sailors and officers are in, Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. John Nowell said the Navy wants to be sure everyone's getting a fair shot at advancement and professional development.

Twice a year, Nowell said, top leaders across the Navy's 17 communities will meet and have to show what their inclusion and diversity efforts look like across different pay grades.

"This is not about quotas," he stressed. "This is about, 'How do we make sure that as we look at things like mentoring, at advocacy, that we're paying attention?'"

The report also suggests ways to diversify the officer ranks through college scholarship programs that target underrepresented communities. The officer corps has historically been less diverse than the enlisted side.

The task force also recommends creating a STEM -- or science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- program for elementary, middle and high schools. That effort could raise awareness about opportunities to serve in the Navy, the report states, potentially increasing the number of minorities with STEM backgrounds in the military.

Other recommendations include creating a high-level women's policy adviser in the Navy and reviewing how the service names ships and other assets to ensure they represent naval core values.

The listening sessions that brought about some of the recommendations were raw conversations about discrimination Navy personnel have faced in their careers. Military.com observed one of the sessions last summer. Sailors described hearing the the N-word on duty, being told to stop speaking Spanish on a ship, and facing snide comments about their hairstyles.

Leaders need to continue having those conversations with their sailors, even when they're uncomfortable, Nowell said.

Holsey and other members of the task force acknowledge that there's skepticism from those in uniform that the task force's efforts will lead to real change. At nearly every listening session the task force held, he said participants expressed that they didn't expect any change to come out of Task Force One Navy.

Jane Roberts, the task force's senior civilian adviser, said women and minorities often feel like it's their burden to teach everyone else about diversity and inclusion.

But this effort has support at the most senior levels, Holsey said, adding that it's not going to be any one individual's burden to keep the conversation and effort going.

"I think there's a concerted effort to make it right," he said. "... It's not a 'one and done.' This issue is not going to go away. It's going to be embedded in our training throughout the life of the sailor.

"We're all in on this, and that's why it will make a difference."

Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect the total number of recommendations from the task force.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.

Related: 'Sailors Using the N-Word': Navy Leaders Hear Painful Cases of Racism

At least 234 frontline health and care workers have been identified after dying with coronavirus.

Through tributes from loved ones and confirmation through sources such as local NHS trusts and other authorities, the PA news agency has confirmed the names of health and social care workers who have died after contracting Covid-19 since March 11 2020.

This chronological list contains people who were working in roles shortly before their deaths where they were likely to come into contact with patients.

The figure is likely to be lower than the true number of workers who have died, as the names of some victims will not yet be in the public domain.

 Linda Parkinson, healthcare assistant

A mother of three, Linda Parkinson worked on a ward for elderly patients at Carlisles Cumberland Infirmary.

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust said: Linda was dedicated to her family, she cared for her husband, was mum to three daughters and had three grandchildren.

She was a devoted sister, aunty and became a proud great nana last year. Her daughters describe her as a proud mum with a heart of gold who was passionate about her role at work.

 Andrew Woolhouse, hospital porter

Andrew Woolhouse, 55, was a porter at University Hospital Llandough (UHL) in south Wales and was described as devoted to his wife Marianne and daughters.

Len Richards, chief executive of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, said: He often went the extra mile for our patients and will be missed profoundly by everyone at Cardiff and Vale UHB.

 Terry Boston-Marsh, theatre practitioner

Terry Boston-Marsh, who died on January 29, had been working in operating theatres at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital for 25 years.

East Kent Hospitals chief executive Susan Acott said: Terry was, quite simply, one of the best. He was a hugely skilled member of the team who was highly respected by everyone he worked with.

 Michelle Hart, hospital receptionist

Michelle Hart, who worked on Ward 408 at the Royal Derby Hospital, passed away on January 29, the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB) said.

The much loved colleague had spent nearly two decades working for the trust  joining the Derby Royal Infirmary in 2007 before transferring to her most recent role at the new cardiology ward.

Paying tribute to Ms Hart, UHDB chief executive Gavin Boyle said: Michelle was very bubbly, very lovely. She was always chatty, always helpful and always had a smile.

 Gamal Osman, consultant in acute medicine

Dr Osman died in the early hours of January 28, following a prolonged period of time in intensive care.

Dr Osman had already lost his brother to Covid in September 2020.

Dr Gamal Osman. (North Bristol NHS Trust)

In a statement, North Bristol NHS Trust said: Despite this tragedy, many conversations with friends, colleagues and relatives trying to persuade him to minimise his risk and despite his awareness of the risk involved, he was committed to continuing to care for acutely unwell patients with Covid.

He was described as a generous, calm and popular member of staff.

 Naggayi Angella, trainee mental health nurse

Naggayi Angella, a mother of two from Uganda, lived with her two children while studying at Edinburgh Napier University.

Paying tribute to her on a Go Fund Me set up in her memory, her 12-year-old daughter, Annmarie Yiga said: In life, we love you dearly, in death we love you still, in our hearts you hold a place no one will ever fill.

 Helen Mills, healthcare support worker

Helen Mills, 56, worked at the minor injury unit at Neath Port Talbot Hospital in Wales and was described by her colleagues as kind and caring, with a dry sense of humour.

Helen Mills (Handout/PA)

In a statement, the hospital said: Although her loss has brought great sadness to us, the memories of Helen will never be forgotten. We will always be grateful for the significant contribution she made, and for the rays of happiness, she brought to both fellow staff and patients.

Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband Chris, daughters Kaylie and Kate and her grandchildren, at this difficult time.

 Sandra Scott, deputy manager

Sandra Scott was deputy manager of her unit (Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust/PA)

Described as kind-hearted and bubbly, Sandra Scott, 49, was deputy manager at Derbyshire Healthcares Hartington Unit in 2019.

Paying tribute to Ms Scott, Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Trust chief executive Tracy Allen said: This is a day I desperately wished we would not have to face, and it comes as a poignant reminder of the situation we are indeed facing every day.

 Malinda Dissanayake, accident and emergency doctor

Dr Dissanayake, who worked at North Middlesex University Hospital (NMUH) in London, died after being treated in the intensive care unit.

Maria Kane, chief executive of NMUH, said: He was a very caring doctor, who was known for his spiritual nature and the kindness and compassion he showed to his patients and colleagues.

 Elias Phiri, health adviser

Elia Phiri, a healthcare worker who fought Covid-19 disinformation before he died, was described as an extraordinary force for good.

Elias Phiri was a frontline HIV campaigner (Denis Onyango/PA)

Mr Phiri, 53, who was a campaigner for several charities and a health adviser with Barts NHS Trust, has been described as a family man who showed incredible kindness to others.

He died on January 27 2021 and leaves behind a wife and three children.

 Dax Daantos, orthopaedic implant co-ordinator

Mr Daantos, 52, worked alongside his wife Arlene Agunias-Daantos, an intensive care nurse, at Charing Cross hospital.

The Filipino, a dedicated frontline orthopaedic implant co-ordinator and father to two children, Jozeph, 15, and Daxene, 12, died with Covid-19 on January 26.

Dax Daantos (right) with his wife Arlene (left) son Jozeph (upper centre) and Daxene (lower centre) (Family handout)

 Debbie Carter, booking clerk

Ms Carter was described as a bubbly, outgoing and fun-loving member of staff in the outpatients booking team at Peterborough City Hospital.

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust said Ms Carter passed away suddenly after a short illness with Covid-19 and will be greatly missed.

 Craig Goldsney, mental health nurse

After a hard-fought battle Mr Goldsney, 47, died on January 21 after contracting Covid-19.

The NHS prison mental health nurse, who worked at HMP Woodhill and is survived by his wife and three sons, embodied the service motto of caring, not judging', according to Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.

 Val Stimson, hospital receptionist

Val Stimson (East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust)

Val Stimson was a receptionist at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, a job she started in 2018 after a career in banking.

The 62-year-old, who was twice a great-grandmother, died within a week of testing positive for coronavirus.

Daughter Tina Bass said: Mum was passionate about working for the NHS, and really liked the fact she could help people.

 Rachel Trott, healthcare assistant

Rachel Trott, 36, a healthcare assistant at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, died after testing positive for coronavirus.

She had been with the team for three months, and her position was her first role within the NHS.

Lynn Marshall, Ms Trotts ward manager, said: Rachel had only been with us for a short time but had made an impact on many of us with her lovely caring nature and warm personality.

 Donal ODonoghue, k

Professor Donal ODonoghue, who was registrar of the Royal College of Physicians, was made an OBE in 2018 for his services to kidney patients.

The medic, who was based at Salford Royal, died on January 3 at the age of 64.

In a statement, the Northern Care Alliance said: As a well respected clinical and world-renowned researcher, he has without a doubt shaped modern nephrology and has driven medical advancement and research in kidney care.

 Augustine Obaro, GP

Dr Obaro, 63, died on January 1 after years of service working as a GP at Addison Road Medical Practice in Walthamstow, London.

A father of four, Dr Obaro moved to the UK in 1999 from Nigeria and Waltham Forest Clinical Commissioning Group said he will be sadly missed.

 Bridget Palmer, nurse

Bridget Palmer, a staff nurse at Clitheroe Community Hospital, died on December 29 after contracting coronavirus, a spokesman for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) said.

The trust said she dedicated her life and career to helping and caring for her patients.

Bridget Palmer (right) a staff nurse at Clitheroe Community Hospital, who died on December 29 (East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust)

 Yvonne Taggart, healthcare assistant

Yvonne Taggart worked for the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, who confirmed she died with Covid-19 on Christmas Eve.

 Malcolm Bonney, paramedic

Described as a man with a huge heart, the ambulance worker from York, 65, had worked for the NHS for 43 years before his death with Covid-19 on December 23.

According to an obituary in The York Press, he missed the birth of his first grandchild by less than two weeks  the baby born on January 3 has been named George Malcolm in his honour.

 Afzal Ansari, consultant physician

Dr Ansari died with Covid-19 on December 22 after six years working at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals (BHRUT) in London.

He had most recently been treating coronavirus patients on the elderly care ward at Queens Hospital, and his colleague Khalid Haque said in a GoFundMe tribute that he was as an extraordinary person.

 Ana Lisa Sayson, nurse

Ana Lisa Sayson, a nurse who worked at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, died on December 15 after contracting Covid-19.

In a statement, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde described her as much-loved and an incredibly compassionate nurse who was devoted to the care of her patients.

 Tony Chadbourne, ambulance technician

Known as Chad or Chadders, Tony devoted 23 years to working in the ambulance service and worked in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

Tony Chadbourne

In a statement, his family said: Tony was without doubt an NHS hero who dedicated his life to his career. As he rose up through the ranks nothing was too much trouble for Tony whose huge heart meant he went above and beyond for his patients, colleagues and friends.

He cared deeply for his colleagues who were also some of his best friends  his work family.

 Bernard Meriales, healthcare assistant

Mr Meriales, 48, was known to friends at Peterborough City Hospital as Bong, and died on December 7 at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.

Caroline Walker, chief executive at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said: The news of Bernards death has come as a terrible shock to all who knew him. Our sincerest thoughts are with his wife Bev, who also works at PCH, their family and loved ones, plus the ward team on A8.

Bernard was a popular member of the team and will be greatly missed.

 Barclay Mason, senior charge nurse

Barclay Mason, 56, was a senior charge nurse at The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) in Harlow in Essex for more than 20 years.

Mr Mason, who was originally from New Zealand, was treated for coronavirus at the hospital where he worked.

His family and close friends said in a statement: The sadness we feel is more than words can express.

The most amazing man in our life, father to our children, has died.

 Dr Abdul-Razaq Abdullah, GP

Dr Abdullah, 68, ran a practice in Rainham, London, and had worked in the borough of Havering for 30 years before his death on December 8 with Covid-19  having moved to the UK from Iraq in 1985.

His daughter Dr Ayat Abdullah, who is also a GP, told general practice magazine Pulse her father felt he could not retire and wanted to be there for these patients and work through this Covid crisis.

 Rob Healey, emergency department nurse

Mr Healey had worked for the North Bristol NHS Trust for 20 years in several different roles, including at Frenchay Hospital, in cardiology, the clinical site team, and was more recently seconded to the clinical research team.

Trust chief executive Andrea Young said: Rob was a much-loved nurse who dedicated 20 years to North Bristol NHS Trust.

It is a testament to his ED family that he returned to join his colleagues this year after a period of working in Clinical Research, where he was also very popular.

 David Weir, respiratory consultant

Dr Weir died with Covid-19 on December 3, having worked as a doctor for the NHS for more than 30 years.

Based in north Manchester for the majority of his career, for the last year he had worked at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust  who said he spent his life helping people in their time of need.

David Weir spent his days off walking his four dogs, his trust said (East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust)

 Adela Baldwin-White, healthcare assistant and care worker

Described as a pocket rocket who just inspired everyone, Adela Baldwin-White from Grimsby died on December 3 aged 47.

Her husband Lawrence Baldwin-White, 65, told the PA news agency: Shes just a great person and she puts everyone else first. Even when she went into hospital she was still looking out for people instead of resting and trying to help other people.

 Kalli Mantala-Bozos, clinical psychologist

Kalli Mantala-Bozos was a clinical psychologist at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, described as genuine and kind-hearted by colleagues.

The trust said she died after a prolonged battle with Covid-19.

 Dave Kemp, ward clerk

Mr Kemp, who worked on the Acute Assessment Unit at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Cambridgeshire, was described as a very popular member of the team by North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust.

He died with Covid-19 on December 1 at Addenbrookes Hospital, leaving behind his wife Barbara, who is part of the Maternity team at Hinchingbrooke.

 Cristina Baldwin, healthcare assistant

Cristina Baldwin was a healthcare assistant, who had been working on the wards at the Royal Blackburn, for the past eight years,

She died on November 25 after contracting Covid-19.

 Hannah Jackson, staff nurse

Hannah Jackson, a staff nurse who died after contracting Covid-19 (GoFundMe/PA)

Described as a much-loved nurse, Ms Jackson moved to the UK from Dominica to work for Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent.

She died on November 22 after contracting coronavirus around a week earlier. Colleagues said she was an amazing lady, adding that there was never a frown in the room whilst she was around.

 Nicola Diles, administrative assistant

Ms Diles joined Hull University Teaching Hospitals in 2016 but died with Covid-19 in the ICU at Hull Royal Infirmary on November 15.

The trust said her role meant she worked with a variety of staff and patients who had the honour of knowing her.

 Krishnan Subramanian, consultant anaesthetist

Dr Krishnan Subramanian (University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust/PA)

Quiet and dedicated consultant anaesthetist Dr Krishnan Subramanian died on November 12, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust said. Aged in his late 40s, he worked at Royal Derby Hospital and had previously trained at hospitals across the East Midlands.

Hugely committed to his work, he stood out for his tireless patience with trainee doctors, for his professionalism and for his characteristic grin, said colleague Dr John Williams, clinical director of anaesthetics and theatres at the Trust.

 Mark Simons, health care assistant

Mr Simons worked at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. He died on November 10.

Unite Wales described him as an extremely active and influential representative, who was tenacious and committed and always did his best for the workers he represented.

 Paul Gaythwaite, mental health nurse

Paul Gaythwaite, 53, had worked for North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust for 22 years, most recently as a senior nurse supporting older people with mental health conditions in St Helens.

He leaves behind husband David, whom he had been with for 22 years and married three years ago. Friend Nicky Mercer said: In all my career, I dont think Ive ever worked with a more dedicated nurse. Paul gave so much of himself and his cheeky sense of humour made him very popular with patients  they asked for him by name as their care co-ordinator. 

 Wilbald Tesha, nurse

Mr Tesha spent 30 years working for the NHS in Eastbourne, Sussex.

(Family handout via Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust)

He worked at Eastbourne District General Hospital and spent time in intensive care before his death in September.

The father of one came from a small village at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, Simbwe, and had been living and working in Eastbourne for the last three decades.

 Carlton Moyston, hospital driver

Carlton Moyston, 61, had worked at the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust since 1998.

He died at the Bristol Royal Infirmarys intensive care until one June 23, after testing positive for Covid-19.

 Rizal Manalo, nurse

Mr Manalo, known to friends as Zaldy, died on Sunday June 14 after spending several weeks in critical care at Glan Clwyd Hospital, where he had worked.

Rizal Manalo died on Sunday after being ill for several weeks (Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board/PA)

The 51-year-old had worked at the hospital since 2001 when he was recruited from the Philippines.

His wife Agnes said: Zaldy is a hard-working person who loved his job dearly. Hes a good husband and a loving father to his children. He protected and cared for us.

 Richzeal Albufera, scientist

Mr Albufera, 45, was working as a biomedical scientist at Castle Hill Hospital, part of Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, before his death with Covid-19 on June 9.

A colleague said the Filipino was on the forefront of testing during the pandemic, with an inspiring and grafting work ethic and was the epitome of what the NHS is all about.

 Nassar Hussain, radiographer

Mr Hussain worked as a diagnostic services manager at the KIMS Hospital in Maidstone, Kent, after having worked for more than 20 years in the NHS as a radiographer.

Nassar Hussain with his daughter Farah and son Adam (Family Handout/PA)

His daughter, Farah Hussain, 28, a Labour councillor at Redbridge Council, said he was passionate about his job, adding: He was really into the latest technology and equipment and finding out whats wrong with people in order to help them.

 Mark Lowe, porter

The brilliant Mr Lowe was a porter in the radiology department of the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, working for South Tees NHS Foundation Trust for 20 years. He died on May 28.

 Dr Abdorreza Sedghi, GP

Known as Abdy, Dr Sedghi contacted Covid-19 in April before he died on May 27. The Iranian GP had been based at Lister Hospital in Stevenage since August 2019 and had charisma and personality.

 Allan Macalalad, theatre assistant

Mr Macalalad, 44, who lived with his wife Elsie, a nurse, and son Justin in Cardiff, had worked as a theatre assistant treating eye disorders for two years, and was described as a perfect gentleman and a loyal team player.

A carpenter by trade, he had moved from the Philippines to Cardiff. He died on Tuesday May 26 after testing positive for Covid-19.

 Dominga David, nurse

Mother-of-one Ms David, a nurse from Penarth who had been at University Hospital Llandough since 2004, and was described as an exceptionally hard worker and a respectful, kind and compassionate person.

She died on Tuesday May 26.

Dominga David, 62, a nurse from Penarth who worked at University Hospital Llandough, and died after testing positive for coronavirus (Family handout/Cardiff and Vale University Health Board)

The 62-year-old from the Philippines is survived by her son, Renzie.

 Sylvia Tideswell, nursing assistant

Sylvia Tideswell, 60, had been working on the elderly care wards at Royal Stoke University Hospital since 2003 and died on May 25 after testing positive for the virus.

Her daughter Sarah said: Mum was wonderful. She was caring and considerate and would do anything for anybody. She loved her job at the hospital and wouldnt hesitate in doing everything for everyone else. She enjoyed her garden, going on holiday and walking her dog and took pleasure in the simple things like going out for a coffee and piece of cake.

 Victor Dinoo, senior nurse

Mr Dinoo died in Leicester on May 24, having tested positive for the virus.

Margaret Garbett, director of nursing for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, said: Victor was a highly valued and respected senior nurse from the Clinical Site Team for Solihull, Heartlands and Good Hope hospitals and will be greatly missed. The trust is in touch with his family and offering support to them during this difficult time.

 Ricardo Bonsato, care worker

Known as Ricky, Mr Bonsato moved from the Philippines to the UK with his family to better their lives, before working at Thornton House care home in Lancashire for two years. A GoFundMe page set up in his memory said he died on May 24.

 Joselito Habab, nurse

Known as Jo, the father-of-one died at Whiston Hospital on Wednesday May 20 with his wife, an A&E nurse, by his side.

Joselito Habab, a nurse who died after contracting coronavirus (Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust/PA)

He was originally from Manila, in the Philippines, and joined the Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust almost 18 years ago.

 Liz Spooner, nurse

Liz Spooner, 62, had worked at Singleton Hospital in Swansea, South Wales, for more than four decades before she died on May 18 after testing positive for coronavirus.

On Tuesday her death was said to have left a massive hole at the hospital.

 Neil Ruch, senior paramedic

Neil Ruch was warm, highly respected and had worked for the East of England Ambulance Service since 2013.

He died on May 18 having been hospitalised with Covid-19 in April, and a classroom at health and safety training centre Essex Medical Training is to be named in his honour.

Neil Ruch was a highly respected paramedic (Family handout/East of England Ambulance Service)

 Dr Abdel Wahab Babiker, consultant

Dr Abdel Wahab Babiker, 70, had worked as a consultant physician at Scarborough Hospital since August 2019. He had been receiving care in hospital after contracting coronavirus and died on Monday May 18.

Dr Ed Smith, director of acute, emergency and elderly medicine at Scarborough Hospital, said: Dr Babiker was an extremely energetic, hard-working, approachable and dedicated doctor.

He was particularly notable for his can-do attitude and supportive nature, and was well-liked by patients and staff alike.

 Andrew Ekene Nwankwo, nurse

Andrew Ekene Nwankwo, who has died with coronavirus aged 46

Andrew Ekene Nwankwo, who worked as a locum nurse at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, died with coronavirus on May 16 aged 46.

 Carlos Sia, healthcare assistant

Described as a quiet and gentle person, Carlos Sia, 62, died on Friday May 15 after spending several weeks in intensive care.

He worked for Worcester Acute NHS Trust alongside his wife Cindy, a healthcare assistant, and daughter Clair, a nurse.

In a letter to staff, trust chief executive Matthew Hopkins said: His quiet, gentle and respectful nature, his generosity of spirit, his sense of humour and his calming influence also made him popular with patients.

 Paul Nutt, ambulance care assistant

Mr Nutt, who had just turned 60, worked for South Central Ambulance Service on the Wexham Park Hospital site.

Mr Nutt had been in intensive care for three weeks (SCAS/PA)

He is survived by his wife Kim and two daughters, Charlotte and Louise.

In a statement, his family said: Paul was the most loving and devoted husband and father, and he touched so many peoples lives with his joy and kindness.

 Lillian Mudzivare, senior mental health nurse

Lillian Mudzivare, 41, who worked as a senior mental health nurse, died following a long battle with coronavirus, the Birmingham Womens and Childrens NHS Foundation Trust said.

 Safaa Alam, midwife

Safaa Alam, 30, started her professional career as a nurse before training as a midwife at Birmingham Womens Hospital, where she was described as a true role model known for her kindness and compassion.

She died after treatment for Covid-19.

Safaa Alam, a midwife (Birmingham Womens and Childrens NHS Foundation Trust/PA)

 Evelyn Nicolas, care worker

Ms Nicolas, who worked at Maypole Grove Care Home in Kings Heath, Birmingham, died on May 14 after contracting Covid-19.

A friend, who set up a fundraising page for the carers family, said she was a mother-of-two who would do anything to keep a smile on other faces.

 Jun Terre, healthcare assistant

Jun Terre, 52, died on May 14 and was said to be a gracious, quiet and kind gentleman with a smile that would light up a room, according to Neil Macdonald, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust chief executive.

 Peter Gough, administration assistant

Peter Gough, 56, an administration assistant at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, died on May 12, shortly after raising a lack of personal protective equipment to a friend.

No PPE for admin staff. Not even sanitiser gel as not enough for everywhere in hospital, a message to friend Paul Saville read before his death.

 Peter Hart, ambulance paramedic

The highly respected ambulance paramedic and hospital emergency medic died on his 52nd birthday on May 12.

Peter Hart (Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust/PA)

He worked in the emergency department at East Surrey Hospital for Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust as well as doing shifts for the ambulance service.

 Norman Austria, healthcare assistant

The 61-year-old healthcare assistant from the Philippines was described as a highly valued member of his ward.

The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton said he regularly sang the song You are my sunshine to calm and reassure vulnerable patients.

Mr Austrias widow Shirley said: Norman was a very lovable, caring and responsible person. We were married for 40 years and he was a wonderful husband. He was very proud of his family and loved his children and grandchildren very much.

 Poornima Nair, GP

Dr Nair was a GP at Station View Medical Centre in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

Her surgery posted on its website that she was a much loved and valued colleague and friend who had died after a prolonged Covid-19 infection.

 Dr Thaung Htaik, consultant

Dr Htaik, 65, had been working at the Great Western Hospitals NHS Trust since January 2019 and was described as universally well-liked.

He died after testing positive for the virus and leaves behind a wife, four children and three grandchildren.

In a statement, his family said: He always put others first and we know just how committed he was to looking after his patients both at this difficult time and throughout his career.

 Alanzo Smith, mental health worker

The 62-year-old, from Chingford, had been a mental health worker at the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust for 22 years before his death on May 10.

Alanzo Smith had been working at the mental health trust for more than two decades (Spurgeon Smith)

His twin brother, Spurgeon, described him as a happy and jolly man who loved his job, adding: He would go in even when he was off work, he was a dedicated worker.

 Dr Karamat Ullah Mirza, GP

Eighty-four-year-old Karamat Ullah Mirza had been seeing patients until two weeks ago.

His widow Estelle told the Clacton Gazette: He was no ordinary man, he was an extraordinary, exceptional and astonishing man, who was absolutely fearless and daring and had enormous knowledge.

He worked endlessly for the NHS and non-stop for this country.

 Phil Rennie, ambulance care assistant

Mr Rennie was a patient transport service care assistant who was extremely proud to work for North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), based in Oldham.

He died at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury on May 10.

 Resy Manalo, care worker

Resy Manalo (Handout/PA)

Filipino nurse Resy Manalo, 64, worked at County Homes in Birkenhead, Merseyside. She died in hospital on May 7.

Her daughter told PA: Even though she died a hero it was still hard to accept that she died alone under the worlds circumstances and not to even hug her for one last time.

 Augustine Agyei-Mensah, learning disabilities nurse

Augustine Agyei-Mensah, known to his colleagues as Gus, was a highly regarded team member at Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT).

Originally from Ghana, he was proud of his heritage and dedicated to his young family.

 Tariq Shafi, doctor

Dr Tariq Shafi was the greatly respected lead consultant for haematology for 13 years at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford. His death was announced on May 7.

Tariq built an amazing team of dedicated clinicians and support workers, placing them and his patients at the heart of everything he did, his trust said.

 Fiona Johnstone, hospital administration worker

Ms Johnstone worked at Biggart Hospital in Prestwick as part of the administration team. Colleagues said she was valued and highly regarded. Her death was announced on May 7.

 Onyenachi Obasi, nurse and health visitor

Onyenachi Obasi, 51, was living in Barking and Dagenham at the time of her death.

The family of Onyenachi Obasi paid tribute to her dedication to nursing (Family handout)

She was described by her family as an example of unconditional love and died on May 6, five weeks after being put on a ventilator.

Her niece, Ijeoma Uzoukwu, told the PA news agency: She loved her job, but that is what caused her to fall ill in the first place.

 Jennie Sablayan, haematology nurse

Ms Sablayan was described as a much-loved specialist who had trained in the Philippines before joining University College London Hospital in 2002. A GoFundMe, set up in her memory, said she died on May 5.

 Julie Edward, nurse

Ms Edward died on May 4 with coronavirus, according to a Go Fund Me page for her family, having worked at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading since 2017.

The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust commended her kindness and dedication to her job.

 Van Lang Hoang, patient transport driver

His death was announced by Barts Health NHS Trust on Monday May 4.

 Mark Woolcock, ambulance care assistant

Mr Woolcock was one of four members of Barts Health NHS Trust to die after contracting Covid-19. His death was announced by the trust.

 Dr Habibhai Babu, senior house officer

The doctor, known to colleagues as Babu, worked at Whipps Cross Hospital. His death was announced by Barts Health NHS Trust.

 Lalaine Lopez Pesario, care home worker

Lalaine Lopez Pesario was a care worker who died on May 3 with Covid-19.

Always smiling and laughing, she was a breath of fresh air. She will be dearly loved by the staff and the residents. We will miss her terribly, Yolanda Jones, director of Mumbles Nursing Home, said, according to ITV.

 Sue Cairns, care worker

The 58-year-old from Manston, Kent, died at Margates QEQM hospital on May 2, days after she developed a worrying cough and her condition worsened. She worked at a Kent care home for autistic adults with people she absolutely adored.

 Eleuterio Gibela, domestic services worker

The father of two, known by colleagues as Boy, died on Saturday May 2 after testing positive for the virus.

The 68-year-old and true gentlemanhad worked in domestic services at Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS Trust for nearly 20 years.

 Saad Al-Dubbaisi, GP

Dr Saad Al-Dubbaisi (NHS Bury CCG/PA)

Dr Al-Dubbaisi, a loving and kind GP from Bury who gave everything for the community, died on May 3 aged 59, after several weeks of illness with Covid-19.

Born in Iraq, Dr Al-Dubbaisi worked in the Greater Manchester town for almost 20 years, his daughter told the Bury Times.

 Mark Piggott, leadership team member

Father-of-two Mark Piggott was the head of capital projects and programmes at the Birmingham Womens and Childrens NHS Foundation Trust, a team based at the hospital, and had also worked for neighbouring trusts.

Described as a great family man, a loving husband and fantastic dad by his wife Julie, Mr Piggott died on May 1 having contracted coronavirus, according to the Health Service Journal.

Mark Piggott (Birmingham Womens and Childrens NHS Foundation Trust/PA)

 Afua Fofie, healthcare assistant

Afua Fofie is described as having an infectious laugh and willingness to go the extra mile for patients and those she worked with.

 Robert Black, paramedic

The 52-year-old paramedic had worked for the Scottish Ambulance Service for 28 years.

He died on May 2 with confirmed Covid-19 and was described as an absolute gem of a man.

 Ray Lever, domestic services assistant

Ray Lever, a domestic services assistant at the Northern General Hospital, was remembered by colleagues as a kind man and a doting grandfather. He died on May 1.

His daughters Rachel, Kathryn, and Rebecca said: Dad was the perfect dad and grandad and nothing was ever too much trouble for him if it meant helping someone else.

 Cecilia Fashanu, nurse

She was described by her family as our superwoman following her death.

She died at her workplace, Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, on April 30 after receiving critical care for a number of weeks.

The 63-year-old was employed as an agency nurse, covering shifts on a number of wards over the last two years.

 Dr Furqan Ali Siddiqui, doctor

NHS hero Dr Siddiqui died on April 30 while being treated for Covid-19, having worked at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester as a clinical fellow in its burns and plastics department.

 Gill Oakes, hospice nurse

Gill Oakes was a senior clinical support nurse at Bolton Hospice  she died on April 30 after contracting coronavirus.

Leigh Vallance, the chief executive at Bolton Hospice, said: She was a brilliant nurse who often helped new members of the team settle into their role at the hospice. We will always remember her kindness and her lovely smile.

 Philomina Cherian, nurse

(Joseph Varkey)

Philomina Cherian was a staff nurse and incredibly caring friend and colleague on the Acute Assessment Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. She died on April 30 due to Covid-19, aged 63.

 Mark Stanley, paramedic

Yorkshire Ambulance Service said two of its staff had died within three days after contracting coronavirus.

The first, 57-year-old Mark Stanley from North Yorkshire, died in hospital on April 30. Mr Stanleys friends said he was such a great bloke and extremely fit with no underlying health conditions.

Mark Stanley (Family handout/PA)

 Unnamed emergency medical technician for Yorkshire Ambulance Service

The second member of the Yorkshire Ambulance Service was an unnamed medical technician from West Yorkshire, who died in hospital on April 30.

Both colleagues worked tirelessly for many years serving their local communities and were married with families, the trust said in a statement.

 Suzanne Loverseed, care worker

Previously an ITU nurse, Ms Loverseed spent more recent years working in care homes.

In a blog post, her son Ian ONeal wrote: We might have had another twenty years with her; instead, we had to say goodbye via an ipad, unable to hold her hand.

 Momudou Dibba, hospital housekeeper



Momudou Mo Dibba (West Hertfordshire NHS Trust/PA)

Momudou  or Mo  Dibba worked on Watford General Hospitals Letchmore and Lengley wards. He died on April 29.

He would go above and beyond for everyone, organising staff leaving parties and supporting everyone in their roles. He will be sorely missed, West Hertfordshire NHS Trust said.

 Mike Brown, hospital linen porter

The well-recognised and popular hospital linen porter had worked for 20 years for University Hospital Southampton (UHS) before his death in the early hours of April 29.

Mike Brown had worked as a hospital porter for 20 years (Family handout/PA)

 Dr Nasir Khan

Married well-recognised and popular father-of-three Dr Nasir Khan would look for the slightest of excuses to help those in need, according to his son Mahad Ali Khan.

Dr Khan was a locum doctor working at Dewsbury and District Hospital, who died on April 29 after contracting Covid-19.

 Karen Hutton, care worker

The much-loved 58-year-old, who died on April 28 after testing positive for Covid-19, was employed as a staff nurse at Lochleven Care Home in Broughty Ferry, Dundee.

Karen Hutton died at home on April 28 (Thistle Healthcare/PA)

 Jermaine Wright, senior pharmacy technician

Mr Wright, 45, died on April 27 after contracting the virus, having most recently worked at the Royal Brompton Hospital.

Imperial College Healthcare Trust described him as an inspiration who saved countless lives.

Jermaine Wright was described as an inspiration to those who knew him (Family handout/PA)

 Kenneth Lambatan, cardiology research nurse

Mr Lambatan was just 33 years old when he died on April 27 after contracting Covid-19 and was an extraordinary person, son, brother, nurse, colleague and friend, according to a GoFundMe page posted in his memory.

St Georges Hospital, London, where he worked, said he was described as a true gem by those that knew him well.

 Anujkumar Kuttikkottu Pavithran, nurse

Known as Kumar to his colleagues, Mr Pavithran was a staff nurse at Pilgrim Hospital, Boston, where he was very well-liked according to a spokesman for his workplace. He died on April 27 having contracted Covid-19.

 Elma Cavalida, maternity assistant

The bubbly and friendly maternity assistant worked at Northwick Park Hospital and died on April 26 after contracting Covid-19.

She arrived in England 10 years ago from the Philippines according to a GoFundMe page set up by her husband.

 Julius Sana, healthcare support worker

Mr Sana, 40, fell ill with Covid-19 while working at a private hospital which cares for people with neurodegenerative diseases in Newport, South Wales. He died on April 26.

 Eileen Landers, cleaner

The hospital cleaner with a heart of gold died after contracting Covid-19 on April 26 at Queens Hospital in Burton-upon-Trent, where she had worked for the past 16 years.

Eileen Landers (University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust/PA)

 Fiona Anderson, nurse

The community staff nurse at Grindon Lane Primary Care Centre, Sunderland, devoted her life to helping others before she died on April 26 after testing positive for the virus.

Her family said she died doing what she loved, working for the NHS and caring for those in need.

 Jodon Gait, nurse

The 46-year-old had symptoms of Covid-19 before dying at home on April 25. He had been working for just over 12 months in the medical short stay unit at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, where he was described as a dedicated, passionate, caring colleague.

 Dr Martin Mansell, consultant nephrologist

The kidney specialist, a consultant nephrologist at St Peters Hospitals, Middlesex Hospital and Royal Free Hospital, London, died after contracting Covid-19, the Renal Association announced.

According to a social media tribute by his daughter, Dr Mansell died on April 24.

 Dr Paul Kabasele, eye doctor

Known for his warm, reassuring and generous nature, Mr Kabasele worked for a decade as part of the eye care team at Croydon University Hospital before he died having contracted Covid-19 on April 24.

Paul Kabasele was an eye doctor (Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)

 Adekunle Enitan, intensive care nurse

The kind and cheery father-of-two died in hospital on April 24 after being cared for by the team at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, with whom he had worked for five years.

 Janice Glassey, healthcare assistant

The much-loved 66-year-old, who worked in the out-of-hours district nursing service for Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in Halton, Cheshire, died on April 24 after contracting the virus, her employers said.

 Emelita Hurboda, nurse

A self-employed nurse in Nottingham, Ms Hurboda made sacrifices to work abroad and moved to the UK to provide a better life and education for her family.

 Tony Kabia, hospital security guard

Tony Kabia, a hospital security worker from Wythenshaw, Greater Manchester, took pride in his work and brightened everyones day, said health trust bosses. He died on April 23.

 Larni Zuniga, care home nurse

Mr Zuniga, who received his British citizenship in February, died on April 24 aged 54, at St Thomas Hospital in central London.

After arriving in the UK 12 years ago in a bid to make a better life for his family, according to a friend, he worked in the Surrey Hills care home in Godalming.

 Dr Vishna Rasiah, consultant neonatologist

Dr Vishna Rasiah, who worked as a clinical lead at Birmingham Womens and Childrens NHS Foundation Trust, died after contracting coronavirus, the trust announced on April 24.

His wife Liza said: He treated every patient and family he cared for as his own. I couldnt have been prouder of him.

Consultant neonatologist Dr Vishna Rasiah (Birmingham Women and Childrens NHS Foundation Trust)

 Dr Thomas Oelmann, clinician

The 57-year-old died after being admitted to hospital with a dissecting aortic aneurysm. He was also found to have Covid-19, and died on April 23, according to a statement from DHU Health Care.

Stephen Bateman, chief executive of DHU Health Care, said: Our thoughts are with Nenita, his partner, and his five brothers, sister and friends as they come to terms with their loss.

 Sharon Scanlon, care worker

The dedicated, hard-working 58-year-old, a member of Powys County Councils adult social care team in Mid Wales for four years, died of suspected Covid-19 on April 23. From Brecon, she was married and had two grown-up children and a granddaughter.

Sharon Scanlon was 58 (Powys County Council/PA)

 Eyitolami Olaolorun, paediatric nurse

The mother-of-fours death was announced by her family on April 23.

In a tribute on GoFundMe, her children said: She was an excellent paediatric nurse with 40 years of experience.

She was caring and compassionate towards all her patients and their families, so much so, that some of them have become part of our extended family.

 June Anderson, carer

Ms Anderson died on April 22 after contracting Covid-19, having worked for many years at James Dixon Court in Netherton, Merseyside, Sefton Council has confirmed.

 Mahadaye Jagroop, nurse

Also known as Mary, Ms Jagroop worked at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham, where she died after contracting Covid-19 on April 22.

Mary was a respected and loved member of our team and touched the lives of many in her distinguished career as a nurse, said Lisa Stalley-Green, chief nurse at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

 Angie Cunningham, nurse

Angie Cunningham provided amazing care as a nurse for 30 years before she died at Borders General Hospital, where she worked, on April 22.

In a joint statement with NHS Borders Trust chief executive Ralph Roberts, Ms Cunninghams family said: Angie was a much-loved wife, mother, sister, granny and great granny, as well as a friend to many more.

Angie Cunningham, an NHS Borders Trust nurse, died on April 22 (Family handout/PA)

 Katy Davis, nurse

The University of Southampton confirmed the death of Katy Davis, who worked in child health and was described by her colleagues as a nurse people would aspire to be like.

The 38-year-old had underlying health conditions and died on April 21 at Southampton General Hospital after testing positive for the virus.

 Melonie Mitchell, 111 worker

Ms Mitchells death was confirmed by the London Ambulance Service, where she worked. Chief executive Garrett Emmerson said she will be greatly missed.

 Medhat Atalla, consultant

The hugely popular and respected Dr Atalla died following treatment for coronavirus at Doncaster Royal Infirmary (DRI), where he worked as a consultant geriatrician, the hospital said.

He moved to Britain from Egypt about 20 years ago and his colleagues said he cared for elderly people on three continents, including across the north of England.

Dr Medhat Atalla died following treatment for Covid-19 at Doncaster Royal Infirmary (Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals/PA)

 Ian Reynolds, paramedic

Ian Reynolds, 53, had worked as a paramedic for more than 30 years, and for the last eight had been working as a member of the Selhurst Park pitch-side medical team.

Crystal Palace Football Club paid tribute to him and said he was a much-loved colleague and friend.

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 Ann Shepherd, counsellor

Ann Shepherd, who had worked at the Moir Medical Centre in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, for 26 years, died in hospital, the Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said.

The 80-year-old, from Leicester, had underlying health conditions before contracting coronavirus.

Tributes have been paid to Ann Shepherd, an honest and compassionate NHS mental health counsellor who died after contracting Covid-19 (PA)

 Sharon Bamford, care assistant

Sharon Bamford was described as a warm and caring healthcare assistant who worked on the haematology/oncology ward at Singleton Hospital in Swansea.

Her death on April 21 follows that of her husband Malcolm, who also died after contracting Covid-19. Their son, Christian, was admitted to hospital with the virus but has since been discharged.

 Graham Thorne, hospital maintenance worker

After contracting Covid-19 the quiet and friendly Mr Thorne died at his workplace of four years, Bedford Hospital, where he was a quiet and friendly member of the team according to Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

He died on April 20 according to the BBC, who spoke with his partner Debbie Cox.

 Charlie Goodwin, ambulance worker

The 61-year-old was described as an enormously respected member of the first4care ambulance service in Nottinghamshire. He spent 11 days in intensive care with Covid-19 before he died on April 20.

Mr Goodwin had been an ambulance worker for two decades, and his wife Julie said he wanted to help out and do his bit.

Charlie Goodwin (Daniel and Julie Goodwin/PA)

 Miharajiya Mohideen, adult care nurse

She had been working at Newham General Hospital for several years before contracting Covid-19. She spent 13 days in King George Hospital before her death.

Her son Javed wrote on a JustGiving page set up in her memory: I am hoping to raise 10,000 for a water well to be built either in Sierra Leone or Malawi, where this will act as an ongoing charity for her.

 Dr Yusuf Patel, GP and surgery founder

Father-of-three Dr Yusuf Patel, 61, founded Woodgrange Medical Practice in Newham, east London, where he worked as GP for over two decades before he died with coronavirus symptoms on April 20.

Dr Patels colleagues there have remembered him as a simple, humble and honest man who was the life and soul of any party.

(Newham Healthcare Collaborative)

 Grant Maganga, mental health nurse

Grant Maganga died on April 20 at Tameside Hospital after 11 years of nursing, most recently at Hurst Place in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester, a rehabilitation unit for men with severe mental illness and complex needs.

Grant was an exceptional nurse who cared deeply for his patients and lit up the room with his infectious smile and positive personality, said Clare Parker, director of nursing at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Mr Magangas unit.

 Kirsty Jones, healthcare support worker

The mother-of-two died after working for 24 years with NHS Lanarkshire, where she was described as a selfless and bright employee.

Her husband, Nigel, said: She was a wonderful wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend and nurse A void has opened in our hearts that will never be filled.

Kirsty Jones was described as larger than life itself (Family handout/PA)

 Sadeq Elhowsh, orthopaedic surgeon

The 58-year-old father of four worked for St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in Merseyside for 17 years.

His nephew Raeif, 32, said Mr Elhowsh was truly a great friend and an intelligent, kind-hearted, determined, cheerful and highly accomplished man.

 Sophie Fagan, carer support specialist

Described as an extraordinary woman who refused to retire, Sophie Fagan, 78, was well known at Homerton University Hospital and across Hackney, first qualifying as a nurse in 1966.

Paying tribute to her, Homerton chief executive Tracey Fletcher said: She refused to fully retire and, although she did reduce her hours, she was often to be found meeting relatives and supporting staff in the hospital when she wasnt due to be. Sophie wanted to make a difference and caring for the elderly was her passion.

 Craig Wakeham, GP

Dr Wakeham had been working as a GP for 30 years, and a message on the Cerne Abbas Surgery website said: He was also a leading light in both the Clinical Commissioning Group and Local Medical Committee, as well as a devoted husband and father to his two boys.

He had spent several days in hospital after contracting the virus.

 Ate Wilma Banaag, nurse

Nurse and mother of three Ate Wilma Banaag had worked at Watford General Hospital for almost two decades, since she arrived in the UK in January 2001.

A fundraiser, set up in her memory, said she was so hard-working up to her last working days when she contracted the virus.

 Ade Dickson, mental health nurse

Mr Dickson had been working in the Barnet Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team at the time of his death.

The Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust, which announced his death, said: Ade was a highly respected colleague who will be deeply missed by his family, friends, Trust staff and patients.

 Gerallt Davies, emergency consultant

On April 20, the 51-year-old, from Swansea, became the first paramedic in Wales to die after contacting coronavirus. He had worked for the Welsh Ambulance Service for 26 years.

 Manjeet Singh Riyat, emergency consultant

Mr Riyat, the first Sikh to work as an A&E consultant in the UK, died on April 20. He was known by his colleagues at the Royal Derby Hospital as the father of the emergency department.

Manjeet Riyat (University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust/PA)

 Joanne Klenczon, domestic supervisor

A 34-year-old domestic supervisor from Northampton General Hospital (NGH), Ms Klenzons death was announced by the trust on April 20.

Dr Sonia Swart, chief executive at the trust, said: Joanna Klenczon touched the lives of so many people at NGH and she will be missed by everyone who knew or worked with her.

 Chrissie Emerson, healthcare assistant

Ms Emerson was working at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Kings Lynn in Norfolk when she died after testing positive for Covid-19.

In a joint statement issued on April 20, Queen Elizabeth Hospital chief executive Caroline Shaw and chairman Professor Steve Barnett said: The whole family at QEH is deeply saddened at losing Chrissie Emerson, who was such a valued colleague, and much-loved wife to Michael and cherished mother and grandmother.

 Grace Kungwengwe, healthcare worker

The frontline worker and grandmother is described as a dedicated NHS worker, who loved her job and was actively working until she tested positive (for) Covid-19 on a fundraising page set up in her memory.

It said: She was loved by many and her dedication and care for others was second to none.

A fundraising page has been set up in Grace Kungwengwes memory (GoFundMe/PA)

 Edem Dzigbede, nurse

After a 30-year nursing career, Ms Dzigbede retired last year before returning to work on the respiratory ward at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Described on a GoFundMe page in her honour as a blessing to everyone she came across, she died on April 19.

 Donna Fitzgerald, care home manager

The 56-year-old worked at Amberley House care home in Plympton, Devon, in a job she loved so much, according to her family.

She died on April 18.

 Josephine Matseke (Manini), nurse

Josephine Masteke (Manini), also known as Josephine Peter, died on April 18 at Southport and Formby District General Hospital after testing positive for Covid-19.

She had been working at Southport on an agency contract since February and had been a nurse for 20 years. She was married with two children.

Josephine Matsekes colleagues and friends said they were devastated by her death (Family handout/PA)

 Rajesh Kalraiya, community paediatrician, and Mamoona Rana, trainee registrar in psychiatry

The North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT) confirmed the deaths of Drs Kalraiya and Rana, describing them as two highly valued and respected colleagues.

Dr Kalraiya was 68 and was working as a locum in Romford. Dr Rana was 49.

 Prem Lal, associate practitioner in histopathology

Ms Lal, who worked at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, died on April 19 after being treated by colleagues in the intensive care unit.

Her colleagues described her as a mother figure in the department.

 Keith Dunnington, nurse

Father-of-two Mr Dunnington was an agency nurse, working for Pulse Nursing at a number of health centres including Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust most recently, which said he was known for always having a positive outlook.

He died after contracting Covid-19, reportedly on April 19.

 Margaret Tapley, healthcare assistant

The phenomenal, committed, kind-hearted auxiliary nurse was still working night shifts when she died on April 19, at the age of 84.

Her grandson, Tom Wood, paid tribute to her and said she had inspired him to become a nurse himself.

Margaret Taplow was still working when she died (Family handout/PA)

 Patrick McManus, nurse

Mr McManus, 60, had worked as a nurse in Staffordshire for more than 40 years when he died after contracting Covid-19.

 Unnamed paramedic for North West Ambulance Service

The paramedic was married with children and had worked for the trust for a considerable number of years.

Chief executive Daren Mochrie said the death will deeply affect many people within the trust.

 Jenelyn Carter, healthcare assistant

Ms Carter worked on the admissions ward at Morriston Hospital and was well-loved by all her colleagues and patients, Swansea Bay University Health Board said.

 Michael Allieu, staff nurse

Homerton University Hospital NHS Trust confirmed that staff nurse Michael Allieu died on April 18 at Homerton Hospital.

 Dean McKee, care worker

The 28-year-old, who worked at St Vincents House care home in Hammersmith, died on April 7.

While the family had not been given official confirmation of his coronavirus diagnosis, they believe Mr McKee must have died of the illness and told PA that police let relatives go up to see him and they had to wear the full PPE in order to go in the small room that theyd set aside.

Queens Park Rangers fan Dean McKee (Queens Park Rangers)

 Sonya Kaygan, carer

The gentle, caring and kind-hearted 26-year-old died on April 17, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, who will be raised by Ms Kaygans mother, according to a GoFundMe page in her honour.

Ms Kaygan had been working for the agency Care UK, which had seen her work at various care homes, tending to work night shifts, according to her employer, to provide company for residents who do not sleep well.

 Khulisani (Khuli) Nkala, mental health nurse

Mr Nkala, 46, a well-respected and selfless professional nurse, who always put the patient first had been working as a charge nurse in the forensic services at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust before he died on April 17, after testing positive for Covid-19.

Colleagues described Khulisani Nkalaas as a compassionate gentleman (PA)

 Vivek Sharma, occupational therapist

The 58-year-old father-of-two died on April 17 after isolating since the end of March.

Described as a gentle soul who was kind and generous, he had been isolating from around the end of March as a vulnerable member of staff due to underlying health conditions, and became ill with coronavirus.

 Linda Clarke, community midwife

Wigan Today reported the death of Linda Clarke, a 66-year-old community midwife at Royal Albert Edward Infirmary on April 17.

 Ruben Munoz, nursing assistant

Ruben Munoz, a father of two and nursing assistant at Surrey and Sussex NHS Trust for a decade, died on April 17.

Ruben Munoz, a father of two and nursing assistant at Surrey and Sussex NHS Trust, died after contracting coronavirus (PA)

 Kamlesh Kumar Masson, doctor

Dr Masson, who died on April 16 aged 78, had worked in the NHS for 47 years. He founded the Milton Road Surgery in Grays, Essex, in 1985 and worked there until 2017, when he moved on to locum work.

 Andy Collier, nurse practitioner

Andy Collier, 53, a nurse practitioner at Hollins Park Hospital in Warrington, Cheshire, died on April 15, a spokesman for the North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said.

He was admitted to the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan after becoming seriously ill on March 31 and died with his wife Carol by his bedside.

 Dawn Marshall, support time recovery worker

Most recently at Quayside House in Oldbury, Ms Marshall had worked for the Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust for 10 years before her death on April 15. The trust said she was bubbly and always breaking out in song.

 Esther Akinsanya, nurse

The nurse and grandmother was working on the front line at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London before her death on the evening of April 15, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust confirmed.

Esther Akinsanya was working on the front line at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London before her death.

Ms Akinsanya, 55, had been a nurse for the NHS for more than 20 years along with her older sister, Mary Idowu, who has also been fighting Covid-19 and has been in a coma in recent weeks.

Her son Samuel told the PA news agency: My mother is an angel in human form.

She was a peoples person, always available to stretch herself thin to help in any way, shape or form. She would sacrifice to ensure you were whole, nothing was half-hearted.

 Barry England, leading operations manager

The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust confirmed Mr England died on April 16, having spent four days in hospital after testing positive for the virus.

A statement issued on behalf of his family said Mr England was extremely proud to have worked for the ambulance service for more than 33 years.

 Lourdes Campbell, healthcare assistant

Known as Des to her colleagues, the healthcare assistant was remembered as diligent and compassionate by the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.

In a statement on April 16, chief executive of the trust Fiona Noden said Ms Campbell died in the critical care unit at Royal Bolton Hospital after contracting the virus.

 Simon Guest, radiographer

A radiographer at Furness General Hospital, Mr Guest died on the evening of April 15. His wife Nicky described him as special, a true gentleman and a great role model to all.

 Jane Murphy, clinical support worker

Aged 73, Ms Murphy worked at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for almost 30 years, first as a cleaner before being retrained as a clinical support worker.

Jane would help anybody out, but would tell you if you were wrong, a friend said.

 Dr Krishan Arora, GP

Dr Krishan Arora was a senior partner at Violet Lane Medical Practice, and had been a GP in Croydon, south London, for 27 years. The 57-year-old died on April 15 after testing positive for the virus.

 Gladys Mujajati, also known as Gladys Nyemba, mental health nurse

The 46-year-old, who worked to support people in Derby, has been described as precious by science minister Amanda Solloway, and much-loved, warm and caring by her colleagues.

Ms Mujajati, who had an underlying health condition and had stepped away from work in recent weeks, died in hospital, the Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said.

Gladys Mujajati (Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust/PA)

 Amrik Bamotra, radiology support worker

Mr Bamotra, known to colleagues as Bob, was said to have treated everyone like his own family, and leaves behind a wife, daughter and son.

The 63-year-old had worked at the King George Hospital in Ilford, east London, for four years, and is suspected to have died from coronavirus. His death was announced on April 15.

 Andy Treble, theatre assistant

The 57-year-old, a theatre assistant at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital in North Wales, died on April 15 after testing positive for the disease.

His sister, Maria Molloy, described her brother  who had worked at the hospital for almost 40 years  as a kind man who dedicated his life to his profession and always had a smile on his face.

 Khalid Jamil, healthcare assistant

Mr Jamil, 57, died on April 14 after working in a ward caring for the elderly at Watford General Hospital, having joined West Hertfordshire NHS Trust in March 2006.

His daughter Sumaiyah Jamil, 22, told the Watford Observer her father was an NHS hero who lost his life to coronavirus but whose memories they will cherish forever.

Khalid Jamil (West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust/PA)

 Juliet Alder, healthcare assistant

The 58-year-old mother had worked at West London NHS Trust since 2016. She died on April 14 and was described by Carolyn Regan, trust chief executive, as kind, caring and thoughtful

 Patricia Crowhurst, care worker

A carer for more than 20 years, Ms Crowhurst died on April 14. Most recently she had worked as a healthcare assistant for a nursing agency, providing care at a number of homes on Teesside.

Her daughters told ITV News she was the most loving, affectionate woman that weve had the pleasure of being with.

 Linnette Cruz, dental nurse

The 51-year-old senior head nurse at the Brynteg dental practice in Sketty died on April 14 having been admitted with Covid-19 in March, according to NHS Wales.

Brynteg practice owner Nik Patel said: She brought love, light and joy to everyone around her and will be sadly missed by all.

Linnette Cruz, 51, died on April 14 (NHS Wales/PA)

 Steven Pearson, mental health nurse

Father-of-two Steven Pearson dedicated his life to mental health, said Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust, for whom he worked for 30 years helping vulnerable patients in the community.

A highly respected member of the team with a larger than life personality, he leaves his wife Anne, and their two daughters, Rebecca, 26, and Bethany, 20.

 Johanna Daniels, care home nurse

Originally from South Africa, the 67-year-old had been working in Pitkerro Care Centre, in Dundee, as a nurse. Said by friends to be incredibly kind-hearted, selfless and dedicated, she died on April 13 having fallen ill with Covid-19.

 Josiane Zauma Ebonja Ekoli, nurse

The mother-of-five was an agency nurse who lived in Leeds and worked at Harrogate Hospital. She died on April 13, aged 55.

Her daughter said: It meant everything to be a nurse, shes been doing it for as long as I remember  more than 30 years.

Josiane Zauma Ebonja Ekoli, an agency nurse at Harrogate District Hospital, died after contracting Covid-19 (Family handout/PA)

 Remigio Cabansag, housekeeper at a care home

Mr Cabansag had been working at Highbury New Park Care Home in London for almost eight years when he fell ill and died on April 12.

Bosses at the home paid tribute and said he was a hard worker who took great pride in keeping residents rooms clean and was always willing to go the extra mile.

 Barbara Sage, Marie Curie nurse

The 68-year-old, from Bromley in south London, died in intensive care on April 12 after spending more than 40 years working in palliative care, and the last 14 years with Marie Curie.

Barbara Sage (Marie Curie/PA)

 Rahima Bibi Sidhanee, care home staff

Rahima Bibi Sidhanee, who worked at Grennell Lodge Nursing Home in Sutton, south London, for more than 30 years, died in hospital on April 12 after contracting Covid-19.

 Dr Peter Tun, associate specialist

The father-of-two worked as an associate specialist in neurorehabilitation at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading for more than 21 years.

The 62-year-old, who died in the intensive care unit at the hospital on April 12, was called a superhero dad by his two sons in a tribute.

Dr Peter Tun was remembered as a superhero dad by his children (Family handout/PA)

 Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, nurse

Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong died on April 12 after testing positive for Covid-19 earlier in the month.

David Carter, chief executive at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: Mary worked here for five years and was a highly valued and loved member of our team, a fantastic nurse and a great example of what we stand for in this trust.

 Cheryl Williams, ward housekeeper

Housekeeper Cheryl Williams, who died after contracting Covid-19 (Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust/PA)

North Middlesex University Hospital said Ms Williams would be remembered as a much-loved colleague.

Ms Williams, who worked as a housekeeper on an elderly patient ward at the hospital in Edmonton, north London, died on April 12.

 Maureen Ellington, healthcare assistant

Grandmother Mrs Ellington, who was in her early 60s would light up any room she entered, worked at Southmead Hospital in Bristol and died on April 12, having worked for the NHS for more than 25 years

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 Leilani Medel, nurse

Mrs Medel, who worked as an agency nurse in South Wales, was described as a wonderful and caring person. Her employer, Cardiff-based Hoop Recruitment, said: The nursing profession has lost a warm-natured and beautiful nurse who cared for so many vulnerable people during her nursing career.

 Amarante Dias, hospital worker

Amarante Dias, who worked at the Weston General Hospital in north Somerset, was described as a valued and much-loved colleague who would be greatly missed.

 Melujean Ballesteros, nurse

The dedicated and very caring Filipino nurse, 60, died at St Marys Hospital in Paddington, London, on April 12, just two days after being admitted.

 Kevin Smith, plaster technician

Plaster technician Kevin Smith, who died after contracting Covid-19 (Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust/PA)

Doncaster Royal Infirmary confirmed the death of plaster technician Kevin Smith on April 12, following a brief, but courageous, battle with Covid-19.

He worked at the hospital for more than 35 years and was renowned for his warm personality, diligence and compassion, the trust said.

 Oscar King Jr, hospital porter

Oscar King Jr, a Filipino porter at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, died on April 11, aged 45. He was said to have worked for the hospital for more than a decade, always doing his job with great enthusiasm and joy.

 Elbert Rico, hospital porter

A colleague of Oscar King Jr at John Radcliffe, Mr Rico worked as a porter there since moving to the UK from the Philippines in 2004 and loved the work that he did, according to a fundraising page published by his family.

 Gareth Roberts, nurse

The death of the extremely popular Mr Roberts, who came out of retirement in 2015 having worked since the 1980s, was confirmed by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board on April 11.

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 Mandy Siddorn, pharmacy checking technician

Described by colleagues at Swettenham Chemists as a loyal, hardworking and dedicated friend, Ms Siddorn was a registered checking technician, the highest ranked non-pharmacist role.

 Donna Campbell, healthcare support worker

Described by colleagues as beautiful and kind-hearted, the healthcare support worker from the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff died at the University Hospital of Wales on April 10.

 Sara Dee Trollope, nurse

A 51-year-old matron for older adult mental health services in Hillingdon, west London, Mrs Trollope died at Watford General Hospital on April 10 after testing positive for the virus.

The mother-of-four was described as an example to every one of us by her daughter.

Sara Dee Trollope with Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Family handout/PA)

 Brian Darlington, porter

Mr Darlington, a porter with Mid Cheshire Hospitals, was known for handing out sweets to his colleagues. He died on April 10, aged 68.

His wife of 46 years, Ava, said: He was dedicated to the trust, and as a family we are grateful for and appreciative of all of the kind words and messages we have seen and received.

 Julie Omar, nurse

The trauma and orthopaedics nurse at Redditchs Alexandra Hospital in Worcestershire died at home while self-isolating with symptoms on April 10. She was 52.

 Amor Gatinao, nurse

The nurse is reported to have died on the morning of April 10, having worked at St Charles Hospital, west London.

 Andy Costa, ward administrator

Mr Costa was one of the longest-serving members of staff at a mental health centre in London, having worked for 26 years in the NHS, most recently as a ward administrator at Highgate Mental Health Centre in north London.

The NHS trust paid tribute to his diligence and loyalty after he died on April 9.

The trust paid tribute to Andy Costas diligence and loyalty (Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust)

 Abdul Gellaledin, ambulance care assistant

Colleagues of Mr Gellaledin, who worked for Falck Ambulance UK helping to transport patients to and from Kingston Hospital, held a two-minute silence for him following his death earlier in April.

 Mick Gallagher, agency care worker



The 34-year-old had been working night shifts in a care home near Glasgow and was training to be a nurse at the time of his death on April 9.

He had just moved in with his partner John when he was diagnosed with the virus. He died suddenly, with John by his side.

John told Channel 4: His last words were that he was scared, and I was scared too but I was there for him.

And then he told me that he loved me and I said it to him as well, that I loved him and that we were going to get through it.

 Aimee ORourke, nurse

The 39-year-old nurse and mother died at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, Kent, where she worked, on April 9.

 Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, consultant urologist

The 53-year-old wrote a Facebook post asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson to urgently provide every NHS worker with personal protective equipment just five days before he died on the night of April 8.

Doctor Abdul Mabud Chowdhury (Golam Rahat Khan/PA)

 Dr Edmond Adedeji, doctor

The 62-year-old worked as a locum registrar in the emergency department of Great Western Hospital in Swindon, Wiltshire, and died doing a job he loved on April 8.

 Fayez Ayache, GP

The 76-year-old general practitioner and grandfather died in Ipswich Hospital on April 8, having been diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia and coronavirus.

 Elsie Sazuze, care home nurse

Mrs Sazuze, who worked for Wolverhampton-based agency Totallycare, died on April 7 at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, according to the BBC, who spoke to her husband, Ken.

 Leilani Dayrit, nurse

Leilani Dayrit was a nurse at St Cross Hospital in Rugby (Handout/PA)

Described as a ray of sunshine, Ms Dayrit, a Filipino nurse who worked at St Cross Hospital in Rugby, died on April 7.

 Donald Suelto, nurse

The 51-year-old, who worked at Hammersmith Hospital in west London, died on April 7 after going into self-isolation with coronavirus symptoms.

 Alice Kit Tak Ong, nurse

The 70-year-old, originally from Hong Kong, died on April 7 after 44 years of working for the NHS. She was described by her daughter, Melissa, as generous to everyone else before herself.

Alice Ong with her daughter Melissa (Melissa Ong/PA)

 Janice Graham, nurse

The 58-year-old healthcare support worker from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde became the first nurse in Scotland to die as a result of the coronavirus pandemic on April 6.

 Syed Zishan Haider, GP

The 79-year-old family doctor, known as Zishan by colleagues at Barking and Dagenham CCG  where he worked for more than three decades, died in hospital on April 6 after testing positive for coronavirus.

The CCG chair Dr Jagan John said: Dr Haider was a selfless man who loved his patients, and this is a tragic loss to our GP community.

 Barbara Moore, patient discharge planner

Barbara Moore, 54, was a patient discharge planner at Aintree University Hospital (Liverpool University Hospitals/PA)

Described as an unsung hero, the 54-year-old grandmother died on April 6, the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said.

 Dr Alfa Saadu, doctor

The 68-year-old, who had returned to work from retirement, died on April 6 at the Whittington Hospital in north London.

 Jitendra Rathod, surgeon

A highly regarded associate specialist in cardiothoracic surgery at the University Hospital of Wales, Mr Rathod died on the morning of April 6.

Surgeon Jitendra Rathod died in Cardiff after testing positive for Covid-19 (Cardiff and Vale University Health Board/PA)

 Lynsay Coventry, midwife

Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, announced the death of the 54-year-old  the first involving a serving NHS midwife after testing positive for the virus  on April 5.

 Emily Perugia, care worker

A care co-ordinator in Hillingdon, north-west London, Ms Perugia was just 29 at the time of her death, which was confirmed on April 5.

She was described by a colleague as a lovely woman, who never said no to any requests. Ms Perugias mother, sister, brother and fiance all work for the same NHS trust as her.

 Ibilola Aladejana, hospital receptionist

Known as Lola, the much-loved Mrs Aladejana was an agency worker who had been at University College Hospital for four years, most recently as a receptionist.

The mother-of-three died on April 4 due to complications of Covid-19, according to a GoFundMe page set up by her husband Ayodele Aladejana.

 Catherine Sweeney, care home worker

Ms Sweeney died on April 4 while being cared for at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. In a statement released through the GMB union, her family said she was a wonderful mother, sister, and beloved aunty.

 Glen Corbin, nurse

The 59-year-old had worked at the Park Royal Centre for Mental Health in Harlesden, north-west London, for more than 25 years and his employer, the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, announced his death on April 4.

 Rebecca Mack, nurse

The 29-year-old died on April 5, after going into self-isolation with symptoms. Her friend, Sarah Bredin-Kemp, said she was an incredible nurse.

 Liz Glanister, nurse

Staff nurse Liz Glanister (Family handout/PA)

Aintree University Hospital said the staff nurse died on April 3, with her family describing their loss as simply beyond words.

 Dr Anton Sebastianpillai, consultant

The consultant geriatrician died on April 4, four days after being admitted to the intensive care unit and two weeks after completing his final shift on March 20, according to Kingston Hospital in south-west London.

 Elvira Bucu, healthcare assistant

Ms Bucu, based at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, died on April 3.

A statement from Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust said her colleagues described her as a ray of sunshine.

 Amanda Forde, GP receptionist

In a statement on its website, Vale Practice in Crouch End, north London, paid tribute to the beautiful, caring receptionist, who died on April 3 having contracted Covid-19.

 John Alagos, nurse

The Mail On Sunday reported that the 27-year-old nurse, who treated coronavirus patients at Watford General Hospital, died after a shift on April 3.

 Areema Nasreen, nurse

Ms Nasreen, 36, died on April 2 in intensive care at Walsall Manor Hospital in the West Midlands, where she had worked for 16 years.

 Professor Mohamed Sami Shousha, researcher

The 79-year-old, who had worked at UK cancer research laboratories at Londons Hammersmith and Charing Cross hospitals since 1978, died on April 2.

His nephew, Abdelrahman Shousha, said his uncle returned to work to help fight the virus despite his age, adding: My uncle was characterised by his humbleness, virtue and his adamancy to help and serve, whether it be his family, friends, his colleagues or his students.

 Carol Jamabo, care worker

Mother-of-two Ms Jamabo, 56, is believed to have been the first care worker who died after contracting Covid-19 to be identified publicly.

The care worker with Cherish Elderly Care in Bury, Greater Manchester, died on April 1, according to a GoFundMe page established to support her family.

Care worker Carol Jamabo (centre), with her sons Tonye Selema and Abiye Selema (Family handout/PA)

 Thomas Harvey, nurse

The healthcare assistant, a father-of-seven who worked at Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford, east London, died at home on March 29, aged 57.

 Dr Amged El-Hawrani, consultant

Dr El-Hawrani was an ear, nose and throat consultant with University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust. He died at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester on March 28, aged 55.

Amged El-Hawrani, was the first frontline NHS hospital worker to die after testing positive for coronavirus, according to NHS England (University Hospitals Derby and Burton/PA)

 Pooja Sharma, pharmacist

Ms Sharma, a pharmacist at Eastbourne District General Hospital, died unexpectedly on March 26, according to a JustGiving page created in her memory.

 Dr Habib Zaidi, doctor

The GP in Leigh-on-Sea died in intensive care at Southend Hospital, Essex, on March 25, aged 76.

Dr Habib Zaidi, 76, was a GP in Leigh-on-Sea for more than 47 years (NHS Southend/PA)

 Dr Adil El Tayar, transplant surgeon

The 63-year-old died at West Middlesex University Hospital in Isleworth, west London, on March 25. He had been working as a locum surgeon.

 Charles Kwame Tanor, mental health worker

The 39-year-old had been working night shifts at Eden Place Mental Health Nursing Home in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, before he died on March 11.

Charles Kwame Tanor, right, with partner Prudence King (Family handout/PA)

Mr Tanors partner Prudence King, his four-year-old son Charles and 12-year-old stepson said they are devastated by his death.
Six years after having fled Syria, a social worker has announced his candidacy to represent the Green Party in Germanys Bundestag parliament, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Social worker Tareq Alaows has launched an electoral campaign this week, becoming the first ever Syrian refugee to run for Germanys parliament.

The 31-year-old announced his candidacy for the Bundestag on Tuesday, nearly six years after he fled from Syria because of the brutal conflict there.

Alaows is hoping to represent the Green Party in Germanys Bundestag parliament.

In Germany, [North Rhine-Westphalia] is my home, Alaows said in a campaign video.

Right here in my constituency in Oberhausen and Dinslaken was the beginning of my political work, he added.

The former law student arrived in Germany in 2015 after two months of gruelling travel alongside thousands of other refugees.

He began his first political campaign shortly afterwards, pushing for better housing and social support for refugees like himself after being alarmed by the state of living conditions for migrants in Germany.

Alaows learned German in just six months, later training to become a social worker and offering legal counseling to refugees.

He now hopes to bring that advocacy to a national stage and be the voice of all refugees in Germany, home to more than a million refugees and asylum seekers, over half of whom are Syrian.

As the first Syrian refugee in the Bundestag, I want to give a political voice to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been forced to flee and who live with us, Alaows was quoted as saying by Deutsche Welle.

The 31-year-old hopes to draw attention to the links between climate change and forced migration by running on the Green Party ticket.

The climate crisis will further aggravate the situation of people in the global south. This is why a fair climate policy must focus on refugees and migration, Alaows said in his campaign video, which he posted on Twitter.

The United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) predicts that millions of people could become refugees due to climate change by 2050.

Forecasts vary between 25 million and one billion climate refugees, with 200 million being the most frequently cited figure.

Separately, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification has predicted that desertification alone could displace 135 million people by 2045.

Around 26 million people are already forced to flee their homes every year due to natural disasters such as floods and storms, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.

The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Philadelphia firefighter Ian Baker (center), along with fellow firefighters and medics from Engine Company 20, Ladder 23, and Medic 1, clear the driveway in front of their station house in Chinatown on Jan. 31. A winter storm brought much of the city and the northeastern U.S. to a standstill.
The UN Security Council on Thursday instructed Secretary General Antonio Guterres to deploy ceasefire monitors to war-torn Libya.

"As they examine your recommendation for an amended mandate for the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), the members of the Security Council request that you establish and deploy swiftly an advance team to Libya," the council said in a letter to Guterres that was seen by AFP.

Libya has been torn by civil war since a NATO-backed uprising led to the ouster and killing of long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

Control of the country is now split between the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and its rival, the eastern-based House of Representatives backed by Libyan National Army (LNA) lead by Khalifa Haftar, who launched a failed offensive to seize the capital in 2019.

A fragile ceasefire agreed in Geneva in October has largely held, despite threats by Haftar to resume fighting.

In the letter, the council said it expected within 45 days to receive reporting on preparations undertaken by the advance team and practical proposals for amending the mandate of the UN mission in Libya.

In a report late last year, Guterres called for the creation of an unarmed observer group for Libya, made up of civilians and retired military people from countries of the African Union, the European Union and the Arab League. He did not say how big it should be.

- Foreign fighters -

Deployment of ceasefire observers is being carried out with the approval of the parties in Libya.

The advance team of the observer force is expected to comprise around 30 people, diplomats said.

Under the ceasefire agreement reached by the warring parties, international observers are supposed to monitor the truce and oversee the departure of foreign fighters from Libya.

These number some 20,000, the UN says.

According to the UN, LNA forces has the backing of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia.The GNA is supported by Turkey and Syrian rebels transferred to Libya.

Mercenaries in Libya include several thousand each from Syria and Sudan and a thousand from Chad, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

In late January, the United States under new President Joe Biden called for the immediate withdrawal of Russian and Turkish forces from Libya, after a deadline for them to leave was ignored.

Russia denies having any military personnel in Libya.

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"NFW is pioneering an entirely new system that will enable humanity to break our addiction to synthetic plastics in major global industries. Making our clothes, shoes, furniture, and automobiles from plants grown by regenerative agriculture is the future," said Founder and CEO Dr. Luke Haverhals.

Natural Fiber Welding, Inc. (NFW) today announced 110,000 square feet of new manufacturing space for production of their Mirum plant-based leather. This expansion more than doubles the Peoria startups manufacturing footprint. The company will eventually produce 10s of millions of square feet of Mirum per year for global brand partners within this new space. The new facility in the SC2 Logistics building at 801 West Jefferson Avenue in the downtown area of Peoria, will also house some Mirum business and R&D functions.

Over the last two years weve been collaborating with a substantial number of brands who are ready to bring Mirum into the marketplace, said Oihana Elizalde, Vice President at NFW and head of the Mirum business unit. Weve shown that Mirum can perform like conventional leather in several key segments including fashion, footwear, and automotive -- but without any plastic resins, glues, or coatings other plant-based alternatives rely on. Mirum debuted in the wild earlier this month on the new plant-based pouch line by Bellroy. NFW has launched a patch and trim collection through certified converter Medike-Landes and will announce more partners throughout 2021. Its first market-wide SKUs for accessories will be available this Spring.

This manufacturing facility provides NFW with exceptional capabilities and positions Peoria to become a national textile technology hub, said Tom Waggoner, Chief Operating Officer for NFW. The SW Jefferson site provides exceptional value for NFW while also supporting the effort to bring employment opportunities to the most challenged areas of our community, he said.

Im encouraged and excited to see NFW come to the First District, said Peoria Councilwoman Denise Moore. Theres a lot of talent and tenacity in the people of my district, said Moore, and were ready to welcome NFW as a potential employer and also as our neighbor and partner in revitalizing our downtown.

Founded in 2015, NFW has deep roots in Peoria. Founder and CEO, Dr. Luke Haverhals conducted initial academic chemistry research on the companys fiber welding technologies that enable ClarusTM fabrics first at the United States Naval Academy and then on the Bradley University campus as an Assistant Professor in the Mund-Lagowski Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. The company first resided in the Peoria Next Innovation Center. In 2018, NFW graduated to its Galena Road headquarters with, at that time, 30 full time employees. NFW currently has approximately 80 employees and is continuing its rapid expansion.

This is an exciting step for NFW as we are now firmly in the commercialization and scaling phase of our company, said Founder and CEO Dr. Luke Haverhals. NFW is scaling multiple pluripotent manufacturing platforms that produce highly tunable performance materials using abundant natural raw inputs. NFW is pioneering an entirely new system that will enable humanity to break our addiction to synthetic plastics in major global industries. Making our clothes, shoes, furniture, and automobiles from plants grown by regenerative agriculture is the future.

To learn more about Natural Fiber Welding and to find out how to join the team, please visit: https://naturalfiberwelding.com/

About NFW

NFW is a company dedicated to revolutionizing the materials industry. We develop technologies based on the sustainable use of plants and natural fibers for more beautiful durable goods and textiles. Our technologies broaden the spectrum of natural capabilities for application in the textile industry and beyond.

At NFW, our mission is to be stewards of material abundance, helping all of humanity prosper with less conflict over finite resources. We design with efficient supply chains that make use of renewable resources and waste materials. Using NFWs scientific breakthroughs, we enable natural fibers like cotton, flax, silk, wool, and other abundant renewable resources to interact at the molecular level and unlock performance previously only possible using synthetics from fossil resources.

We believe the best way to serve people is to respect each other while taking care of our shared environments; so we are building scalable technologies designed to have a positive global impact by using less resources to produce.

NFW was founded in 2015 and is based in Peoria, Illinois.
International Press Centre (IPC)

The International Press Centre is deeply worried about the grave threats posed against investigative journalist Ibanga Isine and are calling on the Nigerian government to take measures to ensure that his safety is prioritised.

This statement was originally published on ipcng.org on 1 February 2021.

The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos-Nigeria is greatly concerned about reported threats on the life of Investigative Journalist and Editor of the Next Edition, Mr. Ibanga Isine.

Mr. Isine himself confirmed the worrisome development to the Safety Alert Desk of IPC, saying that he was forced to abandon his home after the death threats became intolerable. He believes his ordeal is directly connected with the reports on massacres in the south of Kaduna State-Nigeria by his investigative online news medium.

"I have been investigating the Southern Kaduna killings for months now, and I have just recently published the last part in a four-part series on the bloody attacks in the zone. In the course of the investigation, two of my sources have been attacked, one was killed along with his son three months after he said he was afraid for his life. Another source escaped being killed and his neighbours paid dearly when the killers didn't find him," he alleged.

He also cited as evidence of the threat the fact that there has been unusual activity on his phone, including it suddenly lighting up at night without being touched and the inability to disconnect, switch off or restart the phone for several minutes after calls.

IPC is deeply worried about the situation of the journalist and hereby calls on the Nigerian government and the security agencies to ensure that Isine is not harmed in any way.

IPC enjoins anyone who may be aggrieved over the reports by the journalist to seek redress through legal channels instead of attempting to resort to extra-judicial action.

IPC therefore appeals to other national, regional and international media freedom groups, freedom of expression organisations and human rights bodies to join in the clamour for his safety.

IPC believes the time has come to stop attacks of journalists in Nigeria so that the country may stop being counted among dangerous zones for journalists in which to practice.
A former officer of the Indian Army who fought the 1971 war against Pakistan as a company commander with 14 Grenadiers and was injured and captured by the adversary during a battle in Jammu and Kashmir was on Thursday honoured with a symbolic torch for his valour in that war.

Army officials said Brig (retd) Hamir Singh, a Veer Chakra recipient, was given the 'Vijay Mashal' -- a symbolic torch -- at a ceremony held in Jaipur as part of India's Swarnim Vijay Varsh celebrations to mark golden jubilee of the victory against Pakistan in the 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh.

"Brig (retd) Hamir Singh is a third-generation army officer. Commissioned in the Grenadiers Regiment in December 1962, he fought the 1971 War as a Company Commander with 14 Grenadiers," a senior official said.

During the furious battle at Daruchhian in Jammu and Kashmir, he was severely wounded and captured as a Prisoner of War (PoW), the Indian Army said in a statement.

"He spent a year as a PoW and was later repatriated to India. For his bravery during the attack on Daruchhian, he was awarded the Vir Chakra," it said.

Brig Hamir Singh belongs to an illustrious family which has rendered military services. He belongs to Bhagwanpura village in Nagaur district, Rajasthan. His brother Col Pushpendra Singh commanded 8 Cavalry, officials said.During his service, he had been an instructor in the Nigerian Defence Academy, commanded an infantry battalion and an infantry brigade. He had aslo been the Centre Commandant of the Grenadiers Regimental Centre. He retired in September 1992, the Army said.

Brig Singh's gandfather, Lt Phool Singh was an officer in the Jodhpur Lancers and saw action in the First World War, it said.Brig Hamir Singh's father, Maj Gen Kalyan Singh, was an artillery officer commissioned in 2nd Field Regiment. During the Second World War, as a captain he was captured by the Germans in North Africa along with then Maj P P Kumarmangalam.

Brig Singh's both sons are serving as major generals in the Indian Army. Having commanded their respective divisions, they are now serving on staff. His grandson is a Gentlemen Cadet undergoing training, the statement said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 16 last year had lit the 'Swarnim Vijay Mashaal' from the eternal flame of the National War Memorial here, marking the beginning of the 50th anniversary year celebrations of India's victory over Pakistan in 1971.As December 16 marks the anniversary of the military victory, the nation will celebrate 'Swarnim Vijay Varsh' (golden victory year) through several events across the country, and it will continue for a year.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)

BEIJING, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Unit 5 of China's Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant, the world's first Demonstration project to adopt China's indigenous Generation III nuclear power technology Hualong One, also known as HPR1000, was put into commercial operation, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced on Jan. 30th.

The success marks a milestone for the development of China's nuclear power, making China the fourth country to master its indigenous Generation III nuclear power technology following the US, France and Russia.

Hualong One is CNNC's Generation III nuclear power technology with complete independent intellectual property rights, developed and designed by the corporation on the basis of more than 30 years of nuclear power research, design, manufacturing, construction and operation experiences.

Yu Jianfeng, chairman of CNNC, said that the corporation will accelerate the progress of mass constructing Hualong One reactors and developing new series technologies in a bid to promote the Hualong One to export and achieve the target of carbon neutrality.

Since the start of construction on the world's first Hualong One reactor, the project has progressed as planned and the safety and quality of it have been well under control.

With a design life of 60 years, Hualong One reactor adopts a 177-reactor core design that refueling the fuel every 18 months. It innovatively uses a combination of "active and passive" safety systems and a double-shell containment, which meets the latest international nuclear safety requirements.

The installed capacity of each Hualong One unit reaches nearly 1200 MWe, and each unit is able to generate nearly 10 billion kWh of electricity annually, meeting the demand of 1 million population within a moderately developed country.

The electricity generated by a Hualong One unit is an equivalent to reducing the consumption of 3.12 million tons of standard coal and emission of 8.16 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, as well as an equivalent to plantation of over 70 million trees annually.

Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1429874/reactor_in_commercial.mp4

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Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

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Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

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42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

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US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

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Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

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Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

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Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

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Nay Pyi Taw, Feb 4 : Following the coup earlier this week, Myanmar's State Administration Council, led by Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Gen Min Aung Hlaing, held meetings with union ministers.

Wednesday's meeting was attended by members of the council, newly-appointed ministers and officials in the capital city of Nay Pyi Taw, reports Xinhua news agency.

Speaking at the meeting, Min Aung Hlaing said that the move of declaration of the State of Emergency on Monday came after the failed request of the military to solve possible voter list fraud in the general elections held in November 2020 despite the expectation of the military for correct voter lists in accordance with the law.

He explained that the recent appointment of union ministers and officials to the union-level organisations was made on the basis of their experiences and qualifications for further implementation of work during the state of emergency.

The State Administration Council added five more members late Wednesday.

The newly-formed council also announced appointments of new union ministers for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Transport and Communications, Commence and Ethnic Affairs.

New ministers were appointed for 11 ministries on Monday while 24 deputy ministers were removed from their posts.

Min Aung Hlaing reaffirmed that the military would not change policies of the country in the sectors of foreign affairs, administration and economy as well as the ongoing political roadmap during the period of the state of emergency.

Myanmar held multi-party general elections on Nov. 8, 2020 and the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) won the majority of seats in both Houses of the Union Parliament.

The electoral processes were carried out in line with the law, according to the Union Election Commission.

Myanmar declared a one-year state of emergency and the legislative, executive and judicial powers were handed over to the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services on Monday.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Two women accused of kidnapping a woman, stabbing her and stowing her in the boot of a car have been denied bail, as police investigate whether the incident was related to a personal dispute.

Kayley Ketley, 24, and Latia Henderson, 18, were hit with a slew of charges on Wednesday night after police pulled over a Holden Commodore near Berrima in the Southern Highlands and found Nisha Phillips, 24, in the boot.

Latia Henderson and Kayley Ketley have been charged over the alleged kidnapping. Credit:Facebook

Passing drivers had alerted authorities by calling triple zero after spotting a hand hanging out of a hole in the boot, created by a missing tail-light.

Ms Phillips was suffering from multiple stab wounds to her knee, thigh and forearm.

According to a news released by the Russian Federal Bureau of Statistics on February 1, according to preliminary assessments, Russia GDP in 2020 will decline by 3.1%. The document states: "According to preliminary assessments, Russia total GDP in 2020 will reach 106.606 trillion rubles (about 1400.8 billion US dollars)."

According to the report, the preliminary assessment data of Russia GDP decline is better than the 3.9% decline officially predicted by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development. Russian Minister of Economic Development Reshetnikov stated at the end of December that the economic downturn may reach 3.8%.

Affected by the Russia GDP in 2020 decline by 3.1%, the tantalum diboride market is changing rapidly. These changes are indicators of market growth. This year-on-year upward trend in the market indicates that the next February 2021-2026 will show an oval but steady growth. If you are looking for tantalum diboride or buy tantalum diboride in bulk, please send an email to: sales1@nanotrun.com.

The price of tantalum diboride continues to be affected by factors such as market growth momentum, various opportunities and challenges. However, during the forecast period from 2020 to 2026, the global tantalum diboride sales market is expected to continue to be above average. The growth rate will continue to increase. It is expected that from today to next week, the price of tantalum diboride will drop to a certain extent.

Due to changes in consumer demand, import and export conditions, and various investigations on the development of tantalum diboride, the cost of tantalum diboride is constantly changing. Taking into account the current market macroeconomic parameters, value chain analysis, channel partners, demand and supply, the cost of tantalum diboride will also be affected to a certain extent. It is estimated that the cost of tantalum diboride will drop slightly from today to next week.

And, TRUNNANO provides high purity tantalum diboride with reasonable price. In order to feedback to old customers, the company is still in full operations to provide tantalum diboride with competitive price. said Olina, sales manager of TRUNNANO.

About TRUNNANO

TRUNNANO (aka. Luoyang Tongrun Nano Technology Co. Ltd.) is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12 years experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and Nanomaterials. As a leading nanotechnology development and tantalum diboride manufacturer, Luoyang Tongrun dominates the market. Our professional work team provides perfect solutions to help improve the efficiency of various industries, create value, and easily cope with various challenges. If you are looking for tantalum diboride, please send an email to: sales1@nanotrun.com.

OR go to the following link: nanotrun.com
Story Highlights 42% of managers strongly agree that they are prepared to talk about race

Less than half of managers report having received diversity training

Managers who have received training are more prepared for conversations

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- About four in 10 U.S. managers (42%) strongly agree that they are prepared to have meaningful conversations about race and equality with their teams, which means the majority feel less than fully prepared. This shortfall is evident among U.S. managers regardless of their race, age or gender.

However, according to the recent Gallup Panel study of managers, those who strongly agree that their organization is committed to improving racial justice and equality in the workplace are more than three times as likely to express preparedness for these conversations (73%) as managers who do not strongly agree that their organization is committed to improving racial justice (21%).

Managers' Preparedness to Discuss Issues of Race With Their Teams I feel prepared to have meaningful conversations about race and equality with my team(s). Strongly agree % Among all U.S. managers 42 Among managers who strongly agree their organization is committed to improving racial equality 73 Among managers who do not strongly agree their organization is committed to improving racial equality 21 Gallup Panel, Nov. 6-Dec. 1, 2020

Underscoring these findings, research from Boston Consulting Group reveals the importance of managers' role in connecting employees with their organization's commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Managers Who Receive Training Much More Prepared for Conversations on Race

Less than half of managers (41%) report having attended a training or education program focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, racism, racial justice or a similar topic, a similar rate among U.S. employees at large (42%).

Meanwhile, 38% of managers say they have attended a town hall, a listening session, or a team or company-wide meeting focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, racism or racial justice. A similar percentage of employees overall have attended this kind of town hall (35%).

U.S. Managers' and Employees' Reports of Attending Training or Town Halls on Racial Issues Have you participated in each of the following in the past six months? (% Yes) U.S. managers U.S. employees % % A training or education program focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, racism, racial justice or a similar topic 41 42 A town hall, listening session or team/companywide meeting focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, racism or racial justice 38 35 Gallup Panel, Nov. 6-Dec. 1, 2020

Employees in larger companies -- those with 100 or more associates -- are more likely than those in smaller organizations to have received training and attended town halls or listening sessions.

Such training is key to managers' preparedness to have these important conversations. A majority of managers who report having attended a training or education program on racial issues strongly agree that they feel prepared to have meaningful conversations about race and equality with their teams (55%). Similarly, a majority of those who attended a town hall or listening session report feeling prepared to have these conversations (56%). Meanwhile, among managers who did not attend company-sponsored training or town halls, only 29% report feeling prepared to have meaningful conversations with their teams about race and equality.

Managers' Preparedness to Discuss Issues of Race, by Participation in Training or Town Halls on Racial Issues I feel prepared to have meaningful conversations about race and equality with my team(s). (% Strongly agree) Attended Did not attend % % Training or education program 55 29 Town hall, listening session or team/companywide meeting 56 29 Gallup Panel, Nov. 6-Dec. 1, 2020

Bottom Line

Front-line managers influence employee experiences at work more so than any other company representation. Gallup estimates that managers are responsible for 70% of the variance in employee engagement, a critical metric of business performance and employees' commitment to their workplace.

Given heightened sensitivity in the past year to matters of race relations, many employees are looking to their manager to initiate productive and effective conversations about race and equality. Employees' views on current events and national conversations about race do affect their overall employee experience, and managers should be aware of these dynamics.

Managers' preparedness to discuss issues of racism and racial justice could be the result of their company's commitment to addressing these issues, but it could also work in reverse -- that a manager's perception of their company's commitment stems from the preparedness the organization has provided the manager to discuss these issues.

Most U.S. managers are less than fully prepared for these conversations and have not participated in any formal company training about diversity or inclusion. However, participating in even one training event or companywide meeting about race significantly strengthens managers' comfort with having these important conversations. This shows that the entry barrier for workplaces to prepare managers is low and that investment in training can pay dividends for fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging.

Learn more about how the Gallup Panel works.
Steven Zeidman is a professor of law at CUNY School of Law. He is on Twitter @SteveZeidman.

Last week, Governor Andrew Cuomos top aide, Melissa DeRosa, said the state was considering how to vaccinate older people in prison given the limited number of doses available and concerns about fairness. She zeroed in on what she referred to as the teeny, tiny population of 1,100 people in prison who are 65 or over and the 270 people who are 75 or older. Of course, the governor had weeks before decreed that anyone 65 or older  with those in prison not excluded  was eligible for the vaccine.

To date, none of this teeny, tiny population has been vaccinated. Besides the lack of concern for peoples lives and how ignoring people in prison contributes to a massive public health crisis, the willful blindness toward the plight of the incarcerated is creating a time bomb.

Ever since the pandemic reached this country, public health experts called for swift and meaningful decarceration  dramatic reductions in prison populations  since it is impossible for people behind prison walls to maintain any semblance of social distance. New York ordered the release of about 3,000 people convicted of so-called low-level, nonviolent offenses who were within 90 days of their already mandated release date, and 800 held on low-level parole violations. This, however, was nowhere near the 50% reduction of the states 36,000 state prisoners advised by public health experts, and many New York prisons remain at or near full capacity.

The predictable result? The virus is raging through the prisons. Recently, 4,800 people tested positive while just two months ago the number was 1,700. With coronavirus variants steadily making their way into the U.S., it is inevitable that these bleak numbers will only get worse unless decisive action is immediately taken.

In the meantime, people in prison live in constant fear of catching the virus and dying. Many spend almost every waking hour in their cells afraid to go to the yard, the commissary or even to the mess hall because any movement will put them in close contact with others, including correctional officers who have repeatedly defied directives to wear a mask. Countless people are even missing the comfort of a family members voice over the phone as they are afraid to stand in line with others waiting for their turn.

This overarching sense of anxiety and dread is compounded by directives from the Department of Corrections. Since December, all social and family visits have been prohibited, thereby cutting people off from the sustaining presence of loved ones. Classes and programs where volunteers come to the prison to teach, counsel, and advise have all been canceled.

If the governor is not moved by appeals to humanity and decency, then he must consider that the toxic and combustible combination of ever-increasing fear, loneliness, despair and isolation creates a powder keg that can explode at any moment. Remedies are readily available given the governors vast constitutional power to grant clemency to the many deserving people who have submitted applications. As the saying goes, he could with the stroke of a pen substantially reduce the prison population today. In the meantime, the state must start vaccinating people in prison. That effort could begin with the teeny, tiny number of people over 65.

Also in Opinion: Covid-19 vaccine: Lets trust one another and do the right thing (Commentary)
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"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Mumbai, Feb 4 : Varun Sharma turns 30 on Thursday, and it is going to be a working birthday for the actor Varun is currently busy with the shoot of Rohit Shetty's "Cirkus", and he told IANS that a working birthday is something he always look forward to.

"I had the best of both the world's this year, bringing in my birthday with my mom and shooting for Rohit sirs. A working birthday is something that I always look forward to and I feel blessed to be doing the same this year," he said.

Varun has several films lined up this year. He will next be seen in "RoohiAfza", and also start work on the third installment of the popular "Fukrey" franchise post finishing "Cirkus".

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Job Title: USEFM Pol/Econ Office

Management Assistant (Fresher Admin Jobs)

Organisation: United

States US Embassy, US Mission in Uganda

Duty Station: Kampala,

Uganda

Position Number: Kampala-2021-003

About US Embassy:

The United States

Embassy in Kampala, Uganda has enjoyed diplomatic relations with Uganda for

over 30 years. Ambassador Natalie E. Brown currently heads the U.S

Mission to Uganda. The Mission is composed of several offices and

organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy and at the

direction of the Ambassador.

Among the offices

operating under the U.S Mission to Uganda are:



(USAID) United States Agency for International Development(USAID)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Peace Corps

Job Summary: The Political/Economic Management Assistant is

a key member of the 13-person POL/ECON Section. The positions direct

supervisor is the Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs. The position is

primarily responsible for supporting the POL/ECON Counselor and Deputy

Counselor, but also assists the other officers in the section as requested and

time permits. S/he performs a full range

of office management, administrative, records, logistics and protocol duties.

The incumbent backs up the Human Rights Officer on overseeing all Leahy vetting

functions in his/her absence.





Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

NOTE: All applicants must address each selection criterion detailed below

with specific and comprehensive information supporting each item.



The

applicants for the United States US Embassy USEFM Pol/Econ Office Management

Assistant job opportunity should have completed Secondary School. Required



A

minimum of three years of clerical, administrative, office support, event or

travel management in an office setting is required.



Excellent

analytical, problem-solving and interpersonal skills, tact, and diplomacy are

required. The incumbent should also

possess good managerial skills, and a personality that inspires confidence in

Locally Employed Staff and permits the maintenance of effective working

relationships with employees and supervisors.



Ability

to forecast needs for resources, and to plan and assess problems and develop realistic

solutions; anticipate all scheduling and logistical needs for the Counselor and

the Deputy Counselor to ensure the smooth functioning of their schedules;



Ability

to tactfully and efficiently work with American officers and Locally Employed

Staff so that the Pol/Econ section provides the highest quality support to the

Mission;



Ability

to tactfullly manage other sections contributions to the Leahy Vetting process

in order to process requests in a timely fashion; able to work constructively with Washington-based

administrators of the Leahy Vetting process in order to gain the maximum amount

of leeway and receptivity for Missions nominess in the most timely fashion;



Ability

to create and maintain a good working climate in order to ensure maximum productivity

in a service-oriented fashion.



Basic

typing skills required. Must me able to

use Microsoft Office Suites and e2. Numerical skills required.



Ability

to obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance.



Language:

Level IV (Fluent)

speaking/reading/writing of English is required.

How to Apply:

All those interested

in working with the US mission in Kampala should send their applications online

at the link below.

Click

Here

Deadline: 17th February 2021

For more of the

latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 3 mesi fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Home Security Cameras Market is accounted for $2.76 million in 2017 and is expected to reach $8.78 million by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 13.7% during the forecast period. Some of the key factors influencing the market growth include growing adoption of smart homes, increasing awareness regarding security and safety and ease of installation of security cameras. However, the high cost of cameras and its maintenance is restricting the market growth.

A home security camera is a surveillance camera that can be deployed either outside or inside the house/building to monitor suspicious activities happening in and around the premise. Home security cameras are available in a wide variety of specifications, sizes, and resolution, but their prime function is to capture and store a video for security purpose. Home security cameras help to monitor the activities in the house as well as around the house.

Based on the product, IP cameras are the most popular owing to its easy deployment options. An Internet Protocol camera is a type of digital video camera that receives control data and sends image data via the Internet. They are commonly used for surveillance. Unlike analog closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, they require no local recording device, but only a local area network. By Geography, Asia Pacific is going to have a lucrative growth during the forecast period. The region is experiencing growing advancement in infrastructure, support from government bodies, and various emergence new companies providing services, and the rise of technology are the major reasons for this steep growth in the region

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Some of the key players in global Home Security Cameras market are Motorola Home, Panasonic, Bosch Security Systems, Sony, Shenzhen Leshi Video Tech. Co., Ltd, Netgear, Inc., Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. Ltd, Leshi Video Type Co. Ltd, FrontPoint Security Solutions, LLC, Axis Communications, ADT Inc., Samsung, Toshiba, Honeywell, Nest Cam and Godrej Security Solutions.

Services Covered:

 Managed Services

 Professional Services

 Self-Installed Services

Types Covered:

 Outdoor Security Camera

 Indoor Security Camera

Products Covered:

 Bullet Security Camera

 Thermal Security Camera

 Dome Security Camera

 Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ) Security Camera

 Internet Protocol (IP) Security Camera

 Other Products

Resolutions Covered:

 High Definition (HD)

 Ultra High Definition (HD)

 Non-High Definition (HD)

 Full High Definition (HD)

Regions Covered:

 North America

o US

o Canada

o Mexico

 Europe

o Germany

o UK

o Italy

o France

o Spain

o Rest of Europe

 Asia Pacific

o Japan

o China

o India

o Australia

o New Zealand

o South Korea

o Rest of Asia Pacific

 South America

o Argentina

o Brazil

o Chile

o Rest of South America

 Middle East & Africa

Saudi Arabia

o UAE

o Qatar

o South Africa

o Rest of Middle East & Africa

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What our report offers:

- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments

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- Strategic analysis: Drivers and Constraints, Product/Technology Analysis, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis etc.

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 Competitive Benchmarking

o Benchmarking of key players based on product portfolio, geographical presence, and strategic alliances

Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/12101
Myanmars junta blocked Facebook in the name of ensuring stability on Thursday and activists said at least three people were arrested at a street protest against the coup that ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi faces charges for illegally importing communications equipment after the army takeover on Monday that has drawn Western condemnation and calls on the junta to respect her partys landslide victory in November elections.

Opposition to the junta has emerged very strongly on Facebook, which is the countrys main internet platform and underpins communications for business and government. Facebooks WhatsApp messaging was also blocked.

Facebook was still available sporadically and demonstrators in the second city of Mandalay used it to livestream the first such street protest since the coup in a country with a bloody history of crackdowns on demonstrations.

Peoples protest against military coup, read one of the banners.

The group of around 20 people chanted: Our arrested leaders, release now, release now.

Three people were arrested after the protest, three separate student groups said. Reuters was unable to contact police for comment.

The social network has also been used to share images of a campaign of disobedience by staff at government hospitals across the country, with doctors stopping work or wearing ribbons in the red colour of Suu Kyis National League for Democracy.

Pictures shared on Wednesday showed workers at the agriculture ministry joining the campaign too.

UNFAIR COUP

Other signs of anger have emerged. For two nights, people in Yangon and other cities have banged on pots and pans and honked car horns, with images circulating widely on Facebook.

Lights are shining in the dark, said Min Ko Naing, a veteran of past campaigns against military rule, in a call to action. We need to show how many people are against this unfair coup.

The Ministry of Communications and Information said Facebook, used by half of Myanmars more than 53 million people, would be blocked until Feb. 7 because users were spreading fake news and misinformation and causing misunderstanding.

Suu Kyi has not been seen since her arrest along with other party leaders.

The NLD won about 80% of the vote in the Nov. 8 polls, according to the election commission, a result the military has refused to accept, citing unsubstantiated allegations of fraud.

The United Nations said it would ratchet up international pressure to ensure the will of the people is respected.

We will do everything we can to mobilize all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during an interview broadcast by The Washington Post on Wednesday.

PRIORITY FOR WASHINGTON

Addressing the coup in Myanmar was a priority for the United States and Washington was reviewing possible sanctions in response, the White House said on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden discussed the situation in calls with the leaders of South Korea and Australia, the White House said.

The chair of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Parliamentarians for Human Rights, Charles Santiago, said the charges against Suu Kyi were ludicrous.

This is an absurd move by the junta to try to legitimize their illegal power grab, he said in a statement.

Police said six walkie-talkie radios had been found in a search of Suu Kyis home in Naypyidaw that were imported illegally and used without permission.

The NLD itself has yet to comment on the charges.

Suu Kyi spent about 15 years under house arrest between 1989 and 2010 as she led the countrys democracy movement, and she remains hugely popular at home despite damage to her international reputation over the plight of Muslim Rohingya refugees.

Short link:


Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and healthcare professionals caring for them have expressed concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine's efficacy and safety in the specific context of PD and its symptomatic treatment. In a commentary just published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, a set of experts addresses these concerns from an evidence-based perspective. Their conclusion is that COVID-19 vaccination with approved vaccines should be recommended to persons with PD, unless there is a specific contraindication.

"The arrival of these vaccines has created hope for people with PD, as this can help to mitigate their risk of becoming infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which can lead to serious, life-threatening disease, at least among those with more advanced PD," explains lead author Bastiaan R. Bloem, MD, PhD, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior; Department of Neurology, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Parkinson's Disease.

Based on the authors' interpretation of the scientific literature, the unfolding experience with widespread vaccination in the population at large, and input from the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society Scientific Issues Committee (IPMDS-SIC), the take home messages with respect to COIVID-19 vaccination for persons with PD are:

Compared to the general population, the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection causing serious, life-threatening disease seems higher for people living with PD, at least among those with more advanced disease.

The approved mRNA-based vaccines and viral vector vaccines under development are not known or expected to interact with the neurodegenerative process in PD.

The types or incidence of side effects of these vaccines in persons with PD seem no different than in the general population.

The vaccines also seem safe for older adults, but caution is needed for the specific subgroup of very frail and terminally ill elderly persons with PD living in long-term care facilities.

COVID-19 vaccination is not known to interfere with the current therapies of PD.

Vaccinated persons with PD must continue to comply with the public health guidelines to reduce exposure and transmission of COVID-19.

Insights may change, and we must consciously monitor newly emerging data from both trials and real-life vaccination programs.



The authors strongly encourage visiting the website of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society where recommendations will be updated as new data are published based on further experience, clinical trials and real-life clinical practice: https://www.movementdisorders.org/MDS-Files1/COVID-19vaccination01042021.pdf (for medical professionals) and https://www.movementdisorders.org/COVID-19-Pandemic-MDS/MDS-COVID-19-Vaccine-Statement-for-Patients.htm (for persons with PD).

Taking all current evidence into consideration, perhaps this is the light at the end of the tunnel. We encourage our community of movement disorder specialists to recommend COVID-19 vaccination with approved vaccines to their patients with PD or their responsible caregivers, unless there is a specific contraindication. Finally, even after vaccination, it is important that persons with PD continue complying with the public health guidelines to reduce exposure and transmission of COVID-19 as recommended by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." Prof. Bastiaan R. Bloem, MD, PhD, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center
And, yet, here we are. One friend says she was once undone after her daughters, aged seven and 10, saw the word ct spray-painted all over a bench, and her eldest asked her what it meant. Loading I told her it must be a graffiti artists tag, says my friend, who adds that she went in to parenthood with the goal of answer[ing] any questions in a straightforward way. We would often see the same word around and she would say, Mum, theres that graffiti artist again. The jig was up when the family visited the MONA museum in Tasmania with its famous artwork, Cunts and other conversations, made up of 77 life-size porcelain sculptures of womens vulvas. We were all given iPhone guides, and as soon as it [the artwork] came on, my daughter looked at me.

Its easy to beat ourselves up, for, say, being flustered when trying to help our children understand their biological origins, let alone more complicated issues like consent, masturbation, and abuse. But, says Dr Joe Tucci, chief executive officer of the Australian Childhood Foundation, parents should give themselves a break. If you have good intentions, its not wrong, says Dr Tucci, a psychologist with extensive experience in the field of child protection. Anything that opens up the conversation with your child is an opportunity The biggest fear that parents have is theyre not sure how to go about it, and [they think], If I say something, am I going to damage my child? Well, you wont. Youve got the opportunity to go back and continue to talk. The most important thing for children is that their parents dont shut conversations down, they normalise conversations, so they feel that those conversations can happen. And they will. Examples of curly questions hes had to help clients who are parents navigate, include: Do adults really put penises in their mouth?, Do people put penises into bottoms?, and, Can I watch you and Dad have sex? The good news? Not only is it common for children to ask such questions, but if yours are throwing them at you, its a sign that they are not only curious people, but comfortable asking you for answers.

This doesnt make it easy to be in the firing line. I finally explained the word, its origins and how it is used now in a negative way, says my friend who had to teach her 10-year-old daughter, at MONA, what ct meant. Her daughter responded with stunned silence. Now, at 16, she throws the word round liberally, when angry at her 13-year-old sister. Dr Tucci empathises with how tricky it can be for parents to discuss sex with their kids. He recalls the parent whose child went to his granddad and said, I cant believe that Dad does that to Mum. And the granddad said, What? And he said, Well, Dad just keeps jumping up and down on her, all the time, all the time. That was embarrassing. As a rule, Dr Tucci says parents, when asked about sex, should just say the truth, try to be clear and accurate in what you say, and put it in the context of your values. Dont dismiss your childs question, shame them or, he adds, be angry with them for asking it.

Always, always try to keep kids talking, give the message that they can tell you anything, because if you wanted one protective measure [against abuse], its that, that kids will come to you, even after theyve been told by someone whos manipulated them, not to tell anybody, says Dr Tucci. And when you talk to your kids about any aspect of sex, have the conversation in the car, or while youre involved in another activity, so that youre both distracted. Because the kids dont have to look you in the eye, he says. Other handy sex-ed life hacks: teach older children about sexual consent by introducing it as the older sibling of respect  a much further step down the track from what they learned when they were younger about saying please and thank you, and being a respectful listener, and not talking over others. And, if you screw up any conversation, you can always go back, and try again. You can go back and say, Hey, you know the other day we were talking, and I felt like I got a little taken aback, so I didnt really answer properly, says Tucci. Theyll say, No, no, no, but you just say, Just let me. Ultimately, kids are experiencing you being able to go back and sort of revisit [what you said] and model that you can [try again and] say things better.

And, parents, know that youre not alone. Loading Even Dr Tuccis been thrown for a loop. He recalls what happened when he used to drive his son, weekly, to his mothers house. On the way, theres a big sign, yellow and black writing, How do you make your sex last longer? We drive past the sign every day, I dont even notice it. At six, [my son], he can barely read, he says, Dad, Whats sex last longer? I think, This is a good question. I said to him, Look, its something were going to talk about a lot as you get older, but for now, sex is something that happens between mums and dads, and its a nice thing, and that was it. And then I changed the way we went to mamas house from that day on.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
New Delhi: With RLD gearing up to hold a Kisan Mahapanchayat in the Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh on Friday (February 5), the administration has decided to impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 in the district for two months.

The prohibitory orders have been imposed to discourage the gathering of farmers in the district from February 4 to April 3, in view of the festivals Good Friday, Mahashivratri, Holi, and the upcoming board examinations in the state.

With the implementation of Section 144, the Kisan Mahapanchayat slated to be held on February 5 will not be allowed. The RLD leader, Jayant Chaudhary, earlier gave a call for the Mahapanchayat to express solidarity with the ongoing farmers' agitation on the borders of Delhi.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra today met family members of a man who died during the January 26 protests in Delhi and said the government should repeal the new agri laws, instead of branding farmers "terrorists" and their agitation a "political conspiracy".

Live TV

Priyanka met Navreet Singh's family and also attended a prayer ceremony for him at Dibdiba village in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur district.

She said, "If there is any bigger wrong other than the three farm laws, which the government should take back but is not doing so, it is that martyrs are branded as terrorists and the farmers' agitation is seen as a political conspiracy."

Leaders who cannot hear the pain of the poor, farmers, and countrymen are of no use, Priyanka Gandhi said after the prayer meeting for 27-year-old Singh who died after his tractor overturned during the farmers' tractor parade in the national capital on Republic Day.

During her visit, Priyanka Gandhi was accompanied by senior Congress leaders, including Uttar Pradesh party unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu. Earlier in the morning, three to four vehicles in Congress leader's cavalcade hit each other on a highway in Hapur district. No one was hurt in the incident that took place near the Gajraula area.

Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting against the laws for over two months at Delhi's border points that have been fortified with barricades, cement blocks, concertina wires, spikes, and deployment of heavy police and paramilitary personnel.

Notably, farmers are protesting against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

(With Agency Inputs)
This is the Thursday, February 4, 2021 edition of Today in Slovakia. Learn about politics, business, and other notable events of the day in Slovakia in less than five minutes. If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription. Thank you.

Not all schools will open

Some municipalities have announced that they will not open kindergartens and years one to four of primary schools from February 8, as the Education Ministry had decided on February 3.

Some argued that the situation in their region was worrying and that they would keep schools closed for some weeks more. Others want to re-open as soon as possible but claim that they do not have enough time to launch the processes and purchase all the protective means for safe education.

The opening of schools and kindergartens is pre-conditioned by a negative test result for parents and employees of the school.

Meanwhile, PM Matovic shed doubt on the idea of sending children back to school while the British variant of the coronavirus is showing significant spread.

Testing in Bratislava, for example, showed that the strain is prevailing in the capital, as it was found in 85 percent of positive samples. The municipality claims that these are people of various age, occupation and place of residence and therefore it is unlikely that the infections were acquired in one hotspot.

Minister Grohling reacted by saying that schools will open as agreed with Health Minister Marek Krajci and epidemiologists.

Schools can re-open but some will remain closed Read more

Hundreds of vaccine doses end up in the rubbish

Some hospitals did not have accessible syringes with the needles necessary to extract the sixth dose from vials of the Comirnaty vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech.

Sme daily reported that hospitals in Trnava and Martin have had to throw away hundreds of doses. They only started to use the correct syringes several days ago, even though the vaccination programme started at the end of December.

The Health Ministry said that it had allocated money from the state budget to purchase syringes. Those were, however, unsuitable, as soon as European Commission approval was granted for one vial of vaccine being used for six instead of five doses.

There is a company producing such syringes in Slovakia. Chirana T. Injecta claims that they are ready to fulfil Slovak needs but they need an order from the ministry first. Negotiations with the ministry started on February 1. Meanwhile, other European countries have bought syringes from the company.

Martin and Trnava threw away hundreds of vaccines due to unsuitable syringes Read more

Photo of the day:

Town of Levoca and Kralova Hola in the background (Source: TASR)

Feature story of the day:

The pandemic has not diminished the interest or the need of people in Slovakia to learn foreign languages - quite the opposite. Some have been using the time in lockdown to improve their language skills.

The pandemic and the accompanying lockdowns have changed the way people learn foreign languages.

Language schools have switched from traditional classroom teaching to online. They plan to continue this form of teaching even after the pandemic is over and people are able to gather for group activities again. Nevertheless, schools expect many students to prefer a return to the classroom.

Language learning in the Covid era: school selection no longer location-bound Read more

Other news:

The Hydrological institute warns that the first degree warning against floods applies in the districts of Namestovo, Tvrdosin and Dolny Kubin from Thursday. The reason is snow-melt .

applies in the districts of from Thursday. The reason is . Police Corps President Peter Kovarik is in quarantine after participating in a Defence and Security Committee meeting where he came in contact with a person who tested positive for the coronavirus . He postponed a press conference about current topics in the Police Corps.

after participating in a Defence and Security Committee meeting . He postponed a press conference about current topics in the Police Corps. The Foreigners Police remain closed until further notice . Clients who booked an appointment online from February 1, will have to re-schedule their appointment when the system becomes active again.

. Clients who booked an appointment online from February 1, will have to re-schedule their appointment when the system becomes active again. The new director of Transparency International Slovakia will be Michal Pisko . He will replace outgoing director Gabriel Sipos who has been working as a director since 2009. Pisko is a former journalist and has been working for the PIS since 2015.

. He will replace outgoing director Gabriel Sipos who has been working as a director since 2009. Pisko is a former journalist and has been working for the PIS since 2015. Several trains going from Budapest through Bratislava will travel onto Prague again from February 8 . Currently, they only go as far as Brno or Breclav in the Czech Republic. The change to the schedule has been made by the Czech national carrier Ceske drahy, which operates the train together with Slovak and Hungarian carriers.

. Currently, they only go as far as Brno or Breclav in the Czech Republic. The change to the schedule has been made by the Czech national carrier Ceske drahy, which operates the train together with Slovak and Hungarian carriers. The former head of the Agricultural Payments Agency Juraj Kozuch has been released from custody after ten months , according to a decision by the senate of the Supreme Court. Originally, he should have remained in custody until April 1.

, according to a decision by the senate of the Supreme Court. Originally, he should have remained in custody until April 1. President Zuzana Caputova announced she would recall Miroslav Fikar as rector of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU) on February 3 but later changed her mind when Fikars attorney filed an administrative complaint against the decision. Chair of the Academic Senate of STU Marian Peciar said that it pointlessly traumatised university and public.

Do not miss on Spectator.sk today:

Roma health expert: In the second wave, the authorities accused us of panic Read more

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MBABANE  Paramedics are not prepared to go back to work until government gives in to their demands.

The paramedics want an urgent enquiry to be instituted by either the Minister of Health or Parliament on the irregularities in the operations of the Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) unit.

They are also demanding for personal protective equipment (PPE), overtime allowance and working resources.

National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) President Oscar Nkambule said they had, on several occasions, informed government about the concerns they had but they (government) never bothered to engage them.

He said it was for this reason that they had decided to remove themselves from work.

Crisis

He said paramedics were responding to the current COVID-19 crisis and required PPE. According to Nkambule, what they had gathered from their membership was that management had said the employees did not need PPE. This, he said, was very disheartening. Nkambule said it was the same issue with the Fire Department, which had a similar challenge and was buying PPE from their own pockets. Currently, employees use masks and gloves which do not protect them, he said.

Furthermore, he said they saw the Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, receiving PPE from donors, but they were not given any.

Nkambule said victimisation of employees, intimidation and name calling within the institution was intense, which was why they were pushing for an enquiry. Also he said there was an issue of open contracts.

The president alleged that relatives and friends were hired by the EPR authorities and most were placed at Sibane under the COVID-19 response team. This team is getting PPE and overtime while the other employees are being ignored, he said.

He stated that workers were not engaging in a strike, but had removed themselves from danger as per Section 18(2) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 2001.

Remove

The Act stipulates that; An employee shall have the right to remove himself or herself from danger when such an employee has reasonable justification to believe there is imminent and serious risk to the safety and health of that employee.

The president said yesterday they were applying the Act and would continue to be inside the work premises, but will not expose themselves by engaging in any duties.

Nkambule said they would continue to demonstrate inside the EPR offices premises until government responds. If government does not respond, we will then come up with a plan to deliver a petition to the Ministry of Health and Cabinet.

He stated that the regulations were there on paper, but the ministry did not follow them. Nkambule said they would relay the message to the acting head of government as it was his right to know that his government was not providing them with the necessary tools to work.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Chairperson Sihle Dlamini reiterated Nkambules sentiments.

Dlamini said unless government responds to their demands, they would continue to remove themselves from work as means to protect themselves from possible danger. She said since the first COVID-19 pandemic case was reported in the country, over half of the paramedics have been infected and affected. I am one of those who was affected and had to be admitted to the Lubombo Referral Hospital, she said. Dlamini said some of the paramedics were receiving treatment. During the first wave she stated that a group of 20 were infected with COVID-19.

The chairperson said there was a team which had received the PPE. These she said were those who were booked at Bethel Court since March. The critical part is that the paramedics on the ground do not have PPE, yet they attend to patients without knowing their status, she added.

Exposed

Dlamini said those at Bethel Court attended to patients whose COVID-19 status was known that they were positive. Both groups, she said were equally exposed and required PPE.

Dlamini mentioned that even after handling the COVID-19 patients, they did not have time to disinfect the ambulances. She said COVID-19 had long-term effects including tiredness, chest pains and difficulty in breathing among others.

When reached for comment on the matter, Director of Health Services Dr Vusi Magagula said some of the concerns by the paramedics were genuine.

Dr Magagula said these included the issue of overtime, which dated back to 2014, that was being addressed, but the process was slow. The process involves submitting to the Ministry of Public Service to authorise among other processes, he said.

He said according to his information, PPE was provided and shared among all health workers. Meanwhile, he stated that voicing concerns was allowed and acceptable as they were employees, but it was important to consider that government processes took time.







In a recent Twitter post, industrialist Harsh Goenka shared a heartwarming story of a wonder woman who turned her pick-up truck into a portable classroom so that she could teach children amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Goenka shared a picture of the woman teaching a kid in her portable truck classroom and wrote, Success is about the difference you make in peoples lives. He also informed that the Mexican woman drives two hours a day to teach kids with autism who dont have books or access to the internet.

According to DailyMail, the woman, identified as Nay, is an elementary school teacher in Apaseo el Alto, Guanajuato. In the image, Nay sits in the back of a red pickup truck, wearing a mask. She has a small table and chairs set up, and a single student. She can be seen going over an assignment with her student.

In Mexico, school was cancelled because of the pandemic. This teacher turned her pick-up truck into a portable classroom. She drives 2 hrs a day to teach children with autism who dont have books or access to Internet.



Success is about the difference you make in peoples lives. pic.twitter.com/Qwq7gA1NA3  Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) February 3, 2021

READ: COVID-19 : 4-year-old Girl Gets Warm Send Off After Being Cured; Watch Heartwarming Video

While speaking to the media outlet, Nay explained that she works at a regular school with students who have disabilities and is always thinking about how to improve as a teacher. She revealed that on the day the picture was taken, she was performing an evaluation to really know how the pandemic was affecting the students learning since they the most vulnerable. She also said that she wanted to know how the kids feel because the unprecedented pandemic has not been easy for anyone. Nay maintained safety measures too, not just wearing masks but also constantly cleaning the table and providing hand sanitiser to the kids when they one the truck and left.

Netizens say Hats off to the wonder woman

Meanwhile, Goenkas post has garnered thousands of likes and comments. It has left netizens heart warmed as they even wrote, Shout out to all those who go the extra mile to help those in need. This is exactly what humanity is all about, something we should all learn from one another. One user said, Teachers DESERVE TO BE PAID WAY MORE THAN THEY ARE PAID. Another added, They spend more time with other peoples children than the children spend with their own families. Another pointed out why it was especially sweet that this teacher is doing so much for her special education students.

Me being a teacher myself can understand this very well. Thanks for sharing sir 

Respect to the teacher and all the best to her.  Anirrbaan Ghoshh (@AnirrbaanGhoshh) February 3, 2021

Forget about success here, it's the quality of the work she is going which is making a great difference to the kids. She is the "Guru" every kids need.  The Rich Poor (@TheRichPoor) February 3, 2021

Children with autism don't need books or internet, they need one to one interaction. They need love and affection. Pandemic has hit them hard the most. What she is doing is the only way.  Vikas (@vkasarya) February 4, 2021

READ: Photographer Captures Rare Black Leopard For The Second Time In Tadoba National Park

No nobler cause than to make other achieve success and that too in adverse circumstances hats of to the Wonder Woman   saroj mehta (@mehta_saroj) February 3, 2021

Great human service  Binyl Indian (@binyl_koshy) February 4, 2021

Hats off to her courage  ramesh saraf (@vinaykhemkas) February 3, 2021

READ: Maharashtra Artist Creates Art On Stone, Says Used 'lockdown To Rediscover Artist In Me'

Dedication and passion for the work drives her. Ultimate motivation  Vikas Bhurat Jain (@vikasbhurat) February 3, 2021

These teachers are also the true warriors.We salute them.  Naresh Bhanji Chheda (@ChhedaNaresh) February 3, 2021

READ: Florida Woman Jessica Tull Makes Money By Cleaning Her Own House; Here's How




The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the Kerala gold smuggling case chargesheet has made no mention of any political patronage to Swapna Suresh or the other accused.

The 38-page chargesheet seen by News18 does not mention former principal secretary to Chief Minister - K Shivashankar, as well.

Shivashankar has just been granted bail after arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the case. K T Jaleel, who was questioned by NIA in connection with the case, has also found no mention.

The possible involvement of high ranking politicians with Swapna Suresh has lead to a high-decibel political debate in Kerala. NIA officials said the investigation has not been completed yet and a supplementary chargesheet could be filed.

NIA has charged Swapna Suresh and her co-accused under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) arguing that they conspired to de-stabilise India's security and economy. "Accused had knowledge that their act of smuggling of gold to India in large quantity would threaten the security and economic stability of the country, destabilise the Indian economy and damage friendly relations with UAE; conjointly they committed the terrorist act," said the chargesheet.

As per NIA, the conspiracy began in 2016 by then UAE consulate PRO Sarith, Secretary to consular Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair and Ramees K T. NIA says the main accused decided to help Ramees smuggle gold in lieu of $1,000 per kg of gold. This was later hiked to $1,500 per kg.

Explaining the modus operandi, NIA said, "gold purchased in Dubai was converted into shippable formats by concealing the same in various apparatus, packed and brought to cargo terminals and shipped after generating airway bills using forged authorisation letters of diplomats at consulate general of UAE in Thiruvananthapuram."

Twenty-one people have been chargesheeted so far while nine have been mentioned in column 12 of the chargesheet as the accused against whom "investigation is pending".

Those chargesheeted includes:

(1) Sarith PS, resident of Thiruvananthapuram district;

(2) Swapna Prabha Suresh, resident of Thiruvananthapuram district;

(3) Ramees KT, resident of Malappuram district;

(4) Jalal AM, resident of Ernakulam district;

(5) Mohammed Shafi P, resident of Malappuram district;

(6) Saidalavi E, resident of Malappuram district;

(7) Abdu PT, resident Malappuram district;

(8) Rabins Hameed, resident of Ernakulam district;

(9) Muhammedali Ebrahim, resident of Ernakulam district,

(10) Muhammedali, resident of Ernakulam district;

(11) Sharafuddeen KT, resident of Malappuram district;

(12) Mohammed Shafeeq A, resident of Malappuram district;

(13) Hamzath Abdulsalam, resident of Malappuram district;

(14) Samju TM, resident of Kozhikode district;

(15) Hamjad Ali K, resident of Malappuram district;

(16) Jifsal CV, resident of Kozhikode district;

(17) Aboobacker P, resident of Malappuram district;

18) Muhammed Abdu Shameem KV, resident of Kozhikode district;

(19) Abdul Hameed, resident of Malappuram district and

(20) Shamshudeen resident of Kozhikode district.

NIA in the chargesheet has not named the UAE diplomat as a conspirator. Instead, it says that the consul general warned authorities about Sarith before he left India "because of covid". Sarith, who was a PRO in the consulate, has been accused of stealing letter pads and using it to forge authorisation letters in conspiracy with Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair and Ramees. NIA says Ramees had formed a group on encrypted chat platform- Telegram and named it CPM committee. "For committing the terrorist act the accused had conspired, recruited people and formed a terrorist gang, raised money and smuggled around 167 kg of gold from UAE," the chargesheet said.

NIA claims that the accused had plans of spreading their smuggling operations to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Malaysia but the covid pandemic and connected travel ban halted their plans.

Labour has acknowledged Sir Keir Starmer misheard an allegation from the Prime Minister that triggered a Commons row between the pair.

Sir Keir accused Boris Johnson of talking complete nonsense after the Prime Minister accused the Labour leader of repeatedly calling for the UK to stay in the European Medicines Agency (EMA) after Brexit, suggesting such a move would have hampered the countrys Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

The Opposition leader and Mr Johnson were seen walking out of the Commons together following the Prime Ministers Questions clash and continued their conversation while standing just outside the Chamber.

According to eyewitnesses quoted by The Sun, the political rivals were seen having a heated discussion about the Prime Ministers EMA remarks, allegedly resulting in Sir Keir being led away by ally and Labour whip Chris Matheson.

But Mr Matheson called the eyewitnesses claims absolute bollocks, adding: There was a brief chat and then Keir and I left together.

Nothing more to it than that.

A Labour source said: They had a perfectly reasonable conversation as they often do after PMQs.

It later emerged Sir Keir thought the Prime Minister was accusing him of wanting to be part of the EUs vaccine scheme, which is lagging behind the UKs.

A spokesman for the Labour leader said: On a number of occasions the Prime Minister has wrongly claimed that Labour wanted to join the EUs vaccine programme. That is inaccurate and the claim has been found to be untrue.

This afternoon during Prime Ministers Questions, Keir misheard the Prime Minister and assumed he was making the same false accusation again.

Keir accepts that, on this occasion, the Prime Minister was referring to old comments about the European Medicines Agency and Keir admits he was wrong and made a mistake in his response.

Its not Labour policy to join either the European Medicines Agency or the EU vaccine programme.

We have never called for the UK to be in the EU vaccine programme. We remain committed to working with the Government to ensure we can be the first in the world to roll out the vaccine.

Hansard, the official record of Parliament, shows that in January 2017 Sir Keir questioned why the UK would want to leave the EMA, Europes medicines regulator, and that it should be something retained as part of the Brexit process.

Elena Samodanova is looking to the future. The choreographer, 36, is moving forward with her divorce from Gleb Savchenko, she told Us Weekly exclusively.

Read article

Hes been served the final paperwork and theres no looking back, she told Us. As Ive been saying all along, my only concern and focus right now is the happiness and safety of my daughters. I wish Gleb and all his girlfriends well.

Samodanova and the Dancing With the Stars pro, 37, who share daughters Olivia, 10, and Zlata, 3, announced in November 2020 that they had split after 14 years of marriage. One month later, she submitted divorce documents to a Los Angeles courthouse and also filed a request for mediation regarding child custody, visitation and child support.

Rob Latour/BEI/Shutterstock; Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Although there were rumors that Savchenko was romantically involved with his Dancing With the Stars partner Chrishell Stause, both adamantly denied the claims. In December, Stause, 30, revealed she was dating Keo Motsepe and the couple went on vacation with Savchenko and his girlfriend, Cassie Scerbo.

Read article

Cassie has been back and forth to Florida visiting family and Gleb has been spending time with his kids in Los Angeles, a source told Us in January. Hes also trying to make things more cordial with his soon-to-be ex-wife. His family is his focus right now and hes handling things privately.

Following the duos trip to Mexico, Samodanova admitted via social media that she was unsure of the future of the dance studio she shares with Savchenko.

Read article

Weve tried to figure out  if were going to be running it together. Not at this moment, Im just too pissed at him. So I wont be able to do anything at this moment. Maybe later, she shared via her Instagram Story at the time before adding, I dont know if Prince Charming exists anymore, its a fairy tale which I do not really believe anymore.

Since the divorce filing, the Sharknado actress and the Russia native have been spending less time together, a source told Us on February 3.

They are taking a break. They havent exactly split but are just spending time apart, the insider explained of Scerbo and Savchenko, noting that theyre still in touch with each other but have slowed down as he focuses on the divorce and his kids.

With reporting by Diana Cooper

The Bergen County Prosecutors Office on Thursday announced the arrest and charges for 22 alleged members of an international human trafficking ring based in Bergen County that would force women into sexual slavery, and had operated in the county for as many as six years, authorities said.

In a virtual press conference Thursday, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced that 22 people were arrested and charged for their alleged involvement in the human trafficking ring that victimized more than 50 people, many of them Mexican immigrants, by forcing them into prostitution. More than 1,500 clients of the forced prostitution were identified, said Robert Anzilotti, the offices Chief of Detectives.

Through a months-long sting, dubbed Operation Hope in Darkness, the Prosecutors Office arrested 21 people and charged them with multiple crimes that include prostitution, racketeering, money laundering and human trafficking.

On Wednesday morning, more than 100 detectives from the Prosecutors Office executed 19 search warrants in Bergen and Hudson Counties, and arrested 21 people. The trafficking rings operation spanned Bergen, Hudson, Middlesex and Passaic Counties, even crossing the Hudson River, operating in Rockland County and Queens County, New York.

Among the individuals charged with crimes is Nancy Rincon, 61, one of the alleged ring-leaders, who is currently on the run in Colombia, said Anzilotti. The office is working with the Department of Justice to locate, arrest and extradite Rincon to face justice in New Jersey, he said.

The human trafficking ring was an international, highly organized operation that victimized women from ages 18 to mid-30s. In local apartments and condominiums across New Jersey and New York, the women were paid to service as many as 40 clients a day for 12 hours at a time, said Anzilotti.

Human trafficking is real, said Anzilotti. It is right here under our noses.

Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Chief of Detectives Robert Anzilotti announced the arrests of 22 people allegedly involved in an international human trafficking ring.Courtesy of Bergen County Prosecutor's Office

The human trafficking ring operated in Bergen County for 5 to 6 years, gradually spreading to neighboring North Jersey counties and New York, said Anzilotti. The ring used a criminal hierarchy to employ everyone from drivers who would take women to clients to enforcers who would keep the victims complacent and serve as bodyguards for the victims from clients, he said.

The trafficking ring would recruit mostly young Mexican women, luring them with the possibility of coming to the United States, only to force them into prostitution, said Anzilotti.

The drivers would be paid $200 a day to bring the victims to clients, in whats called out-call service prostitution. The ring would bring victims to the clients as opposed to in-call service, where a client visits a massage parlor or motel to pay for sexual services, said Anzilotti.

The ring-leaders would charge $35 to $40 per 10 to 15 minute session for sex acts, Musella said in a statement. The trafficking ring netted hundreds of thousands of dollars every month through the forced sex slavery, according to the statement.

The victims would receive 50 percent of the money earned through prostitution, said Anzilotti, with the ring-leaders taking the other half. A majority of the money the victims would receive ended up back in the hands of ring-leaders to pay back victims alleged debt for being brought to the United States.

Operation Hope in Darkness seized more than $250,000 in illegal assets and properties in Teaneck and Florida, said Anzilotti.

Those arrested and/or charged include the four alleged ring-leaders, charged with first degree money laundering and racketeering, along with second degree human trafficking and promotion of organized street crime. They were also charged with third degree promotion of prostitution:

Birmania Nancy Rincon, 61, of Teaneck. Rincon is currently on the run in Colombia.

Luz Amy Rincon, 49, of Teaneck.

Bernardino Hernandez-Palacios, 39, of Lodi.

Fernando Hernandez, 28, of Lodi. .

Alleged supervisors and managers of the trafficking ring and money laundering operations, charged with second degree money laundering and promotion of organized street crime, along with third degree promoting prostitution:

Roberto Molina, 46, of Hackensack.

Giovanni Morales-Degales, 32, of Corona, New York.

Armando Garcia-Osorio, 38, of East Elmhurst, New York.

Three women and 12 men were also arrested and charged with multiple third degree crimes, including money laundering and promotion of prostitution.

In 2019, 247 cases of human trafficking were reported in New Jersey, behind only 11 other states in the country, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

The Prosecutors Office is now working with Covenant House, a privately funded agency that provides shelter and crisis care, to help provide housing and support to the more than 50 victims saved through the sting, said Anzilotti.

We cannot do enough to help our victims, said Anzilotti.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.

Rodrigo Torrejon may be reached at rtorrejon@njadvancemedia.com.
Salma Hayek is a fan-favorite actor, director, and producer in Hollywood today, as she continues to take on notable films that show off her incredible range. And shes been married to her husband, Francois-Henri Pinault, since 2009. So, how old is Hayek in 2021, and what is the age difference between herself and Pinault? Heres what we know.

Salma Hayek is 54 years old

Salma Hayek poses at the The Roads Not Taken premiere | Isa Foltin/Getty Images

RELATED: Salma Hayeks Family Was Supremely Wealthy Long Before She Became An A-List Hollywood Star

At 54 years old, Hayek has quite a backstory. She got her first big break starring in Robert Rodriguezs Desperado in 1995, Biography notes. And her career hit a high note with Frida, as it was award-nominated.

As for Hayeks childhood, she was born in 1966 in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico. Her mother is Mexican and her father is Lebanese. By the time she hit her teens, she was living in Texas with her aunt. Then, in 1991, she moves out to Los Angeles to pursue a life in the arts.

Hayek later flexed her producer muscles with Ugly Betty, which has a serious following and attained a ton of success. The shows lead, America Ferrera, also won an award for being the lead in the show.

While Hayeks in her 50s now, theres no sign that shes done with Hollywood just yet. And shes plowing through the ageism that exists in the industry. In America, they used to tell actresses they expired at 30, she said. Thats why I was scared. Now I dont care about getting older. When I turned 40 and then 50, I didnt mind at all.

Salma Hayeks husband, Francois-Henri Pinault, is 58 years old

Salma Hayek and husband Francois-Henri Pinault attend the 2020 Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

RELATED: Salma Hayek Is Just Like Us: When Im Stressed, I Turn To Food For Comfort

Hayek married Pinault back in 2009, and they met in 2006. The Oprah Magazine reports Hayek and Pinault connected at a gala in the Palazzo Grassi in Venice. Aside from that, Hayek refuses to spill the tea regarding how she and Pinault found love.

Its such a romantic, amazing story, but it is mine, she said. I dont want to vulgarize it by making it into a story to make myself interesting.

The couple got engaged in 2007 and married twice  once in Paris at city hall, and another time in Venice, Italy, where plenty of stars, friends, and family attended.

So, what is the age difference between Pinault and Hayek? It seems theyre relatively close. Pinault is 58.

Prior to connecting with Hayek, Pinault had children from other relationships, too. He has a son, Francois, a daughter, Mathilde, and another child with supermodel Linda Evangelista, Augustin James Evangelista. Hayek and Pinault have one daughter together, Valentina Paloma Pinault.

Salma Hayek continues to defend her marriage to Francois-Henri Pinault

As a celebrity with a very wealthy husband, Hayek has taken a lot of heat over the years because of her relationship with Pinault. But she continues to defend their love.

A lot of people are very shocked that I married who I married, she told Town & Country. And some people are even intimidated now by me. But its another way of showing racism. They cant believe this Mexican ended up in the life that she has, and theyre uncomfortable around me.

Additionally, Hayek noted how loving and supportive Pinault is. And they seem to have a beautiful life together. She told the publication hes the best husband in the world. I get to be who I am with him, and I dont feel that somebody tries to limit me.

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- Educate Girls USA names Phyllis Kurlander Costanza, Head UBS in Society and CEO UBS Optimus Foundation, to its Charity Board

- New appointment will lift girls' education higher on the agenda of global leaders, said Founder, Safeena Husain

- Educate Girls USA supports organizations that champion gender-equitable education, enabling out-of-school girls to return to quality classrooms

NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Educate Girls USA, a non-profit organization that mobilizes resources to support girls' education in rural and educationally marginalized areas, today announced the appointment of Phyllis Kurlander Costanza, Head UBS in Society and CEO UBS Optimus Foundation, to its USA Charity Board.

The appointment will further strengthen the organization's North American presence and increase expertise in international development. Educate Girls USA works closely with its partners in India, including Foundation to Educate Girls Globally, Sol's ARC, and Transform Schools - People for Action. Those organizations have enrolled over 1 million previously out-of-school girls into public schools over the years and have helped more than 1 million additional children improve their learning outcomes.

The appointment comes as the global pandemic reveals many social inequalities - especially around gender and public education, and the urgent need to address them. The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) provide an essential framework to addressing those inequalities. SDG 4, for example, ensures inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting learning opportunities. SDG 5 aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

On the global development agenda, Educate Girls USA's Board promotes girls' education, gender equity, global education and policy, philanthropy, international financing and research. It also raises essential funding for programs in India.

Phyllis Kurlander Costanza, the most recent member to join the board, brings extensive experience in global philanthropy, having grown UBS Optimus Foundation into a world-leading organization dedicated to finding innovative ways to tackle some of the world's most pressing social and environmental issues. At UBS Optimus, she led the introduction of innovative financing vehicles like the first Development Impact Bond (DIB) in education. Having previously held a leadership role at the Children's Investment Foundation she has also demonstrated a long-held commitment to addressing the challenges children face when living in poverty. She said: "Educate Girls has a uniquely successful track record in addressing the needs of society's neediest and most vulnerable. I'm looking forward to supporting Educate Girls' expansion."

Announcing the appointment, Educate Girls USA's Founder, Safeena Husain, said, "We are extremely excited to have Phyllis join our board in the USA. Phyllis and I have worked together for a number of years and I have always been truly inspired by her deep understanding of issues faced by some of the world's poorest people, and her incredible passion to direct more and better resources to innovative community-based organizations. With the USA board's expert advice and outreach, we hope to bring the vital importance of girls' education higher up the agenda of global leaders. Together, we will ensure that the goal to get every girl in school is fully funded and won!"

ABOUT EDUCATE GIRLS USA: Founded in 2014, Educate Girls USA is a nonprofit organization that focuses on mobilizing resources to support girls' education in rural and educationally marginalized areas to ensure that all girls are in school and learning well. Educate Girls USA partners with and supports credible organizations on the ground that identify, enroll and retain out-of-school girls, and improve foundational skills in literacy and numeracy for all children.

For further information, please contact:

alison.bukhari@educategirls.ngo

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1433298/Phyllis_Kurlander_Head_UBS_in_Society.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1359275/Educate_Girls_Logo.jpg
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MANZINI  Great move!

This was the general feeling from some Members of Parliament (MPs) after government, through the Ministry of Health, announced that only healthcare workers would be vaccinated first instead of politicians once the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine arrived in two weeks time in the kingdom.

This follows previous reports that the politicians, who include Cabinet and parliamentarians would be the first to be vaccinated against COVID-19 once the vaccine arrived. It was initially announced that the politicians, together with frontline workers; formed three per cent of the population that would get the vaccine during the first phase.

However, during a media briefing on the COVID-19 update which was hosted by Health Minister Lizzie Nkosi on Tuesday, she announced that government would be prioritising healthcare workers first once the vaccination exercise commenced, which would be the first phase.

Essential

The first phase of vaccination will be primarily catered for the three per cent of the population, which will be for the healthcare workers in the private and public sector. The remaining numbers, according to Nkosi, will be moved to Phase two group, which will cover 17 per cent of the population and Phase III will cater for 60 per cent of the population, which in this case are essential workers outside the health sector. While the country awaits its first COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in two weeks time, various MPs seemed content with the latest decision that government has taken. Some of the politicians have called for an inclusion of more people who also work in the frontline but outside the health sector.






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THE HAGUE, Netherlands  The International Criminal Court on Thursday convicted a one-time child soldier who morphed into a brutal commander in the notorious Ugandan rebel group the Lords Resistance Army of dozens of war crimes and crimes against humanity, ranging from multiple murders to forced marriages.

Dominic Ongwen, who was abducted by the shadowy militia as a 9-year-old boy and transformed into a child soldier and later promoted to a senior leadership rank, faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment after being convicted of 61 offenses.

The judgment, which can be appealed, outlined the horrors of the LRAs attacks on camps for displaced civilians in northern Uganda in the early 2000s, and of Ongwens abuse of women who were forced to be his wives. Activists welcomed his convictions for crimes against women, which included rape, forced pregnancy and sexual slavery.

Defense lawyers had argued that Ongwen was a victim and not a victim and perpetrator at the same time.

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But Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt rejected those arguments, saying: This case is about crimes committed by Dominic Ongwen as a fully responsible adult, as a commander of the LRA in his mid- to late 20s.

Schmitt described the reign of terror unleashed by the Lords Resistance Army, which was founded and led by one of the worlds most-wanted war crimes suspects, Joseph Kony.

Female civilians captured by the group were turned into sex slaves and wives for fighters. The LRA made children into soldiers. Men, women and children were murdered in attacks on camps for internally displaced people.

Civilians were shot, burned and beaten to death, Schmitt said as he detailed a May 2004 attack on a camp in the Ugandan village of Lukodi carried out by fighters commanded by Ongwen.

Kony promoted Ongwen to the rank of colonel after the attack.

Scores of Lukodi residents gathered around a portable radio to follow the proceedings in The Hague. Some broke down, weeping, when the guilty verdicts came in, according to a local journalist at the scene.

Ongwen showed no emotion as the verdicts were read in court. Usually, defendants are ordered to stand as the presiding judge reads out the verdicts. In Ongwens case, there were so many that he was allowed to remain seated.

The LRA terrorized the people of northern Uganda and its neighboring countries for more than two decades. One LRA leader has at last been held to account at the ICC for the terrible abuses victims suffered, said Elise Keppler, associate director of the International Justice Program of Human Rights Watch.

Reacting to the convictions, the International Criminal Courts prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said her thoughts were with victims of LRA atrocities.

Bensouda acknowledged that Ongwen was once an LRA victim but said he grew into one of the most senior military leaders, fervently committed to the LRA cause with infamous brutality. As an adult, he was personally responsible for encouraging and committing against others the very crimes that he himself suffered as a child. As proven at trial, he was also a direct perpetrator of terrible sexual violence, including against young girls, some of whom were forcibly married to him.

Delphine Carlens, a deputy director at the International Federation for Human Rights, said that Ongwens convictions for rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage and forced pregnancy constitute a great advancement in the international recognition of the gravity of such crimes and an important result of the prosecutors policy on sexual and gender-based crimes.

The Lords Resistance Army, which began in Uganda as an anti-government rebellion, is accused of atrocities including mass killings, recruiting boys to fight and keeping girls as sex slaves. At the peak of its power, the group was a notoriously brutal outfit whose members for years eluded Ugandan forces in the bushland of northern Uganda.

When military pressure forced the LRA out of Uganda in 2005, the rebels scattered across parts of central Africa. Reports over the years have claimed Kony was hiding in Sudans Darfur region or in a remote corner of Central African Republic, where LRA fighters continued to kill and abduct in occasional raids on villages, and where Ongwen was arrested in 2015.

Kony became internationally notorious in 2012 when the U.S.-based advocacy group Invisible Children made a viral video highlighting the LRAs crimes. By that time the group had already been weakened by defections as it splintered into smaller, highly mobile groups. Ugandas military estimated in 2013 that the group comprised no more than a few hundred fighters.

Todays verdict is a reminder that the LRAs chief leader, Joseph Kony, remains a fugitive who has evaded justice for more than 15 years, Keppler said, calling on nations to recommit to bringing him to justice at the ICC.

Invisible Children said this week that 108 children abducted by the LRA remain missing.

Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, chairman of the northern Ugandan district of Gulu, told The Associated Press there were mixed reactions among local people.

Some were sad that Ongwen faces years in prison despite himself being a victim of the insurgency, he said, while many others wept for children they dont expect to see again.

There are so many children who remain unaccounted for. When such a thing happens, it brings back painful memories, Mapenduzi said, referring to Ongwens conviction.

Mapenduzi said he has a nephew who was abducted in 1996, and the boys mother still screams his name some days, looking for him.

From 1996 up to now, we dont know whether he is dead or alive, the official said.

___

Associated Press writer Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, contributed reporting.
Sexual assault and sexual harassment are significant problems in the U.S. military and military service academies in the United States. In 2018, 15.8% of female and 2.4% of male cadets and midshipmen across the military service academies reported unwanted sexual contact in the past year. This unwanted behavior can contribute to a variety of negative mental and behavioral health outcomes.

While the military service academies have implemented multiple sexual assault prevention programs and social marketing campaigns to improve awareness of and response to sexual assault, prevention initiatives have been hindered by an absence of evidence from rigorous research about what works.

Eliminating sexual assault in the military is a key focus of the Biden Administration's newly confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. As one of his first actions in office, Austin has ordered a review of military sexual assault prevention programs.

To address the gap in evidence-based interventions, Dr. Kenneth W. Griffin, professor at George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services, worked with colleagues to rigorously test the effectiveness of the Cadet Healthy Personal Skills (CHiPS) primary prevention program. CHiPS was developed by National Health Promotion Associates (NHPA) and tested in a randomized controlled trial among cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) by a research team led by Dr. Griffin. The results were published online in the American Journal of Public Health January 21, 2021.

Griffin and colleagues found a more than 40% reduction in unwanted sexual contact among U.S. Air Force cadets who participated in the CHiPS intervention compared to those who did not participate in the intervention.

"CHiPS is a small group preventive intervention, developed by NHPA for the U.S. Air Force Academy. The program is based on Botvin Life Skills Training, an evidence-based program which has proven effective at preventing substance abuse, violence, and sexual risk taking among adolescents," explains Griffin. "The intervention is designed to positively change social norms and bystander intervention behaviors surrounding sexual violence; increase knowledge and skills regarding obtaining consent for sexual activities; address the relationship between sexual violence and alcohol and substance abuse; and build social, self-regulation, and healthy relationship skills through interactive learning and behavioral rehearsal scenarios."

Their randomized control study included 832 participants, and the new program was implemented in the summer of 2018. About half of the incoming class of 2021 cadets were assigned to receive the prevention program and half were assigned to a control group.

The CHiPS intervention has been sustained at USAFA and implemented with the incoming classes of cadets each summer since the conclusion of this study. This suggests that the program is both effective and has high potential for institutionalization.

Explore further Military sexual assault linked to PTSD and depression in LGB veterans

More information: Kenneth W. Griffin et al, Prevention of Unwanted Sexual Contact Among Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy: A Brief Small-Group Intervention, American Journal of Public Health (2021). Journal information: American Journal of Public Health Kenneth W. Griffin et al, Prevention of Unwanted Sexual Contact Among Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy: A Brief Small-Group Intervention,(2021). DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2020.306050

Porterville, CA (93257)

Today

A clear sky. Low 59F. W winds shifting to S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A clear sky. Low 59F. W winds shifting to S at 10 to 15 mph.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Global technology leader Thales has successfully delivered the first phase of upgrading communications systems and airport security as part of the Bahrain International Airport modernisation project.

Currently, the international airport is undergoing a comprehensive two-phase modernisation programme to build an area of 210,000 square metres, which is four times the size of the current building, to increase the capacity to 14 million passengers annually.

The project is an important step in the Kingdom of Bahrains 2030 economic vision, which aims to enhance the countrys reputation as a leading aviation hub in the region.

Over the course of 30 years, Thales has built solid partnerships with various public sector institutions in the Kingdom, including the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. It is now one of the main local partners in supporting vital sectors in Bahrain, which is evident from its commitment to Bahrainisation and support of local talent in order to develop sovereign capabilities in line with the 2030 Economic Vision.

Thales, through its local company, Thales Bahrain SPC, intends to contribute to support the Kingdoms ambitions to develop a knowledge-based economy with a distinctly civil and security infrastructure, with a strong domestic industrial technology base to achieve growth, localisation and industrialisation strategies.

Thales has been selected to supply an integrated solution that covers the security, safety and airport operations aspects, in addition to the communications and infrastructure of the Bahrain International Airport terminal, parking and central utility complex. These technologies focus on smart security, which relies on advanced modular solutions such as video analytics, behavioural and anomaly capture, intelligent incident management, and resource management tools.

With its long experience in the air transport industry, airport security and identity management,
New Delhi:

TNUSRB Police Constable Results 2017 have been announced by the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board. The board has published the TNUSRB Police Constable Results 2017 for Grade II Police Constable, Grade II Jail Warders and Fireman Exam on its official website.



Candidates can logon to tnusrbonline.in, tnusrbonline.org and tn.gov.in to check their TNUSRB Police Constable Results 2017.



The TNUSRB Police Constable exam 2017 was conducted on May 21, 2017. The roll numbers of the candidates who have been selected for next stage of recruitment i.e. PMT-ET-PET, Physical Measurement Test, Endurance Test and Physical Efficiency Test, by applying 1:5 ratio and various reservations as per the rules have been published on the official website.



Also, the cut-off marks have been published on the official website. Candidates can check their roll number wise result and cut off.



The result has been released for various regions  Chennai, Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Cillupuram, Cuddalore, Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem, Namakkal, Coimbatore, Chennai, Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Cillupuram, Cuddalore, Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem, Namakkal, Coimbatore, Erode, Tiruppur, The Nilgiris, Trichy, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Karur, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Thiruvarur, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Dindigul, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Sivagangai, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari.



The direct link for TNUSRB Police Constable Result 2017 and TNUSRB Police Constable Cut off 2017 is active and students can check by following the below steps.

1. Visit the official website of Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board 2017

2. The result link will appear on the homepage on the right corner, click on the link

3. Select the region

4. The result will appear in the form of PDF



5. Check for your roll numbers and also check the cut off
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At a meeting on Wednesday, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted, with one day revision, a draft resolution on transferring the railway track on the Vilcha-Yaniv railway line (exclusion zone, Ivankiv district of Kyiv region) from JSC Ukrzaliznytsia to the state-owned enterprise National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom, which will allow Energoatom to launch the Central Storage Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel (CSFSF) into operation.

"The project proposes to transfer the railway track from Vilcha station to Yaniv station in the exclusion zone with other objects of railway infrastructure, including construction in progress located on this site, from state-run Ukrzaliznytsia to Energoatom with the right to conduct economic activities," Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy said at the government meeting.

According to the document, the functions of the customer for the reconstruction of the railway track from the Vilcha station to the Yaniv station for the operation of the CSFSF are assigned to Energoatom.

As reported, Energoatom completed the construction of the first stage of the CSFSF on December 21. The only problematic issue for the commissioning of the first stage of the storage facility was the laying of a railway track on the Vilcha-Yanov railway line with a length of 43 km.
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Bali's iconic beaches have transformed into rubbish dumps with tonnes of filth piling higher than the deck chairs where Australian tourists once sunned themselves on holiday.

The once-popular Kuta and Jimbaran beaches are now deserted and strewn with washed-up bottles, bags and plastic, leaving them looking more like a tip than an idyllic tourist destination.

Between 30 and 60 tonnes of trash is being collected from Bali's most popular beaches each day, with the problem at its worst from December to March, when seasonal winds and heavy rain wash rubbish onto the beach.

But locals believe the problem is worse than ever this year, creating another crisis for the island as workers struggle due to the Covid-19 pandemic denying them the usual flood of tourists.

Normally, individual resorts pay an army of cleaners to work around the clock removing plastic rubbish from beaches.

However, many of them have been released from employment due to the lack of tourists, with Covid seeing arrivals fall a staggering 95 per cent.

The monsoon season usually brings in trash but this year authorities say it has become worse with 30 to 60 tonnes of garbage being collected from Bali's best known beaches each day. These pictures were taken over the weekend at Kuta Beach

Rubbish continues to plague the usually-idyllic beach, with locals unable to keep up with the quantity of debris (pictured, Kuta Beach on Saturday)

More than 30 tonnes of rubbish was removed on Friday from beaches in Kuta, Legian and Seminyak but the next day the amount doubled to 60 tonnes

Local residents sunbake on a clean and rubbish free Kuta Beach in early September before the monsoon season hit and left it looking like a rubbish tip

Shocking photos have emerged of local surfers and beachgoers sunbaking and walking along shorelines strewn with mountains of plastic cups, cans, bottles, discarded footwear and other debris.

The beaches are usually packed with hundreds of international tourists kept away by the coronavirus pandemic.

The trash continues to grow, despite the desperate efforts by local authorities to clear the mess on a daily basis.

Wayan Puja, from Badung's environment and sanitation agency, which covers the Kuta, Seminyak and Jimbaran beaches, says the influx of trash is seemingly never-ending.

'We have been working really hard to clean up the beaches, however, the trash keeps coming,' Wayan said.

'Every day we deploy our personnel, trucks and loaders.'

More than a million Australians flocked to Bali each year before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Pictured is Kuta Beach

Bali's famous Kuta Beach (pictured while pristine outside monsoon season) is now an eyesore because resorts can't afford to pay the crews that usually clean up the garbage from the shoreline

Beachgoers walk past mountains of trash including plastic waste on Kuta Beach on January 6

An army of workers collect plastic waste as they clean up Kuta Beach on January 6 as the former tourist mecca becomes inundated with rubbish

In recent months, there have been days where locals have removed 30 tonnes of rubbish from beaches in Kuta, Legian and Seminyak before returning the following day to find the mounds of garbage had doubled to 60 tonnes, he said.

Wayan added while rubbish flooding onto Bali beaches was a regular phenomenon at this time of year, due to weather conditions, it was getting worse.

Dr Gede Hendrawan, the head of the Centre for Remote Sensing and Ocean Sciences at Bali's Udayana University, said the biggest problem was Indonesia's ineffective rubbish handling systems.

'The biggest problem is actually the trash handling hasn't been effective in Indonesia. Bali has just started to reorganise it, also Java has just started,' he said.

Debris scattered across the sand lining Kuta Beach has rendered the popular tourist destination almost unrecognisable

Indonesia's ineffective rubbish handling systems has been blamed as Bali's Governor, Wayan Koster, urges a serious clean-up for beaches (pictured, trash on Kuta Beach)

The cleaning up system does not have adequate equipment and resources to quickly remove rubbish from beaches. Currently, they use trucks and loaders (pictured on Kuta Beach on Saturday)

Locals are disappointed at what their beaches have become - the site of a rubbish tip (pictured) littered with plastic

Kuta Beach (pictured) is rubbish-free for nine months of the year, until the monsoon season hits in December (pictured, the clean beach in September)

Bali's beaches are usually packed with international tourists all year round. Pictured are tourists on Kuta Beach in March, a month before Indonesia closed its foreign borders

Bali's Governor, Wayan Koster, urged serious action to clean up the beaches - which are a huge tourist drawcard.

'The Badung administration should have a trash handling system at Kuta Beach that is complete with adequate equipment and human resources so they can work quickly to clean up the trash washed onto the beach,' he said.

'Moreover, in the rainy season when there are tourists visiting, the trash handling systems should be working 24 hours a day. Don't wait for tomorrow.'

Indonesia is among the worst contributors to plastic pollution, with 200,000 tonnes of plastic washing into the ocean, according to a study published by the journal Nature Communications in 2017.

Siblings Rizkika Arshanty and Rizkella Triara, from Jakarta said they were disappointed to visit Kuta Beach and find it inundated with rubbish.

Thousands of Australian tourists would normally be in Bali over the summer holiday period but the coronavirus pandemic has halted overseas travel.

Sadly, Kuta Beach doesn't look this clean and pristine all year round with the shoreline inundated with mountains of washed up rubbish during the monsoon season

Former Australian Bachelorette Anna Heinrich at Finns Beach club in Bali. More than a million Australians travel to Indonesia each year and make up more than a quarter of Bali tourists - but this has dropped to zero during the pandemic

Indonesia has recorded 1,111,671 coronavirus cases and 30,770 deaths as of Thursday.

Indonesia closed its international borders in April, which crippled the Balinese economy - normally almost entirely dependent on foreign tourism.

Businesses reopened to Bali locals in July after a three month hiatus.

Kuta has transformed from a bustling tourist mecca into a deserted ghost town, forcing accommodation operators to rethink their survival strategy and slash prices.

The problem on Kuta Beach is getting worse each days, despite daily efforts from hardworking crews to clear the debris on a frequent basis

Indonesia is keeping its borders closed to all foreign arrivals until at least January 14 in a bid to halt the spread of the new strains of Covid-19 that have emerged in the UK, South Africa and the US which have spread to other countries, including Australia.

Entry to Indonesia is only open to foreign nationals already holding a valid stay permit who must return a negative coronavirus test before they fly and spend 14 days in hotel quarantine when they arrive in Indonesia.

Bali Governor Wayan Koster remains optimistic about the revival of international tourism on the island, despite rising COVID-19 cases in the country.

'We have agreed to keep on pushing various policies to return the trust of tourists, especially foreign tourists, to visit Bali. [This is] so that the tourism sector can revive,' Koster told reporters last month.

Around 1.23 million Australians visited Bali in 2019 - a rise of 5.24 per cent on 2018 figures. Pictured: The Sanur beach

Pre-COVID, more than a million Australians travelled to Indonesia each year and made up more than a quarter of Bali tourists.

Around 1.23million Australians visited Bali in 2019 - a rise of 5.24 per cent on 2018 figures.

Around 20,000 Australians visited Bali at any one time before the pandemic before the number of foreign tourists arriving in Indonesia plunged 60 per cent in March as the outbreak spread worldwide.

As a result, more than 73,000 people have been furloughed and another 2,500 workers have lost their jobs in Bali due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia slumped 89.22 percent year-on-year to 164,970 in August 2020.

The Indonesian government predicts $14billion will be lost from tourism in 2020 and has introduced a $28billion in fiscal stimulus to fight the downturn.

Kuta Beach is located in the regency of Badung, which normally earns between $19million and $38million from January to June.

The regency had only earned $572,000 from January to June this year.
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Catholics urge Jesuits to censure Fr. James Martin for lauding image of Mary with LGBT rainbow halo

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A petition has circulated asking the Jesuit Order to censure one of its priests for blaspheming one of the most sacred images of the Virgin Mary.

Life Petitions, a project of the pro-life news site Life Site News, started a petition asking the Jesuit Order to censure James Martin, SJ, for offending Poland by blaspheming the Black Madonna one week ago. As of Wednesday morning, the petition had garnered more than 17,384 signatures.

Martin sparked outrage when he tweeted a picture of a Black Madonna painting that replaced the golden halos surrounding Mary and Jesus with rainbow-colored halos.

As the Life Petition explained, the Black Madonna, also known as Our Lady of Czecstochowa, is venerated and revered in Poland as representing the Virgin Mary, who is the patroness and protectress of the country.

Martins post came as part of a lengthy Jan. 19 Twitter thread in which he condemned Poland, a country where he claimed, "homophobia is rampant" and "LGBT people are on trial for desecrating a copy of the Black Madonna with rainbow-colored halos.

After arguing that there is a long history of portraying (Mary) as part of different faith communities and ethnicities, he complained that the LGBT community has few images like this.

Thread: In Poland, where homophobia is rampant, LGBT people are on trial for "desecrating" a copy of the Black Madonna. But Mary is for everyone, including LGBT people, and there is a long history of portraying her as part of different faith communities...https://t.co/MmgK80AF5b  James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) January 19, 2021

So it is not surprising that they would add their own symbol, the rainbow, in a respectful way, to a beloved image of their mother, he said in the thread that included a close-up of the Black Madonna with rainbow halos. How appropriate that she is weeping, for it her son who suffers whenever an LGBT person is persecuted.

The LGBT community has few images like this. So it is not surprising that they would add their own symbol, the rainbow, in a respectful way, to a beloved image of their mother.



How appropriate that she is weeping, for it her son who suffers whenever an LGBT person is persecuted pic.twitter.com/BlpYTMMBp8  James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) January 19, 2021

Emphasizing that the history of this sacred image is the history of Poland and the Polish people  a history of struggle and resilience, steeped in orthodox Roman Catholicism, the Life Petition asking for Martins censure accuses the Jesuit priest of having deeply offended Polish religion, history, culture and tradition.

The petition was addressed to the Superior General of the Jesuit Order and carbon copied to the Polish and American Jesuit conferences.

This kind of offensive promotion must be given a sharp rebuke, the petition reads. Therefore, we ask you to publicly censure Fr. Martin for the offense he has caused to the Polish nation, culture, and religion, and, moreover, for the scandal his behavior has caused to the faithful, generally.

The reason people are really outraged at James Martin, SJ, is not just because (he) offended Poland and the Poles, but because he is blaspheming Our Lady and Our Lord with this foul image. Fr. Martin clearly crossed the line with his decision to subvert this holy icon. Please address the situation publicly.

Over the years, Martin has often received strong criticism from conservative Catholics for his embrace of LGBT activism and his efforts to reach out to the community. Martin has advocated for the changing of church teaching so that same-sex attraction is characterized as differently ordered as opposed to intrinsically disordered.

According to Martin, If the church uses terms that are dated, unknown, overly clinical or considered disrespectful or even offensive (as same-sex attracted is with most LGBT people), the church risks preventing real dialogue with the group.

Martin has maintained that naming LGBT people what they ask to be named is part of the respect called for by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, suggesting that, If the church desires to address the contemporary world effectively it must consider using the terms by which the world understands itself.

He has also called upon the Catholic Church to embrace families headed by same-sex couples as one of many ways to be a family besides the traditional nuclear family.

Martins advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community has also been met with criticism from prominent figures in other denominations of Christianity.

Al Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, contended that by describing same-sex attraction as differently ordered, Martin subverted the Catholic Churchs understanding of the doctrines of creation, of humanity, of sin, of redemption, (and) of the church and indicated a desire to seek an entire re-orientation of the Catholic faith.

AKRON, Ohio  A 33-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl were wounded when someone opened fire on the pair as they sat in a vehicle in the East Akron neighborhood, police say.

The shooting occurred at 8:20 p.m. Tuesday outside a residence on the 900 block of McKinley Avenue, which is south of Fifth Avenue and north of Cole Avenue. Police say the man suffered a gunshot wound to his ankle and the teen was wounded in the leg.

The victims tell police they were shot by an unknown suspect as they sat in a vehicle outside the residence. A house also was struck by bullets but no one inside was injured.

The man and teen were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information can call detectives at 330-375-2490 or Summit County Crimestoppers at 330-434-COPS. Individuals also can send tips by texting TIPSCO to 274637. Callers can remain anonymous.

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Teen charged in slaying of 13-year-old Cleveland boy during drug deal

New Delhi: A day after international singing sensation Rihanna tweeted on Indian farmers' protest in the National Capital, social media flooded with reactions from all walks of life. Some hailing it, others bashing it as a 'fake propaganda to hamper the country's image'.

Besides Rihanna, others such as activist Greta Thunberg, former porn star Mia Khalifa amongst others too tweeted about the farmers' protest. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) responded to the comments made by foreign individuals and entities on the ongoing farmers protests.

Meanwhile, Bollywood celebrities from Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Suniel Shetty and Karan Johar etc have supported the MEA stance and tweeted using #IndiaAgainstPropaganda hashtag.

Take a look at who said what:

Farmers constitute an extremely important part of our country. And the efforts being undertaken to resolve their issues are evident. Lets support an amicable resolution, rather than paying attention to anyone creating differences. #IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda https://t.co/LgAn6tIwWp  Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) February 3, 2021

Dont fall for any false propaganda against India or Indian policies. Its important to stand united at this hour w/o any infighting #IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda  Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) February 3, 2021

We must always take a comprehensive view of things, as there is nothing more dangerous than half truth. #IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda @hiteshjain33 https://t.co/7rNZ683ZAU  Suniel Shetty (@SunielVShetty) February 3, 2021

We live in turbulent times and the need of the hour is prudence and patience at every turn. Let us together, make every effort we can to find solutions that work for everyoneour farmers are the backbone of India. Let us not let anyone divide us. #IndiaTogether  Karan Johar (@karanjohar) February 3, 2021

           . Even in this sad phase of pandemic,India is helping all nations with vaccine supply for the sake of Humanity.Let all realise that India is ONE & will not tolerate comments against it. #IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda  Kailash Kher (@Kailashkher) February 3, 2021

Here's the full MEA statement:

The Parliament of India, after a full debate and discussion, passed reformist legislation relating to the agricultural sector. These reforms give expanded market access and provided greater flexibility to farmers. They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming.

A very small section of farmers in parts of India have some reservations about these reforms. Respecting the sentiments of the protestors, the Government of India has initiated a series of talks with their representatives. Union Ministers have been part of the negotiations, and eleven rounds of talks have already been held. The Government has even offered to keep the laws on hold, an offer iterated by no less than the Prime Minister of India.

Yet, it is unfortunate to see vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda on these protests, and derail them. This was egregiously witnessed on January 26, Indias Republic Day. A cherished national commemoration, the anniversary of the inauguration of the Constitution of India, was besmirched, and violence and vandalism took place in the Indian capital.

Some of these vested interest groups have also tried to mobilise international support against India. Instigated by such fringe elements, Mahatma Gandhi statues have been desecrated in parts of the world. This is extremely disturbing for India and for civilised society everywhere.

Indian police forces have handled these protests with utmost restraint. It may be noted that hundreds of men and women serving in the police have been physically attacked, and in some cases stabbed and seriously wounded.

We would like to emphasise that these protests must be seen in the context of Indias democratic ethos and polity, and the efforts of the Government and the concerned farmer groups to resolve the impasse.

Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken. The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible."

The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has revealed plans to expand the work of its Young Pioneers children's organization to Hong Kong, Macau, and the democratic island of Taiwan, as well as further "cultivating" the nation's children at home.



In a document published on the front page of CCP mouthpiece the People's Daily on Thursday, the CCP Central Committee said the work of the Young Pioneers was a "strategic" and "fundamental" part of its rule.



Since its founding in October 1949, the Young Pioneers "has united, educated, and led generations of children to follow and obey the party," the document said.



It called on CCP organizations to "strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan childrens organizations and institutions to enhance the national, ethnic and cultural identity of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan children."



The order comes as authorities in Hong Kong are getting ready to repurpose a secondary-school critical thinking program currently known as Liberal Studies to deliver classes on patriotism, "national security," and the mainland Chinese political system, in which the CCP controls every aspect of life.



The document also calls for outreach programs in "countries around the world, especially countries involved in the Belt and Road [infrastructure plan]."



Under the plan, CCP committees at all levels of government will be made answerable to higher levels of government for their leadership of the Young Pioneers, and held responsible for the progress of local branches.



"Central and local governments at all levels have designated a comrade responsible for liaising with the Young Pioneers to carry out this work," it said, mandating a annual work report.



Youth work committees will also be mandatory in all primary and secondary schools, it said.

Targeting children a priority



According to the state-run China Daily, political work targeting children has been a priority of CCP general secretary Xi Jinping since he took power in 2012.



The order to boost the work of the Young Pioneers comes as the ruling party approaches the 100th anniversary of its founding this year, as well as the 20th Party Congress in Beijing.



"This national organization acts like a big school, where its members "develop their character and all kinds of skills, as well as their love for party, motherland, and the people," the China Daily quoted Xi as saying in a recent message to the Young Pioneers.



Chengdu-based rights activist Huang Xiaomin said the renewed focus on youth work follows a decade during which the Young Pioneers became less of a political organization and more of a national youth club.



"There is a sense that the Young Pioneers have grown unreliable [as a political organization] and can't be trusted with important work," Huang said.



"They have suddenly woken up to the fact that they can't miss out on this opportunity [to engage in political education of the nation's children]."

'I would never let them join'



A resident of Taiyuan in the northern province of Shanxi, who gave only a surname Wang, said she was angry after reading the document, because the CCP has yet to solve some of the most fundamental problems facing China's 1.4 billion people.



"There is something ridiculous about discussing ideology when 1.4 billion people in this country are facing all of the same problems as the rest of the world right now," Wang said. "Are they planning to stay in power for another 100 years?" she said.



"If I had a child in school I would never let them join the Young Pioneers," she said.



Anhui-based scholar Sun Bin said the emphasis on the Young Pioneers seems a little outdated, as if Xi wants to walk the country back in time.



"After 40 years of westernization and the economic miracle, they are walking backwards on the question of political reform," Sun said.



"These measures are an attempt to prevent gradual change and creeping reforms," he said.



The Hong Kong government recently revealed to the education sector its plans to re-purpose Liberal Studies in the city's schools, skewing it towards the patriotic indoctrination favored by Beijing.



The decade-old Liberal Studies program, blamed by China for a string of mass, pro-democracy and anti-government protests in Hong Kong in recent years, will now be repurposed as a vehicle for China's brand of "patriotic education," a proposal shelved following mass protests in 2009, according to a 45-page circular sent to schools in recent days.



The Education Bureau plans to "optimize" the program around four core subjects, under which topics will include "national security" and "national identity," as well as material relating to China's recent achievements.



There is also a module on "Chinese culture and modern life," which requires students to complete a project on some aspect of life in mainland China.



Hong Kong saw the setting up of a CCP-backed "National Pioneers" children's organization similar to the Young Pioneers, whose members wear a yellow rather than a red neck-scarf, in 2007.



Reported by Qiao Long and Gigi Lee for RFA's Mandarin and Cantonese Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Amazon recently told employees at its DCH1 warehouse in Chicago it was closing the facility down. DCH1 has been the site of protests and walkouts. Its also the home of DCH1 Amazonians United, an advocacy group that has successfully petitioned the company for things like paid time off for part-time workers. According to Motherboard, the company reportedly gave employees two options: they could either take on 10-hour megacycle shifts at other facilities, or they could find a new job.

Megacycle shifts are a relatively recent development at Amazons delivery stations. They see the companys warehouse employees work for 10-hours straight in graveyard shifts that usually start in the early hours of the morning and end around lunchtime. Amazon told Motherboard more than half of its last-mile delivery network is already on the model. In moving to the new model, Amazon has also reportedly been phasing out the shorter shifts it offered as an option to its workers previously, a claim the company disputes.

Amazons shutting DCH1 down and transferring us to facilities with the shift 1:20am-11:50am. These facilities are supposedly overstaffed, still HR wont provide accommodations to people with 2nd jobs or mothers who need to be home in the AM to care for their children/e-learning   DCH1 Amazonians United (@Dch1United) January 28, 2021

It is inaccurate that we are only asking associates at DCH1 to change to a single shift type. We offer a wide range of job opportunities at Amazon sites and we are working with each associate directly on the option that best supports them, Jen Crowcroft, a spokesperson for Amazon, told Engadget. Our associates are the heart and soul of our operations, and we are happy to continue to offer great, flexible career opportunities in world-class facilities.

Motherboard suggests Amazon is moving to the megacycle model to save on labor costs since longer shifts allow the company to hire fewer workers, which in turn saves it money on benefits. Amazon contends the model streamlines its operations and provides a longer window for customers to order products. The company is also quick to note the three new facilities where its transferring DCH1 workers pay at least $15 per hour and offer comprehensive benefits.

Still, megacycle shifts come with several notable drawbacks for workers. Theres less flexibility than a five or eight-hour shift, and a recent report found injury rates are higher at Amazon warehouses during the holiday season when employees work longer hours in one go.

DCH1 Amazonians United is attempting to challenge the decision. This week, the group started a petition for megacycle shift workers. Theyre demanding the company pay those employees an extra $2 per hour, as well as provide accommodations to those workers who cant work an entire shift because of other obligations. "Amazon's change in delivery station shift schedules is throwing our lives into chaos," the group says in the petition. "They give us two weeks to decide between caring for our family and having a job. This is an unacceptable level of corporate control over our lives."

Recognizing professionals who deliver outstanding customer experiences through shared expertise on Sitecore's products, the 2021 MVP program draws from a community of 12,000 certified developers and over 20,000 active participants.

"Our MVPs are passionate about sharing their knowledge and expertise. They continue to be very active in the Sitecore community and have become the architects of our complimentary Sitecore workshops. They help our customers build a vison of what is possible as well as navigate important technical decisions," said Tom Cole, CEO of RDA.

"The 2021 Sitecore MVPs consist of stellar individuals who demonstrated incredible commitment to the Sitecore community during a challenging year which didn't allow for in-person engagement," said Tom De Ridder, CTO of Sitecore. "The 284 MVPs stepped up to the plate to bring critical knowledge and insights for the greater community through virtual channels. We are especially pleased to celebrate this group in the program's 15th year."

More information can be found about the MVP Program on the Sitecore MVP site: http://mvp.sitecore.com.

About RDA

RDA engineers digital confidence. As a leading provider of digital experience and intelligent automation platforms, RDA enables enterprise teams to capture new revenue and drive out unnecessary cost. Leading brands  including Five Guys, Pandora, Kimberly-Clark, Tessco, Acuity Brands, and Georgia Pacific  have trusted RDA to drive new channels of revenue while becoming more agile. RDA is an award-winning Sitecore Platinum Partner, 4X Microsoft Gold Partner of the Year, Salesforce Consulting Partner, and UiPath Gold Partner. Visit www.rdacorp.com

SOURCE RDA

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DALLAS, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Suntex Marina Investors, LLC (Suntex), the premier owner and operator of best in-class marina properties, announced today it has acquired Prime Marina Miami. Located in the heart of Coconut Grove, adjacent to city hall and local businesses, the property serves a strong and affluent boating market south of downtown Miami. Effective immediately, Suntex will return the site to its previous name, Bayshore Landing.

The purchase of the property's recently renewed 70-year lease from Prime Marina Group includes 111 slips able to accommodate vessels up to 130-feet. In addition to the full-service marina, the purchase includes 30,000 square feet of retail space and 15,000 square feet of restaurant space that is 100% occupied. Tenants include famous Monty's Raw Bar and Restaurant, Sushi Maki and Starbucks as well as a number of marine-related business including yachts, brokerage firms and charter companies. The fully secured and patrolled property offers pump out and fuel services, 24/7 access, lighted parking and a valet service.

"Suntex is actively growing and seeking acquisitions that align with our core objectives to be the premier marina operator in the US," said David Filler, Head of Suntex Investments, Florida. "Biscayne Bay and the surrounding neighborhoods like Coconut Grove represent one of the greatest boating communities in the world; we are pleased to add this property to our portfolio. We look forward to greatly enhancing the boating experience for everyone to enjoy."

As part of Suntex's continuing commitment to making significant operational and financial investments in properties throughout South Florida, initial plans for the site include conversion to year-round fuel operations, an enhanced waterfront experience, expanded menu options and greatly improved customer service.

The Suntex portfolio of marinas is located in California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee and Virginia. For more information on Suntex Marina Investors LLC, or the complete portfolio of Suntex marinas, please contact [email protected] or visit www.suntex.com.

About Suntex Marina Investors, LLC  Suntex Marinas engages in the ownership and management of marina properties. The executive officers at Suntex have over 100 years combined experience investing in, acquiring, and managing marinas. Suntex prides itself on a growing reputation in the marina industry for its commitment to superior customer service, experienced marina managers and staff, conscious contributions to marina communities and expansive enthusiasm for creating memorable experiences on the water. www.suntex.com

SOURCE Suntex Marina Investors LLC
The Spanish tourism industry is feeling the loss of British visitors, whose numbers plummeted 82% in 2020 from the previous year, according to figures released Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). The drop is blamed on the coronavirus pandemic, which led to strict restrictions on travel, quarantine rules and the closure of bars and restaurants. Most of Spain is used to receiving tourists from the United Kingdom, be it over summer or in the low season. The drop has hit the Canary and Balearic islands especially hard, as both archipelagos are highly dependent on international tourism and air connectivity.

But it is not just visitors from the UK that are being missed. Spains tourism industry is also feeling the loss of tourists from Germany, France, Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and Italy. The drop in British tourists, however, has been the greatest, both in terms of the number of arrivals and in expenditure. This fall  together with the decline in German tourists  is having a big impact on Spains islands.

In the Balearic Islands, the drop in British tourists has been dramatic. Just 223,000 travelers from the UK visited the archipelago in 2020, compared to 3.7 million in 2019  a fall of 93%. The decline in visitors from Britain, which is the second-largest source country of tourism to Spain, has been keenly felt in popular tourist destinations like Calvia in Mallorca island and Sant Antoni in Ibiza, with many businesses in these areas forced to close.

The numbers of tourists began to nosedive from mid-July, when the British government of Boris Johnson recommended against travel to Spain and imposed a 14-day quarantine on visitors returning from the country in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The fall in German visitors compounded the loss. Last year, only 720,459 tourists from Germany visited the Balearic Islands, a drop of 84% on 2019 figures. In total, spending by all international tourists in the region plummeted from 14.8 billion in 2019 to just 1.8 billion, a fall of 87%. Indeed, the Balearic Islands is the Spanish region that has seen the biggest drop in all international visitors, with the numbers of foreign tourists from 13.6 million in 2019 to just 1.7 million last year, a drop of 87%.

Devastating impact

The quarantine [on visitors returning from Spain to the UK] was a deathblow. Instead of holding on a little longer, hotels had to gradually close because the impact of the fall in British tourists was devastating. In October, all the facilities were closed, says Mauricio Carballeda, the president of the Palmanova-Magaluf Hoteliers Association in the Balearic Islands. Hotel occupancy last summer ranged between 30% and 40%  in a normal year, more than 90% of rooms are booked. It was domestic tourism that helped compensate for this loss, with many establishments surviving thanks to visitors from Spain.

Palma beach in Mallorca during the coronavirus lockdown. CATI CLADERA / EFE

The resort town of Magaluf in Mallorca almost exclusively depends on tourists from the UK, in particular, young British visitors looking for a vibrant nightlife. In February 2020, the regional government of the Balearic Islands approved regulation to crack down on so-called booze tourism, where visitors are encouraged to binge-drink alcohol. The rules also targeted so-called balconing, a term that refers to usually inebriated tourists jumping from balcony to balcony in their hotels, or attempting to launch themselves from great heights into swimming pools. But with nightclubs closed since last August due to coronavirus restrictions, there has been no occasion to use this law. Magaluf, which is brimming with bars and restaurants, has become an empty backdrop, visited only by sporadic groups of foreign youths, with its beaches reclaimed by local residents.

The outlook for 2021 is just as uncertain, says Carballeda, who explains that everything depends on how the pandemic evolves over the next few months, whether there are new travel rules, and if a safe travel corridor can be opened between the UK and the Balearic Islands. Vaccination will be another factor, he says. The British are going at a strong rate and we will have to see what level of immunization there is here. The recovery will begin in summer, not before. Adding to the uncertainty is the impact of Brexit and fear of contagion from the new strains of the coronavirus.

Blow to Canary Islands

In the Canary Islands, the situation in 2020 was somewhat different. The number of international tourists to the archipelago fell 71%, significantly less than in the Balearic Islands. This is partly due to the fact that the region was able to receive visitors last winter, which is its high season. However, its current high season has also coincided with the peak of the third coronavirus wave in Spain and Europe. January 2021 has been worse than what happened in 2020, says Jose Maria Manaricua, the president of Las Palmas hotel association. All our main markets are closed and have toughened restrictions, and the new strain detected in Britain has been the final blow.

Maspalomas beach in Gran Canaria during the coronavirus lockdown. Getty Images

The devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Canary Islands tourism industry is reflected in the INE data. In the first six months of 2020, the number of British visitors to the archipelago fell 88%  from 2.5 million in 2019 to just under 309,000. It was a hard blow to the sector, which received 4.94 million tourists from the UK in 2019. This represented nearly two thirds of the 15.1 million international visitors the region received that year. But it is not only visitors from Britain that fell in 2020. The number of foreign tourists to the Canary Islands plummeted to 4.8 million last year, a 71% drop from 2019, when 16.8 million international visitors came to the region.

The head of the Canary Islands tourism department, Yaiza Castilla, admitted on Wednesday that the winter high season was a lost cause as Spain and the main markets in Europe were experiencing one of the worst moments of the pandemic. Castilla also said she was disappointed with the central Tourism Ministry, which announced a special plan for the archipelago in October. Despite this, Castilla says no aid has come.

International visitors fall to record lows

The coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on all of Spains tourism industry. According to the INE, Spain received a historic low of just 18.96 million foreign visitors in 2020. This represents a fall of 77% on figures from 2019, when the country welcomed 83.5 million international tourists, setting a new record high for the seventh year in a row.

Tourist expenditure also fell dramatically last year. Visitors spent 19.7 billion in 2020, down from 91.9 billion in 2019, a drop of 78.5%. This has had a significant effect on the Spanish economy. In 2019, the tourism industry accounted for 12.4% of Spains gross domestic product (GDP). Last year, it accounted for just 4%.

Following the Balearic Islands, the regions hardest hit by the fall in international visitors were Catalonia (a drop of 80%), Madrid (77.7%), Andalusia (77.5%) and the Valencia region (73.2%).

English version by Melissa Kitson.




Armenias Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan has posted the following on his Facebook page:

The internationally guaranteed right of the residents of Meghri community of Syunik Province of Armenia continues to be seriously violated through the deliberate acts of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan.

The residents of Meghri community have sounded alarms according to which soldiers of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces had changed the flow of water from a tributary of Meghri river towards Nakhchivan (Ordubad region). As a result, it turns out that serious problems with accessibility of drinking water and irrigation water are emerging in the cities of Meghri and Agarak, as well as Nrnadzor, Shvanidzor and Alvank villages of Syunik Province. In these settlements, the population of Meghri community is the majority.

The residents and the head of Meghri community have informed the Human Rights Defender that Azerbaijani soldiers are creating barriers through special engineering machinery every month and changing the flow of the tributary towards Nakhchivan. Basically, as a result of these deliberate actions of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, serious issues are emerging for the residents of the Meghri and Agarak cities and the Nrnadzor, Shvanidzor and Alvank villages starting from August each year in terms of accessibility of drinking and irrigation water.

With these acts, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, and the authorities, are grossly violating the right of the residents of Meghri community of Armenia to water that is guaranteed by absolute international bans. The right to water is internationally guaranteed and includes the human right to have sufficient and continuing drinking water and water for domestic purposes (irrigation, hygiene, etc.).

The described actions of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan are a gross violation of the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes adopted on March 17, 1992 in Helsinki and other international documents.

The Office of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia is currently summing up the analyses and evaluations of the serious and ongoing violations by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces of the absolutely and internationally guaranteed right of the residents of Armenia to drinking water and irrigation water, and these analyses and evaluations will be sent to international organizations and first and foremost specialized organizations, as well as to the competent authorities of Armenia.
The partys state and central leadership decided at a meeting in New Delhi to hold Mr Modis maiden rally for the polls as part of his Haldia tour. (PTI)

Kolkata: Targeting West Bengals Trinamul Congress in what was once its home turf, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kickstart his Assembly election campaign from Haldia in East Midnapore, the Adhikari family bastion, with a BJP rally next week amid the partys rathyatra led by its president J.P. Nadda and home minister Amit Shah seeking parivartan in the poll-bound state.

While Mr Modis Haldia visit was already due on February 7, when he will inaugurate three big-ticket Central industrial projects, his political rally was not on the one-day tour agenda as he was supposed to start his campaign only after the poll schedule was announced, BJP sources said.

However, the partys state and central leadership decided at a meeting in New Delhi Tuesday to hold Mr Modis maiden rally for the polls as part of his Haldia tour. State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said: The PM will visit Haldia to attend a government event. We invited him to address a party rally there the same day.

The sudden inclusion of the rally in the PMs tour reflected local TMC MP Dibyendu Adhikaris calculated preparations that fuelled speculation about his defection to the BJP in Mr Modis presence.

The state government has, meanwhile, asked the BJP to take permission for its five rathyatras from the district administrations. On Wednesday a PIL was filed in the Calcutta high court over the rathyatras, fearing these might disturb the states law and order situation.
More than 200 care homes in England have failed to enact measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus, a damning report has revealed.

The Care Quality Commission found Covid protocols were either inadequate or in need of improvement in 223 out of 575 facilities that it investigated last month (40 per cent).

Breaches included staff wearing face masks on their chins and residents infected with coronavirus being allowed to mingle with others in communal areas.

At Swan House care home in Winslow, Buckinghamshire, a manager continued to show up for work despite suffering symptoms of the virus.

More than 1,000 care home residents in England have been dying from the disease every week since the start of January and over 30,000 have been killed in total since the start of the pandemic.

Care home deaths are expected to slow significantly in the coming month after Boris Johnson announced yesterday that every resident in England had been given their first dose of vaccine. But immunity doesn't kick in for three weeks.

As much as 40 per cent of all care homes visited by CQC inspectors were branded inadequate or in need of improvement last month

Woodheyes care home in Leicester was branded inadequate by inspectors, The Guardian reported.

'Staff did not have all the skills and knowledge needed to provide safe care,' they wrote.

'We observed people with Covid in communal areas, mixing with people that did not have Covid.

BAN ON CARE HOME VISITS COULD BE MADE ILLEGAL Banning indoor visits to elderly relatives in care homes could soon be made illegal. Visits resumed briefly in December after the Daily Mail campaigned for visitor testing, but the third national lockdown forced them to be stopped again. Labour veteran Harriet Harman, chairman of the Commons joint committee on human rights, warned that outright visiting bans are a breach of the Human Rights Act. She is leading a move, backed by campaign groups, to ensure close relatives have the same legal status as paid carers. A similar law is in place in Canada. She said this week: 'We have drafted a complete set of regulations which mean a close relative is treated the same as someone who works in the home. 'A relative is part of the care team and the care home must allow a visit by this person significant to the service user. 'Everybody has a right to a family life. That's one of the basic human rights. You don't stop having a right to family life just because you live in residential care, in fact family can be even more important.' Advertisement

'We observed staff entering and exiting bedrooms (of infected residents) without changing their PPE.'

At Ashton care home, in Hinckley, CCTV footage revealed staff wearing face masks around their necks on 'dozens' of occasions.

'On three occasions we observed staff administering medicines directly into people's mouths without wearing gloves, aprons or washing hands,' they said.

A staff member was also seen walking into the room of a person who was isolating because of the virus without wearing any PPE.

Liz Kendall, the shadow care minister, told The Guardian the results from inspections were 'unacceptable'.

'It is unacceptable that some care companies are failing to put even basic infection control measures in place and even turning down offers of training and other support.

'Ministers must look at these reports as a matter of urgency and spell out what action they and the CQC will take.'

The CQC's chief inspector of adult social care, Kate Terroni, added: 'Where there has been poor care or inadequate infection control procedures we have taken immediate action.

'However, in most cases care providers have shown they are responding well to the challenges of infection prevention control during the pandemic and doing everything they can to keep people safe.'

Human rights group Amnesty International told MailOnline it suspects the resurgence of the virus in care homes this winter is linked to the Government's controversial policy to continue to send Covid patients discharged from hospitals back into care homes.

Under the scheme, designed to free up hospital beds and protect the NHS, care homes which pass inspection and are deemed Covid-secure are asked to house infected patients.

Other experts have said that when transmission is allowed to spiral in the community - there were thought to be about 100,000 new infections in the UK every day last month - it will always trickle into care homes through asymptomatic staff and claim lives.

More than 20,000 care home residents died from Covid-19 during the first wave of the pandemic and experts say the decision to discharge thousands of untested hospital patients into care homes in spring was partly to blame. MPs accused the Government of throwing care homes 'to the wolves'.

Almost a third of all deaths due to the virus have been in homes, after potentially infected patients were discharged from hospitals during the peak of the first wave

It comes amid mounting pressure on ministers to pass a law giving care home residents the right to see their family.

Many residents have been kept from their loved ones for almost a year, since the pandemic first hit, which politicians argue is against their human rights.

Parliaments Joint Committee on Human Rights last night drew up emergency legislation that would make it illegal for care homes to impose blanket bans on visits, after residents were blocked from seeing their loved ones for months.

The Labour Party yesterday urged the Government to implement the legal change. Campaigners and MPs, led by Labour peer Harriet Harman, said that preventing visits is a breach of the Human Rights Act.

In December, the Government issued new national guidance saying indoor visits including hugs should be the default.

But these were once again scrapped during the third national lockdown. Relatives are distraught that guidelines still have not changed now that all care home residents have been vaccinated.

The change would give close relatives the same legal status as paid carers, giving every resident the right to visits from a significant person. Experts believe it could prevent thousands of deaths from loneliness and isolation.

Last night the Prime Minister said relatives must remain very cautious about visiting elderly family members because far too many deaths of older people were still occurring.

He had been asked at the Downing Street press conference whether it is morally right to prevent care home residents who have received a first dose to see relatives who have also been vaccinated.

Care Concern Group, which operates Ashton care home, was contacted for comment. Ambient Support, which operates Swan House, was contacted for comment. Woodheyes home was also contacted for comment.
Chhattisgarh: A minor girl was allegedly gang-raped and stoned to death police said on Wednesday, the accused allegedly also killed the girl's father and his four-year-old granddaughter, who were with her at that time.

The incident occurred near Gadhuproda village under Lemru police station of Korba district in Chhattisgarh on January 29. The matter came to light on Tuesday, when the deceased man's son filed a missing complaint.

The police in its preliminiary investigation, found that the deceased man used to work as a cattle grazer at the house of prime accused Santram Manjhwar since July 2020.

On January 29, 2021, while Manjhwar was going to drop the man, his daughter (16) and granddaughter (4) to their village on his motorcycle, he stopped on the way at at Korai village and the others joined him there.

The accused took the three victims to the foot of a hill surrounded by forest near Gadhuproda, where Manjhwar and another accused allegedly raped the teenage girl. They smashed all the victims with stones and sticks and dumped them in the forest before fleeing from the spot, Korba Superintendent of Police Abhishek Meena was quoted as saying by PTI.

"When the deceased man's son lodged a missing report at Lemru police station on Tuesday, police took action and rounded up six accused..," Meena told PTI.

The accused were identified as Santram Majhwar (45), Abdul Jabbar (29), Anil Kumar Sarthi (20), Pardeshi Ram Panika (35), Anand Ram Panika (25) and Uamshankar Yadav (21).

Following their interrogation, police reached the crime spot and found the injured rape victim alive while two others were reported dead. She was immediately rushed to a local hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries.

A case has been filed under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (2)G (gangrape) and provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Live TV
Five people in NSW are self-isolating after staying at a Melbourne quarantine hotel at the same time as a fellow guest caught the British variant of the virus from positive cases staying in an adjacent room.

NSW has recorded no community acquired COVID-19 cases for the 18th consecutive day as Victorias 28-day streak came to an end with a hotel quarantine worker testing positive in a separate incident.

Victorian health authorities are also investigating an incident involving the transmission of the British variant within the Park Royal quarantine hotel after the virus jumped from a family staying in one hotel room to a guest in a room opposite.

The states public health team believe viral particles may have exited the room of the family who all later tested positive. Somehow, the virus either lingered in the air or attached itself to a hard surface, which then caused a woman in another room to contract the same strain.
President Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

Trump Lawyers Dismiss Request for Former President to Testify During Impeachment Trial

Former President Donald Trumps team dismissed a request for the former president to testify under oath at the pending Senate impeachment trial.

House Democratic impeachment managers led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) sent a letter to Trump calling on him to testify at his second impeachment trial and said that if he doesnt, they would use it against him during the eventa similar tactic and argument they used during the first impeachment trial.

Two days ago, you filed an Answer in which you denied many factual allegations set forth in the article of impeachment. You have thus attempted to put critical facts at issue notwithstanding the clear and overwhelming evidence of your constitutional offense, Raskin wrote to Trump, adding, I write to invite you to provide testimony under oath, either before or during the Senate impeachment trial, concerning your conduct on January 6, 2021.

But Trump lawyer David Schoen, in response, claimed Raskin was attempting a public relations stunt by sending the letter to the former president.

There is no such thing as negative inference in this unconstitutional proceeding, he added. Your letter only confirms what is known to everyone: you cannot prove your allegations against the 45th president of the United States, who is now a private citizen.

In suggesting that Trump will not attend the trial to testify, Schoen argued that Raskins use of our Constitution to bring a purported impeachment proceeding is much too serious to try to play these games.

The Democratic-controlled House voted last month to impeach Trump on a single article of impeachment, claiming he incited an insurrection on Jan. 6.

Trumps lawyers have indicated that they will argue that the impeachment trial is unconstitutional because Trump has left office and that his act of speaking to a crowd on Jan. 6 was protected under the First Amendment.

Jason Miller, part of Trumps team, told Newsmax on Thursday that he did not expect him to testify.

However, if Trump did, the former president would knock this thing out in about 15 minutes, said Miller.

When Trump addressed the Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6 during the Joint Session of Congress, he wanted the protesters to demonstrate peacefully, he added.

You would have to be so thick in the head to have watched President Trump over the last five years and not realize that he is the most pro-law and order president ever and that he deplores any sort of mob violence, he said. Miller furthermore said that a timeline of the events on Jan. 6 dispute that Trumps speech incited a mob.

Weve seen public reports from the police and FBI and all sorts of other outlets that much of this planning was done well in advance, he said on the network.

The Senate impeachment trial is scheduled to start the week of Feb. 8. House Democrats wrote that the former president should respond to the letter by Friday, Feb. 5.

Last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Democrats wont net a conviction after 45 GOP senators voted against holding the trial in January. At least 17 Republicans would have to join the Democratic caucus.
A Democratic senator from Michigan, who has sponsored legislation to tackle the climate crisis, has invested up to $15,000 in a power company largely powered by fossil fuels.

Senator Gary Peters purchased an undisclosed number of shares - between $1,001 and $15,000 - in American Electric Power Company Inc (AEP), according to a recent Senate financial disclosure.

AEP is one of the country's largest generators of electricity. Coal-fuelled power plants account for about 45 per cent of its generating capacity, according to the company's website, while natural gas makes up 28 per cent and nuclear 7 per cent.

The remaining generation is from wind, hydro, pumped storage and other sources (17 per cent) and energy efficiency (3 per cent).

Electricity production is the second largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions after transportation, according to the EPA. GHG emissions are driving global heating and leading to increasingly severe climate impacts.

When coal is burned it creates a toxic byproduct called coal ash. Long-term exposure can lead to liver damage, kidney damage, cardiac arrhythmia, and some cancers, according to the National Resource Defense Council.

The Democrat purchased the stock on 15 January, 2021. The Independent did not receive a response from Sen Peters office at the time of publication.

AEP told The Independent that the company does not comment on individual shareholders investments.

"AEP is focused on delivering clean energy to our customers and investing in a reliable, secure and modern grid to support the addition of renewables and new energy technologies. Weve taken significant actions to cut our carbon dioxide emissions by 65 per cent from 2000 levels and continue to transition to cleaner forms of energy to serve our customers. AEP plans to add more than 8,000 MW of wind and solar generation throughout our 11 regulated states between 2021 and 2030," a company spokeswoman said.

Sen Peters, who was re-elected in November, has co-sponsored bills to tackle climate change and environmental issues in the past.

He was part of a joint resolution in 2019 which called on the US and Congress to take immediate action to address the challenge of climate change. He also co-sponsored another bill that year to stop Arctic Ocean drilling.

He has made multiple public statements about the threat that the climate crisis poses both to the US at large and his home state of Michigan.

Last month he tweeted: "Climate change is a national security & economic threat seriously impacting the Great Lakes. We can address this challenge with clean-energy job creation & working w/ global partners.

"Im pleased @POTUS re-entered the Paris agreementwe must be a leader combatting this threat."
February 04, 2021

The topic of hosting refugees is a meaningful conversation many country leaders are having, as more people seek refuge from issues in their homeland, such as violence and corrupt governments.

Hiruy Amanuel, ETM Softwares strategic advisor, says that the technology solution provider company leads the space for innovative solutions for refugees by highlighting the importance of access to e-learning.







About ETM Software

ETM Software builds custom enterprise software solutions for public and private organizations . Founded in 2016, ETM Software is based out of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and has worked on more than a hundred projects to support diverse customers.

Though ETM Software provides services to various clientele, its primary goal is to provide better workflow solutions for humanitarian and hospitality service sectors. Working with humanitarian organizations pushed ETM Software in the right direction towards further involvement in delivering accessible e-learning for refugees.

The Importance of E-Learning for Refugees

Newly released research from the Immigration Policy Lab reveals the high levels of resourcefulness refugees hold. Refugees are very persistent in finding opportunities they genuinely want through out-of-the-box strategies such as moving to another state for job access, even if it is right after an initial country to country move. During the Immigration Policy Lab study, researchers tracked around 450,000 people between 2000 and 2014 who had sought safety and refuge in the United States. Many of these settlers chose to move to a different state not long after their original arrival in the U.S. Out of the monitored 447,747 refugees, 47 percent recorded moving to a new area by their first year. The main priorities for such a move revolve around seeking better job opportunities and more outstanding social networks.

The study done by the Immigration Policy Lab crushes negative refugee stereotypes. Data reflected that most refugees are not choosing to move to states where welfare benefits are most accessible, which means refugees are not looking to drain a states resources long-term, as previous counter opinions have stated. The majority of refugees in the United States choose to move out of states with high unemployment rates and relocate to states that exemplify career opportunities and have economies on the rise.

According to ETM Software COO and co-founder of refugee e-learning, Sosena Terefe, refugees and asylum seekers are in most cases highly skilled and have a lot to give to their host country. However, though they might be the best candidates for multiple different jobs, refugees still have to operate around numerous barriers put in their path that often prevents them from ever having an opportunity to exercise their skills. As Terefe puts it, when a refugee comes to a host country, their main goal is to move forward as quickly as possible to settle into their new life. The communities in which these refugees choose to live can significantly benefit from the extensive range of skills refugees hold. Through e-learning, refugees can have the chance to upskill prior to immigrating for better integration into such fields as healthcare, software development, or even engineering. We have plans this year to expand our e-learning programs to other countries outside of Africa such as Syria, Indonesia, and Armenia. said Sosena.

About Sosena Terefe





Sosena Terefe is a senior software developer with a focus on enterprise software and operating capabilities. She is also the COO and Co-founder of ETM Software based in Ethiopia. By applying her skills towards projects promoting social change, she aims to maximize her companys global footprint giving visibility to those that are so often invisible.

About Hiruy Amanuel

Hiruy Amanuel is a dedicated philanthropist who has invested in several educational and technological initiatives in East Africa. By increasing access to quality education and technological resources, he hopes to drive the rapid development of groundbreaking technologies throughout the Horn of Africa.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Goodfellas Brick Oven Pizza in Dongan Hills is donating its award-winning pizza to the less fortunate this month.

The Pizza Across America campaign has selected the Staten Island restaurant, located at 1718 Hylan Blvd., to donate and deliver at least 10 large pizzas to local food banks, shelters or care centers of their choice. The initiative will take place Tuesday, Feb. 9, for National Pizza Day. Pizzerias across the U.S. will join the World Pizza Champions, a group of pizza industry leaders, in supporting their neighbors in need. Hormel Foods, the makers of Hormel Pepperoni, partnered with Slice Out Hunger to support shelters and soup kitchens across the U.S. by sponsoring deliveries from participating Pizza Across America pizzerias.

Our members are the most award-winning pizzerias in the country and were all heavily involved in our communities, so this is our way of leading by example, said Mike Bausch, vice president of World Pizza Champions.

The eatery, open for pickup, delivery and outdoor dining during the pandemic, has been a fan favorite in SILives Best of Staten Island Readers Choice poll in the category of pizza and Italian cuisine. In 2009, Goodfellas won best non-traditional pizza in the world at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas.

Consumers can help Slice Out Hunger continue its mission of supporting American hunger relief and prevention measures by donating here. Check out the list of participating pizzerias at Slice Out Hunger and visit a local shop to support the small businesses that are giving back even in the midst of a pandemic.

For more information on Goodfellas, visit Goodfellas.com.
Maple Gold closes joint venture transaction with Agnico Eagle Mines

Posted by Publisher Internet

Maple Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX-V: MGM) (OTCQB: MGMLF) (FSE: M3G)?(\Maple Gold\ or the \Company\  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/maple-gold-mines-ltd/) is pleased to announce the closing of its previously announced 50-50 joint venture transaction (the \Transaction\) with Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (\Agnico\), which combines Maple Gold\-\-s Douay Project and Agnico\-\-s Joutel Project into a consolidated land package of approximately 400 km? (the \JV\). The closing of the Transaction follows the signing of a Binding Term Sheet between Maple Gold and Agnico that was previously announced on October 8, 2020.

\The closing of this Transaction represents an exciting new chapter for Maple Gold as we move forward on the Douay Project with the best joint venture partner we could ask for,? stated Matthew Hornor, Maple Gold\-\-s President and CEO. \We are excited to kick off the JV\-\-s maiden drill campaign shortly to expand the established gold resources at Douay and will continue to test regional targets for new discoveries, all with the aim of establishing an exciting new gold district in Quebec\-\-s Abitibi Gold Belt. We also look forward to building on our relationships with the local communities around the combined land package, including the First Nations.?

JV Highlights:

Maple Gold contributed its 357 km? Douay Gold Project, which has an established National Instrument 43-101 mineral resource estimate of 8.6 million tonnes grading 1.52 g/t Au for 422,000 contained ounces of gold in the Indicated category and 71.2 million tonnes grading 1.03 g/t Au for 2.35 million contained ounces of gold in the Inferred category using a cut-off grade of 0.45 g/t Au for open-pit Mineral resources and a cut-off grade of 1.0 g/t Au for underground Mineral Resources;1

Agnico contributed its 39 km? Joutel Project, which hosted Agnico\-\-s past-producing Telbel mine (reclamation area and associated liabilities are excluded from the JV);

Agnico to provide an aggregate of C$18 million of funding over four years for exploration expenditures at the Douay and Joutel properties, which will be allocated based on management committee budgets. Agnico and Maple Gold will contribute proportionately for expenditures thereafter;

Agnico and Maple to jointly fund an additional C$500,000 in exploration of VMS targets located on the western portion of the Douay Project;

Agnico to contribute its technical expertise to the JV through Joint Operatorship (Fred Speidel, Maple Gold\-\-s VP, Exploration will act as the initial General Manager of the JV);

Agnico to support Maple Gold in its pursuit of third-party project financing for the development phase; and

Maple Gold and Agnico have each retained a 2% NSR on the property that they contributed to the JV, each with aggregate buyback provisions of C$40 million.

As previously disclosed, Maple Gold and Agnico share a common vision for realizing the exploration potential at the consolidated Douay and Joutel property package. With close collaboration and by employing modern approaches to exploration, management believes there is strong potential for expanded mineral resources and new gold discoveries across the district-scale property package.

Transaction Details

Property Package

The Douay and Joutel Projects are contiguous properties located in the Abitibi region of Quebec with a combined area of approximately 400 km2. Both properties have multiple styles of mineralization, including deep controlling structures, which are generally favorable for exploration and the discovery of mineralized systems.

The Douay Project currently hosts a substantial gold resource (RPA 2019) which remains open in multiple directions laterally with significant resource expansion potential. The resource is also open at depth, with known higher-grade zones open down plunge and the vertical depth of all drilling at Douay averaging only 350 metres. The Joutel Project hosted Agnico\-\-s past-producing Telbel mine, which was in production from 1974 to 1993, though certain reclamation lands and associated liabilities are not part of the JV. Both properties are also highly prospective for new regional gold discoveries.

Current plans for the first year of the JV include:

a Winter 2021 drill campaign of between 10,000 to 12,000 metres at the Douay Project that will encompass both step-out and infill drilling as well as regional exploration drilling focused on new discoveries (such as the Northeast IP and P8 targets);

digitization of historical data at the Joutel Project of approximately 500 surface and 6,500 underground holes to build a 3D model for additional exploration targeting; and

completion of larger IP surveys over three separate grids (two over Douay ground and one over Joutel ground), totalling approximately 120 line kilometres.

JV Funding

In connection with the JV, Agnico will fund an aggregate of C$18 million over a four-year period. Once this funding is complete, the parties will be responsible for their proportionate share of future expenditures, which, after such funding, will be on a 50-50 basis. Agnico and Maple Gold will jointly fund an additional C$500,000 in exploration of VMS targets located on the western portion of the Douay Project.

NSR

Each of Agnico and Maple Gold will retain a 2% net smelter return royalty on the property that they have contributed to the JV (each, a \Contributed Property NSR\). The first 1% of each Contributed Property NSR may be repurchased at any time by the non-holding party for $15 million and the second 1% of each Contributed Property NSR may be repurchased at any time by the non-holding party for $25 million. In addition, transfer of each Contributed Property NSR will be subject to a right of first refusal.

Technical Expertise

In addition to funding JV expenses and contributing the Joutel Project to the JV, Agnico will also support the JV through Agnico\-\-s technical expertise as an explorer, developer and operator with decades of experience in the Abitibi region of Quebec.

Development Phase Financing

In connection with the process of considering financing alternatives, Agnico has agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to investigate third-party financing for the JV and to provide commercially reasonable support and assistance to Maple Gold in connection with the Company?s pursuit of its share of financing for the development phase of the JV.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical data contained in this press release was reviewed and prepared under the supervision of Fred Speidel, M. Sc., P. Geo., Vice-President Exploration of Maple Gold. Mr. Speidel is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Speidel has verified the data related to the exploration information disclosed in this press release through his direct participation in the work. For a complete description of protocols, please visit the Company\-\-s QA/QC page on the website.

For more information on Agnico Eagle: https://www.agnicoeagle.com

About Maple Gold

Maple Gold Mines Ltd. is a Canadian advanced exploration company in a 50-50 joint venture with Agnico Eagle Mines Limited to jointly advance the district-scale Douay and Joutel Gold Projects located in Quebec\-\-s prolific Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt. The projects benefit from exceptional infrastructure access and boasts a combined ~400 km? of highly prospective ground including an established gold resource that holds significant resource expansion potential as well as the past-producing Telbel mine.

The property also hosts a significant number of regional exploration targets along a 55 km strike length of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone that have yet to be tested through drilling, making the project ripe for new gold and polymetallic discoveries. The Company is focused on carrying out aggressive exploration programs to grow resources and make new discoveries to establish an exciting new gold district in the heart of the Abitibi. For more information, please visit www.maplegoldmines.com.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.

Forward Looking Statements:

This press release contains \forward-looking information\ and \forward-looking statements\ (collectively referred to as \forward-looking statements\) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, including statements about the future activities at the JV. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and management\-\-s best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company\-\-s expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Maple Gold Mines Ltd.\-\-s filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company\-\-s website at www.maplegoldmines.com. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.


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Nika Tchaikovskaya's illustrations for "Haenyeorina," a book about the "haenyeo," or female divers, of Jeju Island / Courtesy of Nika Tchaikovskaya



By Kwon Mee-yoo



"Haenyeo," or female divers on Jeju Island, are symbols of strength and tenacity. They make a living by diving to depths of up to 10 meters without oxygen masks to harvest seafood such as abalone and sea urchins around the island.



In 2016, haenyeo were recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in recognition of their unique culture as well as their contribution to the advancement of the status of women in the community and promotion of environmental sustainability through their eco-friendly fishing methods.



Many of them are in their 60s or even older, but spend up to seven hours a day in the water, holding their breath for one full minute during each dive.



, a Russian author and illustrator living on the island, which is located off the southern coast of the Korean mainland, compared the nimble movements of haenyeo underwater to the graceful moves of ballet dancers. This comparison inspired her to come up with a children's book called, "Haenyeorina," in 2019.



"She is old and slow on the ground, but when she is underwater, she is young and graceful again. That was the main idea for me," Tchaikovskaya said in an interview with The Korea Times.



"Ballet is ingrained in all Russian girls, like taekwondo for Korean boys. A lot of girls in Russia, especially in St. Petersburg, during the days of the former Soviet Union, did ballet. Synchronized swimming is also very popular (in Russia) and my cousin is a trainer (of synchronized swimming). So haenyeo divers and ballet came naturally to me from the beginning.



"At first I created a set of small postcards of haenyeo divers performing ballet moves underwater and called them 'Haenyeo Ballet.' Then I started working on the book and it was just called, 'Grandma Diver Goes to Work,' at first. Later, I combined the two parts: grandma diver underwater also does ballet. I just combined both words  haenyeo and ballerina  and 'Haenyeorina' was born."



By Kwon Mee-yoo"Haenyeo," or female divers on Jeju Island, are symbols of strength and tenacity. They make a living by diving to depths of up to 10 meters without oxygen masks to harvest seafood such as abalone and sea urchins around the island.In 2016, haenyeo were recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in recognition of their unique culture as well as their contribution to the advancement of the status of women in the community and promotion of environmental sustainability through their eco-friendly fishing methods.Many of them are in their 60s or even older, but spend up to seven hours a day in the water, holding their breath for one full minute during each dive. Nika Tchaikovskaya , a Russian author and illustrator living on the island, which is located off the southern coast of the Korean mainland, compared the nimble movements of haenyeo underwater to the graceful moves of ballet dancers. This comparison inspired her to come up with a children's book called, "Haenyeorina," in 2019."She is old and slow on the ground, but when she is underwater, she is young and graceful again. That was the main idea for me," Tchaikovskaya said in an interview with The Korea Times."Ballet is ingrained in all Russian girls, like taekwondo for Korean boys. A lot of girls in Russia, especially in St. Petersburg, during the days of the former Soviet Union, did ballet. Synchronized swimming is also very popular (in Russia) and my cousin is a trainer (of synchronized swimming). So haenyeo divers and ballet came naturally to me from the beginning."At first I created a set of small postcards of haenyeo divers performing ballet moves underwater and called them 'Haenyeo Ballet.' Then I started working on the book and it was just called, 'Grandma Diver Goes to Work,' at first. Later, I combined the two parts: grandma diver underwater also does ballet. I just combined both words  haenyeo and ballerina  and 'Haenyeorina' was born."

Nika Tchaikovskaya, author of "Haenyeorina"



Tchaikovskaya was born in St. Petersburg in Russia and came to Korea with her husband, who teaches Russian at a university. Just like many tourists who visited Jeju, Tchaikovskaya thought it would be nice to live on the island someday, when she visited it for the first time years ago. She now lives on Jeju Island, operating a guesthouse with her family. However, her love for haenyeo culture goes back many years.



"I found out about haenyeo when I first visited Jeju as a tourist many years ago. I did not know anything about haenyeo then. There were no books about them in foreign languages or anything. I visited the Haenyeo Museum and became fascinated by their culture, which was totally new to me. The museum is a very good place to start to get information, and I became fascinated by the lifestyle, tradition and the beauty of haenyeo, so started doing more researching," she said.



"At the very beginning, the fact that haenyeo are all women was both very inspiring and shocking to me. I was very surprised and intrigued and I think that was part of the reason why I kept researching more and more."



Tchaikovskaya said meeting and talking to a haenyeo diver was one of the most memorable moments in her probe into the divers of Jeju.



"This lady had been diving for over 40 years. The things she told me when I met her were eye-opening and quite shocking. She could see climate change every day through the little things that are changing  the waters are getting warmer and the rocks are crumbling more and more, creating dust, making it harder to see in the water," she recalled.



"There are more and more dolphins, and they come to see what she is doing. It can startle her, such that she might inhale water. It can be really scary. Also, haenyeo have near-death experiences almost every week, which shocked me too. Because I honestly had this image of haenyeo that I got from tourist pictures, postcards, little dolls and toys, but what they are doing is actually more similar to miners. But we don't create cute stickers of miners and sell their images as toys, maybe because we know that their job is dangerous and very hard. But I don't think many people realize how dangerous and hard what haenyeo do actually is."











Cover of "Haenyeorina" by Nika Tchaikovskaya / Courtesy of Tchaikovsky Family Books



"Haenyeorina" is the Russian illustrator's first book that she wrote herself, in addition to doing the drawings.



"I am an artist and illustrator. I have been working as an illustrator for other people's texts. I always dreamed about making my own story, but I didn't know what that story would be. Then it became sort of natural to me that I should do a story about haenyeo, not because I wanted to make a book, but because I was so fascinated by their lifestyle. It just became a natural conclusion that I wanted to tell their story in the only way I can," she said.



"It is very limiting in terms of artistic process if you illustrate someone else's book. You have to follow their story and can add something to the story, though it is still limiting. But if you have your own story, you can tell it in two ways: through words and pictures. You don't have to illustrate what is said or say what is already illustrated. It is a much more interesting process. You have to work like two people."



Tchaikovskaya chose to write her book in Korean in order to reach Korean children who may not know much about haenyeo.



"At first, I wrote in English because I wanted for foreigners to read and learn about haenyeo. And then somebody told me that even many Korean children don't know about haenyeo, so I decided that I should print it in Korean. My friends, who are married to Koreans, also said their children don't know what 'taewak' (buoyancy device) or 'mangsari' (net) are. I was surprised, because I thought at least Korean children would know," she said.



"I wrote the story in English and then my husband, who speaks Korean, translated it into Korean. I think it turned out well, but maybe the language is suited more for grown-ups. We are working on a second edition of "Haenyeorina" with more illustrations and a slightly expanded storyline, with help from a great editor. The story is going to be almost the same, but more relatable to children."





Nika Tchaikovskaya's illustrations for "Haenyeorina," a book about "haenyeo," or female divers, of Jeju Islandv

Picture of vials of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, / AFP



Some European leaders seem to be warming to the idea of deploying Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as the EU struggles with supply shortfalls.



But how likely is it that Moscow's jab will be going into arms across the 27-nation bloc after trial results showed it to be 91.6 percent effective?



Here's where we stand:



- Is anyone using it?



Hungary on Tuesday received its first batch of 40,000 Sputnik V doses after breaking ranks last month and becoming the first EU country to approve and order the vaccine.



Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the jabs would start being used once "remaining necessary tests" were completed and two million more doses were on their way.



Hungary's populist authoritarian leader Viktor Orban is a frequent outlier in the EU  and his country is also the only member state to order Chinese vaccines too.



While none of the bloc's other 26 nations have gone as far, some appear tempted.



Populist Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis announced he would travel to Budapest on Friday to consult with Orban about Sputnik.



Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said "all vaccines" are welcome as long as they have been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).



Spain, as well, said it is "open" to using the jab  named after the famed Soviet-era satellite  so long as it gets approval by European regulators.



- Regulators ready? -



So where is Sputnik at with the EMA?






The injuries inflicted on pensioner Charlie Toye in an altercation with Seamus Ward.

A man has been jailed for 18 months after attacking a 71-year-old-pensioner walking across a street.

Seamus Ward struck Charlie Toye with such force with one punch as he walked across Main Street in Milford, Co Donegal, that he caused him to develop a brain bleed.

Ward, then aged 32, attacked Mr Toye after he had been drinking in a nearby pub and knocked the pensioner to the ground in a completely unprovoked attack.

The pensioner suffered a black eye, cuts to his face and was rushed to hospital.

A witness to the incident on June 24, 2019, told how she heard Ward shout at Mr Toye, You think youre a big man now?, before attacking him.

Ward, of Drumkern, Milford, appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court last week where he was charged with assault causing harm to Mr Toye.

He expressed remorse and offered his victim 2,000 in compensation.

However, Judge John Aylmer said he felt the level of remorse was questionable and it seemed the offer from the witness box was too little too late. He also noted that, after the attack, Mr Toye complained he had been taunted by Ward who allegedly made faces at him while driving by in his car.

A medical report on Mr Toye revealed he suffered a loss of consciousness, swelling and bruising, a black eye, cuts to the face and head and also a small bleed to the brain.

In his victim impact statement, he said he could not remember the attack and was in a lot of pain and confusion.

He was told he could lose the sight in his right eye, had to have two teeth removed and had headaches for six months after the attack.

He still wakes up in a pool of sweat because of the nightmares from the attack and even bought a dog for himself for company and for security. Mr Toye, who was in court accompanied by his daughter Tara, said it was the worst experience of his life.

Back in the 1960s his own brother was killed in a car accident at the exact spot where he was attacked, he said.

Garda Mark McHugh told the court Ward was arrested and shown CCTV of the incident. He said he didnt recall the incident but said he was ashamed after watching the CCTV footage taken from a local bar named Dustys.

He said he was sorry and he hoped Mr Toye was OK. It was later revealed how the accused had called the local Garda station to enquire about Mr Toyes condition.

He claimed there had been ongoing history between the pair which arose out of allegations about his father, who was a former garda.

Ward denied making faces at Mr Toye from his SUV after the attack.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 00:30:24|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Another 20,634 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,892,459, according to official figures released Thursday.

The country also reported another 915 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 110,250. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

Earlier Thursday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Britain remained "on track" to complete the vaccination of the top priority groups, which cover 15 million people, by mid-February.

Meanwhile, one in five of all adults in Britain have already received a jab, according to Hancock.

"We are on track to deliver the commitment we have made of offering the jab to all of the top four priority groups by Feb. 15," Hancock told reporters.

"I'm just so proud of the team who are delivering this, it's going really, really well... Today we passed the threshold of one in five of the population who have been jabbed already."

Also on Thursday, British vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi said Britain is "getting safer every day" as more people are given coronavirus vaccines, but the infection level is still "alarmingly high".

Nearly 10.5 million people in Britain have been given the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

However, there are 32,000 people in hospital with coronavirus and the level of infections is "alarmingly high", he said.

Zahawi said 39 new vaccination sites have opened this week as part of the British government's "ambitious plan" to roll out the vaccines. Britain aims to offer all adults their first dose by autumn.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Minnesota prosecutors are asking a judge to reinstate one count that had been previously dismissed against the former Minneapolis officer charged with killing George Floyd  saying an appellate court decision from earlier this week shows the count can apply.

Derek Chauvin faces trial in March on one count of second-degree murder and one count of manslaughter. Prosecutors want to reinstate a third-degree murder charge. Their request comes after the state Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a third-degree murder conviction can be sustained even if the action is directed at a specific person.

That thinking is at odds with Judge Peter Cahill's reasons for dismissing the count. Prosecutors say the appellate decision sets precedent and gives new guidance on how to proceed.

By Scott Ritter

February 03, 2021 " Information Clearing House " - By laying out unrealistic demands to Iran and engaging in fearmongering about its nuclear program, Secretary of State Tony Blinken has underscored Americas real intent about rejoining the controversial agreement.

[Proclaimed] President Joe Biden has made rejoining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, popularly known as the Iran nuclear deal) one of the top priorities of his administration, reversing course from the direction taken by former President Donald Trump who, in May 2018, withdrew the US from the landmark 2015 agreement.

However, the gap between Bidens stated desire and the ability of his foreign policy team, headed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to bring it to fruition may be insurmountable.

In a recent statement, Blinken warned that if Iran continued to unilaterally lift the various restrictions on its nuclear program mandated under the JCPOA, it would be able to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon within a matter of weeks.

But this assertion is fundamentally flawed. In keeping with its policy of ending JCPOA restrictions as a remedial action permitted under Article 36 of the agreement should other parties be in fundamental noncompliance (which the US is, by issuing sanctions), Iran has begun the process to enrich uranium to 20 percent, and convert that uranium to metal. This would be used to produce fuel plates needed to power a research reactor in Tehran used to produce medical isotopes.

As of January 29, Iran had accumulated some 17 kilograms of 20 percent uranium, part of a strategic plan to produce 120 kilograms of the material per year, at a rate of 10 kilograms per month on average.

Iran would need to convert some 250 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium into 25 kilograms of the 90 percent enriched uranium needed for a nuclear weapon. Under Irans plans, which have been briefed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and are being monitored by IAEA inspectors, it would take approximately two years for Iran to accumulate that amount of 20 percent enriched uranium  a fact incompatible with Blinkens assessment of a matter of weeks.

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Further undermining Blinkens contention is the fact that, by converting the 20 percent enriched uranium into metallic fuel plates, Iran has made it impossible to use this material in any breakout weapons program, given the complexities associated with reconverting the metal into uranium hexafluoride for subsequent insertion into gas centrifuges for follow-on enrichment to 90 percent. As such, Irans actions actually inhibit its ability to pursue a nuclear weapon, something Blinken ignores completely.

But Blinkens Iran problem goes much further than giving misleading statements about the countrys nuclear capabilities and intent. His prescription for the US rejoining the JCPOA is little more than a poison pill designed to kill the agreement. Iran is out of compliance on a number of fronts, Blinken recently said, ignoring the countrys citation of its rights under Article 36 (which means that until the US lifts sanctions, Iran is in fundamental compliance), and the fact that Iran has signaled that all of its measures taken to date are fully reversible.

[I]t would take some time, should it [Iran] make the decision to do so, for it to come back into compliance and time for us then to assess whether it was meeting its obligations, Blinken said. If Iran were to return to the deal, it would only serve as a precursor to what Blinken called a longer and stronger agreement that would address other deeply problematic issues.

The biggest hurdle is that Iran has ruled out linking a US return to the JCPOA with any negotiation of a new agreement along the lines that Blinken spoke of. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, rejected any notion of US-Iranian bilateral negotiations about the JCPOA. The US needs to return to its commitments, Khatibzadeh said, and if that happens, it will be possible to negotiate within the framework of the joint commission of the JCPOA.

The Iranian position makes sense from a legal standpoint  it is, after all, the US that has left the agreement and, if it seeks to rejoin it, all negotiations must take place within the framework of the agreement itself, and not some new negotiating mechanism that does not conform to the letter of the law.

Some of these mechanisms of control are permanent, such as a ban on any Iranian work on nuclear explosive devices and on the reprocessing of spent reactor fuel, needed for the separation of plutonium. These two bans represent the most effective means of blocking Irans path toward a nuclear weapon. So, too, do the enhanced inspection arrangements which enable inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to request access to undeclared sites.

One of the fundamental flaws in the Iranian position, however, is its failure to recognize that, from the US perspective, the JCPOA was never meant to be an agreement which would reach fruition, but rather a stop-gap tool used by the US to contain Irans nuclear program in a manner which conformed to US domestic political concerns, and not the reality of Irans nuclear ambition. In short, the JCPOA was designed to ensure that Iran would not be able to acquire enough fissile material usable in a nuclear device for at least a year after violating the mechanisms of control envisioned under the agreement.

Others, however, expire under the terms of so-called sunset clauses. Two of the most important sunset clauses involve Irans ability to increase the number and types of enrichment centrifuges (expiring in 2025) and increase the amount of low enriched uranium it can stockpile (expiring in 2030). The Iranians view these two clauses as the most important achievements of the JCPOA negotiations, as they guarantee that Iran will be able to fulfil its plans for a viable indigenous nuclear energy program, a right guaranteed to it under Article IV of the nonproliferation treaty, to which it is a signatory.

This, however, was never the intent of the US. According to President Barack Obama, whose administration negotiated the JCPOA, the purpose of the sunset clauses was to buy time for Iran, once sanctions were reduced, to start focusing on its economy, on training its people, on reentering the world community, to lessening its provocative activities in the region.

According to Obama, by entering the JCPOA, the US made it possible to strengthen the hand of those more moderate forces inside of Iran. The JCPOA was not dependent on anticipating those changes. If they dont change at all, were still better off having the deal.

Obamas point of view was driven by US intelligence assessments which, in 2015, put Irans breakout times at two or three months. By entering the JCPOA, the US was purchasing for 13, 14, 15 years assurances that the breakout is at least a year  that  that if they decided to break the deal, kick out all the inspectors, break the seals and go for a bomb, wed have over a year to respond. And we have those assurances for at least well over a decade.

The important takeaway is what Obama said next. And then in years 13 and 14, it is possible that those breakout times would have been much shorter, but at that point we have much better ideas about what it is that their program involves. We have much more insight into their capabilities. And the option of a future president to take action if in fact they try to obtain a nuclear weapon is undiminished. In short, if Iran did not use the JCPOA as a vehicle to understand that it did not need a nuclear program, and voluntarily abandon its nuclear activities, then the US would take action that would prevent the sunset clauses from ever expiring.

Time is running out for Biden and Blinken if they hope to revive the JCPOA. Irans conservative-dominated parliament has set a deadline of February 21 for the US to lift sanctions that had been reimposed when Trump removed the US from the JCPOA. If the US fails to act, then Iran will likely suspend the enhanced inspections of its nuclear sites by the IAEA, and further increase its uranium enrichment capacity.

Unfortunately for Obama, Biden, and the proponents of the JCPOA, Trump wasnt willing to play that game. Recognizing that the underlying logic behind the Obama approach to the JCPOA was predicated on the belief that Irans nuclear weapons ambitions were only being temporarily delayed by the sunset clauses, Trump simply withdrew from the agreement, moving the time for presidential action forward by a decade. In many ways, Trumps approach to Iran, while fundamentally flawed, was at least honest. The same cannot be said about the Obama administration which negotiated the original deal, or the Biden administration which is now compelled to deal with the fallout of Obamas deceit and Trumps actions in response to that deceit.

We have said time and again that if the US decides to go back to its international commitments and lift all the illegal sanctions against Iran, we will go back to the full implementation of JCPOA, which will benefit all sides, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Irans ambassador to the United Nations, said recently. But Takht-Ravanchis comments assume that the Biden administration can move forward on the JCPOA in good faith, rather than with the intent of the original US negotiation.

The Obama administration, however, never intended the JCPOA to be anything other than a stop-gap measure designed to buy the US time when it came to managing Irans nuclear program. Thanks to Trump, the clock has run out. For Biden, Blinken, and the rest of the Obama-era policy makers who are now back in power and who sowed the seed of this, the time has come to reap the whirlwind. Biden may seek to blame Trump for failing to rejoin the JCPOA, but he only has himself to blame.
After many years of being written off, ignored or actively denigrated by both the driving public as well as many car brands, electric vehicles (EVs) are finally entering the mainstream. Much of this has to do with the vision of Elon Musks Tesla, which has transformed the global publics perception of EVs from drab to desirable.

The move towards EVs has been further accelerated in 2021 by two high-profile announcements out of the United States. Firstly, freshly elected President Joe Biden announced his plan to replace the governments fleet of cars and trucks with domestically assembled EVs, CNBC reports. Days later, Americas largest auto maker, General Motors, announced that they would phase out petroleum-powered cars and trucks and sell only vehicles that have zero tailpipe emissions by 2035, The New York Times details.

Its not just America thats moving on EVs. European countries such as France, the Netherlands and the UK have set ambitious goals to phase out internal combustion engine (ICE) sales in the coming decades. China has long been the worlds #1 producer of EVs: home over half the worlds fleet of EVs, the superpower is continuing to move towards EVs, too.

Which begs the question What is Australia doing? The answer might not surprise you  f*ck all. In fact, its worse than that.

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Many countries offer substantial incentives for consumers to purchase EVs. For example, the Japanese government gives you a cash rebate if you buy an EV, which more than double if youre scrapping a 13-year or older vehicle in the process. In Norway, EVs are also exempt from the annual road tax, all public parking fees, toll payments and are even allowed to use bus lanes. Must be nice.

In Australia, the federal government offers no direct incentives for electric vehicle ownership. In fact, they actually impose a substantial financial disincentive, as most EVs on sale in Australia are affected by the much-reviled Luxury Car Tax.

For comparison, a Tesla Model 3 Performance Edition costs 60,900 USD before incentives in America, with that price dropping to 54,990 USD (~72,050 AUD) after incentives. In Australia, the same car starts at 97,425 AUD yet will incur a luxury tax of about 6,560 AUD in addition to about 9,000 in GST, plus around 4,500 AUD in stamp duty, depending on the state.

Thats nearly $20k in taxes for a car that costs, after on roads, about 107,000 AUD. Thats an over $30,000 difference  you could buy a whole other car for that, at a time when most other countries are making it easier for people to buy EVs, The Driven relates. And the Model 3 is supposed to be Teslas affordable car

Some Australian states, such as Queensland, Victoria and the ACT offer small incentives to purchase EVs, but they pale in comparison to what other countries offer, and dont really take the sting out of the price. Of course, the Model 3 is also built in the US, so naturally theres going to be a price difference between the US and Australia. Still, it hammers home just how hard most EVs get hit by the Luxury Car Tax and, perhaps more importantly, the so-called Australia Tax.

If the federal government doesnt act soon, Australia is in danger of being left behind when it comes to the future of transport. If even the US and China are getting behind EVs, why arent we?

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editorial

Born on April 15, 1937, in Jimeta in the present Adamawa State of Nigeria, Muhammadu Gambo Jimeta was a former Inspector General of Police (IGP). He attended Jimeta Elementary School (1947-1949), Yola Middle School (1950-1955), Bauchi Provincial Secondary School (1956-1958) and Government College, Keffi (1958-1959). Gambo, as he was popularly called, joined the police force and attended the Police College, Kaduna, in 1959 and thereafter Police College, Ikeja, also in 1959.

After leaving the police college, Gambo began his career as a cadet sub-inspector. In 1963, he was promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP). He became a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in 1967 and full superintendent in 1969. In 1972, he was promoted to Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) and became an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in 1974. He became a Commissioner of Police (CP) in 1977 and served in Lagos, where he got national fame as a crack police officer dealing with robberies in the state.

In his years of active service, Gambo Jimeta attended Detective Training School, Wakefield, United Kingdom, in 1962; Bramhill Police College, United Kingdom, in 1963; International Police Academy, Washington DC, USA, in 1980; and the National Police Academy, Cairo, Egypt. In 1982, he was promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) and transferred to the Force Criminal Investigation Division, Alagbon Close, Lagos.

After the military took over government in December, 1983, when it overthrew the Second Republic, Gambo Jimeta was appointed the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) to the then IGP Etim Inyang in January, 1984. At that time, only one DIG was appointed for the IGP. In 1986, he was appointed to succeed his boss, Etim Inyang, as Nigeria's seventh Inspector General of Police and served until 1990 when he was succeeded in the same capacity by Aliyu Attah. He thereafter served as the National Security Adviser (NSA) to Nigeria's former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. In 2011, former President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Gambo Jimeta as a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy.

As a professional police officer, Gambo Jimeta always kept his vows each time he made one. He first came into national public reckoning in 1980 when, as Lagos State CP he appeared in person at a dastardly robbery scene. The robbers followed the cashiers of a factory who had just cashed the workers' monthly salary, grabbed it and shot some policemen. Gambo swore at the scene that he would catch the robbers. Soon, Gambo caught the robbers.

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As a super cop, Gambo Jimeta would also be remembered for apprehending a dreaded armed robber called Lawrence Anini alias The Law who killed and dispossessed people of money and valuables. In 1986, the notorious robbery gang led by Anini and Monday Osunbor terrorised Benin City and environs. The gang even shot the then state's CP, Caspir Akagbosu. Once, pressmen asked General Babangida as soon as he walked out of an Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) meeting what he was doing about the rising cases of robbery. He turned to IGP Gambo Jimeta and said, "My friend, where is Anini?" Gambo replied, "Mr. President, we will soon get him," and Gambo did. Few weeks later, Gambo held an impromptu press conference where he said, "The notorious armed robber, Lawrence Anini, was caught this morning in a special police operation in Benin... "

In retirement, Alhaji Muhammadu Gambo Jimeta lived a quiet life. He died in Abuja at the age of 84 on Thursday, January 21, 2021. May his gentle soul rest in peace.
Incredible details have emerged of how a young woman who was allegedly stabbed before being stuffed into the boot of a Holden Commodore managed to alert passing motorists for help.

The woman, 24, managed to smash the tail light and wave her bloodied hand through the hole as the car was driven along the Hume Highway in Berrima in the NSW Southern Highlands on Wednesday morning, police said.

She managed to attract the attention of a passing truck driver, who called police.

Officers stopped the car shortly before midday and allegedly found the woman suffering stab wounds to her knee, thigh and forearm as her two alleged kidnappers were arrested.

The woman's stunning escape was similar to scenes from the US psychological crime thriller movie The Call.

The 2013 blockbuster is about a 911 operator who takes a life-changing call from a teenage girl who has been abducted and locked in the boot of a car.

The operator tells the girl how to smash the tail light and raise the alarm by hanging out her hand to alert passing motorists.

Latia Henderson (left), 18, and Kayley Ketley, 24, were charged with a string of offences after the woman was allegedly found in the boot of a car with stab wounds

Police arrested Latia Henderson, 18, who was allegedly behind the wheel, and her passenger Kayley Ketley, 24.

Henderson was charged with unlawful wounding with intent to cause grevious bodily harm, detaining to gain advantage causing bodily harm, driving a vehicle without owner's consent, and unlicensed driving.

Co-accused Ketley faces the same charges, except she was also accused of drug possession and driving while disqualified instead of unlicensed.

The pair, who are from Campbelltown in Sydney's south-west, were both refused bail to appear in Picton Local Court on Thursday.

The alleged victim, 24, was treated at the scene for non life-threatening injuries before taken to Liverpool Hospital.

She had recently arrived in Sydney from interstate and may have been inside the boot for up to an hour before passing motorists raised the alarm by calling triple zero.

Detective Chief Inspector Brendan Bernie said a passing truck driver noticed the alleged victim's hand waving through the hole where the tail light was.

Latia Henderson, 18, (left) and Kayley Ketley, 24, (right) were refused bail to appear in Picton Local Court on Thursday morning

'[The car] was stopped by police after an officer saw a hand also protruding from the tail light,' he alleged.

'Some excellent work done by the motorist who notified police and we can't thank the motorist enough.'

The motive behind the incident isn't yet known, but Det Insp Bernie said it's 'very fortunate' the young woman was found alive.

Police believe she was in there for 'some time' and are investigating if the incident was a drug-related kidnapping.

The Holden Commodore is now being forensically examined.

Daily Mail has previously compiled a video demonstrating how to escape if you are ever abducted and trapped in a car boot.

The first and one of the most important steps is to remain calm and not panic.

The next is find a source of light, such as your phone or feel around in the trunk as the kidnapper may keep a torch for emergencies.

Once you've located your light, look around the trunk for the emergency latch to slide or press open the trunk to escape.

If the vehicle is still moving, wave your arm outside the trunk to get the attention of another driver.

Once the car comes to a stop, jump out and run.
The fragile ties between Damascus and the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northern Syria have seen a dangerous escalation amid widespread anticipation that US support for the Syrian Kurds will grow after the change of guard at the White House. The two sides have sought to besiege one another in several areas in recent weeks, fueling deadly tensions and allegations of collusion between Damascus and Ankara.

In early January, government forces restricted the entry of commercial vehicles to Aleppos predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiya as well as the nearby town of Tell Rifat and its environs, an area the Kurds call Shahba, Kurdish sources told Al-Monitor. The restrictions disrupted the supply of fuel and food, also affecting camps sheltering Kurdish refugees from Turkish-held Afrin.

The Kurds retaliated by encircling government-controlled pockets in Hasakah and Qamishli to the east. Mazlum Kobane, the head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), accused government forces of blockading Kurdish-populated areas and arresting relatives of members of the SDF and the Kurdish police force Asayish. The Aleppo governors office rejected the accusations and denied shortages of basic goods in Kurdish areas.

On Jan. 27, one person was killed and several others injured as Kurdish security forces intervened to break up a pro-government protest in Hasakah. A pro-government militia responded by attacking an Asayish station amid mutual recriminations on who was responsible for the unrest.

Kurdish sources told Al-Monitor that the Russians did little to mediate in the crisis and declined to provide a security guarantee to a delegation the Kurds wanted to send to Damascus. Nevertheless, contacts took place locally and the Asayish began to remove roadblocks Feb. 2 as a goodwill gesture, they added. However, both sides preserve their military postures and the crisis has yet to be fully resolved, the sources said.

Sources in Damascus, meanwhile, said the Kurds promised to retreat within 48 hours during contacts Feb. 2. According to independent sources, they did lift the blockade in Hasakah and Qamishli that day, while the government allowed trucks carrying fuel and food to enter the two Aleppo neighborhoods and Shahba and a Russian-Syrian delegation inspected the situation in Aleppo.

A compromise may have been reached for now, but score-settling in mixed Kurdish-Arab areas could rekindle any time in the absence of dialogue on a constitutional status for the Kurds.

In Kurdish-held Qamishli, the Syrian armys control is limited to the airport, an area housing public buildings, a road connecting that area to the airport and the border crossing with Turkey. Similarly, Kurdish forces control most of Hasakah, with government forces confined to an area housing security offices and public buildings.

The Kurds have attributed the blockade in Aleppo to a secret deal between Ankara and Damascus after an alleged visit by Turkeys intelligence chief Hakan Fidan to the Syrian capital. The two sides discussed many things, including joint plans against the autonomous administration, said Bedran Chiya Kurd, a senior official in the autonomous administration. Another top Kurdish figure, Ilham Ahmed, said security cooperation between Damascus and Ankara would not be surprising.

However, a Kurdish source interviewed by Al-Monitor advised taking such claims with a grain of salt. Intelligence contacts between Turkey and Syria make sense in the context of the common threat the two sides perceive from Kurdish autonomy, but they are unlikely to have advanced that much yet, he said.

Fidans first and only officially acknowledged contact with Syrian intelligence was in Moscow in January 2020, when he met with Ali Mamlouk, the head of Syrias National Security Bureau. According to the Syrian daily al-Watan, senior Turkish intelligence and military officials held talks in Damascus Dec. 29. Meeting on the same day, the Turkish and Russian foreign ministers discussed the strategic town of Ain Issa, which Turkish forces had been shelling for weeks. The Kurds feared it was a prelude to an assault to seize the town. To avert such a move, Russia sought to convince the Kurds to cede the town to Damascus.

The escalation between Damascus and the Kurds brings up several scenarios about the changing calculus of the sides in light of the new administration in Washington.

With the latest US sanctions paralyzing Syria, Kurdish collaboration with the United States in a region that holds ample oil, gas and agricultural resources has come under an increasingly negative spotlight. Shortages in other parts of Syria are now being blamed on the Kurds as well.

The Kurds believe Damascus sought to punish them in Aleppo in a bid to force the autonomous administration into cooperation, but could hardly prolong this game, given the Kurdish control over oil resources and grain silos in the north.

The Kurds also float a scenario whereby the Russians are making use of the Turkish threat to compel the Kurds to cede territorial control to the government, while Damascus is inciting Arab tribes against the Kurds to undermine the autonomous administration and make the region less secure for the Americans. In other words, Damascus is trying to deter the Americans as much as possible as Washington becomes more protective of the Kurds under new President Joe Biden.

The counterargument is that the Kurds, confident of US support, fueled the tensions, hoping to oust the remaining government forces from Hasakah and Qamishli. A Kurdish source concurred, but with a slightly different version. It was the regime that started the blockade, but the Kurds tried to use the tensions to fully seize Hasakah and Qamishli. Also, the Kurds wanted to somewhat gauge the extent of Bidens support, the source said.

The final scenario has to do with Turkey. The argument goes that Turkeys prospects of mounting a fresh military offensive or expanding Operation Peace Spring on the eastern bank of the Euphrates have dimmed after Bidens victory. Turkey had turned up pressure on Ain Issa in a bid to take the town before Biden took office. The fall of Ain Issa would have allowed Turkey to expand its control along the key M4 highway, gain a route to Raqqa, encircle Manbij from the east and disconnect the border city of Kobani from other Kurdish areas to the east. Turkey was believed to also eye the Derik area on the border, which US forces use as a supply route from Iraq to Syria. The new reality, however, is forcing Ankara to abandon such plans and seek cooperation with Damascus instead to crush the Kurdish self-rule.

From Damascus point of view, any deal with Ankara on the Kurds needs to be linked to a plan to purge Idlib of jihadi groups and end the Turkish military presence in the province. Another incentive to cooperate with Ankara would be the prospect of ending the US military presence in Syria. Although reconciling Turkish and Syrian interests remains a tall order, observers do not rule out the possibility of a pragmatic Turkish-Syrian understanding against Kurdish-held areas to the east of the Euphrates. A destabilized northeastern Syria might curb the Americans incentives to stay in the region, which would serve the interests of both Damascus and Ankara.

The showdowns between the Kurds and Damascus appear to be without a winner. Things might change if Washington recognizes the autonomous administration politically and gives it an absolute protection guarantee, but in the present circumstances, any card the two sides attempt to play against one another would be damaging to both.

The latest showdown seems to have further weakened the standing of the Kurds. Arab tribes were already irked by Kurdish control of the oilfields and frequent unrest over the SDFs anti-terror operations. The blockades in Hasakah and Qamishli have given fresh ammunition to those who seek to discredit or criminalize the Kurds. Stories of sick people unable to reach blockaded hospitals, students missing exams and drivers desperate for fuel made headlines, tarnishing the image of the Kurds. Tellingly, the local governor and Syrian military officials attended the funeral of the slain protester in Hasakah, while some tribal leaders and politicians vocally criticized the SDF.

The Kurds have pursued high ambitions through partnership with the United States, but at the same time, they have sought to reach out to opposition quarters and the whole of Syria. The latest events have damaged their efforts.
The Service Party (TSP) leader Mwangi Kiunjuri now says he will not sit back and fold his hands as President Uhuru Kenyatta "tarnishes his name" in political rallies as the bad blood between the two leaders escalates.

Mr Kiunjuri, who was Agriculture Cabinet Secretary in the Jubilee administration, told the Nation that he has never been a fan of politics that revolves around mudslinging.

But he was quick to add that he will not hesitate to speak out should the "need" arise.

"I have never attacked anybody including the President but if they continue to attack me, I also have some things to say," Mr Kiunjuri told the Nation Tuesday.

'I respect leaders'

"But I do not want to go that route. I respect leaders and I do not want to fight anybody. The journey I want to go is that of gentlemanly politics. Politics of name-calling belongs to the dustbin," he said.

His comments come after President Uhuru Kenyatta, while addressing Mount Kenya MCAs at the Sagana State Lodge to support constitutional amendments through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), accused Mr Kiunjuri of failing to deliver during his stint in the Agriculture docket.

President Kenyatta, without mentioning names, said that some leaders had been unable to execute the jobs he had given them as he commended current Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya for clearing the rot in the ministry, in a direct jibe at the TSP leader.

Unfair criticism

However, Mr Kiunjuri did not take the President's scolding lying down, even as he accused Murang'a County Woman Representative Sabina Chege of unfair criticism.

"One thing that we will not allow the President to do is to push us into a corner and continue tarnishing our names. That will not happen. That cannot happen," Mr Kiunjuri said when he spoke on Saturday in Tharaka-Nithi during the burial ceremony of the wife to the county's former governor Samuel Ragwa.

Mr Kiunjuri is among a crop of leaders from the Mount Kenya region supporting Deputy President William Ruto's presidential bid in 2022.

The others are Tharaka-Nithi Senator Kithure Kindiki, MPs Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu), Kimani Ichung'wah (Kikuyu), Rigathi Gachagua (Mathira) and Moses Kuria (Gatundu South), among others.

Although Mr Kiunjuri has openly said that the BBI issue is not a priority for now, he has on several occasions urged the government to provide enough copies to the people so that they can read and make informed choices.

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President Kenyatta fired Mr Kiunjuri on January 14, 2020, while in Mombasa.

But, speaking Tuesday, Mr Kiunjuri accused the President of failing to divulge the reasons behind his dismissal.

Defended track record

He, nonetheless, defended his track record at the ministry, saying that he laid the foundation for a food secure Kenya in line with the President's Big Four agenda and that the failure to actualise it cannot be blamed on him as he is no longer in office.

"This government has a performance contract. Every minister has a performance contract and there are appraisals. If I was a non-performer, the President can show us," said Mr Kiunjuri.

"During the State of the Nation address, you (President) said that in Agriculture there is nothing else you can do for now other than laying the foundation. I did the foundation and left it with you. I gave you the agriculture sector growth strategy," the former CS said in an apparent challenge to the President to tell Kenyans what became of it.

Food security is among the four key economic pillars that President Kenyatta seeks to use to define his legacy when he retires in 2022 after serving his second and final term.

The other pillars are universal health coverage (UHC), affordable housing and manufacturing.
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NEW DELHI, INDIA - OCTOBER 19: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) welcomes Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi (L) ahead of their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India, October 19, 2016. (Photo by Imtiyaz khan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The seizure of power in Myanmar by the military on February 1 morning and the detention of popular leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) has been condemned across the globe. The United States called it a coup d'etat and the Joe Biden administration has threatened sanctions against Myanmar.

A UN statement said developments represent a serious blow to democratic reforms in Myanmar. India has voiced deep concern, saying the 'rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld'; Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan have condemned the developments.

Analysts have been trying to ascertain the rationale behind the move, with a state of emergency declared for a year. While Myanmar's election process is not perfect, observers have ruled out the kind of fraud alleged by the military-led opposition. Another reason floated is that Suu Kyi was moving too close to the Chinese. This has been debunked because the Tatmadaw, as the army is called in Burmese, has close relations with China, and military rule would mean renewed dependence on Beijing to ward off international criticism. Remember, Beijing is yet to condemn the developments in Myanmar.

While world leaders have been calling for the release of Suu Kyi, her detention has been welcomed by the Rohingya refugees, which is understandable as she was seen to not have raised her voice  or raised it loud enough  on the persecution of the Rohingya.

Feted as the icon of democracy for her political activism to end decades of military rule in Myanmar, Suu Kyi had been honoured with numerous international awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Expectations were high since her party won with a landslide the 2015 general elections; but pressure mounted as she seemed unable to make much headway in pushing for reforms, and in resolving Myanmar's ethnic conflicts.

It was the August 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya Muslims by the army in response to the attack by the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army that brought her the greatest derision. An estimated 622,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. Almost 288 villages were partially or totally destroyed by fire in the northern Rakhine state.

Myanmar has been accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Suu Kyi had denied these charges, defending the army as having carried out a legitimate campaign against Rohingya militants who attacked police posts. For this, many of her international awards had been rescinded.

Yet, analysts have warned that it was unfair to expect imported models to work in Myanmar's complex and complicated polity. Suu Kyi herself had said as much. While writing that international condemnation around the Rohingya hampers our ability to lay the foundation for sustainable development in a very diverse country she had simultaneously acknowledged war crimes that may have been committed by members of the defence services will be prosecuted through our military justice system, promising action. She had also warned that it was never easy for armed forces to recognise self-interest in accountability for their members.....

Is it a coincidence then that the man behind the coup, Commander-In-Chief Min Aung Hlaing has been condemned internationally for the alleged Rohingya genocide.

Operating in a fragile democracy, with the army wielding enormous power, Suu Kyi had nevertheless tried to take steps to curb the army's reach. In March, for instance, her party had tried to (unsuccessfully) push for a reduction in the number of seats (currently 25%) reserved for the military in parliament over the next 15 years.

In October, in a China-brokered agreement, Suu Kyi's government agreed to facilitate the repatriation of those Rohingyas who had sought refuge in Bangladesh during the 2017 crackdown.

That the coup came just on the eve of the civilian government moving into its second term points to the fact that if anything it was to pre-empt Suu Kyi's party from consolidating its hold in parliament. This, if nothing else, vindicates Suu Kyi's trepidations of the civilian government.

Will the coup resuscitate Suu Kyi's moral standing as a human rights defender? Some are predicting her political demise. Whether she can make a comeback will depend on her ability to fight back, given her age and health. But her detention definitely is a vindication; it is also a reminder that she remains Myanmar's best bet for democracy and the rule of law.
Norways oil fund, as the worlds biggest sovereign wealth fund is commonly known, will expand its scrutiny for possible corruption at national oil companies under strengthened guidelines from the funds ethics council, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing the councils updated plan it had seen.

The Norwegian fund, Government Pension Fund Global, which had a total market value of US$1.2 trillion (10.4 trillion Norwegian crowns) at end-2020, regularly reviews its holdings in companies from all sectors and excludes from its portfolio companies engaged in violations of human rights, gross corruption, tobacco production, unacceptable emissions, and severe environmental damage, among others. It is the task of the Council on Ethics to submit recommendations on the observation or exclusion of companies in accordance with the Funds Ethical Guidelines.

As there are many corruption cases related to national oil companies, this is a sector the Council on Ethics will look into in 2021, says the latest plan by Council on Ethics seen by Bloomberg.

The council is expected to publish in March a list of companies under observation.

In the past, the Norwegian fund had placed Brazils state oil giant Petrobras under observation between 2016 and 2019 upon recommendation from the Council on Ethics.

At the end of 2019, the fund removed Petrobras from its corruption watchlist of companies that are destined to be excluded from the funds investment universe due to ethics violations. Norges Bank decided to revoke the observation of Petrobras under which it had placed it in 2016 following the massive corruption scandal that engulfed the state oil firm and the whole of Brazil in 2015.

Last year, the Council on Ethics recommended the exclusion of PetroChina from the Norwegian funds investments due to an unacceptable risk that the company contributes to or is responsible for gross corruption.

The funds Executive Board decided, however, to follow PetroChinas work on anti-corruption as part of active ownership efforts over a period of three years, saying that active ownership in this case is more suitable than outright exclusion.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Commuters with disabilities now have a strong advocate operating within the upper ranks of the citys transit system.

On Thursday, the MTA announced that Quemuel Arroyo has been appointed as the first all-agency chief accessibility officer, and will preside over all matters related to accessibility throughout the system.

Quemuel is immensely talented and will provide invaluable strategic guidance and leadership on a range of accessibility-related endeavors, said MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick Foye, to whom Arroyo will report directly to on all accessibility issues.

Arroyo, who held a similar role at the citys Department of Transportation (DOT) as chief accessibility specialist and ADA doordinator/disability service facilitator, will focus on ensuring safe access to the citys transit system for people of all abilities.

Im eager to begin my work at the MTA. I am a New Yorker and this is an opportunity of a lifetime, Arroyo said. Over the last few years, New York City Transit has made huge strides in assisting riders with disabilities. I look forward to building on the great work already being done and also to expanding the way we think about accessibility so that we can incorporate the commuter railroads into more of our initiatives as well.

Arroyo said he plans to incorporate advanced technological solutions on the citys buses, subways and rails to enhance the commuter experience for all riders with disabilities, whether they be physical or cognitive.

Accessibility encompasses many areas of our operations and means different things to different people. Part of my job will be reshaping the way in which we conceive of accessibility as a public authority, and working closely with the public to broaden our impact across the region, said Arroyo.

The new chief accessibility officer will work alongside MTA Construction & Development on the ongoing agency-wide initiative to improve accessibility at 70 New York City Transit and Staten Island Railway (SIR) stations throughout the city.

The MTA has made critical strides on accessibility issues in recent years, particularly in the realm of expanding the number of accessible subway stations throughout the system and launching innovative pilots that facilitate access to our system for all riders, but we still have much work to be done, Foye said.

In December, as part of the initiative, the MTA announced a project that will install 17 new elevators at eight stations throughout the five boroughs, including two at the New Dorp SIR station.

While the vast majority of MTA capital projects are currently on hold due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this particular project was able to move forward using existing federal grant money, according to the agency.

The MTA has not yet provided an estimated start or end date for the construction of the new elevators.

In September 2019, the New Dorp station was among the first Staten Island stations identified for the accessibility upgrades, alongside the Clifton and Huguenot stations.

The stations will be made fully accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), part of the MTAs effort to ensure that customers are never more than two stops from an accessible station.

With the initiatives remaining accessibility upgrades currently in limbo as the agency awaits additional federal funding, its currently unclear when the planned accessibility upgrades for the Clifton and Huguenot stations could commence.
A crash on the Pacific Motorway and broken-down truck on the Story Bridge caused headaches for commuters in the heart of Brisbane.

And a driver and motorcyclist are in critical condition after separate crashes north of Brisbane.

Traffic is building up as a truck breakdown on the Story Bridge causes delays. Credit:Michelle Smith

A crash on the Pacific Motorway blocked a lane for one hour, causing heavy traffic and delays in emergency services arriving at the scene.

Olympia Kwitowski, head of Nine Traffic Network Queensland, said a crash about 7am on Thursday had added to the early commute traffic.
The mother of the 9-year-old Rochester, N.Y., girl who was handcuffed and pepper-sprayed by police said Wednesday that she repeatedly told an officer that her daughter was having a mental health breakdown and she pleaded with them to call a specialist instead of trying to detain her.

The officer said "no," Elba Pope said.

Pope, 30, said the incident, which sparked nationwide outrage and prompted fresh scrutiny of how law enforcement agencies deal with people in emotional distress, has left her rattled and fearful that her daughter could suffer long-term emotional trauma.

"I was saying, 'We need mental health out there,' " Pope said in an interview. "He ignored me."

Justin Roj, a spokesman for Rochester city government, did not directly address the mother's criticisms of the officer's alleged response.

"Mayor Warren continues to be outraged by what occurred on Friday, and remains concerned that the child involved and her family get the support they need," Roj said. Mayor Lovely A. Warren "is continuing to work diligently to reform our police department and ensure accountability."

Pope spoke out one day after she and her attorneys filed a formal notice that they plan to file a lawsuit against the city, citing "emotional distress, assault, battery, excessive force, false arrest, false imprisonment," as well as other potential violations of the girl's "constitutional rights." Pope is also calling on the city to fire the officer who pepper-sprayed her daughter

About 20 demonstrators protested outside the Rochester Police Locust Club, which serves as the police union, on Wednesday afternoon, calling for new laws that would ban police officers from handcuffing or pepper-spraying children.

On Monday, Warren, a Democrat, announced she was suspending three officers who were involved in the matter. Warren also called Pope on Sunday to have a "mother-to-mother" talk about the incident, said Lorenzo Napolitano, one of Pope's attorneys.

Police body camera footage shows officers chasing and restraining Pope's daughter after she told them the girl was suicidal and threatened to harm her mother, as well. The girl was sobbing as officers tried to force her into a patrol car. The video then shows an officer pepper-spraying the girl, who was handcuffed.

Pope said she had called police on Friday and asked that they respond to her house so she can file a report about her car possibly being stolen.

When an officer arrived, Pope said her daughter "ran out of the house" and "up the street" screaming and crying.

Pope said her daughter had a similar emotional breakdown in late November, which required her to be evaluated at a hospital under New York's mental hygiene law, when she became upset over being grounded for failing to do her homework.

Pope said she could immediately tell that the girl's distress on Friday also required an evaluation by a medical health expert.

"It just so happened she chose that moment to run out of the house, and I was like, 'Oh, my God, here we go," Pope said. "I had to go get the officer and say, 'Sir, I know my daughter, and she is about to have a mental health slowdown [breakdown?], can you please contact someone?"

With the girl now about a block and a half away from home, Pope, who is pregnant, said the girl kept screaming she wanted her dad and was about "to kill me and my unborn baby and herself."

"I said again, 'we need mental health out here,' " Pope said. "He ignored me."

Pope said the officers then demanded that Pope return to house, leaving the officers alone with her daughter. Pope said she found out only the following day that officers subsequently used pepper spray on her daughter.

According to the "notice of claim" filed against the city, police than "grabbed the child" and would "not let the child go."

"Police became aggravated by the child resisting being put into the police car and began to pull the child's arm farther behind her back causing her great pain," the legal claim states. "The child then sat up in the car and Police stated that they were going to pepper-spray the child."

Rochester police officials have not released the identities of the officers who responded to the incident.

Mike Mazzeo, the president of the Rochester Locust Club, did not respond to requests for comment. At a news conference earlier in the week, Mazzeo defended the officers and said they told Pope to return to her house because her presence appeared to be making the girl's behavior even more unstable.

Napolitano said Pope also hopes any eventual lawsuit she files against the city also includes demands for "systematic changes" in how Rochester police deal with people who might be having an emotional or mental health episode.

Rochester police also faced a backlash from the community last year after the death of Daniel Prude, who died last year after officers fitted him with a "spit hood," used to protect police from detainees' bodily fluids. Prude also was suffering from a mental health issue.

"This is not the first incident where Rochester police mishandled people who have had a mental health crisis...and [Pope] would really like to see change," Napolitano said.

But Loretta Scott, president of the Rochester City Council, said the need for enhanced training and policy changes do not excuse the behavior of the officer who pepper-sprayed the girl. Scott wants the officer, who is still being paid pending the outcome of a formal investigation, to be fired.

"Whether they received training or not, there should have been enough empathy and compassion about somebody else's child to not pepper-spray them," Scott said. "It's just basic humanity to not treat a child in that fashion.'

On Wednesday afternoon, 20 demonstrators protested outside the Rochester Police Locust Club, directing their anger at Mazzeo.

Will Powers, a organizer with the Community Justice Initiative, said protesters were upset that Mazzeo has continued to defend the officers. The demonstrators also called for new laws that would ban police officers from handcuffing or pepper-spraying children.

When the group arrived in front of the Locust Club, a line of police vehicles were parked on the other side of the street.

Shalonda Jones, a member of CJI, ran through a foot of snow to plant a Black Lives Matter flag in front of the building. When Jones and the crowd moved closer to the building's entrance, five police officials met them at the front of the parking lot.

Jones spoke with one police representative as another organizer, Diallo Payne, ridiculed the officers over a blow horn. "You're a grown man," Payne shouted at the representative. "Why are y'all scared of me?"
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is open to providing COVID testing resources to thousands of National Guard troops who remain in Washington to protect the Capitol after fears that their presence at the inauguration became a pandemic superspreader event. That willingness also comes in the wake of reports of coronavirus outbreaks among servicemen and -women who helped safeguard the presidential transfer of power.

Pelosis deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, said his boss is open to the idea of providing congressional testing resources to the troops still protecting the Capitol, but the militarys policy for the D.C. region is only to test individuals who are symptomatic.

The speaker would support expanding our existing testing resources in conjunction with the Office of the Attending Physician, for National Guard members stationed here if DoD were to request the access, Hammill told RealClearPolitics Tuesday. Our understanding, though, is that their operating procedures right now only include testing for symptomatic individuals.

Pelosis offer came after RCP and other media outlets reported that some state National Guard units are not providing COVID testing before or after their troops travel to D.C. -- and amid broader outrage over how the troops were treated during their inauguration deployment.

Every dignitary, lawmaker and congressional support staff who was in the Capitol complex for the inauguration was tested for COVID before they were allowed to attend on Jan. 20, according to a spokesperson for congressional organizers, but that policy did not extend to the 25,000 National Guard troops there to protect them. (RealClearPolitics reported on this vulnerability last week.)

Criticism erupted on Capitol Hill after a viral photo showing troops packed together and sleeping on the floor of a parking garage where they were relocated to rest amid shifts.

Pelosis testing offer follows harsh criticism from House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.

With Donald Trumps impeachment trial looming, some 7,000 guardsmen remain in Washington, but its unclear whether any state guard units have stepped up their COVID testing.

A McCarthy spokesman said at least part of the blame for the lack of testing and preparation for the troops safety rests with Pelosi, arguing that she did not respond to his calls for a comprehensive testing program for the Capitol last year. The spokesman said McCarthy urged Pelosi to develop a comprehensive plan to safely reopen Congress, including the need for a formalized COVID testing program eight months ago.

Despite repeated calls to help make the Capitol complex safe throughout the pandemic, there was never a detailed strategy to minimize the COVID spread within the halls of Congress, the spokesman told RCP. We continue to see the lack of planning play out today: 14,000 troops were brought to the Capitol to provide additional security, but there was little consideration for their health or logistical needs.

The speaker needs to answer how she is going to help protect the health of our National Guard, the spokesman continued. They are here to protect us and should not have to unnecessarily risk their well-being.

Decisions regarding testing at the Capitol complex, however, are not Pelosis alone to make and shifted in response to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowsers COVID travel order asking all travelers to obtain a COVID test and a result before arriving in D.C. The Capitol attending physician decided in November to provide COVID tests to members of Congress or staffers after arriving in the nations capital if they couldnt do so before arriving in D.C.

Before that time, the attending physician had concerns about the efficacy of widespread testing for asymptomatic people. Pelosi and Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader last year, had jointly decided not to offer all members and staffers COVID tests out of concern that it would diminish testing capacity for essential workers and the general public because test were initially far less widely available.

Recent weeks have demonstrated that Kevin McCarthy has no fidelity to the truth or fact, Hammill shot back. The minority leader, as usual, has no idea what hes talking about but is desperate to make political points that he cant substantiate with the facts.

The enmity between the two Californians -- who lead their respective caucuses in the House -- hit a new low last week after news broke that freshman GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia had allegedly liked a comment on her Facebook page in 2019 that threatened the life of Pelosi and other Democrats. The speaker responded by telling reporters that the enemy is within the House of Representatives. McCarthy is under pressure from Dems to strip Greenes committee assignments after several Senate Republicans this week repudiated her views.

Yet other Republicans argue that Pelosi is playing the worst type of partisan politics, using the Capitol insurrection to exploit the rift within the GOP over Trump while giving little consideration for the well-being of the troops she wanted in the Capitol for protection.

A source familiar with security decisions in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol said Pelosi met with acting Army Secretary John Whitley to demand that 14,000 National Guard troops be deployed to the Capitol but there was no logistical plan on where the service members would sleep.

Pelosis office counters that what the speaker really did was simply tell Whitley she supported the U.S. Capitol Police request for 14,000 troops, a plan developed with the input of the National Guard itself, and she merely wanted to know if the Guard could meet that request.

After reports of COVID outbreaks among troops protecting the inauguration surfaced, Dr. Deborah Birx, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adviser and the former coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, suggested the inauguration could be a superspreader event, expressing the greatest concern over the National Guard troops lack of testing considering their cramped working and living conditions.

Right now, in the District of Columbia, there are National Guard troops here from every state in the union, probably, young individuals who are most likely to have asymptomatic infection if they do get infected, Birx told CBS News Face the Nation on Jan. 23. A former U.S. Army colonel, Birx said the troops were "going to do their mission" even if it presented a health risk.

On Friday RealClearPolitics asked White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki whether Biden shared the concern raised about the troops treatment while in D.C.

Ive spoken to the president about this directly, and the incredible sacrifices they make is something that is personal to him, Psaki replied, referring to the military service of Bidens late son, Beau, who served in the Delaware National Guard as a Judge Advocate General, including a year-long deployment to Iraq.

Psaki said Biden called the head of the National Guard the previous week when reports surfaced about troops being forced to sleep in a garage. Of course, [he] conveyed his dismay [about] the photos he had seen and their treatment, and also offered personally any help that he could provide, even if it was boosting morale, she added. Certainly that line of communication remains open should there be something that he can do from his end.

Psaki then referred questions about testing and vaccinating the troops to the Department of Defense.

The DoD referred COVID testing questions to the National Guard.

National Guard spokeswoman Nahaku McFadden said the federal bureau is following COVID guidance from the CDC, which recommends screening and temperature taking, not testing, for troops deployed to D.C. when they arrive. But the National Guard bureau can only provide recommendations as the official channel of communication between the Department of Defense and the states Guard units. Unless federalized, guardsmen are under the command and control of their governors.

While in D.C. they are operationally under the command of the D.C. National Guard Adjutants General, but the respective governor retains authority, she said.

Because states retain ultimate authority, each is left to its own COVID procedures, resulting in a patchwork of policies. By the time the troops arrive in D.C. for screening, they have already traveled in close proximity on planes and buses, usually on military planes and vehicles, although some have also taken civilian flights to D.C.

Guard representatives of several states told RealClearPolitics they are providing at least some COVID testing to troops. Spokespersons for the National Guard forces in Oklahoma, California and Illinois told RCP they tested troops before the left for D.C., and anyone who tested positive was sidelined from the deployment.

A spokesman for the Illinois National Guard said its adjutant general, the top officer in charge of state Guard forces, is immediately informed of any positive test results. The Oklahoma Guard also tested its troops when they returned, but California did not. Other states, including Hawaii, tested their troops when they returned home, Hawaiis spokesperson said. In addition to being given COVID tests before deployment, California spokesman Jonathan Shiroma said, all personnel from that state were offered their first COVID vaccination before their departure to D.C.

Karina Shagren, a spokeswoman for the Washington state National Guard, which has experienced a COVID outbreak among its ranks since the inauguration, said there is no DoD requirement to provide COVID tests before a deployment. Our men and women traveled largely on a military aircraft  and followed the direction provided by the agencies they supported in D.C., she said.

Shagren also stressed how rapidly the troops were called up for the inauguration mission and said Washington state is not participating in the extended D.C. deployment that will continue until the end of March.

Within a week, we were asked to mobilize more than 1,000 guardsmen to support law enforcement partners at the states and nations capital, she said. Please understand and appreciate the speed at which we were moving.

In the two weeks following the inauguration, there has been a growing number of reported COVID cases among troops. National Guard officials late last week estimated a positivity rate among troops protecting the Capitol since the Jan. 6 attack of about 1% to 3% of the roughly 25,000 troops deployed to D.C. Those numbers amount to roughly 250 to 750 service members who have come down with the virus, although the National Guard has declined to say exactly how many cases it has had across all the forces activated to protect the nations capital over the last month, and more outbreaks have been reported this week among troops returning to their respective states.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed his displeasure over the incident last month in which Guard troops were shown sleeping in a garage with few bathroom facilities and vowed to get to the bottom of the decision-making that led to that situation. He and other Senate leaders quickly ordered Capitol Police to let the troops back into the Capitol building and congressional offices. But Senate leaders have remained mum in response to RealClearPolitics questions asking why the COVID testing requirements for lawmakers and staff on Inauguration Day did not extend to the service members protecting them.
Beaux Cormier had been in and out of jail for sexual and violent crimes long before two women were shot to death in what investigators say was Cormier's quest to prevent a rape victim from testifying against him.

Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Tim Soignet announced in a Monday press conference the details of a murder-for-hire scheme that claimed the lives of Brittany Cormier, 34, and Hope Nettleton, 37, last month.

Beaux Cormier, a 35-year-old convicted sex offender from Kaplan, was at the center of it all.

He paid two men to kill his niece, who he is accused of raping, in order to prevent her from testifying in court, Soignet said. Instead, the sheriff said, the two hired men shot and killed the victim's mother and a neighbor who tried to intervene during the Jan. 13 incident at a Montegut home in Terrebonne Parish.

Cormier had traveled with Andrew Eskine, 25, of Carencro, and Dalvin Wilson, 22, of Rayne, to do surveillance on the home prior to the shooting, the sheriff said. The men also attempted to murder the rape victim on another occasion prior to Jan. 13, Soignet said.

Cormier, Eskine and Wilson were arrested Jan. 29 on two counts each of first-degree murder. Their bonds were initially set at $2 million.

Additional charges were added Tuesday for the three Acadiana men, who are now being held in a Terrebonne Parish jail without bond.

Brittany Cormier died saving daughter from hired killers: 'She would do anything for her kids' Brittany Cormier is remembered as both a private person and as the life of the party. Above all else, though, she is remembered for being a de

The additional charges, which include conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder for each man, are tied to the communication, planning and traveling that happened prior to the Jan. 13 murders. Cormier was also charged with solicitation for murder.

Although he is now jailed without the ability to post bail, Vermilion Parish court records show that Cormier has a history of abusive and violent crimes prior to January.

Cormier faced little to no jail time for some of the criminal charges, which include forcible rape, third-degree rape, intimidating a witness, cyberstalking, armed robbery and animal cruelty.

"Statistics show that the severity of a crime when it's a sex crime continues to go up," said Stacie Rumenap, who leads the nonprofit Stop Child Predators. "And that's what it looks like happened in this case. It starts off with a bunch of smaller things and goes to rape and now murder. From a psychological standpoint, at what point will this guy stop? And why are we, as a society, giving him a third and fourth chance?"

Cormier's publicly available criminal records date back to a July 2002 forcible rape of a 12-year-old family member. He was 17 at the time.

Cormier initially pleaded not guilty to the charge but later entered into a plea agreement to a lesser charge of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile.

In November 2004, Cormier was sentenced to 7 1/2 years at hard labor, which was suspended instead for five years of supervised probation. Cormier was ordered to pay the victim's father $820 and have no contact with the victim during his five-year probation.

Cormier was also ordered to comply with sex offender registration and notification.

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Under the lesser charge, Louisiana law required Cormier to register as a sex offender for 15 years. The forcible rape charge would have required Cormier to register as a sex offender for life.

Cormier also faced two counts of cyberstalking for "threatening, terrifying and/or harassing" a man in July and September 2002.

In 2003, Cormier agreed to plead no contest to one of the charges after the state dropped the other. He was sentenced to 60 days in the Vermilion Parish jail, but that, too, was suspended for one year of unsupervised probation.

Cormier would be arrested for smaller infractions  from speeding to stealing to cruelty to animals  in the years that followed.

In 2007, Cormier's probation was revoked for failing to attend a hearing and comply with the sex offender registration requirements.

Cormier was ordered at that time to serve his original 7 1/2 years at hard labor, with credit for time served.

In the years that followed, Cormier would agree to more plea bargains that allowed him to serve time in prison concurrently for burglary and armed robbery charges.

Cormier's more recent charges are pending in the district court.

The first is for failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements from October 2018 through January 2019. The second is for the rape and intimidation charges the Terrebonne sheriff said resulted in the murder-for-hire scheme last month.

Cormier was arrested on March 6, 2020, for the September 2019 third-degree rape of his then 16-year-old niece and intimidation of the victim's mother. His bond was set at $50,000 for the first charge and $5,000 for the second.

Cormier bailed out of jail the same day.

"All we do is make the arrest," said Capt. Drew David, spokesperson for the Vermilion Parish Sheriff's Office. "Ultimately, that falls on the prosecutors  how he is convicted and what his bond amount is."

It's a complicated process  both setting bond and determining a sentence  that's made more difficult by the overwhelming number of cases processed by district courts.

Plea bargains are often attractive to both prosecutors and defendants. Prosecutors can skip the lengthier and riskier trial process, and defendants get reduced or dismissed charges and more lenient sentencing. Victims sometimes favor the pre-trial intervention to avoid reliving previous trauma during trial.

Don Landry, who recently took office as district attorney of Louisiana's 15th Judicial District that includes Vermilion Parish, could not speak on Cormier's criminal prosecution and sentencing that happened during prior administrations.

"Every case is different," Landry said. "You have to do it on a case by case basis. Look at rap sheets. Listen to law enforcement. Certainly listen to victims and victims' families. All of that comes into play. It just does."
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Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

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Six months post-blast Beirut, the city once known as the Paris of the Middle East, remains in tatters.

Large parts of the historic Middle Eastern capital were destroyed on August 4 when 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded in the port.

The explosion, which was felt 264km away in Cyprus, left 204 people dead, over 6,500 injured, and 300,000 homeless.

But six months on, little has changed and relatives of the 204 victims, including the parents of a 3-year-old girl who was found dead, buried under rubble days after the blast, are still waiting for justice.

 Slide me  Before and after: Tragic images show how Beirut is still laying in ruins six months after a huge blast wrecked the city and port

A Lebanese investigation into the cause of the blast has so far failed to prosecute those responsible, even though politicians promised in August the probe would only take five days.

More than 30 people, including caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who stepped down with his cabinet after the explosion, have been charged with criminal negligence over the blast.

However, the probe has been paused since December 17 after two former ministers indicted in the probe requested investigating judge Fadi Sawwan be replaced.

It remains unclear when, or if, the investigation will resume.

NOW: The damaged grain silos in Beirut's port remain standing six months since the explosion

NOW: Cars turned into scrap metal when 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded nearby on August 4 remain in the port six months after the incident happened

NOW: Imported and damaged cars at the destroyed port area have been abandoned

BEFORE: Beirut's port was the largest shipping and clearing point in Lebanon, through which approximately 70 per cent of the incoming and outgoing trade traffic to and from the country used to pass before the blast

NOW: Discarded metal lies strewn across the wasteland of Beirut port in front of grain silos that were destroyed in the blast

NOW: The damaged grain silo and a large crater where a warehouse that stored 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stood have not been repaired since Beirut blast six months ago

NOW: An aerial view of Lebanon's grain silos which were next to warehouse 12, where 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was stored unsafely for 7 years before it exploded

NOW: A picture taken with a drone shows a burnt out warehouse that is still laying in ruins six months after the blast

BEFORE: The grain silo in Beirut's port was the country's only large grain silo. The blast left the country without a strategic stockpile of grains

NOW: Beirut's port has become a desolate wasteland since the blast last August

NOW: A Lebanese investigation into the cause of the blast has so far failed to prosecute those responsible for the destruction

Investigations led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and France also failed to determine the cause or who was culpable for the blast.

The explosion was seen by many as the culmination of years of negligence and mismanagement of the state by politicians.

Letters showing Diab and President Michel Aoun were aware the ammonium nitrate was stored in the port's warehouse 12 surfaced in the days after the blast.

NOW: Scrap metal remains piled up in Beirut. Attempts to form a new government to help Lebanon recover from the blast have so far failed

NOW: The Beirut port remains in disarray and those responsible have not been brought to justice

The pair were repeatedly warned by security officials and customs chief Badri Daher that the dangerous substance was stored in the port but failed to take action.

The ammonium nitrate first arrived in Beirut in July 2013 onboard the MV Rhosus, a Moldavan-flagged tanker.

The ship was abandoned in Lebanon and the highly explosive unloaded into the port, where it sat for seven years before it exploded.

NOW: The owner of the cruise ship, the Orient Queen (pictured), has sued those responsible for the Beirut blast which led to the loss of her 300 person vessel

NOW: The Orient Queen, a cruise ship in Beirut port on August 4, remains half submerged six months after it was destroyed in explosion

BEFORE: Lebanon is heavily dependent on imports which arrive through the Beirut port. However, after the explosion many ships were directed through to the port in the northern city of Tripoli

NOW: Two crew members of the Orient Queen were killed in the blast when the shockwaves from the massive explosion caused the ship to capsize
During the Brexit negotiations, much was made of the threat of republican violence if there were any border checks, or any physical infrastructure on the border between the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic.

Even when it was suggested that there could be a solution involving technology, this was ruled out by Michel Barnier and the Brussels bureaucrats and there were dire warnings that republicans would target any technology.

Nationalist politicians in Belfast and Dublin talked it up and played it up, the bureaucrats in Brussels lapped it up and the UK Government caved in to the bully-boys of Brussels.

In January 2019, Sinn Fein even organised a photo-opportunity for Mary Lou McDonald, Michelle ONeill and Martina Anderson to stand on the border, surrounded by republican supporters and wielding a sledgehammer to demolish a fake border wall. The picture was worth a thousand words.

There would be no officials, no infrastructure, or anything else  not even a new camera  on the international border with the Republic. The message that this sent out was clear: threats of violence produce results.

Instead, to use the words of Rudyard Kipling, We are the sacrifice. There would be an internal border within the United Kingdom, as expressed in a Northern Ireland Protocol.

So, when some people learn that lesson and issue threats against workers in Larne to prevent internal border checks, it is troubling, it is wrong, but it is unsurprising. They have simply learned the lesson that Irish nationalists taught them.

As well as the political dimension of the Protocol, there are practical problems.

We are still in a period of grace without the full implementation of the Protocol and yet already it is impeding business between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. As a result, business organisations have expressed concerns, albeit in a rather muted and sheepish way.

They were much more strident during the Brexit negotiations, when they were expressing total opposition to anything that might interfere in any way with cross-border trade with the Republic and so they have good reason to be sheepish. Boris Johnson and his Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis, have both attempted to play down the problem and it is imperative that unionist MPs at Westminster continue to press home unionist concerns.

On Tuesday, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson got to the heart of the matter when he said to Michael Gove: What we need is not tinkering around the edges, but a recognition that Northern Irelands place in the UK internal market must be restored and this Protocol is preventing that from happening.

The Protocol was an act of surrender by the Conservative Government to the demands of Brussels. The UK internal market was sundered to protect the EU internal market.

Meanwhile, unionist parties and the unionist people are united in their demand for an end to the Northern Ireland Protocol and it would be foolish for either Government ministers or media pundits to ignore that.

They should not dismiss it as simply a matter of graffiti and social media chatter. There is a deep and growing resentment against the Protocol and it exists across unionism.

The statement from the Royal Black Institution was a particularly interesting illustration of that. The Black Institution is often viewed as being less political than the Orange Order and so the very fact that it issued a statement is itself noteworthy.

That united unionist anger has increased since the European Union pressed the nuclear button to invoke Article 16 of the Protocol over Covid vaccines.

The whole affair soon turned into a farce, which exposed the incompetence of the European Commission, but Arlene Foster was right to brand it an act of hostility. It was also an act of hypocrisy.

Once again, the mask had slipped and we could see why so many unionists view the EU as an odious organisation.

Recent episodes and outbursts of republican triumphalism from Sinn Fein have also galvanised unionism.

The Protocol came into effect on January 1 and, at first, the response of political unionism was somewhat uncertain.

This left something of a vacuum  and that is not good. That situation has changed and the five points proposed by the DUP are a good start.

We need to see those implemented as the start of a broader and bigger campaign to right the wrong and end this iniquitous Protocol.

It will take time and there will be political and legal battles on the way, but the cause is just and in the end unionism may emerge the stronger.
Syrian businessman with ties to the Assad regime, Nader Qalai, has died of coronavirus, reports Alsouria Net.

Syrian businessman and former Syriatel General Manager, Nader Qalai, passed away yesterday at the age of 56.

Qalai was known to be close to Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of the President of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad.

Members of Qalais family confirmed the news of his death. His sister-in-law said that he had died from the coronavirus.

People close to Qalai said that he died in Beiruts Rafik Hariri University Hospital, after his lungs stopped working. No further details were shared.

Qalai was one of the most prominent businessmen close to the Assad regime, and ran large investment projects in the country. He was also a friend and partner of Rami Makhlouf, and, for years, held the position of General Manager of Syriatel, owned by Makhlouf.

Qalai was subject to European and US sanctions. The European Union imposed sanctions on him in January 2019, along with 10 other businessmen. The sanctions froze his assets, preventing him from entering the European Union, and prohibiting economic dealings with him.

Last June, the US Department of the Treasury also imposed sanctions on him, as part of the Caesar Act, which also affected other figures close to the regime.

Qalais Troubles with Canada

Qalais name attracted a lot of attention recently, when a Canadian court announced his acquittal of the charge of financially supporting the Assad regime and violating the Canadian economic sanctions imposed on the latter.

According to the Canadian newspaper The Chronicle Herald, Qalai was accused of violating Canadian economic sanctions against Syria but was acquitted due to insufficient evidence against him. Qalai has permanent residency in Canada and was the first person to be accused of violating the economic sanctions imposed on the Assad regime, which were enacted by the Canadian government.

Qalai hails from Damascus and is linked to the Assad regime and the influential figures associated with it, chief among whom is Rami Makhlouf, who appointed Qalai as general manager of Syriatel.

Qalai remained a partner and general manager at Syriatel until 2006. After his exit, he became a partner in Byblos Bank Syria, where the Makhlouf family owns most shares. Qalai is one of the founders of the Cham Holding Company, established in 2007.

His name came up in the 2017 Paradise Papers that revealed tax evasion committed by high-ranking figures around the world.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Senate Republican Bill to Pull Federal Funds From Schools That Refuse to Reopen

A group of eight Republican senators on Wednesday introduced a bill that would pull federal funding out of schools that are unwilling to reopen for in-person learning this spring.

The proposed legislation, known as Put Students First Act of 2021, would require K-12 schools to provide an in-person learning option by April 30, or lose their federal funding. Schools that already received their federal education funds or pandemic relief dollars but refuse to reopen would be required to give the money back.

Those withheld or returned federal funds, according to the bill, would be use by states to support school choice options for students impacted by school closures. If a state with shuttered schools chooses not to offer school choice options to their students, those funds would then be granted to states with the highest percentage of schools that offer in-person instruction.

The bill comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that schools reopen with safety measures such as face covering and social distancing. On the same day the bill was introduced, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a press conference that vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools and that there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen.

Now that leading health experts at the CDC are recommending that Americas schools be reopened as soon as possible if precautions are taken, teachers unions are fighting to stay out of the classroom, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote in a statement. Instead, they want to hold our students hostage for more federal funding despite Congress already having provided tens of billions of dollars for public K-12 schools.

Earlier this week, thousands of Chicago public school teachers, backed by the teachers union, rejected the citys order to return to in-person work. In Los Angles, the teachers union joined the school board to push against California Gov. Gavin Newsoms proposed school reopening plan, under which only schools that reopen for in-person learning could get their share of $2 billion in extra funding.

President Joe Biden promised that within 100 days of becoming president all schools would be open. I agree with President Biden, all schools should be open, Rubio wrote in a Fox News op-ed previewing the bill. If a school continues to cave to the unions at the expense of their students, they should not receive funding.

Rubio is joined by Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
From the tragic to the seemingly trivial, people have revealed their biggest regrets in a searingly honest online thread.

People from around the world took to anonymous confessions app Whisper to share the single decision or moment they wish they could go back in time to change.

One man from Indonesia explained how he missed out on becoming a millionaire by turning down an opportunity to be an early investor in Bitcoin. Another said he wished he had stayed with his partner for the sake of his children.

In one tragic story, a woman from Utah said she aborted her baby because her husband 'wasn't ready' to be a father and still 'hates him' for it.

Here, Femail shares some of the most shocking and heart-wrenching examples...

Lasting pain: A married woman from River Heights, Utah, can't forgive her husband

In too deep? A bride-to-be from Sacramento, California, questions whether she can still leave

Back to where it all began: A drug addict regrets ever touching substances to begin with

Would-be investor: This person from Pekanbaru, Indonesia, still regrets missing out on Bitcoin

Start of the trouble: A poster from Box Springs, California, realizes they left home too young

More mature: Looking back, this person wishes they had more time with their dying mother

Wistful thinking: A 24-year-old divorcee is figuring out life after getting married as a teenager

A night that changed everything: A mother from Huntersville, North Carolina, has questions

Reflection: A woman from Kentucky has her parents at the forefront of her thoughts

Heartbreaking: A woman from Lexington, Kentucky, shared her story about a tragic accident

That could've been me: This poster from Arkansas City, Kansas, regrets their school career

Lessons in love: Like many on the thread, this woman regrets ending a relationship

Family ties: This father from Phoenix, Arizona, feels like he's let himself down by splitting
On Feb. 3, Canadas Public Safety Ministry designated the Proud Boys as a terrorist group, fulfilling the wishes of many Americans in the wake of the neofascist groups involvement in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Indeed, the Canadian governments decision to designate the Proud Boys as terrorists seemingly centered on what its statement describes as the pivotal role the group played in the insurrection.

The U.S. Department of Justice underscored this very point last week when it announced that it had indicted two Proud Boys for their key roles in leading the insurrection. Canadas Feb. 3 terrorist designation is not an outlier. In 2019, Canada designated two neo-Nazi groups, Combat 18 and Blood & Honour, as terrorist groups. Perhaps lost in the noise surrounding the Proud Boys designation were other important Canadian sanctionschiefly those of the Atomwaffen Division, the Base, and the Russian Imperial Movement, all far-right groups.

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Many in the United States may be now wondering, can the Biden administration follow Canadas lead?

It is an important question, especially when, upon examination, the U.S. Department of State has no radical right-wing terrorist groups on its Foreign Terrorist Organization, or FTO, list. How does Canada have six white supremacist groups on its list of terrorists while the United States has none? Is this an issue of political will, or is there something else that can explain this discrepancy? After all, it was less than one year ago that the United Nations said there was more than a 320 percent increase in right-wing terrorism.

Terrorist designations matter. The Canadian decision to sanction the Proud Boys will hinder the groups ability to travel and raise money, and may lead to future prosecutions of members for their involvement in terrorist activity. There is also an important symbolic component to the designation: The Fred Perry polo shirtwearing Proud Boys now have a Scarlet T for terrorist now emblazoned upon them. The stigma associated with the terrorist label is hard to overstate, and it was one the Trump administration neglected to wield against the extreme far right.

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Critics of the Trump administration were correct in saying there was a clear political calculation in downplaying the threat posed by groups like the Proud Boys. And, while the Trump administration did designate the RIM as a terrorist group pursuant to Executive Order 13224, it inexplicably did not sanction the group as an FTOa much more well-known terrorist list. Yet, the challenges of designating groups with a U.S. presence go beyond issues of political will. It wont be so easy for the Biden administration to follow Canadas lead. I should know, for more than a decade I led the State Departments office responsible with sanctioning groups as FTOs. The Proud Boys are a very hard, if not impossible, terrorist designation target for the U.S. government to pursue.

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Unlike Canada, the United States has no legal basis for sanctioning domestic terrorist groups. Thats the reason why even when more than 1 million people sign a petition to label the Ku Klux Klan as a terrorist group, it results in no action. The State Department can, according to U.S. law, designate foreign organizations. Lawyers involved in terrorist designation decision-making have interpreted this as excluding groups that have a significant domestic presence. While there is some ambiguity, and thus flexibility, about what the term significant may mean, it nonetheless has clear implications for the possible designation of the Proud Boys as an FTO. The Proud Boys leadership cadre, such as its leader Enrique Tarrio, is based in the United States. Additionally, the groups activities, such as their involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection and in street fights in Portland, Oregon, and Berkeley, California, also are seemingly U.S.-centric. Does this mean it is impossible for the United States to sanction the Proud Boys as terrorists?

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It is unlikely, but not impossible. The groups own literature touts the fact that it has a global presence with chapters in more than 40 countries. While terrorist groups certainly have been prone to exaggeration, it is quite clear that the Proud Boys do have a sizable international presence. The Proud Boys overseas chapters have a sizable membership that uses a mix of social media and encrypted platforms to communicate. If this is the case, there may be some scope for the United States government to consider the Proud Boys as a global organization. After all, the groups founder, Gavin McInnes, is Canadian.

Simply put, the Proud Boys arent solely a U.S. phenomenon. Thus, the U.S. government should work with allies, like Canada, to flesh out the Proud Boys international presence. With additional intelligence, the U.S. may just be able to demonstrate the Proud Boys are an organization with a sufficiently foreign presence. If that happens the U.S. government just may be able to sanction it, or at a minimum designate its international chapters. It wont be easy, and the U.S. legal hurdles will be high, but the Proud Boys are worthy of being considered for what they truly areterrorists.

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Three to four vehicles in leader Priyanka Gandhi's convoy collided on a highway in western Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district on Thursday morning.

No one was hurt in the incident that took place near Garh Mukteshwar area. The vehicles, including SUVs, were following Gandhi's car, according to purported videos that have surfaced on social media.

Accompanied by Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, Gandhi is headed to Rampur to attended the 'antim ardaas' of Navreet Singh, a resident of Dibdiba village in the district who died on January 26 in Delhi where he was participating in the farmers' protest against the new agri laws.

Earlier in the day, Lallu retweeted a post which had a video of him along with Gandhi seated in a car en route to Rampur.

Congress, among other opposition parties including BJP's former allies Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena, has lent its support to the farmers' agitation.

Thousands of farmers are camping at Delhi borders since November demanding that the Centre take back the three laws enacted last September and guarantee minimum support price for crops.

The Centre has maintained that the laws are pro-farmer.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Defence minister Rajnath Singh will host a meeting of his counterparts from countries in the Indian Ocean Region on Thursday with an eye to boosting Indias role as a security partner of choice as well as securing markets for India-made defence hardware.

The one-day meeting of the Indian Ocean Region defence ministers is taking place on the sidelines of the Aero-India show in Bengaluru.

According to the defence ministry, 18 of 28 countries invited have sent their delegates with the others being represented by their diplomatic envoys in India or joining the meeting through a video link.

Four countries Maldives, Comoros, Iran and Madagascar  will be represented at the ministerial level while Australia, Kenya, Seychelles, Mauritius, Kuwait and Myanmar will be represented by their ambassadors and high commissioners in New Delhi, the Indian defence ministry said.

India is geographically central to the Indian Ocean and has a vast coastline of 7,500 kms. Indias vision for Security and Growth for All (SAGAR), as articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cannot be realised without close cooperation and engagements amongst countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR)," the ministry said in a statement. Navigating through the pandemic year of 2020, India is taking the lead in organizing an international platform for the world Aerospace and Defence (A&D) leaders to exchange ideas and forge partnerships towards synergizing the efforts in the A&D sector," it said.

The meeting  is an initiative to promote dialogue in an institutional, economic and cooperative environment that can foster the development of peace, stability and prosperity in the Indian Ocean region," a ministry official said.

It would address aspects related to defence industry--co-operation amongst participating countries, sharing of resources available in Indian defence shipyards for design and shipbuilding and Indian ports with friendly countries, information sharing towards increased maritime domain awareness, maritime surveillance and co-operation, disaster relief, responses to marine pollution and the development of technologies for harnessing marine resources," the official said.

Speaking at the start of the Aero India show on Wednesday, Singh said that India wanted to be a reliable partner for friendly countries" adding that Indias interests lay beyond its shores.

India sees the Indian Ocean Region as its zone of influence and has been extending assistance to countries in the region  relief at the time of calamities like oil spills and cyclones besides helping in hydrographic surveys and gifting patrols boats to countries to secure their exclusive economic zones.

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But on Wednesday and Thursday, at least 77% of the staff  only two COVID cases were reported among employees  and 95% of the 60 residents were lined up to get the shot from VNA Health Care, which was founded in 1918 - yes, the same year as the Spanish Influenza pandemic - right here in Aurora.
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) organises World Cancer Day every year on February 4. The day is observed to raise awareness about cancer globally and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. The primary goal of World Cancer Day is to take actions to finally reduce illness and death caused by cancer and thus create awareness amongst people about the disease. Read on to know more about World Cancer Day 2021 theme, history, and significance.

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World Cancer Day 2021 theme

World Cancer Day theme for this year is "I am and I will". The theme is all about the individual and their commitment to act against cancer by taking positive actions as an individual. The aim is to reduce the number of premature deaths from cancer and non-communicable diseases by 1/3rd by the year 2030. The UICC tweeted about 2021 World Cancer Day event stating, "This #WorldCancerDay celebrates the extraordinary courage of people living with #cancer and their families, as well as the nurses, doctors, researchers, volunteers and advocates who work to maintain life-saving services during #COVID19."

This #WorldCancerDay celebrates the extraordinary courage of people living with #cancer and their families, as well as the nurses, doctors, researchers, volunteers and advocates who work to maintain life-saving services during #COVID19.https://t.co/tVSX9pTGLv @docdcruz pic.twitter.com/EK2Z7gq4Hu  Union for International Cancer Control (@uicc) February 3, 2021

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World Cancer Day history

On February 2000, World Cancer Day was written into the Charter of Paris Against Cancer. The document was signed in between then French President Jacques Chirac and UNESCO General Director at that time, Koichiro Matsuura. The UICC, which is the Union for international Cancer control organisation also founded the Mc Cabe Centre for Law & Cancer in 2012. The centre is considered as the first and only centre of its kind.

World Cancer Day significance

World Cancer Day is the global initiative led by UICC that creates worldwide awareness about cancer, focuses on improving education and catalysing personal, collective and government action so as to act reimagine a world where millions of preventable cancer deaths can be saved. The focus is also to make the life-saving cancer treatment and care accessible to all, regardless of where the person lives in the world. UICC tweeted on February 2 asking everyone to join the UICC event on February 4. This is what they tweeted, "Join UICC and individuals from around the world for a full day of live and exclusive events on 4th February aimed at raising awareness, improving education, fighting stigma and inspiring action to reduce the impact of #cancer."

Join UICC and individuals from around the world for a full day of live and exclusive events on 4th February aimed at raising awareness, improving education, fighting stigma and inspiring action to reduce the impact of #cancer.https://t.co/UNbCY6sMs7 #WorldCancerDay pic.twitter.com/ZgyePB56sg  Union for International Cancer Control (@uicc) February 2, 2021

3.7m lives can be saved from #cancer every year if we act now. What actions will you take on the 4 February?https://t.co/yXE4ozNU9J#WorldCancerDay #IAmAndIWill pic.twitter.com/Lhvi84TWMc  Union for International Cancer Control (@uicc) February 1, 2021

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Canada became the first country Wednesday to formally designate the Proud Boys a terrorist entity, according to the nations public safety ministry.

The ministry said in a statement the group was "a neo-fascist organization" that "played a pivotal role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol" in Washington.

The ministry said Canadian officials were already considering the move and that the January 6 insurrection contributed to the decision.

The group and its members have openly encouraged, planned and conducted violent activities against those they perceive to be opposed to their ideology and political beliefs, the ministry said.

The designation could allow Canadian police to handle crimes committed by the group as terrorist activity as well as empower authorities to seize financial assets.

Reputation for violence

The Proud Boys group is considered a far-right, male chauvinist extremist organization with a reputation of engaging in violent activities at political rallies.

Members have been under increasing scrutiny in the United States after embracing the former Trump administrations nationalist policies and being a major agitator during previous protests and last months riot at the Capitol that left five people dead.

According to the U.S.-based Southern Poverty Law Center, members of the Proud Boys were aggressively front and center during the attack on the Capitol. The SPLC also defines the Proud Boys as a hate group.

Then-President Donald Trump urged the group to stand back and stand by when a moderator asked him to denounce it during a presidential debate in September.

After the attack on the Capitol, the head of Canadas opposition New Democratic Party, Jagmeet Singh, began urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to declare the Proud Boys a terrorist group.

The Canadian government added a total of 13 groups to its terrorism list, including three other neo-Nazi or far-right organizations. The Base and the Atomwaffen Division operate mostly in the U.S., while the Russian Imperial Movement, based in Russia, has operated in Europe, the Middle East and other regions.

Chairman of the Hanoi Peoples Committee Chu Ngoc Anh has requested a halt to festive activities and mass gathering events in public places and stadiums in the face of a COVID-19 resurgence.

Chairman of the Hanoi Peoples Committee Chu Ngoc Anh (front, second from left) and other officials check anti-COVID-19 measures at a shop (Photo: VNA)

In his directive, Anh told the citys departments, sectors, and agencies, and district-level Peoples Committees to view COVID-19 prevention and control as the most urgent task now and keep adhering to the motto fighting the pandemic is like fighting an enemy.

Cadres, Party members, civil servants, and public employees have to take the lead in carrying out anti-COVID-19 measures and must not lower their guard.

Meanwhile, inter-sectoral forces were ordered to take drastic action to concurrently combat the outbreak and perform socio-economic tasks for 2021.

The chairman asked for stronger communications to persuade locals not to leave their home if unnecessary, wear face masks when not at home, and not gather into a mass in public places.

He pointed out the need to minimise movement, especially during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday when travel usually surges, and implement anti-coronavirus measures in public passenger transport.

Regarding important events for political, social, and economic purposes, the city mayor assigned local authorities to make decisions and ensure virus transmission prevention at those activities.

Anh tasked the municipal Department of Public Security with coordinating with local authorities and healthcare establishments to quickly trace people with close contact with confirmed cases, others meeting them, as well as those coming from outbreak-hit areas in Hai Duong and Quang Ninh provinces.

He also ordered increased examination and strict settlement of people illegally entering Vietnam, spreading fake news, evading health declaration procedures, providing false information, or violating anti-COVID-19 rules.

As of February 4 morning, Vietnam had recorded 1,948 COVID-19 cases, including 1,059 locally-transmitted ones. Hanoi posted 21 cases of community transmission since January 27, all linked to hotspots in Chi Linh city in Hai Duong province and Van Don International Airport in Quang Ninh province./.VNA

Hanoi to set off fireworks at only one location in Lunar New Years Eve The capital city of Hanoi will cancel fireworks display in all of its 30 districts as planned in the Lunar New Year's Eve, which falls on February 11, in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the community.
Over the years, Loiborsoit Location in Kirimon Division in Laikipia North has been an arena of cattle rustling and banditry.

The location has also been known for retrogressive cultural practices like female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage which have enslaved the community and denied many children their right to basic education.

However, Naibor Amani Primary School stands as a beacon of hope for peace and sanity in the once lawless jungle.

The location has never had a registered primary school until 2019 when Naibor Amani Primary School was conceived through a partnership between the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) and Loisaba Conservancy.

When the Nation visited the school recently, we found headteacher Fredrick Adoule with nearly 110 pupils. But none was in school uniform.

The pupils are aged between four and 12 years and are in PPE 1, PP2 and Grade One.

Mr Adoule explains that pursuit of education could not allow the children to live in their homes, which are located many kilometres away.

The headteacher expressed optimism that the school will help in minimising cases of cattle theft and banditry between the Turkana, Samburu, Pokot, Kisii, Kikuyu and Maasai communities as they interact, courtesy of the institution.

"Were it not for this school, some of these children would have been assigned duties of herding livestock and even being put at the forefront in cattle theft and banditry. There has been a practice of oppressive cultures like FGM and early marriage but this school is going to change that situation," Mr Adoule said.

Long distances

He said some of the communities are polygamous and, thus, many children might have failed to report back to school due to the long distances involved. The nearest schools are located 10 kilometres away.

"The school's committee has not yet settled on the preferred uniform but we are learning smoothly. We need additional teachers to satisfy the growing demand for education," Mr Adoule said. His sentiments are shared by ECDE teacher Samuel Edung Elibit.

Mr Jonas Lengerded, a parent and vice-chairman of the school's board, said the school will greatly help in fostering peace and development.

"Education is the best gift parents can give to their children. This school will bring us together through parents' meetings and end the animosity that has characterised us as dwellers of this area," Mr Lengerded said.

According to Loisaba Conservancy chief executive officer Tom Sylvester, the first step of starting the school was construction of two classrooms with the support of Loisaba Community Conservation Foundation from the United States.

Mr Sylvester said the second phase, through a partnership with NG-CDF, entailed building four classrooms, fencing off the school compound, building houses for teachers, providing desks, constructing the ablution block and overall infrastructural setting of the school.

"It is our vision that conservation education will be entrenched in the pupils as well. We believe very strongly that development of this area is critically important," the CEO said.

Laikipia North MP Sarah Korere said lack of education in parts of Laikipia and the neighbouring Baringo, Samburu and Isiolo counties has been a major contributor to banditry and cattle rustling.

Wake up

"As leaders in these counties, we need to wake up and take up the challenge of making education a top priority. It is very sad that some leaders do not want to construct schools because they want to take advantage of the illiterate masses to advance their selfish agenda," Ms Korere said.

"We decided to name the school Naibor Amani because this area has, over the years, been a battlefield. We believe this institution will eradicate those vices and cement peace in this location," she adds.

The constituency has also experienced cases of human-wildlife conflict, resulting in clashes between the locals and management of various wildlife conservancies.

"The constitution demands that basic education must be compulsory, but, ironically, there are vast areas in this constituency where there are no schools. The government should cease this bureaucracy of registering schools because it denies children access to education," Ms Korere said.

The legislator aims at turning the institution into a low-cost boarding facility where pupils can continue learning safely, even as their parents migrate in search of pasture for their livestock.

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"Lack of school uniforms should not curtail any child from accessing education. The pupils' turn-out tells you that even their parents have for many years been yearning for this opportunity. We request the county government to come on board and support the ECDE section through provision of food and teachers," she said.

Former National Assembly Speaker Francis Ole Kaparo said: "This is a multi-ethnic school which is meant to end persistent clashes and instil peace. We want to kill animosity between the communities by bringing them together through education".

Speaking separately to the Nation, Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi appealed for partnership between them and the neighbouring counties of Baringo, Samburu and Isiolo and the national government to inject more resources into education to end perennial conflicts.

"There is a need to offer educational opportunities to our children. If you look at areas around Tiaty constituency, you will realise that there are gaps in educational opportunities available for our young people," Mr Muriithi said.

"We have to rapidly close these gaps if we want the social-economic dynamics to change," he said.
Question Everything! Purpose and Intent of this website: Are Conservative Policies Shortening American Lives? By Lola Butcher February 03, 2021 " Information Clearing House " - In 2013, a research team comprised of some of the nations top epidemiologists and demographers compared the health of Americans with the health of people in other high-income nations. They summarized their findings in the reports title: U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health. Compared to 16 other nations, the U.S. ranked dead last in life expectancy for males and second-to-last for females. Beyond that, the nation ranked at or near the bottom in nine broad areas, including injuries and homicides, drug-related deaths, heart disease, and diabetes. Lung disease was both more common and more deadly in the U.S. than in most of the comparison countries, while older adults were more likely to have arthritis than people in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Japan. The U.S. surpassed all other nations in its rate of infant death. It had the highest rate of new AIDS cases. American young people were more likely than their international peers to die in traffic accidents. A catalog of horrors, as a writer at the Council on Foreign Relations summed up the report. Newspaper coverage included words like stunned and surprised. It is now shockingly clear that poor health is a much broader and deeper problem than past studies have suggested, read an editorial in The New York Times. Since the reports publication, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Health Organization, and others have continued to document the ongoing slide in U.S. health compared to other countries. As bad as things were then, theyve only gotten worse, said Steven Woolf, a physician and public health researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University who chaired the panel of experts behind the Shorter Lives study. Indeed, as of 2019, the U.S. ranked 36th in the world in terms of life expectancy at birth, behind Slovenia and Costa Rica, not to mention Canada, Japan, and all the rich countries in Europe. And new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in December found that, although White people living in the nations highest-income counties have better health outcomes than the average U.S. citizen, even they fare worse on infant mortality, maternal mortality, and deaths after heart attacks than the average citizens of Norway, Denmark, and other developed countries. In retrospect, the 420-page report was a harbinger of things to come, and many experts now say it foreshadowed the U.S. experience with Covid-19. The abysmal performance of the U.S.  leading the world in death counts and unable to mount the kind of national response that so many peer nations achieved  adds a fresh twist to the U.S. health disadvantage, Woolf said. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Newsletter His research team was convened by the National Academy of Medicine and the National Research Council to suss out why the U.S. suffers the health disadvantage that it documented, but it was unable to do so. Common explanations  obesity, lack of access to health care, health disparities between White and Black people  were all at play, but the exact cause, or combination of causes, was not clear. The troubling portrait of Americas health did not spur action to paint a better one. Two presidential administrations have ignored it, as has Congress, mirroring a lack of interest shown by the wider public. Still, some social scientists have not stopped asking: Whats causing the U.S. health disadvantage? Recent work points to a surprising culprit: conservative policies. This idea stems from a new line of research focusing on individual states, rather than the country as a whole, which has found that states with more liberal policies have longer life expectancy rates than those with more conservative policies. If all states adopted policies similar to those of Hawaii, for example  including on labor, tobacco, and the environment  U.S. life expectancy would increase to such an extent that it would be on par with other high-income countries, according to Jennifer Karas Montez, a sociologist at Syracuse University and lead author of the new research. Of course, the findings do not definitively prove that a given set of state policies causes people to live longer; rather, they suggest a statistical association between a states policies and the health of its residents. And not everyone is convinced that transposing one states policies onto other states populations will lead to better health outcomes. Still, public health researchers say the question is worth pursuing  though the next step will be a tricky one: getting the public and their political representatives on board. In 2002, Ravi K. Sawhney moved to Washington, D.C. to look for any job that would allow him to work in health policy. An orthodontist by training, Sawhney describes himself as a person who likes to fix things. He chose orthodontics because he liked the way braces fixed his own teeth. Then he studied molecular and cellular biology to better understand how teeth move and develop ways to improve orthodontics. But I started to realize that were not suffering from a lack of good orthodontists or molecular biologists, he said. Its that we have weird policies that arent working to make health better. After two jobs on Capitol Hill, he landed in Building One, the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIH, the largest biomedical research organization in the world, includes the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Mental Health, and 24 other institutes or centers. Its 2020 budget was almost $42 billion. The Office of the Director, which oversees the entire enterprise, is comprised of dozens of administrative units, including the Office of Science Policy. Thats where Sawhney was working when, in 2006, he learned of some new research findings that became his obsession. By then, the U.S. had been losing ground on life expectancy, relative to other countries, for decades. The disparity had been attributed to Americas high poverty rate and racial inequality. But that reasoning became more complicated when a research team stumbled upon the fact that White Americans are significantly less healthy than the British. It was a bit of a big shock, Michael Marmot, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London who led the research, said in an NPR interview at the time. I just didnt imagine wed find it consistently across the board, with worse health in the United States compared with England. Not everyone is convinced that transposing one states policies onto other states populations will lead to better health outcomes. Marmot  actually Sir Marmot, having been knighted in 2000 for his extensive research into health inequalities throughout the world  and three colleagues were trying to find out why poor people are less healthy than rich people. Because they were exploring how income and education influenced health independently of other factors, they looked only at non-Hispanic White people aged 55 to 64 in the U.S. and England. What they learned: In both countries, people with less education and income had worse health than their more advantaged countrymen. Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, they reported that White Americans had worse health than their British peers at all rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. In Sawhneys view, that should have prompted some introspection at the NIH. But in the ensuing years, Sawhney grew frustrated that Americas health disadvantage did not get high-level attention, even though additional research showed that older Americans were not just less healthy than their British counterparts, but less healthy than other Europeans as well. When you find out that every other rich country in the world  without better technology, without more spending on biomedical research  is healthier, it undermines your case that what you are doing is right, he said. So he spearheaded the effort to get a bigger set of eyes focused on the issue. The National Academy of Medicine (then known as the Institute of Medicine) is a nonprofit organization that, as part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, is authorized by Congress to advise the federal government on medical and public health issues. Its members are elected because of their important contributions to their fields, and it undertakes big-picture research studies on a contract basis along with the National Academies research arm, the National Research Council. In this case, the NIH funded research to review health data for all ages of life, not just older people. Woolf was recruited to chair the panel; other members were primarily academic experts in epidemiology, demography, and economics. Many had spent their careers looking at international health comparisons, but none had ever seen the data for all health conditions in one place before. There were many of us, including myself, who expected we would outperform some countries in some disease areas and underperform in others, Woolf said. But what was so stunning to us was that, with very few exceptions, we were consistently underperforming. White Americans had worse health than their British peers at all rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. Laudan Aron, now a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, was the Shorter Lives study director, responsible for editing and writing the report along with Woolf. Panel members were struck, she said, by how consistently the U.S. health disadvantage washed across Americans from all subsets of the population  rich and poor, highly educated and not, old and young. Members of some racial and ethnic minority groups have much worse health than their White compatriots, but even well-to-do, highly educated White people with health insurance suffered a health disadvantage because they lived in the U.S. There were some bright spots. Americans who manage to reach the age of 75 live longer than their peers in other countries. The U.S. also has higher rates of cancer survival, better blood pressure and cholesterol control, lower stroke mortality, and lower smoking rates. But, compared to peers in other rich nations, many Americans do not live to see old age; since 1980, the U.S. has consistently had the first or second lowest probability of surviving to age 50. Continue Visual: Matt Anderson - - " Source " - Post your comment below Registration is necessary to post comments. We ask only that you do not use obscene or offensive language. Please be respectful of others. See also
As those who watch teen-focused TV series know, high-school-age characters are often played by actors significantly older than them. Dawsons Creek is a prime turn-of-the-century example of this. How old was James Van Der Beek while filming, and were his on-screen mom and dad old enough actually to be his parents?

James Van Der Beek portrayed Dawson in Dawsons Creek

James Van Der Beek plays Dawson Leery in Dawsons Creek. | Getty Images

Van Der Beek played the titular Dawson Leery in Dawsons Creek for six seasons. Dawson idolizes filmmaker Steven Spielberg and hopes to follow in his footsteps someday. But to start, hes a dreamer, making home movies alongside his friends in his small Massachusetts town.

Over time, Dawson grows up. Throughout the series, his on-again, off-again romance with the girl across the creek, Joey, is a highlight, as are his Hollywood dreams. He deals with love, loss, and everything else the audience of a primetime teen drama expects. And, of course, the show made Van Der Beek a star.

Van Der Beek was 20 years old when he started playing Dawson

RELATED: Dawsons Creek: Which of the Main Cast Members Was the Youngest in the Pilot? Katie Holmes Says They Grew Up Together

The series begins with four young actors in lead roles: Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes (as Joey), Joshua Jackson (as Pacey), and Michelle Williams (as Jen). Of the four, Van Der Beek is the oldest. In fact, hes the only one who wasnt a teenager when he started filming, turning 20 that year.

Van Der Beek wasnt enthusiastic about Dawsons Creek right away. I thought, listen, Im 20, I cant play 15, he told Larry King in 2013. But later, the actor explained, I read the script and really loved it. Apparently, the executives didnt love Van Der Beek for the role, but creator Kevin Williamson insisted he get the part.

Dawsons parents, Mitch and Gail, are a big part of the show

In addition to those playing teens, four other actors earned lead cast member status in Dawsons Creek Season 1. Mary-Margaret Humes and John Wesley Shipp portrayed Gail and Mitch Leery, Dawsons parents. The show begins with the reveal that Gail is having an affair, something Mitch doesnt learn for several episodes.

Mitch files for a divorce in Dawsons Creek Season 2, after which Gail moves to Philadelphia to further her career. But she returns in season 3. They get back together and quickly remarry. In Season 4, she gives birth to Dawsons little sister, Lily. Sadly, in season 5, Mitch dies in a car accident. Gail remarries in the series finale.

How old are Mary-Margaret Humes and John Wesley Shipp?

John Wesley Shipp and Mary-Margaret Humes on December 16, 2007, in Hollywood, California. | Michael Tullberg/Getty Images

While the characters dont often talk about what happened before the show, there are facts sprinkled throughout. Gail and Mitch met in college and started dating. They tried for years to get pregnant before Dawson was born in 1983. Given this timeline, we can assume they were at least 25 when they became parents.

As for the actors, Humes is 23 years older than Van Der Beek, while Shipp is 22 years older than the actor playing his on-screen son. Though that would have made them a little bit young as far as parents go, theyre still technically old enough to have Van Der Beek as a son.
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden will make clear Thursday that the world should expect a more diplomatically engaged United States moving forward, starting with him putting the brakes on Donald Trumps plan to withdraw thousands of U.S. troops from Germany.

Biden will also announce in a speech at the State Department that the U.S. will stop supporting Saudi Arabias military offensive in the long-running war in Yemen in hopes of ending one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

We must meet this new moment of accelerating global challenges from a pandemic to the climate crisis to nuclear proliferation challenges that will only be solved by nations working together in common cause, Biden will say, according to excerpts of the speech released by the White House.

Bidens most public diplomatic efforts of his young presidency will signal to the world that Americas back after four years in which Trump pressed an America First mantra.

Trump last year, despite congressional resistance, announced plans to redeploy about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 U.S. troops stationed in Germany, which hosts key American military facilities like the Ramstein Air Base and the headquarters for U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command.

Trump announced the pullback after repeatedly accusing Germany of not paying enough for its own defense, calling the longtime NATO ally delinquent" for failing to spend 2% of its GDP on defense, the alliance benchmark.

No reductions or changes have been made to U.S. troop levels since Trumps announcement. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hinted at a likely reconsideration of the order in a conversation with his German counterpart last week, chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

Austin told German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer that the U.S. would make its decision in consultation with her and her government, Kirby said. German officials have hoped that the order would be rescinded by the new administration.

During Thursdays visit to the State Department, officials said, Biden also plans to announce that he will increase the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States to more than eight times the level at which the Trump administration left it.

Trump drastically reduced the refugee admissions cap to only 15,000 before he left office. Bidens plan would raise that number to 125,000, surpassing the ceiling set by President Barack Obama before he left office by 15,000.

The timing of Bidens visit so early in his term is deliberate, as much symbolic as it is a nod to his interest in foreign policy and his years as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he represented Delaware.

Trump had waited more than a year to visit the department, making his first appearance only for the swearing-in of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2018, and repeatedly assailed it as part of a deep state out to undermine his administration. Trump denigrated and dismissed its employees and unsuccessfully tried over multiple years to slash its budget by up to 35%.

Biden, by contrast, chose longtime confidant Antony Blinken to be his secretary of state, aiming to reinvigorate an American diplomatic corps that had been depleted and demoralized under four years of the Trump administration.

He will be greeted by employees eager to hear that diplomacy has returned to the top of the presidential agenda and that the expertise of long-serving foreign service officers will be valued. Although Bidens first nominations and appointments to senior positions at State have trended heavily toward political appointees, the president and Blinken have pledged to promote career staffers.

To that end, the Biden administration is set to name a longtime U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Tim Lenderking, as its special envoy in Yemen. The move comes as Biden is searching for a diplomatic end to the Saudi Arabia-led military campaign that has deepened humanitarian suffering in the Arabian peninsulas poorest country. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the selection, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement.

Lenderking, a career foreign service member, has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The State Department visit comes after Biden moved on Wednesday to extend the last remaining treaty limiting Russian and American stockpiles of nuclear weapons, acting just two days before the pact was set to expire. It also follows days after a coup in Myanmar that has emerged as an early proving ground of Bidens approach to multilateralism.

Biden may also address asylum claims for residents of Hong Kong, according to one official. He indicated during his campaign that he was interested in providing protection to people persecuted by the Chinese government.

Officials said Biden would not necessarily override the record low refugee cap of 15,000 that Trump set for the current budget year. Instead, the 125,000 figure would be proposed for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. The president is required by law to first consult Congress on his plans before making a determination.

Advocates had said that the backlog of tens of thousands of refugees left by the Trump administration had made it unlikely Bidens target of resettling 125,000 refugees could be reached this year. It will take time to rebuild the pipeline. More than one-third of U.S. resettlement offices were forced to close over the past four years with the drop in refugee arrivals and hundreds of workers were let go.

Another issue that may be addressed Thursday is a review of vetting procedures for refugees, according to the officials and others. The Trump administration had put in place extreme background checks that had brought the program to a standstill, advocates say.

The Trump administration also narrowed eligibility this year, restricting which refugees are selected for resettlement to certain categories, including people persecuted because of religion and Iraqis whose assistance to the U.S. put them in danger.

Biden is expected to do away with those categories at some point and have the program return to using the long-standing referral system by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees that makes selections based on a persons need to be resettled.

-

Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer contributed reporting to this article.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
Located in the La Nkwantanang Madina Municipality in the Greater Accra Region, the Madina Constituency is home to about 230,000 people.



According to the 2010 population census, the constituency had about 51.5 percent of the population being female and 48.5 percent being male. In the just-ended 2020 elections, the constituency had a voter population of 152,362, making it one of the biggest constituencies in the Greater Accra Region.



The constituency is also one of the elite constituencies in the country as it boasts of a higher literacy rate, with 91.3 percent of the population with various levels of education.



Madina is more of a service and trade bias constituency, with more people being into selling or providing services.



Carved out of the then Madina-Abokobi Constituency in 2004, the Madina Constituency has proven to be one of the swing constituencies in the capital, with candidates from both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) getting the nod to represent the constituency at a point in time.



At the just-ended 2020 parliamentary election, Mr. Francis-Xavier Sosu of the NDC emerged winner, polling 62,127 votes against his main contender, Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Sadique of the NPP, who polled 46,985.



Mr. Sosu has a huge task ahead as he is expected to address the huge unemployment situation in the constituency and close the infrastructural gap as well.



Taking his turn on the Daily Graphics Constituency Watch Series, Mr. Xavier-Sosu outlined some measures he had already introduced to resolve the unemployment situation, highlighted his plans to solve the other development challenges in the constituency, and how he intended to contribute immensely to parliamentary work by giving the people a loud voice in the House.



Loud voice



Mr. Sosu was confident of contributing immensely in Parliament by providing quality and effective representation for his constituents while giving them a loud voice in the House.



He said he represented both the poor and middle class in society and would, therefore, represent both interests in Parliament.





I will leverage on my wide network to attract opportunities and lobby for developmental projects for the constituency. I will also institute a periodic electoral area engagement in collaboration with the assembly representatives to understand the needs of my people and continue to work for them, he stated.



Unemployment



To address the problem of unemployment, Mr Sosu said he had created a database with the view to capture all the unemployed youth in the constituency to cover the demography, education and skills of the individuals.



He said the move was to help him know the job needs of his constituents, lobby and create the needed jobs and opportunities for them.



He said that would also help him provide timely information and services tailored to the needs of his people.



The concept of the comprehensive constituency database is to help me know the exact human resource capability of the constituency, he stated.



Education



On education, Mr Sosu said he intended to establish a scholarship fund to support brilliant needy students who would gain admission to further their education at the tertiary level.



The lawyer said he would also institute an annual Best Teacher Award for both private and public schools within the constituency.



I will also introduce an inter-school debate on national issues among the basic and pre-tertiary schools within the constituency in an effort to promote reading among students and increase their confidence.



Infrastructure



Mr Sosu also pointed out that one challenge he intended to solve in the constituency was the huge infrastructural gap.



He said he would use his position as MP to lobby for the modernisation of the Madina market and lorry station.



I also want to improve our road networks, educational and health facilities, and lobby to complete the Umar Bun Hattab School at Madina Zongo. I will also partner with the municipal assembly to construct gutters and bridges, especially in flood-prone areas.



I will also institute mobile clinics and periodic screening for the aged in the constituency and also organise capacity-building sessions for market women and artisans in the area, he stated.



Profile



Mr Sosu, a native of Denu in the Volta Region, is a renowned human rights and public interest lawyer in Ghana.



He said he was born to a poor and deprived family at Accra New Town and became a street child who made a living on the streets of Mallam Atta Market, a popular market in Accra, during which time he lived in a wooden kiosk at Kotobabi for several years.



Young Francis-Xavier was adopted by the Village of Hope Orphanage at Gomoa Fetteh and grew beyond his limitations into a foremost human rights and public interest lawyer in Ghana.



Currently, Mr Sosu is the Managing Partner of F-X Law & Associates, a human rights and public interest law firm in Accra which he established in 2012.



He began schooling at Mmofrakyepen Nursery at Accra New Town at the age of eight. After one year at Mmofrakyepen, Sosu gained admission to Accra New Town 8 & 6 Primary School. He combined selling on the streets of Accra with his academic work throughout his basic school.



Mr Sosu started his junior secondary school at Kotobabi 7 Junior Secondary School and later left to St Johns Junior Secondary School at Kokomlemle. He then continued to St Johns Senior Secondary School and later to the University of Ghana and the Ghana School of Law.



He is married to Mrs Felicia Adwoa Konadu Sosu and has three children.



Early political life



Mr Sosu said he had been a keen follower of the NDC since 1992 as his entire family had been NDC sympathisers. He also took keen interest in the NDC party since 2002 and had always been part of the June 4 celebrations.



In his final year in the Faculty of Law, 2008, Mr Sosu became a card-bearing member of the NDC in the then Abokobi/Madina Constituency and has since been active at Oyarifa ward of Madina NDC.



In his desire to support party activities financially, he picked up a gold card in 2014 and also volunteered himself to be duly elected and sworn in as chairman of the Oyarifa Presby Primary "A" branch of the party and was re-elected into the same position in 2017.



He is currently a member of the Expanded Legal Committee of the NDC.

Source: Graphiconline.com









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Choir: Maia Medalle, American Canyon Middle School, seventh grade

Music teacher Deb Walden recognized Maia Medalle for her enthusiasm despite the challenges facing choir programs this year. Maia is always willing to speak up during Zoom classes, answering questions, giving her opinion when asked, and letting me know if something in our virtual class isnt working correctly.

Medalle is consistent in turning in all her assignments and repeatedly does exceptional work. Walden points out many things are missing this year, no live rehearsals, no singing in person with a community of friends, no performances, no festivals, no choir trips. Yet, Walden said, Medalle continues to bring a sense of hope and community to each Zoom class. She is always supporting me as her teacher and supporting us as a choir.

Instrumental: Elisa Flaviano, River Middle School, Seventh Grade

Elisa Flaviano has not let distance learning slow her down. During this time, her teacher Nicole Birkland-Long said, She takes the initiative and finds music that she wants to learn and play outside of class. Birkland-Long has also recognized her for helping others, especially during hybrid instruction.

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The bottles contained a clear liquid substance, which tested positive to GBL.

Air cargo consignment bottles were examined by Australian Border Force officers in Sydney and Melbourne in November when the investigation began.

A 37-year-old Queensland man has been charged with importing a border controlled drug.

About 120 litres of Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) was detected inside plastic bottles labelled as cleaning supplies, skincare products and fishing gear.

A Queensland man has been charged after allegedly importing $450,000 worth of liquid fantasy into Australia.

A 37-year-old Clear Island Waters man was charged on Wednesday with six counts of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug under the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment.

About 120 litres of GBL in air cargos.

He will appear in Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday.

AFP Detective acting Inspector Scott Curtis said investigations into the importation remain ongoing.
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Japanese experts said Thursday they will examine soil samples brought back from a distant in an attempt to find the source of heat that altered the celestial body, in their search for clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth.

Scientists at the Aerospace Exploration Agency said they have made a preliminary examination of 5.4 grams (0.19 ounce) of soil, far more than the minimum 0.1 gram sample they had hoped for, which the Hayabusa2 spacecraft brought back in December from the Ryugu, more than 300 million kilometers (190 million miles) from Earth.

About 3 grams (0.1 ounce) of the black granules are from Ryugu's surface and were gathered when Hayabusa2 touched down on the in April 2019.

About 2 grams of larger fragments, up to about 1 centimeter (0.4 inch), were obtained from under the surface in a crater made by Hayabusa2 when it landed a second time three months later.

Based on near-infrared spectrophotometer analysis of data transmitted by Hayabusa2, JAXA scientists found that the asteroid was exposed to extremely high temperatures both on its surface and underground, possibly caused by an internal source of heat or planetary collisions rather than heat from the sun.

Kohei Kitazato, a University of Aizu planetary scientist working with JAXA, said his team found indications of heat exceeding 300 degrees Celsius (572 degrees Fahrenheit) both on the asteroid surface and underground.

He said the soil underground would not reach that temperature from the heat of the sun alone, suggesting that radiative internal heat or planetary collisions affected Ryugu when it was still part of a parent body billions of years ago, causing evaporation of its water.

His earlier study, jointly conducted with Brown University scholars and more than 30 other institutions, was published in the magazine Nature Astronomy last month.

JAXA is continuing an initial examination of the asteroid samples ahead of fuller studies next year. Scientists will also examine possible traces of organic matter in hopes they will provide insights into the origins of the solar system and life on Earth.

Following studies in Japan, some of the samples will be shared with NASA and other agencies for additional research.

Hayabusa2 is continuing on an 11-year expedition to another small and distant asteroid, 1998KY26, to study possible defenses against meteorites that could fly toward Earth, while conducting various tests that could be used in future Japanese missions, including its planned 2024 MMX sample-return mission from one of the Martian moons.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
AVL contributes $2 billion to economy

Asheville Regional Airport contributes nearly $2 billion to the regions economy and supports 12,520 jobs, according to a new report released by the N.C. Department of Transportations Division of Aviation last week.

The report also shows that of this economic impact, the airport contributes nearly $402 million in personal income and $65.4 million in state and local taxes.

The airport has always been an economic anchor organization in western North Carolina, woven into the growth and vitality of our region, said Lew Bleiweis, AVLs executive director. This report from the Division of Aviation shows the significance of the airports impact. Although the global pandemic has slowed the economy and the travel industry temporarily, recovery is underway and we will return to these levels  and surpass them  in coming years.

In total, North Carolinas publicly owned airports contribute $61 billion to the states economy and support 373,000 jobs, the NCDOT said. Airports and aviation-related jobs also provide $15 billion in personal income and contribute $2.5 billion in state and local tax revenues every year, based on 2019 data.

Airports are a significantly important business sector not only to our region, but to the state, country and global economies, said Matthew Burril, chair of the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority Board. The aviation industry interconnects the economy and culture like no other industry. We are fortunate to have a growing and thriving commercial airport that continues to drive recurring economic benefit to our western North Carolina region.

The report, North Carolina: The State of Aviation, highlights the pre-pandemic economic impacts of the states public airports and the related aviation and aerospace assets that support North Carolinas aviation economy. NCDOT creates the report every two years to help guide future investment in aviation infrastructure and provide a tool for recruiting aviation and aerospace industry companies and investment.
The Samsung Galaxy F62 has been a part of the rumour mill for quite some time and recently, the smartphone purportedly received certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards, hinting at its launch in India soon. Now, a new leak suggests the next Samsung F-series phone will sport a 6.7-inch sAMOLED display and a massive 7,000mAh battery. Earlier this week, a notable tipster suggested that the smartphone will come with a "powerful Exynos" chipset without specifying the exact details. Rumours suggest the phone could be called the Samsung Galaxy E62 in other markets.

The latest development comes from the publication MySmartPrice in collaboration with tipster Ishan Agarwal that adds that the Samsung Galaxy F62 could feature a 64-megapixel primary camera. The report further claims that the device would come in green and blue colour options. Recently, tipster Mukul Sharma noted that Samsung is preparing to launch the new F-series smartphone under the campaign "FullOnSpeedy." The post also said that it could be priced less than Rs 25,000. The Samsung Galaxy F62 has further purportedly appeared on several certification websites that tips its specifications. The smartphone is expected to come with Bluetooth v5.0, 6GB of RAM, and Android 11 out-of-the-box. The phone is reportedly in the mass production stage at Samsung's Greater Noida factory in Uttar Pradesh.

[Exclusive] Samsung is indeed launching a new F series smartphone. It's supposed to be a #FullOnSpeedy phone. The multi-core score (2401) will outperform the 765G processor. Price will be less than 25k  Hey @samsungindia, which one eh? Any guesses #stufflistingsarmy? pic.twitter.com/x0dA80sXDz  Mukul Sharma (@stufflistings) February 3, 2021

If rumours about the smartphone are accurate, the Samsung Galaxy F62 will compete against popular mid-budget offerings such as Xiaomi Mi 10i and OnePlus Nord in India. Samsung unveiled the Samsung Galaxy F41 in October 2020 that features a 6.40-inch full-HD+ display and a 6,000mAh battery. The phone is touted to deliver 26 hours of video playback time. Its price in India starts at Rs 15,499 for the base 64GB unit while the 128GB storage model costs Rs 16,499.
Citizens protest against the military's takeover by lighting candles and tapping on metal utensils on February 2, Yangon, Myanmar. Photo courtesy of Visual China Group (VCG)

The political antagonism in Myanmar continued to intensify after the military announced its takeover. The US, the UK, Australia and other countries have successively called for the Myanmar military to "surrender power" and warned that they would take actions against those responsible.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on February 2 that whatever actions taken by the international community shall contribute to Myanmar's political and social stability, promote its peace and reconciliation, and avoid escalating the conflict and complicating the situation.

The National League for Democracy (NLD)of Myanmar called forAung San Suu Kyis release,that of President Win Myint and all detained party members..It also demanded the military recognise the confirmed result of the 2020 general election and convene the parliament in accordance with the constitution. However, the military has yet to respon to those calls.

The international community is gravely concerned about how the situation in Myanmar will unfold and when Aung San Suu Kyi will gain freedom again. Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the Myanmar coup once again underscored the challenges Myanmars "transition to democracy" faces. To a certain extent, the military played a decisive role at the critical moment of Myanmar's political transition as no political force in the Southeast Asian country has a say bigger than the military. Therefore, there is little possibility that the political dilemma in Myanmar can be fixed any time soon.

The Myanmar military was once again caught in the crossfire of Western condemnation by this putsch, known as the "February crisis.". Leaders of many Western countries and organizations, including US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, and German Foreign Minister, have successively expressed their views on the situation in Myanmar since the political mess. They all strongly condemn the "coup," ask the military to release the detained personnel, and urge the Myanmar military to "respect" the election result. But the warning signals released by them are different.

While calling on Myanmar's military leaders to respect the results of last November's parliamentary elections, the French government said that the French side is paying close attention to events in Myanmar and is discussing countermeasures with partners in the United Nations. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi called on the Myanmar government to release the personnel and respect the rule of law. Still, they did not threaten to take measures against Myanmar. The ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid more attention to the safety and rights of ROK citizens and enterprises in Myanmar.

In contrast, the US and the UK threatened to impose sanctions. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK summoned Myanmar's ambassador in London on February 1, threatening to use "all necessary diplomatic means" to ensure the peaceful return to democracy. The Biden administration officially determined the action of the Myanmar military as a "military coup" on February 2, saying that it will consider cuts in aid to Myanmar, and impose sanctions and other measures on "the very small circle of military generals" responsible. However, some US media believe that the US has limited influence over the leadership of Myanmar's military, leaving Biden with few bargaining chips to "hold someone responsible".

Analysts pointed out that the condemnation and threats of sanctions from the US and Europe may not have a substantial impact on Myanmar. On the contrary, if the Biden administration imposes broad and severe economic sanctions on Myanmar as the Bush and Obama administrations did, it may further alienate the people of Myanmar and worsen their attitude towards the West.

(This article is originally published on www.cyol.com and translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.)
The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday that it stays committed to the one-China policy, with newly inaugurated President Joe Biden yet to announce its policy towards Taiwan region.

Asked at a regular briefing if the United States still supported the policy, State Department spokesman Ned Price said: "Yes, our policy has not changed."

The one-China policy is diplomatic acknowledgement of China's position that there is only one Chinese government, which serves the foundation for the Chinese government's policy on its Taiwan region. It is also one of the contributing factors for souring China-U.S. relationship.

During former President Donald Trump's four-year tenure, Washington has moved closer to Taiwan with a slew of moves, including high-level official visits and the passage of Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act of 2019 and Taiwan Travel Act of 2018  bills that look to increase support for the island region and upgrade exchanges with the people there.

Most recently, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced lifting what he called "self-imposed" restrictions on U.S. interactions with Taiwan.

Beijing has slammed all of these moves by the Trump administration.

Spokespersons for the Chinese Foreign Ministry have repeatedly voiced opposition, saying the moves have seriously violated the one-China policy and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, in which the U.S. recognizes the government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China.

Experts are not surprised over those Washington moves.

"Following on the so-called Taiwan Travel Act of 2018, one can see American foreign policy creeping away from the one-China principle as it promotes a growing strategic rivalry with China," Professor James Rae with California State University, Sacramento told CGTN.

"Once again, the shortsightedness of American foreign policy is evident," he added.
The Texas Medical Association and the Bexar County Medical Society are looking to Texas lawmakers for help cutting red tape and relieving financial pressure worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.

Their most pressing concerns for 2021 will be addressing the states growing uninsured and underinsured population  calling for legislation expanding Medicaid, improving patient access through telemedicine payment parity and reducing constraints on providers by eliminating time-consuming prior authorization requirements.

Representatives of the two groups met with San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board on Thursday to outline their goals for the 87th Texas Legislature, which began Jan. 12. Theyll be tracking the bills related to health care and any changes made to proposed legislation. Bills have to be filed by March 12.

Texas already had the highest percentage of uninsured in the nation even before the pandemic left millions of Texans without jobs and many without access to primary care doctors.

San Antonio radiologist Rajeev Suri says hes already seen uninsured patients end up in the emergency room because they delayed needed medical care.

Not only do such delays means reduced treatment and recovery options for the patient, theyre also costing the state more money in the long run, he said.

Researchers found the state could achieve a net savings of $110 million over the next biennium by expanding Medicaid, according to a recent study sponsored by the Episcopal Health Foundation.

On ExpressNews.com: For the first time, telemedicine is surging in San Antonio

On the telemedicine front, TMA points out that during the COVID-19 public health emergency, Gov. Greg Abbott implemented waivers so that virtual health care visits were paid by insurance companies at the same rate as in-person visits. TMA wants the state to ensure these online visits wont go back to the lower reimbursement rates that were being paid.

The group also is calling for legislation that cuts down on the need to get prior authorizations.

Dan Finch, TMAs vice president for advocacy, says it used to be that prior authorizations were required by insurance companies for experimental treatments, but now nearly every medical service goes through the prior authorization process.

He says insurance companies use this as a way to control costs, but its become a horrendous situation for medical practices  even delaying needed care by weeks and causing some patients to abandon medical treatment entirely.

Suri says hes had to ask for prior authorization even when its about covering a medication that the patient has been on for a year.

Many medical offices have hired a full-time employee just to process these requests.

Another legislative priority is the need to strengthen funding for public health departments, which advocates say have faltered during the pandemic as a consequence of years of underfunding.

For example, some public health departments across the state rely on fax machines to keep up with updated COVID-19 data, said Dr. Diana Fite, a Houston emergency physician and president of TMA.

A lot of these things have come to light with this pandemic and we want to correct them before the next pandemic, she said.

laura.garcia@express-news.net
OAK RIDGE, Tenn.  The Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry (TDF) is assisting with a series of prescribed burns this week of grasslands on U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Reservation and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) Three Bend Area.

These planned burns are part of the TWRA and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's effort to provide wildlife habitat, encourage growth of native plants, and reduce the risk of wildfires. They are conducted and overseen by TDF personnel who maintain fire control equipment, certified burn managers, and trained personnel at the burn area. During burns, distant smoke may be observed in the Oak Ridge vicinity of Clark Center Park or south of the Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education (ORISE) campus and nearby segments of State Routes 95, 58, and 327, as these take place off Pump House and Bull Bluff Roads, and other managed grassland areas off Bethel Valley Road and off Highway 58.

Additionally, DOE in collaboration with TDF, TWRA, and the City of Oak Ridge Fire Department will resume proactive installation of firebreaks in forested areas downslope from reservation urban interfaces. These measures are undertaken to reduce the risk of wildfire spread.

The Tennessee Grand Divisions Incident Management Team (GDIMT) is aiding in this effort to manage the multiple operational, logistical, and planning challenges that occur during projects of this scale and complexity. The GDIMT is an all-hazard management team that aids in managing responses to disasters such as wildfire, hurricanes, and various events.

Location of Origin: Oak Ridge, TN

Start date: February 1, 2021

Cause: Prescribed Fire

Resources Assigned: 42 personnel, 10 engines, 5 dozers

Weather: The weather this week will be partly cloudy with rain moving in towards the weekend.

Road Closures: None


ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A state judge has ordered New Yorks Department of Health to release records about nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 in hospitals, after ruling in favor of Sen. Jim Tedisco, who filed a lawsuit to obtain the data.

Tedisco believes less people would have died if Cuomo did not order nursing homes to allow residents recovering from COVID back to the facilities.

"He's gone through contortions as you know with that March executive direction to say 'hey, we cant discriminate against those who have COVID,' you have to put them into a nursing home with individuals that may be compromised but probably would be alive today if they didn't intermingle with those individuals who were put in there with COVID," said Tedisco.

The judge on Wednesday said the health department's failure to do provide the data was already a violation of New Yorks open government law.

The order comes just a week after a report by Attorney General Letitia James' office showed nursing home deaths in the state could have been undercounted by as much as 50%.

NYS Commissioner of Health Howard Zucker said the data categorized deaths by location, so if a nursing home resident died in a hospital, it wasn't listed as a 'nursing home death.'

Tedisco says he wants to see the more detailed data to determine where outbreaks may have originated. He and Empire Center filed the suit.

"He's gotten to the point now where he's saying if you died in a nursing home - it's a nursing home death, if you died in the hospital it's a hospital death. We know there's a big difference in what he is trying to put forward to us," said Tedisco. "The purpose and importance of understanding who died in the hospital is not that they lost their lives in a hospital - the hospital's didnt destroy their lives, it's where the contagion was generated and that was in the nursing homes."

The Department of Health had argued that it needed months to compile records about long-term care residents who died at hospitals.

But the judge noted nursing homes have to file daily reports of all residents who die from COVID-19, regardless of where they died.

The judge ordered the Department of Health to release the information within five business days.
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(Israel Hayom via JNS) - One winter morning in 2017, a young man arrived at the Kesher Israel synagogue in the heart of Washington. He prayed fervently, as if his heart was filled with a special request. His tallit bag bore the name "Friedman," and it was the only time he had come to the famous synagogue. That same day, his father, David M. Friedman, was undergoing Senate confirmation for his appointment as U.S. ambassador to Israel.

In the best tradition of Jewish divisiveness, powerful forces were aligned against Friedman Sr., led by the J Street lobby. But a few weeks later, in a ceremon...
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(From left) CEO of Hims, Kim Joo-hwan; Democratic Party of Korea National Economic Advisory Council Chairman Kim Jin-Pyo; CEO of EDGC, Shin Sang-cheol; CEO of Solgent, You Jae-Hyung, signed a partnership agreement Feb. 3 to jointly develop genome sequencing machines at Him's headquarters in Incheon. Courtesy of EDGC





By Ko Dong-hwan







Four Korean hi-tech companies have signed an ambitious partnership to jointly develop genome sequencing machines to replace foreign ones that have long dominated the domestic market.







Eone Diagnomics Genome Center (EDGC), Hims, Solgent and Oneomics inked the deal at Hims' headquarters in Incheon, Feb. 3.







The partnership comes at a time when Korea, while having global competitiveness with state-of-the-art technologies such as LG's organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and Samsung's semiconductors, does not have locally developed genetic tools that rely on those very technologies.







"Illumina of the United States and China's BGI dominate the market, not just in Korea but also the world," EDGC said. Over 74 percent of the world's next-generation sequencing machines and chemical reagents markets, together worth $12 billion, has been claimed by Illumina. The rising global market pie grew from $4 billion in 2015.







Germany's Siemens, America's Abbott and Switzerland's Roche have also exported their products to Korea.







"This will be the first opportunity to let the world know about Korea's superb genome sequencing and medical devices that have been proven in the country's industrial engineering sector," EDGC's co-CEO Shin Sang-cheol said.







Kim Joo-hwan, CEO of Hims, a producer of semiconductors and displays for OLED, said Korea hasn't ventured into genetic engineering enough to invest in its own research and development tools yet, and hoped this partnership will lead to the next step.







Rep. Kim Jin-pyo of the governing Democratic Party of Korea, who chairs the National Assembly National Economic Advisory Council, attended the signing event to give the initiative his "full support."







Genome sequencing is considered one of the core technologies to compete in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Its application ranges from big data-based artificial intelligence to the development of new medicines and disease treatments.







EDGC has led the world with genome sequencing-based liquid biopsy technologies to predictively diagnose cancer along with GRAIL, a subsidiary of Illumina.


Telangana e-pass rule mandatory to enter state: How to apply for lockdown pass online?

Telangana lockdown likely to be extended till June 7? KCR to take call after Cabinet meet on May 30

Telangana SSC Exam 2021: Number of questions papers reduced, check details

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Hyderabad, Feb 04: The number of question papers in the Secondary School Certificate Public examination (class 10) would be reduced from 11 to six this year in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Telananga government said here on Wednesday.

The six paper pattern (one paper for each subject) is only for the current academic year -- 2020-21, a school education department memo said.

It said more choice in questions for each question paper would be provided in view of the conduct of classes through online mode from September 2020 for a major part of the academic year.

It also said the earlier prescribed time would be increased by half-an-hour, from 2 hours 45 minutes to 3 hours 15 minutes.

The examinations would be conducted for a total of 600 marks, including 480for the Board Exam and 120 for internals (average marks of two FAs - Formative Assessments).

The SSC exams would be held in May.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 12:52 [IST]
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / XS Financial Inc. ("XS Financial", "XSF" or the "Company") (CSE:XSF) (OTCQB:XSHLF), an equipment finance and leasing company serving cannabis and hemp companies in the United States, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an engagement letter with Gravitas Securities Inc. and Canaccord Genuity Corp. (the "Co-Lead Agents") pursuant to which it proposes to complete a private placement (the "Offering") of up to 8,333,334 units ("Units") at a price of C$0.30 per Unit to raise aggregate gross proceeds of up to C$2,500,000, subject to increase by up to an additional C$375,000 pursuant to an over-allotment option that has been granted to the Co-Lead Agents. Each Unit will consist of one subordinate voting share of the Company and one share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional subordinate voting share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.45 CAD until the date which is two years from the closing date of the Offering. The Offering is expected to close on or about the week of March 1st, 2021 or such other date as the Co-Lead Agents and the Company may agree and may be closed in one or more tranches.

XS Financial Management and insiders will be leading participation in the Offering and continue to be fully committed as the leading provider of equipment and lease financing to cannabis and hemp companies in the United States.

Portfolio Highlights (Figures in USD)

As of September, 2020 As of January, 2021 Gross Lease Receivables $3,844,293 $10,915,885 Number of Active Leases 8 19 Average Lease Size by Customer $502,618 $1,495,863 Monthly Recurring Payments $163,575 $269,044

Corporate Highlights (Figures in USD)

Revolving Credit Facility from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Insured Bank: Successfully closed a US$2 million senior secured revolving credit facility, with an FDIC insured bank, which has a term of two (2) years, expiring in November 2022. Loans made under the revolving facility will bear interest at an annual rate equal to the greater of i) eight percent (8.0%) per annum or ii) the Wall Street Journal Prime plus four percent (4.0%) and may be prepaid with no penalty at any time.

Successfully closed a US$2 million senior secured revolving credit facility, with an FDIC insured bank, which has a term of two (2) years, expiring in November 2022. Loans made under the revolving facility will bear interest at an annual rate equal to the greater of i) eight percent (8.0%) per annum or ii) the Wall Street Journal Prime plus four percent (4.0%) and may be prepaid with no penalty at any time. Columbia Care Lease Facility: The Company signed a $5M lease facility agreement with Columbia Care as announced on December 3 rd , 2020.

The Company signed a $5M lease facility agreement with Columbia Care as announced on December 3 , 2020. PharmaCann Lease Upsize: Provided additional financing to PharmaCann Inc. increasing the $3.4 million lease facility announced May 12, 2020, by $1.5 million .

Provided additional financing to PharmaCann Inc. increasing the $3.4 million lease facility announced May 12, 2020, by $1.5 million New Vendors Added to Preferred Vendor Program: Continued to add new partners to the rapidly growing list of Original Equipment Manufacturers ("OEM") with the addition of automation, cultivation, and HVAC companies.

David Kivitz, CEO of XS Financial, commented: "This offering will further strengthen our position as the leading capex and equipment financing company to U.S. cannabis and hemp operators. Over the past four months, we have increased our aggregate funding by nearly 100% and have an additional $8 million committed to existing customers. We are pleased to support some of the largest single and multi-state operators with their capex and expansion needs and look forward to adding new customers in 2021."

The Co-Lead Agents will act as agents of the Company in connection with the Offering. In consideration of the services of the Co-Agents, the Company will pay a cash commission equal to 8% of the gross proceeds of the Offering and issue such number of broker warrants ("Broker Warrants") as are equal to 8% of the aggregate number of Units sold pursuant to the Offering, calculated in each case without reference to Units sold to purchasers on the Company's "president's list" (the "President's List"). Each Broker Warrant shall entitle the holder to acquire one Unit at an exercise price of C$0.30 for a period of two years following the closing of the Offering.

The Offering and related matters remain subject to various closing conditions, including the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals. The Offering is expected to close on or about the week of March 1st, 2021 or such other date as the Co-Lead Agents and the Company may agree and may be closed in one or more tranches. Concurrently with the closing of the Offering, the Company may also complete a separate offering of units ("PVS Units") to certain purchasers in the United States in lieu of Units, in order to preserve the foreign private issuer status of the Company under applicable securities laws. The PVS Units will be comprised of proportionate voting shares and share purchase warrants exercisable to acquire proportionate voting shares and will bear the same terms and conditions as the Units subject to adjustment to reflect the ratio of one (1) proportionate voting share for every 1,000 subordinate voting shares.

About XS Financial

Founded in 2017, XSF specializes in providing equipment leasing solutions in the United States to owner/operators of cannabis and hemp companies, including cultivators, oil processors, manufacturers and testing laboratories. In addition, XSF provides a full range of consulting services including equipment selection and procurement, through its network of preferred vendor partnerships with original equipment manufacturers and equipment distributors. This powerful dynamic provides an end-to-end solution for customers which results in recurring revenues, strong profit margins, and a proven business model for XSF stakeholders. The Company's common shares are traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "XSF" and in the United States on the OTCQB under the symbol " XSHLF." For more information, visit: www.xsfinancial.com.

For inquiries please contact:

David Kivitz

Chief Executive Officer

Antony Radbod

Chief Operating Officer

Tel: 1-310-683-2336

Email: ir@xsfinancial.com

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements", collectively "forward-looking information", within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking information is not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent the beliefs and expectations regarding future events about the business and the industry and markets in which XS Financial operates, as well as plans or objectives of management, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain. Generally, such forward-looking information can be identified by the use of 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 may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". Forward-looking information contained herein may include but is not limited to, any additional leasing opportunities and the ability to capitalize on such and the timing thereof. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. XS Financial Inc., does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions for updating any voluntary forward-looking information, except as required by applicable securities law.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: XS Financial

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627809/XS-Financial-Announces-25-Million-Private-Placement-Led-by-Gravitas-Securities-Canaccord-Genuity-With-Insiders-To-Participate-and-Provides-Corporate-Update
California Nurses Urges Congress to Pass Bidens American Rescue Plan

Members of the California Nurses Association (CNA) and National Nurses United (NNU) organized an online briefing for the California Congressional Delegation, with hopes that congress steps up to meets the needs of healthcare workers during the highest recorded surge of Covid-19 cases.

As numbers continue to spike, hospital conditions have become unacceptable for frontline medical workers. The inadequate funding behind public health has led to a shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), understaffed personnel, and neglect for the protocol of infectious disease control.

With over 3 million confirmed cases and over 38,000 deaths in California, reports say that 1 out of every 12 people in the state has tested positive for coronavirus. We are dealing with an absolute catastrophe throughout the state. In Los Angeles County, one person is dying of Covid-19 every 6 minutes Despite this unprecedented surge in infections and hospitalizations, the state has left nurses unprotected, said CNA and NNU Executive Director, Bonnie Castillo as she makes her opening remarks.

The health of medical workers is highly dependent on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The limited access to PPE has left nurses, doctors, and other frontline workers dangerously ill-equipped to care for Covid-19 patients. Their limited access to supplies like protective gowns, medical coveralls, medical gloves, and respiratory protection (air-purifying respirators, elastomeric respirators, and N95 filtering facepiece respirators) can create perilous conditions in an overcrowded hospital setting.

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Nurses throughout California are reporting suboptimal PPE; being told to wear an N95 respirator for an entire 12hour shift, said Castillo, Some nurses are being told to wear the same N95 respirator mask between Covid-19 positive patients and non-positive patients. This is especially happening in hospitals that are not even separating them into different units. This obviously increases the risk of spreading of Covid-19.

The impact of staff-shortages has been increasingly concerning as more test positive for coronavirus. Surpassing the maximum capacity of hospital beds, and increased patient-to-nurse ratio which continues to jeopardize the health of frontline workers.

Many nurses are stretched thin, now caring for more patients than typically allowed under state law. The state began issuing waivers that allow hospitals to temporarily bypass a strict nurse-to-patient ratios law due to the overwhelming increase in inpatient hospitalizationa move they say is pushing them beyond their threshold of exhaustion and significantly affecting patient care.

Registered Nurse at the St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, Laura Wheatley, stated The safe staffing law mandates one nurse for two ICU level patients. Now with the surge, our ratio is 6 to 1. Significantly threatening the patients safety; management is insisting that we can handle all of these patients, but we cant when the entire department has critical ICU level patients. The intensive care unit, also known as a critical care unit, is a special department of a hospital that provides intensive medical care. A critical patient is someone who is under imminent threat of death. A ratio of 6 to 1 provides 10 minutes of care per hour maxfor someone who may be barely grasping to life, said Wheatly.

Nurses say they have patients receiving treatment in hallways while urgent care beds are used as long-term accommodations; in some cases, if beds are not available, patients receive treatments on paramedic gurneys until a bed can be located, prohibiting the paramedics ability to respond to the next 9-1-1 call.

Registered Nurse at Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles and CNA Board Member, Tinny Abogado, shared her experience saying, I have been on both sides of this pandemic, as a nurse and as a family member. Last month, my father passed away from Covid-19. He was not at my hospital; he was at another hospital in Los Angeles that also had a ratio waiver. I learned that the nurses who were caring for him in ICU had four patients! They are supposed to have just two! My dad was very sick, and I do not know if he could have survived. But it makes you wonder, imagine if you have a loved one in the hospital and his or her nurse had double or triple the workload.

To close the briefing, nurses expressed urgency for congress to pass President Bidens American Rescue Plan, as well as their immediate solutions for the overwhelming physical and emotional demands coming from the rise in coronavirus cases.

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Registered Nurse at Kaiser Permanente in South San Francisco, and President of the CNA and NNU, Zenei Cortez closed with Our proposal for comprehensive Covid-19 response has 3 umbrella categories: First, fully protecting nurses and other essential workers; Second, building effective and comprehensive federal public health infrastructure and programs; Third, advancing health equity We need congress to work closely with President Biden to make sure that production and distribution of PPE and other critical medical supplies are drastically increased.

President Bidens American Rescue Plan is an economic relief fund of $100 million, God willing, not only do 100 million, were going to do more than that. We have to move, said President Biden during the White House Press Briefing. The plan includes a $2000 direct stimulus payment, extended unemployment benefits, rental assistance for families facing eviction, emergency funding for essential workers (police officers, firefighters, first responders, nurses), flexible grants for small business owners, increased minimum wage to $15, investments in infrastructure, as well as emergency food and nutrition assistance for tens of millions of children and families.

Bonnie Castillo stated, We are very pleased that President Biden has included these items in the proposed American Rescue Plan. We need members of Congress to pass this new pandemic response plan right away.
Dublin-based carrier Stobart Air, which operates the Aer Lingus Regional service, will be sold by the end of the month, its UK parent has insisted.

Stobart Group, which yesterday formally passed a resolution to change the companys name to Esken, committed last year to offloading Stobart Air by the end of this February.

The strategy and guidance remain unchanged, said a spokeswoman. The strategy is to exit Stobart Air and the company said they would be disappointed if they hadnt successfully exited the business by the end of this financial year.

Stobart Groups financial year ends on February 28. The Irish Independent revealed last year that Stobart Group was in talks to sell Stobart Air and a related aircraft leasing unit, Propius, to UK lessor Falko. Falko also owns Dublin-based CityJet, which also bid for the Aer Lingus Regional contract. However, those sale talks were understood to be contingent on Stobart Air securing a fresh 10-year contract to operate the Aer Lingus Regional contract from the end of 2022, when the existing contact held by Stobart Air expires. In December, the Irish Independent revealed that Conor McCarthys Emerald Airlines had been named preferred bidder by Aer Lingus. Read More The real incentive for Stobart Group successfully selling Stobart Air is to extract itself from as much as $100m (83m) in liabilities it has that are attached to the airline and Propius. Stobart Group, whose CEO is Warwick Brady, said in November after Emerald Airlines was named preferred bidder, that if Stobart Air was not awarded a new commercial agreement that Stobart Group could exercise an early break clause for the lease of eight ATR aircraft in April 2023 at a cost to the group of $21.2m, plus finance and maintenance costs. Doing so would allow Stobart Group to exit its pre-existing parent company guarantees, it noted. Meanwhile, Donegal, Kerry and Ireland West (Knock) airports are eligible for 21.3m in funding this year under a new multi-year Regional Airports Programme being unveiled today by Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton. The aviation industry and in particular airports have been acutely impacted by Covid-19, said Minister Naughton. Government has recognised this and is committed to supporting airports while passenger numbers remain low and activity is suppressed.
Shares in Glaxosmithkline sank by Matt Oliver after it warned profits would fall and that it plans to cut the dividend after its break up.

As the British drugs group struck a deal to develop new one-shot vaccines for Covid-19 variants, it said profits were expected to fall this year by a 'mid-to-high single-digit' percentage.

In another blow to investors, GSK said dividend payments would be reduced from current levels when its consumer arm is spun off in 2022.

Glaxosmithkline Boss Emma Walmsley (pictured) said cash was needed to bolster the drug giant's pipeline of medicines

Boss Emma Walmsley said the cash was needed to bolster its pipeline of medicines. The company declared a fourth-quarter dividend of 23p per share, taking its full-year payout to 80p overall.

After the announcement, shares dropped 5 per cent, or 86p, to 1282p.

GSK said its partnership to develop Covid-19 vaccines with Germany's Curevac will aim to tackle emerging coronavirus variants, which scientists fear could be resistant to existing jabs.

The firm will also help to make up to 100m doses of Curevac's existing Covid-19 vaccine candidate this year.

The deal came as GSK reported full-year sales of 34.1billion for 2020, up from 33.8billion the previous year, while profits rose from 5.3billion to 6.4billion.

Even though the pandemic has boosted demand for GSK's over-the-counter painkillers, it has simultaneously disrupted other parts of the business as patients under lockdown havemade fewer trips to doctors and hospitals.

That meant that while itsconsumer division posted a 12 per cent rise in sales in 2020, sales at its pharmaceuticals and vaccine divisions fell 3 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.

GSK said it was on track tosplit off its consumer division that includes painkiller Panadol next year.

This will result in two companies: A pure 'biopharma' GSK  essentially the original pharma and vaccine businesses  and a new stand-alone consumer drugs business.
OTTAWA - The high uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in Indigenous communities might show a level of trust in the government but it remains "thin," Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said Thursday as he outlined next steps to tackling racism in health care.

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller responds to a question during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - The high uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in Indigenous communities might show a level of trust in the government but it remains "thin," Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said Thursday as he outlined next steps to tackling racism in health care.

The federal government is launching consultations on distinctions-based health legislation, to be co-developed with First Nations, Metis and Inuit, to ensure Indigenous Peoples have control over the development and delivery of their health services.

Ottawa has committed $15.6 million over two years to the process, as mentioned in the 2020 fall economic statement, which Miller said will include working with Indigenous partners to increase knowledge of Indigenous practices, anti-racism training for physicians, and striving for greater representation of Indigenous people in the health field.

"We can no longer remain idle in front of this flagrant infringement of human rights and our basic Canadian values," Miller said at a news conference in Ottawa.

Last fall, Miller convened an urgent meeting on anti-Indigenous racism in health care after Joyce Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw woman, died last September in a Joliette, Que., hospital after she filmed staff making derogatory comments about her. The video was shared around the world.

"Joyce Echaquan's story was not an isolated incident," Miller said Thursday.

"It was a manifestation of a problem that happens all too often in our health-care system. It took social media to bring it back to the attention of all Canadians."

A second meeting, attended by First Nations, Metis and Inuit leaders, along with several cabinet ministers and representatives from provincial and territorial governments discussed took place last week. They focused on what could be done about it.

"One thing is clear, very clear: a significant amount of work remains to be done," Miller said.

Meanwhile, Indigenous Services Canada said more than 64,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to people in 320 First Nations and Inuit communities so far, with 75 more clinics expected in communities across Canada in coming weeks.

The department also said the number of active COVID-19 active cases in First Nations communities has declined to the lowest point since early December with 1,869 active cases reported as of Wednesday.

Miller said there is a "very thin level" of trust between Indigenous people and the government, and that's an extra hurdle the government needs to overcome.

"Based on some of the (vaccination) numbers that I'm seeing, that we're seeing as a team, that trust, as thin as it may be, is there," he said.

Miller said misinformation that spread quickly on social media can create skepticism about vaccines but Canadian history shows that when it comes to the treatment of Indigenous people, that skepticism is merited.

"It is an additional challenge," Miller said.

Dr. Tom Wong, chief medical officer of public health at Indigenous Services Canada, said there are historic reasons that make Indigenous people more hesitant, including colonization, residential schools and medical experiments having been performed on Indigenous people without prior free and informed consent.

"Trust is earned," he said.

Wong said the department is working on a plan with provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners to vaccinate all Indigenous adults before the summer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2021.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship
Television producer turned host Vikas Gupta, who entered Bigg Boss 14 as a challenger, was evicted from the reality show in a recent episode. Post eviction, Vikas took to social media to share a lengthy post wherein he bashed those who had earlier defamed his name with false accusations.

Taking names, Vikas revealed that Parth Samthaan, Priyank Sharma and Roadies winner Vikas Khoker have troubled him in the past. He clarified that the three have been going around lying about him in the media for their personal gains. He declared that he is prepared to prove all their accusations false.

He also said his forgiving nature has been taken for granted as he never took any legal steps. The Bigg Boss contestant added that he is also going to take legal recourse against those who made false claims against him. He announced that he will drop a video titled #IamSorry the following day. Vikas also named Aly Goni, who is currently inside BB 14 house and accused him of mocking his sexuality during the reality show.

In the caption of the post, Vikas explained how tough life has become after he came out as bisexual. He shared that although he never anticipated things to go well, he never thought that people would become tougher and hostile.

Parth had levelled accusations against Vikas of molestation, non-payment of dues and threats of ruining his career. Earlier, Vikas revealed that before their nasty fallout, he and Priyank dated for one and a half years. Vikas was also accused by Khoker of sexual misconduct. Khoker claimed that Vikas was trying to gain sympathy of the audience by crying in the show. He alleged that Vikas approached him to fulfil his sexual desire on the pretext of offering work in the industry. He claimed that Vikas demanded nudes when he sent him his pictures and wanted to see his private parts.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 21:03:34|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Thursday issued a judicial interpretation regarding the rules of default trials and judgments that may be used in certain cases involving state security-related or terrorist activities in which the suspects are at large abroad.

It also deals with the confiscation of the illegal gains of fugitive duty-related crime suspects.

The interpretation is expected to ensure that no criminal can escape legal punishment and provide a judicial guarantee for future efforts in the anti-graft fight as well as international fugitive repatriation and asset recovery, the SPC said in a statement.

With approval from the Supreme People's Procuratorate, a case involving terrorist activity or a crime severely endangering state security, with its suspects or defendants remaining overseas, can proceed with a default trial and judgment, the document said. It added that illicit proceeds and other assets involved in such cases can also be retrieved and confiscated.

The document also stipulated that in cases such as bribery and embezzlement, the dereliction of duty, terrorist activities, organized crime and telecom fraud in which the suspects or defendants are wanted for over one year but still at large, the court can rule to confiscate their illegal gains before they are brought to justice.

Apart from elaborating on procedures for default judgments, the document also specified the procedures for the fast-track sentencing and the hearing of cases in which the defendants plead guilty.

The SPC said the interpretation is formulated in accordance with the Supervision Law and the revised Criminal Procedure Law.

In late 2018, China's top legislature revised the Criminal Procedure Law, introducing "default judgment" in criminal trials to prosecute suspects who stay overseas and are charged with corruption, severely endangering state security or terrorist activities. Enditem
[February 04, 2021] medaptus Charge Pro Named Top Charge Capture Solution by KLAS Enterprises

BOSTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- medaptus today announced that its professional charge capture and charge reconciliation solution, Charge Pro, has again achieved the #1 Mobile Charge Capture ranking in the annual "Best in KLAS: Software & Services" report. medaptus has earned this distinction for the past eleven out of 12 years. For the 2021 report, the company's top-ranking score of 94.7 is based on customer feedback obtained in the year 2020 across measures such as product quality, value, and support. Charge Pro customers, some of which have been working with company for nearly 20 years, include single-specialty practices, hospital medicine teams, and larger provider entities such as IDNs. More complex entities often rely on medaptus for its unparalleled integration capabilities in order to normalize disparate data sources for full revenue cycle transparency. medaptus customers consistently experience better revenue realization, accelerated payment, enhanced productivity and easier compliance. In an era of value-based reimbursement, these are critical factors for optimized payment. However, beyond the ability to "capture" service charges, only medaptus includes robust business office capabilities aimed at providing real-time charge management and reconciliation activities. This unique functionality replaces manual processes and human effort with intelligence that creates an exception-based workflow. The medaptus suite also includes a comprehensive analytics platform that gives insight into many standard performance measures for ongoing improvement. Given the financial challenges facing provider organizations as a result of COVID, expediting the billing cycle with less administrative work, yet improved revenue integrity and completenes, is a key to solvency.



"Each year, thousands of healthcare professionals across the globe take the time to share their voice with KLAS. They know that sharing their perspective helps vendors to improve and helps their peers make better decisions. These conversations are a constant reminder to me of how necessary accurate, honest, and impartial reporting is in the healthcare industry. The Best in KLAS report and the awards it contains set the standard of excellence for software and services firms. Vendors who win the title of 'Best in KLAS' should celebrate and remember that providers now accept only the best from their products and services. The Best in KLAS award serves as a signal to provider and payer organizations that they should expect excellence from the winning vendors," said KLAS president, Adam Gale. "Being named 'Best in KLAS' for so many consecutive years speaks to medaptus' ongoing commitment to providing a superior customer service experience. Like every other business in 2020, we were challenged by COVID yet our team stepped up to ensure that our charge capture customers felt the same level of support that they have grown accustomed to," explained Malachi Charbonneau, vice president of customer success and sales at medaptus. "This is an honor our entire team takes very seriously as it reflects what our customers think and feel about our performance."

About medaptus For 20 years, medaptus has applied information technology to solve problems that are common and costly to healthcare organizations that include single-specialty groups, acute care hospitals, hospital medicine teams, ambulatory care settings and cancer centers. Revenue leakage, data silos, disparate systems, and redundant processes lead to diminished productivity and satisfaction. We address those challenges with innovation that extends IT investments, remedies sources of overlooked reimbursement, and streamlines hospital medicine operations for optimized throughput. medaptus is a unit of Volaris, Inc. Visit us at www.medaptus.com to learn more about how we help those that heal. About KLAS Research KLAS has been providing accurate, honest, and impartial insights for the healthcare IT (HIT) industry since 1996. The KLAS mission is to improve the world's healthcare by amplifying the voice of providers and payers. The scope of our research is constantly expanding to best fit market needs as technology becomes increasingly sophisticated. KLAS finds the hard-to-get HIT data by building strong relationships with our payer and provider friends in the industry. Learn more about KLAS at klasresearch.com Contact: Jennifer Crowley

p. 617.896.4000

290702@email4pr.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/medaptus-charge-pro-named-top-charge-capture-solution-by-klas-enterprises-301221312.html SOURCE medaptus

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By Rebecca Sacks

Harper. 400 pp. $27.99

- - -

There's a moment in Rebecca Sacks' kaleidoscopic debut novel, "City of a Thousand Gates," where a foreign dignitary visiting a government office in Ramallah laments the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has gripped the region for more than half a century: "Both sides have suffered. But you know what they say. An eye for an eye, until the whole world is blind. And when will it end?" His comment follows the series of tragic events around which the book revolves: After the Israelis announced an expansion of several settlements, a Hamas terrorist slipped through the open window of a 14-year-old settlement girl named Yael and stabbed her to death. Days later, in retaliation, a mob of young Jewish men surrounded Salem, a random Arab teenager, and beat him so badly that he lies comatose, near death, in a hospital bed in East Jerusalem.

Everyone in the region is waiting to see what will happen when Salem dies. Will the Israeli army steal his corpse to avoid his becoming a martyr? Or will his community retrieve the body and further the cycle of grief and revenge? "When people are killed here, it's like their bodies belong to an ideology," observes a German freelance journalist, Vera, who lives in Tel Aviv and is covering the story. "On Friday, Christ will die. The son of God, a corpse. And it will be this body ... nailed up and dying in public ... that will inflict millennia of believers with a madness to kill and die."

Vera is the most memorable of a swirl of characters who intersect in direct or indirect ways: Sacks lists 32 at the front of the book, and she jumps around so much from one to the next that it's useful to have the reference point. We go into the perspectives of 19 of these characters. Four of the most dominant are Jewish: army reservist and animator Ido; his American-born wife, Emily, a social media influencer and new mother; settler and infantryman Ori; and his mother Miriam, a religious mentor to new brides. Two of the major characters are Arab: comparative literature professor Samar and Bethlehem University student Hamid. Vera is the only neutral character among the central perspectives, and though the balance seems at a glance to weigh more on the Israeli point of view, Hamid and Samar are arguably the second- and third-most-prominent characters in the novel, after Vera.

Jerusalem has seven open gates, just as the novel goes into seven main points of view. The thousand gates of the title evoke the 32 characters and 19 perspectives, windows into souls, but also checkpoints, reminders of the boundaries and barriers, the fear and distrust plaguing an embattled land. Such a large and various cast reflects the scope of a book whose project seems nothing short of dramatizing one of the world's most unyielding conflicts in a way that shows all sides and takes none. We hear from the victims of violence that will only escalate after the initial attacks: Yael's father, prostrate with grief in his daughter's room; Salem himself, revealing the memory of terror "that lives in his body." We hear from the perpetrators, some of them remorseless and eager for more blood, others wondering what had taken hold of them in a moment of violence, worried about getting caught.

"In Israel we are always soldiers," Ido says, and he speaks for the multitudes on both sides of the conflict, those directly at war, and those in their homes, where a child's room "is also the family bomb shelter, with reinforced walls and only a small high window." Sacks is an extraordinarily gifted writer whose intelligence, compassion and skill on both the sentence and tension level rise to meet her ambition. She keeps us constantly on edge, unaware of who the story will go to and what event might happen next. In this environment of fear, everyone's senses are heightened. The clash of religions, the dread of violence fuel intense desires. "The way Vera talks about sex," a friend thinks, "it's like the sex is a metaphor for something else, for some darker, stronger need that nobody can name." It's a need to defy death, a fervent desire to live. Perhaps this, above all, links the many characters together.

"City of a Thousand Gates" might not appeal to readers who like their stories neatly unified, resolved, centered on the individual. It's an imperfect book, unbothered by a few loose ends. But it makes a convincing case for a literature of multiplicity, polyphonic and clamorous, abuzz with challenges and contradictions, with no clear answers but a promise to stay alert to the world, in all its peril and vitality.

- - -

Shreve is the author of four novels. He directs the creative writing program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
In the wake of Premier Brian Pallisters early-week announcement that order-in-council appointees to boards, agencies and commissions would no longer be allowed to travel outside authorized areas or risk losing their positions, at least one local appointee is leaving his role.

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In the wake of Premier Brian Pallisters early-week announcement that order-in-council appointees to boards, agencies and commissions would no longer be allowed to travel outside authorized areas or risk losing their positions, at least one local appointee is leaving his role.

Brandon University Board of Governors member and board treasurer Kerry Auriat, who is also a columnist at The Brandon Sun, said in a phone interview on Wednesday that he submitted his resignation as of Tuesday this week after the premiers announcement.

The premiers announcement came after the Winnipeg Free Press reported last week that Wayne McWhirter, who was then the chair of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authoritys board of directors, had been in Arizona as recently as last month.

Though Pallister, Health Minister Health Stefanson and the WRHA all said that McWhirter would not be punished for travelling abroad during COVID-19 health restrictions, the premiers announcement Monday also contained a line saying that McWhirter had resigned after speaking with Pallisters office.

The news drew the publics ire, especially as it came after it was revealed that Progressive Conservative MLA James Teitsma and the provinces top civil servant, David McLaughlin, had both travelled outside of the province during code red restrictions.

In last Saturdays edition of the Sun, Auriat penned an edition of his column defending McWhirter. He said that as an appointee and not an elected official setting or enforcing public health rules, the retired volunteer shouldnt be subject to the same scrutiny.

After the new rule imposed Monday, Auriat said he frequently travels and didnt want to bring "embarrassment or dishonour" to the university where he was once a student by being removed from his position if he travels out of the province.

"It was easier for me to say Ill step down than, in a month or two, somebody doing some kind of a study and finding out that maybe I have travelled," he said. "Part of the problem is that even when youve followed all of the health standards, which we all try to do, that the rules seem to be changing and as a result of that, you can find that you did something that was perfectly acceptable and then its not."

He believes that McWhirter was treated unfairly and hes concerned about this kind of policy being put in place.

Lee Jebb, next to one of CANDO Rail Services trains in 2018. Jebb has stepped down from his position as chair of Prairie Mountain Healths board of directors. (File)

"To find volunteers is not easy at the best of times," he said. "I was on a board at Brandon University where we had at least 10 order-in-council appointments. All volunteer work, they dont get paid a cent. None of us did. But its a significant time commitment to whatever organization or board is that youve been appointed to. Thats a great thing and I believe in volunteerism, but when we start saying to volunteers that were going to hold you to a different standard than in fact were going to hold the head of the public service, Im not entirely sure thats fair."

Brandon University told the Sun on Wednesday that no other members of its Board of Governors had resigned and Assiniboine Community College said that they had not received any resignations from their own board.

"Its a tough job and it puts a lot of demand on volunteers to give up their time and their expertise and their energy," a BU spokesperson told the Sun. "Certainly the pandemic hasnt made that any easier. We wish Kerry all the best and well work with government on any future appointments."

However, another order-in-council appointee in Brandon is no longer serving in his position.

Lee Jebb is no longer chair of Prairie Mountain Healths board of directors, according to the health regions website.

The chair position is listed as vacant and Jebb has been removed from the board of directors page. Jebbs LinkedIn page lists his tenure with the board of directors as having ended in January.

Filling the role in an acting capacity is Assiniboine Community College president Mark Frison, who was initially appointed to the board in October 2018.

A former vice-president of operations with Cando Rail Services, Jebb is currently vice-president of venture capital and private equity firm Westcap Limited.

Prairie Mountain Health did not respond to requests for comment on Jebbs departure and when the vacancy on their board might be filled.

Appointments and promotions to boards, agencies and commissions like the PMH board of directors are done via orders-in-council from the provincial government.

 cslark@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ColinSlark
The Founder and Leader of Glorious Word and Power Ministry, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah has denied prophesying that the Vice President, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia would be elected as the NPPs flag bearer in 2024.



In a seriously worded press release issued by the man of God on Tuesday, February 3, 2021, and posted on his official Facebook page, Rev. Owusu Bempah vehemently denied a prophesy ascribed to him that Nothing can stop Bawumia from becoming NPP's flagbearer in 2024.



The self-styled nations prophet noted that the purported prophecy has been calculatedly by people he referred to as unscrupulous persons to stage their own parochial agenda.



Prophet Owusu Bempah who has been prophesying the outcome of elections since the 90s and holds the belief that outcomes of elections are always determined spiritually before the physical voting takes place, implored the general public and well-meaning Ghanaians to disregard the false story and treat it with all the contempt it deserves.



The man of God has referred the false publication to his lawyers to advise on the fake prophecy attributed to him and widely shared by a loyalist of Dr. Bawumia.



There is some uncertainty in close quarters of the governing NPP as to who will lead the party in 2024 as its flagbearer. While some are rooting for the Minister of Trade designate, Hon. Alan Kyerematen to lead the party, others are rooting for Dr. Bawumia whom some political watchers have stated that his recent visitation to churches is a desperate attempt to win the hearts of Christians in his bid to lead the NPP in 2024.



Political analysts believe if the next leader of the NPP is not chosen rightly it will certainly result in internal wranglings which will jeopardize the chances of the party at the polls.



Below is the full statement



*FALSE NEWS!!!*



The attention of Apostle Dr. Isaac Owusu Bempah has been drawn to a false publication going viral on the internet and social media platforms alleging that Apostle Dr. Isaac Owusu Bempah has prophesied that "Nothing can stop Bawumia from becoming NPP's flagbearer in 2024."



The contents of the said publication are false and must be disregarded by all well-meaning Ghanaians.



The story has been made calculatedly by certain unscrupulous persons to stage their own parochial agenda.



Their intention is to drag the reputation of the man of God into the mud.



Apostle Dr. Isaac Owusu Bempah implores the general public and well-meaning Ghanaians to disregarded the false story and treat it with all the contempt it deserves.



Further, Apostle Dr. Isaac Owusu Bempah has referred the matter to his lawyers for advice, and we shall suggest to all those peddling false news about Prophet Owusu Bempah to desist from doing so forthwith.



Thank you.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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[February 04, 2021] Twitter Expands Strategic Partnership with Google Cloud to Improve Data Insights and Enhance Productivity

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Google Cloud today announced a new, multi-year, strategic partnership with Twitter (NYSE: TWTR). The company will deepen its initial work with Google and move its offline analytics, data processing, and machine learning workloads to Google's Data Cloud . This will allow Twitter to analyze data faster and improve the experience for people who use the service every day. Behind every Tweet, Like and Retweet is a series of data points that helps teams understand how people are using the service, and what types of content they might want to see. To process all of this information, Twitter's data platform ingests trillions of events, processes hundreds of petabytes of data, and runs tens of thousands of jobs on over a dozen clusters every day. With this expanded partnership, Twitter is adopting Google's Data Cloud including BigQuery, Dataflow, Cloud Bigtable and machine learning (ML) tools. These tools not only power the company's rapidly growing data ecosystem to enable faster data-informed decisions, but also to enable deeper ML-driven product innovation. Usin Google's Data Cloud, Twitter will be able to democratize data access by offering a range of data processing and machine learning tools to better understand and improve how Twitter features are used. Previously, engineers and data scientists often developed large custom data processing jobs, which can now be queried faster using SQL in BigQuery. This will make it easier for both technical and non-technical teams to study data and accelerate the time to insight.



"Our initial partnership with Google Cloud has been successful and enabled us to enhance the productivity of our engineering teams. Building on this relationship and Google's technologies will allow us to learn more from our data, move faster and serve more relevant content to the people who use our service every day. As Twitter continues to scale, we're excited to partner with Google on more industry-leading technology innovation in the data and machine learning space," said Parag Agrawal, CTO, Twitter. "Helping customers manage the entire continuum of data - from storage to analytics to AI - is one of our key differentiators at Google Cloud," said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. "It's been phenomenal to watch this company grow over the years, and we're excited to partner with Twitter to innovate for the future and deliver the best experience possible for the people that use Twitter every day."

This new strategic expanded partnership extends the companies' 2018 deal, when Twitter tapped Google Cloud to move Hadoop clusters to Google Cloud Platform as a part of Twitter's cloud strategy, dubbed " Partly Cloudy ." About Google Cloud

Google Cloud provides organizations with leading infrastructure, platform capabilities and industry solutions. We deliver enterprise-grade cloud solutions that leverage Google's cutting-edge technology to help companies operate more efficiently and adapt to changing needs, giving customers a foundation for the future. Customers in more than 150 countries turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to solve their most critical business problems. About Twitter, Inc.

Twitter is what's happening and what people are talking about right now. To learn more, visit about.twitter.com and follow @Twitter. Let's talk. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/twitter-expands-strategic-partnership-with-google-cloud-to-improve-data-insights-and-enhance-productivity-301222704.html SOURCE Google Cloud

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HOUSTON, TEXAS, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Battalion Oil Corporation (NYSE American: BATL, Battalion or the Company) is pleased to provide an update on its financial position. In December, the Company completed the previously disclosed sale of certain of its Northern West Quito Assets to Point Energy Partners Operating, LLC for cash proceeds of $26.3 million, subject to customary post-closing adjustments. The divested Northern West Quito Assets accounted for less than 5% of the Companys average daily net oil production during the quarter ended September 30, 2020. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $31.6 million of liquidity consisting of $27.3 million available under its revolving line of credit and $4.3 million of cash on hand.



Richard Little, the Companys Chief Executive Officer, commented The Northern West Quito sale significantly enhanced our liquidity at year end and positioned us well to execute on our 2021 plan. We remain focused on execution and capital discipline as we look to grow the company while remaining free cash flow positive. We are very pleased with the operational progress made thus far in early 2021, and look forward to sharing results of that hard work in the next quarter. 

In addition, Battalion plans to provide 2020 results and operational updates on the upcoming investor call scheduled for March 9, 2021.

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 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements that are not strictly historical statements constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements about anticipated production, liquidity, capital spending, drilling and completion plans, and forward guidance. Forward-looking statements may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words such as "expects", "believes", "intends", "anticipates", "plans", "estimates", projects, "potential", "possible", or "probable" or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "will", "should", or "could" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and expectations and involve certain assumptions or estimates that involve various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, those set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 and other filings submitted by the Company to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), copies of which may be obtained from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or through the Company's website at www.battalionoil.com. Readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which are made only as of the date hereof. The Company has no duty, and assumes no obligation, to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or changes in the Company's expectations.

About Battalion

Battalion Oil Corporation is an independent energy company engaged in the acquisition, production, exploration and development of onshore oil and natural gas properties in the United States.

Contact

Chris Lang

Manager, Finance

(832) 538-0551
Reporter

Heather Bellow, a member of the investigations team, joined The Eagle in 2017. She is based in the South Berkshire County bureau in Great Barrington. Her work has appeared in newspapers across the U.S.
Combined entity will be leading insurance and tax service retailer specializing in servicing the Hispanic Community

Las Vegas, NV  February 4, 2021  Fiesta Insurance, a leading retail franchisor of insurance and tax services, today continued its expansion in distributing insurance and services in an innovative and collaborative approach to the Hispanic community, with the acquisition of La Familia Agency, LLC (LFAI).

With this transaction, Fiesta Insurance expands its footprint in the state of Texas, and within corporately owned storefront locations. LFAI, based in Dallas, is a profitable and growing independent insurance agency chain distributing insurance and other services across 67 locations. LFAI will maintain the La Familia Auto Insurance name and company-owned storefront business model.

We welcome LFAI, their knowledgeable and experienced management team and employees, and are thrilled to add such an innovative, fast-growing organization that complements our mission of serving the Hispanic community, said John Hollar, CEO of Fiesta Insurance. We are excited to continue to provide the highest service standards while helping our clients navigate required and essential, but often confusing, financial products like insurance and tax services.

LFAI is a leading provider of insurance products at the right price for the Hispanic community in Texas.

We are very excited to join an amazing team, who, like us, works extremely hard to serve the Hispanic community in their local neighborhood, said Danish Charanya, co-founder and President of LFAI. This is great news for our customers, and our employees.

The co-founders of LFAI: Danish Charanya, Anil Wastani, Aly Manji, and Faizan Wastani have been instrumental in shaping LFAIs culture, and the evolution of products for the Hispanic community, and they will continue to do so in support of growing Fiesta Insurance and LFAI in the future.

About Fiesta Insurance Acquisition, Inc.

Fiesta Insurance Acquisition, Inc., through its principal subsidiary, Fiesta Insurance Franchise Corporation, is a retail franchisor of insurance products and services. Founded in 1999, Fiesta Insurance now has over 80 franchisees operating over 240 retail stores in 10 states. Fiesta Insurance is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.

About La Familia Agency, LLC

La Familia Agency, LLC is an independent insurance agency distributing insurance and services through retail storefronts in Texas. Formed in 2010, the company has grown to 67 stores and over 200 employees serving the Hispanic community. La Familia Agency, LLC is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Media Contact:

Steve Minster

Fiesta Insurance Franchise Corporation

sminster@fiestafranchise.com

615-541-9495
Pregnant Lauren Goodger slipped into a figure-hugging dress as she exited a London photo studio on Wednesday evening.

The former TOWIE star, 34, is nearly 16 weeks pregnant with her first child with boyfriend Charles Drury, 23, and proudly flaunted her blossoming bump in the very tight black and caramel number.

Speaking on the phone as she exited the studio, Lauren looked glammed up - her sleek locks falling loosely around her shoulders and her features made up with expert contouring, thick mascara and eye-shadow, and a bulbous pout to her lips.

Snap snap! Pregnant Lauren Goodger slipped into a figure-hugging dress as she exited a London photo studio on Wednesday evening

Lauren confirmed she is expecting her first child with boyfriend Charles on January 18, three months after announcing their relationship.

The TV personality confirmed they will welcome the couple's first baby in July.

She admitted her new boyfriend was initially skeptical after she told him her pregnancy test had returned a positive result.

Lauren said of her happy news: 'It's exciting and were really happy. It's difficult, but we've just got through it.'

Chit chat: Speaking on the phone as she exited the studio, Lauren looked glammed up

Bumping along: The former TOWIE star, 34, is expecting her first child with boyfriend Charles Drury, 23, and proudly flaunted her blossoming bump in the very tight black and caramel number

Sleek: Her locks fell loosely around her shoulders and her features were made up with expert contouring, thick mascara and eye-shadow, and a bulbous pout to her lips

Recalling the moment she discovered she was pregnant, Lauren explained: 'I was in bed not well with a cold and I was meant to come on that day and Im always quite regular.

'We went and bought a test from a bargain shop and I did it - I couldnt believe it! I rang him and he was like: "Youre lying, youre joking." He didnt believe the test! I did a digital one as well and he walked around with it in his bag for about three days.'

The happy news comes after Lauren moved Charles, whose former girlfriends include retired glamour model Katie Price, 42, into her Essex home in late October within weeks of meeting him.

A source told The Sun: 'Charles has moved into her Essex home and they're really loved up. She's head over heels for him - friends can't believe how fast she's fallen for him. Everyone's hoping she's finally found The One.'

Expecting: Lauren confirmed she is expecting her first child on January 18

Exciting times: The TV personality confirmed she is three months pregnant in her new magazine column and will welcome the couple's first baby in July

Lauren said of her happy news: 'It's exciting and were really happy. It's difficult, but we've just got through it'

It comes after Lauren recently admitted she would be up for doing a Mummy Diaries-style reality show in the future to document her journey through motherhood.

When one fan asked her on Instagram 'would you do a first time mum show like Sam/Billie and Ferne - Yours would be great x', she replied with a nodding GIF, suggesting that this would definitely be something she would consider.

Lauren was quizzed by one fan on how her bump is 'so big already'.

Back on our screens? It comes after Lauren recently admitted she would be up for doing a Mummy Diaries-style reality show in the future to document her journey through motherhood

Yes please! When one fan asked her on Instagram 'would you do a first time mum show like Sam/Billie and Ferne - Yours would be great x', she replied with a nodding GIF, suggesting that this would definitely be something she would consider

Questions: Lauren was recently quizzed by one fan on how her bump is 'so big already'

The media star shared a picture of herself out and about, and replied: 'I do have a bump I did straight away it's hormones but it's not as big as some pics.'

Lauren also candidly admitted that she wasn't 'trying' to get pregnant, when a fan quizzed her on the topic.

The ex-girlfriend of Mark Wright, said she and Charles had been 'very active so it happened straight away'.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
A UK study has been launched to determine whether different coronavirus vaccines can safely be used for first and second doses (PA)

The vaccines minister has declined to put a date on when all over-50s can expect to receive a Covid-19 jab but figures suggest late March may be an option if supplies continue.

Nadhim Zahawi said a target would be set for reaching all those aged 50 to 70, as well as those with underlying conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease, once the most vulnerable have been offered a jab by February 15.

Previously, NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens has said the aim is for all over-50s and those at risk to be vaccinated by the end of April.

But pressed on BBC Breakfast about when all over-50s and higher priority groups would be vaccinated, Mr Zahawi declined to set a firm date.

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He said: We will set out our target (for vaccinating groups 5-9) after we have hit our February 15 target.

But you can do the maths. We did 600,000 in a single day  the deployment infrastructure that weve built can do as much vaccines as we get supply, so the limiting factor will be vaccine supply.

You can see that in the next 10 or so days, weve got to do another almost touching five million and so if we keep that rate up, we will very quickly go down the list of the top nine.

Asked whether that meant it would take another 35 days from February 15 to have jabbed all 31 million people in the first nine cohorts, Mr Zahawi replied: That assumes the supply, so I dont want to commit to a date without going through it with a very fine toothcomb with the whole team, because our limiting factor is the supply of vaccines ultimately.

With any manufacturing process, especially one that is new, there are challenges around that, as weve seen in Europe and as we saw in the early days in the UK as well.

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On Radio 4s Today programme, Mr Zahawi was asked whether his message to the country was that restrictions would not ease significantly until everyone over 50 is vaccinated.

He said: The Prime Minister has made it very clear that on February 22, there will be a roadmap for how we intend to reopen the economy, beginning with schools on March 8, and then gradually, the rest of the economy.

He said infection transmission studies among vaccinated care home residents and frontline health care workers would also provide more information on a roadmap for reopening and easing lockdown.

Slides presented by Englands chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, at a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday suggested that around half of people who go into hospital with Covid-19 are aged over 70.

He said that after vaccinating the over-70s by February 15 we would expect a situation where we can stop a very high proportion of the deaths but a rather smaller proportion of the pressure on the NHS  those very large numbers in hospital.

This suggests that vaccinating people over 50 and the clinically vulnerable could be crucial for easing pressure on the NHS  cited as a major reason for ongoing restrictions.

Once the most vulnerable people, particularly those over 50 and those with chronic illnesses, are vaccinated then yes I think we can see a significant return to normality Professor Andrew Hayward, Sage

Prof Whitty also told the briefing that offering every adult aged 18 and over a first dose by May and a second dose by August was at the very optimistic end of what was possible due to supply constraints.

On Thursday morning, Professor Andrew Hayward, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), which advises ministers, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme the country would be more or less back to normal for the summer.

Once the most vulnerable people, particularly those over 50 and those with chronic illnesses, are vaccinated then yes I think we can see a significant return to normality, he said.

That in addition to the fact coronavirus is a seasonal disease, I think will make a big difference and allow us to open up.

I think what well see is a phased opening up as the vaccination levels increase, and then we will be more or less back to normal for the summer, I would imagine.

Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said he believed people would be able to meet up with friends and family from March.

He told BBC Radio 4s World At One he would like to see schools, and particularly junior schools, opening relatively soon.

Asked about when people could start to see friends and family, Prof Hunter replied: Personally I believe we should be able to start doing that probably not long after (schools reopen)  if I had to bet on a time, Id say some time in March certainly.

On being allowed back into restaurants, he added: I think that will be probably around the same time, maybe April. But again, it just depends what happens with the epidemic between now and then.

Prof Hunter said on Wednesday that some form of social distancing may need to continue until spring 2022 even with effective vaccines.

He said measures would be needed through next winter to prevent a spike in deaths, largely among people who have not had a vaccine.

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Meanwhile, the Government is facing pressure over a lack of detail on its plan for hotel quarantine for returning travellers.

Rules around international travel were tightened last month with the result that all travellers have to self-isolate for 10 days when they arrive in the UK.

The Government has also announced plans to make people quarantine in hotels following arrival from certain high risk countries, where new coronavirus variants have been identified.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper said it was troubling the Government had not yet spoken to major hotel chains about the plan.

Weve always been warned about both second waves and new variants; the work should have been done a long time ago, the chairwoman of the Home Affairs Select Committee told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

The problem is, of course, as long as were waiting, not just for this system but for stronger measures, we know that the system isnt working at the moment.

We can see that because the South Africa variant is spreading across the country, thats the evidence that too many cases are getting into the country, then spreading in the country.

But Mr Zahawi insisted that quarantine hotels are part of a much bigger plan, adding that Health Secretary Matt Hancock will be setting out details in the next few days.

Elsewhere, Switzerland has declined to sign-off the use of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine after countries including France said they would not recommend it for people aged 65 and over.

Dr Claus Bolte, head of authorisation at medicines regulator Swiss Medic, told the BBC his team were not satisfied with the data we have received.

Dr Bolte said the precise details of their concerns were confidential but said results of large-scale clinical trials in the US and South America using the Oxford vaccine would help to provide more sufficient data.
Rabin says he rode the Blue Line for four hours, scouring the cars for his instrument and even implored a CTA employee to freeze the train line, but had no luck. He immediately reported the missing flute to the police and spent the weekend reaching out to media. Rabin hoped it would be in the CTAs lost and found when it opened Monday, but it wasnt.
WELLESLEY, Mass. and WATERTOWN, Mass., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In their first joint community investment, the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation and Tufts Health Plan Foundation are giving $1 million to 42 organizations across the region to expand vaccine education, awareness and outreach in communities of color. Seven New Hampshire organizations will receive a total of $125,000 in funding. Just one month after Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan announced their combined organization, this investment is an immediate response to emerging needs in Black and Brown communities across the region disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

"We are at an inflection point in the pandemic," said Thomas Croswell, chief executive officer of the combined organization of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, and a member of the Tufts Health Plan Foundation board. "As vaccine production and distribution are ramping up, important education efforts are taking place to address community concerns and we need to support them."

Grant recommendations were informed by community organizations, public health leaders and other key stakeholders engaged in the vaccine rollout in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

"With the pandemic continuing to have a devastating impact on Black and Brown communities, this funding will give a boost to organizations across the region working tirelessly to support the needs of their community members and create awareness around the importance of the vaccine," said Michael Carson, president of the combined organization of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, and chairman of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation board.

Grants will support a range of organizationsfrom statewide organizations to local community nonprofits. They include faith-based organizations, trusted Black/Latinx-led community nonprofits, and organizations with experience coordinating multilingual efforts.

Two of the organizations receiving a grant in New Hampshire are the Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services, and the New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees serving Manchester and Concord.

"We are so honored and pleased to be awarded this funding from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation and Tufts Health Plan Foundation," said Bobbie Bagley, director of the Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services. "The City of Nashua has been responsive to the needs in our community to stop the spread of COVID-19 and to bring an end to the devastating impact this disease has had in our community particularly in our communities of color. We know the importance of having a vaccine to help us end this pandemic and will meet our communities of color where they are to address vaccine hesitancy through outreach, education and vaccination campaigns. To create greater access to vaccinations we will be holding community clinics in areas of the city reducing as many barriers as we can. We are looking to make a difference by spreading the word of the benefits of the vaccination to protect our families and loved ones."

Added Eva Castillo, director of the New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, "This funding will allow us to conduct extensive outreach and education about the importance of getting the COVID vaccine to the immigrant communities in New Hampshire. We are very grateful to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan Foundations for giving us the resources to disseminate this life-saving information to our constituents."

The full list of nonprofit organizations receiving grants is:

Connecticut Total Grants: $225,000

Greater Bridgeport Area Prevention Partnership ( Bridgeport ), $20,000

), Hartford Health Department ( Hartford ), $30,000

), Health Equity Solutions ( Hartford ), $50,000

), Human Resources Agency ( New Britain , Bristol , Burlington , Farmington , Plainville , Plymouth ), $20,000

, , , , , ), Ministerial Health Fellowship ( Hartford , Middletown , New Britain , Meriden ), $20,000

, , , ), Project Access of New Haven ( New Haven ), $20,000

( ), Stamford Health Dept/The Family Centers ( Stamford ), $15,000

), URU, The Right to Be ( New Haven ), $50,000

Maine Total Grants: $125,000

Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition ( Portland ), $20,000

), Portland Minority Health Department ( Portland ), $40,000

), Presente! Maine ( Portland ), $25,000

( ), Somali Bantu Community Association ( Lewiston ), $20,000

), Wabanaki Public Health ( Millinocket ), $20,000

Massachusetts Total Grants: $350,000

African Community Education Program ( Worcester ), $20,000

), Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association (Lowell), $25,000

Greater Boston Latino Network ( Boston ), $25,000

), Greater Lawrence Community Action Council (Lawrence), $25,000

La Colaborativa (Chelsea), $25,000

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition ( Boston ), $45,000

), Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers ( Boston ) $50,000

) New North Citizens Council ( Springfield ), $20,000

), One Holyoke Community Development Corporation ( Holyoke ), $20,000

), Pinnacle Partnerships ( Brockton ), $20,000

), Public Health Institute of Western Mass. ( Springfield ), $30,000

), Resilient Sisterhood Project ( Boston ), $20,000

), Worcester Interfaith ( Worcester ), $25,000

New Hampshire Total Grants: $125,000

Amoskeag Health ( Manchester ), $40,000

), Granite State Organizing Project ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Granite State United Way ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Lamprey Health Care ( Nashua ), $20,000

), Manchester NAACP ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services ( Nashua ), $20,000

), New Hampshire Alliance of Immigrants and Refugees ( Manchester , Concord ), $15,000

Rhode Island Total Grants: $175,000

Children's Friend ( Providence ), $15,000

), Comprehensive Community Action Program ( Cranston ), $20,000

), Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center ( Newport ), $10,000

Community Center ( ), Local Initiatives Support Corporation RI ( Providence ), $20,000

), ONE Neighborhood Builders ( Providence ), $20,000

), Progreso Latino ( Central Falls ), $15,000

( ), Thundermist Health Center ( Woonsocket ), $20,000

), United Way of Rhode Island ( Providence ), $35,000

( ), West Elmwood Housing Development Corp. ( Providence ), $20,000

About the combined organization of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

The combination of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care represents the coming together of two of New England's most iconic nonprofit health care companies. Representing nearly 90 years of combined service to our members and the community, together we are building upon our diverse legacies and innovative collaboration by making it our purpose to guide and empower healthier lives for our members  no matter their age, health, race, identity, or income.

We strive to be a different kind of nonprofit health and wellbeing company, with a broad range of health plans, and innovative tools that make navigating health and wellbeing easier, guiding our members at every step of their health care journey to better health outcomes. We are committed to providing high-quality and affordable health care, improving the health and wellness of our members, and creating healthier communities throughout New England.

About Tufts Health Plan Foundation

Established in 2008, Tufts Health Plan Foundation supports the health and wellness of the diverse communities we serve. The Foundation has given more than $45 million to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island nonprofits that promote healthy aging. Tufts Health Plan Foundation funds programs that move communities toward implementing age-friendly policies and practices that are relevant, focus on older adults, and include them in community solutions. Visit tuftshealthplanfoundation.org for grant program information.

About the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation

Created in 1980, the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation supports Harvard Pilgrim's mission to improve the quality and value of health care for the people and communities we serve. The Harvard Pilgrim Foundation provides the tools, training and leadership to help build healthy communities throughout Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. In 2020, the Harvard Pilgrim Foundation awarded more than $10.4 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in the region. Since its inception in 1980, the Foundation has awarded $165 million in funds and resources throughout the four states. For more information, please visit www.harvardpilgrim.org/foundation.

SOURCE The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation

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https://www.harvardpilgrim.org/


There are as many points of convergence between Sinhala and Tamil, as there are of variance. In admitting the truth of this crucial fact and acting on it perhaps lies the future of Sri Lanka.

The formation of the modern nation state has defined world politics for the last couple of centuries. The origins of this idea in 18th-19th century Europe saw the coming-together of litterateurs, royalty, military generals, cultural theorists, and lastly, the public who made the discourse that these high-minded individuals floated, their own and gave of themselves to birth the nation.

The South Asian history of nation state formation, which has been a 20th-century affair intricately linked with colonialism, has been an arduous one, given the regions diversities and the lack of a common ground for people to converge on and agree on a shared view of nationhood. The histories of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh all reflect these struggles.

Sri Lanka, which celebrates its 73rd Independence Day today, has had a rougher ride than most. Critical to the formation of the Sri Lankan identity has been Sinhala, the language that close to 75 percent of its population (1.6 crores of a population of 2.1 crore) speaks. More than any other South Asian language, perhaps, Sinhala is closely tied to a religion  in this case, Buddhism. Equally, racial ideas too are critical in this context, and all of these aspects reflect in its history, its mythology and the events that define its modern-day journey.

Ancient beginnings

Historians say that the term Sihala (lion in Pali) is first encountered in the Dipavamsa (fourth-fifth century CE). In this epic, the term occurs only once, in this verse:

Lanka dipo ayam ahu sihena sihalaiti

(The island of Lanka was known as Sihala on account of the lion.)

The Dipavamsa describes the Buddhists resident in the island as Sinhalas, arguably, for the first time. This, it appears, is to distinguish them from the other group of people also resident on the island at that time  the Tamil-speaking Hindus. A binary had thus been created  Sinhala-Buddhist and Tamil-Hindu.

This narrative is further bolstered in the Mahavamsa, the foundational epic of Sri Lanka, which occupies a place in the island more or less similar to the Mahabharata and Ramayana in popular Indian discourse, composed by Mahanama Thero, a sixth century CE Buddhist monk. The Mahavamsa is written in Pali, the ancient Prakrit tongue which was the Buddhas chosen tongue of discourse.

Among the many stories germane to the Mahavamsas narrative is the one of Dutugemunu (sometimes Dutugamunu or Dutthagamani), the second century BCE Lankan king who fights a war against Elara (sometimes, Ellalan) the Hindu Tamil Chola king who had conquered Anuradhapura. Dutugemunu overpowers Elara and thus, in the telling of the epic, claims the island for the Sinhalas and Buddhism.

Undoubtedly, Dutugemunu is a historical figure, but one about whom it is difficult to separate myth from reality. For instance, was Dutugemunu exclusively Sinhalese as is claimed? Some scholars dispute this citing some of his Tamil antecedents. Was his conflict with Elara a clash of religions? The evidence appears to be contradictory. There appear to have been Tamils and Sinhalese Buddhists fighting on both sides, even from the same family in some recorded instances. But the Mahavamsa narrative has given this story a certain slant and that informs the view of people up to the present day.

The Mahavamsa goes even further back in time to unearth the supposed origin of the Sinhalese people. It traces their origin to the mythical Prince Vijaya who in 483 BCE, in fact on the very day that the Buddha passed on, washed up on the shores of the island. Vijaya was a prince from Vanga (present-day Bengal) who had been exiled on account of his evil nature. Accompanying Vijaya were 700 of his errant followers. In Sri Lanka, Vijaya transformed into an able king and ruled over the local Yakkhas who already lived throughout the island.

Vijayas origins, which went back to the Bengal area, meant that his linguistic origins were likely Indo-Aryan and this is a critical point of note.

Vijaya was the eldest son of a brother and sister, who were in turn the children of a human princess and a lion, which is why the lion has come to be the symbol of the Sinhalese and figures prominently on the Sri Lankan flag. Given the importance of Buddhism to the entire narrative, it is critical to note that the tales of the Mahavamsa notwithstanding, historical sources trace the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka to Prince Mahinda, the son of Asoka, around 260-250 BCE. Mahinda was accompanied by his sister, Sanghamitra, who also brought with her a sapling of the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha attained salvation.

The Buddhist Unduvapa Poya festival is observed in Sri Lanka on the full moon of December to commemorate Sanghamitras arrival. Mahinda met and convinced Devanampiya Tissa, the Sinhalese king, a direct descendant of Vijayas brother, to adopt Buddhism.

Sinhalese identity rests on the languages Indo-Aryan origins (descended as it is from Pali) and the fact that the island of Sri Lanka is perceived as the only remaining home of Buddhism on the sub-continent, where the faith was born. The Sinhalese style themselves Aryans (a term they use in a racial context, though it is really a linguistic term) as opposed to the Tamils who are Dravidians. This informs their sensibilities, which are also deeply affected by the history of the island in the past 500 years.

While most Sinhalese are Buddhists (there is a small but prominent Christian Sinhalese minority), writers on Sri Lanka have observed that the Sinhalese do worship deities similar to Kannagi and Murugan, both of whom are popular among the Tamils. Hence, their Buddhism is clearly influenced by elements from the adjacent culture.

The development of the modern Sinhalese identity

The island of Sri Lanka has a colonial history dating back to the early 16th century when the Portuguese first captured sections of the island. The Portuguese were displaced by the Dutch in the mid-17th century. In 1815, the British captured the entire island and from 1833, they began administering the island from Colombo. The Tamils, who were largely predominant in the northern part of the island had remained a distinct community from ancient times. During the period of British rule, they began migrating to the Sinhalese-dominated areas of the south, but retained their culturally distinct characteristics. Owing to their better education, they were soon better represented in government services, a fact that the Sinhalese resented.

Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) led a Buddhist revival movement that sought to give the Sinhalese community confidence and pride in their ancient history and origins. A Sinhalese nationalism thus took birth that claimed the entire island for the Sinhalese and sought to oust the Tamils. Dharmapala, unlike some of his more Catholic counterparts in other British South Asian colonies like India or Burma, was not a unifier and often referred to the Tamils as hadi Demalu (the dirty Tamils). This strain of Sinhalese nationalism ensured that the anti-colonial struggle in Sri Lanka was a fractured one with both communities jostling for concessions from the British and often backstabbing each other.

Post World War II, the British began to renounce their colonial possessions in Asia, and Sri Lanka became independent on 4 February 1948. The early governments saw both Sinhala and Tamil participation, and in the first flush of freedom, it was expected that greater unity lay ahead.

In 1956, the SWRD Bandaranaike government, that was overtly pro-Sinhalese, in fulfillment of one of its key electoral promises oversaw the passage of the Sinhala Only Act. This act replaced English as the official language of Ceylon (the name Sri Lanka adopted in 1972) with Sinhala. The act failed to give official recognition to Tamil, the other major language of the island.

Depending on which side of the linguistic divide one stood, it was either the last act or the first act in a saga that went back close to 2500 years.

This set into motion the series of events that led to the widening of the rift between the Sinhalese and the Tamils and culminated in the Sri Lankan Civil War that raged from 1983 to 2009 and claimed the lives of thousands of people on both sides, including many political leaders.

That Sinhala and Tamil are posited as polar opposites (Aryan and Dravidian, Buddhist and Hindu) is unfortunate. Co-existing as they have been on the island for much of recorded history, the languages have undoubtedly influenced each other. The Sinhalese script is derived from Brahmi, the meta-script of the sub-continent and is related to the Grantha and Kadamba script, which also have deep connections with Tamil.

There are as many points of convergence between the tongues, as there are of variance. In admitting the truth of this crucial fact and acting on it perhaps lies the future of Sri Lanka.
MARIGOT:--- The president of Saint-Martin Daniel Gibbs and the President of St Barthelemy Bruno Magras co-signed a letter, Wednesday, February 3, 2021, addressed to the Minister of Overseas, Sebastien Lecornu, asking for the immediate lifting of the new travel restrictions for St. Martin and St. Barthelemy.

President Gibbs delivered the letter by hand to Sebastien Lecornu, this Thursday, February 04, during his meeting with the Minister. Daniel Gibbs was able to speak out for the urgency of lifting these restrictions for the two islands.

The new health restrictions put in place by the government now impose a compelling reason for travel between Saint-Martin and Barthelemy but also from and to the metropole and to other overseas territories.

The two presidents indicate with one voice that the health situation of the northern islands does not justify such a measure, the hospital capacities being absolutely not under strain to date, recalling that this zero-risk strategy is not tenable, in their tourist islands which are currently in high season and even though it is very likely that this crisis will continue and that the problem of variant viruses will remain the same in a few months.

The two presidents, therefore, fear that this isolation measure will drag on and put a stop to their economy. They call on the government to reconsider the situation in the northern islands and restore the previous health protocol requiring pleasure visitors to observe 7-day prophylactic isolation followed by a PCR test. This measure had just been put into effect and the socio-professionals had already adapted to it.

As President Gibbs told Minister Lecornu "the lifting of compelling reasons (except for British nationals) is vital to save the economy of the northern islands".

The Collectivity of Saint-Martin also recalls the constant efforts made by the local authorities in recent weeks to strengthen screening and vaccination resources and to step up prevention among residents.

While tourism is the engine of our economy and there are two months of high season, it is for the sustainability of our businesses, some of which will not recover if these new restrictions were to continue, indicate the two presidents in this joint letter, hoping that the appeal of the Northern Islands will be heard as soon as possible.

A CT photographer took the shot that became the Bernie Sanders mitten meme

by Rob Ryser

Sen. Bernie Sanders sits in the bleachers on Capitol Hill before Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th US President on January 20, 2021, at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. Images)

Newtown native Brendan Smialowski got a taste of fame after the inauguration when his infamous photo of Bernie Sanders became a viral meme.

Its totally been taken out of the context of journalism, said Smialowski, 40, who has covered four presidents and two wars. But Im happy people are having fun with the image.

Fun doesnt do the meme justice in some cases. The image of Sanders trying to keep warm on a folding chair at the Capitol has been superimposed everywhere from a Bob Ross painting to The Last Supper. Read more.
BANJUL, 1 February 2021: The government of The Gambia and the government of Malaysia have reaffirmed their commitment to continue strengthening bilateral cooperation for the mutual interest of both countries.

This commitment was made on Monday 1 February 2021 when the Malaysian High Commissioner to The Gambia, H.E. Dr. Shazelina Zainul Abidin, presented copies of her Letters of Credence to the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, Dr. Mamadou Tangara, in his office in Banjul.

Following exchange of diplomatic pleasantries, Minister Tangara welcomed the Malaysian Diplomat to The Gambia and extended felicitations and best wishes from the President of the Republic of The Gambia, His Excellency Adama Barrow, to the Prime Minister, government and people of Malaysia.

The Honourable Minister used the opportunity to assure Ambassador Zainul Abidin of Gambian support and collaboration in strengthening the excellent bilateral relation between the two countries. The Foreign Minister expressed Gambia's appreciation for the numerous support rendered to The Gambia especially in the field of education. He informed the Malaysian High Commissioner that The Gambia withheld its hosting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in 2019 due to the situation of the country at the time.

For her part, the Malaysian High Commissioner to The Gambia Dr. Shazelina Zainul Abidin expressed Malaysia's resolve to continue strengthening bilateral cooperation with The Gambia in a host of areas notably in capacity building for junior Diplomats and Gambian students aiming for University education in Malaysia. Ambassador Zainul Abidin expressed Malaysia's readiness in helping The Gambia host a successful OIC summit in 2022.

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In another diplomatic engagement, the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs received the Ambassador of Egypt to The Gambia, Her Excellency Noha A. Khedr, who was at the Foreign Ministry to present copies of her Letters of Credence to the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs. Minister Tangara extended appreciation from His Excellency Adama Barrow to the President, Government and people of Egypt. He recalled the long standing historical relations between The Gambia and Egypt while assuring Ambassador Khedr that The Gambia remains a strong ally of Egypt.

The Honourable Minister stated that President Barrow and President Al-Sisi are well connected and a foundation has been laid for the two countries to continue working together.

The Egyptian Ambassador to The Gambia, Her Excellency Noha A. Khedr, commended the Government of The Gambia for its support and noted that Egypt is looking forward to strengthening bilateral relations with The Gambia in specific areas such as education and health. Ambassador Khedr said in realising this, Egypt wants a planned cooperation with The Gambia in the area of health where the Ministry of Health would work with the Faculty of Medicine in Egypt. She indicated that other avenues have opened for greater collaboration in a bid to host a successful OIC summit.

She informed that scholarship programmes will still continue to be awarded to young Gambians who have intention of studying in Egypt.
FBI Agent Daniel Alfin gained international attention when he led a team that shutdown a major worldwide child pornography website. Agent Laura Schwartzenberger worked more anonymously, teaching children and adults how to avoid online sexual exploitation

Alfin and Schwartzenberger, gunned down Tuesday while serving a search warrant at a child pornography suspects South Florida apartment, devoted their careers to capturing criminals who sexually abuse youngsters, often times testing the legal boundaries of computer privacy.

We are still reeling from the news, said Shelley Allwang, director of the Exploited Children Division at National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. I feel lucky to have worked with people who had such commitment and resolve.

The suspect was identified Wednesday as 55-year-old David Huber, who lived at the apartment complex. A law enforcement official familiar with the matter said investigators are looking into whether Huber may have been using a camera to monitor the agents activity before opening fire on them and believe multiple shots were fired through a door. The official could not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Three other agents were wounded, with two of them hospitalized. Both of the hospitalized agents were released Wednesday. The third agent was treated at the scene. Huber apparently killed himself after a standoff.

Florida court records show Huber with only minor traffic violations. He had no listing as a sex offender and no Florida prison record. Records show he owned computer consulting businesses from 2008 until last year. Broward County records show he was divorced in 2016.

Alfin, 36, and an agent for almost 13 years, made headlines seven years ago when he led a team that took down a Naples, Florida, man who was the lead administrator of Playpen, the worlds largest-known child pornography website. Steven Chase had created the website on Tor, an open network on the internet where users could communicate anonymously through hidden service websites.

Playpen had more than 150,000 users worldwide. Members uploaded and viewed tens of thousands of graphic images of young victims, categorized by age, sex and type of sexual activity involved. The FBI launched an investigation in 2014 after Playpens IP address was accidentally revealed.

After Chases arrest in 2015, the FBI kept the website operating for two weeks to identify other users, hiding malware in the images to discover their IP addresses. From that effort, investigators sent more than 1,000 leads to FBI field offices across the country and thousands more to overseas law enforcement agencies.

According to the FBI, 350 arrests were made in the U.S. and 548 internationally, including 25 producers of child pornography and 51 abusers. The operation identified or rescued 55 American children who were sexually abused and 296 internationally. Chase got 30 years.

Its the same with any criminal violations: As they get smarter, we adapt; we find them, Alfin said at the time. The New York native added, Its a cat-and-mouse game, except its not a game. Kids are being abused, and its our job to stop that. He was married and had one child.

Allwang, who worked with Alfin on the Playpen investigation, said he was humble, collaborative and committed to the mission of stopping child exploitation.

Dan was unwavering and had steadfast resolve to try and locate and rescue as many children that were being abused as he could, Allwang said. It was never about ego or credit or anything like that. He was just a really selfless and collaborative individual.

Schwartzenberger, 43, and an agent for 15 years, was part of Rockway Middle Schools law studies magnet program, teaching children about the internets dangers, including sexual exploitation and cyberbullying.

She would always say, I feel that coming here and talking about the hard stuff means that I wont see you guys on my end, the Miami school said about the Pueblo, Colorado, native in a statement.

Allwang said Schwartzenberger was a wonderful collaborator, who always shared any information about her cases that could be helpful to the center.

Laura was committed to seeing that through and to get that information entered in so those children could be helped, Allwang said.

In 2018, Schwartzenberger, a married mother of two, did a TV interview where she discussed computer sexploitation, where hackers claim that they have used a persons computer camera to video record them watching pornography or naked. They threaten to send the video to spouses, relatives and friends if the person doesnt pay extortion. Sometimes, they have hacked into the victims computer and found sexually explicit images.

It is very traumatizing for the victim, Schwartzenberger told WPEC-TV. Their reputation is on the line.

Attempts to reach the agents families Wednesday were not immediately successful.
Fourth Ward Ald. Roger Shubert was the only alderman to vote against the zoning and municipal code changes to allow and regulate dispensaries. Last year, he said he would be siding with the 40% of referendum voters who said they did not want dispensaries in the city.
The evacuation order for Fraser Coast residents in the face of an out-of-control bushfire on Thursday afternoon has been cancelled.

The bushfire is burning north of Susan River, on the outskirts on Hervey Bay, in the vicinity of Baxters Road, Settlers Road and Honeyeater Drive.

Firefighters warn people in the area will be affected by smoke, which will reduce visibility and air quality. (File image) Credit:QFES Media

At 3.30pm, firefighters warned the flames were set to hit Sunshine Acres along Maryborough-Hervey Bay Road, as well as Corella Way, Honeyeater Drive and Finch Court in nearby Walligan.

Residents on both sides of Maryborough-Hervey Bay Road were told to evacuate as the fire service feared the flames could have a significant impact on the community.
Andaman and Nicobar family use a computer (image credit: Ben Kelmer, Alamy stock photo. "The Dialog platform will allow us to dynamically allocate bandwidth as demand varies from island to island and offers flexibility as well as the capability to run many different types of applications, both fixed and mobile." - Sanjay Kumar, General Manager (Radio), BSNL

ST Engineering iDirect, a global leader in satellite communications, has been awarded a contract by system integrator Shaf Broadcast, Pvt. Ltd, on behalf of Indian state-owned telecommunications company, BSNL, to augment satellite bandwidth to the offshore Indian islands of Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep under a Universal Service Obligation (USO) project funded by the Department of Telecommunications. Utilizing the award-winning Newtec Dialog platform to provide internet and 2G, 3G and 4G services, the connectivity will boost social and economic activity to islands that previously had limited access to bandwidth.

Lakshadweep is a tropical archipelago of 36 atolls and coral reefs off the coast of Kerala, South West India, with a total population of some 70,000 people. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are located at the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, and are home to some 380,000 people scattered over 38 inhabited islands. Both archipelagos are Union Territories, which the Central Government of India is keen to develop as tourist destinations and economic hubs.

Existing Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC) links across the islands are in need of further upgrades to support the growth of required applications that will enhance socio-economic activity across the islands. The deployment of the Dialog multi-service platform will deliver cost effective, fiber-like connectivity to meet the high demands of island users, ensuring a connectivity experience that is on a par with communications on the Indian mainland. Dialog promotes the optimal utilization of available satellite resources through more efficient use of bandwidth, thanks to its dynamic return technology Mx-DMA, driving down costs and offering BSNL the capability to scale and expand when required to meet future needs.

Shaf Broadcast examined many different technologies looking for the optimum in high-speed connectivity, scalability and efficiency of the satellite bandwidth and concluded that the Dialog platform is best suited to serve BSNLs current and future needs.

This project is critical as it meets the growing connectivity requirements of these important island states, said Sanjay Kumar, General Manager (Radio), BSNL. It was integral to the project that we selected the right partner and technology in order to meet the stringent timelines as this will be closely monitored by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Department of Telecommunications. The Dialog platform will allow us to dynamically allocate bandwidth as demand varies from island to island and offers flexibility as well as the capability to run many different types of applications, both fixed and mobile. We look forward to offering those living and working on the islands the connectivity that will enable them to grow and prosper despite their remote location.

Under the USO-funded Project, BSNL will make it possible to deliver a broad range of applications to these Indian islands, from cellular backhaul and enterprise connectivity to maritime and remote community Wi-Fi, as well as the ability to connect with other Indian states.

Through the Dialog platform, BSNL can take advantage of its unique benefits, such as Mx-DMA return technology which allows more efficient sharing of satellite capacity across a group of remotes, therefore lowering total cost of ownership, said Sjoerd De Clerck, Regional Vice President of Asia, ST Engineering iDirect. The multi-service capability offered by Dialog will enable BSNL to develop creative service plans to meet many different requirements, such as 2G, 3G and 4G services through embedded optimization and acceleration and high-speed, high-performance broadband services to every resident. We are delighted to offer this advanced suite of capabilities to accelerate development of these islands.

ST Engineering North America is the U.S. headquarters of ST Engineering, a global technology, defense and engineering group with a diverse portfolio of businesses across the aerospace, smart city, defence and public security segments. Based in Alexandria, VA, it has major operations across 17 cities in 13 states and employs about 5,500 people providing innovative products and solutions to commercial and government customers across diverse market segments.

ST Engineering iDirect, a subsidiary of ST Engineering North America, is a global leader in satellite communications (satcom) providing technology and solutions that enable its customers to expand their business, differentiate their services and optimize their satcom networks. Through the merger with Newtec, a recognized industry pioneer, the combined business unites over 35 years of innovation focused on solving satellites most critical economic and technology challenges and expands a shared commitment to shaping the future of how the world connects. The product portfolio, branded under the names iDirect and Newtec, represents the highest standards in performance, efficiency and reliability, making it possible for its customers to deliver the best satcom connectivity experience anywhere in the world. ST Engineering iDirect is the worlds largest TDMA enterprise VSAT manufacturer and is the leader in key industries including broadcast, mobility and military/government. In 2007, iDirect Government was formed to better serve the U.S. government and defense communities. For more information on iDirect platforms please visit http://www.idirect.net

Media contacts:

Julie Bettinger

Vice President, Corporate Marketing

ST Engineering iDirect

Phone:+1 703 648 8155

Email:jbettinger@idirect.net

Guy Shields

Director, Corporate Communications

ST Engineering North America

Phone: +1 703 739 2610

Email: guy.shields@stengg.us
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

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ANDERSON COUNTY, SR 61 Bridge over Norfolk Southern Railway and Market Street in Clinton: SR 61 East is reduced to one lane through this bridge repair project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, changing conditions, lane shifts, and use extreme caution through this area.

ANDERSON COUNTY, US 25/SR 9 Bridge over Clinch River between SR 61 and Carden Farm Drive: SR 9 northbound is reduced to one lane approaching the bridge as crews continue work in this area. Motorists should be alert for workers present, changing conditions, lane shifts, and use extreme caution through this bridge construction project.

ANDERSON COUNTY, US 25/SR 9 at SR 170: Motorists should be alert for workers present, changing conditions, possible lane closures and use extreme caution through this intersection construction project.

BLOUNT COUNTY, US 129 North and South between SR 35 Hall Road and Tyson Boulevard: Motorists should be alert for workers present, possible lane closures and brief stoppages of traffic through this roadway construction project. For project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/sr-115-alcoa-highway-hall-road-to-tyson-blvd.html

BLOUNT COUNTY, SR 335 Hunt Road Bridge over US 129 Alcoa Highway: The newly constructed Hunt Road Bridge is open to traffic. Motorists should be alert for new traffic patterns and workers present as work continues in this area.

BLOUNT COUNTY, SR 335 Hunt Road between Ambrose Street and Ramsay Street: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures at various times as crews install utilities through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present directing traffic and use extreme caution through this area.

BLOUNT COUNTY, SR 33 between Foothills Mall Drive and Henry Street: Motorists should be alert for possible nightly lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this intersection improvement construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, changed conditions and use extreme caution through this area.

BLOUNT COUNTY, US 321 between Jones Avenue and Lamar Street: Motorists should be alert for possible daily lane closures as crews perform roadside work through this project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

CAMPBELL COUNTY, I-75 North and South between Mile Markers 135 and 142: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this project. Motorists should be alert for slowed or stopped traffic, expect potential delays and use extreme caution through this area.

CAMPBELL COUNTY, I-75 North near Mile Marker 143: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning on Sundays through Thursdays through this project. Motorists should be alert for slowed or stopped traffic, expect potential delays and use extreme caution through this area.

CAMPBELL COUNTY, SR 63 between Myers Lane and Frontier Road/Woodson Lane: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures between the hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and/or 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for slowed or stopped traffic, expect potential delays and use extreme caution through this area.

CARTER COUNTY, US 19E/SR 37 Bridge over the Doe River and Riverview Road: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures through this bridge repair project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

CLAIBORNE COUNTY, SR 63 between Old Town Creek and US 25E/SR 32: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, expect delays and use extreme caution through this area.

HAMBLEN COUNTY, SR 34 near Commerce Blvd.: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

HAMBLEN COUNTY, SR 160 near Commerce Blvd.: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, I-40 East and West between Mile Markers 410 and 415: On Thursday, February 4, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform roadway maintenance activities. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, I-81 North and South between Mile Markers 0 and 7.5: On Thursday, February 4, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform roadway maintenance activities. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

JOHNSON COUNTY, SR 167 at Log Mile 7.5: Motorists should be alert for single lane roadway with temporary traffic signal through this slide repair project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

KNOX COUNTY, I-40 East near Mile Marker 385.5: On Thursday, February 4, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

KNOX COUNTY, I-40 East near Mile Marker 393.1: On Sunday, February 7, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

KNOX COUNTY, I-40 West between Mile Markers 394 and 393: Motorists should be alert for possible nightly lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform median barrier wall work through this overhead sign replacement project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed or stopped traffic, expect potential delays and use extreme caution through this area.

KNOX COUNTY, I-40 East between Mile Markers 405 and 407: On Monday, February 8, 2021 through Thursday, February 11, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible nightly lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform work through this I.T.S. expansion project. Motorist should be alert for workers

present, slowed or stopped traffic, expect potential delays and use extreme caution through this area.

KNOX COUNTY, I-640 East near Mile Marker 0.1: On Thursday, February 4, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

KNOX COUNTY, I-640 West near Mile Marker 1.1: On Thursday, February 4, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

KNOX COUNTY, US 11W/SR 1 Rutledge Pike Bridge over Norfolk Southern Railroad near Harris Road: Motorists should be alert for lane shifts and changing traffic patterns through this bridge repair project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, expect potential delays, and use caution through this area.

KNOX COUNTY, US 129/SR 115 Alcoa Highway between Topside Road and Maloney Road: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures and lane shifts as crews perform work through this project. Motorists should be alert for new traffic patterns. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduce speed and use extreme caution through this area. For project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/sr-115-alcoa-highway-little-river-to-maloney.html

KNOX COUNTY, US 129/SR 115 Alcoa Highway between Maloney Road and Woodson Drive: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures and lane shifts as crews perform work through this project. Motorists should be alert for new traffic patterns. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduce speed and use extreme caution through this area. For project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/sr-115-alcoa-highway-maloney-to-woodson.html

KNOX COUNTY, US 441 Broadway Viaduct between Jackson Avenue and Fifth Avenue: US 441 Broadway Viaduct over Norfolk Southern Railroad in downtown Knoxville is closed for bridge replacement. The Broadway Viaduct will be closed to all traffic for the duration of the project. During the closure, Broadway will be closed from the intersection of Oak Avenue, Worlds Fair Park, and Jackson Avenue to just north of the Depot Avenue intersection. Depot Avenue will also be closed. These closures will ensure the safety of workers and motorists as crews demolish the old bridge and reconstruct the new bridge. Primary and Local Detour Routes around the bridge closure will be in place. For detour routes and project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/broadway-viaduct.html

KNOX COUNTY, US 441/SR 71 Chapman Highway between Highland View Drive and Burnett Lane: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures daily between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers and equipment present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this area. For project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/chapman-highway-evans-to-burnett.html

KNOX COUNTY, SR 162 Pellissippi Parkway West between I-40 and Lovell Road: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduced speeds, expect possible delays, and use caution through this area.

KNOX COUNTY, SR 162 Pellissippi Parkway West at Hardin Valley Road: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduced speeds, expect possible delays, and use caution through this area.

KNOX COUNTY, SR 332 Concord Road between Turkey Creek Road and Northshore: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures daily between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and new traffic patterns through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this area. For project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/sr-332-proposed-widening.html

LOUDON COUNTY, I-40 East between Mile Markers 364 and 365: Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduced speeds, closed shoulders and use extreme caution through this slope stabilization project.

LOUDON COUNTY, I-40 East and West between Mile Markers 361 and 367: On Sunday, February 7, 2021, motorists should be alert for a series of possible rolling roadblocks to occur between the hours of 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. as utility crews perform overhead work. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed or stopped traffic, expect delays, and use extreme caution through this area.

ROANE COUNTY, I-40 East between Mile Markers 357 and 359: On Monday, February 8, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. as crews perform roadway maintenance activities. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed or stopped traffic, expect delays, and use extreme caution through this area.

ROANE COUNTY, I-40 West between Mile Markers 340 and 344: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures nightly between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this slope stabilization project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduced speeds, lane shifts, and use extreme caution through this area.

ROANE COUNTY, I-40 East near Mile Marker 343: On Tuesday, February 9, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

SCOTT COUNTY, US 27/SR 29 between Industrial Lane and Second Avenue: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, expect possible delays, and use caution through this area.

SEVIER COUNTY, SR 71 between US 411 and Macon Lane: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures daily between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers and equipment present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this area.

SEVIER COUNTY, SR 73 between Nell Rose Lane and Pitman School Road: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures daily between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. as crews perform roadside geotechnical work through this area. Motorists should be alert for workers and equipment present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this area.

UNICOI COUNTY, I-26 East and West Ramps at Exit 50: Beginning Monday, February 8, 2021 through Sunday, February 14, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible temporary ramp closures daily in alternating directions between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. as crews perform concrete ramp repairs. Motorists should be alert for changing conditions, follow signed detour routes, and use extreme caution in this area.

UNICOI COUNTY, SR 36 between Log Miles 2.5 and 5.3: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures, workers present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this slope stabilization project.

WASHINGTON COUNTY, I-26 West near Mile Marker 11: On Wednesday, February 10, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

WASHINGTON COUNTY, I-26 East and West between Mile Markers 16 and 18: Motorists should be alert for possible nightly lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for slowed or stopped traffic, expect delays, and use extreme caution approaching this area.

WASHINGTON COUNTY, I-26 East near Mile Marker 20.2: On Wednesday, February 10, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

WASHINGTON COUNTY, SR 93 between Davis Road and Fire Hall Road: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduced speeds, and use caution through this area.

WASHINGTON COUNTY, SR 354 Boones Creek Road at I-26: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this construction project. Lake Park Drive will be closed and detoured at the intersection with SR 354 as construction continues in this area. Motorists should follow signed detour. Motorists should be alert for workers present, expect delays and use extreme caution through this area.

For information on statewide interstate construction motorists can access the Tennessee Department of Transportation SmartWay website at https://smartway.tn.gov/traffic.

TDOT is now on Twitter. For up to the minute traffic information in Knoxville and the Tri-Cities follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/knoxville511. For statewide travel information follow www.twitter.com/TN511.

In the 19 days since the beginning of the country's Covid-19 vaccination drive, India has inoculated nearly 4.5 million (44,49,552) of its population, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Thursday.

The ministry officials also claimed that India has become the fastest country in the world to achieve the 4 million milestone in just 18 days.

As per the data, the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom followed India in its feat of immunising 4 million of its population. In comparison to India, the US took 20 days, while Israel and the UK took 39 days each.

"Many other countries have had a head start of almost 65 days while India launched the countrywide vaccination drive in the mid half of January. It is the country's significant achievement in its fight against the global pandemic," they added.

Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, 3,10,604 people have been vaccinated across 8,041 sessions. A total of 84,617 sessions of vaccination have been conducted so far.

The ministry also informed that only seven states have contributed to 55 per cent of the total vaccination drive.

Uttar Pradesh topped the chart with 4,63,793 vaccinations, followed by Rajasthan with 3,63,521, Maharashtra with 3,54,633, Madhya Pradesh with 3,30,722, Karnataka with 3,16,638, Gujarat with 3,11,251 and West Bengal with 3,01,091. In total vaccinations, these states share a percentage of 10.4, 8.2, 8, 7.4,7.1,7, and 6.8 respectively.

Meanwhile, the total active caseload for Covid-19 in the country dropped to 1.55 lakh on Thursday. India's present active cases now consist of just 1.44 per cent of the total positive cases.

However, as per experts, the drop in cases should not be linked with the vaccination.

Jugal Kishore, head, community medicine at the Centre-run Safdarjung Hospital, told IANS that it takes around 42 days to build antibodies from vaccines while it's been only 19 days that the vaccination drive took off.

"Besides, the vaccine has been administered to healthcare workers who have been majorly exposed to the disease," he added.

Kishore added that the decline in active cases has been witnessed as a large section of our population had already developed antibodies.
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Loyalists are angry at the introduction of new Irish Sea trading arrangements (Brian Lawless/PA)

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Simon Byrne has said the public need to "step back from the brink" of violence amid rising community tensions around the Northern Ireland Protocol, and that a solution "is a political one".

Mr Byrne was speaking at a meeting of the Policing Board on Thursday after staff performing Brexit checks at ports in Larne and Belfast were temporarily stood down over safety concerns earlier this week.

Threatening graffiti appeared near ports, however police said there was no suggestion of involvement by loyalist paramilitaries.

Simon Byrne noted there have been "rising community tensions" in the form of graffiti recently and said the atmosphere appeared "febrile".

He said police are increasing there operational speed and will be accelerating the development of intelligence.

"It is now time for wise words and calm heads. We need to work together to look at a route map to normality because that seems to be the opportunity before us, to step back from the brink in terms of community tension," he said.

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The DUP's Mervyn Storey asked the chief constable if the level of disruption over the NI Protocol is likely to continue and what steps police are taking to address it.

Simon Byrne said the best solution to the issue is a political one and to date there have been 26 graffiti incidents in relation to the Brexit and the NI Protocol.

He said the "trigger point" was when he EU invoked Article 16 of the Withdrawal Agreement on Friday over vaccine supplies.

"There was some single-strand intelligence, uncorroborated, that fed into a briefing from the local police commander in Larne with partners at the start of the week and that led to people taking steps as how they could protect the safety of their workforce," he said.

"There is no credible evidence to substantiate this one single strand of intelligence.

"Assistant Chief Constable Mark McEwan has been heavily involved in working with councils, DAERA and other government departments in order to find a resolution to the immediate issues.

"He has stood up our Gold Operating Centre to make sure there are sufficient resources at his disposal to respond to what ever happens next in that sense."

Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly questioned the chief constable regarding a loyalist "show of strength" in east Belfast earlier this week, which is believed to be linked to the East Belfast UVF. He said, from watching footage of the incident, there appeared not to be an "appropriate response" from police.

Simon Byrne said that "what you see on a short burst of film isn't always the whole story".

"I have to accept the imagery hasn't done us any favours... this was a fast-time and spontaneous response to what had been shown on social media," he added.

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He said that just after 1.30pm on Tuesday police received some information that related to a specific person in the community and two officers were sent to find the person.

"There was a crowd at the Ballymac Community Centre just before 2.50pm and within three minutes it had grown to 50 people," he explained.

Mr Byrne said officers had found the individual they were looking for in the centre and there was a small police presence at that point who put themselves between the person and the crowd. As more officers responded, the chief constable said the crowd began to disperse.

"We were able to gather evidence at the time and we are following up on that," he added, stating that he understands the entire incident last 17 minutes

He said he has increased the police presence in east Belfast and provided more resources to keep the community safe.

Gerry Kelly added that the "problem with the east Belfast UVF is pre-Covid".

Simon Byrne responded: "This is absolutely a long term problem and that is why we have the organised crime task force. We are using are best efforts to target people that are trying to disrupt the safety of communities, there is no place for this, it is organised crime."

He said they are doubling efforts to review intelligence in order to assure the public regarding their concerns.

ACC Barbara Gray said that, in relation to paramilitaries, there have been 37 arrests, 43 charges and reports, 99 searches and 53 drugs seizures in the last six months.
If the U.S. Supreme Court one day allows states to ban abortion after a heartbeat is detected, that ban could take effect immediately in South Carolina under the bill the Senate passed last week. That's the good news for people who want to outlaw abortion and bad news for people who want to keep it legal.

But there is practically no chance that S.1, which the House is expected to pass and Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to sign in short order, will hasten the day the Supreme Court makes such a decision.

More than a dozen states already have passed similar laws, which are making their way through the federal courts. If the more conservative high court wants to declare a heartbeat law constitutional  or if it wants to go further and strike down Roe v. Wade  it already has ample opportunities heading its way.

Adding a South Carolina law to the mix wont make a difference to the court.

It will, however, make a difference to the taxpayers of South Carolina, as the bill is currently written, because abortion providers or women seeking an abortion will file a lawsuit, and S.C. taxpayers will pay attorneys to defend that lawsuit in a long and drawn-out process that will involve injunctions and restraining orders and perhaps one day a hearing on the merits, in the U.S. District Court and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. And if the Supreme Court hasnt ruled on one of those many similar laws by the time our case is ripe for consideration  and even if it has ruled, if the decision was to strike it down  well go through the process at the Supreme Court.

The litigation could drag on for years, and cost many millions of dollars. (There is no reason to think the price will approach the $75 million the state paid private attorneys last year for working on a lawsuit against the U.S. Energy Department that morphed into four cases with multiple appeals and dragged on for four years, but the timeframe is not inconceivable.)

Whatever you think about abortion, that's bad news.

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Senate Republican Leader Shane Massey acknowledged that defending the law will be expensive, but he said the cost was worth the possibility of saving thousands of lives every year.

But its quite possible the bill will never save a single life  even if the Supreme Court eventually changes course  and not just because the high court already has plenty of other opportunities to uphold a fetal-heartbeat law.

If the court were to do what abortion opponents want, and declare that life is protected from conception  the most logical rationale for striking down Roe  there would be no need for the Legislature to pass a law to restrict abortion. A Supreme Court decision declaring a new right automatically invalidates laws to the contrary  as Roe did to the abortion restrictions South Carolina had on the books in 1973.

Even if the high court upheld a heartbeat law without overturning Roe, our Legislature could act quickly to pass a law going as far as the decision allowed  without having to pay lawyers to defend it in court.

We know legislators arent going to abandon S.1 now that theyve finally gotten it through the Senate. But if House members really are conservative, they will add a provision that protects S.C. taxpayers from the attorney fees that will not produce anything more than attorney fees.

One way would be to prohibit state funds from being used to hire outside attorneys to defend the law. We do, after all, have a completely competent attorney generals office, whose job is to defend state laws.

Better still, the House could take a page from the Louisiana Legislature, which tied implementation of its fetal heartbeat law to federal court approval of a similar law in Mississippi. That way, Mississippi taxpayers pay for the litigation instead of Louisiana taxpayers. We're sure lawmakers can figure out a way to make implementation of S.1 contingent on a Supreme Court ruling in favor of any of the dozen similar laws in the pipeline.

And once Mr. McMaster signs the bill into law, we hope those lawmakers whose sole interest is outlawing abortion will stop hijacking completely unrelated bills and allow the Legislature to focus on the many problems that it clearly can act on without inviting costly litigation and without violating the Supreme Courts current interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
A little brown bat that survived white-nose syndrome. Credit: Sarah Gignoux-Wolfsohn

Scientists have found genetic differences between bats killed by white-nose syndrome and bats that survived, suggesting that survivors rapidly evolve to resist the fungal disease, according to a Rutgers-led study with big implications for deciding how to safeguard bat populations.

White-nose syndrome has killed millions of bats in North America since 2006, following its introduction from Europe. The syndrome, caused by the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans, is arguably the most catastrophic wildlife disease in history. It has led to unprecedented declines in many North American bat species, including the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus).

"Our finding that little brown bat populations have evolved, which could be why they survived, has large implications for management of bat populations going forward," said lead author Sarah Gignoux-Wolfsohn, a former postdoctoral associate at Rutgers University-New Brunswick now at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland. "Management decisions, such as whether to treat for white-nose syndrome or protect populations from other detrimental factors, can be informed by knowing which bats are genetically resistant to the disease."

"The deployment of vaccines or treatments for the fungus may be most needed in populations with few disease-resistant individuals," said Gignoux-Wolfsohn, who led the study - published in the journal Molecular Ecology - while at Rutgers. "Our study also has implications for other diseases that cause mass mortality. While rapid evolution in response to these diseases is often difficult to detect, our study suggests it may be more common than previously thought."

The disease got its name because the fungus, which grows in cold, dark and damp places, sometimes looks like white fuzz on bats' faces, according to the White-Nose Syndrome Response Team led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The fungus attacks the bare skin of bats when they're hibernating and relatively inactive. As it grows, the fungus causes changes in bats that make them become unusually active and burn up fat they need to survive winter. Infected bats may do strange things, such as fly outside in the daytime during winter.

Brooke Maslo and Kathleen Kerwin of Rutgers University-New Brunswick collect a tissue sample from a little brown bat for genomic analysis. Credit: John O'Boyle

Before white-nose syndrome arrived in North America, the little brown bat was one of the most widespread bat species. The disease has caused populations to decline by about 78 percent, killing many hibernating colonies. Still, some populations appear to be recovering after significant declines, likely due to increased disease resistance.

Scientists sequenced bat genomes from three hibernating colonies in abandoned mines in New York, New Jersey and Vermont to determine whether little brown bats evolved as a result of the disease. They compared the genomes of bats killed by white-nose syndrome to survivors in recovering populations to identify genetic differences that may be responsible for survival.

The bats' evolution appears to have particularly affected genes associated with weight gain before hibernation and behavior during hibernation. Rapid evolution may have allowed the remaining bats to keep hibernating and survive infection that killed off millions of other bats.

"Evolution is often thought of as a process that happened long ago," Gignoux-Wolfsohn said. "We have found that it has also been happening right in our backyards and barns over the last decade."

The scientists are conducting a similar study in Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis). While also affected by white-nose syndrome, this species has experienced lesser declines than little brown bats.

Explore further European hibernating bats cope with white-nose syndrome which kills North American bats

More information: Sarah A. GignouxWolfsohn et al, Genomic signatures of selection in bats surviving whitenose syndrome, Molecular Ecology (2021). Journal information: Molecular Ecology Sarah A. GignouxWolfsohn et al, Genomic signatures of selection in bats surviving whitenose syndrome,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/mec.15813
by Mathias Hariyadi

The daughter of former president Abdurrahman Wahid maintains it is not just a question of "school uniform", but of interference in social life. Three ministers draw up a decalogue against the obligation of the veil. The province of Aceh is an exception. Executive Secretary Kwi approves the initiative and defends the school as a "meeting place".

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Lets not think this is only a matter of school uniform, the prohibition or permission to wear the hijab. Its more about a trend-setter to cement the majority religions ideology and exclusivism with its final objective not just regarding Islamic outfits but social life as a nation, wrote Alissa Wahid, the daughter of the late President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Wahid is a young lady whose strong contribution to the nation to promote interfaith spirit is undeniable through GusDurian Movement -the fans of Gus Dur club

In the recent issue concerning the obligation to wear the veil imposed on a Christian high school student in Padang, in the province of West Sumatra, and which has raised controversy and protests, the activist speaks bluntly of an act of intolerance.

Our Ministry for Education and Culture should make clear that schools environment --despite its majority Muslim studentsshould not force its non-Muslim student to wear the hijab, she writes. The reference is to the incident that occurred in mid-January in Padang when Elianu Hia, father of Jenny Hia, opposed the obligation to wear the veil for his non-Muslim daughter.

A case similar to many others in the most populous Muslim nation in the world, but which had so far passed over in silence due to the lack of reporting or fears of repercussions. There are at least 46 non-Muslim students who attend the same school as Jenny Hia, but only the latter's father has fought against the imposition of the mandatory veil during school hours.

In response to the story, the Minister for Education Nadiem Makarim, a devout Muslim married to a Catholic and defender of the principles of state secularism and pluralism sanctioned by the Pancasila, the colleague of the Interior and the holder of Religious Affairs intervened in these hours.

The following points are outlined in the document signed by the three government leaders: school is part of the nation and home to everyone, regardless of ethnicity or religious faith; the decree will be implemented in all state institutions; the choice of uniforms is entrusted to teachers and students, but clothing or clothing that refers to a religion cannot be imposed; schools and local authorities must remove any obligations [such as that relating to hijab] still in force within 30 days; any violations of the new provisions, Minister Makarim concludes, will be punished according to the law and regulations in force, with the sole exception of the province of Aceh, the only one in which the sharia (Islamic law) is in force and which can derogate from these new standards.

Asked by AsiaNews Fr. Heri Wibowo Pr, executive secretary of the Indonesian Bishops' Conference (Kwi), applauds the inter-ministerial initiative aimed at promoting pluralism in the country's public schools. On a personal basis - he adds - I approve and support this movement, which is in line with the spirit of the Pancasila. And it is nice to think, he concludes, that institutes are places where "students from different backgrounds can meet".

On Jan. 13, Jerusalem municipal authorities approved preliminary plans for the construction of a new US Embassy in the city. Jerusalems local planning committee authorized the expansion of the current temporary embassy site in the Arnona neighborhood as well as the construction of a new embassy compound on the nearby Hebron Road. The new site is near the Green Line that divides east and west Jerusalem. Both plans need additional approval from a district council but are expected receive it easily. Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who has been deeply engaged in promoting the project, was the first to announce it on Twitter.

In 2017, President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel and ordered the US Embassy to be relocated from Tel Aviv. The new embassy opened in May 2018, but hundreds of Americans and Israelis employed by the embassy continue to operate from the Tel Aviv offices. To save time, Washington merged its consulate in Jerusalem with the new embassy, which now operates from the 19th century consulate building. A building which is simply too small to host all of the staff.

Jerusalems Mayor Moshe Leon called the construction approval a historic and exciting moment, saying he believes the move will inspire other countries to move their embassies to the capital.

Two days after the May 2018 opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem, Guatemala followed suit. Its embassy, inaugurated in the presence of President Jimmy Morales and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is located in a new office building in the southwest of the city.

But it's not only Guatemala. Since the relocation of the US Embassy, several countries have opted to open trade and cultural missions in Jerusalem. Hungary, for instance, opened a trade mission in the city last year, though its foreign minister noted that the move does not indicate a change in policy and that his country does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish State. The Czech Republic said in December it would add a diplomatic presence to its Jerusalem consular office next year but the country is not planning to relocate its Tel Aviv embassy. Honduras and Brazil's presidents have both expressed support for relocating their respective embassies to Jerusalem, but no timetable has been set for either move. Foreign Minister Eisenhower Mkaka announced that Malawi plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem while visiting Israel last November.

The most recent country to express interest in a presence in Jerusalem is Kosovo. Upon establishing diplomatic relations with Israel on Feb. 1, Kosovo indicated it will open an embassy in Jerusalem. Such a move would make it the first Muslim-majority country to open an embassy in the city. During the Feb. 1 ceremony, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi unveiled a plate sent over by Pristina to be mounted on the wall of the new embassy. Kosovo authorities are hoping to hold an inauguration ceremony when coronavirus restrictions are eased, though shortly after the establishment of diplomatic relations, the European Union warned Kosovo against opening an embassy in Jerusalem.

For Hassan-Nahoum, who is also a co-founder of the UAE-Israel Business Council, the planning committee's approval is the first step on the road to a much larger plan to create an embassy district in the south of the city, anchored by the future US Embassy.

"The whole area behind Hebron Road has great potential. There is a lot of free space. Four hotels are already in the planning stages opposite the Jerusalem Promenade in the vicinity. It is a beautiful spot that is close to the east of the city, but still on the west. It all makes sense and could work out for everyone. I have spoken with urban planners and architects. They are all with me on that," Hassan-Nahoum told Al-Monitor.

Hassan-Nahoum noted that the opening of a new US Embassy will generate commercial activity in that area of the city. Hundreds of people would need coffee shops, hairdressers and apartments. "This is what happened in London when the Americans chose a not-so-central, not-especially-chic neighborhood for their new embassy. Nine Elms is becoming a vibrant development location with waterfront apartments, arts and high tech. We could have the same in Jerusalem."
JOHNNY Ronans Ronan Group is planning to sell 101 apartments at an estimated cost of 66.69m for social housing to Dublin City Council as part of its ambitious plan to construct the two tallest buildings in the country.

The planned package includes one two-bedroom apartment with an indicative cost of 964,030 to the council as part of the Ronan Groups Waterfront South Central scheme for Dublins docklands.

Estimated costings are contained in fast-track planning documents lodged with An Bord Pleanala concerning the Ronan Groups plan to construct 1,005 apartments.

Ronan Group and Colony Capital are seeking to construct three buildings, with one reaching 45-storeys high and a second 44-storeys high, on a 1.1 hectare site at Dublins North Wall Quay.

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The Henry J Lyons Architects-designed scheme is to include a public bar/function room at Level 44 on one of the blocks, while a public viewing deck will also be provided at Levels 44 and 45.

As part of the applicants Part V obligations to provide 10pc of the development towards social housing, the Ronan Group has put an average cost of 660,358 on each apartment to the council.

The estimated prices rise up to 964,030 for a two-bedroom 86.6m sq, while one-bedroom apartments will potentially cost the council a variety of prices ranging from 419,020 to 637,705.

The final cost to the council will be subject to negotiation if and when planning permission is granted.

The voluminous planning documents lodged with the appeals board are accompanied by a slickly produced promotional video for the scheme.

The voice-over proclaims that the landmark development completes what will be a bustling dockland area where more than 20,000 will live and work.

And defiantly the voice states: And it will happen. They always make it happen People will live there there, make futures there, maybe dream up  no  upwards and onwards to even better things.

Almost anticipating objections against the planned scheme, the voiceover continues, and the usual commentary and backlash we all love so much fades away to reveal, well, it is going to be incredible. Where will you be?

Planning documentation lodged with the application states that Waterfront South Central will stand at the gateway to Dublins Docklands, showing the city how much it has achieved in the development of the docklands since the millennium, and as a signature for how we can develop responsibly and efficiently in the future.

In the planning documentation lodged, Mr Ronan states that Dublin needs to grow responsibly to meet future demands for a growing population and a growing economy.

He states: This means creating projects that are additive to the city, that the city is proud of, that are attractive to a growing, younger population and that can be symbols of what Dublin stands for.

The North Lotts & Grand Canal Dock Planning Scheme 2014 for the area states that building up to 10-storeys high can be allowed and planning consultants for the Ronan Group, Tom Phillips & Associates, acknowledge that the proposal breaches building heights in the scheme.

However, Mr Phillips contends that the height limitations in the 2014 scheme are not in accordance with strategic planning policy at national level.

A decision is due on the application in May.
Imperial Valley News Center

Napa Man Charged With Possession Of Five Pipe Bombs

San Francisco, California - Ian Benjamin Rogers was charged in a federal criminal complaint with possessing five pipe bombs that were unregistered destructive devices, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Craig D. Fair.

We allege that Ian Benjamin Rogers possessed homemade pipe bombs and the materials to make more, said U.S. Attorney Anderson. We draw a bright line between lawlessness and our constitutional freedoms. We will prosecute illegal weapons stockpiles regardless of the motivation of the offender.

The FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Napa County Sheriffs Office, and the Napa Special Investigations Bureau discovered five pipe bombs and other explosive material during our joint investigation, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Craig D. Fair. The FBI investigates all credible threats, and our highest priority is ensuring public safety. We urge the public to remain vigilant. We need the communitys support in reporting threatening behavior and suspicious activity to local law enforcement or the FBI.

The criminal complaint alleges that Rogers, 43, of Napa, possessed five pipe bombs discovered by law enforcement officers and agents during a search of his business on January 15, 2021. The complaint states that on that date, Rogers was arrested and a search warrant was served on Rogers home and business in Napa County. Upon his arrest, at Rogers business officers found a large gun safe. Inside the safe, the officers and agents discovered and seized several guns and the five pipe bombs. They also identified other materials at the scene that could be used to manufacture destructive devices, including black powder, pipes, endcaps, and manuals, including The Anarchist Cookbook, U.S. Army Improvised Munitions Handbook, and Homemade C-4 A Recipe for Survival.

At least 49 guns were seized from Rogers home and business along with thousands of rounds of ammunition. Officers and agents also discovered a sticker on Rogers vehicle window that is commonly used by so-called Three-Percenters, people who ascribe to extreme anti-government, pro-gun beliefs.

Rogers was arrested on January 15, 2021, and appeared in Napa County state criminal court on state illegal firearm charges. He is being held in state custody in lieu of a $5 million bail as he awaits a preliminary hearing. Federal prosecutors intend to seek Rogerss appearance in federal court on the charges in the complaint upon the issuance of a federal order to transfer Rogers to the United States District Court in San Francisco. The date of such appearance has not yet been set.

The charges contained in the criminal complaint are mere allegations. As in any criminal case, the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Rogers is charged with unlawful possession of unregistered destructive devices, in violation of 26 U.S.C.  5861(d), 5845(a)(8), and 5845(f). If convicted, the charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C.  3553.

The United States Attorneys Office Special Prosecutions Section is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Napa County Sheriffs Office, and the Napa Special Investigations Bureau.
The USS Nimitz carrier strike group is heading into the Indo-Pacific region after serving an extended period in the Middle East. The Indo-Pacific region includes the worlds busiest international sea lanes including the South China Sea.

The USS Nimitz carrier strike group is heading into the Indo-Pacific region after serving an extended period in the Middle East. The group had served more than 270 days in the Central Command and was moving into the Indo-Pacific region, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday. The Indo-Pacific region includes the worlds busiest international sea lanes including the South China Sea.

The Nimitz was conducting flight operations in the Arabian Sea last week. The strike group has spent the past six-months in the Middle East as tensions between Iran and Washington simmered after the US boosted its military presence from May. On December 31, former acting defence secretary Chris Miller ordered the strike group to head home, but the call was overturned in early January with threats from Iran around the time of the first anniversary of the killing of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani by the US.

The tensions between Iran and the US eased as US President Joe Biden pledged to renew nuclear program negotiations with Tehran. The Pentagon said the departure of the Nimitz meant there was no US carrier operating in the Central Command area of operations. Kirby said Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin believed America had a robust presence in the Middle East.

Also read: India stands united: Sachin Tendulkar, Akshay Kumar and Karan Johar among others hit back at Rihannas tweet

Last week, a US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt entered the South China Sea to promote freedom of the seas, triggering strong reactions from Beijing. The Peoples Liberation Army sent more than a dozen aircraft into the southwestern corner of Taiwans air defence zone, monitoring the movements of the carrier strike group.

During this incursion into Taiwans air defence zone on January 23, Chinese military aircraft simulated missile attacks on the US aircraft carrier. The bombers and some of the fighter aircraft involved were conducting an exercise that used the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group as a mock target. Some analysts had interpreted Chinas incursion as an attempt by China to ascertain how the new administration will respond to such behavior.

Also read: Greta Thunberg shares India protest toolkit: Propaganda to defame India exposed


Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 11:54:47|Editor: huaxia

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PHNOM PENH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodian man tested positive for COVID-19 upon his arrival to the country from Kuwait, the Cambodian Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement on Thursday.

The 23-year-old man landed in the capital Phnom Penh on Monday from Kuwait via a connecting flight in South Korea, the statement said.

"The result of his samples' test showed that the man was positive for COVID-19, and he is currently undergoing treatment at the National Center for Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control," it said.

The remaining 40 passengers on the same flight have been placed under a 14-day mandatory quarantine at various designated quarantine facilities in the capital, it added.

The Southeast Asian country has so far registered a total of 467 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with zero deaths and 451 recoveries, the statement said. Enditem
Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sweden to Armenia Patrik Svensson.

The Prime Minister congratulated the Ambassador on assuming his diplomatic mission in Armenia and stated that the Armenian government is interested in intensifying cooperation in all sectors and making it more effective.

Ambassador Svensson stressed Swedens willingness and goal to further expand its ties with Armenia in various fields and added that, within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Plan, Sweden attaches great importance to the implementation of the reforms agenda in Armenia.

Pashinyan and Svensson stated the need for development of economic cooperation. In this regard, the Prime Minister said the Armenian government is interested in the engagement of Swedish businesses in Armenias economy.

The interlocutors also touched upon the situation created in the region and the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Pashinyan thanked the Swedish government for its balanced position on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and stated that the solutions to humanitarian issues are a priority on Armenias agenda, particularly the ensuring of return of prisoners of war. The Prime Minister also mentioned that the Armenian side is ready for negotiations over the settlement of the conflict within the scope of the Co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group and underscored the need for international oversight over preservation of Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ambassador Svensson said Sweden expresses its support to the Co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group to intensify the peace process and achieve a comprehensive settlement of the conflict.
[February 04, 2021] Scott Holloway Joins Starting Line as a Venture Partner, to Invest In 99% Ideas Where No One Else is Looking

CHICAGO, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Starting Line, an early stage Venture Capital Fund investing in consumer startups that are focused on democratizing access to technologies, products, and experiences for the 99% of Americans, is proud to announce the addition of Scott Holloway as a Venture Partner. Holloway joins firm founder Ezra Galston, early Trunk Club employee Haley Kwait Zollo and Formspring/Formstack founder Ade Olonoh on the firm's investment team. Starting Line, which announced its $17M Fund I in November 2019, has made early seed investments into numerous fast growing companies such as Cameo, Made In Cookware and Unchained Capital. Starting Line is proud to announce the addition of Instacart and Flexport alum Scott Holloway as a Venture Partner.



Holloway entered the startup world in 2013, honing his skills over six years as Instacart's 10th employee, founding their first office outside of Silicon Valley, and subsequently launching dozens of additional markets. After Instacart, Holloway moved to Flexport where he managed their 180-person Chicago office and served as Senior Director and Central Region General Manager. Presently, Holloway is SVP Operations at Foxtrot, one of Chicago's breakout venture backed consumer startups. "Ever since my first angel investment, Ezra has always been the first person that I send exceptional founders to speak with. He and the Starting Line team combine ruthless intelligence with obsessive curiosity in ways that most cannot. Starting Line moves at extraordinary speed and bets with conviction  which is my kind of firm. I'm thrilled to join Haley, Ade, and Ezra to partner with founders in bending the future."

In addition to Holloway's operating experience, he has, over the past few years, been aggressively investing into the next generation of founders. Some of these angel investments include Chicago based Provi (backed by Bessemer Venture Partners) and Nestegg (backed by Bonfire Ventures), as well as San Francisco based Shef (backed by Craft Ventures) and Adquick (backed by Initialized Capital.) "I first met Scott in 2013 when he was standing up Instacart's Chicago office and scaling their marketplace outside of Silicon Valley for the first time," said Galston. "Over the ensuing eight years, he's become a world class executive, an accomplished angel investor, and a trusted voice to founders building high growth startups. The Starting Line portfolio is blessed to have access to his knowledge and we're excited for him to make a material impact as our firm continues to scale up." Starting Line benefits from deep financial support amongst entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in both Chicago and the rest of the country, such as Matt Maloney, CEO of Grubhub, Bloomberg Beta, Wicklow Capital, Dan Levitan, Co-founder of Maveron, Nick Green, CEO of Thrive Market, and more. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scott-holloway-joins-starting-line-as-a-venture-partner-to-invest-in-99-ideas-where-no-one-else-is-looking-301222317.html SOURCE Starting Line

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ALBANY  Albany County Executive Dan McCoy said Thursday he will not open up COVID-19 vaccine availability to restaurant workers and food delivery people as the state is allowing, noting that those who suffer from chronic health conditions should be considered first.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Tuesday he is giving county officials the power to add for-hire drivers and restaurant workers to the list of people eligible for the vaccine.

McCoy said he will request information from the state Department of Health on how state officials are "looking at the matrix" used to determine who qualifies for the vaccine. Many essential workers - no matter their age or health status - can get vaccinated when chronically ill people under the age of 65 cannot.

"For some reason were dropping the ball on these residents who need to get the shot and were not addressing that issue," McCoy said at his daily press briefing Thursday morning, noting that his sister-in-law, who suffers from ALS, cannot get the vaccine.

"I will be happy the one day I can say sit here and say I got my sister-in-law a shot in her arm - who cant get out of the house, cant move, talks through a machine, whos been living with this for about a decade now," McCoy said. "Hopefully that will happen, but not yet, not as of today."

Churchill: Why won't New York vaccinate the vulnerable?

Later Thursday, Capital Region state Assembly members Patricia Fahy, John McDonald and Carrie Woerner said they sent a letter to Cuomo to "urge the release of guidance facilitating immunization of immunocompromised New Yorkers," noting that the Centers for Disease Control recommended Jan. 12 that vaccine eligibility be expanded to people who are at-risk of serious illness from COVID-19.

Spokespeople for Saratoga and Schenectady counties said Thursday they are waiting for guidance from the state to determine if they should add drivers and restaurant workers to the 1b prioritization category, which already includes those over 65 years old, first responders, teachers and grocery store workers. The 1a group was primarily reserved for front-line health care workers and nursing home residents.

McCoy praised Cuomo for getting pockets of vaccine distribution to people of color and seniors in Albany County, such as the vaccination clinics that will be held at South Mall Towers, Townsend Park Homes and Westview Homes in Albany; they're among 35 "pop-up" vaccination clinics coming online around the state this week. But McCoy also talked about how many essential workers in county government do not qualify for the shot and work regularly face-to-face with the public, like Department of Social Service employees.

"Not finger-pointing, but we really need to solve this issue," he said.

"We have to define this better to move forward," McCoy said. "Our restaurant workers have been the backbone of our communitybut I want to see the people who are most vulnerableget the shot first."

On Tuesday, Cuomo allowed county health departments to add taxi and other for-hire drivers, restaurant workers and facilities for the developmentally-disabled into the 1B priority group. He said there will be more vaccine coming as the federal government has promised a weekly 20 percent increase in doses being delivered.

"Suffolk County is a little different than Erie County. Rochester is a little different than Binghamton. They are in different situations and we want to give them more flexibility," Cuomo said Tuesday. "Some localities have already done a large percentage of their police, their fire, their teachers and they do have flexibility. There is no one size fits all here."

Those over 65 have struggled to even find appointments to be vaccinated, as previously New York was receiving 300,000 doses a week from the federal government to cover more than 7 million people who are eligible. Officials hope a new program the federal government is running directly through pharmacies will increase availability.

But not all distributed vaccine has been administered. Statewide, 81 percent of nearly 2.7 million first and second doses delivered have been given to people as of Thursday; the Capital Region's injection rate is a little better, with 84 percent of 137,840 doses getting into arms.

Daily cases back up

Meanwhile, new daily cases about doubled in Albany County, from 69 reported Wednesday to 155 Thursday. But the previous low number was attributed to the snowstorm closing testing briefly and likely discouraging people from going out to get tested.

Two more residents also died, McCoy said, women in their 80s. It brings the known COVID-19 death toll for Albany County residents to 324. In Schenectady County, three more residents died from COVID-19, a man in his 60s and two women in their 80s.

Hospitalization is still high, with 126 residents hospitalized for COVID-19, with 16 people in the ICU. Albany County hit a daily high in January of 189 people hospitalized at once for virus complications.
The leader of the opposition Gambia Moral Congress party [GMC], Mai Ahmed Fatty, has stated that the birth of the National People's Party (NPP) plus new entrants demonstrated the growing democracy in The Gambia without a reverse gear.

Mai Ahmed Fatty wrote this on his official Facebook page on Monday, while welcoming the NPP into the political arena and also congratulated them for the development.

"Gambian democracy is growing without a reverse gear. We congratulate, once more, the sovereign decision of Gambians for the expansion and consolidation of the democratic space. The birth of the NPP plus new entrants, demonstrate this growing trend. It was the turn of the NPP to officially launch their own last Saturday," he said.

According to him, it is now time to level the playing field and make it a contest of competitive ideas, not a confrontation, noting that The Gambia will be better and democracy will be the winner.

"GMC is ready to lead, and The Gambia is ready for our leadership. Together, it's possible. Thank you Gambia for embracing our politics of morality, to restore the balance."

He finally said that a new dawn is imminent - a revolutionary era of reforms, rectification and sustainable prosperity.


[February 04, 2021] Experience Apple-scented Charms of Aomori, Japan -- Online Product Exhibition Now Underway

TOKYO, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BeeCruise Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "BeeCruise"), which is a subsidiary of BEENOS Inc. (TSE First Section: 3328) and supports the overseas expansion of cross-border e-commerce and Japanese content, is currently exhibiting products from Aomori Prefecture's official store on the e-commerce site "Buyee" in cooperation with the prefectural government. The company is taking off half the shipping price in a promotional campaign from February 3 (Wed.) to February 10 (Wed.) in order to bring the wonderful qualities of Aomori to Taiwanese customers and break through the difficulties of the current coronavirus pandemic. Image: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M105591/202102010445/_prw_PI1fl_g4H8M829.jpg In the online exhibition, many admirable apple-based products from Aomori, the "Apple Kingdm of Japan," will be available for purchase, such as apple juice, jam and sweets. A variety of other local specialty goods that are the pride of Aomori, a famed fishing region surrounded by the sea on three sides, are available, such as scallop snacks, processed fishery products like freshwater clams and mackerel as well as "sake" rice wine and tea, along with rice, woodworks, glass crafts, and ceramics. Please take this chance to give the delicious local foods and beautiful crafts of Aomori a try, and enjoy the feeling of taking a trip during the remote lifestyle of consumers.



The end of the new wave of coronavirus infections is not yet in sight, but BeeCruise hopes that this product exhibition will introduce Taiwanese customers to the best aspects of Aomori culture, and inspire them to visit Aomori hopefully in the future. Please visit: https://media.buyee.jp/pr/special_recommended_aomori/cht/

Examples of purchasable items: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/release/202102010445?p=images Promotion overview: - Coupons for 50% shipping cost discount Promotion period: February 3 (Wed.) - February 10 (Wed.), 2021 Details: Issuance of a coupon halving the shipping cost from Japan - Coupons for 300 yen discount from purchase price Period: December 24 (Thurs.), 2020 - March 31 (Wed.), 2021 Note: If the number of issued coupons reaches the upper limit, this period may be subject to change. Details: Issuance of a coupon for 300 yen discount from the purchase price SOURCE BeeCruise Inc.

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Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York for New Managers:

Hedge fund Sender Company & Partners ended January on a high note. According to a letter to investors reviewed by Opalesque, the fund is up 16.63% net for the month. January's performance builds on a strong 2020 - Sender ended the year up 69.38% net.

Assets under management at the firm have climbed to over $300 million on a combination of performance gains and new subscriptions. The letter notes that the fund will soft close at $400 million in order to "remain nimble and maximize the short-term trading opportunities being presented in this volatile market."

Launched in 2016, Sender's directional long/short strategy takes advantage of volatility in the market across equities, futures, indices, commodities, and currencies. The strategy outperforms in environments with significant dispersion in pricing. The firm is led by Adam Sender, who was previously with Steve Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors before starting Exis Capital Management in 1998.

Sender made news last year for trading many of the names popular on Robinhood, the free trading app. Robinhood was, until recently, popular with noted retail trading forum WallStreetBets. Other retail trading apps including WeBull and SoFi have recently expanded the market for ultra low cost retail trading. In 2020, retail traders aided by these apps, caused run-ups in a handful of n......................

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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
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Dr. Fauci says there are no 'red flags' so far for pregnant women getting COVID vaccines after more than 10,000 mothers-to-be got their shots.

Pregnant women were not included in the vaccine trials run by Moderna and Pfizer - but that left health officials and women keen to discover the results once they became available.

Food and Drug Administration officials gave emergency authorization to Moderna's shot for use in adults 18 and over. Pfizer's shot is authorized for anyone 16 or older.

'The FDA, as part of the typical follow up you have following the initial issuing of any [emergency use authorization] have found, thus far, and weve got to be careful, but thus far, no red flags about that, about pregnant women,' Dr Fauci said during a Wednesday JAMA interview.

'Interestingly, many of the pregnant women were health care providers who were exposed [to coronavirus on a daily basis] and said, "I would rather take [my] chances with the vaccine rather than get infected with SARS-CoV-2 because of the adverse effects and outcomes [of coronavirus] on pregnancy,"' he added.

Expectant mothers were 3.5 times more likely to be hospitalized and 13.6 times more likely to die than non-pregnant residents of Washington state who were in their 20s and 30s (above)

Dr Fauci noted that there are higher rates of 'adverse outcomes' for both pregnant women with COVID-19 and their newborns, which has motivated pregnant health care workers to get vaccinated

More than 10,00 pregnant women in the US have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, and so far there are 'no red flags,' Dr Fauci said

But the absence of testing has left a lot of questions for women who are pregnant or want to conceive, but also want to protect themselves from COVID-19.

Food and Drug Administration officials gave emergency authorization to Moderna's shot for use in adults 18 and over. Pfizer's shot is authorized for anyone 16 or older.

Shot-makers are still gathering data on the effects of the vaccines on pregnant women.

US health officials and experts have said that it should be up to women whether to get the vaccine, and that doctors should not discourage them from getting vaccinated - especially because there is evidence that COVID-19 may pose higher risks to pregnant women than other people, and could increase the odds of delivering their babies prematurely.

Both Pfizer and Moderna kept pregnant women out of their initial trials, but women got pregnant during the trials nonetheless.

That gave the companies some inadvertent insights into the safety of the shots for pregnant women.

Both CDC and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have urged that women be made aware of the risks of coronavirus vaccines but not be discouraged from getting them.

So it was up to pregnant women who became eligible in the first phase of vaccine rollout to make their own decision about whether to get it.

Women who test positive for COVID-19 are seven percent more at-risk of having to deliver via C-section, which raises risks that babies will be born with breathing problems, or that women will have heavy bleeding or develop infections.

They also face six-fold higher risks of needing treatment in the ICU, and 3.5-fold higher risk of developing a life-threatening blood clot.

Pregnant women infected with coronavirus are 19 percent more likely to go into labor early and 23 percent more at-risk for a stillbirth.

Women were most commonly infected during the third trimester of their pregnancies

And pregnant women are a staggering 13-times more likely to die of COVID-19 if they catch the virus, compared to other women or men, a recent Brigham and Women's Hospital study.

The researchers also found that expectant mothers infected with the virus were 3.5 times more likely to be hospitalized with complications.

What's more, mothers-to-be were nearly 14 times more likely to die than Americans within the population who were in their 20s and 30s.

The findings comes one day after the World Health Organization recommended the pregnant women not receive the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, just three weeks after issuing a similar warning for the Pfizer vaccine, due to a lack of safety data.

But the team, from the University of Washington, Seattle, told DailyMail.com that its study shows exactly why pregnant women should get the shot and why they should not be excluded from vaccine trials and recommendations.

More than half of the COVID-19 cases - 56.3 percent - were detected in the third trimester.

Researchers compared hospitalization and fatality rates in pregnancy to those of similarly aged adults, between ages 20 and 39, in Washington State.

Results showed 24 expectant mothers, or 10 percent, were hospitalized specifically for coronavirus symptoms.

That is about 3.5 times higher than the COVID-19- associated hospitalization rate of similarly-aged adults, which sat at 2.8 percent.

In addition, one-third of the hospitalized patients were admitted to the ICU.

In addition, there were three deaths among the pregnant patients for a maternal mortality rate of 1,250 out of 100,000 pregnancies, or 1.2 percent,

This rate is 13.6 times higher than the 91.7 deaths out of 100,000 patients, or 0.09 percent, of the non-pregnant 20 to 39 year olds.

'We were shocked that we had so many women who died of COVID-19 because maternal deaths are really very rare in the state,' senior author Dr Kristina Adams Waldorf, an obstetrician-gynecologist with the University of Washington School of Medicine, told DailyMail.com.

'We only have a handful a year and these are three that happened in just a few months...and in spite of all the best care there is to provide.'
Archipelago is more diverse and ambitious, visually and technically, than Ville Neuve. The film combines painting and drawing on paper, animation in TVPaint, and painting and drawing directly under the camera. It also incorporates various other animation techniques  scratch, pastel, collage, stop motion, rotoscoping  in addition to manipulated live-action and archival scenes.

It was made over a period of three years  the core part of production was completely just before the pandemic greeted us  with a team of 12 animators (including Malcolm Sutherland, Philip Lockerby, Jens Hahn, and Eva Cvijanovic). The budget came in at a modest CAD$625,000 (USD$485,000).

Ahead of the films premiere at Rotterdam, Cartoon Brew interviewed Dufour-Laperriere via Zoom to discuss the inspiration and pleasure behind its creation.

Chris Robinson: Given the short time between Ville Neuve and Archipelago, Im guessing you had this new film planned and scripted before Ville Neuve was even finished.

Felix Dufour-Laperriere: I started writing it in 2015, just a bit after the script for Ville Neuve was done. Honestly, it was a gift. It was fun to write. It was very close to me and it was easy to finance, which was surprising given the experimental approach. It was damn fun to make. It was the kind of film that I wanted to make when I finished university, but I didnt have the money or maturity to be able to organize it. I just wanted to go inside a studio with people I like to work with and make images for two years. That was really the basic principle.

How was that different from the process of making Ville Neuve?

With Ville Neuve, I was trying to control more. I did all the layout and key frames myself. I might have tried to control too much. For Archipelago, it was fun. I only made some images, notes, excerpts. From these references, the animators would go off on their own for six months and wed talk every other day or so.

In some ways Archipelago feels like an extension of Ville Neuve, except you maybe move away from the personal towards more abstract and fragmented perspectives, as though youre merging all kinds of voices from past and present into a single narrative.

Its a bit of the same subject matter, treated differently. Formally its very different. Lots more color. I wanted to get away from the gray of Ville Neuve. I wanted to have fun. Its a film about what makes a home or territory, but I put in a lot of things that I love: everything from the Quebecois writer Hubert Aquin to my grandmother and daughter. When we belong to a place or community, a country or family, it is real  but there is also an imaginary dream space, something that you project onto that space. That is precious to me.

Yes, it seemed to me that while you certainly explore Quebec and this idea of  as a character says in the film  an impossible province, you are asking a more general question about what home is.

Exactly. Archipelago has the same political intuitions as Ville Neuve, but its treated differently. A lot of it came from the relation with the archives. We love old footage of, say, windmills. Its loveable. Its also false, imaginary, and a politically problematic view of the past. Archival images can be sort of beautiful. You feel like a kid, like memories of childhood.

Thats so true. Every so often I will go onto the National Film Board of Canada website and watch some 1940s or 1950s films about, say, Ottawa. Theres something comforting and warm about these works even though theyre complete bullshit. Home movies are the same way. Everyone looks so jovial and loving and united in them, but the everyday reality was quite a bit different.

Yes, absolutely, theyre false. Its theater.

What does that phrase impossible province mean to you?

Its Quebecs political destiny. We are still in this limbo between being fully part of Canada and carving out our own destiny. Many do not accept Quebec fully being a province of Canada. Theres this unresolved tension. Jacques Ferron [a Quebecois writer and doctor who is referenced in the film] had a phrase: the uncertain country. So its parroting that a bit.

Were never quite certain who is speaking in Archipelago, let alone where and when those voices are from.

That was intentional. Its linked to home, to something we belong to being part real and part imaginary. When we observe a situation, theres a lot of real and imagined past that goes into our present perspective. Its like a postmodern take on history. Everything is contemporary; past and present are living together. For me, its pretty important because it helps you name things that you feel and perceive.

Did you spend a lot of time rifling through archival footage?

Looking for the right archives wasnt painstaking. Rather, it was an ongoing process during the whole first year of production. Some of it was planned to be included at the very beginning, some came from family footage, friends films. Some was shot in 16 mm during the production but appears as archives.

Surprisingly, the principal archive footage that is used to, in a way, structure the film  the islands of the Saint Lawrence, with the maps and footage from the 1940s  wasnt planned. I found it while looking for other material.

This archive is used in various ways: as a quotation (introducing images and words from the past), as a basis for the rotoscoping, and also against itself. By that, I mean it is reworked and edited to criticize itself  to reveal that a part of it is false, politically oriented, and that we can (or should) also take a different meaning out of it so that a different historical narrative can emerge.

Because of the films experimental or non-linear approach and the different styles of animation, it sometimes felt like being inside someones sketchbook diary. Was there a lot of improvising going on?

Yes, a lot. From both me and the team. The team was really generous and involved. They had a lot of freedom but they gave a lot of themselves. There were five or six people who spent the whole two years with us.

Did you ever have any moments, because you were improvising, where you thought, Shit, where is this going??

Yes, every week!

It must have been liberating too.

Yeah, it was good to just step out of your ego and try not to be so controlling. It was fun to talk with people you like being with and to see the images theyd made. I did feel a bit of anguish though about not having a film [at the end of the process].

Im very precise with the editing. I recorded and edited the dialogue at the beginning so its very clearly placed. And I started putting the images over that. There ended up being over twice as much dialogue as originally planned.

How did you find your animators and what instructions did you give them?

It varied. For some sequences I was quite precise, but for others I gave them brief notes then just said, Go and draw like you draw. So your impression of it being like a sketchbook is right. Jens Hahn did some of the crowd sequences. It took me two years to convince him to just go ahead, man, and do what you do. I knew he was a painter, but he never shows anyone his work. Hes really good at free drawn portraits so I just asked him to do what he does.

I had some ideas about what I wanted for certain scenes, and approached animators whose work I thought would fit that. For example, I asked Phil Lockerby to draw the scene where people are drunk because I knew he was good at sketching people in bars.

Whats next?

I have a new feature that is written and partially financed. Its a French-Luxembourg co-production called Death Does Not Exist. Its a tragic take on political violence.

Do you set out now to make a feature or do the concepts dictate the format?

[Laughs] Its a bit of pride perhaps, but I do love having a screening to myself. Its wonderful. I love the length and space that you get directing a feature. You can take more time. It brings animation out of its normal audience. I appreciate that. Ive often launched films in a non-animation context. Those audiences often seem surprised by this auteur side of animation, and the beauty and strength of it.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), the nation's largest wholesale water supplier, in partnership with NASA Tournament Lab (NTL) and HeroX , the leading crowdsourcing platform for solutions to global problems, today announced the crowdsourcing competition " Water America's Crops Challenge ." The challenge calls on the global community of solvers to find an innovative, low-cost, and durable solution that will help reduce water seepage from Reclamation's canals. Reclamation's 8,116 miles of canals deliver water across six regions of the Western U.S. and collectively serve over 30 million customers and support 10 million acres of farmland that produce 60% of the nation's vegetables and 25% of its fruits and nuts. This challenge seeks to reduce the amount of water lost during transport to Reclamation's customers.

Water America's Crops Challenge

Water conservation has always been a critical initiative, but it has grown more important in the face of extreme droughts, floods, and other climate events. One way to conserve water is to reduce water losses, and specifically seepage of water into the subsurface. Seepage is the gradual loss of water through the base or walls of a canal, and represents the most significant cause of water loss in canals. Seepage may occur through permeable soils, through bedrock fractures, or a combination of both mechanisms. If not adequately addressed, seepage may result in a canal failure, which could be catastrophic for surrounding communities.

Reclamation currently employs a variety of methods for reducing seepage in canals. However, current methods have tradeoffs among effectiveness at reducing water loss, durability, and maintenance requirementseach of which can increase costs for Reclamation and the communities it serves.

This challenge seeks engineering innovations that reduce or eliminate these tradeoffs with an effective, durable, low-maintenance, and cost-effective solution that can address canal seepage in a variety of regions and conditions.

"This is the sort of challenge the HeroX community is made for," said Christian Cotichini, CEO of HeroX. "The water seepage problem impacts a critical part of our infrastructure, and we are in need of innovations that are effective and economically sustainable.This is where the crowd can step in, with brilliant minds working worldwide to protect one of our most valuable resources: our water."

The Challenge: The Bureau of Reclamation is seeking to accelerate new approaches and solutions for reducing seepage that can demonstrate strong performance in a laboratory environment and quickly scale toward field testing and commercialization. Solvers whose proposals are chosen as finalists will receive a prize purse at the end of Phase 1; testing and performance results of their prototype at Reclamation labs at the end of Phase 2; and an opportunity to pitch to Reclamation customers and communities at a showcase event after the end of Phase 2. The winner of the challenge will exhibit strong technical performance and be well-positioned to attract customers in Reclamation communities after the challenge is won.

To learn more and become a solver, visit www.herox.com/WaterAmericasCrops

ABOUT HEROX

HeroX is a social network for crowdsourcing innovation and human ingenuity, co-founded in 2013 by serial entrepreneur, Christian Cotichini and XPRIZE Founder and Futurist, Peter Diamandis. HeroX offers a turnkey, easy-to-use platform that supports anyone, anywhere, to solve everyday business and world challenges using the power of the crowd. Uniquely positioned as the Social Network for Innovation, HeroX is the only place you can build, grow and curate your very own crowd.

Media Contact:

Alexandra Pony

[email protected]

250.858.0656

SOURCE HeroX
Vale SA reached a settlement agreement with Brazilian authorities for a dam collapse that killed 270 people and led to production cutbacks that stripped the company of the title of worlds biggest iron ore producer.

The deal comes two years after the Brumadinho disaster, giving affected communities a clear framework for compensation and reparations and removing a considerable legal overhang for Vale. Its shares were little changed in Sao Paulo.

Related: Brazilian Dam Claimants to Take BHP Class Action to English Court of Appeal

Vale will pay 37.7 billion reais ($7.03 billion) including cash payments to affected people and investments in environmental projects, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in a statement. Vale estimates it will book an additional expense of 19.8 billion reais in 2020 results.

This is the largest reparation agreement ever signed in Latin America in financial terms and with the participation of the state, and one of the largest in the world, Minas Gerais said in a statement.

The two sides come together after Vale initially presented a value of about 21 billion reais, while Minas Gerais outlined 28 billion reais in material damages plus 26 billion reais in moral damages.

Vale said about 8,900 people are already parties of civil or labor indemnification agreements, while more than 100,000 have received emergency aid totaling 1.8 billion reais.

With Vale benefiting from high iron ore prices, the Brumadinho settlement isnt expected to jeopardize any of its investment plans, according to Ativa Investimentos. Iron ore futures climbed 73% last year on strong Chinese demand.

The agreement is about two thirds of the amount initially sought by the courts, which corroborates a positive negotiation for Vale, Ativa analyst Ilan Arbetman said. In addition, its adjusted net debt allows it to dispose of the amounts not provisioned without further complications.

Vales shares extended gains after a trading halt, but then pared the advance. The stock was up 0.2% at 11:24 a.m. local time with the Brazilian benchmark little changed.

In the past year, Vales local shares gained 73%, double that of rival Rio Tinto Group. Still, Vale trades at 5.3 times estimated earnings versus Rio Tintos 8.8 ratio.

The agreement removes a key overhang for the stock, which still trades at a discount to peers, said Leonardo Morales, head of equities at ASA Investments.

With assistance from Ney Hayashi, Rachel Gamarski, Vinicius Andrade and Luana Vicentina.

Photograph: Residents survey damage after a Vale SA dam burst in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019. Photo credit: Victor Moriyama/Bloomberg.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Mining
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
REGENHU today announced its participation in the FLAMIN-GO research project aimed at developing an organ-on-chip technology for clinical trials on Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).

FLAMIN-GO is an EU-funded project featuring a strong, well-balanced composition of hospital, academia, and industry partners which brings together the know-how of experts in the fields of rheumatology, material science, tissue engineering, nanotechnology, cell biology, and 3D modeling, in a cohesive, transdisciplinary, multi-sectorial approach. The objective is to develop a personalized next-generation synovia-on-chip, that, by effectively mimicking the complexity of an RA joint, will enable personalized clinical trials-on-chip, and ultimately open new avenues toward personalized care in RA.

FLAMIN-GO was designed precisely with the intention of opening up a new pathway towards personalized medicine in the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis. The goal is to provide an organ-on-chip solution (OoC) whereby the best drug on the market for treating each patient can be selected, which will also support the development of new drugs. This solution will be based on the design and production of a multi-compartment microfluidic platform for 3D cell culture and perfusion of all joint tissues relevant to the disease, mentioned Annalisa Chiocchetti, project coordinator and Professor of Immunology at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara.

REGENHUs participation in the consortium will be three-fold: the company will be providing (a) a customized 3D bioprinter and associated design software capable of printing cell layers into the organ chips in a highly reproducible and accurate manner with high cell viability. (b) training in the use of bioprinter and software, and (c) technical support to the consortium members in resolving issues with printability of biomaterials.

For REGENHU, joining FLAMIN-GO represents a great step forward in maintaining our leadership in 3D bioprinting innovation, said Simon MacKenzie, Chief Executive Officer, REGENHU. We believe that the knowledge generated in the consortium will lead to the discovery of new approaches to help deliver meaningful, novel, alternative solutions for the millions of patients living with RA across Europe.

About Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder, characterized by synovial joint inflammation, affecting 1% of the overall population. Around 2,9 million patients in the EU are affected by this condition.

Over time, RA can also lead to permanent disability. Currently, there is no cure for RA, but remission of symptoms is more likely when treatment begins early, with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

About FLAMIN-GO

FLAMIN-GO is a research project designed to develop tailored treatments for each patient suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis. Under the leadership of the University of Eastern Piedmont, the project originated from a collaboration among different public and private organizations, including the Institute of Nanotechnology of the National Research Council (Cnr Nanotec) at Lecce, Queen Mary University of London, the Max Planck Institute, and the Swiss AO Research Institute Davos, ARI.

About REGENHU

REGENHU is a research-driven, Swiss MedTech bioprinter pioneer committed to assisting the research and scientific communities by creating and developing state-of-the-art bioprinting technologies to revolutionize medicine.

Founded in 2007, the dynamic and rapidly expanding company is based in Villaz-St-Pierre, Switzerland, with offices in the United States, and distributors in Asia and Oceania.
A newspaper consumer reads a copy of China's Africa edition of its daily newspaper infront of a news stand in the Kenyan capital on Dec. 14, 2012. (Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images)

No Country Is Immune: Report Reveals Beijings Toolbox to Export Authoritarian Narrative

Countries should be vigilant about the serious threats posed by Chinas expanding global media influence, according to a new report published by the U.S.-based National Endowment for Democracy.

The report, titled Chinas Global Media Footprint: Democratic Responses to Expanding Authoritarian Influence, detailed how the Chinese regime has been leveraging propaganda, disinformation, censorship, and influence over key nodes in the information flow, as it expanded its efforts to shape media content globally to portray Beijing in a positive light.

Between the established practices of diplomatic maneuvering and coercive activities is a gray zone that the report described as sharp powerexploiting the openness of Western societies to manipulate foreign media contentwhich Beijing has capitalized for its gains.

Their sharper edge often undermines democratic norms, erodes national sovereignty, weakens the financial sustainability of independent media, and violates local laws, stated Sarah Cook, author of the report and research director for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan at the human rights group Freedom House.

No country is immune: the targets include poor and institutionally fragile states as well as wealthy democratic powers, she said.

China began to talk about the importance of telling Chinas story around 2013. In September 2013, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, at a national propaganda and ideological work conference, said that it was important for China to do a good job on overseas propaganda by spreading Chinas voices.

Now, amid the ongoing pandemic, Beijing has said it is important to tell Chinas story on its success in fighting the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

An article posted on the CCPs official website in July last year stated that at the core of Chinas story is the story of the Chinese Communist Party. Such stories, therefore, should demonstrate why history has chosen the Chinese Communist Party, how the regime has served the interests of the people, and ruled the country with wisdom, it said.

Beijings tactics to rewrite the global narrative on China has expanded considerably over the last decade, to the point that hundreds of millions of news consumers around the world are routinely viewing, reading, or listening to information created or influenced by the CCP, often without knowing its origins, according to the report.

Exploiting Western Vulnerabilities

Existing weaknesses in Western countries have aided Beijings efforts to grow its global media influence, the report noted.

Local media might find it hard to resist partnership offers or ad deals from Chinese state-linked companies due to shortage of funds; local officials, think tanks, and the civil society tend to lack a sophisticated understanding toward the CCP; Chinese diplomats have deployed long-standing campaigns to control overseas Chinese-language media and censor unfavorable media coverage, according the report. The growing use of Chinese-owned apps such as WeChat among Chinese diaspora, rising political polarization, and anti-Western sentiment in some countries have also played into Beijings advantage.

Hundreds of incidents that have occurred around the world over the past decade demonstrate that once the CCPor a company, media outlet, or owner with close ties to the partygains a foothold within an information dissemination channel, manipulation efforts inevitably follow, the report stated.

Amid the worsening COVID-19 outbreak, for example, the CCP has leveled charges of racism to deflect blame, lashing out at U.S. officials for using the term Wuhan virus, even though the same term had previously appeared in Chinese state media articles.

The report also cited thousands of Beijing-sponsored trips for foreign journalists as key to influencing Western media coverage. Journalists are usually strictly monitored during the trips, and only allowed a perspective that the CCP desires them to see.

Meanwhile, the Chinese acquisition of local media has succeeded in shifting the editorial line in stories about Taiwan, South Africa, and the Czech Republic.

A survey by Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists, released in June 2020, found that two-thirds of its members believe China was creating a visible presence in their national media. Journalism unions from at least eight countries said they have signed deals with Chinese entities, which usually includes content-sharing agreements, journalist exchange programs, or participation in a Chinese government event.

And global social media such as Facebook and Twitter, which remain banned in China, have taken down swathes of accountswhich they traced back to Chinathat run coordinated campaigns to promote pro-Beijing viewpoints and sow discord.

With the Chinese regime taking a whole-of-society approach to authoritarian control, a robust response from the West is necessary, Cook said in the report. Some of her recommendations include increasing scrutiny on pre-election media coverage and Chinese-language media; censorship review and security audits of Chinese-owned apps; research to identify media ownership and financial ties with the CCP; and more rigorous efforts from press freedom watchdog to warn the public and lawmakers alike about the CCP influence.
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A Birmingham man has been charged in a December crash that killed a 1-year-old girl.

Michael Harbin, 53, is charged with reckless manslaughter in the Dec. 19 death of Madison Rayne Jones of Midfield, according to court records made public Wednesday.

Madison was a passenger in a Volkswagon Passat that was stopped at a traffic light in the 5700 block of Valley Road just before 9:45 p.m. that Saturday. Authorities said the Passat, as well as a Honda Accord, were both struck from behind by a Dodge Ram traveling north on Valley Road at a high rate of speed.

A 1-year-old Midfield girl was killed Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020, in a crash in Fairfield.

The crash happened at 9:42 p.m. Madison had to be extricated from the vehicle and was taken to Childrens of Alabama where she was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m.

The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office investigated the case. Harbin was arrested Jan. 27. He was booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 9:15 a.m. and released at 2:49 p.m. after posting $30,000 bond.
The subject of vaccination against coronavirus (COVID-19) should not be politicized in Ukraine, Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine (ICRC) Florence Gillette said.

"Vaccines should not be politicized. Vaccine deployment should be strictly guided by the principle of impartiality, prioritizing those who need it most," she said at an international online conference organized by the Embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta in Ukraine on Thursday.

According to her, this is a signal for the whole of Ukraine, but especially for the sides to the conflict in Donbas. Gillette also said that vaccines should not be used as an excuse to further restrict movement. The head of the ICRC in Ukraine also said that due to restrictions on movement due to COVID-19 across the contact line in Donbas, some people have not seen each other for 11 months.

"We also oppose the politicization of the role of vaccines or vaccine nationalism, and emphasize the importance of preparedness to distribute vaccines, including public information and an educational cam
Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue.

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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Mexican States, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, confirmed that the authorities in his country know about the situation of the Romanians stranded at the International Airport in Cancun and gave assurances that efforts are being made to clarify the situation.

The information comes in the context in which the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, had a conversation over the phone on Wednesday, upon the request of the Romanian side, with his Mexican counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, following the efforts made by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) to resolve the situation of the Romanian citizens facing a refusal from the Mexican authorities to allow them to entry the territory of the United Mexican States.

According to a press release sent by the MAE to AGERPRES, during the telephone conversation, Minister Aurescu reiterated "the concern of the Romanian authorities regarding the arbitrary way in which the Mexican authorities refused the access of the Romanian citizens, who were traveling for tourism, on the territory of the United Mexican States and reiterated his call for a transparent and predictable approach with respect to the regime of foreign tourists in Mexico."

Aurescu pointed out the need for such decisions to be based on individual assessments, on a case-by-case basis, which plea he also included in the letter addressed to his Mexican counterpart. He underscored that Romania respects the sovereign right of Mexico to make decisions not to allow foreign nationals to enter its own territory, but underscored the importance of analyzing them on a case-by-case basis, and not by "the application of a generalized, group decision, which cannot be allowed."

In this context, the Romanian Minister underscored, once again, that Romania believes that the return decisions had not been explained and communicated to each Romanian citizen involved or to the Romanian authorities, and renewed the call for the Mexican authorities to clarify the concrete reasons and the entire situation.

Minister Aurescu also pointed out the lack of prior signals, through diplomatic channels, from the Mexican authorities, recalling the good traditional relations between Romania and the United Mexican States.

The head of the Romanian diplomacy informed the Mexican counterpart about the situation of the Romanian citizens who were not allowed access to Mexico and who are still waiting for repatriation, including families with children, in the meantime being forced to wait in improper conditions.

He made a special appeal to his counterpart to identify immediate measures to improve the waiting conditions for the 114 Romanian citizens currently stranded at the Cancun International Airport, as well as the way in which they are being treated by the Mexican authorities on the airport. He pointed out that,only through the sustained efforts of the Romanian Embassy to Mexico and the Honorary Consul of Romania in Cancun food and water could be provided for these people. Romania's ad-interim charge d'affairs to Mexico is at the Cancun International Airport to provide on-site assistance to the Romanian citizens awaiting return flights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Aurescu also underscored, during the discussion, "the strong negative echoes in the Romanian public space, including at the institutional level, in the mass media and among the economic operators in the field of tourism and voiced concern about the impact of this situation on the relationship between Romania and the United Mexican States, which has seen an upward trend in recent years, as well as the attractiveness of Mexico as a tourist destination."

The Mexican counterpart assured that he would quickly inform the Romanian side about the concrete measures considered by the Mexican authorities and assured that he would take immediate steps to improve the waiting conditions for Romanian citizens at the Cancun airport.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs points out that a travel warning for Mexico was issued on Wednesday, available online at www.mae.ro/node/54857.


Highlights Myanmar mobile operators and internet service providers received a directive from the communications ministry to temporarily block Facebook.

Network monitoring group Net Blocks noted state-owned telecom MPT had blocked Facebook as well as its Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp services.

Facebook is popular in Myanmar and the ousted government had commonly made public announcements on the social media site.

Myanmar's new military government passed a directive to the country's telecom companies asking them to block Facebook from the country until February 7 to maintain stability. Resistance to the military coup surged amid calls for civil disobedience to protest the ousting of the elected civilian government and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi. A letter posted online by the Ministry of Communications and Information, accessed by Reuters, said Facebook would be blocked until February 7 for the sake of stability.

"Currently the people who are troubling the country's stability are spreading fake news and misinformation and causing misunderstanding among people by using Facebook," the Ministry letter said. Facebook is popular in Myanmar and the ousted government had commonly made public announcements on the social media site. As per reports, half of Myanmar's 53 million people use Facebook.

Network monitoring group Net Blocks noted that the state-owned telecom MPT, which says it has 23 million users, had blocked Facebook as well as its Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp services. According to news agency PTI, the disruption began late Wednesday night. Mobile service provider Telenor Myanmar confirmed in a statement that mobile operators and internet service providers in Myanmar had received a directive from the communications ministry to temporarily block Facebook.

"While the directive has a legal basis in Myanmar law, Telenor does not believe that the request is based on necessity and proportionality, in accordance with international human rights law," Telenor Myanmar, which is part of the Norwegian Telenor Group, said. "Telecom providers in Myanmar have been ordered to temporarily block Facebook. We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with family and friends and access important information," a Facebook spokesperson told news agency PTI. Earlier this week, Facebook said it was treating the situation in Myanmar as an emergency and taking temporary measures to protect against harm such as removing content that praises or supports the coup.

Myanmar was under military rule for five decades after a 1962 coup, and Suu Kyi's five years as a leader in its most democratic period. The charge would allow her to legally be kept in custody until at least February 15. The ousted President Win Myint is being held on a separate charge. Suu Kyi is believed to remain under house arrest at her residence, where she was kept after the army detained her.

Meanwhile, the world's longest Internet shutdown - affecting more than a million people for 19 months in one of Myanmar's ethnic conflict zones - has come to an end, a mobile operator based in the region told news agency AFP. The Internet in parts of Myanmar's troubled northern states of Rakhine and Chin was suspended in June 2019 following emergency orders issued by the telecoms department under Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government. Following the military coup, the services were reinstated in eight townships on Wednesday.
File image: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

The Delhi government on February 4 launched an eight-week long awareness campaign urging people to adopt electric vehicles in the fight against pollution.

With its Electric Vehicle policy, the government aims at achieving an ambitious target of having at least 25 percent of vehicles registered in Delhi running on electricity by 2024.

We want to ensure that Delhi has at least 25 percent electrical vehicles by 2024. People should buy more EV vehicles. Delhi government is offering subsidy for this, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said while launching the #SwicthDelhi campaign.



       ,    Electric vehicle  Switch  pic.twitter.com/QNLCdDWYHq

 Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 4, 2021

Of the 73 lakh vehicles registered in Delhi at present, just 0.2 percent are electric.

The EV policy, announced in December 2019 and notified by the Delhi government in August last year, is aimed at boosting the economy, creating jobs and reducing air pollution by offering subsidies and waivers on road tax and registration for electric vehicle purchases in Delhi.

The Delhi government had in October officially notified a full waiver on road tax and registration fee for battery-operated vehicles. This benefit is in addition to a subsidy of Rs 10,000 per kWh for the first 1,000 electric four-wheelers, capped at Rs 1,50,000 per vehicle. For two-wheeler, auto-rickshaw, rickshaw and freight vehicles, running on environment-friendly fuel, the subsidy is Rs 5,000 per kWh of the battery capacity up to Rs 30,000 per vehicle.

Despite the governments publicity drives, less than ten percent of e-vehicles had received subsidy under the scheme in the first five months of the policy, according to reports. Since August, Delhi registered over 5,000 EVs till December 22 last year. But, of these, only 21% (1,068) vehicles got the incentives, according to a report in Hindustan Times.

Officials said that the demand for EV vehicles would go up as the car manufacturers are coming up with more options in the market. The government is also setting up 100 charging stations in Delhi to facilitate the switch to e-vehicles.



Today, as we launch this 8 week campaign, I urge all individual & fleet owners to adopt EVs. Your govt is leading this fight against pollution by shifting to EV.

I assure you, we're here to help you switch to sustainable transport. For our city & our future, Let's #Switchdelhi. pic.twitter.com/eoc5i1KrWx  Kailash Gahlot (@kgahlot) February 4, 2021

The government has termed the policy a significant step towards ensuring cleaner air in Delhi, which faces bad air issues, particularly in the winter months.

Vehicles are the biggest source of pollution in the capital and amount to 40% of PM2.5 air pollution levels and 80% of carbon monoxide in the air. Over their lifetime, these EVs are estimated to save approximately Rs 6,000 crores worth of oil and liquid natural gas consumption, Kejriwal had said while launching the EV Policy last year.

Officials said that the target of the policy is to reduce carbon emissions by 4.8 million tones by 2024. To facilitate this, the Delhi government has started adding 1,000 low floor AC buses to the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus fleet.
The makers of the film, The Girl On The Train recently revealed its trailer and the lead actor of the film, Parineeti Chopra has been on the receiving end of several praises for her performance in the same. The actor can clearly be seen shedding off her girl-next-door image for the film as her character consists of some intense and gritty shades in the film. Parineeti recently revealed how getting into the skin of her character was a difficult process for her and that she had to tap into some traumatic memories of herself for the same.

Parineeti Chopra revealed how she broke down several times on the sets of the film, as she was haunted by some dark memories of her life. Talking about the same with Mid-Day, the actor said, "I have tapped into my innermost traumatic memories to bring this character to life. I don't remember how many times I broke down on the set because I was revisiting memories that I had buried deep in my mind and heart."

Parineeti also went on to say how the film always kept her on the edge and that every shot was very difficult for her. She added, "I never wanted to face those incidents again. I realised that to be able to pull off this character, I will have to dig deep into my past and confront the pain I endured in my personal life. This film has taken me to hell and back because it constantly kept me on the edge. It wasn't easy [to be in this state] before every shot."

Talking about The Girl On The Train, the film is helmed by Ribhu Dasgupta. The film will also be starring Aditi Rao Hydari, Avinash Tiwari and Kirti Kulhari in pivotal roles. The film will be releasing on February 26, on Netflix.

Also Read: The Girl On The Train Trailer: Parineeti Chopra Sets Out To Find The Missing Piece Of Her Past

Also Read: The Girl On The Train Teaser: Parineeti Chopra Starrer Murder Mystery Looks Intriguing; Release Date Out
Burma Myanmar Cardinal Calls for Release of Detained Leaders, Urges Calm After Coup

Cardinal Charles Bo / The Irrawaddy

YANGONThe Archbishop of Yangon has urged the Myanmar military to release State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and other detainees at the earliest while appealing to the public not to resort to violence and to stay calm even as they voice their opposition to the recent military takeover.

In his message to the People of Myanmar And Our International Communities released late Wednesday night, Cardinal Charles Bo also urged those countries gearing up to impose economic sanctions against the country following the military coup to consider the reality of the situation in Myanmar, taking into account the countrys history and its economic and political conditions, as sanctions risk collapsing the economy, throwing millions into poverty.

Prior to the release of the statement, the Yangon Region military commander met with the cardinal at the archbishops residence in downtown Yangon on Wednesday. Details of the nearly 15-minute-long meeting were unknown.

In his letter, the Archbishop of Yangon told the people of Myanmar that he shared deep fellowship with all of them as they grapple with the unexpected, shocking events that are unfolding in the country.

I appeal to each one of you, stay calm, never fall victim to violence. Even at this most challenging moment, I believe that peace is the only way. There are always nonviolent ways for expressing our protests, he said.

Following the coup, the military regime promised to hold a new election as soon as it completes implementing emergency measures.

In his message, the cardinal told the military regime leaders that Myanmar people are tired of empty promises and will never accept fake protestation.

How will you gain the trust of our people? They will trust only when words are matched by sincere actions, he warned.

He stressed that the military leaders must understand the peoples anguish and disappointment and urged the Tatmadaw, Myanmars military, not to commit any violence against the people. Once again I plead with you, treat them with great dignity and peace, he said.

Referring to President U Win Myint, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and others in detention, the cardinal urged the regime to respect their rights and release them at the earliest.

You promise democracy; start with releasing them. [The] World will understand you, he said.

Addressing the President and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Cardinal Bo said that truth will prevail; God is the ultimate arbiter of truth. But God waits.

At this moment I offer my personal sympathies with your plight and pray that you may once again walk amidst your people, raising their spirits, he said.

At the same time, the cardinal said he wished to confirm that the coup took place due to a lack of dialogue and communication between the two sides and their lack of acceptance of one another, referring to the militarys complaints of alleged electoral fraud during the November election and the governments silence over the issue.

Please listen to others, he suggested.

The pre-dawn coup in Myanmar on Monday has drawn international condemnation. The US State Department said a very small circle of Burmas military leaders have chosen their own interests over the will and well-being of the people. On Wednesday, the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, and representatives of the European Union, also condemned the coup.

Following the coup, a number of countries appear to be preparing to slap sanctions on Myanmar. The US said the takeover would trigger restrictions in American assistance to the country.

On that issue, Cardinal Bo reminded the international community that, while he is grateful for their concerns, history has painfully shown that abrupt conclusions and judgements ultimately do not benefit Myanmar people as sanctions and condemnations brought few results, rather they closed doors and shut out dialogue.

These hard measures have proved a great blessing to those super powers that eye our resources, he warned, referring to what happened in Myanmar in the late 1990s, when international isolation forced the then military regime to become dependent on China. A series of international restrictions were imposed on Myanmar at the time, but the then military government rarely suffered the impact, and the public simply grew poorer.

The cardinal urged the international community to deal with the reality, understanding well Myanmars history and the risk of collapsing the economy, throwing millions into poverty.

Engaging the actors in reconciliation is the only path, he reminded the international community.

The cardinal said the latest coup and the consequences that have unfolded since early this week were painful and had shattered our people.

Let us solve all disputes through dialogue, he said.

You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Military Govt Blocks Facebook as Civil Disobedience Support Grows Online

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Myanmars Coup Leaders Name a New Union Election Commission
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 17:48:05|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- China and Japan have agreed to properly manage their differences through dialogue and pragmatically promote cooperation in maritime affairs, making the East China Sea a sea of peace, cooperation and friendship.

The agreement was reached during the 12th round of high-level consultations on maritime affairs held between the two countries via video link on Wednesday. Based on a meeting of delegation heads on Jan. 20, this round of consultations saw a plenary meeting for the consultation mechanism and three working group meetings on maritime defense, maritime law enforcement and security, and the marine economy.

Stressing the importance of peace and stability in the East China Sea, the two sides agreed to hold annual and special meetings for the defense sector's maritime and air liaison mechanism as soon as possible, accelerate the construction of a direct telephone line under the mechanism, and strengthen crisis management and control to prevent unexpected events.

China and Japan reached a consensus on maritime search cooperation between the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center and the Japan Coast Guard, combating maritime crimes and promoting exchanges between law enforcement officers.

The two sides agreed to promote exchanges concerning marine environmental protection and to further strengthen cooperation on the prevention and control of marine plastic waste.

They also agreed to carry out exchanges between maritime personnel from the two foreign ministries, promote exchanges between young officials, and support exchanges and cooperation among think tanks as well as academic and educational institutions.

The two sides pledged to cooperate further in combating illegal fishing, promoting eel resource management and conserving fishery resources in the North Pacific.

They also exchanged views on marine resources and energy, wastewater treatment at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, marine science and technology, and marine industrial cooperation.

They agreed in principle to hold the 13th round of high-level consultations on maritime affairs later this year. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 22:37:07|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks to villagers who are participating in festive activities, and extends his New Year's greetings to people of all ethnic groups across the country, on a public square of Huawu Village, Xinren Miao Township of Qianxi County, Bijie, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Feb. 3, 2021. Xi on Wednesday inspected southwest China's Guizhou Province ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Visiting poor villages has been a key part of Xi Jinping's more than 80 domestic inspections since he was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in late 2012.

His tour in the less-developed Guizhou Province this week, however, signals a change.

As the country has gained a decisive victory in ending absolute poverty, the focus of work concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers has shifted to promoting rural vitalization.

A priority is to consolidate poverty relief achievements. The more difficult it is for a region to shake off poverty, the greater the need to consolidate and expand its poverty eradication results.

By choosing Guizhou, home to the last nine counties removed from the country's poverty list, Xi wanted to see in person the living conditions of those who had shaken off poverty, and promote steady progress in rural vitalization.

He went to Huawu Village in Qianxi County that was once reeling under extreme poverty but has received support to develop rural industries and tourism.

Xi visited a Miao embroidery workshop there, giving thumbs up to its role in promoting rural vitalization.

He joined the family of Zhao Yuxue in Huawu Village to make a traditional snack for festivals and wished the family "a happier and sweeter life."

As Xi has pointed out on various occasions, rural vitalization involves work in the following aspects:

-- rural industries must be bolstered to turn farming into promising work;

-- favorable conditions must be created for those who choose to stay in the countryside;

-- cultural activities must be enriched;

-- the environment and ecology must be good and village-level organizations should be full of vigor.

The message of shifting the focus in work concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers has become clear over time.

A key session of the 19th CPC Central Committee last October called for efforts in consolidating achievements secured in poverty eradication and fully promoting the strategy of rural vitalization.

At the annual central rural work conference held in last December, Xi stressed that China should push forward rural vitalization in an all-round way as "a historic shift" in the focus of its work concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

The year 2021 marks the start of China's 14th five-year plan for economic and social development and its new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country.

In that pursuit, the rural areas remain where the most formidable tasks, as well as the broadest and most profound foundations, lie.

Xi's Guizhou tour is expected to point out the future direction for promoting rural vitalization.

As he has said, being lifted out of poverty is not an end in itself but the starting point of a new life and a new pursuit. Enditem
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[February 04, 2021]

Fairview Microwave Introduces New Waveguide-to-Coax Adapters with European IEC Standard Flanges

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fairview Microwave Inc., an Infinite Electronics brand and a leading provider of on-demand RF, microwave and millimeter wave components, has just launched a new line of euro-style flange, waveguide-to-coax adapters that are ideal for radar, satellite and wireless communications, and test instrumentation applications.

Fairview Microwave's new waveguide-to-coax adapters cover a wide range of waveguide sizes that include European IEC standard flanges (including UBR square cover, UDR and PDR types), WR-22 to WR-430, right-angle and end-launch coaxial connector options, and N-type, SMA, 2.92mm and 2.4mm connector choices.

These new waveguide-to-coax adapters transform waveguide transmission lines into 50-ohm coaxial lines, which allows each adapter to cover the full frequency range of its waveguide band and power to be tranmitted in either direction.







"Not only are these new flange-style waveguide-to-coax adapters compliant European IEC standards, they are ready and available off-the-shelf to address our customers' urgent needs," said Steven Pong, Product Line Manager, RF Passive Components.

Fairview Microwave's new waveguide-to-coax adapters with IEC euro-style flanges are in-stock and available for immediate shipping.

For inquiries, Fairview Microwave can be contacted at +1-972-649-6678.

About Fairview Microwave:

A leading supplier of on-demand RF and microwave products since 1992, Fairview Microwave offers immediate delivery of RF components including attenuators, adapters, coaxial cable assemblies, connectors, terminations and much more. All products are shipped same-day from the company's ISO 9001:2015 certified production facilities in Lewisville, Texas. Fairview Microwave is an Infinite Electronics brand.

About Infinite Electronics:

Based in Irvine, Calif., Infinite Electronics offers a broad range of components, assemblies, and wired/wireless connectivity solutions, serving the aerospace/defense, industrial, government, consumer electronics, instrumentation, medical and telecommunications markets. Infinite's brands include Pasternack, Fairview Microwave, L-com, MilesTek, Aiconics, KP Performance Antennas, PolyPhaser, Transtector, RadioWaves, ShowMeCables, INC Installs, Integra Optics and NavePoint. Infinite Electronics serves a global engineering customer base with deep technical expertise and support, with one of the broadest inventories of products available for immediate shipment.

Press Contact:

Peter McNeil

Fairview Microwave

17792 Fitch

Irvine, CA 92614

(978) 682-6936

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fairview-microwave-introduces-new-waveguide-to-coax-adapters-with-european-iec-standard-flanges-301221237.html

SOURCE Fairview Microwave Inc.
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President Joe Biden has made a priority of moving aggressively toward increased use of renewable energy and away from fossil fuels. He has canceled the federal permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which was designed to carry crude oil from Canadian tar sands oil fields to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. And he has placed a moratorium on new oil, gas and mining leases on federal land.

A great deal of oil and gas extraction continues on federal land under existing leases, and Biden is on the mark in ordering a review of whether taxpayers who own that land are fairly compensated.

The rate that drillers pay the federal government for oil leases, 12.5%, has not changed since President Woodrow Wilson signed the Mineral Leasing Act in 1920. And the companies pay lease rates as low as $1.50 per acre.

Industry associations argue that the lease rate is fair, but companies typically pay far higher rates to states when drilling on state land. The Pennsylvania Game Commission negotiated a royalty rate of 20.55% in 2016 when it leased some of its land to a driller from Texas, for example. And the state of Texas assesses royalty rates as high as 25% for drilling there. Colorado, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, North Dakota and Wyoming all have royalty rates higher than 12.5%.

Congress should join the effort to give taxpayers fair value for oil extraction on their land. But if it does not, Biden should do so through executive action.
Imperial Valley News Center

Former Member of Baldwin Park City Council Pleads Guilty to Bribery and Admits Receiving Nearly $38,000 to Support a Police Contract

Los Angeles, California - A former Baldwin Park city councilmember has pleaded guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes  including $20,000 in cash  from a Baldwin Park Police officer working at the FBIs direction, in exchange for the councilmembers political support of the Baldwin Park Police Associations contract with the city, the Justice Department announced.

Ricardo Pacheco, 58, of Baldwin Park, who was elected to the City Council in 1997 and served as mayor pro tempore in 2018, pleaded guilty on June 15 to a federal bribery charge. On Tuesday, federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal information against Pacheco, as well as portions of a plea agreement in which Pacheco agreed to fully cooperate in ongoing public corruption investigations. The unsealed plea agreement contains a redacted statement of facts to protect the integrity of ongoing aspects of those investigations.

In the documents unsealed this week, Pacheco admitted to soliciting and receiving a total of $37,900 in bribes from a Baldwin Park police officer from January through October 2018 to support and vote for the Police Associations contract, which was worth at least $4.4 million over three years. The police officer who made the payments did so at the direction of the FBI after another officer and he approached the FBI and agreed to assist in its ongoing corruption investigation. In exchange for the payments, Pacheco voted in favor of the Police Association contract in March 2018.

The payments to Pacheco included a $20,000 cash bribe in October 2018, which the police officer provided to him in an envelope in a Baldwin Park coffee shop. Pacheco also solicited and received $17,900 in checks that he directed be made out to his church and sham political action committees he had set up using other individuals names but which he controlled.

As part of his plea agreement, Pacheco agreed to resign from his City Council seat, which he did in June. Pacheco also agreed to forfeit $83,145 in cash proceeds seized by the FBI, which included $62,900 that Pacheco said he had buried in his backyard in two locations.

Pacheco pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II. Pacheco is scheduled to be sentenced on August 2, at which time he will face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

The case against Pacheco was investigated by the FBI. This case is related to public corruption investigations being conducted by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the United States Attorneys Office.

Any member of the public who has information related to this or any other public corruption matter in Los Angeles County is encouraged to send information to the FBIs email tip line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or to contact the FBIs Los Angeles Field Office at (310) 477-6565.

The case against Pacheco is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas F. Rybarczyk of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section.
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"We are the world"...

"We are the children." (I'm using this wonderful song, written by Michael Jackson and LIONEL RICHIE, and applying it to the Jewish people because it seems to fit!)

The more I look up things about my favorites, the more I find out that they are (or were) Jewish!

For instance, who knew Larry King, super-famous radio and television personality, was a member of the clan? (I didn't.) His real name was Lawrence Zeiger. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. (like me) and his parents were from Minsk and Pinsk, part of the Russian Empire (like my mom's ancestry.)

Sadly Larry passed awa...
Secretary of State Tony Blinken has asked newly appointed Iran envoy Rob Malley to form a negotiating team made up of diplomats and experts with a range of views on the path forward with Iran, U.S. officials tell me.

Why it matters: Those instructions indicate the Biden administration is attempting to avoid groupthink when drafting its policies on Iran, while also signaling to critics that a diversity of views will be taken into consideration.

Blinken even asked Malley to bring in people who are more hawkish on Iran, according to a source close to the administration.

Malley is only beginning to form his new team. Once it's in place, he'll start to develop a strategy for re-engagement with Iran.

Malley is in touch with his European counterparts as well as officials from Israel and the Gulf countries, the U.S. officials say.

Between the lines: Israeli and Gulf officials have told me they're concerned that Malley is too soft on Iran.

What they're saying: "Secretary Blinken is building a dedicated team, drawing from clear-eyed experts with a diversity of views," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told me.

"Leading that team as our special envoy for Iran is Rob Malley, who brings to the position a track record of success negotiating constraints on Irans nuclear program. The secretary is confident he and his team will be able to do that once again."

Between the lines: Malley helped negotiate the 2015 deal and has been a prominent advocate of both the U.S. and Iran returning to the original agreement before negotiating a broader deal.

He told Axios last month that both sides had incentives to complete that "compliance for compliance" process before Iran's presidential elections in June.

The state of play: The Biden administration and the Iranian government both support that framework in principle.

The main divergence has to do with sequencing: The U.S. is offering sanctions relief after Iran returns to compliance, but Iran has insisted the U.S. lift sanctions first.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hinted at a middle path on CNN on Monday, proposing a mechanism to synchronize or coordinate steps by both sides.

Price reiterated Biden's commitment to return to compliance if Iran does first and then use the 2015 deal as a platform to build a longer and stronger agreement that also addresses other areas of concern.

But, he cautioned, "we are a long way from that point as Iran is out of compliance on a number of fronts and there are many steps in the process that we will need to evaluate. We will coordinate closely with our allies and partners, as well as with Congress," Price said.

What to watch: Iran has continued to take new steps in violation of the deal in recent days, including operating advanced IR-2M centrifuges at its Natanz facility and installing new IR-6 centrifuges at its Fordow nuclear site.
Berger said when he read the findings of the first probe, "it was pretty clear to me we needed to do a follow-on...

Steven Harris Downs is flanked by Troopers as he enters a Fairbanks courtroom Wednesday afternoon for arraignment. Downs, a 44-year-old from Auburn, Maine, is accused of raping and killing 20-year-old Sophie Sergie in a University of Alaska Fairbanks dormitory in 1993. Harris was extradited from Maine after a lengthy process and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in Anchorage on August 6. August 14, 2019.
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The movie industry has been shaken, with some releases pushed back months, some pushed back years, and some are now screening exclusively in Mozambique (probably). Hollywood's now going to have to be careful about what projects they move forward on. Worst-case, that means they'll now stick to making the most reliable homogenous crap, but let's hope it means we'll be spared unwanted movies about ...

4 The Tech Company, Shining With Promise

2010's The Social Network is a dark film, in some ways. Fortunes evaporate. Friends betray each other. Justin Timberlake, after looking cool, suddenly reveals himself to be a wimp. But the movie never comments darkly on the effects of Facebook or of social media. Sure, early on, there's a bit about Mark Zuckerberg stealing photos for his unethical pre-Facebook site, but Facebook itself is just a hugely valuable idea everyone wants a piece of, one that's a boon to the world.

Sony Pictures Well, OG Facebook was pretty great; not gonna lie.

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Even in 2010, people were debating the impact of Facebook, and basically, none of that debate made it into the film. Real-world people were asking whether online interaction isolates us, but the movie chose to show Mark stunted from the start, followed by plenty of partying and very little time online from anyone. People back then were talking about online privacy, but no one in the film gets personal information about anyone else from Facebook -- not even in that one scene about successfully guessing a student's name and background.

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And now, with all of us having witnessed a further decade of Facebook travesties, the one cinematic story of Facebook comes across as a ludicrously incomplete tale. We now know Facebook would go on to ravage the entire media industry, it would herd people toward fringe beliefs, it would preside over a brutal subversion of democracy. But as far as the film is concerned, the Facebook story's epilogue is just how much stock each founder received and about those two Harvard twins going on to row at the Olympics. It's like us having exactly one movie called The Life of Bin Laden and including nothing after 15-year-old Osama shopping in Sweden.

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Based on how much the movie's themes (which drew very little from real life -- the writers made up whatever they thought worked best) connected with the nature of Facebook, the film may as well have been about the invention of the toaster. That's not me dissing the film, by the way. That's what writer Aaron Sorkin said, bragging about his skill as a screenwriter. He had no particular interest in Facebook or the internet when taking on the project.
Pennsylvanias top COVID-19 vaccination official on Thursday said the state has begun examining how quickly providers are getting doses into peoples arms and will begin to favor those that do better.

Were narrowing in on a strategy that will allocate this vaccine to providers that really rewards those that can do it efficiently, do it effectively, meaning getting that second dose in there, and then report back to us as quickly as possible so we can get an understanding of the data, said Alison Beam, Pennsylvanias acting secretary of health.

Beam testified before a Republican-led state Senate committee on Thursday, discussing the vaccine rollout and answering questions for nearly 90 minutes.

Beam also said the state health department is asking CVS and Walgreens to dedicate more resources to vaccinating residents and staff at long-term care facilities.

The two national chains have a federal contract to handle vaccinations at the long-term care facilities. Senators from both parties on Thursday expressed concern about the pace of vaccination in long-term care, saying Pennsylvania lags behind multiple states.

According to Beam, the two chains have given first doses at the 650 skilled nursing homes theyre responsible for and expect to finish with second doses by around the beginning of March. They also have begun vaccinations at assisted living and personal care facilities, with that process expected to take until mid-April.

But according to Beam, the state isnt fully satisfied with the pace.

We actually are having conversations, even this afternoon, with them to outline our expectations, our accountability, and make sure they move as quickly as possible to deliver on that mission, she said.

Beam was pressed by Republican state Sen. Michele Brooks on the lag between when Pennsylvania receives doses and when the shots are given to people.

She acknowledged a lag, but said much of it has to do with delays necessitated by planning vaccination clinics and delays in reporting shots given.

Beam, in her explanation, also stressed that Pennsylvania is designating a set amount of doses to be used as second doses, since the two presently available vaccines require two doses to be fully effective.

There are some states that have pushed second doses as first doses, to get volume. That is not Pennsylvania, she said.

The second doses are coming from the federal government, as opposed to Pennsylvania storing them, or providers needing to set aside second doses. Beam indicated that some providers may be saving doses for later, and said her department is stressing to them they dont need to hold back doses, and second doses will arrive when needed.

State Sen. Maria Collett, a Democrat, cited incredible frustration and lack of transparency related to the rollout. She also said some providers are giving vaccine to people who arent part of Phase 1a, which is supposed to include only people who are at highest risk because of age, medical condition or being a health care worker.

Beam said, as part of the accountability effort, the state is looking at whether providers are complying with Phase 1a.

While members of both parties grilled Beam, they also told her her job is perhaps the hardest and most important in the state and they thanked her, saying the goal of the hearing is to find ways to improve the process.

There was acknowledgment that the available supply of vaccine is the biggest present obstacle to vaccinating more people.

Beam said Pennsylvania expected to receive 166,376 first doses this week, and expects 175,175 first doses next week. The state receives an additional amount for people due for second doses. Pennsylvania has about four million people in Phase 1a, state officials have said.

As of mid-week, about 2.1 million doses of vaccine had been distributed to Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The amount given to Pennsylvania is the fifth most in the country. Pennsylvania has distributed about 1.2 million doses, also the fifth most.

Pennsylvania also ranked fifth most for the number of people who have received at least one dose, about 917,000, and the number given two doses, about 238,000, according to the CDC.

However, Pennsylvanias rollout is slow, according to some analysts. For example, Beckers Hospital Review as of mid-week ranked ranked Pennsylvania 40th for its percentage of distributed doses that have been administered, with about 59%. For comparison, West Virginia, which is being held up as a model of vaccination efficiency, has given out about 82% of its doses, according to Beckers.

Beam on Thursday said the states short-term plan is to shift more vaccine to providers who have proven capable of vaccinating large volumes of people. She acknowledged those might not be the most convenient providers for some Pennsylvanians.

However, she said that when the supply expands, there will be a greater focus on convenience, including providing more vaccine to smaller, local providers, such as pharmacies.

The effort, when the supply improves, will also involve the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency working with counties and local communities to hold community vaccination clinics, Beam said.

More from PennLive

Pa. revises map that often led to dead ends for COVID-19 vaccine seekers

Pa. COVID-19 update: 146 new deaths; hospitalizations fall



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YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) reported on February 4 that it has received Armenias Inter-State complaint against Azerbaijan regarding the latters convention violations committed during and after the 2020 Artsakh War.

The court also said that it received numerous requests under Rule 39 concerning captives and POWs lodged by Armenia or by relatives of the captives.

The requests received so far concern 228 Armenians, it said.

Armenias complaint concerns Azerbaijans violations of the right to life, prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, the right to liberty, the right to property, the right to personal and family life, the right to education, as well as a number of other Convention rights of the population of Artsakh and Armenia. Among other things, the Government of Armenia raised the issues pertaining to the protection of the rights of prisoners of war; individual civilian captives; displaced people; deceased and wounded persons and their relatives; persons lost their property; local and international reporters, have been raised in the Application. A large amount of evidence has been submitted along with the Application.

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan
New Delhi, Feb 4 : Participating in the debate on motion of thanks to the President's address, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh on Thursday said the Prime Minister was against the federal structure as he imposed lockdown without consulting the states and without any prior notice.

"This House is the House of states and this is my allegation that the Prime Minister is against the Federal structure as he did not consult the Chief Ministers and imposed lockdown. Countries like Singapore gave eight-day prior notice." The Congress leader also attacked BJP leader Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, how the covid threat was overlooked to pull down the MP government.

Digvijaya Singh said the government was now overlooking the farmers protest and asked why Rajnath Singh, who had been in the forefront of earlier farmer agitations, was not kept in the committee but Piyush Goyal, who has nothing to do with the farmers, has been.

He said ,"Dissent is essence of Democracy", and said that the dissenters are being booked in various cases and denied bail also.

Earlier during the debate, Manoj Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) started the discussion on the Motion of thanks. He said the government was trying to replicate the model of Bihar in Punjab and Haryana.

He said that in Bihar after the APMC Act was scrapped in 2006 the state has become a labour supply state as farmers have become labourers.

The RJD MP said the way farmers have been treated at Delhi borders should not have happened and stopping water and electricity was inhuman.

The MP said the government should listen to the farmers and withdraw the laws and the majority numbers should not be used to bulldoze the issue.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
The PS5 has launched in India and gamers are proudly showing off their consoles on social media. But there have been a few issues with the PS5 installing old game versions through PS4 discs. That has now been fixed with the PS5 system update 20.02-02.50.00. The fix stops PS4 discs installing older game versions after those games have already been upgraded. As far as India is concerned, that is a bit of an issue. With only the Disc Edition being released in the country. Gamers in India can only play games using discs, so that is a bit of an issue.

With this fix, though, PS5 owners can now have a seamless experience playing the upgraded versions of their PS4 games. PS4 disc for games like Dirt 5, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, deliver a native free next-gen experience. You can head on over to the official blog for the full system changelog.

Here are the changes in the PS5 System Update Version 20.02-02.50.00

This system software update improves system performance.

In rare cases, the PS4 version of a game would install from the disc after you upgraded to and installed the PS5 version. Now, when you insert the PS4 game disc, the PS4 version won't install unexpectedly.

You can now select and edit video clips using Share Factory Studio from your media gallery.

There is no word on when and if the Digital Edition of the PS5 will be launched in India. As of right now, only the Disc Edition of the PS5 is available in India. In fact, if youve already installed the update, here are a few PS4 games you should revisit on the PS5. And, if youve just got your console, here are 5 things you should do as soon as you turn it on.
NEW DELHI: India on Thursday expressed its readiness to share military hardware, including missiles and electronic warfare systems, with countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) where China has been increasingly raising its profile in recent years.

Speaking at the opening session of the day-long IOR Defence Ministers' Conclave in Bengaluru, on the sidelines of the Aero India show, Singh said Indias aim of holding the meet was to "synergise the resources and efforts in the Indian Ocean, including, defence Industry industrial cooperation amongst participating countries."

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

Many of the IOR countries are becoming globally competitive and are developing new technologies, including defence shipyards for design and shipbuilding, which can be jointly harnessed through regional cooperation efforts, Singh said.

"India is ready to supply various types of missile systems, light combat aircraft, helicopters, multi-purpose light transport aircraft, warship and patrol vessels, artillery gun systems, tanks, radars, military vehicles, electronic warfare systems and other weapons systems to IOR countries," the minister said.

India sees the Indian Ocean Region as its zone of influence and has been extending assistance to countries in the region  relief at the time of calamities like oil spills and cyclones besides helping in hydrographic surveys and gifting patrols boats to countries to secure their exclusive economic zones. New Delhi has also been building up its profile as a net security provider and partner of choice in the IOR. This is against the backdrop of China increasing its profile in the area with port calls by Chinese ships to countries along the eastern seaboard of Africa and others.

In his speech, Singh also identified maritime resources as key to sustained growth and development of IOR nations. Pointing to the the negative impact of conflicting claims in some maritime areas of the world," Singh said that this increased the need to ensure peace in the IOR region." This is seen as a reference to China claiming almost the whole of the South China Sea against competing claims from Southeast Asian neighbours like Philippines and Vietnam. Singh added that IOR countries had demonstrated mutual respect for a rules-based order and commitment to abide by international law. The minister also said India was developing a comprehensive Maritime Domain Awareness picture in the IOR and signed technical agreements for information of all shipping passing through the Indian Ocean Region.

According to the defence ministry, 26 countries participated in the meeting hosted by Singh. Four countries Maldives, Comoros, Iran and Madagascar  were represented at the ministerial level while Australia, Kenya, Seychelles, Mauritius, Kuwait and Myanmar were represented by their ambassadors and high commissioners in New Delhi. The others took part through video link.

(PTI contributed to this story.)

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Bengaluru, Feb 4 : India is ready to supply various types of weapon systems to Indian Ocean Region countries, Defence Minster Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, while stressing that the countries need to ensure peace in the region through "maritime cooperation".

In a reference to to the prevailing tension in the South China Sea because of China's expansionist strategy, he said that the negative impact of conflicting claims in some maritime areas highlighted the need to ensure peace in the IOR region.

However, the Defence Minister didn't name China while referring to the current situation in the South China Sea during his address at the Indian Ocean Region Defence Ministers' Conclave here.

A total of 27 out of the 28 Indian Ocean countries participated in the conclave and shared their views on enhancing regional cooperation.

Rajnath Singh underlined that the Indian Ocean is a shared asset and a lifeline to international trade and transport due to its control of major sea-lanes carrying half of the world's container ships, one-third of the world's bulk cargo traffic and two-thirds of the world's oil shipments.

He said SAGAR - Security and Growth for All in the Region - is the theme of Indian Ocean Policy as outlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, adding that in line with this, the IOR conclave should focus on security, commerce, connectivity, fight against terrorism and inter-cultural exchanges.

The Minister identified areas such as deepening economic and security cooperation in the littoral, enhancing capacities to safeguard land and maritime territories, working towards sustainable regional development, the Blue Economy, including sustainable and regulated fishing, and promoting collective action to deal with non-traditional threats like natural disasters, piracy, terrorism, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as inter-related elements of SAGAR.

He said that the IOR faces a number of challenges such as piracy, smuggling of drugs and people and arms, humanitarian and disaster relief, and Search and Rescue (SAR) which can be met through maritime cooperation.

The Minister identified maritime resources as the key to sustained growth and development of IOR nations in the 21st century.

Noting that IOR countries have demonstrated mutual respect for a rules-based order and commitment to abide by international law, he also spoke of the various policy initiatives of the Indian government to promote trade and tourism among IOR countries through sea link Sagarmala, Project Mausam, and the Asia Africa Growth Corridor.

He also emphasised the need to take economic, trade, naval cooperation and collaboration further in the region, adding that the linked futures of IOR countries depend on how they tackle emerging challenges and leverage opportunities.

Referring to India's growing aerospace and defence sector and its emergence as a global research and development hub with one of the world's largest start up ecosystems, Rajnath Singh said IOR countries can leverage these sectors for mutual benefit. He said the recent order from the Indian Air Force to buy 83 Advanced Light Helicopters Mk-1A from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is a milestone in India's indigenisation of defence manufacturing capabilities.

Noting India is ready to supply various types of weapons systems to IOR countries, he said that in consonance with Modi's vision of SAGAR, Neighbourhood First and Act East Policies, India has adopted a cooperative approach through capacity building assistance in partner countries. This was reflected in India's supply of ships, maritime aircraft and setting-up of Coastal Surveillance Radar Systems, he said.

He also said India was developing a comprehensive Maritime Domain Awareness picture in the IOR, which has resulted in signing of Technical Agreements for sharing of 'White Shipping Information'.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
LAC row: Chinas actions have been met with an appropriate response

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: The actions by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has been met with an appropriate response.

The Government said in the Lok Sabha that the Chinese military attempted to transgress the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in several areas since May last year but these efforts were invariably met with an appropriate response from the Indian side.

To address the issues arising out of such attempts, minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan said, the two sides have held nine rounds of senior commander-level talks and six meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC).

LAC row: Biden admin stands by India, slams China

"From April-May last year, there had been an enhanced deployment of troops and armaments by the Chinese side in the border areas and along the LAC in the Western Sector," he said.

The minister was replying to questions on the border row including whether the talks have helped in reaching any logical conclusions. "Since mid-May the Chinese side attempted to transgress the LAC in several areas of the Western Sector of the India-China border area. These attempts were invariably met with an appropriate response from us," Muraleedharan said.

The minister also mentioned the dates when military and diplomatic talks took place since the border row began.

On defence minister Rajnath Singh's meeting with his Chinese counterpart Gen Wei Fenghe on September 4 in Moscow, Muraleedharan said it was conveyed to the Chinese minister that the two sides should resolve the ongoing situation and outstanding issues peacefully through dialogue.

Referring to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on September 10 in Moscow, he said both sides had a frank and constructive discussion on the developments in the India-China border areas and reached a five-point agreement to address the ongoing issues.

"The two foreign ministers agreed that the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side. They agreed therefore that the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions," he said.

Close to 100,000 Indian and Chinese troops are currently deployed in eastern Ladakh as both sides have been holding on to their ground and showing readiness for a long-haul, amid continuing diplomatic and military talks to find an amicable solution.

The face-off began in early May last year following a clash between soldiers of the two sides near Pangong lake.

While spelling out Indias way forward, Jaishankar tells China bi-lateral is not a one way street

In the ninth round of military talks last month, both sides agreed to push for an early disengagement of troops and resolved to continue "effective efforts" to stabilise and control the situation in eastern Ladakh.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

(With agency inputs)

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Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 8:25 [IST]
Matthew 'Matty J' Johnson and Laura Byrne have announced the arrival of their second child together, a daughter named Lola Ellis Johnson.

The former Bachelor star, who is already a proud father to daughter Marlie-Mae, one, shared the joyful news to his Instagram page on Thursday.

'Lola Ellis Johnson.. you had us all fooled! Everyone from your Mum, your Nana, the neighbour and even the postman thought you were going to be a boy,' he captioned a series of photos of the adorable tot.

'Outnumbered by 3 beautiful girls': Matthew Johnson and Laura Byrne welcomed their second child together, a baby girl named Lola Ellis, on Thursday

'Playing pranks on us all already.. I love it! I also love that I'm now well and truly outnumbered by 3 beautiful and rambunctious girls at home. Welcome to the family.'

Alongside the sweet caption, Matty J shared an adorable image of Lola grasping his finger and one of her sleeping.

The hunky media personality looked every inch the doting dad as he clutched his newborn daughter to his bare chest in a third photo.

Happy news: The former Bachelor star, who is already a proud father to daughter Marlie-Mae, one, shared the joyful news to his Instagram page on Thursday alongside a series of photos of the newborn baby

Adorable: The hunky media personality looked every inch the doting dad as he clutched his newborn daughter to his bare chest in a third photo

Laura also shared a series of photos of Lola to Instagram, and revealed her surprise at welcoming a baby girl in a hilarious post.

'I said I would eat my own poop if you were a girl, and yet HERE YOU ARE,' she joked.

'Already teaching me the worldly life lessons that come with being a mama - such as, just because I feel something to be true (in my waters) doesn't mean it is and not to make promises to @matthewdavidjohnson I 100% do not intend on keeping.'

Too cute: Laura also took to Instagram to share a series of photos of Lola, and revealed her surprise at welcoming a girl in a hilarious post

Cuter: 'I said I would eat my own poop if you were a girl, and yet HERE YOU ARE,' Laura joked

Love: The jewelry designer went on to gush over the new addition to the family, saying that Lola is 'perfection' and she and Matty love her 'endlessly'

The jewelry designer went on to gush over the new addition to the family, saying that Lola is 'perfection' and she and Matty love her 'endlessly'.

'You are perfection. You are dynamite. We love you and your 95 percentile head endlessly,' she added.

Shortly after the couple made the announcement, they were inundated with a number of famous well-wishers.

Well-wishers: Shortly after the couple made the announcement, they were inundated with a number of famous well-wishers

'Congratulations. Just beautiful,' wrote fellow Bachelor star and new mother, Anna Heinrich, while Jake Ellis wrote: 'Congratulations my man, she's beautiful!'

Sunrise weather presenter Sam Mac jokingly commented: 'Congrats mate!!! Not on Lola, on the successful usage of the word rambunctious. #Respect'

Meanwhile, Australian actress Teresa Palmer added: 'AHHHHHH she's so cute.'

Laura and Matty announced they were expecting their second child in an Instagram post in September last year.

Happy times: Laura and Matty announced they were expecting their second child in an Instagram post in September last year

'I recon [sic] we've kept this little beach ball under wraps for long enough... Half way to number 2,' Laura captioned a cute family photo.

She added: 'A big shout out to @matthewdavidjohnson for his contribution'.

Matty and Laura, who met on The Bachelor in 2017, welcomed their first child, daughter Marlie Mae, in June 2019.

In April 2019, Matty got down on bended knee and popped the question to Laura while on holiday in Fiji.
Firefly Lane is Netflixs latest comedy-drama series that has been making headlines ever since it was released on Netflix. Created by Maggie Friedman, the show is based on the novel which goes by the same name, written by Kristin Hannah. The drama series stars Katherine Heigl in the lead role as Tully Hart and has a cast of some really talented actors. Find out what happened in Firefly Lane Ending.

Read | Mike Flanagan shares 'The Midnight Club' cast for the upcoming horror series on Netflix

Firefly Lane Ending

Whose funeral is it?

Viewers who watched the whole first season of Firefly Lane, will know that Tully does NOT die. In fact, although Kate and Marahs conversation suggests that shes gone, Tully actually shows up to pay her respects for the person who has actually passed. But if its not Tully, who could it be? Its Kates dad.

Readers of the Kristin Hannah novels Firefly Lane and its sequel Fly Away will note that the Netflix show makes one major departure here. In the books its shown that Kate dies. And in the sequel of the book, we see that Tully is raising Kates teen daughter. While fans can sigh out their stresses it is also important that Firefly Lane Season 1 does leave one major characters fate up in the air. The show ended at a cliffhanger and the fate of Johnny still remains in question.

Read | Kea Peahu's parents, biography, ethnicity - Get to know the rising star who joined Netflix

Firefly Lane Ending Explained

Does Johnny die?

When we last see Johnny Ryan, we get to know that he and Kate have rekindled their relationship after officially signing their divorce papers in 2003. Johnny has gone to Iraq in pursuit of his dream of being a foreign war correspondent. While everything seems to be going fine for him, we later see a landmine go off and Johnnys unconscious body laying nearby. We dont see him in the flash-forward funeral scenes, hence it could be that he is dead too. However, nothing is confirmed as of yet.

Read | Netflix's 'Firefly Lane', 'The Girl On The Train' And Other Originals Adapted From Books

How did Tully betray Kate?

While many fans are curious about who lives or dies, others want to know what did Tully do to betray Kate. A bulk of Firefly Lane Season 1s flash-forward scenes seem to suggest that Tully is essentially dead to Kate. However, the two do have an awkward encounter in front of the church where Kates fathers funeral mass is being held. Tully tries to talk to Kate but Kate makes it clear that Tully is not welcome. Hence right now all we know is Tully did something so bad even Kate cant forgive her.

It could be that Tully slept with (a totally okay) Johnny, but she already did that in the 80s. Sean (Jason McKinnon) finally comes out of the closet in 2003, so Tully didnt out him. What could she have possibly done? Fans will have to wait for the second season to know that.

Read | 'The Girl On The Train' Trailer Leaves Fans Curious To Unfold Parineeti Aka Mira's Mystery

Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment.
Consumer NZ wants an overhaul of retirement village regulations to protect residents from unfair terms.

Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy says its review of retirement village contracts found terms that unfairly favour the village and risk leaving residents out of pocket.

Retirement villages promise the good life in your golden years. However, the agreements consumers must sign before they move into a village can have a nasty financial sting. Some also risk breaching consumer law, Jon says.

A major concern is terms that made residents responsible for the costs of maintaining and repairing items in their unit, even though they didnt own them, he says.

Most retirement villages offer a licence to occupy, which gives the resident the right to live in their unit but no ownership rights to the property. Despite this, some contracts made the resident liable for repairing the operators chattels.

Consumer NZ head of research Jessica Wilson says Metlifecare has a wide-ranging clause in its contract, which gave residents just one month after the agreement begins to advise the company of any repairs needed.

After that time, the resident was required to meet any costs, including paying for repairs to the units stove, garage doors, plumbing and electrical fittings.

In our view, these terms conflict with residents rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act to expect goods and services of a reasonable standard. If the oven in your unit fails, the village should wear the repair cost.

Jessica says many residents also faced significant financial losses when their unit was sold because they didnt receive any capital gains, despite paying towards the propertys upkeep.

Villages retention of the capital gain was a major cause of complaint. In a Consumer NZ survey of 1680 residents, 63 percent were unhappy their agreement didnt allow them to get any capital gain when their unit was sold.

Consumer NZs review of village contracts also found terms that gave the village wide discretion to decide what residents could and couldnt do.

Several contracts restricted residents rights to raise objections about village developments. Metlifecare and Summerset contracts included terms stating residents werent allowed to object to any dust, noise or other nuisance caused by the development.

He says these kinds of clauses ignored residents rights to raise legitimate concerns.

Consumer NZ will be providing the findings of its review to the Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson, whos responsible for monitoring the sector.

Consumer NZs review of retirement village contracts was supported by a grant from The New Zealand Law Foundation.

The review looked at contracts offered by six major retirement village operators: Arvida, Bupa, Metlifecare, Oceania Healthcare, Ryman Healthcare and Summerset.
Smith comes to Butler Snow with 25 years of experience representing clients as lead appellate counsel and working with trial teams in all phases of civil litigation. He is a well-respected member of the Austin Bar and Texas appellate community, having presented multiple cases before the Texas Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

"Many of our team members have known and worked with Todd over the years. He has an impressive track record and extensive experience," said Christopher R. Maddux, chair of Butler Snow. "We are thrilled to have him join our team and know that his client-first, team-oriented approach will serve our clients and the firm well."

Smith is the creator and publisher of the Texas Appellate Law Blog, the first blog to cover key topics related to Texas appellate practice. He is also the creator, producer and co-host of the Texas Appellate Law Podcast, which shares insights and best practices through engaging conversations with top trial and appellate practitioners, judges and other court staff.

Smith holds a bachelor's degree from Texas Christian University, a master's degree in public administration from Texas Tech University and a Juris Doctorate with honors from St. Mary's University School of Law. He is a Life Fellow of both the Austin Bar and Texas Bar Foundations and completed two terms on the St. Mary's Law Alumni Board of Directors. He is also a trustee of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society and serves on the State Bar's Board of Directors, as well as the Standing Committee on Pattern Jury Charges for the Business, Consumer, Insurance and Employment volume.

Smith joins an already well-respected team with significant national experience in Butler Snow's Appellate practice group, including Amanda G. Taylor, Scott K. Field, Marshall A. Bowen, Amy M. Pepke and Donna Brown Jacobs. Butler Snow's appellate lawyers add critical value to achieving ultimate success in litigation through their specialized written and oral advocacy skills, in addition to their case strategy and management capabilities. The team has made appearances before the United States Supreme Court, 11 of the 13 United States Courts of Appeal, several State Supreme Courts and other intermediate appellate courts.

"Todd will be a valuable member of our appellate team because he brings a broad base of experience on substantive legal issues and applies best practices when handling complex disputes. Todd keeps a pulse on need-to-know trends and issues, which directly benefits the clients he serves," said Amanda G. Taylor, practice group leader.

Butler Snow's Austin office has been growing rapidly over the past several years and moved to the newly completed SXSW Center at the beginning of 2020. Along with the appellate group, other members of the Austin location include Kim Bueno, Christopher R. Cowan, Gary W. Davis, Cedric E. Evans, Katie A. Fillmore, Thomas A. Forbes, Eric J.R. Nichols and Karson K. Thompson, who have noteworthy practices in pharmaceutical, product liability and commercial litigation, in addition to governmental relations.

About Butler Snow

Butler Snow LLP is a full-service law firm with nearly 400 attorneys collaborating across a network of more than 25 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Ranked as a leading firm for client relations and one of America's Top 100 law firms in the BTI Power Rankings, Butler Snow is recognized as one of the nation's top law firms for client service. The firm was recently ranked 48th out of 650 firms in the BTI Client Relationship Scorecard for understanding client business, anticipating client needs, unprompted communication, legal skills, quality and keeping clients informed. Butler Snow is a member of Lex Mundi, the world's leading network of independent law firms. For more information, visit www.butlersnow.com or follow the firm on Twitter @Butler_Snow.

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Health officials in Hamilton County are poised to lower the eligibility for receiving the coronavirus vaccine from those over the age of 75 to those over 70 today. The announcement is expected to be made on a live YouTube stream by the county Health Department at 3 p.m. Currently Health Department staff has been administering an average of roughly 2,900 doses per day to serve the most susceptible in our community, but with a supply chain of vaccine strengthening and the belief that the virus onslaught may be lessening in the state, the good news is offset by the fact that on Wednesday statewide deaths with a connection to COVID-19 have exceeded 10,000 victims.

Currently there is enough vaccine on hand locally to work every day through Sunday but with the arrival of more vaccine assured for both new and second doses, the Health Department will extend its efforts well into next week.

In addition, federal officials have announced 1 million additional doses will begin arriving at the nations pharmacies by next Wednesday. CVS and Walgreens pharmacies have already been giving doses to assisted living centers, rest homes and rehabilitation hospitals in Hamilton County.

It is believed Publix, Food City stores, Walmart and other in-house pharmacies in Tennessee will join in wider distribution of the vaccine, just as other states including Florida, Georgia and Alabama have already done with remarkable success. Publix opened registration for 40,000 new doses at 6 a.m. Wednesday and by 9 a.m. reservations were full at its Georgia and Florida stores.

Im thrilled with so many new opportunities, said County Mayor Jim Coppinger, but I will still insist we could be administering more vaccine if only we had it to give. Our Amnicola and bus barn sites could both be giving more  and we have a third location ready to go. We are also branching out with our strike force teams and our second shot reservations are working great.

Candidly, the state of Georgia has a more efficient second dose method  in my opinion  but far be it for me to criticize Tennessee in any way after there have now been miraculous 760,000 doses administered in Tennessee with 210,000 fully vaccinated (both doses.) This weeks Johns Hopkins dashboard says that Hamilton Countys vaccine availability is skewed by those requiring either the first dose or second dose to make appointments. In Georgia there is no scheduling the second dose. Heres how: There are two vaccines; Pfizer, which requires the second shot three weeks later, and Moderna, which requires a 28-day wait. So, when I was given my first dose of Moderna on Jan.18 at 5 p.m. the instructions were brilliantly simple.

You will be given your second shot in 4 weeks  28 days from now, right here, same place, at the same time, you got your first, at 5 p.m. on Monday, February 15. It is written on this card, which has directions if you need to change  but 4 weeks from now, same place, same time.

It's a guarantee. I am assured my dose will be there. It takes just minutes for the shot  then let me grocery shop while I make sure there in no reaction, and presto. Incidentally, we were told at first the initial shot didnt help much, and that it would be two weeks after the second dose to be fully guarded for the virus. Since then, it has been found the first shot does give us some level of protection, which is better than none.

What health officials want to see is first-dose numbers. Once it is administered, the second dose is easy to follow but the nations success is driven by the number of arms that can be entered into the life-saving effort. In Tennessee, as of last night, 6.45 million people have been tested with 11.32 percent positive.

According to the Tennessee Department of Health, there are about 300,000 Tennesseans in the 7074-year-old age group. Tennessee can expand COVID-19 vaccination access to this age group after an increase in the states allocation of COVID-19 vaccines. Tennessee is expecting about 93,000 doses of these vaccines this week, a 15 percent increase in the states previous weekly vaccine allocations.

I have no question we are ready for the new age group. Please put an emphasis on the fact we still want people who are over 75 to register and get their vaccine  they are still eligible, and we hope they will get the vaccine, said the County Mayor, but we feel very comfortable in our ability to add more people who are eligible for the vaccine. State officials lowered the age limitation in other counties on Monday.

I wish we could drop it to 65  I am certain our Health Department can handle it, although theyll wish I werent so optimistic, but if we knew we could be assured the vaccine, we could easily up our productivity. We have hired a lot of new, skilled people and it is tremendously gratifying to see our pharmacies and partner agencies now joining us.

According to Johns Hopkins, Tennessee is seventh in the nation in the fact that 3.08 percent of its population (6.8 million) is fully vaccinated. What is equally amazing is that on Dec. 15, Hamilton County had an all-time high of 9,627 new cases of COVID for one day yet on Tuesday (Feb.2) that number had dropped to 2,217 per day. Disease experts are astounded, there is no known nor explainable reason in a pandemic of this magnitude, therefore the power of prayer is a prime suspect.

It has never been as important for all of us to mask, distance by six feet, and wash our hands as much as possible, said the Mayor. We must work together to guard against a flare-up. Dont let your guard down.

As for me, Im grateful for prayers, too. Dont dare stop.

royexum@aol.com

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There was a disagreement between the prosecution and the defence teams about the whereabouts of Faisal Maina, son of Abdulrasheed Maina, the former chair of the defunct Pension Reformed Task Team (PRTT), on Thursday.

While the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC)s lawyer, Mohammed Abubakar, claimed Faisal had fled to the United States (U.S), the defence lawyer, Anayo Adibe, said the defendant was recently arrested in Sokoto.

After patiently listening to the two parties, on Thursday, Okon Abang, the trial judge hearing the money laundering case against Faisal at the Federal High Court, Abuja, said he could not choose which of the two accounts to believe.

Who is telling the court the truth between the counsel to the prosecution and the defence? Mr Abang asked.

At the beginning of Thursdays proceedings, EFCCs lawyer, Mr Abubakar, told the judge, Mr Abang, that the commission had been making serious effort to enforce the arrest warrant issued against Faisal by the court but up till now, we have not succeeded.

Fled to U.S.

He said the available information at the EFCCs disposal was that Faisal has absconded to the United States of America.

But the judge noted that he heard that Faisal was arrested in Sokoto by the police.

Responding, the anti-graft agencys lawyer said that that information was in the realm of rumour or speculation.

Mr Abubakar added that although both the Nigerian and American passports of the defendant were still being held by the court as part of the bail conditions granted him, the information at our disposal indicates that the defendant was able to sneak out to Republic of Niger from where he was able to proceed to the USA.

He maintained that Faisal was neither in the custody of the police nor that of the State Security Service as being speculated.

He was arrested in Sokoto

But defence lawyer, Anayo Adibe, recalled that he had informed the court that his client was taken into custody by the police in Sokoto.

He said there were media reports as well as a press release by the police command in Sokoto confirming the arrest.

Mr Adibe also said Faisal personally called him on phone the day he was taken into custody in Sokoto by the police.

He,however,noted that every effort made to reach him has been abortive; his phone switched off.

He added that the police had refused to release information about the defendant even when we demanded to see the defendant.

So it is speculative of the prosecution to state that the defendant is in the USA, he said, adding, We are afraid for his life and we urge the court to make an order of enquiry into the whereabouts of the defendant.

The judge, who said he could not choose which of the accounts to believe, adjourned the matter till March 31 for ruling on an application by defence lawyer praying that his client be given an opportunity to enter his defence.

The judge had earlier foreclosed the case of Faisal due to his consistent absence from court.

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Suretys bail bond forfeited

Earlier on Thursday, the trial judge, Mr Abang, ordered Faisals surety, Sani Dan-Galadima, who is a member of the House of Representatives, to forfeit a property used as a bail bond.

Mr Dan-Galadima, who represents Kaura-Namoda Federal Constituency of Zamfara, had entered into a N60million bail bond on behalf of Faisal.

Maina tried to flee to U.S

Faisals father, Abdulrasheed Maina, is also being prosecuted for separate charges of money laundering at the court.

He jumped bail last year but was rearrested in Niger Republic.

Opposing a fresh bail application filed by Mr Maina, the EFCC had told the court that Mr Maina, with multiple citizenships, was trying to obtain a fresh passport with which to flee to the U.S when he was arrested in Niger Republic.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has said the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will assist the continent to overcome some of its pressing economic challenges.

Once again, the President reaffirmed Kenyas commitment to AfCFTA and rallied other African states to work closely with the agencys Secretariat to ensure that continental trade arrangement succeeds.

The Head of State spoke Wednesday at Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri County at a meeting with AfCFTAs Secretary-General Wamkele Mene who paid him a courtesy call.

Beyond its economic importance, President Kenyatta pointed out that AfCFTA has the potential to accelerate continental integration efforts by promoting people-to-people interactions through trade.

The Head of State congratulated Mr Mene on his appointment as the first AfCFTA Secretary-General and applauded the South African economist for steering the organization ahead despite the disruptions brought about by the Covid-19 crisis.

Secretary-General Mene briefed the President on AfCFTAs road map which prioritizes industrial development, women and the youth, and thanked Kenya for backing his successful bid to lead the Pan-African institution.

President Kenyatta was joined in the meeting with AfCFTA boss by Cabinet Secretaries Raychelle Omamo (Foreign Affairs), Betty Maina (Trade) and Head of Public Service Dr Joseph Kinyua as well as Trade PS Johnson Weru.

At another meeting, President Kenyatta held talks with Sudans Special Envoy Mohammed Hassan Eltaashi who delivered a special message from the countrys Sovereign Council.

The President and the Special Envoy discussed a number of regional subjects among them the countrys border dispute with Ethiopia and the ongoing African Union led efforts to unlock the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute involving Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt.

President Kenyatta congratulated the Sovereign Council for the successes achieved in the stabilization of Sudan especially the reforms being rolled out to guarantee the countrys democratic transition.

He assured Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and the Sovereign Council of Kenyas continued partnership with Sudan in ensuring that the country regains its stability.

Separately, President Kenyatta bade farewell to outgoing Mozambican High Commissioner to Kenya Bernardo Tsonbe Constantino Lidimba who paid him a courtesy call at Sagana State Lodge.

The outgoing envoy thanked the Head of State for his successful tour of duty in the country and singled out reciprocal State Visits by Presidents Kenyatta and Filipe Nyusi as well as the conferment of citizenship to Makonde people as the highest moments of his time in Kenya.

President Kenyatta applauded Amb Lidimba for the strong Kenya-Mozambique bilateral ties cultivated during his tenure and wished him success in future endeavors.

Foreign Affairs CS Raychelle Omamo and Head of Public Service Dr Joseph Kinyua were present during the Presidents meeting with Sudans Sovereign Council envoy and the outgoing Mozambican Ambassador.
Lerner and Rowe proudly supports the American Heart Association The American Heart Association's supportive programs and outreach efforts are especially meaningful to my family as both my dad and grandfather have dealt with heart-related health concerns. Kevin Rowe, Esq.

Lerner and Rowe Gives Back is pleased to be a fourth year sponsor of the Tucson Heart & Stroke Ball that directly supports the American Heart Associations fight against heart disease and stroke. For 2021, the Tucson Heart and Stroke Ball will be a one-of-a-kind digital experience that can be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home on Saturday, February 13, 2021 from 6:00 p.m - 7:00 p.m MST. Funds raised will be used to support their health and education initiatives efforts in Tucson that advocate for healthy policies and improved hospital quality of care, fund medical research, and promote healthy behaviors that help every heart.

To participate in this life-saving fundraiser and celebration of life, register online, make an online donation, or bid for auction items online through your smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Lerner and Rowe Gives Back was founded on a few basic principles to include spreading love and kindness out into the world. That is why we couldn't be more pleased to once again support the Tucson Heart and Stroke Ball. The funds raised from this annual fundraiser do much to help protect the hearts and overall health of our families, friends, and community members, stated attorney Kevin Rowe. Their efforts are especially meaningful to my family as both my dad and grandfather have dealt with heart-related health concerns.

For more specific information about the 2021 Tucson Heart Ball Digital Experience, please contact Teresa Shami with the American Heart Association at 520-917-7534 or Teresa.Shami@heart.org.

More about Lerner and Rowe Injury Attorneys

Lerner and Rowe Injury Attorneys is a powerhouse law firm representing personal injury clients. Attorneys Glen Lerner and Kevin Rowe have grown their law firm into one of the largest personal injury firms in the country, with over 50 attorneys and nearly 400 support employees located in Arizona, Nevada, California, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico, and Tennessee. The law firms continuous exalted levels of success can be attributed to the high levels of respect and dignity shown to victims and family members hurt in an accident.

For those injured outside one of the previously listed states, Lerner and Rowe has an established network of attorneys across the country, ready to help. The firm takes pride in nourishing these relationships as they know a personal injury attorney can make all the difference in obtaining fair compensation for the pain and suffering inflicted upon the victims of tortious conduct.

For more information about Lerner and Rowe Injury Attorneys in Tucson, please call 520-977-1900. To connect with the law firm socially, follow Lerner and Rowe on Twitter and Instagram, or become a fan of its Facebook page. Also, visit lernerandrowegivesback.com to learn more about the many other community services that the lawyers and legal support team of Lerner and Rowe actively support.

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Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Bolster Magnitsky Sanctions Against Human Rights Abusers

Leaders of the U.S. Helsinki Commission have introduced a bill seeking to strengthen Global Magnitsky sanctions to improve the United States ability to hold human rights abusers and corrupt actors accountable.

The incoming chair of the commission Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and co-chair Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) on Feb. 3 unveiled the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Reauthorization Act, which would permanently reauthorize the original Global Magnitsky Act and broaden the laws scope.

The 2016 Global Magnitsky Act allows the president to impose economic sanctions or deny entry into the United States foreigners who have engaged in human rights abuse or corruption. This federal law expands sanctions from a similar 2012 Russian-focused law to other countries. The 2012 act was introduced to hold accountable individuals responsible for the detention, abuse, and death of Sergei Magnitsky, a tax lawyer and auditor in Russia.

The global act was first implemented by former President Donald Trump, who in 2017 issued Executive Order 13818, which applied the Global Magnitsky sanctions to 13 individuals. Trumps order also broadened the standards of behavior for potentially sanctionable targets and specifies additional categories of people as potential sanction targets, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Cardin and Wickers bill builds on the original law (pdf) by extending the sanctions to the immediate family members of violators, and broadening the scope of the act by including serious human rights abuse and violation of internationally recognized Human rights standards to expand the actors and abuses eligible for sanctions.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, on Jan. 26, 2021. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Pool/Getty Images)

It also simplifies the standard for corruption offenses and removes the victim status requirement to ensure no victim is excluded.

Meanwhile, the bill requires future reports to Congress to include information about additional steps taken by the president through diplomacy and other means to address persistent underlying causes of human rights abuses and corruption in countries of sanctioned violators.

This reauthorization will send a clear signal of our national commitment to defending democratic values and the international rules and standards that enable us all to live peaceably together. When human rights abusers and kleptocrats violate these norms, it is incumbent upon us to create concrete consequences, Cardin said in a statement.

When it was introduced, the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act was a groundbreaking tool for combating human rights abuses and corruption around the world, Wicker added. Since then, the law has helped to hold the worst violators accountable no matter where they are.

The Global Magnitsky Act has been used to respond to human rights violators affecting members of Muslim minority groups in northwest Chinas Xinjiang Province, corrupt actors in South Sudan, and Ugandan officials who were engaged in an adoption scam that victimized Ugandan-born children.

A group of Republican lawmakers last year called on (pdf) then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to issue Magnisky sanctions against seven Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who the lawmakers say had violated the 2005 International Health Regulations and human rights of Chinese citizens due to their duplicitous, ineffective, and cruel response to the outbreak of the CCP virus pandemic.

There have been calls by lawmakers around the world to enact similar laws in their respective countries. The European Union in December 2020 decided to adopt an EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime that would allow the bloc to target serious human rights abuses and violations worldwide.

Similarly, Australia is looking into whether to enact its own Magnitsky-style legislation. In December 2020, a joint standing committee that held an inquiry into the topic found that such laws would align Australia with a global effort to limit human rights violators and corrupt individuals from enjoying the proceeds of their abuses.
Joe Biden (Image: Reuters)

President Joe Biden will announce an end to U.S. support for a grinding five-year Saudi-led military offensive in Yemen that has deepened humanitarian suffering in the Arabian peninsulas poorest country, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

The move would fulfil a campaign pledge by Biden, whose administration plans to pursue diplomacy to end the overall conflict in Yemen.

Biden also is announcing the choice of Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to Yemen as soon as Thursday afternoon, when the president is due to speak at the State Department. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the selection, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. The Gulf-based newspaper The National first reported the pick.

Lenderking has been a deputy assistant secretary of state in the agencys Middle East section. A career foreign service member, he has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries inside and out of the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia began the offensive in 2015 to counter a Yemeni Houthi faction that had seized territory in Yemen and was launching cross-border missiles at Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led air campaign since then has killed numerous civilians, and survivors display fragments showing the bombs to be American-made. The conflict has deepened hunger and poverty in Yemen, and international rights experts say both the Gulf countries and Houthis have committed severe rights abuses.
Confused about COVID-19 or vaccines? The Houston Chronicles COVID-19 Help Desk is here to well, you know: help. Every week, a Chronicle reporter answers readers questions about how the virus works, what to expect with the vaccine and other concerns on Houstonians minds.

Can I take Tylenol, aspirin or other pain relievers before or after the shot?

Short answer: Dont pre-game. But if you feel lousy after the jab, and your doctor doesnt object, its probably fine to take a normal dose of your favorite over-the-counter anti-inflammatory.

Long explanation: Revving up your immune system to fight COVID-19 is the whole point of getting vaccinated, and those drugs reduce fever and swelling, which are your immune systems go-to moves.

A January article in the peer-reviewed Journal of Virology found that when cells are infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, anti-inflammatories cause the immune system to make fewer antibodies and cytokines  both of which fight disease.

So taking them before youre vaccinated is like braking at the beginning of the race.

Post-jab is a different story. The common vaccine side effects  swelling at the injection site, flu-like symptoms  are actually signs that your immune system is revving hard. At that point, its not a big deal if an anti-inflammatory takes it down a notch.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Everything you need to know about the new COVID vaccines from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson

In the soothing words of the CDC: Antipyretic or analgesic medications (e.g., acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) may be taken for the treatment of post-vaccination local or systemic symptoms, if medically appropriate. However, routine prophylactic administration of these medications for the purpose of preventing post-vaccination symptoms is not currently recommended, as information on the impact of such use on mRNA COVID-19 vaccine-induced antibody responses is not available at this time.

Can I choose which vaccine I get?

Texas vaccine sites generally have one vaccine or the other, so no, once youve rolled up your sleeve, you wont be offered a choice.

Theoretically, if youre determined to pick your vaccine, you could go to the Texas Department of State Health Services website and check where the state has sent its latest allotments of vaccine. The state lists whether its sent each place Pfizer or Moderna.

But with long waiting lists for vaccination appointments, and with so little difference between the two vaccines, shopping around like that doesnt make much sense. Either of the mRNA vaccines will induce the virus-neutralizing antibodies that could keep you out of the hospital.

Vaccine researcher Peter Hotez strongly recommends taking any FDA-authorized vaccine you can get. Later, Hotez wrote, if it turns out the first vaccine we receive is not the best in terms of durability of protection or other factors we can potentially receive a boost, either with the same vaccine or one of the others.

How long does immunity last?

Scientists dont know yet.

For people who caught the virus out in the world, the CDC says, current evidence suggests that getting the virus again (reinfection) is uncommon in the 90 days after the first infection. But notably, people whove been infected with the virus have wildly different immune responses, possibly related to how much virus they were were exposed to in the first place  so some peoples immunity is likely to last much longer.

On HoustonChronicle.com: One in five Texans do not want the COVID-19 vaccine, University of Houston reports

As for vaccines? We wont know how long immunity lasts after vaccination until we have more data on how well COVID-19 vaccines work in real-world conditions, the CDC says.

Factor in the new COVID variants, and the question becomes even harder to answer. The Brazilian variant, P.1, has mutations that, according to the CDC, may affect its ability to be recognized by antibodies. That could be very bad news.

Is there a difference between natural immunity from getting sick and immunity from being vaccinated?

Yes. With an infection, your immune system is exposed to the entire virus. The vaccines train your immune system using only the part of the virus with the spike protein.

Theres also the matter of dose. Everyone gets the same dose of vaccine, but virus exposure varies wildly. The more virus in your system, the greater your immune response is likely to be.

As for whether natural immunity lasts longer than the vaccine immunity, scientists dont know yet  and its even possible that its the other way around. Early data from a Moderna trial, published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine, look good for vaccines  but its too soon to be sure.

The biggest difference of all between vaccine immunity and natural immunity is super-obvious but worth stating: According to the CDC, vaccines are definitely the safer way to acquire immunity. Catching the SARS-COV-2 virus out in the world is much more likely to make you super-sick or kill you. Dead people dont get new infections, but thats not the immunity youre looking for.

lisa.gray@chron.com

twitter.com/LisaGray_HouTX
Hudson, NY (12534)

Today

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 44F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 44F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
[February 04, 2021] Powin Secures Equity Funding to Accelerate Growth Plans

Powin Energy Corporation (Powin), a global leader in the design and manufacture of safe and scalable battery energy storage solutions, announced today that it has signed an agreement to sell its controlling interest to and obtain significant equity funding from lead investors Trilantic North America and Energy Impact Partners (EIP). This transaction will enable Powin to accelerate its growth plans, while enhancing its bankability profile and solidifying its position as a leader in the energy storage market. For nearly the past decade, Powin has worked to advance its patented battery management technology and develop market leading product offerings. Headquartered in Tualatin, Oregon, Powin has built over 600 MWh of systems, supporting 54 projects in 10 states and 8 countries. Powin has a contracted pipeline to supply over 4,000 MWh of energy storage systems globally over the next five years. "I am incredibly pleased to have Trilantic North America and EIP join us on our journey to transform the electric grid by building the world's best batteries," said Geoff Brown, CEO of Powin. Brown continued, "This investment marks their confidence in our team and products as well as the great potential of the storage market. Beyond the capital they are providing, our new partners are adding invaluable perspective and experience to help us manage the massive growth and increase in demand we are experiencing. Together we will bring the innovation, capital, and skill needed to deliver industry-leading value and reliability and create a cleaner energy future for all." "For many years, the key constraint to wide-scale renewable energy adoption was the lack of an economic storage solution," said Glenn Jcobson, Partner at Trilantic North America. "Powin's differentiated manufacturing and supply chain expertise puts the company at the forefront of the significant improvements we're seeing in the economics of battery storage. We're immensely proud to partner with Geoff and the entire Powin team as they continue to scale their business and play a crucial role in driving the energy transition."



Powin was founded in 1989 as a high-quality, high-volume contract manufacturing company with a large supplier network and relationship base in Asia. The company evolved into Powin Energy by marrying its robust supply chain management with specially developed technology, a high-growth market, and a vital social mission: to lead the sustainable transformation of the outdated electric grid through increased renewables penetration, non-wires alternatives, and power decentralization. Powin's safe and cost-effective energy storage solutions are revolutionizing the way energy is generated, transmitted, and distributed for utilities, IPPs, and energy consumers worldwide. "The grid-scale energy storage market, which is still in its infancy, will be essential to achieving global decarbonization goals over the next decade," said Sameer Reddy, Partner at EIP. "We look forward to partnering with Powin to help bring their unique technology to utilities around the world and enable a more resilient, cleaner grid."

"We have worked very hard over the last 10 years to bring Powin to its current stature. I would like to thank all of our team members and partners for the role they have played in our shared success throughout Powin's history," said Joseph Lu, Founder and Chairman of Powin. "In partnering with Trilantic North America and EIP, we will now be able to execute our planned innovations within our integrated software and hardware platform. Our goal is to continue to disrupt the traditional cost structures of integrated energy storage systems and to provide the safest and lowest levelized cost of storage to push the widespread adoption of renewable energy and to bring accessible clean energy to all parts of the world." About Powin Energy Corporation As a global leader in the design and manufacture of safe and scalable battery energy storage solutions, Powin Energy Corporation (Powin) supplies the software and hardware to the growing volume of next generation energy storage projects that will transform the grid, enable high levels of renewable generation and put conventional generators out of business. Powin's journey is just beginning - if you are interested in learning more, please visit www.powin.com. About Trilantic North America Trilantic Capital Management L.P. ("Trilantic North America") is a private equity firm focused on control and significant minority investments in North America. Trilantic North America's primary investment focus is in the business services, consumer and energy sectors. Trilantic North America has managed six private equity fund families with aggregate capital commitments of $9.7 billion. Trilantic North America has been recognized by Inc. Magazine's 2019 list of Top 50 Founder-Friendly Private Equity Firms. For more information, visit www.trilanticnorthamerica.com. About Energy Impact Partners Energy Impact Partners (EIP) is a global investment platform leading the transition to a sustainable energy future. EIP brings together entrepreneurs and the world's most forward-looking energy and industrial companies to advance innovation. With over $1.5 billion in assets under management, EIP invests globally across venture, growth, credit and infrastructure - and has a team of more than 45 professionals based in its offices in New York, San Francisco, Palm Beach, London, Cologne and soon Oslo. For more information on EIP, please visit www.energyimpactpartners.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005320/en/

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The immediate and long-term tasks of the country and the National Assembly (NA) require the legislative body to continue reforms to enhance efficiency, thus contributing more to national development and international integration,

and realising the 13th National Party Congress resolution, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has said.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.  VNA/VNS Photo

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency, the top legislator said 2021 is an important year as it is a transition to a new tenure and the first year of implementing the 13th National Party Congresss resolution.

Also this year, the election of deputies to the 15th NA and Peoples Council at all levels for 2021-2026 will be conducted, she noted, adding that 2021 is also the first year the country implements the socio-economic strategy for the next 10 years as well as the socio-economic development plan for 2021-2025.

The NA leader called on the people, voters at home and Vietnamese abroad to promote solidarity and work together to overcome difficulties and contribute to the national construction and defence, while continuing to give their ideas for the countrys development.

Regarding the NAs work last year, Ngan said despite great difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, climate change and global economic depression, Vietnam managed to gain remarkable achievements, becoming a bright spot in both COVID-19 control and economic recovery and development. This was the result of great national solidarity, she said.

For the first time in the 75-year history of the NA, two NA sessions were held in both online and in-person formats, showing the lawmaking bodys quick adaptability to any circumstances, said the NA leader.

Last year, the National Assembly adopted 17 laws and debated 10 bills, Ngan said, adding that the legislature also approved resolutions ratifying the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

The NA also passed a resolution that approved an investment plan for the national target programme on socio-economic development in ethnic minority-inhabited and mountainous areas for 2021-2030.

This is considered a decision of special significance to spur sustainable socio-economic development in ethnic minority-inhabited and mountainous areas in particular, and the country in general, and it holds political and humanitarian values, she continued.

During 2020, the NA successfully fulfilled its role as Chair of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) with the organisation of the online AIPA-41 as the highlight.

The result, together with the countrys good performance as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2020-2021 and Chair of the ASEAN in 2020, contributed to consolidating and advancing Viet Nams position and prestige in the international arena.

Regarding relations between the legislature and voters and people, Ngan said question and answer sessions at NA meetings showed NA deputies have kept close bonds with the people and reflected the peoples concerns and aspirations. Deputies have also worked hard to urge the Government, ministries and agencies to deliver on their promises.

Over the past 75 years, the NA has accompanied the nation and become the symbol of national unity, Ngan said, adding that in all circumstances, the legislature has completed its mission as the highest representative body of the people and the most powerful State agency of the country. VNS
Throughout 2020, Country Bank provided $1.3 million in donations to more than 400 organizations across Massachusetts to help in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company donated more than $500,000 to area hospitals and first responder housing efforts. More than $100,000 was provided to food programs across the state, including Friends of the Homeless, Rachels Table and The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.

Other organizations receiving support included the Quaboag Valley Community Development Corporation, Christinas House, The Springfield Rescue Mission, Ronald McDonald House and Behavioral Health Network, Inc.

As a community partner, we care deeply about the sustainability of our communities, President and CEO of Country Bank Paul Scully said. As such, and in recognizing the burdens that our communities have experienced throughout this year, we were honored to offer support during what has been the most stressful time in our history. Supporting and enriching our communities is not only a part of our mission; its simply who we are as an organization.

Country Bank serves central and western Massachusetts with offices in Ware, Palmer, West Brookfield, Brimfield, Belchertown, Wilbraham, Ludlow, Leicester, Paxton, Charlton, and Worcester.

The bank expects to continue its philanthropic efforts in 2021.

We are so grateful to Country Bank for its most generous support and appreciate its continued partnership during this unprecedented time, Vice President of Philanthropy at Baystate Health and Executive Director of Baystate Health Foundation Scott Berg said. This gift will directly support resources needed at Baystate Health as we continue to address the care our community needs as we face this worldwide pandemic.

Related Content:

The farmers have been protesting on different borders around Delhi since November 26 last year against the three farm laws introduced by the government. The farmers want the government to repeal the farm laws and have been protesting for over six weeks now.



Recently, lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan also shared an old video of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee talking in support of farmers and farmers' protests.

Check out the full video here-

       1980              ! pic.twitter.com/nko4wNdlgU  Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) February 4, 2021

The video is from the year 1980, and it showcases Atal Bihari Vajpayee addressing a crowd about the plight of the cotton and jute farmers in the country. He also criticized the then government for setting the prices of the crop and not being able to buy the crops themselves.

Vajpayee explained in the video that the small-scale farmers were unable to sell their crops as they dont have proper storage space and they had to then sell them at a lesser price and thats why the farmers were agitated.

This video on the internet has over 34.8K views and deserves a lot of more considering the situation of the farmers in our country. So, heres what people on the internet have to say about the video-

Aaj agar Atal je hoty to bohot dukhi hoty party ka ye ravaiya dekh ke, party path brhast ho gyi hai atal je ke adarsho ko sub bhool gay hai... Ye atyant dukhad hai.. Kya wo sirf sradhanjali dene tak seemit reh gay hai...  Sonia Khare sinha (@SoniaKharesinh1) February 4, 2021

          Prem Chand (@PremChandGangal) February 4, 2021

Sir we don't have a gem like Atal ji in oppositions that's the main reason for today's turmoil.  RITESH NAMDEO (@RITESHNAMDEO5) February 4, 2021

Miss you Atalji, I remember as a teenager I was way happier during his reign  Dp_Kundu (@Dp_Kundu) February 4, 2021

       Pradyumn Kasarwal (@PKasarwal) February 4, 2021

A few users remembered Atal ji and appreciated him for being the best. And a few Twitter users couldnt believe that we are still discussing the same topic and couldnt really make any progress in so many years for the farmers.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below!

Jamaica is a sea of muses, and inspired artists, something which is reflected in both our music and culture. Often because we have such a diverse and sometimes saturated music space, some of the real unique talents end up slipping below the radar.

Brady OConnor is one such artist, with smooth, soothing vocals that match the authentic easy-going cadence and subject matter shes known for. With singles like Chasing The Sun which in many ways is an ode to life in the tropics, Bradys music appeals to the sense of wanderlust we feel whenever we wake up and find that we are living in a place as blessed as Jamaica.

Her latest single Bun Badmind features the likes of Spragga Benz and Evie Pukupoo from Nomadz, is fast becoming a favorite. We sat down with Brady to catch up and learn a bit more about the drive behind her work and process behind her creativity.

You grew up here in Kingston?

I grew up here and went away when I was like, seven. Went to Miami and I came back for grade six. I originally went to Mavisville Prep. When I came back and went to Vaz Prep. Did my common entrance, pass for immaculate, and then we moved away again.

I spent one year in Texas, and that was not for us. was not working for us. And I mean, this is you know, so we ended up moving back to Miami, went to high school in Miami, and then went to University in Atlanta at Emory and spent 10 years there. In a strong way, I really feel like I grew up in Atlanta. Let me tell you, I love Atlanta. Atlanta has a really special place in my heart. I really feel like I grew up in America. You know that whole time when youre coming of age, youre really figuring out what you think what you believe? You know? It has a very strong culture of its own. And I know thats not for everyone. But its something I appreciate. Like, I appreciate that. But my first year there was really difficult. I almost left, becauseand its still that way, maybe not as much now, particularly when you look at how the US elections went. But Atlanta at that time, and this is early 90s. It was extremely black and white. And dem nuh know nothing bout diaspora.

So that, you know, as someone who grew up between Jamaica and Miami was very weird for me. Very foreign thing, you know, and my grandfather on my mothers side is from China. My grandfather on my fathers side is from Guyana. And before that his parents were from Portugal and Ireland. My grandmother on my fathers side, her grandmother was a North African. Her husband was also black, also a Jew, also a musician, also the black sheep of his family, you know what I mean? Soand I think I think we take it for granted in the way that were raised, is that were able to embrace our whole selves and our whole identity. And even when you look at other places in the region, like Trinidad, that have many influences, very similar to ours, the difference is they never blend.

Alright, so growing up, was your family big? Did you have a lot of siblings, that kind of thing?

Huge. So I have four children. Which, of course, I think, in a modern context is probably a lot of children. My mother is one of 10 and my father is one of 12, so is nuff cousin. Big up the Brady massive, we actually have a family song. So a lot of us are in music and in the arts. Our eldest uncle, who is Carl Brady, was one of the foundation percussionist of ska era music. He passed away, but he was also a founding member of The Byron Lee band. I traveled all over the world with him, ran his studio, but he passed away. And so I think we realized as the next generation that we really need to step up, and collaborate with so much talent in the family. And we actually, so within a week, we produced a track. My cousin, Belinda Brady, who lives in Canada, and a number of other cousins, just pulled together, my son who lives in Toronto. Hes also in production and music. For me, I think one of the big takeaways growing up in a big family is that youre not alone. You always have people to draw near and far. Thats actually a lyric that my dad wrote in the family song.

My grandmother is from St. Elizabeth, and she was a type of woman that you came to her house and you had to eat some food. She always had to serve some food or send you with some food. There was always enough that was her that was just her belief. That was her perspective. That was her practice. There is always enough to share. Theres always enough.

Tell me about your time on the big screen as per your appearance in the Betta Mus Come Film.

You know, I was so very happy to be a part of that production, really super proud of Storm. And the entire team. I think it really was for this era,the first of its kind in terms of Jamaican film, and it was, you know, there was a whole collective a whole group of them that were putting out films from a distinctly Jamaican or Caribbean perspective that were locally produced, and also looked amazing, like, the sensibility in terms of the cinematography. You know, were they done now for sure could have gone to Netflix or Amazon?

Right. Thats what Im thinking.

And I think thats probably, you know, you can talk to Ronnie Robinson at the Film Commission about this. But definitely, I guess, where we need to sort of put our focus is we have the content, and we have the talent. And we have, you know, the production industry, but distribution is something making that leap into distribution. I mean, thats, thats where were at right now. So extremely happy to be a part of the production. I come from a theatre background, I was acting from I was four. And so the film, the version that has hit wide distribution, some of my scenes are cut out but it was also a great opportunity to work with my very good friend Fahrenheit, who also lives right up the road. So he was Mr. McDonald, I was Mrs McDonald. Like a very typical sort of, you know, rich uptown couple and their marriage isnt very good. You know, hes trying to sex off the the nanny, who of course, is played by my other friend Nicole Skye Gray. The beautiful Skye. And that was actually her first film as well. Of course, Sheldon and Evie from Nomadz, reallyI mean, at every turn, it was just an amazing production. I mean, its very star studded.

What are your thoughts on the connection between film and music from a creative process standpoint?

Thats a great question. Well, I think it boils down toits all about telling a story. And I think its just a different, a different mode or a different format, that the story is being told and whether thats as an actor or as a writer in a book, or, you know, as an artist, singing and performing a song. I think it all boils down to stories and sharing your perspective or your experiences. For me, thats what was because, you know, I literally grew up on a stage. So for a long time I had made music and recorded music, in GarageBand on my MacBook and you know, I go to jams and do a thing but like I never I never took it seriously. I think the reason why is because, for me, music is extremely personal. And I mean, yes, certain people do it a different way and have people write for them. And you know, thats cool. And I respect that. Not that the two cannot work together. But for me, when youre acting, youre in someone elses shoes, you almost have that as a shield. But when youre, for me, when Im singing, Im really talking about something thats raw, and its like, youre peeling back a layer. That was very scary for me,

Thats interesting because for some people, for some artists, its about telling a story that might not be their own. For some its about telling a story, at the end of the day theres value to all of it. But even the idea of commercializing art becomes work at a certain point.

Yeah, no, I think, there are many different hats, especially, you know, for me, as an emerging artist, as an independent artist. I dont have a big label behind me, I dont have any budget, you know, straight up facts. I am the budget, you know, Im hustling really hard. In my business, and in my consulting work to fund this, and Im sure any other artist reading this knows that and understands that. That journey. But as you say, there is a value to it. And for me, its funny, even as a parent, in the last few years, Ive realized, you know, I dont give parenting advice. A lot of people assume when youre the mother of four kids that you know theyd like to use this term supermom term, and blah, blah, blah, and Im not really big on that at all, I think every parent has to figure out what works for them. Its all theory until you are actually in position. And one of the things that my children have taught me is how important it is to be vulnerable. To acknowledge that you dont have it figured out, and that you are working through things, and that you make mistakes. Because I think its very easy to get caught up in, oh, this is the way youre supposed to do it. And if you follow these steps, its gonna go right. Well, guess what? It doesnt always work that way. You know, its I mean, it is true, that life is about choices. And thats one of the things Im really big on with my children is that life is about choices. And typically speaking, your consequences come as a result of the choices. I dont make the rules. I came to this world and I found it that way. You make good choices, generally speaking, good things happen. But the ability to be transparent, and to show that you make mistakes and to share about the times when things dont work out I think becomes very important.
Second dose of anti-coronavirus vaccine to be administered to healthcare workers from Feb 13

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 4: The second dose of anti-coronavirus vaccine will be administered to healthcare workers from February 13, the Centre said on Thursday, highlighting that 45 per cent of them have been inoculated so far.

Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said 45,93,427 beneficiaries have been vaccinated against COVID-19 till 1.30 PM on Thursday.

The states and UTs that have covered 30 per cent or less of healthcare workers in the COVID immunization drive till date are Sikkim, Ladakh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur and Puducherry. These states are being given suggestions by the Union Health Ministry over video-conferences and meetings about how to increase the immunization coverage, Bhushan said.

"The second dose of anti-coronavirus vaccine will be administered to healthcare workers from February 13. Also, 45 per cent of targeted healthcare workers have been vaccinated so far and by tomorrow almost half of the healthcare workers would be inoculated," NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul said. In the COVID-19 immunization drive, 5,912 public health care centres and 1,239 private facilities are being used as vaccination session sites, he said. "As we proceed, we would be involving the private healthcare sector in a much larger extent," Bhushan added.

Asked when these vaccines will be available for general public and senior citizens, Bhushan said, "Very soon. We have started frontline workers from February 3. Once this wave also stabilises, we will come to 50 years plus population. It will happen in the near future." Supplementing it, Dr Paul said, private health sector is an integral part of India's healthcare system and there is an active, steady and highly satisfactory participation of the private sector facilities hand in hand with the public healthcare sector.

Why vaccine is a must in fight against Coronavirus? Dr Randeep Guleria explains

"This partnership will be further strengthened when we move to the next phase of our vaccination drive," he said. He also spoke about the apprehensions prevailing about the expiry of COVID-19 vaccine. "There is no question of a single dose getting wasted because we could not administer it on time before their expiry. Not a single dose will be wasted. We are monitoring the vaccines twice daily and we are very well aware as of which batches are expiring when," Dr Paul said.

He further said a satisfactory picture is emerging in terms of the pandemic. "We are consistently performing well on almost all parameters," he said while cautioning against lowering the guard and stressed on following the COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. The health secretary said two states - Kerala and Maharashtra - with 69,365 and 38,762 active cases respectively presently are contributing more than 70 per cent cases in the country. While Kerala account for 44.8 per cent of these cases, Maharashtra's share is 25 per cent of the active cases.
An Australian woman who always struggled to tell left from right has found a permanent solution to the problem by having the directions tattooed on her hands.

D'Kodia Laine, 23, had the ink done on February 3 by tattoo artist Lauren Winzer at Hunter & Fox, a renowned studio in Alexandria, four kilometres south of Sydney CBD.

The communications student, from Canberra, told Daily Mail Australia she got some amusing reactions from friends when she sent them photos of the finished artwork.

'I just got a lot of laughing back and [messages like] "oh you were being serious!",' she said.

Canberra student D'Kodia Laine (right) found a permanent solution to struggle telling left from right - by having the directions tattooed on her hands (left)

Her boyfriend is delighted that she will never confuse left and right again.

'He's grateful that now he won't get secondhand embarrassment!' she said.

Ms Laine said she had always found it difficult to navigate left and right and faced increasing ridicule as she grew up.

'My friends would joke about how silly it looks having an adult make the L shape with your hands to differentiate,' she said.

The issue came to a head during a scavenger hunt at a party in Canberra last year, where Ms Laine was nominated as the navigator for her team.

Tattoo artist Lauren Winzer (pictured) said she was 'happy to help' Ms Laine navigate future directions

After instructing the driver to take 'a few wrong turns', a friend drew an 'L' and 'R 'on her hands and Ms Laine joked about getting the letters tattooed.

'It started as a joke but it's actually super useful and I don't look dumb making an L with my fingers to figure it out,' she said.

A photo of the tattoos on Lauren Winzer's Instagram account, which have racked up 3,921 'likes' since they were uploaded less than 24 hours ago, have sparked dozens of supportive responses.

'Not only are tattoos cute, but they can also be super functional! Good luck with all your future directions, happy to help guide you,' Ms Winzer wrote in the caption.

Many applauded Ms Laine (pictured) for her ingenuity and said they could do with getting the directions on their own hands

The problem clearly resonated, with one woman replying: 'I love this! I definitely need to do this myself.'

A second tagged her friends and wrote: 'Have I not said I wanted this done?!'

Others agreed they would benefit from having the directions marked on their hands and applauded Ms Laine's ingenuity.

The comments have cleared up any second thoughts she may have had about the permanent fixtures.

'Based on the comments on the photo on Lauren's page it seems to be a tattoo a lot of people are saying they need so I don't feel too dumb now,' Ms Laine said.
Newly-signed Magic guard Frank Mason III should be able to provide some offensive firepower to an injury-depleted Orlando squad, according to Josh Cohen of Magic.com.

As a two-way player during the 2019/20 season, Mason played 23 games for the Bucks NBAGL affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd. The 511 University of Kansas alum was the leading scorer in the G League last year, averaging 26.4 PPG. Cohen anticipates Masons biggest scoring contribution to the Magic will be via pull-up jumpers off of pick-and-rolls.

Theres more out of the Sunshine State:
Nashville- Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III announced today that he sued Food City Supermarkets, LLC and K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc. in Knox County Circuit Court. The States lawsuit alleges that for well over a decade, Food City pharmacies in Tennessee unlawfully sold tens of millions of prescription opioids, in particular immediate release oxycodone 30mg (Oxy 30), and intentionally profited from the ongoing opioid epidemic. The State asserts that Food Citys conduct and its failure to maintain the required effective controls against abuse and diversion have directly contributed to the ongoing opioid epidemic.

Specifically, the State contends that Food City violated the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, violated the Tennessees public nuisance statute at three Knoxville-area stores, and created a common law public nuisance by endangering the health of Tennesseans and interfering with the commercial marketplace.

Food City made a lot of money from filling opioid prescriptions. In itself thats not a problem. The problem is how they did it. said General Slatery. The company knew its customers were addicted. It knew the pill mills writing the prescriptions were some of the worst actors at any level of the opioid crisis. But Food City did virtually nothing that would disturb that income stream. It stoked the market with the most diverted and abused opioids, pushed its pharmacists to sell more and more, and ignored the most alarming evidence - overdoses and illegal sales taking place right outside the pharmacy door. The Attorney General is going to pursue businesses that knowingly welcome, turn a blind eye to, or closely align themselves with suspect clinics or providers. Remember four to five people die each day from opioid overdoses in Tennessee.

The allegations in the States 208-page Complaint provide stark detail about Food Citys opioid sales and conduct. Among other things, the State alleges that for more than a decade the Company:

Sold more than 206 million prescription opioids, almost 25% of which were sold by Food City # 674 in Bearden;

Sold more than 42.5 million Oxy 30 pills44% of which were sold at Food City # 674 in Bearden;

Ignored or watered-down reports of suspicious prescribers, allowing its pharmacies to continue selling opioids even after these doctors, nurses, and physician assistants were raided, disciplined, arrested, or indicted;

Routinely sold huge quantities of dangerous high risk prescription combinations, in particular the Holy Trinity of an opioid, a benzodiazepine (e.g., Xanax), and a muscle relaxer (e.g., Soma);

Sold Oxy 30 and other prescription opioids to criminals involved in drug trafficking rings;

Purchased more Oxy 30one of the most diverted and potent immediate release opioidsfrom AmerisourceBergen between October 2011 and January 2012 for Food City # 674 than all of AmerisourceBergens other pharmacy customers in 38 entire states and the District of Columbia;

Sold opioids with more morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs), a common unit to evaluate potency among different opioids, at Food City # 674 than all pharmacies in 81 Tennessee counties;

Created a prescription savings card program that allowed customers to obtain additional price discounts on all opioids, including Oxy 30, making it a hot spot for criminals looking for the cheapest oxycodone in the area;

Established a policy of having its pharmacies hoard opioids and other controlled substances by ordering as many as its supplier would send to each store;

Actively solicited secondary suppliers of Oxy 30 when its main supplier reduced thresholds to its highest volume pharmacies in Knoxville;

Pressured employees to increase sales of opioids and to fill suspicious opioid prescriptions, threatened pharmacy employees if sales did not improve, and retained employees at its most lucrative opioid-selling stores despite policy and regulatory violations;

Illegally and secretly transferred numerous opioids among Food City pharmacies to ensure a steady supply and get around supplier thresholds;

Continued selling massive quantities of opioids even after multiple instances of overdoses at its stores or in store parking lots;

Pushed back forcefully against public and private reports that Food City had compliance issues concerning controlled substances; and

Sold large quantities of opioids to individuals from foreign countries, including Poland, Venezuela, the UK, Australia, and Canada, and from far-away states within the U.S., including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington (state), Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

The lawsuit is part of a series of actions the State has filed against companies for opioid-related misconduct. The State has previously sued manufacturers Purdue Pharma L.P. and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. as well as AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, one of the largest distributors of opioids in Tennessee. Tennessee also continues to lead a multistate group of Attorneys General who are investigating various manufacturers and distributors and seeking to hold them accountable and recover funds to abate the opioid epidemic to which they contributed.

In all efforts, the Attorney Generals Office continues to work toward a resolution that will provide funds and other assistance to address opioid abuse prevention, treatment, and education in every communityparticularly those hardest hit by this epidemic.

To read the complaint, click here: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2021/pr21-06-complaint.pdf



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#21-06: AG Slatery Sues Food City for Unlawful Sales of Opioids
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Taxes will have to rise over the next five years because the public will demand increased spending on health and social care after the pandemic, a top economist said last night.

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told MPs on the Treasury select committee: It is pretty unlikely that taxes wont rise as a fraction of national income.

He said the economy will probably be smaller in three or four years time than it would have been without the pandemic  that will mean less tax revenue and at least the same level of spending demand.

Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies Paul Johnson, pictured in March last year, said it's likely that taxes will rise in Britain after the coronavirus pandemic

But he predicted there will actually be a higher level of spending demand  it seems unlikely we will accept the same level of spending on health, education and social care as it looked like we would before.

Finally, he added, we have always known the cost of health and pensions over this decade was going to be rising reasonably significantly.

He said: I would be surprised if in five years time, taxes as a fraction of national income were not higher than they were pre-pandemic.

But Julian Jessop, of the Institute for Economic Affairs, said he did not believe taxes would rise because the economy would bounce back.

He added: If the economy does rebound as strongly as I expect, and the public finances continue to beat the forecasts of the Office for Budget Responsibility, weve got a good chance of getting through this crisis without the need to raise taxes.

[February 04, 2021] Great governance is a wise practice wherever it lives

DENVER, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Great governance is an intentional focus on creating the conditions to assist citizens in achieving their fullest potential. Our role is to understand the public desires and strive to maximize well-being returns for their investment into the community. Great governance is so much more than what one person does or says. It's about the inspiration that comes from collaborating with people who share values ad principles.





Ian McCormack , Strategic Steps The partnership among Strategic Steps, It's Logical and ResourceX brings a new vision of great governance that endeavors to address the responsibility of local governments to identify demands, determine how to deliver them, and at what scale; to respond to those demands with programs, services, amenities, and facilities; and then to check that the demand is met to the ability of the local government. This process is a loop, where one period's results will help inform the next period's plans. This new partnership considers each step within this loop to ensure adequate emphasis and attention to each responsibility area.

Join us Tuesday, February 9, 2021, at 10:00 AM CST to learn more about developing and applying the core concepts of great governance in your organization. To have many years of our collective passion for great governance come together in this way is an amazing opportunity for our companies and clients.

-Kelly Rudyk, It's Logical This new partnership brings together a wealth of expertise and experience across North America. Elected officials, local government leaders, and citizens seek solutions that benefit their community. This new vision for great governance delivers that outcome through practiced and proven technologies and methodologies. What I find most compelling about the "Great Governance" vision is the feedback loop. From establishing a vision and business plan, prioritizing resources to fund it, executing and delivering services, and then getting feedback to inform and adjust and get better at fulfilling the value proposition to our citizens.

-Chris Fabian, ResourceX The ultimate goal is to build communities to which people want to move and in which families want to remain. The growth of well-being in the community results in more of a whole community where individuals freely return value to their neighbors and friends. Media Contact:

Liz Johnston

ResourceX

ljohnston@resourcex.net

817.676.6830 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/great-governance-is-a-wise-practice-wherever-it-lives-301222559.html SOURCE ResourceX

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Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Health & Wellness

By Long Island Published: February 04 2021

Earlier this morning, Members of the Nassau County Legislatures Republican Majority held a hearing to examine the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine within the county

During the course of the hearing, Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello led the Republican Majority in urging the Governor to open up a mass vaccination site in Nassau County at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Just today, Governor Cuomo announced that Yankee Stadium would be used as a mass vaccination site for Bronx residents administering 15,000 vaccines, which amounts to almost more than the amount Nassau has been allotted since the rollout began.

"Long Island has continued to see the highest infection rate in the state. In the Governor's own words Long Island, Long Island, Long Island, Said Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello. Just today the Governor announced a mass vaccination site at Yankee stadium that will administer more than 15,000 doses. Almost more than Nassau County has administered since the vaccine rollout began. That is why I join my colleagues on behalf of Nassau County residents struggling to receive the vaccine, in asking that the Governor open up a mass vaccination site at the Nassau Coliseum. This will allow more residents to get tested, lower our infection rate, and allow more businesses to open, and continue to rebuild."

A senior female teacher has been struck off for bombarding a vulnerable student with loving messages.

Donna Slater, 48, arranged for a 15-year-old female pupil to meet a strange male at night for 'mentoring'.

The former teacher at Heston Community School in Hounslow, London, was banned from the classroom for the 2017 incident.

It came several years after she got into trouble for letting a teenager stay at her home after she had been excluded from school and reported missing to police in 2010.

Donna Slater, 48, arranged for a 15-year-old female pupil to meet a strange male at night for 'mentoring'. The former teacher at Heston Community School (pictured) in Hounslow was banned from the classroom for the 2017 incident

In 2017, as well as sending increasingly 'intimate' messages to the underage girl, she ignored a voice mail from her explaining another pupil wanted her to engage in sexual activity.

Slater introduced the girl to an adult male, who had no connection to the school and had not been vetted, late at night outside school, believing the man could help 'mentor' the teenager.

She also gave him the pupil's mobile phone number, the Teaching Regulation Agency hearing in Coventry was told.

Ms Karen McArthur, who chaired the panel, said a 'similar incident' took place in 2010 involving Ms Slater's relationship with a former pupil at the school.

She continued: 'In the information provided it is clear Ms Slater formed an inappropriately close relationship with a pupil who had been excluded from the school.

'The pupil stayed at Ms Slater's address on several occasions and Ms Slater was accused of harbouring the pupil who had been reported missing by the police.

'She did not notify the school or social services that the pupil was staying with her. The panel identified clear parallels between the previous incident and the current allegations.'

The latest case, involving a 'vulnerable' teen referred to only as 'Pupil A', happened at Heston Community School in Hounslow, where the teacher had worked for 13 years.

She gave a man the pupil's mobile phone number, the Teaching Regulation Agency hearing in Coventry was told (file image)

As learning coordinator and head of year 7, she was pastoral lead and was responsible for working closely with the school's designated safeguarding chief, the panel was told.

She signed the school's annual School Safeguarding Pledge on 10 October 2016 and had completed safeguarding training at the start of that year.

In the WhatsApp messages, including those shared outside school hours, Ms Slater rubbished colleagues, shared personal information with Pupil A, and told the girl she was 'lovely'.

The WhatsApp messages revealed Ms Slater seeking to meet Pupil A 'in the absence of any proper reason'.

She also arranged for Pupil A to meet an adult male 'with no professional connection to the school, with whom Ms Slater also shared Pupil A's mobile phone number'.

Ms Slater also failed to take appropriate safeguarding action in respect of disclosures made to her by Pupil A, that another student, called Pupil B, had proposed sexual activity with the teenager.

The panel was told that another concern was that Ms Slater had undermined the student's relationship with another female teacher with messages such as: 'This is about her insecurities & she doesn't like feisty girls that make her look & feel bad.

'I don't need to prove myself. She feels like she does. If she doesn't see how lovely u r that's her loss & stupidity.'

She also warned Pupil A that she would need to 'be careful' in relation to other children at the school who were 'devious'.

The panel was told the meetings between the student and the man, referred to only as Person 1, 'took place outside the education setting and were late at night'.

Ms McArthur added: 'The panel was satisfied that Ms Slater's conduct, by introducing Person 1 and Pupil A, may have put Pupil A in a vulnerable situation.

'It appeared that Ms Slater intended for Person 1 to form a mentor-like relationship with Pupil A, which was capable of influencing Pupil A.

'Further, the comments made about colleagues and other students were capable of undermining Pupil A's relationships with them, which is particularly harmful in the context of an already troubled and vulnerable student.

'Accordingly, the panel was satisfied that Ms Slater was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.'

Banning her from the classroom with the right of appeal in three years, decision maker Sarah Buxcey, for the Education Secretary, said: 'The panel considered that Ms Slater did not show meaningful remorse for or insight into her actions.

'The panel noted that Ms Slater did not provide a statement or any mitigating circumstances to explain her actions.

'The panel noted there were no character statements or references in the bundle provided from any colleagues that could attest to her abilities as a teacher.

'Ms Slater's conduct was a clear breach of the Teacher's Standards.'
ALBANY  The Common Council is asking the state Comptrollers office to review a decision that would allow a developer to use the main entrance to Westland Hills Park as an exit from a proposed apartment complex along Colvin Avenue.

Monday evening it approved a resolution, sponsored by Councilman Mike OBrien, arguing that the city Planning Board doesnt have the authority to allow commercial use of Anthony Street to the developer.

OBrien and members of the Upper Washington Avenue Neighborhood Association have been pushing back against the project for some time. The Planning Board gave its final sign-off for the two-building, 63-unit project on Dec. 22.

The projects developer, Anthony DeThomasis is proposing one mixed use building with 48 units and a second residential building with 15 units. The plans call for an entrance and exit to the complex at 60 Colvin Ave., as well as a one-way exit on to Anthony Street.

In a letter to the Planning Board, Hyde Clarke, president of the Upper Washington Avenue Neighborhood Association expressed concerns about traffic from the project in the area. He also questioned whether Anthony Street, the entrance to the park off of Colvin Avenue, was part of the park itself.

I believe the city and the applicant do need to provide evidence as to whether that street has been impliedly dedicated to a public use, he wrote.

Part of the issue is what was there before the parks existence. In 1974, the city paid for the parks redevelopment in part with a federal grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior. At the time, the entrance to the park on the east side was a paper street that was never fully developed and known as Clinton Avenue. Since the city did not have to purchase that land to make it part of the park, Clarke argued to the city that implies it is part of the park itself and only the state Legislature can grant a developer the right to use any of it for commercial purposes.

In a letter, Dan Hershberg, the architect who represented DeThomasis before the Planning Board, disagreed. Hershberg was the design engineer on the park in 1974.

Hershberg cited a conversation he had with the Department of the Interior, explaining that if there were any restrictions on the use of Anthony Street, they would have been laid out in a deed restriction or memorandum of understanding, and those documents dont exist, he wrote to the Common Council.

OBrien said he is still searching for more city documents on the matter, but they may be sealed in the countys Hall of Records. He expressed frustration that the Planning Board took Hershberg at his word, rather than asking for documentation on the issue at the Dec. 22 meeting.

Mayor Kathy Sheehans spokesman David Galin said the city was working with the neighborhood association and DeThomasis to find a solution to the problem that worked for both sides.
Press Trust of India

The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed telecom regulator Trai to ensure "complete and strict" implementation of the regulation issued by it in 2018 for curbing unsolicited commercial communications (UCC). The high court also directed the telecom service providers (TSPs), which included state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone, to ensure they strictly comply with the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preferences Regulations (TCCCPR) 2018 issued by Trai.

With these directions, a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh disposed of a plea by One97 Communications Ltd, which runs online payment platform Paytm, alleging that telecom operators are not blocking "phishing" activities over various mobile networks.

Phishing is a cyber crime where people are contacted by e-mail, phone calls or text messages by someone posing as a legitimate representative of an organisation to lure them to part with their sensitive data, including banking and credit card details and passwords.

The direction by the bench came after senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for One97 Communications, told the court that it may dispose of the matter by directing Trai and the TSPs to implement and comply with the TCCCP Regulations.

The counsels for the TSPs, during the brief hearing, told the bench that they were complying with the regulations and would continue to do so.

The bench, thereafter, said, "We direct Respondent 2 (Trai) to ensure complete and strict implementation of the TCCCP Regulations of 2018 and other related regulations issued from time to time to prevent unsolicited commercial communications over the networks of the TSPs.

"We expect Respondent 2 to strictly implement the regulations and in case of any violation, action would be initiated in accordance with the regulations".

In November last year, Trai had told the court that it has imposed financial disincentives ranging from Rs 34,000 to Rs 30 crore on telecom companies like BSNL, Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone for not preventing UCC over their networks between April to June 2020.

The submission by Trai had come pursuant to the court's direction in September 2020 to start taking action in accordance with law against unregistered entities and those persons not complying with its regulations to curb the problem of UCCs.

In a media statement, the CEO and Managing Director of Paytm Payments Bank Ltd, Satish Kumar Gupta, said, "Today's decision by the Honourable Court will go a long way in safeguarding millions of Indians in the country who make digital payments and other online transactions. We strongly believe that all of us including regulators, government and access providers have to come together to fight the menace of fraudulent calls and SMSs in the country.

"We are sanguine that telcos will abide by the court's order in true spirit. This is important to further reinforce the trust of citizens in digital transactions and help in building a truly digital and AtmaNirbhar Bharat."

Paytm, in its plea filed through advocate Karuna Nandy, had claimed that millions of its customers have been defrauded by the phishing activities over the mobile networks and the failure of the telecom companies to prevent the same has "caused financial and reputational loss" to it for which it had also sought damages of Rs 100 crore from them.

Paytm had contended that the telecom majors are violating their obligations under the TCCCPR 2018.

Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd which publishes Firstpost

Boeing Co. is outsourcing some of its information technology functions to Dell Inc. in a move that will eliminate or transfer 600 jobs, some of which could be in South Carolina.

Susan Doniz, vice president for information technology and data analytics for the planemaker, informed employees in a Jan. 28 memo that the decision would affect about 10 percent of the IT staff.

Those workers will have to find different jobs within the company, apply to continue as Dell employees or be laid off, according to the memo. The deal with Dell was first reported Feb. 3 by The Seattle Times.

That report cited Puget Sound, North Charleston and St. Louis as the Boeing hubs likely to take the biggest hits from the outsourcing.

Boeing South Carolina spokeswoman Libba Holland said the company was not specifying how employment at different locations, including its operations in North Charleston, will be affected by the changes.

Starting in April, Dell will start handling functions that include hosting servers, storing data and providing technical support.

Doniz said the "expanded partnership" with the Austin, Texas-based company best known as a maker of personal computers will advance their "digital transformation."

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This is a change they "would have made even without a global pandemic," Doniz wrote, but COVID-19 "certainly quickened" the pace.

CEO Dave Calhoun alluded to the fact that a shakeup was in the works during Boeing's Jan. 27 earnings call with industry analysts. He said the IT division was looking for opportunities to "form or expand strategic partnerships with vendors" that would allow them to "simplify and optimize" operations and reduce costs.

Pressured by the lost aircraft orders and other financial strains of the coronavirus pandemic, Boeing has been making moves for months to slash expenses. Much of that involved shrinking the size of its payroll.

The planemaker's workforce in South Carolina shrunk considerably in the last year. Its employee count dropped by almost 17 percent to 5,706, or 1,163 fewer jobs than in January 2020.

Companywide, more than 20,000 jobs were cut last year, and Boeing has said more will be eliminated this year, about 11,000.

Boeing has also not specified how those cuts will be distributed among its manufacturing sites, but employees in their commercial airplanes division have been most affected by labor reductions during the pandemic.
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100 years ago  1921

The Wrong, Mr. Wright is now being rehearsed by the Girardville Dramatic Co. of Girardville. The cast is composed of the best talent and the players have proven themselves capable of portraying their respective roles with evident satisfaction.

75 years ago  1946

The $35,000 Bond Drive innovated recently by the Schuylkill Haven VFW is meeting with a cheerful response from the citizens of Schuylkill Haven and surrounding area and one-third the goal has been reached.

50 years ago  1971

A native of Pottsville, T. Sgt. David J. Hopkins graduated from the U.S. Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Goodfellow AFB, Texas.

25 years ago  1996

Picture Pottsville with a restaurant like Bennigans or T.G.I. Fridays near Reading: steak, fish and other good food at good prices, bright lights, hip music, and crowds late into the evening. That could happen as part of Charles H. Quandels preferred option for upgrading of the Quality Hotel at 100 S. Centre St. As a businessman, Im looking at the best interest of the hotel, he said. Quandel, general partner in Pottsville Hotel Associates Ltd., the hotel owner, said he envisions good quality rooms with a good restaurant ... providing conference facilities for the business traveler.
Lambert has more than 35 years' involvement in the Australian and international resources industry in mining operations, project development, business development and corporate administration.

The company recently reported high-grade gold at the White Heat prospect at its flagship Cue Project

( ) (FRA:6MU) has appointed a new non-executive director, mining engineer and experienced company director Brett Lambert, effective immediately.

Musgrave chairman Graham Ascough said: We are delighted to welcome Brett to Musgrave.

Bretts extensive skills and expertise across project development and mining will be of enormous benefit to the company as we continue on our path to development and production.

Extensive executive experience

Commencing his professional career with Western Mining Corporation (WMC) in 1983, Lamber was a member of the senior management team at WMCs Mt Magnet gold operations that initiated the transition to large scale open pit mining and construction of the current Checker processing plant.

Post WMC, Lambert held executive roles with several junior and mid-tier resource companies, where his responsibilities included overseeing several resource projects through feasibility study, development, and commissioning.

He has served as a director of companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, London's AIM market, the Toronto Stock Exchange, and the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

High-grade gold at Cue Project

Musgrave recently reported strong reverse circulation (RC) assay results from the newly discovered White Heat prospect on its 100%-owned ground at its flagship Cue Gold Project in Western Australias Murchison district.

Mineralisation remains open in all directions with nine RC drill holes completed to date and further assays pending.

RC drilling at the White Heat target is continuing to follow-up high-grade drill results and further assay results expected in mid-late February.
Berger said when he read the findings of the first probe, "it was pretty clear to me we needed to do a follow-on...
The Galveston County Office of Emergency Management is seeking volunteers to help administer COVID-19 vaccinations. And, it turns out, volunteering to dish out vaccines could be the key to obtaining one yourself.

The countys vaccine hub, located at Walter Hall Park, was originally staffed by health care workers from the University of Texas Medical Branch.

As weve gotten more doses and moved forward, they still have jobs at UTMB to do, said OEM spokesperson Zach Davidson. So weve started reaching out to the community and the response has been incredible.

In the past few days, nursing students from Galveston College have helped staff the vaccine hub, along with workers from Houston Physicians hospital. But now the county is reaching out to the public for extra hands.

MORE FROM THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE HEALTH TEAM: At St. Luke's, new nurses are the linchpin in vaccine distribution

Were looking for as many volunteers as we can get, Davidson said. Right now, the county is receiving 6,000 to 7,000 doses of the vaccine (per week), and we expect that number to increase as that allocation number goes up.

Volunteering is easy, said Davidson.

If youd like to volunteer, the easiest way is to go to the Office of Emergency Management website  gcoem.org  and click on the link about what license you have, and what youre able to do, he said.

The county is looking specifically for licensed health care professionals who can help with distribution. But there is also room for those who are unlicensed.

Applicants will be asked to include days and times they are free to volunteer. Staff members in Davidsons office are working with the Galveston Health District to ensure medical volunteers have the proper licenses.

Have a question for the Chronicles COVID-19 Help Desk? Ask it here.

Non-medical professionals, Davidson said, can help with logistics, traffic control and other needs at the vaccine site.

When we get our vaccine allocations, and figure out what days we need volunteers, well reach out and say, You said you can volunteer on these days. Are you available? Davidson said.

Volunteers need not be vaccinated to administer vaccines.

We have all the necessary PPE. The county has been stockpiling it, and we have large supplies. We also have vendors if we need more, Davidson said. If you do come and volunteer, well make sure that you do get a vaccine.
MGC Pharma will maintain a dual LSE and ASX listing to significantly broaden the companys international profile and provide direct access to UK and European institutional and other investors.

MGC Pharma is on-track to fast-track the commencement of ArtemiCTM Phase III clinical trials upon completion of the placing and LSE Listing

( ) (FRA:H5O) (LON:MXC) is set to become the first medicinal cannabis company to be admitted to the main market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Tuesday, February 9.

This follows a strongly supported 6.5 million (around A$12 million) share placement led by leading UK institutional fund managers and supported by UK family office and professional high net worth investors.

The binding commitments were obtained following an announcement of the companys proposed LSE listing on February 2.

Already seeing the benefits of this decision

Co-founder and MD Roby Zomer said: This is something we have been working towards for over 18 months, realising our strategic ambition to be closer to our operations in Europe with greater access to key UK and European strategic investors.

We are already seeing the benefits of this decision, with the strong show of support from a number of leading UK institutional funds and sophisticated investors for the placing, which was significantly oversubscribed, to coincide with our LSE listing.

The funds will primarily be used to support the companys growth ambitions and key clinical research programs for our leading products, as we continue to expand our manufacturing capabilities, increase our product range and expand into new and existing key markets.

Use of funds

Following completion of the placement, MGC Pharmaceuticals will have cash reserves of around $12.6 million.

The European-based bio-pharma company plans to use the net proceeds to:

Meet the costs associated with a Phase III clinical trial of ArtemiC planned for H1 2021;

Meet the costs associated with a Phase IIb clinical trial of CannEpil;

Increase distribution of the groups product range and expansion into new key markets to drive sales growth and future revenue, including Brazil and major EU countries;

Meet the registration costs for ArtemiC in new markets, including Russia, the Middle East and Europe; and

For general working capital purposes, including completing construction of the groups proposed manufacturing facilities in Malta.

Placement

A total of around 441 million new shares will be issued under the placement at an issue price of 0.01475 per new share (A$0.0266), which, using current exchange rates, is a premium to the last closing share price of A$0.026 on February 1, 2021, prior to the companys request for a trading halt for the capital raise.

This placement will raise 6.5 million (around A$12 million) before costs, utilising the company's available placement capacity pursuant to ASX Listing Rule 7.1 and 7.1A.

Turner Pope acted as sole and exclusive lead manager and bookrunner for the placing, which was extremely well supported by several UK institutional fund managers, led by Premier Miton and Chelverton Asset Management, alongside other UK family offices and high net worth investors.
Delhi Police have fixed nails on the ground near barricades at Ghazipur (Delhi-Uttar Pradesh) border. (Image: ANI)

Fifteen MPs from 10 opposition parties, including the SAD, DMK, NCP and the Trinamool Congress, were stopped by police from reaching Ghazipur border on Thursday to meet farmers protesting against new farm laws, a leader said.

According to SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal who coordinated the visit, the leaders were not allowed to cross the barricades and reach the protest site.

Besides Badal, Supriya Sule from NCP, Kanimozhi and Tiruchi Siva from the DMK, Saugata Roy from the TMC were part of the delegation. Members of the National Conference, RSP and the IUML were also part of it.

During a discussion in Parliament on Wednesday, several opposition parties asked the government to withdraw the three contentious farm laws without making it a prestige issue and not to treat the agitating farmers as "enemies".

Stringent security continued at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, one of the key protest sites where thousands of farmers are camping with a demand that the Centre repeal the new agri-marketing laws enacted last September.

The protesting farmers have expressed the apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.

However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.

Eleven rounds of formal talks between the government and the protesting farmer unions have failed to break the deadlock. While unions have stuck to their main demand of repeal of the laws and legal guarantee of MSP, the government has offered some concessions including keeping these laws on hold for 1-1.5 years.

Even the Supreme Court has stayed the laws for two months and set up a panel to look into the matter.
The Repair Shop

Rating:

Mend it for Money

Rating:

They said it would never be done. More specifically, my wife thought Id never get round to it. Theres been junk boxed up in our garage, unseen since we moved in more than 20 years ago.

But one of the bonuses of lockdown is that weve finally cleared it out  and the loft and the shed. Enough tat to fill a charity shop has been donated, ditched, restored or given to our son to sell on eBay.

Were not alone. On the pavement outside every house round here, people are abandoning everything from childrens clothes to furniture, books and CDs to office equipment. You can call it middle-class fly-tipping, but the stuff seems to shift. Someone wants it.

They said it would never be done. More specifically, my wife thought Id never get round to it. Theres been junk boxed up in our garage, unseen since we moved in more than 20 years ago. (Pictured: BBC1's The Repair Shop)

Put the work in, and theres money in these heaps of rubbish. And an array of programmes eagerly proves it.

Yesterdays BBC schedules included two episodes of The Bidding Room, with dubious antiques including a butchers block up for auction, as well as repeats of Flog It! and Bargain Hunt.

But the main attraction was The Repair Shop (BBC1), which never fails to unearth treasures with deep sentimental value.

The most unusual item this time was a tic-tac bag  not a holdall for tiny mints, but a bookies tool. Terry from London brought it in.

The bag had belonged to his dad, a post-war bookmaker who would send a runner round the working mens pubs to collect bets on the horses.

But the main attraction was The Repair Shop (BBC1), which never fails to unearth treasures with deep sentimental value

The most unusual item this time was a tic-tac bag (not pictured)  not a holdall for tiny mints, but a bookies tool. Terry from London brought it in

The slips went into a bag with a whopping lock that contained a clock: when the bag was shut, the clock stopped. That proved the bets went in before the race started.

In a coincidence that showed life is stranger than telly, Terrys old man was called Arfur. Now where have we heard those names before?

Arfur did all right. He and his missus (was she Her Indoors?) raised nine kids, and they were the first family on the council estate to have a television.

The tic-tac bag symbolised all that: It means more than I can express, I can tell you that, said Terry. Emotional now, Im getting.

Other shabby glories came in kit form. A Levin hollow-bodied jazz guitar from the Sixties had parted company from its neck. And an Edwardian clockwork bird was strewn in about 20 bits.

Watching the restorers reassemble and revive these items is both relaxing and absorbing. Theres always fresh tricks of the trade to discover: whod have guessed you could remove veneer with a hairdryer and a steam iron?

Sentimental value counts for nothing on yet another antiques show, Mend It For Money (C4). As narrator Tom Allen says: Enough jibber-jabber now, lets talk moolah. This format introduces a competitive element. Members of the public bring in items to be repaired and sold, and experts pitch for the commission.

Sentimental value counts for nothing on yet another antiques show, Mend It For Money (C4)

In one more funny pairing of names, the two craftsmen bidding to fix up a 1930s Egyptian linen press were called Bruce and Lee. Enter the dragon! gasped Tom.

Where we are invited to marvel at the skills of the restorers on The Repair Shop, here the emphasis is on risks and mishaps. Bruce dropped a door from the cabinet, got a shelf wedged stuck and failed to sell it for half what hed expected.

Meanwhile, a breeze in the studio lifted a 25 sheet of gold leaf out of metal-worker Sophies fingers and left it crumpled like waste paper.

Still, the cast-iron 1940s bathtub valued at 75 for scrap went for a grand when polished up. Seller Christie had six. The collective noun for bathtubs, purred Tom, is a goldmine.
A nurse has reportedly been stabbed at a hospital in Scotland as police probe three 'potentially linked incidents'.

Armed officers put University Hospital Crosshouse in Kilmarnock under lockdown after the medic was said to have been knifed in its grounds.

Dozens of emergency vehicles swooped on the building on the outskirts of the town after being called to the 'serious incident' at 7.45pm.

Unconfirmed reports suggested two people - both nurses - were injured as forensic officers started their investigation.

Minutes later police rushed to another incident under a viaduct on Portland Street in the centre of Kilmarnock. This incident reportedly also involved a stabbing.

Harrowing footage from the scene shows an emergency worker desperately trying to revive someone in the road.

At around 8.30pm police also attended a 'serious road crash' on the A76 to the south of the town.

It is unclear if the incidents are connected, however they are not being treated as 'terrorist-related'.

Local journalist Alex Tiffin said on Twitter he had been told by a police source the events were linked to a 'domestic incident'.

Police Scotland are at the scene today while a number of roads remain closed this morning.

Police in Scotland were last night dealing with three serious incidents across Kilmarnock including a stabbing at the town's hospital. Pictured: West George Street in the stown

Minutes later officers rushed to another incident under a viaduct (pictured this morning) on Portland Street in the centre of Kilmarnock. This incident reportedly also involved a stabbing

It is unclear if the incidents are connected, however they are not being treated as 'terrorist-related'

University Hospital Crosshouse in Kilmarnock has been placed under lockdown after two people were reportedly stabbed in its grounds. Pictured: Forensic officers were at the scene late into the night

NHS Ayrshire and Arran said last night ambulances had been diverted to University Hospital Ayr.

A witness at the hospital told the Daily Record: 'I was picking someone up when a member of medical staff was stabbed. The whole place is on lockdown.

'Armed police are there and they're sending everyone away from the area.'

Another witness told Ayrshire Live: 'There are between 10 and 15 police vans sitting on the edge of the Moorfield Estate which is about half-a-mile away from the hospital.

'It looks like an officer is standing guard outside the A&E department at the hospital. I've lived round here for a while and never seen anything like this.'

Police Scotland said last night: 'Currently dealing with three potentially linked incidents in the Kilmarnock area.

Dozens of police cars and ambulances from other hospitals rushed to the scene following reports of a nurse being stabbed in the grounds of the hospital

Minutes later officers rush to another incident underneath a viaduct on Portland Street in the centre of the town. This incident reportedly involved a stabbing

Dozens of police cars and emergency vehicles have surrounded University Hospital Crosshouse near Kilmarnock after being called to a 'serious incident'

'The first occurred around 7.45pm outside Crosshouse Hospital, the second around 20 minutes later on Portland Street, and the third, a serious road crash, on the A76, around 8.30pm.

'Enquiries into these incidents are at an early stage and these areas have been cordoned off at this time. There is no cause for concern for the wider community.'

East Ayrshire Council tweeted this morning: 'We know our communities will be shocked & saddened by these events, but we wish to reassure them that there is no risk to the general public at this time & we are supporting our colleagues in NHS Ayrshire & Arran & police wherever we can.'

Scotland's Justice Minister Humza Yousaf posted a tweet about the incident urging people to avoid the area last night.

He said: 'Please listen to Police instructions and avoid both Crosshouse Hospital & Portland St in Kilmarnock. Police are attending a v serious incident.'

Armed police were patrolling the grounds of the hospital, while forensic officers worked through the night to collect evidence from the scene.

Crawford McGuffie, NHS Ayrshire and Arran medical director, said: 'NHS Ayrshire and Arran is aware of an incident in the grounds of University Hospital Crosshouse.

'As a result, the hospital has been under lockdown, and ambulances diverted to University Hospital Ayr.

Portland Street in the centre of Kilmarnock remains closed off. Harrowing footage circulating online shows an emergency worker attempting to resuscitate someone in the road

It is unclear if the incidents are connected, however they are not being treated as 'terrorist-related'

Reports on social media suggest there may have been a stabbing

'We are assisting Police Scotland with their investigations, and to ensure the safety of staff, patients and visitors.

'As this is a Police Scotland incident, we are unable to comment any further at this time.' Police urged people to avoid the area.

Ayrshire Police tweeted: 'Officers in Kilmarnock are currently dealing with two serious incidents in the town at this time, one at Crosshouse Hospital and a second in Portland Street.'

It added: 'These areas are cordoned off and the public are asked to avoid them at this time.'

The incident comes as staff at the hospital continue to treat patients, including people with Covid-19 amid the pandemic.

In January, an A&E doctor warned staff workloads had doubled as they battled the effects of the virus.

The medic had said: 'Staff are probably having to do more work than they normally do, and that's translated throughout the entire hospital.'

That same month, Nicola Sturgeon said hospitals in Ayrshire and Arran were at 96 per cent capacity as she announced a new lockdown.
The Ministry of Health in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Office recently oriented 30 traditional communicators drawn from various communities within West Coast Region on critical issues concerning covid-19.

The day's event, which forms the last leg of a nationwide initiative, earlier saw nationwide orientation of over 200 traditional communicators.

The move is designed to arm this critical mass of community actors with the requisite knowledge and information for more sensitisation, as they have the skills to communicate to mass audience of the community.

Welcoming the participants, Kura Joof, a staff at the West Coast Regional Health Directorate in Brikama, underscored the role of traditional communicators in message dissemination.

She, however, called on all for attitudinal change and always adhere to WHO and Ministry of Health's precautionary guidelines such as wearing of face masks, testing, and physical distancing to combat the pandemic.

For his part, Momodou Gassama, communication expert at WHO country office, indicated that the move is designed to reinforce what they've already done before, saying one the challenges they face now is that people are not forthcoming for testing.

"So we want to engage this critical group of our society who have the knowledge and skills to communicate positive messages. This is not the first they've have been engaged by the Ministry. Other agencies and organisation had engaged traditional communicators. So we know and valued their role as dissemination of information is concern. So today's event, we are training the last cohorts of 30 people within West Coast Region."

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Gassama indicated that after the orientation they expect the participants to disseminate key messages on Covid-19 in their various communities, adding that WHO and partners would continue to reinforce key messages such as hand washing, wearing face masks, and physical distancing.

"People think that corona virus is dead, but corona virus is coming back. And so therefore we have to wake up and that's the wake up we are trying to do here."

Also speaking, Mass Joof, a staff at the Directorate of Health Promotions at the Ministry of Health, underscored the role of traditional communicators in the dissemination of key messages.

He reminded the gathering that Covid-19 has taken a new dimension with the coming of the new variant version, which all poses serious challenges to humanity.

Joof while outlining the need to join forces to combat this deadly virus, equally called for attitudinal changes as far as combating the global pandemic is concerned.

The event wrapped up with the signing of a two-month contract between the traditional communicators and the Ministry for these community actors to intensify their advocacy on key messages regarding covid-19.

Chandigarh, Feb 4 : The CBI has finally handed over to the Punjab Police papers relating to the sacrilege cases, which Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday said "clearly exposed" that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had been scuttling the process "to prevent their complicity in the cases from being exposed".

The documents and files relating to the cases were handed over to the Punjab Police, hours before the deadline set by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to do so was to expire.

The Director, Bureau of Investigation had written to the CBI Director on January 18 to return the entire record to the state police without any further delay after withdrawal of investigation of sacrilege cases from the CBI and consequent return of the entire record, including evidence gathered in cases transferred to the CBI on November 2, 2015.

The Chief Minister termed it a victory for the state government and an endorsement of its stand that the CBI had, all these months, been trying to scuttle the investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Punjab Police at behest of the SAD, which was part of the ruling NDA at the Centre till September 2020.

"It is clear now that Harsimrat Badal, as Union Minister, had been pressurising the central agency to obstruct the SIT probe by refusing to hand over the case files as she knew that her party's role in the entire affair would be exposed once the police take the investigation to its logical conclusion," said Amarinder Singh in a statement.

SAD's complicity in the 2015 cases and their subsequent efforts to scuttle a fair and free probe would now be exposed with the completion of the SIT probe, he said, asserting that all those found guilty would be identified and punished under the law.

Nobody will be spared, irrespective of their political affiliation or position, he said.

Pointing out that his government had withdrawn consent to the CBI to probe the cases as far back as in 2018, after the Vidhan Sabha unanimously resolved to do so, the Chief Minister said the SIT was also constituted then to take over the investigation.

The central agency had, for more than two years, been persistently refusing to hand over the case files back to state, he said, adding that the agency, which had earlier filed a closure report in the matter, went on to constitute a new probe team in September 2019 with the clear and obvious aim of preventing the state government from conducting its own impartial, fair and speedy probe, he added.

The shocking part, according to the Chief Minister, was that the CBI adamantly refused to hand over the case diaries even after the High Court, in January 2019, upheld the state government's decision, and again, in February 2020, the Supreme Court dismissed the CBI's appeal challenging the High Court judgment.

The incidents of sacrilege occurred between June and October 2015 following theft of the sacred Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara in Burj Jawaharsinghwala in Faridkot district and discovery of torn pages from the holy book in Bargari. The incident caused widespread discontent and outrage amongst members of the Sikh community, leading to large-scale protests and agitations in October 2015. The retaliatory action taken by the police led to injuries and death of two persons.

In 2015, the Akali Dal government had transferred investigation of the sacrilege incident to the CBI. The Justice (retd) Zora Singh Commission was appointed to inquire into the incidents of sacrilege and police action in the protests, and a report was submitted to the government in 2016.

After the Congress came to power in 2017, the report of the commission was found to be inconclusive, and a fresh commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice (retd) Ranjit Singh Commission, set up and it submitted a report in 2018.
President-elect Joe Biden hopes to revive the Iran nuclear deal after taking office, but that task is only growing more daunting.

Driving the news: Iran announced today that it would begin to enrich uranium to 20%  within striking distance of weapons-grade levels  at its underground Fordow facility.

Hours later, Tehran announced it had seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, allegedly for pollution. Thats another reminder to the world of Irans ability to disrupt a crucial shipping corridor.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and its regional partners continue to fear possible Iranian reprisals one year after the U.S. attack which killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, as well as the more recent assassination of Iranian chief nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

The big picture

In Bidens view, Irans nuclear acceleration and the simmering regional tensions are consequences of President Trumps "maximum pressure" approach following his withdrawal from the 2015 deal. Biden is willing to lift the nuclear sanctions and bring the U.S. back into the deal  if Iran returns to compliance.

Incoming national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNNs Fareed Zakaria on Sunday that after returning to the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Biden will pursue follow-on negotiations to constrain Irans regional behavior.

Irans ballistic missile program, Sullivan said, "has to be on the table in those negotiations.

The framework might appear to be in place, as President Hassan Rouhani says Iran is also prepared to return to compliance if the U.S. lifts its sanctions. But today's enrichment announcement underscores just how thorny the process will be.

If Iran enriches significant quantities of uranium to 20%, its nuclear breakout time will become very, very small, says Ernest Moniz, who played a key role in negotiating the 2015 deal as Barack Obamas energy secretary. The key question is how much they make.

State of play

The move toward 20% enrichment is part of a law  passed over Rouhanis objections  that also calls for the suspension of UN nuclear inspections if sanctions on Irans oil and banking sectors arent lifted by February.

That would be a game-changer beyond any of the steps Iran has taken up to now, Moniz says, because then it becomes more and more difficult to argue that we know that they are not engaging in a weapons program.

Iran has also demanded compensation for the damage from U.S. sanctions, though Rouhani has shown some flexibility on that point.

More challenging may be the insistence from Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that Iran is unwilling to negotiate on issues beyond its nuclear program  at least not before the U.S. lifts sanctions.

What's next: Iran also has presidential elections looming in June, with a hardline administration expected to replace Rouhani's.

Returning to the deal after being burned by Trump is an exceedingly contentious proposition.

"It's probably the kind of thing thats easier for an outgoing administration to do, since the JCPOAs not the most popular item in some political circles in Iran," says Rob Malley, a former Middle East adviser to Obama and now president of the International Crisis Group. The direction of travel will ultimately be set by Iran's supreme leader, Malley adds.

Where things stand: If Biden wants a deal with Rouhani, hell have just five months to get it.

The opposition

Biden will face fierce opposition to a swift return to the deal from Israel and the Gulf states, as well as Republicans and some Democrats in Congress.

Photo illustration: Aida Amer/Axios. Photos: Eric Baradat (AFP), Gali Tibbon (AFP)/Getty Images

What they're saying: The opponents argue that Biden has been dealt a strong hand by Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign and he should play it carefully.

Its really an economic war that the U.S. is waging against Iran," says Gerard Araud, a former French ambassador to the U.S. (20142019) and permanent representative to the UN Security Council (20092014). "It's true that that gives the U.S. leverage."

There have already been a smattering of public comments from Israeli and Gulf officials discouraging Biden from returning to the 2015 deal and only then attempting to negotiate a deal addressing regional concerns.

Sullivan's argument is that the U.S. will be better positioned to negotiate those issues once Iran's nuclear program is "back in a box."

One of the most contentious points will likely be sequencing.

Iran says it will return to compliance once the U.S. lifts sanctions, while Biden says he'll lift sanctions once Iran returns to compliance.

That will require Iran to take a number of technical steps, including shipping enriched uranium out of the country, likely to Russia.

The process could be completed in about four months, Moniz says  likely faster if Iran goes "all out," but slower in a staged process in which Iranian steps are paired with U.S. sanctions relief.

The other side: The Trump administration has attempted to block Biden's path back to the JCPOA, in part by piling sanctions on Iran for non-nuclear issues.

Biden could lift those sanctions without congressional approval  and the Iranians might demand that he do so  but Iran hawks hope the issue will become another domestic political minefield.

What to watch

Iran's recent nuclear acceleration, and its threat to expel inspectors, will likely be Biden's primary concerns in the near term  and these acts are clearly intended to force him to move quickly.

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Yes, but: Some steps that Iran could take could backfire," Malley adds. "I think there comes a point at which more pressure might mean that the Biden administration will change course as well."

Flashback: The European signatories to the JCPOA  France, Germany and the U.K.  worked desperately over the two years following Trump's withdrawal to preserve the deal until the next U.S. election.

Now, the candidate who made salvaging the Iran deal a top priority is two weeks away from the Oval Office.

But even he acknowledges that the path forward is uncertain. Tony Blinken, Biden's pick for secretary of state, has said the U.S. will work in partnership with Europe on Iran  whether or not Iran ultimately agrees to return to compliance.

European leaders and diplomats will attempt to facilitate dialogue between the U.S. and Iran, Araud says. But he recalls years of fruitless European attempts to negotiate with Iran before the Obama administration took the issue on.

The bottom line: We knew from the beginning that the real issue was between the United States and Iran," he says, "and thats even more the case now."
HOUSTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The birthplace of burrata cheese is southern Italy. Created from the scraps (or ritagli) of mozzarella curds being placed inside a still-hot cheese pouch, burrata cheese is a labor of love that's traditionally wrapped in leaves of asphodel. The buffalo's in southern Italy graze on rich forage, making their milk full-bodied, resulting in burrata cheese being one of the most premium creamy cheeses in the world.

Chef Russo brings this traditional topping to his 2021 menu. Burrata goes great on artisan breads, pastas, and pizzas. With national pizza day being Tuesday 2.9.21, Chef Russo is early releasing two new burrata pizzas! These cheesy masterpieces come with the highest quality burrata we could get our hands on. Grab one of these in a medium 12", between 2.8.21 and 2.14.21, for only $10! Remember, these $10 burrata pizza deals are only available for ONE WEEK, and can be devoured in our stores, for take out, or delivered to your door.

Enjoy this limited time Pizza Day at Russo's New York Pizzeria & Italian Kitchen before they're gone! Find a location near you at nypizzeria.com/locations and visit nypizzeria.info/promotions for promotion details. *At participating restaurants. See stores for details.

Chef Anthony Russo's Bio: The son of first-generation Italian immigrants, Anthony Russo, Russo's New York Pizzeria Founder and CEO, grew up in a New Jersey home where the kitchen was the center of family life. He learned to cook from relatives visiting from Sicily and Naples, and worked at his family's restaurant, Russo's Italian, at the Jersey Shore each summer.

The family relocated to Galveston, Texas in 1978, yet remained steadfast in their commitment to serving fine Italian cuisine no matter where they called home. Anthony's father opened Russo's Italian Restaurant, which quickly became a favorite among locals, and reinforced Anthony's passion for creating and serving homemade Italian fare.

In 1985, Anthony opened his first pizza restaurant, Russo's Pizza, when he was just 18 years old. In 1992, just seven years later, Anthony introduced his first Russo's New York Pizzeria in Houston, Texas, where using fresh, homemade ingredients and unique family recipes, became a model for success.

Fast forward to today and Russo's Restaurants is now a national and international franchisor of the casual dining brand Russo's New York Pizzeria. With its corporate office located in Houston, Texas - Russo's Restaurants has surpassed 50 locations with over ten more planned in 2020. Composed of a mix of corporate and franchised locations in Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida, Russo's has also entered international markets as well, with locations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates.

Chef Anthony Russo created Russo's Restaurants by applying his unique, family recipes featuring New York-style pizza, handcrafted pasta dishes, calzones, salads, sandwiches, soups and desserts. At its heart, Russo's Restaurants reflects Chef Anthony's commitment to his New York roots where food and family come first.

Russo's corporate support team is strong and collaborative with a franchisee-friendly corporate culture and is ready for expansion. What separates Russo's from the rest of the pizza industry is not only a great support team ready to tackle it all, but also the unique family recipes and fresh ingredients. With no additives or preservatives, Russo's New York Pizzeria & Italian Kitchen creates dishes from ingredients that are safe and reliable from trusted brands. Chef Russo adds, "Our mission statement is: 'If it isn't fresh, don't serve it.' That is the Russo family promise." To learn more about Russo's Franchise Opportunities, our menu, lunch specials, delivery, takeout, catering, or to order online, please visit www.russosfranchise.com .

SOURCE Russos New York Pizzeria & Italian Kitchen




By Lee Hyo-jin



Controversy continues here over the safety of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine for the elderly population, with different countries holding varying views on whether the vaccine can be administered to people over the age of 65.



Earlier this week, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced the results of an initial review conducted by an independent advisory board, which concluded that AstraZeneca vaccines may be administered to people over 65, as no significant side effects were found in that age group.



While Korea is positively reviewing the administration of AstraZeneca's vaccines to elderly people, several countries are raising questions over its efficacy, adjusting age limits for inoculation.





The viral vector vaccine, developed by the British-Swedish drug firm and Oxford University, won approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for use in all age groups, Jan. 21.



But several European countries have recommended against giving the shots to people over 65 years citing a lack of sufficient data to support the safety for that age group.



Currently, four European countries  Germany, France, Sweden and Austria  have decided to administer the vaccine only to people younger than 65. Some governments have applied even lower age limits. Poland said it will use the vaccine on people under 60, and Italy and Belgium decided to use it only on those under 55.



Switzerland has withheld approval of the vaccine for all age groups, Wednesday, saying that the data for evaluation available so far was not sufficient for authorization.



Amid mixed reactions from other countries, Korea's drug ministry will hold additional reviews to discuss the use of the vaccine before issuing a final approval.



In the first review session, Monday, the advisory board consisting of eight vaccination experts stated that the efficacy was similar among all age groups above 18, noting that no serious side effects were seen in people aged between 18 and 64, as well as those 65 and older.



In overseas data which the experts reviewed, evaluation on prevention effects was conducted in 660 people aged 65 or older, and safety tests were carried out among 2,109 people of the same age group, with no significant abnormalities found.



Therefore, a majority of experts on the panel concluded that the vaccine can be administered to elderly people, but also noted that final approval should be made based on additional clinical data.




Kerrygold owner Ornua and meat group Kepak have settled multi-million-euro High Court actions taken separately by them against a Dublin cold storage firm following a racking collapse that allegedly damaged their products at the facility.

Ornua sued VF Cold Stores on behalf of the co-ops insurance firm for almost 7.9m following the collapse of the racking facility at the storage firms premises in 2018.

That incident allegedly damaged almost 3,400 units of frozen butter owned by Ornua.

Kepak claimed to have suffered losses of 3.1m after its products were also allegedly damaged in the racking collapse.

But VF Cold Stores mounted defences to both claims. The parties entered mediation which resulted in the cases being recently settled.

Both Ornua and Kepak confirmed they had settled their actions against VF Cold Stores.

VF Cold Stores had told the High Court that as a result of its own terms and conditions, it did not have any insurance to cover any risk of damages to goods on its premises.

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An interim examiner was appointed to VF Cold Stores late last year. The High Court was told that the company had a reasonable prospect of survival despite the financial claims being made against it.

In August 2019, Ornua launched a tender process for butter that had been involved in the VF Cold Stores incident the previous year.

The butter was involved in a racking collapse in an Ornua third-party warehouse and as such is sold as seen, a tender document issued by the co-op stated at the time.

The Irish Independent understands that the undamaged butter, and butter that was allegedly superficially affected, was subsequently sold by Ornua for more than 2m to one of its own UK subsidiaries.

Ornua, whose chief executive is John Jordan, said last December that it is committed to the highest standards of product quality and safety and that all unsuitable butter from the VF Cold Stores incident was disposed of in line with food safety regulations.

In the remaining proportion of the product, there was either no damage or just minor damage to the outer packaging, Ornua said.

This product was used for further processing in line with appropriate food and safety regulations and in line with industry best practice to minimise food waste, it added.

"As is normal in such situations, the process to decide which product could be redirected and which needed to be destroyed was overseen by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine," said Ornua
Former AFL WAG Nadia Bartel often flaunts her enviable figure on Instagram.

And the fashion designer, 35, stunned fans with an optical-illusion photo on Wednesday as she posed in a blue triangle bikini.

While the mother of two looked incredible in the snap, her followers couldn't help but notice she appeared much taller than her actual height of 5ft 5in (169cm).

The secret's out! Nadia Bartel's Instagram followers couldn't help but notice she looked much taller than her actual height of 5ft 5in (169cm) as she donned a $135 Triangl bikini this week

The petite model revealed in the caption that it was the low camera angle that made her look so towering.

'Sooo when can we go back?! @ellie_pearson @emomckay (a few weeks ago with my girls),' she wrote. 'And thanks El for the sweet camera angle, making me look a lot taller than I am.'

In other pictures on Instagram - particularly alongside her statuesque pals, such as Bec Judd - Nadia looks noticeably smaller due to the front-facing angle.

But with just a tilt of the camera, Nadia's pins looked endless in her latest snap.

'Thanks El!' The petite model revealed in the caption that it was the low camera angle that made her look so towering

What a difference! In other pictures on Instagram - particularly alongside her statuesque pals, such as Bec Judd (right) - Nadia looks noticeably smaller due to the front-facing camera angle

All about the angles! With just a tilt of the camera, Nadia's pins looked endless in her latest snap. Pictured in an undated photo taken from a front-facing angle

Supporters: Many fans said Nadia always looks great in photos, regardless of the angle

The fashionista was met with an abundance of praise from her friends and followers.

Phoebe Burgess, the ex-wife of retired NRL star Sam Burgess, wrote: 'Beautiful as always.' Meanwhile, Bec Judd commented a flame emoji.

Others said Nadia always looks great in photos, regardless of the angle.

'That ain't no camera, that's all you. You're a hard working, fit, healthy, beautiful hot mama. Own it!' one supporter wrote.

Another added: 'Babe, it's not the angle, it's all you! Seriously! Also not a bad paddle pool you're standing in there, lovely. Love this shot.'

One fan asked for Nadia's exact height, and she responded: '169cm.'

Celebrity praise: The fashionista was met with an abundance of praise from her friends and followers, including Phoebe Burgess and Bec Judd

Confident: Nadia has often spoken about her fitness routine, and said in a recent interview with Women's Health that she's happier than ever with her physique

Nadia has often spoken about her fitness routine, and said in a recent interview with Women's Health that she's happier than ever with her physique.

'I have become much more comfortable the older I have gotten, especially after having my boys,' she said, referring to her sons, Aston and Henley.

'I have learnt to love what my body can do, to grow and nourish my boys.'

Nadia was married to retired Geelong Cats star Jimmy Bartel from 2014 to 2019. She is now dating personal trainer Nathan Brodie.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Compared with patients with cancer who were not on active treatment, those receiving chemotherapy did not have an increased risk for developing COVID-19, according to data presented at AACR Virtual Meeting: COVID-19 and Cancer, held Feb. 3-5.

"Given the concern that patients with cancer are at increased risk for COVID-19, there have been widespread changes to the practice of clinical oncology since the start of the pandemic last year," began Monica F. Chen, MD, a third-year resident in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York.

Because of the pandemic, surgeries have been delayed, treatment regimens have been modified to minimize the number of visits, and clinical trial enrollment has gone down. Chen and colleagues sought to understand what demographic, clinical, tumor- and treatment-related factors are associated with developing COVID-19 among patients with cancer.

"We found that patients on active treatment, including chemotherapy, were not at increased risk for COVID-19, and surprisingly, they were less likely to test positive for COVID-19 than those not on treatment," Chen said.

"Our study shows that with proper precautions in the clinical setting, disruptions in lifesaving cancer treatment should be minimized during the COVID-19 pandemic," Chen added.

Chen, her mentor Katherine Crew, MD, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study of cancer patients tested for COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and June 6, 2020, at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. Of the 1,174 patients tested for COVID-19, 317 (27 percent) were positive. About 27 percent had a recent cancer diagnosis, 56.7 percent had active disease, and 56.7 percent had been on active cancer treatment within the past year.

Chen noted that consistent with the general population, older age, minority race/ethnicity, and obesity were associated with COVID-19 among patients with cancer. Compared with non-Hispanic white patients, black patients and Hispanic patients were 2.2 times and 2.7 times more likely to test positive for COVD-19, respectively.

Compared with cancer patients not receiving any treatment at the time of the study, those receiving chemotherapy were 35 percent less likely to develop COVID-19. Chen speculates that patients undergoing chemotherapy are likely more vigilant about social distancing, wearing face masks, and hand hygiene than those in remission, potentially resulting in fewer infections. "Regardless, it is reassuring to see that cancer patients receiving chemotherapy were not at increased risk of testing positive for COVID-19," Chen added.

Consistent with prior studies, cancer patients who tested positive for COVID-19 had higher death rates than those who tested negative for the infection.

Limitations of the study include the retrospective study design. Results from a single academic urban medical center may not be generalizable to other study populations. While universal COVID-19 testing was implemented for all hospitalized patients, only symptomatic patients were tested in the outpatient setting, which may have introduced selection bias. The study was not adjusted for comorbid conditions. While patients were followed for up to six months since COVID-19 diagnosis, long-term effects are still uncertain, Chen noted.

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KABUL  Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar received Turkey's Ambassador to Kabul Oguzhan Ertugrul to discuss bilateral affairs and the Afghan peace process's recent development.

At the outset, Foreign Minister Atmar thanked Turkey for its support in the last two decades and its latest pledge of support in the Afghanistan 2020 Conference in Geneva.

Following recent call between the two countries presidents, the Foreign Minister touched on Turkey's role as a Muslim nation in the Afghan peace process and mentioned that "the Islamic world should have a unified voice in condemnation of war and violence and invitation for a ceasefire."

Ambassador Ertugrul assured the Foreign Minister of Turkey's commitment to supporting the Afghan peace process through Turkeys Islamic associations.

Both sides discussed further strengthening of bilateral relations, the regional consensus in supporting the Afghan peace process, and celebrating the 100th-anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relationship.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : In an important development, the Director of Legal Metrology, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, has turned down an appeal of Amazon made against the notices issued by Department of Legal Metrology and has said that the department can proceed against Amazon, as per the law.

The Department of Legal Metrology noticed a violation of mandatory declaration required under rule 6(1) of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules,2011 i.e. the complete address was not displayed on the digital platform of Amazon which is used for e-commerce transactions.

The department had issued a notice on November 19, 2020 and again a reminder notice on December 9 for giving opportunity of hearing to Amazon. Rule 6 specifies mandatory mentioning of address of manufacturer/packer etc.

B.C. Bhartia, National President and Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) while welcoming the order said that all sales at Amazon platform are controlled by them since there is no mention of details of the sellers and all the sales first directly go to Amazon and they decide to whom the order is to be forwarded.

By virtue of this fact, about 80% sales are being happened through very few preferred sellers and therefore the argument of Amazon that sellers list their details etc. does not stand on legal legs, CAIT said.

However, CAIT believes that the paltry monetary penalty has no significance at all and therefore , it demanded that a 7 day ban on Amazon and other big e-commerce companies who are continuously offending the law and policies, should be imposed on them. Let there be an exemplary punishment.

Bhartia and Khandelwal said that though the order gives a lot of hope to the dying retail sector of the Country but levying such a small amount on a foreign e-commerce giant for violating Indian law is nothing but a mockery of the judicial and administrative system.

"The punishment should be equal to the damage caused by them on our economy and it should have reflected a clear message to the foreign e-commerce players that anyone disobeying the law of the land will not be spared," CAIT said.
Rockhamptons almost accidental mayor has officially been given the rough end of the pineapple, with the citys top job going to a sitting councillor.

The Electoral Commission of Queensland has declared councillor Tony Williams as Rockhamptons new mayor after a byelection on January 23.

Chris Pineapple Hooper was offered the mayoralty of Rockhampton by the Electoral Commission of Queensland in November 2020. Credit:Facebook

The result means some Rockhampton residents will need to take part in another byelection to replace Cr Williams on the council.

The saga was sparked after the resignation of mayor Margaret Strelow, who quit after the Councillor Conduct Tribunal found her guilty of misconduct.
A 'world-leading' bill banning gay conversion practices has passed Victorian parliament, despite a last-ditch attempt by the opposition to pause its progress.

The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill passed the Legislative Council 29-9 just after 10.30pm on Thursday following a lengthy debate.

Labor had the support of crossbenchers Rod Barton from the Transport Matters Party, Andy Meddick from the Animal Justice Party, Reason Party MP Fiona Patten and Samantha Ratnam of the Greens.

The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill passed the Legislative Council 29-9 just after 10.30pm on Thursday following a lengthy debate. Pictured: Andy Meddick from the Animal Justice Party

The bill outlaws practices that seek to change or suppress a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Those found to have engaged in conversion practices that result in serious injury will face penalties of up to 10 years' jail or up to $10,000 in fines.

In supporting the bill, Mr Meddick described himself as the proud father of two 'perfect' transgender children.

'They do not need fixing. Nor do any other children or adults who do not fit an often religiously held belief that sexuality and gender are binary only,' he said.

In supporting the bill, Mr Meddick described himself as the proud father of two 'perfect' transgender children. Pictured: Mr Meddick's post

Labor's Harriet Shing, the first openly lesbian member of Victorian parliament, acknowledged conversion therapy victims and survivor groups who have advocated for the ban for many years.

'(Their experiences) have had the effect, directly or indirectly, of breaking them or of trying to break them,' she said.

Ms Shing called out the 'cognitive dissonance' and 'doublespeak' of MPs who were opposing the bill despite supporting a ban on conversion practices.

'It is not acceptable that in a debate like this victims and survivors and our communities - my communities - are denied the opportunity to have our equality, our pain and hurt and trauma, on a footing which is of the utmost importance,' she said.

Labor's Harriet Shing (pictured) called out the 'cognitive dissonance' and 'doublespeak' of MPs who were opposing the bill despite supporting a ban on conversion practices

Ms Shing's speech was interrupted by Liberal MPs when she began naming coalition members who abstained from voting on the bill in the lower house.

'She is the only person in this chamber from an LGBTIQA+ community. As such, deserved a hell of a lot more respect than she got,' Mr Meddick said.

Ms Shing told AAP the Liberal MPs were 'literally shutting down the speech of the first and only openly gay woman in the Victorian parliament'.

The coalition did not oppose the bill but moved a number of amendments that failed, including one to pause its progress for further consultation.

Rod Barton from the Transport Matters Party, Andy Meddick from the Animal Justice Party, Reason Party MP Fiona Patten and Samantha Ratnam of the Greens supported the bill. Pictured: pride flag

Liberal MPs Bernie Finn and Bev McArthur voted against the bill.

Advocates including the Brave Network, the LGBTQIA+ committee of the Uniting Church in Australia, and Rainbow Catholics, have described the bill as the 'world's most significant achievement in legislation curtailing the diabolical influence of the conversion movement'.

The bill goes further than one passed in Queensland last year in that it prohibits harmful practices not only in healthcare settings but also in religious settings.

This includes 'carrying out a religious practice including but not limited to, a prayer based practice, a deliverance practice or an exorcism'.

A number of religious leaders have raised issue with the bill, including Melbourne's Catholic Archbishop Peter Comensoli and Bishop Brad Billings of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne.

Medical professionals have also raised concerns it could compromise the practice of psychiatry and psychotherapy.

'This bill does not outlaw prayer. It does not prevent health professionals from doing their job. It does not stop parents from talking to their kids about their views about sexuality or gender,' Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said.

'To suggest anything to the contrary is rubbish.'

The legislation will now go to the Victorian governor for royal assent. It will not come into effect for 12 months.

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Travellers arriving in the UK from countries on the travel ban list will have to quarantine in a Government-approved hotel from February 15 (Steve Parsons/PA)

Ministers have been accused of being too slow to act after it was disclosed new coronavirus quarantine hotels will not come into force until mid-February.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that, from February 15, travellers returning to the UK from red list countries will have to quarantine in a government-approved facility for 10 days.

The Government originally announced last week it would be tightening the rules following the emergence of mutant new strains of the virus in South Africa and Brazil.

Labour said it was beyond comprehension that it was taking so long to get the scheme up and running.

Meanwhile NHS leaders have warned the service remains at full stretch, despite a declaration by the chief medical officer for England Professor Chris Whitty that the current wave of the pandemic was past its peak.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents trusts in England, said numbers in intensive care were only coming down very slowly while staff were deeply exhausted after working for weeks at fever pitch.

4/5 The NHS has barely crested the peak and it's still at an extremely high altitude under huge pressure. The descent down the mountain has only just started and we don't know how steep the down slope will be. We also know that the descent will likely take months, not days/weeks.  Chris Hopson (@ChrisCEOHopson) February 4, 2021

The DHSC said it was working at pace to ensure designated quarantine hotels would be ready for British nationals returning from high-risk countries on the UK travel ban list from the middle of the month.

Officials said a commercial specification was issued on Thursday evening to hotels near air and sea ports asking for proposals on how they can support the delivery of quarantine facilities ahead of formal contracts being awarded.

The Daily Telegraph reported that officials were seeking to reserve 28,000 hotel rooms over the course of the scheme.

The paper said that it had seen documents showing that officials estimate 1,425 passengers will need to be accommodated each day, mostly near Heathrow.

Even when these measures eventually begin, they will not go anywhere near far enough Nick Thomas-Symonds

For Labour, shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said the Government was again doing too little, too late.

It is beyond comprehension that these measures wont even start until February 15, he said.

We are in a race against time to protect our borders against new Covid strains.

Yet hotel quarantine will come in to force more than 50 days after the South African strain was discovered.

Even when these measures eventually begin, they will not go anywhere near far enough to be effective in preventing further variants.

The announcement of a start date follows days of apparent confusion within Whitehall over how the scheme would be implemented.

When it first was announced on January 27, Home Secretary Priti Patel said further details would be set out later that week.

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Then, at a No 10 press conference on Wednesday, Boris Johnson said Health Secretary Matt Hancock would be making an announcement the next day, only to be corrected by Downing Street which said no statement was planned.

A DHSC spokesman said they had been in discussions with representatives of the aviation, maritime, hotel and hospitality industries, as well as counterparts in Australia and New Zealand which already have similar schemes.

We are now working at pace to secure the facilities we need to roll out managed quarantine for British nationals returning home from the most high risk countries, the spokesman said.

In the face of new variants, it is important that the Government continues to take the necessary steps to protect people and save lives.

Earlier, Mr Hopson called for a cautious, evidence-based approach to any relaxation of lockdown restrictions in England, saying the social-distancing rules had been eased too early last year.

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He said there were still 26,000 Covid-19 patients in hospital, 40% more than the peak last April, while the NHS was running at 170% of last years intensive care unit (ICU) capacity.

In a series of tweets, he said a cold snap was forecast next week which would increase the pressure on services.

So, if we want to use mountain analogies (peaks etc) the NHS has barely crested the peak and its still at an extremely high altitude under huge pressure, he said.

The descent down the mountain has only just started and we dont know how steep the down slope will be.

His comments were echoed by former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, who said ministers should listen very carefully to the scientific advice.

I think we have to recognise that the game has changed massively over Christmas with these new variants, and that we mustnt make the mistake that we made last year of thinking that were not going to have another resurgence of the virus, he told the Guardian.

The warnings came as Mr Johnson is coming under intense pressure from some Tory MPs to bring forward the lifting of lockdown restrictions as cases fall and the vaccine rollout continues.

Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, said the Government was in danger of falling out of step with public opinion if it delays the opening of schools in England to March 8 as planned.

Its quite possible that the current very steep decline in infections will continue, he told Times Radio.

And if it continues at that rate over the coming weeks, I think the danger is the Government could find itself behind the curve where the public are saying Well come on, not a lot of people are getting ill and there are very serious consequences for my children and for our lives.
Police arrest a male at a property in the Oldpark area of North Belfast in relation to the murder of Danny McClean on February 4th 2021 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Police arrest a male at a property in the Oldpark area of North Belfast in relation to the murder of Danny McClean on February 4th 2021 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Police arrest a male at a property in the Newlodge Road area of North Belfast in relation to the murder of Danny McClean on February 4th 2021 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Police arrest a male at a property in the Newlodge Road area of North Belfast in relation to the murder of Danny McClean on February 4th 2021 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Two men aged 46 and 39 have been arrested by detectives investigating the murder of Daniel Danny McClean in north Belfast on Tuesday.

Both men have been taken to Musgrave PSNI Station for questioning.

Officers made arrests in the New Lodge area and in the Old Park area on Thursday evening.

McClean was shot a number of times at point blank range while sitting in a parked car in the driveway of a guesthouse on the Cliftonville Road earlier this week.

The shooting was reported to police shortly after 8pm and McClean was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 54-year-old had links to dissident republican group ONH (Oglaigh na hEireann) and previously served in the British Army. McClean, who was on bail facing arms charges, was expelled from the gang two years ago amid informant allegations. He had been staying in a nearby bail hostel.

Police spent hours combing the area for evidence on Wednesday.

PSNI Superintendent Jason Murphy, who is leading the investigation into McCleans killing, described the shooting as callous and said his thoughts were with the victims family. He said police will work tirelessly to seek justice.

I have no doubt that local people will have been left extremely traumatised by this ruthless murder.

He called for anyone with information to share it with police and for footage to be shared with detectives.

Politicians have spoken out against the murder.

First Minister Arlene Foster described the shooting as terrible news for people in the area and expressed her sympathies with the family of the man who died.

Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill said the murder was not something that is acceptable at any level in our society and I think that anyone with information should come forward to the PSNI and assist with the investigation.

Justice Minister Naomi Long branded it senseless and added: Those responsible have left a family grieving and a community in shock.

This appalling crime places additional pressures on our first responders, at a time when they are already dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and all of the additional challenges that brings with it. There is no place in society for the gun and it is time to stop these attacks.
(Newser)  Space Force appears to be here to stay. The White House said Wednesday that President Bidenwho has been dismantling much of Donald Trump's legacyfully supports the new branch of the military. Press secretary Jen Psaki said the new administration has no plans to revisit Trump's decision to establish Space Force in Dec. 2019. "The desire for the Department of Defense to focus greater attention and resources on the growing security challenges in space has long been a bipartisan issue," she said, per Space.com.

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Psaki noted that even if Biden wanted to get rid of Space Force, "it was established by Congress, and any other steps would actually have to be taken by Congress, not by the administration." Politico reports that GOP lawmakers slammed Psaki Tuesday after she seemed to dismiss the force, saying "Wow. Space Force. It's the plane of today," in response to a question, apparently comparing the query to an earlier one about the color of Air Force One. She later said she would welcome members of the Space Force team to visit the briefing room to talk about their work. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond said Wednesday that he is "very proud of the guardians in the Space Force" and would "welcome the opportunity" to discuss their mission. (Read more Space Force stories.)
As the world commemorates World Cancer Day today, Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, in partnership with African First Ladies and ministries of health announced it is building cancer care capacity to increase the number of oncologists across the continent.

In a statement to mark 'World Cancer Day 2021' Merck Foundation chief executive officer, Senator Rasha Kelej said this is being done through the Cancer Access Program. World Cancer Day is marked every February 4, and this year's theme is 'I am and I will'.Dr Kelej said her organisation has been providing the best in class multidisciplinary oncology and cancer care training to young doctors from all over Africa.

She said: "We at Merck Foundation strive to make the African healthcare professionals highly competent and fully independent by providing the best in class multidisciplinary oncology and cancer care training to young doctors from all over Africa.

I am proud of our success to reshape and advance the public cancer care sector and to increase the limited number of oncologists by more than 70 new oncologists to be the first in 24 countries."

Dr Kelej added that she was happy to have formed multidisciplinary oncology care teams in many countries consisting of medical, surgery, pediatrics, gynecology, radiation oncologists, nursing, pathologist and radiology technician.

"We are definitely making history in Africa through training the first oncologists and first cancer care teams in many countries such as; The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Liberia, Guinea Conakry, Central African Republic, Chad, and Niger. Our key objective is to provide quality and equitable care to patients who never had anyone to care for them before," she said.

First Lady Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa who is also Zimbabwe's Health Ambassador emphasised in the same statement: "Merck Foundation is going to provide the valuable specialty oncology training to young Zimbabwean doctors.

We are very excited about it as it will empower healthcare professionals in our country with advanced training and medical expertise in overall oncology care.

This will help the people of our country to fight this deadly disease."

The First Lady of Burundi Angeline Ndayishimiye also expressed: "I am very happy that as a part of our partnership, Merck Foundation is providing specialty training to the first-ever oncologist from Burundi.

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We will be enrolling more doctors in the upcoming batches in various specialties of Oncology, with the aim to establish a skilled team, able to improve access to quality and equitable cancer care in the country.

I appreciate the unique efforts of Merck Foundation in this regard, this is the first time we receive this kind of support which help us to have our own specialists."

Launched in 2016, the Merck Cancer Access Program provides One-, two- and three-years fellowship, master degree, and Diploma programs for African doctors in India, Egypt, Kenya, and Malaysia.

Merck Foundation also recently introduced two years online PG Diploma in Cancer and Clinical Oncology from the UK.

"We are committed to lead Africa to a better future through transforming the landscape of Cancer care in the continent. We will soon scale up and strengthen our efforts and activities in more countries across Africa," added Dr Kelej.

Merck Foundation through its Merck Cancer Access Program has till date trained more than 70 Oncologists from 24 countries (in addition to 10 doctors undergoing the training) which are: Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, DRC, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinee, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
(Natural News) Japanese archaeologists have discovered 143 new Nazca line drawings in Peru, including one found using artificial intelligence (AI). The land drawings depict humans, humanoids, animals and other beings and are believed to date back to at least A.D. 100 to B.C. 300.

The researchers spent years studying Pampa de Nazca, a 200-square-mile desert plain near the foothills of the Andes mountains where the line drawings are located. They discovered 142 drawings via satellite imagery and on-site analysis, while one was first identified by an AI system named Watson.

Previously unseen Nazca lines used as landmarks, sites for rituals

Nazca lines have been a long-standing source of fascination for archaeologists. Also called geoglyphs, the etched drawings depict objects of various types and can only be appreciated when viewed from above given their massive size. In 1994, they were deemed as a Unesco world heritage site.

Members of the ancient Nazca culture in South America were responsible for the majority of the geoglyphs, while the Chavin and Paracas peoples, which lived before the Nazcas, are believed to be responsible for the older drawings. The ancient groups created their designs by removing the top inches of soil to reveal the lighter-colored sand below. Because wind and rain are rare in the desert, the geoglyphs remained intact 2,000 years after they were made.

But some Nazca lines have lost their distinct shapes and some still are believed to be hidden from sight. The researchers wished to see the barely visible drawings in more detail and uncover previously unseen figures. For the first several years of their study, they relied on satellite imagery and on-site inspection to map Pampa.

The researchers found previously unseen geoglyphs that depict people, plants and animals. The drawings measure between 16 feet and 320 feet, with the newer ones measuring at least 160 feet while older ones being smaller. The team suspects that the newer drawings might have been sites for ritual ceremonies, while the older geoglyphs served as landmarks to guide travelers.

AI discovers humanoid Nazca line drawing

The researchers eventually partnered with IBM Japan to improve their hunt for Nazca lines. They taught the firms AI model, Watson, to find geoglyphs by feeding in images of previously identified carvings. Watson ended up finding hundreds of potential candidates, but only a few were likely true geoglyphs.

The team chose the best candidate and conducted an on-site investigation in 2019. They discovered a previously unseen humanoid figure that measures around 13 feet tall and 6.5 feet wide.

It is in an area that we often investigated, but we did not know the geoglyph existed, Masato Sakai, an archaeologist from Yamagata University and studys lead researcher, told the Verge.

The etching resembles a cartoon character. It stands on two legs, wears a hat of sorts with three lines rising above its rectangular head and holds a club or stick in its right hand. Because it was found near a path, the researchers believe that the geoglyph might have been a waypost marker. (Related: Prehistoric site described as real-life Atlantis  experts in a race against time to retrieve treasures before it disappears again.)

The team plans to continue collaborating with IBM Japan to build on their discovery. They will be using the companys PAIRS Geoscope platform to integrate 10 years of drone and satellite imagery with geographical survey data.

Last year, another group of archaeologists uncovered a previously unseen Nazca line drawing of a cat. Dated between B.C. 200 and B.C. 100, the feline geoglyph was scarcely visible and was about to disappear due to erosion. But it was quickly cleaned and conserved.

Artifacts.news has more about amazing archaeological discoveries.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

History.com

SmithsonianMag.com
Opposition Leader Zak Kirkup said the government should have already outlined what the road map after lockdown would be with no more cases. He said the government had 10 months to get its outbreak plans in place and instead businesses were losing thousands of dollars a day with no idea of what they should be preparing for. [The government] should have had plans in place for how we step back out of that and what the easing of restrictions looks like. I think its important people are provided with certainty, Mr Kirkup said. Mr Kirkup said there were 96,000 small businesses in WA and those impacted by the lockdown should be able to access a $10,000 relief grant. Business groups call for restrictions that allow small businesses to reopen

Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Chris Rodwell said there should be confidence from the current test results to go back to the two square metre rule for businesses from Friday evening. Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA chief executive Chris Rodwell. Credit:Glenn Hunt Each day we delay the safe reopening of our economy will cost many small businesses thousands of dollars, threatening their families livelihoods, he said. Even in the best-case scenario of continued zero cases, the risk of unspecified restrictions being imposed next week leaves many WA businesses in limbo. Unable to re-qualify for Jobkeeper during the States snap lockdown, its local businesses carrying the hard cost. Measures like a four-square-metre rule and gathering limits are appropriate when there is an evident and genuine risk. With encouraging results this week, there should be confidence to return to a two square metre rule promptly.

Australian Hotels Association WA chief executive Bradley Woods said the state was experiencing $10 million of economic losses every day of the lockdown. If we have one more day of no new cases, hospitality venues should be allowed to reopen with limited and reasonable restrictions, he said. Hospitality businesses have COVID-safe plans, mandated contact tracing and comprehensive staff training in place, making them more prepared than ever to provide safe venues for patrons and workers. There was mass confusion amongst businesses on Monday about whether they could be open or not with the CCI WA inundated with calls. WAtoday spoke to one bride-to-be who had planned to hold her wedding reception on in Perth on Saturday with 150 guests.

The woman, who did not want to be named, had already been forced to change their plans twice last year during the first lockdowns. The couple were married in a small ceremony last year but rescheduled their reception until Saturday. She said not knowing whether they would be able to hold the wedding was stressful but she was more concerned with potentially putting the vendors out thousands of dollars for food and putting their income on hold. We are really lucky in that we were still able to have a small ceremony with family, and grateful for that, but I am frustrated at the lack of options that the WA government is presenting at the moment, she said. It would ease a lot of pressure if we knew what the two or three options would be for an easing of restrictions come Saturday.

The government has been amazing (love you Mark) and we are so lucky to live WA. Just wish we could be given more of an idea of the types of restrictions that could be going ahead Friday night onwards. What a step-down in restrictions could look like Loading WA has been living like its 2019 for the past 10 months with few restrictions and high levels of complacency amongst its populace. Mr McGowan said WA had been the most vulnerable state to COVID-19 community spread if the virus got out of hotel quarantine, and his actions in locking down the state have reflected the fear that case 903 could have led to a large outbreak.

Queensland went into a three-day lockdown, that ended on January 11, after a quarantine hotel cleaner tested positive for the UK strain of COVID-19. Restrictions were eased partially after the three days were up and that was followed by a further step down of rules 10 days later. The initial easing saw Greater Brisbane residents still have to carry masks at all times and wear them in indoor settings including public transport and taxis. Businesses had to observe the four square metre rule for indoor trading and two square metres for outdoor settings. Venues were only allowed to have seated eating and drinking.

Dancing was banned everywhere but weddings which could have up to 100 people, funerals could have 100 people, and people were allowed to have up to 20 friends over to their home. Indoor concerts and outdoor stadiums were limited to 50 per cent capacity. Brisbane went back to the two-square-metre rule for venues on January 21 and mandatory mask wearing was no longer required. WA shuts the door on Victoria WA had been due to drop the 14-day self-isolation restrictions on Victorian arrivals from Friday but Mr McGowan said this would now be paused.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acuant, a leading global provider of identity verification solutions, today announced that Northern Block has seamlessly integrated its Identity Proofing and Compliance technology to offer their customers best-in-class Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) and Verifiable Credential solutions. With Acuant solutions implemented, Northern Block customers have the confidence to accurately verify identities across all channels and provide a faster and more secure process for clients with high-value transaction requirements.



Northern Block helps companies acquire new customers with an improved onboarding experience that builds confidence and trust in the brand to increase the lifetime value of customers. Products including Acuant are easily integrated to existing systems in as little as one week, providing companies outstanding ROI.

Northern Block assessed multiple vendors to meet its fraud prevention and privacy expectations while offering a secure, user-centric experience. It selected Acuant due to the accuracy of its identity verification technology, the fact that their identity document library is composed of more than 6,000 ID types (covering more than 200 countries and territories), and critically, that Acuant does not store user data. Both companies share data privacy as a key imperative and are members of the Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) which is committed to securing the future of digital identities for both consumers and businesses.

"With Acuant, our clients can have consumers and business partners remotely self-onboard with high integrity and KYC (Know your Customer) functionality built in," said Mathieu Glaude, CEO of Northern Block. "With Northern Block's ability to store these verifications as Verifiable Credentials, organizations can cut friction dramatically while also reducing their risks. It is also a great opportunity for companies in various sectors, like Fintech and Legal Services, to innovate around Privacy by Design principles."

"It is fantastic to hear the positive feedback from our trusted partner, Northern Block, especially with how our products have provided further business growth opportunities," said Yossi Zekri, President and CEO at Acuant.

About Acuant

Acuantis a leading global provider of identity verification, regulatory compliance (AML/KYC) and digital identity solutions. Our Trusted Identity Platform is powered by AI and human assisted machine learning to deliver unparalleled results and operational efficiency. Omnichannel deployment delivers seamless customer experiences to fight fraud, increase conversions and establish trust in seconds. With leading partners in every major industry and completing more than 1billion transactions in over 200 countries and territories, Acuant is the leader in global coverage.

About Northern Block, Inc.

Northern Blockis a leading global provider of self-sovereign identity, blockchain, verifiable IDs & documents and automated business workflow technology headquartered in Toronto, Canada. We work with visionary companies that want to implement transformative business processes using the above-mentioned technologies. Northern Block is active in the decentralized identity community, contributing to the Trust over IP Foundation, the Digital Identity and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) and the Digital Identity Lab of Canada.

Media Contact

Malini Gujral

Marketing@acuant.com
She assumed the spotlight following the poisoning of Mr. Navalny last August with a military nerve agent  an attack he and Western leaders say was ordered by the Kremlin. Issuing a series of public demands, she extricated him from the clutches of Russian officials so he could be flown in a medically induced coma to Germany for treatment.

I understood that in this situation, I am the closest person to him, she later said in an interview. I am the wife. If I fall apart, then everybody else will in turn fall apart. So, I pulled myself together.

She continued to speak out after his arrest last month after returning to Moscow. I am not afraid, and I urge you all not to be afraid either, she told a crowd of his supporters.

Mr. Navalnys sentencing on Tuesday ignited a nationwide series of large street demonstrations that have breathed new life into the Russian opposition, cemented Mr. Navalnys position as the paramount opponent of President Vladimir V. Putin and raised expectations that Ms. Navalnaya will take on a more prominent role.

DaySmart Announces Winners of 2021 Small Business Brilliance Awards

DaySmart Software, the leading provider of business management software empowering entrepreneurs to operate and grow their businesses, today announced the winners of its Annual Small Business Brilliance Awards. The program is designed to recognize the significant accomplishments of small businesses in the salon, spa, tattoo and pet services industries.

Two honorees were identified in each of the six categories and selected based on their ability to drive business value, innovation and growth with the help of DaySmart's business management software solutions. The winners and their achievements include:

Marketing Maven: The Marketing Maven award is given to customers who thoughtfully utilize DaySmart's marketing capabilities to promote their business and generate repeat visitors.

Marketing Maven Steel Beauty Hair Spa, located in Palm Coast, FL, has increased its customer base through marketing emails and texts using Salon Iris's templates. In just three years, they have more than tripled their gross income. This past year, the salon was able to stay connected with clients by sharing business updates digitally while operations were temporarily shut down.

Trumbull, CT-based Wet Paws Dog Grooming is recognized for its smart use of 123Pet's marketing tools to filter customers by past visits, visit frequency, vaccination expirations, pet birthdays and more to trigger and inform customer communications.

Community Caregiver: This category recognizes customers that have committed themselves to giving back to their communities through donating their time and resources to those in need.

In the face of a shutdown and hiatus from business as usual, Davenport, IA-based Salon R5 Ltd. Co. used Salon Iris software to spread the word to their clients through an email campaign and landing page update about their new initiative to create face masks for nurses after hearing about the shortages. To date, Salon R5 has donated over 500 fabric masks to the local community and hospitals with the help of onations.







To achieve a seamless e-commerce experience, Australian Innovation Inspiration award winner DogFX links their various operational systems, from inventory to online store, to eliminate the need for manually writing order tickets and to align information across systems.

Within the Salon Iris software, Rena, NV, salon Carleen Sanchez Hair Design was able to set up an automated follow-up email to all new guests with links to pre-recorded videos produced by owner Carleen, sharing more on how to love and care for their naturally curly hair - the salon's specialty.

Software Savant: The recipients of the Software Savant award acted resourcefully, leveraging their dynamic DaySmart toolkit to continue driving business forward.

Software Savant-winner Laser Spa Group, located in Hamilton, ON (News - Alert) , used Orchid software for three months last year while the spa was closed to communicate with clients through the marketing feature and newsletters about curbside pickup options. The spa also used the business reporting feature to monitor retail deliveries and the tele-consultation offering to stay connected with clients.

Philadelphia, PA, salon, Ursula's About Phace Studio, favors Salon Iris' online booking, mobile app and credit card processing features when using the software. The salon demonstrated it was a true Software Savant when it leveraged the system to require credit card payments prior to scheduling online appointments, thus initiating contact free payments at checkout.

Customer Service Connoisseur: This award is given to customers who have used DaySmart software's various capabilities to put their customers first.

Blue Lotus Tattoo, a group of Wisconsin-based lounges, was recognized in the Customer Service Connoisseur category for their prioritization of client and employee safety. They utilized the email feature with custom templates to quickly and easily send clients the necessary COVID-19 precaution forms, giving clients peace of mind that they take health and safety very seriously.

All Fur Pet Grooming, with three Virginia locations, used 123Pet's mobile app resource to upload pictures of client preferences directly into their profiles so they could better understand their expectations. The business also used the texting capabilities to communicate with clients, saving time on calls to confirm appointments and pickups.

Rising Star: Our Rising Stars are newer users of DaySmart software and in the short time of their deployment have made accomplishments that are worth celebrating.

Tucson, AZ-based The Indigo Experience, one of our Rising Stars, has used InkBook software to increase its client roster and retention in the last year and has been able to entice newcomers by offering the software's various features as a value-add to customers.

Rising Star Bella Bella Hair Boutique, a Detroit, MI-based salon, chose Salon Iris software through a referral from a colleague. Since implementing the software seven months ago, the salon has seen a 50% increase in the number of clients booked, and a longer lead time on appointments (30 days to 90 days).

To learn more about DaySmart and its business management solutions, visit daysmart.com.

About DaySmart Software

Makers of the award-winning Salon Iris, Orchid, 123Pet and InkBook software and owners of AppointmentPlus, DaySmart is the leading provider of business management tools designed to make it easier for entrepreneurs to run and grow their businesses. DaySmart desktop software and cloud apps are purpose-built for the salon, spa, pet and tattoo industries, and backed by a U.S.-based support team that is dedicated to client success. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, DaySmart has been a small business champion since 1999. The company has been named to the Inc. 5000 list for ten consecutive years.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005760/en/
Spanish police working with the U.S. Secret Service have shut down a criminal network that pocketed more than 12 million euros ($14.41 million) via a credit card fraud that extended across more than 15 countries, authorities said on Wednesday.

More than 100 alleged members of the network were arrested in a trans-Atlantic operation, a Spanish National Police statement said.

It said the fraudsters took advantage of a legal loophole that allows U.S. credit card holders to make purchases in Europe with no funds, while banks on both continents settle the transactions.

Even though the transactions were eventually rejected, the vendors - in this case mainly complicit hotels, bars and restaurants - kept the money.

They would then transfer the funds back to the ring, which was headquartered in a hotel in the small western Spanish town of Miajadas, keeping a slice for themselves as a commission, the police statement said.

Overall the network spanned more than three U.S. states and 15 European countries, including Spain, Greece, Austria, Britain, Denmark, Ukraine and Germany, it said.
Streamlining review and approval of professional licenses

A new cloud-based app aims to help states more quickly and transparently manage licensure for professionals in many fields, including health care.

Accelas new Civic Application for Occupational Licensing, which launched Jan. 21, facilitates the licensing review and approval process, enabling state agencies to improve customer service. The app moves all licensing workflows and functions online, eliminating paper-based and manual steps.

A real problem for occupational licensing organizations has been modernization of technology, said Troy Coggiola, Accelas chief product officer. At the state level, there is less paper-based [work], but there are legacy systems and homegrown systems that are hard to maintain.

To use the app, license applicants  those either applying for the first time or renewing -- go to a web portal that Accela sets up for the agency. They fill out the appropriate forms for the license they need, submit supporting documents and pay any associated fees. For example, applicants for state family and marriage therapist licenses need to provide documentation of post-graduate work experience, for example.

After applying, users can log back in to check on the status of their request.

The apps back-office side is built on Accelas business process automation platform. In addition to managing custom form creation, field management, document retrieval and other processes typical of workflow orchestration, it also handles security, including automatic patching, Coggiola said. Agency staff have access to automated workflows and intelligent routing, which help improve data sharing, speed the review and issuance process and execute public safeguards and proper code enforcement.

An open application programming interface supports the apps integrations with external information systems to validate education, work history, exam results or other requirements needed to approve licenses. Additionally, the app gives agencies reporting tools so they can measure, track and analyze productivity, such as the number of applications received, license types and late renewals.

Theres a lot that has to happen to get to the step where the license can be approved, and without a robust system to manage all that, there are a lot of potential handoff challenges and also visibility challenges in that applicants dont know where their applications sit, he said. This is about showing efficiency and transparency in the application process and the renewals process.

The app is the newest addition to the companys suite of out-of-the-box software-as-a-service Civic Applications, which have reduced implementation time from 30% to 60%, according to the company. Others include business licensing, cannabis regulation, city planning and COVID-19 response. The latter solution can be used at the state level, but is intended more for use by county health departments. It can be stood up within a few weeks to help with tasks such as repurposing occupancy limitations to house staff at hospitals; reviewing, approving and managing childcare provider licenses to provide temporary childcare programs during the pandemic; and certifying or re-certifying medical professionals and managing the screening, availability and scheduling of volunteers to help with COVID patient caseloads.

Accela began the shift toward prebuilt applications about three years ago to support what Coggiola describes as change in how government purchases software  moving away from a toolkit for building solutions from scratch. Because professionals in licensed occupations make up a quarter of the workforce, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, he sees growth potential.

Going forward, the company is looking at data management and analytics capabilities, improvements to the citizen experience, Coggiola said. Other opportunities include occupational licensing and the cross-state transfer of licenses, which he calls a significant problem for military families that frequently relocate.

In line with that focus on analytics is Accela Insights, a data visualization platform the company announced in November 2020.

A big piece of this is helping agencies understand the impact of their licensing requirements on market participants and ensuring equity, Coggiola said.
A sleep tech firm has launched an AI mattress that can readjust to ensure the user is in the most comfortable position throughout the night.

Called Emma Motion, the bed uses 360 motion sensors to detect even the smallest amount of pressure and reacts by moulding to the sleeper's body.

Emma Motion works for anyone regardless of how much they toss and turn to provide 'maximum comfort and ultimate ergonomics' and also features a heat-conducting sleep that keeps users cool.

The mattress has been launched in France and Belgium this month for 2,499 euros (about 2,200) and will be released in the UK later this year.

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The worlds most advanced smart mattress has been launched by sleep tech brand Emma, set to help address sleep problems

The smart mattress has been created by German sleep tech brand Emma.

'Our mission at Emma is to help improve people's lives by changing the way that they sleep, as more and more studies show just how much sleep impacts our overall health,' said Manuel Mueller, CEO at Emma.

'We invest heavily in researching and developing products which help people sleep smarter, and this means that the technology in the Emma Motion will truly innovate how the world sleeps; a revolution which we're proud to lead.'

The top layer contains heat-conducting graphite particles in the foam. The mattress uses all the data it detects to enlarge or reduce the foam layer by means of air both smoothly and silently to fit different sleeping positions

HOW DOES IT WORK? The mattress connects to a power source via a cable but it operates silently during the night. The top of the mattress is covered in a layer of foam, but directly below this is an Infinite AI Sensor, which is effectively a 'dense grid of motion senors'. Infinite AI Sensor is responsible for perceiving and responding to changing sleep positions. As the body moves during sleep, the sensors detect even the slightest pressure and processes this as data in real time. Advertisement

Emma Motion connects to a power source via a cable but it operates silently during the night.

The top of the mattress is covered in a layer of foam, but directly below this is an Infinite AI Sensor, which is effectively a 'dense grid of motion senors'.

Infinite AI Sensor is responsible for perceiving and responding to changing sleep positions.

As the body moves during sleep, the sensors detect even the slightest pressure and processes this as data in real time.

'With the help of AI, the data is translated into your current sleeping positions,' the firm says.

Emma trained a neural network with several terabytes of data to ensure accurate interpretation of the data.

The mattress uses all the data it detects to enlarge or reduce the foam layer by means of air both smoothly and silently to fit different sleeping positions.

'This active adjustment throughout the night supports that your spine is balanced and aligned,' Emma says.

Lastly, additional built-in 'Diamond Degree' technology makes sure the user will never be hot and bothered throughout the night.

Emma says the Motion 'completely moulds to your body as you rest and provides a fully customisable experience that is set to revolutionise the way we sleep'

The foam at the top of the mattress consists of millions of heat-conducting graphite particles in the foam.

Emma Motion actively helps regulate temperature by dissipating excess body heat away form the mattress using these particles.

Users are advised to download the accompanying Emma App, on which they can adjust the mattress based on their preferences.

The mattress boasts artificial intelligence (AI) technology developed over two years that works while you rest

It allows users to adjust the individual settings according to personal preferences for just the right degree of support or pressure relief.

Emma Motion will remember the preferences and apply these throughout the night, for things like optimum spinal alignment.

The mattress is already on sale in Europe, where it retails for 2,499 euros (about 2,200).

Its designers say it will go on sale in the UK 'later this year', but are remaining tight-lipped about the UK pricing.
FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Living Innovations Support Services, Inc. (http://www.livinginnovations.com), a New England provider of supports for over 1,300 people with disabilities, has joined the Mosaic (http://www.mosaicinfo.org) family. In its new partnership with Living Innovations, Mosaic, a Nebraska-based provider of personalized services, has increased its reach to people with diverse needs in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The transaction was facilitated by VERTESS (http://www.vertess.com), a leading healthcare Mergers + Acquisitions (M+A) advisory firm.

Living Innovations, led by founder and CEO Neal Ouellett, is an innovative and successful community-based provider agency that facilitates day and residential services to children and adults. They have been strongly committed to community inclusion. The transition to Mosaic continues their dedication to meeting the unique needs of each individual and expanding their resources.

"I am excited to have helped Neal find the best fit for the Living Innovations family. Neal met with multiple buyers and vetted each very carefully," said Rachel Boynton, VERTESS Managing Director. "I think he made an amazing decision for the Living Innovations team. It was a pleasure to work with such a dedicated professional."

Neal commented, "We told ourselves we only have one chance to get this right and I'm convinced we've done just that. Mosaic has all of the things that we are looking for in a partner."

Mosaic has been strategically selecting new partners to help grow and expand their mission. Linda Timmons, President and CEO of Mosaic, believes their combined organizations will have a stronger voice for shaping the future of quality services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and other diverse needs.

For more information, please contact Rachel Boynton at [email protected] or 520-395-0244.

About VERTESS

VERTESS is an international healthcare-focused Mergers + Acquisitions (M+A) advisory firm with expertise spanning diverse healthcare and human service verticals, ranging from behavioral health and intellectual/developmental disabilities to DME, pharmacies, home care/hospice, urgent care, life sciences, and other specialized services and products. Each VERTESS Managing Director has had executive experience in either launching or managing and ultimately successfully exiting a healthcare company.

VERTESS is headquartered in Dallas/Fort Worth, with additional offices in Phoenix, Tucson, Los Angeles, Denver, Boston, and Orlando. For more information, visit www.vertess.com.

SOURCE VERTESS

Related Links

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Elsa Pataky flew into Sydney via a private jet on Sunday with actor husband Chris Hemsworth for their separate movie commitments.

And on Thursday, Elsa was seen taking a leisurely stroll through Paddington during a filming break.

The Spanish actress, 44, displayed her trademark bohemian style in floral print maxi skirt, a retro T-shirt, and 70s inspired fringed bag.

Boho chic: Elsa Pataky flaunted her trademark Byron Bay bohemian style in a floral maxi skirt and retro T-shirt on Thursday while taking a break from filming Carmen in Sydney's Paddington

The Hollywood power couple are both filming new movies in the state's capital; Elsa is filming a big screen adaption of the opera Carmen, while Chris, 37, has begun production for Thor: Love and Thunder.

While Elsa's almost always barefoot when out and about in Byron Bay, the star chose to wear a sensible pair of sandals for her inner-city wanderings.

The Fast and the Furious star had her short blonde locks down and styled in messy waves, wore stylish shades and carried a reusable water bottle.

Speaking on the phone as she walked, the star looked carefree roaming the city by herself.

Downtime: While Elsa's almost always barefoot when out and about in Byron Bay, the star chose to wear a sensible pair of sandals for her inner-city wanderings

Production on Carmen, directed by Benjamin Millepied, kicked off last month in the rural New South Wales town of Breadalbane.

Elsa was pictured filming scenes on location at Maroubra Beach on January 19.

The film, based on the opera of the same name, tells the story of a soldier who falls in love with an irresistible woman by the name of Carmen.

Lights, camera, action! Elsa is filming a big screen adaption of the opera Carmen in Sydney, where she appears to be playing a character named 'Gabrielle' or 'Gabriella'

On Wednesday, Elsa revealed her character's name would be 'Gabriella/Gabrielle' as she posed with a partial view of her the name to her dressing room trailer.

While the original was set in Spain, this adaptation will follow a Mexican woman's search for freedom in America.

The production, which was originally slated to take place in Mexico and Los Angeles, relocated to Australia due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The film: Carmen, based on the opera of the same name, tells the story of a soldier who falls in love with an irresistible woman by the name of Carmen

Chris and Elsa have so far managed to fly back and forth from Sydney and Byron Bay to be with their three children in between filming commitments.

The flight takes approximately one hour and 15 minutes.

The couple, who share daughter India Rose, eight, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, six, live in a $30million mansion in Broken Head, near Byron Bay.
Consulting firm McKinsey & Company on Thursday said it has agreed to pay nearly $600 million to resolve investigations by most U.S. states into its alleged role in "turbocharging" sales of opioids, fueling a nationwide epidemic.

McKinsey struck a $573 million settlement with 47 states, the District of Columbia and five territories which will go toward opioid treatment and prevention. It reached separate deals with Washington state and West Virginia that boost the total.

The states alleged that McKinsey contributed to the opioid crisis by helping drug manufacturers including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, owned by Sackler family members, design marketing plans and boost sales of painkillers.

"They were part of a machine that disrupted, in fact destroyed, lives and families in America," said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

McKinsey, which did not admit wrongdoing, must also turn over internal documents concerning its work. It will continue investigating whether employees, including two partners, tried to destroy documents in response to probes.

"We deeply regret that we did not adequately acknowledge the tragic consequences of the epidemic," McKinsey Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader said in a statement.

Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 as part of a proposed settlement it valued at $10 billion to resolve lawsuits alleging its painkiller marketing helped fuel the epidemic. It pleaded guilty in November to related criminal charges.

More than 3,300 lawsuits are pending, largely by states and local governments, seeking to hold drug makers and distributors responsible for an opioid addiction epidemic that according to U.S. government data resulted in 450,000 overdose deaths from 1999 to 2018.

The states and localities have also been negotiating $26 billion in settlements with distributors Cardinal Health Inc, McKesson Corp and AmerisourceBergen Corp and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson.
KAZAN, Russia -- The chairman of the All-Tatar Public Center (TIU), Farit Zakiyev, has started a hunger strike to protest a move by prosecutors to label his organization in Russia's Tatarstan region extremist and shut it down.

Zakiyev started his hunger strike on February 3, calling the official motion, first presented in mid-January, "absurd."

"To declare TIU an extremist organization would mean to declare all Tatar people extremists. It would mean to declare the idea of Tatarstan's statehood and articles of the Russian Constitution on federalism extremist," Zakiyev said in a statement, calling on other members of the TIU to join the hunger strike.

TIU, which has been functioning since 1989, is known for activities promoting the Tatar culture, language, and traditions, as well as equal rights for ethnic Tatars.

A court in Tatarstan's capital, Kazan, is scheduled to look into the prosecutor's motion and render a decision on February 24.

The situation mirrors similar developments in the neighboring Bashkortostan region, where last year a court banned the prominent Bashqort group that had long promoted the Bashkir language and culture.

The court on May 22 labeled the group extremist and banned its operations, based on what it called the "presence in the organization of individuals who had been convicted on extremism charges."

The group's leader, Fail Alsynov, said at the time that extremism charges against members of his organizations were politically motivated.

Both TIU and Bashqort activists have faced pressure in recent years after staging several rallies and other events challenging the policies of both local and federal authorities, including Moscow's move to abolish mandatory indigenous-language classes in regions with large indigenous populations.
Some suspected armed robbers on Thursday attacked an ambulance that was transporting a pregnant woman who was in labour in the Eastern Region.



The attack left the driver of the ambulance badly injured with a gunshot wound. The bullet is said to have hit his head and affected the eye.



It took the intervention of one other passenger in another vehicle, which had earlier been also attacked by the robbers, to drive the ambulance to the Tetteh Quarshie Hospital at Akuapim Mampong for the driver to be resuscitated and later referred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra for further management.



The pregnant woman with the assistance of the EMT on board gave birth in the ambulance whilst the "good samaritan" was driving the ambulance towards the Tetteh Quarshie Hospital.



She was later transferred to the Koforidua Government Hospital.



The incident traumatised the EMT on board the ambulance. She later received counselling at Korle Bu and has since been discharged.



What happened initially



The driver and the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) were transferring the pregnant woman who was in labour and her relative from the Akuse Government Hospital to the Koforidua Regional Hospital Thursday dawn.



The incident happened at about 1:30 am.



The team were said to have run into the suspected armed robbers near the Aseseeso mountains.



The Deputy Eastern Regional Administrator of the Ghana National Ambulance Service, Mr Felix Owusu confirmed the incident in a radio interview with Accra based Citi FM monitored by Graphic Online.



He said the driver is currently at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital receiving treatment.



"Our men were dispatched to a maternal case from Akuse to Koforidua Regional Hospital. Whilst heading towards Aseseeso mountains, they realised about two cars were parked in front so they slowed down... not knowing it was armed robbers staging the operation over there. So upon seeing the beacon lights of the ambulance, they (robbers) thought our men were police officers who are coming to the scene to salvage the situation," Mr Owusu said in the radio interview.



"But we [ambulance staff] are not armed, we only care for patients or clients. So the driver upon seeing them coming, that these people are armed, he decided to retreat and they fired from a range and it passed through the windscreen and off they went. Then, the car just stopped and the people started attacking our crew on board and after seeing that the patient is a pregnant woman in the ambulance, where our non driver, which is the EMT attending to her at the patient compartment, these people did not look at that and they started asking for money, where is your money, where is your phone and a whole lot. So the EMT who is taking care of the patient was having GH11 or so with her, she just gave it to them, they took it and then they took her phone as well."



"They were not satisfied, they were just asking, where is your money..., another car was behind them coming and they just vanished. So the passengers in front realised that the ambulance, the driver had been shot, so they came there and one of them just drove the ambulance with our driver and the patient [pregnant woman] to the Tetteh Quarshie Hospital [at Akuapim Mampong] where our driver was resuscitated and then later referred to Korle Bu for futther management."



"And the pregnant woman was also referred to Koforidua, that is our regional hospital. So basically that is what happened," he added.

Mr Owusu said from the narration of the EMT, the robbers were suspected to be Fulani herdsmen who were about eight in number. One of them was a woman according to the EMT.









Source: Graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video




By Bahk Eun-ji







A 50-year-old man armed with a knife injured three employees of the National Tax Service's Jamsil branch and killed himself after by drinking a poisonous substance, Wednesday.







Songpa Police Station in eastern Seoul said Thursday that the man, surnamed Nam, stabbed one female and two male workers with a knife at the branch office around 5 p.m. The victims were immediately taken to a hospital, and are not in critical condition.







Nam tried to hurt himself with the weapon right after the attack and drank a poisonous substance. He died while being taken to a hospital. Police said his self-inflicted knife wound was not critical.







Police have applied for an autopsy on Nam's body. "We are investigating exactly what the substance was that he drank and are checking other details of the crime," a police officer said.







It has been revealed that the female victim had filed a request for a restraining order with the police against Nam in December, according to police. At the time, police accepted the request and had him wear a smartwatch that would inform the police if he approached her.







But Nam was not wearing the watch when he committed the crime at the tax office. Police are investigating the relationship between Nam and the woman as well as the exact motive behind the crime.






Contactless POS terminals from CCV are installed as special hardware. The software connection is made via a central server, which ensures smooth commissioning and maintenance of the devices. The transaction data flows into the Computop Paygate payment platform, which is also used to process the online payments of Europe's leading photo service provider.

In addition to payments with the major credit card brands, local debit cards will also be accepted in the future, which Computop can process directly as a network operator. By the end of the year, besides the photo stations in Great Britain and Ireland, Computop expects to have installed contactless payment at 1000 more stations in different countries including several hundred units already in use in France.

The advantage to customers of paying directly at CEWE photo stations is that they will no longer need to wait at the checkout and payment will be completed simultaneously with their instant print, including if they choose to use Apple Pay or Google Pay on their smartphone.

"We are very pleased to be able to support our long-standing customer CEWE to bring contactless payments to their services in-store and to have implemented a true omnichannel solution," explains Computop CEO Stephan Kuck. "By connecting to Computop Paygate, not only e-commerce but POS business can be internationalised and standardised quickly and easily - with a uniform terminal, centrally managed and administered."

"With the direct payment function at the CEWE photo stations, we have introduced another innovative service that can reduce queues but also shrinkage rates. The efficient processing via the Computop PSP platform enables us to offer this omnichannel application to retail partners throughout Europe. Initial results show a very positive end-customer response to the new payment function," emphasises Holger May, Managing Director Onsite Finishing at CEWE.

To see how Computop works with CEWE to protect sensitive customer data please click here

About Computop  The Payment People

As one of the very first payment service providers, Computop offers its customers around the world local and innovative omnichannel solutions for payment processing and fraud prevention. The Computop Paygate payment platform enables seamless integrated payment processes for e-commerce, at POS and on mobile devices. With this internally developed software, retailers and service providers have the flexibility and freedom to choose from over 350 payment methods enabling them to specifically tailor their payment options per country. Technologies such as biometric authentication and self-learning algorithms improve security and convenience for retailers and consumers alike.

Computop, a global player with its head office in Germany and locations in China, England and the USA, has been servicing large international companies in the service, retail, mobility, gaming and travel industries for more than 20 years. These companies include global brands such as Bigpoint, C&A, Fossil, the entire Otto Group, Sixt and Swarovski. Computop also provides it payment system to banks and financial service providers as a white-label solution. Through its customer network and collaboration with the global marketplace Rakuten, Computop processes commercial payment transactions for more than 16,000 retailers annually, with a combined value of USD 34 billion. With its individual and secure solutions, Computop makes a major contribution to the future of international payment processing.

www.computop.com

About CEWE

From its beginnings in 1912, CEWE has developed into the first address in photo services for all those who want to make more out of their photos. This is particularly reflected in the CEWE PHOTO BOOK, which has won many awards and sells more than six million copies every year. Customers can obtain other personalised photo products, for example, under the CEWE, WhiteWall and Cheerz brands - and at many leading European retailers. In these brand worlds, they are inspired to create a wide variety of creative designs around their personal photos and entrust more than 2.4 billion photos to the company every year. CEWE operates more than 20,000 CEWE photo stations in drugstores, specialist shops and food retailers throughout Europe, where customers can easily order their desired products or print them out directly on the spot.

In addition, the CEWE Group has established a highly efficient production facility for advertising and business print products for the still young online printing market. Billions of quality print products reach their customers reliably every year via the SAXOPRINT, LASERLINE and viaprinto sales platforms.

The CEWE Group is geared towards sustainable corporate management and has already received several awards for this: Economic long-term orientation; partnership and fairness with customers, employees as well as suppliers; social responsibility and environmental and resource conservation. For example, all CEWE brand products are produced in a climate-neutral manner.

The CEWE Group has 4,200 employees in more than 20 countries and grew its turnover to 714.9 million euros in 2019. The CEWE share is listed in the SDAX.

SOURCE Computop

Related Links

http://www.computop.com



Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the inauguration of the Chauri Chaura Centenary Celebrations at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, UP, via video conferencing on Thursday, said farmers have been the biggest foundation of our country's progress. "Constant efforts have been made in the last six years to make farmers move forward and make them self-sufficient. As a result of this, the agriculture sector has grown even during the pandemic," he said, adding that they also played an important role in the Chauri Chaura struggle.

He said many countries of the world are learning from India's vaccination campaign, and that the way India fought the pandemic is being praised all over the world. The PM said the incident of Chauri Chaura was a landmark event in the country's fight for Independence. It was not just limited to a police station being set on fire, he said. "Message of the incident was huge. Due to various reasons, it was treated as a minor incident, but we should see it in context. The fire was not just in the station but in the hearts of people," he added.

He also said that martyrs of the Chauri Chaura incident are not discussed as much as they should have been, which is unfortunate. "Although, they have not been given significance in pages of history but their blood is in the soil of the country and keeps inspiring us," he said.

Notably, a group of freedom fighters participating in the non-cooperation movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1922 were fired upon by police, leading to the death of many of them. In retaliation, protestors attacked and set fire to the Chauri Chaura police station, killing many of its occupants.

Gandhi called off the movement due to the violence. The killing of the Chauri Chaura policemen resulted in the arrest of hundreds of protesters, with 228 of them being put on trial, six of them dying during it, and 172 ordered to be hanged to death and the remaining sentenced to long-term imprisonments after a hasty eight-month trial.

Reviewing the death sentences, the Allahabad High Court finally in April 1923 confirmed it for 19 convicts and sentenced 110 of them to life imprisonments in Port Blair and long jail terms to others. At today's event, 99 people, descendants of those involved in the incident, will be honoured.

With PTI inputs

Also read: COVID-19 vaccine: 'We see entire world as our family', PM Modi tells ex-cricketer Kevin Pieterson

UW School of Pharmacy Student-Led Research Articles Published in National Journal

Two University of Wyoming students research papers have been accepted in a national pharmacy journal.

UW School of Pharmacy fourth-year student Megan Meier, from Colorado Springs, Colo., and Cheyennes Mark Menghini, a masters degree candidate in molecular biology, collaborated in 2019 on a mixed methods project that was subdivided into two related areas -- resulting in the publication of their two separate research papers.

Meiers research is titled Consumers Opinion on a Pharmacists Role in Nutritional Counseling, and Menghinis project is titled Understanding Food Preferences and Their Connection to Health Perception among Lean and Non-Lean Populations in a Rural State. Menghinis paper recently was published in the journal INNOVATIONS in pharmacy, and Meiers paper has been accepted for publication in the same journal. It is the first publication in a national journal for both UW students.

Meiers focus was on data analysis and writing results obtained from interviewing Laramie community members on their understanding of nutrition and the role a pharmacist can play in supporting them. Menghini was given the assignment of understanding food preferences among lean and non-lean individuals in a rural population.

Baskaran Thyagarajan, a UW associate professor of pharmaceutics and neuroscience, and Reshmi Singh, a UW associate professor of social and administrative pharmacy, along with Meier and Menghini, divided their responsibilities in analyzing data in the mixed methods study.

Meier collected data from audio-recorded interviews conducted with a variety of Laramie community members for the project. She focused on respondents understanding of nutrition, their interactions with pharmacists regarding nutrition, and the consumers perception of pharmacists role/education surrounding nutrition.

With these topics in mind, we also analyzed if lean or non-lean consumers responded differently. We set out to gain perspective on how many consumers receive nutrition counseling from pharmacists, she says. After the interviews, we did gain an understanding of how often consumers interact with a pharmacist regarding nutrition, but I think there was a more important finding.

Meier says most consumers were unaware of a pharmacists role in nutrition counseling and did not believe a pharmacist is educated to provide the counseling.

However, pharmacists are educated to provide nutritional counseling, and this is something our profession should broadcast, she adds. Pharmacists are trained in a variety of areas, not just dispensing medications and drug interactions. As a profession, we should educate the public on our training and background more. This way, we can become even further integrated into the health care team and be more highly regarded in our patients eyes.

Over the past few decades, pharmacists have made great strides in increasing health cares role, and her teams research should be motivation to continue that effort, Meier says.

Singh says Meiers focus on nutrition education in pharmacy is noteworthy, and Thyagarajan adds that her lead on the project produced elegant research work.

Megan took a lead on analyzing and establishing the role of pharmacists in nutritional counseling. This will form the foundation of future studies to advance the role of pharmacists in the generation of individualized nutritional plans, patient monitoring and health care, Thyagarajan says. It is an amazing experience working with her. She has set a high bar for students to work on such an application-oriented research.

Menghinis part in the study was conducted via analysis of consumers food choices and compared the data based on age, gender and body weight. The participants in audio-recorded interviews were residents of a single town in a rural state. The study shows that most participants were aware of the implications that food choices had on their health status.

Mark has taken clear leadership to demonstrate the food preferences between lean and non-lean populations in the rural state of Wyoming, Thyagarajan says. His research stems from our benchwork research suggesting the role of spice-rich food in metabolic health.

His research as a molecular biologist focuses on the pathogenicity, infectivity and potential biohazard of a newly discovered viral contaminant of cells commonly used in the baculovirus-insect cell system.

Meier will graduate in May and hopes to secure a residency position to further her pharmacy training. She plans to work as an ambulatory care pharmacist within a clinic and is considering becoming a university clinical faculty member.

Menghini received his bachelors degree in molecular biology from UW last May and, once he receives his masters degree, he plans to study to become a physician.

I am very pleased with this outcome and persistence of Megan Meier and Mark Menghini in not only leading each of the papers, but also taking it to the finish line of publication, Singh says. As educators, it is heartening to see our students understand and work so well on the research process.

Tom Hood, a longtime South Carolina banking executive and Charleston-area civic leader, died Feb. 2. He was 74.

A Navy veteran who graduated from The Citadel, Hood was a fixture on the local business scene until his retirement a decade ago.

The New England native and onetime accountant joined the then-tiny First Federal Savings & Loan in 1975. Hood then helped take the Charleston-based lender public through a new holding company in 1983, and he was elected to the board of directors four years later.

Hood was promoted to president and CEO of First Federal in February 1995. He assumed the same titles at the holding company within 18 months.

Hood was known for an accessible banker who stressed the personal touch. Even as a busy CEO, he would sometimes surprise customers, clients and other callers by picking up the phone without always knowing who was at the other end of the line. He also penned thank-you letters to 13-year-old "graduates" of First Federal's 9,000-member "Squirrel's Club" savings plan for kids, saying it was important to stay close to the community.

"We enjoy doing that," he told The Post and Courier in 1996.

Aldon Thomas Hood was born June 11, 1946, in Lowell, Mass., according to his obituary.

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During his 36-year Lowcountry banking career, he was active in numerous business and community organizations, and he was a strong advocate for improving the public education system.

Among other high-profile roles, Hood served as chairman of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and Trident United Way. He also was part of a group that advised the Federal Reserve Banks Board of Governors on industry matters. In his personal life, he was a member and ordained elder at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in West Ashley.

Near the end of his banking career, Hood steered First Federal through the 2007 financial crisis and recession, which led to massive losses for the industry. He also expanded the business into coastal North Carolina by taking over a failed lender in 2009.

Hood announced his retirement and succession plan in May 2010, when he stepped down as CEO of the parent company, First Financial Holdings Inc. He had planned to remain as president of First Federal until June 2011, but he resigned several months early, citing undisclosed health reasons.

At that time First Federal had grown to about 1,100 employees and operated about 65 branches. It also had expanded to provide insurance and brokerage services. Two years after Hood left, First Federal agreed to be sold in a $447 million deal to what is now South State Bank.

A celebration of life service will be held Feb. 5 at 11 a.m. in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at 712 Wappoo Road in Charleston. The family will receive friends at the church starting at 10 a.m.

Memorials can be made to the BrightFocus Foundation at www.brightfocus.org, which funds research into a cure for Alzheimer's disease.
While President Joe Bidens appointment for secretary of agriculture awaits approval by the Senate, the veteran head of USDA, Tom Vilsack, is already considering his agenda for his second term.

During the January 20 Hoards Dairyman DairyLivestream, Cornells Andy Novakovic described six topics he expects Vilsack to emphasize in his administration:



Rural development

Building resiliency

Maintaining competitive balance in agriculture

Environmental related issues

Incentivizing special projects

Scientific leadership

At the forefront of the agenda will be rural development. Novakovic described it as a two-fold initiative that includes both technology as well as economic and community vibrancy.

Rural broadband is a great example of technology investment, he said. That has really come to the forefront as everyone is trying to Zoom all over the place and so on.

This investment in developing and strengthening rural communities ought to align with the goals of the House Agriculture Committee as well according to Novakovic. It also will likely tie into one of Vilsacks other agenda items  building resiliency. This second pillar of the agenda is more vague, but Novakovic expects it to be related to local economies, building local networks, and supporting smaller scale farms.

A look at competitive markets

Maintaining competitive balance in agriculture was another agenda item that Novakovic expected Vilsack to further define as his administration progresses.

He has what Im describing as a competition agenda, Novakovic explained. Those arent his words, but hes interested in the structure of agriculture and in the structure of the industries that serve agriculture including the agribusinesses that sell things to farmers and the processors that buy things from farmers. Hes interested in identifying if people are getting a fair shake.

Hes mentioned large meat packers as perhaps having more influence in what happens in the beef industry than we might all agree is appropriate. Hes mentioned this from the standpoint of employment and workers safety issues, the long-time economist continued.

As Vilsack puts together his team, Novakovic expects him to address these ideas further.

Environmental leadership

Another large and perhaps more defined component of Vilsacks agenda is anticipated to be environmental issues. Its expected that, along with the Democratic led House and Senate Agriculture Committees, much work will be done in this area and in giving agriculture the credit it deserves for its leadership.

This will tie closely with the future secretary of agricultures final two initiatives. The fist is incentivizing special projects.

He cant just fabricate a whole bunch of environmental programs, but he can authorize these kinds of experimental, demonstration, small-scale projects, Novakovic anticipated.

I think he has an ambition to try out some ideas that possibly will be informative when we get to bigger list items, farm bill or otherwise. I think he will be open to supporting agriculture but probably with more strings attached, not just 'Heres a check, go and do whatever you want.'

That brings us to the final agenda item mentioned by Novakovic  scientific leadership. I think one of the things Vilsack is hoping to do is to use the resources of USDA, which includes the Agricultural Research Service, the Economic Research Service, the Office of the Chief Scientist, and a whole bunch of very well-trained, bright people to bolster the science and create some templates that could inform how other people think agriculture ought to be regulated, he explained. I think hes going to try to get ahead of the curve to create an argument that can be seen as having scientific integrity.

More developments and clarity are expected as Vilsack gets appointed and continues to develop his leadership team.

An ongoing series of events

The next broadcast will be on Wednesday, February 3, 2021. Each episode is designed for panelists to answer over 30 minutes of audience questions. If you havent joined a DairyLivestream broadcast yet, register here. Registering once registers you for all future events.

To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com.

(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2021

February 1, 2021
Foreign aid is an essential focus of The Borgen Project, and Sen. Duckworth exemplifies the leadership needed by the south suburban community. As we all know, several former and current U.S soldiers have expressed concerns that the United States is not doing enough to address global poverty. Others have been part of the many humanitarian missions aimed at weakening the influence of terrorist groups in impoverished regions.

KORE Mining focused on advanced US gold projects for growth in 2021

Posted by Publisher Internet

KORE Mining Ltd. (TSXV: KORE | OTCQX: KOREF) (?KORE? or the ?Company?  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/kore-mining-ltd/ ) is pleased to announce plans for systematic 2021 exploration at both the Imperial Gold project (?Imperial?) and the Long Valley Gold project (?Long Valley?) where successful 2020 target generation programs identified an array of resource growth and new discovery drill targets.? Both Imperial and Long Valley, have district scale potential with over 26,000 and 16,000 hectares of claims respectively, are 100% owned, and have no royalties on a majority of claims.

Imperial Exploration Work Program and Milestones

Soil sampling and mapping results from Imperial to Picacho expected in March 2021

Detailed soil sampling around initial gold anomalies for Mesquite-Imperial in Q1 2021

Infill IP geophysics from Mesquite (Equinox  EQX:TSX, EQX:NYSE) to Imperial in H1 2021

First pass IP geophysics between Imperial and Picacho in H1 2021

Permits for drilling to expand resources and make new discoveries expected in mid-2021

Low-cost drilling to test shallow, high priority new discovery targets planned in H2 2021

Long Valley Exploration Work Program and Milestones

Permit for resource growth drill program expected in Q1 2021

Drilling shallow gold resource expansion and high-grade underlying sulphide targets in mid-2021

Mapping and sampling newly staked 16,000 hectare land package to identify new gold targets

Follow-up IP geophysics to define fault structures on new gold anomalies in H2 2021

Scott Trebilcock, CEO of KORE states, ?KORE is focused on exploration growth in its US assets after delivering value across the portfolio in 2020.? Shareholders can look forward to value creation from low-cost exploration. ?Both projects have shallow well defined resources with high return preliminary economic assessments and have a multitude of resource expansion targets defined from their 2020 field work.? In addition, KORE controls the entire gold district around Imperial and a large claim area around Long Valley.? Both areas have shallow, high priority drill targets to make new discoveries with low-cost scout drilling programs.?

Mr. Trebilcock continues, ?In parallel with growth by exploration, KORE will continue to advance Imperial towards a production decision.?? KORE is on a path to be a mid-tier gold producer, with up to 350,000 ounces of gold per annum of production between Imperial and Long Valley combined.?

KORE is prepping its highest priority targets and is anticipating updates as the Company?s exploration team confirms next steps in the coming weeks.

Imperial Exploration Details

Imperial has a mineral resource estimate with a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (?PEA?), released April 6, 2020, having the following highlights:

Robust economics: C$ 642 million NPV5%* post-tax with 52% IRR at US$1,600 per ounce gold

Low capital intensity project with only US$ 143 million pre-production capital cost

146,000 ounces gold per year over 8 years for 1.2 million ounces total production; and

Technically simple project: shallow open pit, run-of-mine heap leach with existing infrastructure.

KORE is pursuing value enhancement over the PEA through resource expansion and exploring the Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho District (the ?District?), a 28 km gold trend centered on Imperial.? The three main deposits  Mesquite, Imperial and Picacho  were all discovered by outcrop, while the remainder of the District is under alluvial cover and is largely unexplored.? Figure 1 shows the Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho District claims.?

KORE is using IP geophysics to interpret controlling fault structures that host mineralization in the District?s deposits and look under the alluvial cover.? Soil sampling from dry riverbeds (arroyos) is being used to further prioritize drill targets on the fault structures.

First past IP was completed in H1 2020, first over the Imperial deposit and then stepping out toward Mesquite.? Having the intact Imperial deposit to ?tune? or ?fingerprint? the geophysical signatures, greatly enhances the confidence to target new discoveries under the alluvium along the trend. ?Details of the work were released January 7, 2020 and April 29, 2020.? Interpreted faults traced were traced continuously from Mesquite to Imperial.?

KORE followed up the IP geophysics in H2 2020 with mapping and first pass soil sampling for the entire 28 km Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho trend to further define discrete drill targets, which was completed as recently as this past weekend.? Results from the Imperial-Mesquite portion of the District were released December 8, 2020.? Figure 2 depicts the western half of the District (Mesquite-Imperial) with three large exploration areas  Mesquite East, Ogilby and Imperial West.? Samples from the Imperial area are at the lab and samples from Imperial-Picacho are being prepared for the lab.? Results are expected in several batches through Q1 2021.? ?

KORE plans to follow-up on the identified soil anomalies with further detailed soil sampling grids and infill geophysical surveys in H1 2021. ??

KORE is currently permitting a 168 pad drill program via a Plan of Operations (?PO?) process with the Bureau of Land Management local office.? Permits are expected in mid-2021. Drill testing of the highest priority targets is planned to start in H2 2021, subject to permitting.

Long Valley Exploration Details

Long Valley has a mineral resource estimate with a positive PEA, released October 27, 2020, having the following highlights:

Robust economics: C$ 376 million NPV5%* post-tax with 48% IRR at US$1,600 per ounce gold

102,000 ounces gold per year over 7 years for 0.7 million ounces total production; and

Technically simple project: shallow open pit, heap leach with nearby infrastructure.

Long Valley?s shallow mineralization has an array step-out drill targets in all directions.? The project can be further expanded with new discoveries on the recently staked claims, see release dated December 1, 2020 and as depicted in Figure 3, that have the potential to host parallel mineralized structures, similar to the one that hosts the current resources.? Additional mineralization could extend mine life, reduce capital intensity, and generate higher project economic returns modelled in the positive PEA.? An summary of oxide expansion targets is included in Figure 4.

Additionally, as a fully intact epithermal deposit with a large at surface footprint, Long Valley has the potential for high-grade sulphides in the underlying feeder structures.? Discovering high-grade sulphides would open up additional development pathways for Long Valley, such as underground mining.? A summary of sulphide expansion targets, interpreted feeder structures, is included in the KORE news releases dated January 30, 2020 and March 24, 2020.?

KORE is currently permitting a drill program at Long Valley.? The permit has been in process since mid-2020 and permits are expected in Q1 2021.?

KORE plans a low-cost drill program to test the highest priority oxide and sulphide targets in 2021.? Drilling planned for mid-2021, subject to the US Forest Service permitting timelines and permit conditions.??

KORE is also planning an IP geophysics survey in H2 2021 to define new structures on the recently staked claims on which to target new discoveries.

KORE is committed to operate within the stringent environmental and labour standards of California.? KORE plans to concurrently reclaim drill pad locations and ensure measures are taken to mitigate any impacts to biological and cultural resources.? KORE has designed the drill programs to maximize the existing public road/trail network in the area so as to limit any new disturbances, and the Company will be adjusting our drill pad locations as needed to avoid any sensitive sites should any be encountered.

About Imperial Gold Project

KORE owns 100% of the Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho District which consists of 26,323 acres on 1,007 claims capturing the entire 28-kilometer trend from the operating Mesquite mine (Equinox Gold  TSX:EQX) to the closed Picacho mine and including KORE?s Imperial project as depicted on Figure 1.? The Imperial resource, which was the subject of a highly successful 2020 Preliminary Economic Assessment released April 6, 2020, is located roughly in the center of the District.? KORE is planning to move the Imperial PEA mine plan into permitting in mid-2021 once they have received drilling permits.

In the District, gold is hosted in local fault structures related to a series of regional faults connecting the known District deposits.? Those three District deposits (Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho) were discovered in exposed outcrops and from placer workings.? The rest of the District is covered by alluvium and has never been systematically explored using modern techniques.?

Imperial is a structurally controlled intermediate sulfidation epithermal gold deposit. The 100% oxide gold deposit is currently defined at 2.44 kilometer long and up to 0.75 kilometer wide and is open both along strike and downdip. It is hosted in a shallowly southwest dipping, amphibolite grade metamorphic rock suite along a west-northwest trending low-angle regional thrust fault system. The thrust fault system controls the regional geometry of mineralization. East-west striking, post-mineralization normal faults control the property scale geometry of mineralization. Geophysical characterization of the deposit and regional controlling structures is an essential component of exploration for additional resources.

About Long Valley Project

Long Valley is 100% owned epithermal gold project located in Mono County California as depicted in Figure 3. The Long Valley deposit is an intact epithermal gold deposit with a large 2.5 km by 2 km oxide gold footprint.? The deposit was the subject of a highly successful PEA released October 27, 2020.

The Long Valley deposit is an intact low sulphidation epithermal gold/silver deposit, hosted within a melange of fine to coarse volcanogenic sedimentary lithologies.? Mineralization at Long Valley has developed due to a combination of deep-rooted fault structures and a resurgence of rhyolite within an active caldera.? The Hilton Creek Fault structure transects and served as a fluid conduit for interaction with the underlying hydrothermal system, while the rhyolite resurgence caused brittle fracturing of sediments and created voids or traps for mineralization and gold deposition.? The combination of these factors yields strongly altered kaolin and quartz-hematite zones that are the primary host for gold mineralization.?

The Hilton Creek Fault remains underexplored on-strike north and south and several parallel structures have been defined using geophysics, the eastern one hosting some of the current mineral resource and the western one being unexplored.? Long Valley is therefore open to new oxide discoveries in all directions.?

* Conversion of the NPV 5% for Imperial and Long Valley at C$1,600 gold uses 0.7 US$ per $C.

About KORE Mining

KORE is 100% owner of the Imperial and Long Valley gold projects assets in California.? Both projects have positive economic assessments put KORE on the path to up to 350,000 ounces of gold production. KORE is supported by strategic investor Eric Sprott who owns 26% of KORE?s basic shares.? KORE management and Board are aligned with shareholders, owning an additional 38% of the basic shares outstanding.? KORE is actively developing its Imperial Gold project and is aggressively exploring across its portfolio of assets.

Further information on Imperial and KORE can be found on the Company?s website at www.koremining.com or by contacting us as info@koremining.com or by telephone at (888) 407-5450.

Technical information with respect to the ?Imperial Gold Project ?and Long Valley Project contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by?Marc Leduc, P.Eng, who is KORE\-\-s COO and is the qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the technical matters of this news release.

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 news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the future operations of the Company and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as \will\, \may\, \should\, \anticipate\, \expects\, ?intends?, ?indicates? and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking statements.? Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: final results of future exploration work, including further mapping and sampling and the timeline for completion, the results of thePEAs for both the Imperial and Long Valley projects, including future opportunities, , the projected NPV for both the Imperial and Long Valley projects, permit ?timelines, and the ability to obtain the requisite permits, the market and future price of and demand for gold, , and the ongoing ability to work cooperatively with stakeholders, including the all levels of government. Such forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business. Management believes that these assumptions are reasonable. Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information.?

Such factors include, among others: risks related to exploration and development activities at the Company?s projects, and factors relating to whether or not mineralization extraction will be commercially viable; risks related to mining operations and the hazards and risks normally encountered in the exploration, development and production of minerals, such as unusual and unexpected geological formations, rock falls, seismic activity, flooding and other conditions involved in the extraction and removal of materials; uncertainties regarding regulatory matters, including obtaining permits and complying with laws and regulations governing exploration, development, production, taxes, labour standards, occupational health, waste disposal, toxic substances, land use, environmental protection, site safety and other matters, and the potential for existing laws and regulations to be amended or more stringently implemented by the relevant authorities; uncertainties regarding estimating mineral resources, which estimates may require revision (either up or down) based on actual production experience; risks relating to fluctuating metals prices and the ability to operate the Company?s projects at a profit in the event of declining metals prices and the need to reassess feasibility of a particular project that estimated resources will be recovered or that they will be recovered at the rates estimated; risks related to title to the Company?s properties, including the risk that the Company?s title may be challenged or impugned by third parties; the ability of the Company to access necessary resources, including mining equipment and crews, on a timely basis and at reasonable cost; competition within the mining industry for the discovery and acquisition of properties from other mining companies, many of which have greater financial, technical and other resources than the Company, for, among other things, the acquisition of mineral claims, leases and other mineral interests as well as for the recruitment and retention of qualified employees and other personnel; access to suitable infrastructure, such as roads, energy and water supplies in the vicinity of the Company?s properties; and risks related to the stage of the Company?s development, including risks relating to limited financial resources, limited availability of additional financing and potential dilution to existing shareholders; reliance on its management and key personnel; inability to obtain adequate or any insurance;? exposure to litigation or similar claims; currently unprofitable operations; risks regarding the ability of the Company and its management to manage growth; and potential conflicts of interest.?

In addition to the above summary, additional risks and uncertainties are described in the ?Risks? section of the Company?s management discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2019 prepared as of April 27, 2020 available under the Company?s issuer profile on www.sedar.com.

Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. 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.?

There is no certainty that all or any part of the mineral resource will be converted into mineral reserve. It is uncertain if further exploration will allow improving the classification of the Indicated or Inferred mineral resource.? Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
When Donald Rouse Sr. apologized on WBOK radio earlier this month for attending the protest that led to a riot at the U.S. Capitol, a light bulb went off for actor and station owner Wendell Pierce.

Rouse was coming, hat in hand, to the station's majority Black audience to plead forgiveness after a social media firestorm and calls to boycott his multistate supermarket chain erupted around his actions. Yet that chain, Rouses Markets, had never before advertised with WBOK.

Neither have a host of other businesses, including many that are regulated by the City Council. Its why Pierce and other Black or Latina owners of media outlets are urging council members to demand that regulated entities in the city invest in organizations that work to inform people of color.

In March, the media organizations will publish lists of all businesses  regulated or not  that have spent advertising dollars with them, as well as the names of regulated businesses that have not, in a plan of accountability, Pierce said.

If companies can draw revenue out of our community, they can do business with us to bring commerce into it, he said.

VIVA NOLA Magazine director Ana Maria Bech echoed those sentiments at a council committee meeting this week, saying that all too often, organizations gloss over her publications work providing critical information to a Latino community that must navigate language barriers.

Pierces Equity Media, VIVA NOLA, The Louisiana Weekly, The Data News Weekly, The New Orleans Tribune, Think504.com and Jambalaya News Louisiana make up the group that is asking the council to support its demands on private businesses.

City Councilmember Helena Moreno said the council plans to introduce a resolution to that effect later this month. A resolution does not have the force of law, as an ordinance would.

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The council regulates several companies that provide power, gas, cable and phone or data services to New Orleans homes and businesses, including Entergy New Orleans, Cox Communications, AT&T and Verizon.

Pierce and others also called out public agencies such as the Regional Transit Authority and the Sewerage and Water Board for failing to advertise with minority-owned media outlets. Those and other agencies do, however, follow city rules that are aimed at granting contracts to minority-owned firms.

Entergy cuts WBOK Radio support due to coverage of New Orleans East plant Entergy New Orleans has cut its financial support of WBOK Radio, apparently because the util

Entergy has also advertised with WBOK in the past, though Pierce counted it Tuesday among those that are not advertising with the station presently. The utility notably stopped payment on a $20,000 check in 2018 because of the talk radio station's coverage of Entergy's proposal to build a natural gas-fired power plant in New Orleans East, but it resumed some of its support the following year, according to the station's former owner, Danny Bakewell Jr.

Bech said Entergy did support her magazine last year.

A spokesperson for Cox said the company is committed to embracing diversity and inclusion, that organizations interested in a partnership should be in touch, and that data drives its media buying decisions.

"Over the past few years, accelerated by COVID, we have seen a shift in media consumption away from traditional media to digital - both audio and video," David D'Aquin added. "Also, our media budget has declined and is stretched over more media types and is shifting more to digital."

An Entergy spokesperson said minority-owned media outlets "are important partners" in Entergy's effort to share information with its customer base.

Renette Dejoie Hall, publisher and owner of the 96-year-old Louisiana Weekly, said it's not as though Entergy and others "don't know we exist," citing the press releases she receives from Entergy and other companies on various topics.

"If we are important enough that they seek us out to put their message in the paper for free, they can also spend some advertising dollars," she said. "Because we gotta pay for the ink, and we gotta pay for the paper."

Editor's Note, 02/04/2021: This story has been updated to include Think504.com as one of the media outlets that petitioned the council.
The partner of Nick Martins stepdaughter, who was shot in the arm when the former Rebels boss was killed at Perth Motorplex, will remain behind bars after his request for parole was refused.

Mr Martin, 51, was fatally shot by a suspected sniper while watching the Outlaw Nitro Challenge at the Kwinana racing venue with his wife and stepdaughter about 8.40pm on December 12.

Ricky Chapman in hospital following the shooting at Perth Motorplex. Credit:Nine News

Ricky Chapman, who was sitting behind Mr Martin, was struck in the arm by the bullet.

Chapman was taken into custody by Operation Ravello officers three days after the shooting for allegedly breaching his parole conditions by associating with bikies.
Rotunda Rumblings

Scam-a-lot: State officials have so far been able to confirm $330 million was paid out to 56,000 fraudulent pandemic unemployment benefits claims filed between April and December, Jeremy Pelzer reports. An additional 2,200 fraudulent overpayments for traditional jobless benefits, totaling $2.3 million, were made between October and December.

If at first you dont succeed: Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday he plans to try to re-introduce his STRONG Ohio gun-reform package as part of the state budget bill, after his fellow Republicans in the state legislature refused to act on it last session. As Andrew Tobias reports, DeWine told reporters the specifics will appear in the bill language when its developed in the next two weeks. He also highlighted public-safety components of his budget, including extra funding hes proposed to help local police buy body cameras, among other proposals.

Try, try again: House Speaker Bob Cupp on Wednesday said he plans to pursue a fix to Ohios school-funding formula through a standalone bill, which he then hopes will be amended into the state budget. He said the school funding, along with a re-introduced broadband expansion bill, will be among the Houses priority legislation for the upcoming session.

Learning loss: The Department of Education released preliminary data on performance on third-grade English and kindergarten readiness assessments. Emily Bamforth reports that Ohio State University research on the third-grade results found a higher decline in test performance in areas with high job loss, as well as in Black students and economically disadvantaged students.

Pulling up a chair: Ohio Senate Republicans have changed protocol for committee meetings after members of the public entered a Wednesday meeting, unmasked, and moved chairs around, disregarding posted signs about social distancing, Laura Hancock reports. Ohio Sen. Cecil Thomas said he left the committee room because it was unsafe and he has a daughter with a compromised immune system.

Hanging around: Wednesdays House session passed with no action on State Rep. Larry Householder, whom Cupp has indicated hed like to remove from office, Tobias reports. Cupp told reporters theres still no consensus among the Republican caucus members. Theres still ongoing discussion in the caucus to find out where theyre at, said Cupp, who has said Householder should voluntarily resign. My personal position is clear, but well have to see where it goes from here. Householder lost his leadership position last summer following his arrest on a federal corruption charge, but was re-elected in November and remains in the legislature. He has denied wrongdoing.

Number comes up: The number of coronavirus vaccine doses administered, 908,096, is now higher than the total case number, 906,727, Hancock reports. Yet, two doses are needed for the vaccination to be complete, and only 217,058 people are fully vaccinated.

Nursing home cases dip: Coronavirus cases among Ohio nursing home patients - a focus of early vaccine efforts - have continued to drop sharply, Wednesday nights weekly update showed. The state reported 1,501 current cases involving patients at long-term care facilities, down from 5,155 in mid-December, Rich Exner reports. To date, 5,797 Ohio nursing home patients are known to have died of the coronavirus, representing 50.7% of all reported coronavirus deaths in Ohio.

No e-testimony: Rules adopted by Ohio House Republicans on Wednesday dont include any provisions allowing for virtual testimony during committee hearings, something outside advocates have pushed for during the coronavirus pandemic. As Tobias reports, remote testimony language was revised out of an earlier draft version of the rules, over objections from Democrats on the House floor. Democrats also objected to rules changes that will limit when and how often floor amendments can be introduced, among other changes.

Impeachment fallout: Rocky River Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez has taken plenty of flak from Donald Trump loyalists since voting to impeach the former president over his role in a riot on Capitol Hill where five people died, Sabrina Eaton reports. In an interview with Eaton, Gonzalez talked about the riot and its aftermath, the impeachment vote, his political future and the future of the Trump and the Republican Party.

Corruption case study: A report from the Brookings Institution uses the FirstEnergy / House Bill 6 scandal as a case study for corruption by American utilities. While bailouts are not necessarily problematic in and of themselves, in some cases a shadowy constellation of individuals, organizations, and companies are the driving forces behind them, the report reads in part. Such networks of actors often offer tendentious justifications for the bailouts they seek that downplay the negative financial and environmental consequences. They then take advantage of lax disclosure laws to conceal their involvement or their connections to the policymakers pushing to grant the bailout with public funds.

Closing time: DeWines budget recommendations to the legislature include a provision that could allow the Ohio Department of Health director to close unsafe nursing homes, the Dispatchs Anna Staver writes. The Ohio Health Care Association, which represents many nursing homes, hasnt taken a position on it yet because there arent details about the conditions under which a nursing home would be closed.

At stores too: In addition to five long-term care facilities in Northeast Ohio, some Walgreens vaccine customers may have to get revaccinated due to receiving coronavirus shots that may be ineffective due to storage temperatures, Lisa Ryan reports for ideastream. Thirteen leftover shots from the five homes went to two Northeast Ohio stores.

White House meeting: Incoming Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chair Sherrod Brown of Ohio and top Democrats on other committees met with President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday to discuss moving a coronavirus relief package through Congress. A statement from Brown said shared goals for the next package include housing relief, help for small businesses, ramped up vaccine production and the need to put more money in the pockets of working people and secure promised pensions for retired Americans. Biden told reporters at the meeting that he believed the package will get some Republican support.

Building fences: Holmes County Republican Rep. Bob Gibbs believes Democrats whove just taken over the apparatus of government in Washington are prioritizing the wrong fences by erecting a network of security barricades around the U.S. Capitol complex while halting construction of the wall on the border between the United States and Mexico that was championed by President Donald Trump, Eaton writes. Gibbs spent January 27-30 touring the border between the United States and Mexico with a group of Republican Congress members assembled by Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs.

Senate action: The Ohio Senate on Wednesday passed several bills, each of which now head to the House for consideration:

-Senate Bill 5, which would enter Ohio into the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact

-Senate Bill 7, which would enter Ohio into the Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact

-Senate Bill 13, which would reduce Ohios statute of limitations for written contracts from 8 years to 6 years, and oral contracts from 6 years to 4 years

Second act: Former state representative Dave Greenspan, who lost his re-election bid in November, said Wednesday hes filed to run for Westlake City Council president.

Lobbying Lineup

Five groups that lobbied on House Bill 295, which passed out of the last legislative session and was signed by Gov. Mike DeWine Jan. 13, which sets up the first statewide laws around low-speed electric scooters, including limiting them to age 16 and above and setting a speed limit at 20 mph. State lobbying forms do not say which side of a bill someone is on. The scooter bill goes into effect April 15.

1. Lyft Inc.

2. Uber

3. Bird Rides

4. The city of Columbus

5. Allstate Insurance Co.

On The Move

Henry Gomez, a Buzzfeed News political reporter, has accepted a job with NBC News as a national political reporter. Gomez, a former cleveland.com journalist, says hell continue to be based in Ohio.

Straight from the Source

Unfortunately, it had to take my brothers life before these laws, that should have been in effect, came to pass.

- Alvon Williams, the brother of Andre Hill, a Black man who was shot and killed by a white Columbus police officer in December. Bodycam footage showed two other officers rolled Hill over after the shooting and handcuffed him, before leaving him alone. The bodycam footage didnt show anyone giving Hill first aid. The Columbus City Council unanimously passed a measure requiring officers to turn on their bodycams and administer first aid after using lethal force.

Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. If you do not already subscribe, you can sign up here to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : The more than two-month-long farmers' agitation against the three farm laws continues on Delhi's borders. In such a scenario, Bharatiya Kisan Union national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait has evolved a formula to keep the movement going: Get one tractor and 15 people for 10 days from every village. This will enable the maximum number of farmers to participate in the movement and also return to the village and engage in farming.

According to Tikait, leaders of farmers' bodies are constantly urging the government to talk with them, but the government isn't doing so. "In fact, the government wants to prolong the farmers' agitation." So, Tikait has evolved a formula through which the agitation will attain longevity. In this formula, 15 people from every village should stay at the protest venue for 10 days and then the next lot of 15 should replace them. The first lot of protesters can then return home and tend to the fields.

Tikait announced on Thursday: "Work on the formula of one tractor and 15 people for 10 days from every village. Then, even if the movement runs for 70 years, there is no problem. " The 11 rounds of talks between the government and farmers so far have failed to resolve the impasse. Asked about the resumption of dialogue, Tikait said: "Through the media, we will keep requesting the government for a dialogue. Now it is up to the government to decide how much time it has for the farmers." He said the government is adopting new tactics every day to prolong the farmers' agitation. "Not talking to farmers and turning Delhi into a fortress are part of these tactics. Let us see till when does the government keep testing the farmers?"
Islamabad, Feb 4 : Four terrorists and two soldiers were killed during a security operation in Pakistan's North Waziristan, the military said.

In a statement early Thursday morning, the army's media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, said that four soldiers were also injured in the exchange of fire on Wednesday night in in Mir Ali town that borders Afghanistan.

The security forces had observed presence of terrorists in a compound in Mir Ali, it said.

"As soon as the troops cordoned off the area, terrorists opened fire. During intense exchange of fire, four terrorists were killed," the statement said.

According to the statement, the dead terrorists were involved in kidnapping for ransom, extortion, fire raids on security forces and improvised explosive device explosions.

The Pakistani military has conducted a series of operations against terrorist groups, including the Taliban, in North Waziristan over recent years.

Although the area has mostly been pacified, remnants of the terrorist groups still manage to launch attacks on the security forces.
An intelligence-led operation by the Adenta Divisional Police Command has resulted in the arrest of 59 motorbikes and their riders.



The swoop was to stamp out activities of criminals who used motorbikes to snatch bags from unsuspecting residents and visit mayhem on them at the least resistance.



The operation was executed on Wednesday, February 3, 2021 at about 0500 hours under the leadership of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr. Joseph Owusu-Bempah.



In all, 50 men from the Adenta Division and Accra Regional Headquarters were mobilized for the operation.



The Command said it would screen, interrogate and profile riders of the 59 intercepted and impounded motorbikes.



It said anyone found to be linked to any crime would be processed for court.

The operation is expected to continue in the Division and extended to others, the GNA gathered.

Source: GNA









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Featured Video

As of Wednesday, most provincial-level regions had held their annual legislative sessions, putting forward new keywords in their development blueprints for this year and the coming five years.

The new buzzwords, such as 5G use, digital currency, and carbon peak, highlight the country's new momentum for its high-quality growth in line with China's new development philosophy and paradigm.

Growth targets

Nearly 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities have set this year's economic growth target at more than 6 percent.

Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shandong provinces, among the country's major economic powerhouses, aimed for a more than 6 percent expansion in 2021. The growth targets of other provincial-level regions generally range from more than 6 percent to more than 9 percent.

Central China's Hubei Province, hit hard by COVID-19 last year, and the southern Hainan Province targeted a double-digit growth of more than 10 percent.

The local growth targets showed the resilience and potential of China's economy. It adds certainty to the world amid a global recession, said Liang Qidong, vice president of the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences.

Growing 2.3 percent year on year in 2020, China's economy will likely see a faster recovery and mild transitions in macro-policies in 2021, a year of multiple challenges at home and abroad, according to Zhang Yuxian, an expert with the State Information Center.

Dual circulation

The "dual circulation" development pattern, in which domestic and overseas markets reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay, was another keyword phrase in this year's local government reports.

Liaoning Province in northeast China said it would actively integrate its development into this paradigm, building itself into a central hub for economic and trade cooperation in Northeast Asia. The province will also introduce new reforms in its free trade zone and accelerate Sino-German and Sino-UK industrial park construction.

Southwest China's Yunnan Province will beef up efforts to advance reform and opening-up by relying on its free trade zone. Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also unveiled plans to apply for a free trade zone in their government work reports this year.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) would increase the cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This would be favorable for Yunnan to expand opening-up, said Ma Yong, head of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.

Carbon peak

Amid the country's all-out efforts to meet its 2060 carbon-neutral target, provincial authorities said they would formulate action plans to achieve carbon emission peaks by reducing emissions and expanding renewable energy usage, among other measures.

Shanghai aims to bring the city's carbon dioxide emissions to a peak before 2025. It would be five years ahead of the national target of 2030, according to the municipal government.

Liaoning province said it would compile and implement an action plan for carbon emission peaks through developing renewable energy such as solar and wind power, afforestation, and promoting the carbon trading market.

Provinces such as Jiangsu and Guangdong also vowed to take the lead in peaking their carbon emissions.

China has announced that it will strive to bring carbon dioxide emissions to a peak before 2030 and become carbon neutral before 2060. One priority is to adjust energy and industrial structures to meet the carbon peak target, and it is necessary to take a differentiated and inclusive approach, experts say.

Digital currency

Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong plan to promote digital currency pilot applications in their local government work reports.

Beijing will accelerate innovation demonstration zone construction for fintech and professional services. The city will also advance the pilot use of digital currency, Mayor Chen Jining said. He made the comments while elaborating on the significant tasks this year in the municipal government work report. Guangdong plans to support Shenzhen in building a pilot zone for digital currency innovation.

Shenzhen, Beijing and Suzhou have all piloted the digital yuan since last year. Efforts are under way to include more people in this fast-developing digital era, making daily life easy and digital payments more secure.

5G use

China is accelerating its pace to construct information infrastructure for the 5G era to boost production and consumption upgrades.

Guangdong will have 220,000 5G base stations by 2022, with its 5G users reaching 60 million. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region plans to build 20,000 5G base stations this year and expand the 5G network in cities, counties, and townships. Southwest China's Guizhou will support the applications of 5G and artificial intelligence.

14th Five-Year Plan

The year 2021 marks the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period, with the country embarking on a new journey of fully building a modern socialist country. The local legislative sessions also reviewed and adopted the provincial-level 14th five-year plan outlines.

The economic growth targets and measures to implement the national development strategies and policies are included in the local 14th five-year plans, with high-quality development, innovation, and opening-up among the most significant aspects of regional development blueprints.

Anti-poverty campaign

In 2020, all the remaining poverty-stricken counties across the country were delisted despite the COVID-19 impact, marking a decisive victory in the country's tough battle against poverty.

Places such as Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan have announced measures to consolidate the poverty reduction outcomes and promote rural vitalization at the local legislative sessions.

Yunnan plans to build 100 demonstration townships and 10,000 "beautiful villages" among its efforts to vitalize the rural areas and improve the rural residents' living environment.
The Romanian nationals recently stranded at the Cancun airport in Mexico were allowed access to Mexico, bar five of them, due to the existence of an individual security alert, who will return to Romania on Thursday, according to the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE), as reported by AGERPRES.

According to MAE, all Romanian nationals were re-assessed individually regarding their entry into Mexico. The Charge d'Affaires at the Romanian Embassy in Mexico was at the airport during the proceedings and provided assistance to those in need of information, support for translation and guidance for filling forms. He was also assisted by the honorary consul of Romania in Cancun.

Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu announced on Wednesday that 114 Romanians were stranded at the airport in the Mexican city.

On Wednesday evening, he had a telephone conversation with his Mexican counterpart.

"As a result of the telephone conversation on the evening of February 3 this year between the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu and his Mexican counterpart, Mexican officials urgently remedied the situation of the Romanian citizens stranded at the international airport in Cancun. Also the Mexican minister of foreign affairs sent to the Romanian counterpart, on behalf of the government of his country, regrets for the negative impact produced by the actions of the Mexican authorities," reads a MAE press statement.

According to it, "as a result of the steps taken especially during the telephone conversation of Minister Aurescu with his Mexican counterpart, when the Romanian side underlined that the general security alerts targeting Romanian nationals are inadmissible, the Mexican authorities confirmed that the possible security alert measures that may affect the right of foreign nationals to enter Mexico must always be individual, and any decisions to deny access to Mexico must be based on individual, case-by-case and non-discriminatory assessments."

Romania and Mexico will maintain close contact moving forward to prevent similar problems.

The interim charge d'affaires of the Romanian Embassy in Mexico will remain in Cancun for the next few days to make sure that the Romanians who have been denied the right to entry Mexico leave the country and to stay in touch with local authorities.

MAE reiterates its recommendation to Romanian nationals to exercise caution when deciding to travel for tourism purposes at this time, especially to destinations that are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It says that the areas of Mexico City and Cancun are classified as areas with high epidemiological risk - Mexico City is considered a red area, and Cancun - an orange area.

Romanian nationals can request consular assistance by calling the Romanian Embassy in Mexico City: 00 52 55 5280 0447 and 00 52 55 5280 1869, with the calls being redirected to the Centre for Contact and Support of Romanian Citizens Abroad (CCSCRS) and taken over by call centre operators 24/7.

Also, Romanian nationals facing a difficult, special situation, of an emergency nature, can call the emergency line of the diplomatic mission in Mexico City: 00 52 55 38 833 072.
JHG Enters New Strategic Co-operation Agreement with Dai-ichi Life

Janus Henderson Group plc (NYSE/ASX: JHG; 'Janus Henderson') announces today the commencement of a registered secondary offering of common stock through which Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. ('Dai-ichi') intends to exit its equity investment in Janus Henderson through an underwritten public secondary offering. Janus Henderson intends to repurchase up to US$230 million of the stock in the offering.

Dai-ichi has made a strategic decision to focus capital on its global insurance business. As such, Dai-ichi has determined to monetise its equity stake in Janus Henderson and has relinquished its board seat.

As part of this decision, Janus Henderson and Dai-ichi have entered a new strategic co-operation agreement. The new agreement announced today includes many provisions similar to those of the prior agreement, absent the capital commitment, and reflects the evolution of the companies' strategic relationship. Of note, Dai-ichi and Janus Henderson will expand the companies' expertise and human resources program to include a senior executive from Dai-ichi to help lead Janus Henderson's efforts in Japan. The companies will also continue to collaborate on new product development and distribution.

Seiji Inagaki, President of Dai-ichi Life, said

"Our relationship with Janus Henderson has benefited both our organisations over the last eight years, and we are pleased that our partnership will continue, even as we strategically reallocate capital investments. Janus Henderson remains a powerful franchise in the global Asset Management market and we hold their teams in high regard. Janus Henderson has been a great partner for the past eight years. We are confident in Janus Henderson's quality and leadership and look forward to continuing our strategic relationship with the firm going forward."

Dick Weil, CEO of Janus Henderson, added:

"We look forward to continuing the strong relationship with Dai-ichi through the new co-operation agreement, building on eight years of trust. Although we are disappointed to lose Dai-ichi as a shareholder, today's news does not change the path that Janus Henderson is on to deliver Simple Excellence across our business. We remain committed to delivering strong risk-adjusted returns for all of our clients and long-term value and profit growth for all of our shareholders."

Centerview Partners is serving as financial advisor and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher Flom LLP is serving as U.S. legal advisor to Janus Henderson in connection with the transaction.

Janus Henderson has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus) with the SEC for the offering to which this communication relates. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and other documents Janus Henderson has filed with the SEC, including the preliminary prospectus supplement dated 4 February 2021, for more complete information about Janus Henderson and this offering. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, any underwriter or any dealer participating in the offering will arrange to send you the prospectus and the prospectus supplement, when available, if you request them by contacting Goldman Sachs Co. LLC, Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, New York 10282, telephone: 1-866-471-2526, facsimile: 212-902-9316 or by emailing Prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com.

This announcement shall 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 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.

About Janus Henderson

Janus Henderson Group is a leading global active asset manager dedicated to helping investors achieve long-term financial goals through a broad range of investment solutions, including equities, fixed income, quantitative equities, multi-asset and alternative asset class strategies.

At 31 December 2020, Janus Henderson had approximately US$402 billion in assets under management, more than 2,000 employees, and offices in 26 cities worldwide. Headquartered in London, the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005595/en/

Contacts:

Investor enquiries

Melanie Horton

Co-Head Investor Relations (Non-US)

+44 (0) 20 7818 2905

melanie.horton@janushenderson.com

Jim Kurtz

Co-Head Investor Relations (US)

+1 (303) 336 4529

jim.kurtz@janushenderson.com

Media enquiries

Stephen Sobey

Head of Media Relations

+44 (0) 20 7818 2523

stephen.sobey@janushenderson.com

Sarah de Lagarde

Global Head of Communications

+44 (0) 20 7818 2626

sarah.delagarde@janushenderson.com
New York  As delivered - "UNICEF is proud to be part of today's release of an indicative distribution plan by the COVAX facility.

"This release will help countries continue their preparations for vaccine distribution by providing them with details of the type of vaccine each country will receive in the first and second quarters.

"This is, of course, just an initial tranche of COVAX vaccines. More will follow. We will continue to work on the supply agreements to meet the needs of the COVAX vaccine requirements for the first half of 2021.

"And we have some good news in that regard. Today we are pleased to announce the conclusion of a long-term supply agreement with the Serum Institute of India for covid-19 vaccines, to access two vaccine products through technology transfer from ASTRAZENECA and NOVAVAX. UNICEF, along with our procurement partners including PAHO, will have access to up to 1.1 billion doses of vaccines for around 100 countries, for approximately $3 a dose for the low- and lower middle-income countries. This is great value for COVAX donors and a strong demonstration of one of the fundamental principles of COVAX - that by pooling our resources we can negotiate in bulk for the best possible deals. Sharing pricing information is also a reflection to UNICEF's commitment to transparency, which we have been demonstrating for the past ten years by publishing all negotiated prices for a range of commodities. As these supply agreements are concluded, we will continue to make public relevant details of the agreements, subject to the consent of the suppliers. Likewise, we look forward to working with SII to distribute these vaccines to countries, subject to the approval of the vaccine by WHO.

"With these indicative allocations, governments and public health experts can now initiate the steps needed for a successful initial roll-out of COVID vaccines to frontline healthcare workers--the first part of the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation ever mounted.

"For our part, UNICEF stands ready to fully support the roll-out of the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines as the drive against this deadly virus shifts into a higher gear. Our country offices will support governments as they move forward with this first wave to ensure that they are ready to receive the vaccines that require ultra cold chain. This includes ensuring that health workers are fully trained in how to store and handle the vaccines. We must get this right. Many of these doses will go to health workers in urban areas, who are at the highest risk of exposure to COVID-19 infections.

"This work has already begun. For example, Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the countries that will be an early recipient of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires ultra cold chain storage. UNICEF is providing Bosnia and Herzegovina with 8 refrigerators that will be able to store vaccines in temperatures as low as -80 Celsius. The first two refrigerators recently arrived and will be distributed to locations agreed with the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The rest will follow as soon as possible.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Children Coronavirus Africa By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

"Over recent months, UNICEF has also been preparing for this moment by stockpiling half a billion syringes, along with safety boxes to dispose them. We have worked closely with airlines and other partners to make sure that all the necessary logistical and planning arrangements are in place. And we are supporting governments and partners in developing national plans to assess their logistics. This includes helping to plan, coordinate, budget, and prepare their health facilities and cold chain ahead of vaccine delivery. Along with WHO and Gavi, we are also advising countries to help improve their vaccine roll-out plans, every step of the way.

"Today's release of these plans represents an important next step. For the countries receiving initial tranches of vaccines, preparatory work can now pivot to implementation and delivery.

"For countries which have already initiated vaccination drives, and those yet to begin, this information is a hopeful marker on the winding path out of a pandemic that will not be truly over, until it is over for us all."
FLINT, MI -- A law firm representing former Gov. Rick Snyder says new state rules restricting how much they can be paid to defend him against misdemeanor criminal charges related to the Flint water crisis are unfair and entirely unrealistic for anything other than routine white-collar criminal matters or investigations.

Warner Norcross & Judd, which has been paid more than $3.6 million to provide legal services related to the water crisis to the state, including attorneys for Snyder, made its grievances known in a Monday, Feb. 1 letter from attorney Brian P. Lennon to Mark Totten, chief legal counsel for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The letter obtained by MLive-The Flint Journal calls caps on hourly rates established by the state for employees charged with crimes related to their jobs unacceptable in the case of the former governor, a self-made millionaire.

The hourly-rate cap in the proposed contract is more akin to rates contained in a contract for indigent legal services and not the largest criminal investigation currently underway in the world, " the letter from attorney Brian Lennon says. The rates do not even approach an average rate for quality criminal defense counsel in Michigan.

Michigan taxpayers have paid nearly $27 million to date in legal defense fees related to the water crisis, having provided attorneys to state employees charged with criminal wrongdoing before and during a first round of prosecutions led by former Attorney General Bill Schuette. The state also paid $8 million to an outside law firm that investigated the case.

Fifteen individuals were charged in that initial investigation and seven cases were settled with plea agreements that resulted in no jail time or fines. After Dana Nessels election as attorney general, the remaining eight criminal cases were dismissed and the investigation restarted in 2019.

Last month, new charges were announced against Snyder and eight other current and former state and city of Flint employees.

Snyder, who served as governor before and during the water crisis, is charged with two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty, each punishable by no more than one year in prison and a fine of not more than $1,000.

Outside of court, he has claimed that information about the extent of Flints water problems never reached him though he was briefed in spring 2014 on the plan to change Flints water source, and conversations within his office intensified in fall 2014 when he was briefed again about two boil water advisories in Flint due to fecal coliform bacteria, as well as complaints about the waters color, odor and taste, according to email records.

Snyder has pleaded not guilty to the willful neglect of duty charges and his attorneys have filed a motion in Genesee District Court to dismiss the indictments against him from a one-man grand jury, claiming the case was filed in the wrong court and that the grand jury lacked the authority to issue the charges.

Chelsea Parisio, Whitmers deputy press secretary, said the program created to cover legal expenses for current and former employees is within the bounds of what state law permits.

This program has several costs controls and accountability mechanisms. The system inherited from the last administration was a mess, marked by extravagant spending, insufficient accountability, few records, and few measures to control costs, Parisio said in a statement to MLive.

Whitmer moved to terminate all existing representation contracts with Flint water crisis defendants on Oct. 11, 2019, according to a legal services policy document, and the administration crafted a new policy that aims to ensure consistency between departments and caps legal defense costs.

The new policy imposes a budget ceiling of $175,000 for all legal services before and during a trial, limits attorney rates to no more than $225 per hour and limits billable hours for pretrial and plea proceedings to a maximum of 75 hours.

Lennons letter says those restraints dont take into consideration that the water crisis investigation and prosecutions are unprecedented in Michigan and will cost far more to defend those who are accused of wrongdoing.

The policy would result in the state paying only a small fraction of the overall cost of the defense .... The consequence is that state employees or officials involved with anything more than a minor criminal investigation will be required to pay personally thousands, hundreds of thousand, or millions of dollars in legal fees for their public service, the letter says.

Although the attorney said his firm offered to send a proposed budget for representing Snyder to the state during a phone call Jan. 13, Totten rejected our proposal without even seeing (it).

You said Governor Snyder and the other named defendants must sign the contract, as is, with no modifications, the letter says.

Flint water prosecutors have said they conducted an exhaustive investigation before seeking the current grand jury indictments against Snyder and others, reviewing 21 million documents and data from hundreds of electronic devises.

In order to review, store and access those documents and data, Lennon said attorneys will be required to hire third-party vendors.

These costs over a protracted prosecution and through appeals will be significant -- far exceeding the limits you have proposed for all the defendants combined, his letter says.

The attorney said his firm is not alone in objections to the new legal fee caps.

It is our understanding that not a single defense counsel has signed your proposed contract for legal services, Lennon said, suggesting that attorneys begin a dialogue with the Executive Office of the Governor and legislative leadership ... to find a workable solution that accomplishes the goals of (state law).

Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, one of those legislative leaders, called objections from Warner Norcross & Judd unconscionable.

A bunch of lawyers have gotten themselves rich representing government employees charged with Flint water crimes, Ananich said. A person is entitled to a defense, but youre not entitled to the Cadillac plan.

If you want to go above and beyond (with your defense), you can pay for it yourself, he said.

Read more on MLive:

Former Gov. Snyder, 8 others criminally charged, accused of trampling trust of Flint people

Snyder attorney makes it official, asks judge to dismiss Flint water charges against ex-governor

Flint water crisis legal bills have cost taxpayers nearly $35 million so far

MICHIGAN CENTER, Mich., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Weam Namou, journalist, filmmaker, and author of over a dozen books, signed an agreement with Jeff Porter to represent her two-time international award-winning feature documentary The Great American Family. The story was originally a book written by Namou, which won an Eric Hoffer award. Recently, Namou also signed a contract with Gregory Johnson of Range Media Partners to option her book.

Weam Namou

"The Great American Family is based on the true life story of a brother and sister's life being turned upside down via a gross abuse of power by the U.S. government," commented Johnson. "The unfortunate tale of Dawn and Darrin Hanna is rooted in greed, spies and lies that shine yet another light on the corruption and double standards in the American justice system. It's a story that's hard to believe, but one that proves fact is stranger than fiction."

The documentary that is based on the book, The Great American Family, won several awards including the IndieFEST and ImpactDocs. Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSbmdWKFF2U.

"Weam Namou's movie is like a virtual road map to how we came to have the political distrust and paranoia of today," said Jeff Porter, President of Porter Pictures of Beverly Hills. "She has been an absolute delight to work with on this important story and I look forward to more empowering and socially conscious documentaries from her team."

The Great American Family tells the story of Dawn Hanna, who had been accused of conspiracy against the United States by brokering telecommunication equipment to Iraq during the sanctions. What Dawn did not know was that her co-conspirator was a CIA operative and that the whole project was funded by the United States to listen in on Saddam Hussein and his men. They said Dawn had no idea that the equipment was going to Iraq. This, coupled with sworn affidavits, did not change her sentence.

Namou's devotion to her community, art and, most importantly, the truth pushed her to take on this project. She says that the book and documentary are more relevant right now than ever, especially as the United States enters a phase of healing. Through this story, Namou shows audiences how the American Dream is being taken away from American families through lies leading to war, a criminal justice system that is driven by greed, and a democracy based on double standards, terrorism and sanctions.

There are very few Iraqi-American authors, writers or media personalities. Much of the widespread information today is propagated by Western media, which oftentimes fails to provide authentic stories of Iraq and Iraqis. This can be a very harmful problem and that is why the unique perspective of authors and filmmakers like Weam Namou is so important.

Media Contact:

Bianca Leon Rodrigues

+1 (469) 815-7866

[email protected]

Related Images

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Weam Namou

Related Links

Official Website

The Great American Family Documentary

SOURCE Weam Namou
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nabis Holdings Inc. (CSE: NAB) (OTC: NABIF) (FRA: A2PL) ("Nabis" or the "Company") today provided an update on recent trading activity.



The Company has been in discussions with both the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) and is aware of the recently released IIROC Rules Notice which states IIROC has made a trade ruling regarding trading in the Companys common shares from January 27, 2021 to February 2, 2021 inclusive.

For additional information, visit the IIROC Rules Page: https://www.iiroc.ca/news/Pages/Rules.aspx.

Direct URL to the Rules Notice in English:

https://www.iiroc.ca/Documents/2021/77e955d8-c856-4c43-9b0e-7d3935c56a12_en.pdf

Direct URL to the Rules Notice in French:

https://www.ocrcvm.ca/Documents/2021/77e955d8-c856-4c43-9b0e-7d3935c56a12_fr.pdf

About Nabis Holdings Inc.

Nabis Holdings is a Canadian investment issuer that invests in assets across multiple industries, including real property and the U.S. and international cannabis sector. For more information, please visit https://www.nabisholdings.com/.

Cautionary Statements

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The New Unsecured Notes and New Common Shares have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any 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, except in certain transactions exempt from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. "United States" and "U.S. person" are as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act.

Certain statements included herein are forward-looking statements. 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. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ, materially from the Companys expectations are disclosed in the Companys documents filed from time to time with the CSE, the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission and the Alberta Securities Commission. The Company has no obligation to update such forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither reviewed nor approved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For inquiries, please contact:

Nicole Rusaw, CFO

info@nabisholdings.com
Mumbai, Feb 4 : Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Nana F. Patole resigned from his post here on Thursday evening. He submitted his resignation to Deputy Speaker Narhari S. Zhirwal, after a tenure of nearly 14 months in the august post.

The development comes ahead of the 57-year old Patole's likely appointment as the new President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, according to party sources.

"The Congress high-command has asked me to step down from as the Speaker, which I have done accordingly... I thank the party leadership for allowing me to serve as Speaker for the people of the state," he said in brief remarks after quitting.

When queried whether he would be named the next MPCC chief, Patole guardedly said: "The Congress Party has not conveyed any new responsibility to me." Shortly after this, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar said that since the Congress has vacated the Speaker's post, there would be fresh negotiations among the three ruling allies.

Patole had met both Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP top leaders before tendering his resignation as Speaker, but now a tug-of-war could be played over the crucial post among the three Maha Vikas Aghadi partners.

A legislator from Sakoli in Bhandara district, Patole is expected to be named as the new state Congress head with the announcement coming from New Delhi, according to sop party sources here.

Having a chequered political career, Patole was a Congress MLA for 3 consecutive terms - from 1999-2014 - before he left the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Contesting the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket, he emerged as a giantkiller by defeating Nationalist Congress Party senior leader Praful Patel, who is a close confidant of NCP President Sharad Pawar.

Popularly known as 'Nana Bhau', the aggressive Patole was the earliest and first to openly revolt against Prime Minister Narendra Modi after which he resigned as BJP MP from Bhandara-Gondiya in 2017.

However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he was trounced from the Nagpur seat by Vidarbha BJP stalwart and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.

The Chairman of All India Kisan Congress (AIKC), in October 2019, Patole contested and won the Sakoli seat to enter the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and was later elected the Speaker after the MVA government took office in Nov. 2019.

Presently, the MPCC President is Balasaheb Thorat, who is also the state's Revenue Minister, and there are five other senior leaders as Working Presidents - Dr Nitin Raut, Yashomati Thakur, Muzaffar Hussain, Basavraj Patil and Vishwajeet Kadam.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Prior to the pandemic and as part of its strategic vision, the brand also offered its franchisees an additional option for diversifying revenue; with the national rollout of the TWO MEN AND A TRUCK junk removal service. Now offered at more than 30 of the brand's locations, franchise partners are benefitting from an added stream of revenue all while meeting their customers junk removal needs.

"Our junk removal service has consistently grown since the beginning," said Randy Shacka, President of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK. "We believe this additional service will only help us further increase brand awareness by serving our current customers, finding new customers, and continuing to meet their changing needs. We know peoples' time is critical and this new service helps customers save time by eliminating the need to call multiple service companies when it comes to moving or junk removal. They can make one call and we'll handle it all."

But TWO MEN AND A TRUCK didn't stop at expanding its offerings, it expanded its footprint, as well. The brand opened in eight new territories including Buffalo, New York; Reno, Nevada; and Grand Junction, Colorado. And that's not all  TWO MEN AND A TRUCK celebrated six new signings, one preliminary signing and 11 territory transfers.

"One of the many benefits of being a franchise system is having the ability to tap into our amazing family of franchisees to better understand what the consumer demand is and if there are services that align with our core moving business that we might be able to offer," said TWO MEN AND A TRUCK CEO Jon Nobis.

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK franchisees aren't shying away from a rewarding opportunity. In fact, many of the brand's partners are choosing to continue to invest in the brand because of its proven systems and the ease with which they're able to enter new markets. Mike Reps, a multi-unit owner in Minnesota and North Dakota, says that the strong support from Home Office and high brand awareness have inspired him to continue growing with TWO MEN AND A TRUCK.

"The level of support that the Home Office provides has always stood out to me," Reps said. "Another one of the biggest things that appealed to me was the opportunity to invest in our employees and support their growth."

The moving franchise has had a busy year growing and supporting its franchisees, and that hasn't gone unnoticed. In 2020, the company received many accolades including ranking on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 List, Entrepreneur's Top Low-Cost Franchises List and the Franchise Times Top 200+. The brand also ranked as a Top 50 franchise in the Franchise Satisfaction Awards, Top Recession-Proof Business, Most Profitable Franchises List, Franchise Culture 100 Awards, and Best Franchises for Veterans List all released by Franchise Business Review. TWO MEN AND A TRUCK has already received accolades in 2021, including the No. 181 rank on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 List and Franchise Business Review's Top 200 List.

This year, Nobis said the brand plans to expand the its footprint even further and continue to grow the TWO MEN AND A TRUCK family by welcoming new franchisees.

"2021 is going to be all about improving both the customer and franchisee experience," he said. "We are preparing for another year of growth and can't wait to continue to serve an increasing number of communities."

To learn more about franchising opportunities with TWO MEN AND A TRUCK, visit www.franchise.twomenandatruck.com .

ABOUT TWO MEN AND A TRUCK

Headquartered in Michigan, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is the largest franchised moving company in North America with each franchise being independently owned and operated. Currently, there are more than 380 locations and 3,000 trucks operating in 45 U.S. states in addition to Canada, Ireland, and the UK. TWO MEN AND A TRUCK has performed more than 8 million moves since its inception in 1985 and has seen consistent growth dating back to December 2009. In 2021, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked TWO MEN AND A TRUCK as one of the top 500 franchises in the U.S. for the 26th consecutive year in addition to being on its list of Top Low Cost Franchises in 2020. Franchise Business Review also named TWO MEN AND A TRUCK a top franchise in 2020, and in 2019, the brand was voted a Top 50 franchise in the Franchisee Satisfaction Awards by Franchise Business Review for the 13th time. For franchising opportunities, visit franchise.twomenandatruck.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Lauren Kaminski

No Limit Agency

312.526.3996

[email protected]

SOURCE TWO MEN AND A TRUCK

Related Links

http://www.twomenandatruck.com



Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Key officials of the University of the Philippines and the Defense Department met on Thursday to discuss issues surrounding the controversial termination of their 1989 accord.

This was confirmed by the Commission on Higher Education, which facilitated the meeting between UP President Danilo Concepcion and Defense chief Delfin Lorenzana.

In a statement, CHED chairman Prospero De Vera III thanked Lorenzana and Concepcion for their openness to talk to each other and for raising their concerns over the issue.

I am happy to bring together UP and DND so that both sides can have an open and frank exchange of views over a wide range of issues related to the accord, De Vera said.

READ: The 1989 UP-DND Accord: Content and context

Meanwhile, UP and the DND said that both parties agreed to have further meetings to continue the dialogue.

The dialogue afforded the key leaders the opportunity to discuss the way forward and possible areas of cooperation on how both institutions can promote their mutual aspirations to ensure a safe and secure environment conducive to learning, said UP and the DND in a joint statement.

The dialogue was attended by other top officials of both camps, including Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Edgard Arevalo. No other details were provided.

In January, the DND moved to unilaterally abrogate its three-decade long pact with UP, which prevents the unauthorized entry of security forces into its campuses. The agency cited the supposed "clandestine recruitment" of students in communist organizations and stressed the need to protect the rights of the majority" of Filipinos.

The premier state university has since urged Lorenzana to reconsider and revoke the move, adding that the accord was put in place to protect the climate of academic freedom in the institution.
Job hunters and students can get employment and scholarship help online or over the phone every weekday in February through the library's partnership with JOB1 Career Solutions. This free service covers topics such as resume help, job searching and training, and finding and applying to scholarships.

Job assistance can be scheduled by calling (504) 658-4500 and choosing option 3. Scholarship assistance can be scheduled by calling (504) 658-4500 and choosing option 4.

The library also offers online tools for job seekers such as lynda.com, Homework Louisiana and Learning Express Library, which can be accessed at eresources.nolalibrary.org.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: In honor of Black History Month, the library is offering several virtual programs, including two weekly series, "Black History Under the Kanopy" and "What Do I Read for Black History Month?"

At 6 p.m. every Wednesday in February, Shukrani Gray, African American Resource Collection and Equity & Inclusion Librarian, will share videos about what to watch on the free streaming service, Kanopy.

Grays suggestions will highlight films featured on Kanopy that bring attention to historical perspectives important to Black people.

Gray will also be sharing a weekly readers advisory at 6 p.m. every Friday in February to discuss interesting books for all ages from our catalog to celebrate Black History Month.

Both programs will be posted at aarc.nolalibrary.org.

Also, every Saturday in February, Live Virtual Storytimes will center around Black History Month themes. This program is sponsored by the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library and is designed for children ages 2-5 and their caregivers. To register, visit nolalibrary.org/events.

For Black History Month programs, activities and resources, visit nolalibrary.org.

LATINA BOOK CLUB: Along with Tulane University, the library will present Reading Latina Voices, a monthly virtual book club for educators to discuss books focusing on the Latina experience. The book clubs first meeting will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 11 and will feature Clap When you Land by Elizabeth Acevedo.

All the books selected for this program have been recognized by the Americas Award and focus on women and the Latina experience. The group will meet March 18 to discuss The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo; April 15 to discuss American Street by Ibi Zobo; and May 14 to discuss The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano.

Reading Latina Voices is sponsored by AfterCLASS and Tulane Universitys Stone Center for Latin American Studies.

LEGAL CLINICS: Free virtual legal clinics will be held for eligible cardholders through a partnership with Southeast Louisiana Legal Services. The clinics will assist low-income families and individuals with civil legal issues involving evictions, landlord-tenant disputes, tax issues, employment, public benefits, foreclosures, bankruptcies, consumer issues, divorces and more.

Clinics will be held every second and fourth Wednesday, by phone or videoconference. Appointments are limited, and users are asked to sign up ahead of time by visiting adults.nolalibrary.org.

The clinic does not handle personal injury, criminal cases or malpractice cases.
We have now reached the envy stage of the pandemic.

Social media posts like: "I got a golden ticket to get the vaccine!!!" "First vaccinedose done!" or photos of (some really cool) buttons, stickers, pins and medical cards declaring the bearer vaccinated are being met with resentment:

"How did you get it so early?"

"Lowkey jealous."

Or, "Highkey jealous."

And a pointed, "Are you part of a risk group? Hawaii only vaccinating people over 75 right now."

That's what D.C. therapist Yuly Rios got from an Aloha State friend who wondered when she'd get a shot at the vaccine. (Who lives in Hawaii and is jealous of anything in D.C.? Woman, please.)

Rios is a health care worker, part of the group getting priority in D.C. for vaccines - something she's had to explain to anyone wondering why a healthy, vivacious 36-year-old gets to move to the front of the line there.

The truth is, as with many instances of envy, this strain of green-eyed monster is born of inequity.

The rules on who gets vaccinated first are different in each state, with hierarchies based on profession, age, health history or - most recently in D.C. - Zip code.

In Kentucky, you only have to be 60 years old to get it. In Ohio, the rollout began with people 80 and older. A grocery store cashier gets to move to the front of the line in Kansas, but not New Jersey. Teachers in Arizona and Arkansas are eligible now, but not yet in South Carolina or South Dakota.

That's when those "I got vaccinated" posts sting.

"So happy, yet kind of jealous that my best friend got her first vaccine today," Diana Szymborski wrote on Twitter.

Szymborski, 57, explained her envy and frustration when we talked: "We're the same age and both work for schools. But she lives in Illinois, and I'm in Indiana."

Ariel Serkin is a chemistry teacher in Massachusetts and is in the classroom with students four days a week, but she's not close to getting a vaccine.

"The process and tiers pit people against each other," said Serkin, 36. "I don't begrudge others for getting theirs, but I'm jealous and it's hard not to be resentful . . . Others don't have the same exposure, but get it before us."

It's happening in marriages, too.

His wife, his in-laws - everyone in Joe Mastrangelo's Massachusetts family got the vaccine. Except for him.

He confessed that on the day his wife, a mental health care worker, got it, he was "90% thrilled and 10% jealous, to be honest."

"I'm just going to sit here twiddling my thumbs until sometime in April," said Mastrangelo, who described himself as a "healthy 37-year-old with a desk job."

"The rest of my family all works with hospitals, with mass transit, one works in a prison. They're all higher risk than me and definitely getting [the vaccine] well before I am."

Back in D.C., Rios has the same dynamic.

"My partner is 34, and he's not going to get it anytime soon," she said. "He was happy for me. But then, he's just wondering, "When is my turn?' "

The only constant in every state seems to be the disparate way the coronavirus has hit communities of color, and the way the vaccine is a little AWOL there.

One out of every 735 Black Americans has died of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, while 1 out of every 1,030 White Americans has been killed by the disease, according to a report, "The Color of Coronavirus," by data analysts at the American Public Media Research Lab. But when it comes to vaccinations, White Americans are being vaccinated three times as fast as Black Americans, according to data from the 23 states that are reporting these kinds of details.

Part of that disparity is about access, both to facilities vaccinating people and because the complicated, online application process locks out those who find it tougher to get on the internet.

When numbers showed that in D.C., people from wealthier wards were getting vaccinated at much higher rates than those in less affluent, harder-hit parts of the capital, the government tried to change that by limiting some new appointments to those who live in certain Zip codes.

All of that can make any social media announcement about that golden ticket feel like an unnecessary gloat.

But that's not why Rios posted about her vaccination.

"The death rates, that's something that's happening to my population, Latinos, right now," she said. And she was worried that some "might not trust the vaccine."

Beyond access, the historic mistrust in communities of color thanks to the not-so-distant shame of experimentation is helping keep people away.

So Rios posted photos on Facebook of her getting the shot, her vaccination card and her thumbs up at the clinic where she works, Mary's Center in D.C., in part to send the message that getting vaccinated is important in her community.

Her employer "encouraged us to get the vaccine so we can also convince more people to get it," she said.

Angela Thomas got some guff from folks who envied her access after she posted the video of herself getting vaccinated.

For Thomas, a 41-year-old health care executive at MedStar Health Research Institute, the guff was worth it.

She said it was important for her, as a Black woman, to show the people that she trusts the vaccine.

"My social media is family, friends, people who trust me," she said. "I wanted them to see me get it, to ask questions and to know I made a decision based on science."


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Cyberattacks are increasing in frequency, ramping up the data privacy threats they pose to government agencies and businesses alike. Governments both domestic and foreign need to step up efforts to pass legislation that bolsters technological defenses this year, warn privacy groups.

Stiffer privacy laws are gradually being reviewed and signed into the U.S. market. But that process is mostly taking place at the state level.

Meanwhile, cyberattacks present IT experts and legislators with a war on two fronts. The software industry struggles with security issues that make cyberattacks viable. Government officials and business execs struggle with complicated legal issues involving outdated or missing privacy protections.

Bigger and more successful incursions into government, business, and personal computers are common events. Phishing campaigns and ransomware attacks are finding new victims regularly. The situation is much like a game of Whack-a-Mole.

Privacy advocates see better opportunities for privacy laws taking hold as they focus on pushing federal legislators to enact stronger consumer privacy laws in the coming years. These new laws need to pay prime attention to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), cloud computing, and blockchain.

"I expect increasing regulation, especially when it comes to state laws that focus on sensitive personal data," says Scott Pink, special counsel in the Silicon Valley office of the international law firm O'Melveny & Myers, and member of the firm's Data Security and Privacy Group.

Pink regularly advises media and technology companies on how to comply with the current patchwork of state and industry-specific privacy regulations. He believes that 2021 could mark a new era in privacy laws aimed to safeguard a wide array of valuable digital information.

"COVID-19 health data is of immediate concern as we move into the pandemic's next phase. Governments and health care systems are collecting vast amounts of contact tracing and vaccine-related information. Implementing laws, policies, and procedures to ensure the integrity of that data will be key," Pink told TechNewsWorld.

Cyberattacks are a significant risk, especially as remote working and the increasing sophistication of phishing and social engineering attacks create more vulnerabilities than ever before, he emphasized. Cyberattacks and their impact on data privacy can severely impact the operations of government agencies, companies, schools, and beyond.

RATs in the Attack Mix

The most prevalent threats lurking in 2021 are RAT infestations. The acronym RAT stands for Remote Access Trojan, a form of malware that allows hackers to control devices remotely.

Once a RAT program is connected to a computer, a hacker can look at local files, acquire login credentials and other personal information, or use the connection to download viruses that can then, unbeknownst to the user, be spread to others.

Remote access intrusions can be problematic, especially with millions of people now working from home, noted Robert Siciliano, cyber social identity protection instructor at ProtectNow.

"Microsoft's remote desktop protocol and numerous third-party remote access technology services dramatically increase the attack surface for hackers wanting to break into corporate and government networks," he told TechNewsWorld.

Some of the cyberattacks are based on escalated tactics made available since the pandemic and are different from those prior to last year, he noted. Neither corporate America nor local, state, and federal governments never saw this coming.

The Cloud Factor Counts Too

Still, hackers are not succeeding strictly by using modern-day- high-tech tactics. Today's threats are an escalation of existing threat methods that have been around for years and that have been accelerated by even more prevalent use of cloud computing and agile development, according to Naama Ben Dov, associate at YL Ventures, an American-Israeli venture capital firm that specializes in seed stage cybersecurity investments.

The cloud migration is a big part of the data privacy troubles we are seeing today. Data remains the highest value target for attackers. As such, data theft is the most prevalent threat this year, insisted Eldad Chai, co-founder and CEO of Satori Cyber, a data access and governance firm in Tel Aviv that is one of YL Ventures' portfolio companies.

"Through access to a corporation's data, attackers can inflict reputation, legal and operational damages that are disproportional to any other attack vector," he told TechNewsWorld.

Of course, much of that data is in the cloud. The trend of moving data to the cloud has accelerated over the past years and is now at a record high with the success of platforms such as Snowflake and the boost 2020 provided to cloud migration programs, Chai noted.

"The massive migration of data to the cloud, the democratization of data within an organization, and the work-from-home environment have expanded the attack surface for data and make it extremely hard to operate an effective data protection program," said Chai.

WFH Also Problematic

The work-from-home scenario has made the hacker's job so much easier. Attackers follow where their targets go, observed Ben Dov. Right now, more than ever, that data is dangling between home workers' computers, in-office workspaces, and cloud storage banks.

Conventional wisdom has always been workers are more productive in an office environment; and when COVID hit, IT managers were mostly unprepared, Siciliano said.

Although some companies deployed tech help to those employees using their own computers and routers at home to address security with devices outside the network, it simply was not enough.

"Work at home devices connecting to company networks with misconfiguration is an IT manager's greatest fear," he said.

Too Little, Too Late

In the U.S., existing federal laws such as the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 never quite anticipated this level of work at home, for example. The federal government is unlikely to make any significant changes anytime soon with so many other life-threatening existential concerns, in Siciliano's view.

One growing threat to data privacy incursions is ransomware. But it is an effect and not the cause of privacy loss. Ransomware ultimately ends up being an effect of a remote access Trojan or technology, he noted.

"IT managers must be more proactive with hardware, software configurations, and security awareness training," said Siciliano about preventing data privacy disclosures.

Shifting Tech Threatens Effectiveness

Among the most prevalent privacy threats we faced in 2021 comes from a reliance on third-party IT services that increasingly displace, or replace, applications historically deployed on-premises, according to YL Ventures' Ben Dov.

"Like the SolarWinds incident, many supply chain attacks target IT management systems that were in use long before the rise of the cloud. Organizations still depend on these tactics, and this attack will force a rethink of the extent of IT supply-chain exposure," she told TechNewsWorld.

The same applies to software applications, she continued. Recent years have seen an explosion in the amount of third-party software. This reality makes organizations lose visibility into the risks entailed with being exposed to said third party components.

That situation will no doubt get worse before it gets better, Ben Dov warned. Increased data privacy breaches, particularly private data, is increasingly on the sprawl.

"As long as there is a lack of meaningful technological approaches to identifying and securing data, many leakages are bound to happen," she said.

Fix What's Broken

Many existing solutions focus on data governance and adherence to compliance. These goals are important but do not aim at the root of the problem. They are only good to the extent that certain regulations go, according to Ben Dov.

"We need solutions that are able to track and monitor data through an entire lifecycle, in a way which will meaningfully integrate with existing business units of organizations and enable them to execute rather than stifle R&D, sales, and marketing. Security should be a cross-enterprise interest and goal which supports business processes," she countered.

Currently, the lawmaker is mostly focused on our rights as individuals to privacy. While this is welcomed and needed, it overlooks the implementation of privacy programs, and every company has its own way of meeting the privacy requirements, offered Satori Cyber's Chai.

"Focusing the laws on the outcomes, such as if data is lost you get fined, does not deal with many of the underlying issues in actually protecting individuals' privacy," he said.

Chai is not sure it is likely to happen this year. But he hopes that governments will do a better job in defining and standardizing data protection programs in a manner that will guide the industry in implementing effective and sustainable programs.

New Privacy, Security Wrinkles

With adoption of both cloud infrastructure and cloud services (SaaS), more attacks tailored and customized to circumventing the existing guardrails of the cloud will occur. Hackers will seek ways to circumvent cloud authentication mechanisms, suggested Ben Dov.

A related concern involves the trend of companies developing their own in-house applications, becoming their own software company. That opens the door to application-specific attacks, she cautioned.

"Hackers will always choose the easiest path in, and until 2020 exploiting bugs in old operating systems to install malware or social engineering people to install malicious software on their laptops was an easy path in," added Chai. "With data and servers moving to the cloud, we will eventually see less such attacks and more attacks focused on the cloud environments."

A key element that needs to be addressed, according to Siciliano, is a lack of concern for the security role employees need to play. That is especially true regarding phishing. Employees need a better understanding of how their ineffectiveness could result in calamity.

"Security awareness training as it pertains to phishing simulation by itself is absolutely not enough and will not solve the problem. The discussion needs to shift from security awareness to security appreciation, and right now most organizations are not doing that," he complained.

Final Thoughts

The main gap Chai sees today regarding data security and privacy is that existing solutions are not suitable to a model that leverages the legal context of the data. Models for existing data protection tools are mostly black or white. Either you have or you do not have access to data, he explained.

However, the privacy and legal context of data is much more complex, he reasoned. A piece of data could be authorized for usage based on the consent given when collecting the data, the geographical location of the data, the size and nature of the data set, the way the data will be used, and a set of other considerations.

"Until the legal and privacy context are integrated into existing models for data protection, we will still be behind," he said.

That process will need increased industry-government-academic cooperation and partnerships to share data pertaining to cybersecurity threats. It will also take knowledge about the threat to counter them, added Ben Dov.

Jack M. Germain has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His main areas of focus are enterprise IT, Linux and open-source technologies. He is an esteemed reviewer of Linux distros and other open-source software. In addition, Jack extensively covers business technology and privacy issues, as well as developments in e-commerce and consumer electronics. Email Jack.



The company completed several projects in December quarter including a scoping study for Ta Khoa Nickel-Copper-PGE project, and the delivery of some of the best intercepts with successful infill drilling and extensional drilling at Ban Phuc deposit.

Blackstone Minerals is developing the district scale Ta Khoa Project in Northern Vietnam.

( ) ( ) (FRA:B9S) has ended the December quarter with key initiatives to restart production at Ta Khoa Nickel-Copper-PGE project in Vietnam along with strong cash position, which could boost growth in the year ahead.

During the quarter, the company completed a scoping study for the development and restart of the Ta Khoa Nickel-Copper-PGE project in Vietnam.

The scoping study is underpinned by the Ban Phuc disseminated sulphide (DSS) open pit mine and integrates both upstream and downstream processing to produce a precursor product for Asias growing Lithium-ion battery.

Vietnam Ta Khoa Project (90% interest)

Blackstone owns a 90% interest in the Ta Khoa Project, which is around 160 kilometres west of Hanoi and includes an existing modern nickel mine built to Australian standards, which is currently under care and maintenance.

The Ban Phuc nickel mine successfully operated as a mechanised underground nickel mine from 2013 to 2016.

During the quarter Blackstone released a scoping study that features an 8.5-year project life underpinned by the Ban Phuc DSS deposit and integrates upstream and downstream processing to produce precursor Nickel:Cobalt: Manganese (NCM) product for the Lithium-ion battery industry.

The company is now advancing the Ta Khoa Project through to a pre-feasibility study, which will contemplate the option to mine higher grade MSV deposits within the Ta Khoa district.

The discovery of higher grade MSV deposits have the potential to reduce upfront capital requirements by enabling the company to restart the existing Ban Phuc concentrator.

Geology  Exploration & Resource Definition

Blackstone is continuing its aggressive geology program with ten active drill rigs.

Drilling during the quarter was primarily focussed on increasing the confidence of the Ban Phuc DSS deposit as well as targeting higher grade MSV deposits, to delineate additional resources and mining inventory for ongoing studies.

Ta Khoa Nickel-PGE (copper-cobalt) district

Ban Phuc (DSS)

Blackstone has been successful with additional infill drilling at Ban Phuc and extensional drilling within the KCZ.

The results delivered during the December quarter were some of the best intercepts to date.

Ban Chang (MSV)

Blackstone continues to target MSV prospects analogous to the previously mined Ban Phuc MSV, where previous owners successfully mined 975,000 tonnes of high-grade ore at average grades of 2.4% nickel & 1.0% copper from an average vein width of 1.3 metres.

The first higher grade MSV deposit targeted for a JORC compliant resource in 2021 is the Ban Chang prospect.

Ban Chang is located 2.5 kilometres south-east of the processing facility and the Ban Phuc deposit adjacent to the Chim Van  Co Muong fault system.

Following initial drill holes at Ban Chang which intersected highgrade massive sulphide nickel over a 1.2 kilometres strike length, drilling success in the December quarter continued to support the companys strategy to delineate a Maiden Resource at Ban Chang to supplement ongoing studies.

Ban Khoa (DSS)

The Ban Khoa prospect is centred on an ultramafic body adjacent to the Chim Van  Co Muong Fault, approximately 1.5 kilometres north of the Ban Phuc deposit.

The body is interpreted to be a 300 metres wide sill which has intruded into fine-grained Ban Phuc sediments.

Blackstone started drilling during the quarter after its in-house geophysics crew generated new targets associated with the highly prospective Ban Khoa ultramafic intrusion.

The prospect is analogous to the Ban Phuc DSS orebody where the company delivered the King Cobra discovery and announced the maiden indicated mineral resource of 44.3 million tonnes at 0.52% nickel for 229,000 tonnes.

Ban Khoa has a combination of high priority MSV prospects within a broader DSS target associated with the Ban Khoa ultramafic intrusion.

Other major developments

During the quarter, the company strengthened its management team to drive the development of Ta Khoa as a mine-to-market nickel business.

The company appointed Peter Plakidis as a non-executive director and thanked Steve Parsons, who resigned as a non-executive director, for his contributions.

Blackstone joined the US-based OTCQB market to enhance visibility and accessibility to North American investors and its shares are now also traded under the code of ( ).
AFL superstar Lance 'Buddy' Franklin has urged fans to get behind his horse for the All-Star Mile event.

The 34-year-old Sydney Swans player told The Daily Telegraph, he is backing 'Shout The Bar' - a horse trained by legendary horse trainer Gai Waterhouse.

'No doubt if it does get in and win, I'll be shouting the bar somewhere,' he said.

From AFL player to racing enthusiast: Sydney Swans star Lance 'Buddy' Franklin urged fans to get 'behind his horse' ahead of the All-Star Mile race event on Friday. Pictured Buddy and wife Jesinta Franklin

Buddy also said its important to support local horses competing at the event, which will be held on March 13 in Melbourne.

'It is a Sydney horse. There are horses from all around Australia and New Zealand so we should all get behind it for a win.'

This comes as the AFL star prepares to welcome his second child with wife Jesinta Franklin.

Jesinta confirmed she was 'halfway through' her second pregnancy in an interview with Vida Glow in October.

'We should all get behind it for a win': The 34-year-old Sydney Swans player said he is backing 'Shout The Bar' - a horse trained by legendary horse trainer Gai Waterhouse and urged fans to do the same

'It was a very big surprise for us. Tullulah [her daughter] will be getting a sibling at the end of March next year, so she will have just turned one,' she said.

'So I'll have a 13-month-old and a newborn, which was very daunting at first. I found out a week after Buddy went into the [AFL] hub, which was all just a lot to deal with at once.'

'It was very hard to conceive the first time with Tullulah, and for this [pregnancy] to be such an unplanned surprise is a blessing,' she added.

Growing family: This comes as the AFL star prepares to welcome his second child with wife Jesinta Franklin

'I had the moment where, that I wished for with Tullulah, where you pee on a stick and it's such a surprise and it's very exciting.

'So I got that moment where I feel like I missed out on with Tullulah just because of all the challenges.'

Jesinta and Buddy married in a lavish Blue Mountains ceremony in November 2016.
The United States on Wednesday extended the nuclear arms control treaty known as the New START with Russia for the next five years.

"Today, the United States took the first step toward making good on that pledge when it extended the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) Treaty with the Russian Federation for five years," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Blinken added that extending the New START Treaty ensures the US has verifiable limits on Russian ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers until February 5, 2026.

"The New START Treaty's verification regime enables us to monitor Russian compliance with the treaty and provides us with greater insight into Russia's nuclear posture, including through data exchanges and onsite inspections that allow US inspectors to have eyes on Russian nuclear forces and facilities," he said.

Blinken stated that "during times of tension", verifiable limits on Russia's intercontinental-range nuclear weapons are vitally important. "Extending the New START Treaty makes the United States, U.S. allies and partners, and the world safer. An unconstrained nuclear competition would endanger us all," the US top diplomat said further.

According to The Washington Post, the extension by Washington comes five days after the Kremlin announced that Russian President had signed a bill prolonging the pact with the United States. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that notes had been exchanged confirming the extension of the treaty for five years.

"Considering the special responsibilities that Russia and the U.S. carry as the world's largest nuclear nations, the decision taken is important as it guarantees a necessary level of predictability and transparency in this area, while strictly maintaining a balance of interests," the ministry said obtained by The Post.

The deal was negotiated between by then-President Barack Obama and Russia's then-president Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, New START came into effect the following year.

The treaty limits each nation to deploying 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and heavy bombers with nuclear weapons. It also limits both nations to deploying 1,550 nuclear warheads on those platforms.

The agreement also included a five-year extension clause that allowed both nations to extend the pact with approval from both presidents.

The Post reported that had the United States and Russia not extended the pact, the world would have returned to an era without substantive, verifiable limits on the world's two largest nuclear powers for the first time in decades.

Blinken further in the statement said that Washington has assessed the Russian Federation to be in compliance with its New START Treaty obligations every year since the treaty entered into force in 2011.

The top diplomat added that the US will now set about pursuing an arms-control agreement with the Kremlin that regulates all of Russia's nuclear weapons.

"The United States will use the time provided by a five-year extension of the New START Treaty to pursue with the Russian Federation, in consultation with Congress and US allies and partners, arms control that addresses all of its nuclear weapons," he said.

"We will also pursue arms control to reduce the dangers from China's modern and growing nuclear arsenal. The United States is committed to effective arms control that enhances stability, transparency and predictability while reducing the risks of costly, dangerous arms races," Blinken added.

Former President Donald Trump during his final months along with his administration tried to negotiate a trilateral arms-control deal with Russia and China, but the effort failed after Beijing refused to take part in the discussions.

According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration also told Russia that it would extend New START only on certain conditions, including a commitment by Russia toward addressing its entire nuclear arsenal and getting China involved in arms-control efforts.

The previous administration neared a deal with Russia to freeze the number of nuclear warheads on each side and extend the new START for one more year pending new agreement for expansion of the treaty but the deal "fell apart".

Blinken said that despite engagement with Russia on nuclear matters and other issues of mutual interest, Washington remained "clear-eyed" on the challenges Russia poses to the United States and the world.

"Even as we work with Russia to advance U.S. interests, so too will we work to hold Russia to account for adversarial actions as well as its human rights abuses, in close coordination with our allies and partners," he said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry further said that the extension of New START will be the end of "the trend towards dismantling arms control and nonproliferation mechanisms, so prevalent in recent years due to US destructive policies."

In late last year, the Trump administration left the Open Skies Treaty, which was designed to reduce the chances of an accidental war by allowing mutual reconnaissance flights, also citing Russian violations.

"Significant steps would be required to return our bilateral dialogue in this area back to a more stable trajectory, reach new substantial results which would strengthen our national security and global strategic stability," the Russian foreign ministry said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Cast members Ezra Miller, Jude Law, Katherine Waterston and Eddie Redmayne attend a promotion for the movie Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in Beijing, China on Oct. 28, 2018. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Fantastic Beasts Production Halted After Positive COVID-19 Case

LONDONProduction on the third Fantastic Beasts movie has been halted after a team member tested positive for COVID-19, Warner Bros. Pictures said on Thursday.

The franchise, a spin-off from the Harry Potter books and films, stars Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne as magizoologist Newt Scamander.

Filming had begun in September at Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, outside London, after the pandemic delayed a March 2020 start, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A team member from Fantastic Beasts 3 has tested positive for COVID-19. The diagnosis was confirmed as a result of required and ongoing testing that all production employees receive, and the team member is currently in isolation, a Warner Bros. Pictures spokesperson said in a statement.

Out of an abundance of caution, Fantastic Beasts 3 paused production and will be back up in accordance with safety guidelines.

Actor Eddie Redmayne attends the British premiere of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald movie in London, Britain on Nov. 13, 2018. (Toby Melville/Reuters)

The statement gave no further details.

The Fantastic Beasts films are set some 70 years before Harry Potter and include younger versions of author J.K. Rowlings characters such as Albus Dumbledore, played by Jude Law.

The upcoming movie, scheduled for release in July 2022, also sees Mads Mikkelsen take on the role of evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald, originally played by Johnny Depp.

Depp was asked to leave the franchise late last year after losing a libel case against a British tabloid.

By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
The workshop on the National Vision towards efficient and competitive ship waste management in Vietnamese ports was held in Ho Chi Minh City on January 22

In recent years, the marine economy and port operations in particular have been growing in Vietnam, posing challenges to sustainable development. Vessels generate waste from their operations (for example oily waste, domestic wastewater, hazardous waste, plastic waste, among others) which, without proper management, are likely to be illegally dumped into the sea, causing serious and long-term impacts on the marine environment.

Those waste and residues which are prohibited from being discharged into the sea must be collected at port reception facilities for further treatment. The EU-Vietnamese pilot project is now working to enhance the regulatory framework and to promote such efficient and sustainable ship waste management approaches.

On January 22, 2021, the partners organised a workshop on a National Vision towards efficient and competitive ship waste management in Vietnamese ports in Ho Chi Minh City, bringing together leaders and representatives of Vinamarine, Saigon New Port (Cat Lai Terminal), and relevant stakeholders to discuss the recommendations proposed for Cat Lai Terminal and the way forward for the next phase.

Within the workshop, best practices from the EU were presented, including its directives on port reception facilities. These require for example a mandatory ship waste notification of waste type and volume, a cost recovery system and clear procedures for the collection, treatment, and final disposal of the waste delivered. They also include a clear and transparent contractual framework with private waste operators and a Ship Waste Management Manual to inform about all ship waste management aspects in the port.

Nguyen Hoang, deputy director of Vinamarine addressed the workshop

All participants actively contributed ideas and inputs for the upcoming phase. Speaking at the workshop, Tran Thi Tu Anh, deputy director of the Science, Technology and Environment Department under Vinamarine, explained that, The project was kicked off in April 2020 and it has completed the first phase. Vinamarine, as the project coordinator, has reviewed all relevant regulations relating to ship waste handling at ports and has monitored the implementation process of Cat Lai Terminal to identify any legal constrains in relation to the provisions of international conventions."

In the second phase, based on the feedbacks from workshop participants, the pilot project will implement the prioritised recommendations, which include upgrading online waste notification processing at Vinamarine Ho Chi Minh City (digitalising the process and applying more informative waste notification form), implementing Ship Waste Management Manual, training for stakeholder staff.

The effectiveness of the second phase will be evaluated and serve as basis for proposing amendments to the existing legal framework of Vietnam on ship waste management. Upon successful implementation, the project will, in cooperation with Vinamarine, prepare a concrete action plan for the dissemination of lessons learned from Cat Lai Terminal to other Vietnamese ports.

According to Tu Anh, the existing waste notification system has some limitations, such as no clear guidance or mechanism for users to declare precisely the type of waste to be delivered to the port reception facility as required by MARPOL.

In the future, Vinamarine will raise the awareness of port authorities and agents about the revised ship waste notification system, which will be available online. Increasing digitalisation of maritime services is also a priority of the Vietnamese government.

Vinamarine highly appreciates the proposal of experts about a cost recovery system that incentivises waste delivery and which is partly or fully based on indirect fees. This means that all vessels calling Vietnamese ports are responsible to pay a fee regardless of their actual waste delivery. However, such a system now being implemented in European ports will require a more thorough analysis regarding the economic consequences," she said.

Rui Ludovino, first counsellor at the Delegation of the EU to Vietnam made a keynote speech at the workshop

According to Pham Thi Thuy Van, marketing vice-director of Saigon New Port  Cat Lai Terminal, Cat Lai Terminal welcomes around 10 vessels each day. The system in place for ships to deliver its waste is working but there is a need for upgrading and improving the system in order to be more competitive in the future. She said that Vietnam should develop guiding manuals and launch campaigns to raise the awareness of captains and crew members about the importance of waste management. However, she also suggested that handling ship waste from vessels at ports needs to be in line with the Vietnamese conditions.

Van stressed that, The regulatory bodies are in charge of monitoring and controlling ship waste handling. Meanwhile, all ports need to take action to address this issue, not Cat Lai Terminal alone. This will create synergies across the port system and avoid misunderstandings for clients, especially in the midst of the ongoing trade war. The pilot project will facilitate this process, outcomes are expected in early 2022 to be shared with other ports in Vietnam.

For more information about the Rethinking Plastics  Circular Economy solutions to marine litter project: https://beatplasticpollution.eu/rethinking-plastics/
Ant McPartlin has teased how he proposed to fiancee Anne-Marie Corbett, shared details - or lack thereof - of their wedding and addressed the matter of the best man postion.

Speaking to Digital Spy magazine, Ant and presenting partner Dec Donnelly spoke about who is likely to fill the coveted role at the ceremony.

'[Dec] was very good last time. He has been my best man. I've been his best man,' he Ant said, referencing his failed first marriage to Lisa Armstrong, which lasted from 2006-2018.

Best men: Ant McPartlin has teased how he proposed to fiancee Anne-Marie Corbett, shared details - or lack thereof - of their wedding and addressed the matter of the best man position during a chat with Digital Spy magazine with presenting partner Dec Donnelly

'I think it's between me and the dog!' Dec joked.

Ant admitted that there has been very little planning done as of yet.

'I suppose it depends on what kind of wedding we have. There's been no plans,' he said.

This is perhaps unsurprising as he only proposed in December, revealing: 'It was a lovely way to end the year. I'm a romantic at heart.

Best laid plans: Ant admitted that there has been very little planning done as of yet for the wedding to Anne-Marie [pictured in 2019]

Second time lucky? '[Dec] was very good last time. He has been my best man. I've been his best man,' Ant said, referencing his failed first marriage to Lisa Armstrong [pictured] which lasted from 2006-2018

'You know, there were flowers, and afternoon tea in front of the Christmas tree. Lovely. It was lovely.'

Adding to this, wedding plans are in turmoil across the world as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on.

Their show Saturday Night Takeaway returns this weekend, also facing major format changes due to the coronavirus crisis.

Like many shows - such as The Voice and Britain's Got Talent - the show will have a virtual wall in place of an audience.

'Such a lot of this show is about the audience. So we have researched ways, and are coming up with ways, to do a much more interactive, virtual wall, more than any other show has done,' Dec explained.

Back on TV: Their show Saturday Night Takeaway returns this weekend, also facing major format changes due to the coronavirus crisis

New format: 'Such a lot of this show is about the audience. So we have researched ways, and are coming up with ways, to do a much more interactive, virtual wall, more than any other show has done,' Dec explained

'Our audience on the night, on the virtual wall, will be an interactive part of the show.

'You don't get that instant feedback, but that's what we're working on, on our virtual wall, to try and cut down delays to an absolute minimum and make it much more of a two-way exchange with our audience.'

The pair's other major series - I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! - had to face format changes last year as well.

Instead of flying to Australia to shoot in the jungle, the series aired at a derilict Welsh castle.

Reflecting on this, Ant said: 'If during coronavirus we have to stay put and do it in Wales again, I'd be very happy. We were very welcomed in Wales.

'There were cardboard cut-outs of me and Dec in the butcher's, and the local school did a tribute. We'd happily go back there. We'd miss the sunshine, mind.'

Up against it: 'Our audience on the night, on the virtual wall, will be an interactive part of the show,' they explained

Changes: The pair's other major series - I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! - had to face format changes last year as well. Instead of flying to Australia to shoot in the jungle, the series aired at a derilict Welsh castle

Dec added: 'The people in Wales were lovely. They made us feel very welcome. I had a lovely time.

'I will miss the sunshine, but I will not miss the jetlag of coming back from Australia. I'd love to go back to Oz. But if we had to go back to Wales, I wouldn't be disappointed.'

On the celebrities they'd like to get on to the show, Ant admitted his dream star would be The A Team's Mr T, while Dec said: 'Don't get me wrong, I loved it last year, and it was lovely, and I think it was the show we all needed.

'However, I'd like a couple of grumpy celebs.'

The full Ant & Dec interview can be read in issue six of Digital Spy magazine, available now exclusively on Apple News+

[February 04, 2021] Advancing Women in Product Partners with Madrona Venture Group and Madrona Venture Labs to Bring New Educational Content and Experiences to Members

Advancing Women in Product (AWIP), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization empowering women and underrepresented groups to enhance their skills and careers in senior technical, engineering and product roles, announced its partnership with Madrona Venture Group and Madrona Venture Labs to accelerate career advancement for tech workers and entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. AWIP works with more than 16,000 members across the globe to help them advance their careers and become product and technical leaders. Madrona Venture Group is the leading venture investor in the Pacific Northwest. Over their 25-year history of investing in technology companies, the firm has had 21 IPOs and helped companies as diverse as Amazon, Smartsheet, Rover and Redfin, grow and thrive. Madrona Venture Labs, a startup studio that works with founders to help make their vision a reality by bringing experts to the table, is also part of the partnership. Working together, AWIP and Madrona plan to combine their efforts to further close the skills gap women and other underrepresented groups face when moving into management roles, founder roles, and executive positions. "Partnering with Madrona Venture Group and Madrona Venture Labs was a natural fit for AWIP," said Nancy Wang, founder and CEO of Advancing Women in Product and the General Manager of AWS Backup at Amazon Web Services (News - Alert) . "Both organizations are committed to helping women and diverse groups boost their knowledge and skills in the areas they need so they can move into and thrive in leadership rles. We'll be collaborating on everything from technical classes to navigating your first board seat to ensure our members are consistently getting the assistance and fresh insight that leads to their success."



"We've been incredibly impressed with AWIP and its ability to provide valuable guidance for members, many of whom include the founders and teams we work with, on how to succeed in the technology industry," said Hope Cochran, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group. "We've always taken a hands-on approach to helping the companies we work with grow so it's critical we partner with organizations like AWIP to expand the education and skills-based experiences, as well as networking opportunities, that we know make a difference in how women and other underrepresented groups are able to advance their careers in tech." The new educational content and experiences will provide resources for AWIP members spanning both technical and management topics, including:

Executive Roundtables, the first of which took place virtually on 11/12/20, featuring Hope Cochran, a Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group and leader of OnBoarding Women, with a group of VP- and C-level women in tech to discuss how best to approach being appointed to public boards

2021 Future Founder series, to provide a path to more diverse startup founders and employees

A collaboration for AWIP's upcoming Coursera course on cloud fundamentals, in partnership with Amazon Web Services "Madrona Venture Group and Madrona Venture Labs are pillars of the startup community. Our AWIP members have so much to gain from the Madrona team's years of insight and experience in navigating the entrepreneurial world. This partnership is just the first step in further serving AWIP Seattle and our community as a whole," said Emily Kruger, Head of Seattle AWIP chapter and VP of Product, Kaskada. "We're looking forward to our work with the AWIP team, particularly the Future Founder series of seminars we'll be organizing in 2021," said Sudip Chakrabarti, Partner at Madrona Venture Group. "Our technical founders and members of AWIP deserve every opportunity to get the education and support they need to grow and secure a seat at the leadership table." To join AWIP and have access to the upcoming partnership content, please go to advancingwomeninproduct.org. About Advancing Women in Product Advancing Women in Product (AWIP) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with over 16,000 members dedicated to advancing the careers of women and underrepresented groups across the globe so they can become product and technical leaders and addresses the gaps in management roles their members face when going from mid-seniors. Focusing on skills-based workshops, advocacy and mentorship, AWIP advances senior and director level roles into executive positions. AWIP has chapters in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Paris, London, Berlin, Boston, and Chennai. AWIP is the proud recipient of AWS/Amazon's 2020 Amazon in the Community (AITC) grant for our contributions to women and other minorities during COVID-19. For more, please visit advancingwomeninproduct.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005443/en/

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Judged based on three key strategic imperatives identified by Frost & Sullivannew business models, competitive intensity and disruptive technologiesTencent Cloud achieved the award through a set of criteria that includes "strategy innovation" and "customer impact," having successfully driven innovation and growth.

Winning Formula of Tencent Cloud

Respondents of the 2020 Frost & Sullivan Global Cloud User Survey indicated that improving business process efficiency and quality, customer experience and employee productivity are their top strategic business goals. To support companies in achieving these goals, Tencent Cloud has presented multiple initiatives as cited by Frost & Sullivan, including the launch of VooV Meeting, Global Office Access (GOA) and the establishment of 300 edge computing centers, among others. It also helps businesses maintain profitability as well as keeping their customers and employees engaged.

Furthermore, respondents also highlighted that cloud security remains a top concern for businesses. Tencent Cloud's comprehensive and accessible security inspection and protection services include 2020 achievements of Tier 3 of the Multi-Tier Cloud Security Standard (MTCS SS), an important international security standard launched in Singapore; a key cloud security standard in Germany such as German C5:2020; as well as its compliance with the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Survey respondents said they also chose Tencent Cloud for its easy-to-use developer tools and platform, availability of dedicated cloud options, and high levels of desk support at low or no charge. Amid its consistent growth in the cloud industry, Tencent's enormous ecosystem and strong brand presence continue to be a competitive edge that offers thriving business opportunities for its clients.

"Tencent Cloud aims to fully meet the growing demand for digital transformation among businesses in order to improve their efficiency and thrive during these challenging times amid the pandemic, stated Poshu Yeung, Senior Vice President of Tencent Cloud International. "We are thrilled to receive the 2020 Frost & Sullivan Competitive Strategy Leadership Award in the Global Cloud industry, which is a strong testimony to Tencent Cloud's achievements in facilitating digital upgrades of businesses and industries around the globe. Our solid capability built in various sectors have ensured our rapid growth and is helping our aspiration to be the best cloud service provider. Indeed, 2021 will be a stronger year for Tencent Cloud to take its cloud services to the next level by leveraging our competitive strength and innovative one-stop solutions."

Frost & Sullivan is world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, mega trends, new business models and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. The mission of Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards is to recognize people and organizations that have accomplished an innovative or disruptive breakthrough. The recent award from Frost & Sullivan is an addition to the growing list of global accomplishments by Tencent Cloud, which currently has a global infrastructure footprint of 27 regions as well as 60 availability zones.

According to Lynda Stadtmueller, Research Vice President at Frost & Sullivan, "Although relatively new to the cloud market, Tencent Cloud has become one of the fastest-growing players to penetrate the global industry. With innovation solutions, infrastructure and expansion investments, Tencent Cloud has the potential to really shake up competition in the Chinese and global cloud markets. We look forward to seeing Tencent Cloud hugely transform and evolve the competitive landscape in the global cloud market's IaaS and PaaS sectors."

Read the full report from Frost & Sullivan here: https://ww2.frost.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Tencent-Cloud-Award-Write-Up-Final.pdf

About Tencent Cloud

Tencent Cloud is Tencent's cloud services brand, providing industry-leading cloud products and services to organizations and enterprises across the world. Leveraging its robust data center infrastructures around the world, Tencent integrates cloud computing, big data analytics, AI, Internet of Things, security and other advanced technologies with smart enterprise scenarios. At the same time, we provide a holistic smart enterprise solution for sectors including finance, education, healthcare, retail, industry, transport, energy and radio & television.

About Frost & Sullivan

For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.



SOURCE Tencent Cloud
The President of India is the competent authority to deal with the plea seeking pardon and release submitted by AG Perarivalan, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs informed the Supreme Court in an affidavit of the Governor's opinion. "Governor of Tamil Nadu considered all the facts on record and after perusal of relevant documents recorded that President of India is the appropriate competent authority" to deal with said request (for pardon)," the Central government said in its affidavit filed on Thursday.

The Supreme Court had earlier asked the Governor to expedite his decision on the remission plea that has been pending for more than two years.

Perarivalan had requested for pardon on December 30, 2015. In 218, the Supreme Court had asked the Governor to decide on the plea, and days later the state cabinet had recommended that the Governor remit the convict's sentence, but he is yet to make a decision.

The Supreme Court had had in 2014 commuted Perarivalan's death sentence to life imprisonment on grounds of a 11 year delay in deciding the mercy pleas by the Centre.

The state government had earlier told the top court that the Cabinet has already passed a resolution on September 9, 2018 and recommended to the Governor for the premature release of all seven convicts in the case. Besides Perarivalan, other six convicts sentenced to life imprisonment include Nalini Sriharan, her husband Murugan, Santhan, Jayakumar, Ravichandran and Robert Pyas.

All the seven were convicted by a special TADA court for their role in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991 during an election rally at nearby Sriperumbudur and sentenced to death,but later it was commuted to life imprisonment. Earlier, on November 27 last year the top court had extended by one week the parole of Perarivalan and directed the state to provide escort to him while visiting the doctor. Perarivalan was first granted parole from November 9-23, last year by the Madras High Court on medical grounds, which was extended by the top court after he had submitted that he has 25 per cent blockage in kidney and needs surgical intervention.

The CBI, in its affidavit of November 20, last year had told the apex court that the Governor has to take a call on grant of remission to Perarivalan. The probe agency has said that Perarivalan is not the subject matter of further investigation carried out by the CBI-led Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) which is conducting a probe on the aspect of larger conspiracy as per the mandate of the Jain Commission report.

On November 3, last year the top court had expressed unhappiness over the pendency of a plea by a convict seeking pardon in the case for over two years with the Tamil Nadu Governor. The CBI, in its 24-page affidavit, had said, It is for the His Excellency Governor of Tamil Nadu to take a call on the issue whether remission is to be granted or not and in so far as relief is concerned in the present matter CBI has no role.

Perarivalan's counsel had earlier said his role was only limited to procuring nine-volt batteries, which were allegedly, used in the improvised explosive device (IED) that had killed Gandhi. The top court had earlier dismissed a plea of Perarivalan seeking recall of the May 11, 1999 verdict upholding his conviction, saying the material brought on record does not inspire confidence to interfere with the verdict in which he and three others were initially awarded the death sentence, later commuted to life term.

Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally. Fourteen others, including Dhanu herself, were also killed. In its May 1999 order, the top court had upheld the death sentence of four convicts -- Perarivalan, Murugan, Santham and Nalini.

In April 2000, the then Tamil Nadu Governor had commuted the death sentence of Nalini on the basis of the state government's recommendation and an appeal by former Congress president and Rajiv Gandhi's widow Sonia Gandhi. On February 18, 2014, the top court had commuted the death sentence of Perarivalan to life imprisonment, along with that of two other prisoners -- Santhan and Murugan -- on the grounds of an 11-year delay in deciding their mercy pleas by the Centre.

(With PTI inputs)
STAMFORD, Conn., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- From the stress of deployments to frequent moves, military couples face a number of unique challenges. But in working through those distinctive experiences come universal lessons in love. This February, Cohen Veterans Network (CVN), a national not-for-profit network of mental health clinics for post-9/11 veterans and military families, is looking to military couples for relationship advice that any couple can employ to strengthen their marriage or partnership.

From the stress of deployments to frequent moves, military couples face a number of unique challenges. But in working through those distinctive experiences come universal lessons in love. What is it that all couples can learn from military couples to strengthen their relationship? Whether dating for 5 months or married for 5 years, Cohen Veterans Network has 5 strategies any couple can employ to better communicate and stay connected. "When returning home from a deployment, I felt disconnected from everything that had happened with my family during my time away. So, during deployments or extended trainings, we started writing little notes about our day in a journal and would send it back and forth to one another. A child's lost tooth, a new restaurant, the platoon prankster  the journaling kept us a part of each other's daily lives." -Veteran & Military Spouse Cohen Clinic at The Up Center Virginia Beach, Virginia "Always finding your friends who become like family at each duty station. My husband and I call it our "framily" these are people we celebrate life with. Whether it be something like a birthday celebration, a hike or even a game night. Having these strong social supports have not only helped strengthen us as a couple but also make each duty station that much more enjoyable." -Military Spouse, Cohen Clinic at Alaska Behavioral Health Anchorage, Alaska

For Lessons in Love from Military Couples, CVN's clinical team developed relationship tips derived from their work with military couples. Additionally, veterans and military spouse staff members across the network share the thoughtful ways they stay connected to their partners.

"From deployments to frequent moves to job training separations, military couples face situations not typically experienced by their civilian counterparts," says Cohen Veterans Network CEO & President Dr. Anthony Hassan. "Yet, despite these difficult circumstances many military couples are able to thrive. As we work to fill the gaps in care when it comes to treating military couples, we see their resilience on display each and every day. There is a lot we can learn about relationships from military couples."

CVN provides couples counseling to post-9/11 veterans and active duty service members across its network of 19 Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinics. Treatment is available for a wide variety of challenges including relationship problems, family issues, children's behavioral problems, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, grief and loss, anger and adjustment issues. Couples can be seen in-person or via CVN Telehealth, face-to-face video therapy.

Highlights from staff members include everything from a creative way to communicate to building a support system:

"When returning home from a deployment, I felt disconnected from everything that had happened with my family during my time away. So, during deployments or extended trainings, we started writing little notes about our day in a journal and would send it back and forth to one another. A child's lost tooth, a new restaurant, the platoon prankster  the journaling kept us a part of each other's daily lives."

-Veteran & Military Spouse Cohen Clinic at The Up Center

Virginia Beach, Virginia

"Always finding your friends who become like family at each duty station. My husband and I call it our "framily" these are people we celebrate life with. Whether it be something like a birthday celebration, a hike or even a game night. Having these strong social supports have not only helped strengthen us as a couple but also make each duty station that much more enjoyable."

-Military Spouse, Cohen Clinic at Alaska Behavioral Health

Anchorage, Alaska

For additional lessons in love from Cohen Clinic veterans and military spouses visit Lessons in Love from Military Couples.

To download the Lessons in Love from Military Couples infographic click here.

SOURCE Cohen Veterans Network

Related Links

https://www.cohenveteransnetwork.org


No Lemon Test for Nativity Scenes

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Liberty Counsel

Feb. 4, 2021



BROWNSTOWN, Ind., Feb. 4, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- When the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in favor of a Nativity scene displayed annually at the Jackson County Courthouse, it was the first time that a court ruled that the so-called "Lemon Test" does not apply to these holiday symbols. Liberty Counsel represents Jackson County in this precedent-setting case, Woodring v. Jackson County, Indiana.



Applying a historical test, the Seventh Circuit ruled that the Nativity scene as part of the larger holiday display is constitutional. In doing so, the Woodring decision expressly parted from applying two of its prior opinions, stating: "Because we decline to follow our circuit precedent on similar Nativity scenes," the option was circulated to "all judges in active service" to determine the interest in rehearing the case en banc. A majority of judges did not wish to rehear the case en banc. Only two voted to rehear the case.



The above statement from the Court of Appeals underscores the new direction the Woodring opinion charts for Nativity scene cases.



To support this new precedent, Woodring cited to the Supreme Court's recent decision in Marsh v. Chambers (upholding legislative prayer using a historical test), Town of Greece v. Galloway (upholding prayer delivered before local governmental bodies), and American Legion v. American Humanist Association (upholding the Peace Cross in Maryland). The Seventh Circuit wrote, "Applying American Legion, we conclude that the County's Nativity scene is constitutional because it fits within a long national tradition of using the Nativity scene in broader holiday displays to celebrate the origins of Christmasa public holiday."

The Seventh Circuit specifically noted that the Supreme Court in the American Legion case expressly disregarded the so-called "Lemon Test" in religious display cases where the display was "longstanding" and "established." In the case of the Peace Cross, it was erected in 1925, nearly a century before it was challenged. The Woodring court noted that the Jackson County Nativity was in place for 15 years. Without clear guidance on what constitutes "longstanding" or "established," the Woodring court was not able to conclude this shorter time frame met that standard. However, the Court went on to state that Lemon no longer applies to Nativity scene cases and a historical test should now be applied.

The "Lemon Test" comes from the case of Lemon v. Kurtzman, in which the Court ruled that a Rhode Island law providing government funding to non-secular schools was unconstitutional. Over time, this confusing and subjective test has caused conflicting opinions, and the outcomes were often dependent on a judge's preference in counting how many angels could dance on the head of a pin.

Seventh Circuit Judge St. Eve wrote the opinion and stated, "Although some aspects of American Legion are unclear, one unmistakable message from the opinion is that Lemon is no longer a viable framework for cases 'that involve the use, for ceremonial, celebratory, or commemorative purposes, of words or symbols with religious associations...including those involving passive holiday displays with Nativity scenes.'

"Thus, six Justices found that Lemon is not the appropriate test for analyzing passive holiday displays that include nativity scenes. Although this was not a formal holding of the Court, to apply Lemon in this context after American Legion would be to ignore a clear directive from a majority of the Supreme Court. We hold today that American Legion displaces the purpose and endorsement tests in the context of Establishment Clause challenges to nativity scenes in passive Christmas displays on government property. Applying American Legion, we hold that Jackson County's nativity scene as displayed in 2019 does not violate the Establishment Clause," the court wrote.

Regarding the "Lemon Test," the late Justice Scalia once said: "Like some ghoul in a late-night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad, after being repeatedly killed and buried, Lemon stalks our Establishment Clause jurisprudence once again, frightening the little children and school attorneys."

Liberty Counsel's Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, "The 'Lemon Test' has proven to be unworkable and has led to inconsistent and contradictory decisions on the constitutionality of religious displays, symbols, and words. Justice Scalia would be happy to see that the Lemon Test is dead with regard to religious displays. It is time to bury it forever."

Liberty Counsel provides broadcast quality TV interviews via Hi-Def Skype and LTN at no cost.



SOURCE Liberty Counsel



CONTACT: Mat Staver, 407-875-1776, Liberty@LC.org



Related Links



lc.org/


An Albany judge has ruled that the Cuomo administration's Health Department broke New York State law by failing to provide totals of all nursing home deaths caused by COVID-19 to a watchdog group that had requested the records.

Albany Supreme Court Justice Kimberly O'Connor ruled on Wednesday, in a 16-page decision, that the Department of Health must provide the records to the Empire Center for Public Policy within five business days and pay their legal costs.

The watchdog had filed a Freedom of Information Law request in August seeking to obtain the documents from the Health Department - which delayed releasing them for months.

The ruling comes after a report from the office of Attorney General Letitia James in January found that the Cuomo administration had misled the public about the total number of nursing home residents killed by the pandemic.

The order comes after Cuomo said 'who cares' about who died at a nursing home versus at a hospital

James' report also concluded that 'resident deaths associated with nursing homes in New York state appear to be undercounted by DOH by approximately 50 percent.'

Health Commissioner Howard Zucker has since released a general tally after James issued her report  noting that there have been 12,743 confirmed and presumed deaths of nursing home residents in both nursing homes and hospitals as of January 19.

'But who cares [if they] died in the hospital, died in a nursing home? They die,' Cuomo callously said during a news conference on Friday, after the revelation.

The Cuomo administration had only acknowledged 8,711 residents who had died in the nursing homes until James' report was released.

On August 3, the Empire Center filed its FOIL request asking for 'records of COVID-19 deaths of residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities including those who died while physically outside of the homes.'

The Health Department acknowledged it had received the request on the same day and said it would respond in 20 business days, court documents show.

The agency sent back another letter to Empire Center on August 31, noting that the request was being processed and that the office would be 'unable to respond' to the request by the date it had previously given.

'We estimate that this Office will complete its process by November 5, 2020,' the letter reads.

The agency said the two-month extension was needed to conduct 'a diligent search for responsive documents.'

The Empire Center filed an appeal the next day with the agency's Records Access Appeals Officer, calling the extension letter a 'constructive denial' of the document request by failing to provide a response or an adequate reason for its inability to grant the request.

A New York judge has ordered the Cuomo administration to hand over documents showing all deaths associated with nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic

'The department's failure to provide the requested records within 20 days  and its failure to set a date certain for completing the request  amounts to an effective denial of the request, which I hereby appeal,' wrote the Empire Center.

The Empire Center filed its petition seeking the documents with the Supreme Court in Albany County on September 18.

'New York has the second most nursing home deaths attributed to COVID-19 of any state in the country. However, this count omits potentially thousands of nursing home residents who died in hospitals after being transferred from their nursing homes,' the Empire Center wrote in its petition.

New York is one of the few states that does not count the deaths of nursing home residents who died in a hospital after being transferred to one as a nursing home death, the watchdog noted.

'The public has no idea how many nursing home residents died of COVID-19 in the state, whether they died in a nursing home or in a hospital after being transferred from one. One the government does,' according to the Empire Center.

The Health Department argued that state law 'does not preserve any specific time period within which an agency must grant or deny a FOIL request or restrict the amount of time of an extension, but rather requires the agency to notify the requester of an 'approximate' date by which the agency can reasonably produce the records.'

The agency argued that it 'neither denied petitioner's foil request nor ignored the request.'

'[The Health Department] submits that given the voluminous and sensitive nature of the information petitioner has requested, respondent's limited time and resources, and the burden imposed upon staff already dealing with various COVID-19 issues, the review will take considerable time,' according to court records.

Attorney General Letitia James, left, issued an alarming report in January that the Health Department had under-counted deaths associated with nursing homes. Health Comissioner Howard Zucker, right, has since released a general tally

Empire Center however argued that the requested records already reside within a database that the Health Department 'accesses and manipulates daily to provide information it chooses to provide.'

O'Connor wrote in her decision that the court was not persuaded that the Health Department's estimated date for responding to the FOIL request is reasonable and that the agency did not 'offer an adequate explanation as to why it has not responded to that request.'

'DOH has had ample time to respond to the Empire Center's FOIL request,' O'Connor wrote.

'Its continued failure to provide petitioner a response, given the straightforward nature of the request, how the data is collected and maintained, and the fact that some of the requested data has already been made publicly available without personally identifying information, goes against FOILs broad standard of open and transparent government and is a violation of the statute.'

The court also told the Empire Center it has 60 days to submit evidence of its legal fees and court costs for it to be reimbursed by the Health Department.

'The whole point of the judge's ruling is that being 'in the process' is not a valid reason for further delay. DOH has been 'in the process' of responding to our FOIL request since Aug. 3,' wrote Empire Center Senior Fellow Bill Hammond, who had filed the initial FOIL request.

Hammond called the ruling 'a great victory' in comments to the New York Post.

'We're very pleased but we don't have the data yet and there's still a chance that they will appeal and tie this up for potentially months longer  and given the way they've behaved so far, I wouldn't be surprised,' he said.

'I think that appeal would be doomed. I think they don't have a leg to stand on legally.'

Hammond also noted that the New York State Legislature had threatened 'to grill' Zucker about the nursing home data at a hearing on Wednesday, the same day the report was released.

But Zucker declined to attend, claiming he had to be at a briefing with Cuomo  who reportedly canceled the briefing after the judge's ruling,

Zucker has faced bipartisan outrage, including demands that he resign his post.

Richard Gottfried, Health Committee Chairman in the New York State Assembly, called the ruling 'a biug win for all New Yorkers.'

It's important data that the Legislature & countless New Yorkers have been 'demanding for months. Since @HealthNYGov says it's already complying with FOIL, it should also announce it won't appeal the court decision,' Gottfried tweeted.

IT has been well established that the countrys most effective mobilisation system is the election machinery based on political affiliation.

With this in mind, the current crisis in the country regarding the frightening spread of the coronavirus calls for a different kind of intervention. It is past time for the declaration of a political truce. We call on the countrys two major political machines, PNM and UNC, and all other existing political parties and groups, to come together in the national interest.
A restaurant is set to unveil a very unique lamington - complete with beef red curry katsu, fried shallots and roasted coconut flakes.

Vietnamese restaurant Hello Auntie in Sydney has teamed up with Tokyo Lamington in a collaboration like no other to create a range of lamingtons with a mix of Asian-fusion flavours to celebrate Lunar New Year.

Foodies will get to try three new creations - including the Vietnamese-inspired lamington, featuring a beef red curry katsu, sandwiched between two savoury sponges with cocoa butter, coated with fried shallots and roasted coconut flakes.

Vietnamese restaurant Hello Auntie in Sydney is set to unveil a very unique lamington - complete with beef red curry katsu, fried shallots and roasted coconut flakes

Tokyo Lamington in Sydney has teamed up with Hello Auntie in a collaboration like no other to create a range of lamingtons with a mix of Asian-fusion flavours to celebrate Lunar New Year

Poll Which lamington flavour would you try? Vietnamese Curry Lamington Pandan & Coconut Lamington Pineapple Tart Lamington Which lamington flavour would you try? Vietnamese Curry Lamington 3 votes

Pandan & Coconut Lamington 4 votes

Pineapple Tart Lamington 2 votes Now share your opinion





The curry lamington, which pays homage to the Year of the Ox, is the brain child of Cuong Nguyen, head chef and owner of Hello Auntie, who's known for his innovative flavour combinations and blending the line between savoury and sweet food.

But for those with a sweet tooth, Tokyo Lamington's founders Min Chai and former Black Star pastry chef Eddie Stewart have created two new decadent desserts.

The pandan and coconut lamington is filled with pandan custard, dipped in pandan white chocolate sauce and coated with coconut flakes.

The pandan and coconut lamington (left) is filled with pandan custard, dipped in pandan white chocolate sauce and coated with coconut flakes. While the pineapple tart lamington (right) has pineapple jam, dipped in pineapple white chocolate sauce, coated with cookie crumbs

While the pineapple tart lamington consists of pineapple jam, dipped in pineapple white chocolate sauce and coated with butter cookie crumbs.

Championing the best of Australia's classic dessert, the Lunar lamingtons are available individually for $7 or $21 for a box of three from the Hello Auntie X Tokyo Lamington pop-up cart in Darling Square.

The lamingtons will go on sale between Friday, February 12 and Sunday, February 21.
chinese medicine has long viewed winters chill as key to limiting disease outbreaks. the mild winter we are just finishing bodes ill for the end of coVID-19 by this view (ViewStock/Shutterstock)

Ancient Wisdom on Predicting a Pandemic

Chinese medicine and traditional knowledge offer insight into the cause of terrible events

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is far more profound than just the techniques of applying herbal formulas and acupuncture that most people are familiar with.

Dr. Shu Rong, a TCM expert living in Cambridge, England, recently shared her experience of treating a COVID-19 patient remotely, and how the outbreak and trend of a pandemic can be predicted based on an age-old theory.

Shu gained her knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine from her grandfather in a family lineage of teaching that has continued through multiple generations for more than 600 years. Over that time, her ancestors gained rich experience treating prior epidemics. In a recent interview with NTDTV, Shu shared a story to illustrate that when a new disease or epidemic breaks out, Western medicine will seek to develop new drugs while a good TCM doctor can often apply ancient principles learned over generations to figure out an effective cure.

In the 1950s, an epidemic broke out in a Chinese city where Shus grandfather had a Chinese medicine clinic. Many patients went to hospitals seeking treatment because people at the time thought TCM was backward compared to Western methods. Some 70 patients, a relative minority, sought help from Shus grandfather. While many who went to hospitals died in the epidemic, all of the people who received treatment from Shus grandfather were healed.

This incident had a major effect on the medical community in the city. Many young Western medicine doctors decided to change careersand become apprentices of Shus grandfather to learn TCM from scratch.

ICU Nurse Recovered from Severe COVID-19 Symptoms

Shu has had her own similar experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. She treated an ICU nurse last year who was infected by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, while tending COVID-19 patients in a hospital in London. The Chinese nurse, surnamed Xu, became severely ill while in self-quarantine at home in late March 2020. When she called Shu seeking treatment, she had been suffering from a high fever for seven days. Although she had taken acetaminophen every day to reduce the fever, it was ineffective. She also had difficulty breathing, tightness in her chest, and profuse sweating, symptoms indicating that the patient was in critical condition by traditional Chinese medicine.

Shu sent packages of herbs to Ms. Xu via express mail the next morning; when the packages arrived the following day, the patient made a tea with them and drank it in the evening. She said she slept soundly for the first time since she became ill, and had neither fever nor sweating. Seven days later, the nurse reported that she was completely recovered.

One of the defining differences between Chinese medicine and Western medicine is how it regards the bodys ability to fight disease. Western medicine generally bypasses or even represses the bodys immune response, while Chinese medicine tries to work with it and manage imbalances that may be at the root of an illness. One of the major lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic is that many of the people dying have preexisting medical conditions such as diabetes or obesity, which are already major killers in modern society. Chinese medicine tends to pay more attention to preexisting conditions in its treatments, offering tailored approaches, while Western medicine focuses on drugs and surgeries that directly focus on the ailment.

The Special Year of Gengzi and Pandemic Prediction

Another significant difference between the two types of medicine is the amount of emphasis that Chinese medicine puts on environmental contributors to disease.

The Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine is considered the highest authority on traditional Chinese medicine. One of the principles noted in the book, called The Five Elements and Six Weathers, explains the impact of climatic and astronomical factors on the natural world and human health.

Its worth noting that there is no civilization on Earth that has had the longevity of the Chinese civilization. China has had one continuous culture, though ever-changing, throughout 5,000 years while other civilizations, from Mesopotamia to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, have risen and fallen in comparatively brief historical periods. The Chinese civilization, at least prior to the communist revolution in 1949, also put a major emphasis on learning from history.

Lessons from history, including patterns and changes, can be an important element to Chinese medicine.

Shu is an expert on Five Elements and Six Weather. To apply this principle, one has to analyze the current year in Chinas 60-year-cycle system and find out if there is unusual weather in this year.

In the Chinese calendar, the lunar year 2020 is called Gengzi Year (Jan. 25, 2020, to Feb. 11, 2021) and corresponds to the 36th I-Ching (Book of Changes) hexagram called Darkening of the Light, which indicates a period when the darkness of stupidity reigns in human affairs, eclipsing the good and brilliant.

Basically, such a year is full of disasters, including natural disasters and political disturbances, Shu explained.

All the Gengzi years are disastrous years for Chinese people: in 1840, the First Opium War with Britain; in 1900, the invasion of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance, a multinational military coalition formed by eight foreign powers; and in 1960, the peak of a three-year Great Famine, during which an estimated 30 million to 40 million Chinese died of starvation.

Every hexagram of a particular year in the Chinese calendar system corresponds to a six-line statement in the I-Ching and describes the situation in a two-month period. The statement for the final two months of the year (mid-December 2020 to mid-February 2021) says, There is no light, only obscurity. Someone initially ascended to the top; his future shall be to fall to the earth.

From the bigger perspective of a nation, some elites may suddenly fall; from the perspective of an individuals health, we may see people with good health suddenly become very ill, either from contracting COVID-19, from heart disease, or hypertension. The tragedy, or the transition, comes all of a sudden and is totally unexpected. Shu said.

An explanation of the sudden fall stated by I-Ching is, He has failed to fulfill the principles.

Speaking of the new COVID-19 variant emerging in the UK, Shu said the mortality rate remains low even though the variant spreads very quickly. With a pandemic going on, to analyze what may happen next, one has to observe whether the winter weather is normal or not, according to the Five Elements and Six Weathers theory.

Normal weather means the usual amount of rain and temperatures are in the normal range for the region in which you live, Shu explained. For instance, in the United Kingdom, it should snow around Christmas, but it didnt this year, which means, the pandemic will only get worse in the following months.

Unusual weather has been observed in many parts of the world this winter. Asia, Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, and China all reported record low temperatures in certain regions. In Europe, a historic snowstorm buried Madrid in early January, while several other European countries so far have experienced an unusually warm winter.

Worst Symptoms Described in Chinese Classics

Will there be more serious symptoms when the pandemic worsens? Shu said the answer is already there in the classic works of ancient Chinese medicine.

She cited a book called Discussion of Warm Diseases that was written by Ye Tianshi, one of the most influential doctors in Chinese medical history who lived from 1666 to 1746 (Qing Dynasty).

In TCM nomenclature, warm disease is a general term for all types of externally contracted diseases that cause fever. Epidemic pestilence is a subcategory of warm diseases.

In his book, Ye said that when contracting a warm disease, the patients lungs are infected first, and the evil Qi then attacks the heart-enveloping network if the condition further deteriorates. This network is made up of the tissues surrounding the heart that provide protection in times of pathogen invasion.

Its now well-known that the CCP virus attacks multiple organs. Some patients may experience diarrhea while others develop mental problems, which puzzles many Western medicine doctors.

According to Shu, Yes concise statement, although appearing to be rather simple, clarified more than 200 years ago that multiple organ dysfunction is an inherent characteristic of epidemic pestilence, and the infection follows a relatively fixed path.

Because the pathogen enters the human body through ones mouth and nose, it will certainly infect the lungs first. For some individuals, the infection stops at this stage and the patient gradually recovers. This is a good scenario. In particular, many patients at this stage have intestinal problems, which actually indicates that he is recovering.

Traditional Chinese medicine considers the lungs and intestines to be an interlinked system, with lungs being the interior and intestines being the exterior. When the lungs are infected and the symptoms move to the intestines, the disease is going outward. In other words, it is being eliminated from the human body, Shu explained.

However, in the worst-case scenario, evil Qi goes deeper into the human body to attack the heart enveloping network.

The heart is also the key organ in an interlinked system, which includes the brain and the nervous system. This system is related to ones emotional and mental health, Shu said.

When the pathogen is fierce and able to penetrate the protection network of the heart, the patient will display symptoms of brain and nervous system dysfunction, such as talking nonsense, mental disorder, or hallucinations. A study published in the journal Brain in July 2020 found potentially deadly brain disorders may be a symptom of COVID-19, even in people with otherwise mild disease.

At the same time, the heart is responsible for managing the blood and circulatory system. When this system is disrupted, the patient will have both internal bleeding and observable bleeding from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, Shu explained.

These dire symptoms have already been observed in severely ill COVID-19 patients, with nose bleeds and bleeding from the mouth being the most common. Shu implied that when the pandemic worsens, a lot more patients may suffer more severely as a consequence of previous disease or infection.

She hopes that people remember the importance of upholding principles, and strive to be kind and upright individuals because the main reason for all these misfortunes is from failing to fulfill principles, according to ancient wisdom in Chinese culture.

Validity of the 5 Elements and 6 Weathers Theory

Another Chinese medicine scholar predicted the advent of the CCP virus pandemic as early as June 2019 by applying the same theory.

Wang Yongyan, a Chinese academician and the honorary dean of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, said at a medical conference in June 2019 that he believed a pandemic would arrive in late December of that year.

We must learn to observe climate changes, the situation of all creatures, and the overall health of mankind, Wang said. Based on his observations and application of the Five Elements and Six Weathers theory, he concluded that a pandemic will break out around Dec. 21, and will continue into next spring.

When the CCP virus was raging in China in late January, the video of Wangs speech quickly went viral in China, and the Five Elements and Six Weather theory became a hot topic.
MONTREAL - Saputo Inc. reported an uptick in its third-quarter profit on Thursday as strong retail sales at grocery stores outweighed weak demand from restaurants, cafeterias and other foodservice costumers.

A Saputo Inc., logo is shown during the company's annual general meeting in Laval, Que., on August 8, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL - Saputo Inc. reported an uptick in its third-quarter profit on Thursday as strong retail sales at grocery stores outweighed weak demand from restaurants, cafeterias and other foodservice costumers.

The Montreal-based dairy processor and cheese manufacturer said its profit climbed 6.1 per cent to $209.8 million, up from $197.8 million in the same quarter a year earlier, even as its revenue edged lower.

"For the first time since the pandemic started, our volumes were on par with last year," Lino Saputo Jr., Saputo's board chairman and CEO, told analysts during a conference call.

"Thanks to our strong portfolio of retail brands and by adapting our product offering early on in the pandemic, we captured new opportunities in the retail market segment," he said. "We also benefited from increased sales volumes in the industrial markets."

The global dairy giant is also expanding its foray into non-dairy cheese and dairy alternative products.

"The category today is very small but the potential we feel is tremendous," Kai Bockmann, Saputo president and chief operating officer, told investors.

Non-dairy cheese has relatively few players, he said, and Saputo is "uniquely positioned" in the global marketplace to dominate the field through its product innovation and brand strength.

Indeed, Saputo has continued to explore new products and market expansion throughout the pandemic.

"We don't use COVID as an excuse to stop progressing," Saputo Jr. said. "COVID gives us an opportunity to think about things that we would never have ever thought of before."

Saputo said the profit amounted to 51 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from a profit of 48 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $3.76 billion, down from $3.89 billion.

The company said overall sales volumes reached similar levels compared with the same period a year ago as increased volumes in the retail and industrial market segments offset lower volumes on the food service side of the business.

On an adjusted basis, Saputo said it earned 55 cents per diluted share, down from an adjusted profit of 56 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 48 cents per share and $3.85 billion in revenue, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.

Saputo delivered solid results ahead of forecast and expectations despite substantial operating challenges, Irene Nattel, an RBC Dominion Securities Inc. analyst, said in a note to clients.

"The release also calls out ongoing interest in seizing future acquisition opportunities, and also reiterates commitment to pursuing opportunities in dairy alternatives (previously known as plant-based)," she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:SAP)
He has been called truth-telling hero, evil and perverted traitor, heroic, trickster, mythical  reviled. Robert Manne called him the most consequential Australian of the present time. The new US President has called him a high-tech terrorist.

The protean narratives of Julian Assange, who will be 50 in July, have been brewing since 2010, when his website published The Afghan War Diaries, Iraq War Logs and Collateral Murder, a video showing the US military killing two Reuters employees in Iraq.

Supporters of Julian Assange outside Londons Old Bailey during his extradition hearing. Credit:Leon Neal

December marked 10 years since Assange has been arbitrarily detained in Britain, according to Felicity Ruby and Peter Cronau in their introduction to A Secret Australia  a collection of 18 essays that survey the impact WikiLeaks has had on Australias media landscape and the consequences of our governments attraction towards Americas intelligence and military empire.

The potpourri of authors and thinkers includes Julian Burnside, Antony Loewenstein, Scott Ludlam and Helen Razer, who critique the powers opposed to openness and transparency and examine the evidence, not the likelihoods, the probabilities, the suspicions, and assumptions around the subversive, technology-based publishing house.
The government should encourage rating agencies to provide ratings to that seek loans based on receivables, or factoring credit, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance said in its report. With the government proposing amendments to the Factoring Regulation Act, 2011, the volume of business through factoring credit is expected to expand, according to the report.

This may be accomplished by encouraging the existing credit rating agencies to provide ratings for the that are actively seeking to factor in their receivables, it said.

The Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, was introduced in the Parliament in September 2020, and was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance for examination.

There is often delay in getting payment against their bills for supplying to various buyers. This leads to locking of working capital and hampering productive activities of MSMEs. The amendments proposed by the government seek to resolve these issues and permit more categories of to undertake factoring business.

Factoring credit constitutes only 2.6 per cent of total formal MSME credit in India. Its estimated that only 10 per cent of the receivable market is presently covered under formal bill discounting mechanism, while the rest is covered under conventional cash credit overdraft arrangements with banks, the report said.

As one of the principal instruments of working capital and trade finance, bill discounting and factoring remains underutilised, said the panel headed by BJP MP Jayant Sinha.

The panel suggested that best global practices be adopted to bring domestic factoring companies on a par with global peers and make credit finance more accessible to MSMEs.

South Korea has said that the crew of a tanker, which was seized by Iran, still on board, media reported on Thursday, February 4. This comes after Iran agreed to free the 19-member crew of a seized South Korea-flagged ship. Both the countries said this after a telephone conversation between Tehrans Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and his South Korean counterpart, Choi Jong-Kun.

Read: 'Humanitarian Gesture': Iran Agrees To Free Crew Members Of Seized South Korean Ship

Iran had seized MT Hankuk Chemi last month at Bandar Abbas Port city, saying that the vessel violated pollution rules with chemicals. However, it later became clear that Iran had taken custody of the ship at least in part to pressure South Korea, a strong US ally, over the sanctions ordered by former US President Donald Trump. The latest move by Iran is believed to be intended to send an indirect signal to the new Biden administration, which has indicated it wants to avoid a further deterioration in relation with Tehran after they worsened sharply under Trump. According to New York Times, in return for the release of the crew, the South Korean government has said that it pledged speedy action to address Irans complaints about its inability to access $7 billion in Iranian money that has been frozen in South Korean banks because of US sanctions.

Read: Spotify Launches In South Korea

Humanitarian gesture

On Tuesday, Irans Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Saeed Khatibzadeh, described the countrys latest move as a humanitarian gesture. South Koreas Foreign Minister, on the other hand, welcomed the Iranian decision and urged the government to even release the captain and the ship as well. During the conversation between the two nations, South Korea promised action to help address Irans grievances over the impounded funds and it also added that they would consult US officials in Washington over the matter.

Read: Moon, Biden Agree To Boost US-South Korean Alliance

Also Read: South Korea Has Culled Nearly 22 Million Birds In Two Months: Reports

(Image Credits: AP)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, philanthropic organizations and funders joined together to launch the California Black Freedom Fund, a new $100 million initiative to provide abundant resources to Black-led power-building organizations in the state over the next five years. Co-created with Black leaders and organizers, the first-of-its-kind fund will ensure that California's growing ecosystem of locally rooted Black-led organizing efforts have the sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.

"Over the past year, we've seen Black communities across the country step up boldly as the conscience of our nation to challenge the status quo," said Cathy Cha, President and CEO, Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. "The California Black Freedom Fund represents a great opportunity to build on that momentum and support Black-led organizations and a movement that can keep racial justice front and center and reimagine a better future for all of us."

The fund addresses a history of underinvestment in Black-led organizations and power-building by philanthropy; for example, an estimated 1 percent of community foundation support was specifically designated for Black communities in recent years, according to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.

"To make racial justice and equity real in California, philanthropy needs to elevate its investments in Black organizers that are focused on advocacy, organizing and holding our institutions accountable -- something that we call power-building," said Lateefah Simon, President, Akonadi Foundation. "The vision of the California Black Freedom Fund is to bring justice to our communities by making sure Black-led organizations are sufficiently supported and strong, and their leaders are galvanized."

The fund's focus on "power-building" means that it will support an interconnected and locally rooted ecosystem that gives Black community members the power to: design and advocate for community agendas that reflects their needs; play decision-making roles in the policies and systems that impact their lives; and exercise power to win systemic change through advocacy, direct action, and voter organizing and mobilization.

"This is a bold move by philanthropy," said Robert K. Ross, M.D., President and CEO at The California Endowment. "But we know it will take bold moves such as this in order to reimagine institutions that are more inclusive and racially equitable for all Californians. The pandemic and the racial divide in this country have exposed the anti-Black systems that are in place. These resources will make sure we build and sustain an ecosystem of Black-led organizations and networks that can move racial equity work forward, while leading California towards healing and structural change."

With an initial investment of $32.4 million, the California Black Freedom Fund will raise additional dollars over the next five years through a mix of foundation, corporate and individual donor support. Funders currently participating in the California Black Freedom Fund include Akonadi Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, Bishop Ranch, Blue Shield of California Foundation, The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Crankstart, Emerson Collective, Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, Farella Braun + Martel LLP, Friedman Family Foundation, Hellman Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, Liberty Hill Foundation, Libra Foundation, Rob McKay, Rosenberg Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, Sierra Health Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Stuart Foundation, Tundra Glacier Fund and Weingart Foundation. Silicon Valley Community Foundation will provide fiscal and administrative management of the fund.

"The California Black Freedom Fund sets forth a model that can be replicated across the nation, potentially bringing significant resources to movement-building networks and organizations that are fighting racial injustice on behalf of marginalized groups," said Nicole Taylor, President and CEO, Silicon Valley Community Foundation. "Silicon Valley Community Foundation is proud to support the California Black Freedom Fund, as it aligns with our aspirations of advancing equity and opportunity for all members of our communities."

Over the next five years, the California Black Freedom Fund will strategically increase the resources available to Black-led organizations throughout California, prioritizing the courageous and visionary grassroots advocates and organizers leading California as a whole toward systemic transformation. In its first round of grantmaking, the California Black Freedom Fund is investing over $6 million to support three established Black networks that have proven, long-term working relationships with more than 50 Black-led organizations across the state:

Black Census and Redistricting Hub - A network of over 30 Black-led and Black-serving organizations maximizing participation in the census and redistricting process among hard-to-count Black communities.

Black Equity Collective - A community-public-private partnership strengthening the long-term capacity and infrastructure of Black-led and Black-empowering social justice organizations in Southern California (Los Angeles County and Inland Empire).

PICO California: Live Free/ Bring the HEAT - An organizing intervention to protect the basic health, safety, and well-being of all people by demanding a series of immediate and sweeping changes to the current policing system in the United States.

"Black-led organizations have been leading the work to advance racial justice and dismantle anti-Black racism," said Miguel A. Santana, President and CEO, Weingart Foundation. "We are proud to join our colleagues in investing at greater scale to support these movement leaders and stand shoulder to shoulder with them in the work to eradicate systemic racism."

Three rounds of grantmaking are anticipated in 2021 to reach a wide and diverse set of Black-led organizations across the state, with the next round of grantmaking anticipated in late February 2021. In addition to grantmaking, the fund will also provide capacity-building support through technical assistance in communications, narrative change, and policy; research and data; and convening and learning opportunities.

"Building a better future for everyone starts with centering those who have been politically, socially, and economically marginalized," said Priscilla Chan, Co-founder and Co-CEO, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. "We support the California Black Freedom Fund and its work to ensure that Black-led organizations and movements have the power, resources, and recognition to continue their missions and make racial equity a reality in California."

About the California Black Freedom Fund:

The California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF) is a five-year, $100 million initiative to ensure that Black power-building and movement-based organizations have the sustained investments and support they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism. Learn more CABlackFreedomFund.org

SOURCE California Black Freedom Fund
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Two days after Brian Pallister announced that government appointees would be fired from boards and commissions if they flouted provincial health travel advice, the repercussions are starting to be felt.

Two days after Brian Pallister announced that government appointees would be fired from boards and commissions if they flouted provincial health travel advice, the repercussions are starting to be felt.

Sources say some Progressive Conservative appointees who are out of the country or travelled abroad over the holidays have tendered their resignations.

They say there is growing concern within government that the trickle of departures could turn into a flood, which would impair the ability of some arms-length government entities to achieve a quorum for decision making.

Former WRHA Board Chair Wayne McWhirter.

There's also anger among some Tory loyalists at the premier's threat, which was accompanied by the announcement that Winnipeg Regional Health Authority board chairman Wayne McWhirter would step down after he travelled to Arizona last month.

One longtime party supporter who serves as a government appointee now and who is out of the province at the moment, said the threat against political appointees will hasten demands within the party for Pallister to resign.

"After this mess, he needs to take a nice, long walk in the snow and make the decision to get out of the way. If he decides to stay on much longer, we'll get annihilated in the next election."

Another senior Tory who toils within government said the premier's edict was issued without any planning or consideration about how it would affect the entire process of finding people to serve on government boards.

"There was absolutely no planning with this edict," the source said. "I don't think anybody has any idea of what the impact of this is going to be in government or in the party."

Late Monday, Pallister issued a statement saying that all Manitoba government order-in-council (cabinet) appointees, including those serving on approximately 150 agencies, boards and commissions, "may not travel for leisure purposes outside permitted travel areas, effective immediately."

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Late Monday, Pallister issued a statement saying that all Manitoba government order-in-council (cabinet) appointees, including those serving on approximately 150 agencies, boards and commissions, "may not travel for leisure purposes outside permitted travel areas, effective immediately."

Should they do so, "their appointment will be terminated," the premier said.

About 1,400 people are affected by the directive overall, including 1,025 order-in-council appointed board members and about 375 staff, government spokesman Blake Robert said Wednesday in response to questions from the Free Press.

The affected staff include deputy ministers, assistant deputy ministers, senior legal officers, medical officers, the chief veterinary officer and senior government officers, as well as political staff in ministerial offices, Executive Council, and the priorities and planning secretariat.

The directive applies to any international or out-of-province leisure travel, with the exception of permitted travel areas (i.e. communities near the border that are exempt under the current public-health orders), and applies to any departures on or after Feb. 1, Robert said in an email.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES The directive applies to any international or out-of-province leisure travel, with the exception of permitted travel areas (i.e. communities near the border that are exempt under the current public-health orders), and applies to any departures on or after Feb. 1

He said the government is in the process of providing additional information to affected individuals.

Responding to COVID-19 has required swift action to protect Manitobans and, in light of the recent travel-related changes to Manitobas health orders, the directive for board appointees and staff "reinforces those orders and (chief provincial public health officer) Dr. (Brent) Roussins clear message that now is not the time for non-essential travel," Robert said.

The government is also concerned about the spread of highly contagious mutant strains of COVID-19 emerging elsewhere, Pallister said in announcing the warning to appointees this week.

Aside from McWhirter, the government has not been formally notified of any appointees who were out of the province for leisure purposes, and it has not received any formal notification of any other resignations, Robert said.

Sources say the edict is expected to make it difficult to recruit new people to fill vacancies caused by the resignations. It was already hard to get people to agree to serve in some positions, they said.

 With files from Dan Lett

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
THIS LOVELY CITY by Louise Hare (HarperCollins 8.99, 400 pp)

THIS LOVELY CITY

by Louise Hare (HarperCollins 8.99, 400 pp)

Everywhere you walked in London you could see tragedy, thinks Lawrie Matthews.

He has come to Britain on the Empire Windrush, greeted by newspaper headlines reading, Welcome home! But his reception has proved hostile.

He shrugs off the racial slurs that he endures every day in his job as a postman, with a side hustle as a jazz clarinettist, but when he helps a woman who has discovered the body of a baby in a pond on Clapham Common, the police immediately suspect him of the childs murder.

The false accusation threatens Lawries budding romance with Evie, his pretty next-door neighbour. But Evie, the illegitimate daughter of a white mother and a Sierra Leonean father, has tragic secrets of her own.

Louise Hares intriguing debut novel is an uplifting story of love and courage triumphing over prejudice and lies.

HITLER VOL II: DOWNFALL

HITLER VOL II: DOWNFALL by Volker Ullrich (Vintage 18.99, 848 pp)

by Volker Ullrich (Vintage 18.99, 848 pp)

In his engrossing two-volume biography of Adolf Hitler, the historian Volker Ullrich points out that some 128,000 biographies of the Fuhrer have been written.

But in this overcrowded field, Ullrichs account stands out for its brilliant psychological portrait of Hitler. The first volume ended with Hitlers 50th birthday in April 1939 and the second considers the last six years of his life.

By that time, the charisma that propelled him to the Chancellorship in 1933 has become a deadly fantasy of invincibility that none dare challenge.

One of his generals wrote to his wife: The final hope is that perhaps reason might prevail. Instead, there came the Final Solution.

As Ullrich concludes: Hitlers tyranny lasted only 12 years, but it fundamentally changed the face of the world.

STILL LIFE by Val McDermid (Sphere 8.99, 512 pp)

STILL LIFE

by Val McDermid (Sphere 8.99, 512 pp)

On a bleak February day, Billy Watson, the skipper of the fishing boat Bonnie Pearl, makes an unwelcome catch  the body of a drowned man.

But an autopsy reveals that he didnt drown  he has a suspicious head injury.

DCI Karen Pirie would not usually be assigned to a murder inquiry as her speciality is cold cases. But when links emerge between the dead man and the disappearance of a Scottish civil servant ten years earlier, Pirie ends up working on both cases with her younger colleagues, Jason and Daisy.

With its engaging characters and intriguingly twisty plot, ranging from Perth to Paris, Val McDermids latest thriller is an elegant and richly satisfying read.


The United States is sending signals of readiness to return to the deal on the Iranian nuclear program, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.



She stated that at the moment there have been no significant shifts that would allow the process of implementing the JCPOA to return to its original framework, but a lot of hope put in the Biden administration.



"Washington is sending certain signals about its principled readiness to return to the nuclear deal, but all we see now is an exchange of mutual claims between the United States and Iran about who should take the first step," Maria Zakharova said.



The diplomat stressed that Tehran has repeatedly declared its readiness to return to full compliance with the JCPOA - but as soon as the lost balance of interests is restored.



The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that Iran's current actions to renounce its obligations under the nuclear deal do not go beyond the framework of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and are strictly controlled by the IAEA.



"We believe that a necessary condition for saving the nuclear deal is the consistent and full implementation of the agreements by all parties, including the United States and Iran," she said.



Maria Zakharova stressed that Moscow is ready to work to preserve the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan.



"We are ready for close cooperation with the JCPOA participants to achieve this goal, as well as constructive interaction with the new American administration," the diplomat concluded.
Almost a month after the riot at Capitol Hill, it is still a mystery up to this date if who killed Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. Said Capitol police died defending the U.S. Capitol Building from rioters,

On January 7, 12-year veteran, Sicknick died after he sustained several injuries from engaging with the rioters who stormed the Capitol. According to reports, Sicknick was struck with a fire extinguisher in his head.

Who Killed Sicknick?

Sicknick is one of the three capitol police officers who died amid the insurrection of the US Capitol. Following the events of January 6, Steven A. Sund, chief of the Capitol Police resigned from his post.

During the Capitol riot, Robert Sanford, a retired firefighter from Pennsylvania, has been arrested by the Capitol Police after being charged with assaulting numerous officers using a fire extinguisher. However, to date, the retired firefighter had not been linked to the death of Sicknick, Kare11.rg reported.

The NABTU or North America's Building Trades Unions has made an announcement a day after the death of the Capitol police officer that they are giving a $100,000 reward for the arrests of the suspects involved in Sicknick's death.

The director of the communications and marketing division of NABTU, Betsy Barrett shared that the organization had received numerous tips. However, they cannot release the exact number but she mentioned that they have been very credible.

She also reminded the public that the reward is only good until March 1, and anyone who has information regarding the suspects or has information related to the death of the Capitol police officer can send a confidential tip to reward@nabtu.org.

Read also: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reveals She Was a Sexual Assault Survivor

Moreover, a month after the incident, the DC Police has not yet disclosed any identity of a suspect, as both DC Police and FBI say that the case is still under investigation.

While the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in D.C. stated that the official cause of death is still pending.

In an interview with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, they have mentioned that they will release the manner and the cause of death once the information is already available.

The former federal prosecutor with the District of Columbia United States Attorney's office and former state's attorney for the Prince George County, Glenn Ivey, stated that the ongoing delay in the publicity of the information regarding the death of Sicknick could mean that the agencies in charge are making sure that they have everything buttoned up in order to put the best eventual prosecution when the time comes.

Another reason for the delay mentioned by Ivey can be due to the fact that the information can be a red flag, as the current evidence is too inconclusive.

He also added that it could be a challenge to sort and find out who specifically did that during the riot.

Moreover, Ivey mentioned that the Bureau is still reviewing hundreds of hours of footage captured when the riot happened and it could be the main reason for the delay on the case of the dead Capitol police officer, as they are thoroughly checking it.

Related article: Federal Court Allows Capitol Riot Suspect to Go on a 4-Day Mexico Holiday, Faces Backlash

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
By REESE DUNKLIN and MICHAEL REZENDES, The Associated Press

When the coronavirus forced churches to close their doors and give up Sunday collections, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte turned to the federal governments signature small business relief program for more than $8 million.

The dioceses headquarters, churches and schools landed the help even though they had roughly $100 million of their own cash and short-term investments available last spring, financial records show. When the cash catastrophe church leaders feared didnt materialize, those assets topped $110 million by the summer.

I am gratified to report the overall good financial health of the diocese despite the many difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bishop Peter Jugis wrote in the dioceses audited financial report released last fall.

As the pandemic began to unfold, scores of Catholic dioceses across the U.S. received aid through the Paycheck Protection Program while sitting on well over $10 billion in cash, short-term investments or other available funds, an Associated Press investigation has found. And despite the broad economic downturn, these assets have grown in many dioceses.

Yet even with that financial safety net, the 112 dioceses that shared their financial statements, along with the churches and schools they oversee, collected at least $1.5 billion in taxpayer-backed aid. A majority of these dioceses reported enough money on hand to cover at least six months of operating expenses, even without any new income.

The financial resources of several dioceses rivaled or exceeded those available to publicly traded companies like Shake Shack and Ruths Chris Steak House, whose early participation in the program triggered outrage. Federal officials responded by emphasizing the money was intended for those who lacked the cushion that cash and other liquidity provide. Many corporations returned the funds.

Overall, the nations nearly 200 dioceses, where bishops and cardinals govern, and other Catholic institutions received at least $3 billion. That makes the Roman Catholic Church perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the paycheck program, according to APs analysis of data the U.S. Small Business Administration released following a public-records lawsuit by news organizations. The agency for months had shared only partial information, making a more precise analysis impossible.

Already one of the largest federal aid efforts ever, the SBA reopened the Paycheck Protection Program last month with a new infusion of nearly $300 billion. In making the announcement, the agencys administrator at the time, Jovita Carranza, hailed the program for serving as an economic lifeline to millions of small businesses.

Church officials have said their employees were as worthy of help as workers at Main Street businesses, and that without it they would have had to slash jobs and curtail their charitable mission as demand for food pantries and social services spiked. They point out the programs rules didnt require them to exhaust their stores of cash and other funds before applying.

But new financial statements several dozen dioceses have posted for 2020 show that their available resources remained robust or improved during the pandemics hard, early months. The pattern held whether a diocese was big or small, urban or rural, East or West, North or South.

In Kentucky, funds available to the Archdiocese of Louisville, its parishes and other organizations grew from at least $153 million to $157 million during the fiscal year that ended in June, AP found. Those same offices and organizations received at least $17 million in paycheck money. The Archdioceses operations have not been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, according to its financial statement.

In Illinois, the Archdiocese of Chicago had more than $1 billion in cash and investments in its headquarters and cemetery division as of May, while the faithful continued to donate more than expected, according to a review by the independent ratings agency Moodys Investors Service. Chicagos parishes, schools and ministries accumulated at least $77 million in paycheck protection funds.

Up the interstate from Charlotte in North Carolina, the Raleigh Diocese collected at least $11 million in aid. Yet during the fiscal year that ended in June, overall offerings were down just 5% and the assets available to the diocese, its parishes and schools increased by about $21 million to more than $170 million, AP found. In another measure of fiscal health, the diocese didnt make an emergency draw on its $10 million line of credit.

Catholic leaders in dioceses including Charlotte, Chicago, Louisville and Raleigh said their parishes and schools, like many other businesses and nonprofits, suffered financially when they closed to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Some dioceses reported that their hardest-hit churches saw income drop by 40% or more before donations began to rebound months later, and schools took hits when fundraisers were canceled and families had trouble paying tuition. As revenues fell, dioceses said, wage cuts and a few dozen layoffs were necessary in some offices.

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec 24, 2020, file photo, worshippers gather for Christmas Eve Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. Parishes, schools and ministries in Los Angeles collected at least $80 million in paycheck protection aid. That came at a time when the headquarters reported over $650 million in available funds in the fiscal year when the coronavirus arrived. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)AP

Catholic researchers at Georgetown University who surveyed the nations bishops last summer found such measures werent frequent. In comparison, a survey by the investment bank Goldman Sachs found 42% of small business owners had cut staff or salaries, and that 33% had spent their personal savings to stay open.

Church leaders have questioned why AP focused on their faith following a story last July, when New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote that reporters invented a story when none existed and sought to bash the Church.

By using a special exemption that the church lobbied to include in the paycheck program, Catholic entities amassed at least $3 billion  roughly the same as the combined total of recipients from the other faiths that rounded out the top five, AP found. Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Jewish faith-based recipients also totaled at least $3 billion. Catholics account for about a fifth of the U.S. religious population while members of Protestant and Jewish denominations are nearly half, according to the Pew Research Center.

Catholic institutions also received many times more than other major nonprofits with charitable missions and national reach, such as the United Way, Goodwill Industries and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Overall, Catholic recipients got roughly twice as much as 40 of the largest, most well-known charities in America combined, AP found.

The complete picture is certainly even more lopsided. So many Catholic entities received help that reporters could not identify them all, even after spending hundreds of hours hand-checking tens of thousands of records in federal data.

The Vatican referred questions about the paycheck program to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which said it does not speak on behalf of dioceses.

Presented with APs findings, bishops conference spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi responded with a broad statement that the Paycheck Protection Program was designed to protect the jobs of Americans from all walks of life, regardless of whether they work for for-profit or nonprofit employers, faith-based or secular.

INTERNAL SKEPTICISM

The APs assessment of church finances is among the most comprehensive to date. It draws largely from audited financial statements posted online by the central offices of 112 of the countrys nearly 200 dioceses.

The church isnt required to share its financials. As a result, the analysis doesnt include cash, short-term assets and lines of credit held by some of the largest dioceses, including those serving New York City and other major metropolitan areas.

The analysis focused on available assets because federal officials cited those metrics when clarifying eligibility for the paycheck program. Therefore, the $10 billion AP identified doesnt count important financial pillars of the U.S. church. Among those are its thousands of real estate properties and most of the funds that parishes and schools hold. Also excluded is the money  estimated at $9.5 billion in a 2019 study by the Delaware-based wealth management firm Wilmington Trust  held by charitable foundations created to help dioceses oversee donations.

In addition, dioceses can rely on a well-funded support system that includes help from wealthier dioceses, the bishops conference and other Catholic organizations. Canon law, the legal code the Vatican uses to govern the global church, notes that richer dioceses may assist poorer ones, and the AP found instances where they did.

In their financial statements, the 112 dioceses acknowledged having at least $4.5 billion in liquid or otherwise available assets. To reach its $10 billion total, AP also included funding that dioceses had opted to designate for special projects instead of general expenses; excess cash that parishes and their affiliates deposit with their dioceses savings and loan; and lines of credit dioceses typically have with outside banks.

Some church officials said AP was misreading their financial books and therefore overstating available assets. They insisted that money their bishop or his advisers had set aside for special projects couldnt be repurposed during an emergency, although financial statements posted by multiple dioceses stated the opposite.

For its analysis, AP consulted experts in church finance and church law. One was the Rev. James Connell, an accountant for 15 years before joining the priesthood and becoming an administrator in the Milwaukee Archdiocese. Connell, also a canon lawyer who is now retired from his position with the archdiocese, said APs findings convinced him that Catholic entities did not need government aid  especially when thousands of small businesses were permanently closing.

Was it want or need? Connell asked. Need must be present, not simply the want. Justice and love of neighbor must include the common good.

Father Jim Connell poses for a portrait outside his home in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. Connell, a retired administrator in the Milwaukee Archdiocese who is also a canon lawyer, said APs findings convinced him that Catholic entities did not need government aid -- especially when thousands of small businesses were permanently closing amid state-ordered health lockdowns. Was it want or need? Connell asked. Need must be present, not simply the want. Justice and love of neighbor must include the common good. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)AP

Connell was not alone among the faithful concerned by the churchs pursuit of taxpayer money. Parishioners in several cities have questioned church leaders who received government money for Catholic schools they then closed.

Elsewhere, a pastor in a Western state told AP that he refused to apply even after diocesan officials repeatedly pressed him. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of his dioceses policy against talking to reporters and concerns about possible retaliation.

The pastor had been saving, much like leaders of other parishes. When the pandemic hit, he used that money, trimmed expenses and told his dioceses central finance office that he had no plans to seek the aid. Administrators followed up several times, the pastor said, with one high-ranking official questioning why he was leaving free money on the table.

The pastor said he felt a sound moral conviction that the money was meant more for shops and restaurants that, without it, might close forever.

As the weeks passed last spring, the pastor said his church managed just fine. Parishioners were so happy with new online Masses and his other outreach initiatives, he said, they boosted their contributions beyond 2019 levels.

We didnt need it, the pastor said, and intentionally wanted to leave the money for those small business owners who did.

WEATHERING A DOWNTURN

Months after the pandemic first walloped the economy, the 112 dioceses that release financial statements began sharing updates. Among the 47 dioceses that have thus far, the pandemics impact was far from crippling.

The 47 dioceses that have posted financials for the fiscal year that ended in June had a median 6% increase in the amount of cash, short-term investments and other funds that they and their affiliates could use for unanticipated or general expenses, AP found. In all, 38 dioceses grew those resources, while nine reported declines.

Finances in Raleigh and 10 other dioceses that took government assistance were stable enough that they did not have to dip into millions they had available through outside lines of credit.

This crisis has tested us, Russell Elmayan, Raleighs chief financial officer, told the dioceses magazine website in July, but we are hopeful that the business acumen of our staff and lay counselors, together with the strategic financial reserves built over time, will help our parishes and schools continue to weather this unprecedented event. Raleigh officials did not answer direct questions from AP.

The 47 dioceses acknowledged a smaller amount of readily available assets than AP counted, though by their own accounting that grew as well.

The improving financial outlook is due primarily to parishioners who found ways to continue donating and U.S. stock markets that were rebounding to new highs. But when the markets were first plunging, officials in several dioceses said, they had to stretch available assets because few experts were forecasting a rapid recovery.

In Louisville, Charlotte and other dioceses, church leaders said they offered loans or grants to needy parishes and schools, or offset the monthly charges they assess their parishes. In Raleigh, for example, the headquarters used $3 million it had set aside for liability insurance and also tapped its internal deposit and loan fund.

Church officials added that the pandemics full toll will probably be seen in a year or two, because some key sources of revenue are calculated based on income that parishes and schools generate.

We believe that we will not know all of the long-term negative impacts on parish, school and archdiocesan finances for some time, Louisville Archdiocese spokeswoman Cecelia Price wrote in response to questions.

At the nine dioceses that recorded declines in liquid or other short-term assets, the drops typically were less than 10%, and not always clearly tied to the pandemic.

The financial wherewithal of some larger dioceses is underscored by the fact that, like publicly traded companies, they can raise capital by selling bonds to investors.

One was Chicago, where analysts with the Moodys ratings agency calculated that the $1 billion in cash and investments held by the archdiocese headquarters and cemeteries division could cover about 631 days of operating expenses.

Church officials in Chicago asserted that those dollars were needed to cover substantial expenses while parishioner donations slumped. Without paycheck support, parishes and schools would have been forced to cut many jobs, as the archdiocese, given its liabilities, could not have closed such a funding gap, spokeswoman Paula Waters wrote.

Moodys noted in its May report that while giving was down, federal aid had compensated for that and helped leave the archdiocese well positioned to weather this revenue loss over the next several months. Among the reasons for the optimism: a unique credit strength that under church law allows the archbishop to tax parish revenue virtually at will.

In a separate Moodys report on New Orleans, which filed for bankruptcy in May while facing multiple clergy abuse lawsuits, the ratings agency wrote in July that the archdiocese did so while having significant financial reserves, with spendable cash and investments of over $160 million.

Moodys said the archdioceses very good liquid assets would let it operate 336 days without additional income. Those assets prompted clergy abuse victims to ask a federal judge to dismiss the bankruptcy filing, arguing the archdioceses primary reason for seeking the legal protection was to minimize payouts to them.

The archdiocese, along with its parishes and schools, collected more than $26 million in paycheck money. New Orleans Archdiocesan officials didnt respond to written questions.

PURSUING AID

Without special treatment, the Catholic Church would not have received nearly so much under the Paycheck Protection Program.

After Congress let nonprofits and religious organizations participate in the first place, Catholic officials lobbied the Trump Administration for a second break. Religious organizations were freed from the so-called affiliation rule that typically disqualifies applicants with more than 500 workers.

Without that break, many dioceses would have missed out because  between their head offices, parishes, schools and other affiliates  their employee count would exceed the limit.

Among those lobbying, federal records show, was the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Parishes, schools and ministries there collected at least $80 million in paycheck aid, at a time when the headquarters reported $658 million in available funds heading into the fiscal year when the coronavirus arrived.

Catholic officials in the U.S. needed the special exception for at least two reasons.

Church law says dioceses, parishes and schools are affiliated, something the Los Angeles Archdiocese acknowledged proved to be an obstacle to receiving funds because its parishes operate under the authority of the diocesan bishop. Dioceses, parishes, schools and other Catholic entities also routinely assert to the Internal Revenue Service that they are affiliated so they can maintain their federal income tax exemption.

While some Catholic officials insisted their affiliates are separate and financially independent, AP found many instances of borrowing and spending among them when dioceses were faced with prior cash crunches. In Philadelphia, for example, the archdiocese received at least $18 million from three affiliates, including a seminary, to fund a compensation program for clergy sex abuse survivors, according to 2019 financial statements.

Cardinals and bishops have broad authority over parishes and the pastors who run them. Church law requires parishes to submit annual financial reports and bishops may require parishes to deposit surplus money with internal banks administered by the diocese.

The parishioners cannot hire or fire the pastor; that is for the bishop to do, said Connell, the priest, former accountant and canon lawyer. Each parish functions as a wholly owned subsidiary or division of a larger corporation, the diocese.

Bishops acknowledged a concerted effort to tap paycheck funds in a survey by Catholic researchers at Georgetown University. When asked what they had done to address the pandemics financial fallout, 95% said their central offices helped parishes apply for paycheck and other aid  the leading response. That topped encouraging parishioners to donate electronically.

After Congress approved the paycheck program, three high-ranking officials in New Hampshires Manchester Diocese sent an urgent memo to parishes, schools and affiliated organizations urging them to refrain from layoffs or furloughs until completing their applications. We are all in this together, the memo read, adding that diocesan officials were working expeditiously to provide step by step instructions.

Paycheck Protection Program funds came through low-interest bank loans, worth up to $10 million each, that the federal government would forgive so long as recipients used the money to cover about two months of wages and operating expenses.

After an initial $659 billion last spring, Congress added another $284 billion in December. With the renewal came new requirements intended to ensure that funds go to businesses that lost money due to the pandemic. Lawmakers also downsized the headcount for applicants to 300 or fewer employees.

Michael, center, and Jeanine Waterman, right, prepare a family meal at their home in Hanover, Mass., a suburb of Boston, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. After the St. Francis of Assisi School in Braintree announced its closure in June as the school year ended, Michael and Jeanines three children are learning at home. What angers us, Michael said, is that we feel like, given the amount of money that the Catholic Church has, they absolutely could have remained open. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)AP

A QUESTION OF NEED

In other federal small business loan programs, government help is treated as a last resort.

Applicants must show they couldnt get credit elsewhere. And those with enough available funds must pay more of their own way to reduce taxpayer subsidies.

Congress didnt include these tests in the Paycheck Protection Program. To speed approvals, lenders werent required to do their usual screening and instead relied on applicants self-certifications of need.

The looser standards helped create a run on the first $349 billion in paycheck funding. Small business owners complained that they were shut out, yet dozens of companies healthy enough to be traded on stock exchanges scored quick approval.

As blowback built in April, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned at a news briefing that there would be severe consequences for applicants who improperly tapped the program.

We want to make sure this money is available to small businesses that need it, people who have invested their entire life savings, Mnuchin said. Program guidelines evolved to stress that participants with access to significant cash probably could not get the assistance in good faith.

Mnuchins Treasury Department said it would audit loans exceeding $2 million, although federal officials have not said whether they would hold religious organizations and other nonprofits to the same standard of need as businesses.

The headquarters and major departments for more than 40 dioceses received more than $2 million. Every diocese that responded to questions said it would seek to have the government cover the loans, rather than repay the funds.

One diocese receiving a loan over $2 million was Boston. According to the archdioceses website, its central ministries office received about $3 million, while its parishes and schools collected about $32 million more.

The archdiocese  along with its parishes, schools and cemeteries  had roughly $200 million in available funds in June 2019, according to its audited financial report. When that fiscal year ended several months into the pandemic, available funds had increased to roughly $233 million.

Nevertheless, spokesman Terrence Donilon cited ongoing economic pressure in saying the archdiocese will seek forgiveness for last years loans and will apply for additional, new funds during the current round.

Beyond its growing available funds, the archdiocese and its affiliates benefit from other sources of funding. The archdioceses Inspiring Hope campaign, announced in January, has raised at least $150 million.

And one of its supporting charities  the Catholic Schools Foundation, where Cardinal Sean OMalley is board chairman  counted more than $33 million in cash and other funds that could be used for general operations as of the beginning of the 2020 fiscal year, according to its financial statement.

Despite these resources, the archdiocese closed a half-dozen schools in May and June, often citing revenue losses due to the pandemic. Paycheck protection data show four of those schools collectively were approved for more than $700,000.

The shuttered schools included St. Francis of Assisi in Braintree, a middle-class enclave 10 miles south of Boston, which received $210,000. Parents said they felt blindsided by the closure, announced in June as classes ended.

Its like a punch to the gut because that was such a home for so many people for so long, said Kate Nedelman Herbst, the mother of two children who attended the elementary school.

This Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020, image shows the St. Francis of Assisi School in Braintree, Mass. Despite the Boston archdioceses access to cash and other readily available funds, it closed 11 schools last spring, including this one, often citing revenue losses due to the pandemic. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)AP

Along with more than 2,000 other school supporters, Herbst signed a written protest to OMalley that noted the archdioceses robust finances. After OMalley didnt reply, parents appealed to the Vatican, this time underscoring the collection of Paycheck Protection Program money.

It is very hard to reconcile the large sums of money raised by the archdiocese in recent years with this wholesale destruction of the churchs educational infrastructure, parents wrote.

In December, the Vatican turned down their request to overrule OMalley. Spokesman Donilon said the decision to close the school is not being reconsidered.

Today, the three children of Michael Waterman and his wife, Jeanine, are learning at home. And they still cant understand why the archdiocese didnt shift money to help save a school beloved by the faithful.

What angers us, Michael Waterman said, is that we feel like, given the amount of money that the Catholic Church has, they absolutely could have remained open.

Contributing to this report were Justin Myers, Randy Herschaft, Rodrique Ngowi, Holbrook Mohr, Jason Dearen and James LaPorta.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / Ximen Mining Corp. (TSXV:XIM)(FRA:1XMA)(OTCQB:XXMMF) (the "Company" or "Ximen") The Company is pleased to announce that it has closed a financing for gross proceeds of $365,547 The non-brokered private placement consisted of 1,218,493 units at a price of $0.30 per unit. Each Unit consists of one common share and one transferable common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder to purchase, for a period of 36 months from the date of issue, one additional common share of the Issuer at an exercise price of $0.45 per share. The hold expiry date for the placement is June 5, 2021. The net proceeds from the private placement will be used for the further exploration on the Company's British Columbia mineral properties and general working capital.

The closing of the private placement financing is subject to final TSX-V approval.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Christopher R. Anderson"

Christopher R. Anderson,

President, CEO and Director

604 488-3900

Investor Relations:

Sophy Cesar,

604-488-3900,

ir@XimenMiningCorp.com

About Ximen Mining Corp.

Ximen Mining Corp. owns 100% interest in three of its precious metal projects located in southern BC. Ximen's two Gold projects The Amelia Gold Mine and The Brett Epithermal Gold Project. Ximen also owns the Treasure Mountain Silver Project adjacent to the past producing Huldra Silver Mine. Currently, the Treasure Mountain Silver Project is under a option agreement. The option partner is making annual staged cash and stocks payments as well as funding the development of the project. The company has recently acquired control of the Kenville Gold mine near Nelson British Columbia which comes with surface and underground rights, buildings and equipment.

Ximen is a publicly listed company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol XIM, in the USA under the symbol XXMMF, and in Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin Stock Exchanges in Germany under the symbol 1XMA and WKN with the number as A2JBKL.

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the receipt of TSX Venture Exchange approval and the exercise of the Option by Ximen. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, 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. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the possibility that the TSX Venture Exchange may not accept the proposed transaction in a timely manner, if at all. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.

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 any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

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: Ximen Mining Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/628015/Ximen-Mining-Corporate-Update
Lisa Vostrejs, an avid romance and mystery fan who braves the summers in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she lives with her husband and four children, has completed her new book Secret in the Pines: a spellbinding romantic drama that keeps the pages turning until the satisfying conclusion.

Silva Reins had the dream life. She was in love with her high school sweetheart, Drew Stanton, and he had just proposed to her on their favorite mountain in the Pines of Flagstaff, Arizona. Nobody dreamed that would all be destroyed by a family secret that would keep Silva away from her hometown for so long. Fast-forward ten years, Silva is living in LA working as an assistant DA. When tragedy strikes, Silva is forced to go home, where she and Drew are reunited in the most unexpected way. Silva realizes after dealing with the tragedy that she has not healed from the secret that completely changed the course of her life. Maybe it was time to reveal the secret, but how many more lives would be ruined? She goes on a journey with lots of twists and turns to heal herself. Silva finds love again, but did she ever get over Drew Stanton? This is a story of heartbreak, secrets, and love. Once you start this journey with Silva, you will not want to stop until the ending, where yet another secret is revealed.

Published by Page Publishing, Lisa Vostrejs engrossing tale is an excellent choice for avid romantic fiction readers.

Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchaseSecret in the Pines at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

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[February 03, 2021] iWedia appoints Xavier Marle as Director of Sales and Business Development in APAC

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for TV devices, is pleased to announce the appointment of Xavier Marle as Director of Sales and Business Development in Asia Pacific. Located in Singapore, Xavier has accumulated 15 years of experience in the Pay TV industry and held several customer-focused positions in APAC. Before joining iWedia, he successfully helped the regional expansion of Verimatrix, Brightcove, SeaChange and more recently iFeelSmart, where he served as VP of Sales, Accounts and Business Development. This new year's transfer consolidates iWedia team in APAC and follows the company's mission to provide always greater support to its customers and partners. Hans-Jurgen Desor, CEO of iWedia, said, "It is a great pleasure to welcome Xavier on board. His competences re recognized throughout the digital TV industry where he has established a strong professional network." "The array of technologies he worked with, combined with his executive mindset will be very valuable to all the Telcos and Pay TV operators in the region, as well as for iWedia" he added.



Xavier said, "I am delighted to join iWedia and contribute to serving world-class software to the top-tier operators in APAC. I am convinced that with the expertise of iWedia to deploy complex TV project across the globe and particularly in APAC market, combined with our broad range of solutions, our value-added services and our system integration capabilities, we will be able to successfully build the next generation services for APAC operators." About iWedia

iWedia S.A. provides world-class software solutions for connected TV devices. We are pioneers in AndroidTV and support our customers with software architecture and design expertise, field proven products, and cost-effective engineering services. We are proud to serving major Telecom operators, PayTV operators and tier 1 automotive OEMs with our media solutions. iWedia delivers efficient and scalable software integration services performed by an experienced team used to enable rapid deployments of high-volume consumer electronics devices. iWedia is headquartered in Switzerland with development labs in Belgrade and Novi Sad, Serbia, and sales and support offices in Brazil, France, Germany, India, Singapore and South Korea. For more information, please visit www.iwedia.com and contact: David C. Paul,

Marketing Manager, iWedia

david.paul@iwedia.com SOURCE iWedia

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THREEGOLD RESOURCES INC., VICTOR GONCALVES and JON SNELSON, File No. 2019-42

TORONTO, Feb. 4, 2021 /CNW/ - The Office of the Secretary issued a Notice of Hearing for a hearing to consider whether it is in the public interest to approve a Settlement Agreement entered into by Staff of the Commission and Victor Goncalves and Jon Snelson in the above named matter.

A copy of the Notice of Hearing dated February 4, 2021 and Statement of Allegations dated January 29, 2021 are available at www.osc.gov.on.ca

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

GRACE KNAKOWSKI

SECRETARY TO THE COMMISSION

SOURCE Ontario Securities Commission

For further information: For Media Inquiries: [email protected]; For General Inquiries: 1-877-785-1555 (Toll Free), [email protected]

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http://www.osc.gov.on.ca



Chinese demand continues strong, and Australian producers in particular look set to benefit

Hows the world economy doing?

Crazy bad if you look at the commentary of the doom-mongers who refute the efficacy of modern monetary theory and highlight the collapse in short-term GDP numbers in major economies round the world.

On the other hand, if you take base metals prices as your bellwether the pictures altogether different. Commodities investors have been bullish on copper for some months now, and iron ore too has been going strong.

These two metals are at the core of ongoing growth in China, which it now appears only briefly broke its stride during the worst vagaries of the coronavirus crisis in the early part of last year.

Since then, Chinas economy has been sucking in base metals as usual, and given that there have also been supply disruptions as the virus has closed or restricted some operations in South America, the upward pressure on prices has been marked.

This week, raised its forecast prices for iron ore by more than 40% against this strong supply-demand backdrop, citing support for Rio Tinto ( )(ASX:RIO) in particular as it did so.

We revise our crude steel production forecasts to now assume 1.9% growth year-on-year in 2021 and also account for lower iron ore supply from Vale ( ) driving the higher iron ore prices, said.

That bullish outlook for iron ore supports not only Rio Tinto, which Credit Suisse reckons could benefit by an uplift in earnings of between 40% and 60%, but also other companies with significant exposure to the sector like Anglo American ( ) and Fortescue Metals ( ).

In the case of BHP ( )(ASX:BHP) Credit Suisse reckons the upside is already priced in.

But the same may well not be true of other more junior companies in the iron ore space, which in times of low iron ore prices often struggle to gain traction.

Thus Alien Metals ( ), which also has exposure to silver, has been strongly supported in the market of late, and continues to benefit to its judicious exposure to a wide range of in-vogue commodities.

Shares in Anglo Pacific Group ( )( ), which has exposure to iron ore in its royalty portfolio, as well as a strongly-performing coal revenue stream, have risen by 25% in the past two months, and look likely to be well supported on the current commodities outlook.

Other iron ore companies that could also benefit include Zanaga Iron Ore ( ), which has assets in West Africa, Macarthur Minerals ( ), Venture Minerals ( ), ( ), Anglesey Mining (LON:AEY) and Black Iron ( ).

There could also be a new kid on the block pretty soon, as plans are well advanced for the spinning out of the Australian iron ore assets of Jupiter Mines ( ) into a new vehicle. London-listed project generator Red Rock Resources ( ), which has a long-standing relationship with Jupiter, would likely also have a stake.

Other go-to iron ore companies for investors include Ferrexpo ( ), and VALE, which remains somewhat constrained by conditions in Brazil.
The Delhi Police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against unknown creators of a 'toolkit' shared by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on how to support the ongoing farmers' protest in India. Thunberg had expressed solidarity with the farmers who have been protesting against the Centre's new farm bills.

Earlier reports had claimed that Thunberg herself was named in the FIR, however, Delhi Police later clarified that it was not case.

"We haven't named anybody in the FIR, it's only against the creators of toolkit which is a matter of investigation and Delhi Police will be investigating that case. Preliminary enquiry has revealed that the toolkit in question appears to have been created by a pro-Khalistani organisation Poetic Justice Foundation. A section of the documents titled "prior action" delineates the following action plan," stated Praveer Ranjan, Special Commissioner of Police (CP), Delhi Police.

Also Read: Greta Thunberg shares 'updated toolkit' on how to support farmers' protest on social media, ground

After reports of the case being filed surfaced, Greta Thunberg, on Twitter, wrote "I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest."

I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest - Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 4, 2021

This FIR has been lodged a day after the Ministry of External Affairs had issued a statement asking celebrities to refrain from sensationalising such matters.

The Swedish climate activist had first tweeted about the issue soon after pop icon Rihanna attracted international attention to the protests via a single tweet. In her first tweet, Thunberg wrote: "We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India" and shared a CNN article which was about the ongoing farmers' protest in India and how internet services around Delhi borders have been suspended by the government.

We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India. https://t.co/tqvR0oHgo0 - Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 2, 2021

Also read: Rihanna's tweet on farmers protest: Cricketer Monty Panesar invites pop singer for interview

In a follow-up tweet, Thunberg wrote, "Here's an updated toolkit by people on the ground in India if you want to help. (They removed their previous document as it was outdated.) #StandWithFarmers #FarmersProtest". Along with the tweet she shared a link to a document which provides details about the ongoing agitation.

Here's an updated toolkit by people on the ground in India if you want to help. (They removed their previous document as it was outdated.)#StandWithFarmers #FarmersProtesthttps://t.co/ZGEcMwHUNL - Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 3, 2021

Delhi Police has filed an FIR under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race) and Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs had said that it is "unfortunate" that some vested groups are garnering international support. In an official statement, MEA said, "Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken. The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible."

Soon after the release of MEA's statement, several Indian celebrities such as Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Karan Johar, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli retweeted MEA's statement and voiced their support for the government.

Also read: It's Rihanna vs Kangana on farm protests
House speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted her Republican counterpart Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday over his cowardly refusal" to unseat representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from committees over her past comments on social media endorsing violence against Democrats and backing conspiracy theories, mocking him as (Q-CA), a QAnon supporter.

McCarthy has chosen to make House Republicans the party of conspiracy theories and QAnon and Rep. Greene is in the drivers seat," wrote speaker Pelosi in a statement on Wednesday.

The Democratic leader was one of Ms Greenes targets on social media, where, prior to being elected, she liked a comment calling for a bullet to the head as a means to remove Ms Pelosi from office.

House Democrats have bucked tradition and are moving towards a vote to strip Ms Greene, a Republican from Georgia, of her committee assignments, even though committee roles are usually decided internally.

McCarthys failure to lead his party effectively hands the keys over to Greene  an anti-Semeite, QAnon adherent and 9/11 Truther, Ms Pelosi added in the statement.

Ms Greene is the political heir to Donald Trumps incendiary, conspiratorial, oftentimes racist political style, and record of her past positionsdismissing school shootings as staged, threatening Muslim members of Congress, backing QAnon, objecting to the certification of the election results even after the Capitol riotsare driving a wedge through the GOP and inspiring fierce condemnations from Democrats.

Republican leadership, some of whom have condemned Ms Greenes comments, met with her on Tuesday and later discussed further reprimanding her, though didnt reach a conclusion. Top GOP leaders like Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and influential moderate Mitt Romney have respectively blasted Ms Greene as a cancer and a kook who doesnt belong in the party, while representative Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat from California, has moved to expel her from Congress.

In response to the growing pressure to demote Ms Greene, some Republicans in Congress have urged that representative Ilhan Omar, a frequent target of Ms Greenes Islamophobic comments, be stripped of her committee assignments as well, which Ms Omar called a desperate smear rooted in racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia.

The embattled Georgia rep has said some of the past posts in question were done by staff and didnt represent her views, and claimed on Wednesday the backlash was racial discrimination against her as a white female Christian.

If @SpeakerPelosiwas the minority leader, she would pull every identity politics trick in the book to defend her member (sic). White, Woman, Wife, Mother, Christian, Conservative, Business Owner. These are the reasons they dont want me on Ed & Labor, she wrote on Twitter. Its my identity & my values.
The U.S. House on Wednesday approved a budget resolution that would pave the way for President Joe Bidens $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill to pass by majority vote.

While the budget resolution would trigger a procedure known as reconciliation and allow congressional Democrats to pass the stimulus without Republican votes, Biden and Democrats who met with the president on Wednesday said they still wanted to get GOP buy-in.

While he supports bipartisanship, he also understands there is a fierce urgency of getting this done, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez said after a 90-minute meeting with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Democratic committee chairs like himself. Yes, we would love to have Republicans but not at the cost of doing something that is big and bold.

One area of compromise could be scaling back the $1,400 stimulus payments. Under the current proposal, some families earning more than $400,000 could get a check.

Further targeting means not the size of the check, it means the income level of people who receive the check, and thats something that has been under discussion,: said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki. There hasnt been a conclusion, but certainly hes open to having that discussion.

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons said the topic was broached during an hour-long meeting with fellow Delaware Democratic Sen. Tom Carper and Biden, who used to represent the state in the Senate.

We did have a conversation about the direct payments and how those might be modified in a way to ensure theyre targeted but President Biden was clear with us and with our caucus that hes not going to forget the middle class, Coons said.

Hes not going to walk back from a real commitment he made, not just in Georgia but nationally, to deliver targeted relief to those Americans most in need.

Psaki said she expected changes to the bill before Biden signed it into law.

The president, having served in the Senate for 36 years, fully recognizes that the bill he proposed, that he did a primetime address on two weeks ago, that may not look exactly like the bill that comes out, she said Wednesday at her daily press briefing.

One possible compromise would be to provide the full $1,400 only to individuals making no more than $50,000 and married couples making no more than $100,000, the Washington Post reported. The current proposal set the thresholds at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found 78% of Americans supported the $1,400 stimulus payments, with only 18% in opposition. Republicans backed the direct payments, 64% to 32%.

Struggling to pay the bills, American households need an infusion of cash and need it now, Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy said. So give it to them, is the resounding judgment of the public.

The poll of 1,075 U.S. adults was conducted from Jan. 28-Feb. 1 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

Biden already rejected a proposal by 10 Senate Republicans to shave the package by more than two-thirds, to $618 billion.

Democrats still bear the scars from 2009, when their stimulus bill in response to the Great Recession was scaled back in order to attract Republican support. Biden was vice president at the time, and the limited spending resulted in a more tepid recovery.

History teaches us that the failure to do more created more economic pain, Menendez said.

The GOP package also stripped out Bidens proposal for $350 billion federal aid to help state and local governments pay the salaries of health care workers, teachers and other public employees. Menendez called the money an absolute necessity and Coons called any effort to pass a bill without state and local aid a nonstarter.

The House vote, largely along party lines, was 218-212. The Senate plans to debate the bill beginning Thursday.

Congressional Republicans complained that the stimulus would increase the deficit, even though they used the same process in 2017 to pass a tax law that the Congressional Budget Office said would increase the deficit by the same $1.9 trillion as Bidens proposal.

Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, used the debate to lash into Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey in response to Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., who said the Biden plan delivers bold relief to the American people and deserves strong bipartisan support here in the House.

By Juan Cartagena

John Jack Egan transitioned to the heavens last Friday night. He was 86 years young, vibrant, inspiring. He was a shining light to me, my family, and all of Puerto Rican, Latino, Jersey City when I was growing up.

A (former) priest, pacifist, activist, author, humanist, Jack Egan had to constantly deal with his name in the community he served so well from St. Boniface Church. Its OK, but Im no longer a priest, he would have to repeat thousands of times to Latino parishioners who would say, I will always call you Padre Juan.

It made sense, he had officiated over so many weddings, baptisms, burials. He traveled all of Hudson County on his bike to offer solace and compassion when he wasnt preaching about liberation from the pulpit.

And its that last thing  preaching about, modeling, and embodying liberation -- that made him one of my most influential guiding lights. I so wanted him to know that he made a difference, that I wanted to find him in me, that he was unique to all of us in Puerto Rican Downtown, Jersey City.

I crammed and learned the Mass in Latin in two days just to be able to serve as an altar boy during his Mass. So now I am one of many former altar boys in my family that served with Padre Juan.

I marveled at his activism against the Vietnam War, in favor of the lettuce and grape boycotts of Cesar Chavez, against the Jim Crow laws that Martin Luther King battled, and equally if not more important, against the misogynistic reality of the Catholic church. You see, I could read about Cesar Chavez and Dr. King from a distance, but I could listen and learn directly from Padre Juan, then Jack Egan, all the same person with just different salutations.

Jack was a special, unique soul on earth. Soft-spoken when he had to be, committed to justice and love, and always learning from the community he served. He was a (my) mentor without the formalities of talking about it  he just did it, and we (I) noticed. When his writings about the marginalization of women in the church forced the hierarchy of the church to ease him out of priesthood, I learned a valuable lesson about my own mother, aunts, uncles and the leadership in our Puerto Rican community.

Padre Juan, now John, became even more loved in our households. Dinners for him were big affairs. Solidarity was a given, even unstated at times, but love for him and what he stood for, was ingrained in me forever. It could have possibly gone the other way  Catholicisms norms are stifling, and oppressive. I was too young to have predicted at the time that my mother, Juanita Aponte, would welcome Jack with even more open arms, if that was possible. She, like him, modeled the behavior I wanted to emulate.

It is a disservice to reduce the legacy of John Egan to what happened at St. Boniface Church on First Street in Jersey City. There was so much more to him in the decades since. I treasure his books, his and his wife Marthas annual Christmas cards. I applauded his volunteer work  never ending, always based on love, always spiritual without the formalities. His work and writings about the York Street Project in Jersey City, a place where teenage mothers can find a bed, food, and a high school diploma, was so special. York Street Project was led by Sister Kristin Funari  another force for good in the universe who also passed away, way too young.

Jack continued in his pilgrimage. His marriage to Martha Lewin was another loving chapter to his life. All of this was an affirmation he provided to me --- touching me to the core  as I went from altar boy to a lawyer in the public interest.

Love.

John Egan, Jack, Padre Juan embodied love and the power that love has to bring solace to the world. His activism was a revolutionary love. His faith was a guiding love. His humanity was an enduring love.

His legacy is love.

A lifelong resident of Jersey City, Juan Cartagena is president and general counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, based in New York City.
Out of the millions of cases around the world, one coronavirus case has stood out. The case is of a 45-year-old Covid-19 patient from Boston who died last summer after fighting for 154 days of illness--one of the longest on record.

According to a report by the LA Times, the Boston patient's case offered one of the first sightings of key mutations in the coronavirus' protein spike -- even before it was found in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil.

Therefore, the Boston patient is being looked as the harbinger of the virus' ability to mutate into a more dangerous version of itself. Though he died last summer, the scientists are studying his medical records to understand the emergence of the new and dangerous strain of COVID-19.

Experts have projected the emergence of new Covid-19 strain by focusing on the role of patients with compromised immune systems who battle the virus for months. According to the experts, people who have battled longer from coronavirus, appear to play a key role in incubating new variants of Covid-19.

Dr Jonathan Z. Li, who was involved in the treatment of the Boston patient said, "The mutation that rose from this single patient is a microcosm of viral evolution, we are seeing globally".

The Boston's patient's prolonged illness helped the SARS-Cov-2 virus to copy itself millions of times. As it kept mutating, no medications worked on him, the doctor added.

The Boston patient tested positive for SARS-CoV2 infections four separate times over 22 weeks. He was admitted to the hospital six times. He was treated with three courses of the antiviral medication remdesivir and once with regeneron.

The doctors first noticed the transformation in the virus in the Boston patient when he was admitted to the hospital second time. The doctors found 11 letters in the coronavirus' 30,000-letter sequence had flipped when they took his swab samples a second time.

His third trip to the hospital landed him in the ICU. In the third swab test, 10 more letters in the virus' genetic code had changed in a period of just five weeks.

The Boston patient has shown that longer stay of the coronavirus inside a human can be dangerous. In his case, the genetic code that were most prone to change affected structures that COVID-19 vaccines and drugs are designed to recognise.

Since a vaccine against Covid-19 is designed to identify the virus through its spike protein, any changes in it can undermine the value of those remedies.

Also read: Centre may get around Rs 15,000 crore from Air India sale

Also read: RIL subsidiary to sell shale play assets in Pennsylvania


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Hacienda Home Centers is like many of the family-owned businesses that are the backbone of the states economy  a dream made possible by hard work and perseverance.

Brothers Felix and Robert Sanchez had comfortable jobs with backgrounds in hardware and building materials when they reached for the stars in Espanola in 1975. Their building materials/general hardware operation now has offices in Albuquerque, stores in Espanola and Las Vegas.

Then came the coronavirus pandemic, and times got tough  very tough  for countless success stories like theirs. Fortunately for Hacienda, it was one of many N.M. small businesses hired by Sandia National Laboratories.

Its been tough lately for small businesses, company Vice President Joe Sanchez said. The contract with Sandia has really helped us to continue to grow. It gives us confidence to expand.

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Sandias total spending in fiscal 2020 was $3.76 billion, including $1.4 billion for goods and services. About $482.6 million of that went to N.M. businesses, with $349.7 million going to small businesses like Hacienda Home Centers.

And while most Sandia contracts go through a bid process, N.M. small businesses get a 5% pricing preference.

New Mexico businesses are meeting the call, Sandias small-business program manager, Paul Sedillo, told the Journal.

And then theres the direct employment.

Back in May 2019, officials at Sandia, already one of the states largest employers, said they expected to go on a hiring spree, mostly to fill newly created positions. Sandia hired nearly 1,200 people in the recent fiscal year, bringing its total workforce to 14,454 employees  12,697 in New Mexico. That equates to a whopping $1.67 billion payroll.

We had a really, really good year in terms of the impact we had from an economic perspective. We did this during a very uncertain time where we had multiple pressures because of the pandemic, said Scott Aeilts, Sandias associate labs director for Mission Services.

The surge in jobs largely reflects national efforts to modernize and extend the life of the countrys nuclear weapons.

And much of Sandias workforce is local, many of whom are graduates of New Mexico universities.

In general, when we look at the New Mexico employee base, were roughly at 50 to 60% of employees who come from (New Mexico universities), Aeilts says. Its extremely important for us to partner with the states universities so those employees can come to us better prepared.

The lab also offers a summer internship program with an aggressive local outreach. It works with N.M. universities to ensure students in science, technology, engineering and math fields acquire skills to compete for jobs at Sandia.

Sandia is also growing physically outside the boundaries of Albuquerques Kirtland Air Force Base. The lab is now leasing office space at two Albuquerque properties  the Gibson Medical Center and office space on Buena Vista SE.

And Sandia pays local and state taxes, to the tune of a record $98 million in gross receipts taxes in New Mexico.

Through the years, Sandia National Laboratories, the Air Force Research Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory have contributed much to the states economy through the sheer number of jobs they provide  thus attracting some the worlds best and brightest while keeping many of our own best and brightest right here at home.

And at the same time they help grow our private sector  the backbone of any successful economy  with programs that help businesses like the home-grown Hacienda Home Centers.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
press release

Cairo  This visit is particularly significant as it marks the handover of the DSAME role from Lt Gen Lorimer to AM Sampson.

The current UK Chief of Defence Staff's Senior Advisor to the Middle East and North Africa (DSAME), Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer, and his successor Air Marshal (AM) Martin (Sammy) Sampson have wrapped up this week a three-day official visit to Egypt. This visit is particularly significant as it marks the handover of the DSAME role from Lt Gen Lorimer to AM Sampson.

During the visit, the two DSAMEs held high-level meetings with senior representatives from the Egyptian Armed Forces and were accompanied by British Defence Attache Captain (Royal Navy) Stephen Deacon. They met with Assistant Defence Minister for External Relations, discussing military aspects of common interest.

Lt Gen Sir John Lorimer and AM Martin Sampson also explored ways to enhance bilateral training and armament partnership with Egypt in meetings with the Chief of the Training Authority and the Chief of the Armament Authority.

Moreover, bilateral discussions were convened with the Commander of the Egyptian Navy and the Commander of the Air Force. Both sides deepened their understanding of how the two nations' Navies and Air Forces can work together to reinforce bilateral cooperation and interoperability in future joint training exercises.

Making remarks at the end of his visit, Lieutenant General Lorimer said:

"As I conduct my last official visit to the region as Defence Senior Adviser Middle East and North Africa (DSAME), it feels fitting that it is in Egypt, the country where I lived in the mid-1980s, and where I studied Arabic and Islamic Studies. I have had a deep affinity and respect for the country, its people, culture and history since that time, so it has been a privilege to help develop the bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and Egypt during my time in this role. The very positive meetings that we have attended during this visit are a reflection of the strength of the relationship between our two countries. Long may that continue."

Air Marshal Martin Sampson also commented saying:

"It has been a great privilege to visit Egypt with General Lorimer in preparation for my new role as Defence Senior Adviser Middle East and North Africa (DSAME). The meetings and engagements have given me a very clear sense of the importance and standing of Egypt in the region and the Arab world. The current joint work and co-operation, as well as the plans for future collaboration between our two countries, is exciting and is a clear reflection of our strong mutual respect and ambition. I look forward to returning to Egypt in the very near future, to build on the trust and friendships that General Lorimer has developed and to strengthen the bilateral relationship even further."

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Egypt Governance Arms and Armies By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams said:

"Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer has been a great asset to our defence relations with Egypt and I would like to thank him for all his hard work and his commitment to strengthening UK-Egypt military cooperation. I would also like to congratulate Air Marshal Martin Sampson on his appointment as the UK Chief of Defence Staff's new Senior Advisor to the Middle East and North Africa (DSAME). I look forward to working with him on furthering our defence cooperation agenda here in Egypt, and on promoting security and stability in the region."

SOURCE British Embassy Cairo
Clinical lab scientist Selam Bihon processes upper respiratory samples from patients suspected of having COVID-19 at the Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Palo Alto, Calif. Viruses mutate constantly. To stay ahead of the threat, scientists analyze samples for genetic changes, watching closely for ones that might make the virus more infectious or more deadly. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Despite its world-class medical system and its vaunted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. fell behind in the race to detect dangerous coronavirus mutations. And it's only now beginning to catch up.

The problem has not been a shortage of technology or expertise. Rather, scientists say, it's an absence of national leadership and coordination, plus a lack of funding and supplies for overburdened laboratories trying to juggle diagnostic testing with the hunt for genetic changes.

"We have the brains. We have the tools. We have the instruments," said Ilhem Messaoudi, director of a virus research center at University of California, Irvine. "It's just a matter of supporting that effort."

Viruses mutate constantly. To stay ahead of the threat, scientists analyze samples, watching closely for mutations that might make the coronavirus more infectious or more deadly.

But such testing has been scattershot.

Less than 1% of positive specimens in the U.S. are being sequenced to determine whether they have worrisome mutations. Other countries do betterBritain sequences about 10%meaning they can more quickly see threats coming at them. That gives them greater opportunity to slow or stop the problem, whether through more targeted contact tracing, possible adjustments to the vaccine, or public warnings.

Clinical lab scientist Carine Pokam processes upper respiratory samples from patients suspected of having COVID-19 at the Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Palo Alto, Calif. Viruses mutate constantly. To stay ahead of the threat, scientists analyze samples for genetic changes, watching closely for ones that might make the virus more infectious or more deadly. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

CDC officials say variants have not driven recent surges in overall U.S. cases. But experts worry that what's happening with variants is not clear and say the nation should have been more aggressive about sequencing earlier in the epidemic that has now killed over 450,000 Americans.

"If we had evidence it was changing," said Ohio State molecular biologist Dan Jones, "maybe people would've acted differently."

U.S. scientists have detected more than 500 cases of a variant first identified in Britain and expect it to become the cause of most of this country's new infections in a matter of weeks. Another troubling variant tied to Brazil and a third discovered in South Africa were detected last week in the U.S. and also are expected to spread.

The British variant is more contagious and is believed to be more deadly than the original, while the South Africa one may render the vaccines somewhat less effective. The ultimate fear is that a variant resistant to existing vaccines and treatments could eventually emerge.

Potentially worrisome versions may form inside the U.S., too. "This virus is mutating, and it doesn't care of it's in Idaho or South Africa," Messaoudi said.

Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, medical director of the Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory, explains how his lab processes upper respiratory samples from patients suspected of having COVID-19 on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Palo Alto, Calif. Viruses mutate constantly. To stay ahead of the threat, scientists analyze samples for genetic changes, watching closely for ones that might make the virus more infectious or more deadly. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

But the true dimensions of the problem in the U.S. are not clear because of the relatively low level of sequencing.

"You only see what's under the lamppost," said Kenny Beckman, director of the University of Minnesota Genomics Center, which started analyzing the virus's genetics last spring.

After the slow start, public health labs in at least 33 states are now doing genetic analysis to identify emerging coronavirus variants. Other states have formed partnerships with university or private labs to do the work. North Dakota, which began sequencing last week, was the most recent to start that work, according to the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

The CDC believes a minimum of 5,000 to 10,000 samples should be analyzed weekly in the U.S. to adequately monitor variants, said Gregory Armstrong, who oversees the agency's advanced molecular detection work. And it's only now that the nation is hitting that level, he acknowledged.

Still, it is a jumble of approaches: Some public health labs sequence every positive virus specimen. Some focus on samples from certain outbreaks or certain patients. Others randomly select samples to analyze.

Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, medical director of the Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory, stands in a lab as staff members process COVID-19 test samples on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Palo Alto, Calif. Viruses mutate constantly. To stay ahead of the threat, scientists analyze samples for genetic changes, watching closely for ones that might make the virus more infectious or more deadly. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

On top of that, labs continue to have trouble getting needed supplieslike pipette tips and chemicalsused in both gene sequencing and diagnostic testing.

President Joe Biden, who inherited the setup from the Trump administration, is proposing a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that calls for boosting federal spending on sequencing of the virus, though the amount has not been detailed and other specifics have yet to be worked out.

"We're 43rd in the world in genomic sequencing. Totally unacceptable," White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said.

For more than five years, U.S. public health labs have been building up their ability to do genomic sequencing, thanks largely to a federal push to zero in on the sources of food poisoning outbreaks.

At the pandemic's outset, some labs began sequencing the coronavirus right away. The Minnesota Department of Health, for example, started doing so within weeks of its first COVID-19 cases in March, said Sara Vetter, an assistant lab director. "That put us a step ahead," she said.

Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, medical director of the Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory, explains how his lab processes upper respiratory samples from patients suspected of having COVID-19 on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Palo Alto, Calif. Viruses mutate constantly. To stay ahead of the threat, scientists analyze samples for genetic changes, watching closely for ones that might make the virus more infectious or more deadly. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

The CDC likewise worked with certain states to sequence close to 500 samples in April, and over a thousand samples in May and June.

But many labs didn't do the sameespecially those overburdened with ramping up coronavirus diagnostic testing. The CDC's Armstrong said that at the time, he couldn't justify telling labs to do more sequencing when they already had their hands full and there wasn't any evidence such analysis was needed.

"Up until a month ago, it wasn't on the list of things that are urgently necessary. It was nice to have," said Trevor Bedford, a scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. "There was definitely lack of federal resources assigned to doing exactly this."

At the same time, because of stay-at-home orders imposed during the outbreak, researchers at some labs were told not to go in to work, Messaoudi said.

"Instead of having a call to arms," she said, "they sent everyone home."

A lab scientist processes upper respiratory samples from patients suspected of having COVID-19 at the Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Palo Alto, Calif. Viruses mutate constantly. To stay ahead of the threat, scientists analyze samples for genetic changes, watching closely for ones that might make the virus more infectious or more deadly. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Marilyn Mar, right, and Nai-Hua Jeng process upper respiratory samples from patients suspected of having COVID-19 at the Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Palo Alto, Calif. Viruses mutate constantly. To stay ahead of the threat, scientists analyze samples for genetic changes, watching closely for ones that might make the virus more infectious or more deadly. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Over the summer, though, a group of scientists sounded the alarm about the state of genomic surveillance in the U.S. and began pushing for something more systematic.

In November, the CDC began to roll out a national program to more methodically pull and check specimens to better determine what strains are circulating. Then in December, the U.S. got a wake-up call when British researchers announced they had identified a variant that seems to spread more easily.

The CDC reacted by announcing its surveillance program would scale up to process 750 samples nationally per week. The agency also contracted with three companiesLabCorp, Quest Diagnostics and Illuminato sequence thousands more each week. State labs are doing thousands of their own.

Meanwhile, the outbreak is almost certainly seeding more COVID-19 mutations.

"Where it has free rein of the place, there's going to be significant variants that evolve," Scripps Research Institute scientist Dr. Eric Topol said. "The more genomic sequencing, the more we can stay ahead of the virus."

Explore further British virus variant now in 50 countries: WHO

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The Bank Nifty hit the 35,000-mark for the first time in the afternoon after adding half a percent on February 4 in a flat market. The index has surged over 13 percent since February 1, when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for the year 2021-22.

At 1246 hours, the index was trading with half a percent gains at 34941.90 level.

The stocks that are pulling the index higher include Federal Bank and Bank of Baroda, which jumped 4 percent each followed by PNB, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDFC First Bank, Bandhan Bank and State Bank of India.

PNB was the most active stock on NSE in terms of volumes with 18,50,70,788 shares being traded followed by Yes Bank (6,56,08,978) and Bank of Baroda where 4,90,89,889 shares were traded.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 announced plans to set up a new asset reconstruction company (ARC) and asset management company (AMC) as part of a strategy to clean up banks balance sheets.

Announcing its version of the "bad bank", the government will set up an ARC to take over bad loans. The existing stock of bad loans is a big worry for banks. At the end of September last year, the total gross NPAs of the banking system was 7.5 percent of the overall industry loan book.

Also Read: Nifty Bank rallies over 10% post Budget: Here are 5 reasons why the index is rising

Experts are of the view that the financials are clearly one sector which investors can go overweight on, especially after the Budget 2021, which focused on driving growth in the economy.

Setting of Stressed Asset Fund and Privatization of PSU banks will be a great positive for the ecosystem. The merging of PSU banks was a step in this direction and now with privatization of PSU, it will help in encouraging new players with a proven track record to boost better productivity and lending practices, Vijay Kuppa, Co-Founder, Orowealth told Moneycontrol.

Further recapitalisation of R s200 billion is proposed in FY22  this is at lower end of expectations of Rs200-400 billion. It was expected that after the infusion of Rs 3.16 trillion in the last five years in PSU banks, this year it would be set lower in the range of Rs200-400bn, ICICIdirect said in a note.

JM Financial is positive on ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and State Bank of India among large-caps in the banks and financial space, while ICICI direct is positive on Axis Bank and SBI.

Brokerage firm Motilal Oswal has picked ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, and AU Small Finance Bank as top picks.

: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
(Newser)  House Democrats on Thursday stripped controversial GOP lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments. The nearly party-line vote was 230-199, the Washington Post reports, with 11 Republicans voting against her. The rare move came a day after House Republicans opted not to take action against the Georgia Republican. Coverage:

The freshman lawmaker has been under fire for recently unearthed posts and comments she made before being elected Congress in which she backed QAnon conspiracy theories, supported the idea that the Parkland and Sandy Hook school shootings were hoaxes, and even backed violence against Democratic lawmakers, per Politico.

In a Thursday speech on the House floor, Greene expressed regret for her "words of the past" without explicitly apologizing, reports the AP. Greene said she was a "very regular American" before coming to Congress who passed along QAnon theories and the like, but she said they did not represent her true views. (She said much the same in a closed-door GOP conference meeting Wednesday night, according to Politico.)

I was allowed to believe things that werent true and I would ask questions about them and talk about them and that is absolutely what I regret, she said Thursday, per the Wall Street Journal. If it werent for the Facebook posts and comments that I liked in 2018, I wouldnt be standing here today and you couldnt point a finger and accuse me of anything wrong, because Ive lived a very good life that Im proud of.

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The controversy speaks to the GOP struggle at the moment to strike an internal balance between the pro-Trump camp (that includes Greene) and GOP critics of the former president's behavior, such as Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican. Witness what the Politico Playbook calls the "head-spinning night" on Wednesday, when the GOP conference gave strong support to Cheney while declining to punish Greene.

Greene had sat on two House panels: the Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee, per CNN.

Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she was profoundly concerned" by Republicans' "acceptance of an extreme conspiracy theorist," adding, If any of our members threatened the safety of other members, we'd be the first ones to take them off a committee." But GOP minority leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday night accused Democrats of a "partisan power grab" and said they were setting a dangerous precedent in moving to remove Greene from committees.

(Read more Marjorie Taylor Greene stories.)
Omuthiya  For the first time in more 20 years of its existence, a Tsumeb-based orphanage has slashed its intake by 39 from a total of 65 children under its care.

The Tov HIV/AIDS Orphans and Vulnerable Children Organisation says it is facing an uphill battle, as it struggles to make ends meet to cater for the growing number of vulnerable children. The organisation is only able to accommodate 26 children at the moment. They provide shelter to vulnerable children living with HIV/AIDS, including orphans. It further runs a kindergarten and has a school scheme, whereby it enrolls those children in school and pays the related fees.

The organisation has been operational since 2001, starting with a pre-school with three children. Caretaker Reverend Edward Amadhila said the decision to remove 39 children from the facility was a difficult one. "We are facing a global pandemic of Covid-19, and many of our donors have pulled out or reduced the rate of assisting, therefore this made it very difficult for us to maintain 65 children.

That is why we took this drastic decision though painful to only remain with those in school and in critical grades," he stressed.

He said six children, including three San girls, are in grade 11 while the rest are in grade 7. "Our only survival now is on the chicken project we are running whereby we sell eggs, that is where we are generating income to feed and take the kids to schools, including the donations from Good Samaritans and donor house on rent. The remaining is what we are trying to save in order to assist the six learners if they make it to university next year," added Amadhila. In addition, he said, as much as the road ahead is rough, the centre wants to increase its carrying capacity of chickens to produce more eggs in an effort to raise more funds. "We have also realised that some of our customers are from Grootfontein and Otavi, therefore if we continue supporting and this venture materializes, we might in the future look at housing vulnerable kids from those towns, due to their unwavering contributions.

Therefore, I wish to state that, the more the community support, this means they are investing in the future of the learners who might also help others."

He said the number of exit learners is quite high as opposed to one or two in previous years, thus the centre cannot fully commit, as it has no capacity.
I wanted to have a good house, and here it is, Samah Mansour, a 35-year-old housewife living in the Haj Sallam village near Farshout in the Upper Egyptian Qena governorate, told Al-Ahram Weekly, providing concrete testimony of some of the results of Egypts Decent Life initiative.



Mansour said she used to feel shy about inviting anyone to her house. The charity in the village improved the house by building ceilings, painting the walls, and building a proper bathroom and kitchen. Life has totally changed for the better as a result of the Decent Life initiative, and things will never be the same as before, Mansour added.



Decent Life is an initiative launched by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in 2019 to improve the standard of living and quality of life for the neediest villages in rural Egypt.



The second stage of the initiative, launched in December 2020, targets a total of 1,500 villages inhabited by 18 million people. The National Project for the Development of Egyptian Villages is part of the larger Decent Life initiative.



Mansours husband, Abdel-Rahim Ahmed, 44, added that he benefits from the governments Takaful and Karama cash-transfer programmes. I receive LE430 a month, he said.



Ahmed used to work in construction in Libya, but returned after a head injury. Now he is no longer able to work and visits a doctor in Cairo. The charity in his village helps him pay the physicians fees, and it hopes to be able to offer his wife a sewing machine so that she can work from home and raise the income of the family.



According to the Ministry of Planning and Economic Developments mid-term report monitoring and evaluating the impact of the Decent Life initiative, Egypts total appropriations directed to the villages of the first phase of the Decent Life presidential initiative amounted to LE5.5 billion directed to 1,901 interventions, including LE3.3 billion in the fiscal year 2019-20 and LE2.2 billion in the 2020-21 fiscal year.



The first phase of the initiative, until the end of 2020, included 143 villages in 46 centres in 11 governorates, and the number of beneficiaries reached 1.8 million.



Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala Al-Said said that 255 medical convoys, 1,335 surgeries, the provision of 538 prosthetic devices, 5,420 eye operations, 16,500 pairs of glasses, the establishment and development of 12 health units, with 56 more to be completed by 2020/21, were all part of the initiative.



The idea is a partnership between Egyptian civil society and the Ministry of Social Solidarity. Doaa Mabrouk, founder of the Baseera Foundation for the Visually Impaired, a NGO, participated in the first phase of the initiative and is looking forward to the second phase.



The foundation participated in some of the villages in Sohag governorate in Upper Egypt, where it examined around 35,000 people and all school children, offering 5,000 glasses and 2,000 eye operations.



University professors of ophthalmology donated eye operations for patients, and equipment and physicians were sent to villages that suffer from 90 per cent poverty rates, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), she said.



We offered them the best medical services and raised awareness about eye health among rural health visitors and school and nursery teachers, Mabrouk said. Civil society played an important role in improving the villages.



The report also indicated improvements in educational services by about 12 percentage points, with such services being provided in three deprived villages and the development of seven nurseries.



Forty-five schools were established or developed under the initiative, including 717 classrooms. Some 127 schools operated for 1,493 semesters during 2020-21, the report said.



For Mansour, education is a main way to development and a better life, and she herself spent five years in a one-classroom school after preparatory school. We need a secondary school in the village to send my daughters to, because we feel worried about them if they go out of the village alone, Mansour told the Weekly.



A Development first: The Decent Life initiative is a first in Egyptian history.



It is the first comprehensive programme for rural development in the whole of Egypt. Developing the countryside is based on institutional social dialogue through committees that represent citizens  youth, women, NGOs, and all the active people in the local community  organised by the relevant governors, Walaa Gad, manager of the central unit of the initiative at the Ministry of Local Development, said.



The first aspect is infrastructure and social services, such as roads, gas, clean water and sewage, public lighting, and communication facilities, Farid Abdel-Aal, a professor at the Institute of National Planning, told the Weekly.



The first stage is determining the needs of each house and street in the village and then deciding priorities and planning the budget and timescale for implementation. This also requires determining implementation standards accurately. Every two weeks a meeting is held, and a monthly report is sent to the Ministry of Social Solidarity, he said.



The second aspect is economic development and creating new job opportunities. The third aspect is social security and social development, Abdel-Aal said.



In the first phase of the initiative, sanitation coverage improved by about 46 percentage points. This was achieved through the installation of 706 domestic sewage tanks, 1,559 domestic sewage connections, and water networks 7km long.



Some 1,637 household connections have been installed, 49 groundwater wells have been constructed and developed, and sewage services connected to 21 villages. Such services will be delivered to 55 villages in 2020-21.



Regarding decent work and economic growth, the report indicated that small projects worth LE438 million and 71,000 job opportunities had been provided in the governorates of Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Qalioubiya, Minya, Aswan, Luxor, and Al-Wadi Al-Gedid.



The report also reviewed the impact of the initiative on sustainable cities and communities. According to indicators, 11,600 houses were improved, 160km of roads were paved, and 11 veterinary units were established. The initiative installed 11,000 lamp posts, established and developed 21 youth centres and playgrounds, and established and developed nine social units.



Cooperation between the private sector, civil society, and the Ministry of Social Solidarity succeeded in working for the good of the people in rural areas. The prime minister manages the committee responsible for implementing the initiative and insists that all the materials used in the development should be locally made, Gad said.



Choosing the poorest and neediest villages in the initiatives first phase depended on measuring the rates of families depending on women, the rate of poverty, the size of the population, and the rate of services coverage, especially clean water and sewage.



Villages that witness social problems like sectarian problems and illegal emigration were also targeted.



In the second phase of the initiative, 51 centres have been chosen according to development indicators, and a further 1,500 villages will be covered. Housing Minister Assem Al-Gazzar is following up on the second phase and preparations to provide sanitation services to the villages covered while giving rural residents opportunities to participate in implementing them.



The initiative covers 174 centres from a total of 189 in the three years to 2023-24. In the second phase, 51 centres will be covered, which means developing all the villages in them, Al-Gazzar said. The rest of the centres are border governorates that have special development needs, he said.



One main challenge that faces the initiative is time, he said. The good news is that this is a national project, and all ministries are cooperating with the whole community to achieve targets and finish by due dates, Gad told the Weekly.



Fifty-five million people will benefit from the Decent Life initiative, Ali Fathi, chair of the comprehensive development sector at the Misr Al-Kheir Foundation, a NGO, told the Weekly. He added that when people find that their rights are respected and their needs fulfilled, their loyalty to the country will increase.



The first phase of the initiative included 143 villages in 11 governorates. Misr Al-Kheir participated in developing 37 villages in the four governorates of Minya, Sohag, Assiut, and Qena, Fathi said.



Developing human beings was an essential aspect of this initiative, he added, and had been taken into consideration when implementing the initiative. Job opportunities were offered to young people, and residents were willing to participate in all activities, including cleaning and planting trees.



Ismail Abdel-Galil, a former chair of the Desert Research Centre in Cairo, told the Weekly that the kinds of trees that used to be planted in Egyptian villages should be planted by the banks of canals, to a depth of six or seven metres.



Rural residents should have trees like sycamores and other trees to add a romantic atmosphere and help reduce water evaporation from canals. They will also help to clean up the canals and bring back the beauty to Egyptian villages, Abdel-Galil concluded.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 4 February , 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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As the world celebrates World Cancer Day, health experts are calling for increased awareness of the disease and adequate funding to improve healthcare services in Nigeria.

The World Cancer Day, celebrated on February 4 yearly, is an initiative of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and is marked by countries all around the world.

The day aims to save millions of preventable deaths each year by raising awareness and education about cancer and putting pressure on governments and individuals across the world to take action against the disease.

The President of the Nigeria Cancer Society (NCS), Adamu Alhassan, in this interview to commemorate the Day, explains the importance of early diagnosis in reducing deaths from cancer-related illnesses in Nigeria.

He also spoke on the implication of late case presentation, collaborations between concerned parties and strategic ways to defeat cancer in the country.

Mr Alhassan is a public health expert working with the Department of Family Medicine at the Federal Medical Centre Nguru, Yobe State.

PT: How will you rate the level of cancer awareness in the country?

Alhassan: This is the major reason why all stakeholders in the Nigerian Cancer Society (NCS) are bringing in new energy and vigour to be able to reawaken the consciousness of Nigerians because, sincerely speaking, the level of awareness is low and we really need to up the ante in order to ensure that we get out there, we get across to the general populace particularly those in the rural areas.

Because, you discover that the radio, TV jingles, newspaper publications end up in the hands of the few who are literally in the capital cities, but we in the Nigerian Cancer Society, are advocating for more inclusiveness whenever it comes to advocacy and awareness creation.

Cancer is a preventable disease and It is a disease that is actually preventable. You know, there is the saying that preventive medicine is better than curative medicine and this is the major reason why awareness should be the key priority of every individual, and it is actually our priority in the Nigerian Cancer society to raise the awareness and that is what we are doing.

We are not going to relent on that as we continue to push until we ensure that we have significantly reached across to those who really matter.

PT: Late diagnosis has been identified as a major reason for deaths in cancer. Some cancer patients are already above stage one before doctors confirm the presence of cancer. How can you rate cancer diagnosis in Nigeria?

Alhassan: This also boils down to the fact that the awareness level on cancer is quite low in the country.

Because when you say late diagnosis, it is usually not late diagnosis on the part of those diagnosing cancer but rather in terms of presentation by patients.

You know, there are these general myths, especially in the rural areas that cancer is like a taboo. They will tell you that if you go to the hospital and get diagnosed of cancer, you will be given an injection, which will lead to death. And that is a very serious myth and misconception by the public and that is what usually attributes to late presentation at the hospital.

If you dont come early, you know how cancer cells behave and how easily they spread to other organs. That is usually the major reason. In terms of the diagnostic tools, you may be right if you say we are still not where we are supposed to be as a country and that is the reason why there is a serious need for government involvement in ensuring that the diagnostic tools are in place.

Accessibility is also very important because its not just for you to come and keep them at the hospitals in the state capitals or Abuja. And then those in the rural areas cannot access where to have the basic diagnosis that can detect cancer early.

You see, a typical example is the Pap smear that is used for cervical cancer screening in women. Pap smear should be easily accessible anywhere anytime and, in fact, it should be free in all our hospitals, so that any willing woman can walk into any facility and have the test done. Of course, if there is any suspicion, they will take it up from there and build further on making more accurate and specific diagnosis. Early diagnosis in cancer care is very important because it is in stages. So the earlier you catch it the better and better prognosis for the patient.

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PT: How can Nigeria manage more patients if cancer is detected early?

Alhassan: Improvement in the number of cancer patients being managed or cured depends largely on the commitment of the government.

If the government is committed and serious in ensuring that there is availability and accessibility of cancer diagnostic tools and management, it will go a long way.

I am just coming from the National Assembly now where a public hearing is still in progress on certain bills and some of them have some direct correlation with cancer. Some of these bills are aimed at promoting the improvement in healthcare delivery services in Nigeria. If there is additional funding to health care, additional funding for cancer treatment and advocacy and control, of course that will determine how any cancer can be cured.

And dont forget if it is detected early in some stages, its not even cancerous and it can be cured completely. At that very early stage, one has not even been certified to have cancer and that will be a good thing and it will definitely go a long way in improving our statistics.

PT: Do you think the Nigerian government is doing enough in cancer control and health care?

Alhassan: What I can categorically say here is that on the part of the legislature, there is a serious zeal and commitment in making sure that proper attention is given to cancer but on the part of government again, they are also trying but I think there is still a need for them to do more. We need to improve on provisions for cancer in the health budget.

ALSO READ: WHO launches global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer

We need to improve on channelling these resources to appropriate quarters where they can be utilised to improve the welfare of patients suffering from cancer, to prevent those that dont have cancer, to increase the general awareness because there is so much more you can do with advocacy and awareness creation not only in treatment.

PT: Can you highlight major challenges encountered by some members of the Nigeria Cancer Society which also includes people living with cancer?

Alhassan: The challenges are multifactorial, starting from the immediate locality and the society in general. You know cancer is also one disease that people attach a lot of stigma to, just like HIV.

People think you can easily touch somebody and contract cancer which is not actually the case. These are the things associated with the myths and misconceptions by the public and these are the things that are affecting even presentation by patients that are suffering from cancer.

You know, they call it Jeji in hausa so people say if you have Jeji and go to the hospital, they will give you injection and you will die. Surprisingly most of the ailments that the local populace refers to as Jeji are not actually cancerous conditions.

Generally speaking, we have to lot of cancer Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) in Nigeria but poor funding is the bedrock of non-performance of most of these organisations.

There are so many of them that are very good, that have a very clearly marked out agenda to improve and contribute towards cancer prevention to improve the well-being of cancer patients, but the funding is not forthcoming.

So you see, without funding, there is basically very little or nothing that you can do and that is the reason why we will continue to advocate for better funding for cancers and health care in Nigeria.

We at the NCS are like policy advisers. We advise government, individuals and organizations on how best to improve on funding mechanisms. So as to directly contribute towards the development and improvement in cancer treatment and control services in the country.

The NCS collaborates effectively with organisations like the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) on better funding mechanisms for health care in Nigeria and the collaboration is yielding positive results. We remain very optimistic.

PT: During a National health dialogue organised by PREMIUM TIMES in 2019, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said there are plans to roll out a cancer trust fund. Are you aware of this or any fund to reduce the burden of cancer treatment in Nigeria?

Alhassan: You see the problem with us as a country is the fact that we say a lot of things and we dont follow up.

Sometimes, these statements are made without a very concrete plan of action already in place. Look at the construction of the International Cancer Centre, you dont hear much about it.

So what we are saying to the government is that whenever they want to make a statement they should ensure that they have a clear road- map and clearly stated timelines.

They should also ensure they have a period of execution they have deliverables that can ensure proper scrutiny, monitoring and follow up. This is what we are doing now at the level of the NCS. We have started very well and we are not going to relent on our efforts in voicing our concerns. we are going to keep making our voices heard, we are going to keep reaching out. It is a clarion call by all and sundry. The slogan of the World Cancer Day for the past three years has been I am and I will hence our resolve to ensure that we keep pushing the agenda for better health care in general.

We want people to believe that the opportunity and the capacity to make the noise is in them that is why everybody is a stakeholder.

We should all come together and continue to talk to the government, the legislature and other non-state actors so that we can improve and better the services available for cancer patients and educate and awaken the consciousness of those that are not affected by cancer so that they can have a clear indication of how to prevent cancer.

It is important to note that if detected early, cancer is 100 per cent curable and that is the reason why all hands must be on deck.
Yangon, Feb 4 : Myanmar's State Administration Council has announced that the citizens can continue the use of 5,000 and 10,000 kyat notes, while denying rumours of demonitization of banknotes.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Council said that rumours and fake news were spread in social media about the demonetization of 5,000 and 10,000 kyat notes published by the state officially, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Myanmar on Wednesday announced that the citizens can continue the use of the notes and banking services without worries as the directive has been given to the banks to operate banking services as usual.

The Central Bank of Myanmar placed emphasis on stabilizing the monetary system regarding the rumours.

On Monday, the military seized control of Myanmar after it detained government leaders and other senior officials of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), including State Counseelor Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint.

The President's Office later declared the one-year state of emergency and the state power was handed over to the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services.

The coup was staged over the disputed results of the November 2020 parliamentary polls in which the NLD won an overwhelming majority.

The military said the results were fraudulant.
Hundreds of neighborhood package stores could be in danger of going out of business if the legislature allows supermarket chains to sell wine, state lawmakers were warned Thursday.

During a virtual public hearing before the General Law Committee, retailers including Maureen Abrahamson, who along with her husband Mark owns Mos Wine & Spirits in Fairfield, charged that a proposed bill threatens the livelihoods of more than 1,250 package stores with 15,000 employees statewide.

I believe that most of our citizens do not want Connecticut to be anything like Florida or Delaware, where big-box retailers take over, put the little stores out of business, decimate our quintessential New England street scapes and downtowns, and create concrete wastelands, Abrahamson told the committee.

Similar legislation failed in 2019 under a barrage of opposition from package store owners throughout the state. The new proposal would also allow big-box stores such as Costco and B.J.s to sell beer, if locations already have licenses to sell alcohol, with separate entrances.

There is only so much that a population can consume, she said. So, if you want to cut up the pie into smaller and smaller slices by giving it away to big box retailers and grocery stores, you will put the little guy out of business. I get the idea of convenience for the customer, but Connecticut was set up to have separate stores on purpose.

She said that package stores in many cases have kept downtown areas alive during the pandemic.

Our business model is structured around serving our customers who happen to be our neighbors and our friends, not a gaggle of wealthy investors around a table in a closed room, she said at the start of an anticipated day-long hearing on a variety of alcohol-related bills. Included is a proposed three-year extension of the pandemic emergency order that allows restaurants to deliver wine, beer and mixed drinks in sealed containers.

Package stores make much of their profits through wine sales, package store owners said.

These predatory proposals against package stores are detrimental to the network of small businesses within the liquor industry in normal times, but even more so during an economic crisis and pandemic, said Carroll Hughes, executive director of the Connecticut Package Stores Association. The proposals are a disaster, a sea change that will drive out several hundred stores, for what? To move sales from your hardworking constituents small businesses to the retail giants who have already forced other small businesses to close their doors.

Why would any representative of the people in this state, my state, vote in favor of a bill that indisputably only benefits giant companies that have no need for support? she said after being introduced to the committee by state Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, who is concerned about his local businesses.

They are currently one of the most-stable retail establishments during this COVID-pandemic crisis , Hwang said. And one of the most-significant contributors to our community by supporting restaurants and non-profits. They sell only three products: wine, beer and spirits. These stores are what people have build their lives on and theyre owned by life-long Connecticut residents, immigrants and generations of family owners.

Michael Interlandi, owner of White Bridge Wines & Spirits in Darien, for the past 40 years said if the bill passes he will surely have to close. Harsha Bethi, whose family has owned a package store in Norwalk for the last five years, agreed.

Experience tells us that allowing wine in supermarkets will assuredly result in the closure of many small, family-owned package stores, said Lawrence F. Cafero Jr. of Norwalk, a former state House minority leader who is executive director and general counsel for the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of Connecticut, Inc. This will constrict the venues selling the vast variety that is currently available for the Connecticut consumer, and the Connecticut wine market will suffer.

But Dave Ackert, a Newtown businessman, told the committee that in the COVID pandemic, he would like to be able to do more shopping in one retail location. Like many of you, I have had to reduce the number of trips I make to purchase goods, in order to keep my family and my neighbors safe, said Ackert, who owns Maple Craft Foods in his town. I find it frustrating that I can purchase nearly everything I need to feed my family and to keep us sane, in one trip tio a grocery store except for wine.

And Rep. Michael DAgostino, co-chairman of the General Law Committee and Sen. Kevin Witkos, R-Canton, ranking member of the committee, said they believe that adding wine sales to supermarkets shouldnt affect the business of package stores, but should allow for the overall expansion of the retail industry.

Russ Greenlaw, an executive with Adams Hometown Market, with 15 stores in the state, spoke in favor of the bill, stressing that its a matter of consumer convenience to be able to buy win at food markets. The warning about the widespread loss of business havent proven to be true, Greenlaw said, recalling similar warnings of closures when lawmakers approved Sunday sales in 2012.

Asked about the issue during his late-afternoon news briefing, Gov Ned Lamont, who would like to see Connecticut wines in supermarkets, was noncommittal. I think a little competition is often good for everybody but lets take a look at it first, Lamont said.

The deadline for the committee to act on legislation is March 30.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 3, 2021) - Red Cloud Securities Inc. and Red Cloud Financial Services Inc. (together, "Red Cloud" or the "Company") are pleased to announce that 2020 was a record year for the Company. Key accomplishments in 2020 included:

In February 2020, Red Cloud Securities Inc. became a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (" IIROC "), opening the door for new business opportunities including marketable financing and M&A mandates;

"), opening the door for new business opportunities including marketable financing and M&A mandates; Red Cloud Securities Inc. had its strongest year, helping to raise nearly C$1 billion for its mining clients across more than 100 financings; and

Red Cloud Securities Inc. led or co-led 11 brokered equity financings for gross proceeds of just under C$100 million.

In addition to achieving these milestones, Red Cloud has continued to invest in its business and improve and grow the scope of its service offerings to its mining clientele.

In 2020, the Company added new talent across its research, distribution, ECM, marketing, and media departments, including groups based in Vancouver, Canada and London, UK to support the Company's growing list of mining clients and to reach an expanding global metals and mining investor base. We are proud to announce the following key additions to our growing team:

Michael Mackasey, the former Head of Equity Capital Markets at Macquarie Capital Markets Canada, has joined Red Cloud Securities Inc. as Vice Chairman; and

David A. Talbot, former Director, Metals and Mining at Eight Capital and Dundee Capital Markets, has joined the Red Cloud Securities Inc. as Managing Director, Equity Research.

"The uncertainty of 2020, alongside unprecedented levels of Government and Central Bank accommodation, has spurred commodity prices and brought tremendous opportunity to the mining sector. This mining sector, for the better part of a decade, has been starved of the capital necessary to discover the essential new ore bodies for the coming decades." commented Company CEO Bruce Tatters. "The addition of Mike and David highlights Red Cloud's continued ability to attract top industry talent as we look to build North America's most robust mining-exclusive capital markets firm. The future is bright and this is only the beginning of what we expect to be a very lucrative bull market for mining investors."

Key Developments in 2020

Our dramatic growth in 2020 allowed Red Cloud to attract top professionals such as Michael Mackasey, the Company's new Vice Chairman. Mr. Mackasey is a highly experienced senior executive who has served in leadership roles at major domestic and international investment banks for much of his 40-year career. He spent the past 10 years as Vice Chairman and Head of Equity Capital Markets at Macquarie Capital Markets Canada. He brings an extensive knowledge of domestic and international shareholder trends with a focus on mining. Over his career, he has provided financing, M&A advisory and capital advisory to mining companies across Canada, the United States and Australia. Mr. Mackasey will help to further business growth, as well as provide key oversight and guidance to Red Cloud.

Red Cloud Securities has grown its mining research team to seven members under the new guidance of David Talbot, who joined as Managing Director, Equity Research at year-end. Red Cloud Research initiated coverage on over 25 companies in the mining sector in 2020 and has expanded its total coverage to over 70 companies. Red Cloud's research team now has the broadest coverage of mineral exploration and development stage companies in Canada. Adding David's ten years' gold exploration experience and 18 year capital markets background will further this cause. Red Cloud welcomes all investors to access all of its research reports following registration at the Company's research portal at www.redcloudfs.com/research-home .

Red Cloud made significant investments in 2020 to deepen and broaden its distribution across all investor types. Six new sales professionals were added, and a Vancouver office was opened in early fall. Most recently, the Company established a London UK-based presence, hiring two capital markets professionals with strong investor relationships across Europe, Asia, and Australia. Investments in technology have bolstered our digital presence, offering location-specific online virtual roadshows, conferences, webinars, and dramatic growth in our social media presence.

Red Cloud Media has grown to nine specialized media professionals providing a full breadth of social media, graphic design, video production and web design services to our mining clients. No other capital markets firm combines such a comprehensive and wide breadth of media services and brand development solutions.

In 2020, we had the largest number of participants attending our conferences in Red Cloud's history. Our fall mining virtual conference had over 1,000 registered attendees over three days. Focused single-day themed conferences like our virtual silver conference last summer were also well attended. With a strong, diversified team, the Company is very well equipped to handle all non-deal marketing for clients.

Lastly, Red Cloud would like to announce the departure of its President, Paolo Lostritto. Mr. Lostritto joined Red Cloud in 2014 and was appointed President in 2016. In the early years of the Company, he was integral in helping to grow Red Cloud's client base and service offerings and to transition the Company from a marketing and advisory firm to a comprehensive capital markets service provider and registered Exempt Market Dealer. Chad Williams, Chairman of Red Cloud, stated, "On behalf of the team at Red Cloud, I would like to thank Paolo for his significant contributions to the Company over the past 6 years. His professionalism, positive energy, and team-first attitude will be sorely missed. We could not have asked for a better business partner and are looking forward to seeing the positive impact he has on his next ventures."

About Red Cloud Securities Inc.

Red Cloud Securities Inc. is an IIROC-regulated investment dealer focused on providing unique comprehensive capital market services and innovative financing alternatives to the junior resource sector. The company was founded by capital markets professionals with extensive experience in the junior mining industry.

About Red Cloud Financial Services Inc.

Red Cloud Financial Services Inc. is a comprehensive capital markets platform that provides a full range of unconflicted corporate access and media related services. Offering these services as a unified platform provides the ultimate value proposition for junior resources companies in their efforts to broaden their capital markets presence.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73625
State Track: Arrows' Mack and Heesch among six area event winners on opening day

Watertown seniors Cooper Mack and Maggie Heesch and four other area athletes notched event wins Friday during the opening day of the 2021 State High School Track and Field Meet.
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Quotes donor countries LDCs/SIDS Trust Fund



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(List in English alphabetical order, under ( ) date of the first contribution to the Fund)

AUSTRALIA

"One of the many achievements of the Trust Fund has been to build the capacity of beneficiaries to engage and contribute to the Human Rights Council, particularly through the provision of training programmes and the sharing of on the ground practical experience and knowledge. Australia is particularly interested in boosting the capacity of our Asia Pacific partners to contribute to the Human Rights Council's work and is pleased to note that nine of these States have been beneficiaries of the Fund." H.E. Mr. John Quinn, Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2013).

AUSTRIA (30th donor)

"Human Rights are universal. Their universality requires that all states have a chance to make their voices heard in the Human Rights Council, irrespective of their size. We especially need to hear Small Islands Developing States voices when it comes to combatting climate change, where they are truly at the forefront." H.E. Ms. Elisabeth Tichy- Fisslberger, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations Office at Geneva and 2020 President of the Human Rights Council (2020).



BAHAMAS

"The Bahamas has benefitted from the technical assistance and capacity-building support of the Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund for LDCs and SIDS throughout its journey from a Human Rights Council Observer State, to a candidate State and now as one of only a few SIDS elected to the Council. Thus, as a member of the Council, we can truly say that the Trust Fund has been and remains an indispensable partner for us. Moreover, we celebrate the fact that the region of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was the first to receive support from the Fund for all of its Member States, the majority of which do not have Permanent Missions in Geneva. As a Small Island Developing State that established its Mission in Geneva in 2013, The Bahamas understands from experience that a State's empty seat in the Chamber of the Human Rights Council is not necessarily a question of a country's commitment to the Council's objectives, but may be one of capacity. We also believe that the Council is made stronger by the diversity of States participating in its work. Therefore, in the spirit of South-South cooperation, The Bahamas took the decision to stand with fellow beneficiary States, by making this symbolic contribution to the LDCs/SIDS Voluntary Trust Fund. The Bahamas is honoured to thereby become the first beneficiary donor to the Fund and the first contributing country from Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a concrete demonstration of both the priority we attach to the promotion and protection of human rights and of our commitment to the Fund, in its important work of 'leaving no one behind' in the global human rights discourse. We believe that by doing our small part, we help to advance the shared vision of a Council that enjoys universal participation in its work, by countries of all sizes and from all regions of the world." H.E. Ms. Keva L. Bain, Permanent Representative of The Bahamas to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2020).

BELGIUM

"Belgium is particularly proud to contribute to this fund in favour of the participation of delegates from Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries. The universality of human rights is at the heart of its commitment as a member of the Human Rights Council for the period of 2016 to 2018. Belgium considers the Human Rights Council as an important multilateral forum to assist States in their efforts to promote and protect human rights, a prerequisite for peace and development. The participation of the SIDs/LDCs in the work of the Council is therefore essential to achieving this objective. Belgium has also chosen to contribute to this fund because of a second major advantage. Established under item 10 of the technical assistance agenda, the Fund is an invaluable tool to strengthen the capacities of the administrations concerned and thus contribute to their better understanding of human rights, as well as to their meaningful participation in the work of the Council and its mechanisms. Finally, through the new interactions between the SIDS /LDCs delegates and those permanently based in Geneva, the fund generates a very positive dynamic conducive to mutual understanding and development of joint projects. Moreover, it contributes to building bridges and fostering greater consensus within the international community, for which Belgium will continue to engage vigorously in the multilateral fora." S. E. M. Geert Muyelle, Permanent Representative of Belgium to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2017).

CANADA

"Canada will go the extra mile to ensure that the voices of our small state partners and friends are heard, and this is why we are pleased to be contributing to the LDCs/SIDS Voluntary Trust Fund to enhance participation in the Human Rights Council (HRC). We want to ensure that the interests, perspectives, and challenges faced by LDCs and SIDS are front and centre in the UN HRC's deliberations on human rights, and that they can fully benefit from the UN mechanisms in place for the promotion and protection of human rights. The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda recognizes the importance of strengthening the participation of developing countries in the institutions of global governance. We hope that the Voluntary Trust Fund's activities will bring us one step closer to realizing these goals. I look forward to working together with all delegates to advance our shared vision of a more just, prosperous and sustainable world". H.E. Ms. Rosemary McCarney, Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2018).

CHINA

"China is proud to support the LDCs/ SIDS Trust Fund for their participation in the work of the Human Rights Council. A single flower does not make a spring. As a staunch supporter of multilateralism and international human rights cooperation, China has always advocated dialogue and cooperation among all parties to achieve mutually beneficial cooperation. In this connection, the participation of the LDCs and SIDs in the work of the Council is of great importance for the healthy development of the international human rights cause. Today, the LDCs and SIDs are faced with many emerging and complicated challenges in participating in the work of the Council. It is our hope that China's contribution to the Trust Fund will help them to have a better participation. We also welcome more countries to provide support to the Trust Fund". H.E. Mr. Chen Xu, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2018).

DENMARK

"For Denmark it is crucial that we achieve universal participation in the work of the Human Rights Council. Human Rights are universal; they are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. All voices should be heard, and we believe that all UN member states have the responsibility to support universal participation in the HRC. It is a challenge we will continue to shoulder in the years to come, through contribution to the LDC/SIDS Trust Fund and through working closely with our LDC and SIDS partners." H.E. Mr. Carsten Staur, Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2017).

FRANCE

"In June 2016, the Human Rights Council achieved universal participation of all of its Member States, for the first time in its history. This landmark accomplishment was made possible thanks to the support of the Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund to Support the Participation of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Work of the Human Rights Council. The Trust Fund has demonstrated its efficiency over the past three years by working to secure universal participation at the Council. Such efforts must continue in order to ensure that a universal session is no longer an exception. It is in this spirit that France has decided to make a donation to the Trust Fund and remains and the participation of LDCs/SIDS in the Human Rights Council, faithful to its commitment to support the universality of human rights. Furthermore, France welcomes the fact that the Trust Fund's activities are conducted in the two working languages of the United Nations. The universal participation of the UN Member States in the Council is an essential factor for the enhancement of its actions and effectiveness as the primary United Nations body responsible for the protection and promotion of human rights. The Trust Fund enables the voices of LDCs and SIDS to be heard and contributes to reinforcing the sharing of experiences and best practices. H.E. Mrs. Elisabeth Laurin, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2016).

GEORGIA

"Georgia was a co-sponsor of the landmark resolution establishing the LDCs/SIDS Trust Fund. Since then, Georgia remains one of the supporters of this initiative. The voice of each UN Member State, irrespective of their size, population or strength must be heard. Universal participation in the debates of the Council is crucial. In this context, council's last session was a good example to follow. It is therefore important for the Council to maintain the promotion of universal participation and engagement which will further improve its ability to promote and protect human rights across the globe. It is in this spirit that Georgia has decided to make a contribution to the LDCs/SIDS Trust Fund. We are honoured to be the first donor country from Eastern Europe and we pledge our country's continued support for the initiative." H.E. Mr. Shalva Tsiskarashvili, Permanent Representative of Georgia to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2016).

GERMANY

"There is clear recognition that all States need to be present in the Human Rights Council on equal footing. The Trust Fund is indispensable and charts a two-way street; we can profit from the participation of these States and they can indeed profit from their own participation." H.E. Mr. Joachim Rucker, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations Office at Geneva and 2015 President of the Human Rights Council (2013).

INDIA

"India is proud to share excellent diplomatic relations with member states of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) as well as with the Least Developing Countries (LDCs). It was for this reason that we supported the proposal to set up a SIDS/LDCs Trust Fund that can go a long way facilitating the participation of SIDS/LDCs countries in the proceedings of the Human Rights Council (HRC). It is heartening to see that the contributions to the Trust Fund are having the desired impact on the ground where the deliberations of the HRC have been widened and enriched by the presence of delegates from SIDS/LDCs. We also hope that our contribution to the SIDS/LDCs Trust Fund will encourage other countries to extend support to the Fund and thus contribute towards true universalization of the functioning of the HRC". H.E. Mr. Ajit Kumar, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2017).

IRELAND

"Ireland has supported the LDCs/ SIDS Trust Fund since its inception. We were honoured to be the first contributor and since then we have continued to provide regular contributions to enable it to carry out its work. We have done so for two reasons. First, as it is a question of fairness to all States to facilitate their participation in the Human Rights Council. And second, as we believe that the Council is a forum where all voices can and must be heard if we are to effectively promote and protect human rights around the world. The Trust Fund has proven to be an efficient mechanism to achieve this goal and has ensured the participation in Council sessions of many States that otherwise would have been unable to attend. We particularly welcome the high level of women representing LDCs/ SIDS who have been facilitated to participate in this regard. We are pleased that an increasing number of States have joined us in supporting this initiative. The Trust Fund is clearly a success story and we encourage partners to join us in taking action to ensure that it maintains this positive trajectory." H.E. Ms. Patricia O'Brien, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2013).

ITALY

"Italy is proud to be one of the donors of the Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund to Support the Participation of LDCs/SIDS in the work of the Human Rights Council and is very supportive of this initiative. By providing the UN membership with more opportunities to participate in the work of the Human Rights Council, the Trust Fund is helping to make this body a place where all voices can be heard and expressed. There is no question that the active participation of LDCs/SIDS that were previously unable to engage in human rights discussions due to a lack of human, technical or financial capacities will bring added value to the Council's work and improve its ability to promote and protect human rights around the world. This is why Italy believes so strongly in the work of the Trust Fund and encourages all donors that are in a position to support the Trust Fund to consider doing so." H.E. Mr. Maurizio Enrico Serra, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2015).

KUWAIT

"In June 2016, for the first time, the Human Rights Council achieved universal participation of its Member States. This remarkable achievement was made possible thanks to the support of the LDCs/SIDS Trust Fund that enabled SIDS countries without representation in Geneva to participate in this landmark event. The State of Kuwait has decided to contribute to the Fund as it strongly believes that universal participation in the regular session should be the norm and no longer an exception. The State of Kuwait is committed to ensuring that this goal is fully realized to ensure that all UN voices resonate each time the Council meets in Geneva." H.E Mr. Jamal M.I Alghunaim, Permanent Representative of the State of Kuwait to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2016).

LUXEMBOURG

"Luxembourg is honored to be among the donors to this SIDS / LDC Trust Fund in 2020. Advocating multilateralism and the equality of all States, the Human Rights Council must ensure these principles within its own functioning. It is only through the inclusive and active participation of all Council delegations that we can truly advance the human rights agenda. With its contribution, Luxembourg continues to assume its responsibilities in the multilateral context and hopes to ensure that the voices of SIDS / LDCs are heard in the Council. A more inclusive dialogue can only benefit the realization of human rights worldwide." H.E. Mr. Pierre-Louis Lorenz, Permanent Representative of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2020).

MOROCCO

"The participation of LDCs and SIDS in the work of the Human Rights Council in Geneva illustrates the important role of the Trust Fund. Morocco remains one of the main supporters of this initiative, which stems from a commitment to international solidarity and shows how much the international community cares. The international community should continue to consider the Trust Fund as a way to build a more inclusive society." H.E. Mr. Mohamed Auajjar, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2016).

NETHERLANDS

"The Kingdom of the Netherlands is very supportive of the LDCs/ SIDS Trust Fund. Too often, the gap between the UN and the people it aims to serve remains too wide. Specifically in the field of human rights, we should do more to 'bring human rights home': to connect the UN to the people. This Trust Fund aims to do exactly that, as it supports countries which may lack the human, technical or financial capacity to actively contribute to the work of the Human Rights Council, to the benefit of these countries, but also to enrich the work of the Council and the entire UN community by introducing new perspectives to our deliberations. We believe in the added value of this Trust Fund and call on other donors who are able to do so to consider supporting it." H.E. Mr. Roderick van Schreven, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2013).

NORWAY

"Norway places importance on ensuring that all states should have the possibility to participate in the work of the Human Rights Council (HRC). The contribution and perspectives of LDCs/SIDS not only enriches discussions in the Council, but also strengthens the credibility of the Council's decisions. Equally, we believe that states can draw valuable inspiration from their active participation in the human rights discourse in Geneva. Norway is therefore proud to contribute to the Fund, enabling wider participation and adding the voices of more states on issues of common concern in the field of human rights." H.E. Mr. Hans Brattskar, Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2017).

PAKISTAN

"Pakistan considers itself a strong supporter of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). We believe in the universality of Human Rights and consider it as the foundational principle of the Human Rights Council (HRC). Universality can only be achieved through participation in the work of the HRC from all parts of the world. We firmly support the principles of equality and inclusivity, and consider that every state has an important role to play in the HRC irrespective of its size, geography, population or resources. The positive role played by LDCs and SIDs in the various human rights bodies and mechanisms for the last many decades is highly commendable. The Trust Fund is an enabler for participation of LDCs and SIDs in the HRC. The e-learning tool developed by the Trust Fund provides good platform for sharing knowledge and expertise among member states. We intend to continue to support this Trust Fund. Through our contribution, we hope to strengthen the work of HRC by making it more universal." H.E. Ms. Tehmina Janjua, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2017).

POLAND

"Poland strongly believes that human rights are universal, indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. Poland is convinced that the Human Rights Council as the unique UN body, exclusively devoted to the promotion and protection of human rights, plays a leading role in developing and strengthening human rights worldwide. To achieve universality of the Council and to effectively promote and protect human rights around the world we must do outmost to assure the participation of all states in its work. The voice of LDCs/SIDS definitely strengthen the role of the Council and enrich a dialog among Member and Observer States. Therefore, as a continuation of our engagement into promoting human rights around the world and maintain the principle of universality of the Council we decided to contribute to the LDCs/SIDS Voluntary Trust Fund." H.E. Mr. Zbigniew Czech, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Poland to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2018).

PORTUGAL

"Portugal is honoured to give a contribution to the Trust Fund that supports the participation of delegates from Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries in the work of the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms. This Trust Fund allows for a more equal and wider participation thus contributing to the universal character of the human rights and to the engagement of all States. Portugal welcomes the fact that all the 5 LDCs/SIDS members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) have been supported by the Trust Fund including 2 that do not have a Permanent Mission in Geneva." H.E. Mr.Pedro Nuno Bartolo., Permanent Representative of Portugal to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2018).

REPUBLIC OF KOREA

"Universality is one of the guiding principles of the Human Rights Council and the Republic of Korea places great importance on efforts to achieve this objective. Yet universality in the Council is not possible without the presence and participation of LDCs and SIDS and the presence and participation of the LDCs and SIDS is not be possible without the LDCs/SIDS Trust Fund. The Republic of Korea strives to lead by example, and it is our sincere hope that we will inspire other countries from the region, who have the resources, to assist LDCs and SIDS to send delegates to participate in the Human Rights Council. It is in the interest of human rights that there is universal representation in the Council and that all voices from around the world are heard." H.E. Mr. Choi Kyonglim, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations Office at Geneva and 2016 President of the Human Rights Council (2016).

SLOVENIA

"As a small State itself, Slovenia is proud to have been able to contribute to the LDCs/SIDS Voluntary Trust Fund. I hope our contribution enriched the diversity of representation and discussion in the Council. Universal participation in the Human Rights Council is in my view an important building block to the universality of human rights itself." H.E. Mr. Vojislav Suc, Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the United Nations Office at Geneva and 2018 President of the Human Rights Council (2018)

SINGAPORE

"Singapore is passionate about supporting fellow small states in the UN system. We have been playing an active role in the Forum of Small States (FOSS)  an informal grouping of more than 100 countries at the UN  since its inception more than 20 years ago. We believe that small states can have big ideas too. There are many examples of small states in the Nordic region, in Africa, in the Caribbean and the Asia-Pacific implementing good policies to tackle complex human rights challenges. In Geneva, we have collaborated with other partners on initiatives to encourage states  big and small  to learn from each other the best practices in the promotion and protection of human rights. That is why Singapore is proud to contribute to the SIDS/LDCs Trust Fund in our modest way. Beyond supporting participation in the Human Rights Council, this fund will allow more SIDS (and LDCs) to benefit from gaining practical knowledge and best practices from the Human Rights Council to better care for their citizens and attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while protecting their human rights. The Fund also gives recipients the opportunity to bring their unique and valuable perspectives and experiences to share with others in the Human Rights Council. We hope our contribution will help enhance the relevance, credibility and inclusiveness of the Human Rights Council to serve our common interests." H.E. Mr. Foo Kok Jwee, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Singapore to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2017).

SAUDI ARABIA

"(The Kingdom of Humanity); The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia took on the responsibility of a nobel goal, which is, to provide support and help countries and people in need, everywhere around the world, without discrimination and beyond geographical and cultural and religious borders. To do so, the Kingdom decided to support the Trust Fund, welcome the participants and wish them a beneficial experience." H.E. Mr. Faisal Bin Hassan Trad, Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2016).

SPAIN

"On the occasion of its 10th anniversary since its inception, one the most outstanding outcomes of HRC32 was the first-time participation of the whole membership of the Human Rights Council. The HRC benefitted from the pro-active engagement of those members and delegates which, for different reasons, had been previously unable to attend and contribute to its work. The LDCs and SIDS Trust Fund is essential to the HRC. A UN body that is deprived of its whole membership is a lame duck. Spain is of the opinion that the universality of human rights must be coupled with universal participation. For this reason, Spain has recently decided to become a donor to this Trust Fund and invites all countries with the financial capacity to provide assistance to do likewise in order to improve the legitimacy and efficiency of the Council." H.E. Mrs. Ana Menendez Perez, Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2016).

SWITZERLAND

"The universal representation of the UN Member States in Geneva is a priority of Swiss foreign policy; all of the States must be in a position to participate in the multilateral debates that are held in Geneva and to contribute to these. It is in this spirit that Switzerland has decided to support the Trust Fund, thanks to which the LDCs and the SIDS may engage with the Human Rights Council. Their participation in the Council's work is essential, not only in defence of their own interests, but also from the point of view of the legitimacy and credibility of the Council as a principal organ of the United Nations for the promotion and protection of human rights in the entire world." H.E. Mr. Alexandre Fasel, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2016).

TURKEY

"Turkey, as an ardent advocate of international solidarity and partnership, is actively engaged in raising awareness in the international community and contributing to the efforts of finding solutions to the pressing problems of the LDCs and the SIDS. Turkey has been an active development partner for these countries through the activities of the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency, among others. It is in line with this commitment that Turkey contributed to the Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund, which provides a unique opportunity to the LDCs and SIDS to have their voices heard in the HRC, allowing them to express their challenges and also to learn from experiences and best practices in the field of human rights." H.E. Mr. Mehmet Ferden Carkc, Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2013).

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

"We are delighted to support this worthwhile Trust Fund as it enables the Least Developed Countries and the Small Island Developing States to engage with the Human Rights Council. The Trust Fund's achievements are commendable, in particular with regard to gender parity." H.E. Mr. Julian Braithwaite, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United Nations Office at Geneva (2016).

WALLONIA-BRUSSELS FEDERATION
Mr. Marrable had served in the Air Force from 1962 to 1968, and by 2019 was staying at the Atlanta V.A. Medical Centers Eagles Nest Community Living Center, near one of his three adult children, Laquna Ross, according to the lawsuit, which describes two fire ant attacks he suffered shortly before his death.

By September 2019, Mr. Marrable was largely immobile and bedridden, as a result of his cancer, according to the lawsuit, which seeks $20 million. That condition made Mr. Marrable incapable of mounting a sufficiently physical or emotional response when he was attacked, the lawsuit said.

On Sept. 2, the fire ants invaded his room at the facility and moved unchecked across the walls and floors, up into Mr. Marrables bed, and all over Mr. Marrables body, including into his diaper, the lawsuit said.

Mr. Marrable was bitten more than 100 times that day, and his family was not notified, according to the lawsuit.

Officials at the facility washed and temporarily relocated Mr. Marrable, who was returned to his original room a short time later. Then, on Sept. 5, he was attacked again by fire ants, according to the lawsuit. He was bitten dozens and dozens of times, it said.
document

The Select Committee on Transport, Public Service and Administration and Public Works and Infrastructure today received a briefing from the Department of Transport on its 2019/20 Annual Report.

The committee heard from the Minister of Transport, Mr Fikile Mbalula, that the department received an unqualified outcome with findings for the 2019/20 financial year. The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Kenny Mmoiemang, said that going forward, "the committee will consistently check on progress on issues stemming from the annual report".

For the year under review, the department received a budget of R64.2 billion and spent R63.9 billion, amounting to 99.5% of its available budget. The Director-General of the Department, Mr Alec Moemi, informed the committee that R10 billion had been allocated for the road to rail restructuring of its current model, which included funding for the taxi industry.

The department underspent a total amount of R324.3 million, translating into an under-expenditure of 0.5%. The largest underexpenditure was in the public transport programme. Of the R13.4 billion that had been allocated to this programme, the department had spent R13.2 billion (or 98.2%) by the end of the reporting period, indicating an underexpenditure of R238.8 million (or 1.8%). The compensation of employees was underspent in all programmes due to posts that could not be filled, something which impacted on the underspending.

The committee questioned the department on the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) intervention strategy and was assured by the DG that as part of its turnaround, the board of Prasa has released seven senior officials on dismissals. The department also combed through the AG's report and had handed over a nine-point action plan to the board to "clean up" and rid Prasa of rogue elements.

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The committee also raised its concern with the department to look at how the Road Accident Fund (RAF) could be capacitated as it has a R59 billion deficit. The RAF also needs to be reachable by the public.

The committee also heard that the Giyani testing station has been closed since 5 January 2021 till today due to a staff member contracting Covid-19. However, the usual protocol is to close the station, sanitise and isolate those staff members who have been affected. The department will investigate why the testing station is still closed and will report back to the committee.

One of the concerns that were raised is that going forward the department should look at the implementation of online renewal of car licences nationally.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 16:43:57|Editor: huaxia

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ULAN BATOR, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has brought back a total of 166 stranded nationals from South Korea on a chartered flight under the government's evacuation plan amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's State Emergency Commission (SEC) said Thursday.

The chartered flight from Seoul to Ulan Bator landed at the Buyant-Ukhaa International Airport here on Wednesday night, the SEC said in a statement.

The returnees consisted of pregnant women, the elderly, children, sick people, and those with financial and other problems, the commission said, adding that they will be isolated at designated facilities for 14 days.

Following its suspension of international commercial flights early last year, Mongolia has repatriated around 28,700 nationals on chartered flights, buses or trains from different parts of the world, according to the commission.

Mongolia planned to operate at least three more flights this month to bring back more stranded nationals from abroad.

As of Thursday, Mongolia has reported a total of 1,890 COVID-19 cases, more than 1,400 of which were locally transmitted.

The Asian country has so far recorded four COVID-19-related deaths since confirming its first case of COVID-19 in March 2020, according to the country's health ministry. Enditem
PM approves B40bn in aid

THAILAND: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday (Feb 3) gave the green light to financial aid handouts to ease the plight of employees under the social security system. The scheme will cost the government about B40 billion.

CoronavirusCOVID-19economics

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 4 February 2021, 08:48AM

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Photo: Government House.

The beneficiaries will be about nine million employees of private firms who are covered by Section 33 of the Social Security Act (SSA). Those under Section 33 have been left out of the governments COVID-19 relief packages ever since the pandemic hit the country early last year.

Each employee is expected to receive a weekly payment of B1,000 starting next month up to a maximum payout of B3,500-4,500. The relief package is expected to go to the cabinet for approval next week.

Gen Prayut wrote on his Facebook page yesterday that he had called a meeting of various agencies to discuss relief measures for employees insured under Section 33 whose companies had been battered by COVID-19.

I agreed in principle to the aid package for the insured. The matter will go swiftly to the cabinet for consideration, he posted.

The meeting had also discussed incentives for domestic and foreign investors, plans to revamp the post-pandemic economy and measures to ease business operations, said the PM.

We will not leave anyone behind, Gen Prayut wrote. At the same time, we are determined to look ahead and set the direction for the post-COVID economy.

Speaking after the meeting, Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin said details of the relief package would be finalised tomorrow before being presented for cabinet approval next week at the earliest.

Mr Suchart said the prime minister had given it his approval and that about B40bn would be needed to finance it.

To qualify for help, an employee must be a Thai national aged at least 18 who is insured under Section 33 and whose bank deposits do not exceed B500,000.

About nine million people are expected to be eligible for the aid, the minister said, adding that each recipient was expected to get between B3,500 and 4,500, although the exact amount of money would be decided tomorrow.

Applicants will be required to register for the cash and the money will be transferred through the Pao Tang apps G-wallet, similar to procedures under the recent Rao Chana scheme.

The government approved the B210bn Rao Chana (We Win) financial aid scheme on Jan 19. Under it, the government provides B7,000 per person over two months to a total of 31 million people affected by the pandemic.

That scheme does not, however, cover social security subscribers, government officials or state enterprise employees.

Mr Suchart said while there were actually about 11 million employees covered by Section 33, it was necessary to lay down the criteria for anyone who might qualify for aid.

The government wants to help all 11 million employees covered by Section 33, but it is necessary to set criteria for those who are eligible. The only condition is that those with bank deposits exceeding B500,000 will be excluded as proposed by the Labour Ministry, Mr Suchart said.

The ministry did not stipulate an annual salary of B300,000 as disqualifying anyone in order to avoid causing disunity among employees working at the same company, he added.

The minister also urged those with bank deposits exceeding B500,000 to sacrifice their own desires for those who have less.

He also pointed out that the 40 billion budge for the the scheme would be drawn from the B1 trillion emergency loan.

Asked exactly how much people could expect to receive, Mr Suchart said that was still to be worked out but weekly payments of B1,000 would likely start next month.

Mr Suchart said Gen Prayut had also instructed him to look into the possibility of taking money from the Social Security Fund and giving it out as soft loans with a low annual interest of 2% to employees affected by the pandemic.

Meanwhile, about 30 members of the Labour Network for Peoples Rights gathered in front of parliament yesterday and called on the government to give more money - B5,000 - to Section 33 workers and employees over a period of three months.

The group said it had submitted a letter with its demands to the prime minister and the labour minister on Jan 26 but claimed the matter was not even discussed at Tuesdays cabinet meeting.
[February 04, 2021] Pope and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar congratulate 2021 honorees of Zayed Award for Human Fraternity

ABU DHABI, UAE, Feb. 4, 2021 /CNW/ -- The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity held its annual award ceremony today with messages of congratulations conveyed to the 2021 honorees by His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed Al-Tayeb  the 2019 honorees. Recognized for their respective efforts to advocate for peaceful resolution to conflict and advocacy of values outlined in the Document on Human Fraternity, both UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and Moroccan-French activist, Latifa Ibn Ziaten, were presented as the two honorees of the 2021 award. Anchored around the picturesque setting of the Founder's Memorial, in Abu Dhabi, the awards ceremony included the acceptance speeches of the two honorees, along with messages from Pope Francis and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed Al-Tayeb. With the award inspired by the UAE's founder and his lifelong commitment to humanitarian values, the Founder's Memorial was a perfect backdrop to a truly moving, visual experience. With the ceremony online, viewers from all over the world are able to tune in to join in the celebrations and watch the honorees accept their award. In his goodwill message to both 2021 honorees, His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, said: "Firstly, I must begin by saying that His Holiness Pope Francis has been a courageous brother and constant friend on the path of fraternity and peace. Such efforts have seen the United Nations General Assembly adopting the anniversary of the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity, February 4th, to be the International Day of Human Fraternity, which will now encourage universal support in pursuing the spread the intercultural dialogue, co-existence, and human fraternity. This is a victory for human dignity everywhere. "I also extend my greetings and blessings to His Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, as an honoree of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity. It is clear that his wide-range of humanitarian efforts exerted through the UN have sought to rid humanity of the sufferings of conflicts, and ease the negative effects of the pandemic." "Joint 2021 honoree, Latifa Ibn Ziaten is a rare role model for the world. Her generosity of spirit and steadfastness in her ability to transform personal suffering into a message of security and safety for all, is a victory for all humanity and a reminder of the good that is always capable of defeating the forces of evil."



st century's key challenge, saying: "To the Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, I thank for the companionship during this journey of reflection and the writing of the Document [on Human Fraternity]. I know it wasn't an easy task but together we helped each other, consolidating in true fraternity.

"Today, fraternity is the new frontier of humanity. Either we are brothers or we destroy ourselves. It is the challenge of our century; the challenge of our time. Human Fraternity means respect, to listen with an open heart, and to have strength in our principles. "Born from the same father, with different cultures and traditions, we are all still brothers; and respecting our different cultures and traditions, our different citizenships, we must build this fraternity not negotiate it. It is time to listen and for sincere acceptance." The Secretary-General of the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity, and contributing author to the Document on Human Fraternity, Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, added: "On this day of celebration for human fraternity, we are indeed honored to have received the support of two of the world's most influential world leaders and previous honorees of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, united with a common message and purpose  to advance humanity as one family, undivided. "The 2021 honorees  Latifa Ibn Zaiten and UN Secretary-General Guterres  are truly representative of the values championed in the Document on Human Fraternity, which forms the assessment criteria for the award. Indeed, their respective efforts to address some of the world's key socio-cultural and political issues are an inspiration to all and role models for many who will also heed the call to act." Marking the second anniversary since the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity by the Pope and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, the International Day of Human Fraternity was introduced by the UN General Assembly, in December 2020; the date chosen to commemorate the historic meeting of the Pope and Grand Imam, at the document's signing, in 2019. In addition to the awards ceremony and as part of the wider celebrations of the first International Day of Human Fraternity, several key landmarks in both The Vatican and Abu Dhabi will be lit up on Thursday evening. The nominations process for the 2022 awards will open 1st May 2021 and end of December 2021. To find out if you qualify as a nominator or to nominate a candidate for next year's award, go to: www.zayedaward.org. About ZAHF The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity seeks to honor the legacy of the founder of the United Arab Emirates by celebrating people everywhere who embody through their work his lifelong commitment to human fraternity. It is awarded by the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity and includes a financial prize of one million dollars. It was created in February, 2019, to mark the historic meeting in Abu Dhabi of the head of the Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Francis, and His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmad al-Tayeb, to co-sign the historic Document of Human Fraternity. Pope Francis and Grand Imam al-Tayeb were the first honorary co-recipients of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity. About HCHF Formed in 2019, the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity is an independent committee dedicated to achieving the aspirations of the Document for Human Fraternity by bringing people across the world together, in the spirit of peaceful co-existence. The committee comprises a diverse group of international religious leaders, scholars and cultural leaders. Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1433318/ZAHF_2021_Honorees_Acceptance_Speeches.mp4

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1433316/2021_Zayed_Award_for_Human_Fraternity.jpg View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pope-and-grand-imam-of-al-azhar-congratulate-2021-honorees-of-zayed-award-for-human-fraternity-301222437.html SOURCE The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity

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NEW DELHI : Ropeways, cable cars and innovative mobility solutions like funicular railways have been brought under the ambit of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday

The move will give a big fillip to infrastructure building in remote, inaccessible areas and hilly terrains of the country, the Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Minister Gadkari told PTI.

"Ropeway, cable car, funicular railway, public transport on electricity etc have come under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. This will give a big impetus to infrastructure building in inaccessible terrains," the Minister said.

Apart from last mile connectivity for remote locations, it will reduce congestions on mainstream roads, the Minister said.

The move will result in setting up of world-class ropeways in the country with emphasis on quality and safety.

It will also be utilised for transportation of freight and goods at competitive prices, he added.

As per the notification amending the allocation of the business rules issued by the Cabinet Secretariat in this regard "Coordination, research, standards and policy matters in respect of ropeways and other innovative/alternative mobility solutions" will come under the ambit of Road, Transport and Highways Ministry.

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A person was shot and killed in North Brunswick early Thursday, authorities said.

The shooting took place around midnight on Marc Drive just off Route 130, but the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office didnt immediately provide additional information.

A spokeswoman said the prosecutors office is assisting North Brunswick police in the ongoing investigation.

Further details about the shooting are expected to be released later Thursday.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JGoldmanNJ.

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GANDHI PEACE FOUNDATION

30.01.2021

Farmers agitation has been going on since several months. All along, they have shown exemplary transparency, restraint and peacefulness. The chaos that took place on 26 January, in the name of farmers movement, has deeply pained the democratic and peace loving citizens of the nation like us. It is not a question of supporting or opposing any movement, it is a question of respecting and following the Gandhian heritage and democratic values of the country. We caution the government as well as the society that nothing other than chaos and disintegration will come by violating the Lakshman Rekha drawn by the Constitution and the democracy. The country is going through a very delicate phase hence the first step that both government and society both should take is to respect this Lakshman-Rekha.

Full credit to the Farmers whom, Mahatma Gandhi called father of the universe, that they have created a new paradigm of peaceful retribution. In spite of all the sad happenings of 26 January, they havet lost their cool; they havet abandoned their peaceful creed. They are facing all the atrocities of the government and administration but taking their movement to new heights. The political, economic and social injustice that has been done to farmers and farming since independence has not been hidden from anyone. Unable to face this injustice, millions of farmers have committed suicide so far. The current farmer movement is a movement to demand justice for them and to save all the farmers from meeting similar fate. This is the movement of all the citizens of India, because we are all

invariably children of farmers, we eat and drink, what is provided by the them. Therefore, when we honour this movement, we are pay back our debt and show our gratitude to them.

It has now become abundantly clear that the farmers were not behind the chaos of 26 January. Criminal elements and the status quo forces used the movement as a Trojan Horse. We do believe that the peasant movements erred by failing to recognise and isolate such elements amongst them. But failure is not same as dishonesty. The Supreme Court has also declared the right to peaceful protest by the citizens as constitutional. Therefore, it is now the moral responsibility of the court and the government too to find out and inform the country of the criminal elements and those who instigated them, who fraudulently thwarted the constitutional right of citizens. Without this, the credibility of both these institutions is also at stake. Its of utmost importance that no part of the system created by the Constitution and by the people of India, forget that their very existence is because of the people and their belief in them.

We, part of the Gandhian family, want to tell the farmers that they should not abandon the path of peace and truth while continuing with their struggle. Because it is the only path that leads to everyones auspicious success.
TORONTO - Ontario will reopen the majority of its shuttered schools on Monday, while those in Toronto, Peel Region and York Region will resume in-person learning the following week.

Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ontario and Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, make an announcement at Queen's Park in Toronto, on August 13, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

TORONTO - Ontario will reopen the majority of its shuttered schools on Monday, while those in Toronto, Peel Region and York Region will resume in-person learning the following week.

Students in 13 public health units, including Hamilton and Windsor, will return to physical classrooms on Feb. 8.

The province said schools in Toronto, Peel and York regions will resume in-person learning on Feb. 16.

It had previously said all students currently learning online could return to physical classrooms by Feb. 10

Education Minster Stephen Lecce said the province made its reopening decisions based on advice from local medical officers of health and Ontario's top doctor.

"We have seen a consistent decline in key transmission rates and with the full support of the chief medical officer of health ... Ontario is ready to reopen our schools because it's safe," he said.

Lecce said the province will continue to monitor COVID-19 trends and take further action if necessary.

"If things change in the wrong direction, we will not hesitate to follow the advice of the chief medical officer of health," he said.

All students in Ontario began January with online learning as part of a provincial lockdown.

The province then took a staggered approach to reopening schools, allowing those in northern Ontario and rural areas to resume in-person learning first.

The province said Wednesday that individual public health units continue to reserve the authority to close schools to in-person learning based on local circumstances.

Lecce said the province has added a number of safety measures and allocated $341 million in federal funding to enhance safety in schools for students, teachers and other education workers.

The federal funds will be given to school boards for a variety of measures including to hire more cleaning staff, buy personal protective equipment, and enhance air filtration in schools.

The province will also conduct asymptomatic school testing across the province, with capacity to complete 25,000 lab tests, and 25,000 antigen rapid tests per week.

The province has not said how long it will take to reach those numbers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2021.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version mistakenly said the province had allocated $341 in federal funding to enhance school safety.
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Pima Air and Space Museum announced Tuesday that they have acquired 77 acres of land east of their existing parcel. The land will be used to build The Tucson Military Vehicle Museum.

A spokesperson from Pima County said that the addition will showcase land-based military vehicles and give the public the opportunity to drive and ride in a variety of military and related land equipment vehicles. The county says the funding for the project comes from a $2 million matching donor gift. Reportedly, it will include a 32,000 square foot gallery and donations of vehicles already secured.

Vehicles on hand at the Pima Air & Space Museum already include the following: GMC 1941 Fire Truck, UH-1D, Lynx AH.7, plus fifty items (on site) from the United States Marine Corps. The imperial War Museum has also offered 50 unique vehicles for direct transfer to the museum for this project.

Pima Air & Space Museum, one of the largest aviation museums in the world and the largest non-government-funded in the U.S. Its significant collection, 300 strong from around the globe, covers commercial, military and civil aviation. Currently, the museum is operating under COVID-19 restrictions.

The museum is located at 6000 E. Valencia Rd. For more information, visit pimaair.org/.
David Schwimmer jokes that in more normal times he has no trouble making dinner reservations at the best restaurants.

For the affable and self-deprecating chief executive of the venerable 300-year-old London Stock Exchange, sharing a name with one of the stars of the comedy show Friends is just curious happenstance.

Much of the time when the other Schwimmer was making people laugh, the LSE boss was in Moscow doing deals for his former employer Goldman Sachs in a newly capitalist Russia.

Out of sight: LSE boss David Schwimmer has been strangely anonymous since taking over from his high profile predecessor Xavier Rolet nearly two years ago

Schwimmer has been strangely anonymous since taking over from his high-profile predecessor Xavier Rolet nearly two years ago.

The latter left after a ferocious row over the failed merger with Deutsche Boerse in Frankfurt.

As leader of one of the City's great pillars, 52-year-old Schwimmer largely has been confined to barracks as he relentlessly pursued a grander and much more alluring global prize in the shape of the trading platform and analytical powerhouse Refinitiv  the markets arm of what used to be Reuters.

The timing of the completion of the 20billion deal on the last trading day of January could not be better as the City goes it alone outside the European Union.

In his first interview since the deal completed, the Yale graduate and Harvard Law School alumnus is enthusiastic.

'We think it [the transformed LSE] is going to be a terrific outcome for the markets, for market participants and shareholders. It will be a global company with capabilities across multiple asset classes.

'It will be an international business headquartered in London and we will be able to work with companies, insurers and governments all over the world.

'We will have a presence in 70 countries and serve customers in twice that number.

'We'll have thousands of people in America, thousands of people in Europe, thousands of people in Asia.'

Schwimmer's palpable excitement about being part of the global Britain project should resonate on Downing Street.

The Refinitiv deal runs counter to the idea that, cut off from the European Union, London's status as one of the world's great financial centres will be diminished.

The LSE boss is scornful of the attitude that Brussels is taking towards the City now we are outside the EU.

He finds it baffling that whereas EU regulators 'have granted equivalence to markets in New York and in Hong Kong and in Australia they have chosen, I think for the politics of Brexit, not to grant equivalence to venues in the UK'.

In his view this is even more bizarre in that at present Britain is 'more' equivalent than other trading hubs.

A New Yorker, who moved to London in 2018 to take the LSE job, he spent most of his years at Goldman Sachs on developing market infrastructure around the world.

As with so many overseas newcomers to Britain, he seems more committed to the City and London living than some of the old guard.

He has chosen to base himself, his wife and two sons in the centre of town.

Schwimmer's first tangible experience of potentially disruptive EU behaviour came last month when trading in some 5billion of euro denominated shares  such as Santander  migrated from the LSE to Continental-based exchanges.

Schwimmer says the LSE was fully prepared for this and had set up a version of its proprietary Turquoise multi-lateral trading platform in Amsterdam to trade stocks in the EU.

The Refinitiv deal runs counter to the idea that, cut off from the European Union, London's status as one of the world's great financial centres will be diminished

He suggests the big loser from this tussle is Europe itself since there is a 'fragmentation of liquidity that is bad for the market' and it will 'make trading more expensive for buyers and sellers'.

When the LSE originally announced its ground-breaking deal to buy Refinitiv from New York investment management firm Blackstone, it was widely criticised for handing the private equity colossus an easy profit.

Schwimmer disputes the analysis, arguing that in the first year of ownership the deal should add 30 per cent to earnings.

In his ambition to establish a bigger international presence, Schwimmer wants to make it easier for UK and overseas tech start-ups to go public in London.

The recent queue of buoyantly received City public offerings, including The Hut Group, Dr Martens and Moonpig, has rekindled belief in London as a good place to bring firms to market and create tech unicorns  breakthrough firms valued at more than 1billion.

In particular Schwimmer would like to ease the listing rules so that tech companies could gain premium listings and a potential place in the FTSE 100 share index without having to give up a structure with a dominant founder shareholding.

At present at least 25 per cent of the shares in a new floats must be offered to outside investors.

'We think it's important to maintain very high corporate governance standards,' Schwimmer says. But London needs to be 'more in line with other jurisdictions' such as New York and Hong Kong.

The LSE's idea for bridging the gap is 'sunset provision' which places a time limit on two-tier type share structures.

Schwimmer does not hide his frustration at some of the obstacles he is facing as he seeks to bring 'fantastic companies' to the market.

He is politely critical of the Investment Association (IA), representing the UK's traditional long funds, which has opposed any relaxation in its submission to former EU commissioner Lord Hill's official review of London listing requirements in the post-Brexit era.

He says: 'Many members of the IA do acquire shares in dual class companies in other markets around the world including New York, Hong Kong and elsewhere. So we have concerns about being constrained in our own market by people taking an ideological approach to corporate governance.'

Much of the last year for Schwimmer has been spent persuading investors of the wisdom of the Refinitiv deal and guiding it through some formidable regulatory obstacles, from Beijing to Brussels.

Most of this has been done from home in the Covid-19 era.

Schwimmer has only been in the Stock Exchange's offices at Paternoster Square in the heart of the City for four days  all in September  since the first lockdown began in March 2020.

The business 'is working well remotely' he says.

But he can't wait to be back in the thick of things as the 17th century exchange rediscovers its global mojo.
A Briton who was evacuated from Wuhan following the initial Covid outbreak - and shouted 'we're free' as he left UK quarantine - says he wishes he had stayed in the Chinese city.

Matt Raw, from Cheshire, believes she should have 'never got on the flight' back to the UK from Wuhan - the city where the virus was first identified more than a year ago.

Despite being the epicentre of the world pandemic, life in Wuhan has since returned to normal following an ultra-tight lockdown last year.

Residents in the city have since been pictured flocking to nightclubs and festivals - while England continues its third national shutdown.

Now Mr Raw, who along with his mother and Chinese wife were repatriated by the British Government in January last year, believes he made a mistake in returning to the UK.

The 39-year-old also took a swipe at the Government over its lack of action in controlling the virus.

He told Good Morning Britain today: 'The situation changed for us in two weeks when we came out of Arrowe Park (quarantine).

Despite being the city being the epicentre of the world pandemic, life for its residents has since returned to normal. Pictured: People in Wuhan enjoy a huge party in August last year

Matt Raw (pictured), 39, from Cheshire, says he wishes he 'never got on the flight' back to the UK from Wuhan - where the virus was first identified more than a year ago

Wuhan was plunged into an ultra-strict lockdown in January after the discovery of Covid. Pictured: The streets of Wuhan during the lockdown

'That was the point where I said 'hang on wait a minute, we aren't doing anything in this country'.

'That was when we realised, we should have never got on that flight.'

Along with his wife, Ying, 39, and his 75-year-old mother, Hazel, who has dementia, Mr Raw, was among 83 people evacuated by the British Government from the Chinese city on January 31 last year.

The plane landed at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and he was later taken to quarantine at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral.

He shouted 'we're free' as he walked out of quarantine two weeks later. But Mr Raw said he soon became fearful of a lack of action by the UK Government.

He said: '(By then) it had already arrived in England, so we thought 'why aren't we doing anything?'.

'And that was from mid-February through to March - there was no talk of lockdown, closing ports, stopping people coming in and out of the country.

'That was the point we realised we should have stayed.'

'If we had stayed in Wuhan it would have been two or three months of pretty strict lockdown but then life returns to normal.'

He also took aim at the willingness of the British public to follow the rules, adding: Its not so much the enforcement, people actually listen to the rules there, far more than they do here.

'I think the real problem over here is that people are demanding their freedoms without acknowledging their responsibilities.'

Matt Raw, 38, arrived in Britain from Wuhan, China, on January 31 with his wife, Ying (pictured), 38, and his 75-year-old mother, Hazel, who has dementia

Mr Raw was one of 83 Britons evacuated from Wuhan and brought to Arrowe Park Hospital. When he left quarantine, he shouted 'we're free' (pictured)

The first two cases of Covid-19 in the UK were confirmed on January 31 last year by the Government.

The UK was plunged into lockdown almost two months later, on March 24, after infection numbers began spiralling and the death toll reached 335 people.

Initially the strict lockdown measures included shutting all non-essential shops, pubs and restaurants.

UK vs China's Covid response: A timeline December 2019: Scientists discover a cluster of unusual 'pneumonia' cases in Wuhan. January 2020: Scientists share the sequence of a novel coronavirus - SARS-Cov-2. Late January 2020: Wuhan is plunged into a strict lockdown. Residents in the city are only allowed out of their home under permission from officials. March 2020: The UK is plunged into a strict lockdown. All non-essential shops, bars, restaurants are shut. Only essential workers and trips to buy food and medicine are allowed. Exercise is limited to one form a day, for one hour. April 2020: Lockdown measures in Wuhan are lifted. State-owned media say there have been 50,000 cases and 3,869 deaths in Wuhan. June 2020: Lockdown measures are eased in the UK. After a brief period of low case numbers, infections begin to rise again. August 2020: Pictures emerge from Wuhan of thousands partying at a huge music festival. October 2020: England is plunged into a second national lockdown - this time for four weeks. December 2020: With a more transmissible new variant identified in England, large areas of the country are put under tougher measures as part of a regional Tier system. December 2020: While much of the UK is essentially in lockdown, under Tier 4 restrictions, wild parties and New Year's Eve celebrations go ahead in Wuhan, with thousands seen gathering in the streets of the city. January 2021: A third national lockdown is announced amid spiralling infection figures and concerns over the new variant. Measures are expected to last until at least March 8 and are expected to be lifted in stages. Advertisement

Britons were only allowed out for essential trips for food, medicine, or to continue essential work, while people were allowed out once a a day - for a maximum of one hour - for exercise.

Months earlier, in China, a cluster of unknown 'pneumonia' cases began appearing in Wuhan in December 2019.

Scientists shared the sequence of a novel coronavirus - SARS-Cov-2 - on January 12 last year.

Wuhan, which has a population of nine-million, was plunged into lockdown 12 days later, on January 23.

City officials prohibited all transport in and out of the city, while residents were only allowed to leave their home if they had permission from authorities.

All residents' movements were highly monitored and only one member per household was allowed to go out for grocery shopping.

Lockdown was ended in Wuhan on April 8, with 50,340 confirmed cases and 3,869 deaths, according to official state run media outlet Xinhuanet.

Back in England, lockdown measures were eased in July. But after a brief period of low-case numbers, infection figures again spiralled.

At the end of October, the country was again plunged back into a four week lockdown.

Measures were eased again in December, switching to a Tier system which allowed tighter measures in Tier 4 areas and less strict rules in areas under Tier 2 or 3 restrictions.

Tier rules were planned to be temporarily lifted over Christmas.

But the suspension period was dramatically cut after the identification of a new and more transmissible strain of Covid in the UK.

England was plunged into its third national lockdown after Christmas.

Measures are now set to continue until at least March 8 - when the Government may begin to lift restrictions in stages.

In Wuhan however, wild parties have been allowed to go ahead as the country reportedly continues to keep Covid under control.

The streets of Wuhan were packed on New Year's Eve as residents welcomed in the new year.

Though disputed by some academics, China, which is home to 1.4billion people, has rarely more than 100 new cases nationwide in a day since March.

Commenting on Mr Raw's claims, a Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office spokesperson said: 'The extraordinary efforts of our staff has brought Brits home safely from every corner of the world during an unprecedented global pandemic.

'Most of the 300 British nationals we flew home from Wuhan on special flights were content with our efforts, which involved sending repatriation teams to the city at the height of the initial outbreak.'

Estonia declared its support for Ukraines decision to impose sanctions on television channels that are believed to be associated with Viktor Medvedchuk.

"Estonia understands and supports the steps taken by Ukraine within the bounds of its legislature to counter measures directed against its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity," the Estonian Embassy in Ukraine posted on Twitter.

#Estonia  understands and supports the steps taken by #Ukraine  within the bounds of its legislature to counter measures directed against its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.@MFA_Ukraine @MFAestonia

@rnbo_gov_ua  Estonia in Ukraine (@EE_Ukraine) February 3, 2021

For its part, the Lithuanian Embassy in Ukraine stated that it supported Ukraine's efforts to defend itself from Russias disinformation and hybrid aggression.

"Lithuania supports free and democratic Ukraine, its sovereignty, territorial integrity and Ukraines efforts to defend itself from Russias disinformation and hybrid aggression," the statement reads.

As Ukrinform reported, on February 2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky enacted the decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions against the NewsOne, ZIK and 112 Ukraine TV channels, as well as their owner, MP from the Opposition Platform  For Life party, Taras Kozak. The sanctions, among other things, provide for the revocation of licenses of these pro-Russian TV channels.

As of the morning of February 3, the broadcasting of NewsOne, ZIK and 112 Ukraine was blocked. However, their programs are broadcast on YouTube channels.

ish

Gov. Phil Murphy welcomed home some of the 500 New Jersey-based National Guard soldiers on Wednesday who were sent to Washington last month to help offer security after a violent mob stormed the Capitol building.

The governor was waiting for a group of soldiers after they departed a bus that arrived at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in the afternoon.

Welcome home. Thank you for your service, Murphy told the first guardsman he greeted, which was followed by Murphy patting the man on the shoulder.

At the time Murphy sent them to Washington they were expected to remain in the city at least through the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Jan. 20. It was in response to last months riot there, which occurred hours after former President Donald Trump spoke to supporters who gathered in Washington to protest his loss against Biden.

The U.S. House and Senate were holding a joint session on the day to formally confirm Bidens win.

Trump told the crowd: We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesnt happen. You dont concede when theres theft.

He then called on his supporters to march to the Capitol to cheer on some Republican lawmakers who planned to contest the results.

The procession of Murphy welcoming the soldiers back Wednesday one-by-one lasted a few minutes before Murphy gave a short speech.

As always, youve done us proud, Murphy said. We answered the bell and the men and women of our National Guard served our nations Capitol and made all nine million of us in your New Jersey family incredibly proud.

The number of soldiers deployed included about 90 from West Orange, 90 from Mount Holly and 100 from Blackwood. The rest came from the 508th Military Police Company in Teaneck and airmen from the 108th Wing and 177th Fighter Wing in Egg Harbor Township.

It feels good to be back on my home base, one of the National Guard members, Caitlyn Vreeland, told NJ Advance Media.

Murphy called the insurrection at the Capitol one of the darkest days in American history following the riot. New Jersey had already sent 74 New Jersey State Troopers by the time Murphy deployed members of the National Guard.

The governor, a Democrat, said at the time the riot was the result of four years of gaslighting by Trump, a Republican.

It was an act of domestic terrorism spurred on by the president himself and his minions, Murphy said immediately after the violent event. His spewing of unfounded conspiracy theories created this.

Following the riot, the House voted to impeach Trump on charges of inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol over false claims of a stolen election. The resolution also mentioned Trumps efforts to get Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find 11,780 votes and overturn the election in his state.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.

UPDATE: Nazareth teachers drop threat to move to full remote learning, with talks set

The Nazareth Area School District is not following its own safety plan and therefore, teachers soon will educate remotely until a bargain agreement is made, the teachers union alleges.

Nazareth Area Education Association leaders in a letter to union members dated Wednesday state they were never privy to the districts reopening plan -- which began in discussions this past summer -- until it was approved by the school board. As the school year progressed, the unions executive board said several key safety guidelines fell by the wayside.

Among the concerns are what they claim are a lack of consistent deep cleaning in classrooms and common areas; the altering of the six-foot desk separation recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and questionable practices regarding positive COVID-19 cases reporting and contact tracing.

Teachers have complained about students who have tested positive for COVID-19 or been exposed to the virus, therefore needing to self-quarantine, and were not informed about it by the district, the union board claims.

In addition, the districts self-reporting, honor system that they have been using to record cases is average at best and provides no meaningful data that we are aware of, the letter by the unions executive board states.

The school district in December signed an attestation form, opting them out of following state guidelines for school openings, the union alleges. Once the board signed the document, district officials vowed they would communicate better with the union in the future, they said.

For the last three months, Northampton County has fallen into the substantial range of COVID-19 positive cases, and PDE (Pennsylvania Department of Education) recommends that we be in full remote learning mode to protect the community, the letter states. Unfortunately, when the district made the unilateral decision to reopen all elementary schools to in-person instruction five days a week, starting March 1, we were not consulted and simply told after the fact.

The union claims it polled staff in grades K-3 to ask if they were supportive of returning to in-person instruction full-time. The union says 73% of the survey participants did not support a return to full-time, in-person instruction and some of the comments about the decision were heartfelt and emotionally charged.

Aris Asdourian, the unions vice president, told lehighvalleylive.com Thursday teachers have consistently provided students and families the top level education they deserve, spending hours preparing and creating new course content; modifying curriculum to meet the hybrid learning model; and developing new online courses to provide student and families options.

This took many hours of extra work and they met the challenge willingly for the students, Asdourian said. The Nazareth teachers dedication is beyond question.

The Nazareth Area Education Association has since hired an attorney to back them in their concerns.

In a letter dated Jan. 29 by attorney Paul Blunt, the union continued to make allegations that the district ignored state and federal safety recommendations without bargaining a decision or its impact on workplace safety. The union seeks a seat at the bargaining table when it comes to safety conditions in their place of employment.

Please understand our goal has not been to move to full remote instruction or perform a job action; it has simply been to have a voice and seat at the table, the union letter states. The main goal of the lawyer sending a letter is to be included in discussions that directly affect us.

Our safety falls under these items, it goes on to say. The executive board oversees the enforcement of our rights, and in this case, it is very clear that our rights have been ignored. Had they simply included the association in this process, we would not be here today.

District Superintendent Dennis Riker advised parents Tuesday of the letter received by Blunt. Riker stated in his own letter to parents the teachers would unilaterally -- without permission from the district -- move to full remote online learning for students in grades K-12 unless and until the district bargains changes to their workplace safety with regards to exposure to children as they may potentially transmit the COVID-19 virus to the teachers.

Teachers would transition to full remote online learning within seven days of the dated correspondence if an agreement was not reached, Riker told parents.

The unions executive board said in their letter they would only make that move as a last resort if the district continues to leave the association out of discussions possibly impacting their safety.

Riker told lehighvalleylive.com Wednesday morning the district, however, has no intention to go back to a full-virtual classroom model. He added the district has several dedicated teachers that do not agree with the unions allegations.

Riker also contends the districts administration, the Nazareth Area School District Board of Directors and the teachers union have met numerous times throughout the coronavirus pandemic to discuss the reopening of schools while maintaining a safe and secure instructional environment for staff and students. Following those discussions, the administration made adjustments to incorporate suggestions and address concerns brought by the union, Riker said.

He also took issue with the claims the district is not sufficiently addressing their risk of exposure to COVID-19 during in-person instruction.

From the start of the pandemic, the Nazareth Area School District has always placed the well-being of its staff, children, and families as its highest priority, he said, noting the district continues to implement its Health and Safety Plan and follow the guidelines set forth by the state Department of Education and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share.

Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.
A major oil and gas industry conference that brings thousands of international visitors to Houston every March is going virtual for the first time this year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to restrict travel around the world.

Organizers of CERAWeek by IHS Markit on Thursday said they will host its 39th conference virtually March 1-5. The conference typically draws 5,500 delegates, including oil and gas CEOs, Middle Eastern royalty and energy ministers from 80 countries.

This years virtual conference will feature more than 245 speakers from 29 countries who will speak to the shifting energy landscape shaped by geopolitics, economics and government policies, IHS Markit said. Speakers include Bill Gates, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance, Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicki Hollub, and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.

There has perhaps never been a more important time for the CERAWeek community to come together, said Daniel Yergin, CERAWeek chairman and vice chairman of global research firm IHS Markit. The past year has seen the novel coronavirus alter our world in profound ways. The great disruption it has wrought made more complex a broader transformation that had already been underway  one redrawing the map of global energy and geopolitics.

CONVENTIONS: OTC, Mensa offer hope for Houston's 2021 convention season

Houston convention organizers are taking different approaches to hosting conferences this year as coronavirus cases continue to climb globally.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the regions largest event drawing 2.5 million attendees, this week canceled its 2021 rodeo, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Rodeo had initially moved the month-long event from March to May, but with most Texans unlikely to be vaccinated before the summer, organizers decided to cancel this years show after projections showed a limited-capacity rodeo would fail to break even.

Organizers of Offshore Technology Conference, the world's largest oil and gas trade show known as OTC, in November postponed its conference from May to August. The conference usually brings about 60,000 attendees to Houston.

Other conventions are moving forward with events in the second half of this year, including annual meetings for American Mensa and the National Association of Black Journalists in August. The conferences are expected to draw 3,000 and 4,000 people, respectively, to Houston.
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Spain has recorded its worst tourism industry output in decades as the number of foreign travellers in 2020 plunged to 19 million due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. According to reports, Spain received a whopping 84 million tourists in 2019, making it one of the world's top travel destinations. However, the COVID-19-induced restrictions saw the numbers drop by 77%, the first negative growth for the Spanish tourism industry in more than 10 years.

Read: Spain: Madrid Police Increase Checks On Roads After New Lockdown Restrictions Imposed

The country earned just 20 billion euros in 2020, a 79% decline from the year before when the industry contributed 92 billion euros to the Spanish economy. Before the pandemic hit and gripped the global travel industry by its throat, Spain's 1.1 trillion-euro GDP blossomed with an 11% contribution from the tourism sector alone. However, the recent data unsurprisingly suggests that the industry has suffered a major blow from the pandemic, which resulted in the country receiving its lowest number of tourists since 1969.

Read: Spain To Probe Whether Military Top Brass Jumped Jab Queue Dodging Vaccine Protocols

Spain plans to boost tourism through rapid vax drive

Spain is one of the worst affected countries in the world with more than 2.8 million confirmed cases and over 60,000 deaths so far. Although the daily infection rate in the country has dropped significantly, it is still recording relatively high caseloads compared to some of its peers in the European Union. Spain registered more than 16,000 new infections last weekend, a decline from over 32,000 on January 22, the country's highest since the peak in November.

Read: Spain's Surge Gives COVID-19 Hospital Second Chance

Spain intends to bring back the tourism sector on track by rapidly administering COVID-19 vaccine doses. The country has inoculated more than 1.6 million people so far, just below Germany and Italy in terms of total vaccinations in the European Union. Spain is vaccinating at the speed of 3.6 persons per 100 people, which is the highest among its European peers. Spain intends to inoculate more than 30% of its population before summers when the country receives most foreign travellers and the domestic tourism sector is at its peak.

Read: Spain Begins Administering 2nd Dose Of Coronavirus Vaccine

(Image, Inputs: AP)



Move over dancing robots, and a SoundCloud track of perfect fluid's sick beats, scientists have just accomplished an unbeLEAFable new feat in the world of STEM -- teaching spinach how to send emails. According to a study recently published in scientific journal, Nature Materials, engineers at MIT have created a new method allowing the leafy green to send information regarding the all-too-common spinach woe of nearby explosives (?), and climate change, straight to their inbox -- a newsLETTUCEer if you will.

"When the spinach roots detect the presence of nitroaromatics in groundwater, a compound often found in explosives like landmines, the carbon nanotubes within the plant leaves emit a signal," Euronews, the outlet that first broke the story, wrote of the scientists' RAPIDNI discovery. Although it may seem like these researchers gave a leafy green the ability to slide into your DMs just for the KALE of it, it seems experiments of this nature has existing ROOTS, under the umbrella of plant nanobionics, a type of technology that strives to equip flora with "superpowers," according to 2014 LA Times article.

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"Plants are very good analytical chemists," research leader, Professor Michael Strano, explained to the European news outlet. "They have an extensive root network in the soil, are constantly sampling groundwater, and have a way to self-power the transport of that water up into the leaves. This is a novel demonstration of how we have overcome the plant/human communication barrier."

Yet like most major feats, it seems the internet had mixed(GREEN) feelings on this imCRESSive new discovery. As some applauded the tech, excited for its impact on unnecessary meetings ...

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... looking forward to reading about spinachs' latest musings amid an onslaught of work memos ...

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... and even musing the possibilities of a spinach-based Ratatouille reboot ...
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San Francisco, Feb 4 : Conservative social media app Parler that was forced to go offline in the wake of encouraging violence during the Capitol chaos in the US, has fired its CEO and co-founder John Matze.

According to Fox News, Matze has been fired by his company's own board of directors.

Matze had earlier told Fox News that all the company's vendors - and even its lawyers - had abandoned him.

"On January 29, 2021, the Parler board controlled by Rebekah Mercer decided to immediately terminate my position as CEO of Parler. I did not participate in this decision," Matze wrote in a memo obtained by Fox News and reported late on Wednesday.

His LinkedIn page shows an employment end date of January 2021.

"I understand that those who now control the company have made some communications to employees and other third parties that have unfortunately created confusion and prompted me to make this public statement." Matze said that has been met with "constant resistance" to his original vision for the social media platform following Amazon Web Services' (AWS) decision to shut Parler down.

Parler has sued Amazon for terminating its web hosting services.

Amazon had said it was "troubled" by repeated policy violations by Parler and it "cannot provide services to a customer that is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others." Google and Apple removed Parler from their respective app stores after they found that Parler did not take stronger action to remove posts that sought "to incite ongoing violence" in the US.

Parler is touted as a free-speech alternative, allowing posts that include conspiracy theories, threats and hate speech, among other things, to remain on the platform.
More than 50,000 people living near the Arabuko Sokoke Forest in Kilifi County and who directly depend on butterfly export are vulnerable after the European market banned the import of the insects due to the Covid-19 pandemic a year ago.

Research scientist Hussein Aden, who also coordinates the Kipepeo Butterfly project at the Gedi Ruins in Kilifi said locals highly depend on butterfly farming and tourism in Malindi and Watamu, where the pandemic also shut down hotels, with workers sent home.

"This time around, the world has turned upside down for the butterfly farmers and the butterfly industry, which has left thousands of locals desperate to feed their families and educate their children," he said. "When the pandemic broke out in March last year, we expected it to take about two to three months for us to resume business but it has now taken a year."

The existence of Arabuko Sokoke forest and the beautiful sandy beaches and marine parks in Malindi and Watamu have made tourism and butterfly farming, commonly known as 'the flying gold of Arabuko' the major economic activities in the area.

Speaking to the Nation, Mr Aden said they were optimistic business would resume after the first lockdown in Europe around May and then October last year, but the second wave of Covid-19 and a new strain of the virus in Europe has necessitated lockdowns in several countries.

"The United Kingdom (UK), which is the biggest market for butterfly export, went into another lockdown until the end of this month, following a new strain of Covid-19," he said.

Educate their children

"Although farmers have been surviving on their little savings to feed and educate their children, we still hope for the best."

Mr Aden said the cancellation of the exports following the pandemic came as they prepared to export a batch of butterfly pupae on March 5 last year during the high season.

"We had prepared for our normal delivery, but a notification from the client caught us off guard," he said.

They then prepared for the export season that runs from March to September or October. That too did not materialise.

Their main markets for the butterflies, which earn them between Sh18 million and Sh20 million per year, are the United Kingdom and the United States, which were both hard hit by the outbreak.

In the UK and US, the butterflies are displayed in exhibition centres and museums, mostly in urban areas, for their beauty.

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The Nation also toured the home of some of the butterfly farmers in Gede and Magangani and found them with their families preparing the land for planting ahead of the long rains.

At the home of Ms Asha Athumani, a mother of three, we found her cleaning the butterfly traps while letting go of some of the butterflies that had transformed from their pupae stage.

Ms Athumani said she had prepared a species of 'Hamanumida daedalus' butterfly which sells at Sh100 a pupa before the plan was abruptly disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"This species is the most expensive one. This is the most precious; if you prepare a good number of the butterflies they can fetch you up to Sh10,000 a week," she said.

Mr Msanzu Karisa from Magangani said he had prepared butterflies that could have fetched him about Sh40,000 before the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the trade.

"We had to stop supplying butterflies at Butterfly Farm after the coordinator informed us of the cancellation and we are not sure when the pandemic will end so we can resume our butterfly farming," he said.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
WHO:

Some 200 at-risk New Orleans seniors ages 70 years and older, or on dialysis as prioritized by Louisiana Department of Health, are scheduled to receive COVID-19 vaccines from JenCare Senior Medical Center doctors, nurses and care team members. Many are willing to be interviewed and/or shown on camera before, during and/or after the first doses of the vaccine are safely administered.*

Covid: 10,000 Sputnik V vaccines arrive in West Bank PNA health minister says 2 mn additional doses bought

(ANSA) - TEL AVIV, 04 FEB - Ten thousand doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine arrived at Ben Gurion airport on Thursday to be transferred during the day to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).



Health minister Mai Alkaila confirmed the shipment from Moscow, and said its doses should be sufficient to vaccinate 5,000 people.



The Palestinian government has also purchased two million vaccine doses, the arrival of which is "expected in Palestine between the 14th and 20th of this month and they will be able to vaccinate one million people", said Wafa news agency referring to a statement by Alkaila.



The health minister said priority will be given to medical personnel, the elderly and the chronically ill, and the vaccinations will take place in 45 centres spread throughout the West Bank and Gaza.(ANSAmed). (ANSA).




Madam Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, a spokesperson for the Petitioner in the 2020 Presidential Election Petition has said all the documents they seek to inspect are not in their custody.



She said the Petitioner, former President John Dramani Mahama disagreed with the Supreme Court ruling on the fact that all the documents they sought were in their custody and therefore they were not entitled to it.



Madam Appiah-Oppong, addressing the media in a post-trial interview, said the application was also to find out from the Electoral Commission, (EC) who is the First Respondent, the basis for the different corrections they had made.



She said the EC has come up with different figures and the Petitioner does not know the basis for which they came up with those figures and therefore they ought to see the original of those documents to be able to make their own assessment before they cross-examined the Commission's witness.



The former Attorney General said unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not agree with their request and refuse their application on the grounds that these were documents that were in their custody.



She said the Court has ruled and there was not much they could do but to disagree.

She said their two witnesses who have testified in the Court so far have said the FORM 13 that was being talked about was never sighted by them, and that there was at least one document they do not have in their custody.



She said this is the most important document.



She said they have made it clear that the agents for the Petitioner were not part of whatever discussions that were held at the EC when the different corrections were made and therefore they need to see the basis for which those corrections were made.



She said despite the dismissal of the application by the Court the petitioner's case does not end there and that they will still continue with the trial.



She said, we still think we have a very strong case, we are very certain about the case we have before the court irrespective of the fact that our applications are being refused?.

Madam Appiah-Oppong said they came to Court very prepared.



The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a motion filed by the Counsel for the Petitioner seeking an order to inspect documents from the EC.



The motion on notice concerns some original documents regarding Presidential Results Collation Forms with originals of all Constituency Presidential Election Results Collation Forms and Summary Sheets of all constituencies in Ghana.



The Court presided over by Chief Justice Kwesi Anin Yeboah in its ruling said the proceedings so far show that the petitioner has copies of the documents which were the subject of the application.



He said the applicant has not demonstrated that he has no copies of the documents in question and in fact it was recorded that Mr. Johnson Aseidu Nketia and Dr. Michael Kpessa-Whyte have admitted that the Petitioner has.



Former President Mahama has filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking an annulment of the Presidential Election results and a re-run of the election between him and Nana Akufo-Addo who is the second respondent in the Petition.



The Petitioner is also seeking an injunction directing the first Respondent, the EC to proceed to conduct a second election between the Petitioner and the second respondent as candidates, as required under Articles 63 (4) and (5) of the 1992 constitution.

The trial has been adjourned to Friday, February 5 for continuation.

Source: GNA









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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 23:38:28|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia said Thursday that the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs, one of the basic norms governing international relations, should be upheld.

In a phone conversation between Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the two sides also pledged to jointly preserve global and regional strategic stability.

The international situation is at an important watershed, Wang noted, adding that at such a time, it is even more important for China and Russia to strengthen strategic communication.

Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered speeches respectively at the World Economic Forum Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda.

The two leaders echoed each other's positions in their speeches, voicing strong determination to uphold multilateralism and jointly tackle global challenges at the beginning of the year, Wang said.

The two heads of state, he said, put forward a China-Russia plan to jointly prevail over the COVID-19 pandemic and revitalize the global economy, injecting positive energy and stability into the volatile international landscape.

The two heads of state have also agreed to celebrate this year the 20th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, pointing out the direction for deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between the two countries, Wang said.

Both sides should take this opportunity to add new dimensions to this important treaty and send a clear message to the world that the two countries will safeguard the security of themselves and along their peripheries, he added.

Both China and Russia attach great importance to innovation, Wang noted, adding that the two countries should join hands to reinforce complementary advantages and strive for major achievements by holding the Russia-China Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation.

The two sides should earnestly promote trade and investment facilitation on the basis of mutual benefit, synergize the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union to establish regional industrial chains, supply chains and value chains, so as to lay a solid foundation for mutual benefit and win-win results, Wang said.

Wang recalled Lavrov's annual press conference in which the Russian minister said "we can talk endlessly about Russian-Chinese cooperation that embraces a very wide range of spheres," saying that China totally agrees with the remarks.

China sees no limit or restricted area for China-Russia strategic coordination that is all-weather and all-dimensional, Wang said.

The two countries have conducted efficient coordination within multilateral frameworks and safeguarded international fairness and justice as well as legitimate interests of developing countries, he added.

China firmly supports the measures Russia has taken to safeguard its national sovereignty and social stability, and is willing to work with Russia to continuously strengthen coordination on such issues as rejecting interference in internal affairs and fighting against false information, Wang said. Enditem

Lighting as a Platform (LaaP) brings together TSRgrow's solutions for commercial horticulture growing into one digital platform: Centralized Power Server Technology, highest performance LED Lighting and integrated software applications with sensor feedback technology for real time monitoring and control. LaaP maximizes efficiency while cutting costs in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) facilities. TSRgrow LaaP is revolutionizing commercial horticulture.

LaaP eliminates local ballast equipment on each fixture from the growing area. By centralizing power in the grow facility, installation and maintenance costs are reduced and simplified. By removing ballast heat from the grow area, growers can reduce their HVACD cooling load requirements and equipment CAPx. These benefits are just the beginning. LaaP produces greater light intensity and more uniform canopy coverage for each grow, reducing the total number of fixtures needed, further reducing capital expenditures.

Compatible with Cogen, Solar and micro grids, LaaP Remote Power Servers connect directly to the AC grid or can integrate with Solar, DC storage, micro grids or Cogen systems. Power monitoring provides real time reporting of energy usage while providing full control of every lighting fixture in the grow area, maximizing yields while saving energy. "Designed for commercial horticulture, LaaP unites lighting, power and monitoring into one integrated system," said Mikhail Sagal, President of TSRgrow. "It provides growers the ability to maximize their yields reducing their operating costs." LaaP integrates with TSRgrow's TOTALgrow Solution, giving growers deeper insights across every aspect of their operation.

Additional benefits include simplified installation and maintenance, monitoring and control dashboards accessible from anywhere, and the highest performance designed for horticulture LED fixtures on the market. Featuring power servers with the industry's highest efficacy and lowest iTHD throughout the dimming range (0-100%), LaaP is Utility recommended and helps drive down facility operating costs for long term sustainability of your indoor, vertical or greenhouse facility.

"Taking all of the ballasts out of the flower rooms and putting then into a full IT server room, has helped us do right by our plants and our facility. Since we're using TSRgrow's Lighting as a Platform, we have the ability to control our environment outside of our grow in a designated server room where we do all of our monitoring.

"During our recent 200,00 sq. ft. expansion project, the TSRgrow team was there to help us every step of the way. Before you buy, do your research. TSRgrow is a true platform technology-based company. Not just because of the lights and the technology, but also because they are a true partner to help you grow. We will be using them again during our next expansion project," said Cliff Miller, President, Norman K, Auburn, Maine.

If you aren't considering LaaP now, you should be.

About TSRgrow

TSRgrow is an industry-leading full-service designer and manufacturer of commercial horticulture LED lighting systems for indoor and greenhouse growing operations. Founded over twelve years ago, this USA-based company offers horticultural TOTALgrow Solutions, best-in-class LED lighting systems, and industry support to help cultivators achieve the ideal balance of yield, energy and profitability.

TSRgrow's industry leading LED lighting solutions have been developed in cooperation with university and industry leaders and are engineered to maximize energy efficiency. With design and manufacturing in the USA, TSRgrow Lighting as a Platform (LaaP) featuring remote power servers, environment monitoring, and full lighting management, is designed for commercial horticulture. As a full-service horticulture solution company supporting hundreds of thousands of square feet of canopy, TSRgrow works with growers, owners and operators in all aspects of their operations, bringing benefits in indoor, vertical and commercial greenhouse growing.

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For more information, please contact Gail Farias, Marketing Manager at [email protected]

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Two central Pennsylvania men have been arrested in connection to an Econo Lodge shooting that killed a woman late last year, Berks County prosecutors announced Thursday.

Prosecutors said Joe Alexis Reyes-Navedo, 42, of Ephrata, Lancaster County; and Jesus Figueroa-Quinones, 25, of Reading, Berks County; were involved with a fatal Dec. 3 shooting at the Econo Lodge & Suites on the 2000 block of Bernville Road.

A 25-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the head was taken to the Trauma Unit at Reading Hospital, but later died. She has not been identified.

Bern Township police and multiple other departments got to the Econo Lodge shortly after 2:12 a.m. found a Hispanic woman with a gunshot wound on the right side of her head, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Reyes-Navedo was inside the hotel room with the woman when there was a knock at the door. Two men stormed into the room, and one of them shot at least five rounds from a 9-millimeter handgun, prosecutors said. Both of the men were gone by the time police arrived.

The man who entered the motel room and started shooting was identified as Figueroa-Quinones, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Reyes-Navedo was also armed and fired at Figueroa-Quinones. Investigators said they later learned Reyes-Navedos gun was stolen during a Nov. 9 burglary in Birdsboro.

Eight shell casings were found in the motel, and the stolen Glock was found in a second-floor trash can, prosecutors said.

Reyes-Navedo is charged with two counts of aggravated assault, persons not to possess a firearm, receiving stolen property, possessing an instrument of crime, and three counts of simple assault.

Figueroa-Quinones is charged with two counts of aggravated assault, possessing instruments of crime, and three counts of simple assault.

Both men are being held at Berks County Prison on unrelated charges. Arraignment and bail information was not immediately available.

READ MORE: Lancaster man sentenced to prison for sexually abusing Kenyan orphans: prosecutors

Conduct of torture: Harrisburg man gets prison term for battering 8-year-old girl
WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI  Former and current inmates who owe money to the Washtenaw County Jail for services and fees can rest easy knowing police are not coming to collect.

Washtenaw County Sheriff Jerry Clayton announced Thursday, Feb. 4 that his office, with support of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, is forgiving all inmate debts incurred since 2013 to Dec. 31 2020, forgiving more than $500,000 owed to the county.

Our decision to eliminate this debt reflects our understanding of the stress and financial burden of incarceration, Clayton said in the announcement. We know that as people leave our jail in hope of positioning themselves to be successful upon returning home, the burden of jail debt is an added negative factor that can undermine their attempt at reintegration and feed the cycle of incarceration. We also know that incarceration can seriously compromise a persons ability to generate income, leading to even more debt. Its this absurd cycle, along with reincarceration, that we are focused on.

A recent review of the debt owned since 2013 identified 31,614 individuals impacted by a total debt of $509,888, Clayton said.

Under the State Correctional Facility Reimbursement Act, sheriffs have the right to recover any and all monies that incarcerated individuals owe as a result of their incarceration.

Historically, the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office has not aggressively pursued non-payment of jail debt through creditors or other means, Clayton said.

Without the debt, individuals are better positioned to meet their basic needs beyond what the jail provides. When basic needs are met, behavior within the jail is improved, he said.

Currently if a family member of incarcerated individuals deposits money into an jail account where debt is owed, the amount deposited is seized and used to pay the debt.

This discourages families from financially supporting their incarcerated loved ones and in some cases is a barrier to family involvement and reunification.

Prior to the debt forgiveness announcement, the sheriffs office has taken steps to reduce the financial burden on inmates lodged in the jail.

In 2018, telephone connection costs were reduced and then reduced again in 2019 with the complete elimination of connection fees and a base rate of 21 cents per minute on all calls, local or otherwise.

The sheriffs office is currently exploring option to further reduce costs associated with barber services, copies, dentist visits, doctor visits and intake kits.

Here is a breakdown of all the debt being forgiven.

 Booking Fees- 17,198 individuals = 291,318.52

 Barber  743 individuals = $21,729.68

 Copies  26 individuals = $66.95

 Dentist  311 individuals = $4,633.06

 Doctor  998 individuals = $17,398.67

 Indigent  2902 individuals = $73,560.46

 Medical slips  4583 individuals = $64,867.18

 Nurse visits  1622 individuals = $10,718.97

 Intake kits  3231 individuals = $25,594.51

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Man covered in blood arrested shortly after woman found fatally shot, police say

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NEW DELHI : Indian refiners would resume imports of Iranian oil if the United States eases sanctions against Tehran, the chairman of state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp said on Thursday.

US President Joe Biden's administration is seeking a diplomatic solution to the nuclear dispute with Iran, which could see sanctions eased.

India, which was Iran's top oil client after China, had stopped oil imports from the OPEC nation in mid-2019 under pressure from the stringent sanctions imposed by former US President Donald Trump.

"Iranian crude had been in the (import) basket of Indian refineries ... we will be happy to take that crude as and when the situation warrants and the crude is available," MK Surana told a news conference.

Washington has been at loggerheads with Tehran for decades and relations between the two countries worsened under Trump, who withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, and imposed more sanctions on Tehran.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for the first time hinted that Washington and Tehran should take synchronized steps to return to the Iran nuclear deal abandoned by Trump.

Surana said Iran was previously offering favourable terms for payment and freight discounts among others which made its oil "preferential" compared to other grades.

After stopping purchases from Iran, Indian refiners have diversified their crude imports.

"There are alternatives in the picture after that (sanctions). Now US crude is coming to India," he said.

Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan last year said India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, wants to diversify its oil imports, including the resumption of supplies from Iran and Venezuela, under Biden's rule.

Surana said refiners evaluate alternative crudes available in the market and the value they generate to maximise revenue. "But yes, there is possibility. If the (Iranian) crude is available people will definitely look at those options," he added.

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After the end of the Second Karabakh War, there were talks about new opportunities for Armenia. In December, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev called for the creation of a regional platform to ensure regional stability, cooperation and trust, noting that this call has already been supported by the presidents of Turkey and Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin.

He added that the presidents of Turkey and Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, were already on board. Aliyevs plan aims to strengthen ties between Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, Georgia and Armenia, Daily Sabah writes. In his response, Erdogan mentioned Armenia by name, noting that the regional platform would create win-win scenarios for everyone: Armenia stands to benefit most from that initiative.

Now that Turkey and Azerbaijan spoke their minds about that proposal, where does everyone else stand? There is a notable lack of clear statements, but talks to prevail diplomacy continue behind closed doors. Just last week, Irans Foreign Minister Javad Zarif visited Azerbaijan, Russia, Armenia, Georgia and Turkey. Tehran thus made contact with all countries expected to join the regional mechanism  which is why observers concluded Zarifs trip to be about Aliyevs proposal. The countries that Irans top diplomat visited, however, only vaguely mentioned the regional mechanism in their official statements. For example, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, upon meeting with Zarif, called on countries in the region to solve their problems themselves. It would seem that no country, except Turkey and Azerbaijan, is eager to talk about the regional mechanism just yet.

Nonetheless, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu offered insights into his conversation with his Iranian counterpart. At a joint press conference with Zarif, he said that we are planning to work together in the South Caucasus, in a 3+3 format, based on Aliyevs proposal and with the support of remaining leaders.

The evolution of the six-nation mechanism into 3+3 is probably a result of ongoing negotiations  which means that diplomatic talks continue in the background.

Georgia would probably need some convincing to be part of the same platform as Russia. Yet the main question remains whether Armenia will join this effort to connect multiple national economies. That country, in turn, seems reluctant to shake the hand of peace that Azerbaijan and Turkey have extended.

Of course, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians government, which just lost a war, will face psychological and political challenges if it seeks to join the new regional platform. Yerevans self-inflicted exclusion from the emerging island of peace, however, will result in economic weakness and keep it dependent on the Armenian diaspora and Western countries  a serious dilemma. The key to a peaceful resolution is to focus on the long term and make bold decisions.
The founder and leader of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, announced he is leaving politics forever. In his last interview with Georgian public television, Ivanishvili underlined that he would no longer support GD, either as head of the party or even as a member. By this, he, of course, meant that GD would no longer have access to his vast financial resources, The Jamestown Foundation writes in the article Georgian Politics Without the Strong Man: Has Ivanishvili Really Relinquished Power?

I made the decision to finally quit politics. I believe that my mission has been fulfilled. I am leaving the post of party chairman, and I will return to my pre-2011 private lifestyle, he claimed. Ivanishvili assured that, The GD ruling team is really the best, and there is no alternative to it among all political actors today. He further argued, [I]f you like me, vote for the leaders of this party [GD]. They are the same as me. [] I leave politics proud, victorious and grateful to the people. People were able to see the efforts I made only in the interests of the country and the state. I am sure that the Georgian people will also appreciate my current move, which is dictated by the same interests for which I came into politics

According to the former ruling party head, he is leaving politics because nothing threatens GD over the next 45 years. In other words, Ivanishvili implied, he does not consider the oppositionincluding the main opposition party, United National Movement (UNM) of former President Mikheil Saakashvilicapable of challenging or creating any serious problems for the government of Giorgi Gakharia. That said, it is worth underscoring that the departure of Georgias most influential and powerful politician coincided with all the opposition parties boycotting the newly elected parliament in protest against, what they say, was large-scale falsification of the October 31 elections as well as their threats to launch massive protests in the near future.

In addition to returning to private life, Ivanishvili announced he would be donating 90 percent of his fortune to the Cartu Charitable Foundation, which he founded in 2001, after returning from Russia to Georgiathe homeland of his ancestors. According to Forbes, his net worth is valued at $4.8 billion. But in a recent interview with Entrepreneur magazine, Ivanishvili asserted that Forbes information was inaccurate, and after he transfers 90 percent of his movable and immovable property to the Cartu Foundation, as he pledged, his family will be left with only $200 million.

Regardless of how sincere Ivanishvili is in saying he will no longer interfere in politics or plan to give advice to GD party leaders, his statement dramatically shook Georgias political landscape. According to Ghia Nodia, a professor of politics and the director of the International School of Caucasus Studies at the Ilia Chavchavadze State University in Tbilisi, the decisive factor for the future will come down to whether party members as well as lawmakers and other state officials actually believe in Ivanishvilis real departure from politics. If the GD leaders are convinced that Ivanishvili is no longer in control of the situation, a struggle for real power will begin in the party, and this will greatly weaken the ruling party in its fight against the opposition, Nodia stipulated.

Ivanishvilis resignation also has significance for the country in the foreign policy realm. After Ivanishvili left GD, institutional order was restored and Western critics will no longer be able to talk about informal governance in Georgia,  political scientist Giorgi Khukhashvili noted. He further argued that Western sanctions against Ivanishvili himself are no longer possible; but if GD does not compromise with the opposition, the Georgian parliament will become a one-party institution and an undemocratic regime will be established in the country. At that point, the West might impose sanctions against the government and the state. Khukhashvili suggested that Ivanishvili, before the announcement of his retirement from politics, may have obtained certain guarantees from the French authorities: Bidzina Ivanishvili is a French citizen. Shortly before he left office, French President Macron awarded him the highest order in Francethe Legion of Honor. This could not have been a simple coincidence.

UNMs leader, former president Saakashvili, who emigrated from the country in 2013, urged Georgians not to believe the GD founders statements about leaving politics. I know for sure that he [Ivanishvili] promised the Americans and everyone that if you want, I will temporarily leave for France or come to America and be temporarily there. Saakashvili further posited, Everyone knows that he [Ivanishvili] financed [former United States President Donald] Trumps campaign through various lobbying groups and now, because of this fact, he is very scared. He is also scared by those very heavy numbers they [Georgian Dream] receive in weekly [public opinion] polls. He knows that, in Georgia, the earth is burning under his feet. A US lobbyist who worked for Ivanishvili was arrested for his admitted role in illegally channeling foreign money to the Trump Inauguration in 2016; reportedly, he previously also worked in Georgia for Saakashvili and opposition party leader Irakli Alasania.

Today (February 2), the parliament held hearings on the termination of the mandates of the opposition legislators who refused to take up their seats in the chamber. For now, the GD-majority legislature decided against revoking the oppositions won seats. The leaders of the united opposition have nonetheless already warned that, in the spring, they will call on hundreds of thousands of supporters to take to the streets of Georgian cities to prevent Georgian Dream from, as they claim, turning the country into a North Korea.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A prominent Ohio electric vehicle startup has hired Gov. Mike DeWines grandson as a lobbyist as it seeks state incentives, law changes and other state government help to get its business off the ground.

Matt DeWine, 22, is a lobbyist for Lordstown Motors, which operates on the site of the former General Motors assembly plant in the Youngstown area. DeWine started as an intern with Lordstown Motors last June, a month after he graduated from Miami University with a political science degree, and was hired full-time the following month. His father is Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine, who is Gov. Mike DeWines son.

The same month his grandson was hired as an intern, Gov. DeWine visited the Lordstown plant after receiving a private tour.

Really, this is the future, DeWine said of the companys prototype Endurance truck, which is expected to begin production next fall. I think this truck has a great competitive advantage over its competitors.

State disclosure paperwork shows Matt DeWine lobbies the state legislature, which has included filing written testimony in November with a House committee considering legislation to create an electric-vehicle infrastructure committee and having a business lunch in December with state Rep. Al Cutrona, a Republican whose district includes the Lordstown plant.

DeWine also has lobbied the Michigan state legislature, filing opposition in September to a bill that would have blocked Lordstown Motors, Tesla and other electric vehicle manufacturers from selling directly to consumers, bypassing the dealership model used by legacy auto companies.

Lordstown Motors said in a statement that the company is proud to have Matt DeWine on their team.

He joined us as an intern showing an interest in the emerging EV market and has proven his ability to help Ohios newest automotive manufacturer succeed not only here but across the country, the company said. Matt is registered as a legislative branch lobbyist. He hasnt and wont lobby his grandfathers administration.

Matt DeWine said in an interview his job is to advocate for the electric vehicle transformation.

The transportation industry is changing a lot right now, so were really working to promote those kinds of things, he said. All our local guys, including Rep. Cutrona, we have a really good relationship with them, and theyre really supportive of the things were doing to get back to work and transform the Valley.

Asked how he navigates his grandfathers stature as Ohio governor while avoiding any appearance of impropriety, DeWine said he doesnt talk about his advocacy with his grandfather.

I take my own position on everything, DeWine said. I only lobby legislatively, not executively. I dont get involved in any of that. So I just try to be be myself, advocate for Lordstown Motors and thats about it.

Asked how the governor would avoid the perception of favoritism when considering electric-vehicle issues, Dan Tierney, a spokesman for Gov. DeWine, said the governor will follow state ethics laws when dealing with the issue and talking to his grandson.

Our expectation would be that all those rules and guidelines are followed, and those rules and guidelines have been put into place so the public has confidence that the process is being done in an ethical and above board manner, Tierney said.

Lordstown Motors was founded in November 2019, after buying the shuttered General Motors assembly plant in Lordstown, in Trumbull County. Workhorse Group, a Cincinnati electric-vehicle firm, owns a minority stake in the company and one of its founders, Steve Burns, is now Lordstown Motors CEO.

The fledgling company has enjoyed an unusually high political profile, given media attention paid to the Mahoning Valleys role in helping elect Donald Trump as president, and the resulting political interest the former president took in fate of the area. The company showed off its Endurance pickup truck prototype at a White House event last September, the night before Cleveland hosted the first presidential debate.

The company doesnt yet have any commercially available vehicles, but is targeting September 2021 to begin production of the Endurance. The company touted in November having received 50,000 pre-orders for trucks, as well as interest in eventually supplying vehicles to local, state and federal government agencies.

Lordstown Motors became a publicly traded company in October, capitalizing on recently increased investor interest in electric-vehicle companies. In December, the company was approved for state tax credits worth an estimated $20 million in exchange for a promise to hire 1,570 full-time workers and generate $91 million in new annual payroll by the end of 2025. At least one investor has noticed the DeWine family connection, publishing a blog post last summer noting Matt DeWines hiring as a possible political factor boosting the companys chances of competing for government contracts.

Disclosures filed by another company lobbyist, Lori Herf, show she has lobbied the DeWine administration on behalf of the company on various topics, including asking the Department of Administrative Services about fleet management and procurement, the Development Services Agency about state incentives and the Department of Transportation about fleet management and electric vehicles.

The DeWine administration has an official agency -- DriveOhio, organized under the Ohio Department of Transportation -- dedicated to studying smart mobility, an umbrella term that includes electric vehicles. The agency published a study last June exploring the feasibility of installing electric vehicle chargers every 50 miles off state highways. It ultimately recommended installing charging stations in specific locations off the Ohio Turnpike and state highways where the electric grid allowed, as well as at ODOT regional offices, state parks and other state offices.

The state legislature also may take up bills that could help the electric-vehicle industry, including Lordstown Motors. State Sen. Michael Rulli, a Republican whose district includes the Lordstown plant, this week introduced a bill that if passed, would offer state grants for installing electric-vehicle charging stations worth up to either $3,500 or $15,000, depending on the type of charging station.

A previous version of this story misspelled Rep. Al Cutronas last name. It has been corrected.
announced is stepping down as CEO almost 27 years after he founded the company to sell books to customers over dial-up modems .

wasnt the first bookstore to sell online, but it wanted to be Earths biggest. When it first launched, a bell would ring in the companys Seattle headquarters every time an order was placed. Within weeks, the bell was ringing so frequently employees had to turn it off.

But Bezos  who will remain at the company  set his sights on making it an everything store. After achieving dominance in retail, the company would go on to become a sprawling and powerful global conglomerate in numerous lines of business.

Today, is the third-most valuable US company  behind Apple and Microsoft  with a market capitalization of around US$1.7 trillion, greater than the gross domestic product of all but a dozen or so countries.

Heres how Bezos reshaped retailing.

Redefining retail

Amazon  named after the worlds largest river  continually took shopping convenience to newer levels.

Before Amazons founding on July 5, 1994, shoppers had to travel to stores to discover and buy things. Shopping used to be hard work  wandering down multiple aisles in search of a desired item, dealing with crying and nagging kids, and waiting in long checkout lines. Today, stores try to reach out to shoppers anywhere, anytime and through multiple channels and devices.

After first experiencing two-day free shipping from Amazons Prime membership program, shoppers started expecting no less from every online retailer. An estimated 142 million shoppers in the US have Amazon Prime.

The company made shopping more convenient through features like one-click ordering; personalized recommendations; package pickup at Amazon hubs and lockers; ordering products with the single touch of a Dash button; and in-home delivery with Amazon Key.

Shoppers can also search for and order items through a simple voice command to an Echo or by clicking an Instagram or Pinterest image. Amazon even has a cashier-less Go store in Seattle.

Amazon has also been a factor in the rising closures of brick-and-mortar stores that cant keep pace with the changes in retail. Even before the pandemic, stores were closing at a phenomenal rate, with analysts predicting a coming retail apocalypse. Amazon benefited enormously last year as much of the US went into lockdown and more consumers preferred ordering goods online rather than risking their health by going to physical stores.

Amazons share price has almost doubled since the lockdown began in March 2020, even as over 11,000 retail stores closed their doors.

A major employer

Amazons impact extends to other industries, including smart consumer devices like Alexa, cloud services like Amazon Web Services and technology products like drones.

Such is Amazons impact that industry players and observers use the term Amazoned to describe their business model and operations being disrupted by Amazon.

Today, Amazon is the second-largest US-based publicly listed employer and the fifth biggest in the world. It employs 1.2 million people, having hired 427,000 during the pandemic.

No wonder Amazon created such a buzz in 2018 when it held a competition to select a location for its second headquarters. It eventually picked Arlington, Virginia.

Amazons work culture is intense. It has a reputation as a cutthroat environment with a high employee burnout rate. It is automating as many jobs as possible, mostly in warehousing.

At the same time, after criticism from policymakers, Amazon stepped up in 2018 and raised the minimum wage for its US employees to $15 per hour.

Faced with growing criticisms about the mounting impact of Amazons boxes and other packaging material on the environment, Amazon has also pledged to disclose more information about its environmental impact.

The next generation

Whats in store for Amazon as Bezos steps down from his CEO role later this year?

Bezos, who will stay on as Amazons executive chairman, has previously said his focus is on preventing Amazon from dying. As he noted at a 2018 all-hands meeting, Amazon is not too big to fail.

[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversations newsletter.]

As a professor of marketing who has conducted research on online retailing and analyzed hundreds of cases, I believe that Amazons future  and humanitys  is inextricably linked to the rise of artificial intelligence. Starting with Alexa, the companys virtual assistant, Amazon is betting on AI.

In fact, Amazon is testing anticipatory shipping, a practice in which it anticipates what shoppers need and mails the items before shoppers order them. Shoppers can keep the items they like and return those they dont want at no charge. It is also betting on cashier-free stores and AI-powered home robots.

Amazons future success will depend on how the incoming CEO  current head of cloud computing Andy Jassy  navigates these new technologies while pushing the company into more industries, such as health care and financial services.

His challenge is to keep Bezos legacy and Amazons disruptive culture alive.

VAN BUREN COUNTY, MI -- Police have closed the westbound lanes of I-94 near Mattawan because of a crash as snow begins to ramp up.

Michigan Department of Transportation staff announced the closure about 4:20 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4.

Related: Fridays travel conditions in Michigan to be worst weve seen all winter, NWS says

Details about the crash were not immediately known.

Police are warning motorists to be careful as heavy snow moves into the area along with significantly colder temperatures.

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iPhone 12 can deactivate implantable medical equipment, Michigan hospital finds
The parents of a 19-year-old man who was killed in a police-involved shooting in Monroe County in December are calling for the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office to investigate.

And during a press conference on Wednesday, their attorneys announced a federal lawsuit will be filed over the incident, saying Hall was unarmed with his hands up when police shot him.

According to reports, state police got a call of a distraught man on a bridge Dec. 30, and they found Christian Hall, 19, on an Interstate 80 overpass in Hamilton Township.

Police say Hall had a gun, but he placed it on the ground when ordered to do so, but as police continued to negotiate with him, they say he became uncooperative, grabbed the gun and pointed it towards the troopers, and thats when they opened fire, WBRE/WYOU reported at the time.

Halls family and attorneys dispute the police account. At Wednesdays press conference, they said Hall was in crisis and distraught when he was on that bridge.

He needed help, his mother, Fe Hall, said through tears, according to WNEP. He was looking for help, but instead of getting help, he was killed by those who were supposed to help him.

Christian Hall needed a helping hand, but yet he got bullets while he had his hands up, said the familys attorney, Benjamin L. Crump, according to The Morning Call from Allentown. When people have mental health crises, the police should de-escalate the situation, not settle it with a gun. Thats not what good policing is.

Crump, who has been representing the family of George Floyd, referenced a video that has been circulating online, recorded by a bystander, that family attorney Devon Jacob said shows Christian has his hands up  both hands  up in the air, according to reports.

The Monroe County District Attorneys Office and the state police are investigating the shooting, Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Cpl. Brent Miller told The Morning Call, adding they do not comment on pending litigation but are confident they have protocols to ensure trooper-involved shootings are investigated thoroughly and transparently.

In a statement to WNEP, Monroe County First Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso told the station, No one from Mr. Halls legal team has reached out to us at all. We werent told that the attorneys were going to conduct a press conference today. We have not been asked to provide any information relative to this matter. We are still awaiting certain reports and results before we make any final decision.

The familys attorneys are asking the attorney generals office to take an independent look at this case. The attorneys did not specify when their excessive-force suit may be filed, reports indicate.
by Nirmala Carvalho

Bishop Paul Toppo: "It is true that few people convert by their own free will and conviction, however they must undergo a two-year training course and also provide a legal affidavit of their intention to embrace the Catholic faith, nonetheless there are many fabricated conversion charges ".

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Three Korwa tribal families in a Jharkhand village have been fined and beaten after a court with a sham trial declared them social outcasts for having recently converted to Christianity.

The incident took place in Khala village in the Dhurki block of Garhwa district on January 22, according to sources. Jaiwardhan Kumar, the local magistrate of Banshidhar Nagar, confirmed that he had received information on reactions against conversions in the area.

"Reports from some Khala villagers have come to my attention, but there is no official confirmation yet. I can't say more before an investigation into the matter is carried out," he said. The Korwa are officially classified as a particularly vulnerable tribal group. About two dozen families from the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste communities have converted to Christianity in the past year, villagers said.

The three Korwa families allegedly targeted for conversion were fined 25,051 rupees each (about 280 euros), as well as being flogged. Bishop Paul Toppo of the diocese of Raigarh Chhattisgarh told AsiaNews: "When Tribal peoples embrace Christianity, then they have to face humiliating consequences and social ostracising, and often economic deprivation, which is certainly inhuman. Tribal people are a communitarian people, so while I am not aware of this particular case- but anyone attending a prayer meeting is marked as being converted. I am a Tribal and my grandfather was a convert.

The bishops added:I am proud to be a Tribal Christian. We take Christian Faith as a Blessing for our people. We are proud of Tribal and proud of being Christians. Faith has given us many things, firstly it brought us overall liberation. Faith has liberating us from many social evils like 'superstitions' and practices which were detrimental to our overall growth. We are proud of being Tribal Christians.

The charges of forced conversions are baseless and fabricated, he continued. There are many prayer services held, and when some elements see Tribals attending such prayer meetings and services, they falsely assume that people are getting converted. It is true, that few people, get converted out of their own free will and their own conviction, but they have to undergo a two year RCIA and also give a legal affidavit of their intent to embrace the Catholic Faith, but there are many fabricated conversion allegations."

AsiaNews also spoke to Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians: "Systematic and targetted violence against Tribal Christians in Jharkhand and Chattisgarh is increasing in frequency and alarming violence. The right wing groups keep surveillance on any prayer meetings, their vigilante groups have almost become 'militant' and are ready to carry out attacks on the Christians tribal communities.

In Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh - he added - the tribals their source livelihoods and even food security are under sustained attack, characterized by daily humiliation, harassment and discrimination. While the right wing extremists make baseless 'conversion charges, the local groups like the VHP ( Vishwa Hindu Parishad), routinely organize "Ghar Vapasi or home coming of the Tribals Christians in the district, to Hinduism, but Tribals were never Hindus, their ancestors were animists. The anti-conversion laws do not deem Ghar Vapasi as forced conversion. This is the sad interpretation of the secular nature of Indian society ".
Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty speaks during a press conference about the CCP virus inside 10 Downing Street in London, on March 9, 2020. (Alberto Pizzoli /pool/AFP via Getty Images)

UK Past the Peak of Current CCP Virus Wave: Medical Officer

The UK is now past the peak of the current wave of the CCP virus pandemic, Englands chief medical officer has said.

Most of my colleagues think we are past the peak, Professor Chris Whitty said on Wednesday at a press conference held in Downing Street.

He was quick to warn against complacency, saying it doesnt mean you could never have another peak.

But, at this point in time, provided people continue to follow the guidelines, we are on the downward slope of cases, of hospitalisations, and of deaths, in all four of the nations of the United Kingdom, he said.

So I think, we do think, at this point, this peak at least, we are past.

But Whitty warned that another surge is possible if the existing CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus lockdown rules are eased too quickly, putting the National Health Service (NHS) under renewed pressure.

There are still a very large number of people in hospital and more people than there were in the first peak in April last year, he said.

The rates are now coming down but they are still incredibly high. If we were to start take-off again from the very high levels we are at the moment the NHS will get back into trouble extraordinarily fast.

Also addressing the press conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the UK had passed the milestone of 10 million vaccinations across the country.

The #COVID19 Dashboard has been updated: https://t.co/XhspoyTG79 On Wednesday 03 February 2021, 19,202 new cases and 1,322 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported across the UK. A total of 10,021,471 people have now received the first dose of a #vaccine. pic.twitter.com/Qwh9R9hS4d  Public Health England (@PHE_uk) February 3, 2021

Almost 90 percent of those aged 75 and over in England and every eligible person in a care home have had the vaccine, he said.

Johnson hailed new research results showing that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine seemed likely to reduce transmission of the CCP virus.

AstraZeneca said on Wednesday it aims to have an updated vaccine to address the different CCP virus variants by the autumn.

Johnson said there are already some signs of hope as the numbers of COVID-19 patients in hospital are beginning to fall for the first time since the onset of this new wave.

But he said the level of infection is still alarmingly high, and more than 32,000 patients are still in hospital with the virus.

Data released on Tuesday showed another 1,322 people had died within 28 days of a positive CCP virus test.

Johnson said it is still too early to imagine the relaxation of the current guidelines.

Simon Veazey contributed to this report.
The chairman of the Loyalist Communities Council has been accused of ramping up tensions with a "dangerous and reckless" comment that it may be necessary to "fight physically to maintain our freedoms within the UK".

The LCC is an umbrella organisation representing loyalist groups including the UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commando. David Campbell made the remarks during a Nolan Show interview yesterday.

He also said the Northern Ireland Protocol could eventually lead to the collapse of Stormont. A responsible attitude was currently being taken because of Covid-19, he added.

The Belfast Telegraph has contacted Mr Campbell for comment. The Alliance Party described his remarks on fighting "physically" as "appalling", but the LCC chairman was strongly defended by loyalist Jamie Bryson.

Alliance councillor Sorcha Eastwood said: "Alliance has repeatedly said cool and calm heads are needed. Instead we have continuously seen a ramping up of the rhetoric, some of Mr Campbell's appalling comments being the latest example.

"That sort of approach - a throwback to the dark days of our past - will not deliver mitigations needed for businesses, people and our community."

Nationalist commentator Chris Donnelly said: "David Campbell is clearly intent on ratcheting up tensions, and his comment on fighting 'physically to maintain our freedoms within the UK' could be interpreted as supporting a violent campaign at some point in the future.

"Given his status as the leader of an umbrella organisation bringing loyalist paramilitary groups together, this is a dangerous and reckless comment.It brings into focus the need for a consistent approach towards those who would threaten our peace now or in the future, whether they emanate from within dissident republicanism or loyalism."

Mr Campbell told the Radio Ulster programme: "If it comes to the bit where we have to fight physically to maintain our freedom within the UK, then so be it."

When asked if he was linking the possibility of fighting "physically" to the protocol, he said: "No, absolutely not. This has to be a political fight. It has to be a fight based on common sense."

Nationalist commentator Andree Murphy said: "For days we've been hearing people say: 'Lets dial down the rhetoric'."

Now, she said, a "voice of loyalism" had provided a rationale for physical action.

"The Chief Constable and PSNI have a responsibility to say how they will meet any threat of violence in the context of contested politics."

Defending Mr Campbell, Bryson tweeted: "Tensions are clearly rising at a rapid rate. David Campbell was measured and calm. However, he rightly reflected the massive anger within unionism/loyalism stemming from the violence-rewarding, Union-wrecking, pro-nationalist protocol.

"Unless the protocol is changed, then we run the risk of protests on the scale of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and mass instability."

Mr Campbell, a former Ulster Unionist Party chairman, backed the DUP's five-point plan to oppose the protocol, which sees physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain. He believed that only the pandemic was preventing peaceful street demonstrations by unionists.
The European Committee of the Regions has put forward a comprehensive set of measures to foster agroecology in the EU. Agroecology reduces the carbon footprint of agriculture, fosters the recovery of biodiversity, restores soils fertility, prevents air and water pollution and increases the economic and social resilience of farms with healthy and accessible food. Agriculture covers half of Europes land territory and it emits 10% of the EU's annual carbon emissions. Reforming the Common Agriculture Policy to shift agricultural practices is key to deliver on the European Green Deal , the Union's strategy to reach climate-neutrality by 2050.

The ongoing reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is an unmissable opportunity to green the agriculture sector, reduce its negative environmental impact and ensure food security in the EU, members agree.

Guillaume Cros (FR/Greens) , Vice-President of the Regional Council of the Occitanie-Pyrenees-Mediterranean region and rapporteur of the CoR opinion on agroecology , said: "The present pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of our globalised agriculture and food system. European agriculture needs an agronomic, social and territorial transition that brings along greater sustainability and resilience. Agroecology is the answer to the multiple challenges we face: the need to decarbonise our agriculture, reconquer biodiversity, restore soil fertility and enhance the economic and social resilience of our farms to ensure healthy, local and affordable food for everyone. Based on a network of small and middle-size farms, agroecology can also be instrumental in revitalising rural areas across the EU."

The CoR welcomes the call for a significant transformation in agricultural policy that the European Commission has put forward in the Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy. However, the CoR asks that the new law on sustainable food systems announced in the F2F strategy integrate a binding legal framework to begin a genuine agroecological transition.

Based on small and medium-sized farms, Agroecology cannot be developed if CAP direct payments remain allocated per hectare and not per active person on the farm. The CoR proposes a gradual shift from a basic payment per hectare to a basic payment linked to the number of active persons and for direct payments to be funnelled as a matter of priority to small and medium-sized agroecological farms.

The following operational proposals have been voted:

 The European Commission to propose a new directive on agricultural soils to halt the decrease in organic matter content, stop erosion and prioritise soil life in agricultural practices.

 Further promote the development of short supply chains and small-scale processing of agricultural products.

 The expansion of protected agricultural areas, creation of agroecological demonstration farms, and tools for monitoring the implementation of the agroecological transition.

 EU legislation to exclude genetically modified or mutagenic seeds and to stop importing agricultural products that do not comply with European social and environmental production standards.

 The introduction of a system of bonuses and penalties as part of the eco-schemes of the new Common Agricultural Policy. The eco-schemes should represent at least 30% of the first pillars funds.

 Safeguard animal welfare and climate mitigation by changing the current livestock farming into human scale, ensuring as much free range as possible and self-sufficiency in feeding animals. It is time to end cage rearing, as requested by a recent citizens' initiative and the CoR opinion on the CAP reform .

 Reducing VAT (Value Added Tax) on organic-local- seasonal products along with "local" meal vouchers and the introduction of a significant percentage of such products in mass catering.

 "Long contracts for agroecological innovation" between groups of farmers and local or regional authorities.

 The EU to coordinate and facilitate a network of municipalities committed to taking measures to promote resilient, sustainable agricultural and food systems, as the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.

Background:

The CoR opinion on agroecology has been adopted during the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions on 3-5 February 2021.

Read here the web interview with Guillaume Cros on agroecology (published 22 January 2021).

In the 2020 state of the environment report , the European Environment Agency (EEA) warns that Europe faces environmental challenges of unprecedented scale and urgency.

Green Deal Going Local (GDGL) is a new initiative by the European Committee of the Regions, which aims to place cities and regions at the core of the European Green Deal, ensuring that both the EU's sustainable growth strategy and the COVID-19 recovery plans translate into direct funding for cities and regions and tangible projects for every territory. Green Deal Going Local was launched on 15 June 2020 with the creation of a specific Working Group composed of 13 members . Read the press release here. Discover 200 Green Deal best practices in our online map.

Contact:

David Crous

david.crous@cor.europa.eu

+32 (0) 470 88 10 37
(Natural News) In a piece he wrote for the far-left publication American Prospect, columnist Harold Meyerson made the suggestion that all Republicans need to be put on a domestic terrorism watch list because some of them have said mean things about Democrats.

Meyerson is particularly upset at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for allegedly liking a tweet that called for shooting Nancy Pelosi and executing FBI agents for their deep state persecutions of Donald Trump.

This writer is unsure when or if this actually happened, but Meyerson says it did and now he wants the entire Republican Party to be punished for it. Meyerson also wants Republicans to be punished for the insurrection that occurred at the Capitol on Jan. 6, which he says is all Trumps fault.

Demonstrating the type of elitist fragility that we have all become accustomed to, Meyerson believes this incident to be one of the worst things ever to happen in our country because it made a few politicians get scared, and they are not used to having their feathers ruffled.

Burning down AutoZone and looting Target pales in comparison to the Capitol siege because there were no politicians anywhere near those businesses. Entering a federal building unannounced, though, is basically the apocalypse, according to Meyerson.

That precious congressional privilege, which demands that no member of Congress ever have to be inconvenienced, let alone confronted by voters, was violated on Jan. 6, and now the elites want all Republicans to pay dearly.

Expressing conservative viewpoints is a form of sedition, according to the left

Meyerson is throwing a temper tantrum over the overwhelming refusal of Republicans in Congress to hold Trump accountable for the insurrection. Members like Arizonas Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs who encouraged the incident are even more offensive, he says.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution says that no government official can hold office who, having previously taken an oath  to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,' Meyerson writes, suddenly championing the Constitution because he believes it says something that supports his viewpoint.

That surely applies to Trump, but it increasingly appears that it should apply to most Republican members of Congress as well, Meyerson adds, suggesting that all of them are domestic terrorists.

The Washington Post published a similar hit piece entitled, What the 1798 Sedition Act got right  and what it means today that presents a similar narrative. Spreading misinformation online  meaning a Trump supporter expressing his or her views  is dangerous and does not align with democracy.

The column said that the danger of misinformation meant that free speech was not enough to sort out fact from fiction, and that opponents of the Sedition Act were wrong to conclude that the truth would necessarily prevail in an open exchange of information,' writes Joel B. Pollak for Breitbart News.

Several Breitbart commenters were quick to point out that Rep. Greene did nothing wrong. To claim otherwise, and to insinuate that she and others like her are domestic terrorists, is some of the worst kind of gaslighting, and something we have all come to expect from the Democrat Party.

If you dont agree, then you dont belong in the Republican Party, one commenter wrote.

The Founding Fathers did nothing wrong. Their statues and those of Lincoln and Christopher Columbus and General Robert E. Lee must be put back. If you dont like our statues then youre in the wrong country. Arrest, denaturalization, and deportation.

More related news about media manipulation of peoples minds can be found at Propaganda.news.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

NaturalNews.com
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A total of 134,960 COVID-19 cases have been reported in Nigeria after 1,138 new infections were found in 21 states across the country on Wednesday.

Nigerias daily COVID-19 infections have averaged over 1,000 since the beginning of this year, indicating how fast the disease has spread compared to when the country recorded its first case of the virus in February last year.

The adverse impact of the spike in new cases has been more deaths.

Five people died from COVID-19 on Wednesday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced Wednesday night.

The five deaths which indicated a marginal decrease from the six deaths reported on Tuesday raised the fatality in the country to 1,618.

About 76 lives were lost to COVID-19 complications last week, a seven per cent reduction when compared to the previous weeks record of 82 fatalities, official records showed.

Specifics

The 1,138 new cases were reported from 21 states  Lagos (377), FCT (172), Plateau (86), Kano (84), Edo (60), Osun (47), Nasarawa (41), Imo (40), Rivers (36), Niger (32), Oyo (32), Borno (29), Kaduna (27), Delta (18), Kwara (17), Cross River (9), Ekiti (8), Bauchi (7), Ogun (7), Sokoto (6) and Bayelsa (3).

Of the over 133,000 new cases, a total of 108,657 patients have recovered across the country.

Meanwhile, there are nearly 25,000 patients still receiving treatments in isolation centres.

Since the pandemic broke out in February last year, the country has carried out over 1.3 million tests.

As Nigeria continues to record relatively high cases, the presidency has warned against violations of safety guidelines issued to curtail the spread of the virus.

The government has made use of face masks mandatory in public places and banned large gatherings. However, many citizens still violate the guidelines with the authorities in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, forced to shut two major markets in the city after traders and shoppers failed to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols.

Nigeria will receive 16 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines before the end of February, according to authorities.
In her Union Budget 2021 speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to do away with the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) loan to Food Corporation of India (FCI) for food subsidy. Let us take a look at what it means and how it impacts the governments expenditure and fiscal deficit.

The FCI procures food-grains--like rice and wheat--from the farmers at a minimum support price or MSP and sells at a Central lssue Price (CIP), both fixed by the union government. The CIP is lower than the MSP and the cost difference (after the revenue earned by sale to states) is adjusted by providing food subsidies through budget allocations.

But such budget allocations are typically lower than FCIs shortfall and the organisation makes up the difference by borrowing from the National Small Saving Fund (NSSF).

For example, in 2019-20, the FCI wanted to claim a subsidy of Rs 3.18 lakh crore (1.8 lakh crore carried forward from the previous year and 1.3 lakh crore during the year) while the budget subsidy allocation was Rs 75,000 crore.

In February 2020, when the finance minister presented the budget for 2020-21, she had allocated Rs 77,983 crore for reimbursing FCI. This was bound to be inadequate considering that FCI had outstanding loans of about Rs 2.5 lakh crore from NSSF by March 2020.

Why did the government do this?

By telling FCI to take a loan from the NSSF, the government is able to keep its expenditure lower which is reflected in a smaller fiscal deficit  the difference between governments income and spending. Of course, this also meant that the reported fiscal deficit in the budget accounts did not show the true picture.

This had prompted the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to examine the off-budget financing in compliance with the provisions of FRBM Act. The government has increasingly resorted to off-budget financing for revenue as well as capital spending, the CAG report on Compliance of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003, tabled in Parliament in January 2019 said.

While presenting the revised estimates for 2020-21, the finance minister has increased the allocation for FCI to Rs 3.44 lakh crore and decided to do away with the NSSF loan facility. This will bring down FCIs outstanding shortfall although not fully eliminate it since the organization will make a subsidy claim of Rs 4.6 lakh crore (Rs 2.2 lakh crore in the current financial year as on January 21 plus the carryover from previous years).

Economists have welcome the move since it enhances transparency in government accounts.

The revised allocation for food subsidy has been driven by the large costs related to the provision of free food grains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana until November 2020, as well as the prepayment of a loan that had been taken by the FCI from the NSSF, Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist with ICRA said.

Thus, the total food subsidy for 2020-21 (apart from FCI allocation, this also includes subsidies towards sugar and procurement under the National Food Security Act) ballooned to Rs 4.2 lakh crore compared to Rs 1.2 lakh crore budgeted in February 2020.

This is one of the reasons why overall government expenditure for the current financial year has increased to Rs 34.5 lakh crore from the budgeted Rs 30.4 lakh crore. Consequently, the fiscal deficit is now pegged at 9.5 percent of the GDP in 2020-21 (revised estimate), one of the highest recorded.

In absolute terms this stands at Rs 18.5 lakh crore in 2020-21 as per the revised estimate, up 132 percent from the budgeted Rs 7.9 lakh crore. Apart from the increased food subsidy, paring of revenue and disinvestment receipts by Rs. 6.4 lakh crore was another reason for the widening of the deficit.

Earlier, FCIs drawings from NSSF were not shown in the budget. Now, FCIs dues are pushed into the food subsidy which is finally reflected in the fiscal deficit. The NSSF is still being used to cover-up or finance the fiscal deficit from the same fund, which is only helping make records more transparent. The NSSFs contribution towards fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs 3.91 lakh crore in 2021-22 (BE), said Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist at CARE Ratings.

For 2021-22, the allocation for FCI has been budgeted at Rs 2.02 lakh crore. Thats also one of the reason why the fiscal deficit for 2021-22 is estimated at 6.8 percent of the GDP or Rs 15.07 lakh crore.

In our view, providing the entire food subsidy amount through the budget, instead of funding a portion of the same through NSSF loans given directly to the FCI, has enhanced the transparency of the budget, said Nayar
Russell Moore-led ERLC a threat to SBC funding, unity report finds

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Nearly two years after a motion to defund the Southern Baptist Conventions Russell Moore-led Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission was rejected by messengers, a new report from a task force commissioned to study the denominations public policy arm has found it to be a major threat to the funding of the $15 billion Protestant Christian organizations Cooperative Program.

The ERLC, which currently has an operating budget of $4.3 million, is funded through the SBCs Cooperative Program, which also provides funding for the North American Mission Board, International Mission Board, and the six Southern Baptist seminaries in America  Southern, Southeastern, Midwestern, Southwestern, Golden Gate, and New Orleans.

Members of the task force, which includes Mike Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Georgia, who is vying to become the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention, painted a grim picture of the threat Moores controversial leadership poses to the Cooperative Fund.

While much of the work of the ERLC is praised and appreciated by Southern Baptists, the ERLC is also a source of significant distraction from the Great Commission work of Southern Baptists. The leader of a large state convention reported, The ERLC has been a stumbling block not worth the mission dollar investment. The task force finds merit in this statement, wrote members of the task force.

Among the concerns state executive directors of the SBC reported hearing about Moore from pastors were: Moores open opposition of President Donald Trump; an allegation that he received funding from an organization with ties to George Soros; an Amicus brief from the ERLC in support of a New Jersey mosque; a perception that he criticizes conservative political figures more frequently and more harshly than moderate to liberal figures; his stance on immigration; his stated support of attending homosexual wedding showers and receptions; plus giving disrespectful and condescending responses to the questions of messengers. Repeatedly noted was the response given to Pastor John Wofford of Armorel Baptist Church at the 2016 annual meeting about Muslims.

The report, which was released Monday, noted that while giving to the SBCs Cooperative Program has been trending downward for years, Moores leadership and perceived liberal politics has led to hundreds of churches withholding funds to the program, threatening to withhold funding or even cutting ties with the denomination.

In early January as the task force was finalizing this report, some of our largest state conventions initiated contact with the task force. Multiple churches in those states have more recently defunded or are now considering defunding the ERLC. The contacts included one of the largest contributors in the Southern Baptist Convention. Two additional churches described as significant Cooperative Program churches in one state convention have recently defunded. There were calls for the resignation of Dr. Moore, the task force said.

These January actions followed comments made by Dr. Moore related to the unlawful incident at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. The unrest in these churches toward the ERLC was not caused by Dr. Moores condemnation of the U.S. President or by the renunciation of the tragic event at the Capitol. Rather, the churches were troubled by Dr. Moores comments in light of the silence of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission during the violent and destructive protests that swept the entire nation for months beginning in the summer of 2020, they wrote.

The Cooperative Program is the SBCs unified plan of giving through which cooperating SBC churches give a percentage of their undesignated receipts in support of their respective state convention and SBC missions and ministries.

While state conventions couldn't provide any verifiable data that they were giving to the Cooperative Program as a result of the work of the ERLC, there was significant evidence that the ERLCs work was affecting funding, the report said.

One state convention reported that more than 250 churches are considering withholding or negatively designating funds or have already done so. This number represents a significant percentage of the churches currently in friendly cooperation with that state convention, the task force members wrote.

Some churches are considering a complete withdrawal from the SBC because of the belief that the national convention is moving in a liberal direction. The ERLC is listed as one of those concerns. The state convention reported that serious concerns about the ERLC exist with 10 of the top 30 CP-giving churches, potentially impacting a total of $2,448,000 from those 10 churches alone, they said.

One state convention verified that $1,147,000 had been withheld due to the ERLC and estimated another $1,500,000 of Cooperative Program giving is in jeopardy.

Another state reported that 94 churches have either decreased or completely eliminated Cooperative Program support this year at a total budget cost of approximately $500,000. Based on actual conversations with these pastors, the state executive estimated that 50% have done so because of a lack of confidence in many national SBC issues. These issues included but were not limited to the ERLC, they wrote.

The Christian Post reached out to the ERLC for comment Tuesday and David Prince, chairman of the organization's board of trustees, said they have "served Southern Baptists faithfully" during difficult times.

I think Southern Baptists can see this report for exactly what it is and are ready to move on from this moment and focus on our mission together. The ERLC has served Southern Baptists faithfully during a time of political, cultural, and in some cases, denominational chaos. Much of this chaos remains with us, including widespread news of many of our black and brown brothers and sisters leaving the SBC. That should be alarming to all of us. Regardless, all this and more is why I am grateful the ERLC serves our churches with a vibrant and bold gospel witness day in and day out," he wrote in a statement.

A decision made last year by the Council of Seminary Presidents, which is comprised of the SBCs six seminaries, has sparked an exodus of black leaders from the denomination after they voted to reject critical race theory and deemed it as incompatible with their faith while condemning racism in any form.

There appears to be an impasse over the issue that could likely contribute to more black pastors and their congregations cutting ties with the SBC if Resolution 9, which describes CRT as an analytical tool that can aid in evaluating a variety of human experiences, is rescinded at the SBCs annual meeting this summer.

To be honest, Im not optimistic that things will change. Again, for political reasons, economic reasons, the Convention is likely to reverse the decision they made in 2019. If they dont reverse it by rescinding it  theyll maybe adopt a new resolution thats radically different from Resolution 9 in 2019, Dwight McKissic Sr., one of the Southern Baptist Conventions most outspoken black pastors, said in a recent interview.

They may in some way formally adopt the seminary presidents statement on critical race theory. I suspect that things will get worse than better. I think the statement thats being made to us is that there will never be [human] equality and inclusion in SBC life, he added.

It is still unclear what impact this situation will have on SBC funding, but The National African American Fellowship alone represents a network of more than 4,000 predominantly African American pastors and churches affiliated with the SBC.

Task force members also argued that one of the greatest challenges connected to the recent work of the ERLC is an amicus brief filed by the organization in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of McRaney v. North American Mission Board.

The brief was filed on Aug. 21, 2020, and described the SBC as a hierarchy that serves as an umbrella Southern Baptist governing body over all of the various groups of churches.

The report states that even though this description of SBC polity was grossly erroneous as noted by SBC lawyers, and Moore was aware of this, he allowed the brief to be filed anyway. It was only after outcry about the brief that the ERLC released a statement apologizing and clarifying the error.

After much back and forth, the ERLC and the Thomas More Society filed a letter with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to inform the court of the errors in the amicus brief on Dec. 14 without informing the SBC.

That the current perception of the leadership and direction of the ERLC by many Southern Baptists is a substantial impediment to the growth of the Cooperative Program. Without quick and significant changes in that perception, the findings suggest the potential for a measurable decline in the near future and beyond, the task force argued.

The group recommended that the SBCs Executive Committee request that the ERLC Board of Trustees work with the ERLC staff to develop an intentional plan to demonstrate a greater appreciation for how its positions, including social media use, affect the spirit of cooperation among Southern Baptists.

They also asked that the Executive Committee request that the boards of trustees of each of the entities of the SBC adopt and implement a policy of submitting legal briefs, where those briefs address the nature and work of Southern Baptists, to Convention attorneys, prior to their being filed, for the purpose of receiving input regarding the effect of those briefs on the ministries of the Southern Baptist Convention.
INDIANAPOLIS  The Indiana Department of Health today announced that 2,403 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at state and private laboratories. That brings to 633,690 the number of Indiana residents now known to have had the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous days dashboard.



A total of 11,231 Hoosiers are confirmed to have died from COVID-19. The total includes 37 newly reported deaths and 1,507 historical deaths that were identified through an audit of death records and positive test results.

Indiana COVID-19 Dashboard & Map



Another 406 probable deaths have been reported based on clinical diagnoses in patients for whom no positive test is on record.

To find testing sites around the state, click here.

Hoosiers age 65 and older, along with healthcare workers, long-term care residents, and first responders, are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

As of today, 637,906 Hoosiers have received the first dose of vaccine, and 178,560 are fully vaccinated.

To schedule, visit https://ourshot.in.gov or call 211.

The state and its partners are adding more locations for you to get vaccinated including select Meijer, Kroger, & Walmart pharmacies across the state.

Vigo Countys three Kroger locations are included.

All locations will show up on the state's vaccination website.

It's important to note Meijer and Kroger will have their own appointment sign-up areas on their websites.
A new study suggests the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine cuts transmission of the virus by two-thirds and prevents severe disease. Oxford University released the results on Wednesday.

The research has not yet been peer reviewed, meaning other scientists have not examined it. But, Britains Health Secretary Matt Hancock told broadcaster Sky News the findings are very good news.

Hancock said the latest results showed the AstraZeneca vaccine slows spread of the virus by about 66 percent. He added that the study also found the vaccine injections were highly protective after a single dose.

The head of research and development for AstraZeneca, Mene Pangalos, told reporters no patients had experienced severe disease or hospitalization three weeks after receiving a first dose. The effectiveness of the vaccine appeared to increase up to 12 weeks after the first shot, he added.



The European Medicines Agency approved the vaccine for adults of all ages last week. However, most of the subjects involved in the AstraZeneca vaccine trials were under 55 years old.

Italy and Belgium have approved use of the vaccine in adults under 55. Belgiums health minister said there was not enough information available to be sure to say that it is good for older individuals.

Poland is permitting use in adults up to age 60. And Germany, Italy, and Sweden have approved its use for people 18 to 65 years old.

The new Oxford study found that those who were given a single dose of the vaccine were 67 percent less likely to test positive for COVID-19. This suggests the possibility "for a substantial reduction in transmission," it said.



The study provides support for Britains campaign to treat as many high-risk groups as possible with a first dose of the vaccine. The country is providing second injections 12 weeks after the first. It argues that the delay will help protect more people quickly. Some experts disagree.

The other vaccine already in use in Britain is from Pfizer-BioNTech. That medicine is advised for use in two doses given three weeks apart. But, Health Secretary Hancock said Wednesday that Britain believes a 12-week period is the right plan for both vaccines.

The Oxford study involved more than 17,000 people in Britain, Brazil and South Africa.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and VOA News reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________



Words in This Story

transmission  n. the process of passing something from one person to another

dose  n. the amount of something, such as a medicine, that is needed to have the expected result

positive  adj. in a medical test, positive means the person being tested has a disease or condition
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Tories today demanded Boris Johnson lifts coronavirus restrictions altogether by the summer amid fury over the government's 'goalpost shifting' on lockdown.

The PM is facing an angry backlash and claims he is being 'beaten up by scientists' after ministers and SAGE experts suggested all over-50s should get vaccines before any 'significant' easing.

There is alarm that the bar for allowing the economy to get back up and running is being lifted, with dire warnings about the threat of mutant coronavirus added to concerns about the strain on the NHS.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi appeared to indicate this morning that the government is looking at the top nine risk categories - around 32million people - as the trigger point for a widespread downgrading of measures. So far the PM has only said that he will unveil a route map out of lockdown on February 22, after the first four most vulnerable groups have been covered.

Mr Zahawi refused to give a date for when the nine categories in phase one of the rollout will be complete - although MailOnline estimates suggest it could be early April.

Meanwhile, SAGE member Professor Andrew Hayward gave a similar message as he said there could be a 'significant return to normality' after all over-50s are vaccinated. 'Once the most vulnerable people, particularly those over 50 and those with chronic illnesses, are vaccinated then yes I think we can see a significant return to normality,' he said.

However, Prof Hayward said he still hoped the UK will be 'more or less back to normal for the summer'.

Tory MPs warned it would be 'madness' if Mr Johnson merely started to open schools on March 8 - which he has identified as the earliest possible timeframe for any relaxation. Mark Harper, chair of the lockdown-sceptic CRG block, said once the top nine groups are vaccinated restrictions should be lifted altogether.

And former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith told MailOnline: 'The trouble is they are now being beaten up by the scientists. The scientists are giving them all sorts of new reasons why you can't unlock.

'Of course for the scientists it doesn't make any difference really because they get paid anyway.'

There are claims that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is again leading calls within Cabinet for lockdown to be eased as early as possible - in contrast to the more cautious tone adopted by Mr Johnson recently.

There was more proof that Britain has passed the peak of the second wave today as daily deaths and cases continued to fall and pressure on intensive care units finally started to ease.

Department of Health officials recorded another 915 Covid victims and 20,634 positive tests  down by more than a quarter week-on-week.

Separate Public Health England figures showed all but three local authorities saw coronavirus infections drop last week and cases in care homes fell by a third. The latest Test and Trace report today also claimed positive tests plunged by 41 per cent in the last fortnight, in another sign the crisis is firmly in retreat.

Meanwhile, NHS England statistics showed there were 5,283 patients in ICUs across the country on the last day of January, down slightly on the previous week when there were 5,446 beds in use. It's the first time ICU capacity has eased since the highly-infectious Kent Covid variant started to spiral out of control in December.

All key metrics now indicate the darkest days of the winter crisis are behind us, with the number of Covid hospital patients in general beds dropping to its lowest level for a month and in every region. And in another glimmer of hope, the mammoth vaccine roll-out is continuing to pick up pace with almost 475,000 jabs dished out yesterday. And 500,000 vulnerable Britons have now had both doses.

Pressure is growing on Boris Johnson (pictured this morning) to commit to a major relaxation of the draconian measures within weeks, after the UK's rollout of jabs hit the milestone of 10million people covered

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi (left) appeared to indicate this morning that the government is looking at the top nine risk categories - around 32million people - as the trigger point for a widespread downgrading of measures. But there are claims Rishi Sunak (right) is among the Tories growing concerned about shifting goalposts

There are still 35,000 patients in hospital with Covid  far higher than the 20,000 at the peak last spring

As the pandemic chaos continue to rage today:

Wales is planning to get schools back from February 22, the same date as Scotland and weeks before it is due to happen in England;

No10 launched the world's first trial into whether mixing and matching Covid vaccines can enhance protection;

Ministers have been slammed over delays to the 'quarantine hotels' plans with Matt Hancock not now expected to give the details until next week;

Sir Keir Starmer was forced to admit he was wrong to deny he had called for the UK to remain part of the European Medicine's Agency;

Britons went on to their doorsteps and balconies to clap in honour of the late Captain Sir Tom Moore.

Britons believe Brexit helped vaccine drive Most Britons believe Brexit has helped the UK's vaccine drive - as the EU struggles with a chaotic rollout and supply shortages. A poll for MailOnline shows the contrast between the rapid progress in Britain and the problems in the bloc has not been lost on the public. Some 35 per cent said leaving the EU had been useful for the massive national effort, compared to 20 per cent who thought it had been a hindrance. Around a quarter said they thought it had a neutral effect, and 19 per cent said they were not sure, according to the research by Redfield & Wilton Strategies. While the UK hit the milestone of 10million people given jabs yesterday, the EU's programme has descended into a shambles with the central regulator far slower to sign off jabs and the bloc moving too late to secure supplies. The fallout on the continent triggered threats from Ursula von der Leyen to bar exports to the UK and impose a hard border with Northern Ireland, which was later humiliatingly dropped. And Emmanuel Macron was among the leaders who launched baseless attacks on the effectiveness of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca jab - even though the EU has been desperately trying to obtain stocks. Advertisement

Asked on Today whether the government was shifting the goalposts on when lockdown can ease, Mr Zahawi said: 'I think you've got to make sure your vaccination programme has protected the top nine categories in phase one...'

He reiterated that the PM will set out a roadmap and the intention is for restrictions to loosen 'gradually' from March 8, starting with schools.

Mr Zahawi declined to give a date for when the first nine groups in the priority list will have received their vaccine, but said people could 'do the maths'.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Nadhim Zahawi said: 'We will set out our target (for vaccinating groups 5-9) after we have hit our February 15 target.

'But you can do the maths. We did 600,000 in a single day  the deployment infrastructure that we've built can do as much vaccines as we get supply, so the limiting factor will be vaccine supply.

'You can see that in the next 10 or so days, we've got to do another almost touching five million and so if we keep that rate up we will very quickly go down the list of the top nine.'

Pressed on whether that meant it would take another 35 days from February 15 to have jabbed all 31 million people in the first nine cohorts, Mr Zahawi replied: 'That assumes the supply, so I don't want to commit to a date without going through it with a very fine toothcomb with the whole team, because our limiting factor is the supply of vaccines ultimately.

'With any manufacturing process, especially one that is new, there are challenges around that, as we've seen in Europe and as we saw in the early days in the UK as well.'

Covid Recovery Group (CRG) chairman Mark Harper argued that once the top nine priority groups had been vaccinated, that should be the moment restrictions are lifted altogether.

'Once you've done the top nine groups  that's 99 per cent of deaths and over 80 per cent of hospitalisations  that's the point at which you can get rid of restrictions completely,' he told the World At One.

'I think what people are worried about is you then keep hearing other things creeping into the argument about the rate of infection and other things keep being thrown into the debate which sounds like it's changing the goal post.

'I think we should keep focused on protecting the vulnerable, reducing deaths and hospitalisations and the pressure on the health service  and those are the two things I think that need to drive opening up.'

Encouraging figures show the number of positive tests recorded in English care homes dropped by more than a third last week, falling from 504 to 321. This, combined with the fact every eligible care home resident has now been vaccinated, suggest officials are finally getting a grip on the resurgence of the virus in the sector

Latest NHS England data published today showed there were 5,283 patients in ICUs across the country on the last day of January, down slightly on the previous week, when there were 5,446 beds in use. It is significant because it marks the first time ICU capacity has eased since the highly-infectious Kent Covid variant started to spiral out of control in December

Mr Duncan Smith told MailOnline that Mr Sunak was 'not the only one' worried about goalposts shifting on lockdown.

'For all those on low incomes stuck in homes that are quite small with kids it's a nightmare. They are not earning anything, large number of them have not been able to be furloughed because their companies have just gone under, and they were doing a lot of casual work.

All but THREE local authorities in England saw Covid cases fall last week All but three local authorities in England saw coronavirus infections fall last week, official data shows as pressure on NHS intensive care units has started to ease for the first time since the winter wave took off. Public Health England figures published today reveal 146 out of 149 areas (98 per cent) recorded a drop in weekly positive tests in the seven days to January 31, with cases falling in all English regions for the second week running. Infection rates plunged by more than 33 per cent in a third of local authorities and fell sharply by over 25 per cent in another 35 places. Cases are also down in every age group. Encouraging figures show the number of positive tests recorded in English care homes dropped by more than a third last week, falling from 504 to 321. This, combined with the fact every eligible care home resident has now been vaccinated, suggest officials are finally getting a grip on the resurgence of the virus in the sector. Meanwhile, latest NHS England data published today showed there were 5,283 patients in ICUs across the country on the last day of January, down slightly on the previous week, when there were 5,446 beds in use. It is significant because it marks the first time ICU capacity has eased since the highly-infectious Kent Covid variant started to spiral out of control in December, suggesting the winter wave has passed its peak and the NHS will not be overwhelmed. Meanwhile, the latest Government Test and Trace report published today showed coronavirus infections fell by 41 per cent in the last two weeks, in another sign the crisis is firmly in retreat. The programme reported 196,257 positive tests in the week up to January 27, down from 333,802 in the seven days to January 13. All key metrics now indicate the darkest days of the winter crisis are behind us, with the number of Covid hospital patients in general beds dropping to its lowest level for a month and virus deaths falling by a quarter in a week. Advertisement

'We have got to take stock and get the balance right again. We have now got these vaccines, they are demonstrating that not only do they protect against Covid, they protect against transmission.'

He said the government was 'within an ace' of protecting the most vulnerable groups and it would be 'madness' only to open schools on March 8. 'We cannot scare ourselves into no activity. We need the economy to move for lots of reasons, not just for money, for wellbeing, for mental health.'

A supporter of Mr Sunak told the Telegraph: 'Rishi is concerned that the scientists have been moving the goalposts in recent weeks. It's no longer just about hospitalisations and protecting the NHS but cases and case numbers.'

They said Mr Sunak was adamant this third national squeeze must be the final lockdown and heralded it a 'fat lady sings moment' - the point at which Britain draws a line under a cycle of lockdowns for good.

Treasury sources played down the reports this morning, insisting those are 'not things he has said'.

Cases and deaths are continuing to fall as the UK recorded another 19,202 infections and 1,322 fatalities yesterday, down 25 per cent week-on-week. Prof Chris Whitty confirmed that the country is now past the latest peak.

Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the rate of the fall in Covid-19 cases made him optimistic that restrictions on households mixing could be lifted as soon as next month and that pupils could be back to school before the Prime Minister's March 8 target date.

He told BBC Radio 4's World At One: 'I think there could well be a case for opening schools sooner  I particularly think schools for children under 11 years of age, where the evidence that they contribute to the spread of the epidemic in the wider population is a lot lower.

'I would certainly hope to see schools, and particularly junior schools, opening relatively soon.'

Asked about when people could start to see friends and family, Prof Hunter replied: 'Personally I believe we should be able to start doing that probably not long after (schools reopen)  if I had to bet on a time, I'd say some time in March certainly.'

On being allowed back into restaurants, he added: 'I think that will be probably around the same time, maybe April. But again, it just depends what happens with the epidemic between now and then.'

In a statement to the Commons this afternoon, Mr Zahawi sounded a positive tone saying 'our nation is getting safer every day' thanks to the success of the vaccination programme.

'I am pleased to inform the House that we have now vaccinated almost nine in 10 over-80s in the UK, almost nine in 10 over-75s, and over half of people in their 70s,' he said.

'We've also visited every eligible care home possible with older residents in England and have offered vaccinations to all their residents and staff.

'This means we are currently on track to meet our target of offering a vaccine to the four most vulnerable groups by mid-February.'

He said new vaccine sites being opened will enable the most vulnerable to be given their jabs 'even quicker'.

But in a word of caution about the threat posed by mutant strains, Mr Zahawi said 'no one is really safe until the whole world is safe'.

He told MPs that he was 'pleased' by evidence about the effectiveness of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in stopping transmission, adding: 'This is, of course, really great news for us all.

'But we will not rest on our laurels  no one is really safe until the whole world is safe.

'Our scientific pioneers will keep innovating so we can help the whole world in our collective fight against this virus.'

In the poll for MailOnline 35 per cent said leaving the EU had been useful for the massive national effort, compared to 20 per cent who thought it had been a hindrance

Oxford vaccine's 67% cut in transmission will save THOUSANDS of lives Oxford's Covid vaccine could save tens of thousands of lives because it can cut the likelihood of catching coronavirus and passing it on by around two thirds, scientists say. Modelling produced by SAGE members from Warwick University predicted that more than 150,000 more people could die in 2021 if lockdown rules were lifted in March or April and vaccines did not stop people from spreading the virus. But with a 60 per cent infection-blocking capability  slightly lower than the 67 per cent that Oxford claims its vaccine is capable of  this could be halved, saving tens of thousands of lives. Oxford researchers, who are making their jab with pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and delivering more than a million of doses per week to the UK, confirmed last night that trials suggested the jab would stop most people from passing on the virus. This is critical because uptake will not be 100 per cent and not everyone who gets the vaccine will be protected by it, meaning the virus will still be a danger to some. Lifting lockdown after vaccinating people with jabs that don't stop the spread, the Warwick experts warned, would lead to 'an uncontrolled wave of infection in which only those successfully immunised will escape.' And even doing so with the Oxford vaccine rolled out to millions of people could still lead to a spike of 1,500 deaths per day if lockdown was lifted in February in exchange for the rule of six, or 2,000 per day if lockdown ends completely in July. Dr Paul Hunter, a scientist at the University of East Anglia who was not involved with the research, said social distancing could have to stay for another year in 2022 before it would be safe to return to normal. Advertisement

At a No10 press briefing last night Mr Johnson trumpeted the country's vaccination drive for passing the monumental 10million-jab milestone.

Thanking the medics behind the rollout, the Prime Minister said: 'It is thanks to their effort  the most colossal in the history of our National Health Service  that we have today passed the milestone.'

Yet Prof Whitty warned that the NHS will stay under strain until the six remaining priority groups, which include everyone over 50, are given their first dose.

He told the briefing: 'The number of people in hospital with Covid has now gone down from its peak, quite noticeably.

'But as the Prime Minister said, there are still a very large number of people in hospital, and more people than there were in the first peak in April last year. So this is still a very major problem, but it is one that is heading the right way.'

There are still 35,000 patients in hospital with Covid  far higher than the 20,000 at the peak last spring.

Mr Johnson rowed in behind his top medical expert and warned that the level of infection is still 'forbiddingly high' and that it is too soon to relax current restrictions.

The Prime Minister promised that he will set out a 'route map' out of lockdown on February 22, when he said scientists will have a better idea of how effective the vaccines are.

Cabinet 'hawks' such as Mr Sunak have reportedly pushed for looser lockdown curbs at times to reduce the economic fallout of the health crisis.

An unprecedented amount of peacetime public spending to mitigate the effects of lockdown - such as furlough and bailouts - have plunged the nation's finances deep into the red, with government borrowing reaching 270.8bn this financial year.

At next month's Budget the Chancellor will set out his plan to start patching up the blackhole, which will likely see tax rises, although the Tory manifesto ruled out hikes to VAT, national insurance and income tax.

Mr Sunak's Treasury brief, which makes him hyperaware of the havoc being wreaked on the economy, has at times put him at odds with Cabinet 'doves' preoccupied with driving down cases.

Government splits publicly surfaced last night when Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer 'liked' a tweet telling the Chancellor to 'get back in his box'.

The Chancellor's bullishness to unlock parts of the economy when possible is believed to be backed by the Business and Transport departments, which are also reportedly worried the criteria for relaxing restrictions is being upped.

German minister rages at von der Leyen on jabs A German minister has raged at Ursula von der Leyen's 'really s**t' vaccine strategy and said that Berlin cannot 'let this s**t repeat itself' as anger mounts over the EU's chaotic handling of the roll-out. Vice-chancellor Olaf Scholz attacked von der Leyen by name in a stormy cabinet meeting on Monday, according to Bild. Scholz - whose party opposed von der Leyen's appointment as European Commission chief in 2019, pointing to a series of blunders when she was German defence minister - is said to have described the vaccine debacle as a 'disgrace'. Angela Merkel is said to have defended von der Leyen at Monday's meeting but finds herself under fire for letting Brussels take charge of the vaccine drive, with the bloc struggling to get hold of doses and lagging behind Britain in handing them out. Only 2.34 per cent of the EU's 447million population has received a vaccine dose so far, with Germany barely above average on 2.36 per cent - while the UK has managed a much more impressive 14.21 per cent. Advertisement

Some Tory MPs have also expressed concern over the scientists' cautious approach and are agitating for looser measures, particularly to reopen schools.

Mr Johnson last week said children would not go back to classes by March 8 at the earliest.

Chair of the powerful 1922 group of Conservative backbenchers Sir Graham Brady urged the PM to revise this date in light of new vaccine data.

The senior Tory MP pointed to a study this week that found just a single shot of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had a 'substantial' impact on curbing transmission.

Oxford researchers, who are making their jab with pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and delivering more than a million of doses per week to the UK, confirmed that trials suggested the jab would stop most people from passing on the virus.

But modelling produced by SAGE members from Warwick University predicted that more than 150,000 more people could die in 2021 if lockdown rules were lifted in March or April and vaccines did not stop people from spreading the virus.

Lifting lockdown after vaccinating people with jabs that don't stop the spread, the Warwick experts warned, would lead to 'an uncontrolled wave of infection in which only those successfully immunised will escape.'

And even doing so with the Oxford vaccine rolled out to millions of people could still lead to a spike of 1,500 deaths per day if lockdown was lifted in February in exchange for the rule of six, or 2,000 per day if lockdown ends completely in July.

Dr Paul Hunter, a scientist at the University of East Anglia who was not involved with the research, said social distancing could have to stay for another year in 2022 before it would be safe to return to normal.

Will April 7 be the day Britain vaccinates its way out of lockdown? UK is on course to finish injecting all over-50s on that day  but it could be much SOONER and there are ALREADY hints that Covid vaccine is working in elderly

Britain is on course to vaccinate all over-50s by April 7 at the current rate of vaccination, MailOnline estimates reveal as debate rages through Government about when lockdown can be lifted.

The protection offered by one dose of coronavirus vaccine takes two to three weeks to kick in, the latest evidence suggests, meaning the UK would be on track for measures to be lifted at the end of April after ministers, Chris Whitty and and SAGE scientists signalled that they want all over-50s to be offered an injection before society reopens.

However, if the UK vaccine drive accelerates from last week's daily average of 345,000 people per day and is able to sustain its maximum rate of 600,000 doses a day, then the target could be hit by mid-March.

Anti-lockdown Tory MPs are pushing for measures to be released sooner, when the 15million most vulnerable people are vaccinated by mid-February. Vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi today said the NHS is on track to hit this target and claimed that nine out of 10 over-75s have already been vaccinated.

Experts estimate that the effects of mass vaccination could start to show through in falling numbers of people being admitted to hospital in mid-February, and then significantly fewer people dying from March. They said there would also be an impact on infections, perhaps sooner, but this will be less noticeable.

One researcher, Leeds University's Professor Daniel Howdon, said there appears to already have been approximately 25 per cent declines in death rates among over-80s, although it is not yet clear whether this is a result of vaccination.

But modelling handed to SAGE in January predicted that easing restrictions from mid-February will cause a third wave of coronavirus that will peak at more than 1,000 deaths a day.

However, while the rollout is expected to speed up, there is still a 'bumpy' supply chain and ministers insist 'our limiting factor remains supply', which Mr Zahawi said today was 'becoming more stable'. Other barriers to full speed vaccination may be the fact that only some GP surgeries are working on Sundays, and people will start to need second doses from early March, which will limit the numbers of unique people who can be reached.

At least one more vaccine should also come into use in March  Moderna's  with the possibility of Johnson & Johnson and Novavax jabs also getting approval before then.

At a rate of 345,000 first doses per day  the current average  it will take until February 17 to vaccinate all of the top four priority groups, and then the remaining 17million over-50s and at-risk people could be reached in 49 days, or seven weeks, by April 7. At an average rate of 600,000 per day from today onwards  something the NHS has shown itself to be capable of, but which would require a lot of things to go right such as constant supplies, perfect organisation and even faster rates as people start to need second doses from mid-March  the first four groups could be done by Februayr 11 and all over-50s by March 12

Analysis shared on Twitter by Professor Daniel Howdon, a health economist at the University of Leeds, suggested there appears to already have been approximately 25 per cent declines in death rates among over-80s, although it is not yet clear whether this is a result of vaccination. This graph shows how the death rate among 85 to 89-year-old people started declining in January even when the outbreak was around its peak, which he said could be linked to vaccine coverage

The Covid-19 Actuaries Response Group, an organisation of volunteer experts, said in January that the effects of the UK's mass vaccine rollout would start to be seen in falling hospital admissions and deaths from mid-February, and then in reduced death rates from March. There would also be a drop in infection rates but this will be less noticeable. The research was produced before the vaccine programme hit its current speed, on January 11

University of Warwick research published in January, before the current vaccination data became available, suggested that if a vaccine could prevent 65% of transmission, as Oxford now says its vaccine does, the country's death rate could be kept to the low hundreds per day or fewer from late March onwards if the rule of six is kept in place. The model is based on a large majority of the population having a vaccine with that level of effectiveness

The current rate of the NHS's vaccination programme shows it is on target to hit its target of offering jabs to the 15million most vulnerable people by mid-February. Last week's rate means it needs just two more weeks to get there.

Officials say they will 'offer' the vaccine to everyone rather than say they will successfully give it to them, because some are likely to refuse to have the jab and others won't be able to have it for medical reasons.

The 15m people include everyone over the age of 70 as well as NHS and social care workers, and those with serious long-term health conditions that put them at a high risk of dying if they catch Covid-19.

Although they are the number one priority for the Government, there are now concerns that vaccinating them alone will not be enough to end the brutal national lockdown.

There are 17million people over the age of 50 who make up priority groups four to nine and who will need to be reached once the top four priority groups have been done.

At a rate of 345,000 first doses per day  last week's average  this would take 49 days, or seven weeks. From February 17 that would mean they could all be reached by April 7.

At an average rate of 600,000 per day from today onwards  something the NHS has shown itself to be capable of, but which would require a lot of things to go right such as constant supplies, perfect organisation and even faster rates as people start to need second doses from mid-March  the first four groups could be done by February 11.

Then it would take just 29 days to reach the 17million outstanding over-50s and high-risk people; four weeks and a day, ending on March 12.

After the most at-risk groups have been vaccinated, the Government plans to offer jabs to everyone aged 18 and over in the UK. There will be around 21million of them left by this point, according to the JCVI.

At the realistic 345,000-per-day rate this could be achieved in 61 days  from April 7 this would take until June 7.

At the hyper-fast 600,000 per day  which would likely be impossible by this point because millions of people would be having their second doses, soaking up most of the NHS's daily capacity  it would take 35 days. From March 12, this would end on April 16.

The estimates are based on an unlikely 100 per cent uptake rate and on the country having a big enough supply to cope with the number of doses needed each day which, from March, will include second doses for people who got their first jab at the start of the programme.

Professor Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, said at a Downing Street press conference last night that it now looks as though all over-50s will need to be immunised in order to stop hospitals loading up with Covid patients again.

He said: 'If you look at the situation for people that have gone into hospital only 54 per cent of all the people who go into hospital are over that age [70].

'So what this means is that once we vaccinated down to 70 and above  plus those who care for them, frontline NHS staff and frontline care workers  we should significantly reduce the number of deaths.

'But we will reduce by a much smaller number the number of people going into hospital...

'If we vaccinate all the way down to the people over 50, and those who have actually got pre-existing health conditions, you then get through virtually all the people who have a high chance of dying.

'So this is around 98 per cent of those who die are in that group. Importantly around 80 per cent, just over 80 per cent of all of those who go into hospital.'

Professor Whitty added: 'So the first wave which is the aim is to complete on the 15th of February we would expect a situation where we can stop a very high proportion of the deaths but rather a smaller proportion of the pressure on the NHS - those very large numbers in hospital.

'As you go onto the next wave, down to those over 50 we have further in roads into reducing deaths and also significantly reduce the pressure on the NHS.'

Experts have warned that lockdown must not be lifted too soon or an uncontrollable third wave of Covid could begin and kill thousands more people, smashing through efforts to protect the country with vaccines.

Warwick University experts on the Government's SAGE committee said in a paper published last week that easing restrictions too soon could case deaths to spike back above 1,000 per day, even with effective vaccines in play.

They explained that even though the vaccines we have appear to work very well, not everyone can or will accept the jab, and no vaccine can ever protect 100 per cent of the people who do get it.

People who couldn't be vaccinated for medical reasons  those who have an extremely weak immune system, for example  will not be protected, and neither will people who turned the jab down, or those in the proportion of people who it fails to protect. A 95 per cent effective vaccine, for example, would still allow five out of 100 people to get Covid-19.

The discovery that Oxford's vaccine appears to cut the risk of someone catching coronavirus and passing it on by two thirds is promising and suggests it could slash transmission even between people with mild symptoms or none, which would dampen a third wave.

But the Warwick experts, in research produced before the vaccination programme hit its current levels of success, warned that at least 50,000 people are likely to die in 2021 and this could be much higher if rules are lifted too soon.

The wrote in their paper: 'Even maintaining [early September] levels of NPI [non-pharmaceutical interventions; social distancing rules] control and having a highly efficacious vaccine we estimate over fifty thousand deaths are likely to occur from January 2021 due to the slow decline in cases from its current high level.

'Early relaxation of control measures or low infection efficacy can lead to a pronounced subsequent wave of infection.

'If we wish to completely lift all restrictions once both phases of the vaccination campaign are complete, we predict a substantial outbreak with a large number of associated deaths.

'When the vaccine is not infection blocking, removing NPIs triggers an uncontrolled wave of infection in which only those successfully immunised will escape.'

They predicted that between 99,000 and 123,000 more people could die in 2021 if lockdown and social distancing come to an end, even in an 'optimistic' vaccine scenario.

In less gloomy news, however, some experts claim they are already starting to see the effects of vaccination in the death rates of the most elderly people in the country.

Professor Daniel Howdon, a health economist at the University of Leeds, revealed on Twitter that the fatality rate among over-80s appears to be falling fast in the wake of the vaccination programme.

He said: 'All 80+ groups are showing quite big (~25%) falls in the CFR [case fatality ratio] vs 75-79 group. All very tentative for now but I think of interest.'

Professor Howdon, using Public Health England data, noted that the proportion of Covid-positive people over the age of 90 who were dying appeared to have dropped from 46.8 per cent at January's peak to 34.7 per cent in the most recent week.

In 85 to 89-year-olds it fell from 40.6 per cent to 30.5 per cent, he said, in 80 to 84-year-olds it dropped from 32.9 to 24.4 per cent, and in 75 to 79-year-olds from 20.6 to 17.6 per cent.

He said that less pressure on hospitals or longer lags between people catching the virus and dying could account for these effects but also suggested it was 'not too unreasonable' to expect to see an effect from vaccines.

Professor Howdon added he was 'going to keep an eye on it. Even if this isn't an effect now, if vaccination reduces deaths more than cases then we should see one soon enough.'
After a series of Bay Area jury verdicts that linked Monsantos widely used Roundup herbicide to cancer, parent company Bayer is making its second attempt to resolve future lawsuits with a proposed $2 billion settlement.

The settlement requires approval from a federal judge in San Francisco, whose criticisms of a proposed $1.25 billion agreement last summer sent Bayer and a group of plaintiffs lawyers back to the negotiating table. The new version is both financially larger and less restrictive, leaving nonparticipants freer to pursue their cases in court, with some limitations on damages.

In addition, for the first time, the settlement would add information to the product label of Roundup, the worlds most widely used herbicide, saying it may cause non-Hodgkins lymphoma, an often lethal cancer. The label would not declare Roundup to be a cause of the disease but would include a link to information on both sides of the debate, the settlement said.

While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly found the product to be safe, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, declared in 2015 that Roundups active ingredient, glyphosate, was a probable cause of human cancer. California health officials relied on that finding in 2017 when they ordered Monsanto to include a cancer warning on Roundup labels, but a federal judge blocked the order, saying it violated the companys right of free speech in light of the EPAs decisions.

The settlement provides a legal remedy for those who have been exposed to Roundup and lack the ability to hire a lawyer or access to the basic diagnostic services necessary to know if they have NHL or non-Hodgkins lymphoma, said San Francisco attorney Elizabeth Cabraser, lead counsel for plaintiffs in the negotiations.

Bayer previously reached a nearly $10 billion settlement of up to 125,000 suits already filed against Monsanto by U.S. residents who said they had been diagnosed with cancer or other illnesses after spraying Roundup or Ranger Pro, another Monsanto product containing glyphosate. That agreement did not require judicial approval, unlike the proposed settlement, which applies only to future lawsuits.

The settlement also does not affect three Bay Area verdicts that Bayer is appealing.

In the first case in the nation to go to trial, a San Francisco jury awarded $289 million in damages in 2018 to Dewayne Lee Johnson, a former groundskeeper and pest-control manager for the Benicia Unified School District, who has been diagnosed with a terminal case of non-Hodgkins lymphoma after spraying a highly concentrated form of glyphosate for four years. A judge later reduced his damages to $78.5 million.

Other trials have resulted in $25.2 million in damages to Edwin Hardeman, who sprayed Roundup on his property in Sonoma County for more than 26 years, and $86.2 million to Alva and Alberta Pilliod, a Livermore couple who sprayed the herbicide on their properties for more than 30 years. Hardemans and the Pilliods cancers are in remission.

Lawyers who criticized last years proposed settlement were not immediately available for comment on the new proposal. The revised settlement responded to some of their objections, leaving them free to opt out and sue Bayer for damages to their cancer-afflicted clients  though not for punitive damages, which would be barred.

Under the proposed settlement, users of Monsantos glyphosate products who have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma would receive up to $200,000 in compensation, or more in exceptional circumstances. The settlement would remain in effect for four years but would allow a judge to grant additional time, and increase the $2 billion ceiling, if both sides requested it.

The settlement would also provide the Monsanto customers with free medical evaluations and legal advice, and notices in languages other than English.

Another change involves a panel of scientists to be chosen by Bayer and plaintiffs lawyers to conduct an independent review of glyphosate and its links to cancer. Under last years agreement, the panels conclusions would have been binding, potentially dismissing many future lawsuits if the scientists found no causation. The panels findings would be merely advisory under the new settlement and could be used by either side as evidence in future cases.

In questioning last years proposal, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria asked why a cancer victim should be bound by the panels future findings  for example, if it concluded in 2023 that glyphosate did not cause cancer. In that case, he said, anyone who had not opted out of the settlement by 2020 would be unable to sue, even if a later and more authoritative scientific study reached the opposite conclusion.

Chhabrias approval will be required for the new settlement to take effect.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.

NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tru Optik, a TransUnion company, has announced today a partnership with WideOrbit, a leader in premium broadcast technology and the largest sell-side processor of premium digital and linear advertising. As an identity resolution leader across OTT, Connected TV (CTV) and streaming audio, Tru Optik's Data Marketplace will be integrated into WideOrbit's Digital Suite to bring enhanced audience targeting to streaming radio and podcast advertising.

With 37 percent of Americans (104 million) listening to podcasts monthly (The Infinite Dial 2020), advertisers demand advanced targeting solutions for streaming audio. WideOrbit's WO Traffic platform is a comprehensive content and revenue management solution for maximizing audience value on any audio formatwhether it's delivered over the air, on mobile devices or smart speakers. WideOrbit's Digital Suite is a cross-media platform for distributing and monetizing digital inventory on any device, supporting live-stream, time-shifted and on-demand content. The Tru Optik Data Marketplace integration will help WideOrbit significantly expand their clients' advanced audio targeting capabilities.

"Streaming audio advertisers are looking for audiences, ease of transaction and data. Buyers today are increasingly looking for specific audience segments," said John Morris, Vice President, Digital Suite, at WideOrbit. "Our partnership with Tru Optik allows us to make that audience data actionable through both programmatic and our publisher's own direct-sold audio inventory."

"At-home audio streaming is the new 'drive time' radio and a key component of the connected home," said Michelle Swanston, Chief Client Officer for Tru Optik. "This integration will enable WideOrbit clients to reach their target audiences across smart speakers and other connected devices."

Additional Resources:

BeetTV Interview: WideOrbit's John Morris

WideOrbit Digital Suite

Tru Optik's Data Marketplace

About Tru Optik

Tru Optik, a TransUnion company, identity resolution powers the streaming media ecosystem. Tru Optik's patented Household Graph of more than 80 million U.S. homes enables the world's leading brands, agencies, media companies, and platforms to engage consumers across OTT, streaming audio, and gaming with unmatched scale, accuracy, and privacy compliance. To learn more about Tru Optik visit: www.truoptik.com.

About WideOrbit

WideOrbit helps media companies do more business by making it easier to buy and sell advertising. Say hello to a Wider World with WideOrbit, the one platform that ties everything together, from pitch to payment. In a rapidly evolving media landscape, doing more business means doing less paper-chasing, less chair-swiveling, and less data re-re-entry. Only WideOrbit brings a Wider-World approach, providing the broader capabilities, bigger insights, and better connections that media companies need. That's why so many industry leaders  including NBCUniversal, ABC/Disney, Fox, CBS/Viacom, AMC, Univision, Meredith, and Entercom  have partnered with us since 1999.

WideOrbit is the system of record for more than $38 billion in advertising transactions annually. WideOrbit is headquartered in San Francisco with offices worldwide. Learn more at wideorbit.com.

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Often in the world of Star Trek, a captain would call for a full stop after going warp speed. That seems to be whats happening in America, as Operation Warp Speed has been an end-of-the-year disaster while vaccine distribution has been woefully lagging, a fact that has generated bipartisan concern.

Whats worse is that it didnt have to be this way for the USA.

Supporters of Trump were quick to give credit to Operation Warp Speed. Michael Goodwin wrote in the New York Post, This was a triumph of the first  order made possible by the sheer force of his personality. But Pfizers vaccine development wasnt part of Operation Warp Speed.

While other pharmaceutical companies did take federal funds to develop a vaccine, Pfizer declined to do so, the only one of the major prospective developers to go it alone, according to Yahoo News. This was confirmed by the companys vice president in that same article.

Yes, Operation Warp Speed did purchase the Pfizer vaccine, but that was botched too. MSN notes, But this summer, the White House opted not to lock in an additional 100 million doses for delivery in the second quarter of 2021. Whether they didnt know it would take two doses, or whether they didnt know that Americans might need those doses to be safe in the second quarter of 2021, and that we needed economic recovery, too, it was clear incompetence.

But its unlikely, at the current pace of vaccine distribution, that well even see the vaccine by the spring, or even by the end of the decade at this rate. According to CNBC at the current rate of distribution, it will take 10 years for even an adequate number of Americans to get the vaccine. Our lives, our health, and our economy cant wait a decade.

Some of this could have been avoided by Trump and the Senate Republicans, but stalling the COVID-19 aid to state and local governments, where the real distribution takes place, was yet another error. We really needed vaccine stimulation, not stimulus checks, to really get the economy going. With anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, and those threatening rebellion, such disruptions could take longer. But instead, we got an avalanche of frivolous lawsuits, and threats to try and undermine the 2020 election on the floor of the House and Senate, at a time when cases and death rates are skyrocketing, and a new strain may have come to Americas shores.

Not all Republicans are tolerating this ineffectiveness. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney tweeted, The vaccination program is falling woefully behind. With hundreds of thousands of lives at stake, urgent action is needed on a comprehensive vaccination plan that states can use as a model.

President Joe Biden promised to accelerate the vaccine distribution. While hes more likely to focus on the issue than Trump, he could fall into a lot of the same traps. Years ago, I met Russ Sobel and Pete Leeson at some free-market economics conferences, where I learned that their research broke down the failures of FEMA during Hurricane Katrina, a combination of exclusive government control, playing politics, and restrictions on the private sector. Indeed, one of the reasons Pfizer did not develop the vaccine with Operation Warp Speed dealt with this same issues. According to Newsweek, Pfizer declined the R&D funding in order to liberate scientists from bureaucratic limitations as they worked to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, the pharmaceutical companys CEO, Albert Bourla, said in a September interview with CBS. President Biden needs to learn from former President Trumps failures, and not assume his plan will work because hes a different guy.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu.
An assessment published this week in the journal The Lancet HIV provides new insight about an initiative to integrate treatment of opioid use disorder along with HIV in Vietnam.

The study marks one of the first scientifically robust assessments of a new model of treating HIV in lower or middle income countries where injection drug use is a major cause of HIV infection. It also suggests the importance of building support for peer and community connections to tackle the opioid epidemic that continues to ravage the United States in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study was led by scientists and physicians at Hanoi Medical University and Oregon Health & Science University.

"Our study suggests that countries that want to expand treatment for opioid use disorder with buprenorphine should consider interventions to support retention on treatment directed at family networks, peers and community health workers," said co-author Todd Korthuis, M.D., M.P.H., a leader in addiction medicine at OHSU and the study's principal investigator.

Korthuis, professor of medicine (general internal medicine and geriatrics) in the OHSU School of Medicine, became involved in initiating the program in Vietnam after serving as a Visiting Fulbright Scholar in 2012-13.

The new study is the first multisite randomized trial to compare HIV clinic-based buprenorphine therapy compared with simply referring HIV patients to methadone clinics for opioid use disorder treatment. The study examined outcomes for opioid use disorder and for HIV, and how well participants stuck with treatment.

Researchers found that ongoing support is critical.

"We understand that addiction is a brain disease, so people have relapses," senior author Le Minh Giang, M.D., Ph.D., chair of global health at Hanoi Medical University, said in a podcast hosted by The Lancet HIV. "In many cases, the patients left the opioid use disorder treatment and then relapsed into drug use. That's problematic for people who don't have good support from clinical staff."

Buprenorphine, also known as Suboxone, can be prescribed and used outside a specialty addiction clinic, whereas methadone must be closely monitored in part because of a higher risk of overdose in unsupervised settings. Between July of 2015 and February of 2018, a total of 281 people were enrolled in a pilot project to treat people with buprenorphine - a first in Vietnam.

"It's a more flexible treatment than methadone maintenance," Korthuis said. "You can integrate it into HIV clinics and, theoretically, in primary care clinics. Methadone has to be very carefully controlled in a specialty setting."

The new study found that access to buprenorphine is essential for countries aiming to expand access to treatment for opioid use disorder, especially among patients also being treated for HIV.

"One of the things I was impressed with, is the very tight social fabric in Vietnam," Korthuis said in the Lancet podcast. "It's impossible not to overstate the role of the family, the role of the neighborhood and the role of the community in every aspect of life, including health care."

In fact, Korthuis is already implementing a similar outreach model in several rural counties in Oregon through an initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health. Known as Oregon HIV/Hepatitis and Opioid Prevention and Engagement, or Oregon HOPE, the initiative relies on peers who have recovered from addiction to engage their neighbors in prevention and treatment services.

The program is currently active in several counties across southern and eastern Oregon.

"Community health workers who really know their neighborhoods are really good at engaging people in addiction treatment - and keeping them in treatment," Korthuis said.

###

The Oregon HOPE project now includes Lane, Douglas, Josephine, Curry, Coos, part of Jackson and Umatilla counties in Oregon.

The research was supported through grants from the NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse, awards R01DA037441 and UG1DA015815; and NIH National Center of Advancing Translational Sciences award UL1TR002369.
The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) has said that more resources have been allocated to fighting poaching with the aid of more government agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and international development partners as they jump on board in efforts to stop poaching.

Environment, Forestry and Tourism Minister Hon Pohamba Shifeta revealed this on Thursday when he announced that the country has once again recorded fewer cases of poaching.

According to the minister, governmen with the assistance of the law enforcement and security agencies has put measures in place to tackle the illegal acts of animal plundering. Moreover, the private sector, the general public and communities have also jumped onto the bandwagon to reverse the trends of poaching.

"In 2020, we recorded a total of 31 rhinos poached compared to 52 in 2019, 81 in 2018, 55 in 2017, 66 in 2016 and 97 in 2015," Shifeta said.

The minister added that by the same token, Namibia recorded a total of 11 elephants poached in 2020, 13 in 2019, 27 in 2018, 50 in 2017, 101 in 2016 and 49 in 2015.

As for pangolin, eight live animals have been seized in 2020 as well as five full carcasses, 59 skins, five skin pieces and 924 scales, he added.

"In order for us to do more and improve on our programmes and projects for wildlife protection and law enforcement, we have come up with a revised strategy that will serve as a policy document with a primary objective of establishing common approaches to the protection and conservation of wildlife and to ensure the effective enforcement of laws governing wildlife resources," Shifeta explained.

He added the new revised strategy is for the period of the next five years. "The strategy has programme areas and activities on how we will generally operate in terms of wildlife crime prevention and law enforcement, investigations and intelligence, legal framework and prosecutions, transboundary illicit trade, protection of rhinos within protected areas, protection of rhinos outside protected areas, protection of elephants, protection of pangolins, community safety and security, partner and stakeholder coordination, as well as awareness and communication," revealed Shifeta.

This comes as the criminal syndicates driving wildlife trade continue to develop and extend their networks and use increasingly sophisticated approaches to poach or traffic wildlife products.

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654 suspects were arrested in line with the cases registered in 2020, comprising of 597 Namibians, 26 Zambians and 22 Angolans. Of these cases, 100 are related to pangolin poaching and trafficking; 64 are related to elephant poaching and trafficking while 113 are related to rhino poaching and trafficking.

At present, Namibia holds the second-largest population of rhinos in the world and the world's largest population of black rhinoceros. The world's largest contiguous elephant population of about 250,000 elephants occurs within the Kavango- Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area and about 16,000 elephants occur in northeastern Namibia.

The illegal killing of wildlife in Namibia has implications for the environment, economy, social aspects as well as animal welfare.

"A number of high level perpetrators of wildlife crimes were arrested in Namibia during 2020, particularly related to rhino poaching and trafficking. Arrests included kingpins, middlemen and various aiders and abettors, rather than only poachers. You can clearly see from the statistics that we have been hard at work to curb out wildlife crime in the country and much success has been achieved," the minister concluded.
Britain has opened consultation on its proposed approach for establishing a bespoke Britain-wide subsidy control regime to replace the state aid regime of the European Union (EU), the British government said Wednesday.

The new subsidy control system will provide "more flexible and tailored financial support to businesses" and will be "the long-term replacement for the EU's prescriptive state aid regime", said the British Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy in a statement.

Under the fresh system, local authorities, public bodies and the devolved administrations "will be empowered to decide if they can issue taxpayer subsidies by following a set of UK-wide principles," said the department.

The system will ensure Britain to comply with its international obligations "under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement and other free trade agreements", according to the statement.

The system "will ensure that subsidies do not unduly distort competition within the UK's internal market", said the statement.

The state aid has been one of the sticking points in the Brexit negotiations between London and Brussels before they reached a trade deal late last month.

The clashes over the issue were resolved in the EU-UK trade deal, with Britain agreeing to set up an "independent authority" to monitor subsidy decisions, the Financial Times reported.

The consultation, being run by the business department, will consist of 42 questions and seek opinions on whether to have a minimum threshold for subsidy deals before they face scrutiny as well as the timing of disclosure of deals.

The consultation will close on March 31, 2021, according to the department.

The EU and Britain announced on Dec. 24, 2020 that they had reached an agreement that will govern bilateral trade and security relationship starting from Jan. 1, 2021 after the end of the Brexit transition period.

The deal, which came after nine months of arduous negotiations between Britain and the EU, is the biggest bilateral trade deal signed by either side, covering trade worth around 668 billion pounds (about 912.3 billion U.S. dollars).

The EU is Britain's largest trading partner. Britain is the EU's third largest trading partner in goods, following China and the United States.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday told South African President Cyril Ramaphosa that India's considerable productive capacity for pharmaceuticals and vaccines would continue to serve the needs of all countries, including those in Africa.

Modi and Ramaphosa, during a telephonic conversation, discussed the continuing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in this context the vaccination campaigns being undertaken in their respective countries, a Prime Minister's Office (PMO) statement said.

"Spoke to President @CyrilRamaphosa about the measures India and South Africa are taking to fight the COVID-19 pandemic domestically and internationally. India's capacity to produce medicines and vaccines is supporting the efforts of many nations, including our friends in Africa," Modi said in a tweet.

The PMO also said in its statement that the prime minister reiterated to the South African president that India's considerable productive capacity for pharmaceuticals and vaccines would continue to serve the needs of all countries, including those in Africa.

The two leaders also discussed possibilities of collaboration between India and South Africa in various international fora, to facilitate access and affordability of vaccines and medicines.

Modi and Ramphosa agreed that officials of both countries would remain in touch over the coming days to exchange experiences and explore potential for collaborative efforts against the pandemic, according to the PMO.

Earlier this week, made-in-India vaccines reached South Africa in an aircraft and President Ramaphosa received the consignment of doses.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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New Delhi: Actor Gajendra Chauhan, known for his portrayal of Yudhishthira in B. R. Chopra's 'Mahabharat', flayed Rihanna for her tweet on the ongoing farmers protest in India. Sharing a video, Chauhan warned Rihanna and told her to shut her mouth.

Chauhan in a one minute 30 seconds video, said, India is a democracy. Our democracy allows us the right to hold demonstrations and organise protests. For the last few months, the farmers of our country have been holding a protest. On this issue, an international celebrity, Rihanna, has put out a tweet.

I warn Rihanna, not to tweet about the internal affairs of our country, he added.

I condemn her act. I just want to tell Rihanna 'shut your mouth'. We do not give you permission to interfere in our internal matters. It is an old reality that celebrities are paid to put out tweets. I want to ask Rihanna what does she know about the farm laws? Does she know where the Red Fort, Tikri border, Ghazipur border and Singhu border are?

Chauhan further said, I am sure she does not know anything about the issue. So, why did she tweet then?

I urge the citizens of the nation, especially the farmers, to resolve our internal matters via talks with the government and not give an opportunity to people from other countries to take advantage of the situation, he concluded.

On Tuesday, Rihanna shared a news article on farmers protest on Twitter and wrote: "Why aren't we talking about this? #FarmersProtest. Several other celebrities reacted to Rihanna's tweet. While some supported her, others came out in support of the government after the Ministry of External Affairs responded to international celebrities' tweets.
A 52-year-old man became obsessed with a woman and went on to harass and threaten to rape her but he was caught in a garda surveillance operation as he was about to break into her home to carry out his threats.

James Steele of Reavilleen, Roscarberry, County Cork, was sentenced to seven years with the last two years suspended today at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Steele apologised to the victim Una Ring. He pleaded guilty to attempting to break in to commit rape at her home in Youghal where she lives with her adult son and daughter.

Defence senior counsel Tom Creed said of the accused man, He could only put it down to obsession.

Steele had left black envelopes with letters on the windscreen of her car on earlier occasions, where he had set out in horrific detail his threats to rape her.

On another occasion he painted the four tyres of her car pink.

Sergeant John Sharkey said Garda James Heffernan was on surveillance duty in the housing estate in the early hours of last July 27 when he saw the accused arriving in the area, hiding behind a parked van and then walking towards the victims house.

He was masked with a hat and snood. He had orange rope and duct tape in his pockets. He had a metal crowbar. He had a dildo or prosthetic penis strapped to himself inside his pants.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain described the crime as dramatic and horrific as he jailed Steele and ordered him to have no contact of any kind with the victim and her family, in effect, ever again.
Egypt has urged citizens traveling to Kuwait to postpone travel after the Gulf country decided to suspend entry for non-Kuwaitis for two weeks, effective as of February 7.

In an official statement on Thursday, Nabila Makram, emigration and expat affairs minister, asked citizens to delay travel plans in the current period amid several precautionary measures taken by Kuwait aiming to stem the outbreak of the pandemic and the spread of new variants.

Makram asked that citizens temporarily in transit in Gulf countries en route to Kuwait to return to Egypt, especially if they wont be able to travel to Kuwait before the airports closure and they cant bear the cost of accommodation in their current transit country.

She said providing alternatives to cover accommodation for Egyptians residing in Gulf transit countries, including the UAE and Oman, would not be facilitated.

Several businessmen, charity group Misr ElKheir, and Banque Misr have previously helped in bearing huge expenses to cover stranded Egyptians in the UAE and Oman, the minister said, adding that such aid would be difficult to provide now due to the extended period of border closures and visa difficulties in transit countries.

On Wednesday, Kuwaiti authorities announced a two-week ban on foreigners arriving to the country beginning Sunday.

Authorities have also ordered most businesses to shut down from 8pm to 5am beginning Sunday for one month.

Health clubs, spas, and gyms are included in the closure order, with the country also banning celebrations for its upcoming 25 February National Day.

Kuwait saw infections drop in late November; however, cases began to spike at the start of the new year. It has reported over 166,000 cases, with 950 deaths since the outbreak.

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New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Trinamool Congress on Thursday observed a moment's silence as a tribute to the farmers who died during the ongoing agitation, while participating in the debate on the motion of thanks on the President's address in Parliament. Other opposition members also joined in paying tribute.

Trinamool's Derek O' Brien during the debate said, "There should be proper inquiry into the death of the farmers during the January 26 incident." He said the buck stops at the Home Minister's Office.

The Trinamool Congress demanded to bring the women reservation Bill in Parliament to give adequate representation to women.

It also alleged that West Bengal was facing the wrath of the Union government in paddy procurement and only 76,000 metric tonne were procured in the state.

The Trinamool leader said the Bengal government started the health scheme two years before Ayushman Bharat, which was launched in 2018.

Taking a swipe at the Centre, Derek O' Brien said the Centre failed the migrant workers after it imposed a lockdown after a four-hour notice, but in four hours Trinamool MLAs were brought to Delhi to join the BJP.

Earlier, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh said the Prime Minister was against the federal structure as he imposed a lockdown without consulting the states and without any prior notice.

"This House is the House of states and this is my allegation that the Prime Minister is against the federal structure as he did not consult the Chief Ministers and imposed a lockdown. Countries like Singapore gave an eight-day prior notice."
A few YouTube celebrities made their way to Disneys television network, Disney Channel. One of the most controversial was Jake Paul, the actor and fighter who starred in the 2016 release, Bizaardvark.

His time on the series was short-lived, though, with his character being written out after a mutual agreement with Disney Channel.

Disney Channels Bizaardvark episode titled Spoiler Alert: Belissa Returns | Adam Taylor/Disney Channel via Getty Images

Jake Paul appeared in the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark

Two friends made a comedy vlog channel. Thats the start of Disney Channels original series, Bizaardvark and its also the real-life story of the cast member, Jake Paul, and his friends nicknamed Team 10. In this show, Paul starred as Dirk Mann, the person behind the videos called Dare Me Bro!

This series was also the start of Olivia Rodrigos role with Disney, the actor later appearing in the Disney+ original, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. She also wrote original music for the show, including the song, All I Want.

Bizaardvark ran for three seasons on the television network before being canceled. However, Jake Paul exited the series sooner than other cast members. In a statement to Us Weekly this week, Disney said, Weve mutually agreed that Jake Paul will leave his role.

RELATED: Tana Mongeau Wins Streamy Award for Creator of the Year and Fans Are Almost as Excited as She Is

Jake Paul left Bizaardvark

Even though he portrayed one of the main characters in the series, the actor and Disney mutually decided to write out Dirk Mann. This was because around the same time, this YouTuber was focused more on his stunts for the channel.

Long story short my team, Disney Channel, and I have come to the agreement its finally time for me to move on from the Disney family and Bizaardvark, Paul wrote on Twitter following his leave from the series.

I love my castmates and will continue to support Disney but I have outgrown the channel and feel its time to move forward in my career, he continued. At this point in time, I am wanting to focus more on my personal brand, my YouTube channel, business ventures, growing Team 10, and working on more adult acting roles.

RELATED: Jake Paul and Tana Mongeaus Wedding Was Just as Hectic and Chaotic as Youd Imagine

Jake Paul continues to post on YouTube

Following his departure from Disney Channel, Jake Paul focused more on his YouTube career, creating oftentimes controversial content. (Lighting a mattress on fire and throwing it in an empty swimming pool, scaring his neighbors, was one of the most notable moments.)

Hes also branched out to focus on fighting, training in his house. Paul also earned attention for his relationship with YouTuber Tana Mongeau, which has since come to a close.

This YouTuber is also often associated with his older brother, Logan Paul, who was the content creator behind the Japan suicide video. Hes also branched out to focus on fighting, even planning to fight Floyd Mayweather.
President Joe Bidens administration faces a host of difficult problems, but in foreign policy its thorniest will be its relations with the Peoples Republic of China.

How the new administration handles issues of trade, security, and human rights will either allow both countries to hammer out a working relationship or pull the US into an expensive  and unwinnable  that will shelve existential threats like climate change and nuclear war.

The stakes could not be higher  and Washington may be off on the wrong foot.

The first hurdle will be the toxic atmosphere created by the Trump administration. By targeting the Chinese Communist Party as the USs major worldwide enemy, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo essentially called for regime change, which in diplomatic terms means a fight to the death. But while Trump exacerbated tensions between Washington and Beijing, many of the disputes go back more than 70 years. Recognising that history will be essential if the parties are to reach some kind of detente.

This will not be easy. Polls in the two countries show a growing antagonism in both peoples views of one another and an increase of nationalism that may be difficult to control.

Most Chinese think the US is determined to isolate their country, surround it with hostile allies, and prevent it from becoming a world power. Many Americans think China is an authoritarian bully that has robbed them of well-paying industrial jobs. There is a certain amount of truth in both viewpoints. The trick will be how to negotiate a way through some genuine differences.

Imperial Insecurities and the South China Sea



A good place to start is to walk a mile in the other countrys shoes.

For most of recorded human history, China was the worlds leading economy. But starting with the first Opium War in 1839, British, French, Japanese, German, and American colonial powers fought five major wars, and many minor ones, with China, seizing ports and imposing trade agreements. The Chinese have never forgotten those dark years, and any diplomatic approach that doesnt take that history into account is likely to fail.

The most difficult  and dangerous  friction point today is the South China Sea, a 1.4 million square mile body of water that borders South China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Borneo, Brunei, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Besides being a major trade route, it is rich in natural resources.

Based on its imperial past, China claims ownership of much of the sea and, starting in 2014, began building military bases on island chains and reefs that dot the region. For countries that border the sea, those claims and bases threaten offshore resources and pose a potential security threat. Besides the locals, the Americans have been the dominant power in the region since the end of World War II and have no intention of relinquishing their hold.

While the is waters, it makes up a good deal of Chinas southern border, and it has been a gateway for invaders in the past. The Chinese have never threatened to interdict trade in the region  a self-defeating action in any case, since much of the traffic is Chinese goods  but they are concerned about security.

They should be.

The US has five major military bases in the Philippines, 40 bases in Japan and Korea, and its 7th Fleet  based in Yokosuka, Japan  is Washingtons largest naval force. The US has also pulled together an alliance of Australia, Japan, and India  the Quad  that coordinates joint actions. These include the yearly Malabar war games that model interdicting Chinas seaborn energy supplies by closing off the Malacca Straits between Malaysia and Indonesian island of Sumatra.

US military strategy in the area, titled Air Sea Battle, aims to control Chinas south coast, decapitate the countrys leadership, and take out its nuclear missile force. Chinas counter move has been to seize islands and reefs to keep US submarines and surface craft at arms length, a strategy called Area Denial.

It has also been mostly illegal. A 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration found Chinas claims on the have no merit. But to Beijing the sea is a vulnerable border. Think for a moment about how Washington would react if China held naval war games off Yokosuka, San Diego, or in the Gulf of Mexico. One persons waters are anothers home turf.

The Frayed Detente Over Taiwan



The tensions in the go back to the Chinese civil war between the communists and nationalists, in which the Americans backed the losing side. When the defeated nationalists retreated to in 1949, the US guaranteed the islands defense, recognised as China, and blocked the Peoples Republic from UN membership.

After US President Nixons trip to China in 1972, the two countries worked out some agreements on Washington would accept that Taiwan was part of China, but Beijing would refrain from using force to reunite the island with the mainland. The Americans also agreed not to have formal relations with Taipei or supply Taiwan with significant military weapons.

Over the years, however, those agreements have frayed, particularly during the administration of Bill Clinton.

In 1996 tensions between Taiwan and the mainland led to some saber rattling by Beijing, but the PRC did not have the capacity to invade the island, and all the parties involved knew that. But Clinton was trying to divert attention from his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky and a foreign crisis fit the bill, so the US sent an aircraft carrier battle group through the Taiwan Straits. While the Straits are waters, it was still a provocative move and one that convinced the PRC that it had to modernise its military if it was to defend its coasts.

There is a certain irony here. While the Americans claim that the modernisation of the Chinese navy poses a threat, it was US actions in the Taiwan Straits crisis that frightened the PRC into a crash program to construct that modern navy and adopt the strategy of Area Denial.

Trump certainly exacerbated the tensions. The US dispatched high level Cabinet members to Taipei, recently sold the island 66 high performance F-16s fighter bombers, and now routinely sends warships through the Taiwan Straits,

In Beijings eyes all these actions violate the agreements regarding Taiwan and, in practice, abrogate Chinas claim on the breakaway province.

It is a dangerous moment. The Chinese are convinced the US intends to surround them with its military and the Quad alliance, although the former may not be up to the job, and the latter is a good deal shakier than it looks. While India has drawn closer to the Americans, China is its major trading partner and New Delhi is not about to go to war over Taiwan. Australias economy is also closely tied to China, as is Japans. Having trade relations between countries doesnt preclude them going to war, but it is a deterrent.

As for the US military: virtually all war games over Taiwan suggests the most likely outcome would be an American defeat.

No Option But Peace



Such a war, of course, would be catastrophic, deeply wounding the worlds two major economies and could even lead to the unthinkable  a nuclear exchange. Since China and the US cannot defeat one another in any sense of that word, it seems a good idea to stand back and figure out what to do about the South China Sea and Taiwan.

The PRC has no legal claim to vast portions of the South China Sea, but it has legitimate security concerns. And judging from Bidens choices for Secretary of State and National Security Advisor  Anthony Blinken and Jake Sullivan, respectively  it has reason for those concerns. Both have been hawkish on China, and Sullivan believes that Beijing is pursuing global dominance.

There is no evidence for this. China is modernising its military, but spends about one third of what the US spends. Unlike the US, it is not building an alliance system  in general, China considers allies an encumbrance  and while it has an unpleasant authoritarian government, its actions are directed at areas Beijing has always considered part of historical China. The PRC has no designs on spreading its model to the rest of the world. Unlike the US- Soviet Cold War, the differences are not ideological, but are those that arise when two different capitalist systems compete for markets.

China doesnt want to rule the world, but it does want to be the dominant power in its region, and it wants to sell a lot of stuff, from electric cars to solar panels. That poses no military threat to the United States, unless Washington chooses to challenge China in its home waters, something Americans neither want nor can afford.

There are a number of moves both countries should make.

First, both countries should dial down the rhetoric and de-escalate their military deployments. Just as the US has the right to security in the waters near its borders, so does China. Beijing, in turn, should give up its claims in the South China Sea and disarm the bases it has illegally established. Both of those moves would help create the atmosphere for a regional diplomatic solution to the overlapping claims of countries in the region.

The cost of not doing this is quite unthinkable. At a time when massive resources are needed to combat global warming, countries are larding their military budgets and threatening one another over islands and reefs that will soon be open sea if climate change does not become the worlds focus.


The diversity of President Joe Bidens cabinet is unprecedented and a welcome change. Unfortunately, it has also served to distract the media, Democrats and the left from how these choices will affect millions. We dont just need a diverse cabinet, we need a cabinet that takes care of diverse populations and rejects corporate influence.

NPR celebrated the diversity of Bidens pick for secretary of defense in article with the headline, Lloyd Austin confirmed as defense secretary, becomes 1st Black Pentagon chief, that amazingly fails to even mention Austins previous job. When Biden chose Austin, he was a member of the Raytheon board of directors. Raytheon makes the weapons that the U.S. and its allies use to kill people of color around the world, including civilians in Yemen. Austin won a parting gift of $1.7 million from Raytheon for giving up his board seat to go command Raytheons wealthy client, the U.S. military.

For years, leftists have warned against a revolving door between industry and government, especially concerning the military. Are we so easily distracted now?

Marcia Fudge

When U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge was asked by Politico about a cabinet position, she specifically requested that she not be given one of the cabinet positions, such as head of Housing and Urban Development, typically given to Black people: As this country becomes more and more diverse, were going to have to stop looking at only certain agencies as those that people like me fit in. You know, its always we want to put the Black person in labor or HUD.

When Biden and Kamala Harris held a conference call with Black leaders, groups like Black Lives Matter were not even invited. Those who were there gave practical important suggestions. NAACP President Derrick Johnson suggested putting Fudge in to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but Biden strangely changed the topic to how he thought the slogan defund the police lost elections. There is no evidence that defund the police lost a single election, but even worse, Biden dismissed the good advice. As a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee, the position Fudge was best qualified for was to head the USDA. Biden instead nominated her for HUD, just as she predicted.

And who did Biden nominate to lead the USDA? Tom Vilsack, who as Secretary of Agriculture, had famously fired a Black woman, Shirley Sherrod, the Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture. Vilsack made this decision based on bogus claims in a deceptively edited Breitbart video that Sherrod was racist. Vilsack is also seen as a friend to Monsanto and a threat to small farmers.

Avril Haines

NPR was also quick to celebrate that Bidens Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines is the first woman to hold this position, but she covered up torture and greenlighted targets, including American citizens, for extrajudicial assassination. Most on the left believe that its impossible to torture or or invade other countries into democracy, but have been far too quiet about these terrible choices.

While leftists failed to pour into the streets when President Obama joined a war that plunged Libya into chaos, launched illegal drone strikes, passed a new health insurance system without a public option and failed to address climate change, the military and industrial lobbyists didnt let up for a second. The result was that Obama enacted policies and half-measures that helped get Donald Trump elected. This was history repeating itself, as the left had failed to sufficiently push Bill Clinton  his policies and half-measures on wars and health care had helped get George W. Bush elected. Does the left want to try this again and see what kind of Republican we get next?

Cooper is the drummer and producer for the band Free Radicals.
In this roundup we share mugshots, tragic testimony, allegations of misdeeds and a collection of stories that reveal worsening tempers amongst our neighbors as the pandemic continues.

Check-it . . .

Local Life Cut Short

Family identifies Northland homicide victim who was just weeks away from birthday KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Clay County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help to identify a woman they hope can help them solve a Northland homicide case. A man was found dead on Feb. 1 outside of the Phillips 66 Station on Randolph Road near the gas pumps.

Meth Town Gunfire Postscript

Independence Man Shot This Week KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A shooting Tuesday night wounded a man at a house in Independence. Police said the shooting happened about 9 p.m. after a disturbance in the 300 block of North Frandsen Road. No information was released on what caused the altercation. The victim's condition also was not released.

Local Car Crime Contd

'I worked hard for that car': Independence woman witnesses SUV stolen from her driveway UPDATE: Independence woman who witnessed SUV get stolen from driveway says vehicle has been found INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - An Independence woman's car was stolen from her driveway Monday morning with her standing just feet away. Home surveillance video shows what appears to be an orange Dodge Challenger pulling up to the home off South Westport Road.

Abuse Charge In The Dotte

Wyandotte County detention worker accused of kicking restrained juvenile repeatedly by: Travis Meier Posted: / Updated: KANSAS CITY, Kan. - New details released by Wyandotte County officials today allege that an employee of the sheriff's department used excessive force by repeatedly kicking a restrained juvenile in 2020. Jorge Navarro was charged in December with one count of mistreating a confined person and one count of battery.

Show-Me OD Aftermath Hot Mess Indictment

Missouri pair accused of dumping body after drug overdose CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - Prosecutors in southeastern Missouri have charged a man and woman, accusing the pair of dumping the body of a woman who died from a drug overdose. Cape Girardeau police were called to a wooded area near a parking lot Monday morning after the body of a woman was discovered there, television station KFVS reported Wednesday.

JoCo Killer Case

Man charged with 2003 Westwood murder has first court appearance in Johnson County JOHNSON COUNTY, KS (KCTV) -- A man charged with first-degree murder in the murder of David Ray Ninemire had his first court appearance in Johnson County on Friday. Eugene Keltner, 40, is now in the custody of Johnson County authorities after he was charged in connection to the 2003 murder that happened at the Westwood Apple Market.

Golden Ghetto Bones IDd

Skeletal remains found in Johnson County identified JOHNSON COUNTY, KS (KCTV) -- Police have identified a set of skeletal remains discovered near Gardner Lake January 11, 2021 as 48 year old Matthew Lee Manion. Manion's cause of death is still under investigation and the Johnson County Sheriff's Office has not determined a cause of death.

Bad Biz Deal & Hard Time

Overland Park man sentenced for targeting rival Missouri store KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - An Independence business owner who admitted he hired a man to burn down a rival business has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison. William "Bill" Joseph Reneau, 44, of Overland Park, was sentenced Tuesday to 78 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $167,085 in restitution to his victims, federal prosecutors said in a news release.

COVID Changes Crime Scene Across The Globe

Covid: Police pressure as pandemic changes 'landscape of crime' Unprecedented changes in lifestyle in the coronavirus pandemic led to an acceleration in shifts in criminal behaviour in Wales, a crime expert has said. Levels of reported crime fell across Wales from October 2019-2020, including in the first few months of the pandemic. But figures show reports of cyber crime, stalking and harassment spiked.

Developing . . .
Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine has given many Americans a step to getting their life back to normal. But not all Texans want that shot of protection, according to a new University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs survey.

Nearly one-third of Texans say they are unlikely to get the vaccination, according to the nationwide survey. The survey also found that 40 percent of Texans say they are certain to get the COVID-19 vaccination when it becomes available. Another 22 percentone in fivereport that they will absolutely not accept a vaccine.

'IT JUST SHOCKED ME': Houston man survives double lung transplant after 4-month COVID-19 battle

"More than 60 percent of people who are hesitant to be immunized had concerns about potential side effects and worried that the vaccine is too new," Founding Dean Kirk Watson stated. "Understanding why people resist immunization is an important step in reaching herd immunity."

Of significant note, the study found that women and individuals without a 4-year degree were more likely to refuse the vaccine. The other finding revealed that Democrats are more likely to receive the vaccination than Republicans.

"Republicans are more than twice as likely to say they definitely will not get vaccinated, at 28 percent compared with 11 percent of Democrats," Hobby School senior research associate Mark P. Jones noted.

In order to achieve herd immunity, at least 70 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated, according to Mayo Clinic health experts. Only three percent of Texans who answered the Hobby School poll said they received their first shot of the vaccine.

The results of the survey were not unexpected for Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Peter Hotez. Hotez, in collaboration with Texas A&M, published a similar report in Social Science & Medicine identifying vaccine-hesitant groups in Texas.

"We identified two of the largest vaccine-hesitant groups as Trump voters and African-Americans," Hotez told Chron. "This was a similar finding to the Kaiser Foundation's who identified vaccine-hesitant groups as Republicans and African-Americans. The reasons for it need to be understood better."

The challenge has been spreading the message of the dire need to vaccinate to vaccine-hesitant groups, Hotez said.

"We've not been communicating effectively either to health care workers and vaccine-hesitant groups," Hotez added. "So, I'm now reaching out to both groups."

Hotez stressed that it's urgent that education and communication happen now.

"Our only hope to get ahead of the new variants is to vaccinate three-quarters of the population by the summer," Hotez said. "So I'm really concerned about that."

Here are the most significant, comprehensive findings from the University of Houston survey:
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 17:42:32|Editor: huaxia

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VALLETTA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- As difficult as 2020 was, the Maltese are generally optimistic that life will go back to normal in 2021.

Vincent Borg, 67, who spent three months indoors at the height of the pandemic last year, now goes out for just one hour a day.

"I hope 2021 will be better than 2020. I am expecting that we will recover from COVID-19 and everything goes back to normal, especially the economy," Borg told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"We are getting whatever we need. We get free medicines and the government increased our pension. I did not contract the virus and everyone in my family is okay. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the new year," he said.

Up to 138 new confirmed cases were detected over the past 24 hours, bringing the national total to 18,306, and the death toll stood at 273, Maltese health authorities reported on Wednesday.

Vaccination program is now underway in Malta.

Anna Grech, a new pensioner, said she was positive about what the new year will bring, but did not expect any miracle to happen.

She recalled when the pandemic hit Malta in March 2020, she, like all other people, had to work from home and was stuck indoors for a long time.

Her daughter was meant to marry in 2020, but her wedding had to get postponed twice before she put it off indefinitely until there is some more clarity about the situation.

"We are optimistic but we also have to be realistic. It will not be as easy as we think it would be," she said.

Asked what she missed most, Grech said it was going out without the fear of getting infected. "I fear getting COVID-19. We had relatives who died alone. And that's sad for them and for us because we could not hold their hands and say our last goodbyes," she added.

Franco Bajada, a 59-year-old entrepreneur who works in a family business that has been in existence since 1925, said 2020 was "a year to forget" as for retail.

"We've survived three generations. It was a tough test for us but we have to keep going and never give up," said Bajada.

"2021 will not be easy because there are traveling restrictions, but I can see quite a future for another year which will be better than 2020," he said.

Given the travel plan, he admitted that he is itching to travel to Ireland to reunite with his daughter and grandchildren.

For Rosanna Reyes, a 22-year-old Venezuelan living in Malta, 2020 was particularly harsh as she was locked up at home with no company or a job.

"It was a super difficult year for me. Like a rollercoaster. I was home for almost three months, stopped working and could not see anyone. It was a big shock," she said.

But Reyes is still optimistic about the future. "I hope that 2021 will be much better. It will be a slow process but let's be positive. At least we are still working," she said. Enditem

Presidente @FSagasti: Hoy reconocemos la trayectoria de tres peruanos muy destacados en la historia reciente de nuestro pais y su profundo amor por el Peru y por su gente. pic.twitter.com/wotIDzFnLm
HAMILTON, Bermuda, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In an industry first, 24 Exchange (24X) is offering dynamic credit management to participants on its multi-asset trading platform via Cobalt, the FX and Digital Asset infrastructure provider. Risk Hub, Cobalt's credit management system, is now available to clients of 24 Exchange's Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF) and FX Spot offerings, and will extend to FX Swaps when they launch later this month.

"The lifeblood of the FX market is interbank credit," explains Dmitri Galinov, Founder and CEO of 24 Exchange. "But the over-allocation of credit on third-party platforms can make it difficult for banks and credit intermediaries to have a complete, real-time picture of their risk, thereby creating unwanted exposure. Cobalt's dynamic credit offering solves this problem."

Real-time updates of exposure and credit risk can be managed centrally on Cobalt's Risk Hub, extending credit to third party platforms such as 24 Exchange. 24X is the first platform to offer its clients access to Cobalt's full suite of automated credit limits and controls, including designation notices, and credit optimization.

"As we roll out streaming liquidity in higher credit risk products such as FX Swaps, NDFs and Digital Assets, we needed our clients to feel 100% comfortable in their risk exposure," adds Galinov. "Integrating with Cobalt gives the banks control and confidence to push credit out to 24 Exchange."

Andy Coyne, Co-Founder and Head of Product at Cobalt, commented, "Dynamic Credit is a very important step for the FX and Digital Asset markets. It eliminates the risk of over allocation. It also protects credit providers while optimizing market access for clients. This is a real game changer, solving very real problems that have affected the market for years. Combining our solutions with forward thinking venues like 24 Exchange ensures that efficiency doesn't require sacrificing security."

About 24 Exchange

24 Exchange is a multi-asset class trading platform that allows market participants to exchange their exposures at the lowest possible cost. Our mission is to enable our members to initiate the most cost-effective trades across a growing range of asset classes, 24 hours a day. We lower the cost of exchanging assets in the global markets while delivering creative and unique workflows catered to each asset class. 24 Exchange is operated by 24 Exchange Bermuda Limited. The company is domiciled in Hamilton, Bermuda but is not regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. More information is available at https://www.24exchange.net/.

About Cobalt:

Cobalt has transformed the FX and Digital Asset market infrastructure by building a middle office platform that is fit for today's high-speed electronic markets.

By creating a single standardised version of each transaction and managing credit in real-time, Cobalt enables all market participants to connect and automate their post-trade functions including confirmations, trade netting, and the management of credit relationships.

Cobalt's high availability, high throughput, Tier 1 secure platform enables the markets leading participants to cut costs, reduce counterparty risk, and increase trading to 24/7.

FX and Digital Assets. Automated. Secured. 24/7.

www.cobaltdl.com

Media Contact :

Eric Andrus

KARV Communications

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +1-212-333-0275

SOURCE 24 Exchange

Related Links

https://www.24exchange.net


Oregons coronavirus vaccine equity group is meeting in secret Thursday after holding a different closed-door session this week in which some members questioned how health officials will put the groups recommendations into practice.

State health officials created the Vaccine Advisory Committee to help decide who should be inoculated against the coronavirus after health care workers, senior care residents and workers, teachers and seniors.

The groups meetings had been public until this week. State officials say the committee finished its official work last Thursday, sending recommendations to the Oregon Health Authority, and the latest sessions are not subject to public meetings law.

State officials originally said Tuesdays meeting would be to discuss implementation issues but later changed the agenda to list only debrief and evaluation. The session appeared to be an opportunity for members to more freely air their concerns.

Thursdays two-hour meeting will be an unofficial wrap-up, said Erica Heartquist, a health authority spokeswoman.

The health authority has taken pains to portray the meetings as pro forma debrief sessions. According to minutes from Tuesdays meeting, the group discussed vaccine access, information access and the need to combat disinformation, according to a summary provided by the Oregon Health Authority.

The summary also listed a few bigger-picture questions, such as, How will OHA demonstrate to community how racial equity is guiding vaccine distribution?

But the health authority has changed course and said it will not record Thursdays meeting, take minutes or put together a transcript.

One committee member, Musse Olol, said the Tuesday meeting included language questioning the process and outcome -- precisely the reason he said he thinks Thursdays meeting should be public.

For the first time, we are talking about how things went down. This would be a good opportunity for the public to know, Olol said. There should be no secret.

Olol, chairman of the Somali American Council of Oregon, said he and numerous other members who attended told health authority representatives that they felt they didnt have enough time to put recommendations together.

He also said he and some members told state officials that local health agencies should be overseen, in some fashion, to make sure they follow the groups recommendations. State representatives told the group they would consider the feedback, Olol said.

Oversight is important based on our past experience, especially at the local, county level, Olol said.

Oregon created the advisory committee with a stated purpose to start deconstructing the kind of structural racism that created the glaring disparities in coronavirus infection rates between whites and people of color.

The committee held eight meetings in January, including a meet and greet, that were all public, with recordings published online and in all or most cases streamed live.

Committee members were told by the state before their first session that all COVID-19 VAC meetings will be held in accordance with Public Meetings Law.

The recommendations made by the COVID-19 VAC will directly affect communities and it is possible that committee members will be contacted by members of the public and special interests, state officials added.

But state officials abruptly changed their position that the meetings should be open to the public following last Thursdays session, when the committee finalized its vaccine recommendations for people with underlying conditions, frontline workers, people in custody and people living in low-income and group senior housing.

Christine Sanders, of the Rockwood Community Development Corporation, echoed Olols concerns from Tuesdays private meeting about how much more time is necessary to make progress toward achieving equity.

You cant just do four weeks and call it a day, Sanders said. I mean, this is going to take some time.

The committee talked in general terms about a group that could continue to meet in some format to further the Vaccine Advisory Committees mission, Sanders said.

But the mere fact that the committee exists and health officials listened to its members is a step in the right direction, Sanders said, given that most people dont even talk about inequities. Whether it was all worth it depends on whether Gov. Kate Brown and the health authority follow through with the recommendations.

If not, then why did you ask us to have this committee? Sanders said.

Other members told the newsroom they were pleased with the committee process and with Tuesdays meeting, which was closed to the public and media.

They want our input, said DeLeesa Meashintubby, executive director of the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic. To me, thats nine-tenths of the battle.

Heartquist, the health authority spokeswoman, confirmed committee members on Tuesday did discuss implementation issues, as originally planned.

Members did impress upon OHA how their intentions related to equity would be implemented and a desire to ensure they are implemented to the (Vaccine Advisory Committees) intent, Heartquist said.

The committee initially said it wanted communities of Black, Indigenous and people of color to be vaccinated next. But in the groups final decision-making meeting last week, state officials said that would be impossible for legal reasons.

As a result, the groups final recommendations only included a general request that health agencies commit to racial and ethnic equity. The group also asked that local health agencies identify, engage and serve people who our health care system has often failed.

-- Fedor Zarkhin 503-294-7674; fzarkhin@oregonian.com
People wishing to pay their final respects to legendary actor Cicely Tyson will get a chance during a public viewing at a famed Manhattan church.

The viewing for the actor, who died last week at age 96, will be held on Monday, February 15, at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, according to a statement by her family through her manager Larry Thompson.

The viewing will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and COVID-19 protocols will be in place, with masks and social distancing requirements. No photographs will be allowed, according to the statement.

Saying goodbye: People wishing to pay their final respects to legendary actor Cicely Tyson will get a chance during a public viewing at a famed Manhattan church

Tyson died in late January at age 96, her manager said in a statement.

No cause of death was given. Tyson had recently completed a memoir, 'Just As I Am,' which was released just this week.

Tyson's most-lauded performances came in historical works such as the 1972 movie 'Sounder' in which she played a Louisiana sharecropper's wife. That film earned Tyson her only Academy Award nomination, but she received an honorary Oscar in November 2018.

On view: The viewing for the actor, who died last week at age 96, will be held on Monday, February 15, at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, according to a statement by her family through her manager Larry Thompson. Seen in 1974

She also won two Emmys for the same TV movie, 'The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman' - one for best actress in a miniseries or movie and one for actress of the year. The 1974 movie covered a woman's life from slavery to the 1960s.

Tyson picked up another Emmy 20 years later for 'Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.' Her nine other Emmy nominations included playing Binta, the mother of the slave Kunta Kinte in the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries 'Roots,' the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife, Coretta, in 'King,' and the inspirational educator in 'The Marva Collins Story.'

Her manager, Larry Thompson, said in a statement that Tyson 'thought of her new memoir as a Christmas tree decorated with all the ornaments of her personal and professional life.'

Her top role: Tyson finds that the title role in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, television special based on a novel, is a demanding one

She was in this classic too: The star in the 1972 hit film Sounder with a male co-star

'Today she placed the last ornament, a Star, on top of the tree,' he added.

Tyson's career boomed even in her 80s. In 2011, she was part of the ensemble of the much-praised film 'The Help' and in 2013, at age 88, she won a Tony for a Broadway revival of 'The Trip to Bountiful,' the story of a woman returning to her small hometown. It was her first time on Broadway in 30 years.

Tyson poses for a portrait in circa 1966

Even after turning 90, Tyson was busy. In 2015, she starred with frequent collaborator James Earl Jones in a Broadway revival of the two-person play 'The Gin Game.' The New York Times said Tyson and Jones, who had last appeared on Broadway almost 50 years earlier, proved 'that great talent is ageless and ever-rewarding.'

In February 2019 at age 94, Tyson was on the cover of Time magazine's 'The Art of Optimism' edition and an interviewer asked if she had considered retiring. 'And do what?' was her response.

Tyson said she used her career to take on issues important to her, such as race and gender.

'I realized very early on when I was asked certain questions or treated in a certain way that I needed to use my career to address those issues,' she said in a People magazine interview in 2015.

Tyson told CBS she saw the Hollywood hierarchy as a ladder with white men at the top, followed by white women and Black men. Black women were at the bottom.

She had so many fans: With Oprah Winfrey, left, and Ava DuVernay, right

'And we're holding on to the last rung,' she said. 'And those fists are being trampled on by all those three above and still we hold on.'

Actress Viola Davis said she was 'devastated' by news of the death of Tyson, who played the mother of Davis' character on the TV legal drama 'How to Get Away with Murder' from 2015 to 2020.

'You were everything to me!' Davis wrote on Instagram. 'You made me feel loved and seen and valued in a world where there is still a cloak of invisibility for us dark chocolate girls.'

LeVar Burton, who portrayed Kunta Kinte in 'Roots,' praised his 'first screen Mom.'

'Elegance, warmth, beauty, wisdom, style and abundant grace,' Burton wrote on Twitter. 'She was as regal as they come.'

Tyson was born in December 1924 in New York and grew up in the city's Harlem neighborhood, the daughter of immigrants from the West Indies. She was a secretary and model before taking acting jobs in the 1950s. In the early 1960s, she became one of the first Black actors to appear regularly on U.S. television, playing George C. Scott's secretary on the series 'East Side, West Side.'

One of her early stage roles was in 'The Blacks,' an off-Broadway production about race that helped boost the careers of Jones, Maya Angelou, Louis Gossett Jr., Godfrey Cambridge and Roscoe Lee Brown.

Tyson took parts as prostitutes in two other plays in the 1960s before deciding to make a stand.

Beloved actress: Kennedy Center Honoree Cicely attends the 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors in Washington DC in 2015

'After that, I was offered the part of another whore and I said no because I didn't want to get typecast and because it was demeaning to Black women,' she told the New York Times.

Tyson was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2016. When she was presented with a Kennedy Center Honor in December 2005, filmmaker-writer Tyler Perry said: 'She chose to empower us when we didn't even know it was possible to be empowered. Cicely refused to take a role that would not better humanity.'

Tyson was married to jazz trumpet legend Miles Davis from 1981 to 1988 and Davis, who died in 1991, put her on the cover of his album 'Sorcerer.'

Their marriage was rocky, troubled by reports of his alleged philandering, domestic violence and substance abuse. But in a 2015 interview with CBS, Tyson said: 'I don't really talk about it but I will say this: I cherish every single moment that I had with him.'
DUBLIN, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Ceramic Armor Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Material Type (Alumina, Boron Carbide, Silicon Carbide, Ceramic Matrix Composite and Others); and Application (Body Armor, Aircraft Armor, Marine Armor, Vehicle Armor and Others)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

According to this report the market was valued at US$ 1,911.26 million in 2019 and is projected to reach US$ 3,273.35 million by 2027; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.1% during the forecast period. The report highlights key factors driving the market growth and prominent players, along with their developments, in the market.



Ceramic armors are widely utilized in body armor, aircraft armor, marine armor, vehicle armor, and so on. They are lightweight and highly flexibility, which has been one of the key factors driving their demand. The increasing spending by various countries on the security of their military forces has been another factor contributing to the expansion of the ceramic armor market across the world. Furthermore, various governments are supporting numerous R& D plans for further development for the applications of ceramic armors.



Ceramic armors are being employed in the manufacturing of helmets, goggles, and gloves, and backpacks for military uses. A ballistic vest, or bullet-resistant or bulletproof vest, is a body armor product that helps absorb the impact of firearm-fired projectiles and explosion-led shrapnel by reducing or stopping their penetration to the torso. This armor is worn by many police officers, prison guards, and a few private civiliansin a soft form to gain protection against stabbing attacks, executed using metallic or para-aramid components; a hard form aids protection against rifle ammunition, and is thus worn by tactical police units, soldiers, and special forces. Kevlar, steel, and polyethylene are the most used materials in the manufacture of body armor.



Kevlar & PE is mainly utilized to make soft body armor, while steel, ceramic, Lexan, or carbon fiber composite materials, alumina, silicon carbide are utilized to make hard body armor. Materials such as alumina, titanium, steel, boron carbide, silicon carbide, and ceramic matrix composite are used in the manufacturing of aircraft armor. Saint-Gobain offers silicon carbide ceramic tile armor assemblies to protect land vehicles, and fixed - and rotary-wing aircraft. The company designs and co-develops armor panel components for military, law enforcement, and civilian applications. Marine armor comprises a set of power armor, along with the marine helmet, and can effectively block gunshots, cuts, blunt trauma, or burns. Metals such as high-density steel, aluminum, and titanium, along with their alloys, are used as armor materials for the marine armor systems.



Military vehicles are armored to withstand the impact of shrapnel, missiles or shells, bullets and to protect the personnel inside from enemy fire, while civilian vehicles can also be armored. Aluminum is utilized in applications specified with lightweight vehicles, and the aluminum armor is the most commonly employed material on APCs and armored cars. It is lightweight, cheap, and tough enough that it can serve as easy armor. Titanium features almost twice the density of aluminum; however, it can have a yield strength equivalent to high-strength steels and offer high specific strength. It also has a high specific resilience with specific toughness. Therefore, titanium also finds an application in personal armor and military aviation. Composite armor mainly comprises layers of two or more materials with significantly different physical properties; steel and ceramic are the most common types of materials used in this armor.



The global ceramic armor market is concentrated with a few well-established players such as 3M, BAE Systems Plc., Coorstek, Inc., CeramTec GmbH, Morgan Advanced Materials Plc., Koninklijke Ten Cate BV, Point Blank Enterprises, Inc, Safariland, LLC., Seyntex N.V., and Compagnie de Saint Gobain SA.



Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Ceramic Armor Market



As of November 2020, the US, Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, and the UK are among the worst-affected countries by the COVID-19 pandemic. The outbreak has affected economies and industries in various countries due to imposed lockdowns and travel bans, and business shutdowns. The global market collapse due to shutting down of factories, obstacles in supply chain, and downturn in world economy is also affecting the growth of the ceramic armor market.



Reasons to Buy:

Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies.

The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the Ceramic Armor Market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long-term strategies.

Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets.

Scrutinize in-depth the market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it.

Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation and industry verticals.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction

1.1 Study Scope

1.2 Report Guidance

1.3 Market Segmentation



2. Key Takeaways



3. Research Methodology

3.1 Scope of the Study

3.2 Research Methodology

3.2.1 Data Collection:

3.2.2 Primary Interviews:

3.2.3 Hypothesis formulation:

3.2.4 Macro-economic factor analysis:

3.2.5 Developing base number:

3.2.6 Data Triangulation:

3.2.7 Country level data:



4. Ceramic Armor Market Landscape

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 PEST Analysis

4.2.1 North America

4.2.2 Europe

4.2.3 APAC

4.2.4 MEA

4.2.5 SAM

4.3 Expert Opinion



5. Ceramic Armor Market - Key Market Dynamics

5.1 Market Drivers

5.1.1 Steady Growth of the Aerospace and Defense Industry

5.1.2 Widespread Applications of Ceramic Armors

5.2 Market Restraints

5.2.1 Availability of Substitutes

5.3 Market Opportunities:

5.3.1 Continuous R&D Initiatives

5.4 Future Trends:

5.4.1 Increasing Use of Soft Ceramic Armor over Hard Ceramic Armor

5.5 Impact Analysis of Drivers and Restraints



6. Ceramic Armor - Global Market Analysis

6.1 Ceramic Armor Market Overview

6.2 Ceramic Armor Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

6.3 Competitive Positioning - Key Market Players



7. Global Ceramic Armor Market Analysis - By Material Type

7.1 Overview

7.2 Ceramic Armor Market Breakdown, By Material Type, 2019 & 2027

7.3 Alumina

7.3.1 Overview

7.3.2 Alumina in Ceramic Armor Market, Revenue Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

7.4 Boron Carbide

7.4.1 Overview

7.4.2 Boron Carbide in Ceramic Armor Market, Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

7.5 Silicon Carbide

7.5.1 Overview

7.5.2 Silicon Carbide in Ceramic Armor Market, Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

7.6 Ceramic Matrix Composite

7.6.1 Overview

7.6.2 Ceramic Matrix Composite in Ceramic Armor Market, Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

7.7 Others

7.7.1 Overview

7.7.2 Others in Ceramic Armor Market, Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)



8. Global Ceramic Armor Market Analysis - By Application

8.1 Overview

8.2 Global Ceramic Armor Market Breakdown, By Application, 2019 & 2027

8.3 Body Armor

8.3.1 Overview

8.3.2 Body Armor in Ceramic Armor Market, Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

8.4 Aircraft Armor

8.4.1 Overview

8.4.2 Aircraft Armor in Ceramic Armor Market, Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

8.5 Marine Armor

8.5.1 Overview

8.5.2 Marine Armor in Ceramic Armor Market, Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

8.6 Vehicle Armor

8.6.1 Overview

8.6.2 Vehicle Armor in Ceramic Armor Market, Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

8.7 Others

8.7.1 Overview

8.7.2 Others in Ceramic Armor Market, Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)



9. Ceramic Armor Market - Geographic Analysis

9.1 Overview

9.2 North America: Ceramic Armor Market

9.3 Europe: Ceramic Armor Market

9.4 Asia Pacific: Ceramic Armor Market

9.5 MEA: Ceramic Armor Market

9.6 South America: Ceramic Armor Market



10. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Ceramic Armor Market

10.1 Overview

10.2 North America: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

10.3 Europe: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

10.4 Asia-Pacific: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

10.5 Middle East and Africa: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

10.6 South America: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic



11. Industry Landscape

11.1 Merger and Acquisition

11.2 New Development

11.3 Market Initiative



12. Key Company Profiles

12.1 3M

12.1.1 Key Facts

12.1.2 Business Description

12.1.3 Products and Services

12.1.4 Financial Overview

12.1.5 SWOT Analysis

12.1.6 Key Developments

12.2 BAE Systems Plc.

12.2.1 Key Facts

12.2.2 Business Description

12.2.3 Products and Services

12.2.4 Financial Overview

12.2.5 SWOT Analysis

12.2.6 Key Developments

12.3 Coorstek, Inc.

12.3.1 Key Facts

12.3.2 Business Description

12.3.3 Products and Services

12.3.4 Financial Overview

12.3.5 SWOT Analysis

12.3.6 Key Developments

12.4 CeramTec GmbH

12.4.1 Key Facts

12.4.2 Business Description

12.4.3 Products and Services

12.4.4 Financial Overview

12.4.5 SWOT Analysis

12.4.6 Key Developments

12.5 Morgan Advanced Materials Plc.

12.5.1 Key Facts

12.5.2 Business Description

12.5.3 Products and Services

12.5.4 Financial Overview

12.5.5 SWOT Analysis

12.5.6 Key Developments

12.6 Koninklijke Ten Cate BV

12.6.1 Key Facts

12.6.2 Business Description

12.6.3 Products and Services

12.6.4 Financial Overview

12.6.5 SWOT Analysis

12.6.6 Key Developments

12.7 Point Blank Enterprises, Inc.

12.7.1 Key Facts

12.7.2 Business Description

12.7.3 Products and Services

12.7.4 Financial Overview

12.7.5 SWOT Analysis

12.7.6 Key Developments

12.8 Safariland, LLC

12.8.1 Key Facts

12.8.2 Business Description

12.8.3 Products and Services

12.8.4 Financial Overview

12.8.5 SWOT Analysis

12.8.6 Key Developments

12.9 Seyntex N.V.

12.9.1 Key Facts

12.9.2 Business Description

12.9.3 Products and Services

12.9.4 Financial Overview

12.9.5 SWOT Analysis

12.10 Compagnie de Saint Gobain SA

12.10.1 Key Facts

12.10.2 Business Description

12.10.3 Products And Services

12.10.4 Financial Overview

12.10.5 SWOT Analysis



13. Appendix

13.1 About the Publisher

13.2 Glossary



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/yycuwu

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.



Media Contact:

Research and Markets

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PHILADELPHIA  An attempt to unionize workers at a medical marijuana facility near Philadelphia was dismissed after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that the employees who were trying to organize there were agricultural workers.

AgriKind owns a cannabis growing operation in Chester. Its parent company has an interest in one of the Pennsylvania Clinical Registrant growers, which works with Drexel University to develop medical marijuana studies. It also plans to open a dispensary in Chester in March.

Two AgriKind employees, a trimmer and a cultivation associate, attempted to establish a union shop there under the auspices of the United Food and Commercial Workers 1776.

Agricultural and farm workers are usually considered to be federally exempt from federal labor law.

The NLRB is an independent agency of the federal government that adjudicates labor issues.

In a decision released last week, the NLRB ruled that because the two workers did not significantly transform the natural product from its raw state, they were ineligible for union protection.

[The trimmer and the cultivator] are exempt because they each substantially engage in the primary agricultural functions of harvesting, pruning, and sorting of plant, the NLRB wrote.

In previous marijuana cases, the NLRB has ruled in favor of unionizing when cannabis facility employees if their work includes packaging weed or delivering it to dispensaries.

Wendell Young, the president of the UFCW 1776, said efforts to organize employees at AgriKind will continue.

The NLRB tried to change the law with this decision. An administrative agency was trying to legislate through Trump appointees, said Young. Though the two workers are no longer employed at AgriKind we still have an active large group of employees there who want to unionize.

The precedent established is clearest when you look at mushroom workers, Young continued. So we will follow through with this case to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. Workers who are exempt under the NLRB are usually covered by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.

Labor peace agreements (LPAs), which clear the way for collective bargaining, are mandatory for legal cannabis producers in California, said Steven Schain, an attorney with Hoban Law which focuses on marijuana and hemp law. Under New Jerseys pending adult-use statute, LPAs are required for all prospective applicants to grow, with the exception of microbusinesses. There are not requirements for LPAs in Pennsylvania.

At AgriKind, inexperienced trimmers, who shape the cannabis flower buds, are paid about $11.75 an hour, said the companys CEO Jon Cohn. New cultivators earn a little more than that.

AgriKind employs about 70 workers, most of them full time, said Cohn.

The company is working to double the amount of cannabis it has under cultivation by mid-March. Cohn said he received approval for the expansion from the state Department of Health last week and that hell be hiring another 60 people to fill roles in all aspects of the operation.

Cohn said his employees receive health insurance through Independence Blue Cross and this year will get contributions towards a 401k . Wed rather take care of our people, he said.

We dont want the atmosphere here to be management versus labor. Granted, weve grown really fast and had a ton of turnover. Thats caused some pains. People think growing cannabis is going to be glamorous but its really hard work.

___

Sam Wood of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote this story.

2021 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC.

Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
SAO PAULO, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Basic Sanitation Company of the State of Sao Paulo - Sabesp ("Sabesp" or "Company"), in compliance with the provisions of Article 157, Paragraph 4, of Law 6.404 / 76 and the provisions of Instruction 358 of the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission ("CVM"), dated January 3, 2002, as amended, informs to its shareholders and the market in general that, in a meeting held this morning, the Executive Board approved:

i) Suspend cuts and renegotiate debts for commercial and service customers residing in the operated municipalities that are in the orange and red phases of the Sao Paulo / COVID-19 Plan;

ii) The validity period will run from February 03, 2021 until March 31, 2021;

iii) The existing debts, including the agreements signed during the pandemic period, will be renegotiated without the application of a fine and interest, only monetary adjustment, according to the Company's policy and procedure;

iv) The term for installments will be 12 months, from the date of the renegotiation of outstanding balances;

v) The debtor will not be included in the credit protection register for debts until March 31, 2021;

vi) Debtors which may have been included in the credit protection register during the pandemic will be withdrawn immediately after the debt is renegotiated with Sabesp.

The Company will keep the market informed on the developments concerning this matter.

IR Contacts:

Mario Arruda Sampaio  (55 11) 3388-8664 ([email protected])

Angela Beatriz Airoldi  (55 11) 3388-8793 ([email protected])

SOURCE Sabesp

Related Links

http://www.sabesp.com.br


(Newser)  China has made a formal complaint to Canada over T-shirts ordered by a Canadian Embassy staffer in Beijing that allegedly mocked Chinas response to the coronavirus outbreak, the AP reports, in an apparent mix-up between the city of Wuhan and the American hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters Tuesday that China called on Canada to thoroughly investigate the incident and give China a clear explanation. The incident arose after a T-shirt maker posted on the Chinese internet that a staff member from the Canadian Embassy had ordered T-shirts with an apparent bat print.

story continues below

That appeared to reference allegations that the virus originated in bats and then spread to people in the city of Wuhan, where illnesses were first reported in late 2019. But Canadian media reported the logo was a W in homage to the New York hip-hop group the Wu-Tang Clan and that Ottawa had apologized for any misunderstanding. China's government is extremely sensitive to accusations it was the source of the pandemic and failed to respond quickly enough when cases were first reported in Wuhan. The T-shirts were reportedly ordered last summer and it wasn't clear if any were still in circulation. The controversy underscores the plunge in relations between the countries in the past two years.

(Read more China stories.)
New Delhi:

United Nations on Friday adopted the landmark global treaty banning the use of nuclear weapons, despite opposition from the United States, Britain, France and other nuclear powers that boycotted negotiations.



None of the nine countries that possess nuclear weapons the United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israeltook part in the negotiations.



Even Japanthe only country to have suffered atomic attacks, in 1945 -- boycotted the talks as did most NATO countries.



US Ambassador Nikki Haley came out strongly against the ban when negotiations opened on March 27, saying there is nothing I want more for my family than a world with no nuclear weapons, but we have to be realistic.



Is there anyone that believes that North Korea would agree to a ban on nuclear weapons? she asked.



Nuclear powers argue their arsenals serve as a deterrent against a nuclear attack and say they remain committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).



The decades-old NPT seeks to prevent the spread of atomic weapons but also puts the onus on nuclear states to reduce their stockpiles.



Impatience, however, is growing among many non-nuclear states over the slow pace of disarmament as worry that the weapons of mass destruction will fall into the wrong hands.



Disarmament campaigners say the treaty will go a long way in increasing the stigma associated with nuclear weapons and will have an impact on public opinion.



The key thing is that it changes the legal landscape, said Richard Moyes, director of the British-based organisation Article 36.



It stops states with nuclear weapons from being able to hide behind the idea that they are not illegal.



This is really about removing the prestige from nuclear weapons, said Beatrice Fihn, director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.



They are seen as something very valuable and as giving power. This is supposed to remove that.



Supporters describe the treaty as a historic achievement but the nuclear-armed states have dismissed the ban as unrealistic, arguing it will have no impact on reducing the global stockpile of 15,000 nuclear weapons.



Led by Austria, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and New Zealand, 141 countries took part in three weeks of negotiations on the treaty that provides for a total ban on developing, stockpiling or threatening to use nuclear weapons.



Advocates hope it will increase pressure on nuclear states to take disarmament more seriously.



This will be a historic moment, Costa Ricas ambassador, Elayne Whyte Gomez, the president of the UN conference on the treaty, said on the eve of the adoption.



The world has been waiting for this legal norm for 70 years, she said, calling it a response for humanity.



After its adoption, the treaty is now open for signatures as of September 20 and will enter into force when 50 countries have ratified it.



During a vote at the UN General Assembly in December, 113 countries voted in favour of starting negotiations on the new treaty while 35 opposed the move and 13 abstained.

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The global Flexible Packaging Market is anticipated to reach $335 billion by 2026 according to a new research published by Polaris Market Research. In 2017, the food and beverage segment accounted for the highest market share in terms of revenue. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the leading contributor to the global Flexible Packaging market revenue in 2017.

The increasing disposable incomes and growing demand for fast moving consumer goods drives the growth of the flexible packaging market. Growing urbanization has resulted in urban citizens spending most of their time at work and everyday commute, which has increased the demand for convenient packaging for on-the-go consumption, thereby supporting the flexible packaging market growth. Brand owners are taking initiatives to optimize packaging operations to meet the global competition, increase productivity, enhance shelf life of products, improve overall efficiency, and create brand differentiation in the market. The demand for new and unique packaging sizes, shapes and configurations has increased from industries such as food and beverages, cosmetics, and healthcare among others. The increasing need to offer convenient packaging solutions while also addressing environmental concerns has boosted the flexible packaging market growth.

Download Sample Copy: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/flexible-packaging-market/request-for-sample

Numerous key players have adopted partnership and acquisition strategies to increase their market share in the global flexible packaging market. For instance, In December 2015, Mondi Group signed an agreement for the acquisition of 95% of the outstanding share capital in KSP, Co. KSP is a flexible packaging company based in South Korea with strong focus on production of high-quality spouted and retort stand-up pouches for food, pet food and beverage industries. The acquisition of KSP compliments Mondis stand-up pouch operations in Korneuburg, Austria and Jackson, US while expanding its presence in U.S. and Asia. In July 2016, Mondi Group also signed an agreement to acquire Uralplastic. Uralplastic manufactures a range of consumer flexible packaging products for food, hygiene, homecare and other applications. The acquisition of Uralplastic supports the development of Mondis consumer packaging business, strengthens its presence in the Russian consumer packaging market, and expands its offerings in the flexible packaging market.

Asia-Pacific generated the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2018 in the flexible packaging industry, and is expected to lead the global Flexible Packaging market throughout the forecast period. The growing population, rising disposable incomes, and increasing living standards support the growth of flexible packaging industry in the region. The increasing demand from the food and beverage, and retail industry is expected to generate numerous opportunities for the Flexible Packaging industry.

Do you have questions or special requirements? Ask our industry experts @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/flexible-packaging-market/speak-to-analyst

The well-known companies profiled in the Flexible Packaging report include Amcor Limited, Mondi Group, Berry Plastics Corporation, Sonoco Products Company, American Packaging Corporation, Novolex Holding Inc., Bemis Company, Inc, Constantia Flexibles International GmbH, Ampac Holding, and Sigma Plastics Group. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers.
Where's the fastest place to put my server? How much does it matter?

Using my own web server accesslogs and public latency data to get a quantitative answer and why roundtrips are such a pain.

As network latencies grow, strange things can happen: "fat" sites can become fast (especially if served completely from CDN) and "thin" sites that use APIs can become slow. A typical latency for a desktop/laptop user is 200ms, for a 4G mobile user, 300-400ms. I've assumed 40 megabit bandwidth, TLS, latency to CDN of 40ms and no existing connections. "Origin" here means the primary webserver (as opposed to "edge" CDN caches).

What's the fastest place to put my server? Beyond the time taken for servers to respond to requests it takes time just to traverse the internet, just to get a packet from A to B.

To estimate what the theoretical best physical place to put my own server is I've combined publicly available data on latencies with my own web server accesslogs. I'm aiming to get a rough, quantitative, answer that's based on a real data set.

Why location matters

Time taken to traverse the internet is added to the time taken to respond to a request. Even if your API can respond to a request in 1ms, if the user is in London and your API server is in California the user still has to wait ~130 milliseconds for the response.

It's a bit worse than just 130 milliseconds. Depending on what a user is doing they may end up making a number of those roundtrips. To download a web page usually requires five full roundtrips: one to resolve the domain name via DNS, one to establish the TCP connection, two more to set up an encrypted session with TLS and one, finally, for the page you wanted in the first place.

Subsequent requests can (but don't always) reuse the DNS, TCP and TLS setup but a new roundtrip is still needed each time the server is consulted, for example for an API call or a new page.

130ms sounded fast at first, but the rigmarole of just getting a page and then making an couple of API calls can easily end up taking most of a second just in terms of time waiting for the network. All the other time required: for the server to decide what response to send to your request, time downloading the thing and then rendering whatever it is in your browser - that is all extra.

The two kinds of "fast" for networks

One of the confusing things about networking is the inspecific way in which people talk of getting "faster" networking: "faster" residental broadband for example, or "fast ethernet" (100 megabits per second, no longer impressive).

This kind of "faster" is not in fact talking about speed. Greater speed would be reduced latency - so faster roundtrips. Instead "faster" networking is really about greater bandwidth: more bytes per second.

APIs or CDNs

One thing that does make things faster: a Content Distribution Network (or CDN). Instead of going all the way to California perhaps you can retrieve some of the web page from a cache in central London. Doing this saves time - perhaps taking just 50 milliseconds, a saving of 60%. Caches work great for CSS files, images and javascript - stuff that doesn't change for each user. It doesn't work as well for the responses to API calls, for which the responses are different for each user, and sometimes, each time.

A quantitative approach

A happy few can serve everything from their CDN. News sites, for example, show the exact same thing to everyone. Others are less lucky and can make only limited, or no, use of caching. These poor people have to pick a location for their main server to help them get their bytes to the users who want them as fast as possible. If they want to make that choice with the sole aim of reducing latency, where should they pick?

Here's what I did:

I took my own accesslogs for a two week period in September just after I'd published something new. I got about a million requests during this period from 143k unique IPs. I excluded obvious robots (which was ~10% of requests). I used Maxmind's GeoIP database to geocode each IP address in those accesslogs to geographic co-ordinates. I then used WonderNetwork's published latency data for internet latencies between ~240 world cities. I mapped those cities (semi-manually, which was pretty painful) from their names to Geonames ids - which gave me co-ordinates for the cities. Then I loaded all of the above into a Postgres database with the PostGIS extension installed so I could do geographical queries. I queried to estimate how long, by percentile, requests would have taken if I'd had my server in each of the 200 cities.

The results

In the table below I've recorded the outcome: how long users would take to complete a single roundtrip to my server if it were in each city. I've done this by percentiles so you have:

the average ("p50")

for three quarters of requests ("p75")

and for 99% of requests ("p99")

All numbers are in milliseconds.

See full results as a table (click to expand) I've included a bit of Javascript in this page, so you can click on the headings to sort. City p50 p75 p99 Manhattan 74 97 238 Detroit 89 115 245 Secaucus 71 96 246 Piscataway 75 98 251 Washington 82 105 253 Chicago 90 121 253 Kansas City 98 130 254 Indianapolis 96 125 254 St Louis 96 127 256 Cincinnati 92 121 257 Houston 104 134 257 Syracuse 77 102 257 Scranton 78 103 258 Quebec City 83 113 259 South Bend 92 118 259 Montreal 83 104 259 Charlotte 91 110 259 Salem 74 98 259 Buffalo 80 111 259 Albany 75 100 260 Monticello 94 123 260 Baltimore 80 105 260 Asheville 95 118 260 New York 77 103 261 Berkeley Springs 84 112 261 Minneapolis 102 133 261 Barcelona 102 148 261 Dallas 112 140 262 Des Moines 104 131 262 San Jose 139 165 263 Brunswick 77 101 264 Atlanta 88 113 264 San Francisco 136 168 264 Halifax 80 102 265 Philadelphia 77 100 266 Basel 97 146 267 Green Bay 103 131 267 Pittsburgh 88 117 267 Bern 99 147 267 Denver 112 141 267 Miami 103 129 267 Raleigh 88 111 268 Knoxville 114 135 268 Boston 77 105 268 Valencia 108 148 268 Jackson 105 132 268 Memphis 101 131 268 Jacksonville 95 122 268 Madrid 95 138 268 London 76 130 268 San Diego 138 162 269 San Antonio 112 138 269 Salt Lake City 120 151 269 Toronto 87 111 269 Cleveland 97 122 269 Austin 113 141 270 Colorado Springs 110 136 270 Orlando 103 126 270 Antwerp 93 137 271 Oklahoma City 114 147 271 Saskatoon 115 140 272 Lansing 98 127 272 Seattle 141 164 272 Columbus 92 120 273 Bristol 76 129 274 Tampa 104 130 274 Lausanne 95 139 274 Ottawa 85 111 274 Falkenstein 91 137 275 Maidstone 76 129 275 Paris 80 129 275 Toledo 102 129 275 Savannah 117 146 276 The Hague 82 138 276 Liege 87 136 277 Lincoln 100 124 277 New Orleans 115 142 278 Amsterdam 82 140 278 Las Vegas 136 163 279 Vienna 102 149 279 Coventry 80 132 279 Cromwell 80 106 280 Arezzo 109 160 280 Cheltenham 79 131 280 Sacramento 137 167 280 Alblasserdam 82 137 281 Vancouver 142 165 281 Fremont 131 157 283 Gosport 76 137 284 Frankfurt 93 136 284 Carlow 88 136 285 Phoenix 128 153 285 Portland 132 159 285 Cardiff 78 131 285 Luxembourg 87 137 285 Bruges 83 135 285 Eindhoven 85 133 285 Groningen 87 139 286 Manchester 80 137 286 Brussels 90 139 287 Brno 106 148 287 Edinburgh 84 136 287 Nuremberg 89 136 288 Albuquerque 125 159 289 Los Angeles 141 164 289 Ljubljana 110 152 289 Lugano 97 147 290 Zurich 103 146 290 Dronten 84 133 290 Newcastle 87 147 290 Rome 96 147 291 Dusseldorf 90 140 291 Munich 98 144 291 Venice 106 156 292 Edmonton 139 165 292 Copenhagen 96 145 292 St Petersburg 113 163 293 Dublin 85 143 293 Redding 142 178 293 Vilnius 110 162 293 Belfast 79 125 294 Nis 113 158 294 Douglas 87 143 294 Rotterdam 82 139 295 Bergen 107 157 295 Strasbourg 89 141 295 Roseburg 148 172 296 Graz 104 147 296 San Juan 117 141 298 Warsaw 108 161 299 Frosinone 105 153 299 Riyadh 159 206 300 Prague 103 152 301 Ktis 102 158 302 Mexico 139 164 302 Belgrade 113 160 302 Guadalajara 128 155 303 Milan 96 146 305 Bratislava 102 154 306 Osaka 181 240 307 Zagreb 103 150 308 Tallinn 108 162 308 Helsinki 105 156 308 Hamburg 127 166 309 Oslo 98 153 311 Bucharest 120 162 311 Riga 113 159 312 Panama 150 177 313 Tokyo 188 238 313 Kiev 119 168 313 Stockholm 102 153 314 Budapest 110 162 314 Kharkiv 128 169 315 Gothenburg 115 167 316 Pristina 122 167 316 Tirana 128 184 316 Geneva 96 142 316 Siauliai 113 163 317 Cairo 133 182 318 Sapporo 196 255 318 Bogota 170 188 319 Palermo 119 183 320 Gdansk 107 152 320 Caracas 149 176 320 Sofia 114 161 321 Westpoort 79 134 321 Honolulu 173 196 321 Roubaix 102 157 321 Kazan 138 190 322 Winnipeg 169 190 322 Varna 120 173 322 Tel Aviv 138 194 322 Lisbon 115 166 324 Jerusalem 145 198 324 Ankara 139 195 327 Heredia 164 188 327 Athens 128 183 329 Reykjavik 127 180 329 Paramaribo 166 194 330 Algiers 120 173 332 Chisinau 127 180 333 Bursa 135 188 334 Thessaloniki 134 187 336 Limassol 141 186 337 Lyon 95 145 340 Mumbai 204 248 340 Medellin 163 186 344 Valletta 120 176 345 Baku 160 205 346 Melbourne 227 269 346 Fez 149 198 348 Tunis 124 180 348 Koto 217 254 348 Dubai 192 243 350 Tbilisi 153 208 351 Malaysia 195 235 352 Hyderabad 214 260 354 Bangalore 212 252 355 Izmir 137 187 357 Adelaide 241 272 359 Chennai 221 248 359 Moscow 127 172 359 Lahore 217 270 361 Novosibirsk 163 206 362 Sydney 237 272 363 Karaganda 180 231 363 Vladivostok 223 264 364 Taipei 265 293 364 Lima 169 199 364 Istanbul 135 182 366 Hong Kong 199 223 366 Auckland 244 291 367 Jakarta 207 245 368 Seoul 231 277 371 Beirut 136 195 372 Accra 168 216 373 Singapore 190 246 374 Sao Paulo 193 213 375 Joao Pessoa 182 220 378 Perth 243 267 379 Ho Chi Minh City 253 287 380 Wellington 251 295 383 Brasilia 226 249 384 Manila 251 281 385 Pune 202 251 386 Dhaka 231 268 386 Phnom Penh 243 267 386 Santiago 202 230 390 Lagos 191 233 391 Quito 162 188 392 New Delhi 230 264 395 Johannesburg 237 283 398 Bangkok 222 254 401 Canberra 262 295 402 Dar es Salaam 214 267 407 Dagupan 239 268 408 Christchurch 257 309 409 Hanoi 235 264 415 Cape Town 216 262 417 Buenos Aires 232 253 417 Guatemala 217 249 418 Brisbane 261 288 422 Indore 304 352 457 Zhangjiakou 236 264 457 Nairobi 233 277 468 Kampala 244 287 480 Hangzhou 239 267 517 Shenzhen 242 275 523 Shanghai 300 367 551 Montevideo 738 775 902

You can also download the full results as a csv, if that's easier.

The result: east coast of North America good, right on the Atlantic better

The best places are all in North America, which is probably not a total surprise given that it's a pretty dense cluster of English speakers with another cluster not all that far away (in latency terms) in the UK/ROI and then a lot of English-as-a-second-language speakers in Europe. Being right on the Atlantic is best of all: New Jersey and New York state have many of the best places for p99 and it doesn't vary too much, at the top, between p50 and p99.

If you're wondering why small New Jersey towns like Secaucus and Piscataway are so well connected - they have big data centres used by America's financial sector.

As it stands, my server is currently in Helsinki. That's because, unusually for Finland, it was the cheapest option. I only pay about three quid a month for this server. If I moved it to somewhere in New Jersey, and spent more, users would definitely save time in aggregate: half of roundtrips would be completed in 75ms rather than 105ms, a saving of 30%. Over several roundtrips that would probably mount up to around a sixth of a second off the average of first-time page loads, which is not too bad. In case you can't tell, this website isn't hugely taxing for web browsers to render so cuts in the network wait time would make it considerably quicker.

Since I don't dynamically generate anything on this site, the truth is that I'd be best off with a CDN. That would really save a lot of time for everyone: it's nearly twice as good to be served from a CDN (~40ms) than to be in the fastest place (71ms).

How this might change over time

Latencies aren't fixed and they might improve over time. Here's a table of roundtrip latencies from London to other world cities with more than 5 million people, comparing against the theoretical maximum speed, the speed of light:

City name Distance (km) Real latency Theoretical max Slowdown factor New York 5,585 71 37 1.9 Lima 10,160 162 68 2.4 Jakarta 11,719 194 78 2.5 Cairo 3,513 60 23 2.6 St Petersburg 2,105 38 14 2.7 Bangalore 8,041 144 54 2.7 Bogota 8,500 160 57 2.8 Buenos Aires 11,103 220 74 3.0 Lagos 5,006 99 33 3.0 Moscow 2,508 51 17 3.0 Sao Paulo 9,473 193 63 3.1 Bangkok 9,543 213 64 3.3 Hong Kong 9,644 221 64 3.4 Istanbul 2,504 60 17 3.6 Lahore 6,298 151 42 3.6 Tokyo 9,582 239 64 3.7 Hangzhou 9,237 232 62 3.8 Shanghai 9,217 241 61 3.9 Mumbai 7,200 190 48 4.0 Taipei 9,800 268 65 4.1 Dhaka 8,017 229 53 4.3 Seoul 8,880 269 59 4.5

(Please note, a correction: the above table previously compared real roundtrips with theoretical straight line journeys - this has now been corrected, for more details see these two comments for discussion and more details - like how part of this is due to the nature of fibre optic cables and submarine cable curvature.)

As you can see, New York's latency is within a factor of 2 of the speed of light but routes to other places like Dhaka and Seoul are much slower: being 4 times the speed of light. There are probably understandable reasons why the London to New York route has been so well optimised though I doubt it hurts that it's mostly ocean between them, so that undersea cables can run directly. Getting to Seoul or Dhaka will be a more circuitous route.

I should probably mention that new protocols promise to reduce the number of round trips. TLS 1.3 can create an encrypted session with one round trip rather than two and HTTP3 can club together the HTTP round trip with the TLS one, meaning you now only need three: one for DNS, one single roundtrip for both a connecton and an encrypted session and then finally a third for the subject of your request.

One false hope some people seem to have is that new protocols like HTTP3 do away with the need for Javascript/CSS bundling. That is based on a misunderstanding: while HTTP/3 will remove some initial roundtrips it does not remove subsequent roundtrips for extra Javascript or CSS. So bundling is sadly here to stay.

Data weaknesses

While I think this is an interesting exercise - and hopefully indicative - I should be honest and say that the quality of the data I'm using is solidly in the "medium-to-poor" category.

Firstly, the GeoIP database's ability to predict the location of an IP address is mixed. Stated (ie: probably optimistic) accuracy ranges up to about 1000 kilometers in some cases, though for my dataset it thinks the average accuracy is 132km with a standard deviation of 276km - so not that accurate but I think still useful.

My source of latency data, WonderNetwork, are really reporting point-in-time latency from when I got it (30th November 2020) as opposed to long term data. Sometimes the internet does go on the fritz in certain places.

WonderNetwork have a lot of stations but their coverage isn't perfect. In the West it's excellent - in the UK even secondary towns (like Coventry) are represented. Their coverage worldwide is still good but more mixed. They don't have a lot of locations in Africa or South America and some of the latencies in South East Asia seem odd: Hong Kong and Shenzhen are 140ms away from each other when they're only 50km apart - that's a slowdown factor compared to the speed of light of more than a thousand times. Other mainland China pings are also strangely bad, though not on that scale. Perhaps the communists are inspecting each ICMP packet by hand?

The other problem with the latency data is that I don't have the true co-ordinates for the datacentres that the servers are in - I had to geocode that myself with some scripting and a lot of manual data entry in Excel (I've published that sheet on github to save anyone from having to redo it). I've tried hard to check these but there still might be mistakes.

By far the biggest weakness, though, is that I'm assuming that everyone is starting right from the centre of their closest city. This isn't true in practice and bias this adds can vary. Here in the UK, residental internet access is a total hack based on sending high frequency signals over copper telephone lines. My own latency to other hosts in London is about 9ms - which sounds bad for such a short distance but is still 31ms better than average. Many consumer level routers are not very good and add a lot of latency. The notorious bufferbloat problem is also a common source of latency, particularly affecting things that need a consistent latency level to work well - like videoconferencing and multiplayer computer games. Using a mobile phone network doesn't help either. 4G networks add circa 100ms of lag in good conditions but of course are much worse when the signal is poor and there are a lot of link-level retransmissions.

I did try assuming the global average latency per kilometer (about 0.03ms) to compensate for distance from the closest city but I found this just added a bunch of noise to my results as for many IPs in my dataset this is an unrealistic detour: the closest city I have for them isn't that close at all.

Generality

It's fair to wonder to what extent my results would change for a different site. It's hard to say but I suspect that the results would be approximately the same for other sites which are in English and don't have any special geographical component to them. This is because I reckon that people reading this blog are probably pretty uniformly distributed over the English speaking population of the world.

If I was writing in Russian or Italian the geographic base of readers would be pretty different and so the relative merits of different cities from a latency point of view would change.

It wasn't too hard for me to run this test and I've released all the little bits of code I wrote (mostly data loading and querying snippets) so you could easily rerun this on your own accesslogs without too much effort. Please write to me if you do that, I'd love to know what results you get.

Gratuitous roundtrips

Picking a good spot for your server only goes so far. Even in good cases you will still have nearly a hundred milliseconds of latency for each roundtrip. As I said above there can be as many as five roundtrips when you visit a page.

Having any unnecessary roundtrips will really slow things down. A single extra roundtrip would negate a fair chunk of the gains from putting your server in a fast place.

It's easy to add roundtrips accidentally. A particularly surprising source of roundtrips are cross-origin (CORS) preflight requests. For security reasons to do with preventing cross-site scripting attacks, browsers will "check" certain HTTP requests made from Javascript. This is done by sending a request to the same url beforehand with the special OPTIONS verb. The response to this will decide whether the original request is allowed or not. The rules for when exactly preflighting is done are complicated but a surprising number of requests are caught up in the net: notably including JSON POSTs to subdomains (such as api.foo.com when you're on foo.com ) and third party webfonts. CORS preflighting checks use a different set of caching headers to the rest of HTTP caching which are rarely set correctly and anyway are only applicable for subsequent requests.

A lot of sites these days are written as "single page apps", where you load some static bundle of Javascript (hopefully from a CDN) and which then makes a (hopefully low) number of API requests inside your browser to decide what to show on the page. The hope is that this is faster after the first request as you don't have to redraw the whole screen when a user asks for a second page load. Usually, it doesn't end up helping much because a single HTML page tends to get replaced with multiple chained API calls. A couple of chained API calls to an origin server is almost always slower than redrawing the whole screen - particularly over a mobile network.

I always think it's a bit rubbish when I get a loading bar on a web page - you already sent me a page, why didn't you just send the page I wanted! One of the great ironies of the web is that while Google don't do a good job of crawling these single page apps they certainly produce a lot of them. The "search console" (the website formerly known as "webmaster tools") is particularly diabolical. I suppose Google don't need to worry overly about SEO.

Bandwidth improves quickly but latency improves slowly

Internet bandwidth just gets better and better. You can shove a lot more bytes down the line per second than you could even a few years ago. Latency improvements, however, are pretty rare and as we get closer to the speed of light the improvement will drop off completely.

100 megawhats per second is less compelling when you still have to wait the same half a second for each page to load.

Contact/etc

Please do feel free to send me an email about this article, especially if you disagreed with it. If you liked it, you might like other things I've written. You can get notified when I write something new by email alert or by RSS feed. If you have enjoyed this article and as a result are feeling charitable towards me, please test out my site project, Quarchive, a FOSS social bookmarking style site, and email me your feedback!

See also

Last year APNIC analysed CDN performance across the world, and concluded that 40ms is typical. I wish they'd included percentile data in this post but I can still get the vague impression that CDNs perform best in the West and less well in South American, China and Africa which is a problem given that most servers are based in the West.

While I was writing this post a number there was an outbreak of page-weight-based "clubs", like the "1MB club" and the, presumably more elite, 512K Club. I suppose I approve of the sentiment (and it's all in the name of fun I'm sure) I think they're over-emphasising the size of the stuff being transferred. If you're in London, asking for a dynamically generated page from California, it will still take a most of a second (130ms times 5 round trips) regardless of how big the thing is.

The submarine cable map is always fun to look at. If you want to see a sign of the varying importance of different places: the Channel Islands (population 170 thousand) have 8 submarine cables, including two that simply connect Guernsey and Jersey. Madagascar (population 26 million) has just four. I also think it's funny that even though Alaska and Russia are pretty close there isn't a single cable between them.

If you want to reproduce my results I've published my code and data on Github. I'm afraid that does not include my accesslogs which I can't make public for privacy reasons. Please don't expect me to have produced a repeatable build process for you: that takes a lot more time and effort so it's provided on a "some assembly required" basis. :)
Former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri has warned President Uhuru Kenyatta against dragging his name through the mud.

Noting that he does not like political mudslinging, the Service Party (TSP) leader said he will not hesitate to speak out should the need arise.

I have never attacked anybody including the President but if they continue to attack me, I also have some things to say. But I do not want to go that route. I respect leaders and I do not want to fight anybody. The journey I want to go is that of gentlemanly politics. Politics of name-calling belongs to the dustbin, he said.

President Kenyatta took an indirect swipe at Kiunjuri during one of his meetings with MCAs at Sagana State Lodge.

Without mentioning names, Uhuru said some of his former Cabinet appointees had failed at their jobs, even as he praised incumbent Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya for clearing the rot in the ministry.

Kiunjuri seemingly took the Presidents remarks personally and said he will not sit back as his name is dragged through the mud.

One thing that we will not allow the President to do is to push us into a corner and continue tarnishing our names. That will not happen. That cannot happen, Kiunjuri said when he spoke in Tharaka Nithi during the burial ceremony of the wife to the countys former governor Samuel Ragwa.

The former CS also defended his track record at the Agriculture ministry saying he laid the foundation to ensure food security.

This government has a performance contract. Every minister has a performance contract and there are appraisals. If I was a non-performer, the President can show us, Kiunjuri told Nation on Tuesday.

During the State of the Nation address, you (President) said that in Agriculture there is nothing else you can do for now other than laying the foundation. I did the foundation and left it with you. I gave you the agriculture sector growth strategy.
Jobs most suited for work from home in Bahrains public sector education, client service and IT

Jobs most suited for work from home in Bahrains public sector education, client service and IT

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Some specific jobs in Bahrains public sector may have to shift to remote work during the coronavirus crisis. The jobs that are more suited to this scenario are education, client service and IT. This was the recommendation made by a joint national report prepared by the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Bahrain, and Bahrain Institute of Public Administration (BIPA).

The report found several benefits for working from home, among which were reducing time lost in commuting, morning anxiety, unnecessary meetings and socialising. Gains were made in general mental wellbeing and productivity, improved and more flexible time management, and adoption of technological solutions that increased staff productivity in some professions.

They also report said the employees could specify their remote workdays in agreement with their employers, without compulsory permanent options for in-office or remote workdays.

It called for devising comprehensive regulations that account for the interests of employees and employers, limiting drawbacks such as assigning work outside official hours. The report was prepared by Ghada Abdulla, Associate Researcher, Derasat and Dr Omar Al Ubaydli, Director of Studies & Research also at Derasat.

The pandemic largely accelerated the shift to remote work, and Bahrain was largely prepared due to the availability of an advanced ICT infrastructure, based on early and pre-emptive preparation by broad official sectors and individuals in society, Dr Al Ubaydli said.

The pandemic forcibly contributed to the discovery of the advantages and impediments of this transformation; adopting the former and addressing the latter for the future.

Ghada Abdulla said that a large segment of staff preferring remote work when the nature of their jobs did not require office presence, on the condition that a system is formed to measure results-oriented productivity.

The paper also monitored the accelerated digitisation process of government services; the classification of staff as high, low or as hindering productivity; the reduction of organisational operating costs; and identifying transitional period difficulties.

The latter included the lack of devices required to continue work from home; and the initial lack of know-how on the use of remote work software and applications. Some staff had higher in-office productivity, while others saw work-from-home as time off.

Administrations had higher expectations during the remote work phase, assigning many tasks outside official work hours.

This study reflects our shared aspirations for management, by creating a network of organisational efforts that result in a scientific study based on solid research foundations, Dr Mohammed Amin, Director of BIPAs Masters Program in Public Administration, said. This scales up the government sector in Bahrain, he added.

Dr Amin pointed to BIPAs role in providing a suitable research environment, in the form of a sample of Masters students from the Public Administration Program, who comprise civil servants from different areas of the public sector.

The report also addressed the psychological impact of reduced office work.

Social interaction in the office is an essential and positive aspect of the social nature of human beings which, when replaced by on-screen communication, can lead to a sense of professional and social alienation from colleagues.

Nevertheless, the report predicts that remote work will continue to be adopted by organisations in the long run, particularly in jobs most suited to it, even after recovery from COVID-19 pandemic. This calls for the development of regulations to monitor this type of work.

The joint paper is one of the outcomes of a Derasat-UNDP partnership project to assess national-level socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bahrain.
As Nigeria and the rest of the world grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, health experts and advocates say the virus has led to less attention being paid to other ailments such as cancer.

While cancer patients are disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 partly because they are significantly more likely to die from the disease once infected, the greater risk is the altering of treatment regimens and cutting of funds, health experts say.

Treating cancer is expensive and for many years even before COVID-19, cancer patients and their families in Nigeria were left to pay with their life savings or sell properties as government assistance was barely in existence.

Cancer patients often relied on foreign aid and raising funds through social media, a situation health experts blamed on the countrys fragmented health insurance system, which does not cover key cancer treatment regimen.

Already acutely underfunded, cancer treatment was further relegated once the pandemic broke.

Cancer trust fund

Hope rose for cancer patients at the 2019 National Health Dialogue when the health minister, Osagie Ehanire announced a plan to institute a cancer treatment fund to reduce the financial burden of treating the terminal disease.

Held in October 2019, the yearly dialogue was organised by PREMIUM TIMES, PTCIJ, dRPC-PACFaH@Scale, International Society for Media in Public Health (ISMPH), Project Pink Blue and the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF).

The minister made the announcement following a touching story of the painful battle against cancer shared by Serah Shimenenge Yugh, a breast cancer survivor.

There will be a creation of a fund, either a cancer treatment fund or whatever we decide to call it. It is important and can be driven by investment or donation, the minister said.

It can be driven by any method that takes you beyond the point where health insurance cannot cover anymore in your treatment.

The minister said the new fund will help reduce the cost of treatment and diagnosis, noting that the funding plan will draw support from the private sector.

But more than a year after the pronouncement, cancer communities in Nigeria say they are yet to start benefitting from the fund.

Repeated calls and text messages to the health ministrys spokesperson to understand why the fund has not fully taken off were not responded to.

Meanwhile health experts and cancer patients say the funding plan was stalled by the shift in priority to COVID-19 and lack of political will.

Inaccessible trust fund

Gloria orji, the president of Abuja breast cancer support group, who is part of the committee overseeing the setting up of the fund, said while N700 million has been approved, the fund remains inaccessible more than a year, a situation she described as unfortunate.

There was an approval of over N700 million but the unfortunate thing as we speak now is that cancer patients have not been able to access that fund.

It is quite demoralising because just in our group, for the past one year, a lot of cancer patients have died. We have lost about seven members in our support group alone and we lose them majorly because there is no money, she said.

Some of them stopped their treatment because they needed to do radiotherapy but couldnt do it. Some of them couldnt even afford the drugs and yet the fund is lying there and nothing is being done.

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Though the committee was inaugurated, the fact that no cancer patients can access the fund yet means nothing has been done to me.

When I receive appeals for assistance in our Whatsapp group, my mind goes to the trust fund. Only if the funds were accessible, these problems would have been solved, said Ms Orji who is also the president of Network of persons impacted by cancer in Nigeria.

For Adamu Alhassan, a public health expert, the offtake of the fund with N700 million is significantly poor compared to the funding gap in cancer treatment in Nigeria.

He said the fund has not taken off due to lack of concrete planning by the government.

You see the problem with us as a country is the fact that we say a lot of things and we dont follow up. Sometimes, these statements are made without a very concrete plan of action already in place, Mr Alhassan told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday.

Look at the construction of the International Cancer Centre, you dont hear much about it. What we are saying to the government is that whenever they want to make a statement, they should ensure that they have a clear road- map and clearly stated timelines. They should also ensure they have a period of execution and deliverables that can ensure proper scrutiny, monitoring and follow up.

Inaccessible cancer machines

A year before the ministers announcement, the Nigerian government in 2018 launched the countrys $250 million National Cancer Control Plan for 2018-2022 with the goal of reducing the cancer prevalence and mortality rates.

To improve treatment, the plan aims to increase the number of comprehensive cancer care centers in the country that can offer radiotherapy as part of treatment for cancer patients.

But experts said this investment is pointless if poor cancer patients cannot afford to pay for the use of the machines.

Radiotherapy is one of the key routines in the painful fight against cancer.

A cancer patient often needs the treatment at one point or the other. Experts say it is often better not to start it than break the sessions.

Access to radiotherapy treatment has been the bane of cancer patients in Nigeria.

The National Hospital in Abuja received a new radiotherapy machine in 2019. It was donated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo).

With the addition, Nigeria could now boast of eight government-owned radiotherapy machines located in different hospitals across the country.

But many of the old machines have broken down and those functional are not functioning at full capacity.

The Abuja addition has, however, helped in treating only a few patients who can afford the high cost of radiotherapy.

Costly

Radiotherapy treatment costs N600,000 at the national hospital, according to Chinedu Aruah, the head of the Department Radiation and Clinical Oncology at the facility.

We know it is difficult for a lot of people to afford cancer treatments, thats why we advocate for NGOs and other well-meaning individuals to support cancer patients. Lots of individuals make donations to treat cancer patients free of charge. Some of these individuals also pay in money for research so its only in Nigeria people do not make such donations, he said.

Speaking on the high cost of radiotherapy in a country where about 100 million citizens live on less than a dollar a day, Mr Aruah said: These treatment machines run 24hrs without going off. The AC must be on for 24 hrs so the cost of maintenance is high. So the N600,000 is just marginal.

He said Shell also paid for us to be treating indigent patients which we have been doing. We have a list of the patients and we have been reporting back to Shell.

He said the major reason why patients die from cancer most times is due to late case presentation.

What the doctor can do at that stage is manage the case to ensure the conditions doesnt get worse but the damage has already been done, the official noted.

When people report to the hospital early, the case can be well managed. People have been treated for the past 15 to 20 years and they are still alive. Such people come in here to advise our cancer patients, so early reporting is actually key to defeat the disease.

But when people keep going from one prayer house to another, avoiding the reality and reporting to the hospital when the case has worsened, there is not much the oncologist can do.

COVID-19 and Cancer

As COVID-19 spread in Nigeria, much focus and effort was channeled to the fight against the novel disease while funding for cancer treatment suffered the more.

The outbreak attracted donations from rich corporations and individuals with several funding commitments by the government amounting to billions of naira.

In just four months into the pandemic, the Nigerian government said it had already spent N30.5 billion, representing 84 per cent of the N36.3 billon public funds and donations received to respond to COVID-19 between April 1, 2020 and July 31, 2020, leaving the balance of N5.9 billion.

The Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, stated this in response to the Freedom of Information request dated August 10, 2020, and sent to him by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Connected Development (CODE).

More deadly

While COVID-19 is a global health threat and should be among top priorities, health experts believe a similar attention should be paid to cancer.

Even though COVID-19 is a highly infectious disease, cancer, a non-communicable but terminal disease, is far more deadly in Nigeria, statistics showed.

About 70,000 deaths are recorded from cancer annually in Nigeria  almost 45 times higher than the 1,613 fatalities recorded from COVID-19 in more than a year.

In 2020 alone, 78,899 cancer-related deaths were recorded in Nigeria, according to Globocan statistics. Women often bear the brunt  breast and cervical cancers are responsible for more deaths than any others in Nigeria.

While 34,200 men died from cancer in 2020, 44,699 women succumbed to the disease, according to Globocan data.

Estimates from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation suggest that the cancer death rate in Nigeria was 113.7 per 100,000 people in 2017.

Besides, experts believe the cancer figures are underreported because many patients cannot afford the costs and often abandon hospital tests and treatment, meaning they will not be captured in the data.

This is the major reason why all stakeholders in the Nigerian Cancer Society (NCS) are bringing in new energy to be able to reawaken the consciousness of Nigerians because sincerely speaking the level of awareness is low, Mr Alhassan said.

We are advocating for more inclusiveness whenever it comes to funding and awareness creation. Cancer is a preventable disease. There is a saying that preventive medicine is better than curative medicine and this is the major reason why awareness should be the key priority.

Surviving cancer amid COVID-19

Meanwhile, Ms Orji, the president of Abuja breast cancer support group, said the COVID-19 experience has not fared well for the 100 members in her group.

We have not been having physical meetings for the past one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told not to come together because we are at higher risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus since our immune system has been compromised. The pandemic has actually dealt with us, she said.

The pandemic came with a lot of problems on its own and cancer is also a problem on its own, so the problem became double.

A lot of our members could no longer afford treatment as some donor aids for treatment stopped due to the economic impact of the pandemic.

Some patients also became scared of contracting the virus and decided not to visit the hospital at all and their cancer disease progressed unlike when they were always accessing treatment, she explained.

Ms Orji, a breast cancer survivor, said at least seven of their members have died amid the pandemic and many more are in critical conditions.

She said they have held on by encouraging each other to stay strong through their online discussion on Whatsapp and other social media platforms.

World Cancer Day

World Cancer Day is celebrated every year on February 4.

It is a global uniting initiative led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).

Cancer, the second leading cause of death globally, is the uncontrolled growth of a group of cells in the body. It can occur at any age and if not detected at the right time and is not treated, it can increase the risk of death.

The theme for World Cancer Day 2021 is I Am and I Will.

With disruptions in services caused by COVID-19, cancer advocates believe there is an urgent need to consider cancer treatment as an emergency.

If we have to put both diseases side by side, the mortality rate of cancer is far higher than that of COVID-19. Nobody is joking about COVID-19; we know what is happening around the world but we are saying that cancer shouldnt be neglected in the course of trying to stem the effects of the pandemic.

The key message I have for World Cancer Day is that we should work the talk. We should be more proactive, Ms Orji said.

Punia, who was granted bail after being arrested by the Delhi Police at the Singhu protest site last week, said that the episode 'turned out to be an opportunity' for him

New Delhi: Freelance journalist Mandeep Punia, who was arrested by the Delhi Police from the Singhu border, has said that he talked to farmers and scribbled notes on his legs inside the Tihar Jail to write a report.

Punia was released from the prison on Wednesday after a court granted him bail. Talking to reporters outside the jail, he said, "It (being inside the prison) turned out to be an opportunity for me. I got a chance to talk to the farmers lodged in the jail and scribbled notes on my legs. I am going to write a detailed report."

Mandeep Punia says will write a report from Tihar jail. These are his notes. pic.twitter.com/yWNqPUPfGg  Sandeep Singh (@PunYaab) February 3, 2021

"My work is to report from ground zero... I asked the farmers why and how they were arrested," he said. Punia said he had been covering the protest at the Singhu border from the day it started.

"It was my responsibility as a journalist to report it truthfully and faithfully. I was trying to do that. I was trying to find out the people behind the attack on the movement site. My work was interrupted by the arrest. I lost valuable time. I do feel that that I was wronged," he tweeted.

The police interfered with my work. That is my regret. Not the violence that i faced. This incident has strengthened my resolve to continue with my work, that is reporting from the ground the most dangerous and yet the most necessary part of journalism. (end)  Mandeep Punia (@mandeeppunia1) February 3, 2021

He alleged that the police interfered with his work and said the incident had strengthened his resolve to continue with his work.

Punia was arrested at the Singhu border on charges of "obstructing public servants in discharge of public functions", "assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty", and "voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty".

He was sent to 14-day judicial custody on Sunday by the court of metropolitan magistrate. However, he was granted bail on Tuesday after furnishing a personal bond of Rs 25,000.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and NASA will host a moderated webinar to discuss technology innovations with NASA's Mars Perseverance rover during a virtual event at 10 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 10. The event will livestream on NASA's website and on YouTube through AIAA's event landing page.

Perseverance is scheduled to land on Mars Thursday, Feb. 18, and is the largest and most sophisticated rover ever sent to the Red Planet's surface. The robotic astrobiologist carries an array of cutting-edge technologies that will enable the most precise landing ever and help pave the way for future human missions to Mars.

At the landing site of Jezero Crater, Perseverance will seek signs of ancient life and demonstrate technologies for making oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, provide surface weather updates, and demonstrate the first controlled, powered flight on another planet with the Ingenuity helicopter.

During the webinar, NASA science, technology, and engineering experts involved with the mission will share more about how technology developments have enabled a return to Mars and will advance exploration of it in the future with both robots and astronauts.

Participating in the webinar are:

Tory Bruno , CEO, United Launch Alliance

, CEO, United Launch Alliance Wanda Sigur , chair, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Space Technology Industry-Government-University Roundtable

, chair, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Space Technology Industry-Government-University Roundtable Wanda Peters , deputy associate administrator for programs, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington

, deputy associate administrator for programs, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Trudy Kortes , director of technology demonstrations, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters

, director of technology demonstrations, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Bob Balaram , chief engineer, Ingenuity Mars helicopter, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California

The moderated session will involve questions from the webinar leader, as well as those who have registered for the event via Zoom. Participation in the Zoom event is limited to 1,000 people and is the only way to ask a direct question, via the chat function.

To register for the Zoom event, go to:

https://aiaa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EawhXVLJRK-NsQcMkLT94g

NASA collaborated on the event with AIAA, including guidance from industry and government members who advise on curriculum for the organization's ASCEND events, which stands for Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery.

For more information about Perseverance, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/perseverance

and

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 09:32:13|Editor: huaxia

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SEOUL, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating fell 3.5 percentage points over the week to 39.0 percent this week, a weekly poll showed on Thursday.

The approval score declined below 40 percent in three weeks, according to the Realmeter survey.

The negative assessment on Moon's conduct of state affairs rose 3.8 percentage points from a week earlier to 56.6 percent this week.

Support for Moon's ruling Democratic Party slipped 1.8 percentage points to 30.6 percent.

The main conservative opposition People Power Party garnered 32.3 percent of support this week, up 2.6 percentage points from the previous week.

The minor center-left Open Democratic Party won 6.8 percent of approval score, followed by the minor center-right People's Party with 6.3 percent and the minor progressive Justice Party with 4.5 percent each.

The results were based on a survey of 1,511 voters conducted from Monday to Wednesday. It had plus and minus 2.5 percentage points in margin of error with a 95-percent confidence level. Enditem
A construction worker was killed when the excavator he was operating fell into a waterway, leaving him trapped him inside the equipment, authorities said.

The man was part of a crew working at a site in Linden, New Jersey, when the accident occurred shortly after 8 a.m. The excavator ended up in the Arthur Kill  a waterway which separates New Jersey and Staten Island, New York  and the man was trapped there for about an hour before he was freed by emergency responders.

The mans name was not immediately released. No other injuries were reported in the accident.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is leading the investigation.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics New Jersey Construction
A feuding neighbor shot a couple with a handgun before fetching an AR-15-style rifle from his home to kill them, after an apparent argument over the couple shoveling snow into his yard.

Disturbing video has emerged showing the Pennsylvania couple yelling obscenities at the neighbor, before the man grabs a gun and fatally shoots the husband and wife in the middle of the street.

The gunman, Jeffrey Spaide, 47, then took his own life as cops closed in.

The violent incident took place at the height of Monday's Nor'easter storm in Plains Township in the suburbs of Scranton, claiming the lives of James Goy, 50, and his wife, 48-year-old Lisa Goy.

Prosecutors in Pennsylvania have officially ruled the deadly triple shooting a murder-suicide.

The argument appears to have been sparked after the victims dumped snow into their neighbor's yard while clearing their cars.

Spaide asked the pair to stop, which prompted James Goy to throw aside the tool he was using to clean his car, walk up to his neighbor in the street and make a fist at him.

Shocking video shows an argument between a couple and their neighbor in Plains Township, Pennsylvania, on Monday that left all three people dead in a murder-suicide

James and Lisa Goy, pictured in the foreground on the right, are seen in the video hurling obscenities at Jeffrey Spaide, pictured in the driveway, during a spat over snow shoveling

Spaide emerges from his home aiming a pistol at the Goys, who continue yelling at him

Spaide is seen carrying an AR-15-style rifle (circled) on his way to execute his wounded neighbors

Surveillance video from the scene shows the Goys yelling at Spaide and calling him a 'mother******' and a 'p****.'

Spaide goes back into his house as the Goys continue cursing at him. In the video, James is heard yelling at the neighbor 'I'll knock your a** out' and 'I'll make your life a living hell.'

Moments later, Spaide emerges from his residence holding a pistol, but the Goys carry on with the verbal abuse and seemingly challenge him to shoot, with Lisa yelling, 'Go ahead! Go ahead!'

James and Lisa initially do not react and remain standing as Spaide opens fire on them. He squeezes off multiple rounds from close range, striking both victims and causing them to collapse to the snow-covered ground.

The gunman then goes back into his house to get an AR-15-style rifle, which he uses to shoot his neighbors again, killing both in the middle of the street.

Authorities in Pennsylvania have closed the case concerning a double-murder suicide involving neighbors in Plains Township that took place on Monday

James and Lisa Goy were shot dead by their neighbor Jeffrey Spaide after a heated argument over snow removal at the height of Monday's Nor'easter

'You should have kept your mouth shot,' he tells Lisa as he pulls the trigger.

Prosecutors said Spaide then retreated into his home, paced back and forth in front of a window, then shot himself dead as the first police units responded to the scene on West Bergh Street at 9am on Monday.

DailyMail.com is not releasing the full video of the shooting due to its highly graphic and upsetting nature.

Plains Township Police Chief Dale Binker told CNN that it was not the first dispute over snow shoveling that the neighbors had been involved in.

Spaide and the Goys had been involved in an altercation following a storm two months ago, but Binker said the matter was not referred to the police.

Spaide was not known to police for any other matter, the chief said.

On Tuesday, Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said she has reviewed the case and will direct the investigation to be closed, reported Citizens Voice.

Officials say the Goys had been dumping snow on Spaide's property, yelling obscenities and threats before he came out of his house with a pistol and shot them

Spaide, 47, turned the gun on himself as police arrived on the scene in response to 911 calls

The incident took place in the middle of the street between the gunman and victims' houses

Lisa and James Goy's home (left) is directly across the street from Jeffrey Spaide's (right)

According to prosecutors, witness accounts and surveillance video showed that the Goys and Spaide, who had a history of disputes, clashed while removing snow from their respective properties directly across the street from one another.

As the Goys were clearing their cars, they pushed the snow across the street and dumped it onto Spaide's property, according to prosecutors.

Police said a total of 15 to 20 shots were fired during the confrontation.

The Goys had a 15-year-old son with autism who is now staying with his grandparents.

Lincoln Lewis has debuted his 'secret' girlfriend just days after his dad went public with his new relationship.

The 33-year-old and his family have kept a low profile after news broke his parents had separated after 36 years of marriage.

His famous dad, Queensland Maroons legend Wally 'The King' Lewis, on Monday revealed he had split with wife Jacqui and was in a new relationship - reportedly with Townsville local Lynda Adams.

Lincoln didn't show up at his usual gym class on Thursday, instead opting to go on a romantic morning walk with his new flame, Pandora Bonsor.

The former Home and Away actor has not yet confirmed his relationship with Ms Bonsor (pictured together, left), but is a mainstay on her profile and rung in the New Year with her and her family

Lincoln was spotted on Thursday in Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast after spending the morning with his girlfriend

Sources say the couple have been linked for the past few months after she separated with her cafe-owner ex in the middle of 2020.

The former Home and Away actor has not yet confirmed his relationship with Ms Bonsor, but he is a mainstay on her profile and rung in the New Year with her and her family.

On Wednesday, he responded 'you're so beautiful' to a picture he presumably took of her on a hike.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Ms Bonsor uploaded a short clip showing her being carried on Lincoln's back.

'My personal transport,' she joked, before Lincoln referred to himself as 'beach Uber'.

Gold Coast girl Pandora Bonsor (pictured) is dating Lincoln Lewis

Lincoln didn't show up at his usual gym class on Thursday, instead opting to go on a romantic morning walk (pictured) with his new flame

Lincoln spent the morning at the beach with his girlfriend before heading out to buy an acai bowl

Visibly exhausted and panting as he sprinted across the sand dunes, Ms Bonsor asked Lincoln to 'go a bit faster'.

Lincoln then re-shared the post, marking the first time the pair have featured together on his public Instagram account.

The couple are believed to have met in mid 2020. Ms Bonsor had earlier completed a trial shift in the cafe where Lincoln would pick up his morning coffee after going to the gym.

She later started working in a real estate office in Palm Beach, but is no longer employed there, according to staff.

The avid dancer now appears to be sponsored by her local gym and has endorsed several products via her Instagram account, including fat burner and cleaning products.

Lincoln appears to be seeking comfort in Ms Bonsor after the shock announcement that his parents had parted ways.

She shared a cryptic post on Wednesday which read: 'Instead of ''why is this happening'', try ''what is this teaching me?''.'

Lincoln's new relationship coincides with his footy legend father's announcement that he had separated from his wife and the mother of their three children, Jacqui (pictured together)

Lincoln appears to be seeking comfort in Ms Bonsor after the shock announcement that his parents had parted ways. Pictured with his dad, Wally

The 61-year-old is now dating Lynda Adams, a volunteer at Sands Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Newborn Death Support Group in Townsville

The 33-year-old Logie winner thanked friends who had reached out after news broke of the separation.

'When you have a friend who checks on and wants nothing but the best for you without motives... keep them close, such souls are rare,' Lincoln wrote.

'Try to be like this as much as I can but wanna show some appreciation.. lucky to have such amazing people in my life.'

Lincoln's new relationship coincides with his Queensland Maroons legend father, universally known as 'The King' for his domination of State of Origin in the 1980s and early 90s, announcement that he had separated from his wife and the mother of their three children.

Lincoln has featured heavily on Ms Bonsor's Instagram account, but Thursday marks the first day he has posted her on his own page

On Wednesday, he responded 'you're so beautiful' to a picture he presumably took of her on a hike

Lincoln didn't comment on his parents' separation or his new relationship

Wally Lewis released a statement revealing he quietly split with wife of 36 years Jacqui last year and was in a new relationship.

'This is a deeply personal matter that we do not want to discuss publicly,' he said.

'I want to acknowledge the pain and upset my family has gone through since Jacqui and I separated last year. I hope over time we can rebuild our ties and move on with life.

'I will confirm I am now in another relationship and only ask for the media to respect our privacy.'

The 61-year-old is now dating Lynda Adams, the former wife of a wealthy Townsville developer Mark Adams.

She is also a volunteer at Sands Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Newborn Death Support Group in Townsville.

Ms Bonsor and Lincoln rung in the New Year together and shared several pictures of the event

She shared a cryptic post on Wednesday which read: 'Instead of ''why is this happening'', try ''what is this teaching me?''.'

Ms Adams became involved with the group in 2010 after losing six unborn children to miscarriage over 'four dark years'. She experienced five miscarriages before giving birth to a daughter through IVF, who is now 15.

When she split with Mr Adams, a property developer and Qld Capital managing director who she was married to for more 15 years, is unclear.

'I am no longer married to Lynda. I dont want to comment about any of my personal stuff,' Mr Adams told the Courier Mail.

Lewis' shattered estranged wife declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old Logie winner thanked friends who had reached out after news broke of the separation
A Missouri state representative and assistant physician are allegedly running a fraud scheme of fake stem cell use in administering treatments including covid-19 were charged in a 20-count indictment.

Prosecutors in Missouri's Western District say that Patricia "Tricia" Ashton Derges referred to her falsely marketed fake stem cell therapy as an"amazing treatment that stands to provide a potential cure to Covid-19 patients that is safe and natural. Patricia runs three "Ozark Valley Medical Clinic" sites.

As stated on the grand jury indictment unsealed Monday, Patricia Ashton Derges, 63, reportedly offered so-called "regenerative" care to clients who came to the Ozark Valley Medical Clinic searching for help for different diseases.

The clinic provided amniotic fluid to its patients, which appeared to have fake stem cells but was, in reality, acellular, without stem cells.

After Derges made false statements in April on a Springfield TV station, the FBI initiated an investigation after stating that Covid-19 could be handled by stem cells.

READ: US Minimum Wage Progressively Launched by Politicians to Officially Increase from $7.25 to $15

According to officials, the drug called "amniotic fluid allograft" offered to patients is a drug that the University of Utah told investigators is sold to her for around $244 for 1 milliliter. Authorities say Derges knew that no cells, including stem cells, contained the substance. In total, for the amniotic fluid, Derges' patients paid her approximately $191,815.00, the documents state. According to court records, she charged her patients $950 to $1,450 per milliliter.

The University clarifies that the product has clear usage instructions written and was "disappointed to learn patients were allegedly misled." The University will fully cooperate with authorities regarding the investigation and said they are at the moment thinking of ways on how to prevent the same things from happening again.

Derges, on the other hand, has pleaded not guilty, as responded by her attorney, Stacey Bilyeu, who said her client is "presumed innocent until proven guilty."

Despite charges, Derges can still work

Derges faces eight charges of wire fraud resulting from the selling of supposed stem cell treatments and two charges of lying about those treatments to investigators. Additionally, prosecutors charged Derges with ten counts of administering drugs to patients she was not directly managing. However, these prescriptions were not linked to the bogus treatments of stem cells.

Derges was elected to the Missouri State House of Representatives in November. According to the state's election results page, she ran unopposed to represent the 140th district. In 2017, she won a Jefferson Awards Foundation grant for her work with the local Ozark network.

According to Missouri's licensing database, she has a medical assistant's license in the state granted in 2017.

Missouri encourages medical school graduates to apply to become an assistant doctor if they have completed U.S. Phases 1 and 2. Medical Licensing Test, even though they were not admitted into a residency program, the prosecution claims. In the indictment, federal prosecutors state Derges "obtained her medical degree from the Caribbean Medical University of Curacao in May 2014 but was not accepted into a post-graduate residency program."

As the case plays out in court, Bilyeu said that Derges has no intention to step back from all of her work.

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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New York Citys first ranked-choice election on Tuesday was kind of a dud, with it seeming that former City Council Member James Gennaro would reclaim his old seat in Council District 24 without triggering an instant runoff. Gennaro had a commanding lead on election night with just under 60% of the vote among the eight candidates. Even though about 2,000 absentee ballots still must be counted, given Gennaros lead, its highly unlikely that instant-runoff tabulation will actually be used this time around, despite the hype and attention the special election received. So, it seems like this will be like any old plurality election of the past.

That said, its not impossible that the absentee ballots could shake things up and kick off multiple rounds of vote counting. Plus, with the next special election coming up on Feb. 23, it wont be long before New Yorkers start thinking about ranked-choice tabulation again. Heres what you need to know about what happened in the first test of the new voting system, and what might still come to pass.

So what do we know from election night?

Election night results reflect only voters first choices. The city Board of Elections counted them the same way that an old-fashioned plurality system would be determined. That means 59.79% of voters in the special election ranked Gennar as their number one choice on their ballot. Moumita Ahmed, who came in a distant second on election night, was the first choice of 15.61% of those who cast ballots in early voting or on Election Day. These results do not include any information about second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-ranked choices and constitute what would be considered the first round of ballot counting.

Will there be more rounds of counting?

If Gennaro holds onto a majority once all absentee, affidavit, overseas and military ballots are counted, then the answer is no. Under the ranked-choice system adopted by the city, if someone wins an outright majority of first-choice votes in the first round of counting, no ensuing rounds will take place. This means no elimination of last place candidates and redistribution of those votes to other ranked candidates on that ballot. However, the first round of voting technically is not complete because of the aforementioned absentee, affidavit, overseas and military ballots. The city BOE must first count the first-choice votes on all those ballots before we know for certain whether any candidate exceeded that 50% threshold.

But Gennaro already has 60%, is that likely to change?

It seems incredibly unlikely, but as last years elections proved, election night results are hardly final. Numerous candidates in both primary and general elections made up significant election night deficits to emerge victorious thanks to the new wider use of absentee ballots during the pandemic. If this were a plurality race, Gennaro would almost certainly have declared victory already, given that his lead of 2,500 votes well exceeds the approximately 2,000 absentee ballots mailed out for this election. But thanks to ranked-choice voting, all that needs to happen is that other candidates get enough of the absentees to cause his lead to dip below 50%. While this prospect is still highly improbable, its not totally impossible. And evidence from last year indicates that mail-in ballots tend to skew left, which could benefit progressives like Ahmed over a relatively conservative Democrat like Gennaro. If Gennaro winds up just one vote below 50%, ranked-choice tabulation would begin.

We need to wait for all the mail-in ballots before we know for sure?

Unfortunately, yes. There remains at least a two week wait for results. The city BOE will continue to accept absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day through Feb. 9, and military ballots through Feb. 15. So the earliest well know for sure is Feb. 16. The counting of absentee ballots will almost certainly begin for then, however, which will likely be the deciding factor in whether this race will move on to round two.

Why do we have to wait for all the mail-in and absentee ballots to get counted?

The reason is because its impossible to begin the candidate elimination and vote redistribution process until the top-ranked choices of every person who cast a ballot in the election is known. Its impossible to factor in other ballots once ranked-choice tabulation begins, so that means New Yorkers need to prepare to buckle in. Luckily, last years elections should have prepared many of us for long-drawn out elections with results determined a week or more after Election Day.

So if Gennaro goes below 50% once the absentee ballots are accounted for, then what?

Then its go time! The city BOE begins tabulating ensuing rounds of vote counting until only two are left. In the second round, the candidate with the lowest number of first-choice votes gets eliminated, and the vote is redistributed to whoever is ranked second. If a ballot only has a first-choice vote, its considered an exhausted ballot and plays no role in further tabulation. The bottom candidate is eliminated in each ensuing round, with their votes redistributed to the highest-ranked candidate on the ballot still in the running. Once there are only two candidates left, the candidate with the most votes wins.

I thought I read that vote counting continues until someone gets over 50% and a winner is declared?

This is the most common way of tabulating ranked-choice election results, where tabulation stops the moment someone exceeds the 50% threshold regardless of how many candidates remain. New York City adopted a lesser-used method, which mandates that vote counting continue until only two candidates remain. This is a technical difference that does not impact who wins the election or the average voter. Once someone gets over 50% of the vote, that person is the winner of the election  extra rounds of counting wont change that. The slightly different rule serves two main purposes. The first is to ensure that the city can still declare a winner in the rare instance where two candidates remain, but neither has gotten more than 50% of the vote. Its incredibly uncommon, but not unheard of. The second reason is because continuing vote redistribution even after a winner emerges ensures that the most number of votes are included in the final tally, while offering a more complete picture of how people voted.

What does that mean? Isnt the winner the winner?

Think of it this way: after no candidate has won an outright majority, the next round of voting counting begins. Candidate A could emerge with 51% of the vote after round two. She wins no matter what, but the question becomes by how much. By continuing the count, she could wind up with 63% of the vote, a clearer mandate that reflects the votes of many more people through alternate rankings. If the count stops, the full impact of many ballots would never be realized.
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King Mswati III of Eswatini disembarks from a plane at Sochi International Airport as he arrives to take part in the 2019 Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, 23 October 2019.

Only 3 percent of the Swaziland (eSwatini) population are likely to get coronavirus vaccines in the first phase of inoculations, according to the kingdom's Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi.

In a statement she said no firm date for the arrival of the first vaccines had been given but she hoped it would be before the end of February 2021.

There are about 1.2 million people in Swaziland.

Nkosi said frontline healthcare workers would be the first to get the vaccine. It had previously been reported in local media that Swazi politicians would be given first priority.

Phase two would see the elderly aged 60 years and above and people living with pre-existing illnesses. Phase three would be other essential workers outside of the health service, including security forces and teachers.

She said the government had formed several committees to distribute the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine and that the AstraZeneca / Oxford University vaccine was its preferred choice, but other vaccines could be imported.

Nkosi said about 108,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were expected in the Kingdom by the end of February. Since two doses are needed that would be enough to only vaccinate 54,000 people.

However, Nkosi said Swaziland would eventually receive more than 230,000 doses through the African Union. The Swazi Government was also looking for ways to obtain vaccines independently.

As of Wednesday (3 February 2021) 15,974 people had tested positive for coronavirus and 585 had died, according to the Ministry of Health.
Gettyimagesbank



By Lee Hyo-jin



The coronavirus pandemic has affected people's lives, but now it seems that pets have come under the influence of the virus as well.



Following the country's first case of a cat testing positive for the virus in late January, concerns have been growing among pet owners here that their furry friends might also contract the virus.



The kitten that had contracted the virus was released, Wednesday, from an isolation facility at a pet care center in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province. Found in a local religious facility with two other cats, it had tested positive for the virus on Jan. 21.





A kitten that tested positive for the coronavirus in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, Jan. 21 / Courtesy of Jinju City



Caretakers had been closely monitoring the animal's health condition under strict quarantine measures, wearing protective gear each time they came in contact with the kitten.



"The ill cat did not show particular symptoms other than diarrhea, and only a small amount of the virus was detected in an initial COVID-19 test," a Jinju City official told The Korea Times.



Health authorities assumed that the cat got the virus from a woman and her daughter who had been taking care of it. Both of them had tested positive earlier.



But as only limited information is available to this date about transmissions between humans and animals, many pet owners are confused about how cautious they should be, and what measures they should take to keep their pets safe from the virus.



Although the current situation does not appear to be highly worrisome, experts advise that people living with pets should follow personal hygiene rules strictly in order to prevent animal infections.





South Korean advisory board cautions use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine for elderly South Korea's COVID-19 cases exceed 80,000 Controversy continues over safety of AstraZeneca vaccine for elderly "There have been some 70 cases of pet infections worldwide, which means that the virus has not fully adapted to animal species yet. And most have shown only mild symptoms. Many were asymptomatic and some had symptoms similar to the common cold, like fever and coughing," said Kim Jae-hong, head of the Korean Institute for Veterinary Policy.



"However, if the virus continues to spread among animals, it is only a matter of time before it fully adapts to the host, evolving into a fatal disease for them, too," Kim warned, saying that people should remain vigilant about the matter until the end of the pandemic.



He also stated that people won't need to worry too much about infected pets spreading the virus, as there have been no reports of pet-to-human transmissions to this date. Transmissions between animal species have only been seen among cats, according to Kim.



"Preventive measures such as isolating companion animals from confirmed patients should not be done out of fear, but with an aim of keeping both animals and humans safe from the spread of the virus," he said.



As to whether pets should also wear face masks, the Korean Veterinary Medical Association said it is an unnecessary measure, considering the low possibility of transmissions through droplets between animals.



Instead, the association highlighted the importance of hygiene rules such as washing hands before touching animals and keeping the pets' fur and feet clean.



Also, the susceptibility to COVID-19 varies by species, and people who own cats may have to be a little more cautious than dog owners. Cats and hamsters were found to be more susceptible to infection than dogs, according to a report by the World Organization for Animal Health.



The organization warned that such animals that are in close contact with humans on a daily basis should be monitored more closely, because the introduction of the virus to a new species may accelerate the virus' evolution.



In this regard, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs, in cooperation with health authorities, announced a set of guidelines for pet owners to follow and in case they test positive for the virus.



Pet owners are advised to keep a 2-meter distance with other people or pets while taking the animals on walks. Also, people showing COVID-19 symptoms should avoid physical contact with their pets, such as hugging, petting, kissing, and sharing food.



If an owner is confirmed to have been infected by the virus, dogs and cats showing coronavirus-like symptoms, including fever, coughing, breathing difficulties, vomiting and diarrhea, should be tested after consulting local health center officials.



If an animal tests positive, it will be placed under a 14-day mandatory self-isolation under the care of a family member who has not contracted the virus.




Following UN chief Antonio Guterres's warning to the world that we must rally to ensure the coup fails in Myanmar, the military blocked Facebook services with effect from Thursday (February 4). The step has also come hours after the citizens staged a small demonstration in Myanmar's second city, Mandalay. As per the BBCs report, the military had also made some arrests during the demonstration.

The political environment took an intense turn after Myanmar plunged back into direct military rule on Monday (February 1). Following the military coup, the soldiers detained the leaders of the civil government including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. These events have resulted in international condemnation and have raised various humanitarian questions as fears of the military dragging 54 million people back to the decades of junta grips people worldwide.

The presence of soldiers in armoured cars in the streets has left citizens with no other option but to express their anger and grief by the medium of social media. Many voiced opposition, while others shared plans of civil disobedience on Facebook and other social media. To prevent this social ranting from becoming something significant the military imposed restrictions on social media services and messaging apps, like Instagram and WhatsApp.

The current authorities have already issued a statement warning people of posting anything which might "encourage riots or an unstable situation".

The social media giant acknowledged this situation and said, "We are aware that access to Facebook is currently disrupted for some people. We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information."

Meanwhile, the whereabouts of the leader of National League for Democracy (NLD), Ms Suu Kyi isnt confirmed, but BBCs reports suggest that she has been held at her residence in the capital.

The Hindustan Times quoted a NLD leader stating that the charges against her include violation of Myanmar's import and export law after authorities and usage of unregistered communicating devices, like walkie-talkies at her home.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 04:39:22|Editor: huaxia

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by Alessandra Cardone

ROME, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Former president of the European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi was tasked by the Italian head of state with forming the country's next government on Wednesday.

The appointment came after Draghi met with President Sergio Mattarella for over one hour at the Quirinale Palace.

The former central banker accepted the mandate to try to build a non-partisan cabinet with the largest possible support in parliament, and above the current fractured political landscape.

"This is a difficult moment," Draghi acknowledged after being appointed.

"Winning over the pandemic, completing the vaccination campaign, providing answers to the citizens' immediate problems, and re-launching the country: these are the challenges we face."

A day earlier, political talks to recompose the center-left coalition supporting former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's government failed.

Conte had to resign in late January despite surviving two confidence votes in parliament after former premier Matteo Renzi pulled from the cabinet his Italia Viva party, a junior but necessary ally in the coalition based on the Five Star Movement and center-left Democratic Party.

Renzi's decision was mainly due to his disagreement over the way the cabinet was handling the national recovery plan, which is necessary for Italy to receive its 209-billion share of the 750-billion-euro Next Generation EU program.

The national plan has to be submitted to the EU by April.

CRUCIAL MONTHS AHEAD

Acknowledging the failure of the talks, Mattarella late on Tuesday announced he would confer a new mandate to form a "non-partisan government."

He noted that -- although snap elections were one of the two possible ways out of the crisis and "an exercise of democracy" -- Italy could not afford a long campaign and electoral process now.

"It would mean to keep our country with a not fully functional government during crucial months, decisive for the fight against the pandemic, for using the European funds, and for tackling serious social issues," the president explained.

The EU funds would come as a great relief for Italy's economy, which has been severely hit by the coronavirus crisis and contracted by 8.8 percent in 2020, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) reported on Tuesday.

After being appointed, Draghi stressed the EU's extraordinary resources would provide "the chance to do much for our country, with an eye to the younger generations and to the strengthening of social cohesion."

On the pandemic side, despite a current downward infection trend and the easing of many restrictions, the fight against the COVID-19 was at a crucial turning point.

Italy has the second-highest COVID-19 death record (89,820) in the European continent after the UK, and a total of over 2.58 million cases, according to the Health Ministry's latest data. The vaccination campaign has reached 2.1 million people so far.

DRAGHI'S NEXT STEPS

Having accepted the president's mandate, Draghi will now hold talks with the Senate and the lower house speakers, and then the leaders of all parties in parliament. In his short declaration on Wednesday, he did not mention any time frame for his consultations.

After the talks, anyway, he will have to report back to the president, and only then will it be possible to understand whether his attempt would be successful or not.

Draghi, 73, was governor of the Bank of Italy between 2005 and 2011. He served as chief of the European Central Bank from 2011 to 2019. He is acknowledged for preserving the euro during the worst of the debt crisis in 2012, and for launching the bond-buying Quantitative Easing scheme to support EU member states' economies. (1 euro = 1.20 U.S. dollars) Enditem
President Joe Biden will Thursday announce an end to US military support for the Saudi allies devastating war in Yemen in a speech meant to show a reinvigorated focus on diplomacy.

Two weeks into his presidency, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris traveled together to the State Department in a show of support for the role of diplomats.

America is back. Diplomacy is back. You are at the center of all that I intend to do, Biden told a socially distanced auditorium of diplomats ahead of what was billed as his first major foreign policy speech as president.

Were going rebuild our alliances. Were going re-engage the world and take on the enormous challenges we face dealing with the pandemic, dealing with global warming and again standing up for democracy and human rights around the world.

Ahead of the speech, Bidens national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, said that the president will announce an end to American support for offensive operations in Yemen.

Thats a promise he made in the campaign he will be following through on.

Activists have been pushing to end US support for the war in Yemen, where 80 percent of the population is surviving on aid in what the United Nations calls the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.

The decision reverses former president Donald Trumps policy of providing logistical assistance and selling huge amounts of advanced weaponry such as precision-guided bombs.

The Trump administration defended support for the Saudis as a way to create US defense jobs and to hit back at arch-enemy Iran, which backs Huthi rebels who have overtaken much of Yemen.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he will quickly revisit Trumps last-minute decision to designate the Huthis as a terrorist group  a move that aid groups warns will effectively criminalize vital humanitarian work.

In Yemen, senior political official Hamid Assem voiced hope that Bidens plan will mark the end of a six-year war that has left tens of thousands dead.

The Biden administration saw that the war in Yemen carries a heavy cost and that Americas reputation has been tarnished by the killing of the people of Yemen, he told AFP.

Signalling Washingtons new approach to the war, the Biden administration is also appointing a special envoy on Yemen, veteran diplomat Timothy Lenderking, said a person familiar with the matter.

 Germany troop changes frozen 

Biden will also put on hold plans set in motion by Trump to reduce the US troop presence in Germany, which has been a cornerstone of NATO security since the start of the Cold War.

Today (Biden) will announce a global force posture review and during the pendency of that review will freeze any troop redeployments from Germany, Sullivan said.

Trumps decision was seen as linked to his tense relationship with Germany and the European Union over trade issues, but sparked concerns that he was weakening the Wests security in the face of a resurgent Russia.

Biden has quickly toughened Washingtons posture toward Moscow.

He is blaming the Kremlin for a massive cyber attack and US presidential election meddling, and also calling out Russia over the jailing of Alexei Navalny, one of the few remaining opponents of President Vladimir Putin.

Blinken raised Navalnys poisoning last year as well as the imprisonment of two Americans during a call Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the State Department said.

In excerpts of the speech released by the White House, Biden will call for renewed alliance-building and US leadership on the world stage following Trumps tumultuous four years.

Over the past two weeks, Ive spoken with the leaders of many of our closest friends  Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, France, NATO, Japan, South Korea and Australia  to begin re-forming the habits of cooperation and rebuilding the muscles of democratic alliances that have atrophied from four years of neglect and abuse, Biden was to say.

Americas alliances are among our greatest assets. And leading with diplomacy means standing shoulder to shoulder with our allies and key partners once more.

SOURCE: AFP

MEDFORD, Ore.  All Safeway and Albertsons stores in southern Oregon will be receiving and administering doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks, the company confirmed to NewsWatch 12 on Wednesday.

The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that it would begin sending shipments of vaccine directly to retail pharmacies beginning next week. The CDC said that Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Rite Aid, Fred Meyer, Costco, and Albertsons will be participating in the initial program.

"Throughout the pandemic, the communities we serve have trusted our pharmacy teams to play a critical role in maintaining their health and wellness," said Jill McGinnis, spokesperson for Safeway and Albertsons. "Our pharmacy teams have been preparing to handle the unprecedented demand and administer the COVID-19 vaccine safely and efficiently as members of the public become eligible."

McGinnis said that Safety and Albertsons pharmacies would receive their first direct shipments of vaccine through the program starting next week. Those doses will be administered based on Oregon's eligibility guidelines.

"As noted by the CDC, supply will be limited in the initial phase of the partnership," McGinnis continued. "As vaccine supply increases, more of our pharmacies will participate in this federal program."

Both Albertsons and Safeway have online portals for scheduling vaccination appointments, with more added to the online scheduler as doses arrive. Until the shipments have are on-hand, appointments will not be available.

"Demand is high and appointments are often claimed very quickly, and we ask the public to remain patient," McGinnis said. "As dose allocations increase, so too will the opportunity to secure an appointment. The company is kindly asking the public to please check the website first for the most up-to-date information, before calling your local store or pharmacy."

Under Oregon's guidelines, Phase 1a and the first group of Phase 1b are currently eligible to receive vaccines  this includes healthcare workers, first responders, long-term care facilities, childcare workers and school staff. The first group of seniors, those 80 and older, become eligible on February 8.
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access.

HARRISBURG  The impending departure of Pennsylvanias top election official wont stop House Republicans from continuing a series of hearings about the 2020 presidential contest she administered.

In fact, Secretary Kathy Boockvars resignation has emboldened her fiercest GOP critics, even though it was not related to her handling of the closely watched vote in a battleground state.

Boockvar this week announced she would step down after it was revealed the Department of State failed to advertise a constitutional amendment to create a two-year window so adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse can sue the perpetrators and institutions that covered it up.

As a result, voters will have to wait until at least 2023 to see the question on a ballot, unless the legislature steps in.

Republicans, who have been highly critical of Boockvar and her role in the 2020 election, said the mistake was further proof that she was incompetent. Now, they could use her agencys error to further fuel rhetoric that under Boockvars leadership, the election was unlawful, despite judges and federal officials saying otherwise.

I have been saying for a long time that Secretary of State Kathy Boockvars ineptness has been detrimental to Pennsylvania, Senate Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R., Centre) said in a statement.

Corman was among the Republicans who called for Boockvars resignation months ago, saying she overstepped her authority and fundamentally altered the manner in which Pennsylvanias election is being conducted. In reality, Boockvar issued advice to county election officials unsure of how to apply the states new mail-voting law  advice that courts said was valid.

It plays into their narrative that she was incompetent, that theres errors in the department, said Dan Mallinson, a politics professor at Penn State Harrisburg. I can imagine Republicans in the General Assembly just balking at working with anybody in the secretary of states office for the next two years.

 READ MORE: An error means some sex-abuse victims in Pa. will again have to wait for justice; secretary of state to resign as a result

Rep. Seth Grove (R, York), chair of the House State Government Committee, said in a statement his panels election-related hearings will continue without Boockvar, who was scheduled to testify as early as next week on post-election audits.

The Department of States office did not respond to a request for comment on who would be taking Boockvars place at those hearings, although Deputy Elections Director Jonathan Marks also answered questions at the first two hearings.

Grove and other Republicans on the committee grilled Boockvar for hours during the first hearing last month, demanding she explain how she came up with guidance to county election officials.

During the hearing, Boockvar said the guidance  which addressed issues like drop boxes, late-arriving mail ballots, and ballot envelopes with missing information  was issued in response to questions from county officials, who couldnt find the answers in the state code.

But Republicans said counties interpreted the guidance differently, which confused voters and led them to distrust the election results.

Charlie Gerow, a Republican consultant based in Harrisburg who runs a strategic communications firm, said he was sure Grove and his committee would have a lot of questions for the Department of State at future hearings.

This certainly makes an already rocky road even more bumpy, Gerow said. Its tragic that Ms. Boockvar was spending her time moving the goalposts for the election process last year when she shouldve been doing her job. This is awful.

 READ MORE: Theres another path for survivors of clergy sex abuse to get justice. It faces an uphill climb in the legislature.

Still, some Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, kept their thoughts on Boockvars role in the election out of their statements about her resignation Monday, instead calling for legislative committees to investigate how the department failed to follow the procedures on the constitutional amendment.

The Department of State said human error was behind the failure to advertise the amendment as required. The agency has so far declined to release additional information.

Boockvars supporters  including Gov. Tom Wolf, who nominated her to the position in 2019  were quick to defend the secretarys role as chief election official even as they commended her for resigning.

This change at the Department of State has nothing to do with the administration of the 2020 election, which was fair and accurate, Wolf said in a statement Monday that included a bullet-point list of her accomplishments. It is through her commitment to helping the counties administer a fair election that we can all have confidence in the accuracy and integrity of the recent election results.

Adam Bonin, a Democratic lawyer in Philadelphia, said Boockvars resignation reflects how seriously she took her obligations as the top official responsible for administering elections.

Its unfortunate, Bonin said. In an ideal world, she shouldve been able to go out on her own terms.

Boockvar spent the last several months defending the guidance she issued to county election offices about mail-voting procedures when the law seemed unclear.

If anything, what this election highlighted is that the secretary of the commonwealth needs more authority, not less, to administer elections, Bonin said.

Kevin Greenberg, a Democratic election attorney in Pennsylvania, said Boockvars resignation will have no impact on any election-related changes she was advocating for, such as giving election officials extra time to pre-canvass mail ballots, which counties were asking for before the November election.

The same factors apply now as they did before the November election. The commonsense reforms need to pass and they should pass regardless of whether Secretary Boockvar, Rep. Mike Turzai, or Sen. Joseph Scarnati are in office, he said, referring to two top Republicans in the General Assembly who resigned or retired last year.

The department is bigger than any one person, Greenberg said. Secretary Boockvar built a tremendous team. Im confident that they will be able to execute what needs to happen over the next several months.

 READ MORE: Sex-abuse law blunder on Kathy Boockvars watch is a titanic mess for Pa. child victims | Maria Panaritis

Several county election officials contacted by Votebeat and Spotlight PA said they rarely worked directly with Boockvar, and her resignation wouldnt affect their daily work. They said they were more likely to work with Marks or Veronica Degraffenreid, who served as special adviser on election modernization and was named acting secretary of the commonwealth Monday.

As an elections director, it doesnt really make that big of a change, Thad Hall, Mercer Countys election director, said of Boockvars resignation.

Others pointed out that Boockvar joins a growing list of Pennsylvania election officials who have quit or retired recently. Marks, the deputy elections director for the Department of State, said at a recent House State Government meeting that number is up to at least two dozen since Jan. 1, 2020.

More institutional knowledge leaving elections in Pennsylvania, said Tim Benyo, Lehigh Countys chief clerk. Widespread changes can have serious repercussions. Its a shame.

Al Schmidt, the lone Republican on Philadelphias three-member board that oversees elections, said Boockvar was committed to ensuring every eligible voter was registered and able to vote.

Despite being in different parties, and despite our disagreements, I always thought Kathy very committed and easy to work with, he said. I never got the impression that because we were in different parties that it made any difference to her; it didnt make any difference to me.

Schmidt, who will add his name to the list of departing election officials in 2023, said he hoped Boockvars critics wouldnt associate her error over the constitutional requirement with her handling of the 2020 election.

Its really lousy that some are trying to take that approach, because as far as Im aware, the one thing has nothing to do with the other, he said.

100% ESSENTIAL: Spotlight PA relies on funding from foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results. Become a member today at spotlightpa.org/donate.
On Monday Gov. Tom Wolf announced that Kathy Boockvar will end her tenure as Pennsylvanias secretary of state on Feb. 5. For months Pennsylvania Republicans have called on Boockvar to resign, peddling nonsensical allegations about wrongdoing in her handling of the 2020 presidential election. But her resignation has nothing to do with that election at all.

 READ MORE: State agency bungles ballot referendum for child sex victims

It was a human error, according to a statement by Gov. Wolf, that led to Boockvars resignation. Boockvar took responsibility for the Department of States failure to advertise a constitutional amendment proposed to create a two-year window for victims of childhood sexual abuse to bring old claims  a measure that originated following the 2018 grand jury report on Catholic priests. Because of the failure to advertise, the amendment wont be able to appear on the May primary ballot to be approved by the voters.

The earliest the measure will appear on the ballot is spring 2023, requiring the constitutional amendment  including passing in both chambers of the General Assembly in two consecutive sessions  to start from scratch.

The error drew criticism from all sides of the political spectrum. Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who oversaw the investigative grand jury and advocated for legislation to allow victims to sue, called the failure to advertise shameful.

 READ MORE: A Pa. Dept. of State error means some sex-abuse victims will again have to wait for justice

Republicans smelled blood in the water and attacked. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R., Centre) said at best this was incompetence. At worst, this was malfeasance. A House Republican spokesperson said victims who will not have justice, delayed once again by this administrations incompetency. The spokesperson added that the people of Pennsylvania cant trust this administration to perform the basic processes.

The Department of States error is serious, and Wolf was right to hold his appointee accountable  something we stopped expecting in Philadelphia. But outrage from Republicans, particularly Senate Republicans, at best rings hollow and at worst cynical.

The only reason for the long process of amending the constitution to grant justice for victims of childhood sexual abuse by priests is that Senate Republicans blocked a vote on a bill on a bill to create a two-year window to allow for claims that are too old. Currently, the law bars victims of childhood sexual assault from suing after they turn 30.

The law for a window for civil lawsuits was vigorously opposed by the Pennsylvanias Roman Catholic bishops and the insurance industry. A constitutional amendment, a lengthy process to achieve the same thing, was a compromise.

 READ MORE: Theres another path for survivors of clergy sex abuse to get justice. It faces an uphill climb in the legislature.

If Republicans are so outraged by the delay of justice, they should channel it into a vote on a bill that opens a two-year window for victims to sue. They can do that immediately.

Following the Philly Fighting COVID debacle, Democrats in Philadelphia and Harrisburg have handed ammunition to those who argue that the government cant function efficiently, or at all. But that is the wrong takeaway. Ironically, it is the decades-long decimation of government capacity that makes the risk of fiascoes like these much more prevalent  with bureaucracies overloaded and the need for contractors to provide basic services. That is not an excuse for the mistake  but Republican lawmakers arent excused for their lack of action, either.
Thirty years ago, a political scientist named Juan Linz wrote a series of influential essays articulating a link between presidencies and democratic backsliding, including by coup. In contrast to parliamentary systems, where legislators choose the chief executive (usually called a prime minister), presidential systems produce rival centers of power and reduce incentives for compromise, Linz argued. When the legislature and the president can each claim an electoral mandate, intractable differences might tempt one or the other to "knock on the barracks door" in search of military allies; a violent dissolution of democracy could be the result. Parliamentarianism, by contrast, provides a safety valve because the legislature has the ability to remove the executive, typically by simple majority vote. Even when things don't get to the stage of full meltdown, presidencies tend to heighten tensions in polarized societies, Linz contended, encouraging extreme political views rather than compromise, and often producing political gridlock.

Did Donald Trump prove him right?

A professor at Yale who died in 2013, Linz wrote in an era not long after conflicts between presidents and legislatures had preceded military coups in Chile, Brazil and other Latin American countries, leading to brutal dictatorships. Scholars have debated the theory ever since, and, while Linz may have painted with an overly broad brush at times, his arguments hold up better than most middle-aged theories in political science.

The United States, with its long-lived presidential system, always posed a challenge for Linz. But the events of this month - in which a defeated president reluctant to leave office roused a mob that then attacked the national legislature - were precisely the kind of conflict he worried about. And there are many other echoes of Trump in Linz's writings, which argue that the powerful presidency attracts a strongman personality who "will always find it hard to reconcile himself to being out of power for good."

The United States may have avoided the worst possible outcome for a presidency, but other Linzian observations have fresh relevance today. He made the case that since you can run for president without climbing your way up a party ladder - unlike vying to be prime minister - the office appeals to outsider candidates with no allegiance to the political system, who can gain popularity by railing against that system, diminishing trust in it. Presidents are inclined to insist that they and not the fragmented legislature speak for "the people," as a way of aggrandizing their power. (Trump's "silent majority" and "real America" rhetoric fits this pattern.) At the same time, they have less incentive than a legislature to represent the interests of the minority party or parties. Unlike in a parliamentary system, there is no penalty for appointing toadies and hyperpartisan hacks to the Cabinet.

True, constitutional structure is clearly not destiny. Chile, which Linz viewed as a victim of presidentialism's failure for its 1973 coup and the dictatorship that followed, has experienced long periods of democracy under a presidency. (The country is rewriting its constitution after protests, but abolishing the office is not on the menu.) Costa Rica has maintained competitive elections, peaceful transitions of power and a functioning social safety net for more than 70 years, despite using a presidential system.

You also don't have to search far to see parliamentary systems in crisis: There have been coups in Thailand in 2006 and 2014, democratic backsliding in India, and standoffs over government formation in Spain. In March, Israel will hold its fourth parliamentary election in the last two years because the previous three failed to produce stable governing coalitions.

Still, parliamentary democracies outperform presidential democracies on a host of metrics. They tend to have lower rates of poverty, economic inequality, criminal violence and corruption than do presidential democracies. All of that remains true even if you control for national wealth - a powerful driver of good outcomes.

But if the United States, the oldest democracy in the world, had a presidential system, how perilous could it be? Linz pointed to two sources of American exceptionalism. First, he thought the American people were "overwhelmingly moderate." In the U.S. system, he wrote, "anyone who makes alliances or takes positions that seem to incline him to the extremes is unlikely to win, as both Barry Goldwater and George McGovern discovered to their chagrin."

Linz also pointed to America's "uniquely diffuse" political parties, each containing members with a wide variety of views, which facilitated ad hoc compromises on policy, both within Congress and between Congress and the president. But both of these observations now seem dated. Opinions may differ on what constitutes moderation, but few would now argue that extremism can never win in the United States. And even as Linz was writing, the era of flexible parties was approaching its end. Democrats and Republicans diverged in the 1990s, growing more internally unified and more hardened against each other (there are virtually no socially liberal Republican politicians, for example, or antiabortion Democrats).

Amid ferocious polarization and gridlock, Linz's explanations for why America was less dysfunctional than other presidential systems no longer apply, even in the absence of a coup.

For better or worse, the United States has the Constitution it does: We are not about to switch to a parliamentary model. So what lessons can we take from Linz that might help clarify the challenges we confront and the sorts of reforms that could help?

The key flaw of a presidential system is that it promotes rigidity and intransigence rather than a search for a middle ground with one's adversaries. So reforms should target such all-or-nothing confrontations and promote compromise.

Reducing the stakes of controlling either the executive or legislative branch would be a step forward. As the judiciary's power has expanded, for example, so have the consequences of nominating and confirming judges, particularly to the Supreme Court; this raises the premium that goes with winning the presidency, as well as controlling the Senate. The much-discussed proposal to limit justices to 18 years on the Supreme Court, staggered so that a vacancy occurs every second year, would reduce the stakes of high court appointments, cooling the attendant politics during elections and in the day-to-day operation of the Senate. Some of the proposals by congressional Democrats to strengthen oversight of the president - and punish executive-branch officials who participate in political activities - might also help rebalance the power arrangement between the two branches, reining in the imperial presidency.

The way we elect our legislators also encourages them to adopt extreme views. This was not always the case, but a series of developments - from demographic sorting (we tend to live near people who think like we do), to technological advances in the software used to draw electoral districts (which can worsen gerrymandering), to the nationalization of campaign fundraising networks - have aligned to reward politicians who cater to the wings of their parties. In districts that lean heavily blue or red, victory in a low-turnout party primary all but guarantees winning the general election, so the views of extreme voters carry more weight.

That might change if we shifted away from the system of single-winner districts, which are not constitutionally ordained. The statute requiring every member of Congress to be elected from a district represented by only one person dates only to 1967. Its repeal would allow (but not require) experimentation with larger districts that could elect multiple winners, with two benefits. First, the fewer districts that must be drawn, the less the district mapping process would drive results, lowering the stakes of gerrymandering. Second, if three or four members were elected from a given district, more moderates who are currently winnowed by their parties' winner-take-all primary elections would get elected to Congress. Predominantly blue districts might send a Republican or two to Washington, and red districts would elect some Democrats. Overall, there would be more opportunities for coalitions that look to the center rather than only to the extremes.

The 2020 election showed how profound the divisions of our presidential system really are. Still, pursuing multiple smaller-bore reforms that encourage compromise and electoral accountability is an achievable strategy. The nation stepped back from the brink last month (though "coup" is now part of our political discourse). But Trump's presidency made clear that our system still encourages polarized clashes. Linz's work provides a framework for understanding what has gone wrong in recent years - and offers clues for getting back on track.

- - -

Carey is the Wentworth professor and the associate dean of faculty for the social sciences at Dartmouth College. He is a co-director of Bright Line Watch, which monitors threats to American democracy.
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On Tuesday, Joe Biden demanded the resignations of all 10 of Donald Trumps appointees to the Federal Service Impasses Panel, a powerful labor relations board, in a major victory for federal unions. Eight members resigned, and two were fired after refusing to step down. Trumps appointeesa group of partisan anti-labor activistshad hobbled federal unions for years, sabotaging their ability to organize and bargain collectively. Bidens clean sweep, which was first reported by Government Executives Erich Wagner, marks a crucial step toward ending his predecessors campaign of federal union busting.

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The Federal Service Impasses Panel plays a major role in disputes between executive agencies and federal unionsdisputes that often affect the governments ability to administer programs fairly and lawfully. When unions and managers reach a stalemate at the bargaining table, the panel steps in to referee. It is supposed to find common ground between the parties to further the governments official policy of promoting collective bargaining in the civil service and encouraging the amicable settlements of disputes. The panel has authority to write binding, unreviewable terms into unions contracts, and its members do not require Senate confirmation. Trumps appointees consistently defied the panels legal obligations to remain a neutral arbiter. Instead, they displayed a clear pattern of siding with management and sometimes even imposed harsher terms than management requested. In an unprecedented and radical move, the panel even imposed terms that management did not request at all, like extending the length of an unfavorable contract. In other words, it functioned as intended: Trump stacked the panel with deeply ideological conservatives with extensive experience busting unions.

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For example, Trump installed Karen M. Czarnecki, a leader of the avowedly anti-labor Mercatus Center who previously worked at the American Legislative Exchange Council (which ghostwrites anti-union legislation for Republican legislators) and the Heritage Foundation (which publicly promotes that legislation). Patrick Wright and F. Vincent Vernuccio, two more Trump appointees, work at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, an anti-union pressure group funded by the DeVos family.

Most of Trumps appointees were affiliated with similar anti-labor groups, including the Freedom Foundation, Americans for Fair Treatment, the Goldwater Institute, the Fund for American Studies, and the Illinois Policy Institute. Others were management-side lawyers who specialize in union busting. Some appointees had questionable credentials, and many lacked any experience in mediation or arbitration. Panel member Michael Lucci, for instance, holds a B.A. in philosophy, and his official profile cryptically stated that he completed self-directed coursework in economics after college. (The fired members profiles were removed from the agencys website on Tuesday night, but you can read an archived version here.)

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Predictably, Trumps impasses panel sided against unions at almost every turn, empowering management to crush workers rights during bargaining. The existence of an anti-union impasses panel undermined collective bargaining across federal agencies by discouraging managers from compromising with employees. If managers reach a deadlock, after all, they can simply get the panel to rule in their favor. Indeed, union representatives have complained that managers have bargained in bad faith by manufacturing shortcuts to the panel, where they knew theyd get everything they want and even more. The Senate Democratic Caucus backed these complaints in a furious letter to the agencys Trump-appointed commissioner, Andrew Saul. (Biden has not yet removed Saul, who remains in control over the Social Security Administration.)

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Employees at agencies throughout the executive branch have been scorched by Trumps impasses panel. Its treatment of employees at the Social Security Administration, which oversees the countrys largest government program and operates the largest judicial system in the nation, provides a case in point. Shortly before the pandemic, the impasses panel rewrote the SSA unions contract to roll back the agencys teleworking program, which had increased employee efficiency. (Managers partially restored telework in 2020 several weeks after many other agencies switched to remote work.) It slashed the amount of time that workers could spend on union activities far beyond what management requested. And it abolished the agencys responsibility to inform union members of their right to representation. To lock in these anti-union changes, the panel also extended the agreement by four yearsthough Bidens new appointees should be able to reopen negotiations after overturning their predecessors policies.

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Bidens dismissal of the entire panel is the latest in a string of triumphs for organized labor.

The panels assault on the SSA union has implications for millions of Americans. Administrative law judges at the SSA hear claims for disability benefits, and because they exercise judicial powers, they are meant to be independent. Their union contract safeguards this independence from political interference. At the bargaining table, however, the SSAs leaders stripped these safeguards from the contractand the impasses panel backed their decision. Melissa McIntosh, president of the agencys administrative law judge union, told me that the panel took away our ability to protect our independence through the contract, thereby depriving disabled Americans of their due process right to a neutral arbiter.

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Trumps appointees to the impasses panel were set to serve five-year terms, most of which will not expire until 2024 or 2025. Biden decided not to wait, cleaning house less than two weeks after taking office. (Trump, too, fired the entire panel toward the start of his presidency.) Biden can now appoint 10 replacements, who are not subject to Senate approval. He is expected to select candidates who will fulfill their duty to reach amicable settlements that protect federal unions from management overreach.

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Bidens dismissal of the entire panel on Tuesday is the latest in a string of triumphs for organized labor. During his first days in office, the new president promptly ousted Donald Trumps notorious union-busters at the National Labor Relations Board, appointed a labor-friendly replacement, and reversed executive orders that had severely limited federal unions ability to organize and bargain.

But Bidens work is not yet finished: The Federal Labor Relations Authority, which houses the impasses panel, remains in Republican control.

The FLRA is governed by three members who issue binding decisions about federal unions rights. Trump appointed Republicans Colleen Duffy Kiko and James Abbott to the agency, giving it a 21 Republican majority. Kiko and Abbott issued a number of policy statements granting more power to managers and, by extension, eroding union rights. In an unusual move, these officials spontaneously released statements altering labor law because they were too impatient to wait for an actual dispute to come before them. Trumps appointees also gave management new powers to restrict collective bargaining. For instance, they stripped unions of their right to bargain over workplace conditions before their current agreement expires. That move was especially devastating in light of the pandemic, blocking federal unions from negotiating new health and safety rules to limit infections. Kiko even tried to abolish the FLRAs own union of nearly 40 years.

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When Biden took office, he elevated Ernest DuBester, the agencys lone Democrat, to the chairman position, shifting some power away from the Republican majority. Still, the FLRAs anti-union bent will continue until Biden replaces Abbott with another Democratwhich he can do almost immediately: Abbotts term has already expired, and he can only continue serving until Biden appoints his successor (with Senate approval). Yet the new president has not named a candidate to succeed Abbott. Nor has Biden named a general counsel, a position that Trump left vacant to prevent the agency from effectively enforcing union rights.

These remaining tasks do not diminish the importance of Bidens restoration of the impasses panel. If anything, they reveal just how much work the president must do to rid the federal government of Trump holdovers who are burrowed in. These individuals are not civil servants, but partisan activists who were selected to destroy their agencies from the inside. Ousting them is necessary to prevent the dead hand of the Trump administration from strangling the executive branch.
BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Sohu.com Limited (SOHU), China-based online media, video, search and gaming business group, reported Thursday that its fourth-quarter attributable net income was $43.49 million, compared to last year's net loss of $17.10 million. Net income from continuing operations was $47 million, compared to a net loss of $29 million a year ago. Earnings from continuing operations per ADS was $1.18, compared to loss of $0.75 last year. Adjusted attributable net income from continuing operations was $53 million, compared to prior year's loss of $6 million. Total revenues were $253.24 million, up 34 percent from prior year's $188.71 million. Revenues grew 60 percent sequentially. Online game revenues increased 49 percent, while online advertising revenues decreased 23 percent. Looking ahead, for the first quarter of 2021, Sohu estimates attributable net income from continuing operations to be between $1 million and $11 million, and adjusted net income from continuing operations to be between $5 million and $15 million. Brand advertising revenues would be between $27 million and $32 million, an annual increase of 5 percent to 25 percent. Online game revenues would be between $137 million and $147 million, an annual increase of 3 percent to 10 percent. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
The people of Portugal are suffering the terrible fate of leading the world in terms of new coronavirus infections and deaths.

Around 15,000 new infections and 250 deaths per 1 million inhabitants occurred last month, compared to the European Union (EU) average of 4,200 and 103. A record 16,432 new cases and 303 deaths from the virus were reported on January 28.

In the month of January alone, nearly half of the 726,321 infections and 12,757 deaths since the start of the pandemic were reported.

Graph showing the increase in COVID-19 infections and deaths in Portugal as of February 2. (graph courtesy of World Health Organisation)

Hospitals across the country of just over 10 million people are reportedly on the verge of collapse, with ambulances queuing for hours due to the lack of beds. The Garcia de Horta Hospital in Almada is operating at more than 300 percent of its capacity. Socialist Party (PS) Health Minister Marta Temido admitted, We are putting all means to work in all sectors, but there is a limit. And we are very close to the limit.

Last Friday, Portugals air force flew three critically ill COVID-19 patients from Lisbon to the island of Madeira, where there are spare hospital beds. On Sunday, Austria agreed to take Portuguese intensive-care patients and Germany agreed to airlift military medics, paramedics and equipment. International flights have been curtailed and Portugal's sole land border with Spain closed.

The newly re-elected conservative President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, warned that the lockdown announced in mid-January in response to the surge in infections and deaths would probably last until the end of March and possibly into the summer.

PS Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, told reporters that the situation was not just bad but terrible: Theres no point in feeding the illusion that we are not facing the worst moment. And well face this worst moment for a few more weeks, that is for sure.

Costa said the reason for the surge in infections was his government's relaxation of restrictive measures at Christmas and the appearance of a more infectious COVID-19 variant first detected in Britain. In a de facto warning to the working class throughout Europe, experts estimate the British variant accounts for up to 40 percent of all new cases. There has also been an increase in a new variant from Brazil, a former colony, the people of which still have close connections with Portugal.

But Costa sought to shift his government's responsibility for continuing the chronic underfunding of Portugal's public health system (SNS), saying it was down to his confusing messages.

There were certainly errors: often the way I transmitted the message to the Portuguese... and, when the recipient of the message did not understand the message, then it is the messengers fault, I have no doubt about it, he said.

Last year, the country avoided the worst of the devastation caused by COVID-19, largely due to the Portuguese population abiding by restrictive measures including social distancing, the wearing of masks and limiting travel. According to Alexandre Lourenco, the president of the Portuguese Association of Hospital Administrators, Portugal also got through the first wave last year by delaying 120,000 operations and more than 10 million appointments, most of which have still not been carried out.

Stay At Home For Us. Director General of Health poster

However, as was the case internationally, in the pursuit of a murderous herd immunity policy pressure mounted from big business, especially from the tourism sector which represents 20 percent of Portugal's GDP, to reopen the economy.

The PS duly obliged. It rejected the closure of schools and non-essential production, and refused to pay full wages to quarantined workers, to prevent the transmission of the virus. This was because such policies would impact on the profits of major corporations. Its priority was the protection of corporate profits, not lives.

Schools started and normal working resumed in the autumn. Inevitably, infections began to increase. By November there was a new state of emergency and new restrictive measures in place, including a 1pm weekend curfew.

However, claiming that infections were declining in early December, the government announced that it would save Christmas. For three days, Portuguese citizens were allowed to travel freely across the country, curfews were relaxed and family gatherings allowed. Many Portuguese workers living in the UK and British expats entered the country without having to present a negative Covid test or be tested at Portuguese airports.

As COVID-19 surged, the PS government was forced to announce another lockdown in its ninth state of emergency on January 15. Even then it was sold as a softer version allowing schools, churches and 52 types of businesses to continue operating. With the pandemic continuing to spike and public anger mounting, schools were told to close on January 22. But by then the damage was done.

As Algarve regional health official, Ana Cristina Guerreiro, explained, Since the beginning of the school season, many cases have arisen, which came from family transmission. And the epidemiological investigation caused many of the classes to go home in preventative isolation. This caused, in the whole country, a very large number of cases at home and a high number of cases that had not existed before; such a large number of school children with a positive test.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has singled out Portugal as lagging behind in the rolling out of vaccines, exacerbated by the European Unions (EU) vaccine distribution debacle. By the end of January just 70,000 people had been fully vaccinated with two doses and it was only this Monday that those over 80 start getting their shots.

Portugal is one of the countries that has made the least extra expenditure on health during the pandemic. According to the report Health at a Glance Europe 2020, which measures expenditure on specialized medical equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), track and testing capacity, hiring of additional workers, support for hospitals and the development of vaccines, Portugal spent 57 euros per personhalf the EU average of 112 euros.

The COVID-19 disaster facing Portugal is a result of more systemic reasons. The public health sector has been under constant attack since the global banking crisis of 2008 under the dictates of the troika financial institutions. A prime objective of governments has been compliance with EU imposed austerity programmes. In its five years in power, Costa's PS administration produced an unprecedented 0.3 percent budget surplus.

As a result, Portugal continues to suffer from one of the smallest hospital capacities per capita in the EU. There are just 4.2 critical care beds per 100,000 people, the lowest in the EU, compared to Spain (over nine such beds per 100,000) and Germany (nearly 30). Promises to implement a National Health Plan and hire more health professionals have failed to materialise.

Swathes of public health services have been privatised. The PS government has refused to invoke powers under the State of Emergency to requisition services from the private health companies, which refused to receive COVID-19 patients in the first wave. Their help now is limited to contracting just 80 beds for COVID-19 patients and 800 for non-COVID-19 patients.

At the same time as the National Health Service (SNS) is at the point of collapse, the PS government is pressing ahead with its plans to inject up to 474 million for Novo Banco, the so-called good bank rescued from the collapse of Banco Espirito Santo in 2014 and now owned by the US Lone Star vulture fund. Over 4 billion has already been pumped into Novo Bank. This is part of the 18 billion euros used to prop up the financial system over the last decade, even prompting right-wing president, de Sousa, to confess, It's tempting to say 'why didn't it go to housing, why didn't it go to health, why didn't it go to social security, why did it not go to the homeless?"
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Miami, Feb 4 : A helipad at former US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida's Palm Beach town built for use during his time in office, will soon be demolished, according to a media report.

The report published on Wednesday by the Palm Beach Daily News said that "a permit was pulled on Tuesday for demolition of the town's sole helipad" at the resort to which Trump moved to on the morning of January 20 ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration as the 46th President of the US.

The helipad, a concrete slab measuring 50 feet-long and 8 inches deep, was built in February 2017 on the west lawn of the Mar-a-Lago.

According to the report, Town Manager Kirk Blouin said that representatives for the club had inquired about permits to remove the helipad "in the past few weeks".

"It seems to have been more controversial in media reports than it is in actual practice. They never made a request to keep it," the Palm Beach Daily News report quoted Blouin as further saying.

The report however, did not mention any date for the beginning of the demolition nor did it say how long would the process take.

Palm Beach town does not allow helicopters or helipads, but made an exception for Mar-a-Lago on the conditions that it be used only for business related to the executive office and that it must be removed when Trump left the White House.

This latest development comes after a media report revealed late last month that Palm Beach authorities were currently performing a legal review Trump's residency at Mar-a-Lago.

It was not immediately clear when the review would be completed.

Trump had purchased the resort, also a national historic landmark, in 1985.

While in office, Trump hosted meetings for international leaders, including former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the club originally built between 1924 to 1927.

In September 2019, Mar-a-Lago became the primary residence for Donald and Melania Trump.
[February 04, 2021] Navient Receives Chinese Regulatory Clearance for ENT Applications

ClaroNav Kolahi Inc, a leader in surgical navigation systems, is pleased to announce that it has received Chinese regulatory clearance from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to market and sell its Navient ENT product in China. Navient ENT previously had been granted US FDA, European CE mark, Health Canada, Korean FDA, Brazilian ANVISA and Taiwan FDA. Navient, a computer-assisted surgical navigation system, is like a GPS for the surgeon to navigate inside the patient skull. It provides three-dimensional visualization and assists surgeons with finding their ways inside the patient sinuses and avoid critical structures such as the optic nerve and brain, while safely navigating their way to the diseased area. "Navient is an innovative surgical navigation system offering a compact and truly portable cart, unparalleled accuracy, reusable instruments and simple workflow," said Mr. Pan Wang, CEO at Nanning Xinzizhu Trading Co., Ltd., Navient's exclusive distributor in China. "Navient's powerful and intuitive software utilizes the latest technologies in the srgical navigation field and is aligned with our corporate strategy of benefiting Chinese patients and surgeons with advanced technologies."



"We are very excited that our Navient ENT product has been granted NMPA approval. It was a major milestone and it opens a significant market to our product," said Ahmad Kolahi, CEO of CKI, a subsidiary of ClaroNav "Navient has been designed with simplicity and ease of use in mind. The result is a product that enables the surgeons to operate the system more confidently and accurately. We are looking forward to working with our partner in China and making image-guided surgery standard-of-care in China." Additional information: www.claronav.com/navient

About ClaroNav Kolahi Inc. (CKI)

CKI is a medical device hardware and software company headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and is represented worldwide by authorized distributors. CKI is dedicated to innovation and developing state-of-the-art surgical navigation systems. About Nanning Xinzizhu Trading Co. Ltd (XZZ)

XZZ is Navient's exclusive distributor in China headquartered in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Province in South of China. XZZ's is focused on improving medical conditions in China by importing innovative and state-of-the-art international medical devices. XZZ's marketing network covers more than 20 provinces around China, and services more than 50 hospitals. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204006006/en/

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Historian Marilyn Blackwell of East Montpelier is a member of the Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance organized under the leadership of the League of Women Voters of Vermont. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of the Brattleboro Reformer.
"It's fitting a long-time client like Roeper is a part of the first podcast launched from Americaneagle.com Studios." Tweet this

"This isn't our first rodeo," quipped Conn. "But this certainly will be the wildest ride." The twice weekly podcast, dropping its first installment Thursday, will focus on pop culture and current events. "Everything from movies to streaming content to news and sports, nothing is off limits" said Conn.

Richard Roeper, long-time film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and former co-host of Ebert and Roeper, adds, "For film and television, the podcast is going to be celebratory. There are a lot of columns and other podcasts telling you what not to watch. We're doing the opposite.

"This is really the golden age for the medium," continues Roeper. "I hear from people all the time 'there's too much stuff out there' and they're not sure how to invest their time. We're going to solve that problem."

"However," adds Conn, "when talking current events, the gloves will come off taking on the goofy and galling things happening every hour of every day but then we'll suggest a way to escape all that stuff at night.

Americaneagle.com CEO Tony Svanascini said, "It's fitting a long-time client like Richard Roeper is a part of the first podcast launched from Americaneagle.com Studios. He and Roe Conn are true talents that will bring their unique sense of humor and wit to what I'm sure will be an extremely popular podcast."

Americaneagle.com's new studio features the highest quality live streaming technology for audio and video. The studios were built by RAM Systems, the renowned designer of state-of-the-art recording and broadcast facilities throughout the United States and Canada. Their clients include ABC, CBS, NBC and ESPN. In Chicago, they completed the new facilities for both WLS-AM/FM and WGN Radio.

"It's part of Americaneagle.com's commitment to our clients," adds Svanascini. "Hosting a podcast, streaming video presentations, or any other media production has become a critical component to digital marketing success for our clients promoting their brand, informing their customers, and ultimately increasing sales."

New episodes of the "Roe & Roeper" podcast will drop Tuesdays and Thursdays on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and Audible, and other podcast services.

About Americaneagle.com

Americaneagle.com is a full-service, global digital agency based in Des Plaines, Illinois that provides best-in-class web design, development, hosting, post-launch support and digital marketing services. Currently, Americaneagle.com employs 500+ professionals in offices around the world including Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Washington DC, Switzerland, and Bulgaria. Some of their 2,000+ clients include Dairy Queen, FASTSIGNS, Soletrader, Stuart Weitzman, WeatherTech, and the American Management Association. For additional information, visit www.americaneagle.com.

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Taking a cue from its Swedish colleagues at Volvo and the pragmatic views of automotive product planners worldwide, General Motors roiled the international automobile industry last week by proclaiming that all its cars will go pure electric by 2035.

The pronouncement is likely to apply more pressure on more automakers, both in the United States and abroad, to beef up their electric efforts, and on the fossil fuel industry to find alternatives to its oil and gasoline products.

Demand boom: Carmakers have a problem that they aren't losing sleep over

The ripples also reach the parts-makers, designers and garages that must adjust to the coming electric future, all the way down to the tires.

The popular script on electric vehicles maintains that they cost more, pollute less and run so quiet that they must have speakers to signal their approach. But compared with gasoline or diesel-powered cars and trucks, electric vehicles also require special or seriously modified components, and out-of-the-ordinary mechanical and physical attention (or inattention, as well see below).

While the transition to electric is a learning process for drivers, it is, more to the point, the same for all segments of the automotive industry.

When manufacturers come to build a dedicated electric vehicle, theres a lot of things to change, said Ian Coke, chief technical officer in the United States for Pirelli Tire. But first, youve got to make the distinction between vehicles that are being electrified  installing an electric powertrain into an existing platform  and electric vehicles. For the latter, he said, theres a lot of carry-over components that arent ideal.

The most familiar example is Tesla, which designs its cars to run as pure electrics. Other companies already following in Teslas tire tracks include Lucid, Volkswagen, China-based NIO and Volvo, which said in 2017 that at least half its global production volume would be electric as soon as 2025 and released its first all-electric vehicle, the Recharge XC40 compact utility, last year. GM, of course, is on board, as is Ford Motor Co., which has made a major investment with electric truck-maker Rivian and whose Mustang Mach-E is among the most anticipated non-Tesla electrics yet.

Audi, which markets a variety of electrified SUVs like the E-tron, is developing other designs as pure electrics, said an Audi of America spokesman, Mark Dahncke. The challenges, he said, are formidable: You have to realize that everything on the car you now take for granted  wheels, brakes, tires  you have to optimize for efficiency.

There are other issues as well. You have a juxtaposed target: On the one hand you have to manage and withstand the weight of a battery-powered car with stronger brakes, stronger axles, strong suspension, Dahncke added. At the same time, you need to optimize everything for aerodynamics.

These ground up procedures involve collaboration between suppliers and manufacturers, Coke said. They must consider the brakes, the wheels, the side mirrors, wind noise, chassis noise, tire noise. The issues are not unique to one manufacturer; in his case, Pirelli, whose home base is Milan, has been working closely with Rivian, which is based in Michigan, to fit tires to its products.

Tires, of course, are Cokes singular concern. And among his priorities in developing for electric vehicles is reducing a tires rolling resistance, a key factor in extending battery life. Longer battery life means less range anxiety and a bigger potential market for electric cars.

Our compounds are designed with a high content of silica to deliver very low resistance, Coke said. Silica decreases the tires energy consumption. And our challenge is to balance that with handling, braking wet and dry, and tire life. And in an EV, we try to tailor the tires to the application: If the vehicle is front-, rear- or all-wheel drive; if the use is for summer, winter or all-season.

Then theres torque. Theres immense torque in EVs, Coke said. The tendency to put your foot down and deliver that power is obviously a tendency that wears out tires very quickly. So you need to have grip, but you dont want too much resistance. And around and around.

While weight reduction is important to all cars and trucks, its especially crucial with electric vehicles, mainly because of the battery load. And because the batteries often are set low in the vehicle, the center of gravity in electrics is different from that in a conventionally powered car. Is this change of sensation disconcerting for some drivers?

Not for most people, said Dahncke of Audi. Added weight lower in the car impacts your feeling of confidence, because it feels more planted, he said. The car is heavy, but where that weight is makes a difference, and you feel it as a driver. The E-tron SUV, for example, weighs about 5,800 pounds.

What might require some adaptation is throttle response  as Coke noted, acceleration from the electric motor is immediate and strong when one steps on the gas, er, accelerator  as well as the sound of the car or lack of it.

For enthusiasts who relish backfire burps and a roaring exhaust  well, get over them. How about listening to the theme from Driving Miss Daisy?

Hans Zimmer, who composed the gentle score for that film, was commissioned last year to write an automotive soundtrack for one of BMWs coming electrics, the i4. Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Nissan and others are working on similar projects.

The electric vehicle sound is its identity, Frank Welsch, responsible for technical development at Volkswagen, told Reuters in 2019. It cannot be too intrusive or annoying.

The coming Audi E-tron GT, for example, has control units that remix the sound effects based on the cars speed or the position of the accelerator pedal. Also fitted to the Audi is an AVAS  an acoustic vehicle alerting system, required to alert pedestrians that an electric car is close by.

Yet another shift is playing out in the migration to electric vehicles: the prospective demise of the independent neighborhood auto mechanic. Electric vehicles dont require oil changes, new spark plugs, fuel filters, replacement fluids and much of the routine maintenance that keeps the nations estimated auto repair workforce of 750,000 people in business.

Youre going to see a shift in types of services from those shops, said Jeffrey Cox, president of the Automotive Maintenance and Repair Association in Chicago. But weve already seen changes: Weve seen oil change intervals go up. So I dont see EVs as the death of the aftermarket. The biggest challenge is the recruitment of technicians with specific skill sets.

He continued: It will be less about Oh, I love to take things apart and put them back together. Itll be more about your understanding of code and computer systems.
When Vee Rivera retired in 2013, one of her goals was to fish and crab with her husband, Gato, on Pacifica Pier, an L-shaped public pier where anyone can fish for free. Soon they became part of the landscape.

Most of the people we see there are regulars, Rivera said. We know their names; we know what they do. Its like a family there.

Though it was closed briefly in the spring, the pier became an even more important outlet for recreational fishers like the Riveras during the pandemic. But after a temporary shutdown because of high swells in December, city officials closed the pier indefinitely on Jan. 12, after its west-facing wall was damaged.

The timing couldnt have been worse for the Riveras and many others who flock to the pier during recreational Dungeness crab season, which began Nov. 7. Its one of the only places in the Bay Area to catch Dungeness crab without a license  and without a hazardous walk on uneven rocks on a jetty or into dangerous waves. During shelter-in-place, many have relied on recreational crabbing for stress relief and to put food on the table. With the Pacifica Pier closed, many crab fishers are having to cast off from shore to catch the crustaceans, which is not ideal for older crabbers.

Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle

Even before the pier closure, recreational crabbing had taken on something of a frenzied air, with this seasons late start to commercial crabbing and impacts of the pandemic.

With the pandemic, not everyones going to work, (and) my sales have just exploded, said Robert Nguyen, whose small business, Torpedo Crab Snares, makes and sells the devices many area crabbers use. He was completely sold out for a few weeks this winter. I can only make so many in a day.

Catching your own Dungeness crabs can be smart economically, especially this year. The current market price is about $10 or more a pound in stores, so a typical crab, at about 2  pounds, is worth $25. Recreational crabbers, who are not allowed to sell their crabs, can keep up to 10 crabs on each outing as long as they meet size restrictions, meaning a days haul could be worth $250. While rock crabs can also be caught in the Bay Area, Dungeness are more highly coveted.

There was a sense of demand for the crabs because they werent available in the market this past Christmas, said Jennifer Lynn Raymundo, who has fished for many years but started recreational crabbing this season along with her boyfriend. If you get a Dungeness crab, that was like a $50 bill, so it was like a prize.

Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle

Thats all the more reason locals are missing the Pacifica Pier. When its busy, it lights up the senses: Its stinky, slippery and dotted with saltwater puddles, raw bait and fish guts, but also a delightful place. The fishers who gather there can be competitive, but there is also a lot of sharing  of food, bait, fishing tips and camaraderie. The pier group is mixed in age and ethnicity; often you see multiple generations hanging out, cooking food, playing music and speaking different languages. Many go not to fish but to view sunsets, take photos, look for whales and even spot the occasional great white shark.

The pier was built in 1973 partly to run a sewage line into the ocean. It can be swamped by water during high swells, especially in the winter. Last months closure happened after king tides and high swells caused a railing to crumble and left a gaping 40-foot hole.

Pacifica is seeking proposals from engineering consultants for repairs, but it may be months or longer before it can safely reopen, said Lisa Petersen, the towns director of public works.

If the cost is significant, then it would put the city in a position of needing to look for financial assistance, she said. The goal would be to find the funding if the city doesnt have the funding. I know people love the pier, and we do, too.

Jeff Chiu / Associated Press

Yet many fishers are concerned that repairs may never happen. Other public piers, such as those in San Mateo and Berkeley, closed permanently in recent decades after suffering structural damage.

The recreational fishing community says holding onto a pier is not just about having a place to catch fish or crab, but also about maintaining a culture and community that have formed over the years.

I have good friends that I only see when I go to the pier, said Mike Aveno, who has been crabbing for four seasons. So if the pier closes, theres a good chance Ill never see them again.

The piers closure has also affected Pacifica businesses. The Chit-Chat Cafe, a small restaurant at the end of the pier, has been closed for over a month during what would typically be the best time of year for business.

The pier is (usually) loaded with fishermen, said Paul Kukielka, who has co-owned this Chit-Chat and another location in Pacifica with his wife, Amy, for 18 years. Thats what we rely on to stay open. Its hurting pretty bad.

Stephen Lam / Special to The Chronicle 2019

Daly City resident Marc Tapiador said that he has been fishing and crabbing at the pier since he was 10, when his uncle would take him, and has many fond memories. One year, we caught 30-plus salmon each.

Some recreational fishers have moved to the jetty at Half Moon Bay. Some row or paddle into the ocean and drop pots or nets from kayaks or paddleboards. Others have turned to crabbing off of Bay Area beaches, using long rods with snares.

All of these options, however, pose some level of danger for anyone who is not agile.

Pacifica Pier is really the only place for older people to go, said Ismael Rivera. His mother, Vee, cant go to the jetty or beach with him to crab because she cant swim. Im kind of bummed that I dont get to fish with my parents anymore.

The elder Riveras made it to Pacifica Pier only a few times this winter before it closed.

Stephen Lam / Special to The Chronicle 2019

Vee delights in recalling how she got her start at the pier when she first retired, as one of the few women at the time. Because shes petite, she can throw her line only so far, while others cast 50 feet out.

But (sometimes) Im the one whos catching the crab. They call me Lucky Lady, she said. Its just that feeling of hooking the crab. Thats why every year during the crab season, were so excited to go. Were really going to miss it.

Momo Chang is a freelance writer based in the East Bay and the alumni coordinator for Oakland Voices, a project of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. Email: food@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @_momo_chang
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Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Cops say on protesters claim that nails on Ghazipur road being repositioned

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: The police on Thursday ordered repositioning if the nails that were hammered into the road at the Ghazipur border to keep the protesting farmers from entering Delhi.

New agency, ANI tweeted a video in which a man was seen pulling out iron nails. Deepak Yadav, DCP (East), said that the nails fixed over that point are being repositioned because that was a spot where people wouldn't venture earlier. But now that some people are around that point, we fear that the nails could be dangerous for them. So, just to ensure their safety, we are removing them from there and fixing them elsewhere.

#WATCH | Nails that were fixed near barricades at Ghazipur border (Delhi-UP border) are being removed. pic.twitter.com/YWCQxxyNsH  ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2021

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

After the video surfaced, Yadav said that the videos and photos are getting circulated in which it is shown that the nails are being taken off Ghazipur. These are just being repositioned, and the position and arrangements at the border remains the same, he also added.
South Africa: Government announces increase to GEMS subsidy

The Department of Public Service and Administration has announced an increase on governments medical assistance to all employees on the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS), with effect from 1 January 2021.

In a statement on Thursday, Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) Director-General, Yoliswa Makhasi, said the increase -- which also applies to all former employees belonging to a registered medical scheme -- is by Medical Price Index (MPI) of 8.51%.

The increase in the subsidy will go a long way in cushioning the recent increase on medical aid contributions for both current and former public servants which comes about as the country experiences tough economic conditions, Makhasi said.

Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) Resolution 2 of 2015 provides for the adjustment of future medical subsidy for employees, who are members of GEMS and all former employees (pensioners) belonging to GEMS and other open schemes using the MPI, which is the Consumer Price Index (CPI) used in the health industry.

In terms of PSCBC Resolution, the employer subsidy for employees on GEMS will be adjusted annually in January of each year, with the average annual MPI for a particular year, starting from September of the particular year to August of the following year.

An employee belonging to or joining GEMS shall be eligible for 75% of his or her total monthly medical contribution up to the maximum employer subsidy, based on the number of dependents registered.

According to the DPSA, a former employee belonging to a registered medical scheme shall be eligible for 75% of his or her total monthly medical contribution up to the maximum subsidy.

Public service employees on salary level 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 belonging to or joining GEMS on the Tanzanite One option (formerly Sapphire Option) are eligible for 100% of total monthly medical contribution, up to the maximum employer subsidy, provided the subsidy amount does not exceed the employees total monthly contribution to GEMS, the department said.

The maximum cap of the employees tax allowance, comprising of the monthly cap of R1 526.00 for principal member, R1 526.00 for the first dependant and R933.00 for each additional three dependants will be R5 851 00.

The increase is as follows:

Single Principal Member R1 406.00 R1 526.00

Principal Member with one dependent R2 812.00 R3 052.00

Principal Member with two dependents R3 671.00 R3 985.00

Principal Member with three dependents R4 530.00 R4 918.00

Principal Member with four dependents R5 389.00 R5 851.00

- SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Amsterdam officials have agreed on a proposal by the city's mayor to shutter its famous red-light district's brothels and move sex workers out of the city centre, the Guardian has reported.

At a Thursday meeting, the majority of Amsterdam's city council said they were in favour of creating a new "erotic centre" outside of the central district, according to local news reports.

Amsterdam's city council has gained cross-party support - including that of Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, according to the newspaper - for the effort and says it will overhaul the historic medieval De Wallen ("The Walls") neighbourhood of the city, which has long struggled with the bad behaviour of tourists.

The government has put out public calls for residents to weigh in on the future of sex work in the city and has not said where it plans to have the brothels reopen.

Locals living in the red-light district during the pandemic, which has shut down tourism to the region, have told The Washington Post of the relief that an extended break from over-tourism has brought.

The area has become punctuated with signs in English that warn visitors, "Don't pee in the street," "No alcohol in public spaces," "Put your trash in the bin" and "Fine: 140 euros."

"This is about a reset of Amsterdam as a visitor city," Dennis Boutkan, a Dutch Labour Party representative, told the Guardian of the change. "Tourists are welcome to enjoy the beauty and freedom of the city, but not at any cost."

Read More

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, of the country's Green party (GroenLinks), first proposed the location change and the closing of many of the district's sex-worker windows in 2019, noting that tourists often visited the red-light district to gawk at the sex workers from the streets rather than partake in the legal brothels.

The city shut down guided tours in the red-light-district area in early 2020.

Tourism has made the area "no longer an intimate district," Halsema told the Guardian in 2019. "If you walk through the very narrow streets, you see huge crowds of tourists standing in front of the windows photographing foreign women who are vulnerable and laughing at them."

Halsema has said she does not wish to outlaw sex work altogether but wants to protect the sex workers who make up Amsterdam's brothels.

CDA, a Christian-democratic political party in Europe, which has lobbied for sex work to be made illegal in the Netherlands, voiced its support for the measure, as well as for restricting drug sales in the area, on Twitter last week.

The city has also been weighing a proposal by Halsema to close down the city's cannabis coffee shops to tourists.

Amsterdam, which is under lockdown until February 9 because of the pandemic, currently advises travellers not to visit the Netherlands "unless it is strictly necessary."

 Washington Post
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- To increase behavioral health's integration with traditional health care models, the State of California will award Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) with $32,376,142 in funding over the next two years. The health plan will then disperse these funds to local medical organizations throughout the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino counties) to support programs that enhance behavioral health integration for both IEHP Members and Medi-Cal Members at large.

Dispersed funds will support further collaboration to enhance behavioral health integration for Medi-Cal Members in the Inland Empire. Photo credit: Envato Elements

The goal is to help clinical Providers improve physical and behavioral health outcomes, care delivery, and patient experiences by developing or expanding integrated care practice models. Funding is tied to the state's $140 million investment into the Behavioral Health Integration Incentive Program, which is leveraging $70 million from Proposition 56 tobacco tax revenue.

"Nearly two million California residents are suffering from a serious mental illness and need treatment," said Dr. Takashi Wada, IEHP vice president of population health. "This support from the state will allow us to respond to this need and work to improve upon the current system and how care is accessed and routinely provided. Funds will also provide for further collaboration with our providers to support the whole person health of our community."

To receive funding from the health plan, eligible Providers were invited to apply and submit project proposals that effectively responded to the state's objective. Eligible providers included primary care, specialty care, perinatal care, hospitals, and behavioral health providers.

The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) approved 32 projects from 83 proposals after an extensive evaluation and selection process. These projects represent 20 different organizations whose goal is to improve an existing system and support access to mental health treatment for countless residents in the Inland Empire.

Projects focus on key areas including basic behavioral health integration, maternal access to behavioral health, medication management for those who are mentally ill, diabetes screening for those with mental illness, and hospitalization/emergency room follow-up for those who were treated for mental illness.

The program was originally scheduled to begin in 2020; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the effort was paused by DHCS and resumed in July of 2020. Projects are scheduled to start in early 2021.

"We are very eager to move forward with this initiative and grateful the state recognizes this tremendous need," said Dr. Karen Hansberger, IEHP chief medical officer. "We have so much ground to cover in this space and are fully committed to partnering with our Providers to do all we can to ensure our members and communities have the opportunity to enjoy optimal care and vibrant health in every way possible."

About IEHP

IEHP, Inland Empire Health Plan, is one of the top 10 largest Medicaid health plans and the largest not-for-profit Medicare-Medicaid plan in the country. With a network of more than 6,400 Providers and more than 2,000 employees, IEHP serves more than 1.3 million residents in Riverside and San Bernardino counties who are enrolled in Medicaid or Cal MediConnect Plan (Medicare-Medicaid Plan). Through a dynamic partnership with Providers and Community, award-winning service and innovative products, IEHP is fully committed to advocating for our Members and providing them with quality, accessible and wellness-based health care services. For more information, visit iehp.org.

SOURCE Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP)

Related Links

http://www.iehp.org



Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said Thursday his government would announce major anti-graft reforms after it scrapped its controversial passport-for-investment scheme last year.

The Mediterranean island dropped the "golden passport" scheme in November after Al Jazeera aired a documentary showing reporters posing as fixers for a Chinese businessman seeking a Cypriot passport despite having a criminal record.

Parliament speaker Demetris Syllouris, who was secretly filmed allegedly trying to facilitate a passport for the fugitive investor, later resigned, although he insisted he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

Al Jazeera reported that dozens of those who applied were under criminal investigation, international sanctions or even serving prison sentences.

In a televised address on Thursday evening, Anastasiades said that measures to be announced tomorrow "constitute the greatest intervention ever in the Republic of Cyprus, to create the strongest possible protection network against corruption".

Nicosia had long faced pressure from Brussels to reform the scheme over concerns it may have helped organised crime gangs infiltrate the European Union.

Cyprus had argued it had attracted valuable investment following the Mediterranean island's 2013 economic crisis.

Cyprus issued thousands of passports under the scheme which allowed investors to acquire one in exchange for an investment of 2.5 million euros ($3 million), netting some seven billion euros for Nicosia's coffers over the years.

The programme was also dogged by money laundering allegations.

Anastasiades on Thursday rejected accusations that he personally had benefited from the scheme through his family's law firm, but he acknowledged that mistakes had been made.

"I do not overlook the existence of shortcomings and weaknesses in the scheme, mainly to do with oversight and surveillance," he said.

He said his government had repeatedly reformed the scheme between its launch in 2007 and its scrapping in November.

Cyprus is currently probing how passports were issued, to whom and under what circumstances.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi had a close shave on Thursday, February 4, when several vehicles in her convoy collided on a highway in western Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district. Although no one was hurt in the incident, a few vehicles got damaged.

The vehicles, including SUVs, followed Gandhi's car, according to purported videos that have surfaced on social media.

Accompanied by Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, Gandhi was heading towards Rampur to attend the 'antim ardaas' of Navreet Singh, a resident of Dibdiba village in the district who died on January 26 in Delhi where he was participating in the farmers' protest against the new agri laws.

Singh died in a clash as his tractor overturned after ramming into the barricades at ITO, Delhi.

Earlier in the day, Lallu retweeted a post that had a video of him along with Gandhi seated in a car en route to Rampur.

Gandhi arrived in Rampur and met the family of Navreet Singh.

Congress, among other opposition parties including BJP's former allies Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena, has lent its support to the farmers' agitation.

Thousands of farmers have been camping at Delhi's borders since November, demanding that the Centre take back the three laws enacted last September and guarantee minimum support price for crops. The Centre has maintained that the laws are pro-farmer.

Also read: Railways' revenue declined by Rs 36,993 crore in 2020 due to pandemic: Govt

Also read: SBI Q3 results: Net profit declines 6.9% to Rs 5,196 cr
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MOSCOW  In a note from jail, opposition leader Alexei Navalny urged Russians Thursday to overcome their fear and free the country from a bunch of thieves, while the Kremlin cast the arrests of thousands of protesters as a due response to the unsanctioned rallies.

Navalny, who was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison earlier this week, said in a statement posted on his Instagram account that iron doors slammed behind my back with a deafening sound, but I feel like a free man. Because I feel confident Im right. Thanks to your support. Thanks to my familys support.

Navalny, 44, an anti-corruption campaigner who is Russian President Vladimir Putins most determined political foe, was arrested Jan. 17 upon returning from his five-month convalescence in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning, which he has blamed on the Kremlin. Russian authorities deny any involvement and claim they have no proof that he was poisoned despite tests by several European labs.

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A Moscow court on Tuesday sent Navalny to prison, finding that he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany. The sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that Navalny has rejected as fabricated and the European Court of Human Rights has ruled unlawful.

He said his imprisonment was Putins personal revenge for surviving and exposing the assassination plot.

But even more than that, its a message from Putin and his friends to the entire country: Did you see what we can do? We spit on laws and steamroll anyone who dares to challenge us. We are the law.'

Protests against Navalnys arrest and jailing have spread across Russias 11 time zones over the past two weekends, drawing tens of thousands in the largest show of discontent with Putins rule in years.

In a no-holds-barred response to the protest, police arrested over 10,000 protest participants across Russia and beat scores, according to arrest-monitoring group OVD-Info. Many detainees spent hours packed into police buses after detention facilities in Moscow and St. Petersburg quickly ran out of space. After a long wait, they were crammed into overcrowded jail cells with no precautions to prevent them from being infected with the coronavirus.

Some of the detainees said their cells lacked beds and they had to sleep on the floor, while others complained there werent enough beds and inmates took turns to get a nap.

Speaking in a live YouTube broadcast, Leonid Volkov, Navalnys chief strategist who is currently residing abroad, said the protests should pause until the spring after reaching a peak. He said that protesters won a huge moral victory and argued that trying to maintain rallies each weekend would only lead to thousands more arrests and wear participants out.

Instead, he urged supporters to focus on challenging Kremlin candidates in Septembers parliamentary elections and securing new Western sanctions against Russia to press for Navalnys release. He said Navalnys team would try to make sure that every world leader would discuss nothing but Navalnys release with Putin.

Hours later, President Joe Biden made his first public comment on the matter, saying Mr. Navalny, like all Russian citizens, is entitled to his rights under the Russian constitution. Hes been targeted, targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a phone call Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who raised the issue of Navalny, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. It said that Lavrov emphasized the need to respect Russian law.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia wont listen to Western criticism of Navalnys sentencing and the police action against protesters. We arent going to take into account such statements regarding the enforcement of our laws on those who violate them and Russian court verdicts, Peskov said.

He shrugged off questions about detainees waiting for many hours on police buses and being squeezed into cramped cells by saying they had themselves to blame. The situation wasnt provoked by law enforcement. It was provoked by participants in unsanctioned actions, Peskov said during a call with reporters.

One detainee, 30-year-old architect Almir Shamasov, who spent 10 days in a detention facility in Sakharovo outside Moscow, said he spent 20 hours in a police van that either was flooded with fumes or shivering cold when the engine was cut off.

When you sit inside a police van with engine and heat on, the smell of gas or diesel fuel is unbearable. When its off, the steam comes out of your mouth, he said after being freed late Wednesday.

Another detainee, Eva Sokolova said after walking out of detention in Sakharovo that she slept two nights on the floor of a police precinct before the court jailed her for three days.

About 150 relatives of the detainees waited outside in the snow for many hours Wednesday to hand over food and necessities. One of them, Tatiana Yastrebova, said she waited six hours for officials to accept some items she brought for her son.

Following Navalnys arrest, authorities also moved swiftly to silence and isolate his allies. Last week, a Moscow court put his brother, Oleg, top associate Lyubov Sobol, and several others under house arrest  without access to the internet  for two months as part of a criminal probe into alleged violations of coronavirus restrictions during protests. Sobol was formally charged Thursday with inciting the violation of sanitary regulations by organizing protests.

Navalny has another court hearing scheduled for Friday in Moscow on separate charges of slandering a World War II veteran. He has rejected the case as the Kremlin enacting political revenge.

Navalny argued that the crackdown on protests was a show of weakness, saying that the governments power is illusory and urging Russians not to fear it.

They can only hold on to power and use it to enrich themselves relying on our fear, he said. If we overcome that fear, we will be able to free our Motherland from a bunch of occupants-thieves. And we shall do it. We must do it for ourselves and the future generations.

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Kostya Manenkov contributed to this report.

Hyderabad, Feb 4 : GoAir on Thursday announced the launch of direct flight connecting Hyderabad with Male.

Starting February 8, GoAir will operate a direct service four times a week - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday - between Hyderabad and the Maldivian capital.

With the lifting of travel restrictions, GoAir has resumed its operations, connecting Male to India - Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bengaluru with daily direct services.

"This new route will be serviced by the airline's next-generation Airbus A320neo aircraft, further strengthening GoAir's growing international network in the south Asian region. The new services will offer passengers additional flexibility and choice to plan their travel," the private carrier said.

Flight G8 1533 will depart from Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International airport at 11.30 a.m., and arrive at the Maldives' Velana International Airport at 1.30 p.m. (local time). On the return leg, flight G8 4033 will depart Male at 2.30 p.m. (LT) and arrive in Hyderabad at 5.30 p.m.

To celebrate the launch of this new route, GoAir has announced a special return introductory fare of Rs 16,882.

"It is GoAir's special endeavour to cater to the needs of Hyderabad - one of the largest metropolitan areas in India, by introducing our maiden flight from Ramoji Film City to Male, the epitome of luxury, stunning beaches and exotic locales filled with romance. This is truly an indication of the strong demand on this sector emanating from the cultural hub that houses the world's largest film city and will boost tourism between these two cities," said Kaushik Khona, Chief Executive Officer, GoAir.

Passengers can also choose from an exciting range of GoHoliday packages from Hyderabad at affordable rates. Passengers can enjoy three nights and four days holiday packages starting at Rs 26,500. The package includes return airfares, three-star accommodation along with breakfast, airport transfers, and sightseeing. Passengers can also choose from an array of hotels, from budget to luxury, the airline added.
Gov. Kate Brown has authorized the Oregon Health Authority to provide the state prison system with 10,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine for its inmate population beginning next week, a top agency official said Wednesday.

Brown plans to provide prisons with enough COVID-19 vaccines until our job is complete, Dr. Warren Roberts, chief medical officer for the Oregon Department of Corrections, told lawmakers.

Oregons prisons currently house nearly 12,600 inmates.

The first allotment of 5,000 doses is expected next week and will be used to start clinics for medically vulnerable inmates, Roberts said.

That will be followed by another shipment of 5,000 the week after.

We have an aggressive vaccination plan and are ready to operationalize that plan as soon as the vaccines arrive, said Colette Peters, director of the prison system.

The vaccines will be offered to inmates but wont be required, corrections officials said.

The timeline came into sharper view after U.S. Magistrate Stacie F. Beckerman on Tuesday ordered all inmates in Oregons prisons be prioritized for the vaccinations.

Her ruling addresses the explosive rise of the virus in the prisons, where the infection rate is 28% compared to 3.3% of the rest of the population.

Currently, Beckerman wrote, an individual in (state) custody is nearly 10 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than the average Oregonian.

Her decision comes after seven inmates filed motions Jan. 21 for the federal government to intervene and immediately compel the state to vaccinate all inmates. The same inmates first filed a class action lawsuit in federal court last April seeking protection against the spread of the coronavirus.

Inmates across the state have described poor conditions as 3,392 cases of COVID-19 and 42 deaths have been confirmed in prisons to date.

Beckerman noted state officials had prioritized residents of other types of congregate care settings, such as nursing homes, but bypassed inmates.

Nationally, the pandemic has swept through prison systems and jails. According to the Marshall Project, a news organization focused on reporting on prisons and criminal justice, at least 366,121 people in prison had tested positive for the illness as of Jan. 26, a 3% increase from the week before. The news organization reported at least 2,314 deaths of people in custody.

States have generally prioritized corrections workers for vaccines but not inmates, according to a state-by-state analysis by the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit organization that researches issues related to incarceration. The group found that states plans were unclear on where inmates fell on their priority lists.

In Oregon, some inmates, including 91 who perform health care work, have already been vaccinated.

The lawsuit also revealed that an apparent miscommunication regarding eligibility last month had led corrections staff to offer vaccines to 1,558 inmates who are over 60 and have medical vulnerabilities. Of those, 1,343 prisoners chose to be vaccinated  an acceptance rate of 86%.

Another 316 inmates under 60 were vaccinated with leftover doses, Beckermans ruling states.

Citing testimony from prison staff, Beckerman noted that staff and contractors are the primary source of positive cases among inmates. One prison administrator testified that all but one inmate infection was transmitted through an employee.

Dorm-style living quarters, older facilities, poor ventilation and a resistance to basic public health guidance like wearing masks contributed to the spread of the virus, she noted.

To date, Beckerman wrote, non-compliance with masking requirements remains an ongoing problem in Oregon prisons among staff and inmates.

Evidence presented by the inmates demonstrates that individuals in ODOC custody continue to lack the means to protect themselves from exposure to COVID-19 and, in some cases, risk being disciplined in attempting to do so, the judge wrote.

She reference the testimony of one inmate who said 15 prisoners in his dorm tested positive for the virus and were not removed from the living quarters.

He testified that he witnessed a corrections staff member order an inmate to return to his bunk after the inmate had tried to socially distance himself from a prisoner who had tested positive for coronavirus.

The ruling also details an apparently low vaccination rate among corrections workers.

Though all 4,400 corrections workers and contractors have been offered the vaccine, so far only 1,500 have received it, Beckerman wrote.

The agency strongly encourages but does not require workers to get vaccinated.

The Corrections Department has received 4,600 doses of the Moderna vaccine to cover its workers and contractors. Agency officials estimated that 55% of workers would agree to get the vaccine, but the judge noted that only 34% had done so.

However, Beckerman also noted in her ruling that an accurate account of employee vaccinations is hard to come by because workers can obtain the shots through work or through local public health providers.

The Oregon Health Authority, she noted, does not track how many people who work in correctional settings have received the vaccine so far.

-- Noelle Crombie; ncrombie@oregonian.com; 503-276-7184; @noellecrombie
Ida J. Yarbrough is a uniquely Albany place name. Other cities might also have a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, or something or other named for Lincoln or Washington. The name Ida Yarbrough is mentioned hundreds, if not thousands of times a day by the men and women who live in the Arbor Hill apartments named for her, by the government agency tasked with improving living conditions at the apartments and casually, as part of directions that can only be given in Albany.

But what of the woman behind the name?

Ida Yarbrough was born Ida Mae Tucker in Semora, N.C., in 1896. Her parents died when she was young and she was raised by relatives in Virginia. In 1918, newly widowed with a young son, she moved to Albany. She found work as a maid, remarried and gave birth to another son. But rather than live a quiet life going to work, raising her children and keeping house, she stepped into the public sphere as an advocate for children and the Black community. She was the first woman to lead Albany's Inter-Racial Council, an early affiliate of the National Urban League. Yarbrough held the post for five years in the 1950s. She was a trustee in her church, Morning Star Baptist, and a member of the Federation of Churches. She often led community fund drives to help the poor.

Pictures taken of Yarbrough in the 1950s and '60s show a broad-shouldered woman with a composed expression, strong jaw and glasses. She wore her hair pulled back from her face and piled high.

A story in the Dec. 19, 1958, issue of the Times Union gives a glimpse into Yarbrough's leadership style. After mentioning accomplishments that earned the attention of both Gov. Averell Harriman and Mayor Erastus Corning, the reporter wrote: "Mrs. Yarbrough prefers not to discuss publicly the segregation issues which have inflamed the south, but she evidences daily her beliefs in tolerance and understanding  on both sides.

" 'There is no need for problems to become serious,' she says. 'People should try to understand each other and just do their best themselves. You have to work to earn the respect of others.' "

Later in the story Yarbrough says she visits her family in Virginia every summer, and has "never felt discomfort there because of Southern racial prejudice. 'If you feel free yourself, you are free,' she says with a gentle smile, adding characteristically , "I've been lucky, I've always been surrounded by kind people.' "

Yarbrough didn't go to college, but worked to make sure her sons, John Jennings and Walter Yarbrough, went. She also financed the education of six of her Southern nieces.

"Each generation has to push its children ahead," she said.

Yarbrough died in 1969, when she was 73. She didn't live to see the complex that would bear her name. Work was finished in 1971 with John Jennings leading the effort to secure the funding from local banks.

Jennings was one of Albany's first Black lawyers, a degree he received from Howard University after he was a grandfather. Before becoming a lawyer specializing in housing law, he was a social worker and a leader in the community, working to improve the lives of Albany's Black residents. Jennings and his wife, Alma, were among the first Black couples to integrate the Livingston Village apartments, and in 1961, he was named to the state commission against discrimination.

He had powerful friends, among them Bishop David Ball of the Episcopal diocese of Albany. But his position didn't protect him from racism. William Kennedy wrote about housing segregation in his book, "O Albany!" and mentioned what happened when John and Alma Jennings tried to integrate one of Albany's white neighborhoods:

"As of 1965, not one Negro family had penetrated the Pine Hills neighborhood. One man, an attorney named John Jennings, with the personal backing of Mayor Corning, had bought a home on its fringes, on Marsdale Street, off New Scotland Avenue  but the house burned to the ground before he could move into it."

The fire was ruled an accident, Kennedy wrote, but Jennings's family and friends were convinced it was arson. The fire started on the ground floor and footsteps were found leading away from the house.

Undeterred, John and Alma bought a house on West Lawrence Street.

One of Jennings' grandsons, Robert Higgins, the first Black director of the department of surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, said his grandfather shook off the discrimination and prejudice he faced.

"My grandfather never took exception of people treating him badly. He excelled. But he might never have reached the level he should have because of racism," Higgins said.

Despite its optimistic start, the Ida J. Yarbrough homes didn't live up to the legacy of their namesake. By 1977, the Albany Housing Authority discovered the construction was riddled with flaws. By the 1980s, the Yarbrough homes became synonymous with crime, but its reputation has shifted over the last 10 years as the housing authority has poured money into demolition and reconstruction.

Ida Yarbrough's legacy continues in her family, as well. Both her sons married and had children. John and Alma Jennings had two daughters, Joan and Patricia. Both raised their children in Albany. Patricia's son, John Eric Higgins, stayed in Albany. Higgins, a lawyer who died in 2017, and his wife, Katja, raised two daughters in Pine Hills. The oldest, Jasmine Higgins, works at City Hall as a policy analyst and special adviser to Mayor Kathy Sheehan. She is the mayor's liaison to the city's Policing Reform and Reinvention Collaborative and spent the summer walking the West Hill, convincing residents to fill out census forms.

More than 50 "years have passed since Nana Yarbrough passed, and nearly 20 since Papa John passed. The world has changed markedly in some respects and not much at all in others. Its indicative that there is still so much to be done but I'm only 23  I'm just getting started and I have a lot more energy left to expend when it comes to fighting the good fight," Higgins said. "Like Nana Yarbrough said, 'You don't leave a community if it doesn't have exactly what you want. You want to build it yourself.' That is exactly what I intend to do."

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated which daughters of John and Alma Jennings raised their children in Albany. Also, a quote from Jasmine Higgins miscalculated when Ida Yarbrough died.





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KENTWOOD, MI  What Kayla Lopez, 28, thought would be an additional interview for financial assistance ended up being the gift her family needed.

In a surprise ceremony Wednesday, Feb. 3, Legacy Financial Network and Gradient Gives Back Foundation told Lopez they would pay for her mortgage through the end of the year.

An emotional Lopez teared up at the ceremony, thanking representatives from both Legacy and Gradient for picking her and her family.

Thats huge, Lopez said. And we dont have to worry about foreclosure, because thats plenty of time. Ill have my life back on track.

Lopez, a single mother of five from Grand Rapids, faced looming mortgage payments while currently being unemployed. With her children, ranging in ages from 1 to 13, forced at home due to the pandemic, it was a scramble to balance everything, she said.

I have seen a lot of families that have become homeless and that was my fear, Lopez said. Its actually happening  people are becoming homeless. I just didnt want that for my family.

Put in a situation she could only describe as hopeless, Lopez said her kids have been her biggest motivator to continue to look for help. Thats when she applied for this opportunity.

You almost want to lose hope, Lopez said. I didnt ever think that I was going to be in this situation, (but) theres hope now. Im on the right track and I can actually think.

Gradient originally started giving back like this in Minnesota. Michael Markey, Legacy Financial Network president, said he was inspired enough by Gradients efforts to bring it to the Grand Rapids area.

It was time for us to do it, Markey said. Weve been given a lot to be able to give back in a different way and our plan is to keep doing this each year.

Markey said he interviewed a whole range of applicants, each with their own stories on the financial strain put on them by the pandemic. While each applicant was compelling in their own right, there was something about Lopezs story that stuck out to him.

It was just kind of a feeling, Markey said. Im a pretty mechanical person being finance-related in my mind, and before this started would have thought to put a point system to answers. That just didnt feel right, so it was just what applicant spoke to you. And her (story) just felt right.

Lopez, who was a receptionist at a salon, first had her hours cut, then was let go shortly after the pandemic began, according to Gradient.

Being able to announce to Lopez that she was his pick for assistance not only represented a personal desire to help as a parent, but a company drive to give back. Markey hopes that actions like this continue to spark more compassion during a time when so many people need it.

Im generally not an emotional person, and being able to do something that is going to make a huge impact on that person..., Markey said. I do believe in a ripple effect, and you help somebody and theyre going to help somebody.

There are other organizations that do far more and other teams that wouldnt be as excited, but a lot of our office people are here today because they wanted to be a part of that.

Now with her children back in school, she plans to focus less on worrying about foreclosure and instead on finding a job to provide for her family.

(This means) a whole year where I can focus on my family, get back to work and get things back to normal, Lopez said.

Read more:

Ypsilanti approves funding for rent, mortgage relief for residents impacted by coronavirus outbreak

Michigan mortgage lenders partner with state to provide borrowers coronavirus financial relief

Jackson County mortgage foreclosures on a downward trend
New Delhi: Even as India's COVID-19 vaccine supplies reached South Africa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday assured South African President Cyril Ramaphosa that India has the capacity to fulfil the needs of the African continent.

Both leaders spoke to each other in the evening with the key focus being on the COVID-19 pandemic and cooperation on the coronavirus vaccines. The PMO readout said that the two leaders discussed the "continuing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic", and in this context, the "vaccination campaigns being undertaken in their respective countries".

PM Modi reiterated to the South African President that "India's considerable productive capacity for pharmaceuticals and vaccines would continue to serve the needs of all countries, including those in Africa." Other than South Africa, India's COVID-19 vaccine supplies have reached Morocco and Egypt in the continent.

New Delhi will also be giving one crore (10 million) doses of India-made COVID-19 vaccines to Africa under GAVI's covax facility. During the Modi-Cyril talks, both leaders also discussed possibilities of collaboration between the two countries on "various international fora, to facilitate access and affordability of vaccines and medicines."

This comes even as 2020 saw India and South Africa jointly proposing a proposal that calls for suspension of intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccine patent. The proposal has got many backers from developing countries, but the EU, US remain the main opposer of it.

India, which is the largest producer of vaccines in the world has so far sent COVID-19 vaccines to 16 countries. These are Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Brazil, Morocco, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Algeria, Kuwait and South Africa.

56 lakh doses of India made vaccines have been gifted, while over100 lakh doses of vaccines have been sent commercially. In coming weeks, Indian vaccines are scheduled to reach CARICOM countries (the Caribbean), Pacific Island States, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Mongolia etc.

Essential business principles dictate that decision-makers must cut costs to maximize profitability and invest in company growth. Eliminating wasteful spending and reducing overhead used to focus primarily on tangible infrastructure such as commercial property leases. These days, IT leaders generally agree that businesses can gain similar results by taking advantage of emerging technology.

"From our perspective, cost-cutting has not come directly into IT, but it has come in other areas through the implementation of better technology," Ilan Sredni, of Palindrome Consulting, reportedly said. "The pandemic brought about a relatively large need for a remote workforce. We now have people working from home who are no longer required to have office space. We have seen many clients move into shared office space or reduce their total overhead."

That's why Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) who are actively trimming the fat would be wise to consider whether these IT strategies can reduce infrastructure costs even further.

Conduct Thorough Technology Due Diligence

Managed IT leaders recognize that business operations and goals can differ in significant ways. Software and technology companies continue to bring products to market to meet niche demands. Guy Baroan, president of Baroan Technologies, takes a panoramic view of technological business needs. He advises organizations to consider having impartial third parties conduct thorough due diligence before investing in IT to eliminate unnecessary expenditures.

"Some areas for cost-cutting, where IT is concerned, falls in a few different areas of an organization," Baroan reportedly said. "The following is not a fit for all businesses. But for the most part, these three areas should be considered to see where costs can be reduced."

1: Inventory all the Current Subscriptions for Cloud-Based Services

When a complete inventory is done, an organization can then go through and decide what is being used now and what is not. Most of the time, organizations will be very surprised by how much they are spending on services someone signed up for and may no longer need.

2: Review All Internet-Related Costs

Many organizations have not reviewed their internet costs and are paying what they have been paying for many years. Most carriers do NOT proactively work with the clients to ensure that their services are the right services, and the pricing is adjusted to the current market costs. The companies may be paying 2x or more for their services because the agreements just renew for a new term at their old price.

3: Review Infrastructure Costs

If the organization is at a crossroads, and they need to decide whether to upgrade their server infrastructure, they may want to consider moving that to the Cloud. A local server infrastructure would end up requiring a higher upfront outlay of cash. This may help with cash flow and allow the organizations to add efficiencies while keeping the upfront costs to a minimum.

Managed IT experts typically agree with Baroan's assessment that increased Cloud migration delivers substantial infrastructure reduction and increased investment return.

Increase Cloud-Based Communication Systems

Managed IT experts such as TLC Tech owner Michael Nelson, SemTech IT Solutions director of information technology Nick Allo, and Atlantic-IT.net vice president of Krystal Triumph agree that leveraging the latest Cloud innovations can drive down wide-reaching infrastructure costs.

"I believe one of the best ways to save money is by moving more and more to the Cloud. This can be as simple as a web-based line of business applications, moving data to SharePoint, or setting up your infrastructure to Azure, AWS, or another cloud host," Nelson reportedly said. "A well-designed Cloud strategy can increase staff productivity, extend the distance you can hire, and provide a seamless work environment, no matter where your staff is located."

SemTech IT Solutions' Allo points out that too many companies are wedded to office-based communication infrastructure that has become outdated.

"We look at Cloud solutions where the hosted cost is similar to onsite or cheaper. For example, an onsite email server is $10k for a 10 person office plus maintenance and support. The annual cost for that same email through the cloud is $480/yr. There is no hardware to maintain or upgrade," Allo reportedly said. "The same is true for an onsite phone system vs VOIP, where the phones are the only cost."

Atlantic-IT's Triumph concurs that internal IT infrastructure must be closely examined. Technology largely rendered brick-and-mortar phone systems inefficient and overpriced. Triumph has an eye on next-generation technologies such as "Zero Client" devices.

"We have helped organizations reduce cost by implementing Zero Client computers, which save organizations from constantly replacing and upgrading computers. This has helped to offset the cost of the Cloud," Triumph reportedly said. "By companies moving to more Cloud-based solutions and virtual computers, organizations have better control over security, data management, and auditing."

Zero Client computers have no operating system (OS) or local storage, unlike many endpoint devices. These next-generation devices are streamlined, powerful, and help reduce infrastructure and spending.

Managed IT thought leaders continue to support client competitiveness through advice about emerging technologies. Implementing these and other IT strategies help organizations reduce infrastructure costs and gain a competitive edge.

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
February 04, 2021





The art of war has changed dramatically since it all started. The primary impetus for these changes have, of course, been technology. If there is one thing that hasn't changed about war, however, is its ultimate objective: to keep the full strength of your forces and their extent away from the prying eyes of the enemy. A military's most important secrets need to remain unknown except to those who are charged with carrying out the mission.







This is why the U.S. Government doesn't divulge much information about its tactics and tools except to those who are sworn to carry their mission out. In rare instances, however, the existence of some weapons do find their way out into general awareness. From little boosters that make a helicopter ride less perilous to the latest for a automatic knives guide, what follows are just a few of the latest.

Sound Cannons

During the Fergusson, Missouri, riots in 2014, a new weapon was tested with great success. It was a sound cannon capable of sending voice commands over a distance of 5.5 miles. Further, the device, called a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) inflicts grievous bodily pain on anyone who is within 330 feet (100 meters) of the device's sound path. Manufacturers prefer to call their product a device rather than a weapon, but anyone who has endured the effects of an LRAD is well aware of the difference between the truth and the spin.

Stabilization Thrusters

For anyone who has ever been rescued by a military helicopter, it's common knowledge that anything resembling discomfort or dizziness is a small price to pay for your life being saved. Unfortunately, another downside to helicopter rescues is the spinning of the litter when the air from the rotors interacts with the basket. The traditional method of stabilizing the liter is with the use of a tagaline, which is run from the litter to someone below on the ground. When the cover below is thick, however, it can serve as a deterrent to the rescue.

With the new system, battery-powered units are placed at each end of the litter that can determine whether it is spinning or not. More than 100 times per second, each thruster detects any type of motion. If it is spinning, the thrusters activate to slow or stop the motion, and stabilizing the ride.

Automatic Knives

For anyone who has ever found themselves in combat, there is probably no more secure feeling than knowing you have a trusty knife at hand. In the past, the military issued its own with varying results. In the past few years civilian manufacturers have enter the fray with a vengeance, introducing a large number of excellent quality knives, whether they are intended for combat or not.

Parachute Harness for Military Dogs

Military working dogs and their handlers and a close-knit team when it comes to combat. One of the biggest problems with them, however, is getting them on the ground in one piece, and together. This problem has been solved at least in part by a manufacturer in Europe who has created a pack designed to keep a dog secure and close to his master.

Initial reports from handlers show that they are impressed with the technology. Dogs have not expressed an opinion.
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President Joe Biden on Thursday called for a confrontation of the 'political extremism' that inspired the U.S. Capitol riot in remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that asks political combatants to set aside their differences for one morning.

The breakfast has sparked controversy in the past, particularly when President Donald Trump used last year's installment to slam his political opponents and question their faith. Some liberals have viewed the event warily because of the conservative faith-based group that is behind it.

Still, Biden campaigned for the White House as someone who could unify Americans, and the breakfast gave the nation's second Catholic president a chance to talk about his vision of faith as a force for good.

'Over 400,000 of our fellow Americans have lost their lives to a deadly virus,' he said.

Confrontation: Joe Biden told the National Prayer Breakfast it was time to 'confront and defeat political extremism, white supremacy and domestic terrorism'

Speaking about faith: George W. Bush and Bill Clinton both addressed the National Prayer Breakfast and spoke of the value of prayer

Involved: Barack Obama recounted how he had attended every prayer breakfast when he was president

'We've just witnessed images that we never imagined, images that now we'll never forget: a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, an assault on our democracy.

'A violent attack which threatened lives and took lives. We know now we must confront and defeat political extremism, white supremacy and domestic terrorism.'

'For so many in our nation, this is a dark, dark time,' Biden told those watching the event. 'So where do we turn? Faith.'

'Faith provides clarity and solace' he said.

Biden said that 'faith' called Americans to united to help those caught up in the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.

'Those are not Democrats and Republicans going hungry in our nation. They're our fellow American, fellow human beings,' he said.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said the event is 'an inclusive and positive' one that 'recognizes the teachings of Jesus but is not limited to Christianity.'

The breakfast is moving forward at a time when the nation's capital is facing a series of historic crises. Biden is struggling to win significant support from congressional Republicans for a coronavirus response package, raising the likelihood that he will rely only on Democrats to pass the legislation.

Many in Washington are still navigating the aftermath of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last month, which Biden alluded to in his remarks Thursday, referencing the 'political extremism' that propelled the siege. Trump faces an unprecedented second impeachment trial in the Senate next week over his role in inciting the riot.

Biden's message on Thursday marked his latest call to return Washington to more traditional footing after four years of Trump's aggressive style.

During the 2020 breakfast, Trump singled out Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had voted to convict the president during his first impeachment trial. Trump even held up a newspaper with a headline reading 'ACQUITTED' over his own picture.

Every president has attended the breakfast since Dwight D. Eisenhower made his first appearance in 1953. The event went entirely virtual this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, with Biden and all other speakers appearing via taped remarks.

Four living former presidents sent messages to the breakfast, with three speaking on tape while Coons read a message from former President Jimmy Carter - making Trump's absence conspicuous.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a GOP co-chair of this year's breakfast, pointed to regular faith-based gatherings on Capitol Hill that draw senators from both ends of the ideological spectrum as a model for the event. 'We don't see eye to eye philosophically, politically, but we do embrace each other as brothers of faith,' Scott, who also offered virtual remarks at the breakfast, said in an interview.

The breakfast has drawn pushback from gay and civil rights activists since President Barack Obama's administration, with much of the opposition focused on the Fellowship Foundation, the conservative faith-based organization that has long supported the event.

Also spoke: Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, was among those addressing the National Prayer Breakfast

The way it was: Donald Trump addressed the National Prayer Breakfast in 2020 the day after his first Senate impeachment trial ended, and gloated about the outcome

Religious liberals mounted a protest outside Trump's first appearance in 2017, criticizing his limits on refugee admissions to the U.S., and a Russian gun rights activist convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent attended the breakfast twice during his administration.

Norman Solomon, co-founder and national director of the progressive activist group RootsAction, warned Biden not to 'reach across any aisle to bigotry.'

'We don't need any unity with bigotry,' Solomon said. 'I fear a subtext of this engagement is, "Can't we all get along."

'But that's not appropriate in this case given the well-known right-wing and anti-gay background of the event's sponsors.'

Solomon said Democratic presidents have continued a tradition of attending an event where their Republican counterparts often felt more comfortable because they feared being labeled as 'anti-religious or nonreligious.'

He said that Biden, a devout Catholic who attends Mass every week, could better send a unifying message by skipping the event and instead attending one that is truly bipartisan.

'God knows there are many religious leaders and gatherings that are devout and affirm human equality,' he said. 'This isn't one of them.'

Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, agreed that 'there are far better ways' than the breakfast for Biden to connect with people on the basis of shared spiritual beliefs.

'We would love to work with the administration to figure out a way to change the sponsorship of an event like this and to make it a place for Americans of all different religious beliefs,' Laser said.

Yet Democratic leaders, aware of Biden's devout Catholic faith and calls for healing, have largely refrained from public comment on the event this year. Pelosi, D-Calif., taped her own message to the event on Thursday morning.

Both Laser and Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, a fellow in the faith initiative at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, pointed to the Christian symbolism seen during last month's Capitol riot as an opening for Biden to offer pluralistic, open language about faith going forward.

'I hope President Biden recognizes we're in a new moment,' Graves-Fitzsimmons said, 'and that the Christian nationalism threat is a threat to both the sacred religious pluralism of the U.S. and to Christianity.'
Nativity scene outside Indiana courthouse is constitutional, 7th Circuit rules

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The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed a lower court ruling that found that an annual nativity scene displayed outside a public building in Jackson County, Indiana is unconstitutional.

The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 Tuesday that the presence of the nativity scene outside Jackson County's historic courthouse in Brownstown doesn't constitute a government endorsement of religion and doesn't violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

This decision marks one of the first federal appeals courts to apply the Supreme Courts 2019 precedent when it ruled that a 40-foot cross located on public land in Maryland is constitutional.

Applying American Legion, we hold that Jackson Countys nativity scene as displayed in 2019 does not violate the Establishment Clause, the courts majority opinion states. We make no predictions as to how American Legion might affect other types of Establishment Clause cases.

The appellate court's decision comes more than two years after the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a secular group that advocates for a strict separation of church and state, sent a letter to Jackson County commissioners arguing that the nativity scene was a "violation of the First Amendment."

Shortly thereafter, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana sued on behalf of local atheist Rebecca Woodring, who said she was offended by the display.

Circuit Judge Amy St. Eve, a Trump appointee, explained in the court's decision that "the display consists of a waving Santa Claus with his sleigh, a reindeer, seven large candy-striped poles, the nativity scene (also known as a creche), and four carolers standing in front of a lamp post."

The display goes up every year at the historic Jackson County Courthouse. Even though the county courts moved to a new judicial complex, the building is still referred to as a "courthouse." The building is still used as office space for the county

treasurer, auditor and other officials.

According to Woodring, the display "celebrates Christianity" and constitutes a "religious display on government property." She contends that even the secular aspects of the display offend her because it is all "part of the Christmas and the whole, you know, Christianity thing."

St. Eve frequently referenced the Supreme Court case American Legion v. American Humanist Association. The Supreme Court ruled that a cross erected on public land in Maryland to honor local soldiers who gave their lives in World War I did not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

St. Eve argued that the Supreme Court had developed a test known as the Lemon test to determine whether religious displays violated the Establishment Clause. For a religious display not to violate the Establishment Clause, it must "have a secular purpose," a "principal or primary effect" that "neither advances nor inhibits religion" and cannot "foster excessive government entanglement with religion."

"Although some aspects of American Legion are unclear, one unmistakable message from the opinion is that Lemonis no longer a viable framework for cases 'that involve the use, for ceremonial, celebratory, or commemorative purposes, of words or symbols with religious associations,'" she wrote.

"American Legion displaces the purpose and endorsement tests in the context of Establishment Clause challenges to nativity scenes in passive Christmas displays on government property."

In a dissenting opinion, Circuit Judge David Hamilton, an Obama appointee, argued that the majoritys opinion would invite many new challenges to Establishment Clause precedents.

[The majority opinion] shows that the Establishment Clauses core concern over religious endorsement still drives which displays end up on which sides of the constitutional line, Hamilton argued. The majority opinion simply bakes this concern into its view of what our American tradition is and is not.

Mat Staver, the founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel, which represented Jackson County in the litigation, praised the 7th Circuit's ruling. In a statement, he argued that the Lemon test has "proven to be unworkable" and has led to "inconsistent and contradictory decisions on the constitutionality of religious displays."

"This is a great victory that affirms that the Jackson County holiday display does not violate the First Amendment," Staver said. "The Supreme Court and many federal courts have ruled such displays are constitutional, especially when the display includes other secular symbols of the holiday, and this display is no exception."

Annie Laurie Gaylor, the co-president of FFRF, condemned the ruling.

"The court is arguing that if the constitutional separation between state and church is repeatedly entangled, this 'history' of repeated entanglement somehow magically erases the violation," she said in a statement. "This is an insulting sleight of hand. Winter season after season, a courthouse display endorses Christianity. Such repeated exposure obviously makes the violation cumulatively much worse."
A group of six Christians that included pastors were attacked, arrested, and sent to jail by a gang of radical Hindu nationalists in Central India.

Three Christian pastors in the Balaghat District of Madhya Pradesh in India were arrested and jailed on forced conversion charges on Wednesday, January 27. Pastor Mahendra, Pastor Chatter Singh, and Pastor Nathan were in the Bagoli village to attend a prayer meeting in a Christian home when an intrusion occurred, led by a gang of radical Hindu nationalists. This group took the three men, as well as three other Christians.

According to the International Christian Concern, the three pastors in jail were charged and arrested for violating the new anti-conversion law in Madhya Pradesh. However, the three other Christians were released from the police station following an intervention by locals who were also Christians. The three pastors in jail in India are now waiting for their appeal to the High Court, as their bail claims were rejected, Christian Today reported.

In January, Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel approved the anti-conversion ordinance or "Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance 2020," which seeks to punish religious conversions that occur through fraudulent means. The Hindu reported that no individual is allowed to "convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person by use of misrepresentation, allurement, use of threat of force, undue influence, coercion or marriage or by any other fraudulent means."

The anti-conversion law was criticized for its stance against conversion and inter-faith marriages, Jurist reported. Madhya Pradesh Christian leader Pastor Lanjwar said in a conversation with International Christian Concern (ICC), "The situation is like a cyclone hitting the state. Most of the house churches in the rural areas are shut down due to fear of arrest or violent attack."

A local source who asked to remain anonymous for fear of speaking out said that what occurred in the village and the forced conversion charges filed by local police against the three pastors in jail are unrelated. However, it was indeed notable how the pastors were denied bail. The witness said that it "proves everyone involved in the case is complicit in sending the three pastors to jail."

The new anti-conversion law in India, which forces religious conversions to be approved by the state government and forced religious conversions are criminalized, is often abused by radical Hindu nationalists such as the ones who put three pastors in jail. The ordinance or a similar version of it is now being implemented in areas such as Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttrakhand.

Nationalists are taking advantage of such laws to falsely claim that Christians are forcefully converting locals to Christianity as an excuse to harass and assault them, just as they did to the three pastors in jail facing forced conversion charges.

As of now, no convictions have been made from forced conversion charges, but only time will tell if the three pastors in jail will be released or allowed bail. A petition has been filed to challenge the constitutional validity of the anti-conversion law, which the government has yet to respond to.

Please note The Sun Chronicle is providing this story and all of our local coronavirus coverage for free so that all readers have access to this important information about the pandemic. Please visit our dedicated coronavirus coverage page for more stories. If you'd like to support our mission, please subscribe.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Since day-start on Thursday, Russian occupation forces have four times violated the truce.

A serviceman with the Armed Forces of Ukraine was wounded in eastern Ukraine's Donbas on February 4, the Operational Command Pivnich [North] reports.

"Not far from the Pivdenne settlement in the area of responsibility of the North operational grouping, Russian occupation forces once again violated the ceasefire and fired mortared our positions with 82mm shells and fired small arms. A Ukrainian serviceman sustained a gunshot wound," the report says.

The soldier was immediately rushed to a hospital where he received all necessary medical assistance. The Command of the military unit and law enforcement are working at the scene to document the incident.

According to the evening update by the Joint Forces Command, the invaders four times violated the ceasefire.

Read alsoDonbas war update: Ukraine records two ceasefire violations on Feb 3The enemy employed an anti-tank grenade launcher near Vodiane at the Azov Sea littoral and opened fire from a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher and small arms near the settlement of Pavlopil.

Also, the invaders were spotted attempting to advance their engineering positions toward Ukraine's defense lines in the area of Krymske.

The Ukrainians side has notified the OSCE monitors of the truce breaches recorded throughout the day.

Reporting by UNIAN
New Delhi, Feb 4 : The by-election for a Rajya Sabha seat from Assam will be held on March 1, the Election Commission announced on Thursday.

The seat was held by Bodoland People's Front member Biswajit Daimary who resigned from the house and joined the BJP in November last year.

As per the poll schedule, February 18 is the last day of filling of nomination papers and the last date of withdrawal is February 22.

"The Chief Secretary, Assam is being directed to depute a senior officer from the state to ensure that the extant instructions regarding Covid-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the election," the poll panel said in a statement. It has also appointed the Chief Electoral Officer, Assam as observer for this election.

Issuing the guidelines for the bypolls, the ECI said that every person shall wear a face mask during every election-related activity. "Thermal scanning of all persons shall be carried out at the entry of hall/room/ premises used for election purposes. Sanitiser shall be made available at all locations. Social distancing shall be maintained as per the extant Covid-19 guidelines of the state government and the Ministry of Home Affairs," it said.

Chennai, Feb 4 : Upset over a video of his assault going viral on social media, a Dalit youth in Tamil Nadu's Thanjavur district attempted suicide by consuming poison.

G. Rahul, a resident of Poondi village near Thanjavur, is undergoing treatment at the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital.

Police on Thursday detained four persons and were looking for two others.

A group of six persons, three of them Dalits, had assaulted Rahul on suspicion of theft last week.

According to police, Rahul was working for Karnan, engaged in sand transportation business. On January 31, Rs 30,000 cash went missing from Karnan's house and he suspected Rahul.

Karnan's son Lakshmanan and his friends caught hold of Rahul and took him to a farm field, where they assaulted him with a wooden stick.

The youth, who sustained internal injuries in the attack, informed his relatives. The police had summoned both the same day and convinced Rahul's family not to pursue the case.

Though the matter was considered closed, one of the men who had assaulted Rahul shared the video on Wednesday evening.

Shocked over this, Rahul consumed poison. He was rushed to the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital.

Police in Ammapettai town on Thursday detained four persons identified as Vicky alias Vignesh (25), Rajadurai (24), Parthiban (25), and Sarath (24). A police officer said they were on the lookout for two other accused.

The police registered a case of attempt to murder. It also invoked provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
New Delhi, February 4: Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan on Thursday informed Rajya Sabha that the issue pertaining to wrong depiction of Indian map on the official website of the World Health Organisation was 'strongly raised' with the world health regulator. In response to it, WHO has informed Permanent Mission of India in Geneva that they've put a disclaimer on portal in regard of depiction of territories and areas belonging to any country.

In the disclaimer of its official website, the World Heath Organisation says "designations employed and presentation of these materials don't imply expression of any opinion on part of WHO concerning legal status of any country,territory or area or of its authorities or concerning legal status of any country,territory or area of its authorities or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries." WHO Map Marks Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh With Colours 'Different' Than Rest of India, Draws Flak.

An India map on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) dash board on WHO's official website shows the newly formed territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh with a colour different from the one used to mark the rest of India. Pakistan Includes Indian Territories in New Political Map, India Calls It an Exercise in 'Political Absurdity.'

In the map, the entire country has been depicted through navy blue colour, however Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are shown with grey colour. The disputed border area of Aksai Chin is demarcated with grey with blue stripes, the same shade as that of China.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 04, 2021 12:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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Lucknow, Feb 4 : Several vehicles in the cavalcade of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were involved in an accident on Thursday near Garh Mukteshwar while she was on way to meet the family of a young farmer killed in Delhi on January 26.

According to Congress leaders, four cars bumped into each other on National Highway-9 in Hapur district while the convoy was moving towards Rampur, though no one was injured.

Priyanka was accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, senior party leader Jitin Prasada, Youth Congress chief Srinivas BV and others.

They were going to meet the kin of Navneet Singh -- a resident of Dibdiba village in Vilaspur tehsil -- who died in an accident during the tractor parade on the Republic Day near the ITO in central Delhi.

"Vehicles trailing Priyanka's car bumped into each other due to sudden application of brakes by one of them. However, Priyanka's car was not involved. After asking about the well-being of those involved in the accident, Priyanka left for Rampur," Ajay Kumar said.

The post-cremation rituals (teharvin) of Navneet Singh, 24, is set to turn into a major show of political strength in Rampur on Thursday.

Samajwadi Party leader and Leader of Opposition in UP Assembly, Ram Govind Chaudhary, accompanied by other SP leaders was also slated to reach Rampur.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
February 04 : Shraddha Kapoor has started shooting for Luv Ranjan's next along with Ranbir Kapoor. The actress arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday night after a long shoot schedule for the film in Delhi.

Shraddha is a fitness enthusiast and likes to opt for different forms of workoutfrom pilates to jogging to dance, and specially yoga. The Stree actress began her Thursday morning with it, and shared on her Instagram handle a picture from her yoga session along with a spiritual message. Shraddha can be seen nailing a yoga asana like a pro. In the picture, she is seen clad in a white top with a pair of peach colour leggings. The actress is seen dedicatedly doing the asana with the support of a roller, as she shelled out major fitness motivation for her fans.

The Baaghi 3 actress said that yoga is an intrinsic part of her life as it helps her find balance, peace of mind and a state of shunya (zero), which she believes is her ultimate spiritual achievement. Focusing on health and wellness has been an intrinsic part of my life. It helps me find balance, peace of mind and a state of Shunya. Shunya, as in Zero. And for me, the ultimate spiritual achievement! The state of Shunya is returning to our original state where we are full of positivity, purity and goodness! All smiles and happy! Thats the #PowerOfShunya 0, she wrote in the caption.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Shraddha was currently shooting in Delhi for Luv Ranjan's next with Ranbir Kapoor. Initially, the film was to be shot in Spain but due to COVID-19 pandemic, the shoot location was changed to Delhi NCR. The film also stars Boney Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia as Ranbirs parents. Shraddha kickstarted the shoot on January 6. Besides this, Shraddha has also been roped in to play the role of an ichchadhari naagin in Vishal Furia's Nagin. The film will be produced by Nikhil Dwivedi.
Taylor Swift has been sued by a theme park for trademark infringement over the title of her latest album Evermore (Greg Allen/PA)

Taylor Swift has been sued by a theme park for trademark infringement over the title of her latest album Evermore.

The owners of Evermore, a venue in Pleasant Grove, Utah, allege the pop superstars record, which arrived in December, has led to confusion over whether it is linked to the attraction.

They say they own the trademark to the name and it was violated when Swift started selling merchandise related to her album.

Expand Close Taylor Swift has been sued for trademark infringement over the title of her latest album (PA) / Facebook

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In the lawsuit, lodged in a US District Court in Utah, the theme parks owners claim they have spent millions of dollars on the attraction, which opened in 2018.

They say in the week following the release of Swifts album their website traffic experienced a dramatic departure from typical levels.

In a December letter from the Evermore parks legal team to Swift, lawyers said they are open to discussing reasonable terms for your discontinuation of the trademark.

The lawsuit is seeking millions of dollars in damages.

Your client has suffered no damages whatsoever and, in fact, has openly stated that Ms Swift's album release creates a 'marketing opportunity' for your client's troubled theme park Taylor Swift's lawyers

In a letter filed in court, lawyers representing Swift said there is no basis for the claim.

The letter states: Moreover, your client has suffered no damages whatsoever and, in fact, has openly stated that Ms Swifts album release creates a marketing opportunity for your clients troubled theme park.

The letter adds that the claim is frivolous and irresponsible.

Evermore was released on December 11 and was Swifts second album to arrive with little warning during lockdown.

Like its sister album, Folklore, the folk-pop record was a huge critical and commercial success, topping the charts around the world including in the UK and US.
In his State of the State address on Feb. 2, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott advocated liability protections for businesses faced with lawsuits related to the coronavirus pandemic.

In his prepared remarks, Abbott said business owners have gone above and beyond throughout the pandemic to open and to operate safely. Those businesses now face the crosshairs of lawsuits. Texas businesses that have operated in good faith shouldnt have their livelihoods destroyed by frivolous lawsuits, he added.

Deeming it an emergency item during the current legislative session, Abbott called on state lawmakers to quickly pass legislation that provides civil liability protections for individuals, businesses, and healthcare providers that operated safely during the pandemic.

Various business interests have praised the governors call for protection businesses from COVID-19 liability.

In a statement, Dr. Emily Knight, CEO of the Texas Restaurants Association, said COVID-19 has devastated the restaurant industry, but with tools like liability protections, we can work together to ensure the Texas economy recovers stronger than ever.

Similarly, National Federation of Independent Business State Director Annie Spillman said in a media release that Federation members are especially relieved by the governors support for COVID-19 liability protections for small businesses. Bad actors should be held accountable, but businesses that follow the governments safety guideless to protect their customers and employees from the coronavirus should be protected from predatory trial lawyers trying to profit from the pandemic.

Business liability protection is one of five priority items that Abbott wants lawmakers to concentrate on early in this legislative session, which convened on Jan. 12. Other emergency items cited by the governor include expansion of broadband internet access, police funding protections, election integrity and bail system improvements, according to a report in The Texas Tribune.

Topics COVID-19 Texas
In early tests, the vaccine was able to diminish fatal respiratory effects of fentanyl and carfentanil

LA JOLLA, CA--As the opioid epidemic raged on with an even greater force during COVID-19, the Scripps Research laboratory of chemist Kim Janda, PhD, has been working on new therapeutic interventions that may be able to prevent the bulk of deaths from opioid overdose.

Janda and his team have developed experimental vaccines that have shown in rodents to blunt the deadly effects of fentanyl--which has been driving the boom in opioid deaths--as well as its even more fatal cousin, carfentanil, a growing source of overdoses and a chemical terrorist threat.

"Synthetic opioids are not only extremely deadly, but also addictive and easy to manufacture, making them a formidable public health threat, especially when the coronavirus crisis is negatively impacting mental health," says Janda, the Ely R. Callaway, Jr. Professor of Chemistry at Scripps Research. "We've shown it is possible to prevent these unnecessary deaths by eliciting antibodies that stop the drug from reaching the brain."

Once in the brain, synthetic opioids trigger the body to slow down breathing. When too much of the drugs are consumed, which is easy to do, breathing can stop altogether. In a series of experiments involving mice, Janda's vaccines "sequestered" the potent drug molecules to keep them from interacting with the brain and body, thus thwarting dangerous respiratory symptoms.

Findings appear today in ACS Chemical Biology, published by the American Chemical Society.

Janda envisions the vaccine being used in a number of scenarios, including emergency situations to treat overdoses, as a therapy for those with substance abuse disorder, and as a means to protect military personnel who may be exposed to opioids as chemical weapons. They may even be helpful for police dogs that are trained seek out these deadly drugs.

"The respiratory depression data we show is phenomenal for both fentanyl and carfentanil, which brings us hope that this approach will work to treat a number of opioid-related maladies," Janda says.

A long way from 'miracle drug'

Opioids are a diverse class of drugs that have been used to relieve pain for more than 200 years, although the landscape has taken a stark turn in recent decades. The pain drug morphine, isolated from opium, was heralded as a miracle drug in the early 1800s. Not long after, drug makers created a synthetic form, heroin, as a supposedly non-addictive morphine substitute. (The problematic nature of the drug became clear in the 1920s, prompting regulation.)

However, it wasn't until the late 1990s that opioids began to trigger a public health emergency marked by widespread overuse of opioid medications, both from prescriptions and illegal sale of the drugs.

Today, the problem has reached a new crescendo. In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period, with synthetic opioids--primarily fentanyl, created in illegal labs--as the main source.

Also deemed a terrorist weapon

Fentanyl is much stronger than most other opioids, up to 100 times stronger than morphine. Carfentanil, meanwhile, is up to 10,000 times more potent than morphine, Janda says, making it the deadliest of all. It is often used in veterinary medicine to sedate large animals such as elephants.

Although carfentanil is not as well-known as a street drug, it is an increasingly used as an adulterant in heroin and cocaine, leading to unexpected drug overdoses. It can also lead to overdose deaths from accidental exposure, such as in veterinary or police settings. Having an emergency vaccine on hand can thwart those risks.

Janda says synthetic opioids also are considered a terrorist weapon; they can be made in large quantities and in several forms, including tablets, powder and spray. They are readily absorbed through the skin or through inhalation. A single terrorist attack using carfentanil could be deadly for large numbers of people, he says.

"Unfortunately, the rise in carfentanil and fentanyl overdose incidents is placing further strain on already overwhelmed public health systems currently battling a pandemic," Janda says. "We look forward to continuing our vaccine research and translating it to the clinic, where we can begin to make an impact on the opioid crisis."

###

The study, "A Highly Efficacious Carfentanil Vaccine that Blunts Opioid-Induced Antinociception and Respiratory Depression," is authored by Lisa Eubanks, Steven Blake, Yoshihiro Natori, Beverly Ellis, Paul Bremer and Kim Janda.

Research was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse [U01DA046232].
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The 12-hour ordeal that saw a young woman stabbed and forced into the boot of her own car started between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in the south-west Sydney suburb of Claymore.

Three women  24-year-old victim Nisha Phillips and alleged kidnappers Kayley Ketley, 24, and Latia Henderson, 18  are believed to have been together at a suburban home before Ms Phillips was wounded and taken south against her will.

Latia Henderson and Kayley Ketley have been charged over the alleged kidnapping. Credit:Facebook

She would not be rescued until 11.50am on Wednesday at Berrima in the Southern Highlands, when police stopped the Holden Commodore and pulled Ms Phillips out of the boot, suffering from stab wounds to her thigh, knee and arm.

Ms Phillips had caught the attention of a passing truck driver on the Hume Highway who saw her hand waving out of the boot through a hole created by a missing tail-light, forced out of its socket by the prisoner. The driver called triple zero around 11.30am, prompting a rapid response from highway patrol officers to intercept the car.
Bengaluru, Feb 4 : The US is looking forward to working with India to tackle evolving space threats, US Defence Attache in India, Rear Admiral Eileen Laubacher, said on Thursday.

At a seminar during the ongoing Aero India, she said: "As we build out our own Space Force, re-establish the Space Command, we look forward to wide-ranging cooperation with India and the Defence Space Agency. It is imperative that we both work together in this emerging domain as space threats evolve." Rear Admiral Laubacher, referring to the growing Chinese assertiveness and emerging threats for the Indo-Pacific region, said: "Today we are seeing an increasingly provocative set of behaviour throughout the Indo-Pacific, from the Taiwan Strait to the South China Sea, to India's borders high in the Himalayas. These actions threaten the norms of international conduct, the norms which India and the United States uphold resolutely." She also pointed that the security challenges at India's doorstep underscore the importance of the robust partnership between both the countries. To defend the rules-based international order against actors and activities that seek to threaten it, the US has joined India and like-minded countries to counter these emerging threats.

The Defence Attache also talked about India's effort to defend freedom of the high seas and maritime and land borders.

She also mentioned how India sent technical equipment and a team of specialists to Mauritius to help local authorities combat the devastating oil spill last year.

About existing co-operations between both countries, Rear Admiral Laubacher said the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), headquartered in the National Capital Region, is already coordinating with maritime agencies throughout the region to prevent environmental disasters in the future.

"Our US liaison officer there in Gurgaon contributes regularly to ensure pertinent information is integrated into the IFC's overall efforts," she added.

WASHINGTON  As President Joe Biden tells it, the nuns who taught the future president based their religious instruction on the Gospel of Matthew: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

That tenet was echoed during his first days in office, when Biden signed orders to ensure fair treatment for marginalized groups on housing and other issues.

Were all Gods children, Biden said. We should treat each other as we would like to be treated ourselves.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden meets with members of the community at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wis., Thursday.

Another of his earliest actions strengthened anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people. On Thursday, Biden was expected to sign a memorandum to protect the rights of LGBTQ people worldwide, including providing protections to gay and lesbian refugees and asylum seekers.

But what to Biden is an advancing equity agenda grounded in his deep Catholic faith appears to some Christian conservatives as attacks on their own intensely held beliefs that will unravel the religious freedom protections championed by the Trump administration. Those protections treated religious beliefs as paramount, even if they conflicted with another persons rights  to an abortion, to marry a person of the same sex, or to be transgender.

It absolutely is a direct conflict with Trumps approach, said history professor John Fea, author of Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump.

Stark contrast to Trump White House

Biden, only the second Catholic president, has brought to the White House a different approach to faith, both personally and through policy.

Unlike Trump, Biden regularly attends church. His Catholicism has played as large a role in his life as his outsized family Bible did at his inauguration. Biden wears his sons rosary beads, made the sign of the cross when paying his respects to fallen Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick Tuesday, and quotes Bible passages.

The contrast couldnt be starker, said John Carr, co-director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University. Were going from one of the least overtly religious presidents in modern times to one of the most overtly religious presidents in recent history.

Story continues

President-elect Joe Biden walks from St. Joseph on the Brandywine, a Roman Catholic Church, after attending Mass in Wilmington, Del.

The difference is already clear in policy.

Trump was a hero to the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of nuns running homes for the elderly, which challenged the federal requirement that insurance plans cover birth control. At Trumps renominating convention, a nun from the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary questioned Bidens religion and called Trump the most pro-life president.

Biden is praised by Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention about caring for all of Gods creations. Shes thrilled by Bidens efforts to expand health care coverage, address racism and reverse Trumps anti-immigration actions.

One of the ways that he's living out his faith is by centering the issues of equity at the heart of his administration, which I find super-exciting, she said. Its never happened before.

Joe Biden carried the family Bible for his inauguration at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 20.

Advancing the 'common good'

Biden has not yet announced a faith-based adviser or created a faith outreach office. But he has declared that advancing equity has to be everyones job.

Bidens focus on the common good is a central concept of the centuries-old Catholic social tradition, Massimo Faggioli wrote in the new book Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States.

In remarks to the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Biden said his faith provides hope and solace, clarity and purpose.

It shows the way forward, as one nation in a common purpose, to respect one another, to care for one another, to leave no one behind, he said.

National Prayer Breakfast: Biden urges a turn to faith at event notable for absence of Trump

But Biden's emphasis on social justice issues over social policy flashpoints like abortion mirrors an ongoing struggle in the Catholic Church between Pope Francis, with his pastoral approach, and the churchs more conservative wing. (A photo of Biden with Francis was among the personal photos arrayed behind Biden when, sitting at his desk in the Oval Office, he took steps last week to expand health insurance access and to allow federally funded family planning groups to provide or refer patients for abortion services.)

We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care  including reproductive health care  regardless of income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status, Biden said in a joint statement with Vice President Kamala Harris last month recognizing the 48th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that affirmed the right to an abortion.

Far from creating a more equitable society, Christian conservatives say, Bidens actions are reverse discrimination  particularly his first-day move to ensure workplace and other protections for people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

With a stroke of a pen, President Joe Biden has turned 50-year-old civil rights legislation on its head, hollowing out protections for people of faith, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in a statement.

Trump's strongest supporters

White evangelical Protestants were Trumps strongest supporters, according to the Pew Research Center. Thats despite Trump having been one of the least religious to ever run for the presidency.

But Trump promised on the 2016 campaign trail that the first priority of my administration will be to preserve and protect our religious liberty. Religious freedom became a signature issue of both his domestic and foreign policy.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden bows his head in prayer as he visits Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Del., on June 1, 2020.

Recent cultural and demographic changes have made evangelicals feel not only that the idea of America as a Christian nation is under siege but that their own liberty is being threatened, said Fea, who teaches history at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Trump provided the kind of fighter, the strong man, to protect their interests, he said.

The feeling of both loss and victimization is reflected in Pew Research Center surveys. In a 2019 poll, a majority of adults who identify with or lean toward the GOP said that religion is losing influence in American life and that this is a bad thing. A 2020 survey suggests that Republicans who have experienced some form of harassment online are more likely than Democrats to say they believe their religion was a reason.

We live in a time when the freedom of religion is under assault, then-Vice President Mike Pence told Liberty University graduates in 2019. During the Trump administration, Pences strong faith-based views on abortion and homosexuality made him a target of Democratic criticism, including from those seeking the party's 2020 presidential nomination. Biden had to backtrack after being lambasted by progressives and LGBTQ activists for calling Pence a decent guy.

"There is nothing decent about being anti-LGBTQ rights, and that includes the Vice President," Biden tweeted.

Then-candidate Joe Biden bows his head in prayer at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wis.

Bidens own positions on gay marriage and abortion evolved over the years. After voting to block federal recognition of same-sex marriages 16 years earlier, he backed legalizing gay marriage in 2012  jumping out ahead of President Barack Obama in his announcement.

Biden has become a strong supporter of Roe v. Wade and, in 2019, reversed his support for a longstanding provision that bans federal funding for most abortions.

Rabbi Hara Person, head of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, said shes encouraged that Biden is not imposing his faith-based opposition to abortion on others.

Religious liberty means not only freedom to practice our faith as we see fit, but its also freedom from having the religious views of others imposed on us, she said. That was something that was really missing these last four years.

Carr, of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, said he backed Biden, in spite of Bidens going along with the extremism of the Democratic Party on abortion.

I think character matters, competence matters and treating people with respect matters, Carr said. Lifting up the poor and vulnerable matters, and Trump failed those tests for me.

But Carr is waiting to see what Biden will prioritize.

Is it going to be overcoming COVID, bringing us together, caring for creation? Or is it going to be sort of a culture war? he asked. I think what Biden campaigned on, and who he is, is pursuing justice in unity  not a culture war agenda.

Carr, who in a former role with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops helped develop their documents on political responsibilities of Catholics, recently organized a discussion of how Bidens Catholicism affects his presidency and the role its playing in the divide within the church.

The split was highlighted when Pope Francis congratulatory message to Biden on Inauguration Day emphasized respect for the rights and dignity of every person, especially the poor, the vulnerable, and those who have no voice.

Issuing his own statement, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warned that Biden has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender."

"Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences," wrote Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez.

Bidens presidency could contribute to the difficult realignment of American Catholicism with Pope Franciss vision  a process resisted by `culture war bishops since the time of Franciss election, but also interrupted by Trump, Faggioli wrote in his book on Biden and Catholicism. The mere possibility of such a realignment will being a lot of attention to this particular Catholic moment.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden attends a Sunday service at Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston, S.C., on July 7, 2019.

More broadly, theres a stark divide along religious lines on whether people see the United States as having an essential culture and values that immigrants take on or whether its a nation made up of many cultures and values that change as new people arrive, according to Daniel Cox, director of the Survey Center on American Life.

White Christians  including white evangelical Protestants and white mainline Catholics  believe the U.S. has a central culture, surveys show. The majority of everyone else believe culture and values adjust, Cox said.

Thats a fundamentally different conception of the country and where it ought to be headed, Cox said.

Biden will have to take that into account as he tries to weave together the disparate groups that make up his coalition and fulfill a central campaign promise  one thats also rooted in his faith  of bringing the country together.

I think, Cox said, thats really going to be challenge.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: President Biden's Catholic faith is shaping his social equity agenda
We spent most of 2020 at home, working, studying and cooking due to the coronavirus pandemic. That much time gave us the chance to really know whats working and what isnt in our kitchen, bathrooms and backyard.

Stay-at-home orders made clear that we need to convert underused areas, inside and out, into efficient, flexible living spaces.

The home trends for 2021 in the Pacific Northwest reflect our newfound needs. People are creating multifunctional spaces that offer a calming feel and deeper connection to nature, say the designers at Neil Kelly, the largest residential design-build remodeling firm in the Northwest.

Here are the top home design trends for 2021:

Multifunctional Spaces

Designer Barbara Miller created a multifunctional, midcentury-style kitchen in a Northwest ranch home by using natural materials and warm accent colors.Darius Kuzmickas/Neil Kelly

To make rooms more usable for many reasons, people are looking for extra seating and eating spaces near the kitchen, and window seats and benches to provide hidden storage.

They are also looking for efficient ways for a home office to also serve as a living quarters with a loft or day bed.

Seen here: Designer Barbara Miller created a midcentury-style kitchen in a Northwest ranch home by using natural materials and warm accent colors.

There is a welcoming built-in banquette with a built-in storage in drawers under the seats and a charging station to the right of the banquette.

A built-in baking center is behind doors next to the refrigerator and large drawers in the island store items removed from upper cabinets to make them easier to access.

Materials include alder cabinets, quartz cabinets and exotic wood floors.

Sources

>Home Depot has built-in banquettes in a variety of styles, with and without backs.

>Ikea has benches has different sizes, styles and colors, in materials including solid wood.

>Wayfair has kitchen chairs and tables at up to 70% off

>Serena & Lily has high-end benches and dining banquettes with a choice of luxurious performance fabric. Order a free swatch.

>See more window seats and benches on Amazon

>Baking and other small kitchen appliances are for sale at Bed Bath & Beyond and Walmart

Outdoor Living

Designer Michelle Rolens created a modern outdoor space with a beautiful, clear-cedar, tongue-and-groove wall and ceiling paneling.KuDa Photography/Neil Kelly

2020 spurred people to look beyond their home walls to find a space to relax outdoors. A patio, deck and other covered area came to the rescue. Weatherproof drapes and curtains added privacy, outdoor rugs warmed the concrete floor and quality lighting delivered mood-setting illumination after sunset.

Outdoor kitchens and living spaces will continue to be in demand. New for 2021: The desire for natural fibers like rattan, cane, wicker in floors and furnishings.

Seen here: Designer Michelle Rolens created a modern outdoor space with a beautiful, clear-cedar, tongue-and-groove wall and ceiling paneling, highlighted with broom-finish concrete wall and flooring area.

To pull the space together is a low profile, modern ceiling fan, Lynx gas wall heater, oriental rug, Adirondack chairs with modern outdoor sofa. The black HardiePlank board-and-batten siding set off the color of the cedar to the house.

Sources

Here are more tips from designers as well as resources to consider as you plan your outdoor spaces:

Declutter for a Fresh Start

Designer Anna Lovell created a European-style, high-contrast, clean-line kitchen design for her clients with plenty of storage to reduce clutter.Roger Turk/Neil Kelly

Less truly is more with a much needed calming effect for 2021. Homeowners want to minimize clutter and maximize storage.

Seen here: Designer Anna Lovell created a European-style, high-contrast, clean-line kitchen design for her clients. Pendant lights introduce an industrial touch, which is repeated in the stainless farmhouse sink and stainless faucet.

There are tall pantries on either side of the 48-inch, built-in refrigerator, allowing you to store lots of food in a relatively small space. There is a built-in coffee bar transitioning into the family room. Raised seating, a quartz countertop and a waterfall edge built into the island are the focal point in this efficient space.

Sources

>See movable islands at Houzz

>Collect items in stackable containers, drawers, baskets or bins. The Container Store has storage solutions plus the Marie Kondo Collection.

>Rolling carts are at Michaels stores as well as other storage solutions.

>IKEA has kitchen containers and organizers, including food storage

>Read Small Kitchen Storage Ideas

Dark Painted Cabinets

Designer Therese DuBravac designed a kitchen with dark-painted cabinets and warm metal hardware.Darius Kuzmickas/Neil Kelly

With all-white kitchens fading, navy, olive or charcoal painted cabinets will appear to bring color into the kitchen. Gold, brass, bronze and copper metal hardware will complement the darker painted cabinets.

Seen here: Designer Therese DuBravac had quartz countertops installed with a sleek new electric cooktop and custom, deep blue-painted cabinets. Traditional brass cabinet hardware adds a classic touch of adornment to the face of the cabinets.

Sources

>Home Depot and other sources have quartz countertops

>Houzz has a variety of electric cooktops from different manufacturers. Home Depots Presidents Sale includes kitchen appliances.

>Wayfair has brass cabinet hardware

>Find the perfect paint color at Home Depot or at Houzz or at Walmart.

Natural Tone Color Palette

Designer Fabian Genovesi created a transitional primary bath with a natural tone color palette.Darius Kuzmickas/Neil Kelly

People are turning to earth and natural color tones to create rich, solid and grounding spaces within their homes. From burnt orange to dark navy to rich browns as well as nature inspired moss, sage, olive, and forest green  warm colors will be welcomed.

Bathroom retreats with a spa-like experience and special seating will continue to replace the desire to visit a spa or take a vacation.

Seen here: Designer Fabian Genovesi created a transitional primary bath featuring a walk-in shower with two wash stations and a heated floor. Custom walnut floating cabinets, quartz countertops and a full feature wall with floor-to-ceiling tile finish this luxurious bathroom.

Sources

A spa-like master bathroom is more than al freestanding soaking tub, window with a view and heated floors. Its the feel of luxury, pampering, all-embracing warmth. And the scents that transport you to your favorite fragrant paradise.

Heres the secret: The towels you wrap yourself in, the slippers you slip into and the little additions, from soaps to candles, can provide a spa-like experience in any bathroom. Here are choice sources:

>Brooklinen super-plush 100% Turkish cotton towels, robes and rugs are extra thick for spa-like comfort.

>Find slippers in the right size, color and style at Bed Bath & Beyond.

>Parachute has handmade, nourishing soap bars, natural sea sponge and other pampering products for a soothing bathing experience.

Textured Walls

Textured walls with blue-and-gold, kaleidoscope pattern wallpaper are seen in the bathroom designed by Erika Altenhofen.KuDa Photography/Neil Kelly

Another 2021 trend: Organic textured patterns will find their way into homes on wall treatments, wallpaper, murals or natural stone.

Seen here: Designer Erika Altenhofen selected blue-and-gold, kaleidoscope pattern wallpaper, blue arabesque backsplash tile, faceted gold faucet and compact white, wall-hung sink.

Sources

>Homesick has specialized candles and diffusers selected for their nostalgic scents to evoke memories, including your favorite city.

>Makeup and grooming mirrors can be as big and bright as those seen in a Hollywood dressing room or compact and portable.

Bathroom Statement Pieces

This powder room by designer Janel Campbell features a one-of-a-kind sinkAaron Ziltener/Neil Kelly

If youre tempted, splurge on a single-statement, luxury item like a special vanity, mirror, light fixture or wallpaper. This will work especially well in a hall, powder or guest bathroom.

Seen here: Homeowners are looking for ways to make their spaces unique and bring them joy. This powder room by designer Janel Campbell features a one-of-a-kind sink. See the different types of bathroom sinks at Home Depot as well as at Ferguson.

Sources

>Shower caps (in pink or black) at Anthropologie keeps your blow-dried hair free of frizz by shielding it from water and humidity. Designed with a soft outer layer, it doesnt leave elastic imprints or marks.

>Urban Outfitters has a body brushes to remove dead skin cells and stimulate circulation, plus other luscious bath and body products.

>Dont know what youre missing as a home spa treatment? Birchbox subscribers receive a monthly box, personalized for men and women, with an assortment of new skincare, hair and other products to test out along with tips on how to use them.

>GlossyBox delivers five beauty products, plus treats, trends and tips, each month in a pink box.

Open Concept Bathroom

Gregory Thomas designed this open concept bathroom.Steve Spohn/Neil Kelly

The open concept will flow into the bathroom space as homeowners opt for freestanding tubs and walk-in showers. Tile with natural stone and organic patterns will be a top choice as will large windows creating ample natural light.

Seen here: Designer Gregory Thomas selected a striking vanity wall featuring marble tile, quartz countertops, ultra-high gloss polyester-finished cabinets, porcelain tile flooring, metallic glass tile, and large format porcelain slab shower walls/bench. Metal finishes are mostly gold, with some satin brass. Window and door casings are minimalist.

Sources

>To organize your vanity, Frontgate has pretty accessories such as soap and lotion dispensers and monogrammed tissue covers and wastebaskets in a variety of styles.

>For a casual look, IKEA has practical, beautiful baskets to store towels and bath products.

Home Within a Home

post covid home design. Neil Kelly photos by Darius Kuzmickas/KuDa PhotographyDarius Kuzmickas/KuDa Photography

College students and other adults returned to their family home last year as campuses and businesses closed due to the coronavirus health crisis. Extended family members were also brought together under one roof, especially older adults.

People are desperately looking for additional living space, says Barbara Miller, design director for the Neil Kelly design and remodeling company.

A self-contained second smaller home, or accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in the backyard, structurally sound garage or an unfinished basement can create additional living quarters or income property.

But its pricey. Read Backdoor Revolution-The Definitive Guide to ADU Development, by Portland ADU expert Kol Peterson.

In the meantime, there are temporary ways to make room for more family at home:

Sources

>Dont have an extra mattress, futon or sleeper sofa? An air mattress is easy to inflate and then store when not needed. Dicks Sporting Goods also has sleeping bags and offers free contactless curbside pickup for online orders.

>Layer a bed with linens with different textures and colors. You can start with cotton sheets, add warm quilts, a thick duvet and a mix of squishy feather and firm pillows. Have plenty of extra fluffy towels and a hamper or laundry bag.

>A bench, chair or ottoman allows family to remove shoes, make a phone call or sit and read a book.

 Edited by Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072

jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman
The Biden administration has been granted its request for another month to consider the long-running court battle over former president Donald Trump's tax returns.

In a court filing, President Joe Biden's team asked Trump-appointed Judge Trevor McFadden to give it until March 3 to consider how to proceed with the case.

The administration pointed to the 'still-ongoing transition to new leadership at the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Justice.'

Trump's lawyers agreed with the extension proposed, while the House Ways and Means Committee continued to apply pressure on the release of the returns.

The Biden administration pointed to the 'still-ongoing transition to new leadership at the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Justice' in its request for an extension to further consider the on-going court case over Donald Trump's tax returns

In 2019, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal sent requests and subpoenas to the Treasury and IRS for six years of Trump's tax returns.

Biden's White House is yet to take a position about whether it will comply with the committee's request, and is saying that it needs more time to determine this.

'Defendants require additional time to evaluate their position in this case, due to the still-ongoing transition to new leadership at the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Justice,' Department of Justice lawyers wrote in the court filing.

The committee, seeking the records, said it 'continues to need former President Trump's tax returns and return information to further its ongoing investigation into Internal Revenue Service administration and policy.'

To make their case, they are citing a dated law that allows the heads of Congress' tax committees to examine anyone's private tax information, according to Politico.

The treasury refused to comply with the subpoena under the Trump administration, calling the request from Democrats illegitimate.

House Democrats are suing the Treasury to enforce a subpoena demanding six years worth of the former President's tax returns. Pictured: Trump waves as he boards Air Force One

In a court filing, President Joe Biden 's team asked Trump-appointed Judge Trevor McFadden (pictured, file photo) to give it until March 3 to consider how to proceed with the case

But now the new administration could simply hand over the documents to its congressional allies without Trump even knowing they have done so.

However, it is unclear whether Biden himself wants to turn over the documents that Democrats have been eager to get their hands on for years amid the on-going row.

To observers, should Biden hand them over, it could look like he is using the IRS to censure his predecessor, weakening his message of unity for the whole country.

Furthermore, it could also become a distraction to his legislative agenda, which has so far seen Biden sign swathes of executive orders to roll back Trump-era policies.

Judge McFadden also signed off on an agreement between the Biden administration and Trump's lawyers involving the returns.

Under the agreement, Trump's team will be given a 72-hour notice if the administration intends to give the returns the lawmakers.

The three-day warning gives Trump lawyers the chance to block the release in court.

In 2019, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (pictured last year) sent requests and subpoenas to the Treasury and IRS for six years of Trump's tax returns

House Democrats are suing the Treasury to enforce a subpoena demanding six years worth of the former President's tax returns. Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (pictured) denied the request during Trump's time as president

The administration's request and subsequent sign-off came after McFadden requested both sides file a status report on the case to him by yesterday (Feb 3).

McFadden has ordered that all parties provide another update by March 3.

In July 2019, the House Ways and Means Committee took its fight for Trump's tax returns to court after the Treasury and IRS refused to comply with the subpoenas.

Initially, the committee sought the tax records under a section of the tax code that says the Treasury 'shall furnish' the Ways and Means panel with any tax returns information, but former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin denied the request.

Democrats told the court in its complaint they are investigating the IRS's use of tax laws and policies relating to presidential tax returns and Trump's tax law compliance.

Trump is facing a criminal probe into tax matters led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr, and a civil investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Vance is waiting on a US Supreme Court decision that could force Trump's accounting firm Mazars USA to hand over his tax records from 2011 to 2018.

Trump faces a criminal probe into tax matters led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr, who is investigating potential tax, loan and insurance fraud at the Trump Organization

However, Vance has already obtained some of the information from other sources, people familiar with the matter told Fortune in January.

Vance's criminal probe, which began as an investigation into hush money payments to two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump, has reportedly widened into examining potential tax, loan and insurance fraud at the Trump Organization.

Trump's tax returns are considered to be the keystone in the case, and depending on the level of access Vance has gained to them, his probe could now be at an advanced stage.

Trump has previously called Vance's probe 'a fishing expedition' and 'a continuation of the witch hunt  the greatest witch hunt in history,' accusing the elected Democrat of partisan motives.

Vance's probe, which began more than two years ago, originally focused on hush money payments that the president's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen paid before the 2016 election to two women - a pornographic film star and a former Playboy model - who said they had sexual encounters with Trump.

Vance's probe, which began more than two years ago, originally focused on hush money payments made by the president's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen (center)

The district attorney has suggested in recent court filings that the probe is now broader and could focus on potential bank, tax and insurance fraud, as well as falsification of business records.

If Vance discovered evidence of crimes in his investigation, it is possible that he could charge the Trump Organization rather than Trump personally.

Criminal charges would require evidence of criminal intent, and would be difficult to bring without the cooperation of an insider witness.
President Biden announced on Jan. 20 that most federal student loan payments would be suspended interest-free through September 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic.

Once the suspension lifts, though, a $0 payment still may be a necessity for some borrowers.

According to an October 2020 survey from NerdWallet conducted by The Harris Poll, 45% of Americans with federal student loans of their own werent confident theyd be able to afford their loan payments when the payment freeze was scheduled to end last December.

Borrowers will hopefully be better off financially by September. But if youll need to keep paying less, here are your options.

ENROLL IN INCOME-DRIVEN REPAYMENT

For a manageable payment, start with an income-driven repayment plan.

Look at income-driven repayment first because it offers the most benefits, says Persis Yu, director of the nonprofit National Consumer Law Centers Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project.

Those benefits can include forgiveness after 20 or 25 years of payments, partial interest subsidies and monthly bills as low as $0.

Payments are based on adjusted gross income, family size and federal poverty guidelines. For example, if you had an AGI of $19,000, were single and lived in the lower 48 states, youd pay $0 for 12 months under most income-driven plans.

If you already use one of these plans and your income has decreased, your payments can too.

Its important for borrowers to realize that they can ask to have their plans recertified at any time, Yu says.

You can estimate payments under different income-driven plans with the Department of Educations Loan Simulator.

DEFER STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS

Federal student loan payments can be paused via deferment and forbearance.

Deferment is tied to events like losing your job or undergoing cancer treatment. If youre eligible, this option can keep payments at $0.

For example, an unemployment deferment may be possible if you work fewer than 30 hours per week. If your hours were cut, but your households earnings are too high for an income-driven plan, deferment may make sense.

The government also covers all the accruing interest on subsidized loans during deferment.

There are some subsidies on income-driven plans, but theyre more generous with deferment, says Betsy Mayotte, president and founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit that offers borrowers free advice.

Deferment is often available for up to three years, but you have to reapply periodically. For an unemployment deferment, the duration is every six months.

PLACE LOANS IN FORBEARANCE

Payments are currently suspended interest-free via a special administrative forbearance. When that break ends, your servicer can grant you a discretionary forbearance, potentially without paperwork.

But besides no bills, that type of forbearance offers few benefits.

Forbearance is a last resort, Mayotte says. Its either that or youre going to go delinquent or default.

Interest usually accrues during forbearance. When it ends, that interest can be added to the amount you owe, meaning future interest grows on a bigger balance.

With any $0 payment strategy, its possible youll repay more overall.

If you can afford it, I would always recommend paying versus not paying, Mayotte says.

GETTING READY

The most important thing to do now is understand your options, says Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, a nonprofit that represents student loan servicers.

In part, thats because servicers cant change your payments yet.

Its a matter of regulation and process, Buchanan says. We cant actually put you into (a) plan right now because youre not in repayment.

But you can do the following:

 CHECK YOUR INFO. Log on to your servicers website to check your contact information and payment amount. If youre not sure who your servicer is, visit the Federal Student Aid website. Mayotte says to beware of companies reaching out and offering help for a fee; your servicer will never charge you.

 GATHER PAPERWORK. Applications can require documentation like pay stubs, which Buchanan says must be from the past three or four months when you submit your forms. If you applied now, youd likely have to do so again with more current information. But you can get a head start by figuring out what youll need and filling out what you can.

 SET A REMINDER. With payments set to resume in October, plan to submit your requests over the summer.

If you wait until the day before your due date in the month when 30 million people are going into repayment, Buchanan says, call times are going to be long.

-

This article was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Ryan Lane is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: rlane@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @ryanhlane.

RELATED LINKS:

NerdWallet: Is Income-Driven Repayment Right for You?

Department of Education Loan Simulator

Federal Student Aid: Identifying Your Loan Servicer

And State Department officials acknowledged on Tuesday that four of the top generals who organized the coup were already under sanction. Needless to say, those sanctions did not deter them from overturning a decade-long, inching move toward democracy. (It also does not help that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the deposed civilian leader, has had her Nobel Peace Prize-winning reputation irreparably tainted by her defense of a military that has committed atrocities against Rohingya Muslims.)

Threatening President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will be even harder.

Mr. Biden was part of the Obama administration debate in 2014 about whether the United States should impose its harshest sanctions yet on Russia for its invasion of eastern Ukraine, and whether it should sponsor a combination of a physical and virtual war there. More than six years later, that sanctions regimen has failed in its one goal: to force Mr. Putin to reverse course, remove his forces and cease harassing a sovereign former Soviet state.

So when the United States condemned the sentencing of Mr. Navalny, the activist whose poisoning and arrest led to people across Russia to protest  more than 10,000 of whom the authorities rounded up  there was recognition among Mr. Bidens top aides that, in the words of one of them, that when it comes to the Kremlin, Were pretty sanctioned out.

Mr. Bidens aides say the difference now is that they will work hard to coordinate pressure with allies, whose views Mr. Trump largely ignored over the past four years, as he reached for his phone to tweet orders for new sanctions or tariffs. (Rarely were those tweets prompted by human rights abuses.)

Mr. Putin, of course, loves nothing more than casting Mr. Navalny and the protesters as instruments of the United States, who are seeking to destabilize the country. The last time the United States came after him so directly for suppressing democratic instincts in Moscow was nearly a decade ago, when the secretary of state at the time, Hillary Rodham Clinton, called out his efforts to rig a parliamentary election.

Mr. Putin accused her of sending a signal to some actors in our country, and American intelligence analysts later concluded that Russias actions to steal emails from the Democrats and release them to embarrass her in the 2016 presidential election constituted direct retribution.

But inside the Biden White House, there is hope that the thousands of Russians who have taken to the streets in protest, electrified by the story of how the government tried to kill Mr. Navalny, may give the United States an opportunity. If executed skillfully and with the help of European allies, Biden administration officials said, many ordinary Russians may welcome sanctions as a sign that the United States is on their side.
Iran to release all crew but captain of seized South Korean ship

A South Korean-flagged tanker that was seized by Iran is seen in the Gulf off the Iranian coast, January 4, 2021. Photo by IRGC / WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters.

Iran said Tuesday it has allowed all crew, including two Vietnamese, except the captain from a South Korean tanker seized last month for alleged pollution to leave the country.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the Hankuk Chemi and arrested its multinational crew of 20 sailors near the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Jan. 4, saying it had polluted the waters.

The development came as Tehran urged Seoul to release billions of dollars of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea due to U.S. sanctions.

"In a humanitarian move by Iran, the crew of the South Korean tanker accused of polluting the environment of the Persian Gulf were allowed to leave the country," foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement.

Permission had been granted upon "the request of the South Korean government and (with) the cooperation of the judiciary in Iran", he added.

He did not specify whether the crew had already left.

Seoul-based news agency Yonhap cited the South Korean foreign ministry as saying the captain would remain in Iran to look after the tanker. It was not clear when the vessel might be allowed to leave.

The arrested crew were from South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump in 2018 withdrew Washington from a landmark nuclear agreement with world powers and then reimposed and reinforced crippling sanctions on Iran.

Iran was a key oil supplier to resource-poor South Korea until Washington's rules blocked the purchases.

According to government spokesman Ali Rabiei, Iran has $7 billion of funds blocked in Seoul.

The money can neither be transferred nor earn interest, yet Iran is charged fees on it, he has said.

Iran has on various occasions denied the seizure and the funds are linked.
Jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny called on Russians to overcome fear and free the country from "a bunch of thieves in power" as an aide promised major protests ahead of national parliamentary elections in September.



In his first major comments since a court this week ordered him to serve a prison sentence, Navalny said in a February 4 Instagram post that iron doors slammed behind my back with a deafening sound, but I feel like a free man because I feel confident I'm right and thanks to support from you and my family."



U.S. President Joe Biden expressed his support for Navalny later in the day, calling the jailing of the Putin critic a matter of deep concern to us and the international community and demanding Russia release him immediately and without condition.



EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was expected to deliver a similar strongly worded message during his visit to Russia from February 4-6.



The Kremlin continues to reject Western and domestic criticism over its jailing of Navalny and a crackdown on his supporters, calling it foreign interference in its internal affairs.



Navalny was sentenced on February 2 to almost three years in jail for violating the terms of parole while recovering in Germany from a nerve-agent poisoning in August that the Kremlin critic accuses President Vladimir Putin of ordering.



The detention of the popular activist upon his return to Russia in mid-January sparked some of the largest anti-government protests in a decade as hundreds of thousands assembled in more than 100 cities around the country. Police detained some 10,000 people in total during the January 23 and January 31 protests.



More than 1,400 people were also detained when demonstrators took to the streets following the court's order to send Navalny to prison. Many of Navalny's aides have been detained, fined, or put under house arrest.



Leonid Volkov, a close aide to Navalny, called for fresh demonstrations later in the year rather than on the weekend of February 6-7 to give the opposition more time to prepare.



"We will properly organize them and definitely hold another big one in spring and summer," he said in a YouTube live stream.



Russia will hold key parliamentary elections on September 17. Navalny and his team are encouraging citizens to vote for politicians running against candidates from the pro-Putin United Russia party.



In his Instagram post, Navalny said his imprisonment was Putin's personal revenge" for Navalny surviving and exposing the assassination attempt.



But even more than that, it's a message from Putin and his friends to the entire country: Did you see what we can do? We spit on laws and steamroll anyone who dares to challenge us. We are the law,' he wrote.



Ahead of Borrells visit, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on February 4 that Russia rejected outside interference in its internal affairs.



"We do not intend to pay any attention to such statements regarding the application of our laws to those who violate them, as well as regarding the rulings of our Russian court," Peskov said.

"We are ready to explain these issues further, but we are not ready to discuss them with anybody," he added, according to the Interfax news agency.



However, Russia is a member of the Council of Europe and a signee to the European Convention on Human Rights, obliging it to observe the rule of law. The Kremlin repeatedly abuses its obligation by interfering in politically sensitive court cases and arresting people on trumped-up charges.



Peskov also defended the police crackdown on demonstrators who have been demanding the release of Navalny.



"There are no repressions," he said. "There are measures which the police are taking regarding those who break the law."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on February 3 accused the West of going overboard in its reaction to the ruling.



Biden said the United States will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia for its malign activities and will coordinate with allies on actions.



Borrell, for his part, put Moscow on notice in a statement ahead of his visit, saying the European Union would discuss implications and possible further action at an upcoming meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers.



European officials previously said they would wait for the court decision to make any move, including further sanctions on top of those imposed following Navalny's poisoning.



Calls are growing for the EU to boost travel bans and asset freezes it slapped on six Russian officials and one entity in October over the poisoning of Navalny.



Relations between the EU and Russia deteriorated over Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014 and its ongoing support to separatists in eastern Ukraine. There are other concerns about its involvement in Belarus and conflicts in Syria, Libya, and other countries.

With reporting by AFP and TASS
No propaganda can deter Indias unity: Shah hits out at foreign individuals commenting on farmer protests

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: No propaganda can deter India's unity! No propaganda can stop India to attain new heights! Propaganda can not decide India's fate only 'Progress' can. India stands united and together to achieve progress, Union Home Minister said in a tweet, while hitting out to the foreign individuals who spoke on the farmer protests.

Union Minister Amit Shah warns after Rihanna's tweet in support of farmers' protest| Oneindia News

The comments also elicited a strong response from the Ministry of External Affairs. The MEA said that the Parliament of India, after a full debate and discussion, passed the reformist legislation relation to the agricultural sector. These reforms give expanded market access and provides farmers with greater flexibility to farmers. They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming.

Indias farmers in global spotlight: Ministers, Bollywood biggies vs Rihanna, others

A very small section of farmers in parts of India have some reservation about these reforms. Respecting the sentiments of the protesters the government of India has initiated a series of talks with their representatives. Union Ministers have been part of the negotiations and eleven rounds of talks have already been held. The government even offered to keep the farm law on hold and none other than the PM has made this offer, the MEA said.

Yes it is unfortunate to see vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda on these protests and derail them. This was egregiously witnessed on January 26. A cherished national commemoration, the anniversary of the inauguration of the Constitution of India was besmirched and violence and vandalism took place in the Indian Capital, the MEA further added.

She of these vested groups have also tried to mobilise international support against India. Instigated by such fringe elements, Mahatma Gandhi statues have been desecrated in parts of the world. This is disturbing for India and the civilised society everywhere.

The Indian police forces have handled these protests with utmost restraint and it may be noted that 100s of men and women serving in the police have been physically attacked and in some cases stabbed and seriously wounded, the MEA said.

We would like to emphasise that these protests must be seen in the context of India's democratic ethos and polity and the efforts of the government and the concerned farmer groups to resolve the impasse, the MEA said.

Before rushing to comment on such matters we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues to at hand be undertaken. The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate or responsible.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 8:40 [IST]

Dar es Salaam  Low production of coffee and cotton in the country affected the exports of traditional produces last year despite improved prices in the world market.

This is according to the Bank of Tanzania's Monthly Economic Review for January, 2021.

It shows that the value of traditional exports decreased to $819.1 million in 2020 from $834.6 million recorded in 2019.

The bank named the decline in coffee and cotton values among the exports that impacted the overall country's traditional export. Other crops were tea and sisal.

"The decline in coffee and cotton value manifested in export volume, following low production while sisal and tea exports declined on account of both low volume and prices," the report reads in part.

However, the two cash crops were among the commodities that saw an increase in price in the world market.

There was an improvement of 15 percent on the world market prices for Arabica coffee in December last year to $3.3 per kilogramme from $2.9 charged in the corresponding month in 2019.

Cotton experienced an increase in its monthly prices from $1.7 in November to $1.8 in December 2020.

"The price of cotton increased as demand picked up due to economic recovery particularly in China-the major cotton importer. Meanwhile, price of Arabica coffee increased on account of improved demand," the central bank says.

Coffee is one of the mostly widely consumed and demanding beverages in the world, and one of the major cash crops in Tanzania.

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In an auction done during November 2020, it was reported that farmers were selling their coffee in the local market as prices were far better than in the world market.

A 50-kilogramme bagful of Arabica coffee was fetched at $133 at the auction on November 5, while the world market offered $116 for the bag of the same weight.

Regarding Robusta coffee, a 50kg bag of the commodity fetched $78.5 locally in contrast to $51 in foreign markets, notably in the United Kingdom where much of Tanzanian coffee is exported to.

However, in December the world prices came back to normal and provided an opportunity for local farmers to sell their coffee produce abroad.

The country's coffee production in the 2020/2021 harvest season is expected to hit a record 70,000 tonnes, up from 59,000 tons in 2019/2020, according to the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB)'s sales and marketing manager, Frank Nyarusi who was quoted in a recent interview with The Citizen.
The Ooni of Ife, Enitan Ogunwusi, has described the comments made against him by the acclaimed Yoruba warlord, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, as irresponsible.

In an exclusive telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Ogunwusi, who spoke through his spokesman, Moses Olafare, said the palace was not ready to engage Mr Adeyemo formally on the matter but the issue of the threat of violence against the monarch would be handled appropriately.

Mr Adeyemo, while taking part in a virtual town hall meeting on Wednesday morning with Nigerians in the diaspora, attacked some South-west leaders including the former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu; Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, and traditional rulers including the Oluwo of Iwo, Abdulrasheed Akanbi, and the Ooni.

He accused the Ooni of receiving dollars from President Muhammadu Buhari when he visited the Presidential Villa recently and condemned the monarchs comments while addressing the media at the villa.

Sunday Igboho described the Yoruba leaders as lily-livered and called them Fulani slaves.

He also threatened to waylay, open fire on them or visit and vandalise their properties.

Ooni speaks

The monarch said no true Yoruba son or daughter would speak in such a manner as Mr Adeyemo has spoken, saying his conduct and attitude cast doubt on his true intention in his self-saddled responsibility of defending the Yorubas.

The Oonis spokesman, Mr Olafare, said Mr Adeyemo was going overboard in his conduct and that he should not believe that he is bigger than the authorities.

He said; We have not made any official statements on the matter and the matter does not really make any sense to us. If somebody who identifies himself with the cause of Yoruba could be talking in that manner about the Ooni who is indisputably a spiritual head of the race, then one must wonder whether or not the person has been representing us truly. It gives room to people to suspect your motive.

Mr Olafare said for a man claiming to be defending a race to be attacking the same people you claim you are defending leaves much to be desired.

Allegations of receiving bribes

Speaking on the allegation that the monarch collected money from the president, the spokesman said the allegation is not only irresponsible but also lacks substance.

He made some very irresponsible allegations. You know when you make allegations that you cannot back up with evidence, that can only portray you as an irresponsible man. If you make unfounded allegations and then you want to use allegations to further justify your claims as the generalissimo of the race, it is up to the public. Its so unfortunate, if you say the Ooni has collected money, I expected him to show evidence. You say he has collected dollars. Irresponsible allegation is irresponsible allegation if you cannot back up whatever you allege with acceptable evidence, Mr Olafare said.

He added that the support of the people Mr Adeyemo is currently enjoying in his onslaught against some criminals that have infiltrated the South-west is not out of the blues. He, however, cautioned him against reckless comments and allegations, saying they do not portray him as a cultured Yoruba man with moral values and virtues.

If youre doing something and people are hailing you, I dont think you need to allow that credit to get into your head and start to misbehave. If you could open your mouth and call Ooni such unprintable names that you called him, that shows the kind of Yoruba man that you are. I do not see any reason that will make me describe a Baale, who is of lower rank on the traditional rulers ranking, with such unprintable names. If I cannot do that to a Baale, why should I say such a thing to an Ooni? Its not good. It does not portray anybody as an Omoluabi, as a man of Yoruba virtues and values.

In any case, if youre fighting for the liberation of the people, this is a responsibility that is self-saddled, you choose to and for you to succeed, you need the same people that youre representing, otherwise you would not succeed. Is this the way youre going to get the support of the people youre representing when you start attacking the same people? People will back out, that is just it. Whether you like it or not, some people are following you because of that same Ooni. They will back out.

Threat of violence

On the threat of violence, Mr Olafare said; Well, he said that in a video that is well circulated and the video must have gotten to security agents who would see beyond what we are seeing. It is a threat to life if you say that if somebody is going, youre going to waylay that person and fire him. If youre bold enough to say that, to anybody not to talk of even an Ooni of Ife, I believe that security agents will see that as a threat to life. While were not ready to report any matter to security agents, I believe that they will know what to do.

Backstory

Mr Adeyemos popularity recently rose in the South-west after he led an attack against a Fulani community leader in Oyo whom he accused of harbouring Fulani herders involved in criminal activities.

The herders-farmers clashes are rampant in parts of Oyo and other states in the country mainly caused by nomadic herders grazing their cattle on the farms of residents. The situation has gotten worse with some of the nomadic herders engaging in kidnapping, murder and rape, thus infuriating many Nigerians.

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Following the repeated attacks in Ibarapa area of Oyo State, Mr Adeyemo issued an ultimatum to herdsmen in the area.

When the ultimatum expired, he led some youth to the house of the head of the Fulani community in Igangan town, Abdulkadri Saliu. Mr Saliu was chased out of the community and his house and cars burnt.

The Seriki Fulani has since relocated to Kwara State with his family.

The warlord on Monday also visited Ogun State to continue his self-appointed mandate of chasing Fulani herders out of the state with the state government saying it never asked for his help.

Although there have been several reports of criminal activities carried out by herdsmen in the South-west and other parts of Nigeria, the countrys law does not give any citizen the right to expel other citizens or residents from wherever they choose to live or do business in the country.
Renaissance Alliance Insurance Services Adds 33 Members in 2020

Renaissance Alliance, a network for independent insurance agencies, announced that 2020 represented the largest year of growth in the companys history. In the midst of the pandemic, Renaissance added 33 new member agencies, bringing the total number of independent agency members in the alliance to 117.

Of this exciting news, Chairman and CEO Kevin Callahan said:

Were delighted to begin 2021 by officially welcoming so many new agents to Renaissance, said Kevin Callahan, chairman and CEO of Renaissance. 2020 was a challenging year for everyone, but our alliance continues to strengthen through the addition of these forward-thinking, growth-minded agencies. We are now rapidly approaching $1 billion in P/C premium.

New members added in Q4 include:

Connecticut

Birarelli Insurance Agency, LLC., Milford, Conn.

Brent Young Agency, LLC., Manchester, Conn.

George Lundberg Insurance Agency, LLC., Enfield, Conn.

Healy-Lynn Insurance Agency, LLC., Naugatuck, Conn.

John Bogden Insurance Agency, LLC., Berlin, Conn.

Michalowski Agency, LLC., Wallingford, Conn.

Remark Insurance, LLC., New Britain, Conn.

Florida

Corkhill Insurance Agency, LLC., Orlando, Fla.

Insurance Services of Central Florida, Inc., Ocoee, Fla.

MHG Insurance Brokers, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Massachusetts

Sanviti Insurance Agency, Inc., Everett, Mass.

Foundation Insurance Agency, LLC., Fall River, Mass.

New York

GSD Insurance Agency, Inc., Nyack, N.Y.

Vermont

Hamlin Insurance Agency, Inc., Brattleboro, Vt.

Renaissance Alliance is a membership alliance for fully independent property/casualty agency owners.

Founders of Massachusetts-Based Renaissance Alliance Retire; Callahan, Bondi to Lead

The founders of Renaissance Alliance Insurance Services, a membership alliance independent insurance agencies, have retired after 21 years of leading the company. Bruce and Janet Cochrane retired from their full-time roles within the Massachusetts-based insurance agency partnership organization, effective Jan. 1, 2021.

Kevin R. Callahan, executive chairman, and Robert A. Bondi, president, now lead the executive committee. Bruce Cochrane will remain a member of the Renaissance Alliance Board of Directors and serve as special advisor to Callahan.

Callahan praised the Cochranes for their work with the company and said it would continue its geographic expansion while enhancing the value that Renaissance provides to our members and carrier partners.

Bruce and Janet Cochrane started the company in the late 90s with the clear goal of empowering independent agents to be the dominant force in the insurance industry long into the future; committed to the best interests of the insuring public, a statement from the company said.

Renaissance Alliance also focused on developing the insurance aggregator space. Today, Renaissance is approaching $1 billion in premium, Callahan said.

In 2018, Long Arc Capital invested $30 million in Renaissance Alliance and since then the company has entered new markets, enhanced the services it provides to its members, and built a new integrated technology platform.

In 2019, Renaissance Alliance was ranked no. 7 on Insurance Journals Agency Partnership list.

Renaissance Alliance offers services to fully independent property casualty agency owners designed to help them grow premium, maximize revenue and increase agency value through profit sharing, override revenue, and offloading non-revenue generating activities.

Brightway Insurance Opens New Agencies

Brightway Insurance opened six new Brightway locations in September in California, Florida and Illinois.

Marcus Barbee opened Brightway, The Barbee Agency in Bloomington, Ill. Barbee recently retired from State Farm, where he worked on the Information Technology team for 18 years. Prior to that, he was a Mail Carrier for the U.S. Postal Service for 8.5 years and served Honorably in the U.S. Army for nearly seven years. Brightway Insurance, The Barbee Agency offers customized home, condo, renters, personal articles, flood, auto, RV, motorcycle, boat, life and umbrella insurance policies from numerous insurance brands including Appalachian Underwriters, Bankers, Bristol West, Foremost, Hagerty, Hippo, Johnson & Johnson, Progressive, Tower Hill and many more. While Calabrese is currently working from home, he will open an office location in the coming months, which will be announced once operational.

Mary Marquez opened Brightway, The Marquez Agency in West Palm Beach, Fla. Marquez comes to Brightway from Burrowes Insurance, where she worked for the past seven years. Before that, she was a customer service representative at State Farm for nearly a year. Marquez speaks fluent English and Spanish. Brightway, The Marquez Agency is located in the Palm Gate Plaza at 3951 North Haverhill Road, Suite 208 in West Palm Beach. The Agency offers customized home, condo, renters, personal articles, flood, auto, RV, motorcycle, boat and umbrella insurance policies from numerous insurance brands including Bankers, Federated National, Foremost, Hagerty, Mercury, Nationwide, Progressive and Safeco and many more.

Patrick Calabrese opened Brightway, The Calabrese Agency in West Palm Beach, Fla. While Calabrese is currently working from home, he will open an office location in the coming months, which will be announced once operational. Calabrese comes to Brightway from State Farm, where he worked for the past three years as an agent. Brightway, The Calabrese Agency offers customized home, condo, renters, personal articles, flood, auto, RV, motorcycle, boat, life and umbrella insurance policies from numerous insurance brands including Bankers, Edison, Foremost, Hagerty, Johnson and Johnson, Nationwide, Progressive, Safeco, Tapco and many more.

Brightway Agency Owner, Clayton Vigrass, has opened Brightway, The Vigrass Family Agency at 600 1st Avenue North, Suite 303A in St. Petersburg. Vigrass comes to Brightway with 22 years industry experience. He spent the past 11 years at USI Insurance Services, where he was senior vice president of retail, and he spent 11 years with Willis Towers Watson before going to USI. Vigrass started his professional career with Ernst & Young as a Certified Public Accountant in Tennessee. Brightway, The Vigrass Family Agency offers customized home, condo, renters, personal articles, flood, auto, RV, motorcycle, boat and umbrella insurance policies from numerous insurance brands including Bankers, Cypress, Hagerty, Johnson and Johnson, Nationwide, Progressive and many more.

Brightway Agency Owner, Julie Tilbiyan, opened Brightway, The JT Agency. While Tilbiyan is currently working from home, she will open an office location in the coming months, which will be announced once operational. A native of LA, Tilbiyan comes to Brightway with 12 years industry experience. Most recently, she was the vice president of Corporate Sales for a commercial insurance broker for two years. Brightway, The JT Agency offers customized home, condo, renters, personal articles, flood, auto, RV, motorcycle, boat and umbrella insurance policies from numerous insurance brands including Aegis, Bankers, Foremost, Hagerty, Hippo, Johnson and Johnson, Nationwide, Progressive, Tapco and many more.

Brightway Agency Owner, Jennifer Dittman, has become a multi-unit owner with the national insurance franchise. Dittman is the new owner of Brightway, Lake Mary in Lake Mary, Fla. Dittman opened Brightway, The Dittman Agency in Oldsmar in 2016, and is among the top 25% highest-producing agency owners in the Brightway system.

In December, Brightway announced the opening of five new agencies between Florida, Kentucky and Louisiana.

Cyndiana DeJesus opened Brightway, The DeJesus Legacy Agency in Palm Bay, Fla., on Nov. 16. While DeJesus currently is operating the agency from her home in Palm Bay, she will open an office location nearby in the coming months. The office location will be announced once operational. DeJesus comes to Brightway with 11 years of insurance industry experience. Prior to joining Brightway, she was with State Farm, where she started as a Receptionist and worked her way up to Customer Service Manager then on to Sales. DeJesus speaks fluent English and Spanish. Brightway, The DeJesus Legacy Agency offers customized home, condo, renters, flood, personal articles, auto, RV, motorcycle, boat, life and umbrella insurance policies from numerous insurance brands including Amelia Underwriters, Bankers, Edison, Foremost, Hagerty, Johnson and Johnson, Mercury, Nationwide, Safeco, SageSure and many more.

Jeremee Gant opened Brightway, The Jeremee Gant Agency in Gonzales, La., on Nov. 16. While Gant currently is operating the agency from his home in Gonzales, he will open an office location nearby in the coming months. The office location will be announced once operational.Brightway, The Jeremee Gant Agency, offers home, condo, renters, flood, personal articles, auto, RV, motorcycle, boat, life and umbrella insurance policies from numerous insurance brands including: Progressive, Safeco, National General, La Citizens, Wright Flood, Foremost, Hagerty, SageSure, American Modern and many more.

Ronda Curtis opened Brightway, The Clayton-Noll Agency in Union, Ky. on Nov. 16. While Curtis is currently operating the agency from her home in Union, she will open an office location nearby in the coming months. The office location will be announced once operational. Curtis Agency is the only Brightway location currently serving consumers in the state. Born and raised in Kentucky, Curtis comes to Brightway from State Farm where she was an agent team member. Brightway, The Clayton-Noll Agency offers home, condo, renters, flood, personal articles, auto, RV< motorcycle, boat, life and umbrella insurance policies from numerous insurance brands including Appalachian Underwriters, Bankers, Foremost, Hagerty, Hippo, Johnson and Johnson, Progressive, Nationwide, Stillwater and more.

Andrew and Leah Haines opened Brightway, The Haines Family Agency in Celebration, Fla. on Nov. 16. The husband-and-wife team are currently operating the agency from their home and will open an office location in Central Florida in the coming months. The office location will be announced once operational. The Haines come to Brightway with four decades of combined experience in owning and operating sports leagues and teams, as well as their own marketing company. Brightway, The Haines Family Agency offers customized home, condo, renters, flood, personal articles, auto, condo, RV, motorcycle, boat, life and umbrella insurance policies from numerous insurance brands including American Integrity, Bankers, Foremost, Hagerty, Johnson and Johnson, Nationwide, Progressive, Stillwater, Tapco and Wright Flood.

Todd Robicheaux opened Brightway, The Todd Robicheaux Agency in Covington, La. Robicheaux owned an Allstate Agency for 26 years before opening his Brightway Agency. He brings 30 years of industry experience to the new Agency. Brightway, The Todd Robicheaux Agency offers home, condo, renters, personal articles, flood, auto, RV, motorcycle, boat, umbrella, and life insurance policies from insurance carriers including Acadian Managers, American Strategic, Bankers, Bristol West, Foremost, Hagerty, Johnson and Johnson, Lighthouse, Mercury, Progressive, Safeco, SageSure, Tapco and more.

Brightway Insurance is a national property/casualty insurance distribution company with more than $710 million in annualized written premium. Brightway got its start in 2008 and has since grown to more than 900 people in 242 offices across 22 states serving customers in all 50 states.

Full Circle Insurance Group Joins Midwest Insurance Agency Alliance

Full Circle Insurance Group in Omaha, Neb., has joined Midwest Insurance Agency Alliance Inc. (MIAA), a network of insurance agencies across Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.

A full-service insurance agency, Full Circle Insurance Group serves the needs of families and businesses throughout the state, including Omaha, Lincoln and Papillion. Owned by Curt Neujahr, the agency offers home and renters insurance, auto, life and financial products, business insurance and group benefits.

Founded in 2001, MIAA is a wholly owned subsidiary of SIAA (Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance) and one of its 48 regional master agencies.

84 Agencies Join Smart Choice in November

Smart Choice signed 84 new agency partners in November, marking a continued trend of over 80 new agencies a month, and continuing the companys growth. After partnering with over 350 new agencies in the first quarter of 2020, and reaching a milestone of 8,000 total agency partners early in the year, Smart Choice continues to exceed growth expectations heading into 2021.

The company has more than doubled its number of partner agencies in the last five years, and serves more than 20% of all the independent agencies nationwide. Smart Choice said it expected 24% gross revenue growth, and over 1200 new agency partners for 2020.

The company worked to be a resource to agencies during the global Covid-19 pandemic, offering dedicated resources of staff, and online centers for assistance in navigating communications from carrier partners. In addition, Smart Choice recently launched the Agency Business Center for its partner agencies, which provides increased access to more robust reporting, marketing resources, market search tools, and more.

Smart Choice offers a range of products and services to its partner agencies, including access to personal, commercial and life markets, in addition to business builder and business saver products. Currently serving over 8,600 agents in 45 states, Smart Choice has agreements with more than 100 nationwide and local carriers. Smart Choice agency partners write more than $8 billion in premium annually.

The Smart Choice Agents Program is a wholly-owned program of Worldwide Insurance Network, Inc. (WIN), headquartered in High Point, North Carolina.

Topics Mergers

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An underground bunker that would have become the regional seat of government in the South West had the Soviets nuked Britain in the 1950s is expected to fetch 400,000 at auction.

The Hope Cove Bunker, near Salcombe in Devon, was originally built as a World War II radar station in 1941 before being redeveloped in 1952 as Britain faced a new threat from the Soviet Union in the Cold War.

It was refurbished as part of the ROTOR programme, an elaborate air defence system which enabled the UK to detect possible nuclear attacks, and became a radar station designed for the interception of Soviet aircraft heading over the coast of South Devon.

The impressive bunker, which features a floor that is entirely below ground, will be auctioned on February 10 with a freehold guide price of 400,000.

The property is nestled in more than four acres of stunning countryside close to the coastal town of Salcombe and the airfield RAF Bolt Head.

The Hope Cove Bunker, near Salcombe in Devon, was originally built as a World War II radar station in 1941 before being redeveloped in 1952 as Britain faced a new threat from the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Pictured: Hope Cove

It was refurbished as part of the ROTOR programme, an elaborate air defence system which enabled the UK to detect possible nuclear attacks, and became a radar station designed for the interception of Soviet aircraft heading over the coast of South Devon

It boasts a floor above ground, with another hidden beneath the ground with clinical corridors and concrete walls.

The bunker, which spans 33,000 square feet underground, has around 60 rooms on two levels.

Chris Howell, who looks after RAF Hope Cove, told Devon Live: 'It's semi submerged which means the lower level is underground.

'The bunker went into "care and maintenance" until 1949 when the Russians nuclear threat became apparent.'

Hope Cove was originally active between 1941 and 1945, working to assist the nearby RAF Bolt Head in tracking and intercepting hostile aircraft as they passed over South Devon overnight.

The impressive bunker, which features a floor that is entirely below ground, will be auctioned on February 10 with a freehold guide price of 400,000. Pictured: Inside the bunker

It boasts a floor above ground, with another hidden beneath the ground with clinical corridors and concrete walls

The bunker, which spans 33,000 square feet underground, has around 60 rooms on two levels. Pictured: Inside the bunker

The property is nestled in more than four acres of stunning countryside close to the coastal town of Salcombe and the airfield RAF Bolt Head. Pictured: Hope Cove

It then went into 'care and maintenance' before it was upgraded under the ROTOR programme in 1952.

The station, which became a Sub-Regional Control, Sub-Regional Headquarters and Regional Government Headquarters, still features its two-storey R6 operations block and a Type 80 radar modulator building.

It previously had a guardhouse which was designed to look like a bungalow.

Hope Cove was active again from 1954 and 1958, when it was taken over by the Home Office and turned into a Regional Seat of Government named Gull Perch.

Katie Semmens of Emson said: 'This is an exciting opportunity to acquire this historic property.

The station, which became a Sub-Regional Control, Sub-Regional Headquarters and Regional Government Headquarters, still features its two-storey R6 operations block and a Type 80 radar modulator building

Hope Cove was active again from 1954 and 1958, when it was taken over by the Home Office and turned into a Regional Seat of Government named Gull Perch

'It's known for its role in the Cold War when it formed part of the ROTOR programme, which was a huge and elaborate air defence radar system to enable the UK to detect potential attacks from Soviet bombers.

'With its location in beautiful countryside close to Salcombe it offers potential for a number of uses, all subject to the necessary consents.'

The site will be auctioned by Clive Emson and Vickery Holman Property Consultants of Exeter on February 10, with the sale taking place online.
Attacking the govt, Opposition parties said trenches have been dug, barbed wires put up and spikes installed at the sites of farmers' protests, whereas bridges should have been built to win over them

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Urging members to return to their seats, Speaker Om Birla said they should maintain the dignity of the House or else he will have to take disciplinary actions against those who violate norms. He said the Question Hour is important and it should go on. But Opposition members refused to relent, forcing him to adjourn the proceedings till 4.30 pm.

Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned five times on Wednesday as the protesting Opposition members demanded a separate discussion on the farm laws issue. As soon as the House met at 4 pm, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury tried to raise the issue of farmers' agitation, saying that the matter is maligning the image of the country.

"I urge the government to withdraw these three bills," he said, and added that the government should set up a committee to find out the whereabouts of people "who have gone missing" during the farmers' protest. The senior Congress leader cited several examples, including one during his own party's rule in 1988, of the government giving in to the demands of farmers.

Declaring that disrespect to the national flag cannot be tolerated, he also condemned the violence at the Red Fort during the farmers' tractor rally on Republic Day.

Participating in the discussion on the Motion on Thanks to President's Address to the joint sitting of Parliament, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress member Ghulam Nabi Azad suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself should make the announcement on repeal of the laws. Modi was present in the House at the time.

Several Opposition parties including the Congress and the DMK on Wednesday asked the government to withdraw the three contentious farm laws without making it a prestige issue and not to treat the agitating farmers as "enemies".

Proceedings in Rajya Sabha will commence at 9 am on Wednesday. The Centre and the opposition parties have agreed to conduct a discussion on the farm laws in Parliament. The discussion will take place for 15 hours in the Rajya Sabha, after the Motion of Thanks on Friday

Proceedings commence in the Upper House on day five of the ongoing Budget session of Parliament.

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Thursday requested that more members be allowed in the Rajya Sabha to create an atmosphere of debate. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu said the matter will be discussed later.

"Our democracy is strong, it will not be weakened by anyone's tweet," he said, a day after the MEA's response to tweets by Rihanna and Greta Thunberg on farmers' protests.

Citing a portion of the President's Address on the importance of democracy, Jha added that whatever we have seen recently has been against the Constitution.

Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha Thursday slammed the government for its reaction towards the farmers' protests. "The media starts talking of the 'Pakistani angle and Khalistani angle' with regard to farmers' protest. This is not right."

He goes on to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and government for their timely action that contributed to this, and cites the example of emergency to counter allegations that the lockdown was not implemented in an intelligent manner.

He added that India's recovery rate from COVID-19 is high compared to the rest of the world.

Jyotiraditya Scindia in Rajya Sabha said 2020 was a challenging year for the whole world. "But after a year, looking at the falling COVID-19 cases there is a new sense of energy. India has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of coronavirus."

TDP's Kumar Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar said the government should be "magnanimous" in considering the farmers demands. He further said Andhra Pradesh government should consider the demands of the Amravati farmers who have been protesting for 415 days.

Citing the Congress' 2019 manifesto, he said: "Those who earlier said they support (farm reform laws) have changed track."

"We have broken the shackles to ensure that farmers can independently sell their produce anywhere in the country," said Scindia.

Speaking on farmers' issues in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, BJP's Jyotiraditya Scindia in Rajya Sabha reiterated the party's stand that the three farm bills were brought for the benefit of farmers.

He also said that the gap between Modi government's promises and implementation of those promises are huge.

"In Singapore, they gave 8 days notice before lockdown. But in a country as vast as India, just four hours? PM Modi misused the federal structure in this decision," he said.

Congress' Digvijay Singh spoke about the effect of coronavirus lockdown on migrant workers, including pregnant women and children who had to walk for kilometres to get home.

Addressing vaccine hesitancy, Digvijay Singh criticised the budget set aside for coronavirus vaccination as low and points out that the permit is only for emergency use.

He also mentioned Sudha Bharadwaj, who was been jailed for over 3 years. "She was a Harvard professor and now she is languishing in jail for supporting Dalits in Bhima Koregaon," he added.

"The hoisting of cases against farmers, journalists, activists and such need to stop. We respect the mandate you have, but the way in which dissent (which is the backbone of a democracy) is being suppressed in our country is deplorable," he said.

Taking a swipe at the Narendra Modi government over the contentious farm laws, Congress leader Digvijay Singh said that the way dissent is being suppressed is "deplorable"

In these times, we should be thankful for small freedoms like being allowed to speak without the mike being muted, or the television feeds being censored or MPs not being escorted out by marshals, said Derek O Brien of TMC, from West Bengal.

He further said: "If something similar to the incident in Delhi had happened in West Bengal or Maharashtra, what would have the reaction been?."

Talking about the death of the farmer during the tractors rally on 26 January, TMC leader Derek O Brien said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi Home Minister Amit Shah should investigate the incident and provide a report.

Responding to MEA's backlash against international personalities' supporting the farmers' movement, Derek O Brien said: "Today we very touchy about remarks coming from outside on farmer's agitation. But who said this Abki baar Trump sarkar. And now we are talking about international interference"

"Centre's decision to put concrete walls at protest site won't help. Government must end the matter peacefully," he said.

The former Karnataka chief minister also condemned Centre's decision to put up "concrete walls" at protest sites.

"We condemn actions of certain miscreants on Republic Day, but farmers are not responsible for it. They should not be punished," said Karnataka MP Deve Gowda.

Speaking on how the government has undermined federalism, Derek O'Brien said that cess (which is not shared with states) have been increased and MPLAD funds have been suspended under the guise of pandemic.

"Such aggressive approach wasn't even heard of towards the neighbouring nations who came inside (the Indian territory), Jha said.

"With folded hands, I request you to please understand the pain of farmers. In harsh winter you stopped water supply and toilet facilities, dug trenches, put barbed wires, and installed spikes," he said.

Opening the second day of discussion on a motion thanking the President for his address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD said the government has lost the patience to hear and any criticism is painted as anti-national.

He further went to say that 11 round of talks between Centre and the farm union leaders have failed.

"For past 76 days, farmers are protesting, and they have been called terrorists and Khalistanis. A BJP MLA said that they are not farmers, they are terrorists and should be shot, and if Delhi Police cannot do it then I will hit them with shoe. Is this the language for annadatas?" said AAP leader Sanjay Singh.

"On seven routes farmers marched peacefully on 26 January, those who stormed Red Fort and disrespected triciolour belong to BJP. Deep Sidhu is a BJP man. He has met Narendra Modi. They can stoop to any level for their politics. The internet has also been shut down there," he said.

AAP's Sanjay Singh in Rajya Sabha said BJP party workers stormed the Red Fort and disrespected the national flag on Republic Day.

"BJP govt has prioritized the welfare of the poor. It took 34 years to bring a new education policy for this country," he added.

"In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his priority was the poor, the young, women and backward in the country. Our mantra is minimum government maximum governance," he said, citing data of beneficiaries of several schemes under the BJP government

Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said that the NDA government has never differentiated between BJP and non-BJP ruled states.

"You are talking about being self reliant, we were importing foodgrains. Our farmers made us self reliant," he said.

Deepinder Hooda, Congress MP from Haryana, asked the government to "shed its hard stance and withdraw the farm Bills". "I have a list of 184 farmers who died. Their brothers and sons are deployed at China border and elsewhere. I want to lay this on the table of the House," said Hooda.

On 23 March, 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office to Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose as chairperson of Lokpal, the top body to inquire and investigate allegations of corruption against public functionaries.

Anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal, which came into being in 2019, is required to present to president and Parliament an annual report on the work done by it but no such report has been laid in the two Houses, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.

"Farmers are wrongly blamed for the violence that ensued during the tractors march on 26 January. Internet has been suspended in Delhi borders and parts of Haryana. They are being denied basic amenities," he said.

Reacting sharply to the treatment meted out to the farmers protesting at Delhi borders, Congress MP Deepinder Hooda said "barricades are placed and farmers are being illtreated".

Participating in a discussion on the motion of thanks on the president's address in the Rajya Sabha, the Trinamool MP also referred to the death of a farmer during the tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day and said there should be a "proper inquiry" so the truth could come out.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien on Thursday pressed the government to repeal the three controversial farm laws and offered a 'Repealing Bill 2021' drafted by him for the purpose.

To which, Singh returned: "My blessings were always with you. And will always be with you, no matter which party you join."

"Scindia-ji I congratulate you. The way you earlier used to present the UPA's point of view forcefully in the house, today you have done an excellent job of expressing the BJP's view. Wah Maharaj-ji wah!" said Singh. Scindia smiled and retorted: "It is all thanks to your blessings."

Citing the Congress' 2019 manifesto, Scindia said: "Those who earlier said they support (farm reform laws) have changed track."

Scindia, speaking in the Parliament for the first time since he jumped ship last year from the BJP to the Congress - his party of 19 years, targeted the "double standards" of the Congress-led UPA government on the farm laws at the centre of a massive farmers' agitation.

Amid the debate in Rajya Sabha on farmers' issues, an exchange between BJP leader Jyotraditya Scindia and his former Congress colleague Digvijaya Singh made for an amusing interlude on Thursday.

The government, meanwhile, has been insisting on persuing the tradition of passing motion of thanks to president's address first.

Congress MP and party's chief Whip in Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore has given an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha to hold a discussion on "farm laws". Congress' Manish Tewari has given another notice with a similar context. The Lok Sabha has seen a washout session so far, apart from Day 1 when the Budget was presented, as members have been demanding an adjournment of the regular business of House for the sole purpose of a dedicated discussion on farm issues.

Lokpal is an independent statutory body established under Section 3 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013. In terms of Section 48 of the said Act, the Lokpal is required to present annually to the President a report on the work done by it, which is caused to be laid in both the Houses of the Parliament, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply. No such report has been laid, he said.

Anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal, which came into being in 2019, is required to present to president and Parliament an annual report on the work done by it but no such report has been laid in the two Houses, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. On 23 March, 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office to Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose as chairperson of Lokpal, the top body to inquire and investigate allegations of corruption against public functionaries.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is set to introduce The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021, an Ordinance for which was promulgated when the House was not in Session. The Lok Sabha is also still due to pass the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address.

Several ministers are expected to submit reports and lay papers on the table, including written responses to questions asked in the Question Hour. The Standing Committees on Railways, Urban development, Science and Technology, Climate change etc will also table their reports.

"With folded hands, I request you to please understand the pain of farmers. In harsh winter you stopped water supply and toilet facilities, dug trenches, put barbed wires, and installed spikes," he said. "Such aggressive approach wasn't even heard of towards the neighbouring nations who came inside (the Indian territory)."

Opening the second day of discussion on a motion thanking the President for his address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD said the government has lost the patience to hear and any criticism is painted as anti-national.

Opposition parties on Thursday tore into the government's handling of the farmer protest against three contentious farm reform laws, saying ministers believe in monologue and trenches have been dug, barbed wires put up and spikes installed when bridges should have been built to win over farmers.

Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 6 pm. The House had just started the debate on the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The record of the Rajya Sabha and the video record will show that there was not a full discussion, microphones of some MPs were muted, and a "call for division (that is a vote) was summarily rejected", the former Union minister said in a series of tweets.

Referring to the statement, Chidambaram tweeted, "MEA's statement reads 'The Parliament of India, after a full debate and discussion, passed reformist legislation relating to the agricultural sector'." "That is a travesty of the truth," he said

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the MEA had slammed the remarks made by American singer Rihanna and other celebrities and activists on farmer protests, saying the facts on the issue must be ascertained before rushing to comment on it. The MEA had asserted that the farm laws were passed by Parliament after a full debate and discussion.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday contested the assertion in a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement that the new farm laws were passed in Parliament after a full debate and discussion, terming it as a travesty of the truth.

The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 introduced in Lok Sabha, which will replace an Ordinance already in force. The Ordinance was promulgated on November 4, 2020. It seeks to amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The Act contains provisions to deal with domestic and international arbitration and defines the law for conducting conciliation proceedings.

Lok Sabha had to be adjourned within two minutes of reconvening at 6 pm. The House will now meet again at 7 pm

The House of Commons further clarified on Thursday that while it is possible to view signatures on its petitions website by individual parliamentary constituencies, and the data also gives the name of the constituency MP, the data does not show whether individual MPs have signed it.

While the name of Boris Johnson appears in his capacity as a west London Conservative Party member of Parliament, Downing Street had categorically denied that the UK Prime Minister had signed the petition.

The UK Parliament's Petitions Committee will consider a Westminster Hall debate in the House of Commons complex on the issue of farmers protests and press freedom in India after an online petition attracted over 110,000 signatures.

"Speaker Om Birla has accepted the resignation of Kunhalikutty, an MP from Kerala, with effect from February 3," said Meenakshi Lekhi, who was presiding the House, on Thursday. Though Lekhi did not give any reason for his resignation, there is speculation Kunhalikutty might contest the upcoming elections in Kerala.

Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P K Kunhalikutty has resigned from Lok Sabha, ahead of assembly elections in Kerala. He represented Malappuram constituency in Kerala in the House.

He said the government has come up with a scheme to procure ethanol worth Rs 20,000 crore which will help increase farmer's income.

"We have started the Gobar Dhan scheme. Cow dung, agriculture waste, city waste, forest waste, the carbon in biomass, everything will be converted into energy. In a few days, the heap of waste at Ghazipur will be cleaned up. The energy that we will make from that we are going to give additional income of Rs 1 lakh crore in the accounts of farmers. Income of farmers will double from that," Pradhan said while speaking during a discussion on Motion of Thanks to the President's address.

The government will provide Rs 1 lakh crore additional income to farmers that will be generated by converting waste into energy, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told Rajya Sabha on Thursday. He said the heap of waste at Ghazipur will also be cleaned soon to create energy.

Lok Sabha resumes proceedings for the fourth time but had to be adjourned within minutes of reconvening. The Budget Session has been a near washout in the Lower House for the past three days.

In five years, the total road construction will match the likes of the US and the European nations. The government envisages building 34,800 km of highways at a cost of about Rs 5.35 lakh crore under the ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojna.

"Today the information which I have received is that our construction record comes to 29.6 km, means 30 km per day...and this is for the first time, the highest record was achieved by NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) in the history of the country," he said.

Road construction has touched record 30 km per day, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told the Lok Sabha on Thursday. While responding to queries raised by members during Question Hour, the Road Transport and Highways Minister also said Bharatmala Pariyojana is an important project that will change the face of the country.

A parliamentary panel has raised concerns over building a national database of crime scene DNA profiles as proposed under a new bill, saying it will include virtually everyone as DNA is left at such spots before and after the incident by several people who may have nothing to do with the case. The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Bill, 2019, seeks to establish a National DNA Data Bank and Regional DNA Data banks to store and maintain the DNA profiles in accordance with the provisions relating to the use and access to information, its retention and expunction.

Lok Sabha has resumed proceedings amid sloganeering from Opposition who are flashing pamphlets in support of farmers. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who is in the Chair, has requested the protesting members to use the Zero Hour to raise important issues.

Nishikant Dubey (BJP) demands Presidents rule in Jharkhand due to rise in crimes against women. Vishnu Dayal Sharma (BJP) asks for railways crossings that have been shut down to be opened in his constituency in Jharkhand.

"I don't want to leave the important matter of education on the Delhi government so kindly open a Navodaya Vidyalay in the region," Tiwari said.

Complaining about schools run by AAP government, Tiwari said that the schools are grossly inadequate to educate all children in the area. He said that many students are failing exam because teachers are either not available or are unable to give attention to children in overflowing schools.

Speaking during the Zero Hour taken up by the Lok Sabha on Thursday, BJD MP Bhratruhari Mahtab said that Mahatma Gandhi was given a rousing reception in Cuttack during the non-cooperation movement. "He gave details of Mahatma Gandhis visit to Odisha and requested central government to arrange a laser show. Also, he empasiesd that Gandhijis portrait be displayed in the five railway stations he passed through in Odisha," The Hindu reported.

Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, Congress MP Deepinder Singh Hooda said the government has no right to question the patriotism of farmers "as they are the ones who have made the country self-sufficient in food".

Attacking the government, Opposition parties said trenches have been dug, barbed wires put up and spikes installed at the sites of farmers' protests, whereas bridges should have been built to win over them. The BJP highlighted the farm welfare measures and tore into the shifting of goalposts by the Opposition.

Opposition parties on Thursday launched a vociferous attack on the Centre over its handling of the farmers' agitation, callings its dialogues with the protestors "monologues", even as the ruling BJP defended the new laws asserting that its government is committed to the welfare of peasants and increase their incomes.

Kunhalikutty, who represented Malappuram constituency in Kerala, handed over his resignation letter to Speaker Om Birla at his chamber on Wednesday. "I have resigned under the directions of the party (IUML) and the UDF," Kunhalikutty told reporters in Delhi after submitting his resignation.

Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P K Kunhalikutty has resigned from Lok Sabha and will be leading his party's campaign in the Assembly elections in Kerala, likely to be held in April-May. The IUML is a key ally of the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the state.

In five years, the total road construction will match the likes of the US and the European nations. The government envisages building 34,800 km of highways at a cost of about Rs 5.35 lakh crore under the ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojna.

"Today the information which I have received is that our construction record comes to 29.6 km, means 30 km per day...and this is for the first time, the highest record was achieved by NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) in the history of the country," he said.

Road construction has touched record 30 km per day, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told the Lok Sabha on Thursday. While responding to queries raised by members during Question Hour, the Road Transport and Highways Minister also said Bharatmala Pariyojana is an important project that will change the face of the country.

A parliamentary panel has raised concerns over building a national database of crime scene DNA profiles as proposed under a new bill, saying it will include virtually everyone as DNA is left at such spots before and after the incident by several people who may have nothing to do with the case. The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Bill, 2019, seeks to establish a National DNA Data Bank and Regional DNA Data banks to store and maintain the DNA profiles in accordance with the provisions relating to the use and access to information, its retention and expunction.

Lok Sabha has resumed proceedings amid sloganeering from Opposition who are flashing pamphlets in support of farmers. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who is in the Chair, has requested the protesting members to use the Zero Hour to raise important issues.

Nishikant Dubey (BJP) demands Presidents rule in Jharkhand due to rise in crimes against women. Vishnu Dayal Sharma (BJP) asks for railways crossings that have been shut down to be opened in his constituency in Jharkhand.

"I don't want to leave the important matter of education on the Delhi government so kindly open a Navodaya Vidyalay in the region," Tiwari said.

Complaining about schools run by AAP government, Tiwari said that the schools are grossly inadequate to educate all children in the area. He said that many students are failing exam because teachers are either not available or are unable to give attention to children in overflowing schools.

Speaking during the Zero Hour taken up by the Lok Sabha on Thursday, BJD MP Bhratruhari Mahtab said that Mahatma Gandhi was given a rousing reception in Cuttack during the non-cooperation movement. "He gave details of Mahatma Gandhis visit to Odisha and requested central government to arrange a laser show. Also, he empasiesd that Gandhijis portrait be displayed in the five railway stations he passed through in Odisha," The Hindu reported.

Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, Congress MP Deepinder Singh Hooda said the government has no right to question the patriotism of farmers "as they are the ones who have made the country self-sufficient in food".

Attacking the government, Opposition parties said trenches have been dug, barbed wires put up and spikes installed at the sites of farmers' protests, whereas bridges should have been built to win over them. The BJP highlighted the farm welfare measures and tore into the shifting of goalposts by the Opposition.

Opposition parties on Thursday launched a vociferous attack on the Centre over its handling of the farmers' agitation, callings its dialogues with the protestors "monologues", even as the ruling BJP defended the new laws asserting that its government is committed to the welfare of peasants and increase their incomes.

However, the House was adjourned for the fourth time till 8.30 PM as members did not yield to the request of the Chair.

As the House assembled after the third adjournment at 7 PM, the opposition members shouted slogans against the agri laws. Rajendra Agrawal, who was in the chair, appealed to the members to go back to their seats so that the House can function normally.

Lok Sabha proceedings were disrupted for the third consecutive day on Thursday as protests by Opposition members demanding a separate discussion on the three contentious farm laws created uproar, leading to repeated adjournments of the House.

Kunhalikutty, who represented Malappuram constituency in Kerala, handed over his resignation letter to Speaker Om Birla at his chamber on Wednesday. "I have resigned under the directions of the party (IUML) and the UDF," Kunhalikutty told reporters in Delhi after submitting his resignation.

Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P K Kunhalikutty has resigned from Lok Sabha and will be leading his party's campaign in the Assembly elections in Kerala, likely to be held in April-May. The IUML is a key ally of the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the state.

Parliament LATEST Updates: Opposition parties on Thursday launched a vociferous attack on the Centre over its handling of the farmers' agitation, callings its dialogues with the protestors "monologues", even as the ruling BJP defended the new laws asserting that its government is committed to the welfare of peasants and increase their incomes.

Attacking the government, Opposition parties said trenches have been dug, barbed wires put up and spikes installed at the sites of farmers' protests, whereas bridges should have been built to win over them. The BJP highlighted the farm welfare measures and tore into the shifting of goalposts by the Opposition.

Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, Congress MP Deepinder Singh Hooda said the government has no right to question the patriotism of farmers "as they are the ones who have made the country self-sufficient in food".

Speaking during the Zero Hour taken up by the Lok Sabha, Manoj Tiwari complained about schools run by AAP government in Delhi and said that the schools are grossly inadequate to educate all children in the area. He said that many students are failing exam because teachers are either not available or are unable to give attention to children in overflowing schools.

"I don't want to leave the important matter of education on the Delhi government so kindly open a Navodaya Vidyalay in the region," Tiwari said.

Lok Sabha has resumed proceedings amid sloganeering from Opposition who are flashing pamphlets in support of farmers. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who is in the Chair, has requested the protesting members to use the Zero Hour to raise important issues.

A parliamentary panel has raised concerns over building a national database of crime scene DNA profiles, saying it will include virtually everyone as DNA is left at such spots before and after the incident by several people

Lok Sabha had to be adjourned as soon as it reconvened at 7 pm amid Opposition protests. The Budget Session has been a near washout in the Lower House for the past three days.

within two minutes of reconvening at 6 pm. The House will now meet again at 7 pm

Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 6 pm. The House had just started the debate on the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021

Speaker adjourned the House barely after three questions had been asked during the Question Hour. Opposition members raised slogans against the Modi government in the Well of the House.

A day after the Lok Sabha proceedings were washed out over the Opposition's demand to have a dedicated discussion on farm issues, the Opposition has again placed a request for an adjournment motion to discuss the same. The Rajya Sabha, meanwhile, witnessed a fiery debate on farm laws

The Trinamool MP referred to the death of a farmer during the tractor march in Delhi on Republic Day and said there should be a 'proper inquiry' so the truth could come out.

Reacting sharply to the treatment meted out the farmers protesting at Delhi borders, Congress leader and Haryana MP Deepinder Hooda asked the Centre to shed its hard stance and withdraw the farm Bills.

Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, says that the NDA government has never differentiated between BJP and non-BJP ruled states. 'Our mantra is minimum government maximum governance. We don't discriminate between States ruled by us and others,' he added.

The AAP leader in Rajya Sabha said BJP party workers stormed the Red Fort and disrespected the national flag on Republic Day.

Stating that protests and agitations are the lifeblood of democracy, he contested the government statement of 11 rounds of dialogue have concluded with agitating farmers, saying its ministers 'believe in monologue and not dialogue'.

The former Karnataka chief minister also condemned Centre's decision to put up 'concrete walls' at protest sites.

The Congress leader also mentioned Sudha Bharadwaj, who was been jailed for over three years. "She was a Harvard professor and now she is languishing in jail for supporting Dalits in Bhima Koregaon," he added.

Speaking on farmers' issues in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, BJP's Jyotiraditya Scindia in Rajya Sabha reiterated the party's stand that the three farm bills were brought for the benefit of farmers.

Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha Thursday slammed the government for its reaction towards the farmers' protests. "The media starts talking of the 'Pakistani angle and Khalistani angle' with regard to farmers' protest. This is not right."

Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy introduced Bill in Rajya Sabha to replace Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 (J&K Cadre merger with AGMUT).

The Centre and the opposition parties have agreed to conduct a discussion on the farm laws in Parliament. The discussion will take place for 15 hours in the Rajya Sabha, after the Motion of Thanks on Friday.

The Lok Sabha proceedings were washed out for the second consecutive day on Wednesday after the House was repeatedly adjourned due to protests by Opposition members who were demanding a separate discussion on the farm laws issue.

The House reassembled four times but was unable to conduct business as the members of the Congress, DMK, AAP and the SAD trooped into the Well and shouted slogans against the farm laws, ignoring repeated appeals by Speaker Om Birla to maintain order.

As the proceedings started at 4 pm, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury tried to raise the issue of farmers' agitation against the agri laws, saying the matter is harming the image of the country. "We are concerned," he said.

Several Opposition members entered the Well, protesting against the farm laws. Chowdhury later demanded a separate discussion on the Presidential address and the farmers' issue.

During the day Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said he had discussions with the leaders of Opposition parties and they had agreed to start the discussion on the motion thanking the President for his address. "Now, they have made a U-turn and that is also like an insult to the President," Joshi said.

Speaker Om Birla reminded the MPs that the whole nation is watching their conduct. He said the people have sent them to the House to raise matters related to the common man and not to chant slogans and disrupt proceedings. Urging the members to return to their seats, Birla said they should maintain the dignity of the House or else he will have to take disciplinary action.

He said the Question Hour is important and it should go on. However, repeated assurances by the Speaker that the members will be given adequate opportunity to put forward their views, did not cut ice with the protesting opposition members.

Amid the din, the House was first adjourned till 4.30 pm, followed by adjournments till 5 pm, 7 pm and later till 9 pm. Birla urged Aam Aadmi Party leader Bhagwant Mann and others to go to their seats if they want a discussion. But the opposition members did not pay heed to his requests, forcing him to adjourn the proceedings again till 5 pm.

Similar scenes were witnessed when the proceedings resumed, with many slogan-shouting opposition members entering the Well again. After various documents were tabled, the Speaker requested the agitating members to return to their seats as he wanted to start the Zero Hour, saying it is important to talk about the problems faced by the people in the members' constituencies.

However, the sloganeering continued. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal was also in the Well, holding a poster against the farm laws. As soon as the house assembled at 9 pm, members from Opposition parties again entered the Well and continued raising slogans forcing the speaker to adjourn the House for the day.

There were more than 20 members, including from the Congress, DMK, AAP and the SAD, protesting in the Well. Several farmer unions have been staging protests at various border points of Delhi since late November demanding the repeal of the farm laws.
The president says the sanctions decision is based on proof that the funding came from Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday had a meeting with heads of leading Ukrainian TV channels during which he assured there is no threat to freedom of speech or media business in Ukraine.

The meeting highlighted a recent decision taken by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on February 2, 2021 to impose special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) on several TV channels, the president's press service reported.

"It has nothing to do with other TV channels. Today, there is no threat to freedom of speech or media business in Ukraine," Zelensky said.

The president noted the sanctions decision was based on proof that the funding came from Russia and the targeted TV channels cooperated with terrorist organizations.

In turn, top managers of the TV channels expressed full support for the decision, because, according to them, the TV channels subject to sanctions had long pursued anti-government policies and acted in the interests of propaganda by the Russian Federation.

Read alsoMore TV channels could be sanctioned, NSDC saysThey noted the imposed sanctions are a tool of the international fight against disinformation and have nothing to do with the issue of freedom of speech and media independence.

According to the Ukrayinska Pravda online newspaper, Zelensky met with top managers of ICTV, Inter, 1+1, and Ukraina TV channels.

Sanctions against TV channels: What is known

On February 2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky enacted a National Security and Defense Council decision of February 2, 2021, to impose sanctions on Member of Parliament Taras Kozak and a number of TV channels Kozak owns, such as 112 Ukraine, NewsOne, and ZIK.

After that, the channels were immediately disconnected from broadcasting.

Commenting on the decision, Zelensky said he strongly supports the freedom of speech, but not propaganda financed by the aggressor country.

Taras Kozak's TV channels

On October 12, 2018, MP from the Opposition Platform - For Life Party Taras Kozak announced the acquisition of the NewsOne TV channel worth UAH 41-42 million (US$1.4-1.5 million).

In December 2018, Kozak announced the acquisition of nine companies of the 112 Ukraine group, estimating their value at UAH 72.87 million (US$2.6 million).

In 2019, Kozak became the new and sole owner of Zik TV broadcasters.

On October 4, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada backed an appeal to the National Security and Defense Council regarding the introduction of sanctions against companies affiliated with 112 Ukraine and NewsOne TV channels.

Reporting by UNIAN

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Some Yorubas in the diaspora have created a GoFundMe account to support the agitation of an acclaimed activist, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho.

The fund being donated is aimed at buying vehicles and major equipment for Mr Igboho and his supporters in actualising his dream to provide necessary security for the Southwest states.

PREMIUM TIMES understands that the deliberation to donate funds was reached on Tuesday during a virtual town fall meeting with Yorubas in Diaspora.

The fundraiser, Maureen Badejo, a blogger and activist based in the United Kingdom, said the GoFundMe page was meant to help raise 100,000 (N51.8m).

As of the last check on Thursday morning, the sum of 9,320 (N4.8m) has been donated.

For the past two weeks, Mr Igboho has been in the news over his agitation to evict Fulani herdsmen in the six Southwest states of Nigeria.

He issued a seven-day ultimatum to herdsmen in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State to vacate the area.

By the time the ultimatum lapsed, he went to the community with some youth and his actions led to the destruction of home of the Seriki Fulani in the area.

Mr Igboho also went to Ogun State on Monday to carry out eviction of some herdsmen but the state government disowned him, saying his help was not needed.

Some prominent Yoruba leaders, including the Ooni of Ife, Enitan Ogunwusi, have warned Mr Igboho to thread softly and allow necessary authorities take charge.

More over, they say it is unlawful under Nigerias laws for any citizen to expel other citizens or residents from wherever they chose to live in the country.
Page Content

A court in Germany ruled that employees can use a language other than German when communicating with a labor union, so long as translations are available. Nonetheless, a company may adopt a formal language policy in Germany if it has negotiated the policy in advance with the labor union and ensures the policy doesn't discriminate based on ethnicity.

In the case, a German labor union insisted that everyone communicate with the union only in German. In a legal decision last year, the Regional Labor Court of Nuremberg ruled that employees in Germany do not have to use German with other employees and the labor union if they provide suitable translations.

The court's decision clarified that employers may use foreign-language-speaking managers as a point of contact with the labor union. That's legal so long as communication between the union and the employer is mutually understood. When translations are provided, the employer bears the legal risk of any inaccurate translation.

The recent case involved a large, Spanish-owned international fashion company with a branch manager in Germany who conducted some meetings and personal conversations in English. In this scenario, it's possible that some foreign employees might speak and understand English better than German.

The company argued that communicating exclusively in German was not always reasonable due to the large number of nationalities and languages among the workforce. The labor union's German-only request restricted the company's freedom, since it would mean that only German-speaking people could be hired as managers in certain locations.

Corporate Language Policy



English often serves as a common language in business, and some large multinational companies have made English their official language. Frequently, the customers and clients of these companies are international.

In Germany, companies can establish a formal language policy within certain limits.

Corporations may choose whether their language policy will apply to internal or external communication, verbal or written communication, or only to certain departments or certain situations. The specific language rules can be spelled out in employment contracts if necessary.

If a company implements a formal language policy, the organization should be careful to make sure it does not discriminate against employees based on their ethnicity, knowing that ethnicity and language are often closely interconnected.

Context and Nature of Work

The best practice depends on the context and the nature of the work. Is there a need to communicate clearly with customers or suppliers on a regular basis? Is the conversation work-related or personal?

"If customers are only German-speaking, it would be considered an exercise of reasonable discretion to require employees to speak only German to customers," said Sandra Fredebeul, an attorney with Kliemt.Arbeitsrecht in Dusseldorf.

"Differentiation according to the tasks of the respective employee must always be taken into account," she added. For example, "an employee working in a warehouse without contact to customers or other international parts of the company cannot be required to speak English."



Consider how language affects the work processes and the relationships between supervisors and workers.



"For managers who do not speak the respective national or common company language, it is advisable to ensure that subordinate employees can understand the manager's instructionsfor example, by using interpreters," Fredebeul suggested. "This helps safeguard work processes."

Employers should carefully consider whether a one-language policy might trigger disputes with the labor union, delays in the collaboration between business partners or other problems.

"If you introduce the language requirement, you need to make sure that the change is introduced in a way that gives the employees the chance to adapt to the new situation," said Barbara Geck, an attorney with Bird and Bird in Frankfurt. "If you have tolerated that an employee only has a passing knowledge of German for years, you have to have a reason why you are now requiring it."

Leah Shepherd is a freelance writer in Columbia, Md.


Maintaining and operating the Irish Protocol is essential to support business and other sectors of our economy and solutions must be found to allow that to happen.

That is the message I made clear at the meeting with the European Commission's Vice-President, Maros Sefcovic, British Minister Michael Gove and Arlene Foster.

It's not perfect but it does protect the Good Friday Agreement, the all-Ireland economy and allows us continued access to a marketplace of 450 million people and avoid the chaos a hard border would have brought.

The parties which formed the Executive a year ago did so in order to provide both political leadership, stability and to confront the challenges facing people in their daily lives.

Dealing with Brexit is, alongside Covid, one of the most critical challenges we face.

Those who campaigned and championed the cause of Brexit both here, and in Britain, must own the consequences.

The DUP and Tories must shoulder their responsibility for the key role they have played in this self-serving and self-defeating strategy, against the wishes of a majority of voters in the North.

While no Assembly party gave its support to the Withdrawal Agreement, and since the DUP sabotaged Theresa May's Irish 'Backstop', the Protocol represents a compromise painstakingly negotiated by the European Union and the British Government.

It was four years in the making. It did not suddenly appear on January 1.

It must be faithfully operated with least disruption, and in a legally operable way which complies with the EU/BG agreement.

It should not be used as a pawn by any party to the Agreement, or those who oppose it.

The EU action in triggering Article 16 on Friday caused justified anger and very strong criticism from Sinn Fein and others and we welcome the fact that the European Commission reversed this appalling decision hours later.

The Executive is united in condemning any and all threats made against workers and staff going about their jobs at local ports.

The police must provide reassurance to these public servants that they can safely do their jobs free from fear or intimidation.

The DUP and other unionists have publicised plans which offer no solutions.

At the meeting I made it clear that what our business sector needs now is certainty, not rhetoric and hysteria.

I welcome the commitment from Maros Sefcovic to go to London next week and work to iron out the remaining kinks and hope that it will lead to the full implementation of the protocol.

Ireland North and South needs to work together to maintain the protocol and the protections it gives us.

Now is the time for calm, mature and responsible political leadership.
DGAP-Ad-hoc: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited / Key word(s): Forecast

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited: Notice of the Revised Forecast of Consolidated Financials for FY2020 (IFRS)



04-Feb-2021 / 07:00 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Notice of the Revised Forecast of Consolidated Financials for FY2020 (IFRS)

Osaka, Japan, February 4, 2021 - Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) ("Takeda") announced today, the revised forecast of the full year consolidated financials for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021*1, as below.

1. Revised Forecast for Full Year Consolidated Financials for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2021



(millions of yen)

Revenue Core

OpeRating

Profit Operating

profit Profit before

income taxes Net profit attributable

to owners of

the Company Basic earnings

per share Core EPS Previous Forecast (A)*** 3,250,000 984,000 434,000 258,000 124,000 79.39 yen 420 yen Revised Forecast (B) 3,250,000 984,000 434,000 258,000 180,500 115.56 yen 420 yen Discrepancy (B-A)     +56,500   Change %     +45.6%  

*** Announced on October 29, 2020.

2. Reasons for Revision

The forecast for net profit for the period attributable to owners of the Company has been increased by 56.5 billion JPY, or 45.6%, to 180.5 billion JPY. This is primarily due to updated tax rate assumptions reflecting lower tax costs associated with on-going integration and optimization of the legal entities within our organizational structure.

Accordingly, the EPS forecast has been increased by 36.17 JPY, or 45.6%, to 115.56 JPY.

*1 In August 2020, Takeda announced that it has entered into an agreement to divest Takeda Consumer Healthcare Company Limited ("TCHC"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda primarily focused on the consumer health care market in Japan, to Blackstone for a total value of 242.0 billion JPY*2. The transaction is expected to close by March 31, 2021, subject to customary legal and regulatory closing conditions. Takeda anticipates a pre-tax gain of approximately 140.0 billion JPY on the sale of shares of TCHC, to be recognized when the transfer of shares is executed and completed, however, it was not included in the previous forecast nor is it included in the revised forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021. In consideration of the uncertainty of the exact timing of deal closure, Takeda will continue to assess the appropriate timing of inclusion of this event into its forecast.

*2 Enterprise value. Actual transfer price will be determined after adjustment for items including net debt and working capital.

3. Management Guidance

There are no changes to Management Guidance.

Guidance as of

October 29, 2020 Guidance as of

February 4, 2021 Underlying Revenue Growth Low-single-digit growth Low-single-digit growth Underlying Core Operating Profit Growth High-single-digit growth High-single-digit growth Underlying Core Operating Profit Margin Low-30s% Low-30s% Underlying Core EPS Growth Low-teen growth Low-teen growth

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to discover and deliver life-transforming treatments, guided by our commitment to patients, our people and the planet. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Genetic and Hematology, Neuroscience, and Gastroenterology (GI). We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline.

Our employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries.

For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com.

Contacts:

Investor Relations

Christopher O'Reilly, +81-(0)3-3278-2306

takeda.ir.contact@takeda.com Media Relations

Kazumi Kobayashi, +81 (0)3-3278-2095

kazumi.kobayashi@takeda.com



Important Notice

For the purposes of this notice, "press release" means this document, any oral presentation, any question and answer session and any written or oral material discussed or distributed by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda") regarding this release. This press release (including any oral briefing and any question-and-answer in connection with it) is not intended to, and does not constitute, represent or form part of any offer, invitation or solicitation of any offer to purchase, otherwise acquire, subscribe for, exchange, sell or otherwise dispose of, any securities or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction. No shares or other securities are being offered to the public by means of this press release. No offering of securities shall be made in the United States except pursuant to registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or an exemption therefrom. This press release is being given (together with any further information which may be provided to the recipient) on the condition that it is for use by the recipient for information purposes only (and not for the evaluation of any investment, acquisition, disposal or any other transaction). Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of applicable securities laws.

The companies in which Takeda directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this press release, "Takeda" is sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Takeda and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release and any materials distributed in connection with this press release may contain forward-looking statements, beliefs or opinions regarding Takeda's future business, future position and results of operations, including estimates, forecasts, targets and plans for Takeda. Without limitation, forward-looking statements often include words such as "targets", "plans", "believes", "hopes", "continues", "expects", "aims", "intends", "ensures", "will", "may", "should", "would", "could" "anticipates", "estimates", "projects" or similar expressions or the negative thereof. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions about many important factors, including the following, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements: the economic circumstances surrounding Takeda's global business, including general economic conditions in Japan and the United States; competitive pressures and developments; changes to applicable laws and regulations; the success of or failure of product development programs; decisions of regulatory authorities and the timing thereof; fluctuations in interest and currency exchange rates; claims or concerns regarding the safety or efficacy of marketed products or product candidates; the impact of health crises, like the novel coronavirus pandemic, on Takeda and its customers and suppliers, including foreign governments in countries in which Takeda operates, or on other facets of its business; the timing and impact of post-merger integration efforts with acquired companies; the ability to divest assets that are not core to Takeda's operations and the timing of any such divestment(s); and other factors identified in Takeda's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F and Takeda's other reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, available on Takeda's website at:

https://www.takeda.com/investors/reports/sec-filings/ or at www.sec.gov. Takeda does not undertake to update any of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or any other forward-looking statements it may make, except as required by law or stock exchange rule. Past performance is not an indicator of future results and the results or statements of Takeda in this press release may not be indicative of, and are not an estimate, forecast, guarantee or projection of Takeda's future results.

###
7th Pay Commission: Why the TA for CG employees will not increase despite rise in DA

7th Pay Commission: Update on LTC and income tax for CG employees

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: In some good news relating to the 7th Pay Commission, the salaried class including the Central Government employees need not pay income tax on the amount received against LTC or Leave Travel Concession.

In her budget speech, finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman made the announcement. The Centre had given the T exemption to CG employees on October 12 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the pandemic is still on, the Centre extended the IT relief for all salaried taxpayers for the four year cycle of 2018-21.

Sitharaman said, in order to provide relief to employees, it is proposed to provide tax exemption to the amount given to an employee in lieu of LTC subject to incurring specified expenditure.

For CG employees, to avail the LTC Cash Voucher Scheme is that in the four year block ending in 2021, LTC not availed will lapse. This would encourage employees to avail this facility. An employee opting for this scheme will be required to buy goods or services worth 3 times the fare and 1 time the leave enchantment done before March 31 2021. The items purchased should be those attracting GST of 12 per cent of more. Only digital transactions are allowed and GST invoice has to be produced.

The employee spends the money of a larger sum than the entitlement on account of LTC on actual expenditure. Cash equivalent of full leave encashment will be allowed, provided the employee spends an equal sum. This will be counted towards the number of leave encashment on LTC available to an employee are the conditions to avail this benefit.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 14:14 [IST]
Arusha  The Regional Administrative Secretary (Ras) for Arusha, Mr Richard Kwitega was dies on Wednesday in a road as he travelled to the capital.

He died in a tragic road accident that took place along the Makuyuni-Babati highway, according to the regional commissioner.

His death came within hours after he had graced a seminar for editors on the Government e-Payment Gateway (GePG) which is taking place here (see related article).

The Ministry of Finance and Planning organized the seminar.

After gracing the event, he left Arusha City for Dodoma where he was to take part in other government businesses when the accident occurred, the Arusha Regional Commissioner Iddi Hassan Kimanta, said.

"It is with deep sorrow and regret that I announce the passing on of our Ras which occurred this afternoon," announced the vividly concerned Kimanta yesterday.

According to Mr Kimanta, Mr Kwitega breathed his last at Magugu Health Centre in Manyara where he had been taken for treatment after the accident.

The accident occurred at Mdoli area where the Ras' vehicle was involved in a head-on collision with a bus that was coming from Babati in Manyara heading towards Arusha. Mr Kimanta authorities were working on modalities of transporting the body to Arusha.

Mr Kwitega became Arusha Ras in April 2016 to replace Ado Mapunda who had retired from public service.


WELLESLEY, Mass. and WATERTOWN, Mass., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In their first joint community investment, the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation and Tufts Health Plan Foundation are giving $1 million to 42 organizations across the region to expand vaccine education, awareness and outreach in communities of color. Thirteen Massachusetts organizations will receive a total of $350,000 in funding. Just one month after Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan announced their combined organization, this investment is an immediate response to emerging needs in Black and Brown communities across the region disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

"We are at an inflection point in the pandemic," said Thomas Croswell, chief executive officer of the combined organization of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, and a member of the Tufts Health Plan Foundation board. "As vaccine production and distribution are ramping up, important education efforts are taking place to address community concerns and we need to support them."

Grant recommendations were informed by community organizations, public health leaders and other key stakeholders engaged in the vaccine rollout in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

"With the pandemic continuing to have a devastating impact on Black and Brown communities, this funding will give a boost to organizations across the region working tirelessly to support the needs of their community members and create awareness around the importance of the vaccine," said Michael Carson, president of the combined organization of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, and chairman of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation board.

Grants will support a range of organizationsfrom statewide organizations to local community nonprofits. They include faith-based organizations, trusted Black/Latinx-led community nonprofits, and organizations with experience coordinating multilingual efforts.

One of the organizations receiving a grant is the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, based in Boston.

"We are incredibly appreciative of this funding which will help us build our workforce capacity to engage patients in conversations about their COVID-19 vaccine questions and concerns," said Michael Curry, president & CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. "Addressing hesitancy in Black and Brown communities, which is grounded in centuries of mistreatment by the medical system, requires that staff at every level of our organizations provide the information and tools patients need to make their own decisions about this life-saving measure."

The full list of nonprofit organizations receiving grants is:

Connecticut Total Grants: $225,000

Greater Bridgeport Area Prevention Partnership ( Bridgeport ), $20,000

), Hartford Health Department ( Hartford ), $30,000

), Health Equity Solutions ( Hartford ), $50,000

), Human Resources Agency ( New Britain , Bristol , Burlington , Farmington , Plainville , Plymouth ), $20,000

, , , , , ), Ministerial Health Fellowship ( Hartford , Middletown , New Britain , Meriden ), $20,000

, , , ), Project Access of New Haven ( New Haven ), $20,000

( ), Stamford Health Dept/The Family Centers ( Stamford ), $15,000

), URU, The Right to Be ( New Haven ), $50,000

Maine Total Grants: $125,000

Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition ( Portland ), $20,000

), Portland Minority Health Department ( Portland ), $40,000

), Presente! Maine ( Portland ), $25,000

( ), Somali Bantu Community Association ( Lewiston ), $20,000

), Wabanaki Public Health ( Millinocket ), $20,000

Massachusetts Total Grants: $350,000

African Community Education Program ( Worcester ), $20,000

), Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association (Lowell), $25,000

Greater Boston Latino Network ( Boston ), $25,000

), Greater Lawrence Community Action Council (Lawrence), $25,000

La Colaborativa (Chelsea), $25,000

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition ( Boston ), $45,000

), Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers ( Boston ) $50,000

) New North Citizens Council ( Springfield ), $20,000

), One Holyoke Community Development Corporation ( Holyoke ), $20,000

), Pinnacle Partnerships ( Brockton ), $20,000

), Public Health Institute of Western Mass. ( Springfield ), $30,000

), Resilient Sisterhood Project ( Boston ), $20,000

), Worcester Interfaith ( Worcester ), $25,000

New Hampshire Total Grants: $125,000

Amoskeag Health ( Manchester ), $40,000

), Granite State Organizing Project ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Granite State United Way ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Lamprey Health Care ( Nashua ), $20,000

), Manchester NAACP ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services ( Nashua ), $20,000

), New Hampshire Alliance of Immigrants and Refugees ( Manchester , Concord ), $15,000

Rhode Island Total Grants: $175,000

Children's Friend ( Providence ), $15,000

), Comprehensive Community Action Program ( Cranston ), $20,000

), Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center ( Newport ), $10,000

Community Center ( ), Local Initiatives Support Corporation RI ( Providence ), $20,000

), ONE Neighborhood Builders ( Providence ), $20,000

), Progreso Latino ( Central Falls ), $15,000

( ), Thundermist Health Center ( Woonsocket ), $20,000

), United Way of Rhode Island ( Providence ), $35,000

( ), West Elmwood Housing Development Corp. ( Providence ), $20,000

About the combined organization of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

The combination of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care represents the coming together of two of New England's most iconic nonprofit health care companies. Representing nearly 90 years of combined service to our members and the community, together we are building upon our diverse legacies and innovative collaboration by making it our purpose to guide and empower healthier lives for our members  no matter their age, health, race, identity, or income.

We strive to be a different kind of nonprofit health and wellbeing company, with a broad range of health plans, and innovative tools that make navigating health and wellbeing easier, guiding our members at every step of their health care journey to better health outcomes. We are committed to providing high-quality and affordable health care, improving the health and wellness of our members, and creating healthier communities throughout New England.

About Tufts Health Plan Foundation

Established in 2008, Tufts Health Plan Foundation supports the health and wellness of the diverse communities we serve. The Foundation has given more than $45 million to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island nonprofits that promote healthy aging. Tufts Health Plan Foundation funds programs that move communities toward implementing age-friendly policies and practices that are relevant, focus on older adults, and include them in community solutions. Visit tuftshealthplanfoundation.org for grant program information.

About the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation

Created in 1980, the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation supports Harvard Pilgrim's mission to improve the quality and value of health care for the people and communities we serve. The Harvard Pilgrim Foundation provides the tools, training and leadership to help build healthy communities throughout Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. In 2020, the Harvard Pilgrim Foundation awarded more than $10.4 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in the region. Since its inception in 1980, the Foundation has awarded $165 million in funds and resources throughout the four states. For more information, please visit www.harvardpilgrim.org/foundation.

SOURCE The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation

Related Links

https://www.harvardpilgrim.org/


Catering giant Compass has seen sales slump by a third amid the pandemic as its free school meals hamper business looks to rebuild its tarnished reputation after an outcry over poor standards.

The group reported revenues tumbling by 33.7% in the last three months of 2020 as the coronavirus crisis continued to batter the global hospitality industry and the firms school and workplace canteen services.

It has also faced a storm of controversy surrounding its Chartwells free lunch parcels business after images showing the low standards of its food parcels were widely shared on social media.

The scandal prompted Prime Minister Boris Johnson to admit the offering was disgraceful and saw Chartwells apologise profusely last month.

Compass has pledged to cover the cost of providing free breakfasts to all children currently receiving a Chartwells lunch parcel from January 25, as well as lunch parcels through the February half-term holidays.

Mr Johnson said last month the companies which supplied the much-criticised meal offerings to families during school closures had been hauled over the coals.

Although the news around vaccinations is encouraging, the pace of volume recovery remains uncertain Compass

Compass said since an internal investigation, it had taken measures to address issues, such as improved supply chain processes, additional guidance and resources for its employees, and stronger quality assurance checks.

It added: We recognise that the quality and quantity of some food parcels fell short of our usual high standards.

We have apologised to everyone who has been affected.

Its first-quarter update showed the ongoing impact of the pandemic on the wider business, while it also cautioned over ongoing pressure on sales as Covid-19 restrictions remain in place globally.

It said: Although the news around vaccinations is encouraging, the pace of volume recovery remains uncertain.

As we enter the second quarter with varying lockdown measures in place across our key markets, we anticipate that second-quarter revenues and volumes will be broadly in line with the first quarter.

But shares lifted 4% as it said profits margins are set to improve despite the hit to revenues.
The judge has long been evading court hearings.

The High Anti-Corruption Court has warranted coercive measures to ensure appearance in court of a chief judge of the Kyiv District Administrative Court, Pavlo Vovk, who is suspected of corruption-related offenses.

The court hearing, which Vovk has been consistently evading, is set to select a measure of restraint for the suspect.

The corresponding decision to enforce Vovk's appearance was handed down on Wednesday, February 3, press secretary of the HACC, Olesia Chemeris, has said in a comment to UNIAN.

Read alsoAnti-graft watchdog puts Kyiv court's top judge on wanted listEarlier today, suspect Vovk once again failed to report to the hearing, and neither did he explain to the court the reason for doing so, the court's press release says.

"At the hearing, the prosecutor with the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office filed a motion to forcibly bring the said person to court. The investigating judge has granted the motion," the statement says.

It is noted that the warrant shall be executed by the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine, which had completed a pre-trial investigation in the Vovk case.

Charges against Judge Vovk: Background

On July 26, 2019, transcripts and audio of wiretapped communications were published on NABU's website, purporting the unlawful interference by judges of Kyiv's District Administrative Court (OASK) in the work of the High Qualification Commission of Judges. This included creating obstacles to the qualification assessment of judges of the said court for compliance with the position held. During the vetting, it is not only the level of professional skills that is checked, but also the origin of the judges' assets and their involvement in corruption scandals.

The Prosecutor General's Office said the unlawful influence was recorded on decision-making by the Constitutional Court, the High Qualification Commission of Judges, the High Council of Justice, as well as the impact on Ukraine's ministries, departments, and the State Bureau of Investigation.

On August 2, 2019, the PGO filed charges against Chair Pavlo Vovk, judges Yevhen Ablov and Ihor Pohribnychenko, as well as a judge of the Suvorov District Court of Odesa, Ivan Shepitko, all of whom appear in the NABU wiretaps.

In November, the then Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka said the investigation targeting Vovk had been completed and the case had been forwarded to court.

However, the High Council of Justice dismissed the prosecutor general's motion to deprive Vovk of the functions of administering justice in connection with the ongoing criminal proceeding targeting him.

On January 21, 2020, Vovk was re-elected as Chairman of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv.

On July 17, 2020, searches were held at the OASK premises in Kyiv, as well as at the State Judicial Administration.

According to the Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), the investigation targets a 12-strong criminal organization, led by the OASK chairman, who aimed to seize state power by establishing control over the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, the High Council of Justice, and by creating artificial obstacles in their work.

On August 11, NABU put on the list of wanted persons seven defendants in the case of the alleged power seizure conspiracy by the leadership of Kyiv's District Administrative Court who the agency believes grabbed control of the High Qualification Commission of Judges.

Reporting by UNIAN
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GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo.  CSG Systems International Inc. (CSGS) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $13.3 million.

The Greenwood Village, Colorado-based company said it had net income of 41 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 90 cents per share.

The provider of support services for the communications industry posted revenue of $260.5 million in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $243.2 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $58.7 million, or $1.82 per share. Revenue was reported as $922.9 million.

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................................................................

CSG Systems expects full-year earnings in the range of $3.02 to $3.24 per share, with revenue in the range of $922 million to $954 million.

CSG Systems shares have dropped 2% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $44.08, a decrease of 12% in the last 12 months.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CSGS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CSGS
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[February 04, 2021] Korea adopting Israeli Technology Breakthrough for Learning English

SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MagniLearn , a leading Israeli ed-tech company that is transforming English learning with purely personalised technology announced a partnership today with Korea's " The Education Company ", a leading network of schools with over 5,000 students throughout Korea and with Kim Venturous as a local strategic partner. MagniLearn, founded by world-renowned leaders in the fields of AI, Neuro-Science and Cognition from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has targeted Korea and Japan as key strategic targets for its expansion in Asia. MagniLearn's VP of Business Development, Hadar Abramovich, is located in Seoul to prioritize its expansion in East Asia. More than 1.5 billion people study English as their second language. In Korea parents spend on average $4,500 per year on private education per child or a total of $17B 10% each year.



Despite this investment, few students will gain even a moderate level of fluency, and only a tiny fraction will master English. Israel Ed-Tech firm MagniLearn has changed that. "In just 5 weeks, students using MagniLearn's platform have covered more than 50% of the full year's curriculum," said Lana Tockus, CEO of MagniLearn. "They are learning about 3 times faster with 97% of students demonstrating dramatic increases in proficiency" she said.

One parent said "MagniLearn knows exactly what to teach, at exactly the right pace-including vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation." "There are lots of language learning solutions out there but no one has truly applied an AI-Neuro-Science approach to online learning," said MagniLearn's CEO. When asked what's next, MagniLearn's CEO said "Our unique technology makes it easy to adapt to any school's textbook. More than that, we can teach other subjects like science, economy, or medicine in English at the same time that the relevant English skills are taught. This area is called Content and Language Integrated Learning, or CLIL, and with AI it will revolutionize language learning." MagniLearn is backed and funded by the Israel Innovation Authority, Labs02, OurCrowd and Reliance Industries. With formal approval from the Ministry of Education in Israel. Special subsidies are currently being provided for the first Korean schools wishing to adapt this science-based learning solution. MagniLearn is also accepting offers from potential partners and customers in the Private School, Public School, Hagwons and University sectors. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/korea-adopting-israeli-technology-breakthrough-for-learning-english-301222342.html SOURCE MagniLearn

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Swami Om who participated in Bigg Boss 10, and was considered as one of the most controversial contestant in the history of Bigg Boss, passed away yesterday (February 4, 2021), in Delhi. His death came as a shock to everyone including his ex-Bigg Boss inmates. Recently, Rohan Mehra, Monalisa and Manu Punjabi expressed their shock over the self-proclaimed godman's death. In an interview with TOI, Gaurav Chopraa, who had conflicts with Swami Om during their stay in the house, revealed that he was a troubled soul, who desired attention. He also hoped that he is at peace now.

Recalling the days spent in the Bigg Boss house with late Swami Om, Gaurav was quoted by the leading daily as saying, "The year I went inside the Bigg Boss house was when they tried to experiment with commoners along with celebrities. That later failed, but during our stay, the makers did everything they could to make it a successful one. Right from giving them behavioural lessons to giving them chances again and again they did it all. Swami Om's behaviour in the show was an outcome of it."

He added that even though everyone was irritated with Swami Om and host Salman Khan too scolded him, he was allowed to do whatever he wanted. However, Gaurav said that now is the time to focus on his positive moments and revealed that they did have a lot of conversations which were never aired.

Gaurav further said, "He was a troubled soul who desired attention. He felt inadequate without that attention and that is why he did things like throwing his pee on other contestants. The makers exploited that and made it seem like he was the most entertaining person around, and that encouraged him to do more. I always felt that somebody like him needs to get out of the whole madness of seeking attention because living a life like that was sad. I hope his troubled soul is now at peace."

Manveer Gurjar also expressed shock over Swami Om's demise. He tweeted, "Aray yaar, yeh kaise? Kab hua... Remembering our BB10 song... Om ji jaise hai diktha bi toh waise hai andar kala bahar bi kala sacchi hai sala. #SwamiOm I will miss u Dude Yo Yo... Teri harkaton ko toh duniya ne dekha hai baba.. magar maine tujhe rote hue deka hai baba. RestInPeace (How did this happen? When? The world has seen your tactics, but I have seen you cry)."

Also Read: Ex-Bigg Boss Contestant Swami Om Passes Away

Also Read: Rohan Mehra Breaks His Silence On Swami Om's Death; Says 'He Named Me Prince Of India'
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Valeo says it is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and will have reached 45% of its objective by 2030.

By 2030, the French manufacturer maintains its emissions will have decreased by 45% across its entire value chain; including emissions from its suppliers, its own operating activities and end use of its products, compared with 2019.

By 2050, Valeo will have achieved carbon neutrality for all of its own operating activities and across its entire supply chain worldwide and will be 100% carbon neutral (including end use of its products) in Europe.

Valeo is also a signatory of the 'Business Ambition for 1.5C' campaign, which brings together companies committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 using the framework of the Science Based Targets initiative.

"The entire automotive industry is investing heavily to combat global warming," said Valeo CEO, Jacques Aschenbroich. " At Valeo, the reduction of CO2 emissions has been central to our strategy since 2010 and sales generated from technologies that help to reduce CO2 emissions have grown 20-fold to around EUR10bn (US$12bn) in 2021.

"We intend to continue our efforts, with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and reaching nearly half of this objective by 2030."

Valeo adds it will continue to expand its portfolio of technologies, which contribute to low-carbon mobility, in particular its solutions for vehicle electrification. During the past ten years, Valeo has invested more than EUR10bn in technologies that reduce CO2 emissions.

In 2019, 57% of Valeo's sales were generated by technologies that help to reduce CO2 emissions. Today, one in three vehicles worldwide is fitted with Valeo technology that helps to reduce CO2 emissions.

Valeo has also pursued a development policy, reducing its water, energy and packaging consumption by 46%, 29% and 32%, for example.

From this year, Valeo will take into account CO2 emissions reduction and sustainable development criteria when determining the variable compensation of more than 1,500 senior executives.

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When I was growing up, my mother would constantly tell me to mind my attitude. This most often occurred while I was doing household chores at her request. What she meant was for me to not only respect her but also be gracious and grateful, even while doing chores.

The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
WASHINGTON - Michael Regan, President Joe Biden's choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, told lawmakers Wednesday that he would "restore" science and transparency at the agency, focus on marginalized communities and move "with a sense of urgency" to combat climate change.

Facing a Senate panel where half of the members are Republicans wary of the EPA's authority and its reach into much of American life, Regan appealed to a collective sense of duty.

"We all have a stake in the health of our environment, the strength of our economy, the well-being of our communities and the legacy we will leave the next generation in the form of our nation's natural resources," he told members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

The 44-year-old Regan, who began his career at the EPA more than two decades ago and currently heads the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, appeared likely to win confirmation after a three-hour hearing in which he received a universally warm reception.

Some Republicans, however, confronted him about the Biden administration's plans to aggressively limit emissions from the nation's automotive and fossil fuel sectors, insisting that moving too quickly risks worsening an already battered economy.

"Right now they look like they are putting forward a strategy that will crush jobs [and] lower the amount of energy we can produce," Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said of Biden's early moves to kill the Keystone XL pipeline and halt oil and gas drilling on public lands. "It's a policy that makes no sense."

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo, likened the administration's actions to "delivering pink slips to hard-working men and women in Wyoming and across the country."

Regan countered that, like Biden, he believes the United States will benefit from embracing the inevitable transition away from fossil fuels and that millions of jobs can come from investing in the shift toward a green economy.

"We all understand the anxiety and the fear as we make this transition that folks in your states have," he said. "What I know is we've been instructed that we are not to leave any community behind. In order for us to be successful, every state and every community has to see itself in our vision."

If confirmed, Regan would become the first Black man to lead the EPA in its half-century of existence, working in an administration that has pledged to address the unequal burden of pollution carried by communities of color.

He also would step into a high-profile job with a pair of daunting missions: to reverse the aggressive dismantling of environmental safeguards during the Trump years, and to play a central role in translating Biden's promise to combat climate change into real-world policies.

Over the past four years, the Trump administration took aim at more than 200 environmental protections and rules, according to a Washington Post analysis. The EPA shrank by hundreds of employees as President Donald Trump played down the science around climate change and acted to bolster the fossil fuel industry.

Biden has made climate change a pillar of his administration. He rejoined the Paris climate accord and began the process overturning scores of environmental actions taken by Trump. But even as the White House moves decisively and activists clamor for even more far-reaching efforts, Regan positioned himself Wednesday as more a consensus seeker than a crusader.

"I've learned that if you want to address complex challenges, you must first be able to see them from all sides, and you must be willing to put yourself in other people's shoes," Regan said, adding that "we can't simply regulate ourselves out of every problem we face."

It's an approach that won Regan respect across party lines in North Carolina - and also criticism from environmentalists who wanted him to act more aggressively - as secretary of the state's Department of Environmental Quality since 2017.

During his tenure, he settled a multibillion-dollar cleanup of coal waste storage facilities with Duke Energy, established an environmental justice advisory board and reached across the political divide to work with the state's Republican legislature.

In another high-profile environmental case, the state ordered the chemical company Chemours to virtually eliminate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of human-made chemicals, from seeping into the Cape Fear River. The chemicals - used in cookware, stain repellent and other products - have been linked to harmful health effects, including low infant birth weights and thyroid hormone disruption.

Regan, who graduated from North Carolina A&T State University and earned a master's at George Washington University, also advised Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, on the state's plans to mitigate climate change.

He frustrated some activists who said he could have been tougher on polluting industries, even as they describe him as honest and well-intentioned.

Even so, environmental groups have rallied around Regan's nomination, arguing that he has the right background and skills to pursue meaningful action to cut the nation's emissions, grow clean energy jobs and help communities that historically have suffered the most from pollution.

Regan arrived at the EPA in the late 1990s and served for more than a decade under both the Clinton and Bush administrations. He returned to North Carolina as southeast regional director for the Environmental Defense Fund, an advocacy group, where he focused on lessening the impacts of climate change on the region and on improving air quality in polluted communities.

But Regan testified that it was during his childhood in eastern North Carolina - where he grew up hunting and fishing with his father and grandfather but also suffered from asthma in an area with a legacy of toxic pollution - that he understood environmental protection.

"Preserving our natural resources isn't something to balance with economic growth," he said. "It's one of the keys to economic growth, along with protecting public health and our way of life."

On Wednesday, two of the Democrat's strongest endorsements came from his state's Republican senators.

Sen. Richard Burr called Regan "a good man" and "extremely qualified" to lead the EPA. Sen. Thom Tillis added that he and other Republicans are certain to disagree with the environmental policies of the Biden White House.

"But what we can hope for is people in the administration who have a track record of listening," he said, adding about Regan: "He will be fair. He will listen."
Steven Harris Downs is flanked by Troopers as he enters a Fairbanks courtroom Wednesday afternoon for arraignment. Downs, a 44-year-old from Auburn, Maine, is accused of raping and killing 20-year-old Sophie Sergie in a University of Alaska Fairbanks dormitory in 1993. Harris was extradited from Maine after a lengthy process and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in Anchorage on August 6. August 14, 2019.


Last month, Amazon worker Poushawn Brown, 38, from Alexandria, Virginia died in her sleep of causes that have not yet been fully explained. She had been assigned to work in the COVID testing department at her facility in September of last year.

The day before her death, she arrived home from work with a headache, made breakfast the following morning, and had not been heard from since.

Poushawn Brown with her daughter Gabrielle (Source: GoFundMe)

While Amazon is one of the richest companies in the world, her family has been unable to afford an autopsy to determine the cause of her death, which was quoted at $7,600.

Her sister, Christina Brown, took to social media to raise awareness of her sisters death and to appeal for help. Christina is now the sole caretaker for Poushawns 12-year-old daughter Gabrielle and their grandmother who is paralyzed. Christina also has three of her own children.

Poushawns death has not been reported or investigated by the mainstream news outlets nor by the local Virginia news. It was first reported by independent journalist Jordan Charlton.

Poushawn leaves behind one daughter as well as a paralyzed grandmother who was dependent on her for support. This tragedy has provoked an outpouring of support, and nearly $35,000 in mostly small donations were made to a GoFundMe page established by her sister.

There were no shields, facemasks or PPE other than a cloth mask provided, Christina told Charlton in an interview. The working conditions were horrible. There was no hazard pay or bonuses. During the time she was working at that job, she only got tested one time.

Christina, who now has possession of Poushawns phone, said that her supervisor called to ask why she wasnt showing up for work. Christina told her that she had died. The supervisor said they were so sorry and they would send her Poushawns final pay.

No one from Amazon called to offer condolences until after Poushawns death garnered over 4,000 re-tweets. Then an HR official reached out to Christina asking questions about the details of her death.

The death is being covered up by Amazon management, which has not even informed its workers of Poushawns death. An Amazon worker at the BWI2 fulfillment center in nearby Baltimore told the WSWS: We didnt receive any information about that [the death in Virginia] ... [but] this is the type of thing everybody should know. He added, This is like a death in the family.

The Amazon worker is part of an independent rank-and-file safety committee established by workers in the facility last year to oppose unsafe working conditions at Amazon, demanding workers oversight over safety and quotas, regular testing, transparency about infections and deaths, and an end to speed-up and poverty wages.

Amazon, which has hundreds of thousands of new workers over the past year to keep pace with rising demand for online shopping, admitted last fall that roughly 20,000 of its employees had contracted the virus.

Poushawn told her sister that she would get text alerts when a worker tested positive for COVID-19. There were at least 10 to 15 alerts a day. She continued, There were multiple people that came in on different occasions who were sick, somebody came in and threw up right there; she said she wasnt going to clean it up, cleaning crew didnt want to clean it upthey never closed the warehouse.

Amazon workers, who start at only $15 per hour, faced desperate social conditions even before the pandemic. The online retail giant is notorious for brutal speedup, enforced by advanced tracking technologies, which often cause workers to injure themselves while trying to make rate. The World Socialist Web Site International Amazon Workers Voice has interviewed several workers who became homeless after skyrocketing medical bills and stonewalling by Amazons workers compensation system.

The news website Inside NoVa reports that Amazon has created a $2 billion-dollar fund consisting of loans, lines of credit, and grants to provide 20,000 low-income houses to shelter its workers in 3 major market areas. This would either rehabilitate or build low income housing in Northern Virginia, Washington States Puget Sound region, and in Nashville, Tennessee. Meanwhile, Amazon is locating its HQ2 corporate offices in nearby Crystal City, which a suburb of Alexandria, VA.

Amazon has been literally profiting off of mass death during the coronavirus pandemic. Its net profits surged 84 percent to $386 billion last year, according to financials released by the company on Tuesday. The companys stock price has nearly doubled since mid-March to over $3,300 per share, making it the third-most valuable company in the world by market capitalization. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who is stepping down later this year to take over as chairman of the company's board of directors, is the neck-and-neck with Tesla CEO Elon Musk for the title of wealthiest person in the world, with a net worth of nearly $200 billion, up from $113 billion in April.
A notice of closing a COVID-19 immunization clinic is seen in Toronto, Canada, on Jan. 25, 2021.(Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

A Canadian diplomat involved in the latest diplomatic spat over tailor-made T-shirts featuring a bat image and the "Wuhan" word had deceived the Chinese T-shirt maker and deliberately planned to conceal his ill-intentioned motive since May when he placed the order, sources close to the matter told the Global Times on Wednesday, rejecting Canada's side of the story that China has mixed up between the city of Wuhan and the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan.

Chad Hensler, who ordered T-shirts emblazoned with a bat-like image around the words "Wu-Han," has sparked outrage among Chinese netizens and officials, who urged the Canadian government to punish the diplomat as soon as possible.

Canada said it regrets the "misunderstanding" over the issue, saying the T-shirt logo is an emblem of American hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan and "is not intended to represent a bat" and"they were personal gifts for a team of diplomats who had traveled to Wuhan in the early days of the pandemic to help with the evacuation of Canadian citizens," according to the local news outlet the Globe and Mail. And in North America, multiple T-shirt vendors sell "Wu-Tang Clan" logos modified with bat ears and "Wuhan" text, according to media reports.

China did not buy such explanation. "Misunderstanding is an alibi that we simply cannot accept. Some mainstream media have also acknowledged that the custom T-shirt has bat-like emblem on it," Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a routine conference on Wednesday.

Sources close to the matter revealed more details about how Hensler deliberately planned to imply a bat-like symbol with the words of "Wuhan" around it in order to imply the coronavirus originated from a bat in Wuhan as part of a Western-led smear campaign against China on the question of the virus origins.

He had sought companies that produce T-shirts with culture symbols as early as in May 2020, and after he contacted one Chinese e-commerce firm, he had been hesitating to provide the image to be printed on the T-shirts until July after he spent over two months to understand the urgent orders this firm needed and its turnover situation, the source said. Meanwhile, the Chinese firm noticed that something went wrong with the image, so it refused the orders Hensler made several times, the source said on the condition of anonymity.

"But he was in a rush. Facing questions from the Chinese firm, he lied that the word 'WU-HAN' was just 'a line of Canadian words,' representing it's cool," the source said, noting that such a plan showed that this Canadian diplomat understands the sensitivity of the image.

After receiving 8 T-shirt samples, Hensler also promised to the Chinese merchant that he was fully satisfied with the product quality, hoping for long-term cooperation with abundant orders.

When the Canadian government has been trying to find an excuse for this ill-intentioned mistake made by the high-level diplomat, the Global Times learned that Hensler has been working at the Canadian Embassy to China for many years and now takes the position as a high-level diplomat. Some Chinese analysts said "it's hard to believe that a diplomat living in China for many years would not realize the implication of the image amid a smear campaign launched by certain Western politicians on COVID-19. Some considered it a "stupid mistake" made by the Canadian diplomat who may have been echoing the smear campaign, which could not be just a coincidence.

It is beyond our belief that senior diplomats who have been working and living in China for years could make such a stupid mistake inadvertently, Wang said on Wednesday.

"Serious damages have been done by such wrong actions. The Chinese people also find this very repulsive and difficult to accept. The Canadian side should take this case seriously and give us a serious and unequivocal explanation," Wang said.

Analysts also urged the Canadian government to take this incident seriously as soon as possible, which has caused a negative impact, and denounce any misdeeds using the virus-origins issue as a cover to smear other countries. Hensler should apologize openly and make sure such an incident won't happen again, they said.

Relations between China and Canada have experienced huge challenges over various issues such as the arrest of Huawei's senior executive Meng Wanzhou and hyping on conspiracy theories about the novel coronavirus origins. "Such ill-intentioned implication severely damaged the national image of Canada, further jeopardizing China-Canada relationship, which is a very short-sighted action," Li Haidong, professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.
Addresses chronic shortage of trade finance to businesses globally with Fenergo's API-led CLM solutions

DUBLIN, LONDON and DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The world's first digital trade finance bank, Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank (AGTB) Limited ("AGTB"), based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has chosen Fenergo, the leading provider of digital Client Lifecycle Management solutions (CLM) to deploy its CLM platform.

Fenergo will enable AGTB to meet its strategic objective to disrupt the trade finance market with a cloud-based, digital-first and client-centric model leveraging emerging technologies such as data analytics and API connectivity. With the ability to assess and mitigate risk more effectively utililsing Fenergo's CLM solutions, AGTB can deliver a more integrated, real-time offering to its clients.

AGTB aims to address the gap in the trade finance market by becoming the first digital bank servicing the sector, providing trade clients with unprecedented client experiences. Fenergo's API-first CLM solutions will provide AGTB with a single client view across all departments, jurisdictions and products, while expediating Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) processes and time to revenue.

Amit Garg, CEO, AGTB, said: "We created our bank in the knowledge that the needs of global trade banking businesses weren't being addressed. To do this, we continue to work with vendors with product capabilities and configurability that help us achieve our goals. Fenergo ticks all the boxes."

Marc Murphy, CEO, Fenergo said, "We are excited to partner with a forward-thinking, client-focused company like AGTB. We look forward to helping them meet their goals and service the requirements of their global trade banking clients. Our solution will allow AGTB to expediate onboarding while providing digital and frictionless client experiences."

About Fenergo ( www.fenergo.com )

Fenergo is the leading provider of digital transformation, customer journey and client lifecycle management (CLM) solutions for financial institutions. Its software digitally transforms and streamlines end-to-end CLM processes - from regulatory onboarding, data integration, client and counterparty data management, client lifecycle reviews and remediation, all the way to client offboarding. Fenergo is recognised for its in-depth financial services and regulatory expertise (from a team of over 30 global regulatory specialists), community-based approach to product development and out-of-the-box rules engine which ensures financial institutions are future-proofed against evolving Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money-Laundering (AML), tax and OTC derivatives-based regulations across 100 jurisdictions. Fenergo recently expanded into new markets including asset and wealth management, private, retail, business and commercial banking and has over 80 global clients. The solution is underpinned by Artificial Intelligence, Robotics Process Automation and Machine Learning technologies, using advanced OCR and NLP capabilities to extract information, expedite compliance and improve operational efficiencies.

About AGTB

AGTB is the world's first digital trade bank to rethink and rebuild trade finance. The company uses a cloud native platform with agile digital solutions to offer clients simple, streamlined and highly automated processes, while leveraging data to manage risk effectively. www.agtb.com

For media enquiries please contact:

press@fenergo.com
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has banned three opposition news channels with an unprecedented decree.



The ban provides for the revocation of broadcasting licenses, TV frequencies and the blocking of accounts for an initial period of five years, the president's office announced early Wednesday.

Channels ZIK, NewsOne and 112 channels were immediately shut down in Kiev.



The president justified the move by alleging a threat to national security and dissemination of Russian propaganda.



In a joint statement, the channels called the ban a "reckoning with inconvenient media."

The channels were considered in Ukraine to be the mouthpiece of the pro-Russian party "Opposition Platform for Life," which is anchored in the east and south of the country.



According to two recent polls, the party, which has so far only been the second strongest, could expect to win the most votes in parliamentary elections.



The decree implemented a decision by the National Security Council, which is made up of lawmakers, and representatives of the judiciary and intelligence services alongside Zelensky.



So far, Ukraine has been considered relatively liberal in terms of press freedom, compared to other former Soviet republics.



The head of the Ukrainian Union of Journalists, Nikolay Tomilenko criticized the move which he called an "information bomb."



"The deprivation of access to Ukrainian media for an audience of millions without a court ... is an attack on freedom of expression," he said.



Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers announced the beginning of impeachment proceedings against Zelensky.



However, the attempt is considered futile as the party only has 44 of the 226 seats it would need in parliament in order to initiate the proceedings.

Source: dpa/GNA









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(Alliance News) - Norwegian and Danish health authorities said Thursday they will limit use of AstraZeneca PLC's Covid-19 vaccine to those under age 65, citing a lack of data on its efficacy for the elderly.

AstraZeneca shares were 1.7% higher at 7,421.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

The two Nordic nations followed in the footsteps of several others in the EU, of which Norway is not a member but to which it is closely linked, including for the procurement of Covid vaccines negotiated by Brussels.A

The head of Norway's public health agency FHI, Camilla Stoltenberg, told reporters the decision was made "not because the vaccine doesn't work for the elderly, but because the documentation is so limited".A

Health authorities in Germany, France and Sweden have also recommended the jab only be used on under-65s.

In Norway and Denmark, exemptions will also be made for under-65s with underlying health conditions and at risk of developing severe cases of Covid-19. They will continue to receive the vaccines made by Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc.

For others who will receive the AstraZeneca inoculation, the two doses will be administered between nine and 12 weeks apart in Norway, and four to 12 weeks apart in Denmark.

"We see that a longer interval between the doses provides better protection," said Sara Watle, a doctor at Norway's FHI.

Norway, a country of 5.4 million, has one of Europe's lowest Covid incidence rates, according to EU disease agency ECDC.

So far, at least 135,000 people in Norway have received a first vaccine dose and more than 30,000 a second dose, and the country hopes to have vaccinated most of its adult population by summer.

In Denmark, the EU country with the second-highest vaccination rate after Malta, 1.7% of its 5.8 million inhabitants have received two doses and 3.3% have received a first dose. The country hopes to have vaccinated all adults by July 4.

source: AFP

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
[February 04, 2021] Simplicity Esports and Gaming Company Gives Update on Performance of its Esports Teams Including Undefeated League of Legends Team Flamengo Esports

Boca Raton, Florida, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Simplicity Esports and Gaming Company ( OTCQB:WINR ) (Simplicity Esports), announced that its Brazilian subsidiary, Flamengo Esports, continues to be undefeated and alone at the top of the leaderboard for the CBLOL League of Legends 2021 season with a record of 6-0. Complimenting the performance of its CBLOL team is the Flamengo Esports League of Legends Academy team that is currently tied for first place with a record of 5-1.

Simplicity Esports Heroes of the Storm team recently became the Heroes of the Storm Community Clash League Season 1 champions by going 6-0 in the playoffs. Additionally, Simplicity Esports players received the MVP, Playoffs MVP, and Most Improved Player awards in the eight-team league. Jed Kaplan, CEO of Simplicity Esports, stated, We are happy to share the results of our efforts with our shareholders and fans. We have an amazing roster for CBLOL and the Academy league, as we are committed to player growth and development. Our future is bright in League of Legends thanks to incredible players, staff, and fans. We are also very proud of our teams performance during Season 1 of the Heroes of the Storm Community Clash League. Winning the champioship by going 6-0 in the playoffs, during the first season in over two years certainly makes a statement.



About Simplicity Esports and Gaming Company: Simplicity Esports and Gaming Company (WINR) is an established brand within the esports industry, competing and streaming in popular games across different genres, including Apex Legends, PUBG Mobile, Overwatch, League of Legends, and various EA Sports titles. Simplicity Esports also organizes and hosts various online play from home tournaments in the U.S. and Brazil. Simplicity Esports also operates as an owner and franchisor of the largest footprint of Esports Gaming Centers in North America, that provide the public an opportunity to experience and enjoy gaming and esports in a social setting, regardless of skill or experience. Additionally, Simplicity Esports is an organizer and host of paid entry, online, play from home tournaments.

Apex Legends, PUBG Mobile, Overwatch, League of Legends, Fortnite, EA Sports and Free Fire are registered trademarks of their respective owners. Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond Simplicity Esports control, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of Simplicity Esports Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) on August 31, 2020 and our subsequent SEC filings, as amended or updated from time to time. Copies of Simplicity Esports filings with the SEC are available on the SECs website at www.sec.gov. Simplicity Esports undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as required by law. Simplicity Esports Contact:



Roman Franklin

President

Roman@SimplicityEsports.com

561-819-8586



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Boris Johnson yesterday pledged to protect leaseholders from the unaffordable costs of fixing unsafe homes.

The Prime Minister said the Government was determined that home owners would not have to pay crippling bills to correct fire safety defects that are no fault of their own.

The promise comes after the Daily Mail highlighted the desperate plight of people facing average bills of 40,000 to fix fire-trap flats.

However, campaigners said ministers had made similar commitments in the past but had yet to follow up. They stressed immediate action is needed.

Boris Johnson, pictured above, yesterday pledged to protect leaseholders from the unaffordable costs of fixing unsafe homes

More than a million homeowners have been left unable to sell or remortgage their flats since the Grenfell tower inferno, which killed 72 people in west London in June 2017. The Daily Mail is campaigning to end the scandal.

We are demanding ministers ensure that dangerous homes are made safe within 18 months and that leaseholders do not have to pay.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer highlighted the plight of junior doctor Will Martin, 32, from Sheffield, during Prime Ministers Questions yesterday.

He said Dr Martin had been spending his days on the frontline fighting Covid in the NHS and spends his nights worrying about the 52,000 bill that he now has to pay for fire safety repairs.

Asked if the doctor will have to pay the bill, Mr Johnson replied: We are determined that no leaseholder should have to pay for the unaffordable costs of fixing safety defects that they didnt cause and are no fault of their own.

The Prime Minister later appeared to rule out plans to make leaseholders cover costs through loans, which have been heavily criticised by campaigners.

More than a million homeowners have been left unable to sell or remortgage their flats since the Grenfell tower inferno (pictured: a file photo of Grenfell tower in west London)

Tory MP Stephen McPartland asked the PM for assurances that cladding victims will not have to pay and also to rule out loans to leaseholders as a solution.

Mr Johnson replied: Yes, as I said earlier on, were absolutely clear that leaseholders should not have to worry about the cost of fixing historic safety defects that they didnt cause.

But the housing ministry later would not comment on whether loans were no longer being considered. A spokesman said: We are working at pace to develop further financial solutions to protect leaseholders from unaffordable costs.

Giles Grover, of the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign, welcomed Mr Johnsons comments, but said: We have heard the same empty words for years and it is well past time for action.

He added: To be clear  any sum that makes leaseholders liable for the multiple failings of Government regulation and the building industry is unaffordable and morally wrong.

It follows a heated debate in the Commons on Monday, in which Stevenage MP Mr McPartland accused ministers of incompetence in handling the crisis.

Contractors pictured undertaking works at a residential property in Paddington, London, on January 20 as part of a project to remove and replace non-compliant cladding

He has tabled an amendment to the Fire Safety Bill alongside Tory colleague Royston Smith, which seeks to protect leaseholders from the costs of fixing historic fire safety defects.

It has the support of 36 Conservative backbenchers and needs eight more to overturn the Governments working majority.

Legal experts yesterday joined calls to spare leaseholders the costs. The Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales, said homeowners should not have to pay the price for a system that failed to protect them.

It warned the crisis is causing sales to collapse and could lead to significant disruption in the housing market and wider economy if urgent action is not taken.

Ministers have set aside 1.6billion to fund repairs, but MPs estimate the total cost will be closer to 15billion. Mr Johnson said Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick would be coming forward with a full package.

The Mail understands the housing ministry is lobbying the Treasury for a 10billion pot, including a levy on developers. An announcement is expected in weeks.

cladding@dailymail.co.uk
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The Dunamaise Arts creative team os looking forward to "Fabulous February" with the launch of the 'Dunamaise on Air!

The team has compiled a brand new series of podcasts called 'A Word in Your Ear' as well as new cultural films and a play by the award-winning theatre company Druid for you to stream.

We've been working really hard over the past months on finding ways of connecting artists and audiences and we're so happy to be able to send the arts home to you until we can be together again.

We hope we can bring some enjoyment to you and/or your family and friends.

"We hope you enjoy our new On Air events and we'd love to hear from you too so please feel free to drop us a line and let us know if we can help in any way," said the team.

The team says you can to listen to A Word in Your Ear, a series of short plays via podcast from Thursday, February 4 and each week until February 18. The plays which were recorded on our stage in 2020 were written by Laois writers and performed by actors from local drama groups.

The plan was to perform the plays on the stage for audiences, however, due to Covid-19 escalations and restrictions, the decision was made to prepare them for podcasting.

Mentored by David Butler, one of the Laois Writers-in-Residence, six plays were produced in total - by Colette Wrafter, Dan Hyland, Joe Murphy, Frances Harney, Sheelagh Coyle and David Corri.

The first plays to be podcasted this Thursday, February 4 at 11am are:

Lemony Drizzly has written and directed by Dan E. Hyland with cast members Alan Conroy, John Banjo Quin and Marie Brennan

Jimmy Written and directed by Colette Wrafter with cast members Joe ONeill, Rory Corcoran as well as Colette herself and music paradoxes and palindromes by Blueberry Rouge.

The remaining plays Where the Truth Lies by Frances Harney and Decisions by Sheelagh Coyle will be podcasted on Thursday, 11th February and Rita, Sue and Dad too by Joe Murphy and Whats in a Name by David Corri on Thursday 18th February.

Creative Ireland Laois funding commitment was so valuable in supporting the writers, even at a distance, and we were glad to link them with our audiences and creative participants, said Michelle de Forge, Director of Dunamaise Arts Centre.

The writers and actors adapted brilliantly to online mentoring and rehearsals. While we had hoped to bring them together with live audiences, we were delighted to capture their creativity in this format and that they agreed so enthusiastically to adapt them for podcasting! Online streaming is very new to us at Dunamaise but it was actually a really fun experience to have the participants come in for audio recordings last December.

We cant wait to have live audiences back again later in the year, all going well. And while nothing replaces the energy exchanged between a company of actors on stage and a live audience gasping, laughing or tearing up in unison at live theatre, were so glad to have this means of connecting our wonderful creative talent in Laois with our well-loved and heartily-missed audience members. We are grateful to our funders, Creative Ireland Laois, Laois County Council and the Arts Council; to Writer-in-Residence David Butler; to the playwrights and actors and to the Dunamaise team for bringing the podcasts to life in Dunamaise on Air'", said Michelle.

With thanks to Creative Ireland Laois, the Arts Council and Laois County Council in funding this initiative. Music composed and performed by Pianoman Tom listen here.

Click here to listen to 'A Word in Your Ear'

So what else is on?

Falling will be the first of four films we plan to stream from www.dunamaise.ie over the coming weeks. Just two months since its UK release date and set to be released in the US this week, the team say they are thrilled to be able to stream this incredible film which is actor Viggo Mortensen's directorial debut! more below picture

The stunning film written by and starring Mortensen as John Peterson, is about a middle-aged gay man whose conservative and homophobic father Willis Lance Henriksen starts to exhibit symptoms of dementia, forcing him to sell the family farm and move to Los Angeles to live with John and his husband Eric.

The Dunamaise team says: "Don't miss this early online release!"

Click here to book 'Falling'

The Arts Centres friends at Druid in Galway present a new play Once Upon a Bridge by Sonya Kelly and directed by Sara Joyce, live-streamed from The Mick Lally Theatre, Galway from 11th to 13th February.

Inspired by real events, this show weaves a tale about human triumph and frailty, about the power of destiny and chance, why sometimes we choose to hate and other times we choose to dance! A wonderful chance to see live theatre streamed directly to your home.

Tickets from 15. #savethearts Book 'Once Upon a Bridge' HERE

The Dunamaise team also don't want you to miss the Open Submission Group Exhibition in our new virtual gallery. Featuring almost 50 artworks selected by guest Curator Monica Flynn, until 28th February, including the overall winning piece by Rennie Buenting. View our virtual gallery HERE

Also, Artist Rennie Buenting is a visual artist who connects her audience to the artistic, heritage and cultural realm. Her winning piece Joya was created during an artists residency in Spain in March 2020, using clay from the mountain as well as acrylic, marble and limestone powder in her painting and adding a song about Covid news while there. Don't miss this and so many other beautiful pieces in his exhibition HERE.

With thanks to The Arthouse in Stradbally for their support for the prize of a one-month residency for our winner.

The Dunamaise also hope you catch up with its weekly Life Drawing Classes which are run by our Artist-in-Residence Rebecca Deegan, as they are now virtual via Zoom and you can still take part each Thursday. No charge for these but please donate what you can and you will support artists, models and Dunamaise Arts Centre.

Book Life Drawing Class HERE.

Feel free to email: info@dunamaise.ie / prmarketing@dunamaise.ie or Tel: 057 8663355

The team is working remotely but phones and emails are diverted!

Further information about the A Word in Your Ear playwrights:

Dan Hyland, Writer and Director of Lemony Drizzly

Dan is a writer, director and actor for the Clodiagh players. In 2019, he directed The Lonesome West, with Mullingar Theatre Lab and helped take it to the final of the all-Ireland where it went on to perform in Frankfurt, Germany. Dan constantly writes and is waiting to have his musical "Sally's Place" produced. Set in New York, he hopes to bring some glitz and glamour back to the stage when this virus has taken it's final bow. Dan has regular zoom calls with fellow actors to keep sane during the pandemic.

Colette Wrafter, Writer and Director of Jimmy

Jimmy was written by Colette Wrafter She holds a BA in Design for Stage and Screen, Production Design from IADT, and recently graduated with an MA in Broadcast Production. Her first play was chosen to be part of the Scene and Heard Festival in Smock Alley Theatre (2019) Colette was nominated for the Headline Student Journalist Award with a radio piece that took a deep dive into both the pervasiveness and lived realities of mental illness and disability in the prison system in Ireland. She is currently in preproduction of a short film to be shot in Portlaoise.

Frances Harney, Writer and Director of Where the Truth Lies

Frances Harney is a retired primary teacher who lives, with her husband Liam, in Ballyfin. She is an examiner with The Leinster School of Music and Drama and the in-house storyteller at Ballyfin House Hotel. She has given drama workshops in many third level institutions and Education Centres and has directed cultural events for Laois County Council.

Frances runs a very successful speech and drama school and has written and directed over 30 plays for children and teenagers. Many have been performed in Dunamaise Arts Centre. She also writes and directs, large cast, full length comedies for her local drama group 'Ballyfin Players'. Her memoir piece 'Keeping in Touch' has been published by Harper Collins in the compilation ' A Day from My Life'. She has also had short stories published by The Leinster Express.

Sheelagh Coyle, Writer and Director of Decisions

Sheelagh Coyle is a native of Athlone but has lived in Mountmellick since 1974. She first became involved in drama with the Macra na Feirme Drama Group where she took part in many one act and three act productions as an actor and director and won some acting awards at the Laois Drama Festival. In recent years she joined the Ballyfin Players under the direction of Frances Harney. Her play Decisions tells her own personal story following a cancer diagnosis in 2004. Sheelagh plays the main character, Julia, in the play with contributions from three other characters.

Joe Murphy, Writer and Director of Rita, Sue and Dad Too

I've been involved in amateur drama for more years than I care to remember with Laois groups Open door and Fourth Wall and others in too many productions to mention. I've preformed on the wonderful stage of the Dunamaise theatre for several years. But writing is a relatively new interest for me. I've always loved comedy and particularly tv sitcoms. Whether it's the classic US shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Frasier or the BBC shows like Fawlty Towers and Dad's Army. So this is my attempt of sorts at a homage to those great shows. I've learnt a lot from the expertise of David Butler and my talented fellow participants in great venture. Thanks to all involved. Joe Murphy.

David Corri, Writer and Director of Whats in a Name

David Corri is a Dubliner but married into the Slieve Blooms and lives in Portlaoise with his wife Siobhan and daughter Eimear. He is a stage director and actor with Fourth Wall Laois Theatre Group. He has previously directed and played with Open Door, Porterhouse Players, Droichead Nua Players, Reps (Harare) and the Little Theatre (Dar-es-Salaam).

Plays included David Hares Secret Rapture, Niel Simons Chapter Two, J B Keanes The Field, Big Maggie, and Sive, Hugh Leonards Da and Philadelphia Here I Come, Ray Cooneys It Runs in the Family, Joseph Kesselring Arsenic and Old Lace, Mary OMalleys Once A Catholic, and Patrick Pearses Iosagan.
Hudson, NY (12534)

Today

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 44F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 44F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
EDMONTON - A Crown prosecutor continued to look for inconsistencies Wednesday in multiple lies a man told investigators, colleagues and his family on the morning he found a woman's bloody body in his hotel room bathtub.

A person plays a drum as Indigenous people gather for a ceremony for Cindy Gladue held at the courthouse in Edmonton on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

EDMONTON - A Crown prosecutor continued to look for inconsistencies Wednesday in multiple lies a man told investigators, colleagues and his family on the morning he found a woman's bloody body in his hotel room bathtub.

Bradley Barton, 52, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the death of Cindy Gladue, a 36-year-old Metis and Cree mother, at Edmonton's Yellowhead Inn in June 2011.

A jury trial has heard that Gladue had four times the legal limit of alcohol in her system when she died. Medical experts have testified she suffered from a severe and painful wound to her vagina and bled to death.

Wednesday was Barton's third day on the witness stand.

During cross-examination, prosecutor Julie Snowdon suggested that Barton pretended to be in shock the morning he found Gladue and lied to police about how he knew the woman to cover up his crime.

Barton, who is from Mississauga, Ont., has testified that he told many lies because he didn't want his wife and twin sons to know he had paid Gladue for sex.

"Mr. Barton, you didn't start telling detailed exculpatory lies because you were shocked. You started telling those lies because you were trying to conceal your involvement, right? That's the obvious explanation," said Snowdon.

"I cant recall. Yes, I was involved with the young lady. Yes, I did lie to 911," Barton responded.

This is the second trial for Barton in relation to Gladue's death. His first trial in 2015 sparked rallies and calls for justice for Indigenous women. The case ended up before the Supreme Court of Canada. The high court ordered in 2019 that Barton be retried.

GRAPHIC WARNING: The following details may disturb some readers.

On Monday, Barton testified that after he checked into the hotel, he asked a man he saw picking up cigarette butts if he had a lady friend, and the man brought Gladue to him. Barton said he offered her $60, they had consensual sex, then Gladue left the hotel.

He testified that he called her the next day and she returned to the hotel for a second night of sex. He said he put all five fingers into her vagina up to his knuckles, then noticed blood on his hand. He said she went to the bathroom, fell asleep and woke up in the morning to find her dead in the tub.

Snowdon suggested Barton forced his knuckles into Gladue while she was intoxicated and lying in the middle of the bed.

"There was no force," said Barton, who added that Gladue "wasn't very intoxicated."

Snowdon also suggested Barton picked up Gladue with a comforter, while she was bleeding profusely, carried her to the bathroom and dumped her in the tub.

"You let her bleed to death, and you didn't call for help right after she was injured," Snowdon said.

"No, I did not," Barton said.

Snowdon read transcripts to the jury of Barton's first 911 call the next morning. Barton told the operator that he was shaking because of the shock he felt after seeing Gladue in the bathroom with blood splattered everywhere.

"I suggest to you, Mr. Barton, that is one of your many fabrications that you were pretending to be shaken up because that's how you thought a person should react," Snowdon said.

"No, definitely not," Barton responded.

Earlier in the trial, security footage was played showing Barton getting coffee and returning to his room after checking out.

Barton has testified that he met a colleague that morning and told him that he'd found the woman's body. The colleague told him to call police. Barton said he lied to hotel staff about forgetting papers so he could get back into his room, where he called 911.

Snowdon suggested Barton appeared calm in the footage before he called, but during the call he sounded like he had just woken up.

"You left out the whole part about leaving the room for at least half an hour, right?" Snowdon asked.

"I called the police," Barton said.

"You just left out things that made you look bad and you included things you thought made you look good," Snowdon said.

"I don't know if it made me look bad or not. Like I said earlier, I was in shock," Barton responded.

The trial also heard about an exchange Barton had with an undercover police officer in a prison van five days after his arrest. According to a transcript, Barton told the officer that he had given his hotel room to Gladue and another man for two nights, and he slept in his truck.

Barton told the officer he didn't kill Gladue, but "if I did it, I would have buried the girl, wrapped her up in my carryout or my truck, cleaned the room up. She would have disappeared down the highway 2,000 miles away from here."

Snowdon said she expects to finish cross-examination of Barton on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2021.



This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship
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The Budget proposal to remove customs duty exemptions on 400 items is not aimed at generating additional revenue or support local manufacturing, but to make customs system more efficient and avoid discretionary decision-making practices, says Union Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey.

In an interaction with BusinessToday.In, Pandey said that the exemptions on these items have far outlived their purpose. "When we say 400 items, each item comes with some end use conditions. Who is going to verify these conditions? Customs people are there at the borders. Who is going to see if these conditions are followed or not? That is where discretion comes in," says Pandey.

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According to him, such imports should be there as long as the situation demands. "But if you are going to continue that for 30 or 40 years, there is no justification. the question is, is that an exception? That is the kind of review that is taking place," he adds.

The government hopes that by reducing distortions and making systems more efficient, they will be removing the chances of 'inspector raj'.

In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman had said that India's custom duty policy should have the twin objective of promoting domestic manufacturing and helping India get onto global value chain and export better.

ALSO READ: Exports rise 5.37% in January, trade deficit narrows to $14.75 billion

"The thrust now has to be on easy access to raw materials and exports of value added products. Towards this, last year, we started overhauling the customs duty structure, eliminating 80 outdated exemptions", the minister had pointed out.

She also proposed to review more than 400 old exemptions this year. "We will conduct this through extensive consultations, and from October 1, 2021, we will put in place a revised customs duty structure, free of distortions. I also propose that any new customs duty exemption henceforth will have validity up to the March 31 following two years from the date of its issue," she had announced.

ALSO READ: Stainless steel makers flay Budget 2021, say it opens floodgates for Chinese companies
Brazilian mining giant Vale signed a settlement deal on Thursday to pay 37.7 billion reais ($9.1 billion) to the state of Minas Gerais, following the collapse of a dam two years ago that devastated the city of Brumadinho and killed more than 270 people.

The settlement is one of the largest ever realised in the country, Minas Gerais officials said in a statement.

The rupture of the dam at Vales iron ore mining complex on January 25, 2019 unleashed a destructive torrent of mining waste, burying the equivalent of 300 soccer pitches under thick mud. Credit:Leo Correa

The rupture of the dam at Vales iron ore mining complex on January 25, 2019 unleashed a destructive torrent of mining waste, burying the equivalent of 300 soccer pitches under thick mud. Minas Gerais officials said Thursday that 11 people are still missing.

We know that we have a long way to go and we remain firm in our purpose, Vales chief executive, Eduardo Bartolomeo, said in a statement.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / Golden Dawn Minerals Inc., (TSXV:GOM)(FRANKFURT:3G8C)(OTC PINK:GDMRD), ("Golden Dawn" or the "Company"), announces that it has now commenced its airborne geophysical survey over its Phoenix property at its Greenwood Precious Metals project in southeastern British Columbia.



Map showing Phoenix claim area with interpreted direction of offset of Phoenix deposit from north-trending corridor and eastern cluster of skarn deposits.

The long-awaited helicopter-borne VTEM (versatile time-domain electromagnetic system) and combined magnetics survey is now underway over the Phoenix property in Greenwood, B.C. The survey will cover the historic Phoenix mine and surrounding areas, including the Golden Crown, Lexington and Tam O'Shanter properties where gold resources were previously identified.

The results will be used to guide the surface exploration program, which will focus on exploration for a major copper-gold skarn deposit and/or an intrusion-related porphyry-type copper-gold deposit that could be the roots of the world-class Phoenix copper-gold skarn deposit. The Phoenix deposit is interpreted to be the upper part of a large copper-gold system that has been displaced westward from its roots by the Snowshoe fault. Based on the interpreted structural offset and similarities in style of mineralization, the roots of Phoenix deposit are predicted to lie in the vicinity of known skarn deposits located east-northeast of Phoenix.

Survey results for the Golden Crown, Lexington and Tam O'Shanter properties will be used to guide exploration for extensions of these deposits. Exploration activities will involve targeting based on the upcoming geophysical results and compilation of historic data, plus surface investigations including geology, geochemistry, geophysics and/or trenching, followed by drilling of specific targets.

Readers are cautioned that historical records referred to in this News Release have been examined but not verified by a Qualified Person. Further work is required to verify that historical records referred to in this News Release are accurate.

Technical disclosure in this news release has been approved by Dr. Mathew Ball, P.Geo., President of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101,

For more details, please see the most recent National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Company's website at www.goldendawnminerals.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

GOLDEN DAWN MINERALS INC.

Per: "Christopher R. Anderson"

Christopher R. Anderson

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Golden Dawn Minerals Inc. - Corporate Communications:

Tel: 604-221-8936

Email: Office@goldendawnminerals.com

Forward-Looking Statement Cautions: This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, relating to, among other things, preliminary plans for a consolidation of the Company's Shares. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, 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. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the possibility that the TSX Venture Exchange will not approve the proposed share consolidation, and that the Company may not be able to raise sufficient additional capital to continue its business. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects. 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 securities of the Company 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 Company's securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the "1933 Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for account or benefit of, U.S. Persons (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 registration requirements is available.

THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL, OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY SALE OF SECURITIES OF THE COMPANY IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SOLICITATION OR SALE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL PRIOR TO REGISTRATION OR QUALIFICATION UNDER THE SECURITIES LAWS OF ANY SUCH JURISDICTION.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Golden Dawn Minerals Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627854/Golden-Dawn-VTEM-Heli-Survey-is-Currently-Underway-at-the-Historic-Phoenix-Copper-Gold-Mine
Mobile Premier League, Asias largest eSports and mobile gaming platform is now valued at $945 million after raising $95 million in a Series D round.

The MPL gaming platform has over 60 million users in India and over 3.5 million users in Indonesia. With over 50 games across categories on its Android and iOS applications currently, MPL has worked with 28 game developers to publish their games on the platform and provide them with a new revenue stream.

The latest round was led by Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures, with participation from Base Partners, RTP Global, SIG, Go-Ventures, Telstra Ventures, Founders circle and Play Ventures. The total capital raised by MPL since its inception in 2018 now stands at $225.5 million.

The pandemic-induced lockdown in 2020 provided a fillip to an already-booming eSports industry in India and the world. MPL is at the forefront of democratizing eSports in India and Indonesia, with initiatives such as the College Premier League (CPL), which was Indias biggest mobile esports festival. CPL saw participation from over 13,000 gamers and more than 100 colleges in India in November-December 2020, with Rs 1 crore in prizes and scholarships.

MPL will use this fresh influx of funds to expand its eSports portfolio and bolster its efforts to organize more such eSports tournaments nationally and internationally at scale. The funds will also be used to accelerate MPLs international expansion this year.

As we grow our presence and expand, this fresh round of funds will help us focus on our core value propositions - a robust platform with the best features for gamers and onboarding the best eSports titles. The esports community in India is thriving, and we believe this is the perfect time to take Indian-made games to the world as well as help Indian gamers get recognized for their talent, said Sai Srinivas, Co-Founder, and CEO, MPL.

We are excited to partner with the MPL team and support their continued growth. As an industry leader in the gaming market, we believe the company will continue to innovate and drive the evolution of eSports, both in India and internationally, said Kanush Chaudhary, Managing Director, Composite Capital.

As we double down on our investment in MPL, we are eager to see it increasing its international footprint and becoming a global leader in the mobile gaming and eSports industries. said Eduardo Latache, Partner, Base Partners.

We are thrilled to have Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures as new partners. Throughout the Series D process, we were impressed with their deep understanding of the mobile gaming and eSports ecosystem. We look forward to working with them as we continue to build a global gaming business out of India, said Joe Wadakethalakal, SVP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations, MPL.

Last week, MPL also announced raising $500,000 from existing employees under its Employee Investment Plan, which saw participation from 10 percent of the companys employees.
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Four Tunisian soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device in the countrys western mountains on Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said.

The soldiers were conducting patrols in the Moghila area between Kasserine and Sidi Bouzid, which is frequented by al-Qaeda-linked extremists. A spokesperson for Tunisias Defense Ministry, Mohamed Zekri, told The Associated Press that Jund al-Khalifa, linked to al-Qaedas local franchise, carried out the attack.

Tunisias government has largely limited the countrys Islamist insurgency to the western mountains with US military support in recent years.

Jihadist activity picked up in the countrys rural mountainous region in 2013 following the Arab Spring revolution that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The North African country is considered the lone democratic success story.

Nonetheless, Islamist insurgents targeted the government and attempted to attack the US Embassy in Tunis in 2013, just days before the deadly assault on the US Embassy in Benghazi in neighboring Libya.

In 2015, terrorists launched two massacres against foreign tourists, prompting international outrage. A lone gunman killed 39 people, mostly British tourists, in a mass shooting at a beachside resort in Sousse that June. Three gunmen took hostages and killed 22 people at the National Bardo Museum three months prior.

The capital has seen sporadic attacks in more recent years. Last March, two suicide bombers detonated themselves near the US Embassy. In 2018, a suicide bombing wounded 20 people on a main street in the capitals downtown.

US military aid dollars to Tunisia have increased tenfold since the Arab Spring, with American policymakers seeing the fledgling democratic country as a strategic wedge between war-torn Libya and US allies in western North Africa.

Protests have continued in cities across Tunisia even as the country marked the 10-year anniversary of its Arab Spring revolution last month. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent in recent weeks, prompting the deployment of the army and the arrest of several hundred people.

Tunisia continues to be beset by unemployment, government corruption and police abuses, demonstrators say. Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi has voiced his support to address the protestors grievances but has condemned the violence.
Consumers can transfer money digitally through the MoneyGram mobile app or website to arrive almost instantly to any Visa cardholder in Vietnam

This latest integration in the partnership between MoneyGram, Visa, Sacombank, and other leading banks across the country enables customers to transfer money from the US, UK, and 18 European countries to Vietnam quickly and securely through Visa Direct.

Consumers can transfer money digitally through the MoneyGram mobile app or website to arrive almost instantly to any Visa cardholder located in Vietnam.

Weve already hit the ground running in 2021, and this latest integration with Visa Direct further improves our leading customer experience and will help execute our strategy to scale digital growth in one of the largest remittance markets in the world, said Grant Lines, global chief revenue officer at MoneyGram. Weve built a modern, mobile, and API-driven company that has enabled MoneyGram to become the preferred partner for cross-border transfers, and were excited to continue to expand our real-time transfer capabilities with Visa Direct.

From now until June 30, 2021, consumers can send money to a Visa debit card in Vietnam without incurring a transfer fee.

Our digital solution will enable MoneyGram consumers to quickly and conveniently receive money directly into their bank accounts via Visa Direct, said Dang Tuyet Dung, country manager at Visa Vietnam and Laos. Cardholders can use any Visa debit or prepaid card to receive cross-border payments via Visas real-time push payment solution. This partnership with MoneyGram will support Vietnams economic growth and streamline the remittance transferring process, which is vital to our customers digital experience and helps introduce our innovations to consumers.

Vietnam is deemed one of the top-10 remittance recipients in the world. The millions of Vietnamese living and working abroad will now be able to use MoneyGram to send money seamlessly and conveniently to families and friends back at home.

In this digital age, we believe it is important to introduce solutions that can improve our cardholders lives, said Nguyen Minh Tam, deputy general manager at Sacombank. Were excited to once again be at the forefront of innovation with Visa Direct making cross-border remittances hassle-free and efficient to any Sacombank account holder in Vietnam using their Visa card on Sacombank Pay application.

With Visa Direct, customers can now transfer up to $2,500 per transaction and $10,000 per day. From now until June 30, 2021, consumers can send money to a Visa debit card in Vietnam without incurring a transfer fee.
Tanqueray reveals launches of blackcurrant gin and pre-mix cans

Premium gin brand Tanqueray has announced a series of innovative expansions to its range, set to hit the market throughout 2021.

First to join the Diageo brand's portfolio will be Tanqueray Blackcurrant Royale, a 41.3% ABV flavoured expression launching this month.

Inspired by Charles Tanqueray's travels to France, the new expression blends the brand's London Dry Gin with French blackcurrants, vanilla and black orchid for a sophisticated flavoured gin. It will be available from Amazon from 4 February and is rolling out in selected supermarkets from 17 February, with a plan to launch in the on-trade later in the year.

In April it is set to release ready-to-drink (RTD) cans featuring its Tanqueray London Dry Gin and Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla Distilled Gin. The 250ml cans will combine the gins with tonic water, tapping into a growing trend for premium pre-mix products. The announcement comes in the same week that Slingsby Gin launched two premium pre-mix products.

Meanwhile, a revamped pack for Tanqueray Rangpur Lime Distilled Gin (41.3% ABV) is also set to launch in April in Tesco and selected other stores. The renamed Rangpur Lime gin will be showcasing a new lime green pack, designed to ensure on-shelf stand-out and communicate its bold citrus flavour profile.

Adrienne Gammie, marketing director for gins at Pimms & Baileys, said: "The gin category continues to thrive and this is primarily motivated by consumer demand for new and exciting variants.

"Tanqueray has always been commended for its taste and quality - and the introduction of Tanqueray Blackcurrant Royale is an extension of the brand's commitment to introducing rich and exciting new choices to the market.

"We continue to see a huge trend in customers seeking new formats - especially in the pre-mix category. The new can formats provide convenience to the consumer, whilst being able to enjoy a high-quality serve at home."

4 February 2021 - Bethany Whymark
PHOENIX, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Banner|Aetna is pleased to announce an agreement on a long-term extension of our joint venture relationship. Banner Health and Aetna created this joint venture four years ago to improve member experience, reduce costs, and improve health care outcomes. Through continued collaboration, it has grown to approximately 350,000 members and has delivered on our commitments of:

Savings : Since the inception of Banner|Aetna, the Performance network has continued to drive an average cost savings of 8-14%*. The Performance network has proven to be a very attractive option and when given a choice of broad or performance network, more than half of local members choose a Performance network based plan.

: Since the inception of Banner|Aetna, the Performance network has continued to drive an average cost savings of 8-14%*. The Performance network has proven to be a very attractive option and when given a choice of broad or performance network, more than half of local members choose a Performance network based plan. A Better Member Experience : Through the top-tier services provided by Banner Health doctors, Banner Nurse Now nurses helping members navigate the health care system, an easier to understand member welcome kit, and the adoption of an innovative low-cost virtual care offering through 98point6 Banner|Aetna has delivered an improved experience for members.

: Through the top-tier services provided by Banner Health doctors, Banner Nurse Now nurses helping members navigate the health care system, an easier to understand member welcome kit, and the adoption of an innovative low-cost virtual care offering through 98point6 Banner|Aetna has delivered an improved experience for members. Improved Outcomes: Proactive support for highest risk members through a unique Multi-disciplinary Care Team has helped members live their healthiest lives while supplying cost savings through earlier personal intervention.

"Banner Health Network (BHN) is proud to serve Banner|Aetna members through this successful joint venture. BHN and Banner|Aetna are committed to continuous improvement in member experience, provider experience, and the affordability of care for our members. This long-term agreement will allow us to continue investing in the success of Banner|Aetna," said Chuck Lehn, President of Banner Health Network.

Looking to 2021, Banner|Aetna is focused on several enhancements:

More Savings through:

Preferred unit cost savings for members and plan sponsors.

Specialty medicine management services provided by locally based Banner Family Pharmacy to drive reduced waste management and provide the flexibility to deliver medications same day.

Superior Member Experience by:

Moving care decisions closer to the provider by delegating additional utilization management responsibilities to Banner Health which streamlines processes and reduces errors.

Developing a cost transparency and frictionless billing process with Banner Health, which will show costs upfront and result in one combined, easy to understand bill.

Automating pre-authorization to streamline the process and improve the experience for patients and physicians.

Providing easier access to care with digital tools like expanded online appointment scheduling, virtual primary care services through local PCPs or via an app, and more.

Increased Clinical Service Access by:

Incorporating MinuteClinic locations, including those at CVS HealthHubTM settings, into our network to offer members additional options for affordable, coordinated, and convenient access to care.

"This is, by far, the most exciting endeavor I have been involved in during my 30 plus years in the health insurance industry," said Tom Grote, CEO of Banner|Aetna. "I truly appreciate the ongoing support and investments our parent companies provide that will allow us to continue transforming health care in Arizona. We all look forward to building on our success from the previous four years."

About Banner|Aetna

Banner|Aetna is a health insurance company focusing on bettering member outcomes at a lower cost, all while improving the overall member experience for employers and consumers in Arizona. The collaboration combines Banner Health's high quality, local providers and delivery systems with Aetna's health-plan experience, care management and health-information technology. Banner|Aetna is the brand name used for products and services provided by Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Company and Banner Health and Aetna Health Plan Inc. For more information about Banner|Aetna, visit https://www.banneraetna.com/.

About Banner Health

As one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the country, the team at Banner Health is committed to ensuring all Banner locations are a safe place for care. Headquartered in Phoenix, Banner Health owns and operates 30 acute-care hospitals and an array of other services, including Banner Imaging, Banner Telehealth, and Banner Urgent Care. Team members are dedicated to protecting the health and safety of patients, be it a routine checkup, elective surgery or an urgent health service. Waiting room and employee workstation layouts maintain proper social distancing; screenings are conducted at hospital entrances to verify that all employees and visitors are well; and, all Banner physicians are equipped to visit patients remotely. Learn more about Banner's commitment to safety at bannerhealth.com/safecare.

About Aetna

Aetna, a CVS Health business, serves an estimated 34 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental and behavioral health plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health care management services, workers' compensation administrative services and health information technology products and services. Aetna's customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, visit www.aetna.com.

*Comparison is to Aetna's broad network plans. Savings may be less when compared to other value-based network plans.

SOURCE Banner|Aetna

Related Links

https://www.banneraetna.com/




The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

The seal of the United States Department of Justice is seen on the building exterior of the United States Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, N.Y., on Aug. 17, 2020. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Former University of Florida Researcher Indicted for Concealing CCP Ties

Federal prosecutors have charged a former University of Florida professor with concealing support he received from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while collecting $1.75 million in U.S. taxpayer grant money for research that benefited a firm he secretly founded in China.

Lin Yang, 43, lived in Tampa, Florida, when he committed the alleged offenses, which include six counts of wire fraud and four counts of making false statements, according to an indictment unsealed on Feb. 3.

According to the indictment, the defendant intentionally deceived both his employer and the federal government in order to obtain more than a million dollars in research funding. Rather than being open about his ties to the Peoples Republic of China, the defendant chose to conceal them, in the process advancing both the Chinese governments strategic goals and his own financial interests, Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in a statement.

Authorities allege that Yang, an associate professor in the universitys Department of Biomedical Engineering, obtained a $1.75 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop an imaging tool for muscles called MuscleMiner. As the principal investigator for the grant, Yang was required to disclose his foreign research and conflicts of interest, including any interest or ownership in foreign firms.

Without disclosing his actions as legally required, Yang started a business in China called Deep Informatics and applied for the CCPs Thousand Talents Program. The CCP uses the Thousand Talents Program to offer financial incentives for the transfer of intellectual property from abroad. The indictment alleges that Yang concealed his work in China to keep his university job, and made several statements in submissions to the NIH and in a written statement to the University of Florida (UF), in which he claimed he had no ties to any entity in China.

The taxpayer dollars that funded Yangs research were intended to benefit the health and well-being of U.S. citizens. But our indictment alleges that Yang engaged in acts of deliberate deception so that he could also further the research goals of the Chinese Communist government and advance his own business interests, according to U.S. Attorney Lawrence Keefe for the Northern District of Florida.

Yang went to China in August 2019 and hasnt returned to the United States.

For too long, our academic institutions have fallen prey to foreign agents from the #CCP. We will not tolerate spying from the Peoples Republic of China, period, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) wrote on Twitter. As the representative hailing from Gainesvillehome to UFI will ensure proper coordination between the university and DOJ to maintain a continual oversight role as this case moves forward.
Volkswagen's third model in its all-electric 'ID' range has been leaked months ahead of its official unveiling.

Details of the new ID.6 - the largest electric VW yet - have emerged online having been uploaded to a Chinese regulatory website this week.

The images show the seven-seat SUV in full production trim well ahead of it going on sale later in the year.

Leaked: These are the first images of the forthcoming VW ID.6, which will be sold in China but not the UK

It's not the first time the identity of a Volkswagen electric model's identity has been revealed ahead of time.

The same happened with the smaller ID.4 in June last year, when information was uploaded to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology - a process that all car firms must follow to gain type approval for models in the country.

The new ID.6 is due to go on sale in China later in 2021, though Volkswagen currently has no plans to launch the large family vehicle in the UK.

Designed for large families who are eco-conscious, it will go head-to-head with Tesla's Model X and Mercedes EQV, which are the only electrified models on the market currently capable of transporting seven people in comfort - though seven-seat variants of the Model S saloon are also available from the US EV maker.

The largest Volkswagen ID model will be based on the same MEB platform that underpins the ID.4 SUV, which officially went on sale in the UK last week.

The new ID.6 looks like an extended version of the smaller SUV, with a longer and boxier body to provide additional interior space, especially for passenger in the second and third row of seats.

At 4.9-metres long, the new seven-seat ID.6 measures in around the same length as a long-wheel-base Range Rover

These images and supplementary information was uploaded to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology - a process that all car firms must follow to gain type approval for models in the country

Along with the images, dimension of the barge-like electric VW were leaked online; it will measures in at 4.9 metres long, 1.8 metres wide and almost 1.7 metres tall.

That means it will be fractionally smaller than a Tesla Model X, though around the same size as a long-wheel base Range Rover.

Documents filed with Chinese authorities show it will use an 82kWh lithium-ion battery - the largest available in any VW ID model and needed to shift the seven-seater's additional bulk.

The listed kerb weight of the SUV is a staggering 2,840kg, which is the same as two Ford Focus petrol family cars.

With a kerb weight of 2,840kg, the ID.6 will weight around the same as two Ford Focus petrol family hatchbacks

It will originally be offered in two powertrain options in China: a cheaper version using one 75kW (101bhp) electric motor to power the wheels and a higher-priced variant with one of the motors on each axle, delivering 150kW (201bhp). A stronger 225kW (302bhp) example is also expected.

Charging time, using a 150kWh rapid charger, is expected to be approximately half an hour to replenish around 80 per cent of the battery capacity.

The leaked images have only revealed the exterior of the car, with pictures of the ID.6 cabin not added to the regulatory site.

However, the interior is widely expected to mirror that of the already available ID.3 hatchback and the ID.4 SUV.
The companys operation in the CY2020 was impacted heavily with COVID-19 restrictions and issues, however, it achieved some milestones and formed a solid base on which to work from in 2021 and beyond once the restrictions are lifted.

The company has nine exploration licenses on Mannar Island, Sri Lanka.

( ) has chalked out plans for a robust year ahead as it is working on several initiatives to recover from the COVID-19 restrictions that severely impacted the companys operations in 2020.

Although the companys operation in CY2020 was impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, it achieved some milestones and formed a solid base on which to work from in 2021 and beyond once the restrictions are lifted.

Resource conversion drilling

The company has planned further RC-aircore drilling in the higher-grade resource zone on which the project scoping study was based.

A program of 350 holes is planned to infill the existing resource drilling and is expected to enable remodelling of the mineral resources in this zone to increase the proportion of indicated category resources.

The program will take around 6 weeks to complete, with results and a recalculation of the mineral resource estimate for this zone available within two months of the program being completed.

Starting of the program remains subject to local COVID-19 conditions which continue to be uncertain.

Increasing the indicated resources in this manner will enable the release of further scoping study results concerning production rates, OPEX, CAPEX and other project parameters that will guide the further development of the project.

Metallurgical test work

Further metallurgical test work is being planned to optimise the process design and produce larger product samples that have been requested by potential offtake partners.

This will begin when further samples in storage in Sri Lanka can be transported to metallurgical test facilities.

Offtake discussions

The company has been approached by several potential offtake partners on an introductory basis discussing the Titanium Sands resource.

Discussions to date have included parties from China, Japan, India and UAE.

No formal MOUs or agreements have been entered into at this stage, and subject to the recommendations of the scoping study, the board is continuing offtake discussions with each of the above parties.

COVID-19 impact

COVID-19 infections in Sri Lanka have risen sharply from less than 10 on the 5th of October climbing to over 700 daily cases in December.

Titanium Sands is continuing to monitor the COVID-19 situation but will not start fieldwork until regulatory constraints permit and it is considered safe for personnel to recommence operations.

Corporate activities in Australia are being handled in keeping with local recommendations with everything being done via the internet with no significant change from normal.
Governments around the world are desperate for coronavirus vaccines, with many battling publicly for limited doses and accusing others of hoarding. Yet amid this rush, some countries are not only refusing potential doses produced by rivals but officially banning them.

Ukraine recently banned Russian vaccines, despite new peer-reviewed data that suggests a high efficiency for Moscow's leading candidate, Sputnik V. The Iranian government, on the other hand, has banned all U.S.- and British-made vaccines and approved Russia's Sputnik V.

In Taiwan, where officials have spoken out since last year against vaccines made in China, officials recently reiterated that imports of these vaccines are banned and warned that Taiwanese civilians living in China could face quarantine when they return home.

It is an inversion of the logic of vaccine nationalism, which has led powerful nations to scoop up as many doses as they can in hope of emerging from the pandemic. More than 80 million vaccine doses have been given out in more than 50 countries, with some speeding well ahead.

But Ukraine, Iran and Taiwan have not formally begun their vaccination programs. And while Taiwan has been widely praised for its successful handling of the pandemic, Ukraine and Iran have struggled, resulting in considerable death tolls.

To experts, it's an alarming, though not necessarily surprising, trend.

"It's a combination of political considerations, whether they even have the option [of acquiring the vaccine], as well as the concerns about effectiveness and safety of the vaccines," said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Pavlo Kovtoniuk, Ukraine's deputy minister of health from 2016 to 2019, said Kyiv's concern with Moscow-backed vaccines was not just political but a matter of national security.

"Over the last few decades, and especially during the previous seven years of undeclared war, Ukraine has well learned what hybrid warfare is," Kovtoniuk said.

- - -

Ukraine

Despite growing political anger over a lack of vaccine in the country, Ukrainian lawmakers last week approved a bill that officially banned vaccines made in Russia.

With a population of more than 40 million, Ukraine is one of the largest European countries to not begin its formal vaccine rollout. President Volodymyr Zelensky is facing record-low approval ratings amid a pandemic that has infected 1.25 million and caused more than 23,000 deaths.

Part of the concern is about aspects of safety and efficiency: Phase 3 testing data for Sputnik V was released long after the vaccine was rolled out in Russia.

But while new data released Tuesday may ease scientific concerns, broader national tensions remain. Since 2014, Ukraine has had a tense relationship with Russia, which has backed separatist rebels in the country's east and annexed the Crimean Peninsula.

The Russian government had already started administering Sputnik V in Crimea, which is viewed as part of Ukraine by most international powers. This week, Russian-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine also began using the vaccine.

"It's reasonable to say - as the Russians are saying, loudly - that vaccine access should transcend geopolitics, and everybody should get high-quality vaccines from wherever they can," said Judyth Twigg, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who tracks public health in Ukraine and Russia.

"But it's also naive to ignore the geopolitical implications," Twigg added.

While Ukraine probably will not reverse its decision on Russian-backed vaccines, at this stage it has few alternatives.

Through the global Covax program, Kyiv secured 8 million doses of the vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech. The first round, due later this month, is expected to bring only 200,000 doses.

Ukraine also turned to Beijing to bolster its supplies, signing a deal for 1.8 million doses of China's Sinovac vaccine in December.

Kovtoniuk said that if Ukraine cannot get more U.S. or European vaccines, it might turn to more Chinese producers. He said it was Russia, not Ukraine, that was politicizing vaccine supply. "It is a matter of politics and influence, first of all for Russia, not for Ukraine," he said.

- - -

Iran

Iran has been hit badly by the coronavirus, reporting more than 1.42 million cases and almost 60,000 deaths. But in January, the country's supreme leader announced that the country had banned the import of vaccines made in the United States or Britain.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the announcement in a televised address Jan. 8, calling the vaccines "forbidden." The supreme leader named the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as one of the products that would be banned, despite its approval by other nations and high reported efficacy.

"They are completely untrustworthy," he said. "If they were able to create a vaccine . . . why do they want to give it to us? Why don't they use it themselves?"

Iran approved Sputnik V in late January and was hoping to jointly manufacture some doses. State media has reported that the first doses of Sputnik V are expected to arrive this week. Iran is also expected to eventually receive 1 million vaccine doses from China.

Amir Afkhami, an expert on the country's public health system at George Washington University, said that while Iran has been relatively successful in treating recent pandemics, the Iranian supreme leader has "a long history of conspiratorial constructs and mind-set around biomedical issues."

Afkhami said there were some practical reasons Iran might favor a Russian vaccine rather than a U.S.-backed vaccine - at an estimated $9.95 per dose, Sputnik V is probably one of the cheaper vaccines. However, he said that the justification was probably an attempt to "portray the regime as competent in view of the many missteps it's had during the pandemic."

Khamenei's move to block some foreign vaccines came amid Iranian claims that U.S. financial sanctions were blocking access to Covax, which has bought doses of a number of U.S.- and British-backed vaccines.

The Iranian Medical Council, the country's main physicians association, pushed back on the decision after Khamenei's announcement. "All decisions should be based on science," the group said in a public letter.

- - -

Taiwan

Taiwanese officials reiterated last month that vaccines made in China were banned from import, with the island's Mainland Affairs Council telling Reuters that vaccination was a medical matter and that it "should not be used as political propaganda."

The announcement came after reports that China, which claims sovereignty over self-governing Taiwan, was offering free domestically produced vaccine to the roughly 400,000 Taiwanese citizens who live in China.

Taiwan's government has cast doubt on vaccines made by Chinese companies such as Sinopharm and Sinovac, publicizing rules that say anyone who receives the vaccines would be required to quarantine upon arrival in Taiwan.

Huang said there were genuine health concerns about Chinese-made vaccines. Like the developers of Sputnik V, Chinese developers had not released full Phase 3 data before making their vaccines available. Early data from some countries suggested they were notably less effective than some rivals.

"There are political concerns, but there are also big concerns about the safety and effectiveness of China-made vaccines," Huang said.

Although vaccinations are not expected to begin until March, Taiwan has procured around 15 million doses for its population of 25 million. Ten million of the doses come directly from British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca, and 5 million doses through the Covax program.

A representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States said that negotiations were ongoing for an additional 5 million doses.

However, Taiwan has a luxury that Ukraine and Iran do not have - a relatively contained outbreak. With only 912 confirmed cases, eight deaths and tightly controlled borders, the island has resumed relatively normal life, though mass gatherings remain discouraged.
Australian businesses will be encouraged to invest in plug-in hybrid and electric car fleets in an attempt to increase private uptake by flooding the second-hand market with new vehicle technologies at lower prices.

The Morrison government has ruled out offering taxpayer subsidies for the private uptake of plug-in hybrids and battery electric cars, arguing in its long-awaited strategy that subsidies would not represent value for money in efforts to drive down carbon emissions.

The Morrison government has ruled out subsidies for electric vehicles, and is prioritising transition of commercial fleets. Credit:Bloomberg

Energy Minister Angus Taylor will argue a fleet first strategy for new technology passenger vehicles is the smartest way to help Australias planned and managed transition to low-emission cars, while ensuring charging infrastructure and the national energy grid can support a switch.

Low-emissions vehicles are a key plank in the governments technology road map, which it will rely on if it is to meet both its Paris emission targets and a potential commitment to net zero by 2050.
Press Release

4 February 2021

SEATTLE - Following a year where for many, every aspect of life - from work, school, daycare, and even vacation - was spent under one roof, in 2021 people worldwide are more determined than ever to use up all the vacation days they've earned. According to the annual Vacation Deprivation study from Expedia, in 2021 Americans plan to take an extra week (five days) of vacation. With this new "no days left behind" mindset, Vacation Deprivation is well on its way to becoming a thing of the past.

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Expedia first launched the annual study more than two decades ago to illustrate the benefits of vacation and encourage working adults to regularly unplug. In recent years, the benefits of vacation are well-known and undisputed, yet Vacation Deprivation is on the rise in most nations. This year's findings point to yet another shift, one in which workers agree they will never take their vacation days for granted again. In fact, many Americans are optimistic about travel in 2021, with 36 percent planning to resume taking regular vacations this year, and another third (32%) vowing to take more vacations than usual to make up for lost time in 2020.

U.S. Vacation Deprivation at-a-glance

The study found that the U.S. reported the fewest number of vacation days taken in 2020 out of the 16 countries surveyed. Considering the impact of the pandemic on travel, feelings of vacation deprivation were unsurprisingly higher than in years' past, with 64 percent of U.S. respondents reporting they felt vacation deprived, a three percent increase from 2020 and 11 percent increase compared to five years ago. The study also found:

Fewest Days Received, Most Days Left on the Table:

Not only did U.S. employees take the fewest vacation days (8) in 2020, along with Thailand the U.S. also received the fewest vacation days (13) when compared to other countries surveyed.

Not only did U.S. employees take the fewest vacation days (8) in 2020, along with Thailand the U.S. also the fewest vacation days (13) when compared to other countries surveyed. Time Between Vacations Has Grown: One in four (26%) U.S. respondents noted they haven't taken a vacation in over a year, compared to 16 percent in 2019.

Using Vacation Time, but Not for Vacation: 47 percent used at least one vacation day in 2020 to care for a sick family member or in lieu of childcare.

More Cancelled Trips: 42 percent cancelled one or more trips last year due to COVID-19.

It's not all bad news, however. With Americans planning to take 13 vacation days this year, up from just 8 days taken in 2020, work-life balance is bound to improve.

Queue the bucket lists

Though the pandemic put a damper on vacation plans, the study results show that the desire for travel has not diminished. In fact, 66 percent of people globally were inspired to create a travel bucket list, and the longer the pandemic has waged on, the longer bucket lists have become - 60 percent of respondents said they continue to add to their lists.

Expedia's study also found that people are willing to put more budget into their bucket list vacations in 2021 than originally planned (61%). Whether it's trying a new activity, seeking out a place untraveled, reuniting with loved ones separated by distance (64 percent find vacation time more valuable when spending quality time with family), or simply having time to recharge (54 percent think having the time to relax and do nothing is what makes them happiest on vacation), travelers want to make the most of their time.

2021 is on track to be the year people take back their days

As the hope for future travel in 2021 grows, Expedia is already seeing an uptick in people searching for their next bucket list location. For spring getaways, Expedia.com data shows that Americans are searching for warm weather and beaches. These are the destinations garnering the most interest for March and April escapes:

Top-searched*: Riviera Maya/Playa del Carmen/Tulum; Cancun; Isla Mujeres; Las Vegas, NV; Orlando, FL; Puerto Vallarta/Riviera Nayarit, Los Cabos, Miami, FL; Oahu, HI; Maui, HI

Meanwhile, the trending destinations for spring show similar themes to destinations highlighted in the 2021 Trends Report, primarily outdoorsy, small towns or off the beaten path:

Trending**: North Georgia Mountains, GA; The Hamptons, NY; Front Royal, VA; Southwest Colorado, CO; Hagerstown, MD; Upper Peninsula, MI; South Shore, MA; Boone, NC; Lake Placid, NY; Dahlonega, GA

"The longer the pandemic, the larger the vacation bucket list and the greater the yearning to travel," said Shiv Singh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Brand Expedia. "Globally, 81% of working adults are placing more value on vacation and 66% of them have been inspired to create a bucket list. Whether it's inspiring memorable experiences to add to the bucket list, sharing helpful travel tips or spotlighting flexible deals, Expedia will be here to help travelers discover new destinations - smartly and confidently."

About the Vacation Deprivation Study

Expedia first commissioned Vacation Deprivation in 2000 to examine the work-life balance of Americans. The annual study is currently in its 21st year and was conducted online among 9,200 respondents across North and South America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Commissioned from November 18-December 9, 2020 on behalf of Expedia by Northstar Research Partners, a global strategic research firm, responses were gathered using an amalgamated group of best-in-class panels. Looking at the margin of error for the global average, a 1% difference is statistically significant at 90% confidence.

Notes to Editor Traveler wellbeing is our priority. Expedia understands how the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect travelers everywhere, as well as the importance of abiding by government restrictions and practicing social distancing. Travelers can visit the Expedia COVID-19 travel resource page for information to make informed travel decisions.

*Top destinations based on Expedia.com lodging searches as of January 8, 2021 for stays taking place in March and April 2021. **Trending destinations are those showing the biggest lift in lodging searches for March and April stays on Expedia.com compared to the same travel window in 2020.

Havilah Resources signs MOU for exploration and potential development of its uranium interests

Havilah Resources Ltd (ASX:HAV) (FRA:FWL) has entered into a binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the exploration and potential development of its uranium interests in South Australia, with Aroha Resources Pty Ltd - conditional upon Aroha listing on the ASX.

The MOU provides for the parties to progress in good faith on an exclusive basis and will enable Aroha to secure initial seed capital via an Information Memorandum ahead of an initial public offering (IPO).

Havilah anticipates it will hold a 25% interest in Aroha at the time of the proposed ASX listing, subject to details of the capital raising, and will also be entitled to future uranium royalties.



"Progressing non-core prospects"

Havilah technical director Dr Chris Giles said: "We are delighted that Aroha is intending to fund and advance Havilah's extensive uranium interests, which were acquired via the takeover of Curnamona Energy Limited during 2012.

"This MOU is consistent with Havilah's stated strategy of maximising the value of its significant pipeline of exploration projects in South Australia, while focusing the company's main efforts on advancing its core projects with near-term potential for significant value uplift for shareholders.

"It also achieves Havilah's objective of progressing its non-core prospects and projects in a prudent manner, with external funding and leaves Havilah shareholders with a fair residual benefit in the event of success.

"Aroha's team is well experienced and highly successful in the Australian resources industry and we look forward to working with them."


On Jan. 13, Donald Trumps Department of Justice snuck in one last blow against truth, science, and justice.

With just days left before Joe Bidens inauguration, the DOJ abruptly responded to a milestone report on forensic science published years ago. In 2016, Barack Obamas Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, or PCAST, composed of renowned scientists, pulled the curtain back on the misuse of forensic science in American courts. The councils report concluded that methods frequently relied upon by prosecutors to convict people, like firearms and bitemark analysis, lack basic scientific validity.

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Just days before Joe Biden took office, however, Trumps DOJ issued an unsigned 26-page statement designed to undermine those findings. It was a smoke-and-mirrors attempt to use the credibility of the federal government to prop up the uncritical use of flawed forensic evidence that has contributed to hundreds of wrongful convictions. Like the Trump administrations last-minute execution spree, the statement seems calculated to advance a regressive, reactionary, and cruel system of criminal prosecution.

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The science part of forensic science is much murkier than crime shows like Law & Order or NCIS suggest. On TV, we might see a white-coated scientist gravely study a bullet mark on a computer screen as an algorithm scans a database for matches, ultimately landing on the culprits gun and cracking the case. But these TV depictions bear little resemblance to actual forensics. In the 2016 report, PCAST cautioned that several pattern-matching disciplines, like firearms, bite mark, and hair comparison, are highly subjective, involve circular reasoning, and have been insufficiently tested. They rely on subjective comparisonsessentially, eyeballing itdressed up with the gloss of seemingly scientific language.

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PCAST also offered several practical recommendations for improvement. The council called for judges to carefully assess the scientific validity of forensics methods before admitting them in court and recommended scientists conduct more research and improve the standards of each science, among other things. A core conclusion of the report is that these methods need to undergo well-designed, empirical testing that reflects real-life cases. This testing is necessary to determine which disciplines are scientifically valid and which are essentially junk science.

Those committed to equity in criminal justice have welcomed PCASTs guidance. Several courts around the country drew on PCASTs findings to begin restricting the use of pattern evidence. DOJs new statementunsurprising from Trumps DOJ, which consistently rolled back racial justice gainsis a step backward: It is a striking example of a win-at-all-costs prosecutorial mentality that values convictions over justice.

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Federal and state prosecutors all over the country can now point to this statement to argue to judges that PCAST was wrong and that there is no reason to disallow problematic evidence from being used against criminal defendants. If judges buy these arguments, miscarriages of justice will keep piling up.

If judges buy these arguments, miscarriages of justice will keep piling up.

While Obamas second attorney general, Loretta Lynch, disagreed with PCAST, this latest attack is more nefariousand goes fartherby claiming to be a scientific refutation of the report.* As judges have begun to seriously grapple with important scientific issues, Trumps DOJ has responded not with a commitment to research, but with a strategic maneuver seemingly intended to stop more courts from doing the same. Much like Trump administration efforts to disperse fake news in other contexts, this new statement affirmatively spreads disinformation about science in a way that may be persuasive to judges considering similar issues. It has greater potential to do harm than Lynchs statement because it is presented as government-sponsored science.

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DOJ raises three unpersuasive criticisms of the PCAST report that fundamentally misunderstand the science and mischaracterize the reports findings.

First, DOJ suggests that PCASTs criticisms should not apply to most forensic methods by claiming that PCAST improperly categorizes pattern matching as metrology, the science of measurement, because these methods rely on subjective comparisons in lieu of objective statistics and measurement. Not only does this reflect a misunderstanding of the science, it also misses PCASTs point, perhaps deliberately. PCASTs central premise is simpler than the DOJ statement attempts to make it: Regardless of whether pattern matching qualifies as metrology, as even the Supreme Court recognizes, a theory that has not been empirically tested is not scientifically valid. Simply, it is unscientificand dangerousto carve out fields that lack scientific rigor from the PCAST report.

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DOJs other complaints are equally perplexing. Its second claim that PCASTs validity criteria are too demanding is inconsistent with middle schoollevel scientific principles. Requiring well-designed, empirical testing that reflects real-life conditions is uncontroversial to scientists and legal experts alike.

PCAST also called for rigorous black-box studies to establish how often each discipline comes up with an incorrect result. Error rates help jurors understand just how often forensic examiners are wrong before sending people to prison. DOJ complains that error rates are not one-size-fits-all, but PCAST acknowledges this, offering a widely accepted solution: presenting the actual error rate as falling within a range of possibilities.

DOJs arguments are unconvincing on their own terms, but its hard to escape the conclusion that they were made in bad faith. For example, DOJs statement claims that another scientific organization supports its positions when, in fact, the opposite is true. Thats why this statement is especially pernicious: It looks persuasive; it feels scientific. Cloaked in scientific-sounding language and issued via press release, it bears the hallmarks of an official government report. In truth, its an agenda-driven attempt to undermine commonsense reforms that would prevent reliance on unreliable science that has been responsible for generations of unjust convictions, particularly of young Black men.

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Biden has begun building a DOJ staffed with civil rights leaders with deep commitment to criminal justice reform. This new DOJ should quickly rescind the statement and stand in support of meaningful forensic reform.

The Trump administrations assault on science has already harmed public health and the environment. Its attacks on forensic science are no less concerning. As one of his first acts as attorney general, Jeff Sessions disbanded the National Commission on Forensic Science, a cross-disciplinary body of scientists, judges, and others aimed at providing recommendations to improve forensic sciences. He replaced the commission with an internal adviser with a track record of opposing reform, dubbed the Mike Pence of forensics.

Yet this most recent attempt by DOJ to make straightforward science appear debatable has the potential to wreak even more havoc on the justice system. The statements veneer of authority may fool judges, lawyers, and others into relying on it. Justice demands that we reject it.

Disclosure: As a public defender, the author participated in one of the cases restricting pattern-matching evidence, United States v. Tibbs, which focused on the limitations of firearms analysis.

Correction, Feb. 5, 2021: This piece originally misstated that Loretta Lynch was Obamas first Attorney General.
New York City Construction Workers Must be Trained By March 1

Construction workers in New York City will need to complete Site Safety Training by March 1.

The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) has set a deadline of March 1 for New York City construction workers to obtain Site Safety Training (SST) cards, according to Real Estate Weekly.

The SST cards are given out to workers who complete a minimum of 40 hours of mandatory construction safety training. Per the current rules, workers on SST construction sites in New York City must already complete at least 30 hours of safety training. Those who have already done this have to complete an additional 10 hours by the March 1 deadline to meet 40 total hours.

We are nearing the deadline and the goals we set to help protect the workers who build our city, regardless of status or affiliation by mandating a minimum number of site safety training hours, said Jumaane D. Williams, New York City Public Advocate. These trainings provide tools and information to give some security to workers and their families that they will come home safe at the end of the day, said Williams.

SST has been a requirement in New York City since the Local Law 196 was passed in 2017. The law requires certain workers and supervisors to receive safety training at construction sites that are required to designate a Construction Superintendent, Site Safety Coordinator or Site Safety Manager. Methods of training include online worker safety sessions and in-person informational sessions.
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PRESS RELEASE

Nyxoah and Vanderbilt University enter exclusive licensing agreement regarding next generation neurostimulation technologies to treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)

Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium  2nd February, 2021  Nyxoah SA (Euronext: NYXH) (Nyxoah or the Company), a health-technology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative solutions and services to treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), today announces the Company has signed an exclusive license agreement with Vandebilt University, Nashville  TN, USA.

The agreement allows Nyxoah to further develop new neurostimulation technologies for the treatment of sleep disordered breathing conditions that were invented by Dr. David T. Kent. New treatments will focus, among others, on stimulating the ansa cervicalis, the efferent fiber of the glossopharyngeal nerve or nerves that innervate the palatoglossus and/or the palatopharyngeus muscle. Nyxoah will also work together with Vanderbilt University to continue prosecution of patent applications, which will give Nyxoah the exclusive right to use these new technologies once patents will be granted.

Nyxoah agreed to pay Vanderbilt an up-front fee as well as payments based on regulatory, development and commercialization milestones. Nyxoah also agreed to pay royalties on future product sales.

Under this agreement, Nyxoah shall develop a next generation neurostimulation-based solution to treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea patients. Obstructive Sleep Apnea is the most common sleep disordered breathing condition, affecting almost 1 billion people globally1. Over the past decade, neurostimulation therapies, such as the proprietary Genio system developed and commercialized by Nyxoah, have proven their long-term efficacy in efficiently treating OSA patients.

Olivier Taelman, Chief Executive Officer of Nyxoah, commented: We are delighted to start collaborating with Vanderbilt University, a worldwide recognized US university in this field of research, through this exclusive licensing agreement. This will open new horizons in the field of neurostimulation technologies, improving and expanding current treatment solutions for OSA patients, and will reinforce Nyxoahs future pipeline. The upcoming collaboration with Dr. Kent at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, together with Nyxoahs groundbreaking approach in neurostimulation and its collaboration with international key opinions leaders, will help Nyxoah strengthen its position as innovator offering patient-centered solutions.

Dr. David T. Kent from Vanderbilt University added: Partnering with Nyxoah creates the opportunity to build new technologies based on Vanderbilts intellectual property. We share the same vision of developing disruptive solutions, always having in mind that patients should be put at the center. Our mission will be to demonstrate the unique potential of such new technologies resulting in a broader OSA treatment portfolio.

- ENDS -

For further information, please contact:

Nyxoah

Milena Venkova, Corporate Communications Manager

milena.venkova@nyxoah.com

+32 490 11 93 57

About Nyxoah

Nyxoah is a healthtech company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative solutions and services to treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Nyxoahs lead solution is the Genio system, a CE-validated, patient-centered, next generation hypoglossal neurostimulation therapy for OSA, the worlds most common sleep disordered breathing condition that is associated with increased mortality risk2 and comorbidities including cardiovascular diseases, depression and stroke.

Following the successful completion of the BLAST OSA study in patients with moderate to severe OSA, the Genio system received its European CE Mark in 2019. The Company is currently conducting the BETTER SLEEP study in Australia and New Zealand for therapy indication expansion, the DREAM IDE pivotal study for FDA approval and a post-marketing EliSA study in Europe to confirm the long-term safety and efficacy of the Genio system.

For more information, please visit www.nyxoah.com .

About Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville  Tennessee, USA, is a private research university offering a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees.

For more information, please visit www.vanderbilt.edu .

Caution  Genio is CE marked since 2019. Investigational device in the United States. Limited by U.S. federal law to investigational use in the United States.









1 Benjafield, Adam V et al. Estimation of the global prevalence and burden of obstructive sleep apnoea: a literature-based analysis. Lancet Respir Med 2019 Published Online July 9, 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30198-5







2 Young T. et al: Sleep Disordered Breathing and Mortality: Eighteen-Year Follow-up of the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort, Sleep. 2008 Aug 1; 31(8): 10711078.







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A man is fighting for life in hospital after a single-vehicle crash in Brisbanes north that emergency services believe was the result of a medical episode.

Emergency services, including critical care and high acuity response were called to Kedron Brook Road at Wilston just before 9am on Thursday.

The driver was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital in a critical condition.

The road was closed to all traffic between Fifth Avenue and York Street until about 10.30am.

A Queensland Ambulance Services spokesman said it was suspected the patient had a medical event, which caused the crash.
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NEW DELHI : India provided 56 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines under grants assistance to a number of countries while 100 lakh doses were sent under commercial supplies, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said Indian vaccines are scheduled to reach the Caribbean countries, Pacific Island states, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Mongolia, in the coming weeks.

"We have so far supplied vaccines to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Brazil, Morocco, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Algeria, Kuwait and South Africa," he said at a media briefing.

"Supplies made under grant amount to 56 lakh doses and commercial supplies amount to over 100 lakh doses," he added.

Srivastava said external supplies of vaccines are an ongoing process, depending on availability and domestic requirements.

"In the coming weeks, Indian vaccines are scheduled to reach CARICOM countries (the Caribbean), Pacific Island States, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Mongolia etc," he said.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is a grouping of 20 island nations which are home to approximately 16 million people.





In a major announcement, India on January 19 said it will send COVID-19 vaccines under grant assistance to several countries, including Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius.

India is one of the world's biggest drugmakers, and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring the coronavirus vaccines. PTI MPB ANB ANB ANB

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Queensland Health Minister Yvette Dath says an investigation into a cluster of COVID-19 cases in Brisbanes Hotel Grand Chancellor last month has ruled out airconditioning and deliberate quarantine breaches as sources of the outbreak.

A total of six cases were eventually linked to the seventh floor of the hotel in Brisbanes CBD, after a cleaners positive tests sparked a three-day city lockdown in early January.

Guests at the Hotel Grand Chancellor stand on their balconies ahead of an operation to move them from the quarantine site in early January. Credit:Matt Dennien

Quarantine guests were eventually evacuated as police and health authorities investigated how the virus moved among guests and the cleaner, with airconditioning initially rumoured to be the source.

The cluster has now been deemed officially over and a report into the outbreak is due to be released on Friday morning.

Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines could be rolled out early next year.

Rich countries hoard available and future vaccines, as poor countries wait

More than 68 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in 56 countries across the world as of 25 January 2021. Among these countries are two from Africa: Mediterranean Sea to the Red Seas, Guinea, on the West Coast, and Seychelles, an island in the Indian Ocean.

Vaccine hoarding will only prolong the ordeal and delay Africa's recovery. It is deeply unjust that the most vulnerable Africans are forced to wait for vaccines while lower-risk groups in rich countries are made safe. Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHOs Regional Director for Africa

"I am going to be the first to get the vaccine," the President of Seychelles Wavel Ramkalawan said on 10 January at the launch the national vaccine campaign, to "show that the vaccine is safe and to convince people this is one of the tools at our disposable" to combat the virus, he added. He kept his word.

In Guinea, local media reported on New Year's Eve that vaccination was being rolled out across the country. Cabinet members and a few other government officials were shown on TV receiving their first doses of the vaccine.

Other countries across the continent are making efforts to acquire the vaccines but have to compete with wealthier nations who have scooped up huge amounts of the vaccines, mostly by pre-ordering millions of doses.

According to data collected by Bloomberg News - a global financial and data news outlet that is tracking daily numbers related to vaccines, over 35 wealthy countries have pre-ordered huge amounts of vaccines, sometimes up to 3.3 times the number of doses needed to vaccinate their entire populations.

Hoarding

"We first, not me first, is the only way to end the pandemic," Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO's Regional Director for Africa said at a virtual press conference recently, as she reflected on the imbalance of vaccine doses availability.

"Vaccine hoarding will only prolong the ordeal and delay Africa's recovery. It is deeply unjust that the most vulnerable Africans are forced to wait for vaccines while lower-risk groups in rich countries are made safe," said Dr. Moeti.

As part of a collective effort to ensure that the African continent has access to the doses it requires, the African Union (AU) Chairperson, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said on 14 January that about 270 million COVID-19 vaccine doses had been provisionally secured for African countries through the COVID-19 African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT).

These 270 million doses add to the approximately 600 million doses already promised by the COVAX initiative - a global facility working for fair and equitable access of COVID-19 vaccines for every country in the world. Still, the number of vaccines from both initiatives are not enough to cover the continent, and the first batch of about 30 million vaccine doses of the COVAX 600 million will not start arriving in countries until March this year.

These are historical times. For the first time in history, Africa has secured access to millions of vaccine doses in the middle of a pandemic just like most of Western countries. Nonetheless, there is still a huge shortage of vaccine doses. Strive Masiyiwa, AU Special Envoy

Securing the vaccines to getting them into the arms of most people who need it most in Africa may take even longer, not just because of international vaccine hoarding, but also due to logistical constraints, including the need for deep refrigeration of some of the vaccines.

"We will face logistical challenges, no doubt," said former Liberian President and co-chair of a WHO review panel, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf last week in an interview with a US radio station.

Earlier this month authorities in Senegal - among the first countries to carry out COVID-19 tests in Africa - said they may not have capability to store some of the vaccines that require ultra-low temperatures.

A vaccine that "fits easily into the system that exists, a vaccine that doesn't require major investment," is what the country would prefer, Ousseynou Badiane, the head of the Senegal's national vaccination programme told Reuters. Senegal is not alone.

For their vaccination campaign, Guinea and Seychelles are using vaccines developed in Russia and China respectively.

Countries across the continent have significant experience conducting mass vaccination campaigns. Infrastructure developed over the years, including for polio, cholera and measles vaccination drives, and lessons learned during the Ebola epidemic stand them in good stead, former President Sirleaf pointed out. Still, having to keep COVID-19 vaccines in extreme low temperatures presents additional challenges.

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Logistics aside, financing nationwide vaccine campaigns is another challenge for African governments.

While, the COVAX initiative has raised $2.4 billion of the required $ 6.6 billion for the exercise, more is still needed in 2021 for vaccine procurement.

The AU has succeeded in getting the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to provide advance guarantees of up to $2 billion to the manufacturers on behalf of the AU's 55 Member States, but countries will still need to look for resources to finance the gaps.

"These are historical times. For the first time in history, Africa has secured access to millions of vaccine doses in the middle of a pandemic just like most of Western countries," said Strive Masiyiwa, the AU Special Envoy, said. Nonetheless, "there is still a huge shortage of vaccine doses."

While, to fill existing gaps, countries would have to resort to bilateral agreements with the manufacturers, they "must do everything in their power to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are made a global public good--free of charge to the public, fairly distributed and based on need not ability to pay," urges Ms. Winnie Byanyima, the UNAIDS Executive Director.
After hearing the arguments, High Court Justice Challa Kondandaram ordered the petitioner to produce evidence of dual citizenship of Babu.  DC Image

VEMULAWADA: The High Court on Thursday adjourned the case pertaining to the German citizenship of Vemulawada MLA Chennamneni Ramesh Babu after hearing arguments from both sides.

It may be recalled that in 2009, Congress leader Adi Srinivas, who contested against Ramesh Babu had lodged a case challenging the Indian citizenship of the TRS leader and complained to the Union home ministry.

Srinivas alleged that Babu had procured Indian citizenship after producing fake documents so as to contest the Assembly elections from Vemulawada. Babu married a German woman and got German citizenship, but, hiding that, he contested the elections after fraudulently getting Indian citizenship and won.

The home ministry on November 22 last year, issued orders cancelling the citizenship of Babu for concealing facts pertaining to his visits to India during the 12-month period. Challenging the decision, Babu filed a petition in the High Court seeking to set aside the orders of the ministry and also appealed for suspension of proceedings.

After hearing the arguments, High Court Justice Challa Kondandaram ordered the petitioner to produce evidence of dual citizenship of Babu and granted a four-week interim suspension and posted the case to December 16.

However, the home ministry has failed to submit the affidavit with proper evidence and documents regarding dual citizenship issue of Babu from German authorities.

The High Court took a serious view on the submission of old documents in the form of memos even after it issued notices for a detailed affidavit with full information from Germany. It ordered the home ministry to submit an affidavit before January 20 for the next hearing. After the ministry submitted an affidavit confirming that the MLA has German citizenship, the court took up the case for hearing on Thursday.

The petitioners advocate Ravi Kiran appealed to the bench to take a serious note of how a person with German citizenship was in the Assembly for a period of ten years.

After hearing the arguments, Justice Challa Kondaram informed the petitioner that as the roster system was changed, the case will be dealt by the concerned bench of the court and asked the registry to keep the case in front of the concerned bench as early as possible.
Health Minister Roger Cook has issued an urgent plea to West Australians to get tested if they are feeling unwell after testing rates plummeted on day three of the lockdown.

On Tuesday the minister reported an encouraging 16,490 tests had been completed on the first full day of lockdown following the release of 18 exposure sites across Perth that a hotel quarantine security guard who contracted COVID-19 had visited last week while infectious.

COVID-19 testing rates have plummeted in Perth. Credit:Bloomberg

The rush prompted concerns from the public that testing sites were ill-equipped to deal with the testing crush but by day two of the lockdown, testing rates had dropped to 12,326 and by Wednesday they plunged to 7767.

By comparison in the last 24-hour reporting period for Queensland, it recorded 8226 tests despite not having a recent case of community transmission. Victoria recorded more than 13,000 in the same period before its new case was announced.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 17:28:10|Editor: huaxia

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TIANJIN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Removing trash in space will now be easier thanks to a China-developed continuum robotic arm.

Inspired by human limbs, most robots are created with discrete links rigidly connected by joints. The continuum robot, in contrast, can move by bending through a series of continuous arcs producing motion akin to tentacles or snakes.

Researchers from Tianjin University has developed such a robotic arm that can be used to chase down and collect debris from satellites and other space technology orbiting high above Earth.

The robotic arm, which resembles the arm of an octopus or the trunk of an elephant, includes a central backbone made up of a superelastic metal alloy of nickel and titanium, which can revert naturally back to its original shape after being bent or deformed by outside forces. It also has a camera and a grasping claw attached to the head.

A 12-second video released by the university shows a precise capture by the robot, which snakes its way through a tricky maze without human help and catches a subject no bigger than a ping pong ball.

Lead researcher Kang Rongjie who is also an associate professor at the university's Center for Advanced Mechanisms and Robotics said the continuum robotic arm in experiments exhibited better flexibility and adaptability to the external environment than conventional robots. The latter requires tactile sensors in operations.

Kang's team has had previous successes in studying and making robots. The latest invention was published in The International Journal of Robotics Research.

The robotic arm can also be used in hazardous operations, such as search and rescue at natural disaster sites, and engine maintenance in industrial situations where space is restricted, said co-author Dai Jiansheng, a robotic expert with Tianjin University. Enditem
Although the property market was buoyant for much of 2020, hundreds of thousands of would-be home movers still saw their property purchases fall through.

A total of 306,198 property transactions fell through last year, a 12.26 per cent rise from 2019 when there were 272,768 fall-throughs, according to the residential property data agency TwentyCi.

Fall-throughs happen when a property has been under offer, but the transaction then collapses with no exchange of contracts or completion.

The home buying and moving process can take up a lot of time and cause a lot of stress

On average, a failed property transaction costs those impacted 2,700, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the Homeowners Alliance.

Solicitors, mortgage brokers and surveyors - and sometimes estate agents, builders and architects - are consulted and paid for in advance of a property sale completing.

As well as money, those who have a property transaction fall through will often have committed significant amounts of time. It currently takes 126 days on average for a property to go from offer to completion, according to Rightmove.

On top of the financial cost and the time lost, there is also a psychological impact. Not being able to move into the house they expected to can throw people's lives into disarray.

For example, a divorced couple might have to remain living together, a first-time buyer could be forced to continue renting or living with parents, or a couple expecting a baby may be left with no choice but to remain in their one-bedroom apartment.

'There are a multitude of reasons why property transactions fail, many of which are market-driven such as rising or falling prices, as well as factors which may be outside the control of buyers and sellers, said Jeremy Leaf of Jeremy Leaf & Co estate agents.

Couples who are selling due to a break-up or divorce can be forced to continue living together

'Losing a job, illness, separation, problems elsewhere in the chain, or a disappointing valuation or survey can all cause a transaction to collapse.'

It is not always possible to avoid a fall-through. However, being aware of some of the common reasons for sales failing to complete, and having a back-up plan in case the worst happens, can stop things from getting completely derailed.

The most common reasons that sales collapse

Problems with a mortgage can often cause a transaction to fail.

A mortgage application can be declined for all sorts of reasons. The buyer may have a poor credit history or too much debt, or the mortgage valuation on the property itself may come back lower than what the buyer has agreed to pay.

'Get your mortgage pre-approved before you put offers in on a property,' said Nick Morrey, product technical manager at broker John Charcol.

'If your situation or the property itself is unusual, then get your mortgage broker to run the situation past the lender first to avoid as many problems as possible.

'Get all your paperwork ready, including payslips and bank statements, and if you can get the broker or lender to check them first, then it can't hurt.'

A building survey or home buyer report can also pick up on issues that might result in a buyer withdrawing.

Issues such as subsidence, damp, asbestos, structural concerns or Japanese knotweed might all be flagged by a surveyor, causing a buyer to pull out.

'If a surveyor points out a defect that the buyer was unaware of when they made their offer, you should be open to renegotiating the price to reflect the costs of repair,' said James Perris, a chartered surveyor at De Villiers.

'What is important is that the buyer obtains detailed estimates for the repairs from the relevant tradespeople and presents those, along with the surveyor's report, to the agent to rule out any concern the seller may have that the buyer is simply trying it on.

'This will reduce the chances of negotiations becoming fractious.'

Properties deemed to be structurally at risk by surveyors can force buyers to pull out in some cases.

Gazumping and gazundering can also cause property deals to collapse.

Gazumping is when another party makes a higher offer on a property which a buyer is in the process of purchasing, forcing the initial's buyer's agreement to collapse.

Gazundering is the practice where a buyer lowers their offer at the last minute, prior to contracts being exchanged, sometimes causing the sale to fall apart.

Sales can collapse due to a change of heart or circumstance from both buyer or seller, but often agreements can fall apart due to no fault of either party.

There is often a chain of buyers and sellers, all relying on each other to ensure they can complete on their own purchase. If any of these collapse, everyone in the chain is impacted.

'The best way of avoiding property transaction collapse is to do the best possible preparation and research into the property before spending money on the mortgage application, survey or legal work,' said Leaf.

'The shortest possible chain is usually another advantage. Buying something brand new with no chain at all tends to offer more security, providing you can keep to a timescale for exchange of contracts and completion.'

Advice for buyers if your seller withdraws

Don't just give up on it straight away: see if there is a compromise to be had.

'Try to understand what has happened on the other side, because you may be able to salvage the deal,' said Christian Cudd, head of sales at Hamptons in Clapham.

'Buying a home is one of life's most stressful processes. It may be that you can find a solution that works for both parties and a compromise can be reached. It is not unusual that a sale comes back together after falling through with a bit of hard work.'

If that fails, agents' advice is to keep calm and carry on.

'Don't be despondent,' said Chris Husson-Martin, associate director at Hamptons in Salisbury, 'call the agents in the area where you are looking to buy and strike up a conversation again.'

'You will be surprised by what could become available for you to buy which is not showing online. Some of our most exciting sales last year never came on to the open market.'

Advice for sellers if your buyer withdraws

The first priority is to find out why the buyer withdrew and see if the issue can be resolved.

'It may be about price, the completion date, or another issue you can do something about,' said Leone Stone, associate director of Hamptons in Epsom.

'You never know, a bit of compromise and renegotiation might resolve it.'

If that fails then re-market your property immediately and refresh photos if they are out of date, said Joanna Cole, head of sales at Hamptons in Marlborough.

'Be proactive and act now and you will secure another buyer,' she said.

'Also if searches have been carried out you might be able to purchase them from the previous buyer, so they can be passed on to your new buyer - this is causing the longest delay with home moves at present.'
Chief of Kwapra, near Kumasi, Nana Baffour Adu Gyamfi Kumaniin I, has described the idea behind the creation of the GNPC Foundation as divine in its mandate of providing a wide range of social and economic support to Ghanaians and communities across the country.



Speaking at a short ceremony to hand over the first phase of the new GNPC funded 20-bed community hospital at Kwapra, the chief expressed delight at the scope of work and impact of the Foundation since its establishment as the Corporate Social Investment arm of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) some three years ago and lauded the foresight of Chief Executive, Dr. KK Sarpong for his change leadership.



According to Nana Kumaniin I, the importance of the decision to create a dedicated Unit to spearhead GNPCs community support programmes and other social initiatives cannot be emphasized enough.



He stated that after over a decade of exploring Ghanas oil and gas resources commercially, it was no longer lost on anyone that the gains from this business must begin to directly manifest in Ghanaian lives. This is notwithstanding the fact that Ghanas oil money can be traced to major national programmes - the effect of which, though significant on a national scale, is often not perceptible to the ordinary Ghanaian and that is where the GNPC Foundation offers remarkable reminders with the impact of their work.



I believe Dr. KK Sarpong and the Board at GNPC were inspired by God himself, he said.



He added that through the provision of various projects that include social infrastructures such as classroom blocks, sanitary facilities, potable water, as well as educational scholarships and other livelihood support programmes, the GNPC Foundation remains true to its corporate slogan, Impacting Lives, with a concerted effort to making the ordinary Ghanaian the center of GNPCs community development focus.

Source: peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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To transport a donor organ from a hospital in LB Nagar in the suburbs to another one at Jubilee Hills, officials used the Hyderabad Metro Rail for the first time ever. (DC Image)

Hyderabad: Hyderabad is always at the forefront when it comes to extending help or showing care and compassion. It has gained a new feather on its cap over the way a harvested heart was transported and replanted on a needy patient here.

Metro Rail proved that it not only provides comfortable travel but also acts as a lifesaving tool, as it did in this case.

The doctors who harvested the heart from a brain-dead person gave a new life to the needy. The police department that has always been the backbone for humanitarian efforts in all emergency situations rose to the occasion, winning praise from the Telangana Governor.

The Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HRML) managing director NVS Reddy and L&T MRHL managing director KVB Reddy and Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale of the Apollo Heart Institute and regional chief executive Y Subramanyam have been felicitated by Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan at an event held in the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday.

The governor appreciated the idea of transporting the harvested live heart using the Metro Rail. She noted that the immediate response from the Metro Rail authorities in facilitating the transportation, by arranging a special train, helped.

The Governor said: It was an innovative idea on the part of the doctors. The immediate response from the metro authorities was highly commendable. It was a first-of-its-kind transportation of the harvested organ and you have set an example and saved a precocious life by its successful transplantation.

Dr Tamilisai appreciated the efforts of the police, the donors family members and others involved in the entire process.
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG executives ignored warnings from colleagues about troubled steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta as they channeled $1.2 billion of client funds to his businesses, according to people familiar with the matter.Bankers in Credit Suisses commodity trade-finance unit blacklisted Guptas Liberty Commodities Ltd. in 2016 because they suspected some of its deals werent legitimate, the people said. When they learned about two years later that the bank was lending to his companies through a suite of investment funds, which eventually grew to $10 billion, they flagged their worries to leaders in compliance and the division that housed the loans, one of the people said.The disclosure that Credit Suisse may have put clients at risk despite internal concerns over Guptas businesses adds a new twist to the debacle stemming from the March implosion of Greensill Capital, the finance firm at the center of the three-way relationship.Investigations, LawsuitsThe U.K. Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Guptas group of companies for suspected fraud, including in its financing deals with Greensill, according to a May 14 statement. Credit Suisse has sued to force Guptas Liberty Commodities into insolvency and has since shut the funds that made the loans and launched an internal investigation. Investors are staring at losses as the bank confronts embarrassing lawsuits.We are currently focusing our efforts on recovering our investors money, Will Bowen, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in London, said in an emailed statement, adding that the banks internal probe will focus on all of the issues linked to the funds. We are committed to learning the lessons and will share the relevant lessons learnt at the appropriate time.Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Gupta Family Group Alliance, or GFG Alliance, a collective of businesses linked to Gupta including Liberty Commodities, denied any wrongdoing.The Greensill saga represents just one of the two disasters that rocked Credit Suisse in the first half of 2021. Since Greensill began unraveling, the bank has announced a $5.5 billion hit from the blowup at Archegos Capital Management.ApologiesFormer Chairman Urs Rohner apologized to shareholders and his successor, Antonio Horta-Osorio, who arrived at the end of April, has promised a sweeping strategy review.Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein, who was head of the division that oversaw trade finance, wasnt aware of the internal concerns about Gupta that had prompted the bank to cut him off, according to a person familiar with the matter.Employees at the trade-finance unit, which lends money for the buying and selling of commodities, cut ties with Gupta in 2016 after becoming skeptical toward his Liberty Commodities, the people said. They distrusted the documents the company provided, triggering doubts about its transactions, they said. In one example reported by Bloomberg, the company had presented another bank with what seemed to be duplicate shipping receipts. Credit Suisses commodity team had stopped working with Gupta after identifying suspicious shipments while the banks credit-structuring team lobbied against the Greensill funds, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.A spokesman for Gupta has denied any wrongdoing.Banking TiesLiberty Commodities pledged assets to Credit Suisse as security for borrowings in 2013 but by early 2016, all such commitments had been extinguished, indicating that the financing relationship had ceased, U.K. Companies House filings show. And while Guptas company listed the Swiss bank as one of its lenders in its 2014 annual report, it didnt in the following years report, which is dated May 2016, according to the filings.Their counterparts at other banks, including Macquarie Group Ltd. and Sberbank PJSC, halted trading with Liberty Commodities around the same time because of similar concerns; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also stopped in 2016, Bloomberg has reported.Nevertheless, executives at Credit Suisses asset-management division -- which creates investment products for clients and charges a fee for overseeing them -- began arranging a suite of funds focused on supply-chain finance in 2017. The entities bought securitized loans packaged by Greensill, a firm created by Australian businessman Lex Greensill. Much of the debts were linked to Guptas businesses.WarningsOfficials at the commodity trade-finance unit were concerned when they found out about the funds links to Gupta and took their fears to Thomas Grotzer, general counsel for the banks Swiss division. They also warned Luc Mathys and Lukas Haas, the bankers who helped oversee the trades at the asset-management unit.Grotzer was promoted last month to interim global head of compliance at Credit Suisse. He didnt respond to requests for comment. Mathys, head of fixed-income at the asset-management division, and Haas, a portfolio manager, were put on temporary leave in March. Neither responded to requests for comment.The bank pushed ahead with the funds and marketed them to investors as being made up of short-term debt secured on invoices, assets considered so safe that Credit Suisse gave the largest vehicle its lowest rating for risk. Yet part of the loans were linked to mere possible future revenues.Other parts of the bank continued working with Gupta as well. Credit Suisses investment bankers were due to lead an initial public offering for Libertys U.S. steel arm, which was ultimately pulled, according to a statement from the company. Gupta also announced that the Swiss bank would finance his planned acquisition of Thyssenkrupp AGs steel unit, which fell apart earlier this year.Credit Suisse has so far recouped about $5.9 billion of the $10 billion in these supply-chain funds, but it remains unclear how much will be returned ultimately to investors. Loans to Guptas businesses are among a batch of debts that are the principal sources of valuation uncertainty, the bank said earlier this month.Liberty Commoditiess external legal advisors investigated alleged rumors concerning the paperwork it used in 2019, according to Mitchell, the spokesman for GFG Alliance. They found no evidence to substantiate the rumors, nor was the company ever subject to further complaints or proceedings, he said.LCL has ongoing banking relationships with separate financial institutions, Mitchell said, referring to Liberty Commodities. The trade-finance market has been hugely challenging for all but the very largest commodities traders in recent years. Nevertheless, no financial institution has been left out of pocket as a result of lending money to LCL. On the contrary, they have received substantial commercial returns.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
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[February 04, 2021] Diebold Nixdorf Outlines Social And Environmental Progress In 2020 CSR Report

NORTH CANTON, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Diebold Nixdorf (NYSE: DBD), a global leader in driving connected commerce for the banking and retail industries, today issued its 2020 corporate social responsibility (CSR) report , including information on the company's sustainability and diversity and inclusion efforts. The 2020 Diebold Nixdorf CSR report highlights the company's work to advance its solutions concerning economic, ecological and social factors, while remaining transparent and further developing its business in a sustainable and ethical fashion. Diebold Nixdorf's corporate social responsibility program forms a vital component of the company's global operational structure and culture, and is comprised of three main pillars: Sustainable supply chain and operations are focused on building relationships and collaborating with customers, suppliers and environmental organizations to ensure that we are operating in a sustainable manner.

are focused on building relationships and collaborating with customers, suppliers and environmental organizations to ensure that we are operating in a sustainable manner. Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) commitments provide our employees a safe workplace with a zero injury, incident and health impact goal, while maintaining awareness of our place in the global community with responsible resource consumption.

commitments provide our employees a safe workplace with a zero injury, incident and health impact goal, while maintaining awareness of our place in the global community with responsible resource consumption. Corporate global citizenship efforts that support countless nonprofit organizations whose missions align with our values and whose ork enhances the quality of life for people in need.



Diebold Nixdorf's CSR report outlines its recently introduced CARE Council  a dedicated group of employees responsible for driving key initiatives across the company that include diversity and inclusion, charitable giving strategies and establishing focused resource groups. Through this council, employees are committed to "CARE-ing" for each other by focusing on being considerate, aware, responsible and empathetic so that everyone feels appreciated, involved and supported with an equal opportunity to thrive. Gerrard Schmid, Diebold Nixdorf president and chief executive officer, said: "Our global workforce is committed to doing the right thing. We have a responsibility to act sustainably, promote diversity and inclusion, remain transparent and conduct business ethically and with integrity. Whether we are participating in a local food drive, innovating to solve sustainable development challenges or working to protect labor rights and EHS standards, we are touching lives around the world and making a positive difference. I am proud to share our progress and accomplishments of 2020, and excited about our plans for 2021 and beyond."

About Diebold Nixdorf

Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD) is a world leader in enabling connected commerce. We automate, digitize and transform the way people bank and shop. As a partner to the majority of the world's top 100 financial institutions and top 25 global retailers, our integrated solutions connect digital and physical channels conveniently, securely and efficiently for millions of consumers each day. The company has a presence in more than 100 countries with approximately 22,000 employees worldwide. Visit www.DieboldNixdorf.com for more information. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/diebold

Twitter: twitter.com/dieboldnixdorf

Facebook: www.facebook.com/DieboldNixdorf

YouTube: www.youtube.com/dieboldnixdorf View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/diebold-nixdorf-outlines-social-and-environmental-progress-in-2020-csr-report-301222511.html SOURCE Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated

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A Texas pregnancy center located in front of a Planned Parenthood branch celebrated on Tuesday saving more than 90,000 lives since it started 30 years ago.

Christian Headlines reported that the Prestonwood Pregnancy Center, started by the Prestonwood Baptist Church in 1991, celebrated saving 90,000 from abortion. The center has served 100,000 mothers since it opened in the Dallas Forth Worth area and from their clients, 90,000 mothers were convinced not to abort their baby.

According to the Center's website, it provides free-of-charge medical services such as pregnancy tests and ultrasound dependent on the individual situation of their each patient. They also provide "limited STI/STD testing and treatment on site" for those who have been sexually active on top of providing education and support. The center also provides maternity and baby items that come from donations alongside online classes on breastfeeding and on other topics for new mothers.

Their primary service is providing information, counseling, and support for those intending to undergo abortion--helping them initially through an ultrasound intended to equip a woman to be "fully informed before making any decision."

As per CBN News, the center serves as "a beacon of light for women who are facing challenging issues" by letting them "know all of their options and understand they are not alone" out of their belief that it is a "divine appointment."

"When that young woman or couple walks in through the door of our center, we see it as a divine appointment," Prestonwood Pregnancy Center Executive Director Leanne Jamieson revealed in an interview with CBN's "The Prayer Link."

Jamieson shared that, as per their experience, those who come to their center "are often broken and looking for hope" who have "found themselves in" such a "circumstance" that "often reveals other areas of their life that they are struggling in" and as such are in need of people who are "really good listeners"--much like the Center's staff--"to help them problem solve and navigate their situation."

"I really believe that most people seeking an abortion are doing it for some very fundamental reasons," Jamieson raised. "Often there's a great deal of fear surrounding their pregnancy and because of that fear they're really looking for some sort of answer, we might say hope--hope that pregnancy does not have to change their life in what they view to be a disastrous way."

Jamieson pointed out that the Center also corrects "head-on some of the misconceptions" young women have regarding their pregnancy by providing them the necessary information for it. In addition, they have members of the Prestonwood Baptist Church's Girls Bible Study Ministry come over to spend a day and help out in the Center for exposure, as well as, the opportunity to invite them to become its advocates to their peers.

"I learned a lot of things walking away from serving at PPC but one thing that stood out to me in particular was how the staff takes such sweet care of every woman or young lady who walks through the doors," Girls Bible Study Ministry member Kyndra Samaniego shared regarding her exposure at the center in 2019. "No matter the background or age of the woman walking in, the staff loves them just as Jesus would!"

Now operating two branches, the Center prides itself of its commitment so serve "regardless of religion, gender, sexual identity or orientation, or any other legally protected classification" and assures all clients are treated "in a caring manner" while protecting their information in "strict and absolute confidence."

Christian Headlines said the center's new location in Dallas across the Planned Parenthood branch opened in July 2020 after "quietly" and secretly doing renovations in the property in time for its opening "to shield the pregnancy center from negative liberal press, protests, and other challenges."

"I truly believe this relocation is the greatest opportunity we've had," Jamieson said in a 2020 interview with Baptist Press, "to offer hope where it's been lost, to offer a better choice that leads to life instead of death and to show grace and love at the very moment when many women are their greatest need."

Former Head of the Georgian National Security Council Kakhaber Kemoklidze will be the new head of the government administration.

"Kakha Kemoklidze has been working in our team for years. He is one of the worthy public servants and has a great experience in serving the country," Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said after appointing Kemoklidze as the Head of the government Adminisration.

Before appointing as the head of the administration, Kemoklidze was leading the National Security Councils Office of Georgia, Agenda.ge reported.

During 2018-2019 he held the position of the Director of Information-Analytical Department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.

During 2015-2018 Kemoklidze took up the position of the Deputy Head of Analysis and Coordination Division of Information and Analysis Department at the State Security Service (SSS).

During six years (2012-2018) Kakhaber Kemoklidze served as the special representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and later, the representative of the State Security Service of Georgia to the Geneva International Discussions (GID) and the chief negotiator from the Central Government to the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meetings.
Fugitive diamond trader Nirav



Modi's sister and her husband on Thursday approached a court here seeking cancellation of non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against them in the Punjab Bank (PNB) fraud case.

Purvi Modi, Nirav Modi's younger sister, is a Belgian while her husband Maiank Mehta is a British citizen.

Both were earlier named as accused in the case, but last month the PMLA court here accepted their plea for turning approver (prosecution witness) in the case and getting pardon.

The couple, through their lawyers, filed applications before special Prevention of Money Laundering Act judge V C Barde, seeking cancellation of NBWs issued against them.

The court asked the Enforcement Directorate, the probe agency, to file a reply and posted the matter for hearing on February 11.

"Purvi Modi and her husband Maiank Mehta turned approver for assisting in confiscation of two flats in New York, one each in London and Mumbai, balances in two Swiss bank accounts and a bank account in Mumbai totalling Rs 579 crore in the bank fraud case," the ED had said earlier.

and his uncle Mehul Choksi, both declared fugitive, are accused of cheating the PNB of Rs 13,000 crore by fraudulently obtaining Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) from its Brady House branch in Mumbai.

LoUs are issued as bank guarantee to obtain credit from overseas institutions.

Nirav Modi, 49, is presently in a London jail after his arrest there in 2019, and the legal process to extradite him to India on money laundering charges is underway. Choksi is said to be living in Barbuda and Antigua.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Myanmar nationals living in Thailand set a fire to a picture of Myanmar military Commander-in-Chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing during a protest in front of the United Nations' building in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Myanmar's military pulled off a well-choreographed coup Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, the country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, finds herself right back where she was just over a decade ago - under house arrest. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Nirmala Sitharaman Exclusive Interview: I Will Only be Postponing Indias Growth If I Dont Spend Now

The government focused on the quality of expenditure while designing the Union Budget 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Network 18 Editor-in-chief Rahul Joshi, in her first post-Budget interview to a private television network. I am sure that because of the way in which we have designed it and also monitoring the qualitative expenditure that we are planning, it will definitely give us that required multiplier for the economy, she said. READ MORE

At the Forefront of Farmers' Agitation, Can Rakesh Tikait Dent Saffron Hold in West UP?

Till a day after Republic Day on January 26, the ongoing farmers' agitation was not being seen as a significant threat to the Bharatiya Janata Party's political capital. The reason being the movement along Delhi's borders for over two months was primarily viewed as a protest by farmers of Punjab, the state where the BJP is a minor political force and had generally depended on its estranged ally Shiromani Akali Dal. READ MORE

Jack Ma Out, Rival In: Ali Baba Co-founder Struck Off from Chinese List of Tech Icons

The Chinese state media on Tuesday published a list of its pioneering tech giants, but there was a striking absence of one tycoon  Jack Ma. More telling was its commentary on the Ali Babas co-founder archrival Pony M, who the Shanghai Securities News hailed for rewriting the mobile age. READ MORE

Consignments of Made-in-India Covid-19 Doses Reach Algeria, South Africa Under 'Vaccine Maitri'

Consignments of made-in-India vaccines have reached Algeria and South Africa. "Arrival in Algeria. A trusted partnership stands renewed," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted on Monday, using the hashtag 'Vaccine Maitri'."In it together. Made in India vaccines land in Johannesburg, South Africa," he said in another tweet. India has already sent COVID-19 vaccines to many countries such as Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Brazil, and Nepal, among others. READ MORE

What The 137% Hike in Health Budget Means: From a Doctor Petitioning for Healthy India

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented India's budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, on Monday. The Union minister, while acknowledging the health and economic crisis the country fell into during the past year, added that the battle against the coronavirus hasn't ended yet. Emphasizing that the Budget proposal of 2021-2022 rests on 6 pillars including that of Health and Wellbeing, Sitharaman proposed more than doubling Indias healthcare and wellbeing spending to 2.2 trillion rupees ($30.1 billion). READ MORE

'You Nailed it': Michelle Obama's Shoutout to Kids Who Recreated Her and Barack's Inaugural Look

Michelle Obama's plum-colored three-piece outfit by Black designer Sergio Hudson for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' inauguration day turned heads and made it to the top of everyone's wishful wardrobe bucket list. And striding alongside her was Barack Obama, looking every inch the strapping and suave former POTUS in the navy blue long coat and trousers. READ MORE
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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / PPX Mining Corp. (TSXV:PPX)(OTC PINK:SNNGF)(the "Company" or "PPX") discloses that the filing of the Company's annual financial statements for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020, the related management's discussion and analysis, and the certification of the annual filings for the year ended September 30, 2020 (collectively, the "2020 Annual Financial Statements"), were not completed by the deadline of January 29, 2021 as was required by the British Columbia Securities Commission. As a result, the British Columbia Securities Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission have issued a cease trade order (the "Cease Trade Order") today against the Company and securities have been suspended from trading on the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Company continues to work closely with its auditor and expects to file the 2020 Annual Financial Statements as soon as possible. The completion of the 2020 Annual Financial Statements were in part delayed by the quarantine measures instituted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the 2020 Annual Financial Statements are finalized, the Company will seek to have the Cease Trade Order revoked. The Company will be forthcoming with an update on the 2020 Annual Financial Statements once the required filings have been made. The Company also confirms, as of the date of this news release, that there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Brian J. Maher

President and Chief Executive Officer

For Further Information, Please Contact:

PPX Mining Corp.

Brian J. Maher, President and Chief Executive Officer

Phone: 1-530-913-4728

Email: brian.maher@ppxmining.com

Website: www.ppxmining.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement:

Certain disclosure in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. In making the forward-looking statements in this release, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the anticipated filing dates of the Company's financial statements. However, the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and risks are described from time to time in the Company's filings with the appropriate securities commissions, and may include, among others, market conditions and delays or failure by the Company in filing its financial statements or default status reports. 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. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE: PPX Mining Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/628010/PPX-Receives-Cease-Trade-Order
104.8 ISHQ FM, Indias only romantic radio station, is back with its annual Valentines Day campaign. Mohabbat in Maldives is a month-long campaign that gives an opportunity to Delhiites and Mumbaikars to win an all-inclusive couples holiday to the dream destination Maldives.

The campaign which starts on 5th February will give couples a chance to battle it out through a series of contests centred on music, Bollywood and travel. Two lucky couples - one from Delhi and one from Mumbai will win an all-expense paid romantic getaway to the Maldives.

Speaking about the campaign, Rahul Kumar Shaw - CEO, Television & Radio (104.8 Ishq) - TV Today Network said, The month of Love is important for us and Ishq FM is the Mecca of romance amongst the radio stations in India. We are happy to announce our third Valentines Day campaign  Mohabbat in Maldives. This year, we are giving a chance to couples to go to the Maldives, which has become Bollywoods favourite holiday destination. With such offerings our endeavour is to stay true to our brands commitment of providing innovative and exciting content to our listeners. 

Tune-in, to get a chance to win this dream romantic vacation to Maldives only on 104.8 ISHQ FM. Do the Ishq Baby!

New Delhi: Former adult star Mia Khalifa raised her voice in support of the ongoing farmers protest in India on Wednesday (February 3). Following her tweets, the Lebanese-American media personality received a lot of flak online for her support to the farmers protest where trolls used vulgar and abusive comments to target Mia.

Taking to her verified Twitter handle, Mia Khalifa had shared a picture from the farmers protest and wrote, What in the human rights violations is going on?! They cut the internet around New Delhi?! She added the hashtag #FarmersProtest.

What in the human rights violations is going on?! They cut the internet around New Delhi?! #FarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/a5ml1P2ikU  Mia K. (@miakhalifa) February 3, 2021

Posting another tweet where she apparently was answering someone who called the protesting farmers paid actors, Mia wrote sarcastically, Paid actors, huh? Quite the casting director, I hope theyre not overlooked during awards season. I stand with the farmers. #FarmersProtest.

Paid actors, huh? Quite the casting director, I hope theyre not overlooked during awards season. I stand with the farmers. #FarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/moONj03tN0  Mia K. (@miakhalifa) February 3, 2021

While one user accused her of getting paid for her tweet, others tried to find a Muslim angle and claimed Mias real name is Mia Khalida.

Mia Khalifa started trending on the microblogging site since she tweeted in support of the farmers. After her two tweets, Mia has not posted anything else on the issue yet.

Her tweet came in the wake of international pop star Rihanna and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg extending support to the farmers protesting agaisnt the Centre's three farm laws.

Mia entered the professional pornographic industry in 2014 after which she was publicly disowned by her parents. She revealed in a 2016 interview that she had quit the adult industry after three months. Apart from the farmers protest, the media star has also extended support to Black Lives Matter movement, ill-treatment of women in the porn industry and so on.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

The Chief of Nsutam, Osabarima Kofi Sarpong Kuma Kuma and his elders together with the Zongo chiefs and the entire Muslim community of Nsutam have expressed their appreciation to Nawara Company Limited, a small scale mining company in the area for its support in the development of the town.



The company over the years has been providing both financial and material support to the people in the town which has improved the lives of the people especially school children.



The appreciation was given at the inauguration of a six-unit classroom block attached with other facilities such as a staff common room, a store room, a library, a urinary place and a place of convenience which Nawara assisted to construct.



A citation which was read by the chief of Nsutam Zongo Community, Alhaji Abubakari Umari at the gathering read; "For your outstanding contribution to the Zongo community at Nsutam where the company operates, as we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them, we will always be grateful for your support and kindness to the Zongo community through education, our success in journey of life and as bearers of the educational institution will be your blessing.



Not only the Nsutam community has benefited from the corporate social responsibilities of the Narawa Mining Company Ltd. but all the over 22 communities and villages in the catchment areas of the company such as Nsuapemso, Osino, Saaman, Akyem Tafo, etc. be it boreholes, school infrastructures, health supports, institutional supports, 2% payment of their gross production, etc.



Receiving the citation on behalf of the management of the Narawa Mining Company, the Administrator, Mr. Paul Ocran also thanked the Elders of Nsutam Community including the traditional rulers and the Zongo leaders for recognizing their contributions towards the development of their community.



He said they took delight in the honor given to them and promised to continue to do more for the community.



Mr. Ocran called on the elders in all the communities not to hesitate to come to them for any assistance as they've also had a good relationship with them.



They also promised not to relent in their Corporate Social Responsibilities.





Source: Michael Akrofi/Peace News









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video

A Chinese woman, screen named Tingyue, introduced hanfu, the traditional clothing of Chinas Han ethnic group, to the world when she was in Australia, converting her passion for hanfu into a career.

Photo shows a screenshot of Tingyue in a TV program of Chinas state television broadcaster China Central Television.

After graduation in Australia, Tingyue, from Luzhou in southwest Chinas Sichuan province, turned down good job opportunities and started a business involving hanfu culture in Sydney in 2016.

With 500 Australian dollars (about 2,500 yuan) of initial funding, she launched her own hanfu brand. To display the clothes, she would often wear them while delivering pastries she made on city streets.

As her pastry business garnered popularity in less than three months, she could receive as many as 5,000 Australian dollars worth of orders in one day sometimes.

Meanwhile, she also realized that selling pastries was not what she wanted, because she originally intended to spread hanfu culture.

Tingyue wanted to organize a talent show about hanfu. With her income from the pastry shop and the sponsorship she managed to get, she threw a show which lasted about half a year, with more than 1,000 overseas Chinese who love hanfu culture applying to take part in it.

When the final show was held in Sydney Town Hall, so many people flocked to it that policemen were deployed to maintain order.

In 2017, Tingyue opened the worlds first hanfu-themed culture center in Sydney where people around the world can experience not only hanfu culture but also Chinese tea, snacks and traditional musical instruments.

As she gradually became an ambassador of hanfu in Sydney, the local market soon became saturated, with another issue being she couldnt control the quality of fabrics in person, as most of them were imported from China.

Tingyue thus decided to find opportunities in her motherland. In 2018, she made trips to cities in the Yangtze River Delta in east China and the Pearl River Delta in south China, two major manufacturing centers in the country, to learn about the suppliers of hanfu.

In 2019, she opened the first online shop of her hanfu brand in China and a work shop in Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan province. She likes to control the quality of every piece of her hanfu garment in every manufacturing process from designing, selecting fabrics and dyeing, to weaving and pattern-making.

In early 2021, Tingyues latest hanfu costumes made their debut during a Chinese hanfu fashion show in Hangzhou, capital city of east Chinas Zhejiang province.

Models presented the brands costumes, which were replicas of the clothing of nine of the 12 beauties from the classic Chinese TV series A Dream of Red Mansions. The series adapted from A Dream of Red Mansions, written by Cao Xueqin during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in 1987, is known for its traditional costume designs.

Tingyue, as a big fan of the great novel and the classic TV series, invited an expert to take part in the design. She also added some creations based on her understanding of the novel.

Tingyues hanfu costumes based on the novel enjoy a good reputation, which led Chinas state television broadcaster China Central Television to borrow these costumes from her for its program featuring the novel.

She also plans to complete the remaining parts of hanfu consumes about the novel and launch new series with the theme of the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West and the Classic of Mountains and Rivers, known for its mythic geography and beasts, this year.

We hope that through the research and production of hanfu, we can play a role in promoting the culture and stir the curiosity of consumers for traditional culture through hanfu, said Tingyue.


New Delhi: The very fiery Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut's war of words on Twitter has led to some of her controversial tweets being suspended by the micro-blogging site.

"We have taken action on Tweets that were in violation of the Twitter Rules in line with our range of enforcement options", said Twitter Spokesperson in an official statement.

Reportedly, two of her tweets have been deleted and both were related to the Indian farmers' protest and the recent international celebrity attention it hogged.

Listen to this librus tumhara baap Gajni bhi tumhein bachane nahin aaya ... bhaag gaya...Ha ha https://t.co/4OLilJ61Fa  Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) February 4, 2021

After international singing star Rihanna posted on farmers' protest taking place in the capital city, Kangana Ranaut slammed her through her controversial tweets.

Earlier in January, Kangana Ranaut's Twitter account was restricted temporarily.

This happened after she made controversial remarks about 'Tandav' creators through a post. In the now-deleted tweet, Kangana had said that it was "time to take their heads off", for allegedly insulting Hindu gods in the web series, as per IANS report.
There was confusion today at a busy Heathrow as some airlines demanded to know why passengers were flying while others let travellers straight through.

Check in staff revealed that each airline had its own protocols when it came to establishing why passengers are travelling, despite Government assurances from several weeks ago that all would be asked to declare their reasons.

An Emirates official said: We have one flight going out to Dubai each day and do not ask passengers why they are travelling because we are not required to.

'As long as passengers can prove that they have had a negative Covid test from the previous 72 hours then they can travel.

An official overseeing check in for Air Canada said: We are very strict and make sure that all passengers have a valid reason for travel.

'But I know not all the airlines are like this because the Government has not issued any specific guidelines.

Passengers at Terminal 2 expressed surprise at how busy it was with many claiming that they had not been asked to declare their reasons for travel.

There was confusion today at a busy Heathrow as some airlines demanded to know why passengers were flying while others let travellers straight through. Pictured: Passengers queue up at Heathrow airport this morning

Check in staff revealed that each airline had its own protocols when it came to establishing why passengers are travelling, despite Government assurances from several weeks ago that all would be asked to declare their reasons. Pictured: Passengers queue up at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2 today

Passengers at Terminal 2 (pictured today) expressed surprise at how busy it was with many claiming that they had not been asked to declare their reasons for travel.

It comes as Heathrow Airport staff faced a 'mutiny' yesterday with security stepping in to stop furious passengers 'leaping over' malfunctioning passport barriers, a witness has claimed. Pictured: Arrivals at Heathrow Airport today

A ban on direct flights from Dubai to the UK came into force last week, with passengers rushing back to Britain before the rules kicked in. Pictured: The Queen's Terminal at Heathrow Airport today

Majid Khan, who was travelling to Dubai for business said: I had to show my negative Covid test, but nobody asked me why I was travelling to Dubai. Im very surprised at how many people there are in the airport.

Obviously some people still need to travel but it should be for essential reasons only and I dont understand why the airlines are not checking this.

Best Western hotel chain savages Boris's quarantine shambles as CEO reveals they haven't heard a single thing from the Government about quarantine hotels Boris Johnson's hotel quarantine plans have been savaged by an industry boss who claimed his firm is yet to hear from the Government on how the policy will actually work. Rob Paterson, the UK chief executive of Best Western Hotels, said his company is being 'kept in the dark' by ministers and 'we simply haven't heard anything'. Mr Paterson blasted the Government for announcing the proposals without a detailed blueprint as he said if he did the same on a major project 'I am not sure I would have a job'. The Prime Minister suggested yesterday that Health Secretary Matt Hancock would set out the details today only for Downing Street to then insist that was a 'misunderstanding'. The PM's Official Spokesman said at lunchtime that 'there are operational aspects of the programme that need to be completed' and details should be set out 'next week'. Mr Paterson suggested questions over cost and insurance are likely to be two of the main reasons why there is a delay. Hotel firms will argue that without knowing the full details of what is required it is impossible for them to assess how much it would cost for them to take part amid fears small passenger numbers would make it financially unviable for many. That is linked to the matter of insurance because companies will want to know how the programme will be underwritten should sites be under-utilised and should they suffer major outbreaks which require them to be put into total lockdown. There had been speculation that hotel quarantine could begin from February 15 but the continued delay in setting out the details means there are growing fears that date will be pushed back. The plans will see travellers returning to the UK from 'red list' countries - those where coronavirus variants have been discovered or where case numbers have rocketed - forced to pay to self-isolate in a Government-approved hotel for 10 days. The criticism of the roll-out of the policy came amid speculation that Spain could be added to the 'red list' after it recorded its first variant case last week and because of its close proximity to Portugal which is already banned. Advertisement

Alex, who was travelling to Dubai to organise an art exhibition revealed that he would be staying in the country for three months.

He said: Ive got a letter from my work stating the reason for travel but havent been asked for it. The queue for check in was quite long because Emirates airline had some kind of systems failure.

This is the first time that Im travelling since the pandemic and am a little nervous and was expecting to be questioned a lot more about why Im going to Dubai. There just seems to be a lot of confusion over the enforcement of the rules.

Simon Foster who was travelling to Canada for what he described as an important family visit said: I was asked by the airline why I was travelling, which is the right thing to do and had documentation to prove it.

I was also asked for proof of my negative Covid test. Canada seems to be very strict about who its letting in and why, which is not the case with Britain. There need to be more checks here.

Ella Myers, who was travelling to her home in Paris said: Ive been on a business trip to London and compared to France, the lockdown is not being imposed very strictly here.

Ive got a letter from my company stating that Ive been on a work trip, but nobody checked, which is a bit poor.

It comes as Boris Johnson's hotel quarantine plans have been savaged by an industry boss who claimed his firm is yet to hear from the Government on how the policy will actually work.

Rob Paterson, the UK chief executive of Best Western Hotels, said his company is being 'kept in the dark' by ministers and 'we simply haven't heard anything'.

Mr Paterson blasted the Government for announcing the proposals without a detailed blueprint as he said if he did the same on a major project 'I am not sure I would have a job'.

The Prime Minister suggested yesterday that Health Secretary Matt Hancock would set out the details today only for Downing Street to then insist that was a 'misunderstanding'.

The PM's Official Spokesman said at lunchtime that 'there are operational aspects of the programme that need to be completed' and details should be set out 'next week'.

Mr Paterson suggested questions over cost and insurance are likely to be two of the main reasons why there is a delay.

Hotel firms will argue that without knowing the full details of what is required it is impossible for them to assess how much it would cost for them to take part amid fears small passenger numbers would make it financially unviable for many.

That is linked to the matter of insurance because companies will want to know how the programme will be underwritten should sites be under-utilised and should they suffer major outbreaks which require them to be put into total lockdown.

There had been speculation that hotel quarantine could begin from February 15 but the continued delay in setting out the details means there are growing fears that date will be pushed back.

The plans will see travellers returning to the UK from 'red list' countries - those where coronavirus variants have been discovered or where case numbers have rocketed - forced to pay to self-isolate in a Government-approved hotel for 10 days.

The criticism of the roll-out of the policy came amid speculation that Spain could be added to the 'red list' after it recorded its first variant case last week and because of its close proximity to Portugal which is already banned.

Rob Paterson, the UK chief executive of Best Western Hotels, said his firm is being 'kept in the dark' by ministers over Boris Johnson's hotel quarantine plans

It is still unclear when quarantine hotels will be up and running in the UK. A Best Western Hotel located in Hounslow near Heathrow Airport is pictured

Boris Johnson facing mounting Tory backlash over plans to ease lockdown Tory anger is mounting over 'goalpost shifting' on lockdown today as ministers and scientists suggested all over-50s should get vaccines before any 'significant' easing. Pressure is growing on Boris Johnson to commit to a major relaxation of the draconian measures within weeks, after the UK's rollout of jabs hit the milestone of 10million people covered. But there is alarm that the bar for allowing the economy to get back up and running is being lifted, with dire warnings about the threat of mutant coronavirus added to concerns about the strain on the NHS. Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi appeared to indicate this morning that the government is looking at the top nine risk categories - around 32million people - as the trigger point for a widespread downgrading of measures. So far the PM has only said that he will unveil a route map out of lockdown on February 22, after the first four most vulnerable groups have been covered. Mr Zahawi refused to give a date for when the nine categories in phase one of the rollout will be complete. Meanwhile, SAGE member Professor Andrew Hayward gave a similar message as he said there could be a 'significant return to normality' after all over-50s are vaccinated. 'Once the most vulnerable people, particularly those over 50 and those with chronic illnesses, are vaccinated then yes I think we can see a significant return to normality,' he said. However, Prof Hayward said he still hoped the UK will be 'more or less back to normal for the summer'. There were claims today that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is again leading calls within Cabinet for lockdown to be eased as early as possible - in contrast to the more cautious tone adopted by Mr Johnson recently. Advertisement

International travel is already prohibited under UK lockdown rules unless it is essential.

Ministers hope the hotel quarantine plans will help protect against importing Covid-19 variants which could threaten the nation's vaccination drive.

But the roll-out has been chaotic with the Government still unable to say when the hotels will be up and running.

Mr Paterson was asked during an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning if ministers had told his company what they want.

He replied: 'No, not at all. We got the understanding that quarantine hotels was something that was going to be considered in the UK quite some time ago now and we are yet to understand exactly what the protocols are required of the hotels.

'We have set out a set of protocols, we have shared that information, or suggested protocols, and we have offered our support and we are yet to hear anything.'

Asked if the Government had given any indication about how many travellers hotels could be asked to accommodate, Mr Paterson said: 'No. I think in any normal company if you went out and announced a programme nationally and you hadn't thought about how you were going to plan that and you hadn't spoken to the people involved, I am not sure I would have a job if I did that in my company.

'To this day it seems logical to me that you would sit down with the airlines, the airport operators and the hotel operators and thrash this out on a Zoom call or whatever it might be.

'To this day we simply haven't heard anything despite multiple offers.

'We have connections in Singapore and Australia and New Zealand who are doing this that we could learn from and easily get on the phone and offer their support and we are just a bit surprised that we just haven't heard anything.'

Mr Paterson said his company had not been provided by the Government with anything 'other than very broad information' on the policy and that 'we haven't had any discussions at all'.

He added: 'We have offered that help. We have got a lot of experience with the quarantine or managing Covid positive environments through the project we did with the NHS.

'As I say, we have all these contacts in other countries that have already rolled this out for some time, they could offer some really valuable support and we are just simply kept in the dark.'

Mr Paterson said that questions over the cost of the policy and insurance are likely to be two of the main issues holding up the roll-out.

Most people believe Brexit has helped UK vaccine drive Most Britons believe Brexit has helped the UK's vaccine drive - as the EU struggles with a chaotic rollout and supply shortages. A poll for MailOnline shows the contrast between the rapid progress in Britain and the problems in the bloc has not been lost on the public. Some 35 per cent said leaving the EU had been useful for the massive national effort, compared to 20 per cent who thought it had been a hindrance. Around a quarter said they thought it had a neutral effect, and 19 per cent said they were not sure, according to the research by Redfield & Wilton Strategies. While the UK hit the milestone of 10million people given jabs yesterday, the EU's programme has descended into a shambles with the central regulator far slower to sign off jabs and the bloc moving too late to secure supplies. The fallout on the continent triggered threats from Ursula von der Leyen to bar exports to the UK and impose a hard border with Northern Ireland, which was later humiliatingly dropped. Advertisement

On the issue of money and costs, he said: 'I think that is one of the challenges because if you take a hotel that is currently closed and they open that hotel, there is big expense to open that hotel so a hotelier is only going to open that hotel if there is a genuine business need.

'Now, if they open that big hotel at the airport or wherever it might be and five people turn up to pay because there is no block booking here, we understand customers are going to pay, then they're going to be losing more than they are losing now when it is closed.

'We need some assurance of what demand levels are going to be and then once they turn up, to understand the pricing we need to understand what security protocols are needed.

'We have cleaning protocols and we have suggested security protocols and etc but we are just not sure exactly what that means.

'In Australia they have perimeters and all sorts of different things that we would need to factor into our pricing to understand.'

Mr Paterson said insurance is also a hurdle to be overcome so that hotels know they are covered financially should the circumstances arise where they have to go into total lockdown because of a large-scale outbreak.

'That is one of the big, big challenges in this and we have had some experience with insurance,' he said.

'Insurers are a bit nervous about this and that is a real question that we want to try to understand from Government what the requirements are and who would underwrite that.'

Ministers are expected to meet today to discuss whether the existing 'red list', which is currently made up of 33 countries, needs to be expanded.

The Government is facing growing calls from Labour and some Tory MPs to introduce a blanket hotel quarantine requirement for all UK arrivals.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, said: 'The Government's plans around quarantine are in disarray.

'Not only do they fail to go far enough - leaving open the door to potential vaccine resistant strains - they can't even implement the half-baked plans that have been announced.

Boris Johnson under pressure to speed up reopening of schools Boris Johnson was coming under increasing pressure to speed up the reopening of English schools today as Wales confirmed its intention to restart some primary classes after the February half term. Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething confirmed that some of the youngest age groups would go back to school from February 22 under a similar plan to that underway in Scotland. In contrast, English schools are not due to reopen until March 8, and the Prime Minister last night was resisting mounting pressure to accelerate. Tory MPs called for the move after new research showed that as well as saving lives, the Oxford vaccine will cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds. There was also concern that with English pupils risk falling further behind their counterparts. Mr Gething told Times Radio that the 'first priority' for the Welsh Government is to start a return to face-to-face teaching in some schools, despite coronavirus cases being 'quite high'. 'We've got to go in small steps and schools are the first priority and hopefully, straight after the half-term break, we'll be able to see our youngest children return to face-to-face learning in primary schools,' he said. Advertisement

'It's now over six weeks since the South African strain was discovered and yet there is almost no reliable quarantine system in place. Conservative incompetence is putting people at risk.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he believes hotel quarantine should apply to every international arrival, with exemptions only for people supplying medicines or food.

He said: 'We're calling for quarantine for everybody who arrives in the UK from any country.

'There will have to be exceptions for medicines and foods  there always is  but for everybody else that is not within those exceptions, a full quarantine.

'And the reason for that is because, in the first wave, 0.1 per cent of cases came from China where we had restrictions, 62 per cent came from France and from Spain where we didn't have restrictions.

'There is every reason to think the variant will behave in the same way and that's why we're saying to Government, "we're in a race now, virus against vaccination, let's secure our borders while we carry out the vaccination process".'

Mr Johnson warned yesterday that Britain cannot shut its borders completely to prevent mutant coronavirus strains getting into the country as he denied ignoring SAGE advice on the issue.

The PM insisted closing off the country altogether was 'not practical'.

Yvette Cooper, the Labour chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said it is 'troubling' that the Government 'don't seem to be talking to some of the major hotel chains already'.

She said: 'We've always been warned about both second waves and new variants; the work should have been done a long time ago.

'The problem is, of course, as long as we're waiting, not just for this system but for stronger measures, we know that the system isn't working at the moment.

'We can see that because the South Africa variant is spreading across the country, that's the evidence that too many cases are getting into the country, then spreading in the country.'

Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said this morning quarantine hotels are 'part of a much bigger plan'.

'If you come to the UK, already you have to quarantine for 10 days, you have to have a test within three days before travel, you have to fill in a passenger locator form we already have a robust border policy,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Challenged over how 'robust' measures actually are, he said: 'You have to have a pre-departure test before you arrive  people have to have that or they will be turned away.

'Mutiny' at Heathrow: Security step in as furious passengers 'leap over' malfunctioning passport barriers Heathrow staff faced a 'mutiny' yesterday with security staff stepping in to stop furious passengers 'leaping over' malfunctioning passport barriers, a witness has claimed. The chaos erupted after some of the machines stopped working, with passengers saying they were forced to queue for hours following an in-direct flight from Dubai. Adnan Raza, 34 from Birmingham, said the malfunctioning machines at the London airport prompted chaos the 'mutiny' from passengers. He said some tried to climb over barriers before they were tackled and detained by Border Force officers. The Home Office confirmed two people 'attempted to evade being checked' but were 'immediately' stopped by officials. A ban on direct flights from Dubai to the UK came into force last week, with passengers rushing back to Britain before the rules kicked in. Describing the Heathrow chaos, Mr Raza told the Mirror: 'People get fed up, it's what happens when you push people too far. 'They had been waiting in the queue for ages. Processing those queues takes forever.' The businessman is now self-isolating at home but said he waited almost two hours on touching down at Heathrow before he could leave. He slammed the situation at Heathrow as a 'shambles' and said it was far worse than what he'd seen in Dubai and Frankfurt. Mr Raza also said that customs officers were only interested in checking his Covid PCR test was negative and didn't even scan his passenger locator form. This was disputed by a Border Force spokesman. Mr Raza continued: 'There's absolutely no social distancing, it's ridiculous. Behind me the machines stopped working and there was a bit of a mutiny, people started jumping over the barriers of the automated machines. There was a melee...security pacified the situation.' Mr Raza was in Dubai for business meetings with two others from the UK. Advertisement

'When you arrive, you have to quarantine, even without the hotel quarantine operation yet in place, so the border policy, I think, with the passenger locator forms, where greater enforcement is taking place now than ever before, is robust.'

Mr Zahawi said Mr Hancock will soon set out further details on the policy.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain programme: 'Next week the Secretary of State for Health will be setting out the operational elements of this policy.

'We will absolutely be setting out how the quarantine hotels will work next week.'

Asked whether he had been frustrated by the delay in implementing the tighter border restrictions, Mr Zahawi replied: 'No, because it is one part of a greater piece.'

Meanwhile, Heathrow Airport staff faced a 'mutiny' yesterday with security stepping in to stop furious passengers 'leaping over' malfunctioning passport barriers, a witness has claimed.

The chaos erupted after some of the machines stopped working, with passengers saying they were forced to queue for hours following an in-direct flight from Dubai.

Adnan Raza, 34 from Birmingham, said the malfunctioning machines at the London airport prompted chaos the 'mutiny' from passengers.

He said some tried to climb over barriers before they were tackled and detained by Border Force officers.

The Home Office confirmed two people 'attempted to evade being checked' but were 'immediately' stopped by officials.

A ban on direct flights from Dubai to the UK came into force last week, with passengers rushing back to Britain before the rules kicked in.

Describing the Heathrow chaos, Mr Raza told the Mirror: 'People get fed up, it's what happens when you push people too far.

'They had been waiting in the queue for ages. Processing those queues takes forever.'

The businessman is now self-isolating at home but said he waited almost two hours on touching down at Heathrow before he could leave.

He slammed the situation at Heathrow as a 'shambles' and said it was far worse than what he'd seen in Dubai and Frankfurt.

Mr Raza also said that customs officers were only interested in checking his Covid PCR test was negative and didn't even scan his passenger locator form.

This was disputed by a Border Force spokesman.

Mr Raza continued: 'There's absolutely no social distancing, it's ridiculous. Behind me the machines stopped working and there was a bit of a mutiny, people started jumping over the barriers of the automated machines. There was a melee...security pacified the situation.'

Mr Raza was in Dubai for business meetings with two others from the UK.

He accused the British government of 'political grandstanding' with the snap travel ban to Dubai, following criticism of influencers travelling there.

A ban on direct flights from Dubai to the UK came into force last week, with passengers rushing back to Britain before the rules kicked in. Pictured: People queue at Terminal 5 at Heathrow last week

People queue at terminal 5 of Heathrow Airport over the weekend amid the coronavirus pandemic

Emma Moore, Chief Operating Officer at Border Force, said: 'We are in a global health pandemic which is why every traveller is subject to enhanced monitoring at UK airports in line with the public health measures at the border.'

What are the rules on travel from the UAE? Why is the UAE being added to the travel ban? It follows evidence that the more infectious South African strain of Covid-19 had been detected in the UAE. What does this mean? No passenger flights from Dubai or Abu Dhabi may arrive in the UK. Non-UK residents are banned from entering if in the UAE within ten days. Have all flights been cancelled? No. Emirates and Etihad Airways said all UK passenger flights from the UAE were suspended, although British Airways told passengers that some were still running. Are there exemptions? Yes. British, Irish and third country nationals with residence rights in the UK are allowed to return from the UAE but they will need to travel via a third country. Are there many Britons in Dubai? Up to 10,000 UK residents are thought to be in the UAE Will arrivals from the UAE have to quarantine in hotels? Not yet. Officials are said to be considering this from the week beginning February 8. For now, UK residents must self-isolate at home with all members of their household for ten days if returning from the UAE. Can you circumvent the rules? Non-UK residents are banned from entering Britain if they have been in the UAE within ten days. So a non-UK resident in Dubai could travel to a country not on the banned list, stay there for ten days, then enter Britain. How many countries are now on the banned list? The UAE joined the existing red list of 30 countries  mainly in South America and southern Africa  along with Rwanda and Burundi in central Africa. Will this affect those travelling through Dubai? Yes. The ban could have a much wider impact for British travellers returning from further afield because Abu Dhabi and Dubai are major international transit hubs. Advertisement

'Every airport across the UK has a responsibility to comply with social distancing and Covid compliant measures on site.'

A Heathrow spokesperson said: 'Long queues at the border should not be a surprise to the Home Office.

'We warned the Home Secretary last year that Border Force was consistently failing to meet its 45-minute queue standard, and it's clear from the last week that adequate steps have not been taken to address these.

'It is not reasonable, not should it be necessary, for any airport to have space to hold arriving passengers for up to three hours.

'The Home Office needs to get to grips with this issue.'

Dubai, which is home to some 240,000 British expats and is a major tourist destination for UK travellers, is likely to face a major economic hit from the travel ban.

Despite the restrictions, models, social media influencers and reality TV stars have defiantly stayed at the poolside in Dubai and Abu Dhabi after thousands of other British travellers raced home to beat the restrictions.

The likes of Mia Sully from Absolutely Ascot and Love Island stars Joseph Garratt and Anton Danyluk were pictured on Instagram enjoying life in the sunshine last week.

This is despite the UK Government adding the United Arab Emirates to the so-called red list of countries from where travel to Britain is prohibited during the coronavirus pandemic.

Others including Only Fans model Honey Evans from Leeds said they would stay out in Dubai despite the ban. She tweeted: 'Flights from Dubai to the UK are banned. Guess I have no choice but to stay out here. Shame.' Following a backlash, Ms Evans later added: 'So many people giving me s*** for being in Dubai.'

Due to border closures caused by Covid-19, Dubai to London was the world's busiest international route in January with 190,365 scheduled seats this month. In normal times the busiest route to and from London is New York City.

Many Britons are staying out in Dubai because they know they will only have to quarantine at home for ten days upon their return - and a rule forcing them to stay in a hotel will not come in until February 8 at the earliest.

But some said they had just managed to get home just before the ban on direct inbound passenger flights from the UAE to Britain came into effect last week.

Emirates and Etihad Airways said all UK passenger flights from the UAE have been suspended, although British Airways told passengers that some were still running.

Other countries which have banned flights from the UAE include Denmark, which had concerns over the reliability of Covid-19 tests at some private clinics in Dubai - although the UAE has since reassured Denmark about this.

Around 10,000 UK citizens were thought to currently be in the Gulf state, including a host of social media names who flocked to Dubai before Britain's third lockdown, before the travel ban was put in place.

Mia Sully (left), social media stratgeist Bianca Lynch (centre) and Yazmin Oukhellou from Towie (right) in Dubai

Anton Danyluk (left) from Love Island is among those still in Dubai, while new restrictions are introduced

Love Island contestant Georgia Harrison posted this picture from Dubai on Instagram last week during her stay in the UAE

The announcement of the restrictions was made by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last week.

Which countries are on the UK's 'red list'? Angola Argentina Bolivia Botswana Brazil Burundi Cape Verde Chile Colombia Democratic Republic of the Congo Ecuador Eswatini French Guiana Guyana Lesotho Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Panama Paraguay Peru Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores) Rwanda Seychelles South Africa Suriname Tanzania United Arab Emirates (UAE) Uruguay Venezuela Zambia Zimbabwe Advertisement

He confirmed that the United Arab Emirates, which includes the skyscraper-heavy city-state, had been added to the UK Government's red list along with Burundi and Rwanda.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: 'The decision to ban travel from these destinations follows the discovery of a new coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa, that may have spread to other countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Burundi and Rwanda.

'Any exemptions usually in place will not apply, including for business travel.

'British nationals currently in the UAE should make use of the commercial options available if they wish to return to the UK. Indirect commercial routes that will enable British and Irish nationals and residents to return to the UK continue to operate.'

The move came amid a furious Tory row over Home Secretary Priti Patel's attack on leisure travel and social media influencers sunning themselves overseas during lockdown.

MPs and airlines attacked her 'shambolic' holiday ban announcement amid fears it will leave airport staff facing the full anger of travellers.

They accused the Home Secretary of launching a broadside at Instagram influencers and holidaymakers after being 'humiliated' over her attempts to close the UK border completely to foreign arrivals.

She read the riot act to would-be travellers last, warning that people on fake work jaunts and social media attention-seekers heading for sunny destinations will be turned away from airports.

Influencers boasting of sunshine foreign breaks amid the global pandemic are now facing a furious public backlash after they were slammed by the Home Secretary.

As they shared photos from sun loungers, lockdown had appeared not to apply to so-called influencers and models who 'used loop-holes' to jet off the sunnier climes under the guise of work.

But foreign travel - apart from some exceptions - has been illegal since the lockdown law was passed on January 5.

There was also confusion over what would constitute an acceptable journey abroad and who would police the policy.

Meanwhile ministers are facing demands to add more countries to the UK's 'red list' amid growing fears over the threat of importing mutant coronavirus strains.

The government moved to toughen the border regime last week, announcing that the ban on travellers from more than 30 'hotspot' countries will be expanded so returning Britons and the few other exempt individuals will have to go into 'quarantine hotels' at their own expense for 10 days.

But the plan has been the subject of an extraordinary Cabinet tussle, with Priti Patel and Matt Hancock among those pushing for even tougher action.

And the rules forcing all arrivals from the 'red list' countries - including South Africa, much of South America and Portugal - to isolate in hotels at their own expense are still thought to be weeks from implementation.

Officials have admitted there are serious logistical issues to the policy, including setting up enough accommodation for the arrivals and making sure it can be guarded.

Quarantine hotels 'might not be running for weeks,' officials warn Ministers are facing demands to add more countries to the UK's 'red list' amid growing fears over the threat of importing mutant coronavirus strains. The government moved to toughen the border regime last week, announcing that the ban on travellers from more than 30 'hotspot' countries will be expanded so returning Britons and the few other exempt individuals will have to go into 'quarantine hotels' at their own expense for 10 days. But the plan has been the subject of an extraordinary Cabinet tussle, with Priti Patel and Matt Hancock among those pushing for even tougher action. And the rules forcing all arrivals from the 'red list' countries - including South Africa, much of South America and Portugal - to isolate in hotels at their own expense are still thought to be weeks from implementation. Officials have admitted there are serious logistical issues to the policy, including setting up enough accommodation for the arrivals and making sure it can be guarded. The delay comes amid rising fears that the South African variant is already loose in the UK, and other more potent mutant strains could lessen the effectiveness of the vaccine drive. Senior Tories have joined Labour in calling for the countries covered by the restrictions to be widened, while Nicola Sturgeon turned up the heat today by announcing Scotland will unilaterally force all arrivals to quarantine. In a direct attack on the Prime Minister's strategy, the First Minister said it would not work and called on him to mirror her approach, telling MSPs at Holyrood: 'The firm view of the Scottish Government is that in order to minimise the risk of new strains coming into the country, managed quarantine must be much more comprehensive.' The 'red list' is usually reviewed on Thursdays, with the United Arab Emirates having been added last week, and the government has said it will look at expanding the roster further. Advertisement

The delay comes amid rising fears that the South African variant is already loose in the UK, and other more potent mutant strains could lessen the effectiveness of the vaccine drive.

Senior Tories have joined Labour in calling for the countries covered by the restrictions to be widened, while Nicola Sturgeon turned up the heat today by announcing Scotland will unilaterally force all arrivals to quarantine.

In a direct attack on the Prime Minister's strategy, the First Minister said it would not work and called on him to mirror her approach, telling MSPs at Holyrood: 'The firm view of the Scottish Government is that in order to minimise the risk of new strains coming into the country, managed quarantine must be much more comprehensive.'

The 'red list' is usually reviewed on Thursdays, with the United Arab Emirates having been added last week, and the government has said it will look at expanding the roster further.

Meanwhile, the PM is facing accusations that he ignored advice from SAGE weeks ago that the borders should be closed.

A paper from the scientific group on January 21 said full closure of the borders was the only way to stop variants spreading.

However, No10 has angrily denied the idea, saying SAGE specifically said the government should not 'rely' on travel bans and there was no 'zero risk' option available.

The PM's aides said the paper called for an 'effective policy regime including testing and or quarantine/isolation for travellers'. 'This is the policy step we took,' one No10 source said.

Prof Calum Semple, a member of SAGE, admitted this morning that Britain was a 'complex transit country' and a full border closure was not practical as it would stop food imports.

But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'In general I do support restricting movement, particularly of people in this time.'

The row comes as a frantic bid to contain the South African strain begins, with specialist teams going door to door to test 80,000 people in areas where the more contagious variant is feared to be spreading.

Scientists are worried the South African strain may be able to evade vaccines and stressed that anyone who suspects they could be infected should self-isolate immediately.

Universities minister Michelle Donelan today played down concerns about how long it was taking to introduce the quarantine rules.

'I don't think there's a delay. There wasn't a timeframe set originally as to when we would announce this,' she said in a round of interviews.

'We announced the intention of this last week in conjunction with other initiatives that we're doing, including banning travel from other countries, and the details will be announced.

'It is a logistical effort as well, as you will appreciate, and so it all needs to be laid out properly and the health secretary will be doing that.'

The PM's spokesman said: 'Sage did not actually advise the Government to completely close borders or call for a blanket quarantine on travels.

'They don't put forward recommendations. Their modelling showed a combination of specific policy options, including pre-departure testing and isolation, are effective in mitigating the public health risk.'

But former health secretary Jeremy Hunt was among those urging the government to step up its response.

'I think we should have done this much earlier, but I am pleased that we are doing something,' he told Sky News.

'I think it is absolutely right that we are bringing in hotel quarantine.

'The trouble with just doing it for a few countries is that someone coming to the UK from Brazil could go via numerous other countries.

'It is very difficult if you restrict it to a small number of countries. So we might need to expand that list significantly as we go forward.'
A look at some of the major movers in the market on Thursday

What's in a name? Quite a lot judging by MelodyVR Holdings PLC (LON.MVR.)

The Aim-listed company, which specialises in virtual reality entertainment, paid US$26.3mln for the parent company of music streaming service Napster in August. Earlier this week it revealed that Napster - a pioneer of file sharing originally founded in 1999 - had more than doubled user numbers last year to 5.7mln. Its next step is to launch a subscription service with a monthly fee.

Now MelodyVR has revealed it will change its name to Napster and will ask shareholders for permission at the end of this month. The news has sent its shares soaring 18.33% or 0.55p to 3.55p. Chief executive Anthony Matchett said: "Given our objectives for the year ahead, which includes the launch of a new Napster branded music platform, we believe that renaming our company will provide for greater global recognition of our business across both corporate and commercial channels."

An intriguing mixture of the nostalgic and the cutting edge.

Still on Aim, Sabien Technology Group PLC(LON.SNT) has climbed 1.85% to 0.14p after announcing a fundraising involving executive chairman Richard Parris buying 450,000 worth of shares. He is also being issued with 418,604,651 warrants to subscribe for further shares exercisable at 0.05p each.

Last month the green technology company withdrew from a reverse takeover of Ptarmigan Health Destinations as it was not able to secure regulatory approval in time to avoid its Aim shares being cancelled.

1.45pm: Copper miner to be bought by chairman's consortium

The consortium bidding for copper miner KAZ Minerals PLC (LON.KAZ) has raised its offer significantly after a 14% rise in the metal's price since its initial approach in October last year.

The bidder, , is controlled by KAZ chairman Oleg Novachuk and non-executive director Vladimir Kim, and offered 640p a share in cash originally. That was increased to 730p but was rejected by an independent committee representing outside shareholders, so the price has now been upped to 780p, valuing the business at 3.7bn. KAZ Minerals' shares rose 21.6p or 2.79% to 795p on the news.

Nova owns or has received undertakings representing more than half of its target, and the independent committee has recommended the increased offer. Michael Lynch-Bell, the committee's chair, said: "Following improved market conditions towards the end of 2020 the Independent Committee of KAZ Minerals has been engaged in extensive negotiations with Bidco. Today, we are pleased to announce a substantial increase in their offer."

Elsewhere oil group EnQuest PLC ( ) has fallen 0.98p or 7.09% to 12.84p after it agreed to pay an initial US$325mln to buy a 26.69% stake in a package of three producing North Sea oil fields.

It will pay the seller, Suncor Energy, a further US$50mln in 2023 subject to crude oil prices.

10.45am: ECO Animal Health biggest Aim riser after results

Any company developing vaccines at the moment is likely to be in demand. In the case of ECO Animal Health Group PLC ( ), the vaccines are for pigs, but in any case the market likes the idea.

Following news of a rise in half-year profits from 1.3m to 3.9m, the company's shares have jumped 29.29% to 320p making it the biggest riser on AIM. It has seen a good recovery in China following the impact of African Swine Fever in 2019 after a stronger than expected restocking of the pig herd.

The group said: "This in turn has resulted in the greater use of premium medications such as (its antibiotic) Aivlosin. It is believed that the efficacy benefits that new users have experienced will result in a number of new, long term, customers."

As for the vaccine, it said: "The group will continue to invest in building a product pipeline targeting both viral and bacterial diseases of economic importance in pigs and poultry, with the intention of developing a range of vaccines and new products to complement our existing antimicrobial business ... These are in various stages of development thereby ensuring that the group has several mid and late stage projects able to deliver revenues from 2022/23. We were very pleased to announce the approval of the first of these vaccine projects - this was received in January 2021 in Brazil and is for the combined vaccination of pigs against Porcine Circovirus Type2 and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae."

Staying with pigs, sausage and bacon producer Cranswick (LON.CWK) forecast full-year sales and profits would beat its previous expectations despite lower pig prices. Strong retail demand for its meat products over the festive period offset lower UK pig prices at the end of December 2020 than they were at the same stage last year.

Demand was so strong in the UK that exports to the Far East were lower than the same quarter a year ago.

The upbeat outlook lifted its shares 3.03% to 3,542p.

8.45am: NCC boosted by demand for cyber security

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has not stopped the cyber hackers from their work, with the US government a notable recent victim. So while some industries are suffering COVID-19 related troubles, cyber protection does not look like one of them.

Security firm NCC(LON.NCC) has benefited from this, seeing a 2.2% rise in half-year revenues and an 18.9% jump in pre-tax profits. Chief executive Adam Palser said there was robust demand for its services despite the disruption of the pandemic, and the outlook was promising

"Cyber risks are greater today than they ever have been. The rapid adoption of cloud technologies, coupled with spending decisions being delayed in some customer segments, has built up a "compliance debt" that must be paid down in the future. Therefore, although ongoing disruption to some customer segments is still holding cyber resilience spend back from its full potential, we expect accelerated market growth in the future," Palser said in the interim result statement.

The news pushed NCC's shares 7% higher to 273.5p.

Elsewhere construction materials group SigmaRoc (AIM.SRC) jumped 8.9% to 70.25p after it forecast that its full-year results would beat market expectations. It said the strong trading reported in its December 9, 2020, market update continued through to the end of the year.

expects to report revenues for 2020 of around 124mln, up 77% year-on-year, while underlying earnings (EBITDA) are expected to be 54% higher than the year at before at 23.8mln.

Proactive news headlines:

( ) has announced further gold discoveries on its Glenish gold licence in Ireland. In a statement, Conroy said it had identified a new gold-in-soil anomaly and a new gold mineralised outcrop indicating an extension of the Glenish gold target. The new anomaly is 2 kilometres northeast of the Glenish gold target on the border with the Clontibret gold licence.

PLC (LONM:SRC), the construction materials group, has said it expects to report full-year results that are ahead of current market expectations. The group said the strong trading reported in its December 9, 2020, market update continued through to the end of the year. expects to report revenues for 2020 of around 124mln, up 77% year-on-year, while underlying earnings (EBITDA) are expected to be 54% higher than the year at before at 23.8mln.

( ), the cell-engineering and life sciences company, has raised 40mln by placing shares at 700p each  a premium to last nights closing price of 670p. Proceeds from the share subscription will be used to strengthen MaxCyte's balance sheet to enable the company to accelerate projects in its development pipeline. The newly issued shares represent around 6.9% of the companys enlarged share capital. Subscribers to the share issue featured a mixture of new and existing investors, including D1 Capital Partners, T. Rowe Price, ArrowMark Partners, Baron Capital Group and First Light Asset Management, alongside existing investors Casdin Capital and Sofinnova Partners.

( ) said it has taken a 25% stake and become the lead investor in Pluto Digital Assets PLC, a crypto venture capital and technology firm focused on projects in the decentralised technology and finance spaces. The crypto mining firm said it has invested 1mln into Pluto at 3p per share as part of an investment round to raise 2.5mln. Argo said its contribution was satisfied entirely by the holding of 75,000 Polkadot tokens it had originally purchased in the first quarter of 2019 for US$75,000 (55,163).

( ) ( ) said it has signed multi-regional distribution agreements with a company called Medison Pharma. Medison will sell Amryts Juxtapid product in Canada and Lojuxta and Myalept in Israel. In a statement, Amryt chief executive, Dr Joe Wiley, said: Todays announcement is another positive development as we continue to grow our commercial assets in existing and new territories and we further progress towards our goal of becoming a global leader in rare and orphan diseases."

( ) said it has completed the acquisition of Joy Transporters Ltd, giving it full ownership of the Saltpond and Cape Coast projects in Ghana. The company described the Saltpond and Cape Coast portfolio as a highly prospective ground holding with high priority pegmatite targets. The exploration area is positioned adjacent to IronRidges Ewoyaa lithium project, which is host to a 14.5mln tonne mineral resource.

( ) said its wholly-owned Aussie subsidiary, Panther Metals Pty, has beefed up its board with two appointments. Ranko Matic and Daniel Tuffin have joined the team down under. Matic is a qualified chartered accountant with more than 30 years' experience in the areas of financial and executive management, accounting, audit, business and advising companies. Tuffin has a wealth of experience specific to Panther Metals Pty, Panther said.

Sativa Wellness Group Inc ( ) has updated investors on appointments to its board, saying Geremy Thomas and George Thomas have both been appointed as directors, with the former becoming its executive chairman. The cannabidiol (CBD) specialist said following a meeting of shareholders on January 26, 2021, Henry Lees-Buckley is no longer its chief executive as of February 3, adding that Geremy Thomas will act as interim CEO until a replacement is appointed.

A company producing synthetic cannabinoids products that is understood to be backed by David Beckhams DB Ventures has announced float plans. PLC is raising 8mln through a share offering that would value it at 20mln. Proceeds from the IPO will be used to develop and launch a new range of premium consumer products, prospective investors were told. Cellular said it is aiming to be the London Stock Exchanges first pure-play consumer CBD brands business.

Supply@ME Capital PLC ( ) has said that following the publication of Audited Accounts for the period ended December 31, 2019, and Interim Results for the six months ended June 30, 2020, last week, the company has successfully addressed the technical DTR breach regarding the timing of financial statements. Immediately following publication, Supply@ME made a formal request to the FCA for the lifting of the temporary suspension of its Listing and the resumption of dealings in the company's ordinary shares. The FCA is currently performing the regulatory steps required for the restoration of the listing and re-commencement of dealings. The process has taken longer and is more complex than normal due to the change in accounting reference date, reverse takeover transaction occurring during the period, and multiple financial statements that have been issued. The company also confirmed that no FCA investigation is underway. Supply@ME expects to make a further announcement regarding the lifting of the temporary suspension and resumption of dealings in the company's shares as soon as possible.
Astral Poly Technik's consolidated net profit jumped 82.5% to Rs 123.90 crore on 35.1% increase in net sales to Rs 897.50 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Q3 December 2019.

Consolidated profit before tax (PBT) soared 89.2% to Rs 165.20 crore in Q3 December 2020 as against Rs 87.30 crore in Q3 December 2019. Tax expense for the quarter surged 112.9% to Rs 41.30 crore as against Rs 19.40 crore in Q3 December 2019. The Q3 result was declared post trading hours yesterday, 3 February 2021.

Consolidated EBITDA grew 64.36% to Rs 196.90 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Rs 119.80 crore in Q3 December 2019. Consolidated EBITDA margin improved to 21.94% in Q3 FY21 as against 18.04% in Q3 FY20. Consolidated profit margin was at 13.81% in Q3 FY21 as compared to 10.22% in Q3 FY20.

Revenue from operations of Pipe business jumped 33.29% to Rs 693.10 crore in Q3 FY21 over Rs 520 crore in Q3 FY20. Revenue from operations of Adhesive business grew 40.86% to Rs 219.60 crore in Q3 FY21 over Rs 155.90 crore in Q3 FY20. Recovery in sales in pipe and adhesives segments has picked up momentum from Q2 FY21 onwards and further accelerated in Q3 FY21. EBDITA growth was much faster than sales growth in Q3 FY21.

Meanwhile, the board has approved issue of bonus shares in the proportion of 1:3 i.e. one bonus equity share of Re 1 each for every three fully paid-up equity shares held as on record date, subject to approval by the shareholders of the company through postal ballot.

In November 2020, Astral Poly Technik entered into framework agreement with Shree Prabhu Petrochemicals and other parties to acquire assets of its water tank business for a total consideration of approx Rs 51 crore. From 12 December 2020, the company started billing of ''Sarita' brand of plastic water storage tanks under the Astral's name from Aurangabad plant. It is planning to start tank production in Ahmedabad from April 2021 under the brand name ''Astral'.

Astral Poly Technik's Orissa plant construction is going on in full swing and project is as per schedule. The company is planning to start production in Q2 FY 2021-22. A solar project is commissioned in Q3 FY 20-21 of 1 mega-watt (MW) each at Santej and Dholka plant. The firm is planning to start fitting operations at Hosur in Q1 FY 2021-22, so far Hosur plant was manufacturing pipe only.

Consolidated net cash position as at 31 December 2020 at Rs 116.90 crore. The board on 28 January 2021 approved the change of name of the company from 'Astral Poly Technik' to 'Astra', subject to approval of the shareholders of the company.

Shares of Astral Poly Technik fell 0.97% to Rs 1,925.15. Astral Poly Technik is engaged in the business of manufacturing and trading of pipes, fittings and adhesive solutions. Its product range includes pipe category for plumbing, industrial, drainage, fire protection, agriculture, electrical conduit and ancillary, and adhesive category for construction, maintenance, wood care and automotive.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
COVID-19 scuppered plans for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation's annual Palm Beach Symposium and Luncheon this year.

However, thanks to ingenuity on the part of the organizers and the cooperation of help of some big name celebrities, like Heidi Klum, Kate Hudson and Anna Wintour, the 2021 event was able to happen virtually on Thursday.

Klum, 47, hosted the digital get together for a good cause which was held February 4 on World Cancer Day.

Hostess: Heidi Klum hosted the 2021 Breast Cancer Research Foundation's annual Palm Beach luncheon which was held virtually on World Cancer Day, Thursday

Supermodel Heidi Klum served as the host of the virtual event that honored her long-time friend and Project Runway judge Michael Kors along with his husband Lance Le Pere.

She looked stunning presenting from her virtual location wearing a mustard colored turtleneck sweater and a printed silk skirt in the same shade.

Klum and Kors' longtime Project Runway co-star, Nina Garcia was also on hand at the virtual event. Garcia is on the BCRF's board of directors.

Making it work: COVID-19 scuppered plans for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation's annual Palm Beach Symposium and Luncheon this year, however, thanks to ingenuity on the part of the organizers the 2021 event was able to happen virtually

What an honor: Heidi Klum served as the host of the virtual event that honored her long-time friend and Project Runway judge Michael Kors along with his husband Lance Le Pere who were the 2021 recipients of the Evelyn H. Lauder Humanitarian Award

Support: Klum and Kors' longtime Project Runway co-star, Nina Garcia was also on hand at the virtual event; Garcia is on the BCRF's board of directors

Kors and Le Pere, were the 2021 recipients of the Evelyn H. Lauder Humanitarian Award, named for the foundation's late founder.

Evelyn, who was married to the heir to the Estee Lauder fortune, was a business woman and philanthropist who is best known for her work as a tireless breast cancer activist and the creator of the pink ribbon now synonymous with the disease.

She died in 2011 at the age of 75 after complications with ovarian cancer.

Big time! Dionne Warwick made an appearance for the charity which was founded by Evelyn H. Lauder, who was married to the heir to the Estee Lauder fortune, and the creator of the pink ribbon now synonymous with breast cancer awareness

Incredible! Pose star Billy Porter left viewers with chills as he performed at the virtual event

The Palm Beach luncheon featured a panel of doctors as well as celebrity appearances from Dionne Warwick, Billy Porter and many more.

Kate Hudson joined from her Los Angeles home wearing a pink plaid sweater set in the same shade as the foundation's iconic pink ribbon.

Her ensemble certainly met the moment as the dress code was set as 'hot pink everything.'

A-list: Kate Hudson joined from her Los Angeles home wearing a pink plaid sweater set in the same shade as the foundation's iconic pink ribbon

Changes: Typically the annual event is held at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida but coronavirus complications forced organizers to pivot to a virtual format

Never one to compromise her signature style, Vogue's Anna Wintour was on hand with her coiffed bob and dark sunglasses, wearing a printed dress and burgundy scarf.

Typically the annual event is held at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida but coronavirus complications forced organizers to pivot to a virtual format.

The panel of BCRF-funded investigators spent time discusses the newest and most cutting edge advances in fighting breast cancer.
Gov. Tom Wolfs plan to dramatically boost education funding by raising the income tax rate was cheered Wednesday by advocates who have long called for Pennsylvania to step up its investment in public schools and narrow gaps in resources between wealthy and poor communities.

But Wolfs budget proposal wouldnt just drive dollars to poorer districts like Philadelphia. It would help wealthier districts, too. Lower Merion, for instance, would see a 60% increase in state aid. Radnor would get a 65% boost, while West Chester would net a more than 85% increase.

Those percentage increases are greater than the 22.5% granted to much larger Philadelphia, which relies more heavily on state aid. But Philadelphia would get an additional $262 million, compared with $2.5 million for Lower Merion.

The Democratic governors proposal faces opposition in the GOP-led legislature, where lawmakers have objected to his income tax plan. The Wolf administration says the plan wouldnt affect two-thirds of Pennsylvanians, but it would nearly double the tax rate paid by higher earners. Senate Republicans on Wednesday called the proposal dead on arrival.

The plan casts new light on the long-running debate over how Pennsylvania funds public education  among the myriad issues that will now go through months of hearings and negotiations as lawmakers seek to pass a budget by June 30.

The increases slated for schools are part of a massive redistribution of existing state aid proposed by Wolf, coupled with an additional $1.3 billion in spending to ensure that no district loses money in the process.

Wolf is proposing to run all of the states main subsidy to public schools through a fair funding formula Pennsylvania enacted in 2016. The formula, which is currently used to distribute 11% of state aid, is intended to direct funding to communities with greater needs  adding money for students living in poverty and other factors, and taking into account a districts ability to raise revenue through local taxes.

We will be able to fully and fairly fund every school, in every school district, in every part of the commonwealth, Wolf said Wednesday in his budget address.

 READ MORE: Pennsylvania schools need an additional $4.6 billion to close education gaps, new analysis finds

But it also reflects a districts general enrollment. Because Pennsylvania has long neglected to account for enrollment shifts in distributing school funding, some growing districts would see a big boost under Wolfs plan, even if they are relatively well-off.

Meanwhile, districts that have lost students wouldnt see funding cuts; Wolfs budget includes $1.15 billion to offset those losses.

Thats been the issue: How do you put all that money through the formula, which for the most part everyone agrees with, without devastating those districts? said Mark DiRocco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.

Yet, the proposal also highlights questions around funding education in a way that is both equitable and adequate. While many advocates welcomed Wolfs plan as a sweeping investment in schools  in a state that has relied heavily on local revenues to fund public education  some said it also revealed the problem with relying on the funding formula alone, without evaluating whether certain districts already had enough resources for educating students.

Not assessing which school districts have enough money  and which are most lacking  is an irresponsible use of tax dollars, said Donna Cooper, executive director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth.

Though Cooper credited Wolfs proposal with sending additional money to districts that have more low-income children, she faulted lawmakers for not calculating spending targets for each district.

A recent analysis prepared for plaintiffs challenging Pennsylvanias school funding system determined that schools need an additional $4.6 billion to adequately educate students. However, not all schools have equal need: The report commissioned by the Education Law Center and Public Interest Law Center found that some schools already have enough money, including districts like Lower Merion and Radnor.

There is absolutely a huge need to accelerate additional resources to a lot of school districts, said Hannah Barrick, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. But is this the best pathway? Im not sure about that yet.

In addition to enrollment increases, Pennsylvanias funding formula accounts for a school districts tax effort: If a district taxes residents at a relatively high rate, that can trigger more state funding, even if a district is relatively wealthy, Barrick said.

That appeared to be a factor in the York Suburban School District, where Wolfs plan would add $8.6 million  a greater than 300% increase over its previous $2.8 million in aid.

Some of the starker increases are simply a product of the formulas being fully used for the first time, DiRocco said.

Initially its going to look like some winners and losers. You have to look at this with a long-term lens to see what impact you will have down the road, he said.

Republican lawmakers quickly criticized Wolfs plan, which would increase the personal income tax rate from 3.07% to 4.49%. This proposed budget shows the disdain Gov. Wolf and his Democrat allies have for middle-class families and the small businesses that employ them, said Jake Corman, the Republican Senate leader.

 READ MORE: Cyber charter enrollments are surging. School districts are picking up the tab.

Yet, for districts like Philadelphia, Wolfs plan was welcome news.

In addition to investing almost $2 billion more in students and schools, and distributing education funds in a more equitable formula, his proposal calls for much needed charter school funding reform and investments in school infrastructure, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said in a statement, adding that the proposal would have a significant impact on the recurring revenues needed by the district to invest more in classrooms and support the educational success of our students.

Sen. Vincent Hughes, a Democrat whose district covers both crumbling schools in Philadelphia and state-of-the-art facilities in Montgomery County, said Wolfs proposal would finally deal with the issues of equity.

The governors created a proposal that gets significant funding to districts that have been left out for generations, he said. And he does it in a way where no student is harmed.

Staff writer Kristen A. Graham contributed to this article.
DCP Abhishek Trimukhe's complaint also named Goswami's wife Samyabrata and ARG Outlier Media Private Limited, which owns Republic Media Network

Mumbai: A deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in Mumbai on Wednesday filed a criminal defamation complaint against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami for certain claims made during the coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.

Goswami's lawyers claimed that the tweets referred to in the complaint filed by DCP Abhishek Trimukhe were from a fake Twitter account as their client "is not on social media".

Trimukhe's complaint, filed before the sessions court here, also named ARG Outlier Media Private Limited which owns Republic Media Network, and Goswami's wife, as she is one of its directors.

"There were some tweets which misrepresented Trimukhe. He had written about it to the Maharashtra government. The state home department gave its sanction (to file a complaint)," a senior police official said.

The complaint has been filed under Indian Penal Code sections 499, 500 (defamation) and 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory).

Goswami made "grossly false", "malicious" and defamatory statements during the coverage of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death by suicide last year, it claimed. These defamatory statements were telecast on the channel Republic Bharat during a discussion about phone records of actor Rhea Chakraborty, Rajput's girlfriend, it said.

"The said defamatory attacks have been made with a singular view of assassinating his (Trimukhe's) official character and thereby...maliciously and deliberately causing undue humiliation of the Mumbai Police Department," the complaint said.

Goswami also tweeted the contents of the telecast to a larger audience, the complaint said.

A statement from Goswami's legal team said that "he is not on social media" and the tweets to which the complaint referred was a fake Twitter handle impersonating the journalist. "On the other parts, the Republic Media Network will respond legally as per due process," it said.
I would love to be back in Waukegan, Yonashiro-Daniels said. Where we are now is not very accessible to local public transportation, and we see that as an issue. We need to be in Waukegan. If I had my wish, we would have a satellite office in Round Lake.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Smith Collection/Getty

In 1910, a scandalous story of greed and murder in Lake Tahoe was published in multiple newspapers across the country. The article looked back 20 years prior, when three miners in Virginia City discovered a corpse at the bottom of a deep mining shaft, built during the Comstock Lode. According to the writer, the body  unrecognizable  came from a hole at the bottom of Lake Tahoe.

There was just one problem  the story wasnt true.
Justice S. Wadda Cisse, a High Court judge in Banjul on Tuesday ordered for the accounts of Banta Keita to be frozen as the search for the suspect.

Mr. Keita is accused of shipping nearly three tonnes of cocaine from a shipment of industrial salt originating from Ecuador, amounting to over $88 million intensifies.

Operatives of the country's Drug Law Enforcement Agency, The Gambia, (DLEAG) last month made a breakthrough by seizing 118 bags of cocaine weighing a gross 2 tonnes, 952kg, and 850g. The cocaine was discovered during a search of a container shipped from the port of Guayaquil in Ecuador and through Algeciras in Spain, and then to the country.

In delivering her order, Justice Wadda Cisse said: "Upon hearing learned Counsel for the applicants moved the summons ex-parte 26th January 2021, and after a careful reading of the averments in the supporting affidavit and the documents exhibited thereto, and a consideration of Council's oral submission, the court is satisfied that the applicants have shown reasonable and cogent reasons to grant the following reliefs."

"An order refreezing injunction attaching and restraining the 1st respondent, his privies, servants and/or agents from disposing of or removing of and/or otherwise dealing with the funds at Zenith Bank Account number 6020300714 and Ecobank Account Number 3240005400 for 14 (fourteen) days pending the outcome of the investigation."

"An order of refreezing injunction attaching and restraining the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, respondents, their privies, servants and/or agents from disposing of or removing of and/or otherwise dealing with the funds at Ecobank Account number 6010304059 for 14 days pending the outcome of the investigation."

"An order of refreshing injunction attaching and restraining the 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents, their privies, servants and/or agents from disposing of or removing of and/or otherwise dealing with funds at Ecobank Account Number 6240000256 for 14 days pending the outcome of the investigation."

"An order that Zenith Bank Gambia (ltd) and Ecobank Gambia (ltd) make a full disclosure to the applicants of all accounts and the balances therein belonging to the 1st, 3rd and 4th respondents and in furtherance therefore issue to the applicants statements of the said accounts."


ALGONAC, MI  As temperatures dropped mid-week, the St. Clair River rose 18 inches and froze over in areas, causing ice jams that contributed to flooding northeast of Detroit, the Associated Press reports.

The U.S. and Canadian coast guards deployed icebreaking ships to clear the jams and relieve flooding, The AP reports. The icebreakers worked into the night on Tuesday and continued Wednesday.

There was significant flooding in and around Marine City and East China Township, the report said.

Water levels on the river along Algonac rose at least 18 inches in one day, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In that area, the river serves as the dividing line between Michigan and Ontario, Canada.

Live: St. Clair River Ice Dam Live look at ice blockages along the St. Clair River. A flood warning has been issued for the area and a Coast Guard cutter is working to free up the river current. Posted by MLive.com on Wednesday, February 3, 2021

READ MORE:

Time to gear up for Michigans winter Free Fishing Weekend

Coast Guard airlifts 3 fishermen from ice floes on Lake St. Clair

High-resolution snow map shows where heaviest snow will fall through Saturday morning

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By Mark Hosenball and Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is considering whether to charge members of far-right groups involved in the deadly Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol under a federal law usually used against organized crime, according to two law enforcement sources.

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, enables prosecutors to combat certain ongoing racketeering crimes such as murder, kidnapping, bribery and money laundering. The 1970 statute provides for hefty criminal penalties including up to 20 years in prison and seizure of assets obtained illegally through a criminal enterprise.

The sources, a current law enforcement official and a former official who recently left the federal government, said using the RICO statute to charge people involved in the Capitol violence is being debated within the Justice Department, with no final decision made. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

The siege by supporters of former President Donald Trump left five dead including a police officer. It is not yet clear if cases arising from it meet "statutory elements" necessary for a RICO charge, the former federal official said.

"This is something that is being mulled over in the halls of DOJ," the official added, using the department's initials.

President Joe Biden's administration has warned that domestic extremism is a growing threat following the Capitol rampage, a sharp departure from the way Trump regarded extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. In a September pre-election debate with Biden, Trump told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by."

Justice Department spokeswoman Kristina Mastropasqua declined to comment about the potential use of the RICO statute beyond pointing to prior statements by the senior federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia, Michael Sherwin, that he would charge people based on what the evidence showed.

Sherwin has said a wide range of criminal charges are being contemplated, including trespassing, assault and seditious conspiracy.

The RICO law was crafted to help prosecutors convict top Mafia leaders who ordered others to commit crimes. RICO cases are complex, often take years to develop, and require approval from Justice Department leadership.

"RICO was designed to address the Godfather - the person who doesn't get their hands bloody," said Jeffrey Grell, an attorney who specializes in RICO law. "You would really only use RICO to go after the kingpins or the leaders."

Prosecutors have used it against other violent groups, such as one led by Omar Abdel Rahman, known as the "Blind Sheikh," who was convicted of plotting to bomb the United Nations and George Washington Bridge in New York.

More than 170 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack that interrupted the formal congressional certification of Biden's election victory over Trump and sent lawmakers into hiding for their own safety.

Democratic Senator Richard Durbin, tapped to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is advocating possible RICO charges. A Durbin spokesperson said, "There are multiple statutes currently available for federal prosecutors to use to hold the perpetrators behind the Jan. 6 attack accountable, including RICO, and prosecutors should appropriately evaluate potential charges."

'RACKETEERING ACTIVITY'

Obstructing an official government proceeding, the charge some Oath Keepers and Proud Boy members are currently facing, is considered a "racketeering activity."

Prosecutors in a RICO case would need to show that the far-right groups qualify as a "criminal enterprise" and that members of the enterprise engaged in a pattern of two or more related crimes beyond the Capitol riots.

That could mean looking at whether these groups engaged in similar actions at other events, such as the violent 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, or other violent activities such as storming state capitols.

"Whatever theory they're pursuing requires looking at the group and kind of zooming out so they can capture a pattern of racketeering activity more than just what happened on that day," said Kamal Ghali, an Atlanta attorney and former federal prosecutor.

In a RICO case, prosecutors must show a pattern of related racketeering crimes and a threat of continuing criminal conduct.

A Washington grand jury last month indicted three Oath Keepers members on charges that they conspired to forcibly storm the Capitol. Two Proud Boys members were indicted on charges they conspired with others to obstruct law enforcement from protecting the Capitol.

In a sworn statement, an FBI agent said Thomas Caldwell, a defendant in the Oath Keepers indictment, sent messages after the attack urging others to keep fighting.

"We need to do this at the local level," Caldwell was quoted by the FBI as saying. "Lets storm the capitol in Ohio. Tell me when!"

Federal prosecutors in Ohio convinced a judge to detain Caldwell's co-defendant Donovan Crowl by citing recent writings by the group's leader Elmer Stewart Rhodes. After the riots, Rhodes urged members to begin organizing in "friendly red" counties - jurisdictions that lean Republican - saying the Biden administration represents an "illegitimate regime."

The three Oath Keepers have not yet entered pleas, though Caldwell has previously said in court that "every single charge is false." Rhodes did not respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Will DUnham and Scott Malone)
Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse Confirmed for Xbox One Release Next Month
The European Commission wants to allocate 4 billion euros (4.8 billion dollars) to combat cancer, it announced on Wednesday.



In its "Cancer Plan," which has been delayed by the pandemic, the commission proposes a focus on four areas: prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, and improving the quality of life.

"In this plan we aim to prevent the preventable," European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides said on Wednesday.



The initiatives will be financed through the bloc's health, research and digitalization programmes, with 4 billion euros earmarked for the plan, the commission said. There is no concrete timeframe to implement the plan, though some targets are linked to specific years.



As part of preventive efforts, the commission aims to reduce alcohol consumption, environmental pollution and hazardous substances. As one of the most concrete goals, the European Union's executive body suggests aiming for reducing the number of smokers to below 5 per cent by 2040, as this is a major factor contributing to cancer. The number currently stands at 25 per cent, Kyriakides said.



As part of its detection strategy, the commission is pushing for EU countries to ensure that 90 per cent of people in risk categories are offered screening for breast cancer by 2025.

Screening percentages vary widely across the bloc.



The commission also wants to improve diagnosis and treatment by creating a network to link national cancer centres across the bloc to better share information.



EU health ministers are to discuss the plan before the end of June, the commission said.

Source: GNA









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Mark Folkes appointed new Chief Growth Officer of Greater Houston Community Foundation.

Greater Houston Community Foundation (GHCF) will welcome Mark Folkes in the newly created role of Chief Growth Officer in April. Folkes, who has a strong track record for effectively growing organizations, as well as a passion for creating positive community impact through philanthropy, will join the GHCF leadership team to expand the community foundations donor base and reach within the Greater Houston region and beyond.

Im honored and beyond excited to be a part of such a major player in Houstons philanthropic landscape, said Folkes. As a leader, Im focused on aggressive growth through data analysis, deep relationship building, and a clear action orientation thats focused on positive outcomes for the communities we serve. Together with donors and partners, I believe the foundation is poised to grow to support a thriving and diverse Houston by amplifying impact strategically and collaboratively.

Folkes has more than a decades worth of experience working within the Gulf Coast areas philanthropic space. In his role as Managing Director of Stages, one of Houstons largest nonprofit performing arts producers, Folkes has driven significant growth, with staff and budget more than doubling during his six-year tenure. Most notably, Folkes facilitated planning and fundraising for Stages impressive, fully funded $35.8 million three-theater campus known as The Gordy that opened in January 2020. Prior to his work with Stages, Folkes supported strategic fundraising growth for the Houston Symphony, where he helped double annual individual contributed revenue, as well as Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.

At Greater Houston Community Foundation, it is always our aim to create positive and meaningful change by growing with and for our community. Integrating a chief growth officer to our team is a natural progression of this goal, said Stephen Maislin, President and CEO of Greater Houston Community Foundation. Im confident in Marks ability to not only grow us as an organization, but, more importantly, as a known force for good in the community.

As Chief Growth Officer, Folkes will be charged with cultivating and engaging the community foundations donor base, building and strengthening GHCFs relationships across the Greater Houston region, leading strategic planning, and driving business development across the board. Through these activities, the foundation will be able to better convene and catalyze lasting positive change for Houston with its donors.

To learn more about this and other news from Greater Houston Community Foundation, contact Rachel Young at ryoung@ghcf.org or visit http://www.ghcf.org.

About Greater Houston Community Foundation

Greater Houston Community Foundation, one of Houstons largest grant makers and leaders in philanthropic impact, has served the greater Houston community for 25 years. The organization supports high profile community and donor initiatives with the most comprehensive philanthropic resources, expertise, and innovative platforms. Greater Houston Community Foundation is widely considered the go-to partner for high-profile philanthropic partnerships in the Greater Houston area, including major disaster relief initiatives, such as the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund as well as the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. Greater Houston Community Foundation leads collaborations that support the wellbeing and vitality of Houston, including Understanding Houston, in partnership with Rice Kinder Institute. The Foundation provides individuals, families, corporations, foundations, and advisors with the ability to expand their philanthropic impact. For more information, please visit, http://www.ghcf.org.
(Photo : Youtube/Microsoft 365) Microsoft Viva to assist businesses and remote work

Microsoft's new push for helping businesses with remote work and a massive bet on the new normal is emphasized with Microsoft Viva.

The Microsoft Viva is made to act as a portal for both employees and businesses to navigate the complexities of working from home. Microsoft is set to launch Viva on February 4, with parts of the platform to roll out all year.

Microsoft Viva platform

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, stated that they have participated in the largest remote work experiment that the world has seen. Nadella underlined almost 11 months of a pandemic that has changed how people work, learn and socialize.

Microsoft Viva is not an app and it is not a service, it is more of a platform for improving remote work and helping businesses adjust to the new norm, according to TechCrunch.

Also Read: Here's Everything You Need to Know About Sony's PS5 DualSense & Microsoft's Xbox Series X Controller

While businesses are now spending billions of dollars every year on employee wellbeing, Microsoft thinks that Viva will soon help in this digital era of work.

New era of remote work

Microsoft Viva is made for this flexible and digital era of work, it integrates into Microsoft Teams and works rather like the intranet of old by collecting essential parts of a business into a central location. Microsoft is dividing Viva into four modules: insights, connections, learning and topics.

The connections includes internal communications, or resources such as benefits and company policies. It is also made to be the portal that people can head to if they need to start working at a company and they have never met their co-workers because of the lockdowns.

Viva Connections is created on top of Microsoft's SharePoint technology, and it will include things like company news, employee resource groups, communities and town halls. It is basically a dashboard for connecting with colleagues remotely. It will be available in public preview on Teams desktop starting in the first half of 2021, with mobile app coming later this year.

Viva is Microsoft's next step after the controversial Productivity Score feature. Microsoft was criticized for allowing managers to drill into the data of the employees through metadata collected from its software and services.

The company was immediately forced to make changes to its Productivity Score, and Viva Insights includes similar data-driven insights for both the managers and employees.

Microsoft stated that Viva Insights will include data for managers and leaders to monitor work trends as well as patterns, but that type of privacy will be protected.

Viva Learning is Microsoft Vivas third module, which is about employee learning and development.This is where the employers will house courses, training materials and other content for employee education.

These courses will include content from Microsoft Learn, LinkedIn Learning and the own content of the business, alongside training material from third-party providers, according to The Verge.

The last module that is inside Viva is Topics. It is a Wikipedia for the organization. It also uses AI to organize content and automatically surfaces topic cards with videos, documents and related people. Viva Topics will also generate topic cars from apps like Teams, Office and SharePoint.

Viva Topics is available as an add-on to Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions. There will be a public preview of Viva Insights on February 4 as an app for Teams, which includes includes Personal, Manager and Leader insights. Microsoft is also launching a private preview of Viva and they plan to announce more additions to Microsoft Viva all year.

Personal Insights is available in public preview for end-users who have Exchange Online starting February 4. Manager and Leader insights are available in preview for customers with Workplace Analytics, which is available as an add-on to Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions.

Related Article: Microsoft Windows 2021: Android Apps May Soon Come to Desktop According to Rumors!

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Sieeka Khan

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG executives ignored warnings from colleagues about troubled steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta as they channeled $1.2 billion of client funds to his businesses, according to people familiar with the matter.Bankers in Credit Suisses commodity trade-finance unit blacklisted Guptas Liberty Commodities Ltd. in 2016 because they suspected some of its deals werent legitimate, the people said. When they learned about two years later that the bank was lending to his companies through a suite of investment funds, which eventually grew to $10 billion, they flagged their worries to leaders in compliance and the division that housed the loans, one of the people said.The disclosure that Credit Suisse may have put clients at risk despite internal concerns over Guptas businesses adds a new twist to the debacle stemming from the March implosion of Greensill Capital, the finance firm at the center of the three-way relationship.Investigations, LawsuitsThe U.K. Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Guptas group of companies for suspected fraud, including in its financing deals with Greensill, according to a May 14 statement. Credit Suisse has sued to force Guptas Liberty Commodities into insolvency and has since shut the funds that made the loans and launched an internal investigation. Investors are staring at losses as the bank confronts embarrassing lawsuits.We are currently focusing our efforts on recovering our investors money, Will Bowen, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in London, said in an emailed statement, adding that the banks internal probe will focus on all of the issues linked to the funds. We are committed to learning the lessons and will share the relevant lessons learnt at the appropriate time.Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Gupta Family Group Alliance, or GFG Alliance, a collective of businesses linked to Gupta including Liberty Commodities, denied any wrongdoing.The Greensill saga represents just one of the two disasters that rocked Credit Suisse in the first half of 2021. Since Greensill began unraveling, the bank has announced a $5.5 billion hit from the blowup at Archegos Capital Management.ApologiesFormer Chairman Urs Rohner apologized to shareholders and his successor, Antonio Horta-Osorio, who arrived at the end of April, has promised a sweeping strategy review.Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein, who was head of the division that oversaw trade finance, wasnt aware of the internal concerns about Gupta that had prompted the bank to cut him off, according to a person familiar with the matter.Employees at the trade-finance unit, which lends money for the buying and selling of commodities, cut ties with Gupta in 2016 after becoming skeptical toward his Liberty Commodities, the people said. They distrusted the documents the company provided, triggering doubts about its transactions, they said. In one example reported by Bloomberg, the company had presented another bank with what seemed to be duplicate shipping receipts. Credit Suisses commodity team had stopped working with Gupta after identifying suspicious shipments while the banks credit-structuring team lobbied against the Greensill funds, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.A spokesman for Gupta has denied any wrongdoing.Banking TiesLiberty Commodities pledged assets to Credit Suisse as security for borrowings in 2013 but by early 2016, all such commitments had been extinguished, indicating that the financing relationship had ceased, U.K. Companies House filings show. And while Guptas company listed the Swiss bank as one of its lenders in its 2014 annual report, it didnt in the following years report, which is dated May 2016, according to the filings.Their counterparts at other banks, including Macquarie Group Ltd. and Sberbank PJSC, halted trading with Liberty Commodities around the same time because of similar concerns; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also stopped in 2016, Bloomberg has reported.Nevertheless, executives at Credit Suisses asset-management division -- which creates investment products for clients and charges a fee for overseeing them -- began arranging a suite of funds focused on supply-chain finance in 2017. The entities bought securitized loans packaged by Greensill, a firm created by Australian businessman Lex Greensill. Much of the debts were linked to Guptas businesses.WarningsOfficials at the commodity trade-finance unit were concerned when they found out about the funds links to Gupta and took their fears to Thomas Grotzer, general counsel for the banks Swiss division. They also warned Luc Mathys and Lukas Haas, the bankers who helped oversee the trades at the asset-management unit.Grotzer was promoted last month to interim global head of compliance at Credit Suisse. He didnt respond to requests for comment. Mathys, head of fixed-income at the asset-management division, and Haas, a portfolio manager, were put on temporary leave in March. Neither responded to requests for comment.The bank pushed ahead with the funds and marketed them to investors as being made up of short-term debt secured on invoices, assets considered so safe that Credit Suisse gave the largest vehicle its lowest rating for risk. Yet part of the loans were linked to mere possible future revenues.Other parts of the bank continued working with Gupta as well. Credit Suisses investment bankers were due to lead an initial public offering for Libertys U.S. steel arm, which was ultimately pulled, according to a statement from the company. Gupta also announced that the Swiss bank would finance his planned acquisition of Thyssenkrupp AGs steel unit, which fell apart earlier this year.Credit Suisse has so far recouped about $5.9 billion of the $10 billion in these supply-chain funds, but it remains unclear how much will be returned ultimately to investors. Loans to Guptas businesses are among a batch of debts that are the principal sources of valuation uncertainty, the bank said earlier this month.Liberty Commoditiess external legal advisors investigated alleged rumors concerning the paperwork it used in 2019, according to Mitchell, the spokesman for GFG Alliance. They found no evidence to substantiate the rumors, nor was the company ever subject to further complaints or proceedings, he said.LCL has ongoing banking relationships with separate financial institutions, Mitchell said, referring to Liberty Commodities. The trade-finance market has been hugely challenging for all but the very largest commodities traders in recent years. Nevertheless, no financial institution has been left out of pocket as a result of lending money to LCL. On the contrary, they have received substantial commercial returns.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
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(Newser)  Democratic leaders in the House are set to hold a vote Thursday on whether Republican newcomer Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene should be removed from her two committee assignments. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said that his Republican counterpart, Kevin McCarthy, is not ready to remove Greene from her spots on the budget and education and labor committees, the Hill reports. It is clear there is no alternative to holding a floor vote on the resolution to remove Rep. Greene from her committee assignments," Hoyer said in a Wednesday statement. "The Rules Committee will meet this afternoon, and the House will vote on the resolution tomorrow."

story continues below

Greene has garnered controversy for embracing far-right conspiracy theories and false claims of election fraud, as well as for a video that recently surfaced that shows her mocking a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting in Florida. Also, in 2018 and 2019, Greene indicated support for executing Democratic politicians in several social media posts, per CNN. A member of this House is calling for assassinations. Thats the new precedent, Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern, chairman of the Rules Committee, said at a meeting Wednesday, per the Washington Post. If thats the standard that we remove people from committees, Im fine with that. (Read more Marjorie Taylor Greene stories.)
Nsanje first grade magistrate has fined three people K10 000 each for not wearing face masks which is part of Covid-19 preventive measures.

The three Yohane Kaswada 40, Chrispine Chaoloka, 30, and Mavuto Vega 20, were convicted following their arrest by police in the district after they were found breaking the preventive rules.

First grade Magistrate Watson Mankhanamba convicted them after they were found with a case to answer following their plea of guilty to the charge.

Magistrate Mankhanamba concurred with the state prosecutors who told the court that the behaviour of the accused persons was bad to the society as it is likely to cause further spread of Corona virus and thereby risking many lives.

Mankhanamba therefore sentenced the three to fines of K10 000 or in default to serve a jail sentence of one month, so far they have all paid the fines.

Yohane Kaswada comes from Chapira Village while Chrispine Chaoloka and Mavuto Vega are from Mtemangawa Village all in the area of Traditional Authority Malemia in the District.
[February 04, 2021] IXL Learning Agrees to Acquire Wyzant Tutoring Marketplace

SAN MATEO, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IXL Learning, the K-12 personalized learning platform used by 11 million students, today announced it has agreed to acquire Wyzant , the nation's largest marketplace for online tutoring. The addition of the Chicago-based company will expand IXL's capacity to address the needs of all students with personalized, one-on-one mentoring. Founded in 2005, Wyzant offers an expansive digital network of more than 65,000 tutors from a broad spectrum of academic and professional fields. Wyzant seamlessly connects students to the perfect tutor for online or in-person lessons geared toward their unique needs. Wyzant tutors serve learners of all ages and backgrounds, offering in-depth guidance on topics including English, language arts, physics, calculus, coding, LSAT test prep, music and more. "Wyzant expertly brings together students and world-class instructors. We're excited to welcome Wyzant's talented team to IXL and build a strong partnership rooted in a love of learning," said Paul Mishkin, CEO of IXL. "Wyzant and IXL have a shared mission of making personalized learning accessible for everyone," said Andrew Geant, CEO of Wyzant. "This partnership will allow Wyzant to innovate and invest in new ways to improve the online tutoring experience for students and expert tutors. Coupled with IXL's resources, expertise and reach, we are excited to help millions more learners of all ages accomplish their goals." The acquisition will be finalized during Q1 2021. Lazard served as the exclusive financial advisor to Wyzant in the transaction. Tutoring any time, any place

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to limit in-person meetings, Wyzant makes it easy to access and communicate with qualified tutors from anywhere in the world through its free online learning tool . Students simply search for or request a tutor, and Wyzant offers subject matter experts who best fit their needs. Wyzant then creates a space for students to collaborate with tutors face-to-face through video chat nd an interactive whiteboard for solving problems.



Flexible scheduling options ensure that students can get help from the right person at a convenient time. Wyzant also offers in-person tutoring in regions across the United States including New York City, Washington D.C., Dallas, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and more. Support for all learners

Parents across the nation are being tasked with homeschooling their children, but many don't possess a firm enough grasp of subject matter to do so. Wyzant's Homeschooling Concierge takes the guesswork out of finding the perfect private tutor for a family's at-home education goals.

Wyzant for Higher Ed brings high-quality, affordable tutoring to more than one million college students and working adults seeking a credential or degree. The company also recently launched Wyzant for Business , a corporate benefits package offering subsidized, online instruction for employees who want supplemental learning for their children or for their own career advancement. The evolution of IXL

Wyzant is IXL's latest strategic acquisition over the past four years. In March 2020, IXL added Vocabulary.com , the leading educational destination for improving literacy through vocabulary building. In 2019, IXL completed the acquisition of Education.com , an online learning resource serving 23 million teachers and parents. ABCya , the creator of more than 400 educational computer games and apps for kids, joined the IXL family in 2018. Founded in 1998, IXL Learning's flagship product is IXL , a personalized learning platform that helps every student become a strong, confident learner. Featuring a comprehensive K-12 curriculum, the IXL Real-Time Diagnostic, personalized guidance and actionable Analytics, IXL is proven to improve learning outcomes for all students. About IXL Learning

Currently used by 11 million students and by schools in 95 of the 100 top districts, IXL is an integrated learning platform that supports personalized learning in math, English language arts, science, social studies and Spanish. With more than 80 billion questions asked and answered around the world, IXL is helping schools and parents successfully boost student achievement. The IXL family of products also includes Education.com , ABCya and Vocabulary.com . To learn more about IXL, visit www.ixl.com , facebook.com/IXL and twitter.com/IXLLearning . About Wyzant

Wyzant takes the guesswork out of finding a qualified tutor you can trust. Since 2005, millions of students all over the globe have looked to Wyzant for help in subjects ranging from math and science to computer programming and foreign languages. It's easy to browse profiles and reviews, message tutors, book lessons and conduct tutoring online using Wyzant's powerful online learning platform. At Wyzant, there are no commitments or expensive pre-paid packages. Every lesson is pay-as-you-go, and if you don't love your first hour with a new tutor, it's free, guaranteed. Press Contact

Eric Bates

IXL Learning

press@ixl.com

650-436-5534 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ixl-learning-agrees-to-acquire-wyzant-tutoring-marketplace-301222599.html SOURCE IXL Learning

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Birthing a new space telescope takes a long time and a lot of money and inspiration. Astronomers first began pestering Nasa for the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope even before that telescope was launched into orbit in 1990. Back then they thought it could cost less than $1 billion (730m) and be ready in the first decade of the 21st century.

Thirty years, $8.8 billion, multiple mishaps and budget crises, and a threatened congressional cancellation later, the James Webb Space Telescope appears to be finally ready. Nasa now plans to launch it into orbit as early as 31 October aboard an Ariane 5 rocket supplied by the European Space Agency, from a site in French Guiana.

During a recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society, technicians and engineers showed off the telescope for what they hoped would be the last time to humans on the ground.

The next time the observatory looks like this, says Nasas Eric Smith, project manager for the telescope, it will be beyond the moon and appear to us as a roughly 17th-magnitude point source.

Recommended Nasa delays launch of new space telescope after technical problems

Completely assembled in its clean room at Northrop Grumman in Los Angeles, the telescope as viewed over a Zoom conference resembled a giant sunflower riding on a surfboard. The flowers petals are 18 gold-plated beryllium hexagons joined to form a dish more than 20 feet across. The surfboard, on which it will float eternally on the far side of the moon, is a sandwich of five layers of a plastic called Kapton that will shield the telescope from the heat and glare of the sun.

The telescope, named for the Nasa administrator who led the agency through the development of the Apollo programme, is almost three times larger than the vaunted Hubble and seven times more powerful in its ability to discern faint stars and galaxies at the edges of time.

To get them into space aboard the Ariane 5 rocket supplied by the European Space Agency, the shield and the telescope mirror will have be folded up, then must unfold 1 million miles out in space in a series of some 180 manoeuvres in the first month after launch. The steps of that deployment have been practised over and over in the past few years.

An early rehearsal ripped the sun shield, causing yet another delay to the project.

The engineers think they have it right now, but they refer to the impending outer-space unfolding and testing period as six months of terror. And there are still a couple of half-inch tears in the Kapton that need to be patched, Smith says.

The Webb telescopes mission is to explore a realm of cosmic history that was inaccessible to Hubble. About 150 million to 1 billion years after time began, the first stars and galaxies were born and began burning their way out of a gloomy fog of hydrogen gas that prevailed at the end of the Big Bang. Exactly how that happened is unknown.

Dr James Webb operates a giant electronic telescope on the FIU campus in Florida (AFP via Getty Images)

The mission requires the Webb to be tuned to a different kind of light than our eyes or the Hubble can see. Because the expansion of the cosmos is rushing those earliest stars and galaxies away from us so fast, their light is red-shifted to longer wavelengths, much as the siren from an ambulance shifts to a lower register after it speeds by.

Thus, blue light from an infant galaxy way back then, bursting with bright new stars, has been stretched to invisible infrared wavelengths  heat radiation  by the time it reaches us 13 billion years later.

As a result, the Webb telescope will produce cosmic postcards in colours that no eye can see. But to detect those faint emanations of heat, the telescope must be very cold  less than 7.2C (45F) above absolute zero  so that its own heat does not wash out the heat from outer space. Hence the need for the sun shield, which will keep the telescope in permanent, frigid shade.

As it turns out, infrared emissions are also ideal for studying exoplanets, worlds that belong to other stars. That approach was encouraged in 1996 in a pivotal report, HST and Beyond, Exploration and the Search for Origins: A Vision for Ultraviolet-Optical-Infrared Space Astronomy, from a committee led by Alan Dressler of the Carnegie Observatories.

Seager recalled being shocked when she started attending cosmology conferences that almost all the speakers were men with white or grey hair

Their vision was prescient. At the time, three exoplanets were known. In the decades since, while the Webb telescope was wending its way through a painful development, exoplanet research has bloomed. Nasas Kepler mission found thousands of exoplanets, implying that there are hundreds of millions in the galaxy for astronomers and the Webb to observe.

Indeed, one of the most anticipated early results from the Webb will be of the planets in the Trappist-1 system, just 40 light-years away. It contains seven planets, three of which are rocks the size of Earth in the so-called habitable zone, where water could exist. Among other things, the Webb telescope will be able to sniff the atmospheres of these planets by seeing how they interact with light from their respective stars  a first step toward investigating whether potentially habitable planets are truly habitable or perhaps even inhabited.

The ungreying of astronomy

That search for life is front and centre in a new documentary film about the Webb telescope, The Hunt for Planet B, which was made by Nathaniel Kahn and will premiere at the South by Southwest Festival in March. The film, somewhat to Kahns surprise, also documents a sociological revolution in astronomy  namely, that many of the leaders in the field of exoplanets are women.

Feature billing goes to researchers such as Jill Tarter of the SETI Institute, a pioneer in the search for extraterrestrial civilisations; Natalie Batalha of the University of California, Santa Cruz, a leader of the Kepler mission who is now planning Webb observations; Margaret Turnbull, an expert on habitable planets at the University of Wisconsin and a former candidate for governor of that state, whom Kahn interviewed as she tended her backyard beehives; and Amy Lo, a Northrop engineer who works on race cars when she is not working on making all the Webb pieces fit together.

Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Getty Images)

It doesnt matter what I think, Tarter says when asked by Kahn about life in the universe. The pundits and priests have been removed from the equation: Were not doing religion here, were doing science.

Kahn was nominated for Oscars for his films My Architect, about his father, architect Louis Kahn, and Two Hands: The Leon Fleisher Story, about a pianist who lost the use of one hand to a neurological condition. Kahn is a longtime amateur astronomer. He had set out to make a film about the building of the telescope, but one of the joys of filmmaking, he says in an interview, is that you start out making it about one thing, Webb, and it evolves naturally into a much deeper story. And thats really the emergence of women at the forefront of astronomy.

Sara Seager, a planetary expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose story helps frame the films narrative, says the emergence makes perfect sense. When exoplanets was a brand-new field, the field by definition couldnt be dominated by old white men, she tells The New York Times in an interview. In fact, older scientists were reluctant to jump into a brand-new and seemingly risky field, so there were few to no people to inflict their biases on the community.

Seager recalls being shocked when she started attending cosmology conferences that almost all the speakers were men with white or grey hair. Simply, in cosmology there were no niches for new types of people to join, she says. In the exoplanets subconference, no one was over age 40 and most were under age 30.

Batalha says that the exoplanet field was originally led by men such as Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of the Geneva Observatory, who shared the Nobel Prize in 2019 for discovering the first exoplanet, and William Borucki of Nasas Ames Research Centre, who conceived and led the Kepler mission. But women had flourished and advanced.

If you talk to the senior females in exoplanet science, youll find that all of our stories are different, Batalha says. We survived for different reasons. And we stayed for different reasons. And now that were here, perhaps other young women can more easily imagine themselves pursuing the same path.

The Hubble Space Telescope nears the Space Shuttle Discovery (AFP via Getty Images)

Forward to the past

So far 4,332 astronomers from 44 countries, 45 US states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have submitted proposals for the first round of Webb observations, according to numbers supplied by Christine Chen of the Space Telescope Science Institute during the Webb show-and-tell. About 31.5 per cent of the researchers are female, which roughly tracks with recent statistics that one-third of astronomy doctorates go to women.

We naturally have diversity built into it, Smith, the project manager, says of the Webb program during the recent Zoom broadcast.

As scientists, we also know that the universe reveals itself rarely through data that conform to our models or theories, that rather it is those data that lie outside our expectations that point us closer to a universal truth. And so, just as we know we must seek to understand our data that are different from our preconceived notions, to understand the cosmos better, we need to seek different viewpoints when we conceive and build missions.

The launch of Webb in the autumn will be among the grand events of space science this year, along with the next robot invasion of Mars, set to occur this winter when the latest fleet of robots lands there.

Its not crazy to think that if this pace continues, we might well learn in the next half-century that life exists in some form in the nearby cosmos, whether hiding under the ice of a giant planetary moon, under a rock on Mars or sweltering in some alien extraterrestrial swamp. Any hint would be a giant step toward understanding the whys and wherefores of our own origins.

As Dressler and his co-authors write in their 1996 report: A remarkable triumph of 20th-century astronomy is the demonstration that this notion is true: that our origin, and perhaps our destiny, lies among the stars. Alluding to the popularity of science fiction in movies, television and books, they wrote that increasingly, great themes of human existence are being projected into space.

Our physical journeys into the cosmos are maybe generations in the future, they conclude, but our minds already live in the Space Age.

 The New York Times
Trump Impeachment Defense to Display Timeline, Images From Capitol Storming at Trial

Former President Donald Trumps lawyers plan to display a timeline and images from the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 that back up the case that he didnt incite the storming of the building, an adviser said Thursday.

We will be presenting timelines, even from The New York Times home page  well be putting up images where you can see the attack on the Capitol was already starting before President Trump even started his speech, Trump adviser Jason Miller said during a virtual appearance on Newsmax.

Trump was speaking at The Ellipse, a park, approximately two miles from the Capitol on Jan. 6. A timeline shows that he had not finished speaking when violence at the Capitol began. Democrats in a preview of their trial arguments said those committing violence had come from The Ellipse.

Trump was impeached on Jan. 13 as lawmakers alleged he incited an insurrection. They cited a portion of his speech where he urged supporters to fight like hell. Trump has defended the speech, and Miller noted Trump also told supporters to go to the Capitol peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.

Protesters clash with police at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Julio Cortez/AP Photo)

Protesters storm the Capitol Building in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Ahmed Gaber/Reuters)

People should know from his record that hes the most pro-law and order president ever, that he deplores any sort of mob violence, especially after this summer, Miller added.

This is where the Democrats I believe are so triggered and so obsessed with President Trump, that theyre willing to ignore just basic evidence thats right in front of us. Since Jan. 6th, weve seen from the public reports from the police and the FBI and all sorts of other outlets that much of this planning was done well in advance, he said.

David Schoen, one of the lawyers who will be defending Trump in next weeks impeachment trial, on a recent appearance on Fox News said the incitement claims arent accurate.

We would stipulate that there was a riot that went on that day. It was a tragedy. President Trump has condemned violence at all times. Read the words of his speech calls for peacefulness. This has nothing to do with President Trump, he said.

Just because somebody gave a speech and people got excited, it doesnt mean its the speechmakers faultits the people who got excited and did what they know is wrong, another lawyer added.

Court documents from cases against people who stormed the Capitol suggest that at least some of the participants that day preplanned the attack.

Schoen argued that House impeachment managers shouldnt show videotapes of the mayhem and people being hurt. The country doesnt need to just watch videos of riots and unrest. We need to heal now. We need to move forward, he said.

Trump in his response to the allegations in the impeachment resolution said he did not incite the crowd.
Study led by George Mason University College of Health and Human Services faculty finds that prevention program effectively reduces unwanted sexual contact among Air Force Cadets, addressing gap in rigorously tested interventions.

Sexual assault and sexual harassment are significant problems in the U.S. military and military service academies in the United States. In 2018, 15.8% of female and 2.4% of male cadets and midshipmen across the military service academies reported unwanted sexual contact in the past year. This unwanted behavior can contribute to a variety of negative mental and behavioral health outcomes.

While the military service academies have implemented multiple sexual assault prevention programs and social marketing campaigns to improve awareness of and response to sexual assault, prevention initiatives have been hindered by an absence of evidence from rigorous research about what works.

Eliminating sexual assault in the military is a key focus of the Biden Administration's newly confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. As one of his first actions in office, Austin has ordered a review of military sexual assault prevention programs.

To address the gap in evidence-based interventions, Dr. Kenneth W. Griffin, professor at George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services, worked with colleagues to rigorously test the effectiveness of the Cadet Healthy Personal Skills (CHiPS) primary prevention program. CHiPS was developed by National Health Promotion Associates (NHPA) and tested in a randomized controlled trial among cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) by a research team led by Dr. Griffin. The results were published online in the American Journal of Public Health January 21, 2021.

Griffin and colleagues found a more than 40% reduction in unwanted sexual contact among U.S. Air Force cadets who participated in the CHiPS intervention compared to those who did not participate in the intervention.

"CHiPS is a small group preventive intervention, developed by NHPA for the U.S. Air Force Academy. The program is based on Botvin Life Skills Training, an evidence-based program which has proven effective at preventing substance abuse, violence, and sexual risk taking among adolescents," explains Griffin. "The intervention is designed to positively change social norms and bystander intervention behaviors surrounding sexual violence; increase knowledge and skills regarding obtaining consent for sexual activities; address the relationship between sexual violence and alcohol and substance abuse; and build social, self-regulation, and healthy relationship skills through interactive learning and behavioral rehearsal scenarios."

Their randomized control study included 832 participants, and the new program was implemented in the summer of 2018. About half of the incoming class of 2021 cadets were assigned to receive the prevention program and half were assigned to a control group.

The CHiPS intervention has been sustained at USAFA and implemented with the incoming classes of cadets each summer since the conclusion of this study. This suggests that the program is both effective and has high potential for institutionalization.

###

This research was funded by the Department of Defense, United States Air Force, Contract Number FA7014-17-P-1006.

About George Mason University

George Mason University is Virginia's largest and most diverse public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls 39,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. For more information, visit https:/ / www2. gmu. edu/ .

About the College of Health and Human Services
Regulatory News:

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Press release 4February 2021

Pernod Ricard (Paris:RI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Anne-Marie Poliquin as Group General Counsel as of the end of March, 2021. Anne-Marie will report to Alexandre Ricard and will be a member of the Executive Board and the Executive Committee, based in Paris. This appointment comes as a replacement for Amanda Hamilton-Stanley who wished to take her career in a different direction.

Anne-Marie, a Canadian citizen, has over thirty years of experience within the legal departments of various large international groups. A graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Montreal and Harvard Law School and member of the Quebec Bar, she began her career with a law firm before joining Valeo, and then the Medical Systems division of General Electric. In 1998, Anne-Marie joined Mars, working in the Food Petcare division, where she carried out several major reorganizations and acquisition projects. She was promoted to the position of General Counsel Europe before her appointment as General Counsel for Global Petcare in Brussels, at which time she also became a member of the Executive Committee. After almost 20 years at Mars, in 2019 Anne-Marie joined JDE Peet's, one of the global leaders in the manufacture and distribution of tea and coffee, as General Counsel, Legal and Corporate Affairs, in charge of Legal, Communications and CSR, and based in Amsterdam.

About Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard is the world's No 2 in wines and spirits with consolidated sales of 8,448 million in FY20. Created in 1975 by the merger of Ricard and Pernod, the Group has undergone sustained development, based on both organic growth and acquisitions: Seagram (2001), Allied Domecq (2005) and Vin&Sprit (2008). Pernod Ricard, which owns 16 of the Top 100 Spirits Brands, holds one of the most prestigious and comprehensive brand portfolios in the industry, including: Absolut Vodka, Ricard pastis, Ballantine's, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, and The Glenlivet Scotch whiskies, Jameson Irish whiskey, Martell cognac, Havana Club rum, Beefeater gin, Malibu liqueur, Mumm and Perrier-Jouet champagnes, as well Jacob's Creek, Brancott Estate, Campo Viejo, and Kenwood wines. Pernod Ricard's brands are distributed across 160+ markets and by its own salesforce in 73 markets. The Group's decentralised organisation empowers its 19,000 employees to be true on-the-ground ambassadors of its vision of "Createurs de Convivialite." As reaffirmed by the Group's strategic plan, "Transform and Accelerate," deployed in 2018, Pernod Ricard's strategy focuses on investing in long-term, profitable growth for all stakeholders. The Group remains true to its three founding values: entrepreneurial spirit, mutual trust, and a strong sense of ethics, as illustrated by the 2030 Sustainability and Responsibility roadmap supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), "Good times from a good place." In recognition of Pernod Ricard's strong commitment to sustainable development and responsible consumption, it has received a Gold rating from Ecovadis. Pernod Ricard is also a United Nations' Global Compact LEAD company. Pernod Ricard is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI; ISIN Code: FR0000120693) and is part of the CAC 40 and Eurostoxx 50 indices.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005854/en/

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Scientists have previously noted that native marsupials including kangaroos and wallabies have similar diets to sheep and cattle but produce less methane, although they do produce some of the gas as a byproduct of digestion.

This methane is generated by microorganisms called archaea which live in their guts and assist in the breakdown of the plant matter that forms the bulk of their diet.

Researchers are investigating whether kangaroo poo could help reduce methane emissions from livestock. Credit:AP Photo/Mark Graham

Cattle and sheep account for 10 per cent of all Australias greenhouse gas emissions because of the methane they produce in their guts.

Kangaroo droppings could hold the key to preventing a major source of greenhouse gases, researchers believe.

University of Queensland microbial biologist Mark Morrison said it was not wholly understood why kangaroos produced less of the gas, and they were focusing on the gut archaea as a possible answer.

While there are methane-producing microorganisms present in these animals, compared to the ones we find in livestock and even in humans, they appear to be a bit different, he said.

At this stage we really dont understand their processes or the genetics that give rise to potential differences in the organisms found in the guts of different species.

Professor Morrison said the researchers planned to use molecular and genomic sequencing to find out exactly what the differences were in the different gut microorganisms.

What we want to know is how are these methane-producing archaea different in the native Australian herbivores compared to the knowledge we have in similar organisms found in livestock, he said.


A boardroom war has erupted at the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) after chief executive David Omwoyo dismissed a member on claims that her appointment was irregular.

The action has triggered a flurry of exchanges between the CEO and MCK Board chairman Maina Muiruri, the Attorney-General's office, the Ministry of ICT and a law firm.

One of the letters by Mr Omwoyo in our possession dated January 11, 2021 is addressed to Mr Muiruri.

Mr Omwoyo argues that Ms Tabitha Mutemi cannot be a member of the board on account that she is a public officer.

Ms Mutemi, who is in charge of corporate affairs, is events manager with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

Suspicious expenditure

"The secretariat will no longer recognise Ms Mutemi as a board member of the Media Council of Kenya with immediate effect," the letter copied to Ms Mutemi and ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru, reads.

Mr Omwoyo told the Nation yesterday that Ms Mutemi is no longer with the MCK board.

"I confirm that Ms Tabitha ceased to be a member of the board," he said.

In response to Mr Omwoyo's actions, Kilonzo and Company Advocates, which represents Ms Mutemi dismissed as illegal her removal from the board, saying, its client is being targeted for questioning suspicious expenditure at the council.

"You have no jurisdiction to remove or purport not to recognise a member appointed by the Cabinet Secretary in a gazette notice," Kilonzo and Company Advocates says.

"The Cabinet Secretary as the appointing authority is the only person who can cause the removal from office of Ms Mutemi."
Manipur: Importance of protecting Loktak Lake emphasized on World Wetlands Day

Fisher unions and farming communities of Manipur observed World Wetlands Day yesterday at Tonoma Chingjin, Mamang Ching, Pumlen Pat-a wetland devastated by the Ithai Barrage of the Loktak Hydroelectric Project.

The event was organised by Ngamee Lup, a federation of fisher unions and other associations of Loktak and surrounding wetland areas including Pumlen and Khoidum Lamjao in coordination with Indigenous Perspectives (Imphal) and Environment Support Group (Bangalore) and was hosted by Pumlenpat Ngamee Sinmee Lup.



The focus of the event was to demand Wetlands International South Asia and Loktak Development Authority must unconditionally withdraw Loktak-An Integrated Plan For Wise Use (2020-2025) and the Government to repeal the draconian Manipur Loktak Lake (Protection) Act, 2006. The federation also demanded cancellation of Loktak Inland Waterways Project and the Loktak Eco tourism project. The occasion was also an event asserting the indigenous and natural right of present and future generations' to access these wetland commons without repressive action of the Government of Manipur and Loktak Development Authority (LDA), as has been the case periodically. The event witnessed active participation of people living in and around Loktak, Pumlen and Khoidum Lamjao and also representatives of fish workers living on Champu Khangpok, the floating village of Loktak.



Members from Human Rights Alert (HRA) and Extrajudicial Execution Family Association Manipur (EEVFAM)', Imphal-based organisations working for the protection of civil and political rights of the people of Manipur, the Lawyers from Imphal and Manipur Loumee Marup (affiliates of All India Kisan Sabha) participated to extend solidarity with the struggle of the locals. Representatives from Girl Up Manipur and Fridays For Future (Manipur Chapter) were also present. Delivering the keynote address Salam Joy, Secretary of Pumlen Pat Ngamee Sinmee Lup highlighted how their land was destroyed by the Ithai Barrage in the 1980s.For his community the result of commissioning the Ithai Barrage across the Manipur River has been equivalent to pushing them into conditions of forced poverty, he added.



He maintained that for 40 long years the community has been eking out a living by nurturing small fishing zones, and that too without any support from the government. Now the land on which they farm and fish is also on the verge of being taken over for various infrastructure and mass tourism projects. He asserted that the wetland is their ancestral territory, and the entire community is resolved to resist the takeover of these biodiversity by corporations backed by the government. Ratan Yumnam, the Secretary of Manipur Loumee Marup (Manipur Farmers Union), drew attention to the strong linkage between the ongoing farmers' protest across the country and the struggle of the Loktak people. He said it is time the farmers and the fisherfolks of Loktak and the surrounding wetlands come together with those who are leading the movement against the repressive pro-capitalist system.



He emphasised on the importance of collectively fighting against undemocratic and oppressive projects that would certainly result in destruction of wetlands and displacement of fishing and farming communities in Manipur. Babloo Loitongbam, Director of Human Rights Alert, said the Government policy and programs are antithetical to conservation and livelihood of the people of the Loktak and the other wetlands.



He said that the right to life and livelihood are enshrined in the Constitution of India and the Government of Manipur cannot bypass any of the laws that seek to protect them. He also said that human rights groups in Manipur and also those across the world should help the people of the wetlands thereby protecting their livelihood. Ram Wangkheirakpam, Convener of Ngamee Lup, read out a Global Petition that asserts rights of local indigenous communities to continue to live in the Loktak region without being disturbed by destructive projects and draconian laws and State's action. The petition calls on the international community to support the struggle of the fishing community of Loktak Wetlands region. The event came to an end with release of campaign posters by Lanchenbi, Panchayat member of Khoidum Lamjao,a symbolic gesture to mark observance of the World Wetlands Day at Pumlen Pat and of resisting projects that attack human rights and destroy nature.
Vietnam has discovered a new coronavirus variant that's a hybrid of strains first found in India and the U.K., the Vietnamese health minister said Saturday.

Nguyen Thanh Long said scientists examined the genetic makeup of the virus that had infected some recent patients, and found the new version of the virus. He said lab tests suggested it might spread more easily than other versions of the virus.
Business people in the Borrowdale area who recently turned stables at the race course into illegal fruit and flea markets in violation of Covid-19 national lockdown regulations have had their application to be allowed to operate at the area turned down by council.

Police launched investigations following reports of the illegal market. The investigations centre on two separate breaches of regulations, operating a flea market without municipal approval and operating one during the Level Four Covid-19 lockdown.

The application by the operators was made to the Harare City Council's Health Department last year.

Sources close to the investigations said the application was made by Mrs Vicky Ann Bowen on June 12 and had not been approved.

It was made under the trade name Old Stables Market at the Borrowdale Race Course.

When contacted for comment, council spokesperson Michael Chideme said Covid-19 restrictions should be adhered to.

"We are under lockdown and regulations must be followed. Flea markets are not an essential service so they should remain closed like most businesses," he said.

On the application submitted by Mrs Bowen last year, Mr Chideme said, "All applications are approved on their merit."

Following an article that was published by The Herald last week, the businesspeople then decided to close down their operations over the weekend.

They have been circulating messages on social media urging vendors and their members not to open the market.

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A team of police officers from Harare Central and city council officials on Saturday visited the premises, but did not find any activities.

Since January 16, there were more than 60 vendors operating during the weekends at the race course, selling fruits and other products.

Most of these vendors were reportedly being charged US$10 for a table per day to sell at the site.

Since an advertisement was run on social media reading, "Open Saturday 16th January . . . Old Stables Market . . . Your trusted source of goodness", vendors had been thronging the area.

They started operating from 6am and closing at 3pm.

At first, police had been provided with information that a certain company was distributing groceries to people at the race course that had been bought by their relatives and friends in South Africa.

It was alleged that the company had obtained documents from the relevant authorities to conduct the distribution process of the groceries and goods at the site.

But investigations revealed that some of the stables were being turned into vending stalls during weekends.

The Herald recently witnessed various people visiting the area to purchase various products and goods.
Rennie Davis, one of the "Chicago Seven" activists who was tried for organizing an anti-Vietnam War protest outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago that turned violent, has died. He was 80.

Davis died on Tuesday of lymphoma at his home in Berthoud, Colorado, his wife, Kirsten Liegmann, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

A longtime peace activist, Davis was national director of the community organizing program for the anti-war Students for a Democratic Society and was a protest coordinator for the Chicago convention.

Some 3,000 anti-war demonstrators clashed with police and Illinois National Guardsmen on Aug. 28, 1968, near the convention. Police clubbed demonstrators and conducted mass arrests. An investigative commission later described the clash as a "police riot."

Davis and four co-defendants  Tom Hayden, Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman and David Dellinger  were convicted of conspiracy to incite a riot during the Chicago Seven trial in 1969 and 1970. A federal appeals court overturned the convictions, citing errors by U.S. District Judge Julius Hoffman.

Co-defendants John Froines and Lee Weiner were acquitted. An eighth defendant, Bobby Seale, was tried separately, convicted of contempt and sentenced to four years in prison. That conviction also was overturned.

Davis later moved to Colorado, where he studied and taught spirituality and entered the business world, selling life insurance and running a think tank that developed technologies for the environment. He became a venture capitalist and a lecturer on meditation and self-awareness, Kirsten Liegmann said.

In addition to Liegmann, Davis is survived by three children from previous marriages: daughters Lia Davis, 44, and Maya Davis, 28; a son, Sky Davis, 26; three siblings and two grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements were pending.

(Image Credit: AP)

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)


Statues of Captain James Cook are in the crosshairs of Black Lives Matter activists who claim the explorer 'symbolises racial oppression and violence'.

Several monuments commemorating the 18th Century sailor have been added to a 'hitlist' drawn up by anti-racism campaigners.

Fresh targets for either removal or renaming include James Cook University Hospital, and a Captain Cook museum in Middlesbrough.

They are among 125 under-fire landmarks featured on a map by Topple The Racists, a website pinpointing their locations.

Statues of Captain James Cook (one on the Mall in London, pictured) are in the crosshairs of Black Lives Matter activists who claim the explorer 'symbolises racial oppression and violence'

They are among 125 under-fire landmarks featured on a map by Topple The Racists, a website pinpointing their locations

Compiled by the Stop Trump Coalition, the hitlist emerged last summer during widespread BLM protests when several statues were toppled or defaced.

A figure of slave trader Edward Colston was memorably ripped of its plinth and dumped into Bristol Harbour in June.

Demonstrations died down as the second onslaught of coronavirus hit, but now activists have statues in their sights once again.

Captain Cook in particular has become a target, with two statues in London and Whitby, two museums and a pub listed.

Outlining the reasoning for wanting to uproot a statue of the navigator in Great Ayton, the website says: 'James Cook was a colonialist who murdered Maori people in their homeland.'

For the Captain Cook museum in Whitby it adds: 'The first encounter between Maori and Captain Cook and his crew ended in the murder and brutalising of nine Turanaga-nui-a-kiwa ancestors.

'In 1779, Captain Cook was killed after his attempt to kidnap a Hawai'ian king. This museum is purely celebratory, with no criticisms of Cook made.'

Fresh targets for either removal or renaming include James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough

A figure of slave trader Edward Colston was memorably ripped of its plinth and dumped into Bristol Harbour in June

And for the statue planted on the Mall in London: 'James Cook invaded Australia just over 250 years ago... What followed was 250 of genocidal activities and policies based on race that murdered thousands of women, men and children. Captain Cook symbolises racial oppression and violence. It must be removed.'

A BBC poll 20 years ago ranked Cook number 12 on a list of the 100 Greatest Britons for his exploration of Australia and New Zealand.

Tory MP Robert Goodwill, whose Whitby and Scarborough constituency is home to some of the targets, lashed out at the campaigners last night.

Speaking to the Telegraph, which first reported on the updated list, he said: 'They're trying to erase important aspects of our history, and we all need to study history and learn from any mistakes.

'There were things done in the name of the Empire that would not be acceptable now, but we don't need to expunge them from history.'

It came after Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick railed against 'town hall militants and woke worthies' trying to erase British history.

The minister has announced plans to upheave legislation to require heritage assets to win planning permission following a local consultation before being removed.
Daunis is such a strong and engaging protagonist in "Firekeeper's Daughter." What aspects of Dauniss personality impress you the most?

I love the way Dauniss mind works. Early in the story, her best friend Lily calls out Dauniss black or white thinking. The reader is inside Dauniss head, witnessing her increasingly complex emotions and how she navigates complicated situations. I am also impressed by her Terminator-like personality on the ice. Dauniss mind operates full-throttle and full volume. But when shes on the ice, all that noise fades. She is able to hyper-focus and become a tenacious beast.

Shes also perfect for the role of what youve called the Indigenous Nancy Drew. How did you go about developing the mystery-thriller aspect of the plot?

I wrote the beginning and the ending, and THEN dove into the middle. Its kind of like those maze puzzles with one entry and one exit, and you need to find the path through. I write the thriller parts going forward from the beginning; I work on the mystery elements backwards from the ending. I used to struggle with writers block until I had the epiphany that I am not a linear writer.

How closely does the story reflect your own experience as someone with a Native dad and a non-Native mom, and how satisfying -- or difficult -- was it to relive those times? Do you think those adolescent cross-cultural challenges have improved over time or gotten more formidable?

Well, they always say to write what you know. Daunis comes from the experiences I had growing up as a light-skinned Ojibwe girl who didnt quite fit in on the reservation or in the small town where I was raised. Teens are still hearing the same things I did and, yes, its even worse with online harassment. Stories about coping with similar challenges can be a literal lifeline to someone.

What were some of the greatest challenges you faced as Director of the Office of Indian Education, and how do you hope to address those issues through your writing and beyond?

The greatest challenge remains that too many public schools relegate content about Native Americans to the past and rely on materials that perpetuate stereotypes and misinformation. Online sites such as the American Indians in Childrens Literature blog, the American Indian Library Association, and the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) have excellent resources for all educators. Its especially important because 92% of American Indian and Alaska Native students attend public schools. I am thrilled to be part of a growing body of Indigenous authors telling stories about our communities, and helping Native children and teens to see themselves in books.

Youve said you wrote this book over a long period of time while juggling a day job and raising a family. When did you know Firekeepers Daughter was ready to show to the world?

I would finish a draft and know what was lacking or where Id missed the mark. Id work on my craft and start all over again. This went on for nearly ten years when I was selected for the We Need Diverse Books mentorship program. I went through one last revision with feedback from my mentor, author Francisco X. Stork. At that point, I began to query agents because I couldnt think of anything else to revise. I felt as though Id exhausted my writing muscles to capacity and had taken the story as far as I could.

What would your advice be to first-time YA authors?

Write the story you wished to read as a teen, the one that only you can tell.

Do you have a favorite Indigenous author?

I have many favorites but pressed to name just one, it would be Marcie Rendon. Her Cash Blackbear mystery series -- beginning with Murder on the Red River -- is incredible. She writes the way Anishinaabe storytellers describe what youre seeing and sensing. You feel as if youre right there with her.

What would you like your readers to take away from Firekeepers Daughter?

Indigenous people are still here and we have dynamic stories to tell.
Bayside mayor Laurence Evans is all smiles. Some Brighton locals less so after the Supreme Court finally gave the go ahead for the $10.6 million Dendy Street Beach Pavilion redevelopment, dismissing the Brighton Foreshore Associations appeal against a VCAT decision to grant a planning permit two years ago. Contentious to say the least.

Mayor Evans says the decision allows council to get on with building a fit-for-purpose pavilion to improve the visitor experience.

But the BFA thinks it is monstrous and critics attack the councils $1 million legal fees defending the project and its encroachment on foreshore areas.

The 800-strong Brighton Life Saving Club is pleased, given facilities are 60 years old.

The fight has been going for four years. Actually, it began 145 years ago in 1876 when a local Committee of Defence fought off a 19th-century development in the courts, which led to the colonial government passing the Brighton Land Vesting Act 1877. This transferred the Brighton Beach Reserve Crown land to the mayor, councillors and burgesses of the Borough of Brighton for purposes of public recreation.
The HSE is investigating a sharp increase in the number of deaths of people classified as homeless in the Dublin area last year.

In 2020, a total of 79 people who were either sleeping rough or in contact with the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE) died.

This figure was up from 49 in 2019 and 47 in 2018, but during 2020, the method of recording deaths was changed.

A report compiled by the DRHE states that the agency is concerned at the significant increase in deaths in the latter months of 2020 (from July) and a comprehensive review of such deaths for the full year is underway in conjunction with the HSE.

The report points out that eight people died while sleeping rough in the Dublin region. Of these, three had recently stayed in emergency homeless accommodation and had access to such accommodation. Of the other five, three had never been in contact with the homeless executive while the other two had been a number of years ago, but not since.

Another 44 people died in emergency homeless accommodation during the year. These deaths occurred while they were residing in Supported Temporary Accommodation and Private Emergency Accommodation, the report states.

Twenty-seven people died in long-term supported tenancies where there is on-site medical services (3 of these deaths resulted from Covid-19).

The report, compiled for elected members of Dublin City Council, also noted that the number of single people in hostel-type accommodation has increased by over 800 in the past two years.

During most of 2020, there was excess capacity of emergency beds and during the latter months of 2020, there was a consistent and unprecedented number of unused beds available each night. The DRHE has maintained an excess supply of emergency beds into 2021.

The most recent count of rough sleepers in the capital was compiled by the Simon Community and revealed that in one week in November a total of 139 people were sleeping rough in the city.

Last month, an RTE Prime Time Investigates programme published a survey from people sleeping rough which revealed that over a quarter were turned away from an emergency hostel bed at different times since the pandemic began in March of last year.

One recurring problem for those seeking emergency accommodation is that they are told if they are not originally from Dublin, they are not eligible to be accommodated and they should return to their county of origin.


lmao this is genuinely pathetic.

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First of all, who could possibly confuse a medieval theme park for an album?



Second, who is going to a medieval theme park in a pandemic?



Am I taking Taylor's side in this???? What a world we live in.

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Yeah, this isn't going anywhere.



The theme park cannot reasonably argue that Taylor's album could be confused with their theme park. When you have trademarks, you have it over certain categories. If the theme park has trademarked Evermore, I'm sure it was only granted in a category like 'amusement park' or something. Swift's album doesn't fall into that.



But get that promo, I guess!

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They'd also have to prove damages and I don't see how they could possibly have any.

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this is ridiculous

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how the turn tables

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What confusion? Is someone gonna buy Taylors album and once it arrives in the mail theyre like what, whats this? I thought I bought a ticket to a theme park!



This is just a strange way to promote this park.

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They go to the park and try shoving a vinyl in the ticket takers hands

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This is just a strange way to promote this park



lmao i thought it might be promo too

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do they have the theme park trademarked? and if they do, the trademark only works for the said field it's in? like if they were artists and dropped an album called 'evermore', trademarked it, then she dropped an album. then yeah she could get it sued. or if they opened a grocery store chain, named it evermore, and trademarked it. then she opened a grocery store called it evermore. she could get sued



i don't think it even works with their fields being this far apart?

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Thats how I thought it worked, that theres different categories that you can get trademarks in. I dont know all the specifics though.

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generic album title? Because according to forum post I found albums of the same name are hardly uncommon. Can you even trademark aalbum title? Because according to forum post I found albums of the same name are hardly uncommon. https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/same-name-completely-different-albums.762224/

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Well hello pot. Have you met kettle?

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Lol MTE

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How do people have so much money to just frivolously sue people all the time?



This is truly a positive for this theme park. More awareness of the park for people who look up Evermore.



Edited at 2021-02-04 09:21 pm (UTC)

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How do people have so much money to just frivolously sue people all the time?



all part of the american dream

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There's a band called Evermore. Disney put out a song called Evermore for the Beauty and the Beast remake. There'll be others. They know this is a non-starter and are just trying it for clicks.

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Ill make millions.







Edited at 2021-02-04 09:21 pm (UTC) Im going to order Taylors album and then sue Amazon when they dont send me theme park tickets.Ill make millions.

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The US needs to do what other countries do and enforce that if you lose a civil case against someone you automatically pay their legal fees. Would prevent a lot of frivolous bullshit like this.

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ah yes, let's make higher the already difficult obstacles for people to (rightfully) sue corporations. if a judge thinks it's appropriate, they can order it don't worry.

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at the end of the day... taylor outsold.

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whoever told them it'd be a good idea to use is stupid. while it's more than likely that they're doing this to continue taking advantage of the attention they've gotten thanks to la diabla blanca, they sound like they don't have a case so this is nothing but a waste of money

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Your troubled theme park is the Good luck booking that stage you speak of of 2021

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A 24-year-old man is charged with murder after a Huntsville shooting.

Huntsville police found Michael Donofrio, 56, with apparent gunshot wounds and dead in the roadway in the 4,200 block of Chalet Circle about 7 a.m. Thursday, said Lt. Jesse Sumlin, department spokesman.

Police said Martinez Monte Lyles, 24, turned himself in peacefully to authorities at the MAPCO located on Memorial Parkway and University Drive shortly after the incident.

He is charged with murder and has been booked into the Madison County Jail.

Sumlin said investigators believe the shooting happened after an apparent domestic dispute between the victim and suspect's family members.

Madison County Coroner Dr. Tyler Berryhill said an autopsy will be performed.

7. What is one thing you hope to accomplish in your lifetime that you havent yet?

I definitely have a checklist of things I want to do such as visit Longyearbyen and Puerto Williams, the northern and southernmost towns on earth. Id like to swim in Silfra fissure where you can touch North America and Europe at once. Most importantly, I just want to make a beneficial impact on the world around me.

8. If you could change one thing about the travel industry, what would it be?

Im passionate about sustainable travel. Its important that the industry acknowledge the global impact we have in asking people to travel from near and far to visit us.

On a smaller scale, Im excited about how technology is making it easier to be more sustainable. For instance, our new digital itineraries at the Napa Valley Welcome Center eliminate the need for so much paper while putting great information in the palm of our visitors hands.

9. Whats something people might be surprised to know about you?

I bake my own bread every week. I also keep a jar of pasta water in my fridge just in case I need to thicken a sauce or something.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Three officers at New Jerseys only womens prison have been charged with official misconduct and accused of other crimes after female inmates said they were severely beaten by staff last month, the state attorney generals office announced Thursday.

More charges against other officers could come as the investigation continues, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said during a virtual press conference.

At least six women at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility have said they were hurt around Jan. 11, a higher number than previously reported, according to Grewal, interviews with two prisoners and relatives of three others.

They were not treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve, Grewal said. In fact, they were assaulted physically and violently.

One woman at the Hunterdon County prison told NJ Advance Media she was sexually assaulted by an officer, and others reported they were beaten so badly that one said she suffered a broken eye socket and cheek bone while another told her mother she was diagnosed with a concussion and had bruises all over her body.

Officials confirmed that one inmate had an orbital fracture and they said women also suffered psychological trauma.

Grewal added that the investigation was hampered by officers who lied and attempted to cover it up by filing false reports about the incident, downplaying the seriousness of the incident and failing to document the true nature of the officers actions that evening.

Two people charged were supervisors, who officials said failed to stop other officers from using excessive force.

Sgt. Amir E. Bethea, 35, of Springfield faces two counts of second-degree official misconduct and two counts of third-degree tampering with public records.

It was not immediately clear if Bethea has a lawyer, and two numbers listed for him did not work.

Sgt. Anthony J. Valvano, 38, of Bound Brook, was charged with second-degree official misconduct and third-degree tampering with public records.

Messages left at two numbers listed for Valvano were not immediately returned. A man did pick up at one of the numbers, but the line immediately disconnected after an NJ Advance Media reporter identified himself.

If convicted, an official misconduct charge carries a minimum of five years in prison.

Officer Luis A. Garcia, 23, of Nutley, was also charged with second-degree aggravated assault, second-degree official misconduct and third-degree tampering with public records, according to Grewals office.

Garcia punched one woman 28 times around the face, despite the fact that she was trying to protect herself while pressed up against a cell wall, Grewal said.

Garcias attorney, Robert Cannan, said his client adamantly denies these allegations.

He will plead not guilty and ultimately looks forward to complete vindication and restoration to his pay status and his career, Cannan said.

The allegations have prompted lawmakers to demand Corrections Commissioner Marcus Hicks lose his job.

Gov. Phil Murphy ordered an independent investigation into the incident.

In a statement after the charges were announced, Murphy thanked the attorney general for taking swift action and filing criminal charges in the wake of the horrifying incident at Edna Mahan.

Any abuse of power is abhorrent and violates the public trust, and can never be tolerated or excused, Murphy said.

A spokesman added in an email that, Findings of the investigation and recommendations will be released publicly.

The prison commissioner has said he fully supports the independent investigation.

The department has zero tolerance for anyone who defies our mission of operating safe and humane facilities, Hicks wrote to staff Jan. 29 in a memo obtained by NJ Advance Media. Let me be clear when I say, my administration has ushered in a new dawn at the NJDOC.

Hicks suspended staff and initiated the criminal investigation days after the alleged beatings, according to a spokeswoman.

The incident began as an attempt to pull some inmates out of their cells and lasted into the early morning of Jan. 12, according to charging records.

The highest-ranking person to be placed on leave so far is Associate Administrator Sean St. Paul, who has previously been sued at least three times in recent years by inmates who said he either assaulted them or failed to stop violent officers.

Although St. Paul was not named, Grewal said Thursday that were going to hold everyone accountable that contributed to the events of January 11 and January 12, regardless of where they fall on the chain of command.

A total of 32 staff at Edna Mahan were put on paid administrative leave after the incident, according to William Sullivan, president of PBA Local 105, the states largest corrections union.

That includes two additional suspensions Jan. 27, he said, after dozens were initially removed Jan. 15. Half are men and half are women, Sullivan added.

There are about 330 officers total, not counting supervisors, who guard almost 400 women at the prison, according to the union.

Video of the incident shot by at least one officer and taken from at least one surveillance camera will eventually be released, Grewal said.

He also asked anyone with more information to step forward.

The time to speak to our investigators is now, he said.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Blake Nelson can be reached at bnelson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCunninghamN.

Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com.

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Hailey Bieber looked absolutely stunning in a sparkly pinstripe suit as she grabbed dinner at Catch LA in West Hollywood on Tuesday night.

While arriving to the celebrity hotspot, the 24-year-old model put on a very stylish display in a velvet corset top and gold Christian Louboutins heels.

She completed her chic ensemble with a black leather belt, to accentuate her trim waist, and a protective face mask in accordance with Los Angeles County's COVID-19 safety guidelines.

Stunning: Hailey Bieber looked absolutely stunning in a stylish sparkly pinstripe suit as she grabbed dinner at Catch LA in West Hollywood on Tuesday night

The wife of Justin Bieber styled her honey-blonde tresses into loose waves and kept her large clutch bag securely tucked under her right arm.

As always, she wore her massive oval-shaped engagement ring with an 18-karat gold band, but did not appear to be dining with her husband.

To compensate for having to conceal the bottom half of her face under a mask, the beauty rocked a shimmery gold eye shadow.

Turning heads: While arriving to the celebrity hotspot, the 24-year-old model put on a very stylish display in a velvet corset top and gold Christian Louboutins heels

Busty display: She completed her chic ensemble with a black leather belt, to accentuate her trim waist, and a protective face mask in accordance with Los Angeles County 's COVID-19 safety guidelines

The Vogue cover girl's plunging top featured a plunging neckline, which showcased her ample assets.

Her outing comes after LA County recently lifted its ban on outdoor dining, despite record-breaking COVID-19 cases and deaths in January.

Earlier this week, the star opened up about seeking therapy to deal with the 'negative attention' she's received during her time in the public eye.

Chic: The wife of Justin Bieber styled her honey-blonde tresses into loose waves and kept her large clutch bag securely tucked under her right arm

During a new edition of Women's Health UK's Going for Goal podcast, she explained how speaking to a counselor and being married to pop star, 26, has 'helped' her cope with issues surrounding fame.

When reflecting on how she handles the limelight, the catwalk queen credited doing 'therapy consistently.'

'I'm also married to someone that's been dealing with this a lot longer than I have, to an extremely, like the highest level it could possibly be,' she noted.

She continued: 'I think being able to share that world with somebody that understands it even better than I do has been so helpful.'

Beauty: To compensate for having to conceal the bottom half of her face under a mask, the beauty rocked a shimmery gold eye shadow
Donald Captain Don Leifeld Sr., a hard-working accountant from Minnesota who got so good at trapping crabs that he opened one of West Ashleys first seafood markets to sell them, died Jan. 31. He was 80.

Leifeld was best known in the Charleston area as the owner of Captain Dons Seafood, now approaching its silver anniversary on Savannah Highway.

Over the course of his career he also opened Ashley Liquors, along with a North Charleston location of his eponymous seafood store and CDs Hot Fish Shop, a popular source of red rice and green beans.

When Leifeld closed the latter two businesses, he held on to the properties. He was a daily visitor to CDs successor, D.D. Peckers Wing Shack. His routine was to arrive at 4 p.m. and find a seat on the deck.

No matter how cold or how wet it was, he was sitting on the deck, recalled Bill Sturgeon, one of several friends who would meet up with Leifeld at the restaurant to chat and play pub games. And if thats where Captain was sitting, thats where we sat.

According to Sturgeon, the toughness and discipline that led to Leifeld tossing rings at a wall hook in the rain also endeared him to West Ashley residents who caught a glimpse of their grandfathers in his stony personality.

If you looked up stubborn his picture would be next to the word, Sturgeon said. He was a little bit mean, he was a little bit tough, but you also knew he cared about you.

John Strickland, a friend of Leifelds eldest son, was a teenager when he took a job at Captain Dons. He had a similar impression of his influential boss.

He was a very hard man to work for, Strickland said. A very hard man. He worked morning to night, and thats what he expected from his family  and he treated me like family. I credit him with that. I could have bounced around, maybe got into drugs, but he kept me working so hard that I never had the time.

Leifeld was tough on Strickland every day, belittling his work and striking him from the schedule if he overheard his hushed gripes about long hours. But Strickland remembers a day when he was especially mean. After they closed the store that day, Leifeld gave him a raise.

He was really a great man, Strickland said. I think hes a Charleston legend.

The Charleston legend was born Jan. 14, 1941, in Winona, Minn., where his family ran a grocery store. Leifeld went back and forth between military service and higher education, ultimately earning an accounting degree from St. Marys College in his hometown.

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He and his wife, Judy Leifeld, a North Carolinian who he met while stationed at Fort Bragg, relocated to Charlotte for his work. But his company laid off its newest employees shortly thereafter so he then joined Coburg Dairy as an accountant.

They did another reduction and he got last-in, first-outed there, too, Leifelds son Ronnie Leifeld said.

At the time, Judy Leifeld was waitressing at The Little Nashville Club where one of her customers was the owner of Starvin Marvin Fish Market in North Charleston. He hired Don Leifeld to tend an attached bar, which gave Leifeld a close-up view of the markets struggles to meet its crab demand.

My dad was very ambitious and probably felt like he was wasting his day when his shift didnt begin until late afternoon, Ronnie Leifeld said. He started running crab traps for extra money here in West Ashley, and then he was catching more than Marvin could sell.

Ronnie Leifeld helped his father renovate a former gas station on Savannah Highway, installing plumbing and setting up display cases. Captain Dons Seafood opened in 1977.

Live crabs were Leifelds calling card, but within a few years he wondered if he could enhance his profits by shrimping. He bought an Oil Screw boat named Captain Stanley, which he rechristened the Capt. Don & Judy II. (The II remains a mystery to Ronnie Leifeld: There wasnt a Judy I, he said.)

To maximize his investment, Leifeld took the boat into deep waters on off-season weekends, catching snapper and grouper to stock his market.

He took care of his customers, Ronnie Leifeld said. Everybody knew Captain Don. I wasnt even Ronnie; I was Captain Dons son.

Because Leifeld would quietly look out for people and loudly pronounce his opinions of them, Strickland said even one-time strangers felt like they could claim that title, too.

One of Stricklands proudest moments came after years of working 60-hour weeks for Leifeld when he presented him with his just-made high school graduation portrait. Leifeld hung it on the market wall alongside pictures of his three children.

It remained there even after Leifeld started at another company, imparting the lessons hed learned about common sense and careful business from Captain Don.

In addition to his son Ronnie, Leifelds immediate survivors are his wife June Tyler Leifeld, his son Donald Leifeld, daughter Lynette Mitchum and stepson Charley Pugh. A memorial service has not yet been scheduled.
ANTWERP, Belgium: An Iranian diplomat accused of planning to bomb a meeting of an exiled opposition group was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday in the first trial of an Iranian official for suspected terrorism in the European Union since Irans 1979 revolution.

Belgian prosecution lawyers and civil parties to the prosecution said Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi was guilty of attempted terrorism after a plot to bomb a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) near Paris in June 2018 was foiled by German, French and Belgian police.

The ruling shows two things: A diplomat doesnt have immunity for criminal acts  and the responsibility of the Iranian state in what could have been carnage," Belgian prosecution lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier told reporters outside the court in Antwerp.

Reporters and members of the public were not allowed into the courtroom, which was heavily guarded by police and armoured vehicles, with police helicopters overhead.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

(ANSA) - NAPLES, FEB 3 - A judge at a minors' court in Naples on Wednesday asked a Nigerian-Italian lawyer to show her his qualifications to prove he was a lawyer.

Hilarry Sedu, a councillor at the local lawyers' guild, said he was "disappointed" about the incident but declined to speak of racism.

Seddu, who stood unsuccessfully for the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) at the most recent local elections, said "the new honorary magistrate asked me to show her my lawyer's permit, so I did.

"Either stunned or stupid, she asked me if I was a lawyer and then whether I had a law degree.

"I'm telling you, it was no joke. Impulsive as I am, I was tempted to insult her, but I decided to put the good of the case before me because the lives of my client and her daughter depend on it.

"No, it's not racism, just idiocy.

"It's the incompetence of an administrative body that doesn't know how to select the private components of the judicial machine". (ANSA).


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Northern Ireland's police chief today pleaded for communities to 'step back from the brink' amid rising tensions over post-Brexit barriers with mainland Britain.

Chief constable Simon Byrne warned of a 'febrile' atmosphere after 26 graffiti incidents were detected across the country, and officials carrying out customs checks at ports in Belfast and Larne withdrew following the threats.

Police said they have changed their operational tempo and will be accelerating development of intelligence.

Mr Byrne told the Policing Board in Belfast: 'It is now time for wise words and calm heads.

'We need to work together to look at a route map to normality because that seems to be the opportunity before us, to step back from the brink in terms of community tension.'

The intervention came after DUP leader Arlene Foster demanded Boris Johnson ditches the Northern Ireland protocol, saying the Brexit provisions have 'not worked and cannot work'.

She warned that hampering the trade links between Ulster and Britain was upsetting the 'delicate' peace settlement.

Physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, which are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol, have been suspended at ports amid intimidation of staff.

Police have insisted there is no evidence that loyalist paramilitaries are involved in the campaign, instead blaming disgruntled individuals and small groups.

Chief constable Simon Byrne (pictured last month) warned of a 'febrile' atmosphere after 26 graffiti incidents were detected across the country

Amid growing tensions in Northern Ireland, graffiti has been daubed on buildings and checks at ports have been suspended following threats against staff

DUP chief Arlene Foster today demanded Boris Johnson ditches the Northern Ireland protocol amid fears over rising sectarian tensions and EU threats

Michael Gove held crisis talks with his Brussels opposite number last night over the way the arrangements, designed to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, were operating.

They are set to meet again next week, after the EU was forced to drop an extraordinary move to suspend the protocol and block vaccine exports to shore up its shambolic rollout.

But Sinn Fein swiped that the issues were a by-product of Brexit, accusing the DUP of 'crying salty' tears over something they had campaigned for.

And Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney risked fuelling the issues by saying: 'We need to be truthful with everybody - the protocol is not going to be scrapped.'

He said ministers want to be helpful and flexibilities are possible but the problems are a consequence of the UK's Brexit negotiating stance.

Mr Coveney told the BBC's Radio Ulster: 'There is not going to be very dramatic change.'

Yesterday Boris Johnson threatened to axe parts of the agreement unless the EU agrees to ease checks on goods crossing from the UK.

The PM vowed to do 'everything we need to do' to ensure trade is conducted as smoothly as possible across the Irish Sea border.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mrs Foster said Mr Johnson had committed to protect the UK internal market, and 'must now back up those words with tangible actions that protect the integrity of the whole of the United Kingdom'.

'The Northern Ireland Protocol has not worked, cannot work and in light of our proposals to the Government, needs to be replaced,' she wrote.

'Indeed, across Northern Ireland there is growing anger at the current arrangements. The delicate political balance and relationships in Northern Ireland have been damaged and disturbed by the Protocol.'

Ian Paisley Jr, also of the DUP, echoed his party leader's words, telling BBC's Newsnight: 'The first 34 days of this year have been absolute and total chaos for the citizens of Northern Ireland.

'This has been an unmitigated disaster. I can't imagine that's what they planned but this is how it has worked out and therefore we've got to fix it and fix it fast.'

But Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said: 'I think it needs to be remembered this protocol is only in place a short number of weeks, it needs also to be recalled that Brexit was not our idea.'

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Brexit was something the DUP and the British system, the Brexiteer part of it, championed.

'We warned consistently it would have very negative impacts for the entire island of Ireland.'

She said the EU's decision to briefly use Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol was a 'deeply regrettable miscalculation', adding: 'That kind of action cannot happen again in the future.'

Ms McDonald went on: 'There are some consequences of Brexit that will be disruptive and will be negative and that can't be mitigated by the protocol.

'Those negative consequences belong to Brexit  they are not the fault of the protocol.

'The first thing that needs to happen now is we need cool heads, we need calm, mature leadership, those teething problems that do exist need to be identified and need to be ironed out.

'Those who championed Brexit and are crying salty tears now because of the consequences of Brexit need to accept that those are consequences of their decisions, their actions, and to not point the finger at others.'

As part of Brexit negotiations, the UK and EU agreed to the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is designed to avoid the need for physical border checkpoints on the island of Ireland.

But this has led to disruption on goods crossing the Irish Sea, with new checks imposed on those moving from the mainland to Ulster.

Since the arrangements came into force on January 1, supermarkets have reported depleted shelves while concerns have been raised that Northern Ireland's place within the UK is being undermined.

Amid growing tensions, graffiti has been daubed on buildings and checks at ports have been suspended following threats against staff.

A group of masked men were pictured on the streets of east Belfast, but this has been linked to an internal row within the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force rather than Brexit.

At Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, Mr Johnson said he would take the drastic step of suspending parts of the Brexit agreement unless the problems can be resolved in crisis talks with the EU.

The Government has demanded some checks are removed, while existing grace periods on goods such as chilled meats are extended until 2023.

Under Article 16 of the protocol, either side are able to unilaterally suspend aspects of the arrangements if they are causing major problems.

The Prime Minister was asked what action he will take by DUP MP Ian Paisley, who said his North Antrim constituents had been made to feel like foreigners in their own country.

'Tea and sympathy will not cut the mustard,' the son of the late Reverend Ian Paisley added.

Mr Johnson responded: 'We will do everything we need to do, whether legislatively or indeed by triggering Article 16 of the protocol, to ensure that there is no barrier down the Irish Sea.'

The Prime Minister spoke to Stormont first minister and DUP leader Arlene Foster yesterday morning. According to the DUP, Mr Johnson told her he believed the checks had gone 'beyond the bounds of common sense' and said he wanted to resolve the outstanding issues by the end of next month.

Mr Gove last night took part in a video conference with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic, Mrs Foster and Northern Ireland's deputy first minister Michelle O'Neill of Sinn Fein.

In a joint statement, Mr Gove and Mr Sefcovic last night said they had agreed the two sides would 'immediately work intensively to find solutions to outstanding issues' with a meeting to be held in London next week.

Tensions over the protocol were heightened following the events of last Friday when the European Commission was forced to backtrack on a threat to use Article 16 to stop the export of vaccines to the UK.

In his letter to Mr Sefcovic, Mr Gove accused the EU of making a 'grave error' that had 'profoundly undermined the operation of the protocol and cross-community confidence in it'.


(JTA)  President-elect Joe Biden filled the months before Inauguration Day lining up a slate of Cabinet secretaries, assistants and advisors, many of them Jewish.

Bidens choices reflect a diverse cross-section of American Jewry and possess expertise gleaned from decades of experience in government, science and medicine and law.

Heres a rundown of the Jewish names you should know as the Biden administration begins.

Antony Blinken, secretary of state

Blinken, a longtime Biden advisor with an extensive diplomacy resume, is the stepson of a Holocaust survivor whose stories shaped his w...
MADISON, Wis.  Prosecutors asked a judge Wednesday for a new arrest warrant for an Illinois teen charged with shooting three people, killing two of them, during a protest over police brutality in Wisconsin after he apparently violated his bail conditions.

Kyle Rittenhouse failed to inform the court of his change of address within 48 hours of moving, Kenosha County prosecutors alleged in a motion filed with Judge Bruce Schroeder. The motion asks Schroeder to issue an arrest warrant and increase Rittenhouses bail by $200,000.

Rittenhouses attorney, Mark Richards, countered in his own motion Wednesday that death threats have driven Rittenhouse into an undisclosed Safe House. Richards said he offered to give prosecutors the new address in November if they would keep it secret but they refused. He said Rittenhouse has stayed in constant contact with him.

Rittenhouse is charged with multiple counts, including homicide, in connection with the protests in August in Kenosha. The demonstrations began after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, in the back during a domestic disturbance, leaving him paralzyed from the waist down.

Prosecutors allege Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, responded to a militias call on social media to protect Kenosha businesses from protesters. He opened fire with an assault-style rifle on Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskruetz. Rosenbaum and Huber were killed; Grosskruetz was wounded but survived.

Rittenhouse, who is white, fled to his home in Antioch, Illinois, but turned himself into police there the next day.

He has maintained he acted in self-defense after the three men attacked him. Conservatives have rallied around him as a symbol for gun rights and pushing back against anti-police protesters, although others insist he escalated tensions by walking around the protest with a gun.

Conservatives raised $2 million to cover his bail and he walked out of jail in November.

Last month Rittenhouse was seen drinking at a bar in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, and posing for photos with two men as they made OK signs with their hands, a symbol used by white supremacists, according to prosecutors. Five men at the bar also serenaded Rittenhouse with a song that has become the anthem of neo-fascist group the Proud Boys, prosecutors alleged.

Rittenhouse is now 18 but still too young to drink. However, he could consume alcohol in a bar under Wisconsin law because he was with his mother.

The judge ordered him not to have any contact with white supremacists after that episode.

Prosecutors wrote in their motion Wednesday that they learned Rittenhouse was no longer living at his Antioch address after the court mailed him a notice and it was returned as undeliverable on Jan. 28. Kenosha detectives traveled to the address on Tuesday and discovered another man had rented the apartment and had been living there since mid-December.

The prosecutors said in their motion that its unusual for any homicide defendant to be allowed to roam freely and the court needs to know where Rittenhouse is at all times. They did not say whether they knew where Rittenhouse currently resides, saying only that he has failed to provide the court with a new address.

He posted no money so he has no financial stake in the bond, they wrote. He is already facing the most serious possible criminal charges and life in prison, so in comparison, potential future criminal penalties are insignificant.

Richards, Rittenhouses attorney, argued in his motion that Rittenhouse and his family have received threats in various forms, the most recent of which came on Jan. 25. When Rittenhouse was released from jail in November, police told defense attorneys not to provide the safe house address, Richards said.

An attorney working with Richards, Corey Chirafisi, asked Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger via email on Nov. 30 if he could keep the safe house address sealed but Binger refused, according to Richards motion.

It is noteworthy that the State has only now decided to file a motion to increase bond in this case, despite having corresponded with Attorney Chirafisi regarding the change in Kyles residence over two months ago, Richards wrote.

Richards stressed that Rittenhouse has made all his court appearances and is in constant contact with him. He provided the safe house address to the judge as part of a separate motion requesting it be sealed.

By Todd Richmond
A 32-year-old mother of two who is seriously ill with cervical cancer today settled her High Court action over the alleged misinterpretation of her cervical smear slides.

The young mother afterwards stood outside the Four Courts and said: I can now focus on my own fight to stay alive for as long as I can.

Lynsey Bennett said she was relieved that her legal battle was over and she has security for her girls and their future.

Unfortunately, I probably will not be here much longer. It is just I will be able to have some peace knowing it is sorted.

Flanked by her solicitor Gillian OMahony she said she hoped she had done enough for her two daughters Zoe (12) and Hailee (7).

In a statement she said: To my daughters Zoe and Hailee, I hope I have done enough to secure you both a future free of financial worries and that even with me not here to guide you, you can both pursue your dreams."

She cried as she stated: And always remember, Mammy loves you. X

The young mother had sobbed a few minutes earlier in Court Number One of the Four Courts as a letter of regret was read out from the head of CerrvicalCheck national screening programme.

CervicalCheck CEO Fiona Murphy in a letter to the 32-year-old mother said she wished on behalf of the CervicalCheck Programme to express our deep regret to you and your family.

In the letter read to the High Court she added: I wish to acknowledge the many challenges that you have faced as a result of your diagnosis. I appreciate that this has been a very difficult time for you and your family and I hope you find some solace with the conclusion of this process.

Ms Murphy said said she hoped the settlement will give Lynsey and her family some level of comfort, peace of mind and security. The letter concluded: With deepest regret.

Lynsey Bennett, Ennybegs, Killoe, Co Longford had sued the HSE, Irish testing laboratory, Eurofins Biomnis Ireland Ltd, Sandyford Industrial Estate, Dublin and US laboratory Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, New Jersey.

Timeline of Ms Bennett's smear tests

Ms Bennett had a smear test on February 3, 2010, which was sent to Eurofins Biomnis in Dublin. The test, it was claimed, came back as negative and another smear test was recommended in three years.

On December 16, 2013, Ms Bennett had another smear test as part of the national cervical screening programme.

This sample was sent to US lab Quest Diagnostics and, it was claimed, came back as showing atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance. A smear test in 12 months was recommended.

Lynsey Bennett.

On December 2, 2014, Ms Bennett had another smear test and the sample was reviewed by Quest Diagnostics. It is claimed the result came back negative and she was advised by CervicalCheck that no abnormalities and a repeat smear in a year was recommended.

It is claimed Ms Bennett had another smear test in January 2016 which was tested at the US laboratory Quest Diagnostics and she was told no abnormalities had been detected and she would be reminded to have her routine smear test in three years' time.

Eleven months later it is claimed she went to her GP complaining of bleeding and was referred to hospital.

In January 2017, invasive cervical cancer was diagnosed, and Ms Bennett had to have a hysterectomy and other surgery.

In March 2018, she was found to have a recurrence of the cervical cancer.

Ms Bennett's claims

It is claimed there was an alleged failure to correctly report or diagnose and an alleged misinterpretation of Ms Bennetts smear samples.

Ms Bennetts cancer, it was claimed, was allowed to develop and spread unidentified, unmonitored and untreated until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in January 2017.

The claims were denied.

The settlement was reached after mediation into the night.

Her counsel Jeremy Maher SC told the court Ms Bennett had secured the future for her children. A trust will now be set up for the children.

Approving the settlement, Mr Justice Kevin Cross said Ms Bennett was a person of great courage. The judge said her legal team had achieved a very good settlement

As we prepare to deliver our first vehicles this summer, were working to establish physical locations where people can experience Rivian in person, Tony Caravano, Rivians senior director of customer experience, said in an emailed statement. With a high concentration of Rivian pre-order customers, Chicago is a key location for us, and Fulton Market is a vibrant neighborhood and a great fit. Our vehicles are Illinois-built and were looking forward to sharing them with this community.
February 04 : Farmers protest is a burning issue right now in India, and with social media buzzing with high-energy and heated debate, the Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities often end to spatting with each other.

The Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement, last evening, urging everyone to practice restraint and do not believe in Propaganda by vested interest to divide harmony. Celebrities such as Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Karan Johar, Suniel Shetty and more have supported the plea from government.

Now actress Taapsee Pannu, who has been vocal about her support to farmers, just took to her social media and shared her thoughts on the matter.

She tweeted, If one tweet rattles your unity, one joke rattles your faith or one show rattles your religious belief then its you who has to work on strengthening your value system not become propaganda teacher for others

If one tweet rattles your unity, one joke rattles your faith or one show rattles your religious belief then its you who has to work on strengthening your value system not become propaganda teacher for others.  taapsee pannu (@taapsee) February 4, 2021

The on-going farmers protest took an ugly turn last evening, when Delhi Police and farmers clashed at Tikri and Singhu border, on the outskirts of Indian capital. The internet has been shut down and armed forces have been deployed to manage the situation.

Meanwhile on the work front, Taapsee Pannu has an interesting line-up of release for this year, she will be seen in Haseen Dillruba, Rashmi Rocket, Shabaash Mithu, Looop Lapeta and Vijay Sethupathi in an untitled Tamil-language comedy film.
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
A program to offer weekly pooled COVID-19 testing for students and educators is starting in Massachusetts this month, with 120 schools and districts signed up to participate so far, according to education officials.

Those 120 schools and districts represent more than a quarter of the states public school students, said a spokeswoman for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Schools and districts will start testing as close to Feb. 8 as possible, said Jackie Reis, the spokeswoman. Some districts could start this week. DESE will continue to accept applications for the program through the end of the month.

Boston, the states largest district is among those participating. At this time, Worcester and Springfield are not listed as part of the program.

Education officials announced the testing program last month, part of an effort to keep more children in school amid the pandemic. With pooled testing,10 nose swabs from one classroom or cohort of students and staff will go into one tube to be tested together at the lab. If the pooled sample is negative, all the individuals are presumed negative. If the pooled sample comes back positive, all the individuals will be re-tested with the rapid test. The person with the positive sample and any close contacts would then need to isolate and quarantine.

The pooled tests cost at least 75% less than the cost of an individual test, officials said. Districts with some form of in-person learning were prioritized, but remote districts could still apply.

DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley previously said that the department will cover costs for testing during the initial phase of the program, which is estimated to be between $15 and $30 million and will be funded by federal stimulus money. The schools and districts participating will receive the test kits, support from a testing service provider and the testing software to track results at no cost until March 28.

After the initial launch, districts can continue pooled testing by purchasing tests through a statewide contract using federal stimulus dollars.

In late January, DESE said that 302 schools and districts, including 213 out of approximately 400 public school districts statewide, had expressed interest in the program.

Here are the 120 schools and districts currently signed up to participate:

Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public District

Academy Of the Pacific Rim Charter Public District

Acton-Boxborough

Amherst

Amherst-Pelham

Andover

Arlington School

Arlington

Ashburnham-Westminster

Assabet Valley Collaborative

Attleboro

Ayer Shirley School District

Barnstable

Bedford

Bellingham

Belmont

Berkshire Hills

Billerica

Boston Collegiate Charter District

Boston Preparatory Charter Public District

Boston Renaissance Charter Public District

Boston

Braintree

Brockton

Brooke Charter School District

Brookline

C.A.S.E. Concord Area SPED Collaborative

Cambridge

Canton

Carver

Christa McAuliffe Charter Public District

Clinton

Codman Academy Charter Public District

Community Charter School of Cambridge District

Community Therapeutic School

Compass School

Concord

Conservatory Lab Charter District

Dover-Sherborn

Dracut

Duxbury

East Bridgewater

EDCO Collaborative

Everett

Fall River

Fitchburg

Four Rivers Charter Public District

Framingham

Francis W. Parker Charter Essential District

Franklin

Frontier

Gardner

Gloucester

Greater Lawrence Regional Vocational Technical

Greater Lowell Regional Vocational Technical

Greenfield

Groton-Dunstable

Hamilton-Wenham

Hancock

Hanover

Haverhill

Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public District

Hingham

Holliston

Holyoke

Hull

Lawrence Family Development Charter District

Lexington

Lincoln

Littleton

Longmeadow

Lowell Community Charter Public District

Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter District

Lowell

Manchester Essex Regional

Manville School

Map Academy Charter School District

Mashpee

MATCH Charter Public School District

Medfield

Medway

Melrose

Millbury

Monomoy Regional School District

Monson

Mount Greylock

Nashoba Valley Regional Vocational Technical

Natick

Nauset

Newburyport

Newton

North Adams

North Reading

Northshore Education Consortium

Palmer

Pelham

Phoenix Academy Public Charter High School Lawrence District

Pioneer Charter School of Science District

Prospect Hill Academy Charter District

Provincetown

Quabbin

Quaboag Regional

Quincy

Reading

River Valley Charter District

Rockport

Salem Academy Charter District

Salem

Scituate

Sharon

Stoughton

Sudbury

Tantasqua

Waltham

Ware

Wayland

Westhampton

Westwood

Willow Hill School

Winchester

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Quiz time: Who will appear on Jeopardy! today? An author from Syracuse.

Gina Damico, who grew up in North Syracuse before moving to Fayetteville and graduating from Christian Brothers Academy, will compete in an episode of the long-running game show airing Thursday, Feb. 4. Jeopardy! airs at 7:30 p.m. on WSYT-TV (Fox 68) in the Syracuse area.

Damicos episode will be guest-hosted by former Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings. Several celebrities, including Anderson Cooper and Savannah Guthrie, are serving as interim hosts until the quiz show finalizes a replacement for Alex Trebek, who died in November.

Damico currently lives in San Gabriel, Calif., and has published half a dozen Young Adult books, including the Croak trilogy (about a teenager whose uncle is a Grim Reaper in a small Adirondacks town). She performed musical theater while growing up in Central New York, even playing the lead in Annie at CBA, and credits acting with getting her interested in writing.

So many other books for teens are very serious, but I think theres got to be something for the kids that want a laugh and want characters who are weird, she told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard of her 2016 YA book Wax.

Jeopardy! airs weeknights at 7:30 p.m. in the Syracuse area on WSYT-TV (Fox 68).

What CNYs most memorable Jeopardy! contestants remember about Alex Trebek (photos)

Syracuse native competes on Wheel of Fortune, realizing late fathers dream
HOUSTON, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CITGO Petroleum Corporation (the "Company") has priced $650 million aggregate principal amount of 6.375% senior secured notes due 2026 in a private offering exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). The closing of the offering is expected to occur on Feb. 11, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

The Company intends to use the total net proceeds from the sale of the notes, together with cash on hand, to redeem all $650 million of its 6.25% senior secured notes due 2022 (the "2022 notes"). The redemption of the 2022 notes is contingent upon the consummation of the notes offering.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the notes, nor will there be any sale of the notes in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. This press release does not constitute a notice of redemption with respect to the 2022 notes. The offer and sale of the notes have not been and will not be 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. The notes are being offered only to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A under the Securities Act and to non-U.S. persons in offshore transactions in compliance with Regulation S under the Securities Act.

About CITGO Petroleum Corporation:

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, CITGO Petroleum Corporation owns and operates three large-scale, highly complex refineries, with a combined crude capacity of approximately 769,000 barrels-per-day, located in Lake Charles, Louisiana; Lemont, Illinois; and Corpus Christi, Texas, has ownership/equity interest in 40 active refined product storage and transfer terminals, and has access to over 120 third-party and related party terminals through exchange, terminaling and similar arrangements.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information included in this release may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 under applicable securities and other laws that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements relate to, among other things, expectations regarding the notes offering and the use of proceeds therefrom. These statements also relate to our industry, business strategy, goals and expectations concerning our market position and future operations or performance. We have used the words "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "will," "would" and similar terms and phrases to identify forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release.

Any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current conditions (including current market conditions), expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. Although we believe the assumptions upon which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of these assumptions could prove to be inaccurate, and the forward-looking statements based on these assumptions could be incorrect. In addition, our business and operations involve numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could result in our expectations not being realized or could otherwise materially affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We caution readers that these forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results that are projected, expressed or implied. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks related to the notes offering, including the effect of the debt markets on the notes offering, and our ability to satisfy the closing conditions to the notes offering, as well as the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, general economic activity, developments in international and domestic petroleum markets, and refinery turnarounds and operations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made only as of the date of this release. We disclaim any duty to update any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE CITGO Corporation

Related Links

www.citgo.com


Both quickly became nationally known and both were thoroughly reviled, particularly by the political left, as irresponsible vigilantes who had no business being where they were. Both were hit with serious charges  Rittenhouse quickly, for first-degree intentional homicide, Zimmerman after an intense national pressure campaign, for second-degree murder. Both claimed theyd acted in self-defense when they discharged their weapons, and both were championed by gun rights activists.
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Spain is facing the arrival of a new, more-contagious strain of the coronavirus: the one that has been identified in South Africa. On Wednesday, Catalonia reported one of these cases after genetic sequencing was carried out on random samples taken from new positives.

Its a case that we have just detected and we are starting epidemiological research, said the head of microbiology at Barcelonas Vall dHebron, Tomas Pumarola.

This development in the ongoing health crisis comes at a time when Spain has no clear idea of the real impact of the more-contagious coronavirus variant that was discovered in the United Kingdom late last year, and with no real plan underway to increase the countrys capacity to identify new mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Spain has established very few controls at the borders. If we havent found the South African variant before its because we havent been looking for it Federico Garcia, microbiology head of service at Granadas San Cecilio Hospital

The Galicia region identified a patient who had been infected with the South African variant on January 5. But in that case, the person in question was a 30-year-old man who works in the naval sector and had been in the African country. This latest case, however, is not linked to travel and there is no apparent connection to South Africa. As such it marks the first local contagion of the variant in Spain, and an epidemiological study will be required to determine whether the patient in question has been in contact with anyone linked to the country.

It was entirely foreseeable that cases would start to appear, said Federico Garcia, the microbiology head of service at Granadas San Cecilio Hospital. Spain has established very few controls at the borders in terms of quarantines or PCR [test] requests. If we havent found it before its because we havent been looking for it.

On Tuesday, the Spanish Cabinet approved the first restrictions on arrivals from South Africa and Brazil, two countries where a more infectious variant is circulating. Despite everything, my impression is that the prevalence must be low or very low, Garcia added.

Pumarola sought to normalize the presence of the new variant. It has already entered our neighboring countries and Catalonia has links to these, he said. Its logical that we would start to find it in our territory.

The current situation is reminiscent of that seen when the first cases of the variant detected in the UK were first identified in Spain at the end of December. Few such cases were found, but it was understood that more were out there. The reason for this lack of detection is the low capacity that Spain has to genetically sequence the virus, with well under 1% of samples being tested. In the UK, for example, the figure is around 10%. Whats more, this is a slow process, which can take two or more weeks. The result is official data that is light years away from the real situation.

Health workers attending a patient in a hospital in Galicia. Brais Lorenzo / EFE

The variant discovered in the United Kingdom could, however, be identified according to the result returned by the PCR test manufactured by a company called Thermo Fisher. But this is not the case with the Brazilian variant, experts have pointed out. The mutations of a virus are very dynamic processes, explained Juan Carlos Galan, the head of virology at the Ramon y Cajal Hospital in Madrid. The way to be able to detect the new variants is to increase the capacity for sequencing and to combine this with screening strategies that are specifically designed to detect them. This is the way to precisely monitor the variants that are causing the greatest concern.

The Health Ministry and the countrys regions, who are in charge of their own healthcare systems and the restrictions in place to control the pandemic, have agreed on a new strategy to increase the number of samples being sequenced. The aim is to first reach 1% of the total, then moving to 2%, before finally reaching the minimum 5% set out by the European Commission. But this process will be slow. With the current incidence rates, we would need a month to count on the resources to be able to sample 1%, explained Federico Garcia, whose hospital, along with the Virgen del Rocio Hospital in Seville, is responsible for carrying out this analysis across the whole of Andalusia  Spains most-populous region.

The new variants raise two issues: whether they cause more serious symptoms in patients and whether they reduce the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines

One of the current unknowns is whether the South African variant will spread across Spain as fast as the UK strain. The latter has gone from accounting for fewer than 1% of cases at the end of December and the beginning of January to a third of total contagions in regions such as Cantabria or areas of Madrid a month later.

Pumarola explained on Wednesday that the variant detected in South Africa is able to spread in territories where only the British one dominated, which indicates that it perhaps has a better capacity for adaptation. This would translate to a greater rate of contagion, something that would seriously threaten Spains already overwhelmed healthcare systems.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warned a month ago about the very high risk posed to hospitals by these new variants, a point that was included a week ago in a report from the Health Ministry.

The other issues to be addressed are twofold. The first is whether these new variants cause more serious symptoms in patients, something that hospitals such as the Ramon y Cajal and the Virgen del Rocio have started to investigate.

The second is whether the new variants reduce the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccines. The answer is definitely no with the British strain, explained Amos Garcia, the president of the Spanish Vaccinology Association. It seems that the South African variant does not affect the response of the vaccines either, and if it does so it is in a reduced manner that does not detract from the usefulness of these drugs.

While there is less information about the third variant considered to be a risk, the so-called Brazilian strain given that this is where it is circulating most widely, Amos Garcia points out that the manufacturing companies can adapt the vaccines to the changes that might be detected in the virus.

English version by Simon Hunter.




Are you thinking about heading to a Super Bowl party or hosting one? Local health and elected would rather you not.

On Tuesday, Mayor Ron Nirenberg spoke to residents via social media, asking football fans to rethink hosting Super Bowl events, which could become "super spreader" parties. Nirenberg's warning is not uncommon, as he typically provides COVID-19 safety guidance ahead of holidays or popular social events, but the caution surrounding Super Bowl Sunday is highlighted by the fact that San Antonio is still feeling the effects of gatherings tied to the holidays.

"Unfortunately, we are still seeing a widespread transmission of COVID-19," Dr. Jason Bowling, an associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at UT Health San Antonio, told MySA.com. "We've declined a little over the past few weeks, but it's still very high. People who have not been infected are at risk for infections and complications, including hospitalizations and worst-case scenario deaths.

READ ALSO: San Antonio Quinceanera, mariachis get the spotlight in Red McCombs' Super Bowl spot

The holiday surge resulted in January being the deadliest month since the pandemic began in Bexar County last March, according to Metropolitan Health District records obtained by Marina Starleaf Riker for the San Antonio Express-News. As of Wednesday evening, the county's death toll is at 2,181. Although local officials reported a slight drop in COVID-19 patients at local hospitals, Bowling said it's still not time to party.

"Right now, the healthcare systems are all significantly burdened with a number of COVID patients, and it's really causing a lot of strain," he said. "At our hospital, we have people who are cross-employed covering services they don't normally cover to help provide the care needed for these COVID-19 patients, and other patients who need to be in the hospital. Every time people gather at these large events, we see bumps in the numbers, and that puts a strain on the already overburdened health care systems."

READ ALSO: These are the chain pharmacies that will administer the COVID-19 vaccine starting Feb. 11

With the Super Bowl coming up, Dr. Fred Campbell, an associate professor in the Division of General and Hospital Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, said he doesn't see how social distancing and masking recommendations can be practiced, which is why many health officials are asking residents not to congregate this Sunday, he added.

"As a Super Bowl watcher for a long time, I've never been able to have a party where I wasn't eating or drinking or high-fiving my friends, so with all of those factors, the likelihood of the infection spreading is very high, which means more trips to the emergency center and more admission to the hospital and probably more deaths too," Campbell said.

The local officials noted residents can enjoy the big game with members of their household. They are also encouraging residents to watch the Super Bowl virtually with friends and family.

"The best way to avoid COVID-19 are these public health interventions that I know everybody, including myself, are tired of, but we know that they are still very effective," Bowling said. "Wear a mask, avoid large crowds and stay within your household bubbles."

Priscilla Aguirre is a general assignment reporter for MySA.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
The Oshakati Town Council is yet to decide whether it would appoint well-performing interviewees in the post of chief executive officer (CEO) of the town, or readvertise the post.

Oshakati mayor Leonard Hango yesterday said the council is discussing the matter.

"We are in the process to see what happened after the interviews last year as there was no appointment of a CEO. That process is almost done," he said.

"We want to identify [if there is] anything foul in the process so that we are not stuck or repeat what our predecessors did. We will see whether to appoint [someone] or readvertise the position," Hango said.

The previous Oshakati council ignored recommendations by an interview committee to appoint Okahao Town Council CEO Timoteus Namwandi as Oshakati's CEO.

The council instead appointed former CEO Werner Iita, who performed second best in the interview.

The council felt Namwandi was favoured by one of the panellists.

Interviews were conducted on 7 August last year.

Iita resigned from his position in 2019 to take up a parliamentary seat.

SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES FOR THE CEO POSITION INCLUDE IITA, NAMWANDI, RUACANA CEO EMILIA NANYENI, ONIIPA CEO JUNIAS JACOB, AND WINDHOEK CITY POLICE SENIOR SUPERINTENDENT NATHANIEL NENDONGO.
With coronavirus vaccination rates lagging among communities of color, Monmouth County announced Wednesday that it is partnering with two institutions in Red Bank to boost access to vaccinations, one of them a non-profit health center that serves uninsured patients, in Spanish if needed, and the other a predominantly Black church.

Vaccinations began began Wednesday at the Parker Family Health Center on Shrewsbury Avenue, where 40 shots were given in the late morning and afternoon, said Suzy Dyer, executive director of the facility, which treats uninsured patients and relies solely on grants, contributions and volunteer doctors and staff for operations.

We picked up the vaccine today and vaccine is already in many peoples arms, said Dyer, adding that eligible recipients gleaned from the centers list of patients were contacted by phone  many dont have computers  and registered for shots in just the past couple of days.

The Monmouth County Board of Commissioners director, Thomas Arnone, announced in a statement Wednesday that, working with the county health department, Parker will administer up to 100 vaccinations a week, by appointment only, Tuesdays through Saturdays. Patients can call Parker to register at 732-212-0777.

Arnone said the countys other partner is Pilgrim Baptist Church, a central institution of Red Banks African-American community led by Pastor Terrence Porter. Pilgrims role will be to schedule vaccination appointments for eligible county residents, who can call the church at 732-747-2348.

The Board hopes that, through our community partnerships, we will be able to offer vaccines in locations that are convenient for all of our Monmouth County residents, many of whom rely on public transportation or walking to get where they need to go, Arnone stated.

The New Jersey Department of Health listed a total of 201 vaccination sites throughout the state as of Jan. 26, including six megasites. There are locations in all 21 counties, ranging from two in Salem to 25 in Essex. Monmouths 14 locations did not include Parker.

People now eligible for vaccinations include healthcare workers, long-term care residents and staff, first responders, anyone 65 and older, smokers, and people age 16 to 64 with a qualifying medical condition.

Word of Monmouths partnerships followed an announcement earlier on Wednesday by Gov. Phil Murphy that his administration would work with houses of worship to encourage vaccinations among communities of color, which have lagged behind the population at large in vaccination rates, despite the virus having an outsize impact on our Black and brown communities.

According to data released last week by the state Department of Health, out of the more than 550,000 vaccinations that have been administered in New Jersey to date, nearly half went to whites, with just 3% to African-Americans and 5% to Hispanic communities. That despite Blacks accounting for more than 10% of all COVID-19 cases in the state, and Latinos 26%. The states data is incomplete, with the racial or ethnic background unknown for 20% of the vaccine recipients.

Tell us your COVID-19 vaccination stories, send us a news tip or questions about the vaccination process on our tip form.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli has urged all the citizens of the country to stay united after a few international celebrities with vested interests attempted to target India over the farmer protests.

Controversy erupted after pop star Rihanna's tweet supporting Indian farmers who have been protesting for over two months against the three contentious agri laws, though their stances ranged from incorrect to hyperbolic.

'Let us all stay united': Virat Kohli

Taking to the micro-blogging site, Kohli urged one and all to stay united in this hour of disagreements. Highlighting the importance of farmers in everyone's lives, the batting megastar went on to say that they are an integral part of our country and at the same time, Kohli also hoped that an amicable solution will be found between all parties to bring about peace and they all can move forward together.

Let us all stay united in this hour of disagreements. Farmers are an integral part of our country and I'm sure an amicable solution will be found between all parties to bring about peace and move forward together. #IndiaTogether  Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) February 3, 2021

READ: 'India Is Proud Of Its Farmers': Pragyan Ojha Hits Back At 'outsider' Rihanna's Remarks

Ajinkya Rahane also stressed on the fact that 'theres no issue that cannot be resolved if we stand together as one'.

Theres no issue that cannot be resolved if we stand together as one. Lets remain united and work towards resolving our internal issues #IndiaTogether  Ajinkya Rahane (@ajinkyarahane88) February 3, 2021

MEA cautions foreign celebrities

In a strongly-worded statement, the MEA made it clear that the farm reforms were enacted by the Parliament after a full debate and discussion. Maintaining that only a very small section of farmers have reservations about these laws, it mentioned that the Centre has not only conducted 11 rounds of talks with farm unions but also offered to keep the implementation of the laws on hold. The MEA lamented that "vested groups" were trying to derail the protests despite this scenario.

To buttress its point, it highlighted the violence that took place in the national capital during the farmers' tractor rally. Moreover, the Ministry linked the desecration of Mahatma Gandhi statues in different parts of the world to the instigation by fringe elements seeking to mobilize international support against India. Thereafter, it called upon the foreign entities and individuals to ascertain the facts before "rushing to comment" on such matters.

"We would like to emphasize that these protests must be seen in the context of India's democratic ethos and polity, and the efforts of the government and the concerned farmer groups to resolve the impasse," the statement said.

READ: Ravi Shastri Schools Foreign Meddlers; Highlights 'internal Matter' Amid Rihanna/Greta Row

After the External Ministry's official statement, many Indian celebrities and politicians spoke out against the unwarranted statements made by Western artists such as Rihanna, urging the nation to stay united amid attempts to divide.

The Centre has so far held 11 rounds of talks with the protesting farmers, with the top court of the country forming a panel to encourage further talks on the reforms. Moreover, just days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended an olive branch to the community, assuring that he was only one-call away if they wanted to hold any further discussions on the three Farm Laws.

READ: Sachin Tendulkar Takes Strong Stand On Rihanna & Co; 'can Be Spectators Not Participants'
Following a seven-day lull, petrol and diesel prices witnessed a hike on February 4. In the national capital, the price of petrol was increased by 35 paise from Rs 86.30 per litre to Rs 86.65 per litre, and diesel saw an upward revision from  76.48 per litre to  76.83 per litre, according to Indian Oil Corporation. The other metro cities also witnessed a subsequent rise in prices, the highest among all being Mumbai, where the petrol and diesel prices rose to  92.86 per litre and  83.30 per litre respectively. Also read: Budget 2021: Petrol, Diesel, Alcohol Prices to Remain Unchanged Despite Imposition of Agri Infra Cess RELATED NEWS Thane: NCP Mocks Modi Govt's 'Achche Din' With 'Celebratory' Hoardings as Petrol Price Hit Rs 100

Petrol Price Today: Petrol to Touch Rs 100/Litre in Mumbai; Know Today's Fuel Rates A report by NDTV noted that Oil marketing companies namely Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum align the prices of domestic fuel with the global benchmarks, by taking into account any alterations in the foreign exchange rates. Thus any changes in fuel prices are implemented with effect from 6 am every day.

Petrol and diesel prices have been recording an upswing ever since January 6, 2021, after staying unchanged for almost a month. Fuel rates have increased amid a rally in global crude oil prices, with COVID-19 vaccination drives beginning across the world.

Oil markets continued to advance as inventories hit their lowest level since March. U.S. crude recently rose 0.45% to $55.94 per barrel and Brent was at $58.67, up 2.11% on the day, a Reuters report said.

Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Union Budget 2021 proposed an Agricultural Infrastructure and Development CESS of Rs 2.5 per litre on petrol and Rs 4 on diesel. However, prices for petrol and diesel won't change because or reduction in other duties.


February 03, 2021





A Drupal websites SEO integrity affects its performance in search results. Excellent Drupal SEO boosts a websites ranking within a short time, while terrible SEO techniques stall its progress.

But which SEO mistakes affect a sites performance the most?

The answer is quite complicated because there are several factors that play significant roles in a sites ranking. Some of these are simple page organization gaffes. Others are technical SEO errors that nail down your webpage to the bottom of search results.







Notwithstanding, weve identified five crucial SEO mistakes to avoid at all costs. You will also learn the most effective strategies to fix them.

Low-quality content

The published content on any site determines its reputation. Informative and engaging content attracts users and boosts the websites authority, and many content tools allow you to have that. Consequently, you will receive a lot of backlinks to the content.

Likewise, any Drupal SEO strategy needs top-notch content to succeed, so keep it original and entertaining, to do that you can get your content from an essay writing service. And most importantly, proofread every article for errors before publishing.

Similarly, thin and duplicate content weaken a sites rating. Google (News - Alert) search algorithms are strict on trustworthy content. So, every media and written content must offer value to web users to rank high.

Besides, duplicate content harms your website by confusing crawlers. If two pages are identical, crawlers visiting the page cant differentiate between them. As a result, both pages remain non-indexed.

Most importantly, verify the reliability of incoming and outgoing links on your website. Web crawlers omit broken links. But you can salvage these mistakes with tools like Google Analytics. In the same vein, backlinks from unreliable sites harm your Drupal websites reputation. So, always report or denounce these links.

SEO optimization mistakes

One classic mistake every site owner makes is optimizing the wrong keywords. All keywords used on your site should be relevant to its objectives. Some optimization strategies dedicate separate keywords for multiple pages, while others focus on specific keywords and key phrases.

If you cant figure out the right keyword for your SEO, use tools like Ahrefs and ScreamingFrog. These apps suggest the best keywords, depending on search volume, competition, and availability. Alternatively, analyze top competitors websites and copy their best practices.

But thats not all. Keywords should also appear in your sites metadata. Here are the key sections that require keyword optimization:

Title tags (H1, H2, and H3) URLs Headers and subheaders Meta tags and descriptions.

However, your quest for keyword dominance can plunge your website into obscurity. Google has an acceptable keyword density for every post on Drupal sites. So, any number above this limit causes keyword stuffing. And pages or sites guilty of this crime receive penalties and red flags.

In essence, Drupal 8 SEO allows the use of current techniques to maximize your websites position. Since these new trends are in sync with Google recommendations, one can easily get caught out of the loop. So, monitor SEO trends when planning your SEO strategy.

Sitemap irregularities

Why do you need a Sitemap on your website?

Sitemap works like a regular map: it shows the sites layout to the crawler. A sitemap also contains information about the websites infrastructure and organization. Drupal has an XML sitemap module that generates a sitemap for all the pages. Although these modules submit the result automatically, you can exclude or include pages at your discretion.

So, organize the sitemap using an understandable content hierarchy and site structure. Also, optimize the Robot.txt file for Drupal search. Nowadays, Drupal sites optimize the Robot.txt file independently. But you can always double-check.

Mediocre user experience

We often focus on crawler-side SEO and forget about the human element. A Drupal websites reputation much depends on the experience it offers to users.

Moreover, people browse the net using their phones most of the time. So, use intuitive themes and layouts for your Drupal website. Also, work on mobile and desktop versions simultaneously. Finally, ensure that every key element for navigation is present on mobile.

The active theme is essential to the user experience too. You can download the most eye-catching theme ever, but nobody will use the page if it doesnt offer true value. Moreover, some themes are two heavy, which affects the pages loading speed. This issue also results from terrible hosting and improper site optimization.

Besides, Drupal websites use caches to store website data. Fully-loaded caches complicate navigation on any site. Also, the media content, JS, and CSS (News - Alert) files slow down your page if they are not optimized.

How can you fix these issues?

Use optimized Drupal themes to improve the websites loading speed. Drupal cache modules will handle all cache issues for your site data. Also, deactivate all unnecessary plugins. Most importantly, compress files before uploading them to your website.

Ignoring site analysis

The strange thing about SEO mistakes is that you cannot detect them without assistance. You can only guess that your websites performance is subpar. Therefore, you need some up-to-date tools to analyze your site.

Always start your site analysis with a website health check. This check is similar to a routine doctors appointment for your website.

Here are the parameters to analyze during a website health check:

Domain reputation Loading speed Security certificate (HTTP or HTTPS) Content authenticity and safety

Google Analytics is the most reliable site analysis tool. The obtained data fine-tunes the process of site optimization. Other reliable site health checkers include Semrush, eRanker, and TestGorilla.

Most importantly, Google Analytics data help site administrators do the following:

Strategize keyword and technical SEO

Identify the most relevant search terms

Discover cornerstone content

Analyze local and global user engagement

Determine usage based on device

Several SEO errors can affect your website at once. And together, they affect the sites ranking on search engines. However, you can preempt and correct these mistakes on your own. First, create engaging user-oriented content for your site. Second, follow current SEO optimization techniques. And third, submit a comprehensive sitemap for crawling if possible.

Dont forget about the user experience either. Always pay attention to the sites mobile version. Ultimately, use analysis tools to track the sites progress.

Author Bio

Amanda Dudley is a writer, educator, and learning specialist. She holds a Ph.D. in History from Stanford and is dedicated to improving education for all. In addition to her lecturing and learning development work, she aids students in their tasks via her work at EssayUSA. Amanda loves practicing her German in her spare time.
LOS ANGELES  The Tesla S.U.V. veered left off Hollywood Boulevard and charged uphill, toward the canyons and the homes beyond the scope of the star-spotting tour buses. The roads are narrow, and the stars, for the time being, are elsewhere.

You see those palm trees up there? asked the S.U.V.s driver, the real estate agent Branden Williams, nodding at a frond-fringed estate in the distance. Elvis, the Beach Boys, they all used to rent that house when theyd come to town. Its under construction now. We just sold it. Drew Barrymore used to live there. We sold it for her. She would throw the most insane parties, legendary, back when Hollywood still had that mystique  you know, the late 90s.

Before cellphones with cameras, he added.

As the elevation climbed, more names dropped. Theres the house that we designed with Lenny Kravitz. That one we sold to Megan Ellison. Orson Welles lived on this street. Slash, from Guns N Roses, he lived right there. A dog grabbed Mr. Williamss attention, and he lowered his window. What is that, a Scottie? he called out to its walker. Ive always wanted a Scottie.

He took a slug from a can of yerba mate. He took a call. In front of the Tesla, a cement truck began beeping, signaling its intent to back up. In the back seat, Mr. Williamss wife and business partner, Rayni Williams, rattled off numbers and rationales to the person on the other end of her cellphone. Up the hill, the taillights of the cement truck inched closer. Mr. Williams cursed, then made his own calculation.


NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On January, 10th 2021, "GREENWERKS LLC" (a US-based company that specializes in innovative natural healthcare technologies) acquired "GREENWAVE BUSINESS CONSULTANTS LLC," all its assets, including an Oregon cannabis wholesale license, multiple revolutionary technologies, and Earthbasedmedicines.com (a health-conscious cryptocurrency-based e-commerce company).

During 1st Quarter 2020, GREENWAVE BUSINESS CONSULTANTS LLC developed products that unlock dormant capacities of the body and mind. After acquiring "GREENWAVE" and all its assets, "GREENWERKS" also worked with researchers to develop all-natural solutions for certain bodily infections and diseases that share common symptoms related to COVID-19.

In the 2nd Quarter 2021, GREENWERKS LLC will launch five new all-natural health product lines;

"A chocolate drink product that enhances overall physical and cognitive performance."

"A chocolate product that improves cognitive functionality while heightening overall sensory depth perception."

"A high strength all-natural immunity boosting quadruple antibiotic drink product formulated to eliminate certain respiratory infections and bodily diseases."

"A gold-mineral-cannabis infused edible luxury lifestyle product line."

"A gold-mineral-CBD infused topical health and beauty product line."

GREENWERKS will sell these product lines through its newly acquired brand "EARTHBASEDMEDICINES.COM," 3rd party vendors, affiliates, dispensaries, online retailers, domestically and internationally. New revolutionary patent-pending technology gives GREENWERKS a significant industry advantage. Through its recent acquisitions, GREENWERKS has acquired a new technology that increases crop growth speeds up to 300%, another technology that increases crop harvest yields by 300% or more, and technology that helps optimize the overall efficiency of growing operations.

GREENWERKS is currently working with indigenous people on projects to open farmland in New Jersey for multi-purpose agricultural uses and access "earth resources." By utilizing exclusive grow technologies and working with U.S First Nations people, GREENWERKS LLC will minimize crop production costs while maximizing crop production.

In 2021, GREENWERKS is acquiring more land, property, cannabis licenses, and cannabis businesses in California, Florida, Oregon, Oklahoma, and New Jersey. During the 2021 expansion, GREENWERKS, LLC plans to distribute disaster-proof containerized automated grow systems across the U.S.

By the end of 2021, GREENWERKS will open all-inclusive containerized luxury Healing Resort Centers (HRCs) in the U.S and South America. Utilizing advanced modern and ancient natural medicines, GREENWERKS's healing resort centers will combat a broad spectrum of mental and physical illnesses.

GREENWERKS Healing Resort Centers' accommodations will include:

Fitness Center.

Native American style Sweat Lodges

Saunas

Pools, whirlpools, and hot tubs

Physical therapies.

Detox therapies.

Proprietary intercellular DNA-RNA repair therapies.

Sensory depth perception enhancement sessions.

PEMF chambers.

Ancient aromatherapy sessions.

GREENWERKS proprietary therapeutic products and therapies

The HRCs in Portland, OR, and South America will include exclusive access to the use of legal therapeutic "earth medicines" to address mental and physical illnesses under certified medical professional supervision.

Thanks to recent acquisitions and international expansions, GREENWERKS LLC is well-positioned and prepared for massive growth in 2021.

For Inquiries:

Call: 1-800-778-0315

Website: http://www.greenwerksventures.com

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE GREENWERKS LLC

Related Links

http://www.greenwerksventures.com


BATON ROUGE, LA  Attorney General Jeff Landry has joined Louisiana to a coalition of 47 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories in a $573 million settlement with McKinsey & Company - resolving investigations into the massive consulting firm's role in working for opioid companies, helping those companies promote their drugs, and profiting from the opioid epidemic.

The settlement will be used to abate problems caused by opioids in the participating states. Louisiana will receive $6.9 million from the multistate settlement. This is the first multistate opioid settlement to substantially pay the states to address the epidemic.

"This is a great start in holding accountable those who have stoked the fire of the opioid crisis," said Attorney General Landry. "My office and I will continue working to treat the addicted, relieve their families, and protect the public from this horrific epidemic."

In addition to providing funds to address the crisis, the agreement calls for McKinsey to prepare tens of thousands of its internal documents detailing its work for Purdue Pharma and other opioid companies for public disclosure online. In addition, McKinsey agreed to adopt a strict document retention plan, continue its investigation into allegations that two of its partners tried to destroy documents in response to investigations of Purdue Pharma, implement a strict ethics code that all partners must agree to each year, and stop advising companies on potentially dangerous Schedule II and III narcotics.

Today's filings describe how McKinsey contributed to the opioid crisis by promoting marketing schemes and consulting services to opioid manufacturers, including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, for over a decade. The complaint, filed with the settlement, details how McKinsey advised Purdue on how to maximize profits from its opioid products, including targeting high-volume opioid prescribers, using specific messaging to get physicians to prescribe more OxyContin to more patients, and circumventing pharmacy restrictions in order to deliver high-dose prescriptions.

When states began to sue Purdue's directors for their implementation of McKinsey's marketing schemes, McKinsey partners began emailing about deleting documents and emails related to their work for Purdue.

The opioid epidemic has led to considerable harm to individuals and communities in Louisiana for years. On an economic level, these deaths - and the impacts on those who have struggled with opioid addiction - have created considerable costs to Louisiana in the form of health care, child welfare, criminal justice, and many other programs needed to lessen the epidemic. It has also resulted in lost economic opportunity and productivity. On the social level - opioid addiction, abuse, and overdose deaths have torn families apart, damaged relationships, and eroded the social fabric of communities.

Attorney General Landry has fought tirelessly for years to end the epidemic in Louisiana. In addition to investigations and lawsuits against those who helped create and prolong this epidemic, Attorney General Landry has begun a number of initiatives in the State. In partnership with the Louisiana Ambulance Alliance, he created the "End the Epidemic LA" informational campaign. He supported measures by the Legislature to limit first-time prescriptions of opioids for acute pain to a seven-day supply and to strengthen the Prescription Monitoring Program. Through a legal settlement with Pfizer, he made available $1 million worth of single draw-down doses of naloxone to Louisiana's first responders, at no cost to their agencies. He has also partnered with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators to place drug take back boxes across the State.

Joining Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry in the settlement were the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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With the pandemic temporarily shutting down bars and nightclubs in many states, staying in has officially replaced going out. But the party doesnt have to end just because you're not imbibing at your favorite watering hole. You can easily curate a bar space at home to enjoy a homemade version of your go-to cocktail.

"Ive had clients skeptical about installing wet bars who are now using them all the time, says Nina Magon of Houston-based firm Contour Interior Design. A designated bar space will help make cocktail hour feel all the more special.

Whether you're looking to go small scale with a stylishly stocked bar cart or are ready to transform an unused nook into a proper wet bar, our experts have a few tips to lift your spirits. Here's what you need to know to get your at-home bar ready for business.

1. Go for moody colors and accessories

Photo by Erin Melkonian Designs

Want to channel that dark, mysterious old-school cocktail bar vibe?

Using moody, masculine colors and a bronzed mirror brings to mind the feeling of a classic cocktail bar, says Magon.

If you're decking out a nook or corner of a room, try using a dark paint color or textured wallpaper to separate the area from the rest of the room.

To get a real bar feel, consider adding a wood and mirror backbar that has a shelf, stemware holder, and mounting hardware, like the Seville backbar mirror ($400, Home Depot).

2. Select sophisticated seating

No bar would be complete without bar stools, and using them in your home can really set the tone.

Recently Ive really been re-creating a lounge-style atmosphere for clients. This includes a traditional bar top with bar stools, says Magon.

Magon recommends the Erik Buch teak and black leather bar stools ($4,550 per set, 1stDibs.com). A more budget-friendly option would be a backless bar stool like the Julien bar and counter stool ($99.50 to $129.00, Grandinroad.com).

3. Have bar cart, will travel

Photo by Erin King Interiors

A bar cart is great for its versatility, convenience, and style, especially when square footageand budgetis limited.

"A good bar cart can pivot and serve another purpose. Think side table by day and drink service by night," says Anthony Gianacakos of New York Citybased firm Anthony George Home.

He says the Crestwood bar cart ($1,470, Arteriors) with its pared-back form and antique brass finish can work with a number of design aesthetics, and the clever design of the bottom rack keeps bottles upright. Also, consider a metal, wood, and leather bar cart ($150, Target).

If you're looking for more of a cabinet design, consider a midcentury bar cabinet ($799, West Elm) or the Cambridge mahogany bar ($462, Home Depot).

4. Bar none for accessories

Geometric wine rack Crate & Barrel

Becoming a master mixologist means you need the right tools and accessories.

"Regardless of your bar's scale, accessories are everything, says Gianacakos.

He says a set of Frances decanters ($390, Arteriors) has organic asymmetry that can very easily dress up or down your space, and work well for bar enthusiasts who like to infuse their own spirits."

Consider the bar tool set ($90, Crate & Barrel) and the 11-bottle wine rack ($46, Crate & Barrel) that both come in gold, copper, graphite, or silver. And what would a bar be without a cocktail shaker? Try the Usagi cobbler shaker ($42, Amazon).

5. The bar is always open

Wet bar sink Kohler

Where to put a wet bar in your home comes down to personal taste and convenience.

Kim Lewis, an interior designer from Austin, TX, says homeowners should consider the space in their home where theyd like to wind down at the day's end, such as an upstairs porch or a cozy living room near the TV.

Ive also integrated a home bar in the primary suite for a jump-start on coffee in the morning, says Lewis.

Designing a wet bar gives homeowners an opportunity to experiment with different styles of fixtures and finishes in their home. For example, try a lounge-approved statement faucet like the Artifacts gentlemans bar sink faucet ($776, Kohler.com) and the Brinx top-mount bar sink ($1,332, Kohler.com).

6. Up your cocktail game outdoors

Outdoor bar Pottery Barn

If you have the space, the ultimate home bar experience can also be taken outside.

Daniel Germani, an architect and designer based in Phoenix, says the new normal of 2020 completely transformed how people entertain at home, causing demand for outdoor living spaces to skyrocket.

I love integrating a bar into the outdoor experience. It satisfies that craving we all have these days to get out of the house, says Germani.

Germani designed the Elements Collection for Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens that offers smart storage solutions to accommodate outdoor wine fridges and Kegerators.

The bold pops of color also bring instant happiness to the space, which we all need right now, he says.

For your outdoor bar, consider the Hallsville three-piece bar set ($355, Wayfair) or the Chatham FSC mahogany ultimate bar ($2,499, Pottery Barn), or the acacia island and hutch ($2,248, Pottery Barn).

The post 6 Designer Tips for Creating the Ultimate at-Home Bar appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
Nashik:

Heart of a brain dead patient was flown from Ojhar airstrip near Nashik to Pune to be transplanted into the body of a 29-year-old man in order to give new lease of life to him.



The vital organ was flown from the Ojhar airstrip on Thursday and it reached the recipient within 43 minutes, at Pune's Rubi Hospital.



Dr Bhausaheb More of city-based Hrishikesh Hospital, where Ashwin Zalke (38) was admitted, on Friday said that the cadaveric donor met with a road accident on Tuesday and had received serious head injuries.



Zalke was declared 'brain dead' on Wednesday. The doctors then sought permission from his wife and family, if they were ready to donate vital organs like heart, kidneys, lever, eyes, lungs, and skin, to which they readily agreed.



The heart was taken through the 'green corridor' from the hospital to Ojhar airstrip, traversing a distance of 30-km, from where it was flown to Pune at around 11.15 am, More said.



The deceased's family donated Zalke's 13 organs, More said, adding that one kidney was sent to Pune via road and was donated to a needy patient there.



Personnel of city and rural district police escorted the team of doctors while on their way to Ojhar airstrip.

The compensation fund for victims of Jeffrey Epstein has abruptly stopped distributing payments to recipients due to liquidity problems, despite the late pedophile's estate being worth $240million.

Administrators of the Epstein Victims Compensation Fund (EVCF) on Thursday announced they were suspending payouts effective immediately, citing 'uncertainty about the liquidity of estate assets to fund the program'.

The billionaire financier's estate informed officials Wednesday that it did not have enough cash to 'fully satisfy' requests for 'replenishment' and it couldn't predict when additional funds would be secured, administrator Jordana Feldman said.

It comes just seven months after the launch of the independent program which was designed to compensate the dozens of victims of the convicted sex offender 'outside the glare of public courtroom proceedings' through a confidential, 'speedy and cost-effective' process.

Executors for Jeffrey Epstein's estate informed program officials Wednesday that it did not have enough cash to 'fully satisfy' requests and it couldn't predict when additional funds would be secured

It comes after the Epstein Victims Compensation Fund (EVCF) was launched in June, in an initiative designed to pay out victims outside the court. Pictured: Virginia Roberts, who accused the billionaire financier of keeping her as his sex slave, after a federal court hearing in August 2019

Since then, the program has received 150 claim applications and paid out nearly $50million, administrators said.

At the time the initiative was announced in June, Epstein's estate was reported to be worth over $630million, but its value has declined significantly in recent months.

Court filings in the US Virgin Island last week showed the estate had about $240.8million at the end of 2020 including $49millon cash.

That was down from $446million at the end of September last year and lower still from the $630million the estate was initially valued at when Epstein hanged himself in his cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Recent filings also pointed toward dramatic swings in value of some Epstein entities.

His Virgin Islands company Southern Trust Co. Inc. lost more than half its value between September and December last year, dropping from $128million to 61million.

In a statement the EVCF said that the estate was supposed to pay 'all eligible claims based on the administrator's determination' and promised it would have enough funds to pay for it.

'On February 3, 2021, the estate informed Ms. Feldman that it did not have sufficient liquidity to fully satisfy the most recent request for replenishment and that it could not predict when additional liquidity would be secured, prompting this announcement,' the statement said.

Alleged victims Annie Farmer (L black dress ) and Courtney Wild (R- white shirt/black pants) leave the courthouse after a bail hearing in Epstein's sex trafficking case in July 2019

Attorney Gloria Allred was seen with several unidentified women at federal court for a hearing in the Jeffrey Epstein case in August 2019 in New York

'The estate has advised the program that it is working to secure additional liquidity to continue to fund the program and that it is committed to paying all eligible claims in accordance with the protocol'.

The EVCF said that Epstein victims have until February 8 - next Monday - to register with the program.

If they have already registered they have until March 25 to file a claim, however 'effective immediately' all compensation offers will be held until that date.

'Although I sincerely regret having to take this action, I have concluded that it is necessary to protect the interests of eligible claimants who have not yet resolved their claims through the Program,' said Feldman, who previously ran the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund.

'Issuing a compensation offer that cannot be timely and fully funded and paid, consistent with the way the Program has operated to date, would compromise claimants' interests and the guiding principles of the Program.

Epstein hanged himself in his cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell is now awaiting trial on charges she procured underage girls for him - allegations she denies

'I remain deeply committed to ensuring that the Program continues to operate with transparency and integrity, and that all eligible claimants receive the compensation and validation they deserve'.

If the compensation fund implodes it could expose Epstein's estate and his former employees to further legal liability.

Under the terms of the compensation settlements, victims have to give up their right to sue the estate and anyone who worked for him in order to get the money.

That includes Epstein's alleged 'madam' Ghislaine Maxwell who is awaiting trial on charges she procured underage girls for him - allegations she denies.
IRON MOUNTAIN, MI  A man led authorities on a vehicle chase, at times on two wheels, that began in Wisconsin and ended at a home in the Upper Peninsula.

The incident began when the Florence County Sheriffs Office in Wisconsin contacted the Dickinson County Sheriffs Office at 10:38 p.m. on Feb. 2 to inform deputies that a suspect was fleeing on U.S. 2 toward the Michigan-Wisconsin border in a 2002 Jeep Liberty.

Dickinson County deputies deployed stop sticks at the state line on U.S. 2 near M-95, which the Liberty struck, but the suspect continued to travel toward Iron Mountain on two wheels. A sheriffs vehicle also sustained heavy damage at the border and needed to be towed from the scene.

Upon arriving in Iron Mountain, the suspect abandoned the struggling Jeep and barricaded himself at a home in the 500 block of Fifth Street where he told authorities that he had a child hostage. The suspect threatened to kill the child if his demands were not met, according to police.

The suspect was identified as a 28-year-old male on parole in Michigan. Investigators later determined that there was no child in the residence and ended negotiations with the suspect.

A tactical team made entry into the home at 1:24 a.m. and took the suspect into custody without incident. He was treated at Dickinson Memorial Hospital for minor injuries and lodged at the Dickinson County Correctional Facility on numerous charges.

The identity of the suspect and specific charges have not been revealed, pending arraignment.

The Florence County Sheriffs Office and Dickinson County Sheriffs Office were assisted in the chase and standoff by the Iron Mountain Police Department, Kingsford Public Safety Office, Michigan State Police and Integrity Care Ambulance.
NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Award winning health creative agency The Bloc has teamed up with the National Black Child Development Institute to create The ABC's of Survival the book that shouldn't exist; designed to be torn apart. It is a dual purpose book to support mental health and change laws.

The Problem:

Surviving is a daily struggle for people of color in the US, who routinely face inequity in healthcare, pay, and interactions with law enforcement. Black parents need to have "the talk" with their children, not about the simple parts of growing up, but about how to stay alive. These inequities place a heavy physical and mental burden on anyone Black in Americaespecially children.

The Solution:

Born from the creative minds of parents, Shamel and Tiffany Washington, in the wake of the tragic events of the summer of 2020, The ABC's of Survival makes "the talk" tangible. The book, 8 months in the making, will debut at the end of Black History Month. Every page was created with the help of Black parents and BIPOC experts from different fields, including Allyson Jones, head of community mobilization and resource development at the NBCDI.

Its pages are an alphabet of lessons for BIPOC youth on how to survivefrom being aware of your environment and how to interact with the police, to the power of protest, and loving yourself and those around you.

This book that should not exist is designed to be torn apart to take actionwith tear-out protest posters, and postcards to send to Congress. It isn't enough to read the lessons in this book, just as important are the conversations and change it sparks.

The launch will consist of two phases. An initial print run of 100 premium, hand-crafted copies will be distributed later this month to a group of parents, teachers and other members of the community. A fully digital version of the book will soon be offered as well, so anyone can download it and share with their loved ones. Later, additional physical copies will be made available to a larger group.

Every aspect of The ABC's of Survival was intentionally crafted and curated. 26 letters. 26 lessons. Eight tear-out pages to take action, and entirely original works of art from BIPOC artists around the world. Even the typography, derived from civil-rights protest posters, is the work of a Black typographer. The apostrophe on the cover is upside downa small yet powerful symbol of subverting the status quo.

"Working in advertising, we get to tell stories for a living. I wanted to use the professional resources I have to tell a story that is personal, yet very relevant to the times. A story my parents had to tell me. Unfortunately, this is also a story that shouldn't have to be told. Injustice is a hard pill to swallowI've been unjustly arrested beforeit is our reality. We must educate our youth and provide them with actual tools to take action now." Shamel Washington, creator of The ABC's of Survival

The Launch:

In honor of Black History Month, The ABC's of Survival launched on February 1, sharing a letter per day on Instagram at @abcsofsurvival. The full book will debut at the end of February. Artwork from the book is featured alongside other donated works of art from Black artists in a virtual gallery: celebrateblackartists.com. The gallery will update weekly during Black History Month with new art each week.

In partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute, The Bloc hopes that this book empowers youth and their families to have deep conversations, focus on mental health, and take action in their communities.

Find out more about The ABCs of Survival at abcsofsurvival.com and on Instagram at @abcsofsurvival.

All proceeds from the book will go directly to the nonprofit organization, the National Black Child Development Institute, https://www.nbcdi.org/

View the media kit for The Bloc here.

APPENDIX:

Reference on the rising mental health crisis related:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwR4UnGzLhQ

"Every police shooting of an unarmed black person leads to worse mental health for the entire black population in the state in which it occurred for the next three months."

About The Bloc

The Bloc is a leading independent health creative agency in the United States. Celebrating 20 years in 2020, The Bloc delivers comprehensive multichannel communications for audiences across the health spectrum and partners with innovative clients who are doing some of the most meaningful and exciting work in health today. A founding member of The BlocPartners, the leading global network of independent health creative agencies, The Bloc's work has been globally recognized for creativity and innovation. For more information, visit www.thebloc.com.

Contact:

Joseph Milholland

[email protected]

SOURCE The Bloc
Sailors hoping for permanent no-shave waivers to make a comeback in the Navy aren't likely to see the policy change anytime soon.

Task Force One Navy, a group created over the summer to review potentially discriminatory policies, released its report Wednesday, detailing the 56 recommendations it made to the chief of naval operations. While the task force did say grooming policies need to be reviewed for racial bias, it stopped short of calling for a reversal to the 2019 decision that did away with long-standing no-shave chits, or waivers that allowed Navy personnel to grow quarter-inch facial hair.

At listening sessions held to gather info about possible barriers to service, sailors told the group that they wanted to see the policy change, said Rear Adm. Alvin Holsey, who led Task Force One Navy's efforts.

Read Next: Sailor Admits to Hanging Noose by Black Crewmate's Rack on Navy Cruiser

Ultimately, Holsey said, the task force opted against making changes because the latest policy doing away with the permanent waivers is still so new. The group will continue accepting comments and feedback on the issue, he added.

Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. John Nowell said the Navy realizes skin ailments that make shaving daily painful predominantly affect Black men in the ranks. Ultimately though, it comes down to readiness and safety, he said.

"The Navy has been looking at great power competition, warfighting readiness [and] firefighting -- think about the Bonhomme Richard and the requirement that really every sailor is a firefighter," Nowell said, referencing last summer's devastating ship fire in San Diego. "... For firefighting equipment, your self-contained breathing apparatus, as well as for gas masks, you can't have any stubble."

No one has been kicked out of the Navy over the new policy, Nowell said.

"But what we've said is that we're not just going to say you can have a no-shave chit for the duration of your career, because that is a danger to you and to your shipmates," he added.

The task force did find that some of the terms used in the Navy's grooming policy standards can result in racial bias, which led to recommended changes. A commanding officer, for example, might interpret the current language about hair color to mean that a Black woman can't have blonde hair, Nowell said.

"It was too subjective," he said, adding that they're going to "tighten that language up."

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said during an October event hosted by Defense One that he would try to keep an open mind about beards.

"If people are complaining about it, I'm not going to play deaf ears and think that I have all of the answers in my beautiful office in the Pentagon," he said.

At least one sailor has lobbied to get a long-standing beard waiver since the 2019 policy change. Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Leo Katsareas got the OK last year to wear a four-inch beard for religious reasons, at least in his current assignment.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.

Related: Sailor Gets OK to Grow 4-Inch Beard, Pushes Navy to Grant Career-Length Waiver
The contract demonstrates K2F's land and expand strategy with existing clients and continued demand for K2Fs range of software solutions across technical assurance and governance that assist our mining customers to fulfill their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ambitions and obligations.

K2fly provides enterprise-level technical assurance and reporting solution to its clients.

( ) has signed a 3 year SaaS contract with ( ) to replace its Heritage Management system for the Rio Tinto Iron Ore Division.

The solution, using K2Fs Infoscope platform, will deliver an integrated solution for managing heritage information for Rio Tinto Iron Ore operations in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

The Heritage Database is an accessible repository of Aboriginal site information collected over more than 30 years of heritage surveys.

The database contains detailed attribute information and is a valuable tool for background research for managing cultural heritage & preparing for new surveys in partnership with Traditional Own

Delighted to be working with Rio Tinto

K2flys chief commercial officer Nic Pollock said: We are delighted to be working with Rio Tinto on this important solution in cultural heritage management.

K2fly brings unique experience in this field to offer our customers a repeatable software solution and working independently with other indigenous corporations.

The database contains detailed attribute information and is a valuable tool for background research for managing cultural heritage & preparing for new surveys in partnership with Traditional Owners.

According to the company, the total contract amount of $ 719,000.

The contract amount per annum is not material but demonstrates K2F's land and expand strategy with existing clients and continued demand for K2Fs range of software solutions across technical assurance and governance that assist our mining customers to fulfill their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ambitions and obligations.
HONOLULU, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Outrigger Hotels and Resorts today unveiled The Outrigger Promise with a bold pledge: guests will love their Hawaii holiday at Outrigger, and if not  the premier beach resort brand will credit the guest for a future stay, on the house. While some hotel chains have a satisfaction guarantee on the room product  this experiential promise is by all accounts an industry first.

(PRNewsfoto/Outrigger Hotels and Resorts)

Hawaii is the #1 destination that U.S. travelers now day-dream about visiting, according to a recent coronavirus travel sentiment index report by Destination Analysts. Additionally, a study released this week from Hawaii Tourism Authority showed that 94% of recent visitors to Hawaii said their trip either met or exceeded their expectations. The Outrigger Promise enables adventure seekers, solo explorers, families and friends to book the future trip they have been dreaming about, with confidence.

"Now that the State of Hawaii Safe Travels protocols are in place, vaccines are becoming available and hope is on the horizon, The Outrigger Promise further inspires travelers to make meaningful memories in one of the most naturally beautiful and culturally rich places on earth," said Sean Dee, EVP and chief marketing officer for Outrigger Hospitality Group. "Here at Outrigger in Waikiki, we're confident that visitors will love their Hawaii vacation with us  if they don't, we'll credit them a future stay. Promise."

Participating properties include the iconic Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort , located on the sands fronting world-famous "canoes" surf spot and home of Duke's Waikiki restaurant, plus the all-new Waikiki Beachcomber by Outrigger , Hawaii's only craft hotel in the heart of Waikiki, anchored by Maui Brewing Co. restaurant. Further underscoring Outrigger's promise to providing guests with a worry-free stay in paradise, both locations follow strict cleaning and sanitation guidelines under Outrigger's Clean Commitment, with an enhanced focus on the health and safety of both guests and hosts.

THE OUTRIGGER PROMISE:

We promise that guests who stay at Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort or Waikiki Beachcomber by Outrigger for four nights or more in 2021 will love their Hawaii experience; if they don't, they can simply phone Outrigger's call center to be credited for a future stay, subject to applicable terms and conditions.

Here's a sampling of safe and fun experiences that may be available and could help make this 2021 vacation exceptional:

Surf: The turquoise waters fronting Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort is where modern surfing was born and where legendary Duke Kahanamoku inspired the world. Take a surf or stand-up paddle board (SUP) lesson, or catch a wave in an outrigger canoe with our partners at Faith Surf School. No matter how big or small, the rush of sliding down a Waikiki wave with Diamond Head in the distance, is a swell time and elicits a joy like no other.





The turquoise waters fronting Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort is where modern surfing was born and where legendary inspired the world. Take a surf or stand-up paddle board (SUP) lesson, or catch a wave in an outrigger canoe with our partners at Faith Surf School. No matter how big or small, the rush of sliding down a wave with in the distance, is a swell time and elicits a joy like no other. Nature: Research suggests that being in nature makes us happier and healthier; outdoor excursions have a positive effect on our brains and our bodies. Hawaii's consistent, balmy temperature of 78 to 85 degrees offers ample opportunity for open-air adventures. So stop and smell the plumeria, hike up Diamond Head and hunt for rainbows, go snorkelling at Hanauma Bay and watch for friendly green sea turtles  a symbol of good luck.





Research suggests that being in nature makes us happier and healthier; outdoor excursions have a positive effect on our brains and our bodies. consistent, balmy temperature of 78 to 85 degrees offers ample opportunity for open-air adventures. So stop and smell the plumeria, hike up and hunt for rainbows, go snorkelling at Hanauma Bay and watch for friendly green sea turtles  a symbol of good luck. Fresh Flavors: Honolulu has emerged as a major U.S. culinary mecca, with a melting pot of eateries that utilize fresh, local ingredients to create mouth-watering dishes with influences from around the globe. Sample fiercely local craft beers and bites from the State's largest indoor bar at Maui Brew Co. Grab an Instagram-worthy papaya smoothie bowl from Sunrise Shack or duck into Duke's Waikiki  the iconic beachfront restaurant for some fresh fare and famous Hula Pie. Foodies will delight at Roy's Waikiki for upscale pacific-rim cuisine.





Honolulu has emerged as a major U.S. culinary mecca, with a melting pot of eateries that utilize fresh, local ingredients to create mouth-watering dishes with influences from around the globe. Sample fiercely local craft beers and bites from the State's largest indoor bar at Maui Brew Co. Grab an Instagram-worthy papaya smoothie bowl from Sunrise Shack or duck into Duke's  the iconic beachfront restaurant for some fresh fare and famous Hula Pie. Foodies will delight at Roy's for upscale pacific-rim cuisine. Culture: The spirit of aloha  living a life of kindness and compassion  is found in the cultural expressions of art, dance, music and more. See the stories of Hawaii's past gracefully come alive during hula performances at Waikiki Beach Walk then learn to dance with a free hula class on Sunday mornings. Live Hawaiian music serenades guests at Blue Note Hawaii and at stages across Waikiki . Plus, guests of Outrigger get free admission to Honolulu Museum of Art and discounted tickets to Bishop Museum  two distinct institutions to explore the history, culture and environment of Hawaii and beyond.





The spirit of aloha  living a life of kindness and compassion  is found in the cultural expressions of art, dance, music and more. See the stories of past gracefully come alive during hula performances at Waikiki Beach Walk then learn to dance with a free hula class on Sunday mornings. Live Hawaiian music serenades guests at Blue Note Hawaii and at stages across . Plus, guests of Outrigger get free admission to Honolulu Museum of Art and discounted tickets to Bishop Museum  two distinct institutions to explore the history, culture and environment of and beyond. Give Back: The Outrigger Way is to care for its hosts, care for its guests and care for the places where it does business. Outrigger is deeply committed to doing its part to protect and preserve Hawaii's natural environment. Guests too can do their part to give-back to the destination and have hands-on experiences with Outrigger's Malama Hawaii eco-adventure package with Kualoa Ranch. Or they can learn more about the importance of coral conservation through the Outrigger's ZONE (OZONE) initiative  then lather up with complimentary reef-safe sunscreen from All Good before enjoying the Hawaii sunshine.

Guests are encouraged to share their Hawaii experiences on social media, leveraging the hashtag #OutriggerPromise.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

To be eligible for The Outrigger Promise, travelers must book a minimum four-night stay at Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort or Waikiki Beachcomber by Outrigger only through the following channels: directly at Outrigger.com or by calling 1-866-256-8461 within the booking window of Feb. 4, 2021 through May 1, 2021 for stays within the period of March 1, 2021 through Dec. 21, 2021.

Following the vacation with Outrigger, if the guest feels that The Outrigger Promise has not been met, they must call an Outrigger representative at: 1-866-256-8461 no later than December 21, 2021 to receive a night credit for a future stay. The guest will be credited for the same property, same room category, and no more than the original number of days stayed, up to 14 days. Blackout dates may apply. Redemption of the credit to be used no later than Dec. 21, 2022 and applies to the guest's room rate only; it does not include any other costs, such as travel, COVID-19 testing, taxes or resort charge, which will be the responsibility of the guest. This limited-time offer may only be redeemed once. For more information and qualifying criteria, visit: Outrigger.com/promise.

SAFE TRAVELS TO THE ALOHA STATE

As part of the Safe Travel Hawaii program, travelers with a negative COVID-19 test result from a trusted travel partner, 72-hours prior to arriving to Oahu will not be subject to a 10-day quarantine. Visit https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel for the latest information on COVID-19 travel procedures and regulations.

Click HERE to download corresponding high-resolution images.

ABOUT OUTRIGGER HOSPITALITY GROUP

For more than 70 years, Outrigger Hotels and Resorts has charted a journey of discovery  expanding from Hawaii to premier resort destinations including Fiji and Mauritius. The privately held hospitality company invites guests to 'Escape Ordinary' with authentic Signature Experiences and the Outrigger DISCOVERY loyalty program . Outrigger's multi-branded portfolio includes Outrigger Resorts, OHANA Hotels by Outrigger, Hawaii Vacation Condos by Outrigger, Kapalua Villas Maui, and its newest addition, Honua Kai Resort & Spa Maui while also managing select properties from top international hotel brands including Embassy Suites, Best Western and Hilton Grand VacationsTM. Find out more at Outrigger.com or visit @OutriggerResorts on Facebook , Instagram and Twitter .

SOURCE Outrigger Hotels and Resorts
Indian stocks are expected to open on a flat note after seeing steep recent rally.

SGX Nifty:

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could rise 9 points at the opening bell.

Global markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mostly lower on Thursday following another positive session overnight for the S&P 500 stateside.

In US, the Dow and S&P 500 rose slightly on Wednesday, registering a third straight session of gains, with Alphabet Inc's shares hitting a record high following its strong quarterly results.

The House passed a budget resolution Wednesday, a key step as Democrats push toward a vote on a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Approval of the measure allows Congress to move forward with reconciliation, through which Democrats can pass an aid bill without Republican support. The Senate is expected to approve a resolution later this week.

Domestic markets:

Back home, the benchmark indices surged for third consecutive session on Wednesday, as euphoria surrounding the Union Budget continued. The S&P BSE Sensex, soared 458.03 points or 0.92% at 50,255.75. The Nifty 50 index surged 142.10 points or 0.97% at 14,789.95.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 2,520.92 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 399.74 crore in the Indian equity market on 3 February, provisional data showed.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Volta Trucks has selected Meritor as the strategic drivetrain component supplier for the Volta Zero electric truck. This major purchasing milestone will support the delivery of Volta Zero vehicles for customer trials during 2021, and the start of series production around 12 months afterwards.

The Volta Zero will be the first full-electric large commercial vehicle in Europe to use an innovative eAxle to drive the rear wheels. Meritor will supply the single unit, containing the electric motor, transmission, and rear axle of the Volta Zero, with its Blue Horizon 14Xe integrated ePowertrain.





Meritors 14Xe ePowertrain uses the proven 14X axle housing which maintains existing axle mounting hardware for ease of OEM integration. The modular system enables the interchangeability of key components, including electric motors, transmissions, gearing, brakes, wheel ends, and housings. The 14Xe is designed for scalability and can be adapted to fit various powertrain needs based on the vehicle application and duty cycle.

The 14Xe all-electric, fully integrated electric powertrain for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, is lighter and more efficient than a conventional electric motor and axle set-up, delivering an increased range as a result.

It also provides packaging benefits by freeing up space between the chassis rails to provide the safest possible location for the vehicles battery.

The Volta Zero is a purpose-built full-electric 16-tonne vehicle designed for inner-city freight deliveries, reducing the environmental impact of freight deliveries in city centers. The Volta Zero is designed from the ground up with an operating pure-electric range of 150 - 200 km (95  125 miles).

The operator of a Volta Zero sits in a central driving position, with a much lower seat height than a conventional truck. This combination, plus a glass house-style cab design, gives the driver a wide 220-degrees of visibility, minimizing dangerous blind spots.

The prototype Volta Zero was launched in September 2020, with the first vehicles expected to be operating with customers in late 2021.


The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
IT has been well established that the countrys most effective mobilisation system is the election machinery based on political affiliation.

With this in mind, the current crisis in the country regarding the frightening spread of the coronavirus calls for a different kind of intervention. It is past time for the declaration of a political truce. We call on the countrys two major political machines, PNM and UNC, and all other existing political parties and groups, to come together in the national interest.
Rampur : , Feb 4 (IANS) Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Thursday, met the family of the deceased farmer Navreet Singh, who had died during the Republic Day violence in Delhi when his tractor overturned.

Priyanka reached the residence of the deceased farmer in the Dibdiba village in Vilaspur tehsil in the afternoon and attended the 'Antim Ardas' (prayer meeting). She offered her condolences and paid floral tributes.

She sat in the women's enclosure where she interacted with the female family members.

Later, addressing the gathering, Priyanka said that the martyrdom of Navreet would not go in vain.

"The whole nation is with you. Everyone knows that farmers are being wronged. To term farmers as terrorists is unacceptable," she said.

Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary and Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary were among the other prominent political leaders who were present there.

Interestingly, the family members repeatedly said that it was not a political event but a prayer meeting.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG executives ignored warnings from colleagues about troubled steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta as they channeled $1.2 billion of client funds to his businesses, according to people familiar with the matter.Bankers in Credit Suisses commodity trade-finance unit blacklisted Guptas Liberty Commodities Ltd. in 2016 because they suspected some of its deals werent legitimate, the people said. When they learned about two years later that the bank was lending to his companies through a suite of investment funds, which eventually grew to $10 billion, they flagged their worries to leaders in compliance and the division that housed the loans, one of the people said.The disclosure that Credit Suisse may have put clients at risk despite internal concerns over Guptas businesses adds a new twist to the debacle stemming from the March implosion of Greensill Capital, the finance firm at the center of the three-way relationship.Investigations, LawsuitsThe U.K. Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Guptas group of companies for suspected fraud, including in its financing deals with Greensill, according to a May 14 statement. Credit Suisse has sued to force Guptas Liberty Commodities into insolvency and has since shut the funds that made the loans and launched an internal investigation. Investors are staring at losses as the bank confronts embarrassing lawsuits.We are currently focusing our efforts on recovering our investors money, Will Bowen, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in London, said in an emailed statement, adding that the banks internal probe will focus on all of the issues linked to the funds. We are committed to learning the lessons and will share the relevant lessons learnt at the appropriate time.Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Gupta Family Group Alliance, or GFG Alliance, a collective of businesses linked to Gupta including Liberty Commodities, denied any wrongdoing.The Greensill saga represents just one of the two disasters that rocked Credit Suisse in the first half of 2021. Since Greensill began unraveling, the bank has announced a $5.5 billion hit from the blowup at Archegos Capital Management.ApologiesFormer Chairman Urs Rohner apologized to shareholders and his successor, Antonio Horta-Osorio, who arrived at the end of April, has promised a sweeping strategy review.Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein, who was head of the division that oversaw trade finance, wasnt aware of the internal concerns about Gupta that had prompted the bank to cut him off, according to a person familiar with the matter.Employees at the trade-finance unit, which lends money for the buying and selling of commodities, cut ties with Gupta in 2016 after becoming skeptical toward his Liberty Commodities, the people said. They distrusted the documents the company provided, triggering doubts about its transactions, they said. In one example reported by Bloomberg, the company had presented another bank with what seemed to be duplicate shipping receipts. Credit Suisses commodity team had stopped working with Gupta after identifying suspicious shipments while the banks credit-structuring team lobbied against the Greensill funds, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.A spokesman for Gupta has denied any wrongdoing.Banking TiesLiberty Commodities pledged assets to Credit Suisse as security for borrowings in 2013 but by early 2016, all such commitments had been extinguished, indicating that the financing relationship had ceased, U.K. Companies House filings show. And while Guptas company listed the Swiss bank as one of its lenders in its 2014 annual report, it didnt in the following years report, which is dated May 2016, according to the filings.Their counterparts at other banks, including Macquarie Group Ltd. and Sberbank PJSC, halted trading with Liberty Commodities around the same time because of similar concerns; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also stopped in 2016, Bloomberg has reported.Nevertheless, executives at Credit Suisses asset-management division -- which creates investment products for clients and charges a fee for overseeing them -- began arranging a suite of funds focused on supply-chain finance in 2017. The entities bought securitized loans packaged by Greensill, a firm created by Australian businessman Lex Greensill. Much of the debts were linked to Guptas businesses.WarningsOfficials at the commodity trade-finance unit were concerned when they found out about the funds links to Gupta and took their fears to Thomas Grotzer, general counsel for the banks Swiss division. They also warned Luc Mathys and Lukas Haas, the bankers who helped oversee the trades at the asset-management unit.Grotzer was promoted last month to interim global head of compliance at Credit Suisse. He didnt respond to requests for comment. Mathys, head of fixed-income at the asset-management division, and Haas, a portfolio manager, were put on temporary leave in March. Neither responded to requests for comment.The bank pushed ahead with the funds and marketed them to investors as being made up of short-term debt secured on invoices, assets considered so safe that Credit Suisse gave the largest vehicle its lowest rating for risk. Yet part of the loans were linked to mere possible future revenues.Other parts of the bank continued working with Gupta as well. Credit Suisses investment bankers were due to lead an initial public offering for Libertys U.S. steel arm, which was ultimately pulled, according to a statement from the company. Gupta also announced that the Swiss bank would finance his planned acquisition of Thyssenkrupp AGs steel unit, which fell apart earlier this year.Credit Suisse has so far recouped about $5.9 billion of the $10 billion in these supply-chain funds, but it remains unclear how much will be returned ultimately to investors. Loans to Guptas businesses are among a batch of debts that are the principal sources of valuation uncertainty, the bank said earlier this month.Liberty Commoditiess external legal advisors investigated alleged rumors concerning the paperwork it used in 2019, according to Mitchell, the spokesman for GFG Alliance. They found no evidence to substantiate the rumors, nor was the company ever subject to further complaints or proceedings, he said.LCL has ongoing banking relationships with separate financial institutions, Mitchell said, referring to Liberty Commodities. The trade-finance market has been hugely challenging for all but the very largest commodities traders in recent years. Nevertheless, no financial institution has been left out of pocket as a result of lending money to LCL. On the contrary, they have received substantial commercial returns.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Editor's Note: This story was originally published on Feb. 4. It has been updated to reflect the new status of Viva Learning.

Microsoft has announced Viva, a new employee experience platform that integrates with Microsoft Teams. If your company uses Teams, chances are that youll see Viva, along with some of its more familiar features like Topics and Insights, soon.

Microsoft already uses Teams as a launchpad for apps like Word and PowerPoint, plus shared resources on OneDrive and SharePoint. Inside Viva are features that Microsoft is calling Viva Connections, Viva Insights, Viva Learning, and Viva Topics. Topics is available today; Insights is available in preview, and Insights in private preview. As of April 26, Microsoft has pushed Viva Learning live into public preview.

Microsoft designed Connections for employee interactions, and Topics to allow employees to seek out answers from their colleagues. If they cant help, Learning is designed to provide company-designed and external online courses and videos to help out. Finally, theres Insightsthe management tool that keeps track of whats working and what isnt, a respin of sorts of the controversial Productivity Score tool. We'll describe them in more detail below.

Microsoft is positioning Viva as a tool that takes the pandemic, and its changes in the workplace, head on. Pre-pandemic, Microsoft had already said that online collaboration was the next step in the evolution of individual employees working on individual documents like Word and PowerPoint. It then tweaked its messaging once the pandemic made remote work a reality. Now, Microsofts trying to establish Viva as a sort of online community huba place for new employees to learn about the company, its policies, and who their coworkers are and what they know about, much like the intranets some companies already maintain.

Microsoft sees Viva as the online manifestation of an office employees cant physically visit right now. We need to stop thinking of work as a place, and start thinking about how to maintain culture, connect employees, and harness human ingenuity in a hybrid world, Jared Spataro, corporate vice president for Microsoft 365, said during a pre-recorded briefing video for reporters.

Read more stories about Microsoft Teams:

Whats inside Microsoft Viva?

Viva's components each play a distinct role, which we'll describe here:

Viva Connections

Microsoft sees Viva Connections as the gateway to your entire Viva digital workplace, with links to town halls, company policies, and and more. Microsoft also says that Viva Connections will leverage Yammer to provide a personalized feed of information youll need.

Microsoft The Microsoft Viva Connections feed.

Microsoft has tried to make Teams as sticky as it can be, bundling more and more around it in a bid to make it a critical part of the workplace. (This fall, Teams active daily users climbed to 115 million, Microsoft said.) Encouraging users to start their day with Viva is part of that.

Viva Insights

Viva Insights has three different views. Employees will see a dashboard that encourages them to take time and schedule breaks, as well as meeting-free blocks for focused learning. Managers will also have their own dashboard, as will company execs. Its the latter that may worry some, as it appears Microsoft is still aggregating employee work habits.

Microsoft Employees will see something like this dashboard inside the Microsoft Viva Insights page.

Microsoft appears to have also taken pains to avoid the bad taste its Productivity Score left in some mouths. Though Productivity Score and, by extension, Insightswas designed to monitor how effectively employees were using Microsofts tools, stressed-out employees worried that the tool could be used to track them individually. Still, example screenshots of the Microsoft Viva tool still show, in aggregate, how many workers are putting in more than an eight-hour workdaysomething that could be used as a reminder to manage work/life balance...or encouragement that workers needed to work more.

Microsoft An example of a top-down view of a team using Microsoft Viva and the Insights tab, with work habits being tracked specifically.

Still, Microsoft took pains to note that it doesnt monitor specific workers. Microsoft Viva uses aggregation, de-identification, and differential privacy, according to Microsoft, in describing Viva Insights. This means personal insights are visible only to the employee, while insights for managers and leaders are aggregated and de-identified by default to protect individual privacy.

Viva Learning

Microsoft said research shows that workers will stay with a company longer if it furthers their own internal development. Viva Learning is the portal to do just that.

Microsoft Microsofts Microsoft Viva, and its Viva Learning module.

Viva Learning, however, also appears to be an easy way for Microsoft or its partners to resell services like online coursework, especially with its LinkedIn subsidiary. Microsoft will make available microcourses and other classes from LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Learn, trainings from leading content providers like Skillsoft, Coursera, Pluralsight, and edX, plus your own companys online tutorials and other info.

Viva Topics

Its probably no surprise that Topics is rolling out todayweve seen Microsoft try to connect employees to one another all the way back to 2015s Delve, with similar features added to Outlook.

Microsoft Microsoft Vivas Topics feed will open a card...

Topics is designed to allow an organization to cut through the corporate jargon. If theres an unfamiliar acronym or special project that might not be familiar to an employee, Topics is designed to provide a topic card that appears when an employee hovers their cursor over it, and then links to a specific topic page when they click for more information. Microsoft said that Topics is designed for companies to link to their own data, but also connect to partners.

Microsoft ...then drill down into a Topics page.

Microsoft hasnt stopped adding new features to Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Viva appears poised to also receive more content in the future, too. For a multi-billion-dollar company, Microsoft has pivoted hard to online collaboration, and Microsoft business customers will be along for the ride.

A House of Commons clerk prepares for a committee meeting in the chamber on April 29, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Electronic Voting Among Changes to House Rules Discussed by MPs

Canadas Parliament is considering several procedural changes, including facilitating electronic voting and more time for debate.

On Feb. 1, MPs from all parties weighed in on potential changes for the Procedure and House Affairs Committee to consider. Most wanted to reduce time spent on process and increase time for meaningful debate. Electronic voting was seen as way to do so.

Our current system of voting is insane and needs to be modernized, said Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux. What does not have a lot of value is having 500 votes on the same bill and all the vote results are identical.

Lamoureux pushed back against MPs who wanted Fridays off and called for new technology such that if a vote were called, a button right in front of members at their seats could be pushed. Then numbers would be instantly portrayed on a screen, or whatever it might be. Other jurisdictions have it.

Bloc MP Mario Beaulieu agreed. I personally find the way we vote to be rather absurd, especially how long it takes. Electronic voting would be just as secure and would save so much time. Perhaps this would allow for more debate in the House.

NDP MP Peter Julian said hed like Parliament to make an additional step and allow remote voting.

Travelling to Ottawa and back, I have a 20-hour round trip for what is a two-second action, standing in the House of Commons and voting. Virtual voting allows me to better serve my constituents, said Julian, MP for New Westminster-Burnaby in B.C.

However, Conservative MP Pat Kelly has concerns. There is so much pressure to allow members to isolate themselves and be caught up in their own bubbles, he said, adding that hes opposed to the permanence of virtual voting.

It is invaluable to ensure that members be brought together in the chamber, and voting is a way to ensure members are there together, he said.

David E. Smith, political science professor emeritus at University of Saskatchewan, told The Epoch Times that he agrees that there are drawbacks to the approach adopted since the pandemic of debating remotely.

For the members themselves  hearing other people talking about an issue that youre talking about re-frames that issue. So if you dont actually hear that and you dont hear it in the forumthe comments lets sayI think a lot is lost, Smith said.

Its not just  speaking but also listening to and sensing how other people respond to issues during a debate.

MP Sherry Romanado had similar sentiments during the discussion on Feb. 1.

I miss being in the chamber  [where] we are able to look at each other. We are able to gauge the reaction and give feedback. Unfortunately, we do not get those social cues on the screen, she said.

The Quebec Liberal added, We should define what suitable business attire is, because I do not think that stretch pants should be in the House of Commons, but that is just me.

Some MPs said they wanted more time to weigh in on private members bills. Others wanted to continue the pandemics committee of the whole format that better allowed back-and-forth between those asking questions and those answering.

Yukon Liberal MP Larry Bagnell said he would even support having a separate chamber, such as what the UKs House of Commons and Australias House of Representatives have, to allow for more meaningful debates on bills.

Conservative MP Erin Duncan said on Twitter that he likes the UKs aversion to reading word-for-word from notes and that scripted speeches & debate need to end.

[F]ull texts are a crutch that we use too easily. The UK has strict rules against this & their Parliaments debates are much better off for it. Be real. Be authentic. Our Chamber & public debate will be better off, Duncan tweeted.

Conservative MP Tom Kmiec likes yet another aspect of the UK Parliament, where members can cede their time to other members without having to include the Speaker in the debate. Members can cede their time to entertain a comment or question and then take the time back when they feel they have given sufficient time to another person.

Debate in this chamber has become stultified, he added. I think that is the nicest term I can use with respect to what I see going on.

Conservative MP Cathy McLeod wondered whether the discussion will actually lead to change.

I have listened to these debates in the past and wonderful ideas and comments have come up that would help move us forward in a good way. Unfortunately, I have not seen us look seriously at adopting many of them.

Nelson Wiseman, political science professor at the University of Toronto, said in an interview that one change citizens shouldnt expect is for question period to become answer period.

We cant do that, not likely, he said. There were rulings years ago by the Speakeralthough it can be changed of coursethat when ministers answer they can say anything they want. They dont have to answer questions.

Wiseman said the non-answers that have become customary began soon after TV cameras came to Parliament in the late 1970s.

The government figured out, hey, theyre just trying to embarrass us in front of this big TV audience, so no, now well stop giving answers.
Laguna Beach Expands Search for New City Manager

Laguna Beach has hired a recruiting firm to help find a replacement for its outgoing city manager.

The hunt for a new top bureaucrat began after John Pietig announced plans to retire in June after working with the city for 20 years.

City council hired recruiting firm Bob Murray & Associates to help fill the role. The company has completed more than 60 successful recruitments of city managers across California in the past five years, according to a memo released by the city.

This is one of the most important positions in the city, and hiring the recruiting firm will allow us to thoroughly evaluate both internal and external candidates for the city manager position, Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen said in a statement. We had an excellent experience with this recruiting firm on our recent search for the new general manager at the Water District and council is confident that this will be a well-run and comprehensive search.

The city said the recruiting fees are expected to cost less than $30,000.

Of course, the cost to employ a new city manager would be significantly more. According to Transparent Californias most recent data, Pieteg earned a base salary of $264,668 in 2018. With other pay, benefits, and pension debts factored in, his total salary and pension amounted to $389,653.

Despite hiring the recruiting firm, the city council could already have a top contender for the job in its midst. The citys assistant manager, Shohreh Dupuis, has been pegged as a great option by both Mayor Bob Whalen and Pietig.

Shes fully integrated into the daily inner workings of the city and has the primary responsibility of our economic recovery program for COVID-19, Whalen told the Laguna Beach Indy. Over the last year, the city manager has been having her take over agenda preparation.

Dupuis told The Epoch Times via email that she is very interested and would be honored to serve as Laguna Beachs city manager.

I have a passion for public service and am committed to the continued successful delivery of City services, projects and programs, she said. My career goal has been to become a city manager and after 30 years of working for municipal governments in a variety of management positions, I would welcome the opportunity to continue serving the people of our beautiful town in a new role as city manager.

Councilmember Peter Blake also publicly supported Dupuis during a Jan. 26 council meeting.

For the two years Ive been on this city council, the best of the best signifies Shohreh Dupuis, Blake said. I look forward to the day shell replace our extremely competent city manager John Pietig and we will have the first female city manager in this citys history.

Before a final candidate is chosen, council will hold two zoom meetings for the public to provide input during the recruitment process.

Whalen said he hopes a final selection is made in May.

Timur Goksel, a former UN diplomat who won accolades for his peace-making role at the height of tensions between Israel and Hezbollah in the 1990s, and was founding editor of Al-Monitors Turkey Pulse, died early Wednesday. He was 77.

Goksel, a Turkish national, succumbed to COVID-19 in a hospital in his beloved Beirut, where he had lived since his retirement from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 2003. He is survived by his wife, Nilgun, daughter, Zeynep, and son, Emir.

At Al-Monitor, where he led Turkey coverage for eight years  growing it into one of the most widely read sources of Turkish news  Goksel will be remembered as a kindhearted, tireless and strictly principled editor.

He brought to his work a unique understanding of the Middle East and of Turkey, based on his experience as a diplomat who mastered the art of diplomacy as a respected and honest broker.

Timur went out of his way to help the seemingly endless number of Turkish journalists who had lost their jobs under government pressure by making room for them at Al-Monitor, senior correspondent Amberin Zaman said. But he maintained the highest of professional standards. He helped run a news organization, not a charity, he would have you know.

Columnist Semih Idiz concurred, saying he was grateful to Goksel for inviting him to write for Al-Monitor in 2012 at a time when the Turkish media was starting to become claustrophobic.

His loss will be dearly felt by his friends, Idiz said.

Zaman added, More than three decades after leaving Turkey, his passion for his country was unmistakable. Yet Timur remained coolly objective, a professional editor to boot.

Kadri Gursel, another columnist from Turkey, said, I always felt in safe hands. He was an understanding, responsible, highly qualified and fair editor and, above all, he was a good man.

Pinar Tremblay said she would remember Goksel as a kind mentor and a generous person who loved life with a passion. Goksel was often accompanied by his beloved dog. "I will always remember how he doted on Wahshi, an amazing pup, Tremblay said.

Marita Kassis, the managing editor of Al-Monitor's Beirut office who worked with Goksel in Lebanon, described him as a Lebanese at heart.

And Turkish columnist Cengiz Candar said, Beirut was our shared love, which brought us even closer. He was the first person I could think of after the Beirut explosion in August 2020. He was the first one I called. I felt like if Beirut vanishes Timur would vanish as well.

Recalling Goksels exceptional career with the UN, columnist Fehim Tastekin said, Getting along with the Israelis and winning the confidence of the Lebanese resistance forces at the same time was something tough. He managed to do it.

Tyler Huffman, Al-Monitor managing editor, said Goksel brought this same spirit and energy to the newsroom, working tirelessly to gain the trust of writers, editors and readers.

Timur was legendary in Lebanon and beyond for his breadth of experience and passion for the region, but always made time to counsel anyone seeking his advice and provide direction and honest feedback to writers, Huffman said. He was very popular and admired among his students at the American University of Beirut, where he taught courses on conflict management and other topics."

Goksel spent most of his 35-year career with the UN at UNIFIL, first as a spokesman and then as a senior adviser. Yet his influence on the ground went beyond what his titles might suggest. Back in 1996, British journalist Michael Bywater wrote, Choking on hatred and confusion as old as the grave, no one in that deadly buffer of stony soil between Israel and Lebanon trusted anyone else," but Goksel "ran a bullshit-free zone.

The late British journalist Robert Fisk described Goksel in a 1999 profile as perhaps the most powerful man in southern Lebanon, before adding, He is certainly the only man who can lift his phone and within five minutes call Gaby Eskenazi [Gabi Ashkenazi], the Israeli northern front commander, and Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, chairman of the Hezbollah.

In an internal memo before his retirement from the UN in 2003, Goksel wrote, Seven close calls including roadside bombs, a couple of suicide attacks and five too-damned-close firings including two with 120mm mortars on my office building, it is time. It has been one long roller-coaster ride, at times hair-raising but definitely memorable.

Goksel remained a recognizable and respected figure in Lebanon long after he left his UN post. He was not just a media personality, Timur was very much part of the Lebanese social fabric. He gave a lot to the city and the city loved him for it. From students to shop owners, he was recognized and loved for his sincerity, Kassis said.

His aim was always to inform and communicate clearly  always ready and open to all. He was a breath of fresh air when it came to political realism.  His views shaped the modern understanding of young journalists in classrooms and events, she added.

Sibel Utku Bila, Ezgi Akin and Tyler Huffman contributed to this article.
A lawsuit accusing Egypts former prime minister of overseeing the torture of an American citizen could test President Joe Bidens pledge to hold foreign governments accountable for their human rights failings.

The US District Court in the District of Columbia will soon decide whether Hazem el-Beblawi, Egypt's interim premier from 2013 to 2014, holds diplomatic immunity status that would shield him from a federal lawsuit filed in June by activist Mohamed Soltan. The suit asserts that Beblawi directed and monitored the brutal, orchestrated regime of detention and torture of Soltan, who was arrested after live-tweeting Egypt's violent crackdown on protesters in 2013. During his nearly 22-month imprisonment, Soltan says prison guards tortured him with a purposefully starved attack dog, seizure-inducing strobe lights, sleep deprivation and other forms of extreme physical and emotional abuse.

His lawsuit was filed under the Torture Victim Protection Act, a US law that gives federal courts jurisdiction over suits filed by victims of state-sponsored torture abroad. Soltan, who was released from Egyptian custody in 2015 following sustained pressure from the Barack Obama administration, says his case is as much about deterring future human rights abuses as it is holding Egypt accountable for his own ordeal.

Since seizing power in 2013, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has waged an unprecedented clampdown on peaceful dissent. Of the estimated 60,000 political prisoners jailed under Sisis watch are a number of US citizens and permanent residents, including Soltans father, who is serving a life sentence for his role in Egypts Muslim Brotherhood.

Days after Soltan filed his lawsuit, Salah Soltan was moved from his prison cell to an unknown location. He hasnt been heard from since.

Soltan believes his fathers disappearance, along with the arbitrary detention of five of his Egypt-based male cousins, was Cairos way of pressuring him into dropping the lawsuit.

It has certainly beat me down, Soltan said of the apparent reprisals against his family. But that abuse by the repressive Egyptian regime has only strengthened my resolve to pursue justice.

For Soltan to get his day in court, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly must first determine whether Beblawi holds a diplomatic status that would immunize him from prosecution. The State Departments Office of Foreign Missions told Beblawis defense team in a July letter that according to its records, the former premier carries immunity as a principal resident representative of Egypt to the DC-based International Monetary Fund (IMF). Until Oct. 31, Beblawi served on the UN agency's executive board.

But lawyers for Soltan, as well as members of Congress, have questioned whether Beblawi's immunity status was ever certified, as required under the relevant UN treaty. They also point out that Beblawi is being sued for actions that occurred before his employment at the IMF, and even then, IMF officials are typically only entitled to immunity for acts taken during their official duties.

Beblawis lawyers did not reply to a request from Al-Monitor seeking comment but in past court filings have dismissed questions over Beblawis immunity as a smokescreen to hide a failed case.

In December, the judge invited the State Department to produce additional documentation regarding Beblawis immunity status or submit a formal position on the issue. The administration of President Joe Biden responded late last month, saying it needed until Feb. 26 so that new State officials could have sufficient time to become familiar with the issues in this case."

Eric L. Lewis, Soltans lead lawyer, said they are hopeful the Biden administration will take a firm position that it will not approve immunity for torturers, generally and certainly not in the situation here.

Lewis is encouraged by Bidens campaign pledges on human rights and the fact that many Biden administration officials were involved in securing Soltans release in 2015. Also reassuring is a tweet from Biden putting Sisi on notice this July, warning that it is unacceptable for the Egyptian government to threaten Soltans family and those of other exiled activists.

A State Department official declined to comment on the pending legal matter, but said, The welfare of all US citizens overseas, especially those detained or incarcerated, remains a top priority for the State Department.

Were the Biden administration to determine Beblawi is entitled to diplomatic immunity, it would set a dangerous precedent, said Philippe Nassif, advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA.

Much like the Beblawi case, Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is facing lawsuits that could test Biden's pledge to take a tougher line on Riyadh. The Saudi royal has claimed immunity in both cases, one accusing him of ordering the assassination of an ex-Saudi intelligence official in Canada, and another blaming him for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

The fact that we could see immunity given to somebody like [Beblawi] sends a message to Mohammed bin Salman and a lot of other leaders in the world that are closely watching the case, Nassif said. I think thats partly why the Egyptians have been so adamant and nasty when it comes to going after Mohamed Soltans family.

In the same week that Biden clinched the presidency, Egypt released Soltans cousins after 144 days in prison. They still face possible trial on charges that include spreading false information to shake the grandeur of the state, the same widely denounced charge that Soltan himself faced seven years ago.
Park Jung-jae, center, principal of Shindang Elementary School in Seoul, poses with students and staff at the school in this October 2018 photo. Courtesy of Park Jung-jae





By Bahk Eun-ji







When Shindang Elementary School Principal Park Jung-jae took office in 2017, he decided to provide the students and teachers with opportunities to learn global perspectives and cultural diversity through exchange programs with other schools abroad.







His determination came from his experience as the principal of the Korean International School in Singapore from 2014 to 2016, when Park saw many teachers and students there nurture their communication skills with people from around the world through international exchange programs.







"I realized that the ability to communicate is highly required for our students who are living in the world of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, so I decided to form a partnership with Huamin Primary School in Singapore," Park said.







Singapore is adopting a project-based learning method that focuses on four skills  creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration  and encouraged by UNESCO, he said.







As a part of the exchange program, students at the two schools made short films on a common theme, "Save the Gaia," in 2019.







Park said the project provided an opportunity to understand cultural diversity as students broadened their perceptions of different cultures and life styles while participating in the program.







As news of the international exchange program with Huamin spread, Shindang Elementary School became popular in the education community there, and there has been a series of visits by officials from the education ministry and teachers of other primary schools in Singapore.







As of September last year, 10 more schools in Singapore and one in Myanmar asked Shindang to hold exchange programs with them.







In January 2020, teachers from Shindang visited Huamin to observe the education system there and discuss the teaching methods of the two countries. The two schools planned to have more exchange programs for teachers and students that year, but the plan was scrapped due to the COVID-19 outbreak.







However, the teachers of both schools did hold discussions virtually through a video conference Nov. 27 under the theme, of "Changes and Countermeasures of Schools in Two Countries in the COVID-19 era."







"I wanted to instill confidence that international exchanges are not difficult for teachers although they may not be fluent in English. In addition, it will be a good experience to upgrade their global capabilities," Park said.







In particular, he would like to share solutions to problems that have cropped up in classrooms during the pandemic in both countries by looking at the coronavirus responses especially in the education field.







"I would like to share practical ideas on various teaching methods in both countries, which are advanced countries in education, by developing the exchange programs in the future," he said.


The worlds top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, raised on Thursday the prices of all its crude oil that will go to the United States and Europe in March while leaving unchanged the official selling prices of its crude to its key market in Asia.

The Saudi state oil giant Aramco raised the prices of all its crude grades to the U.S. by $0.10 per barrel, while the Saudi oil prices to Europe were lifted by between $1.30 and $1.40 a barrel, according to Bloomberg.

The price of the Saudi flagship Arab Light crude grade to Northwest Europe was raised by $1.40 a barrel for March compared to February and set at a discount of $0.50 a barrel against ICE Brent, Reuters reported, citing a pricing document it had seen.

Last month, a day after surprising the market with a 1-million-bpd additional production cut for February and March, the Saudis raised the official selling prices (OSPs) of their oil for Asia for February. Saudi Aramco lifted the price of the flagship Arab Light grade by $0.70 a barrel to a premium of $1 per barrel against the Middle East benchmark, the Oman/Dubai average.

This month, however, the Saudis are leaving the prices to Asia unchanged for March compared to February, after the extra production cut created a rush among refiners in Asia in January, with buyers scrambling to secure crude oil supplies from Europe.

Saudi Arabia has also reportedly announced reductions in crude oil volumes to be supplied to at least nine clients in Asia and Europe for this month. The cuts were made for shipments under long-term contracts and concern Aramcos heavier grades, according to Bloomberg.

The extra Saudi cut looks to be working, for now, in favor of the OPEC+ producers who are desperate to see higher oil prices to patch up their budgets hit by the crash in oil prices and the economic downturn due to the pandemic. Oil prices have rallied over the past month since Saudi Arabia announced the additional 1-million-bpd cut.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
South Africa: Military Health Service to account for Heberon procurement

The Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans has invited the South African Military Health Service to account for R260.59 million spent by the Department of Defence to procure Heberon, which contains the active ingredient interferon alpha 2b.

Chairperson of the committee, Cyril Xaba, said the committee is seriously concerned by the lack of planning and disregard for regulatory rules and regulations in the procurement of Heberon, which reportedly confers protection against COVID-19.

To say we are shocked is an understatement and we need accountability on how such large consignments could be procured outside of the rules and regulations set out to ensure safety, transparency and good governance, and that there was value for money, said Xaba.

As a result, the committee has resolved to invite the Chief of the South African Military Health Service Surgeon-General, Lieutenant-General Zola Dabula; Chief Financial Officer, Siphiwe Sokhela; Chief of Logistics, Lieutenant-General Jabulani Mbuli, and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) to further understand the reasons behind the procurement of Heberon.

On Wednesday, the committee received a special audit report on the financial management of COVID-19 funds by the Department of Defence from the Auditor-General.

The audit report highlighted shortcomings, including non-submission of information, which resulted in a number of audit limitations and inadequate planning for the procurement of Heberon, without indication of how the department determined the required quantities.

The report also highlighted lack of evidence of SAHPRAs prior approval for the importation of Heberon, and no post-importation testing and breach of cold-chain requirements, which resulted in approximately 40% of vials integrity being possibly compromised.

This, according to the committee, is an indictment on the departments procurement processes. It said those responsible must be held accountable for the lapse.

The committee said it was unacceptable that the contract used during procurement did not specify the quantity of Heberon required and was only signed after the first delivery had taken place.

These discrepancies are the reasons we must investigate further to get to the bottom of the matter. The committee concerns are in the context of ensuring good governance and prudent spending of taxpayers resources, especially in a department that perpetually complains about inadequate financial resources, Xaba said.

No discrepancies in allowances paid to force members

Meanwhile, the committee welcomed the findings that there were no discrepancies in relation to the allowances paid to the deployed forces (regular and reserve members), as well as the salaries of reserve force members for the period 1 April to 31 July 2020.

The committee also welcomed the audit of the Wuhan repatriation mission, which focused on reviewing the procurement process for the flight, and the recording of the related costs in the department's books, which identified no significant findings.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
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The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The Kingdom of Bahrain will today join the other nations of the world in celebrating the International Day of Human Fraternity, which falls on the 4th of February every year.

The Council of Representatives Human Rights Committee issued a statement, paying tribute to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for his wise approach in turning human values into a culture in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The International Day of Human Fraternity coincides with the old Interfaith Harmony Week is an annual event observed during the first week of February which was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2010.

The committee hailed Bahrains pioneering humanitarian initiatives in light of the comprehensive national development march led by HM the King.

It cited the inauguration of many projects and programmes that have contributed to the consolidation of the values of coexistence, tolerance, love, brotherhood, peace, harmony, dialogue, respect for pluralism and cultural and intellectual diversity.

It pointed the inauguration of the King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Coexistence, King Hamad Centre for Cyber Peace, King Hamad's chair in interfaith dialogue and peaceful coexistence at the Sapienza University of Rome and The Kingdom of Bahrains Declaration to consolidate religious liberties

The committee said that the international celebration followed a project which was submitted by the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Arab Republic of Egypt and other countries.

It saluted the efforts of the Government, chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister to consolidate human values in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the beacon of tolerance, coexistence, peace, harmony and fraternity.

The committee hailed Bahrains humanitarian approach in combating the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, stressing efforts to enforce mandatory precautionary measures and health protocols, providing all necessary support and delivering COVID-19 tests and vaccination for all citizens and residents. .

It commended the efforts of Team Bahrain, led by HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister to protect citizens and residents health and safety.
Canada announces new restrictions for travellers Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has introduced stricter measures to control COVID-19 risks in Canada. Alexandra Miekus Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Canadas government is imposing new COVID-19 measures for incoming travellers.

The announcement was made today by Canadas Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau and comes after several weeks of pressure from Canadian provinces to implement tougher travel restrictions.

Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing, and Air Transat are suspending all flights to sun destinations such as the Caribbean effective Sunday, January 31. The measures will be in place until April 30. Trudeau commended the leadership of these airlines in working in concert with the federal government to enact this measure.

Starting next week, international flights can only land in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto. Incoming air travellers will need to take COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test upon arrival and will need to stay in a hotel designated by the federal government at their own expense for three days while awaiting test results. Trudeau said the estimated cost of this to travellers is $2,000 Canadian. If the test result is negative, travellers will then need to quarantine at home for a total quarantine period of 14 days (three days at the hotel plus eleven days at home). Those who report a positive test result will need to stay at a designated government facility.

Thirdly, Trudeau announced that all travellers entering Canada from the U.S. land border will need to be tested upon arrival and demonstrate a negative test.

Find out if youre eligible for Canadian immigration

International travellers to Canada have recently become more of a concern, given the emergence of more infectious variants of the coronavirus, particularly in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil.

The new restrictions will be put in place to minimize travel to protect the health of Canadians, especially during the upcoming spring break.

In recent days, Prime Minister Trudeau has asked Canadians to cancel any future non-essential travel they may have planned. He also suggested the government considered a number of additional measures such as the imposition of rapid testing at airports on returning travellers and mandatory supervised quarantine at certain designated hotels at the travellers expense.

Travel to Canada from the United States and other countries has been regulated since March and is subject to monthly extensions. The current bans on foreign and U.S. non-essential travel are in effect until at least February 21, 2021.

A number of people are exempt from these travel restrictions, such as Canadian citizens, permanent residents, certain temporary foreign workers, certain international students, or immediate and extended family members of Canadians, among others.

Canada also requires every international air traveller aged five years or older to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test done within 72 hours of the travellers planned departure for Canada.

In addition to being tested, travellers coming to Canada must undergo a 14-day quarantine period. The quarantine plan must be prepared prior to arrival in Canada to specify where and how it will be carried out.

Travellers to Canada must also use the ArriveCAN app to send their information to Canadian border services officers and learn how to comply with coronavirus measures at the border. The application must be used by all incoming travellers to perform daily self-assessments to ensure that the quarantine process is completed as required.

Some Canadian provinces continue to show encouraging declines in the number of new cases and hospitalizations. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed during recent press conferences that vaccines will continue to arrive despite the threat of protectionist measures by the European Union to limit the export of doses abroad and current manufacturing delays. He reiterated today that the Canadian government is on track to ensure everyone in the country will be able to receive COVID-19 vaccination by September.

Trudeau also noted that research shows only 2 per cent of COVID-19 cases in Canada are due to incoming travellers, which is evidence of the effectiveness of travel restrictions.

Find out if youre eligible for Canadian immigration

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Somalia militant group Al-Shabaab says it laid a siege on a Mogadishu hotel because it was hosting a former military general they were targeting.

The group said on Tuesday that the primary motive of attacking Afrik Hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Sunday was to kill Maj-Gen (rtd) Mohamed Nur Galaal, a veteran of the Somali army during Siad Barre's days.

"The prime target of our assault mission on Afrik Hotel was to eliminate General Mohamed Nur Galaal," the group said in a statement.

Around 5pm on Sunday, a huge explosion was heard across the city, followed by exchange of gunfire between three attackers and the hotel's security personnel.

About 2am in the morning of Monday, the Spokesman of Somalia Police Force Sadik Adan Ali told the media that the operation to stop the attack and siege on the hotel was concluded. He said nine people died.

"The siege has been concluded and the nine persons we have witnessed as dead included the four attackers (suicide car bomber and three gunmen) and five civilians including retired General Galaal," said Ali.

Al-Shabaab said its mission to attack the hotel had achieved its aim, having killed General Galaal.

"We have been looking for General Galaal for the past 13 years," read the Al-Shabaab statement that appeared in websites like somalimemo.com.

They blamed him for contributing his experience on military operations and intelligence to the Somali National Army (SNA) to undermine the jihad (holy war) of Al-Shabaab.

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"He (Galaal) was an important person who had contributed to the rebuilding of SNA," the statement said.

The jihadist group said the retired general spent many years in the central regions of Somalia in helping the institution of Ahlu Sunna wal Jamea, a moderate Islamic group that bitterly fought Al-Shabaab, and later he assisted in the formation of Galmudug State of Somalia, one of the five Federal Member States of Somalia.

"The general greatly dedicated his time and efforts in the state-building of Galmudug State of Somalia," the statement said.

Later, various institutions in Mogadishu indicated that the death toll in Afrik Hotel's attack on Sunday/Monday had risen to 15, including a couple that was spending their honeymoon in the hotel.

General Galaal's body was taken to Masjid Isbahaysiga (Islamic Cooperation Mosque) on Monday at noon in the capital whereby Somalia Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, ministers, legislators and other citizens participated in the pre-burial prayers.

The general's body was later on Monday flown to Guri'el town, about 370 km north of Mogadishu, in Galgadud region, and buried.

At the end of their statement, the jihadists accused Gen Galaal of being responsible for the killing of Al-Shabaab co-founder Aden Hashi Farah Aero alongside other militants allegedly through American airstrikes on May 1, 2008 in Dusamareb town, Galgadud region, in Central Somalia.
The cryptocurrency Dogecoin soared by 42 per cent today after billionaire Elon Musk tweeted his approval of the virtual currency.

The Tesla founder and world's richest man proved his words had the ability to influence markets once again when he tweeted six posts on Dogecoin, including one which stated that 'Dogecoin is the people's crypto.'

Another of the tweets was a still from the Lion King movie featuring Musk's face and the Dogecoin Shiba Inu logo superimposed on two characters, and the words 'ur welcome' written above it. A third simply said: 'No highs, no lows, only Doge.'

One of Musk's tweets was a still from the Lion King movie featuring his face and the Dogecoin Shiba Inu logo superimposed on two characters, and the words 'ur welcome' written above it

Numerous companies, including GameStop, Etsy, and CD Projeckt, and digital currencies like Bitcoin have seen their value rise following a tweet by the billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk

It is the third time in recent months that the South African-born tycoon has caused the price of the digital currency to shoot up in value with his tweets.

In a December post, he derided Bitcoin as 'BS' and wrote the sentence 'One word: Doge.'

Its price subsequently rose almost 20 per cent while it skyrocketed by 420 per cent in late January after he tweeted a photo of a dog on a magazine cover.

The digital currency's price has gone up by 147.5 per cent in the last seven days, which is the largest percentage growth among the world's top 25 digital currencies.

Dogecoin's price has rocketed since the start of the year but fell back sharply recently before bouncing back again

Musk's first post on Dogecoin was the first of six that caused the currency's value to rise

A single coin is still only worth $0.04265, but the currency's market capitalisation has now surpassed $5.4billion according to crypto data site Coinpaprika.

Dogecoin was initially started as a satirical critique of the 2013 crypto frenzy by two software engineers, but it can be bought and sold on digital currency exchanges.

It regularly makes a comeback during viral crypto rallies, with individuals promoting it on social media. Last week, it jumped when Carole Baskin, one of the stars of Netflix Inc's 'Tiger King' talked about it in a video online.

Musk proved his tweets had the ability to influence markets once again when he made six posts on Dogecoin, including one which stated that 'Dogecoin is the people's crypto'

Musk's intervention comes after he sent the price of Bitcoin soaring on Monday when he declared it 'a good thing' in an interview and changed his biography on Twitter to say '#bitcoin.'

A week ago, a tweet by him about video game retailer Gamestop set off a stock market frenzy for the firm as its share price rose rapidly and some short sellers lost billions.

Tweeting 'Gamestonk!!,' a portmanteau of Gamestop and 'stonks,' a slang term for stocks, together with a link to the WallStreetBets Reddit thread, Musk created a rush for shares in the loss-making merchandise seller.

A few days later, Musk seemed to prompt another stock market boost for video game developer CD Projekt when he said Tesla's Model S Plaid car could play their game Cyberpunk.

An Elon Musk tweet last week prompted a stock market frenzy for video game retailer Gamestop as its share price rose rapidly and some short sellers lost billions

Other companies to have received a boost from a Musk tweet include the e-commerce website Etsy, and the Texan healthcare firm Signal Advance when the entrepreneur told his followers to 'Use Signal,' the messaging app.

Meanwhile, Ethereum hit a new record of $1,684.23 today and is now worth over 720 per cent more than at the same point in 2020. Investors are buying up the currency before ethereum futures launch on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange next week.

Simon Peter, a cryptoasset analyst at multi-asset investment platform eToro, believes the world's second most valuable currency could reach $2,500 by the end of 2021.

He added: 'Ethereum is in such high demand because the asset is undergoing changes to make it even more decentralised, and even more secure, and this is attracting buyers from both the institutional and retail world.

'While it has been volatile so far in 2021, it is nonetheless seeing higher highs, as well as higher lows, and we expect it will continue to prove the doubters wrong.'
Stratovolcano 5426 m / 17,802 ftCentral Mexico, 19.02N / -98.62W(4 out of 5)1345-47, 1354, 1363(?), 1488, 1504, 1509(?), 1512, 1518, 1519-23(?), 1528, 1530, 1539-40, 1542, 1548, 1571, 1580, 1590, 1592-94, 1642, 1663-65, 1666-67, 1697, 1720, 1802-04, 1827(?), 1834(?), 1852(?), 1919-22, 1923-24, 1925-27(?), 1933, 1942-43, 1947, 1994-95, 1996-2003, 2004-ongoingDominantly explosive, construction of lava domes. Plinian eruptions at intervals of several centuries or few thousands of years, vulcanian and strombolian activity in intermittent phases.(tour to see the ongoing eruption of Mexico's most active volcano)

If you havn't done it yet,to get one of the fastest volcano news online:

Volcan Popocatepetl, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, towers to 5426 m 70 km SE of Mexico City to form North America's 2nd-highest volcano. The glacier-clad stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, 250-450 m deep crater. The generally symmetrical volcano is modified by the sharp-peaked Ventorrillo on the NW, a remnant of an earlier volcano. At least three previous major cones were destroyed by gravitational failure during the Pleistocene, producing massive debris-avalanche deposits covering broad areas south of the volcano. The modern volcano was constructed to the south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone. Three major plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 AD, have occurred from Popocatepetl since the mid Holocene, accompanied by pyroclastic flows and voluminous lahars that swept basins below the volcano. Frequent historical eruptions, first recorded in Aztec codices, have occurred since precolumbian time.

A significant change in activity has occurred since the last update (21 January 21) as we reported ongoing elevated tremor that started at the end of December 2020. ...

A strong earthquake swarm and increased inflation were detected in August 2015 and triggered authorities to raise the alert level, as volcanologists think that a larger eruption could follow. News and updates on the events can be found on this page.

Italy - the cradle of volcanology. Browse through various photo galleries mainly from its numerous volcanic areas - from Naples to Etna and the Eolian Islands and more.

We're proud to present our new volcano calendar 2015: 13 different and attractive images of volcanoes, volcanic landscapes and phenomena taken during volcano tours over the past few years.

The Canary islands boast spectacular scenery, wild nature, great culture and gorgeous cuisine. Get to know 4 jewels on one tour: Lanzarote, La Palma, El Hierro, and Tenerife., and discover some world-class geology with an expert!

This is one of our most exciting volcano tours! Halmahera, North Sulawesi and the Sangihe Islands are not only very scenic and interesting as well as nearly unspoiled by tourism, but also home to some of the country's most active (and often erupting) volcanoes, inclduing Dukono, Ibu, Lokon, Soputan and Karangetang.

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We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world. Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources.We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team. We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated. If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please PayPal or Online credit card payment )., these features have been added recently:

Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, 28 January 2021 - African leaders and representatives from the development community, civil society and private sector came together on Thursday for a symposium to celebrate two decades of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a flagship programme of the African Union.

Participants commended the African Development Bank highly for its role in financing infrastructure and agricultural programs on the continent.





NEPAD has endured multiple global crises since its inception, the most recent being the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The organization was relaunched as the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) in 2018, which participants noted was a turning point in its evolution.



South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chairperson of the African Union, said: "The coronavirus pandemic has had a severe impact on African economies, on public health and indeed the African Union itself. It has served as a stark reminder of our global interconnectedness because, in the end, what affects one, affects us all."



Ramaphosa added that it was more critical than ever that countries increase collaboration, in particular as they undertake the "massive task" of procuring and distributing vaccines.



Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Chairperson of AUDA-NEPAD's Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee, urged member states to honour their commitments to the institution.





"NEPAD's track record makes it the ideal institution to implement Agenda 2063 on behalf of the African Union," President Kagame said via recorded message. "I call on member states to continue supporting the multiple partnerships that AUDA-NEPAD has developed."



Kagame singled out AUDA-NEPAD's agreement with the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat as being of particular importance. He said: "Honoring our statutory commitments as member states is not only our duty. It is good value for money."



During a presidential dialogue, African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina said that over the past 20 years, the Bank's strategies had been designed with NEPAD in mind.





"The Bank's support has spanned many areas, such as regional integration, agriculture, trade, infrastructure, education, knowledge and the environment," Adesina said.



The African Development Bank President cited the Bank's key role in the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), including financing of US$9 million for capacity building and technical assistance. "The African Development Bank stands fully ready to continue to provide strong support and to help to mobilize a lot more support for AUDA-NEPAD as you continue your new strategy, and of course the African Union Commission. Together we will achieve the Africa we want, better and much faster," Adesina said.





Two of the founding fathers of NEPAD, former South African president Thabo Mbeki and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, recalled the genesis of the institution in 1963 as a platform to lobby for independence, as well as its rebirth in 2002 as the African Union, with NEPAD as its economic blueprint as development took center stage.



Outgoing AUDA-NEPAD chief executive Ibrahim Hassane Mayaki said the African Development Bank had supported the agency from the start and was its prime financier of infrastructure projects. He listed three challenges confronting his agency, namely resource mobilization, human resources constraints and its interactions with regional economic communities.



"Our challenge will evidently be resource mobilization, but we have built, thanks to the support of all our partners, a certain level of credibility which can allow us to implement that element of our mandate, which is called full resource mobilization," Mayaki said.









Source: Graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Oxford University announced on Thursday it will launch a medical trial alternating doses of Covid-19 vaccines created by different manufacturers, the first study of its kind.

The trial will show whether different Covid doses -- those created by the Astrazeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech pharmaceutical companies -- can be used interchangeably to allow greater flexibility in pressured vaccine delivery schedules.

The British government's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, said the trial would offer "greater insight" into the use of vaccines against Covid.

"Given the inevitable challenges of immunising large numbers of the population against Covid-19 and potential global supply constraints, there are definite advantages to having data that could support a more flexible immunisation programme," Van-Tam said.

"It is also even possible that by combining vaccines, the immune response could be enhanced giving even higher antibody levels that last longer," he added.

The 13-month study will compare different combinations of prime and booster doses of the Astrazeneca and Pfizer vaccines at intervals of four and 12 weeks.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

Britain, the first western nation to launch its vaccination programme, has bucked the international trend by administering vaccines at an interval of 12 weeks in a bid to give a first dose of the vaccine to more individuals.

Professor Matthew Snape from Oxford University called the study "extremely exciting", adding that it would provide "information vital to the roll out of vaccines in the UK and globally".

If the study shows positive results, Britain's independent medicines regulator would formally assess the safety and efficacy of any new vaccination regimen before it is rolled out to patients.

Disagreements between the UK and the European Union over vaccine supplies have boiled over in recent weeks with Brussels moving to restrict vaccine exports to Northern Ireland on Thursday before the plans were abandoned in a swift U-turn.

In the following days, EU member states and the European Commission have continued to criticise the English-Swedish drugs manufacturer AstraZeneca over slow vaccine delivery and the efficacy of the jab has also been called into question.

On Wednesday, the British government seized on a separate study that said the AstraZeneca vaccine -- which was developed in partnership with Oxford University -- significantly reduces virus transmission and is highly protective after a single dose.

AstraZeneca and Oxford University said on Wednesday vaccines against new developing coronavirus variants should be ready by October.

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opinion

The world seems to be fully 'smartified', from smartphones, smart fridges to smart houses and cars that are smart. Connected, intelligent and technology driven products and services are at the very basis of our society. To such an extent that being a 'smart society' is at the root of enabling socio-economic growth and future success for businesses, organisations and without overexaggerating for countries and continents. This is how the idea of a 'Smart Africa' went from merely a concept to a reality with thirty African nations signed up in the last seven years. All focused on transforming Africa into a single digital market.

A bold initiative and goal to say the least, but the thirty countries that have signed up stretch from north to southern Africa and from east to western Africa, with full and complete commitments from their heads of state. His excellency Paul Kagame of Rwanda put it simply as; "The creation of Smart Africa is a testimony of our resolve to put in place the right policy and regulatory environment that will encourage partnerships, entrepreneurship, job creation and knowledge sharing. Our move towards an ICT and knowledge driven economy together intends to increase Africa's competitiveness in the global economy. ICTs have the ability to level the global playing field, unlock human capital and harness its full potential." As the Managing Director of a Namibian ICT-Company, this statement fills me with joy and optimism for the future of Africa and for Namibia.

Even though Namibia has not signed up yet to the Smart Africa, Namibia is committed to becoming a knowledge-based society by 2030 and it's National development Plans as well as the Harambee Prosperity plan have all been focused and invested in achieving this. Signing up to Smart Africa would and could unleash an even greater potential for development, one that is firmly future-focused.

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The Smart Africa initiative cannot be driven and promoted by the governments alone, there must be a full commitment from organisations across the board in a country.

This includes private companies, to make it a success for the countries that have signed up and for those that will still sign up. Namibia could use Smart Africa as a catalyst to transform itself and become part of a single digital market. It almost sounds far-fetched, it really isn't though. There are thirty countries including our neighbours; Angola, South Africa and Zambia that have already signed up, with their Presidents and governments championing this vision and change.

Knowing Namibia's desire to develop itself, it is my firm belief that we will want and need to be part of having interconnectivity cross-borders and embrace digital transformation in all its forms in all sectors of the economy and society to encourage and ensure constant and continued social-economic development. Not only hitching Namibia's wagon to Smart Africa but becoming one of the drivers for change and transformation and propel our continent towards a knowledge-based economy and society. With Namibia becoming the best and brightest on the continent by working together and embracing Smart Africa's mission and vision.

*Llewellyn le Hane is a Director at Green Enterprise Solution
The United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday announced that it has entered an agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for a long-term supply of up to 1.1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to around 100 countries. UNICEF said that the deal would allow the agency to access over 1 billion doses of vaccines for approximately $3 a dose that will be distributed worldwide to low- and middle-income countries. The deal is part of the COVAX programme that is being run by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

Read: Govt Places Second Purchase Order With SII For 1 Crore Doses Of Covishield

Serum Institute of India will supply over 1 billion doses of vaccines that are currently being developed by the pharmaceutical giant in India following the transfer of technology from AstraZeneca and Novavax. Serum Institute of India is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer in terms of the sheer volume that it produces each year.

Read: Serum Institute Seeks Permit To Conduct Bridging Trial Of Novavax COVID Vaccine In India

"And we have some good news in that regard. Today we are pleased to announce the conclusion of a long-term supply agreement with the Serum Institute of India for covid-19 vaccines, to access two vaccine products through technology transfer from AstraZeneca and NOVAVAX. UNICEF, along with our procurement partners including PAHO, will have access to up to 1.1 billion doses of vaccines for around 100 countries, for approximately $3 a dose for the low- and middle-income countries," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said during a briefing on COVAX.

Read: 'Hope To Launch COVOVAX By June 2021': SII's Adar Poonawalla Announces 2nd Covid Vaccine

India to give 1 million doses to UN

Last week, the External Affairs Ministry announced that India is planning to give 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the United Nations as part of the COVAX initiative. India also said it will gift 10 million doses to Africa. India has gifted over 55 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines to its neighbouring countries so far, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles, and Mauritius. India is also planning to commercially sell the COVID-19 vaccines to Saudi Arabia, Canada, and other countries.

Read: SII CEO Adar Poonawalla Takes Shot Of COVISHIELD Vaccine, Says 'to Endorse Its Safety'

(Image Credit: AP)


Planned is a 5,000 metres program to follow up historical holes to confirm high grades, to carry out infill and step-out drilling, and to conduct modern down-hole surveys

District Metals Corp ( ) (OTCMKTS:MKVNF) (FRA:DFPP) expects to start drilling at its advanced stage polymetallic Tomtebo property in Sweden in late February or early March this year after it received all the necessary permits, along with news it has a new finance chief.

Planned is a 5,000 metres (m) program to follow up historical holes to confirm high grades, to carry out infill and step-out drilling, and to conduct modern down-hole surveys.

"The permitting process for our drill program at Tomtebo went exceptionally well with many thanks to GeoVista AB," said Garrett Ainsworth, the CEO of District Metals in a statement.

"Since closing the acquisition of the Tomtebo property in mid-2020 we have applied a rigorous modern systematic approach to exploration, which has developed some of the most exciting drill targets I have seen in my career.

"Over the last six months, we have obtained positive geophysical, geochemical, and geological data that has been combined with historic data from the former Tomtebo Mine, which shows strong potential for the presence of a large high-grade polymetallic mineralized system. It has been over half a century since the former Tomtebo Mine has seen any material drilling, and we are keen to apply today's knowledge to unlock Tomtebo's full potential."

The drill program will target the Oscarsgruvan zone, Steffenburgs zone, the Gardsgruvans zone, and the Gamla Gruvans zone.

Also in the statement, the group said it had appointed Marlis Yassin as its new chief financial officer with effect from today.

Gavin Cooper has been in the role since 2017 and will continue to work with District as a consultant.

Yassin has over 15 years' experience working with companies in various sectors, including mining, technology, and industrial products and Ainsworth said she has been providing consulting services to the company, which was looking forward to working even more closely with her.

Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com
A medical worker shows a dose of China's COVID-19 vaccine in Hyderabad, Pakistan, Feb. 3, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- China has decided to provide 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to COVAX to meet the urgent needs of developing countries, at the request of the World Health Organization (WHO), a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

"This is another important measure taken by China to promote the equitable distribution of vaccines, advance international cooperation in fighting the pandemic, and uphold the concept of a global community of health for all," spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily press briefing.

Noting that the WHO has begun to review the emergency use authorization of China's vaccine, Wang pledged the continued cooperation of Chinese enterprises and expressed hope that the WHO would complete this work as soon as possible.

A handover ceremony of a batch of China-donated COVID-19 vaccine is held at Noor Khan Air Base near Islamabad, Pakistan, Feb. 1, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Tian)

"We hope that capable countries in the international community can play an active role and take concrete actions to support COVAX as well as the WHO's work, so as to help developing countries receive vaccines in time and contribute to the global defeat of the pandemic at an early date," he said.

China has officially joined COVAX and maintained close communication with the WHO, Wang said, vowing to make joint efforts to turn COVID-19 vaccines into global public goods and promote the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries.

China signed an agreement with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, officially joining COVAX on Oct. 8, 2020.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

A 'stressed' mother has pleaded guilty to beating her toddler son with a coat hanger, claiming she was unaware her punishment was illegal.

The mother-of-two repeatedly hit her three-year-old on the leg with a plastic coat hanger to discipline him late last year, the Pine Rivers Magistrate Court in Brisbane heard on Wednesday.

The mother pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm, telling the court she was unaware hitting her child was illegal due to cultural differences.

A woman has pleaded guilty to assaulting her three-year-old son with a coat hanger (pictured: stock image)

The 'stressed' mother disciplined her child by hitting him repeatedly on the leg with a plastic coat hanger (pictured: stock image of plastic coat hanger)

When the woman brought her son to day care, she notified workers of the red marks and explained he'd been acting up, making her late for work.

The mother told Magistrate Melanie Ho that her own upbringing in Malaysia subjected her to a 'strict environment', the Courier Mail reported.

She said being 'locked in a room and disciplined with a clothes hanger' was considered normal practice.

Ms Ho said she was confident the busy working mother would not reoffend, as she 'didn't know this was not acceptable in Australia'.

Police prosecutor sergeant Graham Turner, said the mother's actions were considered as 'excessive domestic discipline', rather than an abusive parent.

She had no criminal history.

The woman has now signed up for a Triple P Positive Parenting course and was sentenced to a 12 month $1,000 good behaviour bond.
By Jonathan Cook

February 03, 2021 " Information Clearing House " - With none of the usual fanfare associated with such a momentous decision, the Pentagon announced last month a major reorganisation to bring Israel - for the first time - inside its military command in the Middle East alongside the Arab states.

Until now, Israel has belonged to the US militarys European command, or Eucom, rather than the Middle Eastern one, known as Central Command, or Centcom. The decision effectively jettisoned the traditional wisdom that Israels inclusion in Centcom would increase friction between the US and Arab states, and would make the latter more reluctant to share intelligence or cooperate with the Pentagon.

Those concerns were felt especially keenly when the US had large numbers of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Back in 2010, David Petraeus, then Centcoms commander, expressed fears that the price of too-overt military collusion with Israel could be exacted on US forces stationed in the region.

But Israels long-standing goal has been to force the Pentagon to restructure Centcom, and pressure had mounted from pro-Israel lobby groups in Washington in the final months of the Trump administration. The decision looked very much like a "parting gift" to Israel from President Donald Trump as he stepped down.

Military 'normalisation'

Israels formal transfer to Centcom has not yet taken place, but the move was cemented last week with the first visit to Israel by General Kenneth McKenzie, the current head of Centcom, since Joe Biden entered the White House. Alongside Israels military chief of staff, Aviv Kohavi, McKenzie planted a tree - officially to mark the Jewish holiday of Tu Bishvat but symbolically representing a new era in their strategic partnership.

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On Friday, after a meeting with the US general, Benny Gantz, Israels defence minister, issued a statement praising the Pentagons reorganisation, saying it would "afford Israel opportunity to deepen cooperation with new regional partners and broaden operative horizons".

The decision to bring Israel inside the US military command in the Middle East is best viewed - from Washingtons perspective - as the culmination of efforts to push the Arab states into public "normalisation" with Israel.

Military normalisation can now be added to the political, diplomatic and economic normalisation that formally began last September when two Gulf states, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, signed the so-called Abraham Accords with Israel. Morocco and Sudan have also announced their own peace deals with Israel, and other Arab states are likely to follow suit once the dust settles with the incoming Biden administration.

Since the signing of the Abraham Accords, the UAE has been forging strong trading ties with Israel and has helped to establish the Abraham Fund, designed to finance the infrastructure of occupation Israel has used to deprive the Palestinians of statehood. When flights to Dubai were launched in November, Israeli tourists poured into the UAE to take advantage of the new friendly relations and escape lockdown restrictions back home.

In fact, it is widely reported that such visits have become one of the main ways Israel has imported new variants of Covid-19. Last week, Israel effectively closed its borders - except to General McKenzie - to keep the virus in check.

Growing confidence

On the face of it, Israels desire to move into Centcom - a kind of Middle East Nato covering several Arab states with which Israel still has hostile relations - appears counter-intuitive. But, in fact, Israel will make major strategic gains.

It will align US security interests in the region even more closely with Israels, at the expense of its Arab neighbours. It will aid Israels continuing efforts to crush the national ambitions of the Palestinians, with many Arab states either explicit or implicit cooperation. It will accentuate political tensions within the bloc of Arab states, further weakening it. And it will help to build pressure on recalcitrant Arab states to join the broader consensus against Israels one remaining significant regional foe: Iran.

It is significant that Washingtons long-standing concern about Israels presence in Centcom damaging US relations with the Arab states has apparently evaporated.

Once, the US was careful to distance itself from Israel whenever the Pentagon got deeply mired in the region, whether it was the US Gulf war of 1990 or the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. Those calculations no longer seem relevant.

The move demonstrates a growing US confidence that the Arab states - at least those that matter to Washington - are unperturbed about being seen to make a military accommodation with Israel, in addition to political and economic engagement. It underscores the fact that the oil-rich Gulf states, alongside Israel, are now the key drivers of US foreign policy in the region and suggests that the most important, Saudi Arabia, is waiting for the right moment to sign its own accord with Israel.

Move out of the shadows

Israel, it is expected, will continue to conduct military exercises in Europe with Nato countries, but will soon be able to build similar direct relations with Arab armies, especially those being rapidly expanded and professionalised in the Gulf using its oil wealth.

It is likely that Israeli officers will soon move out of the shadows and publicly train and advise the UAE and Saudi armies as part of their joint roles in Centcom. Israels particular expertise, drawing on decades of surveilling, controlling and oppressing Palestinians, will be highly sought after in Gulf states fearful of internal dissent or uprisings.

As the Israeli scholar Jeff Halper has noted, Israel has shown how effective it is at translating its military and security ties with armies and police forces around the world into diplomatic support in international bodies.

The Middle East is not likely to be different. Once Israel has become the linchpin of more professionalised armies in the region, those states dependent on its help can be expected to further abandon the Palestinian cause.

Regional divide-and-rule

Another dividend for Israel will be complicating Washingtons relations with the Arab region.

Not only does Centcom operate major bases in the Gulf, especially in Bahrain and Qatar, but it leads the proclaimed "war on terror", with overt or covert operations in several Arab states, including Iraq and Syria.

It will be harder for the US to disentangle itself from Israels own openly belligerent operations, including air strikes, in both countries, that are conducted in flagrant violation of international law. Tensions between the US and Baghdad have in the past escalated over Israeli air strikes in Iraq, with threats to limit US access to Iraqi airspace.

With Israel inside Centcom, the US and its most favoured Arab states are also likely to be more directly implicated in Israels major military operations against the Palestinians, such as the repeated "wars" on Gaza.

This will pose a significant challenge to the regions cooperative institutions such as the Arab League. It is almost certain to drive an even deeper wedge between pro-Washington Arab states and those accused of being on the wrong side of the "war on terror".

The result could be a regional divide-and-rule policy cultivated by Israel that mirrors the decades-long, disabling divisions Israel has generated in the Palestinian leadership, most pronounced in the split between Fatah and Hamas.

Anti-Iran front

The biggest bonus for Israel will be a more formal alliance with Arab states against Iran and shepherding more ambivalent states into Israels orbit.

That appears to have been the purpose of the recently well-publicised reconciliation between the UAE and Saudis on one side and Qatar on the other, achieved in the dying days of the Trump administration. One of the chief causes of the lengthy blockade of Qatar related to its insistence on maintaining political and economic ties with Tehran.

Israels aim is to force the Biden administrations hand in continuing Trumps belligerent anti-Iran policy, which included aggressive sanctions, assassinations and tearing up the 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran signed by Barack Obama. That deal had given inspectors access to Iran to ensure it did not develop a nuclear bomb that might neutralise the strategic clout Israel gains from its nuclear arsenal.

Inside Centcom, Israel will be able to work more closely with Gulf allies to sabotage any efforts inside Washington to revive the nuclear accord with Tehran. That point was underscored last week when an online security conference, hosted by Tel Aviv University, was attended by two Gulf ministers.

At the conference, Kochavi, Israels military chief of staff, issued an unprecedented public rebuke to Biden over recent statements that he wished to revive the nuclear deal. Kochavi called the agreement "bad and wrong strategically and operatively", claimed that Iran would launch nuclear missiles at Israel once it had them, and declared that a go-it-alone attack by Israel "must be on the table".

Bahrains foreign minister, Abdullatif al-Zayani, observed that Israel and the Gulf states would have a better chance of preventing any US conciliation towards Iran if they spoke in a "unified voice". He added: "A joint regional position on these issues will exert greater influence on the United States."

That view was echoed by Anwar Gargash, the UAEs foreign affairs minister.

Middle East bogeyman

In a sign of how the Biden administration is already fearful of taking on a broad Middle Eastern alliance against Iran, the new presidents pick for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said last month it was "vitally important" to consult with Israel and the Gulf states before re-entering the deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, desperate to bolster his electoral fortunes and deflect attention from his looming corruption trial, has every incentive to prise open that chink.

Ensuring Iran remains the Middle Easts number one bogeyman - the focus of western hostility - is in the joint interests of an Israel that has no intention of ending its decades-old obstruction of Palestinian statehood and of Gulf states that have no intention of ending their own human rights abuses and promotion of Islamic discord.

Mike Pompeo, Trumps departing secretary of state, planted a landmine last month designed to serve Israeli and Saudi interests by highlighting the fact that a number of al-Qaeda leaders have found shelter in Iran. That echoed the Bush administrations - in this case, entirely fanciful - claim of ties between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein as a pretext, along with non-existent WMD, for the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003.

With Israels arrival in Centcom, the lobbying for a repeat of that catastrophic blunder can only grow - and with it, the prospects for renewed conflagration in the Middle East.
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C&A Selects Centric PLM as their Strategic Foundation for Digital Innovation The pandemic not only greatly increased our digital channel sales and made it much more relevant, but it also accelerated the digital transformation of the company as a whole.

In order to continue its digital transformation, C&A, one of the largest fashion retail chains in the world, with more than 1,800 units in 24 countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia, has selected Centric Software's Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution in Brazil. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury and consumer goods companies to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Founded in 1841 and with operations in Brazil since 1976, the retailer has around 300 stores in 125 cities across the country. According to the prestigious newspaper Valor Economico, C&A is among the 200 largest companies with operations in Brazil, in addition to being recognized as one of the most admired brands in the Textile Retail category in journals like O Globo and O Estado de S. Paulo among others. The company is also widely recognized for its sustainable initiatives and bold communication, with its famous signature Muito Eu. C&A had planned to implement PLM for approximately 2 years. In light of the pandemic, the company needed to urgently transform itself, with teams doing all product development work remotely.

The pandemic not only greatly increased our digital channel sales and made it much more relevant, but it also accelerated the digital transformation of the company as a whole. And, with that, we needed more assortments, more new models; it was in this context that we decided to leverage PLM, explains Joao Souza, Head of Sourcing for the Womens Department of C&A Brazil.

Our product development was very centered around each designer and emails with suppliers but with no real strategic organization. PLM will help make this process more efficient and streamline supplier management. It'll cover our end-to-end supply chain, from the first stage of initial product design to market launch.

C&A has undergone a major transformation and is currently poised for extraordinary innovation in Brazil. Says Souza, We were deciding between developing an internal PLM or looking for a tool already available on the market. When we spoke to Centric, we realized that opting for their off the shelf solution would greatly accelerate our transformation process. And as we have invested a lot in technology innovations, we were looking for a partner who can match our pacea market leader. That's why we decided to make the investment and partner with Centric which will result in a faster implementation, attributes that are ready-to-use out of the box and a quick time to value.

This partnership with Centric is very important and strategic, so we can transform the company's coreproduct development. We couldn't have chosen a better partner: we needed a supplier that had relevance in the market and a high level of sophistication. Our two very successful companies will both benefit from the partnership in the coming years.

We are very pleased to announce that C&A has chosen Centric as a PLM partner, says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. C&A is a reference in fashion and retail trends worldwide and will now enable teams in Brazil to collaborate digitally, maximizing communication, speed and efficiency in product development. We are excited to be part of this milestone in the region.

Learn more about Centric Fashion PLM

Request a Demo

C&A (http://www.cea.com.br)

C&A is a fashion company focused on experiences that go beyond clothing. Founded in 1841 by the brothers Clemens and August in the Netherlands, C&A understands and defends fashion as one of the most fundamental channels for connecting people with themselves and with everyone around them. Therefore, it puts their customers at the center of the strategy. Being one of the largest fashion retailers in the world, C&A arrived in Brazil in 1976 when it opened its first store at the Ibirapuera mall, in Sao Paulo (SP). Currently, the company operates more than 280 stores nationwide, in addition to E-commerce. Listed on the Brazilian stock exchange (B3) since October 2019, C&A is a pioneer in several innovations in its segment, offering digital and omnichannel services and solutions, aiming to expand the customer on and offline experience. C&A has around 15,000 employees across the country and is present in the lives of one million customers each day. The company stands out for offering young, innovative, diverse and inclusive fashion for women, men and children in addition to the line of fashiontronics productsa wide variety of mobile phones, smartphones and tabletsand Galeria C&A, a marketplace that sells decorative items, pet items, jewelry, among other segments. We invite you to learn more about C&A at saladeimprensa.cea.com.br.
Cheyenne, WY (82001)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Low 43F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Low 43F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Two medical workers perform contact tracing in Hai Duong Province, February 4, 2021. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Health.

Vietnam confirmed nine more Covid-19 community transmissions Thursday evening in Hanoi and four provinces.

Hanoi, the northern Hai Duong Province and the southern Binh Duong recorded one case each, the northern Quang Ninh had two and Gia Lai in the Central Highlands had four, the Ministry of Health said..

The new patients, 1949-1957, are associated with confirmed coronavirus cases in Hai Duong, currently the biggest Covid-19 hotspot in the country with 278 cases.

Also Thursday afternoon, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and the health ministry has allowed mass Covid-19 testing in Quang Ninh's Ha Long and Dong Trieu Towns, following a proposal by the provincial Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Xuan Ky.

The province, which has recorded 44 community cases over the past week, will be supported with test kits, protective suits and other items for the Covid-19 fight, said deputy health minister Truong Quoc Cuong.

As of Thursday evening, Quang Ninh had tracked down over 81,690 people who have either had direct or indirect contact with confirmed coronavirus cases. Of these, over 49,000 are in Dong Trieu Town.

Since Jan. 28, Vietnam has recorded 375 Covid-19 community transmissions in the third wave which was sweeping through the nation just before the Lunar New Year Festival. New infections have been observed in 10 cities and provinces so far: Hai Duong, Quang Ninh, Hanoi, Gia Lai, Binh Duong, Bac Ninh, Hoa Binh, HCMC, Hai Phong and Bac Giang.

The current national tally of 1,957 includes 35 deaths. Over 65,000 people are quarantined in hospitals, centralized facilities, homes or other designated accommodations.

Iron nails studded on roads at Ghazipur border to restrict the movement of farmers agitating against the new agri laws are being "repositioned", a senior police officer said on Thursday. The statement comes after videos and photos of workers removing the nails near Ghazipur border surfaced on social media.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Deepak Yadav asserted that the security arrangements at the border will remain the same. "Videos and photos are getting circulated in which it is shown that nails are being taken off at Ghazipur. These are just being repositioned. Security arrangement at the border remains the same," he said.

Security arrangements continue to be strengthened at Ghazipur border, days after Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait's emotional appeal had galvanised farmers from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to flock to the Delhi-UP border.

Drones have also been deployed to monitor the protesters. Farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have been camping at Delhi's borders for weeks, seeking a repeal of the three agriculture laws.

They claim that the new laws will weaken the minimum support price (MSP) system. But the Centre says the laws will only give farmers more options to sell their produce.

Delhi witnessed violence on Republic Day during the farmers' tractor rally called to highlight their demand for repeal of the Centre's three farm laws. Deviating from the designated route for the tractor parade, some protesting farmers clashed with police and reached the historic Red Fort and hoisted flags from some domes as well as the flagpole there.

Ugandan academic cum political activist, Dr Stella Nyanzi, has fled to Nairobi, Kenya.

This was confirmed by her lawyer, Prof George Luchiri Wajackoyah, who cited political persecution by President Yoweri Museveni's government for the move.

Dr Nyanzi, a former research fellow at Makerere University who ran for Kampala Woman MP seat in last month's general election, arrived in Nairobi by bus on Saturday.

Prof Wajackoyah, in an interview, said she is seeking political asylum in Kenya.

"The abductions and detentions of political actors were getting closer to me, my children have been targets of police trailing, I just left prison in February last year and I don't want to go back," Dr Nyanzi told Nation.Africa in a telephone interview.

She crossed the Uganda-Kenya border "in disguise" to avoid detection by security agents.

Her children are also "in a safe house" in Nairobi.

The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) candidate came third in the January 14, 2021 parliamentary elections won by National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate, Shamim Malende.

President Museveni, who has been in power for 35 years, was declared winner of the bitterly contested polls.

Opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, who termed the polls as fraudulent, spent 11 days under house arrest after the elections before the High Court ordered security forces to withdraw from his home.

He has filed a petition in the country's Supreme Court, seeking cancellation of the results.

Across the border, Tanzanian ex-MP Godbless Lema fled to Kenya with his family to escape what he termed as threats to his life, before Canada granted him asylum.

Tanzania opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who rejected the results, is also in asylum in Belgium.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Blakelee Sands called Edmond police to the bar on the 1100 block of South Broadway, telling them that the bar took her fake ID

An 18-year-old Oklahoma woman was arrested Tuesday night after she called police hoping to get her fake ID retrieved from a bar that confiscated it.

Blakelee Sands called Edmond police to the bar on the 1100 block of South Broadway, telling them that the bar took her fake ID.

Responding officers retrieved the Texas ID, which had the name 'McKamie Queen,' Fox 25 reports.

Sands explained to the cops that she was the person named on the identification, adding that the bar didn't believe her.

But officers running the Texas ID license number determined that it belonged to a Robert Sanchez.

When further questioned, Sands is said to have told officers that she did not believe she would be caught.

Sands was taken into custody and was booked at the Edmond City Jail.

She has been charged with presenting false ID with purpose of misleading officers.
Hero MotoCorp announced that the company has set up a separate vertical to drive its new business of Harley-Davidson products and merchandise distribution in India.

The company has also commenced wholesale dispatches of Harley Davidson products to the dealers from January 18. Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp has on-boarded 11 existing Harley-Davidson dealers in key geographies across the country.

Hero MotoCorp will also expand the service, parts and accessories business beyond the 11 cities currently covered by the newly appointed dealers, to a pan-India level through its extensive dealer network.

With customer-centricity and commitment to globally benchmarked sales and aftersales service as their focus, Hero MotoCorp and Harley-Davidson are committed together to providing a smooth and hassle-free ownership experience to the existing and future Harley Davidson customers in India, both the companies said in joint press release.

The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 3 February 2021. Shares of Hero MotoCorp rose 2.78% to settle at Rs 3,384.40 yesterday.

Hero MotoCorp is the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, in terms of unit volumes sold by a single company in a year.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Journalist Hopewell Chin'ono, who has been arrested several times on varying charges, has decided to criticize alleged government corruption using a rap song he titled 'DemLoot'. The video has gone viral with other people crafting their dances and all ... Listen, Comment, Share ...
The main entrance of General Motors Korea Bupyeong plant is seen in this photo, Thursday. Yonhap



By Kim Yoo-chul



The continued automotive semiconductor shortage is hitting Korean carmakers, with General Motors Korea announcing plans to halve its vehicle production at its plant here.



General Motors Korea (GMK) said Thursday it decided to halve production at its Bupyeong 2 plant for February. "The decision was because of the shortage of automotive semiconductors. We will focus on exploring the best possible ways to minimize the estimated impact from the shortage through talks with parts suppliers."



The Bupyeong plant has a daily production capacity of 480 vehicles  the cut will lead it to monthly production of around 5,000.



The announcement came a few hours after GMK said it would cease production entirely for the week starting Feb. 8. However, it didn't disclose how much volume it would lose or which supplier was causing the chip shortage.



Vehicles affected include the Chevrolet Malibu sedan and other secondary export models. But GMK said its Bupyeong 1 plant and another plant in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, will operate normally.



The global automotive semiconductor shortage has been leading top carmakers including Volkswagen, Ford Motor, Toyota and Nissan to cut production. Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip manufacturer, said the auto chip shortage was also hitting mobile phone manufacturing among other sectors.



The warning from Samsung comes as carmakers are lobbying governments for immediate help. The auto chip supply chain is tightly limited with four or five designers controlling the market. Taiwan's TSMC and Samsung Electronics are the major contract manufacturers producing the chips.



The automotive chip shortage was mostly due to the shift by TSMC and Samsung Electronics toward expanding output of chips for consumer electronics as the COVID-19 pandemic led top car manufacturers to cut production last year. But solid demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and a gradual recovery in vehicle output since late last year have awakened idling demand for auto chips.



"The semiconductor shortage is disrupting automotive production and may delay a recovery of new vehicle sales and profitability in the sector. Carmakers are reducing output and selectively idling plants until the shortage eases, which we expect to take several months," Fitch Ratings said in a recent report to clients.



Hyundai Motor Group said it has maintained automotive chip inventory levels, added it has no plans to cut production. "We don't see any significant problems in automotive chip inventory levels through the first half of the year," said an official at Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Motor's top parts supplier.



Renault-Samsung Motors said it has no critical issues regarding the procurement of automotive chips.



Analysts say it is tough to say exactly how long the automotive chip shortage could last, while UBS investment bank said it was expecting the supply-demand mismatch will improve sometime in the third quarter.



But this time, unlike in the past, because COVID-19 has caused multiple factory closure across a lot of industries, everything from auto chips to ceramic capacitors is now a problem, meaning the shortage will delay any visible recovery in the auto sector.



Taiwan's TSMC said it will prioritize chip supplies for car manufacturers following a request from the U.S. government.






WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service or FSIS has issued a public health alert for raw beef product by Greater Omaha Packing Co.



As per the warning, the product may be contaminated with E. coli. O157:H7.



E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps 2-8 days after exposure the organism. Most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, but some people can develop a form of kidney failure called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome.



The agency said a recall was not requested because the affected product is no longer available for purchase. However, FSIS is concerned that the affected ground beef products may be in consumers' refrigerators or freezers.



The raw beef item was produced by Greater Omaha Packing on January 14, further processed into ground beef and sold by Art's Food Market located in Sandwich, Illinois.



The alert is for around 2-lb trays containing raw ground beef labeled with a retail label with 'PACKED' dates ranging from JAN 28 2021 through JAN 31 2021.



Greater Omaha Packing inadvertently distributed product associated with a sample that was positive for E. coli O157:H7. The company then notified FSIS about the affected product.



However, the Omaha, Nebraska -based company has not received any confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.



Consumers are urged to throw away the affected products or return them to the place of purchase.



FSIS further advises all consumers to safely prepare their raw meat products, including fresh and frozen, and only consume raw ground beef product that has been cooked to a temperature of 160F.



In January, public health alert was issued for ready-to-eat or RTE beef jerky products for the possible presence of undeclared anchovies, a known allergen, and for around 43 pounds of not-ready-to-eat or NRTE, heat treated, not fully cooked chicken enchilada products for misbranding and the presence of undeclared soy, an allergen.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Honeywell has been awarded a major contract by Sepco Electric Power Construction Corporation to supply connected control, telecommunications, safety and security systems for the King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Services shipyard being developed by Aramco in Ras Al Khair, Saudi Arabia.

When completed, the complex will be one of the largest shipyards in the world. It will be automated using a range of Honeywell technologies designed to make the facilitys operations safer, more efficient and secure. The suite of systems will be integrated into the complex by Sepco, the projects main engineering procurement and construction contractor, said a statement.

Our global presence enables us to work closely with international engineering, procurement and construction companies, including our valued partners Sepco, to deliver highly innovative infrastructure projects around the globe. We are proud to extend our relationship with both Sepco and Aramco on this landmark development, said Norm Gilsdorf, President for Honeywell, High Growth Regions, Middle East, Russia, Turkey, Central Asia, Customs Union and Asean. Through the combined capabilities of Honeywell, Aramco and SEPCO, the King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Services is set to become one of the most advanced, efficient, innovative facilities of its type in the world.

Honeywell will provide Sepco with a suite of connected systems for the complex, including:

 A portfolio of integrated, cyber-secure automation control systems that give facility operators complete visibility of processes across the site to reduce workload and improve efficiency. This includes Honeywells ControlEdge Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Data Concentrator, Safety Manager SC and Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS) Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system;

 Integrated telecom and security systems, including local communications and network security systems, closed circuit television (CCTV) and access control technologies to help facility operators maximize on-site security;

 Fire and gas detection systems, including fire and gas controllers and automatic smoke detection systems to help isolate areas in the event of an emergency and safely minimize facility-wide shutdowns

As one of the worlds largest contractors, we are proud to be contributing engineering excellence to the development of the worlds largest shipyard, a project that reflects our ability to deliver global-scale infrastructure and construction opportunities, said Sepco Project Manager Zhang Zhongxiang.

Honeywells broad portfolio of connected systems, which are capable of working together to maximize efficiency, safety and security, enables us to realise significant integration benefits for this complex and globally-significant mega-project.

The King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Services was launched in November 2016. The maritime complex complements the growth of the Saudi energy industry and helps meet the development and diversification objectives outlined by Saudi Vision 2030. The complex will be a world-class maritime facility providing a broad portfolio of services spanning vessel and rig build, maintenance, repair and overhaul, and will establish Saudi Arabia as one of the worlds elite shipbuilding nations. -TradeArabia News Service
Pa. COVID-19 mask mandate will be lifted by June 28 or sooner

Pennsylvania announced Thursday that the commonwealth will eliminate its mask mandates by June 28 as COVID-19 cases drop and vaccinations increase.
The 37 school districts in Northeast Pennsylvania would see a combined increase of $159 million in basic education funding under a budget proposed by Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday.

Most of the increase would go to the districts underfunded for years, as the governor tries to fully use a funding formula meant to increase equity.

The proposal also calls for a $1.15 billion adjustment, so no school district would receive less than last year, and an increase in the personal income tax rate to help provide the funding to schools.

The Scranton School District  the largest and most underfunded in Lackawanna County  would see an additional $39 million in basic education funding in 2021-22, according to funding estimates provided Wednesday by the Department of Education.

Pennsylvania enacted the fair funding formula six years ago, but the state currently only distributes new money  or any amount districts receive above 2014-15 funding levels  through the new formula.

Beyond the proposed funding, which some Republican lawmakers immediately rejected due to the necessary tax increase, Wolf proposed comprehensive charter school reform once again.

Along with developing standards to hold charter schools accountable for student achievement and requiring charter school management companies to be subject to the states Right to Know law and Ethics Act, Wolf wants to establish a statewide tuition rate for cyber charter schools.

School districts currently pay between $9,170 and $22,300 per student who elects to go to a cyber charter school, even if its to the same school. The proposal would set a statewide rate of $9,500. Coupled with changes to special education tuition rates, the state estimates districts would save about $229 million a year.

What we are currently paying per student is way too high and does not accurately reflect the cost of the services the kids get when they go to those cyber charters, said Michael Boccella, Ed.D., Valley View superintendent. Its egregious. Our cyber charter laws are among the most broken Im aware of.

Valley View pays cyber charter schools $11,339 for every student who leaves the district. The reform would save the district nearly $1,900 per student.

Abington Heights spends $11,170 for each of its 133 non-special education students who attend cyber charters. The savings could potentially be more than $220,000 over the course of a year.

While establishing tuition rates is important, Abington Heights Superintendent Michael Mahon, Ph.D., said the district could provide a quality virtual education for less than $9,500.

Any step forward is welcome, but we have many steps to go the long way that is necessary to bring the needed reform to cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania, he said.

In Scranton, with 606 non-special education students enrolled in cyber charters, the savings could be $658,116. Additional savings would also be found with tuition adjustments for the 150 special education students in cyber schools.

The leader of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools called Wolfs charter proposal callously wrong.

We believe that every cent of public education spending should follow every Pennsylvania student without cuts, without delays and without fail to the public school of their choice. We support reforms that achieve these goals. We oppose proposals such as the governors that would harm the most vulnerable in Pennsylvania, CEO Lenny McAllister said in a statement.

Other proposals include:
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 13:21:46|Editor: huaxia

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ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The 38th ordinary session of the African Union (AU) Executive Council, which comprises ministers of the 55-member pan-African bloc, opened on Wednesday in the framework of the 34th AU summit.

The two-day session, which is being held virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to consider the draft agenda and declarations of the assembly with appropriate recommendations for consideration by the AU heads of states, whose session is slated to take place from Feb. 6 to 7.

Naledi Pandor, Chairperson of the AU Executive Council, who is also Minister Of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa, said in her opening remarks that the COVID-19 pandemic "has had severe effects on our countries and yet it has also united us in a manner reminiscent of the solidarity that the OAU (Organization of African Unity) led against apartheid South Africa."

"While we are not yet at a level that allows a focus on post COVID-19 recovery, it will be logical to use our precious unity to devise solutions that allow Africa to grow together," the South African minister said.

Noting that the COVID-19 crisis has created "an unprecedented opportunity to devise innovative responses to new challenges and problems," she also stressed that the Executive Council may need to initiate an AU-led reflection on what next and how should we coordinate.

Pandor also said that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the continent in March 2020, African countries have made "huge strides in containing the spread of the virus."

The AU summit is being under the theme "Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want," which is also the theme of 2021.

The AU had dedicated 2020 a year of Silencing the Guns in Africa, which followed the 33rd AU Summit in February last year that was held under the theme "Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa's Development."

South Africa has been serving the rotating chairmanship of the African Union (AU) since last year. Enditem
I dont know if we will receive 20,000 but we need to ramp up to handle it, he said. I am on the phone probably three or four times a day. I spend more time on this than any other city business because it is so important that people get vaccinated. It will be better for everyone.
Met Eireann's chief weather forecaster has warned that her office is on 'high alert' as a storm is heading towards Ireland next week which could result in 'very inclement' wintry weather and poses a 'high risk of snow'.

Speaking on RTE Evelyn Cusack, Met Eireann Head of Forecasting, outlined what to expect in the coming days as wet weather meets a cold front over Ireland. While it will get colder over the weekend concerns are growing around the days from Monday onwards with the potential for snow across the country.

"Some snow showers on the east on Sunday and Monday, from Louth down to Wicklow, just some snow flurries. A little bit more widespread on Tuesday on the east and across the midlands some heavier snow showers.

"From Wednesday night and the second half of next week, a storm system is pushing in from the Atlantic towards western Europe and that has the potential to cause some very inclement conditions...February is one of our coldest months so snow is always at high risk and certainly we are on high alert in Met Eireann for next week," she told Brian Dobson on RTE 1 News at One radio news bulletin on Thursday.

The conditions expected are similar to the situation in 2018 when Atlantic Storm Emma collided with the Beast from the East over Ireland. The climactic situation is not as cold this year as the 2018 Beast originated in Siberia while the cold front to the east of Ireland on this occasion originates in the less frigid Scandinavia.

Read also: WATCH FORECAST FOR 10 DAYS

However, the cause of the cold block which has sat over Scotland since the start of 2020 is blamed on a Sudden Stratospheric Event which also caused the 2018 conditions.

The Met Eireann national outlook is for bitterly cold and wintry from the weekend and into next week. Met Eireann's 7 day weather charts show a number of stormy weather systems driving over Ireland in the week ahead. MORE BELOW TWEET.

Here is our 10 day Atlantic Chart, showing the pressure and precipitation forecast in 6 hour intervals.https://t.co/9Giuj4CR5mhttps://t.co/9gKN6SVok4 pic.twitter.com/qscXnPAJ5I  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) February 4, 2021

Latest weather forecast from Met Eireann fro the weekend and into next week.

FRIDAY

Many areas will start off dry tomorrow with sunny spells. However, showers will feed into eastern and western coastal counties during the morning, spreading further inland during the afternoon and evening. Some wintry falls are possible on higher ground in the southwest later. Cold with highest temperatures of 4 to 7 degrees in light variable breezes.

FRIDAY: Clear spells and well scattered showers, mainly across Munster early on, and later across northern and eastern coasts. There will be the risk of hail and isolated thunderstorms. Frost and possible icy stretches too, in light variable mostly northerly breezes. Cold with lowest temperatures of -2 to +2 degrees Celsius.

SATURDAY: Frost and any ice clearing. A cold day and mostly cloudy day with scattered showers - mainly across the eastern half of Ireland. Showers may merge into longer spells of rain across some eastern counties with the risk of hail here. Highest temperatures of 4 to 7 degrees Celsius in mostly moderate northeasterly breezes.

Some showers across eastern counties on Saturday night, otherwise mostly dry under broken cloud. Some frost and possible ice with lowest temperatures of -1 to +2 degrees Celsius.

SUNDAY: Colder again on Sunday with highest temperatures of just 2 to 5 degrees Celsius in a rather brisk northeast wind. Most areas will however stay fully dry albeit cloudy. Isolated wintry showers may occur.

Very cold with a widespread frost and ice at night. Scattered wintry showers will move into eastern counties and across northern coasts with a possible dusting of snow possible. Lowest temperatures of -3 to 0 degrees Celsius in moderate northeast winds, fresher along Irish Sea coasts.

NEXT WEEK: Current indications suggest it will turn even colder into next week with sharp to severe frost and ice. Falls of sleet and snow are expected, mainly over east Leinster for the early days of the week.
Ambassadors of the G7 countries, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, discussed the implementation of judicial reform in Ukraine and the fight against disinformation, while accepting its necessity in compliance with freedom and pluralism of the media.

"G7 Ambassadors were delighted to meet President of Ukraine Zelensky for the first time in 2021. We had a productive dialogue on several issues in support of Ukraine's development & welcomed initial progress on SBU. Ambassadors agreed there is a need to tackle disinformation, in the framework of media freedom and plurality," the UK Presidency of the G7 Ambassadors' Support Group in Kyiv reported on Twitter on Wednesday.

The ambassadors also heard plans for judicial reform outlined by the president. "They underscored the need for comprehensive judicial reform, including simultaneous reform of HCJ & HQCJ, & expressed concern about recent legislative initiatives (bills 3711, 4229) that wouldn't deliver high-quality, honest judges that Ukrainian people & business tell us they want & need," the message says.
Some area legislators are not happy with Gov. Tom Wolfs budget proposal to impose a tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas production to underwrite billions of dollars to expand workforce development and employment assistance programs to help the state recover from the economic effects of the coronavirus. Wolf is aiming for a $4.5 billion bond to repay over 20 years.

State Sen. John Yudichak, I-14, Swoyersville, said theres a better way to fund workforce development than using a Marcellus Shale tax.

While I have been supportive of a common-sense severance tax on natural gas, the tax combined with the Governors plan to join RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative) may put an end to the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania and wipe out thousands of good paying, blue collar energy jobs at a time when we need to be creating jobs and attracting private investment in our energy sector, Yudichak said.

State Sen. David Argall, R-29, Rush Twp., said, I agree 100% with ... the bi-partisan opponents of this tax increase. Our people have suffered enough during the last 11 months, they cant afford any more of the governors tax increases.

State Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-124, Rush Twp., said taxing natural gas is like taxing the plastics that make up COVID-19 equipment.

The governor wants to again impose a severance tax on natural gas, Knowles said. I dont believe he realizes that natural gas is the base ingredient in plastics which are a critical part of Personal Protective Equipment development, Plexiglas and COVID-19 vaccine research.

State Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-122, Lower Towamensing Twp., said the governor should be concerned about recovering from COVID so the economy can recover.

I definitely believe there is a need for more capital projects; however, I have never been a fan of deficit spending, Heffley said.

State Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-116, Butler Twp., said Gov. Wolfs $7 billion tax increase is certainly a non-starter for me. Raising the Personal Income Tax by 46% for middle class families and small business owners who are struggling to overcome the hardships created by the pandemic just makes no sense.

She also said vaccinations should be a priority, not raising taxes.Instead, our shared priority should be an efficient and effective vaccine delivery program. The faster that happens, the sooner we can all go back to work and get Pennsylvanias economy rolling again.

Knowles said the governors $40.2 billion budget plan is a $2.76 billion increase, or a 7.4% increase from last fiscal year.

While I support smart growth, such as making strong investments in workforce development and education, the governors budget plan will undoubtedly cause more unemployment and business shutdowns, Knowles said.
Denmark will build an artificial island in the North Sea, which will serve as a wind energy hub eventually capable of meeting the electricity consumption of 10 million European households with green energy, the Danish Climate and Energy Ministry said on Thursday.

Denmark has a very ambitious and legally binding target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and reach net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.

At the end of last year, Denmark announced it would stop extracting oil from the North Sea in 2050, and canceled all future licensing rounds for oil and gas extraction from the North Sea.

The decision to build an artificial island in the North Sea for clean energy production is part of the countrys ambition to cut its emissions and contribute to the European Unions (EU) goal for carbon neutrality by 2050, the Danish Climate and Energy Ministry said today.

The island will be built 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the shore of the Jutland peninsula, and the project will be a public-private partnership between the Danish state and private companies, with the state holding the majority.

The energy hub in the North Sea will be the largest construction project in Danish history. It will make a big contribution to the realization of the enormous potential for European offshore wind, and I am excited for our future collaboration with other European countries, Dan Jrgensen, Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities, said in a statement.

The island is expected to be able to provide 3 million European households with green energy in its first phase and to provide clean energy to 10 million European households when fully completed.

The island will cost around US$33.8 billion (210 billion Danish crowns) and is expected to be operational around 2033, Reuters reported.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
TORONTO  The Canadian government designated the Proud Boys group as a terrorist entity on Wednesday, noting they played a pivotal role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

The Proud Boys have faced increased scrutiny after seizing on the former Trump administrations policies and the group was a major agitator during earlier protests and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. The Proud Boys is a far-right, male chauvinist extremist group known for engaging in violent clashes at political rallies. Canada is the first country to designate them as a terrorist entity.

During a September presidential debate, Donald Trump had urged the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by when asked to condemn them by a moderator.

Senior officials speaking on a technical briefing said authorities had been monitoring and collecting evidence about the Proud Boys before the Capitol Hill insurrection, but confirmed that the event provided information that helped with the decision to list the organization.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said they revealed themselves.

Their intent and their escalation toward violence became quite clear, Blair said.

Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of Proud Boys, called the terrorist designation ridiculous.

There is no basis for it. Its infringement of free speech rights. All the Canadian Proud Boys have ever done is go to rallies, Tarrio said in a phone interview.

They used what happened at the Capitol to push for this.

Tarrio said the Canadian chapters are very quiet compared to their American counterparts. He estimated there are between 1,000 and 1,500 Proud Boys in Canada.

Tarrio was arrested in Washington shortly before the Capitol riot. He was accused of vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church during an earlier protest in the nations capital.

U.S. Federal authorities, meanwhile, arrested Wednesday a man who describes himself as the Sergeant of Arms of the Seattle chapter of the Proud Boys after he was charged in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol. He is at least the eighth defendant linked to the Proud Boys facing federal charges after thousands of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was meeting to certify Joe Bidens presidential win

Asked whether the U.S. will follow Canada and designate Proud Boys as a terrorist entity, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. has a domestic extremism review underway. We will wait for that review to conclude before we make any determinations, Psaki said.
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Gibson, Dunn Crutcher LLP is pleased to announce that the firm has launched an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Practice, which provides holistic advice to clients on their corporate responsibility and ESG risks and opportunities. The new practice is led by Dallas senior of counsel Ronald Kirk, London partners Susy Bullock and Selina Sagayam, Los Angeles partner Perlette Jura, and Washington, D.C. partners Elizabeth Ising and Michael Murphy.

"Clients are increasingly facing calls from stakeholders and regulators, as well as from within their own organizations, to proactively address ESG across their business footprint. Our new practice offers seamless advice to organizations grappling with complex developments across jurisdictions amid growing industry guidance and regulatory scrutiny," said Ken Doran, Chairman and Managing Partner of Gibson Dunn. "Our ESG practice leverages the talents and expertise of lawyers globally who engage in constant collaboration across disciplines in recognition of the universal nature of issues our clients face."

"ESG has evolved to become a key performance metric and an important investment strategy due to the growing focus on long-term value creation. Organizations and their leadership increasingly must implement and disclose robust processes and frameworks to address the growing number of rules, standards and expectations that apply at a national, regional and global level," saidElizabeth Ising, a leader of the ESG Practice.

"The pandemic has played a role in demonstrating that ESG integration into strategy is business-critical, and questions of corporate purpose and what constitutes good governance are being considered in the context of an active debate around stakeholder capitalism, and a growing body of litigation connected with ESG concerns. Crucially, discussions around pursuing an ESG program have risen to the top of the agenda for corporates, legislatures and regulators alike," saidSusy Bullock, who co-leads the ESG Practice.

"There is widespread recognition of the critical role that financial market participants can play in supporting the transition to a more sustainable global economy," said Selina Sagayam, also a leader of the ESG practice. "The heightened pace towards sustainable finance and investment is not just being driven by the private sector but by regulators and governments and we are seeing its impact across the lending, insurance and investment industries. Capital flows are increasingly being directed towards borrowers and asset managers that understand and effectively manage sustainability issues, and the levels of growth and innovation in 'green finance' are at unprecedented levels, signaling a comprehensive shift in how financial markets work and generating new and exciting businesses opportunities for our clients."

About Gibson Dunn's ESG Practice

Gibson Dunn's ESG Practice is comprised of a multidisciplinary, international team of lawyers from across the firm practicing in the areas of litigation, corporate governance, corporate transactions, finance, labor and employment, compensation, information security, tax, and business and human rights.

This cross-disciplinary and cross-border team will advise clients on the latest developments across jurisdictions and help clients navigate a range of ESG issues that is as broad as it is deep, including: governance, policy, strategy and engagement; reporting and disclosures; litigation, investigations and dispute resolutions; transactional support solutions; energy transition; sustainable finance; sustainable investment; human capital; corporate tax strategy; and ESG ratings and scoring.

About Gibson Dunn

Gibson, Dunn Crutcher LLP is a leading international law firm. Consistently ranking among the world's top law firms in industry surveys and major publications, Gibson Dunn is distinctively positioned in today's global marketplace with more than 1,400 lawyers and 20 offices, including Beijing, Brussels, Century City, Dallas, Denver, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Orange County, Palo Alto, Paris, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Singapore, and Washington, D.C. For more information on Gibson Dunn, please visit our website.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005857/en/

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Advertisement

That Scotland's landscapes are among the most seductive on the planet is without question.

And the photography in book Scotland: A Rewilding Journey, written by Susan Wright, Peter Cairns and Nick Underdown, is a spectacular celebration of them, capturing lochs, mountains, valleys and islands shaped by ancient volcanoes, glaciers and weather over aeons.

The tome also contains striking imagery of Scotland's iconic wildlife, from eagles to red squirrels and from wildcats to majestic stags. However, the book has a cause and a vision  for Scotland to become even wilder than it is, for its ecological wounds to be healed and the incredible biodiversity it once boasted restored.

And so the stunning images it contains also serve to highlight the benefits of this 'rewilding' and how it can be achieved, to help explain how Scotland's creatures can play their part  and how ultimately humans will benefit.

The authors say: 'Scotland is an ecological shadow of its former self. A Rewilding Journey is a rallying call for a wilder Scotland, where forests abundant with life are regenerating, where rivers lined with alder and willow run freely, where damaged peatlands are revitalised and where oceans support the great whales. This landmark conservation book portrays a vision for a wilder Scotland - a place where nature works as it should, where wildlife flourishes and crucially, where people prosper.'

As Steve Micklewright, Chief Executive of Trees for Life, says in his foreword: 'A restored matrix of forest, moorland, mountain top and bog will provide more employment in the Highlands, partly because people want to see and experience wild nature.' Scroll down for the really rewilding show

A jaw-dropping photo showing the three tributaries of the River Affric - Allt Gleann Gniomhaidh, Allt Cam-ban and Allt a' Chomhlain - meeting at the base of Ciste Dhubh, a 979m (3,211ft) mountain between Glen Shiel and Glen Affric, one of several areas in Scotland, says the book, with 'growing forest fragments that offer hope for the future and fire the imagination for what might happen if nature were given the opportunity to live freely across larger areas'

A stunning shot taken from the 1,010m (3,313ft) summit of Beinn Eighe in the Wester Ross area of the Northwest Highlands. In 1951, the Nature Conservancy Council bought land at Beinn Eighe and created the UKs first National Nature Reserve, the book reveals

'Red squirrels are crucial,' the book explains 'because they collect seeds and nuts that they store in the ground and then forget about, inadvertently planting the next generation of trees in the process.' The tome adds: 'It is said that a red squirrel [sciurus vulgaris] could once travel from Lockerbie to Lochinver [a distance of 320 miles] without ever touching the ground'

A hiker on a footpath by a wooded glen, with the Beinn Eighe ridge looming up ahead

The River Spey meanders its way into Loch Insh in the Cairngorms National Park. The book says that the Cairngorms is one of the areas in Scotland where 'pioneering initiatives are underway to restore degraded landscapes and to make the ecological, economic and social case for a wilder Scotland'

These patchwork moorlands, intensively managed to optimise red grouse numbers for shooting, cover an estimated 2.5million acres of Scotlands uplands. This image shows an area around the A939, south of Corgarff, and it's certainly mesmerising. However, the book says: 'Cultivation of land for grouse and angular monoculture plantations of exotic conifers have further reduced biodiversity and we now stand as one of the most nature-depleted nations on Earth'

Regenerating Scots pines poking through flowering heather along the River Feshie in the Cairngorms National Park

Dinnertime: A Scottish wildcat caught on a camera trap in the Angus Glens. This animal, explains the book, is Scotland's only surviving native species of cat and is spiralling towards the verge of extinction. Habitat fragmentation is one of several factors behind this. Ecologist Alan Ross is calling for a Wildcat Forest Network with designated 'wildcat corridors'

The Loch Maree Islands National Nature Reserve in the west of Scotland, with Slioch mountain in the background. There are over 60 islands within the loch. The pinewoods on Loch Maree's islands, says the book, are 'wooded oases that demonstrate a richness of life that's possible across much of Scotland'. The islands are home to otters, black-throated divers, sea eagles and myriad dragonflies - and complex plant communities

An osprey (pandion haliaetus) perched with a fish in Glenfeshie. 'The osprey disappeared as a breeding bird for 40 years,' reveals the book, 'the last one shot in 1916. Then one day in 1954, a single pair nested again at Boat of Garten in the Cairngorms. Now we have ospreys thriving in multiple locations across Scotland, each a draw for tourists and wildlife watchers'

Gannets diving to feed on discarded fish in the Shetland Islands. The book reveals that there have been widespread reports of gannet chicks being fed plastic waste by their parents throughout Scotland, 'prompting... calls for marine rewilding'

The A9 and the Highland Main Line railway cut through the dramatic Pass of Drumochter in the Cairngorms National Park. The development of the railway in Scotland helped to develop the grouse-shooting industry, the book reveals

At Alladale Wilderness Reserve in Sutherland, pictured, landscape-scale woodland regeneration is starting to pay dividends

Dawn breaking over Loch Bad a Ghaill. The book describes Scotland's landscapes as 'awe-inspiring', but stresses that the country also contains 'ecological deserts... land that has lost its natural woodlands and complex vegetation communities'

The Isle of Skye - one of Scotland's most eye-catching locations. This picture shows a dramatic landslip on the island called the Quiraing

It's a gruesome scene, but the book explains that the carcass of this red deer hind, on which is perched a golden eagle, 'will eventually be absorbed back into the soil, providing nutrients for fresh plant growth'

This mesmerising image shows the River Feshie floodplain, where Scots pines are regenerating

A golden eagle male leaving a nest site - with a female and chick in the background - on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides

A mountain hare camouflaged in the snow. The creatures, says the book, 'are killed in their thousands on [Scottish] shooting estates with little knowledge of how sustainable this may be'

A red deer weathers a blizzard in the Cairngorms National Park. The book says that deer are 'beautiful animals' and 'an essential part of a naturally functioning ecosystem when their numbers accord with the carrying capacity of the land'. It adds: 'Deer in Scotland should be moving freely in and out of diverse, fence-free woodlands... trampling the vegetation, creating space for new seedlings to grow'

A hiker takes in the incredible view from the 2,007ft (612m) high Stac Pollaidh mountain in the Northwest Highlands

The Falls of Clyde, South Lanarkshire. 'More frequent flooding events in recent years remind us,' says the book, 'that the flow of our rivers reflects the landscapes that surround them. The consequences of rain and snow-melt cascading off bare hills and glens unable to retain water, are obvious'

Scotland: A Rewilding Journey (25) can be ordered via the store at www.scotlandbigpicture.com
The Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee is holding its next meeting at 7pm CST tonight, February 4, to discuss how to mobilize opposition to the deadly reopening of schools. Register now and share this link with your coworkers to build the committee!

Over 25,000 teachers and other educators and staff in Chicago, Illinois, the third largest school district in the US, are engaged in a critical struggle to oppose the citys effort to reopen public schools.

In this fight, educators have come into direct conflict with the Democratic Party, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), and the mainstream media, all of which are lobbying for school reopenings to begin as soon as possible. In order to push through this reckless policy, there has been a concerted effort to pit students and parents against the teachers.

Chicago youth Demonstrate for teachers (Source: CTU Facebook)

In an editorial published on Tuesday, for example, the Chicago Tribune asserted that teachers were falsely claiming to be a voice for the children, while actual science is making it harder for teachers unions to continue to justify staying home.

In fact, the science shows that the reopening of schools poses an existential threat to the lives and safety of educators, their students and families and all of society. All those media pundits and political figures who are attempting to portray the teachers actions as harmful to students are engaged in a political smear campaign, in the service of the Democratic Party.

The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in the US, the youth and student wing of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), spoke to students throughout the country on the Chicago teachers struggle and the effort to divide students and teachers and found widespread support.

Saadiq, a student at University of Maryland, called for students to support their teachers in the struggle against unsafe school reopenings. The corporate press is playing a despicable role pitting students and parents against teachers, who are only motivated by their desire to stop the spread of COVID in their communities. ... The corporate press serves as a mouthpiece for the ruling class, who want teachers back in school so parents can return to work and continue to pump out profits.

Adam, a college student in South Florida, said that he fully supports the Chicago teachers in their struggle. The Chicago teachers strike is one of placing human safety and survival above capitalist interests. The disastrous response to the COVID-19 pandemic by our government has forced educators to demand something that shouldnt even have to be discussed: support and safety during a global pandemic.

He explained that he stands in solidarity with the teachers and hopes that they can continue to be a guiding light to the working class fight against an inhumane policy.

Keely, a New York student, spoke about the broader context in which the Chicago teachers struggle is unfolding. This historical moment is the culmination of decades of union failures and Democrats worship of profit above all else, one where science is ignored. The mainstream media prints endless lies, and human life is disregarded in favor of the hoarding of wealth.

Keely explained that workers needed to come together in independent organizations based on their class interests. I think it is really important that people all over the world come together to recognize this breaking point, demand change and stand in solidarity with the teachers and students of the Chicago Public Schools. Keely encouraged workers and students to start or get involved in both local and national rank-and-file committees in order to advocate for safety, science and life for all during this crucial time.

Many students spoke on the campaign to undermine, discredit or downplay the scientific evidence showing that reopening schools, both K-12 and colleges, is dangerous.

Sebastian, a student at University of California at Berkeley, said that the push to reopen in-person instruction of the Chicago schools exposes the blatant indifference to human life expressed by the political establishment.

He continued, There is no doubt that returning to in-person instruction will lead to increased deaths among children, parents and instructors by COVID-19. This push by the government is no less than a continuation of the murderous herd immunity policy started by the Trump administration.

As a student, Sebastian concluded, I support the struggle by the Chicago teachers in protection of their lives and the lives of their students.

Mike is a student at New Mexico State University and also a member of the Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee. He stressed that the struggle of the Chicago teachers is one against the entire ruling elite.

It doesnt take long to understand the humongous political implications of the coming battle. ... For over a year now, the capitalists have relentlessly forced workers back into unsafe workplaces to produce private profit and boost stock portfolios. Each day brings ever greater death to the American public. However, the ruling class doesnt care. They are completely callous to the plight of the workers. To the capitalists, workers are just cogs in a machine.

Mike warned teachers, The Chicago Teachers Union cannot be trusted. Chicago educators are expressing their will to fight. ... But the Chicago Teachers Union will not agree to a strike. The union doesnt want to fight for workers. Rather, they will stop the workers cold in their tracks. Chicago teachers, beware, the CTU is planning for a betrayal of their membership. The CTU is holding the teachers back.

He concluded by appealing to other students and workers to support the Chicago teachers. Chicago teachers know that the fight that they are taking up holds the outcome for the struggle of millions upon millions of the oppressed masses in the United States and around the world. Im in support of the Chicago teachers, and Im calling to extend this fight to New Mexico.
Prime Minister will address an event marking the diamond jubilee of the High Court of Gujarat on Saturday via video conferencing.

He will also release a commemorative postage stamp marking the completion of sixty years of the establishment of the high court, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement on Thursday.

The Union minister of Law and Justice, judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court of Gujarat besides the state's chief minister will be present on the occasion.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


Letter: Curb the bravura and help people in need
Australians have died being denied access to potentially life-saving medical treatments by big government, claims Coalition MP Craig Kelly in comments about COVID-19 made on a podcast by controversial ex-TV host Pete Evans.

The maverick MP told Evans government has interfered with the doctor-patient relationship to prevent doctors prescribing the two medications Kelly pushes on his Facebook page - hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly during Question Time. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Doctors and scientists have published overwhelming evidence that the drug Mr Kelly most admires does not effectively treat or prevent COVID-19, and may cause serious harm, including heart complications.

Government says, Well we dont care what you think as a doctor or an expert in this field. We, as big government, know better, and you are not allowed to prescribe hydroxychloroquine, he said.
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Cambodias Defence Minister Tea Banh said the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces will postpone the annual Golden Dragon infantry exercise with the Chinese army because of the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of preparations in the aftermath of the October floods.

Tea Banh first made the announcement on Monday when he was at an inaugural ceremony for a live-fire training facility with Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian.

The Minister confirmed to VOA Khmer on Wednesday that the joint drill would not happen this year and was being postponed indefinitely.

We have come to a decision that in this kind of situation we are not able to conduct it. Lets wait for a more appropriate opportunity when we can do it again.

Both militaries previously held the ever-growing drills four times in 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

Despite rising COVID-19 cases in March 2020, the two militaries conducted their largest-ever joint drill, with hundreds of Chinese troops and thousands of Cambodian forces participating in war games that involved heavy artillery, assault helicopters, and surveillance drones.

The 2020 drill was hailed as an iconic symbol of Sino-Cambodian friendship by a Cambodian military spokesperson.

The Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Wednesday.

The close friendliness between the Cambodian and Chinese militaries has raised red flags among Western democracies, especially the United States, which has aggressively criticized plans for an alleged Chinese presence at the Ream Naval Base in Preah Sihanouk province.

The Cambodian military and government have denied any arrangement to allow for the Chinese to occupy part of Ream Naval Base.

Defence Ministry Spokesperson Chhum Socheat said the previous drills were funded by China and even though the exercises were canceled this year, the Chinese would continue bilateral military aid.

The work of cooperation [with China] will be business as usual and there wont be any changes to that, Socheat said. Nothing is new and we will keep implementing our work in a number of areas of military cooperation.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, in a January 15 speech, said Chinas decision to donate one million doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine were a result of Defence Minister Tea Banhs communications with his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe.

Sun Kim, a lecturer in international relations at the Pannasastra University of Cambodia, said Beijing was unlikely offended or upset by Cambodias decision to nix the drill.

Cambodia's decision to postpone the drill would send a good signal to the United States that Cambodia is not doing too much bidding in support of China's standing in Southeast Asia, Sun Kim said.
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CIUDAD JUAREZ: U.S. authorities returned dozens of Haitians to the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez from El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, a move that appeared to contradict a policy agreement in place with Mexico brokered under the previous U.S. administration.

Luis Garcia, a director at the Chihuahua state government agency COESPO in Mexico, which oversees attention to migrants, confirmed the return of dozens of Haitians by U.S. immigration authorities.

The situation seems somewhat extraordinary for us, because they dont speak Spanish, and it puts them in a situation in which they are increasingly exposed to risk," Garcia said.

As the coronavirus pandemic spread in March, the United States partially closed its border to asylum seekers by invoking a public health law known as Title 42." Mexico agreed to allow U.S. authorities to return Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Salvadorans who had previously transited through its territory.

But the agreement between the two countries was limited to those three nationalities and Mexicans, according to the text of a March 21 document published by Mexicos foreign ministry.

Under Title 42, the United States generally flies migrants of other nationalities back to their country of origin.

More than a dozen Haitian migrants from the group told Reuters theyd been held by U.S. immigration authorities for three or four days and then returned without any documentation of their expulsion.

They returned us with nothing, they threw away our clothes and my childrens shoes," said Johan Decopin, from Haiti, who was returned to Ciudad Juarez on Wednesday with her husband and three children. We asked for asylum but they told us no."

Many of the group were wearing the same black sandals, which they said theyd received from U.S. immigration authorities, a Reuters witness said.

Immigrant advocates said as well as the expulsion of Haitians on Wednesday they had seen more South American and Caribbean migrants being returned to Mexico amid a rise in returns under Title 42 in some regions since Biden took office.

Up to 140 people are being returned to Baja California each day," said Esmeralda Siu, coordinator of the Pro-Migrant Defense Coalition, which represents a series of migrant shelters in the Mexican state. From what were seeing they are returning Venezuelans, Colombians, and Peruvians (to Mexico)," she added.

Asked about the return of the Haitians, U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that 86 people were expelled to Mexico from the El Paso Sector, although it did not specify their nationalities. Mexicos foreign ministry and federal immigration agency did not respond to requests for comment.

Taylor Levy, an immigration attorney working with clients in El Paso, expressed confusion about the return of the Haitians.

This violates the agreements between the U.S. and Mexico as they have been announced by both governments," she said.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
Covid-19 is still bringing in the goods with stories like these.

Over 81 orgy punters in a warehouse near Paris were caught with their pants down after police raided the hot session for breach of Covid-19 rules.

According to Independent, the police were made aware of the activity after receiving calls from locals that a party was taking place in Collegien, about 32 kilometres from the centre of Paris last Friday.

It was reported that officers arrived at around 9pm and found 11 people flouting the countrys curfew rules, which restricts movement from 6pm to 6am.

The officers then discovered a large number of people engaging in an orgy after they obtained legal permission to enter the warehouse at 11pm.

The police was authorised by the local magistrates to confiscate sound systems and light installations, along with alcohol in the raid.

A total of 81 people were handed fines for breaking the curfew rules.

Three people thought to be involved in organising the party were taken in for questioning.

The event was in breach of the curfew, and there were also problems with masks and social distancing.

Those involved in the libertine party cooperated with the police, and there was no resistance to the police, an investigator was quoted saying.

The fun police strike again
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DGAP-Ad-hoc: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited / Key word(s): Forecast

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited: Notice of the Revised Forecast of Consolidated Financials for FY2020 (IFRS)



04-Feb-2021 / 07:00 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Notice of the Revised Forecast of Consolidated Financials for FY2020 (IFRS)

Osaka, Japan, February 4, 2021 - Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) ("Takeda") announced today, the revised forecast of the full year consolidated financials for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021*1, as below.

1. Revised Forecast for Full Year Consolidated Financials for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2021



(millions of yen)

Revenue Core

Operating

Profit Operating

profit Profit before

income taxes Net profit attributable

to owners of

the Company Basic earnings

per share Core EPS Previous Forecast (A)*** 3,250,000 984,000 434,000 258,000 124,000 79.39 yen 420 yen Revised Forecast (B) 3,250,000 984,000 434,000 258,000 180,500 115.56 yen 420 yen Discrepancy (B-A) ? ? ? ? +56,500 ? ? Change % ? ? ? ? +45.6% ? ?

*** Announced on October 29, 2020.

2. Reasons for Revision

The forecast for net profit for the period attributable to owners of the Company has been increased by 56.5 billion JPY, or 45.6%, to 180.5 billion JPY. This is primarily due to updated tax rate assumptions reflecting lower tax costs associated with on-going integration and optimization of the legal entities within our organizational structure.

Accordingly, the EPS forecast has been increased by 36.17 JPY, or 45.6%, to 115.56 JPY.

*1 In August 2020, Takeda announced that it has entered into an agreement to divest Takeda Consumer Healthcare Company Limited ("TCHC"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda primarily focused on the consumer health care market in Japan, to Blackstone for a total value of 242.0 billion JPY*2. The transaction is expected to close by March 31, 2021, subject to customary legal and regulatory closing conditions. Takeda anticipates a pre-tax gain of approximately 140.0 billion JPY on the sale of shares of TCHC, to be recognized when the transfer of shares is executed and completed, however, it was not included in the previous forecast nor is it included in the revised forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021. In consideration of the uncertainty of the exact timing of deal closure, Takeda will continue to assess the appropriate timing of inclusion of this event into its forecast.

*2 Enterprise value. Actual transfer price will be determined after adjustment for items including net debt and working capital.

3. Management Guidance

There are no changes to Management Guidance.

Guidance as of

October 29, 2020 Guidance as of

February 4, 2021 Underlying Revenue Growth Low-single-digit growth Low-single-digit growth Underlying Core Operating Profit Growth High-single-digit growth High-single-digit growth Underlying Core Operating Profit Margin Low-30s% Low-30s% Underlying Core EPS Growth Low-teen growth Low-teen growth

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to discover and deliver life-transforming treatments, guided by our commitment to patients, our people and the planet. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Genetic and Hematology, Neuroscience, and Gastroenterology (GI). We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline.

Our employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries.

For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com.

Contacts:

Investor Relations

Christopher O'Reilly, +81-(0)3-3278-2306

takeda.ir.contact@takeda.com Media Relations

Kazumi Kobayashi, +81 (0)3-3278-2095

kazumi.kobayashi@takeda.com



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Melissa Baran, the Sherwood High School principal, earned some criticism for recent remarks about the education system

A principal at a Portland school drew the ire of some parents after she called out the education system for being built on 'white supremacy.'

Melissa Baran, the principal of Sherwood High School, made her comments speaking during a school board session on January 20.

'We know that there is so much good thats been coming out of Sherwood High School for such a long time,' Baran said, according to KOIN 6 News. 'We also know that what weve been doing hasnt been working for every student, for every family, for every community member, for every staff member.'

Baran made note of underrepresented students, saying, 'Historically, our under-represented students, our most vulnerable students that are experiencing a variety of different circumstances, that the system hasnt been working for them.'

Baran then said, 'Education as a whole was built on the system of oppression and white supremacy, and we are trying to talk about that more.

Baran is the principal of Sherwood High School, where she's been in charge for 19 months

'And were trying to really examine what is the system moving forward, and how do we make sure that what were doing doesnt perpetuate those differences  doesnt perpetuate those gaps that we have been talking about as a district for a long time.'

A deleted post in the Sherwood Community Info Group (Original) Facebook page referred to Baran as a 'BLM Marxist.'

The school district is located in an area that used to lean Republican, but now trends more towards the Democrats, making it ripe for political infighting.

The Sherwood School District previously shared anti-racist materials on their website, one of which called for people to vote Democrat, leading to a removal and apology from the district.

A 'Black Kids Matter Unity Event' over the summer in front of district offices was also countered by an 'All Kids Matter' event.

While at least some parents have lashed out at Baran, she does have the support of district superintendent Heather Cordie.

The school is in a suburb of Portland, which has been the site of many protests against police

Pictured: Protesters and police officers clashing during a Portland protest on New Year's Eve

'During that presentation to the board, Mrs. Baran shared true facts  specifically, that the system of education in general, in its current format, does not work for all students, families, or staff members; that the system of education has a historical context of oppression and white supremacy; and that there is a need to move forward in a way that no longer perpetuates systematic marginalization of under-represented student groups,' Cordie wrote in a letter last Friday.

Cordie also called out the Facebook post that targeted Baran and noted the principal's status as the sole Black leader in the school district.

'None of the other (white) participants in the meeting who concurred with and supported the work discussed by Mrs. Baran were singled out in this post, and this fact speaks volumes about the personal motives behind the post,' Cordie wrote.

Pictured: Protesters flooding Morrison Bridge in Portland after George Floyd's murder

Pictured: Protesters throw fireworks at polce officers during a protest in Portland

The Sherwood Gazette reports Baran was named principal of the high school effective July 1, 2019.

Prior to that, Baran was an assistant principal at Beaverton High School for several years.

The backlash she has faced for her comments has not deterred her goal for the school district.

'Creating opportunities for success for all of our students is our focus moving forward,' Baran said to KOIN 6 News. 'We will continue to examine everything we are doing, with the hope and plan of building the system that best serves all students and staff within our school.'

Portland has been a flashpoint for protests surrounding racial equity since George Floyd's murder in 2020.

Following the inauguration of Joe Biden, Antifa protesters smashed the windows at the Oregon Democratic Party's office in the city.

Additionally, around 200 people gathered outside of an ICE building to protest officers there, which was not the first time a protest took place in front of that building.

The education system is a growing point of interest in discussions of race and history in the United States.

Education has become a big issue in discussions of race and America's history, with Donald Trump promoting a 'patriotic education' commission during his final days in office

Towards the end of his presidency, Donald Trump created the 1776 Commission, which was intended to promote a 'patriotic education' and was perceived as a rebuke of the 1619 Project from the New York Times, which delved into the United States' checkered history on race and slavery.

'Critical race theory, the 1619 Project, and the crusade against American history is toxic propaganda, ideological poison that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together,' Trump said in September, according to NPR.

'It will destroy our country.'
The Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit trade deal is drawing businesses to consider setting up in Northern Ireland, the head of Invest NI has said.

The protocol gives firms in the North continued access to both the UK and EU markets, and has been described as offering the best of both worlds although the past month has seen some trade disruption.

Kevin Holland said the access both to the EU single market and Britain was a factor in conversations with possible investors, including a US life sciences company with more than 10,000 staff.

The business, which Mr Holland declined to identify, is listed on US S&P 500 stock market index of the top firms.

"We've been doing quite a lot of outreach to businesses about the trade and cooperation agreement that was signed on December 24," he said, noting that Invest NI had been looking at the prospects in the protocol and the opportunities that can come from this dual access.

"From January 3, we started talking about why Northern Ireland is an interesting place for businesses to locate."

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Invest NI is still marketing Northern Ireland on the basis of its usual selling points, such as its strong talent pool, high quality of life and relatively low cost of living.

Mr Holland said coverage of the protocol in international media outlets, including gaps on supermarket shelves, had raised awareness.

"We're talking to people who are asking 'Where does Northern Ireland fit now in a global supply chain?," he added.

"Many companies are looking at how they operate their global footprint post-Covid."

He cited a company with a centre in the Philippines that was forced to shut after restrictions were introduced as an example of the kind of firm that may consider setting up here.

"Northern Ireland did an amazing job with resilience in Covid and has some amazing opportunities with access to these markets," Mr Holland added.

He also revealed Invest NI had held conversations with industrial and technology firms.

"People read the press about the friction of early January. They'll see some of the challenges and will read around the opportunities," Mr Holland said.

"We have had conversations in the last week or two with businesses looking at what Northern Ireland can bring to them as part of their footprint.

"We had an enormous number of conversations in the middle weeks of January with international businesses, so it has attracted attention. We need to convert those into practicalities.

"We've had a listed US life sciences company with more than 10,000 employees which has been talking to us around potentially setting up in Northern Ireland."

Mr Holland stressed he did not believe that problems with the protocol would put off investors.

"In early January, the US business media was asking me: 'Can you still eat there? Is there food on the shelves?'. They've seen the press, but the main issue for companies is opportunities."
AS the white pirogue drifted in the waters just off Belle Garden in Tobago early yesterday morning, fishermen working nearby knew something was wrong.

What they saw in the small vessel stunned them.

Fourteen bodies, all of them male, along with a skull and other skeletal remains, were piled inside the vessel as it floated four miles off Belle Garden, police confirmed.

The bodies were all clad in tracksuits and green rain jackets and were severely decomposed, police investigators said.
Ashanti Regional Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Sam Pyne has slammed Dr. Michael Kpessa-Whyte, former National Service Secretariat boss and a witness for former President John Mahama, the petitioner in the 2020 presidential election petition over his (Kpessa-Whyte) testimony before the Supreme Court.



Dr. Kpessa-Whyte on Tuesday, February 2, 2021 mounted the witness box to testify for former President John Mahama and during his cross-examination told the court the EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa instructed him and Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo to convey a message to the petitioner and then declared the results in their absence.



He, however, indicated before the court that he did not speak personally with the EC Chairperson and that the EC Chairperson's instruction was delivered to him by another person.



He said; My Lord, the second respondent (Jean Mensa) instructed us to leave the strong room and consult with our flagbearer on some irregularities. We were looking at results coming in region by region for it to be compared with the values on the regional summary on the screen and this process never happened.



Speaking on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', Sam Pyne questioned the witness statements of Dr. Kpessa-Whyte.



He took the Dr. Kpessa-Whyte's statements with a pinch of salt, describing his words as ''Kwaku Ananse story''.



"If this Kwaku Ananse story is not by the fire side which was played by Maame Dokono, would we have taken this story to court?''



He also ridiculed him for making grammatical errors while being cross-examined.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The CEO of the Pharmacy Union of Ireland said pharmacists have received "no concrete plans" regards the vaccine rollout.

Pharmacists should vaccinate the cohort of healthcare workers still waiting for a jab, the head of the Irish Pharmacy Union Darragh OLoughlin has said in a letter to the HSEs Dr Colm Henry.

Mr OLoughlin wrote to Dr Henry to recommend pharmacists be supplied with the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, which will now not be used for the over 70s in the vaccination programme, and for healthcare workers to be vaccinated quickly by pharmacists across the country using this.

Pharmacies can do vaccines on-site, during the flu season pharmacies do hundreds of thousands of vaccines on-site every year.

"Some pharmacies could also put themselves in a position to vaccinate away from pharmacies, too. We can do vaccination clinics in halls, community centres or go to peoples homes; whatever is required, Mr OLoughlin told Morning Ireland.

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The CEO of the union said while the pharmacists have had assurances they will be involved in the vaccination rollout, they have been given no concrete plans or dates as of yet.

The rapid change in plans not to vaccinate the group over 70 with the AstraZeneca vaccine is an opportunity to get it into pharmacies and get it to the healthcare workers, Mr OLoughlin insisted.

Mr OLoughlin confirmed that pharmacies would receive the same payment as GPs for administering vaccines, saying: That part is done, we now need to talk about the operational aspects of how the vaccine will be delivered to pharmacies and what specific additional training pharmacists need to do.

This will then enable us to start using the AstraZeneca vaccine as soon as it arrives in the country, Mr OLoughlin concluded.

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Connecticut residents 65 and older could begin registering for COVID-19 vaccines as early as next week, Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday.

On average, just under half of the states 75 and older population have already received the vaccine, according to the Lamont administrations data. That population is the only group eligible to receive the vaccine in Phase 1B of the states rollout. Medical first responders, health care workers and staff and residents of longterm care facilities are also being vaccinated under Phase 1A.

Id like to think that well be able to give you a green light on 65 and over in a week or 10 days. Very soon thereafter people start getting their first shots, maybe itll take another week to get that done, the governor said.

Johnson and Johnson announced Thursday it submitted an application for an emergency use authorization for its one-shot vaccine candidate to the Food and Drug Administration.

The company estimates its vaccine can be stored for up to three months in a standard refrigerator. Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines already in use, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine uses a modified adenovirus as a vector, or carrier, of the virus genetic code to help a patients body develop antibodies.

As Connecticuts COVID hospitalizations reached their lowest point since before Thanksgiving and the states daily positivity rate was the lowest since Halloween, Lamont on Thursday warned of Super Bowl gatherings on Sunday.

Weve got to make sure its also an event we handle cautiously and make sure it doesnt create a spike-up, he said. The trendlines are so positive right now.

There were 37 fewer hospitalizations recorded Thursday, dropping the statewide total to 837.

The daily positivity rate declined as well. A total of 937 new infections were recorded out of 29,864 tests, for a positivity rate of 3.14 percent  down from 3.77 percent the previous day.

There were 28 more deaths were reported, bringing the states death toll to 7,185, a figure Lamont called tragically too much.

That comes as the states allocation of vaccine from the federal government has received a boost of about 5 percent. The Biden administration also announced this week that it would begin shipping vaccines directly to some pharmacy locations, including in Connecticut. Those additional doses, on top of the states increased allocation, puts the total number flowing into the state over 60,000 each week, according to the governors office.

Josh Geballe, the states chief operating officer, said the number of vaccines the state receives next week  when the 5 percent boost is supposed to start  should be the new minimum the state can expect to receive each week.

Thats very helpful in terms of us being able to provide better headlights for our providers about what they can expect, Geballe said.

Vaccine appointments that were canceled this week due to the winter storm are on track to be completed by the end of the weekend, according to Geballe.

Its unclear exactly when the state will begin vaccinating those with underlying health conditions and frontline essential workers, a group that includes teachers. The states vaccine website still lists likely March for both those categories.

Also unclear is exactly which health conditions will be included. The states website provides a link to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions lists of conditions that put people at greater risk of the virus.

But Lamont said the state is still working with the CDC to identify the list of co-morbidities. They had lists that included smoking and a whole variety of things, we want to narrow that list to make sure it really deals with people who are most at risk.

But Lamont said he would prefer to rely on the guidance of the CDC when asked about narrowing that list.

We want to be clear, we understand people are very anxious for information about who will be eligible that has an underlying chronic condition, said Deidre Gifford, acting commissioner of the states Department of Public Health. Its obviously complicated ... we need to rely on the CDC data and the list that they published.

Gifford said the states health care providers will be a key part of the effort, since they house the medical records needed to confirm a persons medical condition. For those who are not affiliated with one of those providers, the state will provide a way for people to raise their hand and be included, she said.

Later Thursday evening, Lamont announced he had signed his 89th executive order since the pandemic began. The order contained a broad swath of extensions, but also ensures residents stimulus checks will not be counted toward calculations on what benefits theyre able to receive.

Lamont also announced Thursday the state will allocate an extra $40 million to acute care hospitals through money Connecticut received through the Coronavirus Relief Fund.

That money was set aside for Connecticut as part of the CARES Act last April. The money will be sent to non-governmental, short-term general hospitals, that meet certain requirements for pandemic-related expenses, Lamonts office said in a statement.

The governor said the money, which comes on top of $980 million already dispersed to hospitals from the federal government, recognizes the front-line role the states hospitals played in the pandemic.

It is not an overstatement to say that this role has been heroic and continues to be indispensable as we all work together to defeat the virus, a statement from Lamont said. Our hospitals have needed to adapt to new protocols and infection control measures, while also ceasing elective procedures during the crest of the first wave of COVID-19, which had the effect of increasing costs and decreasing revenues, not to mention the physical, mental, and emotional toll this pandemic has taken on their staff.
A man and woman on holiday in Gran Canaria faced the wrath of Liveline callers after claiming they were safer on the far flung island than in Ireland.

Frank and Una called into Joe Duffy to say that they had travelled to the Spanish destination, saying it was better to be there due to the low incidence of Covid.

The Covid rate here Its very, very low here, Frank said. Its not here Joe.

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The authorities have done a superb job in managing the situation Were due to come back in May/March but if the flight gets delayed we might have to stay longer.

Im saving myself. Im going to a safe place.

Una echoed a similar sentiment, saying: Im way safer here than I would be at home.

I'm very sorry for the people that begrudge us for being out here. It is my time now. It is what it is, she added.

Many callers were not happy with the pair, with one woman, Nicky, saying they should be ashamed of themselves.

Nicky lives in Oxford, and was unable to return to return to Ireland when one of her loved ones died in December.

Id like to point out we had a very sudden bereavement , she said. I took the decision not to travel home Im still not over it.

Then I took the responsible decision, along with a lot of Irish people in the UK, and decided not to travel home for Christmas.

People dont realise the seriousness of this pandemic Taking trips for a holiday is not essential travel.

You cant be telling me I cant travel to an immediate family members funeral in Dublin, while you got to go to Gran Canaria.

Another caller, Tony Jordan from Wexford, also expressed his disbelief that the pair had decided to go on holiday there. Mr Jordan went to Marbella in February of last year, and was stuck there for five months.

We couldnt get home because we had our dogs with us and Aer Lingus wouldnt take them.

In July when it opened up, my wife and myself and the dogs came back.

On Frank and Una, he said: Theyre like rats jumping off a sinking ship The rules are there not to travel.

They just took advantage of a situation for their own benefit.

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Apart from a small run in between lockdowns, theatres and clubs have been largely closed since last March

But he has accused frightened health and safety officials of blocking the plan

A 'game-changing' chemical that could be pumped into schools, theatres and restaurants to remove coronavirus should be urgently trialled, Andrew Lloyd Webber said yesterday.

The theatre impresario revealed that his team has spent months lobbying ministers to investigate whether triethylene glycol (TEG) could be used to help open up indoor venues.

Despite interest from Downing Street, he accused frightened health and safety officials of blocking the left-field plan without proper consideration.

Lord Lloyd Webber, 72, said he contacted No 10 about TEG last year after learning that tests had been successfully carried out at a Broadway theatre.

Lord Lloyd Webber, 72, (pictured with wife Madeleine Gurdon) has lobbied ministers to trial a 'game-changing' chemical that could be pumped into schools, theatres and restaurants to remove coronavirus

Manufacturers of the chemical, which is found in fogging used to sanitise theatres and concerts as well as a range of domestic products, claim it can clean the air when continually sprayed in indoor areas.

The composer, whose long-running musical Cats has featured stars including Nicole Scherzinger, offered to test whether the substance can be used safely at his 2,300-seat London Palladium theatre, which successfully hosted a socially distanced pantomime in December.

His team claimed the Department for Culture, Media and Sport was set up and ready to go with a testing programme after his proposal.

However the proposed trials are said to have hit a brick wall when the Health and Safety Executive said it did not support such a move.

The composer said: All we are is saying is, Look, you should trial this. Because if it is safe it could be a game-changer for schools and any form of indoor public space.

Manufacturers of the chemical, which is found in fogging used to sanitise theatres and concerts as well as a range of domestic products, claim it can clean the air when continually sprayed in indoor areas. Pictured: The London Palladium with socially-distanced seating

Last year, the Governments independent advisory body SAGE said there is limited evidence that chemical sprays such as TEG effectively reduce airborne virus transmission.

It said TEG has not been tested on the coronavirus and its long-term use could lead to potential health effects. The body called for more evidence to be presented before the use of continuous sprays was considered further.

A ministerial source said the Government was grateful for Lord Lloyd Webbers cutting-edge plan but that the HSE and Public Health England had looked fairly at the proposal and felt there was not enough scientific backing.

Last month, an unregistered product containing TEG was given an emergency exception to be used in two US states. The US Environmental Protection Agency said that Grignard Pure could be used in indoor spaces in Georgia and Tennessee, claiming it could kill 98 per cent of airborne coronavirus.

The composer, whose long-running musical Cats has featured stars including Nicole Scherzinger (pictured), offered to test whether the substance can be used safely at his 2,300-seat London Palladium theatre, which successfully hosted a socially distanced pantomime in December

Lord Lloyd Webber, who has been leading West End efforts to sustain the industry, described feeling frustrated at the inability to test the validity of the material. When this came along, the obvious thing to do was to give it to the relevant people in government, he said.

To be absolutely fair, the government side is really quite interested. But it seems it has hit [a wall] with the health people once again. One is hitting a sort of reticence because people are so frightened of trying something that might be dangerous.

An HSE spokesman said: At present, the evidence from SAGE is that there is limited evidence that the use of chemical sprays such as TEG will be effective to clean the air and reduce airborne virus transmission risks in occupied spaces.

At the same time, there is the potential for respiratory or skin irritation for those exposed over a long period of time. We currently would not recommend using them without further evidence to support their safety and efficiency.'
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[February 04, 2021] Backblaze Bolsters Executive Leadership With Appointment of Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel/Chief Compliance Officer

Backblaze, Inc., a leading cloud storage company, today announced the appointments of Frank Patchel as Chief Financial Officer, and Tom MacMitchell as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, to bolster company initiatives and drive growth in the year ahead and beyond. Backblaze provides businesses and consumers with solutions to store and use their data in an easy and affordable manner. Backblaze's solutions also provide a foundation for developers, IT professionals, and individuals to back up & archive data, host content, manage media, build their applications, and more. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Backblaze has customers in over 175 countries. "We are excited to welcome Frank and Tom to our management team as we focus on the opportunity ahead of us," said Gleb Budman, CEO of Backblaze. "Frank and Tom bring an impressive combination of industry as well as private and public company experience and skills to help position us successfully for growth as we continue to make storing and using data astonishingly easy for businesses and individuals. Both are aligned with our vision and culture, and we're confident they will help us achieve our long-term goals." Across his career, Patchel has served as the CFO & COO for multiple software as a service ( SaaS (News - Alert) ) technology companies. He has overseen the successful sale of two businesses to public companies while serving as their president. His corporate development work includes ceating strategic plans and executing over a dozen mergers and acquisitions. Patchel's career started with Ernst & Young, where he became a CPA, and includes 15 years with ADP with the last half as a divisional CFO & COO. He received a BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia.



"I'm pleased to join Backblaze at such an exciting time. The demand for cloud storage solutions represents a significant growth opportunity for our business," said Patchel. MacMitchell brings extensive experience as General Counsel, including heading the legal department for both public and private companies. Most recently, he led legal matters at Quantenna Communications, a high performance Wi-Fi solutions provider. At Quantenna, he also helped lead the company's initial public offering, and subsequently its successful sale to a Fortune 500 company. Prior to Quantenna, he was General Counsel at Intematix Corporation, led the corporate legal team-including governance, employment, international, and merger and acquisitions matters-at Brocade (News - Alert) Communications, and served as outside counsel to various public and private technology companies at a leading Silicon Valley law firm. Prior to law school, he worked for a global, leading management and technology consulting firm. MacMitchell received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University and a Juris Doctorate in law from the University of California at Davis.

"Backblaze is an exciting, innovative company with high growth potential, and I'm proud to join Gleb and the leadership team as we drive the business forward to leverage new opportunities," said MacMitchell. About Backblaze Backblaze makes managing data astonishingly easy for businesses and consumers. The Backblaze Storage Cloud provides a foundation for businesses, developers, IT professionals, and individuals to store, back up & archive data, host content, manage media, build their applications, and more. With more than an exabyte of data under management, the company currently works with customers in over 175 countries. Founded in 2007, the company is based in San Mateo, CA (News - Alert) . For more information, please go to www.backblaze.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005122/en/

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Appointment

4 February 2021

Leading hotel development, management and investment firm Midas Hospitality recently hired Greta McCue as Director of Sales at the Aloft Milwaukee Downtown. In this position, she will focus on maximizing profits while ensuring customer satisfaction for new and existing clientele. Her responsibilities include pursuing corporate and individual consumer bookings, as well as maintaining ongoing communication with both the property's team and guests.

McCue has nearly 14 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Prior to joining Midas Hospitality, she worked in numerous sales and managerial capacities in both Wisconsin and Illinois. McCue earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from Millikin University located in Decatur, Illinois.

The "different by design" Aloft hotel from Marriott is located at 1230 North Old World 3rd St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is one only a few downtown hotels situated directly on the RiverWalk. The hotel offers 160 tech-forward rooms with five meeting rooms and amenities that include the W XYZbar, fitness center and indoor swimming pool.
International leaders and experts advocate for rights-based family planning, examine threat COVID-19 poses to reproductive health

BALTIMORE, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 7,000 people attended this week's global online forum, "Not Without FP," to champion the important role family planning plays in universal health coverage (UHC) schemes, and explore the impact of COVID-19 on sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide.

The forum convened at a pivotal time - as the international community plans to move beyond its Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) goals and UHC gains traction globally - made even more complex by the COVID-19 pandemic and growing civil unrest and inequity.

"These disruptive events, while painful, can be important opportunities to transform the way we think and do our work," said Jose G. Rimon II, director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, host of the two-day forum. "It will take a massive mindset change and more global collaboration to ensure family planning is an essential service that's accessible to all."

Sessions featured presentations on how various family planning actors - including women themselves - are responding to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Senegal, Uganda, the United States and elsewhere.

Just days after U.S. President Joe Biden repealed the Mexico City policy - also known as the "global gag rule," which severely limited funds for reproductive healthcare services abroad under the previous administration - USAID's Acting Administrator Gloria Steele addressed forum participants in her first public appearance since assuming office.

USAID is a key supporter of FP2020, a global partnership that promotes universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and rights. As FP2020 prepares to embark on a new decade of partnership - and transition to FP2030 - Executive Director Beth Schlachter said, "Family planning is a key intervention for countries in reaching universal health coverage. Because for women and girls, access to contraception is a fundamental component of primary healthcare."

Other speakers included Dr. Indu Bhushan, CEO of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), the world's largest government-sponsored healthcare program providing free services to more than 550 million people in India; Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, United Nations Special Rapporteur, medical doctor and syndicated sexual health columnist; and Mechai Viravaidya, an activist and leader also known as the "Condom King" for his innovative work destigmatizing condoms and promoting safe sex and family planning in Thailand.

"Not Without FP" serves as a springboard to the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) 2021, scheduled to be held in Pattaya City, Thailand, and co-hosted by the Gates Institute, the Kingdom of Thailand's Ministry of Public Health, The Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and local NGO Population and Community Development Association.

Thailand's decades of success in family planning and UHC made it a natural partner for ICFP. Anutin Charnvirakul, the Kingdom of Thailand's deputy prime minister and minister of public health, opened the virtual forum on 2 February with an overview of his country's strategies, including the critical role government plays in making healthcare services widely accessible through district hospitals and community-based programs.

The voices of community members were represented throughout the event as participants relayed first-person stories in "Real Talk, Real Voices, Real FP," discussed their roles as religious leaders and healthcare workers, and shared youth perspectives.

Session and panel recordings from "Not Without FP" are accessible online and can be found here.

About Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health

Located in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Gates Institute is dedicated to the advancement of scholarship and science for social change. The Institute conducts and facilitates cutting-edge research in family planning, adolescent and youth reproductive health and populations dynamics, and translates science into evidence-informed policies, programs and practice. For more information, please visit www.gatesinstitute.org.

About International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP)

Since 2009, the International Conference on Family Planning has served as a strategic inflection point for the global reproductive health community. In addition to being the world's largest scientific conference on family planning and reproductive health, ICFP serves as an international platform for countries, organizations, and individuals to make important commitments and celebrate achievements. Sponsored by the Gates Institute, the ICFP convenes every two years and is scheduled to meet in Pattaya City, Thailand, in 2021.

For more information, please visit www.icfp2021.org.

Media Contact:

Katherine Davis

Davis Communication Strategies

+1 303 884 6261

katherine@daviscomm.com

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A volunteer looks for waterbirds at Point Reyes National Seashore in California during the National Audubon Societys annual Christmas Bird Count. Credit: Kerry W/Flickr, CC BY

The rapid spread of COVID-19 in 2020 disrupted field research and environmental monitoring efforts worldwide. Travel restrictions and social distancing forced scientists to cancel studies or pause their work for months. These limits measurably reduced the accuracy of weather forecasts and created data gaps on issues ranging from bird migration to civil rights in U.S. public schools.

Our work relies on this kind of information to track seasonal events in nature and understand how climate change is affecting them. We also recruit and train citizens for community scienceprojects that involve amateur or volunteer scientists in scientific research, also known as citizen science. This often involves collecting observations of phenomena such as plants and animals, daily rainfall totals, water quality or asteroids.

Participation in many community science programs has skyrocketed during COVID-19 lockdowns, with some programs reporting record numbers of contributors. We believe these efforts can help to offset data losses from the shutdown of formal monitoring activities.

Why is uninterrupted monitoring important?

Regular, long-term tracking of phenomena such as plant and animal abundance, composition and activity is critical for understanding change. It enables researchers to see the impacts of natural disturbance events, such as wildfires, and human activities, such as construction and development. Long-term studies offer insights into patterns and processes that can't be derived from shorter studies, and help experts make better predictions about the future.

Natures Notebook is a community-based science project that invites participants to track seasonal changes in plants and animals.

Interruptions in monitoring make it harder to accurately assess changes. If those disruptions coincide with extreme events, such as a major hurricane, experts miss opportunities to understand the full impacts of those events.

The U.S. has several long-term ecological monitoring programs, including the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), the Long Term Ecological Research Network and federal inventory and monitoring programs. Many state and local government agencies carry out similar activities. The pandemic has significantly disrupted all of these programs.

Reasons to engage the public in science

Community science is a strong complement to formal research. By engaging willing volunteers, community programs yield much more data and cover larger areas than professional scientists can achieve on their own.

We help manage two popular biodiversity-themed community science programs in the U.S.: eButterfly, a program for tracking butterfly sightings, and Nature's Notebook, a program for tracking seasonal activity in plants and animals. Scientists have used data contributed by participants in these programs to verify information collected by satellites, determine the conditions associated with flowering in different species of plants, and predict how climate change will shift plant species' ranges in the future.

A researcher takes water samples at the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research site in North Carolinas Appalachian Mountains. Credit: U.S. LTER

Observations contributed to other community science programs have helped to document new insect species, discover exoplanets and even find cures for rare diseases. Globally, millions of people participate in thousands of projects, resulting in data valued at more than US$1 billion annually.

Community science programs also benefit participants. Joining a community science program can make people more science-literate and help pull back the curtain on how scientific work is done. It also deepens their sense of place and increases their understanding and appreciation for the plants and animals they monitor. We have frequently heard from our participants that making observations has enabled them to see and experience much more in places they know well, and to enjoy those places all the more.

Community science to the rescue

As offices and schools closed in the spring of 2020, many Americans turned to community science programs in search of stimulating and meaningful activities for children and adults alike. And despite COVID-19 restrictions, volunteer data collectors have persisted through the pandemic.

In a recent analysis of activity in biodiversity-themed community science programs during COVID-19 lockdowns, we found that participation generally held steady or increased in the spring of 2020. Two popular programs, iNaturalist and eBird, both grew. Participation in Nature's Notebook and eButterfly declined slightly, though volunteers still logged many critical observations. What's more, community science volunteers in these programs and others have kept at it even as lockdowns have relaxed.

Plant ecologist Chad Washburn explains how the Naples Botanical Garden in Florida uses citizen science research to study plant distribution, flowering times and range.

How good is community data?

One common question about community science projects is whether data collected by volunteers is reliable. This is a valid concern, since many program participants are not formally trained as scientists.

Organizations that run community science programs typically go to great lengths to ensure data quality. To avoid recording erroneous observations, project leaders provide extensive training and support materials. They also construct data entry apps so that volunteers can't mistakenly input dates in the future, and flag inconsistent reports for review. Several biodiversity-themed programs, including iNaturalist, eBird and eButterfly, engage expert reviewers to evaluate and verify reports.

According to a 2018 review by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, on average, volunteer contributors yield reliable data points about 75% of the time. For some programs, such as Nature's Notebook and eBird, accuracy is over 90%.

SciStarter is a database that volunteers can use to find community science opportunities across the U.S. throughout the year.

How to get involved

Your observations can help fill critical gaps that COVID-19 closures have created. Contributions to iNaturalist, eBird, eButterfly or Nature's Notebook are welcome any time of the year, but spring is an ideal time to contribute observations to biodiversity-themed programs to help document plant and animal response to changing seasonal conditions. For example, participants in Nature's Notebook will help document whether springtime plant and animal activity is early amid the ongoing effects of climate change.

The 2021 City Nature Challenge, an effort using iNaturalist to document urban biodiversity in brief, focused events, will run in late April and early May in cities worldwide. Another event, Global Big Day  a single day focused on celebrating and recording birds worldwideis scheduled for May 8. Even if you've never thought of yourself as a scientist, you can help scientists collect data that expand our understanding of the Earth and how it works.

Explore further Biodiversity monitoring programmes need a culture of collaboration

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

These backyard poultry birds have a lot of resistance against diseases, compared to the commercially bred poultry.  AFP

Hyderabad: Fears of onset of Bird Flu in the state are giving people the jitters in Vikarabad and Karimnagar districts. On Wednesday, reports came of mass deaths among chicken.

The dying of backyard poultry birds in Dornal village of Darrur mandal of Vikarabad district created panic and veterinary officials rushed to the village and its other surrounding areas to collect samples. The samples were sent to labs for investigation. The results will be known on Thursday.

Veterinary experts said the deaths could have been due to exposure to pesticides or contamination of water.

In Dornal, for the past one week, country chickens have been dying and 13 families have reported these incidents. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Dr M. Vasantha Kumari, district veterinary officer of Vikarabad said, There is no reason for panic. It could be either because of pesticides or water contamination. We suspect Ranikhet disease and the lab results will give us a clear picture.

She added: The Biological and Veterinary Research Institute staff will be visiting the village for an investigation. These backyard poultry birds have a lot of resistance against diseases, compared to the commercially bred poultry.

In Chiguramidi mandal of Karimnagar district, similar deaths were reported by country chicken growers, according to veterinary doctor Kiran Reddy. There are no traces of viral infection in the dead birds. In many cases, these chicken are reared at home and they mostly go without getting vaccinated, Dr Kiran Reddy said.
The Conversation

Ocean pollution is widespread, worsening, and poses a clear and present danger to human health and wellbeing. But the extent of this danger has not been widely comprehended  until now. Our recent study provides the first comprehensive assessment of the impacts of ocean pollution on human health. Ocean pollution is a complex mixture of toxic metals, plastics, manufactured chemicals, petroleum, urban and industrial wastes, pesticides, fertilisers, pharmaceutical chemicals, agricultural runoff, and sewage. More than 80 percent arises from land-based sources and it reaches the oceans through rivers, runoff, deposition from the atmosphere  where airborne pollutants are washed into the ocean by rain and snow  and direct dumpings, such as pollution from wastewater treatment plants and discarded waste. Ocean pollution is heaviest near the coasts and most highly concentrated along the coastlines of low-income and middle-income countries.

Ocean pollution can also be found far beyond national jurisdictions in the open oceans, the deepest oceanic trenches, and on the shores of remote islands. Ocean pollution knows no borders.

The most hazardous ocean pollution

Plastic waste is the most visible component of ocean pollution. More than ten million tonnes of plastic enter the seas every year. The majority of this breaks down into microplastic particles and accumulates in coastal and deep-sea sediments.

Some large pieces float in the water for decades ending up as massive concentrations where currents converge and circulate. The Pacific Oceans so called garbage patch is a well-known example.

Microplastics contain multiple toxic chemicals that are added to plastics to make them flexible, colourful, waterproof or flame-resistant. These include carcinogens, neurotoxins, and endocrine disruptors  chemicals that interfere with hormones, and can cause cancer, birth defects, and reduced fertility.

These chemical-laden particles enter the food chain and accumulate in fish and shellfish. When humans eat seafood contaminated with these materials, we ingest millions of microplastic particles and the many chemicals they carry. Though there is still debate on the harm to humans from microplastics, exposure to these chemicals increases the risk of all the diseases that they cause. Virtually all of us have microplastics in our bodies today.

Mercury is widespread in the oceans, and the major culprit is coal burning in homes and industry. All coal contains mercury, and when it burns, mercury vaporises, enters the atmosphere, and eventually washes into the sea. Gold mining is another source, as mercury is used to dissolve gold from the ore.

Mercury can accumulate to high levels in predatory fish such as tuna and swordfish, which are in turn eaten by us. Contaminated fish can be especially dangerous if eaten by expectant mothers. Exposure of mercury to infants in the womb can damage developing brains, reducing IQ and increasing risks for autism, ADHD, and other learning disorders. Adult mercury exposure increases risks for heart disease and dementia.

Petroleum pollutants from oil spills threaten the marine microorganisms that produce much of the Earths oxygen by reducing their capacity for photosynthesis. These beneficial microorganisms use solar energy to convert atmospheric CO 2 into oxygen and are also affected by organic pollutants and other chemicals. When there is a major oil spill, the impact can be huge.

Coastal pollution from industrial waste, agricultural runoff, pesticides, and sewage increases the frequency of harmful algal blooms, known as red tides, brown tides, and green tides. These blooms produce powerful toxins like ciguatera and domoic acid that accumulate in fish and shellfish. When ingested, these toxins can cause dementia, amnesia, paralysis, and even rapid death. When inhaled, they can cause asthma.

Dangerous microorganisms result from a combination of coastal pollution and warming seas, which encourages their spread. Harmful bacteria such as the vibrio species  found in warmer waters and responsible for vibriosis, a potentially fatal illness  are now appearing further north and causing life-threatening infections. Theres a high risk that cholera, caused by vibrio cholerae, could spread to new, previously unaffected areas.

And the health impacts of ocean pollution fall disproportionately on indigenous peoples, coastal communities and vulnerable populations in the Global South, underlining the planetary scale of this environmental injustice.

Political will and scientific evidence

While the findings in this report are alarming, the good news is that ocean pollution, as with all forms of pollution, can be controlled and prevented. Bans on single-use plastics and better waste sorting can curb pollution at its source, especially plastic waste, both on land and at sea.

Wise governments have curbed other forms of pollution by deploying control strategies based on law, policy, technology, and targeted enforcement. The US, for example, has reduced air pollution by 70 percent since the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970. They have saved thousands of lives. They have proven highly cost-effective.

Countries around the world are now applying these same tools to control ocean pollution. Boston Harbour in Massachusetts and Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong have been cleaned. Estuaries from Chesapeake Bay in the US to the Seto Inland Sea in Japan have been rejuvenated. Some coral reefs have been restored, such as those in American Samoa, where vigilance, protection and quick response have happened in relation to various pollution threats.

These successes have boosted economies, increased tourism, restored fisheries, and improved health. They demonstrate that broad control of ocean pollution is feasible and their benefits will last for centuries. Our study offers some clear recommendations for preventing and controlling ocean pollution, including transitioning to cleaner energy, developing affordable alternatives to fossil fuel-based plastics, reducing human, agricultural and industrial discharges, and expanding Marine Protected Areas.

Protecting the planet is a global concern and our collective responsibility. Leaders who recognise the gravity of ocean pollution, acknowledge its growing dangers, engage civil society, and take bold, evidence-based action to stop pollution at source will be essential for preventing ocean pollution and safeguarding our own health.

Jacqueline McGlade, Professor of Natural Prosperity, Sustainable Development and Knowledge Systems, UCL and Philip Landrigan, Professor and Director, Global Public Health Program and Global Pollution Observatory, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Boston College

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Cerebral palsy is the most common motor disability in children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many children with cerebral palsy have one side of their body weaker than the other side, which impacts mobility, motor skills, and muscle tone. This condition, hemiparesis, results from damage to the developing brain, originating from various conditions including stroke.

Hassan Farah, a Virginia Tech translational biology, medicine, and health (TBMH) graduate student working in the laboratories of Stephanie DeLuca, an associate professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and Robin Queen, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and mechanics in Virginia Tech's College of Engineering, is studying how children with cerebral palsy balance, walk, and compensate for motor impairments.

Farah was recently awarded $98,000 under the National Institutes of Health's Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research program to study the limb biomechanics, joint movements, and loading in children with cerebral palsy.

Farah's doctoral dissertation research blends pediatric rehabilitation and biomedical engineering to ask an important question: How does the anticipation of walking impact balance and the first few steps for children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy?

To answer this, the researchers place motion capture sensors to mark different anatomical landmarks, such as a shoulder or hip joint, then they ask children to stand for 35 seconds before walking across the room when they see a light turn on. As the child transitions from standing to walking, 10 3D motion-capture cameras pick up their movements from different angles, while force plates in the floor detect how much weight they press into the ground.

"We're really focusing on the first three to five seconds of walking - how they initiate that very first step and what strategies they may be using to overcome neuromotor disparities," Farah said.

Five seconds doesn't sound like a long time, but Farah said there will be plenty of kinematic data to uncover. By the end of the study, the researchers will have a clearer picture of how children with hemiparesis transfer weight, maintain stability and balance, prepare for walking, the velocity and direction of each motion, and the force applied with each step.

The research team will begin recruiting 40 children between ages 7 and 12 later this year. Half of the participants will have hemiparetic cerebral palsy. The other half, who have not been diagnosed with a motor impairment, will match the participants with hemiparesis in terms of age and sex. This will help the researchers understand any potential changes in biomechanical preparation between children with hemiparesis and their peers.

Farah's doctoral dissertation project synergizes the research strengths of his two advisors: Queen, who has pioneered novel biomechanics applications in lower extremity orthopedic rehabilitation; and DeLuca, who has developed and implemented clinical interventions to help children with cerebral palsy overcome neuromotor impairments.

Queen and DeLuca both noted that Farah's enthusiasm and motivation stood out to them.

"He approached me before he was even in the TBMH program and explained his desire to merge rehabilitation and science. His passion and tenacity are what inspired me to become his mentor and help him progress in his career. The rehabilitation field needs enthusiastic young investigators. Hassan is very deserving of this recognition," said DeLuca, who is also co-director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute's Neuromotor Research Clinic, as well as an associate professor in the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine's department of pediatrics and the College of Science's School of Neuroscience.

"I've been interested in working with Dr. Queen since she joined Virginia Tech to harness her lab's ability to do motion analysis in people with neuromotor impairments," DeLuca said.

Likewise, Queen also saw the potential to forge a new path in pediatric rehabilitation.

"For years I've been engineering frameworks in the orthopedic rehabilitation space, and now we have this unique opportunity to use similar technologies to address new questions in a pediatric population," said Queen, who also directs the Kevin P. Granata Biomechanics Lab, is an associate professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, and a faculty fellow for health data privacy at Virginia Tech. "This collaboration has been years in the making and opens up an exciting future of possibilities."

DeLuca said their collaborative projects could one day address a critical unmet need for less invasive interventions in cerebral palsy rehabilitation.

"Children with cerebral palsy often have spasticity, and the go-to clinical solution is often surgery," DeLuca said. "We hope that by understanding the mechanics of walking patterns, we can better define diagnostic categories and one day develop effective interventions as alternatives to surgery."

Farah earned a bachelor's degree in health sciences from the University of Arizona. He also serves as the executive chair of the Roanoke Graduate Student Association, and is passionate about mentorship and science advocacy.

"It's important to me to find ways to act locally to advocate for positive change. I also want to ensure that wherever I am, I'm creating an inclusive environment that allows diverse groups of students, staff, colleagues, and even research participants, to feel valued and empowered by their contributions to science," Farah said. "This NIH funding will help me achieve my academic and professional goals, and continue to forge an uncharted, interdisciplinary path in health science."

###
A wedding celebrant from Married At First Sight has broken his silence on the 'fat-shaming' saga surrounding Elizabeth Sobinoff and Sam Ball's nuptials two years ago.

Sam, 28, faced backlash for saying his wife was 'bigger' than the women he usually dates - but what fans didn't know until recently was that Elizabeth, 29, also made hurtful comments about her husband's size.

A previously unseen video resurfaced this week of the snappy bride saying: 'I'm ready to meet my man. Does he look porky? He looks tubby.'

Eyewitness: A wedding celebrant from Married At First Sight has broken his silence on the 'fat-shaming' saga surrounding Elizabeth Sobinoff and Sam Ball's nuptials two years ago

'I've put all that trust into those experts so they better have, like, looked after me,' she added - with the implication being she'd asked for someone not overweight.

Now, in an unexpected twist, the couple's celebrant known as Glenn has taken aim at Elizabeth over her questionable remarks.

'I'm glad you said something as it's been bothering me too,' he wrote in response to Sam's Instagram post about Lizzie's comments on their wedding day.

Supportive: Glenn spoke out after a previously unseen video resurfaced this week of Elizabeth saying of Sam: 'I'm ready to meet my man. Does he look porky? He looks tubby'

He then claimed he 'wasn't impressed with her comments' and suggested that someone from Elizabeth's bridal party had called him 'tubby'.

He went on to say that Sam was actually kind to him during the shoot.

'Everybody needs to just remember to be kind. I love your positivity, mate. You were really kind to me on the day we filmed and I'm glad we've remained friends,' he said.

No so innocent: Glenn claimed he 'wasn't impressed with her comments' and suggested that someone from Elizabeth's bridal party had called him 'tubby'. Pictured: a still from the resurfaced footage of Sam and Lizzie's wedding day exposing her 'fat-shaming' comments

The video of Lizzie saying Sam looks 'tubby' has been viewed 65,000 times as of Thursday, with many fans left shocked by the double standards.

That's because she has portrayed herself as a body-positivity warrior for two years since Sam's comments about her weight - which admittedly were hurtful.

'This has just completely shattered her credibility. This whole victim mode she's been portraying for the last two years has just been one giant act,' one viewer wrote.

Going viral: The video of Lizzie saying Sam looks 'tubby' has been viewed 65,000 times as of Thursday, with many fans left shocked by the double standards

'And at the expense of someone else's reputation. Just shows her true character and her integrity as an individual, or lack thereof.'

Other comments were more succinct, labelling her remarks as 'fat-shaming'.

'Pretty sure she just fat shamed you there!' one wrote.

Please explain! 'This has just completely shattered her credibility. This whole victim mode she's been portraying for the last two years has just been one giant act,' one viewer wrote

Another added: 'She made a massive speech [about] fat-shaming yet she's done it herself? MAFS have a lot of explaining to do...'

Many fans tagged Elizabeth in the viral video and demanded she 'explain' herself. She is yet to respond.

At Monday night's Grand Reunion, Lizzie said she was still reeling from Sam's comments about her being 'big' and would never forgive him.

What's the truth? Sam has been publicly slammed a number of times after he was accused of fat shaming Elizabeth. Sam is pictured with Elizabeth on their wedding day in 2019

'His comments, the weight comments, have still trickled over. I never escaped that, and I don't think I ever will be able to escape that,' she said.

'Every day, every day walking down the street - not a day goes by my weight is not questioned thanks to this person.'

She added: 'I will never forgive that person. For not apologising, and acting like, "Oh, it's not a big deal." It is. Every day, I can never escape that - being the former fat girl.'

Anger: At Monday night's Grand Reunion, Lizzie said she was still reeling from Sam's comments about her being 'big' and would never forgive him

Sam had sparked outrage during season six of Married At First Sight, which first aired in Australia in 2019 and is now screening in Britain on E4, when he remarked on Elizabeth's weight after meeting her at the altar.

'I've never really dated girls as big as Elizabeth to be honest. It's obviously a topic that's troubled her in the past,' he told producers.

'She's got a beautiful face... Maybe I'll get her running in the mornings... but she'll be right. We'll get her going,' he added.

Sam later claimed he had been coerced by producers into making the comments.

This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
Maha Energy AB ("Maha" or the "Company") expects to allocate approximately USD 26 million on capital projects during 2021 and estimates the corporate average annual production to be between 4,000 - 5,000 BOEPD*. The 2021 Capital Plan will be funded through internal cashflows and a contemplated future financing.

The Company is pleased to provide details of its 2021 Capital Plan and Production Guidance as follows:

2021 Capital Plan Summary- Total Budget ~USD 26 Million

Field Capital Program 2021 Quarter Description/Purpose Tie New Well

Tie-3 Q1 (ongoing) Maintain Tie field long term production plateau Tie New Well

Tie-4 (AG HZ) Q2 Maintain Tie field long term production plateau



Tie New Well

Tie-5 Q3 Maintain Tie field long term production plateau



Tie Facilities Throughout 2021 Completion of upgrade work, automation work, and tie in of new wells. Tartaruga Facilities Upgrade Q3 Increasing processing capacity IB 4 New Wells Q2 -Q3 Commitment wells Mafraq None N/A Preparatory work LAK None N/A No planned investments during 2021

Tie Field - Bahia, Brazil

Tie- 2021 Capital Plan

Tie-3

Tie-3 is a dual oil producer drilled on the western flank of the Tie structure. This well was originally planned for Q4 2020, but due to operational delays on Tie-2, this well was not started until late 2020. This well will eventually be converted to a water injector.

Tie-4

Tie-4 is earmarked to be the field's first horizontal well. The well will be drilled from the GTE-4 pad and completed in the Agua Grande formation. This well is under license review by the Brazilian authorities. License approval is expected sometime in the 2nd quarter of 2021.

*BOEPD: Barrels of Oil Equivalents Per Day

Tie-5

Tie-5 will be drilled on the southern flank of the Tie structure as a water injector to maintain reservoir pressure and increase oil recovery.

Tie Facilities

The Tie facilities are all but complete, and the capital earmarked for the Tie facilities include tie-in work (flow lines and manifolding) for the new wells. Additional work includes automation of the plant and minor punch-list items.

Tartaruga Field - Sergipe, Brazil

Tartaruga- 2021 Capital Plan

Facility Upgrade

With the recent results from the TTG-3 well only minor work will continue during 2021 to upgrade the production facilities at Tararuga to handle up to 2,500 BOPD and 2,500 MSCFPD of gas.

LAK Ranch -Wyoming USA

LAK- 2021 Capital Plan

LAK Ranch

The LAK Ranch heavy oil field was shut in at the beginning of the Pandemic in 2020. No work is planned for 2021 and the field will remain shut in until oil prices recover. Whilst the Reserves valuation continues to point towards a full field development with lower but yet positive net present value, even at the current depressed oil prices, the Company maintains better yielding investments in Brazil, Illinois Basin and Oman

Illinois Basin (IB)-Illinois and Indiana, USA

IB- 2021 Capital Plan

Wells

Production will continue from the IB area during 2021. 4 wells are planned for the year, and these wells are considered to be commitment wells to keep all leases in good standing.

Mafraq Oil Field, Oman

Oman- 2021 Capital Plan

Wells

No wells are planned for 2021 in Oman - however, preparatory work will commence whereby personnel and equipment will be mobilized so that drilling can commence during 2022.

Production

The Company expects to complete most, if not all, of the Capital Plan prior to year-end 2021. The exact timing of the operations is dependent upon a number of factors including delivery of long lead items, rig availability, permitting and logistics which in turn might affect Company's total annual production. Continuing effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic is expected to affect the timing of the Capital Plan and the 2021 Production Guidance.

As such, this 2021 Production Guidance, net to the Company (but before government or freehold royalties) is expressed in the range of 4,000 - 5,000 BOEPD*, of which approximately 8% is estimated to be gas. The guidance assumes continuing indirect effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic, such as logistical impediments due to reduced border access and depressed commodity prices. As the global pandemic eases and restrictions are reduced, the Company expects an increase in activity which in turn may affect the production guidance positively.

The Company estimates its Operating costs for 2021 (including oil transportation costs), to range between $7 and $8 per BOE applying the production guidance range provided above.

Funding of 2021 Capital Plan

2021 Capital Plan Budget

The 2021 Capital Plan has a total budget of ~USD 26 million for the above incremental projects and is expected to be funded fully through a combination of operating cash flow and proceeds from financing.

*BOEPD: Barrels of Oil Equivalents Per Day

1 Normal units for expressing gas production is m3/day or ft3/day. An average industry conversion factor to barrels does not use a simple volumetric conversion factor from m3 (or ft3) to barrels. Instead the energy produced by burning 1 barrel of oil is equated to the same volume of gas required to produce the same amount of energy. This is of course dependent on the type of gas being burned, but an industry average is that 6,000 standard cubic feet (scf) of gas generate the same amount of energy as 1 barrel of oil. As such in this and future production guidance 6,000 scf of gas will be equal to 1 barrel of oil equivalent.

Miscellaneous

The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, at 22:05 CET on February 4, 2021.

For more information, please contact:

Jonas Lindvall



Victoria Berg



About Maha

Maha Energy AB). The head office is in Stockholm, Sweden with a technical office in Calgary, Canada, as well as operations offices in Grayville, Illinois, USA and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. For more information, please visit our website www.mahaenergy.ca



Attachment
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Cleveland State University still has not made public records identifying the credentials and scoring of 37 applicants whom the school passed over to give a $140,000-a-year human resources job to a late-applying candidate with a criminal record.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer sought the credentials more than two weeks ago and requested documents showing how the school evaluated the candidates a week ago, but a CSU lawyer stated late Wednesday that the school needs still more time to comply.

We have every intention of responding to your requests on behalf of the University and will do so shortly after the records have been reviewed and proper redactions are made as provided by applicable law, General Counsel Sonali B. Wilson wrote in an email.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer have threatened legal action if the university fails to turn over the records in what Ohio law describes as a reasonable period.

The news organization sought the records the same week CSU President Harlan Sands stated in a letter to faculty and staff that all 37 applicants lacked the right skills and experience for the newly created job of associate vice president for human resources.

Sands wrote the letter after cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer disclosed that the school allowed Douglas Dykes to apply for the job 10 months after the application deadline had elapsed and while Dykes was on probation for two misdemeanor counts of obstructing official business.

The school eventually hired Dykes on Dec. 14, 2020, one week after Dykes had formally applied.

Sands states in his January 2021 letter that the university believes in giving second chances to talented individuals. He also states that the school officials are coordinating our response to questions posed by the two media outlets.

In a phone interview last month, Dykes said he submitted a resume after being contacted by CSU Chief Talent Office Jeanell Hughes, who now serves as Dykes boss. The resume was submitted in February 2020, when Dykes was under indictment for theft-in-office charges.

Corruption investigators had accused Dykes of illegally converting a $13,500 moving expense per for a Cuyahoga County IT official into a $15,000 signing bonus while serving as human resources chief for County Executive Armond Budish.

In January 2020, Dykes quietly repaid the county more than $10,000 of the sum he was accused of stealing. He resigned from the county days after cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reported on the repayment.

In July 2020, Dykes agreed to a deal with corruption investigators that had him plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of obstructing official business, and cooperate in the ongoing probe of the Budish administration.
A recent modelling study painted a reassuring picture of a post-pandemic future in which SARS-CoV-2 transitions, over a few years to a few decades, from dangerous pathogen to just another common-cold This predicted loss of virulence, the authors stress, is based on a specific idiosyncrasy of the virus, namely that it rarely causes serious disease in children.

Still, many experts agreed that we should not be in the least surprised by the authors conclusion, as all viruses become more transmissible and less pathogenic over time. After all, the seductive logic goes, from an evolutionary perspective it makes no sense for a pathogen to harm the host on which it depends for its survival. According to this reasoning, virulence is little more than a temporary evolutionary imbalance.

This comfortable chain of reasoning was rudely broken by the announcement of a realistic possibility that the new highly transmissible B117 variant is associated with an increased risk of death.

Although the evidence is still accruing, early estimates from Nervtag, the UKs New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, suggest that B117 may be around 30% more deadly.

But perhaps this is a single exception to an otherwise well-observed rule, and we can still be confident that SARS-CoV-2 will slowly fade away to obscurity. So what is the evidence for this view? And how confident can we be in predicting how evolution will shape the relationship between a pathogen and its host?

Law of declining virulence

It was the bacteriologist and comparative pathologist Theobald Smith (1859-1934) who began the narrative of the law of declining virulence in the late 19th century.

Studying tick-borne disease of cattle during the 1880s, Smith realised that the severity of the disease was determined by the degree of prior infection. Cattle that had been repeatedly exposed to the pathogen suffered from much more moderate disease than cattle encountering it for the first time. Smith reasoned that this was because host and pathogen conspired over time towards a mutually benign relationship.

The story then takes a distinctly antipodean turn. In 1859, the year Charles Darwin published his Big Idea, European rabbits were introduced to Australia for sport, with devastating consequences for the indigenous flora and fauna. Having turned down Louis Pasteurs offer of mass delapinsation using fowl cholera as a biological control agent, the Department of Agriculture turned to the myxoma virus that causes the lethal, but highly species-specific disease, myxomatosis in rabbits.

By the 1950s, the myxoma virus was spreading rapidly among the rabbit population. Recognising the opportunities provided by this unique experiment, the virologist Frank Fenner documented how the virulence of the disease decreased over a few years from 99.5% mortality to about 90%. This was taken as strong empirical evidence in support of Smiths law of declining virulence  and occasionally still is.

A challenge to the law of declining virulence

At around the same time, a talented young Australian mathematician named Robert May came across the work of his compatriot Charles Birch, an eminent ecologist working on the regulation of animal populations. Together with epidemiologist Roy Anderson, May went on to pioneer the application of mathematical modelling to the ecology and evolution of infectious disease. By the late 1970s, May and Anderson had developed the trade-off model for the evolution of virulence  the first conceptual framework in 100 years to challenge the Smiths general law of declining virulence.

The trade-off model recognises that pathogen virulence will not necessarily limit the ease by which a pathogen can transmit from one host to another. It might even enhance it. Without the assumed evolutionary cost to virulence, there is no reason to believe that disease severity will decrease over time.

Instead, May and Anderson proposed that the optimal level of virulence for any given pathogen will be determined by a range of factors, such as the availability of susceptible hosts, and the length of time between infection and symptom onset.

This last factor is a key aspect of the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2. The long time period between infection and death (if it occurs) means that SARS-CoV-2 has a significant window in which to replicate and spread, long before it kills its current host.

The trade-off model is now widely accepted. It emphasises that each host-pathogen combination must be considered individually. There is no general evolutionary law for predicting how these relationships will pan out, and certainly no justification for evoking the inevitability of decreased virulence.

There is little or no direct evidence that virulence decreases over time. While newly emerged pathogens, such as HIV and Mers, are often highly virulent, the converse is not true. There are plenty of ancient diseases, such as tuberculosis and gonorrhoea, that are probably just as virulent today as they ever were.

A change in conditions can also drive the trend in the other direction. fever has afflicted humans since at least the 18th century, but an increasingly large and mobile human population is thought to have driven a marked increase in virulence over the last 50 years or so. Even the seminal case of the rabbit-killing myxoma virus is uncertain. There was little subsequent decline in virulence after Fenners early reports, and it may even have risen slightly.

Plausible but not inevitable

Of course, these counter-examples do not in themselves present evidence that the virulence of SARS-CoV-2 will not decline. Declining virulence is certainly plausible as one of many potential outcomes under the trade-off model.

Conversely, mutations might simultaneously heighten both virulence and transmissibility by increasing viral replication rate. Although we will have to wait for more evidence to be certain  and the precise mechanisms may be difficult to pin down  the emerging evidence around the B117 variant currently points more towards increased mortality.

Ed Feil, Professor of Microbial Evolution at The Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath and Christian Yates, Senior Lecturer in Mathematical Biology, University of Bath

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
(BPT) - Rare diseases have long been difficult for doctors to diagnose and treat. Symptoms can be vague or confusing and the diseases are often not widely known. People living with rare diseases called primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs), including neutropenia, face challenges with diagnosis and treatment. Their journey to find answers may include years of infections and illness that seem to be unrelated. In fact, there are more than 400 genetic mutations that cause the immune system not to function properly, and misdiagnosis is common. A new website called www.IDYourPID.com harnesses the power of genetic testing advances to change that.

Primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs) such as congenital neutropenia are caused by changes, or mutations, in genes involved in the immune system. In recent years there has been a huge leap in discovery of genetic mutations that cause PIDs and neutropenia. These discoveries are leading to more personalized treatments. With personalized medicine, doctors can tailor a persons treatment based on that individuals specific genes and disease. It can allow doctors to pick the right medicine at the right dose and the right time, instead of giving the same treatment to everyone.
Greta Thunberg (Image: Reuters)

The Delhi Police has issued a statement saying that the FIR registered does not mention any individual, rather the charge is levied against creators of toolkit under charges of sedition, criminal conspiracy and promoting enmity between the community.

This comes in the wake of reports that suggested that it filed an FIR against Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg who had earlier issued her tweets supporting the ongoing farmers' protests at the Delhi borders.

We have not named anyone in the FIR. The FIR is against the creators of toolkit and it is a matter of investigation. Delhi Police will be investigating that case, said Praveer Ranjan, Special Commissioner of Police, Delhi Police.

On the matter of the toolkit, Minister for Information & Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar said it was a serious issue.

"The 'Toolkit' matter is a serious one. It clearly shows that some foreign elements are conspiring to defame India," he said.

Thunberg and Rihannas tweets led to a spike in search for terms related to farmers protest in many parts of the world, putting the agitation on the world map.

The farmers are demanding a complete rollback of the new agriculture reform laws and a guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system being retained. Multiple rounds of talks between the central government and the farmers union leaders have ended in a stalemate. Protesting farmers fear that the new laws will dismantle the MSP system and corporatise farming. However, the Centre has maintained that these reforms will benefit farmers.

On January 26, the protest turned violent when some farmers deviated from a pre-decided route for their Republic Day tractor rally and clashed with police. Some protesters scaled the ramparts of the Red Fort. While one farmer died during the chaos, several protestors and police personnel were injured in the ensuing clashes.



I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest.

No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest

 Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 4, 2021

Since then, the activist has reiterated her support for the ongoing protests, saying that no amount of hate, threat or violation of human rights will stop that.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 21:57:02|Editor: huaxia

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TAIPEI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A COVID-19 patient died in Taiwan Wednesday, raising the death toll to nine, the local epidemic monitoring agency said Thursday.

The patient, a British national in his 70s, had been in Taiwan to visit his family since Dec. 18. He began to have symptoms on Dec. 26 and was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Dec. 31, the agency said at a press briefing.

The island reported two new COVID-19 cases Thursday, imported from Indonesia and the United States, the agency said.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Taiwan has risen to 919 as of Thursday. Nine of them have died, 839 have recovered and 71 remain hospitalized, according to the agency.

The island has yet developed its own COVID-19 vaccines and the authority had not revealed the timetable for purchases of foreign vaccines either.

In face of the increasing doubt from the public, the agency pledged Thursday that Taiwan will receive the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines as soon as this month. Enditem
In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 will be remembered for the ominous hallmarks of the climate crisis  from the massive wildfires in the Western U.S. to the record number of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico to the record high lake levels here in Illinois. The climate crisis is here, and its dangerous reach is growing every day. Throw in the economic fallout from the pandemic and the sweeping Commonwealth Edison utility scandal, and Illinois is faced with three intertwined crises: climate, COVID-19 and corruption.
ASAP! photo / contributed /

WASHINGTON  Marking ASAP!s return to in-person programming, Look, Build, Play! is described by the nonprofit organization as a natural building workshop in which participants will develop their ideas in virtual sessions, then bring them to life outdoors at Macricostas Preserve.

Led by artists Jenna Robb and Jason Killinger, the program aims to promote outdoor exploration and connection with nature. Over the winter, participants will forage in their own backyards and nearby parks to collect nature objects as components to a small sculpture built in their virtual sessions.

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Hollywood star and local firms join crowdfunded effort to splash cash for Aidens bath

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Feb 4th, 2021

Local Wrexham businesses have pulled together to help a young, disabled Wrexham fan get the care that he needs, as quickly as possible.

This has taken the form of free labour and cost-price equipment to support a kind hearted donation from Hollywood star, Rob McElhenny and members of the public on a crowdfunder.

Back in November Rob McElhenney, one of Wrexham FCs new Hollywood owners made headlines with an extremely generous donation of 6000 to Aiden Stott, a life-long Wrexham fan who has cerebral palsy and had been trying to raise the cash to get a bathroom adaptation.

Season ticket holder and member of Wrexham FCs Disabled Supporters Association, Mr Stott said he was blown away by the generosity of Mr McElhenney and all who had donated.





Following cuts to his care, Mr Stotts parents sold their house in order to purchase a flat for him to live closer to his family in Manchester  even following the move though the 37 year old never misses a home game!

The family set up a fundraising campaign after discovering that the cost of adapting the bathroom in the new flat to make it safe for Aiden, his carers and family would cost 6,000.

At this stage neither the Hollywood star nor the Stott family knew that the business community was also stepping forward to help in ways that they couldnt have imagined.

Mr Stotts sister, Cheryl had said that since the point the donation was made that local companies had come forward saying they would adapt the bathroom for a lower price meaning that Aiden would be able to get more of the help that he needed, much more quickly.

Steve Gilbert, chairman of the clubs Disabled Supporters Association, said everyone was Overwhelmed by the stars generosity.

Rob McElhenney tweeted to say, Aiden  cant wait to meet you at the Racecourse. Because of the incredible work by @OfficialDLOWAFC I can save you a seat right next to me. 

One of the local firms quick to offer help was Pentre Broughton based Healthcare Matters. After making contact through Wrexham Disabled Supporters Association, they agreed with the Stott family to donate the bath and their engineers time, even going as far as having the specialist bath seat produced in Wrexham red and a Wrexham FC crest printed for the bathroom.

A spokesman for the Disabled Supporters Association said : We would also like to once again thank the generosity of the local firms that prove what a great community this town is. 

Healthcare Matters MD Phil Spiby commented: We had to help. We provide specialist baths so we couldnt sit back and do nothing when we knew that we were in a position to help.

Wed seen Robs extremely generous donation and we knew that by offering the bath cost-price, our time for free and that of our engineers we could make the money go much further.

Above and beyond all that we also knew that we could help to get the most suitable bath for Aidens needs.

When our company director Adam went out with Astor Bannerman, the bath manufacturer, they discovered that the bath that had been specified wasnt suitable as it wasnt height adjustable which would mean that the carers could refuse to use it as it wasnt fit for purpose, or if they did use it they could have put themselves at risk of personal injury.

Together, we then specified a more suitable bath with height adjustability and better functionality as this bath features a chair that can be wheeled out of the bath and the bathroom.

We were delighted with the little extra touches as this is the only bath of its type in the world with a red seat!

Healthcare Matters were also keen to thank local businesses Ask Mr Jones Electrical Contractors and UHS Plumbing who answered their call for assistance and provided their services for free.

Mr Spiby commented further saying : The teams from Ask Mr Jones and UHS Plumbing were outstanding and gave so generously of their time and skills, without them it simply wouldnt have been possible.

Its really heart-warming to see the response from these businesses especially in these times. The level of support from Astor Bannerman was also exceptional.

Mr Spiby also explained that seeing the Good work for the community by business owners such as Wayne Jones at the Turf pub and Rich Watkin at the Fat Boar with their fundraising efforts after receiving Aviation Gin gifts from the other half of the Hollywood duo, Ryan Reynolds was inspirational.

We are told following the response from the local businesses and Astor Bannerman, the bath manufacturer, Mr Stott ended up with a better bath at a lower cost with the money saved going towards further bathroom improvements.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a great example of the importance of access to the Internet and to digital health information. Unfortunately, historical disparities in health care appear to be reflected in computer ownership, access to the Internet and use of digital health information. However, few studies have qualitatively explored reasons for digital health information disparity, especially in older adults.

A study led by Florida Atlantic University's Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing in collaboration with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, examined the extent of computer ownership, Internet access, and digital health information use in older (ages 60 and above) African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, Hispanic Americans and European Americans. They quantitatively identified factors related to electronic device ownership, Internet access, and digital health information in 562 study participants and explored the reasons for any differences using a series of focus groups.

Results of the study, published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, revealed a deep digital health divide within the older population, which was evident in both the community sample and focus groups. Participants who were older, less educated, economically disadvantaged and from ethnic groups (African American, Afro-Caribbean or Hispanic American) were up to five times less likely to have access to digital health information than were those who were younger and more highly educated, had a higher income, or were European Americans.

The odds of owning a computer or having access to the Internet were one-fifth as likely in the African American group as it was for European Americans and one-fourth as likely for the Afro-Caribbean group. The odds of Hispanic Americans owning a computer were one-third as likely and for having access to the Internet less than one-half as great as for the European Americans. Those who received Medicaid assistance were less than one-half as likely to use either the Internet or digital health information as were those who did not receive Medicaid and a little more than half as likely to own a computer.

Currently, digital health technology development is outpacing parallel efforts to conquer the digital health divide, which also has important implications for helping older adults get registered for the COVID-19 vaccine. Portals that allow patients access to their electronic health records, decision aids that prepare patients to discuss options with their providers, making telehealth appointments with providers and so forth, needlessly, though unintentionally, excludes, marginalizes, and disenfranchises those who are older, have low incomes, have low health literacy, and/or are members of minority groups." Ruth Tappen, Ed.D., R.N., F.A.A.N, Lead Author and Christine E. Lynn Eminent Scholar, FAU's Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing

The results of the focus group sessions shed some light on the effects of this disparity and highlight differences in response across the minority groups represented. Interest in obtaining Internet health-related information was highest in the African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans and European Americans, and moderate at best in the Hispanic American group. Ability to afford a device that allows Internet access differed greatly across groups, and participants' expressed preferences for provider-patient information or more independent searches, and involvement in decision-making also varied considerably.

Participants in the African American/Afro-Caribbean group expressed frustration with lack of access to digital health information but appreciation for alternative sources of information. Hispanic Americans critiqued information received from providers and drug inserts, some suggesting that a positive attitude and trust in God also contributed to getting well. European American participants evaluated various digital health information websites, looking to providers for help in applying information to their personal situation.

The researchers stress that addressing this digital health divide in the older population requires attention at several levels. At the policy level, national connectivity plans are needed, and greater effort to provide universal Internet access needs to be made. Municipal broadband networks can achieve this at the local level. Eventually Internet service needs to be redefined as a necessity, not a luxury, a necessary utility like electricity and water or to become a free service supported by advertisements as are broadcast radio and television. Not only does it need to be affordable but also adequate for the job.

"Until Internet access is universal, creative use of printed materials, telephone calls, in-person groups, family assistance, individual meetings, and mailings are needed for those disadvantaged and minority older adults who remain affected by this digital health information disparity," said Tappen.
Bitstylebkk.com scored 43 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

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On Thursday, Spider-Man star Tom Holland addressed rumors that former Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield might return for the next Spider-Man installment.

'Beats me, I don't know. If they are, they never told me yet,' the 24-year-old Englishman told Variety's awards editor Clayton Davis.

'I've never met Kirsten Dunst [who played Mary Jane Watson]. I met Andrew [who played Spidey in 2012 and 2014] once, I met him at the BAFTAs. He was lovely. He was a really nice bloke and we had a nice chat. It was quite soon after Spider-Man: Homecoming had come out.

On Thursday, Spider-Man star Tom Holland addressed rumors that former Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield might return for the next Spider-Man installment

The 24-year-old Englishman (R) told Variety's awards editor Clayton Davis (L): 'Beats me, I don't know. If they are, they never told me yet'

'He was really positive and nice. I've bumped into Tobey [who played Spidey from 20022007] a few times at different parties in LA. He was really nice. They seem to be lovely, really nice people. I hope they enjoy our movies. I hope they enjoy our Spider-Mans.'

Tom is currently hard at work as the acrobatic Peter Parker on the Atlanta set of Jon Watts' untitled Spider-Man three-quel, which hits US theaters December 17.

'I can say that it's the most ambitious standalone superhero movie ever made. You sit down, read the script, and see what they're trying to do, and they're succeeding,' Holland marveled.

'It's really impressive. I've never seen a standalone superhero movie quite like it. And I'm just, you know, again, that lucky little s*** who happens to be Spider-Man in it. We got a lot more shooting to do.

Tom continued: 'I've never met Kirsten Dunst [L, who played Mary Jane Watson]...I've bumped into Tobey [R, who played Spidey from 20022007] a few times at different parties in LA. He was really nice. They seem to be lovely, really nice people'

Holland added: 'I met Andrew [who played Spidey in 2012 and 2014] once, I met him at the BAFTAs. He was lovely. He was a really nice bloke and we had a nice chat. It was quite soon after Spider-Man: Homecoming had come out. He was really positive and nice'

Hitting US theaters December 17! The 5ft8in action star is currently hard at work as the acrobatic Peter Parker on the Atlanta set of Jon Watts' untitled Spider-Man three-quel (pictured Sunday)

'Wear a mask, I'm wearing two': The MCU franchise flick also stars Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, Jamie Foxx, Alfred Molina, and Benedict Cumberbatch (Tom pictured November 6)

Elsewhere in the interview, the 5ft8in action star publicly announced he'd 'love to be James Bond' saying: 'I'm just putting that out there. I look pretty good in a suit'

'We started before Christmas and shot for like seven weeks. We stopped for the Christmas break, and then we're starting again. I'm just as excited as everyone else to see it, let alone be a part of it.'

The MCU franchise flick also stars Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, Jamie Foxx, Alfred Molina, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Elsewhere in the interview, the 5ft8in action star publicly announced he'd 'love to be James Bond' saying: 'I'm just putting that out there. I look pretty good in a suit.'

Tom next plays a drug-addicted Army medic-turned-bank robber in the Russo Brothers' crime drama Cherry, which hits US theaters February 26 before streaming March 12 on Apple TV+.

'It's the gift that keeps on giving': Tom next plays a drug-addicted Army medic-turned-bank robber in the Russo Brothers' crime drama Cherry, which hits US theaters February 26 before streaming March 12 on Apple TV+

Holland explained: 'The subject matter is really important. I think were doing a service to society by shining the light on a problem that is happening on everybodys doorstep, which is substance abuse, overmedicating people, and not treating PTSD in the correct way'

'It's the gift that keeps on giving. And I got to work with the Russos [Anthony and Joe] again - people that I really respect and I look up to and admire their work,' Holland gushed.

'The subject matter is really important. I think were doing a service to society by shining the light on a problem that is happening on everybodys doorstep, which is substance abuse, overmedicating people, and not treating PTSD in the correct way.

'And also, it was a challenge. I love a challenge. I love pushing myself. Hard work is good work. So it was a bit of a no-brainer, this film, and I cant imagine there was any way in which I would have turned it down and walked away.'
Are Indias farmers -- who have mounted a full-scale agitation to secure the rollback of three agricultural reform laws passed without consultation with them -- hooligans? The narrative built up by the Centre and its supporters, including in the media, has been built assiduously around exactly this idea. Its in the chaotic events of Republic Day in New Delhi that the justification is sought to be excavated to denigrate the community of food-growers thus.

From this springs the presumed validation of the rationale to deny farmers both the physical and moral space to protest, and deny them basic human rights by choking off avenues of water supply, their prospects of securing food by blocking transport channels, and by switching off the Internet that is crucial for them to communicate their voice of protest; in short virtually stamping out their right to free speech.

These moves appear to be a prelude to the unleashing of fierce punishment on the farmer-protesters. Depending on circumstances, such punishment may take the form of brutal executive action. Or its possible sections of civil society that ruling party outfits control are let loose on protesters. A trailer of this was seen recently when marauding young men in the hundreds, pretending to be locals inconvenienced by the agitation, descended on the camps of protesting farmers and their families as the police watched. In the times we live in, it will be a surprise if the government, if it so desires, fails to secure convenient judicial pronouncements.

Now that the hurdles have been cleared for a debate in Parliament on the farmers protest, it is crucial that the Opposition parties, the ruling party, and those that are prone to sit on the fence seek to define farmers, farm agitators and hooligans.

Before any judicial inquiry is instituted -- if that is done -- it is incumbent on the political class to frame a definition and tell us if they believe the men who indulged in violence and marred the spirit of Republic Day by unfurling religious flags and symbols at the Red Fort were farmers. In the narrative backed by the government and its supporters, these criminal elements are being called farmers, no less. But are they? Or are they calculatedly infiltrated fifth columnists tasked with maligning an entirely peaceful agitation that the government wasnt sure how to handle?

It seems quite extraordinary that the police and the National Investigation Agency, that is routinely unleashed on harmless civil society protesters, has not been directed to trace the whereabouts of a loud-mouthed actor who had acted as a BJP MPs election agent in Punjab, and his accomplices who are listed as bad characters in Punjab. From this persons remarks, it would appear he is a votary of Khalistan. While that may not be held against him, his actions on Republic Day merit thorough scrutiny.

The government is yet to exhibit due diligence in this matter. But it has shown alacrity in hammering thousands of nails in the roads, and erecting layers of barricades, presumably to ensure that the farmers dont go on the rampage on their tractors. But have they ever done so in the past? What we see here is a glimpse of Chinese or Russian police state tactics in action, not those of  what we so proudly claim -- the worlds largest democracy!
Robust demand from across Asia and Africa sent Indian rice export prices to a three-year peak this week, while Vietnamese exporters struggled to ship due to high freight prices fuelled by a container shortage.

Top exporter India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety were quoted at $402-$408 per tonne, its highest since May 2018.

"Along with traditional buyers, China and Vietnam are also buying from India. There's huge demand," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh will use a deepwater port to export rice for the first time in decades amid a global grain shortage, according to a government order seen by Reuters, which could raise shipments this year by a fifth.

Neighbouring Bangladesh, which has been grappling with limited supply, also bought more than 110,000 tonnes from India with more on its way, a senior Food Ministry official said.

Meanwhile, Vietnam's 5 percent broken rice prices rose to $510-$515 per tonne from $505-510 last week on thin supply.

"Trade is very slow as most of us are already off for the Lunar New Year holiday, and buyers have suspended signing new contracts waiting for the new harvest," a trader based in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang said.

The harvest of the winter-spring crop, the largest of the year, will peak in late February or early March, traders said.

Shipments were also being hampered by high freight charges due to a container shortage.

"Shipments to regional ports have been facing delays, and we can't even book ships for European and African ports," a trader said.

Thailand's 5 percent broken rice prices jumped to their highest level since early April at $535-$564 per tonne, amid concerns over low supplies, while exporters eyed a tender from Iraq, traders said.

Iraq's trade ministry said it intended to procure rice from international suppliers this week.
Massachusetts is ramping up its vaccination efforts and is hoping to administer up to a million vaccines a month by the spring, Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday.

In the meantime, Baker urged residents to be patient.

There are currently 125 sites up and running, including a handful of mass vaccination sites and sites at dozens of community health centers, the Republican said.

By the middle of the month, the number should increase to about 165.

Baker said the state is also making an effort to increase vaccinations among those hardest hit by the pandemic, including Black residents.

The state is working with trusted organizations in local communities, and in Boston the city is setting up specific days to vaccinate neighborhood residents, he said.

Baker made the comments at Fenway Park, which has been turned into a mass vaccination site.

The ballpark is planning to ramp up to about 1,000 shots a day next week and 1,200 the following week with a goal of up to 8,000 doses a week in the near future, Baker said.

Baker said he understands many people want the process to go faster.

I get how unhappy people are, he said.

Some of the frustration he said was because of the phased rollout that targeted specific groups first like medical workers and those in long-term care facilities.

But he also acknowledged there are extra steps the state can take, like launching a hotline to help people, especially seniors, who may have trouble signing up for an appointment online.

He said the hotline should be up and running this week.

The number of newly confirmed coronavirus deaths rose by 53 on Wednesday, pushing the states confirmed COVID-19 death toll to 14,415 since the start of the pandemic.

The number of newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 increased by about 2,200 and its confirmed caseload rose to more than 504,000.

The true number of cases is likely higher because studies suggest some people can be infected and not feel sick.

There were more than 1,600 people reported hospitalized Wednesday because of confirmed cases of COVID-19, with about 330 in intensive care units.

The average age of those hospitalized was 68. There were an estimated more than 64,000 people with current active cases of COVID-19 in the state.

The number of probable or confirmed COVID-19 deaths reported in long-term care facilities rose to 8,126.
The state's largest credit union and a member-owned cooperative, Desert Financial's mission to share success fuels a robust focus on philanthropy and community engagement. When the pandemic broke, leaders decided to double-down on that people-first strategy and instead of scaling back, moved ahead with record giving back.

"As an essential service, it was important to do everything in our power to remain open," said Jeff Meshey, President and CEO at Desert Financial. "It's critical for people experiencing anxiety to know their finances are protected and accessible. So, we took measures to keep our branch employees and members safe while also creating more ways for them to make contactless transactions," he went on.

During the pandemic, food banks in particular saw increased demand. "While so many people struggled with unemployment and reduced resources, we also took measures to help our members, community and employees meet their needs," Meshey said.

Meshey says the health and safety of employees, especially those working in branches, was a top priority. Swift investments were made in masks, biohazard cleaning and enhancements to encourage social distancing. Employees were also invited to apply for special funding to help those struggling financially, and benefits to most employees such as personal time off were increased to improve work and family balance.

To help Desert Financial's more than 350,000 members remain financially solvent and slow the spread of the virus, leaders at the credit union took swift measures including reducing or eliminating member fees, instituting senior hours and following all CDC recommendations for branch safety. Immediate needs in the community were identified and a $400,000 donation was split between four local food banks. Later a $100,000 donation to St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance was made during their annual turkey drive.

Desert Financial was the first major organization to make a significant donation to the Valley of the Sun United Way Covid-19 relief fund. During the balance of the year, the credit union continued to award scholarships; engage in Random Acts of Kindness, such as providing lunches for grocery and medical staff members; and Teacher Appreciation programs, such as Adopt-A-Teacher. The organization also sponsored two local blood drives and kept pace with employee volunteerism virtually. Support for partners, such as Phoenix Children's Hospital and causes serving first responders, veterans, children and families, was increased.

"In a year like no other, we experienced record growth, so giving back with record generosity was the right thing to do," added Jeff Meshey. "We heard about so many small businesses struggling, but so too are nonprofits, as donations have dropped while demand for services increased. We found more ways to say "yes" and looked for opportunities to meet the most immediate needs, such as helping students gain access to laptops to participate in virtual schooling."

Meshey says in addition to the many donations, grants, scholarships, sponsorships and Random Acts of Kindness, he enjoyed making some holiday surprises too. At the end of December, he and the executive team chose 13 local nonprofits and made phone calls to announce surprise $10,000 donations for each.

The following breaks down just a few of the investments Desert Financial made in 2020 toward safety, relief and wellness:

Employees

Up to 80 Hours of Sick Leave Accrual: $333,162

Up to 400 Hours of Vacation Time Accrual: $113,000

Connection-building Workplace Activities: $48,950

Members

Skip-a-Pay on Consumer Loans: $619,690

Waiving Regulation D Fees: $595,000

Suspended Excess ATM Usage & Balance Inquiry Fees: $405,000

Community

Local Food Banks Donation: $500,000

Emergency Grant Fund for Partners: $150,000

Lunch & Medical Supplies for Flagstaff hospital staff: $64,872

During this one-of-a-kind year, Desert Financial was also awarded three fitting honors: Angel of the YearBusiness, One of Arizona's Most Admired Companies Honoree and the number two spot on the list of Best Places to Work.

As a member-owned cooperative, Desert Financial shares dividends with its members, team and community. The credit union that cares recently launched a statewide charter enabling members from nearly every corner of Arizona to join.

About Desert Financial Credit Union

Celebrating 81 years in Arizona, Desert Financial is the state's largest local credit union with $6 billion in assets, more than 350,000 members and 47 physical locations across the Valley, plus our fully online eBranch serving all of Arizona. As a not-for-profit cooperative, Desert Financial takes pride in sharing success. In 2019, Desert Financial gave nearly $11 million to Valley nonprofits, the community and members. Learn more at Desert Financial Credit Union and find news and information @desertfinancial on Twitter.

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Haiti - News : Zapping...





Nenel Cassy's car, target of shooting

According to Me Andre Michel spokesperson for the radical opposition of the so-called "Democratic and Popular" sector wrote on his Twitter account, "One have just shot [Wednesday evening] on the car of Senator Nenel Cassy in the Delmas 40 area. Senator Cassy is safe and sound, a relative of Senator Cassy is injured. There would be collateral victims. The Democratic and Popular Sector will not give up !"



The Dominicans are strengthening their borders

Due to the instability in Haiti where a two-day general strike and street protests took place earlier this week to demand an end to insecurity and the resignation of President Jovenel Moise, the Dominican authorities have stepped up surveillance borders in anticipation of riots.



Employment : The Art Center is recruiting

After an interim period, the Art Center is looking for an Executive Director (man or woman). Entry into office on May 1, 2021. Interested candidates should send their application (cover letter + CV), with the reference "Direction executive LCDA" no later than March 17, 2021 at 4:00 PM to the following address: contact@lecentredart.org More information : www.lecentredart.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TDR-direction-executive-Centre-dArt.pdf



J-C Moise announces demonstrations

On Wednesday, Jean-Charles Moise leader of the radical opposition and Secretary General of the "Pitit Dessalin" party 4 days before the possible departure from power of the Head of State so desired by the radical opposition, announces a demonstration Friday aimed at the American Embassy and demonstrations everywhere with barricades on Saturday February 6...



13th Council of Government

On Wednesday February 3, 2021, the 13th Council of Government chaired by Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe was held by teleconference around security issues and the presentation of the preliminary draft of the new Constitution https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32926-haiti-flash-preliminary-draft-of-the-constitution-official-full-text.html



Words of sympathy from Simon Dieuseul Desras

"The death of the former Senator and co-founder of the Fusion party, Serge Gilles, deeply saddened me https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32930-haiti-politic-death-of-former-senator-serge-gilles.html . The country has lost a great man with strong political convictions. My condolences to his family, to the President and to the members of the Fusion, to our grieving relatives and friends," Simon Dieuseul Desras.



See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-32939-icihaiti-obituary-la-fusion-mourns-the-departure-into-the-afterlife-of-serge-gilles.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32930-haiti-politic-death-of-former-senator-serge-gilles.html



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Lee Rae-jin, the brother of a South Korean fisheries official who was killed by the North Korean military in the North's waters in September, heads for a meeting with Unification Minister Lee In-young at the Government Complex in Seoul, Thursday. He asked the ministry to deliver his letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, to request Kim to allow his visit to the North to meet officials there and urge a joint investigation into the incident. Yonhap
In 1975, Edgar Bowser, armed with a .32 caliber handgun, shot and killed 28-year-old Shrewsbury Police Officer James Lonchiadis. Forty-six years later, Bowser has been granted medical parole.

The 62-year-old inmate has spent much of the past five decades behind bars but is now being granted medical parole after a decision was issued by Massachusetts Department of Correction Commissioner Carol Mici, sources told MassLive.

Bowser, an inmate at Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, has been diagnosed with metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a rare cancer that originates in the upper part of the throat. The cancer has spread to his bones, and he remains unresponsive, which is why he was granted medical parole in the first place, according to Bowsers Somerville-based attorney, Rebecca Rose.

In her letter detailing the decision to grant Bowser medical parole, Mici said she doesnt believe he has long to live, according to Rose.

Bowsers health took a turn for the worse when he contracted coronavirus. Rose learned her client was hospitalized with COVID-19 from one of his friends at Old Colony, she noted.

He had difficulty breathing. He was sent to the hospital, where he was put on a ventilator, Rose said. Hes been on a ventilator for a couple weeks and is unresponsive.

The decision to grant Bowser medical parole marks a blow for both the family members of the slain officer, who have seen the case go to the parole board numerous times over the years, as well as the Shrewsbury Police Department, where the late Lonchiadiss son, Lt. James Lonchiadis, has served for 26 years.

The lieutenant told Shrewsbury Police Chief Kevin E. Anderson on Wednesday he was notified by state officials about Bowsers medical parole. He is currently deployed in Washington, D.C. with the Massachusetts Army National Guard, according to Anderson.

Its gut-wrenching for the family every time this man comes up for parole or a discussion of his potential release comes up, Anderson told MassLive.

The police chief said he is opposed to Bowsers release. Anderson pointed to the disturbing details listed in the reports about the killing of Lonchiadis. He discussed how the slain officer told Bowser he was married with children before being shot.

Dont shoot, Lonchiadis said, according to records from the Massachusetts Parole Board. I have a wife and two kids. I want to go home tonight.

Nonetheless, Bowser fired at Lonchiadis once in the chest, the bullet traveling through the officers heart, the documents state.

On March 5, 1975, the night Lonchiadis was fatally shot in the line of duty, the officer was investigating a report of suspicious activity in a parking lot on Route 9 in Shrewsbury around 11:30 p.m., according to the records from the parole board.

The records detail how Bowser, his sister and his brother-in-law were trying to steal a Corvette from a gas station parking lot, where they locked an attendant in the trunk of another car.

After firing at Lonchiadis, Bowser, who was 16 years old at the time, took the officers gun and used it moments later in an armed robbery to steal a car and escape from authorities, according to the documents.

The murder went unsolved for 20 months until Bowser was arrested in October 1976, the records state.

Three years after the shooting, Bowser pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed robbery charges. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, according to officials.

His release from prison is not the only one to draw backlash in recent months. As the COVID-19 pandemic has shed a spotlight on medically vulnerable inmates health risks while in prison, many individuals convicted of violent crimes have sought to be released.

MassLive reported in January that Alfred Trenkler, a 64-year-old man convicted in the 1991 bombing that killed Boston Police Officer Jeremiah Hurley, was seeking compassionate release due a severe heart condition that puts him at increased risk of developing life-threatening illness from coronavirus.

In Western Massachusetts, convicted killer John E. Stote was granted a medical parole last month by Mici. He was convicted in 1997 of the brutal murder of John Jackie Regan, a Springfield restaurant owner who got in a dispute with Stote over the sale of a bar.

Were not taking issue with the commissioner. We take issue with the statute, a spokesperson for the Hampden District Attorneys Office told The Republican/MassLive in a previously reported story on Stotes medical parole. Were not in the business of letting murderers walk out the door. All this is doing, at this point in time, is distressing a family whos lost a loved one and retraumatizing them.

Anderson echoed the comments made by the spokesperson, noting he also took issue with the statute allowing for Bowsers release.

Rose, who has represented Bowser for roughly five years, first filed a petition for medical parole for her client in August. The request was denied in November, so she reapplied Jan. 8. Mici finally granted the inmate medical parole Wednesday, according to the attorney.

Of course, its good news. I and his family are indeed grateful, Rose said. If he dies, he will die with dignity and respect, which is what the medical parole statute is intended for. He will not die alone in custody. He will die in care.

The attorney noted Bowser contracting coronavirus was preventable had he been released earlier. However, in her experience, the state does not grant medical parole to prisoners just because they are vulnerable to COVID-19. Officials only grant it once a prisoner actually gets the virus, she argued.

Mr. Bowsers illness was entirely predictable and entirely avoidable. He got COVID in the prison system, and now hes dying from it, even though they knew hes vulnerable, Rose said.

This is not the first time Bowser has attempted to be released from prison since being put behind bars for Lonchiadiss murder decades ago.

He was denied parole in 1991 and went on to have subsequent review hearings in 1994, 1999 and 2003 before being released from prison on parole in 2007, marking his sixth attempt at release, authorities said.

Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., who appeared before the parole board to argue against Bowser being released, expressed disappointment at the boards decision.

My thoughts go out to the Lonchiadis family and the Shrewsbury police family, who have had to keep reliving this nightmare, Early said at the time.

Then-Shrewsbury Police Chief James J. Hester also criticized the decision, saying it is the consensus of the members of the police department that Edgar Bowser should remain incarcerated due to the extreme violent nature of the crime he committed.

Only three years later, Bowser was rearrested on Oct. 27, 2010, after he tested positive for cocaine and admitted to his parole officer he used the drug only a few days before, according to the parole board.

In 2017, at age 58, Bowser yet again went to the parole board in an attempt to be released, marking his second appearance before the board since being taken into custody again seven years prior, officials said.

In his opening statement to the board, Bowser expressed remorse for killing Lonchiadis and apologized to the late officers family and friends as well as the law enforcement community, according to the parole board. The inmate also spoke to the embarrassment and shame he felt for squandering his previous parole opportunity.

During the hearing, the records from the board say, Mr. Bowser recanted how he was easily influenced by his older codefendant/brother-in-law. He became enamored with the lifestyle, criminal behavior and drug use.

When asked why he pulled the trigger when Police Officer Lonchiadis was pleading for his life, he shook his head and stated, I panicked, " the documents add.

Although Bowser claimed he would, if released, follow the rules and make better use of his support system, the parole board wasnt convinced. In its records, the board says it was continuously deceived by Bowser.

According to the board, Bowser led a secret life the board was unaware of, where he continued to make far-fetched and self-serving statements and failed to disclose a relationship he had with a woman who he met during his parole. She too had a criminal record, officials noted.

Bowsers request for parole was denied in April 2018. His next appearance before the board was set for 2022.

The board is of the opinion that Mr. Bowser has not demonstrated a level of rehabilitative progress that would make his release compatible with the welfare of society, the board said in its decision three years ago. The board remains concerned as to Mr. Bowsers lack of empathy and his deceptive/manipulative behavior while on parole supervision.

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This is the terrifying moment a shark almost devoured a young fisherman's hand while snatching a fish that he'd just caught off the coast of New Zealand.

Jahmon Wilson, 18, had just landed a large kingfish off Nelson, at the northern end of New Zealand's south island, when he was warned by other spearfishers that sharks were about.

But before he had a chance to gather his speargun and head home, the water turned white around him and a shark snatched the fish that was still attached to his line, missing his hand by mere inches.

The bronze whaler shark then dragged him through the water for 20 yards before severing his line.

This is the terrifying moment a shark almost devoured a young fisherman's hand after snatching a fish he'd just caught off the coast of New Zealand

The bronze whaler shark snatched Jerome's fish - which was still attached to the teenager's line - missing his hand by mere inches

'Originally I thought the kingfish just had a bit more life in it, because sometimes they still have nerves and they still kick around,' Jahmon said.

'Then I felt the force of the shark hit me and the kingfisher ripped out of my hands, and at that point everything was just big white water.

'I was holding on to my speargun which was attached to the spearfish  so it towed me through the water for about 20 yards before cutting through the line.'

The close encounter comes only weeks after 19-year-old Kaelah Marlow was mauled to death by a great white shark off New Zealand's Waihi Beach.

The shark can be seen dragging the fish and Jerome for 20 yards before severing the line

'I was holding on to my speargun which was attached to the spearfish  so it towed me through the water for about 20 yards before cutting through the line,' said Jerome

Jahmon is in no doubt about how lucky he was to escape uninjured.

'In general, bronzies aren't super aggressive but this was a very extreme and unique case I'm sure,' he said.

'The guy I was in the water with is an underwater photographer and has spent heaps of time with sharks, and he was extremely surprised at what had happened as well.

'The guy said that he was looking for the first thing he could find to make a tourniquet so he was thinking worst case scenario.

'I was probably quite lucky not to at least get my hand nicked or bitten, or even to have lost my hand.

'I guess I'm just lucky that the shark had good aim and bit into the kingfish instead of me.'

The teenager is also sure that the shark meant him no harm.

Jereme grabs his speargun mere seconds before the shark snatches the fish from him

He said: 'That really, really unfortunate event which happened in Waihi where that girl was attacked  that was a great white.

'They're less common in New Zealand waters. Great whites are sort of another story.

'Bronze whalers aren't man-eaters, they don't often attack people.'

He continued: 'They can get pretty close and they can steal your fish, but very, very, very rarely will they eat a fish out of your hand like that.

'That's a really ballsy, really confident shark.

'He just wanted a free, easy feed and if that meant stealing the kingfish out of my hand then that was it for him.'

For Jahmon, who comes from Nelson on New Zealand's South Island, the shock of the experience has given way to gratitude.

For Jahmon (pictured), who comes from Nelson on New Zealand's South Island, the shock of the experience has given way to gratitude

He said: 'It was my first ever kingfish that I shot  they are a big fish and I was looking forward to feeding all my friends and family with it.

'If I didn't get it on camera, I would have been a little more sour about it.

'But coming out of the water, you just can't really be mad about an experience like that.

'It's an experience that probably only a handful of people in the world will ever have, so just that experience alone was probably worth losing the fish.'

He added: 'With the sharks, we are in their back yard.

'So you just have to treat them with respect and as long as you don't pose a threat to them, they probably won't pose a threat to you.'

Bronze whalers, also known as copper sharks, are not usually aggressive to humans unless food is present.

But they have been known to harass spear fishers in an attempt to steal their catch.

Three out of ten shark attacks in New Zealand are attributed to the species.
KALAMAZOO, MI  Two days after a small homeless encampment north of Stadium Drive was cleared at the request of the property manager, city leaders are bringing warmth to a much larger encampment near downtown Kalamazoo.

As the forecast calls for single-digit temperatures and wind chills below zero this weekend, the city announced in a news release it would be opening a temporary warming shelter for its unhoused population at 7 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 5.

Related: Sub-zero wind chills, gusty 50 mph winds taking aim at Michigan

The warming center will be located on a city-owned parcel near the homeless encampment near Mills Street and Riverview Drive, and will have capacity to accommodate 60 people, the release states.

Through collaboration with our community partners, including the United Way and the Kalamazoo County Continuum of Care, we were able to act quickly and stand up this temporary warming shelter to help keep these vulnerable members of our community safe and warm during these sub-zero temperatures, City Manager Jim Ritsema said in a statement. We are incredibly thankful that our partners and local volunteers stepped up to ensure we are able to meet the needs of our community.

In addition to Kalamazoos temporary warming shelter on Mills Street, other community partners are also assisting during this extreme cold weather event:

The Kalamazoo Gospel Ministries, 448 N. Burdick St., continues to have capacity to house men, women and families overnight, and will open their facility during the day to provide warming areas.

The River Church, 517 Walbridge St., continues its daytime warming and service center off East Ransom Street and will expand their services to be open on the weekend.

Ministry with Community, 500 N. Edwards St., is providing services as a daytime warming center, including providing to-go breakfast and lunch for those unable to enter the building due to reduced capacity in compliance with social distancing requirements.

Integrated Services of Kalamazoo is now operating 25 rooms at the former Knights Inn, 1211 S. Westnedge Ave., and is currently serving more than 40 individuals at that location. The organization continues to work daily to prepare additional rooms for occupancy.

The Knights Inn took in six new residents this week after the Stadium Drive encampment was cleared.

Lisa Willcutt, vice president of Lockhart Management & Consulting, said the motel hopes to have more people in need move in this week. The motel was purchased by a nonprofit arm of the LIFT Foundation on Jan. 14 with the intent of converting it into affordable housing for residents currently living outdoors.

While renovations are yet to begin on the motel, the organization, partnering up with Integrated Services of Kalamazoo, is offering a warm, free and safe place for people living outdoors to stay.

Were doing this to fill a need and help people out, Willcutt told MLive Wednesday. Its not a business. We are just doing it to help people. Ive got more rooms ready and probably by the end of the week well have a lot more people.

Ryan Bridges, public information officer for the city of Kalamazoo, said last week the city was abiding by CDC guidelines which caution against disrupting encampments due to the pandemic and that the city was working on a plan to address safety concerns at the encampments in the city.

Those who choose to find an alternative place to live, such as the Knights Inn, can do so voluntarily, he said.

On Tuesday, the department was contacted by PlazaCorp and asked to assist in removing trespassing individuals residing at the encampment on private property. Bridges said the incident was an isolated one and those living in the encampment were only removed at the request of the property manager.

He said the city would continue to adhere to CDC guidelines by not disrupting the encampments, but would also continue to find ways to help those in need.

26 Mills Street homeless encampment in Kalamazoo

Also on MLive:

Residents of small Kalamazoo homeless encampment relocated to Knights Inn motel

Kalamazoo motel being transformed into apartments for those without homes

Propane tanks explode as tent burns at Kalamazoo homeless encampment

Kalamazoo encampment wont be counted in HUDs annual homeless survey

Protesters told to leave vacant building near Kalamazoo homeless encampment

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR), a national leader in sustainability and environmental stewardship, today named John Weiss as vice president of sustainability and environmental policy.

Weiss will begin his new role effective Feb. 8, and will report to Mike Twomey, Entergy's senior vice president of federal policy, regulatory and governmental affairs. He succeeds Chuck Barlow, who retired from the company last year.

"John's extensive experience on environmental, social and governance matters positions him well to advance Entergy's already strong value proposition of delivering long-term, sustainable results for all stakeholders," said Twomey. "John will be an important voice with our stakeholders as we work toward achieving our net-zero emissions by 2050 commitment and other important ESG targets."

Weiss brings seven years of sustainability integration and strategic leadership experience to the role. He comes to Entergy from the Boston-based sustainability nonprofit organization Ceres, where he served as senior director for the last two years and helped drive engagement with large energy and energy-related U.S. companies, focusing on sustainable business strategies, corporate governance and operational performance.

Prior to joining Ceres in 2013, Weiss spent more than 20 years as a consultant to clients in the public and private sectors on a broad range of environmental and energy-related issues. He also previously worked at Cambridge Energy Research Associates, where he developed and communicated strategic insights to global energy industry clients.

Weiss earned a bachelor's degree in geological sciences from Brown University and a Master of Science degree in technology and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Learn more about Entergy's longstanding commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship by visiting entergy.com/sustainability.

About Entergy Corporation

Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 8,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.9 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of $11 billion and approximately 13,600 employees.

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Twitter: @Entergy

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Rob Delaney has marked 19 years of sobriety by recalling the car crash that prompted him to give up drinking.

The Catastrophe star, 44, shared a message on Instagram in which he detailed the incident which saw him detained by police with two broken arms.

Delaney said he had been thrilled with relief when doctors told him he was suffering from alcoholism, as he had begun to suspect he was schizophrenic.

The actor and comedian has often shared messages with his social media followers marking milestones in his recovery.

He wrote: Today marks 19 years that Ive been sober. This last year was one of the wildest so far, for me and you, whoever you are.

I was often grateful this year that I had a big cushion (yeah baby) of sobriety behind me because I imagine getting sober during the pandemic/lockdown would be very hard.

Why not drink a bit extra or smoke the odd doob to dull the drudgery? Not to mention the grief and confusion. Myself I could never limit it to that.

Recalling crashing his car into a building owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, he added: 19 years ago today I was in jail in a wheelchair with 2 badly broken arms.

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Id driven a car into a building while blacked out. Miraculously no one else was hurt.

Id been trying to quit drinking for years, but it took that accident to realize my drinking was deadly to the world at large.

I thrilled with relief when doctors (and police and judges) suggested it might be alcoholism because I was beginning to worry it was schizophrenia toward the end. The compulsion to drink had become terrifying.

Blessedly, there is another way. My deepest gratitude to those helped me along the way. Love to you all.

The Irish-American actor, who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, shares three sons with his wife Leah.

Their fourth son Henry died in January 2018 aged two after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Delaney has spoken of how being sober allowed him to fully grieve the loss.
President Biden urged Senate Democrats to go big on coronavirus relief, making an aggressive case in favour of his $1.9 trn rescue package as Democrats took the first steps to advance the legislation.

Mr Bidens comments, on a private lunchtime call with the Senate Democratic caucus, were confirmed by several people familiar with his remarks who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Mr Biden addressed Senate Democrats a day after meeting with a group of Republican senators who are pushing a narrower $618bn bill.

The president made clear to Senate Democrats that he viewed a proposal of that size as inadequate and that the risks of going small outweighed the risks of going big, the people said. Press Secretary Jen Psaki emphasized in a press briefing that the White House stood by the $1.9trn top-line figure of its plan.

The Senate took an initial vote on Tuesday to advance a budget bill that would pave the way to pass Mr Bidens relief package with a simple majority in the Senate, leaving Republicans out if necessary. The procedural vote to advance to debate on the budget bill was 50-49, with all Democrats voting in favor and one Republican not voting.

The Senate is evenly split between the two parties, with Democrats in the majority because Vice-President Harris can break ties.

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President Biden spoke about the need for Congress to act boldly and quickly. He was very strong in emphasising the need for a big, bold package. He said he told Senate Republicans that the $600 billion that they proposed was way too small, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer told reporters.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also joined the call and emphasised the need for a robust relief package at an unsettled moment for the economy, which has begun shedding more jobs  and for the pandemic, as new coronavirus variants emerge.

I think it is his belief, it is Secretary Yellens belief, it is our belief, that if we did a package that small, wed be mired in the Covid crisis for years, Mr Schumer said of the GOP plan.

The Senate took an initial vote on Tuesday to advance the budget resolution setting up party-line passage of the coronavirus relief bill in the Senate.

On the call with Senate Democrats, Mr Biden walked through the various elements of his plan, which includes $1,400 stimulus cheques, extended unemployment aid, increased child tax credits, and hundreds of billions of dollars for schools, vaccinations, the healthcare system and more.

The president cautioned against demands for overly targeting the aid in the package, as Republicans and some Democrats have suggested, giving an example of nurses and pipe fitters who are in the middle class but still might be in need of assistance.

Mr Biden also spoke of the need to learn the lessons of previous recessions, when Congress didnt approve enough relief. As vice-president under President Barack Obama a decade ago, Mr Biden was involved in crafting a $787 billion relief bill to help the country climb out of the Great Recession.

In retrospect, many Democrats and economists say the country would have recovered faster had they passed a larger relief package, but at the time Republicans baulked at a bigger figure.

Mr Biden also spoke during the call about the many people still hurting in the nation, particularly women. He acknowledged the Democrats majority is small but said they will succeed together.

The presidents commitment is to urgently deliver relief to the American people, and thats what hes conveyed in every meeting hes had or engagement hes had with Democrats and Republicans, Ms Psaki said.

She emphasised, as did congressional Democrats, that proceeding along the budget reconciliation route did not preclude Republican support.

Democrats said they are open to Republican ideas but not to watering down Bidens proposal, a point Ms Psaki has also made.

Multiple Republicans, however, argued that proceeding via reconciliation would undercut Bidens campaign claims that he would govern as a bipartisan unifier. ( Washington Post)

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 Washington Post
Washington Elementary, a historically African-American school in south Kenner that had been targeted for closure, will remain open for the foreseeable future.

The Jefferson Parish public school system had planned to consolidate the 270-student school with the nearby Ralph J. Bunche Elementary after Washington's enrollment failed to reach 350 students by this month.

The consolidation of the two schools was originally slated to happen at the start of the current school year, according to a plan considered last year by the Jefferson Parish School Board. But after outcry from Kenner city leaders and others in the city's African-American community, the board amended the plan to keep Washington open as a STEM school in an attempt to lure more students.

The School Board voted 6-3 Wednesday to do away with the February deadline to get to 350 students, a move that enables the school to remain open indefinitely. The measure did not set a new deadline for the school to add students.

+2 Jefferson schools closure plan amended at last minute, keeping this Kenner school open Before the dozens of speakers could even begin voicing their opposition to a sweeping reorganization plan for Jefferson Parish schools Wednesd

The measure was authored by board member Sandy Denapolis-Bosarge, who argued that sticking to the February deadline was unrealistic and unfair during a pandemic.

"I just felt like it was the right thing to do for that community," Denapolis-Bosarge said. "I thought it was unfair to hold them to this deadline during COVID."

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In a related move, the board rejected an amendment proposed by board President Chad Nugent that would have extended the deadline for Washington to get to 350 students until later this year. That amendment failed, 5-4 vote, with Nugent, Clay Moise, Tiffany Kuhn and Larry Dale voting in support of the amendment.

Nugent, Moise and Dale also voted against removing the February deadline altogether.

The vote came after several speakers and board members expressed concerns about closing the school, which has served a mostly Black enrollment in south Kenner for more than eight decades.

"We don't want the school closed," said Simeon Dickerson, the School Board member who represents south Kenner. Dickerson also noted that other schools do not have the same sorts of requirements.

Washington's aging campus needs to be renovated and upgraded, Dickerson said.

When officials proposed closing the school last year, Kenner's residents mobilized quickly into an organized opposition. The Kenner City Council even got into the act, passing two resolutions calling on the board to keep the school open.
Ireland has now joined France, Germany and Italy in deciding not to make the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine the main Covid-19 jab to be given to older age groups.

It is a safe and effective vaccine but there is not enough evidence on how it works in the over-55s, although this may come in late March.

The original plan was for GPs to give patients this easy-to-handle game-changer vaccine in their surgeries.

But there is now a greater likelihood the many over-70s will be vaccinated in clinics with the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna vaccines  but these are in shorter supply.

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Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan has also asked that all people over 65 living in long-term care be given the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

The trials

The vaccine, showing a 60pc efficacy, was approved for use in the EU last week for anyone over 18.

However, most volunteers in its trial were between 18 and 55 years old.

The European Medicine Agency (EMA) said there are not yet enough results in older participants  over 55 years of age  to provide a figure for how well the vaccine will work in this group.

However, it said that protection is expected given that an immune response was seen in the small number of older volunteers and they have also responded to other vaccines.

A further study is under way in the US with 20pc of older people involved, which should give greater clarity.

Over-85s

The plan is to go ahead and start the immunisation of the over-85s in two weeks time. It remains to be seen how this will operate and people are still advised to wait until they are contacted by their GP. Many doctors have already drawn up their lists of eligible patients.

However, more detail is needed on where and how people will get their jabs. The task force set up to oversee the vaccination roll-out meets today.

Due to the need to keep the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at very low temperatures, there is a likelihood that GPs and HSE vaccinators may organise clinics where a number of older people are given an appointment on a particular day.

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) still allows for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to be given to older people.

This would be useful for people who are housebound, or those who are anxious to receive a vaccine and would rather not wait.

Around 35,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are due here next week and 400,000 are expected before the end of next month,

There is likely to be limited supplies of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to go around this month but they will increase in supply from March.

The NIAC says there is an urgency to protect those aged 70 and older who are at most risk of a severe outcome.

It says that the best vaccine anyone can receive at this time is the vaccine that can be soonest administered. Everyone is strongly urged to accept whichever vaccine is available.

New study

The decision not to make the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine the main jab for the over-70s comes as a study of the vaccine has appeared in pre-print in The Lancet medical journal.

The study says that one dose of the two-dose vaccine may prevent 67pc of people who are vaccinated from passing on the virus.

Currently it is only known that Covid-19 jabs benefit the person who is vaccinated, by reducing their chances of getting sick, being hospitalised or dying.

The indication that it could reduce the chance of a person infecting another is significant because it is the first Covid-19 vaccine to have this kind of analysis.

Kingston Mills, professor of biochemistry at Trinity College, said he had yet to examine the study. However, in the trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine swabs were taken from volunteers to regularly test them from the virus. This was not carried out in the trials of other vaccines, he pointed out. He said if there is a chance of reducing transmission through this vaccine it is also likely to be the case in other Covid-19 jabs.

This will emerge over time  but there are already optimistic signs from Israel regarding the Pfizer vaccine having a role in preventing a person with virus passing it on.

Widening the gap

The other finding in the study has particular significance in this country. They found that if the second dose is given 12 weeks after the first, it is more effective and efficacy could rise to 82.4pc.

The EMA last week put its efficacy at 60pc after two doses.

Prof Mills said it appears the gap may allow the immune system to develop and give a better response.

The recommendation for its use here is for a gap of four to six weeks between doses for the over-65s and four to 12 weeks for younger people.

Prof Mills said the latest study shows that a 12-week interval has higher efficacy.

Priority groups

The decision on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is likely to lead to some non-frontline healthcare workers, who are next in line after the over-70s, to be offered this jab sooner than expected.

However, there are thousands of frontline healthcare workers who are still without their first dose and they will be first in the queue.

The latest twist will not be the last in the vaccine roll-out.
Washington: The United States will reinvigorate its alliances and again become a global leader on climate change action and promoting democracy, US President Joe Biden has declared in his first foreign policy speech since his inauguration.

Bidens speech at the State Department on Friday (AEDT) contained several major policy announcements including the end of American support for Saudi Arabias military operations in Yemen and a massive increase in the US refugee intake.

The US will also freeze a withdrawal of troops from Germany that had been announced by the Trump administration.

US President Joe Biden said that diplomacy was again at the centre of US foreign policy. Credit:AP

America cannot afford to be absent any longer on the world stage, Biden said, contrasting his approach to the more isolationist stance of predecessor Donald Trump.
A paramedic wearing hazmat gear prepares to pick up a COVID-18 patient, from the Troya ambulance base in the Iztapalapa district of Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Mexico reported a near-record 1,707 confirmed coronavirus deaths Wednesday, as the country runs out of vaccines.

The Health Department reported Mexico's COVID-19 deaths now total 161,240, and confirmed infections rose by 12,153 to nearly 1.89 million. Estimates based on excess-death statistics suggest the real death toll is over 195,000.

Mexico approved Russia's Sputnik V vaccine Tuesday, but has not yet signed a purchase contract and does not have a firm date for its first delivery. The government had hoped to get 400,000 doses by the end of February.

Mexico has received about 766,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and has administered about 686,000 shots, with much of the remainder set aside for second doses. The next Pfizer shipment is not expected until mid-February.

Meanwhile, the government website set up to register people for vaccines when they do arrive was overwhelmed and inoperable for a second straight day.

Authorities have said they are still working on getting enough server capacity to handle the number of people attempting to register.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Evelyn Tarango was resolute in her determination to return to the Arizona desert town of Sedona, a place with its warmth and sunshine felt most like home. Weeks after the Illinois womans death, that wish will be obliged, in part thanks to a series of fortuitous events last week at Houstons William P. Hobby Airport.

After Tarango died on Christmas Eve, her daughter, Shara Fisher, had a bracelet made containing her ashes and inscribed with her thumbprint over a silver heart charm. Fisher realized shed lost it while traveling recently to see her daughter in the Montgomery County community of Porter.

It would be a woman traveling from Arizona and visiting relatives who spotted the bracelet at the Houston airport. The traveler posted the find on social media on Jan. 29, hoping to connect with the owner. On Wednesday, Fisher learned about the post.

Fisher now plans to meet the woman in Arizona, where she will be reunited with the piece of her mother she thought she had lost forever. Fisher said shes taking the bracelet to Sedona on the trip to honor Tarangos desire.

My mother was always a very determined person, Fisher said. She was determined to get there one way or another.

Desiree Encinas knew when she found the bracelet that it had deep meaning and was invaluable to someones loved one. Encinas, who works administering chemotherapy to cancer patients, found the jewelry the night of Jan. 28 in a bathroom at Terminal 2 of the airport.

I know that items like that can hold high sentimental value, she said.

Since the lost and found kiosk of the airport was closed at the time, Encinas decided to hold onto the bracelet and try to find the owner herself. Her sisters, who she visited in Texas, convinced Encinas to post the bracelet to social media.

Within maybe two hours, there were more than 3,000 shares and I got super excited, she said.

The post would go on to be shared more than 228,000 times. There were hundreds of comments from people sharing their prayers and hope for the item to return to its owner. News outlets picked up the story, pushing the posts reach even further.

The strategy worked. Amber Crabtree, Fishers daughter, saw a news story about the bracelet on social media while she was on the phone with her mother on Wednesday.

I started crying and I told (my mom) that someone found it, said Crabtree. She started crying too.

The two had looked furiously for the bracelet at Crabtrees home and in the car Fisher rented. After Fisher left, she kept calling the car rental company and the airport in case it had turned up.

The bracelet was especially meaningful to Fisher because she had experienced several losses in the past year. Her father died in July and a cousin died shortly after. Tarango and Fisher were very close, the daughter said. They lived together and Fisher cared for her for three years.

I wanted her with me always, Fisher said. The bracelet was a fitting way to do that.

Fisher said she feels fortunate in more than one way that Encinas was the person who found the bracelet. Encinas said she took great care with the jewelry, speaking to it and reassuring it that it would be found everyday. It was also a blessing the person who found it lived in Arizona, said Fisher.

Tarango, who raised her children in Sedona, told her daughter she longed for the desert climate during cold Illinois winters and begged her daughter to take her back out west. The family had a trip planned last year, but the womans health issues and the spread of COVID-19 forced them to reconsider.

In the last few weeks of her life when things started to go downhill for her, she said that she wanted me to spread her ashes in Sedona, said Fisher.

Fisher said the thousands of comments and shares on social media, which she said ultimately made it possible for her to find the bracelet, renewed her faith in humanity.

Im grateful for the shares and prayers on social media, she said. Its nice, especially during a time when social media can be such a negative place to be. This is a reminder that theres still good people out there.

Fisher also said she also felt a sense of peace believing that the ordeal and its conclusion were a sign from Tarango that everything would be OK.

Todays my birthday, Fisher said on Thursday. All of this unfolded last night. Its the best gift Ive ever had.

hannah.dellinger@chron.com
Lebanon's public prosecutor sent preliminary findings to Swiss authorities in response to their request for legal assistance in the context of a probe into money laundering tied to the central bank, the state news agency reported on Thursday.

The agency said prosecutor Ghassan Oweidat sent the information through diplomatic channels and asked in return to be provided with documents available to the Swiss investigators.

Short link:


I know, the year is young. But todays tweet by new Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is a contender:

Hypocrisy 101: @IlhanMN cites my legitimate mileage reimbursements while she paid her husband* over $1 million in campaign consulting fees. *Not her brother, the new husband.  Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) February 4, 2021



Congresswoman Boebert represents Colorados 3rd District. From her official web site bio:

Congresswoman Boebert is 34 years old and is from Rifle, Colorado. She is the first woman, first mother, and youngest ever to represent Colorados Third District. She is the owner and operator of Shooters Grill, a Western-themed restaurant where staff open-carry. Representative Boebert was raised in a Democrat household on welfare. Her senior year of high school, she earned an opportunity to serve as an assistant manager at her local McDonalds. She made the difficult decision to drop out of school to help put food on her familys table, realizing she could provide better for herself than the government ever could.

***

She has worked as a natural gas product technician, GIS technician, and pipeline integrity coordinator. Congresswoman Boebert is married to a natural gas drilling foreman who has worked his entire adult life in the oil and gas fields.

So, a pretty typical member of the younger generation of Republicans, and not one to take a lot of grief from the likes of Ilhan Omar.
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GLEN CARBON  The village is on the verge of getting a new place to get some java and some pastries to go with it.

Scooters Coffee requested site plan approval with a parking variance Tuesday during a special planning and zoning commission meeting. The commissioners unanimously approved the plan for a standalone building to be located at 4208 State Route 159, south of Cottonwood Road. It would be the first Scooters Coffee in Illinois.

Javad Khazaeli spoke in support of the concept. His family owns the property Scooters wants for its coffee facility.

I grew up in that house; we moved there in 1987, he said. I went to Leclaire School, my brother and sister went to Edwardsville High School. We all grew up in that house.

He said after they first moved in, there were residential houses on both sides of the street. Over the years since then, more of those houses developed into commercial or retail property.

Now were one of two homes that are still there, he told the commissioners. My parents bought another property in the area and they lived there until my father passed away.

For a time, the Khazaelis rented the home but then quickly discovered a lack of renter interest due to all of the surrounding development.

Through the years, weve had multiple people make offers on this house to turn it into commercial property, especially when the Bank of Edwardsville came in next door [to the north] and weve gone down the path, close to closing with several but their funding falls through, he recalled.

Since his father died, carrying the house has been a financial burden on the family. He believes the Scooters Coffee plan is ideal for this property due to the amount of passing traffic and vehicles could make right turns in and out.

This plan, when we saw it, it just screams for this property, he said.

Dan Forslund, who represented the Scooters Coffee corporate office and owner Robert Semptimphelter of 1818 Development LLC in Edwardsville. He said the building would comprise 556-square-feet and be a free-standing building. He said its not modular but permanent with a foundation.

The concept sells gourmet coffee and pastry products in a drive-through only model, Forslund explained. Customers cannot park on our site and were not proposing walk-up service due to safety reasons.

One of the benefits of maximizing the east-west linear footage of the site is space for a stack of 15 to 16 vehicles before they would spill onto northbound 159. He noted that Scooters average service time is between one minute and 45 seconds and two minutes and 12 seconds per vehicle and most Scooters locations have timing systems.

Forslund said there is no dine-in service and the size of the building constricts employees to four per shift, four regular parking stalls, one handicapped and two bicycle stalls more than suits Scooters needs. Forslund said they plan to hire one full-time manager and possibly one full-time assistant manager plus 10 to 12 hourly employees.

Its a much faster speed of service versus a fast-food restaurant, where youre ordering more items and you may not be sure of the menu, he said. People after theyve been there once or twice, they order the same beverage and it is a much faster service.

Forslund added that if there are no handicapped employees on a shift, since this is private parking, they would allow other, non-handicapped employees to park in that stall and in the space marked for handicapped egress/ingress, giving the site a maximum of six possible parking stalls. There will be dedicated left- and right-hand turn lanes to prevent backups into the main queue.

Trustee Mary Beth Williams asked Forslund if the site is large enough to include an escape lane for those who change their minds after ordering, dont have cash, etc.

I would have to consult with our engineers if this site is big enough, he replied. My fear is wed be encroaching further into the detention area so, right now, we are not proposing an escape lane.

The earliest this site plan would go before the village board for approval is Feb. 9 or it may appear on the Feb. 23 agenda. To learn more about Scooters Coffee, click here.

Reach reporter Charles Bolinger at 618-659-5735
Little Big Women is a Taiwanese drama film directed by Joseph Hsu. The plot of the movie revolves around the story of a family who gathers for their estranged father's funeral, however, they are not aware of the life he had while he was away from them. The movie features Golden Horse Award winner Shu-Fang Chen, Ying-Hsuan Hsieh, Vivian Hsu, among others. The story is written by director Joseph Chen-Chieh Hsu along with Maya Huang. The film was originally released on November 6, 2020, in Taiwan and has a rating of 7.7/10 on IMDb. The film was later picked up to feature on Netflix recently, read on to know what time does Little Big Women release on Netflix?

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What time does Little Big Women release on Netflix?

Little Big Women release date is scheduled for February 5, 2021. The release time is expected to be 12 am PT on Friday, February 5, 2021, as Netflix usually releases its content at midnight. Indian subscribers can stream Little Big Women from February 5, Friday from 1.30 pm onwards. The British audience can watch the Little Big Women movie from 8 am on Friday. The film can be streamed in Taiwan from February 5, 2021, from 4 pm onwards while according to the Eastern Time the film will release at 3 am on Friday, February 5, 2021.

ALSO READ| Movies To Watch On Netflix In February; 'To All The Boys', 'Inception' And More

Little Big Women on Netflix

The Joseph Hsu directed film is about a Taiwanese matriarch, portrayed by Chen Shu-fang. The movie trailer showcases the moment when Lin Shaying is preparing to plan for her 70th birthday, she gets unexpected news of her estranged husband's death. Lin Shaying then plans to host the funeral in Tainan, which is a Taiwan's southwest coast city. Shaying's three daughters then gather for the birthday turned funeral preparation. However, many secrets from their estranged father's past unveil. Actor Chen Shu-fang had received the Golden Horse award as a leading actress for her portrayal in Little Big Women. She had won two Golden Horse awards in the last year. One was for best supporting actress for Dear Tenant and the second was the best actress award for this film. The movie originally had a world premiere in October 2020 at the Busan International Film Festival.

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ALSO READ| Golden Globes 2021: Netflix's 'Mank' And 'The Crown' Lead Nominations

Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment.
South Carolina is getting nearly $9 million as part of a multistate settlement with McKinsey & Company for its role in advising businesses on how to sell more prescription opioid painkillers amid a nationwide overdose crisis.

The global consulting firm McKinsey & Company agreed to pay nearly $600 million.

"We deeply regret that we did not adequately acknowledge the tragic consequences of the epidemic unfolding in our communities," McKinsey Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader said in a statement Feb. 4, noting the company cooperated with investigations. "With this agreement, we hope to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis in the U.S."

The Palmetto State's allotment will be paid over five years with most of it coming in the first year, according to S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson, who was part of a coalition agreeing to the settlement. This is the first multi-state opioid settlement to result in substantial payment to the states to address the epidemic.

The opioid epidemic isnt isolated to just one company or even all the companies that make the drugs, Wilson said. What we found in our investigation was that a big reason for the spread of opioids was how they were marketed to doctors with no regard for patients health and safety. While opioids may be medically necessary, their marketing may also make them in many cases poison pills.

Most of the money is in a $573 million settlement reached with 47 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories, but the company said it had deals with a total of 49 states. Washington's attorney general announced a separate $13.5 million deal and West Virginia announced a $10 million settlement with the New York-based company.

The only remaining state that has not announced a deal with the company is Nevada, where the attorney general's office said it is continuing an investigation of McKinsey and speaking with the company about its concerns.

Most of the payments will come within the next two months under the multistate agreement. The payments are earmarked for abating the raging overdose and addiction crisis that has deepened during the coronavirus pandemic. Opioids, which include prescription drugs and illegal substances such as heroin and illicit fentanyl, have been linked to more than 470,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000.

"Even though no amount of money can bring back the lives lost, I hope our settlement provides funding for programs to help those battling opioid addiction," Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement Feb. 4.

McKinsey's role in the opioid crisis came into focus in recent months in legal documents that were made public as part of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's efforts to settle claims against it through bankruptcy court. They showed the company long worked with Purdue to boost sales even as the extent of the opioid epidemic became clear.

Some documents showed it was trying to "supercharge" flagging OxyContin sales in 2013. Its efforts over the years included encouraging Purdue sales representatives to focus on doctors who already prescribed high volumes of OxyContin and to try to move patients to more potent doses of the drug.

On a video call with journalists Feb. 4, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said that McKinsey worked for Purdue for 15 years.

"McKinsey's efforts worked. The number of pills prescribed, Purdue's profits and McKinsey's fees all skyrocketed," said Stein, whose state stands to receive nearly $19 million in the settlement. "But so did the number of overdoses."

Stein said the settlement funds could go toward addiction treatment in health care settings, as well as in jails, plus programs like needle exchanges aimed at reducing the harm of drug use.

In a statement, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said that McKinsey would pay out more than it made advising companies on opioid sales.

"We are continuing to deliver on our promise to hold accountable the corporations and executives whose bad acts contributed to the opioid epidemic that has brought so much despair to our communities," he said.

Under the multistate deal, McKinsey agreed to make public all its communications with Purdue plus those dealing with the opioid businesses of the pharmaceutical companies Endo, Johnson & Johnson and Mallinckrodt.

The company, which announced two years ago that it would not advise clients on opioid-related businesses, said it has terminated two of its partners for communicating about deleting documents. It also said it will hire a new general counsel with a deep background in ethics and boost professional standards training for its employees.

Sneader, the McKinsey managing partner, said in a letter Feb. 4 to the company's employees that the company should use this settlement to address its practices in other areas, too.

"Today's focus is on opioids," he wrote, "but we have also faced other issues that have made clear the importance of improving how we act everywhere that we operate."

In a statement, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser praised McKinsey for settling quickly.

"They are the first company to work with the states to fix the problem rather than deny their conduct and engage in protracted litigation or delay," he said. "Their approach provides a model for other companies to follow to focus our energy on fixing the problem rather than making excuses or blaming others."

While McKinsey emerged as a target of opioid investigations recently, there have been thousands of lawsuits filed by government entities against companies that make and distribute prescription drugs. Some of those could go to trial this year.

Other settlements have happened or are in the works, including with Purdue, which is attempting to settle with state and local governments after reaching a deal last year to plead guilty to federal criminal charges and settle a civil case. Separately, members of the Sackler family, who own the company, agreed to pay $225 million in a civil settlement, but admitted no wrongdoing.

Another settlement has long been in the works involving the largest U.S. drug distribution companies and Johnson & Johnson. On the call Feb. 4, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra called them collectively "the opioid machine."

"It's not the last deal and it's not the biggest of the settlements and actions that we as a collective of states will take," he said.

Associated Press writer Michelle Price in Las Vegas contribute to this article.


New Delhi, Feb 4 : The BJP on Thursday launched an attack on the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government for its decision to withdraw buses from the service of security forces. The buses were engaged for their movement to the city's borders where farmers are protesting against the new farm laws.

The BJP has alleged that the AAP, the main opposition party in Punjab, was doing this for "political gains" in next year's assembly polls there. The AAP government has extended support to the farmers, mainly from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, protesting at Delhi's borders demanding repeal of the three new farm laws.

BJP Lok Sabha member from Delhi, Ramesh Bidhuri demanded that the security provided to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should be withdrawn.

Criticising the Delhi government, BJP National General Secretary (Organisation) B L Santosh said that Delhi has to suffer for the Punjab aspirations of the AAP. "Delhi Government under Arvind Kejriwal withdraws DTC buses given to Police and para military forces for bandobast (arrangement) during duty. Delhiites will suffer for the Punjab aspirations of Aam Aadmi Party. Anarchists indeed," Santosh tweeted.

Demanding withdrawal of Kejriwal's security, South Delhi MP Bidhuri said, "It's unfortunate that Kejriwal has taken back buses to deploy police and para military forces for law and order. Delhi Police personnel deployed for Kejriwal's security should be immediately withdrawn because the buses were meant for law and order and security of people in Delhi." BJP Lok Sabha members from Delhi Parvesh Verma, Manoj Tiwari, and Gautam Gambhir also criticized the Delhi government's decision.

Quoting a Santosh tweet, Tiwari said that it seems Kejriwal wants anarchy. Gambhir said, "This is very shameful that Delhi's CM doesn't care about Delhi police personnel and only cares about his vote bank in Punjab. There was no statement from him on the violence that took place on January 26. Our policemen were brutally attacked but he made sure not to utter a word just for his few votes in Punjab. People of Delhi are watching his petty politics and won't forgive him ever." The Delhi Transport Department has ordered the withdrawal of 576 DTC buses at the disposal of Delhi Police in the wake of vandalism during the ongoing farmers' protest, sources in the Delhi government said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Tuguegarao City shifted to general community quarantine on Thursday after being placed under the strictest enhanced community quarantine for 15 days due to the spike in COVID-19 cases. Prior to being under ECQ, the city was under modified GCQ.

The GCQ declaration will be in effect until midnight of Feb. 10, the local government said Wednesday in a Facebook post.

The LGU said residents aged 18 to 65 are the only ones allowed to leave their homes. Aside from those covered by the age restrictions, people with comorbidities, pregnant women, and individuals living with high-risk groups shall also strictly stay at home, it added.

Residents can only go out to get to work, access essential services and items, authorities said, adding residents must bring with them their Covid shield control pass when leaving their respective villages and observe the 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew.

Public transportation is limited and backriding is now allowed provided that a barangay permit certifying that the driver and passenger live in the same household is secured.

Read the full list of GCQ guidelines here.

Segmented polyurethanes (SPUs) that contain di-fluorenyl succinonitrile (DFSN) moieties and methacryloyl groups were synthesized. The obtained elastomers generated pink cyanofluorene radicals and changed color by compression or extension. This is the first example of force-induced cross-linking reactions achieved by only the extension or compression of a bulk film.

A fascinating and crucial ability of biological tissue, such as muscle, is self-healing and self-strengthening in response to damage caused by external forces. Most human-made polymers, on the other hand, break irreversibly under enough mechanical stress, which makes them less useful for certain critical applications like manufacturing artificial organs. But what if we could design polymers that reacted chemically to mechanical stimuli and used this energy to enhance their properties?

This goal, which has proven to be a big challenge, is under the spotlight in the field of mechanochemistry. In a recent study published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a team of scientists from Tokyo Tech, Yamagata University, and Sagami Chemical Research Institute, Japan, made remarkable progress with bulk self-strengthening polymers. Professor Hideyuki Otsuka, who led the study, explains their motivation: "Furthering the development of elegant bulk systems in which a force-induced reaction causes a clear change in mechanical properties would represent a game-changing advance in mechanochemistry, polymer chemistry, and materials science." They achieved this goal by focusing on difluorenylsuccinonitrile (DFSN), a 'mechanophore' or molecule that responds to mechanical stress.

The team created segmented polyurethane polymeric chains with hard as well as soft functional segments. The soft segments contain DFSN molecules acting as their "weakest link," with both of its halves joined by a single covalent bond. The soft segments also have their side chains topped off with methacryloyl units. Upon applying mechanical stress, such as simple compression or extension, on the polymer, the DFSN molecule splits into two equal cyanofluorene (CF) radicals. These CF radicals, unlike DFSN, acquire a pink color, making it easy to visually detect mechanical damage.

Most importantly, the CF radicals react with the methacryloyl units in the side chains of other polymers, causing separate polymers to chemically hook to one another in a process known as cross-linking. This phenomenon ultimately makes the overall strength of the bulk material go up as polymers become more chemically intertwined. This chemical cross-linking effect, as the scientists proved experimentally, becomes more pronounced as more compression cycles are performed on the segmented polymer samples because more DFSN molecules are split into CF radicals.

In addition, the team created a slight variant of their segmented polymer that not only turns pink but also exhibits fluorescence under ultraviolet irradiation when mechanical force is applied to it. This functionality comes in handy when trying to more accurately quantify the extent of the damage done by mechanical stress.

The attractive properties and functionalities of the developed polymers are useful, for example, for intuitive damage detection and the creation of adaptive materials. Expressing excitement for their findings, Otsuka remarks: "We successfully developed unprecedented mechanoresponsive polymers that exhibit color change, fluorescence, and self-strengthening ability, marking the first report of force-induced cross-linking reactions achieved by simply the extension or compression of a bulk film. Our findings represent a significant advance in the fundamental research of mechanochemistry and its applications in material science."

As more mechano-responsive materials with unique functions are developed, we can expect to explore their myriad applications in various industrial and engineering fields. Be sure to keep an eye out for further progress in mechanochemistry!
Martin Miller's celebrates journey 'from madness to genius' in new campaign

Martin Miller's Gin has put art and creativity at the heart of a new brand positioning.

Launching from February 2021, the Martin Miller's From Madness To Genius campaign uses a series of artistic assets from the Surrealist movement that nod to its core brand principles, including transformation, process and vision.

The positioning communicates the gin brand's journey "from a 'mad' idea to a genius gin" and is inspired by Martin Miller himself who, along with his co-founders, challenged the conventions of gin production when he launched the brand in 1999.

The roll-out includes a new website featuring interactive touchpoints and links to e-commerce platforms, and a fresh social media strategy using the hashtags #FromMadnessToGenius and #MartinMillersGin.

Alongside the new campaign, Martin Miller's has announced partnerships with the Affordable Online Art Fair (12 March to 5 April 2021) and, depending on Covid-19, the flagship Autumn Edition in Battersea, London in October. The partnerships will see the commissioning of original artworks exploring the 'From Madness To Genius' theme, a series of educational talks and tastings, and themed bar installations.

As the highest-performing market for Martin Miller's Gin, the UK will lead the global roll-out, with ambitions to launch in international markets through 2021 and 2022.

The project is spearheaded by global sales and marketing director Robert Eastham and global brand manager Arturo Illan, both appointed in 2019.

Robert Eastham said: "Ironically, the chaos of the pandemic sharpened our thinking and confirmed the revelance of this new direction. This marks a new beginning for the global Martin Miller's Gin business and a new generation of gin drinkers. Our new positioning will strengthen our brand in the digital sphere and aid our connection to consumers in these strange times.

"Meanwhile, From Madnes To Genius is all about passion to do something well, according to one's own criteria. It means taking a stance and running with it regardless of the outcome. The founder's dream was to create the best gin in the world, whatever the cost, and he achieved a liquid masterpiece in this creative process."

4 February 2021 - Bethany Whymark
A MAN was jailed for five years for a terrifying stalker-style campaign against a woman he became obsessed with and who he had warned he would rape after breaking into her house.

Gardai arrested James Steele (52) after a special surveillance operation had to be mounted around the woman's home and he was found to be in possession of items including duct tape, rope and a plastic sex toy.

Steele of Reavilleen Rosscarbery, Co Cork later told detectives the only explanation he could offer for his actions was that he had become totally obsessed with his former work colleague, Una Ring.

The victim was so terrified she considered getting her identification details tattooed onto her body so that if she was kidnapped and killed, it would assist Gardai.

Judge Sean O'Donnabhain was told Steele had pleaded guilty to charges of harassment, attempted burglary with intent to rape, possession of articles with intent to cause a crime and two counts of criminal damage.

Expand Close James Steele of Reavilleen, Roscarberry, County Cork, was sentenced to seven years with the last two years suspended today at Cork Circuit Criminal Court / Facebook

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Whatsapp James Steele of Reavilleen, Roscarberry, County Cork, was sentenced to seven years with the last two years suspended today at Cork Circuit Criminal Court

The court heard that Steele, a salesman and a father of two, had asked out a work colleague, Una Ring, in February 2020.

Despite being firmly rebuffed, he began sending the woman a stream of text messages - even when she asked him to stop.

She then awoke one morning and left her east Cork home to discover the tyres on her car had all been painted pink.

The victim lives at the property with her adult son and daughter.

Some time later, she discovered that a game of Xs and Os had been daubed overnight on the outside window of her house - and the sinister message 'I Win' had been added.

Days later, she left her home to discover that letters in black envelopes had been placed on her car windscreen.

One letter was found to contain a grim threat - that the individual would break into her home via the back door and rape not just her but her daughter.

The terrified woman contacted Gardai and they mounted a special surveillance operation around her home in a quiet estate.

Sergeant John Sharkey told the court that Gardai spotted an individual arriving at the housing estate in the early hours of July 27.

Expand Close CCTV image of James Steele of Reavilleen, Roscarberry, County Cork, was sentenced to seven years with the last two years suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. / Facebook

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Whatsapp CCTV image of James Steele of Reavilleen, Roscarberry, County Cork, was sentenced to seven years with the last two years suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Garda James Heffernan identified the defendant. The man hid behind a parked vehicle and then began walking slowly towards the victim's home.

The individual's head was covered by a hat and hood.

Later, when searched, the individual was found to have a roll of duct tape, a length of orange rope, a medium sized metal crowbar and a sex toy.

The 27cm sex toy, which was wrapped in a condom, was strapped to his body.

Subsequent Garda searches found that the defendant had also conducted an Internet search in respect of chloroform.

Before sentencing, Steele apologised to the victim - and, in a Garda statement, acknowledged that his actions must have left her "mortified, scared and frightened."

The court was told the Australian national, who has a 1986 conviction in his native country for an indecent assault, deeply regretted what had happened.

Ms Ring said both she and her family were left totally distraught by the campaign and existed in a constant state of fear until Gardai made their arrest.

Expand Close Harassment victim Una Ring from Roscarberry pictured at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, flanked by Sergeant John Sharkey and Insp Eoghan Healy. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Harassment victim Una Ring from Roscarberry pictured at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, flanked by Sergeant John Sharkey and Insp Eoghan Healy.

"I was so certain that James Steele was going to break in and attack me that I used to tidy up the house each night before going to bed so that the house would be presentable for the crime scene photos," she said.

"I even considered getting a tattoo with my name, town name and date of birth so that if he abducted and killed me that my body would be easily and quickly identified - that's how utterly terrified I was...I still am."

"James Steele has destroyed my life in the last year. I have been diagnosed with PTSD, have ongoing nightmares and have suffered from depression and anxiety. I am on four different types of medication just to get me through the day."

"I hate being alone. I even check the car to ensure that no one has broken in and is lying in the back waiting for me."

"When I close my eyes I can see James Steele walking towards my front door with a crowbar ready to attack. I dread to think what would have happened if it wasn't for the operation that Gardai had put in place."

Judge O'Donnabhain warned that the victim had been put through a terrible ordeal and described Steele's actions as "horrific".

He imposed a seven year prison sentence but agreed to suspend the final two years in light of Steele's plea and his cooperation with Gardai.

Judge O'Donnabhain warned that the defendant must never again have any contact, direct or indirect, with the victim or her family.

Ms Ring said she was happy with the sentence but had been hoping for a maximum 14 year prison term.

She warned she would never forgive Steele for the trauma he had put her and her family through.

"Obviously I would have preferred a higher sentence - there is nothing high enough for what I went through," she said.

"I am happy with it. I knew he was not going to get the full 14 years.

I knew it was not going to be what I wanted."

"But Judge (O'Donnabhain) was very fair in everything he said so I am happy enough."




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Williamstown DIRE Committee Talks About Need for Historical Accuracy

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  With the town's Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee meeting on the first day of February, it was a perfect time for its chair to note the arrival of Black History Month.

And although Mohammed Memfis noted that he likes to think of every month as Black History Month, February is "a great time for people to learn things about Black history that they may not have known before," he said.

"And to realize that American history would be not [just] incomplete but incorrect without the story of Black people in this country and the histories of Black people."

The story of Williamstown and its historic association with racism has been a topic for the DIRE Committee since it was formed last summer.

Again on Monday, Bilal Ansari said he wants to see the town reckon with one of the more troubling piece of local history.

"I look forward to the day Williamstown incorporates their own racial history with 'N*****r Hill,' which is what White Oaks was called here in town for many years," Ansari said. "This is really, really important to understand that history and that language and that being part of our history and that this 'Village Beautiful' was not always beautiful. Beautiful is a work in progress.

"That needs to be taught, the true history of Williamstown and its Black residents of White Oaks."

Jeffrey Johnson agreed and noted that the accepted histories of the town were written through lenses that were "a little skewed to say the least."

Correcting that vision, Memfis said, is about restorative justice for marginalized people, not attacking those who benefit from institutional racism.

"I know a lot of people, especially white people, have felt that continuously hearing about all these negative aspects of history is like attacking a history or existence that you or your ancestors may have been related to," he said. "I want to point out that that's not the purpose of this at all. The purpose of having these discussions is that ignoring these realities for so long is what has led to us having to deal with these issues today. We're only going to cycle through the same things over and over and over and over again.

"I would love to get to the point where I don't have to talk about why diversity, inclusion and racial equity is such a major problem.  Addressing these problems, being honest about it, you should look at in the light of saying, 'This is an opportunity for me to be more productive and gain a different type of enlightenment about the world my ancestors lived in the, the world I live in and contrasting that to the world you want to see moving forward.' "

Williams College took a step toward adding accuracy to the nation's historical narrative on Tuesday when it announced a partnership with Brown University's Center for the study of Slavery and Justice and Connecticut's Mystic Seaport Museum on a three-year project to generate "new insights into the relationship between European colonization in North America, the dispossession of Native American land and racial slavery in New England."

The three institutions are sharing in a $4.9 million grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, according to a Tuesday news release from the college.

Closer to home, a more modest grant will help provide more accurate, inclusive lessons at the local middle-high school.

"There's a group that recently received a grant from the SEE Fund, which supports a variety of different activities at [Mount Greylock], to help develop a curriculum to be led by Heather Bruegel of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community to be included in Mount Greylock curriculum at the middle school and high school teaching about Mohican history and culture and homelands," Andrew Art said at Monday's meeting. "That work will be under way this spring."

Mount Greylock was very much on the minds of the DIRE Committee members Monday for another reason. The full committee met for the first time since a racist incident in a ninth-grade virtual classroom in late January.

The members of the panel largely agreed that the school administration did a good job being transparent and proactive in its communication to the community about the Jan. 21 event . But a comment from the floor of the meeting sparked a discussion about whether the committee members knew whether the targeted student and their family was satisfied with the school's response.

"I'm wondering if any specific outreach has come from either this committee or from the School Committee or from any of the other elected bodies or representative bodies in town specifically to the family and to the student," Jude Higdon-Topaz said.

Aruna D'Souza, who said she spoke to the student's parent the day of the incident, told her colleagues she would reach out again on behalf of the DIRE Committee.

"I think it's important as we think about how to respond to the school's response to these events that we make sure we've talked to the family and know how they're feeling in relation to the response," D'Souza said. "If it feels appropriate to the other members of DIRE that we make that outreach, I'm happy to write to the family and say: We know what happened, we've been watching with concern and is there anything else you'd like us to know about how this has all gone.

"I think Jude is making a really good point about our assessment of whether the school is doing enough is actually based in how the family is feeling and how the student may be feeling and not just some external sense of, 'This seems reasonable.' "

In other business on Monday, the committee talked about the town's effort to review and revise its policies for town employees and how to encourage the town and college to make strides on the issue of accessibility.

"It's about damn time," Johnson said when asked for his thoughts about making town government more accessible. "Some people can't get into the building. There's no reason in this day and age that we're not [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliant across the board. And I think there's an ignorance when people think of ADA compliance. It's more than bathrooms and doorways being wide enough and elevators. It's all the other aspects."

Johnson pointed out that the town should be offering things like documents in translation for people who don't have English as their native language, and Memfis asked whether the town provides an American Sign Language interpreter at town meeting.

"I'm using that as an example to think about some of the changes we could make to promote that more dynamic and 21st century aspect of town policy and practices," Memfis said.
The World Economic Forum Special Annual Meeting 2021 in Singapore will convene from August 17 to 20.

The meeting follows the success of the Forums virtual Davos Agenda in January, which brought together world leaders from government, business and society.

The Special Annual Meeting 2021 was scheduled for May 25-28. Although the World Economic Forum and Government of Singapore remain confident of the measures in place to ensure a safe and effective meeting, and local transmission of Covid-19 in Singapore remains at negligible levels, the change to the meetings timing reflects the international challenges in containing the pandemic.

Current global travel restrictions have made planning difficult for an in-person meeting in the first half of the year. Furthermore, differing quarantine and air transport regulations have increased the lead time necessary to ensure that participants globally can make arrangements to join.

The Special Annual Meeting 2021 in Singapore in August will be the first global leadership summit to address the challenges of recovering from the pandemic and laying the basis for a more inclusive and sustainable world.

It will bring leaders face-to-face to focus on shaping solutions to the most pressing challenges of our times.

A global leadership summit needs the participation of all global stakeholders, said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. The Special Annual Meeting in Singapore in August will provide the place for leaders from business, government and civil society to come together to address the steps for global recovery.
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The White House said Thursday that President Joe Biden will end support for Saudi Arabia's controversial war in Yemen - his first major foreign policy reversal.

President Barack Obama began support for Saudi Arabia and President Donald Trump ramped it up, but Biden will announce during his visit to the State Department that it's ending.

'Today he will announce an end to American support for offensive operations in Yemen,' said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan at the White House press briefing.

The move would fulfill a campaign pledge by Biden, whose administration plans to pursue diplomacy to end the overall conflict in Yemen.

Sullivan also said Biden will freeze Trump's planned withdrawal of some U.S. troops stationed in Germany.

President Joe Biden will end support for Saudi Arabia's controversial war in Yemen - his first major foreign policy reversal

Saudi Arabia began the offensive in 2015 to counter a Yemeni Houthi faction that had seized territory in Yemen and was launching cross-border missiles at Saudi Arabia; numerous civilians have been killed in the fight

President Barack Obama began support for Saudi Arabia and President Donald Trump ramped it up, but Biden will announce during his visit to the State Department that it's ending

Biden also is announcing the choice of Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to Yemen when he speaks to State Department employees. Lenderking has been a deputy assistant secretary of state in the agency's Middle East section. A career foreign service member, he has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries inside and out of the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia began the offensive in 2015 to counter a Yemeni Houthi faction that had seized territory in Yemen and was launching cross-border missiles at Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led air campaign since then has killed numerous civilians, and survivors display fragments showing the bombs to be American-made. The conflict has deepened hunger and poverty in Yemen, and international rights experts say both the Gulf countries and Houthis have committed severe rights abuses.

Biden will use his State Department visit on Thursday to highlight his promise to re-engage with the international community after Donald Trump's 'America First' policy.

In his remarks to staff, Biden will emphasize traditional American alliances while thanking career government officials for their service. Vice President Kamala Harris will join him on the visit, which is his first to a Cabinet department as president.

'I will have your back,' Biden will say, according to excerpts provided by the White House. 'This administration is going to empower you to do your jobs, not target or politicize you. We want a rigorous debate, that brings in all perspectives, and makes room for dissent. Thats how well get the best possible policy outcomes.'

'With your help, the United States will again lead not just by the example of our power, but by the power of our example,' he will note.

By choosing Foggy Bottom as his first Cabinet stop - as opposed to the Pentagon or another department - Biden is making a heavily symbolic gesture to an agency suffering from morale problems in the wake of Trump's presidency.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during the trip the president will thank staff 'who are Foreign Service officers, civil servants, who are the heart and soul of that institution and, frankly, our government.'

She said his remarks would not be a complete vision of his foreign policy plans. They will center on 'restoring America's place in the world,' one of Biden's campaign promises.

'This will not be a laydown of his vision for every issue and every foreign policy issue. He will have plenty of time to do that,' Psaki noted at her Wednesday press briefing.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said President Joe Biden will end support for Saudi Arabia's controversial war in Yemen and will freeze Donald Trump's plan to withdraw some U.S. troops stationed in Germany

In making the State Department his first Cabinet stop as president, Joe Biden is making a heavily symbolic gesture to an agency suffering from morale problems in the wake of Trump's presidency

Trump took an isolationist view in his foreign policy and didn't visit the State Department for more than a year into his presidency - to see Mike Pompeo sworn in as secretary after Trump fired Rex Tillerson. It was his first and only visit. Trump also accused officials at Foggy Bottom of being part of the 'deep state' out to undermine his presidency.

Biden, who spent years as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is expected to be much more engaged in foreign policy during his time in the White House.

He's already returned the United States to international agreements and organizations that Trump withdrew from - including the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization.

Biden also has endorsed a multilateral approach to issues ranging from the coronavirus pandemic to China and Iran.

'We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world,' he said in his inaugural address.

And the president chose his longtime confidant Antony Blinken to be his secretary of state.

Blinken will introduce Biden to State Department employees on Thursday and has vowed to take politics out of the department.

'I am determined to put our career folks in positions of responsibility and leadership, and I am absolutely determined that politics are not going to come into this building,' he told NBC News' Andrea Mitchell in an interview last week.

On his first day at Foggy Bottom, in remarks to staff, Blinken told them: 'I will have your back.'

'It starts with rebuilding morale and trust. This is a priority for me because we need a strong department for the United States to be strong in the world,' he said.

During Thursday's visit, postponed from Monday because of a snowstorm in Washington D.C., Biden plans to announce that he will increase the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States to more than eight times the level at which Trump's administration left it.

Then-President Trump reduced the refugee admissions cap to only 15,000 and Biden will raise it to 125,00.

Joe Biden to increase the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. to more than eight times the level at which Trump's administration left it - above Syrian refugees fleeing the Turkish incursion in Northern Syria

Biden will be introduced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who's vowed to take politics out of the State Department

On Thursday, Biden will be greeted by employees eager to hear that diplomacy has returned to the top of the presidential agenda and that the expertise of long-serving foreign service officers will be valued.

Although Bidens first nominations and appointments to senior positions at State have trended heavily toward political appointees, the president and Blinken have pledged to promote career staffers.

The State Department visit comes after Biden moved on Wednesday to extend the last remaining treaty limiting Russian and American stockpiles of nuclear weapons, acting just two days before the pact was set to expire. It also follows days after a coup in Myanmar that has emerged as an early proving ground of Biden's approach to multilateralism.

On another major foreign policy issue, Biden is weighing whether to cut off U.S. support that flourished under Trump for Saudi Arabias war in Yemen. U.S. aid has been condemned by the international community and has helped contribute to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

At the State Department, Biden may also address asylum claims for residents of Hong Kong there, according to one official. He indicated during his campaign that he was interested in providing protection to people persecuted by the Chinese government.

Officials said Biden would not necessarily override the record low refugee cap of 15,000 that Trump set for the current budget year. Instead, the 125,000 figure would be proposed for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. The president is required by law to first consult Congress on his plans before making a determination.

Advocates had said that the backlog of tens of thousands of refugees left by the Trump administration had made it unlikely Bidens target of resettling 125,000 refugees could be reached this year. It will take time to rebuild the pipeline. More than one-third of U.S. resettlement offices were forced to close over the past four years with the drop in refugee arrivals and hundreds of workers were let go.

Another issue that may be addressed Thursday is a review of vetting procedures for refugees, according to the officials and others. The Trump administration had put in place extreme background checks that had brought the program to a standstill, advocates say.

Donald Trump only visited the State Department once as president - above on May 2, 2018 to see Mike Pompeo sworn in as secretary of state

The Trump administration also narrowed eligibility this year, restricting which refugees are selected for resettlement to certain categories, including people persecuted because of religion and Iraqis whose assistance to the U.S. put them in danger.

Biden is expected to do away with those categories at some point and have the program return to using the long-standing referral system by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees that makes selections based on a persons need to be resettled.
Health official: 'I am hopeful for the brighter days ahead'
The Hope College Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series will feature Renee Simms and Dawn Davies on Thursday, Feb. 11, at 6 p.m. in a virtual reading and Q&A that is free and open to the public. The event requires an Eventbrite registration, which can be found at hope.edu/jrvws

Out of an abundance of caution due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no in-person audience.

Originally from Detroit, Renee Simms began her career as a lawyer before directing her focus toward creative writing. She holds a B.A. in literature from the University of Michigan, a J.D. from Wayne State University, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Arizona State University. At the University of Puget Sound, she is an associate professor of African American Studies and a contributing faculty to English Studies. Her writing has been featured in Callaloo, Literary Hub, Southwest Review and North American Review among other publications, and her debut short story collection, Meet Behind Mars, was published in 2018. She has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship as well as a Bread Loaf Fiction fellowship in addition to other literary recognitions.

Dawn Davies is a creative nonfiction writer and author of the memoir Mothers of Sparta. She earned her B.A. in liberal arts from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and her M.F.A. in creative writing from Florida International University, where she served as the fiction editor of the Gulf Stream Literary Magazine and won several awards for her nonfiction writing. Additionally, her memoir won both the Great Lakes Association New Writers Award and the Florida Book Award. Her work has been published in numerous national literary journals, including McSweeneys Quarterly, Narrative and The Missouri Review. Davies lives in Florida, where she writes and teaches writing. Davies in-person reading last spring was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both Simms and Davies explore themes of motherhood, family tension, relational vulnerability, and prejudice. The authors will also visit with students in creative writing classes throughout the day on February 11.

More information about the event and the Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series can be found at hope.edu/jrvws
This Flower Is Really a Fungus in Disguise Scientific American

Texas sorry after mistakenly sending emergency alert for cursed Chucky doll Guardian (ChiGal).

Is this the end of the A68a iceberg? Enormous block of Antarctic ice that was once three and a half times bigger than LONDON suffers another major split Daily Mail

Its A Sh*t Show Out There The Brockovich Report. Yes, that Brockovich.

SEC Hunts for Fraud in Social-Media Posts Hyping GameStop Bloomberg

Robinhood Crisis Reveals Hidden Costs in Zero-Fee Trading Model Bloomberg. As Yves keeps pointing out, friction in trading is good.

Trading boom propels Deutsche Bank to first profit in 6 years FT

#COVID19

Efficacy and Safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine NEJM. Moderna. RCT, n=30,420. From the Abstract: Moderate, transient reactogenicity after vaccination occurred more frequently in the mRNA-1273 group. Serious adverse events were rare, and the incidence was similar in the two groups. The mRNA-1273 vaccine showed 94.1% efficacy at preventing Covid-19 illness, including severe disease. Aside from transient local and systemic reactions, no safety concerns were identified.

Estimating the effectiveness of the Pfizer COVID-19 BNT162b2 vaccine after a single dose. A reanalysis of a study of real-world vaccination outcomes from Israel (preprint) medRvix. Pfizer. From the Abstract, on methodology: We used a pooled estimate of the daily incidence rate [in Israel] during days 1 to 12 as the counterfactual estimate of incidence without disease and estimated confidence intervals using Monte Carlo modelling. After initial injection case numbers increased to day 8 before declining to low levels by day 21. Estimated vaccine effectiveness was pretty much 0 at day 14 but then rose to about 90% at day 21 before levelling off. The cause of the initial surge in infection risk is unknown but may be related to people being less cautious about maintaining protective behaviours as soon as they have the injection. What our analysis shows is that a single dose of vaccine is highly protective, although it can take up to 21 days to achieve this. The early results coming from Israel support the UK policy of extending the gap between doses by showing that a single dose can give a high level of protection. This is above my paygrade. Can somebody knowledgeable from the readership comment? I would hate to think that motivated reasoning is being deployed on behalf of a national champion.

* * *

Coronavirus is in the air  theres too much focus on surfaces Nature. Something to take to your local school board

Fluid dynamics and epidemiology: Seasonality and transmission dynamics Physics of Fluids (press release). From the Abstract: We present the results for the number of cases and transmission rates for three cities, New York, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro. The results suggest that two pandemic outbreaks per year are inevitable because they are directly linked to what we call weather seasonality. The pandemic outbreaks are associated with changes in temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed independently of the particular season. We propose that epidemiological models must incorporate climate effects through the AIR index. Interesting. But what about indoor transmission?

* * *

Age groups that sustain resurging COVID-19 epidemics in the United States Science. We estimate that as of October 2020, individuals aged 20-49 are the only age groups sustaining resurgent SARS-CoV-2 transmission with reproduction numbers well above one, and that at least 65 of 100 COVID-19 infections originate from individuals aged 20-49 in the US. Targeting interventions  including transmission-blocking vaccines  to adults aged 20-49 is an important consideration in halting resurgent epidemics and preventing COVID-19-attributable deaths. Surely equity is to be sought in bringing the pandemic to a halt as rapidly as possible? If Covid superspreaders were found to be drunken college bros, wouldnt the most equitable vaccination policy be to protect the extremely frail, then jab the drunken college bros?

Undocumented Restaurant Workers Should Be Prioritized for the Vaccine Food & Wine

* * *

Social Repercussions of Pandemics (PDF) IMF. Epidemics may have social scarring effects, increasing the likelihood of social unrest. They may also have mitigating effect, suppressing unrest by dissuading social activities. Using a new monthly panel on social unrest in 130 countries, we find a positive cross- sectional relationship between social unrest and epidemics. But the relationship reverses in the short run, implying that the mitigating effect dominates in the short run. Recent trends in social unrest immediately before and after the COVID-19 outbreak are consistent with this historic evidence. It is reasonable to expect that, as the pandemic fades, unrest may reemerge in locations where it previously existed.

The Hidden Epidemic on Travels Front Line NYT (Re Silc).

Life insurers screen for COVID-19 Axios

Ford receives a patent for a new, clear respirator mask that they expect to be just as effective as an N95 CNN
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley on Wednesday signed a subpoena for documents dealing with FirstEnergy secretly funding efforts to discredit Cleveland Public Power.

The subpoena, the first to be issued by council in two decades, seeks records from Consumers Against Deceptive Fees, a now defunct advocacy group that had publicly criticized the citys electric utility.

You can see the subpoena below. Mobile users click here.

Kelley and his council colleagues want to know the source of $351,000 the group received in 2018 and used in a leaflet campaign disparaging CPPs rates and service.

Council last issued subpoenas as part of an investigation to force then Mayor Michael R. Whites staff to explain under oath the bungling of a 1998 police entrance exam. Councilman Mike Polensek was council president at the time.

More subpoenas are likely to follow, Kelley said, and eventually hearings by council. This is just the first step, he said.

Meanwhile, Mayor Frank Jackson told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer on Wednesday that his administration is close to deciding whether to take legal action against Akron-based FirstEnergy.

Jackson said he again consulted his law director, utilities director and chief of operations on Wednesday to discuss strategy in response to FirstEnergy using so-called dark money in a campaign against CPP.

Our primary focus is to what damage has been done to Cleveland Public Power as a result of the dark money, Jackson said in the interview.

Links between FirstEnergy and Consumers Against Excessive Fees were revealed in the fallout of the statehouse bribery scandal surrounding H.B. 6, a legislative bailout of nuclear and coal-burning power plants. Several people have been indicted in the scandal and an FBI investigation continues.

An FBI affidavit filed in July mentioned Partners for Progress as it detailed a $60-million bribery scheme to pass the $1 billion bailout of power plants once owned by a FirstEnergy subsidiary.

Records show that $200,000 from FirstEnergy flowed to Consumers Against Deceptive Fees in 2019 by way of Partners for Progress and that the utility was the sole source of income that year for the dark money organization.

Jackson has said that in his view, the company sought to take harmful, monopolistic actions against a competitor, CPP.

The city-owned utility has about 70,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in the city, including FirstEnergy Stadium, the home of the Cleveland Browns. FirstEnergy has about 60,000 customers in Cleveland.

Jackson has not decided whether Cleveland should seek to join a suit filed by Columbus and Cincinnati seeking to overturn the fee structure in H.B. 6 that would fund the bailout.

That suit is pending in a Franklin County court. The judge there ordered that the fees could not be collected until the litigation is resolved.

Cleveland will not seek to join that suit, Jackson said, if it could hinder a suit filed over damages to Cleveland Public Power.

What impact will one action have over the other? Jackson said. We would not want to enter the other lawsuit if somewhere down the line it could affect our action regarding the damages to CPP.

Reporter John Caniglia contributed to this report.

More from Cleveland City Hall

Cleveland City Council approves job creation grant for Quicken Loans LLC that will lead to 700 new downtown jobs

Clevelands fortunes exiting the coronavirus pandemic could take a hit without income taxes from suburban commuters

Cleveland health commissioner resigns in wake of shakeup by Mayor Frank Jacksons administration

More than 100,000 Greater Clevelanders could get coronavirus shots each week if vaccine were available, health leaders say

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jacksons It is what it is isnt what you might think


Earn your Associate of Applied Business in Business IT (BIT) degree online from the University of Cincinnati. This program can be completed fully online, with curriculum customized to fit your schedule, interests and how quickly you want to complete your degree. Application deadline July 1, 2021. Learn More 

Like many companies in these pandemic-ridden days, the Smash My Trash group uses videoconferencing in its business dealings.

The Smash group consists of Smash My Trash LLC, which uses mobile trash compactors to compress trash in customers' dumpsters, and Smash Franchise Partners, LLC, which sells the company's franchises.

One potential franchisee, serial entrepreneur Todd Perri, used the information gleaned from Smash's videoconferences to help set up a direct competitor.

Smash Franchise Partners last year filed suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery -- the Nation's preeminent forum for determining business disputes -- alleging Perri breached its trade secrets and used confidential information.

The Court's Memorandum Opinion can be read here.

[*Correction - Feb. 4, 2021]

Smash's Franchise Purchase Process

Prospective Smash franchisees must first participate in two sets of videoconferencing presentations on Zoom after, among other things, taking a phone call about the economics of running a franchise and getting an Excel workbook containing relevant economic data.

One set of Smash videoconferences has current franchisees describe how they run their franchise and answer questions about their business. The other set is hosted by company founder, president and CEO Justin Haskins, who discusses various business and technical issues, such as fleet management and maintenance, and answers questions.

Franchise FastLane, an independent contractor that markets Smash's franchises, handles the videoconferences.

Potential franchisees then sign a non-disclosure agreement and travel to Smash's headquarters in Indiana to learn proprietary information -- which the firm calls its "secret sauce."

'Devil' at the Door

In 2019, Perri responded to an ad about Smash posted by independent franchise broker The Franchise Collective, and got a broad overview of Smash's business and equipment.

This included where the equipment was purchased, franchise locations, available territories, the identity of one national account, the startup and operating costs, and the software needed to run a franchise.

He was also directed to Smash's website and its YouTube channel, and given a pitch deck -- an introductory presentation -- that discussed Smash's business model and business strategy.

Perri later called fraternity brother Kevin McLaren, who operates a roll-off dumpster business, and the two formed Dumpster Devil, LLC to compete with Smash.

Meanwhile, Perri continued to gather information about Smash's operations. He signed an NDA but did not attend the presentation at Smash headquarters because that was confidential.

After failing to purchase equipment from Smash's supplier, Perri and McLaren signed an exclusive supplier agreement with trash compaction and handling equipment manufacturer Packmat System.

Dumpster Devil's business model closely resembles that of Smash but uses an exclusive licensing arrangement for branded equipment instead of selling franchises.

Perri attended two more Smash videoconference calls after signing with Packmat, and launched Dumpster Devil with McLaren in March 2020.

Their website compares Dumpster Devil's equipment and return on investment to those of Smash. They also bought the name "Smash My Trash" from Google AdWords, so that a Dumpster Devil ad was the top result for Google searches in certain geographic areas using that name.

Poor Security Hurt Smash

The Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that Smash freely gave out the Zoom logon information for the videoconference calls to potential franchisees and used the same Zoom meeting code for all its meetings.

It did not password protect the meetings or use the waiting room feature to screen participants, so anyone who had the code could join the calls and share the code with others.

Franchise FastLane, which ran the conferences, did not take roll at the beginning of each call and remove anyone who did not belong; and 20 participants who could not be identified attended the videoconferences. There was no evidence they signed the NDAs.

"If the meeting content is proprietary, it's the responsibility of the owner to protect it," Michael Jude, a research director at market research firm IDC, told the E-Commerce Times. "That's why Kentucky Fried Chicken maintains its secret recipe in a vault."

The carrier -- in this case Zoom -- has no responsibility to protect what has been discussed on an open line, Jude noted.

Security and Compliance Measures

It's important to "actually monitor what happens in the meeting to detect when sensitive data is exposed, ensure that proper disclaimers are used, identify behavior that could led to liabilities, and prevent security risks in what is spoken, shared, shown or typed in a video meeting session," Devin Redmond, CEO and co-founder of Theta Lake, told the E-Commerce Times.

Theta Lake provides collaboration security and compliance for Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx, Zoom and RingCentral.

"Companies should assume by default that anything shared in a meeting is exposed or leaked," Redmond observed. In addition to close monitoring of videoconferences, they should train staff on proper procedures while implementing security and compliance technologies purpose-built for video collaboration.

Trade secret law requires trade secret owners to take "reasonable efforts" to secure that information, wrote Milton Springut, a partner at Springut Law.

However the definition of reasonable is not carved in stone.

"What constitutes 'reasonable' evolves over time, as both technology and challenges to security advance," Springut stated. "What was science fiction yesterday can become standard operating procedure today."

*ECT News Network editor's note - Feb. 4, 2021: Our original published version of this story stated the following: "The Court denied the injunction because it found security around and during the videoconferences was sloppy." We have since learned that litigation is ongoing and that the Court granted Smash a limited preliminary injunction prohibiting the defendants, pending a final decision on the merits after the trial, from making statements about Smash's hydraulic drum lacking protective guards; the slides on Smash's truck needing daily greasing; and the Dumpster Devil truck weighing less than 26,000 pounds and not requiring a commercial license. "At this stage of the use the record does not support a business-stopping injunction," the Court ruled. "The fact that Smash is not entitled to a business-stopping injunction does not legitimize Perri and McLaren's conduct. Their actions were disingenuous and underhanded."

Richard Adhikari has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2008. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, mobile technologies, CRM, databases, software development, mainframe and mid-range computing, and application development. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including Information Week and Computerworld. He is the author of two books on client/server technology. Email Richard.


Rebekah Vardy beamed as she headed to Dancing On Ice training with her pro Andy Buchanan and his partner Robin Johnstone.

The WAG, 38, was adding a pop of colour to the dreary day as she wrapped up in pink sportswear and clutched a hot drink ahead of Saturday's live show, which will no longer feature Robin since she was axed with Rufus Hound.

Things looked to be on the up for the star, who headed out hours after she is said to have come face-to-face on Zoom with Coleen Rooney, 34, amid their ongoing Wagatha Christie defamation High Court case.

Off out: Rebekah Vardy beamed as she headed to Dancing On Ice training with her pro Andy Buchanan and his partner Robin Johnstone

Rebekah was glowing as she stepped into training in low-key fashion following last week's show, where she wound up in the skate-off against Graham Bell.

Andy was no doubt comforting Robin, who discovered she had lost her place on the show after her partner Rufus tested positive for coronavirus.

Away from the show's politics, MailOnline revealed earlier this week that on Wednesday the duo would meet in an attempt to settle their high-profile dispute as a deadline looms for them to find an agreement out of court.

The warring pair participated in a two-day mediation hearing, held remotely. Lawyers representing both women were said to be present for the hearing, which will be conducted by a mediator that has been agreed by both sides.

Out and about: The WAG, 38, was adding a pop of colour to the dreary day as she wrapped up in pink sportswear and clutched a hot drink ahead of Saturday's live show

Happy days: She greeted Andy with a warm hug

Comfort? Rebekah looked to be comforting Robin after her departure

The identity of the mediator is confidential but according to legal experts, it was likely to be a senior barrister, who would step in between the two parties if discussions get too heated.

Passions remain high between the two WAGs, with Rebekah adamant that she was not responsible for leaking stories about Coleen to the media.

Coleen has handed Rebekah an olive branch and made her an offer to 'agree to disagree' as they head into mediation.

If accepted, the last-minute peace deal would see both parties make a substantial donation to charity. They would also pay their own legal costs, a move known in legal circles as a drop hands settlement.

Feud: The warring pair will participate in a two-day mediation hearing, which will be held remotely as a deadline looms for them to find an agreement out of court (pictured in 2016)

Fuming: Rebekah launched a 1m High Court libel action after Coleen accused her in an Instagram post more than a year ago of being the source of leaks to the media

Gone: Robin and Rufus will no longer appear on the show

A source told MailOnline: Coleen believes that this has all gone too far. The legal costs on both sides are well into six figures.

Rebekah launched a 1m High Court libel action after Coleen accused her in an Instagram post more than a year ago of being the source of leaks to the media.

Coleen revealed that she had set a trap to see who was responsible for them, which earned her the nickname Wagatha Christie as the row between the two Wags simmered, culminating in legal action.

At the start of their libel case at Londons High Court last November, the judge agreed a stay on the case until 8 February so that mediation can take place. If the two women are unable to reach agreement, then a trial is expected to take place later this year.

Stepping out: Things looked to be on the up for the star, who headed out hours after she is said to have come face-to-face on Zoom with Coleen Rooney, 34, amid their ongoing Wagatha Christie defamation High Court case

Beaming: She showed off her legs in the stylish look
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  Roughly two hours after issuing an Amber Alert for a 3-year-old girl they believed to have been kidnapped, authorities cancelled it.

Ava Spicer has been located and is safe, State Police Lt. Mark Soriano said in an update issued just before 3 a.m. on Thursday. He referred media to the Farmington Police Department for additional information.

Farmington police issued the Amber Alert shortly before 1 a.m., saying they believed the girl had been kidnapped by a woman sometime on Wednesday.

They said Ava Spicer had last been seen around 6:30 p.m. in Aztec, NM. They said she was believed to be with 30-year-old Destinee Sweeney.

Authorities did not elaborate on the relationship between the pair but said they may have been headed to Ignacio, Colorado.

Many details are still unknown and under investigation. However, of urgent concern is the whereabouts of Ava Spicer, State Police said in a release. Ava Spicer is missing and is believed to be in danger if not located.

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Born out of the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity (DHF), in Abu Dhabi, in 2019, and aligned to the humanitarian values shared by the UAE's founder, the late Sheikh Zayed, this global award recognizes individuals who are committed to fostering conditions for peaceful co-existence.

In recognition of that historic meeting, the honorary recipients of the first Zayed Award for Human Fraternity were the co-signees of the Document: His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed Al-Tayeb, and the Head of the Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Francis.

As Secretary-General of the UN, since 2017, Antonio Guterres has embarked on a dedicated mandate to address issues relating to world peace and security. Among some of the key initiatives he has spearheaded, during his time in office, Guterres has addressed a number of impactful initiatives, including: countering hate speech and violence; modernizing UN peacekeeping practices; to his Global Cease Fire Appeal and Initiative during the Covid-19 pandemic  resulting in 170 member and observer states heeding that call to sign up.

2021 honoree, Latifa Ibn Ziaten, is a mother and Moroccan-French activist, dedicated to raising awareness against escalating religious extremism, following her own personal tragedy of losing her son, Imad, to a terrorist attack, in 2012. Since then, Latifa has become a well-known civil society activist, in France and beyond; working with families and communities to prevent youth radicalization and spreading the message of peace, dialogue, and mutual respect.

Ahead of receiving his award on Thursday, Guterres, said: "It is with humility and deep gratitude that I feel honored to receive the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity. I see it also as recognition of the work the United Nation is doing every day, everywhere, to promote peace and human dignity.

"We live in challenging times. We see the threats coming from the pandemic, from the climate, threats from war and conflict in different parts of the world. Therefore, it is fantastic to see the enormous leadership of His Holiness the Pope and His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, pushing humankind to come together, in unity, in dialogue, to promote peace, to promote fraternity, and to promote the unity that is necessary to address all the challenges to defeat hate and ensure that human solidarity wins the battles we are facing."

In accepting her award, Ms. Latifa said: "It is a great honor, and indeed humbling, to have been recognized by the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity for the work I and many others do, each day, in addressing extremism though dialogue, mutual respect, and peaceful co-existence. Most importantly, I hope this award helps raise awareness among a wider audience about the need to continue these efforts.

"The situation in France and Europe has often presented many challenges due to a sense of exclusion and marginalization that affects so many young hearts. That said, I feel progress is being made, and we continue to work with families and communities to prevent youth radicalization and to understand how we can create opportunities for more open dialogue and advocacy; making co-operation and mutual understanding the norm  not the exception," Latifa concluded.

Speaking ahead of Thursday's ceremony, the Secretary-General of the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity (HCHF), and co-author of the Document on Human Fraternity, Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, said:

"As head of the UN, Mr. Guterres has been responsible for launching many individual and joint initiatives aimed at ending humanity's violence against itself and violations against nature. His commitment and dedication in this role has shown that he is a true endorser of the approach and values advocated for by the Document on Human Fraternity.

"In recognizing Latifa Ibn Ziaten as a 2021 honoree, it is a bitter-sweet realization of how circumstances born out of such grievous and personal sorrow have been turned into a fitting tribute to her son, and all other victims of terrorist violence. Mrs. Latifa's great work in advocating for the values of human fraternity as a way to end violence is truly inspiring.

"This independent, global award was conceived to encourage and recognize those who inspire us all to play our part in creating a more understanding, inclusive and peaceful world. By examining the work and impact of both 2021 honorees, it is clear that they are both role models for the next generation, world leaders, and all those engaged in similarly noble pursuits for peace," he continued.

"Honoring Mr. Guterres and Mrs. Latifa with the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity in its first edition after the Grand Imam and Pope Francis were honored, in 2019, is a tribute to all those who love peace and an invitation to humanity to continue on this path," Abdelsalam added.

"The Higher Committee for Human Fraternity will continue its efforts to achieve the goals of the Document on Human Fraternity, with the sincere support and care of HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the patron of human fraternity who sponsors the committee and its projects, and is keen to ensure that the award continues on its path to achieve human fraternity with complete independence and impartiality, and this indicates the sincerity of the message and the greatness of the goal," he concluded.

To watch the two honorees receive their award from His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed Al-Tayeb, viewers can go to www.zayedaward.org. The 30-minute broadcast will air from 17:30-18:00 GST/13:30-14:00 GMT/08:30-09:00 EST, Thursday evening.

The February 4th awards ceremony also coincides with the first International Day of Human Fraternity, which was adopted by a UN General Assembly resolution, in December 2020. This date is now an official day dedicated to raising awareness and recognising the efforts of those who promote peace, harmony, and intercultural dialogue, around the world. The date was chosen to coincide with the 2019 signing of the Document on Human Fraternity.

This year's award is the first time that nominees from all over the world could be submitted to be assessed by an independent judging committee, formed by the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity (HCHF) and made up of international experts.

The 2021 Judging Committee for this year's Zayed Award for Human Fraternity was:

Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam , Secretary-General of HCHF

, Secretary-General of HCHF Adama Dieng , former UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide

, former UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Rt. Hon. Michaelle Jean , 27 th Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada

, 27 Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of H.E. Muhammad Jusuf Kalla , former Vice-President of the Republic of Indonesia

, former Vice-President of the Republic of Cardinal Dominique Mamberti , Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. H.E. Catherine Samba-Panza, former President of the Central African Republic

The nominations process for the 2022 awards will open on in May 2021 and close in October 2021. To find out if you qualify as a nominator or to nominate a candidate for next year's award, go to: www.zayedaward.org.

About ZAHF

The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity seeks to honor the legacy of the founder of the United Arab Emirates by celebrating people everywhere who embody through their work his lifelong commitment to human fraternity. It is awarded by the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity and includes a financial prize of one million dollars. It was created in February, 2019, to mark the historic meeting in Abu Dhabi of the head of the Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Francis, and His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmad al-Tayeb, to co-sign the historic Document of Human Fraternity. Pope Francis and Grand Imam al-Tayeb were the first honorary co-recipients of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity.

About HCHF

Formed in 2019, the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity is an independent committee dedicated to achieving the aspirations of the Document for Human Fraternity by bringing people across the world together, in the spirit of peaceful co-existence. The committee comprises a diverse group of international religious leaders, scholars and cultural leaders.

Video: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1432391/Zayed_Award_for_Human_Fraternity_Trophy.mp4

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1432389/Antonio_Guterres.jpg

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1432390/Latifa_Ibn_Ziaten.jpg





SOURCE The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stands next to Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur (L) as she leaves her office to present the Union Budget in the parliament in New Delhi on February 1. (File image: Reuters)

Post Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget speech on February 1, BJP Chief JP Nadda has directed the party's top leadership to reach out to the masses and inform them about the public welfare measures that have been introduced in the budget.

Ministers from the government and national general secretaries of the Bharatiya Janata Party will be touring cities allocated to them on February 6 and February 7, reported news agency ANI. During the tour, they will conduct press conferences and public outreach programs for the people.

The FM herself will be in Mumbai to explain the positives of the budget. Union Minister for Union Minister for Road and Transport Nitin Gadkari will be in Nagpur. Jitendra Singh will be in Jammu to talk about the budget.

Other ministers such as Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani will be in Bhopal and Guwahati respectively, addressing the press. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is responsible for Goa and Piyush Goyal for Lucknow. In the southern states of Hyderabad and Bengaluru, Dharmendra Pradhan and Prahlad Joshi respectively will be talking about the budget.

When it comes to the party's national secretaries, Dilip Saika will be in Imphal and Bhupendra Yadav will tour Ahemdabad. CT Ravi will be in Belgaum, Tarun Chugh will be in Ladakh, and Arun Singh in Jaipur.

Apart from this, all MPs and MLAs and state office bearers and post holders too would conduct such programs in their respective areas and constituencies.
Photo: s.abcnews.com/

We have witnessed firsthand the challenges of COVID vaccine administration due to lack of procurement supply from the Trudeau Liberal government.

To put this in perspective, Jan. 25-29, Washington State went from having administered more than 500,000 doses of COVID vaccine to 616,589 doses.



That is an increase of 116,589 doses in a matter of days.

Here in B.C., during the same time frame, we went from having administered 119,850 doses up to 129,241 doses.



This is an increase of just 9,391 doses.

This is by no means a criticism of the Provincial Health Officer or any of the regional health authorities.



Simply put, provinces cannot vaccinate citizens without sufficient vaccine supply.

For these reasons, Canada has now fallen to 15th place in terms of total doses of vaccine administered per country.

Canada drops even further behind if factoring in the total number of vaccination doses administered per 100 people in the population.

With that being said, for developing and Third World countries, this situation is far more dire.

For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) partnered with GAVI (The Vaccine Alliance) to pool funds from wealthy countries to provide COVID vaccine for poor and developing countries.



This partnership is called the COVAX program.

In May, the Prime Minister announced a $600-million contribution to this global effort.



Of this $600 million, $475 million will be spent in direct contributions and the $125 million remainder to the International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFI).

This week, we learned that the Trudeau Liberal government has made the decision to access vaccines from the COVAX program that is intended to help poor and developing countries.



Canada is the only G-7 country to do this.

This decision has raised serious concern.



The Globe and Mail has reported that Doctors Without Borders has warned there is a danger that Canadas use of COVAX could contribute to global health inequities.

The vaccine in question is 1.9 million doses of the, yet to be approved in Canada, AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine.

My question this week:



Do you agree with the Trudeau Liberal Government to access vaccine from the COVAX program?

I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.
Thursday, February 4, 2021

Front Page, Miami News, March 5, 1968

That is a headline that will catch anybody's eye!

This is the story of James T. Mays who had his moments of fame in March 1968.

He had a story to tell, and he wanted to cash out. Here is an FBI document that goes over the story.

So, once Josiah Thompson was not going to pay him any money. Mays then reached out to Mark Lane. Here is Mark Lane's memo to Jim Garrison.

You gotta love the instructions on page two - Garrison's representative would be carrying a copy of Rush to Judgment. Garrison sent investigator Bill Boxley to Florida and he first met with Mays and reporter Bill Barry of the Miami News on Saturday, March 2nd. The meeting lasted several hours and Boxley received May's social insurance number and his driver's license. Being an on-the-ball investigator, Boxley also took the beer glass Mays had used so he would have his fingerprints. All quotations below are from Barry's two front-page stories in the Miami News.

"After Mays was dropped off downtown, Boxley considered what he had learned. He did not believe that Mays had told him the whole truth. Some string of items in the story seemed to be plausible but the overall story was too simple. Boxley thought that perhaps somebody had implanted the story in Mays' mind. But he didn't know if the purpose was to perpetrate a con game or some more subtle fraud."

Mays told the story that Oswald offered his friend $75,000 to help kill Kennedy - "Oswald said he was looking for a shooter to back up the main gun - the backup shooter would be paid $25,000." His friend offers Mays the job of the back up shooter behind the picket fence on the grassy knoll - while he would firing from the TSBD. Oswald was supposed to smuggle the gun into the building and then remove the rifle after the shooting. Mays didn't take the offer but decided he now wanted the money he missed out on.

Garrison came to Miami on Sunday, March 3rd. Boxley told him what had happened - and Garrison thought it "sounded like a bunch of garbage. But, he still told Boxley to pursue the Mays story further.

"It was possible that Mays' buddy had actually met a man using the name Oswald. That would fit something in Garrison's puzzle."

On Sunday, March 3rd, Boxley and Mays met again at 4 PM. Mays pressed for an answer from Boxley about the money. Boxley wanted more information. He then told Mays he wanted him to take a lie detector test. May then pulled out a subpoena from his pocket - he was a witness in a murder trial that was to begin the next day. Mays promised to call the next day about the test.

Garrison and Boxley flew back to New Orleans on Monday. Mays did not show up at the murder trial and disappeared.

The disappearance worried Boxley, "Every other witness in the case is going to know that he disappeared while he was talking to Garrison's men."

On March 7th, the Miami Herald ran a very good story on James Mays.

Mays was an army deserter, and had been living in a "cheap room in a transient hotel annex." He claimed to be an airplane mechanic for United Airlines but this was denied by the airline.

I don't know what happened to Mays. But, I did find this article in a Las Vegas newspaper from April 27, 1988. I don't know if it is him, but the age is correct.

What to make of this story? Well, I would not have sent Boxley to Miami. The idea of Oswald offering the friend $75,000 for the assassination was preposterous. But not to Mark Lane or Jim Garrison.
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The passenger vehicle (PV) division of Tata Motors has piled up losses to the tune of Rs 11,173 crore as at end of June 2020 while the division's valuation has been fixed at Rs 9,417 crore, a notice to the companys shareholders stated.

The PV division is being hived off into a separate entity for allowing the company to sell its stake in it to a strategic partner. The PV division also controls the electric vehicle business unit of Tata Motors.

The other division under the stand-alone entity of Tata Motors is the commercial vehicle business which would remain unchanged. A meeting of the equity shareholder of the company will be held on March 5 for the purpose of considering and approving the scheme of arrangement.

Tata Motors is seeking shareholder approval to transfer its PV business to TML Business Analytics Services, which would be later renamed to Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles (TMPVL), subject to regulatory approvals. The net worth of TMPVL, where Tata Motors will hold nearly 100 percent shares after the hive off, will stand reduced to Rs 8,589 crore.

This (hive off) shall help in providing a differentiated focus for the passenger vehicle business and commercial vehicle business and help each of them realise their potential and unlock business value and enhanced management focus and operational flexibility in each of the businesses, Tata Motors said in the notice.

The valuation of the PV business unit was arrived at on the basis of a fair valuation undertaken by a registered valuer, independent chartered accountants Vikrant Jain

Based on the relevant factors and circumstances as outlined in the valuation reports M/s. S R B C & Co LLP and Vikrant Jain have determined the fair value of the passenger vehicles undertaking at Rs 9,417 crores, said the company. The said consideration would be settled through the issuance of 941,70,00,000 equity shares of the transferee company (TML Business Analytics Services) at Rs 10 each.

The transfer of the PV unit does not mean giving up control of the business entirely. In August 2020 Tata Motors had announced its intention to retain control over the hived-off unit even after accommodating the strategic and equity partner.

A move towards subsidiarisation of the PV business is the first step in securing strategic alliances that provides access to products, architectures, powertrains, new age technologies and capital. In simple terms, this will unlock value for the company for the PV business unit which has struggled in the recent past in the face of strong competition.

However, 2020-21 has seen Tata Motors excel in pushing sales to new recent highs. As per data supplied by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), PV sales of Tata Motors grew by 32 percent to nearly 140,000 units even as Indias PV segment recorded a fall of 16 percent.

The PV business will turn cash positive by FY23 and that will happen even without a partner that is the internal target we are working towards and we are confident of achieving that. Partnerships get us the momentum but that is not the base case, Tata Motors P B Balaji had said speaking to Moneycontrol.
If youre looking for bald eagles, head to the border between southern Oregon and northern California.

Every winter, the Klamath Basin hosts the largest concentration of bald eagles in the continental U.S., according to the Klamath Basin Audubon Society. The birds tend to hang around between late November and early March, with the largest numbers showing up in January and February.

So that means its high time to head to the Oregon-California border and scope out the eagles for yourself.

This week on the Peak Northwest podcast, we break down what you want to know before heading off on a bird watching trip to see bald eagles in the Klamath Basin.

Some highlights:

Jamie gives us a lay of the land in the Klamath Basin, describing the landscape and the kinds of birds found there.

Jim asks Jamie where visitors should go in search of the bald eagles.

Jamie recommends viewing the birds from the comfort of your car instead of trying to approach them on foot.

Jamie details how to be respectful of the birds.

We talk with Mark Graves, an Oregonian/OregonLive photojournalist and noted eagle aficionado, about photographing eagles and other birds.

Listen to the full episode.

Read Jamies stories about bird watching in the Klamath Basin, around the state and close to Portland.

Check out Marks Instagram to see his most recent bald eagle photos.

Subscribe to Peak Northwest on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Follow Peak Northwest on Instagram at @PeakNorthwest.

-- Jim Ryan and Jamie Hale
When Softbank arranged the 30billion sale of Britain's top technology firm, Cambridge-based Arm Holdings, to gaming chip maker Nvidia last September it was looking for a clean trade sale.

At the time, Softbank's boss Masayoshi Son was in a hurry. A number of his big bets on tech had hit the buffers and he sought to trade himself out of difficulty by making some huge bets on Wall Street.

His interventions led to the price of the technology sector whipsawing and the visionary was exposed as no more than another speculative trader.

Tech jewel: Of the many overseas takeovers of British companies in the last two decades, the sale of Cambridge-based chip maker Arm Holdings is most damaging

It was to Softbank that the Tory government sold Arm in 2016 on the grounds that the Japanese investor was a safe pair of hands, and the decision to nod it through, admittedly with some R&D and employment pledges, would show that Britain was open to business in spite of the Brexit referendum outcome.

Of the many overseas takeovers of British companies in the last two decades, the sale of Arm is most damaging.

A product of the BBC's search for digital literacy, it moved from being just another computer outfit, Acorn, to developing some of the most sophisticated technology in the world by incorporating software on the chip.

It offered the gateway to the internet of things. It was technology developed as a result of collaboration between a national broadcaster, scientists and engineers at Cambridge and the private sector.

The intellectual property was as much a triumph for the UK as the Oxford-Astrazeneca collaboration.

What has happened since the sale has surpassed worst fears. The Cambridge headquarters remains the beating heart of the company and R&D spending has been maintained.

Slowly but surely, though, Arm has been dismembered, with the China offshoot sold to Beijing-dominated interests.

The biggest betrayal has been the proposed sale to Nvidia which would draw a curtain down on Arm's model of open access to its products.

The decision of competition authorities in London and Brussels to conduct a full-scale probe into the deal means that finally Britain and the EU have woken up to the implications of allowing Silicon Valley to suck the blood out of Europe's tech.

The inquiries could take up to 18 months, which could test the patience of Son and his Nvidia counterpart Jensen Huang.

The Government is showing a willingness to intervene where necessary on overseas takeovers on national security and public interest grounds.

It should use the interregnum to persuade Softbank it has made a terrible error and to re-float all or part of Arm on the London Stock Exchange.

That would be good for Britain and good for the City.

Healthy option

Thanks to the resistance of former Dutch chief executive Paul Polman, one company which did resist a debt-fuelled overseas takeover is Unilever.

Under the guidance of his successor Alan Jope it has unified its ownership and control in London, and recognised the value of Polman's tack towards a sustainable company. It adjusted well to the pandemic lifting underlying sales in 2020.

Covid costs undermined margins, and pre-tax profits at just under 8billion took a small hit.

Jope is setting a new course and believes he can pack a five-to-10 year transformation into a much shorter timescale.

The aim is to focus on fast growing USA, China and Indian markets, recognising the changing shape of the global economy.

Jope wants to build up Unilever's brands and operations in health and nutrition, developing existing products such as Horlicks as well as new categories such as Smarty Pants vitamins. This fast growing area already represents some 4 per cent of turnover.

Armed with a simpler share structure, we should not discount the idea of Unilever being a player, should a substantial healthy nutrition or personal care opportunity arise. Instead of hiding in Rotterdam, Unilever is ready to be the predator rather than prey.

Little faith

Labour tweeters waffle on endlessly about a 'double-dip recession'. I suggest they read the minutes of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee.

'They say 'GDP growth is expected to have risen a little in the final quarter of 2020'.

That means that even if the current lockdown period is deeply negative, there should be no second recession as that requires two successive quarters of downturn. QED.

Nearly a quarter of Americans in a new Monmouth University Poll released Wednesday said they wont take the COVID vaccine under any circumstances.

It will be hard, if not impossible, to reach herd immunity any time soon in New Jersey or elsewhere if that many people resist taking the vaccine, four experts told NJ Advance Media. The speed and success of the vaccination program is key to slowing down the virus and getting life back to normal, they said.

We need to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible, said Stanley Weiss, an epidemiologist and professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and the Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology at the Rutgers School of Public Health. With rapid pandemic spread, the opportunity for new viral variants to arise increases, which can further complicate our ability to emerge from the current crisis.

Earlier in the pandemic, experts said wed reach herd immunity when 65 to 70% of the population was vaccinated. But now, Weiss said the estimate is closer to 75 to 80%.

As of Thursday, there have been 876,529 vaccine doses administered out of nearly nine million people in New Jersey, according to the states dashboard. Of those, 715,226 were the first of two doses people will receive.

When we get to the 75 to 80% level, a person who is infected is less likely to find another person whom they can infect, and therefore the epidemic starts to quiet down quite rapidly, Weiss said.

However, the number will remain a moving target, especially with the new, more infectious variants, he said.

The level of protection needed in society is in part related to how transmissible the specific agent is, Weiss said. We have the issue that some of the variants appear to be more transmissible and some of them are better able to evade our immune system, and to some extent, can evade the immune protection conveyed by the current crop of vaccines.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

Until we can increase the number of doses of all the vaccines that are available, the only option is to redouble our non-pharmaceutical interventions, said Sandra Adams, a virologist and biology professor at Montclair State University.

The good news is that early evidence seems to indicate that the vaccines are still effective against these new variants, Adams said. The virus, however, will continue to mutate as long as it has hosts within which to replicate. This means that while we wait for widespread availability of the vaccine, we need to need to do our best to starve the virus of susceptible hosts.

Then theres the question of whether people who have already had the virus  more than 600,000 people have tested positive for the virus in New Jersey and the number of those who have been infected is probably higher because of asymptomatic people who never had a test  should be counted as part of the herd immunity percentage.

I wouldnt count on the folks that have already had COVID-19, said Henry Raymond, an epidemiologist and associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health. The research isnt clear on whether previously having COVID-19 confers long lasting immunity.

Anne Hewitt, acting chair and professor at the Department of Interprofessional Health Sciences and Health Administration at Seton Hall University, noted that Dr. Anthony Fauci said if 75 to 80% of Americans are vaccinated by the fall, the U.S. could reach herd immunity by the end of the year.

As experts have not definitively ruled out that those who have been vaccinated cannot continue to transmit the disease, it would be sensible to consider that these individuals may change the timeline equation, she said.

Experts also said herd immunity in New Jersey depends on how well neighboring states like New York and Pennsylvania fare in vaccinating their populations.

Only islands are islands, Raymond said. We are not (an island) in New Jersey so the movement of people from state to state is an important factor in ongoing spread.

The states residents are highly mobile across state borders, but we are also an international travel hub, Adams said.

So while reaching a level of herd immunity in New Jersey is an important goal, it isnt the only benchmark we need to be concerned about, she said. With this in mind, we need to continue to practice the public health measures that we know will reduce our risk, which includes correct and consistent mask wearing, avoiding crowds and indoor gatherings, and maintaining physical spacing.

Tell us your COVID-19 vaccination stories, send us a news tip or questions about the vaccination process on our tip form.

Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust.

Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday granted motions filed by President Joe Biden's administration to remove from the argument calendar two controversial Trump-era cases decided by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The first case dealt with the Trump administration's policy formally called the "Migrant Protection Protocols" but frequently referred to as "Remain in Mexico." That policy required individuals seeking asylum in the United States to wait in Mexico until their applications could be heard.

The second case -- sometimes called the "Border Wall" litigation -- involved then-President Trump's decision to divert billions of dollars from other federal programs to construct or expand the southern border wall by declaring a national emergency.

Both cases originated in the Northern District of California and were initially decided by federal judges in the Bay Area.

In the Remain in Mexico case, in April 2019, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg determined that the adoption of the policy violated the Federal Administrative Procedure Act. Seeborg entered a preliminary injunction against the government preventing it from "continuing to implement or expand" the policy.

The 9th Circuit subsequently affirmed the trial court decision and because it was "very clear" that the MPP violated the statute, and in March 2020 that court turned down the government's request to suspend the injunction while the government sought review in the Supreme Court.

The court did however limit the geographic scope of the injunction to the states in the 9th Circuit.

In March 2020, the Supreme Court overrode the 9th Circuit and granted the government's request to suspend the injunction pending appeal, allowing the policy to go into effect.

The high court subsequently granted a writ of certiorari indicating that it would exercise its discretionary authority to review the case. Argument before the justices was scheduled for March 1, 2021.

More than 68,000 individuals have been returned to Mexico pursuant to the policy, according to the government's recent filing.

Like the Remain in Mexico case, the Border Wall litigation was initiated in California.

In May 2019, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr., sitting in Oakland, blocked the construction of two southern wall segments because use of the funds unlawfully trammeled Congress' authority to appropriate federal funds. He entered a preliminary injunction against the government proceeding with construction.

A divided panel of the 9th Circuit affirmed the decision in June 2020.

In October, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and argument was scheduled for Feb. 22.

Elizabeth Prelogar, acting solicitor general for the Biden administration, filed motions in both cases to 'hold the briefing schedule in abeyance" and remove the cases from the argument calendar.

In the Remain in Mexico case, her request was based on a memorandum issued Jan. 20 (Inauguration Day) by the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security stating that the DHS would "suspend new enrollments in [MPP], pending further review of the program." Given that decision, the solicitor general asked the high court to put the case on hold.

In the Border Wall case, a similar request was based on an Inauguration Day proclamation issued by President Biden that stated "[i]t shall be the policy of [this] Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall."

According to the filing, the Biden administration is currently undertaking an "assessment

of the legality of the funding and contracting methods used to construct the wall" and of "the administrative and contractual consequences of ceasing each wall construction project."

Given those facts, the government said the case should be put on hold without prejudice to either side's right to have the case restored to the argument calendar in the future.

The Supreme Court granted both motions without comment.

Copyright  2021 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth over Rs 14 crore belonging to the Gitanjali Group and its promoter and jeweller Mehul Choksi, one of the prime accused in the alleged over Rs 13,000 crore PNB loan fraud case. The properties attached, under the anti-money laundering law, include a flat measuring 1,460 sq feet located at O2 Tower in Goregaon area of Mumbai, gold and platinum jewellery, diamond stones, necklaces made of silver and pearls, watches and a Mercedes Benz car, the ED said in a statement.

A provisional order for attachment has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for the assets worth a total Rs 14.45 crore that are in the name of Gitanjali Group of companies and its director Mehul Choksi, it said. Choksi, 61, is the maternal uncle of Nirav Modi who is the other prime accused in the alleged over USD 2 billion (more than Rs 13,000 crore) Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

Choksi has fled India and is stated by probe agencies to be based in Antigua and Barbuda. Modi, 49, is in a London jail after he was held by authorities there in 2019 on the basis of a legal request made by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in this case. He is contesting extradition to India.

The two, their family members and employees, bank officials and others were booked by the ED and the CBI in 2018 for perpetrating the alleged fraud in the Brady House branch of the PNB in Mumbai. It was alleged that Choksi, his firm Gitanjali Gems and others "committed the offence of cheating against the Punjab National Bank in connivance with certain bank officials by fraudulently getting the LOUs (letters of undertaking) issued and got the FLCs (foreign letter of credit) enhanced without following prescribed procedure and caused a wrongful loss to the bank".

The ED said its probe found that "PNB bank officials in connivance with Choksi, Gitanjali Gems and others originally issued FLCs for smaller amount within the sanctioned limit and once FLC number was generated, the same number was used for amendment by way of enhancement of FLC and increase in the amount and such enhancement of amount was done at 4-5 times higher value of the original FLC amount". "Such amendments were done outside the CBS system and hence it was not captured in the books of bank," the ED alleged.

It was found, the ED claimed, that the "branch (Brady House branch) was holding documents of original FLC amount and no import documents of such increased amount were found in the branch and much of fraudulent FLCs payments have gone to liquidate the overseas exporters' liability arising out of earlier FLCs/discounting of bills". The agency has earlier attached a total of Rs 2,550 crore worth assets of Modi and Choksi in this case.
Nana Patole

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Nana Patole, tipped to be the next chief of the state unit of the Congress, resigned from his post on February 4.

Legislature sources said Patole handed over his resignation to deputy speaker Narhari Zhirwal.

Patole, the MLA from Sakoli in Bhandara district, is likely to replace revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat as state Congress president soon, according to party sources.

The Congress shares power with the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra.

A delegation of Congress ministers, headed by Thorat, had recently met the party leadership in Delhi.

The budget session of the state legislature is to begin from March 1.
analysis

Uganda's Batwa community are highly vulnerable; they don't own much land and often don't have access to capital. They were one of the earliest residents of the Equatorial Forest - consisting of Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo - and are defined by their unique history of forest-dwelling and hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Today, the 6,200 Batwa living in Uganda are mostly landless labourers. They often live as squatters on remote, hilly and isolated locations because they've been progressively marginalised and forced off their ancestral land. This started in the 1930s - when the British colonial government declared Uganda's forests as "reserves" - and, later on, when some forested areas were cleared for agriculture.

The Batwa have already started to experience the impacts of climate change - including variability in rainfall patterns, increased cases of floods and land erosion. These have caused food insecurity and increased incidence of diseases - such as malaria, malnutrition, stomach disorders and respiratory diseases.

But, as they're marginalised, they've not able to adapt to this changing climate. For instance, they can't afford to buy food to compensate for low agricultural output or building materials to construct resilient housing.

Because of this, it is essential that the Batwa are supported in their efforts to adapt to climate change.

We assessed how their poverty and marginalisation affect their ability to adapt to climate change. We also examined whether their needs and concerns were incorporated in the design and implementation of adaptation responses.

One of the most important ways to support adaptation is to listen to the affected communities and learn from their experience and needs. Yet, our study showed that the Batwa lack voice, agency and influence in climate adaptation planning and actions.

As a result, they're often not recognised or represented in the design and implementation of adaptation responses. This means the responses don't meet their needs or realities.

Vulnerability to climate change

Our field research in Uganda consisted of interviews with a range of actors working on Batwa issues at the national, district and community levels. We also visited five Batwa communities in South-West Uganda and held focus group discussions with them.

We found that Batwa members felt excluded from the political processes in Uganda due to systemic and structural barriers. For instance, many of them don't have national identification cards as they are not recognised as Ugandan citizens. They also lack access to education because of school fees. These factors limited their ability to influence national policies and participate in politics.

To address the challenges of climate change, Uganda implemented an adaptation agenda through a number of policy measures including the National Adaptation Plan and periodic National Development Plans. But the Batwa aren't included meaningfully in the decision-making processes of these plans. This means that the interventions that target them are poorly designed and implemented.

For instance, rainwater catchment investments - in the form of household roof tanks or community tanks - only work for Batwa who live in permanent houses. These are the minority. Most Batwa are landless, live in temporary houses and won't benefit at all.

In one area the Batwa were resettled on barren, steep slopes. Here they were expected to live and do farming. The Batwa weren't involved in the decision-making processes that led to their resettlement in an area vulnerable to extreme weather events.

In another case, we found that a charity was distributing crop seeds to Batwa households who did not even have any farmland.

Political marginalisation

Our analysis of the Batwa situation provides valuable insights for Ugandan policymakers, and other contexts where communities share similar experiences of inequality and systemic injustice. Indigenous communities - like the Batwa - are some of the most vulnerable to climate change and are in dire need of plans that address their hardships. Yet, in many places climate-affected communities have found themselves sidelined with the consequence that adaptation efforts often fail to meet needs on the ground.

Indigenous communities have been explicitly recognised within international climate policies. However, operationalisation of guidelines to recognise their rights and include them in the decision-making processes within national and sub-national adaptation policies still falls short in many countries.

First, it is necessary for the Ugandan government to respect, uphold and implement the provisions set out in international accords, such as the Paris Agreement. These recognise and provide some guidance on safeguarding the rights of Indigenous communities and vulnerable groups. This includes effective participation in all matters that concern them and engaging them in climate adaptation and development processes.

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It would also be worthwhile to draw on best practices and lessons from similar cases. For example in Peru, the world's first national indigenous climate platform has been launched. This aims to strengthen the role and recognition of Indigenous peoples in mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Second, adaptation responses must pay more specific attention to the issues of recognition, participation and deliberative processes - rather than the existing depoliticised approaches that focus on distribution, such as handouts.

Finally, more efforts are needed to end discrimination and domination against Indigenous communities and promote inclusive structures and processes through legal and policy reforms.

Dr Poshendra Satyal, Global Forest Policy Coordinator of BirdLife International and Fellow with the Interdisciplinary Ethics Research Group at Warwick University and Associate Fellow, University of East Anglia; Dr Noelle Kumpel, Head of Policy at BirdLife International and Fellow of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, University of Cambridge; Keith Hyams, Reader in Political Theory and Interdisciplinary Ethics, University of Warwick, and Morten Fibieger Byskov, Postdoctoral Researcher in International Politics, University of Warwick
New unemployment filings decreased for the third consecutive week, the Labor Department announced Thursday, bringing the total initial unemployment claims since the coronavirus pandemic began in March to nearly 2 million.

The department saw 14,606 new filings for the week ending Jan. 30, a 12% drop in new claims from the week prior.

It also marked the fourth week of supplemental $300 unemployment checks, made possible through the stimulus package signed in late December, which also included an 11-week extension of federal benefit programs.

However, the Labor Department did not release any updates on the programming of the new extension, leaving roughly 75,000 claimants without their benefits.

I know this is of little comfort to the residents who are anticipating these added benefits, and many have expressed anger with us over the delay. Unfortunately, the relief wasnt signed into law until the last possible moment, and many states, including New Jersey, are in the process of reprograming their systems. Claimants all over the country are facing the same situation, said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo.

The programming would add 11 weeks to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) to those who have exhausted benefits.

The Labor Department said the lapse in benefits affects fewer than 5% of claimants, but that number is expected to grow as more peoples benefits expire. The number has already doubled since January, when 33,000 claimants exhausted their benefits.

Claimants who were eligible for the 20 weeks of extended state benefits must first exhaust their federal benefits before being moved to that program, according to federal labor rules.

The Department reported that roughly 300,000 claimants have begun receiving their 11 weeks of benefits without interruption.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

The disruption in benefits is one of many issues New Jersey claimants have faced since the department was flooded with hundreds of thousands of claims at the start of the pandemic in March, which led to the closures of nonessential businesses and restaurants.

While roughly 96% of claimants have received at least one payment, tens of thousands have reported issues certifying their benefits or taking a long time to receive their funds. The Labor Department maintains these are issues plaguing other states as well, in part due to the fact that every state has its own unemployment system.

Since the start of the pandemic, the Department of Labor has distributed more than $22 billion in benefits. The average claimant has received $15,167 in benefits.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her at @snietomunoz.

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Sri Lanka and Bangladesh: Bangladesh expresses keen interest on expanding bilateral relations

February 04,2021 | Source: Nation LK

High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Sri Lanka Tareq Md Ariful Islam and Deputy High Commissioner Mohammad Hazrat Ali Khan have called on Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at his residence in Wijeyrama. The Ambassador, thanking the Prime Minister for the opportunity to meet, has stated that he looked forward to working together with the Sri Lankan government to enhance bilateral relations between the two nations.



Congratulating the Prime Minister for the 73rd Independence Day, the Ambassador handed over a letter from his Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina conveying her best wishes. Mr. Ariful Islam has expressed keen interest in expanding the existing bilateral relations by enhancing cooperation between both nations in the areas of agriculture, fisheries and maritime connectivity. He mentioned that Bangladesh is currently the 4th largest producer of freshwater fish and would be delighted to share best practices and expertise with Sri Lanka. Bangladesh is currently assisting Sri Lanka to develop high-end rice varieties that are also flood and drought resistant, thereby increasing the production of rice crops.



PM Mahinda Rajapaksa expressed his gratitude for the assistance Sri Lanka has received from Bangladesh throughout the years in the education and pharmaceutical sectors. He also invited the Ambassador to encourage investors from Bangladesh to invest in the pharmaceutical sector in Sri Lanka. Both the Prime Minister and the Ambassador have agreed that there was much scope to expand and develop trade relations between both nations.



The Ambassador has extended an invitation to the Prime Minister to visit Bangladesh as they would be celebrating their Golden Jubilee year of Independence this year. Thanking the Ambassador for the invitation, the Prime Minister stated that he looks forward to working together with the Government of Bangladesh to enhance the already existing friendship between both nations and wished the Ambassador the very best for his tenure in Sri Lanka. Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. Gamini Senerath also was also present during the meeting.
Asserting that he will never allow extremism to "raise its head again" in Sri Lanka, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday said he has received the final report of a panel probing the 2019 Easter Sunday blasts and his government will bring the perpetrators to justice.Nine suicide bombers belonging to local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing 258 people, including 11 Indians.

The previous government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was blamed for its inability to prevent the deadly attacks despite the prior intelligence made available on the impending terror strikes.Addressing the nation marking the 73rd anniversary of Independence, Rajapaksa said he has received the final report of the presidential commission appointed to inquire into the Easter Sunday attacks, the Colombo Page internet newspaper reported.

"I have already given instructions to implement its recommendations," he said, without disclosing the content of the report.

Action will be taken against all parties involved in this tragedy. We will not allow those responsible for designing and enabling this tragedy to escape justice. We will never allow extremism to raise its head again, in this country,Rajapaksa said.

The president said he has advised the Attorney General's department to swiftly act upon matters that have caused great concern to the public, such as the Easter Sunday attacks and the Central Bank scam.

Noting that Lanka from time to time has to face religious and ethnic conflicts, racist and terrorist activities, "undue external influences, constitutional crises, and many other obstacles", Rajapaksa said.

"The challenges of establishing national security, achieving true reconciliation amongst various communities of our nation, and building a strong economy that can deliver sustainable economic development and eliminate poverty still lie ahead of us."added Rajapaksa.

"At a juncture when our nations heritage, its traditions, its national identity and patriotism were under serious threat, more than 6.9 million people elected me as president to provide the leadership needed to reestablish national security and overcome the many challenges facing our country," he said.

Rajapaksa, a former defence chief, had stormed to victory in the 2019 presidential polls, promising stringent security in the wake of the island's worst terror attack that killed nearly 270 people on Easter and brought to the fore the deep-rooted differences within the unity government. He took oath as President on November 18, 2019.

The Buddhist-majority nation was about to mark a decade since ending a 37-year-long Tamil separatist war in May 2009 when the suicide bombings in 2019 rocked the country.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Carjackers targeted a woman Lyft driver and a woman Uber driver in violent attacks within the span of several weeks in Garfield Heights, according to police.

Garfield Heights police are not sure if the two incidents are connected. The first happened just after 9:30 p.m. Jan. 15 on Oakview Boulevard just east of East 135th Street, according to a Garfield Heights police report. The second happened Sunday, but the victim does not know where exactly she dropped off customers, reports say.

In the first incident, the Uber driver told police she picked up four young men from Cumberland Drive to Oakview Boulevard, less than a mile drive, the report says. On their way to the destination, they punched her in the face and head while trying to choke her, the report says.

Two of the men jumped out of the moving car while the last man was able to stop the car. He pushed the woman out of the drivers seat. The other two men jumped back in and stole her 2020 gray Kia Forte, which was found three days later in Cleveland, reports say.

The womans cellphone was still in the car when it was stolen. Investigators were able to ping her cellphone to find her car, the report says, but the car was empty when they found it at East 152 Street and Waterloo Road.

She was taken to Cleveland Clinic-Marymount Hospital for an evaluation. Her current condition was not immediately available Thursday afternoon and authorities could not say if she was still in the hospital.

The second incident happened about 4 a.m. Sunday. The Lyft driver told police she is not sure where exactly she dropped the men off, the report says.

While she was admitted at Cleveland Clinic-Marymount Hospital, the woman told police that she accepted a ride from three young men. She picked them up in her 2020 Toyota Camry at an unknown location and dropped them off at a place that is five minutes from the pickup location, the report says.

One of the men told her to pull up toward a driveway while the second man started punching her in the head. The third man screamed, get her out of the car, the report says.

One of them pulled her out of the car, dragged her away and threw her to the ground, the report says.

The men drove away.

She wandered around the area until she found the hospital. She walked into the hospital without her wallet, ID, debit cards, car keys and house keys as they were still in the car, the report says. She suffered minor injuries in the incident, the report says.

Her car has not yet been recovered.

Garfield Heights police ask that anyone who may have information about these incidents is asked to call the department at 216-475-1234.

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XPeng has shipped a second batch of over 200 G3 smart electric SUVs to Norway. This follows an earlier initial batch of 100 in December 2020.

The G3s already in Norway are expected to receive their first Xmart OS upgrade this month with a selection of new and enhanced functions, including optimised active safety assistance such as ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) and LCC (Lane Centering Control), adding new voice commands to support in-car maps, optimised voice assistance to better support vehicle control and navigation, and adaptive control panel brightness adjustment, among other features.

The list price for the G3 in Norway starts at 358,000 NKr (approx. EUR 33,700 / GBP 30,300 / USD 41,000).

"XPeng is actively exploring opportunities in other EV-mature markets with supportive government policies, advanced EV infrastructure and high EV awareness," the Chinese automaker said.

XPeng achieved a record monthly delivery of 6,015 Smart EVs (3,710 P7s and 2,305 G3s) in January 2021, a 470% increase from January 2020  marking the third consecutive month of record-breaking delivery numbers.

It recently announced news of a third production model  a new smart EV sedan slated for official launch and customer delivery in 2021. It will be equipped with lidar technology from Livox.

The P7 meanwhile became the first mass production vehicle to use a Surrounding Reality (SR) display for navigation assisted autonomous driving. It also became the first mass production vehicle with Amap's third generation in-car navigation system, with artificial intelligence (AI) visual technology and high-precision maps to provide highly accurate lane-level navigation, delivering co-guidance for both vehicle and driver.

The automaker launched the beta version of its Navigation Guided Pilot (NGP) highway product, a key function of XPILOT3.0. NGP conducts automatic navigation assisted driving from point A to B based on the navigation route set by the driver.

It also launched a new version of the operating system Xmart OS 2.5.0 version via OTA upgrade to P7 customers, optimising 200+ features and adding 40+ new functions, covering ADAS, full-scenario voice assistance, smart audio cockpit, in-car APP ecosystem, and personalized settings. NGP was a key function added in this OTA upgrade.


She's the Hollywood star daughter of Hollywood legends and the driving force behind the hugely successful Halloween movie franchise.

And on Wednesday, Jamie Lee Curtis marked a milestone in her sobriety journey by reaching out to others.

The actress, 62, posted a heartfelt message to Instagram in which she celebrated being 22 years sober and told those struggling with addiction: 'My hand in yours.'

'My hand in yours': Jamie Lee Curtis marked 22 years of sobriety on Wednesday by posting a throwback photo of herself with a bottle of tequile to Instagram and offering support to others struggling with addiction

Curtis shared a throwback photo of herself as a young actress posing with a shot of tequila and in the accompanying caption, she wrote: 'A LONG time ago In a galaxy far, far away I was a young STAR at WAR with herself. I didn't know it then. I chased everything. I kept it hidden. I was as sick as my secrets.'

She went on: 'With God's grace and the support of MANY people who could relate to all the 'feelings' and a couple of sober angels...I've been able to stay sober, one day at a time, for 22 years.

'I was a high bottom, pun kind of intended, so the rare photo of me proudly drinking in a photo op is very useful to help me remember. To all those struggling and those who are on the pathMY HAND IN YOURS.'

Milestone: Curtis, 62, shared: 'With God's grace and the support of MANY people who could relate to all the 'feelings' and a couple of sober angels...I've been able to stay sober, one day at a time, for 22 years'

Famous family: The Hollywood star is the daughter of Hollywood legends Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, pictured together in 1984

Curtis was raised in Hollywood as the daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh and made her acting debut in 1978's Halloween directed by John Carpenter.

She has since reprised the role of Laurie Strode five times, most recently in 2018's Halloween, and returns for another face off with serial killer Mike Myers in Halloween Kills, slated for release in October.

Her other credits include Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda, Blue Steel, True Lies, The Tailor Of Panama and Knives Out.

Horror classic: Curtis made her acting debut in 1978's Halloween directed by John Carpenter

Back for more: She has since reprised the role of Laurie Strode five times, most recently in 2018's Halloween (pictured), and returns for another face off with serial killer Mike Myers in Halloween Kills, slated for release in October

It was towards the end of 1998, 14 years into her marriage to Christopher Guest with whom she shares two children, that Curtis was first confronted with her addiction to alcohol and painkillers.

In an interview with Variety published in November 2019, she recalled how while she was making dinner for her family, she took five Vicodin pills washed down with wine.

A friend who was staying at her home saw her and confronted her.

'The jig was up,' Curtis said. 'Now I knew someone knew. I had been nursing a secret Vicodin addiction for a very long time  over 10 years.'

A couple of months later, she told Variety, she came across an article in Esquire magazine by writer Tom Chiarella titled 'Vicodin, My Vicodin' and it inspired her to attend a recovery meeting.

She has been sober ever since.
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Adani Power on Thursday reported narrowing of its consolidated net loss to Rs 289 crore in December quarter 2020-21 mainly due to higher revenues.

The company had a net loss of Rs 703 crore in the year-ago period. Total income rose to Rs 7,099.20 crore in the quarter from Rs 6,684.52 crore in the same period a year ago.

During the third quarter, Adani Power along with the power plants of its subsidiaries achieved an average Plant Load Factor (PLF) of 75 percent, and aggregate sales volumes of 19.1 Billion Units.

In the year-ago period, Adani Power and its subsidiaries achieved an average PLF of 65 per cent and sales volume of 16.4 Billion Units.

Improvement in PLF was due to higher demand for power under both long-term and short-term PPAs (power purchase agreement) and merchant markets, it said.

"India has demonstrated its indomitable spirit by combating and restricting the toll of COVID-19 on its people and the economy. The nation is poised to take off on a path of high growth for the economy and prosperity of its people, presenting an attractive set of opportunities for committed players in the infrastructure space, Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group said.

He further said energy will play a key role in fulfilling the dreams of the young citizens, and the demand for power will call for imaginative solutions for ensuring sustainability and stability.

"Adani Group remains committed to sustainable growth of the energy infrastructure, and becoming a key contributor to the nations economic progress," he added.

Anil Sardana, Managing Director, Adani Power, said as Indias power demand reclaims its growth trajectory, the company, with its modern and efficient portfolio, is standing ready to fulfil the need for reliable, cost effective, and efficient base load supply.

"Even as the execution of our strong growth pipeline progresses as per schedule, we strive to enhance our operating efficiencies on all parameters, in order to realize maximum value of our operating assets, he added.

Adani Power will continue to seize value accretive opportunities in furtherance of its vision and long-term growth strategies, leveraging the deep operating experience along with its complementarity with Adani Groups energy mix portfolio and strategic partnerships, Sardana said.

Adani Power , a part of the diversified Adani Group, is a leading private thermal power producer in India.

The company has an installed thermal power capacity of 12.410 MW spread across six power plants in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, apart from a 40 MW solar power plant in Gujarat.

(@FahadShabbir)

A human rights group on Thursday called on the Angolan government to promptly investigate police misconduct during the protests that turned into violent civil unrest last week in the northeastern Lunda Norte province

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) A human rights group on Thursday called on the Angolan government to promptly investigate police misconduct during the protests that turned into violent civil unrest last week in the northeastern Lunda Norte province.

The violence occurred on January 30, when a local separatist group - the Lunda Tchokwe Protectorate Movement - called on the local residents to participate in an unauthorized demonstration to demand the independence of the region. Law enforcement troops, deployed to foil the riot, which the protesters claimed to be a peaceful gathering, allegedly killed and wounded dozens of people, as the demonstration turned violent. Meanwhile, officials say the death toll stood at 6, and there were over 20 injured and 16 detained.

"The police use of apparently unnecessary lethal force against unarmed protesters in Lunda Norte requires an immediate and impartial investigation," Zenaida Machado, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said.

The group refers to footage from video surveillance and witnesses claiming that police officers have used violent means to thwart the rally and showed a rough attitude towards the protesters.

The NGO also cited several witnesses who rejected claims of the security forces on the protesters' attempt to break into a local police station.

In this regard, it said, police troops must be thoroughly probed and held accountable if found guilty.
The U.S. supports Ukraine's efforts to counter Russia's "blatant and malign influence."

Chief of the U.S. Mission to the OSCE has commented on the recent move by the Ukraine government to ban a number of pro-Russian TV channels spinning propaganda and disinformation in line with the aggressor state's narratives.

"Moscow would have you believe that media freedom means it is acceptable to manipulate the media in another sovereign country," U.S. Charge dAffaires Courtney Austrian said in an address to the Permanent Council in Vienna on February 4.

"Let me be clear: Media freedom does not include the right to spread malicious propaganda and disinformation," she added. "We support Ukraine's decision to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity by countering Russia's blatant and malign influence."

She noted that the media outlets shut down by Ukraine are well-known tools of Russian propaganda aimed at destabilizing Ukraine.

The diplomat also recalled that the outlets are controlled by Viktor Medvedchuk, "who has direct personal ties to Vladimir Putin and was sanctioned by the United States in 2014 for actions that threatened the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine."

Read alsoMore TV channels could be sanctioned, NSDC saysMedvedchuk, she added, "has a long history of using media entities to promote pro-Kremlin positions that undermine Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Zelensky's ban on pro-Russian media outlets

President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 2 enacted a package of sanctions put forward by the National Security and Defense Council, effectively blocking a number of media assets, including 112 Ukraine, ZIK, and NewsOne TV channels that had been multiple times accused of preaching pro-Russian rhetoric, formally owned by Taras Kozak  an MP and ally of Vladimir Putin's crony Viktor Medvedchuk.

Commenting on own move, President Zelensky said he strongly supports freedom of speech, but not "propaganda financed by the aggressor country."

SBU security service chief Ivan Bakanov said, "There is a big difference between freedom of speech and outright anti-Ukrainian rhetoric. Freedom of speech ends where signs appear of encroachment on territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine."

U.S. diplomats in Ukraine have supported the move and called for joint efforts "to prevent disinformation from being deployed as a weapon in an information war against sovereign states."

Meanwhile, the European Union's External Service said it was "assessing the implications" of the ban on TV channels.

Reporting by UNIAN
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

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4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

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Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

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Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

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US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

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Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

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Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

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Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

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Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

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We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

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OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

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Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

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Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

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Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

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Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

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Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

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California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

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Watson, NY -- A longtime Central New York judges momentary lapse in judgment has cost him the job and left him with a criminal record.

Gregory Burker, a 21-year justice in the town of Watson, Lewis County, admitted that he keyed a town officials vehicle during a dispute over health insurance, according to the states Judicial Conduct Commission.

Burker, apparently upset after the town rebuffed his request to be offered insurance, keyed an officials vehicle in October 2020.

Quickly caught, Burker pleaded guilty to criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, the same day, the Commission said.

The justice left office at the end of 2020 and agreed never to hold judicial office again. His term had been set to run through 2023.

Burker, who is not an attorney, accepted the Commissions findings without a fight -- the Commissions equivalent of a guilty plea.

The Commissions administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian said that judges cant remain in office after a criminal conviction.

Engaging in vandalism is inimical to the role of a judge and undermines public confidence in the integrity of the courts, he said in a news release. It would be untenable to retain on the bench a judge who violates the very criminal laws he is sworn to administer upon others.

Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070.
LONDON, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Avon Products, Inc. ("Avon") announced today that it has extended the expiration date of its previously announced solicitation (the "2043 Notes Consent Solicitation") of consents from holders (the "2043 Notes Holders") of Avon's outstanding 6.950% Notes due 2043 (the "2043 Notes") from 5:00 p.m. New York City time, on February 3, 2021, to 5:00 p.m. New York City time, on February 10, 2021 (as amended hereby, the "2043 Notes Expiration Date").

2043 Notes Holders who have previously delivered consents in connection with the 2043 Notes Consent Solicitation do not need to redeliver such consents or take any other action in response to this announcement in order to consent to the 2043 Notes Consent Solicitation.

The 2043 Notes Consent Solicitation is being undertaken pursuant to the terms of the Consent Solicitation Statement, dated January 12, 2021 (as amended or supplemented from time to time, including by the press releases dated January 20, 2021 and January 27, 2021 and by this press release, the "Consent Solicitation Statement"). Except as set forth herein with respect to the 2043 Notes Expiration Date, the terms and conditions of the 2043 Notes Consent Solicitation, as well as the proposed amendments to the indenture governing the 2043 Notes (the "2043 Notes Proposed Amendments"), remain the same as set forth and described in the Consent Solicitation Statement. In particular the Revocation Deadline (as defined in the Consent Solicitation Statement) with respect to the 2043 Notes Consent Solicitation has passed and is not being extended.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. ("Citi") is acting as the Solicitation Agent for the 2043 Notes Consent Solicitation. D.F. King & Co., Inc. is acting as the Information and Tabulation Agent for the 2043 Notes Consent Solicitation. Questions or requests for assistance related to the 2043 Notes Consent Solicitation or for additional copies of the Consent Solicitation Statement may be directed to Citi at +1 (212) 723-6106 (banks and brokers) and +1 (800) 558-3745 (all others, toll free), or to D.F. King & Co., Inc. at +1 (212) 269-5550 (banks and brokers), +1 (866) 356-7813 (all others, toll free) or by email at [email protected]. The Consent Solicitation Statement is available at: www.dfking.com/avon. Holders may also contact their broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee for assistance concerning the 2043 Notes Consent Solicitation.

About Avon

For 130 years Avon has stood for women: providing innovative, quality beauty products which are primarily sold to women, through women. Millions of independent Representatives across the world sell iconic Avon brands such as Avon Color and ANEW through their social networks, building their own beauty businesses on a full- or part-time basis. Avon supports women's empowerment, entrepreneurship and well-being and has donated over U.S.$1 billion to women's causes through Avon and the Avon Foundation. Avon is a wholly owned subsidiary of Natura &Co Holding S.A. ("Natura &Co Holding"). To learn more, please visit Natura &Co Holding's website at https://naturaeco.com/en/brands/avon/.

Forward-Looking Statements

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Investor Relations:

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SOURCE Avon Products, Inc.
Ather Energys new scooter plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, has started production with an investment of more than Rs 630 crore, said the Hero MotoCorp-backed start-up on Thursday.

The plant spreads over 400,000 sq. ft and it will manufacture electric scooters along with lithium-ion batteries. Ather did not comment on production, but Tamil Nadu's nodal agency for investment promotion tweeted a picture of the plant rolling out scooters.

The company has signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government to invest Rs 635.4 crore in the plan that will create around 4,000 jobs in five years.

"Ather is rapidly scaling up and we need to expand our production capacity to meet the growing demand. The new unit will help us meet the demand for the next few years across the country. Tamil Nadu has been a hub for automobile manufacturing, and they have been working closely with us in their effort to build an EV ecosystem," said Tarun Mehta, chief executive officer of the company, earlier.

Ola Electric is also setting up a 2-million units per annum plant in Tamil Nadu. On December 14, 2020, Ola Electric signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government to set up its plant that it said will be the largest for EV scooters in the world.

A man who delayed an early morning train to Dublin by 25 minutes last June has avoided jail after an appearance at Longford District court last week.

Joe McDonagh (36), of no fixed address, was charged with criminal damage and public order at Longford Train Station. The criminal damage charge was struck out at last weeks court sitting.

On June 10, 2020, gardai received reports of a male causing a disturbance at the train station at 5.30am. When they arrived at the scene, Gardai spoke to the security guard.

A male was observed running down the tracks, explained Sgt Mark Mahon for the state.

Gardai gave chase and then went off towards Ardnacassa. Gardai couldnt catch him and returned to the station.

Sgt Mahon explained that the security guard told gardai that Mr McDonagh was drunk and abusive towards him, kicked the train door and caused a delay of 25 minutes to commuters.

A delay of 25 minutes is a serious matter. Why would you get a 5.30am train if you didnt need to? There were probably people with flights, people with appointments on that train, and this man was drunk and delaying them, said an unimpressed Judge Seamus Hughes.

Sgt Mahon explained that Mr McDonagh had 132 previous convictions, including public intoxication in Dublin on December 9, 2020, for which he was fined 100.

On October 16, 2020, a section 6 public order charge was taken into consideration but he was sentenced to four months in prison for trespassing.

In Bray on July 13, 2020, he was convicted of entering a building and on June 19, 2020, in Athy, he was convicted of four thefts.

Sgt Mahon also told Judge Hughes that Mr McDonagh is well known to the court in Longford.

And here he is today hiding his face from me, said Judge Hughes, noting that Mr McDonagh was wearing his face mask.

Theres a virus out there, Judge, and Ive come from Dublin, with a 5km restriction. I shouldnt have come, Mr McDonagh interjected, before insisting that he was not drunk that morning at Longford Train Station.

They couldnt locate me. How does he (Sgt Mahon) know that I was drunk if I wasnt located? he asked, gesturing towards the prosecuting sergeant.

Sgt Mahon explained that the security guard reported that Mr McDonagh was drunk.

Solicitor for the defence John Quinn explained that his client is staying in Dublin with his mother and is trying to go straight, before asking the judge if he would consider a suspended sentence.

Why was he drunk at 5.30am, acting the way he was acting, trying to get on the train? Was he asked for a ticket? Judge Hughes asked.

He (security guard) just said get off the train or well call the guards and told me Im barred. I had a ticket, Mr McDonagh explained.

Why did you kick the train door? asked Judge Hughes.

I cant remember, Mr McDonagh admitted.

Why did you run away? asked Judge Hughes.

Because I didnt want to wait for the guards and end up in a cell, said Mr McDonagh.

Did you want to run to Dublin? Judge Hughes quipped.

I didnt get to Dublin. I had a return ticket but if I get on that train or any of the busses, they call the guards, said Mr McDonagh.

When Judge Hughes asked him why he was barred, Mr McDonagh said that he had caused trouble years ago and was haunted by it.

They dont like me. They dont want me on it. Im blacklisted, he told Judge Hughes, getting more aggravated.

Sgt Mahon, addressing the court, remarked that he must have some serious credentials to get blacklisted by every travel company in the country.

I take it very seriously that you delayed hundreds of people. Im sure there were at least one or two who had serious reasons to be on that train, said Judge Hughes.

And you, ya blaggard ya, disrupted their lives and you come in here and abuse the court.

I havent abused youand youre talking to me like Im a f*cking low life, Mr McDonagh shouted.

I dont want to go to prison. Im trying to stay out of jail. Do you think I like coming to court? Im sick of going in and out of jail.

Listen, said Judge Hughes, the reason Im talking to you like this is to impress upon you that you cant act like that. Would you rather I said nothing except right, six months in prison? Id rather lecture you, like a father lecturing a child... not that I see you as a child, he hastened to add.

Well Ive seen you more than Ive seen my own father,Mr McDonagh joked.

Ill give you a suspended sentence because I dont want to see you again, said Judge Hughes.

I dont want to see you either, said Mr McDonagh.

Judge Hughes handed down a three-month sentence but suspended it for three years, noting that we wont see each other for at least three years.

Well, when the pubs open we might have one, joked Mr McDonagh.

If you were in the pub, Id avoid it, Judge Hughes remarked with amusement.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Aung San Suu Kyi's party NLD, which was ousted in Monday's coup, and other political activists have called for a campaign of civil disobedience to oppose the takeover

Yangon: Myanmars new military government has blocked access to Facebook as resistance to Mondays coup surged amid calls for civil disobedience to protest the ousting of the elected civilian government and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Facebook is especially popular in Myanmar and the ousted government had commonly made public announcements on the social media site.

Internet users said the disruption began late Wednesday night, and mobile service provider Telenor Myanmar confirmed in a statement that mobile operators and internet service providers in Myanmar had received a directive from the communications ministry to temporarily block Facebook.

Telenor Myanmar, which is part of the Norwegian Telenor Group, said it would comply, though was concerned the order was a breach of human rights.

Telecom providers in Myanmar have been ordered to temporarily block Facebook. We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with family and friends and access important information, said a Facebook spokesperson.

The political party ousted in Monday's coup and other activists in Myanmar have called for a campaign of civil disobedience to oppose the takeover. In the vanguard are medical personnel, who have declared they wont work for the military government and who are highly respected for their work during the coronavirus pandemic that is taxing the country's dangerously inadequate health system.

For a second night Wednesday, residents in Yangon engaged in noise protests, with people banging pots and pans and honking car horns under cover of darkness. And the recent protests have revived a song closely associated with the failed 1988 uprising against the military dictatorship. Myanmar was under military rule for five decades after a 1962 coup and Suu Kyi's five years as a leader in its most democratic period.

Videos posted on social media showed medical personnel especially turned out to sing the song Kabar Makyay Bu  or We Wont Be Satisfied Until the End of the World  which is sung to the tune of Dust in the Wind, a 1977 song by the U.S. rock group Kansas.

The protest movement seemed to have gotten a boost from the governments treatment of the highly popular Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other government leaders on Monday. Her party said Wednesday she was being charged with possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies  believed to be used by her bodyguards  that were found in her house in the capital Naypyitaw,

The charge would allow her to legally be kept in custody until at least Feb. 15. The ousted President Win Myint is being held on a separate charge. Suu Kyi is believed to remain under house arrest at her residence, where she was kept after the army detained her.

The charge against Suu Kyi carried a penalty of up to three years in prison.
Widows of farmers in Maharashtra protested against Kangana Ranaut's anti-farmers remark and burnt her effigy. Saying that they are not terrorists, they demanded an unconditional apology from the Bollywood actress.

No one is talking about it because they are not farmers they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony much like USA...

Sit down you fool, we are not selling our nation like you dummies. https://t.co/OIAD5Pa61a  Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) February 2, 2021

The protesters carried banners and placards that proclaim, "Yes, we are farmers but not terrorists". They also hit her effigy with shoes to register their anger before setting it afire. They also announced that they will boycott all her films if she didn't withdraw how remarks and issue an unconditional apology from "insulting" farmers.



Representative Image/AFP

Social activist Smita Tiwari along with farmers' widows like Bharati Pawar, Poornima Kopulwar, Kavita Sidam, Lakshmi Gandhwar, Rama Thamke, Vandana Mohurle, Rekha Gurnale, Aparna Malikar, and Yogita Choudhary were seen a the protest.

Farm activists like Anil Tiwari, Ankit Naitam, Sunil Raut, Suresh Talmale, Neel Jaiswal, Manoj Chavan, Sandeep Jajulwar, Chandan Jainkar, Pradeep Kosare, Bablu Dhurve, and Ashutosh Ambade also participated and raised slogans against Kangana.

"We have seen the repression let loose on farmers on Delhi borders by police and paramilitary forces. We witnessed peasants getting beaten up mercilessly and dying. The farmers will return home only after the three new central agricultural laws are withdrawn by the BJP-led Union government," said Pawar.

Twitter

A young widow Seedam recalled how her husband had committed suicide. "However, rather than sympathise with the cause of farmers' widows and orphans, unpatriotic people like Kangana are making fun of their sacrifices," she said.

Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission (VNSSM) President Kishore Tiwari called Ranaut "BJP's unofficial spokesperson" and said that her tweets were an "outcome of a perverted mindset".


Message by the Chief Prelate of the Malwathu Chapter, Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera.

Lets stand in unison to build a healthy nation and prosperous Sri Lanka

The Island of Sri Lanka has been nurtured with Sacred Buddhism and is inherited with a proud history for more than two thousand five hundred years. As a nation, we have faced many foreign invasions as well as other challenges during this long years. Our ancestors who were inculcated with noble human values such as loving-kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekha) were able to win all these challenges through the way of Buddhist philosophy. Therefore, it is a duty by all Sri Lankans to remember all the national heroes who made commitments to win independence, sovereignty, and National Defense; and pass on merits to them on this occasion where the country is celebrating the 73rd Independence Day.

The lessons learned in the history reiterate that all of us should rise as one nation in unity to build a prosperous country, a healthy nation, and create peace and harmony in society. The duty of the rulers of the country is to provide right-employment to the aspirants, fulfill their hopes and include the human resources in bringing about prosperity in the country. Buddhism teaches that both the employer and the employee essentially follow the right lifestyle to enhance the development of a country. At this decisive moment where we have been troubled by the global coronavirus epidemic, it is the sole responsibility of all the citizens to keep aside the existing petty differences if any and, develop kindness, compassion, and generosity; and act together to solve the prevailing social and economic hardships.

Peril calls for Wisdom is the Buddha Word. Adhering to this perennial truth, It is high time that all the patriotic forces stood in unison on one platform to introduce home-grown national polices and get them implemented to ensure sustainable development in the country, a decent lifestyle for her people and, to safeguard local cultural and moral values.

May Triple Gem bless; and, strength, courage, and fortune may befall on all the citizens in their efforts to achieve their good life goals such as the growth of the country and prosperity. Celebrate a meaningful independence day accordingly.

Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera,

The Chief Prelate of the Malwathu Chapter,

Chief Incumbent of Pushparama Temple in Kandy.

--

Message by the Chief Incumbent of Sri Bhayagiri (Asgiri) Wijayasunderaramaya, Historical Badulu Mutiyangana Ancient Temple and Chief Prelate of Main Monastery of Asgiriya Chapter, Most Venerable Dr. Warakagoda Dhammasiddi Sri Pangnananda Gnanarathana Thera.

Our nation is inherited with a proud history of thousands of years but, the historical truth is that our people had divided themselves during certain eras in the past and, lost the sovereignty and independence of the nation. Consequently, our country was invaded by foreign forces, and, at last, the island remained a British Colony for over 15 decades where our religious, social, and cultural practices were outshined. Nonetheless, Sri Lankans were deprived of unity among them, their moral values, peace, and plenty in the country as well as all the privileges they enjoyed as a nation in the past.

As a result of the untiring efforts made at life risk by national heroes including religious front runners and lay idols to save the country from that jeopardy, we were able to free our motherland from the Colonial Masters on February 4, 1948.

73 years have passed since then. Other countries that won independence from colonial rulers during the same period have raised on their own feet to become the Independent States. Comparing ours to that of the nations, they have achieved in many spheres including economic and social development enabling their citizens to enjoy the tangible benefits of real independence. But it is no secret that we are a nation that has still been backpacking religious, political, and other social differences and limping towards impoverishment for long years. Therefore, the collective responsibility of the entire nation is to use this important annual event to shun such trivialities and stand peacefully in unison to build a strong nation.

May the Sacred Tooth bless on this 73rd Independence Day to enable Sri Lanka to build a prosperous nation for everybody to lead a contented life despite the threats that have posed by the prevailing global coronavirus epidemic.

Chief Incumbent of Bhayagiri (Asgiri) Wijayasunderaramaya in Kandy, Historical Mutiyangana Ancient Temple in Badulla and Chief Prelate of Main Monastery of Kandy Asgiriya Chapter, Most Venerable Dr. Warakagoda Dhammasiddi Sri Pangnananda Gnanarathana Thera.

--

Message by the Chief Prelate of the Sri Lanka Ramangya Maha Nikaya, Aggamaha Panditha Most Venerable Makulawe Sri Wimala Thera.

Our motherland, Sri Lanka completes freedom from the Colonial Rule and mark 73 years independence on February 4, 2021. Out of this long period of time, we were compelled to live in agony for 30 years due to terrorism and civil war. Although freedom was granted nominally on February 4, 1948, the country declared the Democratic Socialist Republic on May 22, 1972 thereby liberating the impediments that had been imposed on our nation by the Colonial rulers. But we cannot feel a real sense of true independence since then. The main reason is that we are buried up to the neck in international borrowings and economic hardships.

Any country can gain complete freedom only through self-sufficiency and economic freedom. The happiness of independence could be felt by different communities including the members of political, moral, religious, and social strata when they are availed to enjoy equal rights. We have passed 73 years since independence but it is no secret that our country is still lagging behind such true independence. Although we are inheritors of a beautiful island that is endowed with plenty of natural sources; we have been purposely destroying them and losing their returns for the generations to come. Respect for the motherland and trust for the National Defense needs to be created in the minds of the citizens. As the Old Adage goes The Mother and The Motherland are above any other choice including the heaven is acceptable to citizens in any country even in the present context. Therefore, the rulers of the regime in power should protect the motherland without letting foreign elements to claim the tenure of it, relieve the people from the international debt burden and, create economic independence for the people to enjoy full freedom through a self-sufficient and simple lifestyle. The politicians should thoroughly keep in mind that they are voted to power for a temporary period of time to rule the country and, when they become custodians of the nation, their sole responsibility is to ensure the honor of the country, National Defense, and freedom for the nation.

Therefore, all the rulers and the citizens are requested to think that the path to true independence is national unity and religious harmony and, act accordingly with national dignity and patriotism.

Aggamaha Panditha Most Venerable Makulawe Sri Wimala Thera.

The Chief Prelate of the Sri Lanka Ramangya Maha Nikaya.

--

Message by the Chief Prelate of the Sri Lanka Amarapura Maha Nikaya, Aggamaha Panditha, Most Venerable Kotugoda Dhammawasa Thera.

Having passed more than three centuries under three eras of colonial rule, Sri Lanka begins its 73rd year today since it was granted independence on February 4, 1948. In the seven decades after Independence, we have reached a time of contentment where we can be satisfied to some extent with the progress we made today. Sri Lanka is currently improved more than that of the past amid various political chaos including a 30-year civil war. Economic issues of the country and the public woes have been complicating the nation however and, our opinion is that the government and the people should engage in a faster journey to solve such issues. At the same time, we have been achieving satisfactory progress in the scope of education than that of the situation in the past. The correct path should be chosen towards prospering the country by fostering her children with values, knowledge, and disciplines. It is high time we all shredded communal, religious, and other petty differences and, walk arm in arm towards our common goals.

The advent of new technology is a positive factor for the growth of the world but certain nations have been abusing this know-how thereby posing a grave threat to the fauna and flora on the entire planet. We have also contributed our share to such irreparable devastation. The future of the country depends on the generations to come; therefore they should be led on the correct path. We should act wisely to create social morals pursued by peace and plenty. A wave of a different mode of crimes takes place in the island consequent to the loss of morals in society. We have reached a turning point today in taking concrete and pragmatic measures to prevent such tragedies. The honest determination of all of us on this noble day of the 73rd National Independence should be to work hard towards peace and prosperity. It is imperative that the State should give people the right guidelines.

Every responsible citizen should abide by the health guidelines that have been recommended by the Health Authorities with regard to the COVID-19 global epidemic. They need to extend their fullest cooperation to the Government to prevent the killer disease  coronavirus.

Wish the country and her citizen a future of peace and plenty.

Most Venerable Kotugoda Dhammawasa Nayake Thera
A London-based election technology company filed a $2.7 billion suit in New York State Supreme Court Thursday against Fox News and three of its hosts, claiming they joined the conspiracy to defame and disparage the company.

Smartmatic, an election technology company, filed the suit against the Fox Corp., Fox News and hosts Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. As part of the same action, the company is suing lawyers Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sidney Powell, who have represented former President Donald Trump and voiced election conspiracy theories as guests on Fox News programs.

The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for President and Vice President of the United States. The election was not stolen, rigged, or fixed. These are facts. They are demonstrable and irrefutable, the suit states. (The) defendants have always known these facts. They knew Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 U.S. election. They knew the election was not stolen. They knew the election was not rigged or fixed. They knew these truths just as they knew the Earth is round and two plus two equals four. (The) defendants did not want Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to win the election. They wanted President Donald Trump and Vice President Michael Pence to win re-election. (The) defendants were disappointed. But they also saw an opportunity to capitalize on President Trumps popularity by inventing a story.

Smartmatic is seeking damages of no less than $2.7 billion and is requesting a jury trial.

In response to the lawsuit, Fox News Media said in a statement, FOX News Media is committed to providing the full context of every story with in-depth reporting and clear opinion. We are proud of our 2020 election coverage and will vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit in court.

Fox News noted it has aired fact checking segments on the claims in late December.

The action taken by Smartmatic follows lawsuits filed last month by Dominion Voting Systems against Giuliani and Powell. Dominion is another company named by conspiracy theorists claiming election fraud.

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Immigration Minister Alex Hawke is under fire from Labor for suggesting there is no rise in extremism in Australia, despite security agencies repeatedly confirming there has been an uptick in right-wing extremism in recent years.

Appearing on Sky News on Thursday morning, Mr Hawke said he rejected opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneallys assertion there had been a rise in extremism.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke says Labor senator Kristina Keneally is wrong on the rise of extremism. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

And Id say this, the government rejects Senator Keneallys thesis, that there is rising extremism in Australia, he said.

It is extreme elements, fringe elements, in Australia that need tackling, they are being tackled. What we have here is increased social cohesion, not increasing extremism.
Newly reported Covid-19 cases and deaths rose in the US, while hospitalizations continued to decrease, as Indiana said it had identified more than 1,500 previously unreported deaths related to the disease.

The US reported more than 119,000 new coronavirus cases for Wednesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, up from 114,437 the previous day, but down from 152,478 a week earlier. The latest data was published early Thursday and may update later in the morning.

The nations seven-day moving average of cases, which smooths out irregularities in the data, was 141,425 on Tuesday, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data. The 14-day average was 153,896. When the seven-day average is lower than the 14-day average, it suggests cases are declining.

The number of reported deaths in the US rose to more than 3,700 for Wednesday from 3,532 Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins data. But it was down from 3,943 a week earlier.

Indiana health officials on Wednesday said the state had identified an additional 1,507 Covid-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Indiana State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said the deaths, including 302 since the beginning of 2021, were found during a recent year-end audit of Covid-19 deaths. The newly identified deaths will be added to the states current tally of some 9,700 Covid-19 deaths.

Hospitalizations continued to decline, with 91,440 people hospitalized as of Wednesday, according to the Covid Tracking Project. It was the lowest number since Nov. 27 and the 22nd straight day of declines.

On the vaccine front, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Wednesday that it has a licensing agreement with Rockefeller University to take over development and manufacturing of a potential Covid-19 treatment discovered there that shows promise in fighting emerging mutations of the coronavirus.

Vaccine makers are racing to create new shots that can better protect people from dangerous new strains of the coronavirus, after recent testing showed the variants present a bigger-than-expected threat.

But progress on developing and distributing vaccines could have limited effect on the nations herd immunity unless enough Americans are willing to take the shot. If everyone in the US who says they definitely plan to get vaccinated does so, it wont be enough to end the pandemic. That is because many Americans are either unsure about getting a Covid-19 shot or say they never will, new Census Bureau data show.

More than 26.5 million cases have so far been reported in the US, Johns Hopkins data show, and the countrys total death toll exceeds 450,000. World-wide, the total number of cases has surpassed 104.4 million and more than 2.26 million people have died from the disease.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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The gaming board was supposed to have made a decision on the south suburban license within 12 months of receiving the applications, and that deadline was at the end of October. However, the board could, under the gambling expansion law, provide written explanations of a delay to the applicants, which the board did.
The mystery surfer who sparked a seaside scramble for riding the wave of a 41,000 tonne ferry has apologised for his high seas stunt.

The man, branded an idiot after being caught trying to ride the wash from the super-fast Stena Embla ferry off the coast at Holywood last week, confirmed to the Sunday World he was the daredevil surfer.

The Sunday World tracked down the mystery man at his beach-front home after his run-in with the Coastguard drew widespread media attention.

The man, an experienced surfer, admitted he was the one at the centre of the dramatic story that unfolded last Monday afternoon after he took to the seas to celebrate his 39th birthday.

When approached by the Sunday World, the embarrassed Holywood resident immediately apologised for wasting the Coastguards time and warned others not to copy his actions.

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I cant believe this, he said. I would like to say how I am sorry the Coastguard was called, I didnt call them but I am sorry I wasted their valuable time. I would like to say though that at no stage did I feel in danger, he told the Sunday World.

Stena staff sounded their horn after spotting a lone surfer in the shipping lane and contacted the Coastguard who immediately launched a rescue attempt.

Many took to social media to comment on his antics  some congratulating him on his daredevil exploits with other calling on him to be prosecuted for wasting the rescue teams time.

Must be some sort of nutter, one posted.

Another added: Absolute idiot! while another post read: Fun police interfering once again and another said: Fair play to him!

Yes there was some response on social media, the surfer said, shaking his head.

He is no stranger to sea life, admitting he is a coastal skipper, trained to command a yacht both day and night, and has extensive knowledge of the ocean.

I am in fact a coastal skipper, I know a lot about the sea, about tides and things like that so I am not some amateur. I have been surfing for over two decades, in fact the day it happened it was my 39th birthday.

I dont want to say much more about this apart from obviously encouraging others not to try and copy me. Again I would like to apologised to the RNLI, I know how valuable their time is, he added.

The good-humoured surfer, who speaks with a soft English accent, would not disclose his surname nor would he comment on claims that he was deliberately riding the surf of the huge ferry.

A Coastguard rescue team were dispatched after Stena made an emergency call after spotting in the shipping lane and a rescue attempt was sparked.

According to the Coastguard the surfer managed to paddle his way back to shore on Monday following an emergency alert made by Stena. Bangor Coastguard explained in a Facebook post: Once on scene the team located the casualty and kept eyes on [him]. The casualty managed to paddle his way back to shore in Holywood.

Bangor Lifeboat was also tasked to the incident and was stood down en route.

It continued: After speaking with the casualty it was confirmed he was intending to surf the wash from the superfast inbound to Belfast.

Bangor Coastguard revealed that they had spoken to the surfer of the dangers of being close to such large vessels as well as the risks of being in the shipping lane.

The team warned of the dangers of being close to such large vessels and in the shipping lane.

They posted: Bangor RNLI is speechless. Riding the surf of the Stena ferry in the shipping lane  who could have imagined there was anything wrong with that plan?
UP CM Yogi Adityanath during the inauguration of the centenary celebrations of the historic Chauri Chaura incident, in Gorakhpur, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. A group of freedom fighters participating in the non-cooperation movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1922 were fired upon by police, leading to death of many of them. In retaliation, protestors attacked and set fire to the Chauri Chaura police station, killing many of its occupants. (PTI Photo)
Trader Joes has recognized the outstanding, inspiring work of its crew members since the onset of the pandemic.

A statement update on its website notes that early on, Trader Joes had provided all hourly crew members with an additional $2 per hour thank you wage, in recognition of their work during this time of increased risk.

Now, the update added that Effective February 1, 2021, the thank you premium for all hourly, non-management Crew Members, was increased by two dollars, for a total of $4 an hour.

According to a report by The Seattle Times, although not mentioned in its updated statement, Trader Joes clearly stated in a message to employees, that the pay hike was in response to the Seattle City Councils recently passed mandate for large grocery stores within the city to raise pay by $4 for their front-line employees.

The report noted that the nationwide pay increase is temporary.

Business leaders and the grocery industry have maintained that Seattles legislation was untenable in a business with slim profit margins, but, according to The Seattle Times, the raise, at least partially, undercuts those arguments.

The Seattle Times reported that in Seattle, along with several California cities, including Long Beach and Berkeley, legislation mandating the temporary raises was passed last month.

The report said that Seattles law, which passed last week - less than a week after it was first introduced. - applies to large grocery stores with more than 500 employees worldwide.

The Seattle Times cited a letter Trader Joes management wrote last week and posted to a staff bulletin board at a Seattle store, which said: After seeing this occur with a few cities in California and Washington we have determined that such actions are unfair for all stores throughout the Company. It continued, Accordingly, effective February 1, we will increase our thank you pay for all Crew Members by two dollars, making the thank you pay equal to $4 company wide.

However, there is a bit of a hitch.

In the letter, the company also said midyear raises - scheduled for summer 2021 - would be canceled this year, the report noted.

The Seattle Times cited employees, who said, that raise, which employees generally get twice a year, is normally 65 to 75 cents an hour.

But its permanent, the report explained, so employees nationwide will be getting a temporary $4-an-hour pay bump but forgoing a much smaller permanent pay bump.

The Seattle Times cited the letter, from company CEO Dan Bane, President Jon Basalone and a third executive, which explained that the $4 raise will continue throughout the pandemic or until employees are eligible for vaccines as grocery workers.

The letter stated the company will not go above the $4-an-hour raise, no matter what other cities may do with hazard pay legislation, the report cited.

The Seattle Times stated that a Trader Joes spokesperson was unresponsive to repeated requests for comment.

Requesting anonymity to avoid potential retaliation, a local Trader Joes worker told The Seattle Times that the permanent pay raises, including the rescinded one, are the reason employees stay at the company long term.

Trader Joes, founded in 1967, is known for its unique shopping experience, quirky culture and friendly, helpful and well informed employees.

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4 February 2021

It's time to press play.W Hotels Worldwide, part of Marriott International, today opened the doors to Melbourne's first luxury lifestyle hotel - W Melbourne - at 408 Flinders Lane. In the heart of an eclectic dining and edgy fashion district, W Melbourne brings the community's iconic laneway culture and emerging music scene to life. Inspired by the contrasts of the city, the hotel slowly reveals itself to visitors as guests peel back layers to unearth the unique personality of each space.

"Melbourne is the perfect locale for the playfully luxe spirit of the W brand and we could not be more excited to unveil this highly anticipated hotel to the world," said Jennie Toh, Vice President of Brand Marketing and Brand Management, Asia Pacific, Marriott International. "From its unique, locally inspired design to its eclectic lineup of restaurants and bars, W Melbourne is destined to redefine the luxury hotel scene here and become a must-go destination for travelers and local scene-stealers alike."

Igniting Endless Possibilities

Australian architecture and interior design firm Hachem brings innovation and brand storytelling to life through their evocative approach to W Melbourne. Drawing on the city's diverse and contrasting character, W Melbourne's design inspiration is translated into vignettes of Melbourne's streetscapes, letting guests uncover the dynamic city's past from behind the scenes.

Upon arrival at W Melbourne, guests are introduced to the neighborhood's iconic laneways, famous for their graffiti street art and offbeat, eclectic characters. Victorian bluestone tiles connect the Living Room to the laneway, blurring the line between the exterior and interior, where the Welcome Desk stands ready to greet guests. A vast lenticular art installation by local painter and digital artist Rus Kitchin immerses viewers into a canopy of Australian flora and fauna growing above the famed Hosier Lane. The illuminated glass and wood of the Flinders Lane entrance is juxtaposed against the shadows of the hotel's foyer.

W Melbourne has 294 luxuriously stylish guest rooms and 29 suites, with design details curated to reflect Melbourne's fascinating history and culture. The hotel's Wonderful, Fabulous and Mega category rooms are inspired by the neighboring street-level newspaper kiosks that back to the 1960s. Each room features floor-to-ceiling windows with stunning skyline views. The Marvelous rooms feature a vibrant wall graphic of a fairy wren, a bird native to Australia, pulling back a layer of fabric to reveal a colorful Melbourne scene. The graphic pays homage to the city's roots as a fashion hub, with Flinders Lane at the center of its textile trade. The 175-square-meter Extreme Wow Suite (W Hotels' modern interpretation of the traditional presidential suite), is on the hotel's highest floor at Level 15, and features a large balcony with expansive views of the Yarra River and an interactive music station - a fresh take on an old-school jukebox.

New/Next in Melbourne Dining

W Melbourne's distinctive restaurants and bars are all set to amplify Melbourne's dining landscape with innovative, original takes on the city's multicultural cuisines. All-day dining restaurant Lollo,

under the culinary creative direction of celebrated chef Adam D'Sylva, offers a menu that's designed to be shared and celebrates the chef's mixed heritage. At the centre of the action and pulse of the hotel is cocktail bar Curious, with its design as impressive as the evocative cocktail list. The bar welcomes guests into a cocoon-inspired space formed by its overhead timber beams in a parametric sequence with low lighting and muted color palettes. Signature Japanese restaurant WARABI focuses on the freshest seasonal produce with seating for only 30 diners and a private dining room for ten. Culprit channels Melbourne's cafe culture into an original bar concept that adds a new twist to the dining experience with a sophisticated floor-to-ceiling charcuterie display and a Vermouth tasting tray.

Electric Events

Mixing work with play, guests will be captivated by 830 square meters of ultra-modern conference, meeting and event space at W Melbourne, setting the stage for spectacular events with fully adaptable conference equipment, world-class audio-visual facilities and contemporary cuisine from the expert in-house catering team. The jewel in the crown, the GREAT ROOM, is a 426 square meter pillarless ballroom with an abundance of natural light and 4x5-meter LED wall. To celebrate the region's diverse seasons and autumn as a popular time to visit, Melbourne-born visual artist, Ash Keating utilized soft pinks and violets to light up the GREAT ROOM ceiling for an enchanting experience for guests.

FIT and WET on Level 14 will inspire the W 'Detox.Retox.Repeat' brand signature wellness philosophy, offering spectacular views alongside an ultramodern fitness facility, gold-roofed indoor pool, poolside bar and DJ booth.

For more information or to make a reservation, visit wmelbourne.com or get social with W Melbourne on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WMelbourneAUS/ and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/wmelbourne/?hl=en
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 02:56:28|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- "Solidarity and cooperation are the most effective weapons against global challenges," such as the coronavirus pandemic and climate change, the charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in the UK, Chen Wen, said here Wednesday.

Chen made the statement at the "Icebreakers" 2021 Chinese New Year Online Celebration held jointly by the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK (CCCUK), the 48 Group Club and China-Britain Business Council (CBBC).

"We are living in a global village where countries share weal and woe, and a common future," Chen said. "Solidarity and cooperation are the most effective weapons against global challenges."

"China and the UK should shoulder our responsibilities as important global players," she said. "This means we should deepen cooperation with other countries in fighting the pandemic, share information, enhance joint prevention and control, and step up global cooperation on R&D, production and distribution of vaccines and ensure that vaccines are public goods that are accessible and affordable to the peoples of all countries."

China and Britain should also aim for long-term development and make fresh contribution to global sustainable development, Chen said, adding that the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) to be held in May in Kunming, China, and the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) to be held in Glasgow, Britain, in November provide opportunities for the two countries to enhance coordination and take the lead in global governance on climate change and green development.

Meanwhile, Chen also called for the joint efforts by China and Britain to expand business cooperation. She noted that in 2020, China's GDP grew by 2.3 percent and trade in goods grew by 1.9 percent year-on-year. China was the only major economy in the world that realized positive growth in GDP and trade in goods. It was also the world's largest recipient of FDI.

As China is opening up wider and deeper and in more areas, its enormous market and growing domestic demand will create more opportunities of cooperation for businesses of all countries, including Britain, Chen said.

"We should match our development strategies, leverage respective strengths, and be creative," she said. "We can also expand cooperation in new industries and new models and new forms of business."

"It is our hope that the UK will remain committed to an open economy and free trade, and foster an open, fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese businesses here in this country," she added.

Chen noted that business cooperation between the two sides has showed resilience.

Bilateral trade in goods reached 92.37 billion U.S. dollars, increasing by 7 percent year-on-year and hitting yet another record, she said.

Direct investment from Britain to China stood at 2.9 billion dollars, increasing by 28.3 percent year-on-year, she said. "London remains the world's largest offshore RMB exchange center and the second largest offshore RMB clearing center."

Meanwhile, Britain has replaced the United States to become the top destination for Chinese students who want to study overseas, she noted, adding that the number of both Chinese students in Britain and British students in China kept growing.

"It is my belief that as long as China and the UK follow the major trend and work in the same direction in the spirit of mutual respect and win-win cooperation, China-UK relations and China-UK cooperation will embrace a warm spring," she said.

More than 1,000 guests and participants from political, business, culture and academic circles from both China and Britain took part in the "Icebreakers" on-line celebration on Wednesday.

In 1954, Jack Perry, the founder of London Export Corporation, led a group of 48 British businessmen on a historic trade mission to Beijing and helped deliver one of the first modern-day trade links with China, effectively breaking the U.S.-led Western embargo on the newly founded Asian country.

The 48 men were the precursors of the 48 Group Club. The trip became known as the "Icebreaking Mission," and the club members were called "Icebreakers." Enditem

A York man is facing vehicular homicide charges after admitting to falling asleep behind the wheel last year and causing a crash that killed a 34-year-old construction worker, court documents said.

Joshua P. Bishop was setting up work zone signs and cones on the 400 block of Carlisle Avenue when a Ford Edge hit him around 9:05 a.m. May 14, 2020, West Manchester Township police said. He died of blunt force trauma at York Hospital, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

In the court documents, township police said York resident Aaron D. Miller is responsible for Bishops death.

Miller was driving to a doctors appointment after working a night shift and had been awake since 5 p.m. the day before, the affidavit said.

The affidavit said Miller admitted to closing his eyes and falling asleep near Carlisle and Bannister Street. He said hed worked an all-night shift at an Air Force base in Willow Grove, and stayed up after work to attend the doctors appointment, according to the affidavit.

Police said Miller drove nearly three blocks while slowly drifting onto the shoulder until he crashed into Bishop and a construction vehicle. According to the affidavit, Miller told authorities he did not open his eyes until the crash.

A search of Millers phone didnt show any evidence of wrongdoing, the affidavit said.

No braking or efforts were made to avoid the crash in the seconds before it happened, the affidavit said. This, and the fact that the cars acceleration didnt increase or decline, led investigators to conclude Miller was asleep.

It was obvious from observing Miller that he was very fatigued while at the crash scene and was very groggy, police wrote in the affidavit.

Miller was arrested Wednesday and charged with vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter, reckless driving, and careless driving. Online court records show a preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 30 in front of Magisterial District Judge Keith Albright.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, scores of Roman Catholic dioceses across the US received more than a billion dollars in aid through the federal government's signature small business relief program while sitting on well over $10billion in cash and other funds.

And despite the broad economic downturn, these assets have grown in many dioceses, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Yet even with that financial safety net, the 112 dioceses that shared their financial statements, along with the churches and schools they oversee, collected at least $1.5billion in taxpayer-backed aid. A majority of these dioceses reported enough money on hand to cover at least six months of operating expenses, even without any new income.

When the coronavirus forced churches to close their doors and give up Sunday collections, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte turned to the federal government's signature small business relief program for more than $8million.

Catholic entities in the Charlotte Diocese in North Carolina received more than $8million in Paycheck Program Aid intended for small businesses. Pictured: Bishop of Charlotte conducts Palm Sunday services inside the empty St. Patrick Cathedral on April 5, 2020

The diocese's headquarters, churches and schools landed the help even though they had roughly $100million of their own cash and short-term investments available last spring, financial records show. When the cash catastrophe church leaders feared didn't materialize, those assets topped $110million by the summer.

'I am gratified to report the overall good financial health of the diocese despite the many difficulties presented by the Covid-19 pandemic,' Bishop Peter Jugis wrote in the diocese's audited financial report released last fall.

The financial resources of several dioceses rivaled or exceeded those available to publicly traded companies like Shake Shack and Ruth's Chris Steak House, whose early participation in the program triggered outrage. Federal officials responded by emphasizing the money was intended for those who lacked the cushion that cash and other liquidity provide. Many corporations returned the funds.

Overall, the nation's nearly 200 dioceses, where bishops and cardinals govern, and other Catholic institutions received at least $3billion. That makes the Roman Catholic Church perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the paycheck program, according to AP's analysis of data the US Small Business Administration released following a public-records lawsuit by news organizations. The agency for months had shared only partial information, making a more precise analysis impossible.

Already one of the largest federal aid efforts ever, the SBA reopened the Paycheck Protection Program last month with a new infusion of nearly $300billion. In making the announcement, the agency's administrator at the time, Jovita Carranza, hailed the program for serving 'as an economic lifeline to millions of small businesses.'

Church officials have said their employees were as worthy of help as workers at Main Street businesses, and that without it they would have had to slash jobs and curtail their charitable mission as demand for food pantries and social services spiked. They point out the program's rules didn't require them to exhaust their stores of cash and other funds before applying.

The nearly 200 dioceses in the US and other Catholic institutions received at least $3billion from the federal government's small business emergency relief program. That makes the Roman Catholic Church perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the paycheck program

But new financial statements several dozen dioceses have posted for 2020 show that their available resources remained robust or improved during the pandemic's hard, early months. The pattern held whether a diocese was big or small, urban or rural, East or West, North or South.

In Kentucky, funds available to the Archdiocese of Louisville, its parishes and other organizations grew from at least $153million to $157million during the fiscal year that ended in June, AP found. Those same offices and organizations received at least $17million in paycheck money.

'The Archdiocese's operations have not been significantly impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak,' according to its financial statement.

In Illinois, the Archdiocese of Chicago had more than $1billion in cash and investments in its headquarters and cemetery division as of May, while the faithful continued to donate 'more than expected,' according to a review by the independent ratings agency Moody's Investors Service. Chicago's parishes, schools and ministries accumulated at least $77million in paycheck protection funds.

Up the interstate from Charlotte in North Carolina, the Raleigh Diocese collected at least $11million in aid. Yet during the fiscal year that ended in June, overall offerings were down just 5 per cent and the assets available to the diocese, its parishes and schools increased by about $21million to more than $170million, AP found. In another measure of fiscal health, the diocese didn't make an emergency draw on its $10million line of credit.

Catholic leaders in dioceses including Charlotte, Chicago, Louisville and Raleigh said their parishes and schools, like many other businesses and nonprofits, suffered financially when they closed to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Some dioceses reported that their hardest-hit churches saw income drop by 40 per cent or more before donations began to rebound months later, and schools took hits when fundraisers were canceled and families had trouble paying tuition. As revenues fell, dioceses said, wage cuts and a few dozen layoffs were necessary in some offices.

Catholic researchers at Georgetown University who surveyed the nation's bishops last summer found such measures weren't frequent. In comparison, a survey by the investment bank Goldman Sachs found 42 per cent of small business owners had cut staff or salaries, and that 33 per cent had spent their personal savings to stay open.

Church leaders have questioned why AP focused on their faith following a story last July, when New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote that reporters 'invented a story when none existed and sought to bash the Church.'

Worshippers gather for Christmas Eve Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. Parishes, schools and ministries in Los Angeles collected at least $80million in paycheck protection aid

By using a special exemption that the church lobbied to include in the paycheck program, Catholic entities amassed at least $3billion - roughly the same as the combined total of recipients from the other faiths that rounded out the top five, AP found.

Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Jewish faith-based recipients also totaled at least $3billion. Catholics account for about a fifth of the US religious population while members of Protestant and Jewish denominations are nearly half, according to the Pew Research Center.

Catholic institutions also received many times more than other major nonprofits with charitable missions and national reach, such as the United Way, Goodwill Industries and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Overall, Catholic recipients got roughly twice as much as 40 of the largest, most well-known charities in America combined, AP found.

The complete picture is certainly even more lopsided. So many Catholic entities received help that reporters could not identify them all, even after spending hundreds of hours hand-checking tens of thousands of records in federal data.

The Vatican referred questions about the paycheck program to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which said it does not speak on behalf of dioceses.

Presented with AP's findings, bishops conference spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi responded with a broad statement that the Paycheck Protection Program was 'designed to protect the jobs of Americans from all walks of life, regardless of whether they work for for-profit or nonprofit employers, faith-based or secular.'

The AP's assessment of church finances is among the most comprehensive to date. It draws largely from audited financial statements posted online by the central offices of 112 of the country's nearly 200 dioceses.

The church isn't required to share its financials. As a result, the analysis doesn't include cash, short-term assets and lines of credit held by some of the largest dioceses, including those serving New York City and other major metropolitan areas.

The analysis focused on available assets because federal officials cited those metrics when clarifying eligibility for the paycheck program. Therefore, the $10billion AP identified doesn't count important financial pillars of the US church. Among those are its thousands of real estate properties and most of the funds that parishes and schools hold.

The Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh, N.C. The Raleigh Diocese collected at least $11million from the federal government's small business emergency relief program. Yet during the fiscal year that ended in June 2020, overall offerings were down just 5%

Also excluded is the money - estimated at $9.5billion in a 2019 study by the Delaware-based wealth management firm Wilmington Trust - held by charitable foundations created to help dioceses oversee donations.

In addition, dioceses can rely on a well-funded support system that includes help from wealthier dioceses, the bishops conference and other Catholic organizations. Canon law, the legal code the Vatican uses to govern the global church, notes that richer dioceses may assist poorer ones, and the AP found instances where they did.

In their financial statements, the 112 dioceses acknowledged having at least $4.5billion in liquid or otherwise available assets. To reach its $10billion total, AP also included funding that dioceses had opted to designate for special projects instead of general expenses; excess cash that parishes and their affiliates deposit with their dioceses savings and loan; and lines of credit dioceses typically have with outside banks.

Some church officials said AP was misreading their financial books and therefore overstating available assets. They insisted that money their bishop or his advisers had set aside for special projects couldn't be repurposed during an emergency, although financial statements posted by multiple dioceses stated the opposite.

For its analysis, AP consulted experts in church finance and church law. One was the Rev. James Connell, an accountant for 15 years before joining the priesthood and becoming an administrator in the Milwaukee Archdiocese. Connell, also a canon lawyer who is now retired from his position with the archdiocese, said APs findings convinced him that Catholic entities did not need government aid - especially when thousands of small businesses were permanently closing.

'Was it want or need?' Connell asked. 'Need must be present, not simply the want. Justice and love of neighbor must include the common good.'

Connell was not alone among the faithful concerned by the church's pursuit of taxpayer money. Parishioners in several cities have questioned church leaders who received government money for Catholic schools they then closed.

Elsewhere, a pastor in a Western state told AP that he refused to apply even after diocesan officials repeatedly pressed him. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of his dioceses policy against talking to reporters and concerns about possible retaliation.

The pastor had been saving, much like leaders of other parishes. When the pandemic hit, he used that money, trimmed expenses and told his dioceses central finance office that he had no plans to seek the aid. Administrators followed up several times, the pastor said, with one high-ranking official questioning why he was 'leaving free money on the table.'

This Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021, photo shows the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh, N.C. The Raleigh Diocese collected at least $11 million from the federal government's small business emergency relief program. Yet during the fiscal year that ended in June 2020, overall offerings were down just 5% and the assets available to the diocese, its parishes and schools increased by about $21 million to more than $170 million, AP found. In another measure of fiscal health, the diocese didn't draw on a $10 million line of credit. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

The pastor said he felt a 'sound moral conviction' that the money was meant more for shops and restaurants that, without it, might close forever.

As the weeks passed last spring, the pastor said his church managed just fine. Parishioners were so happy with new online Masses and his other outreach initiatives, he said, they boosted their contributions beyond 2019 levels.

'We didn't need it,' the pastor said, 'and intentionally wanted to leave the money for those small business owners who did.'

Months after the pandemic first walloped the economy, the 112 dioceses that release financial statements began sharing updates. Among the 47 dioceses that have thus far, the pandemic's impact was far from crippling.

The 47 dioceses that have posted financials for the fiscal year that ended in June had a median 6 per cent increase in the amount of cash, short-term investments and other funds that they and their affiliates could use for unanticipated or general expenses, AP found. In all, 38 dioceses grew those resources, while nine reported declines.

Finances in Raleigh and 10 other dioceses that took government assistance were stable enough that they did not have to dip into millions they had available through outside lines of credit.

'This crisis has tested us,' Russell Elmayan, Raleighs chief financial officer, told the diocese's magazine website in July, 'but we are hopeful that the business acumen of our staff and lay counselors, together with the strategic financial reserves built over time, will help our parishes and schools continue to weather this unprecedented event.' Raleigh officials did not answer direct questions from AP.

The 47 dioceses acknowledged a smaller amount of readily available assets than AP counted, though by their own accounting that grew as well.

The improving financial outlook is due primarily to parishioners who found ways to continue donating and US stock markets that were rebounding to new highs. But when the markets were first plunging, officials in several dioceses said, they had to stretch available assets because few experts were forecasting a rapid recovery.

Father Jim Connell, a retired administrator in the Milwaukee Archdiocese, said AP's findings convinced him that Catholic entities did not need government aid

In Louisville, Charlotte and other dioceses, church leaders said they offered loans or grants to needy parishes and schools, or offset the monthly charges they assess their parishes. In Raleigh, for example, the headquarters used $3million it had set aside for liability insurance and also tapped its internal deposit and loan fund.

Church officials added that the pandemics full toll will probably be seen in a year or two, because some key sources of revenue are calculated based on income that parishes and schools generate.

'We believe that we will not know all of the long-term negative impacts on parish, school and archdiocesan finances for some time,' Louisville Archdiocese spokeswoman Cecelia Price wrote in response to questions.

At the nine dioceses that recorded declines in liquid or other short-term assets, the drops typically were less than 10%, and not always clearly tied to the pandemic.

The financial wherewithal of some larger dioceses is underscored by the fact that, like publicly traded companies, they can raise capital by selling bonds to investors.

One was Chicago, where analysts with the Moodys ratings agency calculated that the $1billion in cash and investments held by the archdiocese headquarters and cemeteries division could cover about 631 days of operating expenses.

Church officials in Chicago asserted that those dollars were needed to cover substantial expenses while parishioner donations slumped. Without paycheck support, 'parishes and schools would have been forced to cut many jobs, as the archdiocese, given its liabilities, could not have closed such a funding gap,' spokeswoman Paula Waters wrote.

Moodys noted in its May report that while giving was down, federal aid had compensated for that and helped leave the archdiocese 'well positioned to weather this revenue loss over the next several months.' Among the reasons for the optimism: 'a unique credit strength' that under church law allows the archbishop to tax parish revenue virtually at will.

This Friday, Jan. 22, 2021, photo shows the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. According to the Boston Archdiocese's website, its central ministries office received about $3 million, while its parishes and schools collected about $32 million more from the federal government's small business emergency relief program in 2020. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes)

In a separate Moodys report on New Orleans, which filed for bankruptcy in May while facing multiple clergy abuse lawsuits, the ratings agency wrote in July that the archdiocese did so while having 'significant financial reserves, with spendable cash and investments of over $160 million.'

Moodys said the archdioceses 'very good' liquid assets would let it operate 336 days without additional income. Those assets prompted clergy abuse victims to ask a federal judge to dismiss the bankruptcy filing, arguing the archdioceses primary reason for seeking the legal protection was to minimize payouts to them.

The archdiocese, along with its parishes and schools, collected more than $26million in paycheck money. New Orleans Archdiocesan officials didnt respond to written questions.

Without special treatment, the Catholic Church would not have received nearly so much under the Paycheck Protection Program.

After Congress let nonprofits and religious organizations participate in the first place, Catholic officials lobbied the Trump Administration for a second break. Religious organizations were freed from the so-called affiliation rule that typically disqualifies applicants with more than 500 workers.

Without that break, many dioceses would have missed out because - between their head offices, parishes, schools and other affiliates - their employee count would exceed the limit.

Among those lobbying, federal records show, was the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Parishes, schools and ministries there collected at least $80million in paycheck aid, at a time when the headquarters reported $658million in available funds heading into the fiscal year when the coronavirus arrived.

Catholic officials in the U.S. needed the special exception for at least two reasons.

Church law says dioceses, parishes and schools are affiliated, something the Los Angeles Archdiocese acknowledged 'proved to be an obstacle' to receiving funds because its parishes operate 'under the authority of the diocesan bishop.' Dioceses, parishes, schools and other Catholic entities also routinely assert to the Internal Revenue Service that they are affiliated so they can maintain their federal income tax exemption.

While some Catholic officials insisted their affiliates are separate and financially independent, AP found many instances of borrowing and spending among them when dioceses were faced with prior cash crunches. In Philadelphia, for example, the archdiocese received at least $18million from three affiliates, including a seminary, to fund a compensation program for clergy sex abuse survivors, according to 2019 financial statements.

Cardinals and bishops have broad authority over parishes and the pastors who run them. Church law requires parishes to submit annual financial reports and bishops may require parishes to deposit surplus money with internal banks administered by the diocese.

'The parishioners cannot hire or fire the pastor; that is for the bishop to do,' said Connell, the priest, former accountant and canon lawyer. 'Each parish functions as a wholly owned subsidiary or division of a larger corporation, the diocese.'

Bishops acknowledged a concerted effort to tap paycheck funds in a survey by Catholic researchers at Georgetown University. When asked what they had done to address the pandemics financial fallout, 95% said their central offices helped parishes apply for paycheck and other aid - the leading response. That topped encouraging parishioners to donate electronically.

After Congress approved the paycheck program, three high-ranking officials in New Hampshires Manchester Diocese sent an urgent memo to parishes, schools and affiliated organizations urging them to refrain from layoffs or furloughs until completing their applications. 'We are all in this together,' the memo read, adding that diocesan officials were working expeditiously to provide 'step by step instructions.'

Paycheck Protection Program funds came through low-interest bank loans, worth up to $10million each, that the federal government would forgive so long as recipients used the money to cover about two months of wages and operating expenses.

After an initial $659billion last spring, Congress added another $284billion in December. With the renewal came new requirements intended to ensure that funds go to businesses that lost money due to the pandemic. Lawmakers also downsized the headcount for applicants to 300 or fewer employees.

In other federal small business loan programs, government help is treated as a last resort.

Applicants must show they couldnt get credit elsewhere. And those with enough available funds must pay more of their own way to reduce taxpayer subsidies.

Congress didnt include these tests in the Paycheck Protection Program. To speed approvals, lenders werent required to do their usual screening and instead relied on applicants self-certifications of need.

Michael, center, and Jeanine Waterman, right, prepare a family meal at their home in Hanover, Mass., a suburb of Boston, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. After the St. Francis of Assisi School in Braintree announced its closure in June as the school year ended, Michael and Jeanine's three children are learning at home. 'What angers us,' Michael said, 'is that we feel like, given the amount of money that the Catholic Church has, they absolutely could have remained open'

The looser standards helped create a run on the first $349billion in paycheck funding. Small business owners complained that they were shut out, yet dozens of companies healthy enough to be traded on stock exchanges scored quick approval.

As blowback built in April, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned at a news briefing that there would be 'severe consequences' for applicants who improperly tapped the program.

'We want to make sure this money is available to small businesses that need it, people who have invested their entire life savings,' Mnuchin said. Program guidelines evolved to stress that participants with access to significant cash probably could not get the assistance 'in good faith.'

Mnuchins Treasury Department said it would audit loans exceeding $2million, although federal officials have not said whether they would hold religious organizations and other nonprofits to the same standard of need as businesses.

The headquarters and major departments for more than 40 dioceses received more than $2million. Every diocese that responded to questions said it would seek to have the government cover the loans, rather than repay the funds.

One diocese receiving a loan over $2million was Boston. According to the archdioceses website, its central ministries office received about $3million, while its parishes and schools collected about $32million more.

The archdiocese - along with its parishes, schools and cemeteries - had roughly $200million in available funds in June 2019, according to its audited financial report. When that fiscal year ended several months into the pandemic, available funds had increased to roughly $233million.

Nevertheless, spokesman Terrence Donilon cited 'ongoing economic pressure' in saying the archdiocese will seek forgiveness for last years loans and will apply for additional, new funds during the current round.

Beyond its growing available funds, the archdiocese and its affiliates benefit from other sources of funding. The archdioceses 'Inspiring Hope' campaign, announced in January, has raised at least $150million.

And one of its supporting charities - the Catholic Schools Foundation, where Cardinal Sean OMalley is board chairman - counted more than $33million in cash and other funds that could be 'used for general operations' as of the beginning of the 2020 fiscal year, according to its financial statement.

Despite these resources, the archdiocese closed a half-dozen schools in May and June, often citing revenue losses due to the pandemic. Paycheck protection data show four of those schools collectively were approved for more than $700,000.

The shuttered schools included St. Francis of Assisi in Braintree, a middle-class enclave 10 miles south of Boston, which received $210,000. Parents said they felt blindsided by the closure, announced in June as classes ended.

'Its like a punch to the gut because that was such a home for so many people for so long,' said Kate Nedelman Herbst, the mother of two children who attended the elementary school.

Along with more than 2,000 other school supporters, Herbst signed a written protest to OMalley that noted the archdioceses robust finances. After OMalley didnt reply, parents appealed to the Vatican, this time underscoring the collection of Paycheck Protection Program money.

'It is very hard to reconcile the large sums of money raised by the archdiocese in recent years with this wholesale destruction of the churchs educational infrastructure,' parents wrote.

In December, the Vatican turned down their request to overrule OMalley. Spokesman Donilon said the decision to close the school 'is not being reconsidered.'

Today, the three children of Michael Waterman and his wife, Jeanine, are learning at home. And they still cant understand why the archdiocese didnt shift money to help save a school beloved by the faithful.

'What angers us,' Michael Waterman said, 'is that we feel like, given the amount of money that the Catholic Church has, they absolutely could have remained open.'
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is hardly the only political player who is leaning on 20th century references to present his vision for a post-pandemic future in New York. State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi is pushing for a state-level Marshall Plan for Moms while environmental activists say a Green New Deal matters more than ever. Higher education advocates even say the time is coming for students to get their own versions of President Franklin Roosevelts New Deal and G.I. Bill.

Higher education advocates warned at a Feb. 4 state budget hearing that proposed cuts to public and private colleges could jeopardize the states pandemic recovery while worsening racial and economic inequities.

History shows us that at times of crisis governments must not be timid in their response, Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress that represents CUNY faculty and staff members, said in testimony submitted to state lawmakers. The current crisis, like the Great Depression, demands visionary solutions, not defensive austerity.

Cuomos proposed budget includes a $46 million reduction in general operating support to SUNY, $26 million less for CUNY as well as tuition hikes for students at both public university systems. While some programs helping lower-income students are not facing cuts, the governor is proposing to eliminate a 50-year-old program known as Bundy Aid that is the only source of operating aid for more than 100 private, nonprofit colleges across the state.

State lawmakers, students, staff and faculty have a different vision for higher education this budget season. A proposed New Deal for CUNY aims to eliminate tuition, increase mental health and academic counseling, hire more faculty and expand public college campuses, according to activists. State Sen. Andrew Gounardes of Brooklyn and Assembly Member Karines Reyes of the Bronx plan to release details at a press conference scheduled for Friday. Advocates are also pushing for state lawmakers to increase funding for higher education while changing a longtime problem with the Tuition Assistance Program that helps students pay tuition. Establishing a full TAP award equal to SUNY tuition would benefit individual students by bringing an end to the campus penalty  campuses losing desperately needed tuition revenue for each TAP-eligible student they admit, Frederick Kowal of United University Professions, which represents faculty and staff at SUNY, said in his submitted testimony.

Advocates say that increased investments in higher education could turbocharge the states recovery from the pandemic, which has given them new moral arguments as well. Kowal told legislators that public employees like transit drivers, sanitation workers and health care workers deserve a free SUNY education just like WWII veterans got through the G.I. Bill of Rights, an idea already being pursued in Michigan. Students representatives told state lawmakers that the racial inequities exacerbated by the pandemic could be partially addressed by expanding the Excelsior Scholarship program to cover additional types of expenses. Housing, food, transportation, textbooks, equipment, fees, and other items are all financial stresses of students, SUNY Student Assembly President President Bradley Hershenson said in his testimony. More funding to help students with disabilities could likewise bridge the digital divide that was widened by the pandemic, according to the CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities.

Advocates say they support Cuomos efforts to secure $15 billion in new federal funding to help the state overcome a historical drop in state revenues, but they also want to increase taxes on high-earners, capital gains, stock transfers and corporations to fund their plans for higher education. Cuomo has resisted such efforts while he pushed for more federal funding by arguing that increasing taxes could hurt the states bottom line by driving wealthy people out of the state, as a litany of financial institutions have recently threatened to do. State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie have expressed support for raising taxes on the wealthy to some extent, but the details on which taxes they are ultimately looking to pass will only become known after these budget hearings conclude and each chamber unveils their one-house budget resolutions that set the stage for the final negotiations with the governor before the April 1 state budget deadline.

Advocates see history as a key ally in arguing that the pandemic presents as many opportunities as setbacks for higher education, if only elected leaders could be as bold as their predecessors. Governors Roosevelt, Lehman, Rockefeller, and Paterson all supported tax hikes on the wealthy when the state faced great economic peril to protect or lesson cuts to critical public services, Bowen said Thursday. We urge you to take a stand as courageous as that of the original New Deal reformers.
Officials in Ohio said that COVID-19 vaccines distributed at five long-term care facilities in northeast Ohio may be compromised.

Speaking during a twice-weekly coronavirus briefing, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Walgreens distributed a batch of the vaccine that was stored at inadequate temperatures, leaving the vaccine possibly ineffective.

It's unclear how many vaccines were impacted.

"No harm to anyone, but these vaccinations will have to be done again," the governor said of the vaccinations.

Those five northeast facilities include Ashtabula County Residential Services Corp, The Maples in Kingsville; Ashtabula Towers in Ashtabula; Heather Hill Care Communities in Chardon; Six Chimneys in East Cleveland; and Willow Park Convalescent Home in Cleveland.

The governor said it seems to be a case of human error.

Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, with the Ohio Department of Health, reiterated that the compromised vaccines pose no danger to the individuals who received them, adding that they will simply need to be revaccinated.

"If there is any breach in the refrigeration process, the vaccine cannot be relied upon," Vanderhoff said.

Vanderhoff said Walgreens discovered the error through their quality care procedures. Walgreens has reached out to the impacted facilities.

It is unclear when the individuals in these facilities will be revaccinated.
India is currently witnessing the Era of Renaissance in the agrarian sector. While the Indian government is strongly determined to ensure welfare of its farmers, a network of closely connected international organisations have again become active, in an attempt to hinder the development of the nation. It is noteworthy that these organisations have a history of interfering with any progressive and citizen-friendly reform that takes place in any corner of the world.

The three farm laws have been passed by the Indian Parliament in consonance with the procedure entailed in the Indian Constitution. Nonetheless, the Indian government acknowledges the scepticism of a few sections of farmers regarding the reforms. The farmers right to peaceful protest has been respected by the government despite major national roads being blocked for more than two months. The blockade has impacted the livelihoods of thousands of people, regardless of that the authorities have been diligently cooperating with the protesting farmers.

India is a participative democracy and giving due regard to the same, the government has organised 11 rounds of discussions with the farmers groups to address their concerns. Few of the groups have even withdrawn from the protests. The government is still willing to hold further discussions and is leaving no stone unturned to resolve all the genuine concerns of the protesting farmers.

The Prime Ministers offer to postpone the implementation of the laws for 18 months also went unheeded. The government gave the protesting farmers the permission for the farmers march on Republic Day and the police authorities made all the arrangements to ensure a hassle-free rally. However, a section of protesting farmers flouted every rule and created unrest in the national capital on the day when the Constitution of India came into effect 72 years agothe document that gave them their fundamental right to protest peacefully. They vandalised public property and attacked police officers with swords and even tractors were used as weapons. Many police personnel were admitted to hospitals. It was a clear case of disruption of law and order, but the authorities showed impeccable grit and patience by not using excessive force to suppress the violence.

ALSO READ| Farmers Protest and #Hashtag Anarchy as Dissent in the Age of Social Media

Even after this mayhem, the government is still letting them protest and has kept its doors open for discussions. The political parties sitting in opposition were once the proponents of the reforms and even promised the same in their election manifestos. The same parties have now taken a U-turn and are opposing the reforms just for the sake of crass and petty politics.

A global conspiracy

The vandalism and unrest are not only restricted to India but several divisive forces are trying to give it an international colour. Various Khalistan-supporting organisations have tried to create disruptions in the US and other countries. Mahatma Gandhis statue outside the Indian Embassy in Washington DC was desecrated by the protesters in December last year. A poster and a Khalistan flag were placed on the statue. Same was done recently in Davis, California.

Its a well-planned global conspiracy hatched by anti-India cabal who aim to destabilise and divide India. Accidental leakage of the toolkit by Greta Thunberg on Twitter is a proof of deep-rooted design to achieve the same. To continue igniting the protests, there has been influx of funds from various international sources. The National Investigation Agency has also started a probe to crackdown on the same. A number of pro-Khalistani organisations along with some radical elements have been openly celebrating the violence and spreading lies through various platforms. Anarchists like George Soros are quite infamous for manipulating the global order and funding violent protests throughout the globe.

It is notable that while the anti-India lobby is making every effort to vilify India on the global front, India has been helping the world by providing several countries with Covid-19 vaccines under the Vaccine Maitri initiative. The principle of SarveSantuNiramaya is deeply rooted in the Indian culture. In line with it, India has by now provided Covid-19 vaccines to more than a dozen countries. The vaccine assistance started with neighbours like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and has now has reached far-off countries like South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, Morocco among others. All this has been done within a month of rolling out of Indias vaccination drive. The rapid and selfless initiative has received appreciation from various international organisations.

ALSO READ| Rihanna, Greta Thunberg and Woke Celebs Tweeting on Farmers Protest, Please Read the Laws First

A commitment to farmers

The reforms in the agriculture sector will not only free the agricultural economy from slavery but will also make farmers a key market force. Several leading global economists have also praised the new reforms. The commitment of the Indian government towards the farmers is also reflected in the Union Budget 2021. The government has again reiterated that MSP (minimum support price) system will continue and will be further strengthened. To keep up with its commitment to develop APMCs (agricultural produce market committees), utilisation of Rs 1 lakh crore for infrastructure development of state-controlled mandis has been announced. Additionally, a hike in the MSP for Rabi crops was announced as recently as September 2020, signalling the governments intention to further strengthen the MSP system.

There are ample existing schemes, like PM-Kisan, PM Kisan Maandhan Yojana, PM Fasal Bima Yojana, which are designed with the sole intent of benefitting the farmers. The farm laws coupled with the plethora of farmer-centric welfare schemes promise a new dawn for Indian agriculture, ensuring maximum benefits to farmers.

India is a robust democracy, and the Indian government is committed to resolving the issues and grievances of the protesting farmers. No paid propaganda can obstruct New Indias path towards development and prosperity. The Indian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is resolute in working for the advancement and welfare of its people and humanity at large.
Under the supply agreement, the company's licensed German distributor, Pharmadrug Production GmbH will purchase branded medical cannabis from the supplier's German subsidiary

Pharmadrug expects to begin receiving shipments of cannabis shortly with the goal of commencing distribution to its pharmacy network in the current quarter of 2021

PharmaDrug Inc. ( ) (OTCPINK:LMLLF) said it entered into a supply agreement on January 4, 2021, with a Canadian-based multinational cannabis company for EU-GMP certified medical cannabis, with the supply already registered and approved for sale in the German market.

Under the supply agreement, the company's licensed German distributor, Pharmadrug Production GmbH will purchase branded medical cannabis from the supplier's German subsidiary. Pharmadrug Production has already received regulatory approval to distribute the cannabis and the product has been added to their license. The group said the flower will be imported into Germany by the global supplier and sold under the supplier's medical cannabis brand.

The company expects to begin receiving shipments of cannabis shortly with the goal of commencing distribution to its pharmacy network in the current quarter of 2021. In anticipation of increased inventory, the Company will be expanding the sales and marketing operations within its German cannabis distribution segment.

As previously disclosed, PharmaDrug's primary obstacle to significant growth of its cannabis distribution business is the lack of supply. As such, the group's management has sought to increase its supply through additional channels of already approved product while it continued to work on importing its own branded supply.

The company said its management is confident that the new flower is ideally suited for the quality requirements of the German market. Pharmadrug also expects to be able to distribute the supplier's THC extract oils and anticipates being able to access this product in the next two to three months.

In a statement, Pharmadrug chairman and CEO Daniel Cohen commented: "We are extremely excited to begin selling the new product and to increase our offering beyond Bedrocan. Carrying a second line of medical cannabis will allow us to significantly increase our sales volumes, revenue, profit margins, and to expand our pharmacy network as we prepare to begin importing our own product."

He added: "We will continue to work to expand our supply channels with the aim of supplying several key brands as well as developing our own. Our goal is to be a one-stop shop for pharmacies seeking medical cannabis. To this end, we also continue to work with Incorporated to register our own strain from Eve's offerings, and much progress has been made in this regard. We are also in advanced discussions with emerging extractors within the Eurozone to supply us with a white label product that we can sell under our own brand."

CBD line advances; strong balance sheet

Pharmadrug said it has also made significant advancements towards launching a CBD line. The CBD business model will differ from PharmaDrug's Medical Cannabis business as it will seek to be a supplier of branded product to be sold via distributors and e-commerce platforms.

A quality supplier has been sourced and Pharmadrug Production is already in possession of its first shipment of bulk inventory. The product has been tested by several potential distribution partners and the feedback has been positive, and the company's management is in the process of registering the product for approval with the applicable state regulator.

Once approval has been obtained, the company will finalize distribution agreements and begin to package the product for retail sale under a proprietary PharmaDrug brand.

PharmaDrug also revealed that its balance sheet has undergone a significant improvement since it reported its third-quarter numbers. Firstly, the selling of marketable securities and the exercising of the company's warrants have contributed to an increase of cash on the balance sheet, now equaling approximately $3.5 million. Secondly, the Interrobang debentures have been converted into equity resulting in approximately $2.5 million in debt being eliminated.

The company said it still holds marketable securities with a current value of over $1 million dollars and PharmaDrug has "in the money warrants" outstanding which can potentially bring in approximately $1 million in additional cash. The groupsaid its management believes it has more than enough cash on hand to fund all its activities in 2021.

PharmaDrug is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of controlled-substances and natural medicines such as psychedelics, cannabis and naturally-derived approved drugs.

The company owns 80% of Pharmadrug Production GmbH, a German medical cannabis distributor, with a Schedule I European Union narcotics license and German EuGMP certification allowing for the importation and distribution of medical cannabis to pharmacies in Germany and throughout the EU.

It also owns 100% of Super Smart, a Dutch company building a modern adult-use psychedelic retail business with an elevated and educational focus.

PharmaDrug recently acquired Sairiyo Therapeutics, a biotech company that specializes in researching and reformulating established natural medicines with a goal of bringing them through regulatory and research-driven clinical trials.

Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com
FALLS CHURCH, Va., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), announced today the signing of Microsoft Partner Agreement for Online Services-Government (AOS-G). The new agreement provides federal customers with the capability to access Azure services and offerings, including the classified regions of Azure Government. Through the recently awarded Defense Enterprise Office Solution (DEOS) contract, GDIT is now enabled to provide Department of Defense customers with migration to both Microsoft 365 and Azure.

GDIT announced the signing of Microsoft Partner Agreement for Online Services-Government (AOS-G). The new agreement provides federal customers with the capability to access Azure services and offerings, including the classified regions of Azure Government.

"Clients across the federal government are rapidly adopting cloud and Software-as-a-Service solutions," said Ben Gianni, vice president and chief technology officer of GDIT. "Microsoft offers Microsoft 365 for collaboration, Azure for cloud based workloads and Dynamics 365 for customer relationship management."

"GDIT's agreement with Microsoft is an important component of our cloud strategy and provides federal customers the full set of offerings to meet their enterprise and mission requirements," said Gianni.

"Microsoft and GDIT have long partnered to support the most complex missions across the government sector," said Greg Myers, vice president of Microsoft Federal at Microsoft Corp. "This agreement will further solidify this relationship through GDIT's deep knowledge of the government programs to enable cloud technology to support modernization and digital transformation efforts across the federal government."

Microsoft is a Strategic Alliance Partner within GDIT's technology partner program, enabling GDIT to deliver a wide range of solutions on Azure, including cloud computing, storage, analytics and machine learning. GDIT's agreement with Microsoft helps the federal government leverage cloud technology for its missions, streamline costs and incorporate best-practice maintenance services.

General Dynamics is a global aerospace and defense company that offers a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation; ship construction and repair; land combat vehicles, weapons systems and munitions; and technology products and services. General Dynamics employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and generated $37.9 billion in revenue in 2020. More information about General Dynamics Information Technology is available at www.gdit.com. More information is available at www.gd.com.

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Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
JERUSALEM  Israel quickly became the world leader in vaccinating its population against Covid-19, but almost all Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank are still waiting for their first doses of the inoculation.

That disparity has set off a roiling debate about Israels responsibilities as an occupying power in one of the worlds most protracted territorial feuds.

To Israels critics, international law obligates Israel to give Palestinians access to vaccines comparable to what it offers its own citizens. But supporters of Israels policies contend that the Palestinians assumed responsibility for health services for their population when they signed the Oslo Accords in the 1990s.

While the Palestinians glaring vulnerability to the virus lessened somewhat this week  the Palestinian Authority officially launched a vaccination campaign by giving frontline medical workers doses received from Israel  the contrast with Israel remains striking. The disparity also reflects in part the stark inequality in access to vaccines between rich countries like Israel and other areas of the developing world.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has expressed concern about the unwillingness of Ghanaians to report incidents of corruption.



This, the Commission noted had been heightened by the general perception that even when cases were reported, nothing would be done about it coupled with the fear of being victimised.



Mr Theophelus Tetteh Tuwor, Central Regional Director of CHRAJ shared these sentiments in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and stressed the need for Civil Society Organizations and the private sector to help change the narrative.



When reporting on issues of human rights and administrative justice, you need an identifiable complainant but for anti-corruption, you only give us a lead. Unfortunately, that is where the cases are not coming, he lamented.



Normally, people have this perception that when they report, nothing will happen or they will be victimised, Mr Tuwor noted while bemoaning that many Ghanaians remained unconcerned.



Mr Tuwor, therefore, assured that people must not be worried about being victimised because they were protected under the whistle-blower's act.



On cases, the Regional office of CHRAJ did not record any anti-corruption case for the year 2020 as against one case in the previous year.



Mr Tuwor said his outfit would continue to embark on series of public education to make the Commission more visible and engage institutions on the need to help fight corruption in the Country.

Source: GNA









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Featured Video
The next vaccine debate: Who gets which shots?

Countries across the world have authorized a growing menu of coronavirus vaccines, but the question now confronting health officials is who should be given which shots.

The issue is most pressing in the European Union, after regulators authorized the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine  the third shot now available. Officials in eight countries, including Germany, Italy and France, plan to limit that vaccine to younger people, citing insufficient data on the vaccines effectiveness in older people. The doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines would be set aside for older people.

Some scientists say that targeting the vaccine to those in whom it is known to be effective was an urgently needed stopgap, especially as variants gain steam. Others said it would only delay injections for the people most in need of protection.

Context: When the British scientists planned large-scale clinical trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine last year, they chose not to vaccinate older participants until they knew the vaccine was safe in younger ones, a decision that led to fewer older people being inoculated. Britain, India and others authorized it for all adults anyway, but European officials have been more cautious.

Two Chickasaw Nation Productions documentaries from the Chickasaw Heritage Series are airing Feb. 6 and 7 in Fresno, California.

Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC) will broadcast Bearer of the Morning Saturday, Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. and First Encounter Sunday, Feb. 7 at 3 p.m. on Comcast Xfinity channel 93, AT&T U-Verse channel 99, and the CMAC app on Roku and Apple TV.

The Chickasaw Heritage Series is a video project initiative from Chickasaw Nation Productions designed to inform, educate and entertain audiences about the resilient and persevering spirit of the Chickasaw Nation.

If you are unable to watch through your local cable or satellite provider, the documentaries are also available to view online at ChickasawFilms.com/Documentaries.

Bearer of the Morning

The story follows the life of Mary Te Ata Thompson Fisher as she embraces the Chickasaw tradition of storytelling and transforms herself into the world-renowned performer, Te Ata.

By studying and performing traditional First American stories, Te Ata worked to help overturn negative stereotypes and advocate for the preservation of Indigenous American cultures. Te Ata kept her Chickasaw heritage close to her heart and shared the unique story and spirit of the Chickasaw people.

In this one-hour documentary, discover how this dynamic Chickasaw woman successfully navigated the social, geographic and cultural distances to become one of the most successful First American performers in history.

First Encounter

First Encounter explores the actions taken by Chickasaws in 1541 during their first contact with Europeans. The documentary highlights the encounters, struggles and perseverance of the Chickasaw people throughout the attempted conquest by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto.

This encounter helped establish the reputation for which the tribe would be recognized for centuries and remains today  unconquered and unconquerable.

Chickasaw curriculum

Both Chickasaw Heritage Series First Encounter and Bearer of the Morning documentaries have been incorporated into an online curriculum produced by the Chickasaw Nation for elementary and secondary school levels. These and other lessons are available to homeschool and public school educators by visiting Chickasaw.net/AtHome.

These lessons might also interest anyone looking to dig deeper into the history and culture of the Chickasaw people, with reference materials and photographs presented much like a textbook.

Every lesson of the Chickasaw Nation curriculum is aligned with Oklahoma Academic Standards as outlined by the Oklahoma State Department of Education social studies guide.

Areas of study include history, social studies, geography and government. Students who dive into these studies will develop skills, including reading, writing, critical thinking, test taking and artistic creation.

Each lesson is complete with its own lesson plan, reading material, discussion questions, student activity and reference list for convenience. This material can be easily incorporated into any educational setting.
California Gov. Gavin Newsoms approval rating is slipping into precarious territory, no one  even his spin doctors  would disagree with that. But are we headed to a repeat of 2003 when Gov. Gray Davis was ousted by Hollywood hero turned populist politician Arnold Schwarzenegger? As my colleague Joe Garofoli noted in his always on-point insights, the differences are far more significant than the comparisons. Perhaps the No. 1 issue: Who in California could approach Schwarzeneggers near-100% approval ratings and ability to connect with everyday voters?

Great point  and Ill explore the recall issue further in my Sunday column. Are we headed to an era of perpetual recalls in this deeply polarized society?

What were saying in editorials

Too fast, too soon? The gathering evidence that Californias holiday season stay-at-home orders turned back its worst surge of coronavirus infections yet raises more questions about Gov. Gavin Newsoms decision to rescind the restrictions last week. Read our editorial

Relief is the priority: In the interest of unity, the willfully misunderstood buzzword of the moment, President Biden is right to hear out the Republican senators offering a counter-proposal to his pandemic relief plan. But lets not get carried away. Read our editorial

S.F. School board gone rogue: The San Francisco Board of Education seems to be going out of its way to undermine the reputation and appeal of the citys public schools. Next step for its the tone-deaf, homework-deficient elected members: basing admission to Lowell High School, nationally recognized for its academic excellence, on a random lottery instead of grades and test scores. Read our editorial

Guest opinions

Rev. Amos C. Brown: Students who have been admitted selectively to Lowell also enter with a sense of entitlement  not so subtly encouraged by the school system, parents and alumni  that leads them to believe that increased diversity somehow lowers the bar. Perhaps part of the anti-racism lesson should have been listening to Amanda Gorman deliver a powerful poem at the Biden-Harris inauguration. Read his piece

Karen J. Hanrahan: No lasting recovery from the pandemic is possible without addressing the extreme inequities festering in America. We need a response of epic scale to tackle the deepening inequality tearing at the fabric of our democracy. Read her piece

Kirk Jenkins: Counsel to former President Donald Trump will argue in the upcoming impeachment trial that an impeachment trial of a former president is unconstitutional. They are mistaken. Read his piece

Letter of the Week

Gene Schnair of San Francisco offered this thought on the recall of San Franciscos school board:

While the school board is preoccupied with recalling names of schools and changing rigorous admissions standards (Lowell High School) while children are challenged with remote learning, a great lesson in civic education would be a recall of the school board. No more homework is required, all the facts are already known, that the board is tone-deaf to fair and open public debate and rigorous historical analysis. Why wait for the next election? Start a recall now!

And please check out our other letters of the day responding to this and other matters. You can send us a letter via this form.

Where to follow us

We have a Twitter channel, Opinion Central (@sfc_opinions). Please add it to your stream. Youll catch our editorials and opinion pieces, as well as our drive-by comments on assorted subjects in the news. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnDiazChron

Just a reminder

The Chronicles editorials represent the collective judgment of our Editorial Board, which includes the publisher as well as the writers and editors from the opinion team. Our editors and reporters on the news side are not involved in those decisions (including election endorsements). They are charged with reporting fairly and objectively without regard to our editorial positions. It is one of the core values here at Fifth and Mission streets.

Opinion Central is a thrice-weekly newsletter from John Diaz, The Chronicles editorial page editor, and the rest of the Editorial Board. Follow along on Twitter: @sfc_opinions

On Thursday, Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota, along with four other Democratic senators, unveiled a major change to antitrust law that would dramatically affect the biggest tech companies. The biggest change is that the law would shift the burden of proof when considering whether an acquisition or merger is anticompetitive.

Currently, the government has to prove that a deal would be bad for consumers because it would hurt competition. The new legislation would require companies with a dominant position in their market to prove that a deal doesn't "create an appreciable risk of materially lessening competition." That could be a very high bar to clear.

The law would also add to the Clayton Act to prohibit what it calls "exclusionary conduct," which it defines as conduct by a dominant company that "materially disadvantages one or more actual or potential competitors."

Finally, the bill provides additional funding for the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission, and increases the civil penalties available to allow fines of up to 15 percent of a company's total annual revenue from the previous year, or up to 30 percent of the revenue generated by the anti-competitive conduct.

The bill is still a long way from becoming law, and it could face challenges from Senate Republicans. It also doesn't apply only to tech companies. It does, however, represent the most significant challenge yet to the dominance of the major tech companies in our lives and in the economy.

Here's what it could specifically mean for Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple:

Facebook

Arguably, Facebook has the most at risk here. The company is already facing an antitrust lawsuit filed by the FTC and the Attorneys General from 46 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam. Those lawsuits specifically seek to look at Facebook's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, and the way it has treated third-party apps and developers that pose a potential competitive threat.

While Klobuchar hasn't called for breaking up any specific company, the bill would give antitrust enforcers more tools to rein in what they consider bad behavior. The FTC has already said it will request divestiture of those apps and could impose significant restrictions on the social-media giant going forward.

Google

Google is also facing a landmark antitrust case, filed last year by the Department of Justice under President Trump. The biggest area of vulnerability for Google, at least from those lawsuits, appears to be the company's deal with Apple to be the default search engine for Safari on the iPhone and the Mac.

Under this bill, that would likely be considered exclusionary conduct, forcing Google to end the deal. Apple's devices account for more than half of all of Google's search volume, but it could actually be Apple with more to lose here. The deal reportedly brings in $8 billion to $12 billion in revenue for Apple each year.

Amazon

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos just announced he was leaving that role in a few months, and he may be getting out at a convenient time. The company has been under pressure to answer questions about how it uses data from third-party sellers.

Amazon has consistently denied that it uses data from individual sellers, but has said that it uses overall information from what consumers are purchasing to "identify categories and products with high customer demand." The company points out that isn't different from what other retailers that have private label businesses do. Still, there's a very real chance that the FTC or Department of Justice could challenge those practices as exclusionary or anticompetitive conduct, especially if Klobuchar's bill becomes law.

Apple

Apple's App Store has faced criticism from developers and lawmakers, though the company has mostly avoided the same level of intense scrutiny facing its tech brethren. That could change under this law.
New Delhi/Washington, Feb 4 : In response to the US remarks, the government on Thursday compared the violent protests against its farm reforms to the rioting by the supporters of former President Donald Trump at the Capitol Hill last month.

A spokesperson of the US State Department had told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that the Joe Biden administration recognises "that peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy, and note that the Indian Supreme Court has stated the same. We encourage that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue".

Though the spokesperson also said that "in general, the United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment," he reprimanded the Indian government over the suspension of internet services in and around some farmers' protest sites.

"We recognise that unhindered access to information, including the internet, is fundamental to the freedom of expression and a hallmark of a thriving democracy," he had said.

On Thursday, during his weekly briefing, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that it has taken note of the US State Department's statement on the agriculture reforms and the ongoing protests.

He pointed out how the protesters resorted to violence at Red Fort on India's Republic Day on January 26, undermining the country's law and order and the tricolour.

The spokesperson compared it to the Capitol Hill violence and said that both the incidents were "part of vibrant democracies".

The ministry in a statement issued on Wednesday had explained that the Parliament of India, after full debate and discussion, had passed the reformist legislation relating to the agricultural sector. "These reforms give expanded market access and provide greater flexibility to the farmers. They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming," it said.

The government also said that a very small section of farmers in parts of India have some reservations about these reforms.

"Respecting the sentiments of the protesters, the government of India has initiated a series of talks with their representatives. Union ministers have been part of the negotiations, and 11 rounds of talks have already been held. The government has even offered to keep the laws on hold, an offer iterated by no less than the Prime Minister of India," it said.

The ministry said, "Yet, it is unfortunate to see vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda on these protests, and derail them. This was egregiously witnessed on January 26, India's Republic Day. A cherished national commemoration, the anniversary of the inauguration of the Constitution of India, was besmirched, and violence and vandalism took place in the Indian capital.

"Some of these vested interest groups have also tried to mobilise international support against India. Instigated by such fringe elements, Mahatma Gandhi statues have been desecrated in parts of the world. This is extremely disturbing for India and for civilised society everywhere." Indian police forces have handled these protests with utmost restraint. It may be noted that hundreds of men and women serving in the police have been physically attacked, and in some cases stabbed and seriously wounded, it said.

"We would like to emphasise that these protests must be seen in the context of India's democratic ethos and polity, and the efforts of the government and the concerned farmer groups to resolve the impasse," the government said.

Thank you for reading!

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The parents of Ethan Song, a Guilford teenager who died from an accidental gunshot, joined Connecticuts entire congressional delegation on Wednesday in resuming the fight to establish national firearms storage standards.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal hopes that Ethans Law, requiring households with children under the age of 18 to lock all firearms, will be the first in a series of gun-safety measures that may become law now that both chambers of Congress and the White House are controlled by Democrats.

Other measures include universal background checks and red-flag laws to remove weapons from dangerous people.

This political movement has really come of age, Blumenthal told reporters during an online news conference. To put it very simply, the grip of the gun lobby on Congress has been broken. We face a new day here when it comes to gun-violence prevention. This measure is the first in a series of common-sense steps, but it has powerful justification on its own.

In a rare joint news conference with all seven of Connecticuts Congressional delegation  all of them Democrats  senators and House members alike said they are optimistic about Ethans Law, named for Ethan Song, 15, who accidentally shot himself at a neighbors house in 2018.

Kristin and Mike Song, who succeeded in getting a similar law approved in the Connecticut General Assembly in 2019, started by showing a brief video of their son at different ages and stressed that gun safes and gun locks are public-health measures just like seatbelts and car seats for infants.

We dont have a minute to waste, Kristin Song said. Do it for your children. Mike Song displayed a small gun safe that can open by scanning a thumb. Just like you can open your phone, you can secure your gun, he said.

The Songs say the issue has nothing to do with the right to own firearms.

We never viewed it as a Second Amendment issue, Kristin Song said. We viewed it as life-saving legislation for children.

The law would include financial incentives for states to develop their own programs. About eight children a day are killed or wounded by firearms throughout the nation.

Third District U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who will reintroduce the bill, said she wanted to show the Song family video to other members of Congress. Because of your courage, our nation can become a safer place, DeLauro said to the Songs, stressing that as many as 4.6 million children live in homes where there are loaded, unlocked firearms. This is a child-safety issue.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a national figure on gun-safety including the long-stalled campaign for universal background checks, said similar storage laws are being enacted around the country.

National legislation can bring about a major drop in suicide, he said. With two thirds of gun deaths attributed to suicides, and research showing that if suicidal impulses can be rejected within 10 or 20 minutes, an inability to grab a gun can truly be the difference between life and death, Murphy said.

The campaign will still be tough even though President Joe Biden favors gun safety measures and Democrats now control the Senate, said U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District.

It is going to require all of us to put noses to the grindstone and of course its going requires those activists out there to really put it to those who have stood in the way, Himes said. The idea that if you keep a gun in your home where there is a reasonable possibility that a child might have access to it  that that gun should not be secured  theres not two sides of that. There is reasonableness and there is something, which I cant characterize as anything other than sadism, if you dont believe that to be true.

We can have a conversation about safe gun storage that does not diminish a persons ability to own a firearm, said U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, in whose district is Newtown, the site of the school massacre where 26, including 20 first graders, were murdered in 2012. Anyone who is a registered, lawful gun owner should want to store their firearms safely and should want everyone else to do the same.

Blumenthal said the delegation hopes Ethans Law could signal a momentum shift in a Congress that has been paralyzed for decades by a gun lobby that once favored locks for guns. It should be as non-controversial as it was in the Connecticut General Assembly, Blumenthal said.

The national version of Ethans Law was first introduced by DeLauro and 109 co-sponsors in May 2019, but failed.

This political movement has really come of age, Blumenthal said, naming a advocacy groups including Sandy Hook Promise and the Sandy Hook Action Alliance. The NRA has imploded. It has sought to petition for bankruptcy in New York, which is a sign of not only its finances, but of its moral standing. I have no doubt  none  that this bill will pass here in the House and Senate. We are going to win because we have a powerful grassroots movement.

Emilie Munson contributed to this report from Hearsts Washington bureau.
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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

The Bexar County Criminal District Attorney's Office announced they have been made aware of scam artists targeting Bexar County residents, according to a tweet from District Attorney Joe Gonzales.

The post explains how the scam artists are claiming a warrant has been issued for an individual's arrest and they must send a payment immediately.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Indiana State Police say Indiana ranks 22nd in the country in the number of human trafficking cases.

And with Superbowl 55 getting underway this weekend, police say it's important you stay on high alert.

News 10 talked with a Terre Haute woman named Rebecca.

She's a human trafficking survivor, we won't share her last name for her safety concerns.

She says she was trafficked right here in Terre Haute several years ago.

She says that when most people think of being trafficked, it's by a stranger.

But as Rebecca shares the predator is usually someone you know.

"I was trafficked when I was in my 20's for a little over 2 and a half years simply by a man that I believed cared about me, it took about 14 years after I had gotten away from him that I was able to self identify that what had happened to me was actually sex trafficking," said Rebecca.

She says one of the common misconceptions about this crime is that it's not happening where you are.

"A lot of people think it's just a 3rd world country problem but when in truth it is happening all over the United States. Suburbs, big cities, inner cities, not just oversea's," says Rebecca.

Kate Kimmer is the director of anti-trafficking initiative in Indianapolis.

She says she's been working with traffic victims for 12 years.

She believes the problem is not getting better.

"I've never had a client die and last year I had my first client die. So it was a tough year, it was a tough year for all of us in this work and a tough year for survivors," says Kate Kimmer.

Meanwhile, Rebecca has started a non-profit geared toward men and women who have found themselves in the position she was in.

If you have concerns, there's a national trafficking hotline you can call for help.

That important telephone number is 1-888-373-7888.
A message inadvertently sent to an old email address has set off a legal battle between a San Antonio publicly traded company and a former executive.

Vaden Landers had served as chief revenue officer at payment processor Usio Inc. since 2017 before they had a falling out last year.

Landers left Usio in April and later began working with New York private equity firm Tailwind Capital to identify potential acquisitions in the finance technology, or fintech, arena.

They found a potential target in Atlanta-based payment processor Transaction Services (TRX) and set up a meeting for January, court documents show. A Tailwind partner emailed investment banker Roshan Punjabi, who had introduced his friend Landers to Tailwind, on Dec. 29 to say the firm was excited about the TRX deal and exploring a transaction with Vaden.

Punjabi forwarded the email to Landers, adding, FYI. Sounds like we are moving!

The email, however, went to Landers former Usio email address and was read by Usio officials.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio CEO addresses getting COVID, PPP loan and his companys role during pandemic

Less than three weeks later, Usio sued Landers alleging he breached the terms of a non-compete agreement that was part of his employment contract by working with a Usio competitor. The agreement doesnt expire until Sept. 1, 2022, or two years after the end of his contract, Usio said.

Landers counter-sued Jan. 27, accusing Usio CEO Louis Hoch of gross mismanagement and undermining his authority, as well as failing to pay his pro-rata portion of a 2020 bonus. But he also alleged that Usio interfered with his prospective business relationship with Tailwind and the deals they were working on.

Usio had sent Landers, Tailwind and Punjabi a cease-and-desist letter Jan. 5. As a result, Tailwind informed Landers it was not going to work with him, according to his lawsuit. That deal and others that he couldnt pursue with Tailwind potentially cost him more than $100 million, he said.

Ricardo Cedillo, Landers San Antonio lawyer, declined to comment on the litigation in state District Court in San Antonio.

San Antonio attorney Eric Pullen, who represents Usio, disputed Landers claims and denied it interfered with any of his deals.

Certainly whatever Mr. Landers was doing with Tailwind or TRX was behind Usios back, Pullen said. But for that email, we probably would still be in the dark about it.

Pullen added, We just want him to honor his non-compete. He got a paid a huge amount of money. Hes now received more than $5 million. This is not an attempt to harm the guy going forward. He signed a contract, and we just want him to comply with it.

Usio wants a temporary injunction to prevent Landers from performing any work for a competitor and sharing its trade secrets. A court hearing on the request is set for Feb. 11.

The claims in the litigation are subject to an arbitration agreement, Pullen said, but emergency relief can be pursued in court.

Landers, who lives outside of Nashville, Tenn., sold his credit card processing business  Singular Payments  to Usio for $5 million in 2017. The sale was comprised of $1.5 million and $3.5 million in stock.

Landers entered into a three-year contract to serve as Usios chief revenue officer, though he said in his lawsuit he was promised the position of president. He received a $300,000 base salary and 300,000 Usio shares with a 10-year vesting period.

Over his last year and a half at Usio, Landers said he questioned Hoch about gross mismanagement, gross waste of funds, and abuse of authority. Incidents of misconduct included Hochs pursuit of San Antonios Billing Services Group, a provider of telecommunications-clearing and financial-settlement products with shrinking revenue. Hoch wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars pursuing BSG before the deal fell apart, Landers said in his suit.

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Landers also expressed concerns about Usios financial stability, from the perspective of both an employee and the third largest shareholder. Its only been profitable in five years since going public in 1998.

Citing Hochs conduct, Landers said he was forced to make the painful decision to tender his resignation. He submitted his notice on April 29.

While he was working through his exit with Hoch, Landers said in his answer to Usios complaint that Hoch incorrectly assumed that Landers would attend an earnings call to make public statements about the outlook for the business that were material misrepresentations to investors, analysts and board members. Landers declined to participate on the call.

After that, Landers added, communications broke down and he was never received his deferred bonus.

There was no attempt by Usio to get him to do anything improper, Pullen responded. He indicated he would be on the call and subsequently told Mr. Hoch that he could not, based on the advice of counsel.

In his counterclaim, Landers seeks a ruling declaring the non-compete agreement overly broad because it says hes prohibited from participating in any businesses providing payment processing services in any state that Usio operates in.

What Usio could not allow was him to go out and go work for a competing business with all of the confidential information he was in possession of, Pullen said. We do not think its over-broad.

Pullen called Landers a disgruntled employee.

He did not perform as we expected, Pullen said. The company had to deal with various issues related to Vaden and the customers he brought to the table.

Since Landers departure, Usio said he has liquidated his Usio stock in the open market for around $2.70 a share, or more than $4 million in total.

Pullen noted how well Usios shares have performed since Landers left the company.

Its doing better than it ever has, Pullen said.

The shares jumped $1.14, or 24 percent, to close at $5.88 Wednesday. Thats the highest the stock has traded in more than five years.

pdanner@express-news.net

Mandatory home quarantine regulations were signed into law last night and came into effect as of midnight.

This means anyone arriving in this country from today is now legally required to quarantine in their home.

Failure to do so can be penalised by fines of up to 2,500 and/or six months in prison.

Read More

There will be no exemptions from the quarantine laws for people arriving from high risk countries such as South Africa and Brazil.

And Health Minister Stephen Donnelly will also be able to designate countries as high risk if there are concerns about the spread of Covid-19 in certain states.

People with negative Covid-19 tests arriving from countries deemed low risk will be able to leave quarantine if they get negative test five days after arrival.

Minister Donnelly also extended regulations which require all passengers arriving in Ireland to produce a negative Covid-19 test on arrival. Again, failure to produce a test can result in a 2,500 fine and/or six months in prison.

Anyone arriving without a negative test will be legally obliged to take a test within 36 hours of their arrival in the country. It will also be offence to refuse to get a Covid-19 test.

Passengers arriving in Ireland via Northern Ireland will also be required to produce a negative Covid-19 test and adhere to the new mandatory quarantine rules.

There are very limited exemptions from the test requirement including for essential transport workers, Gardai and Defence Forces personnel in the course of their duties.

In a statement, Minister Donnelly said: The clear Government and public health advice is that everybody should avoid non-essential travel completely. Last night I signed additional regulations that put mandatory quarantine at home on a statutory footing. All travellers into the country must now adhere to staying at home and enforcement will be a matter for An Garda Siochana.

Additionally, our public health advice is that people subjected to mandatory quarantine should self-isolate within their homes to assist in protecting those around them.

Further work on additional legislation to implement mandatory quarantine at a designated facility for those arriving from countries with variants of concern, such as Brazil and South Africa is being progressed and will be implemented as soon as possible, he added.












KAWASAKI, Japan, Feb 4, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and Hokkaido University today announced the development of a new technology based on the principle of "explainable AI" that automatically presents users with steps needed to achieve a desired outcome based on AI results about data, for example, from medical checkups."Explainable AI" represents an area of increasing interest in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning. While AI technologies can automatically make decisions from data, "explainable AI" also provides individual reasons for these decisions - this helps avoid the so-called "black box" phenomenon, in which AI reaches conclusions through unclear and potentially problematic means.While certain techniques can also provide hypothetical improvements one could take when an undesirable outcome occurs for individual items, these do not provide any concrete steps to improve.For example, if an AI that makes judgments about the subject's health status determines that a person is unhealthy, the new technology can be applied to first explain the reason for the outcome from health examination data like height, weight, and blood pressure. Then, the new technology can additionally offer the user targeted suggestions about the best way to become healthy, identifying the interaction among a large number of complicated medical checkups items from past data and showing specific steps to improvement that take into account feasibility and difficulty of implementation.Ultimately, this new technology offers the potential to improve the transparency and reliability of decisions made by AI, allowing more people in the future to interact with technologies that utilize AI with a sense of trust and peace of mind. Further details will be presented at the AAAI-21, Thirty-Fifth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence opening from Tuesday, February 2.Developmental BackgroundCurrently, deep learning technologies widely used in AI systems requiring advanced tasks such as face recognition and automatic driving automatically make various decisions based on a large amount of data using a kind of black box predictive model. In the future, however, ensuring the transparency and reliability of AI systems will become an important issue for AI to make important decisions and proposals for society. This need has led to increased interest and research into "explainable AI" technologies.For example, in medical checkups, AI can successfully determine the level of risk of illness based on data like weight and muscle mass (Figure 1 (A)). In addition to the results of the judgment on the level of risk, attention has been increasingly focused on "explainable AI" that presents the attributes (Figure 1 (B)) that served as the basis for the judgment.Because AI determines that health risks are high based on the attributes of the input data, it's possible to change the values of these attributes to get the desired results of low health risks.IssuesIn order to achieve the desired results in AI automated decisions, it is necessary not only to present the attributes that need to be changed, but also to present the attributes that can be changed with as little effort as is practical.In the case of medical checkups, if one wants to change the outcome of the AI's decision from high risk status to low risk status, achieving it with less effort may seem to increase muscle mass (Figure 2 Change 1) - but it is unrealistic to increase one's muscle mass alone without changing one's weight, so actually increasing weight and muscle mass simultaneously is a more realistic solution (Figure 2 Change 2). In addition, there are many interactions between attributes such as weight and muscle mass, such as causal relationships in which weight increases with muscle growth, and the total effort required to make changes depends on the order in which the attributes are changed. Therefore, it is necessary to present the appropriate order in which the attributes are changed. In Figure 2, it is not obvious whether weight or muscle mass should be changed first in order to reach Change 2 from the current state, so it remains challenging to find an appropriate method of change taking into the account the possibility and order of changes from among a large number potential candidates.About the Newly Developed TechnologyThrough joint research on machine learning and data mining, Fujitsu Laboratories and Arimura Laboratory at the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University have developed new AI technologies that can explain the reasons for AI decisions to users, leading to the discovery of useful, actionable knowledge.AI technologies such as LIME (1) and SHAP (2), which have been developed as AI technologies to support decision-making of human users, are technologies that make the decision convincing by explaining why AI made such a decision. The jointly developed new technology is based on the concept of counterfactual explanation (3) and presents the action in attribute change and the order of execution as a procedure. While avoiding unrealistic changes through the analysis of past cases, the AI estimates the effects of attribute value changes on other attribute values, such as causality, and calculates the amount that the user actually has to change based on this, enabling the presentation of actions that will achieve optimal results in the proper order and with the least effort.For example, if one has to add 1 kg of muscle mass and 7 kg to their body weight in order to reduce the risk in the input attribute and its order (Figure 1 (C)) that they change to obtain the desired result in a medical checkup, it's possible to estimate the relationship by analyzing the interaction between the muscle mass and the body weight in advance. That means that if one adds 1 kg of muscle mass, the body weight will increase by 6 kg. In this case, out of the additional 7 kg required for weight change, the amount of change required after the muscle mass change is just 1 kg. In other words, the amount of change one actually has to make is to add 1 kg of muscle mass and 1 kg of weight, so one can get the desired result with less effort than the order changing their weight first.EffectsUsing the jointly developed counterfactual explanation AI technology, Fujitsu and Hokkaido University verified three types of data sets (4) that are used in the following use cases: diabetes, loan credit screening, and wine evaluation. By combining three key algorithms for machine learning - Logistic Regression (5), Random Forest (6), and Multi-Layer Perceptron (7) - with the newly developed techniques, we have verified that it becomes possible to identify the appropriate actions and sequence to change the prediction to a desired result with less effort than the effort of actions derived by existing technologies in all datasets and machine learning algorithm combinations. This proved especially effective for the loan credit screening use case, making it possible to change the prediction to the preferred result with less than half the effort.Using this technology, when an undesirable result is expected in the automatic judgment by AI, the actions required to change the result to a more desirable one can be presented. This will allow for the application of AI to be expanded not only to judgment but also to support improvements in human behavior.Future PlansGoing forward, Fujitsu Laboratories will continue to combine this technology with individual cause-and-effect discovery technologies (8) to enable more appropriate actions to be presented. Fujitsu will also use this technology to expand its action extraction technology (9) based on its proprietary "FUJITSU AI Technology Wide Learning", with the aim of commercializing it in fiscal 2021.Hokkaido University aims to establish AI technology to extract knowledge and information useful for human decision-making from various field data, not limited to the presentation of actions.(1) LIME: An explainable AI technology. Explains in a simple, interpretable model.(2) SHAP: An explainable AI technology. Explains by showing the contribution of the explanatory variable in the model.(3) counterfactual explanation:A method of indicating and explaining a state that is different from the truth, such as "If I had done this, the result would have been".(4) data sets:The UC Irvine Machine Learning Repository is a world-famous repository that provides a number of data sets for comparative evaluation of machine learning, and FICO, a credit scoring company, published data for machine learning in three types of data sets: diabetes, loan credit screening, and wine evaluation.(5) Logistic Regression:A type of machine learning algorithm. A probability model that combines a logistic function with a hyperplane.(6) Random Forest:A type of machine learning algorithm. A prediction model that makes stable decisions by using a large number of decision tree classifiers.(7) Multi-Layer Perceptron:A type of machine learning algorithm. A model for training multiple neural networks.(8) Individual cause-and-effect discovery technologies:Fujitsu Develops Technology to Discover Characteristic Causal Relationships of Individual Data in Medicine, Marketing, and More (2020/12/17)(9) "FUJITSU AI Technology Wide Learning" action extraction technology:Fujitsu Bolsters its AI "Wide Learning" Technology with New Technique to Deliver Optimized Action Plans in Various Fields (2019/9/13)About FujitsuFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 130,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.9 trillion yen (US$35 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. For more information, please see www.fujitsu.com.About Fujitsu LaboratoriesFounded in 1968 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. is one of the premier research centers in the world. With a global network of laboratories in Japan, China, the United States and Europe, the organization conducts a wide range of basic and applied research in the areas of Next-generation Services, Computer Servers, Networks, Electronic Devices and Advanced Materials. For more information, please see: http://www.fujitsu.com/jp/group/labs/en/.Source: Fujitsu LtdCopyright 2021 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
It started with a video from a stranger on TikTok.

In a show of appreciation, the person surprised restaurant workers with a giant tip  calling it #TipBackThursday.

Jenna Arcidiacono loved the idea. And as Michigans restaurant industry floundered in early January because of the COVID-19 pandemic and dine-in ban, she decided it was time to join the weekly trend.

A month later, Arcidiacono has crowdfunded and given out more than $7,000 in tips to restaurant employees in the Grand Rapids area  tipping at least $1,000 at a time.

Smiles can be seen through the masks.

Its the best. Like, I literally have a buzz for a week, until the next one, Arcidiacono said. Its a fun, happy feeling to surprise someone.

Arcidiacono knows what restaurant workers are going through  she owns Amore Trattoria Italiana in Comstock Park. The two weeks before the dine-in ban was lifted were the slowest in her 10 years owning the restaurant, she said.

Were all exhausted, were at our wits end. Were all really emotional right now. We just feel like we dont see an end to this, soon, Arcidiacono said. I think everyone could just use a smile and something good to brighten their day right now.

Arcidiaconos first ambush was at Charlies Bar & Grille in Grand Rapids. While lunching outdoors with a friend, Arcidiacono decided she wanted to leave a generous tip.

By the end of the meal, the two of them crowdfunded more than $1,000 from friends and supporters to make it happen.

Employees chased after them after realizing the size of the tip. After seeing their shock, Arcidiacono decided to make videos of the reactions in future weeks.

Im kind of glad we werent ones that she videotaped, because we were probably all crying, said Jodi Wilterdink, manager at Charlies. It can make somebodys day, because it means they dont have to work as hard to pay their rent or they dont have to work as hard to feed their kids. Its just a little bit of relief during a time thats tough.

Perhaps the biggest reaction came at Bridge Street Burger Shack.

Oh my god, thank you so much! the stunned front-counter employee said, as Arcidiacono stuffed $100 bills into the tip jar. Holy cow ... Im like, shaking!

Owner Peter Setterington wasnt at the restaurant during the surprise tipping, but received a frantic phone call with the news soon after.

I cant even express how blown away they were, Setterington said.

Arcidiacono says most restaurants have split the tips among their employees. Some of the restaurants donated money to Arcidiacono for the next #TipBackThursday. Anybody can chip in via Venmo, @Jenna-Arcidiacono.

The employees at Bridge Street Burger Shack decided to take $500 of the tip to donate to North Kent Connect  a thrift store and food pantry that provides basic needs to people.

While Arcidiacono can see the shocked faces and jubilation, Setterington said she probably doesnt realize the full impact of the gesture.

The goodwill it shows, the good lessons it teaches and the seed it plants in the kids that I employ  I think its immeasurable, Setterington said. Its not just the financial support. It is such a great lesson on many levels.

Restaurants are back open inside in Michigan, but Arcidiacono plans to keep #TipBackThursday going as long as people keep donating to the cause.

She welcomes suggestions about where to hit next, as long as its a local restaurant  with good food.

Arcidiacono said she wants to prop up the businesses that make her town unique. After 10 weeks without indoor dining, local restaurants welcome any support, Setterington said.

You know, 75 days away from places, people move on. Its a fast-moving society. People get forgotten, overlooked and left behind, Setterington said. Jenna is not allowing that to happen.

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California Man Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison for Unlawfully Possessing a Firearm as a Felon

Sacramento, California - Robert James Hanna, 38, of Elk Grove, was sentenced to eight years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, on Oct. 4, 2019, several witnesses called 911 to report a fight in progress at an intersection in Vacaville. The callers reported that Hanna and another man and two women were involved in a melee, and one of the witnesses saw a gun fall from Hannas clothing during the incident. Court records state that Hanna hit the man in the face several times, and at least one of the victims reported that Hanna threatened to shoot him. Hanna and a female companion fled the scene and were arrested at a nearby home-improvement store moments later. The female companion had a 9 mm pistol in her pants at the time. The companion said that Hanna had given her the gun and told her to go inside. One of the victims identified the gun as the one he saw in Hannas clothing during the altercation. Hanna cannot lawfully possess firearms or ammunition because he has previously been convicted of two felony offenses in Solano County for assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Vacaville Police Department, with special assistance from the FBIs Solano County Violent Crimes Task Force and the Solano County District Attorneys Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Departments renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorneys Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime. To learn more about Project Safe Neighborhoods, go to www.justice.gov/psn.
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
The Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) has appointed Donald Ashwood as captive coordinator, a position in which he will coordinate increased activity with captive insurers in Oklahoma.

Ashwood joined the OID in 2014 and most recently served as financial operations officer. Ashwood began his new role on Feb. 1.

Captive insurance is a fast-growing and important part of Oklahomas economy, Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready noted in a media release.

Oklahoma now has 40 licensed captives, with three new licenses issued last year. A captive insurance company provides great flexibility to business owners who want to take control of their insurance programs. Captives exist to underwrite the risk of their owner(s) and affiliates.

The OIDs Captive Insurance Division has pledged to make customer service a top priority as it recruits new companies.

The OID is currently recruiting for a new director of the captive division.

Source: Oklahoma Insurance Department

Topics Oklahoma
They were the golden couple of TV drama in 2020 but only one of them is nominated for a Golden Globe.

Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal had viewers enthralled with their portrayal of Marianne and Connell in Normal People.

Mescal has now spoken of his pride in his co-star after she was nominated for the prestigious awards.

However, in a reversal of last years controversial decision where co-star Mescal got an Emmy nomination and Edgar-Jones did not, she was the sole recipient of a Golden Globe nod this year.

The lead actress in the series made by Dublin company Element Pictures and co-directed by Academy Award nominee Lenny Abrahamson has been given the nod for Best Actress in a Limited Series.

Read More

Shortly after the news was announced, Mescal shared a post featuring a picture of him with the talented actor who played Marianne in the series and wrote: Could not be prouder of you my friend.

The Irish flag will be flying high at the 78th Golden Globes after Brendan Gleeson and Kilkenny animation studio Cartoon Saloon were also among the nominees.

Gleeson has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a TV role for his acclaimed portrayal of former US President Donald Trump in The Comey Rule.

The Emmy-winner will be going up against stars like Donald Sutherland in The Undoing and Daniel Levy in the Netflix monster hit Schitts Creek.

Normal People has also been nominated in the category of Best Limited TV Series after the adaptation based on Sally Rooneys novel became a global sensation last year.

Producer Ed Guiney said: All of us at Element are so proud and so grateful to Lenny, Sally and our incredible cast and crew. We are so happy for Daisy who so richly deserves it and a bit sad that Paul didnt get the nod.

Its also an incredible honour for the entire team as this is the first time that a fully Irish set, produced and directed TV series has been nominated for a Golden Globe.

Edgar-Jones has major competition, namely Anya Taylor-Joy as a chess prodigy for The Queens Gambit and Nicole Kidman for The Undoing.

Meanwhile, Cartoon Saloon has been nominated for Wolfwalkers in the Best Motion Animated Picture category.

Its previous releases have garnered four Oscar nominations, including international recognition for co-directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart. The two directors said they were delighted that this Irish story is so well received by audience, fans and critics from all over the world.

The pair said that along with Melusine Productions in Luxembourg and production colleagues in France, they were honoured to be nominated.

While we would love to be in Hollywood to celebrate the Golden Globe award ceremony, we will likely be in a socially distant safe celebration here in Kilkenny, they said.

Set in 1650, the Apple Original film tells the tale of Robyn Goodfellowe, an apprentice hunter who journeys to Ireland with her father in a time of superstition and magic to wipe out the last wolf pack.

Distributor Wildcard will be re-releasing Wolfwalkers in cinemas when they re-open in Ireland and the UK.

Screen Ireland chief Desiree Finnegan said she was delighted to see Irish film and TV recognised at the highest level.

Biden Ending US Support for Saudi-Led Offensive in Yemen

President Joe Biden will announce an end Thursday to U.S. support for a grinding five-year Saudi-led military offensive in Yemen that has deepened human suffering in the Arabian peninsulas poorest country, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Biden sees the United States playing a more active and engaged role to end the war through diplomacy, Sullivan said at a White House briefing before Biden was set to speak at the State Department.

Thursdays move, which fulfills a campaign pledge, would not affect any U.S. operations against the Yemen-based al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, group, Sullivan said.

Yemen, the biblical kingdom of Sheba, has one of the worlds oldest constantly occupied citiesthe more than 2,000-year-old Sanaaalong with mud brick skyscrapers and hauntingly beautiful landscapes of steep, arid mountains. But decades of Yemeni misgovernment have worsened factional divisions and halted development, and years of conflict have now drawn in intervention by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran, which officials say has lent increasing support to Yemens Houthi faction of fighters.

The Obama administration in 2015 gave its approval to Saudi Arabia leading a cross-border air campaign targeting the Houthi rebels, who had seized Sanaa and other territory and were sporadically launching missiles into Saudi Arabia.

U.S. targeting assistance to Saudi Arabias command-and-control center was supposed to minimize civilian casualties in airstrikes. But Saudi-led strikes since then have killed numerous Yemeni civilians, including schoolboys on a bus and fishermen in their boats. Survivors display fragments showing the bombs to be American-made.

A Yemeni man walks in the ruins of a building destroyed in Saudi-led air strikes in Yemens capital Sanaa, on Feb. 1, 2019. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images)

Saudi-backed Yemeni fighters gather above debris of a building while watching the launch by Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY) of multi-million dollar aid projects in the area of Yemens northern coastal town of Midi, located in conflict-ridden Hajjah governorate near the border with Saudi Arabia, on April 22, 2019. (AFP/Getty Images)

The Saudi-led campaign, joined primarily by the United Arab Emirates, another Gulf country, has only perpetuated a civil war in Yemen and led to a humanitarian crisis, Sullivan said. U.S. officials have already notified senior officials for those two countries to explain the rationale for the withdrawal of support, he said.

The stalled war has failed to dislodge the Houthis and is helping deepen hunger and poverty. International rights experts say both the Gulf countries and Houthis have committed severe rights abuses.

The weeks-old Biden administration has made clear that shifting its stance toward the Yemen war, and toward Saudi Arabia over the Yemen offensive and other rights abuses, was a priority. Other measures have included pausing some arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and a review of the Trump administrations categorization of the Houthis as a terror group. Critics say the designation hinders the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemenis.

Yemeni soldiers loyal to the Shiite Huthi rebels during a parade in the capital Sanaa, on Oct. 16, 2018. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images)

While withdrawing support for Saudi offensive operations in Yemen, the Biden administration also says it intends to help the kingdom boost its defenses against any further attacks from Houthis or outside adversaries. The assurance is seen as part of an effort to persuade Saudi Arabia and other combatants to end the conflict overall.

By Ellen Knickmeyer
Tata Motors has launched a special Founders Edition of its entire model lineup to commemorate the diamond jubilee of the car manufacturer. The limited-edition models also pay homage to Tata Motors founder  JRD Tata.

The Founders Edition is available on all Tata models  the Tiago, Altroz, Nexon, Harrier, and the Tigor . It features a special front and rear Tata logo with a blue background. The models will also get an exclusive JRD Tata badging on the front fenders, boot lid, and dashboard. The owners of this edition will also receive the Founder Editions postcards and photo frames reflecting the brands progress over the years.

Under the hood, the models will remain the same and will receive no mechanical changes. However, the Founders Edition is reserved only for the Tata Group employees and the fitments will be made at the dealer level without any extra cost to the customers.

Tata has recently unveiled the Safari and the bookings for the new SUV have commenced from today. To know more about it, click here. The new Safari will be available in a single 2.0-litre diesel engine across six variants  XE, XM, XT, XT+, XZ, and XZ+. We have listed the features of each variant on offer and you can read the complete details here.

Tata Nexon  7.20 Lakh Onwards

Tata | Tata Nexon | Nexon
As of 2021, the worlds population is estimated to be 7.63 billion people. Asia is the most populous continent, accounting for about two-thirds of the total population. Worlds five most populous countries are China, India, the US, Indonesia, and Pakistan, with a combined population of 3.6 billion. The UN predicts the global population will surpass the 10 billion mark by 2100.

Population growth rate varies by country and region. However, most countries and regions have positive population growth. But, the growth rate has declined significantly in some countries like China, due to government measures to reduce the ballooning population. The population growth rate is particularly high in Sub-Saharan Africa, with countries like Tanzania, Ethiopia, and the DRC expected to join Nigeria on the list of the top ten most populous countries by 2100.

Contents:

Map of the 10 most populated countries in the world.

Top 10 Countries By Population

According to the recent UN estimates, about 47% of the global population, or 3.6 billion people live in five countries. Five of the ten most populous countries are in Asia, three in the Americas, and one each in Europe and Africa.

With 1.4 billion people, China is the worlds most populous country. It accounts for about 18.4% of the worlds population. The proportion of Chinas population to the global population has been shrinking over the years. In 2000, it accounted for 21% of the global population. Chinas population is approximately four times the US population, despite the US having a slightly larger total surface area.

India and China are the only two countries with a population of over one billion people. Indias population is 1.37 billion, making it the second-most populous country. It is the 19th most-densely populated country, with about 409 people per square kilometer. With a 1.2% population growth rate, India could be the first country to host more than 1.5 billion people.

The United States is the worlds third-most populous country, with 328.2 people or 4.3% of the global population. About 90 million people in the US are immigrants and their US-born children. It has one of the highest immigration rates, with researchers predicting immigrants will account for 36% of the population by 2065. The UN estimates that the US, alongside eight other countries, will account for half of the global population by 2050.

Indonesia and Pakistan complete the list of five of the worlds most populous countries. Indonesia has a population of 270.6 million people, while the Pakistani population is 216.6 million, or 3.6% and 2.83% of the global population respectively. Statistics show that the Indonesian population grew by about 1.1% annually between 2009 and 2019, while the Pakistani population grew by 1.45% annually during the same period. Indonesia is home to the worlds most populous island, Java.

Brazil and Nigeria are the most populous countries in South America and Africa respectively. Brazils population is approximately 211 million (2.76%), while Nigeria has about 201 million people (2.63%). According to the UN, Brazils population will peak at 238 million in 2050. The main factor contributing to the countrys population growth is immigration from Africa, Europe, and other parts of the world. Nigeria is home to about 15.5% of the African population. There are over 85 million more people in the country than Africas second-most populous country (Ethiopia with 115 million people). The Nigerian population growth is driven by a high fertility rate and preference for large families. The UN predicts Nigeria will overtake the US as the third-most populous country by 2050.

Bangladesh is the worlds 8th most populous country, with a population of approximately 163 million people. The countrys population, representing 2.13% of the global population, is almost half the US population.

Russian Federation, the worlds largest country by area, is the 9th populous country with 144.4 million people, or 1.9% of the global population. It is one of the countries in Europe that have experienced a mix of population growth and decline in the last three decades. Russia had 148 million people in 1990, but the population dropped to 146.6 million in 2000 and 142 million in 2010. However, between 2010 and 2019, the population grew by close to 2 million people.

Mexico completes the list of ten most populous countries, with 127.6 million people, or 1.7% of the global population. Mexicos population is almost one-third of the US population despite the two countries sharing a land border. In fact, it is one of the largest sources of immigrants into the US.

Bottom 5 Countries By Population

The five least populous countries have a total of 77,000 people, almost half that of Guam, the US an unincorporated territory. These countries are also the worlds smallest countries by land size.

Vatican City, an enclave of Rome, Italy, is the worlds least populous country with approximately 825 people. The population is mainly composed of religious leaders and members such as priests and laypeople. All the city-states residents are Catholics.

With a population of 11,650, Tuvalu is the second-least populated country. The island country has a 0.86% population growth rate. Tuvalus population has been rising steadily in the last three decades due to the high birth rate and lower death rate.

Nauru is the 4th least populated country with a population of about 12,580 people. Between 1996 and 2006, the country experienced a significant population decline from 10,672 to 9,878. The repatriation of immigrant workers back to their countries contributed to the decline. Although the country experienced a period of population growth between 2006 and 2016, the population has been on a steady decline since then.

Palau and San Marino complete the list of five least populated countries, with 18,000 and 33,860 people respectively. Palau is an island country made up of 340 islands, with two-thirds of its population living on Koror Island.

5 Most Densely And 5 Most Sparsely Populated Countries

Rank Country Population Density (people per sq. km of land area) 1 Monaco 19,196 2 Singapore 7,953 3 Bahrain 2,017 4 Maldives 1,719 5 Malta 1,514

Table: 5 most densely populated countries in the world. Source: World Bank

The global population is 7.63 billion and the Earths total surface area is 510.1 million square kilometers. Therefore, the worlds population density is about 15 people per square kilometers. However, if the only land area (150 million square miles) is considered, the population density is 50.9 people per square kilometer. However, this number does not give a true reflection of the population density since some parts of the world like deserts and high mountains are uninhabitable. According to the World Bank, the Earths population density is 59.62 people per square kilometers (2018)

Monaco, a city-state bordered by France, is the worlds most densely populated sovereign state with 19,196 people per square kilometer. Monaco is the worlds second-smallest country by size, covering 2.1 square kilometers. It has a population of about 39,000 residents.

Singapore is the 176th largest country with a surface area of 728 square kilometers. With a population of 5.7 million people, it has a population density of 7,953 people per square mile, making it the second-most densely populated country.

Bahrain is the most densely populated country that is not a city-state, with 2,017 people per square kilometers. It covers an area of approximately 780 square kilometers (Asias 3rd smallest country) and has a population of about 1.6 million people. Maldives and Malta are the 4th and 5th most densely populated countries, with 1,719 and 1,514 people per square kilometer.

Rank Country Population Density (people per sq. km of land area) 1 Mongolia 2 2 Namibia 3 3 Australia 3 4 Iceland 4 5 Suriname 4

Table: 5 most least populated countries in the world. Source: World Bank

Mongolia is the worlds most sparsely populated country, with just 2 people per square kilometer. It covers 1.6 million square kilometers and has a population of about 3.3 million people. Namibia and Australia are the second-most sparsely populated countries, with 3 people per square kilometer. Namibia is Sub-Sahara Africas driest country. It covers 825,615 square kilometers and has a population of 2.75 million people. Although Australia is the worlds 6th largest country (7.7 million square kilometers), it has a population of 25.7 million people.

Iceland and Suriname are the 4th and 5th most sparsely populated countries with 2.1 and 2.9 people per square kilometer. Iceland covers an area of about 103,000 square kilometers and is home to 357,000 people. However, the majority of the people live in the southwest regions. Suriname is inhabited by about 542,000 people and covers 163,821 square kilometers, with forest accounting for 80% of the total land area.

Population Distribution Across The World

According to the latest United Nations report, the global population is 7.6 billion (2019). The global population has grown by approximately 6.8 billion from 1 billion in 1800. However, the population growth rate has declined from 2.2% to 1.1% in the last five decades. Despite positive population growth, world regions and continents have experienced mixed growth over the years.

Continents/Regions Where Population Is Increasing

Most continents and world regions, with a few exceptions, continue to experience robust population growth. Asia, the worlds largest continent by size and population, is one of the continents where the population is increasing. Asia-Pacific region had a population of about 4.3 billion or 60% of the worlds population in 2013. Currently, there are over 4.5 billion people in Asia, including 2.3 billion in East Asia and Pacific and 1.8 billion in South Asia. The continent hosts two of the worlds most populous countries; China and India. Although Asia is experiencing population growth, the growth rate has slowed down to 0.96%.

Besides Asia sub-regions, Sub-Sahara Africa is also experiencing positive population growth. Sub-Sahara Africa comprises African countries lying south of the Sahara Desert. This region has a population of approximately 1.1 billion people (2019), up from 845.7 million in 2009. With a population growth rate of 2.3% per annum, the UN predicts the regions population will be 2-2.5 billion by 2050.

Europe and Central Europe region has a population of about 921.1 million people or 12.1% of the total worlds population. The region experienced steady population growth between 1960 and 1993, with a 1.2% annual growth rate. However, it experienced a less than 0.5% growth rate between 1994 and 2004. Although the region has a comparatively low population growth rate, most countries have a growing population due to increased life expectancy and immigration.

Regions Where Population Is Decreasing

Central Europe and Baltic is probably the only region globally that has consistently recorded a decline in population over the last three decades. It has a population of approximately 102.3 million, down from 110.8 million in 1989, or -8.3% population growth.

Most Populous Countries By 2100

Rank Country Estimated Population (2100) 1 India 1,090,000,000 2 Nigeria 791,000,000 3 China 732,000,000 4 United States 336,000,000 5 Pakistan 248,000,000 6 DR Congo 246,000,000 7 Indonesia 229,000,000 8 Ethiopia 223,000,000 9 Egypt 199,000,000 10 Tanzania 186,000,000

Table: 10 Most Populous Countries In 2100. Source: Weforum.org

According to the UN projections, the global population will be over 11 billion by the end of the 21st century. Although the global population will rise steadily in the coming years, it may peak at 9.7 billion around 2064. It is projected that African countries will dominate the list of top ten largest countries by population. Only China, India, the US, Pakistan, and Indonesia will appear on the top ten list in 2100.

India will surpass China as the worlds most populous country, with 1.1 billion people, despite an overall decline in population growth. Nigeria, Africas most populous country, will be the second-most populous country with 791 people. Nigeria, over ten times smaller than the US, will continue to experience a steady population growth beyond 2100, mainly because of the high fertility rate and cultural factors such as the need for large families. Chinas population will contract by almost half to about 730 million people, while the US population may grow by about 10 million to 336 million, making it the fourth most populous country. DRC, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Tanzania will also feature in the list of ten most populous countries by 2100.

Sub-Saharan Africa will continue to experience population growth by 2100 because of several factors. One of the reasons for population growth in Africa is the high fertility levels. In most African countries, the fertility rate is at least 3.5 births per woman. In the DRC, the fertility rate is 4.53 births per woman, while Nigerias fertility rate is 4.85 births per woman. Besides fertility levels, early motherhood will also contribute to the population rise. Most women become mothers at early ages, enabling them to carry multiple pregnancies. Other factors include a cultural preference for large families and falling mortality rates.

Countries By Population

The table below lists the countries of the world by total population (in thousands).

Rank Country Total Population 1 China 1,397,715,000 2 India 1,366,417,750 3 United States 328,239,520 4 Indonesia 270,625,570 5 Pakistan 216,565,320 6 Brazil 211,049,530 7 Nigeria 200,963,600 8 Bangladesh 163,046,160 9 Russian Federation 144,373,540 10 Mexico 127,575,530 11 Japan 126,264,930 12 Ethiopia 112,078,730 13 Philippines 108,116,620 14 Egypt, Arab Rep. 100,388,070 15 Vietnam 96,462,110 16 Congo, Dem. Rep. 86,790,570 17 Turkey 83,429,620 18 Germany 83,132,800 19 Iran, Islamic Rep. 82,913,910 20 Thailand 69,625,580 21 France 67,059,890 22 United Kingdom 66,834,400 23 Italy 60,297,400 24 South Africa 58,558,270 25 Tanzania 58,005,460 26 Myanmar 54,045,420 27 Kenya 52,573,970 28 Korea, Rep. 51,709,100 29 Colombia 50,339,440 30 Spain 47,076,780 31 Argentina 44,938,710 32 Ukraine 44,385,150 33 Uganda 44,269,590 34 Algeria 43,053,050 35 Sudan 42,813,240 36 Iraq 39,309,780 37 Afghanistan 38,041,750 38 Poland 37,970,870 39 Canada 37,589,260 40 Morocco 36,471,770 41 Saudi Arabia 34,268,530 42 Uzbekistan 33,580,650 43 Peru 32,510,450 44 Malaysia 31,949,780 45 Angola 31,825,290 46 Ghana 30,417,860 47 Mozambique 30,366,040 48 Yemen, Rep. 29,161,920 49 Nepal 28,608,710 50 Venezuela, RB 28,515,830 51 Madagascar 26,969,310 52 Cameroon 25,876,380 53 Cote d'Ivoire 25,716,540 54 Korea, Dem. People's Rep. 25,666,160 55 Australia 25,364,310 56 Niger 23,310,720 57 Sri Lanka 21,803,000 58 Burkina Faso 20,321,380 59 Mali 19,658,030 60 Romania 19,356,540 61 Chile 18,952,040 62 Malawi 18,628,750 63 Kazakhstan 18,513,930 64 Zambia 17,861,030 65 Ecuador 17,373,660 66 Netherlands 17,332,850 67 Syrian Arab Republic 17,070,130 68 Guatemala 16,604,030 69 Cambodia 16,486,540 70 Senegal 16,296,360 71 Chad 15,946,880 72 Somalia 15,442,910 73 Zimbabwe 14,645,470 74 Guinea 12,771,250 75 Rwanda 12,626,950 76 Benin 11,801,150 77 Tunisia 11,694,720 78 Burundi 11,530,580 79 Bolivia 11,513,100 80 Belgium 11,484,060 81 Cuba 11,333,480 82 Haiti 11,263,080 83 South Sudan 11,062,110 84 Dominican Republic 10,738,960 85 Greece 10,716,320 86 Czech Republic 10,669,710 87 Sweden 10,285,450 88 Portugal 10,269,420 89 Jordan 10,101,690 90 Azerbaijan 10,023,320 91 United Arab Emirates 9,770,530 92 Hungary 9,769,950 93 Honduras 9,746,120 94 Belarus 9,466,860 95 Tajikistan 9,321,020 96 Israel 9,053,300 97 Austria 8,877,070 98 Papua New Guinea 8,776,110 99 Switzerland 8,574,830 100 Togo 8,082,370 101 Sierra Leone 7,813,220 102 Lao PDR 7,169,450 103 Paraguay 7,044,640 104 Bulgaria 6,975,760 105 Serbia 6,944,980 106 Lebanon 6,855,710 107 Libya 6,777,450 108 Nicaragua 6,545,500 109 Kyrgyz Republic 6,456,900 110 El Salvador 6,453,550 111 Turkmenistan 5,942,090 112 Denmark 5,818,550 113 Singapore 5,703,570 114 Finland 5,520,310 115 Slovak Republic 5,454,070 116 Congo, Rep. 5,380,510 117 Norway 5,347,900 118 Costa Rica 5,047,560 119 Oman 4,974,990 120 Ireland 4,941,440 121 Liberia 4,937,370 122 New Zealand 4,917,000 123 Central African Republic 4,745,190 124 Palestine 4,685,310 125 Mauritania 4,525,700 126 Panama 4,246,440 127 Kuwait 4,207,080 128 Croatia 4,067,500 129 Georgia 3,720,380 130 Uruguay 3,461,730 131 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3,301,000 132 Mongolia 3,225,170 133 Eritrea 3,213,970 134 Armenia 2,957,730 135 Jamaica 2,948,280 136 Albania 2,854,190 137 Qatar 2,832,070 138 Lithuania 2,786,840 139 Moldova 2,657,640 140 Namibia 2,494,530 141 Gambia, The 2,347,710 142 Botswana 2,303,700 143 Gabon 2,172,580 144 Lesotho 2,125,270 145 Slovenia 2,087,950 146 North Macedonia 2,083,460 147 Guinea-Bissau 1,920,920 148 Latvia 1,912,790 149 Bahrain 1,641,170 150 Trinidad and Tobago 1,394,970 151 Equatorial Guinea 1,355,990 152 Estonia 1,326,590 153 Timor-Leste 1,293,120 154 Mauritius 1,265,710 155 Cyprus 1,198,580 156 Eswatini 1,148,130 157 Djibouti 973,560 158 Fiji 889,950 159 Comoros 850,890 160 Guyana 782,770 161 Bhutan 763,090 162 Solomon Islands 669,820 163 Montenegro 622,140 164 Luxembourg 619,900 165 Suriname 581,360 166 Cabo Verde 549,930 167 Maldives 530,950 168 Malta 502,650 169 Brunei Darussalam 433,290 170 Belize 390,350 171 Bahamas, The 389,480 172 Iceland 361,310 173 Vanuatu 299,880 174 Barbados 287,020 175 Sao Tome and Principe 215,060 176 Samoa 197,100 177 St. Lucia 182,790 178 Kiribati 117,610 179 Micronesia, Fed. Sts. 113,810 180 Grenada 112,000 181 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 110,590 182 Tonga 104,490 183 Seychelles 97,630 184 Antigua and Barbuda 97,120 185 Andorra 77,140 186 Dominica 71,810 187 Marshall Islands 58,790 188 St. Kitts and Nevis 52,830 189 Monaco 38,960 190 Liechtenstein 38,020 191 San Marino 33,860 192 Palau 18,010 193 Nauru 12,580 194 Tuvalu 11,650 195 Vatican City 825

Table: Countries by population. Source: World Bank

Territories/Dependencies By Population

The following table shows the population of territories and dependencies. These geographic entities are not strictly considered to be countries, but rather are related to other countries.

Rank Territory/Dependency Related Country Total Population 1 Taiwan China 23,568,378 2 Hong Kong China 7,500,700 3 Puerto Rico United States 3,193,694 4 Kosovo Disputed, claimed by Serbia 1,873,160 5 Macau China 682,800 6 French Polynesia France 275,918 7 New Caledonia France 271,407 8 Guam United States 168,485 9 Curacao Netherlands 163,424 10 Aruba Netherlands 116,576 11 Jersey United Kingdom 107,800 12 Isle of Man United Kingdom 83,314 13 Saint Martin France 77,741 14 Bermuda United Kingdom 71,176 15 Cayman Islands United Kingdom 65,813 16 Guernsey United Kingdom 62,792 17 Greenland Denmark 56,225 18 American Samoa United States 55,100 19 Northern Mariana Islands United States 53,883 20 Faroe Islands Denmark 52,110 21 Turks and Caicos Islands United Kingdom 42,953 22 Sint Maarten Netherlands 41,486 23 Gibraltar United Kingdom 34,003 24 British Virgin Islands United Kingdom 30,030 25 Dhekelia and Akrotiri United Kingdom 18,195 26 Cook Islands New Zealand 17,459 27 Anguilla United Kingdom 14,731 28 Wallis and Futuna France 11,558 29 Saint Barthelemy France 9,961 30 Saint Pierre and Miquelon France 5,997 31 Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha United Kingdom 5,633 32 Montserrat United Kingdom 4,649 33 Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) United Kingdom 3,398 34 Svalbard Norway 2,939 35 Christmas Island Australia 1,843 36 Norfolk Island Australia 1,748 37 Niue New Zealand 1,620 38 Tokelau New Zealand 1,499 39 Paracel Islands Disputed between China, Vietnam, and Taiwan Over 1000 40 Cocos (Keeling) Islands Australia 544 41 Pitcairn Islands United Kingdom 50

Table: Territories/Dependencies by population.
BISHKEK -- A court in Bishkek has extended the pretrial detention of former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev until April 7.



Atambaev's lawyer Zamir Jooshev told RFE/RL that the Birinchi Mai district court, on February 4, again rejected the defense team's motion to transfer the 64-year-old politician to house arrest.



Atambaev was sentenced to 11 years and two months in prison in June 2020 over his involvement in the release of a notorious crime boss.



In November, the Supreme Court sent the case back to a Bishkek district court for retrial. The reason for the decision was not immediately given.



Atambaev has denied any wrongdoing.



In early October, he was released from custody as the country was rocked by mass protests against the official results of parliamentary elections.

He was rearrested four days later and charged with organizing an illegal demonstration.



Atambaev was initially arrested in August 2019 after he surrendered to police following a deadly two-day standoff between security forces and his supporters that led to the death of a top security officer and more than 170 injured.

The former president and 13 other people were charged with murder, attempted murder, threatening or assaulting representatives of the authorities, hostage taking, and the forcible seizure of power.



A trial on those charges has yet to be held.
"She is without question the prototype of the great success story. From humble beginnings, she demonstrated her trade with great skill, moving from those modest beginnings to Hambletonian winner to Horse of the Year conditioner and many terrific horses in between."

So said Barry Lefkowitz, vice president and treasurer of the United States Harness Writers Association about fellow Brooklynite Linda Toscano, who fell in love with harness racing in the 1970s and blazed a trail to become one of the sport's most decorated horsewomen.

"I'm Brooklyn all the way," Toscano told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, referring to the Flatbush neighbourhood where she grew up before her family moved to Long Island.

"I was devastated," she continued. "I missed the city and was miserable."

But she soon developed a love for horses and worked with trainer Buddy Regan at the storied Roosevelt Raceway while studying at Stony Brook University before striking out on her own in 1984.

"Things changed ... I was racing all over the country."

In the 3-1/2 decades since, Toscano moved her base of operations to Freehold, N.J., and has amassed over 1,900 training wins. And if that weren't enough, her $54 million in purse earnings have landed her among the top 10 richest stables in harness racing history. Her starters have banked over $2 million in each of the last 14 seasons  none more notable than 2012, when Hambletonian winner Market Share helped Toscano reach a career best $6.69 million in seasonal earnings.

Just two years ago, Toscano shattered the glass ceiling of the United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame, becoming only the second woman to be inducted into the Hall and the first to achieve that honour as a trainer or driver. And this past season, she won a Breeders Crown with rookie trotting filly Lady Chaos and came up a nose short of a second with three-year-old trotting colt Play Trix On Me.

What does 2021 hold for Toscano?

"My niche now is selecting young horses," she says. And given her self-made ascent into harness racing's elite ranks  and the star power in her barn  it looks like that niche will continue to be a prosperous one for Team Toscano.
Artificial intelligence already is making strides in the development of new drugs, and now the pesticide industry wants in on the action.

Switzerlands Syngenta AG has teamed up with Insilico Medicine to use its deep-learning tools to produce sustainable weedkillers. As well as taking on some of the early-stage grunt work traditionally conducted in a lab, AI could design molecules used in crop-protection tools that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly, the companies said Wednesday.

AI is among new methods emerging as environmental and health concerns spur a quest for sustainable alternatives to traditional pesticides used by farmers. Demand also is being supported by regulatory pressures and lawsuits, most notably Bayer AGs $11 billion settlement deal over claims its long-used glyphosate herbicide causes cancer.

Our artificial intelligence is designed from the ground up to produce very precise chemistry to protect human health, while ensuring short-term and long-term safety, Insilico Medicine Chief Executive Officer Alex Zhavoronkov said. This expertise is extremely valuable for crop sciences.

AI last year grabbed headlines after a unit of Alphabet Inc.s Google took a giant step to predict the structure of proteins, which has potential uses for everything from drug research to designing enzymes that can break down pollutants.

More Collaboration

In agriculture, a backlash against traditional pesticides is spawning collaboration between chemical and biotech companies. Syngenta has been investing in biological solutions that utilize everything from microbes to insect sex pheromones to combat fungal infections and pests. The company wants to retreat from conventional chemicals into products less toxic to humans and more resilient to climate change, CEO Erik Fyrwald said last year.

FMC Corp. also wants to expand in biological solutions. The Philadelphia-based company has partnered with Denmarks Novozymes A/S, which produces microbes that target pests. Pressure is mounting from regulators over the use of chemicals, and theres a growing awareness among consumers for the need for sustainable products, Novozymes CEO Ester Baiget said.

Despite AIs speed at crunching data, itll likely take years for new developments to reach the market without a change in regulatory environment.

You can only be as fast as your slowest part, and today a big bottleneck to bringing in innovation is the regulation and qualification, Baiget said.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.
Pentagon says US security assistance to Pak remains suspended

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Three Baloch separatists killed in Pakistan raid

International

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Multan, Feb 04: Pakistani police on Wednesday raided a suspected hideout of an outlawed separatist group in eastern Punjab province, triggering a shootout that killed three insurgents, authorities said.

According to a statement by Kamran Hussain, an official with the counter-terrorism department, officers also seized a cache of weapons allegedly belonging to "terrorists from the outlawed Balochistan Republican Army."

The group is known for targeting Pakistani troops, police and gas pipelines in southwestern Balochistan province.

Review acquittal in Pearl murder cases: US Congress members urge Pakistan

Balochistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baloch separatists who want a greater share of province gas and mineral revenue.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

Although authorities often say they have quelled the insurgency in Balochistan, violence has continued there.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 9:35 [IST]
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By Tom Plate





The first major American post-election result return is in! It's being able to feel that the ground under your feet isn't always shaking and your head isn't always aching. Yes, U.S. President Joe Biden is doing that for the U.S., especially in this early wave of foreign-policy appointments. He is acting like a president. All, of course, is not perfect.



Asians who know a lot about Antony Blinken, Biden's pick for secretary of state, admire him. It is the same with Kurt Campbell, who has been appointed Indo-Pacific coordinator on the National Security Council. ("Hope Biden will listen to his advice," Southeast Asian diplomat Tommy Koh told me.)



The nominated No. 2 official for the State Department is Wendy Sherman, who is keyed especially on Asia. Up for the No. 3 job is Victoria Nuland. They are both simply out-and-out sharp.



Avril Haines, former deputy director of national intelligence, has already been Senate-approved with no-fuss bipartisan speed as director of national intelligence. The president's principal intel adviser leads an agency that heads 17 various U.S. intelligence agencies. Everyone I know of who knows Haines praises the choice.



Career diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield has been proposed for the position of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She is a veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, which under the previous president got about the same measure of respect as the U.N. itself  none.



America's U.N. ambassador not only gets the spotlight at the Security Council but a seat as well in Washington in the president's cabinet. Formal Senate confirmation is required, but this will not be a problem for Thomas-Greenfield.



What is less certain is whether the U.N. will enjoy more meaningful use and genuine respect under Biden than under the previous guy. This is key. As downtrodden and inefficient as the U.N. might be, it remains the pre-eminent organization for peace and world order.



A perceptible uptick in conflict easement, not to mention global diplomatic manners, would arise if only the five permanent members of the Security Council  facing a potent and puzzling pandemic, nuclear proliferation, horrendous climate challenge and a hundred other problems of peace and security  would operate with better teamwork.



The key to a movement toward a better norm would have to come from Beijing and Washington. However, the ways and means of both make it difficult to see this happening.



The Chinese government relies on unsophisticated "wolf warrior" growling and pushy policies designed to satiate the pride of the folks at home perhaps as much as anything else. No matter how discomforting to neighbors, Beijing does not seem to care all that much about what anyone thinks. Opposition to wolf warrior diplomacy is for wimpy lambs.



For its part, the patented U.S. "soft power" gambit seeks to present to the world the shimmer of a kinder, gentler nation but, these days, this tattered brand is hard to peddle. Bombing a foreign political problem rarely solves it, and regime change often changes little or changes bad to worse.



The U.S. problem in coexisting with regimes it does not like arises again and again. How sinlessly special is the U.S.? Brave scholarship from the American academy across the decades has found the persistence of U.S. foreign intervention telling.



A recent essay from Jackson Lears, editor of Raritan and distinguished professor of history at Rutgers University, comes down hard on the insolence of American public intellectuals for their part in militarism: "Few sights in Washington are more familiar than an intellectual urging 'total war' from the safety of the keyboard."



In his essay this month in the New York Review of Books, Lears tracks America's own wolf warrior trail from Iran to Guatemala through Cuba, Congo, Vietnam, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Iraq and Libya.



It is mainly China, no angel itself, that gets the rap in the U.S. news media, but not from Lears: "Everybody does not do this; the United States does, which is why global surveys repeatedly have shown that the U.S. is widely believed to be the greatest threat to world peace."



A proper relaunching of an exceptional American democratic spirit cannot proceed apace, even with "you know who" and his odious team sullenly out of power, without more self-reflection. As well-meaning as Biden might be  as is reflected in his solid appointments to date  America will have to get under control the debilitating self-delusion that it is a nation of the highest virtue.



America's elite generally do not perceive the wide mistrust. The continuing rise of China, whatever its grievous flaws in important categories of internal conduct and in all of which America claims superiority, seems for much of the world less of an outrageous development than it does for Washington.



Yes, China's wolf warrior behavior would seem considerably more alarming if the standard for superpower conduct had been set higher by the U.S. itself. Why is it always so telling when one asks of another something that was obviously too difficult to ask of oneself?



Having to sort out such a heavy legacy lands at the feet of Biden and his "best and brightest" foreign policy crew. It seems almost unfair to face a burden so soon at the outset of his administration.



Yet for a long time, many of the better folk now entrusted with the governance of foreign policy have shared  and still share  the simplistic view of international right and wrong that undermines U.S. credibility. This is one mode of thought that should be broadened. Leaders without vision are prone to go down blind alleys.





Tom Plate, professor and distinguished scholar of Asian and Pacific studies at Loyola Marymount University, is vice-president of the Pacific Century Institute and founder of Asia Media International (asiamedia.lmu.edu). The original version of this column appeared in the South China Morning Post, to which Prof. Plate is a regular contributor.






[February 04, 2021] GBT Developing a Long-Range Radio System Targeting Global Communication for Remote Telemedicine

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GBT Technologies Inc. ( OTC PINK: GTCH ) ("GBT or the Company), commenced the development of a long range radio system targeting global communication for remote telemedicine. GBT believes that the system, if fully developed, can be used for a wide variety of applications in the military, science research, global maritime telemedicine, remote hiking communication and similar.

GBTs vision is to enable telemedicine services around our globe. Starting with its qTerm vitals device and moving forward towards new infrastructure for health monitoring technological services, the company is now seeking to develop a long-range radio system to enable health monitoring anywhere in the world. The long-range radio system will be developed based on GBTs granted patent #10,616,715, which presents an ultra-long-range radio system for tracking technology. The new radio system is being developed to work with qTerm and the companys future health related technology to enable data and audio communication for long distances. Providing health services is challenging in remote locations around the world. The introduced system, is aiming to enable telemedicine services where conventional communication is not available, for example, remote mountains, jungles, maritime vessels and similar. In remote locations an immediate health related vitals and information may be needed to be sent to a faraway physician for a quick advice. It is the goal of the radio system to enable sending data and audio signals thousands of miles reaching a physician in a modern clinic. For example, a user will be able to take his/her vitals using qTerm device in a village, somewhere near the Amazon river, and sending it for a quick physician evaluation in San Diego, California. The radio system is targeted bidirectional data and audio communication for first phase. The second phase is planned to include a wider bandwidth to support live video streaming. The company believes that this type of technology can assist with global health in remote locations around the world and can save lives by enabling a physician advice during health crisis. The system will incorporate MESH operation to work as a relay to transfer the data around the globe. The long-range radio transmssion data will be private and secured including advanced error-correction protocol to ensure reliable and efficient communication channel. The system is also envisioned to provide the users location with or without GPS services. The company is targeting this system as a potential candidate for remote telemedicine, military rescue and health monitoring, maritime telemedicine, remote hiking and similar health support in faraway locations.



"Imagine a mountain climber somewhere in the Himalayas that encountered a health-related issue and needs an immediate physician consultation. Obviously, there are no conventional communication at this location and even a satellite phone can maintain near-continuous, delayed global coverage at times. With this system the climber will be able to take vitals using a qTerm device and sending the results to a physician in New York city in real-time. Since the technology is designed to be bi-directional we envision the physician being able to advise on further steps to assist with the health emergency. In addition, a full audio communication can be established with the physician via this channel," stated Danny Rittman, the Companys CTO. About Us

GBT Technologies, Inc. (OTC PINK: GTCH) (GBT) (http://gbtti.com) is a development stage company which considers itself a native of Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Enabled Mobile Technology Platforms used to increase IC performance. GBT has assembled a team with extensive technology expertise and is building an intellectual property portfolio consisting of many patents. GBTs mission, to license the technology and IP to synergetic partners in the areas of hardware and software. Once commercialized, it is GBTs goal to have a suite of products including smart microchips, AI, encryption, Blockchain, IC design, mobile security applications, database management protocols, with tracking and supporting cloud software (without the need for GPS). GBT envisions this system as a creation of a global mesh network using advanced nodes and super performing new generation IC technology. The core of the system will be its advanced microchip technology; technology that can be installed in any mobile or fixed device worldwide. GBTs vision is to produce this system as a low cost, secure, private-mesh-network between any and all enabled devices. Thus, providing shared processing, advanced mobile database management and sharing while using these enhanced mobile features as an alternative to traditional carrier services. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission located at their website (http://www.sec.gov). In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, governmental and public policy changes, the Companys ability to raise capital on acceptable terms, if at all, the Companys successful development of its products and the integration into its existing products and the commercial acceptance of the Companys products. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Contact:

Dr. Danny Rittman, CTO

press@gopherprotocol.com



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But she did not provide any data to refute our reports numbers, and a more recent analysis by the Defender Association of Philadelphia, which provides free legal representation for defendants in criminal cases, found similar ratios months later, after those arrests had resumed. And theres no context that changes the reality that attempting to detain about half of presumptively innocent people arrested pretrial is morally abhorrent, especially during a pandemic.

No-cash-bail jurisdictions, like New Jersey and the District of Columbia, albeit imperfect, ultimately detain about 7 to 8 percent of people who are charged pretrial. By asking for people to be detained at a rate almost seven times that, Mr. Krasner isnt just breaking his promise to end cash bail; hes embracing cash bail.

While Philadelphias jail numbers dropped for part of last year, it was after our fund and others paid millions of dollars to free hundreds of people during the pandemic. Police temporarily froze arrests for certain charges. And the courts, under pressure from grass-roots organizers, agreed to release some incarcerated people through emergency hearings.

The problem is not confined to Philadelphia, especially when it comes to bail.

In Chicago, a progressive states attorney, Kim Foxx, said in March that her office was working around the clock with the Cook County sheriff and public defender to ensure any individuals who are not a threat to public safety are released from Cook County Jail.

In saying that, she portrayed herself as someone who wanted to minimize the number of people behind bars during a pandemic, adding that her office would agree to appropriate releases for the duration of this pandemic, to limit the number of people in our jail and reduce the number of people needlessly coming to court while recognizing there are both public health and safety risks that some detainees may pose.

Although hundreds of inmates were eventually released, an independent review of her office by the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts showed something very different: Prosecutors with Ms. Foxxs office contested the overwhelming majority of motions for bond reductions from March to May, despite the local jail at the time being the nations largest known source of coronavirus infections.

Baltimores states attorney, Marilyn Mosby, signed a national letter from prosecutors promising to reduce jail admissions during the pandemic. While she said her office should be credited for decreasing arrests and lowering the jail population, according to a July analysis by The Appeal, her office continued to hold defendants without bail in roughly the same percentages as before the pandemic.
Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID
West Australians will be required to wear face masks while out in public and be restricted to seated service at bars and restaurants for another week when the state emerges from lockdown.

WA has posted four consecutive days of no new community COVID-19 cases, paving the way for metropolitan Perth, the Peel region and South West to exit lockdown at 6pm on Friday.

But Premier Mark McGowan has announced a range of restrictions will remain in place for Perth and Peel until 12:01am on Sunday February 14.

All residents, including teachers and high school students, must wear masks while outside of their homes except for during vigorous outdoor exercise.

Premier Mark McGowan has announced a range of restrictions will remain in place for Perth and Peel until 12:01am on Sunday February 14

A cap of 150 attendees will apply to hospitality and retail venues and weddings

A 20-person limit will be imposed on all private indoor gatherings while a four square metre rule and a cap of 150 attendees will apply to hospitality and retail venues

A 20-person limit will be imposed on all private indoor gatherings while a four square metre rule and a cap of 150 attendees will apply to hospitality and retail venues and weddings.

Restaurants, pubs and bars can only have seated service and only essential travel is permitted in and out of the combined Perth and Peel regions.

No restrictions will remain for the South West.

'I wish we could just snap back immediately to the life we had last week but doing so would be too risky,' Mr McGowan said in a late-night press conference on Thursday.

'It would be irresponsible. I don't want a situation where we have to endure community transmission and the severe restrictions that brings.

'I don't want a rolling, long-term lockdown. We have to do everything we can to prevent that.'

Almost 43,000 tests have been conducted over the course of the five-day lockdown which was entered into after a security guard at the Sheraton Four Points hotel unwittingly roamed the streets of Perth while infectious.

Contact tracers have identified 191 close contacts and 189 have so far tested negative.

Officials are continuing to investigate how the guard contracted the highly contagious UK strain of the virus from a sick guest.

Restaurants, pubs and bars can only have seated service and only essential travel is permitted in and out of the combined Perth and Peel regions

All residents, including teachers and high school students, must wear masks while outside of their homes except for during vigorous outdoor exercise

The guard had been stationed on a chair about three metres from the guest's room but they are not believed to have had any face-to-face contact.

Authorities believe the guest may have transmitted the virus through either airborne transmission or surface contamination.

Anyone working in a 'high-risk situation' in quarantine hotels is now required to wear a face mask and protective eyewear at all times.

The government will also introduce saliva tests between shifts for hotel quarantine workers.

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading up to National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, AIDS United and its Public Policy Council, composed of 55 of the nation's leading organizations dedicated to ending HIV, are announcing they have launched the Racial Justice Index. AIDS United is working collaboratively with the Black AIDS Institute, a Public Policy Council member, to guide this work. After the summer of 2020 that ushered in a racial reckoning in America, this novel initiative aims to create awareness  and eventually sustainable change  around the misalignment between who holds power and resources in HIV organizations and the epidemic's disproportionate impact on Black Americans.

The Racial Justice Index is part of a series of outcomes that emerged from more than two years of conversations led by leaders of color among the Public Policy Council and was made more urgent by the national outcry for racial justice. In June 2020, AIDS United, along with 53 members of its Public Policy Council and more than 20 other HIV organizations, issued an open letter to all elected officials calling for all policies to be enacted through a racial justice and equity framework. The Index's mission is to assess and improve the HIV sector's commitment to racial equity by creating assessment tools and resources to combat anti-Black racism and other forms of racism that will first be analyzed in PPC organizations and then the HIV sector. This includes hiring practices, leadership, talent retention and decision-making in the HIV movement. The Index's methodical implementation process will seek to onboard HIV organizations to respond to an online national survey that will inform a publicly-released report, which will facilitate critical leadership conversations among HIV stakeholders.

The initiative will be guided by the Racial Justice Index Committee, a committee formed out of AIDS United's Public Policy Council and co-chaired by Raniyah Copeland, president and CEO of Black AIDS Institute, and A. Toni Young, CEO, Community Education Group  nationally renowned Black leaders in the HIV community. The PPC and the Index committee are managed by Carl Baloney Jr., AIDS United vice president for policy and advocacy. AIDS United Board members, Dr. Kimberley Jeffries Leonard, president of Links Inc., and Dr. David Holtgrave, Dean of the University at Albany School of Public Health, SUNY, have also been instrumental in assisting in the creation of the Index. The committee includes HIV service and advocacy organizations from across the country. The work of the Racial Justice Index will first assess how leadership in the HIV movement reflects the communities most impacted and will later aim to provide training and capacity building to root out white supremacy in HIV organizations' work.

"As a Black man living with HIV, I am very proud of our diverse coalition of organizations making this commitment to racial justice. Since the start of the HIV epidemic, AIDS United has played an active role to ensure that all who are living with and vulnerable to HIV receive the care they need. We are in a moment where the HIV sector  and the health care sector as a whole  must look inward and ask ourselves if our structures and decisions truly reflect the people and needs of those most impacted by the epidemic. The Public Policy Council has always pushed for responsiveness and inclusiveness across the HIV sector. This carries that work forward in these pressing times when health inequities are at our nation's forefront. We cannot end HIV without ending the systemic racism that is too often embedded in processes that result in the disparities in new infections and lack of access to care. I know it is time for change, and we are eager to put in the required work to end racist inequities and the imprint of systemic racism in our sector."  Jesse Milan Jr., President and CEO, AIDS United

"For 21 years, the Black AIDS Institute has led the fight to end HIV from a uniquely and unapologetically Black lens. With Black Empowerment as a central value, our leadership and our staff represent the communities we serve. By partnering with AIDS United and drawing from the intersectional expertise of the 55 Public Policy Council organizations, the Racial Justice Index will catalyze the prioritization of Black leadership, resource allocation, and capacity building. If we are committed to ending HIV within our lifetimes, rectifying the stain of white supremacy in how we do our work must be of the utmost priority."  Raniyah Copeland, President and CEO, Black AIDS Institute, co-chair of AIDS United's Racial Justice Index Committee

"HIV, HCV and Substance Use Disorder rage through Black and poor rural communities across the United States, it is critical the organizations are equipped to address the needs or Black people in the rural and Southern communities. The Racial Index will provide a tool for organizations to better develop staff and meet the growing needs of Black and brown communities."  A. Toni Young, Founder and Executive Director, Community Education Group, co-chair of AIDS United's Racial Justice Index Committee

"We are proud of the AIDS United Public Policy Council for deepening our commitment to racial justice through the important and urgent work to create the racial justice index. This initiative will help us examine the HIV sector's commitment to racial equity and empower us all with the resources needed to end the HIV epidemic, starting with our own organizations."

 AIDS United Public Policy Council Co-Chairs Bill Keeton, Vivent Health vice president and chief advocacy officer, and Dr. Tyler TerMeer, Cascade AIDS Project chief executive officer

"On National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, I join AIDS United's Public Policy Council to celebrate the launch of the Racial Justice Index, an initiative designed for HIV service organizations to conduct internal reviews aimed at eliminating racist structures, policies, and hiring practices within them. The HIV/AIDS epidemic's disproportionate impact on Black Americans is rooted in systemic racism and the Racial Justice Index provides a tool for HIV organizations to reassess their internal structures. The Racial Justice Index is a much needed mechanism to center racial equity at the core of the HIV sector's commitment to ending the HIV epidemic."  Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Co-Chair of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus

"I applaud AIDS United for launching the Racial Justice Index on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has had a devastating impact upon African Americans and other communities of color. In order for AIDS service and advocacy organizations to effectively address these devastating disparities, they must accurately reflect the demographics of the people who need their services."

 Congresswoman Maxine Waters

ABOUT AIDS UNITED

AIDS United's mission is to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. through strategic grant-making, capacity building and policy. AIDS United works to ensure access to life-saving HIV care and prevention services and to advance sound HIV-related policy for populations and communities most impacted by the U.S. epidemic. To date, AIDS United's strategic grant-making initiatives have directly funded more than $104 million to local communities and have leveraged more than $117 million in additional investments for programs that include, but are not limited to, HIV prevention, access to care, capacity building, harm reduction and advocacy. Learn more at www.aidsunited.org

ABOUT BLACK AIDS INSTITUTE

Founded in 1999, Black AIDS Institute (BAI) is the only uniquely and unapologetically Black think and do tank in America. Our mission is "to stop the AIDS epidemic in Black communities by engaging and mobilizing Black institutions and individuals to confront HIV." Black Empowerment is our central theme and we are led by people who represent the issues we serve. We source our capacity building, mobilization, and advocacy efforts from Black leaders and communities across the country, and provide culturally respectful, high-quality, HIV prevention and care services for Black people in Los Angeles. Learn more at https://blackaids.org

ABOUT AIDS UNITED PUBLIC POLICY COUNCIL

AIDS United's Public Policy Council is the nation's largest and longest-running policy coalition of community-based HIV organizations. Supported by the AIDS United Policy Department, the Public Policy Council brings together organizations from across the United States to advocate for people living with or impacted by HIV/AIDS and the organizations that serve them. The Public Policy Council operates as a standing committee of the AIDS United Board of Trustees, informing the policy priorities of the organization. Learn more at www.aidsunited.org

PRESS CONTACT for BLACK AIDS INSTITUTE:

Michelle Huff Elliott | Simone Smalls

Strategic Heights Media

[email protected]

212-634-7176

PRESS CONTACT for AIDS UNITED:

Warren Gill

AIDS United

[email protected]

SOURCE Black AIDS Institute

Related Links

https://blackaids.org


Agric & Environment Editor

Zimbabwe needs to take practical steps to set up an independent environmental court to preside over environmental disputes and crimes, World Wildlife Fund -- Zimbabwe country director, Dr Enos Shumba says.

Speaking at a virtual meeting to mark World Wetlands Day recently, Dr Shumba said establishing an independent green court, separate from the general judicial system, could help the country to address the pressing, pervasive and pernicious environmental problems that face the country.

"The establishment of an independent environmental court could also give the public redress against transgressions on wetlands in particular and the environment in general," he said.

"Transparent and coordinated enforcement of wetland legislation and practices that minimise conflicts between enforcement agencies and competing sector interests buttressed by appropriate penalties and political will is critical in solving challenges related to the management of wetlands and other environmental issues."

In Zimbabwe and other African countries, environmental courts do not exist because they are not provided for in the constitution.

According to a 2016 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, environmental courts or tribunals at different administrative levels exist in five sub-Saharan African countries namely -- Gambia, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Sudan.

A number of countries are in the process of establishing environmental courts that are better positioned than an ordinary court or tribunal to develop innovative remedies and holistic solutions to environmental problems.

Environmentalists argue that the courts are vital as they provide authority to the environmental legislation through judicial enforcement and interpretation.

"A court with special expertise in environmental matters is best placed to interpret, explain and enforce environmental laws and regulations in the achievement of ecologically sustainable development," an environmental rights activist said in an online report.

Dr Shumba said apart from establishing green courts, it was important for the country to safeguard and restore wetlands to fight the adverse effects of climate change and ensure benefits to human livelihoods and biodiversity.

"We need to facilitate the development of a participatory and all- inclusive national wetland strategy that motivates the development of guidelines on wetland management by different sectors," he said

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"Articulation of a national wetland policy thrust within the context of either preservation, sustainable use or restoration is also needed to safeguard and restore our wetlands."

In addition to this, Dr Shumba said there was need to coordinate information generation and awareness on wetlands for various stakeholders, including the public.

Increased urbanisation, poor urban planning, illegal developments on wetlands and river banks and poor drainage has contributed to increased run-off and flood risk and the frequency and intensity of floods in a number of residential areas in the country. Floods in the current summer season have destroyed or damaged nearly 10 000 homes, according to a January 2021 report by the UN International Organisation of Migration (IOM) and the Civil Protection Unit.

Zimbabwe has seven protected wetland sites and has a total of 1 117 wetlands covering 793 348 hectares which is about 1,5 percent of the country's land area. They are rich islands of floral and faunal biodiversity that drives the tourism sector, supports community livelihoods and provides a wide range of ecosystems goods and services. The country, which ratified the Ramsar Treaty in 2011, now has seven wetlands that have been declared as Ramsar sites.

These include the Monavale Vlei, Cleveland Dam, Mana Pools, Lake Chivero, Driefontein Grasslands, Chinhoyi Caves and the Victoria Falls National Park.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 14.45 crore belonging to Gitanjali Group and its director Mehul Choksi in relation to the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

The attached assets include a 1,460 square feet flat in Mumbai's Goregaon region, and gold and platinum jewellery, diamond, precious stones, pearl-silver necklaces, watches and a Mercedes Benz car registered in the name of Gitanjali Group and Choksi, the ED said.

ED issued a Provisional Attachment order attaching assets worth  14.45 crores of Gitanjali Group of companies and its director Mehul Choksi in PNB bank fraud case. - ED (@dir_ed) February 4, 2021

Also read: Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi case: ED brings back Rs 1,350 cr of diamonds, pearls from Hong Kong

Choksi, along with his nephew Nirav Modi, is accused of defrauding PNB of Rs 13,000 crore in connivance with certain bank officials by fraudulently getting Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) issued and getting foreign letter of credit (FLC) enhanced without following prescribed procedures.

Earlier, ED had attached properties worth more than Rs 2,550 crore in the matter.

Both Choksi and Modi had fled India after the matter came to light. Choksi is currently in Antigua and an extradition request has been sent by the Indian government to bring him back.

Also read: SEBI imposes Rs 5 cr fine on Mehul Choksi, Gitanjali Gems, another individual
Nearly 60,000 oil exploration and production jobs in Texas were lost in 2020, a staggering figure that underscores the deep industry wounds caused by the global pandemic and oil crash.

Employment in Texas oil drilling and extraction sector fell by more than a quarter as the coronavirus pandemic crushed demand for crude and petroleum products, forcing oil and gas companies to cut production and lay off thousands of workers.

There are now about 150,000 upstream oil and gas workers in Texas, the fewest in more than 15 years. For comparison, the sector employed more than 228,000 workers in December 2018, just over two years ago, according to the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, a trade group.

The job loss is devastating, said Karr Ingham, the alliances petroleum economist. In addition, wages were pushed down sharply for those who remained on oil and gas company payrolls. The combined effects of lost jobs and lower industry wages only served to worsen the effects of COVID on the statewide economy, and on local and regional economies with strong ties to oil and gas production.

Nationally, the oil and gas industry lost an estimated 107,000 jobs during the pandemic, according to global consulting firm Deloitte. The job losses came amid the sharpest drop in global crude demand in the shortest amount of time on record. Texas crude oil production hit a record 5.4 million barrels per day in March before it plunged by nearly 20 percent to around 4.3 million barrels a day by May.

OIL DOWNTURN: US oil and gas industry lost 107,000 jobs in the pandemic. Most will take years to return.

The number of drilling rigs in Texas plunged by more than 60 percent in 2020, dropping to 155 in December, the lowest level since oil-field services giant Baker Hughes started tallying the weekly rig count in 1944. The Texas rig count bottomed out in August at 100 rigs.

The number of drilling permits issued by the Texas Railroad Commission fell by nearly half to 6,295 in 2020, the lowest since at least the 1960s. A record low 251 permits were issued in May 2020.

Texas oil and gas industry appears to be recovering after crude prices climbed back above $40 a barrel last summer and surged above $50 a barrel in January after the rollout of coronavirus vaccines.

Since May, oil and gas companies in Texas have added back 407,000 barrels per day of crude production, ending 2020 at around 4.8 million barrels per day of production. Texas represents about 44 percent of the U.S. crude production.

The job losses stemming from the pandemic appear to have bottomed out in August. An estimated 2,300 oil and gas jobs have been added in the last four months of 2020, according to the Alliance.

That the industry is adding jobs is encouraging, pointing to at least somewhat better times ahead in 2021, Ingham said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said rapid growth in the use of mobile phones in Nigeria will support telemedicine and enhance e-Health delivery system in the country.

Lagos State Coordinator for WHO, Dr. Sam Yenyi, who gave the Information while delivering a keynote address during the launch of DoktorConnect and Lifepro in Lagos recently by Josmol Group, a health technology company, said information and communications technology (ICT) would have great potential in developing and providing quality healthcare services through telemedicine.

DoktorConnect is a digital application that provides a platform for anyone, anywhere, and at any time to access instant medical expertise that is accurate and trustworthy.

The latest statistics on mobile phone subscribers in Nigeria, as at November 2020, according to Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), was 208 million, with active internet subscription of 154.9 million and broadband penetration was 45.07 per cent, with a target of 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025.

"Telemedicine is the future of quality health delivery system and a universally accepted technology tool to reach out to millions of patients.

"It is for this reason that WHO attaches importance to e-Health through remote monitoring of patience and giving quality health services even in remote environments," Yenyi said.

Describing the two products of Josmol-DoktorConnect and Lifepro, the CEO of Josmol Group, Dr. Joseph Olowe, said the Lifepro has to do with the medical kits that patients could buy and use independently of the doctor to check for vital health information like blood pressure, sugar level among others, while the DoktorConnect is an online platform through which doctors can leverage to treat their patients remotely and through which patients could connect to registered doctors on the platform for all Kinds of health issues, without physical contact.

"It took us 13 months to put DoktorConnect together, with support from software developers and we are currently over 20 registered doctors on the platform and we are growing and we are also in collaboration with partners like the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN) and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).

"The platform is up and running and people could connect to the it through our app which is available on Android operating system and will soon be available on iOS," Olowe said.

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Chairman, Board of Directors, Josmol Group, Prof. Oladapo Ladipo, said DoktorConnect would be using technology to bring quality and affordable healthcare services to Nigerians though telemedicine in order to give Nigerians unhindered access to health services.

Representatives of AGPMPN and NMA, Dr. Adesola Kayode and Dr. Adetunji Adenekan respectively, in their goodwill messages, spoke about the importance of telemedicine in e-Health delivery system and how DoktorConnect would further enhance the delivery of quality health care to Nigerians.

According to Kayode, "the objectives of AGPMPN are in line with DoktorConnect and the association will collaborate with DoktorConnect to offer Nigerians the best of healthcare delivery system without depending on government."

He added that Nigeria was still far from attaining quality healthcare delivery service, but was optimistic that DoktorConnect would help bridge the gap.

Adenekan, who pledged the support of NMA for the growth of DoktorConnect across Nigeria, advised Nigerians to embrace telemedicine with open hands, because of its far-teaching advantages in driving healthcare delivery services. Giving the ratio of 1:6,000 for doctor-patient services, Adenekan said DoktorConnect would make it easier for doctors to attend to more patients despite their limited numbers as a result of brain drain in the medical profession.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 03:27:41|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese police's recent crackdown on the pirated-video platform YYeTs.com is another manifestation of the country's resolve in strengthening the protection of copyright and intellectual property rights (IPRs), a copyright expert said on Thursday.

Zhang Hongbo, director-general of China Written Works Copyright Society, said that operating the platform constitutes a suspected infringement of IPRs and is a criminal offence.

On Wednesday, Chinese police announced the arrest of 14 suspects linked to YYeTs.com after an investigation found that the suspects downloaded videos from foreign pirated-video websites, translated them into Chinese and uploaded the subtitled videos to their servers for dissemination, without the authorization of the copyright owners.

"YYeTs.com was investigated and punished for criminal liability as required by law," said Zhang. "It shows China's determination to enhance copyright protection and increase the cost of infringement."

China has made continuous efforts to clamp down on Internet infringement and piracy. For example, the revised Copyright Law that will take effect in June greatly raises the ceiling for statutory damages from 500,000 yuan (around 75,500 U.S. dollars) to 5 million yuan.

Zhang also called for efforts to bolster the copyright trade to create more licit ways for people to access quality foreign video works and publications. Enditem
BRIDGEPORT  A city man free on bond in three previous stolen car cases was taken into custody Wednesday in connection with a Mercedes sedan carjacking at a Fairfield rest stop.

Francisco Ayala, 20, of Brooks Street, was charged with first-degree larceny.

During Ayalas arraignment Thursday morning, Senior Assistant States Attorney Tiffany Lockshier urged Superior Court Judge Peter McShane to set a high bond on Ayala.

He is out on bond on three similar cases in Derby, she said.

The judge agreed and ordered Ayala held in lieu of $100,000 bond. He continued the case to May 5.

According to police, on Wednesday, a statewide police broadcast was put out for a 2020 Mercedes sedan with New York license plates that had been allegedly taken in a carjacking at the I-95 rest stop in Fairfield.

The car had been pursued earlier by both Waterbury and state police.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday, a Bridgeport police officer was on foot on Fairfield Avenue near Broad Street when he saw a Mercedes with New York plates traveling westbound on Fairfield Avenue. He followed the car to Park Avenue before losing sight of it, police said.

A short time later, the Mercedes was spotted by other officers who attempted to pull it over, police said. Instead, the Mercedes sped up, getting onto the Route 8/25 Connector at high speed.

Police said the Mercedes was again spotted a short time later, vacant and parked in a parking lot on Boston Avenue.

Police said a number of stolen cars have been recovered in that same parking lot, many of which were identified as previously used in robberies, shootings and homicides.

Members of the state police gang task force were brought in to conduct a surveillance of a nearby multi-family house on Brooks Street that police said they believed was connected to the stolen Mercedes.

Sometime later, task force members reported seeing two men leave the Brooks Street house and head in the direction of the Boston Avenue parking lot, police said.

Police said the two men were a short distance from the Mercedes when one of them apparently spotted an unmarked police car nearby. The two men turned around and headed back to the Brooks Street house, police said.

Later, task force members saw the same two men emerge from the Brooks Street house and head back to the parking lot, police said.

This time, police said, the two men came within just a couple of feet from the car. As one of the men appeared to fumble in his pocket for what was believed a key fob, police said officers moved in and took the two men into custody.

Police said Ayala was identified as one of the men while the other turned out to be a juvenile. They said the juvenile was turned over to state juvenile authorities.

Police said they recovered a key fob for the Mercedes where Ayala allegedly had tossed it as police approached him.

Ayala had been free on a total of $10,000 bond following arrests in August and September by Derby police on stolen car charges, according to court records.
1. Yes. The public must have assurances that ethical standards are met by everyone.

2. Yes. As long as an independent board hears the grievances, its a worthwhile idea.

3. No. The concept is too broad. It should be limited to the citys elected officials.

4. No. There are plenty of stipulations in place already. An ordinance is a waste of time.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without seeing how it would be structured and applied.

Vote

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said there is no alternative to the Trinamool Congress, and no other party can take its place in the state. Addressing a meeting of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe leaders of the TMC here, she said, the party will go for "further betterment".

"No other party can take our place since the TMC has provided the most people-friendly government in the world," Banerjee said. Claiming that the BJP has destroyed 'Sonar Bharat' (golden India) and is now talking of creating 'Sonar Bangla', the TMC supremo said, the saffron party is indulging in false propaganda using social media.

"We did everything for relief of cyclone Amphan affected people, but faced criticism for one or two gaffes," the chief minister said. Opposition parties, including the BJP, Congress and the Left Front, have been vocal in alleging that relief funds for cyclone Amphan affected people had been misappropriated by TMC leaders and workers.

Accusing the BJP of having "sold off" the country, Banerjee said, the saffron party should look into the mirror before eyeing West Bengal, where assembly elections are due in April-May. She also demanded that the Central government must repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act, claiming that its existence is a "constant threat" to the citizens of the country.
NAPLES, Fla., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Econic Crop Solutions Inc, a Division of ZA Group Inc. (OTCMKTS: ZAAG) is pleased to announce the successful completion of a third pilot business venture located at the Gitsigukla First Nation in British Columbia, Canada. The Gitsigukla community is strategically located in the northern part of the province where it is surrounded by communities that use traditional medicines. The community has been and continues to be recognized for its business and cultural leadership in the past. Dancers from Gitsigukla were prominent in the Opening Ceremonies for the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 and leaders from the community are frequently consulted upon for their resource development expertise.

Econics takes particular pride in having funded this third $100,000 project and the company looks forward to launching directly into the expansion program with Gitsigukla. Firstly, revenue projections are right on target and the community has already put the necessary infrastructure in place to expand to a 100 pod commercial indoor grow facility for medical cannabis products. Secondly, this expansion project has received unanimous support from band council and the whole community participated in the selection of a name and logo for the new facilities. The nameGandi-mox means "to heal oneself". Thirdly, because of the large regional market for the traditional medicines from cannabis, Gitsigukla is also committed to establishing an on-location dispensary.

As further demonstration of the regional support for the business venture, Gitsigukla is having discussions to become a regional training centre for cannabis and hemp production and processing. Their training program will be similar to that currently in place at Olds College in Alberta.

Clifford Sampare, a spokeperson for this project, led a Gitsigukla First Nation pilot project in 2010-2012 which involved provincial government and university funds in a commercial hemp production pilot project. The success of that pilot led to the issuance of the first commercial hemp license in Canada to Gitsigukla First Nation. Mr. Sampare stated, "The hemp project was successful beyond everyone's expectations. We are excited to have the assistance of Econic in building year round cannabis production facilities and then further utilize the vast lands under our ownership to work with Econics in producing cancer-fighting hemp products during the summer growing season."

Wade Eno, CEO of Econic stated, "I have enjoyed a great relationship with the leaders of Gitsigukla and I share their excitement for this venture. They have the natural resources needed to achieve success and most importantly, the community will benefit from the extensive youth employment and career opportunities. The vast regional market for the medicinal products means financial success for all."

John Morgan, President of ZA Group, stated, "Today marks another milestone for Econic through demonstration of success in another ground-breaking business venture with a prominent First Nations community. Success always builds upon itself."

SOURCE Econic Crop Solutions Inc
credit: IISc

The future of total police surveillance just got a whole lot bleaker, thanks to researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). IISc researchers have figured out a way to turn a vast network of CCTV cameras into one massive surveillance network, which can target a specific vehicle or person.

As VentureBeat reported, police can use Anveshak's artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to track an individual's movements by using multiple surveillance cameras from various sources.

Anveshak, the Hindi word for "investigator" gives law enforcement the ability to overlap the camera feeds from a thousand CCTV cameras to track an individual person[s].

"Anveshak has the big-picture ability to know the locations and overlap points of 1,000 camera feeds, as well as possible paths an object (such as a stolen car) or person could take through those feeds, critical details in limiting what would otherwise be an unfathomably large quantity of video data coming from multiple cameras."

The Anveshak platform will now allow police to use CCTV cameras to track or "spotlight" a person through blindspots.

"The system creates a spotlight on the tracked subject, dynamically adjusting the size of that spotlight based on known gaps in camera coverage; for example, four cameras might be monitored for the subjects arrival in situations of ambiguity, decreasing to only two cameras where their coverage is better and the subjects route more obvious."

The IISc's attempt at explaining how law enforcement can use it to track missing people is really just a veiled attempt at showing governments how police could use the Anveshak platform to ID and track people of interest.

"The spotlight algorithm narrows the search space for analyzing video feeds if the missing person is found within a cameras field of view. It gradually expands the set of video feeds analyzed when the person falls in a blindspot between cameras. This intelligence helps reduce the computation required for analyzing videos from thousands of cameras while not sacrificing accuracy."

The "spotlight" AI algorithm is unlike anything we have seen before.

Anveshak will allow law enforcement to use a vast network of public and private surveillance cameras to track an individual persons movement's between blindspots.

The IISc calls Anveshak "a software platform for smart video tracking".

"Researchers at the IISc have developed a novel software platform from which apps and algorithms can intelligently track and analyze video feeds from cameras spread across cities. Such analysis is not only useful for tracking missing persons or objects, but also for smart city initiatives such as automated traffic control."

Don't be fooled by IISc's claims that law enforcement will only use Anveshak to track stolen cars or missing person's.

History has shown, how police have used smart AI's to identify and track people of interest like; Occupy Wall St. and Black Lives Matter protesters.

As The Verge revealed law enforcement used police video teams to ID peaceful protesters more than 400 times.

"NYPD police camera teams were deployed to hundreds of Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street protests from 20112013 and 2016. Originally acquired through a Freedom of Information Law request by New York attorney David Thompson of Stecklow & Thompson, the records are job reports from the NYPDs Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) that document over 400 instances in which the units video team attended, and sometimes filmed, demonstrations."

The New York Times revealed how police Fusion Centers used CCTV surveillance and police videos to ID and track peaceful protesters.

"Peter Swire, a law and ethics professor at Georgia Tech who recently served on President Obamas Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies, said that as the government concentrated on fighting terrorism, guidelines that had restricted the monitoring of political activity were relaxed. As a result, he said, even minor offenses like trespassing can be enough to trigger surveillance of political groups."

Both The Verge and the New York Times did a great job of revealing what happens when police are given access to public surveillance devices, like facial recognition and CCTV cameras.

Anveshak does for police surveillance what digital electronics (4K) did for old tube-style televisions. It totally changed the way people view things.

"In a recently published paper , the researchers show how Anveshak can be used to track an object (like a stolen car) across a 1,000-camera network. A key feature of the platform is that it allows a tracking model or algorithm to focus only on feeds from certain cameras along an expected route, and tune out other feeds. It can also automatically increase or decrease the search radius or spotlight based on the objects last known position."

The quality of police surveillance cameras can be likened to 4K television's clarity. Just like 4K changed the way we come to view TV's with its amazing quality, Anveshak will change the way police view the public's privacy forever.

A network of a hundred, five hundred or a thousand Anveshak connected surveillance cameras means that once a person enters a business like a Walmart, Rite Aide, Home Depot, or a Lowes; they can be ID'd and tracked in real-time with no lapses in coverage. The same can be said for public transportation with their DHS-funded public surveillance cameras being installed in buses, trains and public platforms throughout the country.

Anveshak gives law enforcement the ability to "spotlight" anyone, for any reason, no matter where they are. Anveshak's platform will transform police surveillance as we know it, soon Big Brother's gaze will be omnipresent.
Calling the Centre "insensitive" over the handling of farmers' protests, NCP President on Thursday said if farmers leave peaceful means of agitation it would lead to a major crisis in the country and the government will be responsible for it.

Slamming the government for erecting multi-layered barricades, concertina wires with iron nails studded on roads, Pawar said this did not happen even during the British rule.

Pawar, who was Union Agriculture Minister from 2004-2014, accused the government of not willing to solve the farmers' protest issue.

"They don't want to solve the problem. I am worried that today, if the farmers, who are peacefully agitating, take some other path, then this would lead to a major crisis. And the government has to take responsibility for this. There are many issues but today those who are in power are not sensitive," he said.

He warned that the end of the government which is not sensitive is near sooner or later.

Pawar also attacked the government for not allowing Opposition MPs to visit the protesting farmers at Ghazipur. Pawar's daughter and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule was among the Opposition lawmakers.

"They (the opposition MPs) had gone there peacefully just to check the well-being of farmers but even they were not allowed to go. If this is the case in democracy then they (the government) have to pay a heavy price today or tomorrow," he said.

Sule also took to twitter and slammed the government. In her tweet in Marathi, she said the government should shed arrogance and engage in talks with the farmers and address the issue.

Pawar was among the Opposition leaders to visit President Ram Nath Kovind in December to seek repeal of the three contentious farm laws.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
This could have been the weirdest, best awards season of all time. With many of the usual blockbusters and award-show contenders postponed until its safe for audiences to return to movie theaters in droves, this was supposed to be the year that groups like the Hollywood Foreign Press and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences threw up their hands and  left with no other choice  finally rewarded a more diverse, less traditional group of deserving underdogs.

They had plenty to choose from this year, too. There were plenty of excellent Black-led ensemble films whose subjects feel particularly relevant to today, like Judas and the Black Messiah, which tells the story of the assassination of Fred Hampton; One Night in Miami, which imagines a historic 1964 meeting between Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown; Da 5 Bloods, which highlights the unique trauma of Black Vietnam War veterans; Ma Raineys Black Bottom, which addresses the racism faced by Ma Rainey and other Black blues musicians; and the relationship drama Malcolm & Marie, shot entirely in quarantine with Zendaya and John David Washington. There was Promising Young Woman, with its important message about sexual assault and award-worthy work from star Carey Mulligan and director Emerald Fennell, as well as a slew of great work from other female directors, including Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) and Regina King (One Night in Miami).

Its an embarrassment of riches, really  and while in a year of lesser films, some might even wonder if its worth having awards ceremonies at all due to the pandemic attaching an unwritten asterisk to them, the limited amount of traditional Hollywood fare opened the door for this years awards season to be truly historic. And yet, when the Golden Globes nominations were announced this morning, it was business as usual. (You can find the complete list of nominees here.)

To be fair, there are some things to cheer about. The Globes did make history by nominating three women Fennell, Zhao and King  for Best Director, the first time ever that more than one woman has been nominated in the category in any one year. (Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher round out the category with their work on The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Mank, respectively.) But its hard not to feel as though theres still a long way to go after some high-profile snubs.

The Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama category features three minority actors (Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal, Tahar Rahim for The Mauritanian and the late Chadwick Boseman for Ma Raineys Black Bottom), but it could have easily been an all-BIPOC category were it not for the confounding snubs of Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods), Steven Yeun (Minari) and LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah). And, most frustratingly of all, not a single one of this years outstanding Black-led films  Judas and the Black Messiah, Ma Raineys Black Bottom, Da 5 Bloods and One Night in Miami  was nominated in the Best Picture category. Da 5 Bloods, which featured a truly arresting performance by Lindo and was widely lauded as one of director Spike Lees best efforts in decades, failed to earn a single nomination. The trend continued in the TV categories, where more phenomenal work by minority artists was unjustly overlooked, with HBOs groundbreaking I Will Destroy You completely shut out of the nominations while Netflixs critically maligned Emily in Paris scored two.

Of course, the Golden Globes are not exactly known for getting it right. In fact, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is notorious for handing out awards to whomever its members would most like to take a selfie with instead of whos actually most deserving. In recent years, the Globes have also become less and less of a reliable indicator of whos likely to earn an Oscar nomination. (Take, for example, last year, when they rewarded 1917 as Best Picture and kept Parasite  the Academy Awards big, history-making winner  relegated to the Best Foreign Language Film category thanks to their antiquated rule that only English-language films can be nominated for the nights top prize.) So the Globes failure to seize the opportunity to honor a bunch of deserving films and creators that dont fit inside Hollywoods typical box doesnt necessarily mean the Oscars will follow suit. Its still possible the Academy will do the right thing, take advantage of this unprecedented year and unveil an equally unprecedented list of diverse nominees when it announces its nominations on March 15.

Still, its frustrating to see the Globes botch it so badly, particularly in a year when the stakes are lower due to the pandemic. If they cant honor Black films when those films arguably made up the lions share of the small number of awards contenders released, when can they?

The post Award Shows Have an Opportunity to Be Historic This Year. Why Wont They Take It? appeared first on InsideHook.
Buildings at the Artux City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center, believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, north of Kashgar, in northwestern Xinjiang, China, on June 2, 2019. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

UK Government Faces Scrutiny on Uyghur Policy Ahead of Crunch Vote

Twenty-Five British MPs on Thursday pressured the UK government to take action on the Chinese Regimes treatment of Uyghurs, a day after The BBC reported on systematic rape, sexual abuse, and torture against Uyghur women in Chinas re-education camps.

This has been the third Parliamentary urgent questions session on Xinjiang, which also came days ahead of a crucial vote that, if passed, will make the UK the first country to give its domestic courts power to judge genocide cases.

On Jan. 19, the last day of the Trump administration, The United States government announced that the Chinese regime had committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghur Muslims in the region of Xinjiang, a move with which the then-incoming Biden administration said it agreed.

Genocide Amendment

The UK House of Commons on the same day rejected an amendment from the House of Lords, which would give UK courts power to make a preliminary judgment on genocide and revoke trade deals with countries that have committed genocide. The UK government opposed the amendment on procedural grounds.

A modified version of the amendment on Tuesday was backed by two-thirds of the Peers and will be back in the Commons next week. The government still opposes the amendment, saying it is unnecessary.

During the urgent questions session, MPs urged the government to change its stance on the amendment.

Everybody in this house knows there is no prospect of China being held to account through the International Criminal Court, or the International Court of Justice, Nusrut Ghani, one of the Conservative MPs sponsoring the amendment said.

So I asked the minister, how is the governments going to get the court judgment it needs to act when all international routes are paralyzed by China?

Ghani said the UK cant be bystanders to the deliberate attempt to exterminate a group of people, and urged the government to promise that no further deepening of any ties of any kind will take place with China until a full judicial inquiry has investigated these crimes.

Magnitsky-Style Sanctions

MPs also urged the government to sanction those responsible.

Where on earth are the Magnitsky sanctions that we on these benches and members from across this house, have been calling for since last June? Labour MP Stephen Kinnock asked.

The Foreign Secretary said the body of evidence in Xinjiang is large, diverse, and growing, and we know the names of the senior Chinese officials who are responsible for these atrocities, the U.S. sanction[ed] them last summer. Who in government is holding this up? he added.

On July 6, the UK sanctioned a number of Russian and Saudi nationals in its first independent Magnitsky-style sanctions after leaving the European Union.

The sanctions came five days after the Beijing-imposed national security law took effect in Hong Kong.

Parliamentarians from both Houses have urged the government to add Chinese human rights abusers to the list.

Minister for Asia Nigel Adams told MPs that the government is carefully considering any further designations of targeted sanctions.

We keep all evidence and job listings under review, he added.

Adams said the UK government funded a report that helped build the evidence base for whats going on in Xinjiang, and it will continue to work independently and with the UKs international partners to ensure that China is held to its international obligations.

Cathy He contributed to this report.

Authorities are searching for two people suspected of stealing historic memorabilia from San Franciscos Cliff House nearly one month after the restaurant announced its permanent closure.

United States Park Police said two people broke into the building near Ocean Beach in the early hours of Jan. 26. Historic art, tools and an early 1900s bathing suit from the old Sutro Bathhouse valued at $2,000 were among the items stolen, police said.

The burglary happened nearly a month before a planned two-day online auction of the 157-year-old landmarks memorabilia, artwork and decorative furnishings. The pilfered bathing suit was one of the items up for auction, according to the firm organizing the event.

A representative of Rabin Worldwide, the company overseeing the Cliff House auction, said in an email that the auction is moving forward as planned.

Thankfully the thieves did not take a lot of stuff, Orlee Rabin, a principal at Rabin Worldwide told The Chronicle. They did take a variety of interesting items, but they actually left some behind. They took them out of the building and then left them on the street, and a bystander was about to go for a run at Ocean Beach and saw them and realized where they were from and managed to get them back to the Cliff House.

We miraculously had one of the bathing suits and three other items returned. There are good people out there in San Francisco, and were very relieved.

In a press release announcing the auction, Rabin promised a chance to own a piece of San Francisco history, and called the Cliff Houses decor a testament to the bygone era of the establishment, as well as to relics of San Francisco landmarks of yesteryear: the Sutro Baths and Playland at the Beach.

Police said they have clear security footage of the two individuals, and they have compiled a list of items that were stolen or vandalized, including a wooden horse and framed antique pictures and posters.

Julian Espinoza, a spokesman for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, said there has been an increase in vandalism and theft throughout the region during the pandemic, and park officials and police are working to increase security at the Cliff House.

The Cliff House closed in December after longtime operators Dan and Mary Hountalas, who ran the property since 1977, failed to reach a new lease agreement with the historical sites owner, the National Park Service.

But the property may not remain vacant for long. The National Park Service confirmed on Tuesday that it will immediately make use of the space while it searches for a tenant, and the goal is for the building to house a restaurant under a new name.

Protection of the Cliff House continues to be a major priority during our pandemic operations and we are continuing to explore short-term options for this public space, Espinoza said in an email statement Thursday.

Park officials and police are working with the San Francisco Police Departments burglary task force and are seeking the publics assistance to identify the individuals and recover the stolen items.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Park Police anonymously at 415-561-5150 or 888-361-3332. Tips can also be emailed to uspp_tipline@nps.gov.

Vanessa Arredondo is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vanessa.arredondo@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @v_anana
The StoryLight Podcast has released 13 beloved children's classics to date, all available on iTunes, Spotify, and Sound Cloud for free.

Discord on Saturday, February 6th, (6-8pm ET) - The StoryLight Podcast, in which top acting talent from around the globe retell favorite childhood classics, will host a live recording event on the platform Discord, with opportunities for audience participation and an audio-visual glimpse into the exciting process of audiobook narration.

Accomplished audiobook narrator and producer Byron Wagner-- will invite us into his professional home studio and lead us through a recording session of the next StoryLight Podcast episode of Jack Londons White Fang. StoryLight producer Gail Shalan will moderate questions on the chat. Live feedback and participation will be encouraged. Suggestions from attendees will impact the final released episode. The audience is free to come and go as they please throughout the event.

People listening to this are actually participating live, and something they say can literally change the course of how this project goes. Thats tremendously compelling, said Wagner. People who liked audiobooks could come and visit the sausage factory. Narrators can also come listen to somebody else do it, and that was really important to me, he added. This isnt something that you normally associate with the art of audiobook narration.

This unique event will take place on Discord, the breakthrough instant messaging and digital distribution platform designed for creating communities, in the Narrator's Nook server where over 800 narrators, authors, and audiobook lovers share live readings and audiobook-related conversation.

The creative team behind the event includes esteemed voice, stage and screen actors, directors, producers who will use their talents to create a virtual community space, an educational opportunity, and a live performance experience, to bring storytellers and listeners together in a time of isolation.

This event is sponsored by the groundbreaking spoken word software company, Pozotron.

About The StoryLight Podcast

The StoryLight Podcast is an immersive listening experience for the whole family, bringing light, joy, and the comfort and escape of a great story to listeners of all ages all around the world.

To date, 13 beloved classics such as Peter Pan, The Wind in The Willows, Anne of Green Gables and Sherlock Holmes have been streamed more than 13k times by listeners from across the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Belgium, and Denmark.

The StoryLight Podcast is available for free on iTunes, Spotify, and Soundcloud.

Follow the Storylight social media accounts for updates and simple instructions on how to join Discord if you are not already on the platform or visit us at https://www.storylight.net/events. Contact Information: The StoryLight Podcast Gail Shalan - Producer gailshalan@storylight.net http://www.storylight.net (F) The StoryLight Podcast . (IG) @storylight_podcast . (T) @storylight_pod
The finance department has sent a proposal to the state government, seeking approval to table a paperless budget this time in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Representational Photo:DC)

Hyderabad: Inspired by the Central government tabling a paperless Union budget on Monday, the Telangana state government too wants to follow suit.

The finance department has sent a proposal to the state government, seeking approval to table a paperless budget this time in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, a final decision will be taken at a cabinet meeting, expected to be held in a week or two.

After Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman attracted national attention for presenting a paperless budget in Parliament for the first time, using a digital tablet, several states too seem to have joined the race to adopt the same. BJP-ruled States of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have already announced their plans to present a paperless budget this year, in line with the Union best practice.

Following this, the Telangana state finance department too wants to adopt this digital model. Soft copies of the budget will be distributed to all members of the Legislature and media.

The budget session of the Telangana legislature is expected to be held in the second week of March.
The Kansas GOP is skeptical about the new plan from the Democratic Party leader. Meanwhile, it's getting tougher to convince broke-ass Americans about the evils of weed and freebie healthcare.

Read more . . .
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon today said hes not yet ready to make restaurant workers, taxi drivers, and Uber and Lyft drivers eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine.

The reason? Because, he said, those arent the people who are dying from the coronavirus.

But we havent even gotten to all the seniors, he said. And they are the ones more likely to go to the hospital and die.

Since the pandemic began, 613 people have died in Onondaga County. Four of those people were under the age of 40, according to county data.

Thats four too many, he said today. Those people also had severe pre-existing conditions, he said.

But the overwhelming majority of deaths -- 3 out of 4 -- were among people 70 and older, the county data show.

And its extremely likely the virus has been far more lethal for older people.

The county data doesnt include the hundreds who have died in nursing homes. The state has not released demographic information on nursing home residents who died.

Earlier this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that counties could decide whether to add restaurant workers and ride-share drivers to those eligible for the vaccine.

Its not that I dont value you, he said, noting many wanting to become eligible have reached out to his office. Theres just not enough vaccine.

McMahon said he knows the waiting makes many angry.

Were not ready to make that decision today, McMahon said.

McMahon said today he wants to ensure more seniors get the vaccine before opening the doors to more people, especially because the vaccine continues to be in short supply.

Everybody should be eligible, he added. We just dont have the supply right now.

McMahon said hes continuing to review data that shows who is getting the vaccine in the county. Hes also looking at whos getting vaccine at the New York State Fairgrounds and other places to better understand the demographic breakdowns of who is getting shots.

As he reviews the data, a decision to expand eligibility could come next week. But he didnt make any promises.

I understand this is an emotional process, he said. I know its our ticket to take back our lives.

Got a story idea or news tip youd like to share with a Syracuse-area reporter? Please contact me through email, Twitter, Facebook or at 315-470-2274.
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When the coronavirus forced churches to close their doors and give up Sunday collections, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte turned to the federal governments signature small business relief program for more than $8 million.

The dioceses headquarters, churches and schools landed the help even though they had roughly $100 million of their own cash and short-term investments available last spring, financial records show. When the cash catastrophe church leaders feared didnt materialize, those assets topped $110 million by the summer.

I am gratified to report the overall good financial health of the diocese despite the many difficulties presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, Bishop Peter Jugis wrote in the dioceses audited financial report released last fall.

As the pandemic began to unfold, scores of Catholic dioceses across the U.S. received aid through the Paycheck Protection Program while sitting on well over $10 billion in cash, short-term investments or other available funds, an Associated Press investigation has found. And despite the broad economic downturn, these assets have grown in many dioceses.

These industries got major 'paycheck protection' funds in Louisiana; see the list More details of the Paycheck Protection Program were released late Tuesday night by the U.S. Small Business Administration after a judge ruled

Yet even with that financial safety net, the 112 dioceses that shared their financial statements, along with the churches and schools they oversee, collected at least $1.5 billion in taxpayer-backed aid. A majority of these dioceses reported enough money on hand to cover at least six months of operating expenses, even without any new income.

The financial resources of several dioceses rivaled or exceeded those available to publicly traded companies like Shake Shack and Ruths Chris Steak House, whose early participation in the program triggered outrage. Federal officials responded by emphasizing the money was intended for those who lacked the cushion that cash and other liquidity provide. Many corporations returned the funds.

Overall, the nation's nearly 200 dioceses, where bishops and cardinals govern, and other Catholic institutions received at least $3 billion. That makes the Roman Catholic Church perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the paycheck program, according to AP's analysis of data the U.S. Small Business Administration released following a public-records lawsuit by news organizations. The agency for months had shared only partial information, making a more precise analysis impossible.

Already one of the largest federal aid efforts ever, the SBA reopened the Paycheck Protection Program last month with a new infusion of nearly $300 billion. In making the announcement, the agencys administrator at the time, Jovita Carranza, hailed the program for serving as an economic lifeline to millions of small businesses.

Church officials have said their employees were as worthy of help as workers at Main Street businesses, and that without it they would have had to slash jobs and curtail their charitable mission as demand for food pantries and social services spiked. They point out the programs rules didnt require them to exhaust their stores of cash and other funds before applying.

But new financial statements several dozen dioceses have posted for 2020 show that their available resources remained robust or improved during the pandemics hard, early months. The pattern held whether a diocese was big or small, urban or rural, East or West, North or South.

Here's what businesses need to know about federal Paycheck Protection loan guidelines A new round of Paycheck Protection Program loans totaling $284 billion will start becoming available to select lenders and borrowers on Monday

In Kentucky, funds available to the Archdiocese of Louisville, its parishes and other organizations grew from at least $153 million to $157 million during the fiscal year that ended in June, AP found. Those same offices and organizations received at least $17 million in paycheck money. The Archdioceses operations have not been significantly impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak, according to its financial statement.

In Illinois, the Archdiocese of Chicago had more than $1 billion in cash and investments in its headquarters and cemetery division as of May, while the faithful continued to donate more than expected, according to a review by the independent ratings agency Moodys Investors Service. Chicagos parishes, schools and ministries accumulated at least $77 million in paycheck protection funds.

Up the interstate from Charlotte in North Carolina, the Raleigh Diocese collected at least $11 million in aid. Yet during the fiscal year that ended in June, overall offerings were down just 5% and the assets available to the diocese, its parishes and schools increased by about $21 million to more than $170 million, AP found. In another measure of fiscal health, the diocese didnt make an emergency draw on its $10 million line of credit.

Catholic leaders in dioceses including Charlotte, Chicago, Louisville and Raleigh said their parishes and schools, like many other businesses and nonprofits, suffered financially when they closed to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Some dioceses reported that their hardest-hit churches saw income drop by 40% or more before donations began to rebound months later, and schools took hits when fundraisers were canceled and families had trouble paying tuition. As revenues fell, dioceses said, wage cuts and a few dozen layoffs were necessary in some offices.

Catholic researchers at Georgetown University who surveyed the nations bishops last summer found such measures werent frequent. In comparison, a survey by the investment bank Goldman Sachs found 42% of small business owners had cut staff or salaries, and that 33% had spent their personal savings to stay open.

President Biden meets with Republicans as Democrats push on for virus aid WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden met late Monday with a group of Republican senators who have proposed a slimmed down $618 billion corona

Church leaders have questioned why AP focused on their faith following a story last July, when New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote that reporters invented a story when none existed and sought to bash the Church.

By using a special exemption that the church lobbied to include in the paycheck program, Catholic entities amassed at least $3 billion  roughly the same as the combined total of recipients from the other faiths that rounded out the top five, AP found. Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Jewish faith-based recipients also totaled at least $3 billion. Catholics account for about a fifth of the U.S. religious population while members of Protestant and Jewish denominations are nearly half, according to the Pew Research Center.

Catholic institutions also received many times more than other major nonprofits with charitable missions and national reach, such as the United Way, Goodwill Industries and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Overall, Catholic recipients got roughly twice as much as 40 of the largest, most well-known charities in America combined, AP found.

The complete picture is certainly even more lopsided. So many Catholic entities received help that reporters could not identify them all, even after spending hundreds of hours hand-checking tens of thousands of records in federal data.

The Vatican referred questions about the paycheck program to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which said it does not speak on behalf of dioceses.

Presented with APs findings, bishops conference spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi responded with a broad statement that the Paycheck Protection Program was designed to protect the jobs of Americans from all walks of life, regardless of whether they work for for-profit or nonprofit employers, faith-based or secular.

___

INTERNAL SKEPTICISM

The APs assessment of church finances is among the most comprehensive to date. It draws largely from audited financial statements posted online by the central offices of 112 of the countrys nearly 200 dioceses.

The church isnt required to share its financials. As a result, the analysis doesnt include cash, short-term assets and lines of credit held by some of the largest dioceses, including those serving New York City and other major metropolitan areas.

The analysis focused on available assets because federal officials cited those metrics when clarifying eligibility for the paycheck program. Therefore, the $10 billion AP identified doesnt count important financial pillars of the U.S. church. Among those are its thousands of real estate properties and most of the funds that parishes and schools hold. Also excluded is the money  estimated at $9.5 billion in a 2019 study by the Delaware-based wealth management firm Wilmington Trust  held by charitable foundations created to help dioceses oversee donations.

President Biden meets with Republicans as Democrats push on for virus aid WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden met late Monday with a group of Republican senators who have proposed a slimmed down $618 billion corona

In addition, dioceses can rely on a well-funded support system that includes help from wealthier dioceses, the bishops conference and other Catholic organizations. Canon law, the legal code the Vatican uses to govern the global church, notes that richer dioceses may assist poorer ones, and the AP found instances where they did.

In their financial statements, the 112 dioceses acknowledged having at least $4.5 billion in liquid or otherwise available assets. To reach its $10 billion total, AP also included funding that dioceses had opted to designate for special projects instead of general expenses; excess cash that parishes and their affiliates deposit with their dioceses savings and loan; and lines of credit dioceses typically have with outside banks.

Some church officials said AP was misreading their financial books and therefore overstating available assets. They insisted that money their bishop or his advisers had set aside for special projects couldnt be repurposed during an emergency, although financial statements posted by multiple dioceses stated the opposite.

For its analysis, AP consulted experts in church finance and church law. One was the Rev. James Connell, an accountant for 15 years before joining the priesthood and becoming an administrator in the Milwaukee Archdiocese. Connell, also a canon lawyer who is now retired from his position with the archdiocese, said APs findings convinced him that Catholic entities did not need government aid  especially when thousands of small businesses were permanently closing.

Was it want or need? Connell asked. Need must be present, not simply the want. Justice and love of neighbor must include the common good.

Connell was not alone among the faithful concerned by the churchs pursuit of taxpayer money. Parishioners in several cities have questioned church leaders who received government money for Catholic schools they then closed.

Elsewhere, a pastor in a Western state told AP that he refused to apply even after diocesan officials repeatedly pressed him. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of his dioceses policy against talking to reporters and concerns about possible retaliation.

The pastor had been saving, much like leaders of other parishes. When the pandemic hit, he used that money, trimmed expenses and told his dioceses central finance office that he had no plans to seek the aid. Administrators followed up several times, the pastor said, with one high-ranking official questioning why he was leaving free money on the table.

The pastor said he felt a sound moral conviction that the money was meant more for shops and restaurants that, without it, might close forever.

As the weeks passed last spring, the pastor said his church managed just fine. Parishioners were so happy with new online Masses and his other outreach initiatives, he said, they boosted their contributions beyond 2019 levels.

We didnt need it, the pastor said, and intentionally wanted to leave the money for those small business owners who did.

___

WEATHERING A DOWNTURN

Months after the pandemic first walloped the economy, the 112 dioceses that release financial statements began sharing updates. Among the 47 dioceses that have thus far, the pandemics impact was far from crippling.

The 47 dioceses that have posted financials for the fiscal year that ended in June had a median 6% increase in the amount of cash, short-term investments and other funds that they and their affiliates could use for unanticipated or general expenses, AP found. In all, 38 dioceses grew those resources, while nine reported declines.

Finances in Raleigh and 10 other dioceses that took government assistance were stable enough that they did not have to dip into millions they had available through outside lines of credit.

This crisis has tested us, Russell Elmayan, Raleighs chief financial officer, told the dioceses magazine website in July, but we are hopeful that the business acumen of our staff and lay counselors, together with the strategic financial reserves built over time, will help our parishes and schools continue to weather this unprecedented event. Raleigh officials did not answer direct questions from AP.

The 47 dioceses acknowledged a smaller amount of readily available assets than AP counted, though by their own accounting that grew as well.

The improving financial outlook is due primarily to parishioners who found ways to continue donating and U.S. stock markets that were rebounding to new highs. But when the markets were first plunging, officials in several dioceses said, they had to stretch available assets because few experts were forecasting a rapid recovery.

In Louisville, Charlotte and other dioceses, church leaders said they offered loans or grants to needy parishes and schools, or offset the monthly charges they assess their parishes. In Raleigh, for example, the headquarters used $3 million it had set aside for liability insurance and also tapped its internal deposit and loan fund.

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Church officials added that the pandemics full toll will probably be seen in a year or two, because some key sources of revenue are calculated based on income that parishes and schools generate.

We believe that we will not know all of the long-term negative impacts on parish, school and archdiocesan finances for some time, Louisville Archdiocese spokeswoman Cecelia Price wrote in response to questions.

At the nine dioceses that recorded declines in liquid or other short-term assets, the drops typically were less than 10%, and not always clearly tied to the pandemic.

The financial wherewithal of some larger dioceses is underscored by the fact that, like publicly traded companies, they can raise capital by selling bonds to investors.

One was Chicago, where analysts with the Moodys ratings agency calculated that the $1 billion in cash and investments held by the archdiocese headquarters and cemeteries division could cover about 631 days of operating expenses.

Church officials in Chicago asserted that those dollars were needed to cover substantial expenses while parishioner donations slumped. Without paycheck support, parishes and schools would have been forced to cut many jobs, as the archdiocese, given its liabilities, could not have closed such a funding gap, spokeswoman Paula Waters wrote.

Moodys noted in its May report that while giving was down, federal aid had compensated for that and helped leave the archdiocese well positioned to weather this revenue loss over the next several months. Among the reasons for the optimism: a unique credit strength that under church law allows the archbishop to tax parish revenue virtually at will.

In a separate Moodys report on New Orleans, which filed for bankruptcy in May while facing multiple clergy abuse lawsuits, the ratings agency wrote in July that the archdiocese did so while having significant financial reserves, with spendable cash and investments of over $160 million.

Moodys said the archdioceses very good liquid assets would let it operate 336 days without additional income. Those assets prompted clergy abuse victims to ask a federal judge to dismiss the bankruptcy filing, arguing the archdioceses primary reason for seeking the legal protection was to minimize payouts to them.

The archdiocese, along with its parishes and schools, collected more than $26 million in paycheck money. New Orleans Archdiocesan officials didnt respond to written questions.

___

PURSUING AID

Without special treatment, the Catholic Church would not have received nearly so much under the Paycheck Protection Program.

After Congress let nonprofits and religious organizations participate in the first place, Catholic officials lobbied the Trump Administration for a second break. Religious organizations were freed from the so-called affiliation rule that typically disqualifies applicants with more than 500 workers.

Without that break, many dioceses would have missed out because  between their head offices, parishes, schools and other affiliates  their employee count would exceed the limit.

Among those lobbying, federal records show, was the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Parishes, schools and ministries there collected at least $80 million in paycheck aid, at a time when the headquarters reported $658 million in available funds heading into the fiscal year when the coronavirus arrived.

Catholic officials in the U.S. needed the special exception for at least two reasons.

Church law says dioceses, parishes and schools are affiliated, something the Los Angeles Archdiocese acknowledged proved to be an obstacle to receiving funds because its parishes operate under the authority of the diocesan bishop. Dioceses, parishes, schools and other Catholic entities also routinely assert to the Internal Revenue Service that they are affiliated so they can maintain their federal income tax exemption.

While some Catholic officials insisted their affiliates are separate and financially independent, AP found many instances of borrowing and spending among them when dioceses were faced with prior cash crunches. In Philadelphia, for example, the archdiocese received at least $18 million from three affiliates, including a seminary, to fund a compensation program for clergy sex abuse survivors, according to 2019 financial statements.

Cardinals and bishops have broad authority over parishes and the pastors who run them. Church law requires parishes to submit annual financial reports and bishops may require parishes to deposit surplus money with internal banks administered by the diocese.

The parishioners cannot hire or fire the pastor; that is for the bishop to do, said Connell, the priest, former accountant and canon lawyer. Each parish functions as a wholly owned subsidiary or division of a larger corporation, the diocese.

Bishops acknowledged a concerted effort to tap paycheck funds in a survey by Catholic researchers at Georgetown University. When asked what they had done to address the pandemics financial fallout, 95% said their central offices helped parishes apply for paycheck and other aid  the leading response. That topped encouraging parishioners to donate electronically.

After Congress approved the paycheck program, three high-ranking officials in New Hampshires Manchester Diocese sent an urgent memo to parishes, schools and affiliated organizations urging them to refrain from layoffs or furloughs until completing their applications. We are all in this together, the memo read, adding that diocesan officials were working expeditiously to provide step by step instructions.

Paycheck Protection Program funds came through low-interest bank loans, worth up to $10 million each, that the federal government would forgive so long as recipients used the money to cover about two months of wages and operating expenses.

After an initial $659 billion last spring, Congress added another $284 billion in December. With the renewal came new requirements intended to ensure that funds go to businesses that lost money due to the pandemic. Lawmakers also downsized the headcount for applicants to 300 or fewer employees.

___

A QUESTION OF NEED

In other federal small business loan programs, government help is treated as a last resort.

Applicants must show they couldnt get credit elsewhere. And those with enough available funds must pay more of their own way to reduce taxpayer subsidies.

Congress didnt include these tests in the Paycheck Protection Program. To speed approvals, lenders werent required to do their usual screening and instead relied on applicants self-certifications of need.

The looser standards helped create a run on the first $349 billion in paycheck funding. Small business owners complained that they were shut out, yet dozens of companies healthy enough to be traded on stock exchanges scored quick approval.

As blowback built in April, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned at a news briefing that there would be severe consequences for applicants who improperly tapped the program.

We want to make sure this money is available to small businesses that need it, people who have invested their entire life savings, Mnuchin said. Program guidelines evolved to stress that participants with access to significant cash probably could not get the assistance in good faith.

Mnuchins Treasury Department said it would audit loans exceeding $2 million, although federal officials have not said whether they would hold religious organizations and other nonprofits to the same standard of need as businesses.

The headquarters and major departments for more than 40 dioceses received more than $2 million. Every diocese that responded to questions said it would seek to have the government cover the loans, rather than repay the funds.

One diocese receiving a loan over $2 million was Boston. According to the archdioceses website, its central ministries office received about $3 million, while its parishes and schools collected about $32 million more.

The archdiocese  along with its parishes, schools and cemeteries  had roughly $200 million in available funds in June 2019, according to its audited financial report. When that fiscal year ended several months into the pandemic, available funds had increased to roughly $233 million.

Nevertheless, spokesman Terrence Donilon cited ongoing economic pressure in saying the archdiocese will seek forgiveness for last years loans and will apply for additional, new funds during the current round.

Beyond its growing available funds, the archdiocese and its affiliates benefit from other sources of funding. The archdioceses Inspiring Hope campaign, announced in January, has raised at least $150 million.

And one of its supporting charities  the Catholic Schools Foundation, where Cardinal Sean OMalley is board chairman  counted more than $33 million in cash and other funds that could be used for general operations as of the beginning of the 2020 fiscal year, according to its financial statement.

Despite these resources, the archdiocese closed a half-dozen schools in May and June, often citing revenue losses due to the pandemic. Paycheck protection data show four of those schools collectively were approved for more than $700,000.

The shuttered schools included St. Francis of Assisi in Braintree, a middle-class enclave 10 miles south of Boston, which received $210,000. Parents said they felt blindsided by the closure, announced in June as classes ended.

Its like a punch to the gut because that was such a home for so many people for so long, said Kate Nedelman Herbst, the mother of two children who attended the elementary school.

Along with more than 2,000 other school supporters, Herbst signed a written protest to OMalley that noted the archdioceses robust finances. After OMalley didnt reply, parents appealed to the Vatican, this time underscoring the collection of Paycheck Protection Program money.

It is very hard to reconcile the large sums of money raised by the archdiocese in recent years with this wholesale destruction of the churchs educational infrastructure, parents wrote.

In December, the Vatican turned down their request to overrule OMalley. Spokesman Donilon said the decision to close the school is not being reconsidered.

Today, the three children of Michael Waterman and his wife, Jeanine, are learning at home. And they still cant understand why the archdiocese didnt shift money to help save a school beloved by the faithful.

What angers us, Michael Waterman said, is that we feel like, given the amount of money that the Catholic Church has, they absolutely could have remained open.

By REESE DUNKLIN and MICHAEL REZENDES, Associated Press.

Contributing to this report were Justin Myers, Randy Herschaft, Rodrique Ngowi, Holbrook Mohr, Jason Dearen and James LaPorta.

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature briefed some national lawmakers on the upcoming annual legislative session to prepare them well on Wednesday. The session is due on March 5.

Briefing the lawmakers, Yang Zhenwu, secretary-general of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said the session would make comprehensive plans and arrangements for China's economic and social development work this year.

Summing up the top legislature's efforts in 2020, Yang said it had deliberated 51 legislative bills and draft decisions, adopting 33 of them. The legislature also heard 30 reports and inspected the enforcement of six laws and one decision, among other accomplishments.

Various tasks set at the last annual legislative session have been completed, Yang said. He added that the top legislature did its part in balancing COVID-19 responses with China's economic and social development.
Lacson to Those Who Fed President False Info: Don't Treat Him Like a Mushroom

More at: https://pinglacson.net/2021/02/04/lacson-to-those-who-fed-president-false-info-dont-treat-him-like-a-mushroom/

"Don't Treat the President like a mushroom - kept in the dark and fed with S*^t."

On this note, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson scored the great disservice done to the nation by those responsible for feeding the President false information on the exclusion of the Philippines by the European Union from the vaccine distribution.

The EU had reassured that the Philippines is exempted from such an export ban.

"So, it wasn't EU's fault after all. Those feeding the President false information are doing him and the country a disservice and should resign to save us all from international embarrassment," Lacson said in a post on his Twitter account.

He stressed it is a must for Filipinos to be vaccinated soonest, so the economy can start recovering.

"As such, there is no room for false information especially at this critical stage of the government's vaccination efforts," he said.
Black Leaders: Biden Order Is First to Recognize Americas History of Housing Injustice

Black Leaders and civil rights groups  including the NAACP and the Greenlining Institute  are hailing a memorandum President Joe Biden issued last week directing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to take actions to undo historic patterns of segregation and other types of housing discrimination that afford access to long denied opportunities.

The directive is based on an executive order the President of the United States signed on Jan. 27. It launched a package of White House actions crafted to promote equity that also includes ending the federal use of private prisons.

In the Presidential Memorandum directed to HUD, President Biden publicly acknowledged that in the 20th century, U.S. federal, state and local governments systematically implemented discriminatory housing policies and supported discrimination in housing and mortgage lending. The memo also outlined the wide-reaching effects of racial housing discrimination, which includes the racial gap in homeownership, persistent undervaluation of homes owned by people of color and a disproportionate amount of pollution and exposure to climate change in communities of color.

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According to an analysis of the order by the Urban Institute, the memorandum is the first time a president has explicitly recognized the federal governments culpability in housing injustice.

The Federal Government must recognize and acknowledge its role in systematically declining to invest in communities of color and preventing residents of those communities from accessing the same services and resources as their white counterparts, the memorandum reads.

Californias Black communities have long experienced the effects racial housing discrimination and they continue to feel that pinch. According to a 2015 report by the California Budget and Policy Center, a nonpartisan research firm, people of color made up more than two thirds of Californians with unaffordable housing costs, with unaffordable costs defined as spending over 30 % of household income on housing. This report found that 6.6 % of Californians with unaffordable housing costs are Black, despite Black Californians counting for about 6.5 percent of the states total population. Also, according to a 2019 HUD report, nearly 40 % of Californias homeless population is Black.

Debra Gore-Mann, president and CEO of the Oakland-based Greenlining Institute, told California Black Media, American housing policy has been steeped in racial animus from the National Housing Act of 1934 that created the FHA  which explicitly promoted redlining  all the way to the subprime mortgage crisis that blew up from 2007 to 2010.

Today, communities of color teeter on the brink of eviction and foreclosure, Gore-Mann continued. President Bidens order on redressing this nations history of housing discrimination and his call to Congress to pass protections and financial relief for Americans at risk of losing their homes because of the coronavirus pandemic are important and come at a critical time.

The memorandums specific directives are aimed at two rules that were weakened or relaxed under the Trump administration: one governs how cities assess and enforce efforts to reduce segregation, and the other combats discrimination in rental housing and mortgage lending. Biden also ordered incoming Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge to take the necessary steps to align HUDs policies with the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

During her confirmation hearing Jan. 28, Fudge, a previous chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and former mayor of Warrensville Heights, a majority-Black suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, committed to the Biden administrations priorities of expanding the Black homeownership rate and breaking down barriers to building new apartment buildings.

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It bears mentioning, particularly in this moment of crisis, that HUD  perhaps more than any other department  exists to serve the most vulnerable people in America, Fudge said in her prepared remarks. That mandate matters a great deal to me. It is consistent with my own values, and it is precisely what has always motivated me to service.

Several civil rights groups and housing activists are applauding the memorandum as an important first step in combating a legacy of housing discrimination. It comes after four years of the Trump administration either ignoring or taking steps to weaken fair housing protections, they say, and amid a national pandemic that is hitting communities of color hardest.

We are gratified by todays Memorandum reaffirming the federal governments role in ensuring fair and equitable housing policies. We welcome the prioritization of this essential federal role in advancing equity and look forward to working to reverse the devastating practices undertaken by HUD during the Trump Administration, and to advancing a bold, progressive vision of fair housing, said Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

However, these same civil rights and housing groups are emphasizing the fact that communities impacted by housing discrimination, especially Black communities, need help in the form of concrete action. Some concrete actions that the federal government could take to redress housing discrimination include confronting forms of discrimination in todays housing market, such as realtor and landlord practices, and supporting homeownership for communities of color, according to the Urban Institute.

This open dialogue represents a big first step, but its just the first step on our way to a just recovery. We must demand new policies to remedy and make right this longstanding, unfair economic burden on too many Americans. We do not need more analysis, assessments nor this too familiar call to action by Congress. We, the public, must clearly demand proactive, concrete actions performed intentionally and consciously to build a clear pathway for communities of color to build real prosperity, said Gore-Mann.
[February 04, 2021] MCNC answers call for action on digital equity in North Carolina

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MCNC, the technology non-profit that builds, owns, and operates the statewide North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), today reaffirmed its commitment to digital equity in North Carolina  offering recommendations, support, technology and more, as well as issuing a call to action to connect with others who also want to achieve this important goal. Digital equity can improve healthcare, education, local economies, and give citizens effective ways to connect online while obtaining the skills they need to participate in today's remote work and learning environments. According to MCNC President and CEO Tracy Doaks, digital equity in North Carolina would have long-lasting economic and social benefits; MCNC is therefore ready to lead and, more importantly, ready to listen. "MCNC has been involved in digital inclusion efforts across North Carolina and at the national level for many years, and we take the role of helping our community very seriously," explained Doaks. "The pandemic has shined a bright light on the 'haves' and 'have nots' in North Carolina, and MCNC continues to ensure North Carolina's future is connected today by deepening our engagement in these pivotal digital inclusion efforts." For 40 years MCNC has connected and protected communities with high-speed Internet and networking technologies throughout North Carolina. And during those four decades, MCNC has built-out its world-class network to many unserved and underserved areas of the state (now at more than 4,000 miles) all while continuing to stress that the growth of the "digital divide" or "homework gap" would pose significant social and economic challenges. Today, citizens must be able to support remote work, virtual school and day-to-day living, and the pandemic has shown that digital equity and inclusion really are all-encompassing  where citizens not only need access to reliable broadband, but also secure access to services, support and skills on how to use it. "COVID-19 has created huge shifts in broadband-related needs, but MCNC has come alongside many North Carolina communities throughout this pandemic to help navigate new challenges, disparities, needs and opportunities," added Stephanie Jane Edwards, GIS Analyst and MCNC's Digital Inclusion Liaison. "While we cannot address all aspects of digital inclusion, MCNC does have cutting-edge network infrastructure and collaborative working relationships with K-12 schools, colleges and universities, libraries healthcare organizations, and local governments across the state. We increasingly strive to be more than just a provider of broadband-based technology services, but a trusted community partner on digital inclusion."



MCNC affirms that digital equity is necessary for everyone to have full access to opportunities of civics and culture, healthcare, learning, employment, and essential goods and services. Digital inclusion refers to all the activities and efforts that remove barriers in order to create digital equity. MCNC seeks to improve broadband access, working in collaboration with other ISPs to fill in gaps and impact a community's digital infrastructure. MCNC is well-positioned for digital inclusion work, such as:

Forming actionable strategies and identifying approaches to digital equity that could be sustainable for communities now and over the next several years.



Participating in active conversations at the state and national level as well as collaborating with groups such as the National Digital Inclusion Alliance and the N.C. Digital Equity and Inclusion Collaborative, which is hosted by the North Carolina Broadband Infrastructure Office.



Gathering input from community anchor institutions (CAIs)  including local governments  and ISPs related to their key challenges; helping them reach their digital inclusion goals. MCNC is a member of the Schools, Health & Libraries (SHLB) Coalition at the national level and supports their effort to improve broadband access and digital inclusion efforts "to and through" the CAIs of unserved and underserved areas. This resonates with the mission of MCNC because CAIs are on the front lines of meeting the needs and goals of their surrounding communities and are critical in creating ripple effects in other communities.



Continuing to explore innovations in unserved and underserved communities by collaborating with anchor institutions and last-mile ISPs to determine if these efforts could serve as new models that are scalable and can be replicated in other North Carolina communities. MCNC's broadband network touches virtually every county in the state, affordably and effectively removing connectivity barriers previously experienced in North Carolina. MCNC is ready to once again demonstrate just how important reliable, fast, and affordable Internet is today, and how the right investments can lead to digital equity innovations that drive economic and social growth in North Carolina. MCNC wants to hear from you  use #DEIforNC to join us in conversations on social media. About MCNC

MCNC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit client-focused technology organization. Founded in 1980, MCNC owns and operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), one of America's longest-running regional research and education networks. With 40 years of innovation, MCNC provides high-performance services for education, research, libraries, health care, public safety, and other community anchor institutions throughout North Carolina. NCREN is the fundamental broadband infrastructure for 850 of these institutions including all K-20 education in North Carolina. As one of the nation's premier middle-mile fiber networks, MCNC leverages NCREN to customize Internet services and related applications for each customer while supporting private service providers in bringing cost-efficient connectivity to rural and underserved communities in North Carolina. Visit www.mcnc.org. MCNC Social: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn. Contact: Noah Garrett, NGC Communications, on behalf of MCNC: (252) 423.1277 or

press@mcnc.org View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mcnc-answers-call-for-action-on-digital-equity-in-north-carolina-301222254.html SOURCE MCNC

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Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has said that Pakistan and India must resolve the Jammu and Kashmir issue in a "dignified and peaceful manner". Responding to this, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday asserted that India "desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan in an environment free of terror, hostility and violence".

READ | Pakistan busy chalking out anti-India strategy? Here's what Qamar Javed Bajwa and Imran Khan discussed

MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava, "India desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan in an environment free of terror, hostility and violence. The onus is on Pakistan to create such an environment."

READ | Quivering Bajwa, pleading FM Qureshi: Pakistani leader recalls account when IAF's Abhinandan Varthaman was captured

On Tuesday, General Bajwa had said, "Pakistan and India must resolve the longstanding issue of Jammu and Kashmir in a dignified and peaceful manner as per the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir..."

He was addressing the graduation ceremony at the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Asghar Khan Academy in Risalpur in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, according to Pakistan Army. Pakistan is a peace-loving country that has rendered great sacrifices for regional and global peace, he said.

"We stand firmly committed to the ideal of mutual respect and peaceful co-existence. It is time to extend a hand of peace in all directions. However, we will not allow anybody or any entity to misinterpret our desire for peace as a sign of weakness," Bajwa had said.

In December 2020, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan met Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and discussed Jammu and Kashmir, an internal matter of India. According to a Pakistani media report, the meeting on December 24 "expressed concern over...Jammu & Kashmir".

According to news agency PTI, General Bajwa, was accompanied by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Faiz Hamid, also discussed the external security situation, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

Dawn reported that they also levelled false allegation of ceasefire violations and frequent "provocative measures" along the Line of Control against India. "It was resolved that defence of the motherland will be ensured with the support of the entire nation at all cost," the statement said.

The meeting was held as Opposition parties in Pakistan launched the second phase of its protests on December 23 with a rally in Mardan city of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to oust the Khan government.
Almost 40,000 students studying in Northern Ireland will receive a 500 Covid Disruption Payment, Economy Minister Diane Dodds announced today.

Every student from the UK or EU currently enrolled on a full-time higher education course in Northern Ireland will receive the one-off discretionary payment, which is in recognition of the disruption they have suffered as a result of the pandemic.

The initiative is part of a wider financial support package of 37.7million for higher education agreed by the Executive today.

This amount includes the 10.4million announced earlier this week.

The Minister said: I am acutely aware that students in local higher education institutions have experienced significant disruption since the onset of the pandemic and that this continues to have an impact.

I am pleased to announce that I have secured 22million from the Executive to fund a one-off discretionary payment of 500 to all students from the UK and EU who are in full time higher education in Northern Ireland, whether that is in a university or further education college setting.

The Covid Disruption Payments will be issued to students by the end of March.

A caterpillar parks between fences at a reinforced section of the U.S.-Mexico border fencing eastern Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on Jan. 20, 2021. (Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images)

Border Patrol Agents Arrest 11 Iranians in Arizona Who Illegally Entered US

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said its agents arrested a group of 11 Iranians who illegally entered the United States.

According to a news release from the agency, agents saw the group near San Luis, Arizona, on a bridge.

Border Patrol agents then determined the group had illegally crossed the international border into the United States. The group was arrested and taken to Yuma Station for processing, according to the release. The five females and six males are were [sic] all from Iran, a Special Interest Country.

The agency said that Yuma Sector agents regularly encounter people from all over the world, including so-called Special Interest Countries.

For the last two fiscal years, Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents have led the nation in apprehending illegal crossers from Iran. Yuma Sector agents apprehended eight Iranian nationals in [2020], compared to just 14 from all other border patrol sectors combined. So far in [2021], Yuma Sector agents have apprehend[ed] 14 nationals from Iran, the agency said.

Other details about the case were not provided by the agency.

Last June, Border Patrol agents announced they arrested three Iranian nationals in Del Rio, Texas.

Agents conducting line watch duties observed three individuals who had just crossed the border illegally, the agency said. This group consisted of a mother, father, and child who were later identified as Iranian nationals.

Border Patrol agents apprehend illegal aliens who have just crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into Penitas, Tex., on March 21, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

It comes as President Joe Biden faces two lawsuits from Texas and Arizona over the administrations recent executive actions.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a suit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Feb. 3 after the agency released a memo on Jan. 20 that imposed a 100-day moratorium on some deportations.

The 100-Day Pause on Deportations includes those charged with or convicted of a crime, Brnovich said on Twitter. Law enforcement officials have told our office they are concerned about whether released individuals are being tested for COVID-19. The suit asks the U.S. District Court in Arizona to rule that the policy violates federal law.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last month sued the Biden administration over the deportation freeze last week, and U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton on Jan. 26 issued a temporary restraining order that was sought by the attorney generals office. That blocked Bidens policy for two weeks ending in late February.

The White House failed to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations, Judge Tipton wrote.
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A Russian court has sentenced opposition politician Alexey Navalny to serve out the remaining time of a 3.5 year suspended sentence in a prison colony. The decision comes just weeks after Navalny returned to Russia following a poisoning attack that nearly took his life.
Taiwan has established a trade office in the South American country of Guyana, a diplomatic win for the island that has continued to lose allies in an aggressive poaching campaign from China in recent years.

The facility will focus on cooperation in areas like agriculture, education and trade, Taiwan's foreign ministry said in an announcement on Thursday. It does not represent the establishment of formal diplomatic ties.

Taiwan has been the subject of a massive pressure campaign from China that claims the island as part of its territory - to be conquered by military force if necessary - and says it has no right to official exchanges with any foreign governments or multinational organizations such as the United Nations.

Taiwan has just 15 formal diplomatic allies left after two countries chose to switch diplomatic relations to China in 2019 from Taiwan.

Taiwan also has a network of trade offices around the world that act as de-facto embassies, including in the United States and Japan among other nations.

Also last year, Taiwan exchanged representative offices with the breakaway Somali territory of Somaliland to focus on trade and security in the Horn of Africa. China responded by accusing Taiwan of "undermining Somali sovereignty and territorial integrity."

There was no immediate response from Beijing to the Guyana announcement. China has frequently sought to scupper such arrangements in the past and has been using its massive economic resources to win over Taiwan's remaining allies.

China has refused all direct contacts with Taiwan's government since the election of independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016. Tsai was reelected last year to a second four-year term.

Despite that, Taiwan enjoys strengthening US support as an unofficial ally. Bipartisan support for the island has grown in recent years under the former President Donald Trump's administration, including a visit from the highest-level US government delegation since the US switched relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

The US applauded Thursday's move, with both the embassy in Guyana and the de-facto US mission in Taiwan issuing statements of support.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
State Track: Arrows' Mack and Heesch among six area event winners on opening day

Watertown seniors Cooper Mack and Maggie Heesch and four other area athletes notched event wins Friday during the opening day of the 2021 State High School Track and Field Meet.
MIOSHA's Ambassador Program expands to cover child care centers

MIOSHA's Ambassador Program expands to cover child care centers

MIOSHA and NSF Internationals successful collaboration is expanding to include non-home-based child care centers.

February 4, 2021

MEDIA CONTACT: Jason Moon, 517-282-0041

Child care centers in Michigan can now schedule free COVID-19 workplace safety consultations as part the Ambassador Program, an ongoing collaboration between Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) and NSF International to educate heightened community transmission risk businesses about COVID-19 workplace safety requirements.

The State is focused on providing workplace safety resources to employers of at-risk workplaces to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and were pleased our Ambassador Program has expanded to help protect children and workers at Michigan child care centers, said Sean Egan, Michigan COVID-19 Workplace Director. Our Ambassadors will work with child care center owners and operators to fully implement safety regulations, so they can stay open and safe, while providing reassurance to parents.

Under the program, workplace safety Ambassadors visit businesses statewide to offer education and support, with a focus on workplaces with a higher risk of community transmission. This includes bars, restaurants, retail stores, gas stations, convenience stores, bowling alleys and gyms and now child care centers.

I appreciate the collaboration with LEO and MIOSHA to provide a program for our licensed child care centers and operators as a way to help them understand and maintain the COVID-19 safety protocols, said Orlene Hawks, director of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). We are entrusting our child care providers to care for our children and so having this opportunity to partner with them by providing this training resource on the safety standards is tremendous.

All Michigan child care centers must operate in compliance with the current MIOSHA Emergency Rules, MDHHS orders and federal guidelines. Further guidelines can be found through LARA.

Ambassadors will work with child care owners and operators to best implement safety regulations to help ensure a safe workplace for employees, which also protects children and families. Ambassadors will utilize the Ambassador Assessment to evaluate required safety precautions and then provide a toolkit of resources for additional ongoing support.

Child care centers completing the Ambassador Program receive the window decal to reassure parents that they are implementing the precautions in accordance with MIOSHAs emergency rules. Ambassadors will not propose citations or issue penalties. They are there to work with businesses to improve conditions and help comply with regulations on workplace safety.

Educational materials in the Ambassador toolkit can be found at Michigan.gov/COVIDWorkplaceSafety, including:

Based in Ann Arbor, Mich., NSF International is a global public health organization with a 75-year history of collaboration with businesses, governments and regulatory agencies around the world. The not-for-profit organization protects human health by developing public health and safety standards and providing independent certification and testing services.

With the Ambassador program, MIOSHA is taking an innovative approach to a critical need among Michigan businesses and now child care centers, said Paul Medeiros, Managing Director of Consulting and Technical Services for NSFs North American operations. Weve found businesses around the world are drowning in COVID-19 guidelines, but what they really need is help operationalizing those guidelines and applying them to their specific locations.

Employers can sign up to participate at Michigan.gov/COVIDWorkplaceSafety.

Individuals with specific questions regarding workplace safety and health may contact MIOSHA using the hotline at 855-SAFEC19 (855-723-3219).
CHICO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / AmeraMex International, Inc. (OTCQB:AMMX), a provider of heavy equipment for logistics companies, infrastructure construction and forestry conservation, announced that it has received equipment orders totaling $520,262.

The first order is shipping to a commercial grower of hay in Utah. The refurbished Taylor TEC950L will be used to load hay into rail containers for shipping to customers. The second order is a long-term, rent-to-own agreement for a new Taylor 1035 Loader with Medford Log Forks. The equipment is shipping to a sawmill. The third order is for a refurbished Taylor 160 forklift shipping to a lumberyard in Northern California. All equipment will ship before the end of February.

Taylor 1035 Forklift with Medford Log Forks

Taylor 160 Forklift

About AmeraMex International

AmeraMex International sells, leases, and rents heavy equipment to companies within multiple industries including construction, logistics, mining, and lumber. AmeraMex, with a US and international customer base, has over 30 years of experience in heavy equipment sales and service. Follow AmeraMex on Twitter @ammx_intl and visit the AmeraMex website, www.AMMX.net or www.hamreequipment.com for additional corporate information, online heavy equipment inventory/ pricing and videos.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "potential," "continue" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, and there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are encouraged to review the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

Investor and Media Relations

McCloud Communications, LLC

Marty Tullio, Managing Member

Office: 949.632.1900 or Marty@McCloudCommunications.com

SOURCE: AmeraMex International Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627799/AmeraMex-International-Receives-Equipment-Orders-Totaling-520262
(JNS)  A coalition of 51 Jewish and pro-Israel organizations has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances working definition of anti-Semitism on Thursday.

The organizations are members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which announced the adoption on Tuesday, the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The two other members of the umbrella organization, Americans for Peace Now and the Workers Circle, did not adopt the definition.

Americans for Peace Now, which is highly critical of Israeli policy, told Haaretz last mont...

Quarantine to be extended until April 30, but this is not final date  PM

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says the government will extend quarantine until April 30, but most likely it will remain in effect after that date.

"We will extend quarantine until April 30. This is most likely not the final date when the quarantine will end. Most likely it will continue in one form or another, perhaps with mitigations, perhaps it will be adaptive," Shmyhal said during a general meeting of the European Business Association (EBA) titled "Global Review of Ukraine's Economy" on Thursday.

As reported, on December 9, 2020, the Cabinet extended the quarantine and the emergency situation until February 28, 2021. Shmyhal said that the Cabinet of Ministers will soon decide to return to the adaptive quarantine model.
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According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Micro Data Centers Market is accounted for $2.67 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $17.45 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 23.2% during the forecast period. Some of the key factors influencing the market growth include deployment and commercialization of 5g network connectivity, growing demand for edge data centers, rising need for real-time data access in remote locations and rise in the number of SMEs. However, lack of awareness is restraining the market growth.

Micro Data Center is a modular system that is used to serve small businesses or which offers extra resources for an enterprise as per requirement. It offers various types of solutions to different types of complications or to handle various types of workloads which are not able to manage by large modular data centers or to buy outdated facilities. Micro Data Centers offer benefits such as built-in security systems and fire & flood protection.

Based on the End User, the IT & telecom sector segment has a growing prominence due to the rise in the installation of self-contained and modular facilities by telecom operators. Telecommunication companies require low latency and scalable solutions to enhance network connectivity. With the increase in the penetration of 5G technologies, the companies are more concerned toward the network and internet bandwidth quality. By Geography, The Asia Pacific is likely to have a huge demand due to the increase in the number of SMEs and their rapid business expansion. India and China are the major economies with high penetration of SMEs, owing to the increased government support for the establishment of new businesses.

Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/12102

Some of the key players in global Micro Data Centers market are Huawei Technologies, IBM Corporation, Schneider Electric, Advanced Facilities, Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Delta Power Solutions, Dell Inc., Panduit Corporation, ALTRON, A.S., Hitachi Ltd., Cannon Technologies, Ltd., Sicon Chat Union Electric Co., Ltd., Eaton Corporation PLC, Zellabox Technologies, Attom Technology and Canovate Group.

Rack Sizes Covered:

 5-25 RU

 26-50 RU

 51-100 RU

 Other Rack sizes

Components Covered:

 Service

 Solution

 Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)

 Fire Suppression Systems

 Telecommunication & Storage Systems

 Built-in Security Systems

Applications Covered:

 E-Services

 Gaming

 Communication

 Web Content

 Audio/Video

 Cloud services

 Media Content

 Mobile Computing

 High Density Networks

 Disaster Recovery

 Remote Office Support

 Other Applications

End Users Covered:

 Colocation

 Retail

 IT & Telecom

 military and Defense

 Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI)

 Education

 Healthcare

 Industrial

 Government

 Energy & Manufacturing

 Other End Users

Regions Covered:

 North America

o US

o Canada

o Mexico

 Europe

o Germany

o UK

o Italy

o France

o Spain

o Rest of Europe

 Asia Pacific

o Japan

o China

o India

o Australia

o New Zealand

o South Korea

o Rest of Asia Pacific

 South America

o Argentina

o Brazil

o Chile

o Rest of South America

 Middle East & Africa

o Saudi Arabia

o UAE

o Qatar

o South Africa

o Rest of Middle East & Africa

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- Strategic analysis: Drivers and Constraints, Product/Technology Analysis, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis etc.

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 Competitive Benchmarking

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Various cast members from Scandal are set to participate in a virtual reunion for the charity series Stars In The House.

On Thursday it was reported by People that numerous castmates from the political thriller series would come together to answer questions about their time on the ABC show.

The virtual event will be broadcast on People's Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as its YouTube channel on Saturday, February 6 at 8 pm ET.

Bringing them back: On Thursday, it was announced that various members of the political thriller series Scandal would reunite on an episode of the charity program Stars In The House

Cast members set to make an appearance on the program include Katie Lowes, Guillermo Diaz and Scott Foley.

Series lead Kerry Washington was notably absent from the list of returning actors and actresses.

The Shonda Rimes-created series originally ran from 2012 until 2018 and was partially based on crisis manager Judy Smith's time in the administration of George HW Bush.

Smith also served as a co-producer and technical advisor on the series.

Source material: The ABC series was partially based on the experiences of Judy Smith during her time in the administration of George HW Bush

Numerous actors from the show, including Kate Burton and Dan Bucatinsky, won Primetime Emmy Awards for their work on the series.

Other television casts that have reunited to appear on Stars In The House include The Waltons, Night at the Museum and Frasier.

The charity program was first created in March of 2020 to financially support The Actors Fund of America.

In June of last year, the series briefly changed its charitable focus to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Big names: Stars In The House has reunited the casts of various shows including Desperate Housewives (pictured), Frasier and The Waltons

The show was created and is helmed by SiriusXM radio host Seth Rudetsky and his husband James Wesley.

Dr. Jonathan LaPook also makes frequent appearances on the program to answer questions regarding COVID-19.

The producers have also reunited the casts of many Broadway productions, including those of Mamma Mia! and Fiddler On The Roof.

Stars In The House has also hosted auctions of various memorabilia items donated by past guests, including a headshot of Tina Fey and a gown worn by Kristin Chenoweth.

Developers: The show was created by Seth Rudetsky and his husband James Wesley as a way to contribute to The Actors Fund Of America; the two are seen in 2017
High school students will be able to take Advanced Placement tests this spring at home or in school, on multiple possible dates, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to require unprecedented improvisation in academic routines.

But the exams will return their usual length.

The College Board's update on AP testing procedures, disclosed Thursday, seeks to bring the program at least a step toward normalcy even though basic operating conditions at schools across the country remain wildly uneven. Many classrooms are open, while others are closed or running with a mix of online and in-person teaching.

Last year, AP tests were cut to 45 minutes apiece and delivered online for the first time. The curriculum they covered was truncated in response to the sudden closure of schools in March, when the public health emergency slammed the nation.

Typically, the tests are two to three hours long. Their formats vary, but they generally pose free-response and multiple-choice questions. Students who score a three or higher on the five-point scale are often able to earn college credit or bypass introductory college classes in topics from biology to world history.

Last year, many students complained they could not submit test answers because of technical glitches, creating huge distress for those affected. But officials said the vast majority were able to complete the exams.

Under the College Board's new plan, there will be three testing windows for each exam. The first, May 3-17, will allow students to take the tests at school with paper and pencil under traditional proctoring. The second, May 18-28, will allow testing in school or at home using computers. The third, from June 1 to June 11, is expected to be mostly at home but with some in-school sessions.

The at-home testing will use several measures to guard against cheating, officials said, including synchronous start times, plagiarism detection, computer-camera monitoring and restrictions on going back to previous questions to revise answers.

Trevor Packer, a senior vice president at the College Board who oversees the AP program, said the testing organization wants to offer students the option to challenge themselves with a full test if they desire.

"There are so many different situations that flexibility needs to be a paramount virtue this year," Packer said. He said he hopes technical troubles will be minimized. "We absolutely been able to learn from last spring's experience," Packer said.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 23:53:46|Editor: huaxia

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-- During the Spring Festival travel rush in 2010, a photo went viral on China's Internet showing a migrant-worker mother weighed down with heavy luggage while holding a baby in her arm.

-- After an 11-year search, the photographer once again met the mother in her hometown in Sichuan Province.

-- Now living in her new house, Bamu Yubumu recalled the grinding poverty and hardship behind the 2010 photo, and how China's historic poverty alleviation campaign changed her fate in the following years.

Bamu Yubumu trudges toward the Nanchang Railway Station in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, Jan. 30, 2010. (Xinhua/Zhou Ke)

by Xinhua Writers Liu Jie, Zhou Ke, Li Yue and Yao Yuan

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- On Jan. 30, 2010, the first day of the year's "Chunyun," or Spring Festival travel rush, a young mother trudged toward a railway station, a large sack bulging with daily necessities on her back, a battered bag in her left hand, and a baby clasped in her right arm.

Xinhua correspondent Zhou Ke captured the moment at the Nanchang Railway Station in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province. Titled "Baby, Mama Takes You Home," the photo quickly went viral on the Internet.

Though the young lady was weighed down with her heavy baggage, her determined eyes pulled at the heartstrings of countless people and later became the motherly face of the annual Chunyun, when hundreds of millions of Chinese people travel back to their hometowns for Lunar New Year family reunions.

The viral picture sent Zhou on a search for the mother, who had not left her contact information. After showing the picture to countless interviewees, last month, the correspondent found Bamu Yubumu in her hometown -- Yuexi County in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Bamu Yubumu is interviewed by Xinhua in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan Province, on Jan. 22, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhou Ke)

"We were hard up, so I traveled to work to help with family expenses," said the 32-year-old woman who belongs to the Yi ethnic group, recalling that the photo was taken as she was hurrying to return home after working in Nanchang for five months.

She vividly remembers the hardship of that journey, which lasted three days and two nights and included trains and buses. The young mother packed bread, instant noodles, baby diapers and even quilts into her bag, which was so large that many kind-hearted passengers offered to help her carry the load.

Bamu's hometown was in one of the areas considered most difficult for the country's poverty alleviation campaign due to its harsh natural environment.

Extreme poverty once forced many local women of previous generations to be betrothed upon birth, married at the age of 16 or 17, and to spend the rest of their lives farming and caring for the family.

Bamu said her childhood memories all involved mountains. She did not have the opportunity to go to school, but was hopeful that her children would enjoy a better life. She decided to join the legion of migrant workers seeking better-paying jobs in cities.

In Nanchang, Bamu worked in a brick factory, earning some 500 yuan (about 73 U.S. dollars) a month. She said the salary was not high, but it could help her create a better situation for her children.

In this combo photo taken on Jan. 20, 2021, the upper part shows Wuqi Labumu, eldest daughter of Bamu Yubumu, introducing an old house where she used to live; the lower part shows Wuqi Labumu arranging her clothes in her new residence. (Xinhua/Zhou Ke)

More changes awaited Bamu after she returned home in 2010. Under the guideline on targeted poverty alleviation, which demands local authorities to tailor relief measures to local conditions, more villagers started planting more profitable tobacco leaves and other cash crops, which also brought new hope to Bamu and her husband.

Bamu's family had grown corn, buckwheat and potato for generations on 0.4 hectares of land.

Eligible to register as impoverished, Bamu's family was assigned specific support providers, including officials and an agricultural technician, under whose guidance they began to plant tobacco.

From trials to large-scale planting, their efforts came to fruition. In 2020, Bamu's family was no longer on the poverty list, with their annual income reaching 100,000 yuan.

Moving into a house with a reinforced concrete structure, built under government subsidies, was one of the most marked changes in Bamu's life.

"Living in a house like this, which can keep the rainwater from leaking into the room, is what I had dreamed of since childhood," Bamu said. She had lived in an adobe house for 30 years before her move.

According to the government of Yuexi County, about 82,000 destitute families have been relocated into new houses and gained access to electricity, tap water and hardened roads, thanks to targeted poverty-relief efforts over the past eight years.

Bamu Yubumu walks with her children on a newly paved concrete road in Taoyuan Village on Jan. 22, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhou Ke)

Due to a lack of medical resources in her hometown, Bamu lost two children to illness, including the one in the viral photo. However, every village in the county has a clinic now, and villagers only have to pay a small fragment of their medical bills after China expanded the coverage of its basic medical insurance.

Her family also received financial support for health care and education. All four of her children are receiving proper education in school.

At a junior high school in Yuexi County, the number of students has grown from 873 in 2015 to 2,425 this year, with the proportion of girls increasing from 15 percent to 51 percent.

In 2018, Bamu's village, Taoyuan, built cement roads. Students can now walk to school in mere minutes, rather than having to trudge along rugged mountain roads for hours.

More than 700 million people like Bamu have been lifted out of poverty in China over the past 40-plus years of reform and opening-up, contributing more than 70 percent of global poverty reduction.

With China's infrastructure boom and greatly improved rural living conditions, the sight of a young migrant mother struggling with bulky baggage is no longer common during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Bamu's journey back home, which once took three days, has been shortened to 14 hours, thanks to high-speed railways and other infrastructure upgrades.

"Back then I never expected a life as I have today," said a smiling Bamu. "So no matter how hard life gets, we must be undeterred and move on."

(Video reporters: Zhou Ke, Li Sijia; video editor: Luo Hui) 
The CEO of price comparison website Confused.com has said she 'loves' working with new mothers because they are 'organised' and 'don't take any nonsense'.

Louise O'Shea, of Cardiff, is a mother to two daughters aged three and five and spoke to the BBC about how mothers are an asset to the workplace and reflected on her own experience.

She explained she continued working up until the hours before giving birth to her eldest daughter - even interviewing someone on the phone from her hospital bed.

'I was in hospital in the labour ward and I had a little mini-office set up around me,' recalled Mrs O'Shea, who was working at insurers Admiral Group at the time. 'I actually interviewed an employee while I was in the ward waiting to give birth.'

The chief executive of price comparison site Confused.com (pictured with her daughters) has admitted she had a mini-office set up around her while on the labour ward during her first pregnancy, as she shares her belief that new mothers make formidable employees

Louise O'Shea (pictured when pregnant), of Cardiff, told the BBC how she even interviewed a staff member while she was in hospital waiting to welcome her baby into the world

With her second daughter she returned to work as Confused.com CEO after eight weeks and brought the baby into the office on her first day back because her husband wasn't available for childcare.

'I never want to let being a mum stop me from being a great CEO,' she admitted, despite the heartache she sometimes feels after realising the 'big sacrifices she's made'.

Mrs O'Shea had previously worked as Confused.com's finance director and won the role of CEO in 2017, when she was heavily pregnant with her youngest daughter.

She recalled a moment a year after returning to work following the birth when she broke down crying.

She had been packing away her youngest daughter's baby clothes when she realised she couldn't remember her wearing some of them, since she hadn't been there - but could remember her eldest child wearing all her clothes.

The businesswoman (pictured) was heavily pregnant with her second daughter when winning the role of CEO at Confused.com in 2017 after working as the firm's finance director

However, despite the emotional response, Mrs O'Shea admitted she'd 'still probably do it again' and make the sacrifices.

While many women fear their career progression slowing down after giving birth, Mrs O'Shea said it was a discussion with a male employer that left her feeling like she wouldn't lose momentum.

'He said: "I love it when women have babies. When they come back, they don't take any nonsense because they don't have time".'

Now agreeing with her former boss, the CEO has discovered that mothers with young children are extremely organised, fearless, because you've since gone through childbirth, and won't take any nonsense.

Mrs O'Shea (pictured with her children) admitted that her eagerness to start the job meant she only took eight weeks maternity leave, and on her very first day of work she brought along her newborn since her husband wasn't available to look after the baby

She explained that this no-nonsense approach is because mothers are often thinking about how they can quickly wrap up the day and get back to their children.

When asked if all parents - men included - are organised, the businesswoman claimed mothers often deal with the details of managing family life more, hence gaining that particular skill.

Mrs O'Shea also shared her hopes that her legacy will be ensuring mothers-to-be are valued as a benefit rather than a disadvantage, and is offering flexible hours at Confused.com for parents during lockdown.
Multinational consultancy firm, Linesight, announced today that it is promoting Paul Boylan to the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and welcoming Tom Dempsey as COO.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210203005457/en/

Paul Boylan, Linesight CEO (Photo: Business Wire)

Boylan has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and will be taking over from Gerard Campbell who will remain on the Executive Board throughout 2021. Boylan joined Linesight in 2002 and has amassed over twenty-five years of experience in the global construction industry. He has played a pivotal role in growing Linesights client base and expanding the companys reach geographically.

Gerard Campbell has made an enormous contribution to Linesight over four decades and will continue to provide valuable strategic inputs on our Executive Board in the coming year, said Boylan We are focused on building on the strong foundation Gerard has established, working with our highly skilled and committed global teams who are empowered and motivated to collaborate with our clients for success. Our ability to be agile and rapidly respond to market and client needs will remain a key tenet of our strategic and operational approach going forward.

Tom Dempsey has also recently joined Linesights Executive Leadership team as the new Chief Operations Officer (COO). Dempsey has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and technology sectors and has held a variety of roles, include VP Global Operations, at Hewlett Packard in the Real Estate function. I am thrilled to be taking on the role of COO and look forward to supporting Linesights ambitious goals of becoming a global authority in construction project, program, scheduling and cost management, said Dempsey This is truly an exciting time in Linesights evolution as an industry innovator.

Over the past three years Linesight has extensively expanded its client base in several key sectors, including the Data Center, Life Sciences, Commercial, High-Tech Industry and Residential sectors, in its targets regions of the Americas, Europe, APAC and the Middle East. Year on year revenue growth has been profitable at over 20% owing to the explicit and strategic evolution of the company. Linesight now has twenty-two offices worldwide and over seven hundred skilled team members. With new senior leadership in place Linesight is well structured to deliver on its ambitious growth aspirations which include geographical and team expansion to maximize value for their clients.

ENDS

About Linesight

Linesight is a multinational consultancy firm with over 45 years' experience, providing cost, schedule, program and project management services to a multitude of sectors including Life Sciences, Commercial, Data Centers, High-Tech Industrial, Residential, Hospitality, Aviation, Transport and Infrastructure, Healthcare and Retail. Linesights specialist project teams, each with specific skills and experience, provide faster project delivery, greater cost efficiency, predictability in project planning and maximum value for money for their clients. For further information, please visit http://www.linesight.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210203005457/en/

[February 04, 2021] A.I.M. Mutual Brings Workers' Comp Coverage to Rhode Island

BURLINGTON, Mass., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A.I.M. Mutual recently announced the expansion of its coverage territory to Rhode Island. The company, a monoline workers' compensation carrier based in Massachusetts, was licensed in the Ocean State, effective February 1. With the addition of Rhode Island, A.I.M. Mutual now provides workers' compensation insurance and services throughout New England. In addition to new business opportunities, a key driver of the decision was to better support broad New England based businesses by extending coverage of existing accounts with locations in Rhode Island. "Our broker partners were asking us when we'd be in the Rhode Island market, and we're happy we can meet that need going forward," said Michael Standing, Preident & CEO. "It also happens to be a major milestone for us since we're now a carrier in all six New England states."



A specialist in workers' compensation for more than 30 years, A.I.M. Mutual added Maine to its market in 2019 and Vermont two years earlier. The company has been in New Hampshire, where it's the fourth largest workers' compensation insurer, since 2001, and in Connecticut since 2013. The steady expansion is expected to benefit a significant number of Massachusetts policyholders with operations outside the Commonwealth. In addition, A.I.M. Mutual has recently been singled out for taking the initiative in workers' compensation service throughout the course of the pandemic. Measures include easing payment provisions, introducing new programs, and writing accounts in industry segments hardest hit by the economic downturn, including hospitality and health care.

"We take the partnership we have with employers and broker representatives seriously, and to the extent we can, we want to help," explained Mike Standing. "We offer an industry-leading team of people and they've been working with all our constituentsinjured workers, policyholders and broker representatives--never missing a day. Our employees are dedicated and genuinely committed to our mission." A.I.M. Mutual insures more than 18,000 businesses throughout New England and is sponsored by Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth's largest employer organization. To learn more about A.I.M. Mutual visit www.aimmutual.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aim-mutual-brings-workers-comp-coverage-to-rhode-island-301221936.html SOURCE A.I.M. Mutual Insurance Companies

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Fast-growing California swimwear brand levels up in product development

CAMPBELL, Calif., February 4, 2021  California-based fashion brand Frankies Bikinis has selected Centric Softwares Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution for emerging brands, Centric SMB. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury and consumer goods companies, aimed at achieving strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Based in Venice, CA, Frankies Bikinis delivers a variety of inclusive and on-trend swimwear, apparel and clean beauty. The brand was founded in 2012 by Francesca Aiello, fueled by her desire to create high-quality swimwear with her remarkable sense of style. The trend-driven designs and affordable price points makes their offerings a favorite among not only consumers, but an expansive and growing group of A-List celebrities.

The company has experienced rapid growth while expanding into new categories such as footwear and cosmetics and needed a tool to streamline product development to cope with the increasing number of products, product types and channels. Kalin Mowry, Director of Production and Development, recalls working in numerous spreadsheets, shared docs and emails, stating, There were thousands of email chains just trying to track the samples, incoming shipments, and raw materials. We were looking for a streamlined solution to house everything under one roof.

The team at Frankies Bikinis reviewed several PLM providers, but decided on Centric SMB because of its out-of-the-box configurability and the ability to meet the needs for both today and the future. Mowry states, We chose Centric because we wanted a long-term partner whose solution can grow and expand as we do. Having all the data at our fingertips will make it easy to share documents and calendars with other departments, making the process extremely streamlined and cohesive.

Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software shares, We are very pleased that Frankies Bikinis, an exciting and dynamic company, has chosen to partner with us. We look forward to supporting their business growth now and into the future.

Centric SMB will allow for Kalin to have full visibility to what her team is doing. She shares, Rather than opening up a spreadsheet to search various projections with different yields, Ill simply pull a consumption report. It will be amazing to have all of this information under one roof. She explains that over the last eighteen months, the brand has brought product development in-house, stating that, before this transition, we depended on third-party contractors for help, but now Im really focusing on building the product team in-house. Having the software and the back-end support to foster that growth is key.

Learn more about Centric SMB

Request a Demo

Frankies Bikinis, LLC. (www.frankiesbikinis.com)

In 2012 founder Francesca Aiello began her mission to create the perfect bikini, gaining momentum when she began to showcase her swimsuit designs on Instagram. After creating two collections, Francesca became the youngest designer to ever debut at Miami Swim Week in 2014. Her designs are worn by supermodels and celebrities including Gigi and Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber, and Kylie and Kendall Jenner.

Frankies Bikinis is a global online destination for fashion-forward beachwear inspired by Malibu and made in Los Angeles. Known for high-end fabrics, fashion forward shapes, and cheeky bottoms, the bikinis look great on everybody. Since the companys inception, Francesca Aiello has evolved the brand into a beach lifestyle brand, expanding product offerings to include ready-to-wear clothing and beauty. Frankies Bikinis designs can be found in better retail boutiques nationwide including Revolve, Intermix, Free People, Kith, and Browns. The largest selection of Frankies Bikinis can be found at frankiesbikinis.com.

Centric Software (www.centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods including cosmetics, beauty, food and beverage. Centrics flagship Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, quality and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB provides innovative PLM technology and key industry learnings for emerging brands. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) offers a new fully visual and digital experience for collaboration and decision-making and includes the Centric Buying Board to transform internal buying sessions and maximize retail value and the Centric Concept Board for driving creativity and evolving product concepts. All Centric innovations shorten time to market, boost product innovation and reduce costs.

Centric Software is majority-owned by Dassault Systemes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), the world leader in 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and PLM solutions.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards and recognition, including being named by Red Herring to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Centric also received various excellence awards from Frost & Sullivan in 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2021.

Centric Software is a registered trademark of Centric Software Inc. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:

Centric Software

Americas: Jennifer Forsythe, jforsythe@centricsoftware.com

EMEA Kristen Salaun-Batby, ksalaun-batby@centricsoftware.com

APAC: Lily Dong, lily.dong@centricsoftware.com
CTU is demanding accommodations be granted for all employees with medical risks, along with those who are household members or primary caregivers of family members with a medical risk. Thats not much different from its initial proposal of telework for all staff who are either in a high-risk category for COVID-19 or who live with someone in that category. The districts best offer so far is accommodations for all staff who are in a high-risk medical category and for 20% of those who have a household member in that category, along with unpaid leave or a dose of vaccine before returning in person.
A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket lifts off last month from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The author says that SpaceX, the company founded by electric vehicle pioneer Elon Musk, is the front-runner in the race for the commercialization of space.

Many of the improvements in Mastercam 2022 are directly driven by Mastercam users and shops. Feedback from Public Beta releases, shop visits, customer surveys, and consultation with our expert industry partners create the practical, shop-driven focus that helps ensure Mastercam users' success.

Faster, more flexible multiaxis programming. As more shops seek the benefits of a single setup, multiaxis cutting strategy, Mastercam 2022 adds new techniques and strategies such as the Unified Multiaxis toolpath which allows you to select multiple pieces of input geometry to generate the toolpath pattern. Using those geometry choices, the toolpath picks the best algorithm to calculate the path. Multi-pass on Deburr toolpaths supports flat chamfered and rounded edges which gives the user added flexibility, allowing the Deburr toolpath to create a quality surface finish on larger chamfered or radiused edges.

Modeling advances. Mastercam 2022 introduces powerful mesh creation and editing capabilities that deliver a new class of modeling tools, including the ability to reconstruct models from scanned data. Being able to directly edit wireframe geometry without interacting with the dialog box speeds up design and modification work. And the Overflow UV function allows you to replace multiple surfaces with inconsistent flows with a single surface for flowline toolpaths. You can also simplify surfaces for general modeling. Overflow UV generates a single unified surface with a desired UV flow on a connected set of surfaces.



Enhanced intelligence and automation. A suite of system-wide enhancements helps automate tasks and speed your workflow. New automatic region chaining uses a "smart" approach to auto-select logical chained areas. Holemaking from imported solids is faster as Mastercam will now automatically extract appropriate information and pre-populate your programming options. Even tool imports have been made more intelligent as Mastercam will infer more tool properties from an incoming tool CAD model.

These are only a few of the new features and enhancements coming to Mastercam 2022. For more information on Mastercam's Public Beta Program, visit https://www.mastercam.com/support/customer-resources/.

About CNC Software

Founded in 1983, CNC Software, Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Tolland, Connecticut, with corporate offices in Switzerland and China. The company develops Mastercam, a suite of CAD/CAM software created to reduce production time and expense with efficient machining strategies and advanced toolpath technologies like Accelerated Finishing and Dynamic Motion. Mastercam is the world's #1 CAM software, with more than 274,000 installations in industries such as moldmaking, automotive, medical, aerospace, consumer products, education, and prototyping. It is distributed through an international channel of authorized Mastercam Resellers in 75 countries, providing localized sales, training, and support for 2- through 5-axis routing, milling, and turning; 2- and 4-axis wire EDM; 2D and 3D design; surface and solid modeling; artistic relief cutting; and Swiss machining. For more information, visit www.mastercam.com .

Contact: Michelle Nemeth

Phone: +1 860.875.5006

Fax: +1 860.872.1565

[email protected]



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Aero India 2021: B-1B makes its debut, here is a complete fact-sheet of the heavy bomber from US

Aero-India 2021: B-1B flies with LCA Tejas in Bengaluru

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Bengaluru, Feb 04: The American B-1B Lancer Heavy Bomber was flown for the first time in India during the Aero India 2021.

Aero India Show 2021: Watch the highlights of the event in Bangalore| Oneindia News

The long range multi role bomber had flown to India last week from the Air Force Base in USA's South Dakota to perform a fly by at the defence exhibition and aero show.

The Bomber flew along with the Made in India Light Combat Aircraft Tejas during the flying display of various military aircraft at the inaugural event of the three day air show in Yelahanka.

Aero-India: Metal birds dazzle the Bengaluru skies

Don Heflin, U.S.Charg dAffaire is leading a high-level delegation of U.S.Government officials and defence industry representatives to the Aero India 2021.

"I am pleased to head this years U.S.delegation to Aero India to show our continued commitment to strengthening U.S. -India defense cooperation, in line with India''s status as a Major Defense Partner, Heflin was quoted as saying in a U.S. Consulate General Chennai press release on Friday.

"U.S.participation in Aero India 2021 reflects our increasingly close bilateral defense ties and our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region", he said. U.S. participation in Aero India 2021 provides both U.S. industry and the U.S.military services the opportunity to strengthen military-to-military relations and defense cooperation with India, the statement said.

"Our two militaries work together to uphold a rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific. Public and private participation by the United States in Aero India 2021 demonstrates the importance the United States places on its strategic partnership with India", it said. LeadingU.S.defence companies are also participating in Aero India 2021, including Aerospace Quality Research & Development LLC, Airborn Inc., Boeing, IEH Corporation,GE Aviation, General Atomics, Hi-Tech Import Export Corporation, L3Harris, Laversab India, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Trakka Systems. Among the highlights of the show, a B-1B Lancer heavy bomber of the 28thBomb Wing based out of Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, will perform a "fly-by."

"The B-1B Lancer, a supersonic heavy bomber, is a truly remarkable aircraft, capable of carrying out missions worldwide from its bases in the United States, as well as from forward deployed locations. It carries the largest conventional payload of both guided and unguided weapons in the U.S.Air Force and is considered the backbone of Americas long-range bomber force", according to the statement. In the spirit of bilateral support for the hybrid defence exhibition, the United States Air Force Band of the Pacific based out of Hawaii will perform with Indian percussion (ghatam) artist Giridhar Udupa. The collaboration will be broadcast at a later date on U.S. Embassy and Consulate Facebook and Instagram pages.

After the central government claimed in Rajya Sabha that 162 doctors have died so far due to Covid-19 in the country, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) expressed shock and said that 734 doctors lost their lives due to the disease, of which, 431 were general practitioners.

It appealed that a high-power committee be constituted by the government to do a thorough study of the entire data of doctors who have died, and that all those who had died due to the disease will be honoured.

Twitter

162 doctors, 107 nurses, 44 Asha workers died

It appealed that a high-power committee be constituted by the government to do a thorough study of the entire data of doctors who have died, and that all those who had died due to the disease will be honoured. Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey had informed the Upper House of Parliament that COVID-19 has so far claimed the lives of 162 doctors, 107 nurses and 44 ASHA workers in the country.



BCCL

Many were below the age of 35

In a letter to Choubey, IMA president JA Jayalal stated that the Centre's (COVID-19 fatality) figures were contrary to the data released by the medical body, according to which 734 doctors lost their lives due to the disease, of which, 431 were general practitioners. Also, 25 doctors who died were below the age of 35, it said in the letter. JA Jayalal, in his letter, also stated that doctors suffer a higher viral load and Case Fatality Ratio as a community.



File Photo

"They still choose to serve the nation in best traditions of the medical profession. The Government of India failed to acknowledge this fact and give due significance and recognition," the letter stated. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) also condemned the "apathy" of the government in verifying the data and "delaying disbursement of solatium for COVID-19 martyrs' families".

IMA seeks solatium for affected families

"We are writing to you at this juncture to appropriately endorse the hard work and contribution by our doctors in flattening the COVID curve in India. We fervently appeal to you to expedite the process of giving solatium to families at the earliest possible time.

"We appeal that a high-power committee should be constituted by the government to make a thorough study of the entire data of deceased doctors and all those who had succumbed shall be honoured," the letter added.
WASHINGTON  President Biden is freezing plans to withdraw 12,000 American troops from Germany, administration officials said on Thursday, and has ordered the Pentagon to conduct a review of how American forces are deployed around the world.

The move would halt a Trump administration plan  which many national security experts had viewed as punitive  to bring some American troops home from Germany and to shift other units to Belgium and Italy. That plan, which came last summer, rankled European leaders and angered both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, who view the presence of American troops in Europe, and especially in Germany, as a cornerstone of the post-World War II order.

Mr. Bidens freeze of the troop withdrawal, announced Thursday by Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, ahead of the presidents visit to the State Department also accompanies what Mr. Sullivan called a global force posture review.

The freeze is in keeping with a series of moves the new president has made in the last two weeks to undo former President Donald J. Trumps initiatives at the Pentagon. Mr. Biden has also ended his predecessors ban on transgender troops serving in the military and, through Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, purged from Pentagon advisory boards several dozen members who were appointed in the waning days of the Trump administration. The Biden administration also announced Thursday that it was discontinuing American support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal today said that a new completion schedule for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train will be worked out as the original completion deadline of 2023 may not be met due to delay in land acquisition for the project in Maharashtra.

Addressing media persons virtually, Goyal said, "Indian railway was committed to launch the bullet train in 2023. But there have been massive delays in land acquisition in Maharashtra for the bullet train. I have held talks with Maharashtra Chief Minister. The Railway Ministry is also in constant touch with Maharashtra government officials."

"Due to the delays in Maharashtra which was delaying the entire project, we have at least started the tendering process in Gujarat side. Tender award of Vapi-Ahmedabad stretch has been initiated. The work will be started soon," said Goyal.

ALSO READ: Railways' revenue declined by Rs 36,993 crore in 2020 due to pandemic: Govt

Goyal added that once there is clarity on the land acquisition for the bullet train project in Maharashtra, the central government will be able to confirm the end date of the project.

According to data from the National High Speed Rail Corporation of India - the railway undertaking implementing the bullet train as well as the other upcoming high speed corridors - Maharashtra has acquired only 101.04 hectares of land out of the total 432 hectares to be acquired in the state for the bullet train project. No land for the project has been acquired till date in the Mumbai suburb out of the total 4.82 hectares needed to be acquired.

In Gujarat, 94 per cent of the land acquisition has been achieved for the project. The state has acquired 901.86 hectares of the total 956.15 hectares needed for the project in the state.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train is being funded with loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The total project cost is to the tune of Rs 1.1 lakh crore.

ALSO READ: Budget 2021: Finance Minister allots Rs 1.10 lakh crore to Indian Railways

Pointing out the fact that land acquisition is a bane for the railway infrastructure projects, Goyal mentioned about a railway project languishing for about for more than four decades in West Bengal.

Speaking on the budgetary provisions for Indian Railways, Goyal said, "The General Budget 2021 has been historic for Indian Railways. It has focussed on infrastructure projects in Indian Railways. The highest capital expenditure for Indian Railways will act as a huge catalyst to revitalise the economy and lead the Indian Railways towards Atmanirbhar Bharat."

It may be noted that Indian Railways has highest ever total capital expenditure outlay of Rs 2,15,058 crores this year. Of this, Rs 1,00,258 crore is from extra budgetary resources. The ministry has got a gross budgetary support of Rs 1,07,100 crore for capital expenditure allocation given in the General Budget.

ALSO READ: Budget 2021: DFI, FPI investment in REITs; Infrastructure push a welcome step to spur economy
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A 15-year-old boy from Bengaluru was barred from writing for his class 10 preparatory exam in school after he reached the exam hall late by 15 minutes. The boy had left his home well on time for the exam on January 22. However, the dilapidated condition of Whitefields Borewell Road caused him the delay and he reached the school late.

His father, Srinivas Reddy, was furious over the fact that his son wasn't allowed to sit for the exam. He captured a video of the road and posted it on Whitefield Risings Twitter handle, the Times of India said in a report.

Reddy said the road is in 'deplorable state' which caused his son the delay in sitting for the exam.

#nallurhallikapadi protest was a few years back. Promises made @ArvindLBJP yet to be fulfilledSituation remains grave, if not worse. Video 1: entrance to Borewell Road from Whitefield Main Rd. The dug up sections outside the Post Office remains unchanged for year+ pic.twitter.com/HGL0LAcEDs Whitefield Rising (@WFRising) January 30, 2021

"Borewell Road has been in shambles for more than a year. Many many folks have fallen down, broken bones. People have missed exams," one of the tweets said.

He alleged that a truck had broken down just 200 metres away from his home which caused massive traffic snarls there. The road on both the sides remained choked with traffic and as a result Reddy couldn't even take the alternate route to reach his son's school. The truck heading towards Nallurhalli was stuck because of the

roads poor condition, Reddy said.

When hi son reached the school at 8:45 am, he was already late by 15 minutes and the authorities did not allow him to sit for the test. We pleaded with the teachers to let my son to sit for the exam but they didnt agree. The school management lectured us to start one hour early, Reddy was quoted as saying.

As Reddy's ordeal was shared on Twiiter, fellow residents of the locality shared how the dug up roads and the subsequent traffic jams have caused inconvenience to all of them.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
There is a shortage of manpower outside the capital

Many GPs fear a lack of Covid-19 vaccines for over-70s will cause turmoil as the supply will not meet huge demand among older people.

There are also concerns that a shortage of GPs in parts of rural Ireland will lead to delays in vaccinations.

Dr Ken Egan, a Mayo GP, said he has been contacted by many of his colleagues whose practices are already inundated with calls from older people about the vaccine.

The former president of the Irish Medical Organisation said it could take 12 weeks to fully vaccinate all the over-85s, the first group of older people who are to be offered the two-shot vaccine later this month.

"GPs are afraid the shortage of vaccines will cause chaos. It could lead to a lot of tensions between patients and doctors," he added.

"Health Minister Stephen Donnelly needs to be upfront with people and tell them they will get vaccinated but it will take longer."

"There will need to be guidelines on the priority order," added Dr Egan.

The first advertisements informing over-85s that "Covid-19 vaccinations are on the way" appeared in newspapers yesterday, telling people "your GP will let you know" when a vaccine is available and everyone will receive one when "it's their turn".

It is expected supplies of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, the first of which are to arrive next week, will only amount to 285,000 doses in February and March, down from the 600,000 which had been expected.

Although there were hopes last night that the number of doses arriving here could be increased after the EU announced that AstraZeneca agreed to deliver an extra nine million in the first quarter of the year.

Unclear

This could mean another 90,000 doses for Ireland.

There are also hopes of an increase in deliveries from Pfizer BioNTech, although large numbers of health staff have still not been vaccinated.

Everyone who gets the vaccine needs two doses and the National Immunisation Advisory Committee will decide on the gap which can range from four to 12 weeks.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is 60pc effective in people aged under 55 and there is a lack of data on the response of older people due to the smaller numbers involved in the trials.

However, it was licensed by the European Medicines Agency for people over 18 and it said it expects protection for older age groups, although it is unclear what level it will be.

Meanwhile, Dr Ruairi Hanley, a GP in Co Louth, said the plan is for GPs to provide rapid vaccination clinics for the entire older population as more supplies of the vaccine become available.

"GP surgeries may simply not be feasible in some parts of the country," he said.

"The truth is that there is a GP manpower crisis in rural Ireland due to the unwillingness of many younger colleagues to practise medicine beyond the M50.

"While I have no doubt that south Dublin would have no shortage, elderly people in rural Ireland may not be so lucky.

"Delays may be inevitable as there are only so many hours doctors and nurses can work."

He called on the HSE to arrange for vaccination centres where Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines would be offered "instead of waiting for GPs to save the day".

There are 500,000 people aged over 70s in the country, including 81,000 over 85 and 90,000 aged 80-84.

Mr Donnelly said the roll-out to the over-70s will begin this month, with every effort being made to deliver the programme "as rapidly and as safely as possible".

Ireland expects to have a total of 1.1 million vaccines doses by March.

As of Wednesday 161,500 doses were administered, 71,600 of which were first doses to residents and staff in long-term care facilities.

Meanwhile, the Irish public reacted to thumb gate last night, giving Mr Donnelly his own medicine on Twitter.

His Twitter ignited with hundreds of people tweeting a thumbs up emoji but it certainly wasn't for the right reasons.

Mr Donnelly tweeted: "This is progress and will mean more vaccines for Ireland in the next two months."

He was reacting to Ursula von der Leyen's tweet on the AstraZeneca nine million additional doses for the EU.

Twitter users were far from impressed with the spin after it was revealed Mr Donnelly had sent a thumbs up emoji by text to chief medical officer Tony Holohan upon hearing the 'R' number had increased in Dublin in October.

Even Guardian columnist and activist Owen Jones gave Mr Donnelly a thumbs up emoji.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th February, 2021) US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Myanmar's military should relinquish power it seized, release all detainees and lift restrictions on telecommunications.

"The Burmese [Myanmar] military should relinquish power they have seized, release the advocates, activists and officials they have detained, lift the restrictions on telecommunications, and refrain from violence," Biden said in his first major foreign policy speech.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Astreya , a leading global IT solutions provider for many of the world's most recognizable and innovative organizations, announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Yolk Inc. , an agile software company in the enterprise automation space. The Yolk acquisition reinforces Astreya's commitment to building technology-enabled services that elevate human potential and experience in a digitally transformed work environment.

Yolk's unique combination of Virtual Support Assistants, No-Code Automation and ML-Powered Knowledge Management provides the perfect enhancement to Enterprise Service Management. "This is an incredibly exciting opportunity to join forces with Astreya to make high-growth enterprise customers more productive with Yolk's intelligent service automation," said Yolk's CEO Alex Smith. "Astreya's prowess in delivering critical IT services to some of the largest Fortune 500 companies and Yolk's ability to orchestrate complex service management workflows is a natural fit. This acquisition accelerates our vision of enabling no-touch resolution to the repetitive and manual IT issues that slow down every enterprise today."

Ukraine is planning to enhance cooperation with KT Corporation, South Korea's largest telecommunications company, to implement smart grid technologies in the Ukrainian energy sector.

This issue was discussed during a meeting between representatives of the Energy Ministry of Ukraine and South Korea's KT Corporation, Ukrinform reports referring to the ministrys press service.

"The Energy Ministry is interested in the modernization of Ukraine's power sector on the basis of the latest technologies. We are currently completing the development of a Concept for introducing smart network technologies in Ukraine," said Deputy Energy Minister Yurii Boiko.

He noted that among important components of the concept is the introduction of "smart accounting" systems.

"This will make it possible to reduce electricity losses in power grids, to carry out effective online monitoring of electricity quality parameters, to analyze electricity balances in various power grid nodes," the minister said

Among the promising areas of cooperation, the parties also consider digitalization in the energy sector.

The Energy Ministry said it would soon present the projects in the field of energy digitalization for further potential cooperation with KT Corporation.

In addition, the Energy Ministry is developing a draft Ukrainian-Korean Joint Statement of Intent to expand cooperation in the energy sector, the signing of which will extend the level of intergovernmental cooperation.

"Ukraine is very interested in the experience and cooperation with Korea, which is a world leader in the development and implementation of modern technologies in the power industry, in particular, smart network technologies. I am sure that our cooperation will have a mutually beneficial effect," Boiko said.

As reported by Ukrinform, from January 1, 2021, Ukraine introduced incentive tariffs for distribution system operators, which provides opportunities for modernization of electricity infrastructure.

iy
Laois grain grower John C Fletcher has claimed the Glanbia Ireland Grain supplier of the Year Award for 2020 and the Seed Barley category champion, beating off stiff competition from fellow growers nationwide.

The fourth generation farmer from Ballykillane outside of Portarlington is among 12 suppliers honoured for producing top-class native Irish grain.

John farms with his father, John. He grows winter crops of wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape along with spring crops of malting barley, feed beans and oilseed rape. He uses beans and oilseed rape as an entry crop to seed crops whenever possible. Most are sown using a plough-based, establishment system.

Rotation is key," says hardworking John.

"Were always trying to build fertility in the soil as were in continuous tillage. 2020 wasnt a great year as drought got us very early on. Yields were poor and were down about a half tonne an acre on 2019 levels. But thankfully the quality was good and price was better than previous years. 

As well as tending to several hundred acres, John and his family also run hardware and electrical contracting business which employs over 130 people. Currently under construction is a 25,000 sq ft hardware retail store. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Glanbia Ireland Chairman John Murphy congratulated the growers whose excellence and attention to detail are recognised as central to the exceptionally high standards in the industry, as evidenced at the latest awards. He looks forward to a promising year ahead.

Grain farmers across Ireland continue to produce extremely high quality grains, albeit in very challenging weather conditions over the past number of years. 2020 was no different with 60% more than average rainfall and high winds wreaking havoc in the south and south-east, particularly in August. Despite all of this, our award winners and their fellow growers excelled and have raised the bar even further this year.

Production was down an estimated 18% nationally in 2020 but the outlook for 2021 looks promising. Forecasts look good, prices have increased and theres a confidence that markets have strengthened and hopefully that the trend will continue, he said.

The expert nutritional, R&D and sustainability team at Glanbia Irelands Plant Hub are continuously innovating and examining more efficient, environmentally-friendly and healthier ways of feeding the human and animal population.

Head of Strategic Alliances at Glanbia Ireland Tom Finlay said: Glanbia Ireland is the largest buyer and user of native Irish grains. Our gluten-free oatmeal base doubled in volumes in 2020, based on 2019 intake.

We are expanding our value chain to include a range of oat flour which is used in a number of nutritious applications. We will bring a range of quinoa offerings to market and these will include flakes and flour. Weve also introduced a range of organic oatmeal this year, he revealed.

Glanbia Irelands total green grain intake for 2020 stood at 171,260 tonnes, down from 206,040 in 2019. Glanbia will also buy around 80,000 tonnes of dried grain from the 2020 harvest.
Jammu: An Indian army soldier was killed in unprovoked ceasefire violation by the Pakistani troops on Wednesday on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir`s Rajouri district.

Defence sources said Pakistan resorted to an unprovoked ceasefire violation on the LoC by firing with small and shelling with mortars in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district. "An Indian Army soldier, Sepoy Laxman, got critically injured in Pakistan ceasefire violation. The injured soldier later succumbed," a source said.

"Sepoy Laxman was a brave, highly motivated and sincere soldier. The nation will always remain indebted to him for his supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty," the statement added.

Pakistan has been violating the ceasefire on the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir with impunity during the recent years. This has brought miseries into the lives of thousands of people living in border villages.

Civilian lives, livestock, property and agricultural fields have to bear the brunt of Pakistan ceasefire violations on the LoC.

Live TV

The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
French President Emmanuel Macron has renewed his call for dialogue with Russia despite what he called its "huge mistake" in jailing opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, and offered to be an "honest broker" in talks between the United States and Iran.

Amid lasting tensions between the West and Russia, Macron has long pushed for a working relationship with Moscow under President Vladimir Putin and renewed his commitment to the strategy during a question and answer session with the Atlantic Council think tank on February 4.

His latest comments come as Moscow continues to ignore international calls to release Navalny, who on February 2 was sentenced to jail for almost three years for violating the terms of parole while recovering in Germany from a nerve-agent poisoning in August 2020. The Kremlin critic accuses Putin of ordering his poisoning -- a charge rejected by Russian officials.

"I think this is a huge mistake, even for Russian stability today," Macron said of the Moscow court's ruling, which critics say aims to silence Navalny.

But the French president also said that he favored dialogue with Moscow because Russia is "part of Europe."

It was "impossible" to have peace and stability in Europe without being able to negotiate with Russia, he said.

The Wests relationship with Russia has been severely strained over a variety of issues including Moscows seizure of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, its support for separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, election interference, and hacks that the European Union, the United States, and other countries have pinned on the Kremlin.

'Honest Broker'

On Iran, Macron offered himself as a honest broker in talks between Tehran and Washington in order to revive a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

"I will do whatever I can to support any initiative from the U.S. side to reengage in a demanding dialogue, and I will...try to be an honest broker and a committed broker in this dialogue," he said.

In 2018, former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, and started imposing crippling sanctions on Iran as part of a maximum pressure campaign aimed at forcing the country to negotiate a new agreement that would also address the countrys missile programs and its support for regional proxies.

In response to the U.S. moves, which were accompanied by increased tensions between Iran, the United States, and its allies, Tehran has gradually breached parts of the pact saying it is no longer bound by it.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on February 1 said that the new administration of President Joe Biden is willing to return to compliance with the 2015 accord if Iran does, and then work with U.S. allies and partners on a "longer and stronger" agreement including other issues.

The next day, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that the U.S. administration would be "consulting with our allies, consulting with our partners, consulting with Congress before we're reaching the point where we're going to engage directly with the Iranians and [be] willing to entertain any sort of proposal."

Price was responding to comments made by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggesting that the United States and Iran take synchronized steps to return to the nuclear accord.

Iranian officials have insisted that the United States should make the first move by returning to the agreement, which eased international sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's disputed nuclear program.

They have also said that the countrys missile program and regional policies are off the table.

Macron argued in favor of new negotiations with Iran that would also place limits on Iran's ballistic missile program and include Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The two Iran foes were fiercely opposed to the 2015 deal and supported Trump's decision to pull the United States out.

"We have to find a way to involve in these discussions Saudi Arabia and Israel because they are some of the key partners of the region directly interested by the outcomes with our other friends of the region," Macron said.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters
New Delhi, Feb 4 : Leading Senators from the US, prominent politicians from the rest of the world and various global human rights groups have expressed shock and anger, calling for a UN-led investigation after a BBC report has revealed systemic torture and sexual abuse against Uyghur Muslims, Kazakhs and other groups interned in the prison camps of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

Based on rare first-hand accounts from inside the internment camps, the BBC exposed depraved and dehumanising treatment of those detained in such facilities, officially called Vocational Education and Training Centers or 're-education camps' by the Chinese government.

The BBC said that several former detainees and a guard told their reporters on how they have experienced or saw evidence of an organised system of mass rape, sexual abuse and torture in Xinjiang.

Tursunay Ziawudun, now based in the US after fleeing Xinjiang, told the BBC's David Campanale, Matthew Hill and Joel Gunter that women were removed from the cells "every night" and raped by one or more masked Chinese men. She said she was tortured and later gang-raped on three occasions, each time by two or three men.

The BBC also interviewed a Kazakh woman from Xinjiang who was detained for 18 months in the camp system.

Gulzira Auelkhan told the network that she was forced to systematically "remove the clothes (of women detainees) above the waist and handcuff them so they cannot move", so that police and even Han Chinese civilians introduced from the outside, who "would pay money to have their pick of the prettiest young inmates", could rape them.

Another woman, Qelbinur Sedik, an ethnic Uzbek, said that she went to the camps as a Chinese language teacher and befriended a policewoman who told her that "the rape has become a culture" there.

"It is gang rape and the Chinese police not only rape them but also electrocute them. They are subject to horrific torture," Sedik was told by the policewoman.

It is not for the first time that the alleged genocide and crimes against humanity taking place in the Xinjiang region have been brought to the notice of the world community.

Human rights organizations believe that the Chinese government has detained over a million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs and people from other Turkic Muslim nationalities in these camps over the last three years.

Last September, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), had nailed China's lies on the human rights violations being committed in Xinjiang by releasing a comprehensive data, including latest satellite imagery, of more than 380 detention facilities still operating in the country's far west.

The ASPI research suggested that many extrajudicial detainees in Xinjiang's vast "re-education" network are now being formally charged and locked up in higher security facilities, including newly built or expanded prisons, or sent to walled factory compounds for coerced labour assignments.

It has also been revealed that in 2018, 80 per cent of all the Intrauterine Device (IUD) placements in China were performed on women in the Uyghur region, despite the region making up only about 1.8 per cent of China's total population.

After the the BBC report on Tuesday, a group of senior politicians representing the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) said it stood united in horror and in condemnation of sickening reports of the torture and rape of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the internment camps of Xinjiang.

"Eyewitness testimonies broadcast by the BBC have exposed depraved and dehumanising treatment of those detained in several camps... The time for mere words has long passed. We must now move towards a coordinated effort to hold the Chinese government to account," said the IPAC statement signed by 30 parliamentarians representing 16 legislatures.

"These atrocities must be stopped. We again call for a UN led or international legal investigation of crimes against humanity and genocide that are taking place in Xinjiang, and in the mean time for individual states to respond to their obligations under the genocide convention and take collective urgent political action in response to this evidence," it added.

Signatories to the statement included US Senators Bob Menendez and Marco Rubio, German Greens MEP Reinhard Butikofer, former Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani and Australian Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching.

"Reports of torture, systemic rape and forced sterilization of detainees suggests the Chinese Communist Party is perpetrating a most barbaric and inhumane persecution of the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the region," said British MP Iain-Duncan Smith, a former leader of the UK Conservative Party.

China, meanwhile, maintains that anti-China forces continue to turn a deaf ear and blind eye to the progress in the cause of human rights in Xinjiang.

"They have never been to Xinjiang and do not know the real situation of Xinjiang, but on the pretext of alleged human rights violations, they unscrupulously splash dirty water on Xinjiang, instigating the media and think tanks they control to concoct eye-catching false evidence and spread sensational fallacies," Elijan Anayat, spokesperson of Information Office of XUAR, said during a press conference organised on Xinjiang-related issues in Beijing on Wednesday.

Xinjiang government was also asked if it was prepared to welcome US government officials of high rank to visit the region for field investigations, free from any interference instead of a publicity tour, to change the identification with Xinjiang-related issues in the US that has transcended party politics? "I would like to say that Xinjiang is following the right path in the world. Everything it has done is open and honest. There is nothing that cannot be open. We welcome US officials, including the officials of new US government, to take a walk and have a look in Xinjiang, so as to understand the real situation in Xinjiang in case that you would be blinded by (Mike) Pompeo's lies. But we also have the bottom line of our principle, and we will never accept any so-called 'investigation' of presumption of guilt," remarked Deputy Director General of CPC Publicity Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Xu Guixiang.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
The coronavirus pandemic may have forced the Sundance Film Festival to go virtual for the first time in its history, but movie buffs came out in force anyway. The week-long event proved a buzz-generating machine on social media and other places where film lovers congregate, as indie movies like CODA, Passing and Flee premiered to rave reviews from critics and early-bird audiences, suggesting odds are good for mainstream success. In time-honored tradition, this year's festival also launched a number of cult favorites including the X-rated porn industry expose, Pleasure, which  based on the audience reaction  is among the most shocking movies to ever premiere at Sundance. Here's Yahoo Entertainment's guide to some of the best movies we saw at the festival's 2021 edition.

CODA

Marlee Matlin makes a rare on-camera appearance in CODA, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. (Photo: Sundance Institute)

Has there ever been a movie that dominated Sundance like CODA did at the 2021 virtual edition? Quite literally, no. Days after selling to Apple Studios for a record $25 million  a cool $7,499,999.31 more than the previous record-holder, 2020's Palm Springs  CODA cleaned up at the awards ceremony, winning... well, pretty much everything except the documentary categories. So whats the big deal? The comedic drama from writer-director Sian Heder follows the hearing daughter (breakout star Emilia Jones) of deaf parents (Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur) is heartwarming, hilarious, charming and toe-tapping. Its already got everything, and will probably add some Oscar nominations to its belt as well. If only we couldve been at Sundance in the flesh to cheer it on.  Kevin Polowy

Pleasure

Sofia Kappel stars in Pleasure. (Photo: Sundance Institute)

The hottest virtual ticket at Sundance was Ninja Thyberg's revealing (in more ways than one) tour of the Los Angeles porn industry, starring Sofia Kappel as the Eve Harrington-like Bella Cherry, who moves from Sweden to Hollywood pursuing dreams of adult movie stardom. Considering that synopsis, it's probably no suprirse that both screenings of Pleasure sold out almost instantly. Those anticipating another serio-comic romp like Boogie Nights were in for a shock, though: Thyberg's movie leaves little to the imagination, depicting Bella's experiences on various porn sets  from a disturbing audition to a wild S&M sequence  in starkly naked terms. The movie's explicitness proved too triggering for some viewers, all of whom had to confirm they were over 18 before viewing, and those who made it through accurately described the experience as "intense" and "deeply uncomfortable." But thanks to Thynberg's careful eye and Kappel's bold performance, Pleasure is also a nuanced treatise about sexual consent, with Bella learning how to take control of her own body... and her own pleasure.  Ethan Alter

Story continues

Wild Indian

Michael Greyeyes stars in Wild Indian. (Photo: Eli Born/Courtesy Sundance Institute)

Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.'s carefully-crafted feature film debut is a chilly, eerie thriller in the vein of David Fincher. In the early 1980s, two Native American boys are involved in the death of a classmate and cover up their crime. Two decades later, their lives have gone in remarkebly different directions: Sensitive Ted-O (Chaske Spencer) is an ex-con and troubled Makwa (Michael Greyeyes, in a starmaking performance) has tried to remake himself as the perfect family man. But the past can't stay buried forever, and their shared history soon threatens their present. Corbine's already-rich story gets even richer when he connects the characters' specific experience to the larger legacy of America's exploitation of its indeginous population.  E.A.

A Glitch in the Matrix

Rodney Ascher's A Glitch in the Matrix questions whether or not we're living in a simulation. (Photo: Sundance Institute)

Rodney Ascher  the mind behind The Shining documentary Room 237  returns with another feature-length examination of something wacky that a whole bunch of people genuinely believe: Were all living in a computer simulation. And its not just internet weirdos that think this: Prolific sci-fi author Philip K. Dick was an adherent of this theory, and it permeated his most famous works, including The Man in the High Castle and A Scanner Darkly. The movie wrestles with that idea, cleverly highlighting the many and vaired personalities that believe in it and why. In the age of Zoom-interview talking heads in documentaries, Ascher finds a way to distinguish himself from the pack with the creative use of digital avatars to obscure identities. Look for the film when it hits theaters and VOD services on Feb. 5.  Brett Arnold

Summer of Soul

Questlove directed the Sundance documentary Summer of Soul. (Photo: Mass Distraction Media/Courtesy Sundance Institute)

Prior to the fest, we mused about Questlove possibly becoming the second hip-hop icon in three years  after Sorry to Bother You's Boots Riley  to use Sundance as a launching pad for a new career as a filmmaker. Dozens of rapturous reviews, multiple sold-out virtual screenings and two Sundance awards (the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Documentary) later, that looks like an emphatic yes. Summer of Soul offers a vibrant look at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, aka Black Woodstock. Lovingly mixed like a DJ set, the film unspools rich and colorful never-seen-before footage of acts like Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and Nina Simone intercut with profound social commentary, making for a vital celebration of Black musical expression that also captures a quintessential moment in time for the culture. Its one of the best concert docs ever made, but its also so much more.  K.P.

Flee and Cryptozoo

Jonas Poher Rasumussen's Sundance award-winner Flee brings a refugee's story to life with animation. (Photo: Sundance Institute)

Animation: It's not just for kids! Sundance premiered two adult-oriented, award-winning cartoons that make radically different, but equally fascinating, use of the medium. With Flee, which won the festival's World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary, director Jonas Poher Rasmussen uses animation to bring to life the memories of an Afghan refugee who fled his war-torn homeland in the 1980s and settled in Russia before seeking a new life in Denmark. Flee's hand-drawn imagery captures the momentum of its subject's tense, dramtic journey, and provides an impressionistic recreation of the environments he passes through. Neon and Participant acquired the distribution rights to the film, and will release the subtitled version and an English-language dub  featuring the voices of executive producers Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau  later this year. (Editor's note: Flee was produced in association with RYOT Films, a Verizon Media Group company.)

While Flee is sure to be an arthouse smash, Dash Shaw's Cryptozoo has midnight movie favorite written all over it. A wild mash-up of X-Men, Jurassic Park and an ultraviolent The Last Unicorn, the movie stars Lake Bell as Lauren a seeker of "cryptids"  mythical and magical creatures that society at large either ignores or exploits. Lauren hopes to keep her various friends safe at the titular refuge, but the outside world has other plans. Shaw picked up the NEXT Innovator Prize for his R-rated storybook sketches, and Magnolia acquired Cryptozoo for release later this year.  E.A.

Marvelous and the Black Hole

Rhea Perlman and Miya Cech in Marvelous and the Black Hole. (Photo: Nanu Segal/Courtesy Sundance Institute)

Come to Kate Tsang's feature film debut for the delightful sight of Cheers star, Rhea Perlman, stealing scenes and doing close-up magic. Stay for the impassioned lead performance by rising star Miya Cech and the delightful flights of fantasy that punctuate this moving coming-of-age story. Cech plays rebellious teenager Sammy, who is still mired in a black hole of grief following the death of her mother, even as her father (Leonardo Nam) and elder sister (Kannon Omachi) try to move on. Enter Margot (Perlman), a small-time magician who teaches Sammy tricks to help her manage her turbulent emotions. It's a familiar story made fresh by the two stars and Tsang's imagination.  E.A.

We're All Going to the World's Fair

Anna Cobb stars in We're All Going to the World's Fair. (Photo: Daniel Patrick Carbone/Courtesy Sundance Institute)

Jane Schoenbrun's debut feature feels like the first horror film made by, and for, those raised on the internet. With its radicalizing algorithms, viral challenges and windows into other peoples worlds, it's hard to think of a better movie about todays extremely online culture. While the movie has several creepy seuqences that lodge themselves in your brain, Schoenbrun also ventures deeper than genre thrills, exploring how everyone online is isolated, sad and alone thru the experiences of two different people: Anna Cobb's lonely teenager and an older man (Michael J. Rogers) who starts following her YouTube videos. Watching this film at a virtual festival amid the backdrop of a global pandemic only makes it all the more relevant. One things for sure: Youll never hear ASMR the same way again.  B.A.

Passing

Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson star in Rebecca Hall's directorial debut Passing. (Photo: Edu Grau/Courtesy Sundance Institute)

Fans of richly told period melodramas like Todd Hayness Far From Heaven will eat up actress-turned-filmmaker Rebecca Hall's directorial debut. A black-and-white adaptation of Nella Larsen's 1929 novel, the story follows the re-connection of two high school classmates (Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, both phenomenal) who are now living disparate lives. Irene (Thompson) lives in Harlem with her husband, a Black doctor (Andre Holland), while the now-blonde Claire (Negga) has been passing as white  a secret she holds from her racist husband (Alexander Skarsgard). An intriguing, if leisurely-paced, character study on race and gender (and possibly sexuality), the film builds up to a stunner of a climax. Netflix is reportedly close to bringing it to a television near you later this year.  K.P.

Violation

Madeleine Sims-Fewer stars in the Sundance horror film Violation. (Photo: One Plus One/Courtesy Sundance Institute)

Co-directed by star Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli, Violation is an incredibly bleak, but also quite clever, inversion of the rape-revenge film. In a key moment, the female victim (Sims-Fewer) is fully-clothed and her gaslighting rapist (Jesse LaVercombe) appears fully nude and vulnerable. Its shocking to behold  but would it be if the female lead were the one exposed? The filmmakers force you to consider such things as you watch the repercussions of that encourter play out. The first half of the film is delightful and full of real conversations, so when the horror comes, its all the more abrasive and brutal and upsetting, and the revenge doesn't provide the satsifying ending one might expect. Seek this one out when it hits Shudder on March 25.  B.A.

Jockey

Clifton Collins Jr. stars in Jockey. (Photo: Adolpho Veloso/Courtesy of Sundance Institute)

There are few things better in film fandom than one of your favorite character actors finally getting the lead role they deserve. And Clifton Collins Jr. knocks his star turn straight out of the ballpark... uh, racetrack, in Jockey. The Westworld scene-stealer plays an aging jockey who can feel his body breaking down, but vows to keep on riding, especially with his trainer (Molly Parker) wrangling a potential title-winning horse and the arrival of a young jockey (Moises Arias) who claims to be his son. Reminiscent of Chloe Zhaos 2017 festival breakout The Rider, as well as Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, the feature debut from Clint Bentley  the real-life son of a jockey  is achingly beautiful. Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film, and seems poised to give Collins a run at an Oscar nomination next year.  K.P.

The Pink Cloud

Renata de Lelis stars in The Pink Cloud. (Photo: Iuli Gerbase/Courtesy Sundance Institute)

If you're wondering why The Pink Cloud opens with a disclaimer stating that it was written in 2017 and filmed in 2019, the answer becomes clear about 10 minutes into Brazilian director Iuli Gerbase's haunting dystopian tale. After a deadly "pink cloud" settles in over the skies of a major metropolis, all of the city's citizens are forced to shelter indoors as days turn to weeks, weeks turn to months, months turn to years and years turn to... forever. The parallels to our current COVID reality are unsettling enough, but Gerbase's film expertly navigates even more emotionally fraught terrain in the evolving relationship between its central characters: Giovana (Renata de Lelis) and Yago (Eduardo Mendonca), whose one-night stand becomes a multi-year living arrangement. The Pink Cloud will make you thankful that, back in our own world, we can still put on a mask and step outdoors.  E.A.

Related: Sundance 2021 projects tackle variety of topics

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[February 04, 2021] Dr Daniel C. Chung appointed as Chief Medical Officer of SparingVision

Dr Daniel C. Chung appointed as Chief Medical Officer of SparingVision Former Spark Therapeutics head of ophthalmic medical affairs, responsible for the development and approval of Luxturna, to lead development of SparingVisions proprietary asset, SPVN06, and further pipeline development Paris, February 04, 2021  SparingVision (the Company), a genomic medicine company developing vision saving treatments for ocular diseases, today announces the appointment of Dr Daniel C. Chung as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr Chung brings a wealth of experience in successful ocular gene therapy development, having led the global medical strategy for ophthalmology at Spark Therapeutics (Spark), a leading rare disease gene therapy company, where he played a pivotal role in the clinical development and approval of Luxturna, the first gene therapy to be approved in the US for a genetic disease. Spark was acquired by Roche in 2019 for $4.3 billion. Dr Chung is a highly respected healthcare leader with a demonstrated history working in the biotechnology industry, with experience spanning all phases of ocular gene therapy development, from pre-clinical studies through to clinical development and post marketing activities. Dr Chung joined Spark in 2014 and, as the companys first ophthalmologist, was instrumental in the development of Luxturna, the first in vivo gene therapy approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for RPE65 related inherited retinal disease. He also later led the medical affairs group responsible for its safe and efficient use in patients. During his tenure at Spark, he served as the inherited retinal disease and ophthalmology expert across various company divisions, not only training preclinical staff for in vivo surgical procedures, but also working in medical affairs, clinical development, patient advocacy, marketing and commercial activities. Before joining Spark, Dr Chung worked for 11 years at the Scheie Eye Institute within the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, specialising in gene based therapies for inherited retinal diseases and cilia mediated disease. Dr Chung received his medical degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1994 and undertook extensive postgraduate training at the National Eye Institute, Summa Health Systems and Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. As a member of the executive team at SparingVision, Dr Chung will lead the clinical development and research of SPVN06, SparingVisions flagship development asset, that is uniquel positioned to treat a much wider population of patients with rod-cone dystrophies than existing gene therapies. He will also be responsible for the clinical development of future additions to the product pipeline. Based in the U.S., Dr. Chung will also lead the education of the medical and patient communities on SparingVisions unique and game-changing mutation-agnostic approach in gene therapy.



Stephane Boissel, SparingVision President and Chief Executive Officer, said, SparingVision is focused on leading a significant step shift in the way we treat ocular disease, and we are building a strong global team with the expertise and drive to deliver this vision. We are delighted to have attracted another key leader in the field, which is testament to the potential of our approach. Dans extensive ophthalmology knowledge and experience in successfully bringing an ocular gene therapy to market will be highly valued as we prepare to commence our first-in-human study of SPVN06 and investigate the further potential of this asset in other rod-cone dystrophies. Dr Daniel C. Chung, Chief Medical Officer of SparingVision, added, SparingVisions pioneering science and the teams track record in drug development, manufacturing and building of successful companies is impressive. SPVN06 could allow the treatment of rod-cone dystrophies to go beyond single gene correction approaches to enable central vision preservation for patients, regardless of genetic cause. I am looking forward to joining SparingVision at such an exciting time in the development of this approach and potentially changing the lives of many patients who currently have no approved treatment options.

**ENDS** Contacts: SparingVision Stephane Boissel President and CEO Nathalie Trepo Investor Relations

nathalie.trepo@sparingvision.com Consilium Strategic Communications Amber Fennell, Olivia Manser, Lizzie Seeley +44 (0)20 3709 5700

sparingvision@consilium-comms.com NOTES TO EDITORS: About SparingVision:

SparingVision is a genomic medicines company, translating pioneering science into vision saving treatments. Founded to advance over 20 years of world-leading ophthalmic research from its scientific founders, SparingVision is leading a step shift in how ocular diseases are treated, moving beyond single gene correction therapies. At the heart of this is SPVN06, a gene independent treatment for retinitis pigmentosa (RP), the most common inherited retinal disease affecting two million people worldwide. SPVN06 could form the basis of a suite of new sight saving treatments as it could be applicable to many other retinal diseases, regardless of genetic cause. The Company is supported by a strong, internationally renowned team who aim to harness the potential of genomic medicine to deliver new treatments to all ocular disease patients as quickly as possible. SparingVision has raised 60 million to date and its investors include 4BIO Capital, Bpifrance, Foundation Fighting Blindness (US), Fondation Voir & Entendre, UPMC Enterprises, Jeito Capital and Ysios Capital. For more information, please visit www.sparingvision.com. About SPVN06:

SPVN06 is a proprietary, mutation-agnostic, AAV gene therapy approach comprised of one neurotrophic factor and one enzyme reducing oxidative stress which, acting synergistically, aim at slowing or stopping the degeneration of cone photoreceptors, which inevitably leads to blindness in patients with rod-cone dystrophies (RCD). SparingVisions primary disease target is Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), one of the most common inherited retinal diseases that affects two million patients worldwide. There is currently no treatment approved to treat RP patients independently of their genetic background. This approach is potentially applicable to many more diseases where the loss of rods is known to be an early signal of the disease. First-in-man trials, with SPVN06 in patients with RP, will be commencing in H2 2021.



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Intelligence report: Russia trying to tar Ukraine on helicopter engines repair market

The intelligence agency says Moscow's propaganda machine is working at full throttle.

Reporting by UNIAN

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Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2021 4:45 pm

In what is being labeled a civil rights issue by advocates, lawmakers are considering ending the decades old practice of paying workers with a disability less than the state minimum wage.

Under the current system, the Department of Labor and Industries can allow employers to pay workers with disabilities wage less than the state minimum. To qualify, employers must describe how the disability negatively impacts earnings and what the proposed wage would be.

There is no set floor for how low the wages can be, as long as employers get approval from the U.S Department of Labor to pay less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

This practice predates by more than three decades the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability.

We're back at this work again this year because it's a civil rights issue to pay people with disabilities less than minimum wage, said Sen. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, at a public hearing of the bill on Feb. 1. Randall introduced a similar bill in 2019 that never got out of committee.

Seattle eliminated subminimum wage for workers with disabilities in 2018, and in 2020 Washington State Agencies did

the same.

Continuing to allow subminimum wage, lets employers treat folks with disabilities as less than, Randall said. That is simply unjust and it hurts everyone in our communities. It hurts our economy, and it marginalizes our neighbors.

Among those who testified in support, were advocates who had worked for far under minimum wage in the past.

 I...worked a six hour a day job over the summer of 2003, and only made roughly $70 every two weeks, said John Lemus, an Advocacy Coordinator for AtWork!, which helps establish job connections for people with disabilities. This is absolutely unacceptable, and we should not allow it to happen anymore. This is either going to happen at the state level, or it will happen at the federal level in the next two years, and you will be told how to do it.

In the past several years, several states have eliminated subminimum wages.

Randall reshaped her bill from 2019 to address concerns brought up by caretakers, who say differences from person to person should be addressed.

While I understand the intentions of this bill, I have great concerns about the collateral damage not being addressed, said Cheryl Felak, a registered nurse and guardian for her adult son who works with a developmental disability.

Safeguards are currently in place to prevent any exploitation or discrimination for people who choose this type of employment. Eliminating this choice will not improve the socioeconomic status of any of the participants, Felak said. There has been no study on the outcome of previous changes.

The bill would phase out the current program, preventing L&I from issuing any subminimum wage certificates after July of 2023.



The Washington State Journal is a non-profit news website managed by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation. Learn more at wastatejournal.org.


In his search for grazing for his cattle in south-western Niger, Djouba Fedou, 60, repeatedly came into conflict with farmers.  UNHCR/Boubacar Younoussa Siddo

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), are calling on states to strengthen the protection and assistance of people displaced in the context of disasters and climate change, ahead of a virtual conference co-hosted today, 4 February, with PDD, the state-led Platform on Disaster Displacement, currently chaired by the Government of Fiji, with the Government of France as vice-chair.

The virtual event is held to commemorate the five years since states established three key frameworks to find solutions for people displaced in the context of disasters and climate change the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This commemoration also comes on the heels of two bilateral Memoranda of Understanding signed by IOM and UNHCR with PPD on 9 December, to renew their commitments on disaster displacement.

The memoranda formalize the long-standing partnership between IOM, UNHCR, and PDD and come as the climate emergency has converged with the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing conflict, record numbers of forcibly displaced, economic turmoil, and growing social upheaval.

"From South Sudan, to the Sahel, to the Dry Corridor in Central America, refugees, internally displaced and stateless people are often among the first to be affected by the climate emergency," said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "We need to invest now in preparedness to mitigate future protection needs and prevent further climate caused displacement. Waiting for disaster to strike is not an option."

UNHCR, IOM, and PDD, together with partners, are committed to implementing the recommendations of the Nansen Initiative Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change, the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

At the event, participants will take stock of achievements and share effective practices regarding disaster displacement in the implementation of the Sendai Framework, the Paris Agreement and the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda. They will also identify opportunities and conditions for scaling up advocacy and action and ensure policy coherence across relevant policy and action areas.

The Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda, endorsed by 109 states in 2015, offers states a toolbox to better prevent and prepare for displacement before a disasters strike. When displacement cannot be avoided, it helps states improve their responses to situations when people are forced to find refuge, either within their own country or across an international border. With the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees in 2018, the measures endorsed in the Agenda, were taken forward by States in committing action for migrants and refugees in the context of disasters, climate change and environmental degradation.

The historical adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12 December 2015 at the 21st UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris, France, was also an unprecedented breakthrough for integrating migration and displacement concerns in a climate change treaty. COP21 mandated the creation of a Task Force on Displacement (TFD) to develop recommendations for integrated approaches to avert, minimize and address displacement related to the adverse impacts of climate change. IOM, UNHCR and PDD are founding members of the TFD since 2017 and are currently implementing its second mandate.

"Five years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the UN Network on Migration, established to support the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration, has determined climate change and migration issues as a key priority for 2021," said Antonio Vitorino, IOM Director General. "It represents a significant opportunity to enhance our collective action, especially ahead of the COP26. As the Coordinator of the Network, IOM is fully committed to enhance a UN-wide action on this topic."

The Global Compact on Refugees, adopted by an overwhelming majority in the UN General Assembly in December 2018, also directly addresses these growing challenges and is another opportunity to strengthen our collective action in this area.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 represents the global blueprint for all efforts aiming to reduce the impacts of hazards on people, communities, and societies over the following 15 years, and has significantly advanced the discourse on migration and displacement linked to disaster risk reduction. In particular, UNHCR and IOM supported the development of the Words into Action guidelines on disaster displacement.

The virtual conference is a reminder of the strong connections among these three frameworks in the larger context of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development adopted in 2015. It also highlights that five years on, we are in the moment of regional and national action to implement these frameworks for a stronger resilience and protection of people in the face of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change.

The virtual conference begins at 0845 CET. It is open to the public and participation can be registered for the high-level panel session here: http://bit.ly/3ciEG5P and for the technical panel sessions here: http://bit.ly/3c8RCLr

More information is available at www.disasterdisplacement.org

About PDD

The Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) was established as a follow-up mechanism to the Nansen Initiative, and aims at supporting advocacy, partnerships and concrete action on disaster displacement. IOM and UNHCR work closely together with PDD as standing invitees to its Steering Group.

About IOM

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), as the leading intergovernmental migration agency, has been at the forefront of operational, research, policy and advocacy efforts seeking to bring environmental migration to the heart of international, regional and national concerns, in collaboration with its Member States, Observers and partners.

About UNHCR

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, as a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for displaced and stateless people as well as the communities who host them, has an important contribution to make to global climate action, particularly when displacement occurs in the context of the adverse effects of climate change and disasters.

For more information on this topic, please contact:

For UNHCR:

For IOM:

For PDD:
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The African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development will hold their 33rd session to discuss industrialisation in Africa, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said on Wednesday.

The Conference will be held virtually from 17-23 March 2021, under the theme "Africa's sustainable industrialisation and diversification in the digital era in the context of coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).

UN ECA Director of Regional Integration and Trade, Stephen Karingi, said discussions on Africa's industrialisation are relevant coming on the heels of the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

He said the ministers and experts attending the ministerial conference will discuss the need to ensure that digitalization strategies are integrated into policy and planning frameworks for industrialization.

"Industrialisation and digitalisation recognize Africa's desire to industrialize and create jobs for the millions of its populace, in particular, the youth joining the labour market annually," the ECA said in a statement.

The ECA said the AfCFTA comes in handy during these difficult times where the continent is fighting COVID-19. "It is crucial that our governments establish institutional arrangements for cooperation on the digital economy, and provisions to support digital capacities and industrialization and connect African businesses," said Mr. Karingi.

The ECA said the coming into force of the AfCFTA signaled a unique turning point in the continent's pursuit of industrialisation; with e-commerce, a key catalyst in digitalised economies, being a key cornerstone of the pact's infrastructure.

The main element of this year's theme is the recognition of the need for African countries to achieve rapid economic growth without exacerbating the environmental cost of development.

It calls for an alignment of development strategies with climate change mitigation measures, recognising that industrialisation while being an effective engine of growth for many developed countries, has come at a severe cost to the global climate.

According to the ECA, African countries will need to implement development strategies that recognise that better, safer and more inclusive growth is one that involves strong climate action and efficient use of natural resources.

The theme also recognises that Africa's developmental path must minimize the aberration of developed nations and instead seek to embrace modernization through digitalization and less climate-costly industrialization activities.

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While the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected Africa's economy pushing it into contraction, for the first time in more than 20 years, by an estimated 2 to 5.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020, it has further highlighted the need for accelerating Africa's digitalization.

If emerging digitalization can be scaled, it could be transformational, helping Africa to sustainably industrialize and diversify within a global digital economy estimated to be worth more than US$11.5 trillion.

The ECA argues that Africa must embrace environmentally-sustainable industrialization and diversification as a pathway to creating decent jobs for the 170 million African young people set to enter the job market between 2019 and 2030, building forward better from COVID-19 and ensure resilience to future shocks.

Deliberations at the conference will centre on how countries can leverage the rapid technological innovation to foster stronger economic growth and promote sustainability and inclusiveness, against the background of the urgent action that is needed to offset the impact of COVID-19 on Africa's economies and economic trajectory.

The conference, which will draw seasoned and high-level panellists from within and outside Africa, promises to be very exciting and engaging, with outcome decisions that will have important implications for Africa's future.
The HRF district president alleged that the sub-inspector acted in a vindictive manner after was denied a rental accommodation in the newly constructed house of the teacher.  Representational image

KURNOOL: The thrashing of a government school teacher by a police sub-inspector created a tense situation at Kosigi on Wednesday night. Physical education teacher (PET) Kodi Eranna was beaten up with lathi by SI Dhanunjaya while he was talking with his friends in the street near his brothers house after dinner. He was seriously injured.

The victim, a teacher at the Kowthalam government school, was a resident of Kosigi Mandal headquarter. The attack that took place around 9 pm is seen as a vindictive act by the SI.

Subsequently, villagers, teachers associations and student unions held a protest in front of the local police station. On Thursday, Human Rights Forum (HRF) state president UG Srinvasulu along with district president K Urukundu visited the Adoni area hospital where the teacher was given medical treatment.

The HRF district president alleged that the sub-inspector acted in a vindictive manner after was denied a rental accommodation in the newly constructed house of the teacher.

The protesters gave a complaint before the district authorities seeking action against the sub-inspector who attacked the teacher.

Kosigi circle inspector Eswaraiah said the complaint will be looked into

Lahore, Feb 4 : Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan's Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, on Thursday returned to the Kot Lakpat jail in Lahore after visiting a hospital as his health deteriorated earlier in the day.

Strict security arrangements were made and a heavy contingent of police has been deployed in and around the hospital, reports The Express Tribune.

It was reported that Sharif would undergo positron emission tomography (PET) scan and other medical tests.

After receiving the reports of medical tests, he was discharged and sent back to jail.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had arrested Sharif last year in money laundering and assets beyond means case.

He has been on judicial remand.

On February 3, an accountability court in Lahore adjourned the hearing of money laundering and assets beyond means scam against the Leader of Opposition and his family till February 10.
PITTSFIELD  A judge ordered alleged church arsonist Dushko Vulchev to undergo a mental health evaluation later this month, according to court records.

Vulchev, 44, of Houlton, Maine, was charged with setting a string of fires outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church in Springfield over several days in December. Vulchev also faces charges in Pittsfield District Court in connection with a series of car vandalisms in the Berkshires, according to police records.

The blazes at the primarily Black church in Springfield were denounced as suspected hate crimes that occurred right around Christmas. Vulchev traveled around Greater Pittsfield around the same time slashing tires at a car dealership, an auto shop, a Panera Bread and elsewhere, court records say.

The church fires also remain under investigation by the FBI, sources have confirmed previously.

Vulchev pleaded not guilty to the crimes during proceedings out of Pittsfield and Springfield district courts. His attorney told a judge in the Springfield matter his client was a victim of mistaken identity.

Vulchev was originally held at the Hampden County House of Correction before being transferred to Bridgewater State Hospital for evaluation, according to the court docket, and was bound for the Berkshire County Jail on Wednesday morning.

He has been unable to post a collective $35,000 bail set in both cases. He is scheduled for a mental health hearing on Feb. 12, records show.



Rennie Davis, one of the 'Chicago Seven' activists who was tried for organizing an anti-Vietnam War protest in 1968, has died at the age of 80.

The protest was organised outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago in which thousands clashed with police in a bloody confrontation that horrified a nation watching live on television.

Davis died Tuesday of lymphoma at his home in Berthoud, Colorado, his wife, Kirsten Liegmann, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

A longtime peace activist, Davis was national director of the community organizing program for the anti-war Students for a Democratic Society and was a protest coordinator for the Chicago convention.

Some 3,000 anti-war demonstrators clashed with police and Illinois National Guardsmen on August 28, 1968, near the convention.

The subsequent trial was the focus of a Netflix movie 'The Trial of the Chicago 7', that was released in 2020 and nominated for a 2021 Golden Globe.

Pictured: Protest leader Rennie Davis in Lincoln Park during the 1968 Democratic Convention. Rennie Davis, one of the 'Chicago Seven' activists who was tried for organizing an anti-Vietnam War protest in 1968, has died at the age of 80

Police clubbed demonstrators and carried out mass arrests. Davis himself was seriously injured and taken to a hospital. An investigative commission later described the clash as a 'police riot.'

Davis and four co-defendants - Tom Hayden, Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman and David Dellinger - were convicted of conspiracy to incite a riot during the 'Chicago Seven' trial in 1969 and 1970.

A federal appeals court overturned the convictions, citing errors by U.S. District Judge Julius Hoffman.

Co-defendants John Froines and Lee Weiner were acquitted. An eighth defendant, Bobby Seale, was tried separately, convicted of contempt and sentenced to four years in prison. That conviction also was overturned.

Davis was 'one of the most important nuts and bolts organizers of the anti-war movement in the 1960s and the early 1970s,' said David Farber, a distinguished professor of history at the University of Kansas who has written four books about the 1960s - including 'Chicago '68' - which details the anti-war protests in Chicago.

Unlike the more famous members of what became known as the 'Chicago Seven' - including Hoffman and Rubin - Farber said Davis 'was not a celebrity, but he was a very essential organizer for the anti-war movement.'

Police clubbed demonstrators and carried out mass arrests. Davis himself was seriously injured and taken to a hospital. An investigative commission later described the clash as a 'police riot'. Pictured: Davies wearing a head bandage after being clubbed

Pictured: The seven defendants in the Chicago Conspiracy Trial hold a 1970 press conference in Chicago after the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted their request for bail. Left to right, Lee Weiner, Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, (behind Hoffman), Jerry Rubin and John Froiners

'He was the one negotiating with the (Mayor Richard J.) Daley administration, trying to get permits and the right to march and rally,' Farber said. 'He was the hands-on organizer ... doing very practical, pragmatic things.'

He said the protest became famous not because of how many people showed up 'but because a commission later determined that there had been a `police riot."'

And because Democratic Convention was covered on TV, 'images of this protest were seen all over the United States and indeed all over the world,' Farber said.

Police targeted Davis and beat him on the head with batons, Farber said.

Indeed, quite aside from being a footnote in the history of late-1960s America, the trial remains notorious in the annals of U.S. jurisprudence because the irascible judge, Julius Hoffman, was shamelessly jaundiced against the defendants. Pictured: The Chicago seven with their lawyers outside the courthouse in 1968

Pictured: Tom Hayden addresses crowd in Lincoln Park. Rennie Davis (glasses) stands next to him. Davis and Hayden were associated with an organization called National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (often referred to as 'Mobe')

'It became a famous example of how a local government could stop protests from happening. Its very relevant today,' Farber said.

In 1971, Davis also organized a mass demonstration against the Vietnam War that was designed to tie up traffic in Washington, D.C.

But Davis' wife said his legacy goes well beyond his pacifist activism.

He moved to Colorado, where he studied and taught spirituality and entered the business world, selling life insurance and running a think tank that developed technologies for the environment. He became a venture capitalist and a lecturer on meditation and self-awareness, Liegmann said.

Pictured: Rennie Davies in 2016

She said he pursued a spiritual path designed to create awareness of the planet even as he was dispensing business advice as a venture capitalist.

'Everybody knows him as the 60s activist, and really what he would want to be remembered for is his vision for a new humanity - the magnificence of who we are,' Liegmann said.

Davis was born on May 26, 1940, in Lansing, Michigan, and raised in Berryville, Virginia. He graduated from Oberlin College and earned a masters degree from the University of Illinois.

Davis got his start as one of the key community organizers for Students for a Democratic Society in the mid-1960s, Farber said. Davis was originally based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but helped oversee community organizing projects nationwide.

In the early 1970s, Farber said Davis became disillusioned with the more violent course the anti-war movement was taking.

'One of the things people always said about Rennie Davis was that he was a gentle man. He was not a rabble rouser, he was not an angry, hostile person. He deeply believed in a more just and fair and equitable society and pursued it nonviolently all his life,' Farber said.

In addition to Liegmann, Davis is survived by three children from previous marriages: daughters Lia Davis, 44, and Maya Davis, 28; and a son, Sky Davis, 26; as well as three siblings and two grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements were pending. Liegmann said a public memorial would be held at a future date over social media.

'He is so beloved that I owe that to the world,' she said.

Aaron Sorkin's The Trial Of The Chicago 7, on Netflix, depicted the 1968 protests, riots and subsequent court case . Pictured far left: Alex Sharp depicting Rennie Davis in the movie
Pakistan and Tajikistan on Thursday achieved another milestone in growing bilateral relations by signing an agreement on "Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters."

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Feb, 2021 ) :Pakistan and Tajikistan on Thursday achieved another milestone in growing bilateral relations by signing an agreement on "Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters." Pakistan ambassador to Tajikistan Imran Haider and Chairman Tajikistan's Customs Service signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments, said a news release received here from Dushanbe.

The agreement would help promote cooperation between the Customs authorities of the two countries through exchange of Customs-related information including Customs regulations.

It would also provide training and research opportunities to Customs officials of both the brotherly countries.

It is yet another milestone in the growing bilateral relations between Tajikistan and Pakistan as the two countries have so far signed as many as 65 such agreements in different spheres to boost bilateral ties.

"The agreement signed today also reflects the will of the leadership in both countries to further the friendly relations," it added.
The Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) Central Committee on late February 3 issued a press release on the phone talks earlier the same day

between CPP President and Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and State President Nguyen Phu Trong.

President of the Cambodian Peoples Party and Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen (Source: VNA)

The Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) Central Committee on late February 3 issued a press release on the phone talks earlier the same day between CPP President and Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and State President Nguyen Phu Trong.



According the press release, Hun Sen extended warm congratulations to Nguyen Phu Trong on the latters re-election as CPV General Secretary at the 13th National Party Congress. He also congratulated the CPV on its 91st founding anniversary (February 3, 1930 - 2021) and the success of its recent national congress.



The Cambodian leader emphasised that with a clear-sighted vision, the CPV has led Vietnam to enormous achievements in socio-economic development and maintaining peace, stability, and prosperity. He congratulated Vietnam on successfully performing its role as Chair of ASEAN in 2020 and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020 - 2021.



He expressed his belief that the CPV will successfully carry out the policy orientations and solutions adopted at the 13th National Congress so as to turn Vietnam into a strong, equal, democratic, and civilised nation.



Appreciating Hun Sens congratulations, Trong thanked the CPP Central Committee, as well as institutions and organisations of Cambodia, for their congratulatory messages to Vietnamese partners, which he described as demonstrations of the traditional relations and good neighbourliness between the two countries.



The Vietnamese leader also informed Hun Sen about the outcomes of the CPVs 13th National Congress and re-affirmed the implementation of future orientations for the Vietnamese Party and States goal of comprehensive development in the coming decades.



He also highly valued Cambodias considerable achievements in the recent past, voicing his wish that the Cambodian people will surmount difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve sustainable development and long-term prosperity, thus actively contributing to the maintenance of peace, stability, and development in the region and the world.



The press release noted the two leaders expressed their respect for the time-tested relations while speaking highly of the strong development of ties between the two parties and countries in all spheres, which has generated common benefits for the Cambodian and Vietnamese people.



Highlighting the countries mutual support and assistance for national liberation and construction, they also repeated the strong resolve to continue building up bilateral relations and further enhancing cooperation via the effective and timely implementation of all agreements for the sake of common interests of the countries, the region, and the world.



On this occasion, the two leaders invited each other to pay official visits to their respective countries at an appropriate time. VNA

Intl journalists affirm CPVs role in Vietnams renewal achievements International reporters have affirmed the great role of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in leading Vietnam to successes during its 35-year Doi Moi (renewal) process.
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Realme launched new X7 series which sports MediaTek s Dimensity chipsets. The phones get 5G connectivity and fall in the premium mid-range segment. Madhav Sheth, Vice President, realme and Chief Executive Officer, realme India & Europe explains the significance of the two new models and the companys plans for the rest of the year.

What new experience will the realme X7 5G series offer?

The realme X7 5G and X7 Pro 5G are bound to set new benchmarks in their respective price segments. The realme X series has always been a family of devices that bring cutting-edge technology, the most stylish design with an emphasis on premium experience. The realme X7 5G and X7 Pro 5G will continue the legacy. The X series R&D that has gone into the making of these smartphones ensures that they deliver exactly what the consumers desire.

And the consumers desire a fantastic experience which the X7 series truly lives up to. I am proud to share that X7 5G brings the best 5G performance in the mid-range segment with the powerful MediaTek Dimensity 800U chipset. Besides that it packs in many winning offerings with Super AMOLED display, 50W fast charging, 64MP AI triple camera. X7 Pro 5G with Dimensity 1000+ processor benchmarks at 540,000+, promising a premium experience which users will love. The 120Hz Super AMOLED display, 64MP Sony IMX686 quad-camera set-up and 65W SuperDart charge add to its appeal. Whats more - both the chipsets are powerful 2CC Dual 5G Dimensity processors which means both cards can be 5G SIM and extend it across price segments to make everyone future-ready.

Another important experience is about payment. To enable consumers to purchase the future-ready realme X7 5G series smartphones, I would like to share that realme has launched the real Upgrade Program. With the new initiative, consumers will be able to experience the most awaited realme X7 5G and X7 Pro 5G by paying only 70% of the cost. This will significantly improve consumers affordability to be accessible to their desired X7 Pro 5G products. The real Upgrade Program is available on Flipkart in partnership with Flipkarts Smart Upgrade Plan and also in realme mainline stores. This will help expand our outreach and appeal to consumers for sure.

How will the new model help the company gain more customers?

realme X7 5G and X7 Pro 5G continues realmes product positioning as Ultimate Flagships combined trendsetting technology and style. I am confident that both products will drive huge demand from tech-lifestyle users and further build realme as Indias 5G leader, which is significant for the long term growth.

And this year, realme is aiming to make breakthroughs and get over 15% market share in the 19999~29999 segment by building the realme X series. realme has been creating miracles in the budget and mid-range segments. The launch of X7 5G series signifies our expansion to new price segments, benefitting a wide range of users.

Both products continue the legacy of X series and are a fantastic combination of technology and futuristic design which will for sure enhance realmes brand assets and lift brand favorability and preference which are super valuable. This will further increase our brand pull in other price segments also.

What are realmes plans for 2021?

We aim to be India's Most Popular Tech Lifestyle Brand. To achieve that realme aims to be the TOP 3 Smartphone brand and No.1 Online smartphone brand by clocking 25- 30 million in sales in smartphones in CY2021. However, the stock issue will continue for the whole industry. Hence, we will make the best effort to deliver at least 25-30 million devices to cater to the market demand, however this has to be evaluated every quarter basis in the actual case.

5G is a key growth pillar for realme this year. Being Indias 1st brand to launch a 5G smartphone, it predicts realme to become a 5G leader. To achieve this, we will introduce 5G-enabled smartphones at democratized prices to enable users to experience the latest processor with much enhanced capability in terms of power management, display optimization, camera support, gaming performance etc, and get consumers future-ready for 5G. These will act as volume drivers as well. realme has been well received for budget and midranger products under 20K.

This year, realme is aiming to get over 15% market share in the INR 19999~29999 segment by building the realme X series, starting from this launch of realme X7 5G and realme X7 Pro 5G.

We will also be focusing more on AIOT business to build a Techlife universe, to empower everyone to enjoy the desired life enhanced by technology. To achieve this, realme envisions to be the No.1 Audio / Wearable Brand/ No.1 Online SmartTV Brand, targeting 15 million AIOT users in 2021. Whats more, realme is now encouraging other budding brands with similar dreams to join the new AIOT Eco Platform - realme TechLife. Together we want to make a contribution to the world by introducing more versatile technology products. We will be supporting our partners who have joined the realme TechLife" platform with our product, R&D, supply and Quality Assurance. Most importantly, all of these will be supported by the realme Link" app.

Offline expansion is always significant to realme and we will be launching 300-500 realme smart stores nationwide and a few flagship stores, enabling more users to experience realme smartphones and AIoT products.

Which new technology could make a big impact on the smartphone industry in 2021?

We are at an interesting juncture where lots of big trends hold disruptive potential.

5G is not that new, but constantly evolving 5G processors will ensure smartphones offer better futuristic performance with multiple enhanced features.

Air charge is another exciting trend that will further free up people from the traditional charger.

Also, some premium camera features like tilt-shift photos, which used to be available with very professional DSLR lenses, may be available on smartphones in future.

In terms of realmes plans in India, does the Budget 2021 help open doors to new opportunities?

I believe that the announcements made during Budget 2021 will boost local manufacturing, and create more job opportunities. realme has always supported the government's Make in India initiative and is already working towards strengthening its localisation strategies, and has always been encouraging its partners to start localized manufacturing of their components as well.

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In 2010, ordinary people around the world were invited to film snippets of a single day - July 24 - and upload the results online. That compendium of raw footage, edited into a coherent and unexpectedly moving 95 minutes by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, became the YouTube Original film "Life in a Day." Ten years later, the creative team (which includes producer Ridley Scott) has done it again, with "Life in a Day 2020." Shot entirely by amateurs on July 25 of last year - some 340,000 of whom, in 192 countries, submitted bits and pieces of their lives - the poignant and at times transcendent documentary does much more that capture a portrait of a momentous year, although it certainly does that. The pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, political division - all these things, of necessity, are addressed in the film. But, true to its name, which suggests that perhaps all of existence can be expressed, or at least experienced, in a single 24-hour period, the film touches on love and loss, birth and death, triumph and tragedy, sorrow and happiness, as well the not-so-banal minutiae of the everyday. It's hard to say how or why this little gem of a film - less extraordinary than simply extra ordinary - works, but it has something to do with this: Yes, it serves as a reminder of the vast and wonderful diversity of people on this planet: cultural, economic, political, physical, etc. But more than anything, it is a testament, with the force of a thunderclap, to the things that makes us all the same. Unrated. Available Saturday free on YouTube. Contains brief sensuality, brief smoking and some scenes of conflict. 87 minutes.

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ALSO STREAMING:

"A Glitch in the Matrix" is a documentary by Rodney Ascher ("Room 237") that examines simulation theory: the notion that what we call reality is merely an illusion. Of this "meandering but imaginative" film, IndieWire writes: "If you're not already one of the die-hards convinced we're living in a simulation, this movie might actually get you there." Unrated. At afisilver.afi.com and angelikaanywhere.com.108 minutes.

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A newly married man (Jack O'Connell) wakes up to find that he has lost all memory of his bride (Olivia Cooke) after being stricken by a virus that causes sudden amnesia in the sci-fi romance "Little Fish." Slant magazine calls the film an "earnest, if at times precious, meditation on memory." Unrated. Available on various streaming platforms. 110 minutes.

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The documentary "M.C. Escher: Journey to Infinity" tells the story of the Dutch graphic artist who died in 1972 and is famous for his puzzle-like, eye-confounding and mind-bending prints. The film, according to Art News magazine, offers an "entrancing look at how Escher became so fascinated by mathematics and the magical possibilities of patterns." Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi.com and virtualavalon.org. In English, Dutch, Italian and German with subtitles. 81 minutes.

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In "Night of the Kings," a new inmate (Kone Bakary) in a "Mad Max"-like African prison is given the unenviable task of regaling the other prisoners - and their ruthless convict boss - with an all-night tale of an outlaw nicknamed "Zama King." (He will be killed, he is told, when the story ends.) According to the New York Times, director Philippe Lacote's film - the official Oscar submission from Ivory Coast - "braids together its struggles for survival to suggest an entire country fighting to emerge." Unrated. Available on various streaming platforms. French, Dyula and Nouchi with subtitles. 93 minutes.

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"Reunion" is a New Zealand psychological horror film about a pregnant woman (Julia Ormond of "The Walking Dead: World Beyond") whose attempt to reconnect with her estranged mother takes a terrifying turn. Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi.com. 95 minutes.

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From Oscar-nominated documentarian Michele Ohayon ("Colors Straight Up"), "Strip Down, Rise Up" looks at a group of trauma survivors who have come together to heal through "sensual movement" therapy (or pole dancing). R. Available on Netflix. Contains strong language, sexual material and brief graphic nudity. 112 minutes.

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"Tribes on the Edge" is a documentary by Celine Cousteau (the granddaughter of the late filmmaker and conservationist Jacques Cousteau) that looks at the survival struggles of an indigenous community in the Brazilian Amazon. Unrated. Available on various streaming platforms. 77 minutes.

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A tragedy exposes the clandestine relationship between two retired women (Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier), who have been secretly in love for decades, in the drama "Two of Us." Variety calls the often moving film "an affirmation of our universal desire for emotional intimacy and how the right connection can overcome all social and physical limitations." Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi.com and virtualavalon.org. In French with subtitles. 99 minutes.
For more than 1,500 years Catholics have made pilgrimage to Rome's Santi Apostoli Church to venerate two apostles, St. Philip and St. James the Younger - who is said to have been Jesus' brother.

Bones believed to belong to the martyred saints are enshrined at the basilica and each encasing bears the name of the saint.

But now archaeologists say skeletal fragments enshrined at the church are too recent to have come from the time of Jesus Christ.

Using radiocarbon dating, a team of researchers from the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and the UK determined a femur purportedly belonging to St. James dates to between 214 and 340 AD.

St. James, or James the Less, is purported to have been stoned to death or crucified in the Egyptian city of Ostrakine in about 60 AD - making the femur to new to have belonged to the saint.

Scroll down for video

A femur bone enshrined at Santi Apostoli Church in Rome since the sixth century purportedly belong to St. James the Younger, one of Jesus' apostles and, according to some sources, his brother

It's not clear where the bones came from, or who moved them, but they've been housed in Santi Apostoli since it was constructed in the sixth century.

According to the Catholic belief, James the Less was killed around 60 AD.

That would make the bone some 160 years too recent to belong to the apostle.

'We consider it very likely that whoever moved this femur to the Santi Apostoli church, believed it belonged to St. James,' said Kaare Lund Rasmussen, a professor of archaeometry at the University of Southern Denmark.

Archaeologists radiocarbon dating the bone say its too recent to have belonged to James. Pictured: The femur was mounted on a wooden peg and kept with a gilded ring

The altar where the apostles' remains were kept. James the Younger is purported to have been stoned to death or crucified in the Egypt in about 60 AD. Santi Apostoli was constructed some 500 years later

Archaeometry is the application of chemistry and other scientific principles to determine the age of archaeological specimens.

'They must have taken it from a Christian grave, so it belonged to one of the early Christians, apostle or not, Rasmussen added.

'Though the relic is not that of St James, it casts a rare flicker of light on a very early and largely unaccounted for time in the history of early Christianity,'

Unfortunately a tibia and foot bone supposedly belonging to St. Philip were too contaminated to be dated, the researchers said.

The fate of Philip not entirely known: Though it's largely agreed he died around 80 AD, possibly in Hierapolis, Turkey, some accounts say he was crucified upside down.

Other maintain he beheaded, stoned to death or even died of natural causes.

Conjecture about Jesus having a biological brother named James comes from a variety of sources, though the relationship is not officially recognized by the Catholic Church.

The New Testament refers to various apostlesincluding James, Judas, Joseph (Joses) and Simonas 'brothers' of Jesus, and mentions unnamed 'sisters,' as well.

But Catholic leaders have held the use of brother or sister, especially in the original Greek, refers to a close confidant.

Some scholars have argued they could have been half-siblings from a previous marriage of Mary's or Joseph's or even nieces and nephews on either side.

The Catholic Encyclopedia references apocryphal writings that claim Joseph had a previous wife, named Melcha.

A tibia (a) and foot bone (b,c,) reportedly belonging to St Philip were too contaminated for researchers to carbon date

'They lived 49 years together and had six children, two daughters and four sons, the youngest of whom was James (the Less, 'the Lord's brother').'

According to the apocrypha, a year after Melcha died, 90-year-old Joseph was betrothed to Mary, who was only 13 or 14 at time time.

'A miracle manifested the choice God had made of Joseph, and two years later the Annunciation took place.'

A fifth-century Gnostic manuscript known as the 'First Apocalypse of James,' describes Jesus' secret teachings to James, whom he frequently refers to as 'my brother.'

At the same time, in the text, considered heretical, Jesus describes his disciple as 'not my brother materially.'

The James Ossuary, a first-century chest for housing remains, bears the inscription 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus' on one side.

The inscription is considered significant because it may provide archaeological evidence of Jesus, as well as the possibility he had siblings.

The existence of the ossuary was announced in 2002, but its authenticity was immediately challenged.

The box's owner was charged with forging part of the inscription and while he was found innocent seven years later, the judge said the acquittal 'does not mean that the inscription on the ossuary is authentic or that it was written 2,000 years ago'.

In the early centuries of the Catholic church, martyrs' remains were often moved to shrines or churches, in a process called translation.

The earliest known example is in AD 354, when the remains of Saint Babylas were transferred from a cemetery in Antioch, Syria, to a church built especially to hold them a few miles away.

Santi Apostoli was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1348 but rebuilt by Pope Martin V in 1417.

The tomb of Pope Clement XI, who oversaw major renovations to the church in the 18th century, is located in the basilica.

It also temporarily housed the tomb of Michelangelo before it was relocated to the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence.
JD Greear urges pastors not to call VP Kamala Harris Jezebel,' but to pray for her

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Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear is urging pastors in the denomination to refrain from calling Vice President Kamala Harris Jezebel due to the racist connotations of the moniker. He is calling on them to honor and pray for her as an elected leader instead.

Greears guidance comes in the wake of SBCs pastors, including SBC Executive Committee member Steve Swofford, referring to the vice president by the term.

I realize that some pastors are likely unaware of the history of certain racial stereotypes in calling or comparing our Vice President to Jezebel, but that doesnt make such statements any less unwise, Greear, who pastors the multi-campus Summit Church in North Carolina, wrote in a Twitter thread Tuesday.

There are times we will critique policies, but that should not include personal attacks on a newly elected official God has told us to honor and pray for. Let us speak clearly and boldly for righteousness, but in a way that honors what the Scriptures say about honoring our leaders. We dont correct one sin through another.

Swofford, who pastors First Baptist Church of Rockwall, Texas, called President Joe Biden cognitively dysfunctional in a recent message stating: What if something happens to him? Jezebel has to take over  Jezebel Harris; isnt that her name?

Tom Buck, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Lindale, Texas, also referred to Harris as Jezebel on Twitter two days after her inauguration.

I cant imagine any truly God-fearing Israelite who wouldve wanted their daughters to view Jezebel as an inspirational role model because she was a woman in power, Buck tweeted.

He further noted that: I most identify with those who exclusively bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ with both their lips and lives - irrespective of their ethnicity or biological gender.

Jezebel is denounced in the Bible as a murderer, prostitute and enemy of God. But the name is also a racist trope in American history.

Pastor Steve Swofford of Rockwall First Baptist Church in Texas calls Joe Biden "cognitively dysfunctional" and Kamala Harris "Jezebel Harris." h/t @LilyBorahae@watchkeeppic.twitter.com/kV7Eq3cFt2  Christian Nightmares (@ChristnNitemare) January 28, 2021

According to Ferris State University in Michigan, the home of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, the portrayal of black women as Jezebel whores began in slavery, extended through the Jim Crow period and continues today.

Although the Mammy caricature was the dominant popular cultural image of black women from slavery to the 1950s, the depiction of black women as Jezebels was common in American material culture, the museums website details.

Everyday items such as ashtrays, postcards, sheet music, fishing lures, drinking glasses, and so forth  depicted naked or scantily dressed black women, lacking modesty and sexual restraint.

In some of the earliest racist definitions of Jezebel, the name was used to refer to slavery era mulatto women, many of whom were often sold into prostitution.

Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican-born father and India-born mother, is biracial and has been accused of using sex to advance her career.

Her relationship with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown has been the subject of many headlines in recent months.

Harris and Brown, who is 30 years her senior, dated in 1994 and 1995, before they split after his election as mayor. Although Brown was still legally married at the time, he had reportedly been estranged from his wife, Blanche Brown, since 1981.

Pastor Buck, however, insists that his use of Jezebel to describe Harris isnt about her race.

For those torn up over my tweet, I stand by it 100%, he tweeted on Jan. 23. My problem is her godless character. She not only is the most radical pro-abortion VP ever, but also most radical LGBT advocate. She performed one of the first Lesbian marriages. Pray for her, but dont praise her!

He also pointed out that there is a liberal magazine called Jezebel and people dont seem to have an issue with that.
Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2021 5:09 pm

A 72-project plan to mitigate water loss from the states second-largest watershed has been finalized by the Chehalis Basin Partnership.

The aim is to offset groundwater lost through private, rural wells  4,555 of which are expected to pop up in the next 20 years.

Directed by the state Legislature, the Chehalis Basin Partnership has been working on their updated watershed management plan for two years. Last week, it was adopted by the Department of Ecology ahead of the deadline. While some projects are straightforward water right acquisitions or habitat restoration, others aim to physically redirect water into aquifers. The issue of private wells siphoning off water is something that has historically not been addressed in Washington state, according to the Chehalis Basin Partnership.

This kind of water-focused approach that the Legislature asked us to do is new, said Kirsten Harma, the partnerships watershed coordinator. People didnt have a bunch of projects in the queue about how were going to get water back in streams, so those are the most important type of projects, and also the ones with the most work ahead.

In 2016, a state supreme court case  known as the Hirst decision  limited local governments abilities to approve rural development before taking into account water availability. Two years later, the Legislature passed a fix to that decision, allowing projects to continue while directing local groups to address water loss.

Now that Ecology has adopted the Chehalis Basin Partnerships years-long plan  as well as plans for the Okanogan and Little Spokane watersheds  the question of funding remains. While competitive grant programs are available, the projects will need major funding from the Legislature.

The 4,555 wells projected to be drilled in the Chehalis Basin in the next two decades will likely lead to an annual loss of 505 acre-feet of water due to evaporation. An acre-foot of water is enough water to cover an acre of land 1-foot deep.

While this impact may be considered small relative to the fact that the Chehalis Basin is 1,664,000 acres (2,600 square miles), the impact is more serious in smaller creeks, especially in the summer months when water use is high but streamflow is low, reads a Chehalis Basin press release.

According to the release, the most development is expected to occur near the Black, Skookumchuck and Newaukum River as well as Scatter Creek  areas where already-threatened fish populations could be impacted by decreasing water levels.

Projects span across Thurston, Grays Harbor, Lewis and Mason counties. Major projects in Lewis County include Centralias ongoing China Creek flood and habitat mitigation project as well as Chehaliss plan to transfer its water intake from the north fork of the Newaukum to the mainstream of the Chehalis River, hopefully keeping more water in the Newaukum to sustain fish migration.

Other projects include groundwater recharging, which is a strategy to shift winter runoff into the ground, which is then naturally released to bolster streamflows.
Hate crimes in the United States are at a 10-year high. Anti-Semitic and racist incidents have been on the rise in the pandemic, surveys have found. And the nation is still coping with the aftermath of an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, where blatantly anti-Semitic imagery abounded, right down to a man in a Camp Auschwitz hoodie.

Against that daunting backdrop, the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation has launched a new endeavor to counter bigotry of all kinds with a curriculum the organization is calling History is Now. It highlights through-lines connecting Jewish persecution in Nazi Germany with the oppression facing marginalized groups to this day  including how misinformation and propaganda have fueled hate and sparked violence.

The campaign includes an app-based walking tour of the memorial site at 16th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It was the first Holocaust monument in the country when it opened in 1964 and received a $7 million makeover a few years ago, transforming the space into an open-air museum and classroom. It also has brought a new curriculum to Philadelphia public schools, teaching Holocaust education through a contemporary and intersectional lens.

Particularly within the younger generation, what we see is a lost connection to this history, said Eszter Kutas, executive director of PHRF, citing a survey of millennial and Gen-Z Americans that found about one in five were not aware of the Holocaust, and half could not name a concentration camp. And instead of foundational education being in place, there is a propaganda machine on social media. Its hateful, its discriminatory. ... Our foundation therefore decided to make a concentrated effort to bolster our education and apply it to present-day problems.

Recently, Kutas led a training for about 35 Philadelphia social studies and history teachers, walking them through detailed lesson plans the organization has developed.

One is devoted to Leon Bass, a former principal at Benjamin Franklin High School who served in the segregated Army during World War II and helped liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp. The shocking conditions he witnessed, along with his own experiences of racism, led Bass to become a vocal human-rights activist.

Another is a history lesson about the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics, the international debate about whether to join, and the experiences of both Jewish and Black American athletes. It explores how both participation and boycott can be a form of protest, Kutas said.

Julie Webb, a history and Spanish teacher at Swenson Arts and Technology High School in Northeast Philadelphia, said the training was her first introduction to the memorial. I was ashamed to say I never knew about it, and proud that so much thought and development went into its building, she said.

The renovations, completed in 2018, include informational signage, six pillars representing the six million Jews who were killed, and, embedded into the plaza, sections of train tracks that once led to the Treblinka concentration camp. The app, created in collaboration with the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation, allows visitors to hear the voices of survivors who rode that train.

New interactive tours, added as part of the History is Now campaign, include one on propaganda and another on contemporary anti-Semitism.

One element of that tour is a video clip of an interview with Judah Samet, a Holocaust survivor and 40-year member of the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 people were killed in a mass shooting in 2018. Samet was running late that morning, and was not inside the sanctuary. He said he thought to himself: For me, its never over. For my family, its never over. It was a reference to the Holocaust and everything else.

Webb expects that the lessons will resonate with her students. I think explaining the intersectionality of racism and anti-Semitism helps students transfer the knowledge or feelings they have and connect that to other peoples experiences.
AS the white pirogue drifted in the waters just off Belle Garden in Tobago early yesterday morning, fishermen working nearby knew something was wrong.

What they saw in the small vessel stunned them.

Fourteen bodies, all of them male, along with a skull and other skeletal remains, were piled inside the vessel as it floated four miles off Belle Garden, police confirmed.

The bodies were all clad in tracksuits and green rain jackets and were severely decomposed, police investigators said.
The province hopes to administer 20,000 doses of vaccine per day by April 1 for a total of 1.5 million doses in three months.

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The province hopes to administer 20,000 doses of vaccine per day by April 1 for a total of 1.5 million doses in three months.

That was according to officials at a technical briefing Wednesday morning.

"Our main focus today is to share a look into our plans for quarter two, or Q2 in vaccine delivery," said Johanu Botha, the co-lead for Manitobas vaccine implementation task force, normally with the provinces Emergency Measures Organization.

Vaccine delivery, at that point, will combine the various sites and teams  supersites, focused immunization teams, pop-up clinics, and doctors and pharmacies. The supersites will also be the location used to deliver vaccines to satellite locations.

The full presentation can be found at bit.ly/3jggq5r

"Q2 is important because thats when we are expecting to have a significant increase in vaccine supply, when we need to be able to have scaled up operations ready to administer 1.5 million doses within that quarter," said Botha.

Botha, who noted the emergency measures organization has been at the table since day one with the task force, focused on the multi-pronged approach to get needles in as many Manitobans arms as quickly as possible.

Of course, the message continues to be that the plan depends on vaccine supply, which comes to the province via the federal government.

Botha said the provinces goal is to be prepared for the full amount of vaccines coming to the province, regardless of supply chain volatility.

"Our focus continues to be to minimize the drain on our health-care system. We dont want to gut the health-care system by building a vaccination system. That guides what we do. And then we inject what we get. We want to minimize waste, inject everything that comes our way within our strategy of fully immunized Manitobans  so utilizing that second dose and then, of course, being ready to pivot," said Botha.

"I think weve all learned through this, that this is an ambiguous ballgame. Its tough to know whats coming next. So we need to be flexible."

This week, only second doses will be administered at supersites.

Meanwhile, Manitoba is not seeing COVID-19 variants.

Dr. Jazz Atwal, who spoke at the daily news conference Wednesday, asked people to be kind.

Apparently, with the new travel restrictions in the province, truckers have been turned away from using bathrooms and other services.

"Weve been made aware in conversations with our trucking industry, who are essential workers who provide goods and services to Manitobans  the food we can get on our table  that theyre being denied some essential services, such as even accessing washroom facilities," said Atwal.

"This is disappointing to hear. We rely on this industry to provide the goods and services we use every day. And, we likely take these services for granted. They offer a vital service and for them to be treated like this is unacceptable. To the businesses that are turning truckers away, I ask you to open your doors and make these facilities available."

 mletourneau@brandonsun.com

 Michele LeTourneau covers Indigenous matters for The Brandon Sun under the Local Journalism Initiative, a federally funded program that supports the creation of original civic journalism.

WEDNESDAYS COVID-19 UPDATE

The COVID-19 update from the province on Wednesday saw three deaths announced, nine in the PMH region.

The province reported 126 new cases, but one case was removed due to a data correction, bringing the new case total to 125.

The new cases are as follows:

 24 cases in the InterlakeEastern health region;

 55 cases in the Northern health region;

 seven cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region;

 eight cases in the Southern HealthSante Sud health region; and

 32 cases in the Winnipeg health region.

The five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate was 6.9 per cent in the province, and 3.9 per cent in Winnipeg.

Lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba total 29,858.

The province reports 3,358 active cases and individuals who have recovered total a reported 25,665.

The province also reported 105 people are in hospital with active COVID-19, as well as 155 people in hospital with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 260 hospitalizations.

Twenty-two people are in intensive care units with active COVID-19, as well as 12 people with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 34 ICU patients.

In the PMH region, there are a reported 147 active cases, with 1,794 recovered. There are three active cases hospitalized, and nine people hospitalized who are no longer infectious. There are two patients in ICU. The region has seen 51 deaths.

Brandons active case count is 30, with 918 recovered and 21 deaths.

On Tuesday, 1,833 tests were completed, for a total of 482,110 since February 2020.

 Source: Province of Manitoba
IT company on Thursday said it plans to add 1,000 employees in the next few months to work out of its campus near

The new hiring will be a mix of freshers and experienced hands, the New Delhi-headquartered company said in a statement.

The company has a 50-acre campus in MIHAN (Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur) near the winter capital of Maharashtra which went operational in April 2018 and currently houses 2,000 employees, it said.

It wishes to create a global IT development centre at the site which will include efforts to recruit, train and employ local talent and create sustainable ecosystems for them.HCL focuses onEngineering and R&D Services (ERS),application development and infrastructure management services line of business.

The company said it has a campaign wherein it wants talent from to come back to the orange city to pursue a career in ERS, application and infrastructure management services.

The company has added over 10,000 employees in 2020 and the overall strength stood at 1.59 lakh as of December 31, 2020.

In the last four years, our centers in New Vistas locations like Madurai, Lucknow, Nagpur and Vijayawada have nurtured and hired over 15,000 candidates who are now an integral part of HCL Technologies, its corporate vice president Srimathi Shivashankar said.

The statement invited candidates interested to kick-start their IT career with HCL to apply for its training and hiring programme, adding that it offers training programmes for students who have completed Class XII and ahead.

Professionals having a work experience between 2-20 years can join the company in technologies like Java, Salesforce, Mulesoft, PLM and Automation test, it said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
THE Sinn Fein president Mary-Lou McDonald has written to Taoiseach Micheal Martin to urge him to intervene over the Coonagh-Knockalisheen Road.

Ms McDonald was speaking after taking part in an online meeting with residents of Moyross, who are furious at the Green Party leader and Transport MInister Eamon Ryan over the delay to the 46m project.

On Monday, local Green TD Brian Leddin indicated two-thirds of the road would be completed  but this has only increased anger.

Earlier today, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail backed the project, following local party meetings.

Now, Ms McDonald who met residents with local Sinn Fein TD Maurice Quinlivan, says: This project is one of 12 regional and local road improvement schemes that were identified for development in the National Development Plan (NDP) which the current programme for government commits not to frustrate or delay whilst the process of review of the NDP is underway.

She says comments from both Mr Ryan and Mr Leddin have created uncertainty over the project, which is seen as crucial as opening up the northside estate.

Great interaction with a great community- #buildourroad https://t.co/ID0DvDEass  Maurice Quinlivan TD (@QuinlivanTD) February 3, 2021

Ms McDonald believes Mr Ryan has reneged on a commitment in the government programme.

The response to the minister's decision is one of universal anger and outrage. The origins of this road go back to the Fitzgerald Report of 2007. It was commissioned to address issues of social exclusion in Moyross and other disadvantaged areas of Limerick City. John Fitzgerald identified that a key element in developing economic activity, and ending the isolation of deprived areas, is through putting in place a sound roads and transport infrastructure. His report highlighted that Moyross road infrastructure meant it was in a cul-de-sac with some of the major problems being experienced at the furthest end of the estate, said the Dublin Central TD.

She concluded: "Abstract promises of improved connectivity and light rail will not fix the Moyross road infrastructure, however the distributor road project can and will. The importance of completing this project cannot be overstated. The government must deliver on its commitment."
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and Prime Minister of Romania Florin Citu discussed the strengthening of bilateral relations during a phone call on February 4.

Denys Shmyhal congratulated Florin Citu on his appointment as prime minister. He assured the interlocutor that the Government of Ukraine is ready for close cooperation with the Government of Romania in all areas of common interest, the Government portal reported.

Shmyhal also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic was a real challenge for the whole world. "I believe that despite the difficult situation against the background of the fight against the pandemic, we will continue to actively develop bilateral cooperation," he said.

The PM of Ukraine thanked Romania for its readiness to support Ukraine in joining the European Common Aviation Area.

For his part, Citu expressed support for Ukraine's European integration aspirations, as well as Romania's interest in developing infrastructure projects together with Ukraine.

ish
Expected mass withdrawals from the fifth round of the Constitutional Committees meetings have been averted, writes North Press.

Mass withdrawals of High Negotiation Committee (HNC) members from the Constitutional Committee will not occur, according to a Syrian opposition figure.

The expected pullouts were prevented by a meeting between members of the opposition delegation and Russias permanent envoy to the UN Office in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov.

The decision is not in their hands, as they are still begging the Russians to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, he added.

He revealed to North Press that after the end of the fifth round of the Constitutional Committees works, members of the Syrian opposition delegation rushed to Gatilov.

There were intentions for mass withdrawals from the HNC, but the matter ended after the meeting. It seems that they will transfer the issue to Astana, which is the Russian goal, the source noted.

Human rights activists believe that the Syrian governments proposed census is a prelude to the elections that Assad will hold.

Pro-government webpages reported, quoting the Central Bureau of Statistics of Damascus, that the population of Syria, as of January 31, reached 26,640,633 people.

The human rights source indicated that upon reviewing the tables of the Central Bureau of Statistics, it was found that the number of deaths from 2010 to 2018 amounted to 617,268.

The aforementioned number is at least one-third of the correct number of civilians, not to mention the statistics of the military deaths, whose number exceeds 250,000, as the source stated.

According to the Bureaus statistics, the rate of population increase is about 400,000 on average every year, meaning an increase of 6 million until 2020, and if we add it to the population from 2004, which is 17,920,844, the number of the population will be 23,920,844, he explained.

Syrian opposition figures unanimously agreed that Russia has made up its mind with regard to Assads nomination for the upcoming presidential elections, which are scheduled for May 2021.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
The bill publicized this week would specifically ban broadcasters, newspapers and online publications from citing websites and social media accounts belonging to unknown individuals.

In an explanatory note attached to the proposed amendments to an Armenian law on mass media, the lawmakers affiliated with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians My Step bloc say that disseminating information from sources of unknown origin could endanger the countrys national security.

The proposed amendments cannot be regarded as a restriction of the freedom of expression or an obstacle to the work of mass media, they say.

Representatives of Armenian media associations disagree. Boris Navasardian, the chairman of the Yerevan Press Club, criticized the authors of the bill putting the emphasis on sources of news reports, rather than their veracity.

Navasardian said media outlets could thus be banned from reporting accurate information. If there are no problems with the content [of news reports] then there must be no legal consequences whatsoever, he told RFE/RLs Armenian Service.

Shushan Doydoyan of the Center for Freedom of Information said the draft amendments seem to be at odds with an existing article of the media law which essentially allows journalists not to disclose their anonymous sources to state authorities. First of all, they must abandon the term anonymous and come up with a different definition, she said.

Doydoyan suggested that the authorities are primarily concerned about Telegram channels attacking Pashinian and his political team. Scandalous claims made by such social media sources are regularly cited by the Armenian press.

My Steps Artur Hovannisian, the main author of the bill, mentioned the Telegram channels when he defended the proposed restrictions.

What we are saying is: Lets not advertise those sources whose origin is not known to anyone, said Hovannisian. The former journalist insisted that media outlets would not be banned from quoting their own confidential sources.

Naira Zohrabian, a senior lawmaker representing the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), condemned the bill as an unconstitutional attempt to curb press freedom and attributed it to Nikol Pashinians fears of losing power.

Today I appealed to the president of the [Council of Europes] Venice Commission, Gianni Buquicchio, and am ready to use all possible instruments to fight against Nikols fears together with my media partners, Zohrabian wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin will raise plans for a controversial 45m roadway with Green Party leader Eamon Ryan after tonights Fianna Fail parliamentary party meeting urged Mr Ryan to back the project.

Limerick City TD Willie ODea put a motion to the party, urging the Minister for Transport to commit to the Programme for Government and allow the Knockalisheen-Meelick Road in Co Limerick project to proceed immediately.

Minister Ryan has previously cast doubts on the plan, saying he is considering it as part of the review of the National Development Plan.

The road would open up Moyross to the rest of Limerick city and may see potential employment and education opportunities.

The meeting heard that if the Green Party decline to support Fianna Fail proposals, then Fianna Fail TDs may not feel obligated to support some Green Party proposals that they dont particularly like.

Mr ODea voiced his unhappiness with Mr Ryan, telling the meeting: Dont urinate down my back and tell me its raining in a reference to Clint Eastwoods role in the film The Outlaw Josey Wales from 1976.

His motion was seconded and passed unanimously at the meeting, with other TDs voicing their support.

It is understood Mr Martin will now move to speak to Mr Ryan about the project.

Separately, tonights meeting heard TDs John McGuinness and Dara Calleary calling for family carers to be prioritised for the vaccine, especially in the light of recent scheduling changes in rollout.

Sources said Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said he would refer the issue back to National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC).

It is also understood that Senator Timmy Dooley and TD Paul McAuliffe were "very critical" MEP Mairead McGuiness and her apparent "lack of awareness" of the triggering of Article 16.

The Taoiseach addressed the issue, stating that the EU Commission was made aware of the Irish Government's concern on the triggering of Article 16.




A man and a woman have been charged after suspected Class A drugs and cash were seized from a house in south Belfast.

The pair, both aged 50, have been charged with a number of drugs offences including possession of Class A controlled drugs with intent to supply.

Police seized suspected Class A drugs with an estimated street value of 45,500 and a "significant quantity of cash" following the search of a house in the Kinnegar Road area of South Belfast.

PSNI Detective Inspector McCamley said the seizure was further evidence of police's commitment to remove drugs from communities and thwart organised crime gangs.

The demand for drugs fuels the local drug trade which causes irreparable damage and loss to many families. During this global Coronavirus pandemic those who peddle drugs are placing more demand on the NHS," he said.

"The majority of people are working hard to protect the NHS in these unprecedented times; meanwhile drug dealers are endangering lives and increasing pressures on our emergency services and frontline workers.

I would appeal to anyone with information about illegal drug use or drug dealing to call police on the non-emergency number 101. Alternatively, you can submit a report online using our non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/. The independent charity Crimestoppers can also be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/.
She launched her own designer footwear collection in 2014.

And on Wednesday, Sarah Jessica Parker braved the heavy snow to spend another day at one of her flagship stores in New York City.

The actress, 55, appeared to be taking part in shooting new photos to promote her SJP Collection as she modeled a variety of styles and colors.

At work: Sarah Jessica Parker was spotted at her Manhattan shoe store on Wednesday where she appeared to be taking part in a promotional shoot for her SJP Collection

Parker had arrived at the boutique in Manhattan wearing a stripy sweater and blue jeans with a pair of her black heeled boots.

Once inside, however, she was seen posing in fuchsia pink stilettos and silver ankle boots.

She made sure to keep wearing a Masqd face mask (secured with a Pretty Connected mask chain) in line with COVID-19 protocols as the photos were snapped using a smart phone on a tripod.

Her own designs: Parker was seen modeling different products from her collection including silver ankle boots and fuchsia stiletto heels

She's a pro: The actress, 55, kicked back in order to get a shot that showed off her eye-catching heels

Dressed for warmth: Parker was dressed in a stripy sweater and blue jeans over gray leggings and made sure to wear a face mask in line with COVID-19 protocols

DIY style: The promotional project was shot using a smart phone on a tripod

Earlier, she had arrived at the boutique bundled up in a Parka with faux fur-trimmed hood and a patterned knit beanie over her long hair.

She managed to navigate the huge piles of snow that still lingered on the sidewalks after paths through it had been cleared.

Brrr: Earlier, she had arrived at the boutique bundled up in a Parka with faux fur-trimmed hood and a patterned knit beanie over her long hair

Snow day: She managed to navigate the huge piles of snow that still lingered on the sidewalks after paths through it had been cleared

Parker juggles her footwear design work and business with continuing to take on select acting jobs.

And next up will be a reboot of her hit show Sex And The City for streaming service HBO Max.

Parker is reuniting with co-stars Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon for And Just Like That, which will follow their characters Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda as they deal with life in the Big Apple in their 50s.

The trio are set to earn $1 million an episode for the planned 10 episodes and will also serve as executive producers on the project.

Sex And The City ran from 1998 to 2004 on HBO and spawned two big screen movies released in 2008 and 2010.

Back in action: Parker is reuniting with Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon for And Just Like That, a Sex And The City sequel for HBO Max. It will which follow their characters Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda as they deal with life in the Big Apple in their 50s
Harris County launched a campaign Thursday aimed at convincing hesitant residents to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

While vaccine demand far exceeds supply right now, a University of Houston survey found just 38 percent of residents will get the shots when they become available; 22 percent said they definitely would not.

Health experts estimate between 70 and 90 percent of residents will need to be vaccinated for Texas to reach herd immunity and finally end the pandemic.

The multimedia campaign will include billboards, as well as print, radio and television advertisements in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. Last week, the county set up an online waitlist for the vaccine.

Harris Countys campaign will focus on communities of color. A national survey of minority groups by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found almost 40 percent of respondents would refuse the vaccine or were undecided.

Something that is beginning to become evident is the same communities who are hardest-hit by the virus are the communities that are most hesitant to receive the vaccine, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said at the Spring Branch Community Health Center. Its a tragic fact, and it impacts particularly Black and Hispanic communities, which have been hammered by this virus from the very beginning.

She attributed that to the lack of health care access in minority communities, as well historic neglect by government health agencies and initiatives. Hidalgo said Harris County needs to break down the wall of suspicion to convince residents to trust the vaccine.

The city of Houston is undertaking a similar effort, dubbed Take Your Best Shot. That campaign, which launched in late December includes radio and television broadcast messages in English and Spanish, use of social media networks and targets specific zip codes with high African-American and Latino populations.

Dr. Sherri Onyiego, the county health authority, said the arrival of the vaccine does not mean residents should stop taking precautions against the virus. The positivity rate remained above 13 percent on Wednesday and almost 3,000 people with are hospitalized with coronavirus in the Houston region.

If we invite people not in our household into our homes, not only are we putting our lives at risk, but also the lives of the loved ones in our households, Onyiego said. We do see a light at the end of the tunnel, but we have to be patient.

Since June, Harris County has been at its highest COVID-19 threat level, which urges residents to stay home whenever possible and avoid unnecessary contact with others.

Currently, only Texans in the 1A or 1B categories, consisting of health care workers and first responders, the elderly and people with certain chronic conditions, are eligible to receive a vaccine.

Dr. David Lakey, a member of the states panel of vaccine experts, estimated the general public would not be able to get vaccinated before May or June.

As of Wednesday, 307,000 Harris County residents aged 16 an older had received at least one dose of the vaccine, representing 9 percent of the population.

zach.despart@chron.com
Press Release

4 February 2021

Aimbridge Hospitality, the leading, global, third-party hotel management company, announced its Asia Investment Group executed 20 agreements in 2020, experiencing explosive growth despite a challenging year for the industry.



These new properties bring the total number of rooms in the Asia Investment Group portfolio to more than 15,000. Additionally, while the industry average retention rate holds at roughly 30 percent, Aimbridge st ands well above average with a 90 percent annual retention rate for this portfolio.



"We are very pleased with what we have seen in year-over-year organic growth," said Don Li, Executive Vice President & Head of Asia Investment Group. "We started out seven years ago with just five properties and in 2020 alone added 20 more to our portfolio, thanks to our dedicated development team. Our commitment to driving peak performance remains our priority, and we are grateful to see this paying off in above-average retention rates for our partner properties."



Included in the portfolio is the new 304-room Marriott Tacoma Downtown with over 20,000 square feet of meeting and event space plus 6,500 square feet of outdoor space. The property is connected directly to the Greater Tacoma Convention Center on the ballroom level with a grand promenade that features large windows and views of the Tacoma Waterfront and Mt. Rainier. Also on-property is the M Club Lounge, an exclusive area reserved for Elite and Club paying members with perks including a range of complimentary food and beverage options featuring hot breakfast, evening drinks, and hors d'oeuvres and premium beverages throughout the day.



Breaking ground in July of this year and slated to open in 2023, Le Meridien Garden Grove's glamorous design with a modern twist will be infused throughout its 398 custom-designed luxury guestrooms and suites. The property will include the brand's innovative signature lobby concept: The Hub, complete with bar and lounge, as well as a signature restaurant and rooftop bar, well-equipped fitness center, swimming pool, on-site spa, and 39,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space ideal for convention business, leisure and group travel.



Currently under renovation, The L.A. Grand Hotel is a sprawling 469-room property located in downtown Los Angeles with convenient access to Dodger Stadium set to reopen late in 2021.



The global leader for third-party management across all lodging verticals, Aimbridge Hospitality can be visited online at www.aimbridgehospitality.com.

President George Manneh Weah son, George Manneh Weah, Jr, alias Champ is reported to have been arrested in Paris, France during the early hours of Tuesday morning February 2.

According to Today 24 News, media alert based in Paris, Weah Jr., has been scheduled to meet with French Justice Officials Thursday.

The report says on the night of Monday to Tuesday, at 3.20 am, the police intervened for nighttime noise during a clandestine party in an opulent building in Paris, located on the avenue du President-Wilson (8th arrondissement), in the Alma-Marceau district.

There, in an apartment rented through Airbnb, officials came face to face with a gang of eight revelers. All were fined for "non-compliance with the measures in force related to the health context".

Among them, George Weah junior, 33, whose father, Liberia's current president was catapulted to stardom via the Paris based club- Paris SG.

The report adds that during the police intervention, the tone rose. George Weah junior, "very alcoholic" notes a police source, insulted the police and took out a diplomatic passport. He was arrested for contempt and rebellion, brought back to the 17th arrondissement police station, presented to the nightjudicial police officer.

"The Quai d'Orsay has been warned," said a senior police official. Another warns: "We are going to check his possible diplomatic immunity."
Heres a close look at just around the Ann Arbor and Detroit areas with the coming weather change.

Its going to be our most treacherous winter travel period so far this winter. We will have a burst of snow along the cold front. That burst of snow will bring a moderate snow, to occasionally heavy snow, through our area in about a six hour period from around 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. to midnight this evening. Moderate snow accumulates at one-half-inch per hour. Heavy snow accumulates at one inch per hour.

Heres the radar forecast from 4 p.m. to 10 a.m. Friday.

Radar forecast from 4 p.m. Thursday to 3 a.m. Friday

The second half of this evening when the weather will be most dangerous for travel for Ann Arbor and Detroit. This evening will have the combination of moderate snow bursts, with winds gusting to 40 mph. Temperatures will hold around freezing through 2 a.m. Friday, and then drop quickly into the 20s by 5 a.m. Friday.

Total snowfall expected through 6 p.m. Friday, February 5, 2021

Lets call it a 2 to 4-inch snow all across the Ann Arbor and Detroit areas. Some model data, like the one above, shows a fifth inch of snow angled along the St. Clair River and through the Detroit Metro area.

Friday and Saturday will have the weather scenario turning to pure lake effect snow. The west wind is a wind direction that still brings accumulating lake effect snow into southern Lower Michigan. Ann Arbor and Detroit wont be in the continuous lake effect. We will just get occasional short periods of snow showers Friday and Saturday. It will still be enough snow to make stretches of roads slick again on Friday and Saturday. Temperatures will be so cold that road salt wont work as well.

READ MORE

See 48-hour snow forecast with new mapping system
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Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo bid farewell to her state Wednesday, using whats expected to be her final State of the State address to praise its citizens resilience and sacrifice during the pandemic as she awaits confirmation as U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

Speaking from a largely empty legislative chamber, Raimondo also highlighted her successes since winning the governors office in 2014 and vowed a seamless transition to her successor, Lt. Gov. Dan McKee, when it comes to fighting the virus.

Many years from now, were going to look back at 2020 and were going to look back at everything we overcame together, said the Democrat, whose speech was broadcast on television and online. What I hope we remember about this year isnt so much the struggle and the sacrifice and the hardship. I hope what we remember is our strength, and our determination and our fortitude.

New cases of COVID-19 are down in recent weeks, as are deaths and hospitalizations, Raimondo noted, even as the number of vaccinated Rhode Islanders is climbing. She expressed sympathy for the nearly 2,200 families in the state that have lost someone to the virus, and said the dome of the Statehouse had been lit Wednesday in their memory.

I want you to know there will be no disruption to our states COVID-19 response, and Lt. Governor McKee has assured me and has committed to maintaining the entire statewide response team, she said.

McKee on Wednesday announced the creation of a new panel to guide his incoming administrations response to COVID. In a statement he said his transition would be laser focused on the COVID-19 response and vaccine rollout.

Much of Raimondos speech highlighted Raimondos successes since she first took over the reins to a state still reeling from the Great Recession. Her list included lower unemployment, a state record for total jobs, more than $1 billion in new investment; road construction and repairs; expanded early childhood education and workforce training; and free community college for high school graduates.

Each of those will help the state build back better following the pandemic, she said, even if she may be observing from Washington D.C.

The precise timing of the states change in power remains unknown. McKee is set to serve out the remaining two years of Raimondos term once she steps down, a move expected to quickly follow her confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation voted Wednesday to send Raimondos nomination to the full Senate, but that vote may have to wait on former President Donald Trumps impeachment trial beginning next week.

It will be up to McKee, a Democrat, to nominate the next lieutenant governor, who must be approved by the state Senate.

Before she was elected as the states first female governor, Raimondo, 49, made national news as the states treasurer when she took on the states growing pension liability. A Rhode Scholar and graduate of Yale Law School, Raimondo led a venture capital firm before entering politics.

She ended her final State of the State address with a message to the states young women and girls.

Know this: You are smart. You are capable. You are strong, Raimondo said. You can be whatever you want to be. And the world needs yours voice and your talent, and itll be a better place if you say yes.
Federal Labor remains opposed to a proposed overhaul of Australias clean energy fund rules aimed at fuelling investment in gas power plants and grid infrastructure despite a shake-up in its approach to climate policy.

The Morrison governments proposed changes will establish the $1 billion Grid Reliability Fund, making it responsible for an underwriting scheme to encourage private companies to build new power supply.

New Labor climate and energy spokesman Chris Bowen says the party will not support changes to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Labor and the Greens have been highly critical that gas projects will be included in the fund, overseen by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, when a project supports the achievement of low emission energy systems.

New climate and energy spokesman Chris Bowen said Labor would only support the changes if it is successful in amending the legislation, including rejecting the proposed definition of gas as a low-emissions energy source.
Police in Murang'a have arrested 11 students on suspicion of burning a dormitory.

Murang'a County Commissioner Mohammed Barre said investigators believe the Form Three students of Kiambugi Secondary School participated in the destruction of the dormitory.

"Our investigations on Wednesday found beyond doubt that the 11 schoolboys were behind the fire that completely destroyed the 66-capacity dormitory," Mr Barre said.

Mr Barre said the 11 suspects are being held at the Murang'a police station and will be arraigned.

At the same time, Igikiro Secondary School in Murang'a South was closed indefinitely after students staged a riot.

"They just started screaming and running around the school compound. Police officers had to be sent to the school," Mr Barre said.
Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2021 4:33 pm

Editors Note:The Chronicle is working to assist local businesses suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 virus spread and associated government orders to close or limit commerce. There will be a feature on a local business in each edition of The Chronicle and at chronline.com moving forward. To be considered, email reporter Eric Trent at etrent@chronline.com. Additionally, The Chronicle will continue to offer its coverage of the coronavirus and its effects across the community, state and nation free outside of our paywall at chronline.com.

Avishan Saberian had already been operating her White Tiger Acupuncture business in Olympia for three years before she was persuaded to expand her business to Centralia.

Beautiful Skin owner Kim Chase didnt have an acupuncturist at her day spa in downtown Centralia, so she provided Saberian an offer she couldnt say no to in hopes of convincing Saberian to expand her business down to the Hub City. Chase offered Saberian a private personal space to work in so she could do her charting and have her daughter with her.

It turns out, Saberian couldnt say no, and she moved into the Beautiful Skin store in November 2020.

She didnt plan on being an acupuncturist, it just sort of happened that way.

Saberian, a Portland, Oregon, native, had been volunteering at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center since she was 15 years old, racking up volunteer hours doing post-op for patients after surgery. At 18 years old, she began volunteering at Oregon Health & Science Universitys Doernbecher Childrens Hospital, working in the critical care unit for children and pediatric oncology.

I was always drawn to the medical field, Saberian said. Volunteering helped me learn that what was going on in the medical system was important, but it wasnt something I wanted to spend my time doing.

She wanted to do something working with people that would prevent them from getting to a hospital and needing medical care.

Saberian attended college, eventually attending a naturopathic school while working toward a masters degree. She later switched from naturopathic to Classical Chinese Medicine following her parents divorce; an experience that granted her a moment of intuition.

I had a huge moment of adversity, Saberian said. In the face of adversity, I chose Chinese medicine and acupuncture because it granted me insight into the experience I was having. But also, it granted me ways to tap into the bodys natural ability to process emotion and pain.

She realized naturopathic medicine wasnt her place in life. She found that Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM) was her niche, and began studying it at the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland. Now shes a board-certified licensed acupuncturist (L.Ac., EAMP), Tai Ji Chuan, Tibetan Healing Yoga and Buteyko breathing educator.

CCM is a sophisticated, ancient medical system passed down for thousands of years in China that offers an alternative for serious health care needs.

Saberian uses the fundamental CCM treatment methods to help her patients at White Tiger Acupuncture. Those include acupuncture, cupping (the use of warmed glass jars to create suction on certain points of the body), moxibustion (the burning of herbal leaves on or near the body), heat therapy, massage, herbal medicine and many more.

Many people are stuck with pain, mentally or emotionally, with migraines, back pain or neck pain, Saberian said. Theyre going through pain on so many levels and theyre attracting more pain, because they cant figure out the root cause of the pain.

And thats exactly what CCM is great at doing, Saberian said, diagnosing and treating the root cause of the problem.

We dont treat the symptoms, we treat the root, she said. We give them a solid foundation they can stand on so they can start healing, deal with their current pain and prevent future illnesses.

Saberian can fix symptoms quickly with acupuncture, for people who are in a significant amount of pain, with semi-permanent cartilage punctures that stay in for a couple days. It can take just seconds for some people to feel relief.

The treatments can help a variety of problems, such as orthopedic conditions in the feet, ankles, arms and legs, along with digestive and breathing problems, anxiety, depression and much more. Saberian does not prescribe or take people off medications.

Saberian is currently offering a new patient special: $52.50 for the first visit. White Tiger Acupuncture also takes a multitude of insurances, and most cover acupuncture treatment, she said, including Regence, Aetna, Premera, Teamsters and many more.

White Tiger Acupuncture is currently open in Centralia from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays; and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, contact White Tiger Acupuncture at 360-868-4421, or visit its website at whitetigeracupuncture.janeapp.com/locations/centralia-wa.

More Information on White Tiger Acupuncture

Owner: Avishan Saberian

Location: 408 N. Tower Ave., Centralia

Hours: 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., Monday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday; Noon to 4 p.m., Sunday

Phone: 360-868-4421

Website: whitetigeracupuncture.janeapp.com/locations/centralia-wa



Reporter Eric Trent can be reached at etrent@chronline.com. Visit chronline.com/business for more coverage of local businesses.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. (TSXV: AGH.H) ("Canadian Silver Hunter" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has acquired (the "Acquisition") an undivided interest in an additional 80 mining claims, in two blocks, and totalling 1,762 hectares, located in Turnbull and Massey Townships, in the West Timmins area of Ontario (newly named the "Dark Horse Property"). The claims are in addition to the Company's Lost Dog Property and Whitesides Property for an aggregate total of 143 claims and 3,003 hectares in the camp. The Acquisition was completed pursuant to the terms of a claims purchase agreement dated January 27, 2021 between the Company and North American Explorations Ltd., an arms-length party (the "Vendor").

The Dark Horse Property is located approximately 27 km northwest of the prolific Timmins gold mining camp and immediately north of the Sanatana Resources Gold Rush Property (see Sanatana Press Release dated Jan 31, 2021). Recent work by Sanatana included surface sampling programs that identified numerous gold-bearing and gold/silver-bearing quartz vein systems on their property. The best gold result was from a grab sample of 59.2 g/t gold from a brittle ductile shear in the vicinity of the north-south trending DeSantis Fault, which has been documented to cross the Company's Dark Horse Property for approximately 3.4 km.

Past work on the Dark Horse Property by other operators includes:

Diamond drilling by Laurion in 2006 where Hole AR-06-01 returned some elevated Zn assays, the highest being 2660 ppm Zn over 1m from a section within basaltic tuff mineralized with trace sphalerite as disseminations and fracture fillings and trace chalcopyrite. In addition, Hole AR-07-03, approximately 400m east of AR-06-01, returned an assay of 2576ppm Zn and 1013ppm Cu over 0.8m from a silicified felsic tuff mineralized with pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite. Hole AR-07-02, collared approx. 150m SE of 03, returned elevated Zn values from a similar unit of felsic tuff with the highest assay being 2325ppm Zn over 0.5m.

A unit of basaltic tuff interbedded with flows and mineralized with pyrite, pyrrhotite and sphalerite assayed up to 1.62% Zn over 1m and averaged 1.36% Zn over 3m. These surface samples appear to be hosted by cherty mafic tuffs near the contact with fine-grained felsic rocks.

In consideration for the Acquisition, the Company has issued 400,000 common shares in the capital of the Company at a deemed price of $0.07 per share to the Vendor. The common shares will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance thereof, in accordance with applicable securities laws.

The Acquisition remains subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory and other approvals, including final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

The technical contents of this press release have been reviewed by Wayne Holmstead, P.Geo, Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and a consultant to the Company.

About Canadian Silver Hunter Inc.

Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on gold and silver exploration in Ontario and Quebec. The Company currently owns two properties: the Silver Centre-Keeley Frontier property, located near Cobalt in Northern Ontario; and the Lac Lachance property, located near Lac Windfall in Quebec, and has an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Lost Dog property, located near Timmins in Northern Ontario. For further details about the Company's projects and plans please visit the Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. website at www.canadiansilverhunter.ca.

For more information please contact:

Jeffrey Hunter

President & CEO

(416) 707-4230

jhunter@cshi.ca

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: 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.

Notice Regarding Forward Looking Information

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking information that involves substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. This forward-looking information is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, dependence upon regulatory approvals, and commodity prices. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward looking information. The parties undertake no obligation to update forward-looking information except as otherwise may be required by applicable securities law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73644
While Katherine Heigl prepares for the launch of her new Netflix show Firefly Lane, which explores a pair of lifelong best friends, the actress is opening up about her real best friends.

The 42-year-old actress has a group of friends she calls the 'Sacred Six,' who have been friend since middle school and high school.

While Firefly Lane follows Tully Hart (Heigl) and Kate Mularkey (Sarah Chalke) throughout their 20s, 30s and 40s, Heigl opened up about what her real friends mean to her in an interview with People.

Opening up: While Katherine Heigl prepares for the launch of her new Netflix show Firefly Lane, which explores a pair of lifelong best friends, the actress is opening up about her real best friends

Sacred Six: The 42-year-old actress has a group of friends she calls the 'Sacred Six,' who have been friend since middle school and high school

'I have a sense of safety and comfort when I'm around them,' Heigl says of the Sacred Six.

'Their constant-ness has given me a sense of self-love and self-worth,' she adds of the group.

While Heigl and the Sacred Six, 'navigated those incredibly tumultuous and hormone-driven years,' she added, 'as we got into our early 20s, we lost touch.'

Safety and comfort: 'I have a sense of safety and comfort when I'm around them,' Heigl says of the Sacred Six

'A high school reunion brought us back together, and since then we have maintained the connection,' she added.

'Having that history makes this bond between us so powerful. I don't feel like I have to be anything other than just who I am  and they love me regardless,' Heigl continued.

Still, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Suits star is still spending the bulk of her time with her family, husband Josh Kelley and their three kids, Nancy Leigh Mi-Eun, 12, Adalaide Marie Hope, 8, and Joshua Bishop, 4.

High school reunion: 'A high school reunion brought us back together, and since then we have maintained the connection,' she added

Suits: Still, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Suits star is still spending the bulk of her time with her family, husband Josh Kelley and their three kids, Nancy Leigh Mi-Eun, 12, Adalaide Marie Hope, 8, and Joshua Bishop, 4

'In the 15 years we've been together or the 13 years we've been married, we have never spent this amount of time together,' she said of her 41-year-old husband.

'This has been an interesting experiment in romance, that's for sure,' she continued, adding her husband built a 'hideaway' for them.

'Josh built this little shed in the backyard for us to go and hide, and it's been a real lifesaver,' the Grey's Anatomy star continued.

Together: 'In the 15 years we've been together or the 13 years we've been married, we have never spent this amount of time together,' she said of her 41-year-old husband

'We leave the kids, and we try to talk about each other and remember we're not just parents' she added.

She did admit that her husband, 'can be really annoying and I can be really annoying,' she still wants to, 'do life with my best friend.'

Heigl's new series Firefly Lane is currently available to stream the entire 10-episode first season on Netflix.
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Four soldiers were killed by the explosion of a landmine in Tunisia's western province of Kasserine, local private radio MosaiqueFm said on Wednesday.

"The explosion took place in Mghila mountain when a military unit was on routine patrol as part of the fight against terrorist threats," Mohamed Zekri, the Defence ministry spokesman, told Xinhua

Tunisian security authorities have warned for years against the armed extremist groups in Kasserine, as mountain ranges there serve as a suitable shelter for terrorists.

[February 04, 2021] Hawkeye Systems Provides Shareholder Update

SAVANNAH, Ga., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawkeye Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: HWKE), a technology holding company focused on pandemic management products and services, is pleased to provide the following corporate update to its shareholders. Company CEO, Corby Marshall, stated, "We are excited to calibrate shareholders with our corporate mission to grow exponentially this fiscal year through strategic acquisitions and a variety of new and recurring PPE revenue streams. Additionally, we want to extend our appreciation for the support we received while navigating a very challenging pandemic landscape. While we are pleased with the achievements being highlighted here today, we are focused on increasing new opportunities to build financial strength as we execute our goal to realize a senior exchange listing later this year." The Company has achieved a number of key milestones over the last six months, culminating with the completion of its fiscal year-end June 2020 audit and 10-K filing following the hiring of new CFO Chris Mulgrew. Most notable additional milestones achieved include the following. Execution of a Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire IKON Supplies, an FDA and CDC registered global trading company specializing in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supply chain management. Hawkeye management expects to complete the definitive agreement later this month. Development and implementation of a seasoned production relationship with a reputable South Korean manufacturer to provide FDA Approved sanitizer, Kiil, at a reasonable price in a sustainable manner. Kiil is now sold on Amazon.com. Development of an exclusive license with industry leader DemeTECH to provide US made, NIOSH approved, N95 masks which outperform foreign imports and provide the advantage of 100% US made, US sourced in a scalable, repeatable way regardless of government regulations regarding PPE (excise tax, foreign raw materials, PPE import blocks, etc.) Development of a project to manufacture an control 5.4 million boxes of nitrile gloves per year at a price point which will remain competitive post pandemic. The Company is currently working to fund this project with viable financial partners to ensure it has reliable nitrile rubber supply given this is the rate limiting step in providing gloves globally at this juncture.



September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2020 ." Of note, for the recently reported three months and fiscal year ended June 2020, the Company received a payment for a $9 million order from a customer related to PPE that it had sourced from a supplier who misrepresented the product was in stock. Upon realizing the product would need to be manufactured, the Company required the customer to pull the order for which Hawkeye issued a refund.

About Hawkeye Systems, Inc. Hawkeye Systems, Inc. is a technology holding company focused on cutting edge technology, pandemic management products and services. The Company is committed to leveraging its extensive resources in support of its ongoing mission to help our government and medical infrastructure keep civilians safe. Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements include, but are not limited to, any statements relating to the body camera system, the potential success of the body camera system, our growth strategy and product development including that of the body camera system, acquisition of Radiant Images, and any other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could negatively affect our business, operating results, financial condition and stock price. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated are: risks related to our growth strategy; risks relating to the results of research and development activities; our ability to obtain, perform under and maintain financing and strategic agreements and relationships; our dependence on third-party suppliers and partners; our ability to attract, integrate, and retain key personnel; the early stage of products under development; our need for substantial additional funds; government regulation; patent and intellectual property matters; competition; as well as other risks described in our SEC filings. Important factors that may cause the actual results to differ from those expressed within may include, but are not limited to: the success or failure of Hawkeye's efforts to successfully market its products and services as scheduled; Hawkeye's ability to attract and retain quality employees; the effect of changing economic conditions; increased competition; the ability of Hawkeye to obtain adequate debt or equity financing. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law. For more information, please contact:

Corby Marshall, CEO

Number: +1 (800) 531-8799

Email: info@hawkeyesystemsinc.com

Website: hawkeyesystemsinc.com

Investor relations - ir@hawkeyesystemsinc.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hawkeye-systems-provides-shareholder-update-301222294.html SOURCE Hawkeye Systems, Inc.

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Video from a Russian detention center shows around 20 men crammed into a cell with eight beds, without mattresses, and a urine-stained Turkish toilet in the corner. After more than 10,000 people were detained at anti-government protests that called for the release of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, stories are also emerging of mistreatment. Detainees have been held without access to lawyers, threatened, and denied food. One young activist recounted having a bag put on her head and being pushed off her chair.
Saudi engineering and consulting services, Bawan Co, has called off plans to merge two of its subsidiaries having found it unfeasible upon a revaluation, Zawya reports.

The company in a statement sent to the kingdoms stock exchange, Tadawul, indicated that it has received the necessary approvals to cancel the merger from the commerce ministry and that the decision would not have any material adverse effect on the company.

The merger plans dating back to 2019, concerns United Transformers Electric Company and United Technology of Electric Substations and Switchgears Company.

The company owns an 85.5 percent stake in its subsidiaries, Zawya notes.

Bawan Co according to its website, provides an integrated, state-of-the-art range of consulting solutions and engineering programs.

It is present in the Saudi Kingdom, the Arab Gulf, the Middle East and North Africa.
In order to continue its focus on core pharma business, Science will be demerging its biotech business under Stelis Biopharma, said a top company official. The Board will form a Committee of Directors to explore various options of value discovery including listing of the business.

The biopharma business needs a lot of capital. At Strides, if we continue to put that capital in Stelis, it would be a challenge on our balance sheet. Our core business is growing extremely well particularly in regulated markets such as the US so we would want to continue to focus on where the growth is and not get distracted by businesses that need longer gestation periods. Hence, the decision is to demerge and list it as a separate company, said R Ananthanarayanan, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the Bengaluru-headquartered pharma company.

Stelis Biopharma will require up to $100 million additionally to fund all its programmes over the next three years, he added. Promoters will lead the funding for the growth phase at Stelis with a $50 million commitment.

Stelis has already seen an investment of $145 million so far during its gestation period, of which $73 million have been pumped in by Strides.

The company has hired former HDFC Bank MD Aditya Puri to lead the next phase of growth at Stelis, where he will be chairman of the Board.

The company is also in the process of setting up a line under Stelis which will also have capability to manufacture up to 800 million doses of vaccines annually. Discussions are underway to partner with global developers for manufacturing services at the unit. This line is predominantly for manufacturing Covid vaccines. The equipment installation is approaching its completion and qualification has already commenced, said Ananthanarayanan.

Participants at the National Forum on Developing Vietnams Digital Enterprises all agreed that never before have Vietnams digital technology firms developed so strongly.

Vietnam can master 5G technology

The year 2020 witnessed the rapid growth of Vietnams digital technology firms. The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) reported that there are now 58,000 digital technology firms, which have created over 1 million jobs. In 2020 alone, 13 new digital technology firms were established.

Vietnams technology firms have also shown their increasing influence on the countrys social and economic life.

Be, a Make in Vietnam ride hailing app, jumped to the second position in the ride-hailing market by June 2019, though it was only set up in 2018. To date, the app has had over 10 million downloads, is present in 10 cities/provinces and has created jobs for 100,000 drivers.

Bes goal is developing an open ecosystem with features in logistics, transportation, public transport, finance and tourism rather than only a ride hailing app. It also aims to become a digital bank.

Base.vn, a startup which had five workers in 2016 when it was established, now owns a series of open platforms with 50 specific apps that help digitize many companies and organizations in Vietnam. Half of 100 ASEAN Outstanding Enterprise of Vietnam 2020 are clients of the company.

Pham Kim Hung, CEO of Base.vn, said Vietnamese engineers qualifications are not inferior to their peers in other countries.

With passion and enthusiasm, we are making digital products that any Vietnamese enterprise or person can use, he said.

Truong Quoc Hung, CEO of VinBrain, one of the worlds leaders in AI, has a more ambitious dream of turning Vietnam into an AI powerhouse by solving the problems of 7.4 billion people around the world.

DrAid, the first AI-based in the healthcare sector developed by Vietnamese, has been set up. It is being used by over 350 physicians with more than 100,000 medical images uploaded every month.

The mission of building a digital country

In a letter to Vietnams digital technology firms recently, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed that the Vietnamese business community and digital technology firms play a very important role in socio-economic development.

The community of nearly 60,000 digital technology firms, with estimated revenue of $120 billion in 2020, is an important driving force for the digital transformation process in Vietnam.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung also thinks that Vietnams digital technology firms showed their capability when quickly developing technology products that help prevent Covid-19. Ncovi, Bluezone and CoMeet, online learning and remote health examination platforms all helped Vietnam both fight the pandemic and develop the economy.

Trong Dat

National programme to boost development of high technology Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has signed a decision on the national programme on high technology development to 2030, which aims to develop and master 20 prioritised technologies in different fields.
As a society we must measure the success of our investments not only on the financial returns, but also on the wealth and opportunities they deliver for all

Slurry is a small village in South Africa's North Western Province.

It is the most desperate place I have visited. Situated in the shadow of a huge cement factory, the village derives its name from the mixture of water, cement and chemical additives known as slurry.

Near the village's dilapidated church, miniature mounds of earth tell a story that official statistics cannot: what infant mortality looks like in real life.

Visiting Slurry in 2008 confirmed a suspicion I had held for much of the 20 years I spent building financial service businesses but which I never formally articulated - capitalism has gone rogue, it isn't working.

The version of capitalism evangelised by governments, relished by business leaders and taught on MBA courses - where capital and entrepreneurs coalesce to create bountiful wealth and opportunity for those wanting to work hard - was nowhere to be seen in Slurry.

Of the 400 people who called it home, only three worked at the cement factory. The employment opportunities for the remaining 397 were non-existent. It was clear the villagers had none of the tools required to do anything about their lack of food, education or medical services.

Slurry is, of course, everywhere.

For many, the Slurrys of this world are indicative of capitalism's intrinsic propensity to fuel social injustice.

For others, including myself, it is more about an economic system that is dramatically failing to realise its potential to create wealth, develop new markets and provide opportunity - all those traits necessary for capitalism to secure the support and engagement of the very people on which its future survival depends.

Capitalism, as it stands, is failing to deliver on its own promise of a meritocratic ideal. Despite these failings, I believe global capital markets still offer the potential to achieve what centuries of philanthropy and state-led interventions have failed to do.

So why has philanthropy fallen short? The huge gap between the scale of problems like global poverty and hunger and the resources available to philanthropists has been as big as the gap between rich and poor itself.

In essence philanthropy, or charity, is seen as what we turn to when business-as-usual fails. In health terms, charity is the hospital required to fix what we break when business-as-usual fails.

What we desperately need is a model for Wellness - a model of capitalism that provides everyone with the basic tools and opportunity to succeed.

Three years after my visit to Slurry, I launched Alquity, a responsible investment fund manager, that remains true to capitalism because of - not in spite of - the fact it sets out to tackle inequality in the markets in which it operates. Alquity is based on the key tenant that 'how we deploy our capital shapes our societies'.

Public recognition of capitalism's current failings is driving movements such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which are at the forefront of a global drive to build a more sustainable economy. And there is now a wall of money flooding its way into environment, social and responsible investments known as ESG. And this trend is set to continue with more than $30 trillion moving into the hands of socially aware millennials in the next three decades.

But established, legacy players moving into this space are bringing with them, their fixed assets and fixed mindsets which means they don't deliver on the real impact.

The recent mainstream industry response has been a flurry of product launches and rampant greenwashing. As investors become more discerning of what ESG and Impact truly means it is heartening to see a growing band of firms that are truly investing with a balanced scorecard.

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Global capital markets need to develop reciprocal models of investment. Increasingly investors are seeking out responsible businesses that achieve success sustainably: by looking after their people, their communities and the environment.

As a society we must measure the success of our investments not only on the financial returns, but also on the wealth and opportunities they deliver for all - the antithesis of a "smash and grab".

Creating healthy, vibrant and inclusive economies in the places we invest makes simple business sense. We believe fund managers can complete a virtuous circle by using part of their revenues to lift up those at risk of being left behind.

Following this pandemic, it is more important than ever for capitalism to get a grip - for its own sake but also for the billions who live in villages like Slurry and who deserve a better tomorrow than today.

Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
New Delhi: Bollywood actresses Kangana Ranaut and Taapsee Pannu locked horns on Twitter yet again. After Kangana called Taapsee a B grade person, a freeloader and a dumbo, the latter responded to her tweets through her own hard-hitting jabs.

After international pop star Rihannas tweet on the ongoing farmers protest went viral, and she was attacked by many in India for the same, Taapsee responded to the social media outcry. She tweeted on Thursday (February 4), If one tweet rattles your unity, one joke rattles your faith or one show rattles your religious belief then its you who has to work on strengthening your value system not become propaganda teacher for others.

Responding to her tweet, Kangana commented, B grade logon ki B grade thinking, one should stand up for ones faith motherland and family, yehi Karm hai yehi Dharm bhi hai .... free fund ka sirf khane wale mat bano... iss desh ka bojh... thats why I call them B grade ... ignore them free loaders.

B grade logon ki B grade thinking, one should stand up for ones faith motherland and family, yehi Karm hai yehi Dharm bhi hai .... free fund ka sirf khane wale mat bano... iss desh ka bojh... thats why I call them B grade ... ignore them free loaders ...  Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) February 4, 2021

While Taapsee refrained from replying to Kangana directly, she took an indirect jibe at the Queen actress. A Twitter user posted screenshots of Kanganas comments to Taapsees tweets and wrote, Looks like @taapsee's tweet really rattled someone. This would have been funny had it not been this toxic or abusive. Commenting on the users tweet, Taapsee replied, But what if those are the basics of someones DNA? Or RNA? Or even platelets.

But what if those are the basics of someones DNA? Or RNA? Or even platelets  taapsee pannu (@taapsee) February 4, 2021

On Tuesday, Rihanna had raised farmers protest issue from her verified Twitter account by asking, why arent we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest. Many Indian celebrities, including Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Sachin Tendulkar among others on Wednesday rallied behind the governments India Against Propaganda stance and urged everyone to stay united.
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A city councillor says his recent public plea for Winnipeg police to do more to evict homeless people from bus shelters was driven by frustrated constituents.

A city councillor says his recent public plea for Winnipeg police to do more to evict homeless people from bus shelters was driven by "frustrated" constituents.

"There are (people) in our community that face mental illness and homelessness but (city) shelters have capacity," Coun. Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan) posted on his official Twitter account Tuesday afternoon.

"What is the WPS doing to ensure the safety of citizens by evicting illegal squatters?"

Browaty said the decision to speak out  a message roundly condemned on social media  came out of frustration with a declining level of contact between police and civic committees, especially "considering the rough year that police have had in terms of relationship with the public."

It also came from complaints received from those who say theyre unable to use the bus shelters for their intended purpose and feel especially unsafe due to the pandemic, Browaty said.

"Im hearing from constituents, Im hearing from residents  theyre frustrated," he told the Free Press on Wednesday.

"Theyre all staying home, theyre minimizing their contacts as much as possible. Yet, you go into our downtown core, and you see groups of people in these bus shacks passing around bottles. Its scary and its frustrating."

Browaty said while he believes increased policing wouldnt solve the underlying issues that drive homelessness, it is "unacceptable" to allow people to misuse Transit shelters.

"In days past, police would move people along from these shacks," he said.

"In my ideal world, what would happen is, if you cant find anywhere else to go If they keep getting pushed along and cant party in a bus shack, my hope is that theyll go to a shelter, get the temporary refuge they need, and hopefully get connected to services that would help them address their underlying issues."

The Winnipeg Police Service has foot patrol officers that check on Transit shelters in specific areas downtown, but does not "police" such shelters, Const. Rob Carver said in an email Wednesday.

Officers will ask people to leave if there is a specific reason to do so, Carver said, listing civic staff cleaning or maintenance of the structure, or if there is a disturbance  but not loitering  as examples.

Browatys tweets were "disappointing," said West Central Womens Resource Centre executive director Lorie English, adding the city has a bigger role to play in providing social services.

Winnipeg has begun to transform unused spaces into warming centres (Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre, for example) but its only the first step, and more spaces arent being used to support homeless people quickly enough, English said.

"While housing may fall directly under the purview of the province, theres lots of things the city could be doing within its own jurisdiction to support folks who are unsheltered," she said.

Meanwhile, shelters having capacity doesnt always mean theres space available that works for unhoused people, English said. Two of the three biggest facilities turn away those who admit to using drugs, for example.

"We work with women who are deeply entrenched in homelessness who have been trafficked out of shelter spaces, who have been assaulted in shelter spaces. Those shelter spaces also house people who have victimized them in the past," she said.

"Those spaces arent safe for them, so they will look for refuge on the street far before they will access those shelter spaces."

Relying on police to deal with such alternative shelter situations is dangerous and "further villainizes" homeless Manitobans, English said.

Winnipeg could also be more active in promoting affordable housing, said Molly McCracken, director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Manitoba office.

"I would say the city has municipal tools that it can use and can work with community partners to increase housing options for people now during COVID, and afterwards, that it has not taken action on," she said.

When asked Wednesday if he feels his messages reveal he is disconnected from homeless constituents, Browaty said he works within his power to advocate for enhanced city services for all people, regardless of status.

"Were my tweets a little over the top and come out a little on the insensitive side? They did," he said. "That wasnt my intention."

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_

The lawsuit that City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed Wednesday against the San Francisco Unified School District and its leaders was unprecedented in California and perhaps nationwide: a city accusing its own public schools of failing to make plans to reopen classrooms for safe in-person instruction as soon as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic, as state law requires.

But the suit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, raises a recurring question for the legal system: Who decides when conditions are safe? The schools and their governing board or the city and its health officials? And what role do the courts play?

Courts do not want to get in the business of being superintendents of education and are often deferential to decisions of public school boards, said Bill Koski, a Stanford law professor specializing in educational law.

But this is as much an issue of public health as an educational issue, Koski said. Courts may feel more comfortable wading into public health waters.

Thats what advocates for disabled students, English-learners and others with limited access to remote learning asked the California Supreme Court in December in a suit seeking to require the Los Angeles Unified School District to allow them to return to classrooms. They sued after the district, the nations second-largest with nearly 600,000 students, revoked its policy of allowing in-person learning for small groups of students.

The court rejected the suit on Jan. 21 in a one-line order. It was a profound disappointment to thousands of LAUSD students with special needs, said the students lawyer, Alex Romain. But the court did not issue a written opinion, leaving the door open to similar suits.

The U.S. Supreme Court has addressed related issues in suits by houses of worship, in California and elsewhere, challenging states COVID-based restrictions on in-person worship services.

When the court voted 5-4 in May to allow Gov. Gavin Newsom to limit attendance at in-person religious services to 25% of a buildings capacity, Chief Justice John Roberts said such health decisions should usually be left to politically accountable state officials. But after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a newly composed court used a less-deferential standard in November to strike down similar restrictions in New York.

The San Francisco suit relies on a law passed by the Legislature last summer. As implemented by the state school superintendent, it requires local school officials to prepare plans to offer classroom-based instruction whenever possible, particularly for pupils who have experienced significant learning loss due to school closures in the 2019-20 school year or are at greater risk of experiencing learning loss due to future school closures.

So far, the San Francisco Board of Education has said it has plans for in-person instruction of small groups of priority students but those plans are still in development. They include training and safety measures for school staff, students and their families, steps to protect students at high risk of illness, possible outdoor learning, and priorities for youngsters from kindergarten through second grade and students from vulnerable populations.

The district has not presented any specific plans to return any of its 52,000 students to classrooms.

The district has a plan to make a plan. This is not legally sufficient, Herreras office said in the suit. In particular, it said, the district has not described the actions it will take to offer classroom-based instruction whenever possible.

Students who are fortunate enough to have access to reliable internet service and computer equipment find themselves trapped in front of a monitor for hours at a time. Students who lack the access and hardware just miss out on school entirely, most of them minority and low-income, the suit said.

Distance learning is not good enough, Mayor London Breed said at a news conference. Im hearing every day from parents who are concerned that their kids are falling behind.

Herrera said he would ask a judge on Feb. 11 to order the district to prepare a new plan that spells out the actions it will take to provide in-person instruction as soon as possible for the students who need it most, and for all students when it is safe to do so.

Steve Sugarman, a UC Berkeley law professor, said the lawsuits limited scope  seeking only a more specific plan, rather than a judicial order to reopen the schools  is a subject the courts can probably address but may not accomplish much.

The trial judge could tell the school district to come up with a plan. ... Its a first step, Sugarman said. But its still contingent on the union agreeing to send the teachers back in, he said, referring to United Educators of San Francisco, which has opposed reopening classrooms until teachers are given vaccinations and provided other protections against the virus.

Negotiations between the union and the district broke down in December, ending school officials plans for reopening of a limited number of elementary schools in late January.

The suit could help to end the impasse with the union, Herrera told reporters Wednesday.

If the judge orders a more specific reopening plan, he said, it would provide a vehicle for everybody to come to the table and hammer out an agreement.

Note: An earlier version of this article misstated the ranking of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nations second-largest.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
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British Pound Outlook:

Sterling Weathering the Storm

The UK is in unchartered waters, just weeks into its post-Brexit reality separated from the European Union. There have been some rude wakeup calls along the way, including the recent row over UK shellfish being banned from being sold in the EU. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticized over his vaccine rollout plans as the B117 mutation spreads rapidly.

But trials completed by AstraZeneca  the main vaccine deployed in the UK  show that the extended inoculation period between the first and second doses doesnt pose a significant risk in reducing the efficacy of the vaccines. This is good news for the UK (and for the prime minister), which may reach the elusive herd immunity status faster than other developed economies. The juxtaposition against a sclerotic EU response and endless lockdowns in France, Germany, and Italy leaves the British Pound looking relatively resilient these days.

GBP/JPY RATE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: WEEKLY CHART (FEBRUARY 2015 TO FEBRUARY 2020) (CHART 1)

Big picture, GBP/JPY rates have broken the descending trendline from the December 2019 and September 2020 highs, following through on the break of the downtrend from the August 2015 and December 2019 highs. Ive previously noted that the key test will come at the September 2020 high at 142.71, which in achieving would mark the end of the multi-year series of lower highs and lower lows. Indeed, this has now been achieved, suggesting that a multi-year bottoming effort in GBP/JPY rates has commenced.

GBP/JPY rates are above their weekly 4, 13-, and 26-EMA envelope (one month, one quarter, and six months, respectively), which is in bullish sequential order. Weekly MACD is trending higher above its signal line, while weekly Slow Stochastics are nestled in overbought territory. The path of least resistance remains higher for GBP/JPY rates.

IG Client Sentiment Index: GBP/JPY Rate Forecast (February 3, 2021) (Chart 2)

GBP/JPY: Retail trader data shows 27.99% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders short to long at 2.57 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 15.31% higher than yesterday and 2.12% higher from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 2.82% higher than yesterday and 34.20% higher from last week.

We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-short suggests GBP/JPY prices may continue to rise.

Positioning is less net-short than yesterday but more net-short from last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed GBP/JPY trading bias.

GBP/USD RATE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: WEEKLY CHART (FEBRUARY 2016 TO FEBRUARY 2021) (CHART 3)

GBP/USD rates are in the midst of consolidating after trading above the descending trendline from the November 2007 and July 2014 highs, and consistent with the previously articulated view that breaching 1.3539 and sustaining a breakout move higher would indicate a long-term bottom has formed in GBP/USD rates. This has been achieved. More evidence may emerge should GBP/USD get comfortable above the 76.4% Fibonacci retracement of the 2018 high/2020 low at 1.3677. GBP/USD may struggle in the near-term, however, as the DXY Index attempts to bottom.

IG Client Sentiment Index: GBP/USD Rate Forecast (February 3, 2021) (Chart 4)

GBP/USD: Retail trader data shows 46.13% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders short to long at 1.17 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 11.46% lower than yesterday and 18.92% higher from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 9.88% higher than yesterday and 4.58% lower from last week.

We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-short suggests GBP/USD prices may continue to rise.

Positioning is more net-short than yesterday but less net-short from last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed GBP/USD trading bias.

EUR/GBP RATE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: DAILY CHART (February 2020 TO February 2021) (CHART 5)

The last time I discussed EUR/GBP rates, nearly two months ago, it was noted that as momentum builds towards a Brexit deal  thereby avoiding a no deal, hard Brexit outcome  traders should keep an eye for a return to the range lows near 0.8865. Breaking through this level would be an achievement two-fold, not only breaking the multi-month range support, but cutting through symmetrical triangle support off the February and November swing lows. With a deal in tow, a EUR/GBP rate selloff below 0.8865 would put the pair in bearish breakout territory.

In bearish breakout territory indeed we are, with EUR/GBP rates moving below 0.8865. Likewise, EUR/GBP finds itself below the descending trendline from the 2007 and 2016 highs as well as the 2008 and 2016 highs. Bearish momentum is strong, with EUR/GBP rates below the daily 5-, 8-, 13-, and 21-EMA envelope, which remains in bullish sequential order. Daily MACD remains deep in bearish territory while Slow Stochastics are holding steadily in oversold territory. It appears that more weakness lies ahead.

IG Client Sentiment Index: EUR/GBP Rate Forecast (February 3, 2021) (Chart 6)

EUR/GBP: Retail trader data shows 56.28% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 1.29 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 10.82% higher than yesterday and 1.63% higher from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 4.31% lower than yesterday and 12.68% higher from last week.

We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests EUR/GBP prices may continue to fall.

Positioning is more net-long than yesterday but less net-long from last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed EUR/GBP trading bias.

--- Written by Christopher Vecchio, CFA, Senior Currency Strategist
Aerial photo taken on Jan. 14, 2021 shows the container terminal of the Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang City, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo by Geng Yuhe/Xinhua)

Customs data shows that China's exports managed a 4-percent yearly increase in 2020, despite the turbulence, with the total export value reaching 17.93 trillion yuan (about 2.77 trillion U.S. dollars).

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- For Chinese exporters, the business environment last year was reminiscent of an action movie. It opened with a sudden halt, followed by efforts to cope by expanding the domestic market or switching to the manufacture of epidemic-control equipment, and then ended with rocketing overseas orders and a shortage of containers.

Customs data shows that China's exports managed a 4-percent yearly increase in 2020, despite the turbulence, with the total export value reaching 17.93 trillion yuan (about 2.77 trillion U.S. dollars). In December alone, exports surged by 10.9 percent year on year in yuan terms.

As the new year gets underway, it is worth watching to see whether such "dark horse" export performance continues into 2021, and how China's foreign-trade landscape evolves.

China's foreign trade is expected to maintain steady growth this year, with its scale continuing to expand, according to Liang Ming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Liang noted that the country's foreign trade reached several historic highs in 2020, despite the headwinds, providing a good basis for its performance in 2021.

China remained the world's largest trading nation in goods last year. Over the first 10 months of 2020, China's exports reached a record high of 14.2 percent of the global total, figures from the country's customs administration show.

The unexpected export boom was mainly driven by China's position as the first country in and out of the COVID-19 epidemic, with industrial production rebounding quickly, combined with the country's advantages in industrial chains, according to a research report by CITIC Securities.

Dubbed the "world's factory," China has been the only country that possesses all the industrial categories listed in the United Nations' industrial classification.

A recent report from Alibaba's cross-border B2B trade platform offered vivid details about the diversity of Chinese exports. Foreign buyers chased after a variety of Chinese products amid the pandemic, ranging from mask-production machinery to work-from-home electronic products, and even wigs and paper diapers.

Looking ahead, the brokerage company took a positive view on China's export performance in 2021, predicting that an overall demand recovery, driven by vaccine availability and stimulus policies, will lead to an increase in the country's exports.

Moreover, new business models such as cross-border e-commerce have emerged as new drivers of China's foreign trade.

The latest data shows that China's cross-border e-commerce business saw rapid expansion in 2020, with the aggregate import-export volume surging by 31.1 percent from a year ago. The total number of overseas warehouses has surpassed 1,800, with a sharp increase of 80 percent in 2020.

However, the future is still not rosy for China's foreign trade, as the world continues to grapple with resurgences of COVID-19 cases.

The purchasing managers' index for China's manufacturing sector came in at 51.3 in January, edging down 0.6 percentage points from December. The sub-index for new export orders dropped to 50.2 percent in January from 51.3 percent a month earlier.

Yet, the impact of COVID-19 resurgences on China's industrial production may be largely neutral, according to a research note from Huatai Securities, with the decision of many migrant workers to stay put during the Spring Festival likely resulting in an earlier-than-usual resumption schedule after the holiday this year.

In this context, the precautionary measures may even benefit the productivity of China's export sector, where orders have been piling up for the next three to six months, the research note added.

[ Editor: WXY ]
Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko was on Wednesday taken to Kahawa West Law Courts to face terrorism charges.

The court, which had closed for the day, reopened to hear a request by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations who were seeking to hold him for 30 days.

Earlier today, his lawyer - Dr John Khaminwa - had claimed that the ex-county boss was transferred to Kamiti Maximum Prison from Gigiri police station.

The veteran criminal lawyer said the transfer was contrary to a court order that the dethroned governor should be detained in Gigiri until Thursday when he returns to the Kiambu Law Courts for a bail ruling.

On Tuesday morning, Sonko denied all 12 charges levelled against him.

He was charged with assault, robbery with violence and destruction of property linked to alleged forced entry into a property in Buru Buru estate back in 2019.

He is accused of assaulting a Mr Alex Kioko, thereby occasioning him bodily harm. He is also accused, along with others not before court, of assaulting Mr Musyoki Kavunda and John Mungai Wanjiru at the same property.

He appeared before Kiambu senior principal magistrate Stella Ataambo.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejcinovic Buric announced the appointment of Steen Norlov as head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine.

The Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the Council of Europe wrote about this on its Facebook page, Ukrinform reports.

Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe Borys Tarasyuk announced the approval of his candidacy by Kyiv and congratulated the experienced Danish diplomat on starting work in a new important position.

Turkey joined congratulations on the appointment of the new head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine.

In addition, Marija Pejcinovic Buric announced the termination of the mandate of the Secretary General's Special Adviser for Ukraine Regis Brillat and thanked him for his work.

As a reminder, the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine officially started its activities on October 6, 2006. Its status is based on the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Ukraine and the Council of Europe on the establishment in Ukraine Council of Europe Office and its legal status.

The Council of Europe Office in Ukraine facilitates the implementation of the Council of Europe's mission in the country on human rights protection, democracy support and the rule of law, and coordinates and implements cooperation projects and programs.

The Office is currently coordinating the implementation in Ukraine of 17 different thematic projects of the Council of Europe, including four projects implemented with the financial support of the European Union.

ish
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Pa. COVID-19 mask mandate will be lifted by June 28 or sooner

Pennsylvania announced Thursday that the commonwealth will eliminate its mask mandates by June 28 as COVID-19 cases drop and vaccinations increase.



The start of the Cope North drills in Guam signals US F-35 Stealth Fighters' first flight in a tri-lateral exercise. This activity is part of a multination effort of several nations to secure the Indo-Pacific through collaborative practices.

F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters will be flying for the first time in military drills conducted by the QUAD members.

The members joining these military drills are Japan, Australia, and America whom air forces will be a part of the most significant exercise, which starts Wednesday in Guam, reported Stars and Stripes.

Joint military drills with three nations' armed forces

A total number of 1,800 U.S. airmen, marines, and sailors will have drills that include 400 Australian and Japanese troops in the Cope North drills. The event will last until February 19 at Andersen Air Force Base. The PACAC reveals these details in a press release.

Ninety-five planes from twenty flying units will be part of the aerial exercises this year. Along with other military units, this will be emphasizing the interoperability of these diverse forces.

Planes that will participate

From the 356th Fighter Squadron with F-35As that take off and land like ordinary planes, another is the 354th Fighter Wing from Alaska with conventional planes of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and Royal Australian Air Force that will be part of this massive military exercise.

Both Japan and Australia have F-35s but bring in their 4th generation combat aircraft to the drills, said Capt. Caitlin Mott last Wednesday.

Other planes are Japanese F-15 Eagles, Mitsubishi F-2s, Kawasaki C-2 transports, and E-767 AWACS, with Australian E-7A Wedgetail reconnaissance planes KC-30 tankers will join Cope North drills.

Also read: Guided-Missile Destroyer USS Russell Crosses Taiwan Strait After Chinese Aircraft Carrier Went for Sea Trials

The stealth fighters will be doing offensive and defensive air combat flying, fueling with tankers, and supporting conventional aircraft. F-35s can connect and share data with other combat and support aircraft.

According to PACAF, a combination of F-35s and conventional aircraft in these drills is crucial, so these units have experience. A modern battlefield will have the data capabilities of the F-35s as the point man in some future conflict.

Heading the planes in the multinational task force will be Japan in the aerial drills, mentioned a statement.

Drills will begin with humanitarian assistance and disaster response drills at Anderson and the Northwest Field on Guam. Other locations will be Koror and Angaur in Palau, noted officials.

Special training for the participants

To prepare for possible situations where airfields will be disabled by adversaries, crews, and pilots of F-35s and F-16s will train to operate from makeshift airfields. The conflict in the Indo-Pacific expects the PLA to launch missile attacks on major bases, especially Guam.

American and QUAD allies will have to train in different environments like jungles and the like if the time comes. By distributing forces, it is projected more have a chance to survive based on these exercises.

Preventing the spread of COVID-19

Inplace are measures to prevent the spread of COVID by strictly following steps to avoid it. Another aspect is to stop infecting Guam's civilian and military communities, noted Joint Region Marianas last Monday. Strict implementation of the rules is enforced on visiting forces. Cope North drills will be a combination of stealth tactics with conventional planes.

Related article: India-Japan Naval Exercises Ramp up Push Back Against Chinese Navy

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The British Government did not know that Harry Dunn's alleged killer worked for US intelligence, Boris Johnson's spokesman has claimed.

UK authorities have been urged to re-investigate whether Anne Sacoolas, 43, had diplomatic immunity when she and her husband Jonathan 'fled' the country in 2019.

The Alexandria district court in Virginia was told Mrs Sacoolas was 'employed by an intelligence agency in the US' at the time of the fatal road crash that killed 19-year-old Mr Dunn.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman told reporters 'we don't comment on intelligence matters', but added: 'She was notified to the UK Government by the US as a spouse with no official role.'

UK authorities have been urged to re-investigate whether Anne Sacoolas (pictured at a gas station in Virginia after returning home following the crash), 43, actually had diplomatic immunity when she and her husband Jonathan 'fled' the country in 2019

Mr Dunn, 19, was killed when his motorbike crashed into a car outside US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019

Mr Dunn's mother, Charlotte Charles, said 'there is still time' for both governments to find a resolution to the case despite the latest developments.

The teenager was killed after a car crashed into his motorbike outside US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019.

Commenting on the latest developments, the Prime Minister's spokesman added: 'I would emphasise that our position on this case remains unchanged, we have consistently called for her diplomatic immunity to be waived and believe that the US refusal to extradite her amounts to a denial of justice.'

Meanwhile, shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy has urged Dominic Raab to 'explain himself' in the House of Commons on Friday.

She said: 'As an employee at RAF Croughton, Anne Sacoolas would not have been entitled to immunity from prosecution.

'Dominic Raab told MPs that she was entitled to protection as the spouse of an employee, but new information provided by her lawyer clearly indicates that she wasn't.

'Did the Foreign Secretary simply accept the US embassy's account without asking any of the right questions on behalf of a UK citizen, or has he misled the House?

'After almost 18 months of fighting for justice for their son, Harry's family deserve the truth. Dominic Raab must come before MPs tomorrow and explain himself.'

The revelations came out during Sacoolas's application to dismiss a civil claim for damages against her made by the Dunn family on Wednesday.

Mr and Mrs Sacoolas had to leave the UK due to 'issues of security' three weeks after the crash, the court heard.

Mr Dunn's mother, Charlotte Charles, told the PA news agency 'there is still time' for both governments to find a resolution to the case despite the latest developments. Pictured, Mr Dunn with his mother

The suspect's barrister, John McGavin, told the court he could not 'completely candidly' explain why the Sacoolas family left the UK - adding: 'I know the answer, but I cannot disclose it.'

Family spokesman Radd Seiger told the PA news agency UK authorities must 'urgently investigate whether she had diplomatic immunity' at the time of the incident.

Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the US Government and she was able to return home around three weeks later.

She was charged with causing the teenager's death by dangerous driving, but a Home Office extradition request was rejected by the US State Department in January last year.

Both the Donald Trump administration and new President Joe Biden's administration have described that decision as 'final'.

On Wednesday, the court heard that one of the reasons Sacoolas had not returned to the UK was a 'fear' that because of the 'media attention, she would not have a fair trial'.

Mr McGavin said the suspect was 'currently apologetic' and has 'accepted responsibility for the accident'.

The Dunn family's barrister in the US, Agniezska Fryzsman, told the court the British Government had written a letter to the court to 'endorse' their claim.

Anne Sacoolas and her husband Jonathan Sacoolas worked for the US State Department and they 'fled' the UK due to 'issues of security' after the crash

Mrs Charles told PA: 'We did our level best before the campaign went public to try and deal with this amicably and publicly and we came up against a brick wall.

'We've been put through hell over the last 18 months, totally needlessly.

'That said, there is still time for both governments to come forward and to work with us to ensure that there is justice for my son.

'We remain absolutely open to holding talks with officials in London and Washington to find a path forward.'

The admission from Sacoolas's own barrister about her employment at the time of the crash has raised the question of the diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf.

Under the agreements at RAF Croughton dating back to 1995, anyone working at the base from the US as part of the 'administrative and technical staff' would have their immunity pre-waived, meaning they would not be immune from criminal jurisdiction.

Mr Dunn's mother, Charlotte Charles, said she and Tim Dunn, Harry's father, (pictured together) wanted to sit down with Sacoolas once the prosecution was over to 'rebuild our shattered lives'

In a short statement issued after the hearing, Mr Seiger said: 'Given the admission in open court by Mrs Sacoolas's counsel that she was employed by US intelligence services at the time of the crash, the UK authorities must now urgently reinvestigate whether she had diplomatic immunity.

'They have to investigate given that employees had their immunity pre-waived under the 1995 RAF Croughton legal agreement.'

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: 'The UK High Court has found that Anne Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity while in the country under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.'

The case was adjourned until a further hearing at the same court on February 17.
A doctor who was in charge of treating Alexei Navalny in Russia soon after he was poisoned with novichok has died suddenly aged 55.

Dr Sergei Maksimishin was in charge of intensive care at the Omsk hospital where the opposition leader was taken after he became seriously ill on a plane which was forced to make an emergency landing.

The Omsk hospital and the Russian authorities strongly denied that Navalny showed any signs of nerve agent poisoning but the Putin critic then flew to Germany for life-saving treatment where doctors detected novichok.

Dr Sergei Maksimishin who was in charge of treating Alexei Navalny in Russia soon after he was poisoned with novichok has died suddenly aged 55.

Russian authorities strongly denied that Navalny, pictured during his sentencing this week, showed any signs of nerve agent poisoning but this was detected after he flew to Germany

Maksimishin died in the intensive care unit where Navalny was treated and it is not believed he contracted Covid-19.

Initial reports said his blood pressure suddenly shot up, and he died of a heart attack.

A colleague Maria Morozova. who saw him this week said the death was 'very unexpected'.

The medic was described as having 'guided Navalny's treatment' after his poisoning with the potentially lethal warfare agent which was allegedly sprinkled in his underpants by an FSB secret service hit squad.

Navalny accused Vladimir Putin of seeking to murder him, but the Kremlin has denied the 44 year old was poisoned, and dismissed claims of an attempt to kill him.

Galina Nazarova, spokeswoman for Omsk health ministry, said there were 'no special background' to the respected medic's death.

The doctor was in charge of intensive care at the Omsk hospital where the opposition leader was taken after his poisoning (pictured)

Maksimishin died in the intensive care unit where Navalny was treated and it is not believed he contracted Covid-19

'The man was sick, worried about his relatives,' she said.

'He buried his parents this year. He died at work, in his intensive care unit, where he worked.

'He was in the hospital, he was placed in intensive care and he died there.'

Lifeshot news outlet reported Dr Maksimishin was urgently hospitalised yesterday.

'When the doctor was just brought from home, the blood pressure was 'over 250'.

'They managed to 'knock down' the blood pressure, but the doctor's heart still could not stand it.'

Alexander Murakhovsky, the hospital's head physician, was later promoted to Omsk health minister.
New Delhi : Amid the controversies over 'Toolkit' regarding ongoing farmers' protest, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday said that it is a serious matter and this shows some foreign elements are conspiring to defame India.

Interacting with media persons, Javadekar said, "The 'Toolkit' matter is a serious one. It clearly shows that some foreign elements are conspiring to defame India."

"The 'Toolkit' matter is a serious one. It clearly shows that some foreign elements are conspiring to defame India." Javadekar told reporters here.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police Special Commissioner Praveer Ranjan said they had registered a case against the creators of "toolkit" and no one had been named in the FIR.

"We have not named anybody in the FIR. It is only against the creators of the 'toolkit' which is a matter of investigation. Delhi Police will be investigating that case," he said.

'Toolkit' account was being run by a group of Khalistanis. They had decided to conduct a digital strike post the Republic Day incident," said Ranjan.

"We have recovered a document about the planned execution. We have found out that is a copycat execution. As of now, we have registered cases against the authors of that account. The case has been handed over to the cyber cell. Investigations are underway," he added.

Notably, Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg had posted "toolkit" in a tweet on Wednesday which she later deleted. The teen activist's post on the micro-blogging site came after American pop star Rihanna shared a news article highlighting the Centre's crackdown on the farmers by cutting off internet services in many regions.

"Why aren't we talking about this?!", wrote Rihanna, as she added the hashtag #FarmersProtest along with the post on the micro-blogging site.

Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws: Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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~Declined proposal presented for CEO and CFO candidates.~

PHILIPSBURG:--- The shareholder representative of Government-owned company NV GEBE has declined the offers sent to the Council of Ministers for the candidates for the vacant positions of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

SMN News learned that a letter was sent to the Supervisory Board of Directors on Tuesday informing them that the offers do not meet the Jacobs norms and proposed cuts for government-owned companies as outlined by the Dutch Government.

SMN News learned that the CEO candidate Robert Jan James requested NAF 30,000.00, including severance pay, travel allowance, and six months vacation pay. The SBOD of NV GEBE offered the CEO candidate NAF 20,000.00 excluding severance pay.

James also asked N.V GEBE to give him a response by February 5th, 2021. He also asked the company for a 5-years contract and in the event, their working agreement fails then N.V GEBE would be mandated to pay out the severance pay. James also requested two months to notify his current employer SOL while he made clear that he will not take up the position unless he clears the screening process, in the event, he fails then N.V GEBE would have to pay him out 3 years of his contract agreement. The shareholder denied the request made by the candidate CEO.

In the case of the CFO candidate, Randel Hato requested a salary of Naf 30,000.00, severance pay, travel allowance, and performance appraisal. Hato requested a five-year contract but was offered a three-year contract and a salary of NAF19,000.00 gross salary.

SMN News also learned that Randel Hato declined N.V GEBEs offer when he was told that should he accept the job as an ex-pat then he would not be entitled to any of the other benefits. The source said that right there and then Hato told the legal advisor of the Supervisory Board of Directors that he could keep the position.

In the case of the Chief Operations Officer (COO), Jimmy Timmer, he was offered NAF 19,000.00 a contract for a period of four years and his current position of NV GEBE will not be available to him when his contract expires. SMN News learned that Timmer a current employee of N.V GEBE is yet to respond to the proposal made to him.

According to information provided by well-placed sources, the negotiations and interviews were done by the legal advisor to the Supervisory Board of Directors. The source said that the members of the Supervisory Board did not engage the candidates when they were each interviewed, and they also did not verify the calculations that were done by the said legal advisor for the incoming candidates. The candidates were told that while they will be receiving a gross salary of NAF19,000.00, another Naf13,000.00 will go their way through the Vidanova payments that were not calculated correctly.

With the information sent to the Supervisory Board of Directors by the Shareholder on Tuesday, the SBOD of NV GEBE now has to go back to the drawing board. However, the company will also have to find a new CFO candidate since it is understood that Hato has found himself another offer in Curacao.

The current interim director has been holding the forth since November 1st, 2020 and with the speed of the recruitment, it is not yet determined how long she will be required to carry out the job of three persons on a sole proprietorship contract and if the shareholder has placed any deadline on the snail pace process.

LEGAL ADVISOR TO NV GEBE threatens litigations.

Dear Ms. Shaw,

The Supervisory Board of NV GEBE directs itself to you as per article 2:11 Civil Code with regard to an article published by you today on your media blog about the recruitment process in NV GEBE. NV GEBE is represented in that respect by its Supervisory Board.

The article contains almost entirely pertinent erroneous and regretfully damaging information. In that article, you referred to a SOURCE. The Supervisory Board of NV GEBE has in any case never been consulted or approached by you with any questions and/or fact-checking. The Supervisory Board of NV GEBE contests that you could have come up within reason, certainly after conducting a mandatory objective and journalistically correct investigation before publishing the litigious article, with what you wrote on your media blog. Your actions thus very possibly/likely constitute a torturous act.

You are hereby requested, with the power of the summons, to inform NV GEBE within 24 hours and as such on or before 1730 hrs., on Thursday, February 4th, 2021, in detail what information sources you used and investigation, if any, you conducted, to derive the conclusions and positions presented in the aforementioned media article.

Failing timely compliance with this summons will result in you and your media blog being in default. In that case, appropriate legal measures will be taken. NV GEBE meanwhile reserves all rights and defenses.

NV GEBE finally makes use of this opportunity to give you notice of the legal interest on the monetary equivalent of all damages suffered and possibly to be suffered in this matter.

Yours truly,

Jairo Bloem

Attorney at Law

SMN NEWS RESPONDS

Dear Mr. Bloem, as an attorney you should know that no journalist have to reveal sources, in no way shape, or form I will comprise my integrity,

NV GEBE has all rights to RESPOND TO THE CONTENTS of the article, that will be published.

Secondly, your ref to article 2:11 of the CIVIL CODE holds no relevance in the instant matter, Said article refers to the authority of the Supervisory Board Directors as it relates to legal matters against DIRECTORS.

Bibi Hodge Shaw

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.smn-news.com
The Scranton Zoning Board approved proposals Wednesday for transitional living facilities in the 500 block of Wyoming Avenue and in Green Ridge.

The board voted 3-1 with Paul Marcks, Bob Morris and Shawn Walsh in favor, and Chairman Bob Gattens opposed  on a variance sought by Become Empowered to convert the top two floors of 531 Wyoming Ave. into a transitional living facility for up to eight women recovering from addictions.

The former auto-glass shop is in a light industrial zone. A two-and-a-half-hour-long hearing, held remotely via Zoom and simulcast on Electric City Televisions channel on YouTube, was a continuation from November, when the board first heard over two hours of testimony.

Board member Carri Newcomb did not participate in the continuation because she was absent during the hearing in November.

Building owner Gabriel Gilgallon testified Wednesday about parking and commercial tenants in the basement. The three floors above are vacant.

Become Empowered would use the second and third floors as the transitional living facility. Women living there would have already completed inpatient treatment elsewhere. Transitional living would help them re-enter society in various ways, including finding housing and employment and furthering their education or careers.

Gilgallon testified that he would make various changes regarding parking configuration, water runoff and tenants to alleviate various concerns raised by neighbors.

But William Jones, attorney for neighboring businesses and property owners opposed to the Become Empowered proposal, said the variance application is completely defective. The zoning ordinance allows for such a use, but in a different zone, and the board should not approve the facility on a feel good sentiment, Jones said.

During the hearing, Jones said that if the board approved the variance, his clients would file an appeal in Lackawanna County Court.

In the other application, the board voted 3-1  with Morris, Marcks and Gattens in favor, and Walsh opposed  to approve a transitional living facility going into a vacant, former nursing home at 1554 Sanderson Ave. in Green Ridge.

Fellowship House Foundation sought a special exception to change the use of the building in an R2 residential zone to transitional living for up to 25 men recovering from addictions.

Fellowship House Foundation principal Joe Van Wie, who has been in long-term recovery himself, testified on the facility and operation. A total overhaul of the building represents a $1 million investment, he said.

Newcomb recused herself from this application because she lives nearby. Her husband, Charlie Newcomb, gave emotional testimony in support of the proposal, saying he recently lost a close friend to addiction.

I just wish this was in the neighborhood for him, Newcomb said. To anyone who would say, not in my backyard,  they have to be somewhere, he said.

But other neighbors, Susan Kolankoski and Keith Yenzer and Leticia Vazquez-Yenzer, sought a continuance of the hearing so they could engage an attorney. Kolankoski said she did not receive any notice, while the Yenzers said they only received a notice in the mail Wednesday.

The board did not grant a continuance, as notices of the hearing were mailed, posted on utility poles and published twice in The Times-Tribune.
40 MPH Wind Gusts Possible Today

By National Weather Service

PADUCAH - The National Weather Service in Paducah has issued a special weather statement about gusty winds today across the region.Southerly winds will increase late this morning and continue into the evening hours. They will switch around to the west/northwest behind a cold frontal passage late this afternoon and evening.Sustained winds of 15 to 20 mph along with gusts of 30 to 35 mph will be possible across the entire region. A few localized higher gusts up to 40 mph cannot be ruled out.Wind gusts are expected to gradually decrease later this evening and into the overnight period.These strong winds may cause loose outdoor objects to be blown around and also cause difficulty for high profile vehicles traveling across the region.On the Net:
The government on Thursday said the issue of "wrong depiction" of India's map on the website of the World Health Organisation (WHO) was raised strongly with the global body following which it put a disclaimer on the portal.

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan provided the information in Rajya Sabha in response to a question on whether the map on the website depicted the union territories of and in a totally different colour.

"The issue of wrong depiction of the map of India on the WHO website has been raised strongly with WHO including at the highest level," he said in his written reply.





ALSO READ: US supports India's agri laws, remains silent on farmers' protests

"In response, the WHO has informed the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva that they have put a disclaimer on the portal," he added.

Muraleedharan said the government of India's position on the right depiction of its boundaries has been "unambiguously reiterated".

The disclaimer, mentioned by the minister, said presentation of the "materials" do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area or of its authorities.

"The designations employed and the presentation of these materials do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries," according to the disclaimer quoted in the answer.
The top leader of the Party and State of Vietnam is indeed an outstanding politician in terms of qualifications, solid political courage, and high prestige, who has a very simple lifestyle.

General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong in a simple everyday context. Standing 4th and 3rd from the right are journalist Thu Hong and her son Le Hong Anh.

The imprint that the head of the Party and State has left for a long time, especially the past term, will be recorded in the countrys history.

The following stories are small highlights that I know about him in the normal aspects of life.

Journalist Thu Hong, former reporter of the Hanoi Radio and Television, is honored to be a member of a group of reporters who have followed General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong since he was a member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee.

In the 20 years covering news about activities of the General Secretary, Hong has many memories about the Party chief.

Love for children

Hong told me about her and her sons memories about the Party leader, which have been unforgettable stories for her son from his childhood to adulthood.

Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong has been very close to and friendly with his subordinates and particularly journalists.

Once, when Mr. Trong, who was Hanois Party Secretary at that time, lived on the second floor of the house No. 11, Dang Tat street, Hanoi, Hong asked her son to take her by a motorbike to Mr. Trongs house for an urgent meeting, along with other colleagues.

During the meeting, Hong suddenly remembered that her son was still waiting for her outside.

Well, then you should go down now! Don't worry! By the way, his name is Hong Anh?, Mr. Trong said to Hong.

Mr. Trong smiled very brightly, and then stood up to see her out to the door.

Seeing the boy who was waiting for his mother, with an angry face, Mr. Trong suddenly waved to the boy and then said: "Hello, General, Minister of Public Security Le Hong Anh!"

Unexpectedly, Hong Anh changed his facial expression. He smiled brightly: "Hello, sir!"

"Uncle Phu Trong is so gentle and funny, mom," the boy told his mother later.

The story of the old Toyota Crown

General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong at the 13th Party Congress. Photo: Pham Hai

Several years later, in 2012, Hong was assigned to accompany General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to the UK. Sitting at home watching TV, Hong Anh saw Uncle Nguyen Phu Trong wearing an everyday suit at the meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

As soon as Hong returned home, Hong Anh told his mother: Mom, I noticed that when receiving Uncle Trong, Prime Minister Tony Blair wore a very beautiful suit, yet Uncle Trong wore a very simple suit! He is so good-looking, if he wore a fashionable suit, it would have been so great."

Hong did not say anything but she thought that the boy had sharp eyes. It was true that Uncle Trong had been wearing this suit for perhaps a decade.

The next day, Hong told the story to the General Secretary. He smiled kindly and replied immediately: "Please tell Hong Anh, thats what Uncle Nguyen Phu Trong is!"

After that, for several times, Hong suggested assistants and guards of Mr. Trong to find ways to tell Mr. Trongs family members to hide those old clothes and then buy new ones for him.

But they all laughed and said that it was an impossible mission.

During his visit to Cuba, the General Secretary wore a light-colored suit. A button was loose. Journalist Thu Hong detected it and then hastily sewed the button for him. She took advantage of this "golden opportunity" to again suggest to Mr. Trong to replace his old suits with new clothes. However, the General Secretary replied: "It is still good. No need to be changed."

As a leader of the Party and State, who is a member of the Party Central Committee for seven terms and now enters the 27th year if counting from the middle of the 7th term in 1994; a member of the National Assembly for four terms (over 18 years); a Politburo member for six terms (over 22 years); and who has been elected to the three highest positions of the Party, State and National Assembly, Mr. Trong is still using a public car which is an old Toyota Crown (manufactured in 1998).

It was the car that former General Secretary Nong Duc Manh used when he was the Chairman of the National Assembly (until 2000). When Mr. Nong Duc Manh became General Secretary, he handed over the car to the Office of the National Assembly. His successor, Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong, continued to use that car even though it had been running for eight years. Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong still uses that car.

His wife, a few years ago, was still riding an old Honda Cub by herself. His children are civil servants.

"Even his son, while studying at the National Academy of Politics, after half a year, not many his classmates knew that he was the son of the head of the Party and State," journalist Xuan Toan, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Dan Tri Newspaper, a classmate, revealed.

Lets leave all titles outside this room'

General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong at the press conference after the closing session of the 13th National Party Congress.

Students of the 8th course of the Philology Faculty of the University of Hanoi (now the Vietnam National University  Hanoi) - journalists Duong Duc Quang, Vu Duy Thong, Duong Quang Minh, Tran Duc Chinh - once told me that, when their classmate was the head of Hanoi, he still returned to visit his university on a motorbike to the surprise of his teachers and friends.

And even when he was General Secretary, and State President, at class meetings he said: Please lets leave all of my titles outside this room. I come here just as your student and your classmate...".

With one term as Chairman of the National Assembly and being elected as the Party General Secretary for another term, which is three terms in total, he is considered by the 13th Party Congress as a special case. That is not to mention that in the past few years, he has also assumed the position of the State President. Indeed, the work is great and heavy, especially when the entire Party has to declare war on the negativity accumulated after many years. And in any position, his simple, open lifestyle and manner have impressed everyone who has had a chance to work with and to meet him.

His outstanding intelligence and a scientific, methodical and serious working style are the qualities that we must talk about, especially at special moments of history.

It is clear that the country desperately needs talented and virtuous leaders like him.

He is the leader who is uncompromising of evil, who lights the fire to warm the trust of the people on the Party and the State, and get the people to understand that this State is of the people, by the people and for the people.

Quoc Phong

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong: "What I do not polish myself" Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong has been re-elected as the General Secretary of the Party Central Committee for the 2021-2026 term.
Appointment

4 February 2021

Odette Brown has been promoted to regional vice president (RVP) of franchise services, overseeing the mid-southern United States region. In this role, Brown will join an RVP team that spans the country, leading assigned area directors, regional area directors and area managers. Together, these teams will work to optimize hotel portfolio support strategies while helping drive hotel owner profitability, market share growth and other performance metrics. Brown will help support brand-related franchisee owner council and franchisee lifecycle support activities. She will also serve as departmental liaison, assisting with and leading internal stakeholders to support the franchise services hospitality vision and prioritize the needs of Choice owners. Brown joined the company in 2014 as an area director and was elevated to regional area director in 2018. Prior to that, she was an area general manager and general manager for several hotels for nearly 10 years.
Ng is challenging the eviction based on an impossibility of performance defense, citing the unprecedented restrictions imposed on indoor dining establishments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In court proceedings Tuesday, Ng said the restaurants revenue fell 76% after shutdown orders were introduced in Illinois. The restaurant, which was founded by Ngs mother at its original location on 22nd Place, has occupied the space at 2217 S. Wentworth Ave. since 2008. Ng said theyve had the same landlord since the move-in.
A funeral director has claimed he was 'unable' to stop a crowd of more than 100 people turning up to a travellers' burial - as he faces a 10,000 fine.

Matthew Lymn led a funeral procession for 89-year-old Prissy Willett into Chesterton Cemetery in Cambridgeshire on Tuesday.

The burial followed a scaled-down funeral service at nearby St Andrew's Church, attended by just 30 people as per current Covid restrictions.

However when the cortege arrived at the cemetery at about 1.30pm, they found about 50 cars already parked there waiting - and at least 100 extra people lining the route to Ms Willett's burial plot.

Matthew Lymn (pictured) led a funeral procession for 89-year-old Prissy Willett into Chesterton Cemetery in Cambridgeshire on Tuesday

When the cortege arrived at the cemetery at about 1.30pm, they found about 50 cars already parked there waiting - and at least 100 extra people lining the route to Prissy's burial plot

Mr Lymn, managing director of A W Lymn funeral directors, said there were 'way too many people' at the cemetery - but that there was 'no way' that his company could have policed it.

He said: 'The family had told me from the start that they were concerned about the number of people that might turn up - as Prissy came from a large, traveller family.

'The family did everything they could to make people aware that the service would be streamed online, and that people should watch it online if they could.

'We made sure that they even signed in writing a form that said they understood the number of people that could attend.

'We even liaised with police about worries over how many people might try and attend, and one officer came to the church - but there were only 30 people inside the church, no more.

'However, there was no way we could have policed the number of people who came to the cemetery, other than having officers attend the cemetery and tell people they could not be there.

Mr Lymn, managing director of A W Lymn funeral directors, said there were 'way too many people' at the cemetery - but that there was 'no way' that his company could have policed it

'I did actually speak with the cemetery superintendent, and ask if we could close the cemetery to all but the funeral party of 30 - but it is a public place, so we couldn't.

'We liaised with police all the way along, but no police officers turned up to the cemetery, and I'm not aware that any Fixed Penalty Notices were handed out.

'People were well-behaved and respectful, and we had no concerns for healthy and safety other than the issue of Covid - but social distancing was not maintained as it should have been.'

And Matthew added: 'I do feel for the family, and feel their pain. In normal times, they would have had hundreds of mourners come to this funeral.

'People are having to make tough choices about who can come and pay respects to family members.'

And he said that A W Lymn have received no contact from police regarding facing a fine over the crowds at the burial.

He said: 'It is my personal belief that it would be more helpful for police to issue Fixed Penalty Notices to individuals breaking the rules to attend funerals, rather than fine the funeral directors.'

Last month, a funeral director was fined 10,000 after police were called to a gathering in Hertfordshire with close to 150 people in attendance.
London, UK (PANA) - Ensuring clean and green battery supply chains must be a priority for businesses and governments during the post-pandemic recovery, Amnesty International said on Thursday
Second man in a month to be killed in mob justice in PE informal settlement

More than one person has been beaten and set alight in mob justice killings at this site next to a primary school in Port Elizabeth.

For the second time in a month a man was killed in mob justice in Powerline informal settlement, Port Elizabeth.

Residents said they called the police on both occasions who took over an hour to respond, when it was already too late.

On Tuesday vigilante violence in Powerline informal settlement, Motherwell, claimed another life. For the second time in a month, a suspected criminal was beaten and then set alight. The victim was accused of stealing a cellphone and some money.

A resident, who did not wish to be identified, said the man had pleaded for his life and "returned the cellphone he had stolen to its owner". He said "he would repay the money".

"I felt sorry for him. How could he get killed for stealing a cellphone?" she said. "I blame the police for failing to come in time to rescue him."

"What message does this send to our children? Do you think violence will end in this country when young people are exposed to it? There are still remains of ashes of a man who was burned a couple of weeks ago outside the gate of the same school and children always look at it with sadness," she said.

A witness said he called the police when he saw the man being dragged to Nxanelwimfundo Primary School. "I was assured by the person who responded to the call that they were swiftly dispatching a van. I then went to do my errands satisfied that the police were coming to save the man," he said.

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"I returned after about an hour and I was told by people who were coming from the scene that the man had been burnt. Still there was no sign of a police van."

He said that next time he would not bother to call the police as it had been "a waste of my money and time".

Another resident said some weeks ago at about 6pm "a child came running to me saying there was a man being beaten". She said she called the police. The police arrived after 7pm. The man had already been burnt. He had been accused of "breaking into people's shacks".

"People are living in perpetual fear of these mobs and they have lost confidence with the police," said a resident.

Police spokesperson, Captain Andre Beetge did not respond to our questions.

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South Korea's prime minister warned that universal basic income was "impossible" to implement, drawing a sharp contrast with other populist contenders for the presidency ahead of an election next year.

In an interview with Bloomberg News on Wednesday, Chung Sye-kyun said "politics based on populism" is "bound to fail." The idea of across-the-board income support to address inequality has been backed by others in President Moon Jae-in's progressive camp aiming to replace him when his single, five-year term ends in a little more than a year.

"There is no country on the face of earth that has successfully carried out a universal basic income system," said Chung, a key player in Moon's administration who has spearheaded South Korea's much-lauded coronavirus containment strategy. "Populism disables decision makers from making reasonable decisions. It may appear good for a while, but eventually people will regret it."

Chung said South Korea doesn't have the resources necessary for universal basic income and would need to scrap all existing welfare benefits to make it work. He called for taxpayer funds to be targeted at those who have suffered the most economic damage from the pandemic through stimulus checks or a "loss-compensation" plan.

The political veteran has seen his fortunes rise after the country was able to put a lid on covid-19 faster than many developed nations, helping it post some of the strongest economic numbers in the pandemic era. Moon said he expects the economy to rebound to pre-pandemic levels in the first half of this year.

Born in 1950, the year the Korean War broke out, Chung grew up in poverty, and worked for a major company before joining the political ranks, where he embraced liberal positions backed by pragmatic approaches. While Chung declined to comment on whether he was running for president, a survey in January ranked him as a prominent contender to replace Moon.

Moon's approval rating was hovering near its lowest level since he took office in 2017, according to a Realmeter tracking poll released Thursday. While his government has won support for its virus control, Moon has seen his support erode among a public that has criticized him for not doing enough to rein in runaway real estate prices and narrow an income inequality gap that ranks among the highest in the developed world.

Chung, who has also served as speaker of the National Assembly and cabinet minister, backed a strict no-lockdown strategy that relied on rapid testing, contact-tracing and quarantines at the border. This included a decision to leave open the border with China -- South Korea's biggest trading partner.

In the interview, Chung offered praise for new U.S. President Joe Biden, criticized the sanctions campaign on North Korea, extended an olive branch to rival Japan and defended a relatively late vaccine rollout.

Here are some highlights:

- Biden:

"Biden, he's a magnificent politician. I respect his philosophy for politics, and if that's the factor people see in me, I would consider that something to be really proud of. I wish President Biden the ultimate success, and if we're similar in that way -- if he succeeds, doesn't it mean that I succeed too?"

- Vaccines:

"We're aware of other nations that have started vaccinations first, and there will be comparisons with those countries, but we'll face that judgment when we get there. For now, I'd just like to emphasize that we're right on schedule."

- North Korea:

"The way I see it, the problem isn't being solved because the sanctions imposed by the United Nations or the U.S. are weak. If it was an issue that would be solved by sanctions, there's no reason to oppose even stronger sanctions. However, because it won't solve the problem, I think it's right to start the dialogue instead of spending time on agreeing on sanctions and imposing them."

- Japan:

"There are history-related issues and other matters, and we're aware that we're the victims of the history-related issues. However, it's appropriate to approach this on a two-track mechanism. The current affairs matters, such as diplomacy, defense and cooperation should be something we work on together, while history-related matters are dealt with under mutual understanding, even if it takes some time."

- Corporate Profit Sharing:

"I agree with the philosophy, on how corporates should take social responsibility. But it's difficult to be institutionalized in reality. Corporates' contribution should be voluntary."

- Gender:

"Back in the old days, we talked about inequality and this sort of issue being quite serious, and they even passed legislation for gender equality, but now, we're already at the level of a developed country. Actually, for a country with a population of more than tens of millions of people, isn't South Korea a country where a young woman can walk around at night, anywhere, by herself?"
Sixty-three Syrians, arrested by Turkey and Syrian opposition proxies, have been illegally transferred to Turkey to face abusive prosecutions, reports Asharq Al-Awsat.

Human Rights Watch Wednesday condemned the illegal transfers to Turkey of more than 60 Syrians arrested by Ankara and its local proxies in Syrias northeast in 2019.

Turkey and its Syrian opposition proxies arrested the 63 Syrians between October and December 2019 in the border area of Ras al-Ain in Syrias northeast, after seizing the region from Kurdish fighters, the rights group said.

The men, Arabs and Kurds, are being held over their alleged links to Kurdish groups viewed by Ankara as terrorists, according to HRW.

They have been charged with undermining the unity and territorial integrity of the state, membership in a terrorist organization, and murder, the rights group added.

Not only have these Syrians been illegally transferred to Turkey for abusive prosecutions, but in an extraordinarily cruel move, the courts have imposed the highest sentence possible in Turkey - life without parole  on at least five of them, said Michael Page, HRWs deputy regional director.

Turkey and its Syrian proxies seized control of Ras al-Ain during an October 2019 offensive that saw it wrest a 120-kilometer long strip of land from Kurdish forces on the Syrian side of its southern border.

Turkish authorities have not produced evidence that the detainees committed crimes or were active fighters with Kurdish groups, AFP quoted HRW as saying.

Turkish authorities, as an occupying power, are required to respect peoples rights under the law of occupation in northeastern Syria, including the prohibition on arbitrary detention and on the transfer of people to their territory, Page said.

Instead, they are violating their obligations by arresting these Syrian men and carting them off to Turkey to face the most dubious and vaguest of charges connected to alleged activity in Syria.

While HRW said it could only confirm 63 transfers, it said available evidence suggests the number of Syrians taken to Turkey could be almost 200.jac

The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
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Theres been a lot of interest from the African press recently in the news that online payments services company JamboPay has obtained a license to operate as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in Kenya.

This is not entirely surprising given that the JamboPay MVNO business model is said to have a strong Internet of Things (IoT) component.

JamboPay parent firm, Web Tribe Limited announced the award, made by telecoms regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya, earlier this week. Web Tribe is a software development and consultancy company specializing in payment systems, management systems, card-based systems and systems integration.

As East African press reports indicate, until now, the firm had focused on online payment services. JamboPay is an online payment gateway that allows users to securely make and receive payments through their mobile phones over the internet.

The licence award means that JamboPay can lease spectrum from mobile network operators and roll out mobile services. JamboPay has said that it is conducting a pilot ahead of rolling out several commercial services. These will begin in Nairobi later this year. Other parts of the country will follow.

Conventional customer communications may or may not be part of the companys plans, but it has indicated that it hopes to provide additional services to its client base, including IoT services.

These services will initially include smart communications networks that will enable Kenyans to monitor their water and electricity meter services and pay for bills. Vehicle tracking may also be possible.

Jambo Pay chief executive officer Danson Muchemi has told Kenyas Business Daily that the firm will invest Sh 300 million (about $2.73 million).

The dominant player in the market, Safaricom, is said to be working with IoT for consumer offerings using its existing 4G network, but this is still a relatively new market in Kenya,
Police said Glover saw his black Chevrolet sedan at about 2:50 a.m. on Jan. 3 near the intersection of Route 12 and Route 120. He chased the vehicle for about a mile until the car ran out of gas and came to rest in the parking lot of an auto body shop on Route 12.
Alumnus David Loring and John Dickens establish Dance scholarship with $2M planned gift to UNCSA

David Loring, a 1968 high school graduate of the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), and his husband, John Dickens, have announced a will bequest with an expected value in excess of $2 million. The gift will be used to establish a merit-based scholarship named for Loring in the School of Dance.

Originally from Waynesville, North Carolina, Loring had no formal dance training when he applied to be a part of the first-ever high school class at the newly established North Carolina School of the Arts. (The institution was renamed the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2008.)

I thought I wanted to be an actor, said Loring. They said they werent looking for actors at that level, but the Dance (school) was always looking for guys, so I gave it a shot.

We cant overstate how grateful we are for David and Jack and their decision to support our students in this way. Alumni such as David know first-hand what this university means to our students and where the training they receive can take them, personally and professionally. We thank him for making it possible for future generations of students  whether theyre from Waynesville or Raleigh or Rio de Janeiro  to have access to the conservatory education UNCSA offers. Chancellor Brian Cole

He auditioned, not knowing what to expect. I think I wore a pair of jeans and did cartwheels across the floor and did whatever steps they asked me to do. To my surprise, shortly thereafter, I got an acceptance letter.

When Loring arrived at the school, he was a student in the modern dance department, where his mentor Pauline Koner informed his view of dance, an impression that remains to this day. He soon fell in love with ballet, however, and switched his focus, beginning a trajectory that would lead him to New York and then Europe. He was a soloist with Het National Ballet in Amsterdam and toured internationally with Rudolf Nureyev. Loring returned to the United States at the invitation of Lucia Chase to become a member of the American Ballet Theatre, where his roles included the Tiller in Antony Tudors final ballet, The Tiller in the Field. Loring then transitioned into musical theater, where he spent the rest of his career, appearing in musicals such as Mame and The Phantom of the Opera.

"I danced until I was nearly 50, he said.

Loring and Dickens decided to establish a scholarship at UNCSA to make it possible for students to continue to follow a version of his unlikely path.

His journey to School of the Arts and then to a professional stage career was unheard of in the 1960s for a kid from Waynesville, Loring said. I got there because I got help from a lot of places. Weve come a long way since then, but theres always those people who need a chance, and we want to give that chance to somebody.

Chancellor Brian Cole said, We cant overstate how grateful we are for David and Jack and their decision to support our students in this way. Alumni such as David know first-hand what this university means to our students and where the training they receive can take them, personally and professionally. We thank him for making it possible for future generations of students  whether theyre from Waynesville or Raleigh or Rio de Janeiro  to have access to the conservatory education UNCSA offers.

The gift from Loring and Dickens comes as UNCSA enters the final phase of Powering Creativity: The Campaign for UNCSA. This multiyear fundraising effort began with a transformative gift from Chancellor Emeritus Alex Ewing in 2016 and exceeded its initial goal of $65 million last spring. To date, the campaign has raised nearly $72 million for scholarships, faculty support, facilities improvements, innovation and community engagement. Alumni such as Loring have contributed more than $5 million in support. Powering Creativity will continue through June.

Planned gifts  including will bequests and other estate gifts  are a growing source of support for UNCSA. They allow donors to create lasting philanthropic legacies while also maintaining control of their assets during their lives and providing tax advantages for donors and their heirs.

More information on the campaign is available online, and to learn more about planned giving or share how you have already included UNCSA in your legacy plans, contact Major and Planned Giving Officer Anne Watkins at 336-770-1370 or watkinsa@uncsa.edu.

Contact Media Relations

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Innocoll Holdings Limited, a specialty pharmaceutical company and portfolio business of Gurnet Point Capital, announced today that Anthony Galdi has been named the Chief Commercial Officer of the Innocoll Group of Companies, effective mid-February. Galdi succeeds Jim Helm, who is retiring and has agreed to assist with the leadership transition.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005569/en/

Anthony Galdi (Photo: Business Wire)

Galdi has more than 25 years of experience at Johnson Johnson in the pharmaceutical, consumer and med tech industries, having most recently led the surgical business in the U.S. for Ethicon, Inc., part of Johnson Johnson Medical Device Companies.

"Anthony's proven track record of building teams, marketing and executing more than 20 successful product launches over the past decade will be invaluable to Innocoll as we continue driving the commercial success of Xaracoll (bupivacaine HCl) implant and our pipeline," said Lou Pascarella, Chief Executive Officer of Innocoll. "At Johnson Johnson, Anthony led the U.S. commercial organization for the hernia market a key market for Innocoll drove exceptional results for the company's surgical business and led myriad successful initiatives in marketing and sales delivering growth at the company. His breadth of experience in sales, operations and marketing in medical devices and pharmaceuticals, combined with his technology-focused and innovative mindset, will help Innocoll drive the success of its revolutionary drug-device XARACOLL for patients undergoing open inguinal hernia repair surgery and maximize the value of our collagen IP portfolio in our next phase of growth."

"I am excited to join Lou and the Innocoll team at this pivotal moment in the company's commercialization trajectory," said Galdi. "Innocoll brings together cutting-edge technologies from pharmaceuticals and medical device technology with the goal of developing and providing solutions to help solve unmet needs in the acute care setting. I believe deeply in the mission, products and pipeline of Innocoll, and I am looking forward to getting started on advancing our mission of solving crucial challenges in acute care for patients worldwide."

Galdi brings a consistent track record in building and mobilizing high performing diverse teams with a strong emphasis on talent development. Prior to his most recent role at ETHICON, Galdi served as the Head of U.S. Marketing and Sales Division of Infection Risk Management, where he directed an extensive repositioning that included the successful launch of an expanded portfolio. He also served as the Business Unit Leader of Marketing and Sales in Hernia General Surgery, where he built a new commercial model and led the development and execution of a new portfolio positioning and value proposition. Galdi has served in various leadership positions in strategic marketing, sales management and engineering. He holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. in engineering from Rutgers School of Engineering.

About Innocoll Holdings Limited

Innocoll Holdings Limited is a global specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in Athlone, Ireland. Innocoll Holdings Limited and its subsidiary, Innocoll Pharmaceuticals Limited, are focused on the development and commercialization of pharmaceutical technologies to meet some of today's most important healthcare challenges. Innocoll Holdings Limited is a portfolio business of Gurnet Point Capital. www.innocoll.com

About Gurnet Point Capital

Gurnet Point Capital is a unique healthcare fund founded by Ernesto Bertarelli and led by Christopher Viehbacher, who, together, have decades of expertise in an industry for which they share a passion, both as Chief Executives and as investors. With an initial allocation of $2 billion, GPC is investing long-term capital and supporting entrepreneurs in building a new generation of companies. Based in Cambridge, MA, its remit is global, encompassing life sciences and medical technologies. The fund invests across all stages of product development through to commercialization and does so with an approach that is a hybrid of venture and private equity investing strategies. www.gurnetpointcapital.com

About XARACOLL

Xaracoll (bupivacaine HCl) implant is a bioresorbable collagen implant providing postsurgical pain relief through the delivery of bupivacaine, a local anesthetic, at the surgical site. XARACOLL implant releases bupivacaine after placement at the surgical site through diffusion from the porous collagen implant, which dissolves over time. XARACOLL was approved in August 2020 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). XARACOLL is a registered trademark of Innocoll Pharmaceuticals Limited.

Further Information About XARACOLL

INDICATIONS AND USAGE

XARACOLL contains an amide local anesthetic and is indicated in adults for placement into the surgical site to produce postsurgical analgesia for up to 24 hours following open inguinal hernia repair.

Limitations of Use

Safety and effectiveness have not been established in other surgical procedures, including orthopedic and boney procedures.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

CONTRAINDICATIONS

Known hypersensitivity to bupivacaine or to any local anesthetic agent of the amide-type or to other components of XARACOLL

Obstetrical paracervical block anesthesia. The use of bupivacaine in this technique has resulted in fetal bradycardia and death

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS

Dose-Related Toxicity : Monitor cardiovascular and respiratory vital signs and patient's state of consciousness after placement of XARACOLL

: Monitor cardiovascular and respiratory vital signs and patient's state of consciousness after placement of XARACOLL Methemoglobinemia: Cases of methemoglobinemia have been reported in association with local anesthetic use. See full Prescribing Information for more detail on managing these risks

ADVERSE REACTIONS

Most common adverse reactions in clinical trials (incidence =2% and higher than placebo) included incision site swelling, dysgeusia, headache, tremor, blurred vision, seroma, scrotal swelling, pyrexia, oral hypoesthesia, and post procedural discharge.

To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Innocoll at 1-833-606-1421 or the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch

DRUG INTERACTIONS

Local Anesthetics: The toxic effects of local anesthetics are additive. Avoid additional local anesthetic administration within 96 hours following XARACOLL implantation. If additional local anesthetic administration with XARACOLL cannot be avoided, monitor patients for neurologic and cardiovascular effects related to local anesthetic systemic toxicity.

USE IN SPECIFIC POPULATIONS

Pregnancy: Based on animal data, may cause fetal harm

Moderate to Severe Hepatic Impairment: Consider increased monitoring for bupivacaine systemic toxicity

Please see full Prescribing Information. https://xaracoll.com/xaracoll_pi.pdf

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005569/en/

Contacts:

Tom Johnson Blair Hennessy

(212) 371-5999

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A LIMERICK TD has come out fighting amid criticism of him for giving a character reference to a young Kilmallock man who assaulted an off-duty garda in Lahinch.

The court case, which was held in Ennis last Friday, made national headlines. The defendant pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and was given a two year suspended sentence and was ordered to pay 15,000 in compensation.

The fact that Deputy Richard ODonoghue provided a character reference for the guilty party was highlighted in national media reports of the court case. The TD denies his actions were an abuse of his powers as a TD.

It might be the abuse of the media highlighting me. Why didnt they highlight that Kilmallock GAA gave somebody a good character reference? I dont like the way the angle has been used, using me to publicise a young lad who has made his first mistake in 22 years. I dont like it. To me it is wrong.

I dont see the people who have been causing problems since they were children all the way up to adulthood, in and out of jail and wasting the courts time by pleading their innocence when they have done very, very bad wrongs being highlighted in the same way.

This lad done wrong. He put his hands up and admitted he was wrong and it is being made into propaganda, Deputy ODonoghue told the Limerick Leader this week.

The TD said he was asked to give a character reference for somebody who he knew.

I have never seen him  in all the years Ive known him  be in trouble. At no time did I ask a judge to be lenient. At no time did I interfere in any part of the justice system. I didnt interfere with the garda investigation. I was asked for a character reference for a person that I knew and I gave that character reference. I can stand over it.

I know him, Ive worked with him. He is 22 years of age, has no previous convictions and has been of good character. The young lad made a mistake, the first mistake he has made in 22 years. The judge in his statement said that this young lad is of good character.

Deputy ODonoghue said he has been asked practically on a weekly basis would he give character references for men and women due before a judge.

I have said no because I didnt know them. I will not be writing a character reference for anyone that I dont know or if they were involved with such things as drink driving or drugs.

The TD, who was elected exactly 12 months ago, said there is nobody in this country that could stand up and say they have never done anything wrong. Everyone in this country is entitled to a second chance. The judge agreed that this lad is of good character. All the other witnesses that he had there, which werent put down on the paper, said the same. He went to court and put his hands up and said he done wrong. He said I am guilty, I done wrong and he took his punishment. He didnt waste the courts times, he didnt waste the gardais time. He is 22 with no previous convictions. How many people within the garda system are 22 with no previous convictions?

Deputy ODonoghue concluded by saying, People should look in the mirror and ask themselves Did I ever do anything wrong? Every person is entitled to a second chance.
The news that the Mu Us Desert will disappear in northwest China's Shaanxi Province became hot news in 2020. Behind this 'green miracle' created by the Chinese people is a team from the PLA Air Force. They flew China's first-generation independently-developed Y-5 transport aircraft in western China to sow tree seeds and grass seeds to the desolate land.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the natural environment in northwestern China was severely desertified. The violent winds in the Mu Us Desert between Shaanxi Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region continued to sweep sands and expand southward, forcing Yulin City in Shaanxi Province to move southward three times.

In 1982, the No.1 Group under a transportation search and rescue regiment of the PLA Air Force launched an aerial seeding and afforestation mission in west China. This Group was the first military unit to perform such a mission. Over the next 39 years, they have sprayed more than 10,000 tons of seeds over more than 300 seeding areas in above 130 counties (cities) throughout seven provinces (regions), including Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, and Ningxia. The operating area exceeds 26 million mu(17.3 trillion square meters).

Some people wondered why the aerial seeding and afforestation mission has to use the Y-5 transport aircraft, now that the PLA Air Force has already commissioned many advanced models of aircraft. The reason is that the Y-5 has a very stable flying performance, especially good at low-altitude flight and being able to take off and land at airstrips. At the same time, it boasts an economical operating cost.

Aerial seeding and afforestation missions are mostly carried out in barren mountains and ridges, vast deserts, and Gobi wastelands. There are no control towers for aircraft, and the operations have to be completed at ultra-low altitudes, which are difficult and dangerous. The undulating Gobi, the unpredictable sand storms, and the erratic hot and cold air currents make it much more challenging to fly in the seeding areas, compared with regular training flights.

Besides of the challenges from the nature, the pilots had to endure the honing of their willpower. With the dreams of becoming flying heroes, these pilots who graduated from military aviation schools ended up flying transport aircraft to sow seeds in the bleak natural environment in northwest China.

When I just graduated, I was just shamed to tell my instructor my duty. The first time seeing this endless sea of sand, I thought to myself that the seeds sowed could not grow," said the veteran pilot Zhang Jiangang. But when Zhang flew back to the area where he sowed after two years, the layer of green seedlings on the desert touched him deeply.

Thirty-nine years on from 1982, the aerial seeding and afforestation mission by the Air Force has never stopped. They have successfully air-seeded and afforested an area of 5.91 million mu (3.9 trillion square meters), and the vegetation coverage has increased from about 5 percent to the current 50.4 percent. They made the impossible possible. For now, the Yulin area of Shaanxi has transformed from a desert area to a granary with an oasis.
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As the State of Alabama works to try and keep up with the demand for vaccines across the state, Huntsville Hospital will soon be part of a statewide effort to increase the number of vaccines administered next week.

On Wednesday, the Alabama Department of Public Health announced that eight sites would take part in large-scale vaccinations. Participating cities include Annison, Birmingham, Dothan, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Selma and Tuscaloosa.

Five categories of people eligible for the vaccine starting Feb. 8, per Huntsville Hospital: Healthcare/1A worker

75 or older

74-65 years old

Essential worker

Education

Each site will receive 1,000 extra doses on top of what they were previously administering.

Tracy Doughty, the senior vice president of operations for Huntsville Hospital, said they are increasing the number of nursing stations in use in order to reach that new threshold.

"We run about nine or ten nurse vaccine stations now and we'll up that to about 17 for those days next week," Doughty said.

From February 8-12, there will be 50-60 people on hand, including doctors, nurses and a pharmacist to ensure things continue to run smoothly. Doughty said it's a combined effort of both staff and volunteers.

"We had a pretty good volunteer list from the community and also our employees, who are willing to volunteer and do extra work to do it. And it was pretty easy to fill the shifts," he said.

While some locations have had challenges keeping vaccine on hand each day, like at Decatur-Morgan Hospital, Doughty said Huntsville Hospital's main campus hasn't run into that issue because they have the capability to administer the Pfizer vaccine.

He confirmed on Wednesday that the 1,000 doses that make up the expansion next week will be used to give people their first shot. Doughty added that they're goal is to equitably pull from the five categories of eligible people as they are distributing these additional vaccines.

However, while the state health department described the large-scale vaccination rollouts as "starting on February 8," Doughty said don't get your hopes up that it will last beyond next week.

"We asked that question of the state. We don't think so. We think it's just a one-time extra bonus," he said.

About 150 people will be seen each hour between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. next Monday through Friday. Doughty said that will help ensure that there's enough parking for everyone and that they can properly social distance.
Mr. Grewal said charges against additional officers were likely.

All of our residents have a right to be treated with basic decency and all officers have an obligation to avoid force, except when absolutely necessary, Mr. Grewal said. Those principles dont just apply in our streets and in our schools, but also in our prisons.

The state has also suspended the administrator of the prison and 31 officers.

The president of the union that represents state correction officers, William Sullivan, called the allegations disturbing, and said the union supports a thorough investigation before any judgments are made.

The legal process should proceed as anticipated to ensure the facts surrounding these allegations are fully ascertained so that justice may ultimately prevail, Mr. Sullivan said.

The arrests come less than 10 months after the Justice Department released a report that outlined systemic failures at Edna Mahan, the states only womens prison. Protected by a culture of acceptance, guards regularly sexually assaulted female inmates, a pattern federal investigators deemed so prevalent that it was found to violate constitutional protections from cruel and unusual punishment.

As a result of the findings, the state was ordered by the Justice Department to address the problems, but has yet to complete the corrective action. The list of remedial action includes adding cameras that are regularly monitored, making staffing adjustments, creating a way for prisoners to report abuse without fear of retaliation and demolishing or securing prison buildings that provide opportunities for sexual abuse.
Chandigarh: Within months of the Akalis walking out of the Union Government, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday finally handed to the state police papers relating to the sacrilege cases, which Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said clearly exposed that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had been scuttling the process to prevent their complicity in the cases from being exposed.

The documents and files relating to the cases were handed over to the Punjab Police hours before the deadline set by Punjab and Haryana High Court for the CBI to do so was to expire.

Captain Amarinder Singh

Notably, the Director Bureau of Investigation had written to Director CBI on January 18, 2021 to return the entire record to the State police without any further delay after withdrawal of investigation of sacrilege cases from CBI and consequent return of the entire record including evidence gathered in cases transferred to CBI on November 2, 2015 vide notification no.7/52113-2H4/619055/1.

The Chief Minister termed it a victory for the state government and an endorsement of its stand that the CBI had, all these months, been trying to scuttle the investigation by the Special Investigative Team (SIT) of Punjab Police at behest of SAD, which was part of the ruling NDA at the Centre till September 2020.

It is clear now that Harsimrat Badal, as union minister, had been pressurising the central agency to obstruct the SIT probe by refusing to hand over the case files as she knew that her partys role in the entire affair would be exposed once the police take the investigation to its logical conclusion, said Captain Amarinder.

Captain Amarinder Singh

SADs complicity in the 2015 cases and their subsequent efforts to scuttle a fair and free probe would now be exposed with the completion of the SIT probe, he said, asserting that all those found guilty would be identified and punished under the law. Nobody will be spared, irrespective of their political affiliation or position, he declared.

Pointing out that his government had withdrawn consent to CBI to probe the cases as far back as in 2018, after the Vidhan Sabha unanimously resolved to do so, the Chief Minister said the SIT was also constituted then to take over the investigation.

The central agency had, for more than two years, been persistently refusing to hand the case files back to state, he said, adding that the agency, which had earlier filed a closure report in the matter, went on to constitute a new investigative team in September 2019 with the clear and obvious aim of preventing the state government from conducting its own impartial, fair and speedy probe, he added.

The shocking part, according to the Chief Minister, was that the CBI adamantly refused to hand over the case diaries even after the High Court, in January 2019, upheld the state governments decision, and again, in February 2020, the Supreme Court dismissed CBIs appeal challenging the HC judgement.

Why else would CBI have behaved in this manner had it not been under political pressure from the Akalis, who clearly did not want the probe to be completed, he asked, adding that SADs acts of omission and commission would now be exposed with the SIT no longer obstructed due to the absence of the case files.

Punjab government

The incidents of sacrilege occurred between June to October 2015 following theft of the sacred Guru Granth Sahib from a Gurudwara in Burj Jawaharsinghwala, Faridkot and discovery of torn pages from the Holy Book in Bargari, Faridkot. They caused widespread discontent and outrage amongst members of the Sikh community.

These incidents led to large-scale protests and agitations in October 2015. The retaliatory action taken by the police led to injuries and death of two persons. In 2015, the Akali Dal Government had transferred investigation of the sacrilege incident to the CBI. Retd. Justice Zora Singh Commission was appointed to inquire into the incidents of sacrilege and police action in the protests, and a report was submitted to the Government in 2016.

After the Congress Government came to power in 2017, finding the report of Retd. Justice Zora Singh to be inconclusive, the Government appointed a fresh Commission of Inquiry, Retd. Justice Ranjit Singh Commission, who submitted a report in 2018.
Britain's media regulator on Thursday revoked a Chinese TV licence after it concluded that the Chinese Communist Party had ultimate editorial responsibility for the channel while Beijing lodged an official complaint over the BBC's COVID-19 coverage. Britain and China have been exchanging barbs for months over the crackdown in Hong Kong, concerns over the security of Huawei technology and the treatment of Uighur Muslims in China's remote Xinjiang region. After an investigation, the British regulator Ofcom concluded that China Global Television Network's (CGTN), an ...
About $2.3 million worth of federal property has been damaged as a result of the riots caused by Antifa, a U.S. Attorney for Oregon estimated.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, Billy J. Williams has released an estimate on the cost to repair the immense damage that Antifa riots have caused over the last months in Portland. The largest and most populous city in Oregon is currently looking at a $2.3 million bill just to repair the federal property destroyed or damaged in the continued protests fueled by the Antifa movement, Breitbart reported.

Among the federal property that Antifa damaged is the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, where the nightly protests were centered, as well as Portland's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building, the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building, the Gus J. Solomon U.S. Courthouse, and the Pioneer Courthouse.

Repairs are believed to fetch millions in costs. Such riots were met with police and counterprotesters until President Trump sent federal officers to fortify the building after Antifa damaged millions worth of property through vandalism.

FOX News reported that during the destructive riots, Antifa activists threw Molotov cocktails and commercial-grade fireworks laced with nails at police, broke windows and painted graffiti on different buildings that were federal property. Rioters were also armed with stun guns, pepper ball guns, and fireworks as they scuffled with law enforcement. The insurgents also reportedly attacked several local businesses, vandalized or toppled statues, burned the U.S. flag, and attacked counterprotesters.

ABC News reported that following the Jan. 20 inauguration, about 150 people marched to the headquarters of the Democratic Party of Oregon and vandalized their headquarters. Eight persons aged 18 to 38 were arrested, but protests continued into the evening when rioters vandalized the ICE field office that is federal property.

The Antifa demonstrators carried signs opposing the government, police, immigration officers, and other forms of authority. They blatantly committed vandalism, throwing out garbage containers and lighting them on fire, as well as breaking windows. One group carried a sign that said, "We are ungovernable."

Out of the 15 individuals arrested during the Antifa protests that have now caused about $2.3 million in federal property damage, two of them have previous arrest records relating to crimes at protests. Davis Alan Beeman, a 38-year-old from Washington was previously arrested in August 2020 during a riot, while Justin Bowen, a 25-year-old from Oregon both have previous riot arrest records dating back to August 2020.

President Biden has yet to address the $2.3 million's worth of federal property damage that Antifa has caused over the course of the last few months.

Mayor Stan Pulliam told FOX News that Oregon is "starting to look like a completely different city than the one I know and love." He claimed that these riots instigated by Antifa perfectly show what a "culture of criminality" looks like.

"This is defund the police," he said, emphasizing what the lack of law enforcement will result in.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki noted the actions of the Antifa rioters who damaged both private and federal property, without actually pinning the blame on Antifa.

"Peaceful protests are a cornerstone of our democracy but smashing windows is not protesting and neither is looting. Actions like these are totally unacceptable," she said.
We asked the Karnataka officials to form joint action teams to curb transportation of illicit liquor, says SEB special officer Rammohan Rao.  Representational image

ANANTAPUR: The 750 kms long Karnataka borders of Bellary, Chitradurga, Tumkur and Chikkaballapur districts that encompass Anantapur has become a major challenge to the Special Enforcement Bureau in its bid to contain transportation of non-duty paid liquor ahead of the gram panchayat polls.

In fact, this illegal activity is not confined to Rayalaseema but has penetrated into all parts of the State.

At least 95 check-posts along with 15 mobile parties of SEB have been established to prevent non-duty paid liquor entering Anantapur district.

With a surge in the illicit transportation of liquor, Anantapur SP Satya Esubabu organised a web meeting with police and excise departments from borders districts of Karnataka and also with local officials on Wednesday.

The Anantapur SEB special officer Rammohan Rao objected to the existing wine shops and belt shops in the border areas and sought a joint action to control illicit liquor in shops over a five-km radius.

We asked the Karnataka officials to form joint action teams to curb transportation of illicit liquor, he said.

Esubabu said that the gram panchayat elections were being held in four phases and sought cooperation from Karnataka officials to end such a racket.

Deputy Commissioners of Bellary, Chitradurga, Tumkur and Chicka Balapur districts along with divisional officials and Anantapur District SEB officers of Kadiri, Penukonda, Dharmavaram, Kalyanadurgam and Guntakal DSPs, Karnataka Tumkur DC N. Nagarajappa, Chitradurga DC Nagasena, Chikkaballapur DC Narendra and Ballary DC Mahesh Kumar participated.
Standing in front of the pews of Broadmoor Community Church in New Orleans, environmental advocates gathered Tuesday morning to oppose the $1.25 billion expansion of plastics producer Shintech Louisiana's plant in Iberville Parish, part of Louisiana's growing industrial corridor along the Mississippi River.

Over a dozen groups cited their concerns with the health risks posed to communities surrounding the plant from an expansion, which is expected to increase the amount of toxic nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by the facility. They asked for the state to revoke the company's permits.

At their current sizes, Shintech's Plaquemine and Addis plants together account for one third of the state's total vinyl chloride emissions, according to an analysis by environmental group Healthy Gulf. When inhaled, exposure can result in liver damage and increase the risk of cancer. When combined with nitrogen oxide, the two can react and form the pollutant ozone, or smog. The facility is the sole emitter of vinyl bromide  a likely carcinogen that can harm the liver  in the state, another worry the groups cited.

"We are no longer accepting this false choice between good jobs and the right to survive," said Michael Esealuka, an organizer with environmental group Healthy Gulf.

Shintech, the world's largest producer of polyvinyl chloride resins, or PVC, first announced its interest in expanding its facility in 2018 and acquired its permits from the state earlier this year in January. This would mark the facility's fourth expansion since 2008.

Those who reside in Plaquemine face a cancer risk higher than 95% of Americans, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2014 National Air Toxics Assessment.

"The cancer hazard for people living near this facility has increased by over a third in the last decade," said Anne Rolfes, executive director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade.

In addition to the $1.25 billion investment in the Plaquemine facility, Shintech plans to put $500 million toward growing its PVC packaging warehouse operation in West Baton Rouge Parish. The facilities are in two of the five river parishes experiencing an increase in new plants, mostly in Black and poor communities, though white and affluent areas aren't immune from the air emissions produced.

Using the EPA's environmental benefits mapping and analysis program, Healthy Gulf staff scientist Naomi Yoder estimated that the two facilities' emission of three pollutants  nitrogen oxide and the two classes of particulate matter  could have resulted in $1.9 billion worth of healthcare costs since 2000 for communities nearby. The estimate was based on data provided by the state's air emissions inventory.

Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

The federal tool is designed to assess the economic value and health impacts of air quality changes.

While the expansion is anticipated to directly and indirectly create 159 jobs, the Rev. Gregory Manning, a leader of the Coalition Against Death Alley, said that number was "absurd compared to the number of lives that it is going to affect."

"Compared to the number of people that are going to be exposed to these harmful carcinogens," he added.

While Shintech Louisiana has yet to read the environmental groups' concerns, Danny Cedotal, the company's vice president of manufacturing, said their staff's computer modeling showed that the permitted emission increases comply with federal and state air quality standards and "meet scientific criteria established by federal and state agencies to provide levels protective of community and the environment."

When the expansion was announced last week, Cedotal said the company was "grateful" for the support of the local community.

"We work every day to continue our commitment to live locally, hire locally and buy locally as the company's footprint grows," he said in the Jan. 26 news release.

In addition to tossing the permits, Rolfes said the groups would like to see Gov. John Bel Edwards and the Louisiana Economic Development office invite more sustainable, green companies to the state.

"Rip up the permit, get rid of it," she said. "And let's join with the rest of the country and with the national effort to solve climate change, (and) employ people in healthy jobs. This is a real moment of opportunity for Louisiana; let's grab it.

CORRECTION: Earlier versions of this story incorrectly stated that Shintech's Plaquemine plant accounts for one third of Louisiana's emissions of volatile organic compounds.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency this week awarded Massachusetts more than $213 million to bolster the states COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

FEMA confirmed the award amount on Wednesday, noting the funding would support Massachusetts officials with emergency protective measures as they store, handle, transport, distribute and administer vaccines according to the states vaccination plan. FEMA said the funds were expeditiously awarded to support the states effort to address this immediate threat to life and public safety.

Through FEMAs partnership, this critical funding will assist the Commonwealth in ensuring they have the necessary funds to carry out their vaccination plan, Paul Ford, the acting regional administrator and federal coordinating officer who oversees FEMAs operations in Massachusetts, said.

The funds can cover expenditures on personal protection equipment; storage equipment including coolers, freezers and portable storage units; emergency medical supplies; storage for canisters of liquid nitrogen or dry ice; and other vaccination equipment as needed, FEMA said.

Massachusetts has ramped up the second phase of its vaccination plan, expanding the group of eligible recipients and opening several mass vaccination sites in recent days.

Gov. Charlie Baker has defended the states approach, which initially targeted health care and front line workers, even as other states have seen higher overall vaccination totals.

FEMA noted that as of Jan. 28, Massachusetts has administered nearly half a million doses of coronavirus vaccine, averaging about 12,000 doses a day.

In a recent news conference, Baker said officials hoped to ramp up the vaccination rollout and deliver doses into the arms of 85% of residents, or about 4 million people across the state.

Lawmakers and residents have complained that there are few options for communities of color and seniors who live west of Worcester, prompting Baker to call for patience on Wednesday.

State officials plan to set aside days for appointments by locals at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury, the predominantly Black neighborhood in Boston where many of the first appointments at the mass vaccination facility were secured by white people from out of town, according to The Boston Globe.

Im not happy with where we are. I know a lot of other people arent either, Baker said. We have work to do and we know that one of the best things a good manager does is recognizes and understands that they have a problem and then bust their butt to figure out how to fix it.

There are more than 100 vaccination sites across the state, and Baker and FEMA note that the number of facilities will be expanded to meet demand.

By mid-February, the state will have the capacity to administer more than 305,000 vaccines every week at 165 publicly available sites, including 71 pharmacies and retail locations, which are mapped out at https://www.mass.gov/covid-19-vaccine. Residents can find out where and when to get vaccinated and make appointments at sites convenient to them, Baker said.

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Victorian quarantine workers will be at the head of the queue for the vaccine and should be getting their first shots by the end of the month. Mr Andrews said he expected the Australian Open, due to start on Monday, would go ahead, and tournament boss Craig Tiley said organisers were going full steam ahead with the grand slam event as officials awaited test results from more than 500 players. We fully expect them all to test negative and continue with play tomorrow like we originally planned, Tiley said. Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said the new local case and potential COVID-19 transmission within hotel quarantine meant something has gone wrong, no question about that.

Loading Ms Neville said that in light of the more virulent British strain, the governments infection control teams were looking at different procedures. Things like in the health hotels, we use N95 masks when were moving infectious people, but we may need to do fitted masks, that could be one of the procedures we need to change, she told radio station 3AW. The 26-year-old Noble Park mans case brought an end to Victorias 28-day run of zero community transmission. Genomic testing results, which will reveal if he is carrying one of the more virulent strains of the virus, are expected on Friday. Authorities said on Thursday he had a high viral load and was probably carrying the mutant British strain. A massive testing and contact tracing operation is under way and hotel quarantine workers will now be tested on their days off.

The young man visited 14 exposure sites, including Kmart, Coles and Bunnings stores, before showing symptoms of the virus and there were long delays at testing sites across Melbourne on Thursday, with at least one in the citys south-east having to close not long after it opened. The Health Department said on Thursday evening that investigations carried out by contact tracers had revealed 17 social and household close contacts of the worker, nine of whom have so far tested negative with further results to come. Late on Thursday night, the Health Department released more information saying 15 of the 17 close contacts of the worker has tested negative and the final two results were expected on Friday. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Other states are watching the situation closely with NSW screening passengers arriving on flights from Melbourne. The South Australian and Queensland borders are staying open but WA Premier Mark McGowan said that a planned relaxation of border controls to Victoria would be paused.

On Wednesday, the Victorian government revealed a returned traveller in hotel quarantine had tested positive to the exact same British variant of the coronavirus as a family staying across the hall, with health authorities suspecting the viral load was so high in the familys room that particles had spread across the corridor. Loading A member of the family recalled opening the hotel room door  either to collect food or put out laundry  at the same time as someone in the room opposite opened their door. CCTV footage has not shown any occasion on which members of the two rooms left their rooms at the same time. The cases have reignited debate around Australias hotel quarantine program, with some experts arguing high-rise hotels were never designed for this purpose and that further outbreaks are inevitable. Epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws, an adviser to the World Health Organisation, said the sheer number of exposure sites the hotel quarantine worker had visited in recent days, along with increasing concerns he was infected with the highly infectious British super-strain, had created a perfect storm of risk.

With the variant, theyre up to 70 per cent more infectious, Professor McLaws said. It is highly likely that this poor young man will have inadvertently caused infection around Melbourne, so I think Melburnians need to be ready for a problem. Professor McLaws said Australian authorities had failed to develop a quarantine program that acknowledged the serious threat posed by opportunistic airborne spread of the virus. She wants a purpose-built quarantine building with corridors and rooms that have at least 10 airflow changes per hour. The hotel quarantine program should only have been an emergency response to get Australians and residents back home, she said. Unfortunately it has become the norm. Questions remain about how and when the young man became infected. He tested negative on January 29, his last day working at the quarantine hotel. In the ensuing days, he developed symptoms and then was tested again on February 2, returning a positive test.

Associate Professor Paul Griffin, a COVID-19 testing expert at the University of Queensland, said it can take several days after a person is exposed for the virus to build up high enough levels in their body that it can be detected. On average, it takes five days for a person to test positive after being exposed. However, this can vary widely, from one to 14 days. [Exposure] could have been a small number of days before that positive test  two or three, or up to 14. But most likely around that five days before. Somewhere in the preceding week would be most likely, he said. University of Sydney infectious diseases expert Professor Robert Booy said the next 48 hours would be crucial. One case by itself doesnt seem like much, but because two days before he became symptomatic he went to at least half a dozen locations right around Melbourne there are a lot more people at risk, Professor Booy said.

However, he said the state government had so far done all it could to curb the spread of the virus and he was hopeful any outbreak would be contained swiftly by Victorias bolstered contact tracing system and mass testing. Theyre acting as fast as is humanly possible, he said. University of South Australia biostatistics and epidemiology professor Adrian Esterman said the prospect of a short and sharp lockdown could not be ruled out if more cases emerged in the next 24 to 48 hours or if the man was confirmed to be infected with the UK strain of the virus. If it does turn out to be the UK variant, its of much more concern because it is much more contagious, he said. I am hopeful it wont come to another lockdown. I have had criticism this morning for saying this and been told I am being alarmist, but if it is the UK variant, I am not being alarmist at all, I am being very sensible. Professor Esterman said it was important to remember that only 10 to 20 per cent of people cause 80 per cent of cases. In other words, the majority of infected people are not very infectious, he said.

Professor Toole said the mans high viral load elevated the risk he could have passed the virus on at some of the venues he went to because face masks were not mandated at that time. Loading Given what we know now about aerosol transmission its not unlikely that he infected someone else, but its such a guessing game, Professor Toole said. Theres a lot of luck in this whole sequence of events. Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng announced there would be new measures to test hotel quarantine workers including testing them after they finish a run of shifts and on their days off. Meanwhile, Mr Andrews said he would consider moving hotel quarantine away from Melbourne and into regional areas if health experts and national cabinet suggested the proposal, but it didnt remove all risk of the virus escaping quarantine.
By putting private investment capital to good use in over 8,700 distressed communities, Opportunity Zone funds can lead the way to rapid economic recovery.

Specialty financial administrator NES Financial | JTC announced today that it will host its next webinar, Opportunity Zones 2021: Trends, Future Outlook and More with Industry Experts, featuring Louis Dubin, Managing Partner of Redbrick LMD; Shay Hawkins, President of Opportunity Funds Association; Seth Lebowitz, Partner and Head of Tax Group at national law firm Sadis & Goldberg; and Rachel Reilly, Founder of Aces & Arches.

The informational webinar is scheduled for February 10 at 11 a.m. PT and will be moderated by Reid Thomas, Chief Revenue Officer and Managing Director at NES Financial | JTC. The event is free and open to the public to attend.

Although 2020 was still a very successful year for the Opportunity Zones initiative, pandemic-driven shifts in market dynamics have affected demand, rates of project creation, and levels of interest in individual property types, said Thomas. By putting private investment capital to good use in over 8,700 distressed communities, OZ funds can lead the way to rapid economic recovery.

The Opportunity Zones initiative was enacted in 2017 to help incentivize economic development and growth in communities previously overlooked by investors. The initiative has grown considerably, with recently released final Treasury regulations and multiple legislative proposals to implement much needed in-depth impact reporting.

In addition to discussing economic recovery and social impact, NES Financial | JTC will provide key industry insights. To RSVP and attend this webinar, please click here for more details or visit nesfinancial.com.

About NES Financial | JTC

NES Financial | JTC is the US division of JTC Group, a multi-jurisdictional provider of fund, corporate and private client services. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and included in the FTSE 250 Index, JTC Group administers more than $130 billion in assets and employs more than 900 people in 23 offices worldwide. NES Financial | JTC is a leader in specialty financial administration, serving markets characterized by high administrative complexity, elevated transaction security needs and challenging compliance requirements. The companys technology-driven solutions streamline best practices in these markets by simplifying specialized financial transactions, reducing back-office overhead, curtailing fraud and abuse, and offering security, transparency and regulatory compliance during each step of an investments life cycle.

For more information, visit nesfinancial.com.

About Redbrick LMD

Redbrick LMD is a diversified real estate investment, management and development firm based in Washington, DC. They specialize in opportunistic and value-added residential and mixed-use projects with a focus on the D.C. metro market where they control the largest privately-held Opportunity Zone pipeline.

Redbrick LMDs leadership team has significant experience in the acquisition and repositioning of existing projects, the entitlement and ground-up development of new projects, and the financial and legal structuring of transactions to maximize returns while mitigating risks for investors.

The team has developed, redeveloped and managed over 5,000 multifamily units nationally. In addition, they have developed a substantial portfolio of mixed use assets. Since 2000, the principals have closed on more than $2 billion in real estate transactions and has a current development pipeline of approximately four million square feet.

Opportunity Funds Association

The Opportunity Funds Association (OFA) is an advocacy, education, and communications organization established to enable Opportunity Fund managers and investors in Opportunity Funds to participate in public policy, share best practices, and communicate the industrys contributions to distressed rural and urban communities across the country.

About Sadis & Goldberg

Sadis & Goldberg LLP is internationally recognized for its Financial Services practice representing sponsors, managers and investors in private investment products, including hedge funds, private equity funds, real estate investment vehicles, venture capital funds and commodity pools, as well as direct private transactions. Our firm advises on a wide range of legal issues, including fund formation, financial transactions, taxation and regulatory compliance. Our partners and associates are seasoned attorneys with experience representing institutional and entrepreneurial clients on sophisticated matters, as well as governmental agencies such as the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. In addition to its practice in Financial Services and Investment Funds, the firm also maintains active practices in the following areas of law: Corporate and M&A, Family Office, Real Estate, Tax and ERISA, Regulatory Compliance and Litigation.

About Aces & Arches

Aces & Archers provides consultant and advisory services to economic development organizations, policy think tanks, asset managers, and entrepreneurs developing and delivering solutions that strengthen communities and local business ecosystems. We are passionate about reimagining traditional models for economic growth and private investing in order to address socioeconomic inequality. Aces & Archers works with clients to develop new public policies, strengthen corporate strategies, facilitate stakeholder engagement, assemble and deploy capital, and create educational content as we transcend the status quo and blaze new trails toward opportunity and prosperity.
Controversial British rapper Slowthai has hit out at cancel culture, saying it kills all art and creativity.

The Northampton rapper, 26, spoke of how he found being in the public eye 'suffocating' and admitted it had affected both his confidence and mental health.

Slowthai, real name Tyron Frampton, shot to fame with the release of his debut album Nothing Great About Britain in 2019 but made headlines and suffered criticism after a number of public stunts.

His follow-up album, titled Tyron and due for release this month, reflects on his own mental health and the importance of community.

He said: 'People are just so much more critical when you are in the public eye fully.

Controversial rapper Slowthai, pictured performing at the NME Awards last year in London, has said cancel culture kills creativity because it makes people too scared to be themselves

'It can be suffocating because if you are scared to be yourself because of what people think of you, you won't be confident in your abilities, you won't be confident in your personality.

'That's part of the reason it leads to such problems in mental health because people are so judgemental and quick to rub people out, that people are scared to fully be themselves.

'That is the problem with it. It kills art.

'It kills all creativity because freedom of speech is something that is annihilated by a pack wolves on the internet, or more a pack of hyenas because they are like scavengers.

'They ain't got nothing more interesting in their life to feed on so they thrive off one thing.

'They will still be talking about it without being advocates for change anyway.'

Slowthai hit headlines last year after an awkward exchange with comedian Katherine Ryan during the NME Awards in which he leaned on her breasts and made lewd sexual comments

Slowthai made headlines after he posed with an effigy of Boris Johnson's severed head at the Mercury Prize ceremony in 2019.

The rapper has been an outspoken critic of the Conservative Party and often vilifies Brexit in his songs, once referring to former Prime Minister Theresa May as a 'd***head' in an interview with NME.

He has regularly refers to himself as a 'Brexit bandit' and is known to start chants of 'f*** Theresa May' at live shows.

The artist, whose debut was nominated for the prestigious album award, later said his act was merely metaphorical, and said he does not advocate violence.

He also apologised to comedian Katherine Ryan for his 'shameful actions' on stage at the NME Awards in 2020.

The rapper, who was awarded the hero of the year prize at the ceremony, had asked her to smell his cologne, referred to her as 'baby girl' and also put his arm around her waist in front of the audience.

British rapper Slowthai also sparked anger at the Mercury Prize ceremony by holding up an effigy of Boris Johnson 's severed head in September 2019 prompting the BBC to cut him off

He then leaned into her body and said 'You ain't never had someone play with you liked I'd play with you', leading Ryan to fire back sarcastically: 'You are like the hottest guy I've seen.'

As the shocked audience watched on, the rapper replied 'Stop playing with me', leading Ryan to call him 'needle d***' to the delight of the crowd, who cheered her put-down.

Slowthai then went on to tell her she could earn him, but Ryan fired back: 'Or I could just earn loads of money and buy my own house without a man.'

As he left the stage, Ryan also joked 'Thank you Mike from Love Island,' before adding: 'You are younger than my babysitter.'

The day after the event, the rapper apologised on Twitter and asked NME to give his award to Ryan, describing her as the 'hero of the year'.

Slowthai has now said he is making an effort to improve himself following those incidents.

He said: 'No one can control my destiny at the end of the day.

'As long as I am taking the steps to better myself and learn from every mistake - and you have to make mistakes to learn from them.

'People can't ruin me ever. I will never allow it to happen. I will just come back stronger.

'If you lose a fight you go and train 10 times harder.

'You train until you break your hands, until you have seen every blip, every mistake you made, and you get it corrected.

'There is nothing no one can bring you down about. I have learned from everything.'

Tyron is released on February 12.

ROCHESTER, Minn. - Olmsted County Public Health and Salvation Army will be partnering to vaccinate people experiencing homelessness Thursday.

Officials are not providing many details on the vaccinations because of their priority of maintaining the trust they have built with this vulnerable population, and ensuring everyone feels safe getting a vaccine.

At a media briefing Wednesday, Olmsted County Public Health Director Graham Briggs said people experiencing homelessness, and those who work with them, are a priority group in the vaccine distribution process, and the county has been setting aside doses to get them protected.

"As we were looking through this, being able to see that we'd have enough doses to get that homeless population taken care of was something that, working with the state, we decided to pull the trigger on that, and get that group taken care of while we got the chance," Briggs said.

The Minnesota Department of Health says nearly 19% of Olmsted County residents have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine as of Wednesday night.
AN accountant at the Lewcor Group was arrested at Walvis Bay yesterday for allegedly defrauding the company of N$11 million.

Erongo crime investigations coordinator, deputy commissioner Erastus Iikuyu, confirmed the arrest this morning.

The accountant will appear in court today on charges of fraud, theft under false pretense and money laundering.

Her alleged crimes were committed between 2016 and 2020.

She allegedly stole the company's funds, estimated at N$11 million, by requesting payments from service providers to be paid into her personal accounts, among others, Iikuyu said.

He said the suspect further submitted invoices and quotations to clients, especially those in Erongo, which resulted in monies being paid to her.

None of the stolen money has so far been recovered and investigations continue.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Norwegian and Danish health authorities said Thursday they will limit use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to those under age 65, citing a lack of data on its efficacy for the elderly.

The two Nordic nations followed in the footsteps of several others in the European Union, of which Norway is not a member but to which it is closely linked, including for the procurement of COVID vaccines negotiated by Brussels.

The head of Norway's public health agency FHI, Camilla Stoltenberg, told reporters the decision was made "not because the vaccine doesn't work for the elderly, but because the documentation is so limited".

Health authorities in Germany, France and Sweden have also recommended the jab only be used on under-65s.

In Norway and Denmark, exemptions will also be made for under-65s with underlying health conditions and at risk of developing severe cases of COVID-19. They will continue to receive the vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

For others who will receive the AstraZeneca inoculation, the two doses will be administered between nine and 12 weeks apart in Norway, and four to 12 weeks apart in Denmark.

"We see that a longer interval between the doses provides better protection," said Sara Watle, a doctor at Norway's FHI.

Norway, a country of 5.4 million, has one of Europe's lowest COVID incidence rates, according to EU disease agency ECDC.

So far, at least 135,000 people in Norway have received a first vaccine dose and more than 30,000 a second dose, and the country hopes to have vaccinated most of its adult population by summer.

In Denmark, the EU country with the second-highest vaccination rate after Malta, 1.68 percent of its 5.8 million inhabitants have received two doses and 3.28 percent have received a first dose. The country hopes to have vaccinated all adults by July 4.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 AFP
(HealthDay)Want to live like you did in the carefree days before the pandemic?

Just roll up your sleeve when your turn comes to get the COVID-19 vaccine, three major medical groups urge in a new public service campaign.

The vaccines are safe, effective and will help end the pandemic, according to the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association.

"To defeat COVID-19 and get back the moments with friends and family we all miss, we need as many shots in arms as possible," said Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the hospital association.

"It's imperative that all Americans consider the health of their loved ones and make the decision to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it is their turn," Pollack said in a joint association news release.

Dr. Susan Bailey, president of the American Medical Association, agreed, calling on Americans to exercise civic responsibility.

"Whether enough people get the COVID-19 vaccine decides our future and the future toll of the virus, so be ready to do your part," Bailey said.

What if you have concerns in the meantime?

Ernest Grant, president of the American Nurses Association, suggested reaching out to a nurse, doctor or other health care professional to get your questions answered.

"Try to connect with someone you know and trust who has received a COVID-19 vaccine and ask them about their experience to help you make an informed decision," he advised in the release.

The mass distribution and administration of COVID-19 shots marks a turning point in the pandemic, Grant said.

"Vaccination will help protect us from this deadly virus so we can get back to the people, the hobbies and the activities that we all cherish and miss," he said.

Over the past year, the three groups have worked together to increase public acceptance of other measures crucial in fighting the pandemic, including wearing a mask, practicing physical distancing and washing hands frequently.

In December, they released an open letter urging health care professionals to get COVID-19 vaccines and share their experience with others.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

More information: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on COVID-19 vaccines

Copyright  2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Nairobi  Kenya recorded 150 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, marking a 4.8 per cent positivity rate.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health indicate that the new cases were detected from 3,117 samples raising the number of cases recorded in the country so far to 101,159.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said three more patients had succumbed to the disease, raising the total number of fatalities to in the country to 1,769.

In the statistics released Wednesday, Kagwe said 70 more patients had recovered from the disease, including 43 from the home based care program and 27 discharges from various hospitals.

The total number of COVID-19 recoveries in the country now stands at 84,060.

The government is targeting to vaccinate 16 million people by end of the year to suppress the virus with vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Johnson and Johnson.

Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr. Mercy Mwangangi last week said the government hopes to start receiving the vaccines from February for the first phase to start until June.

Even after President Uhuru Kenyatta extended several containment measures, including a ban on political gatherings and a night curfew that starts at 10pm to 4am until March, he is among leaders who continue to flout rules restricting large gatherings with meetings convened by the Head of State often falling short of health ministry guidelines.

Deputy William Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga have also heightened political activity often attracting huge crowds in roadside rallies.

(TNS)  Frustration with the Kansas Department of Labor has reached a boiling point for lawmakers, as the agency is outlining the effects of new technology introduced earlier this week that they say will help shut down a rush of fraudulent unemployment claims.The agency has been overwhelmed with a historic number of out-of-work Kansans since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March. The matter forced the resignation of the agency's secretary over the summer but complaints from frustrated claimants, unable to access their benefits or reach the agency, continue.This has been compounded by a rash of fraudulent claims, which have been a constant since last year but appear to have escalated in recent weeks. Republican legislators believe this spike is driven by the state's lax security measures, which they argue makes the state more attractive to crooks.Earlier in January, Kansas saw as many as 70,000 initial claims in one week, which was more than almost every other state in the country. New claims last week dipped to 25,489 the week of Jan. 23, the most recent week for which data is available. Now, legislators are preparing to take action."Either they are completely inept or they've been hiding something big and I think it is the latter," said Rep. Sean Tarwater, R- Stilwell, during a House Republican caucus meeting Wednesday morning.KDOL has been hopeful that new security features were implemented over the weekend will halt the bogus claims and free up significantly more energy to devote to helping legitimate claimants.In order to beef up security, KDOL took the unprecedented step of shutting down the unemployment system for several days to implement an enhanced verification process. It was back up and running on Tuesday.The agency said it stopped over 576,000 fraudulent login attempts in the last 24 hours  data that gives a glimpse into the scale of the fraud the state has been experiencing for weeks, if not months.The actual number of fraudulent claims stopped is a different matter, though the department has previously said it stops thousands of bogus filings per day.Over 45,000 residents attempted to login into the more secure system, according to KDOL data, with about 27,000 of them able to register successfully. Other residents may not have completed the process and might finish at a later time, the agency said.And some claimants either failed the identity check or encountered technical difficulties. Jerry Grasso, a spokesperson for KDOL, noted that "the assumption that issues are all on KDOL's end is incorrect" and that agency representatives can walk residents through potential issues."We're going to get that ironed out and the system will be performing at a very high level," Brett Flaschbarth, acting secretary of KDOL, told legislators Wednesday.Businesses say they remain frustrated with the volume of fraud.Amber Neises, a representative for Airbus' operations in Wichita, said there were former employees who were unable to file for unemployment after being laid off because someone had previously filed a fraudulent claim in their name."I would like to relay the amount of confusion and stress that this adds to an already stressful work-life balance situation our employees are facing in their everyday life," Neises said.Republicans have argued that fraudsters are targeting the state because of its lax security protocols, which in part stem from the department's aging infrastructure. While updates were made to the unemployment system in the early 2000s, KDOL has argued the core of the system is upwards of 40 years old.Sen. Rob Olson, R- Olathe, pointed to $50 million in federal funds secured under the administration of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius at a time when the state's unemployment system was also under strain."The exact problem we have right now, with people not getting their benefits, we had back then too," he said in an interview, adding that the money did not move the needle on modernization.The concern is the state will be on the hook for paying out the fraud from its dwindling unemployment trust fund.Officials are confident the fund will remain solvent until the summer, at which point a no-interest loan from the federal government can be pursued if need be.But employers ultimately pay into the fund via a tax and other groups, such as school districts, regularly reimburse the state for their share of any benefits, meaning legislators are concerned that any efforts to replenish the trust would burden those organizations.KDOL has not publicly said how much fraud has gotten paid out, although Tarwater said an outside estimate pegged the number in the hundreds of millions of dollars.For Sunflower Support Company, a Topeka-based firm providing services for adults with intellectual disabilities, the bill for fraudulent benefits totals roughly 6 percent of their annual payroll, according to Holly Mace, the company's human resources director.Members are preparing a comprehensive legislative response to increase oversight of the unemployment system, protect organizations hit by fraud from having to pay out any benefits for former employees and start what will likely be an expensive and prolonged modernization process.Gov. Laura Kelly requested $37.5 million in funding to begin an overhaul of the backend systems in her budget request last month and more money will likely follow, though a timeframe for when the effort might start remains unclear.Ryan Wright, who was formerly acting KDOL secretary and now is a top advisor for the agency, said in January that a report outlining the steps needed to modernize the systems was "essentially done." The plan, he said, was to bid out the project in the spring.But key lawmakers said this week that they had no idea of the plan's status and a new timeline provided Tuesday by a KDOL spokesperson said that the report would be delivered sometime this month or next, with the project set to begin in late 2021.Legislators say they are prepared to spend what it takes to get the system up to date."We will get whatever it takes to get it modernized," Olson said. "Everybody wanted to get this done. It is going to cost money  it is not going to be cheap."For now, residents are balancing various strains of anxiety.Some are worried about tax forms arriving in the mail from KDOL showing benefits payments they never got, with the agency urging residents to alert them online if they were sent the documents in error.But the top concern for many is still their financial future if they are unable to get their benefits. Residents with legitimate claims say they are still having a hard time getting the benefits they are owed, with complaints that they remain unable to get through to talk to a customer service agent persisting.Flaschbarth re-iterated that the agency has beefed up staffing in the call center and said he expected they would slow down as the agency resumes paying out federal programs renewed under federal legislation in December.But Tarwater said the sense of urgency remains extremely high for his constituents."We've got people losing their cars, we've got people that can't eat, haven't paid their rent since March," he said.
The allocation of Rs 6,636 crore to poll bound is the highest ever funds earmarked for the state in the history of Indian Railways, Minister said Thursday, blaming successive state governments for the delay in rail projects in the state.

has 53 ongoing projects including new lines, gauge conversion, doubling projects costing Rs 48,275 crore for 4,463 km.

"The allocation for is the highest ever in the history of Indian Railways. It is 2.5 times the average amount allocated between Budget 2009-2014 and 26 per cent more than last year," he said while addressing a press briefing.

"Projects there remain incomplete or are delayed because the state governments - first it was the Left front government and now the TMC-- have been unable to provide land to us. Projects which are 45 year old are pending in the state," he said.

"I appeal to Mamata didi to expedite the process and give us land," he said.

Goyal said that due to non-availability of land, as many as 34 projects in the state have received only token allotment in the budget 2021-22.

With an eye on the upcoming Assembly polls in the state, Goyal said that there was no shortage of funds for West Bengal.

"I want to assure the people of West Bengal that there is no shortage of funds for projects in the state. Only there should not be any shortage of land and local issues are sorted then projects will be completed on time," he said.

Goyal further took a dig at pre-BJP budgets where the Railway Budget was separate and said that at that time there was a tendency to announce rail projects for political gains and not for the need of the people.

"Once someone became a minister, he would announce projects without first checking if there were funds available, if land was available and if the project was feasible. That is the reason why none of the projects which were announced then could be completed and there would be major cost overruns. So, inspired by politics this harmed the railways," he said.

"Now, we have decided that we will start a project only after we have the land required for it. We have identified critical and super critical projects which would be completed in a focussed manner. Over the next four years, the Railways will emerge as a vibrant contributor to the Indian economy," he added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Centre is expected to offer 6-10 airports for the next stage of airport privatisation, a senior official said on Thursday.

The process that is expected to commence from FY22 will have 6-10 airports.

At present, the Centre is in the process of identifying these airports which will be offered via competitive bidding to private sector for a lease period of 50 years for operation, management and development of these assets.

Briefing about the Budget 2021-22 proposal for the aviation sector, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Kharola said that both profitable and non-profitable airports will be clubbed for bidding.

On Monday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to continue with the next round of airport privatisation on a lease basis.

Till now, six airports, namely Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru, have been awarded via competitive bidding process.
Spotify allowed songs littered with anti-semitic lyrics to be streamed from the platform, an investigation has uncovered.

Songs attacked 'paedophile Jews', called for a 'second Holocaust' and stated that 'Zionism must be destroyed' in just some of the examples found.

The music streaming service has been accused of 'providing a pulpit for modern day hate preachers' after Joseph Cohen, from the Israel Advocacy Movement, found dozens of examples of hate speech within songs.

One song, called Zyklon B, was named after the poison gas used in Nazi death chambers, reported The Jewish Chronicle.

Meanwhile, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex recently signed a 30million deal with the streaming service to produce and host their own shows as part of the newly formed Archewell Audio.

Mr Cohen said: 'There's a responsibility on Spotify not to be effectively paying Nazi bands and antisemites money to go and make more music.'

Songs attacked 'paedophile Jews', called for a 'second Holocaust' and stated that 'Zionism must be destroyed' in just some of the examples found on Spotify (logo pictured)

Spotify removed some of the songs from the platform after it was contacted by the JC but others remain available for streaming.

Some of the tracks include homophobia and hatred towards other religions. One incited listeners to burn mosques and 'molest all Islamic believers'.

Zyklon B, by Brazilian band Unearthly and released in 2003, featured the lyrics: 'Unleashing second Holocaust / For punishment shall be repeated / Attack their greedy new found joy / Zionism must be destroyed' and 'They are targets of our rage! / We'll destroy the entire race / We'll bring Holocaust back / Zionism's disgrace.'

Spotify artist, rapper K-Rino, has 50,269 monthly listeners. His song Secret War features the lyrics: 'And fly you through the cycle of Zionist entitlements / Top rabbis and paedophile Jews / Get their values from the Babylonian Talmud'

One song, called Zyklon B, was named after the poison gas used in Nazi death chambers, reported The Jewish Chronicle. Pictured, the band Unearthly

A trailer clip of Archewell Audio was released in December, accompanied by a short description which reads: 'Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, present Archewell Audio. Coming soon to Spotify'

The big name celebrities who already have high-profile podcasts on Spotify Harry and Meghan are the latest high profile name to take up podcasting on streaming service Spotify. The Swedish media service is already home to the podcasts of big names, including Michelle Obama. The former First Lady of America hosts The Michelle Obama Podcast on the platform after her production studio Higher Ground signed a major deal with Spotify last year. It features Mrs Obama diving deep into conversations with loved ones  family, friends, and colleagues. Grounded with Louis Theroux is also extremely popular on the streaming service. The BBC podcast on Spotify involves the documentary maker sitting down for a talk with big names, such as actress Helena Bonham Carter. US talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who lives near the Sussexes, has also launched the popular Oprah's Supersoul Conversations, while Strictly Come Dancing host Claudia Winkleman also has a podcast on Spotify, in which she discusses topics around family issues with clinical psychologist Professor Tanya Byron. Other celebrity podcasts on the streaming service include Happy Place by Fearne Cotton and Castaway by Love Island host Laura Whitmore. Advertisement

Another Spotify artist, rapper K-Rino, who has 50,269 monthly listeners, has a song called Secret War. Its lyrics include: 'And fly you through the cycle of Zionist entitlements / Top rabbis and paedophile Jews / Get their values from the Babylonian Talmud.

'They don't live by the Torah / They live by these rules / Sex trafficking, raping babies younger than preschool.'

Both artists are still featured on the platform although the two songs were removed by Spotify.

Another artist, Payday Monsanto, has a song on Spotify called Missiles With Relish with the lyrics: 'F**k a manufactured Holocaust / Chief Rabbis are urgin' the IDF to bomb a mosque.'

A spokesman for the musician said: 'The lyrics are correct. Payday isn't "antisemitic" either, he's anti-semantic. His lyrics are not discriminatory, hateful, "racist", or bigoted. He has simply pointed out facts and uncomfortable truths.'

A song by band Lord Belial, Purify Sweden was also removed from Spotify after the JC's investigation.

Lyrics included the lines 'all f**king mosques must burn' and 'molest all Islamic believers'.

Spotify has 320 million users and earns revenue from ads and premium subscriptions, paying more than 16.7billion to rightsholders.

A spokesman for Spotify said: 'Spotify prohibits any content on our platform which expressly and principally advocates or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics, including, race, religion, gender identity, sex, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability. The content found in violation of our policies has been removed.'

Artists earn money from 'streamshare', which is a cut of the company's net revenue.

Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said it was well-known Spotify had a dark side and more needed to be done to prevent it.

Artists can only be featured on Spotify if they have a distributor or record label and a spokesman said content was prohibited if it incites or advocates hatred.

MailOnline has contacted K-Rino and Unearthly for comment.
A total of 894 cases of COVID-19, including 571 students and 323 staff members, have been reported in Massachusetts in the past week, according to education officials.

The cases were reported to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3 and do not include students who are learning remotely. DESE releases a COVID case report each Thursday that includes cases of student or staff members who tested positive within seven days of being inside a school building.

There were 540 student cases and 273 staff cases reported at local school districts, two student cases and nine staff cases at education collaboratives, and 29 student cases and 41 staff cases at approved special education schools, according to the report.

Winchester had 25 student cases, the largest number among districts. Hanover had 18 student cases, Easton had 16, Marshfield had 14 and Medford had 12, the report indicated.

Staff cases were highest in Fall River, with 18, according to the report. New Bedford had 15 staff cases, Hingham had 11, Boston had 10 and Newton and Worcester both had six.

Dozens of other districts reported varying numbers of staff and student cases.

Among education collaboratives, there was one student case at Central Massachusetts SPED Collaborative and one student case at Shore Educational Collaborative. There were three staff cases at South Shore Educational Collaborative (SSEC), two at Southern Worcester County Educational Collaborative, and one each at Keystone Educational Collaborative, LABBB Collaborative, Valley Collaborative and READS Collaborative.

Student cases at approved special education schools were highest at Boston Higashi School with 18, according to the report. There were also three student cases at the Evergreen Center School, two at the New England Center for Children School and one each at a handful of other schools.

There were 17 staff cases at the Boston Higashi School, five at the New England Center for Children School, four at the Crystal Springs School and one or two each at other schools, according to the report.

This weeks report shows a decrease from last week, when the state reported 969 coronavirus cases, among 624 students and 345 staff members.

DESE estimates there are 450,000 students and 75,000 staff members in public school buildings during the pandemic.

K-12 schools have seen 26 new clusters of COVID from Jan. 3 to 30, according to Department of Public Health data, including 117 confirmed cases of the virus and 192 contacts. There are 44 clusters that were identified before Jan. 3 but have not yet met the criteria for closing.

School clusters include cases associated with a school where in-school transmission cannot be completely ruled out, officials have said, although other transmission settings are considered more likely.

Evidence of possible in-school transmission includes two or more cases that share a classroom or other school setting; timing between cases, as the average time between exposure and development of disease for COVID-19 is 5 days; and ruling out of other exposure settings, officials said. A cluster is considered closed after 28 days have passed since the last confirmed case.

This month, a pooled testing program is starting at 120 schools and districts. Through the program, several nose swabs will be tested at the lab at once. If a pooled test sample comes back positive, each individual will be tested for the virus.

Education officials and Gov. Charlie Baker hope this kind of surveillance testing will help keep more kids in classrooms.

Related Content:
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Foreign Minister Marise Payne says reports of systematic torture and abuse of women in the Chinese province of Xinjiang are deeply disturbing as the Chinese government claims they are fabricated.

The rare testimony, aired by the BBC on Wednesday, included first-hand accounts of rape, sexual abuse and torture in Uighur detention camps in China.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne says Australia has been consistent in raising its significant concerns with the human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

An estimated 1 million Uighurs, a mostly Muslim Turkic minority group, have been held in what the Chinese government claims are re-education camps over the past decade. The Communist Party has claimed the facilities, which are heavily fortified, are necessary to combat terrorism after isolated acts of violence occurred between 2011 and 2014.
Historical photographs (first three views) and satellite images show how Lake Palcacocha has grown as the glacier has receded. The lake is now about 34 times its volume in 1970. Credit: Stuart-Smith et al./Nature Geoscience

As the planet warms, glaciers are retreating and causing changes in the world's mountain water systems. For the first time, scientists at the University of Oxford and the University of Washington have directly linked human-induced climate change to the risk of flooding from a glacial lake known as one of the world's greatest flood risks.

The study examined the case of Lake Palcacocha in the Peruvian Andes, which could cause flooding with devastating consequences for 120,000 residents in the city of Huaraz. The paper, published Feb. 4 in Nature Geoscience, provides new evidence for an ongoing legal case that hinges on the link between greenhouse gas emissions and particular climate change impacts.

"The scientific challenge was to provide the clearest and cleanest assessment of the physical linkages between climate change and the changing flood hazard," said co-author Gerard Roe, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences.

In 2016, Roe and colleagues developed a method to determine whether an individual glacier's retreat can be linked to human-induced climate change. The retreat of mountain glaciers has several consequences, including creating basins in the space left by the retreating glacier. Precipitation and meltwater collects in these basins to form glacial lakes. Recent work has shown a rapid worldwide growth in the number and size of high-elevation glacial lakes.

"We believe our study is the first to assess the full set of linkages between anthropogenic climate change and the changing glacial lake outburst flood hazard," Roe said. "The methods used in our study can certainly be applied to other glacial lakes around the world."

Huaraz is a Peruvian city of about 120,000 residents that lies 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) above sea level, in view of Palcaraju Glacier and other peaks in the Cordillera Blanca mountains. Credit: Uwebart/Wikimedia

The new study first calculated the role of human emissions in the observed temperature increase since the start of the industrial era around Palcaraju Glacier. It finds that human activity is responsible for 95% of the observed 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warming in this region since 1880.

The authors then used the UW-developed technique to assess the relationship between these warming temperatures and the observed long-term retreat of the glacier that has caused Lake Palcacocha to expand. Results show it is virtually certain, with greater than 99% probability, that human-induced climate change has caused Palcaraju Glacier's retreat.

Lead author Rupert Stuart-Smith, a doctoral student at Oxford, then used two methods to assess the hazard of glacial lake outburst flooding, in which an avalanche, landslide or rockfall induces a tsunami wave that overtops the lake's banks, to pinpoint how Lake Palcacocha's growth affects the flood risk faced by the city of Huaraz below.

"We found that human influence on climatethrough greenhouse-gas emissionsis responsible for virtually all of the warming that has been observed in the region," said Stuart-Smith, who spent the summer of 2019 at the UW. "The study shows that warming has caused the retreat of the Palcaraju Glacier, which in turn has greatly increased the flood risk."

The study provides new evidence for an ongoing case in the German courts in which Saul Luciano Lliuya, a farmer from Huaraz, has sued RWE, Germany's largest electricity producer, for its role in creating global warming. The suit seeks reimbursement for current and future flood-risk reduction measures.

Lake Palcacocha last burst its banks in 1941, killing at least 1,800 people in the city of Huaraz. Known as one of the world's most dangerous lakes, its water level has risen in recent years with the shrinking of Palcaraju Glacier, which lies directly to the north. Credit: Georg Kaser/Wikimedia

"Crucially, our findings establish a direct link between emissions and the need to implement protective measures now, as well as any damages caused by flooding in the future," Stuart-Smith said.

This is not the first time Huaraz has been threatened by climate change. In 1941, an outburst flood from Lake Palcacocha, resulting from an ice and rock slide, killed at least 1,800 people. The study also found this flood to be influenced by human-induced climate changemaking it one of the earliest identified fatal impacts of climate change.

The lake's recent growth strains decades of engineering efforts since the 1970s to contain the lake's water.

"Around the world, the retreat of mountain glaciers is one of the clearest indicators of climate change," Roe said. "Outburst floods threaten communities in many mountainous regions, but this risk is particularly severe in Huaraz, as well as elsewhere in the Andes and in countries like Nepal and Bhutan, where vulnerable populations live in the path of the potential floodwaters."

An interactive map is available at tableau.washington.edu/views/MapofHuaraz/FullMap

Explore further The consequences of glacier shrinkage

More information: Increased outburst flood hazard from Lake Palcacocha due to human-induced glacier retreat, Nature Geoscience (2021). www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00686-4 Journal information: Nature Geoscience Increased outburst flood hazard from Lake Palcacocha due to human-induced glacier retreat,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-021-00686-4
New Delhi:

The Supreme Court of India on Friday stayed the counselling of IIT-JEE over granting of bonus marks for incorrect question for the Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) this year.

This has come when almost all the seats have been booked. Around 60-68 seats are available in IIT of the 10,988 IIT.

The court's stay order on revision of ranks at this point of time when all the seats have been taken for new academic year might result in lossing of the desired deat. With this admissions to NITs and other central engineering institutes too will also be affected.

The students who took the IIT-JEE Advanced 2017 exam got 11 bonus marks for three ambiguous questions.

The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced, paper 1 and paper 2 were conducted by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras on May 21.

More than 1.7 Lakh students appeared for the IIT JEE Advanced 2017 exam.

An IIT official said revision of IIT ranks will be a setback for the IITs. "Seven marks mean a lot in the ranking scheme. Many students may be displaced from higher ranks. The top rankers may not be affected, but there will be displacement after 10-20 ranks. The entire process will come undone," said the official, adding that admissions to NITs, IIITs and other government funded institutions will also be affected as they are part of the joint process.

Also Read: IIT Bombay has NO vacant seat; 68 seats vacant in 23 IITs
The Covid-19 Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine will not be used to innoculate Irish people who are aged over 70 but it is approved for people of all ages in Ireland, according to a statement from the Department of Health.

The decision is out of line with other countries that have approved the vaccine for use in all age groups such as the UK and limited to those aged over 65 as has happened in some EU countries. It is not in line with safety assessment by EU regulators which say it is safe to use.

The move is likely to make the vaccination programme more complicated as the AstraZeneca vaccine presents fewer difficulties to administer than the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines which must be stored at extremely low temperatures and have a short shelf life once out of storage.

The Department has announced that Ireland's National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has recommended that in line with the approvals granted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), all currently authorised Covid-19 vaccines can be used in adults of all ages, including those aged 70 years and older.

However, in a statement issued by the Department of Health, NIAC said it has also recommended that mRNA vaccines (Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna approved in Ireland) should be used for the over 70s where practicable and timely.

It said Dr Tony Holohan, the Chief Medical Officer, has reviewed the NIACs recommendations and has advised the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly who has accepted the recommendations provided.

This means the AstraZeneca vaccine will be given to those under 70. It is being used in the UK on all ages and Dr Holohan explained the reasoning.

The main objective of the vaccination strategy is to prevent morbidity and mortality. International and national data indicate that those aged 70 years and older are at significantly higher risk of hospitalisation and mortality. Due to the demonstrated efficacy of mRNA vaccines in older persons and in recognition of their particular vulnerability in terms of their increased risk of death and serious disease if they contract COVID-19, it has been recommended that mRNA vaccines be administered to all those over 70 years in order to provide the highest level of protection available to this population.

A statement added that the High-Level Taskforce on COVID-19 Vaccination and the HSE have been informed of the decisions and are working through the operational implications.

The Department of Health statement said that the Minister has asked the HSE and the Taskforce to advise him on the immediate implications for the vaccination programme.

It said a number of other EU countries have made similar decisions with regard to the provision of mRNA vaccines to older people.

Ireland cannot use the AstraZeneca vaccine without the European Medicines Agency's approval which has been granted. In doing so the EMA said the vaccine can be used for all adults over 18. The Department of Health issued statement said data is limited.

Despite this, the belief in Ireland is that evidence is limited.

"The expert advice to the Minister recognised that currently there is limited data on the AstraZeneca vaccine in relation to older age groups. Those aged over 70 are a key priority group for protection because of their greater risk of severe illness, hospitalisation and death from COVID-19," said the statment.

Supplies of AstraZeneca will begin arriving in Ireland from next week and deliveries of Pfizer and Moderna will continue as scheduled. The vaccine is easier to use because it can be stored in a regular fridge. However, Ireland is getting less of the British developed vaccine than expected because of supply problems.

Minister Stephen Donnelly said: It has been a remarkable achievement by science to have developed, rigorously tested, gained regulatory approval and distributed three safe and effective vaccines in little over a year since SARS-COV-2 was first identified. The addition of a third COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca will significantly enhance the implementation of our vaccination programme and, together with those from Pfizer and Moderna, will play a very important role in protecting our population from COVID-19 and helping us to overcome the challenges which we have faced over the last year. The roll-out of community vaccinations to our over 70s will begin as planned this month starting with those aged 85 and over.

German and French authorities are only giving the vaccine to 18-64 year olds and say there there is not enough data on how well it protects the over-65s.

AstraZeneca says its clinical trial data supports its effectiveness in the over-65s age group.



Public Health England said the company's data on the vaccine's immune responses was "very reassuring".

More info from the Department of Health in Ireland

On January 29th the European Commission granted conditional marketing authorisation for COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca for use in people from 18 years of age, based on a recommendation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The AstraZeneca vaccine is made up of another virus hat has been modified to contain the gene for making a protein from SARS-CoV-2COVID-19. Vaccine AstraZeneca does not contain the virus itself and cannot cause COVID-19.

Combined results from 4 clinical trials in the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa showed that COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca was safe and effective at preventing COVID-19 in people from 18 years of age.

These studies involved around 24,000 people altogether. Half received the vaccine and half were given a control injection, either a dummy injection or another non-COVID vaccine. People did not know if they had been given the test vaccine or the control injection.

The Agency based its calculation of how well the vaccine worked on the results from study COV002 (conducted in the UK) and study COV003 (conducted in Brazil).

These showed a 59.5% reduction in the number of symptomatic COVID-19 cases in people given the vaccine (64 of 5,258 got COVID-19 with symptoms) compared with people given control injections (154 of 5,210 got COVID-19 with symptoms). This means that the vaccine demonstrated around a 60% efficacy in the clinical trials.

Most of the participants in these studies were between 18 and 55 years old. There were not enough results in older participants (over 55 years old) to provide a figure for how well the vaccine will work in this group. However, protection is expected, given that an immune response is seen in this age group and based on experience with other vaccines; as there is reliable information on safety in this population, EMAs scientific experts considered that the vaccine can be used in older adults. More information is expected from ongoing studies, which include a higher proportion of elderly participants.



National Immunisation Advisory Committee

Advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) recommends that in line with the conditional marketing authorisation granted by the EMA:

all currently authorised COVID- 19 vaccines can be used in adults of all ages, including those aged 70 years and older.

NIAC stated that given the high rates of community transmission, the best vaccine to administer to the older population is the one which can be soonest administered.

Where practicable and timely, those aged 70 years and older should be given mRNA vaccines, as these vaccines have a higher reported overall efficacy which makes them preferable for use in those at highest risk of adverse outcomes.



CMO Advice to Minister

The main objective of the vaccination strategy is to prevent morbidity and mortality. International and national data indicate that those aged 70 and older are at significantly higher risk of hospitalisation and mortality.

Due to the superior efficacy demonstrated by mRNA vaccines, including in older persons (albeit the data is limited), and in recognition of their particular vulnerability in terms of their increased risk of death and serious disease if they contract SARS-CoV- 2, it is recommended that mRNA vaccines be administered to all those over 70 years in order to provide the highest level of protection available to this population.

The policy advice a in relation to vaccination of those older than 70 years with mRNA vaccines will be updated as required, based on any further NIAC advice.



What is an mRNA vaccine?

mRNA vaccines are a new type of vaccine to protect against infectious diseases. However, researchers have been studying and working with them for decades.

Once an mRNA vaccine is injected into muscle cells, it gives them instructions for how to make a harmless protein called a spike protein that is unique to the COVID virus.

Next, cells display the spike protein on its surface.

The body recognises that the spike protein should not be there and builds defensive white cells that will remember how to fight the virus if exposed to it in the future.

After the spike protein is made, cells breaks down the mRNA instructions so they do not stay in the body

There are currently two mRNA vaccines licensed for use in Ireland -the Pfizer/BioNTech, and Moderna vaccines.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : The over two-month long farmers' protest against the three Central farm laws seems to be turning into an 'Anna Hazare' moment for the present government, which has so far failed to pacify the agitating farmers despite several rounds of talks between the two sides.

While the government seemed to have garnered some public support following the ruckus that erupted in the national capital on January 26 after the proposed tractor rally by the farmers went awry, cornering farmer leader Rakesh Tikait has proved counter productive for the ruling regime, giving more fodder to the agitators.

The large crowds witnessed in the recent Mahapanchayats in Muzffarnagar, Mathura and Jind seem to have given a new lease of life to the farmers' protest, as more people have started heading towards the borders of Delhi, which have become the epicentres of the ongoing protest.

In the all-party meeting held on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emphasised that the government's proposal to suspend the three farm laws for 18 months still holds, even though it was rejected by the farmers' unions which stuck to their demand of repealing the farm laws.

The farmers' agitation has now garnered international attention with many celebrities tweeting about it, highlighting the police barricading and snapping of internet services in and around the protest sites, adding to the woes of the government.

The government is in a Catch 22 situation now, as the opposition parties have seized the opportunity by rallying with the protesting farmers. The government has to find a solution to the impasse at the earliest, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi warning that the protest may spread across the country.

Several politicians are now making a beeline for the protest sites to express their solidarity with the protesters after visuals of a weeping Rakesh Tikait went viral, notwithstanding the fact that the January 26 incidents had pushed the farmers on the backfoot, with two farmers' unions even pulling out of the agitation.

During Anna Hazare's agitation in 2011-12, the UPA government was forced to consider the Lokpal Bill after the Parliament was not allowed to function by the BJP, which was the principle opposition party then.

Though the opposition is not as strong at present as the BJP was then, a joint opposition might pose a threat, a glimpse of which was seen on the opening day of the ongoing Budget Session when several opposition parties boycotted the Presidential address, said a senior opposition leader.

Not only in Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab, the farmers' agitation is taking a pan India shape with the opposition parties in Bihar led by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav recently forming a human chain across the state in support of the farmers.

"The human chain is a symbolic protest against the Centre's newly passed farm laws that have met with stiff resistance from the farmers who have been protesting on the borders of Delhi for over two months, seeking repeal of the laws," Tejashwi had said.

In Maharashtra too, the farmers recently organised a massive protest backed by the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena, while in Delhi the AAP has blamed the BJP for the violence at Singhu border.

Tikait, the national spokesperson of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, recently said, "There was a storm, and twigs, branches and hollow trees broke in this storm. Now only the strong pillars are standing." On January 28, it had seemed as if the protest on the Ghazipur border would not last long. But a sentimental appeal from Tikait has changed the entire picture.

Till then, Singhu and Tikri borders were considered as the main centres of the farmers' movement, but after Tikait's emotional appeal, Ghazipur has now emerged as the new epicentre of the protests.

The Mahapanchayat held recently in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh also pointed towards the growing support for Tikait and the farmers' movement.

When Tikait was recently asked if the fight is now between the Jats and the state government, he had said, "No it is not. There is a farmer from every class in the movement. I have heard this Jat word for the first time in this movement and I have objection to it. This fight is between the farmers and the government." The farmers' organisations are demanding repeal of all three agricultural laws and legal guarantee for procurement of crops at minimum support price (MSP) while the government is willing to give written assurance to amend the new laws and continue procurement on MSP.
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Research Announcement:

Moody's - Singtels credit quality remains

resilient despite Optus downgrade

Singapore, February 04, 2021 --

 Diversified cash flow, reduced dividends and large investment holdings will support Singtels credit

profile amid leverage increase and weakening in Optus

 Singtel's investments totaled SGD38 billion ($28.8 billion), significantly higher than debts of

around SGD13.4 billion as of September 2020

Moodys Investors Service says in a new report that Singapore Telecommunications Limited's

(Singtel, A1 stable) dominant market position in Singapore (Aaa stable) and its diverse investments

across high-growth telco markets in Asia continue to underpin its credit quality, and offset the weaker

operating and financial performance of Singtel Optus Pty Limited (A3 stable)  its largest overseas

subsidiary.

Singtels overall credit quality remains resilient despite Optus rating downgrade in January, which

was based on our expectation of a weakening in Optus' credit profile over the next 12-18 months

due to its declining retail margins and mobile service revenues, says Nidhi Dhruv, a Moodys Vice

President and Senior Analyst.

The weakening in Optus is offset by Singtel's dominant market position in Singapore, where it leads

5G network rollouts, and investments across high-growth telco markets in Asia, adds Dhruv. In

addition, lower dividend payouts, if sustained over the next 1-2 years, will further support Singtel's

free cash flow and liquidity.

While Singtel's gross leverage will peak to 2.7x in fiscal year 2021 ending in March 2021  driven

by weaker profitability, high capital spending, shareholder returns and spectrum and acquisition-

related payments  Moody's expects its leverage in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 will recover to 2.4x -

2.5x, a level in line with the median leverage for global peers. Reduction in dividends and a gradual

recovery from the coronavirus impact will drive leverage recovery.

In addition, while Singtel's operations will remain under pressure as the pandemic augments the

Story continues

effects of continued competition, Singtel will remain the dominant integrated telco in Singapore and

retain its second position in Australia through Optus, although some market shares may be chipped

away.

Subscribers can access the report "Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel): Diversified cash flow,

reduced dividends and large investment holdings support credit profile amid leverage increase at:

http://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1262695

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Julie M. Wheeler (pictured) of Beaver was sentenced to an extra year in prison on Wednesday for conspiring to obstruct justice

A West Virginia woman who tried to fake her death to avoid being sentenced for health care fraud has received an additional year in prison.

Julie M. Wheeler of Beaver was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Charleston for conspiring to obstruct justice.

Prosecutors said Wheeler admitted to conspiring with her husband, Rodney Wheeler, to keep her out of prison.

'Julie Wheeler faked a traumatic death to avoid her judgment day with the courts. The scheme put many lives at risk and wasted valuable resources,' said United States Attorney Mike Stuart.

'By conspiring to avoid her federal sentence for health care fraud, she, with the aid of her husband, only made matters worse. Julie added another year to her sentence and Rodney now has a federal felony conviction for which he will soon be sentenced.'

To fake her death, Rodney Wheeler and another family member placed a 911 call on May 31, 2020, claiming Julie Wheeler had fallen from the Grandview Overlook in the New River Gorge, according to a statement from the Justice Department.

Rescue personnel found a shoe and cell phone that belonged to Julie at the base of the overlook, which is a steep cliff with a series of ledges leading down to the New River.

Rodney Wheeler reportedly told police Julie had plummeted from the cliff while trying to search for a missing earring.

Prosecutors said Wheeler admitted to conspiring with her husband, Rodney Wheeler, to keep her out of prison. Rodney told authorities that his wife had fallen from the Grandview Overlook in the New River Gorge, prompting a massive, two-day search

The search for the mom-of-two lasted the better part of two days and involved a National Guard helicopter that was deployed to scour the area, a diving crew that was dispatched to search waters in the gorge, rescue dogs and repelling experts (pictured at the time)

In addition to statements made to authorities, Rodney also kept their lie going on social media. On June 1, 2020, he wrote on Facebook: 'I have been getting a lot of private messages so I feel it best that I address this... the accident at Grandview yesterday involved my wife...'

Authorities said the 911 call prompted a massive search and rescue operation with hundreds of volunteers, law enforcement, and professional search and rescue personnel looking for Julie Wheeler at the base of the overlook and the surrounding area.

The search for the mom-of-two lasted the better part of two days and involved a National Guard helicopter that was deployed to scour the area, a diving crew that was dispatched to search waters in the gorge, rescue dogs and repelling experts.

Additional false statements were given to state and federal investigators by Rodney Wheeler as part of the conspiracy, including statements to National Park Service officers and the US Probation Office, investigators said.

'The purpose of these statements was to continue the Wheelers ruse that she had fallen and was missing,' the Justice Department said.

In addition to statements made to authorities, Rodney Wheeler also kept their lie going on social media.

On the evening of June 1, 2020, he wrote on Facebook: 'I have been getting a lot of private messages so I feel it best that I address this... the accident at Grandview yesterday involved my wife...'

State Police found Julie Wheeler (right) two days later hiding in a closet at her home. Authorities said the Wheelers were planning to go into hiding once everything had blown over

Julie Wheeler (left) was sentenced in June to 42 months in prison. She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $289,055.07 for the overbilling scheme. Rodney Wheeler (right) pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to obstruct justice and faces up to five years in prison

'They haven't found her yet but I am holding out hope that she will be found and she is ok....I am heartbroken and lost right now but I have to keep the faith... please give us time to work through this and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers,' the post reads.

State Police found Julie Wheeler two days later hiding in a closet at her home. Authorities said the Wheelers were planning to go into hiding.

Prosecutors said the Wheelers admitted to conspiring to fake Julie Wheeler's death pending federal sentencing in a health care fraud case.

Julie Wheeler pleaded guilty to the health care fraud charge on February 11 and admitted to submitting fraudulent applications to the VA Spina Bifida Health Care Benefits Program where she overbilled for providing spina bifida care for a family member.

She was sentenced in June 2020 to 42 months in prison. She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $289,055.07 for the overbilling scheme.

A judge Wednesday ordered her two sentences to be served consecutively.

Rodney Wheeler pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to obstruct justice and faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release when he is sentenced on April 5.
While scientists and historians have long surmised that etchings on stones and bones have been used as a form of symbolism dating back as early as the Middle Paleolithic period (250,000-45,000 BCE), findings to support that theory are extremely rare.

A recent discovery by archeologists from the Hebrew University and the University of Haifa alongside a team from the Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France have uncovered evidence of what may be the earliest-known use of symbols. The symbols were found on a bone fragment in the Ramle region in central Israel and are believed to be approximately 120,000 years old.

Remarkably the fragment remained largely intact and the researchers were able to detect six similar etchings on one side of the bone, leading them to believe that they were in the possession of something which held symbolic or spiritual significance. The find which was recently published in the scientific journal 'Quaternary International' was discovered in a trove of flint tools and animal bones exposed at a site during archaeological excavations.

Dr. Yossi Zaidner of the Institute of Archeology at Hebrew University says that the site was likely used as a camp or a meeting place for Paleolithic hunters who would then slaughter the animals they caught at that location. The identified bone is believed to have come from an extinct large wild cattle, a species which was very common in the Middle East at that time.

Using three-dimensional imaging, microscopic methods of analysis and experimental reproduction of engravings in the laboratory, the team was able to identify six different engravings ranging from 38 to 42 millimeters in length. Dr. Iris Groman-Yaroslavski from the University of Haifa explained, "Based on our laboratory analysis and discovery of microscopic elements, we were able to surmise that people in prehistoric times used a sharp tool fashioned from flint rock to make the engravings."

The paper's authors stress that their analysis makes it very clear that the engravings were definitely intentionally man made and could not have been the result of animal butchering activities or natural processes over the millennia. They pointed to the fact that the grooves of the engravings discovered are in a clear U-shape and wide and deep enough that they could not have been made by anything other than humans intent on carving lines into the bone.

The analysis was also able to determine that the work was performed by a right-handed craftsman in a single working session.

Ms. Marion Prevost from the Institute of Archeology at Hebrew University says that every indication was that there was a definite message behind what was carved into the bone. "We reject any assumption that these grooves were some sort of inadvertent doodling. That type of artwork wouldn't have seen this level of attention to detail."

So then what was the message behind the six lines in the bone? The authors write, "This engraving is very likely an example of symbolic activity and is the oldest known example of this form of messaging that was used in the Levant. We hypothesize that the choice of this particular bone was related to the status of that animal in that hunting community and is indicative of the spiritual connection that the hunters had with the animals they killed."

Dr. Zaidner said, "It is fair to say that we have discovered one of the oldest symbolic engraving ever found on earth- and certainly the oldest in the Levant. This discovery has very important implications for understanding of how symbolic expression developed in humans. At the same time, while it is still not possible to determine the exact meaning of these symbols we hope that continued research will unveil those key details."

###


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Some gunmen on Monday killed a yet-to-be identified police officer attached to three Chinese expatriates in Osun State.

After killing the officer, the three expatriates were taken away from a mining site in Ifewara area of Ife East local government of the state.

Sources in the community confirmed the incident in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday.

We heard sporadic gunshots on Monday and people were thrown into fear. Some of us traced the place and found out they they were kidnappers who came to perpetrate evil, Ifedapo Ajayi, a resident, said.

Residents also told PREMIUM TIMES that the labourers at the mining site explained that their bosses were whisked away after the attack.

Also, security sources told our correspondent that efforts have begun to get the perpetrators of the incident and also to rescue the Chinese.

Speaking on the incident, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Security And Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Osun State, Daniel Adigun, said truly the incident happened but I am not in the best position to brief the press.

The Corps Commandant of the Osun State Security Network otherwise known as Operation Amotekun, Bashir Adewunmi, confirmed the incident.

Some Chinese miners were kidnapped at Ifewara on Monday while their police escort died in the process but our men are currently in the bushes to ensure that they rescue the kidnap victims, Mr Adewunmi said.

Beyond rescuing the victims, we will ensure that the culprits are arrested and brought to justice.

The police spokesperson in Osun State, Yemisi Opalola, did not respond to calls and text messages, seeking the police account of the incident.

Ifewara is one of the communities in the state where illegal mining by foreigners is the order of the day but it is not clear if those abducted are licensed miners or illegal gold miners.


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CHARLESTON, S.C., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Island Brands USA, producers of clean, better for you, super premium beer, announced today its biggest hire since its 2017 founding, naming beverage industry veteran Chad Webb as Chief Operating Officer. With 25 years of industry experience on the wholesaler and brewery side, Webb will direct all facets of the Island Brands business, including partners, vendors, operations, and sales. Webb will report to Co-founders and Co-CEOs Brandon Perry and Scott Hansen.

Webb served as Vice President/General Manager for KW Beverage d.b.a. Budweiser of Greenville and improved the multi-million-dollar beverage distributorship to a more profitable, diverse, and award-winning operation. In this role, Webb was responsible for hundreds of employees and sold millions of cases of products each year from dozens of supplier partners. For his efforts, the organization was awarded with Anheuser-Busch's "Ambassadors of Excellence" honor (recognizing the upper 10% of the best operating A-B wholesalers in the country) in 5 of his 7 years as GM. Prior to his work there, Webb served as Director of Sales and Marketing for Bealer Wholesale in Charlotte, managing a sales team of 60 employees and a multi-million-dollar sales and marketing budget, while also serving as the primary liaison to Anheuser-Busch senior management. Before his role at Bealer, Webb spent several years as District Sales and Marketing Manager for Anheuser-Busch, working with many distributors throughout the U.S.

Adding to his rich experience in the beverage world, Webb also ran his own consulting business within CPG, and recently earned his MBA in International Business from the University of South Carolina.

"Chad knows the beer industry inside and out and comes to the table with a long and proven track record for scaling business operations. Having a leader of Chad's caliber is another big win for Island Brands as we continue to accelerate growth and further disrupt the beer space," explained Co-Founder/CEO, CRO Scott Hansen.

"The timing for Chad to join Island Brands couldn't be better as we fully deploy our DTC (direct-to-consumer) technology apparatus that will continue to engage and nurture our rapidly growing and loyal consumer base," said Co-Founder/CEO, CMO, Brandon Perry.

Webb joins one of the country's fastest-growing beer brands which saw combined sales of its two flagship brands, Island Coastal Lager and Island Active, grow +70% last year to hit $1.9 million (according to IRI data). In 2021, Webb will oversee the launch of two new brands, Island Lemonada and Island Southern Peach, and will work to expand retail distribution and build a regional and national blueprint to rival some of the world's biggest brands. Webb's job will be assisted by some new funding  Island Brands recently generated over a million dollars in direct investment through a public offering on the crowdfunding platform, StartEngine. Raised in just over one month, Island Brands became the site's most successful beverage offering to date.

"Pretty much since the day they started, Island Brands has been disrupting the beer business. With a recipe of technology, innovation, creativity, and raw enthusiasm, they have built a nimble and successful business that is different, authentic and far ahead of the industry in so many ways," said Webb. "Leading this fast-paced group, I feel the sky's the limit to where we can go. I'm confident my knowledge in building brands and scaling businesses can launch Island into its next wave of growth."

About Island Brands USA

Based in Charleston, South Carolina, Island Brands USA is a rapidly expanding domestic super premium lifestyle beer brand, first conceived when the founders took a trip to Cuba in 2016. The following year, the recipe for brand's first beer, Island Coastal Lager, was developed, brewed, and launched into the marketplace. In 2020, Island Brands launched its second beer, Island Active, a refreshing low-carb alternative to the limited choices available in the market. Island Brands beverages are currently available in 7 states and 3 countries, with over 6,000 points of distribution. Proudly American owned and American made, Island Brands USA is active in coastal conservation efforts through various partnerships and charities. For more visit: www.islandbrandsusa.com.

Mark Ballard

Harmonica / Island Brands USA

[email protected]

+1 646-391-0453

SOURCE Island Brands USA

Related Links

http://www.islandbrandsusa.com


She is known for her age-defying good looks.

And Elizabeth Hurley showed off her timeless beauty on Thursday in a throwback video from the beach as she admitted she's on a 'pretend vacation'.

The actress, 55, injected a splash of colour with a fuchsia T-shirt and patterned bikini briefs as she twirled around on the shorefront while raising awareness for World Cancer Day.

Chic: Elizabeth Hurley showed off her timeless beauty on Thursday in a throwback video from the beach as she candidly admitted she's on a 'pretend vacation'

In the stunning Instagram video, Elizabeth styled her caramel tresses in a loose wave and enhanced her visage with full coverage make-up.

She captioned the upload: 'Im on my #pretendvacation , but on #WorldCancerDay, my thoughts are with all those affected by cancer.

'As the Global Ambassador for @esteelaudercompanies Breast Cancer Campaign, I am honoured to support all of The Campaigns incredible work in its mission to create a breast cancer-free world.

'Female breast cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide so its more important than ever to self-check, stay on top of routine screenings and take care of our health.'

Beaming: The actress, 55, injected a splash of colour with a fuchsia T-shirt and patterned bikini briefs as she twirled around on the shorefront while raising awareness for World Cancer Day

She concluded the post: 'I have several friends battling breast cancer right now. Its #TimeToEndBreastCancer #ELCambassador'. (sic)

Elizabeth shared additional images from her 'pretend holiday' to Instagram on Tuesday.

The model showcased her sensational figure in a blue Freya bikini from her swimsuit brand as she enjoyed a pool session in another throwback clip.

Sending temperatures soaring, the actress caught the eye in a two-piece, which featured a triangle bralet and matching briefs.

Glamorous: In the stunning Instagram video, Elizabeth styled her caramel tresses in a loose wave and enhanced her visage with full coverage make-up

Noble cause: In her Instagram caption, she promoted the cosmetic brand, Estee Lauder, and their breast cancer campaign to create a 'breast cancer-free world'

The former Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery star added beachwear chic to her appearance as she styled her look with circular-framed shades.

The media personality wrote alongside the video: 'Just floating in a magical pool in my aqua Freya Bikini on Day 6 of my #pretendvacation #wishyouwerehere.' (sic)

The brunette returned to Instagram after sparking a furore with her snowy topless photos last month.

Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan recently apologised to the TV star for branding her latest topless shoot 'creepy' amid confusion over who took the pictures.

Drama: The former Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery star was met with criticism for uploading braless images of herself during the heavy snowfall last month (pictured)

The presenter expressed his regret towards the actress in the wake of her clarification that her 80-year-old mother was the photographer, rather than her son Damian, 18, as Piers first thought.

Despite his apology, the outspoken star backtracked and claimed he did not believe her claims that her mother was behind the lens, based on previous comments from the star in 2018 that confirmed Damian often takes her sexy snaps.

The journalist said on Good Morning Britain last week: 'Apparently, it was her mum... how long did you keep your 80-year-old mother out in the snow to take these pictures?

'I'm not buying a word of this, I reckon it was Damian... it is creepy if your teenage son took these photos.'

Following up on her comments the next day, Piers responded defiantly, saying: 'I would like to apologise to Elizabeth Hurley. I called her thirsty... the point is, I inadvertently followed the newspaper lead that it was her son.'

When Susanna asked why it would be creepy for Damian to take the pictures, he said: 'That would be creepy... you don't believe anything you're saying...

'Apparently, it was her mum. How long did you keep your 80-year-old mother out in the snow? Susanna, you wouldn't do that... I'm not buying a word of this, I reckon it was Damien. It is creepy if your teenage son took these photos.'

Elizabeth revealed last year her mother Angela had moved into her Herefordshire mansion so they could spend the lockdown together.
Cooper, Cheryl

Cheryl Bridges Cooper, JD,MSN,APRN-BC, age, 73, of New Concord, KY passed away on Wednesday, February 3, 2021 at Alive Hospice in Nashville, TN. She was born in Paducah, KY on January 4, 1948 to the late Conrad Herschel Bridges and Annie Opal Calhoun Bridges. Cheryl was a retired Nurse Practitioner. She graduated from Murray State University in 1989 with a Bachelors Degree in Nursing, graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1994 with a Masters Degree in Nursing and graduated from Nashville School of Law in 2006 with a Juris Doctorate Degree. She was a member of the James Thomas Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Cadiz but attended the Paducah Chapter. Cheryl enjoyed traveling and had traveled abroad to several countries and was of the Baptist faith.

She is survived by her daughter, Leslie Wylie and husband, Fraser of Livonia, MI; son, Robert Cooper of Atlanta, GA; grandson, Connor Patrick Wylie of Livonia, MI; brother, Don Bridges of Paducah, KY; nephews, Mark Gillihan and Scott Bridges; niece, Rayla Bridges Trigg.

Cheryl was preceded in death by her husband, Richard Lee Cooper; sister, Betty Gillihan; niece, Donna Sue Bridges Armond and her parents.

Private graveside services will be held at Clarks River Cemetery with Rev. Jewell Barrett officiating.

Memorial services will be held at a later date.

Milner & Orr Funeral Home of Paducah is in charge of arrangements.

Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to,The Assistance Fund, 4700 Millenia Blvd., Suite 410, Orlando, FL 32839 or tafcares.org.

We appreciate your help in maintaining state mandated Covid restrictions. This includes wearing a mask and maintaining the minimum six feet of distancing within our facility at all times.

During this difficult time of Covid, you may show your support by joining the Hugs from Home program where your message will be attached to a balloon in the chapel to remind the family of your love and support. Please go to www.milnerandorr.com to send a hug.

You may leave a message of sympathy and light a candle at www.milnerandorr.com.
To the Editor:

The success of most community projects comes from the support of many  willing volunteers, generous donors and helpful municipal departments. The restoration this year of one or two popular, publicly-accessible spots along New Milfords Great Brook  to be chosen by the community  is no exception.

Collapsing stream banks, accumulated rubbish, invasive plants, like Japanese knotweed, whose shallow root systems dont reinforce the banks, and whose aggressive growth crowds out native species with stronger roots, impair parts of this four-mile tributary of the Housatonic River, which meanders near downtown New Milford.

One or two restoration projects can now be carried out this year on Great Brook. They will be done outdoors in spring/summer by masked volunteer residents on distanced and staggered shifts with technical expertise and provision of 100 native saplings from HVA. The regional nonprofit Housatonic Valley Association protects the natural character and environmental health of the Housatonic Watershed.

The 30-member 2021 Sustainable CT (www.sustainablect.org) New Milford recertification team, which launched the project and raised the needed funding wishes to thank the following for support, without which this project would never have seen daylight:

Sustainable CT, for matching us dollar-for-dollar in our December six-week campaign on the crowdfunding website www.patronicity.org

All our donors from New Milford and surrounding towns

The Corporation for New Milford Economic Development, our fiscal agent, and our Economic Development Director, Karen Pollard

New Milford Inland Wetlands Enforcement Officer, Jim Ferlow, and Chair Cathy Setterlin of Inland Wetlands Commission for their helpful advice

Mayor Pete Bass

Grant Dupill, Community Resource Specialist and videographer, Mayors Office

Courteny Morehouse, Mike Jastremski and Lynn Werner, HVA

Gary Hida, SustCT Team Great Brook project Point Person

Lisa Arasim, online funding campaign administrator

Sandra Fox, Editor, The Spectrum and Litchfield County Times

Stephen Gass, Co-Coordinator, 2021 SustCT Team

Julie Bailey

Co-Coordinator, 2021 Sustainable CT Team
ROCKAWAY, N.J., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) recently concluded its two-week-long, 14th annual Health for Humanity Yogathon, also known as Surya Namaskar Yajna (SNY), on January 31. Residents from 43 states participated in the SNY event this year. It was first launched in 2007 to create awareness about yoga and its advantages in fostering a healthy body, mind, and spirit for any practitioner regardless of faith, gender, or ethnicity. The event is free to the public and is regularly lauded by a wide variety of elected officials each year, including partnership with First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative in 2011 and U.S. Representative Dr. Bill Foster in 2017. This year 172 U.S. Elected Officials, Including Congressional Leaders, Governors, and Mayors, lauded HSS for this project and the community benefits.

Mayor Kenneth M Fulk City of Allen, TX with HSS Volunteers Mayor James Lienhoop of Columbus, IN with HSS volunteers

"We are happy and proud to conclude yet another successful year of our Health for Humanity Yogathon," said Mr. Ajay Joshi, HSS SNY national coordinator. "The Surya Namaskar yoga practice integrates an easy breathing technique with simple postures of well-balanced, ten-step movements to provide immense health benefits for everyone, from beginners to yoga enthusiasts. This year, close to 10,000 school students participated, performing over 48,000 Surya Namaskars. Thousands of participants collectively performed over Million Surya Namaskars."

Officials offering support for this year's Health for Humanity event include:

U.S. Senator Sharrod Brown ( Ohio ) congratulated HSS for promoting a healthy lifestyle.

( ) congratulated HSS for promoting a healthy lifestyle. N.Y. Governor Andrew Cuomo applauded the efforts to bring New Yorkers together to perform Surya Namaskars, saying it was a "terrific organization."

applauded the efforts to bring New Yorkers together to perform Surya Namaskars, saying it was a "terrific organization." Mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot declared January 1631 as "Health for Humanity Days" in Chicago .

. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock declared a "Health for Humanity Yogathon Week" in both the city and county of Denver  acknowledging the participation of yoga studios, schools, and other community organizations.

Mayor declared a "Health for Humanity Yogathon Week" in both the city and county of  acknowledging the participation of yoga studios, schools, and other community organizations. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey mentioned the community work performed by HSS volunteers, who routinely provide hot meals to the needy and COVID-19 relief.

Governor mentioned the community work performed by HSS volunteers, who routinely provide hot meals to the needy and COVID-19 relief. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said, "Yoga is for everyone," and expressed "excitement" while proclaiming a "Health for Humanity Yogathon" on January 31, 2021 , for Portland .

Mayor said, "Yoga is for everyone," and expressed "excitement" while proclaiming a "Health for Humanity Yogathon" on , for . Congressman Scott Peter (Calif.) expressed appreciation to HSS for its work with the broader community.

For up-to-date information on future Yogathon and other organizational events, follow HSS on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube.

About Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS)

HSS is a 501(c)(3) voluntary non-profit cultural organization with over 225 chapters across the United States. HSS regularly organizes the Hindu American community to practice, preserve, and advance the ideals and values of Hindu Dharma by conducting value-based education programs for children, youth, and adults. HSS organizes service activities and community outreach projects to promote discipline, self-confidence, teamwork, and the spirit of selflessness. HSS also fosters a dynamic and flourishing Hindu-American community through civic duty, responsibility, and volunteerism, instilling lasting pride in Hindu heritage among its members. Learn more at www.HSSUS.org.

Media Contact:

Vikas Deshpande, Joint Communication Director

973-500-8477

[email protected]

SOURCE Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
President Joe Biden went to the State Department on Thursday to reaffirm his commitment to diplomacy and U.S. alliances, after a Trump presidency that disdained both and gutted the foreign service. Biden knows those alliances, in Europe and Asia, will be key to coping with a rising China.

Yet, across town at the Capitol, the rhetoric of Marjorie Taylor Greene laid bare Bidens biggest challenge to managing the competition with China: the global perception that U.S. politics are consumed by crazy conspiracy theories that are dragging the country down.

Xi Jinping has made clear his intent to surpass the United States as the worlds dominant economic and technological power, and to shape a new global order that revolves around Beijings authoritarian model. Donald Trumps erratic, America First, get-tough efforts failed to curb Xis ambitions.

 READ MORE: Russian opposition leader risks it all for democracy. Will GOP senators? | Trudy Rubin

Chinese Communist Party communiques and media are filled with triumphalist conviction that China is historically destined to rise as the United States falls. U.S. allies worry they have to hedge their bets with China.

So the biggest China policy question is whether Biden can, as he put it, reclaim our credibility as a global leader. The stakes are immensely high.

The China challenge is not a repeat of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. After World War II, the United States engaged in a policy of containment with the Kremlin, based on U.S. diplomat George Kennans famous 1946 long telegram, which argued that the Soviet Union would ultimately collapse because of internal contradictions.

But as the Financial Times chief economics commentator, Martin Wolf, argues, Containing China is not a feasible option. The Soviet Unions rigid, state-controlled economy failed to adapt and grow, whereas China has made stunning economic and technological advances over the last four decades. Wolf estimates Chinas economy could be as big as those of the US and EU, together by 2050.

And China is so integrated into the world economy  again unlike the Soviet Union  that even as the United States tries to untangle supply chains from China dependence most countries want good relations with both Washington and Beijing.

Beijing has made huge loans across Asia and into Europe as part of its Belt and Road Initiative aimed at building the infrastructure to link China and the world. Although many developing countries are becoming nervous at their level of debt to China, few can resist the temptation to take loans they cannot obtain elsewhere. As the former president of Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbayeva, once told me in an interview, speaking about Chinese loans for roads and rail networks, Where else can we get this money at 2%?

The European Union has become more wary of Chinese attempts to buy up sophisticated technology companies and Chinese efforts to sell them 5G internet equipment, which the United States opposes as a security risk.

But even the Europeans have trouble resisting Chinese lures. The EU just signed on to a massive Chinese investment deal, rejecting Bidens request to wait until he was inaugurated and could discuss it with them.

All this matters, because Xi Jinping has exhibited a ruthlessness, and willingness to crush dissent not seen since Mao Tse-tung, whom he seeks to emulate. On a visit to Beijing, in late 2019, I visited Chinas National Museum on Tiananmen Square, where one wing contains the whole sweep of modern Chinese history from the mid-1800s to Xis predecessor, Hu Jintao. The second wing is dedicated solely, complete with videos and an enormous mockup of Chinese military maneuvers, to all the glorious achievements of Xi Jinping.

And unlike Mao, Xi has built up a military that seeks to advance its footprint abroad, and push America out as a Pacific power.

So Bidens intent to rejuvenate alliances in Asia, and Europe as well, is crucial to making Xi take notice that if he oversteps certain lines, democratic nations will push back.

Yet our allies dont know whether they can still trust American leadership. As Wolf writes: Over the last two decades and especially the last four years, the U.S. has devastated its reputation for good sense, decency, reliability and even adherence to basic democratic norms. (And the U.S. reputation for competence has been smashed this past year by Trumps dismal failures in dealing with COVID-19.)

 READ MORE: What U.S. can learn from Germany's experience with radicals in the military. | Trudy Rubin

So when the GOP leadership refuses to punish Greene, who endorsed the shooting of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; called 9/11 and mass shootings of children fake false flag events; and embraced QAnon crazies  how can allies make sense of American politics? Embraced by Trump, her staged apology on Thursday blamed her misdeeds on Democrats and the press.

And how can allies be certain Trumpism wont return to the White House in four years?

To deal with China, Biden will have to convince allies  and Beijing  that the United States can get its own house in order. It will be tragic if GOP leaders undercut the crucial effort to counter Xi Jinping.
Hey Dad! television star Robert Hughes will remain in a prison to serve a sentence for child sex offences after he was denied parole for a second time.

The New South Wales State Parole Authority has refused to release the 72-year-old after determining he remained 'an unacceptable risk to community safety'.

Hughes, who has renounced his Australian citizenship and faces immediate deportation to his native UK upon release, was also denied parole last year.

The actor was jailed for a maximum of 10 years and nine months in 2014 after a jury found him guilty of 10 charges relating to sexual and indecent acts against four young girls in the 1980s and 1990s.

He had sexually touched children as young as seven, exposed himself on set and after forcing one victim to perform a sex act gave her a teddy bear and called her a 'good girl'.

Convicted child sex offender and former Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes has been denied parole for a second time. He was jailed for a maximum of 10 years and nine months in 2014 after a jury found him guilty of 10 charges relating to sexual and indecent acts against four young girls

Former co-star Sarah Monahan played Hughes' on-screen daughter (pictured on Hughes's lap) and said he should not be released until he took responsibility for his crimes

If granted parole Hughes would not be subject to any supervision or monitoring by UK authorities.

On Thursday the NSW authority determined releasing him to parole without the possibility of supervision or conditions would not meet the community safety test.

Hughes played the lead role in television sitcom Hey Dad! from 1987 to 1994.

Former Hey Dad! co-star Sarah Monahan, who played Hughes's onscreen daughter, said last year she and his other victims feared 'reprisal' once he was released.

'Since he has said that we're horrible people for doing this to him, we don't know if he's going to want revenge,' she told A Current Affair.

Monahan said she believed Hughes should only be allowed back into the community if he finally took responsibility for his crimes.

'If he's going to get out early it should be because he's admitted guilt,' she said.

Sarah Monahan (pictured) said last year she she and his other victims feared 'reprisal' once he was released from jail

'The question is whether he admits he's guilty, or if he still think he's the innocent victim here.

'If he still thinks he's innocent, then he probably should spend some more time in prison thinking about it.'

Hughes had pleaded not guilty to all seven counts of indecent assault, two counts of sexual assault and one count of committing an indecent act.

During his trial, two women said Hughes had entered their rooms naked during sleepovers with his daughter, and exposed himself or sexually assaulted them.

Former colleagues who worked on set with the predator also gave evidence, testifying that Hughes would repeatedly expose himself.

Hughes had sexually touched children as young as seven, exposed himself on set and after forcing one victim to perform a sex act gave her a teddy bear and called her a 'good girl'

During Hughes's 2015 sentencing in the NSW District Court, Judge Peter Zahra said the child sex offender had not expressed remorse.

'His conduct continued over 20 years,' Judge Zahra found. '[Even] after he was questioned by police in 1986 it continued.

'The offender took advantage of when he was with victims in social settings in his home or at victims' homes.

'He lacks insight into his offending and he is unlikely to access treatment programs.'

Hughes screamed 'I'm innocent' in court when he was found guilty.

While he was in Goulburn prison authorities had to build a barrier to stop fellow inmates pelting milk cartons filled with faeces and urine at the reviled paedophile.

He was later moved to Long Bay's Metropolitan Special Programs Centre.

Hughes's non-parole period of six years finished in 2020 and his sentence expires on January 6, 2025.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : Home Minister Amit Shah will lay on Table a statement explaining the circumstances which had necessitated immediate legislation by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. He will also introduce the Bill to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

The House will take up the discussion on motion of thanks to the President's address which was moved by Bhubaneswar Kalita on Wednesday.

"That an Address be presented to the President in the following terms: That the Members of the Rajya Sabha assembled in this Session are deeply grateful to the President for the Address which he has been pleased to deliver to both Houses of Parliament assembled together " The report of Standing and department related committees of Railway, Urban development and Forest will submit their report to the Upper House.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Health officials in Huntsville have the ambitious goal of administering three COVID-19 vaccination shots per minute next week as health care facilities across the state launch large-scale vaccination clinics with expanding criteria for those eligible to receive the vaccines.

The Huntsville Hospital clinic will be at the Jaycee Building in John Hunt Park off Airport Road and available to those who have registered and meet criteria spelled out by the Alabama Department of Public Health. The shots will be administered inside the Jaycee Building and not on a drive-thru basis.

Related: First large-scale COVID-19 vaccination sites open in Alabama

Related: Long lines, delays as COVID-19 vaccination ramps up at Mobile Civic Center

Huntsville will be expanding its vaccination efforts on Monday as those eligible for shots expands to people 65 years of age and older along with new occupations defined as essential by ADPH, such as teachers and grocery store employees.

Locations in Mobile, Hoover and Auburn have processed people for vaccinations in large-scale clinics this week.

ADPH has designated eight sites around the state next week to start large-scale vaccination clinics: Anniston, Birmingham, Dothan, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Selma, and Tuscaloosa. Its the first efforts in Alabama to deliver more than 1,000 vaccines every day at each site.

David Spillers, president and CEO of Huntsville Hospital, said the hospital would be receiving additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine with the goal of vaccinating perhaps as many as 2,000 people each day. Those receiving their first vaccination dose will also be scheduled for their second dose, Spillers said.

Well be doing somewhere between 1,500-2,000 people a day at the clinic, Spillers said. We feel comfortable we can handle that number of people.

Put that in context, if you do 2,000 people a day, a 10-hour day, thats 3-plus people every minute that youre vaccinating. A lot has to happen to get that through put the system.

At other sites around the site, capacity has been at about 800 people getting shots due to the limited supply of vaccine. Officials said they hoped to grow that capacity by 1,000 per day by the weekend.

The biggest limitation we have right now managing the pandemic is availability of vaccines, Spillers said.

Registration for the vaccine is available at the following links:

Alabama Department of Public Health

Huntsville Hospital

East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika

Jefferson County Vaccine Call Center

USA Health in Mobile

Selma Hospital

Decatur Morgan Hospital

Southeast Health in Dothan

DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa

Baptist Health in Montgomery

In Mobile and Baldwin counties, you can also register with Infirmary Health by calling 251-341-2819.

In Anniston, you can register with Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center by calling 256-235-5600.
For seven days, citizens held their breaths, hanging on to hope and praying that Andrea Bharatt would be found alive.

That hope dissolved in tears yesterday afternoon when her body was found down a precipice along a road in the forested Heights of Aripo, Arima.

The decomposing body of 22-year-old Andrea was identified by the clothing she was wearing on her last day at work on Friday by her father, Randolph Bharatt.
ALBANY, N.Y., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The growing investments in the healthcare sector are expected to increase the growth rate of the infection prevention devices market. The rising influence of technological advancements in sterilization equipment and the escalating outsourcing of sterilization services may bring tremendous growth opportunities for the infection prevention devices market between 2019 and 2027.

Infection prevention or control is the process of eliminating microorganisms of all forms from surfaces and objects. These devices assure complete disinfection of a space or area. The advancements in the infection prevention sector are expanding its horizon to a great extent. Thus, all these aspects prove to be growth pillars for the infection prevention devices market.

The experts at Transparency Market Research (TMR), after a thorough and scrutinized analysis, conclude that the global infection prevention devices market to expand at a CAGR of 6.0 percent through the assessment period of 2019-2027. The global infection prevention devices market was valued at ~US$ 15.4 bn in 2018.

Request for Analysis of COVID-19 Impact on Infection Prevention Devices Market  https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/covid19.php

The technological advancements across the infection prevention devices are the prime reason for surpassing the tipping point of growth. The heightening demand for infection prevention devices across various regions due to frequent cases of epidemics and pandemics may serve as prominent growth generators for the infection prevention devices market.

Infection Prevention Devices Market: From Analysts' Desk

The Transparency Market Research (TMR) analysts expect the infection prevention devices market to observe a positive growth trajectory. The analysts shed light on the growing demand for infection prevention devices, especially in hospitals. The growing number of child care centers is also an important growth aspect of the infection prevention devices market according to the analysts.

The analysts expect North America to serve as a prominent growth contributor in terms of geographical dimensions. The consideration of various infection prevention device companies to expand their services across the U.S. may serve as a vital growth factor for the infection prevention devices market.

Request Brochure of Infection Prevention Devices Market Report - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/brochure.php

Key Findings of the Report

Ultraviolet Technology to Attract Considerable Growth Opportunities across Infection Prevention Devices Market

The growing influence of ultraviolet technology in the infection prevention devices sector may invite tremendous growth opportunities. The COVID-19 outbreak has led to increased use of these technologies for quick sterilization of various spaces and areas, especially the hospitals and clinics. The ultraviolet technology eliminates ~97 percent of pathogens. Thus, this aspect may bring tremendous growth opportunities for the infection prevention devices market.

For instance, the Mon Valley Hospital in Southwestern Pennsylvania installed an advanced UVDI-360 Room Sanitizer. It uses ultraviolet radiation technology to eliminate dangerous germs. Thus, such developments may accelerate the growth of the infection prevention devices market substantially.

Purchase the Infection Prevention Devices Market Report - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/checkout.php

Contactless Devices to Gain Traction during COVID-19 Pandemic

As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic cast its ugly shadow across the globe, the demand for infection prevention devices, especially with contactless technology has increased considerably. Coronavirus spreads through surfaces and touching some surfaces frequently can lead to COVID-19 transmission. Thus, to prevent this factor, manufacturers are developing contactless technologies for infection prevention devices.

Explore 187 pages of superlative research, current market scenario, and extensive geographical projections. Gain insights into the Infection Prevention Devices Market (Product: Infection Prevention Supplies, Medical Waste Disposable Devices, Infection Prevention Equipment; End User: Hospitals, Life science Industries, Clinical Laboratories, and Others) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2019 - 2027 at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/69485

Infection Prevention Devices Market: Growth Boosters

Ongoing research and development activities are expected to unlock the growth potential of the infection prevention devices market extensively

The growing investments in the infection prevention devices market from various conglomerates and firms will further add extra stars of growth

The heightening prevalence of hospital-acquired infections will strengthen the growth prospects of the infection prevention devices market

Explore Transparency Market Research's award-winning coverage of the global Healthcare Industry:

Respiratory Virus Infection Drugs Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/respiratory-virus-infection-drugs-market.html

Respiratory Antiviral Treatment Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/respiratory-antiviral-treatment-market.html

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A medical worker shows China's COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Feb. 3, 2021. Pakistan formally started the drive to administer the China-donated Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to its frontline healthcare workers on Wednesday, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said. The drive was launched simultaneously in all four provinces, federating units and the capital in the ceremonies attended by chief ministers, senior ministers and health officials, the NCOC said. (Photo by Umar Qayyum/Xinhua)

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan formally started the drive to administer the China-donated Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to its frontline healthcare workers on Wednesday, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said.

The drive was launched simultaneously in all four provinces, federating units and the capital in the ceremonies attended by chief ministers, senior ministers and health officials, the NCOC said.

The drive, National COVID Immunization Program, was formally launched by administration of the vaccine to frontline healthcare workers representing major hospitals or health offices which actively participated in the country's fight against the coronavirus.

Speaking at the ceremony held at the NCOC head office, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar thanked the government of China for supporting Pakistan during the crisis of COVID-19.

He added that the frontline healthcare workers made a lot of sacrifices while handling the infected people, and provided meritorious services for serving the nation during the pandemic.

He said the Pakistani government will make sure to inoculate the frontline healthcare workers to make their working safe.

In the capital, the vaccine was administered to a head nurse of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences isolation unit Rizwana Yasmin, and molecular technologist at Shifa International Hospital Islamabad Fahad Mahmood, the NCOC said.

A member of COVID-19 surveillance team at the District Health Office Islamabad, Javed Iqbal, who diagnosed over 10,000 positive cases in Islamabad by contact tracing and sampling with his team, also received the COVID-19 vaccine at the NCOC.

In Sindh province, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, speaking at the vaccine administering ceremony, thanked the people and government of China for their support to Pakistan at the moment of need.

Chief Ministers of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab also attended the ceremonies in their respective provinces and expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for enabling immunizing the local people.

The first batch of 500,000 Sinopharm vaccines reached Pakistan early Monday from Beijing on a special Pakistan Air Force plane.

Pakistan has so far confirmed over 549,000 cases, while 11,802 people have lost their lives to the disease since the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, according to the latest government data.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Sweet Earth Holdings Corp. (CSE: SE) (FSE: 1KZ1) (OTCQB: SEHCF) ("Sweet Earth" the "Company") is pleased to announce it has entered into an exclusive Supply Arrangement Agreement for Japan (the "Agreement") with Frosty's Extracts LLC ("Frosty's") for the production and procurement of high-quality CBD isolate.

Sweet Earth continues to focus on its global expansion of high-end CBD products that includes skin and body care products, pet treats and all-natural CBD cigarettes. Sweet Earth is a vertically integrated farm-to-shelf award-winning company that is focused on creating products by using non-GMO hemp void of pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers. The Company selected Frosty's1 as a partner as the latter shares the same values and provides Oregon's leading chain of custody compliance service. It is a leading extractor with over nine years of experience in a relatively young sector and places great value on a complete holistic approach to production.

Sweet Earth is in the process of expanding into Asia, with a focus on Japan and Hong Kong. Frosty's was a natural fit as both companies focus on high-quality and compliant production. Sweet Earth maintains a proprietary hemp strain while Frosty's maintains proprietary extraction processes.

The Asia Pacific CBD skin care market is estimated to grow significantly and record a CAGR of 28.25% during the estimated period of 2020-20282. The market is expected to be worth US$5.8 BN by 2024, led by China and Japan. Given its long-term experience and network in Asia, including the skincare industry, Sweet Earth has made expansion into the region a priority and hopes to be a "first mover."

Chris Cooper, CFO of Sweet Earth, commented, "The Agreement with Frosty's puts two formidable companies that are both focused on providing high-quality products based on the same team. We both understand that in order to create the best products, it starts with expertise in the research lab and passion in the fields. Frosty's was a natural fit for our global expansion vision."

Bill Bingham, CEO and co-Founder of Frosty's, commented, "We are very excited with the opportunity to enter into the Agreement with Sweet Earth, a company that continues to lead the way in creating new CBD products and branding. Often receiving accolades as a leading farm-to-shelf leader, we also recognize that it is a branding and social media trend setter, which will allow us both to expand our market penetration internationally."

About Sweet Earth

Corporate Website:https://sweetearthcbdcorp.com.

Sweet Earth is a vertically integrated "farm to shelf" hemp grower with a farm in Applegate, Oregon, that maintains a full line of hemp and CBD products for the US and global market. Its products combine CBD with herbal and organic ingredients, all of which are selected for their beneficial properties to soothe, rejuvenate, and reduce inflammation.

In addition to high-end finished products, Sweet Earth prides itself on sustainability by minimizing the use of plastics in both production and packaging. Sweet Earth's in-house genetics team has been working on its own proprietary hemp strain.

Sweet Earth maintains a portfolio of skin and body care products that includes facial products, men's, spa, hemp, and muscle products that are sold on its website, https://sweetearthskincare.com.

Sweet Earth operates a proprietary online shopping portal for discerning pet owners offering pet treats comprised of high-quality ingredients, which are further enriched with CBD and Vitamin E. The treats are sold on its website: https://www.sweetearthpets.com.

Sweet Earth has created a line of CBD that cigarettes are made from 100% naturally grown US hemp flower that is rich in non-intoxicating cannabinoids like CBD and cannabigerol ("CBG"). The cigarettes are completely free of tobacco, nicotine, or additives. The cigarettes are also rich in terpenes, like pinene, limonene and myrcene and are sold on its online portal, https://www.sweetearthsmooth.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Peter Espig"

Peter Espig

For additional information contact :

Peter Espig / CEO and Director

Telephone: (778) 385-1213

Email: info@sweetearthcbd.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

____________________

1 Website: http://frostysextracts.com/.

2 NK Wo od Research Report: Asia Pacific CBD Skin Care Market Report Forecast 2020 - 2028.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73617
LEWISTON - The Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health is partnering with Lewis-Clark State College (LC State) to award $1 million in scholarships over the next 10 years to students from Idaho majoring in health care-related fields, administrators from the two organizations announced Wednesday.

The Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health will give LC State $100,000 a year over the next 10 years to award in scholarships and create the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health Scholarship Program, starting with the fall 2021 semester.

The goals of the partnership are to help address the shortage of health care professionals working in rural areas of Idaho and increase the number of first generation college graduates. The scholarships will strengthen the health care workforce, especially in Region 2 where LC State is located.

We are honored and thrilled to be partnering with the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health, said LC State President Cynthia Pemberton, and believe the Health Scholarship Program will enable and empower health care education and ultimately emerging professionals to make a significant, sustainable and very positive impact to and in the lives of students, communities and Idaho health care. Our most sincere thanks to the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health for helping us make truly life changing differences.

The Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health is pleased to partner with Lewis-Clark State College to make a long-term investment in the young men and women in our state, said Ralph Woodard, President of Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health. We must make every effort to keep future doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors and other health care professionals in Idaho. As Idaho continues to grow, it is vital that the number of health care workers grows as well. Our contribution to the next generation of health care workers helps ensure these young men and women have the tools to keep Idahoans healthy.

To meet the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health Scholarship eligibility requirements, a student must be an Idaho resident, have at least a sophomore class standing (completed 26 or more credits) and be majoring in one of LC States health care programs, which are nursing, radiographic science, kinesiology, social work or medical assistant. An accumulative college grade point average of 3.25 or better also is required for the $4,000 annual scholarship. Students would be eligible for an extra $1,000 if they maintain a 3.75 GPA or better. Priority to receive the scholarship will be based on financial need. The scholarship is renewable for up to three years as long as the student continues to meet the requirements.

LC States Financial Aid Office will oversee the screening of the applicant, rewarding of scholarship money, and review eligibility at the start of each semester.

LC State has a history of producing successful students in the health science areas. Graduates of LC States nursing program have a 96 percent pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination, much higher than the national average. Radiographic science students also have a national exam pass rate of 96 percent and a 94 percent job placement rate. Kinesiology graduates have over a 90 percent acceptance rate into graduate physical therapy programs.

The college also has high positive placement rates in exercise science (100 percent), social work (100 percent) and medial assistant (80 percent).

As part of their hands-on education, LC State students are required to take part in practicums or internships. For students in health care-related fields, the practicums and internships can take place with local hospitals, medical offices and clinics, government and non-profit agencies, and schools.

We are excited to work with the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health to assist students in achieving their academic and career goals through this generous gift, LC State Vice President for Student Affairs Andy Hanson said. This will benefit students and Idaho for years to come.

This year, LC States student body is composed of 78 percent first generation college students and 45 percent of the first-time/full-time students in the fall semester were low income, the highest percentage rate among Idahos public four-year higher education institutions.

The Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health is a nonprofit private foundation established by Blue Cross of Idaho in 2001. The Foundation is dedicated to addressing the root causes to some of Idahos most pressing health issues. Its work focuses on communities, education and health care.

LC State was founded in 1893 and has more than 130 degree and certificate programs. The colleges mission is to prepare students to become successful leaders, engaged citizens, and lifelong learners.
District Attorney Tuolumne County Seal View Photo

Sonora, CA  A convict with crimes in three states including murder and child molestation was denied parole for the one committed in Tuolumne County.

70-year-old Eric Richard Eleson was denied parole at a hearing held via videoconference on January 29th. In the 90s he was found guilty of three counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 under the Three Strike Rule and sentenced to 85-years-to-life in prison.

The Tuolumne County District Attorneys office, in a written release, detailed his crime. On Oct. 4, 1994, an eight-year-old girl told her parents that Eleson had molested her and her six-year-old sister twice the night before. Eleson, a family friend and computer repairman, was at the home to fix their computer when the D.A.s office said he entered their daughters room multiple times and lewdly touched each child. Eleson was arrested but denied any wrongdoing.

In 2019 Eleson became eligible for Early Elder Parole as he was over the age of 60 and had served 25 years of his sentence. The D.A. office says that at the parole hearing Eleson took no responsibility for his actions and blamed others for his convictions. Those included Second-Degree Murder in San Mateo County in 1970 where he was paroled after only serving five years. In 1984, Eleson was convicted of First-Degree Sexual Abuse of a Child and Bail Jumping in Hawaii. A decade later, in 1994, Eleson faced that same crime this time with a two-year-old child in Oregon. He never faced those charges because he fled to Tuolumne County, according to the D.A.s office.

It only took the commissioners from the Board of Parole Hearings about ten minutes to find Eleson not suitable for parole based on his continued risk to society. While he was denied a parole hearing for five years, Eleson will be eligible to petition to advance his case after three years, according to the D.A.s office.
Farmer protest: Shah meets with NSA Doval, IB Chief, Delhi Police commissioner

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: National Security Advisor is meeting Union Home Minister, Amit Shah amidst the farmer protests and the propaganda by few foreign personalities.

Delhi's police commissioner, S N Srivastava is also meeting the Home Minister along with the NSA.

Shah is also meeting with Intelligence Bureau chief, Arvind Kumar. The meeting takes place in the wake of the chakka jam call by the farmers on February 6.

None can take the land of our farmers: PM Modi

Earlier the Delhi Police while accusing Greta Thunberg of criminal conspiracy and promoting enemy filed a case over her tweets on the farmer protests.

Thunberg on Tuesday hight wrote," we stand in solidarity with the farmer protest in India. She shared a CNN article on the ongoing farmer protests in India and how the internet has been suspended around the Delhi borders.

The action by the Delhi Police comes a day after the Ministry of External Affairs issued a strong statement against foreign personalities speaking about India's internal affairs.

The MEA said that the Parliament of India, after a full debate and discussion, passed the reformist legislation relation to the agricultural sector. These reforms give expanded market access and provides farmers with greater flexibility to farmers. They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming.

A very small section of farmers in parts of India have some reservation about these reforms. Respecting the sentiments of the protesters the government of India has initiated a series of talks with their representatives. Union Ministers have been part of the negotiations and eleven rounds of talks have already been held. The government even offered to keep the farm law on hold and none other than the PM has made this offer, the MEA said.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

Yes it is unfortunate to see vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda on these protests and derail them. This was egregiously witnessed on January 26. A cherished national commemoration, the anniversary of the inauguration of the Constitution of India was besmirched and violence and vandalism took place in the Indian Capital, the MEA further added.
LONG BEACH, Calif., Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center received multiple recognitions from Healthgrades including being named one of America's 100 Best Hospitals for spine and prostate surgeries. Hospitals designated as America's Best Hospitals by Healthgrades deliver better outcomes than 95 percent of hospitals in the nation and demonstrate exceptional quality care.

Every year, Healthgrades evaluates performance at nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 32 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions using Medicare data, and additional analysis outcomes in appendectomy and bariatric surgery using all-payer data provided by 16 states.

"We are proud to be recognized by Healthgrades as a top hospital, backed by our superior outcomes, that supports the community of Long Beach, North Orange County and the South Bay," says Ike Mmeje, chief operating officer, Long Beach Medical Center. "This recognition validates our mission and efforts to provide our community with the best and safest care possible."

Long Beach Medical Center is also 5-star rated by Healthgrades in the following treatments and procedures: treatment of sepsis; pacemaker procedures; back surgery; total knee replacement; total hip replacement; transurethral prostrate resection surgery and esophageal/stomach surgery. This analysis shows that patients treated at hospitals, like Long Beach Medical Center, that receive a 5-star rating have a lower risk of dying and a lower risk of experiencing one or more complications during a hospital stay then if they were treated at hospitals receiving a

1-star rating for that procedure or condition. From 2017 through 2019, if all hospitals as a group performed similarly to hospitals receiving 5-stars as a group, on average, 218,785 lives could potentially have been saved and complications in 148,681 patients could potentially have been avoided.1

"Now more than ever, consumers understand the importance of hospital quality and starting to become more diligent when researching where they receive care," said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. "When selecting a hospital, consumers can feel confident in Long Beach Medical Center for their commitment to quality care and exceptional outcomes."

View Healthgrades hospital quality methodologies.

About MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center:

MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center has been providing the community with compassionate, quality health care for more than 100 years. While leading in specialized care, research and education, Long Beach Medical Center has an outstanding record of innovation and medical advances, along with numerous accolades. Long Beach Medical Center is ranked no. 8 in the Los Angeles Metro Area by U.S. News & World Report and has earned Magnet recognition for nursing excellence. With leading centers for cancer, heart, rehabilitation, orthopedics, neurology and trauma, physicians and surrounding hospitals continually refer to its accredited programs. For more information, visit memorialcare.org/LongBeach.

About Healthgrades

Healthgrades is dedicated to empowering stronger and more meaningful connections between patients and their healthcare providers. At Healthgrades, we help millions of consumers each month find and schedule appointments with their provider of choice. With our scheduling solutions and advanced analytics applications, we help our health system and life sciences clients cultivate new patient relationships, improve patient access, and build customer loyalty. At Healthgrades, better health gets a head start.

*Availability of state data is subject to yearly changes due to data release timeframes and adoption of new regulations and laws.

**Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of all-payer data for years 2016 through 2018 and represent three-year estimates for patients in 16 states for which all-payer data was made available.

____________________ 1 Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2017 through 2019 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only. For appendectomy and bariatric surgery, Healthgrades used inpatient data from 16 states that provide all-payer data for years 2016 through 2018.

###

SOURCE MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center

Related Links

https://www.memorialcare.org/locations/long-beach-medical-center


In response, the United States placed a 25 percent tariff on wines below 14 percent alcohol from France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, along with various European whiskeys, cheeses, olive oils and other foods. The additional tariffs that took effect in January include wines from France and Germany above 14 percent alcohol, and other beverages. Sparkling wines have so far been excluded.

The Trump administration has never explained why it targeted wine and food in a dispute over aviation equipment. Indeed, while aircraft parts were also subject to tariffs, they were taxed at a far lower rate, 10 to 15 percent, than the 25 percent on food and drink.

Economists may argue over the efficacy of using tariffs as a tool in international trade, but these particular tariffs have caused more harm to small American businesses than they have to the countries they were intended to penalize.

According to the U.S. Wine Trade Alliance, an organization representing the wine trade, American imports of wines from the four countries affected by the tariffs over the first five months of 2020 dropped by nearly 54 percent compared with the first five months of 2019.

Data compiled by Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates, a wine industry analyst, demonstrated that for every dollars worth of wine not imported because of the tariffs, consumers spent $4.52 less at American distributors, retailers and restaurants.

Its difficult to calculate the precise effect of the pandemic on these figures. Many European wine producers hit by the tariffs simply found other markets for their products, said Ben Aneff, the managing partner of Tribeca Wine Merchants in New York and president of the trade alliance.

In an additional move that seems thoughtless at best and spiteful at worst, the Trump administration did not exclude goods in either round of tariffs that had already been purchased by American businesses months and, for some, years in advance and were in transit to the United States. That required those businesses to pay the entire duty when the goods passed through customs, with no effect on the foreign businesses the tariffs were supposedly meant to penalize.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / IONIC Brands Corp. (CSE:IONC)(FSE:IB3)(OTC PINK:IONKF) ("IONIC BRANDS" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it is undertaking a non-brokered private placement of up to 52,631,579 units (the "Units") at a price of CDN$0.19 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to approximately CDN$10,000,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (a "Share") and one Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional Share at a price of CDN$0.30 per Share, for a period of five years from the date of issuance.

The Company may pay finder's fees and/or commissions to eligible persons in connection with the Offering in accordance with applicable securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE").

The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for general corporate and expansion purposes.

In accordance with applicable securities laws, all securities issued under the Offering will be subject to a four month and one day hold period from the date of issuance. Closing of the Offering is subject to certain conditions customary for transactions of this nature, including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the CSE.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. The securities of the Company have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of any person in the United States, absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any common shares in the United States, or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Ionic Brands, Chairman and CEO, John P. Gorst, stated, "We are very pleased that we will now be properly funded to allow Management to execute on its newly revised strategy of becoming a dominant regional Multi State Operator in the Pacific Northwest region."





About IONIC BRANDS CORP.

The Company is dedicated to building a regionally based multi-state consumer-focused cannabis concentrate brand portfolio with strong roots in the premium and luxury segments of vape concentrates and edibles. The cornerstone Brand of the portfolio, IONIC, is a top vape product along with our economy vaporizer brand Dabulous in Washington State, and has aggressively expanded throughout the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The brand is currently operating in Washington and Oregon. IONIC BRANDS' strategy is to be the leader of the highest-value segments of the cannabis market.

On behalf of IONIC BRANDS CORP.

John Gorst

Chief Executive Officer & Chairman

To stay better informed with the current events of the company you can join our investor community at https://www.ionicbrands.com/investor-community.

For more information visit www.ionicbrands.com or contact:

John Gorst

investor.relations@ionicbrands.com

+1.253.248.7927

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "intend", "should", and similar expressions. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, changes to the Company's strategic growth plans, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Company's expectations as of the date hereof, and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way passed upon the merits of the Offering proposed herein and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

SOURCE: IONIC Brands Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/628011/IONIC-Brands-Announces-Private-Placement
Nearly 9,500 healthcare workers received COVID-19 vaccine shots in on Thursday in the third week of the inoculation drive, with a turnout of more than 51 per cent.

After a sluggish start, since the exercise was kicked off on January 16, the inoculation drive had picked up pace in the last several days.

The targeted number for vaccination on February 4 was 18,300, officials said.

"Today, 9,494 people were administered coronavirus vaccine, and AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) was reported in 13 persons," a senior official of the Health Department said.

On the previous day of the vaccination drive, 7,365 healthcare workers had got the jabs, with a turnout of about 40 per cent.

Under the nationwide mega vaccination drive launched on January 16, a total of 4,319 (53 per cent) health workers against a target of 8,117, were administered the shots at 81 centres across the city on the first day.

On the second scheduled day, the figures had stood at 3,598 (44 per cent of the target). The sharp fall had come after one severe and 50 minor adverse effect cases were reported on the opening day of the vaccination drive.

The count on third schedule day was much higher at 4,936 (48 per cent).

Various reasons were being attributed to the low turnout in the initial days, including some technical issues and apprehensions related to adverse events.

However, the government has maintained that no case of serious/severe AEFI is attributable to vaccination till date.

Oxford COVID-19 vaccine Covishield is being administered at majority of the centres, while Bharat Biotech-made Covaxin doses given at the remaining facilities.

The government had taken measures like counselling and formal phone calls to raise the percentage of healthcare workers turning up for being administered COVID-19 vaccine.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BERRIEN COUNTY, MI  A man suffered multiple gunshot wounds in a shooting at a cellphone store.

Police arrested the suspected shooter.

The shooting was reported at 5:47 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, at Metro by T-Mobile at 2004 S. M-139, Benton Township police said.

Police found the victim, a 40-year-old resident of Berrien Countys Sodus Township, and were told that the suspect was running north behind other businesses.

After a short foot chase, and brief struggle, police arrested the suspect, a 35-year-old Benton Harbor resident.

The suspect was arrested for assault with intent to murder and other charges, police said.

The victim was hospitalized at Spectrum Health Lakeland with serious injuries.

Berrien County sheriffs deputies, state police troopers and Benton Harbor police assisted Benton Township police.

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She frequently commands attention as she models stylish outfits on social media.

And Martha Kalifatidis' hard work has appeared to pay off as she signed a five-figure deal with online retailer PrettyLittleThing this week.

The Married At First Sight Australia star, 32, caught the eye as she posed in a patterned corset shirt by the UK-based brand for a trendy photoshoot in Bondi.

Impressive: Martha Kalifatidis' hard work has appeared to pay off as she's signed a five-figure deal with online retailer PrettyLittleThing

Turning heads, the influencer's blouse featured balloon-inspired sleeves, which complemented her chic split-front trousers.

The make-up artist displayed her black pedicure in classic platform sandals, while carrying her essentials in a chain-strap handbag.

Ensuring focus remained on her striking outfit, the TV star opted for a neutral-toned make-up look and accessorised with dainty jewellery.

Wow-factor! The Married At First Sight Australia star, 32, caught the eye as she posed in a patterned corset shirt by the UK-based brand for a trendy photoshoot

Martha's new business deal came after she and boyfriend Michael Brunelli appeared on Married At First Sight's Grand Reunion.

During the special show, the couple hinted they may want to start a family as they spoke with resident expert Mel Schilling.

The reality star said: 'Everyone puts this pressure, we get the phone calls from home.

'We get the marriage and the baby questions. It's always coming up. I think it's a natural progression, it'll definitely happen.

'We're in no rush, we're really enjoying where we are right now. Like, it's just perfect.'

The pair have been going strong ever since they appeared on the 2019 edition of the TV series.

I ts stopped raining, at least in one part of the country: Whitehall. Political weather watchers saw the latest sign of less stormy times in a quiet U-turn by the Prime Minister last week. The plan had been to make David Frost, the man who negotiated the Brexit deal, his new national security adviser. Ive never met this David Frost, but I have developed a sneaking admiration for him from afar. Amid the circus, he has just got on with his job of getting us out of the EU in an orderly, legal way. Getting his fellow Brexiteers to accept that involved tariffs on British manufacturers and discarding the fishermen was not an easy sell. Its good news he remains in post as Brexit fixer. If anyone can sort the protectionist mess of the new customs arrangements, it will be the Great Frost (as Boris Johnson likes to call him).

Lord Frost (as he likes to call himself) was not, however, qualified for the additional new role he was given late last year as the countrys chief adviser on national security. He had no deep experience of working with the intelligence agencies or the military. Last Friday, however, it was announced that the highly capable head of the Ministry of Defence, Stephen Lovegrove, would be taking up the role instead.

Why does any of this matter to anyone outside SW1? The answer is because we all depend on good government supported by a professional, independent civil service. It is our best bulwark against the corruption and abuse of power that was endemic in the British state before the 19th-century reforms that introduced it  and which we sadly see in too many other places in our world today. Thats not a view universally shared. The campaign for Brexit was prosecuted by two different armies who came together in an alliance of convenience. The first were those who had long-standing concerns about our membership of the EU, on grounds of sovereignty and bureaucracy and cost. Before the referendum, most would have called themselves Eurosceptics who wanted to be in the EU but not run by it; the vote in 2016 forced them to choose between in or out, and a large number chose out.

There was another far smaller group, however, for whom the EU was only a symbol of a much wider problem: we were governed, they argued, by out-of-touch elites in politics, in business, in the media, in the courts and in the civil service. These elites had let the people down and needed to be put to the sword. It was a British manifestation of what Trump represented in the United States. Never mind that these popular champions were themselves often privately educated and with arts degrees from Oxbridge, like the ruling class they attacked. Never mind that it was never clear what the failure was that they were railing against  or that it turns out that in a modern, complex society its not so easy to deliver rising real incomes, full employment and low crime while at the same time keeping the nation together and having harmonious relations with your neighbours.

Dominic Cummings was the latest adviser to turn up in Downing Street saying: Its either the British state or me. He promised to end judicial activism, defund the BBC, teach the Army about technology and dispatch the House of Lords up north. In one Zoom meeting last June it was widely reported (although disputed) that he also said a hard rain was coming to Whitehall.

What is left of the promised deluge? Nothing. In different ways, the Thatcher, Major, Blair and Cameron administrations all brought about important evolutionary improvements to the civil service. Apart from the handing of P45s to a few mandarins, Whitehall has survived the brief reign of terror unscathed. Meanwhile, the licence fee is staying put and the judges are secure. It turns out Cummings mistook his boss for a fellow traveller when he was only ever a temporary passenger of convenience.

Verity Investment Partners is uniquely focused on creating lifetime income solutions that enable clients to receive a growing stream of investment income while keeping savings invested to grow over their lifetime and beyond. This income can be used to replace earned income, or if one doesn't need the income in the short-term, it can be reinvested as additional savings. VIP calls this "Growing Income for Life."

Newell received a JD from the Charleston School of Law, and he received his undergraduate degree from Presbyterian College. Newell has extensive experience in the financial services industry, most recently with Fifth Third Bank in Nashville, TN. Additionally, he has held associate attorney positions at prominent law firms in Columbia, SC and Greenville, SC. Newell is relocating with his family from Tennessee.

"Having a Senior Portfolio Manager in Charleston is a natural progression of our firm's growth," said founder & managing director, Will Verity. "Paul's experience and passion for serving clients aligns well with our commitment to serve as life-long trusted advisors to our clients. We are confident Paul will help Charleston families invest wisely in their future."

About Verity Investment Partners:

Verity Investment Partners is a Registered Investment Advisory firm based in Beaufort, SC Carolina, with offices in Edwards, CO and San Antonio, TX. VIP advisors apply a holistic approach to investment management that encompasses financial planning, investment strategy, and ongoing portfolio management. The firm specializes in structuring dividend growth investment solutions designed to deliver targeted levels of annual income and income growth while keeping principal invested to grow long-term. The company was founded in 2002 by Paula and Will Verity and has grown to include 12 team members with $565 million in assets under management as of December 31, 2019. Verity is one of the Financial Times 300 Top Registered Investment Advisors. To learn more, visit https://verityvip.com/

SOURCE Verity Investment Partners

Related Links

https://verityvip.com


[February 04, 2021]

Digital Asset Shapes Future of Interoperable Applications; Showcases Strong Adoption of Open Source Smart Contract Language Daml

NEW YORK, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Digital Asset, the creators of the open source smart contract language called Daml , today announced the company experienced strong 2020 momentum, including strong user community growth, customer and partner expansion, and technology advancements. The milestones reflect the rising demand for Daml as more businesses worldwide realize the cost- and time-saving benefits of creating interoperable applications that can run across any traditional database or distributed ledger technology like blockchain.



Daml is an open source smart contract language used by developers to write and deploy full-stack, distributed applications for DLT, blockchain, or databases in days. It is purpose-built to support multiparty business workflows in any industry with widespread adoption in finance -- CBInsights, ranked Daml as one of the 10 most popular Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT ) networks to build capital markets infrastructure services -- and growing interest in healthcare, supply chain and other markets. With Daml, developer teams can get to market faster, focus on their core value, and unleash web-paced innovation for all industries.

Daml has solidified its role as the de facto standard for modern systems of record, said Yuval Rooz, Co-founder and CEO of Digital Asset. The potential for smart contracts is even larger than first thought, and that interest has driven huge demand for Daml across many new industries and use cases. Enterprises are turning to Daml as a low-risk, high return solution because it gives them the ability to capitalize on smart contract technology with their existing internal systems, with the option to branch across distributed ledger technologies in the future.

New Customers and Partners Reflect Rapidly Expanding Daml Adoption Globally

Innovative customers adopted Daml in 2020 to drive their digital transformations and future-proof their businesses. Companies such as BNP Paribas and ISDA choose Daml to build applications for new DLT-based trading platforms, automate and digitize processing workflows and to enable developers to build sophisticated and secure solutions in a fraction of the time it would take with legacy languages. The company also saw growing adoption of Daml across some of the worlds largest financial markets and landmark blockchain projects in Asia, including its continued work with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and new customers Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) and the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX). Digital Asset expects to be working with 5 of the top 10 exchanges by the end of 2021. In addition, Daml was named the exclusive smart contract language for Chinas Blockchain Services Network (BSN).

The number of copanies in the Digital Asset partner network doubled in 2020, expanding to include working with companies such as Microsoft, Accenture, Baymarkets, Block8, Brillio, DigitalX, Exberry, GFT, Infosys, Innover Digital, IntellectEU, Knoldus, Magic FinServ, Red Date Technology (to integrate Daml smart contract technology with Chinas Blockchain Services Network), Tech Mahindra, VMware and Wipro.







Added Funding and Leadership to Support Growth

In February 2020, venture arms for tech giant Samsung and CRM company Salesforce invested in a second Series C funding round for Digital Asset. In July, VMware also invested in Digital Assets Series C financing round, bringing the total amount raised by Digital Asset to $150 million. Digital Asset expanded its corporate operations in 2020, hiring a new Head of Developer Relations, Head of Business Development in EMEA and a new Head of Business Development in the Americas, as well as expanding teams in the UK and Hong Kong.

Growing Daml Support for Widely Used DLT Platforms and Enterprise Databases

Throughout 2020, Digital Asset announced new or enhanced drivers, bringing the power of Daml application development to the most widely used distributed ledger platforms and enterprise-grade databases. The company also expanded its certification program, responding to requests from enterprises to become Daml-certified.

Daml for Corda : Digital Asset announced the availability of Daml for Corda, pairing the power and simplicity of Daml smart contracts with a privacy-enabled enterprise distributed ledger platform.

: Digital Asset announced the availability of pairing the power and simplicity of Daml smart contracts with a privacy-enabled enterprise distributed ledger platform. Daml for VMware Blockchain: VMware expanded its partnership with Digital Asset, announcing deeper Daml integration with the release of VMware Blockchain 1.0, giving customers developing Daml applications an enterprise grade blockchain platform trusted by the worlds largest organizations.

VMware expanded its partnership with Digital Asset, announcing deeper Daml integration with the release of 1.0, giving customers developing Daml applications an enterprise grade blockchain platform trusted by the worlds largest organizations. Daml for PostgreSQL: Daml for PostgreSQL eliminates the cost and maintenance of outdated processes with multi-party applications on any PostgreSQL compliant database, including Amazon Aurora and RDS, Google Cloud SQL, Microsoft AzureDB, and more.

eliminates the cost and maintenance of outdated processes with multi-party applications on any PostgreSQL compliant database, including Amazon Aurora and RDS, Google Cloud SQL, Microsoft AzureDB, and more. Digital Market Infrastructure: In collaboration with Exberry, Digital Asset rolled out a new digital asset exchange and settlement platform . Built using Daml, Project: DABL and Exberrys matching engine to start, this cloud-based solution enables market participants to rapidly launch a fully-compliant, end-to-end platform encompassing registry, custody, trading, and matching services.

In collaboration with Exberry, Digital Asset rolled out a new . Built using Daml, Project: DABL and Exberrys matching engine to start, this cloud-based solution enables market participants to rapidly launch a fully-compliant, end-to-end platform encompassing registry, custody, trading, and matching services. CBDC Interoperability: Of particular note, Digital Asset started working with several central banks to enable CBDC interoperability, a critical component necessary for CBDCs to be compatible across different DLT and database platforms.



Expanded Daml Certification and Community Resources

Spurred by demand from enterprises to be Daml-certified, Digital Asset announced expanded Daml Certification , empowering developers to build full-stack, distributed applications in just days for any industry. The tiered program arms Daml developers with a comprehensive set of credentials that empower them to build fundamentally new, interoperable and collaborative applications.

To learn more about Digital Asset and follow the rise of Daml:

About Digital Asset

Digital Asset helps companies of all sizes and across industries get distributed applications to market faster, and stay there longer. At the core of our service offering is Daml, an open-source and platform-independent smart contract language that enables developers to write an application once and deploy it anywhere. To learn more about Digital Asset, please visit www.digitalasset.com and for more information about Daml, please visit www.daml.com. Click here to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn .

Contact:

BOCA Communications for Digital Asset

media@digitalasset.com
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Phoenix, Mauritius (PANA) - On World Cancer Day celebrated Thursday, Mauritius opened a new cancer centre in Phoenix, 15 km south of the capital, Port Louis, to offer a better service to people suffering from this disease
(@FahadShabbir)

New York, Feb 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Feb, 2021 ) :American Airlines will notify 13,000 workers that they could be laid off due to the prolonged industry downturn if the Covid-19 situation doesn't improve and US government aid is not extended, the carrier said Wednesday.

The airline expects to fly at least 45 percent less in the first quarter, American's executives said in a letter to employees, extending the industry slump as expectations for a travel recovery are delayed due to the slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines.

"Of course, this is not where we want to be, and we will work with union leadership to do everything we can to mitigate job impact as much as possible," said the letter from the carrier's Chief Executive Doug Parker and President Robert Isom.

American no longer expects to be at full capacity this summer, they said.

"The vaccine is not being distributed as quickly as any of us believed, and new restrictions on international travel that require customers to have a negative Covid-19 test have dampened demand," they added.

American's announcement came after United Airlines last week sent similar notices to 14,000 workers.

Parker and Isom said they backed efforts by airline worker unions to win another round of support in Congress, with current Federal aid set to expire on April 1.

US President Joe Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 economic relief package, currently being discussed in Congress.

The company also meanwhile plans to establish new programs to encourage early retirement or voluntary furloughs.

Hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, American saw its revenue decrease by 62 percent in 2020, and reported an annual loss of $8.9 billion.

In a quarterly earnings report out last week, the carrier warned it expected revenue in the current quarter to fall 60 to 65 percent compared to the same period last year.

American furloughed 19,000 workers in October after a prior round of federal support expired, but brought the workers back after Congress enacted more federal support at the end of 2020.
The late Thomas (Tommy) Bolger

The death has occurred of Thomas (Tommy) Bolger, Killabeg, Enniscorthy, Wexford / and formerly of Haltigan Tce, Riverview and Ballinalina, Kells Road, Kilkenny) February 3, peacefully, in the wonderful care of the staff of Our Lady's Hospice, Harolds Cross and St. James Hospital, Dublin, Thomas (Tommy), predeceased by his much loved daughter Becky.

Deeply missed by his loving wife Gertrude (Ger) and his children Heidi and David, sons-in-law Ian and Kent, daughter-in-law Denise, his cherished grandchildren Tara, Sally, Teddy, Harriet, Daniel, Isabel, Arthur, Maria and Wallis, his brothers Peter, Noel and Dominic, his sister Marie, brother-in-law, sisters-in-law, extended family, his great neighbours and friends.

In accordance with current Government/HSE guidelines and in the interest of Public Health and the safety of our most vulnerable, a private family funeral will take place for Tommy (max of 10 people). For those unable to attend due to restrictions, you may view the Requiem Mass online at noon on Friday, February 5, at the following link www.stpatricksparishkilkenny.com. House private, please. Those wishing to leave a message of condolence for Tommy's family can do so on RIP.ie. Tommy's family would like to thank everybody for their support and understanding in these difficult days.

The late Phil Breen

The death has occurred of Phil Breen, Dean Cavanagh Place, Kilkenny City, Kilkenny. February 3 (peacefully) at his home, surrounded by his loving family. He will be sadly missed by his devoted wife Bab, family, neighbours and friends. Due to current government and HSE restrictions and in accordance with Phil's wishes a private family funeral will take place over the coming days. Please feel free to leave a message of condolence in the condolence book at RIP.ie.

The late Pansy Nolan, formerly Brophy, (nee Kinsella)

The death has occurred of Pansy Nolan, formerly Brophy, nee Kinsella 23 Old Dublin Road, Carlow, originally Graignamanagh, Kilkenny died February 3, at St Lukes Hospital, Kilkenny. Predeceased by her husband Paddy Brophy. Sadly missed by her loving husband Tom, sons Martin, Anthony, Mark and Eddie, daughters Colette and Ruth, brother Ted, sister Breda, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, her 11 adored grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives and many friends.

Owing to the government restrictions a private funeral Mass will be celebrated for family (max 10). The Mass may be viewed on the Cathedral parish webcam (www.carlowcathedral.ie/webcam/) at 11am on Friday morning after which Pansy will be laid to rest in St Marys Cemetery. Please use the online Condolences link at RIP.ie to offer the family your sympathies. The family would like to thank you for your co-operation and understanding at this most difficult time.

The late Michael Walshe

The death has occurred of Michael Walshe, Ashthorn Avenue, Headford, Co.Galway (formerly of Luimnagh, and Rathbeagh, Ballyragget, Kilkenny), February 2, peacefully at UHG, surrounded by his loving family. Deeply regretted by his loving wife Philomena, daughters Deirdre Martinz (Melbourne), Michelle Shevlin (Kilcoona) and Linda Walshe (Melbourne), son Michael (Manusflynn), sons-in-law, Ossie, John and Keven, daughter-in-law Tanya, grandchildren Dylan, Ethan, Emily, Cian, Orla, Kiera, Amy, Odhran and Dubheasa, brothers Jim and Val in Kilkenny and sister Lil in Liverpool, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, relatives, neighbours and friends. Michael will leave his home on Friday morning to arrive at St. Mary's Church, Headford for requiem Mass at 11am. Funeral afterwards to Kilcoona Cemetery. Mass can be viewed live on Headford Parish Facebook page or https://churchtv.ie/headford.html

Due to current Government restrictions Michael's funeral will take place privately. Family flowers only by request. Donations if desired to Western Alzheimers. House private at all times please. The family greatly appreciate your sympathy and support at this sad time. If you would like to leave a message of sympathy please do so in the condolence section of RIP.ie.
To say its been a hectic year for Northwest national parks is an understatement.

National park sites across the region posted record high numbers of visitors in 2020, as well as record lows, as park managers dealt with the coronavirus pandemic, raging wildfires and swarming crowds of people, some of whom endangered their own safety and the natural landscapes themselves.

Monthly visitor numbers published by the National Park Service from 2020 show an up and down year across Oregon: Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon broke several monthly records last year, for example, while the nearby Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve posted the lowest annual visitor total since 1945.

The same was true in Washington, where Olympic National Park posted its lowest annual visitor total since 1984, while places like Ross Lake National Recreation Area and San Juan Island National Historical Park set new monthly and annual records.

Under normal circumstances, the numbers might show long-term travel trends or temporary dips caused by natural disasters. In 2020, they represent a complex set of variables unique to each parks response to an extremely abnormal year.

A boardwalk leads along the Painted Cove Trail, through red and yellow deposits of rock in the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Everyone knows that 2020, no matter what kind of record you kept, youre always going to have an asterisk next to it, said Sarah Holman, chief of interpretation and education at the John Day Fossil Beds in central Oregon.

The fossil beds saw 88,571 visitors last year, less than half of the previous years total of 197,091, and the lowest annual number since 1976  the first year on record. The 2020 number seems to imply that popular park attractions like the Painted Hills and Blue Basin were empty last year, but Holman said that wasnt the case.

The John Day Fossil Beds closed its visitor center and all outdoor areas of the park in March, as the spread of COVID-19 prompted the closure of virtually all outdoor recreation areas in the Pacific Northwest. Outdoor areas of the park reopened in May, and in July the park announced a limited reopening of the visitor center, cutting back its hours and limiting visitors to 10 at a time.

Limiting crowds in the visitor center was a necessary action from a public health standpoint, but it also meant fewer people were counted as they explored the fossil beds, underselling crowd sizes, Holman said.

Its over a 50% decrease in visitation, but based upon that number, we arent counting people who are coming into the visitor center, Holman said. All of our outdoor areas, all of our trails remained popular all summer.

That follows a trend of increased crowds at outdoor areas across the region in 2020, including a surge of first-time hikers and campers, many of whom were driven to explore local parks and trails as other travel options were unavailable during the pandemic.

A visitor takes a picture at the Watchman Overlook. Views from Rim Drive in Crater Lake National Park.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Crowds also swarmed Crater Lake after it reopened June 8, setting monthly visitor records for July, August, October and December. Park superintendent Craig Ackerman said September would have likely been a record month as well, if not for nearby wildfires that temporarily shut down all park access roads.

The final visitor count for 2020 was 670,500 people at Crater Lake  the lowest annual total since 2015, but good for the fifth highest on record.

Thats just a lot of people, Ackerman said, and theyve shown no signs of slowing down into the new year. 2021 looks like it will be a continuation of people having discovered outdoor recreation on our public lands during the pandemic.

While park officials have been happy to see more people enjoying Crater Lake, their staff has been stretched thin. Due to pandemic restrictions on group housing, the number of staff at Crater Lake was cut in half in 2020. Growing crowds then forced that smaller staff to shift their energy to managing visitors and protecting natural spaces from misuse.

Over the summer, rangers dealt with illegal parking, visitors trying to bring pool toys into the pristine lake, and stranded hikers who climbed down into the caldera, including one incident in August that involved seven people who were cited.

Wait times to enter the park slowed to over an hour at some points last summer, Ackerman said, and got even worse once the snow began to fall. Seasonal road closures meant there was less parking at Crater Lake this winter, forcing cars to idle for up to two hours on icy park roads during the holidays.

Theres no easy solution to overcrowding, Ackerman said. Other national parks like Yosemite in California and Zion in Utah have moved to permit systems for the most popular natural areas  something Crater Lake has considered doing at popular Cleetwood Cove, given the limited resources at hand.

We dont have a doubling in size in the National Park Service, but we have a doubling in size in the population they need to serve, Ackerman said. Its just got to the point where the experience was diminished so much for people that it became imperative for the park service to manage the use.

As crowds have increased at national parks in recent years, so has the risk for wildfires during peak summer months, compounding one unwieldy problem on top of another. Despite blazes burning all around them, none of Oregons national park sites saw significant damage due to wildfires in 2020.

The Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve in Southwestern Oregon features 480 acres of old growth forest including "The Big Tree,'' which is thought to be the largest Douglas fir (in circumference) in Oregon.Jamie Francis/The Oregonian

The Slater fire on the Oregon-California border came the closest, burning within two miles of the Oregon Caves. George Herring, chief of interpretation at the caves, said fire crews showed up to protect the historic Oregon Caves Chateau and other park buildings, as the fire quickly spread into southern Oregon.

Everybody just woke up and the fire was already there, Herring said.

The wildfire shut down the national monument for more than three months, from September to December, marking the only time the national park site was closed in 2020. While almost all other park sites in Oregon closed during the initial spread of the coronavirus, the Oregon Caves kept its trails and other outdoor areas open to the public  though all cave tours were canceled indefinitely.

Generally speaking, we dont get a lot of visitation for the surface areas, and we didnt in this case, Herring said. We did everything we could to try to compensate for the cave being closed.

Their efforts included daily talks with rangers at the entrance to the cave system and virtual field trips for schools. Still, the national park site remained relatively empty for most of 2020. Without cave tours, the parks annual visitor number tumbled to 22,789 last year. Excluding World War II years, thats the lowest annual number since 1934  the first year on record.

Already the least-visited national park site in Oregon, the caves have seen a steady decline in visitor numbers over the last few decades. While most national parks have set new visitor records in the 21st century, the Oregon Caves peaked in 1972, when 197,811 people showed up.

The decline has been a troubling trend for the Oregon Caves, which rely on entrance fees in part to fund staffing and programs at the park site, Herring said. And while he doesnt anticipate huge crowds will suddenly rediscover the marble cave system, he said he does expect the number to rebound in 2021, when park officials hope to reopen cave tours to the public.

There are no firm plans in place, but the park aims to reopen its visitor center in May, and have masked cave tours running again by Memorial Day, should it be safe to do so.

Were just king of making decisions about one month at a time, Herring said, just like everybody else. Were all pent up too, were anxious to get back to giving tours.

For national park sites across the Pacific Northwest, 2021 is looking to be another strange and uncertain year. Already, President Joe Biden has mandated that visitors and staff wear face masks in all indoor areas of national parks and all outdoor spaces where people cant maintain social distance, a change from the federal governments previous stance that masks were only encouraged.

Whatever other changes may come, park managers say their experience handling a hectic 2020 will help them get through the year ahead.

Im encouraged for this year, Ackerman said, though hes not expecting things to quiet down. Will something come up that we didnt expect? You bet, absolutely.

--Jamie Hale; jhale@oregonian.com; 503-294-4077; @HaleJamesB
COVID-19: Collectors receive detailed instructions in MP 29 May 2021 | 11:28 PM Bhopal, May 29 (UNI) The Madhya Pradesh administration issued comprehensive guidelines on Saturday to collectors regarding relaxations from Tuesday vis-a-vis corona curfew.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajesh Kumar Rajora dispatched a three-page letter accompanied by an appendix. The specifications shall be in force till June 15. see more..

Two civilians killed by unidentified gunmen in Anantnag 29 May 2021 | 11:06 PM Srinagar, May 29 (UNI) Two civilians were on Saturday killed by unidentified gunmen in south Kashmir district of Anantnag, official sources said. see more..

PM's war against Covid would be won soon, 13 licensed vaccine manufacturers on job: Chugh 29 May 2021 | 10:57 PM Chandigarh, May 29 (UNI) BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh on Saturday said that the Central government was working on a war footing to fight Corona-19 and within the next couple of months the production of vaccination would reach the desired level. see more..

HP records 30 deaths,1262 cases of COVID-19 29 May 2021 | 10:56 PM Shimla, May 30 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh recorded 30 deaths and 1262 cases of COVID-19 in the

past 24 hours, a health bulletin said here on Saturday



Among the deaths, 12 were recorded in Kangra, Five in Solan and Mandi, four Sirmaur, three Shimla and two in Kullu. see more..
The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) has attributed the recent wave of school unrest to substance abuse.

According to a survey conducted by the Authority, students in primary and secondary schools are abusing alcohol, tobacco, and miraa.

NACADA Board chairman Mabel Imbuga said investigations have shown that kiosks, shops, and bars near schools are the major sources of drugs and substances.

Just three weeks after the reopening of schools, there have been heightened cases of indiscipline among primary and secondary school students, and a majority of these cases are attributed to drug abuse, Imbunga said in a press statement.

The national survey reportedly found that 16.9% of primary school pupils are currently using at least one drug or substance of abuse.

In a national survey carried out in June 2018 on the Status of Drugs and Substance Abuse among Primary School Pupils in Kenya, it was found that 20.2% of primary school pupils have ever used at least one drug or substance of abuse in their lifetime.

It further reveals that 3.2% of primary school pupils are currently using tobacco, 2.6% are currently using alcohol and 2.3% are currently using miraa/ muguka.

Prof. Imbuga also apportioned some blame lack of condemnation of drug abuse in families. She said parents have a responsibility to nurture their children positively.

Children look up to their parents for guidance in all ways and when a parents judgment is affected by substance abuse, they can not only cause mental, physical, and emotional disturbance, but they can also severely alter or hamper their childs development in all these stages.

NACADA is now urging schools to partner with them in rolling out programs to raise awareness levels on the dangers of drug abuse and a reduction in drug-related disciplinary cases.

We call upon Schools Board of Management (BoMs) to enhance efforts towards ensuring that their institution establish Guidance and Counselling departments or have Chaplains that can address issues affecting learners and therefore, deter their initiation into drug use.

In the meantime, we invite affected schools, churches and other institutions to liaise with us through our Regional Offices for support and inclusion into our school-based programs. We are ready to work with and support any institutions requiring support in alcohol and drug abuse prevention and treatment, NACADA said.
The water quality of the Yamuna in Delhi improved during the lockdown due to the stoppage of industrial effluent discharge, availability of more water for dilution and absence of polluting human activities, the government told Lok Sabha on Thursday.

It said the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) carried out water quality tests at three locations -- Palla, Nizamuddin bridge and Okhla -- in April last year.

The assessment of the water quality in April as compared to the pre-lockdown period in March showed improvement at Palla, where the river enters Delhi, in terms of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and at Nizamuddin Bridge and Okhla in terms of dissolved oxygen (DO) and BOD.

Biochemical oxygen demand is the amount of dissolved oxygen used by microorganisms in the biological process of metabolizing organic matter in water.

Dissolved oxygen is the amount of oxygen available to living aquatic organisms.

High BOD levels mean there is a high level of microorganisms in the water, and a high content of organic material that is broken down by the organisms.

The greater the BOD, the lower the amount of dissolved oxygen available for fishes and other aquatic life



The improvement in the water quality was attributed to the "release of fresh water from Wazirabad Barrage" which washed away sediments, settleable and colloidal form of pollutants in the river, Minister of State for Jal ShaktiRattan Lal Kataria informed Lok Sabha.

Other reasons included the stoppage of industrial effluent discharge (about 35.9 million litres a day), "good penetration" of solar radiation in the water body and the absence of human activities such as throwing of garbage, bathing, washing of clothes due to the lockdown.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
FutureStitch's product design capabilities and highest level of advanced manufacturing Tweet this

"We're thrilled to partner with TOMS, a leading global company bringing better products to customers worldwide," said FutureStitch Co-Founder and CEO, Taylor Shupe. "Our partnership demonstrates FutureStitch's commitment to working with brands that share our values and guide today's ideas into tomorrow's technologies with scalable solutions at every stage of the product development cycle. TOMS has been a model of corporate social responsibility, and just like us, they're in the business of improving lives."

The FutureStitch and TOMS partnership focuses on the creation of high-quality and customized product. It means every component of the product can be tailored to create a complementary sock for TOMS shoes. In keeping with both brands pledge to social responsibility, every purchase enables investments in local partners who are working to create positive change.

"Our partnership enables us to leverage the power of FutureStitch's product design capabilities and highest level of advanced manufacturing to build highly customized products to complement our unique shoe collection," said TOMS CEO Magnus Wedhammar.

In addition to being SA 8000 certified, FutureStitch's revolutionary manufacturing facility recently received the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification. It's the first U.S.-based manufacturer in China to receive the LEED Platinum certification, which recognizes FutureStitch's achievement in operating a healthier, more energy and resource-efficient building.

The product will be available in March on TOMS.com and in TOMS Retail Stores.

To find out more about FutureStitch and TOMS, visit futurestitch.com and TOMS.com.

About FutureStitch

Founded in 2017, FutureStitch, Inc. is a leading global textile and technology company founded by Taylor Shupe and Peter Shi. FutureStitch's main purpose is to create premium knitted products through a business model that promotes social and environmental consciousness. In a continued mission to revolutionize the archaic knitwear manufacturing industry, in 2018, FutureStitch opened an industry-leading facility with unmatched design services and rapid time-to-market capabilities. In 2020, the FutureStitch factory located outside Shanghai, China received the highest LEED Platinum Certification for energy efficiency and environmental responsibility at every level of operation.

With offices in San Clemente, California, and Haining, China, FutureStitch has a strong brand portfolio that includes Stance China LTD, InStitches Inc., Boosocki LLC, FreshMD LLC, and Golden Willow LTD; and is the contract manufacturer of Stance socks.

About TOMS

TOMS has always been in business to improve lives. Since we first launched in 2006, our community has impacted 100,000,000 lives through our giving.

Today, we give 1/3 of our profits to efforts around the world that are creating positive change.

This is our commitmentto our partners, to our community, and to our future.



SOURCE FutureStitch, Inc.
Documentary filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick have found their next subject: Papa.

Hemingway, a three-part, six-hour documentary series to run on PBS April 5-7, will examine Ernest Hemingway's life and death and the myth that surrounded both. Jeff Daniels will provide the voice of Hemingway, while Patricia Clarkson, Mary-Louise Parker, Keri Russell, and Meryl Streep will each voice one of his four wives. In the weeks prior to the premiere of the film, a nine-part series of virtual events, Conversations on Hemingway, will be held, bringing writers and scholars together to discuss the author and his works.

To film the series, PBS said, the filmmakers were "granted unusually open access to the treasure trove of Hemingways manuscripts, correspondence, scrapbooks, and photographs housed at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston." Biographers and scholars involved in the film include Mary Dearborn and Marc Dudley, along with such writers as Mary Karr, Mario Vargas Llosa Akiko Manabe, Edna OBrien, Tim O'Brien, Leonardo Padura, Abraham Verghese, and Tobias Wolff; the late Senator John McCain and Hemingway's surviving son, Patrick Hemingway, also took part.

"We were drawn to trying to get at a real Hemingway," Burns said at a virtual Q&A session with press on Tuesday. "The persona of the wild man, the drunk, the bar guy, the big-game hunter, the big-sea fisherman is sort of what we inherit, the baggage we carry. But almost immediately, we began to see how thin and frail that was....[to see] how much he was struggling every day to maintain that discipline to touch those moments common to us all that are universal, but also wrestling with a whole set of demons, a whole set of problems that begin to betray the mask of the he-man that he built for himself."

The film, Novick added, challenges the broader contemporary perception of Hemingway in a way she found challenged her own assumptions as well. "Starting the project, I felt pretty clear that I didn't like Hemingway the man and that I wasn't sure how I was going to feel spending six hours with him as a viewer," she said. "He was so terrible to so many of the great friends he had, and he had a talent for becoming alienated from people who cared about hima pretty impressive talentand hurting people in the way he betrayed them in his work. And yet at the end, I think having really spent the time we have [trying] to get under his skin, as Edna [O'Brien] would say, I felt a lot more compassion for him and his struggles and his demons."

For Daniels, the opportunity to voice Hemingwayto read his letters, but not to physically attempt to portray him on screen made the project particularly interesting. "You don't have to worry about anything other thannot only the sound, but the getting inside of him, the telling the truth of him without worrying about whether externally you're doing anything to help that along or not. It is very freeing, in a way. It helps you bear downdo a deep dive into what is he telling us, what is he saying, as if he's just saying it to one other person."

Scribner will publish the series' official tie-in book, The Hemingway Stories, as a trade paperback original on March 2. The book, a spokesperson for the company said, is a collection of the writer's greatest short stories as featured in the series with an introduction by Wolff. In addition, Scribner has repackaged works by Hemingway including A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, In Our Time, A Moveable Feast, The Old Man and the Sea, and The Sun Also Rises with the series' seal.

This article has been updated with further information.
1. Yes. The public must have assurances that ethical standards are met by everyone.

2. Yes. As long as an independent board hears the grievances, its a worthwhile idea.

3. No. The concept is too broad. It should be limited to the citys elected officials.

4. No. There are plenty of stipulations in place already. An ordinance is a waste of time.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without seeing how it would be structured and applied.

Vote

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Equity indices surged to fresh record high levels in mid afternoon trade. Barring the Nifty IT index, all other sectoral indices on the NSE were trading in the green. At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 352.78 points or 0.7% at 50,608.59. The Nifty 50 index gained 105 points or 0.71% at 14,894.50.

The Sensex hit a record high of 50,637.45 while the Nifty scaled a fresh all time high of 14,907.95.

In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.23% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.18%.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1,767 shares rose and 1,145 shares fell. A total of 166 shares were unchanged.

The Union Budget 2021 unveiled on 1 February 2021 supported all the essential aspects of growth by an increase in government spending without an increase in indirect taxes. The Budget offered huge stimulus to infrastructure, capex, healthcare and boosted the credit flow by taking out the toxic assets of the banking system. Increased FDI limit in insurance improved the overall outlook of the sector.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 10,43,89,724 with 22,68,691 deaths. India reported 1,55,025 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,54,703 deaths while 1,04,80,455 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index declined 0.26% to 25,614.10, snapping its three day winning streak. The index rallied nearly 4% in three days.

Tech Mahindra (down 1.49%), Wipro (down 0.91%), Info Edge (down 0.71%) and Infosys (down 0.25%) were top losers.

Earnings Impact:

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation rose 1.15%.

The PSU company's net profit surged 215.13% Rs 2,354.64 crore in Q3 FY21 as against net profit of Rs 747.20 crore in Q3 FY20. Net sales during the quarter declined by 3% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 68,359.43 crore. HPCL posted a pre-tax profit of Rs 3,157.87 crore in Q3 December 2020 as against Rs 1,150.84 crore in Q3 December 2019. Other Income for the period April-December 2020 period includes Rs 869.88 crore (April-December 2019: Rs 101.38 crore) towards gain on account of foreign currency transactions and translations. Average Gross Refining Margin (GRM) during the nine months ended 31 December 2020 was $2.35 per barrel (BBL) as against $1.85 per BBL during the corresponding period of previous year.

IPCA Laboratories declined 2.72%. The company reported 35% jump in net profit to Rs 267.56 crore on a 16% rise in net total income to Rs 1425.21 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20. EBITDA improved by 30% to Rs 377.32 crore in Q3 December 2020 as against Rs 290.03 crore in Q3 December 2019. The company recorded a forex gain of Rs 4.99 crore during the quarter as against gain of Rs 1.76 crore in the same period last year. Tax expense increased 54% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 56.73 crore.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee appreciated to 72.9 compared with its previous closing of 72.96.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.062% from its previous closing of 6.084%.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2021 settlement fell 0.93% to Rs 47,307.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, rose 0.24% to 91.325.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2021 settlement added 36 cents to $58.82 a barrel. The contract surged 1.74% to settle at $58.46 in the previous trading session.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Photo: The Canadian Press A Saputo Inc., logo is shown during the company's annual general meeting in Laval, Que., on August 8, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Saputo Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $209.8 million, up from $197.8 million in the same quarter a year earlier, even as its revenue edged lower.

The cheese and dairy company says the profit amounted to 51 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from a profit of 48 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $3.76 billion, down from $3.89 billion.

The company says overall sales volumes reached similar levels compared with the same period a year ago as increased volumes in the retail and industrial market segments offset lower volumes on the food service side of the business.

On an adjusted basis, Saputo says it earned 55 cents per diluted share, down from an adjusted profit of 56 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 48 cents per share and $3.85 billion in revenue, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.
The effectiveness of the tough quarantine in Kyiv, which ended on January 25, will be analyzed next week.

Head of the Ukrainian State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service's Main Department in the city of Kyiv Oleh Ruban says the capital city will constantly be part of the orange quarantine zone after Ukraine switches to adaptive quarantine.

Speaking on Ukraina 24 TV channel, he said the effectiveness of the [January 2021] tough quarantine in Kyiv would be analyzed in the coming week, based on the latest data.

"We will see the figures in Kyiv. Today we may say the city of Kyiv will constantly stay in the orange zone since it is a megalopolis with many organized teams," Ruban said.

On February 3, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the Cabinet of Ministers, Ukraine's government, would decide on re-imposing an adaptive quarantine in the coming days.

Read also Quarantine curbs to continue after April  PM Shmyhal Adaptive quarantine in Ukraine

The adaptive quarantine was first introduced on August 1. Ukrainian regions were split into the red, green, orange zones depending on hospital bed occupancy rates, the average number of PCR and ELISA tests, the incidence of COVID-19 cases, and daily spread dynamics.

Quarantine-related curbs differed in each zone. The mildest ones were in the green zone, while the regions included in the red zone had to introduce the toughest restrictive measures.

Reporting by UNIAN
The national media has covered Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenes hateful and bizarre beliefsthat the Parkland shooting was possibly staged, that Jews intentionally started the Camp Fire in California with space lasers, that the Las Vegas mass shooting was a false flag operation, among othersas outrageous evidence of just how much the right has come to tolerate conspiracy theories and lies. To many, Greene represents the ugliest and most unrepentant version of Trumpism, and a reminder that the phenomenon did not end with Trumps defeat.

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Reading the newspapers that cover her Northwest Georgia district, however, its clear that Greene is something else to local journalists and columnists: a more personal embarrassment. And for some, save for the rare conservative voice tepidly defending her, a more or less predictable disappointment.

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None of the recent revelations about Greenes beliefs seem surprising to local writers. In a few editorials from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and elsewhere, one can almost detect frustration that some Georgians were expressing shock, given the reporting they had already done on Greenes online behavior. Long before she was elected to the U.S. House, we knew that Marjorie Taylor Greene was problematic, began an editorial in the Journal-Constitution. We reported that she had said racist things. And xenophobic things. And anti-Semitic things. We reported that she had supported QAnon. We reported about the conspiracy theories she spread about 9/11 and the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

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When Greene first came to local reporters attention last year, though, she was discussed as a fringe candidate. Some reporters dug into her comments, but much of the initial scandal revolved around her decision to run in Georgias 14th District when she didnt live there. (She initially planned to run in the 6th Congressional District but moved to the 14th when the incumbent in the deeply conservative district announced he would not run again, clearing up a seat for whoever the most avowedly pro-Trump candidate was.) Greene, who is from the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, was questioned as much for being an outsider with little knowledge of the district as she was for her more radical comments. One conservative commentator called the decision to switch districts an insult to her supporters and an insult to those elected officials in the 14th who have worked hard for those residents to improve the lives of residents.

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When Politico reported in June that those comments included statements in support of QAnon and other absurd anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, the coverage shifted to revolve around the national outrage. The Rome News-Tribune diligently ran stories describing Greenes newly uncovered offensive statements and relaying comments from critics in Congress or on CNN. Occasionally local papers interviewed residents, who expressed a mix of pride, muted embarrassment, and belligerent defensiveness. One Greene voter told the Daily Citizen-News in Dalton, Georgia, that critics needed to respect that Greene had won and that it sounds like they dont like elections much when they dont win them. Another supporter, speaking with the Journal-Constitution in June: I guess maybe you dont say that in public, but I do kind of agree with her. One supporter liked that Greene had lashed out at the media. Shes stood up for herself, she told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Its easy to see that she means what she says.

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Columnists and editorial boards at several papers expressed trepidation about what Greenes tenure will mean when it comes to the basic, logistical work of her office. Were essentially stuck without representation over the next two years, the News-Tribunes editorial board wrote on Saturday. Our veterans need help with the VA, our disabled and elderly need help with Social Security, our children need help getting into service academies.

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Similarly, the editorial page of the Citizen-News opined that Greene has seemingly been at work nonstop but that work has been long on theatrics and short on substance. The editorial mentioned COVID-19s devastating effect on the physical and financial well-being of the regions residents. While Greene wastes her time peddling false narratives and outright lies, we pose this question to her: What are your plans to help the 732,133 residents of the 14th Congressional District? (A separate editorial in the Citizen-News complained that given the rejection of masks from Trump and Greene, theres again little mystery about why Whitfield County has been so hard hit by COVID-19.)

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But given that 57 percent of the deeply conservative district voted for Greene over fellow Republican John Cowan (and 75 percent voted for Greene over the Democrat), it isnt surprising that most writers tiptoed around the subject. In the smaller papers opinion sections, where columns cheerfully praised the comforts of a warm breakfast or recounted their more delightful finds at a yard sale, few mentioned Greene. Those who did were careful not to blame voters in their community.

I realize a good portion of Americans still feel the election was unfair and that the result might not be legitimate, one local writer for the News-Tribune said in a column declaring it a time to heal. She gently reassured the Stop the Steal contingent of their right to feel upset. Another large portion has accepted the result and is ready to move on. The latter group has significant representation from both major political parties now. No matter where you fall on the matter, I think its safe to say American voters are coming away from this election year with wounds that need to heal, and that process should be our focus now.

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The most conservative op-ed about Greene I could find in any local paper argued that liberals and Democrats are rarely taken to task for their heinous comments, before listing comments by Maxine Waters (telling supporters to confront Trump Cabinet members), Jim Clyburn (comparing Trump to Hitler), Julian Castro (also comparing Trump to Hitler), Biden (comparing Trump to Goebbels), and, for some reason, Madonna, Johnny Depp, and Robert De Niro. But even this attempt at a both-sides reframing of the Greene news cycle made it clear that she had crossed a line. Constituents elected her to act on those concerns in Congress, not to make herself the center of attention, it concluded.

In the Atlanta Jewish Times, meanwhile, a rabbi recalled how one clearly weary Jewish doctor in Greenes district had summed up their experience. As a health professional I pledge to take care of anybody, the doctor had said. People come in. I take care of them. I treat them. And I have to simply cancel that thought out, that seven of 10 of my patients voted for this crazy woman.
Researchers at Flinders University are working to remedy this situation by identifying what triggers this chronic pain in the female reproductive tract.

Dr Joel Castro Kraftchenko - Head of Endometriosis Research for the Visceral Pain Group (VIPER), with the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University - is leading research into the pain attached to Dyspareunia, also known as vaginal hyperalgesia or painful intercourse, which is one of the most debilitating symptoms experienced by women with endometriosis and vulvodynia.

Pain is detected by specialised proteins (called ion channels) that are present in sensory nerves and project from peripheral organs to the central nervous system.

"Very little is known about which ion channels are in charge of detecting painful stimuli from the female reproductive tract; and how pain is transmitted via peripheral sensory nerves (innervating these organs) to the central nervous system," says Dr Castro Kraftchenko.

"Also, little is known about how mechanical stimuli is detected and transmitted from female reproductive organs to the Central Nervous System.

"This lack in knowledge provides a limiting factor for developing treatments for painful intercourse associated with endometriosis and vulvodynia.

"The aim of our study is to fill this gap in knowledge. this study provides novel findings advancing the understanding of vaginal sensation that can be used to recognise and explore changes in states of chronic pelvic pain associated with endometriosis and vulvodynia."

The study - Pharmacological modulation of voltage-gated sodium (NaV) channels alters nociception arising from the female reproductive tract, by Joel Castro Kraftchenko, Jessica Maddern, Andelain Erickson, Ashlee Caldwell, Luke Grundy, Andrea Harrington and Stuart Brierley, published in the journal Pain (DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002036) - describes how sensory nerves innervating a vagina (tested on mice) respond to different mechanical stimuli.

It also identifies for the first time the presence of specialised ion channels involved in the transmission of pain signals throughout these sensory nerves; and how pharmacological modulation of these ion channels alters pain signalling and ultimately regulates vaginal pain sensitivity in vivo.

"These findings contribute towards the understanding of how mechanical stimuli is detected and transmitted from female reproductive organs and uncover potential molecular targets to investigate as novel therapeutics to relieve painful intercourse," says Dr Castro Kraftchenko.

"With this, we hope to ultimately improve the quality of life of patients with endometriosis and vulvodynia."

###

Dr Castro Kraftchenko has also been awarded a research grant through the Endometriosis Australia Foundation - to identify inflammatory mediators secreted by the endometrium of women with endometriosis, relevant to chronic pelvic pain. This study will further explore endometriosis and chronic pain - areas that Dr Castro Kraftchenko says demand more immediate attention from medical researchers.
Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala had lauded the Jomo Kenya International Airport (JKIA)/ Westlands Expressway, indicating the road has the capacity to attract tourists to the country.

He spoke on Tuesday after joining his colleagues including Transport CS James Macharia, Industrialization's CS Betty Maina, and Devolution's Eugene Wamalwa in touring and inspecting the construction works.

"Infrastructure builds a nation, it also develops and expands the GDP and that is why investment in infrastructure has been key. This infrastructure is key for people to come here and spend 24 hours during their layover so that they do not waste time at the airport and they can come into town and spend money," said Balala.

Macharia revealed the the 27km road will be ready for use by February next year, which is more than 10 months before the scheduled date.

"Let Kenyans know that this landmark project will be completed by the end of this year and then it can be tested for at least two months before it is opened for public use," he said.

The project, done by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), links the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to the Nairobi-Nakuru highway is already more than 15 percent complete.

"The contractor has reduced the completion time and we are excited. This will be a game-changer once complete," said the CS.

Wamalwa praised the project, reiterating his Colleague Macharia's sentiment that it will indeed be a gamechanger once complete.

He specifically noted the expected completion time which he said was commendable and once it is ready for use, will make Nairobi more attractive to tourists and investors.

Kenyans will have to pay to use the Sh60 billion road project when it is complete.

The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has previously clarified that a Chinese firm, which will build the 27.1 km road linking the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to Nairobi-Nakuru highway, will operate the road for 27 years before handing it over to the State.

A section of the road from Mlolongo all the way to NextGen Mall, a distance of 18.2 kilometres and which is ongoing, will be a flatbed road, while the section from Nextgen Mall through the City-Centre to St Marks church, covering 8.2 kilometres, will be elevated.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa, Governor of the Capital Governorate, chaired the first meeting of the Coordination Council for this year, which was held via visual communication technology, with the participation of members representing government agencies.

The council discussed plans to develop the old Manama Souq by paving internal roads, adding aesthetic touches to the surrounding streets while preserving the heritage character of the market, in addition to reviewing the most prominent activities and events to be held in the governorate.

The council also discussed a number of issues, the most prominent of which are road paving and development projects in Complex 642 in the Eker region, which are scheduled to start next month. The project, which came on the recommendation of the council, includes infrastructure development work, the establishment of a rainwater drainage network, and the improvement of lighting, aside from creating heights to reduce speed.


The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

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A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday that the international community should create a sound external environment for Myanmar to properly resolve the differences.





Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily news briefing when answering a question on the situation in Myanmar.





He said that the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday held internal consultations on the situation in Myanmar, and China participated constructively in relevant discussions.





"The international community should create a sound external environment for Myanmar to properly resolve the differences," Wang said. "All actions taken by the Security Council should be conducive to Myanmar's political and social stability, peaceful reconciliation and avoid exacerbating tensions and further complicating the situation."





China was baffled and shocked by the leak of internal documents under discussion at the Security Council, he said, adding that this is not how the Security Council runs its work, nor will it be conducive to the solidarity and mutual trust of the Security Council members.





Wang refuted allegations that the political change in Myanmar may have taken place with China's support or acquiescence. He said such allegations are untrue.





"As a friendly neighbor of Myanmar, China hopes that all parties in Myanmar will properly handle their differences under the constitutional and legal framework, and maintain political and social stability."




As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate the World Cancer Day, health experts have called on the government to ensure timely disbursement and utilisation of funds approved for the prevention, treatment and control of cancer in the country.

Speaking at a media engagement to mark the day, the Coordinator of Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN), Aminu Magashi, said about N1 billion approved by the National Assembly is yet to be released.

Mr Magashi said that the National Assembly had allocated and approved N729,861,797 million in 2020 and an additional N294, 081,336 million in 2021.

The National Assembly with the ministry of finance in 2019 implemented a budget line dedicated for the financing of cancer in Nigeria, he said.

In 2020 the budget was increased from N70million to N729 million. The National Assembly is not tired to allocate and approve funds, so in 2021 they added about N294 million.

He explained that these funds, with a specific focus on breast, cervical and prostate cancer, have not been released due to lack of a clear financing mechanism.

He urged the ministry of finance and the National Assembly to work with health professionals to ensure the money is released and well utilised.

The World Cancer Day, celebrated on February 4 every year, is an initiative of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and is marked by countries all around the world.

The day aims to save millions of preventable deaths each year by raising awareness about cancer and putting pressure on governments and individuals across the world to take action against the disease.

The theme for this years WCD is I am and I will, marking the endpoint of a three-year campaign which sought to reduce fear, increase understanding and change behaviours and attitudes around cancer.

Cancer, the second leading cause of death globally, is the uncontrolled growth of a group of cells in the body. It can occur at any age and if not detected at the right time and is not treated, it can increase the risk of death.

Agency creation

Mr Magashi explained that the major challenge in tackling cancer is not funding but utilising allocated and approved resources to better the lives of patients in the country.

According to him, funds budgeted for cancer are still domiciled in the bank because there was no financing mechanism for the utilization of the fund.

The major challenge is not allocation of funds but how to utilise, spend and having the financing mechanism on engaging with different government agencies to utilise these resources, he said.

He called for the establishment of a new agency to handle the financing of cancer treatment and control in the country.

The existence of the agency will ensure effective utilization of funds budgeted for cancer, he said.

In his remarks, Chairman, House Committee on Healthcare Services, Yusuf Sununu, noted that for the first time, 75 per cent of funds allocated to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) were all approved.

Mr Sununu, however, raised concerns about the utilisation of the funds, noting that the National Assembly would ensure money budgeted for cancer was judiciously used.

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We will do our best at the National Assembly to ensure the wellbeing of Nigerians. My committee will stand by its mandate and do what is best for Nigerians, he said.

Cancer cases

The President of the Nigeria Cancer Society (NCS), Adamu Alhassan, raised concerns over new cases of cancer recorded in Nigeria in 2020.

Mr Alhassan while quoting the 2020 Global Cancer Observatory (GLOBOCAN) said 124,815 new cases of cancer were recorded in Nigeria in 2020. Over 78,000 deaths were also recorded from the disease in 2020.

He said the five years survival of cancer patients in the country is low due to late presentation, lack of awareness, weak health infrastructure, poverty and high cost of cancer care with associated catastrophic impact on family finances.

He said the NCS would continue to ensure that every cancer patient in the country has access to standard care without undue catastrophic impact on their family finances.

The collaboration with AHBN and the Nigerian Medical Association is to explore avenues to achieving this goal.

Moving forward, we will set up tracking mechanisms to ensure cancer-related funds in the budget are released and judiciously spent, particularly the catastrophic cancer fund, he said.

Mr Alhassan said the association would ensure the reactivation of the International Cancer Centre to benefit the growing lists of cancer patients.

It is more than a decade since the idea was conceptualized and it is yet to see the light of the day, he said.

We in the NCS see a missed opportunity to provide affordable cancer services in the abandoned project. We are therefore prioritizing advocacy for reactivation of this laudable project.
Submitted by the family

Phillip Martin Rosenberg died on Jan. 18, 2021. He was born on Feb. 11, 1933, to Preston and Charlotte (Wallace) Rosenberg in New York, N.Y. Phil grew up in New York City and graduated with a degree in history from Hofstra University in 1955. Later that same year, he joined the U.S. Army.

His career in the Army took him to Nancy, France; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Aberdeen, Maryland; Viet Nam; back to Aberdeen and finally, after he retired in 1976, the family moved to Altamonte Springs, Florida.

While in Nancy, France, Phil met and fell in love with a young French girl named Paulette who was working on the U.S. Army base. Paulette was Catholic, but when she said yes to marrying Phil, she also said she would convert to Judaism. To do that, she had to meet with the Grand Rabbi of Nancy once a week to study. Always the gentleman, Phil would take her to the synagogue and then go across the street to a cafe in a hotel to get something to eat and drink while he waited for Paulette.

Also grabbing a bite to eat before going to work, were the local ladies of the evening. Anyone who knew Phil knows that he was a very sociable man, so it was, as Phil loved to tell the story, inevitable that he would strike up a conversation and friendship with the ladies. Swapping tales of their daily lives until he went to pick up Paulette, and the ladies went to work.

Phil and Paulette were married by the Grand Rabbi of Nancy, France in June 1957. They lived a full and exciting life experiencing the culture, food, and physical beauty of everywhere they were stationed. Every weekend and holiday they travelled with their young daughters exposing them to new cultures, languages, and history first hand. Teaching them that education was paramount, but not always found in a classroom.

When Phil returned from Viet Nam, he was told not to wear his uniform because it might put him in danger. He returned to a country that too often took their anger over the war out on the men and women who served. In his later years, Phil wore his Viet Name Vet cap with pride everywhere he went. He loved when people, often other Vets, thanked him for his service, shared stories, and asked questions. They would often share stories about Agent Orange-related illness which affected Phil and so many others.

Phil was a raconteur in every sense of the word. He was always positive, always had a story, and always had a smile. When you spoke with him, you were convinced he would live forever.

Phil is survived by his daughter, Sarah Geilen-Rosenberg, daughter Miriam (Jack) Rowe, granddaughter Rachelle (Nowy) van Hedel-Geilen, and a multitude of friends who will miss his stories and the twinkle in his eyes, all of whom will carry him in their hearts.

Arrangements entrusted to Beth Shalom Memorial Chapel, 640 Lee Road, Orlando FL 32810, 407-599-1180, http://www.bethshalommemorialchapel.com.
The Minister of Culture, Bogdan Gheorghiu, declared that Thursday's meeting with the ambassador of the State of Israel in Romania, David Saranga, represented an opportunity of thinking about future projects, of which the invitation to our country of theater actress Lea Koenig and the attributing of the artist's name to a street in Bucharest.

"The embassy of Israel wishes to invite the great theater actress from Israel, Lea Koenig, to Romania. Born in Poland, she emigrated to Romania ,where she studied theater at the National Art University in Bucharest, making her debut in the State Jewish Theater. The Ministry of Culture salutes and supports the embassy's initiative of naming a street in Bucharest after this great actress. We wish to develop together as many #projects as possible, with a #national impact, which will support #local #communities," Gheorghiu wrote on Facebook.

Another subject was about the Jewish cemetery in eastern Siret, one of the oldest in Romania.

"It dates back to the XVI-th century and is a good evidence of the old ties between the Romanian and the Jewish community," Bogdan Gheorghiu said.
Twitter India on Thursday removed two tweets by Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, citing a violation of the platform's rules.

The actor has been criticising protesting farmers over their agitations against the Centre's three farm laws. When tried to access the two tweets, a message appears, reading, "This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules." "We have taken action on Tweets that were in violation of the Twitter Rules in line with our range of enforcement options," Twitter said in a statement.

This is not the first time that Twitter has taken action against Ranaut. The actor's handle was last month briefly suspended after she posted a tweet in reference to the controversy surrounding Amazon Prime Video series Tandav.

'You're a wolf': Kangana, Diljit Dosanjh in ugly spat after singer pens song for Rihanna

Kangana Ranaut Considers Being On Twitter 'compromise To Self-respect'

Kangana Ranaut recently confessed how she has to 'compromise' on her self-respect and use the social media platform 'Twitter'. This is hardly the first time she has been critical of the microblogging platform, in fact, she has been on the receiving end of its judgment before while her sister Rangoli saw her account being banned forcing Kangana to make one herself.

On February 1, a user shared a news piece of Pakistan receiving doses of COVISHIELD through the COVAX route after it refused to directly procure Indian-made novel coronavirus vaccines. Reacting to this, Kangana wrote, "And thats why people like us compromise on our self respect and choose to stay on this ridiculous, atrocious and in your face bias communist platform Twitter. Because they wont tell you and if we dont, then who will ? Desh se badhkar kuch nahin (Nothing is bigger for me than my country).... Jai Hind." [sic]

Kangana says her Twitter account might get martyred

Kangana Ranaut on January 20 took to her Twitter handle and claimed that her Twitter handle was restricted. A few hours later, #SuspendKanganaRanaut started trending on Twitter. Kangana stated that the liberals reported her account to 'chacha' Jack Dorsey, Twitter's co-founder and CEO.

In the following tweet, Kangana wrote that she will exit the virtual world if Twitter suspends her and will show the 'real Kangana Ranaut' in the real world.

Kangana Ranaut wishes her 'most genuine' brother-in-law Ajay on his b'day, pens warm note

(With PTI inputs)

Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment.
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Bank of America Awards Los Angeles Trade Tech $1 Million for Jobs Initiative

$25 Million National Program Supports Programming, Re-skilling and Upskilling for Students of Color; Includes Partnerships with Major Employers and The Aspen Institute.

Los Angeles Trade Tech and Bank of America today announced a new $1 million jobs initiative partnership to help students of color successfully complete the education and training necessary to enter the workforce and embark on a path to success in Southern California. The bank is also investing $1 million into Riverside City College as part of this initiative, which builds on Bank of Americas ongoing work in the region to address the underlying issues facing individuals and communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the current health crisis.

We remain committed to helping address the barriers to sustainable employment that exist for many communities of color, said Bank of America greater Los Angeles market president Raul Anaya. This program helps support Black and Hispanic-Latino students by creating a collaborative approach to job training that will enable them to make a real and meaningful impact in their communities now and over the years ahead.

Los Angeles Trade-Technical College is so very proud to be named a partner in Bank of Americas Jobs Initiative. Our college has served a highly diverse student body for more than 95 years, providing valuable training in a number of career pathways that lead to high-demand jobs and careers, said Dr. Katrina VanderWoude, President, Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. The Bank of America initiative will enhance our delivery of new and improved skills for Black and Latino communities, ultimately leading to greater social and economic mobility and an even more diverse workforce for Los Angeles.

This year, the bank also provided $1.8 million in grants to Los Angeles nonprofits that are connecting individuals to skills and employment in Los Angeles. The initiative is part of the banks recent $1 billion, four-year commitment to advance racial equality and economic opportunity, which includes a $25 million commitment to enhance up-skilling and reskilling for Black and Hispanic-Latino individuals.

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Including Los Angeles Trade Tech, the $25 million, nationwide initiative includes partnerships with nearly two dozen community colleges that serve predominately Black/African American and Hispanic-Latino students, public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and public Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Bank of America is also partnering with and providing funding to the Aspen Institute to convene the participating higher education institutions for technical and programmatic assistance and to share best practices.

Today, less than 40 percent of community college students earn a certificate or degree within six years of enrollment. For students of color, graduation and completion rates are particularly low  28.8 percent for Black students and 37.1 percent for Hispanic students. At Los Angeles Trade-Tech, the overall graduation rate is 25 percent. For Black students, the rate is 24 percent and Hispanic students are at a 23.9 percent graduation rate. Although HBCUs and HSIs are a mix of public and private institutions, the ongoing challenges brought on by coronavirus, have exacerbated their financial struggle as they seek to serve students from the most vulnerable communities.

With the support from Bank of America, Los Angeles Trade Tech will enhance its existing curriculum to career tracks that meet specific skills gaps to create higher paying, family-sustaining jobs that are in demand. Los Angeles Trade Tech will also direct funding towards creating new systems for tracking and following up with graduates entering the workforce with employers associated with its pathways programs.

Metro has long been a champion of hiring a very diverse workforce from the communities we serve, and that includes an extensive collaboration with Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. We are very pleased that this community colleges training, curriculum and pathway toward careers with Metro and other entities, will be enhanced by this grant offered by Bank of America, said Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington. Our partnership with LATTC has been extremely successful in providing opportunities to students throughout our system, and the college also has provided important specialized training to upgrade the skills of our current employees. We know LATTC students often come from disadvantaged communities, and Metro is committed to making sure these students have access to the full-range of employment with our team.

Focused on advancing economic mobility, Bank of America also recently announced:

Seven Completed Equity Investments in Minority Depository Institutions and Community Development Financial Institution Banks

$2 Billion Equality Progress Sustainability Bond

Universal ESG Reporting; International Business Council of World Economic Forum

Recognition as Top Global Bank on Fortunes Change the World List

$300 Million of Its $1 Billion, Four-Year Commitment to Advance Racial Equality and Economic Opportunity

Support of Boys & Girls Clubs of America With $1 Million Grant to Support Educational Programs

$1 Billion/4-Year Commitment to Support Economic Opportunity Initiatives

$250 Million in Capital and $10 Million in Philanthropic Grants to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)
The initiative has been launched to combat unnecessary food waste.

People are now able to deliver products they no longer intend to consume to Bonnevoie, where they can be picked up by those who can still put them to good use.

Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs Franz Fayot was present at the inauguration of the community fridge, which was funded by the organic grocery store Naturwelten, the associations "Foodsharing" and "Freres des Hommes", as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The fridge is located outside of Naturwelten.

Three quarters of Luxembourgish food waste occurs in private households. The project therefore encourages people to take responsibility and think about ways they can help others with their unwanted products before those are no longer usable.
03/02/21 Lynsey Bennett, of Killoe, Co. Longford, outside the High Court, yesterday (WEDS), after she settled her case. PIC: Collins Courts

A young mother battling terminal cervical cancer has revealed she will travel to Mexico next week for treatment in her fight to stay alive.

Longford woman Lynsey Bennett (32) has urged other women to trust their gut instincts when it comes to their health.

Mum-of-two Lynsey settled her case against the HSE on Wednesday through mediation after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer despite having received multiple negative smear test results.

Speaking on Northern Sound radio, Ms Bennett said she hopes to travel to Mexico next Tuesday for a month to receive help to boost her immune system before further treatment in Ireland.

While Im trying to get Pembro and immunotherapy sorted and verified that I can start it in Ireland, Im going off to Mexico to a treatment centre hopefully for four weeks to try and stall the cancer and build up my immune system.

I really do have such a fight in me to try and beat this - even though Im told, its really not possible.

Read More

But Im also not delusional I do know the truth at the same time, but I have that little bit of hope, and Im going to run with it.

The big battle that ended yesterday will now thankfully allow me to focus on my fight to stay alive.

Ms Bennett said she has been blown away by support she has received.

The support from everybody has been amazing. I cant say enough how much I adore the people of Ireland and especially Longford.

Its just great peace to know the kids will be financially supported now no matter when I, unfortunately, pass away.

Im so grateful to my legal team enabling me to get this settled and get this peace.

Its just a weight off my shoulders.

She also paid tribute to her daughters Zoe (12) and Hayley (7) and admits she hates the time she has missed with them while receiving treatment.

They are fantastic. We still have our mammy and daughter rows like everyone else, but they have been so amazing and good during all this battle.

Even when my cancer came back for a third time there and I told them, Zoe said: No youre a warrior and youve got this mammy.

They are so positive, and they are so amazing. And I am so, so, so proud of them.

People say its great I am still alive, but they dont realise how much time I have missed out.

I have been in the hospital in Dublin almost every single month from 2017 until now.

Its just constant whether it be chemo, radiation, admissions, operations, normal appointments - its just constant.

When I am home Im always exhausted, half the time I spend falling asleep on the couch with them when we were trying to watch a movie.

I had even got to the stage where I would get up and get them ready and dropped off to school, and I would have to go back to bed and stay in bed.

Id set the alarm to when I knew they were coming home again, just to have the energy to stay awake and spend time with them.

Its just devastating to know I have already spent the last four years in hospital and I will now forever spend the rest of life, however long that is, in hospital and doing hospital things that take away valuable time I have left with them.

Lynsey said if she had a message to women who find themselves in her position, it would be to keep fighting and focus on your children.

There are amazing women out there who have hard and difficult times but keep your fight going. Keep your kids as your goal. Thats why you need to keep going.

There is nothing stronger than a mothers love. It really gives you something to fight for.

If your gut is telling you something isnt right then chances are you are right.

Had it (her cancer diagnosis) not been caught in 2017 I probably wouldnt be here now, and that was just my gut.

I would tell every man and woman, believe in your gut and believe in yourself.
MIAMI  A voting technology company is suing Fox News, three of its hosts and two former lawyers for former President Donald Trump  Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell  for $2.7 billion, charging that the defendants conspired to spread false claims that the company helped steal the U.S. presidential election.

The 285-page complaint filed Thursday in New York state court by Florida-based Smartmatic USA is one of the largest libel suits ever undertaken. On Jan. 25, a rival election-technology company  Dominion Voting Systems, which was also ensnared in Trumps baseless effort to overturn the election  sued Guiliani and Powell for $1.3 billion.

Unlike Dominion, whose technology was used in 24 states, Smartmatics participation in the 2020 election was restricted to Los Angeles County, which votes heavily Democratic.

Smartmatics limited role notwithstanding, Fox aired at least 13 reports falsely stating or implying the company had stolen the 2020 vote in cahoots with Venezuelas socialist government, according to the complaint. This alleged disinformation campaign continued even after then-Attorney General William Barr said the Department of Justice could find no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

For instance, a Dec. 10 segment by Lou Dobbs accused Smartmatic and its CEO, Antonio Mugica, of working to flip votes through a non-existent backdoor in its voting software to carry out a massive cyber Pearl Harbor, the complaint alleged.

Defendants story was a lie, the complaint stated. But, it was a story that sold.

The complaint also alleges that Fox hosts Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro also directly benefitted from their involvement in the conspiracy. The lawsuit alleges that Fox went along with the well-orchestrated dance due to pressure from newcomer outlets such as Newsmax and One America News, which were stealing away conservative, pro-Trump viewers.

Fox News Media, in a statement on behalf of the network and its hosts, rejected the accusations. It said it is proud of its election coverage and would defend itself against the meritless lawsuit in court.

Fox is committed to providing the full context of every story with in-depth reporting and clear opinion, the company said in a written statement.

Giuliani and Powell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

For Smartmatic, the effects of the negative publicity were swift and devastating, the complaint alleges. Death threats, including against an executives 14-year-old son, poured in as Internet searches for the company surged, Smartmatic claims.

With several client contracts in jeopardy, the company estimates that it will lose as much as $690 million in profits over the next five years. It also expects it will have to boost spending by $4.7 million to fend off what it called a meteoric rise in cyberattacks.

For us, this is an existential crisis, Mugica said in an interview. He said the false statements against Smartmatic have already led one foreign bank to close its accounts and deterred Taiwan, a prospective client, from adopting e-voting technology.

Like many conspiracy theories, the alleged campaign against Smartmatic was built on a grain of truth. Mugica is Venezuelan and Smartmatics initial success is partly attributable to major contracts from Hugo Chavezs government, an early devotee of electronic voting.

No evidence has emerged that the company rigged votes in favor of the anti-American firebrand, and for a while the Carter Center and other observers held out Venezuela as a model of electronic voting. Meanwhile, the company has expanded globally.

Smartmatic is represented by J. Erik Connolly, who previously won whats believed to be the largest settlement in American media defamation, at least $177 million, for a report on ABC News describing a companys beef product as pink slime.

Very rarely do you see news organization go day after day after day the same targets, Connolly said in an interview. We couldnt possibly have rigged this election because we just werent even in the contested states to do the rigging.

--The Associated Press
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education talked for hours Wednesday night about how the district could move forward with school reopenings, before ultimately tabling the item with plans to revisit it at a coming meeting.

Interim Superintendent Scott Elder had presented a plan that would have allowed kids to return in phases starting Feb. 22, but that wasnt approved.

Instead, hell return to the board with a different route  that will likely focus on small groups of students  that would allow some kids to return to the classroom.

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I understand that (the members of the Board of Education) are not anxious at this point to return the majority of the staff without vaccines, so the parents that think all teachers are coming back, (thats) not going to happen, he said.

In New Mexico, K-12 school employees are ineligible for the COVID-19 vaccine now unless they are in another priority subgroup, according to the state Department of Health.

The Albuquerque Teachers Federation union  which represents roughly 6,000 licensed school employees, including teachers, and has a little over 4,000 dues-paying members  called for in-person learning to be voluntary for staff until vaccines are widely available.

We dont want to keep anybody from starting in-person schooling if theyre ready to start, but there are a large number of people  who feel that the plan the board had approved where Bernalillo County would be in green for two weeks was a good plan, ATF President Ellen Bernstein told the Journal. They also feel like vaccinations are on the near horizon, and that matters.

The Health Department considers a county to be green, or at medium risk, if it has a COVID-19 test positivity rate of 5% or less and fewer than eight new cases a day per 100,000 residents.

The APS Board of Education had a plan in place to wait until Bernalillo County met those Department of Health criteria before starting the reopening process. But reopening schools went before the board again after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in-person learning could expand in New Mexico, allowing more classes to open as early as Monday.

The unions slogan, Green or vaccine  whichever comes first, was a recurring theme during a hybrid protest at APS main offices Wednesday.

Robert Feuer, a teacher at Highland High School, said he helped organize the protest because we want to let the board know that we are not ready (to go back to the classroom).

Feuer, who has asthma and wants to keep teaching remotely, said his colleagues have threatened to retire, use sick leave or even refuse to return if in-person learning resumes before they are ready.

Washington Middle School teacher Allison Hawks said facilities are not ready for teachers and students, despite the districts assurances, and she doesnt feel it is safe for schools to reopen.

Meanwhile, counterprotesters also made their voices heard, calling for schools to be reopened, especially at the high school level, flagging mental health concerns, among others.

The debate on reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated the 2020-21 school year  both across the state and on a national level.

In APS, most students havent been taught in person since this time last year.

Taylor Christiansen, Cibola High School student body president, rallied for schools to open, saying the majority of her fellow students want to go back and need the multiple supports face-to-face schooling offers.
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The World's Largest Private Jet Company Buys a Stake in the Production of SAF

COLUMBUS, OH, Feb. 04, 2021today announces it has made a significant investment in WasteFuel, a next generation waste to fuel company that aims to transform landfill waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), making it the first private aviation company to buy a stake in the production of sustainable aviation fuel. NetJets will also purchase a minimum of 100 million gallons of WasteFuel's SAF over the next ten years.

NetJets and WasteFuel are in the early phases of developing a plant in Manila, Philippines, slated to be operational in 2025, in partnership with leading infrastructure developer Prime Infra. The fuel is anticipated to be imported into Los Angeles and distributed across the NetJets operations network.

"As the leader in private aviation, NetJets is deeply invested in advancing sustainability across the industry. After launching our expanded Global Sustainability Program last year, the opportunity to invest in the production of SAF with WasteFuel was a natural next step," said Brad Ferrell, Executive Vice President of Administrative Services. "The biorefinery tackles the dual environmental problems of the global waste crisis and sustainable fuel; and we're excited to take this step toward improving accessibility to SAF in the aviation industry."

At full capacity, the biorefinery will convert 1 million tons of municipal waste into 30 million gallons of SAF annually. Utilizing the most effective technologies available, WasteFuel will produce fuels that burn at least an 80 percent reduction in carbon compared to fossil-fuel based aviation fuels. WasteFuel's SAF has a Carbon Intensity (C.I.) of 0 compared to an average C.I. of 41 for alternative SAFs and a baseline of 89.4 for non-renewable aviation fuel.

Globally, landfills are the third largest source of methane produced by human activity, accounting for approximately 11 percent of estimated global methane emissions. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas-about 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the Earth, on a 100-year timescale, and more than 80 times more powerful over 20 years.

"Our waste can be our fuel," said Trevor Neilson, Chairman and CEO of WasteFuel. "Our partnership with NetJets and Prime Infra marks the beginning of a bold new era in travel - the beginning of the hard work of making aviation truly sustainable."

Prime Infra's core investment strategy focuses on infrastructure that is socially relevant and sustainable, working hand in hand with host communities. "Solid waste management remains a major problem in the Philippines, especially in urban areas like Metro Manila, which generates around 10,000 tons of garbage per day. A biorefinery that will convert solid waste into SAF will make a big impact in reducing solid waste and ensuing environmental and health hazards, landfill emissions, and fossil fuel use. An added bonus, it will create jobs for the local community," said Guillaume Lucci, President, Prime Infra.

Other investors in WasteFuel include i.

About NetJets

NetJets Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company, is the worldwide leader in private aviation. More than 50 years ago, we launched the world's first private jet charter and management company. We went on to pioneer shared aircraft ownership-offering the advantages of owning a private jet, without the responsibilities. Today, we continue to innovate from cockpit and cabin to safety and accessibility. As the owner and operator of the world's largest and most diverse private jet fleet, NetJets hires only the most experienced and accomplished pilots and safety is our first and highest priority. Our full range of aviation options help individuals and businesses do more and miss less via the NetJets, Executive Jet Management, and Marquis Jet Card service brands in North America and Europe. For more information about the world's most reliable and trusted aviation company, visit netjets.com. About

WasteFuel

WasteFuel is a next-generation waste to fuels company that uses proven technology to address the climate emergency and revolutionize mobility. With an initial focus on air travel, WasteFuel uses proven technology that converts municipal waste into aviation grade biofuel that burns at an 80% reduction in carbon to fossil fuel-based aviation fuel. For more information visit: www.wastefuel.com.

About Prime Infra

Prime Infra, the core infrastructure arm of Filipino Billionaire Enrique K. Razon Jr., is involved in the business of developing, designing, managing and operating key infrastructure assets that enable the delivery of essential services to communities in emerging markets worldwide. Currently, our infrastructure assets include both Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Water, and Construction, but will soon expand to other industries, further diversifying our portfolio and improving our services and commitment to various communities around the world. For more information, visit www.primeinfra.ph.

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Families are facing a tax on their lifestyles as Boris Johnson ponders new carbon taxes and charges for Britain that would see higher prices on meat and cheese at the supermarket and on gas for their hobs and boilers at home.

The Prime Minister has ordered Whitehall departments to look at how much greenhouse gas emissions produced by different sectors of the economy cost society.

At present, only airlines and power generators are charged for their emissions, but ministers want to extend the 'polluter pays' principle to all sectors. This could lead to a hike in prices for goods such as beef, lamb and cheese, or more heavily polluting forms of heating such as gas.

No costs have been mooted by Whitehall, but recent studies by a team at Oxford University have calculated that surcharges of 40 per cent on beef, 25 per cent on oils, 20 per cent on milk, 15 per cent on lamb and 10 per cent on chicken would reduce emissions and reduce consumption in the way the PM wants.

This means that the cost of a sirloin steak, currently around 4.50 in the supermarket, would be around 6.30 and mince would rise 1.46 to 5.02. Olive oil would increase from 3.75 to 4.69.

Four pints of milk would go from 1.09 to 1.32, four lamb chops up to 7.50 from 6, six chicken breasts up 50p per pack to 5.50 while a whole chicken would increase in price by 28p to 3.78; Eggs would rise 5p to 94p and sugar would increase by a penny to 66p.

Britain's meat industry have long believed farmers are 'unfairly' criticised by environmentalists and consumers will also pay the price.

Neil Shand, from the National Beef Association, said: 'Britain's meat industry is given a lot of unfair criticism over its environmental impact.' National Pig Association chairman Richard Lister added: 'There has been a heavy bias against meat when it comes to climate change discussions.'

MailOnline has calculated the potential cost at the tills if the Government imposed a tax on meat, oil, dairy, eggs and sugar

A study by the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food calculated tax levels for every day items that would reduce carbon and consumption. Academics believe 40 per cent on beef would be required, 25 per cent on oats and 20 per cent on lamb

Boris Johnson wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions, despite warnings that it will be a 'colossal challenge', with a tax on food and gas being mooted

How a tax on staples such as meat, milk and cheese could look at the supermarket till Single Sirloin steak (450g) Cost now: 4.50 After tax (40%): 6.30 Four pints of semi-skimmed milk Cost now: 1.09 After tax (20%) : 1.32 Four lamb chops (300g) Cost now: 6 After tax (15%): 7.50 Six chicken breasts (950G) Cost now: 5 After tax (10%): 5.50 Quaker Porridge Oats (1Kg) Cost now: 1.75 After tax (25%): 2.17 Advertisement

Responding to reports of new carbon taxes on meat, cheese and gas heating, John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:

'New eco taxes would leave slim pickings for struggling families, who rely on cheap energy and food to heat their homes and put dinner on the table.

'With the highest tax levels in 70 years, taxpayers have already had their belts tightened.

'Ministers must ease the burden on Brits before any green tax hikes.'

The Oxford research also said taxes on rice, wheat, pork, maize, eggs, vegetables and sugar should be between three and 10 per cent would cover damage their production causes to the environment.

In Canada they have recently introduced a carbon tax rising at $10 per ton of CO2 per year, reaching $50 per ton in 2022. Consumers say that it now accounts for around 16 per cent of an monthly bill. This would add around 6 to the UK average monthly gas bill of 50.

Mr Johnson, who will host the United Nations' climate change conference in Glasgow in November, is reportedly looking at the proposals as he attempts to deliver on the Government's net zero carbon pledge by 2050.

A Whitehall memo leaked to The Times apparently shows Downing Street and the Treasury have asked all departments for plans for a carbon-pricing scheme across all areas of the economy.

'The Chancellor and the Prime Minister want a sector-by-sector view on how we could implement some form of carbon pricing and an overall roadmap to deliver [it] in the next decade,' it stated. The document suggested these could include a direct 'carbon tax'.

The Government-owned Behavioural Insights Team, also known as the 'nudge unit', has previously suggested a carbon tax on high-impact food.

Last year Boris Johnson has announced a more ambitious plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, despite warnings that it will be a 'colossal challenge'.

The Prime Minister wants the UK to lead the charge ahead of hosting next year's climate talks.

He hopes Britain will cut emissions faster than any other major economy and has beefed up a previous target.

Instead of reducing emissions by 61 per cent on 1990 levels by 2030, Mr Johnson wants them cut by at least 68 per cent.

He aims to put environmental issues at the heart of Britain's economy after the Brexit 'transition' phase ends this month.

It will also allow the PM to find common ground with US president Joe Biden, who has promised to take a leading role on climate issues.

Instead of reducing emissions by 61 per cent on 1990 levels by 2030, Mr Johnson wants them cut by at least 68 per cent (stock image)

Banning has boilers, fuel cars and new airports: How the Government is expected to cut CO2 (costing up to 10,000 per home) Curb flights Aviation emissions accounted for 7% of UK greenhouse gas emissions in 2018 - an increase of 88% from 1990 levels. Experts say that with pre-pandemic passenger levels not expected to return until 2024, the pandemic has presented an opportunity to examine ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the future. A frequent flyer tax is also discussed in the route map to reduce carbon emissions, which calls for flights from the UK to be cut by 15 per cent from 2018 levels in its 'highly optimistic' scenario for lowering emissions. Cutting back on car use Car-sharing, working from home, increased use of e-bikes and walking are among the suggestions to cut the amount of miles people are expected to drive in 2050 by a third. The increased use of internet shopping has also contributed to cutting carbon emissions, the report says, so this 'continuing trend' could also help reduce road emissions. Reducing the speed limit could also help reduce carbon emissions, a recent report states. Banning the sale of gas boilers The government's Climate Change Committee calling for a ban on new oil-fired boilers by 2028, and gas-fired boilers by 2033. The MPs also called for newly fitted boilers to be 'hydrogen-ready' from 2025 onwards, which could make them around 100 more expensive. Hydrogen and heat pumps have both been touted as a low carbon emission alternative. But there issues with these heat sources have been highlighted by Dr Matt Lipson, the business lead at Energy Systems Catapult's Consumer Insight. He told BBC Radio 4: 'The downside is there's no (hydrogen) supplier at the moment, so if you want to do it this winter you might struggle.' Eat less meat The government's Climate Change Committee says cutting the number of livestock would help to reduce greenhouse gases that are linked to global warming. According to its analysis, agricultural emissions represented 10% of UK greenhouse gas emissions in 2018 compared to 7% in 1990. It suggests families should move away from meat and dairy, helping to reduce livestock numbers, by choosing 'plant-based options'  and one day even meat grown in a laboratory. Green energy Last month's report feeds in to the government's five-yearly 'carbon budgets' which aim to help the UK meet the long term legally-binding goal to bring climate pollution down to zero overall or 'net zero' by 2050. The report says currently 7% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions come from the UK's fossil fuel supply. So measures to meet the climate goals include making the electricity system zero carbon by 2035, with offshore wind playing a major role. It also discusses producing hydrogen to replace gas, although the UK currently has no supplier for this type of energy. Planting trees In order to reduce our emissions, the report suggests tree planting should almost quadruple to 50,000 hectares a year. Their suggested woodland targets are an increase from 13% of UK land today to 15% by 2035 and a further 18% by 2050. This will remove CO2 from the air and deliver wider environmental benefits such as increasing wildlife, the report says. Advertisement

The new target is significantly higher than that of the EU, which has a goal of hitting 40 per cent of 1990 levels by 2030, although it is expected to increase its target.

In November Mr Johnson unveiled a green plan to phase out petrol and diesel cars, increase 'low-carbon' central heating, boost offshore wind power and extend hydrogen technology.

Reports suggested that he wants to replace gas boilers with more efficient and environmentally friendly heat pumps and biomass boilers.

Setting out the new target, Mr Johnson said: 'We have proven we can reduce our emissions and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process  uniting businesses, academics, non-governmental organisations and local communities in a common goal to go further and faster to tackle climate change.

'Today, we are taking the lead with an ambitious new target to reduce our emissions by 2030, faster than any major economy, with our ten point plan helping us on our path to reach it.

'But this is a global effort, which is why the UK is urging world leaders as part of next week's [United Nations] Climate Ambition Summit to bring forward their own ambitious plans to cut emissions and set net zero targets.'

The UK will host the UN Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow in November and will seek to capitalise on new freedoms after leaving the EU.

A dramatic report from the government's Climate Change Committee in Decemb er has also laid out a swathe of measures to slash emissions over the next 15 years.

It urged moves including halting sales of gas boilers by 2033, banning new fossil-fuelled cars  including hybrids  by 2032, and encouraging people to cut the amount of meat and dairy they eat by a fifth in the next decade.

The plan is part of a push for UK to meet a target of getting emissions down 78 per cent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.

It represents a major increase in ambition in UK climate efforts, with the new 2035 target almost as tough as the previous long term goal of 80 per cent cuts by 2050, which was in place before the net zero law was passed in June 2019.

However, the report from the advisory body suggests that energy efficiency measures could cost 10,000 per home.

That is said to be the average investment needed for measures such as improving insulation and installing low carbon heating.

The Climate Change Committee says the treasury must find 3billion-4billion per year to support low income households make the transition if they are to meet their targets.

Chris Stark, the CCC chief executive, said: 'I think a large proportion of this should be met by households, especially those who are able to afford it, but there'll be some households that we should be protecting from those costs.'

The report feeds in to the government's five-yearly 'carbon budgets' which aim to help the UK meet the long term legally-binding goal to bring climate pollution down to zero overall or 'net zero' by 2050.

But MPs insisted the report was pushing 'a certain agenda' and predicted that the most 'extreme' elements would never come into effect.

The Government's announcement comes in the wake of UN reports saying that 2020 was on track to be one of the three hottest years on record, driving weather extremes, rising sea levels and wildfires.

Britain has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent since 1990, meaning that the rate of 'decarbonisation' will have to increase by half over the next decade to meet the new target.

The National Audit Office has warned that meeting the UK's legal target to cut emissions to net zero by 2050 to curb climate change is a 'colossal challenge'.

The spending watchdog said this was significantly more difficult than previous targets, which the UK is not on track to meet.

Under the Paris climate change agreement, countries have committed to keep global warming 'well below' 2C above pre-industrial levels.

They have vowed to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C, which is seen as the threshold beyond which the worst impacts of climate change will be felt.

To meet this target, the world's carbon emissions must fall to net zero by 2050.

This can only be achieved with major cuts in pollution and any remaining emissions offset by planting trees or using technology to 'capture carbon'.
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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it is not wooing former President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2023 presidential race on its platform.

The governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, who is also the Chairman, APC Caretaker and Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee, said this in a statement by Mamman Mohammed, his Director-General, Press and Media Affairs on Thursday in Abuja.

It is diversionary to start discussing 2023 election now; we have a sitting president, who is less than two years in his second term in office.

We are concentrating on the success of his administration, Mr Buni said.

He said that the visit of some APC Governors to Jonathan was solely to congratulate him on his birthday and to honour him as a former Nigerian leader.

He added that it was on record that Mr Buhari had in some instances delegated the former president for regional assignments, in spite of their political differences.

Mr Buni said that the focus of the APC Caretaker Committee was to strengthen the party through a bottom-up approach and to carry all members on board.

He said that the committee had succeeded in building confidence among party members by reassuring them of new hope in the party.

Aggrieved members of the party have happily rejoined the fold; just as new ones have also joined.

The caretaker committee has reconciled many aggrieved members and factions across the country, including the Zamfara factions among others, he said.

READ ALSO: Jonathan updates Buhari on political developments in The Gambia

He added that the committee has also attracted prominent politicians including Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi and many others into the APC.

Mr Buni said that the APC membership registration/revalidation exercise was a constitutional provision which was part of strategies aimed at giving existing and new members a sense of belonging.

He said that the party had not been able to register new members nor update its membership records after the initial membership registration in 2014.

According to him, APC membership registration/revalidation exercise will give new members a sense of belonging and existing ones the opportunity to update their records.

He expressed optimism that the exercise would assist the APC to generate a valid, accurate and up to date data on its membership to enhance and support its planning process.

(NAN)
Chief Minister Uddhav



Thackeray on Thursday asked the authorities and citizens not to become complacent in the fight against in view of its second wave in Britain and Brazil.

Speaking during the COVID-19 presentation in the cabinet meeting, Thackeray said the number of patients here have decreased due to herd immunity.

"But despite this, Europe has seen a second wave that is spreading faster," he said.

Statehealth secretary Pradeep Vyas said during the presentation that on January 20, there were 1,820 deaths in Britain due to the new strain, while in Brazil there are 1,000 deaths everyday.

In Brazil, there are 50,000 new patients daily, he said.

"In these countries, the number of positive cases had declined from June-July last year due to the herd immunity. But then the new strain, which spreads 70 per cent faster, came to light. As per a news report, 40 per cent more deaths have been caused due to the new strain," he said.

Thackeray said the new virus strain has been found in South Africa, Britain and Brazil.

"We need to take care that the new strain does not spread here. We have started vaccination, but we should follow all safety protocols," he said.

The chief minister added that his government will be cautious in lifting the lockdown restrictions currently in place.

"The state government is in correspondence with the Centre for quarantining passengers in the same city's international airports on arrival," he said.

Vyas said the state has got 18,02,000 Covishield vaccines and 1,70,400 Covaxin doses and 3,54,633 people have so far received the first jab.

Even though the number of positive cases is on the decline, districts like Amravati, Yavatmal, Akola, Bhandara, Nandurbar, Wardha, Ratnagiri, Gadchiroli and Nanded are witnessing a riseand the testing is less.

After the suburban trains opened for all from February 1, around 20 lakh commuters travel on the Central Railway route and 14 lakh on the Western Railway daily, it was told in the meeting.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi: As the ongoing farmers protest grabbed international spotlight with pop star Rihanna's tweet, Union Home Minister Amit Shah slammed the comments by foreign individuals claiming no propaganda can deter Indias unity.

Taking to Twitter, Shah said, "Propaganda can not decide Indias fate only Progress can. India stands united and together to achieve progress. #IndiaAgainstPropaganda #IndiaTogether".

No propaganda can deter Indias unity! No propaganda can stop India to attain new heights! Propaganda can not decide Indias fate only Progress can. India stands united and together to achieve progress.#IndiaAgainstPropaganda#IndiaTogether https://t.co/ZJXYzGieCt  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 3, 2021

Late on Tuesday night Rihanna tweeted to her 100 million followers: "Why aren't we talking about this #FarmersProtest?" while sharing a CNN article on the farmers' protest.

Her tweet was quickly followed by a flood of such messages, including one from teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and Lebanese-American former adult film star Mia Khalifa.

Earlier the Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement clarifying that facts on the issue must be ascertained before people rush to comment on it, and asserted that the "temptation" of sensationalist social media hashtags and views is "neither accurate nor responsible".

READ | MEA calls Rihanna, Greta Thunberg's remark on farmers' protest 'inaccurate, irresponsible'

The MEA also said some "vested interest groups" are trying to enforce their agenda on the protests and that a very small section of farmers in parts of the country has some reservations about the farm reforms which were passed by the Parliament after a full debate and discussion.

The Centre insists that the laws will be beneficial for the farmers and has refused to repeal them.

The Centre said that in order to end the deadlock, it has held 11 rounds of talks with the farmers union representatives and also agreed to hold the implementation of the laws for 1 to 1.5 years but it was turned down.

Last week the farmers' tractor rally through Delhi turned violent after some groups went off course and stormed into the Red Fort, leading to the death of one person and injuries to hundreds of cops.

Since then the centre's containment measures have escalated, with barbed wire fences, concrete barricades and iron rods being used to stop farmers from advancing into Delhi, again.

Live TV
The country can expect to be distributed doses of AstraZeneca vaccine mid/late February, subject to WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL)", the Health Minister, Dr Kalumbi Shnagula said this week.

The announcement follows a confirmation letter from the COVAX facility sent to the ministry also this week.

According to Shangula, they will procure vaccines to immunize at least 60% of its population against COVID-19.

"Namibia will collaborate with Botswana in areas related to the procurement of vaccine, regulatory approval of vaccines, delivery of vaccines, bilateral agreement for vaccination of citizens, sharing of evidence and best practice in vaccine deployment, technical exchange visits and training, sharing surveillance reports, safety and reports of any Adverse Event following immunization (AEFI) and other opportunities for collaboration as they emerge," he added.

Meanwhile, Shangula said apart from the COVAX Facility, Namibia is in discussion with manufacturers of COVID vaccines in China, Russian Federation, India and United States of America for additional vaccines supply to cover the remaining 40% of the population.
India slipped two places in the 2020 Democracy Index's global ranking. India slipped to 53rd position due to 'democratic backsliding' by authorities and 'crackdowns' on civil liberties, said The Economist Intelligence Unit. India was ahead of most of its neighbours, while Norway topped the list.

India's overall score fell from 6.9 in 2019 to 6.61 in the index. The Democracy Index shows the current state of democracy worldwide for 167 countries. "With mounting pressure on India's democratic norms, India's score fell from a peak of 7.92 in 2014 to 6.61 in 2020 and its global ranking slipped from 27th (in 2014) to 53rd as a result of democratic backsliding under the current regime," The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said.

Norway took the lead in the report called 'Democracy in sickness and in health?', followed by Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, and Canada comprising the top five.

The Democracy Index classified 23 countries as full democracies, 52 as flawed democracies, 35 as hybrid regimes and 57 as authoritarian regimes. India has been classified as a 'flawed democracy', along with other countries such as the US, Brazil, France and Belgium.

The EIU report also said the Narendra Modi-led government has "introduced a religious element to the conceptualisation of Indian citizenship, a step that many critics see as undermining the secular basis of the Indian state".

Also read: 'Peaceful protests hallmark of democracy': US on farmers' stir

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According to IndustryARC, the global Intrusion Detection System or Intrusion Prevention System (IDS or IPS) market, which was valued at about $5 billion in 2018, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12% during the forecast period 2019-2025. Rising security threats to computer networks and consistently changing regulatory landscapes have resulted in the rapid development of IDS/IPS. Cyber attacks on enterprises through ransom ware, malware and Denial of Service (DOS) are capable of compromising the existing security systems. Moreover, these security breaches cause long-lasting damage to enterprises, in terms of regaining customer trust. According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), there were more than 53,000 security incidents across the globe in 2018. It was also reported that more than 30% of security incidents were successfully negotiated by the network within a few minutes, and over 60% of security incidents occurred due to inefficiencies in the existing security system. Growing threat from cyber incidents to enterprises, coupled with an increase in the number of connected devices within enterprises, is analyzed to be one of the major factors driving the adoption of IDS/IPS during 2019-2025.

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Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/IPS) Market Report Coverage

The report: Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/IPS) Market  Forecast (2019-2025), by IndustryARC covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the IDS/IPS Market.

By Type: Host-Based IDS/IPS, Network-Based IDS/IPS, Wireless IDS/IPS

By Component And Deployment Model: Hardware Software , Services, Consulting, Training and Education, Managed Services, Design and Integration, Deployment Models, On-Premise Deployment, Cloud Deployment

By Industry Vertical: BFSI, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Retail, Aerospace, Defense And Intelligence, IT and Telecomm transportation, Government (Excluding Defense) and Public Utilities, Others

By Geography: North America, South America, Europe, APAC, RoW





Key Takeaways

The five key players have helped the market grow with strategies such as partnerships and acquisitions, along with product development and up gradation in 2018. Major players in the IDS/IPS system market include Cisco Systems, Inc., IBM Corp, FireEye, Inc., McAfee, LLC, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Juniper Networks, Inc., Trend Micro Incorporated, NSFocus Inc, AhnLab, Inc., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Hillstone Networks Inc., SecureWorks, Inc., Palo Alto Networks, Inc., Fortinet, Inc., and Symantec Corporation, among others.

The major driving factor in the Intrusion Detection/Prevention System market is increasing deployment of cloud computing across various industries such as BFSI, IT and Telecom, and Healthcare. The cloud computing and hosting market is forecast to grow from $86.01 billion in 2016 to $155.9 billion in 2020, which will reflect significant growth in the IDS/IPS system market.

which will reflect significant growth in the IDS/IPS system market. The host based IDS/IPS Systems analyze the activities on servers and provide real-time visibility into the overall system. Ongoing developments by major players and launch of new products are the major strategies being adopted by market players. For instance, HIDS introduced by HP, named HP-UX HIDS, provides enhanced security with better configuration.

North America is the largest market for IDS/IPS systems, and registered a share of around 34.5%, in 2018, owing to growing digital adoption of technologies such as IoT, cloud computing by various industries such as BFSI, healthcare, and retail among others. In addition, accelerated growth in the North American retail market will simultaneously increase demand for IDS/IPS systems to secure the digital systems adopted by the industries. Inquiry Before Buying





Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/IPS) Market Segment Analysis - By Technology

The Host IDS/IPS System is gaining traction at a very rapid pace in the market owing to its capabilities for detection and prevention in multiple computers simultaneously. The Unified Security Management (USM) solution introduced by Alien Vault in 2017 eases security analysis and combines host-based IDS along with network- and cloud-based IDS with essential security capabilities in a single, unified security environment. This USM platform is designed to centralize threat detection and respond to incidents occurring within cloud platforms. Developments such as this, combined with the enhanced version of host based IDS/IPS, will augment market revenue. In 2018, Hewlett-Packard HIDS performed enhancements for local host-level security to automatically monitor each configured host system within the network for possible signs of unwanted and potentially damaging intrusions. Similar developments in IDS/IPS is set to drive the adoption of these systems in the future.





Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/IPS) Market Segment Analysis - By End-User

The BFSI sector for the IDS/IPS market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15% during the forecast year owing to rapid growth of the Internet, and increasing incidences of computer attacks and intrusions in recent years. Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems have been proposed as an efficient solution to protect the BFSI sector against intrusions and attacks. The number of malicious applications targeting internet banking transactions has increased severely in recent years. In 2019, Bank of Valletta plc, a Malta-based banking firm was attacked by hackers, leading to a shutdown of all their IT systems while funds amounting to about $14.7m were reportedly stolen from its reserves. The growing incidences of electronic frauds targeting banks negatively impacts the banks reputation, owing to which financial institutions are planning to invest significantly on cyber security systems. According to global cyber security company Kaspersky, financial institutions are under significant pressure to ramp up security. In 2017, more than 64% of institutions reported that they would invest on improving their IT security regardless of the return-on-investment in the next couple of years. Such investments are analyzed to be major driving factors for the IDS/IPS market.





Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/IPS) Market Segment Analysis - By Geography

The intrusion prevention and intrusion detection systems market in North America held the largest share of 34.5% in 2018. Implementation of IoT-based smart technologies in the North American region is improving work efficiency and providing high levels of security to enterprises. Security vulnerabilities within IoT-based systems give rise to security threats which affect the organization. The size of the IoT consumer electronics market in the North American region is expected to grow from $89.96 billion in 2017 to $179.89 billion in 2022 . Hence, increasing use of IoT and cloud-based devices in this region will boost the IDS/IPS market.

The BFSI sector in North America is one of the fastest growing industries, with the U.S. prioritizing cyber security and allocating a much bigger budget to deal with threats. As per IndustryARC, the average annualized cost of cyber-attacks on companies in the U.S. was $21.39m in 2017, which is expected to grow in the coming years. The IDS/IPS is going to play a massive role in this industry.

The Middle East IDS/IPS market is also set to witness significant growth during the forecast period owing to increasing government initiatives aimed towards developing sectors aside of oil and gas, such as IT and manufacturing. The UAEs non-oil sector is expected to accelerate with a growth rate of 2.1% in 2019, an increase from the 1.3% growth rate it maintained in 2018. This is set to grow demand for IDS/IPS systems. Apart from this, the oil and gas companies in this region are also opting for digitalization solutions in their plants for reducing operating expenses. The governments of Middle East and Africa are going to invest $1 trillion over the next five years to boost upstream oil and gas output. Digitalization in the oil and gas sector is currently witnessing a significant challenge owing to cyber security concerns. However, these challenges are being currently addressed by major companies operating in this space such as Siemens, GE, ABB and so on. These key players are investing significantly to strengthen their industrial cyber security portfolio through product up gradations, product launches, acquisitions and collaborations. Increasing investments into both non-oil and oil sectors is set to drive the IDS/IPS market during the forecast period.





Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/IPS) Market Drivers

Increasing use of Cloud Computing:

Cloud Computing is the preferred choice of network and server solution for every IT organization, since it provides flexible and pay-per-use services to users. However, security and privacy is a major hurdle, owing to the clouds open and distributed architecture that is vulnerable to intrusions. Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is the most commonly used mechanism to detect attacks on the cloud. Information technology company Cisco found that by the end of 2019, 83% of all global data center traffic will come from cloud services. This is anticipated to bring a revolutionary change to the data sector with many organizations investing on cloud services. The increasing deployment of IDS and IPS system in such organizations for data protection and privacy will further propel the market.

The continued sophistication of cyber-attacks, security threats and hacking attempts:

Data thefts and intrusions through networks continue to persist in organizations. In recent years, various organizations such as critical infrastructure, large private corporations and smaller ones, and educational institutions witnessed digital assaults. Numerous cyber-attacks are occurring using AI, which easily enables injection of trojans and creation of interference in the network, which help hackers steal precious data. It is necessary to use emerging technologies such as AI with IDS/IPS security systems to prevent these types of threats. This is likely to create huge opportunities for the IDS/IPS system market.





Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/IPS) Market Challenges

Security concern in large enterprises

An enterprise network contains a number of internetworking devices and uses multiple networks. For large multinational enterprises with huge networks, the implementation of real-time defense methods is necessitated to protect the business network against potential threats that may impede or paralyze the system. Various cyber defense mechanism were opted for by organizations in the form of intrusion detection and prevention systems to protect themselves, but there are still a few security breaches which go undetected due to human negligence, lack of employee education on cyber attacks and so on. Hence, these types of security threats pose a severe challenge to intrusion detection and prevention system market growth.





Market Landscape

Partnerships and acquisitions along with product development and up gradation are the key strategies adopted by top players in the IDS/IPS System market in 2018. The major players in the IDS/IPS market include Cisco Systems, Inc., IBM Corp, FireEye, Inc., McAfee, LLC, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Juniper Networks, Trend Micro Incorporated, NSFocus Inc, AhnLab, Inc., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Hillstone Networks Inc, SecureWorks, Inc., Palo Alto Networks, Inc., Fortinet, Inc., and Symantec Corporation among others.

Partnerships/Mergers/Acquisitions

In 2019, cyber security company Tend Micro and designers and engineers Luxoft announced their partnership to introduce and deploy Intrusion Detection System and Intrusion Prevention System (IDPS). This IDPS solution was developed specifically for cars and will be enhanced with machine learning techniques.

In 2018, cyber security company ADT acquired internet security firm Secure Designs, Inc. ADT and SDI will provide real-time insights on Internet risks and behaviors, coupled with bundled solutions aimed at helping protect small business networks from cyber threats.

R&D Investments/Funding

In 2017, the U.S.-based cyber security solutions company Bricata received investments of $8m for research and development, and to accelerate market expansion. The key offering of this company is an intrusion detection and prevention solution, which ensures double the throughput and detection performance.

In 2019, U.S.-based startup Vectra, specializing in AI-based intrusion detection at the network level, received $100m as Series E investment for development of its AI-driven network security from TCV.

In 2018, startup Vectra AI, Inc., a leader in AI-driven threat detection and response, raised $36m to expand its R&D and business development. This funding helped them build an AI-based approach for cybersecurity intrusion detection.





Intrusion Detection System / Intrusion Prevention System Market Research Scope:

The base year of the study is 2018, with forecast done up to 2025. The study presents a thorough analysis of the competitive landscape, taking into account the market shares of the leading companies. These provide the key market participants with the necessary business intelligence and help them understand the future of the IDS/IPS System market. The assessment includes the forecast, an overview of the competitive structure, the market shares of the competitors, as well as the market trends, market demands, market drivers, market challenges, and product analysis. The market drivers and restraints have been assessed to fathom their impact over the forecast period. This report further identifies the key opportunities for growth while also detailing the key challenges and possible threats. The key areas of focus include the type, component and deployment, geography in IDS/IPS system market, and their industry vertical such as BFSI, retail, healthcare, Transportation and so on.
(JNS)  Following the U.S. Capitol riot, there has been a renewed emphasis on the threat from white-supremacist hate groups from the Biden administration, much of the media as well as the organized Jewish community. The anti-Semitic imagery seen at the rally organized by former President Donald Trump as well as in the mob storming Congress was frightening. No one should discount the fact that although their numbers are few, such violent right-wing extremists are dangerous. If there was any complacency about such threats, the deadly attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, Calif., in...
Minister of Health Carolina Darias has told the autonomous regions that Spain already has a firm commitment from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca that no fewer than 6,797,185 doses will arrive in the country by spring.

Darias explained at a meeting of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS), that the Pfizer / BionTech consortium, after suffering logistic problems in January, has committed to deliver 1,779,570 doses in February and then, in March, to increase the supply to 2,705,040 injectables.

Moderna, for its part, plans to deliver 412,000 ampoules to Spain this month.

And AstraZeneca, after its quarrel with the EU for its non-compliance with delivery deadlines, will finally provide Spain with at least 1,810,575 doses before spring.

Herd immunity target

With this supply, Spain will be able to guarantee a vaccination rate of just over 120,000 daily inoculations during the next two months. But that is still well short of the quarter of a million needed to achieve the September herd immunity target with 70 per cent of the country's population (33 million people) immunised with the two doses.

The Ministry of Health had been expected to announce its likely decision to not to vaccinate those over 65 years of age with the AstraZeneca formula, but it finally postponed this announcement to this Thursday for "technical reasons".

However, Darias confirmed that those over 80 years of age will only receive the vaccines that use messenger RNA technology, which of those approved so far, are the vaccines of Pfizer and Moderna.

Scientific committees in France, Germany, Poland, Austria, Sweden, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands have already advised against using the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford for the elderly saying that there is insufficient data to support its efficacy in older people.
FLINT, MI -- A cash reward is being offered for information in the recent killing of a Flint man.

Crime Stoppers of Flint and Genesee County is offering $2,500 for information leading to an arrest in the death of 21-year-old Landon Varner.

Varner and a passenger in his car were both shot around 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1 near the intersection of Ballenger Highway and Sunset Drive in Flint.

Officers with the Flint Police Department determined at least one occupant of one vehicle fired several gunshots at another vehicle.

Related: Shooting in Flint leaves 21-year-old man dead

Varner was taken to Hurley Medical Center.

He was later pronounced deceased at the hospital.

Varners passenger was treated for minor injuries, police said.

Police arrested one suspect, whose name is not being released pending arraignment in Genesee County District Court.

Its believed by police that there were other people were in the vehicle and involved at the time of the shooting, according to Crime Stoppers.

Tips can be anonymously submitted to Crime Stoppers via CrimeStoppersofFlint.com, on the P3 Tips mobile app, or by calling 1-800-422-JAIL (5245).

Photos and videos can be uploaded on the website or app.

Only tips leading to a felony arrest are eligible for the reward money.

Read more on MLive:

Flint mayor tells residents to protect each other as city fights this cycle of violence

New curfew on the table as option for dealing with Flints rash of violent crime

Lapeer High School student shot and killed, man arrested

Missing woman found dead in Flint Township

Shooting in Flint leaves 21-year-old man dead
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For 345 consecutive days, the traffic camera at Lagimodiere Boulevard and Fermor Avenue operated without interruption.

For 345 consecutive days, the traffic camera at Lagimodiere Boulevard and Fermor Avenue operated without interruption.

But five hours before a Winnipeg police officer fatally shot a 16-year-old Indigenous teenager at the intersection last spring, the camera had a "critical error" and broke down.

SUPPLIED 16-year-old Eishia Hudson: Fatally shot by a Winnipeg police officer.

Its the latest twist in the controversial case of the April 8, 2020, death of Eishia Hudson, who had allegedly robbed the Sage Creek Liquor Mart with other minors and sped away from police in a stolen vehicle in rush-hour traffic.

Last Thursday, Manitobas police watchdog, the Independent Investigation Unit, cleared the Winnipeg Police Service officer who fired the shot that killed Eishia. A single bullet pierced her shoulder and lodged in her spine.

IIU civilian director Zane Tessler wrote in his final report that because the traffic camera was not working at the time of the shooting, the "most reliable piece of evidence" in the case was cellphone footage taken by a witness from some distance away.

While it was public knowledge the traffic camera at the intersection had not functioned that day, the City of Winnipeg only confirmed Wednesday  in a written statement sent to the Free Press  that the camera broke down hours before the shooting.

"The traffic camera in question was installed on April 29, 2019, and did not experience any disruptions prior to going offline for approximately 30 hours on April 8, 2020, due to rodent damage to a power/communications cable," the city spokesman said.

"The lost connection generated an automatic alert that triggered a manual inspection to determine the damage, cause, and required repairs. We replaced the cable and the camera was back online within a few days. We have not experienced issues at this location since."

A source with knowledge of the situation clarified to the Free Press the camera went down "around noon" on the day of the shooting, which took place at 5:37 p.m.

On average, the city said it experiences "temporary offline interruptions" at its more than 100 traffic cameras stationed throughout Winnipeg about "twice per month."

In a polarizing decision, the IIU cleared the unnamed officer who shot Eishia following a 10-month probe.

The IIU did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday when asked for details about the traffic camera and what it had learned during its investigation about how and when it broke down.

Danielle Morrison, a lawyer on the legal team that represents the teens family, said she was made aware of the timing of the camera breakdown by the Free Press. She said the family and legal team were provided with no other information than "it was not functioning at the time of the shooting."

"The camera would have offered a direct line of vision into the shooting, and any footage captured via this angle could have produced key evidence that gave further insight into what exactly happened," Morrison said in a written statement.

"It is a grave misfortune that this camera just happened to stop functioning only during the hours leading up to, during, and after the fatal shooting of Eishia. As a result, the family of Eishia is faced with yet another hurdle in the truth-finding aspect of what happened to their daughter."

Morrison said the video footage would have provided important insight into the shooting and the initial investigation and response by police officers and the IIU. The lack of this "crucial evidence," Morrison said, puts the family at "a further disadvantage in finding justice for Eishia."

Traffic cameras in Winnipeg are operated and monitored by the Transportation Management Centre. There are 169 such cameras and, as of Monday afternoon, they all functioned as required.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe
Hanwha Investment & Securities headquarters on Yeouido, Seoul. / Courtesy of Hanwha Investment & Securities



By Anna J. Park



The stock price of Hanwha Investment & Securities remains bearish since the brokerage firm announced Wednesday afternoon that it acquired about 207 million shares, or a six percent stake, in Korean crypto fintech Dunamu.



Hanwha Investment's stock price finished at 2,790 won ($2.49) at Wednesday's closing, a 9.12 percent fall from the previous session.



Despite the stock price's steep rise earlier this week, seeing 4.58 percent and 12.04 percent jumps respectively on Monday and Tuesday's closings, the stock price plummeted immediately after the equity acquisition announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon. The stock price, that rose as high as 3,370 won at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, nosedived after the announcement, to less than 2,800 won in just a minute.



On Thursday's session, the stock price of the brokerage firm continued its bearish moves, losing another 3.76 percent, finishing at 2,685 won at closing.



Such discouraging moves of the price seem to reflect investors' concerns about whether the equity acquisition deal would yield a stable profit structure for the firm, as Dunamu's fintech business is centered on its cryptocurrency platform, Upbit. Upbit is one of the most frequently used mobile-based cryptocurrency exchanges in Korea, yet the highly volatile nature of cryptocurrency could be both a risk and boon factor for the brokerage firm.



With the equity acquisition worth 58.3 billion won, Hanwha Investment has become the seventh-largest shareholder of Dunamu, which operates mobile-based cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, as well as unlisted stock trading platform Stock Plus. Hanwha took over the entire amount of Dunamu equities held by Qualcomm.



Regarding such concerns, Hanwha Investment said the equity acquisition was based on the firm's long-term strategy to strengthen its digital capacity. The firm explained that it had previously invested in other innovative fintech companies, like PayCo and Toss, and that Dunamu's stake acquisition is also the part of the firm's long-term vision.



"The investment decision was not based on the cryptocurrency boom itself. It was decided as Dunamu holds blockchain technology, which shows the firm's ample growth potential in the accelerated digital era amid the COVID-19 pandemic," an official from Hanwha Investment said.


The senior garda in charge of investigating serious and organised crime has raised concerns about a fake news campaign being orchestrated by the Kinahan cartel.

Assistant Commissioner John ODriscoll said that the force, including Garda chief Drew Harris, were anxious to address recent reports from various sources on organised crime, some of which fits in to what is commonly referred to as fake news.

He said that criminal gangs were accumulating finances on a par with multi-national companies and that some of that wealth was being used to put a spin on events or particular groups involved in criminality.

The senior investigator also told a press conference this afternoon that gardai are still hopeful of prosecutions in the Regency Hotel murder investigation, which happened five years ago, and are awaiting directions from the DPP.

Read More

The purpose of todays press briefing, he said, was to show that gardai were being accountable and talking about where the organisation stands on its inquiries into organised crime.

It follows a statement issued by Daniel Kinahan to Independent News and Media (INM) journalist Ken Foy in which he denied any links to criminality and claimed he is the victim of an orchestrated campaign.

Read More

Asked about Kinahans claims that gardai had presented opinion as fact in certain cases, Mr ODriscoll said he would let the courts speak to that.

He referred to the sentencing hearing of cartel foot-soldier Mark Capper last May in which the three-judge panel agreed with the Garda evidence that the Kinahan organised crime gang was involved in murders and the trafficking of drugs and firearms.

Expand Close Assistant Commissioner John ODriscoll (Brian Lawless/PA) / Facebook

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Mr ODriscoll also said that claims made by Kinahan  who he did not name  that he would not receive a fair trial in Ireland was a matter for the courts.

The senior investigator referenced a mini-documentary about the Regency Hotel which accused gardai and the government of staging the attack to influence the result of the general election.

He said that this illustrated the capacity of organised crime groups to spend the resources that were required to produce such a video.

The issue with fake news, he said, is that the people who make those assertions dont make themselves available to be held accountable.

It goes beyond this jurisdiction. Ive seen for example documents purporting to emanate from international law enforcement agencies circulated in a purported book about organised crime.

The most important aspect of fake news is that people are not accountable for it, Mr ODriscoll said.

He accepted that gardai have not yet managed to dismantle the Kinahan crime gang but said they were in the process of achieving this through the seizure of cash and drugs as well as convictions.

Gardai are continuing to liaise with their international colleagues and have sent members of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) to the Middle-East, where many of the cartels hierarchy are based.

In the past two years alone, the GNDOCBs investigations have led to 65 people receiving prison sentences of five years or more for a range of offences including murder, firearms possession, drug trafficking and conspiracy to murder.

The majority of these convictions related to the Kinahan gang through their feud with the Hutch mob, which has seen up to 18 murders.

Read More

The Gardas success, the Assistant Commissioner said, may also have inadvertently caused an issue for the Irish Prison Service with the high number of feuding criminals put behind bars.

Commenting ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Regency Hotel murder tomorrow, he said that gardai stand prepared to intervene in any serious crime if needed, whether there is an anniversary or not.

Asked about previous criticisms from the family of the victim in that shooting, David Byrne (33), Mr ODriscoll said that the investigation was very comprehensive and ongoing.

Certainly there is the prospect of prosecutions in circumstances where the DPP has not yet directed on all of the evidence we have provided, he added.

The senior gardas comments follow Daniel Kinahan claiming last weekend that he has no involvement in criminality and that the only previous Garda investigation against him was dropped over a lack of evidence.

In a statement issued on his behalf, he was described as a family man with no criminal convictions, who was the victim of a campaign by the media and the State.

The opinion of Garda, expressed during court proceedings unconnected to Daniel, is routinely presented as fact, absent of scrutiny or context, the statement says.

Daniel Kinahan himself is quoted as saying: A lie repeated one hundred times is still a lie. My wish, as is my God-given right, is to continue my professional and family life in peace and without continued harassment and I will vigorously defend my right to do so.

The 43-year-old has previously been described in the High Court as directing the day-to-day criminal operations of the Kinahan organised crime gang.

Read More




NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / Graphite One Inc. (TSX-V:GPH)(OTCQB:GPHOF) ("Graphite One" or the "Company") announces that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") to raise gross proceeds of up to CA$2,000,000.

The Company plans to issue up to 2,564,103 units (the "Units") at a price of CA$0.78 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share (a "Common Share") and one transferable common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one full Common Share at a purchase price of CA$0.98 per Common Share and will expire two years from the date of issuance. The Warrants include an accelerated exercise clause whereby, in the event the Common Shares trade at a volume of CA$1.45 or more on the TSXV or the Toronto Stock Exchange (if so listed at such time) for 10 consecutive trading days, the Company may, at its option, issue a press release and a notice to the Warrant holder for the expiry of the Warrants on the date that is 45 days from the press release and notice and the Warrant holder may exercise the Warrants during this 45 day period but no later than the expiry date.

The Company may pay finders' fees to arm's-length parties in connection with the Offering.

The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for exploration and development of the Company's Graphite Creek Project and for general working capital purposes including Graphite One's Pre-Feasibility Study, projected for completion by the end of Q2 2021.

Closing is expected to occur around the end of February 2021, subject to receipt of final applicable regulatory approvals including approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a restricted period that expires four months following the date of issuance.

This media release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

About Graphite One

GRAPHITE ONE INC. (TSX-V:GPH)(OTCQB:GPHOF) continues to develop its Graphite One Project (the "Project"), whereby the Company could potentially become an American producer of high grade Coated Spherical Graphite ("CSG") that is integrated with a domestic graphite resource. The Project is proposed as a vertically integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture high grade CSG primarily for the lithium-ion electric vehicle battery market. As set forth in the Company's Preliminary Economic Assessment, potential graphite mineralization mined from the Company's Graphite Creek Property, is expected to be processed into concentrate at a graphite processing plant. The proposed processing plant would be located on the Graphite Creek Property situated on the Seward Peninsula about 60 kilometers north of Nome, Alaska. CSG and other value-added graphite products, would likely be manufactured from the concentrate at the Company's proposed graphite product manufacturing facility, the location of which is the subject of further study and analysis. The Company intends to make a production decision on the Project once a feasibility study is completed.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Anthony Huston" (signed)

For more information on Graphite One Inc please visit the Company's website, www.GraphiteOneInc.com or contact:

Anthony Huston

CEO, President & Director

Tel: (604) 889-4251

Email: AHuston@GraphiteOneInc.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts that address timing of closing the Offering, final amount raised under the Offering, the participation of insiders in the Offering, receipt of regulatory approvals, exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and title and delays due to third party opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is expressed in this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable securities laws. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: Graphite One Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627834/Graphite-One-Announces-CA2-Million-Financing
The police officers involved in the death of George Floyd including Derek Chauvin knelt on an innocent man three weeks before Floyd was killed, a video has shown.

Chauvin, responding to a report of a woman being held hostage by an armed man, is seen in the video along with officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Luis Realivasquez, and forcefully detaining a black man named Adrian Drakeford.

Drakeford was walking out of the apartment building holding an object as the Minneapolis police officer were arriving, who without a word tackled him to the ground. They would later say they thought the object was a knife.

The man's brother Lee Drakeford used his cellphone to record the incident on May 3, 2020, while Adrian's girlfriend, Kamaria Layton, pleaded with officers to leave him alone, telling them they were making a mistake.

Chauvin, responding to a report of a woman being held hostage by an armed man, is seen in the video along with officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Luis Realivasquez, and forcefully detaining a black man named Adrian Drakeford on May 3, 2020

'He didn't do nothing!' Layton can be heard telling the officers, as Chauvin - watching on calmly - is seen tapping an object against his leg while Kueng and Lane are putting Adrian in handcuffs.

Realivasquez, meanwhile, is seen threatening the crowd that has begun to gather with what looks like a can of pepper spray, ordering people to 'back up'.

It later transpired that Drakeford was not the hostage taker, and that the 27-year-old had no connection to the incident other than the fact that he lived on the same floor from where the woman said she was being held.

What's more, the police officers never found the 911 caller or determined whether she was still in danger, instead detaining Adrian and arresting another of his brothers named Terrance, who was also at the scene.

Adrian was released with no charges, while Terrance was charged with obstructing the legal process, which was later dropped after the Minneapolis City Attorney reviewed the case.

'It's not the style of policing you want to see any law enforcement practice,' said Andrew Gordon, deputy director for community legal services at Minneapolis nonprofit Legal Rights Center, who represented Terrance, told the Star Tribune.

Derek Chauvin (left), the white Minneapolis cop accused of killing George Floyd (right) by kneeling on his neck during an arrest last spring, allegedly used similarly dangerous and suffocating force in confrontations with at least six other people

George Floyd's death proved to be the catalyst for mass protests around the country and the world, galvanising the Black Lives Matter movement that dominated news channels for large parts of 2020, and continue to this day. Pictured: Demonstrators walk along Pennsylvania Avenue as they protest the death of George Floyd, May 29, 2020

'Their interest is not necessarily about investigating a crime.  Their interest is to put these kids in their place.'

Kueng and Lane were both in their first few months working as officers on the police force, with the call-out being part of their field training.

The video obtained by the Star Tribune bears a striking resemblance to the events leading up to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020.

Chauvin is facing charges of unintentional second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter after he pressed his knee into the neck of Floyd, a black man, for eight minutes during an arrest on May 25

As in the case of Floyd, the officers also ignored pleas from bystanders as he was aggressively detained, with Chauvin kneeling on his neck for over eight minutes, leading to the 46-year-old father's death.

Chauvin, Lane and Kueng were all suspended from the Minneapolis Police Department and are facing criminal charges over the death of Floyd. Since then, Chauvin's history of aggressive encounters has come to light.

George Floyd's death proved to be the catalyst for mass protests around the country and the world, galvanising the Black Lives Matter movement that dominated news channels for large parts of 2020, and continues to this day.

Protests and riots occurred in cities all across the US, with Black Lives Matter protesters and police clashing on numerous occasions.

The video's release comes after Chauvin's past aggressive behaviour came to light when prosecutors - seeking to present details at his trial - released details from six other arrests where he allegedly used excessive force - holding them by their necks or kneeling on top of them.

Three of those people, along with a fourth person who witnessed one of the arrests, shared their accounts with The Marshall Project in an article published Tuesday, describing how Chauvin pinned them down and restricted their breathing while they begged for relief.

One of them was Zoya Code, whose experience with Chauvin in 2017 bears a disturbing resemblance to what happened with Floyd three years later.

Like Floyd, Code said she was handcuffed and pinned to the ground by Chauvin's knee when he arrested her.

'He just stayed on my neck,' she said. When he ignored her pleas for him to get off, Code said she got frustrated and challenged him to push harder. 'He did. Just to shut me up,' she said.

(L-R) ex-officers Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Kiernan Lane in their booking photos. The trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin -- charged with murdering African American man George Floyd, will begin as scheduled March 8

Last week a judge agreed to allow attorneys prosecuting Chauvin to introduce Code's case as evidence of the officer's pattern of using excessive force - but not the other five.

Chauvin's attorneys have insisted that he used appropriate force in the encounter with Floyd, who had been accused of using a counterfeit bill at a convenience store.

Police records showed that Chauvin had been the subject of at least 22 complaints over the course of the course of his 19 years with the Minneapolis Police Department, from which he was fired after Floyd's death.

Only one of those complaints resulted in disciplinary action.

Chauvin was never reprimanded for any of the six prior incidents brought forward by the prosecution, despite two of the people filing formal complaints.

Four of the incidents involved people of color - two black, one Latino and one Native American - while the race of the other two people was not specified.

All three of the people who spoke to The Marshall Project, which coordinated its article with the New York Times, had a history of brushes with law enforcement, but most stemmed from traffic violations and nonviolent offenses.

Zoya Code - June 2017

Code's arrest took place on June 25, 2017, after her mother accused her of trying to choke her with an extension cord, according to a police report. Code denied the allegation, saying she merely grabbed the cord that her mother was swinging around during a fight at their home.

Code briefly left the house and returned to find Chauvin and another officer who had responded to the mother's call.

In a court filing prosecutors wrote that Chauvin grabbed Code by the arm and told her she was under arrest.

When Code pulled away, Chauvin pushed her to the ground and knelt on top of her before carrying her out of the house, according to prosecutors and body-camera footage.

Once outside, Code was again pinned on the ground in handcuffs as Chauvin dug his knee into her back - 'even though she was offering no physical resistance at all,' prosecutors wrote.

In an interview Code recalled pleading: 'Don't kill me.'

Chauvin responded by telling his partner to restrain Code's ankles, even though she was still 'not being physically aggressive', prosecutors wrote.

The partner complied, and Code remembered telling him: 'You're learning from an animal. That man' - Chauvin - 'that's evilness right there.'

In a court filing responding to prosecutor's account of Code's arrest, Chauvin's lawyer said he acted properly while responding to 'a violent crime in a volatile situation'.

Code was initially charged with misdemeanor domestic assault and disorderly conduct, but those charges were ultimately dropped.

Chauvin is seen in a court sketch from a hearing in the Floyd case last June

Jimmy Bostic - April 2016

A second case that prosecutors tried to enter as evidence of Chauvin's excessive use of force involved Jimmy Bostic, who said he ended up in the hospital after his encounter with the cop in April 2016.

Bostic was waiting for a ride outside of the Midtown Global Market when private security guards approached him to leave, after another shop owner accused him of panhandling.

An argument ensued and Chauvin was dispatched to the scene, according to an arrest report.

Chauvin escorted Bostic out of the store and the security guards were attempting to put him in handcuffs when he yanked his arms away.

In the report, Chauvin wrote: 'I closed distance with [Bostic] and secured his neck/head area with my hands.'

But as Bostic remembers it, Chauvin choked him.

'The next thing I felt was arms just wrapped around my neck,' Bostic said.

'I started telling him, "Let go, I'm having trouble breathing. I have asthma. I can't breathe."'

'I can't breathe' is the same phrase Floyd repeated over and over while being pinned by Chauvin until he died.

'Looking back on Mr Floyd, that could have been me,' Bostic told The Marshall Project. 'And I would no longer be alive right now to even tell my story.'

Bostic said he was released from police custody at the scene and was transported to a hospital, where he stayed for a day while suffering from an asthma attack.

He was charged with disorderly conduct, but that charge was later dropped.

Julian Hernandez - February 2015

The earliest case that prosecutors tried to enter as evidence of Chauvin's excessive use of force took place in February 2015, when Julian Hernandez was arrested at the El Nuevo Rodeo night club, where Chauvin worked as an off-duty security officer.

Hernandez, a carpenter who had traveled to Minneapolis to see a band perform at the club, told The Marshall Project the ordeal began when Chauvin confronted him for trying to leave through the wrong door.

He said that Chauvin then escorted him down a stairwell, and he felt like the officer was physically trying to push him down.

'Things escalated' when they got outside, Hernandez said, and Chauvin grabbed him by the throat to pin him against a wall.

Hernandez recalled Chauvin telling him: 'You just need to leave,' and thinking to himself: 'I'm trying to leave and you won't let me. You're choking me.'

Hernandez was charged with disorderly conduct but reached an agreement with the court to avoid punishment by staying out of trouble for the next year.

As with Code's case, Chauvin's lawyer insisted in a court filing that the officer did nothing wrong in the arrest of Hernandez, who the lawyer described as 'resistant and aggressive'.

A second case that prosecutors tried to enter as evidence of Chauvin's excessive use of force took place in February 2015, when Julian Hernandez was arrested at the El Nuevo Rodeo night club (pictured), where Chauvin worked as an off-duty security officer

Sir Rilee Peet - March 2019

Sir Rilee Peet was arrested by Chauvin in March 2019, after a man called police about seeing his grandson's stolen car at a gas station and Peet just happened to be nearby.

The caller, 74-year-old Monroe Skinaway, described the ordeal to The Marshall Project.

He said he was answering questions about the car when Peet walked by and asked the officers for a ride. Skinaway said Peet, then 26, seemed 'off' and followed one of the officers to his squad car.

The officer asked Peet to take his hands out of his pockets, he refused, and a scuffle ensued, according to a police report.

Chauvin intervened, spraying Peet with mace, restraining him by the neck and pinning him to the ground by kneeling on his lower back, prosecutors said.

Skinaway recalled seeing Peet's face pressed into a rain puddle for two to three minutes as he pleaded: 'I can't breathe  can I just put my head up?'

'They just held his face in the water, and I couldn't see a purpose for that,' Skinaway said.

He said when Peet tried to turn his head out of the water, the officer grabbed him by the hair and pushed his face back into the puddle.

Peet, who had a history of court-ordered treatment for mental illness, was charged with misdemeanor obstruction of the legal process and disorderly conduct.

In court filings, Chauvin's lawyer said that the officer acted appropriately in Peet's arrest, saying that the suspect had created concern for the officers' safety.
At least three new covid-19 related deaths have recorded, bringing the total number of deaths registered in the country to 131, according Health Ministry on Monday.

"All 3 decedents had their samples collected and processed posthumously. All 3 were males aged 65, 68 and 78 years and had comorbid conditions."

Forty-nine new cases were registered, bringing the total number of covid-19 cases in the country to 4,139. "Of these, 19, 20 and 10 cases were confirmed on the 29th, 30th and 31st January respectively."

"Over 80% of the new cases sought to be tested on account of being intending travellers who required a covid-19 test certificate."

Senegalese Ministry of Health yesterday reported 153 cases and 3 deaths, bringing the total number of positive cases to 27,080, while 22, 863 patients recovered, with 641 deaths and 4,075 under treatment.

The 228 deaths registered in January represents 35% of total deaths.
Scientists at Scripps Research have clarified the workings of a mysterious protein called Go, which is one of the most abundant proteins in the brain and, when mutated, causes severe movement disorders.

The findings, which appear in Cell Reports, are an advance in the basic understanding of how the brain controls muscles and could lead to treatments for children born with Go-mutation movement disorders. Such conditions--known as GNAO1-related neurodevelopmental disorders--were discovered only in the past decade, and are thought to affect at least hundreds of children around the world. Children with the disease suffer from severe developmental delays, seizures and uncontrolled muscle movements.

We were able to figure out what this protein does in the nervous system, and then use that knowledge to find out why its mutation leads to this devastating disorder." Kirill Martemyanov, PhD, Study Senior Author, Professor and Chair, Department of Neuroscience, Scripps Research in Florida

Understanding a lesser-known G protein

Go is a member of a family of proteins called G proteins, best known for their roles in carrying signals into cells from cell-surface receptors called G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). These receptors are found on many cell types in the brain and elsewhere in the body, and mediate dozens of biological processes from inflammation to mood and vision.

Because GPCRs are so important and relatively well studied, a large fraction of medicines target them to treat diseases. However, unlike most other G proteins, Go has a role in GPCR signaling that has remained somewhat obscure.

"My lab has been studying this protein for quite some time," says Martemyanov, "and there was really no connection to anything immediately disease-related until a few years ago, when mutations in the gene encoding Go were found to cause a set of rare genetic syndromes featuring seizures and uncontrollable movements."

The neuroscientist was soon attending meetings of the Virginia-based Bow Foundation and the European organization Famiglie GNAO1, which support families of children with these syndromes. Ultimately, the Bow Foundation helped fund his study through a fellowship award to the study's first author Brian Muntean, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the Martemyanov lab.

A 'dominant negative effect'

Go protein is found at high levels in brain cells, and the syndromes caused by the mutation of its gene, GNAO1, involve disruptions in brain signaling that controls movements. Therefore, in the study, Martemyanov and colleagues focused on the role of Go in a major motor control hub in the brain called the striatum.

They found that mice engineered with a disrupted GNAO1 gene in striatal neurons had a severe movement disorder, with impairments in muscle coordination and in their ability to learn physical tasks. Comparing those mice with their healthy counterparts, the researchers teased apart the complex molecular mechanisms by which Go affects GPCR signaling in these brain cells.

These striatal neurons express GPCRs for the neurotransmitters dopamine and adenosine, and the scientists were able to show that Go supports key elements of the signaling pathways that feed into striatal neurons from these receptors--helping to maintain the proper amplification and coordination of dopamine and adenosine signals and enabling seamless control of movements.

The team engineered mice to have several of the same GNAO1 mutations that have been reported in children with GNAO1 disorders. The scientists found that these mutations could be classified along a range of deficiencies, but in each case the resulting mutant Go was not entirely functional.

GNAO1 disorders usually involve only one mutant copy of the gene out of the two copies that exist in each person's genome. Martemyanov and colleagues discovered, however, that the mutant Go proteins often interfere with the workings of the remaining non-mutant Go proteins--what biologists call a "dominant negative" effect. The scientists also found that this interference takes different forms depending on the particular GNAO1 mutation, creating a variety of disease patterns, but generally appears to cause severe disruption to motor control even when the normal functional copy of Go is present.

"These findings can now guide our thinking about possible corrective strategies," Martemyanov says.
Bboxx, a next generation utility, is partnering with Trafigura, one of the world's leading independent commodity trading companies, to accelerate progress on meeting United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (UN SDG 7) clean energy for all in Africa.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005113/en/

Bboxx LPG clean cooking customer (Photo: Bboxx)

Bboxx manufactures, distributes and finances decentralised solar powered systems in developing countries, operating across Africa and Asia, and in the ten years since Bboxx was founded, it has positively impacted over one million people through clean energy. Trafigura's minority equity investment comes as Bboxx embarks on the next phase of its growth and accelerates its clean cooking commitments a key part of tackling energy poverty and meeting UN SDG 7.

Inaction on the clean cooking crisis is costing the world over $2.4 trillion each year*. The use of charcoal and wood result in significant emissions of greenhouse gases and black soot, as well as deforestation. The lack of modern cooking solutions also has negative health and gender equality consequences, and results in lost economic opportunities. Access to modern clean cooking services using Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is significantly cleaner and a vital step in the energy transition to low and zero-carbon sources.

This landmark agreement brings together complementary expertise to fast-track progress on clean cooking access in Africa. Bboxx's innovative Internet of Things (IoT) technology and experience from its established Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) Solar Home Systems business, are all needed to deliver clean cooking in a scalable and distributed model. Bboxx has been applying this expertise to PAYG LPG clean cooking through pilots in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Kenya. It has been ramping up efforts in the DRC after receiving funding from USAID to roll out a PAYG LPG clean cooking access programme.

As a global leader in LPG, Trafigura will play a major role in the future supply growth of LPG across Africa. Trafigura has recently set targets to reduce its operational greenhouse gas emissions and is committed to accelerating the energy transition through its Power and Renewables division, which is investing in renewable energy projects and building a portfolio of investments in innovative renewable technology firms.

Mansoor Hamayun, CEO and Co-Founder of Bboxx commented: "We are committed to tackling energy poverty in all its forms and it is unacceptable that in 2021 billions of people still live without access to clean cooking facilities. The world is still a long way off meeting UN SDG 7 clean energy for all and by forging partnerships and working with major global firms like Trafigura, we can turbocharge progress to unlock potential and transform even more lives for the better."

James Josling, Head of Africa Energy Trading for Trafigura said: "Trafigura's investment in Bboxx forms part of our strategy to continue to develop markets for LPG as a lower carbon fuel for clean cooking. Bboxx's innovative business models and proven expertise in providing renewable energy services make it an ideal company to collaborate with and an attractive investment for Trafigura."

ENDS

Notes to editors

Source:

World Bank, Nearly Half the World's Population Still Lacks Access to Modern Energy Cooking Services, 24 September 2020

About Bboxx

Bboxx is a next generation utility, transforming lives and unlocking potential through access to energy. Bboxx manufactures, distributes and finances decentralised solar powered systems in developing countries. It is scaling through forging strategic partnerships and its innovative technology Bboxx Pulse, a comprehensive management platform using IoT technology. Through affordable, reliable, and clean utility provision, Bboxx is bringing people into the digital economy, creating new markets, and enabling economic development in off-grid communities and those living without a reliable grid connection. The company is positively impacting the lives of more than one million people with its products and services in over 35 markets, directly contributing to 11 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

So far, Bboxx has deployed more than 350,000 solar home systems. Bboxx has over 800 staff across nine offices including in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, and Togo, with its head office in the UK and its manufacturing operations in China. In 2019, Bboxx was the winner of the Zayed Sustainability Prize in the Energy category testament to the way the company is making a meaningful difference to people's lives around the world. You can find further information about Bboxx on its website at https://www.bboxx.com/

About Trafigura

Founded in 1993, Trafigura is one of the largest physical commodities trading groups in the world. Trafigura sources, stores, transports and delivers a range of raw materials (including oil and refined products and metals and minerals) to clients around the world and has recently established a power and renewables trading division.

The trading business is supported by industrial and financial assets, including a majority ownership of global zinc and lead producer Nyrstar which has mining, smelting and other operations located in Europe, Americas and Australia; a significant shareholding in global oil products storage and distribution company Puma Energy; global terminals, warehousing and logistics operator Impala Terminals; Trafigura's Mining Group; and Galena Asset Management. With circa 850 shareholders, Trafigura is owned by its employees.

Over 8,500 employees work in 48 countries around the world. Trafigura has achieved substantial growth over recent years, growing revenue from USD12 billion in 2003 to USD147 billion in 2020. The Group has been connecting its customers to the global economy for more than two decades, growing prosperity by advancing trade. Visit: https://www.trafigura.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005113/en/

Contacts:

For more information please contact:

Bboxx

Instinctif Partners

Amy Boekstein

Email: bboxx@instinctif.com

Phone: +44 (0) 7457 2064



Trafigura

Press Office

Email: media@trafigura.com

Phone: +41 (0) 22 592 4528



The courthouse of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Boston on Feb. 4, 2021. (screenshot/Google Maps)

Federal Court Upholds Nurses Right Not to Fund Union Lobbying

A federal appeals court rejected a health care unions request that the judges reconsider their decision upholding the right of nurses not to be required to fund the labor groups political lobbying.

The United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP) union had asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit to reconsider its September 2020 ruling upholding Rhode Island nurse Jeannette Gearys right not to be charged assessments used to cover the costs of lobbying and other political activities.

In its September decision, the judges, including former Supreme Court Justice David Souter, said they saw no convincing argument that legislative lobbying is not a political activity for which Geary cant be forced to fund.

The September decision also upheld the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling in Gearys favor, saying the board was correct that Supreme Court precedent dictated that nonmembers could never be required to fund union lobbying.

Geary has been represented pro bono throughout her fight, which began in 2009, by attorneys from the National Right to Work Foundation (NRTWF).

The foundation won the landmark 1988 Supreme Court decision in Communications Workers of America v. Beck that guaranteed the right of individuals not to have to pay dues for political activities they dont support.

Geary, who worked as a nurse at Kent Hospital in Warwick, Rhode Island, filed unfair labor practice charges [in 2009] after UNAP officials failed to provide her evidence of a legally required independent audit of its breakdown of expenditures. She also challenged the unions forcing her and other employees to pay for union lobbying activities in state legislatures, the NRTWF said in a statement on Feb. 4.

The Foundation-won Beck decision mandates that private-sector workers in states without Right to Work protections can only be forced to pay union dues for union activities directly germane to the unions bargaining functions, which excludes political activity like lobbying. In another Foundation-won case, Hudson, the Court held that union officials must provide an audited financial breakdown of how forced union dues are being spent.

There are currently 27 states that have adopted Right to Work laws that guarantee an individual no person can be forced to join a union as a condition of employment.

Previously, under President Barack Obama, the NLRB had ruled against Geary in 2012. But then, in a March 2019 decision, the board reversed itself, saying, according to the NRTWF statement: The NLRB ruled 31 that union officials violate workers rights by forcing nonmembers to fund any union lobbying activities.

It also ruled that union officials must provide independent verification that the union expenses they charge to nonmembers have been audited. Unwilling to stop forcing workers to fund lobbying activities, UNAP union bosses then asked the First Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn this ruling.

Mark Mix, NRTWFs president, said in the statement that the First Circuits unanimous ruling for Ms. Geary, followed by denial of rehearing, demonstrates the clarity of the Supreme Courts standard in Beck, and shows how flagrantly UNAP officials disregarded her and her coworkers Beck rights well over a decade ago.

Mix added, While it is just plain wrong to force workers to shell out cash for union political expenses as a condition of keeping their jobs, federal labor law as a whole needs reform so no worker is forced to accept or pay for the representation of union hierarchies they dont want and never requested.

The decision to uphold the NLRB in the Geary case points to the importance of a controversy that exploded on President Joe Bidens first day in the Oval Office.

Biden fired then-NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb, who initially declined the presidents request for his resignation. The NLRB general counsel position is a presidential appointee for a four-year term, and subject to confirmation by the Senate.

Robb had about eight months left of his four-year term, and it isnt clear if a president has the authority to terminate an individual in such a position prior to the completion of their term.

When Robb was terminated by Biden, his deputy, Alice Stock, became the acting general counsel, but she was also asked to resign and was fired when she declined to do so.

The NLRB now has an acting general counsel, Peter Ohr, who promptly repealed guidance that Robb had authored last year directing the boards regional directors to enforce worker rights, as defined by the Beck decision.

Late on Thursday, Mix told The Epoch Times that Gearys victory today is a reaffirmation of the commonsense principle that workers who choose to dissociate from union bosses should not be forced to fund their political and lobbying activities, as recognized by both the Supreme Court in the Foundation-won Beck decision and the NLRB earlier in Gearys case.

This development makes it particularly outrageous that Acting NLRB General Counsel Peter Ohr just withdrew two guidance memos issued by his predecessor, Peter Robb, which sought to enforce workers rights under Beck.

Its clear that the Biden administration, which fired Robb on legally dubious grounds and replaced him with Ohr at union bosses behest, is intent on expanding union boss power to the detriment of individual workers.

Four House Republicans have asked the White House Counsels office and the BidenHarris transition team for the Department of Labor for all documents concerning Bidens firing of Robb and Stock.

Contact Mark Tapscott at Mark.Tapscott@epochtimes.nyc
Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Thursday said she hoped to attract more French investments to her country and boost the volume of trade between the two states

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Thursday said she hoped to attract more French investments to her country and boost the volume of trade between the two states.

The Moldovan leader on Wednesday arrived in Paris on an official visit to meet with her French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and several high-ranking government officials. She had already met with Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

"France is one of the top ten investors in Moldova, we want to increase the volume of trade with France, and we also want to attract more French investments to Moldova. Moldova is a small country with a strategic location between East and West, with an attractive economic potential, which we offer you to take advantage of," Sandu said during a joint briefing with Macron, which was broadcast on the Elysee's Facebook.

The Moldovan leader added that two-thirds of Moldovan exports go to EU countries, in part because of the Moldova-European Union Association Agreement, signed in 2014 and in force since 2016.

The treaty, in particular, establishes a duty free regime between Moldova and European nations and provides for cooperation in economic policy, to bring Moldova's trade legislation in line with that of the EU.

Sandu also expressed gratitude to Macron for France's support of Moldova in economic and political spheres. For his part, the French president expressed intention to deepen the relations between the two countries and noted that Sandu's arrival to Paris marked the first official visit of the leader of Moldova in the last 24 years.

Macron added that Paris would provide support to Chisinau for investment projects and the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
If youve ever filled out a Form 4473, youre familiar with the Question 11e: Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or other controlled substance? In case you thought there was any ambiguity with regard to medical marijuana, you were wrong. Indeed, there is a warning in bold right underneath the question that clarifies:

Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized or for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.

Regardless of what one thinks about marijuana, its legalization or the right of the federal government to regulate either drugs or the internal laws of the various states, the fact remains: As of now, possession, sale and cultivation of marijuana remains a federal offense. It is a Schedule I drug in the same category as heroin and cocaine. You might not like that and you might think such classifications are ridiculous. The federal government doesnt care.

This is a particularly difficult issue for people who use medicinal marijuana for bona fide medical purposes, rather than as a sort of legal loophole to consume marijuana legally. Many people use medicinal marijuana for a variety of purposes including relief from pain, Alzheimers symptoms, glaucoma, epilepsy and a number of complications related to cancer, including nausea and lack of appetite. The science on this is rather conclusive, so much so that Big Pharma makes legal synthetic THC pills known as marinol.

For those who use medical marijuana and wish to protect themselves with firearms, there is a choice: you can keep your guns or you can keep your grass or you can break the law.

What Is the Law Regarding Guns and Marijuana?

In 2011, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms clarified its stance  it is not legal for anyone who uses any illegal substance to own firearms. This includes marijuana, which is legal according to some state laws, illegal according to others, and also illegal under federal law.

The relevant federal law is 18 U.S.C. 922  (g)(3), which prohibits anyone who uses any controlled substance, as defined by the Controlled Substances Act, from owning firearms. Its not specific to marijuana. It includes every controlled substance. However, marijuana is worth talking about specifically because of its quasi-legal status, including in a number of relatively gun-friendly states such as Arizona, New Hampshire, Colorado, Michigan, and Nevada.

Its easy to be cynical about the motivations of the federal government with regard to this topic. However, it is worth briefly noting a couple of facts regarding marijuana with regard to mental health. Marijuana is closely associated with a number of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, but also anxiety, paranoia and even psychosis, though the last of these is quite rare. One might wish to hand-wave this as reefer madness, but the correlation if not the causation is well documented.

One might object that those with SSRIs are allowed to legally possess firearms, despite the fact that these have been proven to be dangerous. We dont disagree that there is a correlation between SSRI use and abuse and gun violence. However, SSRIs being dangerous  or even more dangerous than marijuana  does not make marijuana any less dangerous than it is.

In the interest of balance, well end this section by noting that correlation is not causation. Some have argued that its less that marijuana causes schizophrenia than those who have schizophrenia are more likely to use marijuana as a form of symptom relief. We will not attempt to decide which hypothesis is true, but the facts regarding marijuana and mental health bear mentioning.

What Are the Penalties for Ignoring the Law?

We are not encouraging anyone to break the law. And, indeed, the penalties for doing so with regard to firearms are always stiff. Using and possessing marijuana are no exceptions. So what are the penalties for those who simply choose to flout the law and continue using marijuana  legal or otherwise, because remember that the feds dont recognize the difference  while owning firearms?

First, we should mention that some states, such as Colorado, have prohibited information sharing that would tie your ownership of firearms to your status as a medical marijuana patient. Other states, such as Illinois, have ruled that you can legally own firearms as a medical (or otherwise legal  Illinois is a recreational state) marijuana user. Illinois is not the most gun-friendly state in the Union by a longshot, but it has explicitly said that it will not assist the federal government in stripping otherwise law-abiding citizens of their firearms while also providing them with the same friendly warning that we will throughout this article: that the feds still consider it a crime, so be careful.

But again, the federal law is what is most important for our purposes right now. And the federal appeals courts have upheld bans on medical marijuana users from legally possessing firearms. Whats more, even states that are friendly to medical marijuana have not taken a clear stand on what will happen to people who are stopped in possession of legal firearms and a legal amount of marijuana.

There are two parts of the law here: First, the question of what will happen to you if the feds show up and you have marijuana and a firearm. The second is the question of what will happen if the feds decide to hit you for lying on your form  a lesser, but still serious charge. Neither situation will play out well for you: The federal penalty for being in possession of a firearm, while also in possession of illegal drugs, is ten years in the federal pen. The federal penalty for lying on your Form 4473 is five years in prison.

Its worth pointing out that if youre guilty of one, youre probably guilty of both, so lets just call that 15 years. And while Jeff Bezos left-wing vanity blog The Washington Post has stated that Your chances of being prosecuted by the Justice Department for falsifying information to illegally buy a gun are almost zero, no serious person would advise you to lie on your form. This is illegal and a highly risky gambit.

Still, facts are facts and numbers usually dont lie: The NICS system denied gun purchases 112,000 times in 2017, because they were in forbidden categories. Of these, the ATF investigated 12,700. Of these, a whopping 12 were prosecuted. However, Attorney General William Barr has stated that the feds plan to investigate and prosecute so-called lie and try cases with increased vigor, so we might see more prosecutions in the future.

Note that it is not just marijuana users who might fall afoul of federal authorities because of this: literally anyone involved in the cultivation or distribution of medical marijuana is engaged in a federal crime. Thus, they are subject to being penalized in the same way that any other drug user  or drug dealer  might be. Further, all of these laws apply not just to guns, but to ammunition as well.

Again, we cannot state this clearly and unambiguously enough: Purchasing a firearm while using illegal drugs, of which even medical marijuana is one, is a federal offense carrying serious penalties, and we obviously urge anyone considering ignoring the law to not do so. The feds are not joking around with people that they prosecute for these crimes.

If you take umbrage at this legal situation, we urge you to contact your state legislators, particularly those who might be on record as sharing your views on the matter. There is a growing movement in Americas state legislatures to protect medical marijuana users who wish to peacefully exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Whats the Deal With Enforcement?

The legal pretext for charging otherwise law-abiding gun owners because of their use of medical marijuana is the Gun Control Act of 1968, passed at the height of American conservatisms war on hippies and weed. Note that at this time, there was a low-level insurgency of left-wing militants just starting.

The purpose of this provision of the law at the time was to create an easy way for the feds to hand out sentence enhancements for drug dealers or domestic terrorists who were also potheads, due to the strong presence of cannabis use among the counter-culturalists who populated the far left during this time period. If we're going back to original intent, this provision was not crafted with now-legal medical marijuana users in mind. This is an important point to raise because of the mental health issues alluded to above  this law was not designed for such problems.

As such, there isnt really an enforcement apparatus set up for this specific law, nor can federal authorities realistically enforce it on a mass scale. There are likely tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of medical marijuana users in the United States who also own otherwise legal firearms. There is also the spectre of people who are involved in the legal marijuana trade who have absolutely nothing to do with cultivation or sale, such as security guards, who often carry firearms and are technically in violation of this law. For the feds to begin targeting such otherwise law-abiding citizens would mean either a massive crackdown on a significant part of the population or using a few high-profile cases to set an example for everyone else.

If this law were enforced in any systematic manner, medical marijuana dispensaries would have no means of defending themselves from criminals, because their security guards couldnt be armed with anything currently classed as a firearm. This  and the generous tax revenues that flow from it  is primarily why state governments have chosen to look the other way on enforcing or helping to enforce this aspect of federal law. Not only are there tons of people violating it, but consistent and rigorous enforcement would lead to a significant drop in state tax revenues collected, which would, in turn, lead to significant cuts in social services offered by state governments.

Because the IRS doesnt allow any deductions, theyre making a killing off of marijuana taxation  about 40 percent.

Is it Constitutional to Prohibit Medical Marijuana Users From Possessing Firearms?

There is also a solid basis for the law prohibiting medical marijuana users from owning firearms being unconstitutional. First there is the question as to whether or not any restrictions on firearms ownership actually pass constitutional muster. But beyond this, the law has been challenged by those who are not the Second Amendment ideological purists that we are.

A Philadelphia-based doctor named Matthew Roman filed suit after a licensed firearms dealership didnt allow him to purchase a firearm after he answered this notorious question honestly. His argument isnt based on the Second Amendment at all (and its a good thing, because the courts generally do not agree with our no exceptions view of the Second Amendment). Rather, he appealed to the Fifth Amendment, which protects Americans from self-incrimination, in addition to the Second Amendment, which doubtless all our readers know by heart.

Indeed, the question specifies that the person has used medical marijuana unlawfully, which is a dubious question  does the federal government have jurisdiction over the states in this regard? There are certainly arguments in either direction, but this is not entirely settled law. At the very least, the Trump Administration seems to have declared a truce on this matter, looking the other way with regard to the increasing legalization of marijuana, both medical and recreational, throughout the country, ending the Catch-22 harassment of the Obama Administration, which targeted otherwise legal  and tax-paying  medical marijuana facilities on the grounds that they were paying tax on illegal income.

Seriously, that happened.

Of course, no one wants to be a Constitutional test case, especially when theyre looking at 15 years in prison if they lose the gambit. But it is worth noting all of these issues with even having such a law on the books and deploying it in a manner that forces people to incriminate themselves.

In April 2019, Republican Congressman Alex Mooney of West Virginia introduced legislation to bring into alignment federal gun laws and the increasing legalization of medical marijuana at the state level. This bill only recognized medical marijuana use and would do nothing for the millions of Americans currently living in states where recreational marijuana is not just legal, but a booming business. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky proposed a similar law, but this legislation would have covered recreational cannabis as well as medical.

How Will This Impact My Right to Concealed Carry?

For those who like to carry concealed, the challenge is twofold: Not only must they potentially give up their guns, they must also give up the practice of carrying concealed when in public.

There was an effort in 2019 to extend the right to carry concealed firearms to medical marijuana patients in Colorado, but it was ultimately unsuccessful. And, indeed, in our research we were not able to find a single state that took the additional step of not just allowing medical marijuana users to own firearms under state law, but also allowing them to carry concealed without molestation.

This is all, of course, a bit of a moot point anyway for those looking to stay within the good graces of the law. Because what good is the right to carry a concealed firearm if you dont have the right to own a firearm?

The Federal Government Must Address This Disparity

Federal legislation is needed in this regard, because the state laws protecting the right of otherwise law-abiding medical marijuana users to own firearms mean nothing. The state law isnt what is at issue here. It is the federal law that requires change. Either that, or the federal government needs to begin rigorously enforcing its laws regarding marijuana  but there is simply no political appetite for this. Particularly with an opioid epidemic ravaging the country, marijuana cultivation is pumping badly needed money into economies ravaged by deindustrialization. Whats more, there is some evidence  though it is far from conclusive  that medical marijuana might be an important and useful tool in the fight against opioid abuse.

There is also the question of the unintended consequences of this law, which are twofold: First, there is the very real possibility that otherwise law-abiding gun owners will turn to the black or grey market to purchase their firearms out of paranoia that the federal government will target them if they wish to obtain one legally. This might sound far-fetched, but after the hysteria surrounding the Chinese Coronavirus and the civil unrest of the summer of 2020, there is no reason to believe that every otherwise law-abiding citizen will just forfeit their right to self defense because the federal government has forced them to choose between that and pain management or epilepsy.

The flip side of this is all the law-abiding citizens who choose their doctor-recommended treatment of medical marijuana over the right to keep and bear arms. This scenario is much more likely than the previous one, and it's not a neutral position. People choosing to exercise their Second Amendment rights is a net social positive in addition to simply being a Constitutionally enumerated right. Stripping otherwise law-abiding citizens of their right to keep and bear arms will, conversely, have a net social negative effect in addition to simply being a violation of their rights.

State sovereignty issues likewise enter into the equation. While a certain degree of federal supremacy is a moot point after the American Civil War (to say nothing of the expansive view of the interstate commerce clause), it does seem like a massive amount of federal overreach allowing the feds to effectively strip Second Amendment rights from a group of people who are not breaking any laws in their state. This is particularly egregious because the federal government seems to largely have given up trying to get these states to comply with the federal law that, at least in theory, supersedes it.

Otherwise legal gun owners are thus thrust into making a difficult decision between their rights and the law  a decision that is made particularly cruel thanks to the federal abdication of enforcement.

So which legal decision should you make? Thats not a question we can answer for you. Its one that only you can answer for yourself after careful consultation with your physician, as well as weighing your options with regards to the potential for a self-defense situation were one to arise. Indeed, because it is disproportionately seniors and the ill who are using medical marijuana, this makes the decision an especially cruel and tragic one. However, until federal law catches up with the medical marijuana laws of your state, it is an unfortunate choice that you must make if you dont want to end up on the wrong side of the law, facing 15 years in prison.

Jacobs is the lead writer and chief historian with Ammo.com, and is the driving intellectual force behind the content in the Resistance Library. He is proud to see his work name-checked in places like Bloomberg, USA Today and National Review, but he is far more proud to see his work republished on websites like ZeroHedge, Lew Rockwell and Sons of Liberty Media. You can catch him on Quora and Parler as well as on our very own Resistance Library podcast.
Beijing strongly denies accusations of abuse in Xinjiang, and has said the complexes it set up in the region provided vocational training to help stamp out Islamist extremism and separatism, and to teach new skills. (Representatinal image : AP/file photo)

Beijing: Women in China's system of detention camps for ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in its western region of Xinjiang were subject to rape, sexual abuse and torture, according to a BBC report on Wednesday.

The British broadcaster said on its website "several former detainees and a guard have told the BBC they experienced or saw evidence of an organised system of mass rape, sexual abuse and torture."

The allegations could not be independently verified by Reuters.

Beijing strongly denies accusations of abuse in Xinjiang, and has said the complexes it set up in the region provided vocational training to help stamp out Islamist extremism and separatism, and to teach new skills. Those in the facilities had since "graduated", it says.

Asked on Wednesday about the BBC report, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said it "is wholly without factual basis" and the people interviewed by the BBC have been "proved multiple times" to be "actors disseminating false information."

The United States accuses China of committing genocide against Uighurs in Xinjiang.

Last year, a report by German researcher Adrian Zenz published by the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation think tank accused China of using forced sterilisation, forced abortion and coercive family planning against minority Muslims. China said the allegations were groundless and false.
SAE Foundation announced today it was awarded a $70,000 grant from the FCA Foundation, the charitable arm of Stellantis. The grant will support SAE Internationals A World In Motion (AWIM) program to provide engaging, real-world STEM education to as many as 2,250 students in classrooms in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

A long-time supporter, the FCA Foundation has been a critical partner in supporting SAEs mission to inspire students to explore science, technology, engineering and math learning, said Lori Gatmaitan, SAE Foundation Director. This grant from the FCA Foundation will support teachers, parents and students by providing fun and interactive STEM learning experiences that can be implemented in any learning environment.

The FCA Foundation grant, awarded in 2020, enables SAE to deliver AWIM programs to 75 kindergarten-8th grade classrooms in Belvidere, Illinois; Kokomo and Tipton, Indiana; southeast Michigan and Toledo, Ohio.

We are very pleased to renew our support for SAE and their efforts to bring this fun, exciting program to even more students, said Christine Estereicher, global chief operating officer for the FCA Foundation. This grant also reflects our belief that education is fundamental to developing generations of critical thinkers that we need to build strong and sustainable communities.

SAEs AWIM program puts tools in the hands of educators and families to spark interest and achievement in STEM subjects while sharpening problem solving and communication skills, providing a solid foundation to help students succeed in future education and career endeavors.

For more information on how to get involved with the SAE Foundation, visit: http://www.saefoundation.org.

To learn more about SAEs AWIM program, visit: https://www.sae.org/learn/education/.

About SAE Foundation

The SAE Foundation encourages and increases student achievement and participation in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to build a STEM-fluent workforce. Funds raised by the SAE Foundation support SAE Internationals award-winning A World In Motion (AWIM) program, Collegiate Design SeriesTM (CDS), awards and scholarships. SAEs STEM education programs enable students to develop the 21st century skills needed to succeed in real-world work environments and connect classroom learning with real-life application. Overall, SAEs STEM programs have reached more than six million students worldwide and engaged more than 30,000 STEM industry professionals as volunteers. SAE International is a global association engaging nearly 200,000 engineers, technical experts and volunteers to advance mobility knowledge and solutions for the benefit of humanity. http://www.saefoundation.org.

About FCA Foundation

The FCA Foundation, the charitable arm of Stellantis, supports organizations and initiatives that help empower people, build strong, resilient communities and generate meaningful and measurable societal impacts particularly in the field of education.
The visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology was one of the highlights of the WHO mission in order to gather data and search for clues as to where the COVID virus originated and how it spread

Wuhan: World Health Organization investigators on Wednesday visited a research center in the Chinese city of Wuhan that has been the subject of speculation about the origins of the coronavirus , with one member saying theyd intended to meet key staff and press them on critical issues.

The WHO teams visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology was a highlight of their mission to gather data and search for clues as to where the virus originated and how it spread.

"Were looking forward to meeting with all the key people here and asking all the important questions that need to be asked," zoologist and team member Peter Daszak said, according to footage run by Japanese broadcaster TBS.

Reporters followed the team to the high security facility, but as with past visits, there was little direct access to team members, who have given scant details of their discussions and visits thus far. Uniformed and plainclothes security guards stood watch along the facilitys gated front entrance, but there was no sign of the protective suits team members had donned Tuesday during a visit to an animal disease research center. It wasnt clear what protective gear was worn inside the institute.

The team left after around three hours without speaking to waiting journalists.

At a daily briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the experts also held talks Wednesday with experts from Huazhong Agricultural University.
Authorities are investigating after a man was wounded in a Tuesday night shooting in Salem City.

Officers responded to Seventh Street shortly after 8 p.m. and found a 19-year-old victim with a gunshot wound to the lower portion of his body, according to Salem Police Chief John Pelura III.

He was transported to a trauma center and is listed in stable condition.

The victim is not cooperating with police, Pelura noted.

Evidence was recovered from the scene and the investigation is ongoing, the chief said.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 856-935-2TIP. Tipsters may remain anonymous.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Pakistan is keen on benefiting from Egypts expertise in social housing, the countrys PM, Imran Khan, told the Egyptian ambassador to the South Asian country, Tarek Dahroug.

According to an official statement on Wednesday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said Dahroug was received by Khan and several officials in a meeting in Islamabad.

Khan praised advances related to development in Egypt, and particularly in the New Administrative Capital, which he described as an exemplary model on how to develop infrastructure and expand beyond the frame of old cities.

Pakistan is currently considering expansions in its densely populated large cities, he said.

Dahroug previewed during the meeting efforts by the envoy in 2020 to bolster cooperation between Egypt and Pakistan at all levels, but mainly building an Al-Azhar institute in the country and the continued coordination between both countries in enhancing cooperation to build middle-class social housing and develope infrastructure in Pakistani cities and islands.

The Egyptian ambassador also shed light on strengthening trade cooperation between the two countries, which call for the upgrade of relevant institutional mechanisms and the development of bilateral scientific and cultural cooperation.

Short link:


Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday said that China's Sinopharm vaccine is not effective for people over 60 years of age, a day after it began its countrywide coronavirus vaccination programme with the Chinese jabs.

China donated half a million doses of Sinopharm vaccines to Pakistan which sent a special plane to airlift the jabs on Monday.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, Dr Faisal Sultan told the media on Thursday that Pakistan's expert committee while considering the preliminary analysis data recommended the vaccine only for people aged 18-60 years.

At this stage, the expert committee has not authorised the Sinopharm vaccine for people older than 60," he said, adding that after getting more data, a decision will be made whether it can be used for elderly.

Pakistan began its countrywide coronavirus vaccination programme on Wednesday, with the first jabs administered simultaneously in all four provinces, a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the immunisation drive in capital Islamabad.

Khan had said that frontline health workers would be vaccinated first, followed by the elderly citizens and then the rest. But now people above 60 years would have to wait for some other vaccine to get protection against the coronavirus.

China has said that it is currently conducting field trials for 16 vaccines, while it has so far granted conditional approval to Sinopharm, even as it began supplying the shot to a number of countries, including Pakistan.

Pakistan has so far approved three coronavirus vaccines for use -- China's Sinopharm vaccine, Russia's Sputnik V vaccine and the Covishield vaccine developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca.

Planning Minister Asad Umar said last week that the global COVAX initiative would provide 17 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Pakistan in the first half of 2021. Officials said it would be used for elderly people.

COVAX, formally known as the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, is a global initiative, which aims at ensuring that middle and lower-income countries get timely access to coronavirus vaccines.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan on Thursday reached 550,540 after 1,508 new cases emerged in the last 24 hours, according to the ministry of National Health Services.

Another 31 people died in this period, taking the COVID-19 toll to 11,833 while 1,971 patients were in critical condition.

The ministry said that 505,818 people have recovered so far.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin past president Dr. Suresh Reddy announced he will be running for trustee of Oak Brook, Illinois. The Indian American physician wants to give back to the community. (photo provided)
NISKAYUNA  Scientists at General Electric's research lab in Niskayuna are working on new technology that would allow U.S. soldiers to brew drinking water on the battlefield out of nothing but the air they breathe.

The new technology would be so light and effective compared to current water-making technologies that GE is calling it a "game changer."

GE Research, which is headquartered in Niskayuna  about five miles from its historic Schenectady campus  was recently awarded a $14.3 million grant from the Defense Department to develop the new heat-exchange machine, which would dramatically improve health and safety in arid environments lacking fresh water such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Currently, the military delivers water bottles into such places by trucks to quench the thirst of its soldiers, which is a logistics nightmare that contributes to a not insignificant amount of illness, death and injuries in the field.

"Today, the logistics and costs involved with transporting water are staggering and in dangerous war zone areas, result in casualties," said David Moore, the technology manager for material physics and chemistry at GE Research and the principal investigator on the project. "By creating a highly portable, compact device that efficiently extracts water from the atmosphere, we can save lives and ease the logistical and financial burden for our armed forces.

A 2009 report by the Army Environmental Policy Institute found that 10 percent to 12 percent of the casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan happened during water and fuel convoys.

"Resupply of fuel and drinking water for troops in-theater costs lives," the report grimly states.

The new water-creating machine that GE is developing is being done in coordination with scientists at the University of California at Berkeley, University of South Alabama and the University of Chicago  all leaders in the field.

The machine, being called the AIR2WATER device, is expected to be light enough that four soldiers could easily lift it off the back of a truck and plug it into a power source at an Army base or in the battlefield to supply all the fresh water needs of 150 soldiers for days, weeks or months.

Although there are many commercially available devices that can make water from the air that can be bought on Amazon and other retailers for about $2,000, they typically use the same dehumidification technology found in standard air conditioners.

Such devices, however, are bulky, inefficient and require a lot of electricity. And they don't work well in low-humidity environments like the Middle East.

The AIR2WATER machine, which is still in the early stages of development, will use heat-exchange technology not found in current water-from-air devices.

The key ingredient will be so-called sorbent materials that can absorb molecules. The materials, which will be enhanced by special coatings developed by GE, will absorb hot air and turn it into water, which is a much more efficient process than, for example, how an air conditioner operates.

In their basic form, sorbent materials "adsorb" molecules, which means they attract molecules to coat their surface, compared to "absorption" in which molecules enter inside something.

GE is partnering with some of the best scientists in the field on the project, which is expected to result in a working prototype.

Omar Yaghi, a top chemist at UC Berkeley, will be in charge of developing the sorbent materials. Grant Glover, a leading scientist at South Alabama, will make models of how the reaction will work, and will model the mass transfer. And artificial intelligence experts at the University of Chicago will help with molecule screening.

"GE researchers will support these material, modeling and (artificial intelligence) developments and lead the overall system integration, including the 3D design of, and sorbent integration into, the additively manufactured heat exchanger," GE says. "GE engineers will draw from decades of experience with the development and design of heat exchangers for aerospace applications and power generation turbines."

LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Petrofac Limited (POFCF.PK, POFCY.PK, PFC.L) said Thursday it has been awarded two contracts, together worth around $300 million through Petroleum Development Oman or PDO. Petrofac noted that the first contract is a direct EPC contract for PDO's Marmul Main Production Station or MMPS - Gas Compression project. The scope of work for the 30-month, lump-sum turnkey contract includes engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, start-up and initial operational support. The facility is located at Marmul in the South of Oman, about 800 kilometres from Muscat. The second contract is a project delivery contract with Petrofac's partner and main PDO contract holder Arabian Industries Projects LLC, for selected PDO concession areas in the North of Oman. The scope of this seven-year contract is for provision of reimbursable engineering services, integrated project support and management services, and has an option to extend for three years. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Gorakhpur (UP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (February 4) launched a year-long commemoration of the centenary of the Chauri Chaura incident, an outbreak of violence that forced Mahatma Gandhi to call off his non-cooperation movement against the British.

Paying tributes to the 19 people who were sent to the gallows for burning down a police station and killing 23 policemen, PM Modi said the Chauri Chaura martyrs had not got the place in history that they deserved. He also released a postage stamp to mark the beginning of the centenary year of the incident.

In an address delivered through video conference, the Prime Minister hailed India's 'power of unity' and said this will help the country become a world power.

Live TV

On the 1922 episode, Modi said, "Whatever happened in Chauri Chaura 100 years ago was seen as a simple incident of arson at a police station." "The fire was not only at the police station but in the hearts of Indians as well," he said.

The Prime Minister did not refer to Mahatma Gandhi's decision to call off the non-cooperation movement over the violence by his followers. "Chauri Chaura was a self-motivated struggle of the common people. It is unfortunate that martyrs in this incident were not given a prominent place in the pages of history," he said, appreciating the Uttar Pradesh government's plan to commemorate it.

PM Modi said there were few instances in the history of the independence movement in which as many as 19 freedom fighters were given capital punishment for one incident. He said young people should write research papers and bring new facts to light about the incident.

The Prime Minister said the country's unity broke the barriers of slavery. "This strength will make us a world power and this is the base of 'atamanirbharta'." "We are making vaccines ourselves and supplying them to other countries. The souls of freedom fighters must be feeling proud," he said on the fight against coronavirus.

Highlighting an Uttar Pradesh initiative to provide farmers with ownership papers for their land, PM Modi said the move will help them get easy bank loans.

Ninety-nine descendants of those involved in the incident are being honoured as part of the Chauri Chaura commemoration, which began Thursday with 'prabhat pheris', or morning processions, in all Uttar Pradesh districts.

Talking about Union Budget 2021-22, the prime minister listed features in his government's recent Budget that he said will help farmers. "A lot of initiatives have also been taken to empower farmers. Over 1,000 markets were connected with farmers so that they can sell their crops anywhere. Over Rs 40,000 crore for rural infrastructure will help farmers," he said.

The Prime Minister further said that the government is also focusing on creating healthcare facilities in rural areas so that people do not have to go to cities for better treatment.

Modi said even household make their budgets on the basis of their current needs and future responsibilities, adding "But our earlier governments made budgets a medium for promises that they could not fulfill. The country has now changed that approach."

(With Agency Inputs)
Chitrali residents evacuating after a severe flash flood, a now annual occurrence in the region due to glacial melting. Credit: groundreporter/Creative Commons

A recent study examines the link between power structures and vulnerability to flash floods in Reshun. The vulnerable location of Reshun, a village in Upper Chitral District in the northwest of Pakistan, leaves it exposed to natural disaster hazards. It sits along the seismically active Hindu Kush mountain rangeand at the base of a drainage stream for the massive Chitral glaciers. While the risk of glacial flooding is regional, the vulnerabilities among Reshun's residents are far from equal, according to study authors Ishaq Khan and Inam Ullah Leghari, a graduate student and professor at the Department of Anthropology at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad.

Members of Chitral's lowest serf class, cheermuzh, have long lived in stark marginalization. Now as glacial floods in Reshun grow more frequent due to climate change, low-income residents with little access to political power are left increasingly without options. The floods disproportionately devastate cheermuzh communities, and aid has been insufficient. As Hamna Tariq, a junior fellow in the South Asia program at the Stimson Center, told GlacierHub, "They tough it out, until they cannot."

Outside the polar regions, Pakistan is one of the world's major centers of glacial ice. Over 7,000 known glaciers lie within its borders and more than 500 of these glaciers are in the remote Chitral valley. The entire area is at risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), which are outpours of meltwater caused by glacial dam failure. However, exposure to GLOFs is highly varied and determined by one's social status.

Chitral society is divided into four classesthe highest of which is "adamzade" (proper human), and the lowest of which is a serf class, cheermuzh, often referred to as "beizzat" (without respect) and "ghalamus" (slave). True to a serfdom-like system, upper classes grant land to cheermuzh to live and farm on, which they retain by providing services to their landlords. This hierarchy is not just functional, but reflective of social attitudes toward low-status residents; a Chitral resident of lordly descent opposed the construction of a water pipe in his village on the grounds that he could not drink the same water as cheermuzh.

Map of Upper Chitral District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Credit: Abdullah Ali Abbasi/Wikimedia Commons

Like the village's social organization, vulnerabilities to glacial lake outburst floods are unequal and hierarchized. Reshun's cheermuzh communities reside by a stream flowing between two mountains. Flash floods linked to heavy rains and GLOFs annually devastate these communities.

The impacts of the 2013 and 2015 flash floods, in particular, illustrate their disproportionate effect on low-status residents. Khan and Leghari found that the 2013 Reshun flood's damage was concentrated in three mostly cheermuzh hamlets Panandeh, Batikandeh, and Golguch. Only families in these hamlets lost their homes or livestock, an important food source and financial asset. There were 23 fully damaged and 16 partially damaged houses. The flooding also destroyed the hamlets' drinking water supply line and the bridges connecting them to evacuation routes.

Though these low-status residents were stranded, help didn't come for days. Aid workers were even instructed not to go into the hamlets as a precautionary measure. One resident, Ashraf Khan, told the study authors how he and his family were forced to spend one week outside, unaided and unsheltered, after their home was destroyed.

Reshun village in the upper Chitral District of Pakistan. Credit: Jawwad Chitrali/Wikimedia Commons

Two years later, the flash floods were even worse. Nearly 100 houses were fully damaged, 86 of which belonged to low-status households, including Khan's. His family was one of 30 low-status households whose homes were destroyed twice, in both 2013 and 2015. As mentioned in the study, all of these households had rebuilt their homes in the same place, as they had nowhere else to live. On the other hand, five households whose homes were destroyed in the 2013 flood and who could afford to move elsewhere were unaffected in 2015.

The 2015 flood also completely washed away the road connecting the three hamlets to the main road. "Flash flood isolated us from the rest of the world," said another resident, Sher Muhammad, who was quoted in the study. Now, not only were cheermuzh socially marginalized, but they were also physically isolated.

Muhammad is also involved in Golguch's anti-grazing movement. As glacial lake outburst floods have become more frequent, goat grazing near Reshun's nearby glaciers has become a controversial issue. According to anti-grazers, grazing intensifies flooding by breaking the soil surrounding the nearby glaciers. Khan, the graduate student who co-authored the article, wrote to GlacierHub that grazing is "mostly supported by lordly families," who are not at the highest risk of flooding, while opponents of grazing are mostly from low-status backgrounds. This divide is indicative of the class-based vulnerabilities to GLOFs and the tensions that have risen as a result.

Damaged homes in the aftermath of the 2013 Reshun floods. The floods caused two casualties and damaged 39 homes. Credit: groundreporter/Creative Commons

Reshun residents assessing damage to homes after the 2013 flood. Credit: groundreporter/Creative Commons

Without any prospect that GLOFs will subside in a warming climate, Reshun's cheermuzh residents are left without many options. Writing to GlacierHub, Hamna Tariq highlighted the need for government aid: "Granted these regions are nestled between dangerous landscapes, more can still be done like providing better warning systems, immediate flood relief aid, temporary housing, and employment opportunities."

The article's authors, Khan and Muhammad, emphasize the importance of addressing power structures in addition to the floods. They write that "the effectiveness of mitigation and relief programs for such communities can only be achieved if the political structure of the past and its perpetual effect could be understood."

As the study illustrates, Reshun residents like Ashraf Khan and Sher Muhammad face the severe dangers of glacial flooding due to no fault of their own, but as a result of their socioeconomic marginalization. The paper's conclusions affirm the need not only to address GLOF-related impacts, but also the class inequities that create these unequal vulnerabilities. Failing to address this two-fold crisis is to fail these residents and all others at the frontlines of climate change.

Explore further The consequences of glacier shrinkage

More information: Political / Power Structure and Vulnerability to Natural Disaster in North Western Pakistan. Research Journal of Social Sciences and Economics Review (RJSSER). DOI: Political / Power Structure and Vulnerability to Natural Disaster in North Western Pakistan.). DOI: doi.org/10.36902/rjsser-vol1-iss4-2020(185-193

This story is republished courtesy of Earth Institute, Columbia University http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu.

DUBLIN, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Quantum Health, the category leader in consumer healthcare navigation and care coordination, announced today that it received record-high Net Promoter Scores (NPS) last year from its 1.7 million members.

In a challenging pandemic year, Quantum Health's member NPS netted out at 77, the highest annual score in the company's 20-plus year history. And during the difficult initial phases of the pandemic, the company's scores exceeded 78 every month from April through July, reaching an astounding 81 in June and July.

"The past year has decisively reinforced the value of the guidance we provide to our members," said Steven Knight, chief operating officer for Quantum Health. "Despite the challenges COVID-19 has brought to healthcare delivery, we have remained laser focused on making sure our members get the care and assistance they need. We are honored to support them, and between our high Net Promoter Scores and the hundreds of thank-you notes and calls we regularly receive, we know we are making a difference."

Guiding members to the care and services they need and helping them early in the healthcare process delivers several clear advantages. In addition to making the overall healthcare experience easier and less confusing, Quantum Health ensures members use the right services at the right time, leading to improved outcomes and avoiding excessive costs.

This model in turn provides parallel advantages for employers and healthcare providers, including optimized benefit use, streamlined processes, better outcomes and reduced costs. It is not surprising, then, that Quantum Health also leads the healthcare navigation industry in client and provider NPS scores. In fact, Quantum Health remains the only company in the industry that consistently measures results for all three stakeholder groups: members, clients and providers.

NPS scores are the gold standard for measuring customer satisfaction across all industries. Leading companies use the NPS system to consistently deliver superior customer experiences and to fuel their innovation and continuously improve their processes and services. Quantum Health's Net Promoter Score rivals those of some of the world's best-regarded brands and is well above the healthcare industry's average of between 5 and 15.

Quantum Health's consistently high scores reinforce the company's commitment to creating a positive customer experience. Further evidence of this is Quantum Health's recent recognition as a 2021 Silver Stevie Award winner for Sales & Customer Service, and recognition as Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year from the Stevie Awards.

"Quantum Health's NPS scores have increased every year since 2015, because caring for our members is the very heart of what we do, and we are purpose-built to ensure their continual satisfaction and positive results," said Knight. "We are committed to the goal that our members, clients and providers all receive a superior experience, and we are proud and grateful to count ourselves among the top consumer-centric companies in the world."

To learn more about Quantum Health, visit www.Quantum-Health.com.

About Quantum Health

Quantum Health is the industry-leading consumer healthcare navigation and care coordination company that delivers an unparalleled consumer experience to its members, as well as validated claims savings and high satisfaction rates for its self-insured employer clients. Quantum Health's proprietary Real-Time Intercept model identifies opportunities for early intervention in a member's healthcare journey, resulting in better engagement, outcomes and cost efficiencies.

The company was founded in 1999 and is based in Dublin, Ohio. Since its inception, Quantum Health has earned numerous awards and honors, including being named among the Fastest-Growing Private Companies by Inc. 5000, and a Great Place to Work by FORTUNE Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine. The Women Presidents' Organization has ranked Quantum Health as one of the 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies, and Columbus Business First has honored Quantum Health as a Best Place to Work.

To learn more about the company, visit www.Quantum-Health.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contact:

Susan Simkins

Quantum Health Corporate Communications

[email protected]

800-257-2038 x 13494

SOURCE Quantum Health

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Australias office vacancy rate has hit its highest level in more than 20 years, increasing over the past six months to 11.7 per cent  a mark not reached since January 1997.

The Property Council of Australias office market report for 2021, to be released on Thursday, shows vacancy rates in Melbourne increased from 5.8 per cent to 8.2 per cent in the past six months, as a raft of new office towers were completed.

Melbournes CBD office vacancy rates have hit 8.2 per cent. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Office vacancy rates in Sydney increased from 5.6 per cent to 8.6 per cent, while Perth and Darwins central business districts had the nations highest vacancy rates of 20 per cent in January.

The Property Council said office vacancies are calculated according to whether a lease is in place, not whether an office towers tenants are working from home or generally occupying the space.
CONCORD, N.H. - Politically active pets are out of luck in New Hampshire, where some lawmakers say they have been told to keep their cats and dogs out of the room when they log on for remote hearings.

In this Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2020, image, members of New Hampshire's House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee participate in a livestream video meeting. After her cat, Yoshi, showed up on screen, at left on second row from the top, Rep. Anita Burroughs, a Democrat from Glen, said she was told lawmakers are no longer allowed to have pets in the room during such meetings. (State of New Hampshire via AP)

CONCORD, N.H. - Politically active pets are out of luck in New Hampshire, where some lawmakers say they have been told to keep their cats and dogs out of the room when they log on for remote hearings.

Rep. Anita Burroughs, a Democrat from Glen, said her cats, Yoshi and Jack, have made appearances during several recent House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee hearings  including Wednesday, when Yoshis fluffy black-and-white face partially obscured her own as he moved in for some attention. No one objected at the time, but a colleague later passed along a message from the committee chair, Republican Rep. John Hunt of Rindge.

The chair talked to her and said no animals in the room, Burroughs said. I can try to keep the cats off the screen. Keeping them out of the room is going to be impossible.

Hunt, however, denied issuing a ban.

I simply asked the ranking Democrat: Do we really want to have cats parading in front of the legislator's computer? Let alone stopping and getting petted so that someone may assume the cat is sitting in for the legislator? he said in an email Thursday night.

Burroughs said at least one other lawmakers cat attended the hearing, and anothers dog barked briefly in the background. Lawmakers children also have popped up, she said.

Thats part of the life were living right now, and pets are part of it, too, she said. For me personally, its just calming having my animals sit next to me so I can pet them, and it doesnt distract me in any way. Im fully attentive to whats going on.

Lawmakers have been conducting much of their business remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic. The House speakers office did not respond to a request for comment on whether other committees have prohibited pets.
Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was sentenced to 12 months probation and 400 hours of community service on Friday after pleading guilty to altering an email used to obtain a surveillance warrant on Trump campaign aide Carter Page during the 2016 Russia investigation.

Why it matters: Clinesmith is thus far the only person to be convicted in special counsel John Durham investigation's into the origins of the Russia probe, which has been ongoing since May 2019.

The Justice Department wanted six months in prison for Clinesmith, but his attorneys successfully argued that probation would be more appropriate, the Washington Post notes.

The Durham investigation also revealed anti-Trump messages from Clinesmith that resulted in a two-week suspension. He apologized for altering the email in Page's surveillance warrant and said he was "truly ashamed."

The big picture: Former President Trump and his allies have long claimed that the Durham investigation would result in high-profile indictments of Obama-era intelligence officials, who they allege orchestrated the Russia "collusion" narrative to take down Trump.
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By Hazel L. Richards, PhD candidate, Monash University

Imagine going through life with your arms permanently bent and locked at the elbows. Awkward, right?

Until recently we thought the mega-marsupial Palorchestes azael lived exactly like this. This rare, distant relative of the wombat became extinct (along with much of Australias megafauna) about 40,000 years ago.

But our research, published today in the Journal of Anatomy, shows Palorchestes could in fact move its elbows  but only a very tiny amount compared to other mammals.

Thus, we think this enigmatic creature would have had a highly unusual gait, which may provide a clue to why it went extinct.





Read more:

Meet the giant wombat relative that scratched out a living in Australia 25 million years ago





A strange setup

The humble elbow has been around since the ancestors of all four-limbed animals first hauled themselves out of the water and onto land.

For most mammals, the elbow is a hinge-like joint that connects the humerus (which runs from shoulder to elbow) with the ulna and radius (which run from elbow to wrist).

The elbow allows the bending and straightening of the arm and is essential for four-legged walking. In the wild its also useful for tasks such as feeding, fighting, climbing and grooming.

But Palorchestes seemingly gave much of that up. Unlike other large mammals alive or extinct, it kept its arms in a perpetual push-up position.

So what would moving around have looked like for Palorchestes? And why might it have evolved such a narrow range of elbow motion in the first place?

Peculiar Palorchestes

Palorchestes was an unusual-looking marsupial. With a slender jaw indicating a long tongue and tiny nasal bones retracted high up in a narrow skull, some palaeontologists have suggested it had a tapir-like trunk (although others think this is unlikely).

Fossils of Palorchestess robust bones show evidence of heavily muscled forelimbs with huge, sharp claws suited for clinging and tearing. And we recently found it may have grown to weigh more than a tonne.



https://images.theconversation.com/files/378192/original/file-20210112-2... 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378192/original/file-20210112-2... 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378192/original/file-20210112-2... 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378192/original/file-20210112-2... 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378192/original/file-20210112-2... 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">





Hazel Richards





Still, for us the most interesting aspect of Palorchestes is its flattened elbow joint surfaces, which seem to indicate its elbows stayed bent at around a 100 angle.

We scanned the fossilised arm bones of Palorchestes and created computer simulations to model the full range of movements possible at its arm joint.



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Wikimedia Commons





Our results indicate Palorchestes could move its elbows, but only in an off-axis motion that was tiny compared to other clawed mammals with chunky limbs such as wombats, pangolins, aardvarks and bears. Even its closest extinct megafaunal relatives had vastly more elbow function.

This suggests none of these creatures are good templates for understanding how Palorchestes moved.

By adding sliding movement as well as rotations, we used our 3D simulations to calculate the average motion in Palorchestes, from fully flexed to fully extended elbow poses. We found the axis of this small movement was skewed, like a wonky hinge.

The interactive below shows the maximum elbow motion that would have been theoretically possible for Palorchestes azael.

This skew means Palorchestes probably held its arms sprawled out from its body, allowing what little elbow mobility was possible to contribute to each stride while walking.



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Arms akimbo make for awkward walking

Our findings suggest Palorchestes would have trundled along on crouched forelimbs, with its elbows sprawled out to the sides  a highly inefficient gait compared with the pillar-like limbs and tucked-in elbows of its relatives and large mammals alive today.

We think this posture was a compromise which let it use its strong arms and giant claws to access food in a specialised way, which was probably unique even back then.

While exact details remain a mystery, it could be that Palorchestes clung to tree trunks and hauled itself up onto its back legs to reach higher foliage with its long tongue.



https://images.theconversation.com/files/378210/original/file-20210112-1... 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378210/original/file-20210112-1... 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378210/original/file-20210112-1... 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378210/original/file-20210112-1... 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378210/original/file-20210112-1... 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">





Peter Schouten





Or it might have used its huge, bulky body to push over tree ferns to access the young nutritious fronds higher up.

Whatever it did, Palorchestes was evidently pretty successful. While its fossils are rare, theyre widely distributed right across eastern Australia.

The specialisation trap

The fossils of Palorchestes tell us it was a specialist, highly adapted to a forest landscape.

Large animals have large appetites to match, but Palorchestess inefficient walk probably limited its ability to roam widely in search of food.

This would be no problem in times of plenty. But when shifts in Australias climate caused sweeping environmental changes across the eastern half of the continent, large specialised megafauna such as Palorchestes were especially vulnerable.

Even small changes in the vegetation mix would have made it difficult to find enough food.



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Wikimedia Commons





So an adaptation that can be a recipe for success in one environment can lead to a species demise in a changing world.

And while theres nothing like Palorchestes alive today, many unique species now face the same fate due to drastic changes in their habitats.





Read more:

Did people or climate kill off the megafauna? Actually, it was both





Hazel L Richards is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program scholarship and a Monash-Museums Victoria PhD top-up scholarship.

Alistair Evans receives funding from Australian Research Council, and is an Honorary Research Affiliate at Museums Victoria.

Justin W. Adams receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is a Research Associate with the Palaeo-Research Institute at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Peter Bishop receives funding from Harvard University and is an Honorary Researcher in the Geosciences Program of the Queensland Museum.

David Hocking 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.

Originally published in The Conversation.

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WASHINGTON - Shortly after his brother won the presidency, Frank Biden, who works for a Florida law firm called Berman Law Group, spoke to a local television station about his tight connection with Joe Biden.

"We've all always been close," Frank Biden told WPBF, saying he'd talked to the president-elect just the day before, for his birthday. "But we're closer now."

Viewers could hardly miss Frank Biden's employer, since he was wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with a "TBT" logo, his firm's shorthand for "The Berman Team." And in Frank's case, the shirt also spelled out another meaning for TBT: "The Biden Team."

As President Joe Biden enters his third week in office, the firm where his brother is a "non-attorney senior adviser" has aggressively touted its ties to power - emphasizing the brothers' connection, declaring that their values are aligned, highlighting Biden's policies as it advertises its services, and generally playing up Frank Biden's role even on cases where he is not involved.

The White House, which boasts of its strict ethics policy, has yet to publicly issue rules for Biden's family members, even though his relatives' business dealings have created problems for him before. A White House official said a process is in place, involving the counsel's office and representatives of the family, to address potential conflicts of interest as they arise. But the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that has not yet been announced, declined to provide details.

As Biden seeks to break dramatically from the mingling of family and government that characterized Donald Trump's presidency, Frank Biden's activities could muddy the message. At issue is his work at the small Boca Raton-based firm, which long focused on personal injury cases but in recent years has sought to expand its horizons and play on a bigger field, in part by hiring Frank Biden in 2018.

After Joe Biden's inauguration in January, Berman Law Group moved swiftly to capitalize on his immigration policy shifts. In a social media post, it highlighted the president's halt to deportations while pitching a "free consultation" to anyone seeking its services. The firm deleted those posts Sunday, hours after a reporter from The Washington Post inquired about them.

In a newspaper ad that ran on Inauguration Day, Berman Law Group boasted about a class-action lawsuit it had filed against sugar cane growers, stressing that the case came "against the backdrop of incoming President Joseph Biden Jr.'s commitment to environmental and social justice, a value shared by his brother and Berman Law Group senior adviser, Frank Biden."

Several months earlier, as Biden was locking up the Democratic nomination, the firm filed two class-action lawsuits against China for its role in the coronavirus pandemic - in both cases, noting Frank Biden's role at the firm when announcing the suits, though a partner said he was not involved in them.

In what one of the partners described to Newsmax as "a multitrillion-dollar lawsuit," the firm demanded to know whether the virus a Chinese weapons lab created the virus. The suit faces long odds, legal experts say, but it has significantly raised the firm's profile.

Frank Biden did not respond to an email seeking comment.

A White House spokesman said President Biden is committed to ethical behavior by his family as well as his staff.

"President Biden has set and maintained the highest ethical standards for himself, his administration, and those around him, and he has pledged an 'absolute wall' with any family member's private business interests," said the spokesman, Michael Gwin. "Any implication to the contrary is flatly untrue and unsupported by the facts."

Gwin added that Frank Biden has not consulted with his brother on any business matter, and that no one from Berman Law Group has contacted the Biden team in regard to its legal activities.

Matthew Moore, a partner with Berman Law Group, agreed. "We have not spoken with Federal Government officials about any of our cases," Moore said in an email. "There have been no discussions between the firm (including Frank Biden) with President Biden, the campaign, transition, or administration about the law firm or any cases, including China related matters, nor will there be."

When it hired Frank Biden in 2018, the firm cited his experience in business and government as a boon for its clients. It recounted his work with nonprofit organizations as well as his stint as a legislative liaison in U.S. Government Printing Office under President Bill Clinton, and it noted his work on Joe Biden's campaigns.

"Joe Biden's brother joins The Berman Law Group," said one statement posted by the firm on Instagram at the time, using the original styling of the firm's name. In a March 2019 advertising section in the Boca Raton Observer, also posted to the firm's Instagram account,it said Frank Biden would offer clients "an unrivaled personal network of contacts."

During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden was forced to answer questions about his son Hunter's tenure on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, at the same time Biden himself was serving as the Obama administration's point man on Ukraine.

Separately, Hunter Biden is now facing a federal investigation over taxes paid on a business venture in China. He has said that he handled his taxes "legally and appropriately."

Biden has promised that family conflicts of interest will not be tolerated. "My son, my family, will not be involved in any business, any enterprise, that is in conflict with or appears to be in conflict," he told CNN in December.

Administration officials plan to follow up on the president's words with procedures that would prevent even the appearance of conflicts of interest, a Biden official told The Washington Post last month. But no such policy has yet been announced, and it's unclear how it would be enforced.

And it is unclear how such a policy might apply to issues such as the China lawsuits pursued by Frank Biden's firm, which could put him at odds with administration policy or complicate diplomatic relations with the superpower.

Joe Biden, 78, is the oldest of four siblings. They include Valerie Biden Owens, 75, his sister and longtime political adviser; James Biden, 71; and Francis Biden, who goes by Frank, 67.

Frank Biden has invoked his famous last name in the past - for example, when he was working to help a for-profit company open charter schools in Florida. At the time, he denied using his brother's name to advance his business endeavors.

"I never invoke his name other than to tell people I am his younger brother and I love him," he told The Washington Post in December 2011.

Frank Biden was hired by Berman Law Group as an adviser about nine months before his brother entered the Democratic presidential primary. At the time, the firm was seeking to expand beyond its traditional focus on personal injury suits to offer a wider range of services including, as the firm put it, "high-profile government relations consulting" led by Biden.

A prime example was the firm's launch last year of the lawsuits against China. It was not alone; at least a dozen law firms - and two states - have attempted to sue China on behalf of covid-19 patients.

Frank Biden was not involved in the China cases, Moore said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post, although Berman Law Group highlighted his role at the firm in material promoting both lawsuits.

The China lawsuits are unusual because congressional action - and the president's signature - are usually required for such cases to move forward, according to two experts in sovereign immunity, which means the issue could land on President Biden's desk.

The White House declined to say whether it supports covid-related suits against China. A spokeswoman from the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not reply to an email seeking comment.

The two suits were filed as Joe Biden was locking up the Democratic nomination in early 2020. The first - which holds China broadly responsible for the pandemic - does not specify the damages it is seeking. But Jeremy Alters, the firm's chief strategist, told Newsmax they could amount to "trillions" of dollars, and said to Fox News they could come to "tens of trillions of dollars."

The second lawsuit accuses the Chinese government of "hoarding, stockpiling and intentionally cornering the market on PPE," or personal protective equipment.

Experts said the bar is high for the covid-19 litigation to move forward, but it has already raised Berman Law Group's profile and the firm has been featured in national outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Bloomberg News and the news site Cheddar.

"The law group is backed by some big names, including Frank Biden, Joe Biden's brother," a Cheddar presenter said in introducing a segment on the lawsuit. During the interview, Alters - who spoke from an office featuring a blue surfboard - said that "the government would be helpful, but not necessary" for allowing the plaintiffs to seize Chinese assets in the United States.

Frank Biden drew fresh scrutiny last week after Berman Law Group ran an "advertorial" in a South Florida business newspaper, highlighting his role with the firm and his connection to his brother. The firm's lawsuit against sugar cane growers and President Biden's support for the Paris climate accords both stemmed from the brothers' environmental values, the ad said.

Berman Law Group is based in a one-story pale yellow building with a cherry-red roof not far from the ocean. The firm's online material suggests camaraderie, including a photo of 11 women standing shoulder to shoulder in front of the building last November with the caption "Paralegal Power."

The firm was founded by twin brothers Theodore and Russell Berman, and social media posts include frequent testimonials from clients who have been in car accidents. The Berman brothers referred questions to Moore.

In July 2018, when the firm hired Frank Biden, it also added former Florida state senator Joseph Abruzzo. The two hires were depicted as part of the firm's move beyond personal injury work into more sophisticated areas.

"Bringing on Frank Biden and Joe Abruzzo is consistent with our vision and passion for helping our clients in Florida and throughout the country," the firm said in an ad.

The firm said that Frank Biden, in addition to his "unrivaled personal network of contacts," offered clients "the benefits of more than 40 years of service in Washington" and "a deep understanding of federal, state and municipal governments."

- - -

The Washington Post's Alice Crites contributed to this report.
En el Dia Mundial contra el Cancer, el presidente Francisco Sagasti y la ministra Pilar Mazzetti participaron en la inauguracion del Centro de Atencion Ambulatoria de Cancer del @NeoplasicasPeru, en beneficio de mas de 60 000 pacientes con enfermedades oncologicas del pais. pic.twitter.com/DgRMSwfipd
India has reached a total of 1,07,90,183 cases of coronavirus, with 12,899 fresh cases reported in a span of 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Thursday.

The country has recorded 17,824 discharges and 107 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total discharges and death toll to 1,04,80,455 and 1,54,703.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

The national coronavirus recovery rate is now at 97.13%, while the Covid-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.43%.

The total number of active coronavirus cases stands at 1,55,025, which comprise 1.44% of the total caseload, as per the Union Health Ministry.

As many as 44,49,552 people have been administered the vaccine against the novel coronavirus so far, the Health Ministry data showed.

Meanwhile, a total of 19,92,16,019 samples have been tested for Covid-19 up to 3 February. Of these, 7,42,841 samples were tested on Wednesday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine shows a hint that it may reduce transmission of Covid-19 and offers strong protection for three months on just a single dose.

The preliminary findings from Oxford University, a co-developer of the vaccine, could vindicate the British governments controversial strategy of delaying the second shot for up to 12 weeks so that more people can be quickly given the first dose. Up to now, the recommended time between doses has been four weeks.

The research could also bring scientists closer to an answer to one of the big questions about the vaccination drive: Will the vaccines actually curb the spread of the coronavirus?

It's not clear what implications if any, the findings might have for the two other major vaccines being used in the West, Pfizer's and Moderna's.

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Citing links to the Chinese Communist Party, Britan revoked Chinas state TV channel of its license to broadcast Thursday.



Ofcom, a British communications regulator, said it yanked the license of China Global Television Network (CGTN), which broadcasts internationally in English, saying the channel violated rules on fairness and accuracy.



Specifically, Ofcom said people had filed complaints against the channel saying it had aired forced confessions. One complaint was from a former British Consulate employee in Hong Kong who said he was arrested and tortured while being interrogated by Chinese police seeking information on recent Hong Kong protests. Another was from a British corporate investigator who claimed he was forced to confess while being held in China.



There were also questions about corporate structure.



Ofcom said the licensee, Star China Media Limited, did not have editorial control over the channel, which is a requirement under British law. Instead, Star China served merely as a distributor.



Ofcom added a plan to transfer the license to China Global Television Network Corporation was rejected because the application was missing crucial information. Furthermore, the body said CGNTC could not hold a license because it is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.



According to the Associated Press, Ofcom says it gave CGTN time to comply, but that those efforts were exhausted. CGTN has not commented on the revocation.



"Following careful consideration, taking account of all the facts and the broadcaster's and audience's rights to freedom of expression, we have decided it is appropriate to revoke the license for CGTN to broadcast in the U.K.," Ofcom said, according to the Associated Press.



Launched in 2016, CGTN claims to provide "global audiences with accurate and timely news coverage as well as rich audiovisual services, promoting communication and understanding between China and the world, and enhancing cultural exchanges and mutual trust between China and other countries."
Medical Legal Community Partnership- Los Angeles Improves Well-Being of Vulnerable Patients During the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond

Judy Balch had come to the Wilmington Health Center for a medical appointment when she told a social worker that she was worried about being evicted from her apartment. The social worker referred her to Melody Osuna, an attorney assigned to help patients with legal issues.

Osuna, who works for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, helped Balch complete and submit the necessary documents to fight the eviction in court. Had we not done this, she would have defaulted on her eviction case and lost her housing, Osuna said.

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Balch, 72, knew she needed to file an answer in the case but said she has both physical and mental health issues and just couldnt make it down to the courthouse. It was a miracle for me because I was incapable of coping with the situation on my own, she said. It completely relieved the stress I was under.

Osuna is part of the Medical Legal Community Partnership-Los Angeles, a collaboration between the L.A. County Department of Health Services and nonprofit legal services organizations. The attorneys provide free legal help to patients, addressing barriers to food, housing, benefits and employment  all of which threaten their wellbeing.

The program is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many people are dealing with job losses, inability to pay rent or cut-off benefits. There are more legal issues due to COVID-19, said Eve Rubell, who manages the program for the health services department. And even after the crisis passes, there may be an increase in homelessness, joblessness and domestic violence. The attorneys are prepared to help.

The UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute recently released a policy brief about the program that found embedding the lawyers in clinics helps build patients trust in both in the health care and legal systems. In addition to providing direct legal assistance to patients, the attorneys become part of the health care team and train clinic staff about housing protections, benefits advocacy and other legal issues.

People dont always think about the legal needs of vulnerable populations and how not being able to address those legal needs leads to the deterioration of their health, said Francesca Cameron, a UCLA research and evaluation program manager and one of the authors of the policy brief. The program is really innovative in its approach.

The authors also made several recommendations, including that health insurers and the state Medi-Cal program should provide long-term funding for programs like Los Angeles Countys Medical Legal Community Partnership. It is currently being funded by the Whole Person Care program. Legal services are unattainable for many, Cameron said. These programs are really essential, and they cant continue without sustainable funding.

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Los Angeles Countys program started in 2018 and at the time, was only at one health clinic. Now it is available to all patients at the Department of Health Services and to all participants in the Whole Person Care program, which serves complex Medi-Cal patients. In the program, the county partners with Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, the lead agency, as well as Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Mental Health Advocacy Services and Bet Tzedek.

During the pandemic, the services are being offered telephonically. Referrals are made from clinic staff and from community health workers throughout the county. Between March 2018 and August 2020, the program served more than 2,700 patients. Of the patients helped, 44 percent were Latinx and 31 percent were African-American.

In Judy Balchs eviction case, she said she cant imagine moving and would have nowhere to go. Osuna said the landlord shouldnt be trying to evict a 72-year-old with disabilities in the middle of the pandemic. She is glad she was able to connect with Balch through the health clinic.

Judy was able to go to the doctor for a health issue, a very basic need, and get access to an attorney to address another basic need, housing, that ultimately affects her health in the long run, Osuna said.

Anna Gorman is the Director of Community Partnerships and Programs at the L.A. County Department of Health Services. She helps oversee L.A. Countys Medical Legal Community Partnership.
You wont find many grape growers wholl say that climate change is a hoax: the evidence is pretty strong that its real and a serious challenge for people trying to make fine wine.

Growers see it daily in the vine rows.

But it is far too simplistic to simply say the wine industry is in dire straits because of it. Ive seen far too many stories about how climate change will ruin fine wine, complete with industry leaders angst and few real-world solutions.

And sure, warming trends will make it harder to make white wines in traditional styles, and sure, and many reds may be pushed closer to Port. In such forecasting stories, its hard to use journalistic reportage because much of whats ahead of us is speculation.

Im usually more realistic than Pollyanna-ish, but I believe climate change wont cause major headaches for fine wine, at least for several decades, because creative people now are finding solutions both for the short and long-term that will keep Northern Californias wine industry as dynamic as it has been. Little of this has been reported.
Atlanta Olympic gold medalist, Dosu Joseph, has warned the Super Eagles technical adviser, Gernot Rohr, to be wary of the threat the Squirrels of Benin will pose ahead of next month 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, saying Nigeria can't afford to miss out on the bi-annual tournament with the caliber of players at his disposal.

The three-time AFCON champions are top of group L on 8 points after overcoming Benin 2-1, Lesotho 4-2, and drawing Sierra Leone in two-legged fixtures.

Nigeria are just one point ahead of second-place Benin, who are on seven points and will host Rohr's tutored side on March 22, in a make or mar encounter.

Dosu, who spoke to completesports.com, urged the German tactician to select the right players capable of defeating Benin in Porto-Novo.

"We've found ourselves in a situation where we have to avoid a defeat if the team must qualify for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. Prior to this game, the Super Eagles could have wrapped up qualification for the tournament after leading 4-0 at half-time against Sierra Leone, only to allow the Leone Stars to stage a comeback.

"I am sure that the lessons have been learnt and there is a need for the team to beat Benin to avoid any mathematical chances. Yes, a draw is enough but a victory will only confirm qualification. To achieve this, the technical adviser, Gernot Rohr must select the right players capable of getting the job done."
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Government is set to procure 18 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to cater for nine million Ugandans with each person taking two jabs.

Ministry of Health together with the National Medical Stores (NMS) have ordered 18 million doses of Astra Zeneca from Serum Institute of India.

These vaccines cater for persons aged 50 or above, those with underlying health conditions, health workers, security personnel and teachers, among other essential social service providers.

"Each eligible individual will receive two doses separated by 28 days. The order placed will only be confirmed upon remission of $5m as down payment," Mr Dennis Katungi, the communication and media relations manager at the Uganda Media Centre, said yesterday.

Each dose will cost government $7 (about Shs25,000) which translates into $14 (about Shs51,000) per person.

However, with international transportation and handling by NMS, which cost $3, the total cost for vaccine regimen will be $17 (about Shs62,000).

Dr Monica Musenero, the senior presidential adviser on epidemics, yesterday said the Serum Institute of India is manufacturing the vaccine on behalf of AstraZeneca.

Earlier last week, Ministry of Health informed Cabinet that a vaccine request for nine million people costing $164m (Shs601b) had been submitted and that all requirements for receiving the vaccine were fulfilled.

The vaccines are expected in the country by April or May this year.

According to the Economic Times website, an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper, last updated on January 26, the Serum Institute of India (SII) will supply Saudi Arabia with three million AstraZeneca doses priced at $5.25 each.

The website further states that SII is also supplying South Africa with 1.5 million doses at the same price of $5.25 (about Shs19,246) each on behalf of AstraZeneca.

Brazil received two million doses of the vaccine from SII and Mr Adar Poonawalla, the chief executive SII, said it also paid about $5 per dose, according to the website.

Asked why Uganda is procuring the vaccine dose at $7 compared with the $5 for other countries, Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Ministry of Health spokesperson, referred us to the Permanent secretary and director general of health services.

However, the officials did not answer our repeated calls. Other officials at the Ministry asked the public to wait for the President's address.

Earlier reports indicated that the AstraZeneca vaccine would cost $3 to $4 per shot and $6 to 8 per dose on the private market.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX) managed by Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), has communicated to government a tentative allocation of at least 3 million doses of Astra Zeneca vaccine by end of February or beginning of March this year.

"The indicative doses are expected to be available to Uganda on quarterly basis, 35 to 40 per cent available in quarter one and 60- 65 per cent in quarter two," the statement on Cabinet resolutions reads in part.

Mr Katungi who presented Cabinet decisions on behalf of Mr Ofwono Opondo, the executive director of Uganda Media Centre, said there is also an emerging opportunity for acquiring vaccines through African Union mechanism coordinated by African Vaccines Delivery Alliance.

The decision by Cabinet comes at a time when there is a growing interest from private sector to participate in the Covid-19 vaccination efforts.

As per Cabinet decisions, private sector participation will be guided by the national task force and Ministry of health has developed a draft concept note to that effect.

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Currently, the country is in stage four of the pandemic characterised by community-wide spread.

While paying tribute to fallen Second Deputy Prime Minister Kirunda Kivenjinja and Kyotera District Woman MP Robinah Ssentongo who both succumbed to Covid-19 last year, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Ms Betty Aol Ochan said many people are dying because they can't afford Covid-19 testing fees.

Ms Violet Akurut, the Katakwi Women MP, said: "The death of legislators was supposed to be an eye opener but it seems we learnt nothing. Government should come out and tell us how prepared we are for this pandemic. Some of us are privileged to take free tests, but how many Ugandans can afford the test?"

The State Minister of Environment, Ms Betarice Atim Anywar, appealed to government to equip health centres with more intensive care unit beds.
An Iranian diplomat who plotted a bomb attack at a Paris conference attended by five British MPs and Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been jailed for 20 years.

A judge in Antwerp today rejected Assadollah Assadi's invocation of diplomatic immunity to the fury of the Islamic Republic, who called his conviction 'illegal.'

Assadi, 48, smuggled a bomb made from 'Mother of Satan' explosives on a commercial flight from Tehran in his diplomatic bag - exempt from security checks.

The bag was destined for a conference for Iranian exiles outside Paris in June 2018.

Guests included British MPs Bob Blackman, Matthew Offord, Sir David Amess, Theresa Villiers and Roger Godsiff; the former mayor of New York, Giuliani; and ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Assadi handed the bag of TATP - the same explosives as were used in the Manchester Arena attack - to accomplices who were stopped in Belgium.

Assasollah Assadi, pictured, was jailed for 20 years today after masterminding a plot to launch a bomb attack against an Iranian opposition conference in France in 2018

Theresa Villiers MP speaks from the British delegation, flanked by Bob Blackman MP (left) and Roger Godsiff MP (right), at the Iranian opposition rally in Paris on June 30, 2018

Three of his co-conspirators, dual national Iranian-Belgians, were also jailed today for between 15 and 18 years and stripped of their Belgian citizenship.

Prosecutor Georges-Henri Beauthier said that the attack 'could have been carnage' had it not been intercepted in time.

'The ruling shows two things: A diplomat doesn't have immunity for criminal acts ... and the responsibility of the Iranian state in what could have been carnage,' he said.

He had argued for the maximum prison sentence of 20 years on charges of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist group.

Assadi refused to testify during his trial last year, invoking his diplomatic status, and did not attend today's hearing at an Antwerp courthouse.

Labour MP Roger Godsiff was part of the British delegation at the conference

A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Affairs Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, condemned the court decisions and said Iran did not recognise the sentence because it considers the Belgian proceedings against Assadi to have been illegal.

The court in Antwerp rejected Assadi's claims of individual immunity and said the case did not violate state immunity principles since neither Iran nor an Iranian security service stood trial.

In its ruling, it made clear Iran was not on trial, but insisted the quartet of defendants were members of a cell operating for Iran's intelligence services gathering information about the opposition group to identify targets and set up an attack.

The plot was foiled when Belgian police were tipped off about a car being driven by Nassimeh Naami, 36, and Amir Saadouni, 40, the couple recruited by Assadi.

Inside their luggage police discovered a pound of TATP explosives along with a detonator.

Investigators said the device was of professional quality and could have caused a large explosion among the 25,000 gathered at the conference in Paris.

Assadi had offloaded the bomb to the couple at a Pizza Hut restaurant in Luxembourg.

The couple were arrested and Assadi was later stopped in Germany where he was not protected by diplomatic immunity.

Saadouni was today jailed for 15 years while Naami received an 18-year prison term.

A fourth defendant, Mehrdad Arefani, an Iranian poet who has lived in Belgium for half a decade, was also sentenced to 17 years in prison.

BRITISH DELEGATES: Tory MPs Matthew Offord (left) and Sir David Amess

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's lawyer and the former mayor of New York City, speaks at the same rally in France in 2018

Theresa Villiers MP speaks as the British delegation appear on stage during the Conference In Support Of Freedom and Democracy In Iran on June 30, 2018 in Paris, France. The speakers declared their support for the Iranian peoples uprising and the democratic alternative, the National Council of Resistance of Iran and called on the international community to adopt a firm policy against the regime and stand by the people of Iran

Evidence from Belgian intelligence identified Assadi as an officer of Iran's intelligence and security ministry who worked under cover at Iran's embassy in Vienna.

Belgium's state security officers said he worked for the ministry's so-called Department 312, the directorate for internal security, which is on the EU's list of terrorist organisations.

Prosecutors said he was the 'operational commander' of the attack and accused him of recruiting the couple to get information about the opposition.

Lawyers for the MEK claimed during the trial, without offering evidence, that the diplomat set up the attack on direct orders from top Iranian authorities.

Tehran has denied having a hand in the plot, but Assadi's conviction could embarrass Iran as the new US administration weighs up whether to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Iran says it expects Washington to lift economic sanctions that Donald Trump imposed on the country after pulling America out of the deal in 2018.

The European Union centred its reaction on Assadi specifically and did not draw in Iran as a nation.

'The acts committed by this person are completely unacceptable. That's a fact. The other aspect I can add is that the person in question is already on the EU counter-terrorism list,' said EU spokesman Peter Stano.

The Belgian government said the ruling stood on its own, separated from diplomacy and international relations.

'What matters is that today the justice system has ruled on facts of terrorism and made a clear statement about it. And it must be able to do that in complete independence. Otherwise, we no longer live in a constitutional state,' said Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne.

TARGETED: Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, waves to well-wishers in Villepinte, north of Paris, at the annual conference in 2014

Thousands of exiled Iranians gathered in Villepinte, north of Paris, to listen to the speech of Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in June, 2014

Top MEK figure Maryam Rajavi said today: 'For years, the regime's apologists promoted the illusion that it is only a rogue faction that carries out the terrorist plots.

'But 2.5 years of investigations has now confirmed that the entire clerical regime has been involved in terrorism.'

'The time has come for the European Union to take action,' she said, urging EU countries to recall their ambassadors from Tehran in light of the ruling.

Rajavi is the president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran which is a part of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), an exiled Iranian opposition group largely based in Albania and Paris.

It was formed in 1965 by college students who embraced both Marxism and Islamic governance while seeking to overthrow the ruling shah.

They've been blamed for killing Americans in the 1970s and later assassinations and bombings, attacks in which the group now denies being involved.

They were pushed out of Iran in the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, then joined Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in battling Iran, becoming incredibly unpopular in their country.

The group has sought to rehabilitate its image in recent years, paying tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees to American politicians.

The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001.

Bridgewater State University has named the following area residents to its deans list for the fall 2020 semester: Kat Hoffstedt of Lanesborough; Karla Calvo of Lenox; Michaela Loring of New Marlborough; and John Capeless, Molly Conroy, Zachary Gage, and Adlai Greene, all of Pittsfield. Deans list requires a 3.3 grade point average for the semester.

Jonathan Rooney of Chester has been named to the fall 2020 deans list at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo. Rooneys major is adventure education. Deans list requires a semester GPA of 3.6 or better.

Lanesborough resident Destiny Anne Charron has been named to the fall 2020 deans list at Husson University in Bangor, Maine. Deans list requires a GPA of 3.60 to 3.79. Charron, a first-year student, is enrolled in the bachelor of science in communications technology program with a concentration in audio engineering.

Pittsfield residents Kimberly Perkins and Adam Leonard have been named to the fall 2020 deans list at Becker College in Worcester. Deans list requires a term GPA of 3.50 or higher.

Perkins is pursuing an associate of science degree in veterinary science, veterinary technology. Leonard is pursuing a bachelor of arts in interactive media design, game production and management.

St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., has released its deans list for the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year. Deans list requires a GPA of 3.4 or better in the semester.

Area students achieving deans list status at St. Anselm include Amber P. Topping of Dalton, Class of 2022, majoring in chemistry; Grace D. Guachione of Pittsfield, Class of 2021, majoring in business; Kennedy P. Merriam of Pittsfield, Class of 2022, majoring in Spanish; and Heather G. Perkins of Pittsfield, Class of 2022, majoring in business.

Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., has named area students to its deans list and presidents list for the fall 2020 semester.

Julia Haddad of Pittsfield, a member of the Class of 2024, has been named to the presidents list which requires a GPA of 4.0 or better.

Deans list students include Lindsey Coe of Pittsfield, Class of 2021, and Sara Curry of Pittsfield, Class of 2024. Deans list requires a GPA of 3.4 or better.
British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons has welcomed the decisive action of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to combat disinformation spread by TV channels from Medvedchuk's media pool.

"I welcome President Zelensky's bold action in tackling disinformation, which causes real harm Ukraine. I also welcome his assurances on the need to protect media freedom and plurality in Ukraine," Simmons posted on Twitter on February 4.

As Ukrinform reported, on February 3, President Volodymyr Zelensky informed the ambassadors of the G7 and the EU about the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of February 2 on the imposition of sanctions against some TV channels. The head of state assured the foreign diplomats that this was not an attack on freedom of speech, but a reasonable decision to protect national security.

On February 2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky enacted the decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions against the NewsOne, ZIK and 112 Ukraine TV channels, as well as their owner, MP from the Opposition Platform  For Life party, Taras Kozak. The sanctions, among other things, provide for the revocation of licenses of these pro-Russian TV channels.

As of the morning of February 3, the broadcasting of NewsOne, ZIK and 112 Ukraine was blocked. However, their programs are broadcast on YouTube channels.

ish
Tata Power on Thursday reported 22 per cent year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit for October-December quarter at Rs 318 crore on debt reduction, better performance of Mundra plant and steady operational performance across all businesses.

The company's revenue rose 7.5 per cent to Rs 7,598 crore during the December quarter. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 1 per cent to Rs 1,997 crore from Rs 1,970 crore in the year-ago quarter.

On a standalone basis, Tata Power's net profit jumped to Rs 575 crore from Rs 7 crore in October-December 2019, mainly due to higher dividend income from overseas companies. However, revenue declined 14.1 per cent to Rs 1,658 crore.

Also read: Tata Power Solar bags Rs 1,200 crore order from NTPC

Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd (CGPL), a subsidiary of the company, repaid the entire bank loan aggregating to Rs 4,150 crore. Post this repayment, CGPL's long-term debt comprises only Rs 3,790 crore of bonds and debentures, Tata Power said in a release.

"The company completed acquisition of 51 per cent equity shares of TP Southern Odisha Distribution Ltd (TPSODL) and TP Western Odisha Distribution Ltd (TPWODL) respectively with balance 49 per cent being held by GRIDCO Ltd (an Odisha government undertaking). The joint ventures will respectively manage the distribution and retail supply of electricity in Odisha's six circles of SOUTHCO consisting of Ganjam City, Berhampur, Aksa, Bhanjanagar, Jeypore and Rayagada and five circles of WESCO consisting of Rourkela, Burla, Bhawanipatna, Bolangir and Bargarh, for a period of 25 years effective January 1, 2021," it said.

Besides, the company has also received Letter of Intent for acquiring 51 per cent stake in a fourth discom in Odisha - NESCO. With this, the company will cover the entire state of Odisha.

Commenting on the results, the company's CEO and Managing Director Praveer Sinha said, "Tata Power's focus now lies in demonstrating a benchmark performance through all our existing generation, transmission and distribution businesses while continuing to concentrate on key growth areas, i.e. renewables, distribution business and new businesses of rooftop solar panels, and EV (electric vehicle) charging."

The company is bullish on its renewables business and said its solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) business continues to grow.

During the quarter, Tata Power Solar booked 153 MW of solar/hybrid bids and the company's solar EPC order book stood at Rs 10,608 crore. It has also installed over 300 public EV charging points, with the geographical presence expanding to 40 cities.

"We are confident of monetising our renewable energy assets through an InvIT. This will give us the necessary capital for investing in growth as also reduce our debt substantially," Sinha said.

Shares of Tata Power on Thursday closed 6.47 per cent higher at Rs 89.65 on the BSE.

Also read: NTPC Q3 profit rises 10.7% to Rs 3,315 crore, board declares Rs 3 per share dividend

Also read: Brookfield may invest upto $700 million in Tata Power renewable InvIT
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Warren County and St. Lukes University Health Network officials are sounding the alarm that more COVID-19 vaccine doses are desperately needed from the state of New Jersey.

St. Lukes Warren Campus President Scott Wolfe in a letter Tuesday to Gov. Phil Murphy said supplies have forced the Phillipsburg hospital to curtail clinic hours. Once the second round of booster shots are administered, without additional vaccine, the clinic may need to close, Wolfe warned.

Our St. Lukes Warren Campus vaccine clinic has been expanded recently to accommodate up to 250 shots per day, given an adequate supply of vaccines, Wolfe says in the letter obtained by lehighvalleylive.com. Unfortunately, we have received no new initial vaccine doses since January 20 and no new booster doses (which must be held for 4 weeks until administration) since January 25, leaving us with 10 initial and 545 booster doses on hand, respectively.

Asked to comment on vaccine supplies for Warren County, Murphy spokesman Michael Zhadanovsky told lehighvalleylive.com: Our administration is always moving expeditiously to allocate vaccines to counties for distribution, but short supply of vaccines remains a significant problem.

The federal government has increased our allocations for the weeks ahead, and we look forward to getting more shots in arms as soon as we can. Warren County, as all other counties in the state, will receive supplies based on availability and an allocation framework that balances efficiency and equity.

Phillipsburg Town Council President Frank McVey said he and Vice President Bobby Fulper have been working with Warren County Commissioners Director James Kern III on getting answers to the St. Lukes supply concerns.

Theres really a gap in what people can get and to have a hospital in the community not receive the vaccine, thats concerning, Kern said Wednesday.

According to New Jerseys COVID-19 Information Hub, 837,225 total vaccine doses had been administered statewide as of Wednesday in the state of 8.9 million people, or 943 per 10,000 people.

Warren Countys 8,328 total doses administered represent 791 doses per 10,000 people, the seventh lowest vaccination rate out of 21 counties. Cape May County has the highest rate, with 1,360 doses per 10,000 people, and Hudson County has the lowest, at 564 per 10,000 people. Hunterdon County is right around the middle of the pack with 927 doses per 10,000 people, ranking 11th.

Our purpose in writing to you is to respectfully request consideration for more vaccine supply to be made available to Warren County and, specifically, to us at St. Lukes Warren Campus in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, Wolfe wrote to Murphy. We desperately need a greater, more consistent supply of vaccine doses so that we can take full advantage of our capacity to administer vaccinations.

Offering the vaccine at the hospital offers a convenient location for residents, accessible by public transportation, Kern said, echoing comments Wolfe made in his letter to the governor. Kern acknowledged that the vaccine shortage begins with the federal government and is a nationwide issue: The vaccine shortage is just everywhere.

We desire more vaccine supply so we can give more shots, St. Lukes spokeswoman Lisa Johnson said Wednesday night. We continue to advocate for Warren County residents because, as Mr. Wolfe stated in the letter, many residents in the community cannot travel far for care and rely on the close proximity of the St. Lukes Warren Campus for their care. And because there is a lack of public transportation, many Warren County residents will not be able to travel outside of the county to receive the vaccine nor the required booster.

New Jersey advises those looking to get vaccinated once theyre eligible to pre-register at covidvaccine.nj.gov. For help with the New Jersey Vaccine Scheduling System, residents can visit covid19.nj.gov/vaccinehelp or call 855-568-0545.

Those looking to get the vaccine through St. Lukes can pre-register through the St. Lukes MyChart portal at sluhn.org/vaccine. Answers to questions related to MyChart can found at slhn.org/covid-19 or by calling 866-785-8537 (866-STLUKES), Option 5.

Warren County also offers vaccination clinics to county residents only. The Warren County Call Center at 908-878-3188 is assisting with scheduling COVID-19 tests and vaccines, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. Residents can schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine on the Warren County website through a link on the COVID-19 vaccine page co.warren.nj.us/Healthdept/WCCOVIDVaccine.html.

New Jersey health officials on Wednesday reported another 2,021 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 52 additional deaths, as Murphy announced that restrictions on indoor dining, gatherings and other venues will be eased starting on Friday. That makes 631,309 confirmed cases during the pandemic with 21,693 deaths.

Visit covid19.nj.gov to find a list of vaccination sites statewide.

Tell us your COVID-19 vaccination stories, send us a news tip or questions about the vaccination process on our tip form.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.

Happier times, but Ford has now decided that Zotye is not the well positioned China e-mobility partner it thought it was

Ford has decided to terminate plans to launch electric vehicle joint ventures with China's Zotye Auto.

In a statement sent to just-auto, Ford said that it was now impossible to proceed with the Zotye JVs due to changes in the Chinese EV industry and 'relevant policy'.

The statement said: "Considering significant changes occurred in recent years in China's pure electric vehicle industry and relevant policy which makes it impossible to implement the BEV JV and the Smart Mobility JV proposed to be jointly established by Ford and Zotye Motor, Ford China has decided to terminate the relevant JV contracts with Zotye Auto."

It went on: "The rapidly changing EV landscape in China requires fresh thinking. As part of Ford's China 2.0 Transformation Blueprint, the company will pursue a flexible EV business model creating a center of competence to deliver on  and accelerate  its commitment to introducing a broad range of EVs to China, including plug-in hybrids and all-electrified vehicles, leveraging its global and local relationships and resources."

The two companies signed a collaboration agreement in late 2017, to jointly invest US$756m in a 50:50 joint venture for the development and production of a range of electric vehicles for the local market. But the partnership failed to get off the ground and Zotye has experienced a number of difficulties in recent years, including poor levels of sales, worries about its financial health and concerns over its product investment capabilities.

The privately held Zhejiang-based company has a reputation for cloning other manufacturers' vehicles.

In late 2019, Zotye closed its Traum brand division amid reports of unpaid salaries and closed dealerships.

It had planned to enter the US market. In 2018, Zotye Automobile and HAAH Automotive Holdings announced the creation of a new business unit to handle the sale of an SUV in the US market, but plans were put on hold last year.

Last week, Ford said its China joint venture with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co would start making the all-electric Mustang Mach-E model.

See also: Ford to make Mustang Mach-E in China
As Davis got into the vehicle and was about to close the door, Johnson closed his car door, took out a handgun and pointed it at the Uber as he walked toward it, prosecutors said. Davis told the Uber driver that he thought Johnson was going to shoot him, and Johnson was then on video lowering the handgun until he was directly behind the Uber.
Nicole Cottrill

Finn Partners promotes Nicole Cottrill to senior partner and health provider services group head, a newly created position. Cottrill joined Finn Partners in 2015, when it acquired Seigenthaler Public Relations, where she had been a partner. She was previously a vice president at Rasky Baerlein. In her new position, Cottrill will serve as senior counselor for the agency's clients within the healthcare provider sector including hospitals and health systems, physician practices, long-term and post-acute care providers, and specialists in areas including oncology and behavioral health. "The pandemic has brought the multiple communications challenges facing this nation's fragmented health ecosystem to the fore," said Gil Bashe, managing partner of Finns global health practice, Nicole is recognized by health provider executives for addressing those challenges with proven ability to elevate institutional thought leadership, champion brand and economic value, manage complex crises, and address how provider organizations must serve as beacons of patient care under all conditions."

Stephen Childress

The Brandon Agency hires Stephen Childress as chief creative officer, a new position at the agency. Childress most recently served as chief creative officer at Scoppechio, overseeing all digital, creative, social, content and production for the agency's portfolio of clients. In his new post, Childress will serve on Brandons leadership steering team and establish the creative vision for the agency. "Stephen is a generational creative talent with a passion for data and technology. He has a great track record of success and has worked with some of America's leading brands," said The Brandon Agency CEO Scott Brandon. "This, along with his strong digital chops make him the perfect creative leader at the right time for us."

Fiona Bruder

George P. Johnson, experiential marketing shop, promotes Fiona Bruder to president of its North and South America operations. Bruder has been with GPJ since 2002, most recently serving as executive vice president, client success. She has been instrumental in expanding the agency globally, developing experiential marketing programs and teams, and managing more than 4,000 events each year, as well as championing the development of the agencys employee resource groups, which are designed to encourage inclusion, diversity and equality. In her new post, Bruder will manage GPJs practice leads, including integrated production, digital engagement, strategy and creative. Fiona has long been a remarkable leader and contributor to our business. Shes consistently brought a powerful combination of business acumen and empathy to her work, and the results speak for themselves, said Robert G. Vallee, Jr., CEO of GPJs parent agency network, Project Worldwide.

Bill Cummings

Altais, a healthcare services start-up, hires Bill Cummings as senior director of marketing and external communications, and Jena Corda as director of communications. Cummings joins the company from Lone Pine Consulting, where he was a marketing and communications consultant. He was previously vice president, marketing & communications at Thinfilm Electronics ASA, a technology company headquartered in Oslo, Norway, and has held senior roles at Deloitte Consulting, Fidelity Investments, Prologis and Charles Schwab. Corda has led Altais internal communications efforts as a consultant since March 2020. Before that, she led communications for the office of the CMO at NetApp, and was senior executive communications manager at Cisco. Bill and Jena bring deep marketing and communication expertise to Altais, said president and CEO Jeff Bailet.
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A fire that broke out at a Westfield home early Thursday left just under a dozen residents and their pets displaced, among them more than 10 birds and lizards, authorities said.

The blaze was reported at the two-family home at 56 Orange St. around 1:20 a.m. and was believed to have started in the attic, according to Westfield Deputy Fire Chief Eric Bishop.

With a report of smoke in the area, the deputy arrived to find the two-story dwelling having an attic fire, Bishop told MassLive. We began suppression operations after doing an initial search.

The 11 residents inside were seen fleeing the home when crews arrived, according to Bishop. They all made it out safely with no injuries.

Firefighters also rescued 11 birds and two geckos, Bishop noted. The animals were taken to a shelter.

The fact that no one was injured in the blaze can partially be attributed to a working smoke detector, according to the deputy fire chief.

Its a reminder to all individuals to have good, working smoke detectors, he said. It definitely played a role in ensuring we had no injuries in the fire.

The fire was contained to the attic and has been extinguished. A crew will stand by as a precautionary measure until around 8 a.m., according to Bishop.

The roof will have to be replaced due to smoke and water damage, Bishop noted.

We were able to successfully extinguish the fire and limit it to the attic, he said. But the home remains uninhabitable. The attic space and the roof area sustained significant damages. Until repairs are made, the home wont be habitable.

Bishop said he believes the displaced residents will be staying with family members until other assistance is provided.
Fragile X premutation registry launches internationally

The UC Davis MIND Institute and the National Fragile X Foundation are working to encourage and accelerate research about the genetic condition with a new registry. The International Fragile X Premutation Registry is welcoming participants worldwide who are interested in taking part in research studies.

"The registry was created to facilitate and encourage fragile X premutation research around the world, including future medication and non-medication treatment and intervention studies that could positively impact quality of life," said Linda Sorensen, executive director of the National Fragile X Foundation.

The goal is to build a contact list containing a large, diverse group of people interested in contributing to research by taking part in clinical trials and other studies.

"This aim is especially important for premutation carriers with the neurodegenerative disease fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS)," said David Hessl, a psychologist and clinical professor in the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences who is leading registry efforts for the MIND Institute. "FXTAS, which is characterized by progressive loss of motor function and balance, as well as cognitive changes, currently has no cure or specific treatment."

What is fragile X syndrome?

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a genetic condition. The "X" refers to the X chromosome, where the altered gene (fragile X mental retardation 1, or FMR1) that causes it is located. Symptoms vary, but males are more severely affected, and are more likely to have intellectual disabilities and autism symptoms and distinguishing physical characteristics like long faces, larger ears, unusually flexible fingers and flat feet. People with FXS also tend to be very social and friendly and have strong visual or long-term memory.

FXS affects approximately 1 in 3,600 to 4,000 males and 1 in 4,000 to 6,000 females. The UC Davis MIND Institute's Fragile X Research and Treatment Center is a world leader in the field.

What is a premutation carrier?

A premutation carrier also has an altered form of the FMR1 gene, through the mutation is smaller than in those with fragile X syndrome. Carriers may pass on an expanded mutation to a child or grandchild, causing fragile X syndrome. Some carriers also develop fragile X-associated disorders. Those include primary ovarian insufficiency, which affects fertility (FXPOI) and FXTAS, affecting mostly males over age 50. FXTAS was discovered at the MIND Institute in 2001.

In contrast to the relative rarity of fragile X syndrome, an estimated 1 in 151 females and 1 in 468 men are premutation carriers.

"To date, there are no treatments to cure or reverse premutation-linked conditions like FXTAS and FXPOI," said Sorensen. This registry can expedite treatment development by centralizing information for individuals who are interested in patriating in future research."

How will the registry work?

Anyone 18 or older who is a premutation carrier, anywhere in the world, is encouraged to sign up for the registry. Family members of those affected by fragile X, but who are not premutation carriers themselves are also encouraged to sign up, to serve as research control participants. If individuals are unsure if they are a carrier, but it's a possibility given the family pattern, they may also register and indicate that they haven't been tested yet.

The registry enrollment link is on the National Fragile X Foundation website, and the database will be managed by UC Davis, where it will be protected in compliance with U.S. and European patient privacy regulations.

Researchers interested in recruiting participants from the registry will notify the registry team and advisory committee, which includes experts and fragile X family representatives, and submit a formal application for review. If approved, the registry team will notify registry participants about the research. There is no obligation to take part in any studies. Researchers will not be given registrants' information.

A source of knowledge and connection

There are plans to periodically update registry participants about the latest research that may be of interest.

"We are also creating a reliable source for information about the premutation based on the most recent research in our field, and a source of connection for carriers and their families," said Hessl. "We're planning a newsletter for registrants at least once a year, and I'm hoping that these communications and sharing our knowledge will help build community and hope for future interventions."

A large group of fragile X experts has worked to create the registry. In addition to the MIND Institute and the National Fragile X Foundation, there are researchers and clinicians from the University of Colorado, the University of Michigan, Rush University, Emory University, RTI International, the Fragile X Association of Australia, the Fragile X Alliance Inc., the Walton Centre in the UK and the Congenial Malformations and Dysmorphology, Universidad Del Valle, in Colombia.

"Knowledge is power, and this registry is a great first step to contribute to our knowledge base," said Sorensen.

###

Enroll in the International Fragile X Premutation Registry.

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Update on Monday, Feb. 22 at 10 a.m.:

With Black Restaurant Week underway this week, Spurs Give and the Tim Duncan Foundation have shared their official contribution, with both organizations pledging $100,000 to the Food Bank, funding 1.4 million meals to help feed those in need.

READ MORE: 30 restaurants participating in the largest Black Restaurant Week San Antonio

Providing food to people does so much more than feed someone a meal, it provides dignity and hope, said Jennifer Regnier, Executive Director at Spurs Give, via a release.

The week will continue through Sunday, Feb. 28 with the most participating restaurants to date.

Original post below:

Black Restaurant Week San Antonio will get an assist from Spurs legend Tim Duncan this year.

Launched in 2019, the week-long event focused on Black-owned businesses will feature more than 30 restaurants and food trucks. The 2021 installment, scheduled for Feb. 21-28, will have a give-back component supported by Duncan and Spurs Give, the official nonprofit of the team.

RELATED: Opening a restaurant during a pandemic is no joke. 5 of them share how it's going so far

The San Antonio Food Bank teased the news Thursday, with more information to follow on Feb. 16.

The food bank said each participating restaurant week will feature a special. With the help of the Tim Duncan Foundation, Spurs Give and BRWSA participants, each special will give back 21 meals to kids and seniors facing hunger.

RELATED: How H-E-B is working to support inclusion, starting with spotlighting Black-owned brands

This is not the first time the Tim Duncan Foundation, Spurs Give and the food bank have teamed up to help feed the city. In May, as San Antonio reeled from the early financial hardships caused by the pandemic, Spurs Give and Duncan's foundation donated $200,000 to the San Antonio Food Bank. A month later, Spurs Give marked Juneteenth and support local businesses by opening a tab at Ma Harper's Creole Kitchen, allowing guests to eat for free.

BRWSA food specials will be announced soon, according to the event's website.

The list of participating restaurants includes longtime favorites, like Carmens de la Calle, The Big Bib BBQ, The Jerk Shack, Mark's Outing and Wayne's Wings. There are also a few vegan options. See here for a full list.

Madalyn Mendoza covers news and puro pop culture for MySA.com | mmendoza@mysa.com | @maddyskye
Barely a week after launching a website teasing a run for governor of California, former Facebook executive and current Golden State Warriors minority owner Chamath Palihapitiya now says he's "not ready" for "any of that."

Palihapitiya, a Democratic Party mega-donor, has given $100,000 to the efforts to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, and last week shared links to a "Chamath for California Governor" website that outlined a handful of policy proposals including a "0% state tax" and raising teacher salaries.

But on Wednesday, Palihapitiya threw cold water on his prospects during an episode of his "All In" podcast.

Lets be really honest. Im not ready to do any of that, he said. What I need to do is, I need to figure out a) My business and where its going and b) I do think its worth figuring out what are the conflict of interest laws and what do you have to do if all of this were to come to pass, because I cannot make a credible decision unless I do that. Because I just have things that I want to do."

He continued, "I'll be really honest with you: I'm working on something in batteries that I think is important for a lot of places more than just California, and so if I have to abandon this battery project, I wouldn't do it. It's just that simple. So I have to figure that out."

OPINION: Chamath Palihapitiya wants you to think he's on your side. He's not.

Palihapitiya was the only prominent Democrat who had publicly expressed interest in running in a potential recall election. On the Republican side, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has formally launched his bid, while the 2018 Republican candidate John Cox has also said he'll run if a recall election is held.

Former Republican congressman Doug Ose is another prominent conservative exploring entering the race.

Politico has reported "some Democrats are throwing out feelers" about possibly getting on the ballot if the recall petition qualifies.

Recall organizers say they have gathered 1.3 million signatures to this point, which is close to the 1.5 million signatures required by March 17 to force a recall election. The organizers will likely need to gather close to 2 million signatures because some will be deemed invalid during the review process.
Jharkhand human trafficking racket: NIA nets key accused

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: The National Investigation Agency has arrested a prime accused in connection with a human trafficking case in Jharkhand.

The accused has been identified as Shiv Shankar Ghanjhu. He is the owner of two placement agencies-M/s Laxmi Placement Service & Birsa Security and Placement, which were being operated by his brother and notorious kingpin of human trafficking racket in Jharkhand and Delhi, Panna Lal Mahto who was earlier arrested in the case.

Investigations revealed that Mahto and his wife Sunita Devi were operating a big human trafficking racket under the guise of these placement agencies. They used to being poor and innocent minor boys and girls from Jharkhand on the pretext of providing them with jobs in Delhi and neighbouring states.

NIA nets key naxalite involved in killing of 4 policemen at Jharkhand

However they were exploited and never paid the promised money.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

Ghanjhu, according to the NIA played a significant role in trafficking minors from Jharkhand. He was produced before the Special NIA Court in Ranchi and has been taken into police custody for four days.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 8:34 [IST]
Scania has been granted permission by the Swedish Transport Agency to test self-driving trucks on the E4 motorway between Sodertalje and Jonkoping.

The tests will occur in collaboration with TuSimple, a developer of autonomous vehicles and a key partner in Scania's and Traton Group's investment in the field.

The trucks will enter commercial service with the Scania Transport Laboratory and will be loaded with goods for Scania's production operations. The tests will cover technology according to level 4 on the 5-point SAE scale for self-driving vehicles, which means lorries are driven autonomously, but for safety reasons are supervised by a driver.

A test engineer will also be on board during Scania's tests with the task of monitoring and verifying the information, which is transmitted to the truck from the sensors that enable autonomous driving.

"In both the US and China, tests are already underway of trucks according to Level 4 on public roads, but as far as I know Scania is the first in Europe to test the technology on a motorway and with payload," said Hans Nordin, who is responsible for the Hub2hub project.

Later this year, Scania plans to expand the tests to cover the entire route between Sodertalje and Helsingborg.

"In the coming years, we also expect to be able to test the technology in other European countries and in China," added Nordin.

Scania has been testing self-driving lorries for mining transportation in Australia since 2017.

"The experience gained from these tests shows autonomous vehicles can become a reality in just a few years for transportation in closed areas such as mines and terminals," noted Nordin.

According to Nordin so-called Hub2hub transportation - driving on the motorway between reloading centres - is the first kind of transportation on public roads where self-driving trucks can become a reality.

"We have come so far in the development of self-driving vehicles that the technology may be ready to be introduced to the market already within the next five years for this type of transportation," he said. "However, it will take longer before autonomous vehicles for driving on roads with two-way traffic and in urban environments becomes a reality."

Scania's partner TuSimple, with its headquarters in San Diego, US and with facilities in Tucson, Shanghai and Beijing, has, since its foundation in 2015, carried out millions of kilometres of tests on motorways to develop the self-driving technology for automation level 4.
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The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the guilty convictions of dozens of former and current Samsung executives accused of sabotaging labor union activities at a subsidiary company in 2013.







The court confirmed a 16-month prison sentence for Kang Kyung-hoon, a vice president at Samsung Electronics Co., among others.







It also confirmed the acquittal of Lee Sang-hoon, former chairman of Samsung Electronics' board of directors, citing the illegal means by which evidence was collected to prove his involvement in the case.







More than 30 Samsung executives and officials were indicted in 2018 on charges of leading and engaging in groupwide efforts to neutralize the labor union at Samsung Electronics Service, a customer service affiliate, by gathering personal information about members and leaking sensitive personal data to force them to leave the union. (Yonhap)


BENZONIA  The Benzonia Public Library is moving beyond books and media and is now loaning out ice skates.

The library sits conveniently next to Academy Park, where the Bezonia ice rink is located. However, the skates also can be used at private rinks.

Related coverage: Benzonia ice rink back in action

Amanda McLaren, library director, said the library has 33 pairs of brand-new ice skates and seven pairs on backorder, in sizes from children (approximately 9 years old) to adults, to loan to people for up to 48 hours. There is no fee, but a BPL library card is required, and anybody looking to reserve skates must be at least 18 years old. Younger skaters can have their parents reserve skates for them.

"We're super excited, and we're already getting many, many calls," McLaren said. "We've already got skates on hold. It is one of those things as far as programs offered that appeals to a wide range of people across the board. It appeals to so many across age groups. Skates are expensive. Kids outgrow them. This is a big deal for the community. We're super-duper excited."

Those looking to reserve skates or get more information can call the library at (231) 882-4111 or visit benzonialibrary.org/ice-skate-lending.html. The website provides a sizing conversion chart, as ice skate and shoe sizes differ.

McLaren said people should keep in mind limited library hours when reserving skates, as they must be picked up and dropped off while library services are operating. Currently, the library is open for curbside pick-up from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, 2-5 p.m. on Tuesdays, 4-7 p.m. on Wednesdays, 2-5 p.m. on Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays.

Failing to return the skates after a 48 hour period will result in a fee of $1 per day.

McLaren said the program was made possible through the "generosity of Dr. Lisa Musgrave," who has a dental practice in Beulah.

"She reached out to us in January and she had seen where some other libraries in other places were loaning out skates in Michigan," McLaren said. "She asked if it would be possible. We didn't have the funding for something like that, and she asked if it was possible if she provided the skates. That started the conversation."

McLaren reached out to other libraries to see how their skate rental programs worked. In the meantime, Musgrave reached out to Bauer Skates, and made a deal with the company.

"She's (Musgrave) is just a really amazing community member," said McLaren. "She's truly one of those people looking to make the community better. She saw a need and wanted to help fill it."
Denton, TX (76205)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.
ZUG, Switzerland, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bitcoin Association, the Switzerland-based global industry organisation that works to advance business with the Bitcoin SV blockchain, today announces that it has made a pair of strategic additions to its global team, as it works to improve enterprise awareness and adoption of Bitcoin SV.

Bitcoin Association has hired Lizette Louw as a content marketing specialist and Connor Murray has joined the Bitcoin SV Academy team as a content creator. The announcement concludes a busy week for Bitcoin Association, which on Monday appointed Aaron Zhou as its first China-based technical outreach specialist.

Lizette Louw will be a familiar face for many in the Bitcoin SV ecosystem, having spent the past three years working as a digital marketing and content strategist at Bitstocks, which operates the BSV-based Gravity banking ecosystem app. An experienced content professional, Louw has amassed an extensive portfolio of published work, spanning business, finance and technology publications. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, in her new role with Bitcoin Association, Louw will develop and implement a range of new inbound marketing initiatives, focused on informing enterprises and mainstream audiences about the benefits of building with the Bitcoin SV blockchain.

Connor Murray joins Bitcoin Association as part of the team working on Bitcoin SV Academy  the recently launched, dedicated online education platform for Bitcoin SV. Murray will work as a content creator, sharing his expertise developing applications for and building businesses with Bitcoin SV. In addition to his contributor role with Bitcoin SV Academy, Murray is the co-founder and CEO of britevue  a Bitcoin SV-based online consumer reviews platform, which he will continue to lead. Last year, Murray's company received venture funding from noted technology entrepreneur and leading Bitcoin SV supporter, Calvin Ayre.

Bitcoin Association supports Bitcoin SV as the only blockchain protocol which adheres to creator Satoshi Nakamoto's original design and vision for Bitcoin. With the ability to scale unbounded and support huge volumes of transactions, in addition to its micropayment, smart contract, tokenization and data functionalities, Bitcoin SV is quickly becoming the enterprise network of choice for both businesses and developers.

Speaking on today's appointments, Bitcoin Association Founding President Jimmy Nguyen, said:

"As the Bitcoin SV ecosystem continues to grow, so too does the need to bring more experienced professionals into our Association who can help us teach the world that Bitcoin is meant to be a widely used electronic cash system and data network, not a 'digital gold' reserve asset. We're delighted to welcome Lizette, Connor and Aaron to our team  each of whom, in addition to their specialist professional skillset, brings with them specific experience working with Bitcoin SV  an invaluable combination as we work to educate enterprises about the world's most powerful distributed data ledger for enterprise and online payments system, Bitcoin SV."

Commenting on her appointment, Lizette Louw, said:

"Working in the blockchain and digital asset space for a number of years now, I've found myself increasingly drawn to the potential evident with Bitcoin SV to have a positive impact on both business and individuals. Bitcoin SV offers enterprises a data infrastructure that is far superior to incumbent systems  a true value-add, rather than just an expense. I'm excited to work with Bitcoin Association in my new role to help bridge the gap between business and Bitcoin SV technology."

Also commenting, Connor Murray, said:

"Bitcoin is a complex system spanning several different disciplines, that is capable of so much more than most people understand. That's what makes Bitcoin SV Academy such an important initiative, as it helps to introduce new developers, entrepreneurs and investors to the true power of Bitcoin. I've still got a lot to learn myself, but hope to get a little bit closer to mastering Bitcoin each day by sharing my experience and teaching others."

About Bitcoin Association

Bitcoin Association is the Switzerland-based global industry organization that works to advance business on the Bitcoin SV blockchain. It brings together essential components of the Bitcoin SV ecosystem  enterprises, start-up ventures, developers, merchants, exchanges, service providers, blockchain transaction processors (miners), and others  working alongside them, as well as in a representative capacity, to drive further use of the Bitcoin SV blockchain and uptake of the BSV digital currency.

The Association works to build a regulation-friendly ecosystem that fosters lawful conduct while facilitating innovation using all aspects of Bitcoin technology. More than a digital currency and blockchain, Bitcoin is also a network protocol; just like Internet protocol, it is the foundational rule set for an entire data network. The Association supports use of the original Bitcoin protocol to operate the world's single blockchain on Bitcoin SV.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1218683/Bitcoin_Association_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Bitcoin Association
She's previously detailed her wish to have a huge Willy Wonka themed wedding.

And Scarlett Moffatt has revealed that she's changed her mind, now preferring the idea of eloping to Las Vegas once beau Scott Dobinson pops the question.

The TV star, 30, who has been dating her police officer love for two years, chatted about her future nuptials on her Radio 1 Scarlett Moffatt Wants to Believe podcast.

Change of plans: Scarlett Moffatt has revealed that she prefers the idea of eloping to Las Vegas once beau Scott Dobinson pops the question over her previous wish of a Willy Wonka themed wedding (pictured in 2019)

According to The Mirror, while chatting to vlogger Ladbaby, Scarlett said: 'I've always, always wanted a massive wedding, now I keep saying "let's go the Vegas".'

She also admitted that she got the idea for eloping from her podcast guest, real name Mark Hoyle, as he went to Las Vegas to marry wife Roxanne.

However it looks like Scarlett's got a little time to wait as she added: 'I'm not actually engaged yet, but I assume he's [Scott] going to do it at some point'.

Scott also joined in the wedding chat, revealing: 'She's [Scarlett] full of hints.

Couple: The TV star, 30, and her police officer boyfriend have been dating for two years and chatted about their future wedding plans on podcast Scarlett Moffatt Wants to Believe

'It went from "I've found this stately home, let's have this massive ceremony, get all this catering in, this is how I want my tables" to "we're going to Vegas, it's what I really want to do because it will be fun".'

Scarlett previously outlined her wedding ideas and admitted she'd been planning it for a long time in an interview with The Mirror after her I'm A Celeb win in 2016.

She said: 'I have been planning my wedding since I was young. I think Jordans marriage to Peter Andre was amazing. I loved it.

'I want mine to be like that. I want a glass carriage. Id also like a Willy Wonka theme with centrepieces as sweets and munchkins as waiters.'

Elsewhere on her podcast, Scarlett and Scott discussed moving house with the TV personality admitting things hadn't gone too smoothly.

Big plans: Scarlett previously outlined her wedding ideas and admitted she'd been planning it for a long time and wanted bowls of sweets at a Willy Wonka style bash (pictured with Scott)

She revealed that Scott had been put in charge of ordering some boxes for their things but ended up buying expensive shoe containers.

Scarlett said: 'Apparently it comes top of the list of the most stressful things you can go through - even more than a divorce. I would agree with that.'

It comes after Scarlett detailed how she overcame 'the worst date I've ever been on' with her boyfriend to become each other's yin and yang.

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, the star lovingly declared 'they are meant to be together' as she confessed to feeling used during relationships in the past.

While promoting the new Go Ahead 'Snaccident' campaign, she recalled her first date with her beau, Scott. She said: 'It was probably the worst date I've ever had!

'We went out for food and he just chatted about himself, and I thought, "oh god, I've got another one of them where it's just all about them".

The TV sensation, who shot to stardom on Gogglebox in 2014, decided to ask him about this the next day and found out her boyfriend was hesitant to ask personal questions as he didn't want her to think he was only interested in her career.

She continued: 'He said, "if I'm honest, I feel like because you are who you are, I didn't want it to look like I was prying for information and I didn't want to ask you too much because of that."

'I was like, "oh that makes sense," and from then on, we've been great. He's just the nicest human. I've never met someone like him who hasn't got a bad bone in his body, he's the sweetest.

'And now it's funny because he describes it as his best first date and I always say it was my worst. Definitely something to tell the future kids one day.'
Dennis Obong Awoii, a writer who was born and raised in Lira, Northern Uganda, and attended National American University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he now lives with his family, has completed his new book The Devil in the Cave: a riveting tale that keeps the pages turning until the satisfying conclusion.

When a World War II veteran, Archibald Arthur, a United States serviceman, retired from active military duty in November 1943 after a grueling experience fighting the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska, he must battle to rebuild his civilian life and emerge from the ashes. The post-traumatic stress disorder was intense but finding a job at the Anchorage Hotel in downtown Alaska provided a safe haven for him to revitalize and start over. But when he met a vacationing young lady from Zagreb, Croatia, at the hotel, his world was turned upside down after a beautiful picnic with her in the foot of the Alaskan Mountains.

The devil that must have killed her in the woods was too powerful, but he must face him to avenge her demise and, in the process, discovered it was far more complicated than he had previously imagined. It took years of living in the mountain foot, surviving bitter winters, and learning for him to discover that the battle that he must fight was not only carnal but spiritual as well. Deep inside the cave with his loyal dog, Gossiper, they came face-to-face with the devil, and that marked a new beginning for them both.

Published by Page Publishing, Dennis Obong Awoiis engrossing tale is an excellent choice for avid fiction readers.

Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase The Devil in the Cave at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing understands that authors should be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
The Texas Medical Association and the Bexar County Medical Society are looking to Texas lawmakers for help cutting red tape and relieving financial pressure worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.

Their most pressing concerns for 2021 will be addressing the states growing uninsured and underinsured population  calling for legislation expanding Medicaid, improving patient access through telemedicine payment parity and reducing constraints on providers by eliminating time-consuming prior authorization requirements.

Representatives of the two groups met with San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board on Thursday to outline their goals for the 87th Texas Legislature, which began Jan. 12. Theyll be tracking the bills related to health care and any changes made to proposed legislation. Bills have to be filed by March 12.

Texas already had the highest percentage of uninsured in the nation even before the pandemic left millions of Texans without jobs and many without access to primary care doctors.

San Antonio radiologist Rajeev Suri says hes already seen uninsured patients end up in the emergency room because they delayed needed medical care.

Not only do such delays means reduced treatment and recovery options for the patient, theyre also costing the state more money in the long run, he said.

Researchers found the state could achieve a net savings of $110 million over the next biennium by expanding Medicaid, according to a recent study sponsored by the Episcopal Health Foundation.

On ExpressNews.com: For the first time, telemedicine is surging in San Antonio

On the telemedicine front, TMA points out that during the COVID-19 public health emergency, Gov. Greg Abbott implemented waivers so that virtual health care visits were paid by insurance companies at the same rate as in-person visits. TMA wants the state to ensure these online visits wont go back to the lower reimbursement rates that were being paid.

The group also is calling for legislation that cuts down on the need to get prior authorizations.

Dan Finch, TMAs vice president for advocacy, says it used to be that prior authorizations were required by insurance companies for experimental treatments, but now nearly every medical service goes through the prior authorization process.

He says insurance companies use this as a way to control costs, but its become a horrendous situation for medical practices  even delaying needed care by weeks and causing some patients to abandon medical treatment entirely.

Suri says hes had to ask for prior authorization even when its about covering a medication that the patient has been on for a year.

Many medical offices have hired a full-time employee just to process these requests.

Another legislative priority is the need to strengthen funding for public health departments, which advocates say have faltered during the pandemic as a consequence of years of underfunding.

For example, some public health departments across the state rely on fax machines to keep up with updated COVID-19 data, said Dr. Diana Fite, a Houston emergency physician and president of TMA.

A lot of these things have come to light with this pandemic and we want to correct them before the next pandemic, she said.

laura.garcia@express-news.net
February 04, 2021 / 05:42 PM IST

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | COVID-19 jabs for CM, legislators likely: TN Health Minister

Beneficiaries aged above 50, the Chief Minister, Ministers, MLAs and journalists are likely to be vaccinated against coronavirus soon, Health Minister C Vijayabaskar indicated in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday. Replying to ruling party legislator, S Semmalai, who sought to know when the vaccination could be made available to the general public and the MLAs, the Minister said so far, about 1,33,000 frontline workers have been vaccinated. The state has received 12.34 lakh plus doses of COVID-19 vaccines and over 8.50 lakh beneficiaries including health, police and revenue employees have been identified, he said. Hesitation in getting any vaccine administered was usual and in order to bring a sense of confidence among the beneficiaries he and Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan got the ''Covaxin'' jabs and many district collectors have volunteered to get the vaccine administered, he said and thanked them. As per norms, the vaccination was now being provided for frontline workers and had the Union government allowed, the Chief Minister, Ministers and the Speaker could have been vaccinated, giving confidence to the people, he said. "The government has sent a proposal to the Centre to provide vaccination for beneficiaries aged above 50, the Chief Minister, Ministers, MLAs and journalists," he said. A favourable reply was likely from the Centre in a week or two and then MLAs and other proposed beneficaries would be vaccinated free of cost according to the Chief Minister''s directive, the Minister said.
Recognising that peaceful protests are a hallmark of a thriving democracy, the US on Wednesday said it welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment.

"In general, the welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment," a State Department spokesperson said, indicating that the new Biden Administration is supportive of the Indian government's move to reform the agricultural sector that attracts private investment and greater market access to farmers.

Responding to a question on ongoing farmers' protests in India, the State Department said the US encourages that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue.

"We recognise that peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy and note that the Indian Supreme Court has stated the same," the State Department spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, several American lawmakers came out in support of the farmers' protests in India. "I am concerned by the reported actions against peaceful demonstrators protesting new agricultural reform laws in India," Congresswoman Haley Stevens said.

In a statement, she encouraged the Narendra Modi government and representatives of the protesting farmers to engage in productive discussions.

"I will continue to monitor this situation closely. It has been particularly valuable to engage with stakeholders across the district on this topic and I remain appreciative to all who have reached out to share their perspective," Stevens said.

Another Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, expressed solidarity with all the farmers protesting for their livelihood across India. "India must protect their basic democratic rights, allow for the free flow of information, reinstate internet access, and release all the journalists detained for covering the protests," she wrote on Twitter.

Referring to the farmers' protests, Meena Harris, niece of Vice President Kamala Harris, alleged that the world's biggest democracy is under an assault.

"It's no coincidence that the world's oldest democracy was attacked not even a month ago, and as we speak, the most populous democracy is under assault. This is related. We ALL should be outraged by India's internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters," she said in a tweet.

In a separate statement, Gurinder Singh Khalsa, chairman of the Sikhs Political Action Committee, said the "historic" farmers' protest is turning out to be the "biggest-ever revolution" against the Indian government's crony capitalism.

"This is the beginning of a movement for better accountability and transparency against crony capitalism. World was watching and now it has started reacting and mobilising in support of this historic revolution of Indian farmers. This will be bigger than India's freedom Revolution," Khalsa, who is based in Indiana, said.

Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said India's new farm laws have the "potential to represent a significant step forward" for reforms in the agriculture sector.

"We believe the farm bills do have the potential to represent a significant step forward for agricultural reforms in India. The measures will enable farmers to directly contract with sellers, allow farmers to retain a greater share of the surplus by reducing the role of middlemen, enhance efficiency and support rural growth," IMF Communications Director Gerry Rice told reporters here last month.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association said Wednesday Chung's semi-autobiographical film will compete in the Best Motion Picture in a Foreign Language category alongside Denmark's "Another Round" and "The Life Ahead" from Italy, among others.

Korean-American director Lee Isaac Chung's film "Minari" has been nominated for best foreign-language film at this year's Golden Globes.

"Minari" is the story of a first-generation immigrant family from Korea pursuing the American dream, as described from the point of view of a 7-year-old boy and his parents. It has garnered attention among American film critics, securing numerous awards from film festivals and critics associations.

Meanwhile, the film is at the center of a controversy in the U.S., as it has been categorized as a foreign-language film despite being American-produced, and written and directed by an American director. The HFPA, however, insists it is not eligible for Best Picture, as most of the film's dialogue is in Korean.

The winners will be announced during a livestreamed ceremony on Feb. 28.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Enrollment of African American first-time college students climbed at historically Black colleges and universities in states where hate crime reports increased, a new study has found.

The authors, SMU's Dominique Baker and UC Berkeley's Tolani Britton, drew on federal enrollment data, campus crime statistics, and hate crime information from 1999 to 2017. In the study, they looked at hate crimes specifically targeting African-Americans as well as other racial, religious and gender groups.

Before this research, little was known about the relationship between reports of hate crimes and college enrollment patterns among people of color.

"It's useful to understand how macro-level intolerance and oppression is related to institutional enrollment decisions," Baker said. "Knowing this is a first step to higher education institutions working to actively create welcoming campus environments where all students can thrive while feeling safe."

However, she notes a key limitation to the study:

"The number of reported hate crimes is almost assuredly an undercount of the actual number of incidents," Baker said. "Even so, this study helps fill in the gap by exploring the association between Black students' college enrollment and the number of reports of hate crimes at two levels: the state and the institution."

Baker is an assistant professor of education policy in SMU's Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development. Her co-author, Britton, is an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Their working paper is available from Stanford University's Center for Education Policy Analysis.

Baker and Britton began their research to explore Black students' enrollment in light of rhetoric used by former President Donald Trump in referencing immigrants and persons of color. Hate crimes in the U.S. rose to the highest level in more than a decade in 2019, according to the most-recent FBI report.

A hate crime is defined as an occurrence in which perpetrators act based on a bias against the victim's race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

The researchers used a variety of sources for federal data such as the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems (IPEDS), FBI hate crime data, and campus crime statistics tracked by the federal Clery Act of 1990. IPEDS tracks enrollment for all universities that receive Title IV funds (such as Pell Grants) from the government, including historically Black colleges and universities.

The researchers primarily examined those states that had at least one historically Black college or university (HBCU). The study excluded for-profit institutions due to a large number of online learners at these institutions.

"We found that an increase in total statewide reports of hate crimesthose specifically targeting African Americans and/or hate crimes against any racepredicts an increase of Black student first-time enrollment at HBCUs," Britton said. Specifically, an increase in the number of reported state-level hate crimes was associated with a 20 percent rise in first-time enrollment in Black colleges, regardless of the reason for the hate crimes.

It was more difficult to interpret information drawn at the institutional level at specific colleges because of scarcity of this data, the researchers said. This was also made difficult because it was unclear what institutions did in response to reports of hate crimes.

They speculated that the link between college enrollment and hate crimes at the state level could be for a few different reasons.

"It could be that students coming from more racially similar home communities seek to replicate these spaces in a college community due to prior experiences of an increased likelihood of student safety in predominantly Black spaces," Britton said.

Potential college students and their parents who hear about reports of hate crimes could also choose to enroll in college partially in response to a desire for spaces with fewer racial incidents. And Black students could intentionally seek out campuses with a clear, welcoming, and positive racial climate for Black students in order to avoid the psychological stressors related to racial animus as well as physical instances of hate and aggression, the study noted.

Britton and Baker chose to focus on Black students in the study because Black individuals have been shown to be the most frequent target of reported racial hate crimes, Britton said. They also made African American students their focus because historically Black colleges and universities are explicitly focused on helping these students.

Baker encouraged future research on the relationship between hate crimes and college enrollments for other groups of color as well.

Explore further Why hate crime perceptions vary among the general populace
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden vowed to get more relief to Americans quickly to help people survive financially until the pandemic is under control. A key part of Biden's proposal is to send another round of cash payments directly to U.S. households.

Some economists, Republicans and moderate Democrats have argued that this third round of "economic impact payments" - more commonly referred to as "stimulus checks" or "relief payments" - should only go to the hardest-hit families. Some say the payments are a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Biden and Democratic leaders in Congress say a third round of stimulus checks is necessary to ensure that people who have lost their jobs or taken a pay cut still have enough money to buy food, pay rent and get the medical care they need during a pandemic. But the White House has signaled the president is narrow who gets them, sending checks only to low and moderate income families this time around.

The latest proposal Democrats are coalescing around would send $1,400 payments to individuals earning $50,000 or less and $2,800 to married couples earning $100,000 or less. Below are more details on the latest plan, which has not been publicly released yet and could still change.

- - -

Who would get a $1,400 payment?

Individuals earning up to $50,000 would get the full $1,400 payment. Heads of household earning up to $75,000 would also qualify, and married couples earning up to $100,000 would get a $2,800 payment.

Similar to the prior rounds of stimulus checks, people who earn slightly above those thresholds would qualify for a partial payment.

About 85% of Americans would get the full benefits, and another 3.5% would get the partial benefit, according to Kyle Pomerleau, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in tax policy. This is slightly less than Biden's initial proposal for the payments to go to individuals earning up to $75,000 and married couples earning up to $150,000.

- - -

How big would per-child payments be?

Under the Democratic plan, parents of children would receive an additional $1,400 per child. That means a family of four would receive $5,600.

Democrats are separately pushing a child tax benefit that would provide over the course of a year $3,600 per children under 6 and $3,000 per child age 6 to 17. A version of that plan is expected in the final agreement.

- - -

When could payments start going out?

The new round of $1,400 payments would not go out until after Congress passes its broad relief package. The timing on that effort remains unclear, but White House officials have said they are determined to pass the legislation before mid-March - when millions of jobless Americans would begin losing unemployment benefits if Congress does not act to prevent it.

Once the legislation is signed, payments should starting going out in a matter of days. The bulk of the second round of payments worth $600 each went out within three weeks through direct deposit. Mailed checks take slightly longer.

The potential hitch is that the Internal Revenue Service typically sends out the payments, and that the IRS will be in the midst of a busy tax-filing season from mid-February through mid-April. The IRS staff is stretched thin, meaning there could be delays as the agency juggles tax filings and stimulus payments.

- - -

How much would this third round of stimulus cost?

This latest Democratic proposal for $1,400 payments to singles earning up to $50,000 and married couples earning up to $100,000 would cost around $420 billion, according to Marc Goldwein, senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. That's down slightly from Biden's initial proposal for the checks, which would have cost about $465 billion and gone to singles earning up to $75,000 and couples earning up to $150,000, according to CRFB.

- - -

Will the payments be based on 2019 income or 2020 income?

While no final proposal has been released, Democrats have explored basing eligibility for the stimulus payments on prior-year income, meaning people would have to qualify for the checks based on what they earned in 2019 or in 2020, according to a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorize to discuss the planning.

- - -

Would 'adult dependents' get a payment this time?

Adult dependents are eligible for stimulus payments under the Democrats' current plan, according to multiple people with knowledge of the matter.

In the two prior rounds of stimulus payments, people over age 17 who could be claimed as a dependent on someone else's tax return - such as college students or disabled adults - were not eligible for stimulus money. About 13.5 million adult dependents were excluded, according to the People's Policy Project, a left-leaning think tank.

- - -

Will these checks help the economy?

There's debate about the effectiveness of the direct payments. Most economists support giving more relief to Americans who are struggling to put food on the table or keep their small business from closing. But there's concern that a lot of families are saving their stimulus money. When people save the money, it does not boost the economy. Economists see such savings as a sign that the family did not need the money for basic necessities.

A New York Federal Reserve survey found that 36% of the first round stimulus payments was saved. Another 35% was used to pay down debt. About 18% was spent on essentials such as food and rent. The remaining 11% was donated or spent on nonessential items such as video games.

An estimate of Biden's proposed stimulus checks by the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model predicted that 73% of the $1,400 relief payments "will go directly into household savings and produce limited stimulus effects." The White House pushed back against that forecast, saying there would be a large, positive effect from the payments.

The best argument in favor of the checks is that they have kept many Americans out of poverty during the crisis. An analysis by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that the bottom 20% of Americans - those earning less than $21,300 - would see their income rise nearly 30%, helping keep them out of poverty.

- - -

What happened to the $600 stimulus payments that recently went out?

Americans started to receive the $600 stimulus payments in their bank accounts on Jan. 4. Economists at Opportunity Insights, a research center, tracked how many of the payments were saved versus spent. They found that in January, people with incomes under $46,000 were quick to spend the money, while people with incomes over $78,000 were likely to save it.

Opportunity Insights Directors Raj Chetty and John Friedman have argued for limiting a third round of stimulus payments to individuals earning under $50,000 and couples earning less than $75,000. They say that the need is by far the greatest among these modest-income families and that the economic boost will be much larger if the money goes to lower-income families because they probably will spend it right away. The latest Democratic proposal moves in that direction, though it is more generous to couples.

- - -

Are Democrats unified on the check proposal?

Senior Democratic officials have disagreed over the past several months on the need and structure of the stimulus payments.

Initially, during the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden gave measured support for the idea, saying he would back another round of payments if economic conditions required. However, Biden enthusiastically endorsed the checks during the Georgia runoff elections, vowing that Americans would receive $2,000 stimulus payments if Democrats won those races.

Biden has since insisted on sending stimulus payments worth $1,400, to supplement the $600 December payments (for a total of $2,000), while expressing openness to tightening eligibility. Several centrist Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., have expressed concern over the efficacy of the payments as a form of fiscal stimulus and whether they are adequately targeted for those in need.

More-liberal senators have called for the stimulus payments to be more generous. Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., helped lead legislation, co-sponsored by then-Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., that called for providing monthly checks worth $2,000 to Americans until the pandemic ends. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and others on the left have also said Democrats should provide a new round of $2,000 payments.

- - -

What have Republicans said about the checks?

Republican policymakers have offered conflicting views about the stimulus payments.

Trump was a forceful advocate for the payments, which included his name on the earlier round of checks. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and several other Senate Republicans also expressed support for $2,000 payments, but other GOP lawmakers panned them as wasteful government spending.

A group of 10 GOP Senators seeking a bipartisan deal with Biden pitched $1,000 stimulus payments. That group suggested significantly lower income thresholds of $40,000 per year for singles and $80,000 for couples. Many of the Republican lawmakers in the group - led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine - are skeptical of the merits of the payments but included them as a good-faith effort to show Biden they were serious about negotiating, according to one person familiar with the group's discussions granted anonymity to describe internal dynamics.
The Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee is holding its next meeting at 7pm CST tonight, February 4, to discuss how to mobilize opposition to the deadly reopening of schools. Register now and share this link with your coworkers to build the committee!

Negotiations between Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) to reopen schools are coming to a head, and a tentative agreement is expected to be voted on this weekend.

At a Thursday morning press conference, Chicagos Democratic Mayor Lightfoot launched a vicious attack on teachers, stating emphatically, Were still waiting, but not patiently, not anymore. She added, Times up, lets get a deal done.

The Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee insists that there is nothing to negotiate and that all schooling must remain remote only!

The Democratic political establishment and the corporate interests it serves want to send us and our students back into dangerous classrooms to protect the wealth of the financial aristocracy. There is no common ground to be found between us and Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot and, behind her, the Biden administration.

The determined opposition of Chicago educators to the citys orders to return to unsafe classrooms is the spearhead of a global rising tide of political opposition to exploitation and mass death. We educators who oppose this speak for the tens of millions of educators and workers across the US and globally who understand the dangers posed by a return to school buildings while the pandemic continues to rip through the population.

There is no hyperbole in stating that stopping the return to in-person learning before the pandemic is under control is a matter of life and death. Any position short of that is unacceptable.

The Wall Street Journal has declared that the current standoff in Chicago is the first big test of Bidens plan to reopen all K-8 schools in his first 100 days in office. We are drawing the line in the sand for all educators, but we cannot fight this battle alone. Our committee calls on parents, students, educators and workers across the country, in the auto and other manufacturing plants, public transit and logistics, health care, service industry and others to join our fight.

Official lying campaign

All the major corporate newspapers and broadcast television outlets in the US are issuing statements falsely claiming that schools are safe to reopen. Teachers are being slandered as ignorant, lazy and unduly fearful.

The facts are major studies published in Nature and Science demonstrate that closing schools is one of the two most effective means to stop community spread. A study published last month found that infections in children ages 10 to 19 preceded the increase in cases among adults age 30 to 49, indicating that children infect their parentsnot the reverse.

Echoing politicians nationwide, CPS and many area districts repeat the lie that in-person learning is safe when the proper protocols are in place. CPS also claims they are able to have all these protocols in place, including mass testing, appropriate ventilation and vaccines for the workforce. None of these claims can be believed and the plans are wholly inadequate.

Behind the wave of propaganda are the interests of big business. Like Democratic and Republican leaders across the US, Mayor Lightfoot is demanding that schools reopen in the interests of the corporate elite, declaring Thursday that schools must reopen to allow our parents to return to work. City government is concerned about providing childcare, not education.

CPS officials, including CEO Janice Jackson, admit that no one can keep the virus out of schools. The official lying campaign prepares school districts to insist that the inevitable outbreaks in schools didnt actually originate there, shifting the blame for their policy onto individual teachers and families.

The CTUs lethal compromises

The CTU is negotiating for the reopening of schools. While CTU may appear to be fighting for a safe return, their agreement with CPS will endanger members, students, their families, and all of society.

Recent statements made by CTU leaders including When we move, we move together, and An injury to one is an injury to all, ring hollow.

CPS only agreed to even discuss reopening plans with the CTU once a large group of teachers (K-8) refused to return to buildings last week. The union did not organize action in August, when Wave 0 (school clerks and tech specialists) were required to return in-person. They were abandoned from the beginning.

The union did not organize any action when Wave 1 (pre-K and cluster teachers) were required to return on January 4. The CTU encouraged them to not go in as individuals and did not organize any collective action, leaving these educators vulnerable to lockouts and retaliation. The union has also offered to let teachers return voluntarily, representing a major health risk to those teachers and the community.

Many teachers who have refused to return have been locked out of their platforms, have had no access to their students and still have not been paid. Many of the classrooms had no students returning, yet CPS still demanded teachers be physically present in school buildings to teach remotely, as larger numbers of students are encouraged to return.

When our K-8 brothers and sisters refused to enter the buildings on January 25 and worked remotely all week, the board would not approve our telework hours. That is wage theft! CPS will dole out back pay later if it allows them to threaten and intimidate teachers into breaking rank now.

The CTU, and its parent union the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), as well as the National Education Association (NEA) and its locals, are the political and organizational instruments for the imposition of a lethal compromise of our lives and communities in the interests of a rapacious ruling class whose pandemic policy has already killed more than 462,236 Americans and over 2,284,000 people worldwide.

For a general strike to close schools and nonessential production and demand full compensation to all workers!

The Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee is the political and organizational embodiment of the social and health interests of educators and the entire community. We are scientifically informed, politically educated teachers who understand that our fight is for everyone. Therefore, we are unmoved in our determination to keep learning remote until the pandemic is under control.

If Lori Lightfoot felt she could fire every single one of us, she would. When President Reagan used the full force of the state to attack the PATCO strikers in 1981, the unions kept the workers isolated and unable to defend themselves. This must not happen again!

Theres nothing to negotiate. Reopening schools during the pandemic is not negotiable! Lives and health are not negotiable!

Our committee, as part of a network of rank-and file-safety committees formed across the US and globally, is preparing a general strike to shut schools and nonessential industries and demand full compensation for all workers and the resources needed to vaccinate the population, address the critical social needs of students and parents, and provide high-quality remote learning until the pandemic is under control.

We encourage all educators, students, parents, and all workers across Chicago, Illinois and northwest Indiana to join us, take up these demands and promote them in your school, neighborhood and workplace:

 Immediately close all schools and all truly non-essential workplaces with no loss of income for workers! The science is clear: closing schools and non-essential workplaces saves lives. They must remain closed until the threat to public health is over and rank-and-file safety committees, working in conjunction with trusted scientists and public health experts, can ensure the safety of children, teachers and all workers.

 Full income protection for parents who choose to stay home! Educators are not oblivious to the needs of parents, the corporate-controlled politicians are. Full income must be provided to those who cannot work because they choose to stay home with children. Unemployment benefits and additional forms of assistance must be increased to protect families, and a permanent moratorium put in place to stop all evictions and home foreclosures.

 Free Rebekah Jones and defend all those who speak out against or refuse to work in unsafe conditions! There is massive opposition everywhere, but many fear speaking up. Teachers know they will be targeted for discipline and abuse and they know the unions will do nothing to defend them. Florida whistleblower Rebekah Jones, the founder of The COVID Monitor, has been framed up and jailed for exposing outbreaks. All educators, students, and workers who reveal, speak out against or refuse to work under unsafe conditionswhether in schools, factories, warehouses, hospitals or officesmust be defended against any victimization by employers or state officials. Those who have been victimized must be rehired with back pay.

 Fully fund high-quality online public education, including free high-speed Internet access for all! The state of virtual learning is a disgrace. High quality public education for all is a social right! Computer hardware, software, broadband internet access, and adequate training and support must be provided to all teachers, students and parents for free. Class sizes must be reduced. Thousands of educators, staff and tech workers across the region must be hired to make this a reality.

 Publish all existing information about the spread of COVID-19 in schools and workplaces in the most comprehensive and accessible form possible! We now know that behind the scenes, Illinois and other states are carefully tracking COVID-19 outbreaks. But the information, when it is published at all, is only partially reported, part of a conscious attempt to conceal and downplay the danger. COVID-19 outbreaks are never limited to one school, one household or one workplace. The opposite is true: all outbreaks are connected in one continuous process of transmission. To protect ourselves and our families, we require a complete and precise picture of the spread of COVID-19 in and across all locations, easily accessible to everyone.

 Hire and train nurses and expand hospital capacity to meet demand! Patients must not be allowed to die in hallways awaiting treatment, and nurses and doctors must not be subjected to the psychological trauma. The resources hoarded by the rich must be used to hire and train medical professionals, build emergency facilities to meet medical needs and fully vaccinate the population.
Microsoft this week offered corporate customers a new set of configuration settings that it said would create easier-to-manage PCs suitable for wide swaths of users, ranging from remote workers to students who needed little more than a browser and a handful of productivity applications.

Variously dubbed "in cloud" and "cloud config," the collection of settings was pitched as a way to deploy standardized PCs equipped for the most basic tasks: browsing the web, using Office and running a limited number of business line apps.

"Microsoft sees an opportunity to empower organizations by providing a recommended configuration of Windows 10 for users with focused workflow needs," Ravi Ashok and Stan White, senior program manager and principal software engineer, respectively, wrote in a setup guide. "Windows 10 in cloud configuration helps IT standardize and simplify management for these users."

Microsoft's goals were then two-fold. First, provide IT administrators with ready-made and Microsoft-recommended settings that can be applied to new or existing-but-waiting-to-be-reimaged PCs so that the machines will be useful for lower-rung information workers, front-line workers and students. Second, create a standardized cadre of PCs so they can be managed by admins with the tools they already have, or more properly, have if their employers license specific Microsoft 365 plans. Prime among those tools: Microsoft Endpoint Manager.

The in cloud/cloud config set is reminiscent of other ready-to-deploy configuration settings that Microsoft offers customers, notably its various security baselines for Windows, Edge and other products. Like those baselines, in cloud is free, although it cannot be used by all.

Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise and Education PCs can apply in cloud, but the user must be covered by licenses for several Microsoft products, including:

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Premium P1

Microsoft Intune

Microsoft Teams

OneDrive for Business

Microsoft recommended that "the bare minimum necessary for cloud config" was Enterprise Mobility + Security E3 ($8.80 per user per month) and Office 365 E3 ($20 per user per month), and a device running Windows 10 Pro.

A more comprehensive license would be Microsoft 365 E3 ($32 per user per month), which includes Windows 10 Enterprise. Other packaged options range from Microsoft 365 F3 ($10 per user per month) and Microsoft 365 Business Premium ($20 per user per month), to Microsoft 365 E5 ($57 per user per month).

The name of the settings collection both described the basis for this Microsoft-recommended default configuration and set its limits. The primary management tool for implementing in cloud is Intune, the cloud-native management platform that's part of Microsoft Endpoint Manager. Also, most of what's deployed by the configuration is cloud-based  online storage (OneDrive), authentication and identification (Azure AD)  even as important pieces are not (like the Office apps, which are still installed locally).

But in cloud is, Microsoft said, suitable only for users who don't rely on on-premises services, which is why important components, such as email and storage, originated from Office 365 or Microsoft 365 subscriptions. The ideal candidates for in cloud, according to Microsoft, are users who "have no dependency on on-premises infrastructure to be productive and successful in their role."

Out of the gate, the in cloud settings must be configured manually by IT admins. (That's why the Ashok- and White-written setup guide is crucial to implementing the configuration.)

Microsoft said it would improve in cloud with additional settings, or removing or modifying those already present, but, importantly, is currently creating an Intune "guided scenario" that will assemble the bits and pieces automatically.

More information about in cloud can be found in several locations, including a new website (which boasted a short FAQ), the setup guide and a blog post where Joe Lurie, a senior product manager for Microsoft 365, answered several important questions about the configuration.
New variants of coronavirus are emerging that are more infectious than the original one that started the pandemic.

The UK is stepping up testing to find and stop cases from spreading in the community.



And scientists are urgently studying the mutated versions to understand what threat they pose.



What are these new variants?



There are many thousands of different versions, or variants, of Covid circulating.



Experts' concerns focus on a few:



- A UK variant that has become dominant in much of Britain and has spread to more than 50 other countries



- A South Africa variant that has also been found in at least 20 other countries, including the UK



- A variant from Brazil



It's not unexpected that new variants have developed - all viruses mutate as they make new copies of themselves to spread and thrive.



Most of these differences are inconsequential. A few can even be harmful to the virus's survival. But some can make it more infectious or threatening.



Are the new ones more dangerous?



There is no evidence that any of them cause much more serious illness for the vast majority of people who become infected.



As with the original version, the risk is highest for people who are elderly or have significant underlying health conditions.



For the new UK variant there is some research suggesting it may be associated with a 30% higher risk of death. The evidence is not strong and the data is still uncertain though. More studies are being done.



Measures such as washing your hands, keeping your distance from other people and wearing a face covering will still help prevent infections, and because the new variants appear to spread more easily it is important to be extra vigilant.



What's happening to the virus?



The UK, South Africa and Brazil variants could be much more contagious or easy to catch than earlier versions.



All three have undergone changes to their spike protein - this is the part of the virus which attaches to human cells.

As a result, these variants seem to be better at infecting cells and spreading.



Experts think the UK or "Kent" strain emerged in September and may be up to 70% more transmissible or infectious, although latest research by Public Health England puts it between 30% and 50%. It is this variant which has driven the latest lockdowns around the UK.



The South Africa variant emerged in October, and it has more potentially important changes in the spike protein than the UK variant. However, experts have recently found a small number of cases of the UK variant that have one of these more concerning changes too.



It is a key mutation, called E484K, that may help the virus evade parts of the immune system called antibodies



Will vaccines still work?



Studies are underway to check this and some early results suggest the Pfizer vaccine protects against the new variants.



Data on two new coronavirus vaccines that could be approved soon - one from Novavax and another from Janssen - appear to offer some protection against the variant.



Current vaccines were designed around earlier versions of coronavirus, but scientists believe they should still work against the new ones, although perhaps not quite as well.



Early results from Moderna suggest its vaccine is still effective against the South Africa variant.



Vaccines train the body to attack several parts of the virus, not just these sections of the spike protein.

Variants could emerge in the future that are more different again.



Even in the worst case scenario, vaccines could be redesigned and tweaked to be a better match - in a matter or weeks or months, if necessary, say experts.



As with flu, where a new shot is given each year to account for any changes in circulating flu viruses, something similar could happen for coronavirus.



What is being done about it?



More variants will emerge.

Scientists around the world are on the look-out and any important ones will be closely studied and monitored.

Experts are already working on updating coronavirus vaccines in case they needed.



Urgent testing for the South Africa variant and other new versions of coronavirus with the E484K mutation is starting in parts of England.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The farmers' unions protesting at the Singhu border against the three Central farm laws will hold a meeting on February 5 to decide the next course of action for the ongoing agitation, Satnam Singh Pannu, President (Punjab), Kisan Majdoor Sangharsh Committee, told IANS on Wednesday.

The meeting will be held under the banner of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha. "Leaders of all farmers' unions (approx 40-45) will take part in the meeting and discuss on various issues," said Pannu.

The meeting will be held a day before a nationwide a 'Chakka Jam' for three hours on February 6.

"The meeting on February 5 has been scheduled to discuss how to streanthen this protest. We will discuss some new strategies aiming to show our strength. The government is trying a lot to send us back, but we are not going back until the farm laws are repealed," said Pannu.

He also confirmed that the proposed meeting has nothing to do with the February 6 protest across the country. "The February 6 protest is fixed and we will not cancel it. We are getting support from all the states," he added.

Farm leaders at the protest site in Singhu said that the incidents of Janurary 26 have angered the people of Haryana and Punjab angry. "People who were earlier hesitating to join the protest are now full of anger," said a farm leader.
Lurking behind a groundbreaking lawsuit recently filed in federal court in West Virginia is a haunting question: What if?

What if local newspapers had been able to compete successfully for digital advertising revenue as their readers moved online? What if the powerful "duopoly" of Google and Facebook hadn't sucked up all the oxygen in this new digital economy, essentially asphyxiating traditional media by depriving it of the ad dollars needed to survive?

Would the newspaper industry be healthier - and therefore would our democracy be healthier? Is there still time for an industry to get up off its death bed?

The people behind this antitrust lawsuit hope to find out. Although there is no dollar figure identified in the complaint, West Virginia attorney Paul Farrell, who filed it, thinks the numbers could be astronomical: The two behemoth companies have pocketed billions of dollars in ad revenue - more than half of all the digital advertising dollars in 2019, for example - while newspapers have been struggling to replace the print-ad dollars that once sustained them.

"There is no financial stake large enough," to make up for what's happened to the newspaper industry in the past two decades, said Farrell, the lead lawyer in HD Media's suit against the tech giants. Nationwide, more than 2,000 local newspapers have shuttered since 2004; half of all newsroom jobs have been eliminated. That tragic trend has only accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic, just when the information they provide is most needed.

Certainly, the West Virginia papers have felt the pain. And just as certainly, local journalism is hugely important in the state.

In 2017, the Charleston Gazette-Mail won a Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting for revealing how the pharmaceutical industry was, in essence, poisoning West Virginia communities by shipping them an astonishing overload of opioid pills.

"Follow the pills and you'll find the overdose deaths," Eric Eyre's two-part investigation begins. Set in Kermit, W.Va., where the population is only 392, it describes a horror: "There, out-of-state drug companies shipped nearly 9 million highly addictive - and potentially lethal - hydrocodone pills over two years to a single pharmacy in the Mingo County town." Rural and poor, Mingo County had the fourth-highest prescription opioid death rate of any county in the United States.

For a newsroom of fewer than 50 employees, winning a Pulitzer was a triumphant moment, a demonstration that the paper could still live up to its proud, long-held mission of "sustained outrage" against wrongdoing. "I didn't know a darn thing about this subject a few years ago," Eyre told me in 2017, "but over time you can specialize and become an expert."

The glory was short-lived.

The very next year, the paper declared bankruptcy. HD Media became its owner with the leading bid at auction.

By 2020, the paper's prize-winning investigative reporter and some of its top editors had decamped to a new, nonprofit newsroom, the Mountain State Spotlight. They are doing vital work. But with only three full-time reporters, they can't cover the area the way two robust newspapers once did. And for residents without internet access or tech savvy, their journalism may go unseen, though they offer it free to newspapers across the state.

Even with their efforts - and those of the Gazette-Mail, which still has plenty of talent and ambition - "there is a dearth of local reporting that goes beyond the news conferences and really digs deep," said Greg Moore, executive editor of the nonprofit and a former top editor at the Gazette-Mail.

The lawsuit focuses on what it portrays as illegal monopolistic practices by the tech companies, and on a secret agreement - code-named Jedi Blue - between Google and Facebook, which is also at the heart of a separate, price-fixing lawsuit brought by several state attorneys general.

HD Media, which owns not only the Gazette-Mail but the Herald-Dispatch in Huntington and several weekly papers, is urging "every other newspaper in America" to join their suit.

"We are fighting not only for the future of the press but also the preservation of our democracy," said Doug Reynolds, the company's managing partner, in a statement last week.

Google and Facebook have said little publicly in response to the new suit, and have maintained that Jedi Blue agreement was legal and above board.

For many years, both companies have contributed to journalistic causes - helping newsrooms with their digital strategies, sponsoring industry events, sharing revenue and directing readership through various initiatives.

But investigative reporter Eric Eyre, for one, is unimpressed.

"They try to make up for what they've done by donating huge sums of money to support local journalism while they're killing local journalism," he told me.

Can these small newspapers really go up against the tech giants? And even if successful, would it even matter at this late date?

"I'm just a hillbilly lawyer in West Virginia," Farrell said, who has also sued some of the nation's largest drug companies on behalf of communities affected by the opioid crisis.

But, in representing the papers, he finds himself inspired by the famous "Braveheart" scene where Mel Gibson's character leads an against-the-odds charge with an exultant cry of "Freedom!"

Well, maybe. Those who care about local newspapers may not love the little guys' chances in this David versus Goliath situation.

But, given the importance of their quest, we can wish them godspeed.
While the events of the past few months have presented a challenge, Uni K Wax has been able to respond to the restrictions quickly with innovations and solutions that benefited both customers and franchise owners, explains Ozzie Grupenmager, Chief Operating Officer at UKW Franchising Company, LLC.

Thanks to quick response and forward-thinking,UKW Franchising Company, LLC, parent company to Uni K Wax Studio, a national franchise offering all-natural, unisex, body waxing services, is now experiencing a rebound from the impact of the Covid-19 crisis.

At the height of the pandemic, all Uni K Wax (UKW) Studio locations were forced to shutter their doors for several weeks. As a result, the UKW corporate team huddled on how to help the system overcome the reopening hurdles, navigate state and local restrictions and loss of revenue.

While the events of the past few months have presented a challenge, Uni K Wax has been able to respond to the restrictions quickly with innovations and solutions that benefited both customers and franchise owners, explains Ozzie Grupenmager, Chief Operating Officer at UKW Franchising Company, LLC. We know all of the small-business owners in our system are counting on us to have their back and do whats right.

Virtual Customer Experience

As a way to reduce person-to-person contact in the salons and ease customer concerns, the Uni K Wax team moved quickly to launch a mobile app, which gives customers the option to book appointments, self-check-in and pay using a smartphone. The app, which had been in development prior to the start of the pandemic, was put on the fast-track in order to help studios react responsibly to reopening rollouts.

UKW also implemented a live video-based virtual customer experience coordinator in some studios where staffing was an issue due to the pandemic. This also cut down on the amount of contact within the studios but allowed for socially distanced interaction through the safety of a computer kiosk and mobile app.

Safety Standards

Uni K Wax Studios stepped up its already extensive cleaning measures, which include personal waxing warmers for each client to eliminate cross-contamination, soaking all tools in a hospital-grade germicide and disinfecting all waxing beds in between services.

Waxers traditionally wore masks during services in pre-pandemic times, now studios require customers to wear masks as well.

Studio owners reconfigured public spaces in the studios to allow for social distancing, scheduled more time in between appointments to reduce in-person contact and allow for deeper sanitization between clients, as well as more frequent cleaning of high-touch points within the facilities.

The company leveraged its deep relationships with suppliers to make sure all personal protective equipment (PPE) was delivered to each location in excess of what was required. They also worked with each studio on a reopening plan in accordance with the respective state and local protocols.

Our customers were eager to return to our studios, but we wanted to make sure we welcomed them back in the safest way possible, explains Grupenmager. Once we got the green light to reopen, we were confident about the safety of our studios because we took the time to educate the system on all of the new and necessary health guidelines, and they had adequate PPE to protect our guests and employees.

Relief Effort

On the business side, UKW launched a comprehensive plan to help offset the financial hardship franchisees were experiencing in their businesses. The company provided franchise owners with tenant representatives to help them negotiate rent relief agreements with landlords. The corporate team also coordinated systemwide webinars to educate franchisees on the ever-changing requirements and deadlines of the PPP program.

UKW corporate also suspended all monthly recurring charges while the studios were shut down and also negotiated with vendors on behalf of the franchisees and helped cover short-term fees.

The road to recovery and normalcy is bound to take a few more twists and turns, says Daniel Franzblau. But we at Uni K Wax Franchising have demonstrated that we are here to support our franchise owners in good economic times and bad.

The efforts of the Uni K Wax Franchising team have been rewarded with what may be considered the ultimate compliment  new investors. Despite the pandemic, the company signed three new franchise agreements. The growth demonstrates the trust entrepreneurs have in the corporate team and their approach to ensure UKW remains a stable, consistent, and profitable leader in the personal care industry.

About Uni K Wax Studio

Founder Noemi Grupenmager revolutionized the beauty industry, bringing hair removal services from afterthought to routine beauty practice. Underwhelmed by her experiences, Noemi made it her mission to create a waxing-only salon for both women and men that was hygienically pristine, completely approachable and a one-of-a-kind business. In 1993, she opened the first-ever unisex waxing studio in South Beach, and within six months, the studio was servicing 200 customers a day.

In 2007, Uni K Wax began franchising under its parent company, UKW Franchising Company, LLC. Based in Aventura, Florida, the brand currently has 33 units in operation throughout Florida, New Jersey, and New York.

Uni K Wax Studio is devoted to the art of natural and safe hair removal in a clean and comfortable environment. They manufacture and supply their own wax to Uni K Wax Studios nationwide and offer both walk-in and by appointment service to male and female customers. Uni K Wax offers customers over 160 waxing services centered around their all-natural, paraben and gluten-free elastic wax. The wax is applied at body temperature, which makes for a more comfortable waxing experience.

For more information about Uni K Wax, please visit http://www.unikwax.com.

For more information about Uni K Wax franchise opportunities, please visit https://unikwax.com/franchises/.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government has issued 750 million USD Eurobonds in 2021 not as a result of the assessment of the moment, but it has been the assessment of the comprehensive policy conducted so far, Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan said at todays Cabinet meeting.

As long as Armenia has a state budget deficit, the increase in absolute size of the state debt is inevitable. But this is one part of the story, in addition to the absolute size, the relative figures are also being taken into account: the gross indicator which is used for assessing the debt burden, is the state debt gross domestic product ratio, in this case it is revealed how much burden the state debt is for the economy, the minister said.

The minister said till now, at least until 2019 Armenia has been mainly assessed as a country with low debt burden.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Edmonton, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) -Radient Technologies Inc. (TSXV: RTI) (OTCQX: RDDTF) ("Radient" or the "Company"), a manufacturer of high-quality cannabis based formulations and products is pleased to provide a corporate update on its business activities and plans for 2021.



Business Developments

Radient has successfully launched a wide range of Cannabis 2.0 products in Canada utilizing its Sales License in the provinces of Alberta, BC, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and is poised to complete additional product registrations for the provinces of Ontario and Quebec in calendar Q1 2021. This is a part of a broad strategy to launch Radient branded products in the growing recreational market for cannabis products in Canada.

The products being sold comprise of brands in concentrate and vapes categories to include the largest SKUs of concentrate products in the Canadian market in partnership with Premium 5 and more recently with Tunaaaaroom. As noted in the last quarterly update, the market for premium concentrates is showing early signs of adoption and growth and Radient is well positioned to create a market presence with its own brands and formulations. These include Tunaaaaroom and several others that will be coming to market in calendar Q1 2021 which also includes the first orders from Fluum. As a part of this strategy, Radient will be also be launching products in new categories, showcasing the Company's unique formulation capabilities and capturing greater market share and economics.

Radient is also pleased to announce its first shipment of orders in January 2021 with Tunaaaaroom in Saskatchewan under the brand name TRX. Radient and Tunaaaaroom will be adding additional retail brands in Saskatchewan in March-April 2021 in various product categories. These include resin, dabs, vape carts, juice crystals, THCa diamonds, Shatter etc. All of these products are slated to be launched in Saskatchewan during the course of calendar Q1 2021 as sales volumes continue to ramp up to complete the transformation of the business .

Radient Lab Services continues to drive innovation in cannabis product formulations in a broad range of product formats, including tinctures, dissolvable powders, emulsions, dabs and vape products. The Radient team is also working extensively on a diverse range of formulations in Cannabis 2.0 products such as beverages, topicals, edibles, and natural health products with a strong pipeline of next-generation products in development for future release. Radient is currently looking at strategic options to develop partnerships with other Health Canada licensed analytical testing providers to further leverage its scientific expertise, state-of-the-art laboratories and Health Canada Research and Analytical Licenses to drive value.

Management Changes

Radient is also pleased to announce the appointment of Harry Kaura as the CEO of the Company effective Feb 03, 2021. Harry is an Edmonton based hands on entrepreneur, with vast experience in operations and business development through his firm Amnor Corporation. He has over three decades of experience as a hands-on operator and fully capable to lead Radient into its new path as a profitable operating business. As a local Edmontonian, Harry is well connected and respected within the business community and will provide the leadership necessary to guide the Company's plans and execute its business strategy. The plan will be to leverage Radient's expertise in science and formulations and grow its revenues to build a strong Radient brand of cannabis products, particularly in the recreational cannabis space-both in North America and internationally. Harry has served as a Director in Radient's Board since 2013 and dedicated the past five months in the Business Development initiatives and the management of the operations for Radient. He led the team in Radient in the reorganization of the manufacturing unit that is in full ramp up mode since January 2021.

While Jan Petzel will hand over his role as interim CEO of Radient, he will continue to serve the business in an active advisory role to in support Harry Kaura and the team. Jan has been instrumental in leading the transformation of the Company towards a path to operating profitability in calendar 2021. This has been achieved through a combination of the accelerated commercialization of Radient's products, the rationalization of capital spending and the implementation of wide scale cost reductions. The Radient Board wishes to thank Jan for his leadership during this transformational period and is delighted that he will remain actively involved going forward.

About Radient

Radient Technologies is an innovative science-based company that is a commercial manufacturer of high quality cannabinoid based formulations, ingredients and products. Utilizing a proprietary extraction and downstream processing platform that recovers up to 99% of cannabinoids from the cannabis plant, Radient develops specialty products and ingredients that contain a broad range of cannabinoid and terpene profiles while meeting the highest standards of quality and safety. Radient also has a science lab that is focused on innovation with expertise in formulations and technologies offering unique solutions in the cannabis and wellness space. Please visit www.radientinc.com for more information.

SOURCE: Radient Technologies Inc.

For further information please contact:

Radient - Investor Relations, ir@radientinc.com

Forward Looking Information:

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the growth of the Company's business operations. 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 Radient, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Although Radient 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. Radient does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73640

Sen. Josh Hawley Only Senator to Vote No on All Biden Cabinet Picks

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is the only senatorRepublican or Democratto vote against all of President Joe Bidens Cabinet confirmations.

Hawley voted nay during the confirmations of both Pete Buttigieg as transportation secretary and Alejandro Mayorkas as homeland security secretary on Feb. 2.

Previously, he voted against Antony Blinken as Bidens secretary of state, Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary, Lloyd Austin as defense secretary, and Avril Haines as the director of national intelligence.

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have each voted against four of Bidens nominees. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have voted against three of the presidents Cabinet choices. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voted to confirm all of Bidens Cabinet nominees so far except for Mayorkas, having reportedly told his caucus to vote against him.

Lee on Feb. 2 voted in favor of Buttigieg, who was confirmed 8613. Sen. Lee was encouraged by his questioning with Mr. Buttigieg in committee, particularly with his answers on the problems with increasing the gas tax, and he is hopeful he can find more common ground with him as secretary, his spokesperson told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Hawley has been floated as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, although he said in a statement last month that he isnt planning to run.

Ive always said  that Im not running for president, Hawley said in a Fox News interview on Jan. 26. I just got elected barely two years ago. Theres a lot of work to do, and I look forward to continuing to fight for Missouri every day that I can.

In the past, senators and other politicians have gone back on such statements, however.

Hawley was also the first senator to announce that he would object to the electoral certification on Jan. 6, doing so for Pennsylvania. Cruz objected to Arizonas electors. Democrats and other groups accused the two of inciting the riots at the Capitol on the same day, although electoral challenges are supported by the Constitution, and Democratic representatives and senators have objected during recent presidential elections.

Since Jan. 1, Hawley has raked in nearly $1 million in donations, according to his team. The Missouri Republican has frequently spoken out against big tech censorship and attempts by corporations to silence him.

Publisher Simon & Schuster canceled Hawleys book deal following the Capitol breach. He responded on Twitter: This could not be more Orwellian Simon & Schuster is canceling my contract because I was representing my constituents, leading a debate on the Senate floor on voter integrity, which they have now decided to redefine as sedition.
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As complaints pile up about the states vaccine rollout, Massachusetts lawmakers are proposing a bill that they say would expand access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Democratic Sens. Becca Rausch of Needham, Sonia Chang-Diaz of Boston and Jo Comerford of Northampton on Thursday filed a bill, SD. 699, which aims to bring vaccines to communities of color that have not had access to appointments, as well as to Western Massachusetts and other parts of the state that havent been prioritized in the rollout.

Rep. Liz Miranda, a Boston Democrat, and Rep. Mindy Domb, an Amherst Democrat, are filing the House version.

It is I think it provides a necessary roadmap for the Legislature and the administration to consider as we go deeper and deeper into Phase 2, Comerford said in a phone interview. Phase 2 is actually very high stakes and we have to get it right.

While doctors, first responders and home health aides in Phase 1 could get vaccines with helps from their employers, those in Phase 2 learned they might be on their own when it comes to booking appointments.

The bill would create a mobile vaccination program, mandate free COVID-19 testing at each Gateway City and direct resources to increasing access to vaccines in communities of color and regions of the state that dont have a nearby mass vaccination site.

There is a lot to get done at once here as a commonwealth, but we cannot expect that equity is going to just sort of happen by itself or accidentally, Chang-Diaz said in an interview. We have to really be intentional.

Only then, she said, can Massachusetts come close to chipping away at decades and centuries of mistrust against the government that resulted from experimentation, mistreatment and unequal access to health care for people of color, immigrants and low-income workers.

Gov. Charlie Baker said residents should expect to see up to 120,000 vaccine appointments available next week, including 55,000 new appointments that were announced earlier this week. But many of those appointments are in predominantly white neighborhoods or require access to a car.

No mass vaccination sites exist in the states Black or brown neighborhoods. Even the launch of the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury has raised questions as its not in the heart of Bostons Black neighborhoods and has drawn predominantly white patients.

The rollout has been a fundamentally flawed process, its design inherently excludes immigrants and people of color and exacerbates the existing inequities we have experienced in our healthcare institutions, said Miranda, who represents Roxbury. There is no equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic without prioritizing the communities who remain most vulnerable. Black and brown people have been disproportionately diagnosed with COVID-19 and disproportionately die from COVID-19.

Western Massachusetts has one mass vaccination, the Eastfield Mall in Springfield. Residents in Hampshire and Franklin counties would need to drive, and those without access to a car have no way of reaching the site. Even for residents in the west side of Springfield, the site could take nearly an hour to reach by bus.

Even those who are eligible for a COVID vaccine cannot get an appointment unless they have internet and car access, ample time to spare, literacy in specific languages and technological proficiency, Rausch said in a statement.

Under the bill filed Thursday, Massachusetts would create a mobile vaccination program that could travel to cities and towns with the highest COVID-19 rates. The mobile program could also reach communities that lack public transit, such as parts of Central and Western Massachusetts.

The mobile program going into deeply affected communities and being available to anyone helps to bridge the transportation and access gaps which may be present in those communities that exist across populations, Domb said.

She and Comerford were among nearly a dozen legislators who signed onto a letter urging the Baker administration to add vaccination sites across Western Massachusetts, particularly Hampshire and Franklin counties.

While the state does not have a phone bank set up, lawmakers proposed maximizing federal reimbursement to help staff such a system to improve the rollout. One example lawmakers suggested was mobilizing the National Guard to help staff the phone bank to help people get appointments.

The bill would also create a multilingual mass media campaign to encourage people in the hardest-hit communities to get vaccinated, expand free testing to all Gateway Cities with no appointment needed and appoint an expert on vaccine disinformation to the states Vaccine Advisory Group.

The Baker administration would also have to appoint a vaccination equity and outreach director as part of the senior leadership of the COVID-19 Command Center. The director, who would report to Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders, would focus on disparities in vaccination rates based on racism, government mistrust and access to transportation and other resources.

Chang-Diaz said having a state leader dedicated to vaccination equity could ensure the issue doesnt get eclipsed by concerns other problems, such as hospital bed availability or the states ventilators supply.

I think that there is a general belief in and support for the idea of equity and that we all need to be thinking about equity in the command center, I really believe that, but it is so easy under the monumental pressures that they are under for that work to just sort of get back-burnered, Chang-Diaz said.

It just stands to reason that someone needs to be solely dedicated to this job, she added.

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VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp. (CSE: MEGA) (the "Company" or "MegaWatt") in conjunction with the previously announced name and symbol change is pleased to provide a project portfolio review and exploration summary. The Company anticipates growth in markets for cobalt, lithium, copper and silver as well as other battery metals as global electrification gathers momentum.

Cobalt Hill

The Cobalt Hill Property, consists of eight mineral claims covering an area of approximately 1,727.43 hectares located in the Trail Creek Mining Division in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. The Company was initially attracted to the property for its numerous narrow intrusive-hosted high-grade quartz veins containing visible gold sampling over 30 gpt.1,2 A large gold soil anomaly is untested by drilling and is a high priority target for follow-up. The Company is considering a program of induced polarization to provide further definition. Copper-cobalt mineralization was recently identified on the property during on-going prospecting and sampling programs. A rock grab sample from a massive pyritechalcopyrite band with a breccia zone, assayed 0.49% copper and 0.12% cobalt (Doyle, 2016) and was confirmed with sampling returning 0.63% copper and 0.125% cobalt.3

381 Lithium

The use of lithium in EV and rechargeable batteries is widely understood. The Route 381 Lithium Property is comprised of 40 mineral claims located in James Bay Territory, north of Matagami in the Province of Quebec, Canada covering 2,126 hectares. The Route 381 Lithium Property is located directly west of and adjacent to Stria Lithium Inc.'s Pontax-Lithium project. It is located in an exciting and prolific hard-rock lithium jurisdiction with several actively advancing lithium projects including Critical Elements Lithium Corporation's Rose Project, the Whabouchi Lithium Project and Galaxy Lithium (Canada) Inc.'s James Bay Lithium Project. An initial exploration field reconnaissance program is being planned for the upcoming season.

Tyr Project and Century South Silver-Zinc Property

The Company's silver focused projects in Australia remain a priority as silver plays an important role in EVs and the shift towards renewable energy sources. Silver's high electrical conductivity make it an important input in the electrical components of electric vehicles and solar cells. MegaWatt owns a 60% interest in a company that indirectly holds a 100% interest (subject to a 2% NSR) in two prospective silver-zinc projects in Australia, being the Tyr Silver Project and the Century South Silver-Zinc Project. The combined tenements consist of over 550 square kms.

At the Tyr project in northern New South Wales, the Company sampled over 500 gpt silver with additional lead and zinc values in grab samples from historic mine dumps. Review of the recent sampling program and further reporting is being carried out in advance of a drill program decision.

Acceleration of Expiry Date of Warrants

The Company also announces today it has elected to exercise its right under the terms and conditions of the common share purchase warrants of the Company issued on August 6, 2020 (the "Warrants") to accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants. The original expiry date of the Warrants was August 6, 2022. Each Warrant is exercisable to acquire one common share at an exercise price of $0.15.

Pursuant to the terms of the Warrants, the Company may accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants at any time prior to their expiry, in the event the closing price of the common shares of the Company on the Canadian Securities Exchange is greater than or equal to $0.22 for twenty (20) consecutive trading days by providing written notice to the Warrant holders, which may be provided by press release. The Warrants will, unless exercised, expire on the 30th day after the Company provides notice.

As of the close of markets on February 3, 2021, the closing share price of the Company has traded at or above $0.22 for over twenty (20) consecutive trading days. Accordingly, the expiry date for the Warrants is accelerated to March 5, 2021 at 5:00 pm (Vancouver time) (the "Accelerated Expiry Date"). Holders are reminded that all Warrants not exercised by 5:00 pm (Vancouver time) on the Accelerated Expiry Date will automatically terminate in accordance with their terms. Holders who wish to exercise their Warrants are encouraged to read the terms of the Warrants contained in the certificates representing such Warrants for instructions on how to exercise the Warrants and to contact the Company with any questions.

As of February 4, 2021, 2,210,000 Warrants remain outstanding. If all outstanding Warrants are exercised, proceeds to the Company will total $331,500, however there can be no assurance that any of the Warrants will be exercised prior to the Accelerated Expiry Date.

Qualified Person

Mr. Geoffrey Reed (MAusMM (CP)) (MAIG), Consultant for the Company, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure or Mineral Projects and has prepared or reviewed the preparation of the scientific and technical information in this press release.

1 Caron, L., 2010. 2010 Work Program Soil and Rock Geochemistry on the Amazing Grace Property: BC Ministry of Energy and Mines Assessment Report #31929.

2 Schulze, C. 2005a,b. Assessment Report on 2005 Exploration Program Claim, Amazing Grace Property: BC Ministry of Energy and Mines Assessment Reports #27824 and #27969.

3 Dandy, L. 2018. Technical Report on the Cobalt Hill Property, prepared for MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp. (formerly Walcott Resources Ltd.).

About MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp.

MegaWatt is a British Columbia based company involved in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in Canada. The Company holds an option to acquire a 100% undivided interest, subject to a 1.5% NSR on all base, rare earth elements and precious metals, in the Cobalt Hill Property, consisting of eight mineral claims covering an area of approximately 1,727.43 hectares located in the Trail Creek Mining Division in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.

Additionally, the Company has acquired a 60% interest in a company that indirectly holds a 100% interest (subject to a 2% NSR) in two prospective silver-zinc projects in Australia, being the Tyr Silver Project and the Century South Silver-Zinc Project (see press release dated August 13, 2020).

Investors can learn more about the Company and team at https://www.walcottresources.com

The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release includes "forward-looking information" that is subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Forward-looking statements may include but are not limited to, statements relating to the trading of the Company's common shares on the Exchange and the Company's use of proceeds and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties normally incident to such events. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future events and that actual events or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements represent management's best judgment based on information currently available. No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release.

SOURCE MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp.
Luanda  The general commander of the National Police Paulo de Almeida said Tuesday that all armed insurrection actions against the instituted power in the country will have prompt intervention of the forces of order.

The general commissioner was reacting to the occurrence in Lunda Norte province in which nearly 300 people invaded the police station of Cafunfo, municipality of Cuango.

Once there are legal mechanisms for the citizens to express their concerns, the highest official of the National Police advised the Angolans the avoid behaving with violence.

"Whoever act, with violence will have the prompt intervention of the forces of order", warned the Police commander.

On Saturday dawn at least 300 individuals from the Lunda Tchokwe Protectorate Movement invaded the police station of Cafunfo, municipality of Cuango, in the province of Lunda Norte.

The group, carrying firearms, blunt objects and throwing objects, had as its initial target the police station, where they intended to raise their flag.

Paulo de Almeida denied the information about the existence of conflicts in the eastern region.

According Paulo de Almeida, the force of order acted in self defense though regretting the deaths.

During the attack, four invaders died. Another two died at the hospital.

Among the injured people are included one member of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and another of the National Police who are in critical condition and four people linked to the invaders.

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The general commissioner was reacting to the occurrence in Lunda Norte province in which nearly 300 people invaded the police station of Cafunfo, municipality of Cuango.

Once there are legal mechanisms for the citizens to express their concerns, the highest official of the National Police advised the Angolans the avoid behaving with violence.

"Whoever act, with violence will have the prompt intervention of the forces of order", warned the Police commander.

On Saturday dawn at least 300 individuals from the Lunda Tchokwe Protectorate Movement invaded the police station of Cafunfo, municipality of Cuango, in the province of Lunda Norte.

The group, carrying firearms, blunt objects and throwing objects, had as its initial target the police station, where they intended to raise their flag.

Paulo de Almeida denied the information about the existence of conflicts in the eastern region.

According Paulo de Almeida, the force of order acted in self defense though regretting the deaths.

During the attack, four invaders died. Another two died at the hospital.

Among the injured people are included one member of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and another of the National Police who are in critical condition and four people linked to the invaders.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Pasay City has designated 13 schools and barangay courts as COVID-19 vaccination sites as part of its vaccination program, a local official said on Thursday.

In a briefing on the local immunization program attended by members of the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic team, Ma. Lourdes San Juan, assistant head of the City Health Office, said this in addition to 4 hospitals within the city that will be used for the same purpose. This will include the following:

Gotamco Elementary School; Andres Bonifacio Elementary School; P. Burgos Elementary School; Pasay City West High school; Padre Zamora Elementary School; and Juan Sumulong Elementary School for District 1.

For District 2, sites will be T. Paez Elementary School; Brgy 190 Covered Court; President Aquino Elementary School; Apelo Cruz Elementary School; Villamor Airbase Elementary School; Brgy 194 Covered Court; and Kalayaan Elementary School.

San Juan added that they are coordinating with church leaders to also establish churches as additional sites.

She said they are targeting to vaccinate some 130,000 residents who are part of the priority sector, including health care workers, senior citizens, indigent population, and uniformed personnel. This will take at most 22 days to be completed once doses are available, she noted.

Pasay City already signed an agreement with the UK's AstraZeneca for the procurement of 275,000 doses of its vaccine, which will be distributed to residents for free. The LGU also partnered with Orca Cold Chain Solutions for the storage and delivery of vaccines.

Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano also said they have an existing compensation system, "Take Care, I Care," that will provide an assistance of 30,000 per patient who will experience side effects after immunization.

The risk of catching coronavirus from frequently touched surfaces such as ATMs, petrol pumps and pedestrian crossings is low, according to researchers.

Scientists swabbed hundreds of supermarket door handles, post boxes and bin lids between April and June last year, during the first wave. But they only detected Covid 29 times  or eight per cent of samples.

And even when the virus was identified it was in amounts so small the researchers said the risk of infection was 'low'  estimated to be as little as one in 2,000.

The study carried out in the 700,000-strong city of Boston, Massachusetts, adds to an increasing body of evidence that Covid is not regularly spread by touch.

Researchers say droplets containing the SARS-CoV-2 virus emitted when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks are the main way the disease is passed on.

This study adds to mounting evidence that aerosol droplets are the main way the virus jumps between people.

Despite insisting contaminated surfaces play a minimal role in transmission, experts say people should still sanitise their hands to stay safe. They argue the virus can still enter the body when infected hands touch the nose and mouth.

Pedestrian crossing buttons, ATMs, petrol pumps and other frequently touched surfaces are unlikely to spread the virus, according to researchers

The results showed although the virus was found on bin handles and the doors of off-licences, although the quantities were thought to be too small to trigger an infection

The researchers from Tufts University, also in Massachusetts, swabbed the selected surfaces in the city almost every week to identify whether the virus was regularly present on surfaces.

They found samples were more likely to be positive when there was a higher infection rate, but dropped when fewer residents were testing positive for the virus.

'The estimated risk of infection from touching a contaminated surface was low (less than five in 10,000),' they wrote.

'[This] suggests fomites (objects likely to carry infection) play a minimal role in SARS-CoV-2 community transmission.'

They also suggested their system could be used to identify an emerging outbreak of Covid before it is picked up by testing, which is generally a week behind because it can take this long for an infected person to develop symptoms and get swabbed.

'Environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on high-touch surfaces may be a useful tool to provide early warning of Covid-19 case trends,' they added.

The study was published as a pre-print on medRxiv.

The researchers added they did not check surfaces in the home, such as kitchen tables and desks where people may cough and sneeze, which could carry higher levels of the virus if someone is infected.

Scientists say that the virus is unlikely to spread by touch, with droplets in the air being the main source of transmission. (Stock image)

England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty has repeatedly warned that the virus is spread through droplets in the air.

The Government's 'Hands Face Space' campaign urges people to ensure they have washed their hands, used a mask where appropriate and maintained social distancing.

It states these are the three most effective ways to limit the spread of the virus.

It also warns that in an indoor setting respiratory droplets from an infected person can spread, and that only a mask may reduce their dispersal.

The advert also states the virus can live for more than 24 hours in indoor environments - it is not likely to survive for long periods of time on outdoor surfaces in sunlight.
Tech startups helped drive the world's last economic recovery, after the Great Recession. This time around, they're poised to again fill a crucial role in job creation--and cities will play a major part in making that happen.

"Tech innovation has proven to be a very effective means of innovating ourselves out of crisis--creating new job opportunities, new business opportunities, even in a recession," says Stephan Kuester, a partner at research and policy organization Startup Genome, which is based in San Francisco. He made those comments on Wednesday during a virtual event focused on building successful tech ecosystems. "Surprisingly, we're getting many calls these days, from many places in the world, where politicians and policymakers in economic development are looking to jump on the bandwagon over the next 12 to 24 months."

The event, hosted by Startup Genome and titled "How Your Tech Ecosystem Can Be Successful in Attracting Tomorrows Unicorns," touched on a series of useful strategies and predictions for cities and policymakers-- not just in the U.S., but around the world--planning for the post-Covid economic recovery. Here are the three major takeaways:

1. Don't go all out for R&D

Heavily incentivizing software engineering or research and development is the obvious first step to building a tech hub. It's also the wrong one, Kuester says, because today's successful startup ecosystems require just as much emphasis on finding viable markets, commercializing products, and scaling companies over time.

He points to decade-plus declines in major economic metrics for startup ecosystems in cities like Seoul and Taiwan, which have reputations of going all-in on R&D, as evidence. And he says the corresponding upswings in regions like Silicon Valley, Toronto, and Vancouver are due to their healthy mixtures of technological development and business creation.

"These environments--Silicon Valley, Toronto, and Vancouver--are what we would call ambidextrous," Kuester says. "Both hands coming together. Great research, great R&D capability, intellectual capability at universities and research centers. And on the other hand, entrepreneurs that can really take a concept from idea to market, and scale it to a successful company."

2. Prioritize scaling over starting up

Especially in the Covid era, it's easy to start a company from anywhere in the world--and plenty have. It's no longer rare to find highly touted startups outside the country's major tech hubs. But U.S. scaleups, which Kuester defines as private companies valued at more than $50 million, remain concentrated in a handful of major cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City, Boston, and Chicago.

The key to building sustainable startup ecosystems outside those hubs, then, could lie in crafting infrastructure to encourage company growth rather than new business formation. While that might sound like the job of someone in an economic development organization, it's also key for entrepreneurs themselves to be thinking about this, says Arno Nijhof, director of ecosystems at The Next Web, a Financial Times-owned media company that hosts a series of annual startup conferences. He recommends starting by asking a simple question: What are the strengths of the startups that already exist in your community?

From there, Nijhof says, you can build on those strengths. And the cities can build growth strategies around the burgeoning businesses, including both investing in promising companies and building out the ecosystem's infrastructure. The result: a stronger set of resources for local entrepreneurs and a tighter-knit community of entrepreneurs who can help each other through tough situations. And the resultant large valuations and exits will, in turn, attract even more resources and deeper-pocketed startup investors.

3. Consider soft-landing programs

Entrepreneurs are always looking for an edge, even a geographic one. Nijhof says to consider creating a soft-landing program, where a local government pays entrepreneurs to move and launch a startup, or relocate an existing company, in their locale. Especially for smaller cities, it's a costly proposition--but, Nijhof says, talent follows opportunity, and these programs can help separate growing ecosystems from stagnant ones.

A decade ago, Chattanooga, Tennessee, floated $169 million in bonds for its local utility company to create community-wide internet access at gigabit speeds, and launched a corresponding program paying entrepreneurs to start companies there. The investment led to a renaissance: Chattanooga ranked No. 36 on last year's Inc. Surge Cities list of best cities in the country to start a business.

Adhering to the current brand positioning, CIGNEX unveils the new logo & website to reflect the rebranding initiative

AHMEDABAD, India, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CIGNEX Datamatics, a leading provider of Digital Transformation through Open Source, Cloud and Automation technology solutions & services, today announced that it has completed the buyback of Datamatics Global Services Limited shareholding and will be now operating as CIGNEX, effective immediately.

The company's executives, employees, and headquarters will remain the same. In addition to the current offices CIGNEX has opened a new office in Canada which will enhance the company's ability to service current and future customers in that region.

Over the last two decades, CIGNEX has established itself as a leading System Integrator in the Open Source space by successfully delivering over 900 projects to 500+ customers across the globe.

Fueled by investor funding, CIGNEX plans to grow further by marketing the organization in pursuit of new opportunities for future growth and expansion.

"Being an investor and having associated with CIGNEX for over 15 years now, we truly believe in the company's potential to grow. We are excited about the change and are confident that the evolving positioning will assist in achieving the company's growth objectives." said Rajeev Srivastava, Board Member & Investor, Basil Partners.

"This rebranding marks a significant step in the company's growth journey. As commitment to our customers remains our highest priority, we will ensure that they find no change in our services or in conducting business with the company's new identity." said Vidur Bhogilal, Chairman, CIGNEX.

The new brand name is effective immediately, and will be implemented across channels throughout the calendar year 2021.

For more information about CIGNEX, you can visit the company's website at https://www.cignex.com/

About CIGNEX

CIGNEX is a global consulting company offering solutions & services on Open Source, Cloud and Automation. Since 2000, CIGNEX has been delivering enterprise class solutions built using leading platforms & tools, which can be integrated with existing systems to achieve unparalleled results.

Media Contact

Priyanka Sharma

Head of Marketing

CIGNEX

priyankap.sharma@cignex.com

+91-07967010345

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1432393/CIGNEX_Logo.jpg
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UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
New Delhi:

Congress, BJP and Left delegation is expected to visit the violence-hit Basirhat on Friday. Basirhat has been hit by violence and it remained tense on Thursday.

Fresh tension was reported in West Bengals Basirhat area on Thursday forcing the police to lob tear gas shells and resort to baton charge even as the state government decided to ban some organisations for allegedly instigating people.

There may be some reports of small incidents, but the situation is under control, a senior official at the state secretariat asserted.

Fresh tension brewed up at Basirhat town and station area after the communal clashes in Baduria in the district. Police had to lob teargas shells and resort to baton charge to disperse an unruly crowd, a senior police officer said.

Also read: West Bengal violence: Fresh tension brews up in Basirhat; Mamata govt says situation under control

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Columbia to manage renovated seminary

The Lodge at St. Edward Park, the landmarked former Kenmore seminary being renovated by Daniels Real Estate, is now slated to open in May. And Columbia Hospitality announced that it will manage the 84-room facility, with general manager Jenne Oxford. She makes the move from Domicile, a Madrona Ventures hospitality start-up. She had also previously served at Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, where she managed the Alexis Hotel. Amenities will include the Cedar + Elm restaurant (with outdoor patio), two bars, Spa Vita Nova, fitness center, and 12,000 square feet of indoor events space. The park also has many walking trails and waterfront access. Originally developed in 1931 to train Catholic priests, the vacant building was sold to the state in 1977; it's now part of the 316-acre Saint Edward State Park. Daniels has a 62-year lease for the property. Work began circa 2018. The renovation team included Ron Wright & Assoc., architect; and Lydig Construction, general contractor. John Graham Sr. was the original architect. Daniels and Columbia previously partnered on The Emerald condo high-rise in downtown Seattle, which Columbia is managing.




Trade

"Wow, beautiful and thank you. Kindly share our national strategy, and contact people if available so that we see how the locals and the Diaspora can play part in this to build a trade intelligence network." This is a response on social media to last week's article published in The Herald "Key Sectors in the Success of the AfCFTA".

The comments reflect levels of enthusiasm around the AfCFTA. This cheerful anticipation is legitimate as the agreement is set to unlock a US$3 trillion market through accelerated industrialisation.

In addition, a recent study found in the Forthcoming 51 Geo. J. Int'l L. 4 (2020) indicate that AfCFTA is set to impact trade and development law profoundly, nevertheless, overhauling the rules of Africa and the rest of the world.

It is worthwhile to explore the unique features of the AfCFTA, and examine why it has been classified as not only a deep but also a progressive agreement.

The AfCFTA has relatively taken a record time to conclude in comparison with other agreements negotiation of trade agreements is an arduous task that demands a lot of time and specialised skills.

In another study found in the "Journal Economic Perceptive" economists agree that trade agreements synonymous with any free trade arrangement have winners and losers. The inherent risk of ending up as losers should be balanced with the temptation or easy protectionist route.

It is this hindsight that demands astute negotiators who will be careful not to steep their countries into problems.

The AfCFTA has been negotiated during a time when the world is increasingly becoming protectionist as evidenced by Brexit, the problems within the WTO and US-China trade wars.

The AfCFTA unique design allows flexibility and acknowledges variable geometry in the sense that state parties have the freedom to adapt to the AfCFTA as guided by the domestic regulations prevailing in each country .

Furthermore, the acquis principle adopted by the AfCFTA recognises and acknowledges the different levels of the RECs while at the same time managing the spaghetti bowl effect.

The five-year-periodic review of the AfCFTA allows the state parties to contribute to the monitoring and evaluation of the gains or losses that are inherent with any trade agreement.

It does not mean though, that state parties have to wait for five years to bring their concerns to the Secretariat -- Annexe 9 on Trade Remedies provides for the intervention. The efficacy of the institutes to uphold these provisions remain to be tested.

The design of the AFCFTA allows for the opportunity to add more instruments to the agreement.

This has already taken place as seen by the addition of the Protocol on Women and Youth announced last December at the AU 13th Extraordinary Session on the AfCFTA. Initially gender inclusivity was covered in the preamble and implicitly covered in Article 3(e).

However, preambles are not binding hence the development of the Protocol of Women and Youth. This reflects the AfCFTA as a developmental agreement that seeks to propel inclusive socioeconomic growth, gender equality, food security, in line with SDGs and Agenda 2063.

Objective criticism of the AfCFTA borders on trade governess issues within the AfCFTA. Trade Law Centre has observed that it may be difficult to unanimously concede to governess issues as a trading bloc because of the diverse complex challenges that state parties are experiencing.

State parties have been slow in validating the AfCFTA National Strategies. As of August 2020 only eight countries had validated their AfCFTA National Strategies and Zimbabwe is part of the 8 countries.

On the other hand 41 countries have offered to submit their tariff offers, which is a positive development by any standards. However, this mixed picture may denote that some state parties are still dealing with housekeeping issues to enable mitigation against the onset of competition in the AfCFTA.

The overlapping element of the FTA has also been a bone of contention.

Critiques have alleged that the AfCFTA may easily become yet another FTA, however, this has been rebuffed as state parties have agreed that the provisions of the AfCFTA will prevail in a situation where there is conflict with the provisions within any REC .

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Trade Zimbabwe By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

Notwithstanding the challenges the AfCFTA may face, it remains a deep progressive agreement which is set to augment Africa's overlooked business revolution -- a term coined in the "McKinsey Africa Report".

The "McKinsey Report" cites five core competencies to be developed by African enterprises; identifying the right portfolio of countries and cities, innovation of business models, resilience, unleashing local talent, and doing well by doing good.

The enthusiasm around the AfCFTA is high and it is this tide that state parties must harness as support of the AfCFTA and in turn deliver on the promised mandate.

Sitshengisiwe Ndlovu president of OWITZIMBABWE: MBA/UNCTAD: Trade and Gender Linkages/ IAC Dip/Cert: Trade in Services and SDGs: Robert Schuman Center of Advanced Studies/IDEPCert: Making the African Continental Free Trade Agreement Work. She writes in her personal capacity. For more on trade matters visit her Blog on website: owitzimbabwe.org
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a sharp rise in capital expenditure for the next fiscal to Rs 5.54 lakh crore, from Rs 4.39 lakh crore in the current financial year on February 1. On Monday, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawarchand Gehlot said that allocation of funds for schemes benefitting the Scheduled Castes by all ministries saw a 50 percent hike in Budget 21-22 as compared to last year. A sum of Rs 1,26,259.20 crore has been allocated for the same in 2021-2022, which notes a 51.65 percent increase from last year. In the case of ST, Rs 79,942 crore has been earmarked, which is also a considerable increase from last year.

Despite an improvement in allocation from previous years, SC/ST activists have called out on the discrepancies in Budget 2021-22 with regard to the welfare of the communities. As per a report titled 'Dalit Adivasi Budget Analysis 2021-22' by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, the budget shows a considerable gap in the allocation of funds as opposed to what prescribed by NITI Ayog.

Allocation gap

Dalit and Adivasi budget expert Paul Divakar of the Asia Dalit Rights Forum pointed out that despite the increase, there was a distinct "allocation gap" in the funds allotted to SCs and STs as per NITI AAyog's guidelines. According to the latter, the allotment due to SCs is Rs 161,260 crores while for ST, it is Rs 88,077 crore. But Budget 21-22 only allocated Rs 1,26,259.20 crore for SC and Rs 79,942 crore for ST.

"There is a total gap in the allocation of Rs 1,12,863 Cr under SC Budget and Rs 60,247 Cr under ST Budget," Divakar points out.

Divakar cites the example of the budgetary increase in funding for education. For promoting education for Dalit students, the Centre has allocated Rs 3,416 crore in 2021-22 toward the post-matric scholarship scheme which caters to the needs of hundreds of Dalit students. A total of Rs 35,534 crore has been earmarked for over five years.

In December 2020, the Cabinet led by PM Narendra Modi approved a proposal to invest Rs 59,048 crore for the post-matric scholarship scheme and also said it will bear 60 percent of the costs (Rs 35,534 crore)

"If Rs 35,534 crore was allotted for 5 years, the Budget should have allocated Rs Rs 7,106 crore toward the scheme this year. And yet only Rs 3,416 has been allotted, which is nearly half of what the Cabinet approved a month ago," Divakar tells News18.

Moreover, Divakar points out that even within the allotted funds, the Budget 2021 failed to allocate sufficient funds toward targeted schemes for the oppressed communities. Targeted schemes are the ones that have a direct impact on the community as opposed to general schemes like ICDS, PM Kisan Yojana and others not specifically designed to help the SC and ST community.

Out of the total budget allocated for SCs, only Rs 48,397 Cr (4.5 percent) has been allocated towards Targeted schemes and for STs it Rs 27,830 Cr (2.6 percent).

"In terms of schemes, most allocations are either notional or general in nature and do not have any great impact on improving the lives of those in the community," the activist observes.

READ: Why Child Rights Experts Feel Budget 2021 Missed Out on Children

Manual Scavengers, PWD overlooked

One of the underlooked sectors that activists have called attention to is the low budget Dalit and Adivasi women.

The total allocations for SC women is Rs. 15116 Cr and ST women is Rs. 7205 Cr which amounts to 1.4% and 0.67% respectively of the total eligible Centrally Sponsored schemes and Central Sector schemes.

"This is woefully less when compared considering the scale of the needs of Dalit or Adivasi women, who are marginalized even within the marginalised," National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) General Secretary Beena Pallical tells News18. The activist also pointed out that only Rs 600 crore has been allotted for the implementation of PoA act and PCR Act aimed at preventing atrocities against ST and SC. In addition, SC and ST transpersons have been given a complete miss while the budget for the welfare of persons with disabilities was also considerably reduced from Rs 1,325 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 1,172 crore in 2021-22.

Yet another aspect that the Budget was found wanting was in its allocation of funds toward SC/ST members involved in manual scavenging. As opposed to last year, Budget 21-11 allocated Rs 100 crore for a self-employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers, which is Rs 10 crore less than last year. No allocations have been made for Pre Matric Scholarship for children manual scavengers as opposed to Rs 25 crore which was earmarked for the same in 20-21.

"The budget reflects the lack of inclusivity and intent to help improve the lives of those in SC and ST communities," Pallical said, adding that the lack of SC/ST representation or consultation in Budget creation was a leading cause of the problem.
On Tuesday, Jeff Bezos was forced out as Amazon's CEO. (In corporate slang, he was "kicked upstairs.") Amazon's Board of Directors may have had enough of him furthering leftist causes at stockholders' expense. The decision to shut down Parler on his watch chased away some future customers from Amazon's web hosting services and caused some conservatives to stop buying from Amazon, although his successor is the executive who gave the actual order. More worrying to the financial community, it opened Amazon to lawsuits and government regulation. Morningstar.com, a financial website, reports:

The leadership transition at Amazon will take place as it grapples with unprecedented scrutiny. The company is currently the subject of probes from the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the European Union and other governing agencies about whether it participates in anticompetitive practices.

A few days ago, Forbes.com discussed Bezos's commitment of $2 billion of Amazon's money toward fighting climate change:

After facing criticism about its environmental record in recent years, Amazon is launching a new $2 billion venture capital fund  as part of its "Climate Pledge" announced last September  that will invest in clean energy and other technologies to reduce the impact of climate change, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

In May, Bezos created a palatial homeless shelter in one of Amazon's office buildings in downtown Seattle:

Amazon partnered with nonprofit organization Mary's Place to open the Mary's Place Family Center in The Regrade. The family shelter was built inside one of Amazon's office buildings. The facility is kept separate from Amazon offices through private entrances and acoustical isolation. The family shelter is an eight-floor, 63,000-square-foot facility. The space has a large dining room, an industrial kitchen with commercial cooking equipment, office space for Amazon's legal team to provide support to shelter residents, and recreation spaces for children and teens. Plazas and other public spaces surrounding the building were built to accommodate employees and shelter families.

Amazon's Board is responsible to Amazon's stockholders. Bezos will be free to pursue leftist causes, but not at Amazon stockholders' expense.

Editor's note: This item has been clarified on the matter of Bezos's successor.

Image: Jeff Bezos in 2018. YouTube screen grab.
Halliburton Company has announced it was awarded a contract from Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) to collaborate on its digital transformation journey through the maintenance and expansion of digital solutions for their North Kuwait asset.

It will allow KOC to accelerate their data-to-decisions cycle by designing and operating digital twins of the field to automate work processes, supported by DecisionSpace 365, a cloud-based subscription service for E&P applications.

Built on an open architecture, DecisionSpace 365 will help KOC engineers model, optimise and deploy intelligent work processes to plan, forecast and optimise production and asset operations.

The open architecture integrates Halliburton and third-party technologies to enhance operational performance and increase ultimate recovery.

We are excited to collaborate with KOC on their digital transformation initiatives and build on our previous work to increase reservoir recovery and production, said Nagaraj Srinivasan, senior vice president of Landmark, Halliburton Digital Solutions and Consulting.

By using cloud computing, IoT and real-time technologies to drive new ways of working, we can improve production planning, scheduling and enable virtual and autonomous reservoir optimisation. -- Tradearabia News Service
3 1 of 3 Courtesy of the Zemault family. Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Celeste Brown Show More Show Less 3 of 3





A vigil is planned for Friday to support the family members of Darrell Zemault Sr. as they view the body camera footage nearly five months after he was killed in a fatal police confrontation.

San Antonio police killed Zemault, 55, on Sept. 15 in front of his West Side home during an attempt to arrest Zemault on two family violence warrants. The department said the incident escalated after Zemault tried to grab one of the officer's gun, which resulted in another detective shooting Zemault in the back.
sa.global, the winner of the 2017 Microsoft Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Worldwide Partner of the Year Award, was one of the main sponsors of the Microsoft Digital Intelligence Conference, held on December 13, 2017 in Morocco. Mourad Jbiha, General Manager sa.global MEA presented how IoT (Internet of Things) devices and Artificial Intelligence can be brought together in Microsoft Dynamics Business Intelligence to drive decisions that enable companies to digitally transform their business.

The Digital Intelligence Conference was organized by Microsoft for its customers to illustrate and inform them on the latest trends, tools and products based on Microsofts cloud platform that help drive Digital Transformation in leading organizations across the world. Mourad Jbiha and Hicham Hizebry, Director and Head of Digital Transformation at sa.global Morocco held sessions on Business Intelligence & Analysis in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Mourad also presented a live demonstration on how Internet of Things (IoT) devices work together with Microsoft technology and solutions such as Dynamics CRM Field Services.



Mourad Jbiha, General Manager

SAGlobal Morocco

Hicham Hizebry, Director and Head of Digital Transformation

sa.global Morocco

The Digital Intelligence Conference was organized by Microsoft to help customers explore new opportunities to make their business more productive using Microsoft Cloud and Business Intelligence solutions and to help customers:

Learn how to make DevOps easy, fast and cost-effective with Open Source resources and tools on Azure

Equip their organizations for the future of analytics by exploring advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a new class of Business Intelligence (BI)

Understand how to get support for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) on Linux and Java, the PHP Web Application Platforms with OSS on Azure

The conference was a big success in providing a platform for customers to enhance their knowledge on the latest technology solutions, network and meet with domain experts such as sa.global.
Rebel Wilson and Jacob Busch are said to have split after their 'relationship fizzled out'.

The actress, 40, confirmed she had split from her younger multimillionaire brewery heir boyfriend, 29, on Instagram on Tuesday, after more than a year of dating.

According to E! News, distance played a factor in the breakdown of their relationship, with Rebel living in Los Angeles while Jacob resides in Palm Beach.

Friendly exes: Rebel Wilson and Jacob Busch are said to have split after their 'relationship fizzled out'

'There wasn't one incident that really happened to end things the relationship just ran its course and fizzled out', a source told the publication.

'They spent the holidays apart and it was getting a little hard to make it work since Rebel lives in LA and he lives in Palm Beach.

The insider added the former couple remain good friends and look back on their relationship fondly.

Smitten: The actress met businessman Jacob through a mutual friend in 2019, and made their red carpet debut at the 2020 Monte Carlo Gala for Planetary Health last September (pictured)

They said: 'Rebel and Jacob may even end up hanging out together in the future. Jacob has a lot of love and respect for Rebel and she'll always hold a special place in his heart. He adored her.'

MailOnline has contacted Rebel's representatives for comment.

Rebel - who lost 30 kilos last year - dramatically announced she was single by sharing a new portrait to Instagram where she looked glamorous in a blue denim dress outside a trailer.

Suddenly single! The actress, 40, confirmed she had split from her younger multimillionaire brewery heir boyfriend, 29, on Instagram on Tuesday, after more than a year of dating

'Lots on my mind...aghhhhhh...#single-girl-heading-to-Super-Bowl!' the Pitch Perfect star wrote.

The actress had been dating Jacob for over a year after they were first introduced to each other back in 2019.

They made their first red carpet appearance together at Prince Alberts Planetary Health Gala in Monaco in September 2020.

Jacob is estimated to have a net worth of $100 million and is heir to the Anheuser-Busch fortune.

Anheuser-Busch manufactures beer brands Budweiser, Shock Top and Rolling Rock among others.

The now exes were last pictured together on December 24 when leaving a ski trip in Colorado. The pair had spent the weekend attending a VIP invite-only viewing of a Winter polo match with several friends.

Last year she shared that she had known Jacob for a while. 'He's a very private person, so I don't like to give away too much in that department,' the actress said during a Q+A session on Instagram with her fans.

She tried hard: In mid January Wilson revealed on Ant Middleton & Rebel Wilson: Straight Talking she previously agreed to every date for a year in the hopes of finding love

'But I will say we dated before I started any of this health journey, as well as now. So that goes to show you, ladies: you don't have to be a certain size to get a boyfriend.'

In mid January Wilson revealed on Ant Middleton & Rebel Wilson: Straight Talking she previously agreed to every date for a year in the hopes of finding love.

The Aussie said, 'It was part of the rules of that year, not that I told people that was happening. I just gave people a chance and then I learnt lots about myself.'

The comedienne added: 'I did an experiment where I dated anyone who asked me out.

'Dont shut yourself off to love. I had lots of really good friends but I never allowed myself to get into relationships until the last few years. Life is short and you really have to go for it.'

Rebel previously dated actor Mickey Gooch Jr and stuntman Aden Stay, while Jacob previously had a romance with RHOBH Adrienne Maloof.

The blonde - who has been busy filming Pooch Perfect for ABC - lost almost 70lbs thanks to a new diet and plenty of exercise.

It paid off! The Pitch Perfect star with billionaire boyfriend Jacob in Colorado in December

'Ive tried, like so many women out there, Ive tried fads and diets and things before and Im like, I need to do a really holistic approach to this, this time,' she said.

The actress recently spoke about being treated differently since her dramatic weight loss.

She said on The Morning Crew with Hughesy, Ed and Erin that it was 'interesting' to see people's attitudes change following her transformation.

'I think what's been really interesting is how other people treat you. Sometimes being bigger, people didn't necessarily look twice at you,' Rebel explained.

'Now that I'm in good shape, people offer to carry my groceries to the car and hold doors open for you,' she added.

Transformation: Rebel made 2020 her 'year of health' and worked hard to overhaul her diet and fitness habits

'I'm like, is this what other people experienced all the time?'

The star said it was fascinating to see people's reaction to her weight loss. 'I also find it interesting that people pay so much attention to a weight loss transformation, when there's so much going on in the world,' she said.

Rebel made 2020 her 'year of health' and worked hard to overhaul her diet and fitness habits.

She shared a body-positive message with fans over the weekend, encouraging them not to judge themselves based on their weight.

The Hustlers actress posted a bathroom selfie to Instagram, in which she was wearing a robe and posing alongside a scale.

She wrote in the caption: 'Rather than step on the scale, look at yourself in the mirror and be like, "Damn girl, you're smart and talented and accomplished and perfect just the way you are."'
On the release dated February 3, 2021, the list of suppliers has been revised to no longer include: Dubai Holding LLC. Please replace the photo with the accompanying corrected photo.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210203005339/en/

SpendEdge has announced the release of its Global Inventory Management Software Market Procurement Intelligence Report (Graphic: Business Wire)

The updated release reads:

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE MARKET PROCUREMENT INTELLIGENCE REPORT WITH COVID-19 IMPACT ANALYSIS GLOBAL FORECASTS, 2021-2025

The Inventory Management Software market will register an incremental spend of about USD 1.23 billion, growing at a CAGR of 9.10% during the five-year forecast period. A targeted strategic approach to Inventory Management Software sourcing can unlock several opportunities for buyers. This report also offers market impact and new opportunities created due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Download free sample pages

Key benefits to buy this report:

What are the market dynamics?

What are the key market trends?

What are the category growth drivers?

What are the constraints on category growth?

Who are the suppliers in this market?

What are the demand-supply shifts?

What are the major category requirements?

What are the procurement best practices in this market?

Information on Latest Trends and Supply Chain Market Information Knowledge centre on COVID-19 impact assessment

SpendEdge's reports now include an in-depth complimentary analysis of the COVID-19 impact on procurement and the latest market data to help your company overcome sourcing challenges. Our Inventory Management Software market procurement intelligence report offers actionable procurement intelligence insights, sourcing strategies, and action plans to mitigate risks arising out of the current pandemic situation. The insights offered by our reports will help procurement professionals streamline supply chain operations and gain insights into the best procurement practices to mitigate losses.

Insights into buyer strategies and tactical negotiation levers:

Several strategic and tactical negotiation levers are explained in the report to help buyers achieve the best prices for Inventory Management Software market. The report also aids buyers with relevant Inventory Management Software pricing levels, pros and cons of prevalent pricing models such as volume-based pricing, spot pricing, and cost-plus pricing and category management strategies and best practices to fulfil their category objectives.

For more insights on buyer strategies and tactical negotiation levers Click Here

To access the definite purchasing guide on the inventory management software that answers all your key questions on price trends and analysis:

Am I paying/getting the right prices? Is my Inventory Management Software TCO (total cost of ownership) favorable?

How is the price forecast expected to change? What is driving the current and future price changes?

Which pricing models offer the most rewarding opportunities?

To get instant access to over 1000 market-ready procurement intelligence reports without any additional costs or commitment, Subscribe Now for Free.

Some of the top inventory management software suppliers listed in this report:

This inventory management software procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies.

Microsoft Corp.

SAP SE

Oracle Corp.

Blue Yonder Group Inc.

Zoho Corp. Pvt. Ltd.

Revel Systems Inc.

Unleashed Software Ltd.

3PL Central LLC

Vend Ltd.

This procurement report helps buyers identify and shortlist the most suitable suppliers for their inventory management software requirements by answering the following questions:

Am I engaging with the right suppliers?

Which KPIs should I use to evaluate my incumbent suppliers?

Which supplier selection criteria are relevant for?

What are the inventory management software category essentials in terms of SLAs and RFx?

Get access to regular sourcing and procurement insights to our digital procurement platform- Contact Us

Table of Content

Executive Summary

Market Insights

Category Pricing Insights

Cost-saving Opportunities

Best Practices

Category Ecosystem

Category Management Strategy

Category Management Enablers

Suppliers Selection

Suppliers under Coverage

US Market Insights

Category scope

Appendix

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SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions. To know more https://www.spendedge.com/request-for-demo

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Border guards in the southernmost Vietnamese province of Ca Mau had discovered a fishing vessel carrying 34 Vietnamese illegally entering from Malaysia, local authorities said on Wednesday.

The case was detected when the border guards of the Song Doc Border Guard Station and Song Doc Town police officers were patrolling the locality in the early hours of Wednesday.

At around 1:00 am on the same day, the patrol team saw the fishing boat numbered CM 91651 TS, owned and captained by Pham Van Chin, who hails from Nguyen Phich Commune in Ca Maus U Minh District, showing some suspicious signs when it was about two nautical miles (3.7km) from the Sao Luoi estuary.

As the officers inspected the boat, they found 34 strange people, including nine men and 25 women, on the vessel.

After requesting Chin to drive the boat to the Song Doc estuary, the authorities were able to verify that all of the 34 people are Vietnamese hailing from different localities.

They had left for Malaysia by air for work, but attempted to sneak into Vietnam by sea amid travel restrictions to prevent coronavirus spread.

Local authorities have conducted medical examinations and sent all of the border jumpers and crew members on the fishing boat to a centralized quarantine center for COVID-19 prevention and control according to regulations.

The case is currently being further clarified.

Last month, 38 Vietnamese people from Malaysia were caught attempting to go through the Song Doc estuary on a fishing boat to return home.

Ca Mau Province has a coastline of more than 254km, with over 80 estuaries connecting to the sea territory bordering several countries.

Cases of making illegal entry by sea through the province have been rampant and complicated, especially when the Lunar New Year festival is approaching.

Facing the situation, Ca Mau authorities have called on people to maintain high spirits for COVID-19 prevention and make immediate reports whenever detecting a suspicious illegal arrival in the locality.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Kem Sokha travels by car to his trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in Phnom Penh, Jan. 15, 2020.

The trial of opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) President Kem Sokha is unlikely to resume in 2021 due to ongoing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, according to court officials, despite calls to expedite the proceedings after nearly a year of delay.

Cambodias Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in November 2017, two months after Kem Sokhas arrest for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. His trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court began on Jan. 15, 2020 but was suspended in March last year on the pretext of the pandemic and Prime Minister Hun Sen has hinted that it may not conclude until 2024, long after the next election cycle.

The ban of the CNRP marked the beginning of a wider crackdown by Hun Sen on the political opposition, NGOs, and the independent media that paved the way for the CPP to win all 125 seats in parliament in the countrys July 2018 general election.

Kem Sokhas defense team wrote to the court two weeks ago asking that his trial be resumed, saying the drawn-out legal battle has severely infringed on his rights. While Kem Sokha is out on bail awaiting his trial, his political activities are restricted, and he has largely involved himself in humanitarian work. But the opposition chief has said that even such activities are viewed with suspicion by the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP).

In a letter dated Tuesday and recently obtained by RFAs Khmer Service, however, Phnom Penh Municipal Court Presiding Judge Kouy Sao told Kem Sokhas defense team his trial would not resume because of the threat of the virus and a growing backlog of cases.

The judge council would like to inform the co-lawyers that after receiving the request to resume the trial, the council believes the trial cannot resume this year because the COVID-19 situation remains bad and uncertain, Kouy Sao wrote, referring to the disease caused by the coronavirus.

On the other hand, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court has been busy with the criminal cases of the charged and accused who are being detained in overcrowded prisons. Those cases present a challenge for the Ministry of Justices campaign to resolve the court backlog.

Kouy Sao said that the judge council will look into resuming the trial within an appropriate timeframe to ensure the rights and benefits of related parties according to the law.

Concerns dismissed

Kem Sokhas lawyer Pheng Heng said the defense team will continue to push for the court to resume the trial, even if through alternative means. He said that if court authorities cant find a place to try Kem Sokha at the courthouse, they can find a different location, noting that past proceedings have been held in hotels and other similar venues.

Pheng Heng called on the Ministry of Justice to intervene in the case. He also dismissed the courts concerns over the coronavirus, saying China is sending vaccines to the country.

[The court] shouldnt be worried about COVID-19. Cambodia is planning to inject 10 million people and  people are using hand sanitizer and face masks, he said.

Pheng Heng noted that the Ministry of Justice recently announced that it had reduced the number of backlogged cases by 80 percent, which he said means that the court should have space on the docket to proceed with Kem Sokhas trial.

Kem Sokha maintains his innocence while rights groups and Western governments say the charges against him are politically motivated, have never been supported by evidence, and should be dropped.

Since his lawyers wrote to the court last month, U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy met with the opposition chief, calling for Cambodia to expedite his trial and restore his political rights ahead of upcoming commune and general elections in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The family members of CNRP defendants call for their release outside of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court while confronted by security personnel, Feb. 4, 2021. RFA

Mass trial resumes

Meanwhile, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday resumed a trial for 21 CNRP members on charges of conspiracy and incitement, questioning three activists about whether they had been in contact with the partys leaders living abroad, which they denied.

Acting CNRP chief Sam Rainsy, his wife Tioulong Saumura, CNRP deputy president Eng Chhai Eang, CNRP deputy president Mu Sochua, and other party officials have been accused of conspiracy, incitement to commit a felony or to disturb social security, and inciting military personnel to disobedience, under articles 453, 494, and 495 and 471 of Cambodias criminal code.

Mu Sochua and fellow party leaders and activists living in self-imposed exile had planned to go back to Phnom Penh last month to face the charges, which they insist are designed to silence the opposition, but were blocked by airlines because Cambodias government had canceled their passports or refused to provide them visas to enter the country.

Wives and family members of the defendants were forcefully prevented from entering the courthouse to monitor the trial by authorities, who detained four people before releasing them hours later.

Prumh Chantha, the wife of one of the defendants, told RFA the police had acted unjustly.

We will go forward and we will not be defeated, she said.

I am very proud of my husband who is a politician. As a wife I must follow his conscience. I wont back down and will continue to demand his release so the world will know of our injustice.

RFA was unable to contact Phnom Penh municipal spokesperson San Sok Seiha on Thursday for comment, but he has previously defended police action against the defendants family members, saying they lack permission to gather.

The trial is expected to resume later this month.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
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MPSC establishes new MI Power Grid workgroup on rate designs for distributed energy resources

MPSC establishes new MI Power Grid workgroup on rate designs for distributed energy resources

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 4, 2021

Media Contact: Matt Helms 517-284-8300

Customer Assistance: 800-292-9555

Michigan.gov/MPSC

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The Michigan Public Service Commission today approved orders establishing a new workgroup within its MI Power Grid initiative and adopting a definition of utility pilot projects while also extending deadlines for status reports on the effort.

MI Power Grid, launched in October 2019 with support from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, is a multi-year stakeholder initiative to maximize the benefits of the transition to clean, distributed energy resources for Michigan residents and businesses. The effort has three areas of emphasis: customer engagement, integrating emerging technologies and optimizing grid investments and performance.

In Case No. U-20645, the Commission order adopts a definition of pilot projects and objective criteria for evaluating such projects, and directs utilities to file comprehensive pilot plans before the Commission for funding approval that include the objective criteria to be evaluated.

The Commission agreed with MPSC Staff to extend the deadline for a second MI Power Grid status report to the third quarter of 2021, and the deadline for the final MI Power Grid report no later than Oct. 1, 2022, to grant sufficient time for full stakeholder participation in the initiative given the challenges presented by the pandemic.

In Case No. U-20960, the Commission established a Distributed Energy Resources Rate Design workgroup, following a request from the Michigan Senate last year that the Commission study rate design issues relating to the growth of distributed energy resources. The Commission has enlisted the help of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) to facilitate the analysis of rate design options for evolving energy technologies, with opportunities for feedback from stakeholders.

The order directs MPSC Staff to file a report by Sept. 1, 2021, that includes a comprehensive analysis of how customer-owned generation and energy storage are changing the way customers use the grid, cost allocation and possible customer charges, proposed rate design options and recommendations for the Commission to consider. Stakeholders and the public would then have the opportunity to comment before a final report is submitted by Oct. 31, 2021.

MPSC APPROVES CONSUMERS ENERGYS APPLICATION FOR ONE-TIME GAIN SHARING WITH CUSTOMERS

The MPSC today approved Consumers Energy Co.s application to share with its customers 50%, or $14 million, of the proceeds from the 2020 sale of the certain of the companys transmission assets to Michigan Electric Transmission Co. (Case No. U-20949). While the sale of transmission assets is not subject to MPSC regulation, Consumers nevertheless concluded its customers interests would be best served by a one-time voluntary sharing of the proceeds. The $14 million will be used to cover storm-restoration costs that exceed amounts included in Consumers Commission-regulated rates. Any of the $14 million not spent on storm costs would be distributed to customers through a bill credit in 2022.

CONSUMERS ENERGY POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS APPROVED

The MPSC approved several power purchase agreements (PPAs) involving Consumers Energy Co. and renewable energy providers. The Commission approved PPAs totaling 10.7 megawatts (MW) between Consumers and members of the Independent Power Producers Coalition of Michigan for the output of electric generation facilities fueled by landfill gas, specifically Energy Developments Byron Center LLC, Energy Developments Coopersville LLC, Energy Developments Grand Blanc LLC, and Energy Developments Pinconning LLC (Case No. U-20838). The Commission also approved an amended and restated 12 MW power purchase agreement between Consumers Energy and Michigan Wind 1 LLC for the output of the Oceana 1 Wind Farm Plant that supports the utilitys now-closed Green Generation voluntary green pricing program (Case No. U-20942).

MPSC APPROVES DTE ELECTRIC CO. PEAK PRICING TARIFF MODIFICATION

The MPSC today approved amended tariff language to DTE Electric Co.s dynamic peak pricing rate D1.8 to reduce the amount of time needed to notify participating customers of an anticipated critical peak event, designed to shift energy use to off-peak times (Case No. U-20923). The Commission previously directed DTE to amend the tariff language so that the notification period qualifies the program as a load-modifying resources with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the regional grid operator. DTE Electrics rate D1.8 customers now are notified by 6 p.m. the day before an expected critical event. Todays order permits DTE Electric to reduce the notification window to 6 hours, to comply with MISO requirements expected to begin in spring 2021.

To look up cases from todays meeting, access the E-Dockets filing system here.

To watch recordings of the MPSCs meetings, click here.

For information about the MPSC, visit www.Michigan.gov/MPSC, sign up for its monthly newsletter or other listservs, or follow the Commission on Twitter or LinkedIn.

DISCLAIMER: This document was prepared to aid the publics understanding of certain matters before the Commission and is not intended to modify, supplement, or be a substitute for the Commissions orders. The Commissions orders are the official action of the Commission.

# # #
Boeing shed 20,000 jobs companywide last year and has said it needs to cut 11,000 more this year, making it harder for the affected IT employees losing their jobs to find new work in the company.
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Decatur police say a Falkville man is back in Alabama on charges related to a rape last July.

Michael Lee Tyson, 20, was arrested in Michigan Jan. 20 and returned to Decatur Tuesday. He is being held in the Morgan County Correctional Facility on $15,000 bond.

According to police, the investigation began after a report was filed last July 7 on the alleged rape of a juvenile. The investigation determined Tyson, 20, who was 19 at the time, was the perpetrator.

On Sept. 4, police obtained two warrants for Tyson, charging him with second degree rape and production of obscene material. Tyson was then picked up in Michigan last month.


(Alliance News) - Watches of Switzerland Group PLC on Thursday posted a third-quarter sales hike, despite the Rolex and TAG Heuer seller being faced with closures of its UK store estate due to Covid-19 curbs.

Revenue in the 13 weeks ended January 24 climbed 5.7% year-on-year to GBP272.6 million. Third quarter trading "remained strong despite extended period of UK store closures", the watch retailer said.

In the UK alone, third-quarter revenue rose 1.5% annually to GBP186.1 million. Domestic sales were strong, it said, meaning Watches of Switzerland saw less of a blow from lower tourist numbers. For luxury goods companies, travel retail such as duty free shops in airports is a key revenue stream.

Watches of Switzerland said its UK unit got a boost from e-commerce sales, which more than doubled in the third quarter.

The company added that it does not expect stores in the UK to reopen until late March "at the earliest".

In the US, meanwhile, quarterly sales rose 16% on the year prior to GBP86.5 million.

For the nine-month period, group sales are down 4.1% at GBP480.2 million, hit by an 18% fall in jewellery sales and despite a 3.1% climb in luxury watches.

Watches of Switzerland affirmed its annual guidance, saying this was despite the England entering a third national lockdown in January.

"We delivered another strong performance, driven by continued strong growth in the US and a surge in UK online sales, which mitigated the significant headwinds, the extended period of store closures and the continued very low level of international business in the UK," Chief Executive Officer Brian Duffy said.

He added with reference to Brexit: "Tax-free shopping for tourists in the UK was removed from 1 January 2021. We continue to support all efforts to have the UK government review and change this policy."

Burberry Group PLC in January warned the UK will lose its attractiveness as a luxury shopping destination following the end of the VAT retail export scheme. The policy allowed non-EU tourists to get VAT refunds.

Alongside Rolex and TAG Heuer, Watches of Switzerland sells other luxury brands such as Cartier, Omega and Breitling. It joined the London Stock Exchange in June 2019.

Shares in the company were 1.1% lower at 635.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Hong Kong: More relief measures for the needy

(To watch the full media session with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Government has proposed to lower the working hour requirement of the Working Family Allowance from 144 hours to 72 hours and ease the eligibility requirements for the short-term food assistance programme to further help the needy.

Meeting the media this afternoon, Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong explained the rationale behind lowering the threshold for the Working Family Allowance.

The major purpose of this is to address the concern during these days when a lot of people cannot work full-time and have to take no pay leave.

Under these circumstances, a lot of families or individuals because of this situation, apart from a reduction in income, they may have lost the eligibility to apply for the Working Family Allowance and therefore, we consider it is timely to propose a lowering of that basic Working Family Allowance working hour requirement to 72 hours.

Dr Law noted that with a higher asset level, the food bank programme will benefit more families faced with unemployment or underemployment.

Again, many individuals who have lost their income would hope to have some kind of short-term relief for their food costs. But that is partly because their own asset level may have exceeded the current eligibility standard and therefore, they are not able to receive such a temporary assistance.

And so we propose to increase the asset limit for the eligibility of the food bank programme, basically it is more than double for different cases. The whole idea really hopes that this food bank programme can provide temporary relief for those families who may be affected by unemployment or underemployment.

The Government will brief legislators about the two initiatives on Monday.

It will submit a funding proposal to the Legislative Council Finance Committee as soon as possible so that the initiatives can be implemented in June, Dr Law added.

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Proceeds to be used to fund a return of capital from the UK Wealth Management division to Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.

TORONTO, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. (TSX:CF), (the "Company") announces that HPS Investment Partners, LLC ("HPS"), on behalf of investment accounts and funds it manages has agreed to invest in the Company's UK wealth management division. Subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions, HPS will acquire Convertible Preferred Shares (the "Convertible Preferred Shares") in the amount of 125 million (C$219 million1) to be issued by Canaccord Genuity Wealth Group Holdings (Jersey) Limited ("CGWM UK"), the parent company of the Company's wealth management operating subsidiaries in the UK, the Channel Islands and in the Isle of Man (the "Transaction").

HPS is a leading global investment firm that seeks to provide creative capital solutions and generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for its clients. HPS has over US$68 billion of assets under management invested in both large and small companies across a variety of industries and sectors.

The net cash proceeds from the sale of the Convertible Preferred Shares of approximately 120 million (C$210 million) will be distributed by CGWM UK to the Company and used by the Company for corporate purposes to optimize shareholder value.

There will be no changes to the management or operations of CGWM UK as we continue to seek to expand and grow that business through both internal development and acquisitions. HPS expects to continue to be a strategic and financial partner to the business on future acquisitions and growth opportunities.

"Partnering with HPS provides us with an opportunity to build upon the exceptional growth that our UK wealth management business has achieved under David Esfandi's leadership," said Dan Daviau, President & CEO of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. "The proceeds from this investment provide us with options and flexibility to redeploy capital towards strategies to advance our firmwide growth, enhance our long-term profitability, and provide optimal returns for our shareholders. "

David Esfandi, CEO of CGWM UK adds, "We are delighted to have found in HPS a long-term partner to further our strategic growth ambitions and consolidate CGWM UK's position as one of the leading wealth management firms in the UK and Crown Dependencies. Recognising the strength and potential of our business, this significant investment enhances our ability to invest in our client offering and our people and accelerate the future growth of CGWM UK to benefit our clients' evolving needs."

The principal value of the Convertible Preferred Shares is 125 million (C$219 million). On an as converted basis the Convertible Preferred Shares represent a 21.93% equity interest in CGWM UK. Cumulative dividends are payable by CGWM UK on the Convertible Preferred Shares at the greater of an annual 7.5% coupon and the proportionate share that such shares would receive, on an as converted basis, in respect of dividends paid to the Company by CGWM UK. The Convertible Preferred Shares carry customary minority rights in respect of CGWM UK governance and financial matters and call protections within the first five years. Further information in respect of the terms of the Convertible Preferred Shares is provided in the subsequent event note in the Company's Q3 fiscal 2021 unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements and in its MD&A for the period ending on December 31, 2020.

Completion of the Transaction will require the approval of the UK Financial Conduct Authority and each of the Financial Services Commissions/Authorities of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, and is expected to occur in the first quarter of Company's fiscal year.

Spencer House Partners LLP and Canaccord Genuity Limited acted as financial advisers and Travers Smith LLP acted as legal adviser to Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., while Rothschild & Co acted as financial adviser to HPS in connection with the Transaction.

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This press release may contain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). These statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's expectations, beliefs, plans, estimates, intentions and similar statements concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or expectations that are not historical facts, including business and economic conditions and Canaccord Genuity Group's growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "potential", "continue", "target", "intend", "could" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and a number of factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. In evaluating these statements, readers should specifically consider various factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited `to, market and general economic conditions, the nature of the financial services industry and the risks and uncertainties discussed from time to time in the Company's interim condensed and annual consolidated financial statements, its annual report and its annual information form ("AIF") filed on www.sedar.com as well as the factors discussed in the sections entitled "Risk Management" and "Risk Factors" in the AIF, which include market, liquidity, credit, operational, legal and regulatory risks. Material factors or assumptions that were used by the Company to develop the forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, those set out in the Fiscal 2020 Outlook section in the annual MD&A and those discussed from time to time in the Company's interim condensed and annual consolidated financial statements, its annual report and the AIF filed on www.sedar.com. The preceding list is not exhaustive of all possible risk factors that may influence actual results. Readers are cautioned that the preceding list of material factors or assumptions is not exhaustive. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what management believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Except as may be required by applicable law, the Company does not undertake, and specifically disclaims, any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, further developments or otherwise.

ABOUT HPS INVESTMENT PARTNERS LLC

HPS Investment Partners is a leading global investment firm that seeks to provide creative capital solutions and generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our clients. We manage various strategies across the capital structure that include syndicated leveraged loans and high yield bonds to privately negotiated senior secured debt and mezzanine investments, asset-based leasing and private equity. The scale and breadth of our platform offers the flexibility to invest in companies large and small, through standard or customized solutions. At our core, we share a common thread of intellectual rigor and discipline that enables us to create value for our clients, who have entrusted us with over $68 billion of assets under management as of January 2021. For more information, please visit www.hpspartners.com.

ABOUT CANACCORD GENUITY WEALTH MANAGEMENT

The wealth management operations of the Canaccord Genuity Group (Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management) provide comprehensive wealth management solutions and brokerage services to individual investors, private clients, charities and intermediaries through a full suite of services tailored to the needs of clients in each of its markets. Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management has Investment Advisors (IAs) and professionals in Canada, the UK, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Australia and has advisors in Canada who are registered in the U.S. Since 2016, Canaccord Genuity has materially invested to support the growth of its wealth management businesses in all geographies. As a result of this growth, client assets have increased substantially, and Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management has become a stable and significant contributor to firmwide profitability and earnings.

ABOUT CANACCORD GENUITY GROUP INC.

Through its principal subsidiaries, Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. (the "Company") is a leading independent, full-service financial services firm, with operations in two principal segments of the securities industry: wealth management and capital markets. Since its establishment in 1950, the Company has been driven by an unwavering commitment to building lasting client relationships. We achieve this by generating value for our individual, institutional and corporate clients through comprehensive investment solutions, brokerage services and investment banking services. The Company has wealth management offices located in Canada, the UK, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Australia. The Company's international capital markets division operates in North America, UK & Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. is publicly traded under the symbol CF on the TSX.

___________________

1 Approximate Canadian Dollar equivalent based on current exchange rate

SOURCE Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.cgf.com


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Home for Palestinian Barakat Mour is a hillside cave in the West Bank, which he says is often under threat from Israeli settlers in the occupied territory.

Youll be sitting with your wife in the cave and the settlers will raid it without any notice, Mour, 60, told Reuters about his familys dwelling near the West Bank city of Hebron.

Here is where I was born. I was born in this cave. Homeland is very dear and my land is very dear to me, it is part of me, he said.

The Israeli military said that in recent weeks there have been several reports of friction between settlers and Palestinians in caves near the village of (At-Tuwani) and that troops worked to separate the participants and restore order.

Natural caves dot the southern Hebron hills. According to the Israeli rights group BTselem, Palestinian cave-dwellers have been living there at least since the 1830s, using some caves as shelter for sheep and goats and others as homes.

Most have openings carved from stone and are divided into a living space, a storage area and a kitchen.

Mour and his 12 brothers live in the Palestinian village of Yatta, but spend most days in a cave and rotate sleeping there to deter settlers from seizing it at night, he said.Mour said that in one incident last week around 70 settlers entered the cave and damaged property.

Some 440,000 settlers live among more than 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank, territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and that Palestinians seek for a future state.

Most countries view Israeli settlements in occupied territory as illegal under international law. Israel disputes this, citing historic, biblical and political links to the land as well as security needs.

Israeli and Palestinian activists have staged demonstrations outside the cave to support Mours family.

At one recent protest, on Jan. 23, activists banged drums and chanted occupation, no more towards a group of settlers before being dispersed by Israeli troops firing stun grenades.

The military said a disturbance developed during which a number of Palestinians violated an order to leave the area, resulting in soldiers employing riot dispersal means.

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Australian citizen accused of collaborating with North Korea

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Himachal Pradesh's capital Shimla received the first snowfall of 2021 on Thursday, February 4. Fresh snowfall started in Shimla, Kufri, Keylong, Kalpa and several other high reaches of the state on Thursday morning and continued till filing of the report. (Image: ANI)
NEW DELHI : The Airports Authority of India ( AAI ) will begin the third stage of the airport privatization process for 6-10 airports in April, civil aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said on Thursday.

The government will use a new approach for privatizing airports, clubbing a profitable airport with a loss-making airport for the sale process, Kharola said. AAI is examining the feasibility of giving a non-profitable airport and a profit-making airport as a package. We could see six to 10 airports being taken up," he said.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech that the government will privatize airports operated by AAI from tier II and III cities during 2021-22.

AAI is raising 2,100 crore from banks for its capital expenditure requirements in 2021-22, its acting chairman Anuj Agarwal said.

AAI has already approved Adani Groups proposal to take over the Mumbai airport, Agarwal said.

In September 2020, the Gautam Adani-led conglomerate had entered into a definitive pact to buy the debt of GVK Airport Developers Ltd, against which a 50.5% stake in Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) had been pledged. The Adani Group had said it will also buy the combined 23.5% stake held by Airport Co. of South Africa and South Africas Bidvest group in MIAL.

The divestment process of Air India is also on track, Kharola said. The transaction adviser has received the expressions of interest from bidders. The transaction adviser will now seek financial bids from the qualified bidders," he said.

The tax incentives for aircraft lessors to set up shop at Gujarats Gift city will help Indian airlines to save foreign exchange costs while leasing aircraft, Kharola said.

The price cap on non-domestic flight tickets will not be a permanent feature, he said, adding that once the number of flyers increase to pre-covid levels, it will be done away with. When domestic flights restarted on 25 May after two months, the government had introduced fare bands to make it affordable for flyers.The fare band is in place till 31 March.

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WASHTENAW COUNTY  The cases against Justen Watkins and co-defendant Alfred Gorman were delayed for a second time Feb. 4 at the request of their attorneys.

Gorman, 35, of Taylor and Watkins, 25, of Bad Axe were arrested Oct. 29 at their places of residence by Michigan State Police and the FBI on multiple felony charges filed by the Michigan Attorney Generals Office.

The two are being charged by Attorney General Dana Nessel with gang membership, unlawful posting of a message, and using computers to commit a crime, each felony charges.

During court hearing in 14A-1 District Court in Washtenaw County scheduled for Feb. 4, Watkins attorney Robert Dawid asked for a delay in the case because new discovery information was delivered to his office recently, but due to a coronavirus case in his household, he is under quarantine.

The public defender representing Gorman also asked for an extension.

On Dec. 17, the case against the defendants was delayed to provide time for Gorman to seek new representation. However, during the Feb. 4 hearing he was still represented by the public defenders office. Washtenaw County Judge Cedric Simpson asked Gorman if he had sought outside counsel, but Gorman responded that he was unable to seek counsel until he sold his home.

I am selling my house and the funds going from my house will be going to my legal counsel, Gorman said. I have someone interested but the process is taking longer than Id think it would.

Simpson told Gorman the court will not wait for him to sell his house. Gorman told Simpson he understood that, but said he did not want to waive his preliminary hearing and asked that it be set as late of date as possible.

Both attorneys and the attorney generals office agreed to set a later date. Simpson set another probable cause conference for Feb. 25, 2021.

Gorman and Watkins are both out of jail on bond. Previously State Assistant Attorney General Sunita Doddamani asked the court for an additional condition to be added to the bonds of Watkins and Gorman. According to Doddamani, Watkins had allegedly been reaching out to fellow members of The Base.

The charges against Watkins and Gorman stem from a December 2019 incident.

The suspects are linked to a December 2019 incident in Dexter, in which a family was terrorized at their home after the men allegedly used intimidation tactics on the premises and posted messages to other The Base members targeting the home, an attorney general press release reads.

In the release, Nessel said situations of intimidation cannot be tolerated.

Using tactics of intimidation to incite fear and violence constitutes criminal behavior, Nessel said. We cannot allow dangerous activities to reach their goal of inflicting violence and harm on the public. I am proud to work alongside law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal levels to safeguard the publics safety from these serious threats.

According to the release, on Dec. 11, 2019 around 11:30 p.m. the victims reportedly witnessed Watkins and Gorman around their home, shining a light and taking photos from the front porch of the home.

The photos were then uploaded to The Bases channel on the social media platform Telegram with the caption: The Base sends greetings to Daniel Harper of the Antifa podcast I Dont Speak German, the release reads.

According to the release, Watkins and Gorman intended to threaten and intimidate Harper, but mistakenly believed he resided at the victims home.

The Base is reportedly a white supremacy organization that openly advocates for violence, according to the attorney generals office.

Gorman is reportedly an associate of Watkins and The Base, and is claimed to have assisted Watkins in the alleged crimes. Because of such, the court have linked the two cases together.

Watkins claims to have been appointed leader of The Base, and reportedly ran a 'hate camp' for members of the group, where he led tactical and firearms training for participants with the goal of being prepared for the violent overthrow of the government, the release reads. The photo of the Dexter home was used by The Base to encourage harassment by its members on the family.

Pending further delays the cases against Gorman and Watkins will resume Feb. 25 at 9 a.m.
Madam Zinabu Yakubu, a Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) at Tanina in the Wa West District, has appealed to benevolent individuals and organizations to support the community to complete a maternity unit under construction.



She said the unit, when completed, would help alleviate the challenges women went through to access skilled delivery services at Poyentanga or Wa in the Upper West Region.



We dont have a delivery room here so women go to Poyentanga or Wa. We are suffering but what can we do, Madam Yakubu said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA).



She said she had served the women in the community for several years, as a TBA, until the Government made it mandatory for every pregnant woman to deliver at a health facility.



Our CHPS compound doesnt have a place for delivery. If we are able to build this one here I will support the women to deliver because sometimes I follow them either to Wa or Poyentanga to ensure they deliver safely, she said.



It will help us a lot but I cannot do anything. I will only plead that some kind people should help us.



Meanwhile, Mr Seidu Kassim, the Assembly Member of the Tanina Electoral Area, told the GNA that they had been able to raise some money to start the project but required GH39,689.00 to complete.



He said the amount covered the cost of roofing, plumbing, tiling and other finishing works.



The decision to construct the facility stemmed from the need to help reduce the drudgery pregnant women went through to access skilled delivery services, he said, and that the required amount was huge and the community alone could not raise it.



Mr Kassim said the chief of the community led the initiative about three years ago following a promise by the Wa West District Health Directorate to provide the CHPS facility with a midwife if the maternity unit was constructed.



I am appealing to kind hearted people and NGOs to help us to build this maternity ward so that Tanina women will not have to travel to other places to deliver, he said.



The facility, he said, also lacked water, which affected its smooth operation as the health staff had to source water from a borehole at the community.



In recent days, pregnant women are required to deliver at health institutions as part of measures to reduce maternal mortality as well as meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal on Health.



In some jurisdictions, women who delivered at home were fined at the health facilities.



Meanwhile, access to delivery services at some of those health facilities, particularly at the rural level, is a privilege owing to the long distance pregnant women had to trek on deplorable roads before accessing care.

Source: GNA









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The state government is currently netting over Rs 25 crore per day, on an average, through registration of properties, indicating a realty boom in the state. Despite the lockdown and slowdown in 2020, property registrations fetched Rs 2,806 crore for the state government till date in 2020-21. (Representational Photo: PTI)

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government is banking on land and liquor to mop up its revenues while drafting its upcoming budget 2021-22. This dependence became direr in the wake of the recent Union budget, which dealt a deadly blow to Telangana by imposing cuts in tax devolution, besides levying an agricultural cess on fuel.

The state government is estimated to lose Rs 5,000 crore due to a cut in share of its tax devolution and an additional Rs 300 crore on account of the Agri cess.

Taking into account the twin losses, the state government is now seriously considering selling off government lands and increasing liquor sales, as it is left with no other option to make up for the losses incurred, according to official sources in the finance department.

With realty booming across Telangana, especially after the launch of Dharani portal in November 2020, the state government wants to encash it by putting some prime government land parcels, especially on the citys outskirts and neighbouring districts, for auction in 2021-22 to mobilise funds for the next fiscal year, the sources added.

After realty, liquor was identified as the next significant source of notching up additional revenues for the state. Though all sectors in the state were battered due to the Coronavirus pandemic, lockdown and subsequent slowdown, realty and liquor sectors led the recovery of the state economy and earned huge revenues for the state government.

The state government is currently netting over Rs 25 crore per day, on an average, through registration of properties, indicating a realty boom in the state. Despite the lockdown and slowdown in 2020, property registrations fetched Rs 2,806 crore for the state government till date in 2020-21.

Liquor has consistently come to the rescue of the state government, since the formation of Telangana in June 2014. The government earned an excise revenue of Rs 10,813 crore in the very first year of state formation, an increase of Rs 1,000 crore compared to Rs 9,800 crore earned in 2013-14, a year before the formation of a separate state. Excise revenues from alcohol further increased to Rs 20,000 crore in 2018 and Rs 25,000 crore in 2019.

The figures for 2020 are yet to be released, but it is estimated that excise revenues will cross Rs 30,000 crore by the end of the remaining two months of this fiscal.

The government had recently issued a notification to permit 159 news bars across the state from next week. Of these, 55 will be permitted in the GHMC limits, while 19 will be located in GHMC periphery and the remaining in districts. Telangana already has 800 bars and 27 clubs that serve liquor, besides 2,144 liquor shops.

The government would earn nearly Rs 50 crore through licence fees itself to set up bars at the average licence fee of Rs 30 lakh per bar.

The state government waited for the Union budget to kickstart its budgetary preparation exercise, with a fervent hope that the Centre would increase tax devolution to states, increase the FRMB limit to five per cent so that it could augment its financial resources to combat the Corona-induced financial crisis. However, all these hopes were dashed after the budget was unveiled.

The tax devolution, Telanganas share in Central taxes, came down to 2.102 per cent for 2021-22 from 2.133 in 2020-21 as per the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. In fact, it was on a higher side at 2.437 per cent in 2019-20, when the recommendations of Fourteenth Finance Commission were in force.

The state government was hoping to garner Rs 18,000 crore towards tax devolution in 2021-22. A thorough analysis done by the finance department on the Union budget concluded that Telangana would not get more than Rs 13,390 crore.

Rubbing further salt to wounds, the Centre has imposed an agri cess on petrol and diesel, and to ensure the additional cess does not burden motorists, the Centre reduced excise duty on fuel correspondingly.

Excise duty comes under Centres tax, which it shares with states as part of tax devolution. But the entire amount accrued through cesses go directly to the Centre and there is no need for the Centre to share a portion of cesses with the states.

This proved to be a double whammy for Telangana, which is now looking at sale of lands and liquor to cover up these losses.
When Representative Nicole Malliotakis voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud, constituents and local Democrats protested outside her New York office.

An editorial in her local paper, the Staten Island Advance, said she let America down.

On Monday, a new political action committee  NICPAC, or Nicole Is Complicit PAC  raised more than $20,000 within four hours of launching its website.

But Ms. Malliotakis unseated Max Rose, a Democrat, this past November in no small part because of her allegiance to former President Donald J. Trump, who endorsed her. The congresswoman has continued to stand firm with the former presidents base, even if that means leaving others behind.

She said her loyalty was to New Yorks Republicans, but especially to the narrow, conservative pocket of New York City  a swath of Staten Island and a portion of Brooklyn  that made her the only Republican elected to Congress from the five boroughs.
Mainsail Partners, a growth equity firm that invests in fast-growing, bootstrapped software companies, has announced eight internal promotions: Emily Azevedo has been promoted to Operating Partner; Jason Frankel to Principal; Rebecca Glatt to Director of Talent; Cleo Nguyen to Director of Compliance; and Matthew Solomon, Tate Cook, John Mathew and Sarita Ray to Senior Managers. The promotions support Mainsails strategy of providing strategic and operational support to accelerate the growth of its portfolio companies.

The promotions of these individuals are a reflection of the significant value each has contributed to Mainsail and to our portfolio companies, said Gavin Turner, Managing Partner at Mainsail. We are proud of their accomplishments and are confident they will continue to support our mission to help founder-led software companies succeed in the next phase of growth.

Emily Azevedo joined Mainsail as Director of Talent in 2016 and was promoted to Vice President in 2017. She has played a critical role in developing the firms talent practice, expanding Mainsails network of software experts and recruiting experienced executives across Mainsails portfolio. Since joining Mainsail, Emily has had a direct hand in hiring 105 executives and board members into Mainsail portfolio companies. Prior to joining the firm, Emily spent three years at Heidrick & Struggles as an Engagement Manager in the Global Technology & Services Practice.

Jason Frankel joined Mainsail as an Associate in 2014 and was most recently a Vice President before his promotion to Principal. Jason has helped Mainsails efforts in sourcing, executing, and managing investments. He currently sits on the boards of PlanHub, FullBay, The Aspire Software Company, ResMan and GTreasury. Prior to joining Mainsail, Jason was an Investment Banker at Raymond James & Associates in Nashville, TN.

Rebecca Glatt joined Mainsail in 2017 as a Talent Analyst and was most recently a Senior Talent Manager before her promotion to Director of Talent. Matthew Solomon and John Mathew joined the firm in 2019; Matthew has been promoted to Senior Revenue Operations Manager and John to Senior Manager. Tate Cook joined as Manager, FP&A and has been promoted to Senior Manager, FP&A. Sarita Ray has been promoted to Senior Marketing Manager. All five individuals serve on Mainsails Operations Team, working closely with Mainsails portfolio companies to drive value. In 2018, Cleo Nguyen joined as Compliance Manager and has been promoted to Director of Compliance.

About Mainsail Partners

Mainsail Partners is a San Francisco-based growth equity firm that invests exclusively in fast-growing, bootstrapped software companies. The firm has raised over $1.2 billion and invested in more than 50 growing companies since 2003. Mainsail prioritizes investments in B2B software companies with compelling business models in growing markets. The firms approach to driving value creation is anchored in a dedicated Operations Team that is purpose-built to help founders scale their businesses and accelerate growth. These women and men include former software company operators who leverage real-world experience, well-established best practices, and a true partnership ethos to support management teams. For more information, visit mainsailpartners.com or follow the firm on LinkedIn.
In early September, as the school year inched closer, a group of mothers in New Jersey decided they would gather in a park, at a safe social distance, and scream their lungs out. For months, as the pandemic disrupted work and home life, these moms, like so many parents, had been stretched thin  acting as caregivers, teachers and earners at once. They were breaking.

As are mothers all over the United States.

By now, you have read the headlines, repeating like a depressing drum beat:

Working moms are not okay. Pandemic Triples Anxiety And Depression Symptoms In New Mothers. Working Moms Are Reaching The Breaking Point.

You can also see the problem in numbers: Almost 1 million mothers have left the workforce  with Black mothers, Hispanic mothers and single mothers among the hardest hit. Almost one in four children experienced food insecurity in 2020, which is intimately related to the loss of maternal income. And more than three quarters of parents with children ages 8 to 12 say the uncertainty around the current school year is causing them stress.

Despite these alarm bells clanging, signaling a financial and emotional disaster among Americas mothers, who are doing most of the increased amount of child care and domestic work during this pandemic, the cultural and policy response enacted at this point has been nearly nonexistent.


WASHINGTON  More than 370 Democratic congressional aides issued an unusual public appeal on Wednesday, imploring senators  in some cases their own bosses  to convict former President Donald J. Trump for inciting a violent attack on our workplace that threatened the peaceful transition of power.

In a starkly personal letter, the staff members describe ducking under office desks, barricading themselves in offices or watching as they witnessed marauding bands of rioters who smashed their way through the Capitol on Jan. 6. Responsibility, they argue, lies squarely with Mr. Trump and his baseless, monthslong effort to reject votes lawfully cast by the American people.

As congressional employees, we dont have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inciting the violent attack at the Capitol, but our senators do, they wrote. And for our sake, and the sake of the country, we ask that they vote to convict the former president and bar him from ever holding office again.
London, Feb 5 : Another 20,634 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,892,459, according to official figures released on Thursday.

The country also reported another 915 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 110,250. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, Xinhua reported.

A seven-year-old with known underlying health conditions is among the latest reported deaths of people who have tested positive for coronavirus in England, the Evening Standard newspaper reported.

"While the risk from the virus to children is low, people with underlying conditions are known to be at higher risk of serious disease," according to the London-based newspaper.

Patients were aged between seven and 102 years old and all except 30 -- aged 40 to 99 -- had known underlying health conditions.

Earlier on Thursday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Britain remained "on track" to complete the vaccination of the top priority groups, which cover 15 million people, by mid-February.

Meanwhile, one in five of all adults in Britain have already received a jab, according to Hancock.

"We are on track to deliver the commitment we have made of offering the jab to all of the top four priority groups by Feb. 15," Hancock told reporters.

"I'm just so proud of the team who are delivering this, it's going really, really well... Today we passed the threshold of one in five of the population who have been jabbed already." Also on Thursday, British vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi said Britain is "getting safer every day" as more people are given coronavirus vaccines, but the infection level is still "alarmingly high".

Nearly 10.5 million people in Britain have been given the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Starbucks Community Resilience Fund Pledges $100 Million for Black Community

The Seattle-based company, Starbucks, has created the Starbucks Community Resilience Fundas of January 12, 2021, the franchise has committed to invest $100 million over the next four years to support small businesses and community development projects in areas mostly populated by Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC).

Starbucks financial initiative intends to focus on 12 U.S. metropolitan areas, such as, Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Washington D.C.

The fund will collaborate with community leaders and Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) to provide access to capital for businesses, neighborhood projects, as well as address the inequitable impacts of climate change. Starbucks will work with organizations like the Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) to allocate funding, provide mentorships accompanied with technical assistance.

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Starbucks is investing in the survival of small business by working with CDFIs in key cities across America. CDFIs deliver affordable credit as well as training on disaster recovery and rebuilding  and that is exactly what small businesses need right now to withstand ongoing economic and climate changes, said OFN President and CEO, Lisa Mensah. With partners like Starbucks and CDFIs, these small businesses will have a fighting chance to recover, rebuild, hire workers and serve their local economy.

Starbucks investment means weve been able to drive more capital to small businesses and nonprofits that are innovating and providing critical services in local communities, says Matthew Roth, IFF President of Core Business Solutions, who leads the agencys CDFI wing. The pandemic has highlighted how important CDFIs are in the financial ecosystem, ensuring capital reaches non-profits and small businesses serving low-income communities that are traditionally left out of mainstream finance.

Notably, in 2018, two African American men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks for occupying a table without buying something. The men were waiting for a business meeting to start before ordering coffee; however, within minutes of their arrival, a manager called police after the men declined to leave.

The men were not charged with a crime, and Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson publicly described the situation as reprehensible. The video of the arrest went viral and triggered international outrage, leading to the multi-regional corporation to close more than 8,000 U.S. coffeehouses for employee training purposes described as racial-bias education.

In conjunction with the expanded $100 million fund, Starbucks is also partnering with the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to share the museums educational resources and opportunities through Starbucks digital platforms.

The partnership will invite employees and customers to participate in the Freemens Bureau Transcription Projectthe largest crowd sourcing initiative ever sponsored by the Smithsonian. Digitally transcribing more than 1.5 million handwritten records of emancipated Black people during the Reconstruction period. The initiative intends to help African Americans discover their ancestors, as well as provide historians with an increased understanding of the post-Civil War era.

Starbucks has always been a company focused on caring for our partners, creating experiences for our customers and playing a positive role in our communities and throughout society, said Kevin Johnson, Starbucks President and CEO. We are excited to make this investment as it aligns with our Mission and Values and supports our aspiration to advance equity and opportunity in the communities we serve.

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Throughout history, BIPOC communities have a lived through unjustifiable government neglection that can be seen in public education, loans and finance system, as well as the medical system.

With the thousands of small businesses permanently closed during the pandemic, and the homeless population rising at a relentless rate; Starbucks $100 million initiative is much-needed capital for black populated neighborhoods throughout the country. During these dark times, a resource for capital is needed now more than ever.

For more information visit: stories.starbucks.com/communityresiliencefund

Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
Police are searching for a man who they said stole a car containing vials of the COVID-19 vaccine just before they were to be distributed.

The 2018 gray Hyundai Accent with Florida tag NPJJ58 was stolen from the inoculation site at the Strawberry Festival Fairgrounds in Plant City, Florida, authorities said.
A Form Three student at Rwambiti Secondary school in Kirinyaga County faced various criminal charges after he attacked several teachers on Tuesday.

Gichugu Sub-county Police commander Anthony Mbogo confirmed the incident saying the 18-year-old student turned violent after teachers tried to frisk him.

The teacher on duty had reportedly found the student who was identified as James Njeru with a mobile phone but he quickly hid it. When the teacher tried to search him, the student refused and started raining blows on him before other teachers intervened.

A trio of teachers had a difficult time restraining the student who is also said to have broken a classroom window.

After he was eventually subdued and police alerted, the student confessed that he was under the influence of cannabis.

The student is also said to have tried to cause a riot in the school.

The school deputy principal, David Munga, said the student was retaking the Form Three year after flunking the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (KCSE).

Police commander Mbogo said the student will be charged with assaulting teachers, creating a riot in the school, and destroying school property valued at Sh3000.

The Deputy principal talked with the parent who are civil servants, but they said they want the boy jailed because he is indisciplined, the police boss said.

The student appeared at Gichugu Law Courts on Tuesday and was charged with creating disturbance and malicious damage to property.

Gichugu Senior Principal Magistrate Ken Odhiambo released the accused on a Sh8,000 cash bail or Sh20,000 bond. He was, however, unable to raise the amount and was transferred to Kerugoya Prison.
Mariam, 50, goes to collect water at the displacement site in Amran, Yemen, where she struggles to feed and take care of 13 children on her own.  UNHCR/Jean-Nicolas Beuze

AMRAN, Yemen  It was past noon, the time when Mariam would normally start preparing lunch for her children. But today, she and her extended family of 14 have not yet had their breakfast; the cold firepit in the corner of their tent an unwelcome reminder that they last ate more than a day ago.

This is where I cook, and this is where we sleep. Mariam points to a tiny mound of ashes encircled by stones, next to a worn-out rug spread on the floor of the dark, ramshackle shelter. Most of the time, we only eat once a day. I dont have fuel or firewood, so we burn plastic bottles and rubbish when we have something to cook, she said.

Mariam, 50, and her family were forced to flee their home in Saada, north-western Yemen, after the conflict erupted in 2015. She now faces a daily battle for survival alongside 136 other families on a site hosting displaced Yeminis in the Kharif district of Amran governorate, north of the capital Sanaa.

A widow with six children of her own, Mariam adopted seven of her nieces and nephews after her brother and his wife were killed in the bombing that forced her to leave home. Undernourished and gaunt, she must now feed and take care of 13 children on her own.

"Most of the time, we only eat once a day."

While the conflict in Yemen has hit the entire country hard, few have felt the deprivation as keenly as the Muhamasheen, an underclass to which Mariam belongs. The outcast ethnic group dubbed the marginalized ones were already suffering the legacy of centuries of discrimination and poverty before fighting broke out in 2015.

The deeply rooted discrimination they face is believed by some to be linked to their ethnic origin as the descendants of African slaves brought to the region in the sixth century. They are mostly confined to slums on the outskirts of towns and cities with few economic opportunities, and lack access to basic services such as water, sanitation and education.

To ease the sense of marginalization surrounding the group, the Sanaa authorities recently renamed them the grandchildren of Bilal, after a highly respected historical figure in the Muslim world  a former African slave and close companion of the Prophet Mohammed who led the first call to prayer.

Before she was bombed out, Mariam used to work as housekeeper, sweeping and mopping floors to earn a little money to feed her family. But since fleeing her home she has not been unable to find a job, leaving her unable to afford school supplies or the 12,000 Yemeni rials (approximately US$20) it costs to secure identity documents for most of her children.

"At night it gets very cold."

As a result, only four are currently enrolled in school. I have no money to buy them books or uniforms. We hardly have enough to afford one meal a day, Mariam said. Those that attend lessons must walk five kilometers daily to attend the nearby school.

Mariam doubts that an education will do much to improve their prospects in any case, as Muhamasheens often have few alternatives to menial, low-paid jobs. Her adopted son Hassain, 20, earns a little money by collecting and selling recyclable waste at the Kharif hosting site to supplement what little support they get from aid agencies.

At night it gets very cold, but we dont have a blanket for everyone, so one blanket is shared by three, said Mariam, pointing to a small pile of blankets folded up in one corner of the tent.

Their lack of identity documents and exclusion from any tribal affiliation also means that Mariam and most of her children are often ineligible for food distributions and other forms of humanitarian aid, receiving only a fraction of the assistance they need based on the documents of her four children.

See also: Yemen sees fresh displacement after five years of conflict

While the actual number of Muhamaseen is not known, estimates range from between half a million to 3.5 million, with most residing in Al Hudaydah, Taizz, Ibb, Lahj, Mahaweet, Hajjah and Hadramout governorates.

Six years of conflict have forced nearly four million Yemenis to flee elsewhere in the county in search of safety. The overwhelming majority (76 per cent) are women and children.

In 2020 alone, some 172,000 people were newly displaced in their homeland, giving Yemen the fourth largest population of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the world.

To respond to the waves of fresh displacement and those uprooted for protracted periods inside Yemen, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is providing emergency assistance including shelter, essential household supplies and cash assistance to the most vulnerable.

UNHCR has provided Mariam and her family with several cash assistance payments, enabling her  and one million other beneficiaries in Yemen - to buy food, and pay for other priorities such as medicines, rent, or repairs to the shelter. UNHCR also provides essential items including mattresses, kitchen sets and shelter building material.

See also: Help arrives on three wheels for displaced Yemeni recyclers

In coordination with partners, it is monitoring the needs of displaced families, including the Muhamaseens. This will help to identify the most vulnerable and ensure their access to humanitarian aid, including access to legal assistance to help obtain identification documents.

Despite this assistance, millions of people in Yemen continue to suffer. Ongoing conflict is leading to a sharp deterioration in living conditions across the country. UNHCR is witnessing a spike in peoples needs, exacerbated by new frontlines, a collapsing economy, diminished social services and a loss of livelihoods.

With the looming threat of famine-like conditions in some parts of the country, data shows that displaced families are particularly at risk of hunger, especially female-headed households like Mariams. With the COVID-19 pandemic squeezing incomes and disrupting food supplies, the scale and impact of food insecurity is expected to increase.

Worldwide, an estimated 46 million people had been forced to flee within their own countries borders by conflict and persecution by mid-year 2020, accounting for the majority of the worlds 80 million forcibly displaced people.
Australias office vacancy rate has hit its highest level in more than 20 years, increasing over the past six months to 11.7 per cent  a mark not reached since January 1997.

The Property Council of Australias office market report for 2021, to be released on Thursday, shows vacancy rates in Melbourne increased from 5.8 per cent to 8.2 per cent in the past six months, as a raft of new office towers were completed.

Melbournes CBD office vacancy rates have hit 8.2 per cent. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Office vacancy rates in Sydney increased from 5.6 per cent to 8.6 per cent, while Perth and Darwins central business districts had the nations highest vacancy rates of 20 per cent in January.

The Property Council said office vacancies are calculated according to whether a lease is in place, not whether an office towers tenants are working from home or generally occupying the space.
Francesca Paris covers North Adams for The Berkshire Eagle. A California native and Williams College alumna, she has worked at NPR in Washington, D.C. and WBUR in Boston, as a news reporter, producer and editor. Find her on Twitter at @fparises.

Boris Johnson is 'bailing out' Nicola Sturgeon's stuttering vaccination programme in Scotland by deploying more military personnel to speed it up, a minister said today.

Jacob Rees-Mogg made the claim as he batted away SNP demands for more money for Scotland, to be used by politicians there.

British Army medics began helping administer jabs in the country today, with 57 making up a 'vaccine quick reaction force' able to deploy across Scotland at short notice.

They included parts of 3 Medical Regiment, based in Preston in Lancashire, and 34 Field Hospital, based in Yorkshire

His comments in the Commons came after First Minister Ms Sturgeon last night claimed that the extra assistance was not Westminster 'doing Scotland a favour' but the nation receiving help it paid for via taxes.

She doubled down today, using an appearance on Good Morning Britain to insist that the vaccination scheme was working better than in England.

'Monday and Tuesday we vaccinated a record number over a 24 hour period and this week to date we have probably, proportionately, we have vaccinated about 30 per cent more than is the case in England, so we are catching up with that,' she said.

Scotland posted its worst vaccination figures so far last Sunday, and although numbers have picked up since the First Minister is under mounting pressure to speed it up yet further.

Commons Leader Mr Rees-Mogg was quizzed in the Commons this morning by the SNP about whether the devolved nations could be handed greater financial powers to tackle Covid-19.

'On the fiscal arrangements, it is worth reminding the honourable gentleman that 8.6 billion of UK taxpayers' money has gone to help Scotland during the pandemic and it is the strength of the United Kingdom that throughout this pandemic has provided the support that has been needed,'Mr Rees-Mogg told SNP spokesman Owen Thompson.

'He may chunter behind his elegant mask but that means 779,500 jobs in the furlough scheme, it means 1.13 billion in the self-employed scheme. It is a really important unionist level of support.

'And we know now that the unionist government is helping the devolved Scottish government roll-out its vaccine programme that more people will be going from the British Army to help set-up more vaccine centres.

'We know now that the unionist government is helping the devolved Scottish government roll out its vaccine programme, that more people will be going from the British Army to help set up more vaccine centres,' he replied.

'This is our UK Government bailing out a devolved government. That is what we do and we should be really proud of the United Kingdom which has such strength as one country.'

Jacob Rees-Mogg made the claim as British Army medics began helping administer jabs in the country today.

First Minister Ms Sturgeon used an appearance on Good Morning Britain to insist that the vaccination scheme was working better than in England

Derek Fraser from Edinburgh receives a vaccine from Captain Robert Reid from 3 Medical Regiment who are assisting with the vaccination programme at the Royal Highland Showground

More than 200 members of military personnel are supporting the vaccination rollout across Scotland

The latest personnel sent to Scotland are in addition to the 98 members of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards who are already supporting the vaccine effort.

NHS Lothian is among the health boards to receive immediate military assistance, with personnel administering vaccinations at the Royal Highland Showground near Edinburgh.

Up to 24 logistic support staff, mostly from Edinburgh-based 3rd Battalion The Rifles, will also assist with the running of vaccination centres in Grampian, Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders.

It brings the number of military personnel supporting the rollout in Scotland to more than 200.

When asked if she would change the date of school pupils returning in Scotland if it does not meet its target of vaccinating all over-70s by February 15, Ms Sturgeon said it was 'a hypothetical question but we're on track to meet that target'.

Despite the current lockdown being extended until at least the end of the month it is hoped P1-P3 pupils will return from February 22 along with nurseries, while senior high school pupils could also return to classes part-time 'on a very limited basis' to do practical work necessary for their courses.

Ms Sturgeon added: 'Many teachers will be vaccinated in (the JCVI) priority list because of age or probably more likely because of underlying health conditions but the reason they have recommended that list is that these are the people most clinically vulnerable.

Michael Maddocks from Edinburgh receives an injection of a coronavirus vaccine from Lance Corporal Amy Portman, a combat medical technician from Yorkshire-based 34 Field Hospital

'There's also the fact that we don't yet know the impact of the vaccine, although the early indications are good on transmission, so it's not the case that just because we vaccinate teachers that would take away transmission possibilities in schools.

'That's why we've got to have other mitigations in place - I think Scotland was first to bring in a requirement for face coverings, particularly in senior schools.

'So there's lots of work to make schools as safe as possible but we know the damage that has been done to young people by being out of school, so as far as we can... safety cannot be compromised.'

Ms Sturgeon has labelled arguments that Brexit has brought a benefit to the UK procuring more coronavirus vaccines as 'over-simplistic'.

During her interview on GMB she was asked about comments made by SNP MP Dr Philippa Whitford last July when she said the UK Government should be working with EU partners to find a vaccine.

Interviewer Susanna Reid suggested the UK now managing to get vaccines because it is not part of the EU vaccination programme 'must be one of the most powerful arguments for Brexit'.

The SNP leader replied: 'I think there's a bigger point but I'm not going to sit here and say anything other than I think it's really good that the UK has managed to procure as much vaccine and that the UK as a whole is getting ahead in terms of vaccine.

'We all have an interest in seeing all countries get the populations vaccinated because this is a global pandemic but I think the UK is in a very strong position.

'That the vaccination procurement and the approval of the vaccines started while the UK was still in the EU transition period, the rules around the European Medicines Agency would have allowed that to happen anyway.'

She added: 'Of course you can make that argument but sometimes I think it's a slightly over-simplistic argument, but we should all be pleased that the vaccination programme is going so well.

'The issues around Brexit are much wider and more fundamental but even on this narrow point I think if you were to apply really detailed scrutiny it wouldn't be quite that simple.

'The UK, even if it had still been in the EU under the rules of medicines approval would still have been able to take decisions around vaccines as it has done.

'But it's thoroughly a good thing that the UK has got such good supplies. Obviously all of us want to make sure those supplies keep flowing.

'The UK Government procures on a four nations basis - that is something we voluntarily signed into - but it's a good thing, and we should be pleased about it.'
Shooting for her hit show Choti Sarrdaarni in Kashmir has made actress Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia nostalgic. She reminisced about her most memorable trip to the scenic tourist spot as a child. Image Source: IANS News

Shooting for her hit show Choti Sarrdaarni in Kashmir has made actress Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia nostalgic. She reminisced about her most memorable trip to the scenic tourist spot as a child. Image Source: IANS News

Shooting for her hit show Choti Sarrdaarni in Kashmir has made actress Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia nostalgic. She reminisced about her most memorable trip to the scenic tourist spot as a child. Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, Feb 4 : Shooting for her hit show Choti Sarrdaarni in Kashmir has made actress Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia nostalgic. She reminisced about her most memorable trip to the scenic tourist spot as a child.

"Kashmir is one of the most beautiful places and no less than a paradise. When I first got to know about the team shooting for the sequence here, I was extremely thrilled. Not only was it a nice getaway from our regular life but it made me extremely nostalgic," Nimrit said.

She added: "My most memorable trip as a kid was when I had come to Kashmir with my family and I recall enjoying snowball fights, amazing cuisine, and also taking a tour in the 'shikara'. I am going to relive all the moments while I am here and take back lots of good memories." Meanwhile, her show show takes a five-year leap. The story forward will showcase a new chapter in the lives of Meher (played by Nimrit) and Sarabjit (Avinesh Rekhi), as well as their daughter Seher.
Three private sector entities of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) recently hosted a webinar under the umbrella of the Arab-Africa Trade Bridges (AATB) Program on key trade finance and investment components aimed at fostering regional trade.



The entities included the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) in collaboration with IsDB Group Business Forum THIQAH.



Over 1,000 development institutions, sovereign funds, banks, investment and private equity companies, and key government and corporate sector representatives were in attendance.



The event, which focused on the investment, trade and insurance pillars of the AATB program, showcased potential business opportunities existing between the two regions particularly in key industries such as agro-food, health and pharmaceutical, building and construction materials and equipment, as well as machinery and electrical equipment. Projects and activities involving the growth of trade related investment and knowledge and technology transfer between the Arab and African countries were explored with the aim of growing AATB member base.



The webinar was inaugurated with keynote speeches from Oussama Kaissi, Chief Executive Officer of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), Ayman Sejiny, Chief Executive Officer of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) and Hani Salem Sonbol, Chief Executive Officer of International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC).



Key outcomes from this session noted considerable progress in terms of launching and implementing the projects involving the growth of trade investment and technology transfer between Arab and African countries. The session also addressed the key challenges limiting the business community and concerned trade and investment authorities of the countries in both regions by nurturing an environment where the parties can benefit from the opportunities that exist.



In his opening address, Oussama Kaissi, said: Despite the tragedy presented by the pandemic, these unprecedented times have brought development institutions together to seek solutions and encourage innovation, teaching us that the best way forward is together. ICIEC believes that through the AATB program, our multilateral efforts can enhance pandemic responses, capacity building efforts, and economic security, providing the citizens of Arab and African countries the knowledge and materials to build a better future.



Hani Salem Sonbol added: Since its launch in 2017, AATB has become the foremost platform in driving trade between the Arab and African regions, with important initiatives that strengthen growth and prosperity in beneficiary countries. The program facilitates financial and technical support for trade and investment-related activities aimed at promoting intra-trade between the regions through specific interventions and dedicated trade finance and investment components.



ICD will lead the Investment Pillar of the AATB Program, which aims to mobilize and allocate resources to impactful investments in Arab and African countries including recovery packages to overcome the adverse impacts of Covid-19.In line with our global approach, we aim to expand existing and build new partnerships with financial institutions to design and launch special financial packages for the benefit of member countries under the umbrella of the AATB Program, said Ayman Sejiny.



AATB is a multi-donor, country and organization program designed to leverage new trade partnerships, strengthen existing ones, and increase trade and investment flows between the Arab and African regions. At present, its partners and members include IsDB, ITFC, ICIEC, Afreximbank, Arab Bank for Economic Development (BADEA), and OPEC Fund with member country representation consisting of Benin, Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Togo, and Tunisia.  TradeArabia News Service
State Track: Arrows' Mack and Heesch among six area event winners on opening day

Watertown seniors Cooper Mack and Maggie Heesch and four other area athletes notched event wins Friday during the opening day of the 2021 State High School Track and Field Meet.

The regional Andalusian government will decide this Thursday (4 February) which new municipalities must tighten their restrictions to try to stop the third wave of the coronavirus.

According to the data on the incidence rate of the virus, the Junta will order perimeter lockdowns or the closure of non-essential activity in the cities, towns and villages that exceed the established contagion thresholds.

The incidence rate of the coronavirus in Andalusian municipalities is reviewed twice a week.

As of Wednesday, the Andalusian government had ordered the perimeter closure of 541 municipalities in the region with an incidence rate higher than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, including the eight provincial capitals, according to the BOJA official gazette.

For 302 of those 541 municipalities, the Junta has also ordered the closure of all non-essential activities for exceeding 1,000 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days.

Relaxed measures

Andalucia as a whole has lowered its incidence rate of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days to 894.3, 29.8 points fewer than that registered on Tuesday (924, 1) and 21 points lower than last Wednesday (915.3).

The Junta will evaluate the situation this Thursday and update the list of municipalities that exceed the incidence rate of 500 and 1,000 for the application of restrictive measures for a minimum period of 14 days that will come into effect in the early hours of Saturday morning.

If a municipality falls below 1,000 or 500 cases, the measures may be relaxed, provided that 14 days have elapsed since they were applied.



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Ask a few people in the travel business how their industry is doing, and youll start to hear some common refrains: Travel took a beating in 2020. The market is bursting with pent-up demand. Great deals are everywhere, but the terrain keeps shifting, so consider the help of travel agents. Beaches and parks are in  so, apparently, is littering. Between vaccine distribution hiccups and the new coronavirus variants, nobody knows when the floodgates will truly open.

That last point draws a little more debate. Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association (a nonprofit trade group) says his go-to analysts at Tourism Economics predict gradual leisure-travel growth until June, then a spike in July, with corporate travel coming back in the fall.

Mike Estill of the Western Association of Travel Agencies (or WESTA, a profit-sharing cooperative of 150 travel agencies in five states) is more conservative, suspecting 2021 will be the year of booking travel, but 2022 is going to be when we get healthy.

Either way, the industry has been depleted and people are eager to get back to business. Dow and U.S. Travel reckon the nation has lost $510 billion in travel spending, and that travel accounted for 11% of prepandemic jobs in the U.S., but has suffered 35% of all pandemic-related job losses. (David Blandford of the Washington Tourism Alliance says the state saw a 75% drop in visitor spending  $8 billion  in 2020.)

How have businesses survived this turbulence? How are they planning and positioning themselves for the year ahead? Have these tides fundamentally shifted anything in the industry? That all depends on whos talking. So here are four postcards from travel industry people in slightly different positions: Europe travel legend Rick Steves, Hawaii travel specialist Gail Stringer, outdoor tour guide Tommy Farris and industry observer Estill.

Mike Estill, Western Association of Travel Agencies

Last year brought trouble to almost every industry  but the travel business had some peculiar hurdles.

The first four months were catastrophic, said Estill, chief operating officer of WESTA, a cooperative that works for, among other things, increased purchasing power in the industry.

If youre a bar or restaurant, your revenue stream dried up because things got quiet and you had to lay off half your staff, he explained. For us, things got super busy because weve got cancellations, were managing bookings and were giving back money for stuff that was already sold  so weve got negative cash flow.

In that environment, he said, people got creative  particularly the cruise industry.

Major cruise lines (Princess Cruise Lines, Holland America, Viking Cruises) offered refunds for canceled voyages but told people if they left their money with the company, theyd get a voucher for 125% of whatever theyd paid. AmaWaterways, which specializes in river cruises in Europe and Asia, quickly started offering two-for-one deals to medical workers and first responders  the first people in line for coronavirus vaccines, and perhaps some of the first to consider traveling. In December, cruise lines announced no-interest or low-interest bridge loans for struggling travel agents.

Most of us in the leisure side of the travel business still see ourselves as an ecosystem, Estill said. The industry is coming together, supporting itself. Keeping travel agents around to sell cruises is part of the strategy, Estill said, and so is the public relations gambit: They realize the value of somebody telling their story.

Despite the rough conditions, Estill said he didnt see many WESTA members going under. The situation has been a catalyst for some agency owners selling their business or retiring, he said. But I havent seen people who were doing well suddenly collapse.

Whatever happens, Estill expects the travel industry to rebound.

Everybody loves to travel, he said. My guess is its going to come back big. And maybe come back better. I think youll see better cleanliness and cognizance of these issues in all areas of the travel industry.

Rick Steves, Rick Steves Europe

Last year, when the pandemic first arrived, Rick Steves  travel guide, author, activist, radio and TV host, all-around European travel authority  took a long view, planning to dig in for two years without income.

He canceled all his 2020 tours and would like to lead some in 2021, but is fully prepared to wait until 2022. And he offers zero predictions.

Nobody knows when its going to break loose, he said. You can get the best experts in the world together on a panel and nobody will know anything about the future.

Steves said that, after 30 years of profitable touring, he can afford to keep his Seattle-based staff of 100 employed  preparing new books, editing a years worth of raw TV footage  at slightly reduced hours while retaining health insurance. Meanwhile, hes working to connect his Rick Steves-affiliated guides in Europe with U.S. customers for cooking classes, language classes and other online gigs, but allows its very difficult for tour guides these days. (Though, he noted, Europeans are tending to get steadier and more substantial government assistance during the pause than their U.S. counterparts.)

Hes eager to get back to touring, but expects individuals and couples to head out first  they can calibrate their comfort levels and improvise much more quickly than a group of 25  and will wait until his customers can have the full travel experience.

Social distancing and Rick Steves travel are opposites, he said. Im not going to sell half a tour, not going to Amsterdam to have people sit in a bubble for dinner  Im not going to change our tours to accommodate incremental freedom.

Steves knows hes in a fortunate position to survive two lean years and, even in a weakened economy, expects that demand will outweigh supply. My mission is not to profit-maximize, he said. If I focus on creatively and energetically and passionately inspiring Americans to stop being so afraid, to celebrate the diversity on this planet, it makes everything go better  thats the most effective promotion. TV goes better, guidebook sales go better and theres more interest in our tours.

Gail Stringer, Hawaii General Store and HGS Travel

Gail Stringer thinks Hawaii has never been more gorgeous: fewer people, less traffic, less air pollution, better views.

It feels like Hawaii when I was a kid, she said. Its like Mother Nature said: Look, this is how Hawaii is supposed to be. When you ramp up again, dont ramp up like you were before, because that was a destructive path.

Stringer grew up on Oahu, came to the mainland for college and settled in Seattle, where shes run the Hawaii General Store for 22 years and HGS Travel (an all-around travel agency that specializes in Hawaii) for 18 years. She hopes the entire tourism ecosystem will have learned something from this pandemic interlude.

This is a buzzword and its overused, but Im hoping people will be more mindful about their travel, she said. The vast majority of tour and cruise companies we work with have been developing ecotours and small tours  and thats accelerated during the pandemic.

She also mentioned Hawaiis new Malama program, which invites visitors to trade some ecologically oriented volunteer work (beach cleanup, reef restoration, bird recovery) for a free night at a hotel.

All the major hotels are in on it, Stringer said. Its what Ive dreamed Hawaii would do for years  theyre coming out of the pandemic better and smarter.

Does she have any suggestions for the first waves of travelers?

I can tell the floodgates are about to go, she said. Id stay away from big cities and go to those faraway places, beautiful and remote places while theyre as spectacularly clean as theyve ever been. And buy insurance. Thats a no-brainer.

Tommy Farris, Olympic Hiking Co.

While much of the travel industry was precariously wobbling through the late summer of 2020, Tommy Farris, owner of the 4-year-old Olympic Hiking Co., was doing unexpectedly great business.

Early spring had been terrifying  as the state of Washington shut down, Farris was issuing thousands of dollars in refunds every day to people whod already booked hikes and snowshoe tours, as well as Olympics trailhead shuttle service for backpackers. It took a lot of sunset beach walks and prayers with my parents to get through that, he said.

But by July, when the parks had reopened, people were thoroughly stir-crazy from coronavirus lockdowns and ravenous for the outdoors.

August was our busiest month yet in terms of numbers of trips, he said. (In 2019, Olympic ran 250 tours and shuttles; in August 2020, they ran 78.) We were only doing socially distant shuttles and private tours, but it sheds light on what happened this summer with mass exploration of the outdoors.

Mass exploration is a politic way to put it. Olympic National Park closed in mid-March, like much of the rest of the state, but slowly began to reopen in May. In August, herds of people shoved their way into the woods  some starting wildfires, trampling fragile plants and generally trashing the place  which forced parts of the park to close and inspired headlines about wreckreation.

Meanwhile, Farris was trying to show his customers the best of the Olympic Peninsula  but its been tough at times, especially for people who want to see the marquee sites. One Sunday in mid-January, his snowshoe tour at Hurricane Ridge ran into a three-hour wait. (Farris offered full refunds.)

On top of the COVID-19 crowds, Farris said, Instagram and geotagging have fundamentally changed the foot traffic: If you are Googling for hidden gem, SEO will spit out the same thing for everybody else to see.

Paradoxically, Farris explained, tourism-related businesses are still struggling. Big crowds dont necessarily mean money is going to coffee shops, restaurants and hotels. The lodging tax dollars that are the lifeblood of our tourism economy are not being collected, he said.

Farris hopes 2021 will bring solutions to last years twin problems: overcrowded wreckreaction and underfunded local businesses.
Former All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader VK Sasikala is scheduled to return to Tamil Nadu on February 7 after completing her quarantine in Bengaluru.

"Sasikala is coming to Tamil Nadu on February 7 after completing quarantine in Bengaluru. Jayalalithaa's true supporters are waiting for her arrival," said Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader TTV Dhinakaran.



Elections are scheduled to take place for the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly in April-May this year. BJP president JP Nadda said that the party will fight the forthcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu in alliance with the ruling AIADMK and other like-minded parties.

Sasikala was discharged on January 31 from Bengaluru's Victoria hospital where she was undergoing COVID-19 treatment. She is undergoing quarantine since then.

She was officially released from judicial custody on January 27 after completing her four-year prison sentence in the disproportionate assets case.

In 2019, the Income Tax Department had attached properties worth Rs 1,600 crores belonging to the former AIADMK leader under the provisions of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act. (ANI)


A controversial life peer who blamed the Israeli Government for anti-Semitism at British universities will resign this month.

Baroness Jenny Tonge, 79, is set to step down from her 15-year stint in the House of Lords after a petition calling for her expulsion gained 10,000 signatures online.

The former Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park was hit with allegations of anti-Semitism following a House of Lords debate last month.

She claimed incidents of discrimination against Jews are increasing because of 'the illegal actions of the Israeli Government' - prompting Conservative peer Lord Polak to blast her for a 'career of repeating old, medieval tropes'.

A House of Lords spokesperson told MailOnline that Baroness Tonge 'has given notice of her intention to retire' on February 19, but no reason was given.

Baroness Tonge was made a Liberal Democrat life peer in 2005 - but was suspended from the party in 2016 after hosting an event where an audience member said Jews were responsible for the Holocaust.

She quit the party all together a few days after her suspension and subsequently sat in the House of Lords as an unaligned crossbench peer.

Baroness Jenny Tonge, 79, is set to step down from her 15-year stint in the House of Lords after a petition calling for her expulsion gained 10,000 signatures online

Former Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park Baroness Tonge (pictured) was hit with allegations of anti-Semitism following a House of Lords debate last month

A petition online - first posted in 2017 but recently re-shared online - has nearly 11,000 signatures

In 2012, then-Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg told her to apologise or resign after she said 'Israel is not going to be there forever in its present form' at an Israeli Apartheid Week talk at Middlesex University.

And in 2010, an online newspaper - of which she was a patron - published an article making absurd and baseless allegations that an Israel Defence Forces emergency aid hospital in Haiti secretly harvesting organs and selling them on the black market.

The hospital was deployed following the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Baroness Tonge said in a statement - published on the online paper ten days later - calling on the IDF to 'establish an independent inquiry immediately to clear the names of the team in Haiti'.

Baroness Tonge (pictured) was made a Liberal Democrat life peer in 2005 - but was suspended from the party in 2016 after hosting an event where an audience member said Jews were responsible for the Holocaust

Four years earlier, then-Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg told Baroness Tonge (pictured in 2018) to apologise or resign after she said 'Israel is not going to be there forever in its present form' at an Israeli Apartheid Week talk at Middlesex University

'SHAMEFUL' EVENT BARONESS TONGE HELD IN THE LORDS Jenny Tonge was suspended and then resigned from the Lib Dems in 2016 after chairing a meeting where it was claimed Jews were responsible for the Holocaust. The event was called 'shameful' by Israel after an audience member suggested Hitler decided to kill six million Jews because he was 'antagonised' by a Rabbi in New York who urged people to boycott German goods. And Cabinet minister David Lidington said he was 'genuinely horrified' that the event was allowed to be held in Parliament. The male audience member, described as an ultra-orthodox Jew, said Hitler was antagonised 'over the edge' by the American Zionist Rabbi Stephen Wise, who caused the Nazi leader to 'systematically kill Jews wherever he could find them'. Footage of the hugely controversial meeting chaired by Baroness Tonge also showed the male audience member referring to a famous quote regularly used by Holocaust deniers to suggest the figure of six million Jews killed by the Nazis was a hoax. He won more applause after telling the meeting: 'If anybody is antisemitic, it's the Israelis themselves.' And he compared Israel to ISIS, saying: 'Isis is a perversion of Islam just as Zionism is a perversion of Judaism.' Baroness Tonge was forced to resign the Lib Dem whip in 2012 after claiming the state of Israel was 'not going to be there forever'. But until today she remained a member of the Lib Dems. Later she defended her actions, insisting she did not hear the full 'rant' by the audience member. She said: 'I was chairing, I did not make any speeches, I introduced the speakers and in the course of that meeting there was a great rant. The Palestinian Return Centre said after the event it does not tolerate any type or form of anti-Semitism and refuses to associate the Jewish people with the actions of the Israeli occupation. Advertisement

Mr Clegg said her comments were 'wrong, distasteful and provocative' and she was removed from her position as health spokeswoman in the House of Lords.

A statement said neither Tonge - nor the then-party leader - gave 'any credence whatsoever' to the claims.

A petition calling for her expulsion online - first posted in 2017 but recently re-shared - has nearly 11,000 signatures.

The description says it is 'intolerable' for Baroness Tonge to remain a peer.

It says the 'last straw' was an email sent to Jewish charity Community Security Trust who shared a 2016 report on rising cases of anti-Semitism.

The 2017 email - shared on the petition which purported to be from Baroness Tonge states: 'Do you NEVER consider that the actions of the Israeli Government are contributing towards this rise?

'Sadly, many people do not distinguish between Jewish people and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his colleagues.'

In January this year, Baroness Tonge told the House of Lords that she was 'shocked' to hear of rising cases of anti-Semitism at British universities, following a report by the CST.

She went on to say: 'What is missing, however, is any investigation into why these incidents are increasing [...] with increasing violence in the West Bank and Gaza, the expansion of settlements and the occupation of east Jerusalem, antisemitic incidents have continued to rise.

She said 'innocent Jewish people' are victims 'because of the illegal actions of the Israeli Government'.

Conservative peer Lord Polak blasted her comments, saying: 'I am unsure how a one-minute contribution from the noble Baroness, Lady Tonge, will be sufficient to put right a career of repeating old, medieval tropes.'

Former Labour MP and Jeremy Corbyn critic Lord Ian Austin said it was wrong for her to 'blame racism against Jewish people in Britain not on the racists responsible but on Israel'.

In 2018, she sparked fury for apparently blaming Israel's policies for the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre which saw 11 people gunned down at the Tree of Life synagogue.

Responding to the atrocity, Baroness Tonge said the policies of PM Mr Netanyahu - known as 'Bibi' - fueled the anti-Semitism which led to the massacre.

She wrote on Facebook: 'Absolutely appalling and criminal act, but does it ever occur to Bibi and the present Israeli Government that its actions against Palestinians may be reigniting anti-Semitism?

'Some people will not know the difference between the Zionist government in Israel and Jewish people in all countries who do not support that Government's actions.

'We must never conflate the two.

'I suppose someone will say that it is anti-Semitic to say so?'

In 2012, then-Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg told Baroness Tonge (pictured with Alex Salmond) to apologise or resign after she said 'Israel is not going to be there forever in its present form' at an Israeli Apartheid Week talk at Middlesex University

Her remark was branded 'abhorrent' by Jewish leaders and campaigners who furiously demanded she was stripped of her peerage.

Baroness Tonge told Jewish News: 'I have always promised myself and my family that I would retire when I am 80 years old which is in mid- February.

'I informed the authorities some months ago.

'Indeed I think many of us should retire from the Chamber at my agethere are far too many people in the Lords.'

MailOnline has approached Baroness Tonge for comment.

The deployment brought troops in from all 50 states and four territories as law enforcement agencies tried to lock down the Capitol for the inauguration of the President Joe Biden. Thousands of Guard members poured into the nations capital and were stationed across the city to block traffic and protect lawmakers and landmarks.
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Company will assemble Axle Components for Volkswagen

Project includes investment of more than $42 million to build new facility

NASHVILLE, Tenn.  Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and Sese Industrial Services, U.S. Corp. officials announced today that the Axle Manufacturing company will locate new operations in Tennessee, investing $42 million and creating 240 jobs.

Sese Industrial Services will build a new 300,000-square-foot Axle Assembly plant at 6153 Hickory Valley Road in Chattanooga. Products manufactured at the facility include Axle Components for the Volkswagen electric vehicle line.

Sese Industrial Services operates under parent company Grupo Sese, an international logistics conglomerate headquartered in Zaragoza, Spain. Grupo Sese provides logistics, distribution and assembly services primarily in the automotive sector. The company already has operations in Chattanooga and a longstanding history with Volkswagen.

Over the last five years, TNECD has supported 40 economic development projects in Hamilton County, resulting in approximately 5,700 job commitments and $1.6 billion in capital investment.

QUOTES

Tennessee has built its reputation as global leader in the automotive industry and is at the forefront of the electric vehicle evolution. I welcome Sese Industrial Services to Tennessee and thank the company for its significant investment in Hamilton County.  Gov. Bill Lee

One out of every three projects we land is the result of foreign direct investment, and we continue to proactively recruit companies and foster our international partnerships. Spanish-owned companies employ more than 1,500 people across Tennessee, and we appreciate Sese Industrial Services for choosing to create 240 jobs in Tennessee.  TNECD Commissioner Bob Rolfe

At Grupo Sese, we are thrilled to initiate our Industrial Automotive activities in USA in such a historical location as Chattanooga, Tennessee, serving our valued customer Volkswagen, and more so on their all-new electric vehicle models. We would like to thank all local and state authorities of the State of Tennessee for their outstanding guidance, help and support in this strategic project of Grupo Sese. We expect to develop a best-in-class workforce and foster the international projection of Tennessee as a global leader in the automotive industry.  Alfonso Sese, president, Grupo Sese

We know that a skilled workforce attracts great employers. Chattanooga is excited to welcome Sese Industrial Services to our community and we are grateful for their investment in our city,  Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke

We welcome Sese Industrial Services as the latest international company to locate in Hamilton County. This is a great way to start 2021, with the promise of 240 new jobs for Hamilton County residents. We look forward to a long relationship with Sese Industrial Services and applaud their decision to invest $42 million at Enterprise South.  Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger

TVA and EPB congratulate Sese Industrial Services on its announcement to expand operations and create hundreds of new job opportunities in Chattanooga. Helping to foster new jobs and investment in the Valley is fundamental to TVAs mission of service, and we are proud to partner with Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development to help further that mission and support Sese Industrial Services future business success.  John Bradley, TVA senior vice president of Economic Development

These 240 jobs will be a significant boost to our local economy. Companies like Sese Industrial Services continue to choose to do business here because of our tremendous workforce and our focus on building the foundation for a strong economic future. I congratulate them on this project as well as our local officials, Governor Lee, Commissioner Rolfe and all who helped secure these jobs. I look forward to continuing to partner with them in our efforts to bring new and better paying jobs to Tennesseans.  Sen. Bo Watson (RHixson)

"Sese Industrial Services is a company that is truly on the move and benefiting from Chattanoogas prime location and distinct advantage as a transportation and logistics hub for the region. We are grateful for their investment and congratulate them for their remarkable success creating new jobs in this growing sector of our business community.  Rep. Robin Smith (RHixson)

TNECD Media Contact

Molly Hair, Public Information Officer

(615) 878-0063

Molly.Hair@tn.gov

About the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Developments mission is to develop strategies that help make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs. To grow and strengthen Tennessee, the department seeks to attract new corporate investment to the state and works with Tennessee companies to facilitate expansion and economic growth. Find us on the web: tnecd.com. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @tnecd. Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/tnecd.

###

Tobacco sales in Ireland rose 7.8pc last year as tobacco tourism was ended by the pandemic, retailers say.

The sharp increase in sales tallies with preliminary excise receipts for tobacco products, up approximately 6pc in 2020, Revenue said.

Its not that more people are smoking, said Vincent Jennings, chief executive of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA), but that they cant travel to countries such as Bulgaria, Lithuania or Croatia to buy cheaper cigarettes.

These are people who would ordinarily get their supplies from travelling abroad, he told the Irish Independent. We are talking about salt-of-the-earth people who are using the rules to their advantage. And why wouldnt they?

Annual surveys by the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Health regularly show that 8-9pc of all cigarettes consumed in Ireland are purchased legitimately abroad.

That amounts to a potential tax loss of over 100m a year, Revenue estimates. Cigarette smuggling costs the Government more than 100m on top of that.

Read More

The problem is only going to get worse after Brexit, with Mr Jennings estimating that duty-free tobacco and alcohol coming from the UK could threaten 3pc of Irish sales.

Mr Jennings said there was a significant increase last year in sales of all tobacco products, from premium cigarettes to rolling tobacco.

But he said it jeopardises the Governments aim to cut the number of smokers to less than 5pc of the population by 2025.

On Monday, the European Commission laid the ground for new excise rules it intends to publish at the end of the year, suggesting tobacco and alcohol tax be paid in the country in which you consume, rather th an buy, the products.

It also mooted mandatory limits on the amount of tobacco and alcohol you can bring back from abroad for personal use.

Under EU rules, you can bring back a maximum of 40 packs of c i garettes, 333 small bottles of beer, 120 bottles of wine or 14 bottles of spirits.

The limits are only indicative, but can act as a prompt for customs officials to investigate further.

The Department of Finance said it would engage constructively with the European Commission on the plans.

The Department welcomes discussions around the limits of excisable products which can be brought into the state for personal use, a spokesperson for the Department said in a statement.

It is important that public health policy and revenue yields are not undermined.
"As a consumer finance platform focused on the median-income, everyday consumer, we will continue to be that financial champion for consumers  which includes building common ground on public policy and common-sense guardrails directly with policymakers. -- Jared Kaplan, CEO, OppLoans

OppLoans, a leading financial technology platform that serves middle income, credit challenged consumers, has announced that Joseph Rubin will join the company as head of public affairs and regulatory policy. Rubin brings a wide range of expertise in regulatory policy and government affairs working with financial regulatory agencies, policy makers and business leaders at both federal and state levels.

Rubin is an accomplished attorney, corporate executive, and government affairs expert, who brings more than 25 years in consumer finance and credit access policymaking. In his new role, Rubin will lead policy development and engagement to provide education, clarity, and action specific to expanding consumer credit access.

As we continue to honor our mission by educating and working with state and federal lawmakers to create more credit access for the millions who are locked out, Joes strong bipartisan expertise in financial services policy and government affairs will help us expand this important work, said Jared Kaplan, CEO, OppLoans. As a consumer finance platform focused on the median-income, everyday consumer, we will continue to be that financial champion for consumers  which includes building common ground on public policy and common-sense guardrails directly with policymakers.

Most recently, Rubin served as principal at the Bockorny Group, a bipartisan government affairs firm. He has also served as the first head of the Washington, D.C. office for MasterCard Worldwide, as a senior leader at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and as a senior counsel at a major southeastern law firm. Rubin played a major role in passing consumer financial legislation, including the FACT Act, updating the FCRA, bankruptcy reform, and the CARD Act.

About OppLoans

OppLoans is a leading financial technology platform that powers banks to offer accessible products and a top-rated experience to middle income, everyday Americans. Through our unwavering commitment to customer service, we help consumers who are turned away by traditional providers build a better financial path. The company has facilitated the issuance of more than 1 million loans and has served more than 550,000 customers. OppLoans has been ranked as an Inc. 5000 company for five straight years and named the eighth fastest-growing Chicagoland company by Crains Chicago Business. The company maintains an A+ rating from the BBB and maintains a 4.9/5 star rating with more than 14,000 online customer reviews, making it one of the top customer-rated financial platforms online. For more information, please visit http://www.OppLoans.com.
One of these new global health exchanges is Patient Safety Across Borders During the Covid-19 Pandemic, a virtual course open to nursing students from SONHS and the Dominican Republics largest university, Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (UASD). The bilingual course launched January 29 via Zoom with a warm welcome from Dr. Johis Ortega, associate dean for Hemispheric and Global Initiatives. Dr. Ortega thanked the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for its support and said, This program marks the beginning of an official relationship between SONHS and UASD.

Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Embassy and State Department, diplomat Carolina Escalera said, Our objective in financing virtual programs like this between U.S. and Dominican universities is to promote exchange during the pandemic. We understand that opportunities for dialogue are essential to meet the challenges of this time I am excited to see the opportunities for collaboration in health and education that will arise from this program.

SONHS Dean Cindy L. Munro also expressed enthusiasm for the semester-long course and its first students. You are shining examples of our potential to improve health conditions across both of our nations, Dean Munro told the inaugural cohort of 40 nursing students from UASD and SONHS. Your participation in this innovative endeavor represents a commitment to recoveryto the recovery of individual patients, as well as the recovery of our health systems and communities.

Dr. Jorge Asjana David, UASDs director of National and International Relations and Collaborations, urged participants to take full advantage of the transcultural opportunity with their peers. I have no doubt this will offer a model for virtual exchanges in the area of nursing, he said. This collaboration will be the first of many because success is guaranteed.

Taught by Dr. Juan M. Gonzalez, associate professor of clinical at SONHS, the hybrid course features a series of patient safety modules to be completed asynchronously, a group project, and five real-time virtual meetings. Dr. Gonzalez said the experience will give participants the chance to learn from each other, collaborate, and grow.

The first scheduled guest speaker of the course will be SONHS alumnus Dr. David Zambrana, a nurse scientist and clinician leading hospital operations for Miamis Jackson Health System, the largest public health system in the United States. The subsequent webinars will be delivered by Drs. Ortega and Gonzalez, both of whom are practicing emergency department clinicians in Miami, and faculty from UASD.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Snowy Owl Gold Corp. (CSE: SNOW) ("Snowy Owl Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce Geologica Groupe Conseil of Val-d'Or Quebec has been retained to complete the Golden Eagle property (the "Property") geological compilation and the planned 2021 field exploration program. Geologica has more than 36 years of expertise in Canadian and International exploration and comprises a highly qualified technical team dedicated to accomplishing the work mandates effectively and cost-effectively. Their expertise includes more than 1,500 mandates for precious, base metals, diamonds, rare earth elements and industrial minerals for junior and significant company clients.

Figures 1, 2, and 3 below show maps of the neighbouring claim holders, the favourable greenstone geology in the northeast portion of the Property, and the geophysical and geochemical data obtained and compiled to date.

2021 Exploration Program

The proposed 2021 Exploration Program on the Golden Eagle Property is summarized as follows:

Phase I : Property compilation, including a re-interpretation of the aeromagnetic data, will be completed in advance of the 2021 field season program Objective to define priority geological and geophysical targets for ground follow-up.

: Phase II : 2021 Summer Field Season Program Prospecting, geological reconnaissance mapping and sampling; Beep Mat surveying; and Till and soil sampling.

:

A follow-up Phase III program of detailed stripping, geological-structural mapping and sampling, and targeted ground geophysical surveys is proposed.

Alain-Jean Beauregard, P.Geo, has approved the information contained in this release. Mr. Beauregard, president of Geologica Inc., is providing contract geological services for Snowy Owl Corp. and is an independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

"We are very happy to retain Geologica Groupe Conseil as part of the Snowy Owl team, their expertise and experience in Quebec will be paramount in exploring, developing, and acquiring Quebec-focused assets," said Raymond Wladichuk, P.Geo., CEO of Snowy Owl Gold Corp.





Figure 1 - Neighbouring companies

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7300/73673_fa4c370d1423795b_002full.jpg





Figure 2 - Favourable greenstone geology in the north-east portion of the property.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7300/73673_fa4c370d1423795b_003full.jpg





Figure 3 - Geochemical data combined with 2020 airborne data which consisted of 1033.9 line-km of gradient magnetic

data over an area of 91.7km2 (100m line spacing at a heading of 000/270)

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7300/73673_fa4c370d1423795b_004full.jpg

About Snowy Owl Gold Corp.

Snowy Owl Gold Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on acquiring, exploring, and developing gold projects in Quebec, Canada. The Company has 100% interest in the Golden Eagle Property, which consists of 161 map designated claims ("CDC") covering a total of 8,887.65 hectares (88.87 km2) within the Abitibi region located in Quebec, Canada. Additional information on Snowy Owl Gold Corp. is available at http://www.snowyowlgold.com/

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

SNOWY OWL GOLD CORP.

"Raymond Wladichuk, P.Geo."

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Elyssia Patterson - CFO

Tel: +1 (778) 683 4324

Email: info@snowyowlgold.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor it's Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the CSE policies) accepts responsibility for this release's adequacy or accuracy.

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 Snowy Owl Gold's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry 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.

Although Snowy Owl Gold believes the forward-looking information contained in this news release is reasonable based on information available on the date hereof, by their nature, forward-looking statements involve assumptions, 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.

Examples of such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, assumptions, risks and uncertainties associated with general economic conditions; the Covid-19 pandemic; adverse industry events; future legislative and regulatory developments in the mining sector; the Company's ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favorable terms; mining industry and markets in Canada and generally; the ability of Snowy Owl Gold to implement its business strategies; competition; and other assumptions, risks and uncertainties.

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. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. While the Company may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73673
The variants changed everything, Dr. Topol said.

Preliminary studies have shown that the vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax and Johnson & Johnson appear to work against the B.1.1.7 variant, and that they are also effective  although less so  against the variant first identified in South Africa. Even in the case of that variant, Johnson & Johnsons study showed that it still protected against severe disease.

Some of the first people to be vaccinated are seeing glimpses of a path out of the pandemic.

At Bloom Senior Living, a chain of senior living facilities in the Southeast and the Midwest, officials have gradually begun to reopen their doors to indoor visitors at five of their nine sites.

Those decisions were driven by community infection rates, but another factor has made Bloom officials comfortable with the idea: As many as 96 percent of residents at facilities that have been visited by pharmacy vaccination teams have agreed to get a shot.

It means everything for them to be able to see their adult children and hopefully eventually their grandchildren  to feel like theyre living life again, said Bradley Dubin, principal of the firm that owns the Bloom facilities.

The effects of the U.S. vaccination campaign may be starting to show up in the data. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases among nursing residents declined in each of the first three full weeks that vaccines were given in nursing homes, according to data that nursing homes report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its not clear how much of that is because of vaccinations.

In Vermont, where 85 percent of people living in long-term care facilities have agreed to get at least their first shot of a vaccine, officials said this week that they were planning to soon ease visiting restrictions at these homes, though they have not set a date for doing so.
The Opposition likened leaders of the ruling party to Hitler, Mussolini and Kim Jong-un, even as the police clarified that the controversy stemmed from a wrong interpretation of the missive

Patna: A circular issued by the Bihar Police that apparently warns those aspiring to get government jobs or contracts against participation in demonstrations has triggered a political spat in the state.

The Opposition hit the roof and likened rulers of the state to Hitler, Mussolini and Kim Jong-Un, though the department came out with a clarification that the controversy was stemmed from "wrong interpretation" of a paragraph in the missive that ran into many pages.

Trouble began with a two-page order of the DGP dated 1 February which was appended along with a circular issued by the state's Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Amir Subhani and shared by the police headquarters with the media.

Subhani's circular, which was also two pages long, was addressed to the DGP, all heads of department in the state and Divisional Commissioners and District Magistrates concerned. Subhani had called for compulsory prior verification of character of vendors before they were awarded any government contracts in order to ensure that those with criminal antecedents were kept at bay.

Based on the circular, DGP SK Singhal came out with the order, in Hindi, regarding "police verification report". A five-line paragraph, in bold letters, caught the attention. Roughly translated, it said "any person who gets involved in road blockades, protest demonstrations or other activities that affected law and order and against whom the police issues a charge-sheet for involvement in a criminal activity, must be awarded an adverse entry in character verification certificate".

"Such people must be prepared for dire consequences since they would stand deprived of government jobs and contracts," the order added.

Leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav shared a screenshot of the order on his official Twitter handle and attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar betraying a mix of outrage and mockery. "Nitish Kumar competes with Mussolini and Hitler and says whoever exercised the democratic right to stage a protest against the ruling dispensation will not get a job.....how scared is the poor chief minister of 40 MLAs", the RJD leader tweeted, making a tongue in cheek reference to the poor performance of the JD(U) in the recent Assembly elections.

He also shared a news item related to the order which carried an old photograph of the 69-year-old CM pointing an angry finger at prying journalists and remarked "the decree of Bihars Kim Jong-Un". Kin Jong-Un is North Korean dictator.

However, when ADG (Headquarters) Jitendra Kumar was asked about the controversy, he said, "it is a wrong interpretation. The order does not debar anybody from getting a government job. It simply states that involvement in any objectionable activity will henceforth find a mention in the police verification report".

"It will be up to the prospective employers to take a call on awarding contracts or giving employment, in light of their respective policies. Our communication in no way impinges upon the right of a citizen to take part in any demonstration or procession, which is his or her democratic right", the ADG said.

"We shall be simply stating the fact of a person's involvement in an activity that might be against the law. We will be giving no opinions about a person in the police verification report", he added.

JD(U) MLC and former minister Neeraj Kumar, known for his frequent spats with the RJD leader, came out with an angry statement calling Yadav a "political tourist" - an allusion to his frequent and prolonged trips outside the state.

Referring to the RJD's alleged notoriety for having dreaded criminals among its rank and file, the former Bihar minister asked whether Yadav wanted people with tainted backgrounds "to infest the executive as well".

Burma Myanmar Lawmakers Denied Seats by Coup Hold Their Own Swearing-in Ceremony

Lawmakers display their swearing-in papers on Thursday after taking their oaths as parliamentarians at an improvised ceremony. / The Irrawaddy

Around 70 lawmakers from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) took parliamentary oaths of office at an improvised swearing-in ceremony Thursday, three days after the Parliament to which they were elected last year was abolished by the military coup on what was to be its first day.

The informal ceremony took place at the government guesthouse in Naypyitaw, where lawmakers normally stay during parliamentary sessions. Until Wednesday, the facility housed more than 400 elected MPs, the majority of them from the NLD. Most of the lawmakers obeyed a military order on Wednesday instructing them to leave the capital within 24 hours, but nearly six dozen chose to remain. Due to their small number, authorities agreed to let them stay until Saturday.

On Thursday, the remaining MPs grabbed the chance to take the oath denied them by the coup.

Daw Phyu Phyu Thin, a re-elected NLD lawmaker, described Thursdays event as a convening of the Parliament, saying the venue didnt matter as long as there were lawmakers in attendance.

No one can take away the legitimacy of the MP status granted to us by the people. Thats why we took oaths as parliamentariansfor the people, she said, while condemning the military regime for staging the coup and suing State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the President on ridiculous charges.

Other MPs who have already returned home will soon take their oaths online, she said.

On Thursday afternoon, people across the country joined a clapping campaign to endorse the oaths.

The NLD won a landslide victory in the November election, but the military staged a takeover on Monday, claiming the polling was marred by fraud.

You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Social Media Users Slam China, Russia for Blocking UN Move to Condemn Coup

Myanmar Health Ministry to Continue Vaccinations Despite Coup

Ceasefire Signatories Vow to Work with Myanmar Military Govt for Peace Process
Last week, State Auditor Elaine Howle issued a damning report on the EDDs failings, while pointing out that they had been evident for many years.

In mid-March 2020, (unemployment insurance) claims surged to unprecedented levels, and elevated claim levels persisted through October 2020, Howle told Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators. Although it would be unreasonable to have expected a flawless response to such a historic event, EDDs inefficient processes and lack of advanced planning led to significant delays in its payment of UI claims.

One passage of Howles letter was directed at Su. In spring of 2020, it said, the secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency directed EDD to pay certain claimants UI benefits without making key eligibility determinations and to temporarily stop collecting biweekly eligibility certifications. Although both directives were designed to provide Californians with benefit payments as quickly as possible, the U.S. Department of Labor has not waived these requirements and, consequently, EDD now faces a very large impending workload of eligibility certifications that threatens its ability to operate effectively.
Highlights Panasonic Lumix BGH1 is the newest addition to the company's Lumix camera line-up.

Panasonic Lumix BGH1 mirrorless camera features a 10.2-megapixel image sensor with Dual Native ISO technology.

Panasonic Lumix BGH1 is priced at Rs 1,94,990 for users in India.

Panasonic Lumix BGH1 mirrorless camera is the newest addition to the company's Lumix camera series. The Lumix BGH1 is a boxy digital single lens camera which aims at professional filmmakers. As the company claims, Lumix BGH1 is a lightweight cinema camera that can shoot documentaries, films as well as cover livestream. Additionally, Lumix BGH1 is the first Micro Four Thirds camera which has been approved by Netflix for filming Netflix Originals.

"Designed for versatility, expandability and ease of installation, LUMIX BGH1 is a multi-application box that provides everything a professional needs to unbox their creativity. With its miniature form factor, it is ideal for gimbal and drone work as well as broadcast, live streaming, documentary, and cinema production. We strongly believe this cinema digital camera will create a niche for itself amongst the cinematographer community," said Sandeep Sehgal, Business Chief, Imaging Business Group at Panasonic India.

As per technical specifications, the camera packs a 10.2-megapixel Live MOS sensor with Dual Native ISO technology and the Venus Engine. The camera boasts an ISO scale of 80 to 2,04,800 and is changeable in 1/3 EV steps. It offers both Auto focus (AF) and manual focus (MF) options. The Lumix BGH1 uses a Micro Four Thirds lens mount and has a wide dynamic range of 13 stops.

The video recording capabilities include 4K capture at up to 60FPS. Panasonic claims a continuous shooting time of 270 minutes at 4K 60FPS and 300 minutes at fullHD 60FPS.

The Lumix BGH1 is made of aluminum and magnesium alloy to ensure durability and lightweight. The camera weighs around 575 grams. Other features include dual SD card slot, heat dispersion structure to achieve unlimited video recording as well as HDMI port, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2 etc for connectivity.

Users can also remotely control the camera using a software Lumix Tether which will be released when the Lumix BGH1 camera goes on sale. In India, Panasonic Lumix BGH1 is priced at Rs 1,94,990 for users.

The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
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SOFIA, Bulgaria, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Westinghouse Electric Company and Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant signed a VVER-1000 nuclear fuel licensing contract for the Kozloduy power plant in Bulgaria, a major step forward in the country's energy supply diversification.

"We are pleased that Kozloduy has once again demonstrated their confidence in Westinghouse's nuclear fuel performance, an important factor allowing for the safe operation of nuclear reactors," said Tarik Choho, Westinghouse President, EMEA Operating Plant Services. "As part of Bulgaria's energy security and diversification strategy, our global capabilities allow us to offer innovative technologies and the highest level of service, for the entire life cycle of the operating fleet," Choho continued.

The licensing process of Westinghouse fuel is a key safety pre-condition for nuclear fuel delivery. As a leading company in the nuclear industry, Westinghouse has a proven track record in supporting the nuclear licensing process for its fuel design and is committed to completing the licensing process in compliance with the Bulgarian Nuclear Safety Regulatory Agency requirements and local regulations.

Westinghouse VVER-1000 fuel is in operation in six nuclear reactors in Ukraine and has an ongoing licensing process in the Czech Republic at the Temelin VVER-1000 plant. This latest generation of VVER-1000 fuel assemblies offers superior fuel economics and outstanding performance, meeting higher safety and quality standards.

Westinghouse Electric Company is the world's pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first commercial pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa., U.S. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants. For more information, please visit www.westinghousenuclear.com

Contact: Thuy La

Telephone: +33 1 69 18 54 29

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Westinghouse Electric Company

Related Links

www.westinghousenuclear.com


The United States has placed visa restrictions on unnamed Tanzanian officials who, according to the US, were responsible or complicit in undermining the countrys election last year. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a statement said that the officials contributed to the downward trajectory of the countrys democracy and that the US will not hesitate to take additional actions. Earlier, the United Nations said that at least 150 opposition leaders and members had been arrested around election day.

Situation in Tanzania

During late October, Tanzanias leading opposition candidate alleged a major fraud in the recently concluded election and said the poll verdict was like "spitting in the face of democracy. This came as the US noted that the Tanzanian election showed signs of "credible allegations of significant election-related fraud and intimidation.'' As per reports, Opposition parties have claimed that leaders who called for a protest after the election were unjustly arrested, with one leader being badly beaten.

Read: US: 'No Intelligence' Indicating Insider Threat To Inauguration, Says Acting Defence Chief

Under the leadership of President John Magufuli, Tanzania has lost its credibility as a democratic nation over the years. Magufuli is currently contesting for a second five-year term. As per reports, the ruling party was in an overwhelming lead in terms of parliamentary seats and both the leaders of the major opposition parties subsequently lost their parliamentary seats. The US has flagged the large margins of victory as worrying signs. It has also noted the occurrence of repeat voting and the pre-filling of ballots.

Read: US: Woman Who Stole Nancy Pelosi's Laptop 'planned To Sell It To Russia'

A major opposition party in Tanzania, ACT Wazalendo is reported to have claimed that its presidential candidate Seif Sharif has already been arrested twice in one week leading up to the election. On top of that, ACT Wazalendo party official Ismail Jussa was also reportedly severely beaten by soldiers. The US also weighed into the countrys election and urged the countrys ruling party to release all the arrested opposition leaders stating that detaining opposition leaders were not the actions of a party that was confident in its victory. However, Tanzanias electoral commission called all the votes legitimate, and it denied fraud allegations.

Read: US Claims Coronavirus Infected Wuhan Lab Staff Experimenting For PRC Military

Also Read: Rupee Gains 11 Paise To End At 73.17 Against US Dollar

(Image Credits: AP)

Covid: Netanyahu postpones visit to Abu Dhabi and Bahrain Trip prevented by closure of Israeli skies

(ANSA) - TEL AVIV, 04 FEB - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to postpone a brief visit scheduled in the coming days to Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, in which he intended to strengthen the agreements that came from the Abraham Accords.



"Despite the importance of this trip, the postponement was necessary due to the closure of the skies in Israel," as part of strict measures to fight the coronavirus, Netanyahu said Thursday.



He once again expressed satisfaction for efforts towards "historic peace" shown by United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and by the King of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. (ANSAmed). (ANSA).




VMware Refreshes vRealize Cloud Management to Better Optimize, Protect and Modernize Customers' Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) today announced innovations across its VMware vRealize Cloud Management portfolio of on-premises and Software as a Service ( SaaS (News - Alert) ) solutions. The new and enhanced capabilities combine to enable customers to more securely deploy and operate their hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

VMware customers IHS (News - Alert) Markit and Provident Mexico are using VMware vRealize Cloud Management solutions to attain greater IT and business agility for faster achievement of business outcomes.

"In today's uncertain world, enterprises are seeking to increase agility and efficiencies to remain competitive and to drive faster business growth," said Purnima Padmanabhan, senior vice president and general manager, Cloud Management Business Unit, VMware. "As more businesses pursue cloud as an agility strategy, vRealize Cloud Management helps customers run their applications anywhere while maintaining consistent operations and common governance across all environments."

Consistent Deployment and Operations of Apps, Infrastructure and Platform Services

VMware vRealize Cloud Management enables customers to consistently deploy and operate their applications, infrastructure, and platform services, from the data center to the cloud to the edge. It helps them accelerate innovation with quick and easy access to services, gain efficiency by improving visibility and automation, and improve control while mitigating risk through unified operations and governance. Today, VMware introduces new releases including VMware vRealize Automation 8.3, VMware vRealize Operations 8.3, VMware vRealize Log Insight 8.3, vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager 8.3 VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.1 and VMware Skyline; along with enhancements across VMware vRealize Operations Cloud, VMware vRealize Log Insight Cloud, and VMware vRealize Network Insight Cloud.

Enhanced Event and Data-Driven Infrastructure Automation

VMware vRealize Automation 8.3 delivers enhanced solutions for customers' most critical automation use cases including self-service multi-clouds, network automation, and DevOps with actionable insights, greater security and improved performance. New VMware vRealize Automation capabilities include:

Property Groups : The ability to create, update, read and delete property groups with predefined data. This helps customers work more efficiently by reusing groups of properties, tracking resource usage and storing metadata. vRealize Automation makes the VMware Cloud templates development more powerful and dynamic by reusing these attributes and keeping them up to date;

: The ability to create, update, read and delete property groups with predefined data. This helps customers work more efficiently by reusing groups of properties, tracking resource usage and storing metadata. vRealize Automation makes the VMware Cloud templates development more powerful and dynamic by reusing these attributes and keeping them up to date; Security Properties : The ability to create a more secure variable in Cloud Assembly and apply it to a cloud template or ABX action. This enables customers to better secure sensitive data in encrypted form and introduces a new method to produce more secure variables for project and consumption; and,

: The ability to create a more secure variable in Cloud Assembly and apply it to a cloud template or ABX action. This enables customers to better secure sensitive data in encrypted form and introduces a new method to produce more secure variables for project and consumption; and, VMware NSX-V to NSX-T migration: This release now supports NSX-V to NSX-T migration enabling customers to benefit from multi-hypervisor, multi-cloud networking, declarative APIs for full stack automation, built-in distributed security, advanced threat protection with intrusion detection and prevention, network threat analysis, unified networking and security for cloud native applications, and consistent policy and streamlined operations across deployments.

Additionally, this new release delivers improved performance, deployment speed, increased efficiency and helps complete tasks quicker. This includes reducing the time it takes to deploy a virtual machine - a 2x improvement from vRealize Automation 8.2. (1) The new release also enables customers to distribute a deployment across cloud zones via enhancements in placement logic.

Improved Security for AI-Powered Operations

VMware vRealize Operations delivers self-driving operations from apps to infrastructure to better optimize, plan and scale private, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Powered by AI and predictive analytics, vRealize Operations delivers continuous performance, capacity and cost optimization, proactive planning, intelligent remediation and integrated compliance. VMware vRealize Operations 8.3 and VMware vRealize Operations Cloud feature:







Data Security Standards: VMware vRealize Operations 8.3 modules meet Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 and follow the Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) for U.S. Federal data security requirements; and,

VMware vRealize Operations 8.3 modules meet Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 and follow the Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) for U.S. Federal data security requirements; and, VMware Cloud Configuration Maximums: Provides customers with better visibility into their VMware Cloud limits and their consumption relative to those limits.

VMware vRealize Log Insight Cloud introduces enhanced machine learning (ML) analytics for errors and Knowledge Base (News - Alert) (KB) correlation, ERI-FIPS compliance, VMware HCX and VMware Site Recovery Manager log integration, and native data archiving support.

Network Visibility and Troubleshooting for Applications, Networks, and Security

VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.1 and VMware vRealize Network Insight Cloud provide an end-to-end network view by learning from multiple data sources across virtual and physical infrastructure. Using ML for application discovery as well as assurance and verification capabilities, vRealize Network Insight makes it easier to plan, build, and manage complex networks. This new release includes:

Customization: Enhancements to Pinboards for users to customize persistent dashboards to preserve widget filter state at the time of pinning the ability to see others' pinboards in the Auditor role, as well as new abilities to allow users to pin no result pins;

Enhancements to Pinboards for users to customize persistent dashboards to preserve widget filter state at the time of pinning the ability to see others' pinboards in the Auditor role, as well as new abilities to allow users to pin no result pins; Multi-Cloud: VMware Cloud on AWS edge router interface statistics for improved network troubleshooting;

VMware Cloud on AWS edge router interface statistics for improved network troubleshooting; NSX-T Integrations: Data from NSX Intelligence can now be integrated for more application-centric network operations and troubleshooting visibility; and,

Data from NSX Intelligence can now be integrated for more application-centric network operations and troubleshooting visibility; and, VMware SD-WAN: New analytics intent for better service level agreement (SLA) monitoring and visibility with SD-WAN link utilization and metering.

Increased Visibility into Potential Issues and Support Requests Across Teams

VMware Skyline provides proactive intelligence across customers' VMware environments to help prevent issues and unscheduled downtime. The latest release of Skyline Advisor provides expanded visibility into the vulnerabilities Skyline identifies and improved Support Request visibility enables easier use of the Log Assist automated log upload feature. This release also includes 31 new proactive Findings and Recommendations.

Findings Catalog: New catalog provides increased visibility into all the at-risk issues and vulnerabilities that Skyline checks; and,

New catalog provides increased visibility into all the at-risk issues and vulnerabilities that Skyline checks; and, Improved Support Request Visibility: A top customer request, this new feature provides Skyline Administrators with visibility of Support Requests across teams, making it easier to leverage Log Assist for automated support log bundle upload.

IHS Markit Automates Cloud Environment for Competitive Edge

IHS Markit is a business information provider headquartered in London, serving more than 50,000 business and government customers worldwide. To speed its time to market, the company uses vRealize Cloud Management offerings including vRealize Network Insight with VMware NSX-T to help release products faster to maintain a competitive edge.

"We are making VMware vRealize Network Insight Cloud IHS Markit's standard tool for application, network and security visibility and troubleshooting," said Andrew Hrycaj, Principal Network Engineer, IHS Markit.

Provident Mexico Speeds Innovation with Cloud Adoption

Financial services firm Provident Mexico sought to drive business growth by moving all of its applications to the cloud. After selecting VMware Cloud on AWS to run workloads and apps, Provident Mexico used vRealize Cloud Management to reduce its migration risk. The solution empowered IT leaders at the firm to optimize application delivery infrastructure and innovate faster to meet business speed and agility requirements. Specifically, Provident Mexico has improved its efficiency, lowered its risk and reduced its overall capacity requirements by 30% when comparing consumption of on-premises and cloud environments.

"It's intimidating to think about putting high-value workloads in the cloud, especially in financial services, but adopting cloud is both necessary and practical to achieve IT and business goals," said Nestor Rodriguez, Director of Technology and Change, Provident Mexico. "It used to take me around a year and a half just to place an application in production. With VMware vRealize Cloud Management, I now do it within months. It's a game changer."

Product Availability

VMware vRealize Automation 8.3, VMware vRealize Operations 8.3, VMware vRealize Log Insight 8.3, VMware vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager 8.3 VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.1 and Skyline Advisor are available. The new capabilities and enhancements to VMware vRealize Operations Cloud, VMware vRealize Log Insight Cloud and VMware vRealize Network Insight Cloud are also available.

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About VMware

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The first batch of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine has arrived in Iran as the country prepares to launch a COVID-19 inoculation campaign aimed at curbing the usage of Western medicines.



The state news agency IRNA showed video of the vaccine delivery being transferred off a Mahan Airline flight at Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran on February 4.

Iran's ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, said the second and third deliveries of the vaccine were due to be sent to Tehran on February 18 and 28.

Mohammad Reza Shansaz, the head of Iran's drug regulator, said earlier this week he expected Iran to initially receive 500,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.

Iran, the country hardest-hit by the pandemic in the Middle East, has turned mainly to Russia, China, and India for vaccines after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in January announced a ban on those made by the United States and Britain, calling them "completely untrustworthy."

On February 3, however, Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki said that Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca would provide the country with 4.2 million doses of its vaccine. They were purchased via COVAX, the World Health Organization-backed program to ensure global access to vaccines.

Tehran has also said it is working on developing its own vaccine, as well as on one with Cuban experts.

RFE/RL's Coronavirus Crisis Archive Features and analysis, videos, and infographics explore how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the countries in our region.

Russia registered Sputnik V in August 2020 before the start of large-scale clinical trials or data, raising many questions over the vaccine's safety and efficacy.

However, peer-reviewed, late-stage trial results published in The Lancet medical journal this week showed the two-dose regimen of Sputnik V was 91.6 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19.

Other countries, including Argentina, Serbia, and Hungary, have approved the Russian vaccine.

Iran has accused the United States of blocking its access to vaccines and other medical equipment and supplies through its sanctions regime.

Iran has recorded 58,000 deaths during the pandemic, though many experts say the figure is likely much higher due to underreporting by officials.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, and ISNA
Philippine media and human rights groups, along with the nations leading newspaper, closed ranks Thursday behind one of its reporters whom a military general accused of being a propagandist for terrorists.

Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., an Army division commander and spokesman for a task force whose mission is to end the communist insurgency, called out Philippine Daily Inquirer reporter Tetch Torres-Tupas over a story published on Tuesday.

She had reported about a petition by two members of an Aeta tribe against an anti-terrorism law, which the government passed last year.

In a statement, The Inquirer said it takes vigorous exception to the apparent red-tagging of our reporter and expresses alarm over Parlades attempt to sow fear, stifle dissent and curtail her right to make truthful and objective reports, adding that it supported Torres-Tupas unequivocally.

Red-tagging is a military practice of falsely accusing someone of being a communist guerilla or a sympathizer.

Torres-Tupas wrote about the tribe members asking for the Supreme Courts permission to join 37 petitions that seek to declare the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 unconstitutional. Rights groups have said the law is meant to stifle dissent against the government of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Harassment of the reporters has become common in the Philippines. Duterte has been at odds with journalists for reporting on his administrations drug war, which has left thousands of dead since he took office in 2016.

In addition, his legislative allies last year shut down the free channel of national broadcaster ABS-CBN Corp., while the head of online news site Rappler, Maria Ressa, was convicted of cyber libel, but remains free pending an appeal.

On Thursday, local media reported on a Facebook post by Parlade that questioned the reporters story.

Congratulations for a sloppy work Tetch Torres-Tupaz of Inquirer.net, Parlade said in a post that misspelled the reporters name.

You did not even bother to check the side of the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] and govt if what you are reporting is true or FAKE. Propagandista. No such thing happened. That unit is not even there but in Davao, he said.

When asked if a suit could be filed against Torres-Tupas, Parlade replied: Aiding the terrorists by spreading lies? Yes, its possible.

Parlade also claimed that Torres-Tupas had used material from Human Rights Watch and a local media outfit, Kodao Productions  both of which he called propaganda machines of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines  as references for her story.

Parlade has used social media to accuse government critics of being legal fronts for communists. In October, reports surfaced that Parlade had criticized actress Liza Soberano and former Miss Universe Catriona Gray for allegedly having ties with leftist organizations, which could be fronts for communist rebels.

On Thursday, military officials did not respond to requests for comment after Parlade singled out Torres-Tupas, while other media carried the same story and cited the same source. Torres-Tupas fellow journalists covering justice issues also reported on the petition, filed Tuesday  the same day the high court began hearing oral arguments on the contested law.

Journalist groups react

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) pointed out that Parlade had shown precisely the behavior that petitioners against the draconian law have been raising alarms about.

The attack on Torres-Tupas was a threat directed not only at those questioning the anti-terror law, but also at those reporting on it, the union said.

Government inaction on the threat against Torres-Tupas and on similar statements and threats against activists and journalists means government consent and even endorsement of those actions and belies the claim that the law does not target criticism and dissent, the NUJP said.

The government has argued that the anti-terrorism law is needed to curb militant groups, especially in the wake of the 2017 siege of the southern city of Marawi.

But local and international groups have expressed concern that the law bolsters the power of security officers to arrest people and file charges. One provision allows detention for about a month without a warrant.

Human rights organization Karapatan called Parlades attack on Torres-Tupas a serious and perilous threat not only against her, but also against each and every journalist covering human rights issues and concerns.

Killer sentenced

Meanwhile, a court in the northern Philippines earlier this week sentenced a gunman to life in prison for the killing of a journalist more than a decade ago.

A regional trial in San Fernando, a town in La Union province convicted Leonardo Banaag Jr., one of the suspects in the murder of broadcaster Jovelito Agustin, according to the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, a government agency monitoring media-related killings.

Agustin, who worked for a local radio station, was shot while heading home in 2010.

The NUJP said 19 journalists and media workers have been killed since Duterte took power in 2016, and 191 since democracy was restored when dictator Ferdinand Marcos was toppled in 1986.

Jojo Rinoza in Manila contributed to this report.

Is there a worse word in the English language than journaling? The minute someone starts spouting on about their gratitude journaling, I feel the need to escape their company as quickly as possible.

So, you are writing a diary, are you? A hello trees, hello sky one? You saw some new buds opening on one of your interminable walks? You knitted a thing and you made a pie? Pie is the only part of this equation I understand. As for the rest, please do keep it to yourself.

There are still hundreds of people dying every day, yet this pandemic has brought a lot of the most banal spiritual self-care advice to the fore and it makes me want to scream.

This push for positivity in a time of unprecedented loss feels like a form of denial. Its the mask that slips every time. Its how my countrys prime minister, Boris Johnson, got Covid, cheerily going around shaking hands.

That was the longest January ever, but we havent even begun to come to terms with the scale of huge pain before us.

The world has changed. There is the actual loss of life, employment and education. Then there is the unspecified loss of imagined futures, of all our projections of how we thought life was going to be. Even with vaccines, the world is no longer your oyster or, if it is, it may be the one that poisons you.

Obviously, I am grateful not to be ill and grateful to the doctors and scientists who may keep me and others safe.

I am lucky to live in a rich country, but I cant help feeling resentful at how small my world has become. I cannot help feeling sad that I cant travel anymore.

I find it immensely irritating to be told that my horizons must shrink, that I must live in the moment, and that I cannot return to New Orleans, a city I once lived in, for a while.

Please dont lecture me on the joys of the English seaside, I know them too well. But I find myself agreeing with AA Gill, essentially all beaches are the same beach.

I also want to travel inland to see cities I havent seen  Moscow, Seoul, Hanoi and Detroit.

I want again to be on buses in the desert when suddenly we stop and people get off and walk into the distance and you cannot know where they are going.

I want to be in the presence of unknowable lives or to sit in a pub in Co Mayo where someone gets out a fiddle and a bodhran.

Before anyone starts with their eco-scolding, I am also happy to do as much of this as possible on trains. But I will not let my dreams dwindle just yet.

Joy in the moment is all very well. Lovely, actually. There is nothing like living with a toddler, as I do, to be privy to that. The cat, a bath, silly noises are a source of huge happiness for him.

But I am not a toddler and treading water like this, the sameness of everything, feels relentlessly exhausting.

Instinct tells me not to be fake grateful, but to let myself feel and grieve the losses of security and personal freedom, as well as the numbers of dead.

What we are all experiencing is our own frailty; we are sensing our attachments to what we thought was solid slinking away.

So much positive thinking is a form of avoidance. We can no longer protect our loved ones.

Our sense of self is unclear. This endless talk of the return to normality is yet more denial. The bucket list has now become a pub lunch and a hug.

In the place of some kind of communal recognition of grief, we are left only with small individual ways to make sense of a virus whose only purpose is to stay in business.

But it is our duty to also understand just how much we have lost and to respect that, too.

Being grateful should be neither compulsory nor competitive. My life is not your life. As Theodore Roosevelt said so wisely: Comparison is the thief of joy.

Any joy right now is fabulous, but surely it is equally fine to acknowledge that many of us are depressed because of our circumstances.

I dont know when or if the world will open up again. I just want it to. Thats all.

What is gratitude anyway? I often think back to the time when a team of doctors saved my then one-year-olds life. She was dying of sepsis. She had meningitis, the bad kind. They brought her back, six medics working on her little body.

Thank you, thank you, I kept sobbing.

Its OK, said a young doctor. This is what we do.

Gratitude, it seems to me, is something you practise in the world, not something you keep as notes to yourself.

The big wide world is what I yearn for. Please dont tell me it is gone, too. ( Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2021)
Mrs Jemima Oware, the Registrar-General has directed companies to provide their Beneficial Ownership (BO) information to the Registrar-Generals Department (RGD) by June, 30, 2021.



She said the directive applied to businesses under the Legacy data, thus, businesses already in existence before the RGD deployed the BO register in October 1, 2020 and that failure to comply would attract sanctions.



New applicants as of January 1, 2021, are also to download the forms, fill out their BO Information and attach them to the registration documents.



It is the responsibility of companies to keep a Register of Members in which they shall enter all details of their Members and Beneficial owners and verify their BO information before onward transmission to the Registrar of Companies. Weve been talking about this, but I dont think they took us serious. From henceforth, they will see how serious we are, the Registrar General, said.



Mrs Oware gave the directive on Tuesday during a media workshop organized by the RGD on the concept of BO Information.



The engagement had support from the United Kingdom (UK) DFID funded Strengthening Action Against Corruption (STAAC) programme and the Beneficial Ownership Strategic Support (BOSS) Team.



The Registrar-General said BO Transparency was introduced by Governments across the world to promote transparency and a fair playing field for businesses.



She said it also minimised domestic and cross-border bribery and corruption, fraud and illegal financial transactions.



Mrs Oware said the Companies Act, 2019, (Act 992) provided for the collection of data on BO on all companies, adding that the BO regime required the declaration of the true owners of every company operating in Ghana.



She said the information would be held in a Central Register by the Registrar of Companies and made available to Competent Authorities like the Financial Intelligence Centre, Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Ghana Police Service, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and business community and the public upon request to promote business transparency.



The Registrar-General said all Companies would be required to submit BO information at the time of incorporation, during the filing of annual returns and whenever they wanted to make changes to their details.



The Companies Act defines a Beneficial Owner as an individual who directly or indirectly ultimately owns or exercises substantial control over a person or company.



A Beneficial Owner is also one who has substantial economic interest in or receives substantial economic benefits from a company whether acting alone or together with other persons.



He or she is the person on whose behalf a transaction is conducted; or who exercises significant control or influence over a legal person or legal arrangement through a formal or informal agreement.



Thus, a BO of an entity is, therefore. a person who will enjoy the economic rights stemming from the entity, regardless of whether the person is also the legal owner on record- that is, whether the entity's ownership is registered in his or her name.



Madam Elizabeth Osae Omane of the RGD Legal Team said a person who failed to provide the information required or provided false or misleading information to the Registrar committed an offence and was liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than fifty penalty units and not more than two hundred and fifty units or to a term of imprisonment not less than one year and not more than two years or both.



Also, she said, where a company defaulted in complying with the law, the company and every officer of the company were liable to pay to the Registrar, an administrative penalty of twenty-five penalty units for each day during, which the defaults continued.

Source: GNA









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Turkey on Thursday rejected US criticism over mass detentions of students during a month of escalating protests, telling Washington not to interfere in its internal affairs.

Hundreds of students and their supporters were detained this week after police violently cracked down on protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's appointment last month of a loyalist as rector of Istanbul's elite Bogazici University.

Erdogan on Wednesday condemned the LGBT movement's role in the rallies and likened some student protesters to "terrorists".

The US State Department called Erdogan's "rhetoric" unacceptable, urging Turkey to embrace protests and "even speech that some may find uncomfortable".

The Turkish foreign ministry responded on Thursday by saying it would "advise those who dare to teach a lesson of democracy and law... to look in the mirror".

"No one should dare to interfere in Turkey's domestic affairs," it said in a statement.

But the statement responded only to Washington's criticism of the detentions, without referring to Erdogan's comments about the LGBT movement.

Erdogan on Wednesday said there was "no such thing" as LGBT, adding: "This country is... moral, and it will walk to the future with these values."

The State Department said it "strongly (condemned) the anti-LGBTQIA rhetoric surrounding the demonstrations".

The diplomatic row threatens to undermine Erdogan's efforts to build up a rapport with the new US administration of President Joe Biden, after enjoying a personal friendship of Donald Trump.

Biden is expected to take a tougher line on Erdogan, pressing him on human rights.

Turkish interior ministry spokesman Ismail Catakli said on Thursday that 528 people had been detained in connection with the protests this week.

Two were remanded in custody and 498 were released, including 108 who were freed under judicial controls, Catakli said, while the fate of the other 28 remained unclear.

The Istanbul governor's office earlier said police were on the hunt for eight more suspects, of whom it said five had been caught.

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HOUSTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- KBR, Inc. (NYSE: KBR) announced today that a subsidiary of CVR Energy, Inc. ("CVR Energy") is proceeding with the next phase of the KBR Solid Acid Alkylation Technology (K-SAATTM) project for its refinery in Wynnewood, Oklahoma.

CVR Energy previously awarded a contract to KBR to provide the basic engineering design based on K-SAAT technology to revamp its existing HF alkylation unit at its Wynnewood refinery. CVR Energy now plans to take the project to the next phase, which would entail KBR providing detailed engineering of the process equipment, proprietary equipment supply and module fabrication. The expected mechanical completion of the project would be late 2024, subject to regulatory and internal approvals.

"We are extremely happy to continue working with CVR Energy on its efforts to migrate from a traditional hydrofluoric acid-based alkylation process to KBR's innovative and groundbreaking K-SAAT process that delivers higher alkylate yield and quality," said Doug Kelly, KBR President, Technology. "The Wynnewood refinery would be the first US installation of K-SAAT technology, which is a leading choice for grassroots alkylation applications as well as for revamping existing facilities to improve plant economics. Eliminating liquid acid catalysts just makes it that much more attractive."

"We are pleased to have selected KBR's innovative alkylation technology for our Wynnewood refinery," said Dave Lamp, Chief Executive Officer and President of CVR Energy. "We chose K-SAAT after assessing available alkylation technologies and considering the benefits we intend to achieve."

KBR's K-SAAT provides an opportunity to maximize the yield and quality of an ultra-clean gasoline blendstock with the ExSact catalyst, a revolutionary solid-acid catalyst that has been engineered to outperform liquid acid catalysts. The first commercial K-SAAT plant has been operational in China since 2018 and this technology has received great interest from refiners globally.

KBR's licensed process technology is found in more than half of the world's FCC units and a majority of residue upgrading units. K-SAAT technology reflects KBR's commitment to providing innovative technologies that give our customers a competitive edge in attractive markets.

About KBR

We deliver science, technology and engineering solutions to governments and companies around the world. KBR employs approximately 29,000 people worldwide with customers in more than 80 countries and operations in 40 countries.

KBR is proud to work with its customers across the globe to provide technology, value-added services, and long- term operations and maintenance services to ensure consistent delivery with predictable results. At KBR, We Deliver.

Visit www.kbr.com

Forward Looking Statement

The statements in this press release that are not historical statements, including statements regarding future financial performance, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the significant adverse impacts on economic and market conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic; the company's ability to respond to the challenges and business disruption presented by the COVID-19 pandemic; the recent dislocation of the global energy market; the company's ability to realize cost savings and efficiencies relating to the streamlining of its Energy Solutions business; the company's ability to manage its liquidity; the company's ability to continue to generate anticipated levels of revenue, profits and cash flow from operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and any resulting economic downturn; the outcome of and the publicity surrounding audits and investigations by domestic and foreign government agencies and legislative bodies; potential adverse proceedings by such agencies and potential adverse results and consequences from such proceedings; the scope and enforceability of the company's indemnities from its former parent; changes in capital spending by the company's customers, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; the company's ability to obtain contracts from existing and new customers and perform under those contracts; structural changes in the industries in which the company operates; escalating costs associated with and the performance of fixed-fee projects and the company's ability to control its cost under its contracts; claims negotiations and contract disputes with the company's customers; changes in the demand for or price of oil and/or natural gas; protection of intellectual property rights; compliance with environmental laws; changes in government regulations and regulatory requirements; compliance with laws related to income taxes; unsettled political conditions, war and the effects of terrorism; foreign operations and foreign exchange rates and controls; the development and installation of financial systems; increased competition for employees; the ability to successfully complete and integrate acquisitions; and operations of joint ventures, including joint ventures that are not controlled by the company.

KBR's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Form 10-Qs and 8-Ks, and other U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss some of the important risk factors that KBR has identified that may affect the business, results of operations and financial condition. Except as required by law, KBR undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

SOURCE KBR, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.kbr.com


Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 05:30:20|Editor: huaxia

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People wearing masks walk past the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral in Paris, France, Feb. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

With daily averages of 20,000 new infection cases, 1,600 hospital admissions and 320 deaths, "the situation remains worrying," Castex warned.

However, he said "for the moment, there is no necessity to lock down," arguing that "the level of incidence is certainly high, but it is still much lower than it was last October" when the country entered into second confinement.

PARIS, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The epidemic situation in France was "particularly fragile" as those more infectious variants of the coronavirus circulate faster, but there was no need for the moment to impose a new nationwide lockdown, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday.

With daily averages of 20,000 new infection cases, 1,600 hospital admissions and 320 deaths, "the situation remains worrying," Castex warned.

However, he said "for the moment, there is no necessity to lock down," arguing that "the level of incidence is certainly high, but it is still much lower than it was last October" when the country entered into second confinement.

"A new lockdown can only be considered as a very last resort. Currently, the situation does not justify such a move," Castex told reporters at a weekly press briefing on the epidemic situation.

"The objective is not to delay (the confinement) but to do everything possible to avoid it. We must hold on, act together," he said.

A couple hug on the street in Paris, France, Feb. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

Castex also said that the percentage of infections by the new variants among new cases has increased from 3.3 percent on Jan. 8 to 14 percent on Thursday.

France has also confirmed four cases of the coronavirus strain first detected in Brazil, Health Minister Olivier Veran told the press briefing.

"Our objective is clear: we want to limit the spread of these variants as much as possible," said Veran, noting that the country was "in a race against time" against more infectious variants.

By next week, all residents in nursing homes who want to be vaccinated will have received their first jab, while up to 4 million people would have the first dose later this month, according to Castex.

Sticking to a three-to-four-week gap between the two injections, France aims to vaccinate all the citizens aged over 65 by the end of May and all adults before September, he added.

As of Wednesday, France has registered an accumulative total of 3,251,160 infections, and 77,595 patients had lost their lives. Some 1,682,951 people have received a first shot of inoculations, health authority data showed.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in some countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.

Meanwhile, 238 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 63 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain and the United States, according to information released by the World Health Organization on Feb. 2.

A man wearing a face mask walks on the street in Paris, France, Feb. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)
Croatia witnessed a massive protest on Wednesday as a crowd of small business owners gathered to oppose the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions. The demonstration was prompted after a business owner named Andrija Klaric was detained by the capital police last week as he opened his gym to protest against the restrictions imposed by the government to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Thousands of protesters claimed that the restrictions are "discriminatory" and demanded that the the government must lift them so they could return to work.

Read: Croatia: Floating LNG Terminal On Krk Becomes Operational

Protesters gathered at a square in the capital Zagreb and called for the resignation of Economy Minister Tomislav Coric. Klaric was also present at the rally, where he addressed the crowd, who were chanting his name to show solidarity. Klaric, who could face a prison sentence for violating restrictions, told the gathering, "together we will make the authorities realise that they can't take away our freedoms". The crowd, wearing face masks, demanded they be allowed to return to work with health safety protocols in place.

Read: Video Shows Ground 'literally Bouncing' As 6.4 Magnitude Quake Jolts Croatia | Watch

The ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in Croatia requires restaurants, gyms, and bars to remain shut completely until further instructions from the authorities. The government shut down these businesses three months ago to curb the spread of the disease. However, the shutdown has affected many small business owners in the country, who are on the verge of losing everything because of the financial losses incurred due to the restrictions. The government has failed to provide any assistance and they still have to pay their rents.

Read: Croatia: 7 Killed As 6.4 Magnitude Earthquake Jolts Country, EU Offers Help

COVID-19 situation in Croatia

Croatia has recorded more than 2,32,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases to date, of which over 5,000 people have lost their lives. Although the daily infection rate in Croatia has significantly dropped from its peak in early December, authorities don't want to take any risk by easing restrictions because of the new emerging variants. Croatia recorded 387 new cases on Wednesday as compared to over 4,000 on December 12. Croatia has started the vaccination drive in the country with more than 83,000 doses administered so far.

Read: Croatia Steps Up Virus Restrictions Amid Spike

(Image Credit: AP)


Fred Hutch scientists are presenting new research findings at the Transplantation & Cellular Therapy (TCT) Meetings. The TCT represents the combined annual meetings of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT) and the Center for International Blood & Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR).

The meeting features the E. Donnall Thomas Lecture, named after the late Nobel laureate who pioneered bone marrow transplantation at Fred Hutch. The honor recognizes an eminent physician or scientist who has contributed meritoriously to the advancement of knowledge in blood and marrow transplantation.

Fred Hutch and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance will co-host a virtual booth at the meeting.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control confirmed 2,497 COVID-19 cases in schools statewide from Dec. 31 to Jan. 31.

January's count marks a decrease by about 650 cases from the previous month, but it still had a relatively high number of cases compared to most of the fall semester.

DHEC's school report only includes students and employees who physically attended school with the coronavirus in its infectious period.

There have been 9,863 COVID-19 cases in South Carolina schools since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, according to DHEC. A total of 7,130 of these have been students, and 2,733 have been employees.

In Aiken County, 38 public schools, along with six private schools and two charter schools, reported COVID-19 cases over the last 30 days. Most of them reported fewer than five student and/or employee cases.

Some schools in Aiken County had more than five COVID-19 cases over the last 30 days.

North Augusta High reported nine student cases and five employee cases, according to DHEC. Out of all public schools in Aiken County, North Augusta High has had the most confirmed infectious cases cumulatively, with 33 cases since the beginning of the school year.

Oakwood Windsor Elementary had eight students attend school with the virus this month, according to DHEC. Langley-Bath-Clearwater Middle School reported six student cases, and both Chukker Creek Elementary and Midland Valley High reported five.

In Edgefield County, five public schools, a charter school and a private school reported cases. According to DHEC, all of them had fewer than five student cases, employee cases or both.

Six public schools in Barnwell County also reported fewer than five student cases, employee cases or both.

To view DHEC's COVID-19 school report, visit scdhec.gov/covid19 and click on "Student, Teacher & Faculty Cases." The report includes both cumulative and recent data for individual public, private and charter schools statewide.

This article appears in the February 5, 2021 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

November 18, 2009

Agreement Among Four Powers

Can Avert Total Collapse

[Print version of this article]

Remarks of Lyndon LaRouche to the Save Human Dignity for the Sake of Mankind conference held in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 3-4, 2009. The remarks were recorded Nov. 18, 2009. First published in EIR in Vol. 36, No. 48, Dec. 11, 2009, and reprinted in the June 14, 2019 issue.

Greetings!

Since the developments of this summer, theres been a great change in the situation in the world at large. Following the period of the Rhodes conference, we had the effects of the negotiations between Chinas President and Russias President, setting the terms which were later followed up on, with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the new agreement with China on the development, the shared development, of Siberia.

This has made a fundamental change in the direction of historythis development, and its consequences. Now, the world has shifted from the former domination by the Atlantic Ocean, as the relationship between Europe and the Americas; and now, between the United States, and the Americas, across the Pacific, into the Indian Ocean, with the nations of Asia, and touching Africa.

This means that the great area of development in Siberia, especially in northern and eastern Siberia, is now opened for its realization: that the cooperation between China and Russia, in the development of this area of Siberia, has produced a fundamental change in the strategic orientation of the planet as a whole. And, hopefully, this is a more or less permanent change for generations yet to come.

What we have on our hands, are the vast resources of countries such as Mongolia, and Russiain Siberia, northern Siberia. This is a development which affects the populations of Africa, particularly on the Indian Ocean coast. It affects India, Southeast Asia, China, and Russia. It means that theres a change in world history from a trans-Atlantic orientation of modern civilization, which has been the case, essentially, since Christopher Columbus, to a new period, where the relationship of the United States, across the Pacific, to Asia and also to the coast of Africa, and to Australia, will be the dominant feature.

Especially in Asia, we have large populations. Russia, for example, has not a large population, comparable to the scale of China or India, but it has a very special role, with the territory of Siberia. China and India: China, 1.4 billion people; India, 1.1 billion people; the comparably large populations of Indonesia, and so forth. This means that the combination of the realization of the development of the raw materials potential, and production potential, in Siberia, is now being combined with the large populations typified by those of China and India; to combine raw materials and the labor force together, not to loot a territory of its raw materials, but to develop that territory, and to develop the peoples participating in the development of that territory.

This is the new world economy, if we escape the dangers that exist now. And we have to shift our thinking to that.

We also have to shift our thinking to something else.

A Trans-Pacific Orientation

The future of mankind, even though its some generations distant, now, depends upon the development of the colonization of the Moon, as a manufacturing center for building pieces of equipment which will convey man to the colonization of Mars. This will be a fundamental change in the character of the apparent human destiny, over this period of time. And this program, which is now agreed upon, so far, by Russia and China, will be the starting point.

Those in the United States who know their history, who know their strategic history, realize this is a fundamental change. The world is now going to have a trans-Pacific orientation, as opposed to a trans-Atlantic orientation. And that will be for a long time to come. Because combining the populations, which are numerous, but underdeveloped, with a process of development of the raw-materials areas of Siberia and related places, is the solution for the present world problem. And we should look at these things in that way.

We also have to look ahead to Mars, the Mars colonization, which this will help to make possible. It will be several generations distant, before we do that. There are numerous problems, scientific problems, that have to be overcome, not so much in getting to Marswe already know how to get to Marsbut to get men and women safely to Mars, and back, there are some problems that have to be worked out, on that one.

So, therefore, this will be the character of the coming period of history, provided we get through the present crisis.

But, there are certain parts of the world, which are not willing to accept this. The British Empire, for example. (Australiayes, Australia will tend to be very much interested in this. Australia has resources, such as large quantities of thorium and uranium, and these resources will be very useful, not only for Australia, but for its neighbors. Thorium nuclear reactors are a very special feature of a development program during this period, and for support of this.) But, in general, youre going to have opposition from what we call the British Empire, which is not the empire of the British people; its an empire which is based on London and the British interests, which is international. Its the international monetarist system.

And what were going into, with this reform, with the Russia-China agreement, is the inception of an alternative to a monetarist system: a shift to a credit system. That is, instead of having an international currency, which exerts imperial power, authority over the power of nation-states, and over their economy; instead of a globalized system, well have a system of sovereign nation-states, in cooperation through their credit systems in the development of the planet. Thats the direction we should be going in. Thats what my purpose is in this.

However, in order to meet that missionthe mission not merely of starting this development, which the Russia-China cooperation begins, including Russia-China-India and other countrieswe have to develop the science and technology which goes together with a Mars orientation.

The Moon-Mars Mission

Mankind is creative, instinctively. No animal is creative. Only mankind, only the human mind is creative. Living processes are creative; life is creative. But its not consciously creative. Even the inanimate world, so-called, is creative. The evolution of the stars, the evolution of stellar systems is a creative process. But the difference is: Man, individually, is creative. And its the willful creativity by Man, which is going to shape the future of the Solar System, and beyond.

Were looking to that. In order to realize the objectives which stand before us now, we have to give mankind a new missionmankind as a whole. The mission is typified by the idea of the Mars colonization. This requires us to make the kinds of changes, in terms of scientific progress, which are needed for mankinds future existence.

We have many problems on this planet. And we can not solve those problems, extensively, without going into a development of the Solar System as a habitat of mankind. Were on the edge of doing that, scientifically. There are many scientific discoveries, yet to be made, which will make it possible to act for mans colonization of Mars. That will be in some time to come. But we need to act now: We need the intention of accomplishing the Mars colonization. We need to educate and develop generations of young people, who will be oriented to that kind of mission. In the coming period, we will have the birth of young people, who will be part of the colonization of Mars, in one way or the other, before this century is out.

We need to give mankind a sense of purpose, developmental purpose, not only throughout the planet, but through the influence of Earth on the adjoining regions of the Solar System, and beyond.

Those objectives are feasible. There are, admittedly, many problems to be solved, scientific problems, which are not yet resolved. We have many questions. But, essentially, we know this is feasible. We know this should be feasible within two or three generations. What we have to do, is give to people, who will be the grandchildren, born now, to give them something to realize. When were dead and gone, they will be there, three generations from now, four generations from now. They will be the people who actually colonize areas beyond Earth itself. We need to give them the opportunity to do so. We need to give society, in the meantime, the mission-orientation of achieving that colonization, for our descendants, three generations or so down the line.

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The End of the British Empire

So, now we have a new situation. The old imperial systemand, some people may disagree with this, but theres only one empire on this planet. Its the British Empire. Its not the empire of the British people; its the empire of an international monetarist system. And its the monetarist system, which is the empire.

The advantage of the United States in this, is that the United States is not a monetarist nation. We do not believe, in our Constitutional system, in monetarism. We believe in a credit system. It is a feature of our Constitution, which is lacking in Europe. And our crucial role, as was the case with Franklin Roosevelt, our crucial role in society, is to promote this kind of change, away from a monetarist system, which is the true form of imperialism. Many people talk about imperialism; they use the label for many things. Mostly, its nonsense, scientifically. Theres only one kind of imperialism weve known, in European experience during the past 3,000 years, and that is monetarism, as such. And thats what we have to destroy.

Yes, there is a British domination of the planet, controlling the monetary system, as such, in the tradition of Keynes, and so forth. We have to eliminate that. But, we have to replace it with something, and this means going to a credit system, like that of the United States under Franklin Roosevelt, in which each nations credit system is sovereign. And you have cooperation, on a fixed exchange rate, among sovereign economies. We can cooperate in long-term creation of credit, for the fulfillment of these kinds of projects, which the present treaty-agreement between Russia and China signifies. Thats what Im committed to. Im looking forward to it.

And I think that we, who are conscious of these goals, of these kinds of goals, we wish to defend the sovereignty of cultures, the sovereignty of nation-states. We wish a system of cooperation among sovereign nation-states, for common ends, without tampering with the culture of the respective nations.

We need to have a conception, a task-oriented conception, of the goals toward which were aimed, in the futuretwo or three generations. We have to have a conception of what are the steps we must take now, to realize those goals, three generations ahead.

And I think we have the potential for doing that, just now: whats happened between China and Russia, which is not going to stop there. Its oriented toward bringing India in more fully. Its going to mean trying to create a situation in which India cooperates with Pakistan, in defending themselves, both, against whats coming out of Afghanistan from European sources, in terms of drug-trafficking and so forth.

There are many challenges of that type. But we can achieve that. We can achieve that, provided we come to extend what has been agreed between China and Russia, extend that on a broader scale, as the beginning of a Pacific-oriented development of the planet as a whole. And at the same time, with a mission orientation toward the development of an industrial base on the Moon, which is indispensable for the task of the colonization of Mars.

And when mankind has reached the point, that we have developed the launching of the colonization of Mars, and know its going to work, then mankind has gone to an entirely new phase of its existence. We are no longer Earthlings. We are now people of the Universe or, as they say in Russia, the Cosmos.
Scientists from Hiroshima university identified novel control mechanisms for mitotic nuclear positioning. Credit: Masashi Yukawa & Takashi Toda, Hiroshima University

Cells replicate their genetic material and divide into two identical clones to perpetuate life. Some cells pause in the process with a single, undivided nucleus. When the cell resumes division after such a pause, the nucleus can become caught in the fissure, splitting violently, and killing both cells. But that is not always the case. Researchers from Hiroshima University in Japan are starting to understand how active nuclear displacement rescues cell death.

Cells replicate their genetic material and divide into two identical clones, perpetuating lifeuntil they don't. Some cells pauseor are intentionally made to pausein the process. When the cell resumes division after such a pause, a displaced nucleusan essential part of cell survivalcan become caught in the fissure, splitting violently and killing both cells. But that is not always the case; some mutant cells can recover by pushing their nucleus to safety. Researchers from Hiroshima University in Japan are starting to understand how in the first step toward potential cell death rescue applications.

The results were published on Jan. 22 in iScience, a Cell Press journal.

The researchers examined fission yeast, a common model organism used for studying the molecular mechanisms underpinning the cell cycle. These rod-shaped cells provide an ideal view of each phase of mitosis, the process by which the cell duplicates and divides. In this process, the genetic-containing nucleus migrates to the center of the cell, dissolves its protective envelope, replicates and reassembles as two on each side of the cell. The center of the cell then pinches apart.

"Proper nuclear positioning is essential for the execution of a wide range of cellular processes in eukaryotic cells, which contain a nucleus bound in a membrane," said first author Masashi Yukawa, assistant professor in the Hiroshima Research Center for Healthy Aging and the Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University. "Yet how the nucleus is retained in the center of the cell during mitosis remains elusive."

Researchers can use drugs to pause this process and study it further or to help halt unhealthy cell division in various diseases. The nucleus, not yet divided, remains in the center of the cell.

"We found several fission yeast mutants that arrest in mitosis all displace the nucleus towards one end of the cell," Yukawa said. "Our questions are how and why these mutant cells translocate their nucleus from the cell center during mitosis."

They found that microfilaments made of a protein called actin appear to play a role. These cable-like filaments act as arms, pushing the nucleus to the center of the cell.

"During prolonged mitotic arrest, the forces of the actin cables become unbalanced, pushing the nucleus to one side," Yukawa said.

The researchers also found that the mitosis-induced ring that constricts the original cell into two helps push an off-balanced nucleus further to one side. When the cell splits, the nucleus remains intact.

"Eukaryotic cells may have a novel mitotic surveillance mechanism that involves an actin-mediated nuclear movement to escape from disastrous mitotic catastrophe," Yukawa said. "We will continue to elucidate the mechanism by which cells keep the correct position of their nucleus during mitosis.

Explore further Cells: Divide and enlarge

More information: Masashi Yukawa et al. Escape from mitotic catastrophe by actin-dependent nuclear displacement in fission yeast, iScience (2021). Journal information: iScience Masashi Yukawa et al. Escape from mitotic catastrophe by actin-dependent nuclear displacement in fission yeast,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.102031
A new report by the UN drug and crimes agency warns that the Covid-19 pandemic could also be contributing to a rise in trafficking of persons.

The Trafficking in Persons Report released on Tuesday says poverty arising from lost jobs or other economic opportunities has, over the last one year, increased the pool of people most vulnerable to being trafficked.

"Millions of women, children and men worldwide are out of work, out of school and without social support in the continuing Covid-19 crisis, leaving them at greater risk of human trafficking.

"We need targeted action to stop criminal traffickers from taking advantage of the pandemic to exploit the vulnerable," said UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said on Tuesday.

The warnings came even as the same document suggests countries, especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, had their agencies working hard, detecting trafficking incidents mostly before the victims crossed borders.

According to an analysis in the 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, an assessment of sub-Saharan African countries including Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia showed that there had been fewer incidents of domestic trafficking. But 75 per cent of incidents detected involved victims destined to neighbouring countries, even though the police, immigration and other security agencies often foiled them on home soil.

Children, trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced labour and begging, constituted 30 per cent of all incidents observed in sub-Saharan Africa. This was also the time most countries on the continent shut down schools to control the pandemic.

In East Africa, seven in every 10 traffickers arrested were male and most of them were arrested on home soil as they plotted to export the victims.

This data could indicate that regional agencies were working hard to curb trafficking.

However, the data also shows the number of children trafficked more than doubled to 30 percent in two years. Globally, data on women trafficking victims fell to 50 percent from 70 in 2018, but in sub-Sahara Africa, women and children constituted 86 per cent of trafficked victims. Ethiopia has more than half of it children involved in child labour, alongside Chad, Benin, Niger, Mali, Cameroon and Sierra Leone.

Researchers at the UN agency based in Vienna, Austria, say they assessed trends over the last one year globally and found that traffickers target the marginalised or people in difficult circumstances such as being in urgent need of employment or having invalid immigration papers. These conditions, the report says, are likely to worsen as the pandemic continues.

The data emerged from an assessment of 233 court cases involving human trafficking. And victims, most of who had either been rescued or detected travelling to their destinations, indicated they had been forced into the horrid trafficking to meet their basic needs.

"The Covid-19 pandemic will further amplify socio-economic inequalities, increasing the pool of potential victims," says the biennial document published on Tuesday.

The pandemic has not just curtailed people's access to economic opportunities. The UN says prosecution of those involved has had to be delayed, effectively denying victims their justice.

"The Covid-19 pandemic may have a negative impact on the provision of timely and fair legal proceedings, contribute to case backlogs and limit the legal services provided to victims of trafficking."

Though the report does not give specific anecdotes on Kenya, the country is among the several in sub-Saharan Africa analysed.

Kenya's Counter-Trafficking in Persons Act enhanced the penalty for sex trafficking and forced labour and offenders risk life imprisonment or Ksh30 million (approximately $300,000) if found guilty.

But Covid-19 delays which have in the recent past forced courts to shut down or cases to be postponed could continue in future if the pandemic persists.

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"Countering trafficking effectively also requires tackling related forms of transnational organised crime, as well as cybercrime and corruption," said Ghada Waly, Executive Directive of UNODC.

"As the Trafficking in Persons Protocol highlights, to prevent trafficking governments need to address poverty, underdevelopment and a lack of equal opportunity, and raise awareness. An inclusive recovery must create opportunities and give hope to young people and the disadvantaged."

The UN agency's report concurs with a similar, annual one, produced by the US State Department. Last year, it said "scarce economic opportunities and dire poverty, coupled with familial encouragement" had compelled many East Africans to leave their homes.

It cited illegal border crossings into Kenya by Ethiopians seeking greener pastures in South Africa.
Gardai issued a statement appealing for information from the public (stock image)

A woman in her 20s was fighting for her life yesterday after being forced into a public toilet and stabbed repeatedly while people called gardai to break open the door.

The incident happened in the Markets area of Ennis, Co Clare, at around 6pm on Thursday night.

A source said the woman was seen arguing with a man who then assaulted her.

They said that after passers-by shouted at him and began to raise the alarm, the man gained access to a public toilet on the street and forced the woman inside.

The door was then locked and the concerned witnesses called gardai.

"The fire brigade had to open the door, and when they did the man was arrested and the woman had suffered multiple stab wounds," the source said.

"She was unconscious and the ambulance personnel were working on her."

The woman was taken to University Hospital Limerick, where her condition was described as critical.

A man in his 30s was arrested and is being detained at Shannon garda station.

Gardai issued a statement appealing for information from the public.

"We are asking anybody who may have witnessed this incident or were in the Market area of Ennis between 5.30pm and 6.30pm to contact us," it said.

Shocked

"Gardai are also appealing to any road users, particularly those with camera footage, to contact the Incident Room at Ennis garda station."

Mayor Mary Howard said the town was shocked by the attack.

"We are all thinking of the victim and hope she makes a full recovery," she said.

"You don't expect to hear of attacks like these in your local town, especially on a Thurs-day evening when things are quiet.

"People are upset and worr-ied about her. This kind of violence is awful."

SUV

The Grand Cherokee L will be sold in the U.S. alongside the current-generation 5-seat Grand Cherokee until later this year, when the all-new model will also break cover as a 5-seater, thus completing the lineup.So just how imposing of anis the 2021 Grand Cherokee L? Thanks to the kurdistan_automotive_blog Instagram channel, we can admire this new model in a real-world setting for the very first time (outside of spy images or official press shots). The images were taken at a gas station in the United Arab Emirates, and the vehicle in question seems to be a U.S.-spec Limited or Laredo model, judging by the front bumper design, wheel size, and matte plastic roof rails.You can easily tell that this is a pretty large vehicle, and the numbers back that up. It measures 204.9 inches (5,204 mm) in length, 77.3 inches (1,963 mm) in width, and 71.5 inches (1,816 mm) in height, while the wheelbase spans 121.7 inches (3,091 mm). Its about as big as a long-wheelbase Range Rover, but shorter than genuine XL-size SUVs such as the Chevy Suburban or Ford Expedition Max.In terms of powertrains, two units will be made available initially in the form of an entry-level Pentastar 3.6-liter V6, rated at 290 hp (294 PS) and 257 lb-ft (348 Nm) of torque, plus a 5.7-liter Hemi V8 unit, producing 357 hp (362 PS) and 390 lb-ft (529 Nm) of torque. Both configurations utilize a standard eight-speed automatic gearbox, with four-wheel drive available as an option.The 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L will go on sale in the coming months, with pricing expected to start around the $40,000 mark for the entry-level Laredo trim.
Argentine President Coordinates with Putin and Xi Jinping on Vaccines, Economic Cooperation

Feb. 3 , 2021 (EIRNS)Two days ago, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin for a broad-ranging discussion on topics of mutual interest, key among which was the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. Argentina has already acquired almost 1 million doses of Sputnik V, has begun its national vaccination campaign, and is scheduled to receive much larger quantities weekly for some months. At the same time, Fernandez has been in contact with Chinese President Xi Jinping to pin down a contract for the first 1 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, with a goal of eventually purchasing 30 million doses. For the past year, Argentina has maintained an effective air bridge with China, receiving a total of 42 planeloads of medical supplies needed to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Fernandezs discussion with Putin covered a range of topics, including Russian investments in infrastructure and aerospace as well as an invitation to Fernandez to visit Russia, which he readily accepted. Fernandez thanked Putin effusively for providing his nation with Sputnik V and said he hoped to receive as much as possible as it has proven to be so effective, Pagina 12 reported him as saying. The report published by the British medical journal The Lancet confirming Sputnik Vs safety and effectiveness has received wide coverage in Argentina, much to the chagrin of the neoliberal political opposition which has attacked both the Russian and Chinese vaccines.

Putin promised not only to continue meeting the terms of the contract with Argentina, but also to also make Sputnik V available to other Ibero-American nations. Fernandez pointed out that Putins display of solidarity toward developing nations is very different from other unnamed nations that make it impossible for vaccines to be exported. The Russian leader further stated that he was very pleased at how joyfully Sputnik V had been received by the Argentine publican exuberance also seen among Bolivians last weekend when the first 20,000 doses of Sputnik V arrived in that country.

Vaccine production is being ramped up in Russia, and Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russia Direct Investment Fund, the sovereign investment fund, announced in a press conference that he is already in discussion with several Argentine companies, so that we can produce Sputnik V [in the country].... We will sign contracts with some producers, so that production can begin in the next three months, Cronista Comercial reported him saying Feb. 2. Dmitriev wouldnt name the companies involved, as negotiations are ongoing, but said they are highly qualified. The AstraZeneca vaccine is already being produced in Argentina by the national mAbxience lab.
As of Wednesday, 496,100 doses had been allocated to the federal partnership in Illinois, and 178,848 of those had been administered, though there can be up to a 3-day lag in the data on administrations. The program has completed its first round of visits to nursing homes in Illinois, and the pharmacy chains have told the state the first round of vaccinations at assisted living facilities would be completed by Feb. 15, Pritzker has said.
The Centre placed a second purchase order with the Serum Institute of India for the supply of one crore doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Covishield', each costing Rs 210, including GST, sources said.

The HLL Lifecare Limited, a public sector undertaking, on behalf of the Union health ministry issued the supply order in the name of Prakash Kumar Singh, Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune.

The government had on January 11 placed an order for 1.1 crore doses of Covishield at a cost of Rs 231 crore, which has now risen to Rs 441 crore with the second order placed on Wednesday, a source said.

The government had on January 11 also committed to buy from the Serum Institute 4.5 crore doses of the vaccine, in addition to the first order of 1.1 crore doses.

India has approved two COVID-19 vaccines--Covishield manufactured by SII and indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech--for restricted emergency use in the country.
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An unhappy U.S. District Judge David Carter called elected officials from the city and county of Los Angeles to a hearing Thursday morning at the Downtown Women's Center on Skid Row.

Carter is overseeing a March 2020 lawsuit by a coalition of downtown business and homeowners, which argues that conditions on L.A.'s streets are inhumane, and tax money spent on homeless response has been wasted.

Local leaders and homeless advocates testified a few feet away from Skid Row encampments, and the hearing was broadcast over a sound system so people on the street could listen and react. Occasional cheers or declarations such as "I love you, Judge!" could be heard throughout the official proceedings.

Because of the disproportionate impact on people of color, Carter said, he likened the challenge of the homelessness crisis to the Supreme Court's mandate to enforce equity after the landmark 1954 school desegregation ruling, Brown vs. Board of Education. He later showed the hearing room photos he had taken of shivering, rain-soaked women he and City Councilmember Kevin de Leon had tried to find shelter for during a recent rainstorm.

WHAT WAS PROMISED

Last June, the city and county agreed to add 6,000 shelter beds, a compromise response to a May order from Carter to relocate up to 7,000 people living near freeway overpasses and on/off ramps. But Carter is unhappy with the progress, especially after rainy days that threatened the health and safety of people on the street.

"I ask for you to show 'just cause' why the court should not begin deploying any and all remedies" to solve the crisis, Carter said in opening remarks. "What are the outer limits of the court's structural remedy power?"

From L.A. County, Supervisors Hilda Solis and Kathryn Barger were in attendance. De Leon and his fellow L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin were also present as the hearing got underway. Dr. Jonathan Sherin, director of the county's Department of Mental Health sat in the back. Judge Carter also welcomed Pete White of L.A. Community Action Network and Pastor Stephen Cue Jn-Marie of the Church Without Walls to the hearing tent.

U.S. District Court Judge David Carter called L.A. County and City leaders to a hearing on Skid Row on Thursday, February 4, 2021. (Libby Denkmann/LAist)

To comply with CDC guidelines, only 18 people were allowed inside, while a spillover crowd listened from the Women's Center parking lot.

"I don't believe that a consent decree is necessary -- yet," said de Leon, but added that it may be the only recourse if the problem persists.

A consent decree is an order from a judge that must be followed -- it is often used to settle cases against government entities.

"I fully realize that this crisis is bigger than the city of Los Angeles. It is a humanitarian crisis of previously unimaginable proportions," de Leon said. "And every level of government must treat it as such."

Yesterday, his colleague on the city council, Mike Bonin, called for the county and city to enter a consent decree to confront the homelessness crisis.

"We need to admit that the City and the County are structurally incapable of responding with appropriate urgency and vigor to our homelessness crisis, and must enter into a judicial consent decree under the supervision of [Judge Carter]." Bonin said in an op-ed posted on Medium.

At the hearing, Bonin likened the situation to large, seemingly intractable problems in L.A.'s history that have prompted consent decrees: sewage spilling into Santa Monica Bay; or the rampant corruption uncovered in the LAPD's Rampart scandal.

"Los Angeles over the past few decades has often needed a consent decree to get its butt kicked into what needs to be done," Bonin told Carter.

WHAT'S BEEN TRIED

Supervisor Solis described the various county efforts to house people, including a 232-unit complex near the county jail on the edge of downtown that has been completed in under five months.

But pushback from neighbors and a "not in my backyard" attitude continues to be an obstacle in some cases, Solis admitted.

"People are [asking], 'How dare you place a facility within 5, 10 minutes of high rise apartment buildings, when we're trying to attract tenants?'" Solis said.

"I hope we can avoid going into a consent decree," Solis added. "Because I do believe there are opportunities."

Judge Carter responded: "I understand that this 'consent decree' is a big word. This is the beginning of a process...to determine whether I have those powers or not."

GARCETTI? GARCETTI?

The tone of the hearing became more contentious when Carter called on Mayor Eric Garcetti to testify. Garcetti announced Wednesday that he did not plan to attend the hearing, but pledged to accelerate efforts to house people in hotels and motel rooms through the Project Roomkey program, thanks to a commitment by the Biden Administration that it will reimburse temporary living facilities at 100% through FEMA.

There was a pause in the tent after Carter asked for Garcetti. After a moment, he asked members of the mayor's staff to come forward.

Carter grilled the city's deputy mayor for homeless initiatives, Jose "Che" Ramirez, and Garcetti deputy chief of staff Matt Szabo about statistics, asking if there are more people experiencing homelessness today than when the June settlement was struck.

After some back-and-forth, Ramirez affirmed the problem has gotten worse in the intervening months, but emphasized that the city has "8,200 interventions in the pipeline."

Carter interjected: "I believe you but I don't trust you."

WHAT L.A. CITY HAS DONE

Since the lawsuit was filed last March, the city has increased services, said Meg Barclay, the city's Homeless Coordinator. The changes include expanding a hygiene and laundry center for Skid Row residents; opening the first "A Bridge Home" shelter on Skid Row, offering 120 beds; and bringing a mobile pitstop program with toilets to 10 locations citywide.

Citing the uptick in deaths during the pandemic, Carter questioned whether Angelenos were seeing the results of the city's work on the streets. There have been 1,383 deaths of homeless people in L.A. County in 2020, up 32% from the previous year. This year has gotten off to a bleak start, with 165 deaths in January alone.

"Have you gone out and spoken to community leaders here?" Carter asked Barclay.

"Not recently, no," she answered.

"Would you be willing to? Would you walk the streets with them?" Carter persisted.

"Of course," she responded, with emotion audible in her voice.

'HOMELESSNESS KILLS'



Pastor Stephen "Cue" Jn-Marie with the Church Without Walls on Skid Row (right) testifies at a hearing presided over by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter on February 4, 2021. (Courtesy of Pete White, L.A. Community Action Network)

"Homelessness kills," said Monique Noel with the Downtown Women's Action Coalition. She spoke by phone, pointing out that no Black women had been asked to testify at the hearing, despite their overrepresentation in the homeless population.

"Women are dying because they're living on the streets, and women's issues are largely excluded from the conversation," Noel added.

Elizabeth Mitchell with the L.A. Alliance For Human Rights, the plaintiffs in the case, excoriated the city and county for glossing over the problem with "platitudes" and taking small steps to combat the problem.

"Fifty people here, a hundred people there is good, but it's not going to get us where we need to go," Mitchell said. She implored Carter to "immediately provide roofs over peoples' heads" by directing the city to reallocate roughly $300 million from HHH, the bond measure approved by voters in 2016, to construct temporary shelters.

But community organizers and homeless advocates pushed back, saying temporary shelters were a quick-fix that strand homeless people in limbo without a path to permanent housing.

"People who are in emergency interim housing in Los Angeles are languishing," said attorney Shayla Myers with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.

She said temporary shelters only sweep the problem under the rug, "moving the structural and racial inequalities that have created our housing crisis into the shadows."

Pastor Cue agreed: "A shelter is a downgrade from a housing project."

"We don't have time to wait on a solution," he added. "That is why we support the consent decree -- because we have been waiting for a long time, and nothing has happened of significance."

Carter continued to probe county and city officials, trying to identify the root of why homelessness continues to rise in Los Angeles, and the cause of years of institutional roadblocks, public and private inertia and passing of blame by elected leaders.

"I get concerned that you've got the desire, but you don't have the power," he told L.A. Homeless Services Authority's Heidi Marsden. "Maybe you should have a lot more power. Or maybe [your organization] shouldn't exist. I just don't know."

"Hopefully the city and the county will proceed and resolve this with the good citizens here," Carter concluded, promising further inquiries and hearings. "If not, we're going to explore the court's equitable powers."

WE LOVE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS
Complete home health referrals can save hospitals nearly 168.6 million dollars by lowering readmission rates, a saving that offsets a large percentage of the home health costs."

Trella Health, the leading source of post-acute outcomes data and provider performance analytics, was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA) for their research study. The study, titled, "Incomplete Home Health Care Referral After Hospitalization Among Medicare Beneficiaries examined patient characteristics and outcomes of Medicare beneficiaries who received complete and incomplete home health referrals after hospital discharge. To the knowledge of Trella, they are the first to complete a study that examines the relationship between home health referral completion and patient outcomes in the Medicare Fee-for-Service population-based on Medicare Fee-for-Service claims data. Their motivation behind completing the study was to provide insight into post-acute care, and for the results to serve as a resource for both acute post-acute care providers.

The results of the study concluded that approximately 29% of the 724,700 hospitalizations in the dataset had incomplete home health referrals after discharge, and that almost 1 in 3 patients discharged with a status of home health does not receive the home health care instructed to them. Additionally, patients with incomplete HHA referrals are more likely to be nonwhite and dual-eligible relative to patients with complete referrals. In conclusion, complete home health referrals were associated with lower mortality and readmission rates, but higher spending.

Home Health is a fundamental step in a patients care as they re-enter the home after a hospital visit, stated Ian Juliano, CEO of Trella Health. Complete home health referrals can save hospitals nearly 168.6 million dollars by lowering readmission rates, a saving that offsets a large percentage of the home health costs. In addition, the impact to payers is even greater when considering all of the unnecessary professional claims incurred as a result of that avoidable hospitalization.

Trellas study also focused on the reasons behind incomplete home health referrals after hospitalization. Some of these include the, primarily, male populations unwillingness to accept assistance, or their preference to rely on spousal care. For dual-eligible patients, the lower rate of home health referral completion is perhaps due to home- and community-based services being viewed as a substitute for home health care. Lastly, lower home health referral completion rates among nonwhite beneficiaries may reflect lack of trust in healthcare providers. Additional system-related issues include lack of communication between healthcare providers, missing documentation to support the homebound requirement for Medicare, staffing shortages when scheduling care, gaps in hand-offs between hospitalists and providers, and a patient's misperception of the services available to them.

Christine Cook, Senior Data Scientist at Trella Health, stated The repercussions of incomplete home health referrals cause a multitude of damaging effects, from the lack of quality care for patients in need to the increases in hospital costs due to readmissions. We must continue to evaluate our transitions of care to ensure that patients are provided with proper education on the value of home health care.

Trella notes that the rate of incomplete home health referrals after hospitalization may change as a result of recent changes in Medicare's payment system, known as the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM). PDGM is expected to incentivize home health to strengthen their referral relationships with institutions, which could also have implications for home health referral completion. Stronger networks between home health and hospitals could help increase the referral completion rate after discharge from the hospital. In conclusion of Trellas research, they stated it reveals the need for a better understanding of the causes of incomplete home health referrals at the system, provider, and patient levels and that addressing these challenges could lead to improved outcomes, including lower mortality and readmission rates.

About Trella Health

Trella Health is the leading provider of actionable insights for healthcare networks, ACOs, and the post-acute care market. We believe that to achieve smarter growth in todays value-based care economy, who you choose to work with is everythingwhether its your referral sources or your network partners. As one of only a few companies in the country deemed an Innovator under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Virtual Research Data Center Program, Trella has access to 100% of Medicare Part A and Part B claims and Medicare Advantage data. We analyze and standardize billions of data points from across the continuum of care, and provide the insights our customers need to identify, engage, and manage the best partnerships for their business.


New Delhi:

The Finance Ministry on Friday asked all central ministries to ensure revised rates of allowances as per the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) are paid from the current month, a move that will benefit 48 lakh employees.



In a bonanza to central government employees, the Union Cabinet had last month approved recommendations of the CPC with 34 modifications, which will mean an additional annual burden of Rs 30,748 crore on the exchequer.



All allowances are given the effect from July 1, 2017. It will benefit 34 lakh civilian employees and 14 lakh defence personnel.



The resolution conveying the central governments decision on recommendations of the CPC on Allowances was published in Gazette of India on Thursday.

Suggested read: Centre approves recommendations on allowances with 34 modifications, HRA increased



The ministries concerned have now been advised to issue their Orders on Allowances governed by them immediately so that the revised rates of allowances get reflected in the current months salary bills of the government employees, the finance ministry said in a statement.



The allowances as recommended by the 7th Central Pay Commission would have cost the exchequer Rs 29,300 crore. The modified allowances approved by the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will increase the burden by Rs 1,448 crore to Rs 30,748 crore per annum.



The allowances have been rationalised and subsumed in newly proposed Dress Allowance to be paid annually in four slabsRs 5,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 for various category of employees.



Allowance granted to CRPF personnel deployed in Naxal-hit areas will be governed by the Risk and Hardship Matrix and the rates will go up to Rs 17,300-25,000 per month, from Rs 8,400 -16,800.

Suggested read: 7th Pay Commission: 10 key takeaways

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SAN DIEGO and VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Phoenix Molecular Designs (PhoenixMD), an industry leader in the development of precise cancer therapeutics focusing on first-in-class RSK kinase inhibitors, today announced the appointment of Dr. Alan Ashworth PhD, FRS to their Advisory Board as a Scientific Advisor.

A visionary leader in the field of cancer therapy development, Dr. Ashworth is President of the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at UCSF and Sr. Vice President for Cancer Services with UCSF Health. He also served previously as the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Cancer Research in London, United Kingdom, as well as, the Director of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Center.

"We are honored to have the opportunity to appoint such an authority in the field of genetics and oncology to our Advisory Board," said Sandra Dunn, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of PhoenixMD. "Dr. Ashworth truly brings in-depth experience in the field of complex cancer biology. As we move through Phase 1b of our clinical trial relating to the development of our lead asset, PMD-026 targeting RSK2, the first purpose-built investigational drug specifically designed for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), his guidance and insight will be invaluable. He joins our stellar team of advisors at a crucial time of growth as we move closer to therapies that have the potential to save thousands of lives."

Alan's ties to RSK2 as a novel drug target date back to 2011 when he defined it as an essential kinase for TNBC, receiving the spotlight as the cover article in Cancer Discovery. His team identified RSK2 using unbiased functional screens in search of novel drug targets for specific breast cancer subtypes. Taking a similar approach, Dr. Dunn's laboratory serendipitously and independently also identified RSK2 as a drug target for TNBC. Drs. Ashworth and Dunn then worked together to publish the validation of RSK2 as a functional target for TNBC in 2012. This research launched Phoenix Molecular Designs in 2012, the only company to have developed a first-in-class small molecule against RSK.

Moreover, in the same article that highlighted RSK2 as a target for TNBC, Alan also identified PIK3CA as a target for luminal breast cancer. This subsequently led to Novartis developing Piqray, which in 2019 became the first FDA-approved PI3K inhibitor for breast cancer. Among Alan's many other achievements, he was also a key member of the team that discovered the BRCA2 gene in 1995. BRCA2 is linked to an increased risk of breast, ovarian and other cancers and this discovery was followed by the identification of PARP inhibitors by Alan's laboratory in 2005. The FDA has now approved four different PARP inhibitors to treat ovarian, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer based on his groundbreaking work. Even today, Dr. Ashworth's pioneering role stands out as he continues to develop new treatments for cancer using genetic principles. Due to his outstanding contributions, he has received a number of awards, many of which recognize the innovative and translational nature of his work and its clinical impact.

"It is my great pleasure to join the Advisory Board of PhoenixMD. I admire their exemplary work into the role of RSK as a key signaling pathway in breast cancer and their commitment to developing PMD-026 to combat TNBC, a disease with a serious unmet medical need, " said Dr. Ashworth. "I look forward to working with Sandra Dunn and the other expert members of her board to help with this critical work moving us towards new and effective cancer therapies."

Dr. Ashworth is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the American Association of Arts and Sciences, the American Association of Cancer Research and the Royal Society (equivalent to membership of the National Academy of Sciences). Prizes include the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Lifetime Achievement Award, the David T. Workman Memorial Award of the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, and the Meyenburg Foundation's Cancer Research Award, the Genetics Society Medal, the inaugural winner of the Basser Global Prize, and the Susan G Komen Brinker award.

About Phoenix Molecular Designs

PhoenixMD is a privately-held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company designing precise cancer therapeutics and companion diagnostics by targeting kinases, a class of highly druggable enzymes to treat a wide range of oncology indications. PhoenixMD is focused on developing first-in-class inhibitors against RSK, an important drug target for cancer, heart disease, and inflammation. The company's leadership team boasts previous expertise in developing FDA-approved and marketed drugs for breast cancer. Due to PhoenixMD's emerging leadership in kinase inhibition, the company has entered into partnerships with well-recognized government, academic research institutions, and patient advocates, including the National Cancer Institute, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Kyushu University (Japan), University of Tuebingen (Germany), and the Susan G. Komen Foundation-San Diego. PhoenixMD has clinical headquarters in San Diego, CA, and pre-clinical operations in Vancouver, BC. For more information, visit phoenixmd.ca

SOURCE Phoenix Molecular Designs
Patna, Feb 4 : Despite the Patna Police arresting a person in connection with the high-profile murder of IndiGo airlines official Rupesh Singh, opposition parties do not believe in the police's road rage theory, it appears.

The Congress leaders of the Bihar unit claim that there are contradictions between the statements of DGP S.K. Singhal and Patna SSP Upendra Sharma.

Ajit Kumar, ex MLA of Congress party, said: "Three to four days after the murder of Rupesh Singh, DGP SK Singhal said the investigation is taking time as the killers are professionals and hired from outside the state. The Bihar police raided more than 200 places in various states including Gujarat. On the other hand, Patna SSP Upendra Sharma put forward the road rage theory and the police arrested a person with a history of bike thefts." "There is a hole in the investigations done by Patna police, on the directions of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Ritu Raj, who was arrested by the Patna police is merely a scapegoat. Through its road rage theory, the police are trying to save the actual culprits," alleged Kumar.

Sudhir Sharma, another vocal Congress leader, said: "When the police revealed the theory of murder before the media on Wednesday, we were present at the home of late Rupesh Singh. His wife, father, brothers and other relatives were shocked when police said that road rage led to his murder. Most importantly, the road rage incident happened on November 29 and the accused extracted revenge almost after 50 days." "We suspect that police deliberately did a shoddy investigation to save the actual perpetrators. Hence we met Bihar governor Phagu Chauhan and demanded a CBI inquiry in this case. We've urged the governor to direct CM Nitish Kumar to recommend a CBI probe into the case. The deceased's family members have already demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter," added Sharma.

Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, president of the Jan Adhikar Party (JAP), said that Ritu Raj belongs to a financially sound family. His father is a brick-kiln owner and mother is a teacher. "I doubt whether he is a bike thief. The way Rupesh was gunned down was an act of a professional contract killer, as admitted by the DGP. Despite that if he killed Rupesh then he must have been hired by someone to kill Rupesh. I strongly believe that road rage can't be the reason of his murder. The police are trying save the actual culprits through a cooked-up story," Yadav said.

"As the actual culprits still roam free, there is a big threat for the Rupesh Singh family as well. We've demanded a CBI inquiry in this matter and compensation of Rs 25 lakh to his family as well as a job to the deceased's wife in the airline," Yadav said.
Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2021 4:40 pm

Three people have been charged in connection to an illegal marijuana growing operation in Centralia that was connected to other illegal growing operations in King, Pierce and Kitsap counties, and potentially to the distribution market in New York.

In total, over 4,000 marijuana plants were seized from multiple properties as a result of the investigation.

Detectives with the Joint Narcotic Enforcement Team (JNET) served a search warrant for an address in the 1000 block of Duffy Street in Centralia on Feb. 24, 2020, and found 770 growing marijuana plants, along with equipment for growing large amounts of marijuana indoors. The residences two occupants, Chunjian Sun, 21, and Shibo Jin, 28, both had New York passports, and Jin told an assisting Lewis County Sheriffs Office detective that his boss in New York told him to come to Washington state and maintain the growing marijuana, according to Lewis County Superior Court documents.

Jin said that he was paid $3,000 per month to maintain the growing marijuana and that his boss in California, Terry, pays him.

An investigation into the owner of the Duffy Street property revealed that the real estate agent who had helped them secure the property, Xiao Yu Jackson, 42, of Seattle, was connected to several more properties that law enforcement had discovered were illegal indoor manufacturing operations.

A search warrant on Jacksons cellphone account yielded information on five addresses spread across King, Pierce and Kitsap counties  four of which yielded large, indoor marijuana grows, according to court documents. In total, 3,114 marijuana plants were seized from these properties.

When questioned by a JNET detective, Jackson allegedly gave information on three more marijuana grow sites in Washington, including at her Seattle home. According to court documents, Jackson said that the people living in the houses were called farmers. She said they earn between $3,000 and $5,000 per month. Jackson said that when the farmers harvested the marijuana, transporters transport the finished product to New York, where it is distributed.

JNET detectives, along with DEA and Homeland Security, conducted a search on one of Jacksons properties, an Auburn address, and found over 700 mature marijuana plants.

Jackson, Sun and Jin were each charged with one count of manufacture of marijuana and one count of unlawful use of a building for drug purposes. All three were scheduled for preliminary appearances in Lewis County Superior Court on Feb. 2, but neither Sun nor Jin were present. Judge J. Andrew Toynbee issued warrants for their arrest.

Jackson is currently out of custody and scheduled for arraignment and trial setting on Feb. 18.
GOVERNMENT has moved to remove a clause in the Finance (No 2) Act, 2020 that has been construed by investors and stakeholders in the mining sector as a re-introduction of the 51/49 percent shareholding structure in favour of indigenous entities.

In 2018, Government scrapped the indigenisation laws allowing foreigners to own up to 100 percent in mining entities.

The Finance Act was passed as part of the 2021 Budget.

However, an amendment to the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act (Chapter 14:33) (IEE Act) contained in the Finance (No 2) Act, 2020 (section 36) raised concern in the mining sector that Government was reversing the equity thresholds.

"The provision in Section 36 of the Finance (No 2) Act, 2020, to the effect that the Minister responsible for the IEE Act, may, in consultation with the Ministers responsible for Mines and Finance prescribe a mineral, the extraction of which would be subject to 51 percent shareholding by a designated entity, has been interpreted by some to represent a departure from Government's stated position to open the mining sector to investment without the requirement for 51 percent of the shareholding being held by a designated entity.

"To enhance certainty in relation to investments in the mining sector, and consistent with Government policy, this insertion will be deleted," Government said in a statement. Government reiterated that it was committed to opening up the country to foreign investors.

"Government announced the policy position to remove the requirement for 51 percent of the shareholding of businesses involved in the extraction of platinum and diamonds to be owned through a designated entity. That requirement has been removed through the amendment to the IEE Act, in section 3(1).

"There are no minerals the extraction of which require a business extracting same to have 51 percent of its shareholding being owned by a designated entity.

"This is consistent with Government's position that there is no mineral, the extraction of which, Government considers requires mandatory shareholding participation through a designated entity," the statement further reads.
The 129 kilos of suspected cannabis herb seized in the Lusk area of North Dublin. Photo: Garda Press.

Gardai have seized over 2.5 million worth of cannabis after swooping on a controlled drugs delivery in north Dublin.

Two men have also been arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking after the massive haul was discovered yesterday.

The intelligence operation involved members of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) and Revenue.

Gardai were alerted after a shipment passed through Dublin Port before being transported on to Lusk where it was seized by gardai.

In total 129kg of suspected cannabis herb, with an estimated street value of 2.58 million, was seized.

Two men, aged 45 and 52, were arrested as part of the investigation and are currently being held in separate stations.

Both men are Irish nationals and described as lackeys suspected of being used to transport the drugs shipment.

The pair were arrested by detectives in separate parts of the city.

They are being quizzed at Balbriggan and Dun Laoghaire garda stations under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996.

The men can be held for a period of up to seven days before theyre charged or released from custody pending a file to the DPP.

A garda spokesman said they were arrested in what was described as a joint intelligence led operation with Revenue Customs Service.

Detective Chief Superintendent Angela Willis, head of the GNDOCB, said: "The joint operation undertaken yesterday involving participation by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and the Revenue Customs Service, which has resulted in the seizure of illicit drugs with an estimated street value of 2.58 million, demonstrates An Garda Siochanas continued determination to work collaboratively with others for the purpose of tackling the importation of controlled drugs into Ireland, that cause significant harm in our communities.

We will continue to work with Revenue Customs Service and do all within our power to tackle criminality engaged in by organised crime gangs who are involved in the importation and supply of illicit drugs, Det Chief Supt Willis added.

So far this year the GNDOCB has seized around 4m worth of drugs and over 2m in cash in separate operations targeting national and international crime gangs in Ireland.

Last month around 1.5 million in cash was seized in a separate operation targeting a Cabra drug dealer.

In 2020 the value of cash seized by the GNDOCB more than doubled on the previous year as gardai focus on targeting the profits being made by drugs gangs across the country.
EDWARDSVILLE  Claims that the Madison County Health Department is sitting on its stock of COVID-19 vaccine is not true, according to Madison County Public Health Department Director Toni Corona.

Democratic Party Chairman Randy Harris this week said the countys vaccination numbers are appalling and attacked the Republican-led Madison County Board and the administration of Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler.

The idea the county is sitting on any vaccine is false, Corona said. All the vaccine doses are accounted for and the appointments to administer them are scheduled for the near future.

Corona told the Health Advisory Committee Tuesday that the state plans to call in the National Guard to help with upcoming vaccination clinics. She said the county remains in the midst of a pandemic response and people should still take precautions even after receiving the first dose of the vaccine.

On Tuesday Harris sent out a press release saying county residents are alarmed at a lack of vaccination progress.

The vaccination numbers in Madison County are appalling, Harris said in his release. The Prenzler administration and the Republican-led Madison County board owe the residents of Madison County some answers.

On Wednesday county officials said the health department has administered more than 15,000 doses and stressed patience, as the rollout is expected to take several months. The department is now working to vaccinate those in Phase 1b, including health care workers and nursing home residents. The nursing home vaccinations are being handled through a separate program administered by the state.

We understand people are frustrated trying to get vaccine appointments, Prenzler said. We assure everyone there will be enough vaccines for those who live and work in Madison County to receive one.

Prenzler said that, as the eighth largest county in the state, an estimated 50,000 people are eligible for Phase 1b.

Corona said the county this week is opening up its online scheduler and phone number for people who did not complete a survey in January to schedule a vaccination appointment. She said those who did complete the survey need do nothing else; the health department will contact them.

Residents should know it could take time to get an appointment, Corona said. Due to the number of people desiring the vaccine, it will take months to get all individuals scheduled.

Additional dates and times will be added to the online scheduler as the vaccine is received, she said.

County officials said the state allocates the number of vaccines given to the county. The Illinois Department of Public Health is reporting the countys current inventory is 12,592 doses which all have been allocated.

As of Wednesday, IDPH reported the countys inventory includes 10,674 doses for the local health department (health department clinics and hospitals) and 1,918 doses for the community based sites (Walgreens and CVS.)

The vaccination process requires people to take two doses at different times.

Harris this week claimed the county ranks near the bottom in per capita and daily average vaccines administered while having one of the largest stockpiles.

While counties of similar size and demographic makeup like Champaign, Sangamon and Peoria are administering twice as many people per day, our Madison County Republican leaders are sitting on over 12,000 vaccines, Harris said in a released statement. This is just completely unacceptable.

Prenzler and his administration continue to fail the taxpayers, denying basic services, putting people in further danger, while rewarding campaign workers, donors, and his supporters with taxpayer funded jobs, and the Republican-led County Board is allowing it to continue, Harris said. It is long past the time for this board to start holding Prenzler and this failed administration accountable and if the Madison County Public Health Department needs more help, they need to ask for it and Prenzler and the board need to give it to them.

For more information about the vaccination efforts, visit https://www.co.madison.il.us/departments/health/index.php.
ATYRAU, Kazakhstan -- Maks Boqaev, a well-known Kazakh rights activist and outspoken government critic, has been released from prison and he immediately held a rally demanding a new constitution for the Central Asian nation.



The 48-year-old activist, who was recognized as a political prisoner by Kazakh rights groups, held the rally in the western city of Atyrau on February 4, just hours after leaving the prison where he served almost five years on an extremism charge he says was politically motivated.



"I express my gratitude to the people and international organizations that supported me. Without the people's support, I would have been destroyed [by officials.] Even my bones would be untraceable...There have been no changes in the country so I will continue my civil activities," Boqaev said after he left the prison and came to Atyrau's central Isatai-Makhambet square.



Boqaev was highly critical of January 10 parliamentary elections, which he called "fake" given no opposition groups were allowed to take part in them.



"Unfortunately, [Kazakhstan's former President Nursultan] Nazarbaev has turned our constitution into toilet paper. What we need is a new constitution. This is what we must demand from Nazarbaev and [Kazakhstan's current President Qasym-Zhomart] Toqaev," Boqaev said, adding that such a demand will be put forward at rallies he plans to hold each weekend.



"If the government remains deaf, we will set up tents at squares in all of the cities," Boqaev said.

Dozens of activists and journalists from Kazakhstans other regions came to greet Boqaev upon his release. Some, however, were blocked by police on their way to Atyrau and not allowed to reach the city.



Boqaev was arrested and sentenced on extremism charges in 2016 after he organized unsanctioned protests against land reform in Atyrau.

While serving his term, Boqaev refused to ask for clemency, insisting that the case against him was politically motivated.



The United States, European Union, and the United Nations had urged Kazakh authorities to release Boqaev.



Human rights organizations in Kazakhstan have recognized Boqaev as a political prisoner.

Kazakhstan's government has insisted that there are no political prisoners in the country.
Athens native and restaurateur Peter Dale designed Maepole to solve a problem in his daily life: He was often in a hurry and needed to get a q
Two longtime University of Miami leaders renowned in their fields, Patricia A. Whitely and Aileen Ugalde, started at the University of Miami during different erasthe former in the 1980s, when new computer technologies emerged and something called MTV reshaped pop culture, and the latter in the 1990s, the decade that saw the Soviet Union fall and the advent of the internet.

But though they started their tenures at the University years apart, both gained a reputation of being forward-thinking leaders who were instrumental in raising the stature of their divisions and sharing a philosophy of surrounding themselves with talented team members.

Now, Whitely and Ugalde have been named senior vice presidents in the units they have led for a combined 39 yearsStudent Affairs and the Office of the General Counsel, respectively.

President Julio Frenk said elevating the two to senior vice president positions serves two purposes. First, we recognize excellence. In addition, we set clear criteria for the structure of leadership roles at the University, he said.

Dr. Whitely, who has been recognized by her peers as one of the most accomplished student affairs leaders in the country, has done outstanding work in managing the student experience through a pandemicalways prioritizing the well-being and development of our students and empowering them to grow into their potential, Frenk explained.

He noted that as the University weathers an unprecedented confluence of crises on the health, economic, and social fronts, the institution continues to work toward its strategic goals. The strength of our operations, which sets us up to emerge from this historic time stronger than ever, relies on the sound legal guidance of our general counsel, Aileen Ugalde, who also served as a longtime secretary to the Board of Trustees, Frenk said. I am proud to work with these capable and committed members of the team and look forward to our continued collaboration in service to the U.

Whitely arrived at the University nearly 40 years ago, starting as a residence coordinator and rising through the ranks to hold such key positions as director of Student Life and associate director of Residence Halls before becoming vice president for student affairs in 1997.

As senior vice president, she will continue to lead 21 departments and areas that directly provide programs, services, and facilities that better the Miami Hurricane experience for students.

I am incredibly honored and humbled by President Frenks and the Board of Trustees acknowledgement and recognition of my leadership, said Whitely, who earned her doctoral degree in higher education leadership from the University and is known for her passion and skill in crisis management.

Serving the University in a variety of leadership roles since she joined the institution in 1982 has allowed Whitely to see student life from all angles, she believes. I love serving this great institution, and I think Ive had an interesting perspective in seeing how weve grown in the last 40 years, she explained, adding that she is most proud of helping to bring to fruition the Shalala Student Center and the new Lakeside Village student housing complex.

She credits her well-rounded staff for their efforts in building what she says is one of the most well-respected divisions of student affairs in all of higher education.

Whitely teaches three courses a year at the masters and doctoral levels in the School of Education and Human Development, sharing real-world case studies of her experiences in higher education with students.

She worked closely with the Archdiocese of Miami to establish a permanent Catholic chaplain for the University. She currently serves on the executive board of the National Catholic Campus Ministry Association.

Whitely is a recipient of the Faculty Senates McLamore Outstanding Service Award. She has served as the chair of NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, and she has received two of that organizations most prestigious honors: the Scott Goodnight Award and the Fred Turner Award, which recognizes exceptional work of vice presidents for student affairs across the nation.

Ugalde began her career at the University almost 30 years ago, when she was recruited as a junior attorney on the medical campus. Over the course of her tenure at the University, she has worked for three presidents and held a number of posts, including vice president for government affairs, assistant to the president, and secretary to the Board of Trustees. Ugalde was appointed vice president and general counsel of the University in 2006. She was also the executive director for the Universitys presidential searches in 2000 and 2014.

It is very gratifying to be recognized by the leaders you work for and admire, she said of being named senior vice president. It is a privilege as much as it is a joy to work for the University.

Ugalde, who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in Latin American Studies and International Relations and earned her law degree with honors from the University of Miami School of Law, where she was a Harvey T. Reid Scholar, said one of the keys to her success has been practicing a philosophy of surrounding yourself with people smarter than you, which in a place like UM, is wonderfully easy to do.

Under her leadership, the Office of the General Counsel was honored as the Legal Department of the Year by the Daily Business Review in the publications 2018 Professional Excellence Awards. I get to spend every day with some of the brightest, most dedicated professionals in Miami, and our office being selected as the top legal department in South Florida is a reflection on them, Ugalde said.

Hispanic Business Magazine named Ugalde one of its 100 Most Influential Hispanics in 2006 and one of its Top 20 Women of 2008. She was also selected as one of The 20 Leading Latinas in Business by Hispanic Enterprise Magazine in 2007 and named to the Best of 2012 list of Hispanic Executive Magazine.

Ugalde is committed to the city where she was born and raised, most recently dedicating her time as chair of the board of the Adrienne Arsht Center, one of the largest performing arts centers in the country. My career at the University of Miami has allowed me to enjoy, as well as give back to, a community I love dearly, she said.
"It is important that Peru continues to take advantage of current trade agreements, such as the FTA with Australia , a country recognized as a relevant trading partner, mainly for our mining, fishery, and agricultural products," said Comex Peru General Manager Jessica Luna.
WASHINGTON (Feb. 4, 2021)--The George Washington University Program on Extremism has continued to update a project that is tracking individuals charged with crimes related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

According to the Feb. 4 analysis, 181 individuals have been charged in federal court. They are, on average, 40 years old and from 40 states and the District of Columbia. Cases have been brought against 158 men and 23 women. Based on available records, posts to individuals' social media accounts were used as prosecutorial evidence in 85% of cases. An infographic on the charges is available here.

The new data shows that the number of new individuals who have been charged has leveled off from its peak last week, with only a few additional people arrested daily. "With the recent charges against Oath Keeper and Proud Boys members, we're seeing an increased focus by law enforcement on organized groups that targeted the Capitol that day," Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the Program on Extremism, said.

The GW Program on Extremism provides analysis on issues related to violent and non-violent extremism, both abroad and in the United States. The researchers have produced reports on ISIS, as well as the rise of white supremacist groups. After a more detailed analysis of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the team hopes to provide specific recommendations that policymakers can use to combat such attacks in the future.

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To find out more about the tracker and get the latest results, click here.

The Madison County Health Department currently is giving coronavirus vaccines only to those who need a second dose, EMA Director Jeff Birdwell said Wednesday.

The Morgan County Health Department announced Wednesday it is doing the same.

Birdwell, speaking at the weekly Madison County and Huntsville news conference, said this is due to the availability of vaccines to the department.

It could be up to six weeks before more vaccine is available and appointments can open up to people eligible for first doses, he said.

"As more becomes available, then that may open up appointments earlier, but right now the projected date, the conservative date, is more appointments probably will open up the second week of next month, Birdwell said.

If you received your first dose at the Morgan County Health Department, please know that your second dose is here and will be ready when you return, says Alabama Department of Public Health Administrator for the Northern District Judy Smith.

Birdwell said to continue to watch the states web site for additional appointments. Find it HERE

This does not include the number of vaccines available through Huntsville Hospital or Decatur Morgan Hospital. Click HERE for Huntsville and HERE for Decatur Morgan.
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Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
On Jan. 22, President Joe Biden spoke with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. It was Bidens third day as president and his second call to a foreign leader from the Oval Office.

This cordial exchange is expected given the U.S. and Mexicos shared history and interests. Mexico is one of the United States top trading partners, the country of origin of the largest immigrant community in the U.S. and home to the largest U.S. expatriate community in the world.

Yet over the past four years, U.S.-Mexico relations atrophied. Now its up to Biden to restore this key regional partnership .

This will likely prove challenging. His institutional approach to bilateral affairs appears to threaten Lopez Obrador, who resonated with Donald Trumps individualized and inward-looking leadership style. Thats perhaps why the Mexican president didnt appear pleased about Trumps departure from the White House. Lopez Obrador waited six weeks to congratulate Biden. On their initial phone call in December, he stressed his close relationship with Trump.

When Biden and Lopez Obrador spoke for the second time, on Jan. 22, their discussion focused on regional migration. Biden went over his plans to reverse Trumps draconian immigration policies, address root causes of migration in Central America and increase refugee settlement capacity. And Bidens halt to the border wall construction, preservation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and proposed path to U.S. citizenship for millions of Mexicans are welcome developments for Lopez Obrador.

It appears, however, that Biden will find less common ground on other issues just as essential to the bilateral relationship.

On ExpressNews.com: Get the latest update on coronavirus and a tracking map of U.S. cases

The COVID-19 pandemic presents an urgent challenge. Mexicos public health system has been at the point of collapse, and the virus has continued to rage across the U.S.

Yet, the two leaders dont see eye to eye on public health messaging. After downplaying the pandemic for almost a year, Lopez Obrador contracted COVID-19 and is isolating. In contrast, Biden released a comprehensive pandemic strategy during his first days in office. As part of this strategy, Biden signed an executive order requiring travelers from abroad to provide a negative test and self-quarantine. This will hit Mexicos tourism industry, which has benefited from the arrival of hundreds of thousands of U.S. travelers in recent months.

The high level of cross-border mobility also calls for cooperation on vaccinations. Yet when Mexicos COVID-19 vaccination program had to be paused over shipment delays, Lopez Obrador reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Lopez Obrador secured doses of the Sputnik vaccine, invited Putin to visit Mexico, and discussed sending Mexican medical professionals to Russia. Mexico-Russia relations could pose a challenge for the new U.S. administration.

Security will be even trickier for Biden to navigate. In the past few months, bilateral security cooperation reached an all-time low. Mexicos attorney general exonerated former Defense Minister General Salvador Cienfuegos, charged by U.S. prosecutors for drug trafficking and money laundering. Making matters more challenging, Mexicos Congress passed a law in December to limit U.S. law enforcement operations in the country.

Biden should also keep an eye on economic matters. The U.S. and Mexican economies are so intertwined that slow recovery on either side of the border is bad news for the other. The Mexican economy was on the downslide before the pandemic, and it contracted 8.8 percent in 2020. Moodys analysts have forecasted the economy wont return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023.

On trade, Biden will have to follow up on the enforcement of the USMCA agreement. Trumps absence from bilateral affairs allowed Lopez Obrador to begin undoing Mexicos 2013 energy reform that opened the market to private investors. Biden will have to hold Lopez Obrador to task on Mexicos trade obligations.

Restoring vigorous U.S.-Mexico cooperation on public health, security, the economy, trade and climate change will likely be an uphill battle for the new U.S. administration. But Biden must find a way to move beyond cordiality and engage across issue areas. The regions recovery from the pandemic and long-term prosperity depend on a robust bilateral relationship.

Lets hope both sides appreciate the urgency.

Antonio Garza served as the U.S. ambassador to Mexico from 2002 through 2009. He is counsel to the law firm of White & Case in Mexico City.
Two veteran Ridley Township police officers have sued the township and their supervisor, saying he waged a yearslong campaign of intimidation and retaliation against them and demoted them this year to working patrol routes.

Gerard Scanlan and Sean Brydges had served for nearly a decade as members of the departments Anti-Crime Unit, working with county investigators on drug and gun cases, according to the suit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Philadelphia. In late January, the two were reassigned to the townships patrol unit, a position typically given to new officers.

In their suit, the two men said the reassignment was a demotion ordered out of spite by Capt. Scott Willoughby after they accused him of misconduct. They said Willoughby had asked them to replace money seized from drug dealers that had been removed from evidence; pressured them to drop charges against friends of his; denied them overtime; and threatened to compromise their undercover work by revealing their identities.

Willoughby did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Neither did the townships solicitor, William T. Neill. Joseph Ryan, the townships manager, said Wednesday evening that he hadnt seen the lawsuit and was unable to comment on the allegations.

The attorney for Scanlan and Brydges, Andres Jalon, said Wednesday that the two men feared for their families safety because of threats made by Willoughby.

Its a shame that in this instance, we have two detectives who want to do nothing more than their jobs, and you have the person whos supposed to run the department, manipulating them and threatening them the whole time, Jalon said.

In 2014, the lawsuit said, after $8,000 went missing from evidence the officers had seized in a drug bust, the captain gave them cash to replace the money.

At the time, a secretary in the county District Attorneys Office was being investigated for embezzling drug-forfeiture money, and the suit said Willoughby was worried that Ridley Townships evidence room would be examined.

Shortly after the officers reported this to the township manager, they said Willoughby started treating them aggressively, despite promises that their report would be confidential.

Scanlan and Brydges said in the suit that Willoughby manipulated arrest data to make the two officers seem less productive and tried to discourage neighboring police departments from working with them.

They also said he tried to hinder their investigations, and in one case, in 2018, leaked the identity of their confidential informant to the suspects lawyer, a friend of his.

The captains retaliation against them, the officers said, diminished their reputations and resulted in lost income. They are seeking unspecified damages.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 14:03:47|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivers a video speech at a New Year banquet held by Britain's 48 Group Club on Feb. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday delivered a video speech at a New Year banquet held by Britain's 48 Group Club.

Sixty-eight years ago, a group of far-sighted British, represented by Jack Perry, broke the ice and opened the door to Sino-British trade, providing precious spiritual wealth for the friendly exchanges between the two countries, Li said.

As long as both countries carry on that "icebreaker" spirit from generation to generation and stay true to promoting friendship and development, there will be no ice that cannot be broken or differences that cannot be settled, he said.

2020 was an eventful year for China, Britain and the entire world. China's economy grew 2.3 percent year on year, which was a hard-won achievement, Li said.

Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic still poses severe challenges and the world economy continues to face a multitude of uncertain and unstable factors, Li said China will keep its macro-policies consistent, stable and sustainable, and ensure that its economy runs within a reasonable range.

Britain is an important partner of China in Europe, and China always attaches great importance to developing bilateral relations, he said.

Both countries should expand cooperation and enhance the stability of bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect and equal treatment, said the premier.

China is willing to join hands with Britain and all other countries to defeat the pandemic as soon as possible, promote economic recovery and cope with global challenges.

Initiated in 2009, the New Year banquet is held annually by the 48 Group Club, which serves as a communication platform for both Chinese and British people.

This year's banquet, the first to be held online, attracted over 1,000 British people. Enditem

(Natural News) For years, conservatives have been complaining that the Big Tech oligarchs were censoring and banning them simply for their political views.

The left-wing establishment media, beholden to the massive reach they achieve on the biggest social media platforms, dutifully pushed back with counter-claims that such accusations were baseless conspiracies, even in the face of irrefutable evidence.

Well, the worm finally turned on liberals this past week when popular investor app Robinhood banned the little guys from punishing a major hedge fund for shorting GameStop stock  an act so blatant that it actually drew bipartisan condemnation.

And now, such actions could land the big tech companies in a lot of hot water, legally speaking  at least in Florida.

There, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has introduced several measures that would allow residents to sue big tech platforms if they are censored or banned over otherwise legitimate speech, while imposing for massive daily fines if the platforms ban political candidates.

Breitbart News provided more details:

Mandatory opt-outs from big techs content filters, a solution to tech censorship first proposed by Breitbart News in 2018.

A private right of action for Floridian citizens against tech companies that violate this condition.

Fines of $100,000 per day levied on tech companies that suspend candidates for elected office in Florida from their platforms.

Daily fines for any tech company that uses their content and user-related algorithms to suppress or prioritize the access of any content related to a political candidate or cause on the ballot.

Greater transparency requirements.

Disclosure requirements enforced by Floridas election authorities for tech companies that favor one candidate over another.

Power for the Florida attorney general to bring cases against tech companies that violate these conditions under the states Unfair and Deceptive Practices Act.

What began as a group of upstart companies from the west coast has since transformed into an industry of monopoly communications platforms that monitor, influence, and control the flow of information in our country and among our citizens, and they do this to an extent hitherto unimaginable, DeSantis said during a recent press conference in announcing the new actions.

These platforms have changed from neutral platforms that provided Americans with the freedom to speak to enforcers of preferred narratives. Consequently, these platforms have played an increasingly decisive role in elections, and have negatively impacted Americans who dissent from orthodoxies favored by the Big Tech cartel, he added.

According to the latest figures, four out of five Americans have social media accounts, and by far companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube dominate all platforms.

Conservative lawmakers in Florida applauded DeSantis actions.

Florida is taking back the virtual public square as a place where information and ideas can flow freely. Were demanding transparency from the big tech giants, State House Speaker Chris Sprowls said in a statement.

The big tech companies have the duty to allow differing views on their public platforms. No one should be excluded. But lets be clear: They are targeting conservatives, added Senate President Wilton Simpson according to local10, noting further that such targeting is a distinct form of political censorship.

And heres where DeSantis new measures have a decidedly major impact: The biggest American political figure on the stage today  former President Donald Trump  lives in Florida and hes been deplatformed by all the major tech companies, which pretty much occurred simultaneously.

Will the ex-president who really won the November election become the first Sunshine State litigant under ally DeSantis new rules? Chances are exceptional it will happen; and frankly, it should.

Heres another irony: Trump was the biggest marketer of Twitter in the companys history, and it was free to founder Jack Dorsey; after kicking Trump off, Twitter stock tanked, angering investors.

No word at this point if Robinhood prevented them from dumping their stock.

See more reporting like this at Tyranny.news.

Sources include:

Local10.com

TheDenverChannel.com

NaturalNews.com
In the old pre-Covid normal, there were all sorts of reasons to conferences: travel and dine on the company dime, see colleagues and perhaps make useful contacts, pick up industry scuttlebutt, and maybe learn something from the speakers. From what I can tell, the last motive was usually the least important. But since the other justifications arent operative for virtual conferences, one would assume that conference organizers would have to tweak their formulas. Thus conference sponsor Pension Bridge implicitly endorsing the ethically-challenged former CalPERS CIO Ben Meng by having him speak their ESG Summit this month is a sign either of abject ignorance of their market or lack of respect for the ESG fetishization of appearances.

By way of background: CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng resigned abruptly last August after the financial media picked up on the story broken by this site: that CalPERS has made a $1 billion commitment to a Blackstone fund when Meng owned Blackstone shares1. This is a clear violation of Californias state law, which prohibits state officials from entering into contracts in which they have a personal interest. We also described, but the press was apparently less interested in, the fact that Meng looked certain to have committed an felony due to the inconsistencies across two years of his financial disclosure forms, the Form 700.

Meng resigned within days of our story coming out, which had an awfully guilty look, particularly since CalPERS later tried claiming it had known about Mengs conflicts of interest for months and apparently hoped they would never come to light.2 Mengs abrupt departure also left CalPERS in the lurch, without leadership when it was already struggling to meet its (overly) ambitious 7% investment return target. Mengs exodus was a major story in the financial press, which has likely contributed to the difficulty CalPERS is still encountering in finding a successor.

In addition, the California Fair Political Practices Commission opened an investigation into whether Meng violated the states conflict of interest laws. That investigation is ongoing.

In other words, Meng is and will remain under a cloud unless the California Fair Political Practices Commission gives him a clean bill of health. That seems unlikely.

So how could it possibly make sense for Pension Bridge to present Meng as if he were a respected investment industry professional, particularly at a conference supposedly dedicated to promoting good conduct on the environmental, social and governance fronts? Or are we to understand that these lofty principles apply only to investee companies, and the investors themselves get to be hypocrites?

Even worse, Pension Bridge, in a promotional e-mail that three contacts received, depicted Meng as currently employed by CalPERS, and put him on a par with Anne Simpson, a Managing Investment Director and keynote speaker at the event:

From: Rosie Instance

Date: February 2, 2021 at 10:48 AM PST

To: rinstance@pensionbridge.com

Subject: Re: Anne Simpson and Ben Meng are taking part in the Pension Bridge ESG Summit 2021



Dear XXX, I hope you are well. Pension Bridge is excited to welcome Anne Simpson and Ben Meng from California Public Employees Retirement System to the ESG Summit 2021 that begins later this month and we wanted to make sure you didnt miss out. Running over 3 half-days from February 23rd to 25th, this years event follows on from the successful launch of the ESG Summit we saw last year in San Diego. Anne is a Keynote speaker and will be introducing the Summit whilst Ben is a panellist on the How Quant and AI can play a role in ESG investing panel. With ESG considerations having never been in the spotlight more when it comes to making investment decisions, we have seen a surge of interest from investors keen to expand their knowledge in the space, as well as to connect with like-minded peers. As a firm that is showcasing their ESG credentials, and positioning yourself as a leader in its implementation, it would be great to have you involved in this years event. Registration is free of charge and open to all at California Public Employees Retirement System. Simply click here to register > I hope to see you there! All the best,

Rosie Instance

Marketing Manager  Pension Bridge

Lets put aside the fact that just as with most institutional investors conferences, CalPERS and its ilk pay nothing, which means they are the product being sold. And as Robinhood app users found out, that can lead to unhappy outcomes.

One of our contacts quickly e-mailed Ms. Instance:

Rosie, This is outrageous that Pension Bridge is proudly announcing Ben Meng of CalPERS, participating in your ESG Summit. Mr. Meng resigned with zero notice in August 2020 after serious conflict of interest allegations were made in the press. Meng left CalPERS without leadership at a critical time. 2021 is surely the year of shamelessness. Count me out!

Ms. Instance chose to ignore the only point made, the propriety of having Meng as a speaker, in her reply:

Hi XXX, I do apologise for the error on our part, this was a fundamental error in our wording in this email. I am aware that Ben left the firm earlier this year, and on all other communication Ben Meng is listed as Former CIO. I am extremely sorry for this and this shouldnt be seen as a reflection on the Pension Bridge brand, this was purely an error on my part. Kind regards

Rosie

Having Meng as a speaker does reflect badly on Pension Bridge, in multiple ways.

Having looked at her bio on LinkedIn, Rosie looks to be too young and therefore junior to have been responsible for the selection and vetting of speakers. The fact that the other materials list Meng as the former CIO isnt helpful to Pension Bridges case.

Are we to believe that Pension Bridge is so out of touch with major news stories in the pension fund space that no one in their entire shop was aware that Ben Meng quit abruptly, making the underlying ethics controversy, which was already serious, look even worse? And to make matters worse, that they also dont do the most basic due diligence on speakers, starting with a web search?

Or are we to conclude that they did know that Meng is under investigation by the State of California, yet they thought it was perfectly fine to have him as a speaker at an ESG conference, where the incongruity would be glaring, and insult the upstanding members of the CalPERS community by flogging his participation in their promotional missive?

To underscore how inappropriate it was to invite Meng as one of the faces of an ESG conference, let us turn the mike over to Principles for Responsible Investment, the UN initiative of which CalPERS is a loud and proud member. From the first page of their blueprint:

According to PRI, the responsible investors clearly extends to the investing organizations and not just the fund recipients. And its telling that the UN has to define responsible, apparently because people in the money biz need to be reminded that ethics matter.

We e-mailed Pension Bridge for a comment and received no reply. We sent the same e-mail3 to Brad Pacheco at CalPERS, pointing out that the e-mail from Pension Bridge created the appearance that CalPERS had acquiesced to the mischaracterization of Mengs status. Pacheco replied in a timely manner, saying that CalPERS had noticed the error too and board member Rob Feckner had contacted Pension Bridge.

The content of the reply to Feckner about the misrepresentation of Mengs relationship to CalPERS was identical to the e-mail sent above which was on an entirely different topic, that Meng should not be speaking at all.

So we have yet another ding to Pension Bridges brand, to the extent it actually stands for anything positive. Its staff apparently has severely deficient reading comprehension skills.

While CalPERS is presumably an unfortunate bystander to Pension Bridges incompetence, the timing isnt helpful. CalPERS still does not have a new Chief Investment Officer, and the less that is seen and heard of Meng in the meantime, the better, particularly since CalPERS knowing inaction made Mengs bad situation worse.4 However, with Pension Bridge not even issuing a correction of its e-mail, some recipients (certainly the three that contacted me, plus a fourth who had the e-mail sent on to him) wondered if CalPERS was trying to rehabilitate Meng. From Pensions & Investments last week:

At the California Public Employees Retirement System, Sacramento, former CIO Yu Ben Meng is credited with pushing the $444.5 billion pension plan to prepare for the pandemic and work from home even before the COVID-19 virus hit the U.S., said CEO Marcie Frost.

Gee, if Meng had such foresight about Covid, pray tell why did he dump two tail risk hedges just before they were about to generate a $1 billion payday?

And why is Frost praising Meng about his supposed Covid warning now, and not much closer to the date when it was executed, which would have been while he was an employee in good standing? This way-after-the-fact credit makes it look as if CalPERS is trying too hard to boost Meng. That only leads cynics to gossip whether CalPERS or Frost personally has reason to be afraid of him.

____

1 We neglected to point out a second Blackstone conflict of interest, that after Meng joined CalPERS, he received a contract to teach at the Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University. His compensation was between $10,000 and $100,000. Schwarzman College is a one-year program for winners of the Schwarzman Scholars award. One might contend, as we had initially thought, that the link between a charity sponsored by Blackstones founder and CEO, Steve Schwarzman, and Blackstone proper was too removed to amount to a conflict of interest. However, as the plaintiffs in Mayberry v. KKR argued, Blackstone has unusual governance arrangements dating from the time of its IPO, giving Schwarzman an unusual degree of control over a nominally public company. They Mayberry v. KKR plaintiffs contend that Blackstone is a personal instrumentality of Schwarzman, a corporate alter-ego.

2 This is even worse than it sounds, since Meng held two other private equity investments, shares in Carlyle and in an Ares credit fund. Given Mengs statement that CalPERS needed more private equity, this means Marcie Frost and the board were fine with the CEO not just having made, but being certain to continue to make, investments that were illegal under California law.

3 Our e-mail to Pension Bridge, which went unanswered:

Dear Ms. Instance, I intend to publish a story about your firms prominent misrepresentation of Ben Mengs employment status and your willingness to present Meng as a highly respected investment professional at your ESG conference. You surely must know that Meng resigned from CalPERS without giving any notice after he was caught out having approved and perhaps even spearheaded a $1 billion investment in a Blackstone fund while he was also an investor in Blackstone stock. Meng is currently under investigation by the California Fair Political Practices Commission for failure to comply with state conflict of interest requirements. Mengs resignation was a major story, reported prominently by all the leading financial media outlets, including Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times, as well as specialist publications that focus on public pensions. Meng, who has been charged with a basic and serious ethics breach, hardly seems a fitting face for an ESG conference, where the G stands for governance. Or are we to take it that the G according to Pension Bridge is not good governance but merely governance, as in having someone in charge, no matter how visibly tainted their record is? On top of that, you falsely depict Meng as currently associated with CalPERS, as opposed to having resigned under a cloud. Your e-mail promoting your conference has as its first substantive sentence: Pension Bridge is excited to welcome Anne Simpson and Ben Meng from California Public Employees Retirement System to the ESG Summit 2021 that begins later this month and we wanted to make sure you didnt miss out. To welcome Meng from CalPERS puts him on the same footing as Simpson, who is currently a Managing Investment Director at CalPERS, tantamount to saying that Meng is also currently employed there, which is clearly incorrect, It is impossible to believe that Pension Bridge is so out of touch with public pension news as to not have made that misrepresentation knowingly. Perhaps you will attempt to claim that CalPERS is the source of this misrepresentation or alternatively, that CalPERS approved of this formulation. Neither you nor CalPERS can create your own facts. As conference organizers, participants expect an honest depiction of who is presenting. That puts the onus on you to verify speaker bios and present them accurately. Please address the following questions: 1. How does Pension Bridge justify a fundamental misrepresentation of Ben Mengs status by depicting him as having been sent from CalPERS along with Anne Simpson, as in appearing in an official capacity, which is clearly impossible since he no longer works there? 2. How does Pension Bridge explain featuring a speaker who has been charged with a serious ethical breach as consistent with the aims of a conference marketed as promoting good governance? Please send any comment by the end of the business day February 3, 2021. Yves Smith

4 Meng conceivably could have ridden the scandal out if he had sold all of his private equity stocks as soon as CalPERS knew about his conflict of interest. Marcie Frost, if she had any interest in actually performing her duties, should have looked at all the Forms 700 of her direct reports, and the Blackstone and Carlyle names would have been hard to miss. But even generously accepting the strained CalPERS position, that it was OK not to have noticed anything was amiss until April 2020, when Mengs as of assuming office filings in 2019 also showed those private equity positions, he should have dumped those stocks then.
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Prime Minister Boris Johnsons declaration that the UK is prepared to invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to ensure there is no border down the Irish Sea has reopened an unresolved element of the Brexit saga that puts unionism front and centre.

DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr told Mr Johnson yesterday the protocol has betrayed us, and has made us feel like foreigners in our own country as his party intensified efforts to suspend the arrangement that avoids a hard border in the island of Ireland.

In the Commons, Mr Johnson said his government would do everything whether legislatively or indeed by invoking Article 16 of the protocol to ensure there is no barrier down the Irish Sea and businesses can continue to trade unfettered between the North and Britain.

Incidentally, this came just minutes after Tanaiste Leo Varadkar told reporters in Dublin: I dont see Article 16 being invoked again either in Brussels or in London. Dublin and London once again find themselves on different pages.

Read More

The current tensions are an inevitable consequence of the imperfect Brexit deal struck last December. They have been exacerbated by the EUs brief attempt last Friday to suspend the protocol, triggering a five-hour diplomatic crisis and anger in Dublin, Belfast and London before a U-turn.

The protocol has been the bete noire of unionists since its inception because it puts a border down the Irish Sea and checks at ports of entry. The protocol didnt solve the problems, says one DUP figure. It moved them.

This week a DUP agriculture minister and a DUP-controlled council moved to withdraw staff at ports in Belfast and Larne who had, as part of the protocol, been carrying out checks on animal and food products on foot of threats. The PSNI subsequently said these threats did not come from paramilitaries.

Nonetheless, tension is rising, with sinister graffiti appearing on walls in Belfast, including a death threat against Varadkar, a bogeyman for some unionists.

The realities of Brexit are now hitting home for consumers and businesses in the North. They are, as one Executive source put it, generating a problem a day and in ways ordinary people are seeing.

Shortages of certain products on supermarket shelves are well-documented, but another major issue facing consumers is what Glyn Roberts, chief executive of Retail NI, estimates are more than 100 British-based retailers no longer shipping to Northern Ireland because of onerous border entry requirements. It is very much a perfect storm of challenges with the protocol and the pandemic, both are putting huge pressure on the retail sector, he said.

However, issues over the importation of steel and second-hand carshave been resolved and those who dont like the protocol but want to make it work argue this is the way to move forward. It takes a bit longer to get your parcels but the world hasnt collapsed, as one senior politician put it. The reality is were in a different trading bloc now.

The UK government is now seeking an agreement with the EU to extend certain post-Brexit grace periods that are in place for traders until 2023. The EU is open to extensions  but probably not for that long. But these efforts will not solve the broader problem for unionists, many of whom fear the protocol only serves to cut the North off from the British mainland and embolden those arguing for a border poll.

There is also a view within unionism that for four years the EU, nationalists and remainers pointed to the threat of terrorism along the Irish land border as the reason why certain solutions could not be considered. There is real anger, said prominent loyalist Jamie Bryson. There is a belief that Leo Varadkar cooked up the threat of nationalist violence to secure this imposition of an Irish Sea border.

Last month, Loyalist Communities Council, an umbrella organisation representing groups including the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando, met with the Northern Ireland Office to outline the anger on the streets in loyalist areas.

This is only the start of what is likely to be a concerted effort by unionism to unwind the protocol. The political focus will be to squeeze more out of Boris.

This includes playing to Johnsons fears about being the prime minister who oversees the collapse of the union, a prospect that will loom larger after elections in Scotland later this year. But Bryson and others argue the DUP should also collapse power-sharing and trigger the sort of crisis Dublin and London would really rather avoid right now.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 05:50:29|Editor: huaxia

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MADRID, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Investment in Spain's real estate sector is forecast to grow by 15 percent in 2021 to about 9 billion euros (10.8 billion U.S. dollars), according to a study published by the British real estate consultancy Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) on Thursday.

According to the study, investment in 2021 will grow in all sectors as Spain recovers from the shock of the coronavirus pandemic, except in the retail sector which is likely to see a year-on-year drop of 33 percent in investment.

Sergio Fernandes, a director of JLL, said that in terms of investment, businessmen are not broadly concerned about the policies adopted by governments in the face of the pandemic, but rather about the uncertainty created by the situation.

JLL expected the Spanish economy to enter a positive dynamic in the second half of 2021, with the real estate sector starting to notice the results three or four months later, at the end of the year or in early 2022. Enditem

Republican representative Lauren Boebert has drawn reimbursements worth $22,000 for gas mileage used during her campaign for Congress in 2020, raising questions from ethics experts.

The Colorado GOP lawmaker wrote two cheques for a total of $22,259 from her campaign accounts for mileage between January and mid-November. The latest one is $21,199, after receiving reimbursement in March 2020, according to reports by The Denver Post and the local blog Colorado Pols.

Her massive reimbursements can also be seen in campaign finance data on the website OpenSecrets.

According to The Denver Post, in order to justify a reimbursement of such a big amount, Ms Boeberts distance driven during the campaign has to be about 38,712 miles.

However, since her reimbursements came in two instalments, after the modest $1,060 at the end of March 2020, to justify her second reimbursement of $21,200 from 1 April to 3 November, she would have had to drive 36,870 miles in just over seven months.

The figure is extraordinarily high also keeping in mind that Ms Boebert had no publicly-advertised events in April or July, and only in May, The Denver Post noted.

This highly unusual amount of mileage expenses raises red flags and the campaign should feel obligated to provide answers, it quoted Kedric Payne, a former investigator for the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent body in Congress that examines misconduct allegations, as saying.

Candidates for federal office can legally reimburse themselves for miles driven in personal vehicles using the Internal Revenue Services mileage rate, which was 57.5 cents per mile for 2020.

The Colorado Pols also noted that Ms Boebert was reimbursed for a total of $30,177 in 2020, much higher than outgoing representative Scott Tipton who she defeated. Over the last 10 years, Mr Tiptons reimbursements account for a total of $12,255 from his campaign.
Victoria Falls management on Wednesday was forced to supply water to high density suburb residents using bowsers after an electric fault on the main powerline from Hwange led to a closure on the city's main pump station on Zambezi River.

The two high density suburbs of Mkhosana and Chinotimba have been without water since Sunday.

Only wards four and 10 in Chinotimba and a section of Mfelandawonye in Mkhosana were supplied using a bowser on Wednesday.

Other residents were expected to be covered this Thursday.

Residents have however accused the city fathers of causing poor service delivery due to bad planning and governance.

They were concerned that no official communication was made prior to the closure of water supply.

Zesa issued a statement explaining that pumping at the station was not possible because of a single phasing fault.

"Please be advised that ZETDC is experiencing a single phasing fault on the incomer from Hwange. All three phases machines are to be switched off until the fault has been rectified," read a statement from Zesa.

The Victoria Falls pump station uses a three-phase power supply and if one of the phases is faulty, the pumps do not work, according to electricians.

The city council followed up with a statement advising residents about the distribution of water using bowsers.

"The city of Victoria Falls would like to inform its valued residents and stakeholders that the interpretations in the power supply have adversely affected the pumping of water at the treatment plant.

"The city will send bowsers at different points so that residents get water as the issue of power is being attended to," said the council.

Residents however expressed anger on councillors and management saying they were being exposed to the risks of Covid-19 infection as they had no running water to wash hands and have to queue to fetch from the bowser.

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Some said they risked infection as those on self-isolation at home might violate protocol and go out to fetch water.

This also comes as council has reportedly hiked water charges by about 400 percent beginning last month.

Residents are concerned that the rates hike comes at a time when the tourism industry which is the only economic activity in the city is dead due to the global pandemic.

"Some will even be arrested for violating curfew regulations while fetching water," said an angry resident.

Victoria Falls, which was conferred city status in December last year, has perennial water challenges which the council has blamed on failure by Zinwa to supply raw water due to obsolete equipment.

President Mnangagwa directed the water authority to hand over water rights to the council to improve the situation, although the process has not been effected.
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COLUMBIA  South Carolina's public health agency got its first permanent director in eight months, as the state Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve Dr. Edward Simmer.

The Senate voted 40-1 on Feb. 4 to put Simmer over the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. Legislators critical of the agency's response to COVID-19 and rollout of the vaccines eagerly put the career military man in charge.

Asked Feb. 2 what he would've done differently, Simmer told senators that, for starters, he would've rolled out an easier way for people eligible for a shot to sign up for one. And he intends to improve communication with medical providers and the public as the rollout continues.

No one spoke against the selection before the vote. It followed a brief history lesson of DHEC by Senate Medical Affairs Chairman Danny Verdin, R-Laurens, who noted it's been decades since the public health agency was actually led by a medical doctor.

Afterward, Sen. Larry Grooms said he voted no because Simmer's experience is in running large bureaucracies, and  while that's what DHEC is  the agency needs "strong leadership now. We don't need a strong bureaucrat.

"We need someone who can make a call and be decisive," Grooms, R-Bonneau, told The Post and Courier. "I couldn't vote for him. I hope I'm proven wrong."

Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a vocal critic of DHEC throughout the pandemic, abstained from voting, saying he believes "the chances of him turning that agency around are zero." But the Columbia Democrat said he didn't want to vote against Simmer personally.

"This is a Band-Aid on a serious, serious injury," he said. "I wish him all the luck in the world."

The vote put Simmer in charge immediately. It confirmed the Dec. 22 choice of DHEC's board.

Simmer said he's proud to take the agency's helm "during this unparalleled moment in the history of our state and nation.

"From the frontlines to our living rooms, COVID-19 has challenged us all," he said in a statement following the vote. "We have made sacrifices and lost loved ones. However, together, with agency staff and our many partners, I am confident that we will get through this and come back stronger than before."

Simmer, a psychiatrist, retired Dec. 31 after three decades in the Navy.

He spent his last six years overseeing Tricare Health Plan, the military's massive health system for care outside military hospitals.

Simmer's previous roles include a stint in South Carolina, from 2010-2012, as executive officer of the Navy hospital in Beaufort. He was also head of the Navy's Special Psychiatric Rapid Intervention Team, or SPRINT, for nine years, leading responses to tragedies, including Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, and the USS Cole bombing.

He becomes the seventh person to run the massive agency in the past decade, including three interim stints by Marshall Taylor, who's led the agency since June and goes back to being DHEC's chief attorney.

Gov. Henry McMaster, who signed off on Simmer before his selection went to senators, said he "clearly has all of the professional qualifications and leadership skills necessary" to lead DHEC through the pandemic and beyond.

"Dr. Simmer has a lifetime of experience leading large, complex medical organizations and has successfully brought positive change everywhere he has been," he said. "The people of South Carolina will be well served by his confirmation.

Simmer holds the distinction as being DHECs first director in 35 years with a medical degree. The last one, the late Dr. Robert Jackson, led the agency from 1980 to 1986.

One director since did have a degree in community health, which Simmer also holds. Doug Bryant, a lobbyist since leading the agency from 1994 to 2001, has a non-clinical master's degree in public health. Simmer would be DHEC's first director in 42 years with dual degrees of doctor of medicine and master's in public health.
Kalibo, Aklan (CNN Philippines, February 4)  The Aklan provincial government has ordered all hospitality workers on Boracay Island, except for residents and government personnel, to present a negative COVID-19 swab test result as a requirement to report for work.

This comes after some resorts in the tourist spot were forced to close for a few days after several employees tested positive for coronavirus.

An executive order signed by Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores on Tuesday required workers on the island to take an RT-PCR test if they are entering the island. They cannot report back to work until they produce a negative test result.

Aklan residents working in Boracay and government workers coming from within Aklan are exempted from the strict testing requirement.

It added that hospitality workers are discouraged to leave the island even on their days off unless there is a "valid and reasonable ground," which will be determined by their employers. If they are allowed to leave, the must return to Boracay within 12 hours, otherwise, they need to undergo a seven-day quarantine for monitoring.

CNN Philippines stringer Carla Doromal contributed to this report.
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A RECENT Free Press article (Winnipeg outside municipal climate leadership, looking in, Jan. 13) suggesting that Winnipeg will not receive any Low Carbon Cities Canada (LC3) funding is disappointing, and reinforces the fact our civic government lacks priority, transparency, funding and urgency for any bold and decisive climate action.

Opinion

A RECENT Free Press article ("Winnipeg outside municipal climate leadership, looking in," Jan. 13) suggesting that Winnipeg will not receive any Low Carbon Cities Canada (LC3) funding is disappointing, and reinforces the fact our civic government lacks priority, transparency, funding and urgency for any bold and decisive climate action.

The biggest obstacles to creative climate action in Winnipeg are the lack of political direction and the absence of administrative will and capacity to turn opportunities into real benefits. Significant climate opportunities with solid financial rates of return are immediately available in our city.

How do we get there? The issue goes like this: Winnipeg buildings contribute to the climate crisis by burning natural gas for space heating and hot water. This gas comes from Alberta. There is an immense flow of money every month to Alberta to pay for this gas. The impacts become larger when new homes are not designed to the best standards, or when older homes become less efficient over time. This requires even more natural gas to be consumed, increasing our greenhouse-gas emissions even more.

The path to climate action is first to build high-performance buildings or undertake deep retrofits to existing buildings. They then consume less energy, are more comfortable and cost less to heat. Then they can be switched to made-in-Manitoba low-carbon electricity. Our carbon emissions are reduced through smart usage of our Hydro resource. We begin to meet our Paris accord carbon reductions. Massive amounts of capital stay in Manitoba to create jobs and increase our tax base.

To its credit, the City of Winnipegs Climate Action Plan contains a specific target for the building sector. It calls for eight per cent of all homes and 12 per cent of all commercial buildings to incorporate renewables or undergo a significant energy efficiency retrofit by 2030. Although that sounds good, this is where the progress sadly ends and the problems emerge.

According to the citys own Climate Action Plan, emissions from Winnipegs buildings will still increase by eight per cent by 2030  even if these retrofits and energy conversions occur. Why the increase? Primarily because almost every single new building constructed each year is hooked up to the natural gas system, increasing the very same emissions the citys dormant Climate Action Plan wants to reduce.

Even the proposed major infill projects now under active consideration at city hall  Parker Lands, Kapyong Barracks and Southwood Lands at the University of Manitoba  are all planning to use natural gas as a primary source.

Winnipeg could learn from the action other local governments have already implemented  Vancouver was the early pioneer with its STEP program, with targets to mandate all new buildings to be carbon neutral. Toronto raises capital through Green Bonds to retrofit city-owned buildings to save operating costs while reducing emissions.

Montreal just released an updated resilience plan, with 46 bold initiatives to ensure climate neutrality. Edmonton city council announced a climate emergency, directed staff to implement accelerated climate-change initiatives and anticipates spending $65 million annually for energy-transition implementation.

South of the border, a large number of cities are actively pursuing bans on natural gas infrastructure. More than 20 cities in California have already put such bans in place.

Far from being a money-loser, anyone looking to build a new home or commercial structure will save enormous amounts of money by building high-performance buildings and avoiding fossil fuels altogether. A green-building approach protects the owner from rising carbon prices and also avoids entirely the significant costs of converting to a carbon-free source of heating when fossil-fuel consumption ends in the next few decades.

The City of Winnipeg could even create new revenue streams by implementing deep retrofits and smart designs for its new and existing buildings. City-owned indoor ice rinks and sewage treatment plants both release enormous quantities of heat into the atmosphere, while right next door there are homes and businesses burning imported fossil fuels to stay warm.

Capturing the waste heat and selling it as a cheap, green option offers a win-win for everyone involved, including the planet. Remarkably, since passing the Winnipeg Climate Action Plan in fall of 2019, the city has launched few new initiatives to retrofit or convert city buildings.

Winnipegs own green-building sector is a surprising success story, one that is waiting in the wings to do its part when given the opportunity. Manitoba Hydro Place remains one of the top 10 sustainable office buildings on the planet. Through local projects and those completed for international clients, our green-building professionals have repeatedly demonstrated the enormous financial and climate benefits available from their expertise.

The city of Winnipeg needs to significantly increase its green-building climate efforts, before time becomes our most critical vanishing resource.

Dudley Thompson is the chair of Sustainable Building Manitobas advocacy committee.
Over 453 of Northern Ireland's care homes have received both doses of the vaccine. (Jane Barlow/PA)

A further 10 people have died in Northern Ireland after contracting coronavirus, the Department of Health has confirmed.

Four of those deaths occurred in the 24 hours up to 10am on Thursday and six happened previously. The death toll has now risen to 1,899.

First Minister Arlene Foster and Finance Minister Conor Murphy address the media on the Covid 19 pandemic First Minister Arlene Foster and Finance Minister Conor Murphy address the media on the Covid 19 pandemic Today's Updates: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/coronavirus-northern-ireland-10-further-deaths-reported-as-care-home-vaccinations-almost-complete-40052092.html Posted by Belfast Telegraph on Thursday, February 4, 2021

Another 412 new Covid cases were also identified in testing.

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There have been 3,205 positive cases in the last week, down from 4,227 in the previous seven days.

Hospital occupancy is at 95% with 2,854 people in beds. A total of 68 patients with Covid-19 are in intensive care - 63 of those are ventilated.

And 99 care homes are dealing with an outbreak of the virus.

The figures come after the Public Health Agency (PHA) announced that 453 care homes across Northern Ireland have now received both Covid-19 vaccinations.

This includes staff as well as residents who agreed to receive the vaccine.

Northern Ireland was one of the first regions in the UK and Ireland to roll out a vaccination programme to care homes.

To date, 100% of care homes were visited and have been offered the first dose of the vaccine  90% of care homes have been visited and offered the second dose, with work ongoing to complete the remainder as planned.

Read More

Deirdre Webb, Assistant Director of Nursing at the PHA, was tasked by the Department of Health to assist with the implementation of the vaccination programme over the past eight weeks to care homes.

The success of the vaccination rollout to care homes would not have been achieved without an incredible team effort, with people working together and collaboratively across the sector, said Ms Webb.

Everyone involved was committed to getting our older care home population and staff vaccinated as quickly as possible, as the care home sector has been so greatly affected by Covid-19.

Staff were highly motivated from all sides to make the rollout work effectively among this vulnerable group.

Teresa McClean, manager at Corriewood Care Home in Castlewellan, added: We had a very positive experience with the vaccination programme. I feel that we all worked well together  the care home staff, the vaccinators and South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.

It went extremely smoothly in our care home, because we had all the preparation done prior to the day of the vaccination programme rolling out in our home.

Despite the vaccination roll out in care homes, and also to key groups in the wider population, the PHA is urging everyone to continue to follow public health guidance  maintain social distancing, wear and face covering, and wash your hands regularly.

While vaccines offer protection, there is still a chance that a vaccinated person could contract Covid-19.

It is also possible that a vaccinated person, while protected themselves, may still pass the virus on to someone who has yet to get the jab.

Regarding Ted Diadiuns Jan. 31 commentary, Jordan-Acton matchup is out, but the stove is still stoked, can Mr. Diadiun explain to Plain Dealer readers the difference between a salt-of-the-earth congressional district, as he described U.S. Rep. Jim Jordans 4th Congressional District in Ohio, and, as others see it, one of the most unapologetically gerrymandered districts in the country?

Michael Savage,

Medina
A nine-count federal indictment accuses former senator and one-time gubernatorial candidate William Sam McCann Jr. of a scheme in which campaign money was used for personal purchases and concealed from donors, the state and law enforcement authorities.

McCann, 51, was senator for the 50th District  originally the 49th District until boundaries were redrawn in 2013  and represented Morgan, Greene, Pike, Scott and Calhoun counties and portions of Jersey, Macoupin, Madison and Sangamon counties from 2011 until he left the Republican Party in 2018 and ran for governor under the self-formed Conservative Party. He received just 4.2% of the total vote in November 2018, losing to Democrat J.B. Pritzker.

The indictment, however, is not the first incident against McCann regarding use of funds.

A federal grand jury also subpoenaed emails and mileage reimbursements of the former state senator.

In January 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois requested tax records and records of payments made to McCann from 2011 to 2018 with questions regarding a reimbursement to himself from campaign money for more than $38,000 for mileage claims stating that he traveled 66,000 miles in 2015.

A citizen also filed a complaint with the Board of Elections pointing to more than $46,000 in expenditures that were reimbursed by the campaign without identifying vendors paid.

In February 2016, McCann said he would not apologize for being reimbursed from his campaign funds and that his district was large and required a lot of traveling.

The indictment on charges of fraud, money laundering and tax evasion was announced Wednesday by Central District of Illinois U.S. Attorney John C. Milhiser, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean M. Cox of the Springfield Division and IRS Criminal Investigation acting Special Agent in Charge David Talcott of the St. Louis Field Office. An indictment is a formal charge by a grand jury and is not proof of guilt.

Illinois State Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer said Wednesday after learning of the indictment that in our system youre innocent until proven guilty.

There have been allegations in the past that have not been proven and well let the judicial system do its job, Davidsmeyer said.

McCann, who is from Plainview and formerly from Carlinville, is accused of engaging in a scheme to convert more than $200,000 in contributions and donations made to his campaign committees to pay himself and make personal purchases. He did not return a call requesting comment Wednesday afternoon.

Specifically, the indictment contends that McCann and his political committees received more than $5 million in campaign donations between April 2011 and November 2018 and that there were multiple instances in which McCann used campaign funds to buy personal vehicles, pay personal debts, make mortgage payments and pay himself.

According to the charges:

 McCann used more than $60,000 in campaign funds to partially fund the purchases of a 2017 Ford Expedition in April 2017 and a 2018 Ford F-250 pickup truck in July 2018, which he titled in his own name and used for his personal travel. McCann then used campaign funds for loan payments on the F-250 and for fuel and insurance expenses for both vehicles, while at the same time using campaign funds to reimburse mileage expense claims that he did not incur.

 In April 2018, McCann used $18,000 in campaign funds to buy a 2018 recreational travel trailer and, in May 2018, used $25,000 in campaign funds to buy a 2006 recreational motor home, both of which he titled in his own name.

 McCann established an online account with a recreational vehicle rental business in Ohio and listed the vehicles for rent, identifying Sam McCann as the owner. He then established a second account with the same rental business and identified himself as potential renter William McCann, with a different residential address and email than those he listed as the owner. From about May to June 2018, McCann  while representing himself as the renter, William  rented both the travel trailer and motor home from Sam, the owner, through the RV rental business, according to the indictment. He is accused of using $62,666 in campaign funds to pay the rental cost. The rental business retained about $9,838 in commission and paid McCann, as owner, about $52,827 by direct deposit to his personal checking account. McCann reimbursed the campaign accounts $18,000, resulting in more than $77,000 in campaign funds being used to buy and rent from himself, the indictment said.

 In October 2016, McCann allegedly used a $20,000 cashiers check funded by a campaign account and issued to himself to pay off a personal loan on equipment bought in 2011 that was in collection by the bank because of non-payment.

 From May 2015 to August 2020, McCann allegedly used campaign funds to pay about $64,750 on two separate personal mortgages secured by his former residence in Carlinville and an adjoining property used as an office for his construction business.

 In November 2018, after an unsuccessful campaign for governor, when he no longer was a candidate for office, and continuing to June 2020, McCann allegedly caused the Conservative Party of Illinois to issue about $187,000 in payments to himself and an additional $52,282 in payments for payroll taxes. Using a payroll service, McCann allegedly was able to conceal himself as the payee for the expenditures from the campaign account, according to the indictment.

The indictment also contends about $50,000 in campaign funds were used for personal expenses  including Green Dot credit card payments related to a family vacation in Colorado and other personal expenses, charges from Apple iTunes, Amazon, a skeet and trap club, Cabelas, Scheels, Best Buy, a gun store and cash withdrawals.

In addition to wire fraud and money laundering charges, the indictment accuses McCann of one count of tax evasion related to his joint return for calendar year 2018. McCann is accused of failing to report income from his 2018 rental payments to himself for the recreational trailer and motor home. In addition, in March 2018, the indictment claims McCann used a $10,000 check issued by a campaign account to make a down payment to a Shipman business for a motor home. When the purchase was not completed, the business issued a $10,000 refund check to William McCann, which he deposited to his personal checking account and failed to report as income.

As a further part of the scheme, McCann repeatedly filed materially false  forms with the Illinois State Board of Elections, stating the nature, purpose, and amount of expenditures from campaign accounts  the balances in and existence of campaign accounts and entirely omitting other expenditures, all of which concealed his conversion of campaign funds to his personal use and enrichment, according to the indictment.

McCann is scheduled to appear Feb. 16 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tom Schanzle-Haskins for arraignment.

A conviction on each of the seven counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering is up to 20 years in prison. For tax evasion, the penalty is up to five years in prison.
The Bayelsa State Government on Thursday said operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps in the state were attacked by suspected militants engaged in oil theft.

The attack occurred in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state, according to a government statement.

The statement was signed by Doubara Atasi, who is an aide to Bayelsa Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.

The statement was issued after a meeting at Government House, Yenagoa, between civil defence officials, community and youth leaders from Ekeremor.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that unidentified gunmen had ambushed and attacked a team of civil defence operatives and engaged them in a gunfight, leading to loss of weapons and ammunition and the abduction of one of the operatives.

The operative was, however, said to have been rescued by some community people.

The state government, according to the statement, said it would not hesitate to wield the big stick against any community found culpable of aiding and abetting crime and criminality in the state.

The deputy governor enjoined community leaders to work closely with security agencies to identify and expose the criminals within the community in order to improve on the prevailing peace.

Mr Ewhrudjakpo emphasised the need for effective collaboration between community leaders, security agencies and the government to safeguard lives and property.

He said leaders, including traditional leaders, youth leaders and community development committee chairmen, have critical roles to play for any security arrangement to succeed.

Mr Ewhrudjakpo assured the civil defence officials that the government would leave no stone unturned to apprehend and prosecute their attackers.

He warned that the government would deal decisively with community leaders who provide a haven for pipeline vandals, pirates and other criminals to carry out their operations.

Our community leaders should understand that they also have a lot of responsibilities. As a CDC chairman, you have a duty to protect government facilities in your community.

Your duty as youth president includes identifying criminal elements in the community and reporting them to the CDC chairman, the ruler, elders of the community and even security agencies, and not to share in royalties. Mr Ewhrudjakpo said.

The statement said Akpoebi Agberebi, a security aide to governor, condemned the attack, as well as commended the community which rescued the operative.

Meanwhile, the commandant of the civil defence corps in the state, Christiana Abiakam-Omanu, thanked the community for rescuing the operative.

The community pledged to help in tracing those behind the attack.

(NAN)

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CORKS iconic Custom House, an intrinsic part of the citys maritime history, is no longer home to the Port of Cork, ending a century-long relationship that witnessed major changes to the port.

Staff at corporate headquarters vacated the premises last Friday for a move to offices closer to operations in Tivoli and Ringaskiddy.

A spokesperson for the Port of Cork company said the move was bittersweet, but they were looking forward to exciting times ahead.

The Customs House has been at the heart of the Port of Cork for over 100 years and our move out, while sad in some ways, also heralds a new and exciting era for the company.

Custom House Quay: At the heart of the Port of Cork for over a century. Picture: Ted Murphy

Our headquarters teams have moved to port offices closer to our operations in Tivoli and Ringaskiddy as we formulate our plans for the future, the spokesperson said.

The company leaves behind a building that was the focal point of port activities since 1904.

On a wedge-shaped circa two-acre site at Custom House Quay, where the north and south channels of the River Lee meet, the site and buildings on it, which include 200-year-old bonded warehouses, were sold for 5m in 2017 to Tower Development Properties Ltd, headed up by Kerry-born, US-based developer Kevin OSullivan.

The proposed hotel to be built at Custom House Quay.

His plans for a 240-bedroom skyscraper hotel on the site (at 34 storeys, it would be twice the height of the Elysian) are with An Bord Pleanala following an appeal of Cork City Councils decision to give it the go-ahead.

A decision is due from the board by March 22. Conor Lee, director of operations with Tower Holdings Group, said he is expecting An Bord Pleanala to seek an extension and that it will probably be July.

The application, which includes making provision for the citys maritime heritage, as well as food and beverage outlets, a distillery, some office space and a vast area of waterfront public realm, is opposed by the Irish Georgian Society.

Free State soldiers at Custom House Quay in Cork during the Irish Civil War 15/08/1922.

Mr OSullivans Tower Holdings Group, which will develop the Custom House Quay site, is also behind plans for the 20m Prism Building, a 15-storey 6,000sq m office space planned for a small triangular derelict site (310 sq m) at Clontarf St in Cork, next to Parnell Place bus station.

However, while the sod was turned on the site almost a year ago, very little has happened since.

Mr Lee said commercial construction was currently in no mans land on foot of Covid-19 restrictions, adding that the pandemic was making the commercial market a bit iffy for investors and developers everywhere.

He said they intended to go ahead with the Prism Building once it was possible to do so. The Prism is inspired by the iconic Flatiron Building on New Yorks Fifth Avenue.

While the pandemic and planning appeals pose challenges for Mr OSullivan, his brother Donal, with whom he emigrated to New York in 1986, faces a far more serious situation. He was charged in a federal court in Brooklyn last July with defrauding union benefit funds. The alleged crimes relate to his conduct at Navillus Contracting, a company he set up with his brother in 1987, but which Kevin moved on from in 2006, when he founded his own company, Times Square Construction.

A busy docklands scene at Custom House Quay, Cork in the 1920s.

Donal, who is a passive investor in Tower Development Properties Ltd, was Navillus president. He, his sister, Helen OSullivan (treasurer of Navillus) and Padraig Naughton (its financial controller) were charged last year with wire fraud, mail fraud, embezzlement from employee benefit funds, submission of false remittance reports to union benefit funds and conspiracy to commit those crimes.

Donal was released on a $500,000 bond; Ms OSullivan and Mr Naughton were each released on $250,000 bonds.

In August , Mr OSullivan, who has protested his innocence, temporarily stood down as CEO of Navillus Contracting.

The US attorneys office confirmed to the Irish Examiner this week that the trial has been scheduled for October 4-25, 2021.

Navillus is one of the biggest building firms in New York. It is involved in several major projects in Manhattan, including the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, and One Vanderbilt.
Bachelorette star Jarrod Woodgate has addressed speculation he is engaged to his girlfriend of one year, Sam Royce.

Rumours emerged that he proposed after the 34-year-old recently enjoyed a romantic trip to Uluru.

However, speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Thursday, Jarrod confirmed he's yet to pop the question.

Not yet! Bachelorette star Jarrod Woodgate has addressed speculation he is engaged to his girlfriend of one year, Sam Royce

'No, we are not engaged,' he said. 'If we were I definitely would not be keeping it a secret!'

The loved-up couple have been enjoying a trip around Northern Territory since January, and along their journey have continued to share gorgeous photographs of themselves enjoying the outback.

On Thursday, Sam shared a sweet picture alongside Jarrod as the two enjoyed a camel ride.

In the snap, the pair donned matching Akubra hats and couldn't contain their excitement as they grinned from ear-to-ear while taking in the hot summer air.

The photo that started the speculation: Last week , Jarrod uploaded a photo of the pair enjoying a sunset picnic in front of the sacred site

Last week, Jarrod uploaded a photo of the pair enjoying a sunset picnic in front of the sacred site.

Eagle-eyed fans were quick to comment on the post, with many suggesting it looked like the perfect opportunity for Jarrod to propose to his blonde bombshell girlfriend.

'Perfect spot to produce a ring,' one fan hinted, while a second commented, 'I feel there will be a proposal happening!'

'Get married! What a gorgeous couple you are. I love watching your relationship. Jarrod, so glad you found someone like Sam, genuine and beautiful inside and out. You deserve that,' added another.

Celebration: He also posted a photo of the pair clinking glasses of champagne

Propose already! . Eagle-eyed fans were quick to comment on the post, with many suggesting it looked like the perfect opportunity for Jarrod to propose to his blonde bombshell girlfriend

Fellow reality star Renee Barrett, who appeared on season three of Bachelor in Paradise, also chimed in, writing: 'Propose already!'

Her comment racked up more than 100 likes, with many of Jarrod's fans agreeing with her.

'If he doesn't put a ring on her soon and lock it down, Australia will be heartbroken... they are the national treasure couple,' commented one person.

Love and light: Earlier that same day, Jarrod shared a photo of the couple posing at the Field of Lights, which is an illuminated art instillation created by British artist Bruce Munro

Earlier that same day, Jarrod shared a photo of the couple posing at the Field of Lights, which is an illuminated art instillation created by British artist Bruce Munro.

He also posted a picture of the couple toasting with two champagne glasses in hand.

'One of the most romantic nights of my life. What an amazing start to our Central Australia holiday - not sure how we'll top this!' he wrote.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  The Commission on Elections gave organizations until March 31 this year to register as party-list candidates for the 2022 elections. Groups or coalitions already registered with the COMELEC must also manifest their intent to take part in next year's polls on or before the same date.

COMELEC data showed there were 134 party-list candidates in the May 2019 elections.

The filing of certificates of candidacy for the May 9, 2022 polls will begin this October. A party-list candidate may nominate up to five people to represent their group.

In case of substitution of party-list nominees by reason of withdrawal, the deadline is on November 15, 2021. However, if its by reason of death or incapacity, substitution is allowed until mid-day of the election, the commission said Thursday in a statement.

A party-list nominee who refused to accept a nomination cannot be re-nominated by the same party or any other group, the election body noted. In case a nominee dies, the party-list candidate must submit proof of death within ten days, it added.

A new list of nominees with the names of substitutes must be publicly published, COMELEC said. Publication must be done within five days from the day of submission of the list to the commission. Proof of said publication must be given to COMELEC within three days from the date it was published.
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Photo: The Canadian Press Mohammad Movassaghi tries to hide his face with a copy of his release order as he leaves Vancouver Police Department jail in Vancouver on Sunday, January 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

An application for search warrants to enter a Vancouver penthouse that police have described as a makeshift nightclub amid COVID-19 restrictions says officers noticed a delivery of 100 cheeseburgers to a suite before a man was arrested.

The application to provincial court says complaints about repeated parties allegedly with dozens of people attending on some nights began on Jan. 2, but Vancouver police did not respond that day due to a large volume of calls.

It cites "lack of resources" for officers not responding on another night when a complainant reported seeing about 100 people inside a suite as he was leaving his own unit on the same floor.

The warrants say the investigation kicked into high gear when a woman invited to a party reported seeing exotic dancers on a "stripper pole," bartenders making and serving drinks, a DJ playing music as well as spot lights resembling those in a nightclub.

None of the allegations in the warrants have been proven in court.

Police arrested Mohammad Movassaghi on Sunday for allegedly running a club inside his home and issued more than $17,000 in fines against him and his suspected guests.

The lawyer reported to be representing Movassaghi could not be reached for comment.

Court records show Movassaghi has been charged with two counts of failing to comply with the orders of a health officer.
Office of Global Michigan praises President Biden's immigration reforms

Office of Global Michigan praises President Biden's immigration reforms

February 3, 2021

MEDIA CONTACT: Beata Kica, 517-614-9773

Last month, President Joe Biden took the first steps in a broad effort to reform our countrys immigration system, including sending to Congress legislation that creates a pathway to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants. Yesterday, President Biden announced additional actions to help reunite and keep families together, address the root causes of irregular migration, and modernize and streamline the legal immigration system. In response to the presidents actions, Office of Global Michigan Executive Director Fayrouz Saad released the following statement:

We strongly support the administrations pursuit of robust and decisive immigration reforms. Immigrants continue to enhance our state socially, culturally and economically, said Saad. Immigrants and refugees continue to grow businesses, offer innovative ideas, strengthen our economy and create jobs in Michigan. Immigrants and refugees have provided unique social and cultural influence, fundamentally enriching the extraordinary character of our state and nation.

As part of the actions announced yesterday, the Biden administration aims to rebuild and strengthen the immigration system via the creation of an Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families and the re-establishment of the Task Force on New Americans to ensure our legal immigration system operates fairly and efficiently.

In 2019, Gov. Whitmer created the Office of Global Michigan to help grow Michigan's economy by retaining and attracting global talent and to promote the skills, energy, and entrepreneurial spirit of our immigrant and refugee communities.

To learn more about Global Michigans programs and work visit Michigan.gov/ogm.
Spains plans for its Covid-19 vaccination campaign are shrouded by mystery. The confidentiality of the contracts that have been signed with the manufacturers means that the public is only receiving a trickle of information about the details of which vaccines will be arriving, in what quantities, and when.

RELATED NEWS Spain rules out administering AstraZeneca vaccine to over-65s

The new health minister, Carolina Darias, revealed on Wednesday that 1.8 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine would arrive in February. She also announced that 2.7 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were due to be delivered in March. With these forecasts, the ministry believes it will be possible to achieve the objective that both Spain and the European Union have set: vaccinating 80% of the countrys over-80s by the end of next month. To meet this challenge, only the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be used, as was decided on Wednesday at a meeting of the Inter-Territorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS), which brings together the central Health Ministry and Spains regions, who are in charge of their own healthcare systems as well as managing the pandemic in their territories.

Seven European countries have decided to only use the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine with under-65s

What is yet to be decided in Spain, however, is whether or not the AstraZeneca vaccine will be administered to the over-65s. The Public Health commission, which looked at the issue on Wednesday, will not be making a final decision on this issue until today. At least seven European countries have decided to only use this vaccine with under-65s, given that there is not yet sufficient evidence of its efficiency for the older age group. Despite this, in the United Kingdom the vaccine is being used among seniors given that clinical trials have shown it to generate antibodies against SARS-Cov-2.

It is likely that Spain will follow suit after this decision was taken by countries such as France, Italy and Germany, as was announced on Monday by Fernando Simon, the director of the Health Ministrys Coordination Center for Health Alerts (CCAES). It is possible that in the European Union we will have the recommendation that Germany is making, he said on that day, in reference to that country announcing that it would not use the vaccine for the over-65s. This is prudent, but to decide this [the Spanish health authorities] will have to analyze the technical details of the vaccine.

At the meeting on Thursday of the Public Health commission, the experts are likely to add a new priority group for vaccination. After Phase 1  which is currently underway and involves seniors in residences, healthcare workers and all adults with need for daily assistance even if they are not in residential care  it will be the turn of the over-80s. But before this group begins their vaccinations, the AstraZeneca vaccines are likely to have arrived in Spain, and these will not be used for this age group, as the health minister made clear on Wednesday. It is more likely that they will be used on younger people with underlying health conditions that make them more vulnerable to the coronavirus, as France and the Netherlands will do, or for essential workers.

They can also use this drug to inoculate the health workers who are yet to have received their doses. The changes in the vaccination program were expected, given that it will have to be adapted to the characteristics of the vaccines that are being approved. Its a living document, Darias stated.

Spain is aiming to vaccinate 80% of over-80s by the end of March

The minister also added that the vaccination plan in Spain is moving along at the expected speed. In this first quarter, the doses available were expected to be limited. In response to questions from journalists, she explained that a good percentage of residences have already been fully vaccinated but that there have been delays in such homes where there are active outbreaks. There is also a good group of health workers who have received a dose of the vaccine. Once this collective is vaccinated, the health authorities will move on to adults with need for daily assistance. This is likely to begin by the middle of February.

The number of vaccines that will arrive will increase each month, assuming that there are no supply problems. As well as those that have already been approved, there is likely to be a vaccine from Janssen, which has already completed its clinical trials. The European Medicines Agency is awaiting the documentation to be able to evaluate this vaccine and possibly approve its use. Although it is less effective than the others being administered  66% compared to the 90% of Pfizer and Moderna  it only requires a single dose, meaning that the same logistics and quantity can be used to vaccinate double the population compared to the other vaccines.

English version by Simon Hunter.
A Russian RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system rolls down the Red Square during a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in Moscow, Russia, May 7, 2019. (Xinhua/Bai Xueqi)

MOSCOW, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Russia and the United States have officially extended the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) by five years as the agreement on the extension of the key nuclear pact entered into force Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry exchanged diplomatic notes on the completion of all domestic procedures required for the treaty's extension with the U.S. embassy, it said in a statement.

"The New START treaty will operate in the form it was signed, without any changes or additions, until February 5, 2026," it added.

According to the ministry, the telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States on Jan. 26 was key for this development to proceed.

"We hope that the understanding reached with Washington regarding the fate of the landmark treaty for international security will help overcome the tendency that has prevailed in recent years as a result of the destructive U.S. policy on breaking arms control and nonproliferation mechanisms," the ministry emphasized.

It was added that Russia is ready to continue constructive dialogue with the United States to achieve new results that would strengthen the strategic stability in the world.

On Tuesday, this years virtual Sundance Film Festival wrapped up with the awards ceremony, at which 24 prizes were handed out for features and seven for shorts. The only two animated features in competition, Cryptozoo and Flee, were among the winners.

Cryptozoo, directed and written by Dash Shaw, was awarded the Next Innovator Prize presented by Adobe. With a cast starring Lake Bell and Michael Cera, the story centers on cryptozookeepers struggle to capture a legendary creature, while wondering if such beasts should be displayed or kept secret.

On Tuesday, Variety reported that Magnolia Pictures had acquired the North American distribution rights. Shaws debut animated feature, My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea (2016), was distributed in the United States by Gkids, grossing just $68,883.

Some parents have protested the expulsion of six Form Four students at Lugulu Girls in Webuye West over indiscipline.

The students were dismissed last week for allegedly inciting others to participate in an illegal demonstration last year.

Mr Sibalile Natembeya, whose daughter is among those expelled, claimed the students were victimised.

"My daughter protested because a colleague, who is her cousin, had been raped and the matter is yet to be resolved," said Mr Natembeya.

He appealed to Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha to intervene. The students held demonstrations in December to protest the defilement of their colleague. T

he victim is said to have been defiled while taking a bath before going for the morning preps. She was rescued by a fellow student, with the defiler managing to flee.

The suspect, a teacher at the school, is yet to be arrested.

School principal Dinah Cheruiyot said the decision to dismiss the students was arrived at following investigations by the board of management.
HOLYOKE  The Massachusetts School Building Authority has invited Holyoke Public Schools to apply for funds to repair the aging roofs at the E.N. White, Sullivan and Donahue Schools.

The authoritys board of directors voted in favor of Holyokes invitation to the Accelerated Repair Program, according to a joint statement issued Wednesday by authority Executive Director John K. McCarthy and Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse.

The school district will collaborate with the authority to author a Schematic Design Study for replacing the roofs.

The authority reimburses school districts up to 80% of repair costs, which pays for most of the construction bond and related expenses. Morse called replacing the schools roofs essential and said he was delighted the authority considered Holyoke for the program.

The roofs are over 30 years old, are at the end of their useful lives, and numerous repairs continue to be made. I want to thank the MSBA for their commitment and belief in our great community, Morse stated.

The authority must review the citys proposals and vote on whether to proceed with financing the projects. If approved, construction would begin in summer 2022 and finish in the fall.

In January, the City Council approved $270,000 for the Schematic Design component, which allows the city to proceed with the design and cost estimates for the proposed projects.

We are grateful to the MSBA, Mayors Office, and City Council for their support, and we look forward to their collaboration in conducting the Schematic Design Study for these roof replacement projects, Holyoke School Receiver Alberto Vazquez Matos.

We are excited to support the process of obtaining this invitation to participate in the MSBA Accelerated Repair, wrote Holyoke City Council President Todd McGee. This gives the City the biggest bang for the buck to restore our buildings at a fraction of the cost of the projects value.

Past projects funded by the authority included the $22 million rehabilitation of Holyoke High School, which modernized the 1960s facility, the construction of three science labs at Dean Technical High School, and new boilers for the Morgan, Kelly, Sullivan and E.N. White Schools.
The tragic accident leaves the tiger's further fate in limbo.

An animal keeper has died as a result of a tiger attack in a regional zoo in the town of Mena, Chernihiv region.

The zoo worker was set to feed the tiger when the predator snapped, Chernihiv Police Department reports.

A CSI squad are working at the scene to clarify all circumstances of what is tentatively believed to be a fatal accident.

Read alsoConfiscated lions, bears to be handed over to Ukraine's national park administrations, charitiesThe victim, who had worked at the zoo since 2009, succumbed to his wounds before paramedics arrived, the report reads.

Police believe the man has entered the cage in breach of an established safety protocol.

He was not accompanied by colleagues when the attack occurred.

Investigators have launched a criminal investigation into gross violation of labor safety rules.

Reporting by UNIAN
A woman who passed through Dundalk and was later arrested in Sligo for breaching Covid-19 travel restrictions told a court in Donegal that she had no address and she travelled the country for special work.

After hearing from the defendant, Judge Kevin Kilrane said he could not release her.

She is travelling up and down the country, he said. She has no address. I can only conclude that she intends to continue her present line of business.

Czechian national Zdenka Weisshauptova, 50, of no fixed abode was arrested on Tuesday at Sligo Bus Station from where she intended to travel to Bundoran.

She was brought before Wednesdays sitting of Donegal District Court.

As well as being charged with breaching Covid-19 travel restrictions having left her place of residence without reasonable excuse, Weisshauptova was also charged with failing to state her name and address.

Both charges occurred at Sligo Bus Station, Great Edward Street, Sligo on February 2.

Garda Joe Evans gave evidence of having found the woman at the bus station while she was en route to Bundoran. He said that the previous day, she had been in Dundalk and Enniskillen.

She goes from town to town, said the garda, adding: She is not an essential worker.

The court heard that the defendant had been in Ireland for around six years and had lived in Cork and Omagh.

Judge Kilrane asked the defendant: What is all this about, travelling around the country?

Weisshauptova replied: I am working.

When pressed on the nature of her work, all she would say was: Special work.

The judge said: Well, you had better take your special work elsewhere.

Inspector David Durkin told the court that gardai had no objection to bail in principle, but were concerned about the lack of address.

When asked what her most recent address was, Weisshauptova said she had rented a room in Manorhamilton for two months because of the Covid, but she had to leave.

It didnt work well for the second person in the house, she said.

Judge Kilrane sentenced the defendant to four months in prison for breach of the travel convictions.

He said: It is clear that this lady is working in the state for the last number of years and the nature of her work takes her from room to room and house to house.

She had on her person 275 so it appears that her work sustains her. The problem is that she is travelling all over the country. This defies all rules.

The country is suffering economically and in human terms and in health terms because of the pandemic.

I can only assume that if this lady is allowed to continue her trade, she is endangering people all over the country.

The judge said he would wait two days before signing the warrant for Weisshauptovas imprisonment. He had earlier indicated that with a guilty plea and an address, he would consider releasing her.
Chinese authorities have raided several house churches in the Hebei province of Beijing, confiscating church supplies and accusing members of violating religious regulations set by the government.

A recent invasion by the Chinese police took place in several house churches in the Yanjiao town, located in the Hebei province in China's Beijing capital. For five days from January 25 to 29, house churches in Hebei, Beijing were under assault by Chinese police as authorities confiscated materials and accused church members of holding religious activities in "unauthorized venues" and violating local religious regulations and other laws, the International Christian Concern reported.

Pastor Caleb Yang, a house church leader in the area, recalled how Chinese police, the urban management force, and people from the community broke into the church. Thankfully, no one was at the church at the time, but the task force took church items despite having no documents to justify or authorize the confiscation.

Once more on January 29, Chinese police from the Yanjiao police station took to the streets to inspect more house churches in Hebei, Beijing. A local Christian recounted what he witnessed to ChinaAid, saying, "In the afternoon, about seven or eight state security officers came to inspect the church again."

"Regardless of whether or not there was anyone present, [Chinese police] came in and left right after they took our stuff. They were very unreasonable," he said. Another eyewitness said that around the same time, several house churches in Beijing were being raided by Chinese police. As of late, Christians communities in the Yanjiao town and Beijing municipalities have been warned by authorities to stop gathering to prevent COVID-19 from spreading.

In January, the province of Hebei reported over 600 positive cases of COVID-19, 544 of which were from the Shijiazhuang capital city, NPR reported. This caused a lockdown of over 11 million people in the province of Hebei, located 300 kilometers south of Beijing. About 20,000 residents from 12 rural villages in Shijiazhuang's Gaocheng district were also sent to government quarantines in a move to contain the outbreak.

In anticipation of Lunar New Year this month, the Chinese police enforced stricter travel restrictions and quarantine measures in the hopes of containing the virus in time for the holiday.

The uptick in cases in Hebei is the largest the country has seen in over five months and health authorities are criticizing the more lenient regulations on movement and travel. Commuters from Hebei heading to Beijing are now required to present negative COVID test results and proof of employment in Beijing before entering the capital as an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The new lockdown has prevented gatherings across the Hebei province, causing Christians to postpone gatherings in house churches in Hebei and Beijing. According to China Christian Daily, the Beijing Tongzhou Church recently announced on its official WeChat account that they have opened registration for online catechism courses on January 27. These online courses, which will go on for 16 weeks, will be held every 10:30 a.m. on Sundays beginning February 21.
Centre sets up 8-member panel to examine need for exempting GST on Covid essentials

Coronavirus cases: India records 12,899 COVID-19 new cases, 107 death in a day

India

oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P

New Delhi, Feb 04: Union health ministry on Thursday said that India recorded 12,899 positive cases for coronavirus infection in a day. India's COVID-19 tally of cases rose to 1,07,90,183, while the recoveries surged to 1,04,80,455. The death toll increased to 1,54,703 with 107 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

According to health ministry, the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,04,80,455 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.13 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.43 per cent. The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 2 lakh.

Centre says 162 doctors died Of COVID-19, medical body puts number at 734

There are 1,55,025 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprise 1.44 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

According to the ICMR, 19,92,16,019 samples have been tested up to February 3 with 7,42,841 samples being tested on Wednesday.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 11:45 [IST]
US hails centre's three farm laws, says 'reforms will improve efficiency of India's markets'

Amid the farmer's protest, the United States has now come out in support of India and hailed the Centre's three farm laws. The state department issued a statement indicating that the new Biden administration is supportive of the Indian government's move to reform the agricultural sector.

"The United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment," a State Department spokesperson said, reported ANI.

Reacting to India's ongoing farm protests, the state department further said that the "peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy" and the differences between the parties should be resolved through talks.

We recognize peaceful protests as hallmark of thriving democracy,&Indian SC has stated same. We encourage differences b/w parties be resolved through dialogue. US welcomes steps that would improve efficiency of India's markets&attract more pvt sector investment:US State Dept Spox  ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2021

Read full story here

After Pak's Army chief pitches for 'peace'; Another Indian Army jawan martyred at LoC

A day after Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday said that both the countries must resolve the Kashmir issue in a "dignified and peaceful manner", the Pakistan Army once again resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation in Keri Battal Sector of Rajouri District at LoC (Line of Control). Due to this recent unprovoked ceasefire violation, an Indian Army jawan was martyred. It is important to mention here that in the past 3 years, 10,752 ceasefire violations have been made by Pakistan.

Read full story here

BJP leader Mukul Roy's brother-in-law joins Mamata camp after brief stint in saffron party

Months before the Assembly elections in West Bengal, BJP leader Srijan Roy returned to the TMC. He is said to be the brother-in-law of BJP's national vice-president Mukul Roy. TMC spokesperson and West Bengal minister Bratya Basu confirmed that Roy was a TMC veteran who had switched sides to the BJP in 2019.

"The politics which is going on in West Bengal is against our ideals. We need to strengthen the hands of party supremo Mamata Banerjee to ensure that secularism flourishes in the state," Srijan Roy said after returning back to the TMC.

Read full story here

UK parliament might debate on farmers stir as E-petition attracts thousands of signatures

The House of Commons complex may have a Westminster Hall debate on the issue of farmers' protest and press freedom in India, as considered by the British Parliament's Petitions Committee after an online petition attracted over 106,000 signatures. While the list of signatories for the e-petition also reflects a signature of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as a west London Conservative Party Member of Parliament, Downing Street on Wednesday categorically denied that the UK PM had signed the online petition.

"Petitions that receive 100,000 signatures will be considered for a debate in Parliament. Debates in Westminster Hall where petitions debates take place are currently suspended, but Committee will make an announcement on scheduling this debate as soon as possible," a House of Commons spokesperson said.

Read full story here

Kejriwal warns legal action against Punjab CM over 'doctored video'; Calls him 'BJP's CM'

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday threatened legal action against Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and his media advisor Raveen Thukral for allegedly sharing a doctored video on Twitter that shows the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader purportedly supporting the 3 new agricultural laws. Warning Amarinder Singh to withdraw the video immediately and apologize, Arvind Kejriwal stated that if the video was not withdrawn, legal action will be taken against him.

This is doctored video. Shocking that Capt Amarinder has resorted to such dirty politics 4 political survival. I urge media to refrain from publishing or using this video. If @capt_amarinder does not withdraw this video immediately n apologize, Ill take legal action against him https://t.co/Re46dOCkOh  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 3, 2021

Read full story here

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Noella graduated from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in Hotel Management and a minor in Real Estate. Prior to joining HVS, Noella gained operations experience working as the student Front Office Manager at The Statler Hotel at Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York. Contact Noella at +1 (719) 640-9279 or [email protected]

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Navalnys associate Sobol charged in rally sanitary standards case

 Moscow's Tverskoy District Court, Moskva city news agency

11:06 04/02/2021

MOSCOW, February 4 (RAPSI)  The Investigative Committee of Russia has brought charges against Alexey Navalnys ally Lyubov Sobol as part of a case over violation of sanitary and epidemiological requirements during an unauthorized rally on January 23, attorney Vladimir Voronin has told RAPSI.

She pled not guilty. The house arrest order against Sobol has been appealed, according to the lawyer.

On January 28, Sobol, and several other suspects, including Navalnys brother Oleg, were put under house arrest.

According to police, coronavirus-positive persons ordered to isolation were identified among participants of the Moscow rally. A criminal case over violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules was opened over this fact.




A city councillor who appeared in a recent documentary playing poker with Peter Nygard and a group of women says he was never part of the personal life of the disgraced fashion mogul who faces sex charges.

A city councillor who appeared in a recent documentary playing poker with Peter Nygard and a group of women says he was never part of the personal life of the disgraced fashion mogul who faces sex charges.

"I think people are smart enough to know that Im true to my word on this. I worked for him for a very short time. Im not a part of his life. I left his employ and that was the end of it for me. Ive seen the allegations. This is something that shocks me," said Coun. Kevin Klein.

"I did nothing wrong. My conscience is 100 per cent clear," Klein added.

Nygard, 79, is in custody in Headingley jail, awaiting a judges decision on his bail application. He is facing extradition to the U.S., where he is accused of racketeering and sex trafficking dozens of women and underage females for decades. Nygard denies the allegations. A decision on his bail application is expected Friday.

An undated image from a documentary by CBC's The Fifth Estate shows Winnipeg Coun. Kevin Klein at Peter Nygard's seaside estate in the Bahamas.

A documentary by CBCs The Fifth Estate, which aired last week, includes one image of Klein sitting at a poker table with Nygard and others. There are two images of the councillor outdoors with palm trees in the background. In one of them, he is with Nygard as he meets with politicians in the Bahamas at his sprawling seaside estate known as Nygard Caye.

On Wednesday, Klein said he understands voters might have questions about his involvement with his former employer. The Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood councillor stressed he had only a business relationship with the Winnipeg clothing maker.

"People can certainly ask me anything they want on that. They have a right to ask me," said Klein. "I took this job. I put my name on a ballot."

A documentary included footage of Kevin Klein with Peter Nygard in the Bahamas. (CBC)

Klein stressed hes one of thousands of past Nygard employees. He said he was shocked to learn about the serious allegations against Nygard after working for him during a four-month period in 2012 and two weeks in 2014.

The councillor said the poker game didnt take place at a large party, noting poker tables were present at many of Nygards buildings.

"Poker games (are) something very common in Nygards world. He used to do them every night, even if we were with prospective business people," said Klein.

The councillor previously told the Free Press he went to the Bahamas twice during his employment with the company. He said he was accompanied by his wife both times and never stayed on Nygards estate, which has been linked to the alleged crimes.

"I think Ive been very open about the fact that I worked for Nygard as an executive and, at times, was with him at certain meetings, but nothing more than that," said Klein.

The councillor noted he has addressed questions about his former employment in the past. In March, Mayor Brian Bowman told media hed asked Klein if his past job as vice-president of Nygard Biotech could distract the councillor from serving in his then-role as chairman of the Winnipeg Police Board.

Klein, who has not ruled out running for mayor, said he doesnt expect to face political fallout simply because he worked for someone who is charged with serious sexual offences.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
You are here: China

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Wednesday inspected southwest China's Guizhou Province ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Xi went to Qianxi County in the city of Bijie, where he inspected the ecological environment of a major tributary of Wujiang River.

He also visited a village in an ethnic Miao township. On the village's public square, Xi talked to villagers who were participating in festive activities, and extended his New Year's greetings to people of all ethnic groups across the country.

The Spring Festival falls on Feb. 12 this year.
Nearly a year into the public health crisis and with frustration over the Baker administrations vaccine plan rising, legislative leaders have decided to step up their involvement in the states COVID-19 response.

House Speaker Ronald Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka announced Wednesday evening they will create a trio of new standing committees in the 2021-2022 session aimed at specific areas that they feel require sustained attention and policy expertise. Those committees will focus on COVID-19 oversight and emergency management, racial equity, and cybersecurity.

Government must be responsive to the issues of our time, and the state legislature is uniquely equipped to do so, Mariano and Spilka said in a joint statement. Over the past year, the Commonwealth has confronted extraordinary challenges. Throughout, the members of the state legislature have used emergency measures to act decisively to be responsive and assist residents. Because of this effort, we have identified additional areas that require our sustained attention and policy expertise.

Minutes later, Mariano said in a separate, solo statement that the Baker administrations vaccine rollout has been marked by communications and operational shortcomings that need to be corrected, in part guided by feedback from the Legislature, as the effort continues.

Specifically, we have witnessed a disconnect between the Department of Public Health and those administering the vaccine, siting and availability issues in many regions across the state, and communications breakdowns in the vaccine booking system, Mariano said. We must be particularly mindful about addressing gaps in health equity and supporting individuals with disabilities and those without access to transportation.

Mariano said the Legislature has an active and important role to play in allocating federal dollars that go toward the states COVID-19 response, including $213 million that Massachusetts will receive from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Joint Standing Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management will be tasked with oversight of the states pandemic response and take on an advisory role for the Legislature. It will also weigh broader issues of disaster preparedness, emergency management and communication.

In the wake of the pandemics disproportionate impact on communities of color and last years massive racial justice protests, Democratic leaders will also form a Joint Standing Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion.

The panel will review existing laws and proposals, offer its own policy recommendations and study the impacts of legislation so that the legislature can craft policy to begin to dismantle systemic racism and promote equitable opportunities and outcomes for all residents, Mariano and Spilka said.

The third new committee, the Joint Standing Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity, will weigh matters under that umbrella of topics. Mariano and Spilka said the pandemic, together with national and world events, has made very clear the importance of connectivity and technology.

Early on in the pandemic, the Legislature opted to defer most emergency management decisions to the Baker administration. Lawmakers addressed several specific areas such as elections reform and public health data collection.

The Legislature already has 29 joint committees in place to review the thousands of bills filed every two-year lawmaking session, covering a range of topics from public health and economic development to labor, revenue and financial services.

In addition, the House and Senate each have 11 of their own branch-specific committees, including separate budget-writing Ways and Means Committees and committees that handle the flow of lawmaking business in each branch and specific policy areas like global warming and climate change.

In the past, legislative leaders also have supplemented the massive committee structure with a range of specially appointed committees, task forces and working groups to investigate or study high-profile issues as they arise, including one instructed to craft policy responses to the pandemics disparate impacts on underserved populations.

Mariano and Spilka have yet to appoint Democratic legislators to the dozens of committees or name chairpersons who will guide how the panels work over the two-year session and who receive stipends on top of their standard salaries for the leadership positions.
Electric vehicles considered essential to tackle climate change but batteries pose serious risks to human rights and environment

Evidence from South America has pointed to lithium extraction damaging Indigenous peoples' water resources and fragile ecosystems

'The battery revolution carries its own risks for human rights and the planet' - Mark Dummett

Amnesty International has published a new report advising governments and businesses how to avoid causing, contributing to or being directly linked to human rights abuses and environmental harm within the increasingly important battery industry.

Lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and many electronic devices are widely considered essential for tackling climate change - but they also present a very real threat to the environment and come with the risk of contributing to human rights abuse.

In its new 16 -page report - 'Powering Change: Principles for Businesses and Governments in the Battery Value Chain' - Amnesty is calling on governments and businesses to work with environmental rights defenders and Indigenous communities to ensuring they are consulted and properly informed about planned operations and potential risks.

Manufacturers are also urged to design batteries according to maximum resource efficiency principles, including by using fewer materials and minerals, and by working towards 100% safely recycled content in batteries.

Amnesty's report warns that the growing demand for "green" battery technologies poses new risks to the environment, including pollution of mining areas, damage to the ocean floor, and mounting waste due to inefficient design. In South America, evidence points to lithium extraction posing risks to Indigenous peoples' water resources and fragile ecosystems.

Previous Amnesty research has also exposed how cobalt mined by children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could be entering the supply chains of some of the world's biggest electronic and electric vehicle brands.

So far, more than 25 organisations, such as AID Watch, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and London Mining Network have signed up to the principles in the report which apply to a range of businesses involved in the industry - including the finance sector which is funding a vast expansion of green energy and battery technology through large 'ESG' funds.

Amnesty's report also highlights the dangers of seabed mining, and calls on businesses and governments to proactively support a moratorium on the practice. A recent Greenpeace report warned that ocean floors are being "carved up" despite serious concerns about the impact of mining on marine ecosystems. Greenpeace found that mineral exploration of the deep sea - a global commons - has been monopolised by a small number of corporations in the face of grave warnings from environmental scientists.

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Mark Dummett, Director of Amnesty International's Global Issues Programme, said:

"This is a critical moment to rethink the way our economies and industries operate.

"While technologies like electric vehicles are essential for shifting away from fossil fuels, the battery revolution carries its own risks for human rights and the planet.

"We are calling on businesses at all stages of the battery supply chain to do their bit to ensure they are truly powering change.

"Governments must show leadership by supporting investments and energy solutions rooted in a just transition. Lack of respect for human rights should be a deal-breaker for any business involved in the battery industry - that means governments need to enforce environmental protection laws, investigate allegations of abuses, and make human rights due diligence a legal requirement."


An Islamic group has sued the Alabama Department of Corrections for not allowing an imam, a Muslim clergy, into the Death Row chamber to pray with an inmate at his execution.

Yousef Maisonet, an imam who volunteers to lead Islamic prayers at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, was denied the right to accompany Muslim Death Row inmate Domineque Ray during his 2019 execution. At the time, Maisonet described Islamic rituals that were required for Muslims at the time of death.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, announced Thursday afternoon that it had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama in Mobile asking for a policy to allow imams to accompany Death Row inmates at their executions.

In 2019, Domineque Ray sought to have Maisonet present as his spiritual advisor during his execution. Rays lawyers claimed the Alabama Department of Corrections was violating Rays religious freedom rights by denying his request to have an imam be with him when he was executed at Holman Prison.

At the time, the Department of Corrections only allowed DOC employees in the chamber at the time of execution. Maisonet volunteers and was not on the staff of the DOC, which has no paid Muslim chaplains on staff. DOC offered to have its staff Christian chaplain present.

The Alabama chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Alabama) at the time called on the state to grant the religious accommodation request from Ray to have a Muslim chaplain present at his execution.

Rays request was denied and he was executed in February of 2019. Maisonet said afterwards that he gave instructions beforehand to Ray and prayers and rituals in preparation for death.

Later, DOC changed its policy so that no spiritual advisors were allowed in the chambers at the time of execution. Maisonet last year again sought to spiritually advise a Muslim inmate, when Nathaniel Woods was executed on March 5, 2020. He was again denied access, he said.

The lawsuit filed Thursday seeks to have the DOC establish a policy of allowing chaplains, including imams, into the execution chamber as spiritual advisors at the time of death.

This case is about the religious liberty of all people, said CAIR Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas. We are hopeful that the State of Alabama will come to its senses.
Stuck in a Vicious Cycle

The Need for more Transparency and Regulations

Why the Growing Threat of Wildfires in the U.S. is Challenging to Tackle

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates that around 13 million Americans are living within a 100-year flood zone. But over the last few years, researchers have found that the governments estimates are far lower than the ground realities.A 2018 study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters states that, taking into account the risk of flooding from rivers, about 41 million people are exposed to flood risk. That roughly equals three times more than FEMAs estimates of residents who live in areas with a 1 percent chance of floods striking during any year. calculation in mid-2020 estimated that at least 14.6 million properties are located in the 100-year flood zone, according to First Street Foundation, a group of New York-based academics and experts.The threat of frequent flood events is growing, thanks to climate change. And the number of people and properties at risk from climate change-related disasters  not just flooding  is growing, too. During a recent webinar hosted by the Earth Institutes Initiative on Communication and Sustainability, researchers explored why. State of the Planet followed up with some of the panel participants as well as other experts to learn more.In America, we tend to say people should not have been living in these zones in the first place, said Alexander de Sherbinin , a senior research scientist at the Earth Institutes Center for International Earth Science Information Network. I dont think we can blame people who live in flood plains or those who moved to remote areas in forests that are at high risk of wildfire. Thats too simplistic.For instance, de Sherbinin said, his friend (who is not a scientist) always wanted to live in a coastal area. So, she bought a bay-side house in New Jersey that was separated from the water only by a narrow strip of land. She was aware that it had flooded during Hurricane Sandy and that the house was likely to get flooded again. But she was assured that it would only cost $15,000 to build stilts that would elevate the house from the ground and reduce the risk of flooding.Later, when she moved in, she found out that it would cost around $100,000 to $150,000 to raise her house on stilts  which was almost as much as she paid to buy that property.Houses are sold out of self-interest. This is the kind of thing thats happening in countless communities, said de Sherbinin. The issue of transparency regarding flood risk is a critical one.In some cases, wealthy people can exert influence to resist risk-mapping that would negatively impact their property values. In addition, town planners and mayors may be hesitant to declare large areas of their town off-limits to further construction, said de Sherbinin. After all, that lowers their tax base.To make matters worse for homeowners, the cost of federal flood insurance is rising as climate change increases damages to homes. That means homeowner insurance payments may go from $600 a year to up to $3,000 to $6,000 by 2022. That is going to affect low-income people particularly hard. They could potentially be at risk of losing their property, says de Sherbinin.In the past 20 years, flood-related disasters have cost the United States more than $845 billion in damages to homes, offices, and other infrastructure.While in many cases, FEMA-funded home-buyout programs are the only way to help vulnerable communities move further inland, experts say there is also a need for more reliable and data and jargon-free flood risk information for buyers.Yet, real-estate websites like Zillow, Redfin, and Trulia, have refused to share information about flood risk with users, according to NPR . But in August 2020, Realtor.com became the first site to let users know about every homes flood risk and how climate change could increase that risk in the next few decades.This is because models are getting more accurate in terms of which areas are most likely to be at flood risk, said de Sherbinin.Laura Lightbody, project director of the Pew Charitable Trusts flood-prepared communities initiative, said that unsustainable development will continue without governmental regulations for construction on flood plains.Some city governments are leading the way in creating and implementing such regulations. In Fort Collins, Colorado , city officials decided to pass stringent regulations in 2000 that prohibited construction in the Cache la Poudre Rivers flood plain.City officials made this decision after heavy rainfall in 1997 caused flash floods resulting in damages of more than $200 million. The disaster also claimed the lives of five residents.The resulting regulations prohibited residential construction in 100-year flood plains, and non-residential developments were permitted only if they were at least two feet above the projected flood levels. Those interventions proved to be effective. In September 2013, while floods wreaked havoc in many other parts of Colorado, the new policy protected Fort Collins from any major structural damages or casualties. Out of the 14,000 structures that were built since the 1997 flood, only eight were damaged.In 2004, the city of Brevard , North Carolina, also enforced strong regulations against construction in their flood plain after hurricanes Frances and Ivan in 2004.Such proactive initiatives are important because they send a message to the larger development community, says Lightbody.In a study published in the journal Land Use Policy, researchers estimated that by 2050, the number of houses in high-risk wildfire zones might increase by nearly one million in California alone.As populations grow and spread, the risk to people and property grows, creating an expanding bulls eye effect, Stephen Strader, an assistant professor in the department of geography and the environment at Villanova University, said during the webinar.In 2020, 57,000 wildfires burned more than 10.3 million acres of land across California, Oregon, Washington State, and Idaho. In California, 31 people lost their lives and 10,500 structures were damaged. Lisa Dale , a researcher who focuses on climate change adaptation policies at the Earth Institute, said that in the western parts of the U.S., trying to understand the gradations of risk is challenging. That is because everyone who lives outside of cities is likely in a wildfire risk zone.By definition, a forest is flammable. The biggest challenge for researchers and policymakers alike is to meaningfully assign gradations of risk to the millions of residents across the West. And also, to the many millions of acres of private property still available for sale in these areas, she added.Before Dale joined the Earth Institute, she worked with the State of Colorado to address wildfire risks among communities. She found that there was pushback from the real estate sector when the legislature considered more rigorous disclosure requirements so that a person buying a new house could be informed about that propertys wildfire risk.To make the disclosure policy effective, Dale said they would have needed data specific to each property, which is expensive, time-consuming, and potentially also a violation of privacy for homeowners.That is because it requires someone to knock on doors and ask for permission to assess the property in order to estimate the relative density of the forest close to the house, and then consider historical fire behavior, terrain, landscaping work done in the neighborhood, recent fires in the area, and other factors that contribute to wildfire risk.Wildfires are confounding and can take on a life of their own, said Dale. They are defying our historic models that allowed us to forecast risk. Once a crown fire  one that travels from treetop to treetop  gains strength, there is little that can be done on the ground to stop it.One of the biggest challenges, said Dale, is ginning up enough concern at the neighborhood level so that communities come together to devise neighborhood-wide wildfire risk-reduction strategies.In some instances, entire neighborhoods may be eligible to apply for funding to reduce wildfire fuel across multiple parcels of private property in that community, she added.Speaking with the State of the Planet, Carolynne Hultquist, a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia Universitys Center for International Earth Science Information Network and an affiliate with the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, said, Scientists are also becoming more aware and realizing that it is not enough to just do good science. It is also important for us to engage with communities and stakeholders to try to tackle extreme weather events.
GUIYANG, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Wednesday inspected southwest China's Guizhou Province ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Xi went to Qianxi County in the city of Bijie, where he inspected the ecological environment of a major tributary of Wujiang River.

He also visited a village in an ethnic Miao township. On the village's public square, Xi talked to villagers who were participating in festive activities, and extended his New Year's greetings to people of all ethnic groups across the country.

The Spring Festival falls on Feb. 12 this year.
A 'child migrant' who was stopped at the Swedish border was in fact a woman in her sixties who had lied about her age so she could visit her mother.

The woman, who lives in bordering Denmark, had claimed she was a child so that she could get around Sweden's strict border controls.

Under current coronavirus restrictions, travelers with foreign passports can only enter Sweden for specific reasons, which includes children under the age of 18 visiting their parents.

The woman in her sixties attempted to use this loophole when she arrived at the Oresund bridge border near Malmo - but to no avail.

A 'child migrant' who was stopped at the Swedish border was in fact a woman in her sixties who had lied about her age so she could visit her mother. Pictured: The Oresund Bridge border

Linnea Lokind, a border police officer, stopped the woman and was forced to tell her she was in fact more than 40 years too old.

'I had to explain to her that she stopped being a child when she was 18,' Lokind told Swedish broadcaster SVT.

Sweden has imposed strict border rules for Norway and Denmark where the UK coronavirus strain has already been detected, with people only being allowed to enter the country for specific reasons - including urgent family issues and children visiting their parents.

The rules have caused confusion for people who live in Norway and Denmark but work in Sweden, who say they are now facing issues when trying to cross.

Sren Andersen, who lives in Denmark but must cross the border for work, said the current rules are 'not clear'.

He said: 'The rules are not so clear to those of us who are not tourists. If I dont come in, itll be a long journey for nothing.'

The woman in her sixties attempted to use this loophole when she arrived at the Oresund bridge border in Malmo - but to no avail. Linnea Lokind, a border police officer, (pictured) stopped the woman and was forced to tell her she was in fact more than 40 years too old.

Swedish border police have turned away more than 8,000 people from the Sweden-Denmark border since the border controls began on December 22.

'People come here and try to make their own interpretation of the law,' said Mats Berggren, chief of border police operations at the Oresund Bridge.

He revealed border police may usually stop 100 people a week from entering Sweden - but now that number has surged to around 1,000 a week.

'That is a very high number. Absolutely most people try to get over on weekends,' added Berggren. Most of those who are stopped at the border are Danish.

Sweden, which has spurned lockdowns throughout the pandemic, has seen the rate of new infections dip in recent weeks, though cases of the British COVID-19 variant have been increasing.

On Wednesday, the Public Health Agency said it had registered 4,310 new COVID cases and 124 new deaths. In total, Sweden has had 580,916 confirmed cases and 11,939 deaths.

Sweden's death rate per capita is several times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours, but lower than several European countries that opted for lockdowns.

The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Farmer protest: Dont make it another Shaheen Bagh, Govt tells Opposition

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: The BJP said in the Rajya Sabha that the new farm laws were passed after extensive deliberations in Parliament and the doors of the government were always open for farmers to resolve the issue amicably. The government also urged the Opposition parties not to run the agitation into another Shaheen Bagh.

BJP member, Bhubaneswar Kalita said that the benefits of these three important farm laws have started reaching more than 10 crore people and small farmers. There has been no reduction in the rights and facilities of the farmers. Through these agriculture reforms, the government has given new rights to the farmers, he also said.

One arrested for violence at Red Fort during farmers' tractor parade on R-Day

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

The government is ready to discuss all issues... but my appeal to our friends, please do not make it another Shaheen Bagh," he also said. Kalita also added that Agriculture Minister, Narendra Tomar and Railways Minister, Piyush Goyal have held multiple rounds of discussions on the issue.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 8:04 [IST]
Justin Baileys Reimagining Apologetics: The Beauty of Faith in a Secular Age highlights a problem that plagues certain forms of Christian persuasion: the failure to take imagination seriously. For some Christians, apologetics is a matter of dry-as-the-desert technical argumentsor of intellectually arm-wrestling non-Christians into submission. Add an evangelical ethos hopelessly enamored with perpetual culture-warring, and you have a profound problem in much current Christian witness.

Bailey begins by noting that, according to philosopher Charles Taylor, we live in a world (a social imaginary) where everyone assumes that ultimate answers lie within. We follow what resonates with our inner life. Therefore, the wise apologist who wants to reach a non-Christian engages not with what is (externally, objectively) true, but with what (internally, subjectively) moves him or her emotionally and aesthetically. Not truth, but beauty. Not rationality, but authenticity. The key lies with the imagination. We must provide space, Bailey writes, for non-Christians to feel their way into faith.

After providing a brief philosophy and theology of the imagination, Bailey turns to novelists Marilynne Robinson (of Gilead fame) and George MacDonald (who inspired C. S. Lewis) as models of what such engagement would look like. They created imaginary worlds that allowed non-Christians to see through the eyes of faith. He then applies his findings to apologetical method based on a threefold model of the imagination: sensing, seeing, and shaping. Sensing prioritizes the aesthetics of belief, emphasizing what non-Christians would find beautiful and believable. Seeing invites them to try on a Christian visiona larger, thicker view of reality. Shaping invites them to a poetic participation that encourages them to situate their own life-projects within Gods redemption project. By suspending the question of truth to pursue beauty and imaginative resonance, Bailey argues, apologetics will appeal to those alienated from God but seeking authenticity.

Authenticity and Authority

This is a sharply written, well-researched proposal for a new way of doing apologetics. Those who havent studied apologetics may find it slow going in places, but dont let that deter you. Bailey provides plenty of vivid illustrations and examples. And, in the main, his point is correct. Many conservative Christians, and apologists in particular, have been culturally tone-deaf and have made themselves (ourselves) an obnoxious presence that few non-Christians are interested in engaging. But Baileys book is part of a growing movement, in apologetics, that emphasizes beauty and imaginative resonance. Sound missiology seeks to contextualize the gospel in ways that make sense to a particular people group. In this case, the target group is those of our own culture alienated from Jesus.

That said, I do have concerns. There is always the risk that contextualization will lead to a compromised messagea gospel gone native, paganized in translation. Bailey is well aware of these risks, but I am concerned he never fully reckons with the risks of contextualizing the gospel to the particular social imaginary that prevails in todays Western world. Authenticity necessarily places the self first and foremost, judging all beliefs and lifestyles by the standard of What feels right for me? As Bailey writes, we all must take authentic ownership of our lives, and the job of apologetics is to help create capacious (a favorite word of his) spaces in which non-Christians can create something attuned to the beauty that God has created, in which God is somehow present, beckoning them forward.

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But what if the point of Scripture is that our lives are not our own? What if we have no authentic ownership of our lives but are rather called to turn our eyes away from ourselves to God and others, whom we are to love and serve? Can we simply combine authenticity with taking up ones cross and losing ones life (Matt. 16:2426)?

Bailey seeks to guard against selfishness by countering that apologists should offer non-Christians a thicker version of authenticity to broaden the narcissistic horizons of thin authenticity. Thick seems to mean, by turns, self-giving, theologically deep, or grounded in the biblical theodrama of the New Testament. It seems to serve as a substitute or marker of biblical authority, but without the sharp edges that would shut down a nonbelievers imaginative and aesthetic search for a faith that resonates with their experience.

If I had to pinpoint a central cause for concern in Reimagining Apologetics, it would be the authors stance on biblical authority. Though Bailey affirms biblical authority occasionally, it is de facto marginalized in his actual methodology. He never truly allows the Bible to delimit the imaginative space legitimately available to the non-Christian in his or her exploration. Why? Because when appealing to those seeking authenticity, beauty must be considered as separable from truth in the interest of not disrupting the fragile feeling into faith process. In fact, Bailey decries what he calls contemporary apologists fixation on truth.

This has specific consequences for faith. Both of Baileys apologetical role models, MacDonald and Robinson, denied that God would eternally punish anyone who rejected him. They were unable to quite believe in a God who was less generous and gracious than they imagined him to be. And Bailey never corrects them, as if conforming God to our imaginary image of him is somehow justified. This is treacherously close to inviting non-Christians to violate the first and second commandments and presenting that as a genuine life of faith. Even for the most mature Christians, the way God is portrayed in the Bible wont always appear beautiful or good. The real journey of faith involves spiritual wrestling to conform our imaginations to the reality of his person and character as revealed in Scripture. Submitting ones imagination and will to someone else is always a struggle, but Christians simply dont have the license to do otherwise and call it genuine (authentic) faith.

Submitting to anothers authority is anathema to the ethos of authenticity. Again, Bailey understands this, noting that we must orient and reframe the non-Christians quest within Gods project, but I am unconvinced that he quite squares that circle. In essence, he is using the textures and channels of authenticity (what resonates with the seeker) to move seekers past and out of authenticity toward the willing, joyful acceptance of an authority and life-direction not their own. But I remain unsure that Bailey even acknowledges the contradiction, assuming instead that, at its best, Christian faith dovetails seamlessly with the yearning for authenticity. Sometimes it doesnt, and we need to figure out how to guide non-Christians into recognizing that. Reimagining Apologeticsgives us precious little guidance here.

Competing Authenticities

Further, we live in a world of multiple competing authenticities. Simply showing the Christian visions thickness will not suffice. Tara Isabella Burtons recent book Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World explores a dazzling array of intuitional religions that have lured people away from traditional religions in the age of the internet, with examples ranging from online fan cultures to occult and wellness movements to political ideologies left and right. All of these communities are super thick in the imaginations of their adherents . They resonate profoundly within the minds and lives of their followers. How are we to differentiate between competing thick imaginative visions?

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This is where presuppositional apologetics, which posits Christian faith as the basis for all thought, gives important guidance. Bailey dismisses it in one footnote as a form of Scriptural foundationalism focused not on rational truthfulness, like classical apologetics, but on biblical truth. This struck me as both unfair and curious, given that his own imaginative apologetics (sensing/seeing/shaping) bears a striking structural resemblance to the presuppositional argument: trying on the non-Christians perspective, showing how it falls apart, then inviting the non-Christian to see reality through Christian eyes.

Bailey is right. Apologetics needs the imagination. But let us use it within the bounds of Scripture, which alone can sort between competing authenticities.

A few years ago, I taught a college student who confessed to me that my class convinced her she wasnt a Christian. Intrigued, I asked to discuss her revelation over coffee. She told me she used to pray, and she figured this kind of behaviorcarried out in one of the worlds most atheist countries (Czech Republic), no lessmarked her out as a Christian. But that changed when she took my comparative worldviews class, which starts with Christian theism. She learned that God isnt a vague idea but a person with specific traits and desires. She didnt like that at all, and so she stopped seeing herself as Christian.

We talked, and I tried to persuade her both that God exists and that this was something to celebrate. Ive always felt strange about that exchange. One the one hand, that outcome seemed inevitable: God is who he is, and I couldnt have denied that in my teaching. On the other hand, it felt like I was doing the opposite of what I should have done. Had I read Reimagining Apologetics before those conversations, I would have spent more time exploring why she prayed, how it made her feel, and what resonated with her about connecting with God.

Many who read this book will feel provoked. But Bailey also gives us much to chew on, and much to learn.

Ted Turnau teaches culture, religion, and media studies at Anglo-American University in Prague, Czech Republic. He is a co-author of The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ.
Its bad enough Canada continues to fall behind other countries in the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

Its bad enough Canada continues to fall behind other countries in the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

The federal government is making it worse by keeping provinces in the dark on when their vaccine shipments will arrive, leaving delivery details in some cases until the last minute.

Despite the urgency to immunize as many people as quickly as possible, Manitoba still doesnt know how many doses of the Moderna vaccines its expected to get in its next shipment, scheduled for the week of Feb. 22. The province has been given an estimate on how many doses of Pfizer-BioNTech will be sent over the next two weeks; however, there are still no delivery dates.

It is not just the fault of the manufacturer, it is gross incompetence on the part of the federal government.

JUSTIN TANG / CANADIAN PRESS FILES Justin Trudeau's government appears content to accept whatever the manufacturers tell it without putting up a fight or demanding more reliable information.

The global supply disruptions for both Pfizer and Moderna are well-understood; theres little the federal government can do in the short term. What it can do, however, is demand clarity on shipment details and communicate that information to the provinces in a timely manner.

The federal government is the buyer. It has contracts with vaccine manufacturers that include terms and conditions. It should be exercising its rights under those contracts to get clear information about production delays and specifics on when deliveries will return to normal.

Its not good enough for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to throw his hands in the air and say theres nothing he can do about the delay. Theres plenty he can do. Hes just not doing it.

Until mid-January, the federal government was providing Canadians with regular updates of how many vaccine doses each province was expected to get on a weekly basis, until the end of March.

Ottawa was also showing, on its webpage, how much each province had already received.

Its not good enough for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to throw his hands in the air and say theres nothing he can do about the delay. Theres plenty he can do. Hes just not doing it.

Over the past two weeks, its been radio silence. The Pfizer projections were removed from the federal government website, with no word on when new forecasts will be posted. There are no projections on Moderna shipments to the provinces beyond this week.

How can the federal government, as the buyer, not know how many doses its expecting from Moderna less than two weeks from now?

How can the federal government, as the buyer, not know how many doses its expecting from Moderna less than three weeks from now?

Shockingly, there doesnt seem to be a level of urgency. The Trudeau government appears content to accept whatever the manufacturers tell it without putting up a fight or demanding more reliable information.

Its weak. Its also incompetent. It could cost lives.

Every week seniors and other high-risk Canadians have to wait for a vaccine dose, the risk of contracting the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and dying, increases. That cant be reversed, even if Canada scales up supply next month.

The stakes are even higher now that a new, more contagious variant has arrived in Canada. (It hasnt yet been detected in Manitoba.)

MATIAS J. OCNER / MIAMI HERALD FILES Despite the urgency to immunize as many people as quickly as possible, Manitoba still doesnt know how many doses of the Moderna vaccine its expected to get..

It's entirely possible the nation could be facing a third pandemic wave; all the more reason to expedite the immunization program.

The Trudeau government hasnt explained why Canada has fallen so far behind other countries in securing vaccine supply. All countries are facing the same global shortages and production disruptions. Yet, Canada is disproportionately affected.

Thats on Ottawa. Dozens of countries are getting needles into more arms than Canada is on a per capita basis.

Canadians were probably willing to cut the federal government some slack when Ottawa first announced the Pfizer delay last month. After further delays were announced almost every week since, that goodwill is likely evaporating.

This is a pandemic. Canada needs wartime leadership. Unfortunately, it is not getting it.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca
She always manages to turn heads on an outing.

And Amanda Holden proved that less can be more as she stunned in a stylish all-black look to host the Heart FM Breakfast Show on Thursday.

Exuding glamour, the 49-year-old presenter looked in high spirits as she sashayed out of the Global Radio studios.

Chic and cheerful: Amanda Holden proved that less can be more as she stunned in a stylish all-black look to host the Heart FM Breakfast Show on Thursday

Wrapping up in the winter chill, Amanda flung a fitted black coat over her shoulders with a faux fur trim.

Beneath, the presenter gave a nod to the Westerns with a laser-cut black blouse from Monsoon that she teamed with Zara flares.

Boosting her petite frame, the mother-of-two donned a pair of pointed court heels and accessorised with a small cross body bag and shades.

Loving life: Exuding glamour, the 49-year-old presenter looked in high spirits as she sashayed out of the Global Radio studios

While Amanda will continue to entertain the nation with her morning radio show, the actress will not be returning to her judging role on Britain's Got Talent this year as it has been scrapped amid the pandemic.

On Wednesday, she appeared on Good Morning Britain where she spoke about the decision to cancel this year's talent show which leaves 'hundreds and hundreds' unemployed.

Amanda, who has been a judge on the show since 2007, spoke with GMB host Piers Morgan, who was one of Britain's Got Talent's original judges.

The TV presenter said that she believed it was the 'right decision' to cancel this year's show although it was 'difficult' as it left so many people without jobs.

Yee-haw! Wrapping up in the winter chill, Amanda flung on a fitted black coat with a faux fur trim and gave a nod to the Westerns with a laser-cut black blouse

Amanda said: 'It was a difficult one this year, for Amelia and all of the producers, because we have so many people that are now unemployed.

'Behind the scenes, there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them.

'So I think we were all trying to find a way around it, but for it to be done safely and with the fifth judge, which is everyone that watches, it's a show that is impossible to do without an audience.

'So I am really glad that was the decision that was made, it was the best option.'

It was announced last week that Britain's Got Talent 2021 has been cancelled as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic prevents a live studio audience from being present.

The hit ITV talent show had already been postponed due to safety concerns and the restrictions brought about by tier systems and lockdowns.

But after several weeks of speculation, it was finally confirmed that the show will not return to screens until 2022.

Bosses of the show said that despite the efforts of the teams at ITV, Thames and head judge Simon Cowell's Syco, they were forced to call plans off.
Former British diplomat Craig Murray has published affidavits submitted to the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of his defence against charges of contempt of court.

The case arose from his reporting of the trial last year of former leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and former Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond. Salmond was acquitted in March of charges of sexually assaulting SNP and Scottish government officials.

Murray's statements offer further evidence supporting his allegation of a political conspiracy to smear, convict and potentially jail Salmond, organised by his former protege and successor as SNP leader and first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, her aides and allies.

Murray produced the affidavits to defend himself from charges that his commentary sought to influence the jury in Salmond's trial and that his articles could have allowed some of the anonymous accusers to be identified.

Murray is a Scottish nationalist and longtime supporter of the SNP. Politically, his criticism of Sturgeon et al is that they are not moving nearly fast enough towards independence. Nevertheless, his exposure of the SNP leadership's manouevres against Salmond is devastating.

Craig Murray

In his submission to the court, Murray reported, "with a high degree of certainty" that Nicola Sturgeon's Chief of Staff, Liz Lloyd, was behind lurid reports that suddenly appeared in the Scottish press in August 2018 of an alleged sexual assault by Salmond.

Murray also wrote at the time of the role of the Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government, Leslie Evans and of Judith Mackinnon, the former HR chief of the Scottish Police Authority, brought in to lead investigations of claims of harassment against Salmond. He noted that none of these people had been sacked after a judicial review accused the Scottish government's investigation of being "tainted by apparent bias", suggesting Sturgeon's continued support for them.

Murray recounted a 2019 meeting sought by Salmond with him, the first time the two had met. Salmond told Murray, "Nicola Sturgeon had been behind the process designed to generate false accusations against him. He said as well as Mackinnon and Evans, Liz Lloyd was responsible for the actual orchestration."

Salmond spoke of a "massive police operation underway to try to get accusers to come forward against him." 400 people had been interviewed. He told of one retired police officer's view "that the fact it was a stitch-up was evidenced by the fact all the accusations emanated from the same small coterie, there was not a single accusation from an outside or independent source."

Asked about the motive for attacks on him, Salmond replied he had intended to quit politics, and take up the chairmanship of Edinburgh based Johnston Press, which then owned the S cotsman newspaper and local titles in Britain and Ireland. Salmond said, however, he "had made plain to [Sturgeon] that he was not happy with her lack of progress towards an independence referendum following the Brexit vote."

In June 2019, Murray claimed, "Sturgeon and key members of her inner circle, including ministers... gamed the possible outcome of the Salmond affair." Those present concluded that if Salmond could be convicted on a single charge he would be destroyed politically. "He would be on the register of sex offenders and branded a rapist in the public mind, even if the actual offence convicted was knee touching. I was also told that the Law Officers were confident of a conviction for something, which is why the multiplicity of charges."

Murray asserts that this would be impossible without "corrupt collusion between Nicola Sturgeon's ministers and aides and the Crown Office [Scotland's public prosecution service] over the handling of the Salmond case and the charges being brought."

He cited as his source someone close to Sturgeon who was "not happy with the 'fitting up' of Alex Salmond, which they described as 'unnecessary.'" Murray considered his contact as a "highly credible source with good access", who seemed "straightforward and no inconsistencies had appeared under question". He believed their account.

Murray noted that he had briefly been able to see a message between Peter Murrell, SNP Chief Executive Officer, Sturgeon's husband, and Sue Ruddick, the SNP's Chief Operating Officer proposing "it was now the right time to put pressure on Police Scotland to move forward against Alex Salmond" (Murray's words).

Another message from Ruddick suggested that if the police would explain what evidence they wanted, Ruddick et al would get it. Another explained the plan to have a "strongly detrimental effect" (Murray's words) on Salmond while retaining anonymity.

These messages remain subject to intense disputes between a toothless Scottish parliamentary inquiry set up to investigate the Salmond affair and the Crown Office, the Scottish government, and the Lord Advocate. Salmond is due to give evidence in February, Sturgeon soon after. Peter Murrell has refused to return to the inquiry to explain contradictions in his own evidence.

By November 2019, Murray had become aware of the identities of all those accusing Salmond of sexual offences. He commented, "I realised that something extraordinary and morally disgusting was happening. If the public knew the identities of those being put up to make allegations, and just how close to Nicola Sturgeon they were, they would immediately understand what was happening. But the convention protecting the identities of those making allegations of sexual assault made such allegations the perfect vehicle for a positive campaign to frame on false charges, while the perpetrators of this conspiracy to pervert the course of justice had the protection of the courts against exposure."

The same month a deluge of lurid news and TV headlines accompanied the news that Salmond had been charged with attempted rape, intent to rape, indecent assault and a series of more minor charges. Murray noted, "The Crown can release salacious detail about attempted rape while lying naked on top of somebody in bed, and the media can echo this to the heavens. But from that moment, nobody can publish anything to contradict the Crown without being in contempt of court."

Murray resorted to satire, proposing a script for the famous BBC TV comedy, Yes Minister, which sketched "the tactics being employed by the prosecution, and seeking to make it plain to the Sturgeon circle that I knew precisely how their scheme was supposed to operate."

He continued, "The notion that this cryptic, satirical article, described as fiction, on a personal blog, would influence a jury is fanciful. When compared to the absolute torrent of hostile mainstream media material fed by the Crown Office, as detailed above, and vicious social media comment, aimed at Alex Salmond, the fact that the Crown Office are prosecuting only an extremely rare news source sympathetic to Salmond is, in my view, deeply sinister..."

The remainder of Murray's submission compares his writing and commentary with other reporters, hostile to Salmond, offering far more explicit clues as to the identity of the accusers and none of whom have been accused of contempt of court. These include pieces by Dani Garavelli for Scotland on Sunday and news presenter Kirsty Wark's "The Trial of Alex Salmond" for the BBC, both of which sought to rerun the trial, missing out defence witnesses whose evidence led to the Salmond's acquittal on all charges, and giving the impression that the jury's verdict was perverse.

The WSWS defence of Murray's right to comment and report on a blatant political conspiracy to destroy a major public figure does not imply the slightest support to either Murray's or Salmond's nationalist political agenda, which like Sturgeons, sows divisions in the working class in pursuit of the commercial ambitions of the Scottish bourgeoisie and its upper middle class periphery. Indeed, the methods utilised by the SNP leadership against Salmond, one of their own and the principle architect of the SNP's internal regime, should serve as the sharpest of warnings about the methods all factions of the SNP are prepared to use against the working class.
The private sector is becoming increasingly involved in COVID-19 treatment with the government relaxing regulations around the issue. Though the participation in efforts against the pandemic is welcomed by many, the services come with increasingly steep price tags, the vast majority of Ethiopians cannot hope to afford, writes MAYA MISIKIR, FORTUNE STAFF WRITER.

Last month, a very unlikely Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) patient walked through Yerer Hospital's halls. Yerer was the third private hospital licensed to provide treatment to the victims of the pandemic, a service that was previously limited to government-run hospitals and health centres in the country, though the new private options carry steep price tags that the average Ethiopian could hardly afford. The patient: a 60-year-old domestic worker.

Yerer, which is located in the Goro neighbourhood and has joined the ranks of Addis Abeba Silk Road and Hallelujah Hospital, was an option for those who were willing to pay for better care and attention than was provided at free government-run centres. The domestic worker, who wishes to remain anonymous, hails from a very modest background in the rural area of the country's northern region. Nearly 15 years ago, she came to the capital looking for work, and she found it in the domicile of a well-to-do family.

Over the years, she grew close with her employers, and their bond turned into one of family, a bond that would eventually help save her life. A family member in the house had tested positive a few days before she started showing symptoms herself. The illness would eventually require her to seek respiratory support, and the family took her to Yerer Hospital, where they paid an initial deposit of 90,000 Br. By the time she was discharged, 10 days of oxygen support, multiple laboratory tests, meals and other costs meant that the family had to top that up with an additional 30,000 Br.

Hers is one of the less shocking stories that would make the rounds in the city as people were reportedly discharged from private health centres with bills as high as 1.5 million Br. Initial deposits varied from one private health centre to another, ranging from 25,000 Br to nearly 300,000 Br.

Though intended to buffer and support the COVID-19 response, private healthcare providers' addition in the fight against the pandemic is turning out to be less altruistic than intended. The high bills come with an even longer list of justifications, primarily personal protective equipment (PPE), the cost of which is covered by the patient in care.

Face masks, face shields, hazmat suits and gloves are all tacked on to the bill upon discharge. Medication like Heparin, an anticoagulant prescribed for patients in critical condition, is valued at over 700 Br a pill while other commonly used ones are tallied around 300 Br. Risk pay for specialists like anesthesiologists, emergency specialists and internists is then added to the price tag, all before profit margins come into play.

At some hospitals like Addis Abeba Silk Road General Hospital, the costs run even higher as most staff live in a hotel to mitigate contagiousness, seeing as they provide around-the-clock COVID-19 healthcare. Silk Road, a Chinese-owned and operated hospital specialising in neurosurgery, was the first private COVID-19 treatment centre on the scene after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Health to cater to high-end clientele such as diplomats.

The Hospital, built at a cost of 300 million dollars, originally opened its doors in November 2019 with acclamation from the then Minister of Health, Amir Aman (MD), who would leave his post a mere month before the pandemic dramatically altered healthcare both in the country and around the world.

In order to attend to needs arising from the pandemic, the Hospital shut down all other operations and dedicated its 100 beds to COVID-19 patients. Nearly 50 staff, physicians and nurses were relocated to stay at a nearby hotel, personal protective equipment was procured, and the Hospital even went as far as facilitating training and experience sharing by a team of Chinese doctors in April last year.

Its connections helped it source PPE relatively easier than other treatment centres. It provided disinfecting services to public health facilities and quarantine centres when they were still functional. Inadequate resources have since then forced the closure of all quarantine centres with only five public COVID-19 treatment centres still operating.

But costs were running very high for the Hospital itself, which had left its expensive, state-of-the-art operating rooms and diagnostic machines idle, according to Ruth Eshetu, human resources & administration manager at Silk Road. To mitigate the expenses, it contracted beds out to the likes of the United Nations and the Chinese Embassy.

The Ministry of Health then put a manual in place to involve the private sector in the efforts against the pandemic, which had an ever-rising number of positive cases, and as a response to patients who had the financial means for levels of personal care the government could not provide.

With nearly half of healthcare in the country provided by the private sector, engagement in COVID-19 care was unavoidable. Recently, Bethzatha General Hospital and the American Medical Centre have been added to the private COVID-19 treatment centres, bringing the total number in Addis Abeba to five.

But regulating the private sector in this regard would prove to be tricky, according to Yakob Seman, head of medical services at the Ministry of Health.

"We wanted to create a sense of confidence in the general public first before opening [treatment] up to the private sector," he said. With that in mind, training private facilities and slowly initiating them into the process through the provision of free testing centres was started.

The manual was set in motion last August to set a standard method of operation and to regulate COVID-19 treatment at private health centres with directions set to limit prices for treatment. The reviews on the price caps, which were based on price assessments conducted throughout hospitals in the city, were mixed. But even as operations commenced following the guidelines, complaints flowed in from patients who believed they were unfairly charged.

"There were centres operating within the legal lines but that were using other means to make more money," explained Yakob.

Laboratory test prices may have been regulated, but the frequencies would be manipulated, as assessments carried out by the Ministry revealed later on.

"Instead of running one test, they'd do five or six," said Yakob. The manual's loopholes were not taken for granted.

But the support was still substantial, explained Yakob, as it provided alternative options for treatment and elevated the image of the country. The complaints coming to the Ministry were handled through stern letters so as not to discourage efforts.

Providing PPE and other necessary supplies for free to private healthcare centres was considered as a way to lower the costs, according to Yakob. But the proportion of public to private facilities in the country would make that plan hard to implement. Public hospitals providing COVID-19 treatment in the country contain over 90pc of the 2,500 beds available for patients; PPE and other supplies were in very high demand.

The global disruption had also affected the procurement of PPE. Contract cancellations, delays in arrival and other issues were an obstacle to the required amount reaching the country. Nonetheless, the Ethiopian Pharmaceuticals Supply Agency has recently disbursed a round of COVID-19 supplies, its ninth since the pandemic's onset.

This fiscal year, the Agency has distributed supplies, including nearly 300 mechanical ventilators, worth 1.7 billion Br. But officials at the Agency estimate this number to be higher as donations included in the supplies are calculated at much lower prices than market value. Despite this, security disruptions across the country had hindered the deliveries with road blockades delaying trucks carrying the supplies to the Agency's 19 hubs across the country.

PPE was also an initial challenge for Hallelujah General Hospital, the second to have received a license for COVID-19 treatment from the government. Hallelujah, which also provides services like dialysis treatments for kidney problems found only at a handful of institutions in the country, had started preparations for the pandemic much earlier as well.

Training and distribution of lifesaving PPE for its 40 medical staff were first on the to-do list. This was even prior to March 14, the date when the first positive COVID-19 case was recorded in the country, according to Kaleab Dereje (MD), assistant medical director at the Hospital.

It also donated its branch in Arat Kilo for government use along with equipment and health professionals, incurring a monthly cost of 1.2 million Br a month, according to him.

The prices here too, like any private hospital, are high, and options for a single bed, double bed and even the VIP treatment are on offer to patients. But for those who cannot afford it, the Hospital's COVID-19 treatment unit medical director states that referrals to the five public institutions have so far been smooth with no visible delays.

Even so, the laws are adapting to the quickly shifting landscape of COVID-19 healthcare. A new manual is operational as of last week, relaxing specifications for running a COVID-19 centre and lifting the price cap on items related to COVID-19 treatment.

The revision rescinds regulations like necessitating a separate building for COVID-19 treatment and instead targets integrated case management to allow both COVID-19 and other treatments to continue simultaneously. The risks are minimised as the manual dictates a higher patient to health professional ratio than before.

The rationale behind this is to meet the needs of non-COVID-19 patients. More importantly, it looks to encourage more private health providers to join and foster competition, which is hoped to regulate costs in a price cap.

The decision to reverse the older manual also comes bearing what the Ministry states is a better capacity for receiving patients. In December, ICU beds in public hospitals and health centres were filled to the brim with 13 people in line waiting for mechanical ventilators. Last week, there were idle ventilators across public hospitals in the country, according to data from the Ministry. With the chances of recovery for a person on mechanical ventilation at around five percent, this could be interpreted as either a good or a bad data point.

Hallelujah Hospital has so far successfully treated 300 people since commencing operations. Mechanical ventilators, needed for the most severe cases, are rare here much like anywhere else in the city, and the Hospital has been getting patients referred at very critical stages when chances of survival are low.

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"It does give us confidence in our capabilities to care for patients on the one hand," said Natnael Fitsum (MD), Hallelujah's COVID-19 treatment unit medical director.

Even so, the private sector's involvement is lauded by many healthcare experts, especially seeing as the need for patient-centric care is on the rise.

The best way to ensure this need is met is to engage the private sector, according to Tegbar Yigzaw (MD), a public health specialist and president of the Ethiopian Medical Association.

"The supplementary support is good for the country, even in times of regular procedure, let alone emergencies," said Tegbar. "The private sector can also fill gaps in sub-speciality."

In the case of COVID-19, needs may not be adequately addressed through government efforts alone, according to the expert, who explained that there is definitely demand for private care among those who can afford it.

"The authorisation by the government, though arguably late, is the right decision," he said.

Tegbar maintains that quality care should come alongside affordability, adding that treatment costs should not leave patients bare-handed afterwards. The rising cost of healthcare is concerning, especially when less than one percent of the country's population can afford to access it, remarked Tegbar.

Tracking COVID-19

139408

Total cases Reported In Ethiopia

547

New cases Reported In Ethiopia

13296

Active cases Reported In Ethiopia

6

New Deaths Reported In Ethiopia

2122

Total Deaths Reported In Ethiopia

123988

Total Recovered Reported In Ethiopia

215

Critical in Ethiopia

Source: Coronavirus monitor API
Former Hey Dad actor Robert Hughes has been refused parole once again by the NSW State Parole Authority.

At his anniversary parole meeting, the Authority panel determined he remains an unacceptable risk to community safety.

This is the second time he has been denied parole.

Hughes has previously renounced his Australian citizenship and would face immediate deportation to his native UK upon release from custody.

As NSW and the UK do not have reciprocal arrangements for parolees, if granted parole, Hughes would not be subject to any supervision or monitoring by UK authorities or be compelled to comply with any conditions ordered by the Authority.

Last year, Hughes also withdrew his application for an international prisoner transfer which would have seen him serve a further period of his head sentence in the UK before release to parole, with supervision and monitoring by UK authorities.

Today, authorities again determined releasing him to parole without the possibility of supervision or conditions would not meet the community safety test.

The former Hey Dad star was sentenced to a maximum sentence of 10 years and nine months, expiring 6 January 2025.

His non-parole period of six years expired in 2020.

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Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner saw their personal income drop more than 20 percent during former President Donald Trump's final year in office, according to a new report.

The couple, dubbed Javanka, reported between $23.8 million to $120 million in income for 2020 in their financial disclosure forms as White House advisers.

That total marks a $36 million decrease on the up to $156 million the couple reported for the same period a year earlier, according to Bloomberg.

Officials are only required to disclose the value of their assets and their non-governmental income in broad ranges.

But while still extremely wealthy, the disclosure suggests that Ivanka and Jared have lost ground economically as a result of their controversial roles in Donald Trumps administration during his tumultuous final months in office.

The couple has also been impacted financially by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as they both have extensive holdings in businesses - such as hotels - which have been hard hit over the last 11 months.

Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner saw their personal income drop more than 20 percent during former President Donald Trump's final year in office

Neither Ivanka, 39, nor Jared, 40, took a salary during their time as advisers to former President Trump.

In 2017, shortly after joining the White House staff, they reported an income of as much as $195 million - $75 million more than the couple disclosed this year. That initial disclosure, however, covered a longer period of time than 2020's.

As for overall assets, the couples figures increased only a small amount, if at all, over the last four years  a period of time in which the stock market climbed more than 60 percent.

In their most recent disclosure, Javanka listed assets worth between $206 million and $803 million.

Comparatively, in 2017 they listed a figure between $241 million and $741 million, and in 2019 disclosed assets valued between $203 million and $783 million.

Both heirs to family real-state empires, Jared and Ivanka also have extensive holdings in businesses which have been hard hit by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which may account for their financial shortcomings.

While still extremely wealthy, the disclosure suggests that Ivanka and Jared have lost ground economically as a result of their controversial roles in Donald Trumps administration during his final months in office

According to Bloomberg, Jared reported as much as $117 million in income for 2020, mostly from rent of royalties tied to residential and commercial properties he owns.

Jared also reported $1.8 million from Westminster Management, the Kushner familys management firm for multifamily housing in several states, including New York and Tennessee.

The disclosure also reportedly shows that he holds a stake valued between $25 million and $50 million in the real state investing and technology company Cadre, which he co-founded.

Ivankas form, meanwhile, disclosed her many ties to the Trump family business, and showed income of $1.5 million from her stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington in 2020  down from around $4 million last year.

The 39-year-old also disclosed an additional $1.5 million from several limited companies she owns stakes in.

Further, according to Bloomberg, the form also lists Ivankas many trademarks and licensing contracts for her fashion, home goods and other businesses.

However, those brought in as little as $0 or up to $200, the outlet reported. Ivanka famously shut down her eponymous fashion line in 2018 after retailers like Nordstrom pulled it from shelves, citing poor sales.

Between them, the couple also listed artwork valued between $5 million and $25 million.

Ivanka reported income of $1.5 million from her stake in the Trump International Hotel (above) in Washington DC - down from around $4 million last year

As for overall assets, the couples figures increased only a small amount, if at all, over the last four years  a period of time in which the stock market climbed more than 60 percent

During the Trump presidency, Ivankas role as a White House aide included serving as the co-chair of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, which helped push for skills-based hiring over college degrees.

Jared, meanwhile, assisted former President Trump in helping to broker peace deals between Israel and other Middle Eastern nations, overseeing the US-Mexico border wall, and managing the nations medical stockpile amid the coronavirus pandemic.

During their controversial tenures, the couple also came under repeated media scrutiny over their private business dealings.

In January 2019, Ivanka came under fire for a series of trademarks she obtained in China  including for wedding dresses and child care centers  which raised ethical concerns.

Critics argued that by asking a foreign government for valuable intellectual property rights, White House officials could open themselves to pressure in government negotiations.

Likewise in 2018, Jared was widely scrutinized over two loans worth up to $500 million that his family business received, with critics claiming the motion may have violated federal ethics regulations or criminal laws.

Donald and Melania Trump are seen above on January 20 being greeted by the Trump children on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland

The following year, Jareds father, the recently pardoned Charles Kushner, penned an op-ed for the Washington Post, blasting the media for its unfavorable coverage of his familys business dealings.

The senior Kushner also lashed out at claims his son was engaging in conflicts of interest regarding his business and his work for the president.

Jareds service to the country has brought unprecedented scrutiny of the Kushner Companies from the media and government investigators, the op-ed reads. We are happy to assist with all inquiries, but I must note that we are already voluntarily adhering to the strictest standards to avoid even the appearance of conflicts. As a result, we have passed up many business opportunities that we normally would have pursued.

That might not be as alluring as some of the crazy stuff I read about my family and our businesses, he said. But it happens to be the truth.

Donald Trump also routinely claimed during his time as Commander-in-Chief that his family had sacrificed personal gain for the good of the country.

In his farewell speech on January 20 at Joint Base Andrews, before departing on Air Force One to Mar-a-Lago, Trump thanked his family for everything theyd done during his one term as president.

People have no idea how hard this family works, he said.
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A prestigious poetry magazine has come under fire after it published a piece by a convicted sex offender.

Poetry, a publication by the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation, dedicated the February edition of the magazine to work by current and former prisoners.

It included the poem 'One Place Is as Good as the Next' by Kirk Nesset, a former Pennsylvania literature professor who was jailed in 2016 for possessing, receiving, and distributing child pornography.

His collection included more than 500,000 images and videos of child abuse that were stored on his computer hard drive and organized into folders based on type, the court heard at the time. Nesset was released from prison last year.

Poetry magazine published a poem by former English professor Kirk Nesset, pictured, who was jailed in 2016 for possessing, receiving, and distributing child pornography

Social media users have criticized the decision to include Nesset's work and more than 500 people have signed a petition calling for it to be removed, saying his 'time served does not equate to the lifetime of emotional, physical, and psychological trauma victims of child pornography and sexual assault endure'.

However editors have doubled down, saying 'it is not our role to further judge or punish [people] as a result of their criminal convictions'.

It added the editorial team were not made aware of the poets' convictions.

Nesset's collection included more than 500,000 images and videos of child abuse

In a Twitter thread defending the decision to publish Nesset's piece, the team wrote: 'The editorial principle for this issue was to widen access to publication for writers inside prison and to expand access to poetry, bearing in mind biases against and barriers for incarcerated people.

'As such, the guest editors didn't have knowledge of contributors' backgrounds.

'We maintain that these poems are an expression of a human experience and that poetry is a force to advance human engagement and critical self-reflection.

'We hope the poetry in this issue facilitates deep and emphatic reading and extends our discourse.'

Guest editor Tara Betts also took to Twitter to share her own statement, in which she expressed her 'heartbreak' at causing any harm or upset - while revealing that she herself is a 'survivor'.

'I can say that I had no intent to perpetuate further harm,' she wrote. 'I'm going to be honest about my life. I barely escaped being a survivor myself.

The poem is also available on the Poetry website. The author's blurb names his two poetry collections but makes no mention of his convictions

''I've counselled many friends, family members and former students who are survivors, including incarcerated people.

The cover of the February issue of Poetry

'I'm heartbroken about hurting anyone or making them revisit their pain. I'm also devastated by policing and prisons and how these are overtly racist and classist systems that protect property over people. What happens when those hurts overlap?'

The FBI searched Nesset's home in Meadville, Pennsylvania, home in October 2014 and seized an external computer hard drive.

An electronic search revealed more than 36,000 items of child pornography stored in one computer file alone, including more than 1,000 images or movies depicting babies or infant.

Nesset resigned from his role at Allegheny College in Meadville after he was arrested and pleaded guilty last year to possessing, receiving and sharing child pornography.

He was sentenced to 6 years and 4 months in federal prison in 2016. His sentence also included 10 years of supervised release after he served his time.

Nesset won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize in 2007 for a collection of short stories called Paradise Road.

His biography on the Poetry website says he lives and works in Arizona.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden will continue to promote policies supporting human rights for Tibetans living under Chinese rule, working with allies to press Beijing to engage in dialogue with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, the State Department said this week.

We urge Chinese authorities to respect the human rights of Tibetans, and the preservation of Tibets environment as well as the unique cultural, linguistic, and religious identity of Tibetan traditions, a State Department spokesperson told RFAs Tibetan Service on Tuesday.

The United States supports meaningful autonomy for Tibetans, the spokesperson said.

The U.S. will also consider the use of all appropriate tools, including visa restrictions and financial sanctions to hold accountable any Chinese officials found responsible for human rights abuses in Tibet, the official said.

It will also press for access to Tibetan areas of China for travel by U.S. officials, journalists, and tourists, the spokesperson said.

Pursuant to the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, signed into law in 2018 by former President Donald Trump, the Department has [already] applied visa restrictions on PRC officials who have restricted access of foreigners to Tibet, the Department said.

Washington has long complained that Chinese diplomats, scholars, and journalists enjoy unrestricted travel in the United States, while China tightly restricts the access of U.S. counterparts to Tibet and other areas.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has pledged to quickly appoint a new State Department Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues to replace former coordinator Robert Destro, who resigned with other officials appointed by the outgoing administration of President Trump, the Department said.

The Secretary is committed to working with the United States Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues at the State Department and with the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom to promote religious freedom for Tibetans in China and around the world.

'The right message'

The Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet on Wednesday welcomed the State Departments statement to RFA calling for a resumption of talks between Beijing and the Dalai Lama or his representatives, adding, We hope to see this statement followed by concrete actions encouraging the dialogue that has not taken place since 2010.

The statement sends the right message to China by echoing the commitments on Tibet made by then-presidential candidate Biden during the campaign, including on holding China accountable for its refusal to allow U.S. access to Tibet and its denial of religious freedom to the Tibetan people, ICT said.

Secretary of State Blinken should now fulfill those commitments by fully implementing all legislation supporting Tibet passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump, including the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018 and the Tibetan Policy Support Act of 2020, which affirms the absolute right of Tibetans to choose their next Dalai Lama, ICT said.

Concerns over the advancing age of the Dalai Lama, now 85, have renewed uncertainties in recent years over his possible successor after he dies, with Beijing claiming the right to name his successor and the Dalai Lama himself saying that any future Dalai Lama will be born outside of China.

Also speaking in a statement on Wednesday, Ngodup TseringRepresentative of the Dalai Lama in Washington D.C.welcomed what he called the extremely positive and encouraging response from the new U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to him and to President Biden, Tsering said.

[Progress] on all the major issues that we have been taking up with the U.S. administration is now assured, and on behalf of the CTA I greatly welcome this commitment to Tibet on the part of the new U.S. administration, Tsering said, referring to Tibets India-based exile government, the Central Tibetan Administration.

A formerly independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force nearly 70 years ago, and the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers fled into exile in India and other countries around the world following a failed 1959 national uprising against Chinese rule.

Beijing objects to high-level foreign contacts with the Dalai Lama and attacks foreign expressions of concern and support for Tibetans rights as interference in Chinas internal affairs.

Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on the region, restricting Tibetans political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to persecution, torture, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings.

Reported by Tashi Wangchuk for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Denton, TX (76205)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.
Kenneth A. Dobbs, a passionate writer and educator currently teaching history to eighth- to twelfth-grade students at Holy Family Academy in Manchester, New Hampshire, has published his new book The Idea of God: How Religion Shapes and Sustains Civilization: a fascinating discussion of major world religions and their influence on the development of civilization.

What holds society together? How does civilization survive from collapsing in on itself? In this work, Kenneth A. Dobbs describes how religion is the cause of civilizations rise and prosperity. Beginning with psychological theories on human nature, Dobbs establishes that humanity needs the religious values of truth, beauty, and goodness to flourish. He then proves this psychological theory by analyzing religions role in the historical developments of civilization in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Jerusalem, Greece, Rome, and Christendom. He also responds to rebuttals and objections against the thesis that religion is still necessary for modern civilization.

The Idea of God explores the historical, political, and philosophical implications of both the implementation and rejection of religion within human civilization. Dobbs articulates religions necessary role in civilization, while also provocatively predicting Western civilizations fate for rejecting religion: societal collapse.

The book follows a long intellectual tradition of historians and philosophers who have argued a similar thesis including Polybius, St. Augustine, Arnold Toynbee, Russel Kirk, Richard M. Weaver, and Christopher Dawson. Dobbs reintroduces these classical ideas to the modern world.

Published by Page Publishing, Kenneth A. Dobbss engrossing book is an insightful work in the intellectual tradition of Christopher Dawson, Arnold Toynbee, and Russel Kirk.

Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase The Idea of God: How Religion Shapes and Sustains Civilization at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
According to Hung Thinh Incons JSCs fourth-quarter consolidated business results, the company has reached VND1.04 trillion($45.2 million) in revenue and VND58.96 billion ($2.56 million) in profit after tax. For the full year 2020, the company also generated a revenue of VND4.55 trillion ($197.83 million) and profit of VND376 billion ($16.35 million), up 24 and 101 per cent on-year. Despite the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, Hung Thinh Incons has a successful year, with all business targets exceeding targets.

The growth in revenue and profit is attributable to the successful transfer of projects in 2020 like Richmond City by Binh Trieu Construction & Engineering JSC (Hung Thinh Incons JSC holds 95.24 per cent authorised capital); Bien Hoa New City, Saigon Mystery Villas, and Moonlight Boulevard by Hung Thinh Incons as general contractor. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on construction progress, the company has adopted flexible solutions to keep on schedule and ensure the construction quality as required by investor.

Richmond City Apartment (Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh City) by HTN is handed over to homebuyers in 2020

Hung Thinh Incons JSC has maintained safe, sound, and efficient financial structure with total capital reaching VND1.03 trillion ($44.78 million) as of December 31, 2020. The corporation always ensures good liquidity with the debts to total assets ratio remaining at 80 per cent. To increase construction capacity, Hung Thinh Incons JSC is raising capital with the plan to issue more than 16.53 million shares to existing shareholders at the ratio of 2:1 at the price of VND17,000 (74 US cents) apiece in January. The company completed its cash dividend for the 2019 fiscal year at the rate of 18 per cent on November 11, 2020.

Hung Thinh Incons JSC is developing nearly 20 projects across Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, and others. The company also won several bids for many projects in 2020 like Bien Hoa Universe Complex (Bien Hoa, Dong Nai), New Galaxy (Di An, Binh Duong), and Ho Tram Complex (Ba Ria-Vung Tau).

Hung Thinh Incons JSC is accelerating the progress of many projects like Cam Ranh Mystery Villas, Q7 Boulevard, and Lavita Charm to complete the handover in the second quarter of 2021

With its expertise and experience, Hung Thinh Incons JSC is ranked as one of the top construction companies in Vietnam as well as the Top 5 listed construction companies on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange in 2020. The company's shares were also in the Top 15 highest growing stocks on HSX.

In 2021, Hung Thinh Incons JSC will implement many plans, especially joining the bidding of new projects by other developers apart from Hung Thinh Group. The company also expands its market and industries from civil and industrial construction to infrastructure, transport, basic construction materials, and new material technology. Through a strategic cooperation agreement between Hung Thinh Incons and Deo Ca Group, the corporation is setting outstanding development goals and gradually extending its reach to the region.
The Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa is expected to mount the witness box to testify in the ongoing election petition by former President John Dramani Mahama.



John Mahama, the petitioner, is challenging the 2020 Presidential election verdict and accuses the EC Chairperson of being biased, as cited in the witness statement of the General Secretary of the opposition NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia.



The petitioner is praying for a second election.



Mr. Mahama claims he and the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo both didn't get the required results to qualify one to be President.



As Mrs. Jean Mensa prepares to be in the witness box, NPP Ashanti Regional Secretary, Sam Pyne has expressed confidence in the EC Chairperson.



According to him, he knows of some character traits of the EC Chair and therefore was hopeful she won't be overwhelmed by her cross-examination.



''I know what she's made of; she is very eloquent, very deep-minded. She cannot be intimidated," he told sit-in host Nana Yaw Kesseh on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo".







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The night before their last day of dining room service on New Years Eve, the staff at Fancys on 5th werent focused on planning a grand New Years Eve toast, nor had they even planned a special celebratory menu.

The plan that night would be dinner as usual, restaurant owners Paget Pizitz and Harriet Reis told AL.com in an interview the evening before New Years Eve.

Were not doing anything special for New Years Eve other than what we do every day, which is tremendously special, Pizitz said in late December.

Their focus that night: Provide guests with excellent service, wonderful food and a great atmosphere.

On Dec. 16, Pizitz and Reis announced dining room service for their popular oyster dive and burger bar would end on Dec. 31. They posted the news on the Fancys on 5th social media accounts, listing the final days the restaurant would be open leading up to New Years Eve.

There was an outpouring of support in the comments for the Avondale favorite that opened its doors in 2016. A tribute to Miss Fancy, the beloved elephant and mascot of the 1920s Avondale Zoo, Pizitz and Reis goal with Fancys on 5th was to marry the concept of burgers and oysters. Kind of like bread and butter, Pizitz told AL.com in 2016.

Pizitz and Reis wanted to create a friendly, fun neighborhood watering hole. While Birmingham boasted a number of high-end restaurants with oyster bars, Pizitz longed to see an oyster bar in a more casual atmosphere -- much like the Pearl Dive Oyster Palace in her former home of Washington, D.C. So when Pizitz and Reis planned the restaurants design, they embraced the buildings rustic exposed brick walls and original tiles. Over the years, Fancys on 5th (along with Octavius, the restaurants neon purple mascot) would become a cornerstone of the Avondale dining scene along with two other concepts owned by Pizitz: Hot Diggity Dogs, the restaurant above Fancys known for its spin on the iconic Birmingham Dog, and the Marble Ring, a 1920s speakeasy-inspired bar. Housed in the building at the intersection of Fifth Avenue South and 41st Street South, all three establishments opened in 2016 -- first came Fancys on 5th, then Hot Diggity Dogs, and lastly, the Marble Ring.

On the first floor at Fancys, patrons could feast on a rotating menu of gourmet burgers with toppings from fried oysters to goat cheese, or charbroiled oysters stuffed with parmesan corn cream, jumbo lump crab meat and Panko bread crumbs. Specialty dishes, like lobster rolls, would eventually end up on the menu after pop-up nights and trial runs.

Around the corner from Fancys was the entrance to the second floor, where Hot Diggity Dogs served up hot dogs, sides and ice cold beer. The hot dog eatery was also a cover for the Prohibition-era themed Marble Ring. To the left of the hot dog joint, patrons could open the door to a phone booth and place a call to enter the elegant cocktail bar where waitresses wore flapper dresses and bartenders sported suspenders and bowties.

A toast to the future

For Pizitz and Reis, the week before Fancys on 5th shuttered dinner service was filled with sadness, desperation and a great sense of loss. But as the new year approached, the duo and much of the restaurants staff -- including the executive chef, the chef de cuisine and the managers -- decided to do what they did at the beginning of the pandemic: Stay optimistic and hope for the best.

New Years Eve was going to be an emotional night, but Pizitz and Reis wanted to remember their start as business partners with Melt, their food truck famous for its gourmet grilled cheeses.

Melt started from a food truck. We have Melt. We franchised Melt. We made a plan for Melt, said Pizitz. And we dont know the fate of Fancys, but for the next few months were going to continue to look forward and count our blessings.

So on Dec. 31, the staff of Fancys gave a toast to an amazing few years and looked toward the future.

Were going to close for at least a few months -- three to four months -- and reevaluate, said Pizitz. I cant make any promises on where we will stand then.

When they announced the decision to close Fancys on 5th, Pizitz and Reis saw two reactions from the public: Confusion and an outpouring of support. In the following days, the duo spent time clearing up any uncertainty about why theyd chosen to close their restaurant.

People have said to us or made comments online, on social media platforms [saying] I cant believe youre closing! I was just there on Friday night and it was so busy, said Pizitz.

They wanted to be clear: Yes, there were some Friday and Saturday nights that were busy. But the restaurant was still operating at half-capacity due to the states mandated social distancing requirements -- those that Pizitz and Reis took seriously to ensure the safety of their staff and guests.

The dining room at Fancy's on Fifth on Dec. 19, 2020 (Shauna Stuart for AL.com)

A notice about the final days of service at Fancy's on Fifth, posted next to its COVID-19 policies. (Shauna Stuart for AL.com)

You cant run a business of food, employees, and inventory on Friday and Saturdays alone, said Pizitz.

Before the pandemic, Fancys was open five days a week: Tuesday through Saturday and closed Sundays and Mondays. As Pizitz and Reis saw things begin to change as the public health crisis worsened, they scaled back their days of operation to four days a week, Wednesday through Saturday.

Under the new schedule, there were good nights and some, well, not-so-good nights. And some when they were virtually empty.

So, for those people who are confused about why were closing, its difficult to explain to them sure, you came on Friday night and there was a 45-minute wait, Pizitz said. Well, first of all, unfortunately, we were at half-capacity. Second of all, those are the popular nights people go out. So, its just been a lot trying to help the public understand that, from a business standpoint, there are so many different facets that we have to look at to run a successful business and not be losing money every day.

Still, plenty of people expressed support for the decision and hoped the restaurant would eventually be able to come back.

There was lots of grieving. Lots of sadness, Pizitz said.

Her tone brightened as she recalled the fond memories people shared. Stories of having first dates and getting engaged at Fancys, while others reminisced about Fancys on 5th being their first restaurant meal when they moved to Birmingham.

And then weve been seeing a lot of faces we havent seen in a long time, Pizitz said.

Days after the announcement, a GoFundMe for the restaurant appeared, organized by a group called Heroes Behind the Scenes, an initiative designed to support local essential businesses and workers.

Pizitz and Reis were deeply moved by the effort, but they also wanted to be very clear that the fundraiser was set up by supporters of Fancys on 5th, not by them or restaurants staff.

We were very touched by that and we have no part in receiving the funds, Pizitz said. We wont distribute the funds. Whoever set up that account can distribute the funds to the Fancys employees as they see fit. We were very touched, and again we didnt have anything to do with it. And I actually found out because Harriets friend is the one who told us about it.

And it made me tear up. I thought it was beautiful. And it just goes to show that if you create something wonderful for the community, the community will show you support back.

To Pizitz and Reis, the well wishes and memories pouring in the last few weeks of December were bittersweet. At one point, the restaurant was so busy that Pizitz and Reis wondered if they were making the right decision.

But the same flurry of support happened when Pizitz shuttered Hot Diggity Dogs in January, two months before the first reported case of the pandemic in Alabama.

There was a line around the corner, Pizitz said, referring to the queues of people showing up to say their goodbyes to the hot dog joint.

In fact, all of Pizitzs businesses in that building on the corner of Fifth Avenue South and 41st Street North are now closed in some capacity. She shuttered Marble Ring over the summer.

That was very sad for Avondale, Pizitz said.

The end of dine-in service at Fancys on 5th was the last straw for the building that once hosted a lively dining scene. Now, the corner building is a much quieter shell of itself, and the former space for Hot Diggity Dogs is the hub for the Chef Peoples Cafe catering service.

Theres been a lot of times weve just had to set the record straight. Its been heartbreaking but, we know, at the end of the day, for right now, we know were making the right decision, Pizitz said.

And just to piggyback on that, Reis interjected. I think people forget that weve been doing this for a long time. Weve been in the pandemic for what? 10 months?

A long 10 months of navigating mandated closures and safety guidelines. Of reinvention and trial and error. Just as people adjusted to the pandemic, says Reis, businesses did too.

Theres been this reinventing and being fluid and creating and changing things every day to try to make it work, added Pizitz. And after 10 months of trying and trying to figure out a way to make it work. New ideas. New menu items. Like I said, we realized that this is the writing on the wall for right now.

For 10 months, Pizitz and Reis did everything they could to keep the restaurants doors open.

When they pivoted to curbside takeout after county and state health officials ordered restaurants and bars to shutter their dining rooms, the staff created new and inventive menus, pushing easy to package daily items like burgers, salads or fish and chips. And to keep patrons excited, on some days, the chefs threw in specials from the patio grill, such as New York Strip steak and ahi tuna.

To bring in extra money, they sold bottles of wine and auctioned off gift baskets filled with mini cocktail shakers, fixings for Bloody Marys, and house-made pickles.

In April, executive chef Cory Bolton and sous chef Addison Porter introduced another takeout concept to the Fancys menu. Once a week, they hosted Chunks (their fried chicken pop-up) -- inspired by the recipe from Boltons grandmother -- sometimes tagging in chefs around the city to make dessert.

Facing facts

In May, when Gov. Kay Ivey lifted restrictions and allowed restaurants and bars to resume in-person service under the amended Safer at Home order, Reis and Pizitz didnt open the Fancys on 5th dining room.

We thought it was the socially responsible thing to do, said Reis.

So for about four weeks after Iveys announcement, both Fancys on 5th and Melt continued to offer only curbside takeout.

When they finally opened Fancys at a limited capacity in June, they complied with state and county social distancing guidelines, spacing out tables and adding dividers to the restaurants dining room and bar area. To encourage using touchless menus, they set up QR codes for guests to pull up the daily rundown on their mobile devices.

The Fancys chefs reveled in their creativity, launching new menu items and offering daily specials such as fried red snapper with spicy slaw and white barbecue gribiche. All the while, the restaurants Instagram account showcased the new dishes, marked with colorful displays of seared sea bass and pork osso buco. The Chunks pop-up became a Wednesday night special with sparkling wine and the restaurant hosted special reduced-capacity ticketed events, such as rum dinners.

In November, Gov. Kay Ivey eased COVID-19 capacity restrictions for dining establishments, permitting restaurants and bars with dividers to increase the number of patrons allowed inside, as long as they continued to adhere to six-foot distancing protocols and enforce the mask mandate.

Despite the change, businesses still operate under reduced capacity: The six-foot table distance requirement creates less room for patrons, and many businesses still choose to limit capacity inside in an effort to keep their staff and customers safe.

Pizitz and Reis continued to make adjustments, purchasing plastic partitions for the bar to separate the seats. But even with the adjustments, they were only able to make room for one more table.

If your restaurant is already a certain square footage, you legally cant add any more tables. And Harriet and I feel an obligation and a social responsibility to keep our diners and staff safe, said Pizitz. We know plenty of restaurants that have added tables and they are not adhering to the guidelines and we are just not willing to put people at risk during this terrible pandemic.

In late October and November, the duo faced the fact that closing Fancys on 5th seemed unavoidable.

Across the street, Melt was thriving. But at Fancys on 5th, higher food costs made operating the restaurant difficult. And even with all of the changes, turning a profit was an uphill battle as Fancys tried to navigate reduced capacity and higher operating costs.

Melts grilled cheese and sandwich concept was easy to package for the era of quarantine, and later, social distance as more people opted to dine at home when restaurants were allowed to reopen their dining rooms.

It wasnt a hard transition for Melt to go from closing their doors to doing curbside. A lot of people support Melt through to-go food and thats not something that Fancys does, explained Pizitz. Fancys is more dine in, and at 50 percent capacity, it just got really hard to pay the bills, to be honest. Fancys on 5th isnt a place where you go to get to-go food. Because you want to enjoy the music, you want to enjoy a cocktail, you want to enjoy the atmosphere. You chit chat with your server. You stay and linger. But at 50 % capacity, we just couldnt pay the bills.

The decision to close the Fancys dining room meant letting go of some of their team, including staffers who had worked at the restaurant since the first day it opened in 2016.

Thats only five years. And in this industry, thats virtually unheard of, said Pizitz.

Chefs Cory Bolton and Addison Porter have stayed on board to run the culinary program at Melt.

Some of the Fancys staff were able to remain on board with Pizitz and Reis. Theyd worked at the sandwich shop across the street during the day and Fancys in the evening. But it still pained Pizitz and Reis to say goodbye to most of their kitchen staff, the majority of whom came from fine dining restaurants and had vast culinary knowledge.

Theyre all so talented, said Pizitz. Weve tried to give as many of them jobs at Melt as we can. But theres only so much we can do, and we wish them all the best. Theyve been amazing to us and helped us keep the doors open during this pandemic.

And like I said its like saying goodbye to family. Its heartbreaking, she added.

Every restaurant is in this together

Pizitz and Reis received loans from the Paycheck Protection Program for both Fancys on Fifth and Melt. While Pizitz declined to answer when they received the funds or the deadline to use them, both women say the loans were a lifeline.

First of all, the first [round of] PPP saved us. It saved both restaurants, honestly, said Reis. That was amazing. It was a blessing. Ours is 100 percent forgivable. We used that to file payroll. It just wasnt enough to keep us open long-term.

I think that people underestimate the amount of money it takes to run a restaurant, added Pizitz. We are very grateful that we were able to receive those loans. But it just simply wasnt enough to keep the doors open.

Last year, more than 50 restaurants closed in Alabama, some due to the usual churn of a competitive dining industry, others due to the effects of the pandemic. At least twenty of those restaurants were in Birmingham.

The restaurant and bar industry remains one of the hardest hit industries in the pandemic. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, drinking and dining establishments lost 372,000 jobs in December. But in Alabama, those numbers look a little better. In December, the state unemployment rate continued to fall, dropping to its lowest level since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a report from the state department of labor, drinking and dining establishments in Alabama actually added 2,900 jobs and 400 of those positions were in the Birmingham-Hoover area.

Those numbers are hopeful, but restaurateurs around the state are still worried about the road ahead, one that could be marked with more unpredictable days of business.

I would ask people to really think about how this affects the small business owner, Pizitz said. And when they make a choice to go to a bar, go to a restaurant, [or] to go to a cafe, I want them to consider how difficult this has been for the small business owner and restaurants all over the country that have been open for 20, 30, 40 years [and are] closed through no fault of their own.

And I would urge people to keep it in their hearts and in the back of their minds to support local more than ever. Because supporting local is the only way that were going to make it. Every restaurant is in this together.

In December, a survey from the National Restaurant Association illustrated an industry in an economic free fall, with 87 percent of full service restaurants reporting an average 36% drop in sales revenue. The organization estimated that as of December 1, at least 17 percent of all eating and drinking places -- or more than 110,000 establishments -- would shutter completely.

On Jan. 26, the association released its 2021 State of the Industry Report, a comprehensive measurement of the COVID-19 pandemics toll on the restaurant industry, based on a survey of 6,000 restaurant operators and 1,000 adults.

Some key findings from the report:

The restaurant industry ended 2020 with total sales that were $240 billion below the NRAs pre-pandemic forecast.

Restaurant and food service sales are expected to post double-digit growth in 2021, but it wont be enough to make up for substantial losses experienced in 2020.

More than 8 million eating and drinking place employees were laid off or furloughed during the pandemic

The eating and drinking sector finished 2020 nearly 2.5 million jobs below its pre-coronavirus level

Optimistic, but realistic

Part of an overall COVID economic stimulus package passed at the end of December, the latest round of PPP includes some changes that could be more beneficial to restaurants and bars.

While the bulk of the loans must still go toward payroll, establishments eligible to apply for a second draw (or, a second PPP loan) can apply a portion of the funds to a wider variety of expenses, including supplier costs and infrastructure to protect employees, such as sneeze guards and dividers.

Most businesses applying for a second PPP loan will have a maximum loan amount of 2.5 times their monthly payroll costs. Restaurants and bars, however, can apply for loans that are 3.5 the time of their monthly payroll costs. Second round PPP loans are also restricted to businesses that have less than 300 employees and are not publicly traded. Last year, a number of large restaurant chains received millions in PPP funding. Some, including Shake Shack and Ruths Chris, returned the funds after drawing criticism from lawmakers and the public, particularly as the funds depleted.

Still, the modified Paycheck Protection Program fell short of the restaurant specific-grant relief industry groups and restaurateurs have lobbied for since the spring. In April, the Independent Restaurant Coalition called on Congress to create a $120 billion restaurant recovery fund -- a series of grants tailored to help restaurants take on expenses such as buying protective equipment and operating at a reduced capacity. Over the summer, the IRCs efforts gained traction when Rep. Earl Blumenauer introduced the Restaurants Act of 2020, which called for the establishment of a $120 billion grant fund for independent restaurants.

The $1.9 trillion coronavirus action plan President Joe Biden announced in January doesnt call for targeted relief for restaurants. It does, however, offer $15 billion in grants to more than 1 million of the hardest-hit small businesses.

The most recent attempt for direct aid for restaurants and bars comes from a new budget resolution introduced Monday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that would instruct congressional committees to set up a grant program devoted specifically to independent restaurants. Mother Jones reported the resolution will request a $25 billion fund for the restaurant industry.

As for Fancys on 5th, Pizitz and Reis said they will continue to be fluid for the next few months while the restaurant is closed.

I want to say that we are optimistic but we are very realistic about what the future holds, said Pizitz.

In late December, Pizitz and Reis began exploring options to keep the Fancys brand active during its dining room closure.

In mid-January, that plan came to fruition and the restaurant tried offering a limited lunch menu a few days of the week. The menu, prepared by chefs Bolton, Porter and Hassan Gooden, was a selection of burgers, salads, and Chunks fried chicken, available for both pickup and third party delivery.

A sandwich and pieces of chicken from the Chunks pop-up lunch in January at Fancy's on Fifth (Shauna Stuart for AL.com)

The pick up window for lunch at Chunks and Fancy's on Fifth (Shauna Stuart for Al.com)

The limited lunch trial, said Reis, was a way for Fancys to get creative and think outside the box to offer longtime fans of the restaurant a way to have some of their favorite dishes.

One thing that Harriet and I have learned as owners and as managers is we can hustle like nobodys business, added Pizitz. If we can find a hustle that works and that can keep us going into the summer, then that will give us the room to evaluate our future plans.

They ended up shuttering the daily lunch at the end of the month. While they still have no concrete plans to reopen Fancys at this time, they look forward to continuing to serve patrons and the community though Melt.

And we do have plans for more (locations of) Melt in the future, said Pizitz. So thats a little silver lining in this terrible picture.
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has denied that delays to the rollout of vaccines in nursing homes has lead to hundreds of deaths.

A total of 1,543 staff and residents in care homes have lost their lives during the pandemic  369 of those coming in January alone.

This week, Tadhg Daly, head of Nursing Homes Ireland, criticised the rollout in nursing homes, saying just 10% of the initial 77,000 vaccinations administered by mid-January were in nursing homes.

On Thursday, Aontu leader Peadar Tobin said staff at nursing homes had told him that the delay in the vaccine has led to hundreds of deaths.

Speaking during Leaders Questions, he said: Im not aware of so many people dying so quickly in any other institutions in the history of this state.

In the last couple of days, Ive reached out to many nursing homes around the country. I have to say that the reports back in those nursing homes have been devastatingly uniform.

Expand Close Aontu leader Peadar Tobin has said delays to the vaccine rollout in nursing homes led to hundreds of deaths (Niall Carson/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Aontu leader Peadar Tobin has said delays to the vaccine rollout in nursing homes led to hundreds of deaths (Niall Carson/PA)

The delay in the vaccine has led to hundreds of deaths is what Im being told from the nursing homes.

Mr Tobin told the Dail that at the Greenpark Nursing Home in Tuam, Co Galway, 35 of 49 residents tested positive for Covid-19 in the week they were due to receive the vaccine.

He said a fifth of those residents have now died.

He added: In Blackrock Abbey, near Dundalk, 14 people have died, one man dying just a week after receiving the first dose of that vaccine.

Nazareth House lost 11 people to Covid in two weeks. Im told that the cemetery for those men that died in that in Nazareth House is akin to a war grave at the moment.

These deaths happened just before the vaccine was to be administered.

Responding, Mr Varadkar said it was not possible to conclude that an earlier vaccine rollout could have prevented deaths.

He said: We took a decision in this country to prioritise our healthcare staff and nursing home residents, and I believe that was the right decision.

It's a little bit simplistic and and not entirely correct to say that had the vaccines started a week or two earlier in nursing homes, that lives would have been saved Leo Varadkar

I think its a little bit simplistic and and not entirely correct to say that had the vaccines started a week or two earlier in nursing homes, that lives would have been saved, you cant say that definitively.

Bear in mind, its only two or three weeks after you get the first dose that you get protection, and only two or three weeks after the second dose that you get full protection.

I dont think you can necessarily draw the conclusions that youve drawn.

But in terms of responsibility, the decision or prioritisation was made by the National Immunisation Advisory Council with support from Nphet.

The practical rollout of the vaccine was carried out by the HSE.

I think in fairness, the HSE have done a really good job. Once they got the vaccines, they got them out to people.

It is a shame that we didnt get the vaccines a month or two earlier, but we didnt and those things werent under our control.

Mr Varadkar also said the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines to people over 70 may well be slower than originally planned.

I have just signed the authorisation for use of the AstraZeneca vaccine by our vaccinators, effective immediately. The first delivery of this vaccine is due next week. Ireland now has three safe and effective vaccines #holdfirm pic.twitter.com/wQToihO7bf  Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) February 4, 2021

It comes after the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) recommended that people aged 70 and over should only receive mRNA vaccines  from Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna  where possible.

It means the AstraZeneca vaccine will now be given to healthcare workers and vulnerable people under the age of 70, Mr Varadkar told the Dail.

Mr Varadkar said he could not give exact dates for the new rollout schedule but confirmed it would take longer than planned.

On Thursday, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said he has signed the authorisation for use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Mr Donnelly said it will be used by Irelands vaccinators immediately.

The first delivery of this vaccine is due next week, he tweeted.

Ireland now has three safe and effective vaccines.

Thursday saw a further 75 Covid-19 related deaths and 1,318 new cases of the virus confirmed in Ireland by the Department of Health.

As of 2pm on Thursday, 1,284 people with the virus were in hospital, including 188 in ICUs.

There were 74 additional hospital admissions in a 24-hour period.

Irelands 14-day incidence rate of the virus per 100,000 population now stands at 397.
When Hobby Airport traveler Shara Fisher discovered her cherished bracelet containing her mom's ashes was missing, she was beyond distressed.

Fisher had traveled from Dallas to Houston last Thursday to see her daughter, Amber Crabtree, and discovered after her journey that the jewelry had disappeared. The next morning, Fisher desperately went in search of the missing bracelet.

"I knew I lost it somewhere between Dallas and Houston," Fisher told Chron. "I had left voicemails at Dallas Love Airport Lost and Found and Hobby Airport Lost and Found."

Thanks to another Hobby Airport traveler, Desiree Encinas, and the power of Facebook, Fisher was reunited with the bracelet that carried her mother's ashes on January 28. When Encinas, an Arizona native, found the bracelet, she knew it was a important piece for someone and took to social media to find its owner. Her post soon went viral. It was Fisher's daughter Amber who first broke the news that the prized memento had been found.

'IT JUST FILLS YOUR HEART': Free student-run grocery store helps Texas families struggling in the pandemic

"My daughter said, 'Oh my gosh, mom they found your bracelet!'"Fisher said. "She told me that a lady traveling through Hobby Airport had contacted the news and social media to look the owner of the bracelet."

Fisher said it was one of the most emotional moments for her when she heard the bracelet was recovered. The silver bracelet has a heart-shaped charm attached with a thumbprint engraved on the side. The thumbprint belonged to her mother, Evelyn who had passed away on Christmas Eve.

Shara Fisher

"I was actually driving. I finally got to crying so hard that I had to pull over on the side of the interstate," Fisher said. "I was ecstatic. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it."

Looking back at the unique reunion of the bracelet, Fisher felt it was a sign from her mother.

"I think she's letting me know that she's ok," Fisher said."I can't describe it. I'm grateful, thankful and blessed. I'm just thankful that my bracelet ended up in the hands of someone who realized that it was important to somebody."

Update: We found the owner! Great job Facebook! Last night 1/28 I found this bracelet that seems to have a loved ones... Posted by Desiree Encinas on Friday, January 29, 2021

Fisher believes it's ironic and serendipitous that the bracelet was found by an Arizona traveler. Sedona just happened to be her mother's favorite place to visit. In fact, Evelyn had asked that her ashes be spread there.

Shara Fisher

"Sedona was where my mom always wanted to be. She always said she felt healthiest in Arizona," Fisher said. "She loved the mountains and the sunshine. One way or the other, my determined mother found a way to make it to Arizona."

Fisher said that she and her sisters and brothers plan to fly to Arizona, visit the Encinas, and retrieve the bracelet. Then, they plan to spread her mother's ashes in Sedona. Fisher has a special message of thanks to Encinas for the bringing the bracelet back to her.

"I thank her for having the decency, humanity to know the importance of the bracelet and for going to the great lengths to find the owner,," Fisher said.
At first glance, author and critic Charles Finchs swipe at Brandon Taylor could seem like one writers opinion about another writer's work. After reading that Taylor had inked a two-book deal, Finch took to Twitter last weekend, posting, Lol guess were still doing this crap. But the backlash was swift, not least because Finch is on the board of the National Book Critics Circle and Taylors first book, Real Life, is a finalist for the NBCCs John Leonard Prize, which is awarded to the best first book by an author.

The issue has been compounded by a tumultuous year at the NBCC. The organizations board came apart last summer amid disagreements over an anti-racism statement. With that bitter fight still fresh for many, Finchs comment has revived questions about racism at the highest levels of the literary world. Finch is white, and Taylor is Black and queer.

Regrettably, the comments expressed in the incident  represent a common attitude toward the work of black and queer artists when they attempt to participate in traditions that have typically excluded them, Taylor wrote in an e-mail to PW.

On Wednesday, Taylor told his 44,000 followers:

I am leaving Twitter because writing requires a lot of vulnerability on my part, and I cant go to the places I need to go if I log on here and see some Caucasian man disparaging my art. Like, I dont care what Caucasian men think of my work, but they do be loud, tbh.  Brandon (@blgtylr) February 3, 2021

On Twitter, Finch explained that he was objecting to the premise of one of Taylors forthcoming novels, which he erroneously assumed was based on the Iowa Writers Workshop. Members of the literary community quickly challenged Finchs rush to judgement, the potential conflict with the NBCC award, and his position on the board. They also questioned the bluntness of his comments, which struck many as begrudging an ascendant Black writer for his success. NBCC president David Varno (who is also fiction reviews editor at PW) wrote that the Leonard Prize is judged by general members of the organization, not by Finch or other board members.

After being contacted by PW on Wednesday afternoon, Finch wrote to say that he had posted two new comments below his original swipe at Taylor. In them he wrote that he had made a snarky comment that doesnt represent the views on the campus novel or author or publisher of any organization for which I volunteer. Ill be deleting it after giving people time to see this apology. And truly, I am sorry to people it hurt. Finch also said that he had sent a private apology to Taylor.

Since the summer's dustup at NBCC, the organization has taken significant steps to change the culture of the organization, including member meetings and steps to encourage a more diverse membership to run for seats on the board. More broadly, however, the incident is indicative of the ways in which the small, insular, and largely white world of most literary awards is ripe for continued issues of this kind. Along with being a book critic and NBCC board member, Finch was one of three judges who created this years longlist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Real Life, which was shortlisted for this years Booker Prize along with being an NBCC finalist, is not on the PEN/Faulkner list.

The incident is also renewing attention to the ways in which white writers advocate free speech but seem unprepared to deal with the immediate consequences in open and transparent ways. Finchs account remains private and locked, and has not unblocked people who criticized him during the back-and-forth.

This article has been updated with new information provided by the National Book Critics Circle.
A woman holds up a sign, protesting the Athens-Clarke County Government and UGA's accquisition of Linnentown in the 1960s, during the ACC Mayor and Commission meeting on Feb. 4. Linnentown was eventually destroyed and UGA used the land to build Russell, Brumby and Creswell Hall. (Foster Steinbeck/Staff)
Ugandan musicians Radio and Weasel have reportedly released their latest track coming two years after the former's death.

According to Sqoop, Douglas Mayanja aka Weasel, the remaining half of the Radio and Weasel group commonly known as the Goodlyfe Crew has dropped a new song dubbed 'Nsimbi'.

In 'Nsimbi' Radio and Weasel appear to sing about the quest to look for money and how life isn't worth living without money.

Despite being released as a group song, 'Nsimbi' does not feature Weasel as the late Radio is the only one singing.

And according to Weasel, this is one of the many songs Radio had recorded before his death that only required him to fix in his verses before they were released.

Radio, real name Moses Ssekiboga died two years ago in Kampala following a brawl in a pub. An Entebbe court found a man with manslaughter and sentenced him to eight years in jail.

The track's release comes a week since Ugandans and top musicians across Africa celebrated the late Radio Mowzey's 36th posthumous birthday with Weasel promising to release a song in honor of his fallen partner.

After his death, Weasel said they (Goodlyfe management) will release an album from the immensely talented musician for 10 more years!

'Nsimbi' happens to be the second release after 'Malaika' that was released in July 2019.

Weasel dropped the song on 1st February; the same day Radio passed on.

"Our fans had taken long without hearing our music but I want to let them know that Weasel is a roaring lion and this is just the beginning," Weasel said.
Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Nana Patole on Thursday stepped down from his post, handing over his resignation letter to Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal. Patole is likely to be the next Maharashtra Congress chief.

Patole, the MLA from Sakoli in Bhandara district, is likely to replace revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat as state Congress president soon, according to party sources. The Congress shares power with the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra.

A delegation of Congress ministers, headed by Balasaheb Thorat, had recently met the party leadership in Delhi. Patole had also met former party chief Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. His name had been doing the rounds for the post of the state Congress president and he had been lobbying for a meaty portfolio as well.

Patole, who was part of the Congress, had later joined the BJP as was elected as an MP in 2014 from Bhandara-Gondia constituency. He later returned to the Congress and was made Speaker when the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition formed the government last year.

The budget session of the state legislature is to begin from March 1.
In an incident of flouting lockdown regulations, police in France's Collegion area recently raided and shut down a warehouse orgy session involving at least 81 people. Local residents in the area, which is around 20 miles off Paris informed the police of a party that was going on in the locality after the curfew hours started.

To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, France has put into motion a nationwide curfew starting 6:pm, to be in place till 6am next morning. The authorities have also set up quarantine rules in view of the new variant of the virus from Britain.

Officers who responded to the complaints did so at 9pm, some three hours after the curfew hours started and found 11 people in the parking area of the warehouse. All of them were fined 135 for flouting curfew. The cops then sought permission from local magistrates sitting in an emergency session to enter the premises and ata round 11pm, after getting it, found more people inside who were engaged in an orgy. The cops also seized alcohol, sound systems and light installations from the place, The Independent reported.

81 people were fined for flouting the curfew rules and three among them were found to be involved in arranging the libertine party. They were taken in for questioning and cops said they cooperated with the former.

In the past few months, there have been several such incidents of sex parties being busted by police in parts of Europe. One was found in New York.

Officers in Belgium's Saint-Mard in the south raided a house in the early hours of the morning in December and broke up a 52-person orgy going on there. Shockingly, there was a Covid clinic very near to the house.

A Hungarian minister Jozsef Szajer had also recently resigned after taking part in a Brussels sex party. He was found to be escaping a gay sex party after police raided the location by climbing down a pipe.

Also, authorities in New York authorities in November said they busted close to 80 people who were flouting COVID-19 orders at a swingers club in Queens, New York. They said most of them were not wearing masks or following social distancing either while involved in sexual acts.
Rajya Sabha members broke into laughter during a debate on February 4 when Congress leader Digvijaya Singh got the turn to speak immediately after his former party colleague in Madhya Pradesh, and now BJP leader, Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Scindia, who addressed the house after Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha, showered praises on the Centre for its efforts to deal with COVID-19 pandemic and enacting agriculture reform laws.

The former Congress leader defended the farm laws saying that the aim of the laws was to double the farmers income and open markets throughout the country.

Scindia hit out at the UPA government and referred to a letter by the former agriculture minister Sharad Pawar in 2010 endorsing the private sector participation in the farming sector.

The laws ensure that farmers can independently sell their produce anywhere in India. Many people who would earlier support the reforms are now speaking a different language, Scindia said.

The leaders were speaking during the debate on motion of thanks to the Presidents Budget session address on January 29 in which the farmers protests and related issues found a mention.

READ: Indian democracy will not be weakened by anyones tweet: Manoj Jha in Rajya Sabha

As Scindia concluded, House Chairman and Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu called Digvijaya Singhs name as next speaker. The House members broke out in laughter at the coincidence of Singhs turn to speak immediately after Scindia. Naidu had to explain that he had not changed the schedule of members to speak in the house.

Singh began his address congratulating Scindia for his defence of the BJP government.

I would like to congratulate Scindiaji, through chairman. He defended BJP (government) today in the same flair as he would UPA government. I congratulate you, Singh, who referred to Scindia as 'Maharaj' said bringing a smile on Scindia face.

In response Scindia attributed his 'talent' to Digvijaya's blessings.

Whichever party you are associated with, our blessings were with you, are with you and will always remain with you, Singh said before starting his speech slamming Centre for failing to contain COVID-19 pandemic and addressing farmers' concerns.
Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2021 4:37 pm

A group of veterans planted a Japanese Maple tree about two years ago in Washington Park in Centralia. The group of veterans met beneath the Peace Tree every Saturday. Last week, they noticed that someone had chopped the tree down and hauled it away.

Emil Pierson, Centralias community development director, said its a mystery as to who chopped the tree down.

Larry Kershner, with Veterans for Peace and the Fellowship for Reconciliation, has been meeting with others at Washington Park every Saturday for 19 years to wave signs and advocate for peace. The group started meeting there in 2002 with the hope of applying pressure to prevent the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Maybe three years ago, there was a big maple tree in Washington Park and it used to shade us during our summers when we did our weekly vigils, and it got diseased and came down. So we offered to put in a Japanese Maple, which is a symbol of peace, Kershner said.

He said the tree, which was purchased at Pioneer West, was doing well before it disappeared, standing at about 10 feet tall. Kershner said that the group plans to raise some money to plant a new tree.

You can see the stump that is left and it looks like somebody probably used an ax. We have no idea if its related to our peace vigil or not. We have no clue as to what really happened, Kershner said.
India on Thursday stressed the importance of Sri Lanka adhering to its international commitments relating to development of the East Container Terminal of the Colombo Port, days after the island nation cancelled a trilateral agreement for the project. India, Japan and Sri Lanka had inked an agreement in 2019 on development of the terminal project. The Sri Lankan government on Monday decided to hand over the project to a state-run company following an agitation against the venture involving India and Japan.

"As is well known, the governments of India, Sri Lanka and Japan had signed a memorandum of cooperation in May 2019 to develop and operate the East Container Terminal of Colombo Port in a trilateral framework," External Affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at a media briefing.

"We sincerely believe that the development of infrastructure in Sri Lanka, in areas such as ports and energy, with foreign investment from India and Japan will be a mutually beneficial proposition," he said.

Srivastava said the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo is in talks with the Lankan government on the issue.

"Our High Commissioner in Colombo is in discussion with the government of Sri Lanka, including on the importance of adhering to international commitments," he said. India considered the terminal project to be an important one and issues relating to it had figured during External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's visit to Colombo last month.

According to reports, Sri Lanka decided to hand over the project to the Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA).
It is important for patients to understand the information they need for making health decisions, yet studies have shown that a large segment of the population lacks the health literacy to do so. Health literacy refers to capacity of people to obtain, process, and understand health information needed for making health decisions. A researcher in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is addressing this topic.

Many people have inadequate health literacy to support them in understanding health information and/or performing basic self-care activities. Successful self-care would lead to better health outcomes, especially for patients with chronic illness." Jessie Chin, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Chin's paper, "Health Literacy, Processing Capacity, Illness Knowledge, and Actionable Memory for Medication Taking in Type 2 Diabetes: Cross-Sectional Analysis," was recently published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The paper's coauthors include Huaping Wang, Adam W. Awwad, and James F. Graumlich, University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria; Michael S. Wolf, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; and Daniel G. Morrow, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois.

In their study, Chin and her colleagues investigated the relationship between health literacy and "actionable memory," or memory for medication purposes, among patients with diabetes. Their results demonstrated the link between health literacy and self-care, which the researchers said could be accounted for by both the processing capacity and health knowledge of the patients.

"The study also showed that there are individual differences in the way that people can compensate for limitations in their cognitive capacities in order to maintain their health literacy. The implications of our study include improving medication adherence for patients with chronic illness through multiple strategies to promote the actionable memory of medication-taking," said Chin.

Chin holds a BS in psychology from National Taiwan University, an MS in human factors, and a PhD in educational psychology with a focus on cognitive science in teaching and learning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
ANN ARBOR, MI  Students will have another virtual spring commencement ceremony at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2021 due to ongoing health and safety concerns related to COVID-19, university officials said.

The announcement comes in the middle of a stay-in-place recommendation for all UM students as COVID-19 cases at the university continue to rise, including 21 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in the university community.

21 COVID-19 variant cases now identified in Washtenaw County

We very much wish that we could hold a safe commencement in Michigan Stadium, along with the many other celebration activities that are a fundamental part of our community life and traditions, UM President Mark Schlissel said.

Commencement is the most joyous event of the academic year for many in our community, as we celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates and draw inspiration from the achievements they will share with our world.

Celebrations for most schools, including the Rackham Graduate School, are also being conducted virtually, according to a university news release. UM-Dearborn and UM-Flint will announce commencement plans later this semester, the release states.

Students and families are invited to celebrate the occasion at noon May 1. The virtual ceremony will include a commencement speaker, student performers and the conferring of degrees. A recording will be available afterward for on-demand viewing, officials said.

The virtual commencement speaker is planned to be announced later this semester.

In March 2020, UM canceled its spring commencement ceremonies as COVID-19 hit Michigan. Last years graduates also had virtual commencement ceremonies, and the university is still considering options for inviting graduates from the classes of 2020 and 2021 back to campus for additional in-person events in the future, according to the release.

UM conducted a survey of recent graduates and more than 70% said they would be at least moderately interested in returning to take part in future in-person graduation ceremonies, the release states. The same survey showed that students are interested in taking part in a virtual commencement ceremony if the university was unable to host an in-person ceremony, according to the release.

READ MORE:

What you should know about the University of Michigans latest stay-in-place recommendation

34% of COVID-19 cases in Washtenaw County associated with University of Michigan

University of Michigan being sued for FOIA violation, legal complaint states
Statehouse Reporter

Danny Jin is the Eagle's Statehouse reporter. A graduate of Williams College, he previously interned at the Eagle and The Christian Science Monitor. Danny can be reached at djin@berkshireeagle.com or on Twitter at @djinreports.
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Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349

Consultancy: Product Innovation Specialist Vitamin A Product Innovation Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark

Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Childrens Fund

Country: Denmark

City: Copenhagen, Denmark

Office: UNICEF Copenhagen

Closing date: Monday, 15 February 2021

Consultancy: Product Innovation Specialist, Vitamin A, Product Innovation Centre, Supply Division, Cph

Job no: 537845

Position type: Consultancy

Location: Denmark Division/Equivalent: Field Results Group

School/Unit: Copenhagen

Department/Office: Supply Division, COPENHAGEN

Categories: Consultancy

Consultancy: Product Innovation Specialist, Vitamin A

Product Innovation Centre

UNICEF Supply Division

Duration: 11.5 months with the possibility for extension

Location: Copenhagen or Remote

Travel: Light travel to key meetings may be required, travel to visit relevant country programmes may be required, circumstances permitting.

Start Date: March 2021

BACKGROUND:

UNICEF procures and supplies over 5,000 products to address the needs of children. In 2019, UNICEF procured $3.826 billion worth of goods and services from all over the world, including life-saving commodities to improve the health, education, safety and well-being of children. Much of UNICEF Supply Divisions (SD) work focuses on working with suppliers and a range of partners to ensure the availability of life-saving products. SDs work in product innovation drives the research and development of new or improved products and drives the initial demand, hereby ensuring access of fit for purpose and value for money products that can benefit children around the world.

UNICEF currently procures high dose Vitamin A Capsules (VAC) which has proven to be a very effective, low-cost intervention to address vitamin A deficiency in children 6-59 months. Globally, approximately 400 million children suffer from vitamin and micronutrient deficiency, and as part of UNICEFs 2020-2030 strategy UNICEF aims to continue and scale the promotion of Vitamin A supplementation as a routine service to children. In addition, UNICEF both procures and receives vitamin A supplements as Contributions-in-Kind from Nutrition International (NI).

The existing dosage of Vitamin A supplementation delivered via capsules has not dramatically changed since its introduction in 1977, with infrequent updates since that time. Current administration is through a single-dose dispenser or a graduated spoon and in most countries, delivery is by a health worker or community health worker. The UNICEF Nutrition Strategy 2020-2030 calls for product innovation to improve the delivery mechanism of Vitamin A which in turn can enable caregivers and community members to take on an enhanced role in VAS administration. With product innovation there may be potential for improvements that reduce the programmatic costs of supplementation and strengthen VAS programs resilience, sustainability and robustness.

UNICEF Supply Division is therefore seeking a consultant to supplement the work of the SD Product Innovation Centre (PIC) in the position of "Vitamin A Specialist - Consultant" to drive the early exploration and viability phases of the Vitamin A Innovation Project in close collaboration with the Medicines and Nutrition Centre and the nutrition team in UNICEF Programme Division.

OBJECTIVE:

The overall purpose of this full-time consultancy is to explore the potential viability and impact of a new Vitamin A delivery mechanism on UNICEF nutrition programme objectives.

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT:

The consultant will lead key activities aiming to validate project viability and define the desired product delivery mechanism characteristics. This is envisioned through a 2-phased approach including follow components: Phase 1: Project viability

Undertake a Market Landscape to understand evolution of technologies and need for R&D

Outline the regulatory considerations and how best to work within them and meet the aim of the project

Explore cost/benefit of a product evolution for the introduction of self-administration of vitamin A supplements

Outline parameters/guardrails/implications of product innovation to work within set dosage limits and pharmaceutical product categorization

Map key market stakeholders, understand and mitigate associated risks identified

Forecast demand utilizing existing market research in the procurement strategy with additional self-administered factors and estimated costs documented and projected

Work with the Innovation Manager to establish project team with assigned roles and responsibilities

Phase 2: Define desired product

Establish and consult an Advisory Committee to act as an expert sounding board for the project

Develop a draft Target Product Profile based on market feedback and consultation

Develop clearly rationalised recommendations for whether or not UNCICEF should do anything to incentivize the R&D, and if so, which modality would be needed.

KEY DELIVERABLES:

Managing key activities through the two phases of the envisioned product innovation process:

The consultant should deliver the following for the project (using existing documentation where available in consultation with Technical Specialist, Medicines and Nutrition Centre): Phase 1 and 2 documentation:

Market Landscape

Risk overview and mitigation related to supplier base

Supplier consultation to understand limitations, incentives and implications of evolving the delivery of the product including the regulatory framework.

Demand forecast

Stakeholder mapping of all relevant actors

Project team and Advisory Committee

Target Product Profile

Consultation matrix with key stakeholder feedback

Outline of business incentives and constraints to understand how/if UNICEF and partners can and should stimulate research and development in the field.

Tags business development commodities country programmes food technology market research nutrition education procurement product development project management research and development

A final report for the project outlining potential next steps and recommendations

Project documentation (as relevant according to outcome of phase 1 and 2 activities)

Innovation Strategy

Innovation Review Board Submission Documents (internal documentation)

Project Presentation

Maintain a project plan with key milestones

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Education:

Masters Degree in Nutrition, Pharmaceuticals, Food Technology, Food Science, Public Health, Innovation, or another relevant discipline

A First university degree combined with additional five years of relevant work experience in new product development, innovation or project management or additional courses in relevant subjects will be considered in lieu of a masters degree if the candidate can demonstrate high level of experience with related projects.

Work Experience:

Minimum five years of relevant, progressively responsible, professional experience is required

Preferred candidate will have experience in managing innovation projects or managing scientific trials eg. acceptability trials or field trials, in either public or private sector.

Experience of working in business development/innovation/R&D of nutrients, foods, medicines, pharmaceuticals or related products

Knowledge of deploying nutrition products in developing countries is an asset.

Health and nutrition education or experience is asset

Understanding of regulatory methods for medical products and/or pharmaceuticals is an asset

Knowledge of the environment in which UNICEF operates is considered an asset

Language:

Fluency in written and spoken English is essential.

Knowledge of another UN language would be an asset.

EVALUATION PROCESS:

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

Cover letter/application

CV

Financial quote at a monthly rate in US Dollars. Financial quote should be inclusive of service fees, taxes and all living expenses . DSA will not be paid in addition to monthly rate for this consultancy.

Examples of previous, relevant projects or work

2 written references from previous employers, or contact details for 2 referees who may be contacted

Please note that this advertisement will close on 15 February 2021. Please indicate your availability and daily rate to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a monthly rate will not be considered.

UNICEF considers best value for money as a criterion for evaluating potential candidates. As a general principle, the fees payable to a consultant or individual contractor follow the "best value for money" principle, i.e., achieving the desired outcome at the lowest possible fee. Please note that consultants and individual contractors are responsible for assuming costs for obtaining visas and travel insurance.

Successful applicants will be evaluated by the following criteria: Applicant

TECHNICAL QUALIFICATION (max. 70 points)

Overall Response (15 points)

15

Overall match between the TOR requirements and the application

15

Technical Capacity (55 points)

55

Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience

10

Education (as outlined in ToR)

10

Experience in Research & Design

10

Project management experience

10

Understanding regulatory environment

5

Working in developing countries

10

TECHNICAL QUALIFICATION - Total Points

70

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL (max. 30 points)

Monthly rate

Other costs

Total estimated cost of contract

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL - Weight Combined Score

30

TOTAL SCORE (max. 100 points)

Advertised: Feb 02 2021 Romance Standard Time Application close: Feb 15 2021 Romance Standard Time
PLAINVIEW  Former state Sen. William Sam McCann was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury for allegedly misusing campaign funds, tax evasion and money laundering.

The indictment alleges McCann, 51, misused campaign money for personal expenses, engaging in a scheme from May 2015 to June 2020 to convert more than $200,000 in contributions and donations made to his campaign committees to pay himself and make personal purchases. The indictment also alleges McCann attempted to conceal his fraud from donors, the public, the Illinois State Board of Elections and law enforcement authorities.

The indictment was announced by Central District of Illinois U.S. Attorney John C. Milhiser; FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean M. Cox, Springfield Division; and, IRS Criminal Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge David Talcott, St. Louis Field Office.

McCann is scheduled to appear via telephone conference at 2 p.m. Feb. 16 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tom Schanzle-Haskins for arraignment. An indictment is merely an accusation; the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

McCann was a state senator for the 49th District of Illinois from 2011 to 2013, and for the redrawn 50th District from 2013 to January 2019. He also formed the Conservative Party of Illinois and, in 2018, launched an unsuccessful bid for Illinois governor.

The indictment states McCann previously lived in Carlinville and owned and operated two construction related businesses.

According to the indictment, from April 2011 to November 2018 McCann and his political committees received more than $5 million in campaign donations. The indictment alleges multiple instances when he used campaign funds to buy personal vehicles, pay personal debts, make mortgage payments and pay himself, including using more than $60,000 in campaign funds to partially fund the purchases of a 2017 Ford Expedition in April 2017 and a 2018 Ford F-250 truck in July 2018, which he titled in his own name and used for his personal travel. McCann then used campaign funds for loan payments on the F-250 and for fuel and insurance expenses for both vehicles, while at the same time using campaign funds to reimburse mileage expense claims which he did not incur.

The indictment also alleges that on or about Oct. 4, 2016, McCann allegedly used a $20,000 cashiers check funded by a campaign account and issued to himself to pay off a personal loan, including legal fees, originally issued to him as an equipment loan in 2011 and was in collection by the bank due to non-payment.

From May 2015 to August 2020, McCann allegedly used campaign funds to pay about $64,750 on two separate personal mortgage loans that were secured by his former residence in Carlinville and an adjoining property used as an office for his construction business, according to the indictment.

In November 2018, after his unsuccessful governors campaign, and continuing to June 2020 McCann allegedly caused the Conservative Party of Illinois to issue about $187,000 in payments to him and $52,282 in payments for payroll taxes.

The indictment also alleges about $50,000 in campaign funds were used for personal expenses including charges from Apple iTunes, Amazon, a skeet and trap club, Cabelas, Scheels, Best Buy, a gun store and cash withdrawals.

If convicted, the statutory penalty for each count of wire fraud (seven counts) and one count of money laundering is up to 20 years in prison. For tax evasion, the statutory penalty is up to five years in prison.

The charges are the result of investigation by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Bass is representing the government in the prosecution.

NY Ordered to Release Data on States COVID-19 Nursing Home Deaths

A New York Supreme Court justice has ordered state officials to turn over complete data on nursing home deaths from COVID-19, following a months-long campaign to seek their release.

Justice Kimberly OConnor wrote in a Feb. 3 decision (pdf) that the New York Department of Health (DOH) must release the data within five business days of the ruling.

OConnor also ruled that the state must cover litigation costs incurred by the Empire Center, a think tank that filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the DOH and has been at the forefront of legal efforts to gain disclosure of the data.

In a Feb. 3 statement, the Empire Center called the decision a victory for open government.

We hope Justice OConnors unequivocal ruling finally pushes the Cuomo administration to do the right thing, said Bill Hammond, the groups senior fellow for health policy, in the statement. The people of New Yorkespecially those who have lost loved ones in nursing homeshave waited much too long to see this clearly public information about one of the worst disasters in state history.

After the Empire Center filed its request for the release of complete data on COVID-19-related nursing home deaths, on Aug. 3, 2020, the DOH postponed responding three times. An Empire Center representative told the New York Post on Jan. 13 that state health authorities said in a letter that they needed until at least March 22 to complete a full accounting of COVID-19 fatalities in long-term facilities.

OConnor addressed the delays in her ruling, writing, DOH does not, in the Courts opinion, offer an adequate explanation as to why it has not responded to that request within its estimated time period or to date.  The Court is not persuaded that the respondents estimated date for responding to Empire Centers FOIL request is reasonable under the circumstances of the request.

DOH officials didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Time for comment.

Republican state Sen. Jim Tedisco, who submitted an amicus brief on behalf of the Empire Center, hailed the ruling as a win for transparency.

Clearly the best disinfectant is sunlight, Tedisco said in a statement. Governor Cuomos coronavirus cover-up is crumbling down.

I want to thank Justice OConnor for her ruling that demonstrates that this nursing home data is public information and the people have a right to know what their government is doing.

OConnors ruling comes a week after New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a report indicating that state health officials underreported COVID-19-related nursing home deaths by as much as 50 percent in some places.

The 76-page report (pdf) released Jan. 28 follows an investigation by Jamess office into claims of neglect of patients and other conduct that allegedly led to the deaths of nursing home residents and employees.

As the pandemic and our investigations continue, it is imperative that we understand why the residents of nursing homes in New York unnecessarily suffered at such an alarming rate, James said in a statement. While we cannot bring back the individuals we lost to this crisis, this report seeks to offer transparency that the public deserves and to spur increased action to protect our most vulnerable residents.

The COVID-related nursing home deaths have been a flashpoint for criticism against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, who faced public outcry over a controversial March 25, 2020, directivesubsequently reversed in Mayessentially prohibiting nursing home operators from refusing to accept residents even if they tested positive for COVID-19.

No resident shall be denied readmission or admission to a nursing home solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19, the order said.

Under the order, if hospital staff determined residents were medically stable, nursing homes were prohibited from requiring that the patient be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission. Experts warned at the time that the order would lead to a surge in COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.

Cuomos new order, issued in May, required hospitals to keep elderly COVID-19 patients until a negative test was confirmed or move them to another state-run facility that wasnt a nursing home.

Cuomo has repeatedly rejected links between the since-repealed policy and the thousands of nursing home deaths in the state. Last year, the Cuomo administration flatly denied the allegations.

Admission policies to nursing homes were not a significant factor in nursing home fatalities. And data suggests that nursing home quality is not a factor in mortality from COVID.

A state Department of Health study (pdf) corroborated this stance, concluding that it was infected nursing home staff that fanned the spread.

This study highlighted a critically important fact that the overwhelming majority of hospital patients sent back into nursing homes were not only medically stable, they were no longer contagious, and that 81 percent of the nursing homes receiving COVID patients from New Yorks hospitals already had the virus, said Michael Dowling, CEO of Northwell Health, in a release.

New York Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said at a press conference following the release of a report that admission policies were not a significant factor in virus-related nursing home deaths, and called attempts to blame the fatalities on the March 25 executive order a false narrative.

However, questions have been raised about the reliability and impartiality of the study, and a number of lawmakers have called for a probe.

Meanwhile, Harvard University health care policy professor David Grabowski told NBC New York in an interview in August of last year that he believes the March 25 directive fanned the flames of the outbreak in nursing homes but was probably not the main factor.

Did the policy increase fatalities in the state? Grabowski said of the executive order. It probably did. I just dont think it was the primary driver.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  James Reid has recently launched his latest track "Soda," his first single after a three-year hiatus in his music career.

The actor and musician revealed Thursday that his Careless Music labelmate and former love team partner Nadine Lustre had a special role in crafting the lyrics to his new song.

"I got stuck after the first line which was, 'It's not a straight line, it's all part of a ride', and Nadine wrote the next line which was, "Can we take time, don't lose the stars in your eyes," James told CNN Philippines' New Day.

He added: "It helps me move forward with the song when I get to collaborate with other artists, and my friends and my team."

Reid, the founder and executive producer of Careless Music, earlier played a major role in putting together Lustre's "Wildest Dreams" which was released last October. The visual album reached a million views on YouTube in just two days.

The two have neither publicly confirmed nor denied whether they have gotten back together as a couple, but both have been busy with music-making while in the middle of the quarantine.

Soda, which incorporates elements of electronic funk, was created last November while in lockdown, Reid shared. He described the four-minute track as a perfect way to "shake off 2020" and start the year with a brand-new perspective.

"I called it 'Soda,' because I'm not entirely sure why. When I was making the music that's how it made me feel. You know when you're thirsty and you have that first sip of soda, it feels so good." he added.

Soda is his first release of the year, and also his first solo project since he founded Careless in 2017, with his album "Palm Dreams" as its debut release. Fans can only expect more from him in the upcoming months, he said.

"I feel like this is the kind of sound that I've always really loved. Deifnitely the music I'll be making moving forward is something along this line, like a mixture of funk and little bit of soul, RnB," he added.

Aside from Reid and Lustre, other artists under Careless include Bret Jackson, Curtismith, Filipino-Ghanaian rapper Massiah, and trap artist Astro Kidd.

Reid shared that a solo concert and possible collaborations with Lustre and other artists in his current record label are in the works this year while he takes a break from acting.

"We'll be doing a lot of digital concerts, Nadine's concert. There will be a lot of live performances very soon," he said.

Soda is available on Spotify and other music streaming services.

The UN on Wednesday welcomed the extension of the New START treaty between the US and Russia for five years.

"We very much welcome the extension, the five-year extension of the New START as a means of maintaining verifiable limits on the world's largest nuclear arsenal, and I think it's a first step of reinvigorating the control regime," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Xinhua news agency reported.

"From our point of view, we encourage both Russia and the United States to use these next five years to negotiate further reductions in their nuclear weapons, as well as new agreements that can address the emerging nuclear weapons challenges of our time and make the world a better place," he told a daily press briefing.

The spokesman expressed the hope that more countries that have nuclear weapons will join nuclear disarmament efforts.

"It is clear that the more countries that have nuclear weapons engage in disarmament talks and move towards a world free of nuclear weapons, the better we will all be," he said.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, signed in April 2010 by the US and Russia, limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 and deployed missiles and bombers to 700 for each country. The treaty entered into force on February 5, 2011, and would have expired on February 5, 2021.

The US and Russia on Wednesday officially announced a five-year extension of the treaty, the maximum period allowed by the treaty, two days before expiration.

The former US administration led by Donald Trump tried to conclude a shorter extension of the treaty last year after rounds of negotiation with Russia. But the two sides failed to finalize a formal agreement. Immediately after taking office, US President Joe Biden proposed a full five-year extension, a move welcomed by the Kremlin.

--IANS

int/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In 1957, on the 15th anniversary of her graduation from Smith College, she began to interview the women attending her reunion. Out of those interviews came The Feminine Mystique. It sold three million copies and convinced many women they were not alone suffocating in their suburban homes with a growing sense of dissatisfaction.

The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women, Ms. Friedan wrote. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night  she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question  Is this all?

Vacuuming the living room floor  with or without makeup  is not work that takes enough thought or energy to challenge any womans full capacity, Ms. Friedan wrote.

Yet the book almost immediately received criticism. At least one reviewer thought it was derivative of Simone de Beauvoirs The Second Sex, which had been published in English a decade earlier. It was criticized for its homophobic language and its comparisons between housewives and concentration camp victims. But perhaps the most widespread critique was that Ms. Friedan had pretty much omitted Black and working-class women from her manifesto. Working-class women, she wrote, were too busy working in factories to start the revolution, which is why it fell to the women of the middle class to smash that empty image.

The book does read as if white, middle-class housewives lives are the lives of every American woman, Ms. Plant said.

In a 1963 letter to Ms. Friedan, the historian Gerda Lerner applauded the book but also wrote, Working women, especially Negro women, labor not only under the disadvantages imposed by the feminine mystique, but under the more pressing disadvantages of economic discrimination. There is no record of Ms. Friedans reply, at least none has been found.

Nearly six decades on, the book still resonates, but so does that critique.

The book may still be considered a blueprint for young feminists, said Ms. Nunes, of NOW, but Jennifer Baumgartner, who co-wrote the 2000 Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future, said that Ms. Friedans book, which has been labeled as retrograde by scholars and activists, needs to be re-examined, especially in light of womens backsliding because of the pandemic.
BharatPe, Indias leading financial services company for merchants, today further bolstered its leadership team with the appointment of Gautam Kaushik as the 2nd Group President in the company. Gautam, a renowned face in the financial services industry in India, will be working closely with Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and CEO, and leading payments (including UPI, Card Acceptance, BharatPe XtraIncome Card, Loyalty) as well as new banking partnerships for the company. Gautam is the second senior level appointment announced by BharatPe in the new year. The company had announced the appointment of Sumeet Singh as the General Counsel and Head- Corporate Strategy in January 2021.

Gautam Kaushik is a seasoned professional with close to 2 decades of experience in leading successful multi-million dollar businesses in payments and financial services. Prior to joining BharatPe, Gautam was the CEO & MD of PAYBACK India where he was leading the largest coalition loyalty program in the country. He has also held multiple roles duing his 10+ years stint at American Express. Gautam has been the CFO of American Express- India Business and has also spearheaded many strategic initiatives for the organization in India and New York, during his stint with the company. Before joining American Express, Gautam worked for Tata Strategic Management Group in Mumbai as a strategy consultant to key Tata Group companies. Gautam is a graduate in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from SPJIMR, Mumbai.

Commenting on the appointment, Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and CEO, BharatPe said, At BharatPe, we aspire to become Indias first true digital bank. Ive worked with Gautam previously at AMEX and have known him for 8 years. Gautam is also an angel investor at BharatPe. I am confident that he is the best person to lead our payments vertical. He will be deepening our relationships with our banking partners. Also, it is important for us to build an engaged merchant base and I am confident that Gautams experience in building one of the largest customer loyalty program in the country will empower us to do so. I welcome Gautam in our leadership team and am sure that he will steer us to faster growth in 2021.

Added Gautam, BharatPe is the fastest growing Fintech startup in the country. The team has done phenomenal work in the past 2.5 years. I believe we enjoy a great opportunity to transform the financial services landscape for merchants across the country and I am looking forward to contribute meaningfully to this journey. Also, I see a huge disruption opportunity from loyalty standpoint for merchants.
We have experienced staff shortages at this location and are currently using available resources to match the workload created by the impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Norman said in a statement. This includes bringing in extra resources at this location. We have also been challenged by the recent accumulation of snow in our region and ask customers to keep the approaches to their mailboxes clear of ice and snow.
File image: Future Group Chairman Kishore Biyani

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred Future Group founder Kishore Biyani and his brother Anil  along with a few other individuals  from the securities market for one year. Indias capital markets regulator also banned them from trading in the shares of Future Retail for two years after an investigation found insider trading in shares of Future Retail in 2017. What were the wrongdoings that the SEBI probe revealed and how did it establish the alleged charges? Below is an attempt to answer the vital questions on the SEBI order issued on February 3.

. UPSI is market jargon for any information that is not available in the public domain but has the potential to impact the stock price. SEBI regulations do not allow trading on the basis of UPSI and any such act attracts monetary penalty or even debarment from securities market.

What did the SEBI probe find out?

On April 20, 2017, Future Retail announced the demerger of certain businesses, which caused the companys share price to rise. The SEBI probe, however, found that preliminary discussions for the demerger were held on March 10, 2017 when a team of officials was created to work on the demerger. Hence, according to SEBI, the demerger news became UPSI on March 10. More importantly, two entitiesFuture Corporate Resources Private Limited and FCRL Employee Welfare Trusttraded in the shares of Future Retail during the UPSI period.

What was wrong with the transactions?

Future Corporate Resources is part of the promoter group of Future Retail and is owned by entities in which members of the Biyani family, including Kishore and Anil, are majority shareholders. Kishore Biyani while being a director of Future Corporate Resources, was also the CMD of Future Retail and hence an insider as per SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations. His brother, Anil Biyani, as a close relative and a director of Future Corporate Resources, also fell under the definition of insider as per SEBI norms. Hence, any trade done by Kishore and Anil during the UPSI period would be deemed insider trading and a violation of SEBI rules.

How did SEBI establish the charges?

The SEBI investigations found that Kishore and Anil opened a trading account for Future Corporate Resources with stock broker Indiabulls Ventures on March 27, 2017 when the news about the demerger was still not in the public domain. This qualified as UPSI, per SEBI. The board of Future Corporate Resources, on March 14, authorised the two brothers to trade in the stock market on behalf of the company. Further, the transfer of funds from Future Corporate Resources to Indiabulls Ventures for the purchase of shares of Future Retail was authorised by Kishore and Anil.

Thereafter, trading in the shares of Future Retail was done on March 29 and March 30, 2017  soon after the trading account was opened and before the demerger news was made public. According to SEBI, Future Corporate Resources bought a total of 36.3 lakh shares during the UPSI period. Meanwhile, another entity, FCRL Employee Welfare Trust, bought a combined 8.01 lakh shares during the UPSI period. According to the SEBI probe, this too fell under the definition of insider due to its direct and indirect connection with Future Corporate Resources and Kishore Biyani.

How did SEBI act against the alleged offenders?

While Future Corporate Resources and the Biyanis have denied any wrongdoing and said that the information regarding the demerger was generally available and hence not qualified as UPSI, the capital market regulator, in a 77-page order issued on Wednesday, barred the three entities from trading in securities for one year. They have also been barred from trading in shares of Future Retail for two years. Among other directions, they have also been ordered to disgorge a total of around Rs 20 crore along with interest at 12 percent a year from April 20, 2020 till the date of payment. This, as per SEBI, was the unlawful gains that the entities made after trading based on information that was not available to the public at large.

How has Future Group responded to the order?

Future Corporate Resources has said that it has the right to appeal and will challenge the order at the appropriate forum. It has further said that the capital market regulator considered such information as UPSI, which was well-anticipated and publicly well-known impending reorganisation of the home furnishing businesses of the business group. The SEBI order also noted that Future Corporate Resources along with Kishore and Anil, in their submissions, denied any wrongdoing and said that the information regarding the demerger was generally available and was widely reported across numerous media platforms, much before the dates on which the trades were undertaken.

Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd, which owns Jio, is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. which publishes moneycontrol.com

The statement by the business house also highlighted the fact that the SEBI order will not pose any hindrance to its ongoing Scheme of Arrangement with the Reliance Group. SEBI has taken care to exclude dealings in securities under any impending Scheme of Arrangement, said the statement.


As the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to take lives worldwide, leaving more than 2.27 million dead, the use of vaccines and therapeutic antibodies remains a matter of urgency. Even as vaccines are starting to roll out in many parts of the world, new and more infectious variants are emerging, raising concerns about the long-term efficacy of the present models. Three important new variants of concern all possess the N501Y mutation.

A new preprint recently released on the bioRxiv* preprint server reports the underlying basis of such an increase in infectiousness associated with the N501Y, a mutation at the site of virus-host receptor interaction. This mutation has been found in the UK, South African and Brazilian variants. These are also called B.1.1.7, 20I/501Y.V1, B.1.351, 20H/501Y.V2, and P1, 20J/501Y.V3, respectively.

The virus engages with the host cell via its spike protein, binding through the receptor-binding domain (RBD), with the host cell receptor, the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

Antibodies target spike RBD

The vast majority, about 90%, of neutralizing antibodies against the virus target the RBD. Regeneron and Eli Lilly have both produced monoclonal antibodies that are directed specifically against the native form of the spike protein, and both have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use.

There are now several vaccines that have received emergency use approval, including the two mRNA vaccines, from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, and the adenoviral vectored vaccine from Oxford Astra-Zeneca, all of which elicit antibodies against the native spike and RBD.

However, new variants like the UK and South African variants continue to emerge, raising doubts about whether the antibodies elicited by these vaccines, or therapeutic antibodies raised against earlier variants, will continue to be effective against them. This is a matter of concern, especially given their increased transmissibility.

Tenfold rise in binding affinity

The researchers used Surface Plasmon Resonance binding assays to measure the binding affinity of the wildtype and mutant spike for ACE2. They found that the 501Y mutation in the RBD is associated with a tenfold rise in binding affinity for ACE2, relative to the original N501-RBD, at ~0.566 nM vs. ~5.76 nM, respectively.

A similar increase in binding affinity has been reported for SARS-CoV-2-ACE2 binding, compared to SARS-CoV-ACE2, respectively, which could be a substantial reason for the higher transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2.

Mechanism of increased binding affinity

The reason could lie in the structural differences. No current structural model shows the effect of the isolated N501Y mutation on the binding affinity of the spike for ACE2. The researchers, therefore, constructed computational models of the structure of the RBD in these two forms of the spike protein.

This showed the potential for additional interactions between aromatic residues, as well as additional hydrogen bonds with the ACE2. Though the RBD-N501 shows a hydrogen bond with the Y41 of the ACE2  that is abolished with the Y501 substitution  the latter introduces new hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interaction.

The new hydrogen bonds were formed between Y501 and ACE2 residues D38 and K353. The substitution also introduces an aromatic ring that causes a strong aromatic ring or pi stacking with that of the ACE2 Y41 residue.

The potential interference with such stacking by the side chain of the residue R498 could be prevented by the formation of a negatively charged cage to contain this side chain. Such a cage can be formed by two aromatic rings and the D38 side chain, but further study is required to confirm its existence.

This leads to much stronger and more stable spike-ACE2 interactions.

The current mutation of N501 to Y501 and consequent ~10 times greater affinity for ACE2 may therefore account for the increased rate of infections in the United Kingdom and, likewise, for the increased transmission rate of both the South African (20H/501Y.V2) and Brazil variants (20J/501Y.V3), although their K417N, E484K besides N501Y changes may also contribute.

Neutralization of variants by vaccine-induced/therapeutic antibodies

Immunization with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine generated high titers of antibodies, indicating a robust immune response. However, when tested with sera from vaccinated individuals at different dilutions, the researchers observed efficient neutralization of both N501-RBD and Y501-RBD binding to the ACE2 receptor.

High levels of neutralization were observed with undiluted serum, and at up to fivefold dilutions, but slightly less for the Y501 variant.

The same was true of the Eli Lilly monoclonal antibody Bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555), which was isolated from a convalescent COVID-19 patient. It was reported to inhibit the N501-RBD-ACE2 binding. Structural studies showed that it binds to the RBD near the site of the Y501 mutation. The researchers found the antibody bound with equivalent efficiency of binding to Y501-RBD and N501-RBD.

The binding affinity of the N501Y mutant for ACE2 is higher than its affinity for the antibody, however, even while the mutant strain spike protein shows tenfold higher affinity for ACE2 relative to the wildtype spike protein.

What are the implications?

These findings suggest that both the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and Bamlanivimab should be still effective for COVID-19 patients contracting either with wildtype SARS-COV-2 or with the 501Y.V1 variant.

However, since the binding affinity of the Y501-RBD UK spike variant for the antibody is lower than its affinity for ACE2, neutralization may be achieved only with higher concentrations of Bamlanivimab in patients infected with this strain.

The South African and Brazil variants have K417N and E484K mutations in addition to the N501Y mutation, both at the RBD. The E484 forms a salt bridge with the R50 residue in the antibody, and this may be abolished or drastically reduced with the K484 variant. If so, this could lead to loss of efficacy of Bamlanivimab against these variants.

From this regard, therapeutic antibodies to treat COVID-19 patients should be adjusted for new emerging variants.

*Important Notice

bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

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The theme of the Budget 2021 is mainly Infrastructure, Public Health and Privatisation. Further, it is a step towards fulfilling the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. It is heartening to note that the FM has not introduced any new taxes including surcharge/cess due to Covid19 pandemic, but has also kept unchanged the current income slabs and tax rates as well as exemptions/deductions applicable to individual taxpayers.

Exemption from filing I-T returns for those aged 75 and above

Budget 2021 has exempted resident senior citizens (being at least 75 years in age) from filing tax return if he/she is having pension and interest income from same bank subject to satisfaction of following conditions:

-The bank should be a specified bank (i.e. to be notified by government)

-The taxpayer is required to furnish a declaration to the specified bank containing such particulars, in such form and verified in such manner, as may be prescribed

-The bank will be required to compute the income of such senior citizen after giving effect to the deduction allowable under Chapter VI-A and rebate allowable under section 87A of the Act and deduct income tax based on rates in force.

Relaxation to NRIs in respect of foreign retirement accounts

When NRIs return to India, they face challenges in respect of accrued incomes in their FRAs (foreign retirement accounts) as such income gets taxed in the overseas country on receipt basis or on withdrawal as well as in India on accrual basis, where the person is a Resident of India. This is usually due to a mismatch in taxation periods. They also face difficulties in getting credit for Indian taxes in foreign jurisdictions. In view of the same, the government has proposed to insert a new section 89A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) wherein rules for avoiding double taxation will be notified.

This new section will be applicable to a person who is resident in India, who had opened a specified account in a notified country while being non-resident in India and resident in that country. Such specified account should be maintained for retirement benefits and the income from which should not be taxable on accrual basis but at the time of withdrawal or redemption in the overseas country. One would have to wait for the rules in this regard, to further clarify on the manner of taxation of such income.

Taxability of interest on EPF / RPF where income is exempt

Currently, the interest earned on Provident Fund (i.e. set-up under the Provident Funds Act, 1925 or any recognised provident fund) is exempt under section 10(11) / section 10(12) of the Act subject to certain conditions. This exemption did not have any threshold limit. Hence, employees were making higher voluntary contributions to the PF fund as the interest was considered tax exempt.

Accordingly, it is now proposed that interest in respect of employee contributions made upto Rs 250,000 per annum will be exempt. Any interest earned above such limit would be taxable.

Advance tax payment on dividend income

Interest under section 234C of the Act is applicable to taxpayers who have delayed / failed to make advance tax payments by due dates on their estimated taxable income.

A relaxation to the interest under section 234C of the Act was available to some categories of income (such as capital gains) where it was not possible to determine the income value till the income was realised. Such relaxation is proposed to be provided in case of dividend income. Accordingly, advance tax liability on dividend income shall arise only after the declaration / payment of dividend.

Pre-filling of tax returns

Currently, the details of salary income, tax payments, TDS, etc. already come pre-filled in income tax return forms. To further ease filing of returns for the taxpayers, details of capital gains from listed securities, dividend income, and interest from banks, post office, etc. will also come pre-filled in the tax return forms.

Due dates for filing the belated or revised tax returns

It is proposed that the last date for filing of belated or revised returns of income is reduced by three months. For example, the due date for filing the belated / revised India tax return for FY 2021-22 as per the current laws would have been 31 March 2023 (i.e. till the end of the assessment year) or before the completion of the assessment, whichever is earlier. The due date in this case is now proposed to be 31 December 2022.

Extension of tax incentive for affordable housing scheme

Budget 2020 had introduced an additional deduction up to Rs 150,000 for interest on loans taken by first home buyers for purchase of residential property whose stamp duty value did not exceed Rs 45 lakhs (subject to certain conditions). The deduction was eligible only if the loan was sanctioned during the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2021. The eligibility period for sanctioning the loan is proposed to be extended to 31 March 2022

Amendments pertaining to assessments / appeals

Budget 2021 has proposed various amendments to reduce the length of the assessment and appeal proceedings to mitigate the genuine hardship faced by the taxpayers:

-Number of prior tax years for a notice for reassessment of income to be issued, has now been proposed to be reduced to three years from the end of assessment year, from the earlier six years, except in few cases where the amount of escaped income is likely to amount to Rs 50 lakhs or more. In such cases, notice can be issued up to ten years from the end of the relevant assessment year (subject to necessary approvals).

-Provision for Faceless Proceedings with the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal

-To further reduce litigation for small taxpayers, a Dispute Resolution Committee is proposed to be set up wherein any taxpayer with a taxable income up to Rs 50 lakh and disputed income up to Rs 10 lakh shall be eligible to approach the Committee.

-In line with the change in the due dates for filing the belated or revised tax returns, a similar reduction of three months is proposed for time limit of completing scrutiny assessment. Accordingly, the due date for completing the assessment for FY 2021-22 would be 31 December 2023 (i.e. nine months from the end of the assessment year in which the income was first assessable).
FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ), a global provider of metal coating services, welding solutions, specialty electrical equipment, and highly engineered services, today announced the appointments of two new independent directors, Carol R. Jackson and Clive A. Grannum, to AZZ's Board of Directors. Both Ms. Jackson and Mr. Grannum will serve as directors until they stand for election at AZZ's next Annual Shareholders meeting in July 2021.

Ms. Jackson currently serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of HarbisonWalker International, the largest supplier of ceramic refractories in the U.S. with operations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Southeast Asia, and commercial interests globally. Prior to joining HarbisonWalker, Ms. Jackson held a number of senior leadership roles at Carpenter Technology Corporation and PPG Industries, Inc., including General Manager of PPG's Global Powder Coatings business. Ms. Jackson currently serves as a member of the board of directors and a member of the Audit, Nominating and Corporate Governance, and Scientific Advisory Committees of Sensient Technologies Corporation, a leading global developer, manufacturer, and marketer of colors, flavors, and fragrances. She also serves as Chairman and President of the World Refractories Association and is a director of Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania. Ms. Jackson holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from Duquesne University, an M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh.

Mr. Grannum currently serves as President, Performance Alloys and Composites of Materion Corporation, a leading advanced materials supplier. Prior to joining Materion, Mr. Grannum served as Corporate Vice President, Corporate Officer and President  Global Chlorinated Organics at Olin Corporation. Prior to joining Olin, Mr. Grannum held a number of senior leadership roles at Dow Chemical Company, including President, Global Chlorinated Organics and SAFECHEM. Prior to joining Dow Chemical, he served as the Vice President of Plastic Additives for Rohm and Haas Company. Prior to Rohm and Haas, Mr. Grannum held multiple roles of increasing responsibility at The BOC Group and The ICI Group, with the last role being Vice President of ICI and Senior Vice President, Uniqema Americas. Mr. Grannum also serves as a director on the Boards of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Saint Louis, an organization devoted to inspiring and enabling youth to reach their full potential, and MediNova N.Y., a non-profit organization that provides medical services free of charge to underprivileged communities. Mr. Grannum holds a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from Boston University, and an M.B.A. from Yale University School of Management.

Mr. Daniel Feehan, Chairman of AZZ's Board of Directors, said, "We are pleased to welcome Carol and Clive as new independent directors on AZZ's Board. Carol has built a distinguished career within both the Industrial and Coatings markets, and Clive brings experience in global manufacturing, business development, process improvement, and transformational growth. Their skills and experiences complement our existing directors' industry and executive leadership experience and expertise in operations, finance, M&A, and governance/oversight."

Mr. Feehan further noted, "The addition of Carol and Clive is another step in our ongoing board refreshment process." The appointments were the result of a comprehensive search process conducted by the Board, with the assistance of a leading independent search firm, as part of the Board's commitment to regular refreshment.

On February 1, 2021, Mr. Kevern R. Joyce, announced his retirement from his position as a member of the Board of AZZ. Mr. Feehan concluded "Mr. Joyce has served the shareholders of AZZ with honor and distinction throughout his 24-year tenure on the Board, including six years as Chairman. His valuable experience in the energy field and seasoned governance perspective will be missed. We thank him for his service." Following Mr. Joyce's retirement from the Board and with the appointments of Ms. Jackson and Mr. Grannum, the Company expects the Board to be comprised of nine members, eight of whom are independent, four of whom have been added within the last five years, and three of whom are gender or ethnically diverse. Mr. Feehan added, "We are confident that our new independent directors will make valuable contributions to AZZ's strategic direction. We look forward to working on behalf of all stakeholders to continue driving future growth and enhancing shareholder value."

About AZZ Inc.

AZZ Inc. is a global provider of metal coating solutions, welding solutions, specialty electrical equipment and highly engineered services to the power generation, transmission, distribution, and industrial markets. AZZ Metal Coatings is a leading provider of metal finishing solutions for corrosion protection, including hot dip galvanizing to the North American steel fabrication industry. AZZ Infrastructure Solutions is dedicated to delivering safe and reliable transmission of power from generation sources to end customers, and automated weld overlay solutions for corrosion and erosion mitigation to critical infrastructure in the energy markets worldwide.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements herein about our expectations of future events or results constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," "continue," or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements are based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data and management's views and assumptions regarding future events. Such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and investors must recognize that actual results may differ from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Certain factors could affect the outcome of the matters described herein. This press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, changes in customer demand for our products and services, including demand by the power generation markets, electrical transmission and distribution markets, the industrial markets, and the metal coatings markets. In addition, within each of the markets we serve, our customers and our operations could potentially be adversely impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We could also experience fluctuations in prices and raw material cost, including zinc and natural gas which are used in the hot dip galvanizing process; supply-chain vendor delays ; customer requested delays of our products or services; delays in additional acquisition opportunities; currency exchange rates; adequacy of financing; availability of experienced management and employees to implement AZZ's growth strategy; a downturn in market conditions in any industry relating to the products we inventory or sell or the services that we provide; economic volatility or changes in the political stability in the United States and other foreign markets in which we operate; acts of war or terrorism inside the United States or abroad; and other changes in economic and financial conditions. AZZ has provided additional information regarding risks associated with the business in AZZ's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 29, 2020 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), available for viewing on AZZ's website at www.azz.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov . You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. These statements are based on information as of the date hereof and AZZ assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Company Contact:

David Nark, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Investor Relations

AZZ Inc.

(817) 810-0095

www.azz.com

Investor Contact:

Joe Dorame, Managing Partner

Lytham Partners

(602) 889-9700

www.lythampartners.com

SOURCE AZZ Inc.

Related Links

http://www.azz.com


COLUMBIA  Federal authorities have charged a South Carolina man with threatening a former assistant U.S. attorney who years ago prosecuted the leader of the Proud Boys white nationalist group.

James Giannakos Jr. of Gilbert left a series of voicemails last month threatening that the former prosecutor, her family and her co-workers would be in danger if anything happened to Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, according to court documents filed Feb. 2.

The unemployed Lexington County man blamed the unnamed, Miami-based former prosecutor for outing Tarrio to the press as an FBI informant, transcripts of his voicemails show.

I just wanted you to know that if anything happens to Mr. Enrique Tarrio, the same thing will happen to you and your family, Giannakos said in one of the voice messages, according to an FBI agents sworn affidavit.

I cannot believe you released the (confidential informant) information, if thats even true," he reportedly said. "If anything happens to him, I promise you and your associates will pay for it. You will be held responsible.

The charge against Giannakos, 46, carries up to five years in prison. He is currently being held in the Lexington County Detention Center.

Those who seek violent retribution on prosecutors, former prosecutors, other law enforcement officials and individuals who assist law enforcement will be held accountable, U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Peter McCoy said of the charge.

Giannakos was easy to track down, according to court documents.

He called the former prosecutor's law offices from the phone of a woman he lives with. He began one of the voice messages by stating, "My name is James," transcripts show.

Giannakos left six similar voice messages with the former prosecutor's current law firm, calling its offices in Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Los Angeles, according to the FBI complaint.

The sworn affidavit does not identify Giannakos as a member of the Proud Boys, which the complaint identifies as "an extremist right-wing group that has gained a reputation for leading protests that often turned violent in cities such as Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon."

The FBI in 2018 began describing the Proud Boys "as an extremist group with ties to white nationalism."

Canada on Feb. 3 designated the Proud Boys as a terrorist organization, alongside ISIS and al-Qaeda.

Several members of the group have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol building in which supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the seat of the federal government in an attempt to overturn Trump's defeat in the 2020 election.

The threats left the ex-prosecutor "terrified" for her family's safety, according to court documents. She asked the Miami Police Department to protect her home, and her law office installed security cameras.

News of Giannakos' arrest by the South Carolina arm of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was first reported Feb. 4 by The State newspaper. Giannakos made his first court appearance that day, as well.

Giannakos has a previous conviction for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, according to the FBI report.

Messages left at the phone number Giannakos allegedly used to make the threats were not answered.

Allen Burnside, the federal public defender appointed to Giannakos, declined to comment, saying, "I just got involved a couple hours ago."

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jim May and Elliott Daniels are prosecuting the case against Giannakos.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Anew law banning gay conversion practices is being debated today in Victorias Parliament. Advocates have described it as world-leading while critics have slammed it as the biggest attack on religious freedom in years. The proposed law, which is expected to pass the upper house after it was passed through the lower house in December, is the latest in a series of contentious progressive social reforms introduced under the Andrews government  including on assisted dying, safe access zones around abortion clinics, and transgender birth certificates  that have drawn the ire of religious groups. Under the changes, the Family Violence Protection Act will also be amended to make gay conversion therapy a form of domestic violence. Each of us deserves to be safe, valued and respected for being who we are  no more, no less, Premier Daniel Andrews said in Parliament late last year. To be told you are broken, you are wrong, you are a sin, you are unwell  infected even  just for being who you are is deeply offensive. Most of all, it is cruel. To wrap that bigotry in faith is an insult all of its own ... in this debate some faith leaders have been critical of these provisions, critical of a law to ban the worst form of bigoted quackery imaginable. This is not kindness and love or the protection of the vulnerable and persecuted. This is not something to be proud of. So, what are gay conversion practices? What does the government want to ban? Why have faith groups and some leading medical bodies raised concerns about aspects of the bill?

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What is gay conversion therapy? Gay conversion therapy can take place in health clinics but it mainly involves faith-based groups providing counselling and group support activities designed to overcome same-sex attraction. The practice includes prayer, scripture reading, fasting, spiritual healing and spiritual deliverance to heal sexual brokenness. It is aimed at changing the sexual orientation, gender identity or expression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse people. Despite claims to the contrary, exorcism (as popularly understood in the West) has not been a feature of gay conversion therapy practised in Christian communities, according to 2018 joint research by La Trobe University, the Human Rights Law Commission and Rainbow Health. More extreme measures used in attempts at gay conversion throughout history  that still exist in some other countries  include castration, lobotomy, clitoriodectomy (partial or full removal of the clitoris), electrocution and electro-shock therapy. Some faith-based organisations have referred people to registered medical and psychological clinicians known to provide psychotherapy, pharmacological and aversion therapies. Gay conversion therapy is based on the belief that everyone is born with the potential to develop into heterosexual people. Despite the term including the word gay, which refers to sexual orientation, conversion therapy is also based on the belief that peoples gender identity should accord with that assigned to them at birth. It emerged in Australian conservative Christian communities in the early 1970s, according to the landmark Preventing Harm, Promoting Justice study in 2018, and continues to be promoted in the messages and teachings of many churches, mosques and synagogues, through print and digital media, and through some Christian radio programs. The practice remains pervasive in mainstream conservative Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist communities, the researchers found. Survivors of the practice in Australia describe being encouraged to share with faith-based counsellors their stories of struggling with same-same attraction, as well as to pray, read the Bible, and to provide explanations that tied same-sex attraction to traumas earlier in their life, to lead them to believe homosexuality was curable.

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About 10 per cent of Australians who are attracted to people of the same sex or who are gender diverse are vulnerable to conversion therapy practices, according to the 2018 research. And, although the number of religious groups advertising gay conversion therapy in Australia and New Zealand has fallen sharply over the years, researchers have been unable to determine whether the practice itself has actually dropped off. Some religious groups engaged in gay conversion therapy have moved away from suggesting same-sex attraction can be overcome, instead promoting activities to help same-sex attracted people live chaste and celibate lives in accordance with their religious beliefs. An Age investigation in 2018 found conversion practices were hidden in evangelical churches and ministries under the guise of pastoral care, and being pushed through a network of courses and mentors online, cloaked in the terminology of self-improvement or spiritual healing. What harm does it cause? Loading Gay conversion therapy causes long-term psychological harm and distress, a Victorian government inquiry found in 2018. The inquiry, by the Health Complaints Commissioner, heard from survivors who experienced acute distress and ongoing mental health issues, feelings of guilt and shame about their sexuality, and same-sex attraction being attributed to childhood, developmental or family issues and trauma. There are still psychologists, counsellors and counselling services offering conversion therapy/practices, despite the overwhelming evidence of the significant and long-term harm caused by these practices, the inquirys report states.

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Survivors have spoken of the toll that gay conversion practices have had on them. Nicole Mugford, 28, was subjected to gay conversion practises as a teenager and young adult. I grew up in a church and from an early age I was told messages about brokenness in relation to sexuality and gender identity, Mugford says. When I was about 12 years old someone else in our church youth group came out as gay. They were told they couldnt be a leader in the church because they were a danger to young people, and they were prayed about for weeks and weeks. We prayed demons out of them until they eventually stopped coming. At 15, Mugford, who came out as queer about two years ago, began questioning her sexual identity but leaders at her church youth group told her, you can be either Christian or gay, you cant be both. A lot of it has now affected my mental health, she says, its all internalised in terms of how I relate to people and relate to my faith  it made me less confident in terms of who I was and how I live my life. Conservative religious groups are opposing the gay conversion bill. Credit:The Age What would the law do? The Victorian government wants to criminalise conduct in healthcare and religious settings that involve an attempt to change or suppress a persons sexuality or gender identity, with or without their consent.

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The penalty would be up to 10 years jail, or up to $10,000 in fines, if prosecutors can prove beyond reasonable doubt that a persons actions have caused serious injury, defined in the Crimes Act 1958 as one that endangers life and is substantial and protracted. The new law was introduced because many of the practices around gay conversion therapy, including spiritual guidance, are not captured under existing legislation. Prayer-based activities that do not target an individual, such as sermons expressing a statement of belief, will not fall foul of the law. The government says prayer will constitute a breach of the law if the person intended to change or suppress an individuals sexual or gender identity. The Change and Suppression (Conversion) Practices Bill clarifies that facilitating a persons coping skills, social support or identity exploration and development does not constitute a change or suppression practice. It also states a health practitioner doing what they deem necessary in their reasonable professional judgement to provide a health service, and one that complies with their legal and professional obligations, will also not constitute a change or suppression practice. Those who are found guilty of removing, or arranging for someone to remove, a same-sex attracted or gender diverse person from Victoria to undertake change or suppression practices outside of the state will be punishable under the proposed law. The reforms also have a civil element. The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission will have new powers to deal with complaints that dont meet the criminal threshold, and to launch its own investigations into systemic issues as part of a new scheme for victims. (The commission will also be tasked with promoting the publics understanding of the new law.) The bill sets out a number of civil remedies if a person or organisation has been found to breach the law, including seeking enforceable undertakings; a public register of enforceable undertakings; and issuing a compliance notice. The legislation would come into effect 12 months after the governor gives royal assent. The Family Violence Protection Act will also be amended to stipulate that suppressing or changing a family members sexual or gender identity is a form of domestic violence. The regime governing Personal Safety Intervention Orders will also be strengthened to prevent harassment on that basis.

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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
[February 04, 2021] Investor Chris Bischoff Joins General Catalyst

LONDON, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- General Catalyst, a leading venture capital firm, today announces the joining of Chris Bischoff, a seasoned London-based investor, as Managing Director. Mr. Bischoff has backed notable consumer, financial services and healthcare companies in both the United States and Europe including Avito, Babylon, Betterment, Cedar, VillageMD, Livongo and Cityblock Health.

Prior to joining General Catalyst, Mr. Bischoff was the senior investment director at Kinnevik AB, where he led venture and growth investments in mission-driven businesses that leverage disruptive technology, with a particular focus on healthcare. In that capacity, his work often intersected with General Catalyst, most recently through investments in Livongo (now Teladoc, NYSE: TDOC, where Mr. Bischoff serves as a Board Member) and Cityblock. As a firm, GC looks to partner with the brightest and most ambitious founders who are taking on societal-level challenges. To do that, we ourselves need to be an exceptional team, said Hemant Taneja, Managing Partner, General Catalyst. Having invested alongside and worked with Chris as a fellow director, I know firsthand that he shares our commitment to backing and building enduring companies with the potential to materially improve the lives of many. With General Catalyst, Mr. Bischoff will further strengthen the firms bench of experienced healthcare investors who have bilt a portfolio of transformational? software and tech-enabled service?s companies in the sector. In care delivery, investments in addition to Livongo and Cityblock include Oscar, Color, and Ro Health; in care infrastructure, investments include Commure, Olive, SonderMind, and Transcarent.



Over the past half a decade, General Catalyst has expanded its focus to Europe and Israel under the leadership of Managing Director Adam Valkin. The firm has assembled a portfolio of several of the leading internet and software companies in the region. In the consumer and financial services categories, investments include Lemonade, Bloom & Wild, Brainly, Cazoo, Deliveroo, Grammarly, Fundbox, Melio, Monzo, and Rapyd; and in enterprise, investments include Airslate, Contentful, Multiverse, Remote.com and Shift Technology. Mr. Bischoff will work in concert with Mr. Valkin to extend and deepen the firms network of opportunities across Europe and Israel. Europe and Israel have unequivocally become major centers for global-scale innovation, and having Chris on the ground here is a huge asset for our firm, said Adam Valkin, managing director at General Catalyst. I have known Chris for many years and have observed his talent as an investor, his outstanding portfolio, and importantly, his reputation as a trusted partner for ambitious founders."

Mr. Bischoff commented: Ive known and greatly admired GC for many years and have successfully partnered with the team on multiple occasions. I am strongly aligned with their purpose, approach and culture, so this is a natural step. Whilst I am leaving an excellent firm at Kinnevik, I could not be more excited about the path forward and opportunities ahead with this team and this firm." About General Catalyst

General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that invests in powerful, positive change that endures  for our entrepreneurs, our investors, our people, and society. We support founders with a long-term view who challenge the status quo, partnering with them from seed to growth stage and beyond to build companies that withstand the test of time. With offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York City, and Boston, the firm has helped support the growth of businesses such as: Airbnb, Deliveroo, Guild, Gusto, Hubspot, Livongo, Oscar, Samsara, Snap, Stripe, and Warby Parker. For more: www.generalcatalyst.com.

Contact Ronda Scott info@generalcatalyst.com

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A Fraser Island dingo has attacked a boy from NSW at the islands popular Orchid Beach, with residents now fearful the animal involved is a pup that will be culled.

The nine-year-old child had a minor abrasion, without any puncture wounds to his body.

The boy did not need to be taken to hospital.

A file image of a dingo on Fraser Island. Credit:Matt Dennien

Paramedics and rangers were called to Orchid Beach on the heritage-listed island, about 200 kilometres north of Brisbane, about 9.20am on Thursday.
(CNN) -- The House impeachment managers on Thursday requested Donald Trump testify at his upcoming Senate impeachment trial, in a dramatic move to try to get the former President on the record about his conduct surrounding the January 6 riots at the Capitol.

But Trump's legal team quickly responded by rejecting the invitation in a terse response to the House impeachment team, putting the decision back on the Democrats over whether to try to compel Trump's testimony with a subpoena.

Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin sent a letter to Trump's attorney Thursday requesting that Trump testify before or during the upcoming impeachment trial, which begins on Tuesday, arguing that his testimony was needed after he disputed the House's allegations that he incited the insurrection at the Capitol.

"Two days ago, you filed an Answer in which you denied many factual allegations set forth in the article of impeachment," Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, wrote. "You have thus attempted to put critical facts at issue notwithstanding the clear and overwhelming evidence of your constitutional offense. In light of your disputing these factual allegations, I write to invite you to provide testimony under oath, either before or during the Senate impeachment trial, concerning your conduct on January 6, 2021."

Trump's lawyers quickly responded to Raskin's request on Thursday, writing back in a three-paragraph letter, saying the request was a sign the House could not prove its allegations against Trump.

"The use of our Constitution to bring a purported impeachment proceeding is much too serious to try to play these games," wrote Trump's attorneys, Bruce Castor and David Schoen.

Trump adviser Jason Miller confirmed that Trump was rejecting the request, telling CNN, "The President will not testify in an unconstitutional proceeding."

Senior aides talked Trump out of going to the House floor to defend himself ahead of his second impeachment in January, a similar tactic he also considered the first time he was impeached.

The swift rejection of the request for testimony raises the question of whether Democrats will try to subpoena Trump to testify for the trial. The House's letter did not mention a subpoena. Raskin instead suggested the impeachment managers would use his refusal against him, writing, "We reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions."

Raskin declined to comment Thursday when asked whether he would subpoena Trump if he declined to appear.

At the first impeachment trial, Democrats sought testimony from Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton, not Trump himself. But the Democrats' attempt to subpoena Bolton failed after Republicans voted against hearing from any witnesses in the trial before Trump was acquitted.

The question of whether the House managers would seek witnesses had been looming over the start of Trump's second impeachment trial next week, as senators in both parties have been urging a speedy trial so the Senate can move on and work on President Joe Biden's agenda. But the House managers and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had remained quiet on the question of witnesses until Thursday's letter.

Senators in both parties seemed to pan the idea on Thursday.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate West Virginia Democrat, said it would be a "dog and pony show." Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, called it a "terrible idea."

"Have you met President Trump?" Coons said to reporters when asked to explain his thinking.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is a close ally of the former President, said it wouldn't be "in anybody's interest" for Trump to testify.

"It's just a political showboat move to do this, and they didn't call him in the House," Graham said.

While Trump's testimony at a Senate trial would create a made-for-TV moment at the trial, it's unclear whether it would change the outcome of the trial. Forty-five of the 50 Republican senators voted last week to support dismissing the trial on the ground that an impeachment trial for a former president is unconstitutional.

Asked Thursday whether the House managers were walking into a likely acquittal of Trump because of that vote, Pelosi shot back, "They don't know that."

"Why don't we just wait and let them make their case" Pelosi said. "If we were not to follow up with this we might as well remove any penalty from the Constitution."

The House impeached Trump last month on a charge of inciting the insurrection at the Capitol. In a pretrial brief filed Tuesday, the House impeachment managers accused Trump of being "singularly responsible" for the deadly riots, saying Trump's actions spreading false conspiracy theories that the election was stolen incited his supporters to attack the Capitol and try to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power by stopping Congress from certifying the election.

Trump's lawyers argued in a legal brief Tuesday that the Senate impeachment trial was unconstitutional because Trump was no longer president, and that Trump did not incite the rioters. Trump's legal team also argued that Trump's speech was protected by the First Amendment, while contending that Trump's false claims about the election could not be proven inaccurate.

In the letter Thursday, Raskin asked that Trump testify sometime between Monday and Thursday next week. The trial is slated to begin on Tuesday.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Trump quickly rejects impeachment managers' request for testimony at impeachment trial"
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on February 3 urged the world community to make sure that Myanmars military coup fails. In an online discussion with the Washington Post, Guterres called the reversal of elections absolutely unacceptable and said that coup leaders must be made to understand that this is no way to rule the country. He called for constitutional order to be re-established and said that he hoped there would be unity in the Security Council on the matter.

Myanmars military had seized the power on Monday, declaring a yearlong state of emergency and detaining de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, among others. The coup had taken place following days of tension between the military and the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the November elections. The military, however, has refused to accept the results, alleging massive election fraud.

Guterres has said that the UN will do everything to mobilise all the key actors of the international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that the coup fails. He also noted that if anything, the NLD leader Suu Kyi was too close to the military, defending its brutal offensive against Rohingya Muslims that caused nearly a million of them to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh three years ago. Further, the UN leader hoped that democracy will be able to make progress again in Myanmar and added that all the prisoners must be released and the constitutional order must be reestablished.

READ: Bangladesh Steps Up Security Along Border With Myanmar To Prevent Influx Of Rohingyas

READ: In Myanmar, People Honk Horns & Clang Pots In 'Hit The Cans' Protest Against Military Coup

Myanmar crisis

Suu Kyi has been charged by the military with offences related to some walkie-talkies allegedly imported with improper licence and for shaking hands during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the police document. She among other leaders from the civilian government was put under house arrest on February 1 as armed forces took the power after complaining over the voter fraud in the recent general election in November 2020. Myanmar President Win Myint, who was also arrested and removed from the office, would be reportedly charged with offences under the natural disaster management law.

Myanmar is under the control of the military and a state of emergency for a year. In the run-up to the November 2020 election, Army chief Min Aung Hlaing, who has acquired the power of the nation now, had claimed that civilian government was making "unacceptable mistakes. Meanwhile, amid rising tensions in Burma, Facebook services were disrupted on Thursday as the military reportedly ordered telecom companies to block the social media platform. However, the Myanmar military stressed that it will protect and abide by its constitution.

READ: Myanmar Crisis: G7 Countries Express Concern, Demand Military To Restore Power

READ: Health Workers In Virus-hit Myanmar Start Anti-coup Protests


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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  Eight top staffers under Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham received salary increases totaling $92,000 over the past year  a 10% bump on average, far outpacing the raises more broadly granted state employees.

At least three of the increases appear tied to promotions or expanded responsibilities.

The increases, nonetheless, range from 8% to 21%, and most took effect by April.

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The biggest change was for Tripp Stelnicki, the governors communications director, whose annual salary increased by almost $19,000 since January 2020. His pay went from $88,000 in January last year to $107,000 by September, his second pay raise after a smaller bump in April.

Lujan Grisham press secretary Nora Meyers Sackett, whose pay was unchanged over the past year, said some of the raises were planned in 2019 but didnt take effect until 2020.

Salaries do change when employees are promoted or their responsibilities are expanded, just like in any other office, Sackett said in a written statement. The office stays within its means as far as what is budgeted.

The increased pay drew condemnation from Republican legislative leaders, who noted that at least some of the changes came after the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and public health restrictions limited business activity.

I thought the governor told us when she was shutting down the entire state that we were all in this together, House Minority Whip Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, said in an interview. Apparently, were not all in this together.

He called the raises very frustrating.

Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca, R-Belen, said in a written statement that Lujan Grisham has chosen to prioritize political appointees over everyone else.

He said she has used her executive budget to reward the loyalty of her inner circle.

Five got 8% raises

Five staff members under Lujan Grisham received 8% raises that surfaced in the April employee data file published on the New Mexico Sunshine Portal, according to a Journal analysis.

Its difficult to say precisely when they took effect, because the state publishes employee salary data only once a month. But the 8% raises show up for the first time in the April report. The pay raises were first reported by The Candle, an online publication covering New Mexico news.

The raises include a bump to about $146,000 a year for Teresa Casados, chief operating officer; to almost $144,000 a year for Dominic Gabello, Cabinet director; and to about $101,000 a year for Victor Reyes, director of legislative affairs.

Two others who received 8% increases in April also had recent promotions  Diego Arencon became deputy chief of staff and Caroline Buerkle became deputy chief operating officer. They each make about $135,000 now.

Matthew Garcia, who rose from general counsel to chief of staff, had his pay increased by almost 10%  to $146,000 a year, according to the April report.

Staffers play critical role

Two other staff members had their pay boosted later in the year.

Stelnicki, the communications director, had his annual salary climb from $88,000 in January 2020 to about $100,000 in the April report and then to $107,000 in the September report.

Melissa Salazar, director of boards and commissioner, got a 15% increase in the December report, pushing her salary up to $90,000 a year.

Sackett said it wasnt accurate to describe all of the raises as having occurred during the pandemic. The states emergency declaration was issued in mid-March when the first COVID-19 cases surfaced in New Mexico.

But Sackett said some raises were planned ahead of time.

Furthermore, members of the Governors Office staff play a critical role in the operation of the states executive branch and the governance of the state  all of which is amplified during a yearlong crisis, Sackett said. They coordinate state departments and agencies, all of whom operate under the executives leadership, as outlined by the state Constitution.

The work, she said, has been particularly critical during the ongoing pandemic, as Governors Office staff have worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week to direct the states COVID-19 response and continue to provide important information to the public.

State employees generally havent received raises approaching the 10% average for the eight staffers in the Governors Office.

Teachers received 6% in the fiscal 2020 budget and were scheduled to receive 4% starting last summer, but the raises were rolled back to 1% in the June special session. State employees more generally had been scheduled to receive 4%, too, but their raises were rolled back or eliminated.

The top executives in the Legislative Council Service and Legislative Finance Committee, for example, havent had their pay changed over the past year, according to the states online salary records.

And some of the top staffers in the Governors Office  besides the eight who got raises averaging 10%  didnt receive increases either.

This years budget calls for about $7 billion in general spending.

The eight Governors Office staffers with raises are all exempt employees, meaning they are political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the governor.


Within just a few short months, Maria Bakalova has gone from virtual unknown to streaming sensation, and now Golden Globe nominee.

The 24-year-old actress became the first Bulgarian actress to get a Golden Globe nomination, and the first Eastern European actress since Polish actress Ida Kaminska was nominated for the Czech film The Shop on Main Street in 1967.

Bakalova opened up about her historic nod in a new interview with Deadline, where she expressed her shock and delight about her whirlwind success.

Nominee: Within just a few short months, Maria Bakalova has gone from virtual unknown to streaming sensation, and now Golden Globe nominee

The actress is nominated for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for Borat 2 alongside, 'actresses I have admired since childhood.'

Her category includes Michelle Pfieffer for French Exit, Kate Hudson for Music, Rosamund Pike for I Care A Lot and fellow 24-year-old Anya Taylor-Joy for Emma.

'A person dreams and dreams and dreams but things are so unpredictable. Its incredible what is happening, Im speechless,' she added.

Admired: The actress is nominated for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for Borat 2 alongside, 'actresses I have admired since childhood'

She also adds that her nomination will be a 'big step' in giving other actresses from Bulgaria and Eastern Europe a chance to succeed in America.

'What excites and motivates me the most is the prospect of many Eastern European actors and creators being noticed and finding opportunities in Western cinema where they have not been represented,' she said.

Bakalova added that, 'people who have an accent and may not be speaking perfect English but are working really hard on that. They could finally be given a chance to play multi-dimensional characters like Tutar.'

Big step: She also adds that her nomination will be a 'big step' in giving other actresses from Bulgaria and Eastern Europe a chance to succeed in America

The actress was plucked from obscurity by writer-producer-star Sacha Baron Cohen to play Tuta Sagdiev, the daughter of his title character Borat Sagdiev.

She thanked Cohen and the other producers, stating, 'To be able to build a character like that you need a great script and brave producers who would get behind you and believe that you can do it.'

Bakalova has a background in dramatic acting, though she has not decided what project she wants to take on next.

Daughter: The actress was plucked from obscurity by writer-producer-star Sacha Baron Cohen to play Tuta Sagdiev, the daughter of his title character Borat Sagdiev

She did add that the next movie she does, 'would have a message, would be something that reflects the times we live in.'

'Life is so fleeting  we are on this earth for 60, 70, 80, 90 years at the most  but the art we create could live on forever as a document of what happened,' she added.

When asked if she would play Tutar again in another Borat movie, she responded, 'Why not,' adding Cohen's films are, 'rebelling against an injustice and showing how we can make the society better,' noting, 'it will also have a strong message.'

Gov. Tom Wolf presented his budget proposal Wednesday, including a plan to increase public school funding through raising personal income taxes.

However, some Schuylkill County superintendents have said that, while more funding may be needed in public schools, tax increases are not the best solution, suggesting instead the need for reform of the cyber charter schools funding formula, which the governor has proposed.

The governor is proposing a $1.3 billion investment in basic education funding and a $200 million increase in special education funding. Increased tax money will go through the fair funding formula, which directs state money to school districts based on enrollment, needs and the ability of communities to fund local schools.

Shawn Fitzpatrick, Ed.D., Schuylkill Haven Area School District superintendent, said public schools could benefit from the additional funding, but he would not want taxes to increase during the pandemic.

He said the district has faced many challenges in the past year.

Weve made some very difficult decisions last year to reduce hiring and shuffle existing staff to help navigate this difficult school year, Fitzpatrick said. Work needs to continue towards a better funding formula for cyber charter schools.

David Helsel, Ed.D., Blue Mountain School District superintendent, also said the government should focus more on cyber charter school costs rather than increasing taxes.

Before they raise taxes, they should address cyber charter school reform, he said. If they do that, we wouldnt need to raise taxes.

Wolfs proposal would establish a statewide cyber charter tuition rate of $9,500 per student per year. Currently, cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania charge school districts between $9,170 and $22,300, whereas the typical tuition rates an intermediate unit charges to provide a comparable online education is around $5,400, according to the governors office. The proposal estimates the reform would save school districts an estimated $130 million annually.

No to tax increase

County state legislators likewise oppose the governors tax increase proposal.

State Rep. Tim Twardzik, R-123, Butler Township, said they need to focus on reducing spending, curbing the COVID-19 pandemic through vaccine distribution and funding education to get students back to school.

Throughout my district and across the commonwealth, there is a simple message, and it is that, now more than ever, Pennsylvanians cannot afford a tax increase, Twardzik said. The governors proposed 46% increase on income for both individuals and small businesses would destroy an already struggling group in Pennsylvania.

State Rep. Joe Kerwin, R-125, Lykens, said the governors proposals will harm small businesses and the working class, who have been affected by pandemic restrictions and a broken unemployment compensation system.

The budget proposals that Gov. Wolf has set forth not only will continue to cause the economic hardship that we are currently seeing throughout the commonwealth, but these proposals also prevent the economic recovery that we are looking to achieve for Pennsylvanians, Kerwin said. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the General Assembly to focus on our priorities and to fight for a more responsible plan, to cut wasteful spending and to help all Pennsylvanians.

State Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-124, Rush Township, said, while he supports investment in areas such as workforce development and education, he believes the budget plan will cause more unemployment and shutdowns.

It would significantly raise taxes on middle-class Pennsylvanians, small businesses and critical infrastructure, Knowles said. The governor is proposing a 46% increase in the Personal Income Tax to gain an additional $7 billion for new spending. This tax increase would devastate local employers and employees at a time when we want to help them bounce back.

Knowles said he thinks the states priority should be combating the pandemic and improving vaccine distribution rather than raising taxes.

State Sen. David G. Argall, R-29, Rush Township, said those who will be affected by the tax increase have suffered enough.

A family that operates a diner in Pottsville, Pine Grove or Womelsdorf cant afford paying 50% more in income tax, Argall said. There are no Republican votes in the Senate for these tax increases, and I doubt that many Democrats will support it, once they hear from their constituents.

(Newser)  New York City's 432 Park Avenue is "one of the wealthiest addresses in the world," per the New York Times. Briefly named the tallest residential building in the world in 2015, the $3.1 billion luxury high-rise on Billionaires' Row stretches 1,400 feet tall, offering views of Central Park, along with other perks, including a restaurant run by a Michelin-star chef. That doesn't mean you'd want to live there. "Fancy Tower for Billionaires Revealed to Be Horrifying Hellhole," reads a headline from the Cut, which picks up on the Times story cataloging a host of issues. They include creaking walls, elevators stymied by high winds, and millions of dollars in water damage from leaks. "Everything here was camouflage," says Sarina Abramovich, who purchased a 3,500-square-foot unit with her husband for almost $17 million in 2016. She says it then suffered $500,000 in water damage.

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The general manager cited a problem with a pipe flange around a high-pressure water feed on the 60th floor, several floors above Abramovich's apartment, on Nov. 22, 2018, per the Times. Four days later, a water line failed on the 74th floor, shutting down two of four residential elevators for weeks. Residents have also described groaning metal, rushing air, and a trash chute "that sounds like a bomb." (As for that restaurant, residents must spend $15,000 there each year.) Other super-tall residences are likely experiencing similar issues, the Times reports, noting most residents want to keep issues quiet to avoid hurting resale values. CIM Group, one of 432 Park's developers, acknowledges "maintenance and close-out items" as with "all new construction" and says it's working with the condo board. (Read more New York City stories.)
An earthquake of magnitude 4.8 on the Richter scale occurred near Yuksom in Sikkim on Thursday morning, said the National Center for Seismology (NCS). As per the NCS, the tremors were felt around 10:36 am at a depth of 124 kilometers.

"Earthquake of Magnitude: 4.8, Occurred on 04-02-2021, 10:36:29 IST, Lat: 28.62 & Long: 87.38, Depth: 124 Km, Location: 161km NNW of Yuksom, Sikkim, India," NCS tweeted.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

Earthquake of Magnitude:4.8, Occurred on 04-02-2021, 10:36:29 IST, Lat: 28.62 & Long: 87.38, Depth: 124 Km ,Location: 161km NNW of Yuksom, Sikkim, India for more information https://t.co/p5u2xtGpBY pic.twitter.com/a0ZZhlIH1O  National Center for Seismology (@NCS_Earthquake) February 4, 2021





This comes only two days afters an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 jolted 110 km NNE of Lobujya, Nepal at 02:31:16 GMT on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 22.15 km, was initially determined to be at 28.8024 degrees north latitude and 87.4023 degrees east longitude.

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Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
Wyoming Business Tips for Feb. 8-14

A weekly look at issues facing Wyoming business owners and entrepreneurs from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.

By Bruce Morse, regional director, Wyoming SBDC Network

One thing that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed for many small-business owners is that they were not as prepared as they could have been for a dramatic financial downturn. This can happen in any economic dip or natural disaster, but the COVID-19 situation hit companies across the world all at once.

What Makes a Resilient Business?

What we also know is that those businesses that were positioned better financially going into the pandemic have been able to withstand the resulting hardship far better than those who were not as sound financially. Having cash reserves; access to funds, such as a revolving line of credit; and lower debt loads to service made sleeping at night much easier.

It's a little late now to go back and get a financial do-over, but we can be better prepared for the next time a disaster strikes -- whatever it may look like.

Financial Health Check-Up

The Wyoming SBDC Network has a program that businesses can take advantage of, at no cost, that can help make owners better financial managers of their businesses.

It is called a Financial Health Check-Up, and it uses a combination of computer software and SBDC internal expertise in the area of financial analysis to help business owners feel more comfortable with their financial reports. Many, in fact probably most, business owners would rather sell their service or manufacture their product than spend time looking at numbers. However, they also realize that it is important to the long-term success of their enterprise.

The SBDCs free program consists of a computer analysis of a businesss historical financial data that will compare a local business to others in that industry as well as look at trends within the business itself. The result is an easy-to-read narrative report that can be viewed by the owner or with the assistance of a Wyoming SBDC Network counselor.

Another aspect of this program is the ability to do some forecasting and see what the financial picture might look like if certain changes were implemented. With any projection, there are lots of variables and uncertainty, but at least it gives businesses a place to start. To learn more about this service, contact your local Wyoming SBDC Network for no-cost, confidential assistance at www.wyomingsbdc.org.

Master Your Profits

If business owners really want to dig deep into their financial numbers and learn to manage that part of the business thoroughly, they will want to register for upcoming Profit Mastery webinars. This free series will take place weekly from Feb. 11 to March 25 to provide independent business owners with an unparalleled financial perspective as well as the tools to take advantage of opportunities and deal with challenges. To register for the webinar series, go to www.wyomingsbdc.org/events/profit-mastery-series/.

The Wyoming SBDC Network offers no-cost advising and technical assistance to help Wyoming entrepreneurs think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their business. In 2020 alone, the Wyoming SBDC Network helped Wyoming entrepreneurs start 95 new businesses; support 6,954 jobs; and bring a capital impact of $18 million to the state. The Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by UW with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu, or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY 82071-3922.
-passengers alarm

Tension is brewing onboard several buses of the National Transit Authority or NTA that ply the route from Duala to Paynesville City after commuters alarmed that they were allegedly issued duplicated tickets with different prices.

When the government of President George M. Weah announced the arrival of nearly 50 brand new buses from India for the National Transit Authority with fares at 15 Liberian dollars per students for one trip and 30 Liberian dollars for adults, many Liberians welcomed the government's gesture.

But after the buses ply various routes in the capital and out of town for some times, the Management of the NTA situated in Gardnersville outside Monrovia, increased the fares to LRD35 per student and LRD50 for adults for each trip.

However, what seems a scam or financial syndicate aimed at duping commuters through the sale of duplicated tickets was uncovered by commuters, which nearly led to serious tension between some conductors and commuters onboard the buses.

They observed that instead of the NTA conductors selling the regular tickets to commuters for the printed price on each ticket, they were doing the opposite.

Several commuters, including Betty Watson, Samuel Koon, and Felecia Wilson, who boarded one of the NTA buses from Duala and Paynesville Redlight respectively, explained that the conductor on the Duala bus instead of receiving LRD35, requested them to deposit into the cash box onboard the bus the sum of LRD50, but issued them LRD30 tickets.

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Similarly, they noted that on the NTA bus commuting passengers from Central Monrovia to Paynesville City, conductor also requested passengers to deposit LRD50 but issued LRD60 ticket.

According to the commuters, after discovering the discrepancy, they immediately alerted the conductor onboard, sparking confusion between them and the conductors that nearly resulted to fistfight had it not been for timely intervention of other passengers.Moreover, it was also observed that one of the fares was written with ink pen, instead of the regular machine printing.

This paper has in its possession some of the tickets in question.

When this reporter contacted the NTA head officer in Gardnersville to ascertain facts surrounding the situation that seems to have engulfed the NTA, security guards there said the appropriate person to speak on the matter was out in the field.
Grand Jury to Hear Mayfield Rape Case

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Forty-nine-year-old Jonathan Chapman's preliminary hearing was held Wednesday in Graves County. The judge found probable cause and bound Chapman's case to the grand jury. His bond was not modified.





Chapman is accused of unlawfully entering the home of a female companion, and sexually assaulting her. Officers reportedly found Chapman on a bicycle riding past the victim's home. He was arrested on 1st degree rape and 1st degree burglary charges.





Officers also served an arrest warrant on Chapman for violation of pretrial diversion. He was charged with possession of methamphetamine and tampering with physical evidence.



He remains lodged in the Graves County Jail.

MAYFIELD - The case against a Mayfield man arrested last month on rape, drug and burglary charges is headed to a grand jury.
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Every death related to anesthesia is a tragedy; even more so when a minor procedure such as a colonoscopy leads to a completely unexpected death. Everyone knows that open heart surgery carries a mortality risk, but few of us walk into the hospital for a colonoscopy thinking that death is a plausible outcome.

We know so few facts at this point about what happened on January 21 at Beaumont Royal Oak Hospital in Michigan. The patient who died, sources say, was a 51-year-old man who walked into the hospital for a routine colonoscopy. He was obese, with a BMI of 39, and suffered from obstructive sleep apnea, a common problem, where people snore heavily and their breathing may obstruct intermittently while theyre sleeping. Author Charles Dickens described a portly gentlemans sleep apnea perfectly in The Pickwick Papers: His head was sunk upon his bosom, and perpetual snoring, with a partial choke occasionally, were the only audible indications of the great mans presence.

Sleep apnea is a risk factor for anesthesia complications, especially airway obstruction, but every anesthesiologist is taught how to recognize and manage it. With the obesity epidemic in America today, sleep apnea is part of daily reality in anesthesiology practice.

According to recent reports in Deadline Detroit by journalist Eric Starkman, who has reported extensively on problems at Beaumont Health, the patient was intubated by a nurse anesthetist who ordinarily worked at another Beaumont Hospital. At the end of the procedure, the nurse anesthetist removed the breathing tube, and the patient began to thrash around. It isnt clear from reports if he was trying unsuccessfully to breathe or wasnt breathing at all. The nurse anesthetist called for help from an anesthesiologist, and an emergency back-up team was summoned, but the patient went into cardiac arrest and couldnt be resuscitated.

How could this happen?

Were not likely to learn further details any time soon, as NorthStar Anesthesia has refused to comment. NorthStar took over the contract for anesthesiology services at Beaumont in 2020, leading to the resignation of a number of experienced anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists who had worked there for years. According to reports, prominent surgeons, specialists, and nurses also resigned, concerned that extreme cost-cutting measures would compromise patient care. Senior cardiologists wrote a letter in September, according to Deadline Detroit, expressing serious concerns that NorthStar will not be able to provide the quality of cardiac anesthesia services that we have received for several decades.

We oppose the concept that any Beaumont physicians can be considered replaceable commodities, or that corporate leadership can assume that we would blindly accept another group of physicians to care for our patients with life-threatening cardiac conditions, the cardiologists letter stated.

In the context of this upheaval at Beaumont, we can ask these questions.

What kind of preoperative evaluation did the patient undergo before he was scheduled for his colonoscopy? Was it a cursory clearance by a mid-level practitioner, as opposed to a thorough history and physical examination by a physician? Did the patient have underlying heart or lung problems that werent noticed or treated in advance? Did the anesthesiologist have an adequate opportunity to evaluate the patient before the procedure began, or did production pressure not allow time?

Why was the decision made to intubate the patient, and who made the decision? Most patients who undergo colonoscopy receive sedation with medications such as midazolam, fentanyl, or propofol. They continue breathing on their own, without needing a breathing tube. Sedation can be safely managed even in the case of an obese patient with sleep apnea. Unless there is evidence of severe reflux, impaired stomach emptying, or bowel obstruction, intubation is rarely necessary and carries its own risks.

Were the nurse anesthetist and the anesthesiologist new to the hospital and perhaps unfamiliar with the endoscopy suites set-up and supplies? Were they adequately oriented to the hospitals resources before starting to work? Did they know where to find emergency equipment and how to reach colleagues for backup?

Was the nurse anesthetist working in an endoscopy procedure room located far from the operating rooms, where no other anesthesia professional was readily available to provide an extra pair of hands?

How many other locations and cases was the anesthesiologist responsible for at the time the patients condition started to deteriorate? How far away was the anesthesiologist, in terms of physical distance, and how long did it take to reach the endoscopy suite? The anesthesiologist should be readily available if the nurse anesthetist needs help. The standard for medical direction is that the anesthesiologist may be responsible for no more than four cases at one time. However, some employers may require one anesthesiologist to supervise six, eight, or more anesthesia locations to cut costs.

Was the endoscopy suite adequately stocked with emergency airway equipment including supraglottic airway devices, laryngeal mask airways (LMAs), intubating bougies, and video laryngoscopy? Was succinylcholine available to treat laryngospasm? The right equipment and medications might have enabled the team to rescue the patient with no harm done, let alone a fatal outcome. They may have discovered only too late what was lacking.

Whos to blame?

Every anesthesiologist has a healthy respect for obese patients and the risks of managing their airways. Though it may not always be easy to intubate these patients, extubation  taking out the breathing tube  may be even scarier. The patient may have a thick neck, a large tongue, and extra fatty tissue inside the mouth and throat, resulting in higher risk of airway obstruction once the breathing tube comes out. Ventilation by mask may be difficult or impossible.

If the patient isnt breathing adequately or stops breathing, the bloodstreams oxygen level will drop faster than it will in a thin patient. The time available for successful rescue is limited, and if there is no rescue, brain damage or death will be the inevitable result.

I will hazard a guess that the nurse anesthetist and the anesthesiologist will be blamed for this tragic death even though hospital administrations cost-cutting decisions may be at the heart of what went wrong. They may have lacked experience; their training may have been less than first-class; but I guarantee that they didnt go to work that day expecting to have a fatal outcome from anesthesia for a colonoscopy. I can only imagine their grief. Sudden, shocking adverse events in health care cause emotional trauma to everyone involved. Its fair to say that they are victims too.

There are two frightening forces at work in health care today. One is the financial pressures that threaten many hospitals with bankruptcy and lead them to sacrifice quality to cut costs. The second is the push to substitute nurse practitioners or nurse anesthetists for physicians, running the risk of putting these nurses in crisis situations that they arent trained to diagnose or manage. If an investigation uncovers the full facts in this case, it could turn out to be that the Beaumont patient was the victim of both.

Karen S. Sibert is an anesthesiologist who blogs at A Penned Point.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
WOLCOTT  A driver was injured when a chunk of ice flew off a box truck and crashed through their windshield Wednesday afternoon, police said.

The victim was driving north in a Honda Civic on Wolcott Road near Wolcott Lanes around 2 p.m. when a large chunk of ice flew off the top of a box truck headed south on Wolcott Road, police said.
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President Joe Biden announced Thursday the United States was ending support for a grinding five-year Saudi-led military offensive in Yemen that has deepened suffering in the Arabian Peninsulas poorest country, calling the move part of restoring a U.S. emphasis on diplomacy, democracy and human rights.

This war has to end, Biden told diplomats in his first visit to the State Department as president, saying the conflict had created a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe.

The Yemen reversal is one of a series of steps Biden laid out Thursday that he said would mark a course correction for U.S. foreign policy. Thats after President Donald Trump  and many Republican and Democratic administrations before his  often sided with authoritarian leaders abroad, in the name of stability.

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The announcement on Yemen fulfills a campaign pledge. But it also shows Biden putting the spotlight on a major humanitarian crisis that the United States has helped aggravate. The reversal of policy also comes as a rebuke to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has been conciliatory in its response to rebuffs from Biden, who as a candidate blasted the kingdoms current rulers for rights abuses and as president has made clear he intends to distance his administration from Saudi leaders. But the Biden administration also says it will help the kingdom boost its defenses against outside attacks, as part of maintaining key security, counterterrorism and military ties with Saudi Arabia, a strategic partner and global oil giant. Saudi state media focused on that part of Bidens announcements Thursday.

We welcome President Bidens stated commitment to work with friends and allies to resolve conflicts, and deal with attacks from Iran & its proxies in the region, Saudi Prince Khalid bin Salman, a son of King Salman and the kingdoms deputy defense minister, tweeted.

Yemen, the biblical kingdom of Sheba, has one of the worlds oldest constantly occupied cities  the more than 2,000-year-old Sanaa  along with mud brick skyscrapers and hauntingly beautiful landscapes of steep, arid mountains. But decades of Yemeni misgovernment have worsened factional divisions and halted development, and years of conflict have now drawn in increasing intervention by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran.

The Obama administration in 2015 gave its approval to Saudi Arabia leading a cross-border air campaign targeting Yemens Houthi rebels, who were seizing ever more territory, including Sanaa. The Houthis have launched multiple drone and missile strikes deep into Saudi Arabia. The U.S. says the Saudi-led campaign has entrenched Irans role in the conflict, on the side of the Houthis.

U.S. targeting assistance to Saudi Arabias command-and-control was supposed to minimize civilian casualties in the Saudi-led airstrikes. But bombing since then has killed numerous Yemeni civilians, including schoolboys on a bus and fishermen in their boats. Survivors have displayed fragments showing the bombs to be American-made.

The stalled war has failed to dislodge the Houthis and is helping deepen hunger and poverty. International rights experts say both the Gulf countries and Houthis have committed severe rights abuses.

Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman, a co-winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her role in Yemens unsuccessful Arab Spring popular uprising, urged Biden to stay involved in Yemen peace efforts.

Deeper U.S. engagement  and a refusal to side with dictators who have chosen bloodshed over democratic change  is vital so that the Yemeni people can return to the project of democracy that warring parties inside and outside of Yemen interrupted, Karman said in a statement.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the U.S. action will give more space and more hope not only to the talks but, more importantly, more hope to the people of Yemen.

Biden called Thursday for a cease-fire, an opening of humanitarian channels to allow more delivery of aid, and a return to long-stalled peace talks.

Biden also announced an end to relevant U.S. arms sales but gave no immediate details on what that would mean. The administration already has said it was pausing some of the billions of dollars in arms deals with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabias main partner in its Yemeni offensive.

The ending of U.S. support for the offensive will not affect any U.S. operations against the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, group, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

In what was seen as the latest in several Saudi gestures toward Biden, the State Department said Thursday the kingdom had conditionally released two dual Saudi-U.S. citizens detained in a crackdown on civil society there, and reduced a sentence for a third, Dr. Walid Fitaihi, convicted of disobedience to the government.

The weeks-old Biden administration has made clear that shifting its stance toward the Yemen war, and toward Saudi Arabia over the Yemen offensive and other rights abuses, was a priority. Other measures have included a review of the Trump administrations categorization of the Houthis as a terror group. Critics say the designation hinders delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemenis.

Biden also announced the choice of Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to Yemen.

Lenderking has been a deputy assistant secretary of state in the departments Middle East section. A career foreign service member, he has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.



Associated Press writers Edith Lederer at the United Nations and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.


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Amazon gets a new chief executive this summer. The company's founder, Jeff Bezos, plans to step down from that role and transition into a new job -- executive chair of Amazon, the company announced Tuesday.

The chief of Amazon's cloud computing division, Andy Jassy (above, pictured right), will become Amazon's new chief executive. Jassy served in that post in a temporary capacity along with another Amazon executive in recent years. The change will be effective in the third quarter, which starts in July.

In recent years, Bezos unofficially stepped out of the daily operations at Amazon to spend time on several other personal and business projects. He returned to head up the daily operations at Amazon when the pandemic hit.

Bezos on Tuesday told employees in correspondence that his intention is "to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives" for the company built into one of the world's most valuable companies. He intends to remain as a driving force behind the company's continued innovative growth.

The deep responsibility as chief executive is time consuming and leaves him little time "to put attention on anything else," Bezos explained. In his new role he will be able to stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives.

That will also give him the time and energy needed to focus on his other projects that he owns or oversees. Those include the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and his other passions.

Bezos said that his executive move is not about retiring. Rather, it is a result of his being "super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have."

Bezos served as founder, chair, and CEO and owns an 11.1 percent stake in Amazon. In 2019, the company earned $280.5 billion in revenues and a record $11.5 billion in net profit.

Amazon's financial success will no doubt see little or no negative impact from the executive changes, suggested Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

"I don't expect many, if any changes, as Bezos steps away from the CEO role. As Amazon's earnings report [yesterday] demonstrated, the company is firing on all cylinders. Jassy may be in the driver's seat as CEO, but you don't change the trajectory of a company heading in the right direction," King told the E-Commerce Times.

Company Cameo

News of Bezos' shift in executive status came as part of Amazon's fourth-quarter earnings report. That report offered details of Amazon exceeding Wall Street analysts' projections for both sales and profit.

Despite the pandemic, the company's retail and cloud business profits soared. Amazon's stock grew nearly 69 percent in the past year.

Today, the Amazon global mega marketplace is worth $1.7 trillion. Bezos' personal wealth also soared to $188 billion, which was surpassed only last month by Elon Musk, who heads Tesla and SpaceX among other companies.

Bezos conceived of the warehouse concept for direct-to-consumer sales 27 years ago on a road trip to Seattle. Before that venture began, he started out founding an online bookseller with the same name in 1994. He built Amazon into a global digital storefront that sells books, household goods, cloud computing services, and other products.

When the pandemic hit, the company swerved around supply chain issues. Bezos revved up its operations to meet the growing demand of consumers forced to stay home and not shop in brick and motor stores.

Amazon hired 175,000 additional workers to meet the soaring consumer demand. The company faced criticism from U.S. senators and the general public for its reportedly less-than-ideal treatment of warehouse workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Why the Sudden Move?

Jeff Bezos will be stepping down as CEO of Amazon following a year of record growth for the e-commerce giant for more than better time availability for Bezos, according to Jason Boyce, CEO and founder of Avenue7 Media and author of "The Amazon Jungle." This is a strategic move to avoid antitrust scrutiny, Boyce told the E-Commerce Times in a written statement.

Jassy's experience as chief executive of Amazon's cloud computing division positions him to guide Amazon into more cloud services, noted Boyce. The selection of Jassy to replace Bezos could indicate what comes next for the marketing giant's business focus.

"Bezos will move behind the curtain at Amazon and push poor Andy Jassy into the antitrust hot seat," said Boyce. "Jassy bleeds Amazon blue, and the company won't miss a beat. But Bezos isn't going anywhere. He'll continue to drive the vision and future of Amazon."

Boyce does not expect Amazon's approach to technology to change as Jassy is a clone of Bezos. The company will continue to focus on its continuous improvement and feedback loops.

Retail, especially the third-party marketplace, drives more profit dollars to Amazon's line than Amazon Web Services (AWS). This is Amazon's biggest secret, according to Boyce.

Amazon hides just how profitable the third-party market is for two reasons. One is antitrust concerns, and the other is not wanting competitors to know how profitable their marketplace business is, he explained.

Clarifying the Issues

Jassy is an interesting choice for the CEO slot because his background aligns with Amazon's goals. He fits into how Amazon sees its future as a software services provider, according to Boyce.

"Amazon is already a service and tech business. Even its marketplace could be considered a tech and services business. I believe that if Jeff Wilk hadn't stepped down, he may have become the next CEO. Since he's gone, Jassy is the next logical fit," Boyce said.

Wilk, who was the chief executive of Amazon's Consumer Worldwide, announced his decision to retire recently. It is not that Andy is just an interesting choice. With Jeff Wilk stepping down, he is the only logical choice, Boyce added.

Boyce expects Amazon to expand into more AI technology. Amazon will continue to iterate on its market-leading products and services, and Jeff Bezos will still be driving the vision of the company.

"He's not going anywhere and will be 100 percent focused on the next five-to-10 years of Amazon, while Andy [Jassy] runs day-to-day and deals with things like antitrust and unionization," Boyce predicted.

Amazon Next

With Bezos stepping out of daily operations, the executive team will have to figure out where they want to expand, according to Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group. They are already exploring more vertical integration focused on buyer delivery and using drones.

"Product lines like Echo continue to expand, and they are likely to brand other popular products in the future. Besides, they have to weather the antitrust challenges in front of them. Near term, these three efforts will likely consume executive focus," Enderle told the E-Commerce Times.

How smoothly the executive transitions go, including who replaces Jassy, is anybody's guess. Bezos is known to be very engaged in decisions within the units he manages, Enderle noted.

"We likely won't get a sense of the new CEO's real priorities until Bezos fully steps out of the CEO role in 6 months," he said.

Companies rarely get through their first CEO transition well because succession is often not a priority, he offered. That is particularly the case for someone as engaged in day-to-day operations as Bezos is.

"That typically makes transitions like this very painful because the CEO job is very different from any other company job," Enderle said.

Defining Moments

It is almost as if Bezos built Amazon and AWS for just this moment, with people and businesses shifting massively toward working and shopping online, noted Pund-IT's King.

"Given the continuing disruptions of the pandemic, I expect Amazon and AWS will continue to operate in gangbusters fashion. The longer those disruptions continue, the more likely it will be that many of the Amazon-supported processes consumers and companies adopted temporarily will become permanent," he observed.

Jack M. Germain has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His main areas of focus are enterprise IT, Linux and open-source technologies. He is an esteemed reviewer of Linux distros and other open-source software. In addition, Jack extensively covers business technology and privacy issues, as well as developments in e-commerce and consumer electronics. Email Jack.


Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot sought to blame the Chicago Teachers Union for the lack of an agreement to reopen Chicago Public Schools and said time is running out.

We are deeply disappointed to announce that we still have not reached a deal, the mayor said at a Thursday news conference. The ball is in CTUs court.

She asserted that the city waited for hours Thursday night for an updated CTU proposal and we are still waiting this morning, to be clear, not patiently. ... My patience with delays from the CTU leadership is over.

She also said: We are out of runway. ... Time is running out.

Noting its the final day of the quarter, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said shes continued to hear from parents who have to support their high-needs children all day or who are essential workers and need childcare, along with countless Black and Latinx families who are falling behind.

This is personal to me, said Jackson, whose daughter was supposed to return to elementary school on Monday along with 60,000 other students.

At this point finding a public health expert who opposes in person learning would be like finding a scientist that doesnt believe in climate change, Jackson said.

Families cannot stay in limbo waiting for news about reopening, she said.

Our parents want to know whats going on and to the mayors point, we need to get a deal done today.

Lightfoot said her administration expects teachers back in school as soon as possible but did not give a date. Because Friday is a day off for students, the earliest they would be back is Monday.

CTU leadership needs to get serious and meet her administration at the finish line, Lightfoot said, repeating that we need a deal today.

Lightfoot reiterated that schools are safe, and said the citys had three weeks of limited in-person learning thats shown that.

As the expression goes, the proof is in the pudding, Lightfoot said. CPS had three weeks of successful implementation until the CTU blew up that success and created chaos.

Story continues

Ratcheting up pressure on the union, Lightfoot said, The ball is in the CTUs court.

Despite a series of productive exchanges on Monday and Tuesday that should have absolutely led to a deal by yesterday, Lightfoot said the union took a series of steps backward that were simply not productive.

Just before she spoke, the teachers union released an open letter, saying in part: We cannot return to in-person instruction until we have made more progress with the district on CDC-based health metrics, allowing educators with medically vulnerable family members to continue to teach remotely, and addressing real equity needs for the vast majority of our students  particularly Black and Latinx students who continue to learn remotely.

The union also said the mayor and CPS are still threatening to lock out teachers and shut students out of all learning if we dont capitulate on critical outstanding safety issues. We sincerely hope that doesnt happen. Thousands of our members are also CPS parents. We love your children. We desperately want to be back in classrooms with them, but we are not willing to accept the inevitable illness and death a reckless reopening will inflict on our city.

But at the mayors news conference, Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicagos health commissioner, noted the citys positivity rate has fallen to 5.4 percent and said the citys got roughly 539 new COVID-19 cases each day.

This is the best shape our city has been in from a COVID perspective since the beginning of October, Arwady said.

She underscored again the body of scientific evidence, including a study she co-authored, suggesting that, with proper virus mitigation, schools have not been shown to be a major center of COVID-19 spread.

Earlier Thursday, at a news conference hosted by the teachers union, some parents said theyve felt their voices arent being heard.

Parents Wednesday night were left waiting until 9:30 p.m. to learn whether in-person school would resume Thursday, which is representative of the districts pattern of offering late-night announcements regarding school the next day.

We only have a few more months to go and theyre making all this chaos with the kids going back, not going back, are the teachers going to be back in school tomorrow? Theyre making it more stressful than it should be because right now, its working, said Dulce Jimenez, a parent with a student at Sadlowski Elementary School, 3930 E. 105th St.

But the parents who spoke Thursday morning werent directly affected by the last-minute decision. They instead said they would keep their children in remote learning even when schools do reopen. They were more concerned that dozens of CPS teachers still remain locked out of their Google classrooms in what they consider a punitive decision, even after Mayor Lori Lightfoot said no additional teachers would be locked out this week.

Students affected by the lockouts includes Ana Avilas son, a 5-year-old kindergarten student in a special education program at Corkery Elementary, 2510 S. Kildare Ave., whose teacher was locked out two weeks ago, leaving students in his Google classroom without a teacher since then. Students have been working with two special education classroom assistants instead.

I dont know if CPS knows, understands that the people they are hurting the most are our children, Avila said through a Spanish language interpreter Thursday. We have tried many things to get our teacher reinstated and CPS is not listening to us. Although the (classroom assistants) are doing the best they can, theyre not a teacher and I think 2 weeks without a teacher will set (the students) back. For CPS telling us theyre doing this reopening for our students, is not true. CPS is not only punishing teachers but it is also punishing our students.

The mayor later question how the CTU has time to orchestrate press conferences and letters but, she said, doesnt have a focus on getting a deal done?

Lightfoot and Jackson also have faced criticism for not providing in-person updates over the past several days, with one CPS administrator telling the Tribune: Parents want answers. Others have admonished the leaders for only offering updates via national media appearances on networks including MSNBC and CNN, while families and local journalists havent been given much opportunity to ask questions directly.

Lightfoot previously insisted schools would reopen last Monday, when more than 60,000 elementary students were signed up to return, or else the teachers would be locked out. She dropped the threat and allowed remote learning to continue after it was clear the union would discard her deadline  but teachers from the first reopening wave who had not reported in person were, and remain, locked out.

Thursday was the next targeted return date but it, too, was postponed after most of those students would have been in bed Wednesday night, uncertain whether they were expected to wake up less than 10 hours later and attend school in person for the first time since March closures during the coronavirus pandemic.

Many other CPS families are supportive of giving parents the choice of in-person learning for their children, and many have complained that that CTUs voice drowns out all others.

Check back for updates.
Alleging that the BJP is a 'dangerous party', which has 'sold off' the country, Mamata Banerjee said that the saffron party needs to look into the mirror before eyeing West Bengal

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said there is no alternative to her Trinamool Congress (TMC) and no other party can take its place in the state. Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo, was addressing a meeting of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe leaders of the party in Kolkata.

"Only the Trinamool Congress is the alternative to the Trinamool Congress, it will go for bettering itself. "No other party can take its place since it has provided the most people-friendly government in the world," she said.

Alleging that the BJP is a "dangerous party" which has "sold off" the country, Banerjee said that the saffron party needs to look into the mirror before eyeing West Bengal, where assembly elections are due in April-May. "Assembly elections will be announced in four to five days," the chief minister said.

Claiming that the BJP has destroyed 'Sonar Bharat'(golden India) and is now talking of creating 'Sonar Bangla', the TMC supremo said, the saffron party is indulging in false propaganda using social media. The TMC supremo claimed that people are suffering in BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Tripura.

Banerjee said that the saffron party thinks that it can form the government in West Bengal by taking into its fold "some traitors" from the TMC. "Those who resort to violence and have ill-gotten wealth go to the BJP to save their money, nobody goes out of love," she said, wondering whether the saffron party had turned itself into a washing machine that could cleanse "tainted leaders".

"If migrant workers die, they don't spend a rupee, but hire jet planes to fly corrupt leaders to Delhi," she said. Banerjee claimed that people will not forgive those who betray Bengal despite living in the state.

"People respect Siraj ud-Daulah, but not Mir Jafar," she said.

Siraj-ud-Daulah was the last independent Nawab of Bengal. The end of his reign marked the start of the East India Company rule over Bengal and later almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Betrayed by Mir Jafar, the commander of the Nawab's army, he lost the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and the administration of Bengal fell into the hands of the East India Company.

Banerjee said that some artistes have claimed that the BJP IT cell was pressuring them to make statements in favour of the saffron party in social media. Urging people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to support her party in the coming elections, she said, "They have taken many seats from you in Jangalmahal and north Bengal, they have got all MPs from the region but have they given anything?" The TMC could not win any seat in the north Bengal and Jangalmahal area in the western districts of the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"While we have done everything for the relief of the people affected by cyclone Amphan, we have faced criticism for one or two gaffes," Banerjee said. Opposition parties, including the BJP, Congress and the Left Front, have been vocal in alleging that Amphan relief funds had been misappropriated by TMC leaders and workers.

Mentioning that the Central Government must repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act, she claimed that its existence is a "constant threat" to the citizens of the country. "People must not be intimidated by the National Register of Citizens (NRC) or the National Population Register (NPR)," Banerjee said.

Claiming that the TMC government was working for the welfare of the SC and ST communities, the chief minister said, nearly 18 lakh people have been given caste certificates through the 'Duare Sarkar' (government at doorsteps) programme.

Criticising the Union budget allocation for road construction projects in West Bengal, she said that her government has already built 85,000 kilometres of roads in the state and is working on the upgradation of the existing Siliguri-Kolkata highway.

The TMC supremo also criticised the Centre for the spiralling fuel prices. She said that while farmers are agitating for the last 70 days demanding the repeal of three farm laws, opposition party leaders, including TMC MP Saugata Roy, were not allowed to enter the dharna area at Singhu border.

Banerjee lost her cool at the beginning of her address when a few people rose to make some demands.

"I do what I can but I cannot do everything, I am not God," she said, asserting that she has given everything to the people, but still demands are being made," Banerjee said.

The TMC supremo alleged that disturbances were being purposefully created in her public meetings at the instigation of the CPI(M) and the BJP. Maintaining that she accedes to requests and proper demands, Banerjee asserted that she cannot be blackmailed.

"I am a streetfighter, I cannot be intimidated to do anything," she said. Maintaining that people in Bengal are living in peace and are happy, she said that former Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar has said that the situation is bad in the BJP-ruled north-eastern state.
Seventy-eight new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in county Kildare today, out of a national total of 1,318. A further 75 deaths from the virus were notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. Forty-six of those deaths occurred in February, 27 occurred in January and two were earlier.

The median age of those who died is 84 years and the age range is 34-100 years.

Of the cases notified today, 622 are men / 688 are women, 58% are under 45 years of age and the median age is 40 years old. Some 428 cases are in Dublin, 122 in Cork, 93 in Galway, 78 in Kildare, 77 in Limerick and the remaining 520 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 2pm today, 1,284 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 188 are in ICU. 74 additional hospitalisations have occurred in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: We know that the over 70s have suffered the greatest burden of mortality and serious illness from Covid-19. Ireland is now in a good position; we can now offer highly effective and safe vaccines to this cohort.

The superior efficacy demonstrated by the mRNA vaccines authorised for use in Ireland, Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna mean that the mRNA vaccines are the right vaccine to provide the highest level of protection available to those over 70.

Over the coming weeks, we will see many more of our vulnerable loved ones receive their Covid-19 vaccinations. This is good news and gives all of us great hope. However, even if you have received your Covid-19 vaccine, you must continue to wash your hands, wear a face covering, maintain a social distance and keep your close contacts to a minimum. Until we have all been vaccinated, we must act as though none of us have been vaccinated.

Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: Today we have reached another significant and unwelcome milestone as we report more than 200,000 confirmed cases. We must all redouble our efforts and drive down the incidence of disease in our community.

We are noticing a clear pattern in people with symptoms delaying contacting their GP to arrange a test. It is vital that as soon as you notice that you have symptoms of Covid-19 that you isolate and contact your GP immediately. By acting quickly, we can prevent the spread of Covid-19 and protect our vulnerable loved ones.

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: The next few weeks will be difficult for all of us, as we bring the daily case levels below 1,000 per day, our progress will seem to slow down. It is now more important than ever that we continue our efforts to bring case numbers down towards the very low levels we achieved in June and July. In that regard, it is very good news that our estimates of the R number are well below one  in the region of 0.5  0.8.

I noted last week that the testing of close contacts will impact on case numbers in the coming days. We shouldnt be disappointed by this, it shows that we have moved from the mitigation phase of the last few weeks, back to the containment phase where we are tracking down every possible chain of transmission.
BAY CITY, MI  Police are alleging a Saginaw man went on a spree of stealing vehicles from dealerships and a residence, something he continued even after being arrested, charged, and released from jail. The rash of thefts ended when the suspect was caught having driven a stolen SUV to a McDonalds for Chicken McNuggets.

The suspect, 22-year-old Juan D. Harris, has now been arraigned twice in two days in Bay County District Court on two counts of unlawfully driving away a motor vehicle. The charge is a five-year felony.

The case began about 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 30, when Bay County Sheriffs deputies found a Chevrolet Tahoe parked near the Turkey Roost, 2273 S. Huron Road in Kawkawlin. Harris was standing nearby and told deputies the Tahoe had run out of gas, said Sheriff Troy R. Cunningham.

Deputies determined Harris had test-driven the Tahoe from Serra Chevrolet Saginaw, 4200 Bay Road in Saginaw Township. The Tahoe was returned to the dealership, though deputies did not arrest Harris.

About 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 1, Harris drove to Graff Chevrolet Inc., 3636 Wilder Road in Bangor Township, and left the dealership in a Chevrolet Colorado he was test driving, Cunningham said.

When Harris did not return the Colorado, deputies were alerted and located the vehicle around 8 p.m. at Dispo Recreational, a marijuana dispensary at 3843 S. Euclid Ave. in Bangor Township. Deputies arrested Harris at the scene, Cunningham said.

The afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 2, Bay County District Judge Timothy J. Kelly arraigned Harris on his first auto theft charge and freed him on a personal recognizance bond. Harris left the Bay County Jail about 2 p.m., Cunningham said.

Harris then walked across the Saginaw River and stole a running Jeep Compass from a residential driveway on South Henry Street in Bay City. The Jeeps owner reported it stolen about 4 p.m. and gave a description of the thief similar to Harris, the sheriff said.

By about 4:50 p.m., Harris had driven the stolen Jeep back to Serra Chevrolet Saginaw and sought to test-drive another vehicle. Staff there denied his request, Cunningham said.

Around 5:30 p.m., Harris drove the Jeep to Labadie Toyota, 909 N. Euclid Ave. in Bangor Township. He left the Jeep there to test drive a Toyota 4Runner, then failed to return it, Cunningham said.

About 10:15 p.m., deputies spotted the 4Runner in the drive-thru of the McDonalds at 2515 S. Huron Road in Kawkawlin. Harris was behind the wheel, having just ordered a 40-piece McNugget, the sheriff added.

Deputies arrested Harris for a second time in little more than 24 hours. Harris on the afternoon of Wednesday, Feb. 3, again appeared before Judge Kelly for arraignment.

Defense attorney Jeffrey M. Martin spoke at the arraignment on Harris behalf.

Obviously, Mr. Harris was arraigned yesterday, he said. I know the court is familiar with this. Hes indicating to me that hes innocent of these charges. The allegation is basically the same allegation as before. He just wants to go home.

Kelly said he was not going to release Harris on another personal recognizance bond. He amended Harris bond from the prior day to $5,000 cash-surety and set bond at $10,000 cash-surety on the second case.

Somethings going on here, Kelly said. I think whomever is the attorney for Mr. Harris should promptly look at a forensic evaluation.

Should Harris post bond, Kelly prohibited him from visiting the dealerships referenced by police.

Harris next court date is pending.

Read more:

Michigan man accused of trying to kill 5 state police by booby-trapping house

Prosecutors reviewing police-involved shooting that left Saginaw County man dead

Man charged in armed robbery of prescription meds from Bay City pharmacy
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today, Thursday, February 4 been notified of 75 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

46 of these deaths occurred in February, 27 occurred in January, 2 were earlier.

The median age of those who died is 84 years and the age range is 34-100 years.

There has been a total of 3,586* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Wednesday 3rd February, the HPSC has been notified of 1,318 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 200,744** confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

622 are men / 688 are women

58% are under 45 years of age

The median age is 40 years old

428 in Dublin, 122 in Cork, 93 in Galway, 78 in Kildare, 77 in Limerick and the remaining 520 cases are spread across all other counties.***

As of 2pm today, 1,284 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 188 are in ICU. 74 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: We know that the over 70s have suffered the greatest burden of mortality and serious illness from COVID-19. Ireland is now in a good position; we can now offer highly effective and safe vaccines to this cohort.

The superior efficacy demonstrated by the mRNA vaccines authorised for use in Ireland, Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna mean that the mRNA vaccines are the right vaccine to provide the highest level of protection available to those over 70.

Over the coming weeks, we will see many more of our vulnerable loved ones receive their COVID-19 vaccinations. This is good news and gives all of us great hope. However, even if you have received your COVID-19 vaccine, you must continue to wash your hands, wear a face covering, maintain a social distance and keep your close contacts to a minimum. Until we have all been vaccinated, we must act as though none of us have been vaccinated.

Dr Lucy Jessop, Director, National Immunisation Office: The NIO works with colleagues across the HSE and in primary care to administer millions of vaccines every year. We are using our vast expertise and experience to deliver the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme safely and securely.

My colleagues and I in the National Immunisation Office are continuing to work hard to finalise our preparations, ensuring we are ready to administer safe and effective vaccines to the most vulnerable in our society as they are called for vaccination.

Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: Today we have reached another significant and unwelcome milestone as we report more than 200,000 confirmed cases. We must all redouble our efforts and drive down the incidence of disease in our community.

We are noticing a clear pattern in people with symptoms delaying contacting their GP to arrange a test. It is vital that as soon as you notice that you have symptoms of COVID-19 that you isolate and contact your GP immediately. By acting quickly, we can prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect our vulnerable loved ones.

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: The next few weeks will be difficult for all of us, as we bring the daily case levels below 1,000 per day, our progress will seem to slow down. It is now more important than ever that we continue our efforts to bring case numbers down towards the very low levels we achieved in June and July. In that regard, it is very good news that our estimates of the R number are well below one  in the region of 0.5  0.8.

I noted last week that the testing of close contacts will impact on case numbers in the coming days. We shouldnt be disappointed by this, it shows that we have moved from the mitigation phase of the last few weeks, back to the containment phase where we are tracking down every possible chain of transmission.

*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 1 death. The figure of 3,586 deaths reflects this.

**Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 4 confirmed cases. The figure of 200,744 confirmed cases reflects this.

***County data should be considered provisional as the national Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting System (CIDR) is a dynamic system and case details are continually being validated and updated.
It will be lights, camera, action for Cnoc Mhuire Granard students, Aoife Leonard, Emma Dalton, and Ella Mulligan, this Thursday as their creation, Bucket List, is set to feature in the 2020 Junk Kouture final, which will be broadcast from Dublin on the RTE Player in a carefully socially-distanced final hosted by RTE 2FM presenters Laura Fox and Emma Power.

This years final is powered by RTE and will be televised this Thursday, February 4, at 7pm on RTE2.

Like most live events last year, Covid-19 led to the postponement of the 10th annual Junk Kouture final in 3Arena Dublin in April 2020  but the curtain didnt fall on Junk Kouture as the team persevered to produce an equally wonderful alternative to their yearly live show.

The Cnoc Mhuire Granard design is made from buckets and represents achieving one of their bucketlist goals: taking part in Junk Kouture.

The white parts of the dress represent the good things that happen in life while the black coils on the bodice represent the journey of life that sometimes has its twists and turns.

Tune in on Thursday, February 4, at 7pm on RTE2 to watch Junk Koutures Grand Final.

Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.

Microsoft today unveiled its employee-experience platform, Viva, which the company calls a digital gateway for employees to access relevant news, learning, analytics, and knowledge within their organization.

Four Viva modules  Connections, Insights, Learning and Topics  will become available in Teams on a staggered basis over the next few months, Microsoft said, leveraging existing capabilities within the Microsoft 365 portfolio, including SharePoint and analytics tools.

The platform is also designed to provide managers and leaders better insights into the well-being and performance of workers, the company said.

Today we are bringing together collaboration, learning and well-being, in order to create a complete new product category: [the] employee experience platform or EXP, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a pre-recorded briefing ahead of the announcement.

Just as enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications connected accounting and finance to core business operations three decades ago, businesses are now seeking similar alignment with employee-facing systems, Nadella said.

We believe the same paradigm shift that happened with ERP then will happen with EXP today, he said. People operations will no longer be limited to HR, but will be integrated across every aspect of the business in order to improve the overall health and resilience of the organization.

Every organization will require a unified employee experience, from onboarding and collaboration to continuous learning and growth," Nadella said. "These can no longer be siloed functions.

The launch of Viva comes as an enterprise focus on remote workers continues to grow, particularly during the pandemic-driven rise of distributed workforces. Microsoft argues that the fragmented market for employee experience tools, covering everything from employee training to benefits, analytics, and other wellness issues, is already worth a staggering $300 billion globally.

But too often, these technologies are fragmented, hard to find and disruptive to the flow of work, Jared Spataro, corporate vice president for Microsoft 365, said in a blog post on Thursday.

As companies prepare to support a large remote workforce post-pandemic, interest in tools that track and manage employee experience is on the rise. SAPs successful Qualtrics IPO and HR software vendor Workday's $700 million acquisition of employee engagement analytics provider Peakon are two recent examples. And Salesforce in 2020 launched its employee experience platform Work.com.

Without a doubt, the pandemic has [placed a] bigger focus on employee experience because of the conditions many had to adapt to, said Carolina Milanesi, a principal analyst at Creative Strategies. This, in turn, has highlighted the gaps many organizations had when it comes to support, train[ing] and manage talent. ...People realized that the way they worked does not reflect the way we should be working. This, coupled with higher visibility given to working conditions, societal issues and upskilling creates a very good moment for Microsoft to deliver an holistic platform.

Microsofts existing strengths around workplace productivity  and the boom in Teams use, which now has 115 million daily active users  put the vendor in a good position to introduce employee experience capabilities, said David Johnson, a principal analyst at Forrester.

Microsoft understands how important technology is in peoples daily working lives, that it is a huge part of their overall employee experience, said Johnson. Drawing awareness to this and creating solutions to help companies create a better experience for their employees is a good move.

Milanesi also noted that Microsoft has a wider reach than most companies focused on employee experience. The biggest advantage that Microsoft has is that it builds on solutions that are already present in many organizations  like Yammer  and leans into a strong cloud- and AI-enabled platform. Other solutions are more limited in scope and do not necessarily get the advantage of plugging into as many resources and will be judged on a much narrower return, which might bring more scrutiny to their cost.

For Microsoft 365 customers, the launch of Viva could allow IT to play a more active role in managing and coordinating employee experience for their organization.

Unless we work in HR, most of us don't use HRIS [HR information system] software every single day; we use Microsoft or other productivity software to get our jobs done," said Johnson. "What [the Viva launch] is doing is to make the CIO's role in employee experience much more prominent, something that we've been predicting for several years.

By integrating capabilities into Teams, it puts them more in the flow of people's work, and most importantly, it raises awareness.

Viva Connections

The shift to remote work has affected employees' sense of community and belonging within their organization, especially for new hires, with 60% of workers feeling disconnected since going remote, according to Microsoft research.

Viva Connections is a personalized digital workplace built on SharePoint. From here, employees can access a range of content, including internal company news, policies and benefits, and interact with various groups and communities, thanks to integration with Microsoft apps including Yammer, SharePoint, and Stream.

Microsoft Viva Connections is a single customizable Teams app that highlights company news and resources.

Each employee gets a personalized news feed, which internal communications teams can use to highlight important information  it's accessed in the dashboard that serves as the Viva homepage.

The Connections app can be customized with corporate branding and curated content to target groups of employees with focused information and tools.

Connections is slated to be available on the Teams desktop app in the first half of 2021, with the mobile app following in the summer.

Viva Insights

An analytics tools, Viva Insights, is aimed at both individual employees and managers and can track productivity and well-being at a personal and business-wide level.

Viva Insights, which replaces two existing Microsoft 365 tools  MyAnalytics and Workplace Analytics  will offer an overview of productivity levels, said Microsoft. The goal is to ensure employee well-being and avoid burnout by, for example, detecting when an employee has too many meetings and not enough focus time.

Additional features such as virtual commutes and integration with the Headspace meditation and mindfulness app will be available in the coming months, along with an integration with Viva Learning.

Microsoft Replacing existing Microsoft 365 analytics capabilities, Viva Insights shines a light on employee well-being and productivity for individuals and managers.

In addition to tapping into data from Microsofts own products such as Teams and Outlook, Viva Insights will incorporate data from third-party applications, including video tools like Zoom and HR platforms from Workday and SAP SuccessFactors.

Microsoft has drawn criticism for its Productivity Score tool in recent months. It initially allowed managers to view data relating to individual users, before Microsoft announced in December it would anonymize user data in Productivity Score, with insights only available at the organizational level.

Viva Insights can be downloaded for Teams today, with personal insights available for Microsoft Exchange Online users in public preview, and manager insights available to existing Workplace Analytics customers.

Viva Learning

The Viva Learning app for Teams, now in private preview, is a central repository for learning materials. The aim is to help employees easily hunt down information needed to do their job, from training videos to PowerPoint presentations.

Teams users can search and share learning content in chat and create their own tab within the collaboration platform to organize their content.

Microsoft Viva Learning provides access to learning materials from a range of Microsoft and external educational sources.

Learning content is available from a range of sources, from Microsoft Learn and LinkedIn Learning to third-party providers such as Coursera and PluralSight. Viva Learning will also integrate with learning management systems from Cornerstone OnDemand, SAP SuccessFactors, and others.

Viva Learning is currently being piloted with select Microsoft customersl a general release is pegged for later this year.

Viva Topics

Finally, Viva Topics is a knowledge management platform that helps an employee access the information that relates to their job role.

Topics uses AI to collect content across an organization into topic areas such as projects, products, or customers, collating information from within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem as well as third-party providers such as Salesforce and ServiceNow. These topic pages are automatically collated by Microsofts AI, with an organizations experts able to add and edit the wiki-style pages.

Topic cards are also available within Microsoft 365 apps, highlighting topics when they appear in certain messages or other content within apps, providing quick context around unfamiliar acronyms or terms, for example.

Topics are arranged around a topic center which will eventually be viewable from Teams and SharePoint, allowing workers to discover content recommended to them based on topics they follow, and personalized by the Microsoft Graph.

Viva Topics is generally available as of today for all Microsoft 365 customers.
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MCLA Receives $20K From Berkshire Bank Foundation For Summer STEM Academy

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The Berkshire Bank Foundation has awarded MCLA $20,000 to fund the Berkshire Bank STEM Academy, which accepts up to 20 incoming first-year students enrolled in a STEM major or who have expressed interest in STEM fields.

According to a press release, the five day program is designed to introduce incoming students to careers in STEM. Students will network with STEM faculty, students, and staff in the interest of developing a deeper relationship with those involved in STEM careers in the Berkshires. The program's ultimate goal is to encourage more students to secure jobs in the Berkshires and remain here after graduation.

The program, which is in its ninth year, was developed to serve low-income and first-generation college students. Alumni of the program have gone on to be MCLA residential advisors, tutors and supplemental instructors. Graduates have gone on to have careers at Raytheon, General Dynamics, Edge Pharma, and as public school teachers.

Students are selected based on their responses to surveys taken upon their acceptance to the college. Interested students should email program director, Dr. Sara Steele, assistant professor of psychology, at sara.steele@mcla.edu to have their name prioritized in the selection process.

During the residential program, where the majority of the awarded funds are spent, students will explore concepts in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, environmental science, psychology and physics through laboratory work and meeting with faculty. Students will also be paired with an upper-level STEM major who will serve as a mentor. Field trips to local STEM employers, including Berkshire Health Systems, MASS MoCA, and General Dynamics, as well as a roundtable discussion and a dinner with STEM professionals to encourage students to begin thinking about internships and local career opportunities.

Other programming throughout the year will include career exploration, introduction to academic services and resources on campus, presentations on study skills, time management, course advising, and financial planning. Sessions on preparing and understanding FAFSA applications, student loans and personal financial responsibility will be conducted by the MCLA Office of Student Financial Services, with individual appointments for all participating students. Berkshire Bank STEM Academy students will be expected to attend special events during the year, such as visiting speakers, planned programs, and MCLA's annual Undergraduate Research Conference.

With the launch of the Access 4.0 (A4) platform, developed in collaboration with Reply, Deutsche Telekom is breaking new ground in the construction and provision of networks. The goal of the joint project is to replace conventional hard-wire systems with highly automated and microservice-based technologies.

While traditional based Network Technology requires months to be deployed, Software and IT are faster and they can be rolled-out almost instantly and globally. With the disaggregation and virtualisation of access networks based on cloud-native architectures and open source code, Deutsche Telekom is introducing a cost-efficient, easy-to-operate and scalable platform. Access 4.0 provides more flexibility and guarantees a shortened time-to-market through a faster roll-out of services such as broadband Internet and 5G to customers.

Reply, chosen as co-development partner, supported Deutsche Telekom in this transformation from a traditional telecommunication into a cloud-based provider. The Access 4.0 platform takes over many classic operations support systems functions thanks to software-defined networking. With this concept, automation is driven forward, even lean processes can be implemented easily. Disaggregation allows to independently select the best hardware and software for any tasks, it is more flexible and open than traditional systems.

Walter Goldenits, CTO Telekom Deutschland explains: "Deutsche Telekom is reaching an important milestone in its transformation into a software-based telecommunications provider," adding, "We are thus consistently shaping the path taken by the industry toward solutions based on open and disaggregated components in the fixed network area as well."

"The telecommunications industry is currently undergoing fundamental change. The separation of hardware and software is the key to more scalability, flexibility and cost efficiency in the control, management and operation of networks. We are pleased to share this vision using a combination of innovative microservices with agile and devops culture, together with Deutsche Telekom," comments Filippo Rizzante, CTO Reply.

In addition to the co-development, Reply offers to support Deutsche Telekom in the development of a global productisation strategy for the A4 platform. This would involve working closely with other carriers to understand their respective needs as well as engaging strongly within the open source community.

REPLY

Reply [MTA, STAR: REY, ISIN: IT0005282865] specialises in the design and implementation of solutions based on new communication channels and digital media. As a network of highly specialised companies, Reply defines and develops business models enabled by the new models of AI, big data, cloud computing, digital media and the internet of things. Reply delivers consulting, system integration and digital services to organisations across the telecom and media; industry and services; banking and insurance; and public sectors. www.reply.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005169/en/

Contacts:

Media Contacts

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Fabio Zappelli

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Tel. +390117711594

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COLUMBIA  Less than a week after it passed through the South Carolina Senate, a bill to ban most abortions in the state began its legislative journey through the House on Feb. 3 with a subcommittee hearing that featured almost four hours of emotional testimony from both supporters and opponents of the measure.

The so-called "fetal heartbeat" bill, which would ban abortions after around six to eight weeks of pregnancy, appears headed toward likely passage in the Republican-dominated Legislature, as even leading Democratic critics of it acknowledge that it already has more than enough votes for a majority.

But that didn't discourage dozens of South Carolinians from attending either in person or virtually to testify in three-minute spurts about the bill, including several who said they had already testified many times before in years past, in what likely will be their last chance to do so before it heads toward likely court challenges.

The subcommittee ultimately voted 3-2 along party lines to advance the bill. It is expected to get a full committee hearing next week before moving on to the House floor for a vote by the full chamber soon afterward.

Republican Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette testified that, by supporting the bill, she hoped the state would "end up on the right side of history." Gov. Henry McMaster has repeatedly promised to sign the bill if it makes it to his desk.

"If we're using the heartbeat as the scientific test for when our life ends, I think it only makes good sense that we use it for determining when our life begins," said Evette, who also testified before a Senate panel on the bill.

Susan Dunn, the longtime legal director of the South Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, noted that several states that passed similar bills saw courts swiftly strike them down as unconstitutional.

"All in the world you would be doing for the citizens of South Carolina is buying a lawsuit," Dunn said.

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Most supporters of the bill acknowledge it will initially get struck down by lower courts but say they are hoping those cases will prompt the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that found women have a constitutional right to abortion access.

Hayden Tomlin, an Ireland native who said he moved to South Carolina about three years ago, warned that his country's experience show the complications abortion bans can cause. Ireland banned abortions until 2019, but Tomlin said it just forced many women to travel to other jurisdictions, like England, to procure them.

"The heartbreaking, lonely travel of these women into a foreign land to have a traumatic procedure done in secrecy," Tomlin said, "is truly a shame and a blight on my country's history."

Holly Gatling, the executive director of the anti-abortion S.C. Citizens for Life, encouraged the lawmakers to approve the bill in the same form that passed the Senate without amending it in any way.

That would quicken the process because it would avoid the need for House and Senate negotiators to convene and reconcile their differences. On a policy level, it would also mean that the bill would continue to include exceptions for cases of rape or incest, which some Republicans oppose.

One of the more controversial provisions added in the Senate would require physicians to provide the name and contact information of women who receive an abortion due to the rape or incest exception to the local sheriff.

Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano, the only female sheriff in the state, decried that proposal, warning it would "revictimize the victim." Republican supporters of it said they hoped it would help the state combat violent crime.
One of the Chinese residents in virus lockdown goes after one of the pandemic control volunteers. It ended badly with the volunteer getting assaulted fatally.

Some of the side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is not always physical but mental. This incident in China shows that.

Last February 3, a death from a stabbing incident in northeastern China happened. Sources say that it was caused by the flat resident who did not want to leave with the pandemic volunteers. The resident had a knife and assaulted the volunteer, who got stabbed fatally. The incident was reported by the Epoch Times.

It created a dangerous situation for pandemic volunteers. Especially when it comes to controlling and retrieving agitated and fearful individuals

The dead volunteer was identified as Zhang, working as a guard in one of the residential areas in Hulan district Harbin. One of the residents named Chen, wanted to leave the place, but lockdown rules forbid anyone from going.

Zhang attempted to stop the man, but somehow a knife was in the hand of the assaulter. Trying to stop Chen ended in the stabbing of the security guard. The injured man was rushed to the hospital, but his wounds were fatal. He was DOA or declared dead on arrival by authorities.

Heilongjiang, a northeastern province, has been ravaged by the CCP virus as it returned to the sender. Most of the areas in Harbin are in wartime mode to fight the coronavirus. Chinese residents are in virus lockdown indoors to prevent further spread and infection to the people.

Also read: Return Student from New York Infect More Than 70 With coronavirus

According to lockdown policies in the Kangle community in Hulan district, where Zhang was stabbed to death, the implementation of the lockdown rules is strict. Everyone is restricted to their homes and are not allowed outside under any circumstances.

Stabbing in Kangle

More specific details were revealed by the outlet how the stabbing went down.

Based on reports from the residents that said it was an accident that went wrong, one witness said that Chen had to buy medicine outside, but Zhang stopped him. The resident was incensed at the guard then went back with a knife. Even the guard did not expect the violence that followed when he was stabbed several times by the enrage flat owner.

The resident said that most of the flat owners were ordered indoors by pandemic chiefs. To keep any unit with a positive family member, a paper strip kept everyone inside at all times. One resident said that the Kangle is locked down since January 19 and considered high risk by authorities.

He added that the elderly should stroll every day, and it would not be a serious concern. Another, there won't be a problem with social distancing when outside. Many of those in the Kangle had several tests, about four times now.

Chinese voice what they think

The Stabbing in Harbin and the Kangle community spread like wildfire on Chinese social media. Thoughts of many Chinese on the stabbing incident was posted on the net.

One said that lockdowns are imposed too much, sometimes volunteers are on the rude side and no empathy for the locked down. There might be more kept, according to a post. Chinese residents in virus lockdown are not all okay, and the stabbing is an indication of it.

Related article: Coronavirus Origin: Patient Zero of Wuhan Market Revealed?

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
City and county officials caution residents not to use ovens or other cooking devices, such as grills, as a source of indoor heat as they are a carbon monoxide hazard. Exercise caution with space heaters and keep them away from any form of flammable material, ideally turning them off before going to bed, officials say. Residents should also consider dripping their faucets and bath fixtures to avoid pipes freezing.
Deputy Minister of Health, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Viktor Liashko has said that the mortality rate from COVID-19 in Ukraine is 2%.

He said this during the discussion COVID-19 pandemic in the context of humanitarian crisis: East Ukrainian situation, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Our mortality rate [from COVID-19] is slightly less than 2%. This is a good rate compared to the global and European rates. At the same time, the highest mortality rate has been registered in Kirovohrad region - 3.3%, but Kirovohrad region is the region with the lowest number of patients, that is why the mortality rate in this area is the highest. The lowest mortality rate has been recorded in Rivne and Cherkasy regions, Liashko said.

According to him, out of more than 22,000 deaths from COVID-19 recorded during the pandemic, 84% were people aged 60 years and over.

Liashko also added that between March 2020 and January 2021, Ukraine conducted 6,257,875 PCR tests, of which 23% were positive (1,471,224). Ukraine also conducted 3,757,160 ELISA tests, of which 15% were positive (584,581). In total, more than 1.2 million COVID-19 cases have been laboratory-confirmed in Ukraine since the start of the pandemic.

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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 22:51:00|Editor: huaxia

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MUSCAT, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Omani health ministry on Thursday announced 185 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the sultanate to 135,041, the official Oman News Agency reported.

Meanwhile, 97 people recovered during the past 24 hours, taking the overall recoveries to 127,266, while no new deaths were reported, keeping the death toll at 1,532, according to a ministry statement quoted by ONA.

The ministry urged everyone to adhere to social distancing instructions by the supreme COVID-19 committee. Enditem
Weve heard of banks, piggybanks and blood banks  but a goat bank? Here is a farmer who has launched one to promote integrated farming among fellow farmers to up their income.

A farmer in Maharashtra's Akola district has launched the 'Goat Bank of Karkheda' initiative in the Akola district of Sangavi Mohadi village which is being applauded throughout the state.

representational pictures

52-year-old Naresh Deshmukh, a graduate of Punjab Rao Krishi Vidyapeeth launched the Goat Bank in July 2018.

How does it work?

Speaking to India Today TV, Naresh Deshmukh explained at length the functioning of the extraordinary bank. In order to avail a loan, the interested farmer has to make a loan agreement by paying a registration fee of Rs 1,200. As per the agreement and loan conditions, each of the person availing a goat under the loan scheme has to return 4 lambs within the time frame of 40 months.

representational pictures

What was the aim?

During his daily visits to the village, Deshmukh found, though economically weak, the woman farmers engaged in goat rearing could afford to buy small pieces of land, educate their kids, even celebrate a marriage ceremony with pomp and show.

After studying the families involved in goat rearing, Deshmukh took the decision to set up a 'Goat Bank' wherein he will organize this sector and make it available for loan schemes as well as for the deposit of goats.

Pic: indiatoday

How did he start it?

He invested Rs 40 lakh from his savings and bought 340 full-grown goats. Subsequently, 340 goat breeding families were registered and all of these goats were distributed among them. It has been estimated that each of the women using the goat under this scheme will make a profit of around Rs 2.5 lakh.
NOAA partners with The University of Southern Mississippi on uncrewed systems

Tue, 02/09/2021 - 17:27pm

NOAA and The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) signed a 10-year agreement today to collaborate on ways to improve how uncrewed systems (UxS) are used to collect important ocean observation data and augment NOAAs operational capabilities. The agreement provides a framework for collaborating with NOAA scientists and UxS operators on projects to further UxS research, development and operations.



Mississippi is poised to become a major hub for ocean research and innovation, and NOAA plans to help drive that innovation, said Rear Adm. Nancy Hann, deputy director for operations for NOAAs Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) and deputy director of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps. This new partnership with the University of Southern Mississippi will greatly enhance our ability to transition these technologies into operational platforms that will gather critical environmental data for the nation.



UxS are sensor-equipped vehicles that operate autonomously or are remotely piloted. NOAA currently uses UxS for seafloor and habitat mapping, ocean exploration, marine mammal and fishery stock assessments, emergency response, and at-sea observations that improve forecasting of extreme events, such as hurricanes, harmful algal blooms and hypoxia.



UxS have the potential to transform how NOAA meets its mission to better understand our oceans and their ecosystems. While the use of UxS is not new to NOAA  agency scientists have been experimenting with and using uncrewed systems for research for decades  the recent increase in the availability of highly capable UxS has brought a corresponding increase in their innovative use as a force multiplier for many NOAA programs. Advancing partnerships with academia will be essential to the development and use of these technologies.



We are excited to expand our collaboration with NOAA for research, development, testing and evaluating uncrewed systems, said Kelly Lucas, associate vice president for research, coastal operations at USM. The use of uncrewed systems increases safety and productivity and allows us to expand coverage and access of ocean space, especially in remote, hazardous or extreme environments. Coupled with sensor development, artificial intelligence and machine learning, uncrewed systems will transform data collection and processes to help users make informed decisions.



The new agreement helps NOAA meet the objectives of the Commercial Engagement Through Ocean Technology Act of 2018, which requires the agency to coordinate research, assess, and acquire uncrewed systems with the U.S. Navy, other federal agencies, industry and academia. In Fiscal Year 2021, NOAA received $13.7 million from Congress to improve and expand UxS operations across the agency, including the creation of the OMAO Uncrewed Systems Operations Center  a key goal of NOAAs Uncrewed Systems Strategy.

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MOST residents and staff at care homes in the Henley area have now received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

They will have a follow-up injection in early spring and the elderly residents can then look forward to being allowed to see their families in person again, having been in lockdown since March.

Residents at the Henley Manor Care Home in Mill Lane, which is run by the Hallmark group, received their jabs in December when the Pfizer vaccine was the only one available. These were administered by a team from the Hart Surgery.

Ellie Faramarzian, the homes general manager, said: We would like to thank the Hart Surgery, who co-ordinated the vaccinations smoothly and ensured everyone was vaccinated safely and as soon as

possible. Our absolute priority is to keep everyone safe and we are optimistic that the vaccine represents the start of a return to more normal times.

We continue to follow robust infection control measures to keep everyone safe and are doing everything in our power to keep residents occupied and entertained during the latest lockdown.

All the residents and staff were provided with information and leaflets about the vaccine before they received it.

At the Chilterns Court care centre in York Road, Henley, 47 of the 51 residents have had a jab.

Ivana Pavolova, area operation manager, said: We made sure that we registered colleagues and residents for vaccinations as soon as we possibly could because we recognise that this is one path forward in overcoming the pandemic.

My colleagues have shown incredible dedication and skill in the last nine months in the face of this unprecedented challenge and I must thank them, our residents and their families for pulling together.

The centre is part of the Orders of St John Care Trust.

Tower House in Lower Shiplake has 11 residents and 11 staff, who all received their vaccination on New Years Eve.

Owner Bridget Kidd, who runs the home with her daughter Sinead, said: Vaccination day was like a dream come true for us.

The residents and staff were very grateful to the Hart and the Bell Surgeries for administering them.

They came with a small fridge and it was all done in a day. It was a great uplift to our residents and it was a great day at Tower House.

We are looking forward to having our second vaccination so they can see their loved ones and hug them.

We still need to be on our guard  weve managed to keep the virus out of the home by sticking to the government guidance and we went into a lockdown quite early.

The Sunrise of Sonning care home, which has 70 residents, had its first set of vaccinations for staff on December 17 while the first jab received by a resident was on Christmas Eve.

These were administered by Dr Jim Kennedy, from Wargrave Surgery.

Around half of the staff and residents received the Pfizer vaccine but more recently the Oxford/AstraZeneca one has been used due to its increasing availability.

All but two of the residents have been vaccinated so far. About 100 of the 136 staff have had the jab but some are shielding or on maternity leave, so have not been on site.

General manager Carmela Magbitang said: Wargrave Surgery has been very helpful and accommodating. Any team members and residents who were unable to receive the vaccine on the days the GP team visited the care home have been able to arrange to receive it separately.

We are pleased to have received our first dose and look forward to receiving the second in due course.

Resident Doreen Maddock said: I was thrilled to have had my vaccine. It was a weight off my shoulders.

 On Wednesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that 10 million people across the UK had now been vaccinated.


A 16-year-old Vancouver boy wanted in a homicide investigation in Clackamas County will voluntarily return to Oregon for prosecution.

Court records indicate Cesar Soto Gama is suspected of second-degree murder in the shooting death of 16-year-old Juan Tomas Santos Bautista. He is also suspected of first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.

On Wednesday, Soto Gama was back in Clark County Juvenile Court to waive his right to contest extradition to Oregon, which could be completed by the time of a follow-up hearing scheduled for Friday.

Soto Gama is believed to have fatally shot Santos Bautista, an apparent acquaintance. The teens body was found the evening of Jan. 26 in a car at the northbound French Prairie Rest Area along Interstate 5 near Wilsonville, Ore.

According to KATU-TV, Santos Bautistas family said he was driving from his mothers home in Salem to his fathers in Washington when he went missing. He was apparently traveling with Soto Gama.

The teens sister reportedly told KATU that Santos Bautistas father had tracked messages to search for him and found his body at the rest area the next day.

Upon further investigation, it seems like my brothers laptop had been stolen, and he had kind of like a satchel that he would have on himself and he didnt have that either. As far as I know, there was no gun, the boys sister, Maria Dreams, told KATU.

A GoFundMe page for Santos Bautistas funeral expenses states: He was a very loving and bubbly person. He always loved to make everyone laugh and smile.

Oregon authorities have yet to publicly identify Soto Gama as the suspect or say how the two teens knew each other. Its unclear if his case will be handled in juvenile court, where public information is limited, or if he will be charged as an adult.

According to a spokeswoman with Vancouver Public Schools, both teens had at one time been enrolled in the school district. Santos Bautista withdrew from the district about two years ago; Soto Gama was enrolled at Hudsons Bay High School.

Soto Gama was arrested Saturday by Oregon State Police and the Vancouver Police Department, according to Oregon authorities. He was lodged into the Clark County Juvenile Justice Center.

At his first appearance on Monday, Soto Gamas mother, speaking through a Spanish interpreter and with assistance from her daughter, said detectives had seized her cellphone and vehicle as part of the investigation.

 Jessica Prokop, The Columbian
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Mahie Gill To Star Opposite Abhay Deol In Disney+Hotstar Series '1962: The War In The Hills'

Actor Mahie Gill has joined the cast Disney+Hotstar series "1962: The War In The Hills", the streaming platform announced on Thursday.

The series will mark a reunion between Gill and actor Abhay Deol after they featured together in Anurag Kashyap's 2009 blockbuster movie "Dev D".

"1962: The War In The Hills", directed by Mahesh Manjrekar, is set against the backdrop of the 1962 India-China War.

Gill, whose film credits include movies such as "Gulaal", "Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster" and "Dabangg" series, will essay the role of Shagun Singh, the wife of Deol's character.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mahie Gill (@mahieg)

The show is inspired by true events that happened in November 1962 as it narrates the untold tale of bravery and valour of how an Army of 125 Indians stood against 3,000 Chinese.

Gill said the show holds a special place in her heart as in real life she once had the desire to join the armed forces.

"There was a time when I applied and was selected to be a part of our armed forces. And today, I get to play a pivotal role in a war series, not as a soldier but as a proud army wife," Gill said in a statement.

Talking about her character, she said, "My character Shagun is not the typical army-wife that's showcased in movies or shows; she is strong and resilient and is fighting her own personal battles."

"1962: The War in the Hills" will also feature Sumeet Vyas and Akash Thosar in pivotal roles. The show will premiere on February 26.
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 3)  The Chinese Embassy in Manila refuted reports claiming the vessel recently caught in Bataan was a Chinese dredger.

The embassy said the ship is not registered in China nor did it have any Chinese nationals on board.

"Initial investigation on the identity of MV Zhonhai 68 by relevant Chinese authorities has shown that the ship is not registered in China and not a Chinese ship," said the embassy in a statement on Wednesday.

On Jan. 28, the Coast Guard reported a "Chinese dredger-type vessel" was spotted near Orion Point, Bataan with two Cambodians on board who failed to present proper documents. Upon verification with Customs, the Coast Guard said the vessel was granted departure clearance a year ago in Aparri, Cagayan, which makes its presence in the area "illegal and unauthorized."

The embassy pointed out that the ship was under the Sierra Leone flag. It is a business practice, however, to register a ship in a country other than that of the ship's owner. Called "flag of convenience", the practice is often done to reduce operational costs.

Following the incident, Malacanang had instructed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to identify the purpose of Chinese dredging vessels operating in the country. Lawmakers at the House of Representatives also filed a resolution calling for a probe into Chinese dredging ships allegedly conducting illegal activities in Philippine territory.
Une vue de Muyuka Droits reserves

Human Rights Watch has called on the government of Cameroon to investigate the January 10, 2021 killing of nine civilians in Mautu, a village in Muyuka Subdivision, South West Region.

Army soldiers killed at least nine civilians in Cameroons Anglophone South-West region, on January 10, 2021, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, February 4. The dead included a woman and a child, and four civilians were injured. The soldiers also looted scores of homes and threatened residents.

Human Rights Watch recalls that when news of the killings went viral, Cameroons army spokesperson admitted that soldiers from the 21st Motorized Infantry Battalion (Bataillon d'Infanterie Motorise or BIM) conducted an operation in the village, but did not acknowledge that troops killed and injured civilians.

Navy Captain Atonfack Guemo Cyrille Serge, Head of Communication Division, Ministry of Defence said the military operation in Mautu was carried out in strict compliance with the results of engagement.

Killing civilians and looting their homes in the name of security are serious human rights crimes that fuel the escalating cycles of violence and abuse in Cameroons Anglophone regions, said Ida Sawyer, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. Cameroonian authorities should rein in abusive units and, with the assistance of the African Union and United Nations, establish a credible, impartial inquiry into the Mautu killings and prosecute those responsible.

In a dispatch Thursday, Human Rights Watch said it interviewed by telephone 17 witnesses, including five relatives of victims, about the attack.

This area has been severely affected by violence between government forces and armed groups seeking to separate the Anglophone North-West and South-West regions from Cameroon since late 2016. Separatist groups operate in the area around Mautu, and residents said they come to Mautu to buy food and collect water, the report read.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the international non-governmental health organization, treated four people with gunshot wounds, including a child. Human Rights Watch obtained lists of the nine people killed from four sources and spoke to relatives and residents who either attended burials or took victims bodies to the Muyaka hospital mortuary. These details correspond with the information Human Rights Watch obtained independently from other witnesses.

Human Rights Watch said it shared its findings with Navy Captain Atonfack Guemo, Cameroons army spokesman, in a January 22 email, requesting answers to specific questions.

Atonfack Guemo replied on January 26, failing to address Human Rights Watch's questions, and instead gratuitously dismissed the evidence of unlawful killings as fabricated, the international human rights NGO said.

The report quotes witnesses as saying that over 50 soldiers, including members of the BIM, entered Mautu on foot at about 2 p.m. on January 10 and started shooting indiscriminately as people fled. The witnesses said that soldiers killed nine people, including a 50-year-old woman and a 6-year-old girl, and went house-to-house searching for separatist fighters and weapons, threatening residents and looting peoples belongings.

Human Rights Watch says international media outlets and Cameroonian human rights groups confirmed the accounts they got from witnesses.

They write that a 30-year-old woman, who witnessed the killing of her 28-year-old neighbor, said: I saw how the soldiers went to his house, which is next to mine. They took him outside, kicked him, beat him with their guns and hands, and then shot him several times. It was the most frightening experience of my life.

Navy Captain Atonfack Guemo, Cameroons army spokesman, in a January 11 statement said terrorist groups attacked soldiers from the 21st BIM while they were carrying out a preventive raid in Mautu on January 10, and that the soldiers responded by killing several terrorists and seizing their weapons.

But witnesses and residents said that there was no confrontation between armed separatist fighters and soldiers, that at the time of the attack separatists were not in Mautu, and that soldiers deliberately killed civilians, Human Rights Watch reported.

The military just came to kill us, a 32-year-old man from Mautu told Human Rights Watch. There were no Amba [separatists] around at the time of the attack. The soldiers arrived and fired at villagers as they fled. Separatist fighters come at times to Mautu to get supplies, but they dont live here, and we dont shelter them. We are also afraid of them.

Residents told Human Rights Watch that the attack was a reprisal against the population the army accuses of sheltering and supporting separatist fighters. Five witnesses said that, during the attack, soldiers addressed scores of residents, including women, who had been rounded up in the center of the village and threatened them. They warned us that they would come back and kill more people if we did not show them where the amba [separatists] were, a 60-year-old man told Human Rights Watch.

Witnesses reported to Human Rights Watch that the village is now almost completely empty as people fled to the bush or nearby cities and villages, fearing renewed military attacks.

There is no one around, a 36-year-old witness who remained in Mautu told Human Rights Watch. Only a few of us stayed behind. The people are afraid that the army can come back.

Below is an extract of the Human Rights Watch report

In his January 11 statement, the army spokesperson claimed that terrorist leaders fabricated a jumble of gruesome images in order to blame the Mautu killings on the army.

However, Human Rights Watch obtained six videos and three photographs showing the aftermath of the attack and spoke to the man who made the videos and photographs. Soldiers attacked us and shot at people indiscriminately, he said. I fled and hid into the nearby bush. When soldiers left, I came out and filmed those videos. This is real footage, showing real people massacred by those who pretend to protect us.

Human Rights Watch matched the victims filmed with the descriptions of the victims known to have been killed, observed injuries consistent with those described by witnesses, and found no evidence of this visual material online before the date of the attack. The videos and photographs show the bodies of seven men, one woman, and a child as well as two injured women and one injured child. The videos were all captured in daylight, and pooled blood is visible in some, which, along with a lack of insect activity around those deceased, leads Human Rights Watch to believe that the videos were captured within hours of the attack.

This is not the first time that security forces attacked Mautu. Witnesses and residents said that soldiers carried out several operations in Mautu in 2020, as well as on January 1, 2021, when they surrounded the village, searched and looted homes, and harassed and beat people. On January 1, at 6 a.m., lots of soldiers invaded our village, a resident said. They broke into my home and rounded me up with other men in the center of the village. They said they would take us all to the military camp unless we showed them where the amba [separatists] were. They beat some of us. They slapped me four times.

The January 10 killings led to a public outcry and was widely condemned in Cameroon and outside.

Two prominent Cameroonian human rights groups, the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa and the Human Rights Defenders Network in Central Africa (Reseau des Defenseurs des Droits Humains en Afrique Centrale or REDHAC), denounced the attack and called for an independent inquiry. The UN special representative of the secretary-general for Central Africa and head of the regional office for Central Africa expressed concern about the killing of civilians and called for an independent investigation.

The UN Secretary-General on January 15 urged the Cameroonian authorities to bring those responsible for the attack to justice and reiterated his call on all parties to cease hostilities and engage in a political dialogue to end the crisis in the North-West and South-West regions. The French ambassador to Cameroon condemned the killings and demanded that the facts of this unjustifiable crime be clarified. The Canadian and British High Commissioners in Cameroon, as well as the United States embassy in Cameroon, also expressed their concern and called for those responsible to be held to account.

This is not the first time that Cameroonian authorities have denied that army troops killed civilians in the Anglophone regions, Human Rights Watch said. In February 2020, government forces killed 21 civilians, including 13 children and a pregnant woman, in Ngarbuh, North-West region, in a reprisal attack against the population accused of supporting separatist fighters. The government initially denied the army was responsible, but later established a commission of inquiry leading to the arrest of two soldiers and a gendarme. Their trial started on December 17.

As Cameroons army tries to root out separatist fighters in the Anglophone regions, soldiers are instead targeting, abusing, and even killing civilians, Sawyer said. The authorities should send a strong message that such crimes will no longer be tolerated by investigating and prosecuting those most responsible for the Mautu massacre and by compensating victims and their families.


Global food prices continued rising for the eighth conservative month in January, led by cereals, vegetable oils and sugar, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has said.

This is according to the Food Price Index report released on Thursday. The index tracks international prices of most commonly traded food commodities.

The FAO Food Price Index averaged 113.3 points in January, making a 4.3 per cent increase from December 2020 and reaching its highest level since July 2014.

In the report, the FAO Cereal Price Index showed a sharp 7.1 per cent monthly increase, led by maize prices, which surged 11.2 per cent and are now 42.3 per cent above their January 2020 level.

The FAO said this reflects the increasingly tight global supply amid substantial purchases by China and lower than expected production and stock estimated in the United States of America, as well as a temporary suspension of maize export registrations in Argentina.

Wheat prices rose 6.8 per cent driven by strong global demand and expectations of reduced sales by the Russian Federation when its wheat export duty doubles in March 2021.

Robust demand from Asian and African buyers underpinned strong rice prices, it said.

The report said the FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index increased by 5.8 per cent in the month to its highest level since May 2012.

Drivers included lower than the expected palm oil production in Indonesia and Malaysia due to excessive rainfall and ongoing shortages in the migrant labour force and prolonged strikes in Argentina reducing export availability for soy oil, the report said.

It said the FAO Sugar Price Index was 8.1 per cent higher than in December as robust global import demand spurred concerns about lower availabilities due to worsening crop prospects in the European Union, the Russian Federation and Thailand as well as drier than normal weather conditions in South America.

Rising crude oil prices and a stronger Brazilian Real also provided support to international sugar prices,  it added.

According to the report, the FAO Dairy Price Index increased by 1.6 per cent underpinned by Chinas high purchases ahead of the countrys upcoming New Year holiday festivities amid seasonally lower exportable supplies in New Zealand.

Price quotations for skim milk powder (SMP) too rose, pressured by high import demand for spot supplies and lagging production activities in Western Europe.

By contrast, cheese prices fell slightly from the highs registered in December 2020 due to limited internal sales in Europe coupled with a stock build-up in the United States of America, it said.

The report said the FAO Meat Price Index was up 1.0 per cent from December led by the brisk global import of poultry meat especially from Brazil amid avian influenza outbreaks that have constrained output and exports from several European countries.

Despite high purchases by China in the run-up to the countrys New Year celebrations bovine and pig meat price quotations increased only slightly as global supplies remained adequate to meet demand.

Ovine meat prices firmed for a fourth consecutive month driven by tight supplies from Oceania and strong demand from China, the report said.

Forecast

Meanwhile, it said the global cereal utilisation in 2020/21 is now forecast at 2761 million tonnes up 52 million tonnes from the previous season.

ADVERTISEMENT

Leading the increase is robust use of coarse grains for feed in China.

Worldwide utilisation of wheat and rice are forecast to rise by 0.7 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively during the year ahead, it said.
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Within the scope of my own career as a lawyer, I have personally met numerous people who have lost their jobs because of their faith or politics. I have met a girl who saw male anatomy for the first time in a girls locker room. I have met parents who had their child taken away because of their Catholic beliefs. I have met people who were convinced by their doctors to surgically alter themselves to appear as the opposite sex. I have met with pastors who have been levied taxes higher than what their church could afford. My own local school district banned distributing the Bible.

But you dont have to have worked in the legal industry to be exposed to this. Just watch the news. It is all over the place. Christians are losing their businesses because they refuse to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs. Roughly one million unborn babies die every year while Roe v. Wade continues to stand.

The policies that lead to this are almost exclusively Democratic. It is Democrat-appointed judges who stand in the way of making abortion illegal. It is Democrat lawmakers who want to force people of faith to adopt, at least publicly, an ungodly view of sexuality. It is the Democratic platform that is hostile to the Bible. Yes, Republicans are most certainly flawed too. But they represent an institution that stands up to the policies that hurt our neighbors and brothers and sisters in Christ. It should be clear to Christians who to support and it should be clear that voting is necessary.

For far too long, and long before President Trump was on the political scene, the Church has been too hands-off on politics. Pastors rarely address current events from the pulpit. Congregations are not taught about when life begins, what Biblical sexuality and gender looks like, how liberation theology is not Biblical, and a whole host of other topics that are often in the news. Many pastors speak of politics as "temporal" matters without eternal consequences, as if world and political events do not impact the hearts, minds, and souls of our neighbors.

This hands-off approach to politics and world events has led to a variety of problems within the Church. At worst, many Christians are caught up in worldly narratives. Having not heard truth about life, sexuality, race, and other issues, many in the Church go on to embrace what is manifestly unbiblical. Many others take an apathetic approach to politics and shrug it off as though it doesnt matter much in the grand scheme of things. Yet others take a cynical view of politics, as if it is purely made up of flawed humans seeking money or power.

The truth is, at least so far, nothing that has happened politically has dramatically impacted many of our lives. We may pay more or less in taxes. Our money may be wasted more than we like. But a Christians participation in politics should not be purely motivated by self-interest. Jesus told us to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

The Church does not place near enough emphasis on their neighbors. If you have not been impacted adversely because of your faith, many others have.

How is it then that our faith leaders tell us that faithful people can come to different conclusions on how to vote? How can the Church see all of this evil and turn a blind eye to it? How can the Church disengage from politics while people suffer?

It is not as if the burden to do something is even that high. All pastors need to do is view the plight of their neighbors and speak truth to it. All people of faith need to do is get up and go vote for candidates that seek to prevent the evils Ive described. If the Church would unify and apply their vote consistent with what they say they believe, these evils would have been ended. But it persists because of our apathy or indifference toward the injustices right in front of us.

The common retort to these concepts is that the Bible tells us that we will be persecuted or that times will get bad before the end times play out. And it is expected that the world will be without the Spirit and will behave poorly and persecute the Church. These things are true. Christians should worship Christ and find joy in Him even in the face of persecution. Politics is not what saves us.

But the Church should not be expected to open its doors to the persecutors and do nothing to stand in their way.

This is a call to action. 2020 is over. Barring divine intervention, the evil policy agendas that have been promised will likely come. But it is time for the Church to stand up and unite. It is time for the Church to do everything within its power to help those who will be targeted by government. It is time to support the pro-life movement.

And it is time to change the mindset of the Church toward politics. By the next election, congregations should know the unbiblical narratives of the world. They should be motivated to vote for those who will further righteous policies. The Church cannot be silent any longer. Our neighbors depend on it.
[February 04, 2021] CERAWeek by IHS Markit 2021 to Convene Energy CEOs, Government Officials, and Business and Technology Leaders for World's Preeminent Energy Conference

The world's energy industry leaders, experts, government officials and policymakers, as well as leaders from the technology, financial and industrial communities will convene at the world's preeminent energy conference, CERAWeek by IHS (News - Alert) Markit 2021, to be held virtually March 1-5. CERAWeek 2021: The New Map: Energy, Climate and Charting the Future will examine a new global map being shaped by dramatic shifts in energy and geopolitics-a map defined by changing policies, technology, alliances, geopolitics, and possibly collisions in global commerce and politics. Inspired by the new book, The New Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations by IHS Markit Vice Chairman and CERAWeek Chairman Daniel Yergin, the conference program will focus on key themes related to Energy Transition; Geopolitics, Economics and Markets; Investment and Financing; Technology and Innovation; Mobility and the Future Workforce. 2021 marks the 39th edition of the conference and is the first time that it will be an all-virtual event. The conference is produced by IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions. Bill Gates (News - Alert) will be among the speakers for CERAWeek by IHS Markit 2021. The co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, founder of Breakthrough Energy and author of the forthcoming book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need, Mr. Gates will join energy leaders, experts, government officials and policymakers, as well as leaders from the automotive, environmental, technology, financial and industrial sectors addressing the conference. "We are pleased to welcome Bill Gates among the distinguished group of speakers at CERAWeek 2021," said Daniel Yergin, conference chair and vice chairman of IHS Markit. "Through an unmatched career at the forefront of technology, innovation and philanthropy-and now as the author of a much-anticipated new book-his unique perspective on climate change and the work he's doing through Breakthrough Energy will be a timely addition to the critical dialogues taking place at this year's conference. "There has perhaps never been a more importat time for the CERAWeek community to come together. The past year has seen the novel coronavirus alter our world in profound ways. The great disruption it has wrought made more complex a broader transformation that had already been under way-one redrawing the map of global energy and geopolitics. The forces shaping this new map are still coming into view, and the past year has made the path forward all the more important to discern. At the same time a new Administration in the United States has sharply turned the corner on energy policy, both domestically and internationally. The CERAWeek 2021 program and its distinguished speakers will set out to bring clarity and perspective to this new and uncharted landscape."



CERAWeek 2021 and the related Innovation Agora will feature more than 245 speakers from 29 countries. Speakers will include (partial list):

Bill Gates - co-chair, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and founder, Breakthrough Energy

Amin Nasser - president and CEO, Saudi Aramco

Bernard Looney - group chief executive, BP

Ben van Beurden - CEO, Royal Dutch Shell

Patrick Pouyanne - chairman and CEO, TOTAL S.A.

Ryan Lance - chairman and CEO, ConocoPhillips

Vicki Hollub - president and CEO, Occidental Petroleum

Mike Wirth - chairman of the board and CEO, Chevron (News - Alert)

H.E. Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo - secretary general, OPEC

Gina McCarthy - national climate advisor, The White House

Hon. Joe Manchin - chairman, U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Senator, State of West Virginia

Hon. Daniel Sullivan - U.S. Senator, State of Alaska

Lynn J. Good - chairman, president and CEO, Duke Energy (News - Alert)

Noubar Afeyan - co-founder and chairman, Moderna

Pratima Rangarajan - CEO, OGCI Climate Investments

Hon. Tina Bru, minister of petroleum and energy, Norway

Hon. Sylvester Turner - mayor, City of Houston

Susan Hockfield - president emerita and professor of neuroscience, MIT (News - Alert)

Walter Isaacson - author and professor of history, Tulane University

Allison Herren Lee - acting chair, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Sunita Narain - director general, Centre for Science and Environment

Ben Fowke - chairman of the board, president and CEO, Xcel Energy

Nick Akins - chairman, president and CEO, AEP

Ignacio S. Galan - chairman and CEO, Iberdrola S.A. Visit www.ceraweek.com for a complete list of speakers and the most up-to-date program information (subject to change). Registration Information CERAWeek by IHS Markit 2021 will be held virtually March 1-5. Further information and delegate registration is available at www.ceraweek.com. Media Accreditation Media registration is now open. Members of the media interested in covering CERAWeek 2021 are required to apply for accreditation. Applications can be submitted via the following link: https://ceraweek.com/about/press.html About IHS Markit (www.ihsmarkit.com) IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO) is a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide. The company delivers next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government, improving their operational efficiency and providing deep insights that lead to well-informed, confident decisions. IHS Markit has more than 50,000 business and government customers, including 80 percent of the Fortune Global 500 and the world's leading financial institutions. Headquartered in London, IHS Markit is committed to sustainable, profitable growth. IHS Markit is a registered trademark of IHS Markit Ltd. and/or its affiliates. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners  2021 IHS Markit Ltd. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005772/en/

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A driver who had been stopped on a New Mexico highway shot and killed a State Police officer on Thursday and then led officers on a roughly 40-mile chase before his pickup truck was rammed by the police and he was fatally shot, the authorities said.

The violence began when the State Police officer, Darian Jarrott, pulled over the driver of a white pickup truck as part of a homeland security investigation on Interstate 10 near Akela, about 40 miles west of Las Cruces, N.M., the police said.

The driver, Omar Felix Cueva, had been heading by himself from Deming, N.M., to Las Cruces to engage in a drug buy, the police said. Mr. Cueva fired at least one shot at Officer Jarrott, killing him, the police said. Mr. Cueva then drove off, heading east on the highway, according to Roxanne Garcia-McElmell, a spokeswoman for the Dona Ana County District Attorneys Office.

After another State Police officer found Mr. Cuevas truck on the highway, Mr. Cueva pulled over near an exit and fired on officers, who returned fire, the State Police said. Officers chased Mr. Cueva farther east on Interstate 10, and placed tire-puncturing strips on the highway, the police said.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / Tsodilo Resources Limited ("Tsodilo" or the "Company") (TSXV:TSD) is pleased to provide an update on its private placement financing (the "Financing") for units of securities of the Company ("Units") at a subscription price of C$0.50 per Unit. Each Unit is comprised of one common share in the capital of the Company ("Common Share") and one common share purchase warrant ("Warrant"), each such Warrant being exercisable for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance at an exercise price of USD$0.55.

In addition to the closing of the first tranche of the Financing announced on January 25, 2021 for 2,686,038 Units and gross proceeds of C$1,343,019, the Company expects to close the second and final tranche of the Financing on or about February 8, 2021, pursuant to which the Company expects to issue up to 813,962 additional Units for additional gross proceeds of up to C$406,981. Upon closing of the second and final tranche of the Financing, the Company will have issued, in aggregate, up to 3,500,000 Units for gross proceeds of up to C$1,750,000 pursuant to the first and second tranche of the Financing. Proceeds from the Financing are to be used by Tsodilo for general corporate purposes and for working capital.

About Tsodilo Resources Limited:

Tsodilo Resources Limited is an international diamond and metals exploration company engaged in the search for economic diamond, metal deposits and industrial stone at its Bosoto (Pty) Limited ("Bosoto"), Gcwihaba Resources (Pty) Limited ("Gcwihaba") and Newdico (Pty) Ltd. ("Newdico) projects in Botswana and its Idada 361 (Pty) Limited ("Idada") project in Barberton, South Africa. The Company has a 100% stake in Bosoto (Pty) Ltd. which holds the BK16 kimberlite project in the Orapa Kimberlite Field (OKF) in Botswana and the PL216/2017 diamond prospection license also in the OKF. The Company has a 100% stake in its Gcwihaba project area consisting of seven metal (base, precious, platinum group, and rare earth) prospecting licenses all located in the North-West district of Botswana. The Company has a 100% interest in its Newdico industrial stone project located in Botswana's Central District. Additionally, Tsodilo has a 70% stake in Idada Trading 361 (Pty) Limited which holds the gold and silver exploration license in the Barberton area of South Africa. Tsodilo manages the exploration of the Gcwihaba, Bosoto, Newdico and Idada projects.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange ("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.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements pertaining to the completion of anticipated financings) are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward- looking statements, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, changes in equity markets, changes in general economic conditions, market volatility, political developments in Botswana and surrounding countries, changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, exploration and development risks, the uncertainties involved in interpreting exploration results and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration business. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and, even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, uncertainties relating to availability and cost of funds, timing and content of work programs, results of exploration activities, interpretation of drilling results and other geological data, risks relating to variations in the diamond grade and kimberlite lithologies; variations in rates of recovery and breakage; estimates of grade and quality of diamonds, variations in diamond valuations and future diamond prices; the state of world diamond markets, reliability of mineral property titles, changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities, delays in obtaining or failure to obtain required project approvals, operational and infrastructure risk and other risks involved in the diamond exploration and development business. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to their inherent uncertainty. This news release may contain assumptions, estimates, and other forward-looking statements regarding future events. Such forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and are subject to factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause actual results or performance to differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

James M. Bruchs

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

JBruchs@TsodiloResources.com

Dr. Alistair Jeffcoate

Project Manager and Chief Geologist Officer

Alistair.jeffcoate@TsodiloResources.com

Head Office

Telephone +1 416 572 2033

Facsimile + 1 416 987 4369

http://www.TsodiloResources.com

SOURCE: Tsodilo Resources Limited

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/628012/Tsodilo-Resources-Limited-Provides-Update-on-Private-Placement-Financing-for-Units

According to a news published by Government of Canada, Commodore Bradley Peats of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) officially assumed command of Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) during a change of command ceremony held in Lisbon, Portugal today. Commodore Peats assumed command from Commodore Jose Antonio Mirones of the Portuguese Navy.

Commodore Bradley Peats of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) officially assumed command of Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) during a change of command ceremony held in Lisbon, Portugal today. Commodore Peats assumed command from Commodore Jose Antonio Mirones of the Portuguese Navy.

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HMCS Halifax en route to Haiti in January 2010 as part of Operation Hestia (Picture source: Wikipedia)

SNMG1 is one of four NATO Standing Naval Forces (SNF) that provide the Alliance with a continuous naval capability and presence which forms the core of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (Maritime). NATO is a cornerstone of Canadas international security policy. It is also one of our most important multilateral relationships. Canadas membership in the Alliance enables meaningful cooperation with Allies and partners to strengthen transatlantic defence and security, preserve the rules-based international order, and lead or otherwise contribute to international peace, security and stability efforts abroad.

Standing NATO Maritime Group One is a multinational deterrent force that carries out a robust programme of operational deployments as well as complex training exercises and events with national navies to build and maintain the highest levels of readiness, interoperability and war fighting capabilities.

HMCS Halifax departed its namesake homeport of Halifax, Nova Scotia on January 1, 2021, and replaced HMCS Toronto, which deployed with SNMG1 from July to December 2020. HMCS Halifax is now the flagship for the SNMG1 command team and headquarters staff throughout the remainder of its deployment.

HMCS Halifax (FFH 330) is a Halifax-class frigate that has served in the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Forces since 1992. Halifax is the lead ship in her class which is the name for the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project. She is the second vessel to carry the designation HMCS Halifax. She carries the hull classification symbol FFH 330.
Highlights Vivo V19 is getting new Android update in India.

The V19 is getting FuntouchOS 11 update.

The update for the phone is based on Android 11.

The Vivo V19 emerged as one of the more popular phones launched in India last year by the phone maker. Brought to India in mid-may, the device came running Funtouch OS 10 based on Android 10. However, the company has now updated the phone with its first major update as it has started to roll-out the Android 11-based FuntocuhOS 11 for it in India.

The update comes with build number Vivo rev 6.71.16 and interestingly weighs 3.76GB in size -- thereby hinting at major changes being brought to the phone. Reports suggest that the update, for now, is in its beta state and as such available only to select users. However, it is being reported to be received by a larger audience suggesting it close to a stable build with very few issues. The update is currently being rolled out as an over the air update and promises to unlock new features and upgrades in performance once installed on the user's phones.

In terms of the specifications on offer, the V19 comes with a 6.44-inch Full-HD+ Super AMOLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio. The panel doesn't get any fancy curves but does come with a dual punch-hole for the selfie camera, and there's also an in-display fingerprint scanner hidden underneath the display.

Under the hood, there's a Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 SoC paired to 8 GB RAM and 128 GB/256 GB storage. The chipset isn't the fastest in the business, but it's still a capable enough performer.

The phone houses a primary camera that is 48-megapixels in size. There's also an 8-megapixel super-wide-angle shooter, a 2-megapixel Bokeh camera and a 2-megapixel macro shooter. The front of the phone houses dual punch-hole cameras for selfies. Of the two, the primary is a 32-megapixel selfie camera and the other one an ultra-wide 8-megapixel shooter.

Keeping the lights on the device is a 4,500mAh battery pack with support for up to 33W Vivo FlashCharge 2.0 which the company claims enables charging from zero to 54 percent in a mere 30 minutes. As for connectivity, Vivo V19 includes Bluetooth v5.0, USB Type-C port, 3.5mm audio, dual SIM support, GPS support dual-band Wi-Fi.

ALSO READ: | WhatsApp starts rolling out video and voice call feature on web

DEAR ABBY: Our 21-year-old daughter has been home since March when the pandemic began. She has always been a homebody. Our house is small, and my wife and I no longer can be alone or be physically intimate because our daughter prevents it.

If we hug for an extended period of time, she will make a comment. If we want to watch a movie, she wants to hang out, and we cant watch it without her. My wife and I need privacy, and we need our adult daughter to cut the cord.

Our marriage really evolved and we grew even closer when the kid moved out for college. Now we cant escape her. I miss my wife and our alone time. What should we do?

Frustrated in the East

DEAR FRUSTRATED: This is your home, and your daughter needs to accommodate you, rather than the other way around. What you must do is have an adult conversation with your homebody daughter and explain that you and her mother need time alone. Establish a date night so she knows when to disappear.

Im assuming that she has a job and friends. If thats the case, she should be accumulating enough money to live apart from you. If you are not only sheltering her but also supporting her, you will need to create a plan so your daughter can become independent. It may mean contributing to her rent for an agreed-upon period of time, if necessary, so be prepared.

DEAR ABBY: I was wondering if you could give me some advice on tipping. I frequent coffee shops in my area as well as when I travel. The baristas usually are younger women. Usually, there will be a tip jar located next to the cash register.

A typical latte costs $4 to $5, and I leave a dollar in the tip jar. I realize that many servers may be distracted if theyre waiting on other customers, but is it normal for them to never acknowledge someone who is giving them a tip? Is the tip just expected?

Again, I realize there could be distractions, and maybe the baristas dont notice me tipping them, but it seems like the rule rather than the exception. I think it comes across as lousy customer service. How hard is it to say thank you? Is this another example of a generation of poorly raised people?

Sipping & Tipping in Connecticut

DEAR S & T: Its not only good manners but also good business to thank clients/patrons  just as its considered proper etiquette to thank the person who served you. I hesitate to paint an entire generation with the same brush, but the individuals you are dealing with could benefit from a refresher course in courtesy.

DEAR ABBY: Im 56, disabled and live with my mom, who is 86. Im really scared of whats going to happen to me when she passes.

Scared in Nevada

DEAR SCARED: You should not be in limbo regarding this question because your concern is valid. Its important that you talk to your mother about your fears and ask her that question. The answer may involve her estate and whether she has a will that provides for you in the event of her death. I am hoping that her answer will put your mind at ease.

What teens need to know about sex, drugs, AIDS and getting along with peers and parents is in What Every Teen Should Know. Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Teen Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

DearAbby.com

Dear Abby

P.O. Box 69440

Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Monrovia  It was a show of unison and optimism on Wednesday when the outgoing Chairman of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), Alexander B. Cummings, turned over the gavel of leadership to Senator Nyonblee Karngar-Lawrence.

The smooth transition of the CPP leadership from Mr. Cummings, political leader of the Alternative National Congress (ANC) to Senator Karngar-Lawrence, also the Liberty Party's Political leader comes in the midst of murmurs and predictions from political pundits and cynics that the CPP, which is the union of the top four opposition political parties would not hold together for 2023 elections because of its leaders' political ambitions.

However, Senator Karngar-Lawrence, in her address upon assuming the leadership of the CPP said, the smooth transition and tremendous achievements of the CPP under her predecessors are clear indications that the collaboration is committed to live up to its legal framework.

"Today, once again, we come together to fulfill our commitment to rotational leadership as contained in the Framework Agreement. The Liberty Party is honored, and I am especially humbled, to receive from the hands of the Political Leader of the Alternative National Congress, Mr. Alexander B. Cummings, the gavel of authority to chair the CPP for the next period," she said.

She continues: "If there have been any lingering doubts that our parties are fully committed to the Framework Agreement which we signed, including the peaceful transfers of power, let those doubts now be dispelled. We are together, stronger, proud of our collective achievements, and are ready to pull ourselves together even more, in the best interests of our country and our suffering people."

The CPP's ultimate goal under her leadership, she said, is to ensure that the party gets its standard bearer and Vice standard bearer in line with the framework document.

"I feel challenged to move the CPP a big step further in firming up our protocols and readying us for 2023, and again, a single CPP ticket, as agreed, for the victory of Liberia and our people... With only two years to 2023 Presidential and General Elections, and by the framework document, we must ensure that the CPP standard-bearer and the vice standard bearer single ticket is presented to the people of Liberia before the end of 2021. This is our goal. It is our commitment," she declared.

She also thanked outgoing Chairman Cummings for his exemplary leadership in ensuring that the CPP captured more seats in the Liberian Senate during the December 8, 2020 midterm senatorial elections, and for ensuring that the CPP is certified by the National Elections Commission (NEC) as a political party.

"It must be said that Mr. Benoni Urey, our Organizing Chair turned over a signed framework of the CPP to you. Today, you've turned over to me a registered CPP with a respected number of elected senators," she said in paying homage to Mr. Cummings.

She also thanked former Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai, and Mr. Benoni Urey for their continued "support, encouragement, guidance, and leadership."

The Grand Bassa County Senator, who just got reelected following a hotly contested polls have come to prominence in the Liberian political landscape as the only female Senator of the 54th Legislature. Known as the 'Lioness', she is the lone female political leader within the CPP. Her ascendancy as Chairman of the CPP makes her the first female to head the collaboration.

Dedicating a significant portion of her speech to the women of Liberia, Madam Karngar-Lawrence said her tenure represents the aspirations and hopes of all women and girls across the country, adding that "My chairmanship is yet again another evidence that the CPP represents the future we seek of gender equality and the inclusiveness of all Liberians in national decision-making and leadership."

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"To the women of Liberia, I extend this opportunity to you. This is your chairmanship. We have the chance to change the course of our country's history by impacting a major political organization. The choices and chances we have in the CPP could not be clearer and different from those of the ruling establishment."

Aiming a jibe at the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change, she noted: "Dishearteningly for the women of Liberia, when women issues of participation, domestic violence, rape, discrimination, and inequality are confronting our country and the world, the ruling coalition offered no place to a woman - they found no woman, not even one - to be qualified for any place on their senatorial tickets. They have acted to exclude us!"
The breeding partnership of Al Libfeld and Marvin Katz recently added six accomplished mares to their broodmare band, which is already one of the most elite in the industry.

There are two pacers and four trotters among the group, with the pacing mares being two of the most talented to step on a track in the past few years. They each have been acclaimed as the best of their division, as well as receiving multiple Dan Patch and OBrien Award honours.

Kissin In The Sand (Somebeachsomewhere-Kiss Me Kate p, 3, 1:47.4 [$1,741,094]) has been at the top of her game through a career that spanned from age two through five. She captured many stakes events along the way, is a two-time Dan Patch award winner and earned close to $2 million.



Kissin In The Sand winning her elimination for the 2020 Breeders Crown Mare Pace Kissin In The Sand winning her elimination for the 2020 Breeders Crown Mare Pace

She concluded her spectacular racing career in brilliant fashion, winning her last seven-straight starts including a sweep of the Milton, the Dayton Distaff, the Breeders Crown elimination and final and the TVG Mares at the Meadowlands in a stakes record 1:48. She is also beautifully bred being by Somebeachsomewhere from Kiss Me Kate, a half-sister to the prolific producing mare Kikikatie a $1.4 million winner. Kissin In The Sand, owned by Marvin Katz and Hatfield Stables, is booked to Tall Dark Stranger in 2021.

The other pacer is World Champion Tall Drink Hanover (Captaintreacherous-Take Into Account p, 3, 1:48 [$893,532]), who earned just shy of $900,000 during her career which saw her capture a multitude of stakes events and be awarded the OBrien for rookie pacing filly in 2018.



Tall Drink Hanover winning her elimination for the 2018 Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Filly Pace Tall Drink Hanover winning her elimination for the 2018 Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Filly Pace

A daughter of Captaintreacherous, her immediate family includes Artiscape, Western Shore, If I Can Dream, etc. From the immediate family of the great Delinquent Account, a millionaire winner and dam of $1.4-million winner Artiscape, and granddam of millionaires Western Shore, Western Terror, If I Can Dream, etc. Tall Drink Hanover, owned by Marvin Katz, Alagna Racing and Riverview Racing, is booked to Tall Dark Stranger in 2021.

Among the trotting mares recently added are two by Muscle Hill, Ms Savannah Belle (Muscle Hill-Stubborn Belle 2, 1:52.4, 3, 1:54.2 [$322,672]) and Hello Tomorrow (Muscle Hill-Armbro Deja Vu 2, 1:56.3 [$146,688]). The former is a winner of multiple stakes events, including a Breeders Crown elimination at two where she defeated Ramona Hill. A daughter of OBrien winner Stubborn Belle, Ms Savannah Belle won well over $300,000 in her career and is booked for breeding to Chapter Seven in 2021.



Ms Savannah Belle winning her elimination for the 2019 Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Filly Trot Ms Savannah Belle winning her elimination for the 2019 Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Filly Trot

Hello Tomorrow earned over $140,000 during her brief racing career, which saw her finish second in several significant races including a Peaceful Way elimination and final, and a Bluegrass division. From a classic trotting family, she is a half-sister to millionaire Dejarmbro (2, 1:55f, 3, 1:52.2f [$1,135,123]) and Katniss, dam of (Panem 2, 1:55.4s, 3, 1:53.4 -'20, BT1:50.4-'20 [$357,172]) and Open Access dam of 2020 Haughton Final winner Zenith Stride (2, 1:53.2 -'20, BT1:53.1-'20 [$226,168]). Hello Tomorrow, owned by Marvin and Lyn Katz along with Brixton Medical Inc. and Hatfield Stables, is booked to Chapter Seven in 2021.

Queen Of The Hill (Explosive Matter-Flyer Mel 3, 1:54.4f [$239,641]) took in over $230,000 during her career on track, thanks in part to victories in numerous Pennsylvania Sires Stakes events.The daughter of Explosive Matter is from the immediate family of $3-million winner Marion Marauder. Queen Of The Hill is booked to Walner for 2021.

The Father Patrick daughter Never Content (Father Patrick-Sheer Soul 3, 1:53.1 [$21,550])

rounds out the group and brings top of the line breeding, being a half-sister to world champion Designed To Be (3, 1:51.3f [$656,166]), the dam of millionaire Greenshoe (3, 1:49.4 [$1,353,772]) and the highest priced yearling to ever sell in Standardbred history Maverick. Never Content is booked to Muscle Hill in 2021.

The Libfeld Katz Breeding Partnership looks forward to presenting their yearlings to you in the future.

For further information including Libfeld Katz yearlings of 2021, 2021 broodmare updates, current racing roster, and news please visit LibfeldKatz.com.

(Libfeld-Katz)
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The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option.

It looks like people are loving the Texas-based CW series "Walker" starring San Antonio native Jared Padalecki.

The "Walker, Texas Ranger" reboot premiered its first season just two weeks ago and has already been renewed for a second run, according to a tweet from Padalecki.

"Couldn't be prouder to announce we've been picked up for our 2nd season today," the Madison High School grad wrote in his tweet. " Grateful for the support from our friends at @TheCW, our crew, cast & most especially y'all for the tremendous support. Ready to saddle up for this ride & give you all I've got. Big love from Texas."

READ ALSO: New 'Walker, Texas Ranger' reboot starring San Antonio's Jared Padalecki debuts Thursday

CW announced the news Thursday, renewing not only "Walker" but also 11 other scripted series including "Riverdale," "The Flash," and "All American."

If you haven't seen the first two episodes of Padalecki's new series, you can watch them for free on cwtv.com. The show follows Cordell Walker  a widower and father of two  as he returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years. He attempts to reconnect with his children and find common ground with his new Texas Ranger partner, played by Lindsey Morgan, as he grows suspicious of his wife's death.

The new "Walker" is written and executive produced by Anna Fricke (Valor). The original series was created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis, and aired from 1993 to 2001 and starred Chuck Norris.

Priscilla Aguirre is a general assignment reporter for MySA.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre


She is best known for starring in 1988 romantic comedy Working Girl.

And over 30 years later, Melanie Griffith is still staying active.

The 63-year-old actress was seen getting a cardio session in as she was seen on a solo stroll in Beverly Hills on Tuesday.

Scroll down for video

On the prowl. Melanie Griffith was seen getting a cardio session in as she was seen on a solo stroll in Beverly Hills on Tuesday

She proudly put her toned legs on display in a pair of clinging black three-quarter length Under Armour leggings.

Melanie teamed the look with a baggy grey hoodie and black running shoes as she accessorized with a small black crossbody bag and grey bandana tied around her neck.

She let her natural looks show by going make-up free as her signature blonde locks were put in a messy updo.

Solo stroll: The 63-year-old actress proudly put her toned legs on display in a pair of clinging black three-quarter length Under Armour leggings

Although the actress is best known for her on-screen roles, she recently tried something new with a guest appearance on the fictional podcast Dirty Diana, which stars Demi Moore.

Demi produces and stars in the series as a corporate executive who begins recording women talking about their sexual fantasies as an escape from her mundane domestic life with her husband, whom she hasn't slept with in a year.

Melanie guest starred on the third episode as one of the women revealing her darkest secrets.

Melanie began her Hollywood career in the 1970s with acclaimed roles in Arthur Penn's neo-noir mystery Night Moves and the Paul Newmanstarring mystery The Drowning Pool, both from 1975.

Hollywood dynasty: Melanie first made a name for herself on screen in the 1970s, following on the success of her mother Tippi Hedren, who starred in The Birds for director Alfred Hitchcock

The 1980s saw her receiving renewed acclaim for Brian De Palma's thriller Body Double (1984), Jonathan Demme's Something Wilde (1986) and Mike Nichols' Working Girl (1988), among other films.

The actress followed in the footsteps of her mother Tippi Hedren, who famously starred in Alfred Hitchcock's classics The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964).

Her daughter Dakota Johnson, 31, whom she shares with her ex-husband Don Johnson, has gone on to have similar success as an actress.

Following a small but pivotal role in David Fincher's The Social Network (2010), she landed the lead role in the Fifty Shades Of Gray Trilogy and Luca Guadagnino's epic horror remake Suspiria (2018).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alphageneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Alphageneron) signed an Exclusive License Agreement with Multimmune GmbH, of Munich, Germany, (Multimmune) on October 1st, 2020, for its clinical stage autologous Natural Killer (NK) cell therapy and companion diagnostic platform, for all fields worldwide.

The autologous NK cell therapy redirects a patients NK cells to target a cell membrane form of Heat Shock Protein 70 (Hsp70) which has been discovered to be highly expressed on many cancer cells, but not on healthy cells. NK cells are harvested from the patients blood, activated ex vivo with a synthetic Hsp70 peptide and IL-2 and administered back to the patient.

A Phase I clinical trial in twelve (12) patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) completed in Germany showed the autologous NK cell therapy was safe, and had promising signs of efficacy. A Phase IIa (randomized, controlled) clinical trial with fourteen (14) patients with Stage IIIb inoperable NSCLC after radio-chemotherapy completed in Germany has reported five (5) of 7 patients (71%) treated with the NK cell therapy to show promising signs of clinical benefit, including a complete response, and a partial response. Only 2 of 7 patients (28%) in the Control group showed positive clinical responses to radio-chemotherapy alone. A Companion Diagnostic using proprietary monoclonal antibodies was used to select patients with tumors expressing membrane Hsp70.

We are delighted to have entered this license agreement with Alphageneron, which will advance our NK cell therapy into more extensive clinical trials, and commercialization, said Graham Pockley, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Multimmune. The potential for this NK cell therapy to treat a large range of aggressive cancers is a revolutionary breakthrough, said Robert K. Brooks, JD, Chief Executive Officer of Alphageneron Pharmaceuticals.

Under the terms of the Exclusive License Agreement, Alphageneron is obligated to pay Multimmune a confidential amount in developmental and regulatory milestones, plus post-commercialization royalties. On July 6, 2020, Alphageneron entered into an Exclusive Option to Purchase agreement with Multimmune. On July 7, 2020, Alphageneron and Multimmune signed a Collaboration Agreement to repurpose its NK cell therapy platform for treating SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19).

About Multimmune

Multimmune GmbH is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in Munich, Germany that has developed a proprietary Hsp70 targeted platform to redirect NK cells to treat cancer. Its Co-Founder, and Co-Sponsor, Gabriele Multhoff PhD, is a Professor at the Technische Universitat Munchen.

About Alphageneron

Alphageneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing cell and gene therapies. Alphageneron is developing cancer immunotherapies using autologous NK cells, Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cells, allogeneic off the shelf NK cells, CAR NK cells, and antibody engagers. The company has a seasoned team of biopharmaceutical executives, scientists and clinicians in the United States.

Contact us at: info@Alphageneron.com

Statements in this message that are not based on historical or current facts, and constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although Alphageneron believes that expectations conveyed by the forward-looking statements are reasonable based on the information available to it on the date such statements were made, no assurances can be given as to the future results, approvals or achievements. Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, and should assume the Company has no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law.
New video joins other resources on deadly radon gas

New video joins other resources on deadly radon gas

A new EGLE Classroom video on the dangers of radon gas in the home is the latest free resource made available by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can cause cancer. Radon enters homes through openings in the foundation floor or walls. One in four homes in Michigan is estimated to have indoor radon levels that exceed the federal action level.

The EGLE Classroom video covers what radon gas is, the threat it presents, how to test for it, and fix it when found at dangerous levels. It is the latest EGLE Classroom episode that serves as a resource to assist students and instructors with information on environmental topics.

EGLE's radon webpage also lists a variety of other radon resources available, including the popular activity booklet for kids that can be printed off.

EGLE's YouTube page includes radon public service announcements in video and audio formats.

Resources can be printed and shared on social media channels.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has declared January 2021 as Radon Action Month in Michigan, and she encourages all Michigan residents to learn more about this environmental hazard and test their homes during the heating season.

Interested in EGLE Classroom videos? Subscribe to the EGLE newsletter and never miss an episode!

Like this content? Follow us on Twitter at @MichiganEGLE or on Youtube.com/MichiganEGLE

Take a short survey and let us know what you think about MI Environment.
"What Clearview does is mass surveillance and it is illegal," said Canadian Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien

US facial recognition technology firm Clearview AI illegally conducted mass surveillance in breach of Canadians' privacy rights, Canada's privacy commissioner said Wednesday following an investigation.

"What Clearview does is mass surveillance and it is illegal," Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien told a teleconference.

An investigation by the watchdog found the New York-based firm, whose technology allows law enforcement and others to match photographs of unknown people against its databank of more than 3 billion images, had violated Canadian privacy laws.

It found that Clearview AI had collected highly sensitive biometric data scraped from websites and social media platforms without users' knowledge or consent, and disclosed personal information "for inappropriate purposes," creating risks of significant harm to individuals.

Police forces, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and other organizations across Canada had created 48 accounts with the company.

The privacy commissioner recommended that Clearview AI stop offering its facial recognition services to Canadian clients, stop collecting images of people in Canada and delete those already in its database.

The company pulled out of the Canadian market in 2020, but rejected the other guidance.

"In disagreeing with our findings, Clearview alleged an absence of harms to individuals flowing from its activities," said the report.

Company founder Hoan Ton-That has said the technology has been made available to more than 600 law enforcement agencies globally, raising concerns about police surveillance.

Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube (Google) and LinkedIn (Microsoft) have protested against the unsanctioned use of their users' photos, but Clearview has reportedly declined to delete them.

Officials in Britain and Australia have launched similar investigations of the company's practices, which is also the subject of a complaint in France.

Explore further UK, Australia investigate Clearview facial recognition firm

 2021 AFP

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The hotheaded convicted killer who rammed an oar-wielding school principal with his dinghy in a viral video has cooled down - and says the bizarre incident was his fault.

John Frederick Dixon, a life parolee, was filmed in a screaming match on Tairua harbour with Catherine Browning, now regrets his behaviour - which drew so much attention there was talk of him returning to prison 33 years after being released.

'I made a d*** of myself, I lost my cool,' Dixon said.

The hotheaded boatie who rammed an oar-wielding school principal with his dinghy in a viral video is John Frederick Dixon (pictured), a convicted killer on life parole with 'severe anger issues'

Dixon explained to Stuff that boats had been speeding past the yacht he lives on with his partner, Christine, at Tairua Harbour. Two went past so fast they knocked his boat onto the dinghy and woke her up.

Dixon angrily jumped into the dinghy and chased one of them.

'I thought I'd give them some of their own medicine and see how they like it, so I did a few donuts,' he said.

'At the end of the day, it was my fault. I shouldn't have done it, I was concerned about my life.'

Dixon was released from prison in 1987 after serving eight years in prison for murder.

His unhinged recent behaviour so concerned New Zealand authorities that they requested he was recalled to prison because he posed undue risk to public safety.

Mr Dixon, now 58, was 16 when he bashed Joseph Hishon to death after the man denied him a loan in Hamilton in 1978.

Mr Hishon died from 'extensive head injuries' and had a broken skull.

Mr Dixon admitted punching and kicking the man's head after he refused to hand over money for cigarettes and rent.

At the trial it was reported Mr Dixon had severe anger issues and a personality disorder the NZ Herald reported.

The video showed an enraged Dixon recklessly ramming his inflatable dinghy into an aluminium boat after a dispute with another boatie, deputy school principal Catherine Browning.

The bizarre boat rage incident erupted on January 23 at the Tairua Harbour marina, a tourist destination on the Coromandel Peninsula famous for kayaking and sailing.

Tairua primary school's deputy principal Catherine Browning (pictured) swung her oar at Mr Dixon in the drama caught on video

'You rammed our boat and you spit at me, you piece of s**t,' Ms Browning said as Dixon approached her boat aggressively.

'You're a piece of s**t, you just caused $1000 worth of damage', Dixon shouted back.

'What are you talking about?' Browning asked.

'You drive past my boat, you rock it if you're not doing 5 knots,' Dixon screamed.

Ms Browning grabbed a wooden oar as Dixon angrily buzzed another mariner and swung it at him.

'There are children,' Ms Browning shouted. 'What do you think you're doing?'

Dixon later told Stuff he didn't see the children, just a 'blabbermouth'.

Ms Browning spoke to the NZ Herald, breaking down in tears from the pressure after the video went global, escalating the incident to international news.

She said the video only captured half of the incident with the angry man originally targeting another boat in the drama that unfolded before the video started.

'He came in at full speed attacking us, ramming us,' she said.

'He scared the s*** out of me and I had to defend myself.'

John Dixon (pictured left) can be seen in the video yelling at Catherine Browning before speeding off and circling back to ram her boat (pictured right)

She was reportedly facing action from the school board over her behaviour too.

But Stuff also reported no charges had been laid by police though the incident was till under investigation.

Ms Browning said that the impact of the sudden and unwelcome fame has left her unable to sleep or eat.

'It's made my life a nightmare.'
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
The show is 13 artists smaller than in Arles, but its proportions remain epic. It contains over 400 works by more than 40 artists who were born between 1891 and 1992, about one third of whom are still alive. Several artists are well known, but Ill be concentrating on those new to me.

The curators have divided the work into four loose, overlapping groups: Private Affairs, Performing, Reformatting the World and Conjuring the Real. The section titles make increasing sense the more you engage. But you are also left to connect the dots yourself.

The show as a whole presented an installation challenge that has been mostly met, but a lot of the images are small and recessive. The trick is to look at the work, read the artists short biography and look again, allowing the two to briefly form a little world. Here are several that I visited.

Private Affairs

A great spur to the invention or at least the constant improvement of photography revolved around sex and the ability to see people naked. No surprise that this section is shot through with intimations of both, and this exhibition is overwhelmingly male. The big names here are Eugene von Bruenchenhein (1910-1983), known for photographing his beautiful, strikingly innocent-looking if scantly clad wife; and Morton Bartlett (1909-1992), who photographed exquisite girl-dolls that he made himself. Another is the great Czech artist Miroslav Tichy (1926-2011), who secretly photographed women unwinding in parks or on beaches with crude cameras of his own making, creating images that grant them a modicum of privacy.
Just two days before Moscow was roiled by the biggest anti-government protests since the Soviet collapse, Vladimir Putin went public with the target of his blame:

Hillary Clinton.

She set the tone for some opposition activists, gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started working actively, Putin said on December 8, 2011, speaking about the then-U.S. secretary of state.

"We are all grown-ups here. We all understand the organizers are acting according to a well-known scenario and in their own mercenary political interests," Putin, who was prime minister at the time, told supporters without providing evidence to back the claims. Pouring foreign money into electoral processes is particularly unacceptable.

Fast forward nearly a decade.

Russia is now roiled again by some of the biggest nationwide protests in years, possibly since 2011-12. And while the demonstrations nearly a decade ago were mainly in big cities, the protests over the past two weekends -- prompted by the jailing of opposition activist and anti-corruption crusader Aleksei Navalny -- are wider in scope, reaching more than 140 cities and towns across the countrys 11 time zones.

And after a Moscow judge on February 2 ordered Navalny imprisoned for more than 2 1/2 years, protesters again took to the streets of the Russian capital, in some cases enduring brutal bludgeoning at the hands of riot police.

Whos to blame for all of this? In the Kremlins eyes: The United States. Again.

Gross U.S. interference in the internal affairs of Russia is a proven fact, as is the promotion of fakes and calls for unauthorized actions by Internet platforms controlled by Washington, the Foreign Ministry said in a post to Facebook on February 1, assigning specific blame to the new U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken. No evidence was provided for any aspects of the claim.

On the one hand, its a reversion to the mean, political observers said: the Kremlin sees foreign meddling in popular unrest, despite substantial evidence it is in fact powered by Russians dislike of endemic government corruption, stagnating wages, economic troubles, as well as fatigue with Kremlin foreign policy -- and Putin.

On the other hand, the comments -- from the Foreign Ministry and Kremlin -- could signal a darker turn for government policy: a xenophobic pulling-up-the-drawbridge; the growing primacy of security agencies like the Federal Security Service (FSB) in domestic policy making; and a wider effort to purge domestic opposition by portraying it as a tool in the hands of foreigners out to destroy Russia.

In 2011, the protests were seen by the government merely as a political crisis, said Konstantin Gaaze, a sociologist at the Moscow School for Social and Economic Sciences. Now, he said, the protests are seen as a revolt engineered by the CIA.

WATCH: No Food, No Lawyer, Threats, And Humiliation: Russians Detained During Navalny Protests Recount Mistreatment

Its the same rhetoric as in 2011, but darker, and with much more nuance, in terms of them thinking there is a Fifth Column, Gaaze said.

"The difference is now the thinking is: 'there are CIA spies inside Russia; Navalny and his team are in the country, all of them are CIA agents; Russians dont have real reason to be unhappy so they are under CIA control,'" he added.

The first round of protests on January 23 was sparked by Navalnys arrest upon returning to Moscow from Germany, where he was treated for a nerve-agent poisoning he blames on Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed to U.S. statements which called for authorities to allow Russians to protest peacefully.

Such statements indirectly constitute absolute interference in our internal affairs, he said, and are direct support for the violation of the law of the Russian Federation, support for unauthorized actions.

The Foreign Ministry, which has offered no evidence to bolster its accusations, homed in on a routine U.S. Embassy announcement cautioning U.S. citizens about the potential for unrest.

They had to behave in [the] traditional way: to accuse the USA in the igniting of protests, Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior scholar at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said in an e-mail. This is a traditional Ukraine-like scenario. A Nuland-inspired-Maidan mantra.

Thats a reference to Victoria Nuland, then the assistant U.S. secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, who travelled to Kyiv late in 2013 and handed out cookies and bread to demonstrators at the Maidan protests roiling the Ukrainian capital.

She became a major target for Kremlin messaging that baselessly accused Washington of engineering the protests, which ultimately pushed pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February 2014.

Kolesnikov said the Kremlin overlooks the fact that Russians protesting may have their own straightforward motivations that have nothing to do with alleged foreign interference.

But now, like in case of Khabarovsk, there were no signs of foreign intervention, he said, referring to protests held in the Far Eastern city since June 2020 over the sacking and arrest of a popular local governor.

Foreign Agents

Putin has been accusing the United States and other Western countries of trying to undermine Russia since his first term, in 2000-04. As far back as 2011, when his decision to return to the presidency the following year was a catalyst of the protests, the Kremlin signaled that forces from without would be considered a threat and a priority for targeting.

Back in the Kremlin 2012, Putin signed Russias first foreign-agent law, targeting organizations that receive funding from abroad and are deemed by the government to be involved in political activity.

Since then, it has been gradually expanded to include media outlets as well as individual bloggers and journalists, including several RFE/RL news divisions within Russia. There are scores of entities and individuals now listed on the Justice Ministrys official registry.

WATCH: What's Next For Navalny And Russia's Beleaguered Opposition?

An overlapping measure adopted in 2015 known as the undesirable organizations law calls for banning any foreign or international organization that is deemed by authorities to have undermined Russias security or constitutional order.

Navalny started gaining wide national attention during the 2011-12 protests, and since then Russian state media have gone out their way to try to discredit his investigations. His Anti-Corruption Foundation, known as FBK, was officially labeled as a foreign agent in 2019, and later was shut down.

The simple psychological trick that the Russian authorities are using against the FBK is that the organization is working in the interests of foreign powers, said Maksim Trudolyubov, the editor at large of the newspaper Vedomosti and a fellow at the Wilson Centers Kennan Institute in Washington. Russias state-run channels are losing influence to social media, but television is still able to get the Kremlins message out and sow enough doubt for the mass audiences to trust an outspoken Kremlin critic.

Now And Then

In 2011-2012, Gaaze said, the protests were more isolated and limited: a bunch of guys in their 30s living in big cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, freelancers, IT people, they were stricken by the global economic crisis.

It was a middle-class riot, he said. It was a big deal for Moscow, the Kremlin, St. Petersburg, but it wasnt a big deal for the country.

Today, however, these are the first nationwide, anti-Putin protests in the history of Russia, he said. Protests arent limited to special megapolises, now not limited to a certain class. It happened in Samara, Ufa, it happened in places where there arent [normally] protests.

But now, instead of merely sowing doubt, the message has hardened into outright accusations of treachery. And the Kremlins rhetoric has escalated to exaggerate an imaginary foreign threat, Gaaze said, because it is the security services like the FSB that are driving policy making.

The guys from the FSB: theyre deciding how we are going to deal with this CIA black-op, he said.

Key to that is discrediting Navalny by trying to paint him as a foreign agent, and the wider protests as a foreign-engineered plot.

For them, Navalny and the people who have marched in recent weeks are nothing less than enemies of the state and a tool for foreign meddling and interference, Tatiana Stanovaya, a political researcher and founder of R. Politik, a Russia-focused think tank, said in a post to Twitter.

Just days before the February 2 court hearing, a grainy black-and-white secret surveillance camera video circulated on the state TV channel Rossia-1, on the TV channel formerly known as Russia Today, and other outlets. It purported to show a Navalny lawyer meeting with a diplomat from the British Embassy in Moscow.

Margarita Simonyan, the head of Russia Today, which has rebranded itself as RT, has called for Navalny to be prosecuted for treason. After the judges order to send Navalny to prison, she praised the move.

It was a proper reaction, she said, to what Western secret services and the so-called civilized world are trying to do to Russia -- overthrow the Putin government. She provided no evidence to back up the charge.

Analysts say one motive of such remarks could be to instill patriotic sentiment in the police and security officers confronting and thwarting protesters, assuring them that they are protecting Russia from foreigners.

The security services arent just breaking up protests anymore; theyre on the front line, resisting a revolution sponsored by foreign enemies whose aim is to destroy Russia, Aleksandr Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said in an article published after Navalnys return to Russia.

Denis Volkov, deputy director of the Levada Center, an independent polling agency, said that for many Russians, theres a persistent belief that the West had interfered in politics in Ukraine, and more recently, in Belarus. But less so in Russia.

Trying to delegitimize genuine opposition by trying to tie it to foreign forces isnt as widely effective anymore, he said.

Its working to a limited extent, but mainly for the older generation who are watching TV, Volkov said. When people can look around them, they can see the reasons for the public dissatisfaction -- and that blunts any Kremlin accusation about foreign meddling, he said.

The Kremlin is using it too often, it already doesnt work anymore, Volkov said.
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Copper Fox Metals Inc. (TSXV: CUU) (OTC Pink: CPFXF) ("Copper Fox" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on the progress of the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") (see news release dated November 24, 2020) for the Schaft Creek project. The Schaft Creek project is managed through the Schaft Creek Joint Venture ("SCJV") formed in 2013 between Teck Resources Limited ("Teck") (75%) and Copper Fox (25%) with Teck being the operator. The Schaft Creek deposit is one of the largest undeveloped porphyry copper deposits containing significant gold-molybdenum-silver by-products in North America. Highlights of the work completed are set out below.

Highlights:

A review of the work completed by the SCJV on the Schaft Creek project since 2018 has been completed.

The PEA contemplates a 133,000 tonne per day ("tpd") mine/processing facility like that set out in the 2013 Feasibility Study completed by Copper Fox Metals Inc. in 2013.

An updated resource estimate will include analytical, drilling, and metallurgical information generated by the SCJV on the project since completion of the Feasibility Study in 2013.

A site visit by the Qualified Person ("QP") has been completed and preparation of the resource estimate is progressing.

Elmer B. Stewart, President and CEO of Copper Fox stated, "The objectives of the PEA are to assess the economic impact on the project due to changes in the project footprint and identify potential opportunities to further enhance project value. The work completed to date indicates that a substantial amount of the technical data used in the 2013 Feasibility Study remains relevant. This information, combined with the data generated and studies completed by the SCJV over the past three years, will form the basis for the 2021 PEA. The PEA outcome will include a comparison against the January 23, 2013 Feasibility Study."

Schaft Creek Project:

With input from the SCJV, Tetra Tech Canada Inc. ("Tetra Tech") and other independent consultants are advancing the PEA on the Schaft Creek project. The resource estimation, along with the other components of the study are in progress. Price Waterhouse Coopers has been retained to complete the post-tax cash flow model for the project.

Resource Estimate:

In the context of completing the PEA, the independent QP, Michael F. O'Brien of Red Pennant Geoscience, retained by Tetra Tech, has reviewed the resource modelling completed by the SCJV in 2018 and is of the opinion that the work was completed in a thorough and consistent manner in accordance with NI 43-101 standards (May 9, 2016), CIM Definition Standards (May 19, 2014) with guidance from CIM Best Practice Guidelines (November 29, 2019). The 2018 resource model will be used as a foundation to the resource estimation that is being produced for the PEA and will be accompanied by a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report.

Mine Plan:

The PEA updated mine plan contemplates a conventional truck/shovel operation providing 133,000 tpd to the processing facility and includes a stockpiling strategy to manage LOM mill feed grades.

Processing:

The metallurgical work completed by the SCJV indicates that the Schaft Creek deposit consists of four geometallurgical domains. The processing circuit (133,000 tpd at 92% availability) contemplated in the PEA is like that set out in the 2013 Feasibility Study. The processing flow scheme includes crushing, two stage grinding and conventional flotation producing separate, clean copper and molybdenum concentrates.

Qualified Person:

Elmer B. Stewart, MSc. P. Geol., President and CEO of Copper Fox, is the Company's non-independent, nominated Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101, Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed the scientific and technical information disclosed in this news release.

About Copper Fox:

Copper Fox is a Tier 1 Canadian resource company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV: CUU) focused on copper exploration and development in Canada and the United States. The principal assets of Copper Fox and its wholly owned Canadian and United States subsidiaries, being Northern Fox Copper Inc. and Desert Fox Copper Inc., are the 25% interest in the Schaft Creek Joint Venture with Teck Resources Limited on the Schaft Creek copper-gold-molybdenum-silver project located in northwestern British Columbia and a 100% ownership of the Van Dyke oxide copper project located in Miami, Arizona. For more information on Copper Fox's other mineral properties and investments visit the Company's website at http://www.copperfoxmetals.com.

For additional information contact: Investor line 1-844-464-2820 or Lynn Ball, at 1-403-264-2820.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Elmer B. Stewart

President and Chief Executive Officer

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.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is generally identifiable by use of the words "believes," "may," "plans," "will," "anticipates," "intends," "budgets", "could", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "projects" and similar expressions, and the negative of such expressions. Forward-looking information in this news release include statements about an update of the PEA on the Schaft Creek project, technical data from the 2013 feasibility study, tonnes mined, and tonnes processed.

In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Copper Fox and its subsidiaries have made numerous assumptions, regarding, among other things: the geological, metallurgical, engineering, financial and economic advice that Copper Fox has received is reliable and is based upon practices and methodologies which are consistent with industry standards. While Copper Fox considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies.

Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause Copper Fox's actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. Known risk factors include, among others: the PEA may not be completed as planned or at all, the technical information from the 2013 feasibility study may prove to be inaccurate or not relevant; the resource estimate may not be completed as planned or at all; the mine plan may not achieve the daily production as planned; the processing operation may not achieve the estimated throughput; annual concentrate production may not be achieved; the need to obtain additional financing; uncertainty as to the availability and terms of future financing.

A more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing Copper Fox is disclosed in Copper Fox's continuous disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and Copper Fox disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events, or developments, except as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73570
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In this April 9, 2020, file photo, employees observe social distancing due to coronavirus, at the entrance of Amazon, in Douai, northern France. Amazon announced Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, that Jeff Bezos would step down as CEO later in the year, leaving a role he's had since founding the company nearly 30 years ago. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)

In 1995, few could imagine that the modest online bookstore built by Jeff Bezos would turn into a $1.7 trillion behemoth that sells everything from diapers to sofas, produces movies, owns a grocery chain and provides cloud computing services to businesses all over the globe.

Amazon has become all of that and more, and now it will be up to Andy Jassy to lead the company forward as CEO.

On Tuesday, Amazon announced that Bezos would step aside this summer and assume the role of executive chairman so he can focus on new products and early initiatives being developed at Amazon.

Although Bezos is expected to still play a big role at the company, it is Jassy who will inherit the many challenges born from Amazon's meteoric rise. Here are some of them:

GROWING SCRUTINY

Regulators around the world are examining Amazon's business practices, specifically the way it looks at information from businesses that sell goods on its site and uses it to create its own Amazon-branded products. Bezos said at a hearing before Congress last summer that even though Amazon had a policy preventing employees from accessing seller data, he couldn't guarantee that the policy wasn't being violated.

Tech giants for decades have enjoyed light-touch regulation and star status in Washington, but calls for greater scrutiny have been growing. The U.S. government has already slapped two Big Tech companiesGoogle and Facebookwith antitrust lawsuits.

Amazon has been subject to federal and state antitrust investigations. That's in addition to European Union regulators filing antitrust charges in November, accusing Amazon of using its access to data from third-party sellers to gain an unfair advantage over them.

A report by the House Judiciary Committee in October called for a possible breakup of Amazon and others, making it harder for them to acquire other businesses and imposing new rules to safeguard competition.

WORKER UNREST

The pandemic has exposed how Amazon treats its workers who pack and ship boxes inside vast warehouses. Many have protested a lack of masks and protective equipment while others say the company isn't forthcoming about how many people are getting sick.

Amazon has made changes since it started getting complaints, but its labor issues go well beyond the pandemic.

At a warehouse in Alabama, workers are set to start voting this month if they want to join a union. It's a threat to a company that has been successful at thwarting so far. For its part, Amazon says it pays its workers at least $15, more than twice the minimum wage.

But regulators are watching. On Tuesday, the same day Bezos said he would step down, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission ordered Amazon to pay nearly $62 million for taking tips that were supposed to go to its delivery drivers.

More scrutiny is likely now that Amazon is the second-largest private employer, coming just behind Walmart. Last year alone, Amazon hired 500,000 people, bringing its total workforce to nearly 1.3 million.

GROWING THE CLOUD

Amazon is known as a place to buy books or toothpaste. But it's the behind-the-scenes Amazon Web Services business that's making the most money for the company.

AWS is still the No. 1 provider of cloud computing services, but faces growing competition, especially from Microsoft, which has aggressively sought to sell big contracts to businesses and governments. Last year, Amazon lost a multi-billion dollar contract with the U.S. government to Microsoft. Amazon is fighting that decision in court.

The promotion of Jassy, 53, who hails from AWS, may be an indication of where Amazon sees its future growth. Last year, about 60% of Amazon's total profit came from AWS.

"Jeff Bezos picked the tech guy," said Sucharita Kodali, an e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research. "My hunch is that it was about the future of the company being tech."

Kodali believes the company's biggest growth will come from AWS, since Amazon likely won't be able make any big retail acquisitions because of regulatory scrutiny. She thinks Amazon's opportunities in cloud computing are limitless and imagines projects like developing facial recognition for government agencies.

Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, believes that both retail and cloud service are both "enormously important" for Amazon, but he believes there's more opportunity for cloud services. Cohen imagines Amazon as the "pervasive government provider" on a national, state and local level.

RETAIL THREAT

Amazon has a lot of room to grow in e-commerce, but it's facing increasing threats from big retailers like Walmart, which are using their own stores as shipping hubs.

Before the pandemic, Walmart and Target had expanded curbside pickup for shoppers picking up online orders the same day. But with the pandemic, that's accelerating.

Best Buy said late last year it was reducing the amount of floor space set aside for traditional shopping in some of its stores and devoting more to in-store pickup and to support deliveries of online orders. Walmart plans to build warehouses at its stores where self-driving robots will fetch groceries and have them ready for shoppers to pick up in an hour or less. Target has been automating its backrooms to ship online orders as well as fulfill curbside pickup.

But Amazon's lead is unsurmountableit accounted for about 40% of online purchases in the U.S. last year, with Walmart at a distant second place at 5.8%, eBay at 4.9% and Apple at 3%, according to research firm eMarketer. Nonetheless, analysts say that big box retailers are weaponizing their stores and putting profit pressure on Amazon and forcing them to add even more distribution hubs to compete.

"There is a lot of opportunity for Amazon, but the brick and mortar guys have demonstrated their stores are big time assets," said Charlie O'Shea, a retail analyst at Moody's.

A LOOMING BEZOS

Another challenge for the new CEO is Bezos himself.

Amazon has made it clear that he won't be going far. Bezos is still the company's biggest shareholder, giving him much power over the company he founded in 1995. And Bezos said he'll focus on new products and initiatives from his perch as executive chair.

Tensions can arise when a CEO moves to the board and still has a hand in the business, said Jason Schloetzer, a business professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. The new CEO may want to end some of Bezos' initiatives that Bezos doesn't agree with. Or other executives may keep reporting to Bezos, leaving Jassy out of the loop.

For it to work, Schloetzer said Amazon has to structure the roles so they don't step on each others toes.

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Libya: UN Security Council orders sending observers To monitor ceasefire

(ANSAmed) - NEW YORK, 04 FEB - The UN Security Council ordered the deployment of observers in Libya to monitor compliance with the ceasefire.



The Council made its request with a letter sent to Secretary General Antonio Guterres. (ANSAmed).




Chinese state-controlled media has taken a dig at India's defence budget allocation, saying it's an illusion that India can improve military capability with a "small increase" in the budget for defence. The Chinese government's mouthpiece, Global Times, has also said that if India continues to spend on the military, despite its economy facing major contraction, it could be dangerous for the country.

According to Budget 2021, the central government approved only a marginal hike of around 1.4 percent to Rs 4.78 lakh crore for 2021-22 in the defence budget as against last year's allocation of Rs 4.71 lakh crore.

In the Union Budget presented in Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, a total of Rs 1,35,060 crore has been set aside for capital expenditure that includes purchasing new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware.

The Global Times report said India's economy has been "heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a modest increase of the defence budget". "If India insists on blindly satisfying its vanity on the military when its economy cannot afford it, this will affect its economic reforms and lead to a vicious circle," the Global Times report says.

According to a Bloomberg report, India's defence expenditure is about one-quarter of China's. In May 2020, Beijing had announced a yearly defence budget of $178.6 billion. The report says that though India has "bought weapons from the US, Russia, Israel and France recently", it'll only offer a "limited increase" to its combat capability.

The report quoted Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert, as saying that India is improving its infrastructure, including roads, along the Line of Control but "if it cannot manage to accomplish these projects, these will remain the soft underbelly".

However, military experts in India say the drop in the defence budget allocation could be an indication of the government's plan to cut expenditure on payment of pension by increasing the retirement age of military officers. Officials also say that the allocation was more in 2020-21 as around Rs 18,000 crore was to be paid on account of pension arrears. The overall allocation of Rs 4.78 lakh crore comes to around 1.63 percent of the GDP.

Also read: Full coverage of Union Budget 2020

Also read: Budget 2021 will boost infra, create new jobs: US chamber of commerce

With PTI inputs
[February 04, 2021] Proposals of the Board of Directors to Nokia Corporation's Annual General Meeting 2021

Nokia Corporation

Stock Exchange Release

February 4, 2021 at 13:00 (CET +1) Proposals of the Board of Directors to Nokia Corporations Annual General Meeting 2021 Nokia Corporations Annual General Meeting will be held on April 8, 2021 at 15:00 EET at the Companys headquarters, Karakaari 7, Espoo, Finland, under extraordinary measures pursuant to the temporary legislation, which entered into force on October 3, 2020 to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Participation and exercise of shareholder rights in the Meeting will be possible only by voting in advance and by submitting counterproposals and asking questions in advance. It is not possible for the shareholders or their proxy representatives to participate at the meeting venue in person, but the event including the confirmation of the vote result as well as speeches from the Chair of the Board and the President and CEO can be followed through a web stream. The Board submits the following proposals to the Annual General Meeting. Complete proposals are available as of today on www.nokia.com/agm. The notice of the Annual General Meeting with more detailed information on the participation and voting will be published separately at a later date on the companys website and by a stock exchange release. Distribution of dividend for the financial year 2020 The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that no dividend be paid based on the balance sheet to be adopted for the financial year ended on December 31, 2020. Board composition and remuneration Elizabeth Nelson has informed that she will no longer be available to serve on the Nokia Board of Directors after the Annual General Meeting. Consequently, the Board proposes, on the recommendation of the Boards Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee, that the following eight current Board members be re-elected as members of the Nokia Board of Directors for a term ending at the close of the next Annual General Meeting: Sari Baldauf, Bruce Brown, Thomas Dannenfeldt, Jeanette Horan, Edward Kozel, Sren Skou, Carla Smits-Nusteling, and Kari Stadigh. The Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee will also propose in the assembly meeting of the new Board of Directors on April 8, 2021 that Sari Baldauf be re-elected as Chair of the Board and Kari Stadigh as Vice Chair of the Board, subject to their election to the Board of Directors. All candidates for the Board of Directors are presented on the Companys website www.nokia.com/agm. In addition, the Board proposes on the recommendation of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee to introduce additional annual fees to be paid to the members of the Personnel Committee and Technology Committee in addition to the Committee Chairs. Other remuneration payable to the Board members would remain unchanged and no additional annual fee is proposed to be paid to the members of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee or the Chair of the Board for her service in any of the Board Committees. Consequently, on the recommendation of the Boards Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee, in line with the Companys Remuneration Policy presented to and supported by the Annual General Meeting 2020, the Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the annual fee payable for a term ending at the close of the next Annual General Meeting be as follows: EUR 440 000 for the Chair of the Board;

EUR 185 000 for the Vice Chair of the Board;

EUR 160 000 for each member of the Board;

EUR 30 000 each for the Chairs of the Audit Committee and Personnel Committee and EUR 20 000 for the Chair of the Technology Committee as an additional annual fee; and

EUR 15 000 for each member of the Audit Committee and Personnel Committee and EUR 10 000 for each member of the Technology Committee as an additional annual fee.

In addition, it is proposed that the meeting fees for Board and Board Committee meetings payable to all the other Board members, except for the Chair of the Board, remain at current level. These meeting fees based on travel required between the Board members home location and the location of a meeting would be paid for a maximum of seven meetings per term and be structured as follows: EUR 5 000 per meeting requiring intercontinental travel; and

EUR 2 000 per meeting requiring continental travel.



Furthermore, the Board also proposes that members of the Board of Directors shall be compensated for travel and accommodation expenses as well as other costs directly related to Board and Board Committee work. It is proposed that approximately 40% of the annual fee be paid in Nokia shares purchased from the market, or alternatively by using treasury shares held by the Company. The meeting fee, travel expenses and other expenses would be paid in cash. Auditor election and remuneration Since 2019 the Board of Directors has proposed to the Annual General Meeting that the shareholders would elect the auditor for the financial year commencing next after the election. Therefore, on the recommendation of the Boards Audit Committee, the Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that Deloitte Oy be re-elected as the auditor of the Company for the financial year 2022. It is also proposed that the elected auditor for the financial year 2022 be reimbursed based on the invoice of the auditor and in compliance with the purchase policy approved by the Audit Committee. Authorization to the Board to issue shares and repurchase companys shares In line with previous years, the Board proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorize the Board to resolve to issue in total a maximum of 550 million shares through issuance of shares or special rights entitling to shares under Chapter 10, Section 1 of the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act in one or more issues during the effective period of the authorization. The Board may issue either new shares or treasury shares held by the Company. Shares and special rights entitling to shares may be issued in deviation from the shareholders pre-emptive rights within the limits set by law. The authorization may be used to develop the Companys capital structure, diversify the shareholder base, finance or carry out acquisitions or other arrangements, to settle the Companys equity-based incentive plans or for other purposes resolved by the Board. Also, in line with previous years, the Board proposes that the Board be authorized to resolve to repurchase a maximum of 550 million shares. The repurchases would reduce distributable funds of te Company. The shares may be repurchased otherwise than in proportion to the shares held by the shareholders (directed repurchase). Shares may be repurchased to be cancelled, held to be reissued, transferred further or for other purposes resolved by the Board.



550 million shares correspond to less than 10 per cent of the Companys total number of shares. The Board shall resolve on all other matters related to the issuance or repurchase of Nokia shares in accordance with the resolution by the Annual General Meeting. It is proposed that both authorizations be effective until October 7, 2022 and terminate the earlier authorizations resolved at the Annual General Meeting on May 27, 2020.

Other matters to be addressed by the Annual General Meeting Furthermore, the Annual General Meeting would also address adopting the Companys financial statements for the financial year 2020, discharging the members of the Board of Directors and the President and Chief Executive Officers from liability for the financial year 2020 and adopting, in an advisory vote, the Remuneration Report for the Companys governing bodies. The Remuneration Report for 2020 as well as the Nokia in 2020 annual report, which includes the Companys Annual Accounts, the review by the Board of Directors and the auditors report, are expected to be published and available on www.nokia.com/agm in week 9 of 2021. The Remuneration Report for 2020 will be published by a stock exchange release as well. About Nokia

We create the critical networks and technologies to bring together the worlds intelligence, across businesses, cities, supply chains and societies. With our commitment to innovation and technology leadership, driven by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs, we deliver networks at the limits of science across mobile, infrastructure, cloud, and enabling technologies. Adhering to the highest standards of integrity and security, we help build the capabilities we need for a more productive, sustainable and inclusive world. For our latest updates, please visit us online www.nokia.com and follow us on Twitter @nokia. Media Enquiries:

Nokia

Communications

Tel. +358 (0) 10 448 4900

Email: press.services@nokia.com

Katja Antila, Head of Media Relations FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

It should be noted that Nokia and its businesses are exposed to various risks and uncertainties and certain statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect Nokia's current expectations and views of future developments and include statements regarding: A) expectations, plans or benefits related to our strategies, growth management and operational key performance indicators; B) expectations, plans or benefits related to future performance of our businesses (including the expected impact, timing and duration of that impact of COVID-19 on our businesses, our supply chain and our customers businesses) and any future dividends including timing and qualitative and quantitative thresholds associated therewith; C) expectations and targets regarding financial performance, cash generation, results, the timing of receivables, operating expenses, taxes, currency exchange rates, hedging, cost savings, product cost reductions and competitiveness, as well as results of operations including targeted synergies, better commercial management and those results related to market share, prices, net sales, income and margins; D) expectations, plans or benefits related to changes in organizational and operational structure; E) expectations regarding competition within our market, market developments, general economic conditions and structural and legal change globally and in national and regional markets, such as China; F) our ability to integrate acquired businesses into our operations and achieve the targeted business plans and benefits, including targeted benefits, synergies, cost savings and efficiencies; G) expectations, plans or benefits related to any future collaboration or to business collaboration agreements or patent license agreements or arbitration awards, including income to be received under any collaboration or partnership, agreement or award; H) timing of the deliveries of our products and services, including our short term and longer term expectations around the rollout of 5G, investment requirements with such rollout, and our ability to capitalize on such rollout; I) expectations and targets regarding collaboration and partnering arrangements, joint ventures or the creation of joint ventures, and the related administrative, legal, regulatory and other conditions, as well as our expected customer reach; J) outcome of pending and threatened litigation, arbitration, disputes, regulatory proceedings or investigations by authorities; K) expectations regarding restructurings, investments, capital structure optimization efforts, uses of proceeds from transactions, acquisitions and divestments and our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in connection with any such restructurings, investments, capital structure optimization efforts, divestments and acquisitions, including our current cost savings program; L) expectations, plans or benefits related to future capital expenditures, reduction of support function costs, temporary incremental expenditures or other R&D expenditures to develop or rollout software and other new products, including 5G, ReefShark and increased digitalization; M) expectations regarding our customers' future actions, including our customers capital expenditure constraints and our ability to satisfy customers needs and retain their business; and N) statements preceded by or including believe, expect, expectations, deliver, maintain, strengthen, target, estimate, plan, intend, assumption, focus, continue, should", "will or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are based on managements best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to them. These forward-looking statements are only predictions based upon our current expectations and views of future events and developments and are subject to risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) our strategy is subject to various risks and uncertainties and we may be unable to successfully implement our strategic plans, sustain or improve the operational and financial performance of our business groups, correctly identify or successfully pursue business opportunities or otherwise grow our business; 2) general economic and market conditions, general public health conditions (including its impact on our supply chains) and other developments in the economies where we operate, including the timeline for the deployment of 5G and our ability to successfully capitalize on that deployment; 3) competition and our ability to effectively and profitably invest in existing and new high-quality products, services, upgrades and technologies and bring them to market in a timely manner; 4) our dependence on the development of the industries in which we operate, including the cyclicality and variability of the information technology and telecommunications industries and our own R&D capabilities and investments; 5) our dependence on a limited number of customers and large multi-year agreements, as well as external events impacting our customers including mergers and acquisitions and the possibility of our customers awarding business to our competitors; 6) our ability to maintain our existing sources of intellectual property-related revenue through our intellectual property, including through licensing, establishing new sources of revenue and protecting our intellectual property from infringement; 7) our ability to manage and improve our financial and operating performance, cost savings, competitiveness and synergies generally, expectations and timing around our ability to recognize any net sales and our ability to implement changes to our organizational and operational structure efficiently; 8) our global business and exposure to regulatory, political or other developments in various countries or regions, including emerging markets and the associated risks in relation to tax matters and exchange controls, among others; 9) our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits, synergies, cost savings and efficiencies of acquisitions; 10) exchange rate fluctuations, as well as hedging activities; 11) our ability to successfully realize the expectations, plans or benefits related to any future collaboration or business collaboration agreements and patent license agreements or arbitration awards, including income to be received under any collaboration, partnership, agreement or arbitration award; 12) Nokia Technologies' ability to protect its IPR and to maintain and establish new sources of patent, brand and technology licensing income and IPR-related revenues, particularly in the smartphone market, which may not materialize as planned, 13) our dependence on IPR technologies, including those that we have developed and those that are licensed to us, and the risk of associated IPR-related legal claims, licensing costs and restrictions on use; 14) our exposure to direct and indirect regulation, including economic or trade policies, and the reliability of our governance, internal controls and compliance processes to prevent regulatory penalties in our business or in our joint ventures; 15) our reliance on third-party solutions for data storage and service distribution, which expose us to risks relating to security, regulation and cybersecurity breaches; 16) inefficiencies, breaches, malfunctions or disruptions of information technology systems, or our customers security concerns; 17) our exposure to various legal frameworks regulating corruption, fraud, trade policies, and other risk areas, and the possibility of proceedings or investigations that result in fines, penalties or sanctions; 18) adverse developments with respect to customer financing or extended payment terms we provide to customers; 19) the potential complex tax issues, tax disputes and tax obligations we may face in various jurisdictions, including the risk of obligations to pay additional taxes; 20) our actual or anticipated performance, among other factors, which could reduce our ability to utilize deferred tax assets; 21) our ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled employees; 22) disruptions to our manufacturing, service creation, delivery, logistics and supply chain processes, and the risks related to our production sites; 23) the impact of litigation, arbitration, agreement-related disputes or product liability allegations associated with our business; 24) our ability to re-establish investment grade rating or maintain our credit ratings; 25) our ability to achieve targeted benefits from, or successfully implement planned transactions, as well as the liabilities related thereto; 26) our involvement in joint ventures and jointly-managed companies; 27) the carrying amount of our goodwill may not be recoverable; 28) uncertainty related to the amount of dividends and equity return (if any) we are able to distribute to shareholders for each financial period; 29) pension costs, employee fund-related costs, and healthcare costs; 30) our ability to successfully complete and capitalize on our order backlogs and continue converting our sales pipeline into net sales; 31) risks related to undersea infrastructure; and 32) the scope and duration of the COVID-19 impact on the global economy and financial markets as well as our customers, supply chain, product development, service delivery, other operations and our financial, tax, pension and other assets, and the shape of the economic recovery following the pandemic as well as the risk factors specified in our 2019 annual report on Form 20-F published on March 5, 2020 under "Operating and financial review and prospects-Risk factors" as supplemented by the form 6-K published on April 30, 2020 under the header Risk Factors and in our other filings or documents furnished with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proven to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.



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Canada supports Ukraine's use of legal mechanisms to preserve its sovereignty, while maintaining freedom of the press, the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine said.

"Canada recognizes the challenges Ukraine faces in the hybrid war being waged against it. We support Ukraine's use of lawful mechanisms to preserve its sovereignty, while also preserving media freedom," the embassy said on its Facebook page on Thursday.

As reported, on February 2, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky put into effect the NSDC decision to impose sanctions on individuals and legal entities.

Kamala Harris, the first woman vice president, the first Black vice president, and the first Asian American vice president is a collection of groundbreaking firsts. She will also be the first vice president ever to create a concrete strategy to combat climate change. She will have plenty of chances to advocate for the environment as the tie-breaking vote in the evenly divided Senate.

In last year's election, green voters were more relevant than ever. It was not a problem if either side could continue to neglect after the worldwide climate demonstrations, school strikes, and increasing focus on environmental policy, as per Euro News.

About 20% of voters at the Iowa Democratic caucus in early 2020 cited the environment as the most important thing for them when determining who to support. In 2016, only 2% of electors rated the climate as their top priority.

Nathaniel Stinnett, the founder of the Environmental Voter Initiative, explained to Quartz, "2020 is undoubtedly the first presidential election where the climate will be a top priority for a huge bloc of voters."

Now that the administration of Biden-Harris has officially begun, we are looking at where the strengths and limitations of Kamala Harris lie when it comes to environmental issues.

Read also: Did 'The Simpsons' Predict Kamala Harris' Fate as the US vice President? Here's What We Know

Climate Justice

It's here that Vice President Kamala Harris comes into her own. When she was the San Francisco district attorney,15 years ago, Harris founded an environmental justice unit, which primarily existed to deal with environmental crime. In 2015,Harris said to the San Francisco Chronicle that she acknowledged that "environmental crimes are crimes against communities, often poor and disenfranchised individuals."

The nexus between environmental degradation and socio-economic disadvantage is something that Harris tried to fix regularly when there were even words such as 'intersectional environmentalism.'

More recently, Harris sued major oil firms after they breached environmental laws. The liable corporation (Plains All American Pipeline) was convicted on 46 criminal charges following the catastrophic Refugio oil spill in 2015.

When Volkswagen was found to have cheated on its diesel emissions the following year, Harris secured an $87.66 million settlement for California from the car manufacturer.

But some have criticized this emphasis on environmental justice, while Harris was DA, instead of addressing ecological concerns without a criminal angle, her focus was primarily on crime. "I don't think the climate will wake her up at 3AM.," RL Miller, founder of the Climate Hawks Votes environmental group, told Bloomberg Green.

Read also: Kamala Harris Faces Online Backlash Following Controversial Vogue Cover

Animal welfare and conservation

According to the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), Harris has a 91% pro-environmentalism lifetime voting record. According to LCV vice president of government affairs, Tiernan Sittenfeld, this score makes her 'a true environmental champion.'

Harris has long been a champion for climate action and justice for the environment, Sittenfeld adds. "We know that the fight for a fairer solution to the climate crisis will continue."

Harris scores highly once again for animal protection. The former California Senator has achieved full marks every year, according to the Humane Society Legislative Fund's scorecard, which considers the voting record of every member of the Senate.

Of course, much of Kamala Harris' work in this field has once again focused on justice and crime, rather than non-legislative animal welfare work.

Green legislation

While Kamala Harris is seen in the Democrats as a more moderate voice, especially when compared to figures such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, it did not stop her from collaborating with AOC to devise the Climate Equity Act.

When green legislation or regulations are introduced, the bill concentrates on the environmental health of low-income communities. This means that any potential new laws or plans disproportionately on frontlines of a climate emergency are assessed for their impact on these communities.

Read also: Kamala Harris Plagiarized MLK Jr., According to His Niece in a Recent Interview

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.


New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Supreme Court will on Friday hear a plea filed by Bollywood actor Sonu Sood against a Bombay High Court order which dismissed his plea challenging a civic body notice over alleged illegal construction at his residential building in Juhu.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian will take up Sood's plea.

"The petitioners have already stopped the work of internal renovation which require no permission as per the provisions of Section 43 of Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966. Therefore, the respondents may kindly be restrained from demolition of the renovation work already done in the building," read the plea filed by Sood and his wife through advocate Vineet Dhanda.

Sood was in the limelight for helping several migrant workers amid the lockdown last year.

On January 21, Bombay High Court judge Justice Prithviraj Chavan, while dismissing Sood's plea, had said that the law helps only those who are diligent.

Sood's lawyer had sought 10 weeks' time to comply with the notice issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in October last year, and urged the high court to direct the civic body not to begin demolition action. The high court told Sood's lawyer that he can approach the civic body and declined to pass any direction.

"The ball is now in the office of the BMC...you (Sonu Sood) may approach them," Justice Chavan said.

Earlier this month, Sood had moved the high court against an order of a city civil court at Dindoshi, which dismissed his suit against the BMC's notice. This notice was issued in connection with the alleged illegal construction. In the plea, Sood had claimed that he did not carry out any illegal or unauthorised construction in the building.

According to BMC, Sood had carried out structural changes in the six-storey residential building 'Shakti Sagar'. It was alleged that he had converted this building into a hotel without taking requisite permissions.
Pedestrians cross a road next to the city hall of Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Dongqiang)

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday that the international community should create a sound external environment for Myanmar to properly resolve the differences.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily news briefing when answering a question on the situation in Myanmar.

He said that the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday held internal consultations on the situation in Myanmar, and China participated constructively in relevant discussions.

"The international community should create a sound external environment for Myanmar to properly resolve the differences," Wang said. "All actions taken by the Security Council should be conducive to Myanmar's political and social stability, peaceful reconciliation and avoid exacerbating tensions and further complicating the situation."

China was baffled and shocked by the leak of internal documents under discussion at the Security Council, he said, adding that this is not how the Security Council runs its work, nor will it be conducive to the solidarity and mutual trust of the Security Council members.

Wang refuted allegations that the political change in Myanmar may have taken place with China's support or acquiescence. He said such allegations are untrue.

"As a friendly neighbor of Myanmar, China hopes that all parties in Myanmar will properly handle their differences under the constitutional and legal framework, and maintain political and social stability."

[ Editor: WXY ]

The California Grocers Association on Wednesday sued Oakland, just one day after the City Council voted to require larger food sellers to give workers a $5-an-hour pay increase as compensation for the added risks and stress of operating on the front lines during the coronavirus pandemic.

The trade group, which represents most grocery stores in California, is seeking to have the new law declared invalid and unconstitutional.

The lawsuit and related cases elsewhere come as momentum is growing for hazard-pay premiums for supermarket workers during the pandemic.

The trade group also filed suit Wednesday against Montebello (Los Angeles County), which enacted a similar ordinance a few days ago. The Grocers Association has a case pending against Long Beach (Los Angeles County), which in January became the first California city to mandate hazard pay for supermarket employees.

Oaklands City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to require hazard pay at large supermarkets. Its rationale: Grocery employees have become essential workers during the pandemic and their indoor jobs that involve extensive customer contact are now laden with risk. The emergency measure took effect immediately.

The City Council said the extra pay would affect about 2,000 workers, including 1,200 represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5. A spokesman for the grocers trade group said Wednesday that affected stores are already paying the premium in cities where its now required.

The grocers complaint filed in the Northern District of California says that the hazard-pay measure is illegal in two ways. First, it argues, the law violates the U.S. and California constitutions equal protection clauses because it singles out certain grocers for disparate treatment and ignores other groups that employ essential frontline workers. Second, the complaint says, the National Labor Relations Act, which governs collective bargaining, preempts the new measure.

The ordinance hurts grocers fundamental right to be free from unreasonable governmental interference with their contracts, specifically their collective bargaining agreements and other employment agreements, the lawsuit says.

The Oakland lawsuit seeks a court order to halt enforcement of the new law. The grocers similar lawsuit against Long Beach had sought unsuccessfully to win a temporary restraining order. The suit now is seeking a preliminary injunction in Long Beach. The first hearing in the Long Beach case is Feb. 19.

The grocers group said the lawsuit is not seeking repayment of the pay premiums, but that individual stores may decide to go after the cities for the money.

This is the exact same lawsuit that was filed in Long Beach, said Oakland Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, who co-sponsored the hazard-pay measure. We believe our emergency ordinance is legally solid and will stand. Its unfortunate that these huge grocery corporations, the largest in the nation, would rather file lawsuits against cities than share some of the incredible wealth theyve accumulated during this pandemic with their frontline workers who so desperately need relief.

Oaklands measure applies to stores with more than 15,000 square feet that sell primarily foodstuffs and have more than 500 employees nationwide. The authors said they wanted to exempt mom-and-pop corner shops, instead sweeping in larger stores that have seen their profits increase during the pandemic. It is supposed to last until California declares that Alameda County has reached the yellow tier that signifies minimal virus risk.

Interactive Vaccine Tracker: Latest developments Detailed information about the coronavirus vaccines as it becomes available.

We feel confident that the city will prevail, said Jim Araby, a spokesman for UFCW Local 5, which represents about 23,000 grocery workers in Northern California. Our members have been working through the pandemic, while grocery stores have made record profits, and very few have chosen to share that with their employees. This is appreciation for their work and the risks they take.

The grocers group said that it agrees that supermarket workers are frontline heroes, but that stores already have undertaken a massive effort to improve safety in stores.

Firefighters, police officers, health care workers, as well as transportation, sanitation, and restaurant workers are essential, yet grocers are the only businesses being targeted for extra pay mandates, said Ron Fong, CEO of the California Grocers Association, in a statement. These ordinances will not make workers any safer.

Meanwhile, more hazard-pay ordinances are moving forward.

On Tuesday both the San Jose City Council and the Los Angeles City Council voted to ask their city attorneys to draft hazard-pay ordinances for grocery workers. The councils want to vote on those soon. San Joses would add $3 an hour, while Los Angeles would add $5 an hour. Both target larger stores. Several other Bay Area cities, including Berkeley, Concord and Antioch, are considering similar measures, union representatives said.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid
New Delhi: The Legend of Hanuman is filled with striking visuals. The all-new avatar of Lord Hanuman and unseen stories is perhaps one of many reasons why actor Neena Gupta cant stop praising the Hotstar Specials 'The legend of Hanuman'.

The veteran actress Neena Gupta took to social media and lauded the recently released show - The legend of Hanuman as she reminisces her love for mythology.

The actor further expressed how the series is a perfect blend of mythology, visually mesmerizing animation, extraordinary storytelling and portrayal of Mahabali Hanuman and other characters, making it a must-watch for all age groups.

Watch the video here:

Speaking about Lord Hanuman and the series, Neena Gupta said, Inka look toh bada hi cool hai. Aur animation bhi kitna achha kiya hai. I am a big mythology fan and this is such a fresh take on such an iconic story. Maine toh ek baar mein pura dekh liya. Aap log bhi dekhiye aur bataiye kaisa laga.

Narrated by actor Sharad Kelkar, produced by Graphic India and created by Sharad Devarajan, Jeevan J Kang and Charuvi P. Singhal, The legend of Hanuman has been designed using superior quality 3-D animation techniques, previously never seen in India.

The show is available in 7 languages - Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada exclusively only on Disney+ Hotstar VIP and Disney+ Hotstar Premium.

A former Ohio police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Black man while responding late last year to a noise complaint was indicted Wednesday on murder and other charges, the state's attorney general said.

Adam Coy, now fired from the Columbus police force, shot 47-year-old Andre Hill on Dec. 22 as Hill held a cellphone inside a friend's garage. Coy did not turn on his body camera but the incident was captured thanks to the 60-second "look back" function on the device that records video but not audio, police said.

Wednesday's charges came amid calls for law enforcement officers to face accountability in deadly use of force against Black Americans, an issue that sparked historic protests across the country last year. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who acted as the special prosecutor in the Hill case, said Coy was charged with murder in the commission of a felony, felonious assault and two counts of dereliction of duty.

The two counts of dereliction of duty stem from Coy's failing to turn on his body camera and failing to inform fellow officers that he thought Hill presented a danger, Yost said. The grand jury was instructed on purposeful murder, according to Yost, but issued a no bill, meaning the grand jury felt there was not enough evidence to indict Coy on that charge.

Coy, a 19-year veteran of the police department, was arrested Wednesday night at his attorney's office, Yost said.

Coy's attorney, Mark Collins, said his client will enter a plea of not guilty. Coy has complied with the investigation, providing a written statement and participating in an interview with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Collins said in an interview.

Citing a Supreme Court ruling in Graham v. Connor that officers can use force if they have an "objectively reasonable" belief of a threat, Collins said his client felt threatened by Hill because he mistook a silver key ring in Hill's hand for a revolver.

"That's why he stepped back and yelled 'gun, gun, gun' and shot," Collins said. "He was mistaken."

Responding early in the morning to a neighbor's "non-emergency" disturbance call, police arrived to find Hill in an open garage, officials said. The complaint was related to noises from an SUV.

In body camera footage, Hill walks toward police with one hand holding up the phone, which glows in the night. No sound is captured. Coy appears to fire in a matter of seconds, and the audio begins soon after.

"Roll to your stomach now!" a man's voice orders.

Hill does not move, though he seems to be groaning as he lies crumpled on the garage floor. He was pronounced dead at a hospital within an hour.

Another officer told investigators that Coy shouted "He has a gun" before the shooting, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Ben Crump, the lawyer representing Hill's family, did not immediately respond to inquiries. He tweeted that the indictment of Coy represented first steps toward "JUSTICE" for Hill and his loved ones.

Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther (D) thanked the grand jurors for their service in a tweet Wednesday night.

"The community was outraged by the killing of Andre Hill, an unarmed Black man, by law enforcement," he wrote. "The indictment does not lessen the pain of his tragic death for Mr. Hill's loved ones, but it is a step towards justice."

In response to Coy's actions in December, Ginther announced that Coy had been suspended for the "unacceptable" action of not turning on the body camera before the fatal shooting, the city's second deadly police shooting of a Black man that month. In a news release, the Columbus Division of Police said the footage showed "a delay in rendering of first-aid to the man."

As fallout over the shooting continued last month, Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan, who is White, was forced out, with the mayor declaring that residents "have lost faith in him."

"It became clear to me that Chief Quinlan could not successfully implement the reform and change I expect and that the community demands," Ginther said in a statement at the time.

On Wednesday, Yost emphasized that though police serve an important purpose, they still are accountable for their actions like anyone else.

"The vast virtue of law enforcement is diminished by the very few bad actors among its rank, and only by holding a bad actor accountable can that virtue be sustained," Yost said.

"Truth is the best friend of justice, and the grand jury here found the truth," he said. "Andre Hill should not be dead."

- - -

The Washington Post's Timothy Bella contributed to this report.
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, right, with the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi on the sidelines of the 12th Extraordinary Summit of African Union in Niger in July 2019.

analysis

On 6 February, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi will officially take over the rotating chairship of the African Union (AU) for 2021 - this as he manoeuvres to consolidate power at home.

He has broken off his alliance with former president Joseph Kabila and is trying to create a governing majority in Parliament. Tshisekedi's 'sacred union' seems to be taking shape. He's managed to have the speaker and president of the lower house, Jeanine Mabunda, as well as prime minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba removed by the National Assembly. Both belong to Kabila's camp.

Tshisekedi seeks the appointment of a new and more loyal prime minister and government. His path is, however, not as clear as he would hope. The sacred union is a loose alliance that will be severely tested ahead of elections in 2023. Preparations for this poll may once again see the ambitions of DRC's political elites, including Tshisekedi himself, taking precedence over the country's political stability.

Faced with these internal political challenges, can Tshisekedi devote the necessary time and attention to the position of AU chair? And what about the fact that the DRC hasn't ratified at least one key AU instrument - the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union?

The DRC hasn't ratified the AU protocol establishing the Peace and Security Council

Chairing the AU comes with certain prerogatives captured under the duties of 'representing the Union and promoting the objectives and principles of the AU'. This presents an opportunity for Tshisekedi, who can use the AU's strategic importance to increase his stature in the multilateral space, and at home.

He ascended to power in the DRC under tumultuous circumstances that placed the AU and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at loggerheads. This has given Tshisekedi first-hand experience of how crucial regional and continental organisations can be in one's bid for power.

Chairing the AU also requires a solid and well-oiled diplomatic machinery. Tshisekedi has appointed a high-level panel to prepare for the task and help him during his 2021 AU chairship. The panel has a department for each priority area of his mandate.

He will focus on: the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and economic integration, Agenda 2063; the AU's external partnerships such as with the European Union; health (particularly COVID-19); and culture (as part of the AU's 2021 theme which is Arts, Culture, and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want).

It's unlikely that Tshisekedi will have the standing to make pronouncements on election issues

Tshisekedi will also push for the prioritisation of and investment in the longstanding Grand Inga Dam hydroelectric project on the Congo River. In its current form, the scheme could meet up to 40% of the continent's electricity demand.

Dealing with COVID-19 and its effects will be high on Tshisekedi's list of priorities. He'll oversee the continental initiatives spearheaded by outgoing chair Cyril Ramaphosa, the AU Commission, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Africa is grappling with the timely acquisition of vaccines, which is being coordinated by the Africa-CDC.

To execute these priorities, Tshisekedi will be counting on his foreign affairs minister, who has set up a task force for the chairship including the country's ambassador to Ethiopia and permanent representative to the AU. Diplomatic capacity will need to be mobilised, and whether the DRC has it readily available is an open question.

The details of the DRC's AU work for 2021 are yet to be revealed, but it's unlikely that Tshisekedi will have the standing to make any pronouncement on election issues in Africa.

The AU could be a useful platform to bolster security, governance and development in the Great Lakes

Preparations for the DRC's role included a working visit to Kinshasa, on 5 December 2020, by AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat. Tshisekedi also visited South Africa on 19 December, where, in addition to discussing bilateral relations with Ramaphosa, they covered AU-related matters as incoming and outgoing AU chairs. A budget prepared by Tshisekedi's AU panel was presented for fundraising to the DRC's partners in December 2020 in Kinshasa.

The DRC sits at the crossroads of many regions. It is a member of the Economic Community of Central African States, SADC and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region. The country has also signalled its interest in officially joining the East African Community. This could work in Tshisekedi's favour as he strives for consensus as AU chair.

Since coming to power, Tshisekedi has shown his willingness to work with neighbouring countries, including Angola, Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia, and could look to them for support as AU chair. This is no guarantee that he will automatically rally these stakeholders around his work, but it could help expand and consolidate diplomatic engagements.

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The AU could be a useful platform to bolster security cooperation and promote good governance and development in the Great Lakes region. The continental body's convening power could help foster coherence and unity in the way all stakeholders approach the region's problems.

As one of the guarantors of the 2013 Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the Region, the AU is responsible for helping to monitor its implementation. But the various AU representatives in the region - for DRC, Great Lakes and Burundi, and Central Africa - could play a more active role in tackling country-specific and regional challenges.

Whether Tshisekedi would want to use the AU as a vehicle for that endeavour remains unclear. The AU Commission and Peace and Security Council could also use Tshisekedi's chairship to place the AU squarely at the centre of regional security, economic and development cooperation in the Great Lakes.

Tshisekedi has his hands full for 2021. His present and future political fortune will be in great part determined by how he balances his domestic goal of consolidating power with continental duties that could cement key regional ties for him.

Mohamed M Diatta, Researcher, PSC Report, ISS Addis Ababa
Myanmars junta blocked Facebook and other messaging services in the name of ensuring stability on Thursday as they consolidate power following a coup and the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The move to silence online activists came after Myanmar police filed charges against Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi for illegally importing communications equipment, and as international pressure grew on the junta to accept the results of November elections won by her party in a landslide.

Inside Myanmar, opposition to the junta had emerged very strongly on Facebook, which is the main internet platform for much of the country and underpins communications for business and government.

People in Yangon and other cities banged on pots and pans and honked car horns for a second night on Wednesday in protest against Mondays coup. Images of the protests had circulated widely on Facebook.

The social network has also been used to share images of a campaign of disobedience by staff at government hospitals across the country, who accuse the army of putting its interests above a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 3,100 people, one of the highest tolls in Southeast Asia.

The Ministry of Communications and Information said Facebook, used by half of Myanmars 53 million people, would be blocked until February 7.

Currently the people who are troubling the countrys stability  are spreading fake news and misinformation and causing misunderstanding among people by using Facebook, the ministry said in a letter.

Disruptions were patchy, however. Some people found they could still access Facebook even if connections were slow. Some used VPNs to evade the blockage.

Suu Kyi has not been seen since her arrest in the early hours of Monday morning along with other top leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD). An NLD official has said she is under house arrest in the capital, Naypyidaw, but there has been no word on her whereabouts from the junta.

The NLD won about 80 per cent of the vote in the Nov. 8 polls, according to the election commission, a result the military has refused to accept, citing unsubstantiated allegations of fraud.

The United Nations said it would increase international pressure to ensure the will of the people is respected.

We will do everything we can to mobilise all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during an interview broadcast by The Washington Post on Wednesday.

It is absolutely unacceptable after elections  elections that I believe took place normally  and after a large period of transition.

Addressing the coup in Myanmar was a priority for the United States and Washington was reviewing possible sanctions in response, the White House said on Wednesday.

Charges absurd

Police said six walkie-talkie radios had been found in a search of Suu Kyis home in Naypyidaw that were imported illegally and used without permission.

The chair of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Parliamentarians for Human Rights, Charles Santiago, said the charges against Suu Kyi were ludicrous.

This is an absurd move by the junta to try to legitimise their illegal power grab, he said in a statement.

In court documents, police requested Suu Kyis detention in order to question witnesses, request evidence and seek legal counsel after questioning the defendant.

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A separate document showed police filed charges against ousted President Win Myint, who was also detained on Monday, for violating protocols to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Suu Kyi spent about 15 years under house arrest between 1989 and 2010 as she led the countrys democracy movement, and she remains hugely popular at home despite damage to her international reputation over the plight of Muslim Rohingya refugees.

The military had ruled Myanmar from 1962 until Suu Kyis party came to power in 2015 under a constitution that guarantees the generals a major role in government.

The junta headed by Army chief General Min Aung Hlaing has declared a one-year state of emergency and has promised to hold fair elections, but has not said when.

Norways Telenor Asa, Myanmars leading mobile network operator, said it had no choice but to comply with the directive to block Facebook.

While the directive has basis in Myanmar law, Telenor does not believe that the request is based on necessity and proportionality, in accordance with international human rights law, it said in a statement.

Facebook spokesman Andy Stone urged authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information.

On Twitter, which is less popular in Myanmar and remained available, #CivilDisobedienceMovement was the top trending hashtag in the country. Close behind was #JusticeForMyanmar.

France 24 is Premium Times syndication partner. We have permission to republish content.
The Justice Department on Wednesday withdrew a lawsuit against Yale that charged the university with discriminating against Asian-American and white applicants for admission, another reversal by the new administration of a Trump-era policy.

The Trump administration had made race-based college admissions a target, and todays action suggests the Biden administration may be prepared to retreat from that policy.

Supporters of the Trump administrations lawsuit assert that Asian-Americans and whites are being held to higher admissions standards at a number of elite colleges. In 2019, a federal judge rejected claims that Harvard had intentionally discriminated against Asian-American applicants, but the plaintiffs are expected to file a petition to the Supreme Court.

Yale is gratified that the U.S. Justice Department has dropped its lawsuit challenging Yale Colleges admissions practices, Karen N. Peart, a spokeswoman, said in a statement. Our admissions process has allowed Yale College to assemble an unparalleled student body, which is distinguished by its academic excellence and diversity.
Hospitals are still under immense strain and intensive care wards remain swamped despite the drop in coronavirus cases, an NHS boss warned tonight.

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson urged ministers to adopt a 'cautious' approach to easing restrictions.

Although the number of patients in ICU is coming down 'very slowly', he said there were still 26,000 people fighting Covid-19 in hospitals - 40 per cent more than the peak of the first wave.

And stretched capacity has forced frontline staff to work 'at fever pitch intensity', leaving them 'deeply exhausted' and 'fatigued'.

Ambulance staff bring a patient into the Royal London hospital in London today. Hospitals are still under immense strain and intensive care wards remain swamped despite the drop in coronavirus cases, an NHS boss warned tonight

Mr Hopson's sobering warning came after Professor Chris Whitty confirmed the UK had passed the peak of this second spike.

England's chief medical officer cautioned that rates were still 'incredibly high' but the at yesterday's No10 press briefing pointed to evidence showing the drop.

Some Tory MPs have already begun agitating for Boris Johnson to chart a path out of lockdown, buoyed by reports that Rishi Sunak is eager to fire up the economy.

But Mr Hopson this evening intervened with a stark warning that hospitals are creaking under the pressures of the pandemic.

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson stressed that the downward trend in infections should not cue a sudden easing of restrictions

In a series of tweets, he said there has been a lot of talk about 'being over the peak' and what that means for how quickly restrictions on social contact can be relaxed.

'But there are still 26,000 covid-19 patients in hospitals. That's 40% more than the peak in the first phase of Covid last April,' he said.

'The NHS is currently running at 170% of last year's ICU capacity and trusts were still having to create new extra ICU surge capacity last week. The ICU numbers are coming down very slowly.'

He added: 'Hospital, community, ambulance and mental health services are still at full stretch.'

Mr Hopson also pointed out that there is a cold snap forecast next week which will increase demand for NHS services.

He said: 'NHS staff are deeply exhausted & fatigued having worked at fever pitch intensity for many weeks. So, if we want to use mountain analogies (peaks etc)...

'The NHS has barely crested the peak and it's still at an extremely high altitude under huge pressure. The descent down the mountain has only just started and we don't know how steep the down slope will be.

'We also know that the descent will likely take months, not days/weeks.

'We saw last year what happened when we released restrictions on social contact too quickly. The impact of the vaccination will help significantly... over time. But to save lives and reduce patient harm, we need a cautious, evidence based, approach to relaxing the restrictions.'

A further 915 deaths were reported today, including the passing of a seven-year-old, and 20,634 positive tests. Both daily counts were down by more than a quarter week-on-week.

Separate Public Health England figures showed all but three local authorities saw coronavirus infections drop last week, plummeting in London, the South East and other areas that were ravaged before Christmas. Cases in care homes fell by a third, data also showed.

The Prime Minister is under pressure from a 70-strong group of hawkish Tories in the Covid Research Group, who demanded he lifts restrictions altogether by the summer.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi appeared to indicate this morning that the government is looking at the top nine risk categories - around 32million people - as the trigger point for a widespread downgrading of measures.

So far the PM has only said that he will unveil a route map out of lockdown on February 22, after the first four most vulnerable groups have been covered.
Reflections by Dr. Julitta Onabanjo, UNFPA Regional Director for East and Southern Africa

As governments and communities rallied together to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, other humanitarian crises caused by conflict and natural disasters continued unabated. This is the situation faced by Mozambique, a nation that was still wrestling with the devastating impact of two cyclones in 2019 when a tropical storm and another cyclone hit recently - amid the violent conflict in its northern reaches.

By the time the New Year rang in, more than 1.3 million Mozambicans were in need of humanitarian aid and protection.

The northern tip of Mozambique, the resource-rich land of Cabo Delgado province, presents a growing conundrum. In this province has developed one of the continent's most complex and layered crises, which impacts the lives of millions, especially women and girls. From the pandemic to flooding and related disease outbreaks, on top of the ongoing conflict leading to mass displacement, it exists as a perfect storm of instability.

Since the conflict started in 2017, more than 2,000 people have reportedly been killed, while women and girls live in fear of being kidnapped, raped, or forced into marriage or prostitution. By December 2020, close to 530,000 people (nearly a quarter of Cabo Delgado's population) had fled into the province's inland districts and neighbouring Nampula and Niassa provinces. More than half of them are women, nearly 15,000 of whom are pregnant, and of them 1,660 women will require medical services within the month to ensure they deliver safely - yet 36 per cent of health facilities across the province have been damaged or destroyed.

Throw into this already devastating mix the more recent climate-related disasters of Cyclones Idai and Kenneth, which wreaked havoc in 2019, as well as COVID-19, which emerged as a significant health threat in 2020. Then as 2021 was being ushered in, the people of Mozambique were lashed once more by Tropical Storm Chalane, with Cyclone Eloise riding on the damage just three weeks later.

While the number of displaced people continues to surge, protection risks are exacerbated by pre-existing vulnerabilities, including poverty, marginalization, and harmful social and gender norms, such as child marriage. COVID-19 has compounded the problem: critical services such as sexual and reproductive health care, immunization activities, and continuity of care for HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and cholera have been disrupted due to restrictions on movement and gatherings, as well as disruptions to livelihoods.

To understand the extent of the crisis and to determine the urgent needs of the displaced population, the United Nations Development System organized a joint mission to Cabo Delgado by its Regional Directors. Apart from the capital city, Pemba, and Ancuabe district, the delegation visited the most populated part of the province, Chiure district, where some 300,000 inhabitants are host to more than 22,000 internally displaced people.

Of particular concern is the plight of women, who typically form the frontline of such crises as first responders, caregivers to their communities, and rebuilders of livelihoods. Yet they are also at greatest risk of gender-based violence (GBV), poorer health outcomes due to a lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services, and the negative health and economic consequences of gender inequality - all of which impact humanitarian response and recovery efforts.

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by the conflict due to their particular vulnerabilities. When we recognize their unique needs as half of the population, then we must acknowledge that Mozambique's humanitarian crisis response will not achieve the desired results unless they are adequately protected.

If women and girls are to feel safe, both physically and emotionally, through the current crisis they must be enabled to give birth safely and be properly equipped to get back on their feet. To this end, UNFPA is supporting the Government of Mozambique to prioritize continuity of life-saving health services linked to sexual and reproductive health, and the prevention of and response to GBV. To date, mobile health services supported by UNFPA have provided 20,000 women and girls in hard-to-reach areas, who would otherwise have limited access to health facilities, with sexual and reproductive health and GBV services. UNFPA has also supported a government initiative to install 14 women and girl-friendly safe spaces and sexual and reproductive health tents in relocation sites. These offer psychosocial support, first aid, GBV case management, and empowerment activities. The latter include income-generating vocation and livelihood training for the support of more than 70,000 women and girls in need of humanitarian assistance.

In a resettlement village in Cabo Delgado, I met some of the most resilient women and girls, including girls who had dropped out of school due to the conflict and were excited now about the possibility of returning to school in their new community. I spoke to a woman who had lost everything she owned when she was displaced, but was motivated to restart her life with just the 'small things', such as clothing, bedding and menstrual health products. Babies were being delivered safely at health centres equipped with institutional delivery capacity and better quality service.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Women Mozambique International Organisations By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

A community's ability to recover from a crisis can only begin when women and girls are able to live free from any type of harm, including violence and discrimination, and with access to the health services they need most, including sexual and reproductive health services.

In 2021, we must work collectively to create much-needed hope for women and girls caught in crisis situations everywhere. This is a watershed moment for us together to turn the tide on their sexual and reproductive health and safety as prerequisites for claiming their rights. I witnessed that hope in the resettlement villages of Cabo Delgado. Our march must continue in 2021, on the promise we made to women and girls at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, and again at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD twenty-five years later. That promise right now means helping the displaced women and girls of Cabo Delgado regain their strength, dignity and agency to restart their lives.
Boris Johnson was coming under increasing pressure to speed up the reopening of English schools today as Wales confirmed its intention to restart some primary classes after the February half term.

Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething confirmed that some of the youngest age groups would go back to school from February 22 under a similar plan to that underway in Scotland.

In contrast, English schools are not due to reopen until March 8, and the Prime Minister last night was resisting mounting pressure to accelerate.

Tory MPs called for the move after new research showed that as well as saving lives, the Oxford vaccine will cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds.

There was also concern that with English pupils risk falling further behind their counterparts.

Mr Gething told Times Radio that the 'first priority' for the Welsh Government is to start a return to face-to-face teaching in some schools, despite coronavirus cases being 'quite high'.

'We've got to go in small steps and schools are the first priority and hopefully, straight after the half-term break, we'll be able to see our youngest children return to face-to-face learning in primary schools,' he said.

Wales currently has a Covid infection rate of between 127 and 135 people per 100,000, broadly similar to that in Scotland. England's rate is around 269 per 100,000.

The Prime Minister last night insisted that schools cannot reopen before March 8 at the earliest.

He said he shared the 'urgency' of those wanting children back in the classroom, but warned that an earlier return could spark another upsurge in the virus.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured at the Downing Street briefing yesterday) is resisting mounting pressure to accelerate the reopening of schools across England

Mr Johnson said: 'To people who understandably want to go faster  I share that anxiety and urgency. That is why we fought to keep schools open.

'What we don't want to do now that we are making progress with the vaccine rollout and we have got a timetable for the way ahead, we don't want to be forced into reverse.

'We think this is the prudent and cautious approach. I think it is much better to stick to that.'

But Robert Halfon, Tory chairman of the Commons education committee, urged ministers to 'think again' about the decision to set March 8 as the earliest possible date for a return to the classroom.

Young pupils arrive at Manor Park School and Nursery in Knutsford, Cheshire, last month

Mr Halfon pointed out that a Public Health England study last week found there was a 'strong case' for the return of primary schools, where outbreaks have been low.

'If the health experts say it's safe and Scotland can do it, why can't we?' he said. 'We have got the four horsemen of the education apocalypse coming down the track  attainment, mental health, safeguarding and loss of future prospects and wages.

'We need to think again because the damage is growing by the day.'

Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of Conservative MPs, said the encouraging news on vaccines meant it was time for ministers to start addressing 'the harms caused by the measures we're putting in place to control Covid, as well as the harms caused by Covid itself'.

Oscar Mumby, 10, and Harriet Mumby, 8, are helped with their online schoolwork by their mother Jo Mumby in Cuckfield, West Sussex, last week as schools continue to be closed

Mr Harper said Scotland's decision to press ahead with the reopening of schools meant 'there needs to be a very good reason for keeping English schools shut for so much longer'.

He added: 'Every hour of classroom learning lost is a tragedy for the nation's children and the schools shutdown is having a huge impact on children's health and welfare.'

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: 'The Government needs to be flexible about schools going back. If the evidence supports it, then we should be getting children back to school earlier than expected.'

Ministers are nervous about the public reaction later this month if children in Scotland and Wales are allowed back to the classroom while those in England are forced to endure more weeks of home learning.

A Downing Street source denied the Government was dragging its feet, saying the case rate in England was double that in Scotland. 'Opening schools is our top priority, but it is still too early,' the source said.

Chief medical officer Chris Whitty also warned about rushing the return to school.

He said there was 'no doubt' that schools were safe, with the risk to children 'incredibly low', but he warned that allowing them to return too soon risked sparking another surge in the virus.

The Government has appointed a 'catch-up' tsar to oversee a huge programme designed to help children make up for their lost education.

Education expert Sir Kevan Collins will lead a taskforce devising catch-up plans, which are expected to include summer schools and an expansion of one-to-one tuition to help those who have fallen behind.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Supreme Court on Friday will hear a plea by comedian Munawar Faruqui against the Madhya Pradesh High Court order, refusing to grant him bail in a case where he allegedly hurt religious sentiments.

A bench comprising Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and B.R. Gavai will consider the appeal filed by Faruqui challenging the high court's January 28 order.

The high court had observed that after taking into consideration the material seized and the statements of the witnesses along with the on-going investigation in the matter, no case is made out for grant of bail.

"It is the constitutional duty of every citizen of the country and also of the States to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India irrespective of religious, linguistic, regional or sectional diversities and to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture (Article 15A (e) and (f) of the Constitution", it had said.

Faruqui, a resident of Gujarat, was arrested on January 2 along with four others on the allegations that he made derogatory remarks against Hindu gods during a stand-up show. The other arrested persons were identified as Edwin Anthony, Nalin Yadav, Prakhar Vyas and Priyam Vyas.

The high court had noted that there is possibility of collection of more incriminating material and complacency of other persons cannot also be ruled out.

Faruqui's counsel submitted before the high court that he came on an invitation from the organisers of the comedy show and was though present on the spot at the show, did not utter anything as alleged. The high court, however, said: "In the light of the statements of the complainant and the witnesses referred above, the seized articles, viz., video footage of the show and the seizure memos detailed above, at this stage it is difficult to countenance to the submissions of the learned counsel for the applicant as complacency of the applicant cannot be ruled out, besides vulnerability of his acts in public domain. It is not a case of no evidence." The case was registered following complaint from Eklavya Singh Gaud against the accused. Gaud alleged that the comedians were cutting filthy and indecent jokes deliberately against Hindu gods and goddesses and former BJP President, Amit Shah. As a result, the comedians hurt and outraged his religious sentiments.
WASHINGTON - The top House Republican leader moved Wednesday to keep his splintering party intact - declining to take concrete action against a freshman lawmaker whose extremist rhetoric prompted widespread outrage, while also moving to protect a senior party leader who faced calls for her ouster after backing Donald Trump's impeachment.

The moves from Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reflected the delicate path the GOP is blazing through the post-Trump political landscape as it seeks to regain power in Washington.

On one hand, the party needs to regain its appeal with traditional Republicans - a wing of the party exemplified by Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 House GOP leader and daughter of a former vice president who trashed Trump's conduct surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. After McCarthy argued strongly on Cheney's behalf in a private meeting Wednesday evening, Republicans voted 145 to 61 to reject a call for her resignation backed by Trump loyalists.

On the other hand, the GOP risks losing the support of Trump's most fervent supporters, many of whom increasingly subscribe to outlandish, baseless claims - such as those espoused by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who is facing a Democratic-led vote Thursday on whether to expel her from committee assignments.

While McCarthy on Wednesday condemned Greene's comments questioning the veracity of school shootings, encouraging political violence and promulgating anti-Semitic falsehoods, he said he would not bow to demands that she be removed from her committees. Instead, he accused Democrats of pursuing a "partisan power grab" by seeking to control the minority party's internal decision-making.

"They chose to do something Congress has never done," he told reporters.

McCarthy's decision to turn the uproar over Greene into a partisan brawl rather than more strongly police the rhetoric inside the GOP ranks suggests he is determined to keep the Republican tent as big as possible as he seeks the House majority in the 2022 midterms - even if it risks more quarreling inside his ranks in the months and years ahead.

Washington Post photo by Salwan Georges

"You elected me leader, let me lead," McCarthy told Republicans in his closing remarks on Cheney's behalf, according to a GOP lawmaker inside the room. The speech prompted an ovation that could be heard from more than 50 feet away outside the room.

About an hour earlier, Greene had received an ovation of her own after expressing contrition for some of her most outrageous comments made on social media - including questioning the 9/11 attacks, blaming a space ray directed by a Jewish cabal for a deadly wildfire and doubting school shootings. She also, according to Republicans in the room, apologized for putting her colleagues in a difficult spot. The Republicans spoke on the condition of anonymity to relay the contents of a private meeting.

But, publicly, Greene has so far maintained a pugnacious posture toward her critics, adopting a Trump-like aversion to surrender.

"I won't back down. I'll never apologize. And I'll always keep fighting for the people," she tweeted Saturday.

On a podcast with right-wing provocateur Dinesh D'Souza published Wednesday, Greene took aim at GOP leaders for not standing more squarely behind her: "It's me this week, and it'll be someone else next week, and our leaders are too weak to stand up against it. That is why Republican voters will not vote for them anymore."

In the face of McCarthy's refusal to act against Greene, House Democrats moved to advance a measure stripping Greene of her committee assignments, setting up a floor vote Thursday. While members are occasionally removed from panels over allegations of misconduct, those decisions are typically made by their own party's leadership.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Democrats were forced to act after McCarthy and other Republicans declined to do so on their own. Democrats acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the move but said it was necessary given the nature of Greene's conduct.

"We have never had a member like this before," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the Rules Committee chairman. "This is truly sick stuff."

Greene was elected last year after having embraced the baseless QAnon ideology during her campaign. She suggested in social media videos taped before her election to Congress that mass shootings were "false flag" events staged by gun-control advocates and has also made social media postings supporting calls for the assassination of prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Those statements - some of which were only recently widely publicized - and the GOP's decision last week to place Greene on the House education and budget committees have heightened calls for action from Democrats and sparked rising frustrations from Republicans who fear their entire party will be tarred by association.

"That's not what the Republican Party stands for," said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee who served as governor during the 2018 mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school that Greene has publicly questioned.

"What she said about Parkland is wrong, disgusting," Scott added. "I was there an hour, just a few hours after it happened. I talked to the families that lost their loved ones. . . . She's not going to be the face of the party, and it's wrong, what she said."

McCarthy met with Greene on Tuesday evening in his Capitol office, and McCarthy immediately afterward called a snap meeting of the House GOP steering committee, which recommends committee assignments, but the group took no action.

With Democrats threatening to advance a resolution stripping Greene from her panels, McCarthy and Hoyer spoke by phone Wednesday. McCarthy told reporters later in the day that he proposed moving Greene from the Education and Labor Committee, which has jurisdiction over school security, to the Small Business Committee.

Hoyer then announced that the vote to revoke Greene's committee assignments entirely would move forward, saying in a statement that "it is clear there is no alternative."

In a statement, McCarthy called his proposal a way to address the "deep wounds" caused by Greene's comments and "a path to lower the temperature."

"Instead of coming together to do that, the Democrats are choosing to raise the temperature by taking the unprecedented step to further their partisan power grab regarding the committee assignments of the other party," he added.

Hoyer declined to detail his discussions with McCarthy to reporters but said that the House had an obligation to act.

"We're not really concerned about it being an embarrassment to the [Republican] party, but we certainly are concerned about her being an embarrassment to the Congress of the United States," he said, adding that in his 40 years of congressional service, he could not recall any comparable behavior.

Privately, Republican leaders and their aides have sought to rally their members around process arguments, arguing that it would set harmful precedents to punish a member for statements he or she made before joining Congress and to have the majority party remove a minority member from committees without the minority party's consent.

Several Republicans - including McCarthy - have sought to draw a comparison with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the hard-left lawmaker who courted controversy in 2019 after making alleged anti-Semitic comments. Unlike Greene, however, Omar apologized for her remarks, and Democratic leaders orchestrated a vote on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred, which Omar supported, to move past the controversy.

The debate played out at an afternoon meeting of the House Rules Committee, which prepared the committee measure for the floor vote Thursday. Republicans on the panel all denounced Greene's remarks but called for a more deliberate approach to taking action against her.

"We ought to follow a process that will allow us in a deliberative way to establish the facts and discuss the implications and move from there," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the panel's top Republican, who called Greene's comments "extraordinarily disturbing."

But McGovern noted that Greene has refused to publicly apologize for her remarks and said he was not concerned about creating a slippery slope.

"If the precedent's going to be that if somebody advocates putting a bullet in the head of a member . . . if that is going to be the new determination as to what it takes to throw people off of committees, I'm fine with that," McGovern said.

About an hour later, inside an auditorium underneath the Capitol, Republicans lined up behind microphones to air their views on Cheney - kicking off a meeting that would drag on for hours.

Cheney herself, according to attendees, refused to apologize for her backing of Trump's impeachment vote and voiced support for settling the issue with a vote Wednesday night.

That presented a conundrum for McCarthy, who has gone from publicly holding Trump responsible for the riot and recommending his censure to visiting Trump at his Florida estate last week to secure his support for Republicans ahead of the 2022 midterms. Meanwhile, he has sent mixed signals on his support for Cheney and kept silent for days as anger rose about Greene's remarks.

Inside the room, McCarthy made his pitch: With the majority within the GOP's grasp after unexpected gains in November's elections, the party could not afford a messy internal leadership squabble.

"We need to unite for us to take the majority and govern," McCarthy told the gathering, according to a lawmaker in the room.

Republicans said McCarthy's speech turned what could have been a close vote into a resounding defeat for the hard-right flank, which had argued that Cheney's anti-Trump stance - and the way she delivered it - made her unfit to lead the party.

Both the effort to oust Cheney and the reluctance to sanction Greene are tied up in the party's internal debate over whether to create more distance from Trump, who has denigrated Cheney, praised Greene, refused to denounce QAnon, and will stand trial next week in the Senate on the impeachment charge that he incited the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

"I don't think this is about Liz Cheney," said Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), a Cheney ally, as she entered the meeting Wednesday. "This is about the direction of our party and whether or not we're going to be a minority dedicated to just one person, or we're going to be a united Republican majority."

Democrats have already signaled they plan to make the rise of extremism on the right a campaign issue going forward, launching a $500,000 ad campaign this week tying several swing-district Republicans to QAnon and the violence at the Capitol over the reluctance to impeach Trump.

"Washington Republicans have made their choice - they chose to cave to the murderous QAnon mob that has taken over their party," said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in a Tuesday statement.

In his statement on Greene on Wednesday, McCarthy said her remarks "do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference" and noted that the House voted in October to condemn QAnon.

"I made this clear to Marjorie when we met," he said. "I also made clear that as a member of Congress we have a responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard than how she presented herself as a private citizen. Her past comments now have much greater meaning. Marjorie recognized this in our conversation. I hold her to her word, as well as her actions going forward."
Amy Klobuchar is introducing a sweeping antitrust bill to the Senate Thursday aimed at preventing big tech expanding further and letting Facebook repeat is acquisitions of Instagram and Google of YouTube.

The legislation proposed by the Minnesota Democratic senator, who is poised to become chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, aims to make takeovers by big tech more difficult.

It would lower the standard for blocking a merger from the government showing it would harm competition, to showing 'an appreciable risk of materially lessening competition.'

Her move comes after both the House and Senate repeatedly questioned tech CEOs, like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's Tom Cook, Google's Sundar Pichai, Twitter's Jack Dorsey and the now-former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, on their practices.

Facebook, Amazon and Google all came under fire, accused of buying up smaller competitors or forcing small businesses under with anti-competitive practices.

'It's not just sitting there and pulling constant hearings where we're yelling at executives and throwing popcorn at them, though I'm sure some of that will go on,' Klobuchar told The Washington Post.

'We have to pass something, and I really want to see something get done.'

Senator Amy Klobuchar, poised to become the next chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, is introducing a bill that will bolster government's ability to enforce antitrust laws and prevent companies from merging

Progressive are mostly concerned with Big Tech companies becoming monopolies and holding their CEOS accountable, like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg (let) and Google's Sundar Pichai (right)

In particular, Klobuchar raised concerns that Facebook, Google and Amazon  already three of the biggest tech giants in the world  will continue to merge, acquire or buy out other smaller companies to lessen competition and become even more powerful in their space.

Facebook already owns Instagram and WhatsApp, a global messaging application, through controversial takeovers.

Alphabet, Google's parent companies, also owns a slew of other companies it acquired over time, with its purchase of YouTube particularly raising concerns about overreach.

Klobuchar's legislation would not be retroactive, although big tech giants are already facing calls to be broken up and passage of legislation would intensify demands for anti-trust action.

Klobuchar's legislative proposal would make it easier for antitrust enforcers to stop mergers from going forward  and serve as a sign Democrats intend to use their newfound power in the Senate to follow through on facilitating more competition.

The latest proposal comes after a year of federal and state governments filing big antitrust lawsuits against Alphabet's Google and Facebook and sued to block big mergers, like Visa's plan to buy fintech company Plaid.

One provision in the bill would give significantly more funds to the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department's Antitrust Division, which divide up the work of enforcement.

The bill would increase authorizations to each agency by $300 million, bringing the FTC to $651 million and the Justice's division to $484.5 million.

'What do I think we can immediately do, that matters the most, is increasing the resources. They can't take a trillion dollar company on with Band-Aids and duct tape,' Klobuchar said, referring to the lawsuits against Google and Facebook.

But Klobuchar is not worried just about big tech, but also about communications, agriculture and drug prices, she said.

The bill is 'broader because we have a monopoly problem in our country,' she said.

The bill identifies several types of mergers  like deals valued at more than $5 billion or when a company buys a disruptive rival  where the burden of proof would shift so that the merging companies would have to show that the merger was legal under antitrust law.
LONDON: There are around 4,000 variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 around the world now so all vaccine manufacturers including Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca Plc are trying to improve their vaccines, a British minister said.

Thousands of variants of the type of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 have been documented as the virus mutates, including the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants which appear to spread more swiftly than others.

"It's very unlikely that the current vaccine won't be effective on the variants whether in Kent or other variants especially when it comes to severe illness and hospitalisation," Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

"All manufacturers, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca and others are looking at how they can improve their vaccine to make sure that we are ready for any variant - there are about 4,000 variants around the world of COVID now."

While thousands of variants have arisen as the virus mutates on replication, only a very small minority are likely to be important and to change the virus in an appreciable way, according to the British Medical Journal.

"We have the largest genome sequencing industry - we have about 50% of the world's genome sequencing industry - and we are keeping a library of all the variants so that we are ready to respond - whether in the autumn or beyond - to any challenge that the virus may present and produce the next vaccine," Zahawi said.

The novel coronavirus - known by scientists as SARS-CoV-2 - has killed 2.268 million people worldwide since it emerged in China in late 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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Armen Ashotian, the deputy chairman of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), said on Thursday that the meeting took place at the initiative of the Russian side.

He said Sarkisian thanked Russia for helping to maintain the ceasefire regime in the conflict zone and providing humanitarian assistance to Karabakh.

The ex-president also stressed the importance of continued Russian involvement in international efforts to achieve a final peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute, Ashotian wrote on Facebook.

At the ambassadors request, President Sarkisian addressed issues relating to the internal political situation as well as new geopolitical realities in the region, he said, adding that Kopyrkin presented Moscows positions on the issues discussed by the two men. He gave no other details.

The conversation came one day after Sarkisian and several other leaders of an Armenian opposition alliance met to discuss their joint efforts to force Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to resign over his handling of the recent war in Karabakh. Former President Robert Kocharian, another bitter critic of Pashinian, was also in attendance.

Two of those leaders said on Wednesday that the alliance called the Homeland Salvation Movement will resume anti-government protests soon.

Meanwhile, Kocharian was due to visit Moscow for the second time in less than two months. A spokeswoman for the ex-president said he will attend a meeting of the board of a major Russian company.

Kopyrkin met with another former Armenian president, Levon Ter-Petrosian, on January 25. A spokeswoman for Ter-Petrosian said the meeting focused on the current situation in the Karabakh conflict zone.
TrellaGro LST - The Automated Horizontal Plant-Training System As we celebrate this milestone for Trella Technologies, we share our joy with other entrepreneurs for whom intellectual property protection can be particularly costly and cumbersome, said Aja N. Atwood, CEO and cofounder, Trella Technologies.

Trella Technologies, Inc. a Massachusetts-based innovator of energy-efficient and globally-scalable solutions to problems unique to the indoor farming industry, announced today that it was awarded its first patent for its system and method for automated horizontal plant training. U.S. Patent No. 10,918,022 both validates and strengthens Trellas position as an industry-leading innovator of solutions for the indoor and freight farming industries of the future.

The companys patented technology, the TrellaGro LST, uses environmentally sustainable, automated plant-training robotics to gently train tall plants and trees to grow horizontally while monitoring environmental inputs:



Automated, low-stress training eliminates hours of tying, pruning, and monitoring

Each model is equipped with temperature, humidity, and CO2 sensors for connection with the TrellaGro LST app

Increased canopy and shorter vegetation time mean larger and more frequent harvests

Units can be stacked to make the most of tight, indoor spaces

Since filing its patent application in April 2018, Trella remained lean and focused on efficiencies to refine two versions of the TrellaGro LST: The more compact TrellaGro LST Model 4 for home growers and professional cultivators looking to maximize yield in limited indoor space, and the larger TrellaGro LST Model 6, which is best suited for mother plants, larger grow rooms or stacked arrangements.

As we celebrate this milestone for Trella Technologies, we share our joy with other entrepreneurs for whom intellectual property protection can be particularly costly and cumbersome, said Aja N. Atwood, CEO and cofounder, Trella Technologies. We are without words to describe the gratitude we have for the support and patience of our team, our investors, growers, and the indoor farming community as weve completed this process.

To place orders or to become an investor in Trella Technologies, visit http://www.trella.io/.

ABOUT TRELLA TECHNOLOGIES LLC

With the goal to disrupt the status quo in traditional indoor farming, Trella Technologies creates innovative technologies to support an environmentally sustainable, global farming community. The companys flagship technology, the TrellaGro LST marks the first step to diversifying what can be grown bountifully and sustainably in small, controlled environments. Visit trella.io to learn more about Trellas innovations to help indoor farmers grow what they want, where they want with less energy output.
President Joe Biden said Russia needed to free Alexei Navalny 'immediately' as he said the United States will no longer 'roll over' to President Vladimir Putin like 'my predecessor.'

The tough and anti-Trump talk came Thursday when Biden made his first trip to a cabinet agency, the State Department, under the leadership of his longtime aide, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and called for 'reclaiming our credibility and moral authority.'

'Much of which has been lost,' Biden uttered.

There, Biden also said he would 'take on directly' the challenges posed the the U.S.'s 'most serious competitor,' China.

President Joe Biden spoke at the State Department Thursday and demanded that Russia release Alexei Navalny 'immediately'

President Joe Biden said at the State Department he would not 'roll over' to Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and called on Putin to release opposition leader Alexei Navalny (right)

President Joe Biden also had a message for Chinese President Xi Jinping (pictured), saying that the U.S. would 'take on' China, but also work with its 'most serious competitor' on issues that benefit the American people

'We'll confront China's economic abuses, counter its aggressive coercive action [and] push back on China's attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance,' Biden said.

'But we're ready to work with Beijing when it's in America's interest to do so,' the new president added.

Biden made the same point about Russia, explaining why he agreed to extend the START treaty for five years.

'To preserve the only remaining treaty between our countries safeguarding nuclear stability,' Biden said.

'At the same time, I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions interfering with our elections, cyber attacks, poisoning its citizens, are over,' the president said.

Biden spoke with Putin six days into his presidency and said he would not hesitate to 'raise the cost on Russia' if need be.

Biden called Navalny's imprisonment 'politically motivated.'

'And the Russian efforts to suppress freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are a matter of deep concern to us and the international community,' Biden said.

'Mr. Navalny, like all Russian citizens, is entitled to his rights under the Russian constitution,' the president continued. 'He's been targeted targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition.'

Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, was poisoned in August and then arrested last month for violating parole stemming from a 2014 charge, which had barred him from running for office.

At the State Department, Biden also took on Myanmar's coup.

'There should be no doubt that in a democracy force should never seek to overrule the will of the people or attempt to erase the outcome of a credible election,' Biden said. 'The Burmese military should relinquish power they have seized, release the advocates and activists and officials they have detained, lift the restrictions on telecommunications and refrain from violence.'

Throughout his remarks, Biden admitted that he believed the U.S. reputation had been badly damaged by President Donald Trump's 'America First' posturing - and by the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill.

'Though many of these values have come under intense pressure in recent years, even pushed to the brink in the last few weeks,' Biden said. 'The American people are going to emerge from this moment stronger, more determined and better equipped to united the world in fighting to defend democracy, because we have fought for it ourselves.'

He pointed to some of the first moves he made in office domestically as proof the U.S. was back on track.

Biden pointed to killing off Trump's so-called 'Muslim ban' and the ex-president's decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military, a policy Trump announced via tweet.

Internationally, he said moving up the refugee cap - 125,000 in his first fiscal year in office - would also send the world the right message.

'So today I'm approving an executive order to begin the hard work of restoring our refugee admissions program to help meet the unprecedented global need,' Biden announced.

'It's going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged, but that's precisely what we're going to do,' the president said.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken (right) welcomes President Joe Biden (left) to the State Department on Thursday, marking Biden's first trip to a cabinet agency

Donald Trump only visited the State Department once as president - above on May 2, 2018 to see Mike Pompeo sworn in as secretary of State

By choosing Foggy Bottom as his first Cabinet stop - as opposed to the Pentagon or another department - Biden is making a heavily symbolic gesture to an agency suffering from morale problems in the wake of Trump's presidency.

'We are grateful to both of you for visiting us so early on in the administration. Despite the remnants of snow outside, we know that you want to make the State Department as strong as it possibly can be for the country,' Blinken said in his initial remarks to greet Biden and Harris.

In his speech Biden told State Department employees, 'I value your expertise and I respect you and I will have your back.'

'This administration is going to empower you to do your jobs, not target or politicize you,' he pledged.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during the trip the president will thank staff 'who are Foreign Service officers, civil servants, who are the heart and soul of that institution and, frankly, our government.'

She said Biden's remarks shouldn't be interpreted as a complete vision of his foreign policy plans.

'This will not be a laydown of his vision for every issue and every foreign policy issue. He will have plenty of time to do that,' Psaki noted at her Wednesday press briefing.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said President Joe Biden will end support for Saudi Arabia's controversial war in Yemen and will freeze Donald Trump's plan to withdraw some U.S. troops stationed in Germany

In making the State Department his first Cabinet stop as president, Joe Biden is making a heavily symbolic gesture to an agency suffering from morale problems in the wake of Trump's presidency

Trump took an isolationist view in his foreign policy and didn't visit the State Department for more than a year into his presidency - to see Mike Pompeo sworn in as secretary after Trump fired Rex Tillerson.

It was his first and only visit, Trump also accused officials at Foggy Bottom of being part of the 'deep state' out to undermine his presidency.

Biden, who spent years as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is expected to be much more engaged in foreign policy during his time in the White House.

'No one has ever brought as much foreign policy expertise and experience to the presidency as Joe Biden. For the two decades I've worked for him, I've just been trying to keep up,' Blinken said during Biden's visit.

He's already returned the United States to international agreements and organizations that Trump withdrew from - including the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization.

Biden also has endorsed a multilateral approach to issues ranging from the coronavirus pandemic to China and Iran.

'We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world,' he said in his inaugural address.

And the president chose his longtime confidant, Blinken, to be his secretary of State.

Blinken has vowed to take politics out of the department.

'I am determined to put our career folks in positions of responsibility and leadership, and I am absolutely determined that politics are not going to come into this building,' he told NBC News' Andrea Mitchell in an interview last week.

On his first day at Foggy Bottom, in remarks to staff, Blinken told them: 'I will have your back.'

'It starts with rebuilding morale and trust. This is a priority for me because we need a strong department for the United States to be strong in the world,' he said.

Although Biden's first nominations and appointments to senior positions at State have trended heavily toward political appointees, the president and Blinken have pledged to promote career staffers.

The State Department visit comes after Biden moved on Wednesday to extend the last remaining treaty limiting Russian and American stockpiles of nuclear weapons, acting just two days before the pact was set to expire.

It also follows days after a coup in Myanmar that has emerged as an early proving ground of Biden's approach to multilateralism.

Prior to Biden's visit, the White House said Thursday that Biden will end support for Saudi Arabia's controversial war in Yemen - his first major foreign policy reversal.

President Barack Obama began support for Saudi Arabia and President Donald Trump ramped it up, but Biden announced during his visit to the State Department that it's ending.

'We're also stepping up our diplomacy to end the war in Yemen, a war which has created a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe,' Biden said.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had previewed the move at the briefing.

'Today he will announce an end to American support for offensive operations in Yemen,' Sullivan said.

The move would fulfill a campaign pledge by Biden, whose administration plans to pursue diplomacy to end the overall conflict in Yemen.

Sullivan also said Biden will freeze Trump's planned withdrawal of some U.S. troops stationed in Germany.

Biden explained that Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would be leading a review of how American forces are being used 'so that our military footprint is appropriately aligned with our foreign policy and national security priorities.'

'We'll be stopping any planned troop withdrawals from Germany,' Biden said.

Biden also is announcing the choice of Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to Yemen when he speaks to State Department employees. Lenderking has been a deputy assistant secretary of state in the agency's Middle East section. A career foreign service member, he has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries inside and out of the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia began the offensive in 2015 to counter a Yemeni Houthi faction that had seized territory in Yemen and was launching cross-border missiles at Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led air campaign since then has killed numerous civilians, and survivors display fragments showing the bombs to be American-made.

The conflict has deepened hunger and poverty in Yemen, and international rights experts say both the Gulf countries and Houthis have committed severe rights abuses.
UFA, Russia -- A woman in Ufa, the capital of Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan, has gone on trial on a charge of financially supporting extremism because she sent money to the mother of Airat Dilmukhametov, a prominent opposition activist who was sentenced to nine years in prison on extremism charges last year.



Ilmira Bikbayeva, 59, pleaded not guilty as her trial started at Ufa's Kirov district court on February 4.



Bikbayeva told RFE/RL before the trial that she had sent about 6,000 rubles ($79) to Dilmukhametovs mother to support her. The funds came in several installments between 2018 and 2019.

Investigators say the money Bikbayeva sent was used by Dilmukhametov for conducting extremist activities.



If found guilty, Bikbayeva may face a hefty fine or up to 8 years in prison.

Dilmukhametov, who has insisted that the case against him is politically motivated, was arrested in March 2019 and sentenced to nine years in prison after a court found him guilty of calling to violate Russia's territorial integrity and for making public calls for extremism and to support terrorism.



The charge against Dilmukhametov stemmed from a video statement he made in 2018 urging the creation of a "real" federation in Russia with more autonomous rights given to ethnic republics and regions.
New Delhi: Fifteen MPs from 10 opposition parties, including the SAD, DMK, NCP and the Trinamool Congress, were stopped by police from reaching Ghazipur border on Thursday to meet farmers protesting against new farm laws, a leader said.

According to SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal who coordinated the visit, the leaders were not allowed to cross the barricades and reach the protest site.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Besides Badal, Supriya Sule from NCP, Kanimozhi and Tiruchi Siva from the DMK, Saugata Roy from the TMC were part of the delegation. Members of the National Conference, RSP and the IUML were also part of it.

During a discussion in Parliament on Wednesday, several opposition parties asked the government to withdraw the three contentious farm laws without making it a prestige issue and not to treat the agitating farmers as "enemies".

Stringent security continued at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, one of the key protest sites where thousands of farmers are camping with a demand that the Centre repeal the new agri-marketing laws enacted last September.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 00:59:23|Editor: huaxia

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Tourists shop at a duty-free shopping mall in Sanya City, south China's Hainan Province, Oct. 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a notice on Wednesday advising Chinese tourists against scheduling nonessential outbound travel during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday.

It also called on tourists to refrain from visiting domestic destinations with medium and high COVID-19 infection risks and reduce unnecessary trips.

Travelers should also wear masks, wash hands more frequently, avoid gathering, and keep social distancing, it added.

The Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Feb. 12 this year. 
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Before the pandemic, New Mexicos efforts to improve child well-being were gaining momentum.

The pandemic is a stark reminder about how fragile our systems are, how our equity issues are not addressed, and how we still have deep divides that cause and exacerbate poverty in the state, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Wednesday.

She was among the speakers at an online news conference hosted by New Mexico Voices for Children, which just released the 2020 Kids Count Data Book for the state.

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The data book tracks several indicators across four main areas: economic security, education, health, and family and community. Many of the statistics were from 2019, the most recent year available, but trends over many years show where the state has improved and where improvement is still needed, said James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children.

There were also some limited statistics compiled in October and November 2020 that show how the state fared during the pandemic compared with the national picture.

According to the data book, 52% of adults living in households with children lost income, the same as the national average.

Eighteen percent of households with children expressed little or no confidence in their ability make their next rent or mortgage payment on time. The national average is 19%.

New Mexico fared worse than the national average in multiple categories:

 Adults with children in the household who have difficulty paying for household expenses, 49% vs. 41%.

 Adults reporting that children in their household werent eating enough because there was not enough money to buy food, 20% vs. 15%.

 Adults with children in the household who delayed getting medical care because of the pandemic, 44% vs. 33%.

Before the pandemic, New Mexico had improved in reducing the percentage of children living in poverty; lowering the rate of young children not in school; increasing the percentage of high school students graduating on time; increasing the percentage of children with health insurance; reducing child and teen death rates; and lowering teen birthrates.

Even where statistics improved for New Mexico children, Native American and Hispanic children still fared worse within those categories, said Emily Wildau, the Kids Count coordinator for New Mexico Voices for Children.

New Mexicos pre-pandemic figures got worse in the areas of children living in families where no parent had secure employment and in children living in single-parent families.

Despite the economic hit New Mexico has taken during the pandemic, Lujan Grisham said she was hopeful that policies would be enacted in the current legislative session to provide crucial funding for programs that will benefit children and families.

If we dont start thinking about how we invest in education so that its fair and so that we focus on families who are most at risk, then we are not going to have an equitable, fair, non-discriminatory education system in the state of New Mexico, she said.

Resolutions in both the state House and Senate, she said, are looking to further tap the Land Grant Permanent Fund in support of educational programs, particularly early education.

Critics have argued that pulling more money out of the permanent fund now would diminish it for future generations.

Jimenez said its also important for legislators to enact policies to get money into the hands of families who will spend it quickly and locally.

We believe that all the tax credits to business in the world will not make a difference if people do not have money to spend in those businesses, he said.
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden on Thursday said the days of the U.S. rolling over to Russian President Vladimir Putin are gone as he called for the immediate release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

During his first visit to the State Department as president, Biden issued his strongest condemnation of Putin as large protests have broken out throughout Russia following the jailing of Navalny. Thousands of protesters have been arrested.

The new American president was also seeking to make clear to the world that hes making a dramatic turn away from Putin following the presidency of Republican Donald Trump, who avoided direct confrontation and often sought to downplay the Russian leaders malign actions.

Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and Putins most determined political foe, was arrested Jan. 17 upon returning from a five-month convalescence in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning, which he has blamed on the Kremlin.

I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russias aggressive actions  interfering with our election, cyber attacks, poisoning its citizens are over, said Biden, who last week spoke to Putin in what White House officials called a tense first exchange. We will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia and defend our vital interests and our people.

Bidens comments on Russia came as he asserted a broad reset of American foreign policy, including reversing Trumps order to withdraw U.S. troops stationed in Germany, ending support for Saudi Arabias military offensive in Yemen and promising to support LBGTQ rights as a cornerstone of diplomacy.

Using the visit to outline how his foreign policy would differ from that of his predecessor, Biden called for a return to the grounding wire of our global power. He sought to buck up the diplomatic corps, many of whom were discouraged by Trumps policies and tone.

America is back. Diplomacy is back, Biden told State Department staff before delivering his foreign policy speech. You are the center of all that I intend to do. You are the heart of it. Were going to rebuild our alliances

With Bidens most public diplomatic effort of his young presidency, White House officials said he was hoping to send an unambiguous signal to the world that the United States is ready to resume its role as a global leader after four years in which Trump pressed an America First agenda.

He offered a list of issues where he said he would reverse Trumps policies or forge different priorities, including scrapping the former presidents plan to withdraw about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 U.S. troops stationed in Germany. The European nation hosts key American military facilities like the Ramstein Air Base and the headquarters for U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command.

Trump announced the pullback after repeatedly accusing Germany of not paying enough for its own defense, calling the longtime NATO ally delinquent for failing to spend 2% of its GDP on defense, the alliance benchmark.

 READ MORE: Biden calls out political extremism at prayer breakfast

No reductions or changes have been made to U.S. troop levels since Trumps announcement. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hinted at a likely reconsideration of the order in a conversation with his German counterpart last week, chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

Biden said he would also issue a presidential memorandum that will address protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals worldwide. As a candidate, Biden pledged to prioritize LGBTQ rights on the international stage, promising to use Americas full range of diplomatic tools to promote equality.

Biden also announced plans to increase the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States to more than eight times the level at which the Trump administration left it.

Trump drastically reduced the cap to only 15,000. Bidens plan would raise it to 125,000, surpassing the ceiling set by President Barack Obama before he left office by 15,000.

The timing of Bidens visit so early in his term is deliberate, as much symbolic as it is a nod to his interest in foreign policy and his years as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he represented Delaware.

Trump had waited more than a year to visit the department, making his first appearance only for the swearing-in of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2018, and repeatedly assailed it as part of a deep state out to undermine his administration. Trump denigrated and dismissed its employees and unsuccessfully tried over multiple years to slash its budget by up to 35%.

Biden, by contrast, chose longtime confidant Antony Blinken to be his secretary of state, aiming to reinvigorate an American diplomatic corps that had been depleted and demoralized under four years of the Trump administration.

He was greeted by employees eager to hear that diplomacy has returned to the top of the presidential agenda and that the expertise of long-serving foreign service officers will be valued.

I promise I will have your back, Biden told the department staff. And I expect you to have the back of the American people.

Although Bidens first nominations and appointments to senior positions at State have trended heavily toward political appointees, the president and Blinken have pledged to promote career staffers.

To that end, the Biden announced he was appointing a longtime U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Tim Lenderking, as his special envoy in Yemen. The move comes as Biden is searching for a diplomatic end to the Saudi Arabia-led military campaign that has deepened humanitarian suffering in the Arabian peninsulas poorest country.

Lenderking, a career foreign service member, has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The State Department visit comes after Biden moved on Wednesday to extend the last remaining treaty limiting Russian and American stockpiles of nuclear weapons, acting just two days before the pact was set to expire. It also follows days after a coup in Myanmar that has emerged as an early proving ground of Bidens approach to multilateralism.

A Moscow court on Tuesday ordered Navalny to prison for more than two and a half years, finding that he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany. Biden again called for Navalnys release.

Mr. Navalny, like all Russian citizens, is entitled to his rights under the Russian constitution, Biden said. Hes been targeted, targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition.
In an emotional speech, the Victorian Parliaments only openly gay MP, Harriet Shing, spoke of the emotional trauma of being denied the ability to express your sexuality and be accepted. However, six minutes into her speech as Ms Shing began reading the names of lower house Coalition MPs who refrained from voting on the bill, Liberal MPs David Davis and Edward ODonohue raised points of order that effectively cut short her speech time by about four minutes. The opposition denied Ms Shings request to complete her speech. It is very, very easy to say that we are not broken and that we do not need to be fixed, a teary Ms Shing said. These are important messages, particularly from our allies, particularly from our leaders  from so many members of this government and from so many members of the opposition who privately acknowledge to me the importance and necessity of a bill just like this  in the form that has been presented, unamended  to recognise the pain and the trauma and the hurt of victims and survivors. She called out the cognitive dissonance and the doublespeak of MPs who were opposing the bill and had said they supported same-sex attracted and gender diverse people.

Loading Shame comes in so many layers, and people who grow up in a family or in a faith that says that they are not good enough, that they are wrongthat we are wrongthat says in fact that love is conditional upon us either denying who we are or agreeing to change, or in certain tragic circumstances, too many of which I am aware of personally, are forced to change. It is not acceptable that in a debate like this victims and survivors and our communities my communities  are denied the opportunity to have our equality, our pain and hurt and trauma, on a footing which is of the utmost importance. In a statement to The Age, Ms Shing accused the Liberal MPs of literally shutting down the speech of first and only openly gay woman in the Victorian Parliament. Liberal MP Bernie Finn had described the proposed law as an attack on basic freedoms and described elements of the bill as social engineering.

None of us support some of the practices that have been used on gay men and lesbians, what can only be described as torture, in the pastjust appalling, inhumane and, as I say, just straight-out barbaric, Mr Finn said. We know that gender dysphoria is a condition that is dealt with very effectively by the medical fraternity. We do not need the sort of social engineering that this bill brings about. We have already seen a great number of children go to the childrens hospital, for example, confused about their gender ... It has gone from half-a-dozen a year to well over 1000, as I understand it. That in itself is a worry. This bill is just going to add to that. Loading The debate came after the Law Institute of Victoria wrote to the government about concerns it had received from members. Law Institute president Tania Wolff and chief executive Adam Awty wrote in a letter to the Justice Department that it had received concerned feedback the bill was overly broad and could prevent parents or caregivers from having conversations with their children about their gender identity or sexual orientation.

Is it the departments intention that the bill intends to cover such conversations between children and their parents, family or caregivers? the letter asked, while also stating the institute supported the intent of the ban. To be clear, the LIV understands that the bill does not seek to preclude guidance, counselling or general parental conversations between children, their parents and other family members in relation to gender identity or sexual orientation. It is currently unclear whether the bill reflects this understanding. If this is correct, it may be appropriate that the bill clarify that general familial conversations, including general words of guidance and counselling in familial settings, do not constitute a change or suppression practice. In response, Justice Department deputy secretary Anna Faithfull said the bill was aimed at criminalising conversations only where a person [intended] to change or induce that person to change or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity. The definition provides exceptions for conduct which is supportive or affirming of a persons sexual orientation or gender identity, or appropriate practices by a health professional, she wrote.
GoldenBiotech will be applying for the US Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) once the clinical trial exhibits significant clinical results which can expedite the speed of meeting of urgent market demand in the pandemic. GoldenBiotech has expanded the multi-national centers of trial to the US, Peru and Argentina to speed up the completion of the Covid-19 trial. The clinical trial will be completed the fastest in the Q2 of this year. This Covid-19 drug candidate has been granted ODD (Orphan drug designation) approval by the US FDA in 2015 for treating AML(Leukemia), HCC(Liver Cancer) and Pancreatic Cancer and ODD Approval by European EMA for treating Pancreatic Cancer in 2017.

GoldenBiotech has started the global licensing plan of the new drug candidate Antroquinonol (HOCENA) for Covid-19 treatment. The first signed licensing agreement in Jan. with BNC Korea Co., Ltd, a leading South Korean company in medical device, biologicals and pharmaceuticals company is for developing and commercialization of Antroquinonol (HOCENA) to treat Covid-19 in four countries: S. Korea, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. GoldenBiotech will receive totally up to USD 18 million payments including an upfront fee of USD 4 million and the stepwise development milestone payments of up to USD 14 million. GoldenBiotech will receive subsequent commercial royalty payment 25% of sales when the drug is granted of EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) by the US FDA or clears the new drug application (NDA) through the FDA and selling in the market to treat Covid-19 patients.

The undergoing clinical trial of new drug Antroquinonol is a Phase 2 clinical trial for mild to moderate COVID-19 hospitalized patients. The primary outcome measure is the proportion of patients alive and free of respiratory failure on Day 14. This is the first and only Taiwanese new drug approved by the USA, Peru and Argentina for the Covid-19 trial. Antroquinonol has shown anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic characteristics in past animal studies, suggesting high likelihood in becoming successful treatment option for coronavirus-induced pneumonia. Other indications of clinical trials for Antroquinonol (HOCENA) are pancreatic cancer, NSCLC(Lung cancer), AML(Leukemia), Hyperlipidemia, Atopic dermatitis and Hepatitis B etc.

Currently there is no drug in development for treating Covid-19 that can effectively improve the severe inflammatory response induced by the virus or the overall survival rate. By far there is no single drug that can simultaneously fight against the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV2) and the symptoms induced. Combination therapies adopted by other clinical trials may solve the shortcomings of single-drug therapies with slightly better efficacy, but the higher risk of adverse effects is inevitable.

The characteristic of multiple effects makes Antroquinonol more advantageous than other antiviral and/or anti-inflammatory drugs. GoldenBiotech is now actively promoting the Phase II study for COVID-19 in the hopes that Antroquinonol will not only improve the symptoms of COVID-19, but also minimize the possible side effects that may be induced during the treatment process.

About Antroquinonol (HOCENA)

Antroquinonol, a novel small molecule that was discovered in 2006 by Golden Biotechnology Corp.. Its compound structure, preparation methods and applicable indications have been protected with patents worldwide. Embraced by its safety and multi-functional bioactive advantages, it has been applied in several clinical trials or research in oncology, coronavirus, cardio-vascular, auto-immune and neuro-degenerative diseases.

About Golden Biotechnology Corp. ("GoldenBiotech")

Golden Biotechnology Corporation, founded in 2002, is a Taiwanese based leading pharmaceutical company which dedicates to discovering novel compounds (NCE) and developing cutting-edge innovative therapeutics with breakthrough advantage against serious and rare diseases in hopes to improve and promote a lasting quality of life, health and longevity.

See Golden Biotechnology Corp. Company Website

https://goldenbiotech.com

https://www.facebook.com/GoldenBiotechnologyCorp

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS:

https://goldenbiotech.com/en/forward-looking-statements/

SOURCE Golden Biotechnology Corp.

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BUTTE COUNTY, Calif.  Butte County Public Health is seeking volunteers through the Disaster Healthcare Volunteer program to assist with upcoming COVID-19 vaccination clinics.

Healthcare providers with an active license, public health professionals, members of a medical disaster response team in California, and individuals without medical training can register at www.healthcarevolunteers.ca.gov. Please ensure you choose the Butte County Unit during the registration process.

For a list of Frequently Asked Questions please visit:

https://emsa.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2017/07/FAQs_for_Volunteers.pdf

For a full list of the type of health professionals who may apply please visit:

https://tinyurl.com/ymjvry5b
But the U.K. insists the vaccine, which was developed at Oxford University, is efficacious and safe for all age groups. The U.K.-based company has also fallen behind in production of vaccines under its contracts with the EU and been accused of illegally favoring the U.K.

Germany, France, Sweden and Austria have recommended using AstraZeneca's vaccine only for people under 65, while Poland has capped the age at 60 and Belgium and Italy at 55. On Wednesday, Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU, became the first European country that failed to approve the vaccine, saying clinical data are insufficient.

The European Medicines Agency authorized the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine on Jan. 29, but major EU countries are trying to avoid using for older people citing insufficient data that they work for patients over 65.

Questions are being raised about British-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine after several European countries restricted it for use among the elderly.

Korea has made no decision which vaccines to administer to which age group, but older people are likely to be given AstraZeneca's vaccine first. An independent panel of experts appointed by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety preliminarily agreed that the vaccine is safe for over-65s.

Jeong Eun-kyeong, the chief of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said Monday that Pfizer's vaccine may not be given to some elderly people in nursing homes or geriatric hospitals because it has to be refrigerated at ultra-low temperatures. She said AstraZeneca's vaccine could be used instead to develop herd immunity even supposing it is less effective. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety meets with pharmacists on Thursday to discuss the vaccine further.

In the first quarter, enough doses of Pfizer's vaccine for 60,000 people and from AstraZeneca for 750,000 are expected to arrive in Korea. Additional AstraZeneca doses for 1.3-2.19 million people will be imported through the WHO-led COVAX Facility by the second quarter. This suggests that the government is stuck with AstraZeneca's vaccine unless it shifts its inoculation timeline, which is already being criticized for being grindingly slow.

Moderna and Janssen vaccines will not arrive until the second quarter, but it remains to be seen how many Korea can secure. That means AstraZeneca vaccines could account for the bulk of volume in the first six months of this year.

Experts here remain divided. Kim Woo-joo at Korea University said, "There is not enough clinical data on AstraZeneca vaccines administered on senior citizens. I don't know what else could be done considering the supply volume, but we need to carefully consider accessing additional clinical data."

And Ma Sang-hyuk, vice president of the Korean Vaccine Society, said, "Nobody knows their efficacy on people over 65. But we must first start vaccinations to achieve herd immunity and conduct our own studies at the same time."

Jung Jae-hun of Gachon University's Gil Medical Center also said, "There's little chance of another vaccine being imported before the second quarter, so we'll have to start with them."

Meanwhile, the daily tally of new coronavirus infections soared to over 400 with 451 cases as of Thursday morning.
An Oklahoma man shot his brother, and five children between the ages of 1 and 9, police and relatives said.

Man killed brother and three nephews

The shooting rampage killed six people, including the suspect's brother and his three nephews, at the Muskogee home. Jarron Deajon Pridgeon, 25, lived with his brother Javarion Lee, 24, whom Jarron killed along with five children in an early Tuesday massacre, police said.

According to Tulsa World, Britanny Anderon, the children's mother, was also shot but in a stable Tulsa hospital.

The young victims were named late Tuesday by police as Jalaiya Pridgeon, 1; Jaidus Pridgeon, 3; Harmony Anderson, 5; Neveah Pridgeon, 6; and Que'dynce Anderson, 9.

Raven Anderson, an aunt of the slain children, said she was trying to grasp what Pridgeon was supposedly inspired by, NY Post reported.

Anderson said to KOTV, "He is not a person, he is a monster. And he's a coward for doing what he did, on top of being a monster... I don't know what kind of individual would do that, let alone a person who could take the lives of their own children."

Why Pridgeon allegedly opened fire is unknown. Muskogee police spokeswoman Lynn Hamlin did not return immediately to a message request for additional comment on early Wednesday.

Read also: Nigeria Court Acquits Teen Sentenced for 10 Years in Prison Due To Blasphemy

After a foot chase at home where cops responded to a call of several people shot and met an armed suspect later identified as a Muskogee man, Pridgeon was arrested.

On Tuesday, Mayor Marlon Coleman released a statement saying the killings left the town "paralyzed with grief."

"Many of us have gone to bed in anticipation of the hopes of tomorrow, only to wake up to know that five children with unlimited potential are no longer with us. Their lives are taken prematurely, their families are grappling with a new horror, and our community is paralyzed by sorrow," Coleman said.

An anonymous donor had promised to pay for the funerals of the victims, KOTV told relatives.

Pridgeon remained in custody Wednesday, the Muskogee Phoenix published, on charges of first-degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. It's uncertain whether an attorney who would act on his behalf has been hired.

Meanwhile, the neighbors told the newspaper that the victims had moved into the house just weeks before.

Read also: Pennsylvania Family, Including Son 7 and 14, Shot Dead in Murder-Suicide

Oklahoma man was charged with six counts of murder

Jarron Deajon Pridgeon of Muskogee was charged with six counts of first-degree murder, shooting during probation with the intent to kill, and possession of firearms, court records show, according to AP News.

The Muskogee police said they do not yet know why Pridgeon fatally shot the children and Javarion Lee. Court and jail records do not list a lawyer who could speak on behalf of Pridgeon.

In the home where the shootings occurred, Pridgeon and the victims lived, Muskogee police said. The Muskogee Phoenix was told by neighbors that they had only recently moved to the house but that the kids often played outside.

Raven Anderson, an aunt to the children, told Tulsa TV station KOTV that Pridgeon was the father of three slain children.

Court records show that in 2019, after being charged with two felony counts for allegedly throwing two large pieces of cement at a woman, hitting her in the torso, Pridgeon received a deferred sentence. A judge ordered a mental health observation and assessment in that case, but those findings are sealed. In that case, Pridgeon's lawyer, Brian Watts, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

Read also: Teen Accused of Stabbing Neighbor for TikTok Fame, Arrested Again After Threatening a Motorist with Firearm

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As Thomas Wolfe titled a chapter in his posthumous novel You Can't Go Home Again, "I have a thing to tell you."

What I have to tell is not about the plight of a German Jew trying to get money out of the Third Reich, the context of this cited part of the Wolfe novel. What I have to tell is that Alexander Hamilton, in Federalist No. 65, wrote that a former president "will still be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law."

True, Hamilton put that observation in the context of a president who has been impeached by the House, convicted by the Senate, and "sentenced to a perpetual ostracism [bold in the original] from the esteem and honours and emoluments of his country."

But is a former president not convicted of articles of impeachment not subject "to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law"? That is, is a former president immune to prosecution or, as the cliche goes, above the law? Of course not.

The New York Times carried an op-ed on Feb. 3, from one Bob Bauer, a New York University law professor and former campaign functionary for Joe Biden. The gist of the memo was not exactly in the title, "Trump Must Be Tried," because the op-ed a focused on a Senate trial that needed to convict private citizen Trump so he could not seek the presidency again. This political law professor cited the Federalist Papers, without specifying the particular document, but not the language quoted above from Federalist No. 65. Why is that? Because, again I submit, this Biden partisan wanted to make sure private citizen Trump would be placed on the fast track never again to challenge Biden or any other candidate for the presidency. (And the Bidenista zealots seem to be maneuvering to make it impossible for any Republican to ever again gain the Oval Office.)

Still, should GOP senators not suddenly turn tail and rush to join the Bidenista zealots in demonizing the national private citizen en extremis, there is no doubt in this mind that Prof. Bauer, or certainly one of his academic colleagues (perhaps by petition of the hundreds) will suddenly discover Hamilton's words in No. 65 and demand that Mr. Trump be brought to trial (in the District of Columbia, undoubtedly) and convicted of incitement to insurrection and whatever else they throw into the indictment. Remember, it has been said, famously, that a ham sandwich can be indicted. And why not add to an indictment: eating treif at McDonald's as a poor influence on Mr. Trump's religiously observant Jewish grandchildren?

The anti-Trump zealots likely will acknowledge, breathlessly, that a former president convicted and sentenced in federal court is hardly likely to win a second term from prison in Danbury or Atlanta and, therefore, will admit, in their own minds, that prosecution after the Senate failed to convict is not a bad alternative to Senate conviction.

Nor is Biden likely to pardon Mr. Trump, is he?

Image: Public domain.

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Pompeo Says China Will Use Artificial Intelligence to Harm US

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview aired on Feb. 4 that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will use artificial intelligence to comb through troves of personal data on U.S. citizens recovered from Chinese technology and apps and use the intelligence as a weapon to strong-arm the United States.

They will use that information. They will use artificial intelligence to gather it up. And then they will turn around and tell us that if we dont act in a way thats consistent with what the Chinese Communist Party wants, they will impose real costs on the United States, Pompeo told Fox News Maria Bartiromo.

Pompeo was responding to a question on whether the administration of President Joe Biden should keep in place the sanctions and other restrictions imposed on Chinese companies by former President Donald Trump.

The flip side is these technologies that infiltrate the United States and infiltrate Europe are things that our kids use, that we use, that are in our cars, that are in our television sets, that are in our handsets and phones. This information, also American information, whether its our personal information about where we live and who we hang out with, or information about our medical conditions and our DNA, that information goes back to the Chinese national security state, Pompeo said.

Asked if the information could be used as blackmail, he said, Yes, absolutely.

It will be used for bad intent. It will be used to harm the United States of America, and those sanctions were put in place by our administration to protect the American people from these twin evils.

The Trump administration imposed restrictions and sanctions on a variety of Chinese technology firms, including telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE.

Pompeo added that he warned U.S. allies about the dangers posed by the CCP. The regime, he said, has consistently broken its promises over the past two decades and should be dealt with under the motto distrust but verify.

I spent a lot of time traveling the world and talking to leaders from Europe, to Asia, to South America, reminding them that while China might show up with a little bit of money, the intent behind that was to create leverage and power and that they ought not to join an idea that is anti-Western, anti-Democratic, in any important way, Pompeo said.

Pompeo has been warning that the CCP has already infiltrated the United States and is working to influence the levers of power from the local level on up to Washington.

Not only has the CCP destroyed millions of American jobs, but theyre behind the gates. Theyre lobbying members of Congress. Theyre working our school boards and city councils to try and change our way of life, he wrote on Twitter on Feb. 3. We, along with our allies, must take the China threat seriously.

Pompeo was among a group of recently departed Trump administration officials sanctioned by Beijing over their tough approach to the CCP.
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 22:14:31|Editor: huaxia

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JAKARTA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is collaborating with Indonesian locals to boosts microinsurance safety nets and make insurance more broadly available for tens of millions of informal economy workers and families amid COVID-19, IFC said on Thursday.

IFC said in a statement that it will provide PasarPolis, an Indonesian insurtech firm, with 5 million U.S. dollars in equity finance to develop infrastructure to connect insurers, digital platforms and customers unserved by the traditional insurance sector.

Azam Khan, IFC Country Manager for Indonesia, Malaysia and Timor-Leste, said the cooperation comes at a crucial time. "The challenges that many Indonesians face in their day-to-day lives have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the health crisis it has brought as well as the devastating hit to the economy."

"IFC is excited to make this investment in PasarPolis, as it gears up to expand its digital distribution channels, making insurance more accessible and affordable, especially for the underserved and those living in remote areas," Khan said.

Data from IFC shows Indonesia, the world's fourth most-populous country with more than 270 million people, is home to almost 78 million Indonesians working in the informal economy, in casual and part-time roles as street vendors and domestic servants and running small businesses.

IFC said many of the industries in which they work are unregulated, meaning tens of millions fall outside of social welfare frameworks.

Indonesia, the largest economy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has been hit hard by COVID-19. The country is expected to post its first annual contraction in the gross domestic product (GDP) since 1998 last year as the pandemic hit consumption and business activity, costing millions of jobs.

Indonesia on Thursday reported 11,434 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number in the country to 1,123,105. Enditem
LONDON : Health chiefs in the UK on Thursday began what they have described as a world-first clinical trial of patients who will receive different COVID-19 vaccines for their first or second dose, to detect its impact on immunity against coronavirus.

The study, backed by 7 million pound of government funding, will determine the effects of using different vaccines for the first and second dose  for example, using Oxford University/AstraZenecas vaccine for the first dose, followed by Pfizer/BioNTechs vaccine for the second.

It is being run by the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium (NISEC) across eight National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) supported sites and also gather immunological evidence on different intervals between the first and second dose for a mixed-vaccine regimen against control groups when the same vaccine is used for both doses.

"This is a hugely important clinical trial that will provide us with more vital evidence on the safety of these vaccines when used in different ways," said Nadhim Zahawi, Minister for COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment.

Nothing will be approved for use more widely than the study, or as part of our vaccine deployment programme, until researchers and the regulator are absolutely confident the approach is safe and effective. This is another great step forward for British science, expertise and innovation, backed by government funding -- and I look forward to seeing what it produces," he said.

The 13-month study will monitor the impact of the different dosing regimens on patients immune responses, which have the potential to be higher or lower than from the same dose regimen. Initial findings are expected to be released later in the year.

Given the inevitable challenges of immunising large numbers of the population against COVID-19 and potential global supply constraints, there are definite advantages to having data that could support a more flexible immunisation programme, if needed and if approved by the medicines regulator," said Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, Englands Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Senior Responsible Officer for the study.

It is also even possible that by combining vaccines, the immune response could be enhanced giving even higher antibody levels that last longer; unless this is evaluated in a clinical trial we just wont know. This study will give us greater insight into how we can use vaccines to stay on top of this nasty disease," he said.

The study has received ethics approval from the Research Ethics Committee, as well as approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Over 800 patients are expected to take part in the study, referred to as the COVID-19 Heterologous Prime Boost study or Com-Cov, across eight different sites across England -- including in London, Birmingham and Liverpool.

If we do show that these vaccines can be used interchangeably in the same schedule this will greatly increase the flexibility of vaccine delivery, and could provide clues as to how to increase the breadth of protection against new virus strains," said Chief Investigator Matthew Snape, Associate Professor in Paediatrics and Vaccinology at the University of Oxford.

Should the study show promising results, then the UK government says it could consider reviewing the vaccine regimen approach if needed, once proven to be safe and recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

"We need people from all backgrounds to take part in this trial, so that we can ensure we have vaccine options suitable for all. Signing up to volunteer for vaccine studies is quick and easy via the NHS Vaccine Research Registry," said Professor Andrew Ustianowski, National Clinical Lead for the NIHR COVID Vaccine Research Programme.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said a same-dose regimen is currently implemented for the UK-wide COVID-19 vaccination programme, and there are no current plans for this to change.

Anyone who has received either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccination as part of the UK-wide delivery plan will not be affected by this study. They will receive their second dose from the same source and over the same 12-week interval.

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(Natural News) Health authorities in Western Australia have traced the recent spate of infections there to a hotel security officer. They believe that the security officer was probably infectious for five days before finally testing positive for the Wuhan coronavirus. The officer, who is in his 20s, had visited 15 locations across Perth  sending contact tracers into a frenzy to look for his potential contacts. The incident involving the security guard became the first case of community transmission in 10 months.

In response, the government of Western Australia ordered a five-day lockdown for the city of Perth and the Peel and South West regions. Furthermore, health authorities have identified 60 of the guards close contacts and informed them to quarantine themselves for 14 days.

The security officer worked at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel, which was used as a quarantine facility for Australians and permanent residents coming from other countries. Travelers isolated in the hotel tested positive for either the B117 coronavirus strain from the U.K. or the B1351 strain from South Africa. On Jan. 26 and Jan. 27, the guard worked two 12-hour shifts at the same floor where four active COVID-19 cases were checked in. Two of the cases had the U.K. strain while one case had the South African strain.

The security officer claimed he was wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) while working his shifts at the hotel. Aside from his duty as a guard, he also worked as a ride-share driver. But authorities said he had not worked as a driver since Jan. 22. Routine testing done on him Jan. 5, Jan. 17 and Jan. 23 all returned negative results, but he felt sick Jan. 28 and decided not to report to work on that day.

According to Western Australia Chief Health Andy Robertson, the security guard was most likely infectious from Jan. 26 onwards. He tested positive for COVID-19 on the evening of Jan. 30.

Security guard visited a number of places in Perth  leading to a regional lockdown

The security officer visited a number of locations around the region after falling ill. Among the 15 venues he visited included a fast-food restaurant, a supermarket, a drugstore, a halal grocery and a beauty salon. In addition, he also visited the Consulate General of India and the Perth Convention Center.

The locations visited by the security officer are spread across different suburbs. People who may have visited any of the locations and came into close proximity with the guard have been told to get tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible. They were also told to isolate themselves until they receive a negative result.

Health authorities said the guards three housemates have tested negative for COVID-19 and have been quarantined in a hotel for 14 days. But they clarified that he did not enter a hotel room where an active case is staying. It is suspected that the guard contracted the B117 strain from the U.K.

Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson expressed concern over the guard contracting the more contagious Wuhan coronavirus strain. We call him case 903. We suspect [he] has got the U.K. variant strain, but that will be confirmed in the next 36 hours. If he has that [B117 strain], then thats whats causing us the concern, the police commissioner told 6PR Radio Feb. 1.

Because of the community transmission, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan declared a state of emergency Jan. 31. He also ordered about 80 percent of the states population to stay home, with the lockdown order set to expire at 6 p.m. of Feb. 5. Pubs, playgrounds and gyms in Perth will be closed while restaurants will only be permitted for takeaway. (Related: Hard border restrictions imposed on Australian states following small coronavirus outbreak.)

Residents are only allowed to leave their homes for four main reasons. They can shop for essential goods such as groceries and medicine and seek medical treatment. They will be permitted to exercise, but only for an hour per day. Those who cannot work remotely are permitted to leave their homes to work onsite. Visits to nursing homes and hospitals are prohibited during the lockdown period.

A security guard also caused South Australia to declare a lockdown back in November 2020. The Wall Street Journal reported that a security guard who worked at an Adelaide hotel  who also had a second job at a pizza restaurant  contracted COVID-19. Initially, the guard claimed that he caught the disease after receiving a takeaway pizza from an infected restaurant worker. But a later investigation showed that he contracted the pathogen from a cleaner in the hotel he worked at. He exposed his colleagues at the pizza restaurant to the Wuhan coronavirus.

Because of the security guards perjury, South Australia mandated a statewide lockdown for six days. South Australia Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said: Had this person been truthful to the contact tracing teams, we would not have gone into a six-day lockdown.

Pandemic.news has more about coronavirus-related lockdowns in Australia and other places.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

WA.gov.au

WSJ.com
Gorakhpur: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday (February 4) participated in a campaign to create a world record for Vande Mataram singing and uploading its video on Youtube. As many as 1.5 lakh people became part of this campaign, which ended at 12 noon today, according to the district administration. So far, the record is in the name of an England-based organization that uploaded 20,000 videos.

ADM Finance and Revenue Rajesh Singh told Zee News that the scrutiny of the video has started from the Guinness Book of World Records. As per the standard practice, the exact number of videos being uploaded will be announced officially.

The ADM said that more than 1.5 lakh people across the state uploaded their video in record two days, adding that reports are coming in that about one and a half million videos have been uploaded by Wednesday night.

The number of uploaded videos is being scrutinized by members of the Guinness Book of World Records. The record will be announced after following the standard practice, the ADM added.

In the year-long commemoration of the centenary of the Chauri Chaura incident, the campaign was launched from Wednesday morning till 12 noon on Thursday by singing Vande Mataram in the memory of the martyrs.

Under this campaign, the Guinness Book of World Records created an official link https://chaurichauramahotsav.in/ on Wednesday morning for uploading the video after singing the first stanza of Vande Mataram.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the year-long commemoration of the centenary of the Chauri Chaura incident, an outbreak of violence that forced Mahatma Gandhi to call off his non-cooperation movement against the British.

On the occasion, PM Modi paid tributes to the 19 people who were sent to the gallows for burning down a police station and killing 23 policemen. He said the Chauri Chaura martyrs had not got the place in history that they deserved while releasing a postage stamp to mark the beginning of the centenary year of the incident.

In an address delivered through video conference, the Prime Minister hailed India's 'power of unity' and said this will help the country become a world power.

Linde stressed that a resolution to the conflict is a strong priority for Sweden as Chair.

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde on Tuesday had a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during which they touched on various issues that affect security in the OSCE region, including the situation in Ukraine.

"On my second foreign visit as Chairperson-in-Office I have had the opportunity to present the priorities of the chairpersonship. Together with my colleague Foreign Minister Lavrov, we have identified areas where we see potential for co-operation in order to make a real difference on the ground in the OSCE region," the OSCE quoted Linde as saying in a press release on February 3, 2021.

She stressed that a resolution to the conflict is a strong priority for Sweden as Chair and that a large part of her talks with Minister Lavrov focused on the ongoing conflicts and crises in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Belarus. "We agreed on the need for a continued active OSCE engagement."

Read alsoOSCE SMM records 118 violations in Donbas"As Chairperson-in-Office, I will work to get continued engagement at the highest levels, to find sustainable solutions to crises and conflicts. This has to be done in line with international law and with full respect for the OSCE principles and commitments," she said.

Given recent events in Russia and the mass detention of protesters, the Chairperson-in-Office also underlined the importance of all OSCE participating States living up to their commitments in the human dimension. "As agreed at the Astana summit, lasting security cannot be achieved without respect for human rights," said Linde.

The Chairperson-in-Office also met with Russian civic activists to discuss the human rights situation and democracy in Russia, as well as the meaningful inclusion of women in all peace- and conflict-related processes.

Ann Linde: Position on occupied Donbas and Crimea

On January 14, Linde said Ukraine's territorial integrity should be restored including with the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea. According to the official, the situation in Ukraine requires the OSCE's focused attention.

On January 20, Linde made a field visit to Ukrainian-controlled areas in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) zone in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. She urged to work to support conditions for civilians affected.

Reporting by UNIAN

ExxonMobil, one of the worlds largest oil companies (newly merged in 1998), signed an agreement with the government of Guyana in 1999 to develop the Stabroek block, which is off the coast of the disputed Essequibo region.

by Vijay Prashad

Tensions rise between neighboring Guyana and Venezuela over a piece of land that has been disputed since at least 1835. Both Guyanas President Irfaan Ali and Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro have exchanged sharp words about the status of the Essequibo region, which both countries claim. Since 1990, the two countries have pursued their claims through a United Nations good offices process; as recently as 2013, President Maduro and Guyanas then-President Donald Ramotar said that the discussions over Essequibo were going well under this UN framework.

Everything changed in 2015, and since then the tensions between the two countries have flared up. Matters became so grave that the UN transferred the dispute mechanism from its good offices to the International Court of Justice, which ruled in December 2020 that it has jurisdiction over the case.

Its All About Oil

Things changed in 2015 because of oil.

ExxonMobil, one of the worlds largest oil companies (newly merged in 1998), signed an agreement with the government of Guyana in 1999 to develop the Stabroek block, which is off the coast of the disputed Essequibo region. Over the course of the following decade, despite the dispute, ExxonMobil began to prospect in the area. It is important to recall that in 2007, the Venezuelan government ejected ExxonMobil from Venezuelas Orinoco Basin oil fields because the U.S. multinational corporation refused to comply with the new Venezuelan laws. ExxonMobil turned its attention toward Guyana andin particularto the disputed Essequibo region. As a consequence of the aggressive prospecting of oil companies (ExxonMobil, but also the Canadian firm CGX), Guyana faced renewed border disputes not only with Venezuela but also with Suriname, Guyanas neighbor to the east.

In 2015, ExxonMobil announced that it had found 295 feet of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs; this is one of the largest oil finds in recent years. A close reading of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between Guyanas government led by then-President David Granger and ExxonMobil should shock any sensitive person. ExxonMobil was given 75 percent of the oil revenue toward cost recovery, with the rest shared 50-50 with Guyana; the oil company, in turn, is exempt from any taxes. Article 32 (Stability of Agreement) says that the government shall not amend, modify, rescind, terminate, declare invalid or unenforceable, require renegotiation of, compel replacement or substitution, or otherwise seek to avoid, alter, or limit this Agreement without the consent of ExxonMobil. This agreement traps all future Guyanese governments in an inexcusable deal that has been made on disputed waters.

Having studied the contract, Dr. Jan Mangala former presidential adviser to President Granger and a consultant for the Danish company NTD Offshoresaid that this deal was one of the worst that he had ever seen. Guyana, Mangal argued, is being re-colonized, by which he meant that the deal would make a few local business people and politicians rich from oil so they will work for the exploiters and so they will not work for their country folk. Even the International Monetary Fund weighed in with a report that said Guyana signed a very bad deal with ExxonMobil; the terms of the contract, the IMF wrote in a report for the Guyanese government, are relatively favorable to investors by international standards with royalty rates for Guyana well below of what is observed internationally.

Divide and Rule

When the Romans went out to conquer the Mediterranean world, they did so by the policy of divide et impera, divide the adversaries and then rule over them. The operations of ExxonMobil, with the help of the U.S. government, clearly show them egging on the conflict between Guyana and Venezuela over the Essequibo region so that ExxonMobil benefits in the chaos.

There is mischief in this conflict. After Venezuela declared its independence in 1811, the British colonizers in what they called British Guiana wanted to ensure that their stronghold would not be weakened. In 1835, Robert Hermann Schomburgk surveyed the edges of the British territory and drew a line that claimed the Essequibo and Orinoco river basins for his imperial masters; Venezuela disputed the so-called Schomburgk Line in 1840. When gold was discovered in the Cuyuni basin, plainly in Venezuelan territory, the line was shifted to claim that entire region. An arbitration treaty signed in the United States was bathed in controversy, with Venezuela rejecting it (according to Betty Jane Kissler in her 1972 study on the Venezuela-Guyana boundary dispute: 1899-1966). U.S. President Grover Cleveland watched these developments and then noted that the Schomburgk Line had been largely extended in some mysterious way and is treated as so infallible, and so sacred that they will not accept anything other than full annexation; The trader, wrote President Cleveland of the British motivation, is again in evidence.

The trader returned to the story with ExxonMobil.

Guyanas government used money from ExxonMobil to meet the estimated cost in 2018 of presenting Guyana/Venezuela controversy at the International Court of Justice including payment of legal fees. In mid-2020, the Guyanese paper Kaieteur News senior reporter Kiana Wilburg broke the story that the World Bank had paid $1.2 million to Hunton Andrews Kurth, a law firm long associated with ExxonMobil, to revise Guyanas petroleum laws. Wilburgs report quoted the former presidential adviser Dr. Jan Mangal, who said that the government was letting the very companies we need to regulate dictate the countrys business. This is a recipe for failure. And as you can see, we are failing.

Before attention could be brought to the sweetheart deal given to ExxonMobil, and the opportunity for ExxonMobils lawyers to write Guyanas laws, then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Guyana in September 2020. He was on a three-day tour of Venezuelas neighborsGuyana, Brazil, and Colombiato accelerate the U.S. hybrid war against Venezuela. It was an odd situation. The CIA had overthrown Guyanas democratically elected government of President Cheddi Jagan in 1964. More than half a century later, the U.S. was trying to use Guyana as an instrument of regime change against Venezuela. That is why the Guyana Human Rights Association asked President Ali to avoid any recklessness. Pompeos quid pro quo on the table was that if Guyana joined the crusade against Venezuela and tightened its embrace of ExxonMobil, then the U.S. would support its claims to Essequibo.

A columnist for Kaieteur News wrote a sharp commentary after Pompeo left the country. Here we are, caught in the middle, between Exxon and Venezuela and we have nothing to show for it. We Guyanese dont even know the full details regarding oil deals conducted on our behalf, by our political leaders with Exxon We talk about oil and the man comes and talks about terrorism and drugs and the seathe things that matter to America. He protects his own, delivers to his own, the columnist wrote. Once again, Guyanese got nothing.

The conflict on the Guyanese-Venezuelan border heats up. ExxonMobil sits on the sidelines, smiling. The distraction suits the oil giants. They make their money whether there is peace or war.

This article was produced by Globetrotter.

Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter. He is the chief editor of LeftWord Books and the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He is a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. He has written more than 20 books, including The Darker Nations and The Poorer Nations. His latest book is Washington Bullets, with an introduction by Evo Morales Ayma.
Incredible footage filmed by a Russian cosmonaut on the International Space Station shows the Moon appear to deflate when it disappears behind the horizon.

This incredible cosmic phenomenon, known as the 'orbital sunset of the Moon' was captured from space by Sergei Kud-Sverchkov who shared the vide on social media.

In the video, the distorted Moon slowly begins to change shape and looks as if it is slowly deflating until it assumes the shape of a pancake and disappears in the dark.

What actually happens in the video is that the moon slowly disappears behind Earth's horizon and the distortions are caused by the atmosphere of our planet.

This light is bent as it crosses the two different mediums of space and the Earth's atmosphere - making the Moon appear as if it has changed shape - on its way over horizon of the Earth as seen from the International Space Station.

Incredible footage filmed by a Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station shows the Moon appear to deflate when it disappears behind the horizon

This incredible cosmic phenomenon, known as the 'orbital sunset of the Moon' was captured from space by Sergei Kud-Sverchkov who shared the vide on social media

Kud-Sverchkov has been a cosmonaut with Roscosmos since 2010 and is currently aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer - his first spaceflight.

He noted that the video was filmed during the night, so the Earth's horizon is invisible in the frame.

In the solid black background, Earth's silhouette blends with the dark sky and the moon seems to melt and dissolve into thin air.

According to the cosmonaut, who arrived on the ISS in October 2020, this is how the orbital sunset of the full moon looks when observed from space.

The spaceman explained in a Twitter post: 'Before it disappears behind the horizon, its reflected light passes through the Earth's atmosphere and is distorted.'

The Earth can't be properly seen in the frame and so it appears as if the Moon is deflating and then flattening out - before it disappears.

In the solid black background, Earth's silhouette blends with the dark sky and the moon seems to melt and dissolve into thin air

ORBITAL SUNSET OF THE MOON SEEN FROM THE SPACE STATION Astronauts and cosmonauts on the ISS have shared many images over the years of the orbital sunset of the Moon. When viewed through the Earth's atmosphere it can create unusual and strange distortions. In the latest images by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Kud-Sverchkov the Moon appears to deflate when it disappears behind the horizon. In the solid black background, Earth's silhouette blends with the dark sky and the moon seems to melt and dissolve into thin air. The spaceman explained in a Twitter post: 'Before it disappears behind the horizon, its reflected light passes through the Earth's atmosphere and is distorted.' This is caused by the way the light is distorted as it crossed between two different mediums - space and Earth's atmosphere. Advertisement

In 2014, Kud-Sverchkov, 37, participated in the CAVES mission of the European Space Agency and he also participated in the Pangaea program in November 2018.

The Pangaea program prepares astronauts and space engineers to identify planetary geological features for future missions to the Moon, Mars and asteroids.

He has a degree from Moscow State Technical University in rocket engineering and before becoming a cosmonaut was an engineer at RSC Energia.

This isn't the first time the Moon has appeared distorted or oddly shaped when viewed from the space station - and it is down to the Earth's atmosphere.

NASA said it can happen because it is viewed through the 'thick layer of Earth's atmosphere which acts as a lens' which results in the moonlight bending at different angles.

When light moves through uniform medium such as the atmosphere of a planet it travels at a constant speed in a straight-line motion.

When it passes between mediums - so between Earth's atmosphere and the vacuum of space - the velocity changes and is refracted or bent at the boundary.

This is why it can leave the Moon looking distorted when viewed from the ISS as it appears to dip behind the Earth - the light 'bends' as it crosses between space and the atmosphere.

According to EarthSky, a similar affect is seen with sunsets and sunrises on Earth.

'The answer is atmospheric refraction, the effect of light traveling through different densities and temperatures of air. Refraction is the same effect that causes a spoon in a glass of water to appear broken in two,' wrote Theresa Wiegert on EarthSky.

Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG executives ignored warnings from colleagues about troubled steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta as they channeled $1.2 billion of client funds to his businesses, according to people familiar with the matter.Bankers in Credit Suisses commodity trade-finance unit blacklisted Guptas Liberty Commodities Ltd. in 2016 because they suspected some of its deals werent legitimate, the people said. When they learned about two years later that the bank was lending to his companies through a suite of investment funds, which eventually grew to $10 billion, they flagged their worries to leaders in compliance and the division that housed the loans, one of the people said.The disclosure that Credit Suisse may have put clients at risk despite internal concerns over Guptas businesses adds a new twist to the debacle stemming from the March implosion of Greensill Capital, the finance firm at the center of the three-way relationship.Investigations, LawsuitsThe U.K. Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Guptas group of companies for suspected fraud, including in its financing deals with Greensill, according to a May 14 statement. Credit Suisse has sued to force Guptas Liberty Commodities into insolvency and has since shut the funds that made the loans and launched an internal investigation. Investors are staring at losses as the bank confronts embarrassing lawsuits.We are currently focusing our efforts on recovering our investors money, Will Bowen, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in London, said in an emailed statement, adding that the banks internal probe will focus on all of the issues linked to the funds. We are committed to learning the lessons and will share the relevant lessons learnt at the appropriate time.Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Gupta Family Group Alliance, or GFG Alliance, a collective of businesses linked to Gupta including Liberty Commodities, denied any wrongdoing.The Greensill saga represents just one of the two disasters that rocked Credit Suisse in the first half of 2021. Since Greensill began unraveling, the bank has announced a $5.5 billion hit from the blowup at Archegos Capital Management.ApologiesFormer Chairman Urs Rohner apologized to shareholders and his successor, Antonio Horta-Osorio, who arrived at the end of April, has promised a sweeping strategy review.Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein, who was head of the division that oversaw trade finance, wasnt aware of the internal concerns about Gupta that had prompted the bank to cut him off, according to a person familiar with the matter.Employees at the trade-finance unit, which lends money for the buying and selling of commodities, cut ties with Gupta in 2016 after becoming skeptical toward his Liberty Commodities, the people said. They distrusted the documents the company provided, triggering doubts about its transactions, they said. In one example reported by Bloomberg, the company had presented another bank with what seemed to be duplicate shipping receipts. Credit Suisses commodity team had stopped working with Gupta after identifying suspicious shipments while the banks credit-structuring team lobbied against the Greensill funds, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.A spokesman for Gupta has denied any wrongdoing.Banking TiesLiberty Commodities pledged assets to Credit Suisse as security for borrowings in 2013 but by early 2016, all such commitments had been extinguished, indicating that the financing relationship had ceased, U.K. Companies House filings show. And while Guptas company listed the Swiss bank as one of its lenders in its 2014 annual report, it didnt in the following years report, which is dated May 2016, according to the filings.Their counterparts at other banks, including Macquarie Group Ltd. and Sberbank PJSC, halted trading with Liberty Commodities around the same time because of similar concerns; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also stopped in 2016, Bloomberg has reported.Nevertheless, executives at Credit Suisses asset-management division -- which creates investment products for clients and charges a fee for overseeing them -- began arranging a suite of funds focused on supply-chain finance in 2017. The entities bought securitized loans packaged by Greensill, a firm created by Australian businessman Lex Greensill. Much of the debts were linked to Guptas businesses.WarningsOfficials at the commodity trade-finance unit were concerned when they found out about the funds links to Gupta and took their fears to Thomas Grotzer, general counsel for the banks Swiss division. They also warned Luc Mathys and Lukas Haas, the bankers who helped oversee the trades at the asset-management unit.Grotzer was promoted last month to interim global head of compliance at Credit Suisse. He didnt respond to requests for comment. Mathys, head of fixed-income at the asset-management division, and Haas, a portfolio manager, were put on temporary leave in March. Neither responded to requests for comment.The bank pushed ahead with the funds and marketed them to investors as being made up of short-term debt secured on invoices, assets considered so safe that Credit Suisse gave the largest vehicle its lowest rating for risk. Yet part of the loans were linked to mere possible future revenues.Other parts of the bank continued working with Gupta as well. Credit Suisses investment bankers were due to lead an initial public offering for Libertys U.S. steel arm, which was ultimately pulled, according to a statement from the company. Gupta also announced that the Swiss bank would finance his planned acquisition of Thyssenkrupp AGs steel unit, which fell apart earlier this year.Credit Suisse has so far recouped about $5.9 billion of the $10 billion in these supply-chain funds, but it remains unclear how much will be returned ultimately to investors. Loans to Guptas businesses are among a batch of debts that are the principal sources of valuation uncertainty, the bank said earlier this month.Liberty Commoditiess external legal advisors investigated alleged rumors concerning the paperwork it used in 2019, according to Mitchell, the spokesman for GFG Alliance. They found no evidence to substantiate the rumors, nor was the company ever subject to further complaints or proceedings, he said.LCL has ongoing banking relationships with separate financial institutions, Mitchell said, referring to Liberty Commodities. The trade-finance market has been hugely challenging for all but the very largest commodities traders in recent years. Nevertheless, no financial institution has been left out of pocket as a result of lending money to LCL. On the contrary, they have received substantial commercial returns.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
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London, Feb 4 : The UK has opened consultation on its proposed approach for establishing a bespoke nation-wide subsidy control regime to replace the state aid regime of the European Union (EU), the government said.

The new subsidy control system will provide "more flexible and tailored financial support to businesses" and will be "the long-term replacement for the EU's prescriptive state aid regime", Xinhua news agency quoted the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

Under the fresh system, local authorities, public bodies and the devolved administrations "will be empowered to decide if they can issue taxpayer subsidies by following a set of UK-wide principles", said the Department.

The system will ensure Britain to comply with its international obligations "under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement and other free trade agreements", according to the statement.

The system "will ensure that subsidies do not unduly distort competition within the UK's internal market", said the statement.

The state aid has been one of the sticking points in the Brexit negotiations between London and Brussels before they reached a trade deal late last month.

The clashes over the issue were resolved in the EU-UK trade deal, with Britain agreeing to set up an "independent authority" to monitor subsidy decisions, the Financial Times said in a report.

The consultation, being run by the business department, will consist of 42 questions and seek opinions on whether to have a minimum threshold for subsidy deals before they face scrutiny as well as the timing of disclosure of deals.

The consultation will close on March 31, 2021, according to the Department.

The EU and the UK announced on December 24, 2020, that they had reached an agreement that will govern bilateral trade and security relationship starting from January 1, after the end of the Brexit transition period.

The deal, which came after nine months of arduous negotiations between the UK and the EU, is the biggest bilateral trade deal signed by either side, covering trade worth around 668 billion pounds ($912 billion).

The EU is the UK's largest trading partner.

The UK is the EU's third largest trading partner in goods, following China and the US.

Editors note: This part of a series of profiles on cannabis brokers, in which Insurance Journal explores why and how these folks got into the business, the ups and downs of insuring cannabis, as well as a few tips for those interested in a little professional development.

David M. Kennedys trip into the insuring cannabis space was a blend of following tradition and being innovative.

Kennedy, founder and CEO of Purple Risk Insurance Services, started his journey in insurance during college in 1997 as a summer intern at global brokerage Sedgwick Group, where he followed in the footsteps of his father, Geoffrey Kennedy, who spent the majority of his 30-plus-year career at Sedgwick.

Kennedy joined Marsh full time in Boston after graduating from the University of Vermont in 1999, then soon after he tried to break out of his familys career mold  his brother, also named Geoff Kennedy, is with Marsh  by changing paths and attending law school.

Upon graduating from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2003, he went into law for about eight years as an insurance coverage attorney and litigator representing specialty carriers, then later returned to the insurance industry in 2012 in a claims professional/counsel role at Lexington Insurance Co. He was promoted in 2014 to lead product development at Lexington.

In 2019 he launched his own retail insurance brokerage, Purple Risk, focusing exclusively on the cannabis industry.

Kennedy spoke with Insurance Journal about his experience as a cannabis broker.

Insurance Journal: Why did you get in the cannabis and insurance space?

Kennedy: I first started researching the cannabis space as a business opportunity in 2013-14 while participating in an AIG/Lexington Insurance Innovation Bootcamp program. I became increasingly intrigued by the cannabis industrys growth potential and the sectors critical need for specialty insurance solutions.

While leading Lexingtons product development team, we explored the possibility of launching an E&S cannabis insurance program at Lexington. But AIG, like many large carriers, was not comfortable with entering the cannabis market primarily because of the federal position on marijuana.

After leaving Lexington in 2019, I combined my passion for innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset to take the leap into starting my own retail insurance brokerage specializing on the now rapidly emerging and constantly evolving cannabis industry.

Insurance Journal: Has this been a good financial decision so far?

Kennedy: My experience is, perhaps, different from many of the brokers featured in these Cannabis Broker Spotlight segments since I launched and built a new retail insurance brokerage from the ground up starting in the 2018 timeframe.

I have faced many of the challenges of a new business startup, while also navigating the intricacies of the cannabis insurance market and, of course, the significant disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last year.That said, we are slowly and steadily growing the Purple Risk brand and take enormous pride in serving as our clients most trusted advisornot merely as a broker/agentand counseling them on all aspects of compliance and risk management to better protect their businesses and reduce their total cost of risk.

Given the projected growth trajectory of the cannabis industry, the financial benefits should, in time, follow as we grow Purple Risk along with our client base.

Insurance Journal: Whats the hardest thing about the cannabis industry to deal with?

Kennedy: Some of the most challenging aspects about the cannabis industry and, in turn, the cannabis insurance market, are the same traits that have drawn me to the space: the unique state regulated markets emerging from decades of prohibition; the constantly evolving cannabis and hemp laws and regulations; the emerging exposures and shifting risk profiles; the dearth of coverage options and limited markets, among other challenges, all make the cannabis industry particularly intriguing and well-suited for a broker and attorney like me with a background in insurance coverage law and E&S product innovation.

In short, it is those challenges themselves of the industry itself that make it so exciting and varied for me; of course, there are difficulties navigating in the cannabis insurance space: from diminished insurance limits, to shallow, or even no, coverage options for some exposures, to inflated premiums for products like directors and officers liability insurance or commercial auto; and increasingly restrictive safeguards and exclusionary policy language across all lines of coverage.

Insurance Journal: What insurance product is the most difficult to obtain for your cannabis industry clients? Why?

Other brokers featured in these Cannabis Broker Spotlight segments have addressed the difficulty obtaining certain insurance products for industry clients, including D&O liability, workers compensation, and cyber liability, that only have a handful of markets, to property capacity, since most carriers continue to avoid cannabis risks due to federal illegality. We have faced similar challenges at Purple Risk.

As noted recently by Insurance Journal, industry insiders predict we are not going to see significant increase in capacity over the next twelve months, and at Purple Risk we are similarly seeing carriers seek 15% to 20% rate increases on no loss account renewals.

With an outlook for a choppy 2021 cannabis insurance market, it is important to closely review your coverage options, especially on renewals, as the markets and carrier appetite vary significantly in the constantly evolving and fluid landscape.

Insurance Journal: What two or three tips do you have for brokers entering the business of insuring cannabis?

Education, specialization, and differentiation.

Learning the intricacies of the cannabis insurance market is critical to succeedingand excellingin this space. Take every opportunity to educate yourself about the state-specific laws and regulations governing the industry, pending legislation, carrier participants, product offerings and, of course, studying the highly bespoke forms themselves, among other areas, to help protect your brokerage from an E&O standpoint and better position you to advise your clients.

If you are entering the space, commit to specializing in the industry and becoming a subject matter expert; and seek out partnerships with industry leaders to better serve your clients. Purple Risk is an appointed broker with the National Cannabis Risk Management Association and we have partnered with several industry experts in the fields of law, compliance, banking, and marketing, among other areas.

Finally, what is your value proposition? Ask yourself what is your agencys differentiator since, as brokers, we are largely sourcing products from the same small pool of cannabis insurance markets.

My background is as an insurance coverage attorney; Im not aware of other licensed attorneys that have transitioned to cannabis insurance brokers. That professional background gives me a unique lens and level of expertise to better serve our clients risk management needs and differentiate Purple Risks services and value proposition.

Topics Agencies Training Development Cannabis
And just like that, Perth is out of lockdown.

The clock struck 6pm in Western Australia and, with no new local COVID-19 cases, residents in the Perth, Peel and South West regions were free to leave their homes and head out to pubs and restaurants  albeit with some precautionary measures still in place.

While the states South West  encompassing popular coastal holiday destinations Busselton and Margaret River  was free to go back to life as per usual pre-lockdown, Perth and Peel residents must still wear masks indoors and outdoors, and theres a 4-square-metre rule in place for pubs, restaurants and cafes, limiting the number of patrons they can accommodate.

Perths Crown Casino and the citys nightclubs remain closed, at least until 12.01am Sunday, February 14, when the restrictions are eased further.

Cool weather has blown in from a waning tropical low in the states north, helping firefighters in their battle against a monster blaze in Perths east which has claimed 86 homes and setting the city up for a wet weekend to end five days of dual crises.

WA Premier Mark McGowan admitted his decision to throw much of the states population into lockdown had weighed on his mind and kept him up at night but, while announcing the states roadmap out of lockdown late Thursday evening, said he had no regrets.

Lets imagine, had we not done this and we had cases out there incubating in the community and people moving around and spreading it, and then next week we suddenly have big eruptions of cases around Perth, well then everyone would rightly be saying, Why didnt you take action earlier, he said.

Many Perth publicans are throwing open their doors for the first time all week, despite being resigned to the fact that reduced capacity means they will likely not turn a profit.

We understand its only five days so we are happy to follow those guidelines and take a little bit more pain in the five or six days in the hope that from next Sunday we get back to normal and we can run the businesses normally from there, said Tim McLernon, whose pub The Camfield  which sits just outside Optus Stadium  is the citys biggest with a usual maximum capacity of 2500.
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Borrego, a leading developer, EPC and O&M provider for large-scale renewable energy projects throughout the United States, today announced it has been selected to develop a 110 MW-AC utility-scale solar project as part of the solicitation for large-scale renewables by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The Rutland Center Solar 1 project will be Borrego's largest development announced to date.

The award was one of 20 solar projects awarded as part of NYSERDA's efforts to develop more than two gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity throughout New York State. It will be sited in National Grid territory in the north of the state, in the towns of Rutland and Watertown in Jefferson County, and will produce enough energy to power nearly 11,000 homes.

"This project award reflects Borrego's expansion into utility-scale development," said Dan Berwick, general manager of development at Borrego. "We're bringing the technical expertise and rigorous processes we developed as the leader in commercial and community solar markets to larger projects, because our mission is ever more urgent: to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy."

Borrego also announced the appointment of Daryl Hart as vice president of utility-scale project development. Hart joins Borrego from NextEra Energy Transmission, where he was director of development. He has worked in both wind and solar development and is certified as both a Project Management Professional (PMP) and Six Sigma Black Belt. Prior to joining the renewables industry, Hart spent 10 years in the U.S. Air Force, completing his active duty service as a Major assigned to the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC).

"Our new focus on the utility-scale sector is powered by talented individuals with utility-scale experience," said Mike Hall, CEO of Borrego. Hall added that the company, which recently announced it has reorganized into three independent business unitsdevelopment, EPC, and O&Mhas aggressive plans to grow its workforce by 25% this year and is actively looking for new talent, especially those with utility-scale skill sets.

Borrego's 110 MW solar project will help support Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's nation-leading goal of generating 70% of New York's electricity from renewable sources by 2030, consistent with the Climate Leadership and Community Benefit Act. Borrego's project is expected to create jobs and bring benefits to Jefferson County, and the local jurisdiction will benefit from a Payment in Lieu of Taxes as well as a Community Host Benefit Payment.

About Borrego

Borrego, a leading developer, EPC and O&M provider, accelerates the delivery of large commercial, community solar, and utility-scale solar and energy storage projects in the United States. Borrego offers a broad range of renewable energy services and has a track record of superior performance in the hundreds of large solar and energy storage projects it has designed, built and maintains throughout the United States. Established in 1980, it has regional offices in California, Massachusetts, and New York with a nationwide footprint. Borrego creates value by helping partners make better decisions at critical points in every project's life. Its team brings deep technical expertise to its mission of solving the world's energy problems. For more information, visit www.borregoenergy.com

Media contact

Mason Miller, Kiterocket (for Borrego)

[email protected]

925-876-3292

SOURCE Borrego
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Security across Nigeria is challenged, with Islamist groups in the north far from defeated, a seeming resurgence of a low-level insurrection in the oil patch, ongoing conflict in the middle of the country over water and land use that sometimes acquires ethnic and religious dimensions, and a general wave of criminality around the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari is facing criticism for his failure to address security issues and, at the same time, especially in the predominantly Christian south, for choosing his military chiefs from among his own northern Muslim Hausa-Fulani community.

President Buhari's January 26 announcement that he has fired all four of his military service chiefs will be welcomed by his critics. His new appointments appear to be of high quality in terms of official announcements about their background. Buhari has also, apparently, balanced the appoints with respect to region of origin. This is congruent with the principle of "federal character," which holds that government positions should be equally distributed across the federation.

The new chief of defense staff, Maj. Gen. Leo Irabor, is from Delta state in the south. The chief of army staff, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru is from Kaduna in the north. The chief of navy staff is Rear Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, from Kano in the north, and the new air force chief of staff is Air Vice Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, from Osun state, near Lagos. (By population Lagos and Kano are the largest states in the federation.)

Ethnic and religious identities predominate in Nigeria and national identity is weaker than in other African states. Nevertheless, within the military an effort has been made to downplay ethnic and religious identities. Accordingly, the official announcement of the new service chiefs makes no reference to their religion or ethnicity any more than the Pentagon does about senior American military appointments. However, speculation on social media identifies Leo Irabor as a Christian, with a lively dispute covered in conventional media over whether he is or is not an Igbo. Ibrahim Attahiru is identified as a "Hausa" Muslim; Awwal Gambo is identified as a "Fulani" Muslim; and Isiaka Amao is identified as a Yoruba Christian. Based on where they were born and their names, these designations from social media are plausible but by no means definitive.

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However, if the designations are accurate, two are from the north, and two are from the south. Two are Muslim and two are Christian. Two are Hausa and/or Fulani, while one is Yoruba while one is Igbo. Hence the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria appear to be represented: Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo. (Hausa is a language, Fulani is an ethnic group; northern Hausa-speaking Muslims are often designated as "Hausa-Fulani," though Hausa speakers may come from small ethnic groups and some are Christian.)

It remains to be seen whether the new team will be any more successful than the last. The military remains under-resourced. But the drivers of conflict, especially in the north and in the oil patch, are primarily (not exclusively) political. But no political initiatives are underway to address the widespread sense of grievance. Absent political initiatives, critics see replacement of the service chiefs as reminiscent of "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

Blog posts represent the views of CFR fellows and staff and not those of CFR, which takes no institutional positions.
An out-of-commission cruise ship has been repurposed as a Covid-19 vaccination centre for thousands of residents in the northern Swiss towns of Romanshorn, Arbon and Kreuzlingen.

The 89-year-old MS Thurgau, which usually holds 500 passengers, has earned the nickname vaccine vaporetto by some locals as it will sail from harbour to harbour on Europes third largest lake, Lake Constance, to deliver the jabs.

Two vaccination stations on board the ship have the capacity to vaccinate 24 people every hour - one every five minutes - or 168 people each day during a seven-hour shift.

According to Swiss authorities, it can expand to eight stations as more vaccines arrive in the country.

Switzerlands health minister Alain Berset told reporters on Tuesday, as the first people arrived to receive their vaccines: Ive heard of a fondue ship, and a spaghetti ship, but this is my first shot ship.

Only doses of the Moderna vaccine will be delivered on board the MS Thurgau as the 10-dose vials are easier to prepare in the ships small quarters, said medics.

The MS Thurgau will stay anchored in Romanshorn for the first week of operation, followed by two weeks in the larger town of Kreuzlingen. It will then spend a week in Arbon before returning to Romanshorn to deliver the second dose of vaccine to residents there.

Kurt Huber, who lives in the region, told Reuters as he disembarked from the gangway after receiving his jab: It was perfectly organised. I didnt even feel the needle.

He recommended the shot ship to others who may be hesitant about receiving the vaccine, adding: When you see what otherwise could happen, its simply logical.

Urs Martin, an elected official for the canton of Thurgau, said authorities initially considered creating mobile vaccine centres on buses, but eventually chose to use the cruise ship which has been out of commission due to the pandemic.

We wanted to figure out just how we could vaccinate as many people as possible, with as few vaccination centres as were necessary, said Mr Martin.

Kurt Huber receives the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at the vaccination centre of the Canton of Thurgau located aboard the MS Thurgau excursion boat (REUTERS)

Adriano Mari, of the Hirslanden Group which runs vaccination centres in the canton, told local media that partitions have been put in place in the ship to facilitate different stages of the vaccination process and ensure people do not cross each other when entering and leaving the ship.

He also hoped the ship would not have to continue delivering vaccines once it has completed its course.

Hopefully by then, things will have eased and the ship can return to carrying passengers on its regular route, he said.

On Tuesday, Switzerland reported just over 1,600 new coronavirus infections, bringing its total to 526,000. Cases of the more transmissible variants of the virus have been doubling every week, and nearly 8,800 people have died since the start of the pandemic.

Additional reporting by agencies




By Anna J. Park







The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) announced Thursday that it has raised $1.5 billion by issuing triple-tranche global bonds to overseas investors. The state-run lender said the triple-tranche bonds' coupon rates were the lowest ever issued by the government, reflecting overseas investors' confidence in Korean debt as a safe asset.







The bonds are composed of three different coupon rates and maturities  three-year maturity bonds of $500 million, five-year maturity of $700 million and 10-year maturity of $300 million. The three-year notes provide 23 basis points, or 0.23 percent, above the three-year U.S. Treasury; the five-year bond offers 28 basis points above the five-year U.S. treasury, and the 10-year bond gives 38 basis points above the 10-year U.S. treasury note.







The bank said that by offering bonds with various maturity and coupon rates, it could secure high demand from overseas investors. About 51 percent of the bonds were purchased by central banks of various countries, sovereign wealth funds and international organizations.







"The money raised through the bond selling will be used to support local enterprises to advance into overseas markets with various business projects related to the Korean New Deal initiative, particularly in the green, renewable and digital sectors," the bank said.


Mumbai, Feb 4 : Actress Maanvi Gagroo has posted an experience on Instagram to encourage fans to be confident in one's skin.

In a long post, Maanvi described how she once wanted to correct her smile but a dentist friend advised her against it.

"#LongPostAlert I remember going to my friend Mihir when he opened his new dental clinic for a cap/vineer replacement. In the process I enquired about 'smile correction' coz believe it or not, I'd always disliked my smile. I asked him if he could make it less gummy or do some sort of an orthodontic procedure to reduce my gums. He downright refused, " Maanvi posted.

In the end, the result was something that left Maanvi happy.

"Not that he couldn't do it, it was a common procedure, he said. But he insisted that my 'gummy' smile was my trademark, my uniqueness. That my 'corrected' smile would look like everybody else's. He was also surprised to know that I was even considering it since he felt my smile was my best feature. We fought. Eventually, Mihir did replace the cap in my front tooth. He also aligned my lateral incisors to match my protruding canines. But most importantly, he made me fall in love with my smile again," she wrote.

The actress will soon be seen in the third season of Four More Shots.
Were not going to speak in any detail today. we will certainly do so in the immediate new year, said Craig McLachlan in December.

As you can imagine we have a lot to say.

Those were the words of Craig McLachlan following his acquittal of assault charges in Melbourne Magistrates Court.

But with a separate defamation case pending against ABC and Nine (publisher of former Fairfax), many of the likely media outlets are effectively no-go zones: Australian Story, Four Corners, 60 Minutes, A Current Affair.

That leaves News Corp publications and Seven as possible destinations, or a magazine deal.

TV Tonight hears whispers Sevens Spotlight unit, which recently drew a big crowd with a Ben Cousins special, as the likely candidate.

Helmed by seasoned producer Mark Llewellyn, Spotlight would give McLachlan access to the living rooms of the nation, to tell his story in his own words.

McLachlan continues to draw support from a defiant Blake Army fanbase around the world despite the Doctor Blake series ending in 2017. A recent petition to revive the show has over 7000 signatures.

Seven declined to comment.

Related
REDDING, Calif.  Redding Police have just captured a suspect that they've been searching for days. Police say they have been searching for a suspect identified as Nicholas Hall.

Officers received multiple calls about Hall in this neighborhood for the last few days.

Just before 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, police came into the Parkview neighborhood after learning the suspect was in the area. Police then engaged in a short chase for Hall. Police searched the area, where they were finally able to locate him.

One neighbor told Action News Now, she saw the suspect run near her house.

That's when she alerted police and pointed them in the direction the suspect was heading. RPD said they've tried to capture the suspect several times this week.

Hall was wanted on several felony warrants.

This is a developing story. Action News Now will keep you updated with new information on-air and online.
The number of people with Covid-19 in Laois is back in double figures as many deaths continue be reported and the daily case count remains relatively high above the 1,000 mark, according to the latest figures from the National Public Health Emergency Team.

NPHET reported on Thursday, February 4 that 19 new cases have been reported in Laois by labs. This means that average cases over five days is 18 a day. The population incidence is now 277.5 per 100,000 people on the back of 235 cases in the past two weeks. Laois now has the eight lowest incidence of the virus in Ireland.

The incidence has reduced substantially from over 1,000 per 100k during January but is still well ahead of the 55 per 100 k at the start of December. FULL COUNTY BY COUNTY BREAKDOWN AT END OF STORY.

Read also: FRONTLINE FIGHT CHANGING IN PORTLAOISE HOSPITAL BUT BEDS THIN ON THE GROUND

The latest cases push the total official number of cases in Laois to 2,708 since February 2020.

The NPHET statement said the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has today been notified of 75 additional deaths related to COVID-19. Of these deaths, 46 occurred in February with 27 occurred in January, two were earlier.

The median age of those who died is 84 years and the age range is 34-100 years.

There has been a total of 3,586* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland. (*denotification of 1 death).

As of 2pm today, 1,284 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 188 are in ICU. 74 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of midnight, Wednesday, February 3, NPHET said the HPSC has been notified of 1,318 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 200,744** confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. (*denotification of 4 confirmed cases).

Of the cases notified today, 622 are men / 688 are women, 58% are under 45 years of age. The median age is 40 years old.

NPHET highlighted 428 in Dublin, 122 in Cork, 93 in Galway, 78 in Kildare, 77 in Limerick and the remaining 520 cases are spread across all other counties. FULL COUNTY BY COUNTY BREAKDOWN AT END OF STORY.

The 7 day incidence is 171.6 per 100,000 people while the 5-day moving average for new cases is 1,102.

NPHET says the COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.




President Joe Biden will announce an end Thursday to US support for a grinding five-year Saudi-led military offensive in Yemen that has deepened humanitarian suffering in the Arabian peninsula's poorest country, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

The move would fulfill a campaign pledge by Biden, whose administration plans to pursue diplomacy to end the overall conflict in Yemen.

Biden also is announcing the choice of Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to Yemen as soon as Thursday afternoon, when the president is due to speak at the State Department.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed the selection, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. The Gulf-based newspaper The National first reported the pick.

Lenderking has been a deputy assistant secretary of state in the agency's Middle East section. A career foreign service member, he has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries inside and out of the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia began the offensive in 2015 to counter a Yemeni Houthi faction that had seized territory in Yemen and was launching cross-border missiles at Saudi Arabia.

Since then has killed numerous civilians, and survivors display fragments showing the bombs to be American-made. The conflict has deepened hunger and poverty in Yemen, and international rights experts say both the Gulf countries and Houthis have committed severe rights abuses.

Short link:


Perth has rallied to support victims of the Wooroloo bushfire with restaurants sending food to the front, hotels offering free accommodation and other people and businesses chipping everything from the practical to the weird and wonderful.

Cottesloe Beach Chalets is full with more than 100 evacuees.

Its our family business and because of the lockdown we had all our guests leave by Sunday ... we had 25 empty motel rooms, said Harry Davies.

Seeing the news yesterday I saw a friend displaced by the fire so I rang Dad to see if we had any free rooms to offer. Luckily they had found accommodation by then but we had a chat and thought maybe we could help other families.

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Marc J. Gosselin will start July 1 as the new Lenox schools superintendent. He was selected unanimously by the School Committee last week.

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) on Thursday morning announced that Madison County and the rest of Region 4 is moving to Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois Plan.

The region was the last of 11 in Illinois to have COVID-19 mitigations lessened. Other Region 4 counties include Bond, Clinton, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington.

Under Phase 4, restaurants and bars are now permitted to have indoor dining and drinking for parties of up to 10 people and a maximum of 50% capacity. Seated areas must be arranged so tables allow for 6 feet between parties. Impermeable barriers can be installed between booths less than 6 feet apart.

Meetings and social events are allowed but limited to the lesser of 50 people or 50% of room capacity. Multiple groups can meet in the same facility, if they are socially distanced and in separate rooms.

Retail and service businesses remain limited to no more than 50% occupancy. Indoor recreation facilities such as bowling alleys and skating rinks can operate at the lesser of 50 customers or 50% capacity. However, indoor playgrounds and trampoline parks should remain closed, the IDPH stated.

Museums are allowed to open at no more than 25% occupancy. Guided tours should be limited to 50 or fewer people per group. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to re-open the National Great Rivers Museum on Monday; hours will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with tours offered at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Information about mitigation and resurgence metrics can be found on the IDPH website at http://www.dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics.
Before the December launch and crash landing of the Starship SN8 prototype, SpaceX had sought a safety regulation waiver from the FAA.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which issues commercial launch licenses, denied the request to exceed the maximum public risk allowed by the agencys rules.

The company proceeded to launch from Boca Chica, outside of Brownsville.

More on SN8: SpaceX Starship prototype reaches new heights before hard, fiery landing in South Texas

SpaceX then prepared for its next test. One day in January, it got as far as evacuating nearby residents and fueling its Starship SN9 prototype. But the vehicle never left the South Texas launchpad.

SpaceX was missing something crucial: regulatory approval to launch from Boca Chica.

To the chagrin of onlookers near and far, that approval did not come. Not in January, anyway, as SpaceX felt the ramifications of its hard, fiery landing the month before. The aftermath wasnt just cleaning debris. SpaceX received extra scrutiny for violating its launch license.

The FAA statement about the December incident, which said that SpaceX launched without demonstrating that the public risk from far field blast overpressure was within the regulatory criteria, was rather vague. And it likely wouldnt have been issued if SpaceX founder Elon Musk hadnt publicly accused the FAA of having a broken regulatory structure standing between SpaceX and Mars.

Former FAA officials cautioned that a lot of the facts are missing, and multiple scenarios could have prompted that statement.

To me, its not clear how serious the situation was, said George Nield, who was the FAAs Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation from 2008 to 2018. Key questions include whether the non-compliance was intentional or not, whether it had to do with the vehicle and its operation, or whether it involved making sure no members of the public were exposed to risk.

But the FAA did determine that the launch license conditions were violated. That likely had to do with far field blast overpressure, which is basically a pressure wave that can break windows or damage buildings. Such waves could be caused by a crash or explosion, Nield said.

SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.

Jared Zambrano-Stout, a former official in the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transpiration and the current director of congressional and regulatory policy for the law firm Meeks Butera & Israel, isnt as concerned about how SpaceX violated its launch license. Rather, he worries about the long-term competitiveness of the launch industry.

He said commercial space companies need to follow the rules, and federal regulators need to enforce the rules. Otherwise, there could be consequences that cause the U.S. to fall behind rivals such as Russia or China.

If Congress doesnt have faith in the regulatory system, it could create new laws and regulations, Zambrano-Stout said. If we create significant new regulations over the launch industry, that could absolutely put us at a disadvantage against other countries.

It is not common for a commercial space company to violate its license, which is perhaps why the SpaceX-FAA spat has created such shockwaves.

Brian Weeden, director of program planning for the Secure World Foundation that promotes the sustainable and peaceful use of space, could recall just two other licensing issues that created a similar hubbub.

More Elon Musk news: Houston company could provide answer to Elon Musk's $100 million question

In 2018, Swarm Technologies, which is seeking to provide global satellite connectivity for internet of things devices, launched small satellites into space without approval from the Federal Communications Commission, which licenses satellite communications.

And in 2019, an Israeli lunar lander was carrying tardigrades, microscopic aquatic animals that are also known as water bears or moss piglets, when it crashed into the moon. This violated planetary protection rules created so that humans dont contaminate moons or planets, Weeden said.

The SpaceX violation, however, felt especially jarring to Weeden and his peers working for space think tanks or companies. It could have put humans in danger, and it could have set back years of progress in giving more companies access to space.

I understand Elon is trying to go fast, but there are some just basic public safety things that we have to keep in mind, Weeden said. They dropped a rocket back to the ground that exploded. That is a huge hazard that we have to take precautions to make sure it doesnt kill anybody.

Thats the FAAs job. To protect public safety. But this is just one part of its mandate, Nield said. The agency is tasked by Congress with both protecting the public and promoting commercial space transportation.

Under normal circumstances, that can be achieved when launch companies voluntarily comply with the requirements found in the regulations. But if its necessary, the FAA can suspend or revoke launch licenses. As a last resort, it can issue fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars a day, Nield said.

For SpaceX, after its December launch of SN8, the FAA suspended Boca Chica testing that could affect public safety until the company completed an investigation, including a comprehensive review of its safety culture and operational decision making, and the FAA approved its proposed corrective actions to protect public safety.

SN9 took flight on Tuesday. SN9 is a prototype of the Starship spacecraft that, paired with the Super Heavy rocket, is being designed to carry people to the moon, Mars and beyond. It is different than the Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX routinely launches and lands when propelling military satellites or NASA astronauts into space.

SN9 ignited its three Raptor engines Tuesday afternoon and began to climb upward. The engines were intentionally shut down one at a time, causing the Starship prototype to enter a horizontal, belly flop-like position. Then the engines were supposed to reignite and flip the vehicle for a gentle vertical landing. But, like SN8, it landed hard and in flames.

The FAA said it would oversee an investigation of Tuesdays landing. Although this was an uncrewed test flight, the investigation will identify the root cause of todays mishap and possible opportunities to further enhance safety as the program develops, the FAA said.

More on SN9: SpaceX SN9 launches from South Texas, lands in fireball

So after the rigmarole, SN9 launched a few days behind schedule.

And Musks aggressive tweet, well, it was kind of right and kind of wrong, Weeden said. Musk said that FAA rules were designed for just a few expendable launches a year from government facilities. Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars, Musk said.

Hes right in the sense that we do need to modernize our oversight of commercial activities and we need to innovate faster, Weeden said, noting that commercial space regulations are slowly getting modernized. Hes wrong in that an extra week or two for a license is the only thing keeping us from getting to Mars.

There are still many technical and human health questions that need to be answered before humans can colonize Mars.

In the meantime, Starship SN10 is waiting for its chance to stick the landing.

andrea.leinfelder@chron.com

twitter.com/a_leinfelder
Feb. 5, 1931: Caves Variety Store, 721-723 Broadway, is having a 9-cent sale tomorrow on various items.

Feb. 5, 1941: Between 250 and 300 Legionnaires and Auxiliary members are expected here Saturday and Sunday to attend the 19th District Convention, says local commander Sam Langford.

Feb. 5, 1961: Mrs. McKinley Howell was chosen by the Womans Forum as president for 1961-62.

--The staff of the Plainview Negro Nursery, which will have dedication and open house today, include Mmes. Lina Harrison, Thel Campbell, Callie Mae Robinson, Hulda Mannings and Helen Scroggins, who serves as director.

--B.T. Bridges, longtime wrestling promoter here, has filed for the city council. Other candidates include George Taylor and Alvin Stokes, both incumbents, and Perry Stanton.

Feb. 5, 1981: The Wayland Flying Queens will play 14th-ranked Texas on Friday night in Austin. Texas won in Plainview 76-68 on Jan. 16.

--More than $800,000 in mixed drinks were sold in Plainview in the three months of 1980, according to State Comptroller Bob Bullock.

Feb. 5, 2001: Former Flying Queens Jennifer Averitt (left), Hazel Taylor and Stacy Bookout sit in front of a one of the twin-engine Beech Barons used by Hutcherson Air Service to fly the Wayland team to out-of-town games. The Hutcherson family has been sponsoring the team since 1948.
A newborn baby sustained burns inside an incubator at Queens and Kings Hospital in Siakago, Mbeere, Embu County.

The family of the one-day-old baby said the infant severe burns on the arm, chest and head.

The babys father, Dennis Murimi, said he found out the baby had burned when he went to the facility to check on his wife Regina Wambura, 20, who was recuperating after delivery.

The baby was left at an incubator for a long period unattended leading to the burns, Murimi said, accusing the facility of negligence.

The baby has since been transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi for specialised treatment.

The babys aunt, Rukia Wanjiru, said the hospital had accepted liability and promised to cater for all the medical expenses and treatment.

We are happy with the managements decision to deal with the medical costs but the babys mother is deeply traumatised, said Rukia.

She said the baby was in deep pain and thats why they demanded the transfer to Nairobi.

Moses Njue, the hospital administrator, said they were investigating the matter and would take disciplinary action against any personnel found culpable.

Our quality control team is investigating the matter to find out if there was personnel negligence or the machine failed, Njue said.

He confirmed that the hospital will take care of the medical expenses and apologised to the family. Njue also assured them the hospital was keen to establish the cause of the accident.
McKinsey & Company, the consultant to blue-chip corporations and governments around the world, has agreed to pay nearly $600 million to settle investigations into its role in helping turbocharge opioid sales, a rare instance of it being held publicly accountable for its work with clients.

The firm has reached a $573 million agreement with attorneys general in 47 states, the District of Columbia and five territories, according to a court filing in Massachusetts on Thursday. Separate deals were announced in Washington State, for $13 million, and in West Virginia, for $10 million. Nevada, not party to the agreements, will continue to pursue its opioid investigation, according to the attorney generals office.

The settlements come after lawsuits unearthed a trove of documents showing how McKinsey worked to drive sales of Purdue Pharmas OxyContin painkiller amid an opioid crisis in the United States that has contributed to the deaths of more than 450,000 people over the past two decades.

McKinseys extensive work with Purdue included advising it to focus on selling lucrative high-dose pills, the records show, even after the drugmaker pleaded guilty in 2007 to federal criminal charges that it had misled doctors and regulators about OxyContins risks. The firm also told Purdue that it could band together with other opioid makers to head off strict treatment by the Food and Drug Administration.
MUMBAI : Andhra Pradesh will use a deepwater port to export rice for the first time in decades amid a global shortage of the grain, according to a government order seen by Reuters, which could raise shipments this year by a fifth.

The order, issued late on Wednesday, allows Kakinada Deep Water Port to handle rice until more capacity is created at the adjoining Anchorage Port.

Congestion at the Kakinada Anchorage Port, India's biggest rice-handling facility, had led to a waiting period of up to four weeks compared with the normal wait of about a week, raising costs for shippers and limiting exports, said B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association of India.

The government blamed the congestion on a surge in demand, driven by production shortfalls in other rice-producing countries. Thailand and Vietnam are the other big suppliers, but their production has fallen in recent months because of excessive rains or drought, sending their prices to multi-year highs.

More shipments from the world's biggest rice exporter could cool global prices.

The move means monthly exports from Andhra Pradesh alone will double to 650,000 tonnes, Rao said, adding that rice shipping would begin in the deepwater port within days.

India's rice exports this year could rise to a record 16 million to 17 million tonnes from last year's 14.2 million, Rao said.

The government also thinks rice exports, excluding the premium basmati variety, could rise by 2 million to 3 million tonnes this year, said Pawan Agarwal, special secretary, logistics, at the federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

"We are also investing to expand capacity at the old Anchorage Port," Agarwal told Reuters.

The South Asian country has a massive surplus for export and prices are competitive, but some international buyers switched to Thailand and Vietnam because of the shipping delays, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

India's 5% broken parboiled variety is being offered at $402-$408 per tonne this week, significantly lower than Vietnam's $510-$515 and Thailand's rate of more than $540.

India mainly exports non-basmati rice to Bangladesh, Nepal, Benin and Senegal, and basmati rice to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

"In the next few weeks India can start fulfilling orders promptly," the Mumbai dealer said. "In that situation, Thailand and Vietnam will have no choice but to cut prices to retain existing buyers."

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The Pivnich (North) task force has said that Russian-occupation fighters have released a video of a serviceman previously believed to have disappeared while on duty in the Joint Force Operation (JFO) area.

"On January 28, 2021, the serviceman disappeared at one of the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the JFO area. The search continued for several days. The authorities of the so-called 'DPR' released several videos with this serviceman, where he was forced to pour more and more dirt on Ukraine and his fellows, the command said on its Facebook page on Wednesday evening.

The Ukrainian military said this is not the first case of forcing detainees to speak to the cameras of the Russian media, by the way, discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine and our country.

"Now the details of the disappearance of the serviceman are being established by the investigation. But this case once again proves that the Russia-occupation fighters are capable of any dastardly actions, just to harm the image of the defenders of Ukraine," the task force said.

"We ask the servicemen and civilians in the area of the Joint Force Operation to be extremely careful and in no case trust the enemy," the command said.
A woman arrested for breaching Covid-19 travel restrictions told the court that she had no address and she travelled the country for special work.

After hearing from the defendant, Judge Kevin Kilrane said he could not release her.

She is travelling up and down the country, he said. She has no address. I can only conclude that she intends to continue her present line of business.

Czechian national Zdenka Weisshauptova, 50, of no fixed abode was arrested on Tuesday at Sligo Bus Station from where she intended to travel to Bundoran.

She was brought before Wednesdays sitting of Donegal District Court.

As well as being charged with breaching Covid-19 travel restrictions having left her place of residence without reasonable excuse, Weisshauptova was also charged with failing to state her name and address.

Both charges occurred at Sligo Bus Station, Great Edward Street, Sligo on February 2.

Garda Joe Evans gave evidence of having found the woman at the bus station while she was en route to Bundoran. He said that the previous day, she had been in Dundalk and Enniskillen.

She goes from town to town, said the garda, adding: She is not an essential worker.

The court heard that the defendant had been in Ireland for around six years and had lived in Cork and Omagh.

Judge Kilrane asked the defendant: What is all this about, travelling around the country?

Weisshauptova replied: I am working.

When pressed on the nature of her work, all she would say was: Special work.

The judge said: Well, you had better take your special work elsewhere.

Inspector David Durkin told the court that gardai had no objection to bail in principle, but were concerned about the lack of address.

When asked what her most recent address was, Weisshauptova said she had rented a room in Manorhamilton for two months because of the Covid, but she had to leave.

It didnt work well for the second person in the house, she said.

Judge Kilrane sentenced the defendant to four months in prison for breach of the travel convictions.

He said: It is clear that this lady is working in the state for the last number of years and the nature of her work takes her from room to room and house to house.

She had on her person 275 so it appears that her work sustains her. The problem is that she is travelling all over the country. This defies all rules.

The country is suffering economically and in human terms and in health terms because of the pandemic.

I can only assume that if this lady is allowed to continue her trade, she is endangering people all over the country.

The judge said he would wait two days before signing the warrant for Weisshauptovas imprisonment. He had earlier indicated that with a guilty plea and an address, he would consider releasing her.
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SALINE, MI - Several factors need to be considered before Saline Area Schools can move ahead with offering more face-to-face instruction, Interim Superintendent Steve Laatsch said.

Laatsch was joined by Dr. Varsha Moudgal, an expert with IHA Infectious Diseases at St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor, during an online question and answer forum on Wednesday, Feb. 3, to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the districts ability to offer in-person classes.

The session focused on progress of teacher vaccinations in the district, how a new COVID-19 variant should influence discussions regarding offering more in-person classes and how quarantine measures have complicated efforts to offer more face-to-face instruction.

Approximately 22.6% of staff who currently work directly with students have received their first dose of the vaccine, Laatsch said. While progress toward getting staff vaccinated is slower than we like, Laatsch said the district could see more progress on that front in the coming weeks.

Theyre shifting the vaccination and the number of vaccines away from the hospitals to the health department, Laatsch said. Thats really important, because the health department is driving the vaccination process for our educators. Were working hard with them to make sure the allocation of vaccines are getting to our educators.

Saline has been offering a hybrid learning model, where students participate in two days of in-person instruction per week, since students returned from the winter break.

To be able to bump in-person instruction up to four days per week, Laatsch said COVID-19 infection rates need to improve. The district also is monitoring any potential spread of the B.1.1.7 variant within the University of Michigan community, where 21 individuals have tested positive for the variant strain.

We are certainly working toward more in-person instruction, especially at our lower elementary levels, Laatsch said. We want to make sure that we are able to have a safe return to a potential four-day-a-week instruction model, but at this time, the conditions arent right for that. With the conditions changing rapidly, we dont want to be promising a date of return (we cant live up to).

While Laatsch notes there is no evidence COVID-19 has spread within the school district, state quarantine guidelines have at times kept healthy staff and students out of the classroom as a result of being close contacts to someone who has tested positive for the virus.

Guidance issued by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and local health department says anyone who is considered a close contact to someone who tests positive but does not have symptoms should quarantine for 10 days.

This has caused disruption of some hybrid learning groups, particularly at the lower elementary grades, Laatsch said. Saline currently has 11 staff and 83 students quarantining.

The health department has deemed that the best way to quarantine students at that level is to quarantine the entire class, or in this case, the half of the hybrid (cohort), Laatsch said.

While the vast majority of those close contacts dont have COVID-19, it does complicate the districts ability to offer more in-person classes, Laatsch said.

Saline has had difficulty hiring substitute teachers to fill in those gaps to the point that the district has attempted to entice potential substitute teachers by increasing their pay, Laatsch said.

When we do have a certain number of staff in quarantine, in this case 11, we need to find substitute teachers not only for those in quarantine, but for general sickness and other things, he said. It does make it challenging with our staffing model.

Moudgal, a Saline parent, has assisted Saline in reviewing its COVID-19 health and safety protocols. She insists the district has done a remarkable job of walking the line between health efficacy and safety.

The mom in me wants everyone back in school, Moudgal said. The infectious disease physician in me says, Yes, its probably safe for some children to be in school, and I think that (Salines) hybrid model is extremely well thought out and done.

READ MORE:

Enrollment decline in Saline schools caused by COVID 19, progressive curriculum, officials say

Saline Area Schools appoints longtime admin as interim superintendent

Limited supply means some schools cant vaccinate their teachers against COVID like others can
The Kremlin has said that thousands of arrests at protests against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny were a necessary response to the rallies.

Asked about the harsh treatment of thousands of detainees, who spent many hours on police buses and were put in overcrowded cells, President Vladimir Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that they have to bear responsibility for joining the unsanctioned protests.

The situation wasnt provoked by law enforcement, it was provoked by participants in unlawful actions, Mr Peskov said in a call with reporters.

Expand Close Police officers detain a Navalny supporter during a protest in St Petersburg (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police officers detain a Navalny supporter during a protest in St Petersburg (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP)

Massive protests erupted after Mr Navalny, a 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner, was arrested on January 17 upon returning from his five-month convalescence in Germany from nerve agent poisoning, which he has blamed on the Kremlin.

Russian authorities deny any involvement and claim they have no proof that he was poisoned despite tests by several European labs.

A Moscow court sentenced Mr Navalny two years and eight months in prison on Tuesday, finding that he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany, a ruling that caused international outrage and triggered new protests in Moscow and St Petersburg.

Following Mr Navalnys arrest, authorities have moved swiftly to silence and isolate his allies.

Last week, a Moscow court put his brother, Oleg, top associate Lyubov Sobol and several other key allies under house arrest  without access to the internet  for two months as part of a criminal probe into alleged violations of coronavirus restrictions during protests.

Expand Close Lyubov Sobol, a Russian opposition activist, is driven in a prison car to the headquarters of the Investigative Committee in Moscow (Vladimir Kondrashov/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Lyubov Sobol, a Russian opposition activist, is driven in a prison car to the headquarters of the Investigative Committee in Moscow (Vladimir Kondrashov/AP)

On Thursday, Ms Sobol was formally charged with the incitement of violation of sanitary regulations by organising protests.

Protests have spread across Russias 11 time zones over the past two weekends, drawing tens of thousands in the largest show of discontent with Mr Putins rule in years.

In a no-holds-barred response to the protest, police arrested over 10,000 participants across Russia and beat up scores of them, according to the OVD-Info group monitoring arrests.

Many detainees had to spend hours on police buses after detention facilities in Moscow and St Petersburg quickly ran out of space, or were cramped into cells intended to accommodate far fewer inmates.

Mr Peskov said that Russia will not listen to Western criticism of Mr Navalnys sentencing and police action against protesters.
A six-year-old German shepherd is being hailed as a hero after she saved her owner's life when he suffered a stroke.

Last week, Sadie the dog jumped into action when her owner, Brian Myers, had a stroke and collapsed on the floor of his home in New Jersey.

A very loyal pet, Sadie licked Brian to keep him away and even dragged him across the room so he could reach his cell phone and call 911.

Super pup! Sadie, a six-year-old German shepherd from New Jersey, saved her owner's life last week after he suffered a stroke

Savior: In an interview on Wednesday, Sadie's owner Brian Myers recalled how she came to comfort him when he fell down in the middle of the night - then helped him get to a phone

In an emotional interview, Brian - who is currently in rehab undergoing treatment in the wake of his stroke - paid tribute to his heroic dog, recalling how she came to his rescue in the middle of the night.

'I was sleeping and I had to use the bathroom in the night,' he told CBS2. 'As soon as I stepped on the floor I went down and hit the ground. I couldnt get back up.'

Doctors informed Brian that he had suffered a stroke while he was sleeping, and had it not been for Sadie, who went over to comfort him after he fell, the consequences could have been much more severe.

'I just grabbed on hold of her collar and she started pulling her weight backwards,' Brian said. 'And with that I was able to slide myself across the floor. Otherwise, I would probably still be laying there.'

The story was shared on Facebook by the Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge, where Sadie had lived after her last owner moved and surrounded her.

'She was confused and seemingly lost upon rescue, having suddenly lost the only family that she knew,' the shelter wrote.

'Sadie is a loyal dog, but nervous and protective with new people, making her a more difficult placement.'

But a few months ago, Brian came in and adopted her. Though she was usually quite nervous with men, she bonded with Brian.

Bond: Sadie is staying with Brian's family while he is in rehab recovering from his stroke, however the pair have been FaceTiming every day while they are separated

Man's best friend! The story of Sadie's heroics was shared on the Facebook page of the animal refuge that Brian rescued her from, where it quickly went viral

'Brian gave Sadie a second chance at life, adopting Sadie and welcoming her home,' the shelter wrote.

Then, last week, Sadie returned the favor when Brian suffered a stroke while he and Sadie were home alone.

'While he was collapsed, Sadie never left his side. She licked his face to keep him awake, and helped drag him across the room to his cell phone,' the shelter wrote.

'Sadie was the only reason that Brian was able to call for help. This time, Sadie gave Brian a second chance at life.'

The shelter concluded that Brian is alive today 'thanks to Sadies devotion and quick thinking.' She is currently staying with Brian's family while he recovers.

'They FaceTime every night, and are counting down the days until they can reunite!' the shelter wrote.

According to Brian, his family has welcomed Sadie with open arms - in fact, he has had to remind his relatives that her stay with them is only temporary.

'Ive had to tell them shes my dog! So I want her back,' he joked.

Commenters on Facebook have gone wild for the heartwarming story.

'My heart is overflowing ... such an amazing story of a true and loyal friend,' wrote one woman.

'Amazing the bond between owners & pups,' wrote another.

'Not all super heroes where a cape. Sadie is a true hero! God bless. Praying for Brian's speedy recovery and they're reunited soon!' added a third.
KABUL  Deputy Foreign Minister Mirwais Nab received the Korean Ambassador to Kabul Choi Taeho to discuss bilateral affairs and the Afghan Peace Process.

At the outset, Deputy Foreign Minister thanked Korea for its contribution in the last 19 years and its latest support in the Geneva conference.

Both sides discussed details of holding bilateral political consultations and facilitation of business-to-business cooperation between two counties.

In the end, both sides covered the recent development in the Afghan peace process.
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The government, businesses and the public are enjoying many benefits from digital transformation activities.

Vietnam aims to become a developing country with industry marching towards modernity and income surpassing the lower average level by 2025; a developing country with modern industry and higher average income by 2030; and a developed country with high income by 2045.

With such important changes, VietNamNet introduces readers to a number of articles on the topic.

Many people in green and red uniforms stop in front of a rice shop at the Ho Dac Di  Dang Van Ngu T-junction in Hanoi.

Online transactions

At noon, many people in green and red uniforms stop in front of a rice shop at the Ho Dac Di  Dang Van Ngu T-junction in Hanoi. They are delivery people working for food order apps.

While there are many people in front of the shop, some of the dining tables inside the restaurant are empty.

Customers now tend to order food via apps instead of coming directly to the shop, a worker said.

The trend of buying things online and making transactions on digital environment has now reached small shops.

In order not to lag behind, the rice shop owner had to change his way of doing business to adapt to the new circumstances. Store windows are now filled with many images of food order apps and e-wallets.

Ha Dang Son, director of the Center for Energy and Green Growth Research, said he uses ePoint, an app of the Hanoi Power Company, a subsidiary of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) on his smartphone. Now he can see the volume of power he consumes and the amount of money he owes every day.

With the app, I can see all the figures I want to know related to electricity consumption. And all families can also see this if they install the app and use electronic meters, he explained.

About ePoint, Vo Quang Lam, EVNs deputy general director, said the app allows clients to watch over their electricity consumption daily and monthly, accumulate points in exchange for gifts, make payment for electricity bills, and enjoy other features.

Lam said that digital transformation is procreding rapidly at EVN.

Previously, my office was full of documents. But the volume of paper documents has decreased recently, he said.

All units belonging to EVN are now using e-Office for daily operations.

EVN also uses digital signatures on electronic papers within the group. Most of the documents are circulated in the electronic mode, except for confidential papers which need to be managed in accordance with the law.

According to Lam, since the use of e-Office, the volume of paper reports and documents has decreased by 86 percent.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam many times stressed that digital transformation is an important solution to help the country develop rapidly and sustainably.

Nguyen Thanh Nam, deputy CEO of Viettel, said that Viettel has turned from a small company established in 1989 into a leading telecom and technology group thanks to digital transformation.

Viettel has digitized its internal administration system by applying modern technologies with international standards. The group has digitized 100 percent of papers, liberalized 50 percent of manual works and automated 30-40 percent of operations.

Unlike other businesses, Viettel did not see minus revenue growth during Covid-19. The revenue from fields related to digital transformation, domestic apps and 10 foreign markets offset the segments affected by the pandemic.

Viettel has digitized its internal administration system by applying modern technologies with international standards. The group has digitized 100 percent of papers, liberalized 50 percent of manual works and automated 30-40 percent of operations.

Reducing paperwork

Nguyen Anh Duong, a respected economist from the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM), cannot remember how many meetings he has attended so far. However, he can see big changes in the way of approaching documents.

Duong said at international conferences, many countries once used printed documents. Later, organization boards asked to use electronic versions instead of paper ones for less important documents. But all countries marked their documents as important and used printed versions. Only in 2020, when conferences had to be organized online, did the use of electronic versions become inevitable.

According to Duong, the Covid-19 pandemic has not diminished Vietnams interest in digital economy. Instead, the disruption of many economic activities based on traditional platforms has forced Vietnams agencies and businesses to apply digital platforms in their management, production and business activities.

Le Xuan Sang, deputy head of CIEM, said that the pandemic has changed people and businesspeoples behavior in corporate governance, spending and communication. This has forced enterprises to change their way of running businesses, as well as their behavior toward consumers and communications with other enterprises, government agencies and related organizations.

Nguyen Duc Vinh from the Institute of Sociology under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) commented that shifting activities from the real world to the digital world is the best possible solution to cope with the pandemic.

As Vietnam is undergoing the digital transformation process, its technology firms have entered a new era. According to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), since the Make in Vietnam campaign was launched one year ago, 13,000 digital technology firms have been created. Vietnam now has a community of 58,000 digital technology firms.

Experts believe that the plan to have 100,000 digital technology firms by 2030 can be fulfilled by 2025.

Vietnam is a developing country, but this doesnt mean that it will be behind in digital economy development, Duong said.

Luong Bang

Digital transformation to contribute 25% of HCM City's GRDP by 2025 By 2025, digital transformation will contribute 25% of HCM City's gross regional domestic product (GRDP), said Chairman of HCM City People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong.
On Thursday, lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on whether to strip Greene of her committee assignments. Americans will see whether the GOP sides with sanity or with the QAnon-hugging, violence-fomenting conspiracy theorist who voters in a congressional district in Georgia deemed worthy of placing in Congress.
The Canadian and American flags are seen on top of the Peace Arch at the Canada/USA border in Surrey, B.C. Friday, March 20, 2020. The federal Conservatives are calling for a special House of Commons committee devoted to Canada-U.S. relations. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

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Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

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Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

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DENVER, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fundare Resources Company, LLC ("Fundare" or the "Company") today announced the completion of its private equity financing with funding commitments from Woodward Diversified Capital ("WDC") and management. Fundare also announces the appointment of Cody Truitt as the Company's President.

Michael Starzer, Managing Partner with Fundare, commented, "We are pleased to be working again with the outstanding team at WDC as we build Fundare into another successful acquisition and development company. I have known Beau Woodward since 1995 and look forward to repeating the success of the past five Creek companies with WDC."

Beau Woodward, Managing Partner with WDC, commented, "WDC has a long history of energy investments, partnering with, and providing capital to proven management teams. In their operational and leadership roles at the previous Creek companies, Cody, Mike and Pat Graham demonstrated their ability to acquire and develop assets in varied market conditions with exceptional returns for their investors. We look forward to working with them and the entire Fundare team."

Mr. Truitt has over 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry in executive, supervisory and engineering positions. Between 2018 and 2021, Mr. Truitt served as Chief Commercial Officer for Cureton Midstream, LLC managing and negotiating strategic marketing and commercial agreements for the company. During his time at Cureton, the company built a 60 mmcf/d cryogenic plant and over 140 miles of pipeline in the DJ Basin for seven producer customers. Prior to Cureton, Mr. Truitt joined Fifth Creek Energy in August 2016 as Vice President of Engineering managing the company's reservoir and production engineering and geoscience technical teams. Mr. Truitt also managed the evaluation of multiple acquisitions, expanding Fifth Creek Energy's assets by 50% to greater than 81,000 net acres and creating one of the largest contiguous and attractive core acreage positions for development in the DJ Basin. Prior to joining Fifth Creek Energy, Mr. Truitt served as Director of Business Development for Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc. and was responsible for leading acquisitions and divestiture programs from 2012 to 2016. Mr. Truitt also led the formation and commercial arrangements for Bonanza Creek Energy's midstream business, Rocky Mountain Infrastructure. Prior to joining Bonanza Creek Energy, Mr. Truitt worked in Business Development for HighMount E&P and Denali Oil & Gas. Mr. Truitt has worked multiple regions that include the DJ Basin, Anadarko Basin, Mississippi Lime, Marcellus Shale, Eagle Ford, Gulf Coast, Delaware Basin, and Permian Basin. Mr. Truitt has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology from Texas A&M University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Denver.

Mr. Starzer commented, "Pat and I worked closely with Cody in our two previous companies and we are pleased he is taking the leadership role of our sixth company. Mr. Truitt brings to Fundare executive management experience and business plan execution, in addition to an extensive knowledge of operations, business development and marketing."

Mr. Truitt commented, "I am very pleased to join Fundare and look forward to leading the execution of the Company's exciting business plan for our investors."

Fundare has engaged Rivington Holdings, LLC, to assist with raising additional capital and other financial advisory services related to acquisitions.

About Fundare Resources Company, LLC:

Fundare is an exploration and production company headquartered in Denver, Colorado focused on developing prolific oil and gas reserves across North America. Fundare was founded by the experienced management team behind the successful Fifth Creek Energy Company and the four previous Bonanza Creek Energy companies ("Creek") beginning in 1999. Fundare is pursuing yield-driven long-lived producing properties that maximize shareholder returns through the implementation of advanced technologies and best in class low-cost operatorship. Fundare, latin for "laying a foundation", is built around the principle of establishing a foundation of long-lived assets managed with Integrity, Teamwork and Transparency; proven values that have resulted in repeated success for its investors.

About Woodward Diversified Capital

WDC provides advanced investment strategies and wealth management solutions to high-net-worth individuals and family offices. WDC has a reputation as innovative and responsive investors, with broad transaction capabilities and a long entrepreneurial tradition of investments in a diverse range of industries.

About Rivington Holdings, LLC

Rivington Holdings, LLC, is an independent investment banking firm specializing in private capital and mergers and acquisition transactions for the energy sector. Founded in 2002, Rivington has closed 98 transactions with a total transaction value exceeding $7.9 billion. Further information can be found at www.rivingtoncap.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, forward-looking statements contained in this press release specifically include the expectations of plans, strategies, objectives and anticipated financial and operating results of the Company. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to correct or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

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Kolkata, Feb 4 : A nine-year-old girl was found dead with a slit throat under mysterious circumstance in Kolkata's Jorabagan on Thursday morning, sparking tension in the area.

After police found the partly clothed body bearing multiple injury marks from a rooftop in the neighbourhood, senior police officers led by city Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Murlidhar Sharma visited the spot.

Preliminary investigation suggested that the minor was assaulted and then killed to destroy evidence.

A forensic team and officers of Kolkata Police's Homicide Cell were also at the spot to collect evidence.

The girl, a resident of north Kolkata's Sovabazaar area, had come to visit her relatives at Jorabagan. After she went missing on Wednesday evening, her kin lodged a police complaint about her mysterious disappearance.

The area police had carried out a search in the neighbourhood to locate the missing minor.
AKRON, Ohio  Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan announced during a virtual town hall Thursday that the city has pulled legislation before city council to lease mineral rights for a private company to drill and frack under city-owned land near the LaDue Reservoir in Geauga County.

Ive listened to a lot of the concerns from both people inside of Akron and outside, and a significant amount of concern on Akron City Council, and I have decided to withdraw the LaDue oil and gas proposal from the Akron City Council agenda at this time, Horrigan said. There wont be a vote on it. Were not moving forward, definitively, with the project.

The proposal had garnered widespread criticism from Akron residents concerned about water quality and environmental issues, as well as from Geauga County residents who rely on groundwater, which can be impacted by fracking. During Mondays City Council meeting, more than 100 voicemails were played during the public comment period, the vast majority of which criticized the fracking proposal.

The wells not going forward, Horrigan said Thursday. Thats the most succinctly I can put it.

The deal would have allowed the company  DP Energy Auburn, LLC  to frack under 475 acres of city-owned land at LaDue, which is upstream from Akrons drinking water supply on the Cuyahoga River. The city was considering leasing the mineral rights for $237,500, or $500 per acre, along with 15% of potential royalties for any oil or gas produced by the wells.

DP Energy Auburn was seeking to drill horizontally under the city-owned land through wells on adjacent properties.

Public Service Director Chris Ludle previously told City Councils Planning and Economic Development Committee that the city had been negotiating with DP Energy Auburn for about a year, despite the company only becoming incorporated on Jan. 1, according to Ohio Secretary of State records.

DP Energy Auburn is registered to Akron attorney Patrick DAndrea, who was an Akron City Councilman from 1979 to 1989 and a former Summit County director of development. He currently represents landowners and businesses regarding oil, gas and mineral rights, according to his law firms website. DAndrea did not immediately respond to an inquiry from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

On Jan. 11, the Planning and Economic Development Committee voted to put the proposal on the consent agenda, a set of legislation routinely passed during the following weeks regular council meeting. At-Large Councilman Jeff Fusco, At-Large Councilwoman Ginger Baylor and Ward 7 Councilman Donnie Kammer voted in favor of placing it on the consent agenda, while Ward 5 Councilwoman Tara Samples shook her head and abstained from the vote.

Within days, Samples moved to pull the proposal from the consent agenda.

I am against fracking, Samples previously told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. I was concerned when I heard the phrase mineral drilling. To me, that meant fracking. So, I wanted to do a little more research. My research only confirmed what I had already thought. This is fracking. I had the legislation pulled off the consent agenda so there could be further discussion as to why and what we are doing.

In the weeks since, dozens of individuals and several environmental and political organizations have spoken out against the proposal. A joint letter opposing the deal was signed by the Akron Democratic Socialists of America, the College Democrats at the University of Akron, Crooked River Action Cuyahoga Falls Democratic Club, Sunrise Kent State, the Kent State Student Left Coalition and Our Revolution Akron.

I understand your concern about the irresponsible fracking practices that have happened around the country, but its also kind of troubling sometimes to look at some of the misinformation that is out there to stir up community concern when our primary objective is always to keep our drinking water and our citizens safe, Horrigan said.

He added that fracking has already been done responsibly in our area for decades, and that he is open to a policy discussion about fracking, which he said has merits on both sides.
Liveline listeners and callers were left outraged by two callers who contacted the show while on holiday in Gran Canaria.

Frank from Galway and Una from Limerick said they had made the decision to break current restrictions and travel abroad because they felt safer on the island than they did at home.

Asked why exactly she chose to travel to the island despite Government advice and the ongoing pandemic, Una said she had been coming to the island every year at this time."

She said she had spotted a flight to Gran Canaria for 19.99 one-way, and that the offer was too good to pass up.

I got a bus from Limerick city to Dublin Airport. I had no problem checking in.

After you checked in you had to pass through a Garda checkpoint before you got to departures, and it was there that they questioned me and asked me my reason for going.

They did take my name and address, and they said I may get a 100 fine."

Una said several family members and friends had expressed dissatisfaction with her decision to travel.

However, said she believed she was better off in Spain than at home.

I've worked hard all my life, Im retired now, and its my time.

Frank too said he felt safer in the sun because of a pre-existing condition he suffers from.

Upon arriving in Spain, Frank he had to present a negative PCR test. He will also have to present a negative PCR test when he decides to return to Ireland.

The authorities have done a superb job in managing the situation here," he said

Youre not suffering any mental anguish, the weathers good, the pubs are open and the hairdressers are open."

Frank and Unas accounts sparked a number of furious calls from people expressing their displeasure with their actions.

Claire Murphy, an NHS nurse based in Derbyshire, said she was enraged by what she heard of the show.

Ms Murphy said the last year had been "absolutely terrible."

"When youre going into work and youre watching people dying from this cruel, cruel disease.

They cant even have family there, my face is the last face they see. Im holding their hand as theyre dying and they (Frank and Una) are going on holiday.

"Theres a time and a place and this isnt it," she said.

Another caller named Jackie said she was livid with what she was hearing.

"How dare they come on national radio and boast about this.

"Weve all made huge sacrifices, and theyre nearly sneering and rubbing our noses in this. These are mature people and rules are rules.

"What sort of example are they showing to younger people?

Responding to Jackie, Una said she was very sorry for the people that begrudge us for being out here - Because Im out here, Im saving you.

Youre not saving me, Jackie replied.

"We're either in this together or we're not."

Meanwhile, Gardai have been given the power to call to the homes of people to ensure they are quarantining after arriving from abroad.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly signed regulations that will introduce a system of mandatory quarantine for arrivals into the State.

Under these regulations, passengers who arrive from any destination must quarantine for 14 days at the address specified on their Passenger Locator Form, with penalties for non-compliance.

These penalties are a fine of up to 2,500 or 6 months in prison, or both.
Figure 1. Hydrogenation of D-glucose to D-sorbitol. Credit: Osaka University

Most catalysts that promote the conversion of glucose to sorbitol offer certain properties while requiring compromises on others. Now, researchers from Osaka University have reported a hydrotalcite-supported nickel phosphide nanoparticle catalyst (nano-Ni 2 P/HT) that ticks all the boxes. Their findings are published in Green Chemistry.

Sorbitol is a versatile molecule that is widely used in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals industries. There is therefore a pressing need to produce sorbitol in a sustainable, low-cost, and green manner.

The nickel catalysts that are commonly used in the industrial hydrogenation of glucose to sorbitol are unstable in air and require hash reaction conditions. Rare metal alternativesdespite being more efficientcan be expensive and are susceptible to poisoning.

Nano-Ni 2 P/HT is stable in air and has a high activity for the hydrogenation of glucose to sorbitol. In addition, nano-Ni 2 P/HT produces a particular sorbitol structure, known as D-sorbitol, at more than 99% yield. This high selectivity means that a high-purity product can be obtained.

The nano-Ni 2 P/HT-catalyzed hydrogenation can be carried out in water. Moreover, the catalyst shows good conversion and selectivity when the temperature is just 25Ccompared with 100180C for conventional processesor when the hydrogen gas pressure is only 1 barcompared with 50150 bar. The energy saved by using these mild conditions would lead to greener and more sustainable procedures, as well as reduce operating costs.

Figure 2. (a) photograph and (b) electron microscopy image of hydrotalcite-supported nickel phosphide nanoalloy (nano-Ni2P/HT). Credit: Osaka University

"Our nano-Ni 2 P/HT catalyst outperformed conventional nickel alternatives in terms of both the catalytic activity and the amount of D-sorbitol that was produced, which is very encouraging," study first author Sho Yamaguchi explains. "nano-Ni 2 P/HT also gave a better yield of D-sorbitol than a commercially available noble metal catalyst."

Repeated use of the catalyst showed that nano-Ni 2 P/HT could be recycled with no significant loss of performance. The reaction could also be carried out at high glucose concentration (50 wt%), which demonstrates the viability of the catalyst for large scale use.

"The continual improvement of industrial catalyst is necessary to achieve sustainable, low-cost production with an environmental conscience," says study corresponding author Takato Mitsudome. "We believe our catalyst will make an important contribution, not only to D-sorbitol production, but to the development of other processes that support the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics industries."

More information: Sho Yamaguchi et al. Air-stable and reusable nickel phosphide nanoparticle catalyst for the highly selective hydrogenation of d-glucose to d-sorbitol, Green Chemistry (2021). Journal information: Green Chemistry Sho Yamaguchi et al. Air-stable and reusable nickel phosphide nanoparticle catalyst for the highly selective hydrogenation of d-glucose to d-sorbitol,(2021). DOI: 10.1039/D0GC03301D

A bus driver who killed his wife in a frenzied attack claimed he did so because she told him to leave home after contracting Covid-19, a court has heard.

Hussein Egal, 66, allegedly used a variety of household items including a meat cleaver, table leg and ladder to attack 57-year-old Maryan Ismail.

He has admitted carrying out the killing during Englands coronavirus lockdown in early April last year but denies it was murder.

Prosecutor Allison Hunter QC described the scene at the victim's home in Edmonton, north London, in court.

She told jurors it was a "brutal, frenzied, sustained attack involving the use of a hammer, a knife or knives, pots and pans, a table leg and a ladder plunged repeatedly into her back, chest, legs and head".

Ms Ismail, a school cleaner, was found partially naked on the floor of the lounge following the attack.

A post-mortem examination identified 68 sites of injuries all over her body, the Old Bailey heard.

They included multiple slash and stab wounds to her face, head and the entire length of her body, Ms Hunter said.

The Somalian defendant offered a number of explanations for the killing, including that his wife told him he could "get out and die on the street" because he had coronavirus.

According to the defendant, he responded by telling her: "I will kill you first."

On arrival at Wood Green police station, Egal allegedly told the officer who opened the van door he had coronavirus and he should stay away from him.

He also alleged that his wife had attacked him with a table leg and he acted in self-defence.

But prosecutor Ms Hunter told jurors Egal demonstrated no symptoms of Covid-19 and had not a single defensive injury.

The prosecutor rejected his claim to have been mentally ill at the time.

Egal washed a meat cleaver used in the attack, disposed of his wife's mobile phone and visited the bank to transfer money to his daughter in Somalia, the court was told.

Ms Hunter said it could only have been Egal's intention to "cause her the most serious harm imaginable".

She added: "His motive is something only he knows."

Ms Hunter said the attack "bore all the hallmarks of temper and rage".

She said: "Undoubtedly panicked by the enormity of what he has done, he is scrabbling for a plausible explanation to give to the police for his conduct.

"There is no evidence he was ever suffering from Covid, for which he continues to refuse his blood to be tested."

The prosecutor suggested Egal's comment to a police officer could provide an explanation.

He allegedly told the officer: "She said I can get out and die on the street, I said I will kill you first, so I did."

Egal has admitted manslaughter but denied the charge of murder.

The trial continues

Additional reporting by PA
Myanmar military vehicles are seen inside Myanmar's national television office in Yangon, Myanmar February 1. (Image: Reuters)

When an election landslide first ushered the National League for Democracy into a position of power in Myanmar, the party gained a robust popular mandate to extract the country from the armys grip after decades of ruthless military rule.

The challenge was finding a way to pursue its agenda without prompting the military to retaliate. Under the countrys military-drafted constitution, the party had to share power with the army, which had once imprisoned many of its leaders.

It pushed hard on its primary goal  bolstering the power of its singular leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. In other ways, it was in step with the military, leaving many of its repressive laws in place. But it also lived in fear, and the party tread gingerly after a key legal adviser was assassinated.

For the National League for Democracy, or NLD, there was no escaping one fundamental truth: The generals always had the upper hand. On Monday, they wielded it brazenly, retaking full power in a coup detat.

Also Read | Explained: Crisis in Myanmar after army alleges election fraud

It was always contingent on the goodwill of a single person, the commander in chief, not to use force to achieve his goal, said Richard Horsey, a political analyst in Yangon, Myanmars largest city. The National League for Democracy always believed a coup was around the corner even when it was not. This time it was.

Claiming that elections in November were tainted by fraud, the commander in chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, declared a state of emergency Monday, asserted himself as the nations leader, and placed Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders in detention.

For the military, known as the Tatmadaw, the last straw appears to have been the lopsided result of that election, which sent the NLD to an even bigger victory than the one that first thrust it into power in 2015. The militarys proxy party suffered a crushing defeat.

Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest during the previous era of military rule, now faces a possible prison term over the charge of illegally importing walkie-talkies. The country has appeared largely peaceful in the days since the coup, though a government ministry ordered Facebook blocked through Sunday.

The NLD, which began as a broad-based anti-military movement, became a vehicle for the ambitions of one woman: Suu Kyi.

Also Read | Back to 'basket case'? Myanmar economy at risk after coup

The NLD was co-founded by Suu Kyi during a wave of pro-democracy protests in 1988 that helped catapult her to global attention and, three years later, a Nobel Peace Prize. With her at the helm, the party united a broad coalition, from leftists to former military officers, that opposed the armys dominance.

Still, while the word democracy remains part of its name and origins, the party for years has been something less than a beacon of democratic values.

In the November election, the election commission appointed by the party excluded millions of people of various ethnic backgrounds, including persecuted Rohingya Muslims, from the ballot box.

Over the years, Suu Kyi built the NLD in her image. Critics called it a cult of personality. Often criticized for her stubbornness and imperious style, she has kept the party firmly under her command and is known to demand loyalty and obedience from her followers.

Initially, the partys top-down structure stemmed from its need to survive under military rule, as many of its leaders were picked off and sentenced to long prison terms. The charges were sometimes obscure  like instructing a body guard in martial arts  but the effect was no less serious.

Also Read | Military coup in Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi detained: Reports

The rigid nature of the NLD was forged through military persecution, said David Scott Mathieson, a longtime Myanmar analyst. They could only trust each other.

That strict hierarchy also reflected the partys military heritage.

The other four co-founders of the NLD were retired high-ranking military officers, including Tin Oo, a former Tatmadaw commander in chief. Suu Kyis father, Gen. Aung San, was the Tatmadaws founder and leader of the nations independence movement until his assassination in 1947.

While the organization began as a grassroots movement, Suu Kyi has always shown deference to the institution her father founded, even as its generals locked her up.

She saw it as her destiny to finish her fathers business, Horsey said. The NLD was more about Suu Kyi than it was about being a party.

In the early days after the partys election victory in 2015, its leaders were cautious in challenging the military. But others say they could have done more, such as repealing repressive laws and protecting the rights of activists and ethnic groups.

They could have done many things while they had power, said Nyo Nyo Thin, a former regional lawmaker. They could have passed a law to limit the power of the commander in chief.

But party leaders were concerned that any move to undermine the Tatmadaws authority could trigger a coup.

The thinking was, if you do it too fast, the military has a pretext for coming in, Mathieson said. They would say, It took us years to get here; we are not going to blow it now.

As the party formed its first government in 2016, one of its initial challenges was how to circumvent a provision written into the constitution by the military that expressly barred Suu Kyi from serving as president.

Acting on the advice of a prominent human rights lawyer, Ko Ni, the party created the post of state counselor, which is not in the constitution but is akin to head of state. Assuming the state counselor title, Suu Kyi promptly declared herself to be above the president.

She shared many political instincts with the military, Horsey said. There were many things that they were in agreement on. What she challenged them on was her firm view that she should be president.

Ko Ni also came up with a plan to replace the military-drafted constitution with a new version that would strip the Tatmadaw of its extraordinary powers. But Ko Ni was gunned down in broad daylight in early 2017 at the Yangon airport as he was holding his infant grandson. The plan was shelved.

This bullet was not only for Ko Ni, a colleague, human rights lawyer Thein Than Oo, said at the time. It was for the NLD.

Four men were convicted of the killing, including two former military officers, but it was never proved that the Tatmadaw had ordered the killing. An ex-colonel was identified as the mastermind, but he has never been arrested.

The assassination  and the threat of further violent retaliation  hung like a cloud over relations between the party and the military. The party offered no new challenges to the militarys constitutional authority until last year, when it unsuccessfully proposed that the militarys share of seats in parliament be reduced.

The result was that the NLD became much more cautious, and they became even more convinced that they were in an existential battle, Horsey said.

Ultimately, Myanmars contentious civilian-military partnership unraveled because of the competing desire of two people to be president: the Lady and the general.

Min Aung Hlaing has pledged to hold new elections within a year. Many doubt that he will keep his promise. A free election with all parties participating would be unlikely to give him the result he wants.

The military has two problems, Horsey said. Aung San Suu Kyi is incredibly popular, and they are incredibly unpopular.

(Author: Richard C. Paddock )/(c.2021 The New York Times Company)
A major in the British Army accused of defrauding the forces out of 40,000 today told a court that serving in the military was 'toxic' for married couples.

Royal Engineer Lloyd Hamilton allegedly claimed the money to pay for his children to go to an exclusive boarding school as his marriage was crumbling.

The father-of-two, 47, is accused of fraudulently taking the money despite being based in Cyprus while his wife lived at their 500,000 Hampshire home.

Major Hamilton was only eligible to claim education allowances as long as his wife Liz was living with him, Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire heard.

Royal Engineer Lloyd Hamilton (pictured outside Bulford Military Court), allegedly used thousands of pounds of tax payers' money to send his two children to an exclusive independent school

He claimed that at the time he believed his marriage, which was in 'substantial difficulties', would survive and his wife would continue to live with him in the Mediterranean.

He claimed that was why he believed he was entitled to continue to apply for 38,892 worth of fees to send his two children to a top boarding school.

But prosecutors allege he instigated the break up and told his wife it would be best if she stayed in the UK at their 500,000 four bedroom home in Hamble, Hampshire, instead.

Prosecutors say the majority of the fees at the 49,875-a-year boarding school were paid for fraudulently by the Major because he knew he was no longer eligible.

The alleged fraud took place over 12 months between July 2017 and August 2018, while Major Hamilton was based at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus.

In text messages sent in September 2017 his wife, a Cambridge educated IBM manager, begged him to give their marriage a chance.

She said: 'I love you and want to try and stay married. I would be lost without you please don't stop talking to me I love you.'

The court previously heard that following a breakdown in their marriage, Major Hamilton's wife remained at their 500,000 four bedroom home in Hamble, Hampshire (pictured)

Major Hamilton told the court his wife hated the Mediterranean heat and they both viewed the military as a 'toxic' environment for married couples.

Giving evidence, he said: 'Liz doesn't like the army. She never has done. We have always looked on it as a toxic environment.'

He claimed that until April 2018 he and his wife were still trying to work on their marriage despite the fact she was rarely living with him in Cyprus.

Prosecutors previously said that Major Hamilton's wife was away from Cyprus for 298 days during the 12 months the offences were alleged to have taken place.

In order to claim the education allowance, a partner's spouse can only be away from their work address for 90 days over a year long period.

Major Hamilton told the court: 'We were still in a relationship, we argued like everybody else but we were still in a relationship.'

The court martial heard that as the relationship deteriorated further, Liz asked her husband if he was going to speak to Army lawyers about starting divorce proceedings.

The court heard Major Hamilton sent his wife texts saying he knew he was being investigated for fraudulently claiming 38,892 worth of fees to send his two children school

Previously, the court heard Major Hamilton threatened his wife, warning her that telling the Army of their marital problems would lead to their children having to leave private school.

Major Hamilton, who was awarded an MBE for charity work, said: 'I suppose as work progressively got more on top of me the arguments came more her way because I wasn't winning in work. I took it out on her, is the best way to put it.'

He admitted that at the time he was also struggling to cope with the loss of his mother and a close childhood friend.

He denies two charges of fraud. The trial, expected to last five days, continues.
Hamburg :

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shared a brief encounter on Friday ahead of their highly anticipated meeting on the sidelines of an international summit in Germany.



The two leaders had a brief encounter upon arrival at the G-20 summit of industrialised and developing nations, shaking hands and exchanging a few words. Their sit-down meeting, which may tackle a number of vexing foreign policy issues from the conflict in Syria to Russias provocations in Ukraine, will be overshadowed by the investigations into whether Trumps campaign coordinated with Moscow during last years presidential election.



In the lead-up to the meeting, Trump, during a speech in Warsaw on Thursday urged Russia to cease its destabilising activities in Ukraine and elsewhere and its support for hostile regimes, including Syria and Iran, and to instead join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and in defense of civilization itself.



But much of the focus, both in Washington and Moscow, will be on whether Trump broaches the issue of Russias meddling in the election.



Before the meeting today, Trump tweeted that he was looking forward to the visit, saying there was much to discuss.

Suggested read | G20 Summit: GST will create a unified market of 1.3 billion people and build resilience, says PM Modi at Session I



During a news conference in Poland on Thursday, he again refused to accept the conclusion by multiple US intelligence agencies that Russia interfered to try to help Trump win last November.



Trump said it could have been Russia, but that other country could have meddled, too.Nobody really knows for sure, Trump said.



US lawmakers and federal investigators continue to look into Russias election interference, along with possible collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russian government officials.



That puts Trump under intense scrutiny over how he handles the sit-down with Putin, a former Russian intelligence agent known to come to meetings like this well-prepared.The White House has scheduled 35 minutes for the meeting, raising questions about how much ground the leaders can be expected to cover.



Trump, who likes to have neatly packaged achievements to pair with high-profile meetings, may seek some concessions from Russia to show hes delivering progress and helping restore a once-productive relationship that he recently described as being at an all-time low. Putin would almost certainly want something in return.



The list of issues ranges from Syria to Iran to Ukraine, and now North Korea, following Pyongyangs test this week of a missile capable of striking the US.



Russia wants the US to return the two compounds in New York and Maryland that were seised by the Obama administration as punishment for election meddling.



It also wants the US to ease sanctions it imposed on Russia after Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula, and over Russias support of separatist elements in Ukraine.



The US wants a resumption of adoptions of Russian children by American parents, which Russia banned in 2012, along with an end to what it claims is intensifying harassment of US diplomats and other officials stationed in Russia.



Lawmakers in both political parties say Trump must confront Putin over the election.



Several senior Democratic US Senators served notice on Thursday that Trump would be in severe dereliction of his presidential duty if he fails to confront Putin over the issue, telling Trump in a letter that he must make clear that Russias interference in US democracy will not be tolerated.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Humans, wildlife, and the environment are all interconnected and play a role in one another's health and well-being. Sentinel species, such as birds, are good indicators of environmental health, and they can send subtle warning signs that humans may be in danger next.

In an experimental exposure study, Kendra Sewall, an associate professor of biological sciences in the College of Science, and a diverse team of scientists and students have found that lead levels like those reported in Flint, Michigan, can interfere with the neural mechanisms of vocal development of songbirds and affect mate attraction.

By examining the effects of lead exposure in songbirds, more information will be known about how lead impacts learning and underlying neural networks in humans, since they share the same critical period of vocal learning.

"Our study shows that levels of lead in water that are known to be concerning for human health also have negative effects on the brain and the learning ability of male songbirds and compromises their ability to attract a mate," said Sewall, an affiliated faculty member of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute and the Global Change Center.

Their findings were published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety on Jan. 8.

Lead is a heavy metal. When ingested, lead competes with calcium, a nutrient that is crucial for brain growth, muscle function, and neural function. For that very reason, the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization consider any detectable amount of lead in blood to be dangerous for children and animal health.

One process is particularly vulnerable to lead exposure: vocal learning, a trait shared by humans and songbirds. This is because this form of learning occurs at an early age, when the brain is undergoing a significant amount of growth and reorganization.

For this particular study, researchers studied male zebra finches. These small, highly social songbirds from the wilds of Australia are an excellent model for how humans learn speech. Not only do zebra finches learn their songs in the same way that we do, but they also have brain areas that are analogous to our vocal learning brain regions.

"Early in life, humans and songbirds have to hear adult vocalizations that they memorize and practice until their vocalizations are perfected," said Sewall. "If songbirds or humans are deprived of an adult model, or if their learning process is impeded by environmental challenges like lead contamination, they won't be able to produce normal vocalizations."

In order to show that this model system can be relevant to humans and our health, researchers had to determine if birds metabolize lead in the same way human children do. Sewall and her colleagues studied young male zebra finches that had been exposed to 1,000 parts per billion of lead in their drinking water, which is comparable to the highest levels that have been reported in Flint, Michigan, and measured the resulting amount of lead in their blood and brain tissue.

They found that males that had ingested the contaminated water had lead blood levels ranging from 2.6 to 6.8.

"The blood levels are concerning, but below what would trigger any major intervention if these were human blood levels," said Sewall. "Yet these blood levels adversely affected the brain and learning in these young birds. This highlights the fact that lead can be really dangerous and that we are probably ignoring levels of lead in blood and in the environment that could be causing damage to humans and animals alike."

To learn as much as they could from this study, researchers looked at additional physiological endpoints, including other aspects of learning, male coloration, and the ability of males to attract female attention.

Male songbirds who were exposed to lead produced poorer quality songs compared to the control males. Upon further inspection, researchers also found that their brains had smaller song-learning nuclei, or clusters of neurons in the central nervous system.

In addition to poor song quality, lead treated males also had differences in coloration. Male zebra finches use dances, cheek patches, and bright bills to attract females. The lead exposed males had cheek patches with less hue and red saturation than the control males.

Due to poorer song quality and dull coloration, females showed less preference for the lead-treated males, and the male's ability to attract a mate was compromised. This finding, in particular, raises the possibility that male birds exposed to environmental toxicants could have reduced reproductive success. However, it is unclear if this could have negative effects on reproduction and persistence of wild songbird populations.

Historically, research has been heavily focused on the short-term consequences of high environmental toxicant levels, rather than the long-term consequences of prolonged exposure to low levels of environmental pollutants.

"We have known for years that animals like the California condor are at risk of death from eating animals killed with lead shot," said Sewall. "Our study suggests that wild animals exposed to low levels of lead could have reduced reproduction, which is a concern for maintaining healthy wild populations. I'm reminded of a quote from Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring,' 'but man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.'"

Moving forward, Sewall and the team will study the mechanism by which these low levels of lead can impair learning and indirectly impair the reproductive success of songbirds. Collaborator and Global Change Center affiliate, Chris Thompson, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech's School of Neuroscience, will be assisting with studies examining exactly how lead interferes with neural growth and causes neural damage.

"Despite knowing for many decades that lead is toxic, especially during early development, much remains unknown about the precise mechanisms by which it disrupts the brain and resulting functional outcomes such as communication," said William Hopkins, director of the Global Change Center. "The work being conducted by Sewall and her colleagues will shed light on this pervasive environmental issue that continues to have widespread adverse effects on the health and behavior of both humans and wildlife."

Sewall will also be working with Jamie Cornelius, an assistant professor at Oregon State University who is studying blood lead levels in songbirds living in parks in and around Flint, Michigan. Sewall's team will pursue more behavioral and physiological testing of wild birds at these sites.

Christopher Goodchild, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Central Oklahoma, was the first author on the paper. Michelle Beck, an assistant professor of biology at Rivier University; Sam Lane and Isaac VanDiest, who are graduate students in the Department of Biological Sciences and in the Interfaces of Global Change IGEP; and Frankie Czesak, an undergraduate Neuroscience Fellow; were all co-authors. All of their expertises and hard work were critical to the findings of this study.

"For this project, it was really critical to get all of the information that we possibly could from these birds," said Sewall. "We looked at consequences of lead exposure in water for several physiological endpoints, neurological outcomes, and learning and behavior. So, having different people who can spearhead each component of the study was really important."

###

Sewall is grateful to the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, the Global Change Center, and the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science for their continued support of her past and current work.
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In January 2003, I assumed command of the operational forces of NATO in Mons, Belgiuma day after assuming command of the United States European Command (EUCOM) in Stuttgart, Germany. One wouldnt know it from the name, but at the time EUCOMS area of responsibility included not just Europe but also forty-two African countries, with the continents eleven other nations split between Central Command and Pacific Command.

NATO was then in a period of great expansion, as it added former Warsaw Pact countries and became involved in military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. It became clear to me that having EUCOMan integral part of NATOmanage responsibilities across two continents was going to be difficult, if not impossible.

The United States, for its part, was focused on the new wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the global war on terror. Developments in Africa did not always make their way into the Presidents Daily Brief, even as the terrorism threat on the continent grew, fragile democracies struggled to survive, and China rapidly replaced the Unites States as the top trading partner for many African nations.

The calls by many African leaders for more American engagement, meanwhile, were increasing, especially among those alarmed by Chinas expanding presence and influence in the region. In 2004, after much discussion, my deputy at EUCOM, General Charles F. Ward, and I became convinced that Africa needed its own unified U.S. military command. We felt that demonstrating American capability and resolve to assist the democratic development of the worlds second-most populous continent was of critical importance.



We made our proposal to Washington and it eventually became a reality: The newly created United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), headquartered in Stuttgart alongside EUCOM, began its operations in 2007. It has been a key component of U.S. strategy ever sinceand promises to be more essential than ever as the United States recalibrates its international priorities. Africas total population will eclipse Chinas in the relatively near future; its economic potential is without peer; and its natural resources are abundant and should be safeguarded from Chinas ongoing plunder.

All of which explains why now is the time to make AFRICOM even better.

To do so, the first step would ideally be to move AFRICOMs headquarters from its current base in Stuttgart to a country in Africa itselfif a willing host nation can be foundso that the United States can establish a more enduring presence on the continent.

Second, AFRICOMs structure should be reconfigured to better reflect the breadth of Americas foreign-policy bureaucracy. AFRICOM can be the place where the State, Commerce, Energy, and Defense Departments come together to hone and implement U.S. strategy for the continent. If AFRICOM were restructured in such a way, and if it were categorized as a unified command rather than a combatant command, potential African host nations might be more likely to step forward.

And finally, the U.S. government should re-emphasize the importance of its unified military commands, especially the seven geographic ones. They remain a tremendous gift from the previous century and we should never take them for granted. Occasionally, U.S. political leaders advocate retrenchment from the countrys forward military presence, but its vital for the United States to maintain commands in regions where it has national interests and international responsibilities.

No other country has ever been afforded the privilege of such welcome within the borders of our friends and alliesand for such a prolonged period. We should continue to strengthen and adapt these commands to meet the challenges of our time.

General James L. Jones, USMC Ret., is the executive chairman emeritus of the Atlantic Council, former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, and former national security advisor to President Barack Obama..
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Hyderabad: Telugu actor Maadhavi Latha on Thursday complained to Cyberabad police about those making abusive and vulgar comments about her on social media.

She called on Cyberabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar and submitted a complaint against some groups and individuals trolling her and posting objectionable content on social media.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, she alleged that some people were targeting her for speaking on issues like attacks on temples in Andhra Pradesh.

Maadhavi, who joined the BJP in 2018, said ever since she joined politics some people had been making personal attacks on her. She blamed some groups linked with the TRS, the YSR Congress, the Congress and the TDP and few caste groups.

"Some sections of media and social media are resorting to my character assassination. If some girls are caught in some case, they are dragging my name and publishing my picture," she said.

The actor said the trolling and objectionable posts were causing her mental agony. "My patience has a limit. I can't take this anymore. I hope the police will take the action," she said.

Alleging that she is also being threatened by some people, Maadhavi said if necessary she would approach police for a gun license.

Spare a thought for the team inside Transport for NSW who have been asked to cough up for another farewell gift. And not just for any member of the team, but outgoing agency secretary Rodd Staples who finishes up on February 21.

How do we know? Because an email sent out by Staples chief of staff Rachel Simpson to more than 200 staff members has invited them to contribute to the bosss farewell gift, all from a GoFundMe page. Were not joking. Weve had lots of people reach out to us asking how they can contribute to a farewell gift ... so we have set up a GoFundMe account to help facilitate this, Simpson wrote to staff on Thursday last week with a link to the page. Please feel free to send this link far and wide to anyone who may also like to contribute, she added helpfully. The page is now up and running with a tally of whos donated what.

Staples is leaving after just over three years in the role. Transport Minister Andrew Constance revealed in November the government would seek a new direction for the agency which oversees the largest transport projects in the country. Staples took over from Tim Reardon who is now head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. His departure comes on the back of a tumultuous year for Transport for NSW which was embroiled in controversy over the purchase of a highly contaminated site at Camellia, near Parramatta. Mr Staples was not in the top job at the time of the purchase of the property in 2016, but instead was head of the Sydney Metro rail projects.

Its hard to say whether Staples  who was on a salary north of $600,000 a year plus payout  was popular in the office or whether enterprising team members are just keen to keep on his good side but the funding page is well subscribed. Senior staff including executive director Tessa Knox-Grant have chipped in, along with deputy secretary Joost de Kock, NSW TrainLink boss Pete Allaway, chief people officer Kirsten Watson and acting corporate services boss Fiona Trussell. The collection has hit $1840 on a $900 goal. Thats quite some gift.

The last word

Maples Long Term Care Home was severely short-staffed and unprepared to care for extremely ill seniors during an intense COVID-19 outbreak  in which 56 residents died  while appeals for help were initially unheeded, an external review has concluded.

Maples Long Term Care Home was severely short-staffed and unprepared to care for extremely ill seniors during an intense COVID-19 outbreak  in which 56 residents died  while appeals for help were initially unheeded, an external review has concluded.

Lynn Stevenson, a former associate deputy minister in the B.C. Ministry of Health and registered nurse, outlined the findings of her review into Manitobas largest and deadliest personal care home outbreak on Thursday.

"The pandemic plans, while they were very robust and comprehensive, did not take into consideration what happened at Maples, which was the precipitous and significant loss of staff over a very short window of time," said Stevenson, who appeared at a news conference virtually with Health Minister Heather Stefanson and Winnipeg Regional Health Authority chief health operations officer Gina Trinidad.

Stevenson authored a 74-page report detailing the response to the outbreak at Maples by the operator, Revera Inc., the WRHA and the provincial government, following an external review which included interviews with care home staff, family and regional executives as well as reviews of planning and clinical documents.

Speaking via livestream, Dr. Lynn Stevenson said the Maples Long Term Care Home was severely short-staffed and unprepared to care for extremely ill seniors during an intense COVID-19 outbreak. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

She provided 17 recommendations to Revera, the WRHA, the health incident command structure and Manitoba Health.

On Thursday, Stefanson promised to act on the recommendations related to staffing, care and infection prevention, funding and management of the province's long-term care facilities.

The outbreak at Maples, a 200-bed facility in northwest Winnipeg, was declared on Oct. 20 when one resident tested positive for the coronavirus. Revera tested all residents and by Oct. 29, 96 residents had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and many staff were off sick.

On Nov. 6, paramedics responded to multiple 911 calls from the care home, as staff struggled to keep up while the condition of numerous residents infected with the virus deteriorated. Eight residents died in a 48-hour period that weekend. Between Nov. 2 and Nov. 14, the province reported that 26 seniors had died after coming down with COVID-19 at Maples.

By the time the outbreak had concluded on Jan. 12, 231 people had been infected, including 157 residents and 74 staff. Fifty-six residents died.

"This was a tragedy for the residents, their families and for the staff caring for them," Stefanson said.

Stevenson said Revera made "significant efforts" to bring in staff to the home. It was clear to the operator by Oct. 23 that it would need support and it made requests for additional staffing to the provincial recruitment and redeployment team (PRRT) for help. It began reaching out to nursing agencies and other institutions to find staff.

On Oct. 26, Revera asked for staffing support from the COVID-19 provincial pool and the PRRT, the report said. On Oct., 28 and 29, Revera notified the WRHA of staffing and contact tracing concerns and asked Shared Health to send staff.

'There was one nurse for 100 residents' Click to Expand Lynn Stevenson, external reviewer, speaks virtually at a press conference about the results of the review of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at Maples Care Home. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press) Posted: 6:54 PM Feb. 4, 2021 The daughter of a senior who died in a COVID-19 outbreak at the Maples care home, in which 56 lives were lost, said she doesn't trust the review that probed the crisis. Minutes after the province released the external probe, Eddie Calisto-Tavares called for the resignation of the chief health operations officer of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Gina Trinidad. She also wants the provincial government to take responsibility for its failure to prepare care homes for the second wave of the pandemic last fall. Read Full Story

By Oct. 30, staffing levels were critical, the report states. Between Oct. 30 and Nov. 8 there were numerous shifts in which staffing levels for both nursing and health care aides were below 70 per cent, dipping to as low as 33 per cent.

"The staffing shortages at Maples should have triggered a system-wide response involving provincial incident command, SWAT teams, mandatory redeployment, and potential emergency orders. This did not occur," Stevenson wrote in the report.

The provinces health incident command structure had only been reinstated (after standing down over the summer) on Oct. 30, 10 days into the outbreak. There was only one certified WRHA infection control practitioner to cover 38 sites.

The critical staffing levels at Maples were not being communicated to incident command, despite questions being raised by its members, Stevenson wrote.

"There appeared to be frequent communication between Maples leadership and WRHA at the beginning of the outbreak, but it is unclear how decisions were made or escalated," Stevenson said. She also noted members of incident command and WRHA senior staff indicated they were not fully aware of the staffing crisis.

Members of the Winnipeg Police Identification Unit dressed in protective equipment enter the Maples Long Term Care Home in November. A total of 56 residents died during a COVID-19 outbreak. (Daniel Crump / Winnipeg Free Press files)

On Nov. 2, regional and provincial health officials visited the home unannounced. Following the events of Nov. 6, a paramedic rapid response team was stationed at the home and WRHA clinical leads began providing direct oversight.

When questioned by reporters Thursday, Stevenson said she doesnt know why staffing support wasnt given before the situation at Maples became critical.

However, she said the level of urgency in the requests by the operator may not have been fully appreciated by provincial and regional health authorities.

"Its not as if the staffing over time got shorter. This was fairly precipitous," Stevenson said.

"You have 10, 15 people going off at one time and then trying to replace that staff and they did not have the mechanisms in place" for immediate redeployment, she said.

"So thats part of the lesson in this."

Widespread recommendations The review into the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak at the Maples care home includes 17 recommendation Revera  Revise the Maples outbreak plan to ensure the ability to operationalize it  Implement clear care priorities for residents during an outbreak, including medication management  Mobilize and deploy additional onsite Revera resources at the beginning of an outbreak  Ensure daily on-site physician rounds are in place once an outbreak has been declared  Recognize housekeeping is a critical essential service  Improve communication click to read more The review into the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak at the Maples care home includes 17 recommendations. Revera  Revise the Maples outbreak plan to ensure the ability to operationalize it  Implement clear care priorities for residents during an outbreak, including medication management  Mobilize and deploy additional onsite Revera resources at the beginning of an outbreak  Ensure daily on-site physician rounds are in place once an outbreak has been declared  Recognize housekeeping is a critical essential service  Improve communication Winnipeg Regional Health Authority  Revise the pandemic plan to ensure adequate support for care homes Provincial Level (health incident command structure)  Simplify and clarify communication and decision-making roles between WRHA and Health Incident Command Structure Planning Tables.  Co-ordinate and prioritize the multiplicity of information, directives and guidance documents being pushed out to the care-home sector by a variety of sources. Provincial Level (Manitoba Health and Seniors Care)  Mandate and fund a provincewide health-care system response for pandemic outbreaks to reduce fragmentation and delays in outbreak response. Additional Considerations  Review funding for care homes to ensure staffing levels and services are appropriate to the complexity of current and future residents.  Streamline licensing standards for care homes to ensure currency and applicability to the changing needs of residents.  Given the impact of an outbreak of this magnitude, work must be done to rebuild trust with families. Consideration must be given to staff who have been negatively impacted by the experience and the amount of media scrutiny.  source: Maples Personal Care Home Covid-19 Outbreak: External Review Final Report Close

The WRHA has since established a central staffing model for personal care homes, Trinidad said.

Stevenson also noted that it was not readily apparent that clinical guidance was being offered to health-care providers looking after residents who had COVID-19.

"There was little evidence of resources and guidelines to equip staff on-site with clinical skills required to manage acutely ill COVID-19 positive residents in (long term care) PHCs. This includes consideration of staffing ratios that would support this clinical care and expectations related to on-site physician presence," she wrote.

Stevenson could not comment on whether earlier intervention by the WRHA and provincial authorities at Maples could have led to fewer infections or deaths.

"Would it have been helpful to have had more people on site? Yes, it likely would have been. Would that have prevented the deaths? I cant say," Stevenson said.

Trinidad said the health authority is reviewing every death at personal care homes, including Maples, to see whether there are grounds to declare a critical incident.

Winnipeg Regional Health Authority chief health operations officer Gina Trinidad (from left), external reviewer Dr. Lynn Stevenson, and Health Minister Heather Stefanson release the results of the Maples Long Term Care Home review on Thursday. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

Stefanson meanwhile said she has apologized to families who have lost loved ones, but did not say if her government accepts responsibility for the tragedy.

"Certainly what they have gone through is absolutely tragic," Stefanson said. "I think whats very important here is that we learn from mistakes that are made and how we can make things better and safer for both the residents as well as the staff who work in those homes."

Stefanson said the province and health authority have started to address the report's recommendations, including training for staff, strengthening pandemic staffing plans, enhancing care plans for residents and bolstering communications with families.

The province is working to update visitation guidelines, strengthen communication between sites, implement asymptomatic rapid testing for staff and improve infection prevention and control procedures.

Stefanson said an implementation team has been formed to provide a publicly available plan to address the recommendations within 30 days, with updates expected every 90 days.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca
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Without warning, a Houston police officer mounted on horseback recklessly charged into a woman when her back was turned at a peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstration in May, a new lawsuit alleges. The woman is still being treated for injuries sustained when she was knocked down while the officer remains on active duty.

The Houston Police Department and City of Houston are accused of negligence in the personal injury lawsuit filed Jan. 15 in Harris County by attorneys representing Melissa Sanchez, a Houston resident who was trampled by a mounted officer during an evening demonstration last May, court records show.

The incident happened four days after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on George Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, killing him and sparking nationwide protests. Streets filled with demonstrators calling for an end to police brutality and racial injustice. At a protest in downtown Houston, Sanchez stood and held a sign among a crowd of demonstrators on Travis Street near police headquarters.

In a video posted online and widely shared, an officer on horseback appears to plow into Sanchez from behind, knocking her down in the street beneath the horse's hooves. She sustained injuries to her neck, back and knee and she is continuing to receive treatment, said Marion Reilly, one of her attorneys. Sanchez is now seeking between $200,000 and $1 million in damages from police and the city, according to court records.

The lawsuit alleges that the officer "recklessly charged" into Sanchez without asking her to move or giving any notice, warning or announcement of his approach. The sound of a whistle can be heard in the video in the moments before Sanchez is struck.

Sanchez posed zero threat to herself, the officers or the surrounding public before she was knocked over, her attorneys allege in the suit. No HPD officer attempted to render aid or assist her in getting medical treatment, they said.

The incident caused Sanchez "severe pain suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress and personal injuries," the suit claims.

Reilly, an attorney from Corpus Christi-based law firm Hilliard Martinez Gonzalez, said what happened to Sanchez was a "travesty."

"There was no reason for that officer to direct his horse to literally run this young woman down, from behind, no less," Reilly said. "She was trampled for her beliefs, not because she did anything wrong. This kind of excessive, unnecessary behavior by officers cannot be tolerated by American society."

Sanchez is also represented by Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney representing Floyd's Houston-area family, who called the incident "outrageous" and said it could have cost Sanchez her life.

"Contrast this with what we witnessed at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when we saw law enforcement essentially holding the hands of violent rioters, walking with them into the Senate chambers, and then politely asking them to leave," Crump said. "Incredibly, violent insurrectionists are handled with respect and care by police, while peaceful, law-abiding Black citizens just exercising their First Amendment rights are maimed.

An HPD spokesperson declined to comment on the pending Sanchez lawsuit or an investigation into the matter, but said the officer, Louis Gamez, remains on active duty.

"The City prefers not to comment on pending litigation. The lawsuit will run its course," said Mary Benton, spokesperson for the Mayor's Office.

Following the viral video of the incident, Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted an apology to Sanchez, saying she has the right to march and demonstrate peacefully and that the city would evaluate how to "keep that from happening again."

"What happened with mounted patrol should not have happened and for that please accept my apology," Turner tweeted.

A court in Runyenjes, Embu County, has convicted eight people, including four former senior officials of the defunct Chuka Municipal Council, of corruption and fined them a total of Sh10.3 million.

Each of the accused was ordered to pay Sh1,284,000 or serve 12 months in prison in default.

Following the conviction, they were escorted to prison as they could not immediately pay the fines imposed on them.

The former municipal officials -- John Gikingo (town clerk), Henry Katiso (town engineer), Smith Gikunda (works officer) and then treasurer Richard Ondiek -- were jointly charged with four contractors.

The contractors are Lee Mugendi, Martin Ray Mwenda, Albert Mbabu and Ann Wangechi.

They were charged with misappropriating Sh4,734,577 million that had been disbursed by the Kenya Roads Board for the routine maintenance of roads within the municipality.

Proved case

In her ruling, Senior Principal Magistrate Beatrice Kimemia said the prosecution had proved that there was a prima facie case against the accused persons.

"The prosecution established that there was enough evidence in support of the prosecution case and that is why the accused persons were put on their defence," she said.

Ms Kimemia noted that the officials colluded with the contractors who were awarded tenders in total disregard of procurement laws.

On whether procurement laws were followed, the magistrate ruled that the former town clerk, who was the accounting officer, was to ensure that tender committees were established, letters of appointment were available and bid securities were valid, which he failed to perform.

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She said the tender evaluation committee did not have a chairman while contracts were awarded to companies that never met basic requirements.

Flawed tender evaluation

The magistrate agreed with the prosecution that the tender evaluation process was flawed.

Further, the magistrate observed that companies that did not bid for certain contracts were introduced after bid opening and the submitted figures altered.

"Companies which ought to have been rejected were awarded five contracts, which is illegal," the magistrate said.

Surprisingly, the contractors were paid all the money without inspection of their work.

"The contracts were not managed and there was no inspection. Certificates of payment were even made by contractors themselves," said the magistrate.

She said the accused persons committed a serious crime and should be heavily punished to discourage them from repeating similar crimes.

Central Region EACC Manager Charles Rasungu welcomed the court's verdict, saying justice had been done.

Mr Rasungu said the court's ruling will serve as a warning to other corrupt people.

"Such a ruling will discourage people from looting public funds and being involved in other forms of corruption," he said.


Location: Mayfield Heights - Ohio Job Description Rockwell Automation is looking for an innovative engineer to join our global Software and Control organization in Cleveland, Ohio. You will be part of a new product development team, with a focus on building automated test scripts which validate our products within CI/CD pipelines and other automation environments. You will also contribute to the overall product test architecture and improve current test frameworks and tools. An ideal candidate will have a strong background in software development and exhibit the ability to flex between product software development and test activities. Given tightly coupled hardware and software in our products, previous embedded software experience is a plus. Responsibilities Develop and test safety and security-critical embedded software for new Programmable Logic Controllers

Build and maintain automated tests and test frameworks in support of new and existing product features

Work in a variety of hardware and software environments, ranging from commercial off-the-shelf to custom System on Chip architectures, and from general purpose to embedded real-time operating systems

Use modern continuous integration and development tools, and promote continuous improvement of tools and practices across the global development organization

Demonstrate a strong understanding of object-oriented programming concepts, C++ and Python are preferred

Operate across the entire software development life cycle: requirements management, design, implementation, test, release, and maintenance

Work on an Agile development team within a larger Scaled Agile Framework organization, participating in short term (sprint), medium term (program increment) and long term (product roadmap) planning

Mentor less experienced personnel, and encourage knowledge sharing and learning among the development community Basic Qualifications: Bachelor's Degree

Legal authorization to work in the US is required. We will not sponsor individuals for employment visas, now or in the future, for this job opening. Preferred Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or equivalent knowledge in the application of software engineering principles, theories, concepts, and techniques

Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of software engineering experience with demonstrated professional development in software design and implementation

Ability to understand and apply knowledge of object-oriented analysis, design, and programming techniques

Experience developing software and automated tests and tools in object-oriented languages such as C++ or Python

Experience with automation frameworks and tools development

Experience in requirements decomposition and test traceability

Experience in using open source tools like Git and Jenkins

Knowledge of unit testing using tools like CppUnit, unittest, etc.

Experience with continuous integration environments, automated test, and acceptance testing

Experience working in an Agile development setting and Agile project tools

Experience working with industrial protocols, especially Common Industrial Protocol (CIP)

Experience developing software and test to safety and security standards such as IEC 61508 or IEC 62443

Advanced courses or degree in engineering, computer science or controls #LI-MM1 We are an Equal Opportunity Employer including disability and veterans. If you are an individual with a disability and you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please contact our services team at +1 (see application details).


Seen above is the entrance of SsangYong Motor's manufacturing facility in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. The cash-strapped carmaker suspended operation of the facility for three days until Friday. Yonhap



By Lee Min-hyung



Korea Development Bank (KDB) has reiterated its unwavering position that no financial support will be made to SsangYong Motor, unless the cash-strapped carmaker comes to "specific" terms with a potential investor over its rehabilitation plans.



This is in response to SsangYong Motor's recent announcement that it will keep engaging in negotiations with its mother firm, Mahindra & Mahindra, and U.S. car retailer HAAH Automotive.



SsangYong said Thursday that it would continue to "build a foundation for a pre-packaged plan (P-plan)." The term refers to a move towards financial reorganization that a company prepares in cooperation with its creditors.



But the main creditor of the company said its position remains unchanged, saying it will not agree on the plan before the carmaker confirms specific and detailed plans for rehabilitation procedures with the new investor.



"SsangYong's creditors  including KDB  will decide on whether to agree with the P-plan only after the carmaker and the new investor reach an agreement on SsangYong's revival roadmap," a spokesman at the creditor said.



SsangYong said in the statement that it is still in talks with Mahindra and the new investor over the P-plan, and that it will provide details about the possible agreement to its creditors afterwards.



But the carmaker did not share a specific timeline. KDB said it would enter a new phase of negotiations with SsangYong only after the carmaker notifies the creditor of the details.



Earlier this week, KDB Vice President Choi Dae-hyun said "it is still premature" for the bank to make a final decision on whether to provide financial support for the cash-strapped carmaker.



"Creditors will agree on the P-plan after reviewing a possible agreement between SsangYong and the new investor on issues including details  such as investment execution and the validity of the revival plan," he told reporters during a press conference Tuesday.



Despite the latest pledge from SsangYong, the outlook remains unclear over whether the carmaker will be able to reach a consensus with HAAH or other potential new investors.



Officials from HAAH left Korea recently after failing to reach an agreement with their SsangYong counterparts, due to the latter's delay in document submission, according to KDB.



The creditor also said the investor considered that SsangYong's specific revival plans remained unclear, so the two sides could not sign any agreement during the recent meeting.



In December, SsangYong Motor filed for court receivership amid surging debts stemming from its weakening vehicle sales and worsening financial conditions, after failing to repay loans worth tens of billions of won.




Five people in NSW are self-isolating after staying at a Melbourne quarantine hotel at the same time as a fellow guest caught the British variant of the virus from positive cases staying in an adjacent room.

NSW has recorded no community acquired COVID-19 cases for the 18th consecutive day as Victorias 28-day streak came to an end with a hotel quarantine worker testing positive in a separate incident.

Victorian health authorities are also investigating an incident involving the transmission of the British variant within the Park Royal quarantine hotel after the virus jumped from a family staying in one hotel room to a guest in a room opposite.

The states public health team believe viral particles may have exited the room of the family who all later tested positive. Somehow, the virus either lingered in the air or attached itself to a hard surface, which then caused a woman in another room to contract the same strain.

One teenager was was killed and another injured in a shooting Wednesday at an an apartment complex in North Brunswick, officials said.

Marc Atkins, 18, of Plainfield was pronounced dead at a local hospital after being shot multiple times at the Renaissance Glen apartments around 7:30 p.m., the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office said in a statement.

A 17-year-old was suffered injuries not considered life-threatening after he was shot once in the area of Marc Drive, according to authorities.

The prosectors office couldnt immediately be reached for additional information.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call North Brunswick police Det. Errol McCalla at 732-247-0922 ext. 311 or Det. Sean Sullivan of the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office at 732-745-4060.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JGoldmanNJ.

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A 57-year-old man is accused of yelling racist slurs at a Black Portland police officer as he made a shooting gesture toward the officer and then charged at him, according to court records.

Steven James Betz was arrested Monday afternoon and accused of two counts of committing a second-degree bias crime, second-degree disorderly conduct and second-degree criminal trespass.

The encounter occurred as police were trying to remove Betz, who is white, from a streetcar stop in Southeast Portland for allegedly harassing riders and operators.

The arrest marks at least the third time in Multnomah County that someone has been accused of the states new hate crime in relation to a member of law enforcement, according to Brent Weisberg, spokesman for the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office.

Betz is accused of threatening to inflict serious injury against Officer Derrick Daley because of his race. Daley joined the Police Bureau in November 2019.

Police had been called about 12:20 p.m. to 250 S.E. Tilikum Way on a report of a man banging on the windows of a Portland streetcar and yelling at its operators and riders, according to a probable cause affidavit.

When Daley and other officers told the man to leave the area, he refused, Deputy District Attorney Bumjoon Park wrote in the affidavit.

Daley and other officers held onto each side of Betz to escort him away, police said. When Daley asked the man if he understood that he was being banned from the location, Betz turned toward Daley with a clenched fist, told him to shut up and called him a racist slur, the affidavit said.

Betz then continued to use the racist slur, motioning toward Daley with his hands, pretending to shoot him, Park wrote in the affidavit.

Betz also charged at Daley, prompting the officer to put his hands up to create distance between him and Betz, the affidavit said.

Other officers helped Betz walk away and told him to leave, but he walked back to the streetcar station and was arrested.

Despite several officers being present, Betz focused on the one Black officer and kept calling him by racist slurs, the affidavit said.

Prosecutors pursued second-degree bias crime allegations, saying Betz intentionally, because of Daleys race, subjected him to alarm by threatening to inflict serious injury.

A first-degree bias crime is when a person injures someone or places someone in fear of imminent serious injury because of the perception of the victims race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or national origin.

Betz was booked into Multnomah County Detention Center on Monday afternoon and released on his own recognizance.

The county has brought at least two other hate crime cases where officers were identified as victims, Weisberg said

In a 2018 case, an intimidation charge was lodged but didnt result in a conviction.

A bias crime case is pending from a February 2020 when during an arrest a man is accused of spitting at Gresham officer Hector Carranza, attempting to bite the officers hand and calling him by a racist slur based on the perception of his race, according to court records.

In September 2019, Gov. Kate Brown signed into law a bill that changed the name of the charge from intimidation to bias crime, made a first-degree bias crime a felony and added gender identity as a protected class. It marked the first major changes to Oregons 1981 intimidation statute, which many called outdated. The second-degree bias crime is a misdemeanor.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wentian delivers speech at the opening ceremony of the training course. (Chinanews.com/Photo)

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A team of Chinese vaccine specialists have provided training to Cambodian medical staff on how to use the anti-COVID-19 vaccine ahead of its arrival.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the training course held at the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital here on Wednesday afternoon, Cambodian Defense Minister Gen. Tea Banh said the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by China will be arriving in the country "soon."

He said under the course, four Chinese medical experts would give instructions regarding procedures for care, storage, usage and transport.

"This emergency aid truly shows unbreakable ties and close cooperation between Cambodia and China and it will undoubtedly contribute further to building a community of shared future between our two countries," he said.

"China is the best friend who has helped support the government, the army and the people of Cambodia," Banh said. "I'd like to thank the government, the People's Liberation Army and the people of China for their generous donation of this anti-COVID-19 vaccine and for sending medical experts to Cambodia."

Banh, who is also a deputy prime minister, is confident that the Chinese vaccine is quite safe and highly effective.

Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wentian said that the joint COVID-19 fight between China and Cambodia is a model for international cooperation in combating the pandemic.

"Today's event is of great significance, and it marks a new stage of anti-pandemic cooperation between China and Cambodia," he said.

The ambassador firmly believed that the upcoming vaccination rollout will play a positive role in restoring Cambodia's socio-economic development.

Lun Leakhena, a doctor in charge of vaccine storage warehouse, told Xinhua that refrigeration vehicles have already been prepared to transport the vaccines, as a vaccine storage facility has also been built already at the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital.

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Monday that the first batch of China's Sinopharm vaccine will arrive in Cambodia sometime this month.

"I'd like to announce that when the vaccine arrives at the Phnom Penh International Airport, I will go to welcome it by myself," he said.

He said the vaccines will be provided free-of-charge to Cambodian people who are at a high risk of getting infections such as medical staff, teachers, bodyguards, armed forces, tuk-tuk and taxi drivers, and garbage collectors, among others.

By Wednesday afternoon, Cambodia had recorded a total of 466 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with zero deaths and 447 recoveries, according to the Ministry of Health.
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A windowless room with two single beds listed online for $160 per person will be investigated for potential tenancy breaches.

The room at a home in Auckland, New Zealand, was recently advertised on classifieds website TradeMe.

'Ideal for people who love flatting, and make (sic) new friends. Additional storage space (above Kitchen), available to store suitcases,' the advertisement reads.

A windowless room (pictured) with two single beds has been listed in Auckland for $160 per bed - per week

Power, water, a weekly cleaning service, unlimited internet, satellite TV and the use of a laundry and dryer would be included in the rent.

The flat is a five minute walk from Auckland University and the Auckland University of Technology.

Founder of Gimme Shelter Aotearoa, James Crow, told Stuff the price of the tiny room highlighted the 'gross lack of affordable or appropriate housing' in Auckland.

Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) states that each room must have a window or some way to introduce light and ventilation inside. Pictured: The room with fans placed on top of wardrobes

He said renters are trying to make city living more affordable by sharing rooms among several people, even strangers.

Tenancy Services will probe whether the advertised room is in breach of the country's strict rental rules.

The Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) states each room advertised for rent in New Zealand must have a window or some way to introduce light and ventilation.

The flat (pictured) is said to be a five minute walk from Auckland University and the Auckland University of Technology

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) national manager of tenancy compliance Steve Watson said if tenants have concerns their housing does not meet the minimum standards they should talk to their landlord.

'If a resolution or outcome cannot be reached, Tenancy Services provides information regarding a number of options available to resolve a dispute, which include FastTrack Resolution, mediation or Tenancy Tribunal hearings,' he said.

The government's new Healthy Homes Standards requires all boarding houses to meet standards as of July 1, one of which is ventilation.
The Centre panel part of The Triptych Portrait of Vicky Phelan at Sheppard's Auction House in Durrow.Picture Credit: Frank McGrath 6/1/21

A portrait of cervical cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan sold today for 46,500 at an online virtual auction.

The painting was sold on a pro bono basis, meaning all proceeds will go towards Heroes Aid, a charity dedicated to helping healthcare workers during the global pandemic.

Auction at the Sheppards Auction House in Laois via livestream, the auctioneer originally starting bidding at 50,000. Bidding finally began at 15,000, after which it eventually reached its final price.

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The symbolism used in this painting will be a historic reference for decades to come, the auctioneer said. The work is by Vincent Devine who was inspired by Vickys incredible courage.

Ms Phelan is depicted in the painting in a semi-translucent state, with a shamrock over her heart, which she has said represents the Irish people who have taken her into their hearts.

Also found in the painting is a bird known as a crimson rosella resting on her right hand, which represents her 15 year old daughter Amelia.

Similarly in her left hand is an oaky leaf, representing her younger son, 9 year old Darragh. It symbolises how he is a sapling now, but will later grow to be big and strong.

The three-piece portrait was originally unveiled last month on the Late Late Show, and ultimately represents Ms Phelans past, present and future.

She posed for the painting in Doonbeg beach, and artist Vincent Devine even mixed in some of the sand from the beach into the painting.

Ms Phelan said she chose Doonbeg beach as the location for the portrait as it looks out to the United States, wheres temporarily relocated to take part in a medical trial.

Speaking on the Late Late Show last week, she discussed how she is experiencing little symptoms right now on her treatment, adding that: There is no point in worrying about these things until they are impacting on your quality of life.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 17:38:43|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- China will intensify its crackdown on misconduct along the Yangtze River to safeguard the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) announced on Thursday.

The ministry will launch campaigns targeting illegal fishing, environmental crimes and smuggling, as well as offenses related to food security or cultural relics.

The MPS also vowed to enhance information sharing with related law enforcement authorities by establishing a comprehensive crime prevention and control system. Enditem
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 01:07:53|Editor: huaxia

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ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are set to take center stage at the upcoming Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development held under the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

The conference of African ministers will be held virtually on March 17-23 under the theme of "Africa's Sustainable Industrialization and Diversification in the Digital Era in the Context of COVID-19," the UNECA announced on Wednesday.

"The theme recognizes the continent's desire to industrialize and create jobs for the millions of its populace, in particular, the youth joining the labor market annually," it said.

Stephen Karingi, UNECA's Regional Integration and Trade Division Director, said the theme comes in handy, offering ministers and experts a platform to discuss the need to ensure that digitalization strategies are integrated into policy and planning frameworks for industrialization.

"The AfCFTA comes in handy during these difficult times where the continent is fighting COVID-19," the UNECA director said.

"It is crucial that our governments establish institutional arrangements for cooperation on the digital economy, and provisions to support digital capacities and industrialization and connect African businesses," said Karingi.

The coming into force of the AfCFTA signaled a unique turning point in the continent's pursuit of industrialization, with e-commerce, a key catalyst in digitalized economies, being a key cornerstone of the pact's infrastructure, according to the UNECA.

A main element of this year's theme is the recognition of the need for African countries to achieve rapid economic growth without exacerbating the environmental cost of development, it was noted.

It calls for an alignment of development strategies with climate change mitigation measures, recognizing that industrialization, while being an effective engine of growth for many developed countries, has come at "a severe cost to the global climate."

According to the UNECA, African countries will need to implement development strategies that recognize that better, safer and more inclusive growth is one that involves strong climate action and efficient use of natural resources.

The theme also recognizes that Africa's developmental path must minimize the aberration of developed nations and instead seek to embrace modernization through digitalization and less climate-costly industrialization activities, it was noted.

If emerging digitalization can be scaled, it could be transformational, helping Africa to sustainably industrialize and diversify within a global digital economy estimated to be worth more than 11.5 trillion U.S. dollars, it was noted.

The ECA argued that Africa must embrace environmentally sustainable industrialization and diversification as a pathway to creating decent jobs for the 170 million African young people set to enter the job market between 2019 and 2030, building forward better from COVID-19 and ensuring resilience to future shocks. Enditem
A non-governmental body, Windle International Uganda (WIU), with support from Global Affairs Canada has partnered with World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and the Aga Khan Foundation to empower the girl-child with education to help improve their quality of life and enhance their employment opportunities.

The four-year project dubbed, Adolescent Girls' Education, will benefit refugees and their host communities in the districts of Obongi and Moyo.

Speaking to Daily Monitor in an interview yesterday, Ms Charity Namara, the deputy programme officer of WUSC, said the project, which targets 105 institutions, will focus on improving equitable learning outcomes and extending quality education to help adolescent girls and female youth in normal or non-formal upper primary and secondary school education as well as vocational skills training programmes.

"By the end of the four years, there is going to be improved equitable learning outcome for adolescent girls and female youth benefiting from quality, gender-responsive, innovative and inclusive formal and non-formal educational opportunities," she said.

Ms Christine Dulua, the assistant Palorinya Settlement commandant, said there is need for a bylaw to arrest parents who give away their underage children for early marriage, instead of encouraging them to keep in school.

She tasked refugees leaders and host communities to draft and enforce the bylaw to arrest errant parents.

Uganda is one of the countries that suffers early and forced marriages that have significantly contributed to high school drop outs,

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The legal age of consent in Uganda is 18 years.

However, some learners have already been married off due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic that hit the country early last year.

The boys are now engaged in full-scale businesses and fishing activities, especially in Obongi District, which they deem as more profitable than their education.

Mr Jimmy Ameko, the Moyo District Senior Probation and welfare Officer, challenged the partners to bring on board children who have dropped out of school so they can be equipped with life skills.

"The project should be able to provide space for the boys and girls to advance their career development. If a child has acquired vocational skills training through the design in terms of curriculum, this person can be helped to acquire a certificate, do diploma or proceed to attain degree," Mr Ameko said.

Mr Kasule Abu, MERC Coordinator Aga Khan Foundation, said the project also has components for teachers' training and some teachers have already been selected for the training.

"There is space for capacity building for teachers in the schools that we would be working with. We selected seven teachers per school from 105 schools and capacity building programmes will be conducted in the process of implementation," he said.
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Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd has sourced the world's first consignment of 'carbon-neutral oil' from the United States as it looks to become a net zero-carbon company by 2035.

Reliance, which operates the world's largest single location oil refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat with capacity of 68.2 million tonnes a year, got 2 million barrels of consignment Permian basin, the US supplier said in a statement.

Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (OLCV), a division of US oil major Occidental, delivered carbon-neutral oil to Reliance, the firm said. "This transaction, which was arranged in conjunction with Macquarie Group's Commodities and Global Markets group (Macquarie), is the energy industry's first major petroleum shipment for which greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the entire crude lifecycle, well head through combustion of end products, have been offset," it said.

Oxy Low Carbon Ventures and Macquarie will offset carbon dioxide equivalent to that associated with the production, delivery and refining of the crude oil and the use of the resulting product through the retirement of carbon offset credits. This will make the oil 'carbon-neutral'. The Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Sea Pearl containing the carbon-neutral oil unloaded the cargo at Jamnagar on January 28.

"This transaction is a first step in the creation of a new market for climate-differentiated crude oil," the statement said. It is also a bridge to the development of a further differentiated petroleum product, net-zero oil, which Occidental intends to eventually produce through the capture and sequestration of atmospheric CO2 via industrial-scale direct air capture (DAC) facilities and geological sequestration.

Also read: RIL arm to sell entire stake in some upstream assets in Marcellus shale play

Ambani had in July last year unveiled plans to turn Reliance into a net carbon zero company by 2035. This will be done by embracing new technologies to convert its carbon dioxide emissions into useful products and chemicals. OLCV said the oil was produced in the US Permian Basin by Occidental and delivered to Reliance in India.

"Macquarie arranged and structured the bundled offset supply and retirement," it said. The offsets were sourced from a variety of projects verified under the Verra Verified Carbon Standard meeting eligibility criteria for the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization's Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).

"The volume of offsets applied against the cargo are sufficient to cover the expected GHG emissions from the entire crude lifecycle including oil extraction, transport, storage, shipping, refining, subsequent use, and combustion," it said. This type of transaction, which involves the bundling of high-quality carbon offsets with crude oil, is an immediate executable solution that helps promote investments in longer-term, industrial-scale decarbonisation strategies.

It is also a step in the furtherance of Occidental's net-zero ambitions and commitment to addressing climate change today. Occidental, the first US-based international energy company to announce an ambition to achieve net-zero GHG emissions associated with the use of its products by 2050, has been using carbon-dioxide in its enhanced oil recovery operations in the Permian for over 40 years.

"We are taking important initial steps to work with our customers in hard-to-decarbonize industries to offer carbon-neutral and other low-carbon products that will leverage our expertise in carbon management to lower their total carbon impact and address Scope 3 emissions," said Richard Jackson, president of OLCV.

Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.
The 300 heritage trees that are to be chopped for the construction of five railway over bridges in West Bengal are valued at Rs 2.2 billion in terms of oxygen and other products they offer which means a living tree will be more beneficial than the project, an expert committee has told the Supreme Court. A heritage tree is a large tree that takes decades or centuries to mature.

The committee of experts told a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde that a heritage tree serves the civil society and the environment and its valuation can be reached on various counts including oxygen, micro-nutrients, compost and bio-fertiliser. It said that if all costs are added and multiplied by the remaining age of a tree, in the present case 100 years, the grand total would be Rs 74,500 per tree year.

"This means that 300 trees if allowed to live for a period of 100 or more years, will give products worth Rs 2,235,000,000 or Rs 2.2 billion. This is the future value of 300 trees. If the entire stretch of 59.2-kilometre road is taken in into consideration, which will become congested in a period of a decade or so, authorities will be forced to widen its width and on this count 4,056 trees will be required to be cut down. "In that case, the cost of products over a period of 100 years will be Rs 30.21 billion. So to avoid this environmental catastrophe a solution out of routine framework is need of the hour," the committee said in its report.

The five proposed bridges are part of a Setu Bharatam Mega Project financed by the Centre to build 208 rail over- and under-bridges across 19 states in the country with a sanctioned cost of Rs 20,800 crore. The five-member committee informed the apex court that before implementing a project of national importance environmental impact assessment is desired and this has not been done in West Bengal. The committee said that state authorities are considering project under consideration as an independent project which is affecting a distance of 59.2 km only from Barasat to Bongaon.

"According to a circular issued by MoEF, if a road project has a length less than 100 km, in that case, there is no need to get EIA from any government agency. Such an argument, in the present case, is an attempt to circumvent the law of the land. "We feel deriving such conclusion is erroneous and needs rethinking on the part of the state of the West Bengal.According to the committee members, EIA should be taken up before starting the project related work," the panel said.

Noting the submissions, the top court observed that it would consider laying down a protocol to be followed for projects like road widening project which require cutting of trees so that there is minimum damage to the environment. The observation came while hearing a plea related to felling of over 350 trees for the construction of railway over bridges (ROB) and widening of National Highway-112 on the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal. The bench has now posted the matter for hearing on February 18.

The apex court had earlier formed a committee of environment experts to suggest an alternative to felling of over 350 trees for construction of railway over bridges (ROB) and widening of National Highway-112 along the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal. The five-member committee is headed by Dr Soham Pandya of the Centre of Science For Village, Wardha.

Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) had earlier said that no alternatives were explored and permission was granted to fell the trees, which are heritage ones aged around 80-100 years. He had said everyone knows about global warming and there is study which says if the vegetation is not protected then in next 10-20 years the human species will be in danger.

The Calcutta High Court on August 31, 2018, had paved the way for widening of the national highway and allowed felling of over 350 trees for widening of Jessore Road, which connects the city to Petrapole on the Indo-Bangladesh border, on the condition that five trees will be planted for each tree cut.

The NH-112 or Jessore Road is an important link between India and Bangladesh and the state government had undertaken a project to widen it. Hundreds of old trees line both sides of the road, some of which were decided to be felled for the purpose of widening of the road. A PIL was moved before the high court challenging the state's plan to fell the trees. After arguments for several months, the high court allowed the felling of 356 trees at five places from Barasat to Petrapole border along the Jessore Road.

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press release

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is shocked by Twitter's arbitrary and baseless blocking of the accounts of a prestigious South African newsweekly and several journalists in connection with a story about Covid-19 vaccines. This disturbing violation of the freedom to inform highlights the dangers of failing to impose democratic obligations on all-powerful online platforms, RSF says.

Twitter suspended The Continent newsweekly's access to its account on 30 January for supposedly "spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to Covid-19."

The blocking was prompted by nothing more than a tweet drawing attention to that day's stories, including a quote from US billionaire Bill Gates who said he didn't support removing patents on Covid-19 vaccines, although this could increase vaccine production and access, especially in the Global South.

After The Continent editor Simon Allison criticized the blocking in a tweet, his personal Twitter account was also blocked the next day. And RSF has identified at least three other journalists who subsequently suffered the same fate in connection with this case.

After tweeting about the "ridiculousness" of this decision, AFP's Malawi correspondent, Jack McBrams, found he could not access his own account until he deleted his tweet. Sammy AwaMi, a freelancer based in Tanzania, said his account was blocked after he shared The Continent's article. And when he appealed, Twitter's support staff quickly responded that the "violation" had been confirmed. Daniela Becker, a freelancer in Germany, had the same experience and had to wait 12 hours to recover access to her account.

"This series of suspensions targeting a prestigious newsweekly and several journalists is unprecedented and dangerous," said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF's Africa desk. "It speaks to Twitter's total lack of transparency about its moderation policies and to the very real threat that this social media platform poses to the freedom to inform by assuming the role of apprentice news and information regulator while lacking the required legitimacy, especially regarding journalists and media outlets that report the news professionally."

When contacted by The Continent's editor, Twitter's head of public policy for sub-Saharan Africa responded that Twitter was "still investigating" and that the blocking had "nothing to do with the article's mention of Bill Gates" or the criticism of Twitter.

Dismayed by these laconic and evasive responses, RSF asked Twitter to explain what could have led to this series of blockings of a media outlet's and journalists' accounts despite their use of its appeal procedures, and to shed light on its moderation policies.

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Twitter simply recognized that "enforcement action was taken in error and has been reversed," and attributed the error to its growing use of "machine learning and automation" that "can sometimes lack the context that our teams bring." None of RSF's questions received a straight answer.

A month ago, RSF denounced Twitter's sudden suspension of the account of The Kashmir Walla, a news magazine based in northern India's Kashmir Valley, after the Indian ruling party's troll armies repeatedly reported it for supposed violations. Twitter took a week to restore its access.

"The mechanisms created by the platforms for combatting disinformation should not result in undermining the visibility of those whose very job is to produce reliable information," said Iris de Villars, head of RSF's Tech Desk. "This latest case confirms the urgency of the need to impose democratic obligations on the platforms as regards transparency and the promotion of reliable information, in order to address the structural causes of the information chaos."

It was with this aim that RSF launched the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI), which is producing a set of machine-readable standards that social media and search engine algorithms can use to give preference to media that adhere to journalistic methods and ethics.

To help provide the digital arena with democratic safeguards, RSF also launched the Forum on Information and Democracy, which in November published an initial set of 250 recommendations on platform transparency, content moderation, the promotion of reliable reporting, and messaging apps when their massive use goes beyond the bounds of private correspondence.
A barrister who dealt in the chemsex pills that killed his teenage boyfriend went on a drugs binge after he was suspended from the profession, a tribunal has heard.

Henry Hendron, 40, is facing 18 charges of professional misconduct brought by the Bar Standards Board in relation to behaviour which followed a previous suspension.

In 2015, Hendron bought 1,000 of mephedrone and GBL, a drug similar to GHB, from BBC producer Alexander Parkin, 42, to deal in bulk on to the gay party scene.

He gave detailed instructions to his Colombian boyfriend Miguel Jimenez, 18, on how to use and package the drugs to which Miguel replied: Blimey, and Im the Colombian.

Hendron woke up to find Miguel lying dead next to him in bed at his exclusive flat in Londons Temple, the collection of chambers where Britains top lawyers and judges are based.

He dialled 999, but the teenager had suffered a lethal overdose of a combination of mephedrone, known as meow meow, and GBL in January 2015.

During a search police recovered 60 self-seal bags of mephedrone and found Hendrons fingerprints on the jars and envelopes containing the drugs at his flat above 6 Pump Court - unrelated to Pump Court chambers.

Henry Hendron (pictured above in a file photo), 40, who dealt in the drugs which killed his boyfriend in 2015 is now facing 18 misconduct charges brought by the Bar Standards Board

The lawyer, who charged up to 1,750 per day for his legal services, at first denied buying and supplying the drugs but admitted using them with Miguel, who he met in August 2014.

Hendron admitted dealing the drugs at the Old Bailey in 2016 and was given a 140 hour community work order on May 9 2016.

Parkin was also convicted of drug dealing and was sentenced to 200 hours of community service.

Hendron was suspended from the bar, but escaped a striking off order and is now facing a further string of misconduct charges.

The 40-year-old is accused of behaving in a way which is likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in the profession and in a way which could reasonably be seen by the public to undermine his integrity.

The charges, which are being heard before a panel of the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service (BTAS), relate to alleged incidents that took place between 2016 and 2019.

A former client, senior accountancy advisor Charanpal Matharu told the BTAS today that Hendron and his brother demanded increasing sums of money from him - then sued him when he refused to pay.

Hendron gave detailed instructions to his boyfriend Miguel Jimenez (pictured right), 18, on how to use and package the drugs. He woke up to find Miguel lying dead at his flat in 2015

He complained about Hendron to the Bar Standards Board and the Legal Ombudsman in late 2016.

Neither Hendron's brother Richard, nor his firm Defacto Legal are facing charges by the BSB in relation to this matter.

Mr Matharu had engaged Hendron to represent him in a civil court claim for a fixed fee of 2,400, but he failed to do so.

He then tried to charge the accountant as much as 24,000 and tried to sue him in the small claims court, the tribunal was told.

The action failed because Hendron was on a drugs binge and had not filed the claim forms correctly.

Mr Matharu tried to contact Hendron repeatedly after reading about the criminal proceedings in the Evening Standard, but said he was given a catalogue of excuses by staff at Hendrons firm Defacto Legal.

He then received a short letter saying there had been a restructure and his brother Richard Hendron would represent him.

But three weeks before the civil trial Richard said he was too busy, the tribunal was told.

Employing a new barrister cost the senior accountant a further 4,500.

Former BBC radio producer Alexander Parkin, pictured above, who Henry Hendron bought the 1,000 of mephedrone and GBL from in 2015 to 'deal in bulk' on the gay party scene

Under cross-examination by Hendron, Mr Matharu expressed deep offence that he had been accused of lying to the court about costs after swearing on the Sikh holy book.

He said: You made an allegation that I lied under oath, something I take very seriously, that I committed perjury, that I take very seriously.

I have sworn on the Guru Granth, I take offence that you are saying that I lied.

I had to take legal advice over that, that cost me more money, and then you attempted to sue me.

Explaining the dispute, he said: The first time I became aware that you had criminal proceedings was the day I read it in the Evening Standard on my way home.

I cant remember the date but Im sure you do, at no point had Mr Hendron told me previously, upon engagement.

They provided me with a catalogue of feeble excuses and tried to reassure me that my matter would still go to court under Mr Hendron - that his personal and professional conduct are two different matters.

He told me it was business as usual. But then the brother took up the case.

In 2017 at the Old Bailey (pictured above), Hendron was sentenced for supplying drugs and handed a community order with 18 months' supervision and 140 hours unpaid work (file photo)

My matter had been transferred in what was described to me as restructuring of organisation to Mr Hendrons brother, Mr Matharu said.

I never received anything from his brother, three weeks before trial his brother decided he was too busy to attend my matter - he left me without a barrister.

I had to go on and find another barrister who would be credible enough to go through my matter and represent me at court.

I incurred legal fees that were a duplication and also had to pay Mr Graham Kirk for his attendance in court.

Your brother told me he was too busy and wanted to put my case out to tender because he was too busy.

Mr Matharu said he was asked for increasing sums of money by Hendron.

I feel this is as if you are trying to ridicule me and everyone around you.

It went up to 18,000 and then 24,000. I think Richard Hendron said look give me 3,000 and well call it quits, if you dont do it by 3pm on Friday its 6,000.

I had to instruct a solicitor, that claim was thrown out on a technicality, Mr Hendron had not complied with some technical term.

Henry Hendron was suspended in 2017 after his conviction for drug dealing the previous year

Hendron replied: At the time I was suspended, I wasnt working.

I was on a prolonged drugs binge, I had been seven or eight times in intensive care.

I was not competent to do anything, so I didnt pay much attention to anything.

Laughing, Mr Mathuru said: There was no falling out, you didnt attend court, you didnt complete the bundle.

I had to instruct another barrister, you sued me, Im not sure why Im laughing, it was quite a traumatic experience.

I had a conversation with you and your brother, I wasnt sure who was suing me.

My complaints are an array of complaints around the service he provided and his professional conduct throughout his service - whether he sued me or not I would have made those complaints against him.

Mr Mathuru accused Hendron of trying to ridicule him.

Hendron, when pressed by panel member, barrister Darren Snow, was unable to explain why he tried to charge Mr Matharu additional costs over the agreed 2,400.

He said: What I did then, I had a team of paralegals and assistants, and I operated as a law firm operates.

I was going to court every day around the country and my paralegals would deal with my admin.

I would go on the record for my clients and then Sarah and Sue or Tom would then deal with the day-to-day work.

There is a whole plethora of forms and things.

Hendron yesterday dismissed the charges against him as rubbish but said he failed to bring his papers because he was a rabbit in headlights.

His requests for further adjournment were rejected by the panel who expressed concerns about time passed since the misconduct allegations.

The panel outlined how Hendron had himself caused delays by attempting to strike out proceedings, insisting on an in-person hearing and then raising fears of having Covid.

Hendron said: They sat on evidence, theres no good reason why, they sat on it, non-stop since 2016 when I was suspended.

Its been one thing after another, I batted them off, most of them havent got to the tribunal.

One thing after another, unrelenting, they think they can sit on them for four years and out of the blue they can pursue them.

Why can they delay for four years? It doesnt seem to me to be a right or fair response.

He added: Im not competent to represent myself in these proceedings, you wouldnt believe the hours Ive spent staring at the screen, its overwhelming.

After a pause, Judge Meston asked: Have you approached anyone else to represent you?

Im a bit of a rabbit in the headlights, he answered.

Taking his head out of his hands, he asked for an overnight adjournment to gather papers.

When the judge asked why he hadnt brought them, he said I cant explain, adding most of the charges are rubbish.

For supplying the drugs Hendron was sentenced at the Old Bailey in May 2016 to a community order with 18 months supervision and 140 hours unpaid work.

Hendron previously admitted a charge relating to his conviction and two charges of mismanagement relating to when he was the head of the Strand Chambers.

He was suspended by the BTAS in 2017 for three years following the drug revelations and for not running his chambers adequately.

Hendron was back before the tribunal in 2019 for the decision in whether he harmed public confidence in the profession after failing to pay a debt of 850.

But the further attempt to suspend Hendron was dismissed at the Court of Appeal in June 2020, when the BSB itself admitted it had no jurisdiction because he was already suspended.

He now denies 18 charges of professional misconduct including behaving in a way which is likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in the profession and in a way which could reasonably be seen by the public to undermine his integrity.

The charges, between 2016 and 2019, relate to Hendron conducting litigation, online advertisements, and referring to himself as a barrister, all while suspended from professional practice.

He also denies using inappropriate or threatening language in email correspondence on four occasions between May and July 2017.

The hearing continues.
Sunni Liston was doing what she usually does at the end of her workday: returning dogs to their owners in downtown Portland.

Liston and her husband, Rick Liston, run Coopers Dogpatch, a doggy daycare service that picks up pooches in Portland and takes them to their rural Clackamas County property near Damascus before ferrying them back to the city at the end of the day.

The dropoff near the Wieden+Kennedy building at Northwest 13th Avenue and Davis Street was going according to plan Monday evening. The van was loaded up with 12 kennels and at least one owner had completed a pickup and another had just arrived when Liston got out of the drivers seat to open the rear doors.

She was at the back of the van when she noticed the interior lights turn on.

Someone had just started the engine.

Liston slammed the rear doors shut and started banging on them. But within seconds it was rolling, she told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Along with the 12 dogs in the van, including her own Corgi-heeler mix named Howard, were her purse and cellphone. She had no way to contact anyone. Her heart sank.

Ive been skydiving before when my parachute failed and I had to use the reserve, she said. Ive always stayed calm, but this time I panicked.

A number of Listons clients work at Wieden+Kennedy, and she said one of the owners coming to get a dog alerted the advertising agency, which sent out an email pleading for help. Liston said a small army of dog-lovers responded quickly and was ready to hit the streets.

Meanwhile, Liston used someone elses cellphone to call her employees, Katelynn Border-Collins and Alicia Bennet, back at home.

Border-Collins and Bennet brought up a find-my-phone app on a computer and, on the screen, tracked the van as it circled around downtown for more than 40 minutes as Liston contacted the police.

Eventually, the van came to a stop in the parking lot of an apartment building near where it was taken and Bennet contacted a friend who lived nearby to go and keep it from leaving. The friend spotted the van hidden behind another large vehicle and blocked the exit, then went to flag down a police officer.

By the time the friend returned, the dog-napper had fled with Listons purse and keys, but without the dogs. All of them, including Howard, were safe and sound in the van.

When I got there, some of them were asleep, Liston said, the animals seemingly unaware of the ordeal theyd just gone through. A spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau said police got a call about the situation, but it had been resolved before officers arrived.

Liston said she was humbled by the experience, the way the community quickly rallied to help find the van full of pilfered pooches and the friend who tracked the van to where it was found.

She was especially grateful for the quick thinking of her employees who helped to track the van full of priceless cargo.

If it wasnt for the community, Liston said, we might have lost them all.

-- Kale Williams; kwilliams@oregonian.com; 503-294-4048; @sfkale
During last weeks COVID-19 news conference, Holcomb said while he hasnt read all the amendments to the bill, he has been working with the leadership in the House and Senate. Holcomb said that whatever steps are taken, he wants to make sure whatever we do has to be constitutional.
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Zac Efron revealed on Wednesday he was living in a luxury motorhome while filming Stan Original movie Gold in the South Australian outback.

And on Thursday, the actor's friend Kyle Sandilands confirmed rumours the $140,000 Lotus caravan was a gift from the manufacturer.

While discussing Zac's digs on Thursday's Kyle and Jackie O Show, the 49-year-old radio host said the interior looked like 'a small Gold Coast flat'.

Honest: Zac Efron's radio host pal Kyle Sandilands has confirmed his $140,000 caravan was a gift from the manufacturer - and says it looks like a 'small Gold Coast flat'

'I think it was gifted to him... It looks like a small Gold Coast flat. It's really high end. It's very good,' said Kyle, who attended Zac's 33rd birthday party in Byron Bay in October.

'I think it was what he was staying in [while] in Adelaide in the desert and has brought it back.'

Kyle's co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson then asked if the High School Musical star was living in the motorhome on a long-term basis.

'I think it was gifted to him... It's really high end': Zac revealed on Wednesday he was living in a luxury motorhome while filming Stan Original movie Gold in the South Australian outback

Kyle said it was 'definitely possible', adding: 'I think it's there for him to use when he's on location... He might be. He might've towed it somewhere.'

'I did speak with him but we didn't talk about lodgings... But he loves Australia. It's a good campervan.'

The discussion about Zac's living situation comes after the Hollywood A-lister shared several photos on Instagram on Wednesday of his 'home sweet home'.

He looked like a true blue Aussie as he posed outside the van in an Akubra hat.

He's a local now! He looked like a true blue Aussie as he posed outside the van in an Akubra hat

'Home sweet home,' Zac captioned the post, before thanking the company which had provided the caravan.

The motorhome features a double bed, leather sofa and seating area; pop-up TVs, a cooker and hot water.

He did not reveal whether his girlfriend Vanessa Valladares, 25, was accompanying him on location.

The Stan Original film Gold will be available to stream later this year.

Luxury: Zac's 'home sweet home' features a comfortable double bed, a leather sofa and seating area, pop-up TVs, a cooker and hot water

Room for two: Zac did not reveal whether his girlfriend Vanessa Valladares was accompanying him on location, but she has been spotted regularly visiting him over the past few months
ALBANY  A partnership between the city, Albany County and Mohawk Ambulance Service to bring the coronavirus vaccine directly to the regions homebound seniors will begin this week, officials announced Wednesday.

Jovan Cruz, director of operations for Mohawk Ambulance, said the company is due to receive its first allotment of vaccine for the program on Wednesday and will begin administering doses to Albany Housing Authority residents on Thursday. The effort is one of several steps that local leaders are taking to try and combat social, racial and other inequities that are occurring with the vaccine rollout locally and nationwide.

As the vaccine rollout continues and supply from the federal government increases, we cant lose focus on getting the doses out to our most vulnerable populations, County Executive Dan McCoy said. Our partnership with Mohawk Ambulance Service will bring the vaccine directly to those who are eligible in underserved communities and seniors living in public housing to make sure distribution is equitable.

Related: Region's virus death toll passes 900; vaccine coming to CVS sites

St. Peter's antibody infusion center seeing progress fighting early-stage COVID-19

AG's nursing home report casts light on long-held staffing concerns

Mohawk Ambulances mobile vaccination trailer has been outfitted with a portable freezer capable of storing the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and can hold up to 8,000 doses at a time, Cruz said. The company has also hired an additional 50 staff and has another 25 to 50 people in the queue and ready to help with the effort, he said.

Mohawk Ambulance has invested probably around $100,000 into this program at this point and were looking forward to continuing the program and expanding it as we can get our hands on more vaccines as time comes, he said.

The county, along with Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, announced the partnership with the ambulance service back on Jan. 10, but it required state Health Department approval and limited vaccine supplies prevented it from starting right away.

Cruz said he believes the mobile vaccination clinics will help diversify the pool of people receiving the vaccine, as many of those who have already been vaccinated are white, mobile and technologically savvy.

He said the effort will start with the Housing Authoritys low-income population and expand from there.

We are actually doing the door-to-door, boots on the ground, he said. Were working with the city and the county, these buildings are being notified person-to-person, a direct phone call, a knock on the door. Were inside of their building.

Despite much-talked about efforts to ensure an equitable rollout of the vaccine across racial and ethnic lines, state demographic data released this Sunday show a disproportionate allocation to white residents.

Among the eligible 1A population, for example, 63 percent of vaccine recipients in New York have been white, 16 percent have been Asian, 10 percent have been Black, and another 10 percent have been Hispanic or Latino.

Albany County Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen suggested Wednesday that the county is also seeing an inequitable rollout, though she did not provide specific numbers. One problem is that the signup process to be vaccinated at the countys vaccine clinics is all online, which may not be easy for everybody, she said.

So we have been making outreach within the Black and brown community through the county executives office, through our office, through many community partners and working also on a task force that the (regional vaccine) hub has established to try to figure out how we can best get people to sign up, she said. We have alternate means trying to get lists and contact people to try to get them signed up for a clinic. But that was the first step and the first step was not a huge bang for our buck.

The mobile vaccination clinics should be a big help, she said.

Black and Hispanic community leaders have been working to boost vaccine acceptance in their communities, but are encountering wariness among people who are hesitant to accept a government-provided vaccine due to the nations long history of medical experimentation and discrimination toward Black and Hispanic groups.

Education about the vaccine will be key to boosting vaccination rates in these communities, Whalen said.

Weve been working with many of our Black leaders, the Black Legislative Caucus and others to assist us with outreach within the community to put people at ease, she said. I think when we have the ability and when we get expanded vaccine capabilities to vaccinate leaders that hopefully will be helpful so that people will see people getting vaccinated and know that it's safe.
As a Recent Black Ldn Review Noted, the IPL Hair Removal Kit is "Easy to Use and Brilliant"

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / The founders of Black Ldn, a company that features a number of high-quality skincare devices, including an at home laser hair removal kit, are pleased to announce that they now have hundreds of 5-star reviews posted to their site. In each Black Ldn review, customers report being very pleased with how well the IPL hair removal treatment works.

To learn more about the Black Ldn laser hair removal kit, which some customers have referred to as the best laser hair device money can buy, please check out https://blackldn.com/products/hair-removal-handset.

As a company spokesperson noted, many hair removal kits in 2021 are still more like a "modern medieval torture chamber." From razors that can cut, burn and cause people to bleed and waxing that can be very painful to hair removal creams that may burn, tingle and cause legs to turn red, many women are looking for another option to remove unsightly hair.

This knowledge inspired the founders to offer an Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) laser hair removal treatment that can be safely used at home.

"IPL involves sending out a specific wavelength of light that specifically targets the hair follicles in your skin. It causes them to heat up and damages their ability to regrow," the spokesperson noted, adding that as a bonus, IPL leaves all of the surrounding cells perfectly safe.

"The result is your hair doesn't grow back as quickly, resulting in long periods of hairlessness - up to 4 weeks at a time."

After launching the Black Ldn hair removal kit, the founders were humbled to see how many positive laser hair removal reviews were being posted to the company site.

For instance, in one review, a satisfied customer wrote that it is "A great product, especially in these times. Easy to use and brilliant. Must buy."

The founders share many of the best laser hair removal reviews with their team, so that everyone at the company can see the positive feedback.

In addition to being pleased with the hair removal tool, the spokesperson noted that some of the laser hair removal reviews also praise the 90-day money back guarantee, as well as how it offers a painless and easy solution to hair removal.

As another 5-star review noted, she came back Black Ldn to purchase a second hair removal kit for her daughter.

"I previously bought silk laser hair remover for myself and I'm very happy with it, it has done the job," she wrote.

About Black Ldn:

At Black Ldn, the health and wellness of their customers is their top priority. They have made it their mission to continue carrying innovative products for their customers, including the best skincare tools that will help get complexions glowing. For more information, please visit www.blackldn.com

Contact:

Kelly Smith

Collabs@blvckldn.com

07957704533

SOURCE: Black Ldn

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627938/Black-Ldn-Has-Now-Received-Hundreds-of-5-Star-Reviews-for-their-Home-Laser-Hair-Removal-Kit
Dominic Ongwen declared guilty of war crimes and crimes against Humanity committed in Uganda
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wll meet the family of late Navreet Singh in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur district on Thursday, who died in an accident during the Kisan tractor rally in New Delhi on the Republic Day.

"We've come to know that a farmer Navneet ji who came from Canada and was participating in protest peacefully, was shot at by Police and lost his life, during tractor rally. Priyanka Gandhi ji will meet his family at his residence in Rampur today, "Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kr Lallu said.

Rahul Gandhi is unlikely to accompany Priyanka due to the ongoing Parliament session in New Delhi.

The Congress Party has been continuously supporting the farmers' movement against the government's new agricultural laws and have demanded their repeal.

On Republic Day, farm unions were given permission to hold a tractor yatra but a group of farmers broke through police barricades and entered the ITO area clashed with police.

Navneet Singh died in the clash after his tractor overturned after ramming into a barricade. Delhi Police had released CCTV footage showing the farmer's tractor overturning after ramming into barricades at ITO.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has conducted three press conferences in the last 15 days and had put forth the demand of repealing the farm laws.

According to a leader familiar with the programme, other leaders from Uttar Pradesh will also accompany Gandhi on her visit. It is not yet clear whether she has sought and obtained the permission of the local administration.

Congress has been continuously maintaining its stand on Farm Laws against the government and demanding a repeal of the laws. Parliament was reconvened on Wednesday after protests on issues related to farmers by Opposition and multiple adjournments of both Houses.

(ANI)

Also Read: Congress, opposition parties give suspension notice in RS over farmers agitation
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal who coordinated the visit said she was shocked to see the treatment being meted out to the farmers

Fifteen MPs from 10 Opposition parties were stopped by the police from reaching the farmers' protest site on Thursday when they visited the Ghazipur border of Delhi, leaders said.

Security has been tightened at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, one of the key protest sites where thousands of farmers are camping since November demanding from the Central Government to repeal three agri-marketing laws enacted last September.

According to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal who coordinated the visit, the leaders were not allowed to cross the barricades and reach the protest site.

"See the high handedness of the BJP-led GOI even against the MPs! We were forced to alight three kilometres from the peaceful protest site. But we are undeterred. We are determined to see the conditions first hand and force the govt into action," Harsimrat said in a tweet.

In another tweet, she said: "Even MPs are not being allowed to meet peacefully protesting farmers. This is truly a black day for democracy!"

The SAD leader, a former Union minister who resigned in protest against the three farm laws, also said she was shocked to see the treatment being meted out to the farmers.

Saw first hand the conditions created at #ghazipurborder. Shocked to see the treatment being meted out to the annadaata. Farmers are barricaded behind fortress like concrete barriers & barbed wire fencing. Even ambulances & fire brigades cannot enter the protest site. pic.twitter.com/p8k6rbuIsE  Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) February 4, 2021

Today 15 MPs representing different political parties from Kashmir to Kanyakumari went to #GhazipurBorder to express solidarity with farmers & demand imm repeal of the 3 hated #FarmLaws. We also demand an end to atrocities being meted out to peacefully agitating farmers. pic.twitter.com/bvilkFFiLM  Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) February 4, 2021

According to a report in The Indian Express, Harsimrat said, We are here so that we can discuss this issue in the Parliament. The Speaker is not letting us raise the issue. Now all the parties will give details of what is happening here."

Besides Badal, Supriya Sule from the NCP, Kanimozhi and Tiruchi Siva from the DMK, Saugata Roy from the TMC were part of the delegation. Members of the National Conference, RSP, and the IUML were also part of it.

Sule also said the MPs were stopped from meeting the farmers.

"The entire road has been closed from all sites like a fort. It is as if the Central Government has decided to deny food, water and other necessities to agitating farmers. I condemn the Union government for this," she said in another tweet.

Earlier in the day, referring to videos and photos of workers removing the nails near the Ghazipur border on social media, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Deepak Yadav said the nails are just being "repositioned" and asserted that the security arrangements at the border will remain the same.

During a discussion in the Parliament on Wednesday, several Opposition parties asked the Central Government to withdraw the three contentious farm laws without making it a prestige issue and not to treat the agitating farmers as "enemies".

The protesting farmers have expressed the apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.

However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.

Eleven rounds of formal talks between the Centre and the protesting farmer unions have failed to break the deadlock. While unions have stuck to their main demand of repeal of the laws and legal guarantee of MSP, the government has offered some concessions including keeping these laws on hold for 1-1.5 years.

The Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of the laws for two months and set up a panel to look into the matter.

With inputs from PTI
Longtime Merck executive Ken Frazier, whose leadership helped bring the drugmaker one of the most lucrative medicines in history and who is one of the few remaining Black CEOs of a major corporation, is retiring.

FILE - In this July 20, 2017 file photo, Ken Frazier, chairman and chief executive officer of Merck speaks, with President Donald Trump at left, during an event to announce a Merck, Pfizer, and Corning joint partnership to make glass containers for medication, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, in Washington. Merck announced Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, that Frazier, will retire on July 1. He will be replaced by Rob Davis, the chief financial officer. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Longtime Merck executive Ken Frazier, whose leadership helped bring the drugmaker one of the most lucrative medicines in history and who is one of the few remaining Black CEOs of a major corporation, is retiring.

Frazier, Mercks CEO since early 2011 and an advocate for minority advancement who took on then-President Trumps tacit support of white supremacists, will retire on June 30.

Frazier, 66, will be replaced by Rob Davis, the chief financial officer since 2014, the company said Thursday as it announced quarterly financial results. Frazier will become executive chairman of the board during a transition period. The change comes just months after Dr. Dean Li took over as head of Merck's research and development.

Frazier joined Merck, now based in Kenilworth, New Jersey, in 1992 as general counsel to one of the company's pharmaceutical businesses and worked his way up to the top job. He is one of the few Black CEOs at the head of a Fortune 500 company.

Last month, when Walgreens named Roz Brewer as its new CEO, there were four. With Frazier's departure, that number is back down to three.

Black people make up 12.8% of the U.S. population but only 0.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs are African-American. They earn 10% of all college degrees and hold 8% of professional positions, but only 3.2% of all senior-level roles at Fortune 500 companies, according to Coqual, a think-tank that studies workplace diversity.

The main reason companies have few Black CEOs is that many rely on long-held perceptions of who has the skills to move into leadership roles, said Adia Harvey Wingfield, a sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Usually those images are not people of colour, and usually theyre not of white women, said Harvey Wingfield, who has researched racial and gender inequity in professional occupations. Whats unspoken is these people are usually white men.

Corporate policies about making promotions often are unclear, and research shows that Black workers are less likely to enter departments that channel workers into leadership roles, she said. If you run a company and your view is just that implicitly you dont see Black people as suitable for those types of jobs, chances are its going to be more difficult for them to get those types of jobs, Harvey Wingfield said.

Last year, researchers at Stanford Universitys Graduate School of Business studied the race, ethnicity and gender of employees who directly report to the CEOs of Fortune 100 companies. They found that women and people of colour largely were not in positions that were responsible for leading a unit that reported a profit or loss, said David Larcker, a professor who took part in the study. Most CEOs, he said, are promoted after showing a record of posting profits.

Under-represented groups were in functional areas that were very unlikely to result in promotion to CEO or board positions, Larcker said.

Many people of colour and women had jobs in human resources or other cost centre areas that companies dont usually mine for CEO or board positions, he said. But establishing why that happens is far more difficult, Larcker said.

There are lots of explanations, discrimination is one, he said. There has to be lots of great talent and highly educated and high-energy, good ethics, across all genders and races."

Corporate America needs to change its perception of who is qualified to be a manager, and that can be done with leadership training programs that focus on advancing leaders of colour, Harvey Wingfield said. They can also match promising Black employees with mentors rather than leaving it up to the employees to form relationships that could lead to promotions, she said.

At Merck, Frazier clashed with then-President Donald Trump over his refusal to condemn violence by the white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.

Americas leaders must honour our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy," Frazier said at the time.

He stepped down from the president's manufacturing council and was attacked repeatedly by Trump on Twitter the same day. Other executives followed and the council was quickly disbanded.

Frazier spoke out publicly about inequality in the U.S. again last year during the protests that followed the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Frazier said it could just as easily have been him.

Frazier, a social justice advocate who has won awards from the NAACP and the National Minority Quality Forum, co-founded OneTen, a coalition of organizations committed to training and promoting one million Black Americans into family-sustaining jobs.

A Harvard-trained lawyer who grew up in a poor, rough Philadelphia neighbourhood, Frazier was instrumental in successfully defending Merck against an avalanche of lawsuits after its 2004 recall of painkiller Vioxx for causing heart attacks and strokes.

He also helped orchestrate arguably the best deal Merck ever made, its $41 billion acquisition of fellow New Jersey drugmaker Schering-Plough in 2009. That deal primarily was targeted at getting the company's Organon women's health business, which Merck now is in the process of spinning off to boost growth by both companies after the split.

But Schering-Plough's research labs had a hidden gem that, once discovered and developed, became the world's leading cancer immunotherapy drug, Keytruda.

None of us were smart enough to know what we had in pembrolizumab, Keytruda's chemical name, Frazier said during a conference call with analysts Thursday.

Keytruda now generates $14 billion in annual sales  more than a quarter of Merck's revenue. It's approved for dozens of cancer types and patient groups, including two approvals in the fourth quarter, and currently is being tested in about 1,400 studies for additional uses.

More recently, Merck executed about 120 deals last year, including one to buy cancer drug developer VelosBio to further expand Mercks cancer drug franchise. Both Frazier and Davis said Merck will continue its focus on driving growth through innovative science, rather than megadeals partly meant to cut costs.

Merck, one of the worlds top vaccine makers, announced last week it was scrapping its two COVID-19 vaccine candidates, because the immune responses they triggered in volunteers in early testing were inferior to those reported with natural infection and the results of other companies' experimental vaccines, Li said. However, Merck is continuing to test a pair of potential treatments for the new coronavirus and should have some study results in the next few months.

Merck reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.09 billion, or 83 cents per share, partly due to a $2.7 billion charge for buying VelosBio. Adjusted income came to $3.4 billion, or $1.32 per share, well short of the $1.38 Wall Street expected.

A year earlier, Merck posted net income of $2.36 billion, or 92 cents per share.

Overall revenue was $12.51 billion, up 5% from a year earlier, but shy of the $12.67 billion projected by analysts. Keytruda sales came in just under $4 billion in the quarter, up 28% from a year earlier.

In afternoon trading, Merck shares were down $1.28, or 1.7%, at $76.03. Share prices have more than doubled, and revenue has nearly doubled, under Frazier as CEO.

Merck & Co. said it expects earnings per share for 2021 to range between $5.52 and $5.72. It expects revenue for the year of $51.8 billion to $53.8 billion. Analysts were expecting $6.30 per share and revenue of $51.66 billion, on average.

However, the company said those estimates will change if the long-planned spinoff of its Organon subsidiary occurs in the second quarter as planned. Merck also said that it expects the pandemics impact will cut 2021 revenue by 2%.

AP Business Writer Tom Krisher contributed to this report from Detroit. Follow Linda A. Johnson at https://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma
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Slowthai has hit out at cancel culture, saying it kills all art and creativity.

The Northampton rapper, 26, spoke of how he found being in the public eye suffocating and admitted it had affected both his confidence and mental health.

Slowthai, real name Tyron Frampton, shot to fame with the release of his debut album Nothing Great About Britain in 2019 but made headlines and suffered criticism after a number of public stunts.

His follow-up album, titled Tyron and due for release this month, reflects on his own mental health and the importance of community.

He told the PA news agency: People are just so much more critical when you are in the public eye fully.

It can be suffocating because if you are scared to be yourself because of what people think of you, you wont be confident in your abilities, you wont be confident in your personality.

Thats part of the reason it leads to such problems in mental health because people are so judgemental and quick to rub people out, that people are scared to fully be themselves.

That is the problem with it. It kills art.

It kills all creativity because freedom of speech is something that is annihilated by a pack wolves on the internet, or more a pack of hyenas because they are like scavengers.

Expand Close Slowthai with an effigy of Boris Johnsons severed head at the Mercury Prize ceremony (Tasha@skinofthesea/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Slowthai with an effigy of Boris Johnsons severed head at the Mercury Prize ceremony (Tasha@skinofthesea/PA)

They aint got nothing more interesting in their life to feed on so they thrive off one thing.

They will still be talking about it without being advocates for change anyway.

Slowthai made headlines after he posed with an effigy of Boris Johnsons severed head at the Mercury Prize ceremony in 2019.

The artist, whose debut was nominated for the prestigious album award, later said his act was merely metaphorical, and said he does not advocate violence.

He also apologised to comedian Katherine Ryan for his shameful actions on stage at the NME Awards in 2020.

The rapper, who was awarded the hero of the year prize at the ceremony, had asked her to smell his cologne, referred to her as baby girl and also put his arm around her waist in front of the audience.

Expand Close Slowthai on the red carpet at the NME Awards (David Parry/PA) / Facebook

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Slowthai said he was making an effort to improve himself following those incidents.

He said: No one can control my destiny at the end of the day.

As long as I am taking the steps to better myself and learn from every mistake  and you have to make mistakes to learn from them.

People cant ruin me ever.

I will never allow it to happen.

I will just come back stronger.

If you lose a fight you go and train 10 times harder.

You train until you break your hands, until you have seen every blip, every mistake you made, and you get it corrected.

There is nothing no one can bring you down about.

I have learned from everything.

Tyron is released on February 12.
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According to Stratistics MRC, the Global 3D Magnetic Sensor Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.7% during the forecast period. Some of the key factors influencing the market are growiing in automotive industry and unceasing growth in consumer electronics. However, Lengthy design phase increases time-to-market and falling average selling prices (ASPS) of sensor components affecting new market entrants hampers the market growth of 3D magnetic sensor market.

3D magnetic sensor is a sensor that is able to detect magnetic signals in X, Y, and, Z directions. It supports wide measurement range with high resolution in 3D detection and captures magnetic fields in 3-dimensions. The sensor family is ideally suited for the measurement of three dimensional movement within a magnetic field, linear slide movement as well as 360 degrees angle rotation.

Based on Technology, Hall Effect Sensors segment is constantly enhancing as the Hall Effect sensor is a device that is used to measure the magnitude of a magnetic field. Its output voltage is directly proportional to the magnetic field strength through it. Hall Effect sensors are used for proximity sensing, positioning, speed detection, and current sensing applications.

By Geography, Asia Pacific is anticipated to exhibit the considerable growth due to increase in demand for consumer electronic devices such as laptops, smartphones, and cameras are driving the growth of the market in this region. The implementation of a wide range of sensors, even in budget smartphones, and the growing demand for fitness bands are the key factors driving the market in APAC.

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 Europe

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o South Africa

o Rest of Middle East & Africa

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(TNS)  Georgia state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, has introduced a handful of election reform bills he said are aimed at securing the state's election process.Mullis announced a total of seven bills to "secure the right to vote and ensure that the will of the people is properly reflected in our election results."If the proposals pass the General Assembly, the state would get rid of its no-excuse absentee voting, require those who are eligible for absentee voting to submit a form of ID and ban ballot drop boxes, among other things.Another bill states that if a voter relocates to Georgia after a November general election that person could not participate in any resulting runoff election. "Our recent General Election this past November highlighted a few areas of our state's election system that require urgent attention," Mullis said in a statement. "Our right to vote is one of the most sacred and cherished practices of our democratic republic. When Georgians do not trust that their voices are properly being heard, we owe it to them to address their concerns and find the proper solutions to restore their confidence in the process."In a statement, Fair Fight  the voting rights group led by Stacey Abrams  called the set of bills an "unhinged set of voter suppression legislation from a radical Senate Republican leadership" that "appears intended to appease conspiracy theorists like those who stormed the Capitol last month.""Republicans wrote Georgia's election laws, but they were humiliated on November 3 and January 5," the statement reads. "They are seeking, transparently, to silence Georgians, particularly communities of color, who exercised their power to change Georgia. Fair Fight and our allies are prepared to fight every Republican attempt to roll back voting rights."Mullis is again the legislature's chair of the influential Senate Rules Committee, which decides what bills make it to the floor for consideration.The seven bills are: SB 68: Would clarify "where and how absentee ballots may be delivered" as well as ban the use of drop boxes, which are monitored 24/7 and were installed as a response to the coronavirus pandemic after counties were forced to operate fewer polling places. The bill has 12 co-sponsors. SB 69: Would get rid of the state's automatic voter registration and instead create a voter's registration when voters file any kind of paperwork at their Department of Motor Vehicles service location. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, often has lauded the automatic voter registration system now in place. The bill has 10 co-sponsors. SB 70: Would prohibit voters who move to Georgia after a general election from voting in a following runoff election in the same election cycle. The bill has 11 co-sponsors. SB 71: Would require that a voter provide an authorized reason to vote by absentee ballot, hence getting rid of the no-excuse absentee voting rules Georgia has. Georgians have been able to vote absentee without an excuse since a Republican-controlled legislature approved the practice in 2005, though it was not widely used until this year after the pandemic struck. In December, Raffensperger told a state legislative committee that no-excuse absentee voting "makes no sense" when the state offers weeks of in-person early voting. The bill has nine co-sponsors. SB 72: Would "enhance" the process of discovering and removing deceased voters from voter registration records. According to Georgia Public Broadcasting, state law already requires the secretary of state's office to receive monthly updates of deaths and remove deceased voters. This new bill would push those requirements down to the county level. The bill has 11 co-sponsors. SB 73: Would only allow the secretary of state's office, county elections officials, candidates or candidate campaign committees to send out paper absentee ballot applications to voters. That would mean third-party and nonprofit groups would not be able to send mailers from either party. The bill has 13 co-sponsors. SB 74: Would expand access for partisan poll watchers to view the vote-counting process, among other things.An eighth bill  SB 67  would require Georgians (those who are not military or overseas voters) to include either their driver's license or state ID number on the absentee voting application or include a photocopy of an acceptable voter ID they would need to show to vote in person. The bill has 26 sponsors. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by freshman lawmaker Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas.On the other side of the aisle, Georgia Democrats introduced a bill that would make Election Day a holiday. It has 20 co-sponsors.Mullis was among a number of Georgia Republicans to criticize certain counties and cities in Georgia for what he called "lawlessness by the far left" as mail-in ballots were counted after Election Day in November.On Nov. 5, Mullis released a statement thanking poll workers in Northwest Georgia for upholding the integrity of the election. He then said other parts of the state weren't doing the same."From allegedly counting ballots that arrived late in Chatham County, to dismissing poll watchers in Fulton County then [resuming] so called vote counting, to other suspect events in the metro-Atlanta area, the actions to undermine and steal this election by Democrat operatives is appalling," Mullis said. "Actions just like this are taking place all over America. Some states are not even allowing poll watchers to view the counting process and we have seen ballots from people who have been deceased."At the time of Mullis' statement, a Chatham County Superior Court judge had already thrown out a lawsuit brought by then-President Donald Trump and the state GOP that alleged votes came in late. They all came in on time, according to the judge.The Georgia Secretary of State's Office reported two people who were deceased cast ballots, including one from Dade County.Mullis was also one of dozens of Republicans from Georgia who signed onto Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's failed lawsuit, found to be filled with inaccuracies, that sought to invalidate Georgia's votes in the presidential election before the U.S. Supreme Court.On Nov. 13, Mullis made another statement when the Associated Press declared Joe Biden the winner of Georgia's electoral votes."I think it is important to remember that until the re-count(s) are completed, and legal challenges are settled, the results in Georgia are not final," Mullis wrote at the time. "This is simply another attempt by the fake news media to pressure conservatives into submission. Media elitists don't decide our elections, the people do."Three recounts were made soon after, every lawsuit filed by Trump's legal team in Georgia was dropped and the people of Georgia did indeed elect Joe Biden, as well as Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff."I hope that these bills will serve as a starting point to begin the conversation on how we can improve elections in our state," Mullis said.
Tom Hallberg covers a little bit of everything, from skiing to long-form feature stories. A Teton Valley, Idaho, transplant by way of Portland and Bend, Oregon, he spends his time outside work writing fiction, splitboarding and climbing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has met with a group of ambassadors from the Group of Seven (G7) and the European Union to defend his governments decision to shut several television channels controlled by a Russia-linked magnate, a move supported by Washington but questioned by Brussels and slammed by Moscow.



Zelenskiy told the group in Kyiv on February 3 that the decision to block the 112, NewsOne, and ZIK channels was justified by the need to "fight against the danger of Russian aggression in the information arena."



Relations between Ukraine and Russia deteriorated in 2014 after Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula and began supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine. The conflict, now in its seventh year, has killed more than 13,200 people.



The now-blocked channels are believed to belong to Viktor Medvedchuk, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuks daughter. Medvedchuk supports the Opposition Platform for Life, a political party that is popular in Ukraine's southeast and holds a minority in the Ukrainian parliament.



"Sanctions against the media are always a difficult decision for any government except an authoritarian one. This decision was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but one that had been in the works, based on information over a long time from many Ukrainian government agencies. This is by no means an attack on freedom of speech, this is a well-founded decision to protect national security," Zelenskiy said.



According to Zelenskiy, the sanctioned TV channels have long been actively used for disinformation campaigns in Ukraine aimed at undermining reforms and Ukraine's course toward European and Euro-Atlantic integration.



"Ukraine has perhaps the largest concentration of free broadcasters and media in the region," Zelenskiy said, adding that the Ukrainian authorities were acting in strict accordance with the law.

The three blocked TV channels, which broadcast mainly in Ukrainian, issued a statement denouncing the ban as "political repression." Medvedchuk called the presidential order illegal and said he would appeal.



"With one stroke of a pen, Zelenskiy threw out 1,500 journalists and other employees of the three stations into the street and deprived millions of people of the right to receive objective information," he said in a statement.



The U.S. Embassy voiced support for Ukraine's efforts "to counter Russia's malign influence, in line with Ukrainian law, in defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity."



"We must all work together to prevent disinformation from being deployed as a weapon in an information war against sovereign states," it said in a statement on Facebook.



Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the blocking of the three stations as a violation of media freedom and of international standards.



"The authorities' decision to impose such restrictions on the media should be in the focus of attention of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other international organizations," Peskov said during a conference call with reporters on February 3.



The EU questioned the move, suggesting it could sacrifice media freedom in Ukraine.



In a written statement on February 3, a spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said that "while Ukraine's efforts to protect its territorial integrity and national security, as well as to defend itself from information manipulation are legitimate, in particular given the scale of disinformation campaigns affecting Ukraine including from abroad, this should not come at the expense of freedom of media and must be done in full respect of fundamental rights and freedoms and following international standards."



The statement added that "any measures taken should be proportional to the aim" and that Brussels would be in touch with Ukrainian authorities to receive more information on the issue.
OUTGOING Miss Namibia Nadja Breytenbach recently received much attention from the international community.

This came after The Namibian posted a video of Breytenbach talking about her year as Miss Namibia and her future plans on social media.Some commentators were not impressed by the fact that Breytenbach is not black, and others complained about her physical appearance.

Comments included "Miss Namibia is a white woman", "She is not cute", and "Why are the Germans still in Namibia?".

Breytenbach was not willing to comment on the matter. "After being updated on what's been happening, I would rather not feed any negativity. Pageantry is about uplifting and supporting women of all ages and races. I am looking forward to doing more interviews to support this," she said.

Umbi Karuaihe-Upi, the national director of the Miss Namibia competition, expressed her disappointment over the incident, saying she was shocked by the lack of knowledge of some Namibians. "These are ignorant comments. We are a multicultural country and it's sad to see many people don't know this. We do not only have black and white people, but many different races. So, why should only a certain race win the Miss Namibia pageant?" she said.

Karuaihe-Upi urged people to do research on Namibia and the pageant before commenting. "When you look at the pageant's history, you will see that women from different races have won the title thus far. Beauty is not determined by a certain race. We are all beautiful," she said.

Karuaihe-Upi said cyberbullying will always exist, and the organisers of the competition are constantly finding ways to prepare contestants for this. "People on social media will always write whatever they want to. We cannot stop them. We urge contestants to be strong and grow a thick skin. No one can control what people write on social media, but you can control how you react. When you step into the limelight people will always judge you, so always be prepared for criticism," she said.

She said winners are selected based on a pageantry guide, and it is not fair to criticise someone simply because they are not your favourite.

Karuaihe-Upi said Namibia should embrace diversity. "We are all different. Let's find the things that unite us, and not divide us. Let's find the beauty of our different cultures," she said.
Motorists are being allowed to buy green number plates meant for electric vehicles without any checks on whether they are entitled to them, it has emerged.

In an embarrassing revelation for the government, some suppliers of the new style registration plate are selling them to drivers with diesel and petrol cars.

The plates were launched by Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, in December as part of the government's plan to meet net zero carbon commitment by 2050.

They have a green rectangle on the left side and are on sale for under 20, allow motorists free access to clean air zones and entitle them to cheaper parking.

In an embarrassing revelation for the government, some suppliers of the new style registration plate, introduced by Grants Shapps in December, are selling them to drivers with diesel and petrol cars without checking their documents

But motoring association the AA say they have found major suppliers offering plates without asking drivers to prove their car qualifies by handing out a V5C document.

According to The Telegraph, Show Plates Express, one online supplier of the green plates, says: 'You don't need to send us your V5C or similar documentation when you order replacement plates from us.

'This saves you substantial amounts of time and money and means you don't have to worry about your essential paperwork being lost in the post.

'Another great reason for choosing us over our competitors is that you don't even need to leave your front door to order your plates, which are up to 50 per cent cheaper than high street counterparts.'

The plates have a green rectangle on the left side and are on sale for under 20, allow motorists free access to clean air zones and entitle them to cheaper parking

When MailOnline checked the company's website the section on 'No need to send documentation' appeared to have been removed.

It is believed this illegal trade is part of a wider issue in the industry of companies allowing criminals and others to clone vehicle registration numbers to avoid being caught by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (APNR) cameras.

A legal loophole for plate outlets is said to exist by registering their business abroad t that enables them to disregard UK laws requiring checks on ownership.

Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, described the finding as 'extremely worrying'.

He added that if number plate companies were able to continue selling green number plates to petrol or diesel motorists then there could be a 'Wild West situation on our hands'.

A DVLA Spokesperson said: 'It is illegal for motorists to incorrectly display a number plate and those breaking the law could be fined up to 1000.

'Motorists can only get a number plate made up from a registered supplier and we are working closely with the police and other enforcement agencies to tackle the illegal supply of number plates.'
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Coronavirus cases are continuing to dramatically decline across the United States with fewer than one million infections recorded in a week for the first time in two months.

Over the last seven days, from January 28 to February 3, 934,661 COVID-19 cases were reported in the U.S., a DailyMail.com analysis shows.

This is the first time that the weekly total has been six figures since early November when a total of 962,560 cases were recorded between November 7 and November 14.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, a total of 119,235 new infections were recorded with a seven-day rolling average of 128,333, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, which marks the 22nd day in a row that the average has fallen.

Overall, the U.S. has confirmed more than 36.5 million cases, but infections are down 47 percent from three weeks ago, federal and state data reveal.

Forty-four states are seeing a decline in cases, Johns Hopkins data shows, with just Alabama, Louisiana, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia, on the upswing.

Additionally, 91,440 Americans are hospitalized with COVID-19, the lowest figure seen since November 28 and a 29 percent drop from three weeks ago, according to The COVID Tracking Project.

Deaths still remain high with 3,796 fatalities recorded yesterday - the highest since January 13 - for a total death toll of 451,4551.

But new models from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predict that February could see 38,000 fewer deaths than last month.

Weekly coronavirus infections have fallen below one million for the first time since November 14 with 934,661 COVID-19 cases reported in the U.S. from January 28 to February 3

On Thursday, 119,235 new infections were recorded with a seven-day rolling average of 128,333, which is the 22nd straight day in a row the average has fallen

A total of 91,440 Americans are hospitalized with COVID-19, the lowest figure seen since November 28 and a 29 percent drop from three weeks ago

Forty-four states are seeing a decline in cases, Johns Hopkins data reveals, with just Alabama, Louisiana, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia, on the upswing

However, deaths still remain high with 3,796 recorded yesterday - the highest since January 13 - for a death toll of 451,455

The COVID-19 Tracking Project says it is watching the trends in a few states that were, at one point in time each, the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S. such as California and Arizona.

On Wednesday, a total of 10,501 cases were reported in The Golden State.

'We haven't seen a number like this in quite some time,' California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr Mark Ghaly said during a press conference.

Cases have declined nearly 50 percent over the last two weeks based on an analysis of the seven-day rolling averages.

In mid-January, an average of 42,000 new cases were reported each day two weeks ago to just over 21,000 new cases a day yesterday.

Additionally, a total of 14,578 residents are hospitalized with the virus, a 36 percent decline from a peak of 22,836 on January 7.

The declining number of cases and hospitalizations have led Governor Gavin Newsom to declare that he believers schools can safety return to in-person learning as teachers receive their vaccinations.

'I want to safely reopen schools,' Newsom said during a press conference on Wednesday.

'I don't want to do it episodically. I want to do it in a sustainable way. I believe you can safely reopen schools in this environment.'

However, daily deaths still remain high with 481 reported on Tuesday and the risk of transmission is not as low health officials would like.

Still, transmission remains quite high in most California communities.

'The chance for another surge in California is real. It's still circulating in our communities,' Ghaly said.

'Our case rates are down but not low.'

In California, an average of 42,000 new cases were reported each day two weeks ago to just over 21,000 new cases a day yesterday while hospitalizations have dclined 36 percent decline from a peak of 22,836 on January 7.

In Arizona, total case counts are down around 28 percent from two weeks ago, the seven-day rolling average currently sits at 63.7 cases per 100,000 people,

In nearby Arizona, the state's outbreak is continuing to alleviate, even though the rate of the decline is not as quick as the one seen in California.

On Wednesday, the state reported 2,200 cases due to COVID-19.

Total case counts are down around 28 percent from two weeks ago, the seven-day rolling average currently sits at 63.7 cases per 100,000 people, according to the CDC.

The figure is high, but Arizona has gone from being first in the nation for seven-day, new-case average to third now behind Texas, which is first and South Carolina, which is second.

Hospitalizations are also on the decline with 3,546 patients, which is a 30 percent decline from the record 5,082 hospitalizations that were recorded on January 12, COVID Tracking Project data reveals.

'We continue to see a gradual decline in COVID-19 metrics in Arizona,' said Dr Marjorie Bessel, Chief Clinical Officer at Banner Health- a nonprofit healthcare system based in Phoenix - according to Fox 10 Phoenix.

However, she noted there is still work to be done to reduce ICU capacity and case counts.

'Personal accountability is so important. We cannot let our guard down, we should not get too optimistic about our cases declining,' Bessel said.

A new CDC model ensemble forecast projects the U.S. coronavirus death toll will be between 496,000 and 534,000 by the week ending February 27 (above)

The forecast also predicts that between 11,300 and 22,600 deaths from the virus will be reported each week for the next four weeks (above)

It comes as the CDC published new 'ensemble' forecasts, which combines 37 independent forecasts of coronavirus deaths over the next four weeks into one projection.

On the low end of the projection, the forecast suggests that 496,000 deaths could be reported by February 27, which is 38,679 fewer COVID-10 deaths than the 93,435 fatalities that were reported in January.

But on the high end of the projection, the death toll could rise of as many as 534,000 deaths, which would mean February would record just 679 fewer deaths than were recorded in January.

The forecast also predicts that between 11,300 and 22,600 deaths from the virus will be reported each week for the next four weeks.

If the death toll reaches 534,000, it means more people in the U.S. will have died from COVID-19 than the number of people who live in Atlanta.

The figure will also be greater than the number of lives lost in the U.S. to Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, the flu, pneumonia and strokes combined.

America's death toll is the highest in the world despite the country accounting for less than five percent of the global population.
Republicans Seek to Exploit Big Lie About 2020 Election

In Arizona, Kelli Ward has joined multiple lawsuits challenging the November Presidential vote in her state, echoing Donald Trumps claims of election fraud.
The Illinois Public Health Association (IPHA), in partnership with the Illinois Primary Health Care Association (IPHCA), announced a call for letters of interest for community-based organizations to participate in the COVID-19 Pandemic Health Navigator Program (PHNP).

The IPHA, which is the oldest and largest public health association in the state of Illinois, was awarded a grant in late 2020 by the Illinois Department of Public Health to coordinate resources in Regions 2-9 of the 11 Illinois COVID-19 regions for the most vulnerable populations impacted by the pandemic.

Madison County is eligible for part of the approximately $5 million grant available to fund community-based organizations in Region 4 as part of the Pandemic Health Navigator Program.

Federally Qualified Health Centers, which are community-based health care providers that receive funds from the HRSA Health Center Program to provide primary care services in underserved areas, are also eligible for the program.

The program is expected to launch in mid-February.

Health assistance should come from the community itself and representative of the community it serves, said Tracey Smith, Director of Programs and Community Health at the IPHA.

The program aims to serve ethnic minorities, seniors, people with disabilities, the homeless and others in four different ways:

 Address unmet community needs in coordination with local, regional and state partners.

 Provide COVID-19 education and outreach to communities and impacted populations.

 Ease the navigation of care resource coordination for regional COVID-impacted residents.

 Assist with contact tracing support to the Illinois Contact Tracing Collaborative.

With this grant, Smith said that community-based organizations can rely on a multi-prong approach to tackling COVID-19.

For example, community organizations can provide COVID-19 education through unique methods in order to reach a greater population. Such methods include the use of billboards or translating materials for individuals with limited English, or helping individuals who need to quarantine get groceries.

Throughout the state, weve seen so many people that dont have others around to help them so they are unable to quarantine fully, so Navigators can help with that, Smith said.

Navigators recruited by community-based groups are paid a living wage with benefits for the duration of the program.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that there is increasing evidence that some racial and ethnic minority groups are being disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and the best way to achieve health equity is to remove barriers to give everyone a fair opportunity to be as healthy as possible, which is a goal of the Pandemic Health Navigator Program.

However, Smith said the disparity has been present since before the pandemic.

There were not all of a sudden a bunch of inequities when COVID-19 started, they were already there, she said. But pandemics and natural disasters hit hard on these communities. When you lose a job or are forced to quarantine for two weeks without pay. How do you pay rent, then?

Smith believes utilizing community groups that regularly serve in the region results in an effective grassroots approach.

We want to represent all of the people in Illinois and have their voice in this fight. So we can truly get through this pandemic, she said.

Community-based groups that wish to apply or get more information can reach out to Lynden Schuyler, IPHA Regional Lead for Region 4, at 618-960-7762 or lschuyler@ipha.com
Winnipeg firefighters implicated in a racist incident in which they refused to treat an Indigenous woman last fall continue to be dispatched to medical calls.

Winnipeg firefighters implicated in a racist incident in which they refused to treat an Indigenous woman last fall continue to be dispatched to medical calls.

The City of Winnipeg won't say what disciplinary action, if any, has been taken against the four firefighters, but three sources have told the Free Press they continue to be sent to calls despite a damning report last week.

An independent probe concluded there was a failure to provide proper medical care to the 23-year-old woman who had stabbed herself in the throat, and ensure timely transportation to hospital during the Oct. 7, 2020, call in the North End.

The investigator concluded the firefighters were guilty of ignoring the instructions of a paramedic, who was the chief medical authority at the scene. They failed to prioritize patient care, delayed the patients transportation to the hospital, and then colluded to obstruct the probe into their conduct.

Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service Chief John Lane says some aspects of the report will be dealt with internally and are not for public discussion. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

Those actions, the investigator said, were likely motivated by a combination of "implicit racial bias" against the patient and "racial animus" against a paramedic on the call, who was also a person of colour.

In addition, the firefighters were likely retaliating against the paramedic, since he was known to have filed repeated complaints about racism within the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, including against one of the firefighters on the call.

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Chief John Lane addressed the issue at a news conference Wednesday, following publication of the Free Press story that reported the investigations findings.

"Its disappointing any time you hear of situations where racism is being alleged or described, but it shouldnt surprise us. Sadly, we know racism exists in a systemic way throughout Canada and through every level of government," Bowman said.

"Clearly, this kind of investigation was warranted Obviously, the findings that are being reported are disturbing and they should offend everyone. Lets not shy away from that."

Lane refused to discuss certain findings made by the investigator, Laurelle Harris of Equitable Solutions, while placing emphasis upon others, such as the fact the incident wasnt considered to be an example of "explicit anti-Indigenous racism," but rather "implicit bias."

Mayor Brian Bowman says the contents of the report should offend everyone. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

When asked why he would only publicly discuss certain aspects of the report, Lane said, "Those findings will be dealt with in the disciplinary process and are not a matter for public discussion."

The fire chief stressed the report was meant to be confidential. He also said the WFPS responds to more than 90,000 medical calls annually and while one case like this is "too many," its not reflective of the departments work as a whole.

"This type of behaviour is not in line with the values and principles of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service. There is absolutely no tolerance for racism or discrimination of any kind at the WFPS or the City of Winnipeg, either among co-workers or while serving the public," Lane said.

"The patient did not suffer any adverse outcome as a result of what occurred on the scene. Was there potential for that? Yes. The whole point of the patient safety review is to ensure that it never happens again."

Lane repeatedly declined to provide information on what disciplinary action, if any, has been taken against the firefighters, and whether they remain employed with the department. He also refused to say if the case has been flagged for the College of Paramedics of Manitoba, since one of the implicated firefighters is certified as a primary care paramedic.

The Free Press obtained a Jan. 27, 2021, internal memo from Lane, sent shortly after the external report was finalized.

Mayor Brian Bowman listens as Chief John Lane addresses reports of racism within the fire department. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

In it, he discussed some findings of the investigation, telling his members that "implicit bias" was found to have affected patient care on the call, but that the offending parties would be dealt with through education, not discipline.

On Wednesday, the morning after the Free Press story was published, Lane sent another memo to his staff, which began: "The topic of racism within our service is in the media again."

"In regard to the public release of the confidential internal investigation, we have remained committed to keeping these details confidential. It is concerning that someone related to the investigation has made the decision to not respect the confidentiality," Lane wrote.

"We know (confidentiality) is vital to the effectiveness of the investigation, to the people involved feeling comfortable speaking openly about their experiences, and the delivery of outcomes."

Political leaders weigh in Imagine calling 911 and wondering whether they will actually help. Many Manitobans dont have to. This is a deep and dangerous problem that has to be addressed. Its not just that racist attitudes are unacceptable  people who have them are bad at their jobs and people get hurt and die because of them. click to read more Imagine calling 911 and wondering whether they will actually help. Many Manitobans dont have to. This is a deep and dangerous problem that has to be addressed. Its not just that racist attitudes are unacceptable  people who have them are bad at their jobs and people get hurt and die because of them. Changing culture should mean if a first responder thinks they get to pick and choose who to help, they have no business working as a first responder. If they think that protecting a reckless co-workers job is more important than protecting public lives, they should be fired. The other big change in culture should be consequences, from being disciplined to being charged. If people are not held to account for misconduct, too many innocent people pay a heavy price.  Dougald Lamont, Manitoba Liberal leader It would be an understatement to say that I am beyond upset by the state of blatant and overt racism in Manitoba towards First Nations people It seems that nearly every day, every week and every month, we see more and more overt examples of systemic and overt racism being displayed from those we hope and expect to trust the most. It goes without saying, that anyone in the fields of care, be in medical field, law enforcement or otherwise, should begin every act by remembering that they are dealing with fellow human beings. Paramedics and firefighters are first responders. Their actions determine life or death. To deny care or life-saving measures is inhumane. What is even more concerning is that they tried to lie about what they did and cover up their racially motivated actions.  Arlen Dumas, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs grand chief Resistance to even the notion that there is systemic racism in the City of Winnipeg and within Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service is a pernicious problem We know, most of us know, that racial inequality leads to really different levels of access to health-care services. This is well researched and it is well known that stigma kills. We should be reflecting on the Brian Sinclair report and how that kind of implicit racial bias leads to death. Hearing from a lot of community members, that thats what is at stake when you see this kind of fragility that there is no problem at all.  Sherri Rollins, city councillor, chairwoman of the protection committee Close

That memo, in which he spoke against leaks within the department, was quickly leaked to the Free Press.

Bowman said he would like to see leaders of the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union, which represents city paramedics, and the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg publicly state that implicit bias and systemic racism is a real issue within the WFPS.

The MGEU has publicly addressed this case and concerns about racism in the department. The UFFW did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday and has not yet publicly addressed the findings of the investigation into its members.

"(Implicit racism) is more insidious. Its more challenging. If someone comes right out and says something that you know is just full-on racist, discipline is a lot easier. Its easier to identify and to combat it. Its that unconscious bias, that implicit bias, that is a lot more challenging," Bowman said.

At the tail end of the news conference, Lane was asked if the WFPS or the city had reached out to the patient to apologize.

"The investigator reached out to the patient as part of the investigation," Lane said.

"The City of Winnipeg has not yet done that."

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe


Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 presented the Union Budget 2021-22. With the country battling the economic fallout of the pandemic, people expected a Budget that would help the country recover and put it back on the growth path.

The market seems to have liked the Budget. The benchmark indices saw a record jump on Budget Day , with the Nifty and Sensex climbing five percent each. The S&P Sensex zoomed 2,314 points and the NSE Nifty 50 gained 646 points.

Markets are governed by various Acts like the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, Depositories Act, Securities, and Exchange Board of India Act and the Government Securities Act. Sitharaman has proposed a Unified Securities Market Code , consolidating all these Acts to boost business in the financial markets. This would help cut compliance costs and reduce the clash between different sets of rules.

The finance minister has announced the introduction of a charter that will detail the rights of all investors across all financial products.

Regulation of gold exchanges

The government also proposes to bring gold exchanges under the regulation of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The idea is to boost the confidence of investors by creating order in the gold market and standardising the warehousing and settlement processes.

For investors looking to purchase affordable homes as investments, there is an additional tax benefit to be availed of. While home loans offered tax deductions of Rs 1.5 lakh under Section 80C and Rs 2 lakh under Section 24(B), the Budget has proposed an additional tax deduction benefit of Rs 1.5 lakh on affordable home loans.

Changes in rules for advanced tax on dividends

There was a lot of uncertainty about the computation of advance tax due to the unpredictable nature of dividend income. To bring a sense of order, the finance minister has proposed the shifting of the liability to pay advance tax on dividend income only after the declaration or payment of the dividend.

Relief for taxpayers

This Budget saw some significant changes in the tax process. For senior citizens above the age of 75 years who have only pension and interest income, tax filing requirement has been removed. This will reduce the filing requirement from the tax filer perspective and processing requirement from the income-tax department perspective.

A faceless dispute resolution mechanism for small-taxpayers has been proposed in the Budget. This will increase transparency and reduce bribery and fraud. This will also make small assessments more efficient by way of faster processing.

The timeline for re-opening of the tax cases has been reduced from six years to three. This is expected to go a long way in reducing litigation for taxpayers and remove liability related uncertainties.

To ease and encourage income-tax filing, capital gains from listed securities and interest income shall come pre-filled in the income tax returns.

Summing up

Stock markets were euphoric during and after the announcement of the Budget. The finance minister had a tight line to walk since she had to ensure economic growth as well as relief to the people. From an investors perspective, the budget seemed to have delivered on several fronts.

(The author is Co-founder and COO, Groww)

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.


Vietnam supports the maintenance of peace and stability in the region, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation, and the principle of respect for the law on seas and oceans,

in accordance with the provisions of international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said on February 4.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang

Hang made the statement in response to reporters questions on the East Sea at a regular press conference held online by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Activities by parties in the East Sea should contribute to this common goal, the spokesperson said.

Indicating Vietnams view after Japan recently sent a note protesting against a Chinese note on the East Sea issue, Hang reiterated that Vietnams stance on issues relating to the sea is consistent and has been shown on many different occasions.

All nations and the international community have a common interest in maintaining and promoting peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the East Sea, Hang noted.

The full implementation of the UNCLOS in good faith and responsibility is essential, she stressed.

Vietnam welcomes other countries stance on the East Sea issue in accordance with international law, the 1982 UNCLOS, and shares the view expressed in the 36th ASEAN Summits statement, and the Joint Communique of the 53rd ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM 53), which states that the 1982 UNCLOS is the legal framework for all activities in the oceans and seas, Hang said.

"With that in mind, together with other ASEAN countries, Vietnam hopes that all countries, including ASEAN partner countries, will make efforts to contribute to maintaining peace, stability, and cooperation in the East Sea, and resolving disputes through dialogue and other peaceful measures in accordance with international law, the 1982 UNCLOS, for the common interest and in accordance with the aspirations of regional countries and the international community," Hang said.

She once again affirmed that Vietnam has always made positive and responsible contributions to this process.

Regarding Chinas coast guard law, which took effect on February 1, Hang said countries are obliged to comply with international laws and international treaties to which they are a signatory, especially the 1982 UNCLOS, when they issue and implement national legal documents relating to the sea.

Vietnam has sufficient historical and legal evidence to prove its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos in line with international law, national sovereignty, sovereignty rights, and jurisdiction over the waters in accordance with the 1982 UNCLOS, and it will resolutely and persistently take measures in line with international law to protect those legal and legitimate rights, Hang said.

"Vietnam requires relevant countries respect its sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the East Sea, and have the responsibility to enforce international law and the 1982 UNCLOS in good faith, without actions to increase tensions, and actively contribute to building trust, maintaining peace and stability, promoting international order at sea, and security, safety, and freedom of navigation in the East Sea," the spokesperson said./.VNA

Japan, UK voice concern over East Sea, East China Sea situation Four ministers from Japan and the UK on February 3 voiced serious concern about the situation in the East Sea (South China Sea) and East China Sea and opposed any unilateral attempts to change the status quo, according to Reuters.
(JTA) - The final book published by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks before he died in November is the Jewish Book Council's top book for 2020.

"Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times," published in the United States in September, was awarded the Everett Family Foundation Book of the Year when the Jewish Book Council announced its 2020 National Jewish Book Awards on Wednesday.

Sacks shared his vision for a moral future - one that he said would include an end to "cancel culture," changes in Israeli policy and more encounters with people who hold different views - in an interview with the J...
Kelowna, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Fiore Cannabis (CSE: FIOR) (OTCQX: FIORF) ("Fiore" or "the Company"), a licensed multi-state Cannabis cultivator, producer and retailer, today announced that the date for its Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be April 20, 2021 with the meeting expected to be held as a virtual video conference. The Company will celebrate the special 4/20 day in the cannabis space by sharing an update on its business plan and growth strategy with investors.

The Company also announced it has changed its fiscal year-end from March 31 to December 31, meaning that its 2020 consolidated financial results ending on December 31, 2020 will be released on or before April 30, 2021.

"We changed the year end to align our reporting period with the calendar year," said Erik Anderson, Fiore's President and CEO. "Aligning our fiscal year to the calendar makes more sense, especially with regards to financial modelling and forecasting."

As a sign of continued progress towards sound business fundamentals and improving investor confidence, Fiore is also pleased to confirm that the convertible debenture interest payment, which was extended in cooperation with investors from October 23, 2020 to January 23, 2021, was made on time by way of a cash payment.

"We really appreciate the support and cooperation of our investors in this group," Anderson noted. "They understand we are making progress towards turning the company around to profitability so it was nice to return that goodwill by ensuring we made the interest payment on time."

The company's cultivation facility in Las Vegas saw three harvests come down in January and sold the first two organic crops of 2021 to local dispensaries immediately upon packaging. Strong yields and high THC percentages were achieved, and the cultivation team expects that testing results will get even stronger over the year as its "living soil" protocols mature. Fiore also continues to see revenues grow at its dispensary, Green Leaf Wellness, in Desert Hot Springs, which posted another operational cash-flow positive result for January due to decreases in payroll costs, working with vendors for preferred pricing and increasing delivery customers.

About Fiore Cannabis

Fiore Cannabis (CSE: FIOR) (OTCQX: FIORF) is a publicly traded company that has been investing in the development of medical and recreational cannabis products since 2014. Fiore has expanded its operating portfolio to include cultivation, production and retail offerings in our key North American legal jurisdictions of Nevada, California, Washington and British Columbia. For more information, please visit www.fiorecannabis.com.

For Further Information:

Erik Anderson, President and CEO

1-877-438-5448 Ext. 713

eanderson@fiorecannabis.com

Cannabis Industry Involvement:

The Company owns marijuana licenses in California and Nevada. Marijuana is legal in each state; however, marijuana remains illegal under United States federal law and the approach to enforcement of U.S. federal law against marijuana is subject to change. Shareholders and investors need to be aware that federal enforcement actions could adversely affect their investments and that the Company's ability to support continuing U.S.-based operations and its access private and public capital could be materially adversely affected.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains forward-looking statements or information that relate to our current expectations and views of future events. These statements relate to future events or future performance. Statements which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, outlook, expectations or intentions regarding the future including words or phrases such as "anticipate", "objective", "may", "will", "might", "should", "could", "can", "intend", "expect", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "potential", "plan", "is designed to", "project", "continue", or similar expressions suggest future outcomes or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-looking statements may also include, among other things, statements about the future business strategy; expectations of obtaining licenses and permits; expectations regarding expenses, sales and operations; future customer concentration; anticipated cash needs and estimates regarding capital requirements and the need for additional financing; total processing capacity; the ability to anticipate the future needs of customers; plans for future products and enhancements of existing products; future growth strategy and growth rate; future intellectual property; changes in laws and regulations; regulatory approvals and other matters; and anticipated trends and challenges in the markets in which the Company may operate.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73678
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
At 33-years-old, Gene Stein is not yet eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

For his mother, Lauri, thats a difficult pill to swallow. Because Gene has Down syndrome, he is 10 times likelier to have a fatal case of COVID-19 than someone in the general public.

What makes the reality facing the Stein family worse is the knowledge that there are countless healthy Michiganders, whose jobs allow them to work from home, who have gotten their shots ahead of Gene and other high-risk individuals.

Its really become so much like the haves and the have-nots, where the have-nots include people with disabilities who dont have a voice, said the 65-year-old mother from West Michigan.

There are so many people who need that shot so bad ... I get it that people who are offered it, they take it. But its wrong that theyre offered it in the first place.

Michigans vaccine rollout, like elsewhere in the world, has been slow out of the gate due to the high demand and limited supply of shots.

To date, the state has reportedly administered nearly 1.03 million doses of vaccine. There have been 814,235 residents who have received their first of two recommended doses, and 214,051 who have gotten their second shot.

The state has enacted a priority system that aimed to get shots to hospital workers and nursing homes first, followed by other front-line workers and high-risk individuals, and eventually the general public.

However, the process has allowed many Michiganders at lower risk of severe COVID-19 illness to get shots before those at higher risk, based not necessarily where they work, but who their employer is.

Hospital vaccines go beyond the front-line workers

Hospital systems like Spectrum Health and Michigan Medicine have offered vaccines to all of their employees. That includes workers in human resources, communications, purchasing and other non-front-line positions, many of whom have been working from home throughout the pandemic and continue to do so.

Priority group 1A, which became eligible for vaccination Dec. 14, includes health care workers and long-term care residents and staff. It also includes any health system staff deemed essential to the functioning of your health care system, which allows for non-front-line workers to gain eligibility.

Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor employs about 26,000 workers, all of which fall under the 1A priority group, according to Mary Masson, director of public relations. She said the system has offered the vaccine to all employees to continue to keep health care infrastructure functioning to care for both COVID-19 positive and non-COVID-19 patients across the state.

In West Michigan, Spectrum Health employs about 31,000 people between its hospital system and Priority Health, its health insurance arm. A spokesperson for the hospital couldnt provide a total number of employees who have received a COVID-19 vaccine but confirmed theyve all been offered the shot.

Corporate, remote workers and Priority Health team members were offered the vaccination after the front-line team members and those who support front-line operations, reads a statement from Spectrum. Expanding access to vaccinations ensures that our critical infrastructure remains stable and our operations run smoothly, so we can remain focused on caring for our community.

Before she retired two years ago, Stein worked for Priority Health. Like many of her coworkers, she worked from home the last eight years.

So when she learned her former employer was offering shots to employees who arent on the front lines, she grew more frustrated and began seeking justification from hospital leadership.

All those people jumped in line in front of my son, who needs it more, Stein said. Most people I think would take it if its offered, but I dont think they think about all of the people out there suffering because they cant get it.

Line-jumping

Last month, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was asked about the notion of people getting the vaccine ahead of others at greater risk of severe COVID-19 illness. She said part of the issue is the storage and handling requirements of the vaccine and the urgency not to waste them.

I dont think its necessarily cutting in line, Whitmer said. When a package of the vaccines is thawed and opened, you have a small window in which those need to be administered ... These are some of the real-world challenges that were confining in real time.

Once a batch of Pfizer vaccine is thawed, its only good for seven hours, according to Linda Vail, health officer in Ingham County. Her health department has an agreement with a 24/7 urgent care center to get any leftover vaccines to senior citizens in their databases before the shots expire.

Detroit does something similar by contacting residents on a waitlist by phone call if there are extra thawed doses at the end of a vaccination clinic.

In Ingham County, Vail said the health department does very careful screening to make sure those who are getting vaccinated are eligible, either by age or employment. They require an ID to verify both.

However, it isnt a perfect system.

For instance, Vail said she told a contract school bus business that only the drivers could be vaccinated, not the mechanics who dont interact with the public. But she said if the employer cheats on who they send to the vaccination clinic, then you dont have a lot of control over that. So we do our best to make sure that that doesnt happen and, by all means, we never intentionally allow that to happen in our system.

Sparrow Hospital also gave doses to 200 Lansing city employees, some of whom werent eligible, last week while trying to use up thawed doses before they would have expired. Vail said it was an error and that those employees sent over by the city, who were under 65 years old, shouldnt have been able to get a shot, except for any who were police or firefighters, according to a report by the Lansing State Journal.

A spokesperson for Sparrow said the health system asked the city for 1B eligible employees, so we dont view those vaccines as in error.

Not all health departments take the same steps to setup appointments or ensure eligibility.

In mid-Michigan, some residents have admittedly gotten the vaccine out of turn, said Marcus Cheatham, health officer for the district health department. But he said hed rather someone get it before they were supposed to than someone who was eligible get turned away.

They were probably essential workers and so, fine, well take them, he said. Its not a big deal. The big deal is handling the resentment: How did this person get in line ahead of me?

Cheatham said his health department doesnt want to do extensive screening. It doesnt want egregious cheating either but the goal is to get vaccines administered as quickly as possible.

Whitmer said the real issue is not people getting the vaccine earlier than they should, but rather that the state expected to get about 100,000 doses per week from the federal government and instead its getting 60,000 per week.

Thats precisely why Im continuing our push to get more vaccines in Michigan, because if we have plenty of vaccines, everyone who wants one can get one, we wont have to worry about the priority and whether people are skipping lines, she said.

But the limited supply of doses only furthers the need to prioritize high-risk residents.

Improving the priority system

Sulari White, 53, of Cascade Township said she has sent letters to Whitmer and various state leaders and representatives, calling for changes to the vaccination system to further prioritize residents with developmental disabilities and others at increased risk.

White, a Grand Rapids Community College advisor, said the problem with the current system is it allows broad industries to vaccinate all their workers, instead of limiting those who get shots to those who are front-line workers and those who need to interact with other people.

We need to vaccinate the front-line workers, the bank tellers, the cashiers, the doctors and nurses, White said. I shouldnt have the luxury to get the vaccine, nor should the HR person behind the desk or the accountant at Spectrum Health.

That leaves more vaccines for the at-risk people.

In Michigan, individuals 16-64 years old with a health condition that puts them at heightened risk for serious COVID-19 complications fall under the 1C priority group. Other essential front-line workers are also in that group.

Michiganders in the 1C group arent expected to be able to get in line for the vaccine until May, according to the state health department.

For Stein and White, who each have an adult child with developmental disabilities, thats a long time to keep them home and away from their work programs and other necessary social interaction.

Once we get to 1C, then how long will we have to wait there? Stein said. My wish would be that they had a higher category for people with pre-existing conditions instead of just throwing them into 1C.

White said she wants Michigan to consider following the lead of New Jersey, where individuals 16 to 64 years old with certain medical conditions, including Down syndrome, are eligible for vaccination under the 1B priority group.

Shed also like to see a system where individuals could get in line for a shot if their physician refers them based on conditions that increase their risk.

I understand this was new to everyone and people did the best they could under the circumstances, White said. We couldnt foresee some of these loopholes in the system but now you know them.

If youre at home behind a desk, you shouldnt get it yet.

MLive Reporter Julie Mack contributed to this report.

Read more on MLive:

2-week wait recommended between COVID-19 shot and other vaccines, but its not a hard rule

House Republican plan for federal coronavirus response money clears committee

COVID-19 vaccines thought to be spoiled by low temperatures are safe for use, MDHHS says

Single-dose COVID-19 vaccine could be 85% effective, available this month
Graphic by Bae So-young



Statista releases 400 highest-scoring companies



By Kim Hyun-bin





Click on the image to view the PDF file

There are numerous factors to consider when looking for a workplace at which to devote one's time and energy, whether it be monetary, corporate culture, job security or the future growth potential of the company. However, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, another factor to consider is how much the employer cares for company employees, as uncertainties continue to rise.

To find out which companies have the most satisfied employees in Korea, the German market research firm Statista has worked with The Korea Times and its sister paper the Hankook Ilbo to release the "Korea's Best Employers 2021" report.



The large-scale and comprehensive study assessed the attractiveness of employers based on an independent employee survey.



It is the first time that Statista has conducted such a survey of Korean companies.



Statista surveyed workers at companies employing at least 200 employees from all industry sectors in Korea to gather their opinions of their employers. The recommended employers have been grouped into one of 30 industry sectors.









After an evaluation of 4,500 employers through an anonymous online survey of more than 10,500 employees, Statista awarded the 400 highest-scoring companies.



Employees were asked to rate their willingness to recommend their own employers to friends and family on a scale from 0 to 10. Moreover, based on the industry they work in, they were asked to recommend other companies outside of their own. Both questions were the most important factors in determining the ranking, for which a total of more than 480, 000 recommendations were evaluated.



To gain additional data points that underly the results, respondents were asked 31 questions about work-related topics. They rated their own employers on various aspects of their job from salary and work-life balance to potential for development, their work environment, and the reputation of their employers.



SK Innovation stood atop the overall list of the 400 best employers, scoring 8.49 from a maximum of 10. Following close behind was the National Pension Service with 8.45, and LG Chem with 8.35.



In the electronics sector, LG Electronics led the pack with 7.92 points, followed by Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Electronics and LS Electric.



Kakao M led the IT sector with a score of 7.92 points, followed by NCsoft, Naver, NICE Information Service and Kakao Corp.



In the construction sector, POSCO Engineering & Construction topped the list, followed by Samsung C&T, SK E&S, Hyundai Engineering and KEPCO Engineering & Construction.







* Click here for the list of 400 best employers



Statista is one of the world's leading data platforms for strategic market analysis, statistics and editorial research results. Its analytical unit Statista Research and Analysis creates rankings, and benchmark studies in close collaboration with media partners and established ratings sites worldwide.

Mexican Migrants Sent Home a Record $40B in 2020



The western state of Jalisco is now the Mexican state that gets the most remittance money from Mexican workers in the U.S., displacing neighboring MichoacAn, which long topped the list. Mexico City - Money sent home by Mexican migrants rose 11.4% in 2020 to a new high despite the coronavirus pandemic, Mexico's central bank reported Tuesday.



BBVA bank said in an analysis report that this was the fifth straight year the remittances, as the money is know, set records. The $40.6 billion that migrants sent home to Mexico in 2020 was equivalent to the combined budgets of the Mexican government's education, health, labor, welfare and culture departments.



As a source of foreign income, remittances earn Mexico more money than oil exports or tourism and are exceeded only by manufacturing exports.



About 98.5% of Mexico's remittances are sent from the United States, almost all by bank or wire transfers.



Despite a controversial proposal before Mexico's Congress to make the central bank buy all cash dollars that wind up in Mexican banks - a move that would supposedly help migrants - only about 0.7% of remittances enter the country in cash.



The flow of remittances in 2020 compared to $36.4 billion sent in 2019, and included $4 billion in March alone, a record for a single month. The rise was much better than other countries, which have seen drops in remittances because of job losses or reductions in hours due to the pandemic.



Most Mexican migrants live and work in the United States, where unemployment has surged because of lockdowns. Given the big drop in the value of the peso so far this year, remittances sent in dollars will go much further.



The western state of Jalisco is now the Mexican state that gets the most remittance money, displacing neighboring MichoacAn, which long topped the list.
LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE IS MARCH 22, 2021

NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP announces that a federal securities class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired 9F Inc. ("9F" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: JFU) American Depositary Receipts ("ADR's"):

(PRNewsfoto/Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman )

pursuant and/or traceable to the registration statement and related prospectus in connection with the Company's August 14, 2019 initial public offering (the "IPO" or "Offering"); and/or between August 14, 2019 and September 29, 2020, inclusive (the "Class Period").

All investors who purchased ADR's of 9F Inc. and incurred losses are urged to contact the firm immediately at classmember@whafh.com or (800) 575-0735 or (212) 545-4774. You may obtain additional information concerning the action or join the case on our website, www.whafh.com.

If you have incurred losses in the ADR's of 9F Inc., you may, no later than March 22, 2021, request that the Court appoint you lead plaintiff of the proposed class. Please contact Wolf Haldenstein to learn more about your rights as an investor in the shares of ADR's of 9F Inc.

PLEASE CLICK LINK TO JOIN THIS CASE

In August 2019, 9F completed its initial public offering ("IPO"), selling 8.9 million American Depositary Receipts at $9.50 per ADR.

On September 27, 2019, 9F reported its second quarter 2019 financial results for the period that ended prior to the IPO. The Company stated that its net accounts receivable increased from RMB277 million as of March 31, 2019 to RMB858 million as of June 30, 2019, a purported 210% sequential increase. On this news, 9F shares fell $0.59, or 5%, to close at $10.35 per ADR on September 27, 2019.

On December 5, 2019, 9F reported its third quarter 2019 financial results for the quarter during which the IPO had been conducted. The Company stated that its net accounts receivables had increased more than ten-fold from RMB180 million as of December 31, 2018 to RMB1.9 billion as of September 30, 2019. On this news, 9F shares fell $0.50, or nearly 5%, over two consecutive trading sessions to close at $9.60 per ADS on December 6, 2019.

Story continues

On June 12, 2020, 9F revealed an ongoing dispute with Property and Casualty Company Limited ("PICC") involving RMB2.2 billion in unpaid service fees. The Company stated that RMB1.4 billion in service fees that had previously been recorded as accounts receivable were now recognized as fully impaired.

On June 17, 2020, 9F described the devastating consequences of the Company's dispute with PICC, including that the two entities "are pursuing legal actions against each other" and that 9F sought damages of approximately RMB2.3 billion from PICC to cover the outstanding service fees and related late payment losses. Additionally, 9F had "suspended [its] cooperation with PICC on new loans under [its] direct lending program since December 2019," causing total net revenues to decrease by 54.4% year-over-year. 9F shares fell $0.31 per ADR, or nearly 5%, to close at $6.00 per ADR on June 17, 2020.



On June 24, 2020, the Company reported a valuation allowance for the accounts receivable from PICC of more than $1.4 billion. 9F shares fell $0.57, or 14%, to close at $4.05 per ADR on June 25, 2020.

On September 29, 2020, 9F announced its unaudited financial results for the first half of 2020 ended June 30, 2020. The Company disclosed that its loan origination volume had fallen over 90%, the number of active borrowers utilizing their platform had decreased over 80% and the Company's total net revenues had plummeted over 60% during the first half of 2020 as compared to the latter half of 2019. On this news, 9F shares fell $0.20, or 18%, to close at $0.91 per ADR on September 29, 2020.

Wolf Haldenstein has extensive experience in the prosecution of securities class actions and derivative litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts across the country. The firm has attorneys in various practice areas; and offices in New York, Chicago, and San Diego. The reputation and expertise of this firm in shareholder and other class litigation has been repeatedly recognized by the courts, which have appointed it to major positions in complex securities multi-district and consolidated litigation.

If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions regarding your rights and interests in this case, please immediately contact Wolf Haldenstein by telephone at (800) 575-0735, via e-mail at classmember@whafh.com, or visit our website at www.whafh.com.

Contact:

Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP

Kevin Cooper, Esq.

Gregory Stone, Director of Case and Financial Analysis

Email: gstone@whafh.com, kcooper@whafh.com or classmember@whafh.com

Tel: (800) 575-0735 or (212) 545-4774

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/9f-inc-action-alert-wolf-haldenstein-adler-freeman--herz-llp-announces-that-a-class-action-lawsuit-has-been-filed-in-the-united-states-district-court-for-the-district-of-new-jersey-against-9f-inc-301221672.html

SOURCE Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP
Shraddha Kapoor Asked About Her Wedding Plans & Here's What She Had To Say!

Actor Varun Dhawans simple thank you post to Roshan Shrestha after his wedding on social media led to lots of speculations about Shraddha Kapoor getting married to her rumoured photographer boyfriend. The alleged couple has remained tight-lipped about their relationship but are certainly being asked about their marriage plans now.

Shraddha who was recently snapped at the Mumbai airport was asked by the paparazzi trailing her when she will be tying the knot. The Saaho actress simply laughed off the question adding What are you saying? to the curious photographers.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Viral Bhayani (@viralbhayani)

Rohan and Shraddha have been childhood friends and the rumours of them dating have been doing the rounds for a while now. After Varun Dhawans wedding, all eyes turned to this B-town couple after Rohan wrote congratulating the Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya actor saying, Congratulations VD and Nats. When you know you know! VD youre a lucky guy!

Reposting the message, Varun wrote back, "I truly am. Hope you are ready."

On being contacted Shraddhas father and actor Shakti Kapoor gave a truly vague response but said that hed be okay with whoever his daughter wants to marry. He told Times Of India, "I don't know what reports and speculations are surfacing on the Internet. But I shall always stand by my daughter... in every decision of her life, she takes, including her marriage. Why only Rohan Shrestha? If she comes and tells me whoever she has chosen and wants to settle down with, I will not have any objection."
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 11, to discuss science investigations and technology demonstrations launching on Northrop Grumman's 15th commercial resupply mission for the agency to the International Space Station.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/live

Northrop Grumman is targeting no earlier than 12:36 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, for the launch of its Cygnus spacecraft on an Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. The Cygnus spacecraft will carry crew supplies, scientific research, and hardware to the orbiting laboratory to support the Expedition 64 and 65 crews.

To participate in the teleconference, media must contact Monica Witt at 202-430-3781 or [email protected] by 5 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 10, for dial-in information.

Questions also can be submitted on social media using #AskNASA.

Heidi Parris, associate program scientist for the International Space Station Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, will provide an overview of the research and technology aboard the Cygnus spacecraft.

Also participating in the briefing are:

Mark Fernandez , solutions architect for Converged Edge Systems at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and principal investigator of Spaceborne Computer-2, a high-performance commercial, off-the-shelf computer system being studied to increase data processing speeds for science aboard the space station

, solutions architect for Converged Edge Systems at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and principal investigator of Spaceborne Computer-2, a high-performance commercial, off-the-shelf computer system being studied to increase data processing speeds for science aboard the space station Nicole Wagner , president and CEO of LambdaVision, and Jordan Greco , chief scientific officer of LambdaVision, who will discuss their second experiment being sent to the space station to study the advantages of manufacturing artificial retinas in space

, president and CEO of LambdaVision, and , chief scientific officer of LambdaVision, who will discuss their second experiment being sent to the space station to study the advantages of manufacturing artificial retinas in space Siva Vanapalli, professor of chemical engineering at Texas Tech University in Lubbock , who will talk about Micro-16, an investigation studying muscle strength changes in worms to help better understand muscle weakening that astronauts can experience in microgravity

in , who will talk about Micro-16, an investigation studying muscle strength changes in worms to help better understand muscle weakening that astronauts can experience in microgravity Victoria Drago , a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toledo in Ohio , who will share the Real-time Protein Crystal Growth-2 experiment, which will demonstrate new methods for producing high-quality protein crystals in microgravity

, a Ph.D. candidate at the in , who will share the Real-time Protein Crystal Growth-2 experiment, which will demonstrate new methods for producing high-quality protein crystals in microgravity Kerry Lee , Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Radiation System manager, who will discuss A-HoSS, a radiation detection system developed for the Orion spacecraft and certified for use on NASA's Artemis II mission, the mission to carry a crew of astronauts aboard the spacecraft in orbit around the Moon

Cargo resupply from U.S. companies ensures a national capability to deliver critical science research to the space station, significantly increasing NASA's ability to conduct new investigations at the only laboratory in space.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and enables research not possible on Earth. NASA recently celebrated 20 years of continuous human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, which has hosted 242 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future human missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

Members of the public can attend the launch virtually, receiving mission updates and opportunities normally reserved for on-site guests. To participate, members of the public can register for email updates to stay up to date on mission information, mission highlights, and interaction opportunities.

For launch countdown coverage, NASA's launch blog, and more information about the mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/northropgrumman

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


[February 04, 2021] Cybersecurity Industry Leaders Join Forces at Trust 2021 to Fight Back Against Cybercriminals

FOSTER CITY, Calif. and LONDON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The CISO and broader information security community will assemble virtually at the upcoming Trust 2021 event, April 13-14, to discuss and debate crucial cybersecurity issues. Topics covering email security, security awareness training, automation, data science, and supply chain security will drive peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and learning. Register Today to Attend "Email scammers took phishing to extraordinary levels during the pandemic and exposed corporate vulnerabilities across industries," said Patrick R. Peterson, founder and CEO of Agari, which is a founding sponsor of Trust 2021. "Now more than ever before it is important that the email security industry come together as a whole to share insights, learnings and best practices to get out ahead of cybercriminals. No company today has the luxury of treating data breaches and fraud as a cost of doing business." Trust 2021 is a Data Connectors Community Event. Founded in 1999, it today has over 650,000 senior cybersecurity professionals that look to the community for education, networking and best practices for addressing the rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape. p>"As remote working took shape in 2020 and remains a key factor for most organizations in 2021, the executive suite has focused its attentionand investment on thwarting the attacks aimed at their most valuable assetstheir people, brand, customers, and vendors," said Dawn Morrissey , CEO and founder at Data Connectors. "Trust 2021 will be focused on the areas that are important to our community, and we're proud to support this event."



In addition, the annual Trust 2021 Email Security Awards will take place. Nominations are open. Companies and cybersecurity professionals across all industries are eligible for the awards program, which focuses on innovation, achievement, and contributions to the email security ecosystem. The judging panel is composed of industry-leading experts, past winners, and industry analysts. Winners will be announced on April 14 in a ceremony celebrating the email security sector's best and brightest. Submit Nomination

This year's keynote speakers and their topics include: Kimberly Bryant founder of Black Girls Code: Creative Ways to Solve for the Cybersecurity and Data Science Skills Shortage

founder of Black Girls Code: Creative Ways to Solve for the Cybersecurity and Data Science Skills Shortage Andy Greenberg , author of Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers and senior writer at Wired: Behind-the-scenes insights discovered in his research for Sandworm.

, author of Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers and senior writer at Wired: Behind-the-scenes insights discovered in his research for Sandworm. Graham Cluley , host of the "Smashing Security" podcast: An irreverent look at identity-deception based scams. The world's foremost cybersecurity executives will be joined at Trust 2021 by an esteemed group of sponsors. Led by Cisco as the premier sponsor, others include Entrust, FS-ISAC, Global Cyber Alliance, Menlo Security, and Agari. "We're proud to be the founding sponsor of this event, which began five years ago as a small gathering of CISOs from our customers and has grown exponentially over the years," said Peterson. "Trust 2021 is now an open, global industry event because the problems of fraud and data breaches have only worsened. It will take the cybersecurity industry pulling together to tackle this problem. We embrace and encourage leaders from the global cybersecurity sector to make an impact on the problem by sharing their opinions and experiences with their peers at Trust 2021." Register Today to Attend About Agari

Agari is the Trusted Email Identity Company, protecting brands and people from devastating phishing and socially-engineered attacks. Using applied data science and a diverse set of signals, Agari protects the workforce from inbound business email compromise, supply chain fraud, spear phishing, and account takeover-based attacks, reducing business risk and restoring trust to the inbox. Agari also prevents spoofing of outbound email from the enterprise to customers, increasing deliverability and preserving brand integrity. Learn more at agari.com. Media Contact:

Jean Creech Avent

Senior Director, Global Corporate Communications

Agari

jcreech@agari.com

+1 843-986-8229 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cybersecurity-industry-leaders-join-forces-at-trust-2021-to-fight-back-against-cybercriminals-301222435.html SOURCE Agari

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Future Group on Wednesday has challenged the Delhi high court order that has halted sale of its to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on objections retail giant Amazon, the company said in regulatory filing. "Further to our letter dated 2nd February, 2021, please be informed that the Company has filed an appeal before Honble High Court of Delhi against the impugned order dated 2nd February, 2021 passed by Ld," Future Group said.

The high court on Tuesday put a hold on Future Group's the 24,713-crore retail deal with billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries. The court ordered Kishore Biyanis Future Retail Ltd to maintain status quo on the assets until the pronouncement of the reserved order".

The global retail giant Amazon had filed an urgent petition last week seeking detention of Future Group founders, including its promoter Kishore Biyani, and seizure of their assets for violating the tribunal order. It mentioned that the Future Group's deal with Reliance Industries violates its investment agreement with Kishore Biyani's firm that barred the company from selling its assets to Mukesh Ambanis conglomerate among other specified entities.

The tribunal passed an interim order favouring Amazon in October, barring Future Retail from taking any steps to sell or encumber its assets.

The Delhi high court said it was of the prima facie view that the Singapore tribunal order, which asked Future Retail to not proceed with the deal, is enforceable in India.

On 21 December, 2020, a single member bench of the Delhi high court had rejected Future Group's plea to restrain Amazon from writing to regulatory authorities about the SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre) arbitral order but gave a go-ahead to the regulators to decide over the deal.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had approved the Future-Reliance deal in November, and the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) gave its conditional nod last month.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd in August acquired the businesses of Kishore Biyani's Future Group for 24,713 crore to add to its fast expanding retail business. Amazon had also approached market regulator Sebi, stock exchanges and CCI, urging them to consider the arbitration order and not approve the deal.

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[February 04, 2021] GenoBank.io and Arion Genetica Partner to Make COVID-19 Testing Easier, More Secure for Travelers

PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- GenoBank.io, the leader in anonymous, privacy-securing DNA testing, has partnered with Arion Genetica and a network of laboratories based in Mexico City, Mexico. The two companies are undertaking an ambitious project: to cryptographically verify traveler's COVID-19 tests to prevent fraud. Most countries require incoming travelers to present a negative COVID-19 test. However, there is no universal system in place to ensure that the test results provided by the travelers are accurate. GenoBank.io has the solution. GenoBank.io is providing Arion Genetica with the technology to certify COVID-19 lab test results for travelers heading into the United States. Laboratories around the world can register with GenoBank.io and receive certified lab results that their customers can pass along to Border Officers and Airline personnel. Lab results are encrypted and stamped into a public blockchain to provide a verifiable chain of custody that ensures the lab results are legitimate. These certified lab results are accepted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to help speed up the testing process, ensuring easier entry and minimized risk for US travelers.



Daniel Uribe . "This provides certainty that lab results are not forged or tampered by using a unique cryptographic signature paired to each Lab Rep ID. Results are made immutable upon being recorded into the blockchain and have a time stamp that makes them valid for only 3 days. This is all achieved via a QR code that protects the privacy of users." As Arion Genetica Chief Scientific Officer. Ms. Laura U. Figueroa says, "We have 3 big challenges to comply with CDC order. The first is to avoid the tampering of lab results. The second is to protect the privacy of our customers and the third is to ensure that the certificates are verifiable by travel authorities from countries around the world. GenoBank.io is helping us by recording laboratory results onto the blockchain."

More information on the platform can be found on https://genobank.io/certificates GenoBank.io is the first privacy-preserving DNA/RNA test kit and platform that guarantees consumers control over their laboratory data. Their patent pending technology leverages blockchain and differential privacy to anonymize DNA data while making it available for analysis. To support Genobank's mission to provide the world with control over their DNA and gain a financial stake in their success, visit their crowdfunding campaign on WeFunder (https://wefunder.com/genobank). Arion Genetica is an innovative provider of laboratory tests in Mexico, including COVID-19, reproductive and DNA testing. Arion Genetica offers timely, accurate results in the detection for infectious agents and genetic analysis. The lab's main focus is on genomic applications, COVID-19 tests, reproductive health, and oncology. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/genobankio-and-arion-genetica-partner-to-make-covid-19-testing-easier-more-secure-for-travelers-301222625.html SOURCE Genobank.io

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Ariston Holdings almost doubled its revenue for three months to December 2020, largely due to sharp increase in sales across major products, the company said yesterday.

Ariston, a diversified listed producer of horticultural products, saw turnover rising by 98 percent compared to the same quarter in the prior year, shrugging off the devastating effects of coronavirus, with most sales coming from tea, bananas and maize.

However, the Covid-19 had an impact on stone fruit as significant volumes were sold at a discount.

The group's revenue is predominantly in foreign currency and analysts say Ariston, like many other exporters continue loosing on the back of exchange looses.

There is a disparity between market exchange rate of 120:1 US dollar on the parallel market and the official auction exchange rate of 83.37. This 37 percent discrepancy results in massive taxation on the exporter of 120-83.37 for every US dollar that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe compulsorily liquidates.

Last month, the central bank raised the mandatory liquidation threshold on export earnings to 40 from 30 percent, but scrapped the 60-day period exporters are compelled to sell for local currency unused export receipts.

"The (exchange) rate has widen and exporters are probably operating with 40 to 50 percent of their real income... nearly half of the money is gone through exchange losses," said one analyst with a local research company. "The money is liquidated at official rate but the supplies that you are going to get are pegged at 120."

Tea volumes rose 941 tonnes from 821 tonnes due to favourable climatic conditions while a wetter season resulted in 65 percent jump in banana production. While macadamia output was lower in three months to December, higher yields of matured nuts is expected in the next harvesting season, which begins in March. Poultry business is run on an out grower model on behalf of a local producer in Zimbabwe and there was an increase in production during the period under review. All estates remain operational during the lockdown period as they are classified as essential services. Harvesting and production remain on course, the company said.

Cost containment continues to be a priority going forward. The impact of Covid-19 pandemic is expected to have minimal impact on the group's performance and the management is looking for a "more favourable" financial result for 2021.

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Ariston owns Claremont Estate in Nyanga, a leading producer of apples, stone fruit, passion fruit and potatoes. Claremont became a certified seed potato producer under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Potato Micro Propagation Association during 2012 and is now one of the biggest certified seed potato producer in Zimbabwe.

Kent Estate is a diversified producer of certified seed potatoes and a variety of horticultural crops including all year round tomatoes, pepper, peas (mangetout and sugarsnaps) and fine beans. With large tracts of land under row crops such as maize and soya beans, Kent contributes, in a way, to national nutrition and food security.

The contract poultry production project at Kent is perhaps one of the biggest operations in Zimbabwe.

In Chipinge, Clearwater Estate has the largest hectarage of mature macadamia orchards in the country. Clearwater also produces tea and has a small crop of avocados.

All macadamia sales are centralised at Clearwater Estate; which also produces the increasingly popular ristonuts for local market. The three macadamia estates in Chipinge and Chimanimani make Ariston the largest producer of the nuts in Zimbabwe.

Roscommon Estate produces the world - acclaimed niche red tea wanganella - in the Chimanimani. With potential for increasing contribution from macadamia and potato, which are of excellent quality, Roscommon is expanding the production of these key crops.

Southdown Estate is the flag-ship tea producer for Ariston. Currently over 65 percent of Ariston teas are exported primarily to Europe, the US and increasingly to India and Africa.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with the G7 and the European Union Ambassadors to Ukraine, the president's press service reported on Wednesday evening.

During the meeting, President Zelensky noted that since the last meeting in this format last year, some events have taken place in Ukraine that threaten the state system, and decisive measure have been taken to overcome these challenges.

In particular, he told the diplomats about the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of February 2, 2021 on the imposition of sanctions against some TV channels.

President Zelensky stressed that the sanctioned TV channels have long been actively used for disinformation campaigns in Ukraine aimed at undermining reforms and the country's course towards European and Euro-Atlantic integration, as well as promoting the hybrid influence of the aggressor state on political processes in Ukraine.

Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak added that sanctions against some media outlets had been imposed on the basis of strong evidence.

"Freedom of speech, freedom of work of journalists has been and remains a priority for the Ukrainian state," Andriy Yermak said.

President Zelensky stressed that nothing threatens the freedom of speech in Ukraine.

"Ukraine has perhaps the largest concentration of free broadcasters and media in the region," he said, adding that the Ukrainian authorities would act exclusively in accordance with the law.

During the meeting, special attention was paid to judicial reform and settlement of the situation that has arisen due to the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. President Zelensky informed about further steps to reform the judiciary and prepare a Strategy for the Development of the Judicial System for 2021-2025.

Also, President Zelensky told about key achievements of Ukraine in implementing reforms. In particular, he noted the important role of the law on reforming the Security Service of Ukraine, which became a real step towards the implementation of EU and NATO standards.

During the meeting, the parties also exchanged views on the security situation in Donbas and the course of negotiations on a peace settlement.

As reported by Ukrinform, on February 2, President Volodymyr Zelensky enacted the decision of the NSDC to impose sanctions against the NewsOne, ZIK and 112 Ukraine TV channels, as well as their owner, MP from the Opposition Platform  For Life party, Taras Kozak. The sanctions, among other things, provide for the revocation of licenses of these pro-Russian TV channels.

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Both sides said with delight that the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA), which took effect on January 1, will create a new driving force to lift bilateral trade and investment ties.

Last year, two-way trade hit US$5.6 billion despite the COVID-19 impact, US$4.95 billion of which was Vietnams export. The UK remained the third biggest export market of Vietnam in Europe.

In the near future, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the UK Embassy in Vietnam will continue working closely together to effectively realise the UKVFTA and further improve bilateral trade.

Both sides still maintained the plan to organise the 12th meeting of the Vietnam-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO 12) in the UK when the pandemic is under control.

Before the meeting, a series of meetings, seminars and dialogues will be held virtually to tackle difficulties in specific areas.

As scheduled in mid-March, JETCO co-chairs Deputy Minister An and UK Minister of State for Trade Policy Greg Hands will hold an online working session to discuss JETCO 12 implementation and bilateral cooperation plan for the future.

The UK side also wished to hold online dialogues with the MoIT to discuss renewable energy development scheduled for February 24 and early March.

For his part, An took the occasion to highly valued the UKs commitment in hosting the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which is slated for November this year in Glasgow, Scotland.

A plan for renewable energy development was an important content in the Politburo's Resolution 55-NQ TW issued on February last year on the orientation of the National Energy Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, he added.

Vietnam aims to ensure an adequate energy supply for socio-economic development and gradually increase the proportion of clean energy use in its energy structure, An said.

The Vietnamese deputy minister stressed the MoIT backs the UKs efforts in organising the above-mentioned events and dialogues.

Concluding the meeting, the sides agreed to continue studying measures for development cooperation in renewable energy. The MoIT said it is ready to collaborate with and support Vietnamese and UK relevant agencies and firms to hold discussions when necessary.
Inspired by the feeling of exhilaration that goes hand-in-hand with winter exploration, Nissan has unveiled its vision for sustainable adventuring with its innovative all-electric e-NV200 Winter Camper concept-van.

At a time of year when bracing hikes and fresh-air leisure normally offer a peaceful escape, the e-NV200 Winter Camper looks forward to connect with the marvel of nature and explore the great outdoors again. Designed with excitement and environmental impact in mind, the e-NV200 Winter Camper combines the thrill of electric driving with the spirit of the wild.

Equipped with a host of bespoke driving and lifestyle features, the adventurous camper-concept is primed to tackle though terrains.

The on-board 220V power pack can be recharged with roof-fitted solar panels, while the integrated functioning kitchen, refrigerator, folding beds and insulated glasses make life on the open road flexible in any environment.

For Nissan, electric mobility is all about offering an exciting experience behind the wheel  while above all remaining conscious of our impact on the environment, said Dmitry Busurkin, Divisional General Manager, Light Commercial Vehicles, Nissan Europe.

Imbued with the essence of adventure and thrilling electrified power, the Nissan e-NV200 Winter Camper concept van is an optimistic expression of the future of zero-emissions mobility. -- Tradearabia News Service



Rakesh Tikait The more than two-month-long farmers' agitation against the three farm laws continues on Delhi's borders. In such a scenario, Bharatiya Kisan Union national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait has evolved a formula to keep the movement going: Get one tractor and 15 people for 10 days from every village. This will enable the maximum number of farmers to participate in the movement and also return to the village and engage in farming. According to Tikait, leaders of farmers' bodies are constantly urging the government to talk with them, but the government isn't doing so. "In fact, the government wants to prolong the farmers' agitation." So, Tikait has evolved a formula through which the agitation will attain longevity. In this formula, 15 people from every village should stay at the protest venue for 10 days and then the next lot of 15 should replace them. The first lot of protesters can then return home and tend to the fields. Tikait announced on Thursday: "Work on the formula of one tractor and 15 people for 10 days from every village. Then, even if the movement runs for 70 years, there is no problem. " The 11 rounds of talks between the government and farmers so far have failed to resolve the impasse. Asked about the resumption of dialogue, Tikait said: "Through the media, we will keep requesting the government for a dialogue. Now it is up to the government to decide how much time it has for the farmers." He said the government is adopting new tactics every day to prolong the farmers' agitation. "Not talking to farmers and turning Delhi into a fortress are part of these tactics. Let us see till when does the government keep testing the farmers?"




Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
press release

The Honorable

Antony Blinken

Secretary of State

Washington, D.C. 20520

The Honorable

Janet Yellen

Secretary of the Treasury

Washington, D.C. 20220

February 2, 2021

Re: Mr. Dan Gertler's license (No. GLOMAG-2021-371648-1)

Dear Mr. Secretary,

Dear Madam Secretary,

We write to you as members of Congolese and international civil society organizations.

We would like to share with you our deepest concerns with regards to the decision of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), dated January 15, 2021 and made public on January 24, 2021, granting a license to businessman Dan Gertler, who was sanctioned for corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act in December 2017. The license allows him to resume transactions with American entities for a year and unblock his frozen property.

We wish to respectfully request immediate action to reconsider, suspend and reverse this decision. We believe this decision severely undermines US global anti-corruption policies and its foreign policy strategy in the DRC, which notably supports current President Felix Tshisekedi's anti-corruption policy. Over the past years, the US Embassy in Kinshasa has been instrumental in putting the fight against corruption front and center on the political agenda in the DRC.

The sanctions against Mr. Gertler and his entities are the embodiment of that policy: they attest to the fact that the US is ready to take concrete and effective action against those who deprive the Congolese people of the means to rebuild the country. This has provided a crucial stepping stone to Congolese civil society groups determined to bolster the fight against corruption.

It has come to our attention that this extraordinary license was issued opaquely and in haste during former President Donald Trump's last days in office. It appears that standard consultations both within the Treasury Department and the State Department had not taken place prior to the issuance of the license, completely catching off guard a wide range of US officials who had worked hard to enact, uphold, and publicly defend the sanctions. This decision came after months of extensive lobbying on Mr. Gertler's behalf, including by well-known lawyers close to then-President Trump.

The Dan Gertler case had illustrated how impactful the Magnitsky sanctions can be. A longtime friend of DRC's former President Joseph Kabila, he was added to the very first Global Magnitsky sanctions list in December 2017 for "opaque and corrupt mining deals in DRC." This long-awaited sanction came following years of public reporting, both from international media and non-governmental organizations, who sought to expose how DRC's public mining revenues had been diverted.

The scale and nature of the corruption Gertler facilitated had a significant impact on the human rights of many Congolese. One of the bases for the sanctions, according to the press release announcing them, was Gertler acting as a middleman for deals between Kabila and oil companies that reportedly resulted, between 2010 and 2012 alone, in a loss of US$1.36 billion to the state. This amounts to nearly half of the country's health budget over those three years, which falls far below both the regional average and the per capita spending a World Health Organization-supported study identified as the minimum to provide adequate health care in DRC.

OFAC's move to sanction Mr. Gertler was the first instance in which the tireless efforts of Congolese and international organizations were recognized. They took a major toll on the Israeli billionaire's financial dealings that according of OFAC itself had enabled and facilitated significant corrupt activities during the administration of former DRC president Joseph Kabila.

Evidence published in July 2020 by PPLAAF and Global Witness, who are signatories to this letter, suggests that Gertler and his associates set up a highly complex system of proxies, shell companies, and an international money laundering network to evade US sanctions, as a means to allow him to continue to operate in the DRC and funnel millions of dollars abroad. The ingenuity and complexity of this apparent network indicates that his access to financial networks had been essential to his previous operations. Mr. Gertler has denied any knowledge of or connection with this network as well as rejecting all allegations of wrongdoing and corruption.

In November 2020, a US judge sentenced a subsidiary of New York hedge fund Och-Ziff for corruption in DRC. Although Mr. Gertler was not charged in this case, the court documents include information about the alleged role played by Gertler in the corruption, including the arrangement of bribes to DRC officials and judges, which further strengthens the need to keep sanctions in place.

While one could have expected an expansion of US sanctions following these revelations last year, the January 15 license sends a worrying signal to those who are looking to undermine the US sanctions regime. It sets a dangerous precedent and largely undercuts efforts to fight overseas corruption as part of the Global Magnitsky program, which has been an example for much other legislation around the world as an effective way to put pressure on those responsible for corruption and human rights abuses.

Last but not least, this license thwarts the critical and challenging work of civil society organizations and activists in DRC and beyond to bring accountability to those who had plundered their country's resources and risks creating additional victims of corruption. According to a report by civil society organizations Raid and Afrewatch, which are signatories to this letter, in just one mining deal involving Mr. Gertler, an estimated 32,000 local residents were deprived of clean drinking water, plagued with ongoing air and water pollution, sickness and lack of educational opportunities due to corruption. Mr. Gertler denies any corruption in this instance.

The Congolese civil society organizations signing this letter take tremendous risks to fight corruption in DRC and have greatly appreciated support for their efforts from international actors, including the US government. In his most recent video following President Biden's inauguration, US Ambassador to the DRC, Michael Hammer, said, "It is in the interest of the American and the Congolese people to reinforce democracy, to fight corruption and to put an end to impunity." We take Ambassador Hammer at his word: we remain ready and willing to work with the US government to reinforce democracy, fight corruption and put an end to impunity. We hope you will stand with us.

We urge the Biden administration to immediately investigate this last-minute license, and, subject to relevant information, reverse its decision. The US needs to ensure that the proceeds of alleged corruption are not being accessed and unblocked during the transition, or for political motives.

We therefore respectfully request that the Treasury Department inform banks and financial institutions that the license is under review and that they should not unblock or allow further activities pursuant to the license until the new administration has had a chance to review both the reason for granting the license and its due process.

Thank you in advance for your attention.

We remain at your disposal if you have any questions or require any further information.

Sincerely yours,

Congolese Organizations

Afrewatch

Agir pour des elections transparentes et apaisees

Cadre de concentration sur les ressources naturelles de l'Ituri (CDC/RN)

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Coalition pour la gouvernance des entreprises publiques du secteur extractif (COGEP)

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Immunization against COVID-19 with AstraZeneca vaccine is recommended for the 18 to 55 age group, with the possibility of increasing this range as new scientific data emerge, and the recommended time interval between the two doses is 8 weeks, the National COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV) specified on Thursday.

The cited source mentions that, according to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, the AstraZeneca vaccine can be given to adults over the age of 18. The vaccine causes the body's immune system to produce specialized antibodies and white blood cells that act against the virus, thus providing protection against COVID-19. For immunization, two doses of vaccine are given after 4 to 12 weeks after the first shot.

"Following the recommendations sent by the Ministry of Health, the National Authority for Medicines and Medical Devices (ANMDMR), as well as by the Scientific Group within the CNCAV, taking into account the specifications of the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC) and the studies available up to the time of the conditional marketing authorization in Romania, vaccination against COVID-19 with the AstraZeneca vaccine is recommended for the 18 to 55 age group, with the possibility of increasing this interval depending on the emergence of new scientific data. Also, the time interval between the two dose recommended is 8 weeks," CNCAV points out.

For the efficient management of the vaccination process at national level, the CNCAV has developed and submitted to the specialized staff the 'AstraZeneca Vaccination Procedure', a document setting out the storage transport and distribution conditions and mode, in compliance with the cold chain, monitoring of reactions, as well as stock and loss management.
Before the December launch and crash landing of the Starship SN8 prototype, SpaceX had sought a safety regulation waiver from the FAA.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which issues commercial launch licenses, denied the request to exceed the maximum public risk allowed by the agencys rules.

The company proceeded to launch from Boca Chica, outside of Brownsville.

More on SN8: SpaceX Starship prototype reaches new heights before hard, fiery landing in South Texas

SpaceX then prepared for its next test. One day in January, it got as far as evacuating nearby residents and fueling its Starship SN9 prototype. But the vehicle never left the South Texas launchpad.

SpaceX was missing something crucial: regulatory approval to launch from Boca Chica.

To the chagrin of onlookers near and far, that approval did not come. Not in January, anyway, as SpaceX felt the ramifications of its hard, fiery landing the month before. The aftermath wasnt just cleaning debris. SpaceX received extra scrutiny for violating its launch license.

The FAA statement about the December incident, which said that SpaceX launched without demonstrating that the public risk from far field blast overpressure was within the regulatory criteria, was rather vague. And it likely wouldnt have been issued if SpaceX founder Elon Musk hadnt publicly accused the FAA of having a broken regulatory structure standing between SpaceX and Mars.

Former FAA officials cautioned that a lot of the facts are missing, and multiple scenarios could have prompted that statement.

To me, its not clear how serious the situation was, said George Nield, who was the FAAs Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation from 2008 to 2018. Key questions include whether the non-compliance was intentional or not, whether it had to do with the vehicle and its operation, or whether it involved making sure no members of the public were exposed to risk.

But the FAA did determine that the launch license conditions were violated. That likely had to do with far field blast overpressure, which is basically a pressure wave that can break windows or damage buildings. Such waves could be caused by a crash or explosion, Nield said.

SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.

Jared Zambrano-Stout, a former official in the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transpiration and the current director of congressional and regulatory policy for the law firm Meeks Butera & Israel, isnt as concerned about how SpaceX violated its launch license. Rather, he worries about the long-term competitiveness of the launch industry.

He said commercial space companies need to follow the rules, and federal regulators need to enforce the rules. Otherwise, there could be consequences that cause the U.S. to fall behind rivals such as Russia or China.

If Congress doesnt have faith in the regulatory system, it could create new laws and regulations, Zambrano-Stout said. If we create significant new regulations over the launch industry, that could absolutely put us at a disadvantage against other countries.

It is not common for a commercial space company to violate its license, which is perhaps why the SpaceX-FAA spat has created such shockwaves.

Brian Weeden, director of program planning for the Secure World Foundation that promotes the sustainable and peaceful use of space, could recall just two other licensing issues that created a similar hubbub.

More Elon Musk news: Houston company could provide answer to Elon Musk's $100 million question

In 2018, Swarm Technologies, which is seeking to provide global satellite connectivity for internet of things devices, launched small satellites into space without approval from the Federal Communications Commission, which licenses satellite communications.

And in 2019, an Israeli lunar lander was carrying tardigrades, microscopic aquatic animals that are also known as water bears or moss piglets, when it crashed into the moon. This violated planetary protection rules created so that humans dont contaminate moons or planets, Weeden said.

The SpaceX violation, however, felt especially jarring to Weeden and his peers working for space think tanks or companies. It could have put humans in danger, and it could have set back years of progress in giving more companies access to space.

I understand Elon is trying to go fast, but there are some just basic public safety things that we have to keep in mind, Weeden said. They dropped a rocket back to the ground that exploded. That is a huge hazard that we have to take precautions to make sure it doesnt kill anybody.

Thats the FAAs job. To protect public safety. But this is just one part of its mandate, Nield said. The agency is tasked by Congress with both protecting the public and promoting commercial space transportation.

Under normal circumstances, that can be achieved when launch companies voluntarily comply with the requirements found in the regulations. But if its necessary, the FAA can suspend or revoke launch licenses. As a last resort, it can issue fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars a day, Nield said.

For SpaceX, after its December launch of SN8, the FAA suspended Boca Chica testing that could affect public safety until the company completed an investigation, including a comprehensive review of its safety culture and operational decision making, and the FAA approved its proposed corrective actions to protect public safety.

SN9 took flight on Tuesday. SN9 is a prototype of the Starship spacecraft that, paired with the Super Heavy rocket, is being designed to carry people to the moon, Mars and beyond. It is different than the Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX routinely launches and lands when propelling military satellites or NASA astronauts into space.

SN9 ignited its three Raptor engines Tuesday afternoon and began to climb upward. The engines were intentionally shut down one at a time, causing the Starship prototype to enter a horizontal, belly flop-like position. Then the engines were supposed to reignite and flip the vehicle for a gentle vertical landing. But, like SN8, it landed hard and in flames.

The FAA said it would oversee an investigation of Tuesdays landing. Although this was an uncrewed test flight, the investigation will identify the root cause of todays mishap and possible opportunities to further enhance safety as the program develops, the FAA said.

More on SN9: SpaceX SN9 launches from South Texas, lands in fireball

So after the rigmarole, SN9 launched a few days behind schedule.

And Musks aggressive tweet, well, it was kind of right and kind of wrong, Weeden said. Musk said that FAA rules were designed for just a few expendable launches a year from government facilities. Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars, Musk said.

Hes right in the sense that we do need to modernize our oversight of commercial activities and we need to innovate faster, Weeden said, noting that commercial space regulations are slowly getting modernized. Hes wrong in that an extra week or two for a license is the only thing keeping us from getting to Mars.

There are still many technical and human health questions that need to be answered before humans can colonize Mars.

In the meantime, Starship SN10 is waiting for its chance to stick the landing.

andrea.leinfelder@chron.com

twitter.com/a_leinfelder
Chief Superintendent Christy Mangan has vowed that all those involved in the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe will be brought to justice.

The head of policing in Louth said the investigation into the killing of Det Gda Donohoe is very much alive and gardai are following strong lines of enquiry.

Armagh man Aaron Brady was sentenced to life in prison for robbery and the capital murder of Det Gda Donohoe last October and will serve a minimum of 40 years in prison.

Chief Supt Mangan said that following the conviction of Brady the focus is completely on the other people involved and the current Covid-19 restrictions are not hindering the investigation with gardai making steady progress.

Chief Supt Mangan, speaking to the Democrat following the eight-year anniversary of Det Gda Donohoe death last Monday, said: Since day one of the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe and the robbery in Lordship the investigation has been following strong lines of enquiry.

With the conclusion of the trial and conviction of Aaron Brady for capital murder and robbery our attention is totally on the other people involved and we are determined justice will be done.

There is very good progress being made in the investigation.

I am confident that we have an extremely strong case.

The worlds worst ever pandemic has not hindered our investigation.

We are satisfied we are making steady progress in the investigation.

Brady, 29, from New Road, Crossmaglen in Co Armagh, shot and killed the father-of-two during the armed robbery of the Lordship Credit Union on 25 January 2013.

Chief Supt Mangan renewed his appeal for information about those directly involved in the raid as well as those who provided comfort to the criminal gang involved.

I know that there are people out there reading this newspaper who are undoubtedly aware of the facts and details of what happened on the night that Adrian was murdered, Chief Supt Mangan said.

I would urge them to come forward to the gardai and speak to us in the strictest confidence.

Any information is valuable that could be used in the investigation process that would help in the pursuit of all those involved in the murder of Adrian and the robbery.

We are also pursuing those who gave solace, comfort and logistical assistance afterwards to help the suspects escape justice so far.

We are also following lines of enquiry in relation to these people who are perverting the course of justice and concealing a crime.

The investigation which resulted in the conviction of Brady spanned over three continents and assistance was provided in countries across the US, Europe and the UK, Australia and North America.

Chief Supt Mangan said the strong working relationship with international police forces, including Homeland Security in the US, continues in the pursuit of the remaining suspects.

We already have strong communication with police forces in other countries and we are continuing to work with them on investigation lines we are pursuing, he said.

We have a very good working relationship with forces in other countries and are in communication and exchange information with them regularly.

This is a large international investigation.

The investigation is solid and the pandemic, while unfortunately can hinder some elements of policing, are not prevent us from pursuing our lines of enquiry in this case.

We are not hindered by the limitations due to the pandemic and are working very well together national and internationally on this investigation.

It is understood some members of the suspected murder gang remain in Northern Ireland, while others are believed to be in the US.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Dundalk Garda Station on 042 9388400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.
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German court authorities are unable to cash in more than $60 million in bitcoins confiscated from a convicted fraudster as he has not revealed the passwords, a court spokesman said on Thursday.

The court in the southern town of Kempten has been able to sell just 86 of the 1,800 bitcoins seized from the man, who created them illegally by hacking the computers of others.

This brought in 500,000 euros.

Speaking after details of the coins were revealed in the local press, the court spokesman said the digital coins were protected by multiple passwords, and that IT specialists had been unable to crack them.

It was also possible that the fraudster had forgotten them.

The man, who was first convicted in 2014, has now served his sentence.

The court authorities have secured his bitcoin wallet in a way that prevents him from gaining access to it.

(dpa/NAN)

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Energize Ventures and AirTree Lead the Latest Round to Grow into Europe

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading enterprise drone data company DroneDeploy (http://www.dronedeploy.com) today announced it has raised $50 million in Series E financing. The round was led by existing investors Energize Ventures and AirTree, with participation from Bessemer, Scale, Emergence, Angelpad, Uncork and Frontline Ventures. This funding brings DroneDeploy's total fundraising to date to $142 million, the most of any drone data company. The investment will be used to expand the company's products beyond aerial capture, accelerate its expansion into Europe, and explore opportunities for strategic acquisitions.

DroneDeploy powers drones and ground-level cameras to automatically collect and analyze visual data from job sites, operations and assets. Companies across almost every sector have embraced commercial drones, especially as COVID-19 and global social distancing measures have made remote, cloud-based solutions essential. DroneDeploy has led the market, achieving 259% annual growth in enterprise use in 2020 and even greater adoption by Fortune 500 energy, agriculture, engineering, property and logistics management, and insurance companies.

"We see two powerful tailwinds. Enterprise use of drones is exploding. Across the globe, the largest agriculture, logistics, construction, and energy companies are operating fleets of hundreds of drones, and they are using DroneDeploy to manage them. To support our thousands of European users, we are launching an EMEA office," said Mike Winn, CEO and co-founder of DroneDeploy. "At the same time, companies are digitizing their sites inside and out, creating full digital twins of their assets. We have expanded our drone technology with the ability to capture and analyze images from ground-based cameras operated by people or robots. We will continue to enhance our complete digitization platform to deliver fully immersive environments."

DroneDeploy's momentum in product development and customer wins has attracted investor interest. "The health, economic and workforce pressures of the last year have accelerated the adoption of drones and drone data by asset owners," said John Tough, managing partner of Energize Ventures and a director on DroneDeploy's board. "We anticipate continued growth as industries expand their use of visual data to streamline operations. Energize is thrilled to continue to invest in DroneDeploy, the only company with a platform that captures and analyzes every dimension of job sites --- interior and exterior, from any height and angle -- and that has demonstrated the scale to meet the needs of fast-growing markets like energy and renewables."

Stephen McIntyre, partner at European-based Frontline Ventures is particularly interested in DroneDeploy's push into Europe, already DroneDeploy's second largest market. "U.S. companies have seen unprecedented growth overseas in recent years as software buyers around the globe catch up with those in the U.S. Frontline Ventures works with SaaS market leaders to break into Europe. DroneDeploy's position as the leader in the U.S. commercial drone market and its rapidly expanding capabilities beyond drones position it to successfully solidify its leadership position internationally."

Continuing to innovate to meet customers' growing demands, DroneDeploy recently announced updates to 360 Walkthrough (https://www.dronedeploy.com/product/360-virtual-walkthrough/) and Vertical Flight (https://support.dronedeploy.com/docs/vertical-flight), key features that enable visual data capture from cameras on the ground and drones flying vertically beside a structure or asset. DroneDeploy continues to lead the industry in enterprise security, achieving both ISO-27001 certification and SOC 2 Type 1 attestation. To learn more about DroneDeploy, get in touch with one of their experts (https://www.dronedeploy.com/about/contact/), or visit the Dronedeploy blog (https://www.dronedeploy.com/blog/).

About DroneDeploy

DroneDeploy is the leading enterprise-grade drone data company. Trusted by brands globally, DroneDeploy captures every dimension of job sites, structures, and assets, and transforms it into meaningful insights for industries including construction, energy, and agriculture. Through interior and exterior data capture, DroneDeploy enables professional mapping, 3D modeling, and reporting on any device, anywhere in the world. To learn more, visit www.dronedeploy.com (http://www.dronedeploy.com) and join the conversation on Twitter @DroneDeploy (https://twitter.com/DroneDeploy?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor).

About Energize Ventures

Energize Ventures is a venture capital firm located in Chicago. Energize partners with entrepreneurs to advance the next generation of energy and industry by investing in software and business model innovations. Since it was founded in 2016, Energize has made 14 investments spanning cybersecurity, mobility, data analytics, operational efficiency and distributed assets. For more information on Energize Ventures, please visit www.energize.vc (http://www.energize.vc).

About AirTree

AirTree is a venture capital fund with a mission to help game-changing Australian and Kiwi technology entrepreneurs achieve their vision. As one of the largest VC funds in the region with over half a billion dollars under management, AirTree aims to back startups from the earliest moments in their first funding round, often pre-revenue, and has the firepower to continue supporting successful companies over multiple, subsequent rounds. AirTree's 2014 and 2016 vintage funds are both performing in the top quartile of US VCs. They include early investments in break-out companies such as Canva (https://www.canva.com/), A Cloud Guru, (https://acloud.guru/) Linktree, (https://linktr.ee/) Athena, (https://www.athena.com.au/) Go1, (https://www.go1.com/en-au/) Secure Code Warrior, (https://securecodewarrior.com/) Prospa, (https://www.prospa.com/) Pet Circle, (https://www.petcircle.com.au/) Brighte, (https://brighte.com.au/) Expert360, (https://expert360.com/) Joyous (https://joyoushq.com/) and Drone Deploy (https://www.dronedeploy.com/). With the largest and most experienced venture team in the region, AirTree offers founders much more than just money with their value-add services including recruitment, expertise, connections and advocacy. AirTree has five Partners: Craig Blair, Daniel Petre, John Henderson, James Cameron and Helen Norton.

State-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) on Thursday said its order book is expected to cross Rs one trillion-mark in the next year.

"The order book was about Rs 53,000 crore, if you add Tejas (LCA) to it, it will cross Rs 80,000 crore, so that is the order book as of now, and we are expecting two more orders that is basically for LCH and HTT-40, coming up for the next year," HAL CMD R Madhavan said.

Speaking to reporters here at the Aero India 2021, he said: "We will be reaching Rs one lakh crore (Rs one trillion) plus probably by next year end....this year is quite comfortable for us," he added.

Earlier in the day, the Indian Airforce formally issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to the HAL for its HTT-40 turbo trainer, the company said.

"We will be making this HTT-40 initially from Bengaluru where it was designed, later it will go to Nasik for series production..Basically it will start with 70 aircraft, we are looking at a total number of 106," Madhavan said to a question.

Madhavan said the company was quite sure about meeting its targets both in terms of financial as well as operational performance.

"We had issues with the COVID lockdown in the first two quarters, the first quarter was almost washed out, but by the third quarter we have recovered and even showing a growth over the last year," he said.

Regarding the Rs 48,000-crore order for 73 Tejas Mk-1A variants and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 trainer aircraft, Madhavan said as per the contract HAL has to start delivering in 36 months from now.

The first aircraft is expected to be delivered by March 2024."The first delivery will be two aircraft or something, which will be ramped up to 16. The total supply time post the first delivery is six years, that makes the total project time line of nine years. We will try to reduce it to somewhere around (by) one year."



The company has started the process of integrating the vendors into the system now itself so that they are prepared for delivering these aircraft after 36 months.

Responding to a question on private sector contribution, Madhavan said, as of today 463 vendors are involved which included MSMES and bigger

"This number we expect to go up to 550 to 600 as more and more MSMES will be coming in and pitching in," he said.

"As far as the order is concerned, if you remove the tax part of it, it is worth about Rs 36,000 crore (LCA contract), out of which close to Rs 6,000 crore directly goes to MSMEs and as we are supplying ground support equipment and other things another Rs 3,000 crore is expected to go towards Indian partners."



Madhavan said the indigenous content in the aircraft is about 52 per cent and the company is looking at ways to increase it in the raw materials and hike it to 65 per cent.

Giving a break-up of the cost components, the HAL chairman said the cost for each fighter version of the aircraft will be Rs 309 crore and Rs 280 crore for the trainer.

He said "Rs 2,200 crore is ERV (Exchange Rate Variation), customs and taxes is around Rs 7,000 crore, so that makes it around Rs 9,000 crore... Rs 11,000 crore will be used for ground support equipment, spares and training aids and manuals..If you remove all this the total order is about Rs 25,000 crore.
The downward trend of new COVID cases continued today as state health officials report 2,602 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the active statewide case count to 61,864.

Officials also announced another 74 COVID-related fatalities on Thursday, bringing the death toll during the pandemic to 14,489. COVID-related deaths have been declining and dropped 17% last week from the previous week, according to data released by the Department of Public Health. That data also shows that new cases last week dropped 51% from the peak week of Jan. 3 when the state topped 42,578 cases in a week.

Hospitalizations also continued to drop. There are currently 1,554 patients hospitalized statewide with COVID-19, including 335 patients in intensive care, 208 of whom are intubated, according to the Department of Public Health. The last time the state was at about that number of COVID patients was the beginning of December.

The seven-day average of positive tests is 3.29%.

The average age of those testing positive for the virus is now 39 years old, while those hospitalized are averaging 68 years old. The average COVID death in Mass. is 80.

The latest numbers come the day Gov. Charlie Baker announced that officials will be increasing capacity for gyms, restaurants and other businesses from 25% to 40% beginning next week.

The 40% limit does not include employees for restaurants, hair salons and other personal services. Other businesses, like gyms and retailers, are required to count their employees as part of their capacity levels.

Officials dont plan to lift the gathering limits despite the change of rules. Indoor gatherings are still limited to 10 people, while outdoor gatherings are capped at 25 people.

MassLive has learned on Thursday that the Worcester State University campus will serve as a mass vaccination site, sources confirmed. On Wednesday, another mass vaccination site, located at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Boston North Shore in Danvers, went online. Officials are looking to set up a total of seven sites in the coming days as they ramp up administration of the COVID vaccine.

Baker says there have been roughly 654,104 doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine have been administered to Massachusetts residents, with more than one million distributed to providers.

Total COVID cases by county:

Barnstable County: 9,010

Berkshire County: 4,584

Bristol County: 51,511

Dukes County: 795

Essex County: 78,344

Franklin County: 1,808

Hampden County: 37,911

Hampshire County: 5,905

Middlesex County: 103,581

Nantucket County: 1,095

Norfolk County: 41,322

Plymouth County: 36,871

Suffolk County: 72,628

Worcester County: 60,354

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Because pregnant and lactating women were not included in initial vaccine trials, data is limited on how it might impact them. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends they be offered the vaccine; maternal health groups such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) are urging data collection and conversations between patient and provider  and that the vaccine should not be withheld from pregnant women who are eligible for it.
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Fee free amateur radio licence proposed for VK

The Australian radio regulator (ACMA) released a consultation paper this week on proposed changes to the amateur radio service in Australia

There are three options proposed, which range from no change to a fee free class licence.

There are no changes proposed to examinations, licence classes or privileges per class.

Of course, the fee free class licence comes with some strings attached. ACMA are proposing that an amateur class licence would operate on a no interference, no protection basis. This means that an amateur station may not be afforded any protection from interference. Your neighbours cheap LED lights could wipe out 40 metres, and ACMA will not be required to take any action.

This is clearly unacceptable.

Other proposed changes are that the Australian Maritime College will directly manage callsign issue, rather than just making a recommendation to ACMA.

ACMA are also proposing a very simplified regulations document, with operational issues removed to a separate document to be managed by the amateur sector.

Here at the Radio Amateur Society of Australia we are working on an interim response to the ACMA consultation paper. We will publish the response and call for comments in the near future.

The paper is available from the AMCA web site at:

https://www.acma.gov.au/consultations/2021-01/review-non-assigned-amateur-and-outpost-regulatory-arrangements-consultation-01202173

Glenn VK4DU

President RASA
Reliance Marcellus, LLC (RMLLC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL), signed agreements to divest all of its interest in certain upstream assets in the Marcellus shale play of south-western Pennsylvania.

These assets, which are currently operated by various affiliates of EQT Corporation (EQT), have been agreed to be sold to Northern Oil and Gas, Inc (NOG), a Delaware corporation, for a consideration of $250 million cash and warrants that give entitlement to purchase 3.25 million common shares of NOG at an exercise price of $14 per common share in next seven years.

A Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) has been signed between RMLLC and NOG on 3 February 2021 for this sale and the transaction is subject to customary terms and conditions of closing.

Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. acted as financial advisor to Reliance and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as its legal counsel.

RIL is India's largest private sector company. Its activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and digital services.

On a consolidated basis, RIL reported 12.5% rise in net profit to Rs 13,101 crore on 23.12% decline in net sales to Rs 117,860 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Q3 December 2019.

RIL was up 0.02% to Rs 1930.65.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Harry Dunn's alleged killer was 'employed by an intelligence agency in the US' at the time of the fatal road crash  which was 'especially a factor' in her departure from the UK, a court has heard.

The Alexandria district court in Virginia was told Anne Sacoolas and her husband Jonathan Sacoolas worked for the US State Department and they 'fled' the country due to 'issues of security'.

Mr Dunn, 19, was killed after a car crashed into his motorbike outside US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019.

The revelations came out during Sacoolas's application to dismiss a civil claim for damages against her made by the Dunn family on Wednesday.

Mr Dunn, 19, was killed when his motorbike crashed into a car outside US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019

Anne Sacoolas and her husband Jonathan Sacoolas worked for the US State Department and they 'fled' the UK due to 'issues of security' after the crash

The suspect's barrister, John McGavin, told the court he could not 'completely candidly' explain why the Sacoolas family left the UK  adding: 'I know the answer, but I cannot disclose it.'

Family spokesman Radd Seiger said UK authorities must 'urgently investigate whether she had diplomatic immunity' at the time of the incident.

Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the US Government and she was able to return home around three weeks later.

She was charged with causing the teenager's death by dangerous driving, but a Home Office extradition request was rejected by the US State Department in January last year.

Both the Donald Trump administration and new President Joe Biden's administration have described that decision as 'final'.

On Wednesday, the court heard that one of the reasons Sacoolas had not returned to the UK was a 'fear' that because of the 'media attention, she would not have a fair trial'.

Mr McGavin said the suspect was 'currently apologetic' and has 'accepted responsibility for the accident'.

The Dunn family's barrister in the US, Agniezska Fryzsman, told the court the British Government had written a letter to the court to 'endorse' their claim.

Mr Dunn's mother, Charlotte Charles, said she and Tim Dunn, Harry's father, (pictured together) wanted to sit down with Sacoolas once the prosecution was over to 'rebuild our shattered lives'

The admission from Sacoolas's own barrister about her employment at the time of the crash has raised the question of the diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf.

Under the agreements at RAF Croughton dating back to 1995, anyone working at the base from the US as part of the 'administrative and technical staff' would have their immunity pre-waived, meaning they would not be immune from criminal jurisdiction.

In a short statement issued after the hearing, Mr Seiger said: 'Given the admission in open court by Mrs Sacoolas's counsel that she was employed by US intelligence services at the time of the crash, the UK authorities must now urgently reinvestigate whether she had diplomatic immunity.

'They have to investigate given that employees had their immunity pre-waived under the 1995 RAF Croughton legal agreement.'

The case was adjourned until a further hearing at the same court on February 17.
Tesfaye Gebremariam was born in 1982, in a place called Bale Goba, in Oromia State. Until he was, in his early years, Tesfaye was a healthy boy who used to run and play along with his peers freely, without any troubles.

However, after celebrating his sixth birthday, standing on his feet and playing with friends on ground has become a difficult task for him. Because of medical error that came to happen following his ailment, he failed to walk as he used to do in his early years.

However, this does not stop Tesfaye from realizing his childhood dreams which was conceived in his heart. Using his inner potential as a springboard, Tesfaye has achieved his target. Currently, he is the father of two and Managing Director of his own Multi Media called TDS.

Tesfaye was the eldest boy in his family. For that reason, he was the apple of the eye to his mother. Due to that, he was under a serious control of his mother. Fearing he might be stolen by someone or fear of "evil eyes" Tesfaye's mother used to hide him in her house. One unfortunate day, Tesfaye was allowed to play with his friends.

However, at the middle of somewhere, he started vomiting and his mom took him immediately to the nearby hospital where he got an injecting that might help him to stop the spew. However, the injection he received to stop the spew complicated the future of young Tesfaye in trouble for his nerve was affected by the needle.

Due to a single medical error committed by a medical practitioner, Tesfaye lost his ability to walk like his friends. Following this unfortunate incident, his mother took him almost everywhere to get healed her apple of eye. However, things were not as easy as she thought. Finally, Tesfaye forced to use walking crutches.

Tesfaye's mother has never convinced what happened to her beloved son. For that reason, she has kept knocking every door to get solution. However, all was in vain nothing positive happened to him. It was at this moment she decided to send him to school and attend his education assisted by crutches.

Life was not easy for the little Tesfaye. Attending class with his condition was very difficult. Due to that, until he reached grade six, he was not that much good at his schooling. One day, Tesfaye got a chance to read a book entitled "Bilichta Kehlina Maheder" literally mean "Glimmer of light within the mind". The book is written based on the life of a certain man who lost both his legs and arms during WWII.

Despite all the hurdles, the person who is mentioned in the book has achieved a great position in America. This story inspired the young Tesfaye and he did not let his physical disability stop him from achieving his dream. Tesfaye was totally encouraged and energized by the internal strength of that man and he started to count on his own blessings instead of his limitations.

According to Tesfaye, that magical book has helped him to ask himself what he has got in hand and started to capitalize on the resources at hand. Starting from this moment onwards, the old Tesfaye totally vanished and the new, energized man came out of him.

Unlike the previous years, Tesfaye became among the top students in his class.

After completing his high school, he joined the school of journalism and communication where he encountered both fortunes and challenges. The challenge was the poor infrastructure system he bumps into everywhere. The fortune was a new hope that drives him to his destination.

Starting from high school, Tesfaye's teachers used to tell him that he could be a good journalist if he capitalizes on his talent. The advice from teachers has inspired him more to attend the school of journalism for about three years.

After he graduated from school of journalism, Tesfaye did not sit idle and wait life to stretch its hand to him. Instead, he went towards it and embraces it with passion.

After he joined the world of journalism, he did not let himself to produce what his seniors ordered him to do so. Instead, he preferred to be the voice of voiceless. This was a good opportunity for those disabled persons who are forgotten by the media.

According to Tesfaye, when he started his carrier as a journalist, he had totally been saddened by almost all programs broadcasted by most media houses. "They have almost forgotten the presence of individuals with some types of disabilities.

This and other reasons pushed me further to be a voice to the voiceless individuals with disabilities and started my own program which is called, 'And Demts' or One voice, that focused on disability. The program was broadcasted via Fana FM and revolves on matters such as marriage, disability, love and other social issues."

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Tesfaye's effort to be the voice for voiceless individuals with disability is still intact. Using his passion together with compassion, he has been serving them for the last twenty years in different media houses that are found in the country.

Tesfaye has a firm believe that, no matter how the past journey was hard, life always has something to offer if we strive hard and try to change things for the better. Currently, Tesfaye is living with his wife and their beautiful children.

According to him, life may not be simple to individuals with disability in Ethiopia. But, we can make it possible through commitment and having a positive thought towards ourselves. Attending class or getting job might be relatively easy, however, having a loving wife and children is challenging. "I am lucky enough in this regard," he added.

"We should capitalize on what we have rather than what we lost. If I gave up when I was six grader, I would not be the same person as I am now. Life has taught me to be more committed and stronger. Having hope on life is one reason behind my success. A person without hope cannot walk a single step," he remarked.

Jeff DeCicco is the Chief Executive Officer for both CanAm Investor Services (CAIS), a FINRA registered broker dealer, and CanAm Capital Management (CACM), an SEC registered investment advisor. "CanAms application of its investor-first mindset to formulate best practices in redeployment helps ensure that investors complete their immigration goals and preserve their capital investments," said DeCicco.

CanAm Enterprises (CanAm), a leading full-service financial firm sponsoring EB-5 immigration-linked investment funds, is thrilled to announce that its broker dealer affiliates chief executive, Jeff DeCicco, will share his experience and insights as a panelist at the UGlobal Immigration Expo. The two-day program will feature interactive panels and in-depth workshops designed specifically for high net-worth individuals, tax and immigration attorneys, migration agents and project developers.

Mr. DeCicco will discuss redeploying EB-5 capital during a global pandemic and the challenges associated with the new guidance from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the Smart about redeployment: How to best prepare to safeguard your EB-5 investment panel on Wednesday, February 10.

During the pandemic, the smallest obstacles can make or break any deal, said DeCicco. As industry professionals, it is our responsibility to protect investors during this difficult environment. CanAms application of its investor-first mindset to formulate best practices in redeployment helps ensure that investors complete their immigration goals and preserve their capital investments. I am honored to join a panel of such esteemed panelists to unpack the challenges associated with redeploying EB-5 capital.

Jeff DeCicco is the Chief Executive Officer for both CanAm Investor Services (CAIS), a FINRA registered broker dealer, and CanAm Capital Management (CACM), an SEC registered investment advisor. DeCicco is a Wall Street veteran with over 20 years of experience in trading, institutional sales, and private equity. DeCicco earned a bachelors degree from Wesleyan University and holds the FINRA Series 7, 63, 24, and 66 licenses. He also holds the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) designation from the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS).

The UGlobal Immigration Expo will kick off on Tuesday, February 9. To view the complete schedule of events and to purchase tickets, please click here.

About CanAm

CanAm is an integrated, multinational investment management firm that specializes in immigration-linked investment funds, private equity, and wealth management. With over three decades of experience, CanAms strategic approach to utilizing investor capital and managing risk has raised over $3 billion in private placement funds. Headquartered in New York City with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Ho Chi Minh City, New Delhi, Dubai, Singapore, and Hong Kong, CanAm is proud to serve an international community of investors with a broad spectrum of investment needs and provide long-term value to the firms international and domestic clientele.

A man found with almost 1 million in a bag of onions inside his campervan - crime cash that Gardai believe was destined for the Kinahan Cartel - will be returned to jail after the Court of Appeal today increased his sentence by a year.

The court heard that after Bernard Joyce was cautioned by gardai, he made no comment other than indicating that he "liked onions".

The increase in sentence came after the three judges agreed with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that Joyce's three-year sentence was unduly lenient.



The 45-year-old of Newtown, Beauparc, Slane, Co. Meath, pleaded guilty at Wexford Circuit Criminal Court to possessing 911,600, which were the proceeds of criminal conduct, at Arnestown, Foulksmills, Co. Wexford, on September 22, 2018, under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act 2010.

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Garda Stephen Burke gave evidence that detectives were carrying out a search of the premises at Foulksmills when they met with a lady, who indicated she was in difficulty with a newborn baby along with another child present at the time.



Gda Burke said a camper van was parked at the front of the premises and while gardai were dealing with the search of the premises, the camper van started up, taking off at speed down the driveway. Gardai gave chase around the local roads and the camper van then stopped.

Gardai spoke to Joyce and asked why he was in Wexford and he said that he was there to buy a boat. His teenage son, who was aged 13, was present at the time.

Gardai conducted a search of the camper van and, in a hollow section under the bed in the camper van, discovered two gear bags. No fingerprint or DNA evidence was found on the bags or the cash.

Inside the bags were parcels wrapped in brown Sellotape, which contained cash. There were also onions in the bags. Gda Burke was of the opinion that the purpose of the onions was to avoid detection by a sniffer dog.



Gda Burke testified that after caution he spoke briefly with Joyce, who made no comment other than indicating that he "liked onions".

The cash was subsequently counted and the total sum was 911,600. Prosecuting counsel Sinead Gleeson BL told the sentencing judge that they would be making an application for the forfeiture of the cash, which gardai believed was destined for the Kinahan Cartel.



Last September, counsel for the DPP Ms Gleeson argued before the Court of Appeal that the sentencing judge had imposed a sentence which did not adequately reflect the gravity of the offence committed. She said aggravating factors included the amount of cash, which was recovered by gardai, the fact that the cash was concealed, and that the defendant had attempted to flee from gardai.

Ms Gleeson submitted that the judge, having placed the offence in the mid-range of seriousness with a headline sentence of seven years, had provided too great a reduction and the final sentence of three years did not reflect the overall gravity of the offence.

The judge had referred to the quantity of cash and the seriousness of the offence but did not refer to the fact that the cash was concealed and divided in bundles surrounded by onions to deter the sniffer dog, she said. "It seems the sentencing judge gave excessive credit for a guilty plea and may have fallen into error in that regard," she submitted.

Counsel for Joyce, Philip Sheahan SC, said the judge had applied a careful approach to the sentence and applying two years mitigation from the headline sentence of seven years did not reflect an error.

Delivering an oral judgement today, Ms Justice Una Ni Raifeartaigh said the sum of money was "very significant indeed" and Joyce had initially sought to flee the scene when the gardai arrived.

The court noted the money was subsequently found, without his assistance, in a concealed area in his camper van. There were onions with the cash, suggesting an attempt to hide the money from garda sniffer dogs, she highlighted, adding that the presence of a minor aged 13 years at the time when Joyce was engaging with gardai must also be noted.



The judge said Joyce's plea of guilty was a significant mitigating factor and there were various other mitigating factors including his significant post-conviction attempts to address his gambling addiction in prison, the availability of a job offer upon his release and his family circumstances.

Notwithstanding the mitigation, the three-judge court found that Joyce was given an unduly lenient sentence insofar as the judge reduced the headline sentence of seven years to five years and then additionally suspended the last two years. However, Ms Justice Ni Raifeartaigh said the court accepted the headline sentence of seven years imposed by the sentencing judge.



Ms Justice Ni Raifeartaigh, who sat with President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham and Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly, said the court would reduce the original sentence from the headline of seven years to an actual custodial sentence of four years. The sentence took into account time already served by Joyce in prison.

Mr Justice Birmingham told lawyers for Joyce today that he understands the disappointment that will be felt by their client and gave him two weeks to put his affairs in order. He ordered Joyce to present himself at Wexford Garda station on February 19.
Cloud

GSA explains lowered DEOS price tag

The General Services Administration worked with the Defense Department and vendors to reconfigure the Defense Enterprise Office Solutions Blanket Purchase Agreement that resulted in a dramatically lower ceiling value from the initial award, according to the agency's manager of the contract.

GSA initially awarded DEOS, a 10-year contract to provide Microsoft's productivity suite Office 365 to DOD, to General Dynamics IT in 2019. The ceiling value of the award was $7.6 billion. The solicitation was revised amid protests and the contract was re-awarded to GDIT last month with a $4.4 billion ceiling.

At the time of the the re-award, GSA declined comment, citing the post-award protest period. With that period passed, officials explained the revised price tag.

"We worked with the DOD to provide landscape changes and refined requirements," to modify the DEOS cloud email and business software contract from its originally-awarded form, said Allen Hill, acting assistant commissioner for Category Management at GSA. Those modifications, he said during an ACT IAC webcast on Nov. 16, allowed vendors to refine their offerings, which reduced its value ceiling.

"It wasn't what you'd call a 'scope change.' It was more a refinement of how things would be executed and what exactly was needed in that execution," Hill said.

Hill and Laura Stanton, GSA's assistant commissioner for IT Category, said the agency is currently in the market research phase of a civilian-version of DEOS. Stanton said that version was still in the early stages of development, however, and offered no schedule for a request for information or other formalized process.

On another civilian/DOD-related contracting issue, GSA officials provided insight on how the agency would push DOD's emerging Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) requirements into emerging civilian contracts.

GSA has embedded CMMC language in the master the 8(a) Streamlined Technology Application Resource for Services (STARS) III contract and its Polaris small business governmentwide vehicle, said Keith Nakasone, deputy assistant commissioner for Acquisition Management at the agency. The level of CMMC certification will come at the task order level, depending on the ordering agency's needs, he said.

That means vendors don't have to be certified at the master contract level. "It's going to be based on the orders that come through" the contracts, he said. "We included the CMMC language so it is in scope" of the contract," he said. That allows contract users to set their own levels of certification for vendors, according to Nakasone.
press release

National Assembly Speaker Ms Thandi Modise has asked the High Court Western Cape Division, Cape Town, to dismiss the African Transformation Movement (ATM) application to review and set aside her decision not to grant the ATM's request for a secret ballot on its motion of no confidence in the President.

In her answering affidavit filed in the High Court, the Speaker asks for the application to be dismissed with punitive costs. Please click https://tinyurl.com/e0ugzx0q to read the Speaker's affidavit in full.

Firstly, the Speaker submits that the High Court does not have jurisdiction to hear the matter as only the Constitutional Court can make a finding that Parliament has failed to fulfil its constitutional obligations. Secondly, the Speaker contends that the ATM's case lacks merit in that the ATM has failed to provide sufficient reasons why the secret ballot is the appropriate method of voting in the prevailing circumstances. Further the Speaker maintains that in the absence of compelling reasons for secret ballot the default position of openness and transparency in the conduct of the business of Parliament should be prevail.

The case is not about whether a motion of no confidence can be held by secret ballot. That has already been decided by the Constitutional Court. It is also common cause that the discretion on the which method of vote (secret or open ballot) should be employed rests with the Speaker.

Instead, this case turns on whether the Speaker lawfully exercised her discretion to hold an open ballot on the motion of no confidence in the President. The ATM fails to establish that the Speaker did not exercise her discretion lawfully.

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It is worthwhile recalling that the ATM submitted a defective motion of no confidence which was only made compliant after the Speaker's assistance. After considering the resubmitted motion of no confidence, the Speaker made her decision that voting on the motion would be by open ballot. She based this on, among other things, that NA Members swear an oath to the Constitution, that the political environment was not toxified and that the Constitution requires the NA to conduct its business in an open manner. This was particularly so as ATM had failed to provide any evidence to justify its request for a secret ballot.

Aggrieved by this decision, the ATM originally brought an urgent interdict application for a rule nisi which was set down for hearing on 3 December 2020. It ultimately abandoned this and agreed to a settlement with the Speaker allowing for the matter to be adjudicated over a longer time. The ATM postponed its motion of no confidence in the President, scheduled for 3 December 2020, and this is still pending.

The Speaker has maintained that if the ATM provided specific, fuller, more cogent and compelling "reasons" to her she would reconsider the motion, including applying her mind afresh to the question of secrecy. Instead, the ATM has now tried to mount a new case. Merely because the ATM disagrees with the Speaker's decision does not make the decision unlawful. This is especially so where the potential consequence would be for this Court to direct the Speaker on how to conduct the affairs of the NA. This issue is not new and falls within the Constitutional Court's exclusive jurisdiction.

Judgment has been reserved
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JUNIOR police officers have poured scorn on a US$650 amount promised as compensation on any serving member who contracts Covid-19.

This follows promises of the US$650 on members holding the ranks of a Constable to Superintendent while Chief Superintendents to Commissioner General Godwin Matanga were entitled to US$1 000.

But speaking in separate interviews with NewZimbabwe.com Wednesday, some disgruntled members said both government and their direct employer were just selling them a dummy.

The junior members of the force said there has not been any attempt to roll out Covid-19 testing on the entire membership which has not been allowed any means, financial or otherwise, to turn to private health facilities for the crucial service.

They further questioned the wisdom of paying a higher sum to their bosses who are often ensconced in their offices and are entitled to private transport with relatively minimal chances of contracting the deadly disease.

"We are not being tested. They have said nothing about us getting tested meaning for the past year, we have been a danger to society," said one officer who declined to be named for fear of victimisation.

"Any thought of getting oneself tested at some of these private health institutions is not being entertained, worse off since they only recognise our own hospitals or clinics and government ones."

Another junior officer who also requested anonymity said failure to roll out any testing on member was an attempt to duck the very same responsibility of compensating the workforce.

"If they do not test, then no one will be recorded as being positive.

"One would even question why senior officers who usually spend the day in their offices would be given US$1 000, way above what we will be compensated yet we are more exposed on a daily basis," he said.

No official details of police officers who have tested positive or succumbed to Covid-19 have been publicly shared since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country last March.

Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner, Paul Nyathi refused to be drawn into the talk, choosing to question our journalist on why he was interviewing junior officers.

"Why are you interviewing these junior officers? Why are you engaging them? If you have got friends in the police force who are now in the habit of leaking organisation information, then you are not performing your duty as a journalist," said an unkind Nyathi.

"If you are a journalist and in the habit of befriending officers so that you can get security information, then I think you are not doing your job properly.

"I cannot answer you anymore since you say you have officers giving you information."
New Delhi: With the government tightening its noose around mandatory High Security Registration Plate (HSRP), the Gautam Budh Nagar district (part of NCR) of Uttar Pradesh has not seen a very optimistic volume of vehicles seeking HSRP.

Only 21 percent of the vehicles have been put on high security number plates in Gautam Budh Nagar district. So far 7.5 lakh vehicles have been registered in Gautam Budh Nagar, Out of which only 1.60 lakh vehicles have high security number plate.

Transport Officer of Gautam Budh Nagar told Zee Media that the government has given deadline to install high security number plates in the district by April 15, ending which if the vehicles are not found to have high security number plates, serious action will taken against the vehicle owners. For getting HSRP, Vehicle owners will have to make online booking, meanwhile new vehicles come with dealer-fitted high security number plates.

Gautam Budh Nagar district RTO administration officer AK Pandey said that the government has ordered that everyone is required to get a high security number plate before April 15. Vehicles that do not have a high security number plate after April 15, will have to pay a fine of Rs 5,000.

What is HSRP?

HSRP is a hologram sticker, containing vehicle's engine and chassis numbers and is pasted on a vehicle's number plate. The high security number plate is designed for vehicle's safety and convenience. This number plate are made of aluminium and are pinned on the plate that will attach to your vehicle. Once this pin is attached to the plate of your vehicle, it will get locked on both sides and nobody will be able to open it.
-- Nearly 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities have set this year's economic growth target at more than 6 percent.

-- The keywords at China's local legislative sessions, such as 5G use, digital currency, and carbon peak, highlight the country's new momentum for its high-quality growth.

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- As of Wednesday, most provincial-level regions had held their annual legislative sessions, putting forward new keywords in their development blueprints for this year and the coming five years.

The new buzzwords, such as 5G use, digital currency, and carbon peak, highlight the country's new momentum for its high-quality growth in line with China's new development philosophy and paradigm.

GROWTH TARGETS

Nearly 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities have set this year's economic growth target at more than 6 percent.

Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shandong provinces, among the country's major economic powerhouses, aimed for a more than 6 percent expansion in 2021. The growth targets of other provincial-level regions generally range from more than 6 percent to more than 9 percent.

Central China's Hubei Province, hit hard by COVID-19 last year, and the southern Hainan Province targeted a double-digit growth of more than 10 percent.

The local growth targets showed the resilience and potential of China's economy. It adds certainty to the world amid a global recession, said Liang Qidong, vice president of the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences.

Growing 2.3 percent year on year in 2020, China's economy will likely see a faster recovery and mild transitions in macro-policies in 2021, a year of multiple challenges at home and abroad, according to Zhang Yuxian, an expert with the State Information Center.

DUAL CIRCULATION

The "dual circulation" development pattern, in which domestic and overseas markets reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay, was another keyword phrase in this year's local government reports.

Liaoning Province in northeast China said it would actively integrate its development into this paradigm, building itself into a central hub for economic and trade cooperation in Northeast Asia. The province will also introduce new reforms in its free trade zone and accelerate Sino-German and Sino-UK industrial park construction.

An exterior view of a service center in Kunming Area of China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province on Jan. 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Southwest China's Yunnan Province will beef up efforts to advance reform and opening-up by relying on its free trade zone. Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also unveiled plans to apply for a free trade zone in their government work reports this year.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) would increase the cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This would be favorable for Yunnan to expand opening-up, said Ma Yong, head of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.

CARBON PEAK

Amid the country's all-out efforts to meet its 2060 carbon-neutral target, provincial authorities said they would formulate action plans to achieve carbon emission peaks by reducing emissions and expanding renewable energy usage, among other measures.

Shanghai aims to bring the city's carbon dioxide emissions to a peak before 2025. It would be five years ahead of the national target of 2030, according to the municipal government.

Electricians check photovoltaic solar panels in Sheyanghu Township of Baoying County, east China's Jiangsu Province, Nov. 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Bo)

Liaoning province said it would compile and implement an action plan for carbon emission peaks through developing renewable energy such as solar and wind power, afforestation, and promoting the carbon trading market.

Provinces such as Jiangsu and Guangdong also vowed to take the lead in peaking their carbon emissions.

The office of China Emissions Exchange (Guangzhou) in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. (China Emissions Exchange (Guangzhou)/Handout via Xinhua)

China has announced that it will strive to bring carbon dioxide emissions to a peak before 2030 and become carbon neutral before 2060. One priority is to adjust energy and industrial structures to meet the carbon peak target, and it is necessary to take a differentiated and inclusive approach, experts say.

DIGITAL CURRENCY

Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong plan to promote digital currency pilot applications in their local government work reports.

Beijing will accelerate innovation demonstration zone construction for fintech and professional services. The city will also advance the pilot use of digital currency, Mayor Chen Jining said. He made the comments while elaborating on the significant tasks this year in the municipal government work report. Guangdong plans to support Shenzhen in building a pilot zone for digital currency innovation.

Shenzhen, Beijing, and Suzhou have all piloted the digital yuan since last year. Efforts are underway to include more people in this fast-developing digital era, making daily life easy and digital payments more secure.

5G USE

China is accelerating its pace to construct information infrastructure for the 5G era to boost production and consumption upgrades.

Passengers' body temperature information is displayed on the monitor of a 5G body temperature screening system at Nanning East Railway Station in Nanning City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Feb. 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Lu Boan)

Guangdong will have 220,000 5G base stations by 2022, with its 5G users reaching 60 million. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region plans to build 20,000 5G base stations this year and expand the 5G network in cities, counties, and townships. Southwest China's Guizhou will support the applications of 5G and artificial intelligence.

The opening of the World 5G Convention in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province on Nov. 26, 2020. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)

14th FIVE-YEAR PLAN

The year 2021 marks the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period, with the country embarking on a new journey of fully building a modern socialist country. The local legislative sessions also reviewed and adopted the provincial-level 14th five-year plan outlines.

The economic growth targets and measures to implement the national development strategies and policies are included in the local 14th five-year plans, with high-quality development, innovation, and opening-up among the most significant aspects of regional development blueprints.

ANTI-POVERTY CAMPAIGN

In 2020, all the remaining poverty-stricken counties across the country were delisted despite the COVID-19 impact, marking a decisive victory in the country's tough battle against poverty.

Villagers are seen at a square in Simola Wa Village in Qingshui Town of Tengchong City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, May 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)

Places such as Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan have announced measures to consolidate the poverty reduction outcomes and promote rural vitalization at the local legislative sessions.

A sales assistant (L) and a resident relocated from a poverty-stricken area observe a batik product at a batik workshop in Danzhai County of Guizhou Province in southwest China, Dec. 1, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Ying)

Yunnan plans to build 100 demonstration townships and 10,000 "beautiful villages" among its efforts to vitalize the rural areas and improve the rural residents' living environment.
A visiting priest from Zambia who was working as a chaplain at a Mandeville retirement home was sent to prison Wednesday for reaching under an elderly woman's blouse multiple times in an effort to seduce her, according to authorities.

The Rev. Michael Mulenga was accused of pursuing the woman after administering last rites to her dying husband. A St. Tammany Parish judge convicted Mulenga, 49, of a misdemeanor battery charge and immediately sent him to prison for five months, officials said.

Mulenga met 75-year-old Lynn Michler in 2019 while working as the chaplain of Rouquette Lodge, an independent living facility run by an archdiocesan nonprofit that provides affordable housing to low-income seniors.

Michlers husband of more than 50 years, George Butch Michler, was dying at the time. Mulenga administered the Catholic sacrament known as the Anointing of the Sick to the 74-year-old Butch Michler before his death on Nov. 4, 2019, according to records filed in 22nd Judicial District Court in St. Tammany Parish.

Lynn Michler said she was grieving her husbands death when Mulenga approached her in the buildings laundry room and asked her why she was still wearing a wedding ring, according to court records. Mulenga then came to her apartment at Rouquette Lodge on Jan. 2, 2020, asked to have a drink with her and made remarks about her beauty and thin body, she said.

He soon reached under her shirt and tried to grab her breasts several times. She told him to stop and asked him to leave, according to the records.

Mulenga did leave, but he grabbed Michler and squeezed her against his body on the way out.

She was very uncomfortable, said a civil attorney for Michler, Jim Garner. (It) was very offensive.

Michler reported the clergyman to building management the next day. She also notified the Mandeville Police Department, and New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond indefinitely suspended him from working locally as a priest.

Aymond also ordered Mulenga to leave Rouquette Lodge, an archdiocesan spokesperson said.

The St. Tammany Parish District Attorneys Office charged Mulenga with simple battery on Feb. 26. He pleaded not guilty and faced a bench trial in front of 22nd Judicial District Court Judge Scott Gardner in Covington on Wednesday.

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Gardner found Mulenga guilty and immediately remanded him to the St. Tammany Parish jail to begin serving his five-month sentence.

Media outlets generally dont identify victims of sexual violence. But through her attorneys, Michler gave permission for reporters to use her name.

This was a horrible incident by a trusted priest  and she wants to be in charge of her life, not this predatory priest, said Garner, adding that Michler also wants Mulenga to be punished under church law.

Michler is pursuing a civil lawsuit seeking damages from Mulenga, Rouquette Lodge and its owner, the nonprofit Christopher Homes. The civil case remained pending as of Thursday.

After his expulsion from Rouquette Lodge, Mulenga moved to an archdiocesan-owned property in Westwego.

In full cooperation with law enforcement, the archdiocese agreed to provide a place for Mulenga to live within the archdiocese under supervision for the duration of the (case), church spokesperson Sarah McDonald said. We are very saddened by this situation. Our prayers are with the victim and the family.

Mulengas defense attorney, Miguel Elias, declined comment Thursday. So did District Attorney Warren Montgomery's office.

The Diocese of Ndola, Zambia, in East Africa supervises Mulenga. He was assigned to work in the New Orleans area through the Neocathecumenal community, which seeks to rekindle the faith of baptized but lukewarm Catholics.

Mulenga is a different priest than the pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Treme, who shares the same last name and remains in good standing with the archdiocese, McDonald said. McDonald said the two men are not related.

Suspended St. Peter Claver pastor denies child rape accusations: 'These allegations are false' The Rev. John Asare-Dankwah has denied allegations that he raped an underage boy 13 years ago, a claim that prompted the Archdiocese of New Or

We understand that not all Goodwill stores operate in the same way, which is why it is so important for us, as the coops technology partner, to offer a flexible retail platform which can be easily configured to meet the specific needs of each Goodwill business

Celerant Technology, the leading provider of innovative retail solutions, today announces a partnership with the Goodwill National Cooperative Purchasing Program (NCPP) as a recommended point of sale provider for Goodwill stores across the United States and Canada. Celerant offers a modern, fast and intuitive point of sale and donation management software (DMS), with customizable features designed specifically for the donated goods industry and Goodwill, enabling Goodwill stores to run their entire business more efficiently and cost-effectively within a single solution.

"It became clear very early in our product search that Celerant checked all of the boxes and provided practical solutions to virtually all of Goodwills unique challenges," stated Doug Carden, Vice President, Goodwill National Cooperative Purchasing Program. We look forward to a long-term partnership with Celerant and encourage our Goodwill members to consider the Stratus Enterprise system for their business needs.

Leveraging Celerants point of sale, Goodwill businesses can implement a fast and intuitive solution across all their stores and outlets. The point of sale can be configured to the way they run their business, and offers all the features they need to manage and operate their stores in a single platform- donations, production, sales and returns, loss prevention, customers, incentives, email marketing, performance reporting, and more. With Celerants Always On POS, Goodwill stores can work offline if internet connectivity goes down; stores can continue ringing up sales, and perform all point of sale functions- customer lookups, membership club rewards, price changes, and more.

Managing the production process

Through Celerants point of sale, associates at each Goodwill store can manage the entire production process, from product intake to tagging, all in a single place. Celerant provides the tools needed to manage product inspections, categorization, sorting, tagging and pricing; along with inventory and store transfers. Stores can also implement and simplify a color code system with flexible color weeks used for all incoming merchandise. With Celerants built-in reporting capabilities, Goodwill management can run production-specific reports to analyze items based on volume, quality and sell-through at each Goodwill store location.

Improving the customer and donator experience

Celerants point of sale allows Goodwill stores to offer customers discounts, promotions, coupons and loyalty/membership rewards, vouchers/gift cards; along with account-based incentives for seniors, military veterans and birthdays. At checkout, the POS screen will automatically prompt the cashier to ask the customer if they want to redeem their available rewards; or enroll the new customer in a membership club. Goodwill stores can also manage donation drives; and offer incentives to individuals and/or organizations that donate. Through Celerants integrate online platform, Goodwill stores can easily provide donators with a unique, secure website in which they can itemize and print their donations for tax purposes. Celerants email marketing platform, as well as its Hubspot integration, makes it easy for Goodwill stores to send email campaigns to customers and donators; emails can be personalized based on customer and historical sales/donation data.

We understand that not all Goodwill stores operate in the same way, which is why it is so important for us, as the coops technology partner, to offer a flexible retail platform which can be easily configured to meet the specific needs of each Goodwill business, stated Ian Goldman, President and CEO of Celerant Technology. Equally as important, is to provide an innovative solution that can help the Goodwill businesses adapt to meet the evolving needs of their customers with tools such as curbside pickup and text message marketing.

For more information about Celerants point of sale for Goodwills NCPP, please visit https://www.celerant.com/goodwill/.

About Celerant Technology

Founded in 1999, Celerant provides innovative, multi-channel retail commerce solutions and expert consulting to mid-market retailers across all industries. Celerant is ranked as the #1 retail software provider, and has been recognized as a top-five vendor for the past eleven consecutive years on the RIS Software LeaderBoard. Celerant supports retailers through point of sale, inventory management, eCommerce, vendor integrations and endless aisle, marketplace integrations, CRM and shopper incentives, ERP, email marketing and more. To learn more, subscribe to our blog- http://www.celerant.com/blog.

About the Goodwill National Cooperative Purchasing

The Goodwill NCPP began as a way of locating marketplace savings on the products and services Goodwills use to operate. With a growing supplier network of over 20 partners, we continue to look for new opportunities to build savings for our participating members. To learn more about the Goodwill NCPP, visit https://goodwillncpp.org/.
Water supply along Mombasa Road will be interrupted for two days from Thursday due to construction of the Nairobi Expressway.

Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) said it will shut the water supply pipeline along the road to enable the release of the Mombasa road median to the Express road contractor.

Some estates and major companies will go without water due to the ongoing construction of the Sh62 billion Nairobi Expressway.

"NCWSC will shut-down the water supply along Mombasa Road due to ongoing construction of the Expressway Highway. This will be from Thursday 4th 6:00 am - Friday 5th February 2021 at 6:00 am," said a notice published in local dailies.

Managing director Nahashon Muguna said the company will shut down to facilitate of the relocated pipeline to the old water pipeline from the junction of Enterprise road and Mombasa road to the junction of eastern bypass and Mombasa road.

Estates and institutions along Mombasa Road to be affected are Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Athi River Export Processing Zone, Coca Cola, Mukuru, Imara Daima, estates and industries along North Airport road and Embakasi, Tassia estates.

Other areas to be affected will include General Service Unit and Administration Police training schools, Nairobi Inland Container deport, Industries along Masai road and adjacent areas.

"We strongly advice our esteemed customers to reserve and use water sparingly before and during the period of interruption. Any inconvenience is highly regretted," added Mr Muguna.
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According to a new report published by Polaris Market Research the worldwide Photovoltaic Materials Market is anticipated to reach around USD 44,073 million by 2026. In 2017, the Polycrystalline Silicon segment dominated the global market, in terms of revenue. In 2017, Asia-Pacific accounted for the majority share in the global Photovoltaic Materials market.

The increase in the adoption of renewable energy sources drives the growth of this market. Growing concerns regarding environmental pollution caused by fossil fuels and their limited availability support the market growth. There has been an increasing demand of solar technology owing to low operating costs and less maintenance. Governments are increasingly investing in the development of solar technology to accelerate the adoption of renewable sources, thereby supporting market growth. However, high installation costs of solar systems limit the growth of the market. New emerging markets, and declining costs of photovoltaic materials would provide growth opportunities in the coming years.

Get sample copy of this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/photovoltaic-materials-market/request-for-sample

Asia-pacific dominated the global Photovoltaic Materials Market during the forecast period. A significant rise in the initiatives taken by governments of China, India, and Japan to promote the use of solar technology to reduce carbon footprint supports the growth of the market in the region. Incentives provided by the governments to the commercial sector industries using solar technology has resulted in high demand of photovoltaic materials in the region. China leads the Asia-Pacific Photovoltaic Materials market during the forecast period. Regions such as North America and Europe export solar cells from Asia-Pacific, thereby supporting market growth in the region. Increasing awareness regarding use of renewable sources and green technologies augments the market growth in the region. Leading global players are expanding their presence in developing nations of India, Indonesia, and Malaysia to tap the growth opportunities offered by these countries.

The various types of photovoltaic materials include Monocrystalline Silicon, Polycrystalline Silicon, Cadmium Telluride, and Copper Indium Gallium Selenide among. The Polycrystalline Silicon segment is expected to lead the market during the forecast period owing to affordable manufacturing process and use in varied applications. The Copper Indium Gallium Selenide segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Browse for full research summary: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/photovoltaic-materials-market

The well-known companies profiled in the report include DuPont, Targray Technology International, Inc, Shin-Etsu Chemicals Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Material Corporation, Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation LLC, Atecom Technology Co., Ltd., American Elements, Ferrotec Corporation, Topray Solar, Hangzhou First Applied Material Co. Ltd., 1366 Technologies Inc., NovoPolymers NV among others. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers.

Photovoltaic Materials Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Material Type Monocrystalline Silicon Polycrystalline Silicon Cadmium Telluride Copper Indium Gallium Selenide Others

Photovoltaic Materials Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Product Back Sheets Encapsulants Front Sheets Others

Photovoltaic Materials Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by End-User Commercial Residential Utility Others

Photovoltaic Materials Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Region North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe Germany UK France Italy Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific China India Japan Rest of Asia-Pacific Latin America Brazil Middle East & Africa



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About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world.

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Middle Eastern airlines annual passenger demand in 2020 was 72.9 per cent below 2019. Annual capacity fell 63.9 per cent and load factor plummeted 18.9 percentage points to 57.3 per cent.

According to figures released by the International Air Transport Association (Iata), Decembers traffic was down 82.6 per cent compared to December 2019, and improved from an 86.1 per cent drop in November.

International passenger demand in 2020 was 75.6 per cent below 2019 levels. Capacity, (measured in available seat kilometers or ASKs) declined 68.1 per cent and load factor fell 19.2 percentage points to 62.8 per cent.

Asia-Pacific airlines recorded the steepest drop in passenger demand, slipping 80.3 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019. North American airlines full year traffic fell 75.4 per cent, while European carriers saw a 73.7 per cent traffic decline in 2020 versus 2019. Latin American airlines had a 71.8 per cent full year traffic decline compared to 2019 and African airlines traffic fell 69.8 per cent last year compared to 2019.

Domestic demand in 2020 was down 48.8 per cent compared to 2019. Capacity contracted by 35.7 per cent and load factor dropped 17 percentage points to 66.6 per cent.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced full-year global passenger traffic results for 2020 showing that demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) fell by 65.9 per cent compared to the full year of 2019, by far the sharpest traffic decline in aviation history.

December 2020 total traffic was 69.7 per cent below the same month in 2019, little improved from the 70.4 per cent contraction in November. Capacity was down 56.7 per cent and load factor fell 24.6 percentage points to 57.5 per cent.

Bookings for future travel made in January 2021 were down 70 per cent compared to a year-ago, putting further pressure on airline cash positions and potentially impacting the timing of the expected recovery.

IATAs baseline forecast for 2021 is for a 50.4 per cent improvement on 2020 demand that would bring the industry to 50.6 per cent of 2019 levels. While this view remains unchanged, there is a severe downside risk if more severe travel restrictions in response to new variants persist. Should such a scenario materialize, demand improvement could be limited to just 13 per cent over 2020 levels, leaving the industry at 38 per cent of 2019 levels.

Last year was a catastrophe. There is no other way to describe it. What recovery there was over the Northern hemisphere summer season stalled in autumn and the situation turned dramatically worse over the year-end holiday season, as more severe travel restrictions were imposed in the face of new outbreaks and new strains of Covid-19. said Alexandre de Juniac, IATAs Director General and CEO.

Optimism that the arrival and initial distribution of vaccines would lead to a prompt and orderly restoration in global air travel have been dashed in the face of new outbreaks and new mutations of the disease. The world is more locked down today than at virtually any point in the past 12 months and passengers face a bewildering array of rapidly changing and globally uncoordinated travel restrictions. We urge governments to work with industry to develop the standards for vaccination, testing, and validation that will enable governments to have confidence that borders can reopen and international air travel can resume once the virus threat has been neutralized. The IATA Travel Pass will help this process, by providing passengers with an App to easily and securely manage their travel in line with any government requirements for Covid-19 testing or vaccine information. In the meantime, the airline industry will require continued financial support from governments in order to remain viable, said de Juniac. - TradeArabia News Service

Photo: DriveBC Coquihalla Summit - N Hwy 5, about 7 km north of Zopkios Brake Check, looking north. (elevation: 1230 metres)

Environment Canada has issued a winter storm watch calling for as much as 20 to 30 cm of snow by Friday morning.

The storm watch is in effect for:

Coquihalla Highway - Hope to Merritt

Highway 3 - Hope to Princeton via Allison Pass

Environment Canada is predicting a weather system will move over southern B.C. today bringing snow to the region. Segments of the Coquihalla Highway - Hope to Merritt and Highway 3 - Hope to Princeton via Allison Pass will receive 20 to 30 cm snow by Friday morning.

Another system will approach the region Friday night. Additional snow of up to 15 cm can be expected on Saturday.

Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations. Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow.

Weather in the mountains can change suddenly resulting in hazardous driving conditions.

You are advised to Castanet cameras and DriveBC before heading out.

Adjust to winter driving behaviour and use winter tires and chains.
Premier Li Keqiang heard a report on the domestic efforts for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to take effect and get implemented when chairing the State Council executive meeting on Wednesday, and called for deepening reform and opening-up to promote industrial upgrading. Competent departments have accelerated domestic work for its implementation. To date, legal review of the provisions, and formulation of the conversion plan for the tariff concession commitment schedule on trade in goods, have been completed. Substantive progress has been achieved in the technical preparations for implementing the cumulation provisions of the rules of origin. As much as 85 percent of the 701 binding obligations stipulated in the agreement are ready to be enforced. "The RCEP agreement, signed among 15 participating countries, is beneficial to all," Li said. "Promoting its implementation is an important step to expand opening-up and advance reform. To keep major economic indicators within a reasonable range and consolidate recovery and growth, reform and opening-up should remain a key driving force." The meeting highlighted the need to speedily push forward the reform of relevant domestic management mechanisms, step up the formulation of domestic management regulations on origin and implementation guidelines, refine work procedures and make targeted technical preparations to ensure that the agreement can be executed on the ground as soon as it takes effect. In light of the new circumstances of a more open environment and greater competition following the implementation of the agreement, the meeting reaffirmed the need to sort out and refine the country's manufacturing quality standards and rules in line with the advanced international industrial standards. To further open up the service sector, preparations shall be made in raising standards and improving rules. Inter-agency coordination shall be enhanced. Relevant domestic regulations and policies shall be sorted out and refined expeditiously in accordance with the agreement, and sector-specific plans drafted in selected key areas for RCEP implementation. Efforts shall be made for early consultations among participating countries on the conversion for tariff commitment schedules and for product-specific rules of origin, and on the guidelines for implementing the rules of origin, as institutional safeguards for the implementation of the agreement. "The RCEP agreement is not merely about reducing or exempting tariffs. It specifies the cumulation provisions of rules of origin. Fully understanding and implementing the cumulative rules of origin will help lower the threshold for enjoying tariff concessions, promote intra-regional trade cooperation, and stabilize and strengthen the regional industrial and supply chains," Li said. The meeting also required more training regarding RCEP implementation, to familiarize enterprises, especially micro and small firms, with the provisions and the tariff concession by participating countries, and with the application procedures and documentation required for the certificate of origin. Guidance will be provided to businesses to shape a stronger sense of urgency for transformation and upgrading and a firm commitment to professional expertise, pursuit of excellence and greater management, to better participate in international cooperation and competition. "The RCEP agreement is both an opportunity and a challenge. Intensive training programs should be organized to help businesses become well-informed about the agreement. Implementation of the agreement can be an opportunity to enable the manufacturing industry to move towards medium and high-end, upgrade product quality, and raise market competitiveness," Li said.
A Jersey City man and an Ohio man man have been charged with participating in a million-dollar scheme to defraud banks by creating sham companies and cashing bad checks, acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig announced.

Muhammad Naveed, 35, and Syed Abbas, 32, of Westerville, Ohio, were arrested Wednesday and charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud. They are the eighth and ninth defendants charged in the same criminal complaint. Seven people were charged in July 2020.

Federal authorities say that between March 2018 and April 2020, Abbas and Naveed conspired with the group to established bank accounts for bogus entities, and later issued checks to other sham companies associated with the scheme, knowing that the payor accounts had insufficient funds.

Authorities identified roughly 200 bank accounts used to facilitate the fraudulent schemes. The groups unlawful activities attempted to cause a $10 million loss on financial institutions. The loss attributable to Abbas and Naveed exceeded $1 million, authorities said.

On multiple occasions Abbas and Naveed conducted fraudulent credit card and debit card transactions between shell companies to fraudulently credit payee accounts and fraudulently overdraw payor accounts. Abbas and Naveed uses these shell companies to execute temporary refund credits to checking accounts associated with the criminal organization.

The group withdrew the funds the credited funds from the payee accounts before the banks could recognize the fraudulent transactions, leaving the banks with substantial losses.

The bank fraud conspiracy count carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th February, 2021) US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a phone conversation that he was ready to organize an expert dialogue to eliminate the accumulated difficulties in the work of the diplomatic missions of Russia and the United States, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"The readiness for mutual elimination of the accumulated difficulties in the functioning of diplomatic missions of Russia and the United States on the territory of the two countries was emphasized. Blinken showed readiness to organize an expert dialogue on these issues," the ministry said.

Lavrov confirmed to Blinken that Russia was open for the normalization of bilateral relations, it said.

"Lavrov confirmed that the Russian side was open for joint work to normalize the entire range of bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect and balance of interests," the statement says.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 09:33:36|Editor: huaxia

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Senior citizens wait to receive COVID-19 vaccines at a vaccination center in downtown Santiago, Chile, Feb. 3, 2021. Chile on Wednesday launched its mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19, inoculating people over 90 years old at over 1,400 vaccination centers across the country. The campaign is being carried out with almost 4 million vaccines from Chinese firm Sinovac, which arrived aboard two flights last week, while more are to gradually arrive over the coming weeks. (Photo by Jorge Villegas/Xinhua)

SANTIAGO, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chile on Wednesday launched its mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19, inoculating people over 90 years old at over 1,400 vaccination centers across the country.

"After 11 months of hard, painful and difficult times of pandemic, today we are initiating a mass vaccination process throughout our country in order to protect our compatriots from the threats posed by the coronavirus and this pandemic," Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said.

As the first doses were applied at a vaccination center in Futrono, a city in the southern region of Los Rios, Pinera described the campaign as a "tremendous challenge."

The Chilean government aims to vaccinate 5 million people in the first quarter of this year and 15 million by mid-2021.

Vaccination is free and voluntary in the South American country, he said.

The campaign is being carried out with almost 4 million vaccines from Chinese firm Sinovac, which arrived aboard two flights last week, while more are to gradually arrive over the coming weeks.

Chile has registered 736,645 cases and 18,576 deaths as of Wednesday, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
A team of researchers led by Columbia University has developed a unique platform to program a layered crystal, producing imaging capabilities beyond common limits on demand.

The discovery is an important step toward control of nanolight, which is light that can access the smallest length scales imaginable. The work also provides insights for the field of optical quantum information processing, which aims to solve difficult problems in computing and communications.

"We were able to use ultrafast nano-scale microscopy to discover a new way to control our crystals with light, turning elusive photonic properties on and off at will," said Aaron Sternbach, postdoctoral researcher at Columbia who is lead investigator on the study. "The effects are short-lived, only lasting for trillionths of one second, yet we are now able to observe these phenomena clearly."

The research appears Feb. 4 in the journal Science.

Nature sets a limit on how tightly light can be focused. Even in microscopes, two different objects that are closer than this limit would appear to be one. But within a special class of layered crystalline materials--known as van de Waals crystals--these rules can, sometimes, be broken. In these special cases, light can be confined without any limit in these materials, making it possible to see even the smallest objects clearly.

In their experiments, the Columbia researchers studied the van der Waals crystal called tungsten diselenide, which is of high interest for its potential integration in electronic and photonic technologies because its unique structure and strong interactions with light.

When the scientists illuminated the crystal with a pulse of light, they were able to change the crystal's electronic structure. The new structure, created by the optical-switching event, allowed something very uncommon to occur: Super-fine details, on the nanoscale, could be transported through the crystal and imaged on its surface.

The report demonstrates a new method to control the flow of light of nanolight. Optical manipulation on the nanoscale, or nanophotonics, has become a critical area of interest as researchers seek ways to meet the increasing demand for technologies that go well beyond what is possible with conventional photonics and electronics.

Dmitri Basov, Higgins professor of physics at Columbia University, and senior author on the paper, believes the team's findings will spark new areas of research in quantum matter.

"Laser pulses allowed us to create a new electronic state in this prototypical semiconductor, if only for a few pico-seconds," he said. "This discovery puts us on track toward optically programmable quantum phases in new materials. "

###

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, University of California-San Diego, University of Washington, Center for Computational Quantum Physics-Flatiron contributed to the study, "Programmable hyperbolic polaritons in van der Waals semiconductors."

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England's coronavirus vaccine postcode lottery for the over-70s was laid bare today amid mounting fears that the uneven rollout is leaving vulnerable people in certain parts of the country unprotected.

NHS England statistics revealed a huge gap in the proportion of 70-74 year olds vaccinated across the nation, with almost three-quarters inoculated in south east London compared to less than a fifth in Devon.

And there was a stark divide in the rollout of second doses for the over-80s  who are the most vulnerable to the disease. Northamptonshire gave out 232 times more top-up jabs than Nottinghamshire, which trailed at the back of the pack.

The data  which only goes up until January 31 and breaks down England into around 40 different groups  also showed nearly 55,000 care home residents were still waiting to receive their first dose, despite ministers claiming to have offered them to 'every eligible care home'.

Critics today blasted the gaps, saying there was clearly a 'problem' and urging ministers to deploy more mobile vaccination centres to ensure all groups are reached.

Boris Johnson is aiming to vaccinate 13.9million of Britain's most vulnerable  care home residents, over-70s, the vulnerable and NHS frontline staff  before mid-February amid mounting pressure to relax stringent curbs.

MailOnline estimates suggest all Britons over 50 could receive a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine by April 7, should the drive continue to accelerate to sustain a maximum of 345,000 people per day.

Anti-lockdown Tory MPs are already pushing for measures including school reopening to be eased sooner with cases and deaths dropping and the vaccine roll-out continuing to gather pace  but the Prime Minister has ruled out any relaxation until early March. Ministers, Chris Whitty and SAGE scientists have signaled they want all over-50s to be offered an injection to keep hospitalisations low before society reopens.

The 70-strong Covid Recovery Group (CRG) claim the 'goalposts are being shifted' on easing lockdown, and the focus is moving away from deaths and hospitalisations with dire warnings about the threat of mutant coronavirus and continued strain on the NHS.

It comes as NHS chiefs today announced another 469,000 people had received their first dose, bringing the total to 10.5million. They have warned, however, the speed of the rollout is likely to slow down when they start dishing out second doses. Figures also showed 500,000 doses were administered in the last 24 hours.

And an array of data today offered yet more hope that the worst of the pandemic is over. Department of Health data showed daily deaths and cases have fallen by around 25 per cent in a week, Public Health England revealed infections have dropped in all but three local authorities and NHS England data showed ICUs are finally starting to see pressure ease.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has previously warned supply problems could slow down the rollout of the vaccine

WHICH AREAS HAVE GIVEN THE MOST AND LEAST VACCINES TO THE OVER-70S? Top areas for getting the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to 70-74 year olds Area South East London North London Partners East London North West London Cambridgeshire & Peterborough % 70-74 year olds jabbed 68.9% 62.9% 61.1% 57.1% 56.8% Bottom areas for getting the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to 70-74 year olds Area Devon Shropshire and Telford Hampshire, Isle of Wight Nottinghamshire Sussex Health % 70-74 year olds jabbed 16% 18.8% 19.5% 19.6% 22.7% Advertisement

Official data published today showed Devon was at the back of the pack for those getting first doses to 70-74 year olds in England by January 31, after managing just 16 per cent of residents - or 12,000 out of 79,000.

Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin dished out first jabs to 19 per cent of residents in this age group, while Hampshire and the Isle of Wight managed 19.5 per cent.

The worst-performing areas had done barely a quarter of the proportion of this group compared to those furthest ahead in the rollout.

South East London was at the front after getting first doses to 69 per cent, while North London had done 63 per cent and East London had completed 61 per cent.

The unequal distribution of second doses to the over-80s was also revealed in the figures, with a fifth already having received them in some regions but virtually none in others.

Health authorities in Northamptonshire have steamed ahead in getting the second dose to the age group, with 23 per cent inoculated. Birmingham and Solihull are also leading the pack at 19 per cent, alongside Hertfordshire and West Essex also at 19 per cent.

But barely 0.1 per cent - the equivalent of 33 out of more than 33,000 people - have received their second dose in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

The UK's health regulators have said a gap of up to 12 weeks can be left between doses, a move which has been backed by the scientific community as protecting the largest number of people in the smallest period of time possible.

This means that in the coming weeks tens of thousands who have received their first dose will be invited for their second jabs.

The figures also showed 236,499 out of 290,911 care home residents had received their first dose of the vaccine by January 31, or 81 per cent.

They add, however, that 30,000 of care home residents are not eligible for the jabs, meaning the NHS estimates it has given first doses to 90 per cent. Health chiefs said this was partly because some homes were suffering an outbreak of the virus, leading to shots being delayed.

James Lawson, a fellow at the Adam Smith Institute think-tank and author of a paper on accelerating the vaccination drive, told MailOnline: 'Overall I would say there is a problem around a postcode lottery.

'The best way to deal with it is a combination of better data transparency and more services to reach those harder-to-reach communities - in particular mobile vaccination centres, drive-in centres and greater use of local venues like more pharmacies and more local public venues.'

He added: 'This is why it is really important to look at new ideas like launching mobile vaccination centres so that you are able to cover a greater geographical region.

'It is also why we have to look at things like drive-in centres and also greater use of pharmacies.

'So initially pharmacies were rebuffed but they are now part of the vaccination campaign, but it is not at full capacity so "are we using local pharmacies that might be available in those sort of areas?".

WHICH AREAS HAVE GIVEN THE MOST AND LEAST DOSES TO THE OVER-80S? Areas giving out the most second doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to the over-80s Area Northamptonshire Birmingham and Solihull Hertfordshire North London Partners Kent and Medway % over-80s second dose 23.2% 18.9% 18.6% 18.2% 16.4% Areas with the lowest proportion of over-80s offered the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine Area Nottinghamshire Herefordshire, Worcestershire % over-80s second dose 0.1% 1.8% Derbyshire Lincolnshire Gloucestershire 2.5% 3.4% 3.7% Advertisement

'The other element is also greater transparency about local data. Effectively we have got good headline data for the nation and for England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, we have got local data where a local MP or GP is reporting back but we don't really have a good accurate picture.'

Ministers claimed on Monday they had hit their goal of getting jabs to every care home resident, but with the caveat of 'every eligible care home'.

The Prime Minister's spokesman later admitted a 'small number' had had their visits 'briefly delayed', with the decision 'made by local directors of public health for safety reasons due to local outbreaks'.

Helen Whately, the minister for social care in England, also admitted on Monday the NHS had not reached its target, and said 'ineligible' homes were the ones still facing Covid outbreaks and deemed unsafe for vaccination teams to go into.

It comes as estimates suggest all over-50s could receive their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by April 7 if the rollout continues to gather pace.

There are 17million people over the age of 50 who make up priority groups four to nine and who will need to be reached once the top four priority groups have been done.

At a rate of 345,000 first doses per day  last week's average  it would take 49 days, or seven weeks. From February 17 that would mean they could all be reached by April 7.

At an average rate of 600,000 per day from today onwards  something the NHS has shown itself to be capable of, but which would require a lot of things to go right such as constant supplies, perfect organisation and even faster rates as people start to need second doses from mid-March  the first four groups could be done by February 11.

Then it would take just 29 days to reach the 17million outstanding over-50s and high-risk people; four weeks and a day, ending on March 12.

After the most at-risk groups have been vaccinated, the Government plans to offer jabs to everyone aged 18 and over in the UK. There will be around 21million of them left by this point, according to the JCVI.

At the realistic 345,000-per-day rate this could be achieved in 61 days  from April 7 this would take until June 7.

At the hyper-fast 600,000 per day  which would likely be impossible by this point because millions of people would be having their second doses, soaking up most of the NHS's daily capacity  it would take 35 days. From March 12, this would end on April 16.

The estimates are based on an unlikely 100 per cent uptake rate and on the country having a big enough supply to cope with the number of doses needed each day which, from March, will include second doses for people who got their first jab at the start of the programme.

The Department of Health sources were keen to downplay the hopes, however, and said administering second doses could significantly slow down the rollout from March.

UCL's Professor Karl Friston has modelled the impact of the vaccine rollout, considering how immunity from vaccines and from past infection among the millions of people who have had the virus already could impact the R rate.

He suggests that 'herd immunity', a state in which the virus struggles to spread, or can't spread at all, because so few people are susceptible to it, could be reached by the summer.

He said today: 'The bottom line is that vaccination appears to be having a tangible effect on confirmed new cases and daily death rates recorded over the past few weeks.

At a rate of 345,000 first doses per day  the current average  it will take until February 17 to vaccinate all of the top four priority groups, and then the remaining 17million over-50s and at-risk people could be reached in 49 days, or seven weeks, by April 7. At an average rate of 600,000 per day from today onwards  something the NHS has shown itself to be capable of, but which would require a lot of things to go right such as constant supplies, perfect organisation and even faster rates as people start to need second doses from mid-March  the first four groups could be done by Februayr 11 and all over-50s by March 12

It comes after separate data published today by Public Health England revealed all but three local authorities saw their Covid-19 cases fall last week, while cases in care homes dropped by a third.

All key metrics now indicate the darkest days of the winter crisis are behind us, with the number of Covid hospital patients in general beds dropping to its lowest level for a month and in every region, and virus deaths falling by a quarter in a week.

The data revealed 146 out of 149 areas (98 per cent) recorded a drop in weekly positive tests in the seven days to January 31, with cases falling in all English regions for the second week running.

Infection rates plunged by more than 33 per cent in a third of local authorities and fell sharply by over 25 per cent in another 35 places. Cases are also down in every age group.

Encouraging figures also show the number of suspected outbreaks in English care homes dropped by more than a third last week, falling from 504 to 321. This, combined with the fact 80 per cent of care home residents have now been vaccinated, suggest officials are finally getting a grip on the resurgence of the virus in the sector.

The only three areas in England to see rises in the past week were Torbay, where it increased by 0.9 per cent to 169 per 100,000, Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, where the rate climbed 3.9 per cent to 210 and in Rutland where there was an uniquely large rise. The East Midlands county recorded a 33 per cent increase, with the rate now 230 per 100,000.

It is thought that a Covid outbreak in HMP Stocken in Stretton could be partly to blame. It has not been confirmed how many have tested positive for the coronavirus. The category C men's prison has around 950 inmates.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

South Africa: Scientific research taking SA into the future

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has engulfed South Africa and the rest of the world for the past 10 months has highlighted the importance of investments by governments in science, technology and innovation.

Evidence-based information has been at the heart of saving lives and developing a response to the deadly virus.

In the production of reagents, diagnostics, personal protective equipment (PPE) and a vaccine, scientific research has been critical.

The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), led by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, has been an active participant in the government's Health Ministerial Advisory Committee, which was tasked with advising on the implementation of programmes to contain the pandemic and ensure the safety of all South Africans.

Nzimande recently briefed the media on the DSI's efforts to prepare South Africa to manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one becomes available.

The Minister highlighted the fact that the infrastructure necessary for doing this already existed in the country thanks to work previously done by the department.

The threat of future pandemics has thrust the country's ability to develop and manufacture vaccines locally into the spotlight.

Government, through the DSI, owns a 47.5% stake in bio-pharmaceutical company Biovac as part of a joint venture with the private sector. Biovac has over the years developed the capability to manufacture vaccines.

Investing in research

Over the past two decades, the DSI has made huge investments in research and innovation that have enabled the country to respond effectively to COVID-19.

These investments were made not only in the health care and related sectors, but also in other sectors as part of the DSI's efforts to become an innovative and inclusive department focused on improving the lives of all South Africans.

It is now widely accepted that science, technology and innovation are key to unlocking people's potential and creating improved social conditions, a competitive economy and a workforce positioned to take the country into the future.

In 2019, the DSI produced a new White Paper that laid out a core policy for driving science, technology, and innovation that delivers positive socio-economic outcomes through initiatives in fields including energy, health care, education, climate change, food security and manufacturing.

The DSI will adopt a leadership role in this drive, acting as an enabler of innovations and scientific discoveries that will provide solutions needed to address a broad spectrum of societal needs today and in the future.

In leading this endeavour, the DSI will draw on the work it has been doing over the past two decades.

Innovations and interventions

Not only has this work been crucial for empowering the best minds in the country today, it has also yielded numerous innovations and interventions that are now helping to modernise and improve society.

These include the following:

The Hydrogen SA programme, which is providing an alternative source of energy that is noiseless, effective and pollution-free.

A number of mining innovations to modernise this sector.

An additive manufacturing and titanium metal powder programme.

The development of the world's largest and fastest 3D printer.

The development of a technology, known as Aquatrip, that identifies water leaks and prevents wastage by means of an inbuilt control valve.

The development of a compound that has been found to have potent activity against all stages of malaria.

A range of new biotechnology solutions, including animal feed products and an injectable bone regeneration product.

A wheat breeding programme that is producing drought-resistant crops for sustainable food production and nutrition, one of many innovations to modernise the agricultural sector to ensure food security and sustainable nutrition.

The project to the build the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which will be the world's largest radio telescope and the largest scientific infrastructure on the African continent.

Technological innovations in Earth observation that have enabled the provision of mapping data for use in spatial planning, disaster management, and the protection of our marine resources.

The Department leads this and other work together with its entities, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), National Research Foundation (NRF), Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), South African National Space Agency (SANSA), Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI), Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP).

Renaming the department

In 2019, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) was renamed the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) in order to broadly embrace the drive to build a future that draws on and applies science and innovation for the betterment of society.

Backed by science

In October, Dr Nzimande announced that the DSI would be rolling out a brand campaign showcasing the department's work in various fields, including its contribution to the national response to COVID-19, in an effort to ensure that society is aware of the value of science in solving societal challenges.

"This will include work to address other diseases, as well as the contribution of science, technology and innovation in helping the economy recover from the pandemic, under the banner 'Making Sure It's Possible' and the hashtags #itspossible and #backedbyscience," the Minister said.

"I hope that, through this campaign, there will be a better appreciation of the impact of science, technology and innovation on our society, and a greater understanding that science saves lives."  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

WASHINGTON - The White House is open to narrowing eligibility for the next round of stimulus payments but not lowering those payments below $1,400 per person, according to a White House spokeswoman.

Congressional Republicans and even some centrist Democrats have in recent days raised concerns that President Joe Biden's proposal to send another round of stimulus checks would give government aid to affluent Americans who do not need it.

Biden has publicly expressed willingness to negotiate the stimulus payments, which under Democrats' current plans would begin to diminish at $75,000 for individuals and couples making $150,000 a year. Biden is also aiming to provide $1,400 per every adult and child under that threshold, on top of the $600 per adult and child approved by Congress in December.

A group of 10 Senate Republicans trying to strike a bipartisan compromise on a stimulus plan has proposed both lowering the income thresholds on the payments - to $50,000 for individuals and $100,000 for couples - and reducing the size of the checks from $1,400 to $1,000.

During the bipartisan meeting at the White House on Monday, White House officials expressed openness to lowering the income threshold on the payments but will not accept reducing the size of the checks, two people briefed on the discussions said. These people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations with White House staff.

"The President remains committed to finishing the job on delivering $2,000 in direct relief to Americans who are struggling to make ends meet during this crisis," Rosemary G. Boeglin, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Still, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki added at her press briefing on Tuesday that Biden is wary of limiting the income thresholds on the payments too dramatically. For instance, she said Biden believes a nurse and a teacher jointly earning $120,000 a year in Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pa., still "should get a check." Biden reiterated this commitment in a meeting with White House aides on Tuesday, she said.

"That is in his plan," Psaki said. "People need to get the relief they need."

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., a member of the bipartisan group, also said in an interview that Biden demonstrated willingness to negotiate with Republicans over more narrowly targeting the income threshold for the stimulus payments.

"He instructed and told us, 'Let's follow up,'" Capito said. "No promises made, and no real concessions made at the time, but certainly a greater understanding of where we are."

While campaigning in the Senate runoffs in Georgia in January, Biden vowed $2,000 stimulus payments would be sent "immediately" if Democrats secured control of the Senate. The two newly elected Democratic senators from the state, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both urged Democrats to quickly pass the stimulus payments in an internal caucus call of congressional Democrats.

"Their election will put an end to the block in Washington - that $2,000 stimulus check - that money would go out the door immediately, to help people who are in real trouble," Biden said in Georgia in the closing days of the Senate campaigns. "Think about what it will mean to your lives - putting food on the table, paying rent."

The dispute over how to structure the checks reflects a broader disagreement among economists about whether they represent the best form of fiscal relief to the current economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

John Friedman, an economics professor at Brown University, recently argued that the checks should be targeted for those further down the income distribution, finding that the pandemic had most clearly hurt lower-income groups.

"Targeting the stimulus payments to lower-income households would both better support the households most in need and provide a large boost to the economy in the short-run," Friedman previously told The Washington Post. "Low-income households have suffered by far the biggest economic shock. They need the help the most."

Other economic experts have urged the White House not to target the checks too narrowly. They note that the payments are based on prior-year income and that lowering the threshold may exclude millions of people who recently lost their jobs.

"People have not filed their taxes for 2020, meaning that targeted checks would go out based on income information that is now one to two years out of date, with a pandemic and mass job loss having occurred in the interim," said Matt Bruenig, founder of the People's Policy Project, a left-leaning think tank. "This is not targeting. It is the illusion of targeting, an illusion that will end up hurting tens of millions of people who are currently in need but weren't in 2019."

It is unclear how many Republicans in the group of 10 would vote for increasing the stimulus payments to $2,000. The Republican lawmakers involved in the centrist group are skeptical of the stimulus checks but included an increase in the payment anyway as a way to demonstrate their good-faith intention to work with Biden on his priorities, one person familiar with the matter said. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the most centrist Democratic senator, has also publicly raised concerns about the efficacy of the checks.

Biden's plan would provide stimulus payments to approximately 95% of the country, while the Republican plan, lowering the threshold to those making under $50,000 a year, would provide payments to about 70% of the country, according to preliminary estimates of the proposals by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank. Approximately 80 million fewer people would receive them under the GOP offer, the institute found.

The Republican plan would also be less expensive, spending $220 billion on the payments compared with the $465 billion under Biden's plan.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy also previously found that Biden's plan would amount to a 29% increase in the annual income of the poorest 20% of Americans.

- - -

The Washington Post's Erica Werner and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
The motion filed Wednesday asks a Kenosha County judge to add $200,000 on top of the $2 million the 18-year-olds lawyers posted to free him in November. Rittenhouse lived in far north suburban Antioch at the time of the shootings but has lived at an undisclosed location since his release.
Struggling with elevated numbers of covid-19 cases, Malaysia's government is trying to strike a balance that will protect lives while ensuring that economic activity can continue, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Thursday.

While a total lockdown would be the best way to control the surge in cases, that would have negative repercussions for the economy, Muhyiddin said in the televised address. Instead, tighter protocols -- known as Standard Operating Procedures, or SOP -- will be imposed while essential businesses continue to operate.

"The government listens to your views by not shutting down the economy during the Movement Control Order period," Muhyiddin said. "So please reciprocate this gesture by complying strictly with the SOPs so that we can ensure business and trade will continue to operate, while at the same time helping break the chain of Covid-19 transmission at the workplace and in the community."

Movement Control Orders, Malaysia's strictest form of lockdown, are in force in all but one state and will continue until Feb. 18.

Still, the government will allow car-wash services, hair salons and night markets to reopen starting Friday, Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in a separate briefing on Thursday. The government is studying whether to allow more businesses to operate throughout the MCO period as well, he said.

Here are key points from the prime minister's address:

- Repeat offenders of health protocols will face higher fines and possible imprisonment.

- The government is working with 31 private hospitals to treat non-Covid patients, easing pressure on government-run hospitals burdened with Covid cases. The government will compensate owners whose premises are used as Covid screening centers.

- Malaysia will begin a nationwide vaccine rollout by the end of this month. The aim is for 80% of population to get free vaccine.

- The first phase of vaccinations, which will last until April, will focus on inoculating 500,000 frontline workers, followed by the elderly and high-risk groups between April and August. The third leg of the program will run from May through next February to immunize those age 18 and above.

- Muhyiddin said he will advise the king to dissolve parliament after the virus is brought under control.
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Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
Ningo-Prampram Member of Parliament (NDC MP), Samuel Nartey George, is demanding that compensation is paid to victims of the violence that characterised the January 31, 2019, Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election.



In a statement on the floor of Parliament, in Accra, on Tuesday, the MP said two years on, the eight victims recommended by the Emil Short Commission to be compensated have still not been attended to.



The victims are Theophilus Sedofu, Seidu Zaneh, James Moore, Mohammed Alhassan, Mr Ishawu Yaro, Mrs Justine and two other unnamed persons.



The violence, perpetrated by mask-wearing national security operatives led to the formation of the Commission, which recommended among other things, that compensations were paid to the victims of the assault and violence.



It is heartbreaking, Mr Speaker, for me to stand in the peoples chamber two years on and recount how none of these individuals have received any compensation or support from the State. I am heartbroken as I myself was a victim of the recklessness that characterised the action of state operatives on the day, Mr Nartey George stressed.



Expressing his disappointment in government for not implementing the recommendations of the Commission, he said our constituents deserve better. The citizens of the Republic demand action.



Mr Nartey George said we owe it as the representatives of the people and the true bastion of democracy to hold agents of state security to account for their infractions of law. We cannot fail. We must demand that justice is served the eight citizens whom government has pledged to compensate.



He said the tenets of democracy must be protected, and the rule of law, accountability and the protection of the human rights of citizens are essential in this democratic dispensation and nothing or no one must be allowed to jeopardise this.



Mr Nartey George said We represent the last ray of hope for these citizens who have elected us here.



He asked the Speaker of Parliament to use his offices to direct all relevant state institutions responsible for the payment of compensations to the affected citizens to act expeditiously on the matter.



The Chief Whip of the Majority Group and NPP MP for Nsawam-Adogyiri, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, said limiting the statement to the Ayawaso West Wuogon incident was selective and intended to achieve political means.



No government, Mr Annoh-Dompreh said, has mustered the courage to investigate what led to violence in previous by-elections, but the Akufo-Addo led administration was able to so.



To him, constituting a Commission of Inquiry to probe circumstances surrounding the violence alone showed a commitment of government to the welfare of the victims.

Source: The Ghanaian Times









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Mod Selection, a champagne brand Drake has invested in, has claimed 'racial bigotry' was in play when the brand was mis-marketed.

Mod Selection has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles against the retailer Total Wine & More, saying that it worked in concert with its distributor, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, to diminish the brand's value.

Lawyers for Mod Selection said that Southern Glazer 'repeatedly subjected [Drake] to browbeating and dismissive treatment' in its dealings with the rapper, who had was positioned as a brand ambassador in allowing the brand to use his name and likeness in promotions, TMZ reported, citing court docs.

The latest: Mod Selection, a champagne brand Drake has invested in, has claimed 'racial bigotry' was in play when the brand was mis-marketed. The rapper was seen holding a bottle of the champagne onstage at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas

The In My Feelings artist - who had brought out a bottle of Mod Selection onstage with him in his victory for Best Male Artist at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards - thought that the Southern Glazer had acted with 'racial bigotry' in their dealings with him, Mod Selection's lawyers said in the suit.

Mod Selection lawyers said that Drake had texted them complaining about the conduct of Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits; and that the distributor sought to put in on shelves positioned as a 'black' or 'rapper's' brand despite a different marketing plan.

Southern Glazer and Mod Selection ended the deal in 2019, and Mod Selection said the distributor further acted maliciously in selling the champagne, which was priced at $300-400 per bottle, for $49-149 a bottle at the Total Wine & More stores.

According to Patch.com, Mod Selection claimed legal infractions of false advertising, trademark infringements and civil conspiracy and other counts, claiming the actions were steps in a 'predetermined plan to kill the Mod Selection Champagnes brand by dumping the product at brand-damaging discounted prices in the U.S. and abroad.'

Big moment: The In My Feelings artist had brought out a bottle of Mod Selection onstage with him in his victory for Best Male Artist at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards

The rapper was positioned as a brand ambassador in allowing it to use his name and likeness in promotions, Mod Selection said in the suit

Mod Selection lawyers said the distributor sought to put in on shelves positioned as a 'black' or 'rapper's' brand despite a different marketing plan

Drake's lawyer Larry Stein told TMZ he was not aware of Mod Selection's suit, and could not confirm whether or not the rapper had texted the brand.

Stein noted that Drake isn't involved in the legal case and was not aware of any racial claims made by the rapper or his camp.

In a 2019 promotional clip for the brand, according to The Drinks Business, Drake touted his collaboration with the brand.

'We'll enjoy this run,' he said. 'It should be a long one and a strong one. I think the full package is there. The product is great, the presentation is great, and hopefully the representation is great as well.'
Never say never, especially when it comes to a relationship with Jeff Lewis from Bravos Flipping Out. Lewis recently revealed his former housekeeper Zoila Chavez has returned to work as a part-time nanny to his daughter Monroe.

Zoila Chavez, Jeff Lewis |Kelsey McNeal/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank

Chavez and Lewis had more of a familial relationship than one of an employer/employee. But just like most families, they fought almost as hard as they loved. Chavez ended up quitting her job as his housekeeper and moved back to Nicaragua. And while they had somewhat of a sour ending, Lewis recently revealed they are not only friends again, but Chavez returned to work for him.

Well thats kind of an interesting twist, Lewis said during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. Zoila is now back working for me again. She takes care of Monroe on Fridays and Saturdays. Meanwhile, host Andy Cohens jaw is on the floor and he looks nothing short of delighted.

Aw that makes me so happy! Cohen exclaimed.

Jeff Lewis hoped Zoila Chavez would return someday

In Oct., Lewis revealed on his Sirius XM show that he had been in touch with Chavez. I needed someone to fill like a day or two, so I called Zoila Chavez in Nicaragua, he said, Bravos The Daily Dish reports. We had a nice conversation. She is flying back anyways in mid-October and we are discussing her working on Saturdays. Im really excited.

Cohen also shared that he learned Lewis and Chavez had been talking again. Even though Jeff and Zoila did not end the show on great terms, Im happy to say that they have reconciled and Zoila is alive and well and has been waiting out COVID in Nicaragua, Cohen revealed the previous month. But shes coming back to L.A. soon.

Jeff Lewis shared which of his former #FlippingOut co-stars he still keeps in touch with. Head to our YouTube channel to watch the full #WWHL clip. pic.twitter.com/p5uZOAC4AX  WWHL (@BravoWWHL) February 4, 2021

RELATED: Flipping Out: Is Zoila Chavez Going Back To Work for Jeff Lewis?

Lewis and Chavez reconnected slowly after she decided to retire. Chavezs sister continued to work for Lewis, but even though Chavez split her time between Los Angeles and Nicaragua, Lewis admitted he hadnt seen much of her. Its funny, I was just talking to her sister because I havent seen her in a while. I want her to come by and see the baby, Lewis said in 2019.

Hopefully Jeff Lewis keeps the pranks to the minimum when Zoila Chavez returns

Megan Weaver, a former design associate at Jeff Lewis Design recently revealed that Chavez was often the victim of most of Lewiss pranks. In fact Jenni Pulos and Chavez both found themselves on the receiving end of Lewiss twisted sense of humor.

RELATED: Flipping Out: Jenni Pulos Reveals That the Show Was Supposed To Be About Her and Not Jeff Lewis

They both did, she said the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast. I would have to say Zoila. Because you know, Jenni was always pretty much in on the joke and she was sort of, she was such a clown and so funny. And so, you know, just so much fun to watch and with her, and then Zoila was too. But sometimes when Zoila didnt want to be teased or pushed, she would not have it. She would get really, really upset.

Lewis confirmed on WWHL that he still has not been back in touch with Pulos, despite reaching out multiple times. Shes not ready, he shrugged.
After a private meeting Wednesday night of the House Republican conference meant to hold together an increasingly divided party, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., defended controversial freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. But as he lauded Greene's apology to Republicans for her history of outrageous rhetoric on social media, McCarthy also claimed that the extremist ideology she supports was foreign to him.

"I think it would be helpful if you could hear exactly what she told all of us - denouncing Q-on, I don't know if I say it right, I don't even know what it is," said McCarthy, referring to QAnon, a radicalized movement based on false claims that the FBI has deemed a domestic terrorism threat.

McCarthy's comment set off immediate backlash, with critics pointing out that the minority leader has addressed QAnon before in TV interviews and at news conferences.

"He has said QAnon before. He knows full well what QAnon is," MSNBC's Brian Williams said Wednesday night.

On CNN, Chris Cuomo noted that QAnon played a major role in the attempted insurrection in the Capitol last month.

"You should just remind him next time you see him: Remember all those signs that the people were holding up as they savagely attacked our Capitol? Remember it said QAnon? That's QAnon," said Cuomo Wednesday night after showing a clip of McCarthy's comments

A spokeswoman for McCarthy did not immediately respond to a message from The Washington Post early on Thursday.

McCarthy's response came after he chose not to revoke Greene's committee roles as a rebuke for her comments online that encouraged political violence and pushed anti-Semitic falsehoods. Greene has falsely claimed the California wildfires were caused by lasers in space owned by a coterie of Jewish bankers and that both the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand and the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., were examples of a "false flag" operation.

Greene has not publicly denounced QAnon. She has also not publicly apologized for her posts on social media and recently maintained on Twitter that she "will never apologize."

Democrats plan to hold a House vote on Thursday to remove the representative from her committee assignments.

Despite McCarthy claiming ignorance of QAnon, he has referenced it in past interviews. In an Aug. 20 interview with Fox News's Shannon Bream, McCarthy condemned the extremist ideology.

"Let me be very clear, there is no place for QAnon in the Republican Party. I do not support it," he said.

During a news conference in November, a reporter asked McCarthy if he had concerns about new members like Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., who have supported QAnon, potentially creating controversy for the House GOP. The House minority leader responded that both representatives "denounced Q-on," mispronouncing QAnon.

QAnon played a central role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by radicalizing many of the rioters, The Post reported. Many of the people who stormed the Capitol had clothing and flags promoting QAnon.

In response to McCarthy's comments and his decision not to censure Greene, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the minority leader a "coward" for ignoring calls from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other prominent party members to sideline the Georgia representative.

"As No 2. Senate Republican John Thune warned Tuesday, McCarthy has chosen to make House Republicans 'the party of conspiracy theories and QAnon' and Rep. Greene is in the driver's seat," Pelosi said in a statement.
Dozens of people were injured after a stampede broke out during a police raid on a nightclub operating illegally in Bolivia in the early hours of Saturday.

Despite measures banning mass gatherings to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, authorities reported more than 150 were inside the disco.

Mayor of Quillacollo Alfonso Berzain said the owners of the place "got scared and closed the doors in an irresponsible way," which caused the human avalanche when started getting out.

Administrators and workers were arrested by the police.

To date, Bolivia reported 218,299 COVID-19 cases and 10,439 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
A phase 1 clinical trial testing a novel vaccine approach to prevent HIV has produced promising results, IAVI and Scripps Research announced today. The vaccine showed success in stimulating production of rare immune cells needed to start the process of generating antibodies against the fast-mutating virus; the targeted response was detected in 97 percent of participants who received the vaccine.

This study demonstrates proof of principle for a new vaccine concept for HIV, a concept that could be applied to other pathogens, as well. With our many collaborators on the study team, we showed that vaccines can be designed to stimulate rare immune cells with specific properties, and this targeted stimulation can be very efficient in humans. We believe this approach will be key to making an HIV vaccine and possibly important for making vaccines against other pathogens." William Schief, Ph.D., Professor and Immunologist, Scripps Research and Executive Director of Vaccine Design, IAVI's Neutralizing Antibody Center

Schief presented the results on behalf of the study team at the International AIDS Society HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P) virtual conference today.

The study sets the stage for additional clinical trials that will seek to refine and extend the approach--with the long-term goal of creating a safe and effective HIV vaccine. As a next step, IAVI and Scripps Research are partnering with the biotechnology company Moderna to develop and test an mRNA-based vaccine that harnesses the approach to produce the same beneficial immune cells. Using mRNA technology could significantly accelerate the pace of HIV vaccine development.

HIV, which affects more than 38 million people globally, is known to be among the most difficult viruses to target with a vaccine, in large part because it constantly evolves into different strains to evade the immune system.

"These exciting findings emerge from remarkably creative, innovative science and are a testament to the research team's talent, dedication and collaborative spirit, and to the generosity of the trial participants," says Mark Feinberg, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of IAVI. "Given the urgent need for an HIV vaccine to rein in the global epidemic, we think these results will have broad implications for HIV vaccine researchers as they decide which scientific directions to pursue. The collaboration among individuals and institutions that made this important and exceptionally complex clinical trial so successful will be tremendously enabling to accelerate future HIV vaccine research."

One in a million

For decades now, HIV researchers have pursued the holy grail of stimulating the immune system to create rare but powerful antibodies that can neutralize diverse strains of HIV. Known as "broadly neutralizing antibodies," or bnAbs, these specialized blood proteins could attach to HIV spikes, proteins on the virion surface that allow the virus to enter human cells, and disable them via important yet difficult-to-access regions that don't vary much from strain to strain.

"We and others postulated many years ago that in order to induce bnAbs, you must start the process by triggering the right B cells--cells that have special properties giving them potential to develop into bnAb-secreting cells," Schief says. "In this trial, the targeted cells were only about one in a million of all naive B cells. To get the right antibody response, we first need to prime the right B cells. The data from this trial affirms the ability of the vaccine immunogen to do this."

The priming step would be the first stage of a multi-step vaccine regimen aimed at eliciting many different types of bnAbs, he says.

Promise beyond HIV

The strategy of targeting naive B cells with specific properties is called "germline-targeting," as these young B cells display antibodies encoded by unmutated, or "germline" genes. Researchers believe the approach could also be applied to vaccines for other challenging pathogens such as influenza, dengue, Zika, hepatitis C viruses and malaria.

"This is a tremendous achievement for vaccine science as a whole," says Dennis Burton, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research, scientific director of the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center and director of the NIH Consortium for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development. "This clinical trial has shown that we can drive immune responses in predictable ways to make new and better vaccines, and not just for HIV. We believe this type of vaccine engineering can be applied more broadly, bringing about a new day in vaccinology."

The clinical trial, IAVI G001, was sponsored by IAVI and took place at two sites: George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C., and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch) in Seattle, enrolling 48 healthy adult volunteers. Participants received either a placebo or two doses of the vaccine compound, eOD-GT8 60mer, along with an adjuvant developed by the pharmaceutical company GSK. Julie McElrath, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president and director of Fred Hutch's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, and David Diemert, M.D., professor of medicine at GWU School of Medicine and Health Sciences, were lead investigators at the trial sites.

"This is a landmark study in the HIV vaccine field, demonstrating success in the first step of a pathway to induce broad neutralizing antibodies against HIV-1," McElrath says. "The novel design of the immunogen, the clinical trial and the molecular B cell analyses provide a roadmap to accelerate further progress toward an HIV vaccine."

Wide network of collaborators

Funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through the Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery, supported a wide network of partners conducting complex analyses.

The critical assay used to judge the vaccine candidate, epitope-specific single B cell sorting and B cell receptor (BCR) sequencing, was developed and carried out by teams at the NIH Vaccine Research Center, led by Adrian McDermott, Ph.D. (chief of the Vaccine Immunology Program), Richard Koup, M.D. (deputy director and chief of the Immunology Laboratory and Immunology Section), and research scientist David Leggat, Ph.D.; and at Fred Hutch, led by McElrath and senior staff scientist Kristen Cohen, Ph.D. Study design and data analysis were led by staff scientists Allan deCamp, Ph.D., Greg Finak, Ph.D., and Jimmy Fulp at the Vaccine Immunology Statistical Center at Fred Hutch, with assistance from the Schief lab.

IAVI and Scripps Research developed the vaccine candidate with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, an HIV Vaccine Research and Development grant (P01 AI094419, titled "Optimizing HIV immunogen-BCR interactions for vaccine development") from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology and Immunogen Discovery (CHAVI-ID) at the NIAID and Scripps Research, and the Scripps Consortium for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD). Other collaborating organizations include Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Karolinska Institutet and La Jolla Institute.

Research at the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center that contributed to the development of the vaccine candidate, eOD-GT8 60mer, was also made possible by the government of the Netherlands through the Minister of Foreign Trade & Development Cooperation and through the generous support of the American people through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of IAVI and Scripps Research and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States government.

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Don Baer

Former Burson-Marsteller CEO Don Baer has joined Brunswick Group as senior partner in Washington.

He led the WPP unit for six years and exited in 2020 as global chair of the revamped BCW firm.

Prior to B-M, Baer was senior executive VP for strategy and development at Discovery Communications, communications director/chief speechwriter in Bill Clintons White House and senior journalist at US News & World Report.

Neal Wolin, Brunswick CEO, called Baer one of the most experienced, strategic and creative practitioners in our industry and a communicator who understands deeply the pressures facing organizations today and is a trusted confidante to business leaders.
Congress leader Vadra on Thursday met the family of the man who died during the January 26 protests in Delhi and said the government should repeal the new agri-marketing laws instead of branding farmers "terrorists" and their agitation a "political conspiracy".

She attended a prayer ceremony for Navreet Singh at Dibdiba village in Rampur district, travelling there from Delhi along with some other party leaders in a show of solidarity with farmers protesting over the laws.

Meeting reporters there, she asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not visited the sites on Delhi's border where lakhs of protesting farmers are camping.

Lakhs of farmers are sitting on the border for two months. Has he no desire to meet them? How far is the border from the Prime Minister's residence? Does the PM have so much ego that he cannot go there in a vehicle, she asked.

If there is any bigger wrong other than the three farm laws, which the government should take back but is not doing so, it is that martyrs are being branded terrorists and the farmers' agitation is seen as a political conspiracy," she said after the antim ardas prayers.

The Congress general secretary said those who raise their voice are called names. But it is never said come and tell us about the pain in your heart as you are our countrymen."



Gandhi said soldiers on the country's borders are the sons of farmers. Terming farmers terrorists is a big sin, which should neither be committed by our prime minister, nor by his government and also not by the media.

Navreet Singh died after his tractor overturned during the farmers' tractor parade in the capital on January 26.

Several farmers clashed with police that day, violating the undertaking their leaders had given on holding the tractor parade only on Delhi's periphery.

"I have come here to tell this family that you are not alone. Every single countryman is with you, be it of any religion, and farmers from every corner of the country are with you, and we are with you," she said.

In an indirect reference to the assassinations of her father Rajiv Gandhi and grandmother Indira Gandhi, she said, From my own experience, I can say that a martyrs' family can never forget his martyrdom.

On another personal note, she said, Navreet was 25-year-old and my son is 20.

Apparently referring to the barricading of the protest sites at Delhi's borders, she said this was not the occasion for any political talk, "but we cannot tolerate such atrocities.

The fact is that this is not a political agitation but an actual agitation of farmers and every citizen," she said.

The Congress leader said the fight will continue till the "black laws are repealed.

"I want to tell the grandfather of the dead farmer that we will not allow his grandson's martyrdom go in vain. I have come here to tell you this, Gandhi said



Asked about the allegation that the farmer was killed in police firing, she said, The family is very clear and wants a judicial and an impartial inquiry into the incident.

Reminded about Modi's assurance that the government was just a phone call away and still open to talks, she said at times those in power attain so much ego that they don't connect with the people.

It seemed that those around the prime minister are not informing him about the reality, she claimed.

Uttar Pradesh party unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu was among those accompanying

On the way to Rampur, three or four vehicles at the end of the Congress leader's cavalcade hit into each other near Gajraula in Hapur district. A party spokesperson said nobody was hurt.

A video clip showing wiping the fogged windscreen of her car also surfaced on social media.

In October, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi had travelled to Hathras to meet the family of a woman who was killed after being allegedly raped.

The Uttar Pradesh Police had initially tried to stop them from travelling through the state, citing prohibitory orders.

Farmer unions claim the new laws will weaken the minimum support price (MSP) system. The says the laws only offer more options to farmers to sell their produce.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
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(Newser)  A woman who co-owns a doggy day care in Portland, Ore., had quite a scare Tuesday, but thanks to the efforts of locals, a thief who tried to steal her pooch-filled vehicle wasn't successful. Sunni Listonwhose company, Coopers Dogpatch, picks up dogs from their owners in the city and takes them to her rural property in Clackamas County for the daytells the Oregonian she'd exited the driver's seat Tuesday evening to retrieve one of the dogs from the back of her van, when a man jumped in and started the engine. As the van with 12 dogs inside (including her own Corgi mix, Howard), as well as her purse and cellphone, started to roll away, Liston, 60, tells the Washington Post, "I was pretty panicked." She says she "screamed" and ran after the vehicle. "I was pounding the wall of the van and he ran over my foot" before speeding away for good, she tells KOIN.

story continues below

A bystander lent Liston a phone so she could call 911, and police and news stations quickly jumped into the fray. Word also spread on social media. But it was two of Liston's workers who proved key to getting the dogs back. The women were able to track Liston's iPhone online via its GPS and find where the van had ended up: in a nearby apartment building parking lot. Liston called a friend who lived near the lot, and the friend headed over, blocked the van in, and alerted police. The thief took off with Liston's purse and phone, but the dogs were all safe inside the van, some of them blissfully and obliviously snoozing. Liston says police are looking for surveillance footage that may offer clues. She adds that she'll be installing GPS trackers in all of her vans. "If it wasn't for the community, we might have lost them all," Liston tells the Oregonian. (Read more dognapping stories.)
(JNS)  As the Biden administration prepares to take on major international issues of the day, a debate has emerged within the American Jewish community over whether the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances definition of anti-Semitism should be adopted into law.

A group of left-wing Jewish and Israeli groups issued a joint statement last week in opposition to adopting the definition, claiming that doing so would silence criticism of Israel.

The collection of groups  known as the Progressive Israel Network  include Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, Habonim Dror North Ame...
[February 04, 2021] Zayo Group and Colony Capital to Deliver Inaugural Keynote at the Capacity Media Virtual Metro Connect USA 2021

Zayo Group (News - Alert) Holdings, Inc., announced today that Steve Smith, CEO of Zayo Group, and Marc Ganzi, President and CEO of Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY), will jointly deliver the inaugural keynote presentation "An Industry in the Spotlight" at the Capacity Media Virtual Metro Connect USA 2021 on Monday, February 22, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. EST. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005340/en/ Steve Smith, CEO, Zayo Group (Photo: Business Wire) Following the keynote presentation, both Mr. Smith and Mr. Ganzi will participate in a Q&A session led by industry analysts. To attend the conference and listen to Zayo Group's keynote remarks please register on the event's website link here. About Zayo Group Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. provides mission-critical bandwidth to the world's most impactful companies, fueling the innovations that are transforming our society. Zayo's 126,000-mile network in North America and Europe includes extensive mero connectivity to thousands of buildings and data centers. Zayo's communications infrastructure solutions include dark fiber, private data networks, wavelengths, Ethernet, dedicated internet access and data center connectivity solutions. Zayo owns and operates a Tier 1 IP backbone and through its CloudLink service, Zayo provides low-latency private connectivity that attaches enterprises to their public cloud environments. Zayo serves wireless and wireline carriers, media, tech, content, finance, healthcare and other large enterprises. For more information, visit zayo.com.



About Colony Capital Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) is a leading global investment firm with a heritage of identifying and capitalizing on key secular trends in real estate. The Company manages a $47 billion portfolio of real assets on behalf of its shareholders and limited partners, including over $23 billion in digital real estate investments through Digital Colony, its digital infrastructure platform. Colony Capital, structured as a REIT, is headquartered in Boca Raton with key offices in Los Angeles, New York, and London, and has over 350 employees across 18 locations in 12 countries.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," or "potential" or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases which are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, and may cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Additional information about these and other factors can be found in Colony Capital's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, and its other reports filed from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements reflect the Company's good faith beliefs, assumptions and expectations, but they are not guarantees of future performance. Colony Capital cautions investors not to unduly rely on any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company is under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this press release, nor to conform prior statements to actual results or revised expectations, and the Company does not intend to do so. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005340/en/

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What does

PLC ( ) is a construction materials company with a buy-and-build strategy focusing on assets in the UK and Northern Europe.

Founded in 2016, the firm looks to create value by purchasing assets in the fragmented construction materials market and forming them into larger groups to create efficiencies.

These assets are segmented into regional platforms: Ronez, PPG, South West and Benelux.

What it owns

The companys portfolio includes

 Ronez: A concrete and asphalt firm based in the Channel Islands consisting of the St Johns Quarry in Jersey and Les Vardes Quarry and Castle in Guernsey

 Allen Concrete: A precast concrete product maker with plants in Surrey and Northamptonshire

 Poundfield Products: Suffolk-based precast and prestressed concrete manufacturer

 CCP Building Products: Supplier of concrete and aggregates (materials including sand, gravel and crushed stone). Has manufacturing facilities in North West England and North Wales

 Foelfach Quarry: Crushed aggregate and stone quarry in Carmarthenshire, Wales, containing some of the home nations highest quality aggregate reserves. The quarry also produces high-polished stone, a valuable material for road surfacing

 GD Harries (GDH): 40% stake in GDH, one of Waless largest independent suppliers of aggregates. Operates seven hardstone quarries, six concrete plants, three asphalt plants, a wharf operation and four road-contracting units.

Carrieres du Hainaut (CDH). the cornerstone of our Benelux platform, which comprises operations at CDH and Stone Holdings. CDH presently produce around 900,000 square metres of high quality Belgian blue stone per year.

How it's doing

At the beginning of February, the company revealed that it expects to report results for 2020 that are ahead of current market expectations.

The group said the strong trading reported in its December market update continued through to the end of the year.

expects to report revenues for 2020 of around 124mln, up 77% year-on-year, while underlying earnings (EBITDA) are expected to be 54% higher than the year at before at 23.8mln.

In March, the company said it was taking control of all the quarrying operations at its CDH business in Belgium.

This will lay the groundwork for a major push into the European aggregates market, added the AIM-listed building materials and quarrying group.

acquired CDH in 2019 and as well as producing highly-prized Belgium Blue Stone, the operation also had a standard construction aggregates arm run by LafargeHolcim.

The agreement sees take over those operations, a move that it said puts in a far stronger position to become a large-scale supplier in the Benelux aggregates market.

What the boss says: Max Vermorken, chief executive

"When we acquired CDH, we saw the potential to unlock significant added value from the legacy arrangements with LafargeHolcim.

With the assumption of control over the aggregate production assets, we get one step closer to fully benefitting from the potential CDH has to offer and this intermediary step will allow us to be well prepared to establish ourselves as a major supplier of aggregates in the Benelux market by the end of 2024."

What the broker says: Liberum

Liberum raised its share price target to 81p from 73p on the back of the Lafarge deal to reflect the earnings enhancement.
IFA National Dairy Chairman Tom Phelan is stepping down from his position after three years in the role, it has been confirmed.

The Laois farmer has informed members of the associations National Dairy Committee of his intention to contest an election for a seat on the board of Glanbia Co-op.

Vice-chairman of the National Dairy Committee Stephen Arthur will assume the duties of chairman after a meeting of the committee today.

It is understood that an election will be held in due course.

In message circulated to IFA National Council members last night, IFA director general Damian McDonald said: Just to inform National Council that our National Dairy Chair Tom Phelan informed the members of the National Dairy Committee this evening that he has decided to contest an election for a seat on the board of Glanbia.

"As a result he has decided to step down as National Dairy Chair. He will chair a meeting of the committee tomorrow and step down afterwards.

"I am sure you will join with us in thanking Tom for his work as chair and for his contribution to National Council over the last three years. We wish him well in his future endeavour.

Mature discussion on expansion

Speaking at last weeks IFA AGM Mr Phelan responded to Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogues remarks regarding the need for a mature discussion on further diary expansion.

Dairy farmers have invested substantially in their farm enterprises over the past five years and the rural economy has benefit enormously from that.

It is creating significant prosperity in rural Ireland, said Mr Phelan. He asked Minister McConalogue: Can you assure us that there will be no regulation introduced that will undermine the economic viability of those farms?

Mr Phelan also asked the minister where he stands in regard to the nitrates action plan and the derogation.

The minister said that he is absolutely committed to protecting the nitrates derogation for the dairy sector, in particular in the upcoming review.

He added: If the herd is increasing it is going to be very difficult to reduce the overall emissions and every sector is going to have to play its part in relation to the climate change. He stressed that the objective going forward has to be for a stable dairy herd.

Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

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4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

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Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

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Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

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EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

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Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

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Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

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UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Candlelight protests, the banging of metal vessels, honking of car horns, a boycott of military-owned businesses, and the resignation of some medical frontline personnel were among the actions launched by citizens to demand the restoration of civilian rule following the military on February 1.

The country's military, known locally as the Tatmadaw, seized power, declared a year-long state of emergency, and detained leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) which won a second term in office in the November 2020 election. The military said the was inevitable, citing concerns about supposed election fraud which they claim tainted the credibility of the recent vote. Election officials have disputed these allegations.

Netizens protested against the on social media. Many have made their Facebook profiles red, the color of the NLD party, or displayed stickers with the image of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD's iconic leader.

At 6 pm on February 2, many residents in the former capital Yangon lit candles as a symbol of resistance against the coup.

And at exactly 8pm, residents of many neighborhoods around Yangon banged loudly on metal vessels in protest, as shown in the video below.

Playing Iron Buckets



During the protests people chanted Downfall to the military dictatorship and May Amay (mother) Su (Aung San Suu Kyi) be well.

Yangon is banging devils out.

People in downtown Yangon banging pots and honking to against the coup. #Myanmarcoup pic.twitter.com/j2fSl5PxYn  Aung Naing Soe (@AungNaingSoeAns) February 2, 2021

The pot-banging protest has been labelled the Than Pone Tee Campaign. One protester told Global Voices the meaning of the term:

Than Pone means iron bucket. Than Pone Tee means Playing Iron Buckets. In our tradition, playing Iron Buckets means casting out evil spirits.

Nay Phone Latt, an activist and former member of parliament, was inspired by the peaceful protests:

People are banging the metal pots to oust the military government which is hungry for power. Its so heartbreaking to look at the people who use whatever means they can muster against the military dictator who use guns. Downfall to the military dictatorship.

Doctors take a stand



Meanwhile, medical associations and hospitals across the country have been releasing statements asking doctors to engage in civil disobedience by not going to work starting on February 3.

A Facebook page titled Civil Disobedience Movement set up to coordinate doctor's boycott has already gained more than 150,000 followers. Student groups are also supporting the campaign.

Some medical officers have sent in their resignation letters:



We had a government that we elected. We cannot allow the military to form a government," said a doctor and lecturer at the University of Medicine 2 in Yangonhttps://t.co/InNfVfD2Qw  Frontier (@FrontierMM) February 2, 2021

The Justice for organization has also asked people to boycott the military-owned telecom service provider MyTel, and other businesses with military affiliations. The boycott has been gaining traction on the ground.

Myanmar was ruled by a military junta for several decades, until a democratic transition led to the formation of a civilian government in 2010. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), lost the 2015 general election to the NLD, but the 2008 constitution drafted by the military guarantees that certain positions in the cabinet and parliament be reserved for the military appointees.
Jayalalithaa Memorial which was opened recently, has now been closed by the Tamil Nadu government citing unfinshed work as the reason. There are alleged reports that this step has been taken to dissuade Sasikala from visiting the Memorial.

Former AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikalas release from the Parappana Agrahara prison in Karnataka, has set in motion a series of reactions in Tamil Nadu. Speaking to the media, her nephew and AMMK founder TTV Dhinakaran pointed out that these chemical changes will only increase as she arrives in the state on February 7 and that it will reflect in the results of the upcoming Assembly polls in the state.

Amongst the latest reactions from the AIADMK was, temporarily closing the Jayalalithaa memorial that was opened in Chennai on January 27, which happened to coincide with Sasikalas formal release from prison. Though she completed her four-year prison sentence in the disproportionate assets case in Bengaluru on that day; she was being treated for Covid-19 at the citys Victoria hospital and is currently in quarantine.

The Jayalalithaa memorial has been temporarily closed, according to the AIADMK, to complete some pending construction work within the premises. Late Tuesday, the public works department (PWD) temporarily closed entry for the public at the 80-crore memorial built for Jayalalithaa on the Marina beach citing unfinished work just a week after it was opened.

Also read: Greta Thunberg shares India protest toolkit: Propaganda to defame India exposed

The work will take at least 15 days to complete, said a senior PWD official not wishing to be named. Though the main structure built like a phoenix is complete, adjacent to it works are on for a museum and an educational room for students. It is difficult to complete this work with crowds thronging, AIADMK spokesperson D Jayakumar said at a press conference on Wednesday. He said that it was inaugurated because the first phase of the mausoleum was complete.

Sasikalas supporters allege that the closure is being deliberately planned to prevent her from visiting the memorial. Ahead of her imprisonment in February 2017, she had gone to Jayalalithaas grave and took three vows  promising to overcome hurdles, treachery and the plot against her.

From Hosur to her T Nagar house she will receive a grand welcome, Sasikalas nephew TTV Dhinakaran told reporters. We will bring a major change to Tamil Nadu, said Dhinakaran who floated Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) with a breakaway faction of Sasikalas supporters who want her to reclaim the AIADMK. Sasikala also plans to file a curative petition to claim the AIADMKs iconic two-leaves symbol. The AIADMK has declared that Sasikala who was expelled from the party in 2017 will not be taken back into the fold.

Also read: Indians should decide for India: Sachin Tendulkar trolled for his call for unity on farmers protest
One man is dead after a drive-by shooting on the Northwest Side late Wednesday night, San Antonio police said.

Officers were called to the 9100 block of Roquefort Drive just before 10:30 p.m. for a shooting in progress. When they arrived, they found a 19-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the head, officials at the scene said.
Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) has officially released a recruitment notification for the posts of Sub Inspector AP, Platoon Commander (Rajasthan Armed Constabulary), and Sub Inspector (Mewar Bhil Corp) in Rajasthan Police for Tribal Sub Plans (TSP) and Non-TSP areas. The interested and willing candidates can apply for the Rajasthan Police Sub Inspector and Platoon Commander Recruitment 2021 through the official website rpsc.rajasthan.gov.in before 10 March 2021.

RPSC Recruitment 2021: Vacancy Details

There are a total of 859 vacancies for Rajasthan Police Sub Inspector and Platoon Commander that need to be filled as part of the RPSC Recruitment 2021 drive.

Post Name Area Name Total Post Sub Inspector AP TSP 81 Sub Inspector AP Non-TSP 663 Sub Inspector IB TSP 1 Sub Inspector IB Non-TSP 63 Platoon Commander Non-TSP 38 Sub Inspector MBC TSP 11

RPSC Recruitment 2021: Eligibility Criteria

Educational Qualification: The candidate must be a graduate and should have knowledge of Devnagri Script and Rajasthani culture.

Age Limit: The candidate should be at least 20 years and must not be above 25 years of age. The age relaxation for SC/ST candidates is applicable according to government rules.

Physical Ability: The selection of candidates will be done on the basis of Physical Fitness. The minimum height of the candidate should be 168 cm and the chest size should be at least 81 cms.

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Sub Inspector And Platoon Commander Organisation Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) Educational Qualification The candidate must be a Graduate. Experience null Job Responsibilities null Skills Required null Job Location Rajasthan Salary Scale Refer to official notification Industry Rajasthan State Services Application Start Date February 9, 2021 Application End Date March 10, 2021

RPSC Recruitment 2021: Selection Process And Application Fee

The selection of the candidate will be done on the basis of a written competitive examination followed by physical efficiency test and aptitude test. The candidates have to qualify for an interview to get selected.

The application fee for RPSC Recruitment 2021 for the posts of Rajasthan Police Sub Inspector and Platoon Commander is Rs. 350 for General/EWS/OBC, and for SC/ST candidates the application fee is Rs. 150.

RPSC Recruitment 2021: How To Apply

The interested candidates can apply online for RPSC Recruitment 2021 for the posts of Rajasthan Police Sub Inspector and Platoon Commander in a prescribed application format along with all the required documents. The candidates will have to visit RPSC official website rpsc.rajasthan.gov.in to submit the application. The application process will start on 09 February 2021 and will end on 10 March 2021.

Also Read: UCIL Recruitment 2021 For 47 Chief Managers, Managers And Superintendents Posts. Apply Offline Before March 20
Amazon.com has revealed plans to install AI-powered video cameras in its branded delivery vans, in a move that the worlds largest e-commerce firm says would improve safety of both drivers and the communities in which they deliver.

The company recently started rolling out camera-based safety technology across its delivery fleet, it said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

This technology will provide drivers real-time alerts to help them stay safe when they are on the road, the statement added.

The companys plans were earlier disclosed in an instructional video about the cameras, reported earlier in the day by technology publication the Information. (https://bit.ly/2MPF68U)

Amazon said in the video that the cameras, developed by transportation technology company Netradyne, use artificial intelligence (AI) to provide warnings about speeding and distracted driving among other things.

They have been shown to reduce collisions and improve driver behavior, Amazons Karolina Haraldsdottir, a senior manager for last-mile safety, said in the video.

Amazon has come under some scrutiny in the past for accidents involving delivery drivers.

Our intention with this technology is to set up drivers for success and provide them with support for being safer on road and handling incidents if and when they happen, Haraldsdottir said in the video.

The video explains that while the cameras will constantly record video, they only upload footage if triggered by actions like hard braking, driver drowsiness, following vehicles too closely.

About the photo: In this Oct. 1, 2020, file photo, an Amazon Prime logo appears on the side of a delivery van as it departs an Amazon Warehouse location in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
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IT has been well established that the countrys most effective mobilisation system is the election machinery based on political affiliation.

With this in mind, the current crisis in the country regarding the frightening spread of the coronavirus calls for a different kind of intervention. It is past time for the declaration of a political truce. We call on the countrys two major political machines, PNM and UNC, and all other existing political parties and groups, to come together in the national interest.
The U.S. military on Wednesday acknowledged it was unsure about how to address white nationalism and other extremism in its ranks, and announced plans for military-wide stand-downs pausing regular activity at some point in the next 60 days to tackle the issue.

The decision to a hold a stand-down was made by Lloyd Austin, who made history by becoming the military's first Black defense secretary after a long career rising in the ranks of the Army.

In his confirmation hearing, Austin underscored the need to rid the military of 'racists and extremists'.

A stand-down order means taking the military off an offensive footing but does not mean all military operations would stop at once.

The Pentagon did not define whether stand-downs pausing regular activity across the U.S. military might last minutes or hours, or what commanders would do during that time to express opposition to extremism.

Subsequent orders will be issued from the Pentagon.

President Biden's defense secretary Lloyd Austin orders troops to stand down for 60 days to address 'white nationalism and extremism in the ranks'

The decision to a hold a stand-down was made by Austin, who made history by becoming the military's first Black defense secretary after a long career rising in the ranks of the Army. In his confirmation hearing, Austin underscored the need to rid the military of 'racists and extremists'.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Austin ordered the stand-down after a meeting with the U.S. military branch leaders, who are under pressure to show progress in combating extremism after current and former military servicemembers were found to have participated in the siege of the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

The Pentagon has yet to define how it will deal with extremism or offer data estimating how many service members hold white nationalist ideology. It has also not disclosed how many troops have been disciplined for extremism.

'We don't know how we're going to be able to get after this in a meaningful, productive, tangible way and that is why he had this meeting today and that is why he certainly ordered this stand-down,' Kirby told reporters.

MILITARY AT CAPITOL RIOTS Larry Rendall Brock Jr: Retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Ashli Babbitt: Air Force veteran Adam Newbold: Retired Navy SEAL Emily Rainey: Army psychological warfare captain Advertisement

It was unclear whether the announcement was meant to foreshadow any near-term concrete actions by President Joe Biden's Pentagon or whether the stand-down was more of a symbolic move, meant to demonstrate Austin's acknowledgement of the problem and continued resolve.

The announcement came as mourners filed beneath the U.S. Capitol dome to pay tribute to Brian Sicknick, the Capitol Police officer who died from injuries sustained during the January 6 storming of the seat of government.

The assault on the building led to the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump, who spoke at a rally in his final days in office and urged supporters to go to the Capitol and 'fight.' His impeachment trial in the Senate for inciting the siege is scheduled to start next week.

The MAGA mob rioters included at least 21 current or former members of the US military or law enforcement, with many of them caught on camera using military-style tactics like the 'ranger file'.

This photo taken on the steps of the US Capitol shows a line of men wearing combat helmets and body armor in a formation known as 'ranger file'. It is standard operating procedure for a combat team that is 'stacking up' to breach a building and is instantly recognizable to any US soldier or Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan

One particular photo of Trump supporters on the steps of the Capitol showed a line of men wearing combat helmets and body armor as they walked in a single-file line, each man holding the jacket collar of the one ahead.

The formation, known as 'ranger file,' is standard operating procedure for a combat team that is 'stacking up' to breach a building - instantly recognizable to any US soldier or Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was a chilling sign that many at the vanguard of the mob that stormed the seat of American democracy either had military training or were trained by those who did.

A review of public records, social media posts and videos carried out by the Associated Press has since identified nearly two dozen military or law enforcement personnel as being at or near the Capitol riot. More than a dozen others are currently under investigation and have not yet been publicly identified.

In many cases, those who stormed the Capitol appeared to employ tactics, body armor and technology such as two-way radio headsets that were similar to those of the very police they were confronting.

Among the most prominent to emerge so far include multiple Air Force veterans, a retired Navy SEAL, an active duty Army psychological warfare captain and Virginia police officers.

RETIRED AIR FORCE: Larry Rendall Brock Jr, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and decorated combat veteran from Texas, was arrested after he was photographed wearing a helmet and body armor on the floor of the Senate, holding a pair of zip-tie handcuffs

Brock was photographed on the Senate floor during the deadly riot wearing a helmet and heavy vest and carrying plastic zip-tie handcuffs

RETIRED NAVY SEAL: Adam Newbold, a retired Navy SEAL, which is among the most elite special warfare operators in the military, had posted a Facebook video about traveling from his Ohio home to the rally and seemingly approving of the invasion of 'our building, our house.'

Larry Rendall Brock Jr, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and decorated combat veteran from Texas, was arrested after he was photographed wearing a helmet and body armor on the floor of the Senate, holding a pair of zip-tie handcuffs.

Brock, 53, was released to home confinement after a prosecutor alleged the former fighter pilot had zip-tie handcuffs on the Senate floor because he planned to take hostages.

AIR FORCE VETERAN: Ashli Babbitt, a Air Force veteran from San Diego, was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to leap through a barricade near the House chamber

'He means to kidnap, restrain, perhaps try, perhaps execute members of the U.S. government,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Weimer said. 'His prior experience and training make him all the more dangerous.'

Ashli Babbitt, another Air Force veteran from San Diego, was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to leap through a barricade near the House chamber.

Adam Newbold, a retired Navy SEAL, which is among the most elite special warfare operators in the military, had posted a Facebook video about traveling from his Ohio home to the rally and seemingly approving of the invasion of 'our building, our house.'

Newbold, whose more than two-decade military career includes multiple combat awards for valor, said in a January 5 Facebook video: 'We are just very prepared, very capable and very skilled patriots ready for a fight.'

He later posted a since-deleted follow-up video after the riot saying he was 'proud' of the assault.

In an interview with the Task & Purpose website, Newbold denied ever going inside the Capitol. He added that because of the fallout from the videos he has resigned from a program that helps prepare potential SEAL applicants.

Two police officers from a small Virginia town, both of them former infantrymen, were arrested by the FBI after posting a selfie of themselves inside the Capitol and then allegedly boasting about their actions on Facebook.

PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE CAPTAIN: Army commanders at Fort Bragg in North Carolina are investigating the possible involvement of Capt. Emily Rainey, a 30-year-old psychological operations officer and Afghanistan war veteran

Also under scrutiny is an active-duty psychological warfare captain from North Carolina who organized three busloads of people who headed to Washington for the 'Save America' rally.

Army commanders at Fort Bragg in North Carolina are investigating the possible involvement of Capt. Emily Rainey, a 30-year-old psychological operations officer and Afghanistan war veteran.

She said she traveled with 100 others to Washington to 'stand against election fraud.' She insisted she acted within Army regulations and that no one in her group entered the Capitol or broke the law.

'I was a private citizen and doing everything right and within my rights,' Rainey said.

The review of hundreds of videos and photos from the insurrectionist riot shows scores of people mixed in the crowd who were wearing military-style gear, including helmets, body armor, rucksacks and two-way radios.

Dozens carried canisters of bear spray, baseball bats, hockey sticks and pro-Trump flags attached to stout poles later used to bash police officers.

Experts in homegrown extremism have warned for years about efforts by far-right militants and white-supremacist groups to radicalize and recruit people with military and law enforcement training, and they say the Capitol siege saw some of their worst fears realized.

'ISIS and al-Qaida would drool over having someone with the training and experience of a U.S. military officer,' said Michael German, a former FBI agent and fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.

'These people have training and capabilities that far exceed what any foreign terrorist group can do. Foreign terrorist groups don't have any members who have badges.'

Brian Harrell, who served as the assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at the Department of Homeland Security until last year, said it is 'obviously problematic' when 'extremist bad actors' have military and law enforcement backgrounds.

'Many have specialized training, some have seen combat, and nearly all have been fed disinformation and propaganda from illegitimate sources,' Harrell said. 'They are fueled by conspiracy theories, feel as if something is being stolen from them, and they are not interested in debate. This is a powder keg cocktail waiting to blow.'

Sri Lanka should be particularly concerned with her call for the UN to set out a coherent and effective plan to advance accountability options at the international level.

by Col R Hariharan

The first month of the year 2021 gave a glimpse to Sri Lankans of the three major, inter-related issues they are likely to confront during the year. These are: further hardening of government attitudes to ethnic reconciliation, more militarisation of governance and fighting a losing battle to managing the battered economy. Two of the issues are not new; but militarisation of governance can be attributed to the rise of majoritarian triumphalism after the army finally eliminated the LTTE-led separatists in the Eelam War in 2009.

The international tourist travel, national economy's lifeblood, is yet to recover from the effects of Covid pandemic. It is likely to slowly recover depending upon how Sri Lanka regains global credibility in the fight against the pandemic. Sri Lanka has to successfully turn international vaccine politics to its advantage, without annoying the major powers involved in it. At least for now, India has taken the lead, gifting half a million doses of Covishield vaccine. As it always happens, Chinas terms of its gift of Chinese vaccine, are neither clear nor transparent. Russia has also entered the vaccine fray, saying it would allow Sri Lanka to manufacture the Russian vaccine, though details are not yet available.

Confrontation Vs Consensus

The next two months are going to be testing times for the government, as it grapples with international fall out President Gotabaya Rajapaksas decision to disown co-sponsorship of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution 30/1. The resolution was rolled over twice to provide time to Sri Lanka to fulfil its promises on accountability for its actions on alleged human rights excesses during the Eelam war.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksas highly militarised governments decisions, based on Sinhala Buddhist ethnocentric considerations, have rapidly reversed the progress on ethnic reconciliation made by his predecessors, including those of his brother and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Though many among the Sinhala majority consider their country as the last bastion of Theravada Buddhism, in politics Buddhist ethnocentric elements never occupied the central space. They seem to be calling the shots now. Even when Mahinda Rajapaka decided to wage the final war to defeat the Tamil separatists of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), he leveraged ethnic reconciliation, rather than ethnocentric nationalism, in his political discourse.

So, it is not surprising that the UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelets report on Sri Lankas accountability issues is scathing on Sri Lanka governments conduct. The report will be discussed during the 46th session of the UNHRC from February 22 to Mach 19, 2021.

The UN High Commissioners report says, Nearly 12 years on from the end of the war, domestic initiatives for accountability and reconciliation have repeatedly failed to produce results, more deeply entrenching impunity and exacerbating victims distrust of the system....Sri Lanka remains in a state of denial about the past, with truth-seeking efforts aborted and the highest state officials refusing to make any acknowledgement of past crimes. These words sum up, not only the views of the High Commissioner, but also reflect the views of many national and international civil society groups.

Warning that this has a direct impact on the present and the future of Sri Lanka, Ms Bachelet states, The failure to implement any vetting or comprehensive reforms in the security sector means that the State apparatus and some its members credibly implicated in the alleged grave crimes and human rights violations remain in place.

Noting the 2015 reforms that offered more checks and balances on executive power" have been rolled back, "eroding independence of judiciary and other key institutions further. It says the beginnings of a more inclusive national discourse that promised greater recognition and respect of and reconciliation with minority communities have been reversed. Far from achieving the guarantees of non-recurrence promised by resolution 30/1, Sri Lankas current trajectory sets the scene for recurrence of the policies and practices that gave rise to grave human rights violations. There cannot be a more scathing indictment of the Rajapaksa style of governance.

She has also referred to the emergency security deployments in the wake of Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in 2019 have evolved into an increased militarisation of the State. In particular, the report notes the Government has appointed active and former military personnel, including those credibly implicated in war crimes to key positions in the civilian administration, and created parallel task forces and commissions that encroach upon civilian administration, reversing the democratic gains as a result of 20th Constitutional amendment.

She has urged the Sri Lanka authorities to immediately end all forms of surveillance, including intimidating visits by State agents and harassment against human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists and victims of human rights violations and refrain from imposing further restrictive legal measures on legitimate civil society.

The High Commissioner has urged the HRC to take action on Sri Lanka for three important reasons. These are: failure to deal with the past will have devastating effect on the survivors of all communities, who need justice and urgent reparation; Failure to advance accountability and reconciliation undermines prospects of peace and development and carries seeds of potential conflict in the future; The trends highlighted in the report represent yet again an important challenge for the UN and the HRC. If no action is taken it will undermine its efforts to prevent and achieve accountability for grave violations in other contexts.

Sri Lanka should be particularly concerned with her call for the UN to set out a coherent and effective plan to advance accountability options at the international level. The options suggested include, taking steps towards the referral of the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court, member states actively pursuing investigation and prosecution of international crimes committed by parties before their national courts, and applying targeted sanctions such as asset freezes and travel ban against state officials and other alleged persons responsible for committing such violations.

While it was understandable that President Rajapaksa was angered by the UN High Commissioners report, it should not be allowed to override a nuanced, common sense approach couched in diplomatic nicety. According to media reports, Sri Lanka government's response appeared to be to confront the international body on its findings, rather than build a consensus towards fielding an alternate resolution.

Foreign affairs are one of the weakest links of the Rajapaksa government. On more than one occasion, its representatives had been found to be ham handed in handling foreign affairs issues. They have been found debating sensitive issues on public forums, rather than discussing them through private channel. How Sri Lanka fares in the UNHRC session may decide much of the international attitudes to Sri Lanka in the coming months.

[Col R Hariharan, a retire MI specialist on South Asia and terrorism, served as the head of intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka 1987-90. E-mail: haridirect@gmail.com web: https://col.hariharan.info ]
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka.

Sunday, Jan. 31

11:40 p.m.  Deputies were dispatched to an Ingersoll Township location in reference to a car-deer crash. Upon the deputies arrival, an MSP trooper was on scene and said he would take the report.

9:12 p.m.  Deputies responded to a vehicle crash in Mount Haley Township.

8:05 p.m.  Deputies responded to a single-vehicle crash causing injuries in Ingersoll Township.

3:20 p.m.  A 17-year-old male reported he was threatened by an online gamer during an Xbox Live match. The teen was not familiar with the subject. Deputies advised the teen to block the unknown gamer and report the incident to Xbox Live.

1:52 p.m.  Deputies responded to a vehicle crash in Ingersoll Township.

10:06 a.m.  Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the area of Tittabawassee River Road and Dublin Avenue.

2:32 a.m.  Deputies were dispatched to an assault complaint in Hope Township. The 68-year-old male suspect had left the scene prior to police arrival. He was located and arrested for operating while intoxicated. Upon completion of the investigation, it was discovered the man had assaulted his 68-year-old wife. The man was also charged with domestic assault and tampering with telecommunications.

1:07 a.m.  Officers responded to animal bites in the 2900 block of Swede Avenue.

12:42 a.m.  A deputy responded to a car-deer crash in Greendale Township.

Saturday, Jan. 30

11:26 p.m.  Officers performed a warrant arrest in the area of Bay City Road and Gerald Court.

11:23 p.m.  Officers performed a warrant arrest in the 500 block of Crescent Drive.

8:35 p.m.  A deputy responded to a Homer Township residence for a delayed report of a car-deer crash.

5:30 p.m.  An 18-year-old Ingersoll Township woman came to the Midland County Law Enforcement Center to report she is being harassed by her boyfriend's former friend after she posted something on TikTok regarding her boyfriend's ex-friends. This ex-friend and his girlfriend assumed the post was addressed to him and started sending the 18-year-old messages. The complainant was advised to delete these subjects from her social media accounts and avoid communicating or directing posts toward them.

2:58 p.m.  Deputies spoke with a 68-year-old man in reference to "odd things" happening at his residence. The man requested extra patrol in the area at night.

11:23 a.m.  Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the 400 block of Sam Street.

5:49 a.m.  Officers responded to an intoxicated driver in the area of U.S.-10 and East Patrick Road.

1:19 a.m.  A deputy responded to a car-deer crash in Homer Township.

Friday, Jan. 29

8:53 p.m.  Officers responded to a report of domestic violence in the 5100 block of Sturgeon Avenue.

7:39 p.m.  A deputy took a report of a car-deer crash that occurred on Gordonville Road near Kindy Drive in Mount Haley Township.

5:04 p.m.  Deputies responded to a vehicle crash in Warren Township.

12:10 p.m.  Officers responded to a retail fraud in the 900 block of Joe Mann Boulevard.

11:48 a.m.  A property owner called the sheriff's office because one of their rental properties was broken into. The property owner suspects a fired contractor forced their way in to the garage and took back their tools. The property owner did not want this event investigated and only desired a report.

10:56 a.m.  Deputies responded to a vehicle crash in Jerome Township.

10:29 a.m.  Deputies responded to a car-deer crash in Homer Township.

9:15 a.m.  A deputy spoke with a 46-year-old Midland Township woman in reference to a fraud complaint. An unknown suspect used her bank account to send $255 through Western Union to California. The matter is being investigated by Western Union.

8:16 a.m.  Officers investigated a death in the 2100 block of Wisconsin Street.

4:47 a.m.  Officers responded to a larceny in the 5200 block of Hedgewood Drive.
The Lubin School of Business at Pace University With a strong focus on experiential learning and one of the largest internship placement programs in the New York metropolitan area, Lubin's combined job placement rate is more than 93 percent.

The Lubin School of Business at Pace University has successfully maintained its dual accreditation for both business and accounting by AACSB International, the University today announced.

Lubin's dual accreditation by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business is an elite distinction shared by fewer than 2 percent of business schools in the world offering business degree programs.

"Pace University has a steadfast commitment to providing our students with the tools they'll need to succeed in their careers after graduation," said Pace President Marvin Krislov. "I'm proud that the Lubin School of Business will maintain its dual AACSB accreditation, and I know we'll continue our long tradition of creating opportunities for ambitious, hard-working business and accounting students.

Founded in 1916, AACSB International is the longest serving global accrediting body for business schools that offer undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees in business and accounting. AACSB accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business and accounting education. There are currently 882 business institutions in 57 countries and territories that have earned AACSB Accreditation. Similarly, 189 institutions hold a supplemental, specialized AACSB Accreditation for their accounting programs.

Earning the distinction of dual AACSB accreditation reflects a business institutions commitment to the highest standards of excellence, said Lawrence G. Singleton, dean of the Lubin School of Business. We thoroughly enjoyed working with our strong peer review team and appreciate the helpful feedback they provided throughout the process. Lubin's focus on student success, career preparation, and innovative programs and practices were important components for re-accreditation success.

Achieving accreditation is a multi-year process of rigorous internal review and peer review. These standards require excellence in areas relating to strategic management and innovation; student, faculty, and staff as active participants; learning and teaching; and academic and professional engagement.

AACSB congratulates Pace University's Lubin School of Business and Dean Lawrence G. Singleton on extending accreditation in business and accounting," said Stephanie M. Bryant, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer of AACSB International. The intense peer-review process confirms a schools continued focus on excellence in all areas, including teaching, research, curriculum development, and student learning. The Lubin School of Business dedication to delivering high quality business education will create the next generation of great leaders.

Pace University Provost Vanya Quinones added: The Lubin School of Business has a long and distinguished history of success. It is a key part of Pace Universitys fundamental mission of creating opportunities for students and educating professionals for success in their chosen fields. This dual accreditation by AACSB International affirms our commitment to excellence and educating leaders across all spectrums of business.

Pace University has a rich history of excellence in business education and was founded as a school of accountancy in 1906. With a strong focus on experiential learning and one of the largest internship placement programs in the New York metropolitan area, Lubins combined job placement rate is more than 93 percent. Furthermore, the Accounting Department successfully launched a new MS in Accounting Data Analytics and Technologies (MSADAT) program, which teaches students cutting-edge STEM skills while preparing them for CPA licensure examinations. Lubin also recently launched an online MBA program that is convenient, flexible and affordable.

For Jackie Lee-Martinez, a freshman from Miami, Fla. majoring in marketing, the accreditation, the curriculum and the Universitys successful rate of job placement reaffirms her decision to attend Pace.

"Upon receiving the news that Pace Universitys Lubins School of Business successfully maintained its dual accreditation for both business and accounting by AACSB, I felt a great sense of gratitude and pride in being a Pace business student, said Lee-Martinez. Lubin is ranked among the best of business schools and is consistently distinguishing itself, which is evident through the substantial opportunities in the classroom and beyond. Being a Lubin student is incredibly rewarding, and I am confident that our school will continue to receive many more prestigious accolades."

About Pace University

Pace University has a proud history of preparing its diverse student body for a lifetime of professional success as a result of its unique program that combines rigorous academics and real-world experiences. Pace is ranked the #1 private, four-year college in the nation for upward economic mobility by Harvard Universitys Opportunity Insights, evidence of the transformative education the University provides. From its beginnings as an accounting school in 1906, Pace has grown to three campuses, enrolling 13,000 students in bachelors, masters, and doctoral programs in more than 150 majors and programs, across a range of disciplines: arts, sciences, business, health care, technology, law, education, and more. The university also has one of the most competitive performing arts programs in the country. Pace has a signature, newly renovated campus in New York City, located in the heart of vibrant Lower Manhattan, next to Wall Street and City Hall, and two campuses in Westchester County, New York: a 200-acre picturesque Pleasantville Campus and the Elisabeth Haub School of Law in White Plains. Follow us on Twitter or on the Pace News website.

About the Lubin School of Business at Pace University

Globally recognized and prestigiously accredited, the Lubin School of Business integrates New York Citys business world into the experienced-based education of its students at Paces suburban and downtown campuses, implemented by one of the regions largest co-op programs, team-based learning, and customized career guidance. Its programs are designed to launch success-oriented graduates toward upwardly mobile careers. http://www.pace.edu/lubin.

About AACSB International

Established in 1916, AACSB is the worlds largest business education alliance, connecting educators, learners, and business to create the next generation of great leaders. With a presence in more than 100 countries and territories, AACSB fosters engagement, accelerates innovation, and amplifies impact in business education. Learn how AACSB is transforming business education for a better society at aacsb.edu.


Recent surges of COVID-19 in India, S America left people gasping for breath before our eyes: UN chief

Fake: No new clash took place in Galwan Valley in early May

India reaches out to US for probe against SJF

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: India has reached out to the United States in connection with the probe against the Khalistan backed Sikhs for Justice.

Any protest must be seen in context of India's polity and ongoing efforts of government and concerned farmers' groups to resolve impasse, the MEA also said.

Earlier, National Security Advisor met with Union Home Minister, Amit Shah amidst the farmer protests and the propaganda by few foreign personalities.

Delhi's police commissioner, S N Srivastava is also meeting the Home Minister along with the NSA.

Shah is also meeting with Intelligence Bureau chief, Arvind Kumar. The meeting takes place in the wake of the chakka jam call by the farmers on February 6.

Earlier the Delhi Police while accusing Greta Thunberg of criminal conspiracy and promoting enemy filed a case over her tweets on the farmer protests.

Thunberg on Tuesday hight wrote," we stand in solidarity with the farmer protest in India. She shared a CNN article on the ongoing farmer protests in India and how the internet has been suspended around the Delhi borders.

The action by the Delhi Police comes a day after the Ministry of External Affairs issued a strong statement against foreign personalities speaking about India's internal affairs.

The MEA said that the Parliament of India, after a full debate and discussion, passed the reformist legislation relation to the agricultural sector. These reforms give expanded market access and provides farmers with greater flexibility to farmers. They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming.

Rules violated: Twitter deletes Kangana Ranaut's 2 tweets in 2 hours on farmers protests

A very small section of farmers in parts of India have some reservation about these reforms. Respecting the sentiments of the protesters the government of India has initiated a series of talks with their representatives. Union Ministers have been part of the negotiations and eleven rounds of talks have already been held. The government even offered to keep the farm law on hold and none other than the PM has made this offer, the MEA said.

Yes it is unfortunate to see vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda on these protests and derail them. This was egregiously witnessed on January 26. A cherished national commemoration, the anniversary of the inauguration of the Constitution of India was besmirched and violence and vandalism took place in the Indian Capital, the MEA further added.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 18:57 [IST]
Military rule is a form of autocratic governance in a country. Its tenures rarely end in democratization, whereas the opposite is true of military regimes.

by Anwar A. Khan

Burma, officially called the Union of Burma, is the largest country by area located in Southeast Asia. Burma is also known as Myanmar. Burma comes from the Burmese word "Bamar," which is the local word for Myanmar.

Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. Mayanmars populace is 60 million. Theravada Buddhism, the majority religion of the nation. Distance from Bangladesh to Myanmar is 607 kilometers. This air travel distance is equal to 377 miles.

The BangladeshMyanmar border is the international border between the countries of Bangladesh and Myanmar. The border stretches 270 kilometres (170 miles), from the tripoint with India in the north, to the Bay of Bengal in the south. About 210 km (130 mi) of the border is fenced, with the government of Myanmar announcing in 2017 that it was planning to fence off the rest of the border.

Myanmar was ruled by the armed forces until 2011, when democratic reforms led by Aung San Suu Kyi ended military rule.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, is the daughter of Myanmar's independence hero, Gen Aung San who was assassinated just before the country gained independence from British colonial rule in 1948.

She remained popular with the public despite spending years under house arrest.

She was released in 2010, and in November 2015, she led the NLD to a landslide victory in Myanmar's first openly contested election for 25 years and became de facto leader.

In recent years, her leadership has been defined by the treatment of the country's mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. She has fallen from her grace.

In 2017 hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to its neighbouring Bangladesh due to an army crackdown sparked by deadly attacks on police stations in Rakhine state.

Myanmars military all of a sudden staged a coup d'etat Monday led by commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and detained senior politicians including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi  a sharp reversal of the significant, if uneven, progress toward democracy the Southeast Asian nation has made following five decades of military rule. The takeover was announced in a statement aired on a military-owned television station. All international print and electronic media have published this deplorable incident.

Military rule is a form of autocratic governance in a country. Its tenures rarely end in democratization, whereas the opposite is true of military regimes.

We know for autocratic rule by a member of the military, regardless of the nature of the rest of the leadership, is military-led autocracy. Military-led autocracy encompasses two distinctive forms of rule: domination of decision making by a group of officers representing the military institution, which we label a military regime; and dictatorship controlled by a single officer absent elite constraints, which we call military strongman rule.

It also suggests that theories of authoritarianism should take the military and its distinctive interests into account in that country.

Military rule implies that people are governed by force. This means that political freedom and participation are prevented because of political coercion (by military rule). To this effect, a political dictatorship prevents the masses from exercising their political rights to vote, for instance. The reason offered is that military rule is a political dictatorship that excludes peoples right to free and fair elections or political participation.

The consequences of a military dictatorship for education are that students could be prevented from questioning and challenging the state; and that scholars might be censored and, in some instances, silenced if they speak out against the state. Education would be constrained because education, in the first place, should allow people to criticise, oppose and disagree, and at the same time people would be included in an educational experience.

On the streets of the main city, Yangon, people said they felt their hard-fought battle for democracy had been lost.

But Suu Kyis international reputation also suffered severely following an army crackdown on the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. Former supporters accused her of refusing to condemn the military or acknowledge accounts of atrocities.

Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested in a series of raids.

No major violence has been reported. Soldiers blocked roads in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, and the main city, Yangon. International and domestic TV channels, including the state broadcaster, went off air. Internet and phone services were disrupted. Banks said they had been forced to close.

Later, the military announced that 24 ministers and deputies had been removed, and 11 replacements had been named, including in finance, health, the interior and foreign affairs.

A curfew is now reportedly in effect in Myanmar. It signals repression shall easily be applied against opponents and democratic forces in Myanmar because armies are prepared to use force at all times.

The military takeover follows weeks of tensions between the armed forces and the government following parliamentary elections lost by the army-backed opposition.

The opposition had demanded a re-run of the election, raising allegations of widespread fraud that were not backed by the electoral commission.

The armed forces in Myanmar have confirmed that they have carried out a coup d'etat, their first against a civilian government since 1962, and in apparent violation of the constitution which the military promised to honour as recently as last Saturday.

The grievances which have been driving tension between the military and the government are well enough known. The military-backed party, the USDP, performed poorly in last November's general election, whereas the NLD did even better than in 2015.

The timing of this coup is also easily explained. This week the first session of parliament since the election was due to start, which would have enshrined the election result by approving the next government. That will no longer happen.

But the military's longer game plan is hard to fathom. What do they plan to do in the year they have given themselves to run the country? There will be public anger over a coup so soon after an election in which 70% of voters defied the Covid-19 pandemic to vote so overwhelmingly for Aung San Suu Kyi.

Famously stubborn, she is unlikely to co-operate with a gun held to her head. Her ally, President Win Myint, is the only person authorised under the constitution to enact a state of emergency. He has been detained with her.

For the moment the military's action appears reckless, and puts Myanmar on a perilous path.

Michael Ghilezan, a partner of a US law firm who lives in Yangon, told the international news agencies he had expected military vehicles and protests in the city, but there was instead an eerie calm. "The most common reaction from my Burmese friends has been anger. They feel deeply betrayed by the military and the USDP."

This was reflected in other comments from the streets, although there have been some supporters of the army out waving flags in Yangon.

TheinnyOo, a development consultant, told Reuters: "We had a lawful election. People voted for the one they preferred. We have no protection under the law now."

Many people feared giving their names. One 64-year-old resident of Hlaing township told AFP, "I don't want the coup. I have seen many transitions in this country and I was looking forward to a better future."

Author and historian Thant Myint-U tweeted that a door had opened to a "very different future", and he feared for the millions who had been descending into poverty.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the army's move a "serious blow to democratic reforms", as the security council prepared for an emergency meeting. The UN demanded the release of what it said were at least 45 people who had been detained.

Joe Biden released a statement saying "force should never seek to overrule the will of the people or attempt to erase the outcome of a credible election".

He said the removal of sanctions over the past decade as Myanmar progressed to democracy would be immediately reviewed, adding: "The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack."

In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the coup and Aung San Suu Kyi's "unlawful imprisonment".

European Union leaders have issued similar condemnations. But China, which has previously opposed international intervention in Myanmar, urged all sides in the country to "resolve differences", while some regional powers, including Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines, said it was an "internal matter".

Earlier times, Suu Kyi's defence of the military over the widely condemned crackdown lost her much of her international support.

The military rulership affects the executive, legislature, the judiciary and the civil society. The values and norms imbibe manifests in the practice of the current democracy. This explicates the use of force rather than dialogue in the suppression of dissent and disobedience of the court orders, closure of media houses, the arrest of journalists. It displays with recklessness in the democratic environment. It is instructive to note that the era of military rule can only end with good governance by a civil democratic government.

I condemn the present military leadership who usurped power in Myanmar unlawfully in the most corrosive language despite we have a serious problem with Suu Kyi and its party NLD on millions of people of Rakhine community of Myanmar who were forced to flee to Bangladesh because of persecution by her government. They are now living in our country and it is a great burden for Bangladesh.

-The End 

The writer is an independent political analyst based in Dhaka, Bangladesh who writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs.
British scientists are starting a study on Thursday to find out if it's okay to mix and match coronavirus vaccines .

The University of Oxford is set to begin a trial combining vaccines against the novel coronavirus from AstraZeneca and Pfizer in a two-shot schedule to assess the immune responses generated from the doses.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

Participants in the UK government-funded study will reportedly get one shot of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine followed by a dose from Pfizer, or vice versa.

Here's your 10-point cheatsheet to this story:

1) The Oxford University will begin recruiting 820 participants over 50 years of age across eight Britain sites this week, as per a statement. The Astra and Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines will be given in different orders and with two dosing intervals, four and 12 weeks apart.

2) The trial will examine the immune responses of an initial dose of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine followed by a booster of AstraZeneca's, as well as vice versa, with intervals of 4 and 12 weeks.

3) The trial will allow researchers to see whether two shots of different vaccines produce better or worse results than two doses of the same product. Initial data on immune responses is expected to be generated around June.

4) The study could be key to relieving pressure on individual vaccine makers to deliver shots if they run into manufacturing difficulties.

5) Both the mRNA shot developed by Pfizer and Biontech and the adenovirus viral vector vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca are currently being rolled out in Britain, with a 12-week gap between two doses of the same vaccine.

It is expected more vaccines will be added to the trial when they are approved and rolled out.

6) Mixing vaccines to create an enhanced immune response is common for inoculations targeting diseases such as hepatitis A and B. Combining shots can boost the immune response because the second shot wont be limited by any immunity the body has built up to the platform delivering the first vaccine.

7) Both the Astra and Pfizer shots target the spike protein that the virus uses to enter cells. The trial will not assess the overall efficacy of the shot combinations, but researchers will measure antibody and T-cell responses, as well as monitor for any unexpected side effects.

8) Matthew Snape, an Oxford vaccinologist who is leading the trial, said initial results could inform vaccine deployment in the second half of the year.

We will get some results through, we expect, by June or thereabouts that will inform the use of booster doses in the general population," he told reporters.

9) The study organisers say theirs is the first combination trial to start globally, though Russia will also begin one next week mixing the Astra vaccine with its Sputnik V shot in Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates.

10) The study will be the first to test the Pfizer vaccine, which is normally given in two doses 21 days apart, with a 12-week interval, Snape said in an interview. The US pharma firm and German partner BioNTech SE conducted clinical trials with shots given three weeks apart, but Britain health officials have extended the interval to allow more people to quickly get the first dose.

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KITOV ONE inspection system Hanan Gino, the CEO of Kitov states: We value our strategic partnership with Mitutoyo which will allow us to integrate our software platform into the most advanced manufacturing environments that are constantly seeking to achieve high quality control.

Mitutoyo Corporation, a leading global company specializing in measuring instruments and metrological technology, headquartered in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan, and Kitov, a developer and provider of automated smart visual inspection software solutions, headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel, announced today the signing of a partnership agreement. The agreement will enable Mitutoyo to integrate Kitovs technologies across its metrology solutions.

As part of the agreement, Mitutoyo will invest and become a shareholder in Kitov. The agreement also establishes the framework for joint-development of new solutions that combine Mitutoyos measurement technologies and Kitovs planning and inspection technologies.

Kitovs proprietary AI, Robotics, and Computer Vision technologies allow complete semantic understanding of the part or product under inspection including its 3D structure and components. This results in automated highly reliable and cost-effective visual inspection and measurement solutions that significantly improve quality control and reduce manufacturing costs.

While constantly striving to identify the best complementary technologies for our leading metrology systems, we have been seeking for an effective technology that can help us to fully automate and further enhance our measurement and inspection solutions. Kitovs technology is an advanced and innovative solution that meets Mitutoyos high standards, says Yoshiaki Numata, Mitutoyo President.

Hanan Gino, the CEO of Kitov states: The Kitov solution is already deployed by leading electronics, automotive and aerospace manufacturers in Europe, China, USA, Mexico and Israel. We are proud to team up with Mitutoyo, a global leader in the metrology industry and we are delighted to have the opportunity to introduce our unique technology to this industry. We value our strategic partnership with Mitutoyo which will allow us to integrate our software platform into the most advanced manufacturing environments that are constantly seeking to achieve high quality control.

About Mitutoyo Corporation

Mitutoyo is a global leader in the field of precision measuring equipment.

As a comprehensive manufacturer of precision measurement instruments, the Mitutoyo name is known around the world. Mitutoyo products have a leading market share both in Japan and overseas and continues to be the choice across industries and nations. Major companies all over the world put their trust in Mitutoyo.

For more information about Mitutoyo, visit https://www.mitutoyo.co.jp/eng/

About Kitov Systems Ltd.

Kitov is a supplier of smart visual inspection solutions for a broad range of production lines in the electronics, defense, aerospace, automotive, and medical device industries. Kitov develops a fully automated, universal, and flexible 3D visual inspection system that can be trained by a non-expert in a fast and intuitive manner to inspect a large variety of products.

For more information about Kitov, visit http://www.kitov.ai
New Delhi: India is in discussions with the Sri Lankan government to persuade Colombo to rethink its cancellation of a three way agreement between New Delhi, Colombo and the government of Japan to develop and operate the East Container Terminal (ECT) of Colombo Port, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

The pact was signed in 2019 with India and Japan holding 49% stake in ECT. The Colombo Port is an important port for trans-shipment of goods coming to India.

But earlier this month, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the operation of the east terminal would be done by Sri Lanka Ports Authority. News reports say that the Sri Lankan governments move came in the wake of intense protests from port employees unions with other unions also joining the campaign demanding the cancellation of the pact with India.

As is well known, the Governments of India, Sri Lanka and Japan had signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in May 2019 to develop and operate the East Container Terminal of Colombo Port in a trilateral framework," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in New Delhi.

We sincerely believe that the development of infrastructure in Sri Lanka, in areas such as ports and energy, with foreign investment from India and Japan will be a mutually beneficial proposition," he said.

Our High Commissioner in Colombo (Gopal Baglay) is in discussion with the Government of Sri Lanka, including on the importance of adhering to international commitments," he added.

Indias response on Thursday and a similar one earlier this week from the Indian high commission in Colombo is seen as muted as New Delhi works behind the scenes to persuade Colombo to change its decision. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in a message to Colombo on the anniversary of Sri Lankas independence this week, referred to the cultural traditions that bound the two countries together. India views the project as important given the increasing profile of China in the island nation that New Delhi sees as traditionally lying within its sphere of influence.

The development of the ECT was a subject discussed by Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar when he visited Colombo in January. However days after Jaishankars visit, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had assured port workers that the ECT was not going to be sold or leased, and that there would be an investment" by Indias Adani group, news reports said. But the unions were not convinced and continued their protests.

Following the decision to handover the development of the ECT project to the Sri Lankan Ports Authority, a Sri Lankan cabinet meeting approved a proposal to develop the West Terminal at the Colombo Port as a Public Private Partnership with India and Japan. India has not commented on this. According to news reports, the West terminal is strategically no different from the East, and commercially even better. The Sri Lankan government was trying to sweeten the deal for India by saying that India and Japan could hold a much higher stake  as much as 85% in the West terminal as compared to 49 % in ECT, according to news reports. The unions which had opposed the ECT contract are said to be supportive of the proposal to invite India and Japan to participate in the development and operation of the west terminal.

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YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Former defense minister of Artsakh, former Defense Army Commander, Lieutenant-General Jalal Harutyunyan has been appointed Head of the Military Control Service of the Defense Ministry of Armenia, PR department head at the defense ministry Gevorg Altunyan told Armenpress.

Previously, Movses Hakobyan was serving as Head of the Military Control Service, but he resigned on November 18, 2020.

Jalal Harutyunyan has been relieved from the position of the defense minister of Artsakh, the Defense Army Commander on October 27, 2020, as he was wounded in action in a military position.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Ethiopia Wednesday said it busted a planned terror attack on the UAE embassy in capital Addis Ababa after the arrest of 15 people paid from outside.

Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA) citing the intelligence service said alleged terror plotters were working at the direction of foreign terrorist group and were preparing to inflict significant damage on properties and human lives at the mission.

The intelligence during the arrest also seized an unspecified amount of arms, explosives and documents, the agency said adding that some of the plotters were rounded up near the embassy.

The one of the masterminds of the group was arrested in Sweden.

Another group of suspects, have been reportedly nabbed in Sudan where they were also plotting an attack on the Gulf countrys diplomatic mission.

Both countries, EPA notes, have been collaborating on the two planned terror attacks.

UAE authorities have not made any comments regarding the various arrests.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  A New Springville man raped a woman on Thanksgiving Day, then, four days later, threatened to kill her and hide her body, prosecutors allege.

Aaron Suchecki, 50, of the 200 block of McVeigh Avenue, initially demanded the victim have oral sex with him during the afternoon of Nov. 26, said a criminal complaint.

Suchecki pinned down her hands and body, the complaint said. When she declined, he raped her, the complaint alleges.

Afterward, Suchecki took the womans clothes and cell phone and told her he wouldnt let her leave, said the complaint.

Following, on Nov. 30, the defendant accosted the woman and threatened her, the complaint said.

If I lose my job because of this, I have a gun and I will kill you, the complaint quotes him as saying. I know Staten Island very well. They will never find your body.

The defendant was arrested later that day.

He was indicted on charges including first-degree rape, attempted first-degree criminal sexual act (formerly classified as sodomy), sexual abuse, witness intimidation and forcible touching.

Suchecki pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment Monday in state Supreme Court, St. George.

He remains free on $10,000 bond, online state court records show.

The defendants next court date is March 3.

His lawyer did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the case.
China has said today it is paying close attention to a US warship that sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, the first such voyage since the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

Chinese foreign affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters on Thursday that Beijing has been closely monitoring the American vessel with a 'full control of the situation'.

The US Navy claimed that the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer conducted 'a routine transit' through the waterway to demonstrate its commitment to a 'free and open Indo-Pacific'.

US Navy said the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer (pictured in 2017) conducted 'a routine transit' through the waterway separating the Chinese mainland and Taiwan

Chinese foreign affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin (pictured) told reporters on Thursday that Beijing has been closely monitoring the American vessel with a 'full control of the situation'

US warships periodically conduct navigation exercises in the strait, often triggering angry responses from China which claims self-ruled, democratic Taiwan as part of its territory.

Beijing views any ships passing through the strait as essentially a breach of its sovereignty - while the US and many other nations view the route as international waters open to all.

The voyage by the USS John S. McCain 'demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific', the Seventh Fleet statement said.

'The United States military will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.'

Taiwan's defence ministry confirmed the journey without identifying the vessel.

US warships periodically conduct navigation exercises in the strait, often triggering angry responses from China. In this photo taken on December 30, 2020, the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain conducts routine underway operations on the Taiwan Strait

Wang Wenbin from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Thursday press briefing that Beijing has been closely monitoring the US warship's activities.

'China is paying close attention and has a full control of the situation of a US warship passing through the Taiwan Strait,' Wang noted.

He added that US military repeatedly flaunted their force by dispatching warships to the waterway, sending wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence forces'.

China will continue to maintain a high level of alert at all times, respond to all threats and provocations at any time, and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,' the spokesman said.

'We urge the United States to play a constructive role for regional peace and stability, not the other way around.'

The transit comes after two US reconnaissance planes and one jet tanker flew near Taiwan's airspace on Monday, according to Taiwan's defence ministry, which did not disclose their routes.

China has stepped up pressure on Taiwan since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen (pictured in a file photo) in 2016, as she refuses to acknowledge Beijing's 'one China' stance

In December, China also made a stark warning to the US after two American warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a 'routine transit'.

'The move by the US warships has sent a wrong signal to separatist elements advocating 'Taiwan independence' and seriously endangered peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,' Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defence, said at the time.

Last year, the US Navy conducted a total of 13 sailings through the waterway separating the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

China has stepped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, as she refuses to acknowledge Beijing's stance that the island is part of 'one China'.

In January, Chinese military aircraft were spotted entering Taiwanese airspace on a total of 30 different days, reported Taiwanese media.

Chinese nationalist tabloid Global Times warned that Beijing's alleged intrusions were considered as 'preparing to fight the possible war through exercises'.

Last year Chinese military jets made a record 380 incursions into Taiwan's defence zone, with some analysts warning that tensions between the two sides were at their highest since the mid-1990s.
Ethiopia shows no political will whatsoever to reach an agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Egyptian ambassador to Washington Moatez Zahran was quoted as saying on Thursday.

In a podcast interview with Al-Monitor on Thursday, Ambassador Zahran said that there is no political will from Ethiopia to reach any kind of deal unless the international community comes together and supports the negotiations, which have reached a deadlock recently.

We've never been opposed to development in Ethiopia, we need to be able to convince people that this in fact caters to development needs but without any significant harm to the other two countries [Egypt and Sudan], he said.

The ambassador said that the GERD has the potential to disrupt the lives of over 150 million Egyptian and Sudanese citizens, and will create an avalanche of socio-economic turbulence.

For every 1 billion cubic meters of water that is lost to unilateral operation of the dam, Egypt would lose 290,000 incomes, 130,000 hectares of cultivated land, he said, referring to the points raised by the Egyptian embassys virtual meeting with Congress aides in DC on Tuesday to discuss the GERD crisis.

It is a matter of an existential nature for Egypt, he said, adding that Egypt held negotiations with Ethiopia and Sudan in order to reach a win-win situation.

Unilateralism is not an option, a legally binding agreement with a dispute resolution mechanism has to be reached and we certainly encourage the new administration to be fully engaged again, Zahran said.

Two weeks ago, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned during his confirmation hearing that the GERD talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan could boil over.

Last year, the Trump administration brokered talks in Washington DC between the three sides to break the years-long deadlock in negotiations, but failed to secure an Ethiopian signature on a draft agreement.

In September, the US suspended aid to Ethiopia, as the Trump administration blamed the deadlock in the GERD negotiations on Addis Ababa's intransigence.

Ethiopia announced last July the completion of the first filling of the dam and plans to finish the second filling this year despite the absence of a legally binding agreement between the three parties.

Sudan recently refused to participate in further talks until experts from the African Union, which has brokered several rounds of negotiations between the three sides, are given more opportunity to help bridge differences between the parties.

Egypt has accused Ethiopia of disrupting GERD negotiations and evading commitment to a binding deal.

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Washington/Moscow, Feb 4 : Russia and the US have officially extended the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) by five years as the agreement on the extension of the key nuclear pact has entered into force, authorities from the two countries have confirmed.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that it exchanged diplomatic notes on the completion of all domestic procedures required for the treaty's extension with the US Embassy, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The New START treaty will operate in the form it was signed, without any changes or additions, until February 5, 2026," it added.

According to the Ministry, the telephone conversation between the Presidents of Russia and the US on January 26 was key for this development to proceed.

"We hope that the understanding reached with Washington regarding the fate of the landmark treaty for international security will help overcome the tendency that has prevailed in recent years as a result of the destructive US policy on breaking arms control and non-proliferation mechanisms," it emphasized.

The Ministry was added that Russia is ready to continue constructive dialogue with the US to achieve new results that would strengthen the strategic stability in the world.

Also confirming the development, US Secretary of State Antony Blinked said: "Extending the New START Treaty ensures we have verifiable limits on Russian ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers until February 5, 2026." He added that the extension "makes the US, allies and partners, and the world safer", adding that "especially during times of tension, verifiable limits on Russia's intercontinental-range nuclear weapons are vitally important".

Blinken noted that Washington would use the five-year extension period to seek arms control with Moscow that addresses all of the Russian nuclear weapons.

The New START, which limits the numbers of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 and delivery systems to 700 for each, is the last remaining nuclear arms control pact in force between the two nuclear superpowers.

The treaty can be extended by a maximum of five years with the consent of the two countries.

The former administration of President Donald Trump tried to conclude a shorter extension of the treaty last year after rounds of negotiation with Russia, but the two sides failed to finalise a formal agreement.

Immediately after taking office, President Joe Biden proposed a full five-year extension of the treaty that expires on February 5, a move welcomed by the Kremlin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on January 29 signed a bill into law ratifying a five-year extension of the New START with the US.

The extension of the New START might be a bright spot for the US-Russia relations, but the overall tensions between Washington and Moscow are unlikely to decrease given their differences on issues of human rights, Ukraine, cybersecurity as well as their mutual accusation of interference in the domestic politics.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
The parents of a 19-year-old man who was killed in a police-involved shooting in Monroe County in December are calling for the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office to investigate.

And during a press conference on Wednesday, their attorneys announced a federal lawsuit will be filed over the incident, saying Hall was unarmed with his hands up when police shot him.

According to reports, state police got a call of a distraught man on a bridge Dec. 30, and they found Christian Hall, 19, on the Route 33 South overpass bridge to Interstate 80 in Hamilton Township.

Police say Hall had a gun, but he placed it on the ground when ordered to do so, but as police continued to negotiate with him, they say he became uncooperative, grabbed the gun and pointed it towards the troopers, and thats when they opened fire, WBRE/WYOU reported at the time.

Halls family and attorneys dispute the police account. At Wednesdays press conference, they said Hall was in crisis and distraught when he was on that bridge.

He needed help, his mother, Fe Hall, said through tears, according to WNEP. He was looking for help, but instead of getting help, he was killed by those who were supposed to help him.

Christian Hall needed a helping hand, but yet he got bullets while he had his hands up, said the familys attorney, Benjamin L. Crump, according to The Morning Call from Allentown. When people have mental health crises, the police should de-escalate the situation, not settle it with a gun. Thats not what good policing is.

Crump, who has been representing the family of George Floyd, referenced a video that has been circulating online, recorded by a bystander, that family attorney Devon Jacob said shows Christian has his hands up  both hands  up in the air, according to reports.

The Monroe County District Attorneys Office and the state police are investigating the shooting, Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Cpl. Brent Miller told The Morning Call, adding they do not comment on pending litigation but are confident they have protocols to ensure trooper-involved shootings are investigated thoroughly and transparently.

In a statement to WNEP, Monroe County First Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso told the station, No one from Mr. Halls legal team has reached out to us at all. We werent told that the attorneys were going to conduct a press conference today. We have not been asked to provide any information relative to this matter. We are still awaiting certain reports and results before we make any final decision.

The familys attorneys are asking the attorney generals office to take an independent look at this case. The attorneys did not specify when their excessive-force suit may be filed, reports indicate.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : According to statistics released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in December 2020 and cited by the World Health Organization (WHO), breast cancer has now surpassed lung cancer as the world's most commonly diagnosed cancer.

The subject experts suggested that to a large extent, the disease is hereditary in nature. The experts said that inheritance, either by disease history in family or by genetic changes, augments the probability of developing cancer.

According to them, highly predisposed to developing breast and ovarian cancer are those whose family has a history of breast cancer or found inheriting a separate set of genes.

Speaking to IANS on World Cancer Day on Thursday, Pragya Shukla, Head of Department, Clinical Oncology, at the Delhi State Cancer Institute, said that offsprings of a cancer survivor are also more susceptible to developing breast or ovarian cancer.

"A woman is more prone to develop breast or ovarian cancer if either her mother is a cancer survivor or any of her immediate family members has a history of this disease," she said.

M.D. Ray, Additional Professor, Surgical Oncology, at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), also said that breast cancer can be inherited if a woman has a close family member who had developed the disease.

However, the family history is majorly defined by genetic mutations in a specific set of genes found augmenting the disease occurrence.

The Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital in Mumbai informed that the risk of breast cancer is over 80 per cent higher in those who inherit a specific set of mutated genes -- BRCA1 and BRCA2 "The most common genes changes are those of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and women with these genes have more than 80 per cent chance of getting breast cancer during their lifetime," said Sanjay Dudhat, Head Oncosurgeon at the hospital.

BRCA1 (BReast CAncer gene 1) and BRCA2 (BReast CAncer gene 2) are genes that produce proteins that help repair damaged DNA. Everyone has two copies of each of these genesa -- one copy inherited from each parent. However, when these genes undergo certain harmful changes, their variant becomes potent enough to cause cancer cells. People who inherit harmful variants in one of these genes have increased risks of several cancers -- most notably breast and ovarian cancer.

People who have inherited a harmful variant in BRCA1 and BRCA2 also tend to develop cancer at younger ages than people who do not have such a variant.

The Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi said that inherited mutated genes is a risk factor of breast cancer that one cannot change. "BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 are hereditary genes that if passed from the mother (who has suffered from breast cancer) to the children can put them at a higher risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer," said Ramesh Sarin, Senior Consultant, Surgical Oncology at Apollo.

However, he added that screening and genetic counselling can help in early identification for the timely treatment of the disease. "Issue with any kind of cancer is that it never shows symptoms in early stages. While there are no sure shot ways to prevent cancer, certain steps can help lower the risk or detect breast cancer at an early stage," Sarin said.

The experts recommended screening with several tests including mammography, specialised monitoring and BRCA gene test to have an upper hand over the disease.

"The BRCA gene test is a blood test that uses DNA analysis to identify harmful mutations in either one of the two breast cancer susceptibility genes. It is not a routine test and is done only on people who are likely to have inherited either of the BRCA genes based on family history of breast and ovarian cancer," Sarin recommended.

Dudhat advised to find out high risk individuals through genetic counselling and keeping them under proper screening programmes with regular mammography and in selected cases, MRI mammography.

Sarin said that mammography in young girls is not recommended. However, he suggested that the family should be aware of the risk and also stays in constant touch with a breast physician for regular monitoring.

Meanwhile, Shukla advised that annual screening is must for females above 40 years of age including mammography and x-ray of chest area. "However, females in families having a history of breast cancer must be vigilant. We prescribe screening of them from the age of 25 onwards" she added.
A Syrian lawyer seeking asylum in Ireland refused food for a week after his bid for permission to work here was blocked.

Hayan Ibrahim (35) finally ended his hunger strike at Mosney direct provision centre yesterday after immigration officials made a U-turn on a decision not to renew his temporary residence certificate (TRC). His application to work in Ireland could not be processed without one.

Mr Ibrahim is a member of the Alawite sect of Shia Islam, which has been largely supportive of the Assad regime in Syria. He claims to have fled oppression in his native country in 2014 after refusing to fight in the civil war. He says he and his fiancee were subjected to torture and that she died.

Mr Ibrahim had been seeking permission to work so he could send money to his parents and decided to go on hunger strike out of desperation.

But he confirmed to the Irish Independent he was ending his hunger strike after a new TRC was issued to him yesterday.

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All I want to do is work and pay taxes. I dont want to be relying on welfare, he said.

While Mr Ibrahim said he was not given reasons why his TRC renewal request was considered inadmissible, it may stem from a previous application for asylum in Germany.

The Department of Justice said it could not comment on individual cases but added there were a number of reasons why the State may not be responsible for examining a persons application for international protection, and consequentially, may not be able to grant a work permit.

These include that the applicant has previously sought asylum or been granted international protection status in another EU member state.

Mr Ibrahim confirmed he travelled to Germany in 2014 and applied for and was granted asylum. But he said he ended up being threatened by extreme Muslims and that it was not safe for him to stay.

He said he no longer had any status in Germany and believed he had a right to stay in Ireland. He is being assisted by the Irish Refugee Council, which said it was working with the International Protection Office to resolve matters.

Asylum seekers gained the right to work after a Supreme Court decision in 2017. However, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission said the ruling is being undermined by discriminatory barriers to accessing both driving licences and bank accounts.
Sex toy sales have exploded as millions around the world seek to spice up lockdown with new bedroom accessories and Western societies shake off the last taboos around female pleasure.

Sofia (not her real name), a 29-year-old singleton in Paris, overcame her "psychological barrier" to sex toys when the first lockdown kicked in last March.

"Something clicked," she told AFP.

"I knew it was the right time, that we were entering a crazy period during which I was going to be cut off from all social contact and my love life."

Berlin manufacturers WOW say their global sales have trebled over the past year.

They have shifted more than four million of their most popular model, the "Womanizer".

Sweden's LELO says sex toy sales were up 10 percent in 2020, despite stores being closed.

A report last year by Statista said the global market was set to almost double from $28.6 billion to $52.7 billion between 2019 and 2026.

This is about more than lockdown boredom, says Christophe Manceau of market researchers Kantar, pointing to the wider "porno-isation of society".

"Western societies have reached an era in which sexual well-being is totally normal. Buying a sex toy is no longer taboo at all, quite the contrary," he told AFP.

Sex toys have been "completely democratised," adds sex historian Virginie Girod. "They are seen as playful and banal."

Part of this lies in the changing public discourse around sex -- not just franker, but also more focused on the female experience.

Celebrities are helping to set the tone: British songwriter Lily Allen signed a sponsorship deal with Womanizer last year, while in 2016 actor Emma Watson endorsed an educational site about female masturbation.

The products are changing along with attitudes. Traditional phalluses are in decline, in favour of increasingly ingenious forms of stimulation and high-end design.

Dutch brand Biird offers a sex toy that doubles as a bedside lamp, while technological advances have already seen a boom in remote, app-controlled devices for long-distance relationships.

Loosening up

In most Western countries -- and increasingly around the world -- lingering media taboos around sex are being wiped out in the digital age.

Podcasts in particular, with their endless airtime and near-total lack of censorship, have allowed "sexperts" to explore niches that had rarely  or never  been touched before.

Hit shows run the gamut from "Inner Hoe Uprising", hosted by four black queer feminists, to "Celestial Sex" by Chris Duce, who grew up in a devout Mormon family and tackles questions around sex and religion.

Others have discussed everything from sex for cancer patients ("Dying for Sex"), to the dating experiences of someone with a stoma (an opening in the abdomen to allow waste out of her body) on "Doing It! With Hannah Witton".

Ironically, despite its reputation, France has lagged behind much of the Western world in its public discourse -- often preferring a less crude, more intellectual approach to the subject.

There is little in France to compare with the outrageously candid "Guys We Fucked" podcast by two New York comedians, for instance, while frank discussions of gay sex are even harder to come by.

If things are slowly loosening up in France, it may have the #MeToo phenomenon to thank.

Despite the focus on sexual abuse, the female empowerment that accompanied #MeToo opened up a broader conversation around sex -- "that of pleasure and joy, rather than sexuality that is constrained and suffering," said Nathalie Giraud-Desforges, a Paris sex therapist.

"#MeToo gave people the words to talk about female pleasure which were taboo for a long time, especially in France," she said.
Mr. Blue had already been out of Manitoba for a couple of weeks when he got the news that he was in violation of a new and harshly worded edict from Premier Brian Pallister.

Mr. Blue had already been out of Manitoba for a couple of weeks when he got the news that he was in violation of a new and harshly worded edict from Premier Brian Pallister.

Issued hastily on Monday night, the new commandment declared that any government appointee who travels "for leisure purposes" outside Manitoba could be terminated from their positions. People like Mr. Blue.

A life-long Manitoba Progressive Conservative, Mr. Blue, who asked that his real name not be used, has organized campaigns, recruited candidates and raised money. Currently, he sits on the board of an arm's-length government entity, appointed by Pallister.

And right now, he also happens to be at his vacation property in a popular, warm-weather destination.

What did Mr. Blue think when he found out he was at risk of suffering the wrath of the premier and the indignity of a public termination of his patronage appointment?

"It totally blindsided me and pissed me off to be frank," Mr. Blue said in an interview Wednesday.

"The fact is, I'm not doing anything illegal. If they wanted to stop people from travelling, then they should have closed the border and be done with it. I'd be totally OK if they did that. But threatening all the people who have supported him and helped him get where he is today, that's not right."

Nobody should be vacationing outside Manitoba right now. But Pallister's decision to threaten his political appointees with termination is still a curious decision. It is, at the same time, both surprising and not all that surprising.

Premier Brian Pallister's decision to threaten his political appointees with termination is both surprising and not surprising. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press files)

It was somewhat surprising because Pallister spent the better part of the previous week defending Wayne McWhirter, a Tory government appointee to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority board, after the Free Press reported he was in Arizona at his vacation property.

Pallister initially said he would not punish McWhirter because as an appointee, he was essentially a "volunteer." Health Minister Heather Stefanson also dismissed suggestions McWhirter should be removed from his position.

And then, over the course of last weekend, Pallister pivoted 180 degrees.

On Monday, he directed his staff to issue a statement just before 6 p.m. that he would punish any government appointee with termination if they travelled outside Manitoba "for leisure purposes." No other details of the policy were provided.

What changed over the weekend?

No one knows for sure. Pallister has not been available to the media since he issued the edict, but logic would dictate that there were two important developments.

The first one we know for sure: McWhirter resigned his post with the WRHA after talking with Pallister. A retired accountant, it's not surprising that McWhirter would be unwilling to ride out the controversy over his travel plans. But as soon as he decided to resign, it appears Pallister began to plot a new course.

The second development is not confirmed but given the order of events this week, it's quite likely the premier learned that more of his order-in-council appointees either had travelled recently or were still out of the province on leisure trips. Rather than wait for news media to reveal other high-profile appointees who had left the province against the advice of public health officials, he decided to lay down the law.

How quickly did he change course on this issue and how much thought did he put into his new proclamation? His statement Monday was only 53 words long and left out a lot of details about exactly who was affected by the edict  and when it went into effect.

Wayne McWhirter quit as chairman of the WRHA after taking heat for travelling to Arizona. (WRHA)

On Wednesday, two days after the new policy was announced, the premier's office was asked for those additional details. Given the high-profile nature of this policy, those details should have been available right away.

Instead, it would take an entire working day to get some clarity.

At 5 p.m., nearly two full days after the policy was unveiled, the premier's office eventually confirmed the order affected 1,025 "order-in-council board members" and about 375 direct-appointment staff including "deputy ministers, assistant deputy ministers, senior legal officers, medical officers, the chief veterinary officer, senior officers as well as political staff in the ministerial offices, executive council and the priorities and planning secretariat."

It was also confirmed the edict applies to any departures on or after Feb. 1.

The difficulty in getting details on the travel edict strongly suggests that Pallister decided to make the announcement Monday before he had figured out exactly who was impacted. That's an unusual way to introduce a new policy that has dire consequences for some of the most important people in government. But it's also not out of character for this premier.

This is a premier who is constantly changing his and his government's position on all manner of important issues. Statements made one day can easily evaporate the next. Pallister brushes off questions about his chronic inconsistency as mischievous attempts by journalists to tarnish his reputation.

On this issue, however, Pallister's shoot-first-and-release-details-second approach has the potential to inflict some real and meaningful damage to his political brand.

In one fell swoop, he has angered a high-powered constituency of senior government employees and the rank and file of his own party. You know, the people he regularly taps for political appointments.

As confident as Pallister appears, no political leader does that much damage in such a short period of time without suffering consequences. Nobody.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
Three railway workers were killed when their train smashed into a tow truck at a crossing in Upper Egypts Assiut, the Egyptian National Railways said in a statement on Wednesday.

Photos of the scene show that the tow trucks winch penetrated the trains locomotive. The victims were the drivers assistant and two workers on board the locomotive, the statement added.

The statement has not revealed if the tow truck had a driver when it was struck by the train.

A security report circulated by local media said that two man were also injured in the incident, but did not say if they were onboard the locomotive or the truck.

The train was heading from Cairo to Aswan, according to the Egyptian National Railways.

Short link:


Telecommunications and media company Bite Group has announced plans to enter the Estonian communications market, where it already provides television services.

Bite plans to offer Estonian consumers fixed, mobile internet and other services in the future. The company says, however, that it will only be able to enter the Estonian communications market if the Estonian frequency auction allocating 5G licenses has room for the group.

When and if it receives a 5G license in Estonia, Bite has suggested that it might also consider investing in the countrys broadband telecommunications companies through acquisitions. The 5G communication frequencies auction in Estonia is expected to take place in April this year.

At present Bite Group owns Estonias TV3 television channel and the online video streaming platform Go3, which also operates in Estonia. Bite is also a leading player in the telecommunications and media space in Lithuania and Latvia.

And speaking of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Supreme Administrative Court has apparently upheld an appeal from Telia Lithuania against the decision by the countrys regulator to allow the spectrum used by the operator Telecentras for its MEZON broadband services to transfer to Bite Group. A new hearing is now likely.

The news that Lithuanian mobile operator Bite had completed its acquisition of MEZON, the retail broadband and IPTV business of state-owned Lithuanian Radio and Television Centre (aka Telecentras), was made public earlier this year.

Bite Group, which has about three million customers and 3,000 employees in the Baltic countries, is controlled by Providence Equity Partners LLC  the American global private equity investment firm focused on media, communications, education and information investments.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : A day after Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Rishi Kumar Shukla retired, the agency's Additional Director Praveen Sinha, a 1988 batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, on Thursday took over the charge as the interim chief.

A CBI statement said that Sinha has started looking after the duties of Director, CBI in pursuance to the Department of Personnel and Training order issued on Wednesday.

The CBI said that Sinha has earlier served in the agency as Superintendent of Police, DIG, Joint Director and Additional Director over two stints between 2000-2021.

It said that he also served as Additional Secretary, CVC during 2015-2018.

The CBI said that Sinha has served at various places in Gujarat in various capacities from ASP to Additional Director General.

He has also worked as Deputy Director, ACB, Ahmedabad in 1996.

"Sinha has been associated with the investigation of various Supreme Court or High Courts entrusted or monitored scams, major bank frauds and financial crimes, serial bomb blasts etc. He was instrumental in unearthing major examination paper leakages including those of CAT and AIPMT," it said.

"He has the unique distinction of having drafted the Manual of both the apex integrity institutions - the Vigilance Manual 2017 of Central Vigilance Commission and the CBI (Crime) Manual, 2020," the agency said.

It further said that Sinha has been involved in several innovative and reform initiatives and he is a Member of several Reform Committees constituted by the CVC as well as a member of the Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws constituted by the Union Home Ministry.

Sinha was awarded the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service on Republic Day 2013 and Police Medal for Meritorious Service on Republic Day 2004.
Health official: 'I am hopeful for the brighter days ahead'
Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD, is the most common personality disorder in Australia, affecting up to 5% of the population at some stage, and Flinders University researchers warn more needs to be done to meet this high consumer needs.

A new study in the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing (Wiley) describes how people with BPD are becoming more knowledgeable about the disorder and available treatments, but may find it difficult to find evidence-based help for their symptoms.

The South Australian psychiatric researchers warn these services are constrained by stigma within health services and from health professionals, with inadequate funding for BPD treatments and general health policies leaving consumers struggling to find appropriate help.

"Lived Experience Australia's 75-question survey of more than 500 patients in 2011 and 2017 found many people with BPD often experience significant distress in their personal lives as well as dealing with community mental health and emergency departments in the health system," says researcher Jessica Proctor, from the Flinders College of Medicine and Public Health.

"While the general public are becoming more aware about BPD, there is still a lot of stigma, along with clinician and research biases, which complicate this situation."

BPD is typically characterised by instability in a person's sense of self, personal relationships, goals, and expression of emotions and feelings, as well as impulsive behaviour, risk taking, and outbursts of intense anger or hostility. However a person does not need to show all of these signs to have a diagnosis of BPD.

People with BPD can also experience other disorders, such as major depression, that also required targeted, evidence-based treatment.

While it's commonly thought BPD is untreatable, the experts say BPD is in fact very responsive to effective treatments, primarily psychotherapies including Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, or DBT.

Professor Sharon Lawn says some health professionals acknowledge the shortfalls in access to DBT and other evidence-based therapy to treat the disorder.

"Lack of interventions for severe borderline personality disorder leads to lots of extra pressure on emergency hospital services, not to mention the suffering while consumers waiting a possible 12-18 months for appropriate care in the public system," she says.

Public subsidies for specialised stand-alone BPD focused services in the private sector with a psychiatrist referral would be a good starting point to improve services in Australia, she adds.

In the meantime, more mental health nurses and other health professionals can support front-line services by applying NHMRC BPD guidelines in clinical practice, the research concludes.

"It was very pleasing to see more people in the 2017 survey showing more recognition of their symptoms and willingness to reach out for help," says another senior author on the paper, national consumer advocate and chair of Lived Experience Australia, Janne McMahon OAM.

"Approaching people with BPD without stigma and with sound understanding of the evidence-based treatments can help them to recognise and manage their emotions more effectively," she says.

###

The article, Consumer perspective from people with a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) on BPD management - How are the Australian NHMRC BPD guidelines faring in practice? (wiley.com) (2020) by JM Proctor, S Lawn and J McMahon has been published in the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing (Wiley) DOI: 10.1111/jpm.12714.
(JTA)  In an annual survey of British Jewish adults, two-thirds said Jews have a future in the United Kingdom  the highest level of confidence since 2015.

And the portion of British Jews who said they felt unwelcome in the United Kingdom fell from 53 percent last year to 18 percent in 2020.

The Antisemitism Barometer survey, conducted in November and December by Kings College London for the Campaign Against Antisemitism watchdog group, shows that British Jews are back from the brink following the replacement as the head of Labour of the far-left politician Jeremy...
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 01:34:28|Editor: huaxia

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BAGHDAD, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi warned on Wednesday that the health authorities might reimpose health restrictions, including a nationwide curfew, if coronavirus infections continue to increase, while the ministry reported 1,317 new COVID-19 cases.

"We warn against an increase in infections and deaths due to failure to adhere to health-protective measures. There is a possibility to reimpose curfew if the number of infections continues to increase," al-Tamimi said in a press conference.

"The infections began to increase during the past two weeks, and reached yesterday to about 2.5 percent of the daily tests," al-Tamimi said, adding that the Iraqi authorities have warned of taking legal actions against violates of health-protective measures.

Later in the day, a statement by the Ministry of Health reported 1,317 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide number of cases to 623,072.

The ministry also reported 11 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 13,079.

It said that 1,275 cases recovered during the day, bringing the total recoveries to 595,869.

A total of 5,752,920 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 46,583 done during the day, according to the statement.

Iraq has taken a series of measures to curb the pandemic since the first coronavirus case appeared in the country.

China has been helping Iraq fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

From March 7 to April 26 in 2020, a Chinese team of seven medical experts spent 50 days in Iraq to help contain the disease, during which they helped build a PCR lab and install an advanced CT scanner in Baghdad.

China has also sent three batches of medical aid to Iraq. Enditem
Pope Francis joined the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and other prominent figures, including EU Council President Charles Michel, to take part in the celebrations marking the first International Day of Human Fraternity, established by the UN Assembly.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Fraternity today is the new frontier of humanity. It is the challenge of our times. Either we are brothers or we are enemies.

Today is the first International Day of Human Fraternity, as established by the UN Assembly. It is held on 4 February to mark the meeting in 2019 between Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, who signed the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and living Together in Abu Dhabi.

The virtual ceremony was held in Abu Dhabi, and broadcast live by Vatican News, with the first Zayed Prize, inspired by the Document on Fraternity, awarded.

Pope Francis was present along with Al-Tayyeb, the highest Sunni cleric, Judge Mohamed Mahmoud Abdel Salam, who is the general secretary of the High Committee for Human Fraternity, whom Francis described as the enfant terrible of this project. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres was also in attendance, as were other prominent figures, like EU Council President Charles Michel.

In his address, Pope Francis called Al-Tayyeb my brother, my friend, my companion in challenges and risks in the struggle for Fraternity

For the pontiff, the alternative to fraternity is not indifference, but enmity. Either we are brothers or we destroy each other. Today there is no time for indifference. We cannot be indifferent, at a distance, careless, disinterested. Either we are brothers or everything collapses. It is the frontier. The frontier on which we must build; it is the challenge of our century; it is the challenge of our times.

Fraternity means an outstretched hand; fraternity means respect. Fraternity means listening with an open heart. Fraternity means firmness in one's convictions. For there is no true fraternity if you negotiate your beliefs.

We are brothers, born of the same Father. With different cultures, traditions, but all brothers. While respecting our different cultures and traditions, our different citizenships, we need to build this fraternity. Not by negotiating it. It is time to listen. It is time for sincere acceptance. It is time for certainty that a world without brothers is a world of enemies.

I want to emphasise this. We cannot say: either brothers or not brothers. Let's face it: either brothers or enemies. Because neglect is a very subtle form of enmity. There is no need for a war to make enemies. Neglect is enough. Enough with this technique  it has become a technique; enough with this attitude of looking the other way, not caring about the other, as if he didn't exist.

Francis also congratulated the two winners of the Zayed Prize: the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and Latifa Ibn Ziaten, founder of an association for youth and peace.

The pontiff thanked Guterres for all the efforts you make for peace. A peace that can only be obtained with a fraternal heart.

Francis then turned to Latifa Ibn Ziaten, a mother of five who created an association named after her son Imad, killed in an act of terrorism.

He told her that when she says we are all brothers, this is a conviction shaped in pain, in your wounds. You have spent your life for smiling, you have spent your life for non-resentment; through the pain of losing a child  only a mother knows what it means to lose a child, through this pain you have the courage to say 'we are all brothers' and sow words of love.

Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for being the mother of your son, of many boys and girls; for being today the mother of this humanity that is listening to you and learning from you: either [we follow] the path of fraternity, as brothers, or we lose everything. Thank you, thank you.
[February 03, 2021] Miller Mendel files a patent infringement lawsuit against Washington County Sheriff's Office for use of infringing Guardian Alliance Technologies software

SEATTLE, Feb. 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On February 1, 2021, attorneys for Miller Mendel filed a second patent infringement lawsuit related to use of the Guardian Alliance Technologies background investigation software. The complaint in the most recent lawsuit, filed in Oregon Federal District Court, alleges Washington County Sheriffs Office infringes on Miller Mendels U.S. Patent 10,043,188 B2 , through its use of the Guardian Alliance Technologies background investigation software. Miller Mendel believes based on records it has obtained that the Washington County Sheriffs Office knew of Miller Mendels patent and proceeded forward nevertheless, which Miller Mendel contends constitutes willful infringementof Miller Mendels patent rights.





In 2018, attorneys for Miller Mendel filed the first patent infringement lawsuit . The lawsuit was filed against Oklahoma City Police Department for their use of Guardian Alliance Technologies background investigation software. Since filing the lawsuit against Oklahoma City, Guardian Alliance Technologies, through their legal counsel, sought to challenge the 188 Patent in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) through a petition for Inter Partes Review. Guardian Alliance Technologies contended the 188 Patent was not valid. The USPTO judges who heard the case denied Guardian Alliance Technologies petition. Miller Mendel maintains confidence that its patents are valid and were correctly issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, after, in the case of the 188 Patent, a 39-month examination process.

To read more about Guardian Alliance Technologies failed attempts to invalidate Miller Mendels patents, click here . Miller Mendel has also filed a complaint in Oklahoma Federal District Court against Guardian Alliance Technologies for defamation. Miller Mendel is confident it will prevail in its effort to enforce its intellectual property/patent rights and further safeguard its patents, as well as a secure successful verdict for defamation against Guardian Alliance Technologies. Miller Mendel will continue to take enforcement action for patent infringement against additional parties, as necessary to protect its intellectual property rights.

Miller Mendel Contact: Tyler Miller tjm@MillerMendel.com

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Anthony Zilis is a multimedia specialist at The News-Gazette. His email is azilis@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@adzilis).
New Delhi, Feb 4 : In a bid to tackle the problem of air pollution in the national capital, the AAP government will promote electric vehicles, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday while appealing to the people to shift to eco-friendly mode to travel.

"As we all are aware, vehicles are the main source of air pollution in Delhi. Hence, I appeal to the people to buy only electric vehicles and thus help bring down pollution levels in the city. I especially appeal to the youth to buy electric two-wheelers only," Kejriwal said at a press conference.

He said that the Delhi government will henceforth procure electric vehicles for official use.

His statement came while launching 'Switch Delhi' campaign to encourage use of electric vehicles in Delhi. Environmental experts have time and again said that around 40 per cent of air pollution in Delhi comes from vehicles.

The Chief Minister also appealed to Residents Welfare Associations, market and trader associations and industries to purchase only electric vehicles for ferrying staff and goods and also advised them to set up charging centres on their premises.

The Delhi government's advisory body Delhi Dialogue Commission on January 26 held consultations with some leading vehicle manufacturers in this regard.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
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ASHLAND, Ore.  An Ashland-based organization will receive a $4.2 million grant from the state in order to buy and convert a local motel into a shelter facility, part of Oregon's newly-funded "Project Turnkey."

The Oregon Community Foundation announced on Thursday that Options for Helping Residents of Ashland (OHRA) had been selected to be the first recipient of a Project Turnkey grant. The funds are meant to be used to create a resource center and shelter facility for people in the community "negatively impacted by wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic."

OHRA plans to convert the Super 8 motel building at 2350 Ashland Street into a shelter, with hopes of having the center open at a limited capacity in March for the most vulnerable members of the community.

At the outset, the new building will offer 20 separated living areas that can accommodate as many as 30 people, but will eventually expand to 50 available rooms for up to 70 people.

The current OHRA shelter accommodates a maximum of 44 people, all in a common room. With COVID-19 still a major concern, proponents of the project consider separated living quarters a much safer alternative.

There is a huge need for the new OHRA Center, given the triple impact of wildfires, economic impact from Covid-19 and the shortage of affordable housing in the great Ashland area, said Michelle Arellano, executive director of OHRA. Were ecstatic to be able to meet this demand and make a difference in our broader community.

According to the state, the number of people seeking services each day from OHRA tripled over the last year. Arellano said that the new OHRA center will offer greater capacity for staff to help people transition from crisis to stability and services for residents to seek jobs.

The Oregon Legislature's Emergency Board set aside $65 million in state funds in November of 2020 so that local organizations throughout the state could purchase financially distressed motels and convert them into safe shelters, with the potential of developing them into long-term housing.

The opportunity to acquire a Project Turnkey facility is a game changer for our work with homeless individuals and families, including those displaced by the September 2020 wildfire, said state Representative Pam Marsh. For far too long our shelter providers have had to scramble to find a place for people to come in from the cold. Now we have a permanent location in the community that will serve as a base to help individuals regain their footing. I am thrilled  and deeply grateful.
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Washington, DC - Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State: "On behalf of the American people, I send sincere congratulations to the people of Sri Lanka as you celebrate the 73rd anniversary of your independence.

"On this day, the people of Sri Lanka and the United States celebrate our shared principles to protect and promote democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and equal justice for all. The success of the democratic endeavor lies in how we uphold these principles for all citizens. We look forward to working with Sri Lanka as a partner and friend to promote regional security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. We will continue to cooperate to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, support global economic recovery, and meet future challenges together.

"We wish the Sri Lankan people a safe and joyous National Day celebration, and a promising year ahead."
Kendall Jenner has been hailed as one of the most in-demand models in the industry.

And the 25-year-old covergirl ensured that her money-making face was in tip top shape as she paid a visit to a Beverly Hills skin care clinic on Wednesday.

Looking laidback in a tie-dye sweatshirt and black leggings, she emerged from a midweek self-care session looking flawless.

Self-care: Kendall Jenner, 25, fine tunes her money making face as she visits a skin care clinic in Beverly Hills

For her beauty jaunt Jenner flaunted her enviable legs in high-waisted spandex with her cropped sweatshirt hitting at her midriff.

She paired the look with a pair of cream colored Yeezy slides and cozy knit socks that she layered underneath.

An athleisure ensemble that could take her from a Pilates session to a facial, she looked a girl on the go as she carried a white tote bag.

She and good pal Hailey Bieber have been enjoying private training sessions virtually everyday to keep their model physiques in shape.

Girl on the go: The model flaunted her thin legs in spandex after a presumable pilates workout before continuing on her day of self-care

She was seen exiting the appointment in a nude canvas face mask and some stylish sunglasses, leaving her extended carmel tresses down.

The model girlfriend of Phoenix Suns player Devin Booker has had a jam packed schedule recently, so looked keen for a relaxing day of errands.

On Monday she rang in her niece Stormi's third birthday surrounded by the rest of her famous family.

Though the annual large scale Stormiworld festivities were cancelled on account of the pandemic, the family celebrated the occasion with a scaled-down version at Kylie's palatial Holmby Hills estate.

Got the glow: The model emerged from the clinic looking rejuvenated as she lightly flipped her extended caramel tresses

The party featured a princess carousel made of balloons, a Raising Cane's food truck and an inflatable slide with Stormi's face on it - among other things - as they celebrated her third year around the sun.

Commenting on Kylie's tribute to Stormi she wrote, 'the tears are so real for me right now,' as she continues to remain the only one of her famous sisters without any kids.

A little pre-birthday trip to boost morale, the Kardashian-Jenner clan took a trip to Turks and Caicos over the weekend, with all in attendance except Kendall.

No stranger to the jet-setting lifestyle, she opted to sit the trip out after getting home from vacation in Jalisco, Mexico with Kylie and their famous pals just days prior.

Need a boost: Jenner enjoyed some downtime in Los Angeles after taking a Mexican vacation with Kylie and their famous pals, reuniting with her family to ring in Stormi's third birthday on Monday

On Tuesday evening the sisters were back in action as they enjoyed dinner at famed Italian joint Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica.

Kendall was seen rocking her new favorite color - brown - for the outing as she stunned in the head to toe monochromatic look.

The ladies looked excited for a night out as they indulged in the newly reopened outdoor dining scene in Los Angeles after a two month shutdown.

Afterwards they engaged in a classic Instagram photoshoot as Kylie captioned the photos, 'two pretty best friends.'

They leaned against Kendall's newly wrapped taupe Lamborghini as Kendall commented 'I heart matching my car.'
Rajinikanth didn't say he would never enter politics, he said he would not jump into poll fray now, clarified the actor's associate and Gandhiya Makkal Iyakkam founder Tamilaruvi Manian, adding that Rajini has also not disbanded the Rajini Makkal Mandram (RMM).

"If tomorrow Rajinikanth says he is entering politics, Gandhiya Makkal Iyakkam will associate itself with him on his journey. If Rajinikanth does not enter politics also, it will continue to function as a sister organization," Manian was quoted by Times of India.

Interestingly, this was the first statement Manian made after December 30, 2020, when he had announced that he was quitting politics forever and would never return until his death.

ALSO READ | Free to Join Any Party They Want, Says Team Rajinikanth After Some Members Switch To DMK

"Political forces are trying to wean away RMM functionaries. While some of them have joined other parties, several others are looking for sanctuaries like migratory birds. While I do not want to fish in troubled waters, the partys general council will meet on March 7 in Tirupur," Manian was quoted.

In a U-turn, superstar Rajinikanth had on December 29, 2020 announced he will not take the political plunge and launch a party as declared earlier.

ALSO READ | Rajinikath Urges Fans To Stop Protests Over Decision on Politics, Says It's 'Inflicting Pain' on Him

"I decided not to enter politics as it is not possible to meet people during an election campaign in times of Covid-19. During 'Annathe' shooting, nearly 120 people were tested daily and out of these four tested positive. Due to this, film producer Kalanidhi Maran decided to postpone the shooting. Though some may criticise my decision of not entering politics, I am not ready to take any risk. I know how bad I felt when I decided to take the decision," the top actor had written.
Amys Kitchen, the family-owned US food manufacturer, wants to set up another production facility in Europe.

The ready-meals and soup maker, which opened a plant in the UK in 2011 before closing it three years later, is weighing up a move to establish a site in Europe, CEO Xavier Unkovic told just-food.

Were very much looking to establish production in Europe, Unkovic, who was promoted from Amys Kitchen president to chief executive last year, said.

We dont have any firm plans but it is 100% certain that, if we want to get serious in Europe, we have to be established. We cannot afford to have products being shipped from California, or even from the [US] East Coast to Europe. Thats a good way to somewhat drive the penetration in markets but thats not sustainable when it comes to growth and profitability. Were very close to making some decisions, which well inform you on when its going to be firm and definitive.

Some 15% of the US$600m annual sales generated by Amy Kitchen's come from its business outside the US.

Unkovic suggested the company is aiming for international markets to account for 30% of sales in five years' time.

"I'm very excited that in next five years, we should have 30% of all volumes and sales in the international market," Unkovic said. "I think in five years Amy's should be over the $1bn mark."

Amy's Kitchen CEO Xavier Unkovic looks to build on Covid-19 boost  the just-food interview
Two Athens men were arrested Tuesday for burglary and stealing checks from local businesses.

The suspects are facing multiple felony charges involving the burglary of Mildreds Restaurant in Ardmore and checks stolen from Willow Contracting in Lester.

Geovannis Rodriguez, 28, is charged with possession of a forged instrument third degree and burglary third degree.

Luis Rodriguez, 32, is charged with possession of a forged instrument third degree, burglary third degree and theft third degree.

Theyre held in the Limestone County Jail, awaiting bond.

The Limestone County Sheriffs Office says it anticipates being able to clear up several thefts in Athens and Limestone as a result of the arrests.

I am proud of the hard work of our investigators in this case, that will assist in clearing up multiple thefts in our county, said Sheriff Mike Blakely.


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New Delhi, Feb 4 : Pakistan is scrambling to manage the fallout from its Supreme Court's ruling to free the Pakistani-origin, British national, accused in the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl and then shift him to a government rest house. But reacting to this move, 36 members of the US Congress have shot a letter to the Pakistani envoy in Washington, Asad Majeed Khan. They have urged Islamabad to review the acquittal.

"Nevertheless, in pursuit of justice for Pearl and the countless others who have been murdered by acts of terrorism, it is incumbent upon us to urge you to do your utmost to ensure that the Government of Pakistan conducts a full review of the acquittal in the case of Daniel Pearl," the letter said.

Omar Sheikh is an unrepentant jihadi terrorist who lured Wall Street Journal scribe Daniel Pearl on the pretext of an interview and handed him over to Al Qaeda associates. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind of 9/11, bragged about beheading the reporter during a hearing before a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay.

Omar Sheikh played the key role in the terrorist kidnapping and brutal murder. Sheikh was previously arrested by India after the 1994 kidnappings but was among terror suspects freed by India on December 31, 1999 in exchange for the hostages on an Indian Airlines aircraft IC-814 that was hijacked and taken from Nepal to the then Taliban-controlled Afghan city of Kandahar.

Pearl was killed as part of Al Qaeda's plan to spread terror in the aftermath of 9/11. An American indictment followed, but Pakistan's government promised to prosecute Sheikh rather than extradite him.

Soon after his conviction in 2013, Omar Sheikh said he did not expect to be executed. "It is a decisive war between Islam and Kafirs," he declared, using an Arabic word for infidels.

"And everyone is individually proving on which side he is." In this Sheikh asserted his faith that the powers that be in Pakistan would eventually side with him, a true believer, rather than with unbelievers. And the decision by the supreme Court vindicates his "confidence".

Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, has been struggling to meet requirements set by the UN's Financial Action Task Force for dealing with terrorism financing.

Pakistan has been known for its perennial support of the Al Qaeda, Taliban and other terrorist organisations.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2021) The Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle has successfully put a Russian military satellite into orbit, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Launched today, February 2, at 23:45 (Moscow time) from the state test cosmodrome of the Russian Defense Ministry (Plesetsk cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk Region, the Soyuz-2.

1b medium-lift carrier rocket at the set time successfully put a satellite is in the interest of the Russian Ministry of Defense into orbit," the ministry said.

It said the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket and the orbiting of the satellite had occurred in a normal mode, adding that Russia's Aerospace Forces had taken control of the satellite.
The logo of Planned Parenthood is seen outside the Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services Center in St. Louis, Mo., on May 30, 2019. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Judge Temporarily Blocks Texas From Withholding Medicaid Funding to Planned Parenthood

A Texas judge has temporarily blocked the state from excluding Planned Parenthood and its affiliates from its Medicaid program, the organization stated.

The temporary restraining order, issued by a Travis County judge, was granted after Planned Parenthood affiliates filed an emergency request to the state court on Feb. 3 to prevent Texas from going through with its decision to withhold federal funding to Planned Parenthood clinics, which provide wider access to abortion, birth control, and other procedures.

Texas had previously given Medicaid recipients using Planned Parenthood a Feb. 3 deadline to find new health care providers. Planned Parenthood challenged that in its recent lawsuit, which argued that the state didnt follow the law when it issued a 30-day notice of termination to the organization, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

For now, if courts dont immediately step in to block Abbotts harmful order, 8,000 Texans with low incomes could lose access to critical, life-saving health care, the organization argued in a statement.

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble has set a Feb. 17 hearing to decide on whether a temporary injunction is necessary to keep the organization in Medicaid, the Statesman reported.

The Texas attorney generals office didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

This is the latest action in a continuing battle between the state and the organization that seeks to ensure that abortions are readily accessible to pregnant women.

In November 2020, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas and Louisiana could withhold taxpayer funds from Planned Parenthood clinics.

At the time, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton welcomed the ruling, saying that the appeals court correctly rejected Planned Parenthoods efforts to prevent Texas from excluding them from the states Medicaid program.

Undercover video plainly showed Planned Parenthood admitting to morally bankrupt and unlawful conduct, including violations of federal law by manipulating the timing and methods of abortions to obtain fetal tissue for their own research, he said.

He added that the organization is not a qualified provider under the Medicaid Act, and shouldnt receive funding through the states Medicaid program.

The organization was previously the subject of a scandal after the nonprofit Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released covertly shot videos of their undercover investigation, which showed Planned Parenthood executives discussing the practice of providing body parts of aborted babies for research. The organizations have disputed the claims.

The disputes between the two organizations are ongoing.
Grosjean may feel 'nervous' before racing return

Romain Grosjean admits he might feel "nervous" once he gets up and racing for the first time since his fiery Bahrain crash.

The former Haas driver announced on Wednesday that he has inked a 2021 deal with the Indycar team Dale Coyne Racing - and confirmed speculation that he will sit out the high speed oval races including the Indy 500.

"I discussed this decision as a family," he is quoted by RMC.

"In principle I was going to do the whole season, including the ovals, but after the accident I didn't feel like doing the two 'superspeedways' in Texas and Indianapolis, although I would certainly dream of winning the 500 miles," Grosjean, 34, said.

"I just don't want to do it for my family, for my children, who have gone through something indescribable in Bahrain, watching the television at home. I don't want them to be in the same situation again," he added.

Grosjean admits his burned left hand remains a slight problem for him, "But I don't think putting on the racing gloves is going to be a problem".

"The first Indycar test is February 22 - will I be at 100 percent? Probably not yet, but for the first race on April 17-18 I think I will be 100 percent," he said.

Grosjean said he contemplated quitting motor racing altogether, telling Motorsport Aktuell: "My wife immediately said to me 'I'm sorry, because you probably don't want to hear this. But I want you to race again'."

As for how he will feel when he gets back up to speed, Grosjean said: "I am feeling excited. I don't know if I'll be nervous - I'll see how I feel in the peloton."

Finally, he said he would soon call Toto Wolff to ask for one final run in a Formula 1 car.

"It's an offer I can't refuse, but at the moment I think they're too busy with the new car. But he can expect to get a call from me a little later," Grosjean smiled.
The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that the second dose of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus will be administered to healthcare workers from 13 February.

"Only the first dose has been given to them so far," NITI Aayog member VK Paul has said.

On Thursday, the Union Health Ministry reviewed the novel coronavirus pandemic situation in the country, saying that 47 districts have not reported any new Covid-19 cases in the last 3 weeks in the country.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan also added that 251 districts in the country have not registered any new death in the same period.

Addressing a press meet in Delhi, Bhushan said that the active Covid-19 cases in the country is less than 1.60 lakh and declining.

"India's Covid-19 cumulative positivity rate is 5.42% and it is continuously declining. The Covid-19 positivity rate last week was at 1.82%. There are two states that have 70% of the active cases -- Kerala and Maharashtra. Only Maharashtra and Kerala have more than 35,000 active Covid-19 cases. A total of 47 districts have not reported new Covid19 cases in the last 3 weeks and 251 districts have not reported any Covid-related deaths in the last 3 weeks," Bhushan said.

"The recovery rate has crossed 97% mark and the death due to Covid-19 is also declining. India's cases per million population are 7,819 and the number of deaths per million population is 112. The tests per million population are 144,359," he added.

Meanwhile, nearly 4.5 million (44,49,552) beneficiaries have been administered shots of coronavirus vaccine under the countrywide exercise till Thursday morning.

In a span of 24 hours, 3,10,604 people were vaccinated across 8,041 sessions. 84,617 sessions have been conducted so far, the Union Health Ministry data showed.

India on Thursday reached a total of 1,07,90,183 coronavirus cases, with 12,899 new infections being reported in the last 24 hours, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The country has recorded 17,824 discharges and 107 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total discharges and death toll to 1,04,80,455 and 1,54,703.

The national coronavirus recovery rate is now at 97.13%, while the Covid-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.43%.

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The Netherlands on Thursday became the latest European country to limit AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine to people aged under 65, despite the EU approving it for all ages.

France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and other countries have so far put age limits on the vaccine, which was developed by the British-Swedish firm with Oxford University.

"Because the immune system starts to function less well with increasing age, the council considers the vaccine suitable for people up to the age of 65," the Dutch Health Council said in a statement.

The council added that it "recommends that the first available doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca be used in elderly people aged 60 to 65 years".

The vaccine's efficacy in people aged over 55 was unclear because only a small number of that age took part in clinical trials, it added.

The age limit comes despite the fact that the Netherlands has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Europe after starting its vaccination programme later than any other EU country.

The European Medicines Agency, the EU's drug regulator, backed the AstraZeneca vaccine last Friday for all ages despite the lack of data for older people, saying that the bloc's countries needed to "have these options available to them".

Britain has meanwhile used the vaccine on all ages.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

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An effort by a self-exiled senior member of the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party to lead a return to her homeland on Sunday has failed after an airline refused to carry her.

The thwarted plan to return represented the second attempt by party leaders to rejoin the political struggle at home. In November 2019, Sam Rainsy, the partys co-founder, sought to return from exile with several colleagues but was blocked by the government. He has been in exile since 2016 to avoid serving a prison sentence for a defamation conviction that he insists was politically motivated.

Party vice president Mu Sochua said Saturday that Singapore Airlines did not allow her to board a flight from Los Angeles that would have taken her to Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, after transiting in Singapore.

She said on a live broadcast on Facebook that the airline told her she could not board because she did not have a visa for Cambodia. Mu Sochua holds dual Cambodian-U.S. citizenship, but travels on her U.S. passport because her Cambodian one was revoked by Cambodia's government in 2019. She was also one of the party leaders who was blocked from returning in 2019.

Cambodian government officials recently said they would not allow the opposition party to have valid travel documents to return.

It was not immediately clear if other party members who had planned to return with Mu Sochua had completed the journey.

Mu Sochua is one of about 150 opposition party members and supporters who are facing trial on treason charges, and she had announced she was returning to take part in the trial. Cambodian law allows people to be tried and sentenced in absentia.

Most of the opposition party leaders, and others among the group to be tried, fled Cambodia in late 2017, when Prime Minister Hun Sen launched a sweeping crackdown on his opponents and the CNRP was forced by the high court to disband and its lawmakers removed from Parliament. Many people believe the court acted to ensure that Hun Sens Cambodia Peoples Party won the 2018 general election, which it did by sweeping all the seats in Parliament.

Hun Sen has been in power for 36 years and has often been accused of heading an authoritarian regime. Several Western nations have imposed sanctions on his government, mainly after concluding that the 2018 election was neither free nor fair.

Sok Eysan, a spokesperson for the Cambodian Peoples Party, responded to the failed mission of Mu Sochua by charging that she knew in advance that she would not be allowed to board because she lacked the necessary travel documents. In a posting on social media platforms, he called the planned return just a theatrical act designed to get public attention. The drama in which Mu Sochua played a main role was a failure because there are no watchers, he said.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
WD commits to Climate Neutrality and achieves the industry's most stringent standard for Sustainability and Transparency Tweet this

The Certification Standard for Sustainable Diamonds establishes the world's most stringent benchmark of sustainable accountability, transparency and provenance assurance for the gemstone diamond industry, and is the first unified framework for assessing natural and laboratory grown diamonds. The standard's Chain of Custody provisions are backed by third-party certification that utilizes A.I. enhanced laser ablation testing, which guarantees each diamond's origin with 99% accuracy. SCS Standards, the non-profit standards development arm of SCS Global Services, facilitated the creation of the standard, now in public review, through an international, multi-stakeholder consensus process involving diamond producers, retailers, academics and NGOs.

"While diamonds have long been associated with luxury, the industry needed a resource to address concerns about the mistreatment of workers, damage to the environment, and promulgation of greenwashing. We felt the time was right to develop a holistic sustainability standard for the diamond sector to help companies doing the right thing to set themselves apart," said Stanley Rhodes, PhD, Founder and President of SCS. "WD's participation has been invaluable, and we congratulate them on being the first to achieve Sustainability Certification  a testament to their position as an industry trailblazer."

To achieve certification, WD completed an extensive audit over the past year, undergoing a comprehensive, third-party Lifecycle Assessment (LCA). The Company was measured against 15 core environmental impact categories, and committed to reaching Net Zero Environmental and Human Health Impacts. WD achieved certification based on their demonstrated adherence to the standard's strict Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) requirements.

News of sustainability certification comes on the heels of WD's acquisition of pioneering materials science company J2, based out of Chicago, Illinois. As the Company further solidifies its market leadership position and ongoing commitment to innovation, transparency and sustainability, WD will continue its purpose-led transformation under the Latitude brand, coming soon at latitudediamonds.com.

About WD Lab Grown Diamonds

Based in the Washington D.C. area and founded in 2008, WD Lab Grown Diamonds is a market leader in Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) diamonds, with its diamonds certified by the International Gemological Institute (IGI) and Gem Certification & Assurance Lab (GCAL), among other labs. The Company also offers new technologies and applications for diamonds in industrial settings. WD Lab Grown Diamonds is the exclusive licensee of a portfolio of patents covering single crystal CVD diamond growth technology developed by The Carnegie Institution of Washington. WD is jointly owned by Huron Capital, WD Management, members of its board of directors and The Carnegie Institution of Washington. For more information, visit wdlabgrowndiamonds.com.

About SCS Standards

SCS Standards is a non-profit committed to the development of standards that advance the sustainable development goals. Standards are developed in alignment with best practices and guidelines provided by internationally recognized bodies to ensure a robust, transparent and collaborative approach. For more information, visit www.SCSstandardsdevelopment.org. SCS Standards is the official standards development body for Scientific Certification System, Inc., a chartered benefit corporation, which provides internationally recognized third-party certification as SCS Global Services, a global leader in third-party environmental and sustainability certication headquartered in Emeryville, California, with representatives and affiliate offices throughout the Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe and Africa. Additional information is available at www.scsglobalservices.com.

Contact

Brittany Lewis

Chief Marketing Officer

WD Lab Grown Diamonds

[email protected]

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Law And Order: SVU is one of TV's longest running series, currently in its 22nd season.

And the stars of the hit crime procedural were hard at work as they filmed a scene in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Leading lady Mariska Hargitay, 57, was bundled up in a navy blue quilted jacket and professional looking black slacks as she got into character as Captain Olivia Benson on the chilly NYC day.

On location: Mariska Hargitay was spotted shooting Law And Order: SVU in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn on Wednesday

Co-workers: She was joined by longtime castmate Ice T on set

The actress daughter of Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay continued her cozy look with a beanie over her chestnut locks.

She was made up for the camera, flaunting flushed cheeks, dark eyeliner, and a wash of lipstick.

Mariska got into character while leaning against a green fence with a serious look on her face. At one point she popped on a pair of dark aviator sunglasses for a bit of 'bad cop' attitude.

Later on Hargitay was seen standing near a shiny motorcycle with a mural that read 'Dyckman Knights New York' in the background, likely a fictional chopper club in the episode.

The mural featured rounded Celtic crosses which have been associated with white supremacist groups, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Shady lady: At one point she popped on a pair of dark aviator sunglasses for a bit of 'bad cop' attitude

All good: Mariska gave a thumbs up to her crew during the shoot

Rolling: Mariska got into character while leaning against a green fence with a serious look on her face

Members only: Later on Hargitay was seen standing near a shiny motorcycle with a mural that read 'Dyckman Knights New York' in the background, likely a fictional chopper club in the episode

Cool cat: The leading lady was bundled up in a navy blue quilted jacket and professional looking black slacks as she got into character as Captain Olivia Benson on the chilly NYC day

On set, Mariska was joined by longtime co-star Ice T and castmate Jamie Gray Hyder, who joined the show as Officer Katriona 'Kat' Tamin in season 21.

The 62-year-old rapper/actor, who has played Sergeant Fin Tutuola on the show since season two, donned a black jacket with leather gloves as he scoped out the scene.

An American flag with two crossed rifles was seen on a wall behind the TV police officer as he was surrounded by cameras.

Elsewhere, Hyder was seen behind the wheel of a dark car. She wore a tan jacket, leather gloves, and a beanie.

She looked serious while talking to another actor in a dark SUV. But when the director called cut, Hyder couldn't help but make a silly face for the camera.

Veteran: The 62-year-old rapper/actor, who has played Sergeant Fin Tutuola on the show since season two, donned a black jacket with leather gloves as he scoped out the scene

Line of fire: An American flag with two crossed rifles was seen on a wall behind the TV police officer as he was surrounded by cameras

Behind the wheel: Elsewhere, Jamie Gray Hyder, who plays Officer Katriona 'Kat' Tamin, was seen behind the wheel of a dark car. She wore a tan jacket, leather gloves, and a beanie

Chatting: She talked to another actor while in a dark SUV

Funny face: At one point Jamie made a goofy face for the camera

Law And Order: SVU is currently ona brief hiatus, set to return on February 18th with an episode titled Hunt, Trap, Rape And Release.

The beloved series will soon be joined with another spin-off: Law And Order: Organized Crime.

The new show will welcome Christopher Meloni's Detective Elliot Stabler back to the precinct 10 seasons after handing in his badge to SVU. The show will also feature Dylan McDermott and Tamara Taylor in yet-to-be specified roles.

Law And Order: Organized Crime is looking at a 2021 release.
The fallout from last November's shootings on the streets of Vienna has shone a light on Europe's dilemma in dealing with jihadists, particularly the continent's struggles to deradicalise such individuals.

An Austrian court had in 2019 already convicted Kujtim Fejzulai, the 20-year-old gunman, of trying to travel to Syria and join the so-called Islamic State (IS) group.

A condition of his early release from prison was that he attend regular sessions with an organisation called DERAD, which offers deradicalisation programmes.

But on November 2, Fejzulai went on a shooting spree in the streets of Vienna, killing four people before police shot him dead.

When jihadists are freed, "they return to their old circle of friends, where they are considered heroes and they fall back into a negative spiral", Moussa Al-Hassan Diaw, co-founder of DERAD, told AFP.

In its regular reports to the interior ministry DERAD had described Fejzulai as "still radicalised".

But the interior ministry failed to act on a warning from the Slovakian intelligence services that he had attempted to buy ammunition there.

DERAD and the justice ministry were also not informed.

Such information would have made "clear that at least the idea of an attack is on the table", said Diaw.

That attempted purchase should have led to the gunman's arrest, he added.

- Different countries, different approaches -

Fejzulai's attempt to get to Syria may have failed, but more than 1,600 jihadists are estimated to have made the journey from Europe -- then returned to the continent.

That has prompted the creation of deradicalisation programmes in several countries in a bid to rehabilitate returning fighters.

Many such programmes in Europe were set up in a hurry, often staffed or run by social workers, imams or teachers, says Ahmad Mansour, an expert on the prevention of Islamist extremism in Germany,

In the wake of high-profile attacks in Paris, London and Brussels, governments sought to promote this strategy -- with mixed results.

The Belgian experience with such programmes has "mostly been evaluated positively", says Thomas Renard, a specialist in terrorism and radicalisation at Belgium's Egmont institute.

Their intensive programme involves agents intervening at a local level, with a high degree of supervision during -- and after -- prison sentencing.

In France, after inconclusive results from closed centres, a new system dubbed "Pairs" was put in place, a French acronym for "individualised welcome programme".

Prison authorities say the aim behind an individualised approach is to avoid gathering radicalised people together, which risks creating a "jihad academy".

"Pairs" teams develop a tailor-made programme of anything up to 20 hours for ex-prisoners, to give them autonomy and help their return to society.

That contrasts to DERAD, which only receives government funding to organise weekly sessions with most of its clients.

"We don't interfere with worship but we bring a sociological, historical and anthropological approach," say those in charge of the Pairs programme.

The programme contains activities such as meetings with writers and war reporters or visits to the Louvre's Islamic arts department.

The resource-intensive programme hasn't seen any re-offenders since it was launched almost four years ago.

As for how to deal with the issue in prison, in most European countries "the majority of inmates suspected of having radical beliefs are mixed in with the main body of detainees to prevent any networks forming", says Renard.

- Criticism and mistrust -

Despite the progress made in developing deradicalisation programmes, they are still the target of frequent criticism.

The UK's "Prevent" programme has been accused of stigmatising Muslims and placing them under unwarranted surveillance.

For Renard, the programme has been "conceived of in the framework of a policing strategy which can arouse mistrust"

In contrast with other countries, the "psycho-social element is less present", he says.

And when individuals do slip through the net, the criticism of deradicalisation programmes comes thick and fast.

"When there are cases of reoffending, they get a lot of attention but they are still exceptions," says Renard.

While he prefers the term "disengagement" to deradicalisation as "you can't change an individual's ideology," he maintains the programmes have value.

"The results are hard to predict, there are no guarantees but they're generally not counter-productive," he says.

burs-deh-anb/jsk/jj/pvh

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(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, 04 FEB - Various Tunisian human rights associations have published a guide to coordinate action for the protection of refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia.



The guide, signed on the occasion of a ceremony that took place at the headquarters of the Arab Institute for Human Rights (AIHR), acts as a reference document on the conditions of refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia.



It contains information on the status of refugees and the role of national and international stakeholders in this field.



The guide is inspired by Tunisian legislation in effect and international accords adopted and ratified by Tunisia.



The organisations that contributed to the development and production of the guide, with the coordination of UNHCR, are: the Higher Committee on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (CSDHLF), the National Authority for Access to Information (INAI), the National Authority for the Prevention of Torture, the National Authority Against Human Trafficking (INLTP) and the National Authority for the Protection of Personal Data (INPDP).(ANSAmed).


CLEVELAND, Ohio  The calls to Ohios domestic violence hotlines have changed dramatically since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Survivors are spending more time on the line, describing issues that are complicated by isolation and logistical matters related to COVID-19. And their accounts are more frightening, involving escalating levels of violence as theyve been sheltering with abusers.

Survivors are describing situations that are more complicated. Theyre describing situations that are more lethal, said Mary ODoherty, the executive director of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network in Columbus. It really does seem scarier from the perspective of the folks who are handling those hotline calls.

The pandemic has created a perfect storm of risk factors for domestic violence, experts said. Job losses and uncertainty over evictions has led to more financial insecurity. Parents are under more stress at home due to the closures of schools and day cares. And more people are using alcohol to cope, as liquor sales have spiked during the pandemic.

More than half of Ohios domestic violence programs reported an increase in the number of people seeking shelter, calling hotlines or requesting services in 2020, according to a survey the ODVN conducted last month. Some reported nearly triple the number of people requesting services. And 58% of the states domestic violence programs reported more severe injuries, including a notable rise in strangulations.

The ongoing cleveland.com series Coping Through COVID aims to help Northeast Ohio residents manage the stress of COVID-19 by examining the mental-health and behavioral-health aspects of the pandemic. The series tells individuals stories and explores various challenges and strategies with experts.

Do you need to contact domestic violence services? See the bottom of this post for a list of agencies that can help.

The isolation thats intended to limit the spread of the virus has left many confined at home with abusers, experts said. Abusers are using the pandemic to control partners by threatening to kick them out if they go to work and bring the virus back into the home. Theyre also monitoring social media use and phone calls, further isolating survivors from friends and family members, said Melissa Graves, the CEO of the Journey Center for Safety and Healing in Cleveland (formerly the Domestic Violence and Child Advocacy Center).

In a COVID environment, in this world where so much is out of peoples control, abusers do tend to try to exert control where they can. And it often ends up in increased abuse, Graves said.

Calls to domestic violence hotlines have increased from an average of 22 minutes to closer to 45 during the pandemic, said Terri Heckman, the executive director of the Battered Womens Shelter and Rape Crisis Center of Medina and Summit Counties. Survivors who are thinking of leaving abusive relationships suddenly have more to consider, such as whether they can access the internet at a shelter for remote work.

Every single client talks about the COVID impact before they talk about the actual abuse that happened, Heckman said.

Domestic violence is frequently underreported, and experts believe the pandemic has exacerbated the issue. Calls to Ohios domestic violence hotlines decreased early in the crisis, as many survivors struggled to find a safe time to call while they were isolated with an abuser during Ohios stay-at-home order. For those reasons, the true impact of the pandemic may not be apparent for some time.

I dont think were going to know, for a couple years, exactly what has happened during this time, Heckman said.

Isolated at home

Before the pandemic, survivors often turned up at shelters with a story of how they packed a bag and left while an abuser was at work. But it became harder to escape an abusive situation when the abuser was always home.

The Journey Center used to get 80% of its calls from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., when either the survivor or the abuser was at work. The pandemic forced survivors to find other times when they were safe to make a call, Graves said.

Our calls we suddenly coming in the middle of the night, when the abuser was sleeping, she said.

Those challenges led to a decrease in calls to domestic hotlines early in the pandemic. The Journey Center typically receives about 450 calls per month, but that dropped to 350 during the stay-at-home order, Graves said. Calls to the Battered Womens Shelter dropped by roughly 60%, Heckman said.

Survivors are finding it harder to take some of the mini steps that could lead to them deciding to leave, such as visiting a family member for a heart-to-heart or attending a support group meeting, experts said.

As a result, fewer survivors are turning up at residential shelters to ask for help. Before the pandemic, three-quarters of the survivors who came to the Battered Womens Shelter walked in themselves. Now the shelter is getting the worst of the worst, the survivors who end up hospitalized with serious injuries or whose abuser has been arrested, Heckman said.

Part of the reason thats happening is because survivors are weighing the risk of staying in an abusive home versus the uncertainty of the pandemic, experts said. But they never expected the isolation to last almost a full year.

Unfortunately, were going to hear about domestic violence victims who said to themselves as soon as this is over, Im leaving, never thinking this would stretch out as long as it has, Heckman said.

Keeping shelters safe

Domestic violence services faced scores of new challenges the moment the pandemic arrived in Ohio. The first order of business was making sure the public knew that shelters were still open.

ODoherty said the ODVN was very concerned the public might think shelters were forced to close, so they used social media and online newsletters to communicate the latest information. Graves said the Journey Center left pamphlets and other information in spots like grocery stores and pharmacies.

Shelters also needed to adapt to ensure that survivors werent in danger of contracting COVID-19 at those safe havens. That required some social distancing measures, which limited the number of survivors they could help at one time.

When the social distancing requirements went into place, many of our shelters had to reduce the number they could serve, because they had to spread out, ODoherty said.

The ODVN used money from the federal CARES Act, the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package, to set up a program that pays for hotel rooms for additional space. Since April 1, the ODVN has paid given money to 34 shelters to put 262 survivors in hotel rooms, ODoherty said.

Shelters and other domestic violence services also invested CARES Act money in telehealth, allowing survivors to speak to counselors from home. But that solution hasnt been perfect for survivors who are still living with an abuser and weighing whether to leave. Shelters like the Journey Center are still letting survivors come in for counseling if they dont have a safe place to attend virtually.

Telehealth hasnt been an ideal solution for the counselors, either. It was helpful to avoid a commute to and from work, which often allowed them to schedule an extra counseling session each day. But they struggled with the isolation they were living through, too. They missed having a coworker to speak with after a difficult session, Heckman said.

They need the interaction of another therapist after a tough call, she said. They long for the support.

What will be the impact?

Because the true impact of the pandemic is unclear, its difficult to say whether there will be an increased need for domestic violence services once its under control, experts said. But several factors could make a potential surge more difficult to address.

Domestic violence services are already facing budget crunches due to continued cuts to programs funded through the Victims of Crime Act, the federal program that provides money for therapy and other services. ODoherty said the ODVNs member programs are losing roughly $7.7 million for the next fiscal year, and have seen budget reductions of nearly 40% over the past two years.

Our programs have been cutting their staffs and cutting their services over the last few years to deal with these cuts, ODoherty said. So were not in a good position to deal with what comes next.

The state of Ohio also devotes far less of its general fund to domestic violence programs than neighboring states, according to an analysis of state budgets compiled by the ODVN. Ohio spends roughly nine cents per capita on those services. That pales in comparison to the $1.50 per capita spent in Kentucky and West Virginia, $1.49 in Pennsylvania and $1 in Michigan, according to the data.

The ODVN is asking Ohio to increase funding from $1 million to $5 million per year as part of the next state budget, ODoherty said.

What can we do to help?

For the time being, experts said its critical to look out signs of someone experiencing domestic violence during the pandemic. Heckman pointed to a story from Florida, where a Walt Disney World ticket booker heard someone yelling get off of me during a phone call. The ticket booker asked a few questions, then called law enforcement when the woman indicated she needed help.

During another recent incident, a Florida waitress noticed bruises on a young boy. She flashed him a note to ask whether he needed help, which led to his parents being arrested on child abuse charges.

Graves suggested checking in on someone if you think theyre in an abusive situation, because abusers often manipulate survivors into feeling isolated. But try to avoid being blunt and dont criticize their choices, because every situation is complex, she said.

Just call to check in. Let them know youre thinking about them, and youre there for them if they need anything, Graves said. That minimizes the isolation theyre feeling.

Are you, a family member or a friend in crisis? Heres a list of agencies that can help.

Ohio Domestic Violence Network: Call 1-800-934-9840 or https://www.odvn.org/find-help/

Cuyahoga County Domestic Violence Help Line: Call 216-391-4357

National Domestic Violence Hotline: Call 1-800-799-7233 or https://www.thehotline.org/

Journey Center for Safety and Healing: Call 216-229-2420 or https://www.journeyneo.org/

Battered Womens Shelter of Summit and Medina Counties: Call 330-374-1111 (Summit) or 330-723-3900 (Medina) or https://hopeandhealingresources.org/
The Biden administration has hit the ground running on cybersecurity, reportedly getting ready to nominate what some have called a world-class cybersecurity team of officials and prioritizing efforts to tackle the worst hack in US history, the SolarWinds breach. The renewed effort to tackle cybersecurity matters couldnt come soon enough. The Trump administration all but gutted the White House and other government offices of cybersecurity expertise. In a series of steps that started with the elimination of a White House cybersecurity coordinator and ended with the firing of Christopher Krebs, the highly respected head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the government suffered a serious cybersecurity brain drain during the Trump era.

The first sign that the current administration plans to take cybersecurity more seriously than the previous one did is the hiring of National Security Agency (NSA) official Anne Neuberger to fill the new position of Deputy National Security Adviser for cyber and emerging technology. Neuberger led the NSAs cybersecurity defense operations and created the Russia small group at the agency to protect the 2018 mid-term elections from the kind of digital damage that marred the 2016 presidential election.

Biden has also tapped former senior national security officials with expertise in cybersecurity. Among them are Michael Sulmeyer, who serves as senior director for cybersecurity; Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, named homeland security adviser; Russ Travers, deputy homeland security adviser; and Caitlin Durkovich, now a senior director for resilience and response at the National Security Council.

Biden reportedly plans to nominate Rob Silvers to become director of the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency. Silvers is a former senior official for cybersecurity policy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and now chairs the privacy and cybersecurity practice at law firm Paul Hastings. If confirmed, Silvers reportedly has an ally in newly confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has been praised for his cybersecurity knowledge and commitment to helping CISA secure federal government systems.

Jen Easterly, a veteran government official whose portfolio includes helping to design and develop US Cyber Command, serving as Deputy for Counterterrorism at the NSA as well as special assistant to the President and senior director for counterterrorism under President Obama, is reportedly Bidens pick to fill the newly created Cybersecurity Director role at the White House. Easterly is currently the global head of the Cybersecurity Fusion Center at Morgan Stanley.

Biden to hold SolarWinds breach perpetrators responsible

When it comes to the SolarWinds breach, Biden signaled the day after he was inaugurated that he would hold the purported Russian hackers to account for the breach by asking the intelligence agencies for a full assessment of the hack. Even as we work with Russia to advance US interests, so too we work to hold Russia to account for its reckless and adversarial actions, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. The US reserves the right to respond at a time and in a manner of our own choosing to any cyberattack, she added.

Biden needs to move quickly now to gain international support for any action he might take to constrain the SolarWinds perpetrators, Theresa Payton, CEO of security company Fortalice, former White House CIO and author of the recent book Manipulated: Inside the Cyberwar to Hijack Elections and Distort the Truth, tells CSO. I would say to President Biden, as those congratulatory calls are coming in from other nations leaders, mention to them the ongoing cyber warfare, the theft of intellectual property, the attacking of hospital infrastructure with ransomware. He needs to be gaining agreement from all the world leaders that they don't just condemn those acts, but they also support punitive measures for the bad actors, Payton says.

It's time to round up the operatives who conduct these nefarious cyber activities and actually start putting our muscle where our mouth is, says Payton. Through either sanctions or international court hearings, there needs to be a willing coalition of countries that band together and say, No longer under our watch will we accept the following cybercrimes.

Bringing all malicious cyber actors to justice should be a focus for the Biden administration, Megan Brown, head of the cybersecurity practice at law firm Wiley Rein tells CSO. The NetWalker ransomware guys are evil people, right? she says, referring to the recent international take-down of Emotet malware and NetWalker ransomware strains. So, we need to be signaling. We have to send that message to them by indicting them in absentia even if law enforcement is never going to round up any foreign cybercriminals because they remain out of the US legal systems reach.

Administration should move fast but watch for overcorrections

Whatever cybersecurity priorities the administration identifies, Biden and the Congress need to move fast, Payton says. Every administration tends to want to come in and do a study for 90 days on what's working well, what's not working well, where do we need to head? As SolarWinds has demonstrated, we don't have the luxury of another 90-day study. Biden should ask each of the departments and agencies and the military, What's your action plan? If theres any kind of study, it needs to be on the action plan.

Brown argues that the administration needs to make sure that any quick action on cybersecurity doesnt end up causing more harm than good. Are we going to see maybe an overcorrection to SolarWinds or to some of these things that result in burdensome regulation or that chill information sharing and collaboration?

She also wants policymakers on Capitol Hill to tap into true experts on cybersecurity before passing any legislative initiatives proposed by the administration. I want staff to really make sure they're getting good information from trustworthy sources about the scope and scale of any of these issues because I worry that in a well-intentioned rush to dial up the security of federal networks and the contractors that support them, you could bring along some less good policy ideas, says Brown.

Biden is already ahead of the curve by prioritizing cybersecurity and publicly talking about it, something that Donald Trump completely avoided, even when it came to the massive SolarWinds hack. This issue is tone at the top, Mark Weatherford, newly named CISO for Alert Enterprise and the former deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity in DHS in the Obama administration, tells CSO. When the president says something is important, everyone else is going to think its important.
[February 03, 2021] CIGNEX Datamatics Announces Rebranding, Changes Name to CIGNEX

SINGAPORE, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CIGNEX Datamatics, a leading provider of Digital Transformation through Open Source, Cloud and Automation technology solutions & services, today announced that it has completed the buyback of Datamatics Global Services Limited shareholding and will be now operating as CIGNEX, effective immediately. The company's executives, employees, and headquarters will remain the same. In addition to the current offices CIGNEX has opened a new office in Canada which will enhance the company's ability to service current and future customers in that region. Over the last two decades, CIGNEX has established itself as a leading System Integrator in the Open Source space by successfully delivering over 900 projects to 500+ cusomers across the globe.



Fueled by investor funding, CIGNEX plans to grow further by marketing the organization in pursuit of new opportunities for future growth and expansion. "Being an investor and having associated with CIGNEX for over 15 years now, we truly believe in the company's potential to grow. We are excited about the change and are confident that the evolving positioning will assist in achieving the company's growth objectives." said Rajeev Srivastava, Board Member & Investor, Basil Partners.

"This rebranding marks a significant step in the company's growth journey. As commitment to our customers remains our highest priority, we will ensure that they find no change in our services or in conducting business with the company's new identity," said Vidur Bhogilal, Chairman, CIGNEX. The new brand name is effective immediately, and will be implemented across channels throughout the calendar year 2021. For more information about CIGNEX, you can visit the company's website at https://www.cignex.com/ About CIGNEX CIGNEX is a global consulting company offering solutions & services on Open Source, Cloud and Automation. Since 2000, CIGNEX has been delivering enterprise class solutions built using leading platforms & tools, which can be integrated with existing systems to achieve unparalleled results. Media Contact Priyanka Sharma

Head of Marketing

CIGNEX

priyankap.sharma@cignex.com

+91-07967010345 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1432393/CIGNEX_Logo.jpg SOURCE CIGNEX

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Based on a bargaining update provided to union delegates Wednesday evening, CTU is demanding accommodations be granted for all employees who either have medical risks, are primary caregivers or live with someone who does. The districts best offer so far was accommodations for all staff who are in a high-risk medical category and for 20% of those who have a household member in that category. CPS would also require staff members with accommodations to work in person after receiving their first vaccine dose, and these employees would be prioritized among the 1,500 weekly doses the city has earmarked for the district.
India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh will use a deepwater port to export rice for the first time in decades amid a global shortage of the grain, according to a government order seen by Reuters, which could raise shipments this year by a fifth. The order, issued late on Wednesday, allows Kakinada Deep Water Port to handle rice until more capacity is created at the adjoining Anchorage Port. Congestion at the Kakinada Anchorage Port, India's biggest rice-handling facility, had led to a waiting period of up to four weeks compared with the normal wait of about a week, ...

Receiving this recognition validates that we've built a pharmacy staffing firm employees feel proud to work for, and it motivates me to continue raising the bar on the employee experience we deliver.

Rx relief, part of The PrideStaff Companies, is pleased to announce that they have earned one of ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Employee Satisfaction Awards for providing superior service to their internal employees.

This is the inaugural year for this award, which recognizes agencies for excellence in employee satisfaction based entirely on ratings provided by their staff. Rx relief received a Net Promoter Score of nearly double the industrys average of 38. The organization is also the only staffing firm dedicated to pharmacy staffing in the U.S. and Canada to earn ClearlyRateds Best of Staffing Client and Talent Diamond Awards for customer satisfaction seven years in a row.

"We are honored to win a Best of Staffing Employee Satisfaction Award in the program's inaugural year, and to be recognized as a pioneer in service excellence by our internal staff," said PrideStaff COO, John-Reed McDonald. "This award is especially meaningful because it's based entirely on employee ratings, during one of the most challenging years our industry has seen.

"Rx relief's leadership works hard to create an environment that rewards individuals' contributions, engages them in meaningful work, and supports their professional growth," continued McDonald. "Receiving this recognition validates that we've built a pharmacy staffing firm employees feel proud to work for, and it motivates me to continue raising the bar on the employee experience we deliver."

"In perhaps the most turbulent year of a generation, our inaugural year of recognizing top employers with the Best of Staffing award for employee satisfaction showed that elite staffing firms put their internal teams first to help them emerge stronger, said ClearlyRated's CEO and Founder, Eric Gregg. It is my honor to celebrate and showcase the 2021 Best of Staffing winners on ClearlyRated.com."

About Rx relief

A division of PrideStaff, Rx relief is a Joint Commission Certified and GSA approved pharmacy placement firm providing temporary and full-time pharmacy professionals for all pharmacy practice settings. The parent company was founded in the 1970s as 100% company-owned units and began staffing franchising in 1995. They operate over 80 offices in North America to serve over 5,000 clients. With over 40 years in the staffing business, headquartered in Fresno, CA, all PrideStaff brands offer the resources and expertise of a national firm with the spirit, dedication and personal service of smaller, entrepreneurial firms. For more information on Rx relief services, visit our website.

PrideStaff and Rx relief's shared Mission: Consistently provide client experiences focused on what they value most.

About ClearlyRated

Rooted in satisfaction research for professional service firms, ClearlyRated utilizes a Net Promoter Score survey program to help professional service firms measure their service experience, build online reputation, and differentiate on service quality. Learn more here.

About Best of Staffing

ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the U.S. and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service quality based entirely on ratings provided by their clients and placed talent. Award winners are showcased by city and area of expertise on ClearlyRated.com  an online business directory that helps buyers of professional services find service leaders and vet prospective firms with the help of validated ratings and testimonials.
At this pivotal time in society, as corporations transform their governance and leadership strategies to address longstanding structural gaps in racial and gender equity and opportunity, Mr. Hyter assumes leadership of the 35-year-old organization whose mission encompasses increasing the number of Black corporate CEOs, C-Suite executives, and board members, and building the pipeline of the next generation of Black corporate leaders.

"On behalf of our more than 800 members around the world, I am very pleased to welcome Michael Hyter as President & CEO," said ELC Board Chair, Lloyd W. Brown II, Corporate Community Reinvestment Act Officer for Citigroup. "Mike's demonstrated track record of advocating for Black Excellence in Corporate America and innovating measurable D&I strategies to improve corporate governance and performance is inspiring."

Mr. Hyter joins The ELC from Korn Ferry, where he most recently served as Chief Diversity Officer of the global organizational consulting firm and previously served as the Managing Partner of the firm's Washington, DC office. A recognized thought leader on diversity and inclusion-driven corporate growth strategies, for more than 25 years he has served as a trusted counselor and advisor to Fortune 1000 companies across multiple industries and their boards. Mr. Hyter's most recent publication is The Power of Choice: Embracing Efficacy to Drive Your Career. He is also co-author of The Power of Inclusion: Unlock the Potential and Productivity of Your Workforce, published by Wiley. He has published extensive articles in publications, including the Handbook of Business Strategy, Director's Monthly, Profiles in Diversity Journal, and Inc.

"As an advisor to corporations, boards, and CEOs, I have seen firsthand The ELC's positive impact on Black executives, the Black talent pipeline, and the communities we serve," said Mr. Hyter. "It is an honor to begin my leadership tenure as The ELC turns 35, at a time when our purpose and impact have never been more relevant and urgent."

Mr. Hyter was selected following a comprehensive search process during which the committee of ELC members, led by Laysha Ward, Executive Vice President and Chief External Engagement Officer for Target, and representing a diverse cross section of industries, defined the skills, competencies and experience required. Mr. Hyter is a corporate director of Dine Brands Global Inc. (NYSE:DIN), and serves on its Audit Committee. He was recognized by Savoy Magazine in 2016 and 2018 as one of the most influential Blacks in Corporate America. He was inducted as a member of The ELC in 1994.

"The ELC's mission is as relevant today as it was when the organization was founded nearly 35 years ago. 2020 proved this, as companies were confronted with the hard realities of racial and social unrest. Having worked with Michael Hyter for several years, I know he will elevate the impact and value of The ELC," said Marvin Ellison, President and CEO of Lowe's. "Mike's technical expertise and insights provide CEOs with actionable ideas to advance diversity and inclusion, professional development, and innovation."

"Michael Hyter is a steadfast advocate for inclusive and innovative strategic thinking, and he is ideally qualified to lead The ELC," said Frank Bisignano, President and CEO at Fiserv, a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology. "Mike is a seasoned executive with a demonstrated track record of counseling companies and shaping environments that drive diversity, inclusion, and growth."

Mr. Hyter succeeds Crystal E. Ashby, who served as Interim President & CEO for the past 14 months. Ms. Ashby most recently served as The ELC's Vice Chair and stepped down from its Board to serve as Interim President and CEO in order to assist the organization at a critical time. She is an Independent Director on the Board of Texas Reliability Entity, Inc. (Texas RE), and an NACD Fellow. Ms. Ashby serves on the University of Michigan College of Engineering Dean's Leadership Advisory Board.

"The ELC extends our immeasurable appreciation and gratitude to Crystal for her commitment to our organization during a critical time of transition," said Mr. Brown. "Crystal's intellect and integrity were instrumental as we navigated the global pandemic and civil unrest of 2020. The entire ELC community proudly stands with Crystal and supports her in her external board work and leadership endeavors."

About The Executive Leadership Council

The Executive Leadership Council, an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation founded in 1986, is the preeminent membership organization committed to increasing the number of global Black executives in C-Suites, on corporate boards, and in global enterprises. Comprising 800 current and former Black CEOs, senior executives, and board directors at Fortune 1000 and Global 500 companies, and entrepreneurs at top-tier firms, its members work to build an inclusive business leadership pipeline that empowers global Black leaders to make impactful contributions to the marketplace and the global communities they serve. For more information, please visit www.elcinfo.com.

SOURCE The Executive Leadership Council
FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Elite companies have increasingly come to expect job candidates to hold master's degrees from the top graduate schools. For career-minded adults who might otherwise find themselves locked out of the best jobs, a graduate degree can be a door-opener.

AcademicInfluence.com announces its ranking of the leading schools for graduate degree programs in the United States:

Are you looking for a grad school in the U.S. that stands out from the rest? AcademicInfluence.com ranks the 50 best graduate schools for you.

50 Best Graduate Schools of 2021

To see the final ranking order, state-based results, further rankings beyond the top 50, and to create personalized results, visit the link above. Schools featured include.

Arizona State University

Boston University

Brandeis University

Brown University

California Institute of Technology

Carnegie Mellon University

Columbia University

Cornell University

Dartmouth College

Duke University

George Washington University

Georgetown University

Harvard University

Johns Hopkins University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Michigan State University

New York University

Northwestern University

Pennsylvania State University

Princeton University

Purdue University

Rice University

Stanford University

Syracuse University

Tufts University

University of Arizona

University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Davis

University of California, Irvine

University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, San Diego

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of Chicago

University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign

at UrbanaChampaign University of Iowa

University of Maryland

University of Michigan

University of Minnesota

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pittsburgh

University of Southern California

University of Texas Austin

University of Utah

University of Virginia

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Vanderbilt University

Washington University in St. Louis

in Yale University

"While colleges and universities continue to provide outstanding options in undergraduate degree programs, the level of skill demanded at the highest corporate and research echelons can only be achieved through a master's or doctorate level of degree," says Dr. Jed Macosko, academic director of AcademicInfluence.com and professor of physics at Wake Forest University.

"The good news is that higher education institutions are recognizing this, meeting that demand with broader and more flexible grad school degree programs, many aimed at working adults," adds Macosko. "The grad schools in our ranking stand out as those whose students and faculty contribute the most to their fields of study, which ultimately improves life for us all. These schools graduate and employ the world's most influential people, and we're spotlighting them for that reason."

Founded in October 2016, with funding assistance from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Influence Networks developed the proprietary InfluenceRanking Engine used by AcademicInfluence.com. This innovative ranking technology uses machine learning to achieve unbiased results that resist manipulation. The InfluenceRanking Engine scours major web-based data repositories to map and measure the impact of a school's thought leadership. Students now have a superior, trustworthy resource found at no other ranking site. See the AcademicInfluence.com About page for further details on the unique capabilities and advantages of this ranking technology.

"The kind of student who pursues a graduate education appreciates cutting-edge tools that provide better results," says Macosko. "AcademicInfluence.com offers not only a superior ranking tool, but also hosts a growing array of resources to make the graduate school test prep, school search, and application processes easier. Students with questions about grad school can visit our site to get the answers they need."

AcademicInfluence.com is the preeminent technology-driven rankings site dedicated to students, researchers, and inquirers from high school through college and beyond, offering resources that connect learners to leaders. AcademicInfluence.com is a part of the EducationAccess group, a family of sites dedicated to lifelong learning and personal growth, including Influence Networks, InfluencePublishers.com (nonfiction publishing and publishers of Bright Notes), IntelligentEducation.com (instructional video library and easy instructional video creation with 3D elements), AlexandriaLibrary.com (free, online library and reader), and soon, Success Portraits (personalized strengths inventory for college and career).

Contact:

Jed Macosko, Ph.D.

Academic Director

AcademicInfluence.com

[email protected]

(682) 302-4945

SOURCE AcademicInfluence.com

Related Links

https://academicinfluence.com


The Chinese Communist Party forcibly removed the 100-year-old Shuixin Church's cross, eliciting strong condemnation from international human rights organization ChinaAid.

Around 100 Chinese security guards forcibly removed the cross of the 100-year-old Shuixin Church in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province at midnight on Feb. 1. People attending the church reported that they have rejected the local government official's request to remove the cross from the church's roof which is why the authorities had to forcibly remove it.

During the two-hour-long removal process of the cross, more than 10 government-contracted men used a crane to left the cross off from the church roof.

Around 11:30 pm on Jan. 31, Zhou Qingquan, deputy secretary of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the Yaoxi subdistrict, Longwan district, and Hu Xiandong, commissioner of unit front work department at the Yaoxi subdistrict, Longwan district, rushed inside the church with approximately 100 security guards. After the electricity was cut off, they hurriedly took the church's night watch staff into custody, according to ChinaAId.

One of the Christians who observed what happened said:

"Several security guards held one church co-worker in a headlock and confiscated his cell phone. They warned him, "Do not fight back. We are enforcing orders from higher officials."

"One security guard threatened to beat a church co-worker, but another officer stopped him."

The forced removal of the church's cross began around 11:30 pm on Jan. 31 and ended at 1:35 am on Feb. 1.

A believer who attends the Shuixin Church posted on social media saying:

"The CCP has forcibly removed Shuixin church's cross several times in the past. During the first cross removal at 2 pm on June 30, 2014, the Zhejiang government had launched a campaign called "Renovation of old residential areas, old industrial plants and urban-villages, and demolishing of illegal buildings." Government contractors forcibly removed the cross from Shuixin church in the name of "demolishing of illegal buildings.""

Another Local Christian named Mr. Lin said "In 2014, the government paid a number of security guards to remove crosses from churches. While the men forcibly removed our church's cross, they held brothers and sisters in custody. Four years later, we re-erected our cross, but now CCP officials have removed it again."

The Zhejiang provincial Christian Committee and the Three-self movement committee issued a notice on Jan. 26 that temporarily bans all religious activities in the entire province in line with COVID-19 restrictions.

Mr. Lin claimed the real purpose of the notice "is not to control the spread of COVID-19, but to use it as an excuse to deprive people of their religious activities."

Another believer of the Shuixin Church also posted on social media how the government forcibly removed their church's cross and questioned the government:

"Why would such a brutal conflict happen in a civil society?"

"Who openly challenged the authority of the Constitution?"

"Who are those trampling on believers' dignity and bottom line?"

ChinaAid expressed how they strongly condemn the CCP's forcible removal of the cross from Shuixin Church and urges CCP officials to stop "infringing on Chinese citizens' religious freedom" out of "respect" for their "constitutional" right of "freedom of religious belief."

This is not the first time the CCP forcibly removed crosses from churches. The communist regime continues to engage in a crackdown on Christianity in the country, persecuting the faithful wherever they are found. Believers are urged to pray for fellow followers of Christ in China.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Moneta Porcupine Mines Inc. (TSX:ME) (OTC:MPUCF) (XETRA:MOP) ("Moneta" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has closed its previously announced (ME-PR 01-2021) bought deal private placement ("Bought Deal Offering") for aggregate gross proceeds of C$19.6 million.

The Bought Deal Offering was led by Paradigm Capital Inc. ("Paradigm") and Dundee Goodman Merchant Partners ("Dundee") on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters including Canaccord Genuity Corp., Eight Capital, Haywood Securities Inc., and Sprott Capital Partners LP (together with Paradigm and Dundee, the "Underwriters").

In connection with the Bought Deal Offering, Moneta issued 17,343,700 common shares at C$0.32 per share ("Hard Dollar Shares") and 30,435,000 common shares at C$0.46 issued on a flow-through basis ("Flow Through Shares") for aggregate gross proceeds of $19,550,084, including 7,968,700 Hard Dollar Shares pursuant to the full exercise of the Underwriters' option.

Concurrent with the Bought Deal Offering, Moneta also closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement of subscription receipts at a price of C$0.32 per subscription receipt for gross proceeds of C$3,000,000 ("Subscription Receipts"). The proceeds from the sale of the Subscription Receipts have been deposited into escrow pending satisfaction of certain escrow release conditions, including closing of the previously announced acquisition ("Acquisition") of the Garrison project from O3 Mining (ME-PR 01-2021), as further described below. At the time the Acquisition closes, each Subscription Receipt will be exchanged for one common share of Moneta.

Gary O'Connor, CEO of Moneta, commented, "The closing of our oversubscribed financing provides Moneta with the ability to quickly advance our existing gold resources, as well as those to be acquired once the combination with O3 Mining's Garrison Project is concluded. The combined assets will host a current resource of 4.0M gold ounces indicated and 4.4M gold ounces inferred, creating one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in North America. Our drill program for this year is planned to be 70,000 metres, more than double the size of our program in 2020 with several high-grade and open pit targets already having been identified."

The Company will use an amount equal to the gross proceeds received by the Company from the sale of the Flow Through Shares, pursuant to the provisions in the Income Tax Act (Canada), to incur or be deemed to incur eligible "Canadian exploration expenses" that qualify as "flow-through mining expenditures" as both terms are defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the "Qualifying Expenditures") on future and current properties of the Company or a subsidiary thereof on or before December 31, 2022, and to renounce all the Qualifying Expenditures in favour of the subscribers of the Flow Through Shares effective on or before December 31, 2021. The proceeds from the sale of the Hard Dollar Shares and Subscription Receipts will be used for exploration and development activities on future and current properties of the Company or a subsidiary thereof and for general corporate purposes.

The offerings were completed in connection with the Company's previously announced Acquisition, whereby Moneta will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Northern Gold Mining Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of O3 Mining which owns 100% of the Golden Bear assets, including the Garrison Gold Project, located immediately adjacent to Moneta's Golden Highway Project in Timmins, Ontario. Please refer to the Company's press release dated January 14, 2021 (ME-PR 01-2020) for further information regarding the Acquisition.

All securities issued pursuant to the Bought Deal and the non-brokered private placement will have a hold period of four months and one day.

About Moneta

Moneta's land package in the Timmins Gold Camp covers 12,742 hectares (ha) including six gold projects plus a joint venture with Kirkland Lake Gold Corporation (TSX: KL) covering 4,334 ha. The Company's flagship project, Golden Highway Gold Project is located 100 km east of Timmins and hosts a total indicated resource of 2,145,000 ounces gold contained within 55.3 Mt @ 1.21 g/t Au and a total of 3,337,000 ounces gold contained within 49.7 Mt @ 2.09 g/t Au in the inferred category at a 2.60 g/t Au at South West, a 3.00 g/t Au cut-off for the other underground deposits and a 0.30 g/t Au for the open pit deposits. The project includes a total of 1,512,000 ounces of open pit indicated resources contained within 50.5 Mt @ 0.93 g/t Au and 1,207,000 ounces of open pit inferred resources contained within 34.0 Mt @ 1.10 g/t Au. The project also includes 632,000 ounces of indicated underground resources contained within 4.9 Mt @ 4.05 g/t Au and 2,128,000 ounces of inferred underground resources within 15.7 Mt @ 4.21 g/t Au.

A PEA study was completed in September 2020 on the South West underground gold deposit, one of 6 deposits located on the Golden Highway project, and highlighted an underground bulk mining operation consisting of an 11-year mine life with an after-tax NPV5% of C$236MM, IRR of 30% and a 3.4 year payback, generating C$371MM LOM after-tax free cash flow. The project envisaged producing 76,000 oz/pa at a cash cost of US$590/oz at a gold price of US$1,500/oz and an exchange rate of US$0.77/C$. The open pit resources and new underground discoveries have not yet been subjected to a preliminary economic assessment study at Golden Highway.

Moneta has entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire the Ontario assets of O3 Mining (see press release ME-PR 01-2021 dated January 14, 2021). O3 Mining holds 9,269 ha of prospective land within the Golden Bear project located adjacent to or in near proximity to Moneta's Golden Highway project, 100 km east of Timmins. O3 Mining completed an updated resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment (PEA) study on the Garrison Gold project within the Golden Bear project in December 2020. The study highlighted a measured and indicated open pit resource of 1,822,000 ounces contained within 66.3 Mt @ 0.86 g/t Au and an inferred open pit resource of 1,062,000 ounces contained within 45.3 Mt @ 0.73 g/t Au at a 0.30 g/t Au cut-off. The PEA study showed an open pit mining operation consisting of a 12-year mine life with an after-tax NPV5% of C$321MM, IRR of 33% and a 2.3 year payback. The project envisaged open pit mining producing 121,000 oz/pa in years 1 to 8 (94,000 oz/pa LOM), at a strip ratio of 2.7:1 at a cash cost of US$721/oz using a gold price of US$1,450/oz and an exchange rate of US$0.75/C$.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Gary V. O'Connor, CEO

416-357-3319

Linda Armstrong, Investor Relations

647-456-9223

The Company's public documents may be accessed at www.sedar.com. For further information on the Company, please visit our website at www.monetaporcupine.com or email us at info@monetaporcupine.com.

This news release includes certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, collectively "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are frequently identified by such words as "may", "will", "plan", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend" and similar words referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to information with respect to the the Transaction, the benefits of the Transaction, tax treatment of the Flow Through Shares, use of proceeds of the Offerings, the future performance of the business, its operations and financial performance and condition such as the Company's drilling program and the timing and results thereof; and the ability of the Company to finance and carry out its anticipated goals and objectives.

Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, fluctuating commodity prices, competitive risks and the availability of financing, as described in more detail in our recent securities filings available at www.sedar.com. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward looking-statements and we caution against placing undue reliance thereon. We assume no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73666
Guwahati, Feb 5 : The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Assam on Thursday filed a chargesheet in the court accusing 32 persons for the embezzlement of pre-matric scholarship funds for minority students totalling to about Rs 10 crore, officials said.

An Assam police spokesman said that the 32 arrested persons include four headmasters, two data processors, two assistant teachers, two presidents of school management committees, eight owners of customer service points of various banks and 14 middlemen.

He said the 7,386-page chargesheet was submitted before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kamrup (Metro) district in 86 days from the date of the first arrest in the case .

The statements of 10 witnesses have also been recorded by the Judicial Magistrate under the provision of Section 164 of the CrPc. All the 32 accused persons are in jail under judicial custody.

The CID sleuths during the probe seized 14 laptops, 13 mobile phones, two hard-disks, several electronic devices and a fingerprint scanner along with documents from several districts of the state.

The case was registered on the basis of an FIR lodged on August 28 last year by the director of the Assam Minorities Development Board and the state nodal officer for pre-matric scholarship for minorities.

The pre-matric scholarship for the students belonging to the minority community is a central scheme sponsored and implemented by the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs for students securing 50 per cent marks in the previous examination and whose parents' annual income does not exceed Rs 1 lakh.
Kerrville, TX (78028)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.
Since leaving office in 2015, former President Goodluck Jonathan's stock has risen sharply. Deeply unpopular in office, he is widely feted out of power. The main reason, of course, is that he wisely conceded defeat in an election he lost. Given how, recently, a defeated American president refused to concede but, instead, incited insurrection against the US Capitol, Jonathan's decision was significant. Had he not conceded defeat in 2015, he would have set Nigeria on fire. His decision to concede earned him a post-defeat sainthood.

The second reason for Jonathan's popularity is that his nemesis, President Muhammadu Buhari, who denied him a second term in office, has turned out to be even worse. In a recent piece titled "Buhari makes a hero of Jonathan", the renowned columnist Sonala Olunhense wrote: "The more incompetent Buhari's government has proved to be, the better he has rehabilitated and polished Jonathan's image." Olunhense is right. Jonathan puts Buhari in the shade and is looking like a sage!

Well, time heals, and memory is short, but lest we forget: Jonathan ran one of the weakest and most rudderless administrations in Nigeria. Earlier this week, former President Olusegun Obasanjo responded, yet again, to criticisms that he imposed weak successors on Nigeria. He said: "I admit that Jonathan was not a strong character", adding, "but he was not a pushover." Truth is: Jonathan was, as president, a pushover.

He, rightly, appointed seasoned technocrats into his government, but failed utterly to provide political leadership. There's a saying that you can delegate authority but not responsibility. Jonathan did both. As a result, some of his ministers ran amok, overreached themselves and turned their ministries into fiefdoms, which hugely tarnished his administration, and badly hurt Nigeria.

But Jonathan had another weakness: he lacked analytical prowess. He looked at issues superficially. I mean, he famously said there was no corruption in Nigeria but stealing. He either had not heard of grand corruption, political corruption and administrative corruption or didn't believe they existed in Nigeria. Yet, his finance minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, later wrote a book entitled, Fighting corruption is dangerous, which details how all the three types of corruption were pervasive in Nigeria under his administration.

Jonathan also famously said there was no poverty in Nigeria. In 2014, when the World Bank ranked Nigeria among the five poorest nations, Jonathan retorted, angrily: "If you talk about ownership of private jets, Nigeria will be among the first ten countries, yet they are saying that Nigeria is among the five poorest nations".

So, here's a president measuring the wealth of his country by the number of its citizens who are billionaires or own private jets. Dr Okonjo-Iweala recalls that when she met Jonathan to discuss her appointment, "he kept saying he did not know economics." Fair enough, at least he was honest! But no economic illiteracy can justify a president reducing the prosperity of his people to the number of billionaires with private jets.

This track record of shallow analysis came to mind recently as I read Jonathan's remarks as chairman of Daily Trust's 18th Dialogue themed: "Restructuring: Why? When? How?"A front-page report in this newspaper was headlined: "Restructuring: Jonathan disagrees with Nwodo, Adebanjo, Jega" (Vanguard, January 22, 2021).

Essentially, while Chief Ayo Adebanjo, elder statesman and chieftain of Afenifere, Chief John Nwodo, immediate past president-general of Ohanaeze Nd'Igbo, and Professor Attahiru Jega, a renowned political scientist and former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, made a compelling case for restructuring Nigeria, Jonathan struck a discordant note. Not now, he said!

At one level, this raised questions of political integrity. In 2014, the same Jonathan set up a national conference attended by about 500 delegates and that cost over N7 billion. The conference produced a report that, if implemented, would bring Nigeria closer to true federalism. In 2015, during a campaigning trip to the South West, Afenifere leaders said they would only support his re-election if he vowed to implement the report, if re-elected. To reassure those leaders, Jonathan suspended his campaign and convened an emergency meeting of the Federal Executive Council to approve the implementation of the report.

So, why did he spend N7bn on the national conference, and why did he get the Federal Executive Council to approve the implementation of its report, if he does not believe Nigeria should be restructured. Obviously, he was motivated by political calculations, not conviction politics, which says a lot about his character.

Now, his logic. Jonathan said Nigeria cannot be restructured until there's no more tribalism. Shocking! Doesn't he know that it's precisely Nigeria's deeply flawed structure that breeds tribalism? In his book There was a country, Chinua Achebe wrote: "The structure of the country was such that there was in-built power struggle among the ethnic groups." Surely, when you have a multi-ethnic country in which the structure of power and governance is not fairly balanced but centralised and lopsided, you will have intense conflict over power and resources, which will fuel ethnic differences and divisive politics.

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Is Jonathan not aware of what's going on in other multi-ethnic countries, including Britain, which created Nigeria? Recently, the Sunday Times published a report titled, "Revealed: Our disunited Kingdom", which showed "rising support for a break-up of the UK." When asked, 56 per cent in Scotland said they're more Scottish than British; 45 per cent in Northern Ireland are more Irish than British; 36 per cent in Wales are more Welsh than British; and 27 per cent in England are more English than British. As Times columnist Alex Massie put it: "The UK is, in a quite literal sense, dying", adding: "The future hinges on identity."

But the prevailing discourse in Britain is about saving the 313-year-old union, with ideas coalescing around a grand constitutional settlement, leading to autonomous nations and regions. Sadly, in Nigeria, Jonathan says tribalism must end first before the country can be restructured. What a twisted logic and shallow reasoning!
The Philadelphia School District and its teachers union on Thursday moved toward a possible showdown over plans to reopen schools next week, with teachers questioning whether its safe to return to buildings and Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. saying he expected them to do so.

Days after criticism erupted over the districts plan to use window fans to improve ventilation during the COVID-19 pandemic, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan called on the city to assign a neutral third party to assess if buildings are ready for reopening Monday.

Hite acknowledged that the experts opinion  an option open to the PFT under terms of a reopening agreement signed by the union and district last fall  could possibly delay students return for in-class instruction. It would be the third such change in reopening plans since last summer.

But, the superintendent said, it will not delay our expectations for teachers to be in classrooms on Feb. 8.

Neither Jordan nor Hite has been willing to speculate on what would happen if the two cant reach agreement on reopening conditions. But Chicago teachers have refused to report to schools over building conditions, forcing the district to scuttle its reopening plans. A strike is possible there.

Members of the Caucus of Working Educators, an activist group within the PFT, have said they support school staff who refuse to report to buildings over safety concerns.

Amber Cialone, the music teacher at Elkin Elementary, isnt sure shell step foot inside the Kensington school Monday.

I know a lot of people are really considering their options, said Cialone, a second-year teacher. Ill be on campus, I dont know whether that will be sitting in my car, doing school from my car. Teachers want to go back, but they want to go back under safe conditions.

After months of back-and-forth and meetings with district officials, Jordan said he had deep concerns over ventilation, especially in schools where window fans are being installed to improve airflow, and other safety issues.

But the superintendent said Thursday that even if a room doesnt meet ventilation standards, a single teacher could still occupy it.

 READ MORE: Window fans may be Phillys fix for schools with poor ventilation. But teachers and parents are saying no way.

Jordan insists that the schools are not ready for staff or children to return.

About 9,000 staff who work with prekindergarten through second-grade children are due back at work next week; some students in those grades are eligible to return Feb. 22. The families of about 9,000 children opted to resume in-person education two days a week  most families chose to keep their children learning remotely.

COVID-19 has kept Philadelphia students out of classrooms since last March. The district twice attempted reopening buildings  once, in September, when community pushback changed officials minds, and then in November, when rising case counts shut down plans.

Hite, in a statement, said: It is disappointing that, at this time, when there is already so much uncertainty for our families due to COVID-19, the union has chosen this course of action in an attempt to delay the reopening of our school buildings. He said the district was fully committed to the agreed upon mediation process.

Jordan said hes been asking questions about building readiness in letters and in meetings, but has been frustrated by a lack of information. The district has made ventilation reports available, but some are incomplete and others show no safe occupancy in key areas like hallways and bathrooms.

Reggie McNeil, the districts chief operating officer, said Tuesday that the school system had installed 37% of the 1,100 window fans it needs to improve airflow in schools with no or little mechanical ventilation. He said the rest would be installed in time for the Monday return, but Jordan said he was told this week that some fans wouldnt be installed until Sunday.

That doesnt leave enough time for the air balancing testing or for reports to be updated and shared publicly, as the district has promised, Jordan said.

I need answers before my members go back into buildings, he said.

Hite said Thursday that even if air balancing tests were not completed by Monday, teachers could return because one individual can be in a space, even if that space is a zero on ventilation. Youre not sharing air with anyone else.

 READ MORE: Will Phillys third attempt at school reopening stick? Teachers are wary and parents are split.

The PFT also has qualms about the fans use, worries that teachers and many parents share. Photos of the window fans, mounted on plywood planks, circulated widely on social media. People concerned about the reopening plan have spent the week reaching out to Mayor Jim Kenney and other elected officials via phone, email, and other means, voicing their displeasure over school conditions.

Lauren Cox, a city spokesperson, said Philadelphias Labor Department is in talks with a mediator, and will share details once that person is confirmed.

By Thursday, more than 5,000 people had signed a petition started by a Germantown mother to halt reopening for now.

I believe it is still unsafe to put our children in the buildings, Maya McGeathey wrote in her petition. As we all know, they are very old and have poor or little ventilation. The ventilation that the district is offering is unacceptable, not just for the students, but for the staff as well.

Hite, though, said Thursday the fans were a good-faith effort to provide fresh air into classrooms, adding that some other school districts around the country simply did that by opening windows. He said the district has spent $4 million on ventilation efforts; it was unclear how much of that was for the fans.

Trust in the school system, particularly around building issues, is low, given the districts track record around environmental hazards. And recently, a botched $50 million construction job at Benjamin Franklin High sickened students and staff over more than a year. In the 2019-20 school year, 10 schools were forced to close over damaged asbestos.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 15:14:29|Editor: huaxia

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ULAN BATOR, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia will launch a door-to-door COVID-19 testing campaign here on Feb. 11, when a 24-hour, two-week-length lockdown comes into effect in the capital, the State Emergency Commission (SEC) said Thursday.

The planned lockdown period will cover the Lunar New Year and the traditional White Moon festival, during which 280 tracing teams will run a mass test of 420,000 households in the city, the commission said in a statement.

Ulan Bator has become the epicenter of COVID-19, where there is now a high risk of infection, Amarjargal Ambaselmaa, head of the National Center for Communicable Diseases Surveillance Department, has said.

She said that as the source of some confirmed cases has yet to be identified, asymptomatic patients are likely walk among the public.

So far, Mongolia has reported 1,890 COVID-19 cases, with more than 1,000 detected in Ulan Bator, home to over half of the country's 3.3 million population. Enditem
Brexits contentious Northern Ireland Protocol cannot work, and must be replaced, First Minister Arlene Foster has said.

Writing in Thursdays Daily Telegraph, Mrs Foster said the Prime Minister had committed to protecting the UK internal market by all legislative means necessary, including triggering Article 16 and that he must now back up those words with tangible actions.

The DUP leader is quoted as saying: The Northern Ireland Protocol has not worked, cannot work and in light of our proposals to the Government, needs to be replaced.

She warned that simply extending grace periods for businesses could not solve the wholly disproportionate checks implemented since the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, and that the regions political and economic links to the UK were at risk.

Mrs Foster made the remarks following crunch talks on the protocol between Northern Irelands leaders and the UK and EU.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove and European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic held a virtual meeting with Mrs Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill on Wednesday evening.

Physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, which are required under the protocol, have been suspended amid threats and intimidation of staff.

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Police have insisted there is no evidence that loyalist paramilitaries are involved in the sinister campaign, instead blaming disgruntled individuals and small groups.

Speaking after the meeting the DUPs Jeffrey Donaldson said the protocol was damaging the relationship between Britain and Northern Ireland and that permanent solutions were needed to ensure the region has unfettered access to the UK market.

Mr Donaldson described the trade difficulties as not just short term, but long term.

Thats why we need not just a short-term fix or tinkering around the edges of this or kicking the can down the road, he told RTE News.

We need a permanent solution that will ensure that we continue to have unfettered access to the UK market and that the EU is able to protect its market, and we need that accommodation reached as soon as possible.

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Mr Donaldson said the Irish Government needed to recognise that the union has to be preserved as well as protecting the EU single market.

If were going to see the East-West, Great Britain-Northern Ireland relationship diminished then we cant be expected to see a situation where there are normal North-South relationships because the two are inter-twined  one impacts on the other, he said.

Therefore we need the Irish Government to recognise that it is the totality of the relationships here including the crucial relationship between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK that has to be preserved and protected as well as protecting the EU single market.

He put his hands up and said they had made a mistake and that they moved to rectify that mistake very quickly Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill

Sinn Feins Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill said the EU Commission vice-president was very forthright and pressed the point that the protocol needed to be implemented in its entirety.

He said the EU expects rigorous implementation of the protocol, she said.

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Ms ONeill called for calm heads and leadership from all quarters at the meeting.

Ms ONeill said the vice president of the commission was emphatic that there was no intention by the EU to cause difficulty when it moved to suspend part of the Northern Ireland Protocol last week.

He put his hands up and said they had made a mistake and that they moved to rectify that mistake very quickly, she said.

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Ms ONeill said Mr Sefcovic apologised on behalf of the commission and asked the leaders to judge the EU on its track record in terms of its support for the peace process both financially and politically.

He was very gracious in his apology around that and recognised that it caused some tensions, she said.

I accept that apology in the way in which it was intended, she added.

The European Commission was forced to backtrack on a threat to suspend part of the protocol on Friday but the episode angered loyalists and unionists and emboldened them to press their demands for an end to the protocol.

Ms ONeill also said Mr Sefcovic was focused on finding solutions.

She said: There are flexibilities inbuilt [in the protocol] which he thinks havent even had a chance to work out yet.

Ms ONeill welcomed his commitment to travel to the UK to find ways to resolve the issues that have emerged, adding that she believed it was a very pragmatic and very constructive way to move forward.

The EU Commission vice president is to travel to London for further talks on the matter next week.

Mr Sefcovic said if all aspects of the Northern Ireland Protocol were put into practice he believed the issues raised at the meeting could be resolved.

Earlier the DUP rejected claims it is whipping up tensions over Irish Sea trade in an effort to get the protocol ditched.

Mrs Foster said it was absolutely ridiculous to suggest her party was inflating concerns around trade disruption to pursue a political objective.

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On Tuesday, the DUP announced a series of political moves aimed at frustrating the operation of the protocol amid mounting unionist and loyalist concerns that Northern Irelands place within the UK is being undermined.

Its strategy includes opposing any protocol-related legislation at the Stormont Assembly and refusing to participate in any exchanges with the Irish Government related to the operation of the protocol.

Ms ONeill has accused the DUP of reckless behaviour, claiming political unionism was trying to whip up tension and fear.

Mrs Foster and senior DUP colleagues had a separate virtual call with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday ahead of the engagement with Mr Gove and Mr Sefcovic.

Mr Gove and Mr Sefcovic chair the UK/EU Joint Committee tasked with implementation of the protocol.

The protocol is a mechanism agreed by the UK and EU as part of the withdrawal talks to ensure a free-flowing Irish border.

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Unionists and loyalists are deeply unhappy with the new arrangements, which came into force on December 31, believing the protocol has created a barrier between the region and the rest of the UK.
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Boots exclusive photo partner now incorporates contactless payment

BAMBERG, Germany, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Computop, a leading global payment processor, has integrated a contactless payment function into the popular photo stations best known in the UK through the Boots Photo powered by CEWE service in Boots pharmacy and beauty stores across the country. These devices enable customers to quickly and easily transfer photos from smartphones so they can be printed out. 2,200 CEWE photo stations in the UK and Ireland will feature the Computop payment solution.

Contactless POS terminals from CCV are installed as special hardware. The software connection is made via a central server, which ensures smooth commissioning and maintenance of the devices. The transaction data flows into the Computop Paygate payment platform, which is also used to process the online payments of Europe's leading photo service provider.

In addition to payments with the major credit card brands, local debit cards will also be accepted in the future, which Computop can process directly as a network operator. By the end of the year, besides the photo stations in Great Britain and Ireland, Computop expects to have installed contactless payment at 1000 more stations in different countries including several hundred units already in use in France.

The advantage to customers of paying directly at CEWE photo stations is that they will no longer need to wait at the checkout and payment will be completed simultaneously with their instant print, including if they choose to use Apple Pay or Google Pay on their smartphone.

"We are very pleased to be able to support our long-standing customer CEWE to bring contactless payments to their services in-store and to have implemented a true omnichannel solution," explains Computop CEO Stephan Kuck. "By connecting to Computop Paygate, not only e-commerce but POS business can be internationalised and standardised quickly and easily - with a uniform terminal, centrally managed and administered."

"With the direct payment function at the CEWE photo stations, we have introduced another innovative service that can reduce queues but also shrinkage rates. The efficient processing via the Computop PSP platform enables us to offer this omnichannel application to retail partners throughout Europe. Initial results show a very positive end-customer response to the new payment function," emphasises Holger May, Managing Director Onsite Finishing at CEWE.

To see how Computop works with CEWE to protect sensitive customer data please click here

About Computop - The Payment People

As one of the very first payment service providers, Computop offers its customers around the world local and innovative omnichannel solutions for payment processing and fraud prevention. The Computop Paygate payment platform enables seamless integrated payment processes for e-commerce, at POS and on mobile devices. With this internally developed software, retailers and service providers have the flexibility and freedom to choose from over 350 payment methods enabling them to specifically tailor their payment options per country. Technologies such as biometric authentication and self-learning algorithms improve security and convenience for retailers and consumers alike.

Computop, a global player with its head office in Germany and locations in China, England and the USA, has been servicing large international companies in the service, retail, mobility, gaming and travel industries for more than 20 years. These companies include global brands such as Bigpoint, C&A, Fossil, the entire Otto Group, Sixt and Swarovski. Computop also provides it payment system to banks and financial service providers as a white-label solution. Through its customer network and collaboration with the global marketplace Rakuten, Computop processes commercial payment transactions for more than 16,000 retailers annually, with a combined value of USD 34 billion. With its individual and secure solutions, Computop makes a major contribution to the future of international payment processing.

www.computop.com

About CEWE

From its beginnings in 1912, CEWE has developed into the first address in photo services for all those who want to make more out of their photos. This is particularly reflected in the CEWE PHOTO BOOK, which has won many awards and sells more than six million copies every year. Customers can obtain other personalised photo products, for example, under the CEWE, WhiteWall and Cheerz brands - and at many leading European retailers. In these brand worlds, they are inspired to create a wide variety of creative designs around their personal photos and entrust more than 2.4 billion photos to the company every year. CEWE operates more than 20,000 CEWE photo stations in drugstores, specialist shops and food retailers throughout Europe, where customers can easily order their desired products or print them out directly on the spot.

In addition, the CEWE Group has established a highly efficient production facility for advertising and business print products for the still young online printing market. Billions of quality print products reach their customers reliably every year via the SAXOPRINT, LASERLINE and viaprinto sales platforms.

The CEWE Group is geared towards sustainable corporate management and has already received several awards for this: Economic long-term orientation; partnership and fairness with customers, employees as well as suppliers; social responsibility and environmental and resource conservation. For example, all CEWE brand products are produced in a climate-neutral manner.

The CEWE Group has 4,200 employees in more than 20 countries and grew its turnover to 714.9 million euros in 2019. The CEWE share is listed in the SDAX.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1432654/CEWE_photostation.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1280035/Computop_Logo.jpg
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  A casual trip to Home Depot to pick up a $3 screw presented a life-saving opportunity for an off-duty NYPD detective and a police officer.

Detective Dominick Ciaravino and Police Officer Jason Milman, both Staten Islanders, headed together on Saturday to the Home Depot in Charleston at around 11:15 a.m. and immediately saw a man lying on his back outside of the store.

Once we turned into the parking lot at the entranceway to the Home Depot, we observed a male wearing a Home Depot apron laying on his back on the ground out in the cold on the sidewalk, Ciaravino, a 10-year veteran of the department, said. As we got closer, there was another male, that appeared to work there as well, standing over him. We approached and asked what happened. The two were told the man had just collapsed on the floor with a blank expression on his face.

Ciaravino checked for a pulse on the wrist while Milman checked for a pulse on the neck. The 48-year-old man had no pulse at all. He was in cardiac arrest, police said.

We immediately started CPR, said Ciaravino, who is assigned to the NYPD Brooklyn South Precinct.

The two switched on and off for about seven to 10 minutes until EMS arrived, but the man never regained consciousness at the scene.

The man was transported to Staten Island University Hospital, Princes Bay, where he is still recovering, according to police.

In this instance, it really felt like I had no track of time,' Ciaravino said. My main concern was to keep the compressions going. My main concern was to give this guy a fair shot at surviving.

Milman, who has been an officer for three years and is assigned to the 121 Precinct, was a New York state-trained EMT for about a year before joining the NYPD.

When I was in EMT school, the first thing they taught us is if someone is unconscious or unresponsive and is suffering a heart attack, the first thing and the best thing you can do is early CPR, Milman said. He and Ciaravino were ready to work for as long as we needed to really give this man a shot to regain consciousness.' he said.

Meet Police Officer Jason Milman. While shopping off duty over the weekend, he observed an individual in cardiac arrest. He immediately sprung into action by performing CPR until EMS arrived saving this persons life! Absolute heroic work! @NYPDstatenIslnd pic.twitter.com/3dnXRhxhj4  NYPD 121st Precinct (@NYPD121Pct) February 3, 2021

Ciaravino and Milman had planned the trip to the Home Depot to pick up a screw they needed to fix up an NYPD motorcycle Milman uses for charity as they are part of the a Law Enforcement only Motorcycle Club (LEMC) called Vigilance.

After saving the mans life, they were able to buy the $3 screw, they said.
Several traders in the North Rift region are counting losses after properties worth millions was demolished by the Kenya Railways Company for encroaching on public land.

The businesses on Kenya Railway land in Nakuru, Eldoret, Kitale and Bungoma were destroyed to pave way for renovation of the old-meter gauge railway.

Some of the traders said that they had leased a parcel of land for 25 years and asked the government to compensate them for the losses.

"Some of us have only used the land for four years. We have lost our source of livelihoods as most business people try to recover from the pandemic and we urge the government to assist us get compensation for loss of our properties," said the trader.

Kenya Railways Company in a statement said that traders in affected areas had been notified ahead of resumption of rehabilitation works of the old-meter gauge railway in the next two months.

"This exercise is part of the government's efforts through the corporation to revive all branch lines within the region. It is anticipated that the new development will not only move passengers but will also boost the revival of industries in Kitale and other towns," noted the firm.

Rift Valley regional coordinator George Natembeya who led the operation in Kitale said that revival of the railway will boost trade in the North Rift and Western region as well as East African Community.

"We want to tell those who encroached the public land to vacate immediately. The government is keen to revive this railway in order to boost trade in the region," added the government official over the weekend.

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The Kenya Railways has entered into a transportation deal with Nzoia Sugar Company which will ease transportation of sugar to Nairobi and other environs and ferrying the farm inputs to the company to boost production.

The firm issued notice last month to traders who operate businesses in their land Bungoma to vacate to pave way for restructuring the railways line that had been vandalized.

The government plans to rehabilitate the Nakuru, Webuye, Malaba railways line to revamp the transport sector and attract more businesses.

Khetias centre point supermarket that is adjacent to Sharif centre in Bungoma town is also one of the buildings that will be affected.

Some traders who spoke to Nation said that they were disappointed by the directive that will render them jobless.

Dickson Kibisu who operates a boutique at Railways Park said that he has been depending on his shop for daily income and the news that he received for him to vacate has really stressed him.

'I had invested about Sh10 million in this businesses and the demolition will impact negatively to my main source of income," Mr Kibisu said.

Walinywa Mukhamule a Bungoma resident lauded the move saying that the revamping of the railway sector will reduce many accidents on Kenyan roads.

'The move will ensure that development is attained, reduce traffic snarl up and ease transportation of goods from Nairobi to Western Kenya region, "he said.
Just before the newly elected members of Myanmars parliament were due to be sworn in today, the military detained the countrys de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi; the president, Win Myint; and other key figures from the elected ruling party, the National League for Democracy.

The military later announced it had taken control of the country for 12 months and declared a state of emergency. This is a d'etat, whether the military calls it that or not.

A disputed election and claims of fraud

In November, the NLD and Suu Kyi won a landslide victory in national elections, with the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) faring poorly in its key strongholds.

Humiliated by the result, the USDP alleged the election was subject to widespread fraud. However, international observers, including the Carter Center, the Asian Network for Free Elections and the European Unions Election Observation Mission, all declared the elections a success. The EUs preliminary statement noted that 95% of observers had rated the process good or very good.

Read more: Aung San Suu Kyi wins big in Myanmar's elections, but will it bring peace  or restore her reputation abroad?

Reputable local organisations, such as the Peoples Alliance for Credible Elections (PACE), agreed. These groups issued a joint statement on January 21 saying

the results of the elections were credible and reflected the will of the majority voters.

Yet, taking a page out of former US President Donald Trumps book, the USDP pressed its claims of fraud despite the absence of any substantial evidence  a move designed to undermine the legitimacy of the elections. The military did not initially back the USDPs claims, but it has gradually begun to provide the party with more support, with the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, General Min Aung Hlaing, refusing to rule out a coup last week.

The following day, the countrys election authorities broke weeks of silence and firmly rejected the USDPs claims of widespread fraud  setting the stage for what Myanmar historian Thant Myint-U called [Myanmars] most acute constitutional crisis since the abolition of the old junta in 2010.

The civilian-military power-sharing arrangement

It is difficult to see how the military will benefit from todays actions, since the power-sharing arrangement it had struck with the NLD under the 2008 constitution had already allowed it to expand its influence and economic interests in the country.

The military had previously ruled for half a century after General Ne Win launched a in 1962. A so-called internal self-coup in 1988 brought a new batch of military generals to power. That junta, led by Senior General Than Shwe, allowed elections in 1990 that were won in a landslide by Suu Kyis party. The military leaders, however, refused to acknowledge the results.

In 2008, a new constitution was drawn up by the junta which reserved 25% of the national parliament seats for the military and allowed it to appoint the ministers of defence, border affairs and home affairs, as well as a vice president. Elections in 2010 were boycotted by the NLD, but the party won a resounding victory in the next elections in 2015.

Read more: Ethical minefields: the dirty business of doing deals with Myanmar's military

Since early 2016, Suu Kyi has been de facto leader of Myanmar, even though there is still no civilian oversight of the military. Until this past week, the relationship between civilian and military authorities was tense at times, but overall largely cordial. It was based on a mutual recognition of overlapping interests in key areas of national policy.

Indeed, this power-sharing arrangement has been extremely comfortable for the military, as it has had full autonomy over security matters and maintained lucrative economic interests.

The partnership allowed the militarys clearance operations in Rakhine State in 2017 that resulted in the exodus of 740,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh.

In the wake of that pogrom, Suu Kyi vigorously defended both the country and its military at the International Court of Justice. Myanmars global reputation  and Suu Kyis once-esteemed personal standing  suffered deeply and never recovered.

Nonetheless, there was one key point of contention between the NLD and military: the constitutional prohibitions that made it impossible for Suu Kyi to officially take the presidency.

Some NLD figures have also voiced deep concerns about the permanent role claimed by the armed forces as an arbiter of all legal and constitutional matters in the country.

A backwards step for Myanmar

Regardless of how events unfold this week and beyond, Myanmars fragile democracy has been severely undermined by the militarys actions.

The NLD government has certainly had its shortcomings, but a military is a significant backwards step for  and is bad news for democracy in the region.

Its difficult to see this action as anything other than a way for General Min Aung Hlaing to retain his prominent position in national politics, given he is mandated to retire this year when he turns 65. With the poor electoral performance of the USDP, there are no other conceivable political routes to power, such as through the presidency.

A coup will be counterproductive for the military in many ways. Governments around the world will likely now apply or extend sanctions on members of the military. Indeed, the US has released a statement saying it would take action against those responsible. Foreign investment in the country  except perhaps from China  is also likely to plummet.

As Myanmars people have already enjoyed a decade of increased political freedoms, they are also likely to be uncooperative subjects as military rule is re-imposed.

The 2020 general election demonstrated, once again, the distaste in for the political role of the armed forces and the enduring popularity of Suu Kyi. Her detention undermines the fragile coalition that was steering Myanmar through a perilous period, and could prove a messy end to the profitable detente between civilian and military forces.

Adam Simpson, Senior Lecturer, University of South Australia and Nicholas Farrelly, Professor and Head of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Corporate E-Learning Market is accounted for $14.23 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $49.87 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 15.0% during the forecast period. Some of the key factors influencing the market growth include the adoption of e-learning in employee training and adoption of microlearning is a growing priority. However, high training costs are hampering the market growth.

Corporate eLearning ensures that employees are kept up to date with developing job requirements and changes in both external and internal organizational/market conditions. Corporate eLearning allows organizations to reduce HR costs associated with onboarding, training, recruitment, retainment, and engagement via automated processes, sophisticated reporting and a decreased need for hiring talent to manage and provide training/continued education.

Based on Deployment, The on-premise segment is constantly enhancing during the forecast period. This deployment method enables the organization to have complete control over all the components of e-learning. Large enterprises that consider training as an integral part of the overall business model usually prefer this deployment type.

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Merryman House Gets $56K Grant for Programs

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - The Merryman House Domestic Crisis Center of Paducah has been chosen to receive more than $56,000 in federal grants awarded through the state of Kentucky.The Merryman House is one of 28 agencies chosen to receive over $2.1 million from the federal Violence Against Women Act Services, Training, Officers, Prosecution Formula Grant Program.Executive Director Mary Foley said the funds will help provide them increase safety of domestic violence survivors in the Purchase Area Development District by improving collaboration with local law enforcement and prosecution.Foley said, "This program equips law enforcement to assess cases on the scene and link survivors to emergency services. In short, VAWA funds save lives, and our communities are safer as a result."The governor in each state allocates the federal grants with 25 percent going to law enforcement, 25 percent to prosecutors, 30 percent to victim services, 5 percent to state and local courts, and 15 percent to discretionary distribution.Other programs funded by the VAWA STOP Formula Grant include Chrysalis House in Lexington ($51,830), DOVES of Gateway in Morehead ($59,890), New Beginnings in Owensboro ($40,000), the Jefferson County Attorney's Office ($163,119), and the Nest Center for Women, Children and Families in Lexington ($116,780).
The graduation hall of the Effort Baptist Church in Paynesville City outside Monrovia was the scene of excitement and joy when the name of a 58-year-old female graduating candidate of the Nathan E. Gibson Memorial Academy (NEGMA) was announced by the school administration.

Madam Faith R. Reeves was among 310 successful students of the school that were qualified and certificated as graduates during the 35th graduation and honoring program.

Making brief remarks after she received her high school diploma from the Principal of NEGMA, Mr. Samuel A. Fogara Sr., Faith said she was overwhelmed that after several years of study she was able to finally graduate from high school.

She expressed hope that with God on her side, she will persevere until she also obtain college education, adding that there is no limit for anyone to acquired sound education once there is focus and determination.

She thanked her teachers and the school administration for the wonderful work done in imparting knowledge into students who are prepare to secure a better future in life.

Also speaking in joyous mood, Principal Samuel A. Fogara Sr., congratulated parents and guardians for supporting their children education with merger resources from sale of bitter balls.

He encouraged them to continue to standby their children because they are the ones that will lead the family after they shall retire from life or be in their old age, while urging the graduates to move forward in pursuit of higher education.

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Speaking earlier, the Guest Speaker and Chief Administrator of LICOSESS Teachers Training Institute of Paynesville Joe Bar Mr. Benjamin Y. Wehye challenged the graduates to be more proactive until they can acquire college education.

Mr. Wehye, a veteran Liberian educator, awarded two scholarships to two of the graduates whose goal is to become teachers in the country.

The scholarships, the LICOSESS boss notes, are his institution's way of encouraging Liberian students with the desire of becoming trained, professional, and career teachers especially at the time the country needs more qualified teachers.

He assured that LICOSESS would not rest until all 15 political subdivisions of Liberia have professional classroom teachers for service to the nation.

The LICOSESS Teachers Training Institute has over the years trained and graduated hundreds of teachers most of whom are providing instructional services to students across the country.

During the graduation ceremony, several hardworking faculties and deserving students of the institution were honored for the dedicatory services.

Meanwhile, statistics shows that Bong County top the list of counties with graduates from the NEGMA with a total of 78 graduates; followed by Lofa with 69 graduates; Nimba County 55 graduates; Grand Bassa, 36; Montserrado, 12; Maryland, 9; Sinoe, 6; Margibi and Gbarpolu 5 each; and Bomi County, 4 graduates, respectively.
A number of European Business Association (EBA) member companies, which "have Chinese roots," are concerned about the imposition of sanctions by Ukraine against the Chinese shareholders of PJSC Motor Sich and will temporarily refrain from investing, EBA Executive Director Anna Derevyanko has said.

Chinese investors have temporarily put on hold all the issues related to investing in the country, she said at a meeting of the Global Economic Review of Ukraine association, when its participants raised the issue of these sanctions and their possible consequences for trade and economic relations with China.

According to Andriy Horokhov, the director general of UMG Investments, in 2020 Ukraine was lucky with the conjuncture in agriculture and metallurgy, and a large part of the products of these industries went to China. He added that the Chinese market is also expected to grow in 2021.

"I understand for sure that you have to be more careful with a trading partner with a turnover of about $ 10 billion," he said.

"If suddenly we make mistakes in this direction, then we will need to understand where we will compensate for our sales markets, given the situation in Europe and the United States and the uncertainty with the pandemic. I hope there will be wise and balanced decisions here, and people will professionally approach this issue," he said.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) spends most of her time in Congress making accusations without support; manipulating the ignorant; exploiting hysteria to control the uninformed; and proving to the world that, much like a certain someone who swears he earned 81 million votes, she too has issues with reality. Therefore, based on her latest foray into Make-Believeville, Alexandria may need a psychological 911.

Then again, wasn't it Joe Biden who set the tone for political pretend? Wasn't it Biden who swore he held two college degrees? Didn't Joe swear he was at the top of his class in law school, was arrested in Soweto trying to visit Nelson Mandela in prison, marched arm-in-arm with civil rights activists, and was shot at while visiting the Green Zone in Iraq?

Larger-than-life scenarios of that type double as political capital these days and may be why AOC recently decided not to let a "crisis go to waste." The middle-class gal from Yonkers, who pretends to be a street urchin from a Bronx barrio, recently made up a lollapalooza starring herself as a damsel in distress. The hallucinatory events involved MAGA pillagers, shadowy figures masquerading as good guys, and inevitable death and ultimately culminated in a harrowing escape.



Telling a scary tale, but there's always time to pretty up. (Twitter video screen grab.)

According to Ocasio-Cortez, the drama took place on January 6, 2021, while in her office in the Cannon House Office Building, which, by the way, is not in the U.S. Capitol Building. On January 6, Donald J. Trump purportedly commanded prayerful, peaceful, happy-go-lucky flag-wavers to storm the Bastille. The left's imaginary scenario involved red hats vandalizing the Capitol in hopes of postponing the certification of Electoral College votes while simultaneously seeking out socialists like AOC to lynch. You can watch her tell the tale in this Twitter video:

AOC recounting her horrifying experience hiding in her office during the insurrection.



I thought I was going to die...I have never been quieter in my entire life. pic.twitter.com/t2P6FU3mFU  Justice Democrats (@justicedems) February 2, 2021

Promoting total sociopathic delusion disguised as PTSD, the congressperson recently took to Instagram to share her personal experience that dark and terrible day. Not to be outdone by Hillary, who once imagined herself being shot at by snipers in Bosnia, AOC's story included a subplot involving a Capitol Police officer who, much like Senator Ted Cruz almost having her "murdered," may have purposely put her life at risk.

According to Alexandria, on the day of the Capitol invasion, while feverishly washing the feet of her constituents, a distressed staffer burst into her office, warning her to "hide, hide, run and hide." Alarmed by the banging on her office door, Ocasio-Cortez, quickly ran and hid in the bathroom.

As U.S. Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt lay dying on the floor of the Capitol Building, AOC, amid an auditory hallucination, shared that while in hiding, she heard a man break Congress's non-gender-specific word rule when he pushed his way into her office yelling, "Where is she? Where is she?"

Ironically, like a baby in the womb trying to escape the abortion procedures her party votes to fund, Ocasio-Cortez shared with her rapt online audience, "I thought I was going to die...I have never been quieter in my life."

AOC's staffer, "G" not to be confused with "Q," remained on the lookout during the evacuation until it was safe for the trembling former barmaid to emerge safely from the water closet. That's when, according to Sandy Cortez, she found out that the person who had invaded her office was a Capitol Police officer!

Whether a sensory experience that appeared real at the time, or just a Joe Bidentype tall tale, AOC said a "white man in a black beanie" appeared before her, signaling not safety, but  being white and male  certain danger. Ocasio-Cortez shared that a "white man in a black beanie ... didn't feel right, because he was looking at me with a tremendous amount of anger and hostility."

"Things weren't adding up" for the Latinx. Why? Because a lone Capitol Police in an office, during a riot, failing to utter the words "this is Capitol Police, this is Capitol Police" seemed odd to AOC. Maybe, while evacuating the buildings, instead of yelling, "this is Capitol Police, this is Capitol Police," he was the one who yelled out, "Where is she? Where is she?"

Yet despite the turmoil, AOC did have a crisis of conscience and questioned reading into an individual's motives merely for doing his job. However, her introspection was short-lived because "G" confirmed that she also sensed terrible vibes coming from the white cop in the black skull cap.

Underscoring the left's narrative, and because lefties like to believe that white police officers are usually undercover white supremacists, to justify her suspicions, AOC quickly "circled back" to the race card, saying, "We couldn't tell, we couldn't read if this were a good situation or a bad situation." Pressing the race issue further, Ocasio-Cortez stressed, "Like so many other communities in this country, just that presence doesn't necessarily give you a signal if you're safe or not. So, the situation did not feel OK."

Blah, blah, blah.

Fearing that pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails were incoming, the officer directed her and "G" to hurry up and run to another building. Still, AOC chose not to give the man a pass: "it wasn't until we get [sic] to that building, we realize [sic] he didn't give us a specific location."

Ut-oh!

So, upon hearing the roar of the riot, about a half-a-mile away, AOC said she and "G" frantically searched for Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.)'s office. Once safely inside, exhibiting hints of paranoid delusion disorder, Ocasio-Cortez surmised that the capped cop had evil intent. "Did he not say he was Capitol police on purpose? Was he trying to actually put us in a vulnerable situation?"

It wasn't until the day after her story hit the news that everyone realized that AOC's life was not in real danger, and her office was not located directly in the Capitol Building hot zone.

Sadly, it was once a joke to mention Democrats and unicorns in the same sentence. However, of late, with all the fiction the left promotes, it's easy to see why Utopia and My Little Pony worldviews are believable to those whose political reality expects exaggeration from heroes who major in lies.

Jeannie hosts a blog at www.jeannie-ology.com.
Sustainable shopping has been on the rise and some businesses are changing the way they work to help the environment and appease increasingly self-aware customers.

This has ranged from reducing or completely cutting plastic usage, to donating profits to ethical organisations or charities.

Meanwhile, more and more companies have or are attempting to achieve B Corp certification, which is where a business gives as much consideration to its social and environmental impact as it does to its financial returns.

Lost Years Rum, launched in 2020, is provided in completely sustainable packaging and also does its bit to help save one of the world's most endangered species

The past year has been difficult, but has made people more in tune to the importance of helping the environment, and each other.

In response, many businesses have launched with ethics and sustainability at the top of their agenda.

This is Money spoke to three new businesses whose unique selling point is doing good, about what sustainability means to them, how they managed to navigate the pandemic and their plans for this year and beyond.

'Customers love our purpose'

Lost Years Rum is a rum brand from Cane & Able Spirits Limited, a luxury rum house set up by husband-and-wife team Lee and Trudy Smith.

The brand was launched in November 2020, after a ten month delay due to Covid, and currently offers four pure premium rums from the Caribbean and Latin America.

Since launch, it has sold thousands of bottles of rum and plans to go further in 2021 with a focus on building direct relationships with consumers.

Lee Smith launched luxury rum house Cane & Able Spirits with his wife, Trudy, in late 2019

The founders said they also hope to move into a number of overseas markets, stock in third party retailers and make Lost Years a rum of choice when the hospitality industry bounces back from Covid.

They hope to sell at least 25,000 bottles this year.

What makes Lost Years Rum sustainable? For every bottle of rum bought, it says ten baby sea turtles are saved.

The idea to launch a rum brand with a purpose was hatched on a family holiday in Jamaica at the end of 2019 when Lee had been out visiting rum distilleries, while the rest of the family had been learning about the local sea turtle nesting sites and how endangered they now are.

He said: 'We all got talking one night and it seemed a perfect fit  bringing together two things the Caribbean is famous for and doing some good too.

'It took about a year to turn the dream into reality  to source incredible rums from the region and to find the right not-for-profit partner to enable the sea turtle conservation.

'Through our long-term partnership with US charity SEE Turtles, Lost Years aims to save more than 500,000 hatchlings over the next few years, helping protect one of the world's oldest and most endangered inhabitants.

'Cash from every sale will be used to fund community-based conservation efforts at key turtle nesting sites across the Caribbean and Latin America.'

The company has also partnered with the Ocean Foundation's Seagrass Grow project to offset all of carbon emissions by planting seagrass in Puerto Rico.

Not only is seagrass a food source that is vital to some of the most endangered sea turtles, but it is also an ecological wonder-plant, absorbing carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rain forests.

But that's not all. Lost Years is also 100 per cent plastic free.

Rather than opting for a bottle with a thick, heavy glass like so many premium brands, a lighter option has been introduced to reduce carbon emissions when moving Lost Years Rum

Lee explained: 'The clear tamper-evident seal is made from plant-based cellulose which composts in a matter of weeks.

'Rather than opting for a bottle with a thick, heavy glass like so many premium brands, a lighter option has been introduced to reduce carbon emissions when moving our product.

'Meanwhile, the bottle itself is made of over one third recycled cullet and is itself fully recyclable.'

The packaging used to send orders out is also 100 per cent recyclable, made of FSC certified cardboard, and with minimal amount of printed surface.

The internal sleeve breaks down and biodegrades readily, is non-toxic and is made of recycled material, which has a lower carbon footprint than using virgin cardboard.

'Feedback from our early customers has been exceptional  not only do they love the brand and its purpose, but they all agree the liquid in the bottle is rather special too,' said Lee.

Being sustainable and doing good is not only the right thing to do, but also increasingly what consumers are seeking. Lee Smith, Cane & Able Spirits Limited

'That's the important thing for us, we want to be famous for the quality of our product and the cause we support.

'I don't think any charitable cause will support an inferior product  the quality of what you are selling has to come first, but if you can get both of these elements right then that's where the magic really happens.'

Commenting on the transition towards sustainability within the spirits sector, Lee said he is pleased to see changes already being made.

He added: 'Companies like Diageo and Bacardi are already making big commitments to sustainability, from switching to eco packaging, to using discarded food as ingredients.

'At the same time, new entrants and start-up businesses like ours increasingly recognise that there is a choice to make here and that being sustainable and doing good is not only the right thing to do, but also increasingly what consumers are seeking.'

NICE by name, nice by nature NICE, a sustainable wine company, launched in late 2019 but was due to turn things up a notch last year as a supplier for leading festivals and sporting events and with the launch of new flavours. Co-founders Lucy Wright and Jeremy May, both from London, decided instead to launch the cans to trade, and started working closely with food delivery services, on Amazon and other online platforms. NICE co-founders Lucy Wright and Jeremy May are on a mission to put people first Despite the disruption and the impact of the pandemic on hospitality and events, the business almost doubled its revenue in 2020 and sold over half a million cans. The duo said the brand is set on disrupting the industry by putting people first, and this type of approach is clearly proving popular. They said: 'Wine on the whole is a very traditional, and often intimidating category, and what little innovation there had been in the industry didn't seem to align with ever changing consumer wants and needs. 'The beer industry had been revolutionised by disruptive and innovative brands, and the same was happening in the Ready to Drink sector with the likes of gin and tonics and other pre-mixed drinks, but nobody seemed to be disrupting in wine.' All of the NICE product innovation has sustainability at its core, because it 'aims to leave the planet in a better position than when we started'. The cans are 100 per cent recyclable, with the team having a long-term commitment to reduce single plastic use in their supply chain. NICE is also on its way to becoming B Corp certified which requires the business to 'meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose'. NICE wines cans are 100 per cent recyclable, as the business aims to be plastic-free Jeremy added: 'Consumers have become more and more focussed on conscious consumerism, which means that people engage with and buy from businesses that share the same care for the environment as they do. 'We spend a lot of time asking our consumers what they want and what they don't and we see more and more that sustainability and environment features high up on the list of why they buy.' NICE also has a programme committed to helping younger people, offering a free CV clinic, small start-up mentoring and free webinars. Lucy said: 'Business is about more than just profit to us. We've been pretty lucky and we want to mentor, inspire and help others who are less fortunate to boss their career and learn how to seriously hustle to achieve something. Last year, NICE also launched Wine for Heroes, with all proceeds going to the NHS.

From furlough to finding peace

Washed Up Cards makes greetings cards out of recycled materials, including plastic washed up on rivers and beaches around the UK.

Flora Blathwayt goes beach cleaning every week for microplastic for her unique cards

It was founded by 34-year-old Flora Blathwayt, who was furloughed in May last year during the height of the pandemic, but she had the idea for it at the end of 2019, when she volunteered at a cleaning event on the River Thames beach.

They cleared large amounts of microplastic (plastic approximately less than 5mm in length) but Flora pocketed some of it as she was amazed by how colourful and almost jewel-like it was.

She said: 'I decided to make my sister, who for a long time has been living plastic free, a card using these bits of plastic for her wedding.

'I had so much fun making it that I started sending more for friends and family. The response was gorgeous with people particularly loving the purpose and feel good factor behind them.

'But it wasn't until lockdown started and when I was furloughed that I started running more along the Thames and found myself cleaning the beach and finding more '"jewels" whenI realised I could turn this into a proper venture.

'Like a lot of people, I found lockdown quite tough at times but beach cleaning really helped me and it felt great doing something positive for the environment.'

Flora set up her own Etsy page for Washed Up Cards in June and sells cards for all occasions. Each card is unique as it has a different bit of plastic incorporated into the design.

The designs are hand drawn onto recycled card with a recycled brown envelope which is then wrapped in recycled wrapping paper.

What's more, Flora goes beach cleaning at least once a week and also qualified as a Thames 21 River Action leader at the end of October.

This has allowed her to run her own Washed Up Cards beach cleans, and she hopes to host more again soon when restrictions allow.

Flora said she has been stumped by the positive response from customers, including actor Hugh Bonneville who heard about the business on BBC 5 Live and reached out to her on Instagram to buy a handful of cards.

Flora Blathwayt makes cards out of recycled materials, including plastic washed up on rivers and beaches around the UK for her business, Washed Up Cards, which she launched last year

She has found beach cleaning to be, more than anything, a form of therapy for her, especially during such a hard and challenging time.

She said it is a wholesome and meditative activity and wants to take that experience further somehow.

She added: 'I really want to keep an open mind as to where Washed Up Cards is going. Some pretty exciting retailers are interested in launching me this year which would be fab.

'But I really want to look into doing something even more positive with it and turn Washed Up Cards into some kind of social enterprise perhaps.

'I do really believe that people with mental health issues like anxiety or depression could massively benefit from coming beach cleaning and I want to explore this avenue some more.'
Recently, American pop star Rihanna and teenage activist Greta Thunberg drew global attention to the farmers' protests in India with their respective tweets. Their posts received a sharp reaction from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) which issued a statement for foreign individuals commenting on the situation.

Soon, many Bollywood celebrities took to their respective social media handles to extend their support to MEA's statement. One amongst them was actor Suniel Shetty. He tweeted, "We must always take a comprehensive view of things, as there is nothing more dangerous than half-truth #IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda".

However, Suniel received backlash on social media for his opinion. Later, while speaking with ETimes, the Mohra actor responded to the trolls and said that he is supporting the farmers, government and India.

The tabloid quoted him as saying, "I am supporting the farmers. I'm supporting the government and supporting India. My statement was very very clear to all the celebrities from outside of India defaming us, and giving the wrong picture about what's happening in our country."

"I'm a farmer myself, my forefathers were farmers. And we should always respect that. The farmers are our backbone. And that is the most important thing, my statement is very, very clear. That doesn't work. And this is to all the celebrities who are trying to comment on our country without really knowing too much about what's going on," he further told ETimes.

Besides Suniel Shetty, Bollywood celebrities like Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Karan Johar and others had also joined the Centre's call to stand united against 'propaganda' against the country's policies.

ALSO READ: Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn And Others Promote 'India Together' After Rihanna's Tweet On Farmers' Protests

ALSO READ: Kangana Ranaut Fires Fresh Salvo At Rihanna; Compares Pop Star To Neha Kakkar And Sunidhi Chauhan
opinion

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  Access to Covid-19 vaccines for many developing countries and most of their people will have to wait as the powerful and better off secure earlier access regardless of need or urgency. More profits, by manufacturing scarcity, will surely cause even more loss of both lives and livelihoods.

Good intentions not enough

To induce private efforts to develop and distribute vaccines, the WHO initiated COVAX to ensure more equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. However, interest by vaccine companies has been limited, while some governments - especially from better-off upper middle-income countries - pursue other options.

COVAX has been co-led with GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Buoyed by their earlier success with advance market commitments (AMC), they have extended the same approach in very different circumstances.

AMC was originally conceived to induce the development of vaccines for 'neglected diseases'. Such infectious diseases remain threats in poor countries and among poor people. Hence, prospective sales revenue was believed to be too small for needed investments by profit-seeking vaccine companies.

By guaranteeing and subsidising sales, the AMC effectively promises the vaccine developer to make the research and development effort profitable, typically with early payments and subsidies to enhance the inducement.

No one size fits all

In the Covid-19 pandemic context, however, the COVAX AMC is not a 'white knight' coming to the rescue of an orphaned, typically tropical disease. Instead, it competes with other buyers, mostly of greater means.

To put it bluntly, the Covid-19 pandemic context is quite different from the 'neglected diseases' problem which the AMC was conceived to address, i.e., contemporary Western R&D efforts presumed to be driven primarily, if not exclusively by the prospect of profits.

The highly infectious 'aerosol-borne' virus quickly achieved a global reach. Apparently more likely to be lethal with advancing age, mass vulnerability to infection ensured a broad, inclusive, international market for Covid-19 vaccines from the outset.

Recognising the extent and impact of the pandemic threat, vaccine developers expect to sell their vaccines very profitably. They made advance sales to many rich-country governments, rather than, or even while committing to COVAX. Unsurprisingly in these circumstances, the COVAX AMC approach has not worked well, let alone equitably.

The companies did not require AMC advance purchases to start their efforts. Expecting the WHO to protect their interests, participating developing country governments, mainly of upper-middle income economies, have generally not worked together to push for further price moderation.

COVAX subverted

Advance Covid-19 vaccine purchases by many rich country governments are not only greatly in excess of their population requirements, but also not made in a transparent manner conducive to improving equity.

Unsure of the efficacy and effectiveness of the often still experimental vaccines, some booked, paid for and now demand far more than needed by their populations. Thus, COVAX has been subverted by rich country government actions.

Ironically, instead of protecting and promoting the interests of the poor, the public interest and the common good, the COVAX AMC has served to set floor prices. Arguably, COVAX has ensured profits for vaccine companies without addressing the 'only money talks' problem and competitive 'vaccine nationalism'.

To ensure a 'people's vaccine' available to all, Acharya and Reddy have proposed public financing to develop or buy over vaccine formulas. This can ensure patentable and other relevant information is freely shared, enabling generic vaccine producers to greatly increase supply at much lower prices.

As rich country governments have already paid much to accelerate vaccine development, they can more easily secure and share the thus far undisclosed information needed to greatly and affordably scale up generic vaccine output.

As vaccine developers do not really expect much revenue from selling vaccines to the poor, such 'generosity' would cost them little, while earning them and the enabling governments priceless appreciation and goodwill in the process.

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Way out

The best way forward now involves approving the TRIPS waiver at the WTO, which the Trump administration, the EU and some allies, such as Brazil, have stubbornly blocked.

The TRIPS waiver - sought by developing countries led by South Africa, India and Pakistan - seeks to temporarily suspend several TRIPS provisions on patents, design and protection of undisclosed information.

The Biden administration has shown renewed commitment to multilateralism by re-joining the World Health Organization (WHO). It can demonstrate leadership by not only lifting the US embargo on exports of vaccines, vital medicines and equipment, but also advocating strongly for the TRIPS waiver proposal at the WTO.

US taxpayers have already spent many billions to accelerate private vaccine development and distribution. Vaccines for the world can be greatly increased, at little additional cost, by working with the rest of the world, as Chinese researchers did by sharing the virus' genome sequence with the world within a fortnight of its discovery over a year ago.
It was a dismal sight Wednesday morning for dozens of homeless San Antonians, as police and work crews gathered to remove their tents and belongings they had set up under I- 37 close to downtown, as first reported by Emilie Eaton of the San Antonio Express-News.

There was a heavy police presence overseeing the camp as workers nearly filled a long trailer with with seized items by about 10 a.m.

After delaying the cleanup of homeless camps for several weeks, the city finally pulled the trigger today, taking away tents and possessions that were used by the homeless to make shelters under the highway.

Patrick Steck, assistant director of Human Services at the City of San Antonio, cited a concern for criminal activity, combined with increased trash and human waste, as a catalyst for advancing the cleanup.

It's estimated that 85 to 100 people were living in the camps  numbers increased over the winter as the coronavirus surged yet again in San Antonio.

District 2 councilwoman Jada Andrews-Sullivan released a statement on the removal, saying "This is not a display of compassion that they deserve. We had requested for dumpsters, port-a-potties, showers and more care resources."

She went on to add, "theres too much money and resources for this to be the images we see today, those families deserve better."

Texas governor Greg Abbott slammed homeless camping in the state in January, threatening to impose a homeless camp ban in Texas if the city of Austin did not.

"Contrary to what Austin leaders think no one has a right to urinate & defecate wherever they want," Abbott said in a tweet.

According to the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH), 2,932 San Antonians were houseless at the beginning of 2020. Of those 57 percent were in shelters, but 43 percent were not, and lived in camps like the one removed Wednesday, in cars or in parks.
[February 04, 2021] Elucidata Finances Key Go-To-Market Initiatives With $5M Venture Investment

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Elucidata , a biomedical molecular data company, announced today that it has closed a $5 million pre-Series A funding round led by IvyCap Ventures. The financing round also included participation from Hyperplane Venture Capital and several angel investors. This new round of funding will enable Elucidata to capitalize on its position as a leading provider of structured biomedical molecular data to the life sciences industry. The company plans to use the funding to accelerate product development, expand its commercial efforts, and continue hiring world-class talent. "In the pharma industry, biomedical data of drug discovery is increasing in diversity and volume at a rapid rate," said Vikram Gupta, Founder and Managing Partner, IvyCap Ventures. "In this scenario, it gives us immense pleasure to collaborate with Elucidata which is driven by its vision of accelerating drug discovery. Their platform, Polly, makes a vast range of biological big data accessible and available to the scientists for machine learning." Elucidata is focused on developing Polly, a proprietary cloud platform for drug discovery. The company said that Polly is the largest repository of biomedical data designed for scientists trying to discover drugs. With Polly, scientists can get access to curated and analysis-ready data from over 100,000 biomedical datasets, a number that is doubling each quarter, accelerating data-driven discovery efforts. "Multi-omics structured data on Polly have been used to identify promising therapeutic targets, biomarkers, patient segments, rank different chemical atters, among other things," said Abhishek Jha, Co-founder and CEO, Elucidata. "As an industry, we're just scratching the surface of how powerful molecular data can be when made FAIR. The strong backing from IvyCap Ventures and Hyperplane will amplify our ability to help our partners improve in their data-driven drug discovery."



Elucidata launched Polly in April 2019 and now has over 30 partners in industry and academia as its customers. In the past seven months, Elucidata has seen increased demand while expanding adoption at enterprise clients such as Genentech, TRV, Alnylam Therapeutics, and Agios. "Hyperplane is proud to be partnered with Elucidata in their mission of enhancing the predictability and speed of drug discovery through their collaborative bioinformatics platform," said Naimish Patel, Managing Partner, Hyperplane. "Having already demonstrated clear product-market fit and grown a strong base of top tier pharmaceutical and biotech customers, this new infusion of capital positions the company for accelerated market growth in the years to come."

Elucidata was founded in 2015 by Jha, a University of Chicago and MIT graduate, IIT Delhi graduate Swetabh Pathak, and Dr. Richard Kibbey (MD PhD) at Yale School of Medicine. About Elucidata Corporation

Elucidata has a mandate to accelerate drug discovery by applying its AI-enabled platform, Polly, on vast heterogeneous semi-structured biomedical data. With the FAIR data principles as a guideline for data management, Elucidata's proprietary technology transforms public and proprietary molecular data into a ready-to-use form as data lakes. R&D teams can build, publish, and host workflows to analyze data and make better data-driven decisions to discover therapeutic assets with high odds of success in the clinic. Elucidata has offices in Cambridge (MA), San Francisco, New Delhi and Bangalore. About IvyCap Ventures Advisors

IvyCap Ventures is one of the leading homegrown venture capital fund management companies in India managing INR 1,500 crores across three funds. Founded by Vikram Gupta in 2011, the company has been leveraging global alumni ecosystems to build technology-driven innovative companies. About Hyperplane Venture Capital

Hyperplane is a seed stage investment firm founded by Vivjan Myrto, John Murphy and Brendan Kohler in 2015 and based in Boston, Massachusetts. It invests in startups working on machine intelligence, sensor technology, robotics, virtual reality and augmented reality, and cloud computing technology. Media Contact: Joshua Milne, 290462@email4pr.com , 617-501-1620 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/elucidata-finances-key-go-to-market-initiatives-with-5m-venture-investment-301222150.html SOURCE Elucidata

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The Ministry of State for Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates' Affairs and the Political Parties' Youth Coordination Committee (PPYCC) have agreed to cooperate to achieve the objectives of the Ministry of Emigration Dialogue Centre for Egyptians Studying Abroad (MEDCE).

The MEDCE is a ministerial initiative meant to connect academic youth overseas with their home country.

Emigration minister Nabila Makram held a meeting on Thursday with a delegation from the PPYCC, comprising parliamentarians and governors.

The parties agreed to take Egyptian youth studying abroad on field visits to a number of Egyptian governorates, to brief them about the state's efforts in various files, including its plan to improve the living conditions of people residing in the poorest villages. The scheme is part of the "Decent Life" initiative, a national plan meant to launch a number of development projects across the country.

Makram said she hopes cooperation with the PPYCC will help the MEDCE become an interactive platform for youth from different political backgrounds, read a statement by the ministry.

The MEDCE was launched earlier this month as part of the ministry's strategy to connect Egyptian expatriates studying in different countries by tailoring various programmes for them.

She added that the ministry wants to benefit from the PPYCC's success, especially its role in empowering young cadres to hold administrative positions in the state.

The PPYCC has 31 members in the House of Representatives and 12 members in the Senate. Twenty-three members were elected in the elections held in the past months, and the rest were appointed by the president. Other PPYCC members were recently picked as deputy governors.

"We see in the PPYCC members a role model to be emulated [and] exported to various countries of the world via our youth studying abroad," the statement quoted the minister as saying.

The PPYCC delegation members asserted their readiness to cooperate with the emigration ministry to implement its strategy designed to help young students overseas to share their experiences with academics at home.

The coordination committee said youth studying abroad have the chance to engage in political work in Egypt, given their expertise in various fields that may enrich the Egyptian experience, according to the statement.

The first dialogue session between the PPYCC delegation and a number of Egyptians studying abroad will be held as agreed upon in Thursday's meeting. During the session, the experience of the Egyptian state in empowering youth and creating skilled cadres who can make a difference will be explained, the statement added.

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Amid rising anger of workers and youth against the criminal herd immunity and austerity policies of the European Union (EU), which have led to nearly 700,000 COVID-19 deaths in Europe, Lutte Ouvriere (LO) is promoting the French unions symbolic one-day strike today. The unions, however, approve and support the 2 trillion EU bank bailouts that are based on implementing herd immunity policies.

LO is trying to stifle opposition to back-to-work and herd immunity policies by spreading the illusion that its demands will give a progressive content to the EU bailouts. LO writes, With the 100 billion [allocated to France] in the recovery plan, we can create more than 2.7 million jobs: we need worker control over public funding collected by big business! This money must be used to guarantee jobs and salaries and to hire staff for hospitals and retirement homes!

In fact, the pandemic has exposed the contempt of capitalist institutions for workers very lives. In 2020, over 70,000 people died of COVID-19 in France, more than the number of civilians killed per year in World War II. There have been more than 700,000 deaths in Europe, and 2 million worldwide. Moreover, even before the virus arrived in Europe, EU governments had been informed of the deadliness of the virus by their intelligence agencies and Chinese authorities.

However, they refused to take effective action against the virus, such as lockdowns, instead sending workers to work and youth to school despite the risk of contagion. Petty bourgeois parties like LO, moreover, made themselves complicit in this murderous policy.

Stopping the pandemic requires an international struggle to seize the resources needed for workers in non-essential sectors to shelter at home, and for distance learning in schools. This requires expropriating the financial aristocracya policy that LO and the unions in reality oppose. They want union bureaucracies and the affluent middle class to have their share of the cake in the distribution of European funds to big business and the financial markets. The Stalinist General Confederation of Labour (CGT) and other French unions formally signed the EU bailout plan.

The February 4 day of action called by the CGT, the Solidarity union and the Unitary Union Federation (FSU) takes place amid an international wave of strikes against back-to-work policies and school reopenings. This reflects rising anger at mass layoffs, joblessness and herd immunity policies. However, the unions and LO are trying to drive workers into a dead end and block a struggle of the working class to halt the pandemic based on a struggle for socialism.

CGT general secretary Philippe Martinez warned Macron in comments to the press at the beginning of the year that social anger was brewing in France. Fearing that the unions could be overwhelmed by the workers, LO anxiously points, in its statement on the strike of February 4, to the growing radicalization of workers fighting layoffs: Many workers are defending themselves at the level of their company. LO cites the cases of the Total refinery in Grandpuits, targeted for closure, and the tour operator Tui, where the workers are opposing 600 layoffs.

LO refers to workers combativeness and notes the counteroffensive by the working class against capitalists who are leading an offensive against the workers. However, LO casts aside calls for a general strike and insists that the initiative remain in the hands of the unions: Such mobilization cannot be decreed, of course. But it is necessary and possible. The CGT, Solidarity and FSU call for a day of mobilization and strike on Thursday, February 4. It is an opportunity to affirm, collectively, that the workers have objectives and perspectives to oppose the bourgeoisie and its government.

LO suggests that a counteroffensive by the entire working class is needed to deal with the layoffs, but then effectively declares that this is not possible. This only raises the question: when will it be possible, and who can lead it? LOs demoralized position is, in fact, an attempt to block the building of a revolutionary party to lead a revolutionary political struggle of the working class against EU governments and the international financial aristocracy.

LO instead takes the anti-Marxist path of subordinating the historic interests of the working class, even amid the mass deaths of the pandemic, to the interests of the union bureaucracyby insisting this bureaucracy is the only organization authorized to call for a mobilization of the workers.

A class gulf separates LOs attempt to subordinate workers struggles to the union bureaucracies from the aspirations of the workers to oppose the criminal policies of Macron and the EU. LOs assertions notwithstanding, the only way forward in opposition to mass layoffs and herd immunity policies dictated across Europe by the terms of the EU bailout is a united international counteroffensive of the working class. Workers are driven towards an international unification of their struggles.

Workers all over Europe are victims of the EUs criminal policies, imposed in France by President Emmanuel Macron. In 2018 and 2019, a wave of strikes and protests erupted worldwidefrom US teachers and auto strikes to the mass public sector strikes in India, Poland and Portugal, and a wave of mass protests in Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Sudan and across Latin America. The driving force behind this mobilization was the workers attempt to struggle against social inequality outside the suffocating grip of the old organizations.

In France, the yellow vest protests erupted outside the trade union bureaucracies and pseudo-left parties like LO, who were discredited by decades of betrayal of strikes and social struggles. These organizations were hostile to the yellow vests, moreover, which they denounced as a far-right, neo-fascist movement.

Now, with the global pandemic, LO fears that a more radicalized, explicitly political movement of the working class will develop outside of the unions. This is why LO claims with increasing desperation that a working class counteroffensive can only be decreed by the union bureaucracy.

The urgent struggle for a shelter-at-home policy and against austerity requires a break by the workers from the trade unions and the pseudo-left, including LO, which support the EU policy of herd immunity and the economic restructuring. To this end, the workers must build their own security committees in neighborhoods, universities and workplaces, and to build the Socialist Equality Party as revolutionary leadership against political satellites of the trade unions such as LO.
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Amid the explosive growth of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil and throughout the world, Brazilian state governments are forcing their schools to reopen. A powerful wave of opposition to this homicidal policy of the ruling class is growing among Brazilian educators, with strikes being called in different parts of the country.

Brazilian teachers on strike last year in Recife. (Facebook)

The state of Sao Paulo, the most populous and most affected by the virus, is leading the national campaign to reopen schools. This Monday, February 1, on-site classes were resumed in private schools. The states public school network is set to reopen for students on February 8. On-site planning meetings have already begun.

In a virtual confession of the murderous character of this measure, the Sao Paulo government led by Governor Joao Doria of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) issued an official statement last Wednesday titled Sao Paulo: new cases of COVID-19 in January reached a record since the beginning of the pandemic. It declares:

January set a record for new COVID-19 cases in the state of Sao Paulo for all months of the pandemic, reaching 268,997 confirmed infections to this day. With four days to go to the end of the month, almost 7,000 more cases have already been reported than in August, which had registered 262,038 new cases and until now was the month with the highest number of infections.

Since the second week of January, the seven-day moving average of new deaths exceeds 200 deaths per day. This level is similar to the one seen between June and August, peak months of the first wave of the pandemic.

By Saturday, COVID-19 had already killed 52,954 people in Sao Paulo, about a quarter of the total 224,124 deaths in Brazil. If it were a country, Sao Paulo would be 13th in COVID-19 deaths, with the number of deaths close to that of Germany, which has almost twice the population.

New variants of the virus and the imminent dangers of reopening schools

Reopening schools in Sao Paulo is like pouring gasoline into a burning building. More than 13 million, or 32 percent of the states population, including both students and educational workers, will be sent to the streets and school facilities that will serve as centers of proliferation of the coronavirus. The states rate of social isolation would be reduced to less than 10 percent of the population.

The capital of Sao Paulo has the largest school district in Brazil, with 2,099,438 students enrolled in kindergartens, elementary and high schools according to 2018 data by the IBGE. The city concentrates almost twice as many students as New York City, the largest school district in the United States, with 1,126,501 students in total.

A simulation done by researchers at leading Brazilian and international universities in mid-2020, taking into account the conditions of schools in Sao Paulo and the functioning standards determined by the government, concluded that in just three months of reopening, up to 46 percent of teachers and students would be infected.

Recent factors in the evolution of the pandemic in Brazil and internationally threaten to make this measure even more catastrophic. New, more contagious variants of COVID-19, such as those found in the United Kingdom and in the Brazilian city of Manaus, have already been identified in Sao Paulo.

The variant of the virus discovered last December in Manaus has been singled out by infectious disease researchers as strongly responsible for the explosion of cases that led to the collapse of the health care system of the Amazonian city. This variant has quickly spread through Manaus, with its percentage detected in infected patients jumping from around 50 percent in mid-December to over 90 percent on January 13. Marcus Lacerda, a Fiocruz Amazonas researcher, estimated that it will take only one month until this variant prevails across Brazil.

The reopening of schools in Sao Paulo and Brazil as a whole will not only boost the spread of these variants but will stimulate the development of new strains. The more the coronavirus spreads, the more mutations it produces. The emergence of the new variant of the virus in Manaus was a direct product of the reopening of schools promoted by the government of Amazonas last August .

The mutations of the virus make it less susceptible to vaccines, threatening to effectively sabotage COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. It has already been reported that the Johnson & Johnson and Novavax vaccines had their efficacy radically reduced in face of the new variant discovered in South Africa.

The anti-science policy of the ruling class

These risks are being consciously ignored to force the reopening of schools in the interests of the ruling class. To this end, the Sao Paulo government in December declared the functioning of schools an essential activity, contrary to previous norms set by governments own plan.

This policy is based on the anti-scientific claims that have been aggressively promoted by Brazils Secretary of Education Rossieli Soares. He insists on the supposed success of the European experience of keeping schools functioning even with the pandemic out of control. This claim is absolutely denied by science. A recent British study, from Public Health England, found schools to be responsible for 26 percent of infections in the investigated groups, a number three times greater than infections occurring in hospitals. Several other studies reveal the substantial impact of school closures on reducing cases and deaths.

This unmasks the secretarys statement that the virus is very rare among children as a complete lie. In addition, there is a growing wave of childhood deaths from Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19. The US has recently reported dozens of deaths from MIS-C among children between four and six years of age in 47 different states. In 2020, Brazil reported 39 child and adolescent deaths from MIS-C and 577 cases.

Feigning concern for the privations facing students, Soares characterized school closures as an educational massacre. This cynical statement contrasts with the decades of attacks on education, classroom closures, and destruction of teachers living standards promoted by the PSDB governments in Sao Paulo. It is totally unmasked by the absence of any concrete measure by the government to guarantee distance learning throughout 2020.

The real interests behind the reopening of schools were expressed by Brazils largest educational think tank, Todos Pela Educacao, which speaks on behalf of the banks and big business. The organizations president, Priscila Cruz, defined the opening of schools as the pillar of support for economic recovery, that is, as a key factor in forcing workers back to their jobs, even in the face of increasingly unsafe conditions.

The preservation of the profit interests of the ruling class in the context of the pandemic, and more fundamentally the global capitalist crisis, is deeply interrelated with a right-wing turn in politics and attacks on scientific truth. Brazils fascistic President Jair Bolsonaro, the advocate of widespread infection of the population and captain of his self-proclaimed war on lockdowns, is the most direct expression of these socially destructive interests.

The program to fight the pandemic and save lives defended by serious scientists, who are increasingly speaking out for an urgent lockdown in Brazil, can only be implemented through the independent political mobilization of the working class.

Opposition grows among Brazilian educators

A general reopening of schools in Brazil did not occur in 2020 only because the plans of the ruling class confronted mass opposition from educators and working class families.

At the end of last year, strikes against the reopening of schools were declared in Amazonas, Pernambuco, Parana and Rio de Janeiro, while dozens of other teacher protests erupted across Brazil. Opinion polls showed the opposition of the vast majority of Brazilians to the back-to-school campaign. In Sao Paulo, a survey promoted by City Hall among parents showed that 90 percent refused to send their children to school.

Faced with a new and more aggressive campaign from Brazils ruling class, as the new school year begins, a new wave of opposition has emerged among educators and students.

On January 17, a million students boycotted the National High School Exam (ENEM), giving a practical statement of opposition to the policy of reopening schools and universities in the country.

On January 23, more than 1,100 teachers in the state of Parana decided on a general strike against the plans of Ratinho Juniors government of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) to reopen schools on February 18.

In meetings held last Friday and Saturday, thousands of state and municipal teachers in Rio de Janeiro massively voted for a strike against the reopening of schools on February 8.

The same anger against the criminal reopening of schools is emerging among educators in Sao Paulo, with numerous strike calls on social media. Among municipal teachers of Sao Paulo, a publication with a major following cried out: If we do not begin immediately a STRIKE movement independent of the union, many who are here in this group will be occupying a vacancy in the cemetery.

The teachers unions of Sao Paulo, among them SINPEEM and APEOESP (which claims to be the largest union in Latin America), are making an effort to stifle workers opposition, having so far prevented them from organizing a strike or any action to confront the states policy.

The unions are effectively collaborating with the ruling classs back-to-school campaign. The SINPEEMs president, the reactionary councilman of Cidadania, Claudio Fonseca, is proposing merely a postponement of only two weeks for a return to classes to supposedly have a better health situation.

The unions are also promoting the demand that teachers be vaccinated before other workers so that schools can be reopened safely. This is a fraud! In addition to the fact that the available vaccines cannot yet be applied to children and teenagers, who will continue to be exposed to the deadly virus and bring it to their homes, this aims to block a broader struggle with other sections of workers who continue to suffer from the pandemic.

These trade unions have acted for decades to suppress teachers struggle against pro-business and privatizing state policies, sabotaging strikes and helping to implement pension reforms and precarious teacher contracts.

One teacher from Sao Paulo questioned on social media: I am in favor and so are many, is there a possibility of striking without unions? To build a political leadership in the working class independent of the corporate trade unions is not only possible, but the most urgent task.

To do so, it is necessary to establish rank-and-file committees in every school to lead a nationally unified strike movement, driving an all-working-class struggle to confront capitalist interests and implement the scientifically necessary measures to halt the COVID-19 pandemic.

Education workers around the world are confronting the same attacks. In Chicago, where educators have organized a rank-and-file committee, they are entering into a direct conflict with the drive by the Biden administration to reopen schools throughout the US.

Every effort must be made to build these committees among all workers, in Brazil and internationally, to develop a unified movement of the working class fighting for its own interests.
Microsoft just updated OneDrive adding playback support for Samsung Motion Photo and 8K video from the Galaxy S20, S21 and Note20 series.

Up until now OneDrive could store the files, but not play them back. In the case of Samsung's Motion Photo, which adds a couple of seconds of video and sound to a still shot, OneDrive will only show the still image. OneDrive now supports up to 250GB files, which works nicely for those large 8K videos. The app also features a new home screen layout with quick access to recent and offline files and a new "On This Day" with photos taken on this day years ago.

Google Photos doesn't support playback for Motion Photos, which gives OneDrive the upper hand here.

Samsung and Microsoft have had a good partnership for years now. Samsung preloads Microsoft apps to its Galaxy phones, Microsoft chose Samsung to preview is xCloud cloud gaming service, the YourPhone app launches many of its features on Samsung phones first.

Source | Via

The president of the province's largest union has been forced to resign, and its executive board dissolved, in the wake of a police investigation into an alleged sexual assault.

The president of the province's largest union has been forced to resign, and its executive board dissolved, in the wake of a police investigation into an alleged sexual assault.

Abe Araya, who was elected president of CUPE Manitoba in November 2019, was arrested Jan. 21 in Winnipeg.

Brandon Police Service spokeswoman Sgt. Kirby Sararas said Wednesday the 46-year-old Araya was the subject of a BPS arrest warrant for a single charge of sexual assault.

Sararas said Araya has been released from custody and is scheduled to appear in Brandon provincial court April 1.

BPS opened an investigation in March 2020, after receiving a complaint of an incident alleged to have occurred in the city in February 2019.

"It is my understanding they were here for work purposes and staying at a local hotel," Sararas said, adding both Araya and the alleged victim are not from Brandon but "they were known to one another."

It is my understanding they were here for work purposes and staying at a local hotel.  Brandon Police Service spokeswoman Sgt. Kirby Sararas

Contacted by the Free Press, Araya said he would not comment but would "get somebody to contact you."

Defence counsel Saul Simmonds, who represents Araya, later said: "We are very surprised with the police."

"Mr. Araya maintains his innocence very strongly," Simmonds said. "This was a matter dealt with internally  he was exonerated after a thorough investigation. We feel this present step is completely unnecessary, but he will take solace in his innocence."

Karine Fortin, director of communications with the Canadian Union of Public Employees national office, said  on behalf of national president Mark Hancock  "We are aware there are charges brought against Abe Araya."

"We can't comment... because they are before the courts, but we are taking this seriously," Fortin said, adding, as soon as the criminal charge became known to the union, the national president asked Araya to step down.

She said the national union has put an administrator in place to look at the Manitoba branch's affairs.

"This was a matter dealt with internally  he was exonerated after a thorough investigation. We feel this present step is completely unnecessary, but he will take solace in his innocence."  Defence counsel Saul Simmonds

"That means the executive has been dissolved and an administrator has been assigned until we can elect a new board... The administrator takes over the role of all the elected officials," Fortin said. "This has never happened with a provincial division before, but it has happened at a local level."

The dissolution does not mean the executive did anything in connection with the criminal allegations; the move was made because there can't be both an administrator and an executive at the same time, she said.

"I would not like to see it (the dissolving of the executive) as guilty by association."

There was yet no timetable for an election. "We will conduct a review to see if changes need to be made," Fortin said.

A message on the CUPE Manitoba website offers little information to its members.

The union represents 36,000 employees in several sectors, including health-care facilities, personal care homes, school divisions, municipal services, social services, child care centres, public utilities, libraries, and family emergency services.

"CUPE Manitoba is currently undergoing changes," the online message says.

CUPE PHOTO Abe Araya was elected as president of CUPE Manitoba in Nov. 2019.

"Rest assured, this in no way effects members representation at meetings with employers, bargaining, or CUPEs advocacy in the workplace and community. CUPE members and locals will continue to receive the expert servicing you have come to expect from CUPE."

Araya, elected at the annual convention in 2019, originally came from CUPE Local 110, which represents about 400 custodians, maintenance workers and painters in the Winnipeg School Division.

At the time, Araya said: "Our union is stronger and more united than ever... Manitobans can count on CUPE to defend good jobs and fight for our public services."

A WSD spokeswoman said Wednesday she could not comment on the matter, nor what job Araya held when he worked for the school division.

Several representatives for local CUPE unions also refused comment, and directed inquiries to the national office.

Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour, said in a statement: "The MFL is aware that the CUPE MB executive is under administration and that CUPE national is ensuring that services for members continue."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard

Courts reporter Someone once said a journalist is just a reporter in a good suit. Dean Pritchard doesnt own a good suit. But he knows a good lawsuit. Read full biography
Syracuse, N.Y.  John Hotaling was near death. The nursing home had assembled his family on Facetime to say goodbye.

But there was no peace in what they saw, his daughter said. Jennifer Anderson said her father gasped for breath. He moaned. His eyes rolled back into his head, she said.

It was horrific, Anderson said.

Hotaling, 78, died from Covid-19 three days later. He was one of 49 residents of the Iroquois Nursing Home who died during an outbreak that barreled through the facility starting in November.

Nearly all of the nursing homes residents were infected and a remarkable number of them died.

Iroquois has the highest Covid death toll in Onondaga County, even though other nursing homes are three to five times larger. Roughly one resident died of Covid-19 for every three beds in the facility.

See how many residents have died at each Onondaga County nursing home.

Iroquois experience shows how fragile even the highest-rated nursing homes are, and how some weaknesses endemic to the industry can worsen a death spiral.

Medicare rates Iroquois with five stars  the best. For the first eight months of the pandemic, Iroquois operated in a bubble, untouched by the virus.

In November, the bubble popped when one resident was exposed to Covid-19 at an appointment outside the facility, Assistant Administrator Leigh Hilgenberg said.

Once it got in, the virus cut through the 160-bed brick complex that sits on a hill above Syracuse: 121 residents and 75 staff were sickened, the nursing home said. At one point, 44 staff members were furloughed because they were infected. Thats about 18 percent of the total workforce.

Families recounted frantic, overwhelmed staff. Some said they made dozens of phone calls, desperately trying to say one last goodbye after being told the end is near.

Hotalings family says he did not receive the pain management he should have at the end of his life, that the nursing home did not adequately care for him when he was sick, and it did not do all it should have to keep him from becoming infected with Covid-19. The nursing home disputes that.

Other families praised the heroic work of overburdened staff, who risked their own safety to care for the vulnerable.

The amount of medical staff seems to play an important role in limiting the spread of Covid-19 once it gets into a nursing home.

A report last week by the state attorney general found that the biggest predictor of nursing home Covid-19 deaths was staffing. The worse the staffing numbers, the more people who died, it said.

While Iroquois has a high rating for overall quality, Medicare rates it two stars, below average, for staffing.

A Covid-19 outbreak at the Iroquois Nursing Home that began in November killed 49 residents.

All hands on deck

At the height of the outbreak, Iroquois was so short-staffed that the IT staff delivered meals to patients, Hilgenberg said. It was all hands on deck, she said.

Like most other nursing homes, Iroquois has struggled to recruit and retain staff, Hilgenberg said.

We can always use more staff, even not during the outbreak. Theres a national nursing shortage, Hilgenberg said.

Iroquois is a private, nonprofit facility. It is overseen by a group called Plaza Corporation of Central New York, a not-for-profit organization controlled by Crouse and St. Josephs hospitals.

Data through 2019 show that Iroquois was financially healthy with an operating margin well into the black. Many other nursing homes in the county were operating at a loss during the same period.

Staffing at Iroquois is below the state and national averages, federal reports show. Residents at the home get less attention from licensed nurses, registered nurses and nurse aides at Iroquois than they do, on average, across the state and the nation.

For example, the national average for the amount of time a nursing home resident gets with an aide is two hours and 20 minutes. Iroquois residents receive one hour and 48 minutes, federal reports show.

Covid-19 combines two of the worst possible problems for nursing home: Sick residents need a lot of extra care while there are fewer people around to provide it.

Its a disaster, said Dr. Elaine Healy, a vice president of the New York Medical Directors Association and medical director at the United Hebrew retirement communities in New Rochelle. If you get a lot of sick staff, or if you lose key clinical leaders, an evening supervisor. These are very, very critically important positions.

Robyn Grant of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long Term Care, a nursing home resident advocacy group, said the facilities are more vulnerable to outbreaks when there is community spread .

But nursing homes can and should be able to prevent it from spreading once it gets in, Grant said. Having more employees helps, she said.

Grants group has long advocated for the state to require minimum staffing levels. Theres none in New York.

The number of deaths at Iroquois should sound an alarm, said Richard Mollot, of the Longterm Care Community Coalition, which advocates for residents.

That number of people dying, its an enormous red flag, Mollot said. Its horrifying and unacceptable. Its not something I believe should have happened.

Mollot said the persistent low staffing does not give nursing home owners a free pass during Covid-19 outbreaks.

Facilities are being allowed to do nothing. It just has exposed, and amplified, things that go on on a day- to-day basis where people are treated like garbage, Mollot said. Its hard to imagine that in any way this is excusable.

Hilgenberg said Iroquois did everything it could have for its residents. She said most of the 49 people who died in the outbreak would have died soon from something else if they hadnt been infected with Covid-19.

They were end-of-life residents who were frail, she said. Most had orders for what is called comfort care, she said. This means they didnt want any heroic measures taken to save their lives if they became ill: No hospital, no ventilators. Some specified no feeding tube or IVs, Hilgenberg said.

Iroquois sent 14 residents to the hospital for Covid-19 treatment. They did not have comfort care orders. Ten of them survived the virus, Hilgenberg said.

Watching the death toll rise

Every day from her home in Virginia, Anderson would check Iroquois Covid-19 web page showing the number of cases and deaths. For months, there were 0s in every category. But in November, the 0s changed to single digits and then double digits.

Anderson said the family got a call Dec. 15. The virus was throughout the first floor. Her fathers roommate had it; he did not. He was moved upstairs to the rehabilitation unit.

Anderson and her mother, Judy Hotaling, said the move brought other problems. John Hotaling wasnt eating in his new room, Anderson said staff told her. Have you been feeding him? she asked. Her father had advanced dementia and could not feed himself. Anderson said a staff person said they didnt know he had to be fed.

Hilgenberg disputed Andersons claims. She said staff communicated with the family regularly and that Hotaling received good care. His orders, which showed he needed to be fed, would have gone with him to the second floor.

Anderson said she asked repeatedly for her father to get IV fluids. This happened only once, she said.

When the virus reached Hotaling, the week of Dec. 21, he was moved back to the dementia unit where the outbreak started. His daughter said that by then, he was already weak from not eating or drinking.

On Dec. 22, the home reported 50 residents testing positive, 42 staff furloughed and 22 deaths.

Judy holds John Hotaling's hand. John Hotaling died Dec. 29, 2020, at Iroquois Nursing Home of Covid-19.

On Christmas Eve, staff from the Iroquois called Judy Hotaling. Johns death was imminent, they said. Judy called her daughter. She wanted to speak to her husband of 53 years a last time.

Both women called back dozens of times, they said.

Finally, a nurse on a different floor answered. She took her phone down to Hotalings room and held it to his ear so his wife could tell him she loved him, Anderson said.

John Hotaling hung on through Christmas, and the staff at the Iroquois were able to arrange an end-of-life Facetime. That is the call that Anderson says went so horribly. John Hotaling gasped for breath and moaned in pain, his daughter said.

After the call ended, the family complained about Hotalings condition and asked if he had been receiving any pain medication.

The nurse on duty apologized, Anderson said, and gave her father medication for his pain and anxiety. He said, Im the only one. Were so short-staffed, " Anderson said.

Hotaling died Dec. 29.

Walking into burning buildings

Mildred Towne died of Covid-19 Dec. 27 in Iroquois at age 86.

Her daughter Liz Towne, of Florida, said society has become desensitized to the crushing Covid-19 death toll in nursing homes.

What is shocking to me is that our seniors who are most vulnerable have become an acceptable price to pay for the failures that have allowed this to happen, she said.

Towne, who lives in Florida, said weak regulatory oversight, low wages for certified nursing assistants and other systemic problems turned the nursing home industry into a tinderbox.

Mildred Towne and her daughter, Liz Towne. Mildred Towne died of Covid-19 at Iroquois Nursing Home during an outbreak that killed 49 residents.

Was my mom going to eventually die? Yes. But Covid is a horrible way to go, she said. It didnt have to happen.

Towne, however, doesnt blame the people who cared for her mother at Iroquois.

They walked into a burning building every day, she said. I really have gratitude for what they were able to do.

Residents wander with virus

The virus planted its flag in a spot ripe for spread: the dementia unit. The rooms are clustered around a horseshoe hallway. The unit is secure, set up to allow the dementia sufferers to wander safely because it calms them.

That wandering among a population that is hard to keep distant, reluctant to wear masks and physically frail could have played a role.

We do our best to maintain social distancing, Hilgenberg said. But again, there is this disease process. So you have residents who do continue to wander.

She said residents with dementia and residents who are dying are often unable or unwilling to wear face masks.

Hilgenberg, though, said they dont know how the virus was able to spread so deeply. The outbreak happened when infection rates were soaring in the community, too, she said.

The state Health Department conducted an unannounced inspection of the nursing homes infection control practices Dec. 18 and found no deficiencies, a state spokesman said.

Last February, the health department cited Iroquois for an infection control violation. A nurse did not clean his hands when changing gloves while putting a new dressing on a residents wound.

Before the pandemic arrived, the nursing home industry already had a poor track record for preventing the spread of infectious disease. A Syracuse.com investigation in March found most nursing homes in Onondaga County and statewide were cited for one or more infection control violations between 2017 and 2019.

Prior to the pandemic, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated one million to three million serious infections occurred annually in nursing homes, killing as many as 388,000 residents.

I never felt they were once negligent

Kaye Brown was one of the lucky ones at Iroquois. The 84-year-old retired librarian survived Covid-19 in the dementia unit at Iroquois.

Sue Brown said her mother struggled with her memory loss while living at home, but being around others who were like her at Iroquois made her happy. Instead of struggling to remember who she had been, she made new friends who were like her.

When Kaye Brown became ill, she was among the few residents that were not on comfort care. She received IV fluids for two days, her daughter said.

Brown said her mother had excellent care. Communication was difficult at times, but Brown said she understood that the staff was short-handed. She did not expect to get updates on the weekends.

Her mother has been left with no sense of taste. She started eating napkins because she thought they might be bread. Brown said she asked the staff to find napkins that werent white. That solved the problem.

Brown said her mother has been left frail by Covid-19. The future seems uncertain.

Mary Kay Hueber, too, was a resident of the dementia unit. The 92-year-old retired teacher died Dec. 21.

Its just a terrible transmissible disease, spreading like wildfire, said her daughter, Nancy Bronstein.

Bronstein, a retired nurse practitioner, said she found no fault with the care her mother received at the end of her life. She said she was always updated on her condition, and, when it seemed the end was near, the staff at Iroquois hastily put together a FaceTime call so a dozen family members could tell their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother they loved her one more time.

They were doing everything, Bronstein said. I never felt they were once negligent.

She said that right before her mother died, the staff at Iroquois were able to get clergy in for last rites.

Hueber, who loved to travel and was an avid Habitat for Humanity volunteer, had been at Iroquois for three years, her daughter said.

I dont regret my mother died of Covid. Her health was failing, her quality of life was diminishing. It was really time, and it had been time for a while, Bronstein said. What I do regret was not being there  I think I will regret that for the rest of my life.

An overwhelmed staff

Josephine Swift lived on the same floor as Hueber. She died the day before of Covid-19. Swift, 89, had been at Iroquois for six years.

Her son, Bruce Swift, said she received good care when she was there, but he is disturbed she got Covid-19 at Iroquois.

It seems to me there must have been something systemically wrong that these infections got in there and blew through the whole building, he said.

Josephine Swift's friends and family all called her "Jo". She was one of 49 residents at Iroquois Nursing Home who died in a Covid-19 outbreak that started in November.provided photo

Swift said it was difficult to get information about his mothers condition, especially if he called after 5 p.m. When he did get through and left messages, Swift said  the staff was so overwhelmed they did not call you back.

Swift said the nurses and certified nursing assistants worked hard and were helpful.

I dont have a beef with the frontline workers. If I had a beef, it was with the administration. They were not responsive to issues like the phone system, he said.

It still pains Swift that he could not be with his mother to say good-bye.

I wanted to touch her on her arm or leg and say a couple prayers, Swift said.

Everyone called his mom Jo. She raised three kids and worked hard, from the familys general store to her job as assistant to the president of SUNY Canton.

Jos family still debates which of her desserts was the best: lemon pie or sour cream cookies. But the great joy in her cooking was sharing it: Jo loved to feed a full house.

There were no calling hours for Jo. Her funeral, like her death, was private.

James T. Mulder covers health and higher education. Have a news tip? Contact him at (315) 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com
Suspicious Gun Transaction Brings Charges

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MCCRACKEN COUNTY - An investigation into a suspicious gun transaction led to numerous charges for a Princeton man on Tuesday.On January 23, detectives with the McCracken County Sheriff's Department were in a local business and reportedly witnessed a suspicious gun transaction. Authorities said a man was attempting to purchase three firearms from a local gun dealer, but the background check was delayed, and the guns were not transferred to the man at that time.Detectives said the man attempting to purchase the guns also had a concealed handgun on his person at the time of the transaction. They tried to speak with him, but the man left the business before authorities could approach him.Authorities identified the man as 24-year-old Sean D. Conger. Conger is prohibited from purchasing firearms due to prior domestic violence convictions.Detectives issued a warrant for Conger for unlawfully attempting to purchase firearms by making false statements. On Tuesday, detectives with the Princeton Police Department located and arrested Conger. Authorities said he was in possession of controlled substances and a handgun at the time of the stop.Conger's attempted transaction was ultimately denied by the NICS background check required for all gun purchases from licensed gun dealers.More charges are expected.The McCracken County Sheriff's Department was assisted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms in the case.
Baton Rouge health officials are launching a campaign to encourage more Black residents to seek tests for the novel coronavirus by making them available in churches, schools and community centers.

Research into why Blacks in the state remain reluctant to be tested for the virus is targeted at building the infrastructure necessary for the next phase of COVID-19 mitigation, which is administering vaccines, according to the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

As coronavirus variant gains ground in Louisiana, officials predict 'another spike in our future' Two additional cases of a more infectious variant of the coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom have been found in Louisiana and a

Our minds have gone to vaccinations as opposed to testing, but testing is extremely important, said Dr. John Kirwan, executive director of Pennington Biomedical Research Center. The surveillance of the virus is critical. Vaccines are exciting and on the horizon, but this testing initiatives continues to be the backbone of how well be able to continue to manage the pandemic.

The testing initiative is funded through a $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, which the Pennington center secured along with the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center. The researchers are partnering with Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broomes HealthBR program for assistance in penetrating communities of color in the city-parish, where the virus has disproportionately been more devastating.

Our hope is to reach these segments of the community in places they trust, Broome said Thursday. This study will allow the medical community to have a better understanding how best to engage the African-American community around testing and eventually the coronavirus vaccine.

Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

+3 How Louisiana plans to redirect coronavirus vaccines from nursing homes as doses go unused Louisiana will claw back 15,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from a federal partnership aimed at immunizing people in nursing homes as the endea

The state Department of Health on Thursday reported 1,281 more confirmed cases of the virus and 32 new deaths. The number of hospitalizations decreased by 91 and patients needing ventilators dropped by 18.

East Baton Rouge was one of five parishes Thursday with the highest single-day increase in confirmed cases with 84, according to the Thursday round-up.

Pennington will conduct testing at 16 community sites in the 70805, 70807, 70811, 70812, and 70814 ZIP codes. Researchers will collect 2,000 saliva samples and demographic information, and use the information to help understand why testing rates remain low in those communities.

Testing, which is free, will start next Wednesday and take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the following sites:
Dear Republican senators, I am writing with hopes that you will uphold the Republican party and not let it degenerate into the party of Trump. If you vote to convict Trump in the upcoming impeachment hearing, you can hold your head high, saying you did the right thing, and emerge with your integrity intact.

You and other Republicans can regain control of the Republican party only if you assert that Trump was responsible for propagating the lies about the election being stolen and inciting violence. Even if Trump says hell start the Patriot party, only the crazies will follow him. But if you stand firm against the violence that Trump incited, the Republican party will gain back many of the voters that only voted for Biden this time because he was not Trump (not because they loved Biden).

Many Republicans would like a party to go back to, but if you do not vote for impeachment, then I fear there will not be a Republican party any longer! If you or your family have been threatened into voting for acquittal, then I suggest you consider that Trump has mobilized the most violent and extreme forces in our country, and you should want no part of that!

From now on (since Jan. 6), the Trump party will be associated with violent extremists. What echoes in peoples mind are the shouts of Hang Mike Pence (a Republican VP), the anti-Semitic symbols in the crowd, the breaking of Capitols glass windows, the beating of Capitol policemen trying to protect the building (do Blue lives really matter to Republicans?), and all the hate-filled people saying they were sent by Trump.

That is not a crowd you want to pin your legacy on. Save yourself and your party by voting to impeach/convict Trump. Make sure he never runs for office again, because if he does the Republicans will lose again, just as they did in 2020. Voting to convict on impeachment is the surest way to get this behind us and then you can begin to draw focus to issues people really care about.

Dont try to play the constitutionality angle. While it is true that you can only impeach a sitting president, Trump was still president when he was duly impeached in the House. The constitution obligates the Senate to vote on conviction after impeachment and makes no exceptions for whether the president is still in office or has stepped down. Once the ball was put in motion, it MUST be followed to completion!

At this point, maybe you think it doesnt matter since Trump is already out of office. But how the Senate Republicans act will be symbolic. It will symbolize whether you have relinquished the party to Trumps strong-arm control, or you choose to stand for American rule of law and take back your party. It will tell the electorate whether you are nothing more than Trumps puppet (allowing him to still pull the strings) or whether you are your own man. It will be symbolic of whether you stand with the violent mob or against it.

Werent you frightened when you heard the angry mob at your doorstep and had to be evacuated from the Senate chambers? Do you want that to continue to be the fate of people serving in Congress (intimidation by an angry mob)? Werent you disturbed when you saw all the destruction afterward and saw how the beautiful building was desecrated? Then act like it! Act like you care! Rightly or wrongly - a vote to acquit would be saying you dont care that all that happened and that such conduct is perfectly acceptable!

Do not continue embracing Trump and excusing his behavior. It only emboldens him and the violent factions within our country. It will drive more people away from the Republican party and you. However you vote, just make sure you can sleep with a clear conscience. A wrong vote will not only be a stain on your legacy, but it will haunt you the rest of your life.
Between chemistry classes, gemstones, and electronics, the idea of crystals, substances with an ordered and periodic arrangement of atoms is quite common. But about 40 years ago, a strange particle was discovered by scientists that hasn't become commonplace in our world yet: quasicrystals. These are structures with curious atomic arrangements, which, while superficially similar to crystals, lack periodicity despite being ordered. Because of their structures, quasicrystals exhibit symmetries forbidden to crystals and are endowed with interesting properties that crystals cannot show, such as high resistance to heat flow, current flow, and corrosion.

Since their discovery, quasicrystals have been researched extensively by materials scientists around the world. Due to their rarity, scientists have often resorted to studying models mimicking them, called approximants. Recently, in a class of gold-based approximants, called "Tsai-type approximants", the presence of magnetic order was detected whose type can be controlled by the composition of the approximants--an exciting possibility for material scientists to explore.

In such approximants of increasing complexity, such as that composed of gold (Au), aluminum (Al), and terbium (Tb), the magnetic order was found to be antiferromagnetic, where each ion in the crystal acts as a small magnets with its poles opposite to those of its neighbors. In a new study published in Physical Review B, Prof. Ryuji Tamura from the Tokyo University of Science (TUS), Japan, along with his colleagues Sam Coates of TUS, and Hem Raj Sharma and Ronan McGrath of the University of Liverpool, explored the atomic structure of the antiferromagnetic surface this Tsai-type approximant. Prof. Tamura, who led the study, says: "Au-based Tsai approximants are under-researched compared to their silver (Ag)-based counterparts, particularly in the field of surface science. Understanding the structures of these Tsai-type materials will allow for in-depth interpretations of their specific properties, such as magnetic transitions, electronic features, and superconductivity." Their study yielded unexpected results.

The building blocks of Tsai-type approximants are "Tsai-type clusters", polyhedral shells whose number of sides depends on the variant of the approximant. In their study, Prof. Tamura's team chose a 1/1 variant of the Au-Al-Tb approximant in which a tetrahedral unit was enclosed within a dodecahedron, icosahedron, icosidodecahedron, and rhombic triacontahedron. The Tb atoms occupied the vertices of the icosahedron while the Au/Al atoms occupied the vertices of the remaining shells.

The scientists looked into a specific surface of a single crystal of the 1/1 Au-Al-Tb using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and backed up their observations with density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

They found that the surface had a peculiar step-terrace-like structure with the terraces ending at planes containing Tb atoms and a step height that, interestingly, appeared to minimize the number of incomplete icosahedrons. Furthermore, they found that the terrace structure depended on the sign of the biasing voltage applied to the sample. While at positive bias, the Tb atoms showed a rhombohedral or hexagonal arrangement, negative bias revealed the Au/Al atoms to be arranged in a linear row-like structure, a kind of switching not observed in a Tsai-type material before. "As this is the first Tsai-type material to show such a scheme, we need to further investigate Au-based Tsai types to assess whether chemical composition has a role to play in surface structure," comments Prof. Tamura. The observations were consistent with DFT calculations.

While quasicrystals have found several applications, ranging from surgical instruments, LEDs to non-stick frying pans, they are far from being well understood and the recent findings in quasicrystal-like structures serve to hint at the untapped exotic possibilities they harbor. "The unique structure of the Tsai-type surface suggests that quasicrystals could be used as a template for molecular adsorption in the creation of organic semiconducting thin films," Prof. Tamura says. "Understanding of how the structure change corresponds to the magnetism can open doors to new applications," he adds.

One thing's for sure: the quasicrystal is a little clearer!

###

About the Tokyo University of Science

Tokyo University of Science (TUS) is a well-known and respected university, and the largest science-specialized private research university in Japan, with four campuses in central Tokyo and its suburbs and in Hokkaido. Established in 1881, the university has continually contributed to Japan's development in science through inculcating the love for science in researchers, technicians, and educators. With a mission of "Creating science and technology for the harmonious development of nature, human beings, and society", TUS has undertaken a wide range of research from basic to applied science. TUS has embraced a multidisciplinary approach to research and undertaken intensive study in some of today's most vital fields. TUS is a meritocracy where the best in science is recognized and nurtured. It is the only private university in Japan that has produced a Nobel Prize winner and the only private university in Asia to produce Nobel Prize winners within the natural sciences field. Website: https:/ / www. tus. ac. jp/ en/ mediarelations/

About Professor Ryuji Tamura from Tokyo University of Science

Dr. Ryuji Tamura is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Technology at Tokyo University of Science, Japan. His research interests include the study of quasicrystals, approximant crystals, metallic glasses, and nanocomposite magnets. A senior and reputed researcher, he has more than 140 publications and 3 patents to his credit. He was awarded the Japan Institute of Metals Murakami Young Researcher Award and the Japan Institute of Metals and Materials Meritorious Award in 2010 and 2014, respectively. His research can be found at: https:/ / www. rs. tus. ac. jp/ hypermaterials/ en/ index. html

Funding information

This study was supported by Kakenhi Grants-in-Aid (Grants No. 19H05817 and No. 19H05818) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
Tucker Carlson labelled Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez a 'narcissist' last night after she posted a tearful Instagram about her traumatic experience of the Capitol riot.

He accused the 31-year-old Democrat of manipulating voters with a deceitful video targeted at younger generations on social media.

In a live stream on Monday night Ocasio-Cortez described how she was terrified she was going to be killed by Donald Trump supporters storming the Hill on January 6.

She also compared those who denied her story to the 'tactics' of abusers, revealing that she was a 'survivor of sexual assault.'

During the riot AOC was in Cannon House - offices which are part of the Capitol complex and not the Capitol Building itself which is around 300 yards away.

Carlson commented on her video: 'There she is again. Defender of the common man, yammering on about the only subject she really cares about - herself.

'Wallowing around in Lake Me like it's interesting to anybody but her. Narcissism on parade.

'The perfect symbol of a culture dying from self-involvement. We've said that before and we've laughed as we did. But actually it's not funny. People will believe this crap. Some already do.'

Tucker Carlson labelled Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez a 'narcissist' last night after she posted a tearful Instagram about her traumatic experience of the Capitol riot

Tucker Carlson attacks Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's IG description of 1/6: "some people believe this crap pic.twitter.com/tRRzF8gixQ  Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) February 4, 2021

In a live stream on Monday night Ocasio-Cortez described how she was terrified she was going to be killed by Donald Trump supporters storming the Hill on January 6. She also compared those who denied her story to the 'tactics' of sexual abusers, revealing that she was a 'survivor of sexual assault.'

During the riot AOC was in Cannon House - a part of the wider Capitol complex and not the Capitol Building itself which includes the dome, the House and the Senate. The offices are around 300 yards away from where the siege took place

Carlson added: 'Trump voters weren't trying to kill her, and neither were U.S. senators.'

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted last week that Senator Ted Cruz 'almost had me murdered' during the riot, claiming that he encouraged the Trump mob.

She's been asked to apologize for that but on Monday night resolutely stood by the tweet, comparing those who tried to tell her to do so to sexual abusers.

AOC lashed those who didn't believe her story about the Capitol riot and said it reminded her of past trauma from sexual assault.

'The reason I'm getting emotional in this moment is because these folks who tell us to move on, that it's not a big deal, that we should forget what's happened, or even telling us to apologize, these are the same tactics of abusers,' Ocasio-Cortez said.

'I'm a survivor of sexual assault, I haven't told many people that in my life.

'As a survivor, I struggle with the idea of being believed.'

Many people including Carlson struggled to believe her story about the Capitol riot, with the hashtag #AlexandriaOcasioSmollet trending, a comparison to actor Jussie Smollett who faked he was the victim of a hate crime.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C) poured scorn on AOC's story, saying that her office was close to the Democrat's and that there hadn't been anyone storming the hallway.

She wrote: 'AOC made clear she didn't know who was at her door. Breathless attempts by media to fan fictitious news flames are dangerous.

'My office is 2 doors down. Insurrectionists never stormed our hallway. Egregious doesn't even begin to cover it. Is there nothing MSM won't politicize?'

In her Instagram video Ocasio-Cortez described in detail how she hid in the bathroom of her office.

She heard bangs at her door and shouts of 'she's in there,' AOC claimed.

Ocasio-Cortez was terrified that they were the MAGA brigades but later discovered it was a Capitol Police officer.

Alt-right commentator Jack Posobiec tweeted a map of the area highlighting the distance between the Cannon House offices and the Rotunda.

'AOC wasn't even in the Capitol Building during her 'near death' experience,' he tweeted.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C) poured scorn on AOC's story, saying that her office was close to the Democrat's and that there hadn't been anyone storming the hallway

Ocasio Cortez came back fighting on Twitter last night calling it 'the latest manipulative take on the right.

'They are manipulating the fact that most people don't know the layout the Capitol complex. We were all on the Capitol complex - the attack wasn't just on the dome. The bombs Trump supporters planted surrounded our offices too.'

Two pipe bombs were discovered during the siege, one outside the Republican National Committee and another outside the Democratic National Committee.

Cannon House is on the same block as the RNC and a little further away from the DNC, about 400 yards.

The Bronx-born congresswoman sparred repeatedly with Posobiec on Twitter.

When he posted a map, captioned 'fact check', she responded: 'This isn't a fact check at all. Your arrows aren't accurate. They lie about where the mob stormed & place them further away than it was.

'You also fail to the convey *multiple* areas people were trying to storm. It wasn't 1.

'You also failed to show tunnels. Poor job all around.'

She said: 'People were trying to rush and infiltrate our office buildings - that's why we had to get evacuated in the first place. The attempts of attackers & publicly available communications show how they tried to gain access and share location info on finding members for physical harm.'

She added that it was 'damning' that Republicans were engaged in a 'discrediting campaign'.

'It is also very damning and revealing that the GOP is now digging both heels in a discrediting campaign,' she said.

'It's because they know they are implicated, so they're pivoting to (again) the classic abuse playbook of 'it's not as bad as they say.'

'It was that bad. It's actually worse.'

Tucker Carlson attacks Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's IG description of 1/6: "some people believe this crap pic.twitter.com/tRRzF8gixQ  Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) February 4, 2021

Carlson on Wednesday night used his Fox News show to mock AOC's fear during the riot

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Monday night about her experience, and shared her story with more than 150,000 Instagram followers online

The New York congresswoman drew parallels between the lawmakers seeking to 'move on' from the Capitol riot and the denial tactics used by abusers.

'They're trying to tell us to move on without any accountability, without any truth-telling, or without confronting the extreme damage, loss of life, trauma,' she said

'When we go through trauma, trauma compounds on each other.

'There's no, something really big happens to you and then you deal with it and you move on, and then when something else happens to you, you deal with that.

'Whether you had a negligent parent, or whether you had someone who was verbally abusive to you, whether you are a survivor of abuse, whether you experience any sort of trauma in your life, small to large. These episodes can compound on each other.'

'All of your traumas can, kind of, intersect and interact.'

She said those telling people to move on were using the same tactics as abusers.

She specifically called out some Republicans, including Ted Cruz, who she says encouraged the violence.

'These are the tactics of abusers, or rather, these are the tactics that abusers use,' she said.

'This is not about a difference of political opinion, this is about basic humanity.

'The accountability is not about revenge. It's about creating safety. And we are not safe with people who hold positions of power who are willing to endanger the lives of others if they think it will score them a political point.'

At one point, Ocasio-Cortez appeared to wipe away tears.

Ocasio-Cortez grew emotional as she described her experience hiding from the Capitol rioters

She said she heard someone storming into her office as she hid in a bathroom She then told how she was 'a survivor of sexual assault' with tears in her eyes

She had earlier apologized to her friends and family watching who may learn 'things about me that you didn't know before'.

'It's not about hiding. Sometimes you just can't tell the same story over and over,' she said.

Ocasio-Cortez went on to recount the terror she felt during last month's attack on the US legislature at the hands of Trump supporters who were trying to overturn the election results.

She explained how at one point a man whom she believed to be a rioter broke into her congressional office as she hid in the bathroom.

She recalled hearing him yelling: 'Where is she? Where is she?'

'This was the moment where I thought everything was over,' she said. 'I thought I was going to die... I have never been quieter in my entire life.'

She later said she found out the man was actually a Capitol Police officer.

Ocasio-Cortez came out shortly after, when her legislative director told her to, and saw the officer in the office.

She said the officer told them to go to another building, but didn't say specifically where or escort them.

'You don't know if that person was actually trying to protect you or not,' she said.

Fellow lawmaker Katie Porter took to MSNBC to say that she had provided Ocasio-Cortez with a pair of sneakers during the riot, in case she needed to 'run for her life'.

'I just hope I get to be a mom. I hope I don't die today,' Porter recounted Ocasio-Cortez as having told her.

'My story is not the only story, nor is it the central story, it's one of many stories of what these people did in creating this environment,' Ocasio-Cortez said.

'These folks who are just trying to tell us to move on are just like pulling the page - they're using the same tactics - of every other abuser who tells you to move on.'

Ocasio-Cortez went on to address calls for her to apologize after tweeting that Senator Ted Cruz 'almost had me murdered' during the riot

Ocasio-Cortez went on to address calls for her to apologize after tweeting last week that Senator Ted Cruz 'almost had me murdered' during the riot.

'Some of the representatives who actually encouraged people to threaten members of Congress are actually asking me to apologize for saying and speaking truth to what happened.

'These are the tactics that abusers use... And how I feel is, not again.

'I'm not going to let it happen to me again and I'm not going to let it happen to our country.'

She told viewers: 'If you have experienced any sort of trauma, just the fact of recognizing that and admitting it is already a huge step. Especially in a world where people are constantly trying to tell you that you didn't experience what you experienced, or that you're lying.

'Those are additional traumas on traumas that you've already experienced. There's the trauma of going through what you went through, and then there's the trauma afterwards. Of people not believing you, or trying to publicly humiliate you, or trying to embarrass you.'

Ocasio-Cortez, whose district includes parts of the Bronx and Queens, is one of the most prominent progressive leaders in the United States.

She has become an influential voice in both New York City and national politics - often drawing intense and sometimes vitriolic criticism from those on the right.

She had strong condemnation for Trump for inciting the riots, as well as members of his administration who did not invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office, as well as those who voted to overturn the election results.
Women in Northern Ireland can expect to live close to four years longer than men, a new report shows.

A man is expected to live until he is 78.8 years of age compared to 82.6 years for females.

That is according to The Department of Health's newly published 'Life Expectancy in Northern Ireland 2017-19' report.

It reveals that male life expectancy here has increased by 0.4 years from 78.3 years in 2013-15.

For females the increase was 0.3 years from 82.3 years over the same period.

Both male and female life expectancy was highest in the Lisburn and Castlereagh area - 80.1 years (male) and 83.5 years (female) - and the lowest in Belfast at 76.1 and 81.0 respectively.

In 2017-19, females in Northern Ireland could expect to live 3.8 years longer than males, a decrease of 0.2 years since 2013-15.

Across all age groups, male mortality was higher than that of females.

Dr Gemma Carney, a senior lecturer in Social Policy and Ageing at the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work in Queen's University, said the figures show people living in Northern Ireland can expect to live to be about 80.

She added: "The figures from Northern Ireland reflect the general trend of stalling life expectancies in the UK generally since about 2016. Some researchers have linked this to the failure of governments to adequately fund social care.

"If we do not have a system which provides appropriate care for our very oldest citizens, then we cannot expect life expectancy to keep increasing at pace.

"We have seen this failed policy reveal its full potential for harm in the death rates amongst care home residents during the pandemic in NI. We did not adequately protect our older people from Covid-19 by failing to provide PPE to their carers and by allowing the UK Government to become overly focused on 'protecting the NHS' at the cost of care homes and carers."

The figures suggest there is also a poverty gap. In the two year period, men living in the 20% most deprived areas of Northern Ireland could expect to live 74.7 years, seven years less than those living in the 20% least deprived areas.

In contrast, female life expectancy in the 20% most deprived areas was 79.6 years, 4.8 years fewer than women in the 20% least deprived areas.

Decreased mortality rates among 60-89 year olds contributed to the majority of the increase in male life expectancy over the last five years.

Reduced mortality from circulatory disease and cancer, among other causes, increased male life expectancy.

However, these gains were partly offset by increases in mortality from other causes, including non-traffic related accidents and other circulatory illness.

Similar to males, decreased mortality rates among 60-89 year olds contributed considerably to the majority of the increase in female life expectancy over the last five years.

Improvements in female life expectancy, mainly due to reduced mortality from circulatory disease and cancer, increased life expectancy by 0.7 years.

Male healthy life expectancy was 59.2 years, compared to 58.4 years in 2013-15 while for females there was no change at 61.0 years.

Disability-free life expectancy was 57.9 years for males and 58.4 years for females.

Life expectancy at age 65 in 2017-19 was 18.5 years for males and 20.8 years for females.

Pompeo: Biden Administration Ignored China Nuclear Threat When Extending Russia Arms Pact

The Biden administration lost all leverage for convincing Russia to work on bringing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) into a nuclear arms control pact when it extended the New START treaty with Moscow, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview aired on Feb. 4.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Feb. 3 that the United States has extended New START, the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty with Russia, for five years.

The mistake, I think, that was made there, is that while I think weapons agreements are good, strategic weapons agreements are good things if they could be verified adequately, they forgot the most important new nuclear power. The Chinese Communist Party now holds weapons systems and is testing missiles at an alarming rate, Pompeo told Fox News Maria Bartiromo.

Our administration was working to bring the Chinese inside this arms control structure. We were close to doing it at one point. Now the leverage to convince the Russians that they too need to work to bring the Chinese into this structure is all gone, Pompeo said.

In announcing the extension of New START, Blinken said that the administration of President Joe Biden will also pursue arms control to reduce the dangers from Chinas modern and growing nuclear arsenal.

After the United States exited the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia in 2019, Pompeo called on Russia and China to join a multilateral arms control pact. When then-President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the INF, he said he would be open to a new deal that included Beijing.

China has developed a vast arsenal of missiles that the United States and Russia couldnt develop or deploy under the INF, a strategic reality that has concerned the Kremlin and the White House for years. One-third to one-half of Chinas ballistic missile arsenal would violate the INF if Beijing was bound by the INF, according to a U.S. assessment.

The United States attempted to bring China into the INF on at least three occasions, failing each time.

The New START treaty, which came into force in 2011, similarly limits the deployed nuclear arsenal of the United States and Russia as China plays catchup. The treaty caps the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 and the number of deployed nuclear missiles and bombers to 700. The treaty also includes a verification regime that allows both nations to ensure mutual compliance through onsite inspections.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 21:50:05|Editor: huaxia

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HONG KONG, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Arthur Yuen reiterated Thursday that Hong Kong banks have no legal obligation to cooperate with U.S. unilateral sanctions.

Banks should consider the related risk and whether it is fair to their clients, Yuen said at a press conference.

After the United States announced sanctions against some Chinese central government officials and HKSAR officials, the HKMA has said that the U.S. unilateral sanctions are not adopted by the United Nations, thus having no legal effect in Hong Kong.

The HKMA has also informed all recognized institutions in Hong Kong that they should consider the principle of fairness when making the decision on whether or not to provide services for sanctioned individuals and entities. Enditem
Eight crewmen allowed on shore after a month docked in Phuket

PHUKET: Seven Indonesians and one Myanmar crewmen have been given special permission to come ashore and observe a 14-day quarantine on Phuket after spending nearly a month on board a ship docked at the Phuket Deep Sea Port.

immigrationCOVID-19marine

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Thursday 4 February 2021, 05:17PM

The eight crewmen were allowed on shore earlier today (Feb 4). Photo: Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command

The eight crewmen were allowed on shore earlier today (Feb 4). Photo: Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command

The eight crewmen were allowed on shore earlier today (Feb 4). Photo: Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command

The eight crewmen were allowed on shore earlier today (Feb 4). Photo: Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command

The eight crewmen were allowed on shore earlier today (Feb 4). Photo: Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command

The eight crewmen were allowed on shore earlier today (Feb 4). Photo: Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command

Officers from the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command together with representatives from the respective embassies welcomed eight ship crewmen on dry land this morning (Feb 4).

Present to welcome the crewmen at 9am were Vice Admiral Cherngchai Chomcherngpat Commander of the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command base in Phuket, along with Fachry Sulaiman, Consul of the Republic of Indonesia in Songkhla, and Aung Nai representing the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok.

Joining the welcoming committee were officers from Phuket Immigration and the Phuket Customs Office.

The eight crewmen disembarked the Mongolian-registered vessel M.V. Express 6 and were taken to the Metadee Resort and Villas in Karon to observe a 14-day quarantine, the Third Area Command reported.

Vice Admiral Cherngchai explained that the Navy base was alerted on Jan 8 that a foreign vessel had entered Thai territorial waters without permission.

On Jan 9, the ship docked at the Phuket Deep Sea Port at Ao Makham, on Phukets east coast.

The ship was considered suspicious and may have had contraband on board, so I ordered officers to examine the ship, V/Adm Cherngchai explained.

Officers found that there were 18 people on the ship  one Thai captain, six Thai crewmen, seven Indonesians, four Chinese and one Myanmar national, he said.

Initially, they were to face the charge of entering the Kingdom without permission and faced possible customs offenses, V/Adm Cherngchai said.

However, questioning the captain and crew revealed a different scenario, he noted.

The captain told us that the Indonesian and Myanmar crewmen wanted to go back to their home countries because their employment contract had expired. They also felt unsafe, as they had been on the ship for a long time and the ship was planned to go to Somalia [after departing Phuket], he said.

Therefore, the captain asked us to contact their embassies to help them, he added.

On Jan 11, we contacted the Phuket office of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and Phuket Immigration to check their criminal history. They have never been involved in any human trafficking, so we contacted their embassies, V/Adm Chernchai said.

The two embassies contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help the crewmen as a special case and let them quarantine on the island. After the 14 days, they will later be sent back to their home countries, he said.

With the eight cremen now off the ship, the ship will now head to Guangzhou, China, he added.
A refugee family from Syria pictured at their home, in May 2016. They were previously resettled to the United States from Jordan.  UNHCR/Tone Stockenstrom

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, praised President Joe Bidens plan announced today to raise the cap on the number of refugees who could be admitted to the United States, saying it would send a powerful signal to other countries to continue to do the same.

The action today by President Biden will save lives. Its that simple, Grandi said after Biden announced in Washington his intention to raise the ceiling starting this year on the number of refugees who can be admitted for resettlement in the United States.

It also shows that strength is rooted in compassion. It signals that the United States will do its part, as it has historically done, to help the worlds most vulnerable people, including by welcoming them in the United States.

Bidens announcement signaled a reversal of four consecutive years of reductions in U.S. admissions.

Only last week UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warned that the world had resettled the lowest number of refugees in nearly two decades despite record levels of forced displacement. This was in large measure due to the impact of COVID-19.

We applaud the restoration of the US resettlement program, Grandi said. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we remind countries of the life-threatening circumstances that refugees face and encourage them to continue to expand their resettlement programs.

The UN Refugee Agency estimates that of the 20.4 million refugees under its mandate, 1.4 million remain in situations of extreme vulnerability and are in urgent need of resettlement.

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After every road trip with the family, my cars interior ends up looking like a chicken coop. No matter how hard I try to keep it clean, my kid and wife seem to have other plans every time.To get to the seaside, our favorite summer destination, we must drive for about three hours, so I cant stop them from having a snack, but half of my sons biscuits always end up being crumbled all over the back seat.If youre having similar problems or just want to keep your cabin as clean as possible, Chinese tech company Baseus has the perfect solution.Its A2 portable vacuum cleaner is small enough to fit into a cup holder comfortable, yet with a rated power of 5KPa, its strong enough to help you maintain a clean interior.Equipped with a 70W copper alloy motor, it has a dual function that enables it to either suck up debris or blow dust away.According to the manufacturer, the case is made from aircraft-grade alloy, though I seriously doubt that the vacuum looks rustproof and strong enough to be used as a non-lethal weapon in case of an emergency.Nevertheless, the A2 is extremely easy to use, featuring a single on/off button at the bottom of the case; plus, the angled duct design makes it ergonomic Its also fitted with a washable metal three-layer filter, which is a welcome feature since single-use paper filters dont last too long, and a compatible one is often hard to find. To remove it, you just have to unscrew the top suction duct.The best thing about this product is the lack of annoying cables. It uses three lithium-ion batteries with a total capacity of 21.6Wh that can be fully charged in about three and a half hours using a USB 3.0 port. Unfortunately, Baseus says that the device requires a 15V output, so charging it in your car wont be possible.When fully charged, the A2 vacuum cleaner can be used for almost 20 minutes. That is surprising considering that bigger and more expensive portable vacuums drain the batteries more quickly without providing much more suction power.In addition, it comes with a small brush accessory that can be fitted to the suction duct to easily clean air ducts and buttons. That can also be extremely useful for cleaning other stuff like your computers keyboard.Available in three colors, the A2 can be purchased from Amazon for only $50 (without shipping), a price that makes the little vacuum cleaner even more appealing. The manufacturer also offers an 18-month warranty for this product.For those of you who are hesitant about Baseus, I can tell you that they made a name for themselves for the high-quality smartphone accessories they provide. I used several cables, a charger, a pair of gaming joysticks, and a sturdy phone case and was not disappointed by any of these products.

A morning commuter walks in front of the China Central Television (CCTV) building in Beijing on Dec. 2, 2015. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Chinese State Broadcaster CGTN Banned by UK

British officials on Feb. 4 revoked the license of Chinese television outlet CGTN to broadcast in the UK.

CGTN, or China Global Television Network, is an international English-language satellite news channel owned by the Chinese regime and directly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom made the decision (pdf) after it concluded that the license was unlawful, because CGTNs license-holder in the UK, Star China Media Limited (SCML), was the distributor of the CGTN service in the UK, rather than the provider of the service.

Our investigation showed that the license for China Global Television Network is held by an entity which has no editorial control over its programs, a spokesperson for Ofcom said in a statement.

This is a violation of UK broadcasting laws, which stipulate that broadcast licensees must have control over the licensed service, including editorial oversight over the programs they show.

After Ofcom began investigating in February 2020, China Global Television Network Corp. (CGTNC), a Chinese state-owned organization that exercises general control over the CGTN service, applied to transfer the license from SCML to itself.

But Ofcom rejected the application as it considers that CGTNC is controlled by a body which is ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and UK broadcasting laws state that licence holders cannot be controlled by political bodies.

Correspondence from CGTN submitted during the course of our investigation makes clear that CGTNC is controlled by CCTV [China Central Television], which is also the sole shareholder of CGTNC, Ofcom stated.

Given CGTNC is controlled by CCTVwhich, as part of the China Media Group, is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and therefore disqualified from holding a broadcast license under UK broadcasting lawswe consider that CGTNC would be disqualified from holding a license.

The regulator said it had given CGTN significant time to come into compliance with the statutory rules, but those efforts have now been exhausted.

Following careful consideration, taking account of all the facts and the broadcasters and audiences rights to freedom of expression, we have decided it is appropriate to revoke the license for CGTN to broadcast in the UK, it stated.

CGTN has been the subject of a series of Ofcom investigations and is facing further sanctions for violations of broadcasting rules.

In May 2020, the regulator found the network in serious failure of compliance with UK impartiality laws during its coverage of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

A resident is detained by riot police during a rally in Hong Kong, on Nov. 3, 2019. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

In July 2020, Ofcom found CGTN guilty of serious violations of British broadcasting regulations for airing a forced confession extracted from British citizen Peter Humphrey in 2013.

Due to the seriousness of these breaches, we told CGTN that we would consider imposing sanctions, the regulator stated. Todays decision does not affect these sanctions proceedings against CGTN, and we expect to reach our decisions shortly.

According to human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders, CGTN and its Chinese-language counterpart CCTV have aired numerous forced confessions, which amount to known and intentional distortion of facts and clear lies, and violate Ofcoms rules on impartiality and accuracy.

Ofcom stated it has three other ongoing fairness and privacy investigations into CGTN broadcasts.

One of the probes is related to its broadcast of an alleged forced confession from Simon Cheng, a former British Consulate employee in Hong Kong, who was detained for 15 days in August 2019 by mainland Chinese police.
Prosecutors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, filed a motion Wednesday seeking a new arrest warrant for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old who is charged with fatally shooting two people during protests last summer. Prosecutors say the teenager facing murder charges moved without notifying authorities. One of the conditions of Rittenhouses $2 million bond, allowing for his pretrial release, is that he report to the court any change in address or phone number within 48 hours of the change. Rittenhouse, who drove from his home in Illinois to Kenosha in August*, is awaiting trial on murder charges for the deaths of two people who were protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouses lawyer said in a motion that the teenager had moved to an undisclosed safe house due to unspecified death threats. The Kenosha County District Attorneys Office is asking the court to rearrest Rittenhouse and increase his bail by another $200,000.

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The impunity with which Rittenhouse has acted while waiting to be tried for murder is galling and, predictably, has made him a cause celebre on the far right. Since being released, the teenager has been photographed drinking with members of the far-right Proud Boys, a white nationalist group that this week was declared a terrorist organization in Canada. Rittenhouse has flouted the terms of his release, which was enabled by a far-right internet fundraising campaign that cobbled together millions to post the bond. The funding for his release, in which the Rittenhouse family has no financial stake, creates minimal incentive to comply with his bond conditions, prosecutors say. That, coupled with the long length of the punishment for his alleged crime, makes it hard to impose any smaller sanction to ensure pretrial compliance. Prosecutors also said a defendant on trial for first-degree murder being granted pretrial release is almost unheard of. Rarely does our community see accused murderers roaming about freely, the prosecutors state in their motion.

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Lawyers for Rittenhouse say they were told by police to withhold their whereabouts despite court orders to ensure the alleged murderers safety. Prosecutors told the court that Rittenhouses whereabouts were currently unknown after a recent notice could not be delivered to his court-listed address in Antioch, Illinois. When police attempted to deliver the notice, a new occupant of the house said he had been there since mid-December. Rittenhouse is facing charges of first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide, among others, for the August shooting deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - After leading President Donald Trumps defense during last months U.S. House impeachment vote over Trumps role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan will cheer Trump on from the sidelines when U.S. Senate begins its own Trump trial on Feb. 8.

Attorneys David Schoen and Bruce Castor will handle Trumps official Senate defense against a charge of incitement of insurrection, and Jordan will argue Trumps case in the media.

While Congressman Jordan will not play an official role in the Democrats ridiculous impeachment trial on the Senate floor, he will make the case to acquit President Trump across numerous local and national media appearances, said a spokesman for Jordan, of Champaign County, the top House Judiciary Committee Republican.

During last months House proceedings that ended with a 232-197 vote to impeach Trump, Jordan declared the prosecution was all about politics and getting the President of the United States. By Jordans reckoning , Democrats began trying to impeach Trump just 19 minutes into his presidential term and didnt stop even as he was about to leave office.

We should be focused on bringing the nation together, Jordan said on the House of Representatives floor. Instead, Democrats are going to impeach the president for a second time, one week before he leaves office ... Its not just about impeachment anymore, its about canceling, as Ive said, canceling the president and anyone that disagrees with them.

Since the House voted to impeach Trump, Jordan has made regular television appearances to continue his arguments that the Democrats have been obsessed with impeaching Trump since he began his presidency. He says they wont prevail in the upcoming Senate trial just as they didnt prevail last year when Trump was tried on charges of abusing his power and obstructing Congress after an inquiry into allegations that Trump asked Ukraines president to help his 2020 re-election bid by investigating Joe Bidens son. The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump on those charges.

In a recent FoxNews interview, Jordan said there are strong constitutional arguments against impeaching Trump this time around that include the fact that hes already left office. Because Trump is no longer president, Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, who serves as the institutions president pro tempore, will preside over the trial instead of Chief U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.

How can you remove a president from office whos already left? Jordan asked.

Jordan also said Trump was denied due process because there were no subpoenas, no depositions, no witnesses, no hearings, no cross examination, unlike the previous impeachment effort which lasted for weeks. He cited a colleagues quip that this was impeachment by reflex, with just two hours of debate in the House of Representatives.

Jordan also insists the facts arent on Democrats side.

How do you incite a riot that had been, you know, already planned, that was planned the day before? Jordan asked. How do you incite a riot when the President said, peacefully and patriotically, go to the Capitol and make your voices heard? So, the facts arent on their side. The Constitution is not on their side and theres been no due process for the President of the United States.

As precedent for pursuing impeachment of a former officeholder, Democrats cite the 1876 Senate impeachment trial of former Secretary of War William W. Belknap. They say convicting Trump would block him from holding public office in the future, and argue that a lengthy investigation wasnt needed because Trumps repeated false claims that we won this election and we won it by a landslide, and his telling the crowd if you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore, foreseeably resulted in lawless action at the Capitol.

The Constitution governs the first day of the Presidents term, the last day, and every moment in between, said an impeachment brief that House Democrats filed at the Senate. Presidents do not get a free pass to commit high crimes and misdemeanors near the end of their term. The Framers of our Constitution feared more than anything a President who would abuse power to remain in office against the will of the electorate. Allowing Presidents to subvert elections without consequence would encourage the most dangerous of abuses.

No one is above the law, not even a president of the United States, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California told a Capitol Hill press conference. And Trump must be tried and convicted to ensure that no future president will ever think its OK to incite insurrection.

Read more:

Rep. Bob Gibbs gives thumbs up to border fence, thumbs down to Capitol Hill security fence

Rocky River Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez gets flak for voting to impeach President Donald Trump but doesnt regret taking a stand

Sen. Rob Portman hopes for coronavirus compromise with Biden administration

Nina Turner takes big fundraising lead in congressional race to succeed Marcia Fudge; her donors include actress Susan Sarandon and entrepreneur Andrew Yang

Sherrod Brown hopes Senate can pass $15 hourly minimum wage and coronavirus aid for local governments with or without Republican support

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan wont run for U.S. Senate next year

Senators grill Ohios Rep. Marcia Fudge at her confirmation hearing to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Sen. Rob Portman backs measure to question constitutionality of impeaching former President Donald Trump

Rob Portman talks about his future plans and whats ahead for the Republican Party

Sen. Rob Portman announces he wont seek re-election

U.S. Capitol riot prompts Democrat Jeff Sites to seek Rep. Jim Jordans congressional seat

Ohio Congress members at President Joe Bidens inauguration hope for new era of cooperation

Several Ohio Congress members will skip Joe Bidens inauguration amid unprecedented security measures
India on Wednesday said it encouraged the continued engagement and cooperation between and the UN-backed Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) towards an early resolution of all outstanding issues.

Speaking at a open video teleconference discussion in the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, India''s Deputy Permanent Representative-Political Coordinator to the UN R Ravindra, reiterated New Delhi's consistent call for the need for an impartial and objective investigation into any alleged use of chemical weapons.

" India has consistently underlined the need for an impartial and objective investigation into any alleged use of chemical weapons, scrupulously following the provisions and procedures laid down in the Convention," he said.

"Any concerns should be addressed on the basis of consultation among all concerned parties. In our view, the politicization of the issue will result in parties taking extreme positions, jeopardizing the ongoing efforts towards any resolution," he added.

The Indian envoy also expressed that New Delhi remains concerned about the possibility of dangerous weapons falling into the hands of terrorist organisations.

"Terrorist groups have taken advantage of the decade long conflict in to entrench themselves posing a threat to the entire region. Reports of the resurgence of ISIS in the region are being heard with increasing frequency. The world cannot afford to give these terrorists any sanctuary or dilute its fight against these terrorist groups," Ravindra said.

He added, "India has consistently called for a comprehensive and peaceful resolution of the Syrian conflict through a Syrian-led dialogue, taking into account the legitimate aspirations of the people of We have also contributed to the return of normalcy and rebuilding of Syria through humanitarian assistance and human resource development. We now stand ready to work with humanitarian relief agencies in devising a suitable vaccination relief programme for the country and the West Asia as a whole."

Ravindra stated that India attaches high importance to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which serves as a model for the elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.

He said further, under the convention, India enjoys the unique distinction of becoming the First State Party to be declared 'chemical weapon-free' state Party.

He also pointed out, "India has provided a financial contribution of USD one million to the OPCW Trust Fund for activities relating to the destruction of chemical stockpiles and related facilities in Syria."

The envoy reiterated India's "full-hearted support" to both the Geneva and the Astana processes for an expeditious resolution of the decade long conflict in Syria.

He also thanked the Under Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu for her briefing and said India recognizes the continuing efforts of the Declaration Assessment Team (DAT), the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) and the Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) mechanisms of the OPCW.

"We appreciate the announcement that DAT intends to deploy to the Syrian Arab Republic in early February 2021 for the next round of consultations and look forward to receiving their findings," he said.

In 2014, the OPCW set up the fact-finding mission to establish the truth about the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Healthy oceans need healthy soundscapes

Oceans were once filled with the sounds of nature, but overfishing, climate change and human noise have fundamentally changed the natural underwater "soundtrack", researchers say.

A global team of scientists, including six experts from three UK institutions, has documented how ocean soundscapes have changed, explored all impacts of noise on marine animals and ecosystems, and identified ways to restore a more natural soundscape.

The team set out to understand how human-made noise affects wildlife, from invertebrates to whales, and found overwhelming evidence of negative impacts on behaviour, physiology and reproduction  causing death in extreme cases.

They call for this issue to be considered a global threat to marine ecosystems, and for policy to be developed to limit its effects.

The review, led by Professor Carlos Duarte at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and published in the journal Science, shines a light on the global impacts of ocean noise.

Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have made the planet, the oceans in particular, noisier through fishing, shipping, infrastructure development and more, while also silencing the sounds from marine animals that dominated the pristine ocean," Professor Duarte said.

Professor Steve Simpson, of the University of Exeter, said: Many marine habitats are under threat from increased cyclones, ocean warming, overfishing and pollution, devastating the communities of animals that generate natural soundscapes, and robbing future generations of marine animals of the cues they use to find and select suitable places to live.

"The call of home is no longer audible to fish, crabs, clams and corals in many ecosystems.

Today's marine environment, according to the researchers, is polluted by man-made acoustic phenomena, and should therefore be restored along "sonic dimensions", as well as along more traditional chemical and climatic ones.

However, current frameworks to improve ocean health ignore the need to mitigate noise as a pre-requisite for a healthy ocean.

Sound travels far, and quickly, underwater  and marine animals are sensitive to sound, which they use to inform many aspects of their behaviour and ecology.

The ocean soundscape is one of the most important sources of information for marine animals, explains Professor Andy Radford, of the University of Bristol.

So we hope that our study will prompt management actions to reduce man-made noise levels in the ocean, thereby allowing marine animals to re-establish full use of their acoustic world.

Dr Harry Harding, also of the University of Bristol, added: We assessed the evidence contained in more than 10,000 papers to amass compelling evidence that man-made noise impacts marine life, from plankton to whales, in a whole suite of ways spanning physiology and behaviour to survival and reproduction.

Dr Lucille Chapuis, of the University of Exeter, said: This unprecedented effort, bringing together an international coalition of the willing from across the marine acoustics community, showcases overwhelming evidence for the prevalence of impacts of human-induced noise on marine animals, highlighting the need for taking urgent action."

The collaboration involved 25 scientists from Saudi Arabia, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Norway, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The deep, dark ocean is conceived as a distant, remote ecosystem, even by marine scientists, Professor Duarte said

However, as I was listening, years ago, to a hydrophone recording acquired 1km underwater off the US West Coast, I was surprised to hear the clear sound of rain falling on the surface as the dominant sound in the deep-sea ocean environment.

"I then realised how acoustically connected the ocean surface, where most human noise is generated, is to the deep sea; just 1,000 m, less than one second apart!"

Dr Nathan Merchant, of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, said: "In this comprehensive review, we demonstrate that to recover the health of the worlds oceans, we need to turn down the volume on human noise pollution.

Our study identifies relatively easy ways to achieve this, from modifying ship propellers to using bubble curtains when building offshore windfarms.

"Policymakers can implement these measures by setting binding targets and providing economic incentives.

Dr Tim Gordon, of the University of Exeter, added: Deploying these mitigation actions is a low-hanging fruit as  unlike many other forms of human pollution, such as emissions of chemical pollutants and greenhouse gases  the effects of noise pollution cease upon reducing the noise, so the benefits are immediate.

The study points at the rapid response of marine animals to the human lockdown under COVID-19 as evidence for the potential rapid recovery from noise pollution.

Using sounds gathered from around the globe, multimedia artist, and co-author of the study, Jana Winderen created a six-minute audio track that demonstrates both the peaceful calm, and the devastatingly jarring, acoustic aspects of life for marine animals.
President John Magufuli yesterday urged the Judiciary and the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to amend laws and remove those he termed as furthering colonial systems by requiring judgments to be written in English.

Dr Magufuli, who was speaking after inaugurating a newly appointed Court of Appeal justice in Dodoma, he said the laws should be changed to allow judgments to be written in Kiswahili, which is the national language.

Justice Zephrine Nyalugenda Galeba, who a High Court judge, was promoted to the Court of Appeal on Law Day on Monday.

The Head of State promoted the judge who wrote a judgment in Kiswahili last year as a gesture of appreciation for developing the language. "English is not widely known by Tanzanians and so, judgments should be written in Kiswahili for ordinary people to understand," he argued during the function.

"The arguments that Kiswahili has no enough vocabulary are baseless because by 1999 a team of lawyers had already issued a Kiswahili law dictionary. Many people and institutions are using Kiswahili in and outside Tanzania," he said.

"These colonial systems in the Judiciary should be changed by amending the laws," he added.

During the function at State House, he congratulated the promoted judge, Justice Galeba, and asked him to work confidently in accordance with the country's laws and regulations.

The event was also attended by the Chief Justice, Prof Ibrahim Juma, Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Mwigulu Nchemba, State House permanent Secretary Moses Kusiluka and several other judges among many other participants.

Dr Magufuli also expressed his disappointment with the delays in employing 200 judicial workers whose employment permits has already been approved.

The event marked the start of activities at the Chamwino State house after a break.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 17:04:00|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Thursday released a new judicial interpretation of China's revised Criminal Procedure Law to apply it accurately and effectively.

Apart from specifying the fast-track sentencing procedure, the new interpretation elaborates on procedures for default judgment and the hearing of cases in which the defendants plead guilty, according to the SPC.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the revised Criminal Procedure Law in October 2018, the third revision after the law was promulgated in 1979. Enditem
Yelp is the latest tech company moving to downsize its headquarters in San Francisco, as the coronavirus pandemic and shift to remote work reshapes the local economy.

Most of the business-reviews companys 161,876-square-foot lease at 140 New Montgomery St. expires in October, and the entire space has been listed as available.

Once its safe to return to our offices, we plan to continue to operate with a significant portion of our team working remotely on a full-time basis, or for part of the week, the company said, which would reduce Yelps need for office space. We plan to continue to maintain our presence in the locations where we currently have offices, including our headquarters in San Francisco, it added.

The San Francisco Business Times first reported the leased spaces availability.

Other companies such as Twitter, Levi Strauss and Dropbox have listed part of their headquarters space for sublease. Yelp is also reportedly seeking to sublease office space in Chicago and New York, urban centers that have also been hit by the pandemic.

Yelp, which makes money by selling marketing services to the small businesses its customers review, was among the first companies to conduct mass layoffs during the pandemic last April, cutting 1,000 jobs and furloughing another 1,100 employees, most of whom were recalled months later. The company had around 6,000 employees before the cuts.

The Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Building, the 1924 tower that serves as Yelp's headquarters, was the first major high-rise building in South of Market. Yelp signed a lease in 2012 with the encouragement of then-Mayor Ed Lee and tax credits, part of a broader City Hall effort to entice numerous tech companies to grow as the city recovered from the 2008 recession, and moved into the building in 2013. The company has a smaller office two blocks away, at 55 Hawthorne St.

Interactive Vaccine Tracker: Latest developments Detailed information about the coronavirus vaccines as it becomes available.

The citys tech boom became an obstacle for Yelp and other firms, as the cost of living made it harder to recruit. Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman backed pro-housing groups and legislation with mixed success, and the company expanded in lower-cost cities like Phoenix.

Yelp will report fourth-quarter earnings next week. From July to September, the company reported a loss of $1 million. Revenue was $221 million, down 16% from the prior year but up 31% from the previous quarter.

Yelps third-quarter results demonstrate our businesss considerable resilience, Stoppelman said in a statement in November.

Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf
In The Bible & Ancient Science and his other books Denis Lamoureux argues that the ancient cosmology and phenomenology is incidental to the text. The Bible makes statements about nature. In these statements, the message lies in spiritual truths not in the phenomenological perspective. For example, when the sun is described as rising and setting, we envision the earth spinning giving the appearance of solar motion. However, the ancient audience viewed a luminous object moving across a vault. The use of such phenomenological language is incidental to the message of the text. It isn't important whether the earth spins or the sun moves.

I have posted a number of times on this idea that the science is incidental. You can find discussions in posts on some of Denis's other books here: Science is Incidental or Evolutionary Creation 6 or No Historical Adam?. Denis has found that this concept raises an important question for many of his students. Quoting from p. 50:

If the science in the Bible is an ancient human understanding of nature, then is this also the case with the spiritual truths in Scripture?

Are we not being inconsistent if we reject the ancient phenomenological perspective of the world in the Bible but accept the spiritual truths?

Denis suggests that the strongest argument for the truth of the spiritual message of Scripture is the simple fact that the message has stood the test of time. Here we are some 3000 years after the time of David, 2000 years after the time of Jesus and the journeys of Paul, studying and learning from their words and deeds. Think about it. Are you a Christian because the Bible contains accurate statements about modern cosmology or the age of the universe or even the origin of species? I expect that there are some people who would answer yes, but for most of us, the answer is no

Denis writes:

Moreover, what is quite remarkable about the Bible is that God began to reveal himself to humanity through a small and insignificant tribal nation like Israel and not a major civilization such as the Mesopotamians. Jesus then used twelve mostly uneducated men as disciples to preach the gospel that he died for the sins of men and women. The Lord did not employ the powerful Romans or Greeks. If the biblical messages of faith were merely ancient human ideas of irrelevant and inconsequential ancient people, then they should have disappeared along with these small communities and never gained prominence around the world. However, the spiritual truths in the Bible are "alive and active" (Heb. 4:12), and they have deeply struck human souls throughout history and continue to do so today. ... It is not the ancient scientific idea of a 3-tier universe that has led you to a personal relationship with Jesus. Rather it is the eternal and inerrant spiritual truth that Jesus is Lord of the entire world that has powerfully changed your life. (p. 52)

Some will argue that our confidence in these spiritual truths can only be founded on the existence of a perfectly inerrant text (in the original monographs at least). This seems to me to be flipping things around. The Bible serves to faithfully reveal God's nature and purpose in the world, but our faith is founded on God himself and his relationship with his creation. It is this message that has survived through the ages. The incidental use of an ancient phenomenological perspective does nothing the undermine this message.

Thoughts?

If you wish to contact me directly you may do so at rjs4mail[at]att.net

If you would like to comment on this post, you may do so at Musings on Science and Theology.
Washington [US], February 4 (ANI): The United States on Wednesday (local time) came out in support of India's new farm laws, saying it welcomes steps that would "improve the efficiency" of Indian markets and attract greater private sector investment.

Reacting on the ongoing farm protests in India, a State Department spokesperson said that Washington recognizes that "peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy", adding that differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue.

"We recognize that peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy, and note that the Indian Supreme Court has stated the same," the spokesperson said.

"We encourage that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue. In general, the United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment," the spokesperson added.

Farmers have been protesting on the borders of Delhi since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws: Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

On January 26, violence broke out during the farmer tractor rally on the occasion of Republic Day.

Protestors broke barricades to enter Delhi and indulged in vandalism across several parts of the capital during their tractor rally organised to protest against the Centre's three new farm laws.

On January 22, during the 11th round of talks with protesting farmers, the government proposed to suspend the new legislations for one-and-a-half years and also proposed to set up a joint committee to discuss the Acts.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
You have permission to edit this article.

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Macedonia CDC Receives Grant to Support Business Accelerator Program

Macedonia Community Development Corporation announced a $150,000 grant from the Amgen Foundation on Jan. 26, to support its Watts Entrepreneur Business Accelerator (WEBA) program.

The program provides technical assistance and access to capital to entrepreneurs and existing businesses in Watts and surrounding communities as well as businesses that hire Watts residents.

The generous support of the Amgen Foundation allows us to continue meeting the needs of local entrepreneurs and equipping them to be successful, said the Rev. Shane Scott, Macedonia CDC Chairman/CEO and pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in the Watts area of Los Angeles.

ADVERTISEMENT

This is a great example of how our partnerships with public and private entities benefit Watts and directly advance historically marginalized communities.

Through WEBA, entrepreneurs gain skills and access to resources that are required to build sustainable businesses and communities. The program provides in-depth business counseling, classroom training, and peer-to-peer learning and covers areas such as business plan development, marketing, permits and licensing, web development and more.

Macedonia CDC is playing an important role in addressing economic inequality by focusing on providing the support that is required for entrepreneurs to thrive, said Eduardo Cetlin, Amgen Foundation president.

When people have access to these critical business resources, they become empowered to seize opportunities. I look forward to seeing the companies that this program will launch and grow.

Macedonia CDC launched the WEBA program in 2017. One-on-one technical assistance is available Monday through Friday. To learn more, visit macedoniacdc.org.
VICTORIA - The British Columbia government is introducing a new grant program to support small and medium-sized businesses in expanding or pivoting to online sales.

Local NDP candidate Ravi Kahlon listens as Leader John Horgan speaks to supporters during a campaign stop in Surrey, B.C., on May 8, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

VICTORIA - The British Columbia government is introducing a new grant program to support small and medium-sized businesses in expanding or pivoting to online sales.

Ravi Kahlon, minister of jobs, economic recovery and innovation, said Wednesday the government is spending $12 million to help about 1,500 businesses launch or upgrade online stores.

"COVID has shifted the way we do business and the way consumers consume. And so it's critically important that we, as a province, support our businesses in that shift," Kahlon said.

The grants will provide business owners with up to $7,500 each and comes from the $1.5-billion Stronger BC funding announced in September. A portion of the funding will be reserved for Indigenous businesses.

Kahlon acknowledged during a news conference that there have been delays in getting some previously announced support funding out the door for small and medium-sized businesses.

Only about $12 million of the $300-million recovery grant program introduced in October has been distributed, he said.

In December, the government eased requirements for struggling businesses applying for the recovery grants. It expanded eligibility to seasonal and temporarily closed businesses, and reduced the required length of time that a business had to be operating to 18 months from three years.

On Wednesday, Kahlon said the government has received about 4,000 new applications in recent weeks, more than 60 per cent of which come from the beleaguered tourism sector.

The remaining delay is due to a two-step process that requires applicants to first submit a recovery plan before they are approved for funding, he said.

Todd Stone, the B.C. Liberal critic for jobs, economic recovery and innovation, said the new e-commerce funding is too little too late.

"We have little confidence in the timely delivery of this program announced by the NDP today as they continue to bungle and botch support for small businesses," Stone said in a statement.

"Why launch a new program while the majority of funds for the existing Small and Medium-Sized Business Recovery Grant program are still stuck in the NDP's hands as the March 31 deadline to get them out the door approaches?" he said.

The B.C. government says the program runs until March 31 or until the funds are fully allocated, whichever comes first.

Kahlon promised that none of the funds would go to waste. The government has had to be flexible as new challenges and "pressure points" arise during the pandemic, he said.

"We'll continue to look at where the pressure points are in our economy," Kahlon said.

Amy Hall, founder of Goldilocks Wraps, said the pandemic forced her business to make a drastic shift to e-commerce. The company, which makes beeswax alternative to plastic wrap, had a small online presence at the outset of the pandemic. In 2020, online sales comprised almost all of its revenue, she said.

"Having an online presence has gone from being an added bonus to an absolute necessity."

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade counted 4,380 fewer active businesses in the region by the end of 2020 since the start of the pandemic in a recent analysis. Between December 2019 and December 2020, the region lost 40,700 jobs, it said.

 By Amy Smart in Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2021.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 02:50:32|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Information Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has lodged stern representations with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Beijing office over its COVID-19-related fake news, according to a statement released on the ministry's website on Thursday.

The statement said that the BBC aired the fake news on Jan. 29.

According to the statement, the BBC video linked COVID-19 with politics and once again hyped topics of "covering up" the epidemic and the virus' origin.

The BBC also aired a video clip of anti-terrorism drills as news coverage of "violent law enforcement and human rights violations" by China's epidemic prevention authorities.

"This is fake news with typical ideological bias, which has resulted in a vile impact," the statement said.

The Chinese side urged the BBC and its Beijing office to take China's stance seriously and take earnest measures to undo the report's vile impact, said the statement.

The BBC and its Beijing office should also make a public apology to China over the fake news, abandon its ideological bias, and stop deliberately smearing and attacking China. The BBC should follow work ethics, and carry out China-related news reporting in an objective, balanced and fair manner, the statement said.

"China reserves the right to take further measures," it said. Enditem



Her beloved cat Clive is often the focus of her social media posts.

So Kate Beckinsale didn't hold back when a troll accused her of trying too hard to be 'eccentric' with her latest feline-themed snap.

Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, the 47-year-old actress shared a hilarious snap cradling her pet puss in a baby sling that she captioned: 'is Canada ready tho [sic]'.

Hilarious: Kate Beckinsale didn't hold back when a troll accused her of trying too hard to be 'eccentric' with her latest feline-themed post holding Clive in a baby sling

Although the post garnered more than 100,000 likes and praise from her celebrity pals, Kate did find herself under fire from trolls.

As one commented: 'You pride yourself on being eccentric, the whole thing smacks of to much effort', Kate clapped back in reference to their profile picture, 'omg its too funny you saying that with that hair do'.

Another follower compared Kate to fictional supernatural villain Slender Man, commenting: 'U shape like a sexy slender man'.

Taking the backhanded compliment in her stride, the actress quipped: 'literally what I was aiming for'.

Clapping back: Although the post garnered more than 100,000 likes and praise from her celebrity pals, Kate did find herself under fire from trolls

Much of lockdown has seen Kate tickle fans with her hilarious posts, with many starring Clive.

The Underworld star also regularly features her other cat Willow, and her Pomerian pooch Myth.

In November, Kate was left 'heartbroken' when her 11-year-old Maltese-Chihuahua Ingrid died.

Paying tribute to the pup, she shared a sweet picture cradling her pet, captioned: 'Ingrid 2009-2020. Heartbroken. She fought so hard for months. Fly safe our sweetest sweetest girl.'

Fur babies: Much of lockdown has seen Kate tickle fans with her hilarious posts, with many starring Clive, her other cat Willow, and her Pomerian pooch Myth

Kate will next be seen on screens in Jolt, an action-comedy about a homicidal bouncer with an anger management problem that she controls with the help of an electrode-lined vest she uses to shock herself back to normalcy.

The Tanya Wexler directed film also stars Bobby Cannavale, Laverne Cox and Stanley Tucci and is expected to be released next year.

Kate will also star in El Tonto an upcoming comedy film written and directed by Charlie Day, that follows a silent character who becomes an accidental celebrity only to lose it all.
ST. PAUL, Minn.  The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) says it has filed a lawsuit against The Interchange Wine & Coffee Bistro in Albert Lea.

MDH says it sent a notice of license suspension to The Interchange in December 2020, giving the business 20 days to request a hearing. MDH says it received no such request and suspended The Interchanges restaurant license, but filed a lawsuit on January 27 claiming the business continue to provide food and drink.

Our preference is always to work with facilities to bring them into compliance, but we owe it to the vast majority of businesses that follow the rules to have accountability for those who do not, says MDH Assistant Commissioner Dan Huff. The public depends upon the licensing of bars and restaurants as a basic public health measure, which is why the legislature requires that bars and restaurants have an active license in order to serve the public. With the added risks of COVID-19 transmission, it is even more critical to ensure all establishments are in compliance.

The Interchange is also facing a 5-year liquor license revocation from the Minnesota Department of Safety and a separate lawsuit from the Minnesota Attorney Generals Office, all over alleged violations of Governors Walz COVID safety rules.


Amboseli children celebrate food drop I founded Elephant Cooperation in 2016 with a focus to save the African elephants while feeding and educating children and their communities, supporting rangers and increasing public awareness.

This past Saturday Elephant Cooperation, a 501(c)3 started by Orange County based entrepreneur Scott Struthers, delivered its first in a series of monthly food drops to the hunger-stricken community of Amboseli, Kenya. In 2021, as part of a new initiative, called Elephants to the Rescue, Elephant Cooperation will distribute $100,000 of food to over 2,500 people living in Amboseli and Marsabit.

I founded Elephant Cooperation in 2016 with a focus to save the African elephants while feeding and educating children and their communities, supporting rangers and increasing public awareness, said Struthers, Founder of Elephant Cooperation. These series of food drops will occur monthly throughout 2021 to help rangers and their families who are instrumental to reducing wildlife poaching.

Elephants are threatened by extinction and over the last several decades the population of African elephants has experienced a steady decline. Wildlife poaching has been further exacerbated by COVID-19 and the negative impact to income coming from tourism.

Life in Africa has been drastically disrupted by Covid-19 and there is extreme food insecurity in these Kenyan wildlife villages, said Patrick Igunza, a Kenya-based journalist who supports Elephant Cooperation conservation efforts. Both the people and elephants are suffering now more than ever. By feeding the children, families and rangers who fight wildlife poaching, we know we are making a difference.

Elephant Cooperation, in conjunction with Ramgarhia Youth Association (RYA), will manage and deliver sacks full of grains, legumes and corn meal to these struggling wildlife communities. This weekend, the Marsabit community will receive their first delivery of food.

We are so happy to receive relief from our friends at the Elephant Cooperation, said Joel Tumuke, Chief of Inchurra Village, Amboseli, Kenya. We thank them very much and are so appreciative of their efforts.

Struthers hopes to continue Elephants to the Rescue into 2022 through this years fundraisers.

For anyone interested in supporting Elephant Cooperation, please donate here: https://www.elephantcooperation.com/donate

About Elephant Cooperation:

Founded in 2016 with the mission of saving the African elephant before it is too late, Elephant Cooperation is a unique 501(c)3 focused on finding and funding the most effective ways to help elephants and the communities living near them. Our motto is No Poverty, No Poaching." For more information please visit: https://www.elephantcooperation.com

Media Images & Video for use here.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 01:02:18|Editor: huaxia

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ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday disclosed it has not received 56 percent of 18.8 million U.S. dollars it requires to meet the needs of women and children in Eritrea.

In a Humanitarian Situation report, the UNICEF states that it needs 18.8 million U.S. dollars to meet the nutrition, health and education needs of women and children in the Red Sea nation.

UNICEF disclosed the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced resources and efforts to be redirected to fight the ongoing pandemic in Eritrea, often at the expense of other equally important needs.

UNICEF also disclosed the Red Sea nation has been doubly affected by harsh climatic conditions, which makes communities in high-risk areas, particularly pregnant women and children under five, more susceptible to socio-economic shocks and food and nutrition insecurity.

Eritrea has as of Wednesday morning recorded 2,267 confirmed COVID-19 cases and seven COVID-19 related deaths.

Eritrea confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on March 21. Since then, the Eritrean government has implemented a series of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.

These include a nationwide lockdown, ban on all non-essential local and international flights as well as banning various trading activities and transactions during the lockdown period. Enditem
[February 04, 2021] Alphageneron Pharmaceuticals Signed Exclusive License Agreement With Multimmune GmbH For Natural Killer Cell Platform Therapy Worldwide

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alphageneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Alphageneron) signed an Exclusive License Agreement with Multimmune GmbH, of Munich, Germany, (Multimmune) on October 1st, 2020, for its clinical stage autologous Natural Killer (NK) cell therapy and companion diagnostic platform, for all fields worldwide. The autologous NK cell therapy redirects a patients NK cells to target a cell membrane form of Heat Shock Protein 70 (Hsp70) which has been discovered to be highly expressed on many cancer cells, but not on healthy cells. NK cells are harvested from the patients blood, activated ex vivo with a synthetic Hsp70 peptide and IL-2 and administered back to the patient. A Phase I clinical trial in twelve (12) patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) completed in Germany showed the autologous NK cell therapy was safe, and had promising signs of efficacy. A Phase IIa (randomized, controlled) clinical trial with fourteen (14) patients with Stage IIIb inoperable NSCLC after radio-chemotherapy completed in Germany has reported five (5) of 7 patients (71%) treated with the NK cell therapy to show promising signs of clinical benefit, including a complete response, and a partial response. Only 2 of 7 patients (28%) in the Control group showed positive clinical responses to radio-chemotherapy alone. A Companion Diagnostic using proprietary monoclonal antibodies was used to select patients with tumors expressing membrane Hsp70. We are delighted to have entered this license agreement with Alphageneron, which will advance our NK ell therapy into more extensive clinical trials, and commercialization, said Graham Pockley, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Multimmune. The potential for this NK cell therapy to treat a large range of aggressive cancers is a revolutionary breakthrough, said Robert K. Brooks, JD, Chief Executive Officer of Alphageneron Pharmaceuticals.



Under the terms of the Exclusive License Agreement, Alphageneron is obligated to pay Multimmune a confidential amount in developmental and regulatory milestones, plus post-commercialization royalties. On July 6, 2020, Alphageneron entered into an Exclusive Option to Purchase agreement with Multimmune. On July 7, 2020, Alphageneron and Multimmune signed a Collaboration Agreement to repurpose its NK cell therapy platform for treating SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19). About Multimmune

Multimmune GmbH is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in Munich, Germany that has developed a proprietary Hsp70 targeted platform to redirect NK cells to treat cancer. Its Co-Founder, and Co-Sponsor, Gabriele Multhoff PhD, is a Professor at the Technische Universitat Munchen. About Alphageneron Alphageneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing cell and gene therapies. Alphageneron is developing cancer immunotherapies using autologous NK cells, Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cells, allogeneic off the shelf NK cells, CAR NK cells, and antibody engagers. The company has a seasoned team of biopharmaceutical executives, scientists and clinicians in the United States. Contact us at: info@Alphageneron.com Statements in this message that are not based on historical or current facts, and constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although Alphageneron believes that expectations conveyed by the forward-looking statements are reasonable based on the information available to it on the date such statements were made, no assurances can be given as to the future results, approvals or achievements. Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, and should assume the Company has no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law.



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Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy met in an intense face-to-face mediation on Zoom today as they attempted to settle their high-profile dispute.

The warring pair were accompanied by their lawyers on the second day of mediation as they attempt to find an agreement without having to go to court.

The mediation hearing started on Wednesday and was overseen by an expert mediator, believed to be a senior barrister whose identity is confidential.

Proceedings began with both sides reading out a statement and then breaking off into separate virtual rooms as the mediator spoke to the Wags and their legal representatives independently.

This morning, Rebekah was seen smiling while heading to her Dancing on Ice rehearsal today before coming face-to-face with Coleen on Zoom. The pair previously met face to fact at the World Cup in 2018.

The Wag, dressed in black leggings and pink jacket with her hair swept back, looked happy and relaxed before the three-hour training session, after which she is believed to have gone straight home for the mediation.

Rebekah Vardy, dressed in black leggings and pink jacket with her hair swept back, was seen smiling today as she took part in a rehearsal for ITV's Dancing on Ice (left). On the right is Coleen Rooney at a local coffee shop in Cheshire

Vardy and Rooney celebrate England's win against Wales at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens, France

A source close to the pair told The Sun: 'Coleen is refusing to apologise and is keen to settle this out of court.

'Shes made it clear to her team that this is all just a huge waste of money in her eyes and that they could resolve it with a statement and a donation to charity. She wants proper mediation.

'Becky however is adamant shes not done anything wrong and wants an apology, along with the posts put on social media by Coleen deleted.'

The insider added that today's meeting ended at an impasse, with both sides failing to come to a resolution.

They also said that the pair will have another set of talks in the coming weeks.

Today's mediation was ordered by a High Court judge at the start of the libel trial last November, with both women given a deadline of 8 February to try and reach agreement.

If they remain in deadlock, then the matter will be settled at a full trial expected to take place later this year.

Rebekah, 38, launched a 1m High Court libel action after Coleen, 34 accused her in an Instagram post more than a year ago of being the source of leaks to the media.

The mediation is set to finish today with both sides then expected to release statements revealing if an agreement has been reached or not.

Going into this week's crunch talks, it was revealed that Coleen has handed Rebekah an 'olive branch' and made her an offer to 'agree to disagree' as they head into mediation.

If accepted, the last-minute peace deal would see both parties make a substantial donation to charity.

They would also pay their own legal costs, a move known in legal circles as a 'drop hands' settlement.

Accusation: Vardy was accused by her former friend of leaking false stories about her personal life to the media last year

The row between the high-profile Wags erupted after Coleen revealed that she had set a trap to see who was responsible for them, which earned her the nickname 'Wagatha Christie' as the row between the two Wags simmered, culminating in legal action.

In November, the High Court ruled Coleen's post 'clearly identified' Becky as being 'guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust' - but minutes later she hit back with a statement via her representative, saying she was 'keen' to hear what her rival has to say in court.

The ruling related to the wording in the final sentence of the post, with the former reality star claiming she simply referred to Becky's Instagram account.

But the judge said an ordinary reader would not take the word 'account' to 'indicate that she remains in doubt about who the wrongdoer was'.

He also disagreed with her claim that using multiple ellipses in the final line diluted the meaning.

This means the court has no doubt as to who the accusation was made against - Becky - which will be a consideration if the libel case goes to trial this year.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Warby said Coleen's message was 'a considered post, using wording composed with some care', adding: 'It would be clear to the ordinary reader from the outset that it was meant seriously and intended to convey a message of some importance.'

Passions remain high between the two Wags, with Rebekah adamant that she was not responsible for leaking stories about Coleen to the media (pictured with Jamie in 2017)

He wrote: 'Indeed, the element of suspense introduced by the multiple dots seems to me designed to raise expectations of a dramatic revelation.

'It tends to emphasise the importance of the name that is then provided. It would be a poor denouement if all that was being said was that the named individual was to be suspected of the wrongdoing but it might be someone else.

'The reader is told straight away that the message is about bad behaviour by 'someone who I trusted'. The post then takes the form of a 'whodunnit'.'

He added: 'I certainly do not think that the ordinary reader would take that single word (account), albeit repeated, to indicate that Mrs Rooney remains in doubt about who the wrongdoer was.

'There is nothing in these words, apart from the word 'account', that in any way suggests that the behaviour of which Mrs Rooney is complaining might have been carried out by anyone other than the account holder, Mrs Vardy.'

Coleen (pictured with Wayne in 2016) said she discovered the alleged betrayal by carrying out a months-long 'sting operation'
Representatives from Scotlands fishing and seafood industry have accused the UK Government of being in denial about the scale of the problem facing businesses exporting to the European Union.

James Withers, chief executive at Scottish Food and Drink, told MPs that it had been a dreadful first few weeks due to problems with paperwork and IT systems crashing.

Giving evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee, he said pleas to the UK Government for a grace period on post-Brexit trading arrangements fell on deaf ears.

During the same committee session, the Scottish Seafood Associations chief executive said that every day was an improving situation with exporting seafood, adding: But its far from being perfect.

The introduction of new checks and paperwork since the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31 has caused disruption to exports of fresh fish and seafood to the EU.

Expand Close Trays of fish at Peterhead Fish Market in Aberdeenshire (Michal Wachucik/PA) PA / Facebook

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Producers have expressed frustration at the lack of Government action, while last month seafood hauliers protested against the Brexit fishing deal by stacking lorries in central London.

Weve had a dreadful first few weeks of trading in a post-Brexit world, theres no way of sugar-coating it, Mr Withers told the committee on Thursday.

And the question is how do we try and piece together the most important trading relationship we have internationally going forward?

I actually think the biggest challenge, and Ive been reflecting on this the last few days, I dont think its just the sheer weight of paperwork, I dont think its been IT systems crashing in the UK and in France, I dont think its been the missing commodity codes and HMRC systems failing, I dont even think its been the loads held up due to forms being filled out in the wrong colour of ink.

I think the biggest single challenge we have just now is denial.

I think it is denial, from the UK Government in particular, of the scale of the problem.

Mr Withers warned of further disruption in April due to the delayed introduction of UK border controls and said that the clock is ticking on engaging with the EU.

The mood music I pick up from Government officials is that there is a reluctance to engage with the EU now until April, he told the committee.

In other words, they need to feel some of the pain that we are feeling before they will come to the table.

Following the disruption, the UK Government announced it was putting in place a 23 million compensation package for firms exporting fish and shellfish to the EU who can show they have suffered genuine loss.

But while Mr Withers welcomed this and another 7.75 million funding package from the Scottish Government, he called it a sticking plaster.

Expand Close A fishing boat moored in Eyemouth Harbour, in the Scottish Borders (Jane Barlow/PA) PA / Facebook

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Meanwhile, Elaine Whyte, executive secretary at Clyde Fishermens Association, said that fishermen had questioned how they would prove they had suffered a loss.

Although their loss is very genuine, they have no sales docket, they have nothing to show, she added.

Ms Whyte told the committee that EU markets that had taken 40 years to build up were being lost to Norway and Ireland.

Jimmy Buchan, chief executive at the Scottish Seafood Association, said the issues were not teething problems as he urged for the UK Government to meet with industry representatives.

Referring to the members he represents, Mr Buchan said: Im not going to say that theyre not moving any seafood, seafood is beginning to flow, and each day is an improving situation.

But its far from being perfect.

The Government, to a degree, is still in denial.

This is not teething problems, these are issues that we need to sit down with the Government, and they need to sit down with the EU Commission, and sort these things out.

A UK Government spokesman said: We recognise the temporary issues the fishing industry is facing, and know businesses involved in the export of highly perishable goods, such as fish, will be more affected by delays at the border.

Thats why we are working with the Scottish Government to set up a new taskforce to understand the key issues facing the Scottish seafood sector, in particular.

This taskforce will complement our existing Seafood Exports Working Group which is also troubleshooting export issues for the sector.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) -American Aires Inc. (CSE: WIFI) (the "Company" or "Aires") is pleased to announce that, further to the Company's news releases of October 7, 2020 and December 23, 2020, the Company has received additional proceeds of $2,394,000 from the exercise of an additional 17,100,000 warrants. The exercise of these warrants resulted in 17,100,000 common shares being issued, increasing the number of common shares outstanding in the share capital of the Company to 136,005,714, and no warrants outstanding following the exercise. The proceeds will be used for general working capital purposes.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has granted 500,000 options to purchase common shares of the Company exercisable at a price of $0.34 per common share and expiring on February 4, 2026, to an officer of the Company. The common shares issuable upon exercise of the options are subject to a four-month hold period from the original date of grant.

About American Aires Inc. American Aires Inc. is a nanotechnology company which has developed proprietary silicon-based microprocessors that reduce the harmful effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR). The technology was developed by a team of highly credited scientists and confirmed by independent third-party validation including peer reviewed studies and publications in scientific journals. The technology specifically targets cellphones, computers, baby monitors, Wi-Fi radiation and general EMR emitted by consumer electronic devices. Aires has launched a full suite of consumer products under the brand name "Airestech" for use on almost all consumer electronic devices. The Company has adopted a global ecommerce and distribution platform that scales easily as sales grow. Since launching in 2019, Aires has enjoyed exuberant growth. The company has been aggressively building out their ecommerce platform which is now capable of delivering up to 10,000 shipments a day along with recent customer service center agreements. Strategically placed fulfillment centers have been secured to ensure prompt delivery around the globe (see PR Jan. 31, 2020). With the launch of 5G networks around the world, this year, we are seeing an increase of news, reports and leading health organizations discussing the potential harm of EMR and the importance of identifying solutions to reduce these harmful rays. Aires products are the solution. www.airestech.com.

On behalf of the board of directors

Company Contact

Dimitry Serov, CEO

Email: dimitry@airestech.com

Telephone: (905) 482-4667

Website: www.airestech.com

For further information please contact:

Investor Cubed Inc.:

Neil Simon, CEO

Email: wifi@airestech.com

Telephone: (647) 258-3310

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements may be discussed in this news release and the Company's annual and quarterly management's discussion and analysis filed at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. The Shares have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of any person in the United States, absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any common shares in the United States, or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. We seek safe harbour.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Not intended for distribution to United States Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of United States Securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73650

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New Delhi/Moscow, Feb 4 : In a stern warning to the United States' and the European Union (EU), the Vladimir Putin government on Thursday said that no one should consider Russian politeness over the issue of Alexei Navalny a sign of weakness.

Navalny, a Russian opposition politician backed by the West, hogged international media limelight after he had organised anti-Putin protest demonstrations in Russia.

Last year, he was hospitalized after being allegedly poisoned with a nerve agent. He has blamed President Vladimir Putin for the incident.

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei V. Lavrov at a joint news conference following talks with Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and expatriates, Ayman Safadi, lashed out at the West for backing Navalny saying that they were making a big mistake.

Lavrov said: "The West presents very specific, one-sided coverage of not only the events linked with Alexei Navalny but also everything that is taking place in Russia. The hysteria caused by his trial is out of proportion." The public, he said, is not told that the regulations for holding demonstrations, rallies and protests are much tougher in the West than in Russia.

The police in the West have the right to curb any assembly that is not authorised or notified of in advance, or, if a notification was submitted, violate the procedures for holding it as agreed with the authorities.

If demonstrators in Germany, France, the US or other Western countries take to the streets and prevent the normal functioning of transport, they can face several years in prison, huge fines and other penalties.

"The police are much tougher with them than our law-enforcement bodies as regards participating in illegal actions. Coverage of these actions in Russia and actions by opposition leaders in the West is also based on double standards. When they show events in Russia, the focus is on the police response to the behaviour of the demonstrators." The latter's actions are not shown at all, although looking at the footage on the internet, it is easy to see how aggressive those who took part in illegal actions were in Moscow and other Russian cities in the past few days, he lamented.

Lavrov said when the Western media cover similar events at home, they usually show outrageous behaviour by demonstrators like broken shop windows and cars on fire, but not the cruelty of the police.

"This applies to the footage of a police car driving over the bodies of demonstrators lying on the asphalt. As a rule, such footage is kept behind the scenes and can only be found on social media." The Russian Foreign Minister said that if the "reluctant" West is interested in having a discussion along the lines of common sense and facts, Russia has video evidence on how illegal actions are held and suppressed in the West and how Russian police reacts to the excesses of demonstrators during the recent events.

"Yesterday, we handed over this video to Foreign Minister of Sweden Ann Linde who is also the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office," he said.

He said he sent the same video to Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

"We want him to see the objective picture based on specific facts from both sides rather than groundless accusations as he prepares for his visit to Moscow on Friday. Unfortunately, our Western colleagues have become used to such accusations, whether it's the Skripal case or the so-called Navalny "poisoning" or the events related to his arrest and yesterday's court verdict," he said.

In a clear warning to the West, Lavrov said that he understands those who think that Russia could be more aggressive in reacting to the openly high-handed, unseemly rhetoric from Western leaders.

"In our diplomatic and political culture, we are not used to resorting to thuggish rhetoric. We are polite people and are used to achieving our goals in a civil and civilised manner.

As we say: "God is not in power but in truth." We also have a good proverb that should be remembered: "Honey is sweet, but the bee stings." Those who take our polite manners for a sign of weakness are making a big mistake," he warned.

Lots of us are feeling pretty anxious about the destruction of the natural world. It turns out, humans aren't the only ones stressing out--by analyzing hormones that accumulate in fur, researchers found that rodents and marsupials living in smaller patches of South America's Atlantic Forest are under more stress than ones living in more intact forests.

"We suspected that organisms in deforested areas would show higher levels of stress than animals in more pristine forests, and we found evidence that that's true," says Noe de la Sancha, a research associate at the Field Museum in Chicago, Associate Professor of Biology at Chicago State University, and co-author of a new paper in Scientific Reports detailing the discovery. "Small mammals, primarily rodents and little marsupials, tend to be more stressed out, or show more evidence that they have higher levels of stress hormones, in smaller forest patches than in larger forest patches."

"A lot of species, all over the world, but especially in the tropics, are understudied," says Sarah Boyle, an Associate Professor of Biology and Chair of the Environmental Studies and Sciences Program at Rhodes College and the study's lead author. "There is not a lot known about many of these animals in terms of even their baseline hormone levels."

The Atlantic Forest is often overshadowed by its neighbor the Amazon, but it's South America's second-largest forest, extending from northeastern Brazil down south along the Brazilian coastline, into northwestern Argentina to eastern Paraguay. It once covered about 463,000 square miles, an area bigger than California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada put together. Since the arrival of Portuguese colonists 500 years ago, parts of the forest have been destroyed to make way for farmland and urban areas; today, less than one-third of the original forest remains.

The destruction of an animal's habitat can drastically change its life. There's less food and territory to go around, and the animal might find itself in more frequent contact with predators or in increased competition with other animals for resources. These circumstances can add up to long-term stress.

Stress isn't a bad thing in and of itself--in small doses, stress can be life-saving. "A stress response is normally trying to bring your body back into balance," says David Kabelik, an Associate Professor of Biology and Chair of the Neuroscience Program at Rhodes College and one of the paper's authors. "If something perturbs you and it can cause you to be injured or die, the stress response mobilizes energy to deal with that situation and bring things back into a normal state. It allows you to survive." For instance, if an animal encounters a predator, a flood of stress hormones can give them the energy they need to run away, and then those hormone levels go back down to normal. "But then these animals are placed into these small fragments of habitat where they're experiencing elevated stress over prolonged periods, and that can lead to disease and dysregulation of various physiological mechanisms in the body."

For this study, the researchers focused on patches of forest in eastern Paraguay, which has been particularly hard hit in the last century as the region was clear-cut for firewood, cattle farming, and soy. To study the effects of this deforestation, the researchers trapped 106 mammals from areas ranging from 2 to 1,200 hectares--the size of a city block to 4.63 square miles. The critters they analyzed included five species of rodents and two species of marsupials.

The researchers took samples of the animals' fur, since hormones accumulate in hair over periods of many days or weeks, and could present a clearer picture of the animals' typical stress levels than the hormones present in a blood sample. "Hormones change in the blood minute by minute, so that's not really an accurate reflection of whether these animals are under long-term stress or whether they just happened to run away from a predator a minute ago," says Kabelik, "and we were trying to get at something that's more of an indicator of longer term stress. Since glucocorticoid stress hormones get deposited into the fur over time, if you analyze these samples you can look at a longer term measure of their stress."

Back in the lab, the researchers ground the fur into a fine powder and extracted the hormones. They analyzed hormone levels using enzyme immunoassay:"You use antibodies that bind these hormones to figure out how many are there," says Kabelik. "Then you divide that by the amount of fur that was in the sample, and it tells you the amount of hormones present per milligram."

The team found that the animals from smaller patches of forest had higher levels of glucocorticoid stress hormones than animals from larger patches of forest. "Our findings that animals in the small forest patches had higher glucocorticoid levels was not surprising, given the extent to which some of these forested areas have been heavily impacted by forest loss and fragmentation," says Boyle.

"In particular, these findings are highly relevant for countries like Paraguay that currently show an accelerated rate of change in natural landscapes. In Paraguay, we are just beginning to document how the diversity of species that are being lost is distributed," says Pastor Perez, a biologist at Universidad Nacional de Asuncion and another of the paper's authors. "However, this paper shows that we also have a lot to learn about how these species interact in these environments."

The scientists also found that the methods of trapping the animals contributed to the amount of stress hormones present. "It's an important consideration that people have to understand when they're doing these studies, that if they are live trapping the animals, that might be influencing the measured hormone levels," says Kabelik.

The study not only sheds light on how animals respond to deforestation, but it could also lead to a better understanding of the circumstances in which animals can pass diseases to humans. "If you have lots of stressed out mammals, they can harbor viruses and other diseases, and there are more and more people living near these deforested patches that could potentially be in contact with these animals," says de la Sancha. "By destroying natural habitats, we're potentially creating hotspots for zoonotic disease outbreaks."

And, the researchers say, the results of this study go far beyond South America's Atlantic Forest.

"Big picture, this is really important because it could be applicable to forest remnants throughout the world," says de la Sancha. "The tropics hold the highest diversity of organisms on the planet. Therefore, this has potential to impact the largest variety of living organisms on the planet, as more and more deforestation is happening. We're gonna see individuals and populations that tend to show higher levels of stress."

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Gaborone  Judicial officers have been urged to apply the law regarding the death penalty as it currently stands.

Speaking February 2 during the opening of the legal year in Gaborone, Attorney General, Advocate Abraham Keetshabe pointed out that the nation had agreed that the punishment for unlawfully taking away another person's life was death.

He said the platform on which the nation stood in relation to the death penalty was in the law which should therefore be applied in appropriate cases.

"Both the judicial oath and the existing law place a judicial officer in the position of a trustee and in that regard members of the public are entitled to trust that in appropriate cases, a sentence of death will be passed without hesitation," he said.

Advocate Keetshabe said he had no doubt that the country's transparent judicial system was sufficiently equipped to remain impartial and to convict murder accused persons in appropriate cases and to sentence them to death.

Quoting Court of Appeal ruling by Justice Lesetedi in the case of Director of Public Prosecutions versus Freeman Mapukule, he stated that "... It is the duty of the judge to uphold, vindicate and apply the law as prescribed statute and not to detract from it... "

"Let it be true that murderers should, without exception, face the true and accurate consequences of their actions or inactions," he said.

Advocate Keetshabe described Botswana as a unique country saying it should retain its unique originality.

Source : BOPA
Social media website Twitter resorted to taking action against some tweets made by actress Kangana Ranaut on February 4.

This follows a rampage the actress made on the site, discussing a tweet made by international pop-sensation and businesswoman Rihanna on the ongoing farmer protests.

The actress has been criticising protesting farmers over their agitations against the Centre's three farm reform laws.

When attempts are made to access the tweets, a message appears, reading, "This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules."

In one of the tweets, the actor had talked about the "eradication" of "cancer" from the country.

Ranaut had previously also featured in the news for calling the protesting farmers terrorists. She also responded Diljit Dosanjh's song dedicated to Rihanna, and even called him a 'khalistani'.

This isn't Kangana's first spat with Twitter. On January 20, Kangana Ranaut took to the site to say that her account had been temporarily suspended.

The actress had made controversial remarks about "Tandav" creators through a post. In the now-deleted tweet, Kangana had said that it was "time to take their heads off", for allegedly insulting Hindu gods in the web series.
An assault allegation against former Channel Seven star Andrew OKeefe has been mentioned in court for the first time.

Mr OKeefe, 49, the former host of Weekend Sunrise and The Chase Australia, is accused of assaulting his partner Orly Lavee at a Randwick apartment between 11pm and 11.30pm on January 30.

Andrew OKeefes lawyer Claudette Chua addresses the media about his common assault charge outside Waverley Court on Thursday. Credit:Janie Barrett

In a statement, police said they attended the apartment at about 1am on January 31 following reports a 41-year-old woman had been assaulted.

Mr OKeefe was arrested about 3.30am and taken to Maroubra police station, where he was charged with common assault and granted bail.

If the pandemic has you longing for togetherness, food and live music. You can find all of that just a short drive from San Antonio.

Festivals have been continuing on in the Fredericksburg area albeit at reduced capacity. While San Antonio had to postpone its signature Fiesta event this April planning continues for those who want to enjoy Hill Country Bluebonnet blooms.

RELATED: San Antonio's Barbacoa & Big Red Festival canceled again

Fredericksburg Bluebonnet Wine and Cheese Festival is set for April 17 and April 24 from noon to 10 p.m. Tickets range from $10 to $60 and give you access to a casual wine tasting, music and more. The event is being hosted in the historic area of Bankersmith, 7905 Old San Antonio Road in Fredericksburg.

The celebration is "in the center of the Bluebonnet epicenter," writes Claire Ball for Blackstone Events.

It's the groups second year hosting the celebration.

"Many groups do drives including classic cars and biking groups and then end their wildflower peeping at Bankersmith," Ball said. "We have vendors, live music, a petting zoo and friendly games for all ages."

RELATED: Top-notch patios for drinking and dining in San Antonio

The event is outdoors on a large 80-acre horse property with plenty of room for social distancing. The site is on Old San Antonio Road, a scenic wildflower route. The food and wine tasting is actual within Bankersmith Dance Hall, which is in the center of a ghost town formerly known as Bikinis.

"Masks are not required but we do ask people wear them whenever they cannot properly maintain a 6 foot distance," Ball said.

And if April seems too long of a wait, Fredericksburg is still moving forward with its less savory Testicle Festival on Feb. 6, but at 50 percent capacity.

See more Fredericksburg events at thebestoftexas.org

RELATED: If you never visited Bikinis, Texas, your chance is gone
SpaceX has had a series of successful Starlink launches over the past year. Now, the Aerospace company is set to achieve another landmark with its potential doubleheader launch event that will further expand its constellation in space. As part of the upcoming mission, SpaceX will launch another 60 satellites into the orbit. Now, let us quickly take a look at the upcoming launch schedule and live stream details.

Also Read | SpaceX To Launch Starship Sn9; Musk Plans To Make 1000 Starships, Take People To Mars

SpaceX launch

The latest SpaceX rocket launch mission will see two Falcon 9 rocket lift-offs back to back. This will be the first time that Elon Musk's private aerospace company will launch two missions within such a short span of time. The launch was originally scheduled to take place on January 30; however, it had to be delayed by a few days due to weather conditions.

Also Read | SpaceX Plans To 'drill For Natural Gas' Near Texas' Boca Chica Launchpad

SpaceX launch time

B1059 will be the first booster on the pad and been scheduled to take off on Thursday, February 4, at 1:19 AM EST (06:19 GMT) from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The B1059 booster has already had four flights in the past, however, this will second time that it carries a Starlink payload. Over 24 hours after the first lift-off, the B1049 booster will take a flight on Friday at 5:14 AM EDT (10:14 GMT) from NASA's Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This will mark B1049's eight major flight.

Also Read | SpaceX's Falcon 9 Launched Successfully With Record-breaking 143 Spacecrafts Into Orbit

SpaceX launch live stream

SpaceX will hold a live stream of the upcoming launch mission on its YouTube channel and its official website. Alternatively, people who wish to catch the event live can also play the video embedded below. You should note that the live stream will begin about 15 minutes before the scheduled lift-off.

The upcoming launch missions will mark the 18th and 19th Starlink rocket launches for SpaceX. The two launches will be SpaceX's fourth and fifth launches in 2021. The company has also expressed its plans to speed up the pace of Starlink launches in the future as it hopes to build a mega constellation in the orbit.

Also Read | SpaceX's Starship Prototype Rocket Explodes On Landing, FAA To Oversee Investigation

Image credits: SpaceX
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Victorian quarantine workers will be at the head of the queue for the vaccine and should be getting their first shots by the end of the month. Mr Andrews said he expected the Australian Open, due to start on Monday, would go ahead, and tournament boss Craig Tiley said organisers were going full steam ahead with the grand slam event as officials awaited test results from more than 500 players. We fully expect them all to test negative and continue with play tomorrow like we originally planned, Tiley said. Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said the new local case and potential COVID-19 transmission within hotel quarantine meant something has gone wrong, no question about that.

Loading Ms Neville said that in light of the more virulent British strain, the governments infection control teams were looking at different procedures. Things like in the health hotels, we use N95 masks when were moving infectious people, but we may need to do fitted masks, that could be one of the procedures we need to change, she told radio station 3AW. The 26-year-old Noble Park mans case brought an end to Victorias 28-day run of zero community transmission. Genomic testing results, which will reveal if he is carrying one of the more virulent strains of the virus, are expected on Friday. Authorities said on Thursday he had a high viral load and was probably carrying the mutant British strain. A massive testing and contact tracing operation is under way and hotel quarantine workers will now be tested on their days off.

The young man visited 14 exposure sites, including Kmart, Coles and Bunnings stores, before showing symptoms of the virus and there were long delays at testing sites across Melbourne on Thursday, with at least one in the citys south-east having to close not long after it opened. The Health Department said on Thursday evening that investigations carried out by contact tracers had revealed 17 social and household close contacts of the worker, nine of whom have so far tested negative with further results to come. Late on Thursday night, the Health Department released more information saying 15 of the 17 close contacts of the worker has tested negative and the final two results were expected on Friday. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Other states are watching the situation closely with NSW screening passengers arriving on flights from Melbourne. The South Australian and Queensland borders are staying open but WA Premier Mark McGowan said that a planned relaxation of border controls to Victoria would be paused.

On Wednesday, the Victorian government revealed a returned traveller in hotel quarantine had tested positive to the exact same British variant of the coronavirus as a family staying across the hall, with health authorities suspecting the viral load was so high in the familys room that particles had spread across the corridor. Loading A member of the family recalled opening the hotel room door  either to collect food or put out laundry  at the same time as someone in the room opposite opened their door. CCTV footage has not shown any occasion on which members of the two rooms left their rooms at the same time. The cases have reignited debate around Australias hotel quarantine program, with some experts arguing high-rise hotels were never designed for this purpose and that further outbreaks are inevitable. Epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws, an adviser to the World Health Organisation, said the sheer number of exposure sites the hotel quarantine worker had visited in recent days, along with increasing concerns he was infected with the highly infectious British super-strain, had created a perfect storm of risk.

With the variant, theyre up to 70 per cent more infectious, Professor McLaws said. It is highly likely that this poor young man will have inadvertently caused infection around Melbourne, so I think Melburnians need to be ready for a problem. Professor McLaws said Australian authorities had failed to develop a quarantine program that acknowledged the serious threat posed by opportunistic airborne spread of the virus. She wants a purpose-built quarantine building with corridors and rooms that have at least 10 airflow changes per hour. The hotel quarantine program should only have been an emergency response to get Australians and residents back home, she said. Unfortunately it has become the norm. Questions remain about how and when the young man became infected. He tested negative on January 29, his last day working at the quarantine hotel. In the ensuing days, he developed symptoms and then was tested again on February 2, returning a positive test.

Associate Professor Paul Griffin, a COVID-19 testing expert at the University of Queensland, said it can take several days after a person is exposed for the virus to build up high enough levels in their body that it can be detected. On average, it takes five days for a person to test positive after being exposed. However, this can vary widely, from one to 14 days. [Exposure] could have been a small number of days before that positive test  two or three, or up to 14. But most likely around that five days before. Somewhere in the preceding week would be most likely, he said. University of Sydney infectious diseases expert Professor Robert Booy said the next 48 hours would be crucial. One case by itself doesnt seem like much, but because two days before he became symptomatic he went to at least half a dozen locations right around Melbourne there are a lot more people at risk, Professor Booy said.

However, he said the state government had so far done all it could to curb the spread of the virus and he was hopeful any outbreak would be contained swiftly by Victorias bolstered contact tracing system and mass testing. Theyre acting as fast as is humanly possible, he said. University of South Australia biostatistics and epidemiology professor Adrian Esterman said the prospect of a short and sharp lockdown could not be ruled out if more cases emerged in the next 24 to 48 hours or if the man was confirmed to be infected with the UK strain of the virus. If it does turn out to be the UK variant, its of much more concern because it is much more contagious, he said. I am hopeful it wont come to another lockdown. I have had criticism this morning for saying this and been told I am being alarmist, but if it is the UK variant, I am not being alarmist at all, I am being very sensible. Professor Esterman said it was important to remember that only 10 to 20 per cent of people cause 80 per cent of cases. In other words, the majority of infected people are not very infectious, he said.

Professor Toole said the mans high viral load elevated the risk he could have passed the virus on at some of the venues he went to because face masks were not mandated at that time. Loading Given what we know now about aerosol transmission its not unlikely that he infected someone else, but its such a guessing game, Professor Toole said. Theres a lot of luck in this whole sequence of events. Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng announced there would be new measures to test hotel quarantine workers including testing them after they finish a run of shifts and on their days off. Meanwhile, Mr Andrews said he would consider moving hotel quarantine away from Melbourne and into regional areas if health experts and national cabinet suggested the proposal, but it didnt remove all risk of the virus escaping quarantine.
Since the dawn army raids that took Aung San Suu Kyi and her government's top ministers into custody on Monday, outrage, reactions have simmered over the sudden end to a fledgling democracy. The coup was a dramatic backslide that highlighted the extent to which the generals have ultimately maintained control in in the Southeast Asian country.

The takeover also marked a shocking fall from power for Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who had lived under house arrest for years as she tried to push her country toward democracy and then became its de facto leader after her party won elections in 2015.

Here are top 10 developments related to the coup:

G-7 Countries Seek Restoration of Power to Democratically Elected Govt: The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Tuesday but took no action. The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 leading industrial nations on Wednesday issued a statement calling for Suu Kyi and others to be released, the state of emergency to be scrapped and power restored to the democratically elected government. It also expressed concern about restrictions on information, an apparent reference to cuts to phone and internet service on Monday.n"We stand with the people of Myanmar who want to see a democratic future," it said. The group comprises the United States. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, along with the European Union.

World's Longest Internet Shutdown Ends in Myanmar's Ethnic Conflict Zones: The world's longest internet shutdown -- affecting more than a million people for 19 months in one of Myanmar's ethnic conflict zones -- has come to an end, according to a mobile operator based in the region. The internet in parts of Myanmar's troubled northern states of Rakhine and Chin was suspended in June 2019 following "emergency" orders issued by the telecoms department under Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government. Following Monday's military coup, mobile operator Telenor Group confirmed it had reinstated full services in eight townships in Rakhine and Chin states on Wednesday.

UN Wants to 'Make Sure' Myanmar Coup Fails, Says Guterres: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday he would do everything in his power to pressure Myanmar and "make sure that this coup fails." "We will do everything we can to mobilize all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails," Guterres said in a conversation with The Washington Post.

Myanmar Junta Blocks Facebook to Shut Down Dissent: Myanmar's junta blocked Facebook and other messaging services in the name of ensuring stability on Thursday as they consolidate power following a coup and the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. People in Yangon and other cities banged on pots and pans and honked car horns for a second night on Wednesday in protest against Monday's coup. Images of the protests had circulated widely on Facebook. The social network has also been used to share images of a campaign of disobedience by staff at government hospitals across the country, who accuse the army of putting its interests above a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 3,100 people, one of the highest tolls in Southeast Asia.

Bangladesh Steps Up Border Security to Prevent Influx of Rohingyas: Bangladesh said on Wednesday that it has stepped up security along its border with Myanmar to prevent a fresh influx of Rohingyas amid speculation that the coup in the neighbouring nation could push more refugees into this country. "We have secured our border (with Myanmar)," Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen told reporters here. He, however, said that Dhaka did not expect further Rohingya influx, but some friendly Western countries "fear that rest of the Rohingyas would flee to Bangladesh from Rakhine" due to the military coup in Myanmar, he added. His statement comes as officials in southeastern Cox's Bazar that borders Myanmar's Rakhine state said that the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has intensified patrols and vigils along the border.

Suu Kyi Charged, Can Be Held Until Feb 15: Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be held until February 15 on charge of having illegally imported radios. The charges against Suu Kyi appear to carry a maximum sentence of two years in prison. The charge sheets indicate the unregistered walkie-talkies were for use by Suu Kyi's bodyguards. National League for Democracy spokesman Kyi Toe confirmed the charge on his Facebook page. He also said the country's ousted president, Win Myint, was charged with violating natural disaster management law. An NLD lawmaker, Phyo Zayar Thaw, also confirmed the charges. Police and court officials in the capital Naypyitaw could not immediately be contacted.

Myanmar Economy at Risk after Coup: Myanmar's untapped potential was up for grabs in 2011, when generals in charge of a 49-year junta loosened their iron grip, paving the way for democratic reforms and economic liberalisation in the country of more than 50 million people. Investors pumped money into telecommunications, infrastructure, manufacturing and construction projects. But the buzz was already fading by 2017 for the West, after a military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state led to allegations of genocide. And the sight of generals running the show again could be the last straw for Western businesses, analysts say.
The United States is ready to finance the restoration of the estate of the aircraft designer Ihor Sikorsky on the 15b Yaroslaviv Val Street in Kyiv, if the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine decides to start reconstruction, MP Arseniy Pushkarenko (Servant of the People faction) said.

"Today, both the Sikorsky corporation, whose capitalization costs billions, and the United States of America are ready to financially take the implementation of this project," Pushkarenko said, speaking at a plenary session of parliament on Wednesday.

According to him, after the return of the estate to state ownership, the Ministry of Defense and the asset holder of the building, the state enterprise Kozatsky, have not taken the necessary steps to start reconstruction in the past five years, as a result of which the estate continues to decay.

"I am taking the initiative and ask you all to support us so that we initiate an appeal to the Defense Ministry with a specific demand that the Ministry today begin reconstruction of Sikorsky's estate," said the deputy.
The powerhouse consulting firm McKinsey & Company built its business by charging for advice. Now the consultancy is paying for advice it gave to allegedly help opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma boost sales and fend off oversight during a nationwide drug epidemic.

McKinsey entered a $573 million settlement over those allegations Thursday with 47 state attorneys general, including Pennsylvania A.G. Josh Shapiro. Pennsylvanias share comes to $25,755,365, and will go toward abating opioid-related problems, Shapiros office said.

New Jersey will receive about $16 million from the settlement, the office of Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said. McKinsey did not admit wrongdoing in its settlement agreements with the states.

About 450,000 people have died from overdoses involving opioids since 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pennsylvania had one of the highest rates of death from drug overdose in the country in 2018, the most recent CDC figures available. Of those overdose fatalities in the state, 65%  or 2,866 deaths  involved opioids

As Pennsylvania and other states have spent years investigating, suing, and negotiating potential settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors, the agreement with the consulting firm represents a milestone of sorts. It is the first multi-state opioid settlement to result in substantial payment to the states to address the epidemic, the attorney generals office said.

In a 15-year business relationship with Purdue, McKinsey allegedly provided guidance on how to target doctors and how to sell more high-strength, high-profit doses. The state prosecutors said it also counseled the firm on how to push back on regulatory pressure from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

We deeply regret that we did not adequately acknowledge the tragic consequences of the epidemic unfolding in our communities, said Kevin Sneader, McKinseys global managing partner.

In a statement, Shapiro said the firm  cared only about making money at the expense of the most vulnerable while every community in Pennsylvania suffered. This is one piece of our broader work to hold these opioid companies accountable, and I promise  there will be more to come.

Money from the settlement will go to the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs to address treatment and prevention, Shapiro said in an interview. He said he has also been leading negotiations with the major prescription drug distributors for a settlement potentially worth billions to states.

The opioid crisis was created in the board rooms of pharmaceutical companies, Shapiro said. The McKinsey settlement goes to show there were many parties involved in the manner in which Purdue was bringing these poisons into our communities.

Shapiro brought a suit against OxyContin maker Purdue in May 2019. Months later, in September 2019, Purdue filed for bankruptcy, which paused lawsuits against the company and the family of its founders, the Sacklers.

In all, states are seeking a total of $2.2 trillion claim in the bankruptcy, according to a spokesperson for Shapiros office. Purdue is expected to disclose its proposed reorganization plan by Feb. 15.

In the meantime, Purdue reached an $8.3 billion opioid settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in October, and pleaded guilty to criminal charges. Filings in the settlement outlined Purdues work with a consulting company on turbocharging sales. That company is McKinsey, Shapiros office said Thursday in a civil complaint filed and resolved as part of the settlement.

McKinsey sold its ideas to Purdue starting in 2004, and continuing after Purdue pleaded guilty to felony misbranding of its drugs in 2007, Shapiros suit says.

In 2008, McKinsey advised Purdue on how to defend against strict treatment by the FDA, the complaint says, and ultimately high-dose OxyContin got the same oversight as lower-dose opioids.

Then, in 2013, McKinsey laid out new plans to increase sales of OxyContin, according to the complaint, with a focus on targeting sales to high-volume prescribers, and marketing higher, more lucrative doses of painkillers. This was the turbocharge plan, operating under the name Evolve 2 Excellence, or E2E, and it worked, the complaint says.

McKinsey worked side by side with Purdue, Shapiros complaint alleges, and helped Purdue plan and implement E2E, assisting with sales representative training, productivity, messaging, and call plans, IT systems, promotional strategies, and market forecasting.

The firms opioid consulting work extended to other companies in the region, according to the suit: McKinsey collected millions of dollars designing and implementing marketing programs for the countrys largest opioid manufacturers, including Johnson & Johnson and Endo, increasing the sale and use of opioids in Pennsylvania.

A spokesperson for Endo, which has its U.S. headquarters in Malvern, said the company did not have a comment.

Johnson & Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. McKinseys consulting for J&J came up in an Oklahoma opioid suit against the pharmaceutical giant in 2019. A judge ordered J&J to pay $465 million in that case.

The Pennsylvania complaint against McKinsey says that while the firm was working for opioid companies, it was also consulting with governments and nonprofits trying to tame the opioid crisis.

And the suit notes indications that McKinsey employees considered destroying documents about work for Purdue.

McKinsey, in a statement issued Thursday, said it stopped all opioid-related work in 2019, and fired two partners who communicated about document deletion. The new settlement requires McKinsey to disclose thousands of internal documents related to its opioid consulting to be posted online, a move reminiscent of the tobacco industry marketing and research materials housed in an online archive.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  New Mexico State Police identified the Los Lunas police officers and the man they shot during a foot chase late last month in Los Lunas.

State Police spokesman Ray Wilson said Los Lunas Police Department officers Cutter Gouker, Vicente Martinez and Sgt. Anthony Baca exchanged gunfire with 40-year-old Jerry Yalch on Jan. 25. No officers were injured but Yalch was struck and is recovering in the hospital.

When released, Wilson said Ylach will be charged with three counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer and one count each of possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a controlled substance, tampering with evidence and resisting, evading, or obstructing an officer.

He said it began around 8 a.m. when LLPD officers tried to stop a SUV near South Camelot and Morris in Los Lunas. Wilson said the officers saw the driver, Yalch, had a handgun and barricaded himself inside the SUV.

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He said Yalch eventually fled the SUV on foot and officers gave chase across Interstate 25 and into an open field. Wilson said Yalch turned and fired at the officers before Gouker, Martinez and Baca shot back.

He said Yalch was struck by gunfire and airlifted to a hospital to be treated for his wounds.

Wilson said Baca has been with LLPD for 11 years, Martinez for six years and Gouker for just under a year.

A report by the UN Human Rights Office accuses North Korea of systematic, widespread human rights violations to maintain control over the population, which UN officials say may amount to crimes against humanity.

Hundreds of people who escaped from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea were interviewed for this report. UN monitors say the information gathered from their testimony provides reasonable grounds to believe crimes against humanity are being committed in the countrys prison system.

UN human rights spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, tells VOA crimes against humanity continue in the ordinary prison system. She says there are credible accounts of systematic infliction of torture or other forms of severe physical and mental pain suffered by detainees.

We have found that seven years on from a UN investigation, which found that horrible crimes against humanity were being committed in the DPRK, including murder, enslavement, torture, enforced disappearanceswe have found that seven years later, not much has changed," said Shamdasani. "Possible crimes against humanity are continuing and ongoing and there has been no accountability for the past crimes that were documented.

The 15-page report documents in excruciating detail other forms of punishment meted out to prisoners, including extermination, rape and other forms of sexual violence, denial of medical care and starvation. It says political prisoners are subjected to the worst forms of cruelty.

The report is calling on the international community to prioritize the human rights of the people in North Korea and to hold the government of Kim Jong-un accountable for grave violations.

Shamdasani says political negotiations with North Korea are focused on nuclear non-proliferation issues. She says human rights issues are of secondary consideration.

There has been very little discussion of the human rights situation on the ground. Very little discussion of justice and accountability for crimes against humanity," said Shamdasani. "What we are arguing is that if we are looking for lasting peace on the Korean peninsula, this can only be achieved if such violations end and if the rights of the victims to justice, truth, reparations are fulfilled.

The report calls for an end to impunity in North Korea. It says proper investigation and prosecution of the alleged international crimes committed in the DPRK must be a priority. It urges the grave situation in the country be referred to the International Criminal Court or another comparable tribunal.
She's in the midst of a divorce from her husband Kyle Newman with whom she shares two children.

And on Wednesday, Jaime King ran some errands in Beverly Hills looking super stylish and sporting a new hairstyle.

The actress, 41, paired a grid pattern sweater with black skinny pants and strode out in black loafers.

Out and about: Jaime King ran some errands in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, looking super stylish and sporting a new hairstyle

King carried a black purse on a long shoulder strap and had her phone in one hand as she walked.

She was dropped off at the location by her boyfriend Sennett Devermont who was behind the wheel of a black Mercedes sedan.

She and the tech entrepreneur, 32, have been dating since late fall.

Errand: The actress, 41, paired a grid pattern sweater with black skinny pants and strode out in black loafers. She made sure to wear a face mask as required due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Dating: She was dropped off at the location by her tech entrepreneur boyfriend Sennett Devermont, 32, who was behind the wheel of a black Mercedes seda

Divorcing: The Hart of Dixie star split from producer Kyle Newman in May 2020 after 13 years of marriage and the exes are locked in a custody battle over their two sons

The Hart of Dixie star filed for divorce from her husband in May and the exes are locked in a custody battle over their kids.

Newman has petitioned the court for sole physical custody of sons James, seven and Leo, five.

In his legal documents, he described King as an 'absent parent', ET reported, who was 'either away at work in Canada or otherwise choosing to be away from them for weeks and months at a time during the Covid-19 pandemic.'

A spokesperson for King, however, told the outlet: 'Once again, Kyle's lawyers have filed selectively redacted documents which perpetuate a false narrative about Jaime.

'Jaime's utmost priority has been the well-being of her children and she will continue to pursue this privately for their sake.'

The rep added that the actress 'looks forward to harmonious co-parenting of the boys.'
Facing pressure from activists and elected officials, Comcast Corp. said it will increase internet speeds for low-income families and postpone fees on heavy data users as consumers increasingly rely on broadband during the pandemic.

The Philadelphia cable giant said this week that it would improve its low-income service, called Internet Essentials, for the second time in 12 months since the coronavirus closed schools and offices. The company has enrolled tens of thousands of Americans for free or low-cost internet since the crisis began, but critics have said the bare-bones broadband hasnt been sufficient for some students learning from home.

Starting in March, Internet Essentials customers will see download speeds double to 50 megabits-per-second (mbps) and uploads increase from 3 to 5 mbps. Download speeds reflect how quickly you can receive data, such as loading web pages or streaming videos. An upload speed is how fast you can send data, such as using a video chat to talk to someone.

 READ MORE: Activists call for Comcast and other providers to guarantee faster, free internet for students

Comcast will still charge the same rate for the service, which is $9.95 a month or free for families enrolled in PHLConnectED, a partnership between the city, School District, most charter schools, Comcast and others. School district officials say that 5,528 Philadelphia School District families are receiving free Internet Essentials through PHLConnectED.

Weve been on a mission to address digital inequities in under-resourced communities through Internet Essentials for a decade and theres never been a greater need than now, Dave Watson, president and CEO of Comcasts cable unit, said in a statement. Comcast launched the program back in 2011 as a condition to get federal regulators to approve the companys purchase of NBCUniversal. Comcast has continued the reduced-cost broadband program beyond its three-year commitment that would have ended in 2014.

In a separate announcement Wednesday, Comcast said it would delay plans to charge Northeast customers new fees for heavy data usage, under an agreement with Pennsylvania Attorney Josh Shapiro. The company initially planned to limit customers to 1.2 terabytes per month and bill them $10 for every extra 50 gigabytes used  unless they upgraded to an unlimited plan. Now, Comcast will postpone the impending charges till July amid concerns that the policy would raise cable bills for families during the pandemic.

 READ MORE: Comcast will charge customers more for heavy internet usage starting next year (from November 2020)

Taken together, this weeks announcements and the continued pressure on Comcast reflected the increasing importance of home internet, from an amenity to an essential utility, broadband experts and academics said.

Its really about broadband being an equity issue, a racial equity issue, and income equity issue, said Alvaro Sanchez, a Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia analyst who has studied the digital divide.

Melanie Harris, the Philadelphia School Districts chief information officer, commended Comcast on the speed boost.

While the district is looking forward to getting students back into classrooms, we know that our families will still be engaged in remote learning, Harris said in a statement. These higher speeds will help ensure that our students, especially those in households with multiple students, are able to engage and participate in all remote learning activities.

Consumer and education advocates welcomed the news of faster speeds, but vowed to push Comcast to do more. While advocates and academics largely agreed that doubling download speeds would be a big help, some questioned whether the new upload speeds of 5 mbps would be enough for households with multiple students making video calls.

I am glad that Comcast has finally responded to community demands, but a year into the pandemic and with a generation of children having their education rely on internet access, its clear this is just the start, City Councilmember Helen Gym said in a statement.

Some students and educators have said slow internet has been a problem in the virtual classroom.

Lauren Overton, principal of Penn Alexander, virtually sat in on a recent math class at the K-8 public school in West Philadelphia. One student, a child whose family relies on Internet Essentials, raised a hand but struggled to be understood because of a spotty internet connection and audio that kept cutting in and out.

Its tough to see as an administrator, Overton said. Im hopeful that this increase in speed will allow students to access school with more consistency, and without disruption.

Comcast spokesperson Charlie Douglas said the company hasnt seen a high volume of complaints about Internet Essentials and said company officials can help customers who contact them. He noted that external factors could affect an internet connection, such as the quality of laptops students use or where a family places the modem in the household.

Were continually improving our Internet Essentials program and have increased speeds multiple times, including now to 50/5 [mbps], all while keeping the price at $9.95/month for the last decade, he said in a statement. These speeds support multiple concurrent videoconferencing sessions and enable family members to learn and work from home.

Comcasts previous Internet Essentials speeds matched the Federal Communications Commissions current definition of broadband, though critics  including FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel  have said that definition is outdated. A November report from CableLabs, a cable industry research group, found those speeds could support five concurrent conference calls, though the study didnt account for external factors such as where a modem is placed.

Some critics pointed to the popular video conference service Zoom, which says users need upload speeds of 3 mbps to send a call to multiple people in 1080p high definition. A household trying to send more than one video call at that quality would need at least 6 mbps, a Zoom spokesperson confirmed, but she noted that more than 90% of calls placed over Zoom are typically run at lower quality.

That upload speed is really, really crucial, and 3 to 5 [mbps] isnt much of a boost, said Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy council for Consumer Reports, a pro-consumer advocacy group.

Comcast has taken other steps to close the digital divide. The company said Tuesday that it had installed hundreds of Lift Zones in community centers, including 33 in Philadelphia, where students can access WiFi in safe spaces. The company plans to launch 1,000 Lift Zones by the end of the year. In Philadelphia, the School District has distributed tens of thousands of Chromebooks to students to promote remote learning, with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts donating $5 million to help pay for them.

Comcast said it has signed up millions of customers through the national program, and connected 280,000 people in Philadelphia from 2011 to August 2019, but the company does not share current enrollment numbers.

Genesis Mejia relies on Internet Essentials to complete her schoolwork at Kensington Health Sciences Academy, which like all Philadelphia School District schools has been fully remote since March. Mejia loves school, but its been a struggle.

Theres three of us in school at the same time, and sometimes it just stops working, said Mejia, a junior.

She was delighted to hear the news that speeds would increase.

I am really glad theyre taking the initiative; its needed, she said. I just hope that its enough for us to do what we need to do.

The Future of Work is produced with support from the William Penn Foundation and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the projects donors.
(HealthDay)Being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 is not a foolproof shield against reinfection, a small preliminary study warns.

The finding stems from tracking nearly 3,250 young U.S. Marine recruits between May and October. Of those, 189 had previously tested positive for the SAR-CoV-2 virus. During the six-week study itself, 10% of those who had tested positive got reinfected.

"You don't have a get-out-of-jail-free card just because you have antibodies from a previous infection," said study author Dr. Stuart Sealfon.

He's a professor of neurology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, which conducted the study in collaboration with the Naval Medical Research Center.

The findings were recently published in the preprint server medRXiv and have not been peer-reviewed.

All the Marines were beginning basic training and were initially held in Navy quarantine for two weeks, after two weeks of at-home quarantine, according to the study. Once training began, recruits were tested for COVID-19 every two weeks over a six-week period.

The result: 19 of the 189 recruits who already had COVID tested positive for a second infection during the study.

Researchers said first- and second- infections involved the same strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and none involved the new, more transmissible U.K., South African or Brazilian strains that have raised alarm in recent weeks.

Of 2,247 recruits who had not previously had COVID, 1,079 (48%) became infected during the study.

That means recruits with a prior COVID infection "had about a fifth the risk for getting infected again when in basic training, compared with Marines who had not been previously infected and didn't have antibodies," Sealfon said.

All those who tested positive during the study had "mild" symptoms, he said. None were hospitalized. But symptom risk and length of infection were the same, regardless of prior COVID history.

"The only difference was that the amount of virus on our swab tests was a little bit lower in the Marines with antibodies" from a prior infection, Sealfon said.

Reinfected Marines also had lower levels of antibodies from their initial bout, compared with Marines who didn't get reinfected.

"Two-thirds of the 19 Marines who were reinfected didn't have measurable neutralizing antibodies," Sealfon noted, suggesting that some people who get infected don't generate antibodies.

The good news: Having antibodies after infection does protect you against reinfection. The bad news: Even if you've had COVID, there remains a risk you'll get it again.

"That might not cause problems for the patient, and certainly young peoplelike those in our studyare mostly asymptomatic," Sealfon said. "But it certainly can mean that there is a risk that they can then transmit a new infection to those who are more vulnerable."

That means mask-wearing, social distancing and getting vaccinated will still be important, regardless of your prior infection history.

"Vaccination to provide additional protection is still warranted for those who've been infected," Sealfon said. "Because we know that you certainly boost your antibody response with vaccination, even if you already have antibodies."

But Dr. Sandro Cinti, a professor of infectious disease at Michigan Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said it's best not to read too much into these findings.

"These are early results, with a very small number of patients," he noted. "You have to be very careful interpreting all the COVID studies that are coming out now, many of which have not been peer-reviewed."

Cinti said a viral infection typically does provide protection from further infection.

"Is there the possibility of reinfection with COVID? Maybe," he said. "But none of these studies answer that question anywhere near definitively. The only thing definitive is that we just don't really know."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommends everyone 18 and older get vaccinatedwhether or not they have had COVID, Cinti said.

"It makes sense because we know the protection rate with vaccination is about 95%, and we don't know what the protection rate is for COVID patients," he said. "I suspect it's also that high, but we don't know that."

If the goal is to reach herd immunity, "you probably want to aim at getting everyone vaccinated," Cinti said.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

More information: Learn more about your risk for COVID reinfection from the Learn more about your risk for COVID reinfection from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Copyright  2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Joe Biden says he's leaning on prayer to lead because it gives me hope and centers me

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President Joe Biden, who is only the second Catholic president of the United States, says hes leaning on prayer to help him lead the nation through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis.

I don't want to proselytize. My religion, for me, is a safe place. I never miss mass, because I can be alone. I mean, I'm with my family, but just kind of absorbing the fundamental principle that you've got to treat everyone with dignity, Biden, 78, stated ina recent interview with People magazine in which the president was asked if he leans on prayer to help him lead.

Jill, when she wants me to get a real message, she tapes it on the mirror above the sink where I shave. And she put up a great quote from [Danish philosopher] Kierkegaard saying, Faith sees best in the dark. Other people may meditate. For me, prayer gives me hope, and it centers me.

Bidens comments to People come as American Catholics remain divided over whether he should be treated as a model of their faith despite his support for policy positions that conflict with the Catholic Churchs teachings. Areas of contention include his stances on abortion rights, contraception, same-sex marriage and gender issues.

While he opposes abortion as a personal matter, he wrote in his 2007 memoir, Promises to Keep, that he doesn't "have a right to impose my view on the rest of society."

"There's so much enthusiasm among some in the Catholic world that Trump is no longer president that they are willing to uncritically accept everything from President Biden, and that's a dangerous, dangerous place to be," Jayd Henricks, the former executive director of government relations at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told ABC News in a recent interview.

Hendricks called abortion a grave, grave sin.

"And those who are, you know, manifest in commitment to it in a public way persistently are endangering their souls, he argued. The Church is clear about that."

While agreeing that abortion rights remain a central issue, Rev. Kevin Gillespie, pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C, where Biden has worshiped twice since taking office, questioned the preeminence some Catholic leaders have given the issue.

"It's highly significant, but there is the issue of poverty, of capital punishment, of war, he told ABC News. There's other issues that with the Pope saying  let's not get into a cultural war so that we're divided, let's unite and build bridges," he said.

Bidens position on abortion caused him to be denied communion at a South Carolina church in 2019, a move that garnered headlines during the 2020 election cycle.

Bidens personal approach to prayer stands in contrast to former President Donald Trump. Even though he championed conservative policies on religious freedom, free speech and abortion, many argue that Trump didnt personally model those values.

As a candidate in the 2016 election, the real estate mogul said that even though he has a "great relationship" with God, he didnt like asking the almighty for forgiveness.

"I have a great relationship with God, hetold CNN's Jake Tapper in 2016. "I like to be good. I don't like to have to ask for forgiveness and I am good. I don't do a lot of things that are bad. I try to do nothing that's bad. I live a very different life than probably a lot of people would think.

In 2015, Trump told a crowd at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa that he was not sure if he had ever asked God for forgiveness, causing some at the time to question the sincerity of his Christian faith.

When I go to church and when I drink my little wine and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of forgiveness, Trump said at the time. I do that as often as I can because I feel cleansed. I say let's go on and let's make it right.
MAGA Patriot Party Plans to Primary Republicans, Siphon Votes If Needed

The newly announced MAGA Patriot Party plans to primary Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, the partys founder told The Epoch Times.

Right now, theres only two strategies that we have. No. 1, thats to try to primary certain Republicans out of office, if we can win a primary against them. And if not, to split the vote and put one of our party candidates against them, Jim Davis said.

If a primary run fails and a candidate chooses to run in the general election as a third-party candidate, it could lead to a Democrat toppling an incumbent Republican.

That strategy would rid the Republican Party of the alleged Republican in name only, or RINO, holding the seat, Davis said.

Ten Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump on Jan. 13. The most high-profile was Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the House Conference chair. Cheney, who retained her position on Feb. 3, already faces a primary challenger in 2022.

Other targets include Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and the five senators who sided with Democrats in declaring it was constitutional to hold an impeachment trial with Trump no longer in office, Davis told The Epoch Times.

Those are on the chopping block for us to try to either primary, or if we have toto me its a last resortis to split the vote and try to win the seat back in the following election, he said.

The new political action committee, which was formed last month, is guided by the goal of fixing the Republican Party. Supporters feel some Republicans holding office arent properly representing the constituents who voted them in.

I can tell you that theyre not going to go away until they feel satisfied that the Republican Party is unified and its a party of the people and that the elections are going to be free and fair, Davis said.

Then-President Donald Trump at the Stop the Steal rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Jenny Jing/The Epoch Times)

Davis, 57, a supervisor for the town of Venice, Florida, initially presented the committee as linked to Trumps campaign. MAGA stands for make America great again, a Trump campaign slogan. Trumps team disavowed the party. Davis said in an email that it was disappointing to see Trump disavow the group instead of him making a statement that he was appreciative [of] his supporters trying to fight for him but did not plan on being involved in creating a new party.

Many of the Trump supporters and groups that I have spoken [with] since that time feel like it was Trump turning his back on the ones willing to fight for him, he said.

Trumps team didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

The initial filing wasnt an attempt to misrepresent the partys links to Trump, Davis said, but stemmed from a misunderstanding of how to file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

The commission asked for a committee, and were like, Well, this is about showing Trump were fighting for him, and if he runs againlets put him down, thats who were going to support, well raise money for him if he runs again,' he said. Thats why we put it down.

Separate from the Patriot Party, the MAGA Patriot Party is working with people in a number of states including Nebraska, Texas, and Colorado to find candidates to run and support.

The party hopes to represent moderate Republicans who backed Trumps conservative policies and nominations, even if they didnt prefer his bombastic rhetoric, according to Davis.

They still would support Trump because they know they didnt get the policies they want before the businessman entered office, he said.
Nearly six months after opening their business during the pandemic, dentists Julia Servetnik and Chun-Yin Wong have taken in new pediatric patients and completed their first donation to Cy-Hope to help children in need like they were in the past.

Cavity Patrol, which opened in Cypress last summer, recently donated $1,000 to the local nonprofit Cy-Hope  the result of their commitment to make a donation for each new patient seen by the pediatric dental office.

Servetnik and Wong, both immigrants from Ukraine and Hong Kong respectively, grew up in low-income households in the United States. The pair, who met in a residency program four years ago, wanted to give back to a program similar to nonprofits that helped low-income families like theirs when they were children. They selected Cy-Hope, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of children in Cy-Fair.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Cavity Patrol Pediatric Dentistry to donate funds to Cy-Hope for every new patient

When we opened the practice, we wanted to do something for the community and be involved and a part of it, Servetnik said. Were helping kids with their oral health, trying to keep their mouth healthy and cavity-free. Its a part of your whole health. People dont realize that the mouth is connected to the body sometimes. Its all together; none of it is separate.

Cavity Patrol will continue to donate periodically to Cy-Hope, which directly helps low-income students in Cy-Fair ISD with tutoring, food, and other needs. The nonprofit offers resources and programs, such as its Backpack Program that provides a backpack of food to students who may not otherwise have access to meals during weekends.

Cavity Patrol presented Cy-Hope with a large ceremonial check last month for the donated amount.

We said wed be happy to support the Backpack Program and provide money for the goals toward funding that program and helping those kids not go hungry, but we told them its actually up to them, they can use the money for anything, Servetnik said.

Despite their dentistry business opening during the pandemic, Servetnik said Cavity Patrol has still seen new patients but wishes there were easier ways to connect with people in-person.

We opened pretty much during COVID-19, so it was really hard to get our name out there and for people to even know we exist, Servetnik said. Since then, its been challenging but not terrible. We did manage to still open our office relatively on time, we had a lot of parents coming. Were still seeing kids, its just a little more challenging and slower but overall, we are kind of on track with our goals.

Cavity Patrols layout was also created with COVID-19 in mind, with clients separated by rooms and within the lobby, as well as filters for the air conditioning throughout the building.

On HoustonChronicle.com: HOPE Haven prepping homeless community for COVID-19 vaccine

When the patients come to the office, they dont even see the other families there because they would all be in their own separate rooms, Servetnik said. It is a new office and we want it to feel like a new office, not like it just has new paint on the walls. We want people to know were there, we are open, were really excited to have our office grow and to keep helping the community.

Cavity Patrol Pediatric Dentistry provides standard dental services along with surgical procedures and speech specialists for children with special needs.

Servetnik said she is glad the first contribution to Cy-Hope has gone through and hopes more patients will come to Cavity Patrol to take care of their oral health, while helping someone take care of their basic needs.

We want people to know this is a safe place to go to if you want to take your kids to the dentist, Servetnik said. Not only are they taking care of their teeth, theyre helping the other kids in the community through our relationship with Cy-Hope.

chevall.pryce@chron.com
The data about who gets a coronavirus vaccination is notoriously incomplete  race and ethnicity categories are often missing, for example. But some information exists, and it reveals an intriguing pattern: More women appear to be getting vaccinated than men.

Alameda County has given 65% of its shots to women. The figure is about 62% for Contra Costa County and San Mateo County and at least 60% for Marin County. In Solano County, a majority of vaccines also went to women, although the county didnt have an exact number.

Napa, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties did not provide a vaccine gender breakdown.

These early numbers reflect a national trend: Of people vaccinated nationally from mid-December to mid-January, 63% of people were women, according to federal data released Monday.

Experts said the disparity in part reflects data that women live longer than men: In the five Bay Area counties that provided gender breakdowns, women over 65 outnumber their male counterparts, though women accounted for half or just over half of the total population. Also, more women work in health care in California due to the high proportion of nurses who are women.

San Mateo County spokesman Preston Merchant cautioned that the data set remains small with vaccine supply still constrained, so the demographics of vaccine recipients thus far reflect health care workers and a small number of the elderly. Dr. Ori Tzvieli, deputy health officer in Contra Costa County, thought the skewed numbers are because more women than men are health care workers. Solano County Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas said the percentage is a reflection of both who is allowed to be vaccinated and that women tend to be more proactive about health care.

Gender imbalances are reflected in local senior communities. In Oakmont Senior Livings 34 communities in California, between 65% and 70% of residents are women. At Oakmont of Montecito in Concord, executive director Elaine Wong said around 76% of residents and staff are women.

Both residents and staff are prioritized for vaccines. On Wednesday morning at Oakmont of Montecito, CVS staff bustled about a bistro converted into a vaccine clinic to administer second doses to 160 residents and 80 staff.

Im so excited, said resident Bev Cullen, 80, beaming after she got her second dose. Couldnt be better.

Cullen, whose husband died 21 years ago, moved into the community last March just as lockdown began. She hasnt gone out or seen her daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren in nearly a year, although shes video-called them and continued to play bridge with four female friends online. On Wednesday, her oldest granddaughter was in labor with her first great-grandchild, whom she couldnt wait to meet when it was safe.

Sarahbeth Maney/Special to The Chronicle

In Pittsburg, Hermanese Jones, 85, is scheduled to receive her second dose of the vaccine at her senior independent living community Thursday. Jones cant wait to play with her two little beautiful great-granddaughters.

If it helps to get this pandemic under control, yes, Im very anxious to have it done and to see that my children get it. Of course theyre all grown and on their own, I will encourage them and let them know it wont do any harm. I think theyre a little alarmed, its new and they havent had it before, Jones said. Im an elder woman of color, I had no problems doing it, but everybody isnt as open-minded as I am.

Beyond the senior population, health care workers are currently prioritized for the vaccine. While 66% of doctors providing patient care in the state are male, nurses outnumber doctors more than 5 to 1, according to the California Health Care Foundation. Nurses are predominantly female, with 86.8% women in the most recent survey by the California Board of Registered Nursing. More than three-fourths of nursing aides, home health aides and personal care aides in California are women, according to data from the Healthforce Center at UCSF.

Sarahbeth Maney / Special to The Chronicle

Monica Rizo, a nurse at Kaiser Permanente Antioch and California Nurses Association safety liaison at the hospital, is scheduled for her second dose on Feb. 8. Although there are some male nurses at the facility, she said a majority are female. All have soldiered through a year of the pandemic.

In general, women are the type of people who are like, were just going to do it. It has to be done. Its sink or swim. Thats the type of personality that you have and it transfers into your profession, she said. I feel we dont get enough credit.

Alejandra Escobedo-Sochet, a Contra Costa County mental health worker who received both doses already, said she tries to engage with community members on social media to dispel vaccine conspiracy theories and encourage people to get the shot. The father of her child was sick for a month with COVID-19, so shes always taken the virus seriously.

She said around 70% of her co-workers are also women. She currently screens mental health clients entering a clinic and provides emergency support to families in crisis. Getting the vaccine felt like an affirmation of the value of her work, she said.

Other women felt similarly. Maty Corral-Avila, a full-time caregiver for her 83-year-old mother in Martinez, was the first in her household to get the vaccine, through county health services.

I think that it verifies that what were doing is important, Corral-Avila, 61, said about being able to get the vaccine early. Her mother also has gotten her first dose.

In 2017, Corral-Avila quit her six-figure-salary job to take care of her mother full-time for minimum wage paid through a state program.

Before the lockdown, Corral-Avila took her mother to an adult day care program run by the nonprofit Choice in Aging five days a week. Of the group of around 25 to 30 participants, only three or four were men, she said.

Corral-Avilas father, 88, got the vaccine through his senior independent living complex.

Im very relieved, Corral-Avila said. Weve been trying to take care of ourselves as much as we can. My husband and I have been unable to hug our grandkids for a year. We want to get back to a semi-normal life and the only way were going to be able to do that is if we all get vaccinated and keep taking care of ourselves.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Erin Allday and Catherine Ho contributed to this report.

Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@mallorymoench
Myanmars military coup has become Asias most significant political development in 2021 so far. In many ways, the coup brought back memories of times long gone  Aung San Suu Kyi, who has marked another landslide victory in the November 2020 general election, was swiftly detained by the military allegedly for the possession of illegally imported walkie-talkies. The Aung San-allied President Win Myint was ousted under the pretext of him breaching the countrys coronavirus laws during the pre-election campaign meetings. Briefly put, Myanmars brief self-democratizing drive was defeated after a little more than 5 years of non-military rule. Although one would rarely see Myanmar on the list of major oil and gas producers, the Southeast Asian plays an instrumental role for Chinas energy security.

The energy communitys automatic reaction to the happenings of the past week was to assess how dangerous the militarys return would turn out to be. Considering the Tatmadaws (Myanmars military) rhetoric of holding a fair election once the state of emergence is over indicates a strong willingness on the armys side not to repeat its mistakes of the 2010s and disallow any coexistence with civil leaders. The United Kingdom, formerly the colonial ruler of then-Burma, has tried to have the UN Security Council condemn Myanmars backsliding into a military state but was quickly rebuffed by China and Russia. Chinas peevishness reveals a profound interest in keeping Myanmar within its circle of allies, especially in terms of its importance for Chinas crude and gas supply.

China operates an oil (capacity of 240kbpd) and gas pipeline (12 BCm per year), running in parallel all the way through Myanmar and reaching their final destination in Kunming, capital of the landlocked Yunnan province. Both pipelines are operated by CNPC, sharing the same purpose of existence  to create an alternative hydrocarbon conduit that would avoid the Malacca Strait. Having agreed on their construction in 2008, the $1.5 billion pipelines were commissioned in 2013 and 2014, respectively. To boost its economic claim to the area of the Bay of Bengal, China has pledged to invest $7.3 billion into the construction of a deepwater seaport and $2.7 billion into an industrial hub in the area adjoining the port of Kyaukpyu. Add to this a Myanmar-China railway line running from the same town of Kyaukpyu and one gets a fairly comprehensive picture on how serious China is about consolidating its interests in Myanmar. Related: Shells Profits Plunge 87% In 2020

Many Western majors were already pressurized by domestic audiences in the 2015-2020 period to quit Myanmar on the back of its treatment of the Rohingya minority. For instance, when Statoil (now Equinor) substantiated its decision to leave Myanmars offshore in late 2017, the Rohingya crisis was brought up within the same sentence with unfavorable geology. The above said notwithstanding, there remain many international majors present in Myanmar, more often than not having licenses from the 2014 offshore licensing round. Royal Dutch Shell holds a non-operating stake in the A-7 offshore block and its recently-purchased subsidiary BG Group participates in another four blocks (2 as operators). Total has been active in Myanmar from 1992, i.e. well back in the years of the military junta, and amongst others operates the countrys largest gas field, Yadana.

The thing is that most Western majors by now have a comprehensive Human Rights Code that defines and specifies its policies vis-a-vis various rights infringements. These are almost universally steeped in UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, therefore cannot be altered that easily if one is to turn a blind eye to a specific set of encroachments. Availing themselves of the Suu Kyi-led political thaw, firms like Total and ENI organized human rights training sessions with the participation of Burmese authorities. With the military junta back in power, majors that remained in Myanmar will have an extremely hard time reconciling their internal regulations on ethics and human rights with the actual reality, creating a painful reputational liability upon which they might be pressurized both domestically and internationally.

Myanmar will inevitably need increasing amounts of gas to meet its surging energy demand. Naypyidaw has ranked among the steepest increases in total energy supply over the 2010s, between 2015 and 2020 electricity demand in Myanmar rose an average 15% per year, roughly double the rate of the nations GDP growth. Although its abundant hydropower resources were able to satiate most of the demand increase (covering some 60% of total electricity generation), Myanmar is nearing the point of saturation beyond which imports will become inevitable to keep the economy going. Partially this is due to the tangible pushback on further hydro dam construction plans (as illustrated by the Myitsone Dams suspension) as the Burmese public remains leery of their environmental impact. Related: How High Will Oil Prices Go This Year?

ASEANs Economic Research Institute estimates that Myanmars current energy import dependency rate of 16% will climb to 49% by 2040. Taking into account the relatively weak international stature of the national NOC, Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), supplying energy to Myanmar will become an ever-appetizing business endeavor. Coal is assumed to rise in significance  Myanmar today operates only one coal-fired plant, however its 2015 Energy Master Plan stipulated a tenfold increase in coals total energy mix share (to 20%) by 2030. China is a close political ally that happens to be the worlds number one coal producer so the synergies there are almost guaranteed. The populace at large remains staunchly anti-coal, however the return of overt military rule would most probably result in another clamping down on dissent.

What next, you might ask? First, there is an increased risk in international majors leaving Myanmar as the prospect of having a military junta running the country again might trigger reputational damage. China, along with Thailand, can be considered the most active participant in Myanmars offshore acreage and with the potential departure of some majors its share might only increase. Second, the stronger political ties will blaze a path for energy cooperation beyond oil and gas, coal in particular might be of interest. Third, on the downstream front Myanmar currently operates only one (outdated, built in 1954) refinery in Magway and suffers from chronic fuel dependence  it would be quite easy to imagine Chinese firms taking the act of good will to build a new refinery to complement its already hefty asset portfolio there.

By Viktor Katona for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The same plans that were available during open enrollment in November and December should be available during this new window, according to the state insurance department. In Illinois, eight companies will offer health insurance plans, up from five in 2020. Some companies only offer plans in certain areas of the state. In Cook County, for example, people will be able to choose plans from four different health insurance companies: Bright Health, Celtic, Cigna and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has recounted her Capitol riot experiences on an Instagram Live on Monday night, comparing calls to move on after the Capitol riots speaks volume about the tactics of abusers.

AOC further revealed that she was a survivor of sexual assault. She also described how she hid in the bathroom in her office as mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters breached the capitol.

"I just hear, 'where is she. Where is she.' And this was the moment where I thought everything was over," AOC was quoted on an NBC News report.

The Democratic lawmaker added that the sexual assault revelation would be a shock to some friends and loved ones. She added that the reason that she is getting emotional on her Instagram Live was that people were telling them to move on and it is not a big deal.

AOC added that these are the same tactics of abusers, saying that she is a survivor of sexual assault and she has not told many people in her life about that.

Related story: Fact Check: Was Chuck Norris at Capitol Riot? Actor Speaks Up After Alleged 'Selfie' With Protesters Went Viral

Chaos Inside the Capitol

She said that she saw a man wearing a black beanie through the door hinge and continued to yell for her. AOC admitted that she thought she was going to die at the time.

She said that she and her legislative director realized that the man was actually a Capitol Police Officer. However, he did not identify himself and was looking at her with a tremendous amount of anger and hostility, according to a USA Today report.

"I didn't know if he was here to help us or hurt us, either," AOC's legislative director later remarked as quoted on a report.

AOC said that the officer told them to go to another building, however, the officer did not specify any safety instructions and an exact location.

She and her legislative director ended up locking themselves in Rep. Katie Porter's office. Staff pushed furniture up against the doors. She and Porter rummaged through staffers' things to find out clothes to wear to blend into the crowd in case that they needed to run, according to a Chicago Sun-Times report.

Call for Resignation of Fellow Lawmakers

Meanwhile, AOC called for the resignation of fellow members of Congress, including Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, who was known to have objected to President Joe Biden's win and encouraged Trump's baseless theories of losing the election due to widespread fraud.

AOC claimed that the said lawmakers will do it again when given another window of political opportunity for themselves.

In addition, the lawmakers also refuted the notion that there was no way to know ahead of time just how violent Jan. 6 would become. She noted that she received messages from fellow members of Congress up to a week before the attack, warning her about possible violence on that day.

AOC also said that the Capitol Police recognized ahead of time that there was a security plan in place. However, the said details of the plan could not be shared with members of Congress due to risk of leaks.

A total of five people were reported to have died during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Related story: Mike Pompeo Condemns Capitol Riot, Calls to Prosecute Those Involved
Google recently updated its Search section on Android, iOS, and mobile, letting users easily read the results. But it looks like the desktop version is also getting a revamp now, specially when it comes to music-based searches. As spotted by 9to5 Google, the redesign now includes a left navigation drawer. When searching for music Albums, you will see the cover art appear on the top left side followed by options like Overview, Listen, Videos, and Listen. Theres also a share button below that.

Besides this, Google search result is showing the rest of the information on its primary two main columns of information like what it usually does for any other result. In the screenshot shared by the news website, you can see the Listen card with different apps listed on the right side while the main search result area shows Wikipedia description of the band.

Google Search Desktop update. (9to5Google)

With this addition, it looks like Google is trying to put as much information as it can in one scroll. Some songs even have different options like Other recordings and Analysis letting users save time in typing and searching more and instead of clicking and reaching the desired page quickly.

Also read: Google will now show more details about websites in search results

It has been mentioned that this feature has been in testing since quite some time and now has rolled out to a wider audience. However, it has not yet reached everyone and other topics except for Music is not covered in this.

A few days ago, Google added a new menu icon on the mobile Search version that users can select to know more about the websites. The new menu icon will be a three-dotted icon visible just next to the articles headline. Users can tap on the icon and a pull-up card with more information about the website will appear. The About this result card will give a short description about the website and also if its using a secure HTTPS connection. Google also adds a disclaimer below mentioning that the article is a search result and not an ad.

It is rolling out first in the US, and in English. It will be accessible on desktop, mobile and the Google app on Android. Google hasnt specified when it plans to roll this out to more countries.
Rebel Wilson is a single woman once again.

A few months after going public with her millionaire boyfriend, Jacob Busch, the actor has officially called it quits on their relationship. So why did the pair break up so suddenly? Heres everything we know so far.

Rebel Wilson and Jacob Busch | Pool  Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

A quick timeline of Rebel Wilson and Jacob Buschs relationship

While its unclear when exactly Wilson and Busch started dating, theyve been linked to each other as far back as 2019.

In March of that year, the pair reportedly went to see a theater performance of Cats in Hollywood. But according to Radar Online, the night at the theater wasnt their first date.

They met through mutual friends at a Hollywood bungalow, like, a month ago and their first date was at Catch restaurant in Santa Monica, a source claimed. She makes him laugh and he cannot get enough of her!

Just stretching our legs in Ireland pic.twitter.com/pGD4CqIecS  Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) September 30, 2020

RELATED: Who Is Rebel Wilsons New Boyfriend Jacob Busch? Everything to Know!

Nearly a year and a half later, the pair attended a friends wedding together in Beverly Hills. The Pitch Perfect actor even shared a cute photo of them from the event on her Instagram Stories.

In September 2020, People confirmed that Busch and Wilson were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. A few days later, the actor made her romance with the millionaire Instagram official when she shared a few snapshots of them attending an event together in Monaco.

Meeting the Prince with a Prince Charming by my side  what a night to remember in Monaco, Wilson captioned the post.

The pairs relationship continued for a few months before Wilson confirmed their breakup on Instagram in February 2021 by declaring herself a single girl.

Why Rebel Wilson and Jacob Busch broke up

Shortly after Wilson let her social media followers know that she is back on the market, media outlets revealed why she and Busch decided to end their relationship.

According to E! News, the Isnt It Romantic star was the one who plugged the plug on this romance after realizing the relationship had run its course.

Hiking in the bu x pic.twitter.com/zPi3NmP5DU  Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) December 16, 2020

RELATED: Rebel Wilson Says She and Adam Devine Are the New Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling

There wasnt one incident that really happened to end things, the relationship just ran [its] course and fizzled out, an insider shared with the outlet. They had a great time together and remain good friends.

The source notes that distance played a part in the couples split, explaining that living on opposite coasts didnt help Busch and Wilsons relationship.

The insider added, They spent the holidays apart and it was getting a little hard to make it work since Rebel lives in LA and he lives in Palm Beach.

Will they reunite?

Despite Wilson and Busch having gone their separate ways, sources say that this isnt the end of the road for the pair.

According to E! News, the duo still has a lot of love for each other and continue to be very amicable and friendly. Theres even a chance Wilson and Busch will one-day reconnect as some believe the two may even end up hanging out together in the future.

The source adds that there isnt any weirdness between the pair, so even if a rekindled romance isnt in the cards for them, at least a friendship isnt out of the question.
New York: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has pledged to mobilise enough international pressure on Myanmars military to make sure that this coup fails.

The Myanmar army detained the countrys leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others on Monday in response to election fraud, handed power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing, and imposed a state of emergency for one year.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Credit:Getty

We will do everything we can to mobilise all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails, Guterres said during an interview broadcast by The Washington Post.

It is absolutely unacceptable after elections - elections that I believe took place normally - and after a large period of transition.
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Local telecom operators in Myanmar have started to temporarily block Facebook following an order from the countrys military government. Reddit reports spotted by TechCrunch say people cant access Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp through MPT, Myanmars largest telecom operator  which also happens to be partially state-owned.

LATEST DEVELOPMENT : New military government orders telecom companies to temporarily block Facebook as they assume the social media platform is disturbing the restoration of stability in the country. Jumping back to 2000s in three days. #myanmar pic.twitter.com/2BzUujCSfM  Hnin Zaw (@hninyadanazaw) February 3, 2021

In the order where it calls for the shutdown, the government claims Facebook has been contributing to instability in the country. Of the more than 50 million people who live in Myanmar, about 27 million are Facebook users. As advocacy group Access Now points out, those people depend on the website to share information and organize. The shutdown is slated to last until midnight February 7th.

"We are aware that access to Facebook is currently disrupted for some people, a Facebook spokesperson told Engadget. We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information."

The move comes after a week of unrest in Myanmar. On Monday, the military, led by General Min Aung Hlaing, detained the countrys elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and declared a state of emergency. Suu Kis party won the countrys November election in a landslide, taking 346 out of the 476 parliamentary seats that were up for grabs. However, the opposing Union Solidarity and Development Party, which has ties to the military, rejected the results of the election, claiming widespread voter fraud occured.

On Tuesday, Facebook banned an account associated with the Myawaddy TV station, which had been promoting the actions of the army to an audience of more than 33,000 people since at least the start of early 2020. At the time, a Facebook spokesperson said the company was closely monitoring political events in Myanmar, as well as working to stop misinformation and content that could incite further tensions.

Facebook has a complicated history in Myanmar. The company has long been blamed for not doing enough to curb the spread of misinformation in the country, with a 2018 report, which it commissioned itself, finding that the company had helped amplify calls for violence.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  A number of groups on Thursday said a military official's recent prosecution threat against a reporter justifies arguments that the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act can be weaponized to target criticism and dissent.

In separate statements, lawyers, journalists and human rights advocates condemned Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade's comment on social media that suggested a lawsuit against Inquirer.net reporter Tetch Torres-Tupas for "aiding the terrorists by spreading lies."

The general, who is known for red-tagging a number of personalities, slammed Torres-Tupas' story on aetas seeking help from the Supreme Court against the anti-terrorism law.

"Had Parlade also done his research and listened to the oral arguments, he would have known that posts like these are what petitioners claim as evidence of a credible threat of prosecution - threat that can warrant a judicial review of the law he seeks to protect and promote," said the Justice and Court Reporters' Association.

The National Union of People's Lawyers, which represents some of the petitioners against the anti-terrorism law, said the news article used statements from official documents and submissions.

"In a grotesque way, he is actually reinforcing and validating the myriad of objections and criticisms against the ATA," said Edre Olalia, NUPL President.

Inquirer.net also released a statement decrying Parlade's remarks, adding that it "unequivocally" supports its reporter and upholds her integrity.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court began the first round of oral arguments against the anti-terrorism law  the most challenged law in the country's recent history. During the discussion, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno hit a provision that frames terrorism based on a person's "state of mind."

He referred to Section 4 of the law which states that advocacy, protest, dissent, and similar exercises of civil and political rights will not be considered terrorism as long as they are not intended to cause death or serious physical harm to a person, to endanger a persons life, or to create a serious risk to public safety." The provision has been a primary cause of concern among the law's critics.

"(Parlade's post) also, rather clearly, shows the true intent of the terror law: to clamp down on our freedoms, and to threaten anyone that stands in the way of this fascist regime," said human rights group KARAPATAN.

There are 37 sets of petitioners composed of framers of the Constitution, lawyers, human rights advocates, and individuals who claim to have been victims of authorities red-tagging. Seven representatives presented their case during the three-hour oral arguments, while Solicitor General Jose Calida and the government's lawyers are expected to defend the measure when the discussion resumes on Feb. 9.
Sri Lanka celebrated its 73rd Independence Day on Thursday. The main event attended by the President and the Prime Minister took place in Colombo. The diplomats who were present were busy discussing Sri Lankas recent U-turn on involving India and Japan in its much-hyped Eastern Container Terminal (ECT) project at the Colombo Port.

Sri Lanka this week pulled out of joint partnership with India and Japan on the project, signalling a shift in its foreign policy. The news was received with shock in New Delhi and Tokyo.

According to some reliable sources, China is behind the recent developments. To checkmate two of its traditional rivals and neighbours India and Japan, Beijing allegedly put enormous pressure on the Rajapaksa brothers to go back on their words to New Delhi and Tokyo. They even allege that some of the protests against the partnership with these two nations were funded by the Chinese embassy in Sri Lanka. More than 25 port trade unions had threatened an industrial action against the government if it did not keep India and Japan out of the ECT project.

Against the backdrop of the development, India apparently sees a Chinese hand in orchestrating and funding the protests against the ECT deal by the trade unions in Sri Lanka.

ALSO READ | Sri Lanka Writes Off Strategic Port Deal With India & Japan After Week-Long Protests Over 'Sell Out'

A report in the South Asia Monitor, citing Indian diplomatic sources, said India is of the strong view that Chinese agencies were funding some protests against the ECT deal. Earlier also, several media reports speculated that these protests against the ECT deal were being put together as a result of the rivalry between India and China for an increasing strategic foothold in Sri Lanka.

According to Sri Lankan journalist Kalani Kumarasinghe, in the wake of the island nation's inability to repay the colossal loans from China, in December 2017, Colombo permitted China Merchants Port Holdings control over the deep sea port in Hambantota, located along the worlds busiest East-West shipping route. Since then the government has faced constant criticism and opposition from local groups, especially the trade unions. The governments announcement of its decision to pull out from the tri-nation agreement came against the backdrop of some 23 trade unions resorting to a work-to-rule campaign against the deal, granting the ECT to an Indian conglomerate (the Adani Group) for development.

In an attempt to pacify local protesters, a proposal to develop the Western Terminal at the Colombo Port  instead of the Eastern Terminal -- as a public-private partnership with India and Japan was announced by the government following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The government said it would instead develop the site as a wholly-owned container terminal of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority for US $800 million. The decision came less than a month after an official visit by Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar in an attempt to move the deal forward. Following the announcement, New Delhi has bluntly asked Sri Lanka to honour the agreement to develop the Eastern Container Terminal, and not the Western Terminal. Even Japan, one of the top investors in Sri Lanka, firmly told the Rajapaksa government to honour its commitments.

ALSO READ | As Sri Lanka Reviews Handing over East Container Terminal to India, China Watches Closely

The Colombo Port is one of the busiest in the world. Japan had earlier helped Sri Lanka in developing the site. It had provided both financial and technical assistance in the 1980s and 1990s.

New Delhi is keen on the partnership because 70% of the transshipment business at the Colombo Port is linked to India.

According to a report in Sri Lankas leading English newspaper Daily Mirror, talks about the development of the ECT have been on since 2013, when the initial 400 metres of the 1,200-metre jetty was completed. Tenders were called for container handling cranes. But in 2015, with the Yahapalana government (Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government) elected to power, Arjuna Ranatunga, the-then minister of ports and shipping, scrapped the call for tenders, stating that the process was mired in corruption.

During the fag end of his presidency, Maithripala Sirisena had dropped a bombshell at a cabinet meeting, alleging that Indias external spying agency R&AW was trying to assassinate him. In the same meeting, Sirisena had vehemently opposed partnering with India in the ECT project. It had led to a complete breakdown of his relationship with the-then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Sirisenas allegations had infuriated India and he had to issue a clarification saying he had never said anything like that.

After Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidency in November 2019 and his elder brother and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa led his party SLPP to a landslide win in the August 2020 parliamentary elections, India made several attempts to retain its hold over the Indian Ocean island nation. External affairs minister S Jaishankar and national security adviser Ajit Doval made special trips to Sri Lanka, assuring the government of all possible help from India.

However China, which has already pushed Sri Lanka into a debt trap, seems to have scuttled all important deals with India.

Sri Lanka is now in a catch-22 situation. It cant hurt Indias sentiments as it is the closest neighbour, and it cant ask China not to meddle as it has borrowed billions from that country.
KYODO NEWS - Feb 4, 2021 - 13:57 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

The number of crimes recorded in Japan in 2020 hit the lowest level in the postwar era for the sixth straight year, with a sharp decline in street crime as people stayed home during the coronavirus pandemic, police data showed Thursday.

However, the number of consultations on domestic violence and cybercrime reached record-high levels, according to the National Police Agency data.

Overall, there were 614,303 crime cases in Japan last year, down 17.9 percent from the 2019 figure -- the fastest pace of decline on record.

"Changes in society such as the spread of 'the new normal' (amid the pandemic) will continue to impact the future crime situation," an NPA official said. "But it's possible that there are more victims of abuse, domestic violence and stalking who remain hidden, so we will take preventative measures by responding promptly to consultations."

Street crime, including vending-machine vandalism and snatch-and-run cases, fell 27.0 percent from the previous year to 199,282. The decline was especially conspicuous after the first state of emergency over the virus was declared in April, with a 43.2 percent plunge on year seen in May.

Heinous crimes, including murder, dropped 9.7 percent to 8,934.

The number of consultations on domestic violence rose 0.5 percent from the previous year to a record 82,641, of which 8,701 cases were investigated.

Cybercrime cases increased 4.1 percent to a record 9,911. The number of suspicious connection attempts detected by police rose 55.2 percent to 6,506.4 on a daily average per IP address in 2020.

The rise may be attributed to more people working remotely amid the pandemic, and the increased use of home appliances and other devices connected to the internet, according to the NPA.

In the reporting year, police notified child consultation centers of 106,960 children suspected to have been abused, up 8.9 percent from 2019 to hit the highest level since comparable data became available in 2004.

Of the total, verbal and emotional abuse accounted for around 70 percent while physical abuse stood at 18 percent. Police investigated a record 2,131 child abuse cases in 2020, up 8.1 percent.

On stalking, police received 20,189 consultations in 2020, with the figure remaining above 20,000 every year since 2013.

Special fraud cases such as defrauding the elderly by impersonating their children or their grandchildren and asking for urgent money transfers over the phone declined 19.7 percent to 13,526, with the financial damage amounting to 27.78 billion yen ($263.4 million), down 12.0 percent.

Of these, 55 cases were related to the coronavirus pandemic, including frauds concerning government subsidies to people hit by the virus, with the total amount of money defrauded at around 100 million yen.

In Japan, crime cases hit a peak in 2002 when police recorded 2,853,739 cases.
Ministers today announced they are bringing forward a new law to allow the Attorney General Suella Braverman to take maternity leave after it emerged antiquated rules would have forced her to quit.

Mrs Braverman announced in November that she was expecting a baby 'early next year'.

She is believed to be the most senior woman at Cabinet level to have a child in office.

But current Whitehall rules would have prevented her from taking maternity leave and would have required she step down.

However, Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg confirmed this morning that the Government will pass a Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Bill through Parliament in the coming weeks to remedy the situation.

A new law is being brought forward by the Government to allow Suella Braverman, the Attorney General, to take maternity leave. Antiquated rules meant she would have had to quit her post

Mrs Braverman announced in November last year that she is expecting a baby early this year. She is pictured with her husband Rael and with her parents

Provisions are already in place which allow junior ministers to take maternity leave without quitting their frontbench roles.

But there is no such provision in place for secretary of states or government law officers.

The new law will ensure people at the very top of the Government are able to take maternity leave.

The change will mean Boris Johnson will have to appoint a temporary replacement to serve as the Government's Attorney General.

Mr Rees-Mogg confirmed the new Bill this morning as he told MPs that it will be crashed through the House of Commons next Thursday.

Announcing the business for next week, the Commons Leader said: 'Thursday the 11th of February, consideration of a business of the house motion, followed by all stages of the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Bill.'

The new rules will allow Mrs Braverman to take six months' maternity leave on full pay, according to Politico.

The draft legislation makes 'provision for payments to or in respect of ministers and holders of Opposition offices on maternity leave'.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons Leader, said the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Bill will be voted on by MPs next Thursday

Rachel Reeves, Labour's shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: 'This legislation is a small but significant step forward for women's rights in Parliament.

'The Attorney General will be the first Cabinet Minister in UK history to take maternity leave with proper pay and cover. It is quite unbelievable that women Cabinet Ministers throughout history have faced resignation or demotion when choosing to have children.

'Working women should not be forced to choose between having children and their career - whether that be a Cabinet Minister or any other working mum.

'But this bill is already out of date, with no provisions for paternity, adoption or shared parental leave. Labour intends to hold the Government to their word to work cross-party to introduce comprehensive legislation in the coming months to right this injustice.'

Mrs Braverman has served as the Attorney General, the government's chief legal adviser, since February last year when she took over from Sir Geoffrey Cox.

Before that Mrs Braverman, 40, had served as a junior Brexit minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union from January to November 2018.


Sidharth Malhotra will begin shooting for Mission Majnu in Lucknow from February 12. The film, where he plays a RAW Agent is based on true stories from the 70s.



The actor is all set for this challenging role and wants to make sure he gets it right. According to reports, the film will be shot at the Jahangirabad Palace in Hazratganj, La Martiniere, on the city roads and also in Malihabad. Its a 45-day long schedule in the city and the actor had earlier shot in Lucknow for Jabariya Jodi and is well-versed with this colourful city.Starring opposite Sidharth Malhotra is South sensation Rashmika Mandanna. This is Rashmikas debut in Hindi film industry and the two actors will work together for the first time. Time to see Sidharth Malhotra in action mode and were super excited. Apart from Thank God and Mission Majnu, he even has Shershaah waiting to be released. The actor plays Vikram Batra  the Param Vir Chakra awardee in the film. The movie also stars Kiara Advani whos said to be his off-screen love interest too.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 00:58:21|Editor: huaxia

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Pedestrians cross a road next to the city hall of Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Dongqiang)

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday that the international community should create a sound external environment for Myanmar to properly resolve the differences.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily news briefing when answering a question on the situation in Myanmar.

He said that the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday held internal consultations on the situation in Myanmar, and China participated constructively in relevant discussions.

"The international community should create a sound external environment for Myanmar to properly resolve the differences," Wang said. "All actions taken by the Security Council should be conducive to Myanmar's political and social stability, peaceful reconciliation and avoid exacerbating tensions and further complicating the situation."

China was baffled and shocked by the leak of internal documents under discussion at the Security Council, he said, adding that this is not how the Security Council runs its work, nor will it be conducive to the solidarity and mutual trust of the Security Council members.

Wang refuted allegations that the political change in Myanmar may have taken place with China's support or acquiescence. He said such allegations are untrue.

"As a friendly neighbor of Myanmar, China hopes that all parties in Myanmar will properly handle their differences under the constitutional and legal framework, and maintain political and social stability." 

[February 04, 2021] MPL Valued at $945 Million Post Latest Fundraise

Mobile Premier League, Asia's largest eSports and mobile gaming platform is now valued at $945 million after raising $95 million in a Series D round. The MPL gaming platform has over 60 million users in India and over 3.5 million users in Indonesia. With over 50 games across categories on its Android (News - Alert) and iOS applications currently, MPL has worked with 28 game developers to publish their games on the platform and provide them with a new revenue stream. The latest round was led by Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures, with participation from Base Partners, RTP Global, SIG, Go-Ventures, Telstra (News - Alert) Ventures, Founders Circle and Play Ventures. The total capital raised by MPL since its inception in 2018 now stands at $225.5 million. The pandemic-induced lockdown in 2020 provided a fillip to an already-booming eSports industry in India and the world. MPL is at the forefront of democratizing eSports in India and Indonesia, with initiatives such as the College Premier League (CPL), which was India's biggest mobile esports festival. CPL saw participation from over 13,000 gamers and more than 100 colleges in India in November-December 2020, with Rs 1 crore in prizes and scholarships. MPL will use this fresh influx of funds to expand its eSports portfolio and bolster its effort to organize more such eSports tournaments nationally and internationally at scale. The funds will also be used to accelerate MPL's international expansion this year.



"As we grow our presence and expand, this fresh round of funds will help us focus on our core value propositions - a robust platform with the best features for gamers and onboarding the best eSports titles. The esports community in India is thriving, and we believe this is the perfect time to take Indian-made games to the world as well as help Indian gamers get recognized for their talent," said Sai Srinivas, Co-Founder, and CEO, MPL. "We are excited to partner with the MPL team and support their continued growth. As an industry leader in the gaming market, we believe the company will continue to innovate and drive the evolution of eSports, both in India and internationally," said Kanush Chaudhary, Managing Director, Composite Capital.

"As we double down on our investment in MPL, we are eager to see it increasing its international footprint and becoming a global leader in the mobile gaming and eSports industries," said Eduardo Latache, Partner, Base Partners. "We are thrilled to have Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures as new partners. Throughout the Series D process, we were impressed with their deep understanding of the mobile gaming and eSports ecosystem. We look forward to working with them as we continue to build a global gaming business out of India," said Joe Wadakethalakal, SVP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations, MPL. Last week, MPL also announced raising $500,000 from existing employees under its Employee Investment Plan, which saw participation from 10 percent of the company's employees. About Mobile Premier League (MPL) MPL is Asia's biggest eSports and mobile gaming platform, with over 60 million users in India and 3.5 million in Indonesia. MPL has worked with numerous game developers and on-boarded over 70 games on its platform. It was founded in 2018 by Sai Srinivas and Shubh Malhotra. The gaming platform currently employs over 500 personnel with offices in Bengaluru, Pune, Jakarta, and Singapore. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005543/en/

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The first consultation conference on candidate nomination for the upcoming elections of deputies to the 15th National Assembly for the 2021-2026 tenure was held online in Hanoi on February 2,

linking with Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Can Tho and Thanh Hoa.

At the consultation conference

Speaking at the event, President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Tran Thanh Man said the conference aims to reach consensus on the structure and number of candidates nominated by central organisations for the upcoming elections.

According to regulations, the conference will be held three times to select candidates for the elections of deputies to the National Assembly and Peoples Councils.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan described the elections as the countrys important political event and an opportunity for the people to exercise their right to mastery via choosing and electing their qualified representatives to the National Assembly and Peoples Councils at all levels.

It is also a chance to continue building, consolidating and perfecting the law-governed socialist State of the people, by the people and for the people.

The NA Standing Committee estimated the number of central-level deputies at 207 and others of local level at 293. The number of deputies outside the Party will be 25 - 50, deputies aged below 40 will stand at around 50 while some 160 will be re-elected.

At least 18 percent of deputies will be ethnic minorities while 35 percent will be women.

The structure and number of candidates will be finalised on February 22.

The nominated and self-nominated candidates must submit personal papers for election no later than March 14./.VNA
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us

We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.
Pa. COVID-19 mask mandate will be lifted by June 28 or sooner

Pennsylvania announced Thursday that the commonwealth will eliminate its mask mandates by June 28 as COVID-19 cases drop and vaccinations increase.
New Delhi: Congress' UP General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi's cavalcade was involved in an accident on Thursday, as many as four cars collided with each other.

The accident took place at Uttar Pradesh's Hapur Road while she was on enroute to Rampur to meet the family of farmer Navneet Singh, who had died when a tractor overturned on him during the Republic Day violence.

Fortunatley, no injuries have been reported in the incident and the cars have suffered minor damages.

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kr Lallu had said, "We have come to know that a farmer Navneet ji who came from Canada and was participating in protest peacefully, was shot at by Police and lost his life, during tractor rally. Priyanka Gandhi ji will meet his family at his residence in Rampur today."

On Republic Day, as the protesting farmers held a tractor march, a group of farmers broke through police barricades and entered ITO. They clashed with the police.

In the ensuing violence, Navneet Singh died allegedly after his tractor overturned after ramming into a barricade.

Delhi Police had released CCTV footage showing the farmer`s tractor overturning after ramming into barricades at ITO.

(This is a developing story, more details are awaited)
CHICAGO  Illinois expects to receive more than $19.8 million from a $573 million multi-state settlement with one of the worlds largest consulting firms, McKinsey & Company.

Illinois Attorney General Kwami Raoul said the settlement resolves an investigation into McKinseys role in working for opioid companies, helping those companies promote their drugs and profiting from the opioid epidemic.
Francesca Paris covers North Adams for The Berkshire Eagle. A California native and Williams College alumna, she has worked at NPR in Washington, D.C. and WBUR in Boston, as a news reporter, producer and editor. Find her on Twitter at @fparises.
Agartala, Feb 4 : Tripura police have rescued 11 tribal girls, suspected to be trafficked, and detained a man in this connection, officials said on Thursday.

Police added that they were brought to Agartala from tribal refugee camps in northern Tripura.

According to a police officer, the rescued tribal girls are now at the NGO Child Line's home, who had helped the police in their rescue operation of these girls, two of whom are 18-years-old and others below 18 years of age.

Police officials, probing the incident, have asked the parents of the children to meet them and provide details about their daughters.

Police and Child Line officials suspect that the man, who is now being interrogated by the officials, might have promised the girls and their parents of lucrative wages for which they had to work as domestic help in different parts of western Tripura.

The arrested man told the police that the girls with the consent of their poor parents were to be engaged as domestic help at several houses in western Tripura.

However, the police did not convince about his claim, and suspect the incident could be related to human trafficking.

The rescued children are inmates of seven relief camps, where around 35,000 Reang tribal refugees have been sheltered after being fled from adjoining Mizoram 24 years ago, following ethnic strife in that state.

The tribal refugees, belonging to the backward Reang community, are now to be settled in 12 to 18 different places in Tripura in pursuance of an agreement signed in January last year between the Mizoram and Tripura government and the representatives of the refugees in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
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Classrooms in a school in Vijayanagar Colony near Masab Tank, were found to have been let out by its management to bachelors during the shutdown period.

Hyderabad: The reopening of schools has opened a can of worms. In some cases, managements are asking their nursery and primary students to return to school, which is against the rules. Besides, some schools are being run as lodges.

In one instance, classrooms in a school in Vijayanagar Colony near Masab Tank, were found to have been let out by its management to bachelors during the shutdown period. In another instance, parents, desperate over their kids losing out on learning, decided to drop their children at school.

The unhygienic conditions at Madarath International, a co-ed school in Vijayanagar Colony, were compounded by the discovery of abandoned bottles full of tobacco spittle, empty gutka packets, and used and discarded face masks.

The despicable conditions in the school premises, where the management opened the classes for nursery and Class I students, were enough to warrant prompt action by the school education department. Physical classes are allowed by government only for upwards of Class 9.

The school authorities were found conducting offline classes for Nursery to Class 1 students amidst such conditions, resulting in the issue of a show cause notice to the headmaster and management of the Madarath School by the Deputy Inspector of Schools, Asifnagar Mandal on Thursday.

"In spite of receiving the instructions and knowing the seriousness of Covid-19, the management/headmaster of the school is conducting offline/physical classes for primary school also. It is noticed that a part of the classrooms was let out to bachelors to stay in. The entire premises of the school are in unhygienic conditions," the notice said.

The education department has issued a show cause notice to the school management to explain why action should not be initiated against the school for such irresponsible actions.

Elsewhere in the city, in Saidabad, another primary school that offers classes from nursery to Class I has found itself in a piquant situation with parents dropping off their kids at the school, urging the teachers to hold classes. Almost all these parents are poor, cannot afford to have digital devices such as smart phones or tablets or computers, for their children to attend online classes.

"There is little we could do. It is heartbreaking for us too and we could not turn away the children. We are trying to do the best we can for them," a school staffer said.
[February 04, 2021] Cyberfraud is a growing concern for small businesses as the pandemic forces them to digitize

TORONTO, Feb. 4, 2021 /CNW/ - The pandemic has made Canadian small businesses more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Nearly a quarter of businesses have experienced cyberattacks since March 2020 with 5 per cent overall saying the attack against them was successful, finds the newest report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). Relative to the whole economy, this means that about 61,000 small and mid-sized businesses were victims of cyberfraud last year. "While many small businesses have adapted to the pandemic by adopting new technologies, remote-work arrangements and ecommerce platforms, these changes have also created new opportunities for cyberattacks," said Jasmin Guenette, CFIB's vice-president of national affairs. "It's more important than ever for small firms to protect their information systems." More than 80 per cent of businesses that experienced a cyberattack say it came through email scams and phishing attempts and 50 per cent encountered malicious software. The businesses most at risk of cyberfraud were: Those with 20 or more employees

Those who allowed their employees to work remotely or made any changes to their online presence

Those in the manufacturing, wholesale trade, business services and enterprise and administration management sectors Businesses need tools to protect themselves

"When a small business suffers a cyberattack, the effects can be very heavy, from stress and financial loss to compromised personaland banking information and negative impacts on business relationships," added Andreea Bourgeois, Senior Analyst at CFIB. "Many are investing more in their IT infrastructure$6,700 on averagebut beyond that, they have few recourses if a cyberattack is successful."



CFIB recommends that businesses invest in cyber insurance to protect themselves in the event of a cyberattack. In addition, business owners should:

Be aware of cyber risks to their business, using sources such as the Insurance Bureau of Canada , the Government of Canada's National Security and Defence, Cyber Security Unit, CFIB's website and other business associations' websites and resources

, the Government of National Security and Defence, Cyber Security Unit, CFIB's website and other business associations' websites and resources Raise awareness among employees about cyberattacks and train staff to detect and avoid them

Share information on scams and best practices for prevention with other business owners

Report cyberattacks to law enforcement and other authorities, such as the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, the Competition Bureau, and the Better Business Bureau. Governments, law enforcement agencies and other authorities can help business owners protect themselves by using "cyber policing" resources adequately, proactively sharing information on existing resources and best practices with businesses and associations, and provide services specifically tailored to SMEs regarding cyber insurance and cyberattacks. Governments can also provide small businesses with tax credit or grants to help them invest in IT protection equipment.

"More than half of small business owners say they are more worried about potential cyberattacks since March 2020. Cyberattacks will continue to be a growing concern for small businesses in 2021 and beyond," concluded Guenette. "Being proactive in protecting their information systems and training staff to detect cyberfraud attempts is their best defense." Read CFIB's full Cyberfraud in small business research snapshot for more information. About CFIB

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada's largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 110,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners' chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca. SOURCE Canadian Federation of Independent Business

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A Wicklow farmer has been ordered by the High Court not to trespass on the grounds of Russborough House in Blessington, Co Wicklow pending a legal action over a dispute about his right to farm part of the estate.

The High Court granted an application to the Alfred Beit Foundation, the charitable trust that owns and operates Russborough House for an interlocutory injunction against a local farmer, David Egar, from entering the property.

The Albert Beit Foundation, which was founded in 1976 by the late Sir Alfred and Lady Clementine Bite claimed the dispute with Mr Egar had put their plans to stage music festivals at Russborough House at risk.

It claimed security on the 220-acre estate was also of the utmost importance because Russborough contained that valuable Beit art collection.

The venue has been the subject of several notorious robberies over recent decades including the theft in May 1986 of 18 paintings, including a Vermeer and a Goya, by the criminal gang headed by Martin Cahill, also known as The General.

The court heard that Mr Egar of Main Street, Blessington, has been farming various lands on the Russborough estate since 1976 as a result of an agreement with both Sir Alfred and Lady Clementine while they were alive but that relations with the Foundation had since broken down.

The dispute centres on whether Mr Egar has a lease or is entitled to a lease on six fields comprising approximately 100 acres that directly surround Russborough House.

The Foundation claims the farmer only ever had a series of 11-month licences to farm the lands which had expired in February 2020.

The court heard that the Foundation had entered an agreement in April 2019 with a company, Event Fuels, to hold annual music festivals at Russborough in June between 2019 and 2021 and the lands farmed by Mr Egar would be required for car parking, camping and other activities.

Mr Egar claims he had entered an oral agreement with Sir Alfred over 40 years ago that he would have full possession of the lands for an unspecified period in return for payment of an annual rent.

The farmer is seeking the court to grant him a 35-year lease on the lands as well as a permanent injunction to prevent the Foundation from interfering with his possession of the lands plus 100,000 in damages.

The court heard that Mr Egar had not removed his livestock from the estate but had instead replaced the Foundations padlocks on various gates on the lands with his own.

Although the case when it came before the High Court last year was adjourned to allow for mediation between the parties, Mr Justice David Keane was informed that talks were unsuccessful.

In his judgement, Mr Justice Keane said the farmers claims about an oral agreement with Sir Alfred suffered two fatal infirmities.

The judge pointed out any lease for a period in excess of 12 months must be evidenced in writing under legislation as well as Mr Egars failure to put forward any evidence beyond a mere assertion.

He said he could find no evidence that would support Mr Egars contention about the existence of a lease rather than successive licences.

The judge said it was innately implausible that Sir Alfred or the Foundation would grant exclusive possession of parklands immediately surrounding Russborough House to another person.

Granting the Foundations application for an interlocutory injunction pending the hearing of the full action, Mr Justice Keane said the farmer had failed to show that he had any right to occupy the lands independent of the Foundations wishes.
A part-time model who suffered a traumatic brain injury after she was struck by a car when she attempted to cross a dual carriageway has settled her High Court action for 3.2m.

Jodie Regazzoli was in a coma for weeks and given a three percent chance of survival after she was hit by the car in 2018  and later became homeless for a time and lived in a hotel.

Ms Regazzoli was a part-time model and retail assistant when the accident happened. She was thrown six feet in the air as she attempted to cross a dual carriageway in Swords, Co Dublin.

A former Miss Ireland finalist, Ms Regazzoli told the court:: Everything was taken. I was 22 years old.

For the last three years it has been hospital appointments and I still have to have more surgery in six months time. I was also homeless for a while and had to live in hotels. 

Her counsel Liam Reidy SC told the court Ms Regazzoli had been going to work in the Pavilions Shopping Centre, Swords, and was crossing the dual carriageway when the collision happened on the bus lane.

Counsel said it would appear it was a habit of people to cross from a bus stop to the centre and walk across to the island between the carriageways. He said there was a footbridge provided to cross the carriageway and it was a big issue in the case.

Counsel told Mr Justice Kevin Cross as part of the settlement it had been agreed to apportion liability as two thirds against the driver and one third against Ms Regazzoli.

He said she had suffered profound injuries and was lucky to survive, but she has since made great progress.

Ms Regazzoli (25) Forest Fields Road, Swords, Co Dublin had sued the driver of the car, Olga Maslakova , Boru Court , Swords, and the owner of the car Aleksandrs Maslakovs, of the same address, as a result of the accident on the North East bound R132 carriageway opposite the Pavilions Shopping Centre, Swords on April 17, 2018.

She was crossing the dual carriageway from a bus stop to get to a staff entrance to the shopping centre when she was hit by the car.

It was claimed the car was being driven at an allegedly excessive speed and there was a failure to observe Ms Regazzoli and others crossing the carriageway on foot and drive accordingly.

It was further claimed there was a failure to apply the brakes in time effectively or at all.

The claims were denied and it was alleged that Mr Regazzoli failed to use the pedestrian flyover to cross the carriageway

Mr Reidy said Ms Regazzoli at the time of the accident was working as a part time model but a lot of that was destroyed by the injuries.

Approving the settlement ,Mr Justice Cross said Ms Regazzolis life had been turned upside down.

He said the settlement was fair and reasonable and he wished her well for the future.
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A World Health Organization scientific team in China to investigate the origins of the coronavirus visited the Wuhan laboratory thats been at the center of months of speculation over how the disease jumped to humans.

The international group of scientists arrived at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, home to a high-tech laboratory that studies some of the worlds most infectious diseases, on Wednesday morning.

The team is looking forward to a very productive day and to asking all the questions that we know need to be asked, Peter Daszak, a New York-based zoologist who is part of both the WHO and The Lancet teams trying to trace the viruss origin, told reporters, Agence France-Presse reported.

In the past week, the experts have also visited the Huanan seafood market where the first infections emerged, two major Wuhan hospitals that treated patients when it was unknown what they were afflicted with, and an animal disease center.

The highly anticipated visit to the lab, which former U.S. President Donald Trump claimed -- without evidence -- leaked the coronavirus, comes after months of negotiation with a defensive China to facilitate and cooperate with the WHO investigation. Stung by criticism that it initially covered up the extent of the crisis, Chinese state media and officials have promoted the theory that the virus didnt start in China, but was brought in.

The Wuhan lab has been the target of frenzied speculation since the crisis emerged a year ago, as researchers there study highly contagious pathogens, including bat-borne coronaviruses like the one that causes Covid-19. Members of the Trump administration repeatedly claimed that there was evidence that SARS-CoV-2 escaped from or was deliberately leaked by the lab, though they didnt back those accusations with proof.

China has denied any link and the topic is politically taboo locally. Shi Zhengli -- a researcher at the institute known as Bat Woman for her expeditions to bat caves -- said in interviews that SARS-CoV-2s genetic sequencing does not match any that the lab had previously studied and that none of its staffers were infected.

The WHO expert team will also meet with Shi during their Wednesday visit, reported Chinese state-run tabloid Global Times.

How the pathogen thats killed over 2 million people globally first leaped to humans is still a stubborn mystery scientists are trying to solve. Some say the virus could have somehow moved directly from bats to people, while others flag the possibility an intermediary animal may have been involved.

After a spate of cases in Chinese port and cold storage workers, China is pushing the possibility that the coronavirus could have entered the country on imported frozen food. State-backed media have also seized on research that suggests there were infections in the U.S. and Italy that pre-date those in Wuhan.

We hope the U.S. will have an active, scientific, and cooperative attitude in sourcing the virus origins, just like China, and invite the WHO experts for an investigation in the U.S., Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said during a routine press briefing on Tuesday.

The WHO mission is proceeding very well, Daszak told reporters on Tuesday. The teams investigation in Wuhan is scheduled to last for two weeks, after the experts spent 14 days in quarantine since arriving in China last month.
ROME, FEB 4 - Outgoing Premier Giuseppe Conte said Thursday that he was "serene" after the collapse of his government. "When you do your job, you are always serene," Conte told ANSA on his way into the premier's office. Conte quit last week after ex-premier Matteo Renzi's centrist Italia Viva (IV) party withdrew its support for his executive, depriving it of a majority in the Senate. President Sergio Mattarella handed Mario Draghi a mandate to try and form a new government on Tuesday after efforts to patch up the alliance that had backed Conte's second executive failed. Conte's first government, which lasted from June 2018 until August 2019, was backed by the 5-Star Movement (M5S) and Matteo Salvini's right-wing League party. Conte remains at the helm of government for day-to-day business until new administration is sworn in. (ANSA).
Heidelberg/Germany and Cambridge/USA, 4 February 2021 - EMBO Press announces the appointment of immunologist Facundo Batista, PhD, as Chief Editor of The EMBO Journal. Facundo Batista, who is a Professor at Harvard Medical School and the first Associate Director of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge/USA, takes up the appointment with immediate effect. He takes over from Bernd Pulverer, Head of Scientific Publishing at EMBO after a decade in the role, who will lead EMBO Reports as Chief Editor.

"I am delighted to serve the wider scientific community by joining The EMBO Journal as Chief Editor. It is an honor to partner with such an outstanding Editorial Board and excellent team of editors, who have continuously pioneered important new standards in scientific publishing. My goal is to build on the heritage of this flagship journal to better represent the biological sciences as they are practiced today, across disciplinary and international frontiers. I also hope to invite more early career scientists to share their expertise both in the review process and on the journal's development," comments Facundo Batista.

In the four decades since its launch in 1982, The EMBO Journal has maintained its standing as a leading community venue for the best life science research. The journal is dedicated to excellence in the quality, depth and breadth of the research it presents. A team of expert scientific editors works with an editorial board and peer reviewers from the international scientific community to select and publish consequential research of outstanding originality and interest to the journal's global readership.

"The broad scope of The EMBO Journal mirrors the emergence of molecular biology as a discipline that transcends all biosciences research - from developmental biology and medical research to biophysics and structural biology," says Bernd Pulverer, the outgoing Chief Editor. "Facundo's global background and perspective are emblematic of the journal's purview and outlook. His creativity will underscore the journal as a community-focused essential resource," he adds.

The EMBO Journal has served as a laboratory for innovations in scientific publication. Over a decade ago, The EMBO Journal introduced the transparent peer review process: the journal publishes referee comments, author responses and editorial decision letters in full alongside the paper. This recently expanded to include the 'Refereed Preprint' concept, encouraging authors to associate journal referee reports with their preprints. The EMBO Journal encourages the deposition of minimally processed source data and provides a free service to curate and annotate figures, which enables direct search for data and experiments via the EMBO SourceData platform, making the papers and their data better findable.

The EMBO Journal publishes about half of the papers fully Open Access; the other half is freely accessible six months after publication. Journal income is used to cross-finance EMBO Press Open Access journals and parts of EMBO Programmes fostering life scientists at different career stages.

A video interview with Facundo Batista can be viewed at https:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch?v= dzTUZj4TN04 .

BIOSKETCH

Facundo D. Batista, PhD, is the Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Harvard Medical School and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard. He serves as the first Associate Director of the Ragon Institute.

Prof. Batista is a leader in B-cell biology and antibody responses. Historically, his group has focused on understanding B cell receptor (BCR) function, including BCR signaling dynamics, inhibitory and stimulatory regulation by co-receptors, and interactions with the cortical cytoskeleton. These studies challenged the previous conception of BCR activation as a mere receptor-ligand interaction, elucidating the complex interplay of membrane components that influence BCR function. Prof. Batista has also investigated B-cell activation in vivo, discovering the site at which antigen activates B cells in the lymph nodes and the role of other immune cells in that interaction.

Since joining the Ragon Institute in 2016, Prof. Batista's focus has turned further toward applied immunology, including the creation of new technologies to inform rational vaccine design, but he has retained his interest in understanding the basic biology of B cells: recent work has primarily focused on the role of B-cell metabolism, including autophagy and mitochondrial metabolic reprogramming.

Prof. Batista has served on the editorial boards of various journals. He was elected to the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Young Investigator Programme in 2009 and granted EMBO Membership in 2013. He is also the recipient of the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and a fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2018.

Prof. Batista was a Senior Group Leader at the London Research Institute, then became a Member of the Francis Crick Institute and a Professor at Imperial College London, UK. He trained with Michael Neuberger as an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK. Prof. Batista received his PhD from the International School of Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, and his undergraduate degree from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

###

About EMBO

EMBO is an organization of more than 1800 leading researchers that promotes excellence in the life sciences in Europe and beyond. The major goals of the organization are to support talented researchers at all stages of their careers, stimulate the exchange of scientific information, and help build a research environment where scientists can achieve their best work.

EMBO helps young scientists to advance their research, promote their international reputations and ensure their mobility. Courses, workshops, conferences and scientific journals disseminate the latest research and offer training in techniques to maintain high standards of excellence in research practice. EMBO helps to shape science and research policy by seeking input and feedback from our community and by following closely the trends in science in Europe.

http://www. embo. org

About EMBO Press

EMBO Press is an editorially independent publishing platform for the development of EMBO scientific publications. EMBO Press represents the policies and practices of the five EMBO scientific publications that serve the global life science community: The EMBO Journal, EMBO Reports, Molecular Systems Biology, EMBO Molecular Medicine and Life Science Alliance (co-published with Rockefeller University Press and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press). EMBO Press is a founder and initial signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and an innovator in responsible research practices, and it champions Open Science and FAIR data sharing.

http://www. embopress. org

About the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard

The Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard was established in 2009 with a gift from the Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Foundation, with a collaborative scientific mission among these institutions to harness the immune system to combat and cure human diseases. Focusing on global infectious diseases, the Ragon Institute draws scientists, clinicians and engineers from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise to study and understand the immune system with the goal of benefiting patients.
[February 04, 2021] American Chemical Society honors PPG Collegium member with 2021 Roy W. Tess Award

PPG (NYSE:PPG) announced today that PPG retiree and PPG Collegium member Shanti Swarup has been honored with the prestigious 2021 Roy W. Tess Award in Coatings. The award is presented by the American Chemical Society's Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering ( ACS (News - Alert) PMSE). The annual award recognizes outstanding contributions to coatings science, engineering and technology to encourage interest and progress in coatings science technology. "We are excited that ACS has recognized Shanti's myriad accomplishments in the chemistry industry," said David Bem, PPG chief technology officer and vice president, science and technology. "Over his 32-year tenure at PPG, Shanti made highly valuable contributions to our company and the larger, global coatings industry. We congratulate him for this well-deserved recognition." Swarup and his team developed 220 unique polymers. He is named inventor and author on more than 300 global patents and publications, including 89 granted U.S. patents and more than 20 U.S. patents pending review. The polymers described in these patents are used in commercial coatings and address important issues such as worker safety, reductions in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, waste minimization, improved productivity, performance and vehicle fuel economy. Among his may achievements, Swarup was part of a team that received the 2008 PPG President's Award for developing acid etch-resistant clearcoat technology. The President's Award is the highest honor PPG grants annually to project teams among its global employees. He was also inducted into the PPG Collegium in 2016 as a lifelong member. Membership in this group of innovative PPG leaders is the highest honor given to an individual employee.



Throughout his career, Swarup has been recognized by SURCAR, R&D 100 Magazine, the ACS Heroes of Chemistry, Pittsburgh Intellectual Property Law Association, and others. He received the 2018 ACS National Award in Applied Polymer Science and was named an ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry (POLY) Fellow and an ACS PMSE Fellow in 2020. He has maintained active participation in ACS for more than 35 years at the local and national level and has served on the Industrial Advisory Board of the Polymer Division for 10 years. He co-chaired a symposium on new crosslink chemistry at the 2019 Spring National Meeting of ACS in the PMSE section. Swarup will receive the Roy W. Tess Award from Tim Bunting, chair, ACS PMSE Division, in August 2021 during the 262nd ACS national meeting in Atlanta.

PPG: WE PROTECT AND BEAUTIFY THE WORLD At PPG (NYSE:PPG), we work every day to develop and deliver the paints, coatings and materials that our customers have trusted for more than 135 years. Through dedication and creativity, we solve our customers' biggest challenges, collaborating closely to find the right path forward. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, we operate and innovate in more than 70 countries and reported net sales of $13.8 billion in 2020. We serve customers in construction, consumer products, industrial and transportation markets and aftermarkets. To learn more, visit www.ppg.com. We protect and beautify the world is a trademark and the PPG Logo is a registered trademark of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc. CATEGORY Corporate View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005176/en/

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A Florida lawyer has been disbarred for having sexual encounters with inmates in jail and recording the said acts for an adult film, according to the state Supreme Court.

The lawyer was 58-year-old Andrew Spark, who would reportedly solicit sex from imprisoned women and offer to put money in their commissary accounts.

Lawyer faces 5-year probation

In return, they would have to let him use the footage for an adult film he entitled "Girls in Jail," according to authorities.

The high court found that Spark abused his attorney-client privilege to gain access to private jail rooms in two separate detention facilities, according to a New York Daily News report.

Spark did this for his own prurient and/or financial interests, as the panel said in a recent disciplinary notice posted on The Florida Bar's website.

Spark previously pleaded guilty to bringing contraband into detention facilities and solicitation of prostitution. The disbarred lawyer is also serving five-year probation that ends in 2024.

Related story: The Vatican Sends Two Sex Crimes Investigators to Mexico

Suspect's history of sexual misconduct

Back In 2017, Spark was also arrested in Pinellas County wherein Sheriff Bob Gualtieri opened a press conference saying that Spark pretended to be the personal attorney of a woman currently sentenced for sexually assaulting a 7-year-old child, according to a Law and Crime report.

Gualtieri said that the woman was surprised to see Spark in the private attorney visitation room and he solicited her for sex on camera in return for money. The woman said no but had left the chance open for it to happen in the future.

The sheriff further said that Spark met the woman and her co-defendant husband two years before at a porn convention. At the time, the attorney attempted to solicit the woman for sex but could not agree on a price.

Gualtieri said that investigators found evidence that Spark did have sex with another female inmate at least six times. The investigation also found that Spark solicited sex with another woman at the Falkenburg Road Jail in Hillsborough County.

Spark presented his Florida Bar identification and acted as if he was the woman's attorney and was allowed to meet with her.

Gualtieri said that Spark had really duped the system.

"He wasn't her lawyer; he wasn't representing her. But as an attorney, he's given the courtesy of going into the jail to meet with clients," Gualtieri was quoted on a Miami Herald report.

The female inmate then family members what being done to her by Spark. Family members then told law enforcement.

Spark was reported to use his table to record one female inmate giving him oral sex. The said female agreed to be an undercover agent for investigators.

On Dec. 17, 2017, Spark visited the said female inmate and has prepared for the usual arrangement to start. The referee's report said that the law enforcement then entered the room and arrested Spark who had his zipper down.

Investigators searched Spark's electronic devices after his arrest and found photos of an inmate in Hillsborough County's Jail and a jail phone records where an inmate asked Spark for money.

Related story: California Releases 7 High-Level Sex Offenders Over COVID-19 Pandemic

Heinz will launch its baked beans in freezer packs as it looks to rebrand a great British favourite.

The move is part of a plan to liberate baked beans from their old-fashioned image and instead turn them into the new avocado by playing up their nutritional value.

US food giant Kraft Heinz has drawn up the beanz liberation exercise, which will see the product expand into new formats  including a frozen option  that it hopes will appeal to youngsters.

The push began with the launch of the beanz protein pot last month  but at least another six products will be released this year.

The move is part of a plan to liberate baked beans from their old-fashioned image and instead turn them into the new avocado by playing up their nutritional value (file photo)

The microwaveable breakfast pots included not only its signature beans, but sausage, spinach and scrambled egg as well.

Jojo de Noronha, Kraft Heinzs Northern Europe president, aims to turn baked beans into the new avocado by emphasising its superfood credentials. Superfoods are items that are rich in vitamins and beneficial nutrients.

She said: Beans on toast is high fibre, high protein and slow release of energy. Consumers understand the benefit but they dont recognise them as a superfood yet.

We want to take them from a family comfort to a health and wellness food that is recognised as good for your body.

She also told the Grocer magazine that Heinz wanted to lure back younger shoppers as the brand has lost its appeal with them over the past decade.

Old formats like beans or pasta in a can are fantastic but if you dont bring relevancy, these consumers wont be there re, she said.

The push began with the launch of the beanz protein pot (pictured above) last month  but at least another six products will be released this year

Heinz Beanz has been a hit in lockdown with many eating at home more.

The brand added 25.9million in extra sales last year, taking them up to 229.2million, according to retail analysts Nielsen.

American Henry Heinz first sold his version of baked beans in 1886 to Londons Fortnum & Mason store and they went on to become a shopping basket staple.

In 1967, the brand introduced the slogan Beanz Meanz Heinz, which became one of the best-known of all time.

By Stephen Nellis (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc shares fell 7.6% in after-hours trading on Wednesday as the company said that semiconductor supply constraints that have roiled the industry were hampering its sales growth. The results come as chip shortages force automakers such as General Motors Co on Wednesday to cut production at multiple plants. While Qualcomm does not make the chips that are holding up automotive plants, the company works with some of the same chip contract manufacturers that are backed up. Qualcomm executives told Reuters that supplies will remain tight through the ...
As the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) rages worldwide, governments and health agencies are urging the use of facemasks to mitigate the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Previous studies have shown that wearing face masks helps reduce the spread of infectious respiratory pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. However, there is limited data that explores the efficacy of homemade fabric face masks.

In a new study, published on the pre-print server medRxiv*, researchers at the University of Cambridge found that fabric face masks block 62.6 percent to 87.1 percent of fine particles, making them useful tools in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Face masks for protection

When the coronavirus outbreak first erupted in China in December 2019, the world faced a new global health threat. As the cases skyrocketed and the virus spread to many countries, health agencies recommended using face masks to protect oneself from infection.

Many people were first reluctant to wear face coverings. However, many studies have shown the benefits and importance of wearing one, especially when going to public places and indoor spaces with poor ventilation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that health workers use medical-grade facemasks, anyone who is feeling unwell, and those awaiting COVID-19 test results. Medical acemasks are also recommended for high-risk groups, like older adults and people with underlying medical conditions. Non-medical or fabric masks can be used by the general public.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged the public to use masks, specifically non-valved multi-layer cloth masks, to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

Masks are intended to reduce the emission of virus-laden droplets, this is especially vital for asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic infected people. Multi-layer cloth masks help block the exhaled respiratory particles into the environment.

Further, the health agency emphasized that these masks reduce the inhalation of infected droplets from other people. The masks can reduce exposure to infectious droplets through filtration.

Comparison the mean filtration efficiencies measured for four mask types: a simple two-layer fabric mask, a more sophisticated mask with panels to cover the nose and chin and a PM2.5 filter, a standard surgical mask and an N95 mask. Error bars indicate standard deviation above and below the mean. To accurately compare the state of not wearing a mask, a special headpiece was designed to hold the mask sampling tube the same distance from the mouth as it would be when a mask was worn.

Are fabric face masks effective?

Since the beginning of the pandemic, a key concern from the public is to what degree their face masks protect against small particles. While the wearing of face masks is mandated or advised in many countries, there is limited information and studies on the effectiveness of non-medical grade masks in preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Recommended masks for health workers, such as N95, FFFP3, and other hospital-grade masks, are tested on each individual to ensure they can block a high percentage of particles. On the other hand, non-medical grade masks, such as surgical and homemade fabric masks, have no ratings to provide wearers information on how well they filter fine particles, including virus-laden droplets.

To determine how well fabric masks protect the wearers, the researchers conducted two methods in the study. First, they performed quantitative fit testing of various face masks with a TSI 8038+ machine to indicate their efficacy. Second, they conducted a survey of 710 residents in the United States about their perceptions of face mask effectiveness.

The masks tested in the study included the N95 mask, surgical mask, and two fabric face masks, which were tested on an individual 25 times each using the machine. The survey was distributed by Qualtrics XM, asking the participants to estimate their perceived efficacy of the four masks tested.

The study findings showed that non-medical grade masks effectively blocked more than 50 percent of airborne particles. The simple fabric masks blocked between 50 percent and 75 percent of the particles. The filtration ability of the fabric masks differs markedly based on the design of the mask.

A simple two-layer thin cotton fabric masks blocked an average of 62.6 percent of particles, while the more sophisticated fabric masks with panels to cover the nose and chin and a PM2.5 filter blocked an average of 87.1 percent. Meanwhile, the N95 masks widely used in medical settings blocked about 99.6 percent of particles.

In the survey, the researchers found that 78 percent of the respondents believed N95 protects by filtering over 50 percent of particles. Only 29 percent believed the masks protected from over 95 percent of particles. The participants graded fabric masks as the least effective, with 43 percent believing they filtered less than 50 percent of particles.

Overall, our results suggest that even simple fabric masks may be able to protect the wearer from fine particles the size of the SARS-CoV-2 viral particle. In doing so, these findings add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that mask-wearing may play an important role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers explained.

The study supports the advisory from several health agencies recommending the general public to use fabric face masks to protect themselves from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

To date, there are more than 104.2 million cases of COVID-19, with over 2.26 million deaths worldwide.

*Important Notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

Main Equity indices came off the day's low and traded near the flat line in mid morning trade. The Nifty scaled the 14,800 mark. Auto stocks extended gains in anticipation of the proposed voluntary vehicle scrappage policy.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 40.93 points or 0.08% at 50,214.66. The Nifty 50 index was up 9.3 points or 0.06% at 14,799.95.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.31% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.37%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1745 shares rose and 921 shares fell. A total of 125 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 104,366,626 with 22,67,910 deaths. India reported 155,025 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 154,703 deaths while 104,80,455 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto gained 1.61% to 10,922.15, extending its winning run to fourth consecutive trading session. The auto index added 11.3% in four trading session.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her Union Budget 2021 speech that the government intends to go ahead with a 'Vehicle Scrappage Policy'. The new vehicle scrappage policy and its details will be shared with the public within the next 15 days. The policy will allow owners to scrap their 20-year old vehicles and avail incentives on the purchase of new personal vehicles. For commercial vehicles, the scrappage policy will be applicable for 15-year old commercial vehicles without a fitness certificate.

Mahindra & Mahindra (up 4.48%), Escorts (up 3.55%), Maruti Suzuki (up 1.47%), Tata Motors (up 0.53%), Ashok Leyland (up 2.38%), TVS Motor Company (up 1.05%) and Bajaj Auto (up 0.41%) were top gainers.

Hero MotoCorp (up 1.36%) will announce its quarterly results today.

Earnings Impact:

Astral Poly Technik fell 0.56%.

The company's consolidated net profit jumped 82.5% to Rs 123.90 crore on 35.1% increase in net sales to Rs 897.50 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Q3 December 2019. Consolidated profit before tax (PBT) soared 89.2% to Rs 165.20 crore in Q3 December 2020 as against Rs 87.30 crore in Q3 December 2019. Consolidated EBITDA grew 64.36% to Rs 196.90 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Rs 119.80 crore in Q3 December 2019. Consolidated EBITDA margin improved to 21.94% in Q3 FY21 as against 18.04% in Q3 FY20. Consolidated profit margin was at 13.81% in Q3 FY21 as compared to 10.22% in Q3 FY20.

Prince Pipes and Fittings surged 13.46% after the company's net profit surged 175% to Rs 66.79 crore in Q3 FY21 from Rs 24.28 crore in Q3 FY20. Net sales during the quarter increased by 38.7% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 549.01 crore. Sales volume increased by 18% at 36,711 MT in Q3 FY21 compared to 31,122 MT in Q3 FY20. EBITDA was at Rs 103 crore in the third quarter as compared to Rs 53 crore, registering a YoY growth of 93%. EBITDA margins was at 18.8% as on 31 December 2020 as against 13.5% as on 31 December 2019.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks were trading lower on Thursday. In US, the Dow and S&P 500 rose slightly on Wednesday, registering a third straight session of gains, with Alphabet Inc's shares hitting a record high following its strong quarterly results.

The House passed a budget resolution Wednesday, a key step as Democrats push toward a vote on a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Approval of the measure allows Congress to move forward with reconciliation, through which Democrats can pass an aid bill without Republican support. The Senate is expected to approve a resolution later this week.

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Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

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Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

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There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

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Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

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"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

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Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

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Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

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"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

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Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

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Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

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Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

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Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

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US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

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UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

A plan to force aged care providers to report a broader range of serious incidents of alleged abuse or neglect to the sectors watchdog has been criticised by Labor for excluding vulnerable Australians receiving home care services.

The government has proposed amendments to aged care legislation to introduce a serious incident response scheme that would require providers to report more incidents to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, including those committed by a resident with a cognitive or mental impairment.

Changes to the Aged Care Act will give the safety commission more teeth, but Labor says it leaves out many vulnerable older Australians. Credit:Virginia Star

The bill, currently before the Senate, would also give the commission more scope to ensure compliance. The scheme is expected to come into effect from April 1 provided the legislation passes through Parliament.

Currently, suspected assaults by a resident with a cognitive or mental impairment do not need to be reported.
Chinese medias reporting on supply of armed drones to Pakistan is just psy ops

Drones in the skies, enhanced security on ground as India braces for chakka jam

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How Pak uses drones for surveillance and smuggling

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: Pakistan is very effectively using drones for surveillance and smuggling arms, explosives and narcotics across the border, BSF Director General Rakesh Asthana said on Wednesday.

"In 2019, there were 167 recorded sightings of drones on the Western front (with Pakistan). In 2020, there were 77 sightings of drones on this front," he said at a seminar organised by industry body FICCI at Aero India 2021 exhibition.

There have been instances of dropping of arms, ammunition, explosives and narcotics through the drones, particularly in Punjab and Jammu sectors, he mentioned.

Terror module that received arms dropped off by Pakistan drones busted

"Pakistan is very effectively using its drone technology for not only smuggling activities, but also for surveillance purposes," Asthana said.

"As per intelligence inputs, the Pakistan Army is looking for mini or small UAVs which can stay for several hours in the air to monitor the borders with a preferable range of 150 kms," he added.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

The Border Security Force (BSF) chief also said that the neighbouring nation is using drones from China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Italy.

In addition to this, Pakistan is seeking to augment its counter drone capability, he added.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 13:11 [IST]
So much has been normalized in the last year - boycotting something you find mildly offensive, targeting people, and personally attacking them if they don't share the same viewpoints as you, filing FIRs for basically no reason.

A lot of people have said that taking offence has become a new national hobby, apparently, and every single day that is proved right by multiple people.

Recently, activist Greta Thunberg showed her support for the farmers protesting in India and shared how people can actually protest all over the world and help the cause.

 Reuters

Even after being trolled for it, she's still not backing down.



She's showing support, and she, along with Rihanna, has helped push one of the biggest protests to a global level.

Heres an updated toolkit by people on the ground in India if you want to help. (They removed their previous document as it was outdated.)#StandWithFarmers #FarmersProtesthttps://t.co/ZGEcMwHUNL  Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 3, 2021

Of course, that resulted in the entire debate about how this is India's 'internal matter' and outsiders shouldn't comment on it, even though it has gone way past that and become a human rights crisis.

When farmers were dying, no celebrity bothered speaking up, but when 'outsiders' got involved, all of them woke up to reiterate that this is an internal matter in the same words.

Side note, why didn't they follow their advice when they were posting black squares for Black Lives Matter? Hmm, much to think about.

Coming back to Greta, the 18-year-old Swedish environmental activist is now a target for the Delhi Police as reportedly they are filing an FIR against her for her tweets in support of farmers.

#Breaking | Delhi Police to file an FIR against Greta Thunberg over tweets on farmers' protests.



Details by Priyank Tripathi. pic.twitter.com/ixpImdeAhp  TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 4, 2021

Greta has graciously responded to the development saying that she's not backing down.

I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest.

No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest  Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 4, 2021

But, the question is what will this FIR even result in?

Greta is obviously not from India, let alone Delhi. How are they going to arrest her?

Is it a ploy to get an international trip in order to arrest her even though they have no jurisdiction outside of Delhi?

So many questions, not a single answer.

Hmm.

They can only harass a small child not a intl star like Rihanna n Meena Harris or Mia Khalifa  RiA (@RiaRevealed) February 4, 2021

Good idea.

She is not indian

Sedition is not applicable  Kritika (@Kritika_simmi) February 4, 2021

Wouldn't be surprised.

So what? We will create a new International sedition law and put Greta thunberg in jail! #bhakthlogic  King in the North (@TerryBluesz) February 4, 2021

The funniest tweet ever.

Do they think that she lives in Greta Kailash? https://t.co/z6P0s412iH  Allah Ke Banderas (@lildeekenergyy) February 4, 2021

That will never happen, though.

File an FIR againest kangna too for spreading such hatred through her tweets . Shes abusing farmers , global celebrities. #arrestkangna#bhakts#GodiMedia https://t.co/fkF50sXhxy   (@harshhhkaur) February 4, 2021

Wow.

Dehli police going to Sweden  pic.twitter.com/XAozXG9Xe8  ZayedG (@ZayedBOAH) February 4, 2021

Maybe that was their plan?

Delhi Police bringing more attention to Protests with their own stupidity. Keep up the Good work @DelhiPolice https://t.co/W04Sfe3Jly  vsg (@vindagrewal) February 4, 2021

Seems like it.

We are officially an international joke now. https://t.co/o1LSi9gNq4  George (@VijayIsMyLife) February 4, 2021

Oh no, never.

Kudos @DelhiPolice for playing to the gallery and bullying a 16-year-old. Hope you will be as proactive in filing FIRs for all the real crimes that happen on a daily basis. https://t.co/ZGNcHMzyWg  Sumit Singla (@sumitsingla81) February 4, 2021

Yep.

Had #GretaThunberg tweeted "Goli Maro" , or praised Nathuram Godse, instead of tweeting in support of the #FarmersProtest then the government would have perhaps rewarded her rather than ask Delhi Police to file an FIR .#sarcastic https://t.co/bgoATUS5XR  Tehseen Poonawalla Official (@tehseenp) February 4, 2021

Hmm.
China has been accused of covering up the virus ahead of WHO investigation

World Health Organisation investigators have admitted their research mission in Wuhan will not reach its goal of revealing how coronavirus jumped from animals to humans.

The 13-strong team of international experts began their probe into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic a week ago - but it was revealed today they are already dismissing some theories that the virus was leaked by a Chinese laboratory.

Lead WHO investigator Peter Ben Embarek said their investigation, which is due to conclude within the next week, would not lead to a 'full understanding' of the origins of coronavirus.

He said: 'We're not going to come up with the ultimate full understanding of the origins of the virus, but it will be a good first step.'

But Embarek insisted he and his team had a 'very frank' discussion with Chinese scientists about the source of the pandemic.

Lead WHO investigator Peter Ben Embarek (pictured) said their investigation, which is due to conclude within the next week, would not lead to a 'full understanding' of the origins of coronavirus

The 13-strong team of international experts began their probe into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic a week ago - but it was revealed today they are already dismissing some theories that the virus was leaked by a Chinese laboratory. Pictured: Peter Daszak and Thea Fischer arriving at the Wuhan Institute of Virology on Wednesday

Pictured: WHO team members wearing full protective gear during Tuesday's visit to the Hubei Animal Disease Control and Prevention Center in Wuhan

China's official timeline vs new evidence Official timeline Dec 8, 2019 - Earliest date that China has acknowledged an infection Dec 31 - China first reported 'pneumonia of unknown cause' to the World Health Organisation Jan 1, 2020 - Wuhan seafood market closed for disinfection Jan 11 - China reported its first death Jan 23 - Wuhan locked down Jan 31 - WHO declared 'outbreak of international concern' as China admitted having thousands of cases Feb 23 - Italy reports cluster of cases in first major outbreak in the West New evidence Sep 2019- Blood samples are taken in a lung cancer screening trial in Italy which later test positive for coronavirus Oct-Dec - Rise in 'flu and pneumonia' cases in northern Italy which could be linked to coronavirus Nov - Sewage samples taken in Florianopolis, Brazil, suggest virus was present Nov 10 - Milanese woman has a skin biopsy, producing a sample which later shows signs of the virus Nov 17 - Leaked documents suggest case detected in China on this date Dec 1 - Chinese researchers report an infection on this date in a peer-reviewed study, but it has not been acknowledged by Beijing Dec 18 - Sewage samples taken in Milan and Turin suggest virus was circulating in the cities Jan 2020 - Sewage samples from Barcelona suggest virus was in the city Advertisement

The failure of WHO to achieve its stated goal will cast doubt over the UN agency which parroted Beijing's false claims earlier in the pandemic and its ability to uncover the truth.

Failing to reach a conclusion about the origins of Covid-19 will play into the hands of China, whose diplomats have thrown support behind theories that the virus originated in another country.

Yesterday, the WHO investigators visited the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology - the laboratory at the centre of theories that the virus was leaked.

Team member Dr Peter Daszak said they had been given data 'no-one had seen before' and that Beijing was being open with them and allowing them to explore wherever the evidence leads.

He added that they had not ruled out Covid escaped from a lab.

But today, Embarek dismissed some of the 'famous theories' relating to the source of the virus after speaking with Chinese scientists.

He called much of the speculation 'excellent scenarios for good movies and series for the years to come'.

The investigator said speaking to the Chinese scientists was useful to understand the staff's position 'in regards to many of these statements and claims that everyone has seen and read about in the news'.

'The discussion was very frank. We discussed a lot of the famous theories and so on, and what has been done to explain them,' added Embarek, who was based in the WHO's Beijing Office for two years from 2009.

Embarek said the WHO investigators would 'follow science and we follow facts' in reaching their conclusions, before admitting the team would not gain a full understanding of the origins of the virus.

'If we start following and chasing ghosts here and there, we'll never move anywhere,' he said. 'So that's also an important step that we were also able to understand where these stories are coming from.

'And we are able to, in a rational way... explain why some of them are totally irrational, why some of them could make sense, and why some of them can be explained or not explained.'

The WHO experts stayed inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology for nearly four hours on Wednesday, before driving away without stopping to talk to media waiting outside.

Police in black uniforms and face masks lined the road to separate the crowds of reporters from the cars.

Speculation emerged early in the pandemic that the virus could have accidentally leaked from the lab in Wuhan, although there was no evidence to back up that theory.

Security personnel keep watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology during the visit by the World Health Organization (WHO) team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease on Wednesday

Journalists are held back by security guards outside the entrance to the lab on Wednesday

Then-US president Donald Trump and his supporters seized on those rumours and amplified them with conspiracy theories that China deliberately leaked the virus.

Scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology conduct research on some of the world's most dangerous diseases, including strains of bat coronaviruses similar to Covid-19.

Most scientists believe Covid - which has killed more than two million people worldwide - originated in bats and could have been transmitted to people via another mammal.

China has faced criticism at home and abroad for covering up the initial outbreak and concealing information when it first emerged in Wuhan in December 2019.

In Washington, the Trump administration repeatedly demanded that the laboratory be probed and last month then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo released new intelligence about the facility.

Chinese scientists and officials have been keen to point the finger of blame outside their own borders - variously suggesting that the virus could have originated in Bangladesh, the US, Greece, Australia, India, Italy, Czech Republic, Russia or Serbia

Multiple countries have uncovered evidence that the virus was circulating months earlier than originally thought. While Beijing has tried to insist this proves the virus originated elsewhere, most scientists still think China was the origin - raising the prospect that communist officials simply hid evidence of the early spread

Among the dossiers, were claims that researchers at the lab fell ill in the fall of 2019 with symptoms consistent with Covid-19, that scientists there were working with a bat coronavirus that is 96.2 percent similar genetically to the virus that causes Covid, and that the lab has secret links to the Chinese military.

Experts have repeatedly dismissed the idea that the virus was manufactured, and Mr Pompeo did not suggest that Covid was intentionally engineered or released on purpose.

Instead, he raised the possibility that it was a natural virus that had accidentally escaped from the lab through sloppy safety protocols.

'Accidental infections in labs have caused several previous virus outbreaks in China and elsewhere, including a 2004 SARS outbreak in Beijing that infected nine people, killing one,' the State Department said in a briefing document.

The most shocking revelation in Pompeo's release was intelligence suggesting that workers at the Wuhan lab fell ill with 'symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses' in the fall of 2019, months before the wider outbreak in Wuhan.

The WHO team praised the 'excellent facilities' at the Hubei Animal Disease Control and Prevention Center after they arrived on Tuesday amid a heavy security presence, with a barricade set up outside the Chinese facility.

World Health Organization investigators have praised the 'excellent facilities' at an animal disease centre in Wuhan as part of their probe into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Pictured: Peter Daszak (centre) speaks to other WHO team members

A worker wearing a protective gear sprays disinfectant at the entrance of Hubei Center for Animal Disease Control and Prevention

Team member Peter Daszak told reporters later they had 'excellent facilities, very informative meeting,' and he tweeted the team met with staff in charge of the health of livestock in Hubei province, toured laboratories and had an 'in-depth' discussion along with questions and answers.

But further details of the visit were not announced and the barricades came down as soon as the investigators had entered the animal disease centre.

The lack of information comes as WHO officials in Geneva pushed back on Monday against suggestions the experts were not getting enough access or data amid concerns China is still covering up crucial data.

Intense negotiations preceded the WHO visit to Wuhan since China has maintained strict controls on access to information about the virus, possibly to avoid blame for alleged missteps in its early response to the outbreak.

On Sunday, the WHO investigators visited the Huanan wet market in Wuhan where Covid-19 was first detected.

WHO investigator Peter Ben Embarek and his team of experts arrived at Huanan on Sunday afternoon amid a heavy security presence

The team arrived at Huanan amid a heavy security presence, with additional barricades set up outside a high blue fence surrounding the market.

They did not respond to questions thrown at them by reporters gathered at the entrance as their convoy drove into the market.

The barricades came down as soon as the investigators had entered the market.

Public access to the market has been severely restricted since it was shut at the beginning of last year.

Before its closure, it was a bustling market comprising hundreds of stalls divided into sections for meat, seafood and vegetables.

Some Chinese diplomats and state media have said they believe the market is not the origin, and have thrown support behind theories that the virus potentially originated in another country.

A plainclothes security person uses his umbrella to block journalists from filming as the WHO team entered the market

On December 31, 2019, after four cases of a mystery pneumonia were linked to the market, it was shuttered overnight. By the end of January, Wuhan had gone into a 76-day lockdown.

Experts say the Huanan market still plays a role in tracing the origins of the virus, since the first cluster of cases was identified there.

Following a two-week quarantine in the city that ended on Thursday, the WHO team is expected to visit laboratories, markets and hospitals in Wuhan.

The WHO-led probe in Wuhan has been plagued by delays, concern over access and bickering between China and the United States, which accused China of hiding the extent of the initial outbreak and criticised the terms of the visit, under which Chinese experts conducted the first phase of research.

The team had been set to arrive in Wuhan earlier in January, and China's delay of their visit drew rare public criticism from the head of the WHO, which former U.S. President Donald Trump accused of being 'China-centric'.

The team from the World Health Organisation was shown around an exhibition celebrating China's response to the crisis on Saturday

On Saturday, the WHO team was given a tour of an exhibition that celebrates China's response to the pandemic.

The visit to a show that critics say offers little more than propaganda will not reassure those who fear WHO is too close to Beijing and that its probe into the coronavirus outbreak will be a whitewash.

The trip came after WHO experts went to a hospital in Wuhan where some of the earliest coronavirus patients were treated and took place a day after they had their first face-to-face meeting with Chinese scientists.

Amid suspicion of a Chinese cover-up, WHO insisted in a tweet: 'All hypotheses are on the table as the team follows the science in their work to understand the origins of the Covid-19 virus.'

M&A

Peraton reveals new structure with Northrop IT acquisition done

With Northrop Grummans IT services business now in the fold, Peraton on Thursday unveiled its new operating structure around four business sectors and a realigned executive leadership group.

That newly-constituted management team now has 18 total members, including 14 in corporate leadership alongside the four sector leaders. Peraton's latest announcement includes four that joined from Northrop and five that have been with the former.

Herndon, Virginia-based Peraton is of course also getting ready to expand even further later this year once it combines with Perspecta, which Peratons private equity owner Veritas Capital is acquiring for $7.1 billion.

"As Peraton expands we will be faced with a complex range of new opportunities and challenges across our functions and businesses, and I am confident that our new leaders will be integral to Peraton's success providing highly differentiated national security solutions and technologies to essential government agencies," Peraton CEO Stu Shea said in a release.

Peratons new business segments are:

Space and intelligence -- led by Roger Mason and incorporates several programs added through the acquisition.

Cyber mission -- led by Tom Afferton and delivers programs, information operations and other technical solutions to customers.

Global defense and security -- led by John Coleman and also adds several new programs from the acquisition, plus expands support to the State and Homeland Security departments.

Civil and health -- led by Tarik Reyes and supports customers in citizen and human services missions including health care efforts for COVID-19.

Mason and Coleman were previously segment presidents at Peraton, while Afferton and Reyes were formerly vice presidents at Northrop.

Peraton also created three new executive positions to focus on program performance, strategy execution and how the company will address diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I).

Those new roles and appointments are:

Chief performance officer -- Erik Buice will oversee the adoption and application of quality and certification standards, and performance metrics across Peraton's portfolio.

Chief strategy officer -- Chris Valentino will be responsible for strategic market creation and working with other company leaders and managers on execution.

Chief DE&I officer -- Laila Salguero will work across Peraton's sectors and functions on aligning DE&I goals with business outcomes, lead its ethics and compliance functions, and create and carry out programs in support of DE&I efforts such as employee resource groups.

Buice and Valentino were previously vice presidents at Northrop, while Salguero was formerly VP of corporate responsibility at Peraton.
People give a three-finger salute after calls for protest went out on social media in Yangon, as Myanmar's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi was formally charged, Feb. 3, 2021.

Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been remanded in custody on obscure import law charges, her partys spokesman said Wednesday as citizens and health workers stepped up a campaign against Mondays military takeover in the multi-ethnic nation of 54 million people.

The 75-year-old leader will be held until at least Feb. 15 on charges relating to the alleged import and ownership of illegal walkie-talkies, Kyi Toe, a spokesperson for her National League for Democracy, said on his Facebook page. President Win Myint was charged with violating natural disaster management laws.

"According to reliable information, a 14 day arrest warrant was issued against Daw Aung San Su Kyi under the Import and Export Law," he wrote.

In another sign of tightening controls since the junta took control on Monday, a spokesperson for Facebook said late Wednesday that access to the social media site is "currently disrupted for some people."

"We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information," said the spokesperson.

On Tuesday the army unveiled an 11-member State Administration Council headed by coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who took charge of legislative, administrative, and judiciary powers early Monday, hours before Myanmars newly elected parliament was to open.

After a yearlong state of emergency and re-examination of voter lists the army claims produced fraud in the November 8 vote, new elections will be held, the junta leader said.

In response to a call Tuesday by the NLD to release all the detainees, including Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint, and to respect the 2020 election results, authorities in the Naypyidaw gave some 400 elected MPs 24 hours to vacate their government housing, several lawmakers said.

This morning at 10 am they asked to leave within 24 hours, said Aung Kyi Nyunt, an upper house MP.

Previously they allowed us to go within 48 hours, then it was 24 hours. In fact, its giving us pressure, he said.

Win Myint, who was detained in the coup, will be moved from the Presidential Residence to another house, while deposed NLD ministers and deputy ministers have to move out from their official residences within three days, party spokesman Kyi Toe wrote on Facebook.

Aung San Suu Kyi was not asked to move out their residence in Naypyidaw, Kyi Toe said.

Across Myanmar, citizens have begun a nightly ritual banging of pots and pans and beeping car horns to register opposition to the coup.

Seventeen groups, including the University Student Alumni group, launched the campaign on social media on Tuesday, as anger at the coup set in.

The public does not accept the coup. It was against all existing laws. It was just an act of bullying using arms, said a former student who wished remain anonymous for safety reasons.

So we are driving out this coup as if we were driving evil spirits from a village. We are sending the message that this evil act has to be gone, the student told RFA.

Pot-banging sessions erupted in large cities including Mandalay, Yangon, Magway, Monywa, Sagaing and Taunggyi.

We started hitting metal pots and utensils from one household to another, from one block to anotherit spread very fast. In our quarter, almost the entire quarter was participating. We will be doing it because we cannot accept the new regime, said a local resident in Magway.

Mondays coup has also inspired a civil disobedience movement and work stoppages among government staff, mainly in health care.

Surgeons and nurses have already taken civil disobedience (walkouts). We cannot do operations without them, said an orthopedic surgeon in Mandalay.

Physicians also are not coming to the hospital, so it will be difficult for the rest to treat patients, the doctor added. We have to leave them, feeling great sorrow, but because we want to fight military dictators  we cannot avoid it.

A Civil Disobedience Movement on Facebook has linked up more than 70 hospitals in some 30 townships with specialists, doctors, nurses, dental surgeons, pharmacists and other health workers.

The medical work stoppage comes as Myanmar is grappling with the coronavirus epidemic.

There are more than 10,000 patients in the hospitals--about 1100 in Yangon and Mandalay, 300 to 400 in Mon, Magwe and Arawaddy divisions, said Dr. Khin Khin Gyi, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases.

Doctors have been doing their best to manage.

In a movement to resist the coup spreading in to Yangon, Mandalay, and the regions or state of Tanninthyi, Chin, and Rakhine, doctors and health workers are wearing red ribbons saying The NLD is our only government.

Although I want to join the civil disobedience movement, Ive chosen the red ribbon campaign because of my emergency patients. said Moe Thida Linn, a doctor at a Mandalay hospital.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by San San Tin, Maung Maung Nyo, and Kyaw Min Htun. Written in English Paul Eckert.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
A family in Gikingi village, Laikipia County is seeking justice after their 26-year-old son died in a stabbing incident.

Edgar Kimathi was allegedly stabbed by a neighbour on Saturday night following a dispute over a water jerrycan.

He succumbed to the wounds while receiving treatment at the Naivasha Sub-County General Hospital.

Kimathi's father Julius Marete said his son's attacker escaped after the incident.

"We got a call at around 8pm informing us that our son had been stabbed.

"A Good Samaritan took him to hospital where died while receiving treatment," said Mr Marete.

While confirming the Saturday night incident, Engineer Sub-County Police Commandant Naomi Moraa said that the assailant was still at large and the police have launched a manhunt for the suspect.

"A team of our officers has been dispatched to hunt down the assailant. We are also working with our colleagues in other counties where we suspect that he is hiding and in time I am sure that we will get them," said the police boss.

Residents in the area have say increased drug and substance abuse is to blame for the rising cases of murder in the county.

Last Sunday a 71-year-old man was hacked to death by his farmhand, who was later lynched by angry mob in Losogwa area, Laikipia West.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Country star Morgan Wallen has been suspended indefinitely from his label after a video surfaced of him shouting a racial slur and radio stations have removed his music from their playlists.

Big Loud Records said in a statement posted to social media on Wednesday that Wallen's contract has been suspended indefinitely. Republic Records, which he is co-signed to, said it agreed with Big Loud's decision and said such behavior will not be tolerated.

The video, which was first published by TMZ on Tuesday night, showed Wallen outside a home in Nashville, Tennessee, yelling profanities and a racial slur.

Wallen said in a statement to TMZ that he is embarrassed and sorry.

I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better, his statement said.

Hes one of the genres biggest young stars. His sophomore album, Dangerous: The Double Album, is spending its third week atop the Billboard 200 chart and it has set several streaming records, even besting the recent release from country star Luke Combs. Wallen is also one of the few country acts to score a Top 10 hit on the pop charts, thanks to the success of 7 Summers and Wasted on You.

But the fall from the top has been swift.

In light of Morgan Wallens recent actions involving the use of a racial slur, we have made the decision to remove his music and content from our stations effective immediately, according to a statement from iHeartMedia, which has hundreds of radio stations across the country.

As of Wednesday morning, streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Music don't have his songs in their most popular country music playlists, where normally Wallen had multiple songs from his new album.

SiriusXM and Pandora also removed his music from their playlists, according to a spokesman for SiriusXM. The music television channel CMT said it was removing his appearances from all its platforms.

We do not tolerate or condone words and actions that are in direct opposition to our core values that celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion, CMT said in a statement posted online.

The Tennessee-born singer who has hits with songs like Whiskey Glasses and Up Down featuring Florida Georgia Line, has done a lot of public apologizing lately.

Wallen was arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct in May 2020 after getting kicked out of a downtown Nashville bar.

In October, Saturday Night Live dropped him from a scheduled performance on their show after he violated COVID-19 protocols when videos appeared on social media of him partying with fans in Alabama. He was later invited back on the show in December, where he appeared in a skit making fun of himself.

Other country stars criticized his actions publicly.

It actually IS representative of our town because this isnt his first scuffle and he just demolished a huge streaming record last month regardless, tweeted country star Maren Morris. We all know it wasnt his first time using that word. We keep them rich and protected at all costs with no recourse.

Other music stars have faced backlash for using racial slurs or derogatory language. Justin Bieber apologized in 2014 for using a racial slur joke in a video from when he was a teenager.

In the past, country radio has sometimes ignored offensive behavior by male stars, even as female artists like the Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, were removed from radio for criticizing the U.S. president. Country star Jason Aldean wore blackface for a Halloween costume in 2015, but never issued an apology, and he remains one of the top selling country artists.
Allies should cooperate for regional peace



President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden have agreed to work out a joint "comprehensive" strategy on North Korea. The agreement came during their phone talks Thursday. They also said they would work together to realize their shared goal of denuclearizing the North and bringing peace to the region.



The agreement represents the two leaders' commitment to resolve the North Korea issue. Cooperation between the two allies is crucial in restarting stalled denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang. Thus Moon and Biden should have close consultations to map out how to deal with Pyongyang.



To that end, they have agreed to hold a summit as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control. The Biden administration needs to speed up the process of reviewing America's North Korea policy. It should not put the nuclear issue on the backburner, although the U.S. has more urgent matters on its foreign policy agenda.



Biden told Moon during their half-hour conversation that it was important for the allies to maintain the same position on the matter. We could not agree more. Biden is expected to come up with a policy toward the North which is different from that of his predecessor Donald Trump who opted for a "top-down" approach.



Some pundits predict that Biden will take a "bottom-up" method, focusing on working-level negotiations rather than Trump's much-hyped summitry with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Yet the ultimate policy goal is to have Pyongyang abandon its nuclear arsenal whatever approach the new U.S. president takes.



What the joint comprehensive strategy exactly means is as yet unknown. But it should be based on mutual understanding that Seoul and Washington make joint efforts to achieve the denuclearization of the North and establish a lasting peace on the peninsula. South Korea and the U.S. must strengthen their alliance before finding a solution to the nuclear showdown with Pyongyang. As Biden pointed out, the seven-decade-long alliance is the linchpin of regional peace and prosperity.



In this regard, we welcome the two leaders' agreement to develop the alliance into a "comprehensive and strategic" one that can go beyond the peninsula and the Indo-Pacific region to promote democracy, human rights and multilateralism. We have high expectations that Biden will beef up alliances with other countries and restore the U.S.' global leadership as he promised.



But it is also true that the two countries face some thorny issues such as defense cost-sharing for the upkeep of American troops here and Seoul's bid to take over wartime operational control of its troops from the U.S. military. These issues can be tackled smoothly if both sides make compromise to boost mutual interests.



It is also worth noting that Moon and Biden shared the view that an improvement in relations between South Korea and Japan is pivotal to solidifying trilateral security partnerships. We hope the U.S. president will play a certain role in helping Seoul and Tokyo mend their estranged ties over historical issues such as wartime sex slavery and forced labor.








New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has informed the Supreme Court that Tamil Nadu Governor has recorded that President is the competent authority to deal with pardon plea of A.G. Perarivalan, one of the convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

In a short affidavit, the MHA said: "The Governor of Tamil Nadu considered all the facts on record and after perusal of the relevant documents, recorded that the President of India is the appropriate competent authority to deal with said request for remittance matter vide his order dated January 25." The MHA added that the proposal received by the Central government will be processed in accordance with law. On January 21, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had informed the Supreme Court that the Tamil Nadu Governor will decide in three-four days on the matter of early release of Perarivalan. The development was significant as the state is going to polls in this year.

Mehta had submitted before a bench headed by Justice L. Nageswara Rao that a decision will be taken as per the Constitution, on the remission of the sentence by exercising discretionary power under Article 161 within the next 3-4 days.

On various occasions, the Supreme Court had expressed its dissatisfaction over the pendency of pardon plea of Perarivalan for over two years with the Tamil Nadu Governor. Perarivalan had moved the top court seeking premature release and remit of his sentence. He had also cited the recommendation made by the state government in 2018 for his release.

"Pertinently, the offence committed was pertaining to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India, by means of detonating a bomb which resulted in the killing of 18 innocent individuals and further causing serious injuries to 43 other persons," the Centre said.

The top court had, in 2014, commuted Perarivalan's sentence to life imprisonment citing long pendency of his mercy petition.

The state government's recommendation to the Governor for pardon to all the convicts has been pending for over two years. Convicts V. Sriharan alias Murugan, T. Suthendraraja alias Santham, Perarivalan alias Arivu, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, P Ravichandaran and Nalini have been in jail for over 25 years.
The Government Plan for Living with COVID-19: Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021 has highlighted the important role that individual and community resilience will play in contributing to our ongoing response to COVID-19, according to Laois County Council.

As a response to this, the council says the Keep Well Community Resilience campaign was launched and at the heart of the campaign is helping people - individuals & communities - to keep up their resilience & wellbeing through an especially challenging winter and through to spring.

The council says that one of the key services for individuals and communities was facilitated by the local authority during COVID-19 is the Community Response Support helpline.

It was established by the Laois council in March 2020 and continues to operate to facilitate the most appropriate community response to the needs of vulnerable people living in the community, where their usual sources of support have become unavailable due to COVID19.

The helpline is for non-emergency and non-medical calls and this free and confidential service is focused on ensuring that vulnerable members of our community or those living alone can access deliveries of groceries, medicine and fuels, and social support and advice.

Laois County Council gave an update on who it has worked out.

"To date, the helpline has received 754 calls. At the outset, a significant level of calls came from individuals, not seeking help, but rather wishing to volunteer to help with the community response effort and were redirected to the relevant support agency.

"Users of the helpline service include vulnerable individuals seeking collection/delivery of groceries, medicines, and/or fuel, or individuals who may be experiencing social isolation or expressing concerns with regard to someone who may be in that situation, and seeking information on supports and engagement with specialist service providers such as ALONE, a national organisation supporting people over 60 years of age. Other calls for assistance are referred on to the appropriate agencies e.g. HSE, An Garda Siochana etc.

"While the current volume of calls received is relatively low, this is indicative of the resilience that has been built up over the last year and suggests that good neighbourhood, community and family supports are now in place across the county, thereby reducing the numbers in need of assistance via the helpline. This is a testament to the tremendous community spirit in play at this difficult time," said a statement.



Laois County Council says the Community Response Support Helpline can be accessed Monday to Friday, between the hours of 9am and 5pm, via the Councils main number 057 866 4000, by calling 1800 832 010 or by emailing covidsupport@laoiscoco.ie

It adds that the Keep Well Campaign is brought to you with thanks to Healthy Ireland, an initiative of the Government of Ireland with funding from the Healthy Ireland Fund and the Slaintecare Fund delivered by Pobal, administered by Laois County Council
Research indicates gender disparity in academic achievement and leadership positions

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Feb. 3, 2021 - New research on gender inequality indicates that fewer leadership prospects in the workplace apply even to women who show the most promise early on in their academic careers.

Jill Yavorsky, an assistant professor of sociology at UNC Charlotte, co-led the study, "The Under-Utilization of Women's Talent: Academic Achievement and Future Leadership Positions," with Yue Qian, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia.

In their paper, published in a leading social science journal, Social Forces, the social scientists discovered that men supervise more individuals in the workplace than women, regardless of their grade point averages (GPAs) in high school. This leadership gap observed during individuals' early to mid-careers was particularly pronounced for those who became parents.

For those who earned a 4.0 GPA in high school, fathers manage more than four times the number of supervisees as mothers (19 for men versus four for women).

Additionally, having a higher GPA is strongly associated with managing more people later in their careers, but this is largely true only for fathers. As high school GPA increases from 0.0 to 4.0, the average number of supervisees increases from 4 to 19 for fathers but barely changes for mothers (increasing from 3 to 4).

Perhaps even more striking is that fathers with very low academic achievement (1.0 GPAs), on average, have similar leadership prospects to women who completed high school with 4.0 GPAs.

"Our research clearly illustrates the barriers that exist for women, especially mothers, in the workplace," said Yavorsky. "At the same time, given that even men with low grades go on to attain higher leadership roles than women, this study highlights perhaps the lack of barriers that men face in securing greater leadership opportunities."

The researchers also examined why this large disparity emerged between mothers and fathers. They discovered that part of the leadership gap by GPA is due to the fact that high-achieving fathers benefit significantly from having a college or advanced degree, whereas comparable mothers do not. Indeed, the leadership opportunities of mothers who have a college degree or higher are similar to those of mothers who do not have a college degree.

The authors explain in their article that men may benefit more from having a college degree than women because men select into or are steered into majors that may offer more leadership opportunities, like those in finance or STEM.

Yavorsky also notes, "Based on other research, we know that even when men and women are in the same field, including female-dominated jobs, men still tend to have higher leadership prospects than women. This suggests that the disparity isn't just due to men and women selecting different career paths. Rather, men benefit in terms of their leadership opportunities regardless of the path they choose."

Additionally, the study found that among top achievers, men had higher leadership prospects than women because they tended to work longer hours in their jobs and had accumulated more work experience than women, particularly after they became parents.

Yavorsky explained that mothers are more likely to have a disproportionate share of household duties than men, take parental leave and disrupt their careers to care for children or others in their family. As a result, men are often able to devote more time to their employers and attain critical job experience that may improve their chances for managerial promotions.

Importantly, even after these explanations, leadership disparities remain between high-achieving mothers and fathers, suggesting that bias and discrimination are also likely at play.

This study focused on a sample of about 5,000 people born between 1957 and 1964. The researchers had access to these individuals' high school transcript data and their responses to how many people they managed over a decade, from 1988 to 1998. According to Yavorsky, the survey used is the most current survey that includes GPA transcript data, tracks adolescents through their early- to mid-careers and captures the number of people they manage in their jobs.

"It is likely that these general patterns hold for younger cohorts, as recent research indicates that progress on many key measures for workplace gender equality has stalled or slowed since the mid-1990s," explained Yavorsky. "Additionally, contemporary research in the field indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic is more negatively affecting women's employment and productivity than men's, in large part because mothers are absorbing more of the responsibilities associated with school and child care closures. This pattern could further exacerbate gender disparities in job experience and therefore future advancement opportunities in the workplace."

Yavorsky noted two key governmental policy changes that could result in greater utilization of women's talent: 1.) subsidized child care to make it more affordable and reliable for all families, and; 2.) paid maternity and paternity leave that encourages fathers to contribute more equitably to household responsibilities from the start of parenthood. She also stated that organizations need to review and better standardize promotion practices to eliminate bias and discrimination, and they should create more pathways to management from female-dominated jobs.

###

A nationally recognized researcher on workplace inequality and household divisions of labor, Yavorsky holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from The Ohio State University. Her work has been published in numerous top academic journals, resulting in her being interviewed by a number of media outlets, including The New York Times, TIME, Forbes, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Slate and the Chicago Tribune.

About UNC Charlotte

UNC Charlotte is North Carolina's urban research university. With an enrollment of more than 30,000 students, the University leverages its location in the state's largest city to offer internationally competitive programs of research and creative activity, exemplary undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, and a focused set of community engagement initiatives.

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
In a significant development, all government-run madrassas in Assam will be shut down and over 620 such institutions will be converted into general schools from April 2021 onwards. This comes after a law passed to this effect by the state assembly on December 30, 2020, got the Assam Governor's assent, Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday.

READ | DNA Exclusive: Should secular India allow Madrasa education in the country?

An official of the Education Department said that Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi has given his assent to `The Assam Repealing Act 2020` and with the enforcement of the said act, over 620 madrassas would be converted into general schools from April 1. However, the state government is yet to take any specific decision about hundreds of privately-run madrassas across Assam.

Historic & Progressive! Glad that The Assam Repealing Act 2020 has recieved the assent of Hon Governor & has come into effect. Madrassa Edu Provincialisation Act, 1995 and Assam Madrassa Education Act, 2018 stand repealed. All govt Madrassas will run as general education inst. pic.twitter.com/0zGqNTEGTh  Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) February 3, 2021

Terming the development as "historic" and "progressive", Sarma said in a tweet, "Glad that The Assam Repealing Act 2020 has received the assent of Hon Governor & has come into effect. Madrassa Edu Provincialisation Act, 1995 and Assam Madrassa Education Act, 2018 stand repealed. All govt Madrassas will run as general education inst."

READ | Assam Cabinet approves proposal to shut down government-aided madrasas, Sanskrit Tols - Details here

Amid protests by the opposition parties, including the Congress and the All India United Democratic Front, the state Assembly had passed the Assam Repealing Bill 2020 on December 30, 2020, seeking to abolish the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation) Act, 1995 and the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation of Services of Employees and Re-Organisation of Madrassa Educational Institutions) Act, 2018.

READ | All terrorists are raised in madrasas, says Madhya Pradesh Minister Usha Thakur, sparks row

Education department officials said that with the enforcement of the act, the State Madrassa Education Board in Assam would also be disbanded. The Education Minister had earlier said that the 97 government-run Sanskrit tols (centres of Vedic education) would also be shut as the government cannot fund religious education because it is a "secular entity".

He had said that these 97 Sanskrit tols would be handed over to the Kumar Bhaskar Varma Sanskrit University. The tols will be converted into centres of learning and research where Indian culture, civilisation and nationalism will be studied. "Irrespective of religion, Indian culture, civilisation and nationalism will be taught in these converted educational institutions, making Assam the first Indian state to teach on these themes," Sarma told the media.

Sarma had said that the state government had been spending Rs 260 crore annually for running the madrassas and "the government cannot spend public money on religious teaching".

A survey conducted by a Gauhati University professor, who happens to be a Muslim, found that the parents and guardians of most madrassa students are not aware that their children are not taught regular subjects but imparted lessons mostly in theology. Sarma claimed that most Islamic scholars are also not in favour of madrassas run by the government, and added that these were a legacy of the Muslim League.

The Education Minister had said that madrassa education had started in Assam in 1934 when Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla was the Prime Minister of Assam during the British regime.

University of Cincinnati distinguished professor of aerospace engineering, Ephraim Gutmark, Ph.D., was named winner of the 2021 Aeroacoustics Award by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

The Aeroacoustics Award is presented for outstanding technical or scientific achievement resulting from an individual's contribution to the field of aircraft community noise reduction.

Gutmark will receive the award for his pioneering and outstanding contributions to the application of aeroacoustics practice to achieve quiet aircraft engines and new understanding of voice production and treatments.

The award demonstrate UC's commitment to research as part of its strategic direction called Next Lives Here.

He will be recognized during the AIAA AVIATION Forum in June.

Kelly Cohen, Ph.D., interim department head of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at UC, commented on Gutmarks accomplishments.

"Over two decades professor Gutmark has been our most successful and productive researcher in terms of funding, graduate students, patents, publications and several other meaningful metrics, Cohen said. Moreover, we are overjoyed with this highly deserved recognition from AIAA."

Gutmarks research within aerospace engineering is varied across several fields, including jet noise reduction, detonations and combustion, fluid mechanics, and biomedical applications such as voice, airway, and cardiovascular flow.

He holds a secondary appointment of professor of otolaryngology in the UC Medical Center and is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Physical Society (APS), and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Also an Ohio Eminent Scholar, Gutmark received his bachelor's, masters, and doctorate, all in aerospace and aeronautical engineering from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He joined UC in 2000 after serving as the chair of the mechanical engineering department at Louisiana State University, and, prior to that, as a senior research scientist at the Naval Warfare Center in California.
Fans of STUDIO4C, the long-running studio behind anime classics like Mind Game, Tekkonkinkreet, and Children of the Sea, are in for a treat. The studio has teamed up with L.A.s Gallery Nucleus and Japans ACALI to launch an exhibition of original animation drawings, layouts, background paintings, and cels.

Originally slated for late 2020, the exhibition has become a retrospective of sorts, celebrating the studios 35-year anniversary. It will take place at Nucleus from February 6 to 21.

STUDIO4C was founded in 1986 by its current CEO and President Eiko Tanaka, along with director and animator Koji Morimoto (who worked on such films as Akira, Robot Carnival, and Kikis Delivery Service). Tanaka previously worked with Studio Ghibli as a line producer on My Neighbor Totoro and Kikis Delivery Service.

Since its inception, STUDIO4C has produced numerous feature films, and is probably best known around the world for Memories (1995), Spriggan (1998), Princess Arete (2001), The Animatrix (2003), and Mind Game (2004). Its 2006 film Tekkonkinkreet earned six honors, including Best Animated Film at Fantasia in 2007, a special mention for the Lancia Platinum Grand Prize at the Future Film Festival in 2008, and the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year.

Although Koji Morimoto art-directed several of the studios projects in the beginning, STUDIO4C has since explored more experimental avenues. Starting with Spriggan, the look and feel of each subsequent film has been drastically different: Princess Arete, Mind Game, and Tekkonkinkreet were all very stylistically distinct.

The studio has completed nearly 15 feature films since 1995, plus countless short films, OVAs, and music videos. Its works continue to be acclaimed around the world, and it has many more projects on the horizon.

In November 2018, Gallery Nucleus hosted an exhibition with distributor GKIDS which centered on the works of Mamoru Hosoda. In anticipation of the release of Children of the Sea, GKIDS introduced Nucleus to representatives of STUDIO4C, and thus began discussions of a possible exhibition in celebration of the films release. As the lockdown became more severe and theaters began to close, the focus of the event shifted to a retrospective of sorts, which would showcase work from STUDIO4Cs vast library as well as Children of the Sea.

Below, Nucleus curator Ben Zhu talks about the exhibition and its origins.

Cartoon Brew: How did the pandemic affect your plans?

Zhu: 2020 was a challenging time for our gallery for sure, but I felt we adjusted pretty quickly to focusing more online and doing the virtual thing. We applied for the PPP [Paycheck Protection Program loan], and it certainly helped, but it was mostly the support of our community that fueled us and allowed our gallery and shop to survive.

We had begun talks of the show just as the pandemic hit. Wed already pushed the exhibition once from August 2020, and felt that February 2021 would be far enough out that Covid would hopefully have improved. In hindsight we were probably being overly optimistic.

But we have been huge fans of STUDIO4C and their filmography for years, and were super excited and honored at the prospect of exhibiting their original art. Although conditions with Covid have not gotten much better in the U.S., we are forging forward with the exhibition, hoping that people around the world will enjoy the work on our site. But we still urge people to come to view these works safely in person.

How is Nucleus handling in-person viewings?

Other than the three-month lockdown at the start of the pandemic, we have been open to the public since June 2020. We have been enforcing strict Covid protocols, such as mask wearing and hand sanitization upon entry and exit.

For the STUDIO4C exhibition, there is technically an opening reception on February 6 that guests can RSVP for (you can do so here). But people can just come in any day after the 6th without an appointment during our regular hours: 128 p.m. daily, closed on Mondays. Entry is free.

We are only allowing 15 people in the gallery at a time for opening night by having RSVPs in hourly blocks. This has worked really well for us, and although it means our opening nights are pretty much capped to around 100150, we have had at least six successful openings with no problems. Everyone is super polite and respectful and just eager to get out of the house.

Tell us a bit about what the exhibition will feature and other highlights.

Many of these drawings have been in storage for years. Among the works in storage were old cels and envelopes of animation scenes. Although many backgrounds are digital, most animation done in Japan is still hand-drawn on paper.

In lieu of our usual in-person meet and greet, we still wanted to give fans a special treat, so well be doing a live Zoom session with Ayumu Watanabe (director of Children of the Sea) and possibly other guests from the Japanese anime industry. They will be speaking to us live with a translator on Sunday, February 7, at 6 p.m. PST. Admission costs $5 and a ticket can be bought here.

Each of them has been in the animation industry for well over 30 years, so we are eagerly looking forward to hearing their wisdom and insight into the Japanese animation industry. They will be talking about Children of the Sea, and we have many questions about their previous films and the evolution of the studio.

We were also able to import limited copies of the Children of the Sea and Mutafukaz art books signed by their respective directors or art directors.

Overall, we are both really excited and anxious, hoping that fans dont miss out on this rare opportunity to own a piece of history from this prolific 35-year-old studio, and get the chance to tune in to the live-streamed panel.

With question marks hanging over the next editions of San Diego Comic-Con and Anime Expo, this art exhibition and panel will give anime fans and collectors a reason to be cheerful as we enter the new year. Learn more about the event on Nucleuss website, and about STUDIO4C here.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 02:05:57|Editor: huaxia

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STOCKHOLM, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Swedish government announced Wednesday that foreign citizens will have to provide a recent negative test for COVID-19 when entering Sweden as of Saturday.

The announcement was made five days after the Public Health Agency requested tighter arrival controls to minimize the spread of mutated virus strains.

"These new virus variants are alarming," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said when announcing the new rules at a digital press conference.

"The background to this decision is the new variants of the virus that have been discovered recently, and the fact that it is difficult to assess which countries have a high prevalence of these variants."

Even though the government has fast-tracked the process, the situation has changed dramatically since the Public Health Agency requested immigration rules should be tightened.

In mid January, fewer than 100 cases of the mutation first detected in Britain had been discovered in Sweden. On Tuesday the Public Health Agency announced the mutant had been found in 11 percent of 2,200 individuals with COVID-19.

Travelers under the age of 19, cross-border commuters, foreign citizens living in Sweden, and those who want to enter the country for humanitarian reasons are exempt from the new requirement, as are elite athletes.

"Elite athletes are considered as a category that performs work, and may therefore cross the border (without a recent negative test)," said Minister for Home Affairs Mikael Damberg.

According to the latest update from the Public Health Agency of Sweden, 580,916 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in the country as of Wednesday, an increase of 4,310 since Tuesday. A total of 11,939 deaths had been recorded, 124 more than on Tuesday, whereas 245 patients were in intensive care.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in some countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.

Meanwhile, 237 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 63 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain, and the United States, according to information released by the World Health Organization on Jan. 29. Enditem

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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

A Kirtland Air Force Base airman will spend time in confinement and be kicked out of the Air Force for killing a pedestrian in southeast Albuquerque in March 2019.

Calvin Cooper was sentenced Wednesday to five years and will be discharged from the Air Force for bad conduct. But the panel opted not to dishonorably discharge him.

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On Tuesday, Cooper was found guilty of negligent homicide, voluntary manslaughter and reckless driving after a trial by court martial that began last week. Hell be held in confinement immediately, but the location of his full sentence will later be determined by the Department of Air Force Corrections Division.

Cooper was accused of driving about 60 mph in a 35 mph zone on Louisiana near Gibson in March 2019 when he hit 39-year-old Angelica Baca, who was standing in the median while crossing the street. She was killed instantly.

Cooper, 22, opted to have his sentence decided by the same panel that found him guilty instead of having the presiding judge make the determination. He faced up to 11 years in confinement and a dishonorable discharge.

He told the panel before it began deliberating that he would like to stay in the Air Force, but said he would go back to his home state of Michigan if he is discharged. He added that he apologized privately to Bacas family.

Im sorry for the circumstances that brought us here, Cooper said. Im truly thankful to have amazing people behind me.

Baca had children who were 12 and 6 at the time of her death.

Rhonda Henson, Bacas mother, gave an emotional statement to the panel.

Angelica was a beautiful soul, Henson said, fighting back tears. She had been through so much. Until God calls me home, I will miss you.

Michael Cooper, Calvin Coopers father, said his son is a hard worker who always had the support of his family and friends.

Calvin is the best son you could ask for, Michael Cooper told the panel. He always cared about other people more than himself.

Prosecutor Capt. Andrew Trejo asked for a dishonorable discharge and for Cooper to spend time in confinement. The defense had painted Cooper as a victim of circumstance, Trejo said, but it was Baca who was the real victim.

It was Airman Cooper and Airman Cooper alone who ignored everything in front of him, Trejo said.

Capt. Robert Saulter, one of Coopers defense attorneys, asked the panel to have mercy on Cooper and to not hand him a dishonorable discharge, which could affect his employment opportunities and voting rights.

This tragedy will follow Airman Cooper for the rest of his life, Saulter said.  We are hoping you will search your hearts to give Airman Cooper the chance to move forward.

There has been no lockdown for the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic in Egypt, but the cultural scene was nonetheless hit hard. The Panorama of European Film hosted by Zawya Art House, for example, was scheduled to take place last month. But due to governmental measures to curb the spread of the virus, Zawya head filmmaker-producer Marianne Khoury announced that the Panorama would be postponed till further notice. Most cultural centres also closed, so did cinemas like Zamalek. Other movie theatres are holding only commercial screenings at a low capacity.



It was in this context that I recalled, again, the two classic movies that I regard as the most significant films in Egyptian cinema; Youssef Chahines Cairo Station (1958) and Kamal El Sheikhs Al-Leila Al-Akhira (The Last Night, 1963). The latter was selected to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1964. I saw it for the first time only a few years ago, but Ive come to regard it as one of the most underrated masterpieces ever made. Unlike Chahines work, which is widely celebrated and viewed, El Sheikhs is often  unjustly  forgotten.

When I realised tomorrow marks El Sheikhs birthday, it felt like the perfect time to organise my own little retrospective.Born on 5 February 1919 in Menofiya, EL Sheikh joined the team of Studio Misr in 1937 and was trained by the late famous director Niazi Mustafa, the head of the editing department at the time.

It came as no surprise for me that he started his career as a film editor. His debut in filmmaking was Al-Manzil Rakam 13 (House Number 13, 1952), starring Faten Hamama and Emad Hamdi, with a screenplay co-written by El Sheikh and Ali Al-Zorkani.

It spelled the birth of an extraordinary filmmaker, with a work built around the real-life case of a Scottish doctor who used to hypnotise one of his patients to commit crimes through him. It not only established his credentials but created his trademark, with a slow-burn psychodramas and suspense earning him the title of the Hitchcock of Egyptian cinema. His virtuosity is especially evident in pacing, with an uncanny ability to keep the viewer hooked and breathless till the last moment.



Exploring El Sheikhs world is an engrossing experience. Watching The Last Night one more time proved as stimulating as before. The psychodrama is set on 5 October 1942, as Hamamas narration specifies. This is the date of Nadia Borhans wedding, but when Nadia wakes up that day she finds herself in her sister Fawzias bed. Her brother-in-law walks in and, calling her Fawzia, behaves as though she were his wife. Later she finds out it is her daughters wedding and the house will be filled with guests. But Nadia keeps her cool as she endeavours to understand what is going on.

The powerful premise is effectively pursued, with El Sheikh pacing things perfectly as the story is plotted. Alongside excellent performances from the two male leads, Mahmoud Morsi and Ahmed Mazhar, Hamama gives an exemplary performance  a true lesson in acting  with inner turmoil balanced against outer calm in astonishing ways.



Though he acknowledged Hitchcocks influence, in a televised interview El Sheikh cited Fritz Langs The Woman in the Window (1944) as his major source of inspiration. The most important and the most difficult stage in making a film is the screenplay, he told the host. I have to be convinced of the incidents in the script so that my style can come through in the film.

Using this method, El Sheikh spent an average of two years to make a film like Al-Suoud Ila Al-Hawya (Ascent to the Abyss, 1978) or Qahir Al-Zaman (Time Conqueror, 1987), the latter, a science fiction classic  and a rare thing indeed in Arab cinema  being his last film. Asked about working with actors, he gave a brilliant answer: When we do the rehearsals, I ask the actors not to give their full performance. I want the full performance to come out in front of the camera. I dont wish to drain the actor, I prefer to save their emotions and energy for the camera.

El Sheikh often joined forces with the late screenwriter and director Rafaat El-Mihi and so they founded a production company together.

Their first production was El Sheikhs Ala Maan Notlek Al-Rasas (Who Should We Shoot, 1975), another classic example of tightly controlled suspense in the service of a political message. After a powerful and suspenseful opening  in which the actor Mahmoud Yassin is seen asking to meet the chairman of one of the leading government owned real estate companies, only to shoot the man dead once he enters his office  the film quickly becomes a statement on corruption and decadence.

It tells the dual stories of the man who is shot (Gamil Rateb) and his killer, later hit by a car  as well as their wives, played by Soad Hosni and Fardous Abdel-Hamid, respectively  as they lie side by side in the same hospital.

In 1970, before the launch of their production company, El Sheikh and El-Mihi collaborated on the film Ghoroub wa Shorouk (Sunset and Sunrise), based on Gamal Hammads novel with a screenplay by El-Mihi.

Set on 26 January 1952 in the wake of the Cairo Fire, the film follows Madiha (Soad Hosni), the daughter of Azmi Pasha the head of the secret police (brilliantly played by Mahmoud Al-Meligi), as she ends up alone at the flat of her husband Samirs womanizer friend Essam (Roushdy Abaza), who is hit by a car and, not knowing she is his wife, asks Samir to go to the flat to let her know and let her out.This eventually results in Azmi Pasha having Samir (Salah Dhulfuqar) killed and Madiha marrying Essam, who as it turns out is a political dissident who uses the opportunity to end Azmi Pashas career.

El Sheikh also directed films based on the novels Al-Leiss Wal Kelab (The Thief and the Dogs, 1962) and Miramar (1969) by Naguib Mahfouz, Al-Ragol Alladhi Faqad Dhelo (The Man Who has lost his Shadow, 1968) by Fathi Ghanem, and Shiee fi Sadry (Something in My Heart, 1971) by Ihsan Abdel-Quddous.Another remarkable film is Al-Tawous (The Peacock, 1982), starring Nour El-Sherif, Laila Taher, Raghda and Salah Zulfakar, with a screenplay by Abdel-Hai Adeeb. Hamdi (Nour El-Sherif) is secretly in love with his sister-in-law Samiha (Raghda). Confronted by his wife Nadia (Laila Taher) on their anniversary, he ends up having a car accident that temporarily paralyses him. But when he is able to walk again Hamdi keeps it a secret so as to carry out his plan of murdering Nadia  only to be exposed thanks to Nadias uncle (Salah Zulfakar) and a peacock-shaped brooch.

Here as elsewhere in his work El Sheikhs brand of suspense is subtle, and his unhurried pace makes it all the more effective. In Haya aw Mout (Life or Death, 1954), for example, a little girl picks up the medicine for her father and leaves before the pharmacist realises he made a fatal mistake in the preparation and attempts to find her to save the mans life.El Sheikh died in 2004 at the age of 84, having received the State Appreciation Award in Arts in 1991.

Filmography:



*1952: Al-Manzil Rakam 13 (House Number 13)



*1953: Mouamra (Conspiracy)



*1954: Haya aw Mout (Life or Death)



*1955: Hob wa Demou (Love and Tears)



*1956: Hob wa Eadam (Love and Execution)



*1956: Al-Gharib (The Stranger)



*1956: Ard Al-Ahlam (The Land of Dreams)



*1957: Togar Al-Mout (Death Merchants)



*1957: Al-Malak Al-Saghir (The Small Angel)



*1957: Ard Al-Salam (Land of Peace)



*1958: Sayedet Al-Qasr (Lady of the Palace)



*1959: Min Agl Hobi (For the Sake of My Love)



*1959: Min Agl Emraa (For the Sake of a Woman)



*1959: Qalb Yahtarek (A Burning Heart)



*1960: Malak wi Shitan (An Angel and a Devil)



*1960: Hobi Al-Wahid (My Only Love)



*1961: Lan Ataref (I Wont Confess)



*1962: Al-Leiss Wal Kelab (The Thief and the Dogs)



*1963: Al-Leila Al-Akhira (The Last Night)



*1963: Al-Shitan Al-Saghir (The Little Devil)



*1965: Al-Khaaena (The Unfaithful)



*1966: 3 Prisoners



*1967: Al-Mokhareboun (Saboteurs)



*1968: Al-Ragol Alladhi Faqad Dhelo (The Man Who has lost his Shadow)



*1968: Aboul Houl Al-Zogagi (The Glass Sphinx)



*1969: Miramar



*1969: Beir Al-Herman (The Well of Deprivation)



*1970: Ghoroub wa Shorouk (Sunset and Sunrise)



*1971: Shiee fi Sadry (Something in My Heart)



*1974: Al-Hareb (The Fugitive)



*1975: Ala Maan Notlek Al-Rasas (Who Should We Shoot)



*1978: Wa Thalethoum Al-Shitan (The Devil Makes Three)



*1978: Al-Soud Ela Al-Hawya (The Ascent to the Abyss)



*1982: Al-Tawous (The Peacock)



*1987: Qahir Al-Zaman (The Time Conqueror)

*A version of this article appears in print in the 4 February , 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-03 23:12:31|Editor: huaxia

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Former chief of European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi speaks to the press at the Palazzo del Quirinale after a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Rome, Italy, Feb. 3, 2021. (Pool via Xinhua)

"This is a difficult moment," Draghi acknowledged in a short declaration after being appointed. "Winning over the pandemic, completing the vaccination campaign, providing answers to the citizens' immediate problems, and re-launching the economy are the challenges we face."

ROME, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Former chief of European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi was appointed to form Italy's new government, the office of President Sergio Mattarella said on Wednesday.

"This morning, the president of the Republic has received professor Mario Draghi, to whom he has assigned the task of forming a new government," Secretary-General of the Italian Presidency Ugo Zampetti told a press conference.

The appointment came after Draghi met with Mattarella for over one hour at the Quirinale Palace. A day earlier, exploratory talks to recompose the previous government failed.

Former chief of European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi (L) arrives at the Palazzo del Quirinale for a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Rome, Italy, Feb. 3, 2021. (Pool via Xinhua)

Draghi will be tasked with forming a non-political cabinet with the largest possible support in parliament to lead Italy in the next crucial months.

"This is a difficult moment," Draghi acknowledged in a short declaration after being appointed. "Winning over the pandemic, completing the vaccination campaign, providing answers to the citizens' immediate problems, and re-launching the economy are the challenges we face."

Mattarella told a press conference on Tuesday that he would confer a mandate to form a "non-partisan government."

Italian President Sergio Mattarella (Front) speaks to the media at the Quirinale Palace in Rome, Italy, Feb. 2, 2021. (Pool via Xinhua)

The president explained that Italy can't afford snap elections right now because it needs a fully functioning government that can fight the pandemic and also submit a national Recovery Plan to the European Union (EU) by April.

Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had to resign in late January, despite surviving two confidence votes in parliament after former premier Matteo Renzi decided to pull his Italia Viva party from the governing coalition.

According to local media, Renzi's decision was out of disagreement over the government's handling of the pandemic and of the multi-billion-euro EU funding for Italy.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte attends a debate ahead of a confidence vote in Senate in Rome, Italy, Jan. 19, 2021. (Pool via Xinhua)
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(JNS)  In a groundbreaking discovery, Israeli archaeologists have recovered scraps of fabric dyed in royal purple, also known as true purple, dating back to the era of the biblical King David.

The remnants of woven fabric, a tassel and fibers of wool, were uncovered in a heap of industrial waste at Slaves Hill, an ancient copper-smelting site in the Timna Valley.

The color immediately attracted our attention, but we found it hard to believe we had found true purple from such an ancient era, said professor Erez Ben-Yosef of the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and A...
Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID
In this Friday, July 26, 2019 file photo, a ship crosses the Gulf of Suez towards the Red Sea as holiday-makers ride a jet ski at al Sokhna beach in Suez, 127 kilometers (79 miles) east of Cairo, Egypt. Not only are humans changing the surface and temperature of the planet, but also its sounds  and those shifts are detectable even in the open ocean, according to research published Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Not only are humans changing the surface and temperature of the planet, but also its sounds  and those shifts are detectable even in the open ocean, according to research published Thursday.

Changes in the ocean soundscape affect wide swaths of marine life, from tiny snapping shrimp to huge right whales, the researchers found.

"Sounds travel very far underwater. For fish, sound is probably a better way to sense their environment than light," said Francis Juanes, an ecologist at the University of Victoria in Canada and a co-author of the paper in the journal Science.

While light tends to scatter in water, he said, sounds travel much faster through water than through air.

Many fish and marine animals use sound to communicate with each other, to locate promising locations to breed or feed, and possibly to detect predators. For example, snapping shrimp make a sound resembling popping corn that stuns their prey. Humpback whale songs can resemble a violinist's melodies.

But increased noise from shipping traffic, motorized fishing vessels, underwater oil and gas exploration, offshore construction and other human activity is making it harder for fish to hear each other.

The researchers sifted through thousands of data sets and research articles documenting changes in noise volume and frequency to assemble a comprehensive picture of how the ocean soundscape is changing  and how marine life is impacted.

In this Oct. 15, 2014 file photo, dolphins swim along the side of a boat off the coast of San Pedro, Calif. Not only are humans changing the surface and temperature of the planet, but also its sounds  and those shifts are detectable even in the open ocean, according to research published Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Using underwater microphones, scientists can record fish sounds  which tend to hover around the same low frequencies as shipping traffic noise.

"For many marine species, their attempts to communicate are being masked by sounds that humans have introduced," said Carlos Duarte, a marine ecologist at the Red Sea Research Center in Saudi Arabia and co-author of the paper.

The Red Sea is one of the world's key shipping corridors, full of large vessels traveling to Asia, Europe and Africa. Some fish and invertebrates now avoid the noisiest areas, as the sound effectively fragments their Red Sea habitat, he said.

Meanwhile the overall number of marine animals has declined by about half since 1970. In some parts of the ocean, scientists now record "fewer animals singing and calling than in the past  those voices are gone," said Duarte.

Climate change also influences physical processes that shape ocean sounds, such as winds, waves and melting ice, the researchers found.

In this Sunday, June 28, 2015 file photo, sergeant major fish, a type of damselfish, swim near the surface of the Red Sea in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, south Sinai, Egypt. Not only are humans changing the surface and temperature of the planet, but also its sounds  and those shifts are detectable even in the open ocean, according to research published Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

"Imagine having to raise your kids in a place that's noisy all the time. It's no wonder many marine animals are showing elevated and detectable levels of stress due to noise," said Joe Roman, a University of Vermont marine ecologist, who was not involved in the paper.

"When people think of threats facing the ocean, we often think of climate change, plastics and overfishing. But noise pollution is another essential thing we need to be monitoring," said Neil Hammerschlag, a University of Miami marine ecologist, who was not involved with the paper.

"If you make something for the ocean, think about how to make it quieter," he said.

Sound pollution may be simpler to address than other ocean threats, said the University of Victoria's Juanes. "In theory, you can reduce or turn off sound immediatelyit's not like plastics or climate change, which are much harder to undo."

Explore further Warming oceans are getting louder

More information: The soundscape of the Anthropocene ocean, Science (2021). Journal information: Science The soundscape of the Anthropocene ocean,(2021). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi  1126/science.aba4658

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Its an Austin thing, like SXSW, BBQ, and LBJ.

The breakfast taco. Its Tex-Mex in a soft flour tortilla wrapped up around scrambled eggs, diced potatoes, shredded cheese, and maybe bacon and slice or two of avocado. Theyre sold everywhere in town, much like the baconeggncheese sandwiches we enjoy here.

Simple, filling, portable.

Mount Airy-born Nano Wheedan happens to be Phillys Austin breakfast taco guy, selling them (as well as handmade tortillas) to people who follow Nanos Tortillas on Instagram and pick them up in South Philadelphia. On Saturday, Feb. 6, he will be cooking them to order in a pop-up at Hermans Coffee in Pennsport.

Wheedan, 40, arrived in Austin right out of Harvard to play rock-and-roll. To pay the bills in 2004, he was the first employee hired at Home Slice Pizza, first as bar manager and then as director of operations and eventually as an owner. (Home Slices second employee happened to be the kitchen manager, Philip Korshak, who is now South Phillys underground bagel guy and plans to open a shop in April with Wheedan at 10th and Morris Streets.)

Home Slices New York-style pizza captured the hearts of Austinites as well as visitors and transplants from the Northeast. It was an eye-opener to Wheedan. I saw how elemental bread could be to people who missed this memory of pizza that just didnt exist down there, he said. Over my decade and a half in Austin, I fell in love with fresh flour tortillas, which is really the bread product of central and southern Texas and the Mexican border towns. I always dreamed I would come back to Philadelphia or the Northeast and bring fresh flour tortillas with me and do basically for tortillas what we were doing for pizza.

Wheedan, who has been working for six years on his flour tortilla technique, did just that. (Nano happens to be a childhood nickname for Nathaniel, and his last name is Whitman. At his 2019 wedding to Carinne Deeds, the couple asked guests to vote on a new last name for them; the results were tabulated and the officiant introduced them as Wheedan.)

At first, Wheedan set up a taco stand in front of his house, on 13th Street near Morris. I gave them away. Im yelling at people walking across the street, Hey, would you like to try a taco? he said.

He began to hit the food radar, as folks such as Jenn Zavala (@foxyladychef) and Korshak (@korshak.bagels.poetry) began spreading the word. Wheedan set up an Instagram link to an order form, and arranged for customer pickup outside a park. He also has done fund-raisers for 215 Peoples Alliance at El Compadre.

 READ MORE: The Peoples Kitchen at El Compadre serves free meals and social justice to those in need

Then I said, OK, theres a market here, he said. He rented kitchen space at the Bok Building to prep the tacos and make the tortillas. At noon Tuesdays, his order form goes live on Instagram, and within minutes his 150 tacos are spoken for. Pickup is Saturday.

At this Saturdays pop-up at Hermans Coffee (1313 S. Third St.), Wheedan will cook to order for walk-ups starting at 9 a.m.; he will have the ingredients for 450 tacos. His varieties ($3 to $5) include chorizo, egg, and cheese; bacon, egg, cheese, and avocado; migas (whose tortilla chips soak up the ingredients juices); and burnt ends, egg, and cheese with smoked burnt ends from Jeff Newman, the chef known as @newmanthefoodman). Even the salsas are made in-house, including tomatillo, roasted tomato guajillo, morita, and creamy jalapeno.

Right now, Wheedan is looking for a bar owner who might be interested in renting him space in the morning so he can sell tacos made to order. Although he is an investor in Korshaks forthcoming bagel shop, there probably is not enough room during peak hours for both bagels and tacos, although he could make the tortillas at night at the bagel shop.

Ultimately, hed like to open a Tex-Mex diner with a breakfast taco window that could also be open late night. Ive worked late-night pizza windows for many years and is really fun when people cant walk in the door, he said.
The incredible moment a saltwater crocodile casually walks through a car park in a national park has been caught on camera.

Tradesman Dayne Kopp was pulling into the car park in the remote Kakadu National Park on Tuesday morning, when he spotted a feral pig, closely followed by a saltwater crocodile.

Mr Kopp told Daily Mail Australia he 'hopped back into the car pretty quick' when the monster croc came within ten metres of his ute.

Local tradesman Dayne Kopp first saw a feral pig in the car park followed by a four metre saltwater crocodile (above) which sat on the grass for a while before slithering into the river

Mr Kopp said he waited for a while before moving closer to the crocodile resting on the nearby grass - watching until the reptile slithered back into the river.

Mr Kopp said he visits the National Park frequently for his work with DMK Marine Mechanics, servicing the boats on the river which he describes as 'full of crocs'.

The marine mechanic said he had seen his fair share of saltwater crocodiles in the wild, but had never seen one in a car park.

Mr Kopp told NTNews the situation could have been dangerous if the reptile had been acting more aggressively.

'There was a pig already in the car park, and maybe the croc had been watching it come into the car park  but that could have been a kid coming out of the passenger seat of a car, as an easy meal,' he said.

This is the most recent sighting of the same saltwater crocodile that was previously spotted by a park ranger crossing a dirt road in the Northern Territory National Park.

The croc appeared to have something between it's jaws, which online commentators speculated was a small animal, most likely a pig or a dog.

Jenny Hunter and her partner Andy Ralph filmed the monster croc from the safety of their vehicle, and posted the footage online to warn local communities in the area.

The remote Kakadu National Park (above) in the Northern Territory is home to a population of 10,000 freshwater and saltwater crocodiles

'Remember, just about every creek, culvert and waterhole in Kakadu has a croc in it during the wet season - so be on the lookout and stay safe,' he wrote.

Rangers in the Kakadu area have recently put up warning signs about the risks from crocodiles after moderate flooding earlier in January.

Breeding season for saltwater crocodiles runs through November to April and means the reptiles will behave more aggressively to defend their territory or nesting area.

Kakadu National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage protected area about 170km southeast of Darwin.

The National Park has a population of about 10,000 crocodiles, which are either freshwater, growing to three metres long, or saltwater, which can grow to six metres and weigh more than a tonne.
Drinks distributor Rusty Rabbit launches own-label Champagne

Drinks importer and distributor Rusty Rabbit International has announced the launch of its first own-label release.

Lapin Rouille Champagne is one of the first female black-owned Champagne brands in Europe, joining one other in the US market in an elite corner of the sparkling wine category.

Sourced from a small single estate producer near Reims, the wine is made from 100 per cent Pinot Meunier grapes - a variety gaining popularity for its delicate, dry and floral flavours.

The release is the brainchild of Nichole Johnson, Rusty Rabbit founder and CEO. As well as her new status in the Champagne world, Ms Johnson is also the world's only female black owner of a liquor importer, exporter and distributor.

Of her achievement, Ms Johnson said: "My aim with Rusty Rabbit is to create and to curate premium drinks brands from around the world and to promote them to the world. The world of wine and liquor is filled with people passionate about what they produce. Shouting about the diversity in the industry is a fantastic way of bringing even more passion, more innovation and more entrepreneurship.

"I am lucky to work with some awesome producers, for whom integrity and provenance are the foundation of their work. With Lapin Rouille, I am super proud to join those brand owners and offer a world-class drinks product, with real product integrity and a heck of a brand promise."

The first release of Lapin Rouille, limited to just over 3,000 bottles, is available through its own website lapinrouille.com and London drinks retailer Gerry's.

Ahead of Valentine's Day, the brand has also collaborated with Harvey Nichols and chocolatier Cartografie to create an exclusive Valentine's Day gift bag, containing a bottle of Lapin Rouille Champagne and a box of bespoke Cartografie chocolates matched to the wine.

4 February 2021 - Bethany Whymark
In data gathered and analyzed over 13 years, the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Physics Frontiers Center (PFC) has found an intriguing low-frequency signal that may be attributable to gravitational waves.

NANOGrav researchers - including a number from West Virginia University's (WVU's) Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology - measure the times of arrival of radio pulses from exotic stars called pulsars with large radio telescopes, including the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Pulsars are small, dense stars that rapidly rotate, emitting beamed radio waves, much like a lighthouse. The results from this most recent dataset show perturbations in the arrival times from these pulsars that may indicate the effects of gravitational waves, as reported recently in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The most likely source of these gravitational waves is the combined signal from all the supermassive black hole pairs at the cores of merged, distant galaxies.

NANOGrav has been able to rule out some effects other than gravitational waves, such as interference from the matter in our own solar system or certain errors in the data collection. These newest findings set up direct detection of gravitational waves as the possible next major step for NANOGrav and other members of the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA), a collaboration of researchers using the world's largest radio telescopes.

Dustin Madison, a postdoctoral researcher at WVU, comments "We can't yet say with confidence that what we're seeing is gravitational waves, but if it is, the "signal" makes a lot of sense given what we think we know about supermassive black holes. This was always how this was going to play out...enticing hints of a signal before we would be able to definitively claim a detection. We're on the right track to make that definitive assessment in just a couple of years." Looking to the future, he thinks researchers will then be able to characterize the signal and learn more from it for years and years to come.

Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time caused by the movements of incredibly massive objects, such as black holes orbiting each other or neutron stars colliding. Astronomers cannot observe these waves with a telescope like they do stars and galaxies. Instead, they measure the effects passing gravitational waves have, namely tiny changes to the precise position of objects - including the position of the Earth itself. Gravitational waves were first detected in 2015 by NSF's Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) by a team including other researchers at WVU. Like light from distant objects, gravitational waves are a cosmic messenger signal - one that holds great potential for understanding "dark" objects, like black holes.

NANOGrav chose to study the signals from pulsars because they serve as detectable, dependable Galactic clocks. These small, dense stars spin rapidly, sending pulses of radio waves at precise intervals toward Earth. Pulsars are in fact commonly referred to as the universe's timekeepers, and this unique trait has made them useful for astronomical study.

But gravitational waves can interrupt this observed regularity, as the ripples cause space-time to undergo tiny amounts of stretching and shrinking. Those ripples result in extremely small deviations in the expected times for pulsar signals arriving on Earth. Such deviations indicate that the position of the Earth has shifted slightly. By studying the timing of the regular signals from many pulsars scattered over the sky at the same time, known as a "pulsar timing array," NANOGrav works to detect minute changes in the Earth's position due to gravitational waves stretching and shrinking space-time.

WVU Professor and NANOGrav member Sarah Burke-Spolaor explains "This signal is incredibly enticing. It could be that our orchestra is tuning up, hinting that we're about to hear the grand symphony of waves from supermassive black holes that we expect pervades the Universe," Burke-Spolaor reflects. She adds, "If this signal is indeed gravitational waves, future study will offer unique insights into how the biggest black holes and galaxies in our universe form and evolve".

"NANOGrav has been building to the first detection of low frequency gravitational waves for over a decade and today's announcement shows that they are on track to achieving this goal," said Pedro Marronetti, NSF Program Director for gravitational physics. "The insights that we will gain on cosmology and galaxy formation are truly unparalleled."

NANOGrav is a collaboration of U.S. and Canadian astrophysicists and a National Science Foundation Physics Frontiers Center (PFC). Maura McLaughlin, WVU Professor and Co-Director of the NANOGrav PFC, added "We are so grateful for the support of the NANOGrav PFC, that's allowed us to dramatically increase both the number of pulsars being timed and the number of participants working on NANOGrav research over the past six years". WVU has played a significant role in the PFC; 12 of the 63 authors on this paper are WVU faculty, postdocs, and students. And low-frequency gravitational wave detection is one of the main aims of the Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, formed in 2015 along with the award of the PFC. As, Duncan Lorimer, WVU Professor and Eberly College Associate Dean for Research, notes "The long-term institutional support provided by the College and University has played a critical role in NANOGrav's success since its inception in 2007".

NANOGrav created their pulsar timing array by studying 47 of the most stably rotating "millisecond pulsars" with both the GBT and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico as reported in the January 2021 Astrophysical Journal Supplements. Not all pulsars can be used to detect the signals that NANOGrav seeks - only the most stably rotating and longest-studied pulsars will do. These pulsars spin hundreds of times a second, with incredible stability, which is necessary to obtain the precision required to detect and study gravitational waves.

Of the 47 pulsars studied, 45 had sufficiently long datasets of at least three years to use for the analysis. Researchers studying the data uncovered a spectral signature, a low-frequency noise feature, that is the same across multiple pulsars. The timing changes NANOGrav studies are so small that the evidence is not apparent when studying any individual pulsar, but in aggregate, they add up to a significant signature.

Potential Next Steps

To confirm direct detection of a signature from gravitational waves, NANOGrav's researchers will have to find a distinctive pattern in the signals between individual pulsars. At this point, the sensitivity of the experiment is not currently good enough for such a pattern to be distinguishable. Boosting the signal requires NANOGrav to expand its dataset to include more pulsars studied for even longer lengths of time, which will increase the array's sensitivity. In addition, by pooling NANOGrav's data together with those from other pulsar timing array experiments, a joint effort by the IPTA may reveal such a pattern. Students and faculty at WVU are important contributors to this effort, and in fact 24 WVU students have traveled to IPTA partner countries to undertake research abroad as part of NSF-funded programs led by WVU.

At the same time, NANOGrav is developing techniques to ensure the detected signal could not be from another source. They are producing computer simulations that help test whether the detected noise could be caused by effects other than gravitational waves, in order to avoid a false detection.

While the next several years hold a great deal of scientific promise, they are not without challenges. With the recent collapse of the Arecibo Observatory's 305-meter telescope, NANOGrav will be seeking alternate sources of data and working even more closely with their international colleagues. Although significant delays in detection are not expected, due to years of very sensitive Arecibo data already contributing to their datasets, the loss of Arecibo is a terrible blow to science in general. For NANOGrav, it may impact the ability to characterize the background and detect other types of gravitational-wave sources in the future in the absence of another instrument. The loss of the telescope also directly impacts the graduate studies of several WVU PhD students. NANOGrav members are deeply saddened by the collapse and its impact on the staff and the island of Puerto Rico.

###

Publications referenced in this article

Gravitational Wave Search:

https:/ / iopscience. iop. org/ article/ 10. 3847/ 2041-8213/ abd401

Narrowband Dataset:

https:/ / iopscience. iop. org/ article/ 10. 3847/ 1538-4365/ abc6a0

Wideband Dataset:

https:/ / iopscience. iop. org/ article/ 10. 3847/ 1538-4365/ abc6a1

For more information about NANOGrav, please visit the website at http://nanograv. org .

NANOGrav research at WVU is supported through NSF PFC award #1430284 and NSF OIA award #1458952. The Arecibo Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement (#AST-1744119) by the University of Central Florida (UCF) in alliance with Universidad Ana G. Mendez (UAGM) and Yang Enterprises (YEI), Inc. The Green Bank Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - American Airlines Inc. will send notices beginning Friday to around 13,000 U.S.- based employees regarding possible furloughs, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.



In a letter to employees, the struggling airline said it is forced to take action due to the expiration of the U.S. Government's Payroll Support Program or PSP on April 1 amid the weak travel demand as the pandemic crisis continues. Any job impact will take effect on or after April 1.



The company said it supports union partners who are urging Congress for an extension of the PSP through September 30 of this year.



Chief Executive Doug Parker and President Robert Isom said in a memo to employees, 'We are nearly five weeks into 2021, and unfortunately, we find ourselves in a situation similar to much of 2020. As we closed out last year with the successful extension of the Payroll Support Program, we fully believed that we would be looking at a summer schedule where we'd fly all of our airplanes and need the full strength of our team. Regrettably, that is no longer the case.'



American expects to fly at least 45 percent less in the first quarter compared to that of last year. Based on current demand outlook, the company will not fly all of its aircraft this summer as planned, and will have more team members than the schedule requires after federal payroll support expires on April 1.



The company said the travel demand is continuing to be hurt by slower-than-expected vaccine distribution and new restrictions on international travel that require customers to have a negative COVID-19 test.



American Airlines said it will send Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification or WARN notices to these employees, as required by law in advance of potential furloughs in certain locations.



As per the filing, the furlough notices will be given to 1,850 pilots; 4,245 flight attendants; 3,145 fleet service workers; 1,420 maintenance workers; 1,205 in passenger service; 100 dispatchers; and 40 Flight Crew Training instructors.



The company also announced a voluntary early out program and a long-term voluntary leave of absence program for frontline, U.S.-based team members, excluding pilots.



Rival United Airlines Holdings Inc. has recently issued furlough warnings to its 14,000 employees.



Both companies had furloughed thousands of their workers last year when the first round of federal payroll support ended on October 1.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

AMERICAN AIRLINES-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
The Indians announced this morning that theyve re-signed infielder Mike Freeman to a minor league pact and invited him to Major League Spring Training. Cleveland also inked righty DJ Johnson to a minor league deal and will bring him to Major League camp.

Freeman, 33, has spent the past two seasons in the Cleveland organization, working in a utility capacity and slashing a combined .270/.352/.377 in 256 plate appearances. Hes seen time at all four infield spots and in both outfield corners along the way, with the majority of his work coming at second base and at third base. While he doesnt have much power, Freeman has a productive track record in Triple-A and a history of average or better walk rates. He could join Yu Chang in vying for a bench spot this spring.

Johnson, meanwhile, spent the 2020 season pitching in Japan between the Hiroshima Carp and the Rakuten Eagles. He had some struggles with the Carp but did pitch to a 3.07 ERA with a 16-to-6 K/BB ratio in 14 2/3 innings with the Eagles.

Prior to that NPB stint, Johnson saw big league action with the Rockies in 2018-19, logging a 4.88 ERA and 4.93 SIERA with average strikeout and walk rates but a 14.7 percent walk rate that was far too high for sustained success. Johnson has punched out a quarter of the minor league hitters hes faced in his career, including exactly one third of the 453 hitters hes faced in Triple-A.
An 81-year-old man has been trampled to death by a hippo in a village in Zimbabwe's Masvingo province, police have said.



Langson Svondero was herding cattle with his grandson on Monday when the hippo charged at him after appearing from a thicket, Masvingo police spokesperson Insp Kudakwashe Dhewa was quoted by the state-run Herald newspaper as saying.



His grandson called out to him but the hippo bit his left leg and he fell to the ground before he could run away.



The hippo then began trampling him. The grandson ran to the village calling for help but when it arrived Svondero had already died. He sustained a deep cut to the chest, Insp Dhewa added.



The hippo was likely to have come from the nearby Chiredzi River, wildlife officials said.

Source: BBC









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Mamata arrives 30 minutes late for Cyclone Yaas review meet with PM Modi, leaves after handing over documents

Don't insult me like this: Mamata Banerjee to PM Modi

PM Modi to address Gujarat HC's diamond jubilee event Saturday

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 04: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an event marking the diamond jubilee of the High Court of Gujarat on Saturday via video conferencing.

He will also release a commemorative postage stamp marking the completion of sixty years of the establishment of the high court, the Prime Ministers Office said in a statement on Thursday.

Previous govts drafted Budget with eye on vote bank: PM Modi

The Union minister of Law and Justice, judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court of Gujarat besides the state's chief minister will be present on the occasion.

"Even though we are still dealing with the ramifications of COVID-19, we felt an appropriate celebration and recognition of our community and partners would be a testament to the resilience of science and importance of discovery at this particular point in history," Dr. Rheault added. "This significant addition to Chicagoland's research and bioscience community demonstrates our faith in scientific discovery and its direct impact on patient health."

"The completion of Rosalind Franklin University's Innovation and Research Park is the type of strategic investment that helps us reach the kind of future our state deserves," said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. "This project demonstrates that innovation is critical to our success as a state, and this past year in particular. We need more bold thinkers and more brave risk-takers to solve our toughest challenges. We need more entrepreneurs and innovators to continue generating new ideas and finding new opportunities."

Pritzker also applauded Dr. Rheault and RFU Executive Vice President for Research Dr. Ronald Kaplan for "their continued leadership and for supporting science and innovation in our state."

Of the 100,000 square feet in the IRP, two-thirds are allocated to RFU research labs and six disease-based centers, while the remaining third is available to healthcare industries and startups.

"We designed each of the four floors of the new building to contain both academic and industry laboratories, as well as shared 'collision space' to facilitate future conversation and collaboration between researchers and industry," said Dr. Kaplan. "The placement of RFU discovery science in close proximity to cutting-edge pharmaceutical and medical-device science will provide ideal conditions to hasten the translation of our biomedical discoveries into therapeutics and diagnostics to improve people's lives."

"The new facility, and the center-based organization, has already had a large impact on the research environment by facilitating new collaborations among scientists and as an attractive factor in recruiting the best young scientists," said Dr. Jeremy Amiel Rosenkranz, director of RFU's Brain Science Institute. "This will be further enhanced, and we are very excited, by the arising opportunities to interact with industry partners as they arrive."

The first tenant for the IRP, Inspirotec, Inc., was founded by former Abbott Labs senior scientist Dr. Julian Gordon who worked at King's College in London in the same lab where RFU's namesake, Dr. Rosalind Franklin, conducted her groundbreaking research on DNA in the early 1950s. Inspirotec is the only company providing airborne allergen detection either direct to the consumer or through physicians, industrial hygienists, indoor air quality professionals and home resale. It has developed a highly sensitive, patented technology for testing and measuring biological agents in the air, including viruses and specifically SARS-CoV-2. The device, AirAnswersTM, was launched in September 2020 . Inspirotec plans to move into its new space in the IRP during April 2021.

The Innovation and Research Park was designed to accelerate RFU's nationally recognized research into treatment and prevention of disease, and to support collaboration among academic and industry scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs. The facility, including its Helix 51 incubator, is strategically located halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, and provides state-of-the-art laboratories and spaces for faculty and commercial startups, along with small- to mid-size national and international biotech firms. Several new biomedical companies joined Helix 51 during the last quarter of 2020 including Covira Surgical (non-antibiotic anti-infectives), Voyant Diagnostics (COVID and other virus testing) and Quantitative Neural Analysis (tardive dyskinesia).

About Rosalind Franklin University

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science is committed to serving humanity through the interprofessional education of health and biomedical professionals and the discovery of knowledge dedicated to improving wellness. Founded in Chicago in 1912, RFU embodies the spirit of inquiry and excellence modeled by its namesake Dr. Rosalind Franklin, whose Photo 51 was crucial to solving the structure of DNA. Recognized for its research in areas including neuroscience, brain-related diseases, inherited disorders, diabetes, obesity, and gait and balance, the university encompasses the Chicago Medical School, College of Health Professions, College of Pharmacy, Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine and the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Learn more at www.rosalindfranklin.edu .

CONTACT: Dan Moran, [email protected]

SOURCE Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

Related Links

http://www.finchcms.edu/scholl



A new report by a group created by the U.S. Congress has called on the Biden administration to extend the May deadline for the U.S. military to withdraw remaining troops from Afghanistan.

In its reports issued on February 3, the Afghanistan Study Group recommended keeping U.S. troops in the conflict-ridden country in order to give the peace process sufficient time to produce an acceptable result.

The Afghanistan Study Group is a bipartisan congressionally mandated panel under the United States Institute of Peace.

In the report, the panel said the United States has a major interest in safeguarding Afghanistan from becoming again a safe haven for terrorists.

Under a February 2019 agreement the United States signed with the Taliban, Washington committed to reducing its troops in Afghanistan to zero by May 2021.

Former President Donald Trump, who campaigned in 2016 on stopping ridiculous endless wars in the Middle East, accelerated the reduction of U.S. troops in November.

The Pentagon on January 28 said the U.S. troop drawdown in Afghanistan would be contingent on the Talibans commitment to uphold the deal reached in February 2019.

The Taliban have not met their commitments, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters during a press briefing.

He added that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was reviewing the matter and had discussed the path forward in the war-torn country with NATO allies and partners.

Also in the report released on February 3, the panel called for continued U.S. support of key Afghan institutions, including security institutions, while continuing to message our Afghan partners that this support is not open-ended and is conditioned on progress in the peace talks.

It also urges Washingtons continued backing of Afghan civil society, which it said "have been instrumental in securing essential gains in rights, education, and health and who have been and will continue to be key in supporting a sustained peace.

The Taliban and the Afghan government have been negotiating in Qatar to reach a peace deal. Those talks resumed In January after an almost month-long break, but negotiators and diplomats say there has since been little progress.

With reporting by Reuters
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The Scottish Fiscal Commission has warned coronavirus will have a long-term scarring effect on the economy (PA)

Scotlands economy will suffer long-term scarring from the coronavirus pandemic, experts have warned.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) does expect the economy to bounce back very substantially in 2022, as vaccinations allow for lockdown restrictions to be lifted, but it also forecasts a lasting impact from the pandemic.

It said Scottish GDP will not return to its pre-coronavirus levels until 2024.

It also anticipates that growth in 2025 will be 1.7%  with commissioner Professor David Ulph saying this is 4% below where we expected it to be from our forecast a year ago.

Speaking at a virtual briefing, he said: We expect Covid to have long-lasting effects on the economy.

We think it will be 2024 before GDP returns to the level it was at before the pandemic, and we expect unemployment to remain elevated over much of this period.

The SFC is currently forecasting GDP growth of 1.8% in 2021  after falling by 10.7% last year.

GDP was hit by the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns. GDP wonat recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2024. #ScotBudget https://t.co/UQLvnHiz6K pic.twitter.com/3Xyrk17jmW  Scottish Fiscal Commission (@scotfisccomm) January 29, 2021

It then anticipates further increases of 7.5% in 2022 and 1.7% in 2025.

Professor Alasdair Smith, a fellow member of the SFC, said: Were forecasting from quarter two in 2021 onwards the economy is going to begin to recover, and then in 2022 with most of the Covid-related restrictions lifted, the economy will bounce back very substantially.

But our long-term forecast for Scottish GDP is significantly lower than the forecast than we made in February 2020.

He said that is partly because they expect the number of people coming to live and work in Scotland to drop.

But Prof Smith added: The big economic effect that goes into our more pessimistic view of long-term GDP is that we expect the pandemic will have a long-term scarring effect.

There will be economic activities, maybe even whole parts of the economy, that shut down in the 2020 lockdowns and which will not all recover.

Some businesses will close and not reopen, and that kind of restructuring of the economy takes a long time to recover from.

Young people just starting out in their careers could be worst hit by the long-term impact, he added.

Prof Smith said: Perhaps the most important scarring effect is the scarring effect on the labour market, where young people who have difficult labour market experiences, who struggle to get work, have poor employment records at the start of their careers, and all the evidence is that that has long-term negative effects on those peoples economic prospects as they become older.

We see this in many recessions, it is the young people just coming into the labour market at the time of the recession who bear quite a lot of these long-term scarring effects.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  Every day, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Preventions website displays a map of the U.S. with the states shaded in blue. Those in dark blue have higher numbers of coronavirus vaccines administered per capita.

Ohio has been light blue -- the lightest shade on the map, and always lighter than its five surrounding neighbors -- until recently. On Thursday, the map showed the state is finally catching up to other states.

Gov. Mike DeWine, when questioned about the states pace of coronavirus vaccinations, always pushed back by touting the rapid vaccinations in the states nursing homes.

We are No. 2 in the nation in vaccinating people who are in nursing homes, he said last week. Were very proud of that because thats where we have 54% of our deaths.

In Ohio, all first doses were given within a month of when the program began, and 89% of second doses had been administered in nursing homes as of Tuesday.

This is fast, considering Ohio has 920 skilled nursing facilities, the second highest per capita in the country, he said.

Its up for debate how much the state can take credit for the success with nursing home vaccinations. The Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program is run by the CDC, which contracted with pharmacies to give shots. Ohio was among a handful of states that participated in an early rollout of the program, which began Dec. 18, three days before most other states.

Its hard for the state to take credit, said David Grabowski, a professor at Harvard Medical Schools Department of Health Care Policy. Maybe they activated the program earlier, maybe they got things moving. There can be credit due there. If we blame CVS and Walgreens in the states like Florida where it didnt work so well, I dont know that we can turn around and credit the state. I think we have to give CVS and Walgreens their due.

Dan Tierney, a spokesman for DeWine, said the governor deserves credit for being strategic about making sure Ohio nursing homes were in the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program.

We, probably more than any other state, urged our partners to participate in that program, Tierney said. Our strategy has been lets try to save as many lives as possible. We have the age consideration and the nursing home consideration.

Since the majority of deaths have occurred in nursing homes and among older Ohioans, state officials wanted to make sure that nursing facilities were aware of the federal program. Age is a major factor in the way Ohio has prioritized vaccines in general, with DeWine noting that nearly 87% of coronavirus deaths in Ohio are among those that age 65 and older.

While close to 90% of Ohio nursing residents chose to be vaccinated, the rate among workers has been much lower. At some facilities, only about 45% have gotten shots, DeWine has said.

We can look at all kinds of numbers, DeWine said in response to data showing the state had overall been slow in vaccinating the public. I think the ultimate number is how many lives we are going to save.

How the nursing home program worked

Four pharmacy companies administered shots at the long-term care facilities in Ohio: Walgreens, CVS, Absolute Pharmacy and PharmaScript.

Walgreens officials sent at least one pharmacist, who administered the shots, and at least one pharmacy technician, who provided support such as helping with paperwork, to each facility, said Rena Estep, a Walgreens regional health care director supporting pharmacy operations in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

The number of staff that we take is based on the number of patients we are going to immunize, she said. We will always have at least one pharmacist on staff. Generally speaking, its multiple pharmacists.

At some facilities, the residents have walked or been transported in wheelchairs to a common area to receive the vaccine. At others, the Walgreens employees walked from room to room. These days, a lot of it depends on the nursing home administrators assessment of how to best ensure social distancing.

We will try to accommodate the facility and what they feel best meets the needs of their patients and staff, Estep said.

Among the vaccines that have been allotted to Ohio, 353,000 doses have been sent directly to the pharmacy companies administering them in nursing homes.

We order them through a central ordering system, VTrckS, which is set up by the CDC in order to make sure that were receiving the vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna. And in the state of Ohio were using Pfizer, and they go to designated locations across the state that have the equipment to ensure that we are able to support proper storage of the vaccine, she said.

At least 21 days must pass before a second dose can be administered. So Walgreens sets up pharmacy clinics in nursing homes that are roughly 21 days apart. Three clinics are scheduled at each facility in case someone isnt around the first day vaccines are administered.

The program wasnt flawless. On Tuesday, state officials announced some residents in five Northeast Ohio facilities will need to be revaccinated because the shots they received Monday may not have been kept at the proper temperatures in storage. Some of the leftover shots from those homes ended up in two Northeast Ohio Walgreens stores, and about a dozen people who received them will also have to be revaccinated.

Vaccine prep

Walgreens hired pharmacists and pharmacy techs for the nursing home program. It also offered employees who work in stores the chance to participate.

Theyre involved in making history in the United States, and they were very eager, Estep said. We ramped up our pharmacy and technician staffing several months ago.

In fact, Walgreens was planning for the program for at least six months, Estep said.

Even before the federal contracts were awarded, company officials figured, with stores spread across the U.S. and a large number of pharmacists, it would likely be involved in some kind of effort to vaccinate Americans.

We were talking with the CDC and the federal and state governments almost on a daily basis since last spring, said company spokeswoman Rebekah Pajak.

What can be learned

The residents and employees at the nursing homes were almost a captive audience, said Lois Privor-Dumm, director of Adult Immunization at the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The system is easier, with the pharmacy companies traveling to the facilities, than other vaccine approaches in Ohio, in which people have had to individually travel to hospitals, clinics and pharmacies to get shots.

That has a lot to do with it, she said about the programs success in Ohio. Youre also talking about a limited number of providers.

The Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program has just four providers in Ohio, as compared to the 970 providers -- and counting -- available to the general public.

Privor-Dumm noted that Ohio is unusual in the success in nursing homes. In many states, the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program has caused frustration and even facilities backing out of the program.

In Ohio, vaccines for the general public are decentralized. DeWine and other state officials have relied on local officials to sort out many details, while making high-level policy decisions such as who gets vaccinated, and when.

Grabowski, the Harvard Medical School professor, doesnt believe that all state programs should be centrally controlled. But he does have concerns about the decentralized approach.

We have seen this in the pandemic, when the federal governments pushed it out to the states, the states pushed it onto the counties, he said. Some invariably do really well. Theyre well-managed, they have good leadership. Theyre able to coordinate, whether its vaccinations or acquiring PPE or collecting data.

But counties with fewer resources or weaker leadership will struggle pushing out the vaccine, in addition to their other duties during the pandemic, he said.

DeWine, in a recent letter to President Joe Biden, argued that the problem with vaccinations was low supply: We are not lacking the infrastructure. We are lacking the vaccine.

Yet, when looking at Ohios vaccination numbers compared to other states, state Rep. Allison Russo says Ohio has had trouble delivering vaccines the last mile to get them into peoples arms. Russo is a Columbus-area Democrat who, outside the legislature, works as a health care consultant with knowledge in care delivery for seniors, vulnerable populations, veterans and military families.

DeWine, a Republican, has said that Ohios numbers have looked artificially low because of the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program. About 353,000 doses allocated to the state actually went to the pharmacies, and count against Ohio until the pharmacy companies report the shots as having been administered.

But other states have their nursing homes vaccines counting against them too.

Russo believes the decentralized approach has been the reason for the sluggish pace of Ohio vaccinations. Since pharmacies, hospitals and clinics are on their own in how to organize vaccine clinics, many require people to schedule and register for appointments with their existing online portals. But this hurts seniors who arent internet savvy. Seniors who dont drive need family members with time to take them, she said.

I do place this squarely at the feet of the governor, she said.

Russo said that there isnt a centralized way for providers with unused shots to send them to each other. Theyre on their own for that, too.

To me the failure is weve known about these vaccines, she said. We should have been planning in October. From my conversations with people who are on the ground, there really was not planning and coordination before we got the vaccine.
Absa Bank Ghana has begun its 2021 ReadyToWork sessions with a renewed mandate of reaffirming its commitment to education and skills development in Ghana.



Over 35,000 students and youth were supported to upskill with the ReadyToWork programme last year 2020 equipping them with soft skills for improving their employment or self-employment prospects, via face to face and online media nationwide.



In partnership with Enactus Ghana, the virtual sessions which are interactive on Facebook Live and Zoom, are to equip the youth with relevant skills required to transition from learning to earning. The sessions focus on the four modules of the ReadytoWork programme namely Entrepreneurial Skills, Money Skills, People Skills and Work Skills.



The ReadyToWork programme is Absa Banks flagship e-learning curriculum that helps to prepare young people for the transition from school to the world of work. It empowers young people with the skills they need to enhance their employment or self-employment prospects.



In January, four sessions have been conducted touching on topics such as Money management; Modern trends in entrepreneurship; Self-actualization in the work place; and Professional relationship building.



According to the Head of Citizenship at Absa Bank Ghana, Mrs. Priscilla Yeboah, Absa Bank has committed to support the Education and Skills Development of the youth as part of our Force for Good agenda. This is to make significant contributions towards human capital development and economic growth hence the ReadytoWork virtual sessions.



These virtual sessions are to introduce participants to the Absa Readytowork Programme which equips them with essential skills for life after school. The programme is facilitated by subject matter experts, both internal and external facilitators who come on to share practical experiences on how to prepare and position oneself for opportunities in the formal and informal sectors of our economy, said Mrs. Yeboah.



This forms part of the banks Force for Good agenda to bring peoples possibilities to life and support economic growth added Mrs. Yeboah.



The last session for the month was held on 28th of January.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) vice President, Dumelang Saleshando has rubbished claims that some of his comrades want him removed from the position of Leader of Opposition (LOO) in Parliament.

Sources within the UDC have intimated that there are plans to frustrate Saleshando and push him out as the LOO and replace him with MP for Selibe Phikwe West Dithapelo Keorapetse. An alleged fallout between Saleshando and UDC President Advocate Duma Boko is said to have triggered internal bickering among Members of Parliament who are now divided between the two.

Ever dismissive, Saleshando quipped that it would be interesting to find where those who want to topple him will get the numbers from since the caucus he leads in the August House remains united. A majority of opposition MPs in Parliament come from Botswana Congress Party (BCP), which Saleshando leads as its President. Their coalition partner, Botswana National Front (BNF) on the other hand, has only two MPs.

An opposition MP, who preferred anonymity, claimed that there is a plan to rally other MPs within the UDC to support the ousting of Saleshando as LOO. "Keorapetse has proven to be very articulate on issues of national interest and always gives alternative when debating in Parliament whilst Saleshando is just petty," he said.

Keorapetse dismissed the allegations, saying it is just propaganda peddled by the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) activists to try and destabilise the opposition. "Saleshando is the LOO because he is the Vice President of UDC. He was elected by the party caucus and endorsed by the National Executive Committee (NEC)," he said.

Those who support Saleshando praise him for bringing order and instilling discipline among opposition MPs in Parliament, especially ensuring that legislators conduct themselves like honourable members who follow proper communication channels. "Some of the MPs just want to do things as they like and state their positions without consulting the party leadership," the source alleged.

One example in particular was when Palapye MP, Onneetse Ramogapi granted interviews to local media where he claimed that UDC condemned the shooting of alleged Namibian poachers by members of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) anti-poaching unit. Ramogapi was later reprimanded because he was not sanctioned to present the position of the coalition, but was only expressing his personal opinion.

According to sources, calls for the removal of Saleshando by some BNF followers were fuelled by his criticism of former United States of America President, Donald Trump, for snubbing the inauguration of his successor, incoming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Many within BNF interpreted the post to be a veiled attack and side remarks aimed at UDC President Duma Boko who refused to attend the inauguration of Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi in 2019. Boko is the BNF President, and recently infuriated BCP followers when he posted on Facebook that he had saved the political career of some people by helping them win elections and yet they remain thankless.

In a Facebook post with reference to Trump recently, Saleshando said anyone can deal with victory but only the mighty can bear defeat. He said he has tasted defeat many times in his life but still attended the swearing in of the President and all the MPs.

"I further wished the victor well and offered my assistance should he ever need it. We normally call people like Trump Narcissist! They are not normal; they suffer from a personality disorder. In their view, they are too important to lose. If only they could learn from a fellow narcissist Adolf Hitler when he said, "Anyone can deal with victory. Only the mighty can bear defeat," he hit out.

Boko and former President Ian Khama, now the leader of opposition Botswana Patriotic Front -BPF, snubbed the inauguration of Masisi, saying the 2019 general elections were rigged.

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Political analyst, Monkagedi Dithabiso says it will be impossible to oust Saleshando as LOO because the decision of the opposition caucus will have to be endorsed by the national executive committee of the UDC, which will not support bringing instability within the coalition. He said the arrival of Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) and Alliance for Progressives (AP) into the umbrella will kill the ambitions of those who are entertaining the idea of toppling Saleshando.

"Covid-19 protocols are also a blessing in disguise as they restrict physical meeting of large groups of people. It therefore means that even political parties, who are members of the UDC, will not be able to hold elective congresses this year. By 2022 the focus will be sharing and distribution of constituencies in preparation for the 2024 general elections. So, I don't see UDC holding elective congresses this year, thus the status quo will remain going forward," he said, adding that internal bickering will always exist but will not change anything.
Phuket officials promote Phuket COVID rules, without explanations

PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Governments official COVID-19 Information Center has launched a public-relations offensive with the launch of at least five videos with Phuket Vice Governor Piyaphong Chuwong explaining in the simplest of terms what is required of domestic arrivals to enter Phuket.



By The Phuket News

Thursday 4 February 2021, 04:19PM

Phuket Vice Governor Piyapong Chuwong released five videos aiming to explain the entry requirements for people arriving in Phuket. Screenshot: Phuketanticovid

The videos were posted on the Ministry of Interior Phuket office official Facebook page Phuketanticovid19 last night (Feb 3).

Everything is almost back to normal as seen in every part of Phuket right now. Shopping malls, fitness gyms, pubs and bars are all operating with normal open and close times, Vice Governor Piyapong said.

However, all people still have to follow the COVID-19 preventive measures to prevent any new infections as the virus is still spreading, he added.

There are five important aspects to talk about in the implementation of COVID-19 surveillance, including inspections of migrant workers due to the political situation in Myanmar that may result in the movement of people into the Phuket, he said.

"First of all, we ourselves need to be aware and to follow strictly the COVID-19 Prevention Measures D-M-H-T-T, according to the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

D-M-H-T-T is the widely publicized protocol Social Distancing, Mask Wearing, Hand Washing, Temperature Check and Thai Chana.

Arrivals in Phuket from other provinces are asked to comply with the Phukets surveillance measures, and register on gophuget.com, V/Gov Piyapong added.

Establishments can open but they have to assess the level of risks in areas where gatherings might be found such as pubs, bars, markets and department stores. Places such as these are therefore asked to have the Thai Chana app for screening people before entering the place.

The Public Health Office is arranging to check people in pubs and bars by randomly inspecting employees, as pubs and bars are considered as the most risky area where we need to be careful.

There will be random checks of migrant workers, although all migrant workers in Phuket now have already been inspected. But after a while, we will have another random check for sure, V/Gov Piyaphong said.

The ongoing political situation in Myanmar might have some impact on the movement of people into Phuket. The Phuket Provincial Government has prepared to inspect more migrant workers with higher surveillance measures across the island to create more confidence among the people in Phuket as well, V/G Piyaphong also noted.

The most important thing is to make sure all people are informed and aware of the directives. Please do not ignore any information, even though measures are now relaxed  and please do not for one minute forget that we are in the midst of a disease outbreak, so we still need to be careful and cautious, he said.

Absence of clarity

However, V/Gov Piyapong avoided explaining exactly what was required of new arrivals, notably that a 14-day mandatory quarantine remained in effect for all people arriving from Samut Sakhon  but only for people arriving from Samut Sakhon.

People arriving from Samut Sakhon must also show official documents to prove their travel was necessary. They are also required to enter a health screening system for further instructions by the local health authorities.

People arriving from anywhere else in the country only need to have the Mor Chana app installed, register online via www.gophuget.com, follow all COVID preventative measures and only self-monitor for signs of infection.

V/Gov Piyapong also avoided clarifying whether the B20,000 fine for not wearing a face mask in public was still in effect.

Of note, in addition to observing the DMHTT precautions, overnight visitors to Phuket must avoid public places, as noted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

That was another point omitted by V/Gov Piyapong in the videos.

The Phuket News notes that, with the exception of the face mask fine and the requirement to follow COVID-prevetation measures, nearly all the provincial COVID regulations target venue operators and business service providers. The full order currently in effect was announced on Jan 26.

Failure to comply with the order may be punished under Section 51 of Disease Control Act 2015, which incurs a fine of up to B20,000, or under Section 52 of the act, which invokes a penalty of up to one year imprisonment or a fine of up to B100,000 or both, the order noted.

Those found breaching the order will also be charged under Section 18 of the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations B.E. 2548 (2005), which invokes a penalty of up to two years imprisonment or up to B40,000 or both, the order warned.



Please be informed that due to staffing challenges at DIV (General Affairs), the Inspectorate has decided to make the following adjustments (effective Feb 1, 2021) to truancy-related request processes:

EXEMPTIONS

When a child will be absent from both face-to-face classes as well as online classes, the parent/guardian must request an exemption. Exemption requests can be made for the following reasons:

medical appointments in connection with SZV,

Immigration matters

Educational, Cultural, Sport

Relocation

Personal Matters.

To apply for an exemption for any of the aforementioned reasons, parents/guardians must make contact with their childs school to request an exemption form. The school will issue a stamped and signed exemption form to be submitted to the Division of Inspection for approval.

Documents needed to support an exemption request are:

copy of the parents/guardians valid passport/ID

copy of students valid passport / ID,

Flight reservation (please do not purchase tickets until the exemption request has been approved by the Division of Inspection ECYS).

Invitation/death certificate/obituary or any other documentation supporting the reason for the request

Once all documentation has been received from the school in good order at the Division of Inspection ECYS, the request will be processed and the response will be e-mailed back to the school to be delivered to the parent/guardian).

DEVIATION (from face-to-face learning to online learning)

When a family is faced with an extraordinary challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their child is unable to attend school face-to-face but has the means to follow online classes (if the school accommodates this), then parent/guardian can request a deviation.

Requests to deviate from face-to-face instruction consist of grave illness of family members, off-island medical treatment, family/medical emergencies, death/funerals off-island, quarantine/isolation etc. This option is for extraordinary circumstances ONLY and is a temporary option being offered during the COVID-19 pandemic and will remain in effect from February 1, 2021, to June 30, 2021.

Parents/Guardians can request a deviation, to temporarily switch to online classes, by writing a letter of request to their childs school. This request must clearly explain the reason(s) for the deviation. The school will consult with its school board and the Division of Inspection ECYS before making a decision.

Once a decision is made, the school will communicate this to the parent/guardian. Kindly note that the requirements on the parents/guardians end may differ per school board as they are the competent authority in this matter.

Interventions

Compulsory education is in effect and all children ages 4-18 MUST be in school. Any student who is absent from school will be considered as Truant and the school is responsible for reporting truant cases to the Division of Inspection. This process is called an intervention. The Division of Inspection will attempt to make contact with the parent/guardian of the truant student.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Truancy Officers will not be conducting any home visits to locate truant students until further notice. All attempts to locate/contact parents guardians and students will be made via email and or phone call. All unreachable/unsuccessful cases that are considered extreme will be turned over to the Public Prosecutors office for further handling.

Office OperationThe Division of Inspection will not be receiving in-person requests at the office until further notice. All requests must be done electronically via the school. All responses are sent electronically to the school. In the event of emergency cases, appointments will be made.
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Head of medical team at Wellingara Community Clinic in the Kombo North has appealed to the Ministry of Health to support the clinic with either State Enrolled Nurses or Community Health Nurses and midwives as they plan to expand their operational hours.

They also called on organisations and individuals to support them in refurbishing the centre with roofing materials to be able to administer some critical services at the clinic.

"We are appealing to the Ministry of Health through the Regional Health Directorate to support the clinic with either SEN or CHN and midwives as we planned to expand our operational hours from 12 hours daily to 24/7. To do that our antenatal and postnatal care needs to be truly equipped with both human and materials resources." Dembo Njie, head of medical team at the clinic appealed.

"As we continue to race challenges like any other institution, we also wish to call on interested individuals or organisations to support us in replacing the entire roofing of the facility as we continue to take leakages during heavy downpour of rains. The current roofing has served more than 14 years."

Njie, however, acknowledged that the clinic solely administers and managed its annual drugs, pay staff salaries and running cost without any donor support.

"And of course we encourage people to support us so as to complement our efforts." he added.

Also speaking, Buba Dampha, clinic administrator, revealed that the goal of the clinic is to establish a health clinic that can improve health service delivery systems for the community of Wellingara and its cluster communities at affordable cost.
Felix Carroll lives in Housatonic. He can be reached at felixcarroll5@gmail.com .
(Natural News) During the Trump years, journalists told us that only an alert, adversarial press could save the country. Now? Everythings fine and we should just trust the government. Thats the gist of what CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King pushed on Tuesday. Talking to Republican Senator Bill Cassidy about the COVID relief bill, she suggested that Joe Biden probably knows best for us.

(Article by Scott Whitlock republished from NewsBusters.org)

After Cassidy talked about a difference on numbers and how much money needs to be spent, King, a Democratic donor who has vacationed with the Obamas, lectured:

Lets start with the numbers. Because Ive heard Team Biden says this, Listen, we didnt make these numbers up willy nilly. We went line by line. We want the moment to be met at this particular time. And that was the number they came up with to meet the need. Shouldnt they have a good starting point of a number? Isnt that a good idea? Go big, they say.

Oh, well, if Team Biden says it, we should probably just assume its the truth. The Senator responded with facts that were apparently uninteresting to King:

Lets just take schools. They want $135 billion with a B from K through 12. The CDC, the Center for Disease Control, has said you need about worst case scenario $455 per student to reopen schools. Congress already given over a thousand dollars per student, almost if you add it up, 2.5 times than the CDC says necessary. Now, we put 20 billion in our package increases further but you have to ask yourself if we are two to three or four times what the CDC says needed, why do you need $135 billion?

The co-host ignored this and responded by telling Cassidy about people who are hurting.

I know. But we could get bogged down with the numbers but I think the thing people keep on talking about is the need of the American people who are hurting at this time, who need the money right now. If we go with Republicans plan, well be back to where we started? So, why not start it now where people are in need at this particular time right now?

Co-host Anthony Mason spouted the same talking points and suggested that compromise was all about the Republicans caving: Well, Senator, I think a lot of families would say they are still struggling. Democrats have signaled they can put this bill through with or without Republicans votes. Do you see room for compromise here?

Later, King asked the Republican about the repellant actions and comments from freshman Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Mitch McConnell has condemned her conspiracy theories, something Cassidy concurred with, saying, I agree with him entirely. The co-host pretended she didnt even hear this and tried to tar the entire GOP with Green:

But Senator, a lot of senators are not saying what you and Mitch McConnell are saying out loud publicly. Do you think there needs to be people who are saying out loud, We got to stick to the facts? It seems many people are running for the hills instead of saying about her comment, this is outrageous. What should be done about that?

The outrageous Democratic propaganda on CBS This Morning was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. Click on the link to let the know what you think.

A transcript of the questions can be found below.

CBS This Morning 2/2/2021 8:07 AM ET GAYLE KING: Senator Bill Cassidy was one of the ten Republican lawmakers who met with President Biden yesterday. He joins us now this morning. Good morning, it is good to see you. I want to pick up of what Senator Collins said that the meeting was useful. It was two hours. So it seems like quite a bit of time. What was your take on the meeting? SENATOR BILL CASSIDY: Exactly that and I would add a little bit more. It sets the stage for going forward. We obviously have disagree in numbers and the president said, Okay well send you that which we are basing our numbers on. And the senators will send the administration the facts were basing our numbers on. Ideally, if we have a common set of facts, we come to a common perception of how much need there is and therefor how much to spend. KING: And lets start with the numbers. Because Ive heard Team Biden says this, Listen, we didnt make these numbers up willy nilly. We went line by line. We want the moment to be met at this particular time. And that was the number they came up with to meet the need. Shouldnt they have a good starting point of a number? Isnt that a good idea? Go big, they say. CASSIDY: It is a good idea but lets just take schools. They want $135 billion with a B from K through 12. The CDC, the Center for Disease Control, has said you need about worst case scenario $455 per student to reopen schools. Congress already given over a thousand dollars per student, almost if you add it up, 2.5 times than the CDC says necessary. Now, we put 20 billion in our package increases further but you have to ask yourself if we are two to three or four times what the CDC says needed, why do you need $135 billion? The President says hell give us the numbers. KING: I know. But we could get bogged down with the numbers but I think the thing people keep on talking about is the need of the American people who are hurting at this time, who need the money right now. If we go with Republicans plan, well be back to where we started? So, why not start it now where people are in need at this particular time right now?  MASON: Well, Senator, I think a lot of families would say they are still struggling. Democrats have signaled they can put this bill through with or without Republicans votes. Do you see room for compromise here?  MASON: Senator, I want to ask your remarks that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made calling out Freshman Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. He said, quote, Loony lies and conspiracy theories which are a cancer for the Republican Party and country. Thats what he called some of her remarks. What is your reaction to what he said? CASSIDY: I agree with him entirely.  KING: But Senator, a lot of senators are not saying what you and Mitch McConnell are saying out loud publicly. Do you think there needs to be people who are saying out loud, We got to stick to the facts? It seems many people are running for the hills instead of saying about her comment, this is outrageous. What should be done about that?  KING: All right. Hopefully you and others will speak up. Because the facts really do matter here. Thank you very much for your time this morning.

Read more at: NewsBusters.org and Journalism.news
(@FahadShabbir)

Seoul, Feb 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Feb, 2021 ) :The crew of a South Korean tanker seized by Iran are still on board the ship, Seoul said Thursday, despite Tehran announcing earlier this week it would release them in a humanitarian move.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the Hankuk Chemi and arrested its multinational crew of 20 sailors near the strategic Strait of Hormuz on January 4, saying it had polluted the waters.

The development came as Tehran urged Seoul to release billions of Dollars of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions.

On Tuesday, Iran's foreign ministry said the crew of the seized tanker had been granted permission to leave the country "in a humanitarian move", although it would retain the vessel and its captain.

South Korean reports say the partial release complicates the situation as the ship needs personnel present to maintain it.

All the crew members remained on board, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday, adding South Korean officials had been allowed to meet them Wednesday for the first time since the seizure.

"The foreign ministry is discussing with the tanker company on the disembarkation and return of the crew and will put all efforts to secure the release of the captain and the ship as early as possible," it said in a statement.

A representative at the tanker company DM Shipping said nothing was certain despite Tehran's announcement the crew would be released.

"Discussions for their return are still ongoing," he told AFP. "It hasn't been decided whether they will return 100 percent."The arrested crew were from South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Myanmar.
Sanitise Maun, a non profit organisation formed in March 2020 following the outbreak of the virus in Botswana, has acquired and donated Maun Rest Camp as an isolation facility to augment government efforts to fight the Covid19 scourge.

Escalating Covid19 positive cases has led to acute shortage of isolation centers across the country, which threatens to result in increasing deaths. The donation of the isolation facility follows another donation of 5000 litres of sanitizer which was distributed to the Ngamiland community last year by Sanitise Maun. The isolation center donated by Sanitise Maun currently has 93 beds for covid asymptomatic patients. Public Relations Officer for the team Anita Lindstorm said she is thankful for the support they were given by the community especially Joyve Bestelink, Mark Muller and Lodge Builders Botswana.

Ngamiland District Health Management Team (DHMT) is one of the departments affected by shortage of isolation centers, this has led to many people being quarantined at home and also not following the set protocols.

North West District Commissioner, Keolopile Leipego said the district has recorded 225 active cases and eleven deaths of COVID-19 on the 19 of January this year, he added by saying Maun cases were at 61 before the holidays and rose to 225 after the holidays.

Leipego said about 826 people are on home quarantine as health quarantine as health facilities are overwhelmed. Currently Maun only has four isolation centers, Matshwane, Letsholathebe, Maun General, Botswana Wildlife training Center and just recently Maun Rest camp. He said most of the people on home quarantine are those that are positive but not exhibiting any signs.

Cops are investigating reports a prominent horse trainer allegedly assaulted a mother and daughter.

Victorian racing identity Tony Vasil reportedly become involved in a confrontation with a 73-year-old woman last month.

He allegedly inappropriately touched the elderly woman at a hotel as she walked past him, which prompted her to slap him across the face, 2GB reported.

The alleged assault, which was captured on CCTV, came during the Magic Millions racing carnival on the Gold Coast.

CCTV at a Gold Coast venue reportedly captured the moment a prominent Victorian horse trainer allegedly assaulted a woman last month

Vasil then allegedly hit the woman and later punched her daughter in the face after she came to her mother's defence.

The 73-year-old was left suffering from cuts and bruising to her mouth.

A man was also allegedly attacked in the melee.

Victorian horse racing trainer Tony Vasil (pictured) was previously disqualified by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal over a doping scandal

Queensland Police said it was investigating after receiving a report of an alleged assault on the Gold Coast on January 16.

Vasil was one of Melbourne's top trainers, winning 12 Group One races and his stable included champion horses such as Elvstroem and Haradasun.

However, his training career soon unravelled, as he took a break due to a battle with depression and then received a lengthy ban from the sport as part of the 'Aquanita' scandal in which a number of top trainers were found guilty of using banned substances on their horses.

Cops said they are investigating reports of an alleged assault on the Gold Coast on January 16

Vasil successfully appealed against the length of the sentence, but his comeback was short-lived, and he has not been involved in training since 2019.

The one-time jockey and champion apprentice in 2014 opened up about his battle with depression and revealed how he was receiving treatment in Queensland.

He has had 756 career wins with his first coming in 1993 with Impudent Boy and has had wins at the Caulfield Cup, VRC Derby and Underwood Stakes in Victoria and Sydney's Doncaster Handicap.

Lifeline: 13 11 14
Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su arrives at work in Seoul's Seocho District, Thursday. / Yonhap



By Jun Ji-hye



Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su is facing suspicions of attempting to side with the ruling bloc and thus harm judicial independence, after a sitting judge claimed that Kim had stopped him from stepping down to allow the National Assembly to impeach him.



On Thursday morning, a lawyer for Lim Seong-geun, a senior judge of the Busan High Court, revealed a transcript of a recorded conversation between Kim and Lim during their meeting in May last year.



The revelation came hours before the Assembly put to vote a motion to impeach Lim for meddling in several politically sensitive trials presided over by junior judges during the previous administration of conservative President Park Geun-hye. The motion was passed during a plenary session later that day and marked the first impeachment of its kind.









Lim was one of several judges who had been brought to trial on charges of abusing judicial power to meddle in politically sensitive rulings. The Assembly is only authorized to impeach sitting judges, and Lim was one of several which the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) was seeking to impeach.



At the time of the meeting with Kim, Lim submitted his resignation, citing health problems after undergoing surgery, according to his lawyer.



In the transcript, Kim said, "I need to consider political situations and influences as well as legal aspects. As you know, the ruling party is pushing for impeachments (of you and other judges). Think about this, if I accept your resignation, what would the Assembly say to me?"





Judge Lim Seong-geun / Yonhap
If you ask Zac Zepeda how hes doing, he says, OK. He just got his COVID-19 vaccine, he adds.

At 72 and retired from USAA after 30 years, Zepeda can look back at a life well-lived. He attended San Antonio College, served in the military during the Vietnam War and graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

He has been married for 44 years, to the same woman, he jokes, and they have two adult children.

Zepeda is a survivor of sexual assault and abuse. He was 12, in seventh grade at a Catholic school, when it happened. His predator was a young, popular Catholic priest named Michael J. OSullivan.

The first incident was in 1961 in the sacristy of Blessed Sacrament Church on Oblate Drive, he said. A sacristy is the room behind or near the altar where priests prepare for service and don their vestments for Mass.

The abuse ended in 1962.

He was such a charming person, Zepeda said, recalling that many children chose confirmation names in his honor, Michael or variants of it.

So, when Zepeda says hes OK, its only in the context of all this  only in the way in which victims like him can say theyre OK, only in the way that such survivors manage to live, work and heal.

Two years ago, a tearful, sometimes angry Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller went before cameras and released a landmark list naming 54 credibly accused priests in cases dating back to 1941.

It was part of a national reckoning that came after decades of mostly newspaper reports of crimes and cover-ups that forced the Vatican to repent.

Since its list was released, along with a concurrent report by a commission that looked at the evidence and delivered damning conclusions, the Archdiocese of San Antonio has been mostly mum on the topic.

It has been hard to tell what it has done or continues to do to address these cases and others that likely surfaced after 2019, when some victims might have summoned the courage to report their priest abusers.

Dioceses statewide revealed nearly 300 perpetrators. San Antonios list was the longest.

It included 10 credible allegations against OSullivan, starting in 1962, when he was at Blessed Sacrament. He re-offended, was dismissed and ended up in a diocese in Georgia. He re-offended and returned to Ireland, where new allegations surfaced.

By 2006, 45 years after sexually assaulting and abusing Zepeda, actions were taken to remove OSullivan from the priesthood. He reportedly died in 2013.

Zepeda didnt know his abuser was in Ireland when he vacationed there that same year.

Today, hes the co-leader of SNAP San Antonio, a local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The archdiocese has responded to Zepeda in one way, legally. He says hes closing in on a settlement with the archdiocese that will pay for his continued counseling, which he says has done wonders for him.

No punitive damages are being sought, he said.

Surprisingly, Zepeda never left the church and serves as a deacon at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Helotes.

Hed rather not speak of the details of his abuse, only that OSullivan told him what happened was something special between us.

Zepeda told no one for decades.

He says hes disgusted with the archdioceses record since 2019. The list seems to have become static. I dont see a whole lot of movement from the archdiocese.

SNAP San Antonio feels the same.

Like other survivors, Zepeda had hoped the archdiocese, especially the archbishop, would have reached out and walked with survivors.

He tried to get in to see the archbishop, he said. But every effort has been short-stopped. It angers me, he said. Its why I got active in SNAP.

Zepeda says individual priests have shown compassion and have addressed centuries of misdoings. But I havent seen it from the top, he said.

Garcia-Siller did apologize to victims in 2019. He was contrite and moving.

But thats the thing about apologies. Sometimes, one isnt enough to mend a wound and get it to heal. Sometimes, one apology cant cover a crime so massive, a deceit so evil.

Zepeda, and other survivors Ive recently interviewed for this and another upcoming column, say its time for church leaders to re-atone and update its lists publicly.

The word repent offers some advice in its prefix. Re means again or back.

Its also a good time. Feb. 17 is Ash Wednesday, the start of weeks of penitence before the celebration of Easter.

eayala@express-news.net
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Imogen Anthony is a fan of a good tattoo.

But in the lead up to her 30th birthday celebrations, the blonde beauty struggled through the pain when she got even more ink.

Despite having a large collection of etchings all over her body, she squirmed as Sydney-based tattooist Ben O'Grady worked on her back on Wednesday.

Beauty is pain: Imogen Anthony is a fan of a good tattoo. But in the lead up to her 30th birthday celebrations, the blonde beauty struggled through the pain when she got even more ink

'F***ing Jesus Christ... I've never felt this before, this is a new feeling,' she is heard saying as Ben continued to weave his magic.

Imogen did not share which part of her body was being worked on, but she did share her pain when the needle kicked in, writing: 'This one is painful... Kill me.'

In July, the model showed off her intricate back tattoo.

While she didn't reveal much about the design in the caption, she said there was a hidden meaning behind it when she answered a fan's question in the comments.

Tatt's amazing! In July, the model showed off her intricate back tattoo

'Love your Tattoos, Can I ask if they have meaning. Hope it is ok to ask and not intruding,' the fan asked.

'It's okay, it's just a representation of the Universe, Golden Plaque from the Voyager (google search, pretty amazing) nature and animals, mother nature being destroyed, religion, aliens, all that kinda weird stuff,' she answered.

'Also about religion shooting down any ideas of other life in the Universe. I'm weird.'

'I'm weird' Imogen revealed the unique meaning behind her large tattoo in a comment on Instagram. The design features two angels with guns aiming at a complex design made up of lines and circles

In the photo of her new tattoo, Imogen was wearing a leather skirt without a top and had her brunette locks tied up.

The design features two angels with guns aiming at a complex design made up of lines and circles.

The tattoo was done by Mallory Hammond at Byron Temple Tattoo.
LANE COUNTY, Ore. -- The state has decided not to appeal a ruling by a federal judge that moves prisoners into Phase 1A of the vaccine rollout, ahead of older Oregonians and teachers.

A statement from Gov. Kate Browns office on Wednesday said the courts decision is clear.

The federal judge order mandates that state prison inmates be vaccinated immediately. The state will proceed to vaccinate nearly 13,000 inmates. They are now in the same priority tier as long-term care facilities and nursing homes.

Nearly 3,000 state prison inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 and 42 have died.

MORE: PORTLAND JUDGE MOVES PRISONERS BEFORE SENIORS, TEACHERS ON VACCINATION LIST

"I don't think it's right," Eugene resident Ron Ward said. "After health workers, it should be first come, first serve."

But others didn't agree with Ward.

"I think this is a great idea. State inmates, if someone is getting COVID in the prison system, they don't really have any way of quarantining or getting access to great health care," Dexter resident Mandi Robertson said.

Eugene resident Casey Voyles agreed.

"Prisons aren't meant to keep people separate so if we're going to throw people in cages and lock them up, I suppose we're sort of responsible for their health," Voyles said.

Oregon Department of Corrections Director Colette S. Peters released a statement on Wednesday saying: "This pandemic has been exceedingly difficult for those who live and work in our institutions, and we will continue to work hard to combat this virus. Operationally, we are prepared to offer and administer additional vaccines."

Governor Brown's office also said that this change is not expected to slow down the current timeline of vaccine distribution but it does depend on how many doses the state will receive from the federal government.
Linda Kelsey (pictured) argues Lily James doesn't deserve the brutality from social media trolls

YES

By Linda Kelsey

At 51, and old enough to be her father, actor Dominic West nuzzles the neck of beautiful Lily James, 31, at an alfresco restaurant in Rome, unaware that the paparazzi are on the prowl.

Ironically, the one who gets it in the neck  even months later, and in particular from women on social media  is James, while West gets off almost scot-free. At least as far as the trolls are concerned, though I doubt Wests wife failed to notice her husband was involved.

Lily James is a gorgeous, fancy-free, single woman. West is a supposedly committed married father of four. And yet its James  the minx, the siren, the marriage-wrecker  who should be boycotted, according to the Twitterati.

She shouldnt get work, no matter that she is a talented actress. But West, well, how could he resist?

How could he be expected to stave off such a seductress or remember his marriage vows or his lovely kids who might get hurt by his public dalliance? Men are such hopeless darlings when it comes to sex.

As a feminist, I have to acknowledge there is one area where support between women falls short. Because, when it comes down to it, women are in competition in finding and keeping a man.

Women were not only furious with James for seeming to want to steal another womans husband, but also jealous of her gall. Im sure I would have succumbed to a holiday romance if the devastatingly charismatic West were up for it.

That guilty knowledge of desiring a man off limits makes us feel bad, so we lash out at those who commit the crime by putting ourselves in the position of moral superiority.

The double standard takes my breath away

This has always been so, but social media has exacerbated it. It has become a cesspit of judgment. Its not only slut-shaming, its weight shame, looks shame, style shame at every opportunity.

I dont think these trolls empathised with Wests wife, but they were subconsciously panicking that their man could be prey to a sexual hussy.

The double standard takes my breath away. A man can be as much of a roue as he likes, and still get away with it, as long as he does that nauseating thing of wheeling out the wife for a photographic show of unconvincing solidarity.

Lily James was foolish and badly behaved, but she is no more complicit than West and doesnt deserve the brutality shes still receiving. From women especially.

Melanie McDonagh argues slut-shaming is another way of saying women are showing solidarity with the wife back home

NO

By Melanie McDonagh

Lily Jamess friends have rallied to defend her against online trolls who continue to call her a homewrecker for those photos taken with co-star Dominic West while filming in Rome.

The two say they are good friends and thats all there was to it, so Lily is no marriage-wrecker, just a bit indiscreet. I have to say, though, had I been Catherine FitzGerald, Wests wife, kicking my heels in Glin Castle, Co Limerick, with the children, and looking at pictures of my husband conspicuously close to his new friend on the back of a scooter in the Italian sun, Id have given him a pretty dusty reception on his return home.

There is, in the young feminists lexicon, no worse charge than that of slut-shaming  which Miss Jamess friends say is happening to her  for two reasons.

One is that a womans sex life is her own business; the other is that theres a double standard; while the woman is called bad names, a man isnt. Men are envied for promiscuity, women condemned for it.

Personally, Im an equal opportunity judgmentalist: if someone undermines a marriage or seems to, girl or boy, then theyre causing hurt and cant complain if people say so. Because, thats the point about adultery, and perceptions of adultery, isnt it? Not that someones having a good time, but that its causing pain to someone else.

She knew he was married, but they still flirted

So, yes, Lily James may be a free agent, but it is by no means unfair to criticise her behaviour, nor that of Mr West. She knew he was married, but they had a public flirtation anyway.

In the very different case of Prince Charles and Camilla, who admitted to an affair lasting years, they were both married and both culpable.

Their adultery had a devastating effect on an already fragile young woman  Diana was open about how much it hurt  and Andrew Parker Bowles was publicly humiliated. In that case, it was overwhelmingly women who rallied round Diana and had it in for Camilla. (And they were right, although Prince Charles must share the blame.)

Of course, most people will say that peoples private lives are their own business and who am I to judge?

In practice, women are often hard on other women who have affairs with married men. That is, I think, because women, certainly older women, have an idea of how devastating infidelity can be for a family.

Slut-shaming is one way of putting it; another is that its women showing solidarity with the wife back home.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Yes, Theyre Open is a web series highlighting local bars and restaurants that are open for takeout, delivery, pickup or dining during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Live streams from the featured restaurants are broadcast on the Advance Facebook page every weekday around 3 p.m.

On Wednesday, the Advance/SILive.com visited District Bar NYC at 2 Sneden Ave., which is open for pickup, delivery and outdoor dining from 1 to 10 p.m. daily. To contact the restaurant, visit DistrictBarNYC.com or call 718-984-3700.

YES, THEYRE OPEN: District Bar NYC in Annadale is open for pickup, delivery and outdoor dining at 2 Sneden Ave. Hours are 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily. To contact the restaurant, visit DistrictBarNYC.com or call 718-984-3700. Posted by Staten Island Advance on Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Staten Island restaurant owners: If you would like your establishment featured for free as part of Yes, Theyre Open, email reporter Victoria Priola at vpriola@siadvance.com.

WANT MORE YES, THEYRE OPEN?

Check out the listings below or check out all of our previous coverage here.

Pinos Pizzeria, 1026 Rossville Ave.

Sweets n Such Candy Shop, 71 New Dorp Plaza

Enzo & Tinos Bake Shop, 1949 Richmond Ave.

Lees Tavern, 60 Hancock St.

Towne Deli & Pizzeria, 5373 Arthur Kill Road

Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Heidi Grau, calls on TCG participants to resolve all questions on the way to the simultaneous opening of entry-exit crossing points on the contact line near Zolote and Shchastia in Luhansk region.

She made the following statement to the press after regular meetings of the TCG and its Working Groups.

The Humanitarian Working Group discussed the operational details of the future functioning of the entry-exit crossing points (EECPs) on the contact line near Zolote and Shchastia of the Luhansk region. Mindful of the interests of civilians in the conflict zone, I urge the participants of the TCG to take early action to resolve all open questions on the way to the simultaneous opening of these EECPs, she said.

According to Grau, during the Working Group's discussions, issues of the mutual release and exchange of conflict-related detainees were also duly considered.

Participants in the Security Working Group meeting discussed the conditions for carrying out repair and reconstruction works at the gas distribution station near the city of Marinka, including the possibility of assistance by the OSCE SMM in coordinating the necessary security guarantees and ensuring enhanced monitoring of the works, reads the report.

In addition, the general security situation in the conflict zone, the observance of the ceasefire regime and the effectiveness of the co-ordination mechanism for responding to its violations were discussed.

As reported by Ukrinform, Russian occupation forces continued to block road corridors opposite the Shchastia, Zolote, Hnutove, Mayorske and Marinka entry-exit checkpoints. The actual passage of citizens is allowed only through the Stanytsia Luhanska entry-exit checkpoint every day and through the Novotroitske checkpoint twice a week on Monday and Friday, when Russian militants unblock the traffic to the road corridor.

iy
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Honda reported it delivered 157,457 new vehicles in China last month, a 4.8% growth from a year ago. As of Jan. 2021, the Japanese automaker scored year-on-year delivery increase in the country for the seventh month in a row.



Photo credit: Honda



The monthly increase entirely flew from the sales leap made by Dongfeng Honda. The joint venture with Dongfeng Motor saw its deliveries jump 22.5% over the previous year to 90,136 units in January.

Dongfeng Honda had three models, namely the CR-V, the Civic and the XR-V, whose monthly deliveries all exceeded 10,000 units. Of those, the deliveries of the CR-V topped 20,000 units.



Breeze; photo credit: GAC Honda



With 67,321 vehicles delivered, GAC Honda posted a year-on-year decline of 12.2% in January. As for specific models, the respective deliveries of the Accord, the Vezel and the Breeze all surpassed 10,000 units.



GAC Honda will reportedly start producing the sister model of Dongfeng Honda's Civic at the end of 2021. In all likelihood, the new model will inherit the name Integra from a classic hatch Honda produced from 1980s.

Honda also said it delivered in China a total of 22,150 vehicles powered by its two-motor hybrid powertrain technology SPORT HYBRID last month.

The Japanese automaker achieved its highest-ever annual sales in China with 1,626,972 cars delivered, outselling Nissan by 170,234 units. Notably, the full-year deliveries of three modelsthe Accord, the CR-V and the Civicall surpassed 200,000 units.

Honda's 2021 sales target set for China business has not been announced yet.
A glimpse at Kansas City area seniors having trouble navigating online registration and signups for the vaxx that remains in short supply.

Read more . . .

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Despite the daily push for more people to sign up to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, at least 28,000 older adults in the Kansas City area are being left in the dark, according to the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC).
SEOUL/WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) The presidents of South Korea and the United States agreed on the urgent need for a comprehensive strategy toward North Korea in their phone call on Thursday.

It was the second call of Moon Jae-in and Joe Biden. The first one was held in mid-November, when the South Korean leader congratulated the then-US president-elect. The fresh call lasted slightly over 30 minutes. Moon congratulated Biden on his inauguration, and the latter promised to build on bilateral relationship, the South Korean presidential office said. The two also agreed that the South Korean-US alliance was "key" to maintaining peace in the region.

"President Moon Jae-in suggested that South Korea and the United States continue their joint efforts to achieve a lasting peace and the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization. President Biden appreciated efforts of South Korea as a major player in resolving the Korean Peninsula issue, said it was important to have the same position with South Korea and pledged to continue working closely for a common goal.

The sides agreed that it is necessary to work out a comprehensive policy on North Korea as soon as possible," Moon's spokesman Kang Min-seok told a briefing.

The leaders also noted the need to revive South Korea-Japan relations and continue US-Japan-South Korea cooperation for the sake of peace and prosperity in the region.

They agreed to continue close communication and hold top-level talks once the pandemic situation allows.

In the call's readout, the White House noted that Biden stressed "his commitment to strengthening the United States-ROK alliance," and "the two leaders agreed to closely coordinate on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."
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ROME, FEB 4 - Pope Francis said on the first International day of Human Fraternity Thursday that "today fraternity is the new frontier of humanity. "Either we are brothers or we destroy each other. "There is no time for indifference today. "We cannot wash our hands of it, with distance, with neglect, with disinterest. "Either we are brothers, allow me, or everything collapses. "It is the frontier. "The frontier on which we must build; it is the challenge of our century, it is the challenge of our times". Francis celebrated the International Day of Human Fraternity in a virtual event organized by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. The event was hosted in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and saw the participation of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, along with other international leaders. On the same occasion, the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, inspired by the Document on Human Fraternity, was awarded. Thursday's celebration was linked with the historic signing of the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, two years ago in Abu Dhabi. The signers of this document, Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, spent more than a year drafting it prior to signing it in Abu Dhabi, on 4 February 2019. It was the 800th anniversary of the meeting of St Francis with Sultan al-Malik al-Kamal in 1219. On Thursday the pope thanked Al-Tayyeb for his "courage and true fraternity". Francis said a world without brothers was a world of enemies. (ANSA).

Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

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Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

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Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

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There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

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Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

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Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

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Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

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"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

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Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

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Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Brain fog, also called chemo brain or cognitive decline, refers to problems with memory and attention following chemotherapy treatment for cancer. The American Academy of Neurology reports that chemo brain currently affects about 75% of cancer patients and, so far, there has been no clear evidence as to why. Now, researchers are investigating the cause of this debilitating side-effect.
Rituals Adds Car Perfumes to Their Fragrance Line

Fragrance News

The Rituals company, a luxurious home scents, personal fragrance and cosmetics brand that was founded in the Netherlands in 2000 and now operates more than 500 outlets worldwide (via), has continuously been launching new fragrances over the years (both personal and home scents), characterized by Eastern inspired aesthetics and applauded for their affordability. Their latest fragrant venture is perfume to scent your car, which was already offered in Europe, but now also is available through their US website.

According to the brand, "Life is a journey," and they advise to "enjoy the ride with these car perfumes based on beautiful fragrance compositions," promising 6-8 weeks of fragrance in your car that is activated by the air flow from your cars fan. The car perfume comes with a stylish wooden holder that can be reused when you purchase a perfume refill.

The new Rituals' car perfumes come in three scent profiles: Orris Mimosa, Oriental Vetiver (both under the Private Collection) and Cherry Blossom Rice Milk (under the Ritual of Sakura Collection). (Find other scent compositions for your car on Rituals' European website).



ORRIS MIMOSA

The fragrance composition comprises orris root and mimosa flowers, lifted by distinct leathery accents and gentle woody aspects. "Orris is a hugely precious ingredient which comes from the rhizomes of the Iris plant and takes three to four years to mature. Orris has a powerful floral, green and woody character that gives the fragrance a violet powdery connotation. Mimosa, also known as the symbol of spring, has a floral and green scent, with powdery and honey notes. The mimosa flowers are mainly cultivated in Morocco, Egypt, India and Southern France."

The Orris Mimosa fragrance is also offered in a scented candle and fragrance sticks.

ORIENTAL VETIVER



This composition offers an aromatic fragrance with spicy accents of cardamom, galbanum, pink blossoms, as well as woody vetiver and cedarwood. "The Vetiver grass species originates from India. The oil is distilled from the roots and has a characteristically sweet and earthy scent that comes into its own in perfumes. This 'oil of tranquility' has a balancing and overall calming effect."

The Oriental Vetiver fragrance is also offered in a scented candle and fragrance sticks.

LIFE IS A JOURNEY - CHERRY BLOSSOM & RICE MILK

Life Is A Journey brings the renewing scent of cherry blossom and rice milk. "Throughout Asia, rice is a symbol of abundance, happiness, and fertility. The fragile blossoms of the Sakura tree (Japanese cherry) are often described as spring snow by Japanese poets. For the Japanese, Cherry Blossom has symbolized the rebirth of nature and purity since ancient times. The delicate fragrance is wonderfully relaxing."

The Ritual of Sakura fragrance is also offered in scented candle, fragrance sticks, hand wash, hand balm, shower gel, shower oil, hair & body mist, body scrub, body cream, shampoo, and conditioner.



***

Rituals Car Perfumes are offered in the brand's stores (check availability on line) and through their website, priced at US $22 for 6 gr. of perfume.


Machakos  Police in Machakos on Tuesday impounded three country government vehicles on Maendeleo Chap Chap (MCC) party's campaign trail.

The vehicles had their county registered number plates switched to private number plates two on which are registered to private entities - Ana's Motos Limited and Ndove Builders and General Contractors Limited - according to records at the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

The third number plate was identified as the primary registration identity for Crane Combine harvester owned by Machakos County Government, according to a police report citing NTSA records.

The deployment of county assets to support MCC campaign activities for the March 18 senatorial by-election comes weeks after memo emerged instructing sub-county and ward-based administrator to support the party's candidate Mutua Katuku.

Katuku enjoys the backing of Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua who is the MCC Party Leader.

Katuku will be battling it out with a dozen other candidates who include United Democratic Alliance's Urbanus Muthama and Wiper Party's Kavindu Muthama, both frontrunners in the mini-poll.

The March 18 contest is seen as a three-horse race with Urbanus Muthama banking of Deputy President William Ruto's backing to defeat Kavindu Muthama who enjoys the backing of the region's de-factor kingpin, former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, and Mutua's MCC candidate.

Other contestants cleared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission are Ford Asili's Otto Edward Musembi Nthenge, Lily Nduku Nwanzia of Chama Cha Uzalendo (CCU), Stanley Masai Muindi (Party of Economic Democracy), Muungano Party's John Musingi, Simeon Kioko Kitheka of Grand Dream Development Party, Francis Munyambu Musembi (Independent), Nthamba Sebastian Nzau (Independent) and Johnathan Makenzi Maweu (Independent).

CCU's Nwanzia has since withdrawn her candidature citing campaign funding hitches.
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CLEVELAND, Ohio  Former Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton confirmed Thursday that she is considering running for U.S. Senate and will leave her job at the nonprofit Columbus foundation as she mulls a bid.

Acton, a Democrat, became a household name as one of the faces of Ohios early response to the coronavirus pandemic. She joined the nonprofit after leaving ODH in June.

Since her exit, her possible political future has been a frequent topic of discussion in Democratic circles. Her Thursday statement is the first public confirmation of her interest in the seat currently occupied by Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican who announced he would not seek re-election.

Many Ohioans have shared with me their concerns and the daily challenges they face, Acton said. They have expressed a need for a new approach that can help them, and their communities thrive. I am humbled by the outpouring of interest and support. For that reason, I am stepping down from my role at The Columbus Foundation in order to carefully consider how I can best be of service at this crucial time.

Whatever my decision, I know with absolute certainty I wont stop working to provide healing and hope to all Ohioans, she continued.

Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, named Acton as his nominee to head ODH in February 2019. She was thrust into the spotlight in 2020 as the face of Ohios initially successful response in combating coronavirus, becoming a mainstay during the governors coronavirus briefings, bolstered by her blunt assessment of the pandemic and ability to deliver complex information into laymans terms with a warm approach.

Her popularity exploded with the public, including high approval ratings and an organic following on social media  despite not posting anything herself. The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame made a commemorative bobblehead for her and little girls  home from school because of the pandemic  dressed like her for briefings and sent her cards with well wishes and homemade artwork.

But she also became a target for conservatives, who blamed her for what they described as measures that were too restrictive in combating the virus. Armed protesters showed up outside her house and the Republican-controlled legislature passed legislation  vetoed by DeWine  to strip her of her ability to issue public health orders.

Following DeWines decision to ease public health restrictions, Acton resigned in June, though stayed on as DeWines chief health adviser before taking a job with the Columbus Foundation, continuing to counsel DeWine informally. Coronavirus cases in the state skyrocketed after she left.

Since then, Acton has kept a fairly low profile, rarely granting interviews.

But behind the scenes  even before Portmans announcement  Democrats have discussed with her the possibility of running for Senate. Republicans are still favored in the race  regardless of who the nominee ends up being  but some Democrats are much more bullish on capturing an elusive statewide seat in an open contest.

I have spoken to her, said Sen. Sherrod Brown, the lone Democrat elected to a partisan statewide office. I have encouraged her to think seriously about this race. Shes been thinking about it for a couple of months. I dont have any plans to endorse in the primary. I know that (Ohio House Minority Leader) Emilia Sykes is thinking about it. I know that Tim Ryans thinking about it. I know Amy Action is thinking about it. There will probably be others and the primary will be pretty wide open. I think she would make a very good candidate.

DeWine declined to comment when asked about Actons potential candidacy.

Im going to stay out of Democratic primaries, he said.

Acton would be a first-time candidate should she decide to run. Thus far, nobody has declared on the Democratic side, though multiple candidates have said they are interested, with Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles reportedly planning to enter before March. Numerous Republican candidates are also exploring their options in what could become a crowded primary field on both sides.

Many described her as a John Glenn type  someone viewed by the public as a hero that can rally the public through grassroots support. Glenn, an astronaut and famed public figure, served four terms in the Senate.

Part of her attraction as a possible candidate is her background. Acton was raised in Youngstown in a family marred by abuse  including a stint where she was homeless  rising to become not only a doctor, but arguably one of the most well known public health professionals in the country. A mother of six, many also viewed her as having the ability to connect with women voters, particularly in the suburbs.

Her nationwide name recognition may be able to attract national donors, who have abandoned the state after several rough election cycles for statewide Democrats. Several compared her candidacy to that of Raphael Warnock, a Georgia minister and first-time candidate who was able to win an upset bid for Senate.
Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma took to Twitter to wish Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar on her birthday. While wishing Urmila, RGV called her the "mostest beautifulest" and "Rangeelaistest" woman of all time. Director Varma was actually referring to his movies Rangeela and Satya, both of which starred Urmila in lead roles. The movies were both commercially and critically successful. The two films are counted amongst the best movies created by RGV, who has a career of over three decades in filmmaking.

Many happy returns to @UrmilaMatondkar the mostest beautifulest RANGEELAistest woman of ALL TIME .. and what I am saying now is the trueyestest SATYA  pic.twitter.com/ScASF2IKwj  Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) February 4, 2021

Varma has collaborated with Urmila on several projects. The two did movies together back-to-back at one point. Urmila was referred to as the Rangeela girl after the huge success of the movie, which was released in 1995. The actress worked on more than 10 films with Varma. She received recognition for the crime drama Satya as well which was released in 1998.

Urmila won the Critics' Award for Best Actress at the 2003 Filmfare Awards for the 2003 super hit film Bhoot, which was also directed by Varma. She starred opposite Ajay Devgn in the horror drama, where Urmilas character gets possessed by a spirit. Critics praised Urmilas performance in the movie. A sequel to this film was also made by the director in 2012.

The actress, who ruled the silver screen, is not active in the film industry anymore. Her last lead role in a movie was in the 2008 film EMI starring her longtime co-star Sanjay Dutt. She last appeared on the silver screen in a song in the 2018 film Blackmail. The actress married businessman Mohsin Akhtar Mir in 2016.

She joined the Indian National Congress in March 2019, right before the General Elections 2019, however, her stay in the party lasted only for a few months. Citing internal politics, she resigned from the Congress party in September 2019. In December 2020, Urmila joined Shiv Sena and has been a member of the party since then.

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 Close Trump: Biden is lying or 'mentally gone on vaccines

Joe Biden said the world can't return to a Cold War with Russia and China and must seek ways to cooperate on global challenges like the Covid pandemic even as the two countries pose security risks to the western alliance.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Biden reaffirmed his commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization while apologizing to European leaders for the last four years under Donald Trump.

That apology came with the Biden administration returning the US to the Paris climate accord, another reversal of Trump-era policies of the past four years.

The focus on foreign policy came as the Biden administration continued to face domestic crises in its first weeks, including unprecedented winter weather that delayed 6 million doses of Covid vaccine.

While Biden toured the Pfizer vaccine manufacturing plant in Michigan, Republican senator Ted Cruz stayed out of the spotlight after coming under intense scrutiny for fleeing Texas for the warmer climes of Cancun.

Congress continued going through its motions, with Democrat Joe Manchin announcing his opposition to the nomination of Neera Tanden to lead the Office of Management & Budget, Neera Tanden.

The White House has refused to withdraw her nomination, hoping instead to convince Republicans to confirm her post.

Trump himself, meanwhile, did things that were terrible when contradicted on the coronavirus pandemic, Dr Anthony Fauci has said in an interview.

Fauci said Trump entirely lost interest in tackling Covid-19 as it became clear he had lost Novembers presidential election.
New Delhi: India provided 56 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines under grants assistance to a number of countries while 100 lakh doses were sent under commercial supplies, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said Indian vaccines are scheduled to reach the Caribbean countries, Pacific Island states, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Mongolia, in the coming weeks.

"We have so far supplied vaccines to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Brazil, Morocco, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Algeria, Kuwait and South Africa," he said at a media briefing.

"Supplies made under grant amount to 56 lakh doses and commercial supplies amount to over 100 lakh doses," he added.

Srivastava said external supplies of vaccines are an ongoing process, depending on availability and domestic requirements.

"In the coming weeks, Indian vaccines are scheduled to reach CARICOM countries (the Caribbean), Pacific Island States, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Mongolia etc," he said.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is a grouping of 20 island nations which are home to approximately 16 million people.

In a major announcement, India on January 19 said it will send COVID-19 vaccines under grant assistance to several countries, including Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius.

India is one of the world's biggest drugmakers, and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring the coronavirus vaccines.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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The Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday sentenced housewife Linna Muro (44) to 30 years imprisonment for trafficking in 43.95 grammes of Heroin, which are narcotic drugs.

Senior Resident Magistrate Augustino Mbando imposed the sentence after being convinced on one count; the woman trafficked in the narcotic drugs.

The magistrate took into consideration the evidence tendered by both parties, that is, the prosecution led by Adolf Lema and defence under Advocate Nehema Nkoko. She ruled that the prosecution, through the evidence tendered by seven witnesses, sufficiently proved the case beyond reasonable doubt at a required criminal case.

"I have taken into consideration the evidence tendered by both parties. The prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and I hereby convict the accused persons as charged," she declared.

Before sentencing the housewife, the prosecution requested the court to punish the convict severely considering the seriousness of the offence committed and the nature of effects caused by such drugs. On the other hand, the defence counsel sought for the court's mercy, considering that his client has a small child and other relatives, who all depend on her.

During the trial, the prosecution had told the court that on January 26, 2018 at Tabata Bima-NSSF House within Ilala District, the accused person was found trafficking in Heroin, which are narcotic drugs weighing 43.95 grammes.

Meanwhile, the same court ordered two other people to remain behind bars for 20 years each for damaging telecommunication cables and causing occasioning loss of over 25m/- to the Tanzania Telecommunication Limited (TTCL).

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The magistrate imposed the sentence after convicting Rogers Festo (29) and Shafii Nampembe (43) of two counts of damaging property used purposes of providing necessary services and occasioning loss to a specified authority.

She ruled that the evidence tendered by four prosecution witnesses proved the case against the two convicts, who are Welder and Mason, respectively, beyond reasonable doubt at a required standard as per the law.

The prosecution had told the court that on September 18, 2018 at Mbezi Beach in Kinondoni District, the convicts cut telecommunication cables, the properties of TTCL, used for providing necessary services.

It was alleged that on the same date and place in the city, by their willful conducts, the two convicts caused the TTCL to suffer pecuniary loss of 25,027,875/- by damaging the cables in question.

Slauson and Co. Launches Inaugural Fund for Untapped, Innovative Founders

Slauson & Co., a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm driven by intentional inclusion announced the launch of its early-stage venture capital fund. The firm has received backing from PayPal, which recently made a big commitment toward racial equity. Ashton Kutcher, will.i.am, True Capital Management and Alpaca VC are also early supporters, along with veteran technology investor Ron Conway who will advise Slausons founding partners.

Led by Austin Clements and Ajay Relan, Slauson & Co. is rooted in its mission of economic empowerment and inclusion. The firm will primarily invest in and guide founders from underrepresented backgrounds building a new generation of technology and tech-enabled companies whose values are aligned with the customers they serve. Named after the prominent thoroughfare in South Los Angeles, Slauson & Co. serves as an access point to the traditional venture and tech ecosystems for the founders that it backs with the goal of providing mutual value. The firm has cultivated a diverse network of mission aligned investors, founders, operators, and executives committed to embarking on its journey of fostering sustainable equity and inclusion.

Democratizing access to entrepreneurship through the deployment of intentional capital is our approach to helping close the rapidly increasing wealth gap in this country, said Ajay Relan, partner at Slauson & Co. Marginalized communities  including women and people of color  have been left out of boom cycles for decades. There is a clear disparity in the venture capital industry and its time to recirculate our efforts and begin leveling the playing field for these talented entrepreneurs.

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Relan, who was previously a founding partner at Queensbridge Venture Partners, is an architect of community through his multi-business portfolio. His most recent collaboration, Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen, has become a staple, facilitating productivity and collaboration in diverse L.A. neighborhoods.

Were tapping into communities with tremendous talent that simply havent been given the opportunity and playbook to thrive, said Austin Clements, partner at Slauson & Co. Were here to compete at the highest level and demonstrate that investing in underrepresented founders provides a competitive advantage. Its not as though were suggesting well catch the best fish by only focusing on one corner of the pond. What we are saying is, forget the pond, lets spend time in this massive lake where hardly anyone is fishing.

Clements, a former principal at TenOneTen Ventures, is a champion of inclusion in the L.A. tech ecosystem, leading organizations such as PledgeLA, a city-wide initiative that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in Tech. In addition, he has led the expansion of Grid110, a nonprofit startup accelerator.

Ive dedicated my entire career to supporting founders from the earliest stages and have repeatedly seen how impactful the right guidance and access to capital can change the trajectory of a company, said Ron Conway, founder and co-managing partner at SV Angel. Im excited to support Austin and Ajays focused efforts in providing systemic change in the form of access and hands-on guidance to a truly diverse group of founders, particularly those whose ideas directly contribute to improving their communities.

Conway has been instrumental in helping the duo bring Slauson & Co.s vision to fruition. Through his legendary track record at SV Angel, where he continues to be an integral investor in some of the most innovative companies coming out of Silicon Valley over the past few decades, Conways guidance has helped the Slauson team establish a strong foundation for its first fund.
The MPs appealed to Amit Shah for urgent central government intervention to restore law and order so as to also ensure a free and fair panchayat poll in the state.  PTI

Vijayawada: A team of Telugu Desam MPs has complained to Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday about the ongoing 'attacks and atrocities' from ruling YSRC ministers, MLAs and leaders in Andhra Pradesh. These are done with utter disrespect to all the constitutional systems and institutions, they have complained.

The MPs appealed to Amit Shah for urgent central government intervention to restore law and order so as to also ensure a free and fair panchayat poll in the state.

They said that there were non-stop attacks on a constitutional institution like the AP State Election Commission and false cases were being filed against the Opposition leaders and the contesting candidates.

Briefing the media, MPs Galla Jayadev and Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar said that they explained to the home minister how the YSRC was unleashing attacks on women, the media, judges, weaker sections, Opposition leaders, temples and now on the (rival) candidates in the panchayat elections.

They said the YSRC leaders were resorting to kidnappings and killings in order to prevent rival candidates from filing nominations for polls.  Amit Shah has assured us he would look into the memorandum we have submitted to him and take suitable action.

Stating that all the four pillars of democracy were under severe attack in AP, the TD MPs told the Union Minister that Chief Minister Jagan was himself misrepresenting facts in order to divert the attention of the public.

The new US administration is concerned by the treatment of student protesters in Turkey and condemns the anti-LGBT rhetoric sparked by the ongoing demonstrations, the State Department said on Wednesday.

Students at Istanbuls Bogazici University have been protesting since last month, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed a loyalist with links to his ruling Justice and Development Party to serve as the prestigious universitys rector. The clashes with police escalated last week after protesters hung a poster on the campus that depicted the holy Kaaba building in Mecca with rainbow flags.

Two students were arrested in connection with the LGBT-themed artwork and another two were placed under house arrest. Turkish authorities have arrested more than 300 people for their participation in the rallies.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu blasted the ongoing protests on Tuesday, tweeting that LGBT perverts had disrespected Islam. Twitter later added a warning label to the tweet for violating the companys rules on hateful conduct.

Earlier this week, Erdogan accused LGBT youth of committing acts of vandalism. On Wednesday he likened the student protesters to terrorists and said there is no such thing as LGBT.

The United States strongly condemns the anti-LGBTQI rhetoric surrounding the demonstrations, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Wednesday.

Freedom of expression, even speech that some may find uncomfortable, is a critical component of a vibrant, functioning democracy that must be protected, Price said.

His comments follow a phone call between top Erdogan adviser Ibrahim Kalin and President Joe Bidens national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, on Tuesday in the first official communication between the two governments since Biden took office. The White House said Sullivan and Kalin discussed strengthening US-Turkey relations and managing disagreements effectively.

Ties between the NATO allies are strained over Turkeys multi-billion-dollar acquisition of Russias S-400 missile defense system, which triggered limited sanctions in December. During his confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to Ankara as a so-called strategic ally and said the Biden administration would review whether more sanctions were needed over its S-400 purchase.

Biden and Blinken have spoken with a number of foreign leaders since the inauguration last month but have not held phone calls with their Turkish counterparts.

Abuja, Ilorin, Port Harcourt  There is widespread unease within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the speculated ambition of former president Goodluck Jonathan in the 2023 presidential election.

The debate about the Jonathan presidency resurfaced yesterday when former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, lampooned APC governors for allegedly lobbying Jonathan to return after demarketing him in 2015.

But the chairman of APC caretaker committee and governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, refuted the claim that the governing party is seeking to field Jonathan as it presidential candidate in 2023.

This is even as former acting national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, maintained vehemently that no amount of pressure will make Jonathan to join APC.

Although Jonathan had last year described talks of his nursing an ambition in 2023 as being too early, speculations about his political future became a national discourse after some APC governors led by Buni paid the former president a visit at his Abuja residence.

The visit had led to exchange of brickbats between the two major parties.

But while speaking on a TV programme yesterday, Lamido alleged that the APC governors want Jonathan back to power in 2023.

Responding to a question about the former president, Lamido said that the people who want Jonathan back are the APC governors.

"They want to tarnish his image," the former governor said while featuring in the Arise TV programme yesterday.

He stated: "These were the same people who were Jonathan is this Jonathan is that. They branded him different sorts of names, said things against him but now they want him back. Is it because Buhari failed them or how? This is hypocrisy.

"Jonathan is a humble person who can listen to Nigerians, yet they vilified him as a bad leader and then defeated him so no need."

Lamido however said Jonathan will contest for the office of president in 2023 if Nigerians decide to go for quality.

He said: "If we are going for zoning - to me, I'm prepared for it because if it can give us the kind of leadership we need no problem. However, if Nigerians feel we have now grown up to go for quality then it means it can be anybody from anywhere in the country and then in so doing I may offer myself among others from part of the country.

"The party will pick the best of their own candidates. So, if PDP finds me worthy as their flag bearer of course I will but if there is somebody else they are thinking of, of course I will support because by nature I'm a party man and I do not look at my personal interest. So if the zoning system continues I will abide by it but if we now feel that we have mature to go for quality, I will contest".

But reacting to the allegation of APC wooing Jonathan to run on the party's platform, APC caretaker committee chairman, Buni, said a few people created such a story which had no real meaning.

Buni while speaking with BBC Hausa service said, "There is no question of Jonathan's involvement in the situation. Maybe those who are making such statements have fear in their hearts.

"Even if one wants to prove the point of the visit we made to him during his birthday celebrations, we had gone as a former Nigerian president, so our visit has nothing to do with politics."

"Does he indicate that he will run for office or that we will not co-opt him? As politicians, we go to rallies to congratulate him. Our visit to him was very interesting because he is a former president, but why? Since we are visiting other people, why don't I talk to them?"

However, former acting national chairman of PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, said no amount of pressure from any quarters will compel Jonathan to join APC.

This is even as he said the PDP will emerge stronger from the crisis currently rocking it and spring surprises in the 2023 general election.

Baraje who turned 70 yesterday described the visit of some serving APC governors to Jonathan to allegedly woo him to contest the 2023 presidential elections under APC platform as a huge joke.

He noted that Jonathan would never be taken in by the political antics of the governors who visited him under the guise of felicitating with him during his last birthday anniversary.

The PDP stalwart added that the governors' visit was not a threat to the PDP as a political party.

Baraje spoke with journalists Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, after a prayer session marking his 70th year's birthday.

Former Senate president, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, was among the dignitaries that attended the prayer.

On the crisis rocking the PDP nationwide, Baraje expressed optimism that the party would come out of the crisis stronger and spring surprises in the 2023 polls.

Next President Will Spend Entire Tenure Fixing Rot Created By APC - Wike

Meanwhile, Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has said the next president of the country will spend his tenure fixing the ethnic, religious and socio-economic problems created by the APC.

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He noted that since the APC administration assumed office in 2015, religious intolerance and ethnic division have deepened.

Wike spoke yesterday at Government House, Port Harcourt, during the official presentation of a letter of nomination to him for the "2020 Extra Ordinary Personality of the Year Award" by the management of Silverbird Group.

The governor stated that despite the glaring insecurity, religious and ethnic division in the country, officials of the federal government have continued to deny that Nigeria is now more united and secure than ever.

Wike expressed appreciation on behalf of the government and people of the state to the management of Silverbird for the recognition.

He however said it was disturbing that the Nigerian media has failed in its responsibility to hold the present administration accountable for failure to provide much desired good governance.

The governor said, "The problem in Nigeria which I have always said is that the press, the media is part of our headache. The media have lost their voice. I remember when Goodluck Jonathan was the president; it was as if the media wanted to pull down the whole of Nigeria."
Squabbling over the colour of the ink used on post-Brexit customs forms is one of the many problems slowing down UK exports to Europe, a Scottish trade body warned today.

Trade chiefs said UK exporters are facing a 'whack-a-mole' situation where as soon as one issue is resolved 'another two crop up at the same time'.

Scotland Food and Drink chief executive James Withers told MSPs the sector has faced approximately 1million in lost sales every day during 'an absolutely dreadful first few weeks of trading in this post-Brexit world'.

He said that among the 'catalogue of problems that have just been racking up day by day' since the new trade deal with the EU kicked in on January 1 is an 'ongoing debate about whether forms should be filled in in red ink or blue ink'.

Post-Brexit paperwork and new customs checks have been blamed for disruption at UK borders. The finishing industry has been one of the worst affected

Industry bosses warned throughout January of exporters facing disruption at the border because of new paperwork requirements and checks, with the fishing industry particularly badly affected.

Giving evidence to Holyrood's Europe Committee, Mr Withers explained: 'You think you get the right colour of ink and you're told that the signature needs to be in a different colour to the colour that the letterhead is on.

'Part of the challenge here  particularly the other side of the channel  is you've got a lot of young, inexperienced customs agents.

'You can get a view on colour on one particular day, but then the shift changes the next day in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais or Dunkirk, and you get a different kind of interpretation.

'It's extremely difficult for businesses to plan and that's why this hasn't just been an issue for small businesses; even big multinational companies who have got export departments, who have got export paperwork in their DNA because they sell into North America and China, have found the system's fallen down and loads are getting held up.'

Mr Withers also cited IT system failures affecting the UK and French governments, and warned that the situation was likely to get worse before it gets better.

He added: 'The problems are multiple and at no one point, so it's very difficult to target the solution very quickly at one thing.

'It's like whack-a-mole: a problem crops up, you hit it on the head and fix it and then another two crop up at the same time.'

Meanwhile, Charlie Adam, vice president of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) in Scotland, revealed exports of meat are currently down to 25 per cent of the normal volume.

Discussing the possibility of the sector returning to levels of business seen before Brexit and the pandemic, he said: 'I'm hearing that that is something that may never happen because for some of the smaller producers, they simply mean give up trying or they may lose their markets.

'I think it's important to emphasise all this that whereas we may be told that these are teething troubles, or that they're down to Covid-19, it is simply is not the case.

'This is about serious structural issues and problems that need to be addressed. I would also say that it's about urgency.

'The UK Government are saying that "you know these things will be addressed and there are changes due to come in April", but that's too late.

'If people have lost that business in the meantime, they may not get it back  people will go to other suppliers and once you lose that business is very hard to get it back.'
Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was present at the programme along with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, had also taken ill

Diphu: As many as 145 people were hospitalised due to suspected food poisoning in Assam's Karbi Anglong district after having biryani at a government function attended by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, prompting the authorities to order an inquiry on Wednesday, officials said.

Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was also present at the programme held in the Diphu Medical College on Tuesday, said he had fallen ill after having the food but he is fine now.

Sonowal inaugurated the academic session of the MBBS course at the medical college and around 8,000 people who attended it were served packed biryani.

The health minister said at a press conference in Guwahati that 145 people were admitted to hospital since Tuesday night and 28 of them were discharged. He said that 117 people are still under treatment and they are all doing fine.

Sarma said that he also had food from the "same kitchen and no doubt, I too suffered from stomach upset but am fine now".

Karbi Anglong Deputy Commissioner NG Chandra Dhwaja Singha said that a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the circumstances leading to the incident.

One person who attended the event died at a hospital on Tuesday night but it was yet to be ascertained whether food poisoning was the cause of his death, he said. Food samples were collected and sent for testing. Those who were admitted to the hospital complained of abdominal pain and vomiting.

Imperial Valley News Center

Commerce Bank Branch Manager Sentenced to Nearly 3 Years in Federal Prison for Stealing Over $1 Million from Customer with Dementia

Los Angeles, California - A former Comerica bank branch manager was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for stealing more than $1 million from an elderly customer with dementia, and then using it for her own personal benefit, including to finance her gambling.

Marie Fulle, 38, of Newport Beach, was sentenced via videoconference by United States District Judge Virginia A. Phillips, who also ordered her to pay $1,091,230 in restitution. Fulle pleaded guilty in September 2019 to two counts of bank fraud.

While she was a branch manager of a Comerica bank in Tustin, Fulle cultivated an exclusive banking relationship with an elderly customer with dementia from February 2013 to April 2014. During this period, Fulle opened various bank accounts with the victim and used those accounts to create a confusing web in which she could hide unauthorized transfers, according to the plea agreement, in which Fulle also admits she fraudulently obtained funds by cashing cashiers checks drawn on the victims accounts.

Between February 2013 and May 2013, Fulle embezzled approximately $43,400 over the course of six transactions. In its sentencing memorandum, the government argued that Fulle lost an anticipated promotion at work in May 2013 and thereafter began embezzling larger amounts of the victims money, unilaterally changing the address for one of the victims accounts, which prevented the bank statements from being delivered to the victim and his bookkeeper. Fulle also conducted much of the victims banking activities in private, one-on-one meetings, away from the view of other bank personnel or security cameras.

In addition to gambling trips to Las Vegas, during the course of the scheme Fulle treated herself to Tiffany jewelry, at least one Louis Vuitton bag, fancy dinners and spa days for herself and her then-boyfriend, prosecutors said in court documents.

Comerica fired Fulle in April 2014 for embezzling money from her cash drawer. When Comerica subsequently discovered the fraud Fulle committed against the victim, it reimbursed the victim nearly $1.3 million for disputed transactions that Fulle processed, lost interest and attorneys fees. The total loss that Fulle caused to the victim was $1,057,230. The restitution amount includes the victims attorneys fees.

This matter was investigated by the FBI.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kimberly D. Jaimez of the Major Frauds Section.
Nakuru  Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) politics took the centre state at the burial ceremony of musician Mighty Salim in Subukia Sub-County of Nakuru County where Governor Lee Kinyanjui tore into Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria accusing him on inciting masses against the government.

Kinyanjui accused Kuria of unfairly condemning President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration at burial ceremonies instead of using his position as a parliamentarian to champion for reforms through legislation.

Kuria had accused the Jubilee administration of neglecting musicians and leaving them to wallow in poverty and depression.

He asked mourners to reject BBI law review because it was a government project aimed at creating positions for certain leaders.

Kuria said he was opposed to the proposed law in its totality.

The MP went further to claim that Itare mega dam construction in Kuresoi was shot down as a ploy to fight Deputy President William Ruto with the residents suffering the collateral damage.

Kuria promised musicians that there will be better policies to develop them once Ruto wins power in 2022.

Governor Kinyajui however rebuked Kuria saying it was wrong to incite musicians against the government yet he was in a position to influence budget allocations and initiate kitties for musicians and other artists.

He said laws and budgets are made in parliament and not at burials.

Kinyanjui challenged Kuria to resign from parliament instead of continuing to earn tax payers money while promising to only work only after the current regime is out.

On Itare dam, the Governor said investigations into the alleged corruption had been completed and the process for the construction was underway.

He urged residents to wait for the BBI report to go the procedure of County Assemblies and Parliament so they can be educated on it.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines are a realityand now we face the logistical and medical complications of inoculating a vast population while infection rages and the virus mutates. We asked Yale SOM's Dr. Howard Forman, a public authority on the pandemic, for an update.

What policy changes do we need to make sure that vaccines reach as many people as possible?

Through all legal means (including the Defense Production Act), we need to ramp up production of vaccines and the tools to distribute and administer them. It would be hard to overstate how much earlier vaccination can help reduce deaths, hospitalizations, and further mutations. We need to make certain that our distribution abides by principles of health equity: states and municipalities should be judged on these measures. We must invest in vaccine acceptance. That acceptance goes down when low-wage workers are sacrificing income to get a vaccine, so we must provide federally subsidized time off for them.

How do the virus variants and the vaccine results from Novavax and Johnson & Johnson change the picture?

Both of these trials were the first to include populations affected by the novel variants (UK, South Africa, Brazil) that appear to be more infectious. This may account for some of the reduced "efficacy" measured. But in both cases, the vaccines ultimately helped avoid hospitalizations and deathand that is, ultimately, the most important metric of success, in my opinion.

Are we on track to return to work and school this fall and avoid another winter wave?

We have a lot of work to do between now and the fall. If we can get everyone vaccinated, get final approval from the FDA for existing vaccines, and mitigate spread, we can reduce further mutations. If we can avoid allowing for true vaccine evasion by new mutations, we can enter the fall in a very strong position. We will still likely need booster shots, but the mRNA platform companies (Moderna and Pfizer) can rapidly develop and produce them, assuming that the FDA is accommodating in its regulatory policy. A lot still must be determined, but I am not losing hope.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
NEW DELHI : Various government departments owe divestment-bound Air India Ltd nearly 500 crore towards VVIP charter flights at a time the national carrier is struggling financially.

Civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that the governments total dues on account of airfares for VVIP flights stood at 498.17 crore at the end of 31 December.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

Usually, the credit period for government of India departments varies from 15 to 30 days from the receipt of invoice and no interest is paid to Air India in case of non-payment within the credit period," Puri said in the upper house of the parliament.

Air India has just borrowed 225 crore through a short-term loan facility from domestic lenders to refinance an earlier loan.

The total debt of Air India was 38,366.39 crore, according to the provisional figures for 2019-20. This was after an amount of 22,064 crore was transferred from the airline to a special purpose vehicle (SPV) Air India Assets Holding Ltd during 2019-20.

As of 31 March, 2020, the total net fixed assets of Air India stood at 45,863.27 crore, including land and buildings, aircraft fleet and engines, other fixed assets, right-of-use assets and intangible assets.

The enterprise value set for bidding has not been determined so far," Puri added.

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(Natural News) Harvard University astronomer Abraham Loeb has reiterated that the mysterious space object known as Oumuamua is alien technology.

In the past, Loeb has racked up a collection of compelling evidence to back up his claim, including Oumuamuas unusual shape and extreme brightness. Now, he has found fresh proof that perfectly illustrates why Oumuamua is not just a space rock.

In an interview last week, Loeb compared Oumuamua to a near-Earth object (NEO) called 2020 SO. This NEO was pushed through space by sunlight, much like Oumuamua. It was also initially thought to be an asteroid. But the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) later confirmed that 2020 SO was a rocket booster from its failed 1966 Surveyor 2 mission to the moon.

The rocket booster thought to be an asteroid

Discovered in August of 2020, SO barreled toward Earth and was predicted to become a minimoon for six months. But NASA scientists later suspected that 2020 SO was an old rocket booster because it was orbiting the sun in the same path as Earths  nearly circular, in the same plane and only slightly farther away from the sun at its farthest point.

The object also slightly accelerated due to pressure from sunlight. An asteroid is not easily pushed around  But an empty can, like a rocket stage, would be pushed around, Paul Chodas, head of NASAs Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, told Space in September last year.

Come December, NASA confirmed that 2020 SO was not an asteroid but a floating space junk.

It turned out that this one ended up being a rocket booster from a failed mission of lunar lander, Surveyor II, that was launched in 1966, said Loeb.

Oumuamua is similar to rocket booster

Loeb drew parallels between 2020 SO and Oumuamua. Like the former, many scientists initially believed that Oumuamua was either an asteroid or a comet. But the strange object, known as the solar systems first recorded interstellar visitor, had many qualities that were unusual for both. It was long, thin, tumbling end over end and exceedingly bright for a space rock. The reflected sunlight off its surface also varied by a factor of 10, which suggested that it had an extreme geometry.

Even if you consider a razor-thin piece of paper tumbling in the wind, the amount of area that is projected in your direction is not varying by more than a factor of 10, because the chance of seeing it edge-on is really small, Loeb said.

Oumuamua also accelerated when it approached the sun, causing Loeb to suspect that it was a light sail made by an advanced alien civilization.

A light sail is a spacecraft propelled by sunlight. It has large reflective sails that capture the momentum of sunlight and use that momentum to push itself forward. (Related: Oumuamua asteroid may really be alien technology; it accelerates under its own power.)

But other scientists dismissed the idea and said that Oumuamua accelerated because it is a comet, which also accelerates when it comes close to the sun. As its icy surface melts, a comet unleashes massive bursts of gas that generate powerful thrusts.

But Loeb pointed out that Oumuamua lacks a comets classic tail  a long, visible trail of gas and dust that typically extends for hundreds of millions of miles. Indeed, scientists knew 2020 SO was not a comet due to the absence of this feature even though the object picked up under the suns influence.

We know that its artificially made. It had no cometary tail, Loeb said. We know that we made it. So that provides evidence that we can tell the difference between a rock and an object that is pushed by sunlight.

The best way to ascertain Oumuamuas origins is by taking more images of it, but the mysterious object has already left the solar system.

So we missed the opportunity  Its like having a guest for dinner, by the time you realize its weird, its already out of the front door into the dark street, said Loeb.

Now, Loeb is hoping that future interstellar visitors could help crack the Oumuamua mystery.

That was the first guest, and we should look for more.

Cosmic.news has more about mysterious space discoveries.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

Space.com 1

Space.com 2

NASA.gov

Planetary.org

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Complaints about candidates/parties offering temptations to voters like cash or liquor etc can be reported to phone 9121100602.  Representational image

KADAPA: Kadapa district police seized 5.6kg of gold ornaments in two separate searches on Wednesday. The police in Jammalamadugu seized 2.7kg and the Proddatur Rural police seized 2.9kg of ornaments. Those who possessed these did not show any documents about purchase and hence the police handed over the ornaments to the Income Tax authorities.

Jammalamadugu sub-divisional police officer Nallamari Nagaraju said the first seizure was made while cops inspected a car. Two bags were found inside the vehicle at Muddanur Cross Road. The driver was detained. He told the cops that the ornaments were being taken to Proddatur to be polished at a gold jewellery shop in Pulivendula area.

According to DSP Prasad Rao, Proddatur Rural Police are conducting inspections of vehicles in the run-up to the panchayat elections. On the Proddatur-Mydukuru road, a man suspiciously stopped his vehicle for some time. Police did a search and found 2.92kg of gold ornaments and cash of Rs. 7.32 lakh in his handbag.

Although he identified himself as a gold trader from Hyderabad, the ornaments were seized and handed over to the Income Tax authorities as he did not have proper documents.

DSP of Karur Karunapati Nagendra Kumar Anburajan said the election code was in force in the wake of the panchayat elections. It stipulated that anyone traveling with cash or valuables must carry bills. Without bills, a case would be registered and the seized cash or ornaments would be handed over to the commercial tax and income tax authorities.

Check posts have been set up at various places in the district and inspections are on. In addition this, flying squads will also be in the field. Complaints about candidates/parties offering temptations to voters like cash or liquor etc can be reported to phone 9121100602.
A Texas judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked Republican leaders from kicking Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid, as the nonprofit provider claims the effort did not follow procedure and could unjustly strip some 8,000 low-income women of critical care including birth control, STI treatments and cancer screenings.

State health officials had given women on Medicaid until Wednesday to find alternatives to Planned Parenthood for the non-abortion services. Planned Parenthood and other womens health advocates have warned there are few other providers willing to provide the care, in part because the states reimbursement rate is among the lowest in the country.

On Wednesday, the group filed an emergency lawsuit to prevent the state from moving forward.

Gov. Greg Abbott is not interested in doing whats best for Texans, and he has made it clear that he will continue to play political games regardless of the cost to the people he was elected to serve, Dyana Limon-Mercado, the head of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, said in a statement.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

A hearing on the litigation has been set for Feb. 17 in Travis County District Court.

Abbott and other Republican officials have been trying for years to kick the nonprofit out of Medicaid, citing an undercover video from 2015 purporting to show the group illegally selling fetal tissue from abortions. The claims were never substantiated, and it is legal for Planned Parenthood to be reimbursed at cost for donating tissue for medical research and other purposes.

The video plainly showed Planned Parenthood admitting to morally bankrupt and unlawful conduct, Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement earlier this year.

Late last year, the conservative-led U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower courts ruling that had blocked the states effort. Planned Parenthood asked Texas health officials for at least six months to help transition about 8,000 Medicaid patients to other providers. The state gave it approximately two months.

Planned Parenthood said the states decision will disproportionately impact Black, Latina and indigenous women who are more likely to rely on safety-net health programs after years of discriminatory practices. Texas has the most stringent requirements for Medicaid in the country, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, barring access to single parents who make well below the federal poverty line.

Its one more assault against the same communities that face unjust, systemic barriers to basic human rights, including access to affordable health care, education, and housing, Planned Parenthood said in announcing the new lawsuit.

Spokespeople for both the governor and Paxton did not respond to requests for comment.

jeremy.blackman@chron.com
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The New York State Senate advanced major legislation on Wednesday that includes a new set of education diversity initiatives to address inequity in schools across the state.

The initiatives would help more New Yorkers become educators  while also increasing diversity among educators, expanding eligible religious holiday observances, determining ways to increase State University of New York (SUNY) participation in the Education Opportunity Program, and providing more support, training and mentorship opportunities for educators.

The Senate Majority is committed to tearing down the barriers that create inequities in our school systems, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said. This legislation package continues those efforts through advancing programs to attract diverse educators, strengthening the community of underrepresented educators, and establishing a task force to study educator diversity. We know that our children learn better when they see themselves in their teachers. I thank the bill sponsors and advocates who have worked hard to address these issues.

Of the initiatives, three pieces of legislation would work to increase diversity and opportunities among educators in the state.

One bill would develop the Grow Your Own initiatives at school districts, educational services and higher education institutions to attract underrepresented candidates into teaching positions. The initiative works to increase the number of diverse, community-based teachers within the district by looking to current students, as well as paraprofessionals and community members. It would also address the states teacher shortage problem, according to the bill.

Another piece of the legislative package would establish a task force on educator diversity in the state. The task force will conduct a comprehensive study on the diversity of educators, actions taken to promote educator diversity, and ways the state can encourage new initiatives to enhance and promote educator diversity.

The Senate also approved a bill that would direct the commissioner of education to convene statewide and regional conventions to bring together underrepresented teachers to discuss experiences, best practices, and provide for mentorship and networking opportunities.

Lawmakers passed a bill that would mandate that state and city universities of New York hold students harmless for their observance of religious and culturally significant holidays. The bill said the universities already made accommodations by suspending classes to observe certain religious holidays. Students shouldnt be penalized for observing holidays like Eid U1-Fitr, Eid Ul-Adha, Diwali and Lunar New Year.

The Senate also passed legislation that would move the Amistad Commission from the Department of State to the New York State Education Department. The Amistad Commission was created in 2005 by the legislature to review the states curricula regarding the transatlantic slave trade and slavery in America, and make recommendations for improvement.

Also in the legislative package is the Commission on Affordable College Education, which establishes a temporary state commission to study the ten SUNY community colleges that havent participated in the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and make recommendations for legislative action based upon its findings.

According to SUNY, the Educational Opportunity Program provides access, academic support, and financial aid to students who show promise for succeeding in college but who may not have otherwise been offered admission.

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Approach local authorities for Rath Yatra, WB govt tells BJP

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Kolkata, Feb 04: West Bengal government has asked BJP to approach local authorities entrusted to look after law and order in connection with the saffron party''s communication on its ''Rath Yatra'' programme in February and March which will cover all constituencies of the poll-bound state.

The BJP had on February 1 written to the state chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay about its ''Rath Yatra'' programme so that the administration "may prepare modalities of relevant support system for a peaceful conduct of the programme".

TMC government delays permission to BJP's rath yatras in West Bengal

In a letter to state BJP vice-president Pratap Banerjee, the government directed the party to "approach appropriate authorities at local levels entrusted with maintenance of law and order including assemblies and processions etc, under relevant laws/ regulations".

The BJP has decided to carry out a peaceful political programme throughout West Bengal in the form of ''Rath Yatra'' in February and March covering all constituencies of West Bengal, sources in the party said.

The ''Rath Yatra'' will be held before the assembly polls due in April-May.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

The election is crucial for BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition party in the politically polarised state as it will seek to deseat from power the 10-year-old Trinamool Congress government of Mamata Banerjee.
Swakopmund  Swakopmund resident David Makasa Am-gabeb (56) was until recently just an ordinary person and doing an ordinary job in the security industry.

The humble and soft spoken guard supervisor for G4S security services is one of the surprise packages of the 2020 local authority elections as he was last year elected as the deputy mayor of Swakopmund.

The father of four, however, is not new to politics as he was part of the Damara Council that was transformed into the United Democratic Front ( UDF) after independence in order to take part in the first elections.

He also served as the Swakopmund branch chairperson of UDF prior to him elected as councillor and subsequently as deputy mayor.

"I know I will be serving in the council for the next five years, but I want to use my position to better the lives of those that have yet to see development in their communities, especially the residents of the Democratic Resettlement Community (DRC)," he said in an interview with New Era.

He said helping DRC residents, as well as the youth of the town, has always been close to his heart.

According to Am-gabeb, basic services such as electricity and pre-paid water can make a huge difference in the life of DRC residents and are some of the initiatives he wants to push.

"It will open endless possibilities for them, especially for those that want to be entrepreneurs as business opportunities will be endless," he explained.

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As for the youth, he said, he wants to make more opportunities, especially in sport more accessible for all.

"Education is currently the main focus, but we forget that our children can also excel in sport and that it can be a source of income. That is why I want to do more in this regard," he said.

'I love my job'

According to Am-gabeb he enjoys his job in the security industry and is not quitting anytime soon.

"I am serving in the council but I also know that the position is only temporary, although it can be demanding at times. However, I would not want to change the security industry for anything else," he said.

He said he has learned to plan and make sure that he communicates his schedule in advance to his employers so they know when he is attending to council duties.

"This is very essential as it allows for a sound working relationship that does not clash with my permanent job," he explained.

Koster Cronje, a manager at G4S in Swakopmund and who works closely with Am-gabeb, said his nomination as the deputy mayor is a huge achievement for the company.

"We are really proud of him and wish him well in his new journey," he said yesterday.

President of UDF Apius Auchab also said that every political position is an achievement for any political party.

"It has never happened in the history of UDF in terms of a councillor serving as a deputy mayor at the town. We in the past only managed to serve as a member of the management committee on the Swakopmund council," Auchab said.
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VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Delic Holdings Inc. ("DELIC" or the "Company") (CSE: DELC) (OTCQB: DELCF), a psychedelic wellness-focused company, is pleased to announce it has entered into a binding letter agreement (the "Letter Agreement") to acquire Ketamine Infusion Centers LLC ("KIC"). KIC is a limited liability corporation formed under the laws of Arizona, which owns and operates two ketamine infusion treatment clinics, one in Phoenix, Arizona and the other in Bakersfield, California (the "Transaction"). Supported by clinical trials and peer reviewed studies, ketamine infusions has emerged as a promising treatment option for chronic diseases and pain disorders.

Transaction Highlights

The Transaction establishes DELIC as a diversified psychedelics organization. KIC has been growing steadily with revenues in excess of USD$1.5 million since 2019

KIC has been growing steadily with revenues in excess of since 2019 KIC will be Strategically Positioned to Leverage DELIC Platform and Brand: DELIC expects to drive patients to KIC through its media platform and become a national leader

DELIC expects to drive patients to KIC through its media platform and become a national leader Established History of Providing Ketamine Infusion Services. The management team at KIC has been in business for 3 years expanding services throughout the United States

The management team at KIC has been in business for 3 years expanding services throughout Management Expertise. The acquisition of KIC will add a team of 6 medical professionals and employees bringing a wealth of industry experience and knowledge to DELIC

Matt Stang, Founder and CEO of DELIC commented, "We publicly listed DELIC with the intent of buying cash-flowing, scalable companies and that is exactly what KIC represents. KIC management has decades of experience in the health sector and has successfully scaled and exited over two dozen clinics and hospitals. KIC's extensive background in operating clinics and hospitals better enables DELIC to be the leader in ketamine clinic rollouts, ensuring that our patients receive the best medical treatment and care. We intend to use this best-practices methodology, such as an insurance reimbursement program, to scale-out our clinic footprint throughout the country."

Sonny Diaz, Co-Founder of KIC stated, "Our management team has been in the clinic and medical business for 15 years scaling and operating. We jumped on the opportunity to join DELIC as we feel the patient acquisition strategy - using DELIC's media platform to drive patients - is a potential game changer. We think there is an opportunity to scale our SOPs and clinics over the next 18 month to be the national leader in the space."

This acquisition demonstrates DELIC's evolution. By acquiring KIC, DELIC expands from being a central hub of psychedelic education, media, and information to being able to provide patients with psychedelic therapy. DELIC is uniquely positioned to provide the ability to bring digital awareness to its various holdings under the DELIC umbrella, and drive online users to our brick and mortar holdings, including KIC's physical psychedelic clinics.

Matt Stang continues, "From my years at High Times helping build the household cannabis brands of today, we know that in a nascent industry whoever yells the loudest gets the attention. Our media exposure and expertise is second to none in the industry and we feel like we can give a tremendous amount of attention to KIC and all future companies that join the DELIC ecosystem."

Over the last 3 years, the team at KIC has expanded from Arizona to California, while overseeing 4,000 treatments delivered to date, and generating over USD$1.5MM in revenue. KIC will operate under the DELIC umbrella, under the direction and guidance of Dr. Christopher Ray, Sonny Diaz, Rogelio Monzon, and Ganesh Acharya.

Under the terms of the Letter Agreement, DELIC will acquire all of the membership interests of KIC through a reverse triangular merger between KIC and a wholly-owned subsidiary of DELIC to be organized prior to execution by the parties of a definitive agreement (the "Transaction"). Subject to customary adjustment terms, DELIC has agreed, on closing of the Transaction, to issue [subordinate voting shares] in the capital of DELIC ("Consideration Shares") to the members of KIC (the "Members"), having an aggregate value of USD$2,250,000 with the number of Consideration Shares to be issued determined based on a price per share equal to the ten trading day volume weighed average trading price ("VWAP") of the Consideration Shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "Exchange") immediately prior to closing of the Transaction. In addition, the Members will be eligible to receive additional Consideration Shares upon KIC's Bakersfield, California clinic posting three consecutive months of profitability and minimum revenue of USD$125,000, during the 12 months following the closing of the Transaction, such additional Consideration Shares to have an aggregate value of USD$800,000, based on a price per share equal to the 10 trading day VWAP of the Consideration Shares on the Exchange immediately prior to the date such milestone is achieved.

The Members have agreed that any Consideration Shares issued will be subject to a contractual hold period, with 10% of the share consideration to be released on the date that is six months and one day following closing, and 15% released every six months thereafter over a period of 36 months. In addition, Members have agreed to enter into voting support agreements with DELIC having a term of two years, pursuant to which the Members will vote as directed by the board of directors of DELIC, subject to customary carve-outs.

The parties entered into the Letter Agreement effective December 7, 2020 and have begun due diligence. The parties intend to complete the Transaction as soon as is practicable and, subject to satisfactory completion of customary closing conditions and due diligence, will use commercially reasonable efforts to enter into a definitive agreement by March 2021.

About DELIC

DELIC Always Expanding. In All Ways.

DELIC was formed in 2019 to address the growing interest in psychedelic wellness backed by science. DELIC was the first psychedelic umbrella platform and is currently a trusted source for those interested in psychedelic culture, psychedelic clinics, and more. DELIC's offerings include, Ketamine Infusion Center, a limited liability corporation formed under the laws of Arizona and runs two ketamine clinics in Arizona and California, "Reality Sandwich", a free public education platform providing psychedelic guides, news and culture, "Meet Delic", the first ever psychedelic wellness summit, and "The Delic", an e-commerce lifestyle brand. For more information, check out www.deliccorp.com.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Forward-Looking Information and Statements

This press release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Company's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of DELIC's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or 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", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein may include, but are not limited to, information concerning listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange, anticipated continued growth in the health and wellness sector (and, in particular, related to psychedelics), the continued emergence of psychedelics from stigmas, the ability of the Company to maintain sensible messaging, the ability of the Company to avoid dogmatic practices and binary rhetoric, the ability of DELIC to successfully achieve business objectives, and expectations for other economic, business, and/or competitive factors.

By identifying such information and statements in this manner, DELIC is alerting the reader that such information and 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 DELIC to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information and statements. In addition, in connection with the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release, DELIC has made certain assumptions. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information and statements are the following: the ability to consummate the Proposed Transaction; the ability to obtain requisite regulatory and securityholder approvals and the satisfaction of other conditions to the consummation of the Proposed Transaction on the proposed terms and schedule; the ability to satisfy the conditions to the conversion of the Subscription Receipts (as defined in the Previous Press Release); the potential impact of the announcement or consummation of the Proposed Transaction on relationships, including with regulatory bodies, employees, suppliers, customers and competitors; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; changes in applicable laws; compliance with extensive government regulation; and the diversion of management time on the Proposed Transaction.

Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information or statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

Although DELIC believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and DELIC does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward- looking information and statements attributable to DELIC or persons acting on its behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by this notice.

SOURCE Delic Holdings Inc.

Then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and then-Chinese vice chair Xi Jinping display shirts with a message given to them by students at the International Studies Learning School in Southgate, outside Los Angeles, on Feb. 17, 2012. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

China Experts Analyze How Biden Administration Might Approach China Policy

Weeks into President Joe Bidens term in office, China analysts are looking for clues as to how the new administration will approach its China policy.

U.S.-based China affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan said that the administrations recent comments suggest that Biden may not want to confront China on tough issues.

Meanwhile, professor of China studies at University of Technology Sydney, Feng Chongyi, said that he believes the general state of U.S.China confrontation may be the status quo for the time being.

Hong Kong-based media HKET analyzed that Biden may be giving Beijing the cold shoulder, as he has yet to formally respond to the regimes tough and soft gestures seeking re-engagement.

Chinas Pursuit

After U.S. media outlets projected Joe Biden to be the winner of the presidential election, Chinese leader Xi Jinping had sent a greeting telegraph to Biden on Nov. 25, 2020, asking for U.S-China cooperation.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi urged on Dec. 7, 2020 while meeting with the U.S.China Business Council delegation in Beijing: China and the U.S. should work together to restart the dialogue, restore the relationship, and rebuild the mutual trust.

Then officials began using harsher rhetoric.

Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan (L) and Dr. Jill Biden (R) speak during a State luncheon in the Benjamin Franklin room at the Department of State in Washington, DC on Sept. 25, 2015. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged in his speech to the World Economic Forum virtual conference on Jan. 25 that countries should reject the Cold War mentality.

Confrontation will lead us to a dead-end, Xi said, stressing that countries must not return to the path of the past.

Then, during remarks given to the National Committee on U.S.China Relations on Feb. 1, Chinese top diplomat Yang Jiechi warned the United States not to cross the red line by addressing Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Taiwan issues.

At the same time, the Chinese regime authorized its coast guard to use force when faced with conflicts from other countries and performed a military exercise in the South China Sea from Jan. 27 to Jan. 30. It also sent dozens of warplanes to the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

Commentator Tang said that this soft and hard form of pressure is a typical Chinese regime strategy, analyzing that Chinas ultimate goal is to urge the Biden administration to talk to China.

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi speaks at a dinner hosted by the U.S.China Business Council and the National Committee on U.S.China Relations in Washington, on July 11, 2013. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

US Comments

On Feb. 2, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki and State Department spokesman Ned Price answered reporters questions related to U.S-China policy during their press briefings.

Asked whether Biden had plans to speak with Chinese leader Xi, Psaki said, I dont have any call to predict for you at this point in time.

Psaki explained that Bidens government would approach a strategic U.S.China relationship from a position of strength, and that includes engagement with our allies and partners.

Asked the State Departments response to Yangs comments, Price said, We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwans democratically elected leadership.

We are in serious competition with China, Price added, noting that the Chinese regimes conduct hurts American workers, it blunts our technological edge, it threatens our alliances and influence in international organizations, and China is engaged in gross human rights violations that shock the conscience.

But he also noted that China and the United States could cooperate on a limited basis on issues of shared interest, such as climate change, by enlisting the help of allies in Europe, North America, and the Indo-Pacific.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, on Jan. 25, 2021. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

From Psaki and Prices briefings, HKET concluded that Biden would not be as China-friendly as the former Obama administration.

Commentator Tang held a different opinion.

We all know that the Trump administration launched very restrictive policies toward the Chinese regime. Its impossible that the Biden administration would change this policy upside down overnight, Tang said. But there were several actions that indicated the new administration was easing the pressure on China.

Tang pointed to the Treasury Departments statement on Jan. 27, updating a ban on U.S. investments in Chinese military-linked companies by delaying until May the application of restrictions on companies with names similar, but not exactly matching, those blacklisted.

University of Sydney professor Feng pointed out that the United States and China have fundamental differences that would be difficult to resolve, such as the values each country cherishes and their political systems.

Meanwhile, on the red line issues that Yang Jiechi spoke about, there is bipartisan consensus among U.S. officials to punish the Chinese regime for human rights violations in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Tibet, as well as to support Taiwan, Feng said.

A protester holds a US flag outside of the Chinese consulate in Houston on July 24, 2020, after the US State Department ordered China to close the consulate. (MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty Images)

The Trump administration has sanctioned Chinese and Hong Kong senior officials for eroding Hong Kongs freedoms, as well as top Communist Party officials for their roles in violating human rights in Xinjiang, where Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities are severely persecuted.

Feng believed that the Trump administration had built out the general structure for confronting the Chinese Communist regime. He believed it was unlikely Biden would change it for the time being.

If he were to, Biden would need excuses to amend Trumps policies on China. So far, the Chinese officials speeches havent offered up the necessary excuses for Biden, Feng said.

Its unclear exactly how the new administration will address Beijings threats, despite Biden officials describing it as a global competitor and vowing to curb its predatory behavior.

But Feng thinks the administration likely wont easily change the United States view of China as an adversary.
Beaumont ISD students who are compelled to return to campus and fail to do so without a medical exemption could face consequences including truancy filings and possibly other interventions.

The district began the process Tuesday of sending letters to parents of students from Pre-K through 12th grade, with each student being evaluated on a case-by-case basis. But any student who has three or more unexcused absences or a grade-point average below 70 is eligible to be removed from virtual learning.

Students will be required to come face-to-face, Randall Maxwell, executive director of secondary administration, told The Enterprise. The district is in consultation with the justice(s) of the peace for possible truancy filing for students not in compliance. We are also consulting with the justice(s) of the peace to assist the district with other possible interventions as well.

Those other interventions have not been solidified, according to Jefferson County justice of the peace officials.

The Texas Education Code directs districts to refer students to truancy court after they fail to attend school without an excuse on 10 or more days within a six month period of the same school year, with exceptions for temporary absence resulting from any cause acceptable to the teacher, principal, or superintendent of the school in which the person is enrolled.

Low engagement in virtual learning is a driving factor behind BISDs push to return struggling students to campus, but truancy court is a last resort for the district after other intervention methods fail to get students back to campus.

Despite an enrollment of 17,209 students, the average daily attendance has remained at 14,687.

Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham said the consequences for violating truancy laws can range from warnings and a fine, to juvenile probation for the child  and in some cases, actions against the parents.

The broad stroke is if students dont go to school and they are under 16, then we can charge them with juvenile offenses of failing to attend school, Wortham told The Enterprise. And if they continue not to go to school, we can revoke their probation and do more severe things.

A law in 2015 barred students from receiving jail time or criminal sanctions for truancy offenses. But if students continue to violate truancy laws, consequences can include a $100 fine and suspension of the child's drivers license or permit.

It is a real problem. We have to use the remedies that we have available, and we will get some people back in school, Wortham said. We wont get them all back in school, but I will beg and plead kids to go back.

Per guidance from the Texas Education Agency, which authorized districts to require failing students to return in-person in November, exemptions are required for students with medical conditions that put them at high risk of complications related to the coronavirus.

Parents can apply for an exemption based on the medical status, or request a transition meeting to discuss alternatives with school officials.

If a parent requests a transition meeting, the campus administration will schedule the meeting no sooner than three days after the receipt of the request, a letter sent to staff and parents said.

At such a meeting, the parents and administrators could come up with an alternative lesson plan that would allow the student to make up grades and remain in virtual learning. If no agreement is reached, the student will still be required to return to school.

Any parent that disagrees with the districts decision to remove a student from virtual learning must first exhaust the appeal process ... including filing a medical exemption or requesting a transition meeting, before filing a grievance pursuant to the districts grievance policies, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Administration Anita Frank told The Enterprise. Any grievance filed without first exhausting this appeal process will be dismissed without hearing.

Within two weeks of receiving a letter, or having a meeting, students will be required to return to campus.

Students will be required to return two weeks from the date they receive the letter, Frank said. Therefore start dates may differ. If a parent requests a transition meeting, it will occur within three days of the request. The appeals process will not change students required start dates.

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath spoke with superintendents about using this type of intervention during a phone call in November.

It gives you new tools to support these students that are struggling academically, to get them into an instructional environment that will better support them and, hopefully, address some of the problems were seeing, Morath told superintendents on the conference call.

The move is an escalation in the districts efforts to recoup days of lost learning time and make up widespread failing scores that threaten to setback students.

Our goal is for our students needing assistance to return to on-campus learning to help them be successful for the remaining portion of the 2020-21 school year, Frank said. The analysis again is on an individual basis per each student. The campus will ascertain the need for each virtual student and the success of their overall learning experience.

The number of students returning to campus was not available Wednesday, but about half of the students learning virtually in recent months with a large percentage receiving failing scores.

Social distancing guidelines and class schedules will remain the same when the students return.

We will continue all of the precautions outlined in our re-entry plan, and maintain strict sanitation protocols, social distancing guidelines, facial covering requirements, etc, Frank said. As these students return to school, they will be made familiar with the in-person guidelines.

For students that have not been on campus this school year, parents can find schedules and teacher assignments on Parent Self Serve.

The majority of the students will not have a schedule change, Maxwell said. Most students will follow their regular traditional schedule that they currently have assigned. Students and parents may log in to Student Self Serve, and Parent Self Serve, respectively, to review the actual schedule.

In addition to failing scores, the district hopes the action will increase attendance and engagement, which has been dismal so far this year.

That is very disturbing to us, Superintendent Shannon Allen said of the student low engagement. First of all our, kids need to be in school in order to succeed, but we also have to look at the big picture ... financially.

Some parents, Allen said, have told administrators that they plan to send their kids to school next school year to repeat the current grade.

That is not an option for us  to throw this year away, she said. We can not have a generation of kids we call the COVID generation, where they are behind a year forever.

Allen and other administrators made a plea at the monthly board meeting for parents to engage with the district and send their students to school.

We are going to compel kids who are falling to return to school, Allen said. And I hope it works. It is a tough decision that we have to make, but the data speaks for itself right now.

isaac.windes@hearstnp.com

twitter.com/isaacdwindes
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TouchPoint One creates modern customer contact solutions that advance the well-being and performance of employees, customers, and business and we are honored to be recognized by TMC with the Remote Work Pioneer Award.

TouchPoint One, the leading provider of performance optimization solutions for contact centers, announced today that TMC, a global, integrated media company, has named its Acuity Contact Center Performance Management Platform a 2021 Remote Work Pioneer winner. The award honors companies whose software and other solutions support the massive increase in Remote Working brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Acuity is Cloud-based contact center performance management solution that synthesizes disparate systems data to fuel an integrated suite of specialized business tools including role-based dashboards, departmental and functional scorecards, digitized workflows, virtual meeting & screen share, messaging, analytics and reporting, and industry-leading gamification.

Acuity is designed for large customer contact organizations committed to empowering the remote and hybrid workforce, said Greg Salvato, CEO of TouchPoint One. In collaboration with our customers, were creating modern solutions that exploit data, transform manual processes, and facilitate engagement to advance the well-being and performance of employees, customers, and business. We are honored to be recognized by TMC for our efforts with the Remote Work Pioneer Award.

Recognizing leaders in the advancement of remote working software, TMC is proud to announce TouchPoint One as a recipient of the 1st Annual Remote Work Pioneer Award, said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. TouchPoint One is being honored for their achievement in bringing innovation and excellence to the market, while leveraging the latest technology trends.

Acuity enables the digital transformation of performance management and employee engagement so that organizations can better understand their operations, improve organizational alignment, enhance both the employee and customer experience, and drive progressively improved financial and operational performance. Contact center leaders are drawn to Acuity for its documented record of fixing attrition, absenteeism, performance, and engagement challenges and reducing operational expense.

The 2021 TMCnet Remote work Pioneer Award will be highlighted on TMCnet news portal. Visit the TouchPoint One web site to learn more about the features and benefits of Acuity or to schedule a demo.

About TMC

Through education, industry news, live events and social influence, global buyers rely on TMCs content-driven marketplaces to make purchase decisions and navigate markets. Our in-person and online events deliver unmatched visibility and sales prospects for all percipients. Through our custom lead generation programs, we provide clients with an ongoing stream of leads that turn into sales opportunities and build databases. For more information about TMC and to learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals, please visit http://www.tmcnet.com.

About TouchPoint One

TouchPoint One is the leading provider of performance optimization solutions for contact centers. The Companys Acuity product is a full-featured employee engagement and performance management platform that enables improved decision making, talent development, and process execution at every operational level. TouchPoint One customer contact solutions deliver the compelling benefits of gamification, balanced scorecards, employee dashboards, and advanced performance management through innovative design and complete, functional alignment with business processes and strategies. http://www.touchpointone.com

TouchPoint One, Acuity, A-GAME, and Sidekick are registered trademarks of TouchPoint One, LLC. All other registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.  2021 TouchPoint One, LLC. All rights reserved.
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Paul Rivas ducked out of sight as he appeared briefly Thursday morning in a Multnomah County courtroom and his lawyer entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to a 31-count indictment in the hit-and-run rampage in Southeast Portland last week that killed one woman and injured seven others.

Rivas, with only his cuffed hands visible through much of the arraignment, told his lawyer he was feeling sick.

His sister Emilia Rivas Martin, 67, of Salina, Kansas, connected to the hearing via a live video feed.

She called Rivas her baby brother and said she had driven 200 miles to connect to the court proceeding from a computer inside the library on the Wichita State University campus.

Though Martin indicated to a clerk that she would be willing to make a statement, Circuit Judge Kelly Skye told her that she wouldnt be considering Rivas release. Rivas is being held without bail.

Skye said Rivas sister or others tied to the case could be heard at another time in the future.

Rivas next court date was set for March 19. He was represented by court-appointed attorney Jonathan Sarre.

The indictment charges Rivas with second-degree murder and failure to perform the duties of a driver in the Jan. 25 killing of Jean Gerich, 77, a pedestrian who was hit twice and then dragged for a block.

She died about three hours later from blunt force trauma at OHSU Hospital, according to her son and daughter.

The second-degree murder charge alleges Rivas unlawfully and intentionally caused Gerichs death.

For each of the seven others who were struck and injured, the indictment charges Rivas with second-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault, attempted second-degree murder and failure to perform the duties of a driver to an injured person.

The final count of the seven-page indictment charges Rivas with resisting arrest stemming from when Officers Zachary Kenney and Matt Jacobsen tried to take him into custody after a crowd of bystanders cornered him.

Rivas is originally from Kansas, married a woman in Michigan, where he worked at one time as a design engineer for General Motors, according to a relative. They couple were married for 10 years and had a daughter before they divorced. Rivas followed his ex-wife to Washington state, where she obtained a stalking order against him.

Rivas, following his arrest, told court officials hes been living in a fifth-wheel trailer in Oregon City for 13 years. Rivas told court officials that he receives Supplemental Security Income for a disability and has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression in the past. He claimed he was diagnosed with those mental health problems while in the Secret Service, but theres no record he was ever in the Secret Service.

Emilia Rivas Martin said she drove 200 miles to connect to the hearing and was seated in the library of Wichita State University campus.

Rivas had his license suspended for a brief time after a 2013 conviction for failure to obey traffic signals and failure to provide proof of compliance. Court records show it was reinstated on Dec. 8, 2014.

He has three failure to obey traffic device convictions from 2007, 2011 and 2013, according to Oregon court records.

Rivas also has a March 2019 conviction in Clark County for second-degree voyeurism and was ordered then to undergo a psychosexual evaluation. He was arrested at a post office in Vancouver on Aug. 14, 2018, after he was seen trying to use his phone to film under the skirt of a woman standing in line in front of him, according to court records.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Health & Wellness

By Long Island Published: February 04 2021

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone recently visited COVID-19 vaccination pod hosted at Suffolk County Community Colleges Michael J. Grant Campus in Brentwood to say thanks to student nursing volunteers who are helping with vaccinations

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, fourth from left, joined Joy Borrero, PhD, RN and Academic Chair-Nursing Michael J. Grant Campus, center, and John Durso, president of the RWDSU in thanking Suffolk County Community College student nurses who volunteered to help vaccinate eligible residents at the Colleges Michael J. Grant Campus in Brentwood. Photo Credit: Suffolk County

More than five-dozen Suffolk County Community College nursing students volunteered to assist New York State and Suffolk County with the administration of the lifesaving COVID 19 vaccine.

Student nurses are also helping the college administer Corona Virus pool tests to Suffolk County Community College students, faculty and staff who attend classes on or are working at any of the colleges three campuses.

Suffolk County Community College Interim President Louis Petrizzo previously announced that the College would make all its campuses  from Brentwood to Riverhead  available for distribution of the vaccine.

The Michael J. Grant Campus in Brentwood and Eastern Campus in Riverhead are now host sites where the Suffolk County Department of Health is administering vaccines in the fight against COVID-19.

I am proud of our nursing students for answering the call to volunteer, and for helping in the fight to eradicate this virus. I thank each student for their selfless service to our college and the community, said Interim College President Petrizzo.
Eva Coutaz, who in more than four decades at the highly respected record label Harmonia Mundi shaped musicians careers, rehabilitated forgotten composers and expanded the tastes of record collectors, died on Jan. 26 in Arles, France. She was 77.

Jean-Marc Berns, the labels head of marketing, said the cause was complications of renal failure.

Ms. Coutaz joined Harmonia Mundi in 1972 at the invitation of its founder, Bernard Coutaz, whom she would go on to marry. Her first job was to oversee publicity and to organize concerts to promote the labels artists, but she quickly proved her business acumen and artistic sensibility.

Ms. Coutaz nurtured long-term relationships with a stable of musicians that included some of the leading figures in early music, among them the countertenor Alfred Deller and the performer-conductors Rene Jacobs, William Christie and Philippe Herreweghe. Later she brought in another generation of recording stars, including the violinist Isabelle Faust, the pianist Alexandre Tharaud and the baritone Matthias Goerne.

She built a catalog of more than 800 recordings as head of production starting in 1975. On the death of her husband in 2010 she became chief executive of the company and remained in that post until 2015, when she sold the label.
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DURHAM  Former Connecticut State Troubadour Lara Herscovitch has been navigating her path in the same way she always does - by focusing on contribution and service, according to a statement.

In addition to releasing a new album and performing in concert online all year, she also turned to publishing, and has recently released her new, uplifting storybook for inspiration. While the book is fun and joyful, Herscovitch says it also carries a serious, underlying message of courage and hope.

I want to live in a world where we lift each other up, help each other be our best selves and share our superpowers. The world needs us, and we need each other. The byline is: Be who you are, Do what you love, Share your superpowers. I hope the book and story helps inspire readers and listeners to appreciate and share their gifts.

Her new album, Highway Philosophers, was released in early April of 2020, as the first wave of COVID-19 was sweeping across the globe. The work has received critical acclaim: The Boston Globe called her a luminous voice and a buoyant stage presence big-hearted lyrics embrace the sum of life Herscovitchs music blows on the embers of a lagging spirit or dormant creative life.

But after the pandemic cancelled or postponed all in-person events, Herscovitch instead performed concerts from her home studio, calling the series Songs From Seclusion. She also worked with long-time collaborator and animator Matt Rasch of Michigan, to create a music video for her song Shine Sister Shine (you can see the music video on her YouTube Channel). And then, with support from a successful Kickstarter campaign and in partnership with Design Monsters in New Haven, she turned the music video into a hard-cover, full-color illustrated storybook, released on New Years Day.

Herscovitch said that she wrote the song on a day she felt tired. Its written from the perspective of the sun. Shes weary, because she never gets to sleep or take a break. When were sleeping here, shes still working on the other side of the globe. Shes exhausted, and forgot what she loves about her life and work. By the end of the song and story, she remembers. And I hope the reader will remember too - whether theyre four or a hundred and four.

Herscovitch earned a policy MSW at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work (she was recently profiled by UConn Today), focusing in the U.S. and abroad on education, community development, environmental protection, and justice system reform. She has seven full-length albums to her credit, tours regularly, and was honored to serve as Connecticut State Troubadour (2009-2010). More information can be found at LaraHerscovitch.com

Spectrum Art Gallery offers classes

CENTERBOOK  Spectrum Art Gallery & Store is offering classes this winter. Classes and workshops are held online until further notice. Register and pay at spectrumartgallery.org or call 860-663-5593. Material lists are available.

In Gallery: Winter Acrylic Studio. Develop confidence with better techniques of drawing, composition and color theory. Work from reference photos (yours or supplied) of primarily landscape or still life images. Painting demonstrations and instructor painting along allows for freedom and assistance to explore the medium. Develop to a finished stage, working with final values to make your pieces cohesive and dynamic. A list of basic supplies will be sent to interested artists. All levels welcome. Fridays Feb. 5, 12, 19, 26; March 5. 12:30-2:30. Cost: $160 per person. Members save $16.

Zoom Class: Watercolor Adventure. Learn a variety of watercolor techniques such as flat washes, gradient washes, wet on wet and direct paint. This course welcomes all skill levels. Instructor will take you from start to finish on your pieces. These methods can be applied to most any subject. Material list and ZOOM access information will be sent upon registration. Thursdays, February 4, 11, 18, 25; March 4. 6:30-8:30pm. $130. Members save $13.

Corn maze supports supports the Connecticut Cancer Foundation

OLD SAYBROOK  Lyman Orchards 2020 corn mazes proceeds supported the Connecticut Cancer Foundation. The maze included a Statue of Liberty adorned with a giant heart for thanks and appreciation for frontline workers during this COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Visitors learned about nurses, medical professionals, EMTs, fire fighters, charitable organizations, and more. The corn maze was four acres, and there was a total of one mile of paths and hundreds of decision points. There were 10 positions in the maze, which coincide with 10 multiple choice questions on a passport that guided the visitors. If they answered correctly they went the right way; incorrect answers got visitors lost in the maze.

John Lyman, Executive VP, said, This was our 21st Corn Maze. This will be the first year that we will donate fifty cents of every ticket sold to the Connecticut Cancer Foundation.

Jane Ellis, CCF Executive Director acknowledges their generous donation with sincere appreciation for supporting a local charity to financially assist cancer patients with everyday living expenses right in our own backyards.

The Connecticut Cancer Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1987 to provide financial assistance to CT cancer patients and their families and to fund cancer research. To learn more go to www.ctcancerfoundation.org
A woman wears a face mask as she walks in a deserted Carnaby Street in London, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. AP



British scientists are starting a study Thursday to find out if it's OK to mix and match COVID-19 vaccines.



The vaccines being rolled out now require two doses, and people are supposed to get two shots of the same kind, weeks apart.



Guidelines in Britain and the U.S. say the vaccines aren't interchangeable, but can be mixed if the same kind isn't available for the second dose or if it's not known what was given for the first shot.



Participants in the government-funded study will get one shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine followed by a dose from Pfizer, or vice versa.






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Study examines why college education leads to healthier and longer lives

Healthy lifestyle: Physical activities abound on college campuses like William & Mary. These healthy habits are among the benefits of college education that contribute to health and longevity, according to a study led by W&M Assistant Professor of Economics Peter Savelyev. Photo by Jim Agnew Photo - of - Hide Caption

A study led by William & Mary Assistant Professor of Economics Peter Savelyev and funded by the National Science Foundation argues that college education leads to healthier and longer lives.

The study, Understanding the Mechanisms Linking College Education with Longevity, was published in September in Journal of Human Capital.

Researchers around the world still debate whether education affects health. Savelyev and his team support the claim that education improves heath by demonstrating the mechanisms behind this effect while using state-of-the art statistical analysis.

In our paper, we show that education increases health and longevity though healthier lifestyles, superior earnings and better work conditions, he said.

Savelyev and his co-authors examined data obtained from men and women who graduated from high school in Wisconsin in 1957. This specific timeframe was important to allow for data collection on at least a partially deceased U.S. cohort.

William & Mary News recently spoke to Savelyev about this study. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Could you elaborate on the mechanisms that contribute to the effect college education has on better health?

Variables related to healthy lifestyles that proved to be important are participating in physical exercise, maintaining a healthy body weight and abstaining from smoking tobacco. We also study the role of extremely dangerous work conditions, such as cutting trees or being exposed to infectious diseases. Educated people are less likely to face such jobs. The work conditions mechanism does not necessarily imply diminishing job-related risks for the general population, but it is a personal benefit for those who study hard and receive advanced degrees.

How impactful are healthy habits that are developed during college years?

It is well known that many essential life determinants emerge early in life. Later in life, things are harder to change. College education is a powerful contributor to human development that increases health and longevity, among many other good effects, and it should be supported in situations when free market solutions do not work well enough.

Is it difficult for persons later in life to develop those healthy habits?

Our simulations demonstrate that major health differences created by college education are hard to close later in life, even by strong hypothetical policy interventions, such as greatly increasing taxation of cigarettes.

Does your study help explain why?

Partly, this is because the effect of education is strong, and it works through many different mechanisms. It is not easy for an intervention that targets just one specific mechanism to overcome a strong effect created through dozens of mechanisms. Also, some policies, such as taxation of cigarettes, affect behavior of both the college-educated and those who did not go to college, so the effect on the difference between these two groups is small.

Is there a major gender difference in the effect of education on longevity?

We find that obtaining a bachelors degree leads to about three additional years of life for men. However, we could not find any effect of college education for women, who live longer than men regardless of their education status. We identified from our data two mechanisms that partly explain the gender difference. One is that men tend to take more dangerous jobs than women. Another is that educated women of this historic cohort  born in late 1930s in Wisconsin  were less likely to be married, which created a negative contribution to their longevity that masked a positive contribution related to higher income. Marriage is good for your longevity. Since a negative effect of college education on marriage no longer takes place for more recent cohorts of women, we can expect a stronger effect of college on their longevity, as confirmed by our simulations.
A relic from San Francisco's long-gone Sutro Baths and other historic items were reportedly stolen from the site of the former Cliff House restaurant last month.

The black wool swimsuit with "Sutro Baths" across the chest is valued at $2,000, U.S. Park Police said. Other items included art, tools and additional swimsuits with different designs, but police said the black swimsuit dating back to the early 1900s was one of the more "unique items." (See a gallery of the items at the bottom of this story.)

The incident that happened between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Jan. 26 is under investigation.

Park Police investigators have clear camera footage showing two individuals and are sharing an image (below) in hopes of locating the suspects.

If you recognize the people pictured, contact Park Police anonymously at 415-561-5150 or or uspp_tipline@nps.gov.

Park Police said there has been an increase in vandalism and theft throughout the region during the pandemic.

The stolen items belong to the Hountalas family, the owners of the former restaurant at the iconic Cliff House, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean and the Sutro Baths ruins, officials said. The family maintains a special use permit to continue to occupy the building through March 2021 and has begun to organize an auction to sell the personal property they collected in the restaurant, police said.

You can see a gallery of the some of the stolen items below, including a brown Sutro Baths swimsuit (also valued at $2,000), a wooden horse and a framed photograph of Playland at the Beach, the former amusement park at Ocean Beach just south of the Cliff House.

A passion project of S.F.'s 24th Mayor and self-made millionaire Adolph Sutro, a series of seven grand pools fed by the Pacific Ocean at Lands End opened on March 14, 1896. The Sutro Baths offered 20,000 bathing suits and 40,000 towels for rent, and historic photos show swimmers sporting the one-piece jumpers.

The baths never turned a profit, leaked money and waned in popularity during the Great Depression. Developers demolished Sutro's engineering feat in 1964 to build high-rise apartments. A fire destroyed what remained of the baths in 1966, and the city abandoned the apartment plan. Today, concrete ruins from the Sutro Baths remain, lending history and wonder to the oceanfront.

The swimsuits remain symbols of the turn of the 20th century in San Francisco. Sen. Dianne Feinstein famously wore one of the swimsuits under a trench coat as a member of S.F.'s Board of Supervisors at the grand opening of Pier 39 in 1978. Feinstein had made a bet with the developer, promising to "cut the ribbon in a bikini" if he finished on time.

A spokesperson for the National Park Service told the San Francisco Chronicle the goal for the Cliff House is to find a new restaurant tenet.

SFGATE Managing Editor Katie Dowd contributed to this story.
Hunter Biden is publishing a memoir about his struggles with addiction and drug abuse  from his first sips of alcohol as a child, when he was dealing with the aftermath of family tragedy, to his crack-cocaine use.

The book, titled Beautiful Things, is scheduled to be published in the United States on April 6 by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. It has already drawn praise from high-profile writers like Anne Lamott, Dave Eggers, Bill Clegg and Stephen King, who in a blurb called it both heartbreaking and quite gorgeous. Gallery declined to disclose the financial terms.

A lawyer and former lobbyist, Hunter Biden, 51, is President Bidens oldest surviving child, and he has been a favorite target of conservatives, including former President Donald J. Trump, who openly pressed the Justice Department to investigate Hunter and his father.

In addition to recounting Hunter Bidens substance abuse, the book will also describe how the Biden family coped with a series of staggering losses: the deaths of Hunters mother and younger sister, who were killed in a car crash when he was a toddler, and the death of his older brother, Beau, from brain cancer. (The books title comes from a phrase Beau and Hunter would say to each other after Beau was diagnosed.)
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

Gold price on Thursday inched up to Rs 49,000 from Rs 48,590, while silver price fell by Rs 2,000 to trend at Rs 69,000 per kg, according to the Good Returns website.



Gold jewellery prices vary across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to differing excise duty, state taxes, and making changes in different states.

In New Delhi, the price of 22-carat gold fell by Rs 440 to Rs 46,900 per 10 gm, while in Chennai it declined to Rs 45,290. In Mumbai, the rate jumped to Rs 48,000, according to the Good Returns website. The price of 24-carat gold in Chennai was Rs 49,400 per 10 gm.



In the international market, Silver rose on Wednesday, helped by hopes that global stimulus measures would prompt a pick-up in industrial demand, after a sharp decline from a near-eight-year peak scaled with the help of a social media-inspired buying frenzy.

Spot silver rose 0.6 per cent to $26.76 per ounce at 1:49 p.m. EST (1849 GMT). It fell more than 8 per cent on Tuesday.

The recent moves have attracted a lot of new interest in silver, not necessarily Reddit investors, but just people out there looking at silver as an undervalued asset, said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.





There is an increased physical demand for silver at this point.

Prices surged to $30.03 on Monday after retail investors attempted to replicate a GameStop style rally.

The buying spree left silver dealers scrambling to find supplies of coins and bars.





Spot gold fell 0.2 per cent to $1,833.93 per ounce. US gold futures settled up 0.1 per cent at $1,835.10.

A steepening US Treasury yield curve and a jump in equities are pressuring gold, said Daniel Ghali, commodity strategist at TD Securities.
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Providence Health & Services gave early access to coveted COVID-19 vaccines to some members of its Oregon governing and foundation boards in December and January.

Lisa Vance, CEO of Providence Oregon, said the practice amounted to preferential treatment for insiders, some of whom are also donors.

The Oregon Health Authority said Providences actions didnt meet the states guidelines for initial vaccine distribution.

Vaccinating hospital administrators, managers, executives, board members and other staff who dont have the greatest potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials is not in alignment with Phase 1a guidance, said Jonathan Modie, spokesman for the Oregon Health Authority.

Providences questionable vaccine allocations were small in number and took place largely at facilities outside Portland. Some cases involved doses that were nearing expiration and needed to be injected that day, according to Providence. Still, they have prompted the organization to launch a review of its policies and procedures.

Providence operates eight hospitals in Oregon, making it the largest health system in the state. It was founded by Catholic nuns and Providence often refers to its individual hospitals and other businesses as ministries.

While our ministries were acting in good faith and with the best intentions, we believe we need to ensure our decisions are fully aligned with our values, especially our value of justice, Vance said. We hold ourselves accountable to ensuring equity for all we serve. We are taking actions to do that going forward, including working with our partners in all of our community clinics.

Providences senior executives in Oregon and all 17 members of the nonprofits governing body  the Oregon Community Ministry board  were vaccinated weeks ago. Providence insists that those vaccines for executives and its governing members were consistent with state rules because they qualify as administrative or volunteer personnel under Oregons broad definition of healthcare workers.

The rollout of the much-anticipated vaccines has been difficult in Oregon and most of the rest of the country. The ongoing vaccine shortage has fueled an intense debate about how to prioritize access to the life-saving shots.

Oregon put health care workers at the front of the line under the states vaccine sequencing plan, classifying them as 1a in the priority roster.

Providence in December offered the vaccine to all 27,000 of its Oregon employees and medical staff members. Just 70% accepted the offer. The others declined the vaccine outright or said they preferred to wait until more was known about its safety, Providence spokesman Gary Walker said.

Among those who accepted the vaccine were Vance, Chief Operating Officer William Olson and most of the rest of Providence Oregons senior executives.

Providence argues that it did nothing wrong in offering early vaccinations to its executives and to members of the board. It points to the states broad definition of qualifying health care worker, which includes administrative and volunteers personnel in addition to the nurses and doctors actually working the COVID wards.

Providence is interpreting administrative to include all of its executives, regardless of how much time, if any, they spend actually caring for patients.

The Oregon Health Authority said Providences interpretation is incorrect.

With both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines remaining in short supply, they must make sure these scarce resources are only administered to individuals who are eligible to receive themand that means only staff who have the greatest potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials, said Modie, the health authority spokesman.

However, Modie said the state does not anticipate sanctioning Providence. He said the health authority expects providers to take responsibility and allocate vaccines appropriately.

Were asking people who work or volunteer in health care, or serve on health care boards, to do the right thing: If your work doesnt put you at risk of direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials, you probably arent part of Phase 1a, you arent eligible, and you should wait your turn to get vaccinated, Modie said.

The issues around Providences vaccine prioritization are far from unique -- similar episodes have sparked controversy around the country. The Seattle Times has reported that three medical systems in that region, including Providences medical center in Everett, gave special vaccine access to big donors or foundation members.

Earlier this week, Washington warned that it may cut vaccine allocations to organizations that provide VIP access.

In Southern Oregon, Providence Medford Medical Center is distributing the vaccine. Members of the local Providence foundation board were quietly offered the opportunity to be put on a vaccine waiting list. They would be called in to receive the vaccine should the hospital finish the day with an excess of doses.

Both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines must be stored at cold temperatures and must be used promptly once they are warmed for injection.

The hospital thaws a certain number of doses each day based on the number of appointments they have. If the patient doesnt show up, it needs to find a replacement right away or discard the dose when it expires at the end of the day.

Providence officials said theyre not sure how many insiders in Medford accepted the offer and got the shot.

Out on the coast, Providence Seaside Hospital offered vaccines to both its community board and foundation board. Six of those board members accepted the offer and got early shots.

Providences Vance did not know about the arrangements in Medford or Seaside and would have objected if she did, according to Providence spokesman Gary Walker.

Providence has 10 foundations in Oregon, including the organizations in Medford and Seaside. Between them, they raised nearly $54 million in 2019.

Almost by definition, board members of foundations are also major donors.

Certainly there is a longstanding tradition of asking board members to donate a lot of money, said Jeri Alcock, partner and senior consultant at Rose City Philanthropy in Portland.

All philanthropic boards should also have conflict-of-interest rules on its books, Alcock added.

The whole point of being on the board is that youre a disinterested third party, the consultant said. You dont profit from being part of it.

Providence officials initially maintained that it had complied with all of Oregons rules for vaccine administration.

Providence Oregon did not give any preferential treatment to donors in the COVID vaccination process, the health system said in email Feb. 1 . We act in good faith, aligning our actions with the guidance of the Oregon Health Authority.

Two days later, Providence backed off that stance and admitted that indeed some insiders did get preferential access.

Statewide, 369,693 people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, about 8.6% of Oregons population.

Jeff Manning

jmanning@oregonian.com

971-263-5164
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

parties on Thursday tore into the government's handling of the farmer protest against three contentious farm reform laws, saying ministers believe in monologue and trenches have been dug, barbed wires put up and spikes installed when bridges should have been built to win over farmers.

Opening the second day of discussion on a motion thanking the President for his address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD said the government has lost the patience to hear and any criticism is painted as anti-

"With folded hands, I request you to please understand the pain of farmers. In harsh winter you stopped water supply and toilet facilities, dug trenches, put barbed wires, and installed spikes," he said. "Such aggressive approach wasn't even heard of towards the neighbouring nations who came inside (the Indian territory)."



To the response to a tweet by pop star Rihanna on the farmer protest, he said the democracy will not be weakened by a tweet but by the approach of the government.

In a veiled reference to cold storage chain and godowns built by private corporates such as Adani Group, he said, "Your backbone is the farmer. 303 (seats won in last general elections) did not come from cold storage or godowns but from these very people."



"We will support you but every world against you is not anti- Patriotism is not be worn on sleeves but carried in heart," he said in his speech loaded with poetry and sarcasm.

Stating that protests and agitations are the lifeblood of democracy, he contested the government statement of 11 rounds of dialogue have concluded with agitating farmers, saying its ministers "believe in monologue and not dialogue."



"They talk of having given this and that to farmers, but there is no place for language of charity in a democracy. The monologues should be ended," he said.

Jha said critics and agitating farmers have been painted as 'Khalistani', 'Naxals' and Pakistani agents and its citizens pitted against each other just like the agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

"You have lost the patience of hearing, you only dictate," he said. "The governments are formed to build bridges but you have built walls."



Referring to the over two-month-long agitation by farmers on the border entry points to the capital, he said trenches have been dug, barbed wires erected and spikes installed to cut off farmers.

"I haven't been to a border but pictures I have seen don't resemble anything close to what has been done around farmer agitation sites," he said, adding water supply as been snapped and toilets facilities taken away.

"Who are you fighting? They are your own farmers," he said. "The country is not made up of police, arm, Jan gan man and Vande Mataram. The country is made of relations and you have soiled those relations."



Bihar, he said, ended minimum support price (MSP) based crop procurement in 2006 and it now has only contractual labourers and not farmers.

"Bihar has been turned into a labour-supply state. You want Bihar model in Punjab and Haryana?" he asked.

He wondered what would have been the reaction if the JP movement would have happened during the present regime.

Participating in the debate, Digvijaya Singh of the Congress lashed out at the BJP government, saying right from demonetisation to the CAA were blunders that hit the people hard.

Quoting former PM Manmohan Singh, he said demonetisation was a monumental mismanagement, organised loot and legalised blunder.

Almost 50 lakh people were rendered jobless and micro, small and medium enterprises were destroyed, he said.

Singh said the void between the Modi government's promises and implementation was big and it could not win the hearts of people, whether the poor, farmers or labourers.

The senior Congress leader also accused the government of mismanaging the COVID-19 pandemic and fuelling corruption.

Terming the three farm laws "anti-farmers", he said the prime minister had lost their trust and even the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh was opposed to some of the government's moves and took a jibe at him asking whether he wants to keep relations with RSS.

In democracy, he said, if people's sentiments are seen as revolution than it is autocracy.

"You have got majority but dissent is essence of democracy," Singh said.

Former prime minister and JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda called farmers the backbone of the country and said miscreants and anti-social elements were behind the events of Republic Day and all political parties have condemned their actions and agree that they need to be punished. But the farmers' issue should not be mixed with it, he said and added that the issue should be dealt with amicably.

Delhi witnessed violence on Republic Day during the farmers' tractor rally called to highlight their demand for repeal of the Centre's three farm laws.

Deviating from the designated route for the tractor parade, some protesting farmers clashed with police and reached the historic Red Fort and hoisted flags from some domes as well as the flagpole there.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Im no astrologist, but the confusion, delays and mercurial nature of restaurant hours on a week-to-week basis is supported by news that mercury is in retrograde. I missed a deadline to pre-order one takeout combo; another, making sensible use of lobster and shell across courses, was no option for a quarantine buddy with a deadly allergy. Instead, we regrouped for an afternoon in Hudson, straddling the noon menu switchover from breakfast to lunch at Kittys Market Cafe and a shareable feast to go from Bistro Mashriq.

Few places have seen steadier pandemic dining growth than Hudson. Last summers blossoming eateries have spread, and two newer additions now anchor lower Warren Street, where pickings are generally slim. Kittys Market, a cafe-grocery with space for a future restaurant, is a brick-red splash of joy opposite the historic railway station. Anyone who has ever pondered food options before taking a city-bound train will be rewarded by boss egg sandwiches or rotisserie chicken from owners Lauren Schaefer and Anna Morris, who first met at El Rey, a California-style cafe in Manhattans Lower East Side. Shaefer is another storied California alum of Tartine Bakery, Bar Tartine and Chez Panisse. (Other Chez Panisse alums include cookbook author and Netflix host Samin Nosrat of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat fame and Claire Ptak, owner of Violet Bakery in London, tapped to make the 2018 royal wedding cake.) In Hudson, the duo joined forces with investor/building owner Benjamin Fain, and Kittys was born.

Not far up Warren Street is Bistro Mashriq, an Arabian restaurant focusing, as its name suggests, on dishes of the Mashriq  the area to the east of Egypt and north of the Arabian Peninsula. Its the latest venture from Christopher Knable, owner of Main Street Goodness and PieconicNY in Chatham and, coming soon, the Columbia Grill at Columbia Country Club and Southern food and barbecue at The Carolina House in Kinderhook. Bistro Mashriq bravely opened in December in the former space of the Tuscan restaurant Vico. If there was audible relief that yet another Italian would not replace it, Bistro Mashriq came out swinging on a menu to go. Straight outta quarantine, we cant get enough.

Kittys Market Cafe: Theres been feverish press about Kittys, and its fair to say their bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on a soft sesame-seed bun is the platonic ideal. Sauerkraut, an option at no extra charge, is a breakfast game-changer, layering funky tang over the cheesy, eggy goodness. But Schaefer and team are more than a sandwich, even if that excites in-town guests. This locally sourced downtown market is part farmstand, part bakery, part market essential, part natural wine shop. Where else can you buy Oatly oat milk, YesFolk kombucha, bok choy, farm meats and eco-friendly dish detergent while staff froth espresso drinks and press juices to go? The natural wines will soon have a home of their own in a sibling business, Grapefruit Wine Shop, opening this week, and Kittys Restaurant will be open for indoor and outdoor dining by summer.

What we had: Go for Kittys spinning chicken, which glitters drippy gold on rotisserie racks all morning but isnt available until noon. A boxed lunch plate with a juicy quarter chicken (choose white or dark meat) comes with two sides like snap-skinned, chicken-fat-roasted fingerling potatoes and a cabbage Caesar that holds its crunch. But you can order a whole or half bird to go and, with chicken as their current raison detre, add Kittys Cup Noodles with a thick twist of thin vermicelli or restorative cup of miso chicken broth thats nothing short of liquid gold.

If you find youre joined by a gym-minded friend, theyll be sold on a pressed kale-apple-ginger juice, while Id recommend a one-of-each approach for pastries to partner a frothy oat milk mocha. Lush coconut-almond carrot cake is surely a little healthy, and sticky ginger tea cake is zapped with fresh ginger. Buckwheat chocolate-chip cookies are sold in pairs, so you can share.

Details: Kittys Market Cafe, 60 S. Front St., Hudson. kittyshudson.com 518-287-MEOW (6369). 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday to Tuesday, closed Wednesday.

Bistro Mashriq: The Capital Region isnt short on Middle Eastern restaurants with influences from Turkey to Lebanon, but few have quite the range of street foods as Bistro Mashriq, where Arabian flavors influenced by owner Knables years in the region are reimagined.

Knables lengthy hotel industry career spans New York City, Mexico, China, South America and the United Arab Emirates. Before returning to New York, he lived in Doha, Qatar, working for Katara Hospitality, the hotel company owned by the Qatari emir, and in Dubai working for Prince Al-Waleed bin Talals Kingdom Hotels. Its fair to say Knable knows Arabian food. But as owner of Main Street Goodness and PieconicNY, he has procured chef Jereme Keough, a Culinary Institute of America graduate and former owner of Wicked Good Food & Co. in Niverville, to bring those Arabian flavors to life in Hudson.

What we had: Its a smashing spread. Order to share, but youll fight over soft, charred aubergines topped with a jammy 6 -minute boiled egg and sweet green chile sauce. Theres mutabal shawander  a beet, lemon and tahini Greek yogurt dip  and richly thick labneh yogurt drizzled in olive oil, local honey and juicy pomegranate arils. You might want the classic hummus and baba ghannoush to swab with soft pita, but we stuck to less familiar offerings: areyas, a popular Lebanese street food of pita quarters filled with seasoned ground beef and grilled to a crisp; hand-cut Lebanese street fries tossed with Aleppo pepper, garlic and spice; and crisp Arabian roasted chicken wings  a revelation coated in sumac, lemon and garlic.

Youll want handheld snacks like spicy ground beef kafta skewers minced with Aleppo peppers and sundried tomatoes, crunchy chickpea falafels to dunk in herb yogurt or kibbeh, and lamb croquettes studded with bulgur wheat. Order extra pita to tear and share, and dont forget Lebanese limonana, a fresh lemon and mint juice sweetened with sugar thats easily as tasty as a no-alcohol mojito.

Details: Bistro Mashriq, 136 Warren St., Hudson. bistromashriq.com. 518-697-5600. 4 to 8.p.m. Wednesday to Friday, noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday.

Susie Davidson Powell is a British freelance food writer in upstate New York. Follow her on Twitter, @SusieDP
The White House reported that to speed up their vaccination campaign, they would open more "community vaccination centers," using colleges, universities, and stadiums in many hard-hit states.

As the U.S. government aims to significantly expand its efforts to vaccinate the nation's population against the COVID-19-causing virus, it has planned to extend its vaccination campaign by building more centers and facilities.

To help improve vaccine development, President Joe Biden has also invoked the Defense Production Act. The government also plans to create 100 countrywide vaccination sites and send mobile units to rural and underserved communities.

"These centres are helping to provide new, more efficient places for people to get vaccinated," Jeff Zients, White House COVID-19 coordinator, said while having a virtual news conference.

The sites of the centers will be located at the Oakland Coliseum and in areas of East Oakland and East Los Angeles at the California State University, including Los Angeles, Zients' addresses. While the officials from the Department of Defense, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Health and Human Services will mainly staff and operate the facilities.

Zients called those locations "just the beginning" of the Biden administration's drive to speed up the pace of vaccinations, especially in areas with the brunt of diseases and death.

He said the Biden administration would keep track to achieve the target of administering 100 million shots in 100 days, adding that 1.3 million doses went into people's arms from January 27 to February 2 based on the seven-day average daily dose administration.

The additional 100 million doses would increase the total amount of government-purchased doses from 400 million to 600 million. Two doses of the vaccine will be needed for each human to be effectively vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Director Rachel Walensky of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that new cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations seem to be on a downward course but cautioned that this positive momentum could be disrupted by new variants of the virus emerging across the nation.

Vaccination campaign and pharmaceutical efforts

Although the U.S. currently approved only the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, praised international efforts to develop vaccine candidates such as Russia's Sputnik V and China's Sinovac.

He also reminded the state that the Biden administration reversed Donald Trump's effort in an attempt to withdraw from the World Health Organization, where the U.S. is the largest donor. The change was seen as a wider U.S. withdrawal from multilateral organizations.

"We in the United States ... are back on the global scene," he said while adding that the United States will also join the COVAX vaccine project that aims to deliver coronavirus vaccines to developing countries.

Fauci also said that while waiting for the vaccination campaign, Americans should continue to follow recommendations for social distancing and protocols and added that if people want to "double mask" for added security, there is no harm.

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
There were no casualties in the past day.

The Command of Ukraine's Armed Forces has reported two violations of the latest ceasefire agreement committed by Russia-controlled armed groups in the Donbas warzone on Wednesday, February 3.

"In the past day, February 3, two ceasefire violations were recorded in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) zone," the press center of the Ukrainian JFO Command said on Facebook in an update as of 07:00 Kyiv time on February 4, 2021.

In particular, the Russian occupation troops fired an automatic grenade launcher toward Ukrainian positions near the village of Hnutove, as well as an under-barrel grenade launcher near the village of Vodiane.

Read alsoMinister tentatively assesses damage from Russian occupation in DonbasThe violations were reported to OSCE representatives through the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) on the ceasefire and stabilization in Donbas.

There were no casualties in the past day.

Since midnight, enemy forces have not attacked Ukrainian troops.

The Ukrainian military say the situation is under full control.

Donbas ceasefire: Background

Participants in the Trilateral Contact Group (Ukraine, Russia, and the OSCE) on the peace settlement in Donbas on July 22 agreed on a full and comprehensive ceasefire along the contact line from 00:01 on Monday, July 27, 2020.

On the very first day of the newly-agreed truce, Russia's hybrid military forces mounted three attacks on Ukrainian positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has reported more such violations over the latest period.

Reporting by UNIAN
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd is quoting at Rs 230.85, up 2.49% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The stock is down 2.57% in last one year as compared to a 22.8% jump in NIFTY and a 16% jump in the Nifty Energy index.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd is up for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 230.85, up 2.49% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.38% on the day, quoting at 14846.05. The Sensex is at 50410.72, up 0.31%. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd has gained around 3.47% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Energy index of which Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd is a constituent, has gained around 2.6% in last one month and is currently quoting at 17221.5, up 1.7% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 53.97 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 79.68 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark February futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 231.1, up 2.03% on the day. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd is down 2.57% in last one year as compared to a 22.8% jump in NIFTY and a 16% jump in the Nifty Energy index.

The PE of the stock is 4.89 based on TTM earnings ending September 20.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

A study by Mayo Clinic researchers published in Kidney International Reports finds that immune checkpoint inhibitors, may have negative consequences in some patients, including acute kidney inflammation, known as interstitial nephritis. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are used to treat cancer by stimulating the immune system to attack cancerous cells.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors have improved the prognosis for patients with a wide range of malignancies including melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer and renal cancer. In some patients, this enhanced immune response may target kidney tissue, leading to acute kidney inflammation known as interstitial nephritis." Sandra Herrmann, M.D., Mayo Clinic Nephrologist and Study's Senior Author

Dr. Herrmann says a kidney biopsy is the gold standard to diagnose this condition. However, a kidney biopsy is an invasive procedure that some patients may not be able to undergo because of the risk of bleeding.

"Our study provides important, first-time data for clinicians and patients on the use of biomarkers to routinely evaluate the cause of acute kidney injury in patients undergoing immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for cancer," says Dr. Herrmann. "These biomarkers could assist with helping doctors discriminate treatment associated kidney injury from other causes and may also help aid clinical decision-making related to whether immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy should be continued if the injury found is not related to immunotherapy."

For this study, researchers followed patients who were seen at Mayo Clinic for acute kidney injury from 2014 to 2020. They found that blood markers of kidney function and inflammation, serum creatinine and C-reactive protein, respectively, as well as urine markers  urine retinol binding protein-to-urine creatinine ratio  were significantly higher in patients with acute kidney injury due to interstitial nephritis associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy when compared to other patients treated with immunotherapy but with acute kidney injury due to other causes, such as acute tubular necrosis associated with other cancer therapies.

"Being able to tell if acute kidney injury in a cancer patient is due to a certain type of cancer therapy without the need for an invasive test is extremely important," says Dr. Herrmann. "It simplifies the work-up for patients, makes the approach safer and quicker, and helps physicians better guide patients through their care."

Dr. Herrmann says that being able to attribute acute kidney failure to a cause other than immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy allows patients to continue with their cancer immunotherapy, which can be lifesaving. In addition, she says acute kidney failure has profound prognostic implications for patients and needs to be properly treated, so promptly identifying the cause is important.
(Newser)  The global business consulting firm McKinsey & Company has agreed to a $573 million settlement over its role in advising companies on how to "supercharge" opioid sales amid an overdose crisis, a person with knowledge of the deal told the AP on Wednesday. Sources told the New York Times that an announcement is planned Thursday, along with filings in courts in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and five US territories. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement that the state would file a consent decree Thursday involving McKinsey "that will result in corporate reforms and more than $13 million to Washington state for opioid treatment, prevention, and recovery efforts." Ferguson said that was separate from the multistate deal.

story continues below

Most of the money in the national settlement would be sent to the states in less than a year, and would be used to abate the national overdose crisis. Prescription opioids and illegal ones such as heroin and illicit fentanyl combined have been linked to the deaths of more than 470,000 Americans since 2000. State and local governments have been filing lawsuits over the past few years against companies that make and sell prescription opioids for their role in the crisis. But going after a consulting firm is a new wrinkle in the litigation. McKinsey provided documents used in legal proceedings regarding OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, including some that describe its efforts to help the company try to "supercharge" opioid sales in 2013, as reaction to the overdose crisis was taking a toll on prescribing.

(Read more opioids stories.)


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Uganda's president has ordered the suspension of a multi-million dollar fund set up by donor countries, after complaining that it is run by foreigners and undermines Uganda's sovereignty.



In a letter, Mr Museveni ordered the police to investigate how the finance ministry had allowed foreign donors to have what he called a "free rein" to choose which activities to finance, without needing the consent of the government.



The Democratic Governance Facility is funded by seven donors, including the European Union.



Its suspension could have a dramatic impact as it helps finance many grass-roots organisations that focus on democracy and human rights.



Mr Museveni won a sixth elected term last month. His main rival Bobi Wine said the election was rigged but Mr Museveni said it was the fairest vote ever.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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HOUGHTON, MICH. -- An ancient copper mine in Isle Royale National Park has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

The newly designated landmark, known as the Minong Mine Copper Mining District, contains one of the countrys largest, best preserved Native American copper mining landscapes along with the well-preserved remains of the largest historic copper mining operation on Isle Royale.

The National Historic Landmarks boundary covers more than 200 acres, where it encompasses archaeological sites at a Native American copper mining pit dating back at least 4,500 years, the remnants of the 19th-century Minong Mining Company, and McCargoe Cove, which historically served as home to an Indigenous occupation as well as the village of Cove.

According to a release from Isle Royale National Park, the designation celebrates the national significance of the mining sites of Minong  the Ojibwe word for Isle Royale. The landmark is considered important because it showcases the intimate connection between North Americas most significant Indigenous and historic native copper mining activities.

This National Historic Landmark designation for the Minong Copper Mining District cements its stature as an exemplary archeological site, Isle Royale Superintendent Denice Swanke said in a statement, noting that the districts location in a designated wilderness within a national park will help it retain its high level of archeological integrity.

National Historic Landmarks are buildings, sites, districts, structures, and objects that have been determined by the Secretary of the Interior to be nationally significant in American history and culture. All National Historic Landmarks are included in the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of the nations historic properties.

The Minong Mine Copper Mining District is now one of more than 40 National Historic Landmarks in Michigan, a full list of which can be seen, by state, on the National Park Services website.

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Check out all of Michigans 1,923 nationally-listed historic places
Ximen Acquires Running Wolf Gold Property Cranbrook BC

Posted by Publisher Internet

Ximen Mining Corp. (TSX.v: XIM) (FRA: 1XMA) (OTCQB: XXMMF) (the ?Company? or ?Ximen?  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/ximen-mining-corp/) is pleased to announce that it has acquired the Running Wolf gold property located 20 kilometers west of Cranbrook in the Fort Steele Mining Division in southern British Columbia.?

The Running Wolf and Quartz Mountain properties lie within the Cranbrook Gold Belt (also known as the Kimberley Gold Trend), a zone that extends southwestward from the Northern Hughes Range, crossing the Rocky Mountain trench, into the western part of the Purcell Mountains. Alluvial gold placer mining is estimated to have recovered 10 million oz of gold from streams in the East Kootenay area centred on Quartz Mountain since discovery of gold in 1864, and mining has continued since. Exploration for lode gold sources to the alluvial placers has been ongoing for a century.

The Running Wolf claims cover three known mineral occurrences, including Rome & Valley, Running Wolf and Gold.? Historic records indicate that at Rome & Valley, two or more large quartz veins occur in a fault zone and contain pyrite and galena. One vein has been traced 470 metres and varies in width from 0.6 to 7.6 metres. Samples of mineralized vein material are reported to have assayed from 1.08 to 19.55 grams per tonne gold. At the Running Wolf prospect, historic workings consist of five adits. The main adit exposes three veins, each about 10 metres wide. Surface grab samples of the vein are reported to assay up to 35.0 grams per tonne gold.? DDH 1985-8 intersected the No.1 vein in a sheared quartzite and assayed 2.0 grams per tonne gold over 2.0 metres. At the Gold prospect, an alteration zone in quartz phyllite is reported to have assayed 0.24 grams per tonne gold over 3.5 m.?

Ximen?s Quartz Mountain property covers important historical placer deposits on Sawmill creek and five mineral occurrences: Rice, Anderson, Birdie L., Peter Rock and Morgan. At Rice (also known as Quartz Mountain), quartz veins 0.75 to 1 metre wide are mineralized with pyrite, chalcopyrite and native gold. ?In 1973 and 1974, 1,481 tonnes were mined from surface showings and shipped to Trail, B.C. for smelting. From this, 14,945 grams of gold, 13,405 grams of silver, 1,307 kilograms of copper, 3,286 kilograms of lead and 1,481 kilograms of zinc were recovered.

At Anderson (also known as Golden Egg), quartz veins contain specular hematite, pyrite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and native gold.? Historic records indicate that from 1937 to 1940 (inclusive), 381 tonnes of ore were mined, from which 313 grams of gold, 5194 grams of silver and 200 kilograms of lead were recovered.? In 1995, rock chip samples assayed up to 107.2 grams per tonne gold and 63.0 grams per tonne silver over 5 metres. Sampling of a tunnel located on the north side of the pit yielded up to 18.1 grams per tonne gold, 11.6 grams per tonne silver and 0.2 per cent lead over 0.36 metre. ?In 2003, diamond drilling intersected quartz vein material that assayed 16.53 grams per tonne gold over 0.49 metre.? In 2013, two rock samples from a newly exposed road cut, located south west of the pit, yielded 1.12 and 2.28 grams per tonne gold, respectively.

At Birdie Load and Peter Rock, quartz veins containing minor amounts of pyrite locally contain gold.? Quartz filled shears in trenches at Birdie L. assayed up to 3.4 grams per tonne gold, and a 1983 dump sample assayed 13.1 grams per tonne gold.? A rock sample at Peter Rock assayed 3.9 grams per tonne gold, and a composite sample yielded 13.5 grams per tonne gold.

Ximen considers the Running Wolf acquisition as a significant addition to its holdings in the Cranbrook Gold Belt.? Future work will focus on expanding the areas of known gold mineralization and related fault/shear structures, and exploration for additional lode or disseminated gold deposits.

Ximen recently signed a purchase agreement to acquire 100% interest in 10 mineral claims covering 860 hectares in the Cranbrook Gold Belt, referred to as the Running Wolf property.? According to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, Ximen is required to pay a total of $30,000 split among the vendors and issue 200,000 shares also to be split among the vendors.? The Running Wolf property adjoins Ximen?s Quartz Mountain property (58 claims, 2,361 hectares), acquired in 2020.?

Readers are cautioned that historical information including the assay and production results referred to in this News Release have been examined but not verified by a Qualified Person. Further work is required to verify that historical records referred to in this News Release are accurate.

Dr. Mathew Ball, P.Geo., VP Exploration for Ximen Mining Corp. and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, approved the technical information contained in this News Release.?

About Ximen Mining Corp.

Ximen Mining Corp. owns 100% interest in three of its precious metal projects located in southern BC.? Ximen`s two Gold projects The Amelia Gold Mine and The Brett Epithermal Gold Project. Ximen also owns the Treasure Mountain Silver Project adjacent to the past producing Huldra Silver Mine.? Currently, the Treasure Mountain Silver Project is under a option agreement. The option partner is making annual staged cash and stocks payments as well as funding the development of the project. The company has recently acquired control of the Kenville Gold mine near Nelson British Columbia which comes with surface and underground rights, buildings and equipment.

Ximen is a publicly listed company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol XIM, in the USA under the symbol XXMMF, and in Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin Stock Exchanges in Germany under the symbol 1XMA and WKN with the number as A2JBKL.

This press release contains certain \forward-looking statements\ within the meaning of Canadian securities This press release contains certain \forward-looking statements\ within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the receipt of TSX Venture Exchange approval and the exercise of the Option by Ximen. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words \expects,\ \plans,\ \anticipates,\ \believes,\ \intends,\ \estimates,\ \projects,\ \aims,\ \potential,\ \goal,\ \objective,\ \prospective,\ and similar expressions, or that events or conditions \will,\ \would,\ \may,\ \can,\ \could\ or \should\ occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company\-\-s management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, 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. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management\-\-s beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the possibility that the TSX Venture Exchange may not accept the proposed transaction in a timely manner, if at all. The reader is urged to refer to the Company\-\-s reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators\-\- System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.

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 any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

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.

Ximen Mining Corp

888 Dunsmuir Street  Suite 888, Vancouver, B.C., V6C 3K4??? Tel:? 604-488-3900
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MOSCOW, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- China is as interested in finding out the source of the novel coronavirus as the experts of the World Health Organization (WHO) sent to Wuhan, the TASS news agency reported Monday, citing a Russian member of the WHO's mission to China.

"There is no problem from the side of China. They are just as interested, we are working together," said Vladimir Dedkov, deputy research director at the St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute.

"Let's not consider our visit as that by a group of some investigators that are trying to implicate someone in something, as if China were initially to blame and were trying to make excuses. This is not true," he added.

Chinese representatives are cooperating as much as possible in order to ensure that the WHO's mission brings results, the expert stressed.

"This is not a situation when we came and they are trying to hide something from us," he said.

Dedkov was cited by the report as saying that WHO experts often face issues related to the politicization of the pandemic, but in reality the pandemic could have begun due to a variety of reasons.

"There are very many options here. They all must be studied before we make some definitive conclusion on the causes of the epidemic," he concluded.
Ukraine may face system-wide accident in integrated power grids over lack of coal  NEURC

Ukraine's energy regulator will conduct unscheduled on-site inspections at certain enterprises.

Reporting by UNIAN

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NEWTOWN  One Sandy Hook nonprofit want to strip committee assignments from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a freshman Republican from Georgia whose support of extremist theories have included the claim that the school shooting here was staged. Another Sandy Hook nonprofit would prefer she be removed from Congress altogether.

As parents who lost our precious children, Daniel and Dylan, when they were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary, along with 18 of their first-grade classmates and six educators, on December 14, 2012, we are writing to urge you to take immediate action to remove Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from her assignment to the House Education and Labor Committee and prohibit her from serving in any position that is charged with preventing school violence, wrote Mark Barden and Nicole Hockley, co-founders of Sandy Hook Promise, in a petition to House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican.

Sandy Hook Promise and fellow home-grown nonprofit Newtown Action Alliance were urging supporters to sign petitions as the Democratic-controlled House prepared to vote Thursday to remove Greene from her committee assignments.

Po Murray, the chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance, called for Greene to be expelled from Congress, with a two-thirds majority vote.

Stripping her from her committee assignments will not be enough, Murray wrote in a petition appeal to supporters on Wednesday. She is harmful, dangerous, and has no place in Congress.

Nick Dyer, Greenes communications director, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday, Greene tweeted my identity & my values is why shes being targeted.

White, Woman, Wife, Mother, Christian, Conservative, Business Owner, Greene tweeted. These are the reasons they dont want me on Ed & Labor.

McCarthy in a statement on Thursday condemned Past comments from and endorsed by Marjorie Taylor Greene on school shootings, political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and told her that as a member of Congress we have a responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard than how she presented herself as a private citizen.

McCarthy stopped short of removing her from her committee assignments and criticized Democrats for choosing to raise the temperature by taking Thursdays vote.

Greene has been in the headlines for two weeks after social media history surfaced of her writing in 2018 that is all true about a Facebook post claiming that the school shootings in Sandy Hook and Parkland, Fla., were stagged [sic], along with the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Sandy Hook Promises Hockley reacted to that news in late January by inviting Greene and anyone else who believes that the Sandy Hook tragedy was anything but a massacre to show her Dylans ashes and his bullet-hole-riddled sweatshirt.

In response, Greene spokesman Dyer replied no when asked by a reporter if Greene still believed school shootings were false flags.

Rep. Jahana Hayes, the 2016 national Teacher of the Year and a two-term Democrat who represents Newtown, circulated a letter the following week urging House leaders to deny Greene a seat on the education committee, calling Greenes language and actions incendiary, dehumanizing, repugnant, and dangerous.

Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was among Republicans also condemning extremism linked to Greene, calling her loony lies a cancer on the GOP.

Sandy Hook Promises Barden and Hockley said Greenes statements made her unfit to serve on a committee overseeing the education, health, and safety of children.

Representative Greene has fueled conspiracy theories and supporters that claim that the Sandy Hook shooting and other violent murders of children never happened, Barden and Hockley said. These vicious lies deny the deaths of our murdered children and bring death threats and constant harassment to our doors and our surviving children.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
Tanzania's health ministry this week announced it has no plans to accept Covid-19 vaccines, maintaining that the eastern African nation does not have the virus. However, Tanzanians speaking to friends and family say that a number of people have died from the virus.

"The sources we've been talking to say some of their colleagues and family members have passed on because of Covid-19, but this week they are saying that talking about Covid in Tanzania is a taboo," RFI Kiswahili service editor Emmanuel Makundi tells Africa Calling podcast.

He says that their sources are reporting a spike in deaths, but neither the government nor the families are officially confirming it was due to coronavirus.

"Although we know that the first Vice President of Zanzibar, Maalim Seif Sherif Hamad, has contracted Covid and is receiving treatment in the hospital, so it's a real thing," he adds.

Local herbs and steam preventatives

Tanzania's Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima spoke at a press conference this week calling for Tanzanians to use steam inhalation, a remedy debunked by health experts globally. She wasn't wearing a mask while speaking, claiming that Tanzania is safe.

Others in the health ministry have called for Tanzanians to use local herbs to cure Covid-19.

Makundi, who has been following the story closely for the RFI Kiswahili service, says that the reason for the government to deny coronavirus in Tanzania is unknown.

"It does exist in the East African region, and Tanzania is not an island," he says.

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"The religion council this week has warned its worshippers to take all precautions to ensure they don't shake hands unnecessarily, they don't go to the gatherings, they put on their mask, they wash their hands with water or sanitizer," he adds.

While Makundi's sources say they are wearing masks, others even in the lower ranks of government are refusing to wear masks nor deal with those who do.

"Last week they were telling me that one of the mayors of Kilimanjaro, before he started the council meeting told people wearing masks, 'Please take off your mask before we continue with this meeting,'" says Makundi.

"So you can imagine those wearing masks, they cannot sit comfortably, especially in public places," he adds.

Suspicion over vaccines

In January, President John Magufuli said that vaccines were fake and Tanzanian people should be careful, says Makundi, adding that the president claimed the vaccine was not good for conception.

Fears about the various vaccines being dangerous for conception or harmful to pregnant women have been debunked by medical experts as well.

Minister Gwajima said this week that Tanzania had no plans to take Covid-19 vaccines, but did not close the door completely, saying that any vaccines would need to receive ministry approval.

Tanzania is eligible for the international COVAX effort overseen by the World Health Organisation for low and middle income countries.

Although Magufuli is decrying vaccines, he observed social distancing at a government meeting this week.

Meanwhile WHO Africa head Dr Matshidiso Moeti urged Tanzania to hand over statistics on Covid-19. The country has not reported any cases since late April, as Magufuli said that God had eliminated the deadly virus from the country.

#TANZANIA: PS of the Health Ministry, Prof. Mabula Mchembe has urged citizens to ignore information on social media that there are #COVID19 patients admitted at Hospitals in Dar es Salaam

Prof. Mabula insists that not every patient facing 'hard-to-breathe challenges' has Corona. pic.twitter.com/KktSNNMi8q

- Tanzania Updates (@TanzaniaUpdates) February 3, 2021

"The government probably knows that the disease is there and is not officially confirming it in the country; they're telling people to continue and go about their business," says RFI editor Makundi.

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For people traveling in and out of Tanzania, the Covid-19 issues are even more complicated than other countries.

Only national laboratories will be conducting Covid-19 tests for people to travel, and tests must be made one week before.

Expensive Covid tests

"There's a lot of people, long queues at the national laboratory-- people are missing flights," says Makundi.

Paying for the test was originally set at 40,000 Tanzanian shillings, or less than US$15, but that has all changed, he says, as prices are now at US$100 per test.

France redirects development aid for Africa's fight against Covid

"The government doesn't have a robust plan to test people, but rather only for those who are traveling abroad and not the local citizens, because it is now so expensive," he adds.

This 'lack of Covid' in the country has damaged Tanzania's reputation as well in the travel industry.

Both the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the UK government have strongly advised against travel to Tanzania.
Police responded to a residence on Benton Drive. A man said someone had stolen the front bumper off of his truck. He was unable to provide any suspect information, but he said he did have a camera set up and would email police the photos of the suspect. The man said the bumper is worth at least $500 and he would like to press charges.* * *A woman living on E. Brainerd Road called police and said that her debit card was frauduently used last night. She said she has the card in her hand, and it had not been stolen.An unknown person had used the card one time and spent $169.59 on the zzounds.com website. The woman said she last used her card at the Speedway service station, 4355 Highway 58. There are no leads, witnesses or suspect information.* * *Police were called to a business at 1414 Jenkins Road for a disorder. Police spoke with the receptionist, who said that an individual in room 4 would not answer her when she asked him to leave. Police went to room 4 and got the man's attention. Police informed the man to get up, put his clothes on and that he needed to leave. When he exited the room, he was apologetic and said that he had been asleep. The receptionist said that they no longer wished to continue business with him and that he could not return. Police informed the man of this and he agreed to not come back.* * *Officers were dispatched to check the well-being of a woman on E. Main Street. A concerned friend said that she had not heard from the woman in over a month and was worried about her. Officers made contact with the woman who said she did not wish to speak to the concerned friend. Officers relayed this information to the friend.* * *Police were called to Riverfront Parkway where a grandfather was complaining he has had several problems with a man not willing to wear a mask. He said he and his granddaughter where attempting to take the elevator but did not because the man was not wearing a mask. The grandfather said he took a photo of the man without his mask on the elevator. He said that after the photo was taken the man became very upset and stepped off the elevator. He said the man began to call out his name in an aggressive way. He said he felt threatened by the man's choice of words and wanted this incident documented. A photo of the man not wearing a mask was given to police.* * *Police responded to a shoplifting at Shoe Carnival, 5760 Highway 153. An employee said a medium-build white male with a bald head wearing a Gator face mask, walked out of the store with two boxes of shoes. The employee said the man was also wearing a big black coat with blue jeans and black shoes. A photo of the suspect was given to police. The employee said the man left in a dark blue 4-door sedan.* * *Police were called to the Red Roof Inn, 7014 Shallowford Road. An employee at the front desk called in reference to a couple arguing in a room. Police found a woman in the room who said that her ex-husband was leaving the room and banging on the door creating a noise disturbance. The ex-husband left the area and left his belongings outside of her door. Police found the ex-husband walking west on Shallowford Road near Center Street. Officers informed him not to bother his ex-wife again and that he may retrieve his items. However, if there are any further issues, someone could get arrested.* * *Police were called to a disorder on E. 11th St. Police could hear someone yelling and made contact with a man who was in a verbal disorder with a woman. The man agreed to quiet down and return to his tent.* * *Police responded to N. Holtzclaw Avenue where a man said he put his Promax 11 Iphone on Facebook Marketplace for sale. The man said someone contacted him saying they would like to meet up and buy the phone. The man said he met the person in the parking lot at Erlanger Behavioral Center, 804 N. Holtzclaw Ave. The man said once there, the person asked to see the phone. The man said he gave the phone to the person and they quickly got into a red truck and drove off without paying.* * *Police responded to a vandalism at an apartment on Boynton Drive. A tenant said a tall black man wearing a blue sweater was aggressively pulling on the door handle to his apartment. The tenant said the man did not say anything or give any reason for being at his apartment. The door handle was completely broken off when police arrived. The tenant believes the man could possibly have been a previous tenant from another apartment, but was not sure. The man was not able to gain entry to the apartment at any point. Police did not locate anyone in the area matching the description given.* * *Police responded to a vandalism on Runyan Drive at the Arbors Apartments. A woman said her neighbors flattened the tire on her rental car. Officers observed no damage to the vehicle or tire, but the tire was flat. The woman she has had problems with her neighbors being disrespectful and pushing items under her vehicle after she had asked them to not block her vehicle in. Officers informed her they would document the incident and she was given a complaint card.* * *Police received a call from a woman on N. Holtzclaw Avenue who said she made an arrangement, via Facebook, with another woman to sell her Iphone 11 valued at $400. She said the woman told her that her son would meet her to make the purchase. The woman said she made contact with a black male wearing a mask and a black jacket. The man asked her a few questions about the phone and asked if he could see the phone. She said he powered on the phone, then fled from the area with her phone. She did not know any further details about the man.* * *Police responded to Sandy's Mini Mart, 2400 Glass St. An employee identified a female who he said came into the store yelling, cursing and making obscene threats to the staff. The employee said that he wanted the woman formally trespassed from the area. Police went to speak with the woman next door and ask her side of the story. The woman immediately became verbally hostile towards police and began shouting and cursing at officers. Police told her she was formally trespassed and she cursed and shouted some more.
When the chimney swifts return to Bethlehem this spring, the migratory birds will find that their social status got kicked up a few notches during their absence.

Bethlehem City Council voted Tuesday night to name the aerial acrobats the citys official bird after a lobbying campaign by a remarkable group of Freemansburg Elementary School fourth graders.

The plight of these urban dwellers popped into the communitys consciousness late last year as Bethlehem resident Jennie Glirain fought to save a favorite habitat of the local swift community: The chimney of Bethlehems Masonic Temple.

It houses tens of thousands of chimney swifts each fall migration season, but the Masonic Temple was slated for the wrecking ball as part of the redevelopment of the adjacent Wilbur Mansion.

Gilrain contacted developer John Noble to explain to him how pivotal the temples chimney is to the migratory swifts ecosystem and Noble quickly got on board with the goal of either saving the chimney or building a new habitat. A GoFundMe is ongoing to raise $50,000 for the effort.

Once you realize the impact this thing has on potentially tens of thousands of birds, Noble said in December, it becomes a no-brainer.

Gilrain petitioned Bethlehem City Council to elevate the birds to the honor, gaining the support of the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society, the local chapter of the Sierra Club and Bethlehems Environmental Advisory Council. She used the birds to teach her fourth-grade students about habitat loss and then some of them called into Tuesday nights meeting.

A "screaming frenzy" of chimney swifts.Courtesy of Jennie Gilrain

Swifts have called Bethlehem home since the industrial revolution, taking up residence in the citys many rough, vertical surfaces. Swifts populations are in sharp decline; the population is estimated to have decreased by 72% since the mid-1960s.

Councilwoman Olga Negron introduced the resolution to name the chimney swifts as the citys official bird.

Theres a lot of potential for us to use that in many different ways, but more than anything to save the chimney swifts, Negron said.

Making chimney swifts the city bird could draw birdwatchers and boost the local economy, Negron said. Local community economies benefit from the $14.9 million bird watchers spend on food, lodging and transportation, which created 666,000 jobs in 2011, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services National Survey, the resolution notes.

Swifts are voracious insect eaters  some estimates say they eat 2,000 per day  and they are relatively clean birds, the resolution notes.

The measure garnered enthusiastic support from council.

Councilman J. William Reynolds thanked the students who called into the meeting and praised them for their comments.

Please dont ever stop calling your government and telling us what you think, Councilwoman Paige Van Wirt said. It was wonderful.

Councilman Michael Colon said he first learned of chimney swifts during a summer walk in a park with structure for chimney swifts to roost. He suggested this could be a great Eagle Scout project for local students.

It would be a low maintenance addition to any of our local parks and could have even an education piece potentially , Colon said.

Gilrain said a month ago that shes in the process of applying for a grant from the Lehigh Valley Engaged Humanities Consortium that would help to set up public forums with the Bethlehem Area Public Library to educate residents on not only the birds themselves, but changing construction methods to benefit them.

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Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.
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The Centre told the Supreme Court Thursday that Tamil Nadu Governor has taken a stand that the of India is the appropriate competent authority to deal with the state government's 2018 recommendation to grant remission to A G Perarivalan, who is serving life term in case.

The Centre said that the Governor recorded his decision after considering all the facts on record and perusing the relevant documents.

In an affidavit, the Ministry of Home Affairs said the proposal received by the Central government will be processed in accordance with law.

"His Excellency the Governor of Tamil Nadu considered all the facts on record and after perusal of the relevant documents, recorded that the of India is the appropriate competent authority to deal with the said request for remittance matter vide his order dated January 25, 2021. The proposal received by the Central Government will be processed in accordance with law," the MHA said in the affidavit.

The apex court on January 21 was informed that Governor Banwarilal Purohit will decide in 3-4 days on the state government's 2018 recommendation to grant remission to Perarivalan.

It had said it is good that Governor is deciding the issue and had the decision been taken earlier, it could saved the court lot of efforts.

The state government had earlier told the top court that the Cabinet has already passed a resolution on September 9, 2018 and recommended to the Governor for the premature release of all seven convicts in the case.

Besides Perarivalan, other six convicts sentenced to life imprisonment include Nalini Sriharan, her husband Murugan, Santhan, Jayakumar, Ravichandran and Robert Pyas.

All the seven were convicted by a special TADA court for their role in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991 during an election rally at nearby Sriperumbudur and sentenced to death,but later it was commuted to life imprisonment.

Earlier, on November 27 last year the top court had extended by one week the parole of Perarivalan and directed the state to provide escort to him while visiting the doctor.

Perarivalan was first granted parole from November 9-23, last year by the Madras High Court on medical grounds, which was extended by the top court after he had submitted that he has 25 per cent blockage in kidney and needs surgical intervention.

The CBI, in its affidavit of November 20, last year had told the apex court that the Governor has to take a call on grant of remission to Perarivalan.

The probe agency has said that Perarivalan is not the subject matter of further investigation carried out by the CBI-led Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) which is conducting a probe on the aspect of larger conspiracy as per the mandate of the Jain Commission report.

On November 3, last year the top court had expressed unhappiness over the pendency of a plea by a convict seeking pardon in the case for over two years with the Tamil Nadu Governor.

The CBI, in its 24-page affidavit, had said, It is for the His Excellency Governor of Tamil Nadu to take a call on the issue whether remission is to be granted or not and in so far as relief is concerned in the present matter CBI has no role.

Perarivalan's counsel had earlier said his role was only limited to procuring nine-volt batteries, which were allegedly, used in the improvised explosive device (IED) that had killed Gandhi.

The top court had earlier dismissed a plea of Perarivalan seeking recall of the May 11, 1999 verdict upholding his conviction, saying the material brought on record does not inspire confidence to interfere with the verdict in which he and three others were initially awarded the death sentence, later commuted to life term.

Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally. Fourteen others, including Dhanu herself, were also killed.

In its May 1999 order, the top court had upheld the death sentence of four convicts -- Perarivalan, Murugan, Santham and Nalini.

In April 2000, the then Tamil Nadu Governor had commuted the death sentence of Nalini on the basis of the state government's recommendation and an appeal by former Congress and Rajiv Gandhi's widow Sonia Gandhi.

On February 18, 2014, the top court had commuted the death sentence of Perarivalan to life imprisonment, along with that of two other prisoners -- Santhan and Murugan -- on the grounds of an 11-year delay in deciding their mercy pleas by the Centre.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Taiwan has opened a representative office in the South American country of Guyana, a move that has attracted ire of Chinese administration. According to Taiwanese Foreign Ministry, the island inked an agreement with Guyana on January 11 to open a Taiwan office, in effect a de facto embassy. Guyana has been in a dispute with neighboring Venezuela, a strong Chinese ally since long and an alliance between Taiwan and Guyana could hold strategic importance for both.

Since Taiwans independence, China has claimed authority over its territory citing its One nation, two system policy. In the recent months, the communist nation has stepped up its threats to bring the self-governing island under its control by military force with frequent war games and aerial patrols. China has long opposed Taiwans statehood and establishment of diplomatic offices abroad.

Read: Beijing Official On Taiwan, Myanmar And Xinjiang

'For trade purposes'

Meanwhile, Taiwans foreign ministry asserted that its foreign office in Guyana had begun its initial operation back on January 15 noting that the Caribbean nation was rich in natural resources. Guyanas , however, clarified that it was not recognizing Taiwan as an independent state adding that the office was being set up solely for trade purposes. Speaking to international media reports, Guyanese foreign minister Hugh Todd stated that what was being set up is a trade and investment office in Georgetown to create space for the private sector in Taiwan and Guyana to do business. He further added that Guyana was not recognising Taiwan as an independent state or establishing diplomatic relations with Taipei.

Read: Taiwan Establishes Trade Office In Guyana

China terms it as 'mistake'

However, the move had attracted the angst of Chinese administration who has warned Guyana to refrain for engaging in any diplomatic relation with Taipei. Speaking at a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin asserted that Beijing hoped Guyana would not engage in official ties with Taiwan, calling on the country to "earnestly take steps to correct their mistake".

Taiwan has also become a bone of contestation between China and the US. China recently ramped up the use of military and diplomatic threats to intimidate the island. However, the US has repeatedly shown support for the island signing multiple arms deals and suppliers. The country is also obliged to provide it with means to defend Taiwan under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.

Read: Pompeo Lifts US-Taiwan Restrictions, Says 'Taiwan Is No Exception'

Read: Beijing Official On Taiwan, Myanmar And Xinjiang
The International Criminal Court is to hand down its judgment today February 4 in the case of Ugandan rebel Dominic Ongwen, a former member of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Belief in spirits has been central to the arguments of the defence. It has sought, before a court ill-equipped to judge "non-Western" behaviour, to justify Ongwen's behaviour by his fear of supernatural powers said to be vested in the LRA's supreme leader, Joseph Kony.

Dominic Ongwen, an Acholi from northern Uganda who has been in the hands of international justice since January 2015, faces 70 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes for events that took place between July 2002 and December 2005. The charges brought against him are extremely grave: murder, rape, sexual slavery, torture, cruel treatment, enslavement, outrages upon personal dignity, conscription and use of children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities.

This man who became commander of the LRA's Sinia brigade did not join the rebels in the bush of his own free will. Presented by the ICC Prosecutor as one of the most formidable commanders of the Lord's Resistance Army, he was abducted by this brutal rebellion when he was a child. He was nine years old, his lawyers said.

Joseph Kony the thought-reader

As soon as he was in Kony's grip, the young captive was subjected to extreme indoctrination. According to the defence, he was taught that LRA leader Kony, a self-proclaimed prophet, was endowed with spiritual strength, could read his troops' thoughts and was possessed by spirits through which he could monitor the actions of each of his fighters.

Ongwen was taught also that Kony cast evil spells on captives who tried to escape him or disobey his orders, say his lawyers. The defence argues that the former child soldier, now an adult, was not responsible for his actions, but rather it is the spirits or Kony who are responsible. Kony, who has been under an ICC arrest warrant since July 2005, is still at large, according to the court.

The defence team is well aware of the difficulty of convincing a court made up people mainly trained in the Western mould, a thousand miles away from the cultural realities of the Acholi people in northern Uganda, of its thesis. "It should not be left to our intellect, the intellect of counsels in this room to carry the day," said lead defence counsel Krispus Ayena Odongo in his closing arguments in March 2020. "It should be appreciation of the factual situation as perceived by your Honours that should determine this case one way or the other."

Mysticism that terrorizes and subjugates

"This mysticism, your Honours would realize, gripped most of the abductees with absolute awe and put them in total submission," the Ugandan lawyer told the Court. "We submit that the Prosecution has been at a tangent with the factual situation of this case. They turned their back to the core issues, which is the character of the LRA. They ignored the effects of spiritualism on the mental state of Mr Ongwen." International justice should have pursued Kony instead, or the Ugandan government for failing to protect its citizens, he argued, stressing that this is a special case. "Kony is not an ordinary person.

Ongwen, like the rest of northern Ugandans, believed the peculiarity and effectiveness of Joseph Kony's spiritualism. The LRA is basically about spirit control, control of the forces through alleged spirit medium, and that medium dwelt in only one person who was the alpha and the omega of LRA, that was Joseph Kony."

Ayena Odongo's team brought several witnesses in support of its thesis, including former LRA captives and traditional healers from Acholi villages. They claimed that Kony was indeed endowed with natural forces. Experts also testified, including Kristof Titeca, a researcher at the University of Antwerp. Questioned by Justice Info in January 2021, this academic explained the essence of his testimony before the judges: "Spirits were a central element to the LRA. Joseph Kony claims to be possessed by a range of spirits, who dictate him what to do."

As a result, fighters believe they must carry out his orders, or else they will be punished - often killed. "This gave Kony particular powers, as they believed he could read their minds, or could predict the future. This, for example, stopped some combatants from trying to escape from the LRA." But Titeca says other combatants stayed for fear of seeing their families killed in reprisal.

System ill-equipped to assess non-Western behaviour

In a January 17, 2019 article in the Washington Post after his ICC testimony, Titeca lamented that the prosecutor did not see fit to cross-examine Ugandan witnesses who testified about belief in spirits within the LRA. Yet he, a Western expert removed from the context, was indeed cross-examined, he wrote.

"In sum, international justice is fraught with difficulties. While international law claims to apply universal justice, it still seems underequipped to deal with spirits that are an integral part of the worldview of many of the people caught up in trials." For this researcher, who worked for several years on the LRA, "it remains to be seen how willing, and able, the ICC will be to take spiritual beliefs into account in its rulings".

Adina Loredana-Nistor, a PhD student researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, is another western expert on the LRA. She has closely followed the Ongwen trial. "Joseph Kony and his spirits have definitely been among the most 'present' absent figures," she says. "Kony's name has been mentioned in over 270 trial transcripts. Issues related to spiritualism have equally been discussed at length." But she calls for caution, as belief in Kony's supernatural forces must have varied over time and according to the LRA brigades.

"This is not a homogenous view that can be applied as an explanation umbrella to all LRA members," Loredana-Nistor told Justice Info. "Several witnesses (mostly prosecution and victim's representatives' witnesses) stated that they knew nothing about spiritualism within the LRA, and it may well be that this aspect was not consistently implemented throughout all the brigades uniformly."

LRA changes over time

Tim Allen, a professor at the London School of Economics, has been interested in the LRA since its inception in the 1980s. He wrote his thesis on northern Uganda and published two books on the Kony movement. In his testimony before the ICC on January 16, 2017, he made an observation similar to that of Nistor. "The LRA has changed radically over the years," Allen says, suggesting that the armed group was not always a monolithic bloc where all regulations were applied with equal rigour.

Some of its former members have even said that Kony was no longer possessed by spirits after the 1990s. But Allen says it was the people captured as children who were most marked by this belief in Kony's spiritual forces. "Many of those who were abducted as children were deeply affected by the spiritual qualities of the Lord's Resistance Army. Some of those whom I interviewed after they returned remained fearful, for example, that Kony would know what they were thinking or would know where they were after they returned."

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Fear of Kony

Others have said they feared Kony for other reasons, Allen continues. "I think it was very variable. Most people were fearful of Kony himself. And I think what they feared most, it was the kind of unpredictability of Kony. Sometimes he could be incredibly friendly and seem very reasonable, and sometimes he would start speaking in strange voices or would act in a violent way. So I think even those who didn't buy into the spiritual aspects of the LRA were fearful of Kony."

Will the judges take into account, in their decision, the reasoning of the defence regarding belief in spirits? "I wouldn't be surprised if the judgment stayed silent on this issue as has happened before in other such trials that touched upon issues of spirituality, such as the trials at the Special Court for Sierra Leone," says Nistor.

At the ICC, however, in the trial of Germain Katanga, judges criticized the prosecutor for failing to investigate the role of fetishes in the attack on Bogoro, for which the former Congolese militia leader was sentenced to 12 years in prison. "Each chamber acts differently and there is room for many approaches and moreover, international criminal law is evolving," commented Nistor.

However, she thinks that "the issue of spiritualism could be considered with regard to some of the specific evidence presented". While she doubts that spiritualism alone will determine the outcome of the trial, she nevertheless believes that "it would be more relevant to take it into account in assessing the overall coercive nature of the environment in which the LRA members lived, for example". The ICC's judgment is eagerly awaited, particularly in northern Uganda, where some still believe in the strength of spirits.

The United Arab Emirates' Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, discussed on the phone with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken "strategic relations and Middle East regional issues," according to a statement published on Thursday on the UAE's foreign ministry website.

They "discussed joint cooperation to confront regional threats, and work to further maintain security and stability in the region," the statement said.

The UAE's ambassador to Washington said on Tuesday he was confident the sale of F-35 jets to his country would go through after a review by President Joe Bidens administration of some pending arms sales to U.S. allies.

The UAE had during Donald Trump's last day in office signed agreements to buy up to 50 F-35 jets, 18 armed drones and other defense equipment in a deal worth $23 billion.

The White House on Monday said Biden will maintain tariffs on aluminum imports from the United Arab Emirates, reversing a move to end the levies issued by Donald Trump on his last day as president.

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PASADENA, California  A man who was refused service at a restaurant Wednesday because he was not wearing a mask pulled out a handgun, demanding he be given all of the food he could carry.

No one was injured in the incident at Roscoes House of Chicken and Waffles, KABC Channel 7 reports. But the suspect was able to avoid arrest.

The Los Angeles Times reports the suspect and another man, who was wearing a mask, entered Roscoes Wednesday evening. The suspect began arguing with a restaurant worker when he was told he needed to put on a mask, the Times reports.

KABC reports the man pulled out a gun. Workers were confused because the suspect did not go toward the registers, but instead toward the back of the restaurant, demanding he be given chicken, waffles and syrup.

Both men then left the restaurant after the suspect took food. Police are still looking for the suspects, reports say.

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Gigi Hadid has revealed that boyfriend Zayn Malik caught their newborn when she delivered daughter Khai at home following a 14 hour labour.

Speaking to Vogue magazine - along with a cover shoot that she shot just 10 weeks after giving birth - the model spoke candidly about her 'animalistic' experience.

The cover girl, 25, revealed she welcomed her first child at her family ranch in Bucks County, Pennsylvania on September 20 with Zayn, her mother, Yolanda; her sister, Bella; and a local midwife and her assistant by her side.

Vogue cover girl: Gigi Hadid has revealed that boyfriend Zayn Malik caught their newborn when she delivered daughter Khai at home following a 14 hour labour

Admitting that she looked 'crazy' during labour, Gigi described her experience by stating, 'I was an animal woman'.

Revealing that she had no idea she had even given birth amid the wild experience and exhaustion, she explained that she looked up to see new dad Zayn cradling their newborn after catching their daughter,

She noted: 'I had to dig deep. I knew it was going to be the craziest pain in my life, but you have to surrender to it and be like, "This is what it is". I loved that.'

New mother: Speaking to Vogue magazine - along with a cover shoot that she shot just 10 weeks after giving birth - the model spoke candidly about her experience

Although she made it through, Gigi confessed that there were times in her labour where she had second thoughts about having a natural birth.

'There definitely was a point where I was like, I wonder what it would be like with an epidural, how it would be different', she mused.

'My midwife looked at me and was like, "You're doing it. No one can help you. You're past the point of the epidural anyway, so you'd be pushing exactly the same way in a hospital bed."'

Great outlook: Shooting the cover a mere 10 weeks after welcoming her first child, the model was under no illusion that her body hadn't changed, but remained unfazed

Gigi added that she could see 'terror' in the eyes of her family members, but could also see that they remained tremendously proud of her efforts.

'I know my mom and Zayn and Bella were proud of me, but at certain points I saw each of them in terror,' Gigi recalled. 'Afterward, Z and I looked at each other and were like, "We can have some time before we do that again"'.

Over the span of four years, Gigi has made 35 appearances on international Vogue magazine covers, but this one was different.

New mum: Gigi revealed that childbirth was the 'craziest pain she'd ever felt in her life', and confessed that she had second thoughts about having a natural birth.

Shooting the cover a mere 10 weeks after welcoming her first child, the model was under no illusion that her body hadn't changed, but remained unfazed.

In an empowering statement, she said: 'I know that I'm not as small as I was before, but I also am a very realistic thinker.

'I straight up was like, "Yeah, I'll shoot a Vogue cover, but I'm obviously not going to be a size 0"'.

She added: 'Nor do I, at this point, feel like I need to be back to that. I also think it's a blessing of this time in fashion that anyone who says that I have to be that can suck it.'

Doting daddy: Revealing that she had no idea she had even given birth amid the wild experience, Gigi explained that she looked up to see new dad Zayn cradling their newborn

Although Gigi's modelling career began at the age of two when she was began shooting with Baby Guess, her childhood was kept largely out of the spotlight.

This is something both Gigi and Zayn want for their daughter, with the blonde bombshell explaining that she wants to protect her child's privacy.

She consulted with some of her famous friends on the issue - citing Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds as the type of parents she wishes to emulate.

Blake told the magazine that she and Gigi began speaking about the matter months ago, with Blake advising the star to do whatever she feels is right, noting that while she may be open on social media, it is up to her the 'boundaries' she wishes to set.

Having moved to her family's ranch amid the pandemic, Gigi has kept her social media activity to a minimum, but does often treat her fans to glimpses at her life as a new mother.

Girl power: The cover girl, 25, revealed she welcomed her first child at her family ranch in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in September with her mother, Yolanda and sister, Bella at her side

Gigi is also aware of the lessons she wishes to bestow upon a daughter at an early age - particularly understanding her heritage.

Zayn is of Pakistani heritage while Gigi's father, Mohamed is Palestinian.

Discussing her experience growing up in a household with a Muslim father and Christian mother, Gigi revealed that she was grateful that it taught her about religion while other children remained ignorant.

She recalled a time when her younger brother Anwar, now 21, was told in elementary school that their father was a 'terrorist' after 9/11, simply because he was Muslim.

Revealing that she never wants her daughter to be put in a similar position, she vowed that she and Zayn will teach Khai to 'fully understand' her background and 'give her the tools' to challenge and teach any children that may not understand and taunt her.

Support: Gigi has revealed that she asked advice from friend Blake Lively on how much of her child she should share with the world (pictured together in 2017)

While Gigi is now a proud mother of her own, her own mum Yolanda has also never felt prouder.

Yolanda told Vogue: 'I'm proud of her face on a magazine, but seeing her give birth was a whole other level of proud.

'You go from looking at her as a daughter to looking at her as a fellow mother.'

Family values: Gigi is also aware of the lessons she wishes to bestow upon a daughter at an early age - particularly understanding her heritage (pictured with Anwar, Yolanda and Bella in 2015)

Although Gigi gave birth in September, she chose to keep her daughter's name private until last month, when she quietly changed her Instagram bio to read, 'Khai's mom'.

The internet was lit up with speculation the newborn had been named Dorothea, after her friend Taylor Swift released a song of the same name back in December.

The name does, however, bear a resemblance to Gigi's sister Bella Hadid's middle name, Khair.

Fans have also suggested the name is a nod to the Arabic roots in both of their families.

According to some speculators, the name Khai reportedly means 'crowned' in Arabic, which would fit nicely with Zayn's surname which means 'King'.

Gigi and Zayn were first linked in November 2015 after she split from Joe Jonas; by January 2016, Gigi donned a Z necklace to Paris Fashion Week and had him as her phone background, although Zayn said they were 'good friends.'

That same month, Gigi starred in his Pillowtalk music video, which had several steamy moments between the two.

The couple covered Vogue in April 2016 for a love filled shoot and one month later, they attend the Met Gala together.

Khai's mom: Although Gigi gave birth in September, she chose to keep her daughter's name private until last month, when she quietly changed her Instagram bio to read, 'Khai's mom'

Gigi and Zayn split in March 2018 but one month later, they were seen kissing in New York City.

By January 2019 they split again but were back together by December 2019; the couple confirmed their romance again in February 2020. She shared a throwback snap of Zayn at the Hadid family farm in December 2019.

By April 28, 2020, Gigi was rumored to be pregnant, which she confirmed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Vogue's March 2020 issue is available on newsstands nationwide on February 16th.
In October last year, Sanjay Dutt who was diagnosed with lung cancer, had taken to his social media handle to announce that he is cancer free. The actor's close friend and producer Rahul Mittra in a recent interaction with ETimes, opened up about Dutt's battle with the Big C.

Rahul who worked with Sanjay Dutt on films like Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3 and Torbaaz told the tabloid, "I think August 11 was the first time that the media reported that Sanjay has stage 4 lung cancer. I had requested the media to refrain from speculation as certain tests were still going on. We all knew there was a problem but I wanted him to first give a statement and then the media could have written about it- but anyway."

Talking about Dutt's strong will power to defeat cancer, Mittra continued, "But Sanju did not linger and waste time. He immediately got down to taking all the possible steps to cure himself. It was being said and discussed that he might go abroad for treatment but India has such good doctors and he decided to not fly out. He accepted his problem and mind you, it takes a lot of courage to do that. Some people in his place might not have been able to take it and got shaken up mentally. But this is Sanjay Dutt we are talking about. The world knows this man's journey which has had so many problems and yet he has borne and faced them. Rajkumar Hirani's film Sanju was a stark depiction of that."

Rahul told the tabloid that he cried uncontrollably when he heard Sanju's voice on the phone after his cancer diagnosis.

"I still cannot forget the first time I spoke to him after it was confirmed that he had the Big C. I broke down on the phone and told him to promise me that he would come out of it.And he promised. He told me that I should take care of myself as friends have to be strong. It was so reassuring," he told the leading daily.

He further added, "Sanju is a rock. He was determined to defeat cancer. Hats off to his will-power. You also need wisdom to take stock of things if you are in a crisis and Sanju has that."

Rahul said that he missed his meeting with Dutt a few days back when the latter was shooting at Yash Raj Studios. He was quoted as saying, "I had to fly back to Delhi and his shoot had got a bit extended, that day. We were supposed to have lunch together. I cannot wait to meet him next which will now happen about 15 days later. I have had 2 films with Sanju in the last 4 years (Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3, Torbaaz), there's so much to learn from him, he's a fighter, he's a survivor, he's a winner."

Further, Mittra revealed that Sanjay Dutt's latest MRI and PET scan says he is cancer free. Now, that's a sigh of relief for all his fans!

Last year, after recovering from cancer, the Khalnayak actor had penned a heartfelt note that read, "The last few weeks were very difficult time for my family and me. But like they say, God gives the hardest battles to his strongest soldiers. And today, on the occasion of my kids' birthday, I am happy to come out victorious from this battle and be able to give them the best gift I can--the health and well-being of our family."

With regards to work, Sanjay Dutt will next be seen in Yash starrer KGF Chapter 2, Ranbir Kapoor's Shamshera and Akshay Kumar's Prithviraj.

ALSO READ: Prithviraj Director Says Sanjay Dutt Has Done Phenomenal Work In The Film; 'Can't Wait For The World To See'

ALSO READ: Sanjay Dutt Sails Through The Hardships With His Positivity And Going On Attitude
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 01:20:24|Editor: huaxia

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ULAN BATOR, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's State Emergency Commission (SEC) on Wednesday decided to impose lockdown measures again here in the capital city Ulan Bator during the traditional White Moon festival or the Lunar New Year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The total lockdown for a period of two weeks in the city will take effect on Feb. 11 or Lunar New Year's Eve known as "Bituun" in Mongolia, according to the SEC.

"During this holiday, people visit their parents, relatives and friends. So, there is no other way but to reimpose a 24-hour strict lockdown in the capital city to prevent the situation of coronavirus infection from getting worse," Sainbuyan Amarsaikhan, head of the SEC or deputy prime minister, said at a press conference.

Last month, the Mongolian government made a decision not to publicly celebrate the traditional White Moon festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Mongolians are still preparing for the holiday which is actually a combination of ringing the old year out and the new year in, as well as a celebration when families get together.

Mongolia confirmed its first case of COVID-19 in March 2020. Its first local transmission was detected in early November, when a woman tested positive after her husband returning from Russia finished his 21-day mandatory quarantine.

The incident triggered a nationwide lockdown that was later extended in Ulan Bator and two provinces until Dec. 11. After that, the Mongolian government reimposed lockdown measures in Ulan Bator, which was the hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, from Dec. 23 to Jan. 6 and extended the strict all-day lockdown until Jan. 11 to curb resurging local cases.

So far, Mongolia has reported 1,859 COVID-19 cases, and more than 1,000 of them were detected in Ulan Bator, home to over half of the country's 3.3 million population. Enditem
The debt rose by $647 million, to almost $8 billion, in the course of 2020 amid a steep recession primarily caused by the coronavirus pandemic. According to government projections, it will likely pass the $9 billion mark by the end of this year.

It would be strange if the body tasked with public debt management was not concerned [about the rising debt,] Janjughazian told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan.

In his words, the debt will be equivalent to around 70 percent of Gross Domestic Product if the Armenian economy grows in 2021 at a 3.2 percent rate forecast by the government. Slower economic growth, anticipated by the countrys Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, would translate into a higher debt-to-GDP ratio.

As a rule, for developing countries a debt-to-GDP ratio exceeding 70 percent is considered a high or at least medium level of risk when it is not clear  how the authorities plan to bring it back to a more manageable level, said Janjughazian.

We must make every effort to return to that level. We must think not about reducing the debt in absolute terms but about achieving faster GDP growth, which is part of our programs, added the minister.

Tao Zhang, the IMFs deputy managing director, said in December that the authorities in Yerevan remain committed to taking measures to safeguard debt sustainability. The Armenian debt should fall to around 60 percent of GDP over the medium-term as a result of those measures, he said in a statement.

The debt rose further last week after Armenia issued its fourth Eurobond worth $750 million. Janjughazian confirmed that the money will be mostly used for covering the governments 2021 budget deficit projected at 341 billion drams ($658 million), or at least 5.3 percent of GDP.

Speaking at Thursdays cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian touted the fact that the 10-year dollar-denominated bonds were sold at a record-low yield of 3.9 percent because of a strong interest from foreign investors.

This is certainly a very important signal for our economy. A guarantee of macroeconomic stability has thus been created, claimed Pashinian.
Eastern Airways Expands Into Gibraltar From Birmingham & Southampton

Eastern Airways, UK, is from 24th May to serve the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar with the first services operating from Birmingham and Southampton.

The UK based airline will make this major step operating from Gibraltar to the UK from Southampton beginning 24th May and Birmingham from 28th May, both initially twice weekly on a Monday and Friday. This will be the first scheduled passenger service to Gibraltar from Southampton with strong maritime, finance and tourism links to the British peninsula, while the Midlands is restored after a 4-year hiatus following the demise of Monarch.

The services between Birmingham, Southampton and Gibraltar will be operated on the airlines Embraer 190 e-Jet fleet which includes the type being based at Southampton for the first-time. With fares starting from 74.99 one-way, including taxes and a hold-bag as standard, flights are now available to book at www.easternairways.com

Roger Hage, GM for Eastern Airways, said: This marks a major development in the network Eastern Airways offers as our first regular scheduled service to the Mediterranean peninsula adjoining Spain. The new services see both our return to Birmingham Airport as an operator while extending the growing number of destinations served from our Southampton hub. With a quality array of hotels, beaches, water-sports and heritage, this UK territory offers an exciting short-break destination aside from its role in UK business, notably financial services and maritime. With easy access to the south-coast of Spain also a benefit, working together with HM Government of Gibraltar has enabled this to be the first service to be announced, supporting UK regional airports and their role in direct European connectivity.

Minister for Business, Tourism, Transport and the Port of Her Majestys Government of Gibraltar the Hon Vijay Daryanani MP said, I stated recently that I would be able to announce the addition of another airline with services to Gibraltar and therefore it gives me great pleasure to make this announcement of Eastern Airways today. The links with both Birmingham and Southampton will open up new catchment areas for Gibraltar. Work by this Government to ensure that the tourism sector recovers and flourishes after this pandemic does not stop. The news will no doubt be welcomed by the local business community and the tourism, retail and hospitality industries. This Government is delivering air services to Gibraltar in an unprecedented manner and is committed to adding further routes and more carriers in due course.

Steve Szalay, operations director at Southampton Airport, said: The introduction of Eastern Airways first-ever service to Gibraltar is tremendous news and demonstrates the airlines continued desire to grow its operations at Southampton Airport.

This is also a new destination for the airport and a positive step forward given the challenging conditions our entire industry continues to face. We look forward to working with Eastern to develop this service further and welcoming the first passengers later this year and indeed the basing of an Eastern Airways Embraer 190 aircraft to make this route and others possible.

Tom Screen, Aviation Director for Birmingham Airport said: "It is great news that Eastern Airways are back at Birmingham offering customers the chance to fly direct to Gibraltar again, this route has been unserved from Birmingham since 2017. Gibraltar is a popular destination to our leisure customers, for a sunny getaway, but also an important business route providing access to this British territory. We believe this route will be a sign of things to come as they develop their network further.

Both Birmingham Airport and Eastern Airways have a full enhanced cleaning structure in place and can reassure customers that their safety if is of paramount importance.

Eastern Airways services have been carefully reintroduced, aligned to changes in Covid-19 restrictions, with extensive cleaning measures on-board and throughout all aspects of the airport for the safety of all passengers.

The independent UK-based carrier was formed in 1997 and already serves UK hubs including Aberdeen, Anglesey, Belfast-City, Cardiff-Wales, Humberside, Leeds-Bradford, London Heathrow, Manchester, Newcastle, Newquay, Southampton and Teesside with Birmingham, Dublin, Nantes, Rennes and now Gibraltar added in so far this year.

Eastern Airways also has a codeshare partnership focused on Southampton with Aurigny, Guernseys airline, to optimise increased passenger connectivity to the Channel Islands.
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HOUSTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Golden Section Ventures (GSV) led a $1.1 million growth investment round in BetterYet Loyalty, Inc (Tango) to catalyze growth and enable the team to scale recent progress. Tango provides front-of-house ordering & payment management systems to multi-location restaurants and bars.

Tango

"The Tango team has distinguished themselves in their ability to pivot into customer value at several points over the last year. We are excited to partner with this dynamic team in providing needed solutions to an important industry. Tango's solutions have never been needed more than right now and we are confident that the team can continue to execute to impact the food service industry for good," says Adam Day, General Partner at GSV.

"We partner with driven founders that know their customer's pain points and have built solid solutions to drive value. We stay close to our skill set and believe that Mark Provost, Alan Shortz and Colin Wymore are excellent examples of the founders we love to partner with," says Dougal Cameron, General Partner at GSV.

"Hospitality is at an inflection point. Businesses across the board are looking for new innovations to help them redefine how they do things. Our goal at Tango is to help them do more with less - a message really resonating right now," says Alan Shortz, CEO of Tango.

"Over the last year we have had the honor of providing our customers with solutions to help weather unparalleled industry challenges, while co-authoring solutions that will power the industry's growth for years to come. This partnership with GSV will provide us with the foundation to deliver on that intent," says Mark Provost, COO of Tango.

Tango is the leader in hospitality technology solutions. The company provides headache-free technology to help hospitality companies focus on delivering great customer experiences. Tango's solutions are integrated with most major POS systems to give its customers an all-in-one solution. For more information, please visit https://www.paywithtango.com.

GSV is a Houston based investment fund specializing in early-stage B2B software companies at the inflection point of expansion. GSV partners with driven entrepreneurs to build great companies. The fund is excited to meet entrepreneurs who have a deep understanding of the end customer's problems and an existing product with demonstrated traction. For more information, please visit https://www.gstvc.com.

Contact:

Tango

1311 Vine St

Cincinnati, OH 45202

https://paywithtango.com

Mark Provost, [email protected]

Golden Section Ventures

808 Travis Street, Suite 1406

Houston, Texas 77002

https://gstvc.com

Dougal Cameron, [email protected]

8889359359

SOURCE Golden Section Ventures

Related Links

https://www.gstvc.com


File image: US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC. (Image: Reuters)

Recognising that peaceful protests are a hallmark of a thriving democracy, the United States on February 4 said that it recognises that unhindered access to information is fundamental to the freedom of expression.

We recognize that peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy, and note that the Indian Supreme Court has stated the same. We encourage that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue. We recognise that unhindered access to information, including the internet, is fundamental to the freedom of expression and a hallmark of a thriving democracy, a US State Department spokesperson said in a statement.

United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment, the statement added.

News agency PTI also quoted the spokesperson as indicating that the new Joe Biden administration is supportive of the Indian government's move to reform the agricultural sector that attracts private investment and greater market access to farmers.

Meanwhile, several American lawmakers came out in support of the farmers' protests in India. "I am concerned by the reported actions against peaceful demonstrators protesting new agricultural reform laws in India," Congresswoman Haley Stevens said.

In a statement, she encouraged the Narendra Modi government and representatives of the protesting farmers to engage in productive discussions.

"I will continue to monitor this situation closely. It has been particularly valuable to engage with stakeholders across the district on this topic and I remain appreciative to all who have reached out to share their perspective," Stevens said.

Another Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, expressed solidarity with all the farmers protesting for their livelihood across India. "India must protect their basic democratic rights, allow for the free flow of information, reinstate internet access, and release all the journalists detained for covering the protests," she wrote on Twitter.

Referring to the farmers' protests, Meena Harris, niece of Vice President Kamala Harris, alleged that the world's biggest democracy is under an assault.

"It's no coincidence that the world's oldest democracy was attacked not even a month ago, and as we speak, the most populous democracy is under assault. This is related. We ALL should be outraged by India's internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters," she said in a tweet.

In a separate statement, Gurinder Singh Khalsa, chairman of the Sikhs Political Action Committee, said the "historic" farmers' protest is turning out to be the "biggest-ever revolution" against the Indian government's crony capitalism.

"This is the beginning of a movement for better accountability and transparency against crony capitalism. World was watching and now it has started reacting and mobilising in support of this historic revolution of Indian farmers. This will be bigger than India's freedom Revolution," Khalsa, who is based in Indiana, said.

Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said India's new farm laws have the "potential to represent a significant step forward" for reforms in the agriculture sector.

"We believe the farm bills do have the potential to represent a significant step forward for agricultural reforms in India. The measures will enable farmers to directly contract with sellers, allow farmers to retain a greater share of the surplus by reducing the role of middlemen, enhance efficiency and support rural growth," IMF Communications Director Gerry Rice told reporters here last month.

(With inputs from PTI)
Like many of us, Im sure Lafayette Parish Deputy Clyde Kerr III was looking forward to the new year, putting 2020 behind. Last year was so bad. Now, Kerr is dead.

Something called COVID-19 popped on our radar screens early last year, just after Mardi Gras, and we were curious when  BAM!  it hit us that we were a part of a global pandemic.

Things were getting worse with the virus when, on March 13, Breonna Taylor was shot and killed  in her apartment. Louisville plainclothes police officers forced themselves into her home. There were police reports, news stories. Demonstrations and protests ensued. Taylors death got some national attention, but there was no video and it was mostly a Kentucky news story.

The virus got worse. More people got sick. More people were dying from the vicious virus. More Black people were dying from the virus. More Black people were dying at the hands of police officers.

Deputy who killed himself left haunting videos on racist policing, division: 'I've had enough' Before deputy Clyde Kerr III took his own life Monday outside the Lafayette Parish Sheriffs Office, he left haunting final words in a series 

Things continued getting worse with the virus when, on May 25, George Floyd was killed by police officers on a Minneapolis street. Someone at a store accused Floyd of trying to pass off a counterfeit $20 bill as real. Several officers were dispatched. He was pushed against a wall, then down on the street and handcuffed. Three officers kneeled on him. He cried out for his mother. Minutes later, he was dead.

There were police reports, news stories, demonstrations.

There was video.

A short few days later, Kerr was in Acadiana when he saw the Floyd video. Like most people, including Black people, and most especially Black men, he didnt like what he saw. He was emotionally drained. How do I know? On May 31, he recorded a 44:43 video on YouTube. Titled This Needs & Has To Be Said!, Kerr said on video he was processing the incident, but it was his sons response that was the larger issue.

His son, 13, had watched the video, start to finish. He watched Floyd die. He asked Kerr why. I couldnt explain it, Kerr said on the video. What hurt me the most was having to explain this to him. ... I could tell he lost a piece of his innocence.

He added, I have cousins that look exactly like Floyd.

I feel him. Like him, I, too, have cousins, relatives, friends who look like Floyd. We are Floyd. It hurt.

By April, about 70% of the Louisianans who died of the virus were Black, compared to a statewide Black population of about 32%. This was happening nationally. The Black Lives Matter movement was launched after the senseless killing of Trayvon Martin, 17, in Sanford, Florida, and after Michael Brown, 18, who supposedly stole a box of cigars, was killed during a struggle with officers. Police killed Eric Garner, 43, accused of illegally selling cigarettes in Staten Island, New York. They listened to him cry I cant breathe. There was video. Alton Sterling, 37, was killed by police outside a Baton Rouge store where there was a struggle as he was selling CDs. There was video.

There have been too many situations involving Black people, men and women, killed by police officers of whatever ethnicity and race. Since The Washington Post started tracking shootings by on-duty police officers in 2015, there have been 5,000 such deaths, including more than 900 in the last year. Thats shootings. That doesnt include police deaths by other means. About half of those killed by police were White. But Black people are shot at an unconscionable rate. We are about 13% of the nations population, yet police kill us at more than twice the rate of Whites, according to the Post.

Its not right.

How can we be OK when the circumstances continue and police department and individual responsibility escapes those who kill us?

Kerr, chaplain of his officer training class, was 43. On Monday, the son of famed trumpeter Clyde Kerr Jr., ended his disappointment, his frustration and his pain. On a video recorded earlier, he said he had hoped to see the Super Bowl LV with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs, mainly because he wanted to see fellow St. Augustine High School Purple Knights Tyrann Mathieu and Leonard Fournette compete. He decided he couldnt wait.

Kerr took his own life. We may never know whether Kerr struggled with personal demons as well. This tormented Black man said on video that he could no longer be complicit working in a system he considered racist. He said on video he had had enough.

What will it take for us to say weve had enough?
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A caesarean section (C-section) is a method used to deliver a baby by making cuts in the abdomen and uterus. Some women choose it to avoid hours of painful labour. But compared to vaginal birth, this procedure can have future risks for women. However, a study finds one in five pregnant women in India undergo C-sections even when they dont medically need one.

The World Health Organization recommends C-sections only in certain situations such as high blood pressure or a ruptured uterus or in women who are obese or over 35. Yet, the study finds that women who could otherwise do without a C-section were highly likely to get it if they delivered in a private medical institution. The likelihood was also high in southern India, or among women who knew someone else who had done the same.

Pradeep Kumar and Preeti Dhillon of the International Institute for Population Sciences studied 2015-16 data from the National Family Health Survey to analyze around 59,000 women across India who gave birth in the previous five years and did not medically need a C-section. Around 40% of such women who went to private facilities got C-sections, compared to 11% of those who went to public health facilities. This likelihood was 43% in southern India.

One explanation is that C-sections are more lucrative, so doctors could be advising the procedure even when medically unjustified. The authors attribute the higher prevalence of the phenomenon in south India to women there having more autonomy, and hence exercising a choice to not go for painful vaginal birth.

The study finds that there is a 37% chance of a woman going for a C-section without medically needing one if someone from her family had done it. This shows others experiences could also be impacting womens decisions.

Also read: Household- and community-level determinants of low-risk Caesarean deliveries among women in India"

(Snap Fact features new and interesting reads from the world of research)

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Bangladesh said on Wednesday that it has stepped up security along its border with Myanmar to prevent a fresh influx of Rohingyas amid speculation that the coup in the neighbouring nation could push more refugees into this country. "We have secured our border (with Myanmar)," Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen told reporters.

He, however, said that Dhaka did not expect further Rohingya influx, but some friendly Western countries "fear that rest of the Rohingyas would flee to Bangladesh from Rakhine" due to the military coup in Myanmar, he added. His statement comes as officials in southeastern Cox's Bazar that borders Myanmar's Rakhine state said that the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has intensified patrols and vigils along the border.

Myanmar military seized the power on Monday detaining the country's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The military coup took place at a time when Bangladesh was spearheading a desperate campaign for safe return of some 1.1 million Rohingyas. Momen said Dhaka wants to continue talks with Myanmar for "advancing the ongoing process to commence Rohingya repatriation".

"Our discussion will continue with the Myanmar government, not with any individual, he said. "We did the agreement (regarding repatriation) with the Myanmar government, not with any individual (so) the (repatriation) process should be continued."

Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, who fled Myanmar facing military crackdown, often considered as "ethnic cleansing" by many rights groups. In an immediate reaction after the military takeover, Dhaka issued a statement saying as an immediate and friendly neighbour, we would like to see peace and stability in Myanmar. Bangladesh firmly adheres to and promotes democratic ethos, it added.

Momen said Rohingya repatriation remained to be Dhaka's top agenda in its relations with Myanmar. "The border situation remains normal but we have enforced an extra security vigil to prevent any fresh Rohingya influx," BGB's 34 battalion's commander Lieutenant Colonel Ali Haidar Azad said in Cox's Bazar. Another BGB official at the frontier town said Bangladesh border guards were "kept alert" as "we will not allow any influx from Myanmar".

"We understand the international pressures on Myanmar army. If the pressure mounts, they will be forced to take us back," a Rohingya representative, Nur Hossain of Leda Camp, said.

Rohingya leader at Jutupalang camp Saiful Islam said the "Burmese military forced us to flee our homes, but we are concerned as they took over the total control". The minister said in previous such influxes repartitions took place in 1978 and 1992 under the Myanmars military government and "if that time they could do so, why not this time".

On January 19, the secretary level tripartite meeting among Bangladesh, China and Myanmar decided to hold the next joint working group meeting on February 4 for advancing the discussion about commencing repatriation of Rohingyas. But, the meeting scheduled on Thursday is uncertain as Dhaka did not communicate with Myanmar officially after the coup. "We were not able to contact with Myanmar as still their (Myanmar's new authority) communication is shut down," the minster said. In the last three years, Myanmar did not take back a single Rohingya despite its pledges.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet virtually Friday with members from Black Chambers of Commerce across the country to push their COVID relief package and highlight its benefits for small businesses, Harris aides tell Axios.

Why it matters: The event gives more insight into what Harris' role is in the early stages of the new administration, which so far has focused on pushing the American Rescue Plan to small business owners and through local TV interviews in places like West Virginia and Arizona.

The January jobs numbers will also be released on Friday.

The big picture: February is Black History Month and Black communities and businesses have been among the most affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

One example of this, provided by Harris aides, is this stark reality: From November to December last year, roughly 82,000 Black women lost their jobs.

Between the lines: Getting the pandemic under control was President Biden's main campaign pledge, and Harris aides are quick to point out that the VP is squarely focused on that goal with him.
Days after Massachusetts prisoners were offered the possibility of reduced prison sentences for getting vaccinated, the Baker administration has taken that proposition off the table.

A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security told MassLive the administration rescinded the offer after the governors office became aware of the memo because the memo is not consistent with the administrations policies regarding reduced prison terms.

In a Jan. 28 memo, Department of Correction Commissioner Carol A. Mici offered up to 7.5 days of earned good time to prisoners who watch and read educational materials and get both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

I have determined that receiving the vaccine is significantly valuable to rehabilitation, Mici wrote in the memo, which was sent to prisoners.

Mici wrote that prisoners would have to submit a written attestation stating they met the requirements.

Under state statute, state prisoners can have their sentences reduced if they work in a state hospital or state school, complete an educational program that leads to a high school certificate or show satisfactory performance in an educational or vocational training program. A prisoner would be able to get up to 7.5 days a month per program or activity, but no more than a combined total of 15 days a month.

Prisoners in a local house of correction can earn up to five days a month per program or activity, but no more than 10 days a month altogether in most cases.

Massachusetts prisons were among several congregate facilities placed in Phase 1 of the states vaccine rollout. The DOC started administering the first dose of the vaccine in mid-January. As of last week, more than 3,500 prisoners have gotten the first shot.

The DOC has aired videos about the vaccine on closed-circuit television in its prisons and has made it available for prisoners to download to their tablets. One of the informational videos is a recording of the discussion Dr. Anthony Fauci had with the Rev. Liz Walker and Dr. Gloria White Hammond at the Roxbury Presbyterian Church in November.

Gov. Charlie Bakers office declined to discuss the reasoning behind rescinding the DOCs offer to prisoners, referring a reporter to EOPSS.

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Kyle Sandilands has added to his already impressive property portfolio.

The KIIS FM radio host, 49, revealed on air this week that he'd bought a rainforest retreat in the tropical town of Port Douglas, Queensland.

'I just bought a house up there, it is that beautiful,' he said during an interview with The Amazing Race presenter Beau Ryan.

Mogul: Kyle Sandilands has added to his already impressive property portfolio. The KIIS FM radio host, 49, revealed on air this week that he'd bought a rainforest retreat in Port Douglas

While it's unclear where exactly Kyle's new property is located, there's no doubt the picturesque coastal town on the Coral Sea is the perfect place for a holiday home.

Port Douglas is known for its exquisite beaches and proximity to the Great Barrier Reef, and is also near to Daintree National Park.

The town itself, which is a one-hour drive north from Cairns, is filled with boutique shops and restaurants and is popular with tourists and backpackers.

Kyle's representative declined to comment on the purchase, but confirmed he would discuss it on Monday's Kyle and Jackie O Show.

Stunning: Port Douglas is known for its exquisite beaches and proximity to the Great Barrier Reef, and is also near to Daintree National Park

Rental: Kyle and his girlfriend, Tegan Kynaston (right), moved into a multimillion-dollar mansion in Woollahra in September. They are renting the place for about $5,000 per week

It's another home to add to Kyle's property portfolio, which includes a farm in the NSW Southern Highlands - where he previously lived with his ex-partner Imogen Anthony - and a $5million mansion in Los Angeles.

The former Australian Idol judge and his new girlfriend, Tegan Kynaston, 34, moved into a multimillion-dollar mansion in Sydney's Woollahra in September.

They are renting the place for about $5,000 per week.

Located a few minutes' drive from his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson's mansion, the three-storey home boasts seven bedrooms, five bathrooms and an outdoor pool.

Love shack: Located a few minutes' drive from his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson's mansion, the three-storey home boasts seven bedrooms, five bathrooms and an outdoor pool

Delightful: Built in 1923, the 1,094-square-metre property features a marble powder room and an under-stair mudroom. Pictured: one of the bedrooms

There's also a grand marble entrance leading into a large foyer with bevelled glass windows and a wide staircase.

The property, which is set on 1,094 square metres, features a marble powder room and an under-stair mudroom.

Kyle began dating Tegan, his former personal assistant, about a year ago.
His 15 minutes of reality TV fame may be over.

But it appears Bachelor In Paradise star Ciarran Stott is eager to stay in the spotlight.

The British larrikin nearly broke the internet on Thursday when he posted a very racy nude picture of himself to his Instagram story.

That's one way to stay in the spotlight! Bachelor in Paradise 'bad boy' Ciarran Stott posted a VERY racy nude mirror selfie on Thursday

The heavily tattooed social media influencer showed off his rippling abs and buff body as he posed for the selfie in his bathroom, with nothing but a strategically placed towel covering his modesty.

While all eyes may have been focused on Ciarran's incredibly physique, it was hard not to miss the empty toilet roll in the background.

Even Ciarran pointed out that it needed to be replaced, writing across the photo 'Need to replace that loo roll'.

While all eyes may have been mostly focused on Ciarran's incredibly physique, it was hard not to miss the empty toilet roll in the background. Even Ciarran pointed out that it needed to be replaced, writing on the photo 'Need to replace that loo roll' above it

Ciarran was labelled the villain by Bachelor in Paradise fans last year, with many branding him a womaniser and a misogynist.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph's Confidential last month, the he revealed that he's still on the receiving end of death threats.

'I still cop it today. I used to get it all the time,' the 27-year-old confessed.

'I still cop it today': Ciarran was labelled the villain by Bachelor in Paradise fans last year, with many branding him a womaniser and a misogynist. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph's Confidential last month, the he revealed that he's still on the receiving end of death threats

Ciarran said the abuse is not only to do with his edit on the show, but also his appearance.

'Anything I do gets trolled straight away whether it be cutting or dyeing my hair... because of the show people think I'm some sort of misogynist who doesn't appreciate women,' he explained.

He also admitted that he's anxious of being out in public after an aggressive troll threatened to punch him while at a pub in Victoria recently.

Violence: The British reality star (pictured on the show), also admitted that he's anxious about stepping out in public after an aggressive troll threatened to punch him while out at a pub in Victoria recently

Back in April last year, Ciarran told the Manchester Evening News that he was convinced he'd get a 'villain' edit on the show, and feared his public image would be tarnished when it went to air.

'I think I'll go from the sweetheart of Australia to the bad boy of Australia so that won't be good,' he said.

During his time on the Bachelor in Paradise, Ciarran was embroiled in various hook-ups, first with Abbie Chatfield, before moving on to Jessica Brody.

Girl trouble: During his time on the show, Ciarran was embroiled in various hook-ups, including with Jessica Brody (left)

Moved on: When Kiki Morris (left) arrived in Paradise, he quickly ditched Jessica, with revelations coming to the fore that Ciarran and Kiki had met prior to the show and formulated a plan to couple up once she arrived

When Kiki Morris arrived in Paradise, he quickly ditched Jessica, with revelations coming to the fore that Ciarran and Kiki had met prior to the show and formulated a plan to couple up once she arrived.

Matters were complicated by his ex-girlfriend, Renee Barrett, also appearing on the show, and harbouring the belief that she and Ciarran, who had split just over a week prior to filming, would reunite.

Ciarran quit the show shortly before the final rose ceremony, taking Kiki with him - only for the pair to split two months later.

Love triangle: Matters were complicated by his ex-girlfriend, Renee Barrett (pictured), also appearing on the show, and harbouring the belief that she and Ciarran, who had split just over a week prior to filming, would reunite
ICSF Statement at 34th session of COFI on supporting small-scale artisanal fisheries

February 04,2021 | Source: ICSF | Alert Type(s): Samudra Exclusive

In a Statement to the 34th Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI), the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has stated:



1. The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) welcomes this Agenda item COFI/2020/6, and its comprehensive Information Papers, particularly reporting progress under the FAO-SSF Umbrella Programme for the promotion and application of the SSF

Guidelines and related developments.







2. As summarized in COFI/2020/Inf.12, the Umbrella Programme has also supported several initiatives of ICSF in Africa, Asia and Latin

America to demonstrate how the SSF Guidelines can be put to use at the national, subnational and local levels. ICSF would like to take this opportunity to thank the FAO Fisheries Division for extending support

to ICSF to undertake these activities.



3. The FAO-SSF Umbrella Programe, needless to say, has the potential to be the engine to power the SSF-GSF mechanism. Therefore, ICSF would urge this Committee: firstly, to enhance the Umbrella Programme to benefit more countries and CSOs, as well as to strengthen the SSF-GSF mechanism; secondly, to broaden the scope of the Umbrella Programme to include initiatives to document how the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development indicators measure, in a targeted manner, the social wellbeing and development of the vulnerable and marginalized in marine

and inland fishing communities, including women; and thirdly, to encourage the Umbrella Programme to assist monitoring and evaluation

of all initiatives under the auspices of all actors, undertaken to implement the SSF Guidelines in a progressive manner.

 2021 ICSF

Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture.


 Flash

Another 19,202 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,871,825, according to official figures released Wednesday.

The country also reported another 1,322 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 109,335. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

Earlier Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Britain would be going ahead with its plan for quarantine hotels for people arriving from high-risk countries.

However, it is "not practical" to completely close Britain's borders given the amount of medicines and food imported into the country, Johnson told lawmakers as he faces calls for tougher restrictions to prevent new coronavirus variants entering Britain.

Meanwhile, Britain is stepping up its effort to speed up coronavirus vaccine rollout to bring the pandemic under control.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said 10 million people in Britain have been given the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, which means 15 percent of Britain's population have had their first coronavirus jab.

"This is a hugely significant milestone in our national effort against this virus. Every jab makes us all a bit safer -- I want to thank everyone playing their part," Hancock said.

In another development, mass testing is undergoing in parts of Britain as more coronavirus "mutations of concern" were found in the country,

Also Wednesday, the team behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine said a vaccine to tackle the coronavirus variants could be ready to deploy by October.

Andy Pollard, director of the Oxford vaccine group, said that the team is already planning to tweak the vaccine, adding it is a relatively quick process and would only need small trials to be done before the rollout.

Britain aims to deliver a first dose to 15 million of the most vulnerable by mid-February and to offer all adults their first dose by autumn.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
Tunis/Tunisia  Prime Minister and acting Interior Minister Hichem Mechichi received Wednesday in Tunis representatives of police unions.

They are the Staff Union of the General Directorate of Intervention Units, the National Union of Security Forces Unions, the General Union of the National Guard, the Staff Union of the General Directorate of Public Security and the Union of Civil Protection Unions.

Quoted in a statement, Mechichi said the meeting is an opportunity to listen to the concerns of the extended security family.

He stressed the readiness of his government to interact favourably with all the demands submitted to the primacy.

He referred, in particular, to expediting the consideration of draft amendments to the organic laws of the internal security forces, all bodies combined and the review of the career paths of staff to give more effectiveness to security action.

"The country is in a continuous war on terrorism and organised crime," he said.

On recent unrest that shook the country, Mechichi stressed that the state is the guarantor of the right to protest, adding that the security institution is responsible for supervising "peaceful" and "legitimate" protests.

On the other hand, he denounced the acts of violence that accompanied the protests, citing in particular, the looting of public and private property.

The Prime Minister commended the efforts made by all the staff of the security institution, particularly in these times of pandemic where many security personnel have died from the coronavirus.

President Kais Saied, on Tuesday afternoon, paid an "unannounced" visit to the headquarters of the Interior Ministry, where he held a working session with security officials, in the presence of Prime Minister and acting Interior Minister Hichem Mechichi.

During the meeting, the need to unify union action towards the creation of a General Union of Internal Security Forces was stressed.
Migration of a student pursuing an undergraduate medical course is permissible only if both the medical colleges are recognized by the Central Government under the law, the Supreme Court has ruled.

A bench comprising justices L Nageswara Rao and Indira Banerjee set aside the verdict of the Rajasthan High Court which had directed the Medical Council of India (MCI) to permit migration of a student of MBBS course from an unrecognized medical college to a recognized one.

The interpretation of the Regulation 6(2) (of the Migration Rules) by the High Court is patently erroneous. The Regulation clearly lays down a restriction of migration from an unrecognized college to a recognized college. Regulation 6(2) provides that migration is permissible only if both the Colleges are recognized u/s 11(2) of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, the bench held.

The bench was hearing the MCI's challenge to the Rajasthan High Court judgment of September 2020 allowing the migration of student Anchal Parihar and holding that the term 'Migration' used in the Rules is not limited to the Medical Council of India Act but it is much wider in scope.

The term 'Migration' cannot be read out of context without reference to the Regulation which clearly provides that both colleges should be recognized u/s 11(2) of the Act. Admittedly, the college in which the first respondent is studying is yet to be recognized u/s 11(2) of the Act. Migration cannot be permitted contrary to the Regulations, the top court held.

Parihar was studying in Ananta Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Rajsamand and she had requested the Board of Governors to permit her migration to Dr S N Medical College, Jodhpur in 2019.

The request was declined by the MCI on the ground that it is not permissible under the Migration Rules.

MCI, in its appeal, said the high court had committed an error in interpreting the regulation as the migration of a student pursuing an undergraduate medical course is permissible only if both the colleges are recognized by the Central Government under section 11(2) of the Indian Medical Council Act.

Also Read: R-Day violence: SC refuses to entertain pleas on tractor rally chaos

Prosecutors said accused Kenosha protest shooting suspect Kyle Rittenhouse has violated the conditions of his release.



A judge allowed Rittenhouse, now 18, of Antioch, Illinois, to be released in November on $2 million cash bail.

He's currently awaiting trial for the shooting deaths of two men who were protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Prosecutors filed a motion Wednesday saying the court was unable to deliver a hearing notice for Rittenhouse at the address he listed as his home on his release paperwork.

The notice was returned to the court because a forwarding address was not known.

Prosecutors wrote in their filing Rittenhouse failed to notify the court of a change of address or telephone number within 48 hours.

They asked the judge to increase Rittenhouse's bail by $200,000 for the violation and issue a warrant for his arrest.

Prosecutors said they were unable to monitor Rittenhouse's whereabouts because he failed to notify them that he moved.

Rittenhouse's cash bond was raised from online supporters.

He has claimed he acted in self-defense.

Prosecutors wrote in their filing Wednesday that Rittenhouse "demonstrated his carefree attitude by going to a bar immediately after his arraignment on Jan. 5, 2021, and drinking three beers in the company of known 'Proud Boys' while flashing white supremacist signs and wearing a 'Free as (expletive) shirt."

Kenosha detectives said they went to the apartment Rittenhouse listed as his address and a man said he had rented the apartment since Dec. 15 and Rittenhouse no longer lived there.

Prosecutors said Rittenhouse failed to correct the address on a document signed Jan. 22.

Rittenhouse's defense attorney filed a response to the prosecutor's motion, objecting to the bond increase.

Mark Richards said Rittenhouse and his family have received death threats since the Kenosha shootings.

He said they moved into a "safe house" and deleted their social media accounts.

Richards claimed upon Rittenhouse's release, he was told not to disclose the location of his "safe house."

He said a member of the defense team contacted prosecutors to provide Rittenhouse's new address if it was filed under seal because of safety concerns.

Richards said the prosecutor refused that request.

He said he would provide Rittenhouse's current address if it were kept confidential by the court.

Rittenhouse's next scheduled court appearance is March 10 but a hearing on the new motion could be held sooner.

If convicted, Rittenhouse faces up to life in prison.
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A Milan court on Wednesday accepted evidence sourced from U.S. banking giant JP Morgan as part of the Malabu OPL 245 corruption trial.

The court also accepted evidence of an email allegedly sent by a former Nigerian attorney general, Bello Adoke, from the email address of a company allegedly owned by a middleman named in the controversial deal, Abubakar Aliyu.

PREMIUM TIMES understands that despite opposition by the oil companies at the last sitting of the court, the Milan court accepted the evidence, acquired by Milan prosecutors from UK authorities.

Prosecutors argue that Mr Adoke, sent instructions about the transfer of OPL245 1.1$ billion payment by Eni and Shell from email address of a certain A Group Properties, said to be owned by Mr Abubakar.

A statement circulated by Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) Wednesday night said the Milan Court denied Mr Adokes claim that the email was not his.

HEDA quoted Milan public prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale as saying that Internal email of senior compliance officer at JPMorgan denies Enis claim that the bank got a green light for the transfer of OPL245 money by SOCA, the UK financial intelligence authority preventing money laundering.

PREMIUM TIMES had last week reported that the prosecutors in Italy requested the Milan court to file documents sourced from U.S. bank JP Morgan and emails allegedly sent by Mr Adoke.

The new evidence accepted by the court Wednesday claimed that the former AGF shared with JPMorgan an unofficial copy of the resolutions agreements of OPL245 signed by the FGN with Eni, Shell and Malabu.

Adoke Kicks

Mr Adoke had in his response last week accused the Italian prosecutor of fabricating evidence against him.

On Wednesday, in a message circulated by his lawyers, the former minister insisted that the evidence accepted by the court was total forgery.

Our client states categorically that the e-mail (copy enclosed) is a total forgery, he said in the statement by Femi Oboro of Gromyko Amedu Solicitors Wednesday night.

First of all, the email is dated 21 June 2011. At the time in question, Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN was no longer the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minster of Justice. The cabinet had been dissolved by President Goodluck Jonathan and was yet to be re-constituted. The despicable forgers did not do their due diligence before going to town. That is their stock in trade, in any case, the statement said.

Secondly, and curiously, in a screenshot of the email being circulated as new evidence by Olanrewaju Suraj, who is leading the Nigerian axis of the failed campaign to criminalise and defame Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN, the sender signed off simply as Mohammed Bello Adoke. For the record, all our clients correspondences, whether physical or electronic, are signed off with the suffix SAN. At no time did our client sign off any document without using his rank in the legal profession.

Furthermore, our client would want to point out that he could never have sent an email from another persons account and signed off with his name. This is completely illogical. Our client has an e-mail account for his personal and for his official matters. Therefore, it is completely non-sensical to expect our client to use another persons email address.

Moreover, our client while in office, had at least five aides working with him, and could have sent an email on his behalf assuming that Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN was busy, or had issues with his email account.

The lawyer said that in Mr Adokes view, the poor work of forgery exhibited in the email admitted by the court is not the first.

This is the second time the desperate campaigners are forging evidence against our client. In 2017, they came up with a fictious recorded phone conversation which Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN was alleged to have had with one Ms Carlamaria Rumor, said to be of RAI Television in Italy. In it, our client was alleged to have told the reporter that he knew the OPL 245 transaction was a presidential scam.

Those who want to keep collecting huge grants from international donors under the pretext of fighting corruption should continue to do so but they should leave our clients name out of it. As long as they continue to lie against Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN, he will continue resist every attempt to denigrate our client. At the right time, they will pay dearly for their evil machinations because our client intends to institute legal actions against them home and abroad.

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Anti-graft campaigners react

Lanre Suraj, HEDA Chairman, in his comment Wednesday said Italys system of independent magistrates sets it at the forefront of international fight against corruption.

Unlike some other jurisdictions, Italian magistrates have prosecuted the OPL 245 case without fear or favour. Milan prosecutors De Pasquale and Spadaro have followed the evidence on OPL245  even if this has meant taking on two of Europes most powerful countries, Eni and Shell. Italians should be proud of the Milan prosecutors. They have greatly enhanced the countrys reputation abroad.

Lucio Lucia, the lawyer representing Nigeria as civil party, responded to objections of defense.

Contrary to the claim that Enis then CEO Scaroni interrupted negotiations for OPL245, emails show that current CEO Descalzi was instead pushing to go ahead, he was quoted to have said in a statement by HEDA Wednesday night.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the court adjourned till Feb 24th when Eni and Shell managers and companies defense lawyers will have their final response.

The verdict is expected to be delivered on March 17th.

Scandal

The Malabu OPL 245 scandal is subject to corruption trials in different jurisdictions around the world.

OPL 245, regarded as one of Africas richest oil blocks with an estimated over nine billion barrels of crude, was controversially awarded to Malabu in 1998 by the then petroleum minister, Dan Etete.

Mr Etete owned 20 per cent of the block through a fictional character, Kwekwu Amafegha.

The oil block was controversially sold to oil giants, Shell and ENI, in 2011 with a large chunk of the $1.1 billion paid for it ending up in Mr Etetes accounts, with the latter allegedly using a large chunk of it to bribe officials of both the Nigerian government and those of Shell and ENI.

The matter has become a subject of numerous litigations in Nigeria, UK, Italy and others with anti-corruption officials and advocates saying the deals, including the allocation of the oil block, reeks of fraud.

The Nigerian authorities have charged Messrs Etete, Adoke, and several others linked to Malabu with money laundering in connection with the onward flow of funds from the OPL245 deal.

Messrs Etete, Adoke, Abubakar and other parties accused in the trial, including officials of oil giants Eni and Shell, have denied wrongdoing.

The Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee is holding its next meeting at 7pm CST tonight, February 4, to discuss how to mobilize opposition to the deadly reopening of schools. Register now and share this link with your coworkers to build the committee!

Late Wednesday evening, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced that they had made progress in their joint efforts to resume in-person learning in the third largest school district in the US at the worst stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reports have emerged that CTU delegates have begun contacting teachers and aim to put an agreement before teachers by the weekend.

In a menacing statement issued Wednesday night, CPS tweeted, We will extend the cooling off period for the final timethrough the end of the day on Thursday to allow for further negotiations tonight (emphasis added). Given that Friday is a preplanned nonattendance day, this threat indicates that the district aims to impose lockouts, fines and other punitive actions against educators on Monday should they reject a tentative agreement over the weekend.

Eine Lehrerin aus Chicago protestiert in ihrem Auto gegen die geplante Offnung der Schulen (Quelle: CTU Facebook)

This will vastly escalate the districts divide-and-conquer strategy of locking out individual educators who refused to return as schools reopened throughout January, which the CTU has done nothing to oppose. One educator told the WSWS, My colleagues are still locked out, and they havent approved anyones timecards for the time that weve worked remotely and are not saying anything about payment. In total, more than 100 educators remain locked out of their Google classroom accounts, preventing them from teaching their students.

Among rank-and-file Chicago educators, there is enormous opposition to the ruling class campaign to reopen schools and a wide recognition that this is solely in the interests of the financial elite. There are growing calls for a general strike in Chicago and across the US to close all schools and nonessential workplaces until the pandemic is contained.

Only 14 percent of Chicago teachers showed up to their classrooms Monday, with the vast majority defying Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoots ultimatum and threats that she would take action against those engaged in an illegal strike. There is also huge support for teachers among parents, who had independently organized a sickout for Tuesday in the event that schools reopened.

The CTU is capitulating on every demand they claim to be fighting for, with the most significant shift being their acceptance that schools can reopen if the citywide test positivity rate is less than five percent, which will likely happen in the coming week.

Both sides are coming to an agreement that schools can reopen if 1,500 teachers are vaccinated weekly, a tiny fraction of the more than 23,000 educators in the CTU. The CTU has always promoted a phased-in reopening of schools as teachers become vaccinated. This completely unscientific policy would imperil masses of students, parents and the broader community, as schools have been proven to be vectors for the transmission of COVID-19 throughout their communities.

An educator in Chicago who wished to remain anonymous told the WSWS, The concessions are nauseating. Another noted that even the vaccination demand is not realistic, stating, The mayor is lying, saying that there is a robust vaccination plan. Ive been really stressed because I havent been able to get vaccinated. Everywhere I look they say there arent appointments. Im in Group 1B so I should be able to find a vaccine, and I cant. Its so overwhelming.

Rank-and-file teachers and school workers should reject with contempt the miserable and deadly sellout that the CTU is plotting with the CPS behind closed doors! The reopening of schools is nonnegotiable and will only lead to a catastrophic rise in infections and deaths among educators, students, parents throughout the metro region.

We urge all Chicago teachers and school workers to join and help build the Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, to serve as the center of opposition to whatever deadly agreement is reached, and to broaden your struggle throughout the entire working class across the country.

The progress on negotiations was leaked during a CTU House of Delegates meeting in the 48th hour of the cooling-off period. It was announced late Monday night in an effort to avoid a strike that could spiral out of the CTUs control and propel struggles among educators and workers across the US and internationally.

The fact that the union said nothing about the negotiations for two days underscores that they have been conspiring with city officials and the Biden administration to reopen the schools in the coming days and indicates that they are preparing to further cave in on their already unsafe set of demands. This is taking place as new, more infectious and lethal variants of COVID-19 spread largely undetected throughout the whole population.

Chicago educators must demand the immediate release of all information and transcripts from the more than 70 negotiation sessions that have taken place since last fall. The demand must be popularized that all future negotiations be live-streamed and broadcast to the public. What are the CTU and CPS hiding, and what deadly deal are they cooking up?

The drive to reopen schools is being orchestrated directly with the Biden administration, which both CPS and the CTU fully support. On Monday, Lightfoot told the Chicago Tribune, We are talking to the Biden administration. During the 2019 Chicago teachers strike, CTU President Jesse Sharkey, a former leading figure of the now-defunct International Socialist Organization (ISO), staged a promotional video for the Biden campaign.

The announcement of progress on negotiations came hours after multiple Biden administration officials publicly promoted school reopenings and asserted that schools can be reopened safely without teachers being vaccinated.

At a White House press conference Wednesday afternoon, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters, There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen, and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated. She added, Vaccinations of teachers is not a prerequisite for safely reopening schools.

Jeff Zients, the head of Bidens coronavirus taskforce, stated at the same press conference that Biden has been very clear that he wants schools to reopen and to stay open.

Also on Wednesday, Bidens nominee for Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, breezed through his Senate confirmation hearing, according to Politico. In his opening testimony, Cardona stressed as his first pledge, We will work to reopen schools safely, so that students can return to classrooms.

For his pro-reopening statements, which included pledging to do everything in our power to safely reopen schools, Cardona received bipartisan support from all of the senators present. Senate Republicans are now pushing for a floor vote later this week on an amendment to the new relief bill that would tie federal funding for schools to those that resume in-person learning.

The drive to reopen schools in Chicago is part of a nationwide and international campaign. This homicidal policy is provoking massive resistance by educators, parents and students on every continent and has the potential to draw in wide layers of the working class in a broader struggle to contain the pandemic and save lives.

Beyond Chicago, educators across the US are demanding strike action to close schools, including in Washington D.C. and Keystone Oaks School District outside Pittsburgh. Democratic-led Washington D.C., headed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order against the Washington Teachers Union (WTU), seeking an injunction to prevent teachers from participating in a strike or other work stoppage or even discussing it.

In Montclair, New Jersey, hundreds of educators have refused to return for in-person learning since January 25, prompting the Montclair Board of Education to file similar charges against the union on Wednesday.

In San Francisco, the city government is suing its own school district in an attempt to reopen schools. Democratic Mayor London Breed has been highly vocal against remote learning in recent weeks.

Strikes among educators are either happening or being planned throughout the world, including in Nigeria, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Sao Tome, France, Cote dIvoire, Cameroon and other countries.

The critical task facing educators is to unite their struggles internationally and with all sections of the working class who have been devastated by the pandemic and face the same deadly working conditions. Only through the building of rank-and-file committees, independent of the pro-corporate unions and capitalist parties, will educators and all workers be able to unify on a global scale and put an end to the suffering and death demanded by the ruling elites globally.
LONDON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

Highlights

US$140m debt financing raised to fully fund the project through to production

Transaction is the largest greenfield mining project finance transaction to have reached completion since the beginning of 2020 and the onset of COVID-19, highlighting the strong underlying fundamentals of the project

Construction is progressing well, on time and in line with budget, now over 90% complete

Project development has been maintained in line with plan in spite of COVID-19, while ensuring the safety of all MVV employees

Offtake agreement signed with international trader

Mineracao Vale Verde Ltda. ("MVV" or the "Company") and Appian Capital Advisory LLP ("Appian") are pleased to announce that MVV has secured a US$140m debt financing to finalise the development of the Serrote copper-gold project ("Serrote") located in Alagoas, Brazil. The financing will fund all remaining development costs, with the project now fully funded through to production.

The Company has executed definitive documentation with ING Capital LLC, Natixis, New York Branch, and Societe Generale (the "MLAs"), for a US$140m project finance debt facility, the largest greenfield mining project finance transaction to have been announced since the beginning of 2020 and the onset of COVID-19. The extensive technical, legal, environmental and social due diligence undertaken by the MLAs is a strong endorsement of the robust fundamentals of the Serrote Project, the quality of the MVV management team and the strength of Appian as a sponsor. The financing further underlines the commitment of Appian and its portfolio companies to best-in-class ESG practices, including compliance with the Equator Principles and IFC Performance Standards on Social Sustainability. MVV has achieved financial close and commenced drawdowns under the facility.

As part of the overall project funding package, Appian Natural Resources Fund II will acquire a royalty over a portion of the project's gold by-product production.

Project update and key milestones

Serrote remains on track for first production in the second half of 2021. Construction is progressing on time and in line with budget, with over 94% of overall project execution complete. Mechanical completion has been achieved in a number of areas with pre-commissioning activities and operational readiness programs also well advanced in order to ensure a smooth, and efficient ramp up, and enabling operations to start safely.

Several key milestones were achieved during 2020, the majority ahead of plan. These included construction of the phase I tailings storage facility; the signing of an offtake agreement with an international trader to support the financing; construction and erection of the new 21km 230kV powerline; and construction of the majority of key processing plant infrastructure. Phase I pre-stripping has also been completed and overall pre-stripping is well ahead of plan, with ~6 million tonnes of earth moved to date and stockpiling of fresh ore having commenced. Strong operational momentum has continued into 2021 with the project recently achieving another significant milestone by processing first ore through the primary crusher.

As previously announced in August 2019, Appian completed a Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") prior to commencing construction which highlighted the robust economics of the project. As outlined in the DFS, the project is expected to produce approximately 20 ktpa of copper equivalent over an initial 14-year mine life from a low-strip, open pit mine supplying a 4.1 Mtpa processing plant. Serrote's initial life of mine will exploit a mineral reserve of 52.65 Mt grading 0.6% Cu and 0.1 g/t, defined using US$3.00/lb Cu, with substantial value upside available through a potential expansion into the larger 108.85 Mt Measured and Indicated Resource at Serrote as well as through the potential at some of the nearby satellite deposits.

The current macro-economic environment further enhances the highly attractive economics of the project with MVV expected to produce at an AISC of ~US$1.33/lb Cu and generate steady-state annual EBITDA margins in excess of 65%, at currently prevailing exchange rates and commodity prices.

COVID-19

Serrote has remained operational despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our priority remains the safety of our people and the communities in which we operate, and we have adjusted our working practices to protect employees in the most effective ways, allowing us to remain on schedule with development.

Paulo Castellari, CEO MVV & Appian Brazil commented:

"I am pleased that we have been able to secure this financing for Serrote, which finalises the overall funding package and will support completion of project development and delivery of first production. It is an important development which recognises the continued progress and key milestones achieved to date and highlights the attractiveness of this high-quality copper-gold deposit. The tremendous progress we have made during the pandemic is also testament to the hard work and determination of our employees, and I look forward to bringing Serrote into production on schedule and in line with budget."

Endeavour Financial acted as financial advisor to the Company. Norton Rose Fulbright LLP acted as legal counsel to the Company.

For further information:

Finsbury Glover Hering +44 (0)20 7251 3801 / [email protected]

Charles O'Brien, Ruban Yogarajah, Richard Crowley

Appian Capital Advisory +44 (0)20 7004 0951 / [email protected]

Michael W. Scherb

About Mineracao Vale Verde Ltda.

MVV is developing Serrote, an advanced stage, de-risked greenfield open-pit copper-gold development asset currently under construction and with all major permits in place, located in Alagoas, Brazil. The Company is headquartered in Belo Horizonte, with a high-quality management team with extensive local and international experience operating at site.

Following Appian's acquisition of the asset in mid-2018, an updated DFS was completed outlining a 14-year initial mine life with production of approximately 20 thousand tonnes of copper equivalent per annum in a premium, high grade concentrate. Serrote is expected to be well positioned in the second quartile of the copper cost curve on a total cash cost basis.

MVV is pursuing several expansion opportunities beyond the initial mine life, with significant defined mineralization outside of the current mine plan as well as numerous satellite resources and targets within trucking distance of the planned plant infrastructure. Less than 50% of the 112Mt global resource is currently contained within the mine plan, with active drilling and growth plans underway to increase mineable inventory.

About Appian Capital Advisory LLP

Appian Capital Advisory LLP is the investment advisor to long-term value focused private equity funds that invest solely in mining and mining related companies.

Appian is a leading investment advisor in the metals and mining industry, with global experience across South America, North America, Australia and Africa and a successful track record of supporting companies to achieve their development targets, with a global operating portfolio overseeing nearly 5,000 employees.

Appian has a global team of 37 investment professionals with offices in London, Toronto, Lima, Belo Horizonte and Sydney.

For more information please visit www.appiancapitaladvisory.com, or find us on LinkedIn or Instagram.

SOURCE Mineracao Vale Verde Ltda; Appian Capital Advisory LLP

A boutique cafe was today forced to stop giving away hot drinks after police were called to disperse crowds breaking social distancing rules to get a free coffee.

Over Under in Clapham, south London, has been offering free coffee, tea and hot chocolate between 7am and 10am since it opened its doors for the first time on Monday.

The cafe, which serves smashed avocado toast with a poached egg for 11.05 and is situated in the heart of Clapham Old Town, quickly gained popularity as word spread about the giveaway.

Over Under in Clapham, south London, has been offering free coffee, tea and hot chocolate between 7am and 10am since it opened its doors for the first time on Monday. Pictured: Crowds outside Over Under

The cafe, which serves smashed avocado toast with a poached egg for 11.05 and is situated in the heart of Clapham Old Town, quickly gained popularity as word spread about the giveaway

However, police were called as a result of the promotion today when more than 50 customers were seen packed together outside the trendy shop.

Passersby were forced into the road to avoid coming into contact with the crowds.

'It was an absolute shambles,' one resident told MailOnline. 'There were at least 50 people outside the shop, packed together.

'They were standing far too close together and all over the pavement and on the other side of the road.

'No one was queueing, or social distancing. It was a flagrant breach of Covid regulations. They were putting themselves and others at risk for a tiny cup of coffee!'

Owner Ed Barry told MailOnline he had abandoned the free-drink promotion after receiving 'words of advice' from Met Police officers.

However, police were called to shut down the promotion today when more than 50 customers were seen packed together outside the trendy shop. Pictured: Crowds outside Over Under

Passersby were forced into the road to avoid coming into contact with the crowds. Pictured: The cafe

'What can I say, we opened on Monday, in the middle of a pandemic and we were trying to build up a customer base,' the 30-year-old said.

'But we have stopped the promotion now. It got out of hand this morning.

'We have been encouraging customers to order online or via our App to maintain social distancing as much as possible. But today the crowds were just too big.

'The police came and said they had received some complaints. So we will not be giving away any more free drinks.'

Owner Ed Barry told MailOnline he had abandoned the free-drink promotion after receiving 'words of advice' from Met Police officers. Pictured right: A free coffee from Over Under

Located in one of the most fashionable streets in south London, the cafe is one of a series of Over Under branches in the capital.

Hot drinks include a 'Turmeric Latte', an Indian-spiced milky coffee, an 'Iced Choc' cold hot chocolate, a 'Chai Latte', milky tea as well as regular Cappuccino and Flat White coffees, all for 3.50.

Snacks include a plain 'freshly baked' croissant for 3.90 and a 'Ginger Pig pork' sausage roll for 6.00.

A salt-beef and sauerkraut, 'Reuben Toastie', with pickles, cheddar and housemade reuben sauce costs 9.75.

A general photo of the Olympic rings.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the city of Tokyo to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympics. But if theres anyone who wishes the Olympics had already come and gone, its Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee.

Mori is under fire this week for sexist comments he allegedly made in an online meeting this week. According to Asahi Shimbun via ESPN, Mori said in a meeting with the Japanese Olympic Committee board of directors that women talk too much during meetings.

Women are very competitive, Mori reportedly said. When one of them raises her hand, they probably think they have to say something, too. And then everyone says something.

Needless to say, the comments have caused an outrage in Japan. Many are calling on him to resign from his position with the Olympics.

But Mori seems determined to stay the course. In a recent statement, he declared that he is not even thinking of resigning. He stated that he has been working and helped devotedly for seven years and will not step down.

I am not thinking to resign, Mori said. I have been working hard and helped devotedly for seven years and I will not be stepping down.

However, Mori did admit to making the sexist remark and apologized for making it.

The statement made at the Japan Olympic Committee was an inappropriate expression, contrary to the spirit of the Olympics and Paralympics, Mori said Thursday. I am deeply remorseful, I would like to withdraw the statement. I would like to apologize for any unpleasant feelings.

Unfortunately, Moris comment wasnt the first time he put his foot in his mouth. As Prime Minister of Japan from 2000 to 2001, he made a litany of statements he had to take back ranging from just plain cringey to outright offensive.

The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to open July 23.

The post Tokyo Olympics Chief Is Under Fire For Sexist Comment appeared first on The Spun.
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DoiT International ("DoiT"), leading provider of a proprietary platform for public cloud optimization, governance, and expertise for Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services, today announced that it has been recognized by the Google Cloud team in EMEA as "SMB Partner of the Year" for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Founded in 2011, DoiT has been geographically poised to support its robust roster of EMEA-based customers and partners for nearly a decade. In 2020, DoiT significantly expanded its presence throughout Europe, setting up world-class engineering and sales teams in the United Kingdom and Ireland (UK&I), France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

DoiT has been frequently recognized within the Google Cloud ecosystem for its sales and technical excellence, receiving the 2019 Google Cloud Reseller Partner Award for North America. The Company also recently earned a new Google Cloud Partner technical specialization in Data Management, adding to existing specializations in Infrastructure, Location-Based Services, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, and Cloud Migration. As a further testament to its growth and deep partnership, DoiT also recently announced a $1.5 billion multi-year target to deliver cloud services globally for Google Cloud customers.

"Supporting digital native companies is part of the DoiT International DNA," said James Moore, DoiT's Country Manager for UK&I and Israel. "Many of our customers start their journeys as small startups and are now robust companies consuming enormous cloud compute power. Nothing gives us more joy than to set up these customers for success as they grow and scale."

For UK-based SMB customers, Huq Industries (huq.io) and Pace Revenue, DoiT have been instrumental in providing significant cost reductions while improving their Google Cloud-based infrastructure. For Huq, the creator of innovative geolocation data products, DoiT helped build a powerful data platform to deliver near-real-time location data at scale, resulting in a 50% cost reduction and enabling deeper investment in the product. For Pace Revenue, a leader in hotel revenue management technology, DoiT tweaked the infrastructure to a resource-efficient cloud stack, cutting compute costs in half.

"SMB's across EMEA are increasingly rolling out new digital business models and customer experiences, powered by the cloud," said Ava Whelan, Head of EMEA SMB Partner Sales, Google Cloud. "We are proud to recognize DoiT's work on behalf of SMB customers and look forward to a continued partnership to help businesses of all sizes digitally transform."

For startup and technology companies of all growth stages looking for cloud migration, cost optimization, and cloud analytics services, contact the team at DoiT.

About DoiT International

DoiT International, the strategic partner of Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services, is a leading provider of multi-cloud expertise, proprietary cloud optimization, and governance software. The company tackles complex problems of scale for customers, using expertise in machine learning, algorithms, complexity analysis, and system design.

Founded in 2011, DoiT International operates in nearly 70 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and Israel. For more information, please visit www.doit-intl.com.

For press inquiries, please contact [email protected].

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SOURCE DoiT International
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The honor underscores company's commitment to customer satisfaction, offering uniquely flexible support for anti-piracy and cybersecurity needs

Regulatory News:

Verimatrix, (Paris:VMX), the leader in powering the modern connected world with people-centered security, today announced it received a highly coveted Stevie Award in the 15th annual Stevie Awards for Sales Customer Service.

Announced on February 1, Verimatrix was honored with a Bronze Stevie Award for the Customer Service Department of the Year (Computer Software) category. Winners are scheduled to be recognized during a virtual awards ceremony on April 14.

The Stevie Awards for Sales Customer Service are the world's top honors for customer service, contact center, business development and sales professionals. The Stevie Awards organizes eight of the world's leading business awards programs, also including the prestigious American Business Awardsand International Business Awards

"In the toughest working environment in memory for most organizations, 2021 Stevie Award winners still found ways to innovate, grow sales, please their customers, and secure new business," said Stevie Awards President Maggie Gallagher. "The judges have recognized and rewarded this, and we join them in applauding this year's winners for their continued success. We look forward to recognizing them on April 14."

"Verimatrix customers appreciate the emphasis we place on consistently efficient and timely customer service," said Asaf Ashkenazi, Chief Operating Officer at Verimatrix. "When it matters most, our customers benefit from access to some of the industry's brightest minds and dedicated service professionals. We're honored to receive this recognition, as Verimatrix offers award-winning security technology accompanied by a team of people who work alongside our customers to ensure success."

Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 160 professionals worldwide on nine specialized judging committees. For more information on the award program, visit www.stevieawards.com/sales.

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East North Africa Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

About Verimatrix

Verimatrix (Euronext Paris: VMX) helps power the modern connected world with security made for people. We protect digital content, applications, and devices with intuitive, people-centered and frictionless security. Leading brands turn to Verimatrix to secure everything from premium movies and live streaming sports, to sensitive financial and healthcare data, to mission-critical mobile applications. We enable the trusted connections our customers depend on to deliver compelling content and experiences to millions of consumers around the world. Verimatrix helps partners get to market faster, scale easily, protect valuable revenue streams, and win new business. To learn more, visit www.verimatrix.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005574/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations Contact:

Richard Vacher Detourniere

General Manager Chief Financial Officer

+33 (0)4 42 905 905

finance@verimatrix.com

Media Contact:

Matthew Zintel

+1 281 444 1590

matthew.zintel@zintelpr.com
Amaravati, Feb 4 : A lawyer has moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court to seek an order to restrain State Election Commissioner (SEC) Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar from using 'eWatch', an election monitoring digital app.

In his petition, advocate K Sudhakar from Prakasam district instead sought the use of 'CVIGIL' app of the Election Commission of India or 'Nigha' of the state government.

Questions have been raised as to when and how the tenders for developing 'eWatch' were notified.

On Wednesday, Kumar had launched 'election watch' or 'eWatch' to monitor the ongoing rural local body elections, which the State Election Commission Secretary Kannababu said was developed in-house.

Some of the categories in which people can lodge complaints include public officials involved in promotion of candidates or parties, canvassing within 100 metres of polling stations, booth capturing and election-related violence.

However, the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) leaders allege that the app has been developed to "benefit" the opposition Telugu Desam Party. They have instead launched their own app 'Netram' to solicit complaints from the public.

Before these two apps, the TDP was the first political party to solicit complaints from the public on election violations in the form of photographs and videos.

The TDP had set up a control room with a call centre number to receive the complaints, including on WhatsApp.

"Please take the advisories from advocates of the party's legal cell," said a TDP leader, aimed at helping TDP supporters contesting the elections.
WASHINGTON - A fiercely divided House tossed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene off both her committees Thursday, an unprecedented punishment that Democrats said shed earned by spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories.

FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2019 file photo, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington. A deepening divide among Republicans over President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the election runs prominently through Wyoming, the state that delivered Trump's widest prevailing margin by far. Eleven Republican senators saying they will not be voting Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, to confirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory include Wyoming's newly sworn in Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Cheyenne-area rancher and former congresswoman. Vocal opponents of any such move include Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, leader of GOP messaging in the House as its third-ranking Republican (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON - A fiercely divided House tossed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene off both her committees Thursday, an unprecedented punishment that Democrats said shed earned by spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories.

Underscoring the political vise her inflammatory commentary has clamped her party into, nearly all Republicans voted against the Democratic move but none defended her lengthy history of outrageous social media posts.

Yet in a riveting moment, the freshman Republican from a deep-red corner of Georgia took to the House floor on her own behalf. She offered a mixture of backpedaling and finger-pointing as she wore a dark mask emblazoned with the words FREE SPEECH.

The chambers near party-line 230-199 vote was the latest instance of conspiracy theories becoming pitched political battlefields, an increasingly familiar occurrence during Donald Trumps presidency. He faces a Senate trial next week for his House impeachment for inciting insurrection after a mob he fueled with his false narrative of a stolen election attacked the Capitol.

Thursdays fight also underscored the uproar and political complexities that Greene  a master of provoking Democrats, promoting herself and raising campaign money  has prompted since becoming a House candidate last year.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., goes back to her office after speaking on the floor of the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Eleven Republicans joined 219 Democrats in backing Greene's ejection from her committees, while 199 GOP lawmakers voted no.

Addressing her colleagues, Greene tried to dissociate herself from her words of the past. Contradicting past social media posts, she said she believes the 9-11 attacks and mass school shootings were real and no longer believes QAnon conspiracy theories, which include lies about Democratic-run pedophile rings.

But she didnt explicitly apologize for supportive online remarks shes made on other subjects, as when she mulled about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi being assassinated or the possibility of Jewish-controlled space rays causing wildfires. And she portrayed herself as the victim of unscrupulous big media companies.

News organizations can take teeny, tiny pieces of words that Ive said, that you have said, any of us, and can portray us as someone that were not, she said. She added that were in a real big problem if the House punished her but tolerated members that condone riots that have hurt American people  a clear reference to last summers social justice protests that in some instances became violent.

Greene was on the Education and Labor committee and the Budget committee. Democrats were especially aghast about her assignment to the education panel, considering the past doubt she cast on school shootings in Florida and Connecticut.

The political imperative for Democrats was clear: Greenes support for violence and fictions were dangerous and merited punishment. Democrats and researchers said there was no apparent precedent for the full House removing a lawmaker from a committee, a step usually taken by their party leaders.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., walks back to her office after speaking on the floor of the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The calculation was more complicated for Republicans.

Though Trump left the White House two week ago, his devoted followers are numerous among the partys voters, and he and Greene are allies. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., hopes GOP victories in the 2022 elections will make him speaker. Republicans could undermine that scenario by alienating Trumps and Greenes passionate supporters, and McCarthy took no action to punish her.

If any of our members threatened the safety of other members, wed be the first ones to take them off a committee, Pelosi angrily told reporters. She said she was profoundly concerned about GOP leaders acceptance of an extreme conspiracy theorist.

At one point, No. 2 Democratic leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland strode to the GOP side of the chamber carrying a poster of a Greene Facebook post from last year. Squad's Worst Nightmare, Greene had written in the post, which showed her holding an AR-15 firearm next to pictures of three of the four Democratic lawmakers, all young women of colour, who've been nicknamed The Squad."

They are people. They are our colleagues, Hoyer said. He mimicked Greene's pose holding the weapon and said, I have never, ever seen that before."

Republicans tread carefully but found rallying points.

McCarthy said Greenes past opinions do not represent the views of my party. But without naming the offenders, he said Pelosi hadnt stripped committee memberships from Democrats who became embroiled in controversy. Among those he implicated was Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who made anti-Israel insults for which she later apologized.

If thats the new standard, he said of Democrats move against Greene, we have a long list.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Democrats were setting a precedent by punishing lawmakers for statements made before they were even candidates for Congress. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, warned, You engage in wrong-speak, youre in the Thunderdome, a term for an enclosed wrestling arena.

Committee assignments are crucial for lawmakers for shaping legislation affecting their districts, creating a national reputation and raising campaign contributions. Even social media stars like Greene could find it harder to define themselves without the spotlights that committees provide.

Not all Republicans were in forgiving moods, especially in the Senate. There, fringe GOP candidates have lost winnable races in recent years and leaders worry a continued linkage with Trump and conspiracists will inflict more damage.

That chambers minority leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., this week called Greenes words a cancer on the GOP and country. On Thursday, No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota amplified that thinking.

Thune said House Republicans needed to issue a really strong rebuke of Greenes conspiratorial formulations. Republicans must get away from members dabbling in conspiracy theories, Thune said. I dont think thats a productive course of action or one thats going to lead to much prosperity politically in the future.

The fight came a day after Republicans resolved another battle and voted to keep Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in their leadership. Pro-Trump conservatives tried removing her because she supported Trump's impeachment.

The House resolution punishing Greene was barely over a page. It said House rules require lawmakers behaviour to reflect credibly on the chamber and said Greene should be removed in light of conduct she has exhibited.

News organizations have unearthed countless social media videos and likes in which Greene embraced absurd theories like suspicions that Hillary Clinton was behind the 1999 death of John F. Kennedy Jr. Greene responded, Stage is being set, when someone posted a question about hanging Clinton and former President Barack Obama.
FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Civitas Senior Living, a senior living management company, and Journey Capital, a senior housing development company, have broken ground on the Harvest of Aledo Senior Living, a new, luxury independent living, assisted living, and memory care community. Both Civitas and Journey Capital are local to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

This will mark the third collaboration and partnership between Civitas and Journey Capital and the second Harvest Senior Living development. The first, Harvest of Roanoke, opened in September 2020.

"Harvest of Roanoke is such a success, providing leading-edge programming and first-class accommodations to the senior community of Northeast Tarrant and Southern Denton Counties," said Wayne Powell, Founder and CEO of Civitas Senior Living. "We're thrilled to bring that same passion to the residents of Aledo and its surrounding cities."

The new, 68,000-square-foot community will be situated on 7.5 acres featuring 20 independent living villas as well as 67 assisted living and 24 memory care residences. Harvest of Aledo will be minutes away from Walsh Ranch, a $6 billion master-planned community that will eventually add 50,000 residents and more than 15,000 upscale homes to the area. The new community is just south of I-20 and conveniently located between Weatherford and Fort Worth. "Harvest Senior Living's mission is to inspire our residents to live their best lives: active, happy, and carefree," said Narayan Patel, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Journey Capital. "Harvest of Aledo will be the perfect new home for those senior residents longing for the cozy comfort of small-town life and the top shopping, dining, and healthcare destinations Fort Worth and Parker County has to offer."

In addition to its ideal location, Harvest of Aledo will provide upscale, on-site amenities and services today's senior living resident demands, including a full-service salon, creative arts studio, fitness center, putting green, bocce ball court, personalized care plans, and handcrafted, chef-prepared dining options.

"Harvest of Aledo's design inspiration is a warm expression of today's Texas Farmhouse," said Reid Bonner, President of Senior By Design, an industry leader in senior living interiors. The light exterior colors contrasted by the dark roof details will be accented by large windows and a welcoming Wedgewood Blue front door. Residents will be greeted with a custom-weathered basketweave hardwood floor and natural stone accents. Vintage-inspired, hand-forged chandeliers will light the main living and dining areas. The stacked-stone fireplace will serve as a cozy backdrop to leather sofas and custom "Texas chic" upholstery. Harvest residents will gather around and enjoy listening to the custom-painted, barn red baby grand piano.

While meeting and making friends in the vintage Country Store bistro, complete with its vintage-inspired tin ceiling and hand-painted wall tiles, residents will be able to stroll through galleries of artwork and one-of-a-kind antiques procured from the area and local artists. "Our goal is to create a community rich in beauty and history, one that will be a symbol of pride for all of Harvest's residents and their guests," Bonner said.

The foundation of Harvest's programming, Civitas Senior Living's Passion Program provides Harvest of Aledo residents rich, full lives brimming with social engagements, fun activities, and personalized experiences propelled by attentive caregivers, overall wellness, and delicious food. "We believe that life is best when days are filled with passion and lived with purpose," said Powell. Civitas's revolutionary Passion Program keeps residents active and involved by enjoying memorable moments and celebratory events. Civitas' Passion Program is the cornerstone of the 41 senior living communities it manages across the U.S.

Harvest Senior Living of Aledo is a collaborative effort between developer Journey Capital, management company Civitas Senior Living, Arrive Architects, Ridgemont Construction, and Senior By Design. The estimated completion of the project is Fall 2022. The community will be located across from Aledo High School along Bailey Ranch Road. For more information about Harvest of Aledo, please contact 817-564-8535.

About Journey Capital

Journey Capital is a Dallas-based investment and development company with a focus on senior housing properties. For more information about Journey Capital, please visit www.journeycaph.com.

About Civitas Senior Living, LLC

Civitas Senior Living is a senior living owner/operator, property management, and consulting company based in Fort Worth that specializes in the development, acquisition, and operational management of senior housing properties. These properties include assisted living and memory care residences and independent senior living facilities. Civitas is known for its signature Passion Program, which ensures a high-quality, comprehensive continuum of care through a unique integration of all the factors that affect community management. For more information about Civitas, please visit www.civitasseniorliving.com .

Media Enquiries:

[email protected]

817-784-7591

SOURCE Civitas Senior Living

Related Links

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The ox is the second zodiac sign in the Chinese zodiac cycle, and 2021 is the Year of the Ox. As a sign of hard work and the spirit of sacrifice in Chinese culture, the ox also represents strength and sturdiness.

In ancient times, people used oxen to plow the fields. With its great strength, oxen were widely used for farming, transportation and military purposes. Legend has it that in the Warring States Era of ancient China, the Kingdom of Qi beat the Kingdom of Yan with a spectacular military tactic called "Fire Cattle Columns." In the period of the Three Kingdoms, the Kingdom of Shu used oxen to transport supplies on the plank roads in the war against the Kingdom of Wei.

In modern times, people like to use "Niu Qi Chong Tian" (Niu is the Chinese translation of Ox) to describe the success of a career and "Qi Chong Niu Dou", which means someone has an imposing manner, to describe the temperament of a person. They also use "Shi Du Qing Shen" (a mother cattle licks her baby) to show parents' affection toward their children.

Oxen in the ink-and-wash paintings of Chinese painter Pan Wenliang fully represent the characteristics of the art, giving the works a free-handed style and the spirit of life.

Born in 1971 in Nan'an city of southeast China's Fujian province, his painting works on the ox have characteristic of the Chinese ink-and-wash painting, which reflects the nature and brings a humanistic touch. A calligrapher and painter, Pan Wenliang's works have been displayed in art museums in Beijing and Paris. (Photo courtesy of Pan Wenliang)

Human limbs have multiple long bones that articulate end on end and allow for a wide range of movements (left). Normal zebrafish, on the other hand, have no such articulation in their diminutive fin skeleton (middle). Scientists have now discovered mutant zebrafish that grow new bones away from the body in pattern similar to limbs (right). The new mutant bones develop using the same genes used to make the forearm (pink in left and right skeletons). Credit: M. Brent Hawkins

Fin-to-limb transition is an icon of key evolutionary transformations. Many studies focus on understanding the evolution of the simple fin into a complicated limb skeleton by examining the fossil record. In a paper published February 4 in Cell, researchers at Harvard and Boston Children's Hospital examined what's occurring at the genetic level to drive different patterns in the fin skeleton versus the limb skeleton.

Researchers, led by M. Brent Hawkins, a recent doctoral recipient in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, performed forward genetic screens in zebrafish looking for mutations that affect the fin skeleton. Unlike tetrapod limbs, which have complex skeletons with many bones that articulate at many joints, zebrafish pectoral fins have a simple endoskeleton that lacks joints. To their surprise, Hawkins and colleagues found mutants that modified their fins into a more limb-like pattern by adding new bones, complete with muscles and joints. These results reveal that the ability to form limb-like structures was present in the common ancestor of tetrapods and teleost fishes and has been retained in a latent state which can be activated by genetic changes.

"We look at some of the developmental aberrations and ask, can they inform us of the processes that were happening underlying some of these large shifts in evolution," said senior author Matthew P. Harris, Associate Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Orthopedic Research at Boston Children's Hospital. "And when you see something that shouldn't be there, ever, I mean 400 million years type of never, it's a major finding."

Zebrafish belong to the teleost lineage of ray-finned fishes. Teleosts are a diverse lineage of about 30,000 species that includes goldfish, salmon, eels, flounder, clownfish, pufferfish, catfish and zebrafish. There are more teleost species than all birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibian species combined. Yet, despite the large number of species and wide ranges of shapes, sizes, and habitats, the pectoral fin of teleosts is surprisingly simple and unchanged.

The fin-to-limb transition in the tetrapod lineage modified and elaborated the ancestral fin to include many bones that articulate end on end. From the same ancestral starting state, teleost fins were reduced and simplified, such that there is no end-on-end articulation, only the side-by-side arrangement of the proximal radials. This structure allowed researchers to determine which aspects of development are uniquely limb and which features are common across teleost and tetrapod fins and limbs.

Study co-author Katrin Henke, Boston Children's Hospital, performed forward genetic screens to mutate DNA at random and identify genes that control the formation of the fin skeleton. When a mutation caused interesting changes to the zebrafish skeleton, researchers then worked backwards to genetically map the mutation and determine which genes were affected. In this case, they discovered that mutations in the waslb and vav2 genes cause the fin phenotype. This was a surprising finding as these genes have not previously been known to play roles in patterning the body.

"It was a big question as to how waslb and vav2 were changing fin patterning," said Hawkins. "These genes were not known to interact with any of the very well characterized pathways that guide limb development. However, we found that these mutations cause an increase in the expression of the gene hoxa11b. This gene is very exciting because the Hox genes are in part responsible for patterning the vertebral column as well as the regions of the limb. And the Hox11 genes in particular are required to make the forearm."

The researchers used an advanced CRISPR knock-in approach and inserted a marker into the genome that shows where a particular gene is active. They replaced the hoxa11b gene with a red fluorescent protein, and cells that express hoxa11b glow red. This tool allowed them to determine that the mutants increase the expression of hoxa11b to form the new bones.

Histological analysis revealed that the new bones had muscle attachment, which occurs extensively in limb bones, but not in the fin. In teleost fishes there are no muscles attached to the bones. Instead, the bones provide an intermediate support in the fin and the muscles extend directly from the shoulder out to the bony fin rays, bypassing the bones all together. The new bones are fully integrated into the fin, complete with joints for articulation and attachment to the fin muscles.

Much work has been done in the field of limb development and it provides a good understanding of what genes are present and required to make the limb form. In this study however, researchers flipped traditional approaches by focusing on the small simple zebrafish fin and asking what genetic changes could elaborate the appendage and increase its complexity. "Prior to this there aren't any examples where we have genes or mutations that actually elaborate the structure and make it even more complicated," said Hawkins. "Even in the case of limbs we only know how to make a limb smaller or less complex, but we didn't have any information on how add elements to a fin or a limb."

"That was very surprising as well," confirmed Harris. "We had no hard experimental examples where you take a gene, turn it up, make it work more and get a more complex mature structure at the end. In our findings we actually found some of the dials that can turn up the genetic pathways and get a more complicated structure in the end."

Previously, other researchers removed the Hox11 genes in mice and found this prevented the radius and ulna from fully forming. "Given that both the new bones in our mutant and the forearm of the limb are located in the middle part of the appendage, our result suggests that fins and limbs both use Hox11 cues to specify this region," stated Hawkins.

This finding also fits well with another recent discovery that Hox13 genes are required to form the distal regions of both fins and limbs. Altogether these discoveries reveal that the appendage Hox code was likely present in the common ancestor of tetrapods and teleost fishes and is not specific to the tetrapod lineage.

This study shows that both fins and limbs use the same genetic mechanisms to specify the middle portion of the appendage. Going forward, Hawkins hopes to explore the question, do fins and limbs make other appendage regions in the same way?

"There's still the humerus in the limb and we don't know what the corresponding part in the fin is for that, in terms of the genetic requirements," said Hawkins. "We know there are proximal cues that determine where the humerus should go, but we don't know if the fish use these cues or not. We want to know in a developmental sense how those cues arose in limbs and if those cues are present in some form in the fish fin already. And hopefully we can fill out the correspondence between fins and limbs."

Explore further How did forelimb function change as vertebrates acquired limbs and moved onto land?

More information: Cell, Hawkins et al.: "Latent developmental potential to form limb-like skeletal structures in zebrafish" DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.01.003 Journal information: Cell , Hawkins et al.: "Latent developmental potential to form limb-like skeletal structures in zebrafish" www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00003-9
The MTV Africa Music Awards will screen in Australia later this month, the first time it is simulcast in 180 countries on MTV.

DJ and record executive DJ Khaled will be the host for the virtual awards ceremony from his home in Miami, Florida, alongside African co-emcees.

Africa is home to some of the worlds most dynamic talent and were excited to spotlight these artists as the MAMAs broadcast in 180 countries for the first time in MTV history, said Bruce Gillmer, President of Music, Music Talent, Programming & Events for ViacomCBS Media Networks. With Grammy Award-winning powerhouse DJ Khaled at the helm, were certain this will be an incredible, must-see global event.

Monde Twala, Senior Vice President and General Manager at ViacomCBS Networks Africa (VCNA) said, We are thrilled to have DJ Khaled as our international host for MAMA Kampala 2021. With his global success achievement and over 22 million followers on social media, he will inspire youth across the continent and attract an even bigger international audience to the virtual event. We cant wait to showcase the latest African musical stars and culture to the MAMA themed MTV World Stage.

MTV has always been a great partner so I jumped at the opportunity to host this years MAMAs, said DJ Khaled. I cant wait to celebrate the incredible music that comes out of Africa, which has inspired me throughout my career.

A major force in the music industry, DJ Khaled, known as the Anthem King and commonly referred to as the Quincy Jones of Hip Hop & R&B, has made dozens of chart-topping hit records featuring JAY-Z, Kanye West, Drake, Chris Brown, Ludacris, T.I., French Montana, Future, Big Sean, Rick Ross, John Legend, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne, among others. He has been nominated for, and won, numerous music awards, including 13 BET Hip Hop Awards, one MTV Music Video Award and most recently, a Grammy.

The MAMA Kampala 2021 event will celebrate African talent across 20 award categories, including Best Male, Best Female, Best Song, and Best Collaboration. The contribution of artists from Portuguese and French-speaking Africa will also be recognized in the Best Lusophone and Best Francophone categories. Additional new categories included are the MAMA Generation Change Award, Best Fan Base, Alone Together Best Lockdown Performance and Personality of the Year.

Sunday, 21 February at 5am on MTV.

Related
On a recent afternoon, a small group of third graders from teacher Carly Berens classroom took an outdoor break. Each student carefully maintained their 6 feet of distance, but still managed to socialize at the same time.

Levi, a student in Berens class, said that he was really happy to be back on campus, even if it is just two days-a-week.

I hadnt been to school for so darn long, he said. Distance learning alone is not for him, said Levi. Its really hard to stare at a screen for two hours, he said, referring to his Zoom lessons on the days hes not on school grounds.

I just like being able to see everyone in my class and my teacher, he said.

Victoria, another third grader, said the same thing  in-person school is much more fun. I get to see my beautiful school, she said. And all the trees are grown and the classrooms are big and we have a desk.

Berens said she feels much more prepared this second COVID-19 school year, compared to the last school year when the pandemic started.
NEW DELHI: DElhi Police Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is investigating the violence unleashed during the farmers tractor rally on the Republic Day, is examining the dump mobile data to identify the rioters.

According to the Zee Media report, Delhi Police has so far received 4000 video clips and CCTV footage from the people to help with their investigation into the farmers tractor rally violence in the national capital.

The SIT is now taking help from the forensic experts to analyse the material and identify the culprits.

Sharing more information in this regard, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) BK Singh said that the Crime Branch, which is investigating the nine cases related to the violence including at the Red Fort and ITO, is also examining dump data of mobile phone calls and registration numbers of tractors.

He added that a team from the National Forensic Sciences University has been called to analyse the video clips and CCTV footage related to the violence that left 394 police personnel injured and one protester dead.

On Friday, the Delhi Police also issued an appeal in leading newspapers asking people to share any evidence or information about the violence. He said that investigators are also analysing footage and photos taken from drone-mounted cameras and carrying out 3D mapping of the area vandalised at the Red Fort.

A team of forensic experts had also visited the Red Fort to collect samples. Delhi witnessed violence during the January 26 tractor rally organised by protesting farmer unions to highlight their demand for the repeal of the Centre's three farm laws.

Many of the protesters, driving tractors, reached the Red Fort while some of them hoisted religious flags on its domes and the flagstaff at the ramparts, where the national flag is unfurled by the prime minister on Independence Day.

In its appeal after the protest, the Delhi Police said, "All members of the public, including media persons, who are witnesses to the incidents or have any information about the incident or have captured any activity on their mobile phones or camera, are hereby requested to come forward and give their statements/footage/picture in their possession at room number 215, second floor, Old Delhi Police Headquarters, ITO during office hours, on any working day or contact on 8750871237 or 011-23490094 or send e-mail on kisanandolanriots.26jain2021@gmmail.com."

In a related development, Delhi Police on Wednesday announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh each for information leading to the arrest of key accused in farmers tractor rally violence on January 26. According to reports, the Delhi Police has announced Rs 1 lakh reward for information leading to the arrest of Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu, Jugraj Singh, Gurjot Singh and Gurjant Singh.

The police have announced a cash reward of Rs 50,000 each for the arrest of Jajbir Singh, Buta Singh, Sukhdev Singh and Iqbal Singh for their alleged involvement in Jan 26 violence.

According to Delhi Police, all those named in its FIRs were allegedly involved in hoisting a religious flag (Nishan Sahib) at the Red Fort and the violence which was witnessed on the Republic Day.

Delhi Police has also intensified its investigation into the violence and the mayhem unleashed during the farmers tractor rally on January 26 and launched a massive search against 12 rioters identified by it.

Live TV
I just received my first injection for the COVID-19 epidemic. Thank you, President Trump for your great leadership in your fast response to have this lifesaving medication available for all us seniors. Thank you so much.

Auburn



For those of you readers who dont like certain editorial columns, such as Lisa Von Ahn or Ann Coulter, may I suggest you do what I do? If I see an editorial column that I dont agree with or dont want to read, I simply dont read it. There is no need to have these people removed from the paper.

Branchdale



Saint Clair Area Elementary/Middle School marquee has sign that says Thank you school board members. For what? Taking a job and getting paid for it? Give me a break.

Saint Clair



Who does our U.S. Senator Patrick Toomey represent? He calls President Bidens relief plan a colossal waste. What part does he object to? $1,400 payments to most Americans? Federal aid for a national vaccine program? Money for cash-strapped state and local governments? Funds for COVID-19 testing or financial help for schools?

Pottsville



Democrats, I see your president now has just banned travel from 26 countries. I guess hes a xenophobe too? A little bit of egg on your face?

Heckscherville



Can anybody tell me what the county commissioners are doing with the $5 they collect for each vehicle registration in Schuylkill County? It certainly isnt being used to fix the roads. It doesnt cost that much to put tar down, and also the tar is done by PennDOT. So what are you doing with the money?

Girardville



I just want to say President Trump is one of the best presidents we ever had. We brought jobs to everyone in the country. Things were never so good. And here Biden is taking away jobs and undoing all the good our country made.

Port Carbon



How in the world can they impeach Trump when he is no longer the president? All they are doing is wasting taxpayer money. They should get rid of Nancy Pelosi rather than all this garbage.

Schuylkill Haven



How does this county expect people to get a COVID vaccine shot? If you dont have a computer or are not computer-literate, you cant set up an account. If you cant set up an account, you cant get an appointment. How do they expect this to work? This is ridiculous for senior citizens who are not computer-literate. There has to be a better way.

Orwigsburg



I agree 100% with Bill Wagner. Every letter he has ever written to the newspaper has delivered great wisdom. If you read his letter, Jan. 26, it is all truth and no lies. I support you, Bill. Keep up the writing to keep common sense in this paper. God bless you and your family.

Friedensburg



To William C. Wagner from Frackville, I agree with you 100% and I will be listing things in Thunder-Enlightning about what Biden doesnt do, too.

Cressona



All the state governors should have followed the governor of Texas and brought our military home immediately after learning about our great military being housed in a cold parking lot on a concrete floor, eating fumes under bright lights. Five-thousand troops and two toilets? Is this the gratitude shown to our military? To all the other governors who ordered their troops home, thank you.

Middleport



To the caller from Minersville about Trumps approval rating, apparently you watch fake news a lot.

Cressona



All these executive orders. Slow down, Joe. You have four years. You dont have to destroy the country in one week.

Minersville



I received a COVID vaccine at Lehigh Valley Hospital on East Norwegian Street this morning. It was very well organized. I am very appreciative of the hospital and their health care workers for providing this excellent care and services.

Pottsville



Trump is a fascist, plain and simple. He planned and encouraged the insurrection. That is a disgrace. As a war veteran who served to defend the Constitution, I am ashamed of him and his uninformed followers, who seek to turn the USA into a Nazi state. There are none so blind as those who wont open their eyes and see the traitor as he really is.

Minersville



If all the Republicans want unity, they better start with the representatives voicing the fact that there was no voter fraud.

Hometown



Hey Tom Noonan, why dont you write a letter about free speech in America and what the Democrats are doing to stifle it? And while you are at it, include in your letter when they are going to attack the Second Amendment. That cant be too far away. They havent even been in office a week now and they are already starting this socialist nonsense.

Frackville



After three months of trying every legal action to overturn the election, Trump directed an angry mob to go to the Capitol and interfere with the electoral count. Surprise, surprise. It became violent. After the riot, he was recorded saying, We love you. Is that like telling someone who tried to break into a bank because their mortgage was foreclosed, at least you tried? Is the statute of limitations for insurrection less than a month?

Mahanoy City



It is time for the Department of Welfare to once again begin home visits. We have live-in boyfriends and girlfriends, along with other family members, who work, having an income and welfare benefits coming in to the same home and not being reported.

Shenandoah



One thing worse than COVID is using it for political gain. Give me a break.

Saint Clair



To the caller from Girardville who said President Trump is the best president we ever had, well, the best president we ever had completely ignored a global pandemic where hundreds of thousands of people died, never wore a mask in public, went against all the CDC guidelines, held big campaign rallies with thousands of people, held big Christmas parties when everybody else in the country was told they had to stay home and stay away from parties and also incited a mob to storm the Capitol and put everybodys lives at risk. And that is the greatest president we ever had? Wow, we are in sorry shape.

Pottsville
Mario Lopez reflected on his final conversation with Dustin Diamond, which happened less than two weeks before his former Saved By the Bell costar's death.

During Tuesday's episode of his show Access Hollywood, the 47-year-old host told audiences that Diamond 'was like a little brother' to him.

'I'm happy to say and I feel good about always having stayed in touch with Dustin,' Lopez said of the late star, who died just three weeks after being diagnosed with stage four small-cell lung carcinoma on Monday.

Grieving: Mario Lopez reflected on his final conversation with Dustin Diamond, which occurred less than two weeks before his former Saved By the Bell costar's death; seen in 2020

He continued: 'He had some struggles and a complicated life, but we all do.'

The father-of-three explained that despite their long distance friendship, he knew they were only a 'a phone call away when he moved to Wisconsin.'

'I don't abandon, like, my friends or never turn my back on people that are always there for me and I stood by him,' Lopez explained. 'We stayed in touch and he met his girlfriend recently.'

Additionally, the pals 'were actually discussing' an onscreen reunion on the 'upcoming season' of the Saved By the Bell reboot 'just two weeks prior to him passing.'

The TV host also admitted he 'was trying to convince him to do something in the reality space,' which would have been produced by him and 'actually pretty funny.'

Unbelievable loss: During Tuesday's episode of his show Access Hollywood , the 47-year-old beloved host told audiences that Diamond 'was like a little brother' to him

'I'm happy to say and I feel good about always having stayed in touch with Dustin,' Lopez said of the late star, who died just three weeks after being diagnosed with stage four small-cell lung carcinoma; seen on the original Saved By The Bell, which ran 1989 to 1993

The X Factor alum noted: 'Unfortunately that won't come to fruition now, but he was in good spirits at least. He was pretty positive and optimistic last I spoke to him.'

As for Diamond's legacy, Lopez said he hopes his friend is 'remembered as a nice guy, good person' and somebody that 'always took time to speak with people that were fans and wanted to connect with him.'

Diamond was best known for his role as the nerdy Samuel 'Screech' Powers on Saved by the Bell when he was 11-years-old, a role he played for 13 years through various installments of the popular teen sitcom.

He reportedly had a large lump on his neck before he died and was hesitant about having it seen by a doctor for fear of attracting public attention.

Gone too soon: As for Diamond's legacy, Lopez said he hopes his friend is 'remembered as a nice guy, good person' and somebody that 'always took time to speak with people that were fans and wanted to connect with him' (seen in 2016)

Diamond's girlfriend, Tash Jules, 39, exclusively told DailyMail.com, 'He was the love of my life. We planned on a future together and spoke often about having kids. I'm heartbroken.'

Tash, a certified pharmacy technician, said she is devastated and her entire world has been turned upside down. But she said she will cherish the last time he was able to speak to her - just one day before he died.

'Even though he was struggling to breathe and had difficulty speaking he was able to get out the words to me, 'I love you,' I told him I loved him back.'
Investment to accelerate the production of innovative new technology while creating jobs

TORONTO, ON / February 4, 2021 / Kontrol Technologies Corp. (CSE:KNR)(OTCQB:KNRLF)(FSE:1K8) ("Kontrol Technologies" or "Kontrol" or "Company"), is pleased to announce that the Ontario government is providing $2 million to CEM Specialties Inc. ("CEMSI"), a London based subsidiary of Kontrol Technologies Corp., through the Ontario Together Fund to help commercialize and accelerate production of Kontrol BioCloudTM, a COVID-19 detector.

"From day one, Ontario unleashed its innovation and manufacturing might in the fight against COVID-19, with businesses rolling out new innovations and products to help keep the frontlines and the general public safe," said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. "It's the creativity and ingenuity of enterprising companies like CEMSI, with its innovative COVID-19 detection technology, that will help Ontario and the rest of the world successfully emerge from this pandemic, while creating hundreds of good jobs for our province's skilled workers."

Kontrol BioCloud ("BioCloudTM"), developed by CEMSI, is a made-in-Ontario real-time COVID-19 detection device that continuously monitors the presence of the SARS-COV-2 virus in the air. The technology promotes air circulation, monitors air quality and samples continuously for pathogens like viruses, bacteria and fungi. When the presence of the virus is detected, BioCloud provides an alert in the cloud or over a local intranet. The Company has received all approvals required to commercialize and produce the technology. Additional information about Kontrol BioCloud can be found on its website at www.kontrolbiocloud.com

With Ontario's support, CEMSI plans to increase production capacity to 20,000 units per month. The product will be manufactured in London with more than 85 per cent of its components produced in province. The company anticipates accelerating the production of the BioCloud will create up to 250 direct jobs and up to 750 indirect jobs.

"We want to thank the Ontario government for their support for commercializing and accelerating production of BioCloud," says Paul Ghezzi, CEO of Kontrol Technologies Corp. "Our CEMSI team has been focused on developing a solution to create safer spaces through the real-time monitoring of SARS-CoV-2. BioCloud seeks to provide an early detection mechanism with a silent alerting system. Just as smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are now part of building safety, we have created BioCloud as an innovative viral detection technology to help get the economy and daily life back closer to normal. BioCloud is a complement and support to the province's vaccination rollout, rapid testing and contract tracing and can be located in schools, offices, places of worship, long-term care homes, hospitals and much more. We are proud to be a made-in Ontario technology and we are very pleased to be hiring and creating new jobs."

The investment funding agreement with government requires Kontrol to achieve certain production milestones and the investment funding will be issued in two tranches of $1.2 Million immediately and $800,000 on completion of the milestones by March 30th 2021. The agreement was executed on January 27th 2021 with a condition precedent of non-disclosure until February 4th, 2021.

Through the Ontario Together Fund, the government is delivering targeted investments that will increase the province's stockpile of made-in-Ontario products and PPE. This new innovative technology and manufacturing capacity will help the province to combat the current COVID-19 outbreak and prepare for potential challenges in the future, while supporting local businesses during the safe and gradual reopening of the province.

About Kontrol BioCloudTM

BioCloud is a real-time analyzer designed to detect airborne viruses. It operates as a safe space technology by sampling the air quality over time. With a proprietary detection chamber that can be replaced as needed, viruses are detected, and an alert system is created in the Cloud or over local intranet. BioCloud has been designed for spaces where individuals gather including classrooms, offices, retirement homes, hospitals, mass transportation and others.

BioCloud is an air quality technology and not a medical device. The Company is not making any express or implied claims that its product has the ability to eliminate or cure the COVID-19 (or SARS-2 Coronavirus). Safe Space Technology is a Kontrol Trademark.

About Kontrol Technologies

Kontrol Technologies Corp., a Canadian public company, is a leader in smart buildings and cities through IoT, Cloud and SaaS technology. Kontrol Technologies provides a combination of software, hardware, and service solutions to its customers to improve energy management, air quality and continuous emission monitoring.

Additional information about Kontrol Technologies Corp. can be found on its website at www.kontrolenergy.com and by reviewing its profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com

For further information, contact:

Paul Ghezzi, Chief Executive Officer

paul@kontrolenergy.com or admin@kontrolenergy.com

Kontrol Technologies Corp.

180 Jardin Drive, Unit 9, Vaughan, ON L4K 1X8

Tel: 905.766.0400, Toll free: 1.844.566.8123

Neither IIROC nor any stock exchange or other securities regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "likely", "should", "would", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "proposed", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy.

Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. Such assumptions include, without limitation, that sufficient capital will be available to the Company and that technology will be as effective as anticipated.

However, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected, or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to, that sufficient capital and financing cannot be obtained on reasonable terms, or at all, that technologies will not prove as effective as expected, that customers and potential customers will not be as accepting of the Company's product and service offering as expected, and government and regulatory factors impacting the energy conservation industry. In particular, successful development and commercialization of the Kontrol BioCloud are subject to the risk that the Kontrol BioCloud may not prove to be successful in detecting the virus that causes COVID-19 effectively or at all, uncertainty of timing or availability of any regulatory approvals and Kontrol's lack of track record in developing products for medical applications. Kontrol BioCloud is an air quality technology and not a medical device. The Company is not making any express or implied claims that its product has the ability to eliminate, cure or contain the COVID-19 (or SARS-2 Coronavirus).

Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as at the date hereof and are based on the beliefs, estimates, expectations, and opinions of management on such date. Kontrol does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any such forward-looking statements or any forward-looking statements contained in any other documents whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required under applicable securities law. Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties, and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information.

SOURCE: Kontrol Technologies Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627944/Ontario-Government-Invests-2-Million-in-Kontrol-BioCloud-COVID-19-Technology
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
President Joe Bidens decision to reimburse the states for the early costs of responding to the coronavirus pandemic will bring another $300 million to New Jersey.

The latest Federal Emergency Management Agency funds will reimburse the state for its costs of first deploying the New Jerseys National Guard before the federal government began covering expenses, the 25% local share of Guard deployment paid from August to January, and the purchase of personal protective equipment and other supplies.

Eliminating FEMAs required local cost-share means New Jersey will get hundreds of millions more in federal funding to help our state, counties and towns defeat the pandemic, support our hospitals and schools, purchase vital personal protective gear, and ramp up vaccinations, Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the decision would allow states to use the additional resources for vaccination efforts and emergency supplies moving forward. She called it a small share of the resources that states need to fight this pandemic.

Bidens announcement came on heels of ordering the federal government last month to cover the full cost of deploying the National Guard through the end of September. The federal government also will cover the entire cost of distributing food on an emergency basis and increasing medical capacity.

The state also could be reimbursed for the costs of personal protective equipment and other supplies incurred through Sept. 30 to reopen schools, shelters, child care facilities, transit systems, health care facilities and other places, Menendez said.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

Governor Murphy thanks President Biden and his administration for taking action to assist states as we grapple with ongoing financial challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Alyana Alfaro Post, a spokeswoman for Gov. Phil Murphy. This action will allow New Jersey to reallocate existing federal funding and help more New Jersey residents.

Murphy first called out the Guard in March for help after New Jersey became one of the first states slammed by the coronavirus. The federal government then picked up the entire cost from April 3 through Aug. 21 under a provision that allowed the state to oversee the Guard but tap federal funds to pay for them.

FEMA also helped pay for expanded unemployment insurance, child care and supplemental nutrition and assistance programs under President Donald Trumps emergency declaration in March.

Trump in August approved the Guard deployment to the end of the year, but lowered the reimbursement to 75% for all states but Florida and Texas, both controlled by Republicans. In December, Trump extended the deployment to March 31 but required Florida and Texas also to pay 25% of the costs of deploying Guard troops.

But Biden removed the 25% local share in extending the deployments through Sept. 30.

As state and local governments across our country face the possibility of slashing their budgets and cutting off vital services, we need the support of the federal government now more than ever, Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker said.

New Jersey so far has received $846.9 million in FEMA disaster aid.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com.

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By Ruth Anderah

The International Criminal Court in the Hague will today deliver a verdict for the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen.

45 year old Ongwen aka the White Ant is charged with 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, for atrocities committed in the Northern region.

The case is the first at the ICC to involve an alleged perpetrator and victim of the same war crimes, with Ongwen himself having been abducted by the rebels as a child while on the way to school and trained to do the acts he did.

His defense lawyers have since argued that he cannot be held responsible for atrocities he was trained and convinced to commit and have asked for him to be acquitted.

However, prosecution says he could have left the rebel movement when he became an adult at the age of 18.

He is accused of among others, leading massacres at the Lukodi, Pajule, Odek, and Abok refugee camps, and the conscription of child soldiers.

Joseph Kony, who is the leader of the rebel group remains at large and is a subject of an ICC arrest warrant.
ROME, FEB 4 - Prosecutors on Thursday requested the indictment of a Rome road maintenance company in the death of a man who hit a pothole on his scooter and crashed into a wall dying instantly in the Italian capital December 2018. Luca Tosi Brandi, 20, was riding his scooter back from a nursing training course at the Sant'Andrea Hospital on the night of December 12 2018 when he ran over one of Rome's many potholes, lost control of the scooter, and lost his life in the crash. The owners and managers of the firm that was supposed to have kept the stretch of road in good shape now risk being tried for negligent manslaughter, judicial sources said Thursday. The case will come before preliminary hearings judge Paola Della Monica on May 10. Successive Rome city governments have launched campaigns to fill in the potholes that dot the capital. (ANSA).
Bengaluru, Feb 4 : With the Kannada filmdom's first family raising its voice against the government's decision to run film theatres in half of its capacity, Karnataka has allowed the theatres to work in full capacity for next four weeks on an 'experimental' basis.

It all started when Kannada film superstar, Punit Rajkumar taking to Twitter hit out Karnataka government's decision that was taken on Tuesday not to allow theatres in their full capacity, he questioned, why the Government was targeting film industry alone when markets, shops and all other commercial establishments were functioning without any hindrance.

Once, the tweet of Punit Rajukumar, who is youngest son of Kannada thespian Dr. Rajkumar, went viral, his eldest brother and superstar Shivarajkumar, too slammed the government's decision through his tweet.

Once both bothers tweeted, almost all Sandalwood stars and technicians also came down heavily on the government. This apparently prompted Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to assign Health Minsiter, K. Sudhakar to find an amicable solution and meanwhile film actors and technicians delegation led by Shivarajkuar too reached Vidhana Soudha to submit their memorandum to the CM.

Sudhakar after meeting on Wednesday the delegations led by Shivarajkumar said that the meeting was held 'as per the instructions of Yediyurappa'.

"As per technical advisory committee recommendations, the Health department had earlier allowed 50 per cent seating in cinema halls. Though the centre has cleared 100 per cent seating in cinema halls, the decision was left to the discretion of state governments depending on the situation in each state and we opted to continue with 50 per cent seating capacity. But after rethinking, we have decided to allow cinema theatres to operate in its full capacity," he said.

He added that the Kannada film industry opposed this decision and requested to reconsider the decision keeping in view the welfare of those employed in the film industry.

"They have also appealed to the chief minister to support them in this difficult time," he added.

The minister added that strict guidelines will be released on Thursday and halls can start screening their moves from Friday onwards.

While actor Shivarajkuar said that the entire film fraternity Ais suffering from huge losses due to closure of film theatres for nearly a year. "I appeal or fans to respect Covid -19 protocols," he added and profusely thanked Yediyurappa to come to their rescue.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Nashville Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III today announced a $573 million settlement with one of the worlds largest consulting firms, McKinsey & Company. The settlement resolves the companys role helping opioid companies promote their drugs and profit from the opioid epidemic. The Tennessee Attorney Generals Office took a lead role in the investigation and negotiations resulting in this settlement with a coalition of attorneys general from 47 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories.

After payment of costs, funds from this multistate opioid settlement will be used to abate problems caused by opioids in the participating states. Tennessee will receive $15,217,532. Todays filing is the latest action the Tennessee Attorney Generals Office has taken to combat the opioid epidemic and to hold accountable those who are responsible for creating and fueling the crisis.

In addition to providing funds to address the crisis, the agreement calls for McKinsey to prepare tens of thousands of its internal documents detailing its work for Purdue Pharma and other opioid companies for public disclosure online. In addition, McKinsey agreed to adopt a strict document retention plan, continue its investigation into allegations that two of its partners tried to destroy documents in response to investigations of Purdue Pharma, implement a strict ethics code that all partners must agree to each year, and stop advising companies on potentially dangerous Schedule II and III narcotics.

We appreciate McKinsey taking responsibility for its part in the opioid crisis and how quickly and decisively the states and territories acted, together and on a bipartisan (yes, bipartisan) basis, to bring this to a conclusion. We will finally get some funds directed to address this longstanding problem, said General Slatery.

Todays filings describe how McKinsey contributed to the opioid crisis by promoting marketing schemes and consulting services to opioid manufacturers, including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, for over a decade. The complaint, filed with the settlement, details how McKinsey advised Purdue on how to maximize profits from its opioid products, including targeting high-volume opioid prescribers, using specific messaging to get physicians to prescribe more OxyContin to more patients, and circumventing pharmacy restrictions in order to deliver high-dose prescriptions.

When states began to sue Purdues directors for their implementation of McKinseys marketing schemes, McKinsey partners began emailing about deleting documents and emails related to their work for Purdue.

The opioid epidemic has caused considerable harm to individuals and communities in Tennessee where more than a thousand people die every year from opioid overdose. The state also has one of the highest opioid prescription rates- more than six million in 2018.

The settlement and complaint can be viewed here once available: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2021/pr21-05-complaint-judgment.pdf

The states investigation was led by an executive committee made up of the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont. The executive committee is joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

###

#21-05: Tennessee Reaches $573 Million Settlement with McKinsey & Company for its Role in the Opioid Epidemic with Purdue
Telangana govt to promulgate an ordinance to curb spurious seeds in state 29 May 2021 | 11:48 PM Hyderabad, May 29 (UNI) : Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday night instructed Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to promulgate an Ordinance, if need be, to Amend the Acts to enforce strict guidelines to stop the supply of spurious Seeds. see more..

Telangana Govt's aim is to revive & revitalize agriculture sector: CM 29 May 2021 | 11:11 PM Hyderabad, May 29 (UNI) Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said that the aim of the state government is to revive and revitalize the agriculture sector in the newly formed Telangana state and thereby strengthen the rural economy and stabilize the farm sector once and for all had been realized. see more..

Lockdown extended in Pondy till June 7 29 May 2021 | 10:38 PM Puducherry, May 29 (UNI) The Puducherry Administration on Saturday extended the COVID-19 lockdown till June 7, Monday. see more..

Kerala extends lockdown till June 9 with new guidelines 29 May 2021 | 10:04 PM Thiruvananthapuram, May 29 (UNI) Kerala has extended the lockdown in the state till June 9 and the new guidelines will come into effect from May 31. see more..
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Penny Piechockis 79-year-old mother doesnt sleep well at night.

Shes stressed she wont get the COVID-19 vaccine and is afraid of dying of the virus. Every day she asks Piechocki if there is any news of an appointment opening up. There hasnt been for nearly a month.

Aleicia Woodrick, 88, felt frustrated and helpless and wondered if she did something wrong on the registration form.

She and some of her friends filled out the same Spectrum Health form around the same time in early January. While her friends received calls within days to schedule an appointment, Woodrick didnt hear anything for weeks.

When she did call to ask if anything was wrong with her registration, she was told to keep waiting.

Thats why I felt so helpless when I couldnt get anyone to talk to me to help me understand this. There was just nobody there, Woodrick said. When mine was pushed back so far -- almost a month -- and others were getting it, oh, I was frustrated.

Alice Hardwood registered her 80-year-old husband with high-risk conditions for vaccination at four different providers as soon as she heard people age 65 and older were eligible. After checking for any updates day after day for weeks, finally one responded and he received his first dose Friday.

Now, the 68-year-old is going through those same hurdles again, this time for herself.

Healthcare providers in West Michigan and beyond are trying to get as many shots in arms as they can with the small amount of vaccine allotted to them.

For many eligible residents, though, the waiting and lack of definite timelines for an appointment has been frustrating. Across social media, numerous people have vented their aggravation with the struggle to get a vaccination appointment booked for them or their loved ones.

Stories about people cutting in line for a vaccine have drawn ire, especially as some of the most vulnerable wait and wait.

In the eligibility phase that opened in January, called Phase 1B, people age 65 or older and some essential workers like teachers, jail staff and first responders are eligible for vaccination.

Across the country, 81% of all 421,378 deaths from COVID-19 have been among people 65 and older, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data dated Wednesday, Feb. 3.

The vaccine allocated to West Michigan is far below both demand and what health workers can administer, driving the delay in appointments.

Last week, the Kent County Health Department was apportioned 6,000 doses. The countys population is roughly 655,000, and of that about 150,000 people were made eligible in Phase 1B, which opened early January.

Kent County Health Director Adam London recently told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press that countywide there is capacity to administer about 20,000 doses of vaccine a day.

London said the vaccine supply issue appears to be at the federal level or with the suppliers and distributors. He urged people to be patient, saying health workers are just as frustrated with the bottleneck.

Related: Kent County top health official shares resident frustration with slow vaccine rollout

Since Piechocki registered her mother for vaccination, she hasnt heard any updates other than continue to wait. The Kent City resident said her mother used to enjoy getting out and going to the mall but has largely been homebound since the pandemic began, for fear she might catch the virus.

I filled out the questionnaire on Spectrum Healths app and you can see if someone has read it or not, and it hadnt been read by staff, Piechocki said. After a week I reached out to them, and all they could tell me is they could see the questionnaire, but they couldnt schedule her appointment. They said it could take weeks or months before she got in.

Woodrick, fortunately, was able to get a first dose, though not through Spectrum Health, where she initially applied.

The director of the independent living community where she resides, Cook Valley Estates in Grand Rapids Township, notified her in January there were a few vaccines yet available at their sister community in Sparta but she had to be quick. Within minutes, she was out the door and made the 25-minute trip.

To drive up there, you know, at my age is not the easiest thing to do, Woodrick laughed. Now my concern is on the 12th, what are the roads going to be like? Because you have to go back to the same place where you got your first shot.

The vaccination scheduling process has been particularly difficult for some who are older and either dont have access to the internet or a computer or arent tech savvy, said Jackie OConnor, executive director of the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan.

Most of the registration for vaccination is done on the web, but the county health department and health care providers administering the vaccine in Kent County also offer call centers to help the process.

The way that the vaccines are being scheduled now, you have to have access to the internet to a computer or a smartphone or a tablet. You have to feel comfortable, tech savvy, to do these things online, so that is going to be targeting just a certain type of senior, OConnor said.

There are a lot in our county that dont have the internet, dont have the technology in their home, dont have somebody to help them. There is a large group that is going to have to rely on phone calls.

OConnors nonprofit is responsible for administering government funds for older adult programming. She said its her understanding that pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens have federal contracts to target and administer doses at senior housing complexes and group homes, like nursing homes and adult foster care.

If you want to get that vaccine, youd like to get it as soon as possible, but nobody can push the number of supply of vaccines getting to us, so we just have to wait, she said. If I talk to any group, theres frustration. They just want to have it.

OConnor said she hoped vaccinations would be offered at local pharmacies, where many older adults feel more comfortable going and driving to than the large-scale clinic in downtown Grand Rapids.

Read more:

Snyders lawyers complain they arent getting enough money to represent former governor

COVID-19 pandemic taking a toll on students mental health, district survey shows

Michigan reports 1,382 new coronavirus cases and 32 deaths for Wednesday, Feb. 3
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A male zebra finch displaying its bright red beak and orange cheek patches in the wild. Credit: Adobe Stock / Xavier MARCHANT

Humans, wildlife, and the environment are all interconnected and play a role in one another's health and well-being. Sentinel species, such as birds, are good indicators of environmental health, and they can send subtle warning signs that humans may be in danger next.

In an experimental exposure study, Kendra Sewall, an associate professor of biological sciences in the College of Science, and a diverse team of scientists and students have found that lead levels like those reported in Flint, Michigan, can interfere with the neural mechanisms of vocal development of songbirds and affect mate attraction.

By examining the effects of lead exposure in songbirds, more information will be known about how lead impacts learning and underlying neural networks in humans, since they share the same critical period of vocal learning.

"Our study shows that levels of lead in water that are known to be concerning for human health also have negative effects on the brain and the learning ability of male songbirds and compromises their ability to attract a mate," said Sewall, an affiliated faculty member of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute and the Global Change Center.

Their findings were published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety on Jan. 8.

Lead is a heavy metal. When ingested, lead competes with calcium, a nutrient that is crucial for brain growth, muscle function, and neural function. For that very reason, the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization consider any detectable amount of lead in blood to be dangerous for children and animal health.

One process is particularly vulnerable to lead exposure: vocal learning, a trait shared by humans and songbirds. This is because this form of learning occurs at an early age, when the brain is undergoing a significant amount of growth and reorganization.

For this particular study, researchers studied male zebra finches. These small, highly social songbirds from the wilds of Australia are an excellent model for how humans learn speech. Not only do zebra finches learn their songs in the same way that we do, but they also have brain areas that are analogous to our vocal learning brain regions.

"Early in life, humans and songbirds have to hear adult vocalizations that they memorize and practice until their vocalizations are perfected," said Sewall. "If songbirds or humans are deprived of an adult model, or if their learning process is impeded by environmental challenges like lead contamination, they won't be able to produce normal vocalizations."

In order to show that this model system can be relevant to humans and our health, researchers had to determine if birds metabolize lead in the same way human children do. Sewall and her colleagues studied young male zebra finches that had been exposed to 1,000 parts per billion of lead in their drinking water, which is comparable to the highest levels that have been reported in Flint, Michigan, and measured the resulting amount of lead in their blood and brain tissue.

They found that males that had ingested the contaminated water had lead blood levels ranging from 2.6 to 6.8.

"The blood levels are concerning, but below what would trigger any major intervention if these were human blood levels," said Sewall. "Yet these blood levels adversely affected the brain and learning in these young birds. This highlights the fact that lead can be really dangerous and that we are probably ignoring levels of lead in blood and in the environment that could be causing damage to humans and animals alike."

To learn as much as they could from this study, researchers looked at additional physiological endpoints, including other aspects of learning, male coloration, and the ability of males to attract female attention.

Male songbirds who were exposed to lead produced poorer quality songs compared to the control males. Upon further inspection, researchers also found that their brains had smaller song-learning nuclei, or clusters of neurons in the central nervous system.

In addition to poor song quality, lead treated males also had differences in coloration. Male zebra finches use dances, cheek patches, and bright bills to attract females. The lead exposed males had cheek patches with less hue and red saturation than the control males.

Due to poorer song quality and dull coloration, females showed less preference for the lead-treated males, and the male's ability to attract a mate was compromised. This finding, in particular, raises the possibility that male birds exposed to environmental toxicants could have reduced reproductive success. However, it is unclear if this could have negative effects on reproduction and persistence of wild songbird populations.

Historically, research has been heavily focused on the short-term consequences of high environmental toxicant levels, rather than the long-term consequences of prolonged exposure to low levels of environmental pollutants.

"We have known for years that animals like the California condor are at risk of death from eating animals killed with lead shot," said Sewall. "Our study suggests that wild animals exposed to low levels of lead could have reduced reproduction, which is a concern for maintaining healthy wild populations. I'm reminded of a quote from Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring,' 'but man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.'"

Moving forward, Sewall and the team will study the mechanism by which these low levels of lead can impair learning and indirectly impair the reproductive success of songbirds. Collaborator and Global Change Center affiliate, Chris Thompson, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech's School of Neuroscience, will be assisting with studies examining exactly how lead interferes with neural growth and causes neural damage.

"Despite knowing for many decades that lead is toxic, especially during early development, much remains unknown about the precise mechanisms by which it disrupts the brain and resulting functional outcomes such as communication," said William Hopkins, director of the Global Change Center. "The work being conducted by Sewall and her colleagues will shed light on this pervasive environmental issue that continues to have widespread adverse effects on the health and behavior of both humans and wildlife."

Sewall will also be working with Jamie Cornelius, an assistant professor at Oregon State University who is studying blood lead levels in songbirds living in parks in and around Flint, Michigan. Sewall's team will pursue more behavioral and physiological testing of wild birds at these sites.

Christopher Goodchild, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Central Oklahoma, was the first author on the paper. Michelle Beck, an assistant professor of biology at Rivier University; Sam Lane and Isaac VanDiest, who are graduate students in the Department of Biological Sciences and in the Interfaces of Global Change IGEP; and Frankie Czesak, an undergraduate Neuroscience Fellow; were all co-authors. All of their expertises and hard work were critical to the findings of this study.

"For this project, it was really critical to get all of the information that we possibly could from these birds," said Sewall. "We looked at consequences of lead exposure in water for several physiological endpoints, neurological outcomes, and learning and behavior. So, having different people who can spearhead each component of the study was really important."

Explore further Forming sound memories: Autism gene plays key aspect in birdsong

More information: Christopher G. Goodchild et al. Male zebra finches exposed to lead (Pb) during development have reduced volume of song nuclei, altered sexual traits, and received less attention from females as adults, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (2021). Christopher G. Goodchild et al. Male zebra finches exposed to lead (Pb) during development have reduced volume of song nuclei, altered sexual traits, and received less attention from females as adults,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.111850
COLUMBIA, Md., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) will conduct its first-ever series of observations from Germany in March 2021. Many of the observations seek to answer fundamental questions in astronomy, including how stars can transform galaxies and what is the origin of cosmic rays in the Milky Way galaxy.

SOFIA, a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center, DLR, recently completed scheduled maintenance and telescope upgrades at Lufthansa Technik's facility in Hamburg, Germany. Now, the observatory will take advantage of its proximity to science teams at the Max-Planck Institute of Radio Astronomy in Bonn and the University of Cologne, which operate the Instrument called German Receiver at Terahertz Frequencies, or GREAT, to conduct research flights from the Cologne Bonn Airport.

"We're taking advantage of SOFIA's ability to observe from almost anywhere in the world to conduct compelling astronomical investigations," said Paul Hertz, director of astrophysics at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This observing campaign from Germany is an excellent example of the cooperation between NASA and DLR that has been a strength of the SOFIA program for over 25 years."

SOFIA regularly goes to Christchurch, New Zealand, to study objects only visible in the skies over the Southern Hemisphere and completed one science flight from Germany in 2019. But this is the first time a multi-flight observing campaign will be conducted over European soil. Over the course of six weeks, SOFIA will conduct about 20 overnight research flights that will focus on high priority observations, including several large programs that were rescheduled from spring 2020 due to the COVID -19 pandemic.

With new COVID-19 safety procedures in place, SOFIA will use its GREAT instrument to search for signatures of celestial molecules, ions and atoms that are key to unlocking some of the secrets of the universe.

The observations include:

How Stars Affect Their Surroundings

In stellar nurseries like Cygnus X, newborn stars can destroy the clouds in which they're born. Researchers will use SOFIA to create a map of ionized carbon, a gas the young stars are heating, to better understand this process. Ionized carbon's chemical fingerprint can determine the speed of the gas at all positions across the celestial clouds. The signal is so strong that it reveals critical details that are otherwise hidden from view deep inside natal clouds. The data may also help explain the source of the mysterious bubble-like structures that were detected by the Herschel Space Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope but have yet to be fully understood.

Searching for Clues About Cosmic Rays

The team will search for gases that can reveal the presence of cosmic rays, highly energetic charged particles that stream through our Milky Way galaxy. When a hydrogen atom combines with another element, such as argon or oxygen, simple molecules called hydrides are formed, some of which can be used to find cosmic rays. While cosmic rays can be detected directly within our solar system, astronomers know much less about their presence elsewhere in space. By measuring the concentration of hydride molecules, SOFIA's observations will help researchers understand how common cosmic rays are in different parts of our galaxy, providing clues about the origin of these mysterious particles.

Understanding the Evolution of The Cigar Galaxy, or M82

SOFIA previously found that the Cigar galaxy's powerful wind, driven by the galaxy's high rate of star birth, is aligned along the magnetic field lines and transports a huge amount of material out of the galaxy. Now, researchers will study ionized carbon gas, which traces star formation, to learn how this intense star birth and wind are affecting the evolution of the galaxy.

About GREAT

SOFIA's GREAT instrument works like a radio receiver. Scientists tune to the frequency of the molecule they're searching for, like tuning an FM radio to the right station. The instrument can also look for changes in signals that provide insights into how stars affect their surroundings, similar to how a radar gun bounces a signal off a moving car to determine its speed.

About SOFIA

SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center. NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley manages the SOFIA program, science, and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association, headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute at the University of Stuttgart. The aircraft is maintained and operated by NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703, in Palmdale, California.

About USRA

Founded in 1969, under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences at the request of the U.S. Government, the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) is a nonprofit corporation chartered to advance space-related science, technology and engineering. USRA operates scientific institutes and facilities, and conducts other major research and educational programs, under Federal funding. USRA engages the university community and employs in-house scientific leadership, innovative research and development, and project management expertise. More information about USRA is available at www.usra.edu.

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Heres a maddening pandemic fact: Catholic dioceses in the U.S. and other institutions backed by the Roman Catholic Church took more than $3 billion in taxpayer-funded government aid as part of the Paycheck Protection Program, according to an investigation by the Associated Press. That appears to make the Catholic Church the single largest beneficiary of the emergency aid program. While availing upon taxpayer-funded payments, designed to keep small businesses afloat and employees in their jobs during economic shutdowns, the AP reports the Catholic Church was sitting on $10 billion in cash, short-term investments, and other available funds.

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The financial statements of 112 dioceses showed that theyalong with the churches and schools they operatecollected at least $1.5 billion in PPP funds, even though, the AP reports, most of those dioceses had enough cash reserves to operate for six months with no revenue coming in at all. The fact that the market quickly recoveredand then grewmeant that many of the dioceses relying on investment vehicles likely made money on the pandemic. The Archdiocese of Chicago, for example, had more than $1 billion in cash and investments as of May, yet its affiliated institutions collected $77 million in paycheck protection funds.

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Church officials have said their employees were as worthy of help as workers at Main Street businesses, and that without it they would have had to slash jobs and curtail their charitable mission as demand for food pantries and social services spiked. They point out the programs rules didnt require them to exhaust their stores of cash and other funds before applying, the AP reports. The financial resources of several dioceses rivaled or exceeded those available to publicly traded companies like Shake Shack and Ruths Chris Steak House, whose early participation in the program triggered outrage. Federal officials responded by emphasizing the money was intended for those who lacked the cushion that cash and other liquidity provide. Many corporations returned the funds.

While the Catholic Church appears to have been the largest religious recipient of government PPP funding, it wasnt alone: Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, and Jewish faith-based entities received at least $3 billion. Dioceses, parishes, schools and other Catholic entities also routinely assert to the Internal Revenue Service that they are affiliated so they can maintain their federal income tax exemption, according to the AP. While some Catholic officials insisted their affiliates are separate and financially independent, AP found many instances of borrowing and spending among them when dioceses were faced with prior cash crunches.
Looking at a map, everyone would assume the border between Victoria and South Australia is a straight line.

But a century-old surveying mistake resulted in a 3.5km-wide sliver of disputed land between the two then-colonies that nearly sparked a war.

NSW and Victoria are divided by the winding route of the Murray River with the South Australia border running perpendicular.

That imaginary line was supposed to cut straight through, but instead ended up sliding west and north and caused a 60-year battle.

Irish surveyors in 1847 (pictured) began a journey to determine the borders between South Australia and New South Wales, but incorrectly gave Victoria an extra 1,420 sq km of land

The border between Victoria and South Australia is not a straight divide (pictured), thanks to a surveying mistake in the 1800's

Australian YouTuber Julian O'Shea took a deep dive into the two state's misplaced borders, claiming that it all began with a simple '141 degrees mistake' in 1847.

When the British started forming colonies in Australia, they split NSW to create Victoria and South Australia.

But the three numbers that caused the bungle, was the decision to make the border separating SA and NSW at 141 degrees - leaving farmers to figure out the boundaries among themselves.

The first attempt in 1847 by Irish surveyors Henry Wade and Edward White, began on the coast with basic equipment using rocks and burned trees to determine each side of the border.

South Australia and Victoria paid for the Serviceton Railway, located in rural Victoria for the transport of important goods and services

After three gruelling years that saw White drink the blood of his horse, the pair defined the border from the coast of the Murray River.

The boundaries were drawn 3.35km north and 2.96km south, incorrectly giving Victoria and extra 1,420sqkm of land.

The pair's mistake was discovered nearly 20 years later in 1868 when new telegraph technology emerged.

But it was too late for the two states, and they reached a stalemate with neither governments backing down on the border.

Despite Serviceton (pictured) serving as an important role for South Australia and Victoria, their bitter dispute continued

Victoria was given an extra 1,420 sq km of land by Irish surveryors, sparking their long fued with South Australia

In an attempt to rectify the state's mutual hostility, they built a railway to connect the two colonies - a train station they both agreed to pay for.

The Serviceton Railway station is still standing in the small rural town of Serviceton in Victoria, with a population of 120 people.

Despite the station serving an important role to transport good and services, the border rivalry between the states continued.

Henry Bournes Higgins confirmed in the High Court that the borders could not be changed despite technological advancements

The 64-year-old conflict came to a head, when the SA Government announced they would send in their own surveyors to subdivide the land.

Victoria saw this as an act of war and said they would be treated as trespassers and arrested.

So the states took their battle to the High Court, which ruled in favour of Victoria.

The court also confirmed that the border was at 141 degrees and couldn't be changed despite advancements in technology.

Finally on January 28 1914, the dispute was resolved.

The borders of NSW, SA and VIC now connect via the 11km of the Murray River, but still aren't crystal clear.

Victoria agreed that the entirety of the river was in NSW, defining the border with NSW from the river's southern bank.

Once again, still it's ambiguous which state has sole control over the Murray River beyond the southern border, making it a legal grey area for authorities.
US President Joe Biden will announce a freeze to the redeployment of forces from Germany later on Thursday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) US President Joe Biden will announce a freeze to the redeployment of forces from Germany later on Thursday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.

"Today, he will announce that Secretary Austin will lead a global force posture review and during the pendency of that review will freeze any troops redeployments from Germany," Sullivan said.
Gov. Jared Polis is urging the Biden administration to keep the headquarters of two key U.S. government agencies in Colorado, arguing the U.S. Space Command and the Bureau of Land Management serve the nations interests better if they stay where they are.

Polis office released a letter Thursday urging Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to review the Donald Trump administrations Jan. 13 announcement that the new U.S. Space Command headquarters will be in Huntsville, Alabama, home to the Armys Redstone Arsenal. The command provisionally is located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.

The Air Force announcement stunned Colorado leaders, who insisted U.S. military officials had urged then-President Trump to keep the command at Peterson.

Polis also urged President Biden in a letter to keep the BLM headquarters in Grand Junction. The Trump administration insisted that moving the BLMs headquarters from Washington to Colorado would better serve the agencys oversight of nearly 388,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers) of federal public land  99% of it in the West.

I implore you to think of this as an opportunity for better communication, better policy and better government, rather than just associating this with the many other misguided legacies of your predecessor, the Democratic governor wrote.
(Natural News) One of the top contenders for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is the subject of a new smear campaign by the mainstream media, which is attempting to rewrite its own history to make Cotton look bad.

After the far-left Salon rag ran a blatant hit piece on Cotton, Newsweek followed suit by going back and rewriting one of its own stories from 2015 to reflect the false claims made by Salon.

Liberal news outlets have been piling onto Cotton in recent days over his military service, taking issue with a congressional campaign flier that indicated Cotton volunteered to be an Army Ranger.

Cotton did, in fact, graduate from Ranger School and was awarded the coveted Ranger tab. He later served with the famed 101st Airborne Division, witnessing combat in Iraq.

At no point has Cotton ever claimed to have served in the 75th Ranger Regiment, a Special Operations unit that is separate from Ranger School. However, it is a common mistake in the media to interchange the two, with many news outlets on both the left and the right referring to Ranger school graduates as Army Rangers.

Newsweek did this in 2015 by claiming that two women who completed the Army Ranger Schools intense training programs went on to become Rangers. After the Salon story criticizing Cotton for his campaign flier, however, Newsweek quietly went back and retroactively changed the story to read that the two women were allowed to wear the coveted Ranger tab on their uniforms.

At no point did Newsweek make any type of public statement about the change, but rather did it in secret hoping that nobody would notice.

Newsweek reported in 2015 that for the first time in the Army Ranger Schools 64-year history, two women have completed the intense training program and will become Rangers,' reported the National Review, outing Newsweek for committing fraud while fomenting revisionist history.

The same 2015 Newsweek story  acknowledged that the 75th Ranger Regiment does not allow female Rangers.'

The fake news brigade is at it once again

Newsweek later added a correction to the bottom of said article indicating that the change was made to note that completion of the course allows one to wear the Ranger tab, but does not make one a Ranger.

Several critics, including Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler and former New York Times opinion editor Bari Weiss called out Newsweek on Twitter for trying to fool the world with this blatant corruption.

Someone needs to build a database that keeps track of all of the memory-holing done by the U.S. press, added Quillette founding editor Claire Lehmann.

Cotton later appeared on the Fox News Special Report program to address the controversy. He explained that this is nothing more than a political hit job by Salon and Newsweek, both of which are completely misrepresenting him.

I graduated from the Ranger School, Cotton stated. I wore the Ranger tab in combat with the 101st Airborne in Iraq. This is not about my military record. This is about my politics.

Ranger Regiment legends like Gen. Scotty Miller or Gen. Craig Nixon have used the term to describe both alumni of the Ranger Regiment and graduates of the Ranger School, as did the secretary of the Army, as did most of my buddies in the Army  as did most of the liberal media, until a conservative veteran was using the term that way.

Cotton went on to tell Bret Baier that people might disagree with him, but that this is fine, and he respects their views. What is most important, he says, is that he respects the service of all Rangers, as well as all soldiers who volunteered to serve our country.

For more related news about fake news outlets like Salon and Newsweek, be sure to check out Propaganda.news.

Sources for this article include:

FoxNews.com

NaturalNews.com
JP Nadda slams LDF,UDF, asks people to help Lotus bloom in Kerala

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

Thrissur (Ker), Feb 4: BJP president J P Nadda on Thursday hit out at the ruling Left front government and the Opposition Congress-led UDF in Kerala, saying both were corrupt and lacked vision and said it was time the people of the state allow them to "rest" and help the Lotusbloom.

The Pinarayi Vijayan government was "non-performing" and "the law and order in the state had crumbled", he said. Also targeting the UDF, which is going all out to make the Sabarimala women entry issue a major poll plank in the elections likely to be held in April-May this year, Nadda said it "back-stabbed" the devotees. He claimed it was the saffronparty workers against whom all the cases were registered.

The Congress had recently asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to seek legal remedies to "heal the wounds" created in society due to its alleged hasty decision to implement the apex court verdict of September 2018 allowing women of all agegroups to enter the Ayyappa shrine at Sabarimala.

The southern state had witnessed protests by right wing and BJP workers against allowing women in the banned 10-50 age group being allowed in the temple. The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were giving "special focus" and attention to Kerala and over Rs 19,000 crore has been kept apart for the state to ease its revenue deficit, Nadda said addressing a massive rally of party workers at the Thekkinkadu maidan here this evening.

BJP chief Nadda slams LDF, UDF, says both are two sides of the same coin

"The LDF and UDF are corrupt, both are non-performing, they have no vision and their only aim is to grab power. Time has come for the people of Kerala to allow them to rest and give us work," he said.

"This government is a government of non-performance.... of inaction.... atrocities against women and Dalits are increasing," he said. "The leaders and political parties have brought a bad name to Kerala.The LDF led by Pinarayi Vijayan and the UDF led by Oommen Chandyand Ramesh Chennithalahave brought a bad name to Kerala.It's full of corruption.Law and order has crumbled," Nadda said. He also slammed the state's COVID-19 management, saying the cases were rising in the state. "How they have messed up the COVID-19 situation. There is a narrative here.To adopt Kerala model.What's the Kerala Model? More than 50 per cent cases are from Kerala." "Still the health minister claims that the rise in cases are due to population density. What kind of justification is that? I am sorry to say I have been the health minister and helped the state during Nipah." He said over Rs 2,600 crorewas given for flood relief.

"Nothing has been utilised.We need to remove this government.We request people to remove the government and help the Lotus bloom," Nadda said. Citing the gold smuggling case in which Vijayan's former principal secretary Sivasankar had been arrested and 'Solar sexual exploitation' case in which senior Congress leader and former CM Oommen Chandy is among the five party leaders named, the BJP leader sarcastically said one Chief Minister has love and affection towards gold and the other gets energy from Solar.

"I am sorry to say, it has given a very badname to the state with the various corruptions and scandals," he said. Nadda also flayed the LDF government for moving a resolution in the state assembly against the CAG for its adverse remarks in its audit report of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), saying the government was attacking constitutional bodies in the state.

He also listed various projects sanctioned by the Centre for the state including the Mumbai-Kanyakumari economic corridor for which rs 50,000 crore has been set apart. During the lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had transferred Rs 500 each for three months to 20 crore women across the country in their Jan Dhan accounts and 47 lakh people were benefited in the state.

Eight crore gas connections were given to women, he said. The BJP leader said he had come to the same venue in 2016 during the assembly polls and there was a "sea change" in the enthusiasm of the people now. Former DGP Jacob Thomas, who recently joined the BJP, was welcomed by Nadda on the stage by wrapping a shawl around him.

Nadda, who was on a two-day visit to poll-bound Kerala, addressed party office bearers from the 140 assembly constituencies earlier in the day. Senior leader Shobha Surendran, who had been keeping away from party functions over the past 10 months unhappy with the state leadership, too attendedthe rally.
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Asylum seekers say they are risking their lives to leave the UK months after arriving due to the inhumane conditions they have been subjected to in former military barracks.

People who crossed the Channel on small boats last year to seek sanctuary in Britain have told The Independent they are now attempting to return to mainland Europe by boarding lorries in Dover, saying they feel they have been treated like they are not human beings in the UK.

Concerns have been mounting about conditions at a Ministry of Defence site known as Napier Barracks, in Kent, since it was repurposed last September for housing hundreds of asylum seekers.

A man from Syria, who was one of a number of people moved out of Napier Barracks and into a local hotel last month in response to the Covid-19 outbreak, said he had been attempting to cross to Europe on a lorry, and that his friend successfully did so earlier this week.

Asked why he was trying to return to mainland Europe, the 22-year-old, who left his home country due to compulsory recruitment campaigns by the Kurdish army, and who did not want to named, said: I am not being treated like a human being here.

The Home Office is making an effort to make people hate asylum seekers. I cannot stay in this country when the government is pushing people to treat us in this way. I think a lot of others will do the same thing and leave the UK.

The journey back is totally dangerous. There are just centimetres between the lorry and the ground. I could lose my arm, leg or my life. But in the UK I am losing my dignity.

Explaining the reasons he initially came to Britain, the man said: I speak some English and I was thinking of studying aviation after being granted asylum, and working part-time so that I would not depend on anyone. I didnt come here for the benefits or housing  just to have a normal life.

I used to think there was no distinction here between a Muslim and a Christian, between black and white. But I realise there is.

NGOs said it was deeply shameful that people who had fled war zones were risking death to leave the UK and accused ministers of failing at a very basic level to provide sanctuary for those in need.

Residents have been banned from leaving Napier Barracks since mid-January after a number of individuals tested positive for Covid-19. More than 120 people have since tested positive for the virus.

The Home Office has faced mounting criticism over the conditions in both the Kent camp and another military site in Pembrokeshire, known as Penally barracks, with NGOs and lawyers warning of poor access to legal advice and barriers to accessing healthcare and mental health support.

The Independent revealed last week that the Home Offices Equality Impact Assessment of its decision to use the sites for asylum housing was made on the basis that better accommodation would undermine public confidence in the system.

Another Syrian man, who is in Napier Barracks, told The Independent he hoped to cross the Channel back to France when he was able to leave the camp again.

The 49-year-old, who left Syria in 2015 and was in Libya for four years, left at the start of 2020 to flee the civil war, arrived to Britain in July last year after paying 1,000 to a smuggler to cross from France to Britain.

In Syria, everything is gone. My home was destroyed. I want to feel that I am a human being. I want dignity and freedom. I am looking for safety. I came here because I thought there was no racism in the UK, and that it was a country that protects peoples human rights, he said.

I did not expect that they would put me in this camp. I am fleeing war. My nerves are tired. Is this a punishment for us? Why is this happening? I want to rest, but it feels like we are being punished. It is inhumane.

Asked where he would go in Europe, the man said: I will talk to my friends who have homes in other European counties. They were not put into military camps.

Bella Sankey, director at Detention Action, said: People who seek sanctuary in the UK have fled horrors in their home countries and many have been abused and enslaved on their journey here.

That survivors of abuse are now risking death to return from where they came is a chilling development, authored by Priti Patel.

Bridget Chapman, of Kent Refugee Action Network, described the allegations as deeply, deeply shameful, adding: Giving sanctuary to those in need is a humanitarian act and if we cant manage to make people feel safe we have failed at a very basic level.

The Home Office said its Voluntary Returns Service could help people return safely to their home countries.
Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) has announced a strategic partnership with SCAT Airlines that will see the emirate welcome commercial flights from eight cities in Kazakhstan starting from March 5.

The move strengthens Ras Al Khaimahs recovery strategy, following its initial focus on domestic tourism before opening up to international markets as travel corridors are established.

Kazakhstan placed within the top five source markets for inbound tourism to the emirate over the past few years, demonstrating strong growth in visitor traffic prior to the global travel restrictions. Through the new route, SCAT Airline passengers will experience a one-of-kind getaway to Ras Al Khaimah, a safe destination as certified by both Bureau Veritas, the international leader in testing, inspection and certification and the WTTC (World Travel & Tourism Council) Safe Travels Stamp. They will also receive complimentary PCR testing  a service that Ras Al Khaimah is extending to all international visitors.

Located less than a five-hour flight from Kazakhstan and its major cities, travellers will enjoy direct and seamless entry into the emirate via Ras Al Khaimah International Airport, located just 15 minutes away from sprawling beaches and world class hotels, including Rixos, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, The Ritz Carlton and Hilton Hotels. The properties are currently offering a range of promotions to domestic and international visitors, some including all-inclusive offers set against widely spaced areas conducive to social distancing.

Raki Phillips, Chief Executive Officer of Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, commented: Our partnership with SCAT Airlines is a key milestone in Ras Al Khaimahs tourism strategy, especially as we co-create a viable tourism vision for new normal and post pandemic travel. Visitors from Kazakhstan have enjoyed the genuine hospitality of Ras Al Khaimah for many years and we are thrilled to continue welcoming our valued guests in ways that are meaningful to their travel experience  direct commercial flights from a number of cities in Kazakhstan to our emirate.

He added: Aligned with this approach is our commitment to ensure the safety and security of all our guests as they enjoy the warmer weather and take full advantage of Ras Al Khaimahs many great outdoor attractions from beaches to mountains; culture to adventure and much more.

Vladimir Sytnik, Vice President, SCAT Airlines, commented: SCAT Airlines is excited to commence direct flights once a week to Ras Al Khaimah on March 5 from eight cities of Kazakhstan, including Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Aktobe, Aktau, Atyrau, Uralsk, Karaganda and Shymkent on our Boeing 737-700 NG aircraft. Our mutual collaboration with Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority provides citizens of Kazakhstan with a service that satisfies not only the needs of residents of larger cities but also makes it possible to travel to Ras Al Khaimah from other regions, which is very important for the family holiday segment.

He further added: Now families of all sizes will be able to travel to their favourite country and emirate by direct flight with ease and without any inconveniences and enjoy the very best that the destination has to offer.

Following a period of unprecedented disruption to the travel and tourism sector, Ras Al Khaimah has emerged stronger than ever as a destination with world-class safety protocols in place and a robust development plan for sustainable tourism growth. Its efforts till date have seen the emirate lead in ADR (average daily rate) in the UAE and RevPAR (revenue per available room) in the UAE and GCC for 2020.

With green shoots of recovery emerging, it is building on this momentum with strategic partnerships to drive its growth as one of the most dynamic tourist destinations. The partnership with SCAT Airlines supports the recovery of international tourism, driving footfall from major cities in Kazakhstan to the Emirate.

Guests safety and wellbeing remains Ras Al Khaimahs utmost priority. In addition to becoming the first city in the world to be certified as safe by Bureau Veritas and World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), all 45 of its hotels have also received Bureau Veritas certification. RAKTDA works closely with all hotel partners to ensure they are strictly adhering to all government and public health guidelines and complying with all social distancing advisories.

SCAT Airlines operates primarily out of Shymkent International Airport, with key ports including Aktau International Airport, Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport and Almaty International Airport. - TradeArabia News Service
Authorities in Myanmar have filed charges against detained de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi for violating import-export laws, two days after the military seized power.

A press officer for her National League for Democracy party said Wednesday on his official Facebook page that Aung San Suu Kyi was ordered held for two weeks. NLD legislator Phyo Zayar Thaw also confirmed the charges. She was detained along with other leaders, including President Win Myint, on Monday as the military staged a coup.

A police document alleges Aung San Suu Kyi illegally imported and used without consent six unregistered walkie-talkie radios that were found in a search of her home in the capital of Naypyitaw. The document indicates the communications equipment was for her bodyguards. It also says Aung San Suu Kyi's detention was requested "in order to question witnesses, request evidence and seek legal counsel after questioning of the defendant."

Authorities also charged Win Myint with violating coronavirus containment measures while campaigning for last November's election, according to a separate police document. Court, police and government officials did not immediately comment, but the chair of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights denounced the charges as nonsensical. ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"This is an absurd move by the junta to try to legitimize their illegal power grab," Charles Santiago said in a statement. The NLD party also said in a statement Wednesday that authorities had raided its offices in multiple regions of the country.

Foreign ministers from the G7 group of nations on Wednesday condemned the coup. "We are deeply concerned by the detention of political leaders and civil society activists, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, and targeting of the media," the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States said in a statement.

They called on Myanmar's military to end its declared state of emergency and to allow unrestricted humanitarian access to support the most vulnerable people in the country. "The November election results must be respected and Parliament should be convened at the earliest opportunity," the G7 ministers said.
Fishing vessels from Northern Ireland landing catch in the Republic face restrictions around landing times, officials have said.

Availability of inspectors is one factor, a lead on the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Department (DAERA) fishery transition team said.

Dublin has designated extra ports to receive fishermen from Northern Ireland.

It is part of the Northern Ireland Protocol which prevents a hard land border on the island post-Brexit.

Owen Lyttle, director of marine and fisheries at Stormonts Agriculture Department, said: These ports came into operation on February 1, this week.

In some of those ports there are restrictions in place to do with  limited opening times.

It seems strange that while seafood can be traded freely on land, that there is a problem with some of these ports in the Irish Republic William Irwin, DUP

The official added that initially the Republic had designated two ports to handle the cross-border seamen following the end of the Brexit transition period.

Following engagement with their Northern Irish counterparts, officials south of the border have since earmarked five further ports, with the possibility of more.

Mr Lyttle told the Agriculture Departments scrutiny committee at Stormont: Our Northern Ireland fishing fleet has traditionally landed at other ports such as Dunmore East (in Co Waterford in the south east).

We have pressed that the Irish authorities consider looking at potentially other ports to facilitate the Northern Irish fishing fleet and also trade.

Democratic Unionists are opposed to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

DUP Assembly member William Irwin said: It seems strange that while seafood can be traded freely on land, that there is a problem with some of these ports in the Irish Republic.

Other fishermen from Northern Ireland often use a prawn catching ground off the west of Ireland and land it in Rossaveal in Connemara, Daera officials added.

Ciaran Cunningham, one of the leads on the DAERA fishery transition, said the right infrastructure needed to be in place to allow vessels to land at a port.

Most important is the inspector resources available.

Not every port has full-time inspectors in it. Some are more risk-based because they would not be as frequently landing.

He said they were matched up to meet demand from incoming vessels.

If it is a port that is not very busy for their own fleet, then obviously at this moment in time they may not have the resources yet they may have landing from the Northern Irish fleet.
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If you could mix the native sounds of Houston with the funky sounds of Parliament and the lyricism of Jay-Z or Nas, you would get Fat Tony.

Born Anthony Lawson Jude Ifeanyichukwu Obiawunaotuhas, the rapper says that his nickname was given to him by a friend. The name Fat Tony is reminiscent of both the American gangster and the "The Simpsons" character, and the latter was used to create his nickname. He started to see his first bout of popularity with his moniker after he recorded his song "N***a U Aint Fat."

NEXT IN HOUSTON RAP: Mercedes Letterman wants to be the next Port Arthur rap legend

As a native of Third Ward in Houston, the rapper falls outside of the realm of most Texas rappers. His latest album "Exotica" is based around storytelling, but doesnt tell one complete story. Instead, it tells a series of short stories about rolling the dice and taking chances in each of his songs.

He claims that the project is his most visionary work to date because he chose to take a different approach to making the album. As opposed to how most artists create projects, by telling stories from their own point of view, Fat Tony found an uphill battle in telling the story outside of his own perspective.

"It was me talking about things without my perception and judgments involved in it," he said. "On the first day of writing I literally got nothing done."

Rapping from the outside looking in, "Exotica" is able to speak to relationships, addictions, dedication and gratitude in just nine tracks.

Courtesy

The album has been a project years in the making for Fat Tony and his longtime producer GLDNYE. After GLDNEYE joined him for whirlwind writing sessions in Brooklyn, Fat Tony, in turn, journeyed to Jamaica to join the producer.

Recording the album in Jamaica was the perfect choice, as the rapper/producer duo was able to reconnect with their roots to make a substantial and heartfelt album.

"I think thats the mindset that we had to be in to get to this album in the first place. We never gave up on this idea," Fat Tony said. "If we didn't go to Jamaica to record the album, I wouldn't be sitting here right now talking to you."

The album was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, where Fat Tony was able to connect with Port Arthur native Bun B.

"I really wanted Bun to be on the album. It wasnt coincidental that Bun was in Jamaica when I was recording," he said. "He was actually there celebrating his wife's birthday, but he was able to make some time to record a verse for 'What You Wake Up To.'"

Courtesy

What is perhaps most admirable about the rapper is that his artistry comes from an authentic place. He's doesn't pulls songs from his vault when it's time to make an album. Everything is rooted in personal experience.

"I rarely make an album where Im making a bunch of songs over time. I dont think that thats the best approach. I think Im always trying to follow a theme," he said. "I like to put a lot of art, experiences and stories in my mind. When Im in the brainstorming phase I write down movies and books that I connected with that are deeper than just 'I like this.' I take note of everything Im doing  what I'm eating, listening to."

"Exotica" is an album full of stories and lessons. The value of gratitude and graciousness is found throughout songs like "New Beginnings" and "Je Ne Sais Quoi."

"What I want people to truly take away from this project is the value of gratitude. I want people to feel that their lives have value," Fat Tony said. "Good and bad, its a part of life. Cherish them. The only people who feel like theyre not getting what they want are trying superficial ways to be happy."

Listen to the project below.
While Donald Trump failed to pass much signature legislation and largely failed to remake the federal government in ways that cannot be immediately corrected, his landmark achievement will be his lasting contributions to the federal judiciary. Breaking the records of his predecessors, Trump seated 234 judges on the federal courts in four years, including three at the Supreme Court. That means that whatever Biden and the Democrats try to do in the coming months and years, most of the efforts will ultimately be in the hands of life-tenured judges, 30 percent of whom were named by Trump. Those judges are overwhelmingly very young, very white, and very male. A preview of whats likely to come happened just last week, when a federal judge tapped by Trump blocked Bidens 100-day deportation pause with a nationwide injunction.

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The question is what Biden and the Democrats can and will do in response to Trumps enduring legacy. The new president is already making moves that indicate he understands that some of the norms and conventions that guided Barack Obama in building the judiciary are dead and gone. This week the Washington Post reported that the Biden administration is doing away with the formal American Bar Association vetting process that Democratic presidents used to abide by, because it was jettisoned by Republican presidents and because it simply lengthened the process. Biden is also hustling to put together the bipartisan commission he pledged would examine structural reforms for the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary. Former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold is a leading Democrat attempting to strengthen the lefts ability to appoint judges, to match the pace the right has set. He is the president of the American Constitution Society, the lefts answer to the Federalist Society (we spoke last year when he assumed the post). Given the potential of the current moment for big changes in the judiciary, I wanted to ask him what happens next. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

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Dahlia Lithwick: Its clear the Federalist Society was perhaps the biggest winner of the last four years, realizing its fondest hopes in terms of stacking the bench and becoming the judicial kingmaker. Its also clear that the Federalist Society will do very little soul-searching about the more democracy-shattering aspects of its membership in the Trump years. Is the progressive plan going to be to try to replicate the Federalist Society monopoly over judicial decisions and decision-making, to sideline the group, or some third, more complicated route? What does the move from defense to offense look like on the courts?

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Russ Feingold: First, you are absolutely right about the Trump years. There simply is no precedent for a private organization (the Federalist Society)and really one person from that organization (Leonard Leo)having a vital function of government (judicial nominations) so completely outsourced to them. The Washington Post and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse have done great work in exposing this corrupt arrangement.

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Progressives could not replicate the Federalist Society model if we wanted toand we dont and shouldnt. For us, there is never going to be one organization that dominates the process, period. Both the progressive movement and the Democratic Party are coalitions. Everyone deserves a seat at the table and for their voice to be heard. There are organizations like the American Constitution Society that are focused on judicial nominations issues, but then you also have civil rights organizations, the bar associations for people of color, labor, plaintiffs lawyers, lots of other groups and interests. Its a broad coalition, and the politics can get tricky, but that doesnt mean we cant be organized and effective.

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I think the big difference is that a lot of people on the right have made clear they dont share that commitment to democracy.  Russ Feingold

And I think those of us who are focused on the courts are much more effective now. There is a better and broader understanding now about why nominating great judges who reflect the communities they serve is vitally important. We have a much stronger infrastructure of organizations focused on these issues. All the groups and organizations have our own role, but were coordinating closely and all pulling in the same direction. And we have a much stronger connection to the progressive base than has sometimes been the case.

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ACS is playing a leading role in assembling a pool of potential judicial nominees for the Biden administration to consider. We are doing this work in the best way, from the bottom up, with hundreds of people having conversations in their communities about who would be a great judge. The 50 working groups we have in 37 states have a clear mission: to include people who have historically been underrepresented in the judicial nominations process. That certainly means people of color and women and LGBTQ people, but were also focused on underrepresented practice areas, such as civil rights and criminal defense lawyers and people who have advocated for victims of employment discrimination or corporate wrongdoing. One thing I keep hearing is that we need more judges who have experience representing people with problems, not just the government or other powerful institutions, and were addressing that.

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When we spoke for the Amicus podcast last year, it was clear you were prioritizing the judiciary and answering the McConnell juggernaut. I find myself wondering whether the willingness to go beyond old Senate norms and conventions was a function of seeing what the judiciary was capable of destroying with a stroke of a pen? Did that radicalize you? Is there a lesson on why judges matter that you came to understand before many progressives did?

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The reality is that in a free society, there has to be a commitment to democracy that transcends winning on policy issues. I think the big difference is that a lot of people on the right have made clear they dont share that commitment to democracy. It is thus apparent to me, and to many others, that we need sweeping reforms to save our democracy.

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First, as to the Senate, there is the grotesque malapportionment we now have. There also is the weaponization of the legislative filibuster so that most things need 60 votes, and 51 votes gets you nothing. That practice does not date back to the Founders. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has grossly abused the right to filibuster. That same drive for minority rule also exists with respect to the House of Representatives, where you have extremely aggressive gerrymandering.

Then, with the presidency, there is the Electoral College. Twice in this century the candidate who got the most votes did not become president. And throughout the entire political system there is widespread voter suppression. In the Georgia Senate races, the Republicans suffered a huge defeat, costing them control of the Senate. Their reaction was not How do we appeal to more voters on the issues? or How do we recruit better candidates? but rather How do we make it harder for people to vote?

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There is going to be a huge battle either way, so there is nothing to gain from half measures.  Russ Feingold

But yes, backstopping it all and swatting down much of the progressive action that somehow manages to emerge from this gauntlet of minority rule are the courts, and especially the Supreme Court. We have got to face facts: The courts have already been packed, by Republicans. First there was a near total blockade by Republicans on confirming President Obamas nominees after 2014. Then there was the frantic push to confirm large numbers of unqualified extremists under President Trump, culminating in the absurd spectacle of the last-minute installation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett after millions of people had already voted to end the Trump presidency. And of course, there was theft of the seat for which President Obama nominated Merrick Garland.

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And most importantly, the current 63 right-wing Supreme Court majority, on top of all the undemocratic actions it takes by striking down progressive legislation and actions on ideological rather than legal grounds, is also the last line of defense, for maintaining all the other anti-democratic elements in the rest of the system.

I think some on the right have a fantasy that this can persist forever, that the American people are just going to submit to minority rule. But the court has never been able to impose that kind of a radical agenda in a sustained manner, and it isnt going to now. Conservative think tank intellectuals have constructed a grand castle of legal theory, but politically it sits on sand.

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Last year when you took this position, you told the New York Times, Somehow this message has to get through, that usually the final word is in the courts, and I wonder if most Democrats have internalized that message, perhaps after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or if it seems less urgent after Dems won the White House and control of both houses. Is there any public appetite for meaningful court reform, or has the sense become that the judiciary is, once again, back-burnered?

I think that politics is mostly the slow boring of hard boards, and it often takes a long time to break through. But then once you do, everything is different, and the impossible is suddenly possible. And thats where we are, finally, on getting progressives to understand the importance of the courts and of who becomes a judge.

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Of course, people who care about any issue can never rest on their success, and it is essential that we keep pushing and giving people fresh examples of the stakes. But if we take care of the basics, and we will, I am not worried about backsliding. And I have little doubt that the courts right-wing supermajority will keep us equipped with fresh examples of its key role in blocking progress of all kinds. Just this week Politico ran a postelection piece that found in 10 key battleground states, the Supreme Court was an issue that motivated Biden voters more than Trump voters.

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Now that the court reform task force is being constituted, does ACS have any formal views on what kinds of structural court reform is appropriate to answer Mitch McConnells judicial earthquake of the past four years? What do you tell your former colleagues in the Senate about whether to go big or go small on reform, and what does that look like?

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It is the view of most ACS members that the courts, and especially the Supreme Court, are in urgent need of reform. I think there is very strong support for that goalnot unanimity, but consensus. As you move from ends to means, there is more diversity of views. Some people, and especially law students and more junior lawyers, are strongly in favor of adding additional seats immediately. Others might be interested in certain proposalssuch as term limits or limiting the courts jurisdiction in certain areasand are also open to being persuaded on expanding the court, but are not there yet. And there are a large number of more complicated plans that would try to bring balance to the court. I saw one survey that included more than a dozen different plans.

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Right now for ACS, the focus is on highlighting the urgent need for reform and helping to spread that message to opinion leaders, progressive activists, and the broader public. And we are facilitating a conversation about which reform or reforms will be most effective. Given the urgent need for reform, I understand the desire to move forward quickly, but I think we have more work to do in achieving broader support for a specific course of action.

There also is a broad recognition that the lower courts need more judges, both to balance the packing by Republicans and because some parts of the country just do not have enough judges to give people their day in court in a reasonably timely way. But again, ultimately, you have to address the Supreme Court.

As for the Senate, I know people are dealing with a lot, but they really do need to keep their eye on this ball. Medicaid expansion under Obamacare is probably the most relevant example. People worked so hard to craft that legislation and get it passed, and thenpoof. A big part of it was gone after a few keystrokes at the court. There certainly is going to be a major push on democracy reform and a real effort to get at some of the anti-democratic pathologies that I mentioned earlier. But theres not much point in passing a great piece of legislation if the courts right-wing supermajority can just swat it away. Given that Section 2 of the 15th Amendment explicitly gives Congress the power to make laws protecting the right to vote, should the court even have jurisdiction over those matters? Its something to think about.

I would just urge people to make sure that whatever they do is really adequate to reform the court. There is going to be a huge battle either way, so there is nothing to gain from half measures.

(Newser)  Smartmatic, a voting technology company dealing with fallout from false claims of election fraud, has sued Fox News, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and several Fox hosts for $2.7 billion. "We have no choice," said Antonio Mugica, the company's chief executive, CNN reports. "The disinformation campaign that was launched against us is an obliterating one." The suit says Fox and its hosts Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirroas well as Giuliani and Powelllied to viewers about the company while trying to get them to believe the presidential election was stolen from former President Trump. No evidence of such a plot against Trump has surfaced. "They needed someone to blame. They needed someone whom they could get others to hate," the suit says, adding, "Defendants decided to make Smartmatic the villain in their story."

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Fox answered the suit, which was filed in New York state court, by saying, "We are proud of our 2020 election coverage and will vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit in court." Powell said that she hadn't read the suit but that it sounds like it's "just another political maneuver motivated by the radical left that has no basis in fact or law." Giuliani hasn't commented yet. Dominion Voting Systems has filed a similar suit against Powell and Giuliani, making many of the same arguments. Smartmatic's filing said it has counted 100 "false statements and implications" aired on Fox that have damaged the company, per the Washington Post. "Fox is responsible for this disinformation campaign," Mugica said, "which has damaged democracy worldwide and irreparably harmed Smartmatic and other stakeholders who contribute to modern elections." (These lawsuits are a problem for right-wing media.)
Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar has accused the Republican party of scapegoating her to distract from calls to fire QAnon Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The 38-year-old Minnesotan said this was the 'Republican playbook' to try and blame Muslims, black people and women for the faults of their 'looney' members.

The GOP is buckling under mounting pressure to remove Greene from committee assignments over her support for conspiracy theories and violent rhetoric.

On Wednesday, Greene unashamedly tweeted a fundraising poster which said: 'DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO EXPEL ME FROM CONGRESS.'

It featured as the background a photograph of Omar without any other comment.

Omar - who has traded in anti-Semitic tropes - is being targeted by Greene's allies who argue that Democrats risk setting a dangerous precedent if they force her out.

Speaking to MSNBC Omar said: 'Sadly, this is the Republican playbook. We saw it with Donald Trump. Anytime they are faced with consequences for their actions to undermine our democracy, they blame Muslims, they blame immigrants, they blame black people, they blame women.

'I just happen to embody all of these identities and I want to make sure that we are clear on this.

'This is not about me and it should not be about me. This is about a member of the Republican caucus who has repeatedly incited violence and Republicans can't just wave a magic wand and attack the black congresswoman.'

The GOP's internal action on Greene is taking place under a threat by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland to bring up a House floor vote Thursday if Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy fails to act.

McCarthy met privately with Greene Tuesday night, and reportedly sought to persuade the first-term lawmaker to apologize for her comments, but she refused.

Greene takes the stage at a Trump rally in Georgia last month

Republicans appointed Greene to the Education and Labor Committee, a decision that drew especially harsh criticism because of her suggestions that mass school shootings in Connecticut and Florida could be hoaxes. Greene is also on the Budget Committee.

McCarthy said Democrats turned down his offer to move Greene onto the House Small Business Committee instead.

Each party caucus traditionally handles punishment of their own members, as when Iowa Rep. Steve King lost his committee assignments over comments about white supremacy.

It's unusual for party leaders to strip lawmakers of committee assignments, which can help them address their districts' needs and raise campaign contributions.

In 2019, House GOP leaders removed Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who had a history of racist comments, from the Agriculture and Judiciary panels after he wondered aloud in a New York Times story about when the term 'white supremacist' became offensive. He lost the Republican primary for his seat in 2020 and is out of Congress after serving nine terms.

At the other end of the spectrum, the GOP is also plagued by infighting over whether to reprimand Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney over her vote to impeach former President Trump.

Omar told MSNBC: 'The Republicans truly have lost their way. Their party is destroyed. Their base now is conspiracy theorists. It's cowards, it's opportunists, it's grifters, and sadly they're becoming the Looney Tunes.

Republican lawmakers are pushing to strip Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), center, from her committee seats in a move to counter the move against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

'These are people we can't take serious. They're not here to do the people's business. They are here to just be obstructionists and make a mockery of not just our government but our country.'

TAYLOR GREENE'S BIZARRE CLAIMS The California Camp Fire which killed at least 85 was caused by a space laser linked to the Rothschilds and the state's high-speed rail. PG&E admitted it was caused by a faulty power line and went into bankruptcy to fund a $13.5bn settlement and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin cut off a child's face while she was alive, Clinton wore it as a mask so the terrified child would produce 'adrenachrome' and then organized the killing of a cop who knew about it.

The Las Vegas massacre was organized by Democrats to help them ban guns and shooter Stephen Paddock was not a lone wolf.

There's no evidence of a plane hitting the Pentagon on 9/11.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre which cost the lives of 17 students was a 'false flag planned shooting.'

' I am told that Nancy Pelosi tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that we need another school shooting in order to persuade the public to want strict gun control.'

Seth Rich leaked Hillary Clinton's emails and was murdered in revenge by her aide John Podesta because the emails revealed that a D.C. pizza restaurant had a child-smuggling operation in its basement. It does not even have a basement.

The world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles and the Q in QAnon exists and is the 'best chance to take them out.'

Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett are Muslims.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was replaced by a body double.

She wasn't the person who posted a call to assassinate Nancy Pelosi to her own Facebook page. Advertisement

'This is insane,' the Democrat added. 'No other work environment that is this toxic would sustain itself and we can't sustain ourselves as members of Congress in this situation.'

The spotlight on Omar is being focused by GOP Reps. Brian Babin of Texas, Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, Jody Hice of Georgia, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Ronny Jackson of Texas.

The group members themselves pushed baseless theories about election fraud, and there are moves to try to expel Biggs for his alleged role planning the 'stop the steal' rally that preceded the Capitol riot.

Biggs promoted the move on Fox News, which has played up the effort.

'We're talking about statements that were made before she was even ever a candidate to Congress,' he said of Greene.

'That, I think has some bearing here .. On the other hand you have statements from Ilhan Omar, actually from Nancy Pelosi, or Maxine Waters, Representative Pressley, a whole plethora of folks, that while they're sitting here made offensive or dangerous statements as well,' he said.

He was referring to the House speaker, senior black caucus member and finance chair Waters, fellow 'squad' member Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

'Look, if it's good for the goose it's good for the gander. Maybe what should happen is you let Republicans take care of our own and you Democrats take care of your own,' he said.

Omar has made a series of controversial comments since joining Congress.

In February 2019, she wrote that America's support for Israel was 'all about the Benjamins baby.'

She received bipartisan criticism for suggesting that the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby was buying support in Congress.

She tweeted after the uproar: 'Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.'

She added: 'My intention I never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole.'

In a deleted tweet from 2012, Omar wrote: 'Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.'

Omar has since apologized for that tweet.

Greene has been defiant as her own past comments have been brought up.

Greene said Parkland shooting survivor and gun control activist David Hogg was trained 'like a dog,' in a clip that surfaced Tuesday as Democrats are poised to remove her from committee assignments over controversial statements.

Greene has expressed beliefs in a number of conspiracy theories, including QAnon, that a plane didn't hit the Pentagon on 9/11 and that California's Camp Fire was caused by space lasers, which she connected to the Rothschilds in an anti-Semitic dog whistle.

Pelosi's biggest complaint was that the congresswoman expressed doubt that Parkland and Sandy Hook actually happened.

Greene has also also 'liked' a Facebook comment in 2019 that said 'a bullet to the head would be quicker' in reference to Pelosi, as CNN reported.

'Over the years, I've had teams of people manage my pages. Many posts have been liked. Many posts have been shared. Some did not represent my views. Especially the ones that CNN is about to spread across the internet,' she said.

She called Pelosi 'a traitor to our country' in a video, noting it was 'a crime punishable by death.' Pelosi last week spoke about an 'enemy within' as she defended a requirement that lawmakers go through a magnetometer before going on the House floor.
Russian police have been accused of torturing two young sisters who were detained during protests in support of jailed Vladimir Putin foe Alexei Navalny.

Alyona Kitayeva, 21, claims she was abused by four male police officers, with one trying to suffocate her by holding a plastic bag over her head.

She alleges the Russian officers 'beat her and threatened to use a stun gun' on her unless she revealed the password of her smartphone at Donskoye police station in the Russians European enclave of Kaliningrad.

Her younger sister Alexandra, 19, claims she received threats and was left in a 'cage' for two hours while being taunted by officers who said they had 'killed' Alyona.

It comes after more than 1,400 protesters were arrested amid battles in the streets of Moscow after the Kremlin's most prominent critic Navalny was jailed for two and a half years on Tuesday.

Russian police have been accused of torturing two young sisters, Alyona Kitayeva, 21, (left) and her younger sister Alexandra, 19, (right) who were detained during protests in support of jailed Vladimir Putin foe Alexei Navalny

It comes as more than 1,400 protesters were arrested amid battles in the streets of Moscow after the Kremlin's most prominent critic Navalny was jailed for two and a half years on Tuesday

The pair are one of many Navalny protesters who have made chilling accusations of police 'torture' as well as 'threats and abuse' after being detained.

A number of female protesters have claimed they have been sexually humiliated and made to strip naked in police custody. They say officers forced them to show their underwear, perform naked sit-ups and undress in rooms with transparent glass.

Alyona claims an officer placed a plastic bag over her head, before she handed over her smartphone.

'They did not return the phone for a very long time,' she said. 'I told them my password, because they threatened me with a stun gun, put a bag over my head, started beating me.'

Pro-Navalny protesters clash with police during a demonstration on Sunday following the jailing of the anti-Kremlin critic

The police wanted her password to discover the identities of other opposition figures to whom she was connected on social media, it is believed.

Alyona, who works for Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer from Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, has now been jailed for 12 days.

She told The Insider: 'The only man who was sitting next to me was taken out as soon as they started torturing me. They closed the door tightly.

'When I started screaming, he (a policeman) mocked me, saying: 'Oh, help, help!'

'And then he says: 'Look, you scratched me' and runs his hand over his face, and he has a slight reddening there. He says: 'I'll say that you scratched me'.'

Alyona continued: 'There were definitely no cameras in that office. Only four huge men.

'One [of them] kicked me on the leg, then said: 'Well, that's it, now we will choke [you] with a bag'.

The police wanted their phone passwords to discover the identities of other opposition figures to whom she was connected on social media, it is believed

'An officer put it on my head, started to shake me a little,' she said. 'He didn't exactly choke me, but shook my head. At the end he pushed so that I fell off the chair.'

Her sister Alexandra also recounted her alleged abuse. She said: 'While I was waiting for my turn for interrogation, I started receiving threats.

'I was forced into a room and forcibly fingerprinted. [A male officer] pressed me against the wall and squeezed my hand tightly to unclench my fist, I got bruises.'

Another officer joined in and they 'twisted me, forcibly smeared paint on my palms and fingers, and made prints,' the 19-year-old said.

'Then I was taken to a cage, where I spent two hours alone,' she added. 'I asked the police officer where my sister was, and he answered me: "We killed her!" - and laughed.

'Then he said: "She is dancing striptease for us".'

Navalny protesters are pictured in the Temporary Detention Center for Foreign Citizens in Sakharovo

Protesters are pictured being transported to the Temporary Detention Centre for Foreign Citizens

Alexandra claims she faced more threats until she gave them her phone password.

The sisters allege they were warned not to use their right to silence of they would face more abuse.

Another person working for lawyer Sobol, Artem Tyurin, said the judge who had sentenced his colleague Alyona had brushed aside the torture claims.

'The judge ignored information about torture. This is inhumane,' he said.

'Four people have already complained about torture and beatings at Donskoye police station.'

Their alleged torture comes amid a crackdown by Russian officers against pro-Navalny supporters.

A Russian journalist was jailed for 25 days on Wednesday for sharing a joking social media post about the Navalny protests.

Journalist Sergei Smirnov (second left) during a hearing at a Moscow court on Wednesday where he was jailed for 25 days

Sergei Smirnov, the editor of independent outlet Mediazona, was found guilty of repeated violations of protest legislation, he said.

According to court documents, he was accused of organising an illegal protest on January 23 after retweeting a post that showed the time and date of the event.

Police detained him last week and Smirnov was jailed for 25 days by a Moscow court, he told his social media followers from inside the courtroom.

After Smirnov's sentencing on Wednesday, the Russian Journalists and Media Workers Union demanded his release.

Protesters took to the streets again on Wednesday following the court decision to convert Navalny's suspended sentence from a 2014 case into real prison time

The union described the court's decision as 'unlawful, absurd and shameful'.

Smirnov was sentenced a day after Navalny was told he would have to serve two years and eight months in jail in a separate case.

He was found guilty of flouting the terms of his suspended sentence for a 2014 fraud conviction, meaning the punishment was upgraded to real jail time.

But Navalny says the conviction was based on trumped-up charges and argued he could hardly have checked in with parole officers while recuperating in Germany from his nerve agent poisoning last year.

Smirnov was among those jailed over protests in support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny (pictured), who was sent to prison for more than two and a half years on Tuesday

More than 1,400 people were arrested during the latest round of Navalny protests, mainly in Moscow, where police are seen detaining a supporter of the Putin critic on Tuesday

Thousands have responded to Navalny's call for demonstrations since the Kremlin critic was arrested on his return to Russia last month.

Navalny's jailing has sparked a fresh wave of condemnation from the West, including calls for further sanctions on Moscow.

But Russia dismissed the criticism and accused Western governments of interfering in its own internal affairs.

Russia has not accepted the finding that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, and denies involvement in a plot to assassinate him.

Navalny claimed in December to have duped an FSB security service agent into confessing details of the plot against him.

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[February 04, 2021] The Virtual production stage that is reinventing how businesses communicate

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted change in every industry, but few as fundamentally as those dependent on in-person gatherings, such as live events and film production. At a time when it is vital for businesses to establish strong media strategies, current circumstances are throttling live trade show events and filmed content creation.

Virtual production spaces like Salesforces partnership with an Extended Reality Stage in Marin, California, stand to change that. What if instead of trying to get crews and presenters to a speci?c location, creators could bring locations to them? This is exactly what Salesforce did for a recent 40-day ?lm production for their annual 2020 Dreamforce event. We set up a shot on top of a mountain in the Alps, but we were actually in Marin, California, said Clayton Talmon, executive producer, ?lm director at Salesforce. The executive could drive over from her home across the bay and be placed in the Alps. Through the xR Stage, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, brands can continue to produce high-quality marketing and communications content set anywhere in the world  with higher degrees of COVID-19 safety, convenience and creative control. Virtual production is a set of combined practices from film/TV, 3D and gaming technology that allows creators to merge physical and computer-generated content on set. It garnered public attention through its adoption by director Jon Favreau in 2019s The Lion King and The Mandalorian, of which 50% of its first season was filmed using virtual production. Inspired by the possibilities of this new methodology, Talmon saw an opportunity to bring these capabilities to business communications and has already found success producing work for many of Salesforces customers. Salesforce has always been on the leading edge of bringing world-class commercial productions to branded corporate content and executive messaging, Talmon said. Thats our big breakthrough here: We're one of the first ones to [fast-track] it into the business world. Though it shares similarities with green screen, virtual production is far more sophisticated. With traditional visual effects, digital content is added to footage in post-production. At an xR Stage, filmmakers see it all together right from the directors chair, where the camera becomes a window into synthetic worlds displayed on LED screens behind talent. Adding another layer of depth through video game software like Unreal Engine, creators can also display 3D content composited in front of performers, letting them interact with data visualizations, products and virtual characters. It bends the brain a bit, Talmon said. What is digital looks three-dimensional and you feel like you're transported to a beach in Hawaii, but you're on a soundstage. Using one physical location for entire shoots also increases safety for clients, cast and crew. Salesforce was able to maintain rigorous COVID-19 testing standrds, administering more than 700 tests across 40 days of filming. Crewmembers can be hired locally, minimizing travel. The xR Stage even streamlines the process of shooting remotely for people who arent able to leave home.



COVID is the reason why Clayton and I are not on planes filming around the world, said Emma Brumpton, senior producer and media development manager at Salesforce. A lot of our speakers still didnt feel safe coming onto the stage, so we set up remote production kits, which allowed us to remotely insert them onto the stage. From necessity to opportunity

Uncharted territories bring unexpected challenges. Film, games and technology professionals all use different languages, and are not necessarily accustomed to translating them across industries. COVID-19 may have catalyzed the need for the xR Stage, but Talmon also used its initial projects to streamline workflows he believes will prove invaluable post-pandemic due to the unprecedented degree of creative control and efficiencies it gives his teams. I can have sunset all day long, Talmon said. Oftentimes were timing for a 10-minute window of light. In this case, we just park the sun within the 3D set and it stays there all day. New learning curves and the need for environments to be generated in advance mean that the xR Stage setups generally require more effort upfront than on-location equivalents. The trade-off is that productions can be optimized for those with the trickiest schedules: C-suite executives and other A-List individuals. Whether its the CEO who needs to squeeze a live keynote broadcast into a packed day or the celebrity who can shoot five locations without hopping on as many planes  for the right person, virtual production is a groundbreaking time-saver. The stage is limitless, Brumpton said. That is the most exciting part, to be able to bring a customer on and say, Yes, we can bring you to Shanghai within minutes; yes, we can bring you to London. Virtual production is also a way of betting on the future. With many claiming that remote work is here to stay, high-quality digital productions are transitioning from luxuries to necessities. As creatives, we are always thinking about taking physical events and customer stories and recreating them. COVID-19 has accelerated and amplified our need to make an emotional connection with our customers through rich media that delivers valuable, relevant content during Dreamforce and our World Tour physical events, Talmon said. We now need to take that all online. Talmon also imagines a future in which the xR Stage offers value for less conventionally digital-forward verticals, particularly as emerging media technologies like virtual and augmented reality enter the mainstream. xR is also future-proofing for industries like education, training, design, health care and eCommerce, Brumpton said. The content well capture in the future of the xR Stage will definitely be used within VR/AR, new gamified experiences and in tackling real-world problems. For now, Salesforce remains focused on its goal of facilitating trusted, informative communication for its customers and partners around the world. At the end of the day, businesses want to communicate with their customer base, Talmon said. That one-on-one relationship we used to have when people walked into your store, show room or trade show  is gone for the foreseeable future. The XR technology, used properly, allows you to create high-level production value communications that keep companies connected with their customers. Thats the big picture here: We're combining these production tools to reinvent the future of how B2B and B2C communication channels are going to be filled with effective content, beyond COVID-19." For More Information, please contact

Salesforce Public Relations

pr@salesforce.com A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on the image or link below:

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/52e6d2b4-6049-4a3c-ab75-82aa94a249a5 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/befbef30-6d5c-427b-bfd6-fc5b0484246e



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The Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) Trust that is overseeing the construction of the mosque in Dhannipur village, Ayodhya, has planned to complete the structure in 30 months.

The Trust has set a deadline of 30 months to complete the construction of three main complexes on the five-acre plot -- a mosque, museum and hospital.

The Ram temple, being constructed about 40 km from Dhannipur, is likely be completed in 39 months.

An official of the Waqf board trust said that after the formalities to begin work are over, and the "mosque complex will be ready within six months of commencement, and the hospital will be ready in two years".

After the construction work symbolically began on January 26 when six of the nine-members planted saplings and held a flag hoisting ceremony, workers have begun testing the soil in three places of the five-acre plot where complexes are going to be built.

A report is expected in 15 days.

Athar Hussain, Secretary and spokesperson of the IICF, said: "After the investigation report of the soil, action will be taken to get the required approval for the map of the mosque in District Panchayat."

He said that the trust plans to include vast stretches of greenery which will have plants of different species from India and other countries, including from the Amazon rainforest.

The two main complexes, the mosque and the museum, will both be completely solar-powered.

"A 200-bed super specialty hospital, mosque and Indo-Islamic Cultural Research Centre are to be built on this land from the government. The hospital will be built on 50,000 sq.ft and will have five floors and 200 beds. About 24,000 sq.ft of the land has been reserved for the mosque. Almost 2,000 people will be able to offer namaaz together in the mosque. The greenhouse, museum, communication centre and library will also be part of the research centre," said Hussain.

The mosque has been designed by S.M. Akhtar, professor of architecture at the Jamia Millia Islamia University, who is drawing inspiration from in countries like Dubai, Istanbul, Kosovo and Qatar.

According to Akhtar, the new building will be a modern complex but the estimation of how much this project will cost has not been done yet.

The mosque will have two floors, a separate area for women to pray. It will also be unlike traditional Islamic architecture and will incorporate neither domes nor arches.

An underground museum, built on 500 square metres land, and a library will also be constructed within the complex.

The museum will showcase the common struggles faced by Hindus and Muslims in the country from the revolution of 1857 until Independence. Its full focus will be on Avadh in this museum. Contributions of poets like Amir Khusro, Kabir, Ras Khan will also be on display.

Tourists visiting the mosque will be able to get the flavours of different provinces across the country in one place. There will be a gift shop where one can buy Avadhi costumes.

The complex will also have a cafe, the catering for which has been entrusted to food critic and historian Pushpesh Pant.

The mosque at Dhannipur village is being constructed on five-acre land that has been given to the Muslims in lieu of the land on which the demolished Babri mosque stood.

The land has been given as per Supreme Court verdict of November 2019.

--IANS

amita/ksk/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lisa Barlow from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City tossed her own shady remark at Katie Maloney-Schwartz from Vanderpump Rules over the comment she made about not knowing who Barlow is at Sundance.

Mary Cosby, Lisa Barlow, Whitney Rose | Fred Hayes/Bravo

Barlow previously said she was the Sundance queen. And anyone who needed ticket hookups during the Sundance Film Festival, she was one to get it done. Maloney-Schwartz who is originally from Park City, Utah took to her Instagram story to share that she had never heard of Barlow.

For one, Im from Park City, where the Sundance Film Festival takes place and that might not make a lot of a difference, but still, [Ive] been to a lot of parties there, she wrote in November. Adding, [Ive] never heard this womans name. And There are peoples names that I know to use and shes definitely not one of them. Just saying.

Barlow responded to Maloney-Schwartzs remarks with her own brand of shade.

Lisa Barlow said Katie Maloney-Schwartz knows her now

Barlow implied that Maloney-Schwartz may not know her because she attends the exclusive parties at Sundance. She has to ask to get in a place, Barlow said on the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast.

Like, I mean, thats weird, she continued. You have to know someone at the door to get in a place. Like, I think thats weird. And you know, shes probably not at the parties Im putting on either. Youll see. Wait until the next episode, episode six, maybe a little seven.

SURvers + Sundance = an epic new episode of #RHOSLC! pic.twitter.com/delT8kj14M  Bravo (@BravoTV) December 16, 2020

RELATED: Vanderpump Rules: Jax Taylor Reveals That Pregnant Brittany Cartwright Was Horribly Sick Every Day

Barlow then added she had no idea what Maloney-Schwartz said. I dont even know what she said, she insisted. Ive had so many people say she commented. I dont even know what she said.

When host David Yontef summed up Maloney-Schwartzs comment, Barlow brushed off the remark. She probably works with different people than I do, she said. Oh, well, everyone has to know who I am. She does now.

Lala Kent is beautiful, Lisa Barlow says

While she dismissed Maloney-Schwartz, she heaped praise on Lala Kent from Vanderpump Rules. Barlow doesnt know Kent but said, I think Lala Kent is beautiful. Like her face is just gorgeous. Im like, when I look at Lala Kent, shes like the quintessential, Utah girl, like flawless face. Like Utah girls are so gorgeous and Lala is hands down flawless. Like her face to me is perfect.

Both Kent and Maloney-Schwartz appeared on a Dec. episode of RHOSLC. Maloney-Schwartz and Kent attended a party at Jen Shaws house and Maloney-Schwartz said she loved getting to know the cast.

In honor of tonights #RHOSLC FINALE, here are some of the most OMG lines of the season. pic.twitter.com/mrRaDqM480  Bravo (@BravoTV) February 3, 2021

RELATED: Did Vanderpump Rules Star Lala Kent Just Drop Another Clue She Would Join the Real Housewives of Salt Lake?

Theyre so much fun, Maloney-Schwartz told Bravos The Daily Dish. As weve seen so far this season, theyre wild and crazy and not what I think what a lot of people were expecting to see from people from Utah. But the party that we went to at Jens house  I mean, first of all, her house is insane and gorgeous. But we just had a good time. Jen got down on the dance floor. I just had a lot of fun connecting with Heather [Gay] and Whitney and kind of getting to know them a little bit.


The Munich-based chemical company WACKER is acquiring 100 percent of the shares in pharmaceutical contract manufacturer Genopis Inc. from Helixmith Co Ltd, Seoul (South Korea) and Medivate Partners LLC, Seoul (South Korea). WACKER signed a corresponding agreement. WACKER will continue Genopis' existing customer relationships as a contract manufacturer (CDMO) for plasmid DNA (pDNA). The total purchase price for the acquisition consists of a $39 million cash payment due upon closing as well as possible further performance-based payments under a so-called earn-out model. The transaction is expected to close in the 1st quarter of 2021.

This strategic acquisition is a key step in our ongoing expansion in the high-growth biopharmaceuticals market, explained WACKERs President & CEO, Rudolf Staudigl. Genopis expertise in plasmid DNA technology expands our portfolio as a pharmaceutical-sector contract manufacturer. At the same time, the acquisition allows us to establish a local presence in the large US market for biologics.

Incorporated in 2018, Genopis operates a specialized, 500-liter-capacity fermentation line for the manufacture and purification of pDNA. Further small-scale fermentation and downstream processing facilities for pDNA are currently under construction at Genopis site in San Diego. The company's approximately 40 employees have extensive experience in the production of pDNA according to the quality guidelines of "Good Manufacturing Practice" (GMP). pDNA can be used either directly for nucleic acid-based gene therapies and for vaccines or as a starting point for such innovative therapeutic agents, for example to manufacture messenger RNA (mRNA).

Furthermore, WACKER and Helixmith plan to strategically collaborate on the production of a pDNA gene therapy developed by Helixmith for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). The sub-stance, called VM202, is currently in clinical trials. Once approved, the two companies intend to have WACKER, as a CDMO partner, manufacture VM202 for commercial market supply. DPN is a com-mon and so far difficult to treat chronic complication of diabetes. In the future, WACKER as a CDMO could also manufacture at the new San Diego site other pDNA products developed by Helixmith.

A partnership with WACKER, one of the world`s leading microbial drug CDMOs, provides a significant boost to Helixmith, said Seungshin Yu, CEO of Helixmith. Having a strong partner like WACKER provides us with additional confidence as we pursue our global blockbuster pipeline she commented.

Acquiring Genopis is an ideal way to complement our existing activities as a contract manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines, explains Susanne Leonhartsberger, president of the WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS division. For several decades now, Wacker Biotech has manufactured therapeutic proteins, live microbial products and vaccines for clinical development and commercial supply at its sites in Jena, Halle and Amsterdam. We are experts in microbial technologies. In recent months, weve invested in our Amsterdam site and made preparations to expand our production capabilities to include mRNA. The acquisition of Genopis is a further logical step in providing our customers with optimal support in the development and production of nucleic acid-based actives and innovative forms of therapy.

Only recently, WACKER announced it had signed an agreement with Tubingen-based CureVac to produce the companys mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate CVnCOV.

We are delighted to join a leading microbial CDMO and become part of a global network in Wacker, said Keith Hall, Chief Operating Officer of Genopis. We look forward to growing our biopharma CDMO business together with our new colleagues.
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday rejected the schedule proposed by the Uttar Pradesh's State Election Commission (SEC) for holding panchayat elections in the state.

The SEC had sought to hold panchayat polls in May, but the court ruled it out, observing that the panchayat elections should have concluded by January 13, 2021 as per the rules.

The SEC, in its submission before the high court, said that the voter list for panchayat polls had been prepared by January 22, however, the work on the reservation of seats by the state government is yet to be finalised which has delayed the process of holding elections.

The SEC further said that it will take at least 45 days more to prepare for the polls after the seat reservation is decided.

Uttar Pradesh Panchayati Raj minister, Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, had said in December that the notification regarding the panchayat elections will be issued after the completion of preparatory work for the polls which was already underway.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana is aiming at destroying local terrorist groups in his six-month stint as Armed Forces of the Philippines chief, promising to go fast while being mindful to avoid missteps.

My focus now is going after the real threat  the communist terrorist group as well as the local terrorist groups, Sobejana said in an interview with CNN Philippines.

He mentioned the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing New Peoples Army, which the executive department recently designated as terrorist organizations, as well as Islamic militant groups Abu Sayyaf, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Dawlah Islamiyah-inspired groups, Maute, and remnants of the Ansar Al-Khilafa Philippines.

We should be able to destroy the right target, because going fast pero hindi naman (but not) deliberately done, we might experience or incur collateral damage which we do not like, Sobejana stressed.

In a speech during the change of command ceremony on Thursday, Sobejana said there will be no human rights violations in his anti-terrorism campaign.

Rest assured that your soldiers, all your soldiers -- airmen, sailors and marines -- of the Armed Forces of the Philippines will do their job, following the rule of law, give due respect to human rights and strictly adhere to the provisions of the international humanitarian law, he said.

While authorities previously failed to meet self-imposed deadlines in ending the communist movement, Sobejana said these are just for planning purposes. In my case, because I will be retiring on July 31 this year, I set that as my timeline, he said.

Red-tagging controversy

Sobejana, former commanding general of the Army, took the helm of the AFP amid investigation into the publication of an erroneous list tagging several alumni of the University of the Philippines as members of the NPA.

Under the leadership of Gen. Gilbert Gapay, the AFP apologized for what Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana called an unpardonable gaffe, and launched an internal investigation. Sobejana said the AFP has learned from its mistake and will certainly sanction the people involved in the exposure of that erroneous list.

Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil-Military Operations, earlier took a leave of absence to ensure an independent probe, while the one who replaced him, Maj. Gen. Alex Luna was relieved from his post.

The CPP itself is protesting its designation by the Anti-Terrorism Council, saying it has a legitimate national cause. President Rodrigo Duterte and his men have been calling the communist rebels as terrorists since peace talks broke down in late 2017. Despite the lack of court proscription, the highly contested Anti-Terrorism Act allowed the executive to make the terrorist designation.

Framers of the Constitution, legal experts, and human rights advocates filed petitions urging the Supreme Court to junk the anti-terrorism law. They say victims of red-tagging are put in danger, citing the killings of lawyer Benjamin Ramos and activist Zara Alvarez.

READ: Here are the major issues raised against the Anti-Terrorism Act

In his retirement speech, Gapay said the military has neutralized more than 1,300 members of the communist terrorist group, adding that 4,000 others have withdrawn support from the movement. The CPP claims reports on mass surrenders are fabricated.

'AFP just part of the solution'

Meanwhile, war is not the only option in ending the countrys security problems, Sobejana said, stressing the need to gain the full support and cooperation of the public.

Our effort as part of the Armed Forces is just part of the solution and the more sustainable one is operations other than war, as what I have said, especially provision of livelihood among our people, Sobejana said.

Ang mahirap kung nakakapitan nila itong mga rebelde at masasamang elemento (If the poor can count on the rebels and lawless elements), so we really need to engage everybody, he added.

Like his predecessor, Sobejana has only six months to lead the AFP, but he is confident about causing a big blow if not eradicating local terrorist groups.

I'm looking forward that before I finally bow out from the military service, before I hang my uniform, we are able to experience a better Philippines in terms of security and economy, because economic progress will be the end result of the peace and order, Sobejana said.

Apart from accomplishing this mission, Sobejana also promised to look after the morale and welfare of soldiers. Sobejana, a member of the Philippine Military Academys Hinirang Class of 1987, is the first Medal of Valor awardee to be appointed AFP chief in more than seven decades. He received the highest military award for leading a ranger unit in a deadly clash against more than 150 members of the Abu Sayyaf group in Basilan in 1995.

READ: New AFP chief seeks to strike balance between mission accomplishment, soldiers welfare

Catch CNN Philippines' exclusive one-on-one interview with AFP Chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana on Thursday, 8:30 p.m.
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DEMING  A New Mexico State Police officer was shot and killed on a stretch of highway east of Deming during a traffic stop on Thursday, setting off a mileslong chase that ended in a shootout between officers and the suspect.

The officer killed, 28-year-old Darian Jarrott, was a father of three, with a fourth child on the way. The man who shot him, 39-year-old Omar Felix Cueva, was killed by authorities during a gun battle in Las Cruces that left a Las Cruces police officer injured, authorities said.

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On Thursday evening, the sky took on the crimson hue of sunset as dozens of State Police vehicles made their way through the heart of Deming  a sea of lights and sirens surrounding a white hearse.

The procession ended at a local funeral home, its flag at half staff, where dozens of officers escorted the casket of their fallen comrade inside.

In the street, many officers hugged, some with tears in their eyes, as locals stood on the corner and took in the solemn atmosphere.

Officer Darian Jarrott went out there today and was serving his state, his community, the best way he knew how, and I love him for that, State Police Chief Robert Thornton said, holding back tears, during a press conference in Deming late Thursday. These officers lay their lives on the line every day for each and every one of us; as a chief, it breaks my heart that I have to be standing in front of you this evening, talking about this incident and whats going on.

Thornton said Jarrott, a-five-year veteran of the agency who was based in Deming, was assisting Homeland Security Investigations when he pulled over Cueva, who was on his way to do a drug deal, on Interstate 10. On Wednesday, Deming police shot and killed a man during an HSI investigation, but its unclear whether the two incidents or investigations were related.

Thornton said Cueva fired at least one shot during the traffic stop and struck Jarrott, killing him. He said an HSI agent got to the scene and notified dispatch that an officer was down.

Thornton said State Police caught up to Cueva as he headed east on I-10, and Cueva pulled over and fired at officers, who returned fire. He said a pursuit was initiated and officers were able to flatten Cuevas tires with spike strips near Las Cruces, but he continued to flee.

By that time, Thornton said, Las Cruces police, Dona Ana County deputies and Border Patrol joined in the pursuit and a Las Cruces police officer used a PIT maneuver to stop Cueva. He said Cueva got out of the truck, and fired multiple times at officers and deputies before authorities fired back, striking Cueva at least once. Cueva died at the scene.

Thornton said one Las Cruces police officer was struck by gunfire and was airlifted to an El Paso Hospital, where he was treated and released.

A video posted on Instagram shows the final gunfight.

The shaky video starts as a Las Cruces Police Department cruiser plows into a white pickup truck  pushing it down the interstate.

As the vehicles are coming to a stop, the video shows a figure get out of the trucks drivers side door, walk around the back and open fire on the police officer in the cruiser.

The officer falls to the ground, then appears to get up and fire back until the suspect falls. Officers from other agencies swarm in.

Shocked, heartbroken

Its been 30 years since the last time a State Police officer was fatally shot in the line of duty.

On Jan. 26, 1991, officer Glen Huber  along with a Rio Arriba County Sheriffs deputy and five civilians  was shot and killed while serving a restraining order, according to a website that memorializes officers who died in the line of duty.

According to the website, a total of six State Police offices have been shot and killed since 1937.

On Thursday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered all flags to fly at half-staff in New Mexico Friday through Tuesday in mourning of Jarrott.

I am shocked, heartbroken and enraged by the loss of this public servant, Lujan Grisham said in a statement. I am praying for the local officer who was also shot and injured.

She said she is horrified as we grieve another life cut down, another family crushed by senseless violence in our state.

U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-N.M., who represents the southern part of the state, also sent her condolences.

The death of any law enforcement officer in the line of duty is a reminder of the debt we owe the brave men and women who stand in the gap to protect us from evil, Herrell wrote in a statement.

A state legislator who represents Luna, Hidalgo and Grant counties paid tribute to Jarrott on Twitter.

There are no words for how heartbreaking it is to lose an officer in the line of duty  especially an officer from such a close community as Lordsburg, Rep. Candie Sweetser, D-Deming, wrote in a post. My prayers and love are with the family and friends of NMSP Officer Darian Jarrott as we mourn this tragic loss.

Anger and hurt

On Thursday night, Jarrott was taken from a funeral home in Deming to the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque.

Teresa Escarsiga watched from the sidewalk, with tears in her eyes, as a handful of State Police on motorcycles escorted a van carrying the fallen officer down the street.

Across the street, the Deming firehouse rolled fire engines from the garages, their lights on, and affixed an American flag to the ladder of a fire truck  hanging it over the street.

Its just been a very emotional, hard day with whats going on, she said, choking up. Weve had tragedies  but two days in a row.

The 52-year-old Deming native said a fatal police shooting on Wednesday had already shaken the small town. And, now, the death of a State Police officer.

It takes an emotional toll, Escarsiga said, the flashing red and blues from the officers procession reflected in her eyes.

She questioned what the shooter was thinking, having seen video of the Las Cruces shootout on social media.

The wounds are raw, the wounds are there. Theres anger and hurt, she said. Honestly, its like whats going on? Lord, what do you want from us?  where is the goodness, where is the kindness?

Escarsiga said the fallen officer, whos reportedly from neighboring Lordsburg, no doubt had ties to Deming. She scrolled her Facebook feed, seeing posts by mutual friends with pictures of the fallen officer smiling with his friends, family.

The poor family, what theyre going through. Got to say a little extra prayer tonight, hope to God this never happens again, Escarsiga said.

As the firemen backed the trucks in and ceremoniously folded up the American flag from the ladder, Escarsiga thought of better days.

Its a good little town, its just sad this had to happen, she said.

Road cleaners work in the town centre of Ilford in London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. In parts of east London, the pandemic is hitting much harder than most places in the U.K. The borough of Redbridge had the nation's second worst infection rate in January, with an estimated 1 in 15 residents thought to be infected. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Taxicab driver Gary Nerden knows colleagues who got seriously ill from COVID-19. He knows the area of east London where he lives and works has among the highest infection rates in the whole of England. But since he can't afford not to work, he drives around picking up strangers for up to 12 hours a day, relying on a flimsy plastic screen to keep him safe.

"I've got people telling me they won't wear a mask, saying they're exempt," said Nerden, 57. "I've got diabetes, I have to look after myself. I wipe the handles, the seat belt, after every customer, but that's all I can do, really."

Nerden and his wife, a hospital administrative worker, live in the outer London borough of Redbridge, which in mid-January had the country's second-highest rate of residents testing positive for the coronavirus: 1,571 cases per 100,000 people. Official figures estimated that at one point, 1 in 15 people there had COVID-19even after the government imposed a third national lockdown to control a fast-spreading, more contagious variant of the virus.

Redbridge and its surrounding areas, which lie on a commuter belt between the capital's northeast and coastal Essex, have been dubbed the "COVID triangle" because they all topped England's worst infection rates in recent weeks. While case rates have come down significantly, local leaders said the situation remained critical and the borough was still "in the eye of the storm."

Redbridge Councillor Jas Athwal hands out leaflets in the town centre of Ilford in London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. "People are taking their chances - is it about feeding my children, or risking myself with COVID? And of course, they need to feed their children," Athwal added. "All that accounts for the excess number of virus infections, the deaths, because people are having to go out to do their job." (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

They say the area's large number of essential workers in public-facing jobs, combined with dense housing and high levels of poverty, contribute to why the virus has hit it much harder than most places in the U.K. Those factors also make fighting the pandemic there particularly challenging.

"We have some of the most front-line workers here in the community: the taxi drivers, the NHS (National Health Service) workers, the train drivers going into central London, the commuter workers, the cleaners," Redbridge Council leader Jas Athwal said.

"People are taking their chancesis it about feeding my children, or risking myself with COVID? And of course, they need to feed their children," Athwal added. "All that accounts for the excess number of virus infections, the deaths, because people are having to go out to do their job."

Police officers patrol to enforce lockdown measures in the town centre of Ilford in London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. The borough of Redbridge had the nation's second worst coronavirus infection rate in January, with an estimated 1 in 15 residents thought to be infected. Officials say the area's ethnic diversity, high levels of poverty and large number of workers in public-facing jobs combine to make it more vulnerable. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Many of those lower-income workers with high exposure to the virus are from ethnic minority backgrounds, who are among the most at-riskas well as the hardest to persuade to get vaccinated. Redbridge's population is among the most diverse in the country, with large Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities and fewer than 40% of residents identifying as white British.

Numerous studies have shown that the pandemic is causing disproportionate serious illness and deaths among ethnic minorities and those from poorer households. In the U.K., Public Health England found that after accounting for factors like age and sex, people of Bangladeshi heritage were dying from COVID-19 at twice the rate of white Britons. Black people and other Asian groups also had a 10% to 50% higher risk of death.

Experts say that is due to a combination of factors. People from minority groups are more likely to live in crowded housing and to take poorly ventilated public transport to go to work. They are also more likely to have long-term conditions like heart disease and diabetes that increase their risk of becoming seriously ill if they catch the virus.

People look for fruit at a market stall in Ilford, London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. The borough of Redbridge had the nation's second worst infection rate in January, with an estimated 1 in 15 residents thought to be infected. Officials say the area's ethnic diversity, high levels of poverty and large number of workers in public-facing jobs combine to make it more vulnerable. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Khayer Chowdhury, a Redbridge councilor of Bangladeshi descent, said many Asian households in the borough are multigenerational families living together under one roof, giving the virus greater opportunity to spread.

"Our diversity makes us unique, but it also makes us vulnerable," he said.

Britain has lost more than 100,000 lives to the coronavirus, the worst death toll in Europe.

"Here in the community, everybody knows somebody who's passed away," Athwal said. "The fear is finally starting to hit home."

Officials say a small but increasing number of people are breaking restrictions, partly because of fatigue with lockdown rules. Enforcement officers have broken up gatherings and "car meets," shutting down and fining clubs and restaurants for hosting parties. On a recent weekday, a large team of police officers patrolled the main shopping street, which bustled with a steady stream of people despite the government's "stay at home" message.

Redbridge Councillor Jas Athwal, left, hands out leaflets and speaks to pedestrians in the town centre of Ilford in London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. "People are taking their chances - is it about feeding my children, or risking myself with COVID? And of course, they need to feed their children," Athwal added. "All that accounts for the excess number of virus infections, the deaths, because people are having to go out to do their job." (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

An assistant at a click and collect shop hands out a bag full of products in Ilford, London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. In parts of east London, the pandemic is hitting much harder than most places in the U.K. The borough of Redbridge had the nation's second worst infection rate in January, with an estimated 1 in 15 residents thought to be infected. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Redbridge enforcement officers close a click and collect shop to enforce lockdown measures in the town centre of Ilford in London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. In parts of east London, the pandemic is hitting much harder than most places in the U.K. The borough of Redbridge had the nation's second worst infection rate in January, with an estimated 1 in 15 residents thought to be infected. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Road cleaners work in the town centre of Ilford in London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. The borough of Redbridge had the nation's second worst coronavirus infection rate in January, with an estimated 1 in 15 residents thought to be infected. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Redbridge Radio Cars driver Gary Nerden leans on his car in Ilford, London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. Nerden knows colleagues who got seriously ill from COVID-19. He knows the area of east London where he lives and works has among the highest infection rates in the whole of England. But since he can't afford not to work, he drives around picking up strangers for up to 12 hours a day, relying on a flimsy plastic screen to keep him safe. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Police officers patrol in the town center of Ilford in the London borough of Redbridge, to enforce lockdown measures Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. In parts of east London, the pandemic is hitting much harder than most places in the U.K. The borough of Redbridge had the nation's second worst infection rate in January, with an estimated 1 in 15 residents thought to be infected. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

People look for fruit and vegetables at a market stall in Ilford in the London borough of Redbridge, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. The borough of Redbridge had the nation's second worst infection rate in January, with an estimated 1 in 15 residents thought to be infected. Officials say the area's ethnic diversity, high levels of poverty and large number of workers in public-facing jobs combine to make it more vulnerable. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Doctor PJ Suresh draws from a vial of the Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at the Fullwell Cross Medical Centre in Ilford, London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. Local leaders are racing to reach out to ethnic minority communities, where people are often less likely to come forward to be inoculated. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Doctor PJ Suresh injects a patient with the Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at the Fullwell Cross Medical Centre in Ilford, London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. Local leaders in the borough of Redbridge are racing to reach out to ethnic minority communities, where people are often less likely to come forward to be inoculated. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Road cleaners work in the town centre of Ilford in London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. In parts of east London, the pandemic is hitting much harder than most places in the U.K. The borough of Redbridge had the nation's second worst infection rate in January, with an estimated 1 in 15 residents thought to be infected. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Doctor PJ Suresh injects a patient with the Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at the Fullwell Cross Medical Centre in Ilford, London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Police officers speak to a busker as they patrol to enforce lockdown measures in the town centre of Ilford in London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. In parts of east London, the pandemic is hitting much harder than most places in the U.K. The borough of Redbridge had the nation's second worst infection rate in January, with an estimated 1 in 15 residents thought to be infected. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

A postman wears an American flag as a face covering to protect against COVID-19 in Ilford, London, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

But the bigger challenge is on the vaccination front. Several U.K.-based studies have suggested that vaccine take-up rates for both the coronavirus and other jabs among Black people and minorities are significantly lower than that in the general population. Some researchers say that's caused by longstanding distrust of authorities and disengagement from public health messages, and exacerbated by anti-vaccine posts on social media.

Local resident Salman Khan and his wife said they were not sure they would have the jab if offered, because the pandemic has made them question "whether the government and the news is telling the truth."

Dr. Anil Mehta, a local doctor, said health officials are making every effort to reach the poorest and hardest to reach communities. This week he is offering vaccine shots out at homeless shelters, hoping to inoculate the area's many refugees and those sleeping rough. He said he's also taken up the role of "myth-buster," trying to dispel misinformation and conspiracy theories.

"People believe in all sorts of thingsthis is affecting fertility, or against Black Lives Matter," Mehta said. "There is a lot of hesitancy, whether they want it, whether they trust us. That's our battle at the moment."

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on her nomination to be the U.N. ambassador, Jan. 27, 2021.

WASHINGTON (JTA) - Statements and appearances by U.S. officials suggest the Biden administration's emerging Mideast strategy: reassuring Israel while resuming ties with the Palestinians ruptured by President Joe Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, the acting ambassador to the United Nations outlined plans to reverse Trump administration policies concerning the Palestinians.

"The Biden administration will restore credible U.S. engagement with Palestinians as well as Israelis," Richard Mills said at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, the first such appearance since Biden's Jan...

And its all because Apple keeps working 24/7 on every little detail of the project, just to make sure its launch is as smooth as possible - all while remaining completely tight-lipped on everything.But before the unveiling can even take place, Apple has a lot of other things to take care of, and since the automotive industry is a completely new world for it, the firm needs to make sure it has the right people for the job.Apples headhunting has been fantastic, a former VW manager has been quoted as saying recently, so it shouldnt come as a big surprise that Cupertino managed to poach none other than the Vice President of Chassis Development for the Porsche Taycan , Dr. Manfred Harrer.While no specifics have been provided, its not difficult to figure out that Harrer joins Apple to work on the Apple Car, especially following his involvement in the production of the electric Porsche Taycan. His past experience includes key roles at Audi and BMW, but of course, what caught Apples attention was Harrers role in the development of the Taycan.And now, the iPhone maker hopes the German will use his know-how to help bring the Apple Car to the world. For now, specifics on his role within the company are not yet available, though.It goes without saying we wont be hearing too many details about this soon, as Apple has become rather famous for its FBI-like secrecy. But given that a partnership with Hyundai for the production of the Apple Car is believed to be just around the corner, we should expect more information on the progress of Project Titan to make the headlines in the coming weeks.

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The Covid-19 death toll now stands at 440, with the deaths of 15 more people yesterday.

The Ministry of Health reported the deaths in its daily update yesterday evening.

One of the new deaths occurred in Tobago. The Tobago Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development disclosed that the patient was a 38-year-old male with co-morbidities.
Obtain a free credit report by visiting annualcreditreport.com

Consider placing a fraud alert on your credit report.

Review financial account statements and report any suspicious activity to your bank or credit union.

Report any suspected identity theft to the state Attorney General's Office, law enforcement and/or or the Federal Trade Commission's IdentityTheft.gov.

(TNS)  A massive data breach involving the state auditor's office has left more than a million Washingtonians' personal information vulnerable to identity theft.It's created potential new headaches for unemployment claimants already struggling to pay bills and deal with delays in benefit payments. A full picture of the debacle may take months to emerge, but here are answers to some of the most pressing questions Seattle Times readers have been asking:State Auditor Pat McCarthy's office has been investigating how the state Employment Security Department (ESD) lost $600 million to fraudulent employment claims last year. (ESD says it has since recovered $357 million.) As part of that probe, auditors demanded a trove of claims information from ESD. In December, a vulnerability in a computer file-transfer service used by the auditor's office  a product of the California tech firm Accellion  allowed unknown people to access that data.The breached data includes Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, bank account numbers and employment information  basically everything a cybercriminal would need to steal someone's identity.State officials estimate 1.6 million claims were left vulnerable, involving about 1.4 million people.Unfortunately, yes. People already victimized last year by fraudulent unemployment claims are among those whose information was also exposed in the new data breach, according to Kathleen Cooper, a spokesperson for the auditor's office.That's unclear. State officials have only said that the data was accessed by "an unauthorized person." The incident is under investigation by federal law enforcement as well as the state attorney general's office and state cybersecurity officials.Yes. The auditor's office has said it is working on individual notifications but has not yet provided details."We do not yet have a firm date on when these will begin. We are working with our insurance carrier on this complex process, and it is Auditor McCarthy's highest priority," Cooper said in an email.Not at this point. Many people have asked whether the state should provide credit monitoring or other consumer protections  as Equifax did after its infamous 2017 data breach. So far, state officials have not announced specific plans.The auditor's website says it "will make resources available to help each affected individual take measures to protect their identity" and will "post that information as soon as it is available."The auditor is directing people to the office's website, with frequently asked questions and suggested actions:. That site will be continually updated as new information becomes available.For now, the auditor's recommendations include:McCarthy has pointed the finger at Accellion. The company's supposedly secure file-transfer product was compromised due to a vulnerability.McCarthy said her office had been using the service, called FTA, for 13 years and was paying $17,000 annually for it.An Accellion executive, Joel York, said the firm had been encouraging customers for years to upgrade to its newer, more secure transfer product, kiteworks. The auditor's office was in the process of moving to that new service when the hack occurred.Ultimately, Washington voters will get to decide whether to hold McCarthy accountable. As state auditor, she is an independent statewide elected official who does not report to the governor.McCarthy, a Democrat, is a former Pierce County executive who was elected to a second term in November  before the data breach.Did McCarthy's office really need to gather detailed personal information to conduct its probe of ESD?State legislators of both parties are raising this issue and may press for changes. State Sen. Karen Keiser, D- Des Moines, asked Monday whether the level of detailed data obtained by the auditor was "truly necessary." On Tuesday, state Rep. Matt Boehnke, R- Kennewick, chimed in: "Why do we still continue to have full Social Security numbers in locations around state agencies when we can identify [people] by other means?"McCarthy defended her investigation, saying her office regularly obtains massive amounts of documentation and data from state and local agencies it audits. "That's what we do," she said.Cooper, the auditor's spokesperson, said investigators needed the personal data to fully assess how ESD scrutinized unemployment claims for potential fraud before paying them.You should always be careful with personal data, but there has been no indication that ESD's computer systems were hacked or compromised. The already-overwhelmed agency has requested that any calls about the data breach be directed to the state auditor.
A prominent Lebanese intellectual and Hezbollah critic was found shot dead in southern Lebanon on Thursday.

Lokman Slim was visiting friends in the area Wednesday and was due to travel back to Beirut that night. Police found his body in his car near the town of Addoussieh. He received several close-range gunshots, the Lebanese news outlet Naharnet reported.

Slim was a known activist from Lebanons Shiite Muslim community. He regularly criticized the Lebanese Shiite political and military organization Hezbollah and mocked the group on social media.

Slims family was concerned about him in the hours leading up to the discovery of his body. His wife, German film director Monika Borgmann, tweeted that he had not been answering his phone.

Many Lebanese expressed their condolences about Slims death. The Lebanese news outlet The Daily Star called him a daring activist and an admired intellectual. Slims name trended on Twitter in both Arabic and English on Thursday.

Slim was a critic of Hezbollahs power in Lebanon. The group formed in 1985 to fight the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah receives considerable support from Iran. After the Lebanese civil war, many militias gave up their arms. Hezbollah, billing itself as the resistance to Israel, kept its weapons and now exists as a paramilitary group in the country that is arguably stronger than state security forces.

It is unclear who killed Slim, but critics of Hezbollah are pointing fingers at the group. The Saudi-funded Al Arabiya news outlet, which is critical of Iran, reported that Slim was working to help a Hezbollah business associate defect at the time of his death. Hezbollah has not released a statement on the matter.

Slim reported receiving death threats from Hezbollah in December.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has vowed to conduct a speedy investigation into Slims murder. Some perpetrators of past political assassinations in Lebanon have not been brought to justice. Nobody was charged in the killing of former minister Mohamad Chatah in 2013, for example.

Hezbollah has suffered assassinations as well. Senior commander Hassan al-Laqqis was also killed in 2013 in an attack claimed by Sunni Islamist groups.

Several countries likewise called for an investigation.

"We also emphasize the need for an expeditious investigation of this and other recent unsolved killings so that the perpetrators of these acts are brought to justice," US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea said in a statement, making reference to other political assassinations in Lebanon.

The discovery of Slims body came on the six-month anniversary of the horrific Beirut port explosion.
Full results from Friday's state track meets

Get your full results from the AA, A and B boys and girls state track meets here.

She's known for her striking facial features and stunning curves.

But on Thursday, Australian model Georgina Burke was barely recognisable as she rugged up to brave the cold weather in New York City.

The blonde beauty, 29, hid her gorgeous face behind a mask as she rugged up in a beanie and large black coat while making her way to breakfast in the trendy neighborhood of Tribeca.

Stepping out in style: She's known for her striking facial features and stunning curves, but on Thursday Australian model Georgina Burke was barely recognisable as she rugged up to brave the cold weather in New York City

The Brisbane-born stunner, who has lived in the US for close to a decade, strutted down the street in a stylish outfit.

She kept herself dry by teaming her multiple black layers with leather trousers and a matching scarf.

Georgina also donned a pair of white high-top boots, keeping her feet warm and cosy while treading through the snowy streets.

She carried a brown leather bag in her left hand, which appeared to hold a pair of white sneakers inside.

City chic: The Brisbane-born stunner, who has lived in the US for close to a decade, strutted down a street in a stylish outfit

Georgia's hands were polish-free and she seemed to have on a bit of eyeliner for the outing.

Her loosely styled hair draped over her shoulders in a messy style.

Georgia has had an incredibly successful career as a size 14 model.

Keeping safe: The blonde beauty, 29, hid her gorgeous face behind a mask as she rugged up in a beanie and large black coat while making her way to breakfast in the trendy neighborhood of Tribeca

She is also known for launching a size-friendly, fully adjustable swimwear range called Burke NYC in 2019.

Georgina previously told 7News of the line: 'It's a full size-inclusive range for Australians size four to 26, and everything's adjustable.

'So if you want it more skimpy, you can go down a size, or if you want to cover up a bit more you can go up a size. It's completely up to you.'
Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The Gambian government, in collaboration with some partners, on Thursday launched a Regional Rice Value Chain Development Project (RRVCDP) meant to contribute to the reduction of high importation rate of rice

MKHONDVO  A suspect who was being taken to the police station threw himself into the raging Mkhondvo River on Tuesday.

The man had been held for alleged attempted rape.

The incident happened on Tuesday around 5pm at Mkhondvo just before Buseleni next to Tebetebe.

The deceased, Philani Dambayi Dlamini, did this in the presence of his father, two uncles and a community police member, while they were on their way to the police station.

Philani had been handcuffed when he plunged into the river.

According to a narration from the community police Sipho Manana, the deceased, on Monday, went to his cousins home where he found his cousins wife and requested to be let inside the house.

Utterances

It is alleged that Philani made utterances that suggested that he wanted to have sexual intercourse with his cousins wife to which she screamed for help.

It was stated that Philani then grabbed a pair of shoes that belonged to the wife and further stole a chicken before fleeing.

The following morning, the wife is said to have reported the matter to the family elders and to community police members. Philani was reportedly searched for by police around the area.

It was stated that the community police members finally found him in one homestead and took him to his home.

Upon arrival, it is said that the community police informed his father about the incident. Philani was reportedly wearing the same shoes he allegedly took at his cousins doorstep.

His father spoke to him and allowed that he be taken to the police, narrated Manana.

He stated that the man was then handcuffed with intentions of taking him to the police station.

The deceaseds father and two uncles came along with the community police as he was taken to cop shop.

They all used a path which is next to the river as they made their way to cross Mkhondvo River.

It was gathered that on their way, Philani took a few steps towards the water and threw himself into the river while handcuffed.

It is said that they all tried to call him in an attempt to stop him, but he proceeded and was swallowed by the overflowing river.

The trio was left shocked by this incident and is said to have followed the river as they could see him resurface and disappear into the water but ended up losing sight of him for good.

It is said that they then proceeded to report the matter to the police while his father went to inform other family members about the incident.

Police are said to have made their way to the river to search for him but could not find him.

Yesterday, a search party, which included scuba divers, arrived at the river at 5am and began the search.

They searched for a distance of about 6km from where he had drowned, but came empty-handed.

The search, which was abandoned at noon yielded no positive results as the body was not found.

It will continue again today.

It was established that though the body may have floated downstream, it might have also been hooked on trees inside the river or held between rocks.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the deceaseds mother, Mazoco Dlamini, she stated that they were still reeling in shock from the incident. She confirmed the story of his deceased son going to the cousins home. She stated that initially, her son was told he was going to be whipped and released, but did not know how he established that he was being taken to the police station.

The shocked mother stated that her husband, the deceaseds father, was emotionally not well as he repeatedly told her the picture of his son in the water came playing itself out in his head.

I am still shocked why he chose to take his life like that, said the mother.

She stated that they were praying that they would find his body so that he could get a decent funeral.

When sought for comment, Police Deputy Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni confirmed the drowning. She said their team of scuba divers went to search for him and would continue tomorrow.






(Natural News) On Sunday, The New York Times dropped a disturbing report featuring the accounts of 21 men who accused anti-Trump Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver of sending them unsolicited and sexually provocative messages, with one saying he was 14 years old when he was first contacted. And despite promoting the group, and Weavers admission, CBS and NBC have refused to cover the disgusting scandal all the way through their Monday evening newscasts.

(Article by Nicholas Fondacaro republished from NewsBusters.org)

Though they only covered the Weavers scandal Sunday night, ABCs World News Tonight spent two and half minutes detailing some of the accounts.

Tonight, explosive allegations against a top Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project, reported ABCs Andrew Dymburt. The New York Times reporting John Weaver, who worked on the presidential campaigns of John McCain and John Kasich, allegedly Sent unsolicited and sexually provocative messages to young men online, sometimes offering to help them get work in politics, according to the report.

Besides asking young men to send him lewd photos, Weaver arguably spent years grooming one man starting when he was 14, and growing more sexually suggestive once he turned 18. ABC spoke with that young man:

DYMBURT: The Times, citing interviews with 21 men, including Cole Trickle Miele, who told The Times the messages began in 2015 when he was 14 years old. They escalated over the years, Trickle Miele said, pointing to a June, 2018, exchange when Weaver allegedly asked, Are you in high school still? Trickle Miele, told Weaver he would be 18 the next Spring, to which weaver replied, You look older. Youve gotten taller. Trickle Miele confirmed his account in The Times to ABC news and provided screenshots of the messages. COLE TRICKLE MIELE: To me, it was just really like  not star-struck but kind of, you know, kind of like, oh okay, this is cool, this is somebody higher up whos reaching out. And that was fine. The messages over the years got more concerning, and suggestive, sexually suggestive.

While CBS Evening News was avoiding the Lincoln Project story, they spent part of their Monday newscast trying to tie former President Trump to the military coup in Myanmar.

And it wasnt so long ago that CBS was prompting the anti-Trump group. During the Democratic National Convention, then-political correspondent Ed OKeefe (now a White House correspondent) boasted: The man [Hillary Clinton] lost to is the target of yet another ad, produced by a Republican group seeking to unseat him. Adding: This time, its focused on how he bungled the U.S. response to Hurricane Maria, after it devastated Puerto Rico.

As for NBCs reliance on the Lincoln Project for content, one just has the search NewsBusters here to see how MSNBC was a bastion for their bile. And throughout the Trump Presidency, the networks would gush about the snide tweets Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway would post against Trump. Including ABC.

In early August of last year, ABCs This Week did a whole segment celebrating the Lincoln Project ad campaign. Fill-in host Martha Raddatz was thrilled the group was waging war against the president of their own party.

Blistering ads targeting President Trump but not by Democrats but from a group of Republicans intent on taking down the leader of their party. Many using the Presidents own words against him, boasted ABC correspondent Mary Bruce, at the time.

Bruce was also thankful the group was doing then-candidate Joe Bidens dirty work. These ads are not subtle, they are brutal, they are hitting trump where it hurts, trying to beat him at his own game. These are simply ads Biden could not run, she said.

Meanwhile, Weaver, whos married to a woman and has two kids, admitted to sending the messages to the young men. I am so disheartened and sad that I may have brought discomfort to anyone, Dymburt read from Weavers statement.

This blackout of the Lincoln Project sex scandal was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Liberty Mutual on both CBS and NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund. CBS Evening News has also asked people to text anchor Norah ODonnell at this number: (202) 217-1107.

The transcript is below

ABCs World News Tonight

January 31, 2021

6:12:56 p.m. Eastern TOM LLAMAS: We turn now to a major scandal involving top Republican strategist John Weaver, the co-founder of the Lincoln Project who worked on the presidential campaigns of John McCain and John Kasich. According to The New York Times, several men say he sent unsolicited and sexual messages online. ABCs Andrew Dymburt with the details and his response. [Cuts to video] ANDREW DYMBURT: Tonight, explosive allegations against a top Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project. The New York Times reporting John Weaver, who worked on the presidential campaigns of John McCain and John Kasich, allegedly Sent unsolicited and sexually provocative messages to young men online, sometimes offering to help them get work in politics, according to the report. In some cases, Weaver allegedly asking for lewd photos suggesting one man post a thirst trap or send me a pick. The Times, citing interviews with 21 men, including Cole Trickle Miele, who told The Times the messages began in 2015 when he was 14 years old. They escalated over the years, Trickle Miele said, pointing to a June, 2018, exchange when Weaver allegedly asked, Are you in high school still? Trickle Miele, told Weaver he would be 18 the next Spring, to which weaver replied, You look older. Youve gotten taller. Trickle Miele confirmed his account in The Times to ABC news and provided screenshots of the messages. COLE TRICKLE MIELE: To me, it was just really like  not star-struck but kind of, you know, kind of like, oh okay, this is cool, this is somebody higher up whos reaching out. And that was fine. The messages over the years got more concerning, and suggestive, sexually suggestive. DYMBURT: In a statement to ABC News, Weaver suggested he believed the messages were consensual. I am so disheartened and sad that I may have brought discomfort to anyone. LINCOLN PROJECT AD: Theres mourning in America. DYMBURT: Weaver and lifelong Republicans formed the Lincoln Project, and their group actively campaigned against former President Trump in 2020, saying he abandoned Republican principles. Weaver spoke to 60 Minutes late last year. LESLEY STAHL: How painful is it for you to turn against the Republican Party? JOHN WEAVER: There are moments of melancholy about it. No doubt. [Cuts back to live] DYMBURT: And Weaver is no longer affiliated or associated with the Lincoln Project. Tonight, the group saying in a statement they are shocked and sickened by these accusations. And none of the men accuse Weaver of any unlawful conduct. Tom. LLAMAS: Andrew Dymburt for us tonight. Andrew, thank you.

Read more at: NewsBusters.org and Journalism.news
Britain on Thursday launched a trial to assess the immune responses generated if doses of the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca Plc are combined in a two-shot schedule.

The British researchers behind the trial said data on vaccinating people with the two different types of coronavirus vaccines could help understanding of whether shots can be rolled out with greater flexibility around the world. Initial data on immune responses is expected to be generated around June.

The trial will examine the immune responses of an initial dose of Pfizer vaccine followed by a booster of AstraZeneca's, as well as vice versa, with intervals of 4 and 12 weeks.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

Both the mRNA shot developed by Pfizer and Biontech and the adenovirus viral vector vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca are currently being rolled out in Britain, with a 12-week gap between two doses of the same vaccine.

It is expected more vaccines will be added to the trial when they are approved and rolled out.

Recruitment for the study starts on Thursday, with over 800 participants expected to take part, the researchers said. That makes it much smaller than the clinical trials that have been used to determine efficacy of the vaccines individually.

The trial will not assess the overall efficacy of the shot combinations, but researchers will measure antibody and T-cell responses, as well as monitor for any unexpected side effects.

Matthew Snape, an Oxford vaccinologist who is leading the trial, said initial results could inform vaccine deployment in the second half of the year.

"We will get some results through, we expect, by June or thereabouts that will inform the use of booster doses in the general population," he told reporters.

The trial is looking to recruit people over the age of 50 who may be at higher risk than younger people and have not been vaccinated already.

AstraZeneca's shot is also being tested in combination with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, and British drugmaker's research chief has said more studies on combining vaccines should be done.

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opinion

With the newly introduced minimum tax raises, businesses will be charged tax on gross receipts at a marginal rate of one per cent.

Businesses are normally taxed on their profits. That option still exists, provided the tax on profits is more than that on gross receipts. Taxing businesses on profits has always left loss-making entities off the hook. But bear in mind that the onus of determining profits or losses rests on the taxpayer.

The opponents argue that the new taxes will ruin loss-making entities. There are three types of loss-making entities to address here. In the first category are businesses reporting losses but are flourishing by any other standard. How do they survive successive periods of loss-making? They know, we know, the taxman seems to have known, they are the targets of this new tax.

The second is businesses in capital-intensive sectors and volatile environments like mining. The drafters of the law exempted the extractives industry. Tanzania exempts agriculture.

Loss-making businesses

The third category is genuinely loss-making businesses. Some enterprise owners hang on to loss-making venture.

Konosuke Matsushita, the Japanese philosopher who founded Panasonic Electronics, remarked: "If we cannot make a profit, that means we are committing a sort of crime against society. We take society's capital, we take their people, we take their materials, yet without a good profit, we are using precious resources that could be better used elsewhere."

Minimum tax can initiate that debate especially with rural dwellers masquerading as farmers.

Another perspective to minimum tax is the reintroduction of turnover tax, in which businesses with annual turnover of less than Sh50 million fall. Minimum tax is for entities above that.

Charging both categories at one per cent addresses fundamental issues in taxation: Fairness and closing loopholes for tax evasion.

The writer is a lecturer at KCA University.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Members of the U.S. Senates Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Thursday approved Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudges nomination to be President Joe Bidens Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in a bipartisan 17 to 7 vote.

Several of the committees Republicans voted against moving Fudges nomination to the full Senate floor. The committees top Republican, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, said he was upset by Fudges past criticism of Republicans.

Im troubled by multiple statements Rep. Fudge has made through the years attacking and disparaging the integrity and motives of Republican officials with whom she has policy disagreements, said Toomey, citing a statement she made about Republicans not caring even a little bit about people of color.

Toomey said he also felt that Fudge hadnt served on committees in the House of Representatives that set housing policy. When asked whether HUD should better target its programs to help low-income Americans, she responded that the challenge for HUD programs isnt that they arent targeted, its that the funding isnt adequate to meet the need.

Im concerned that Rep. Fudges approach will be to simply ask Congress for more money for HUD without working to reform it and I think such reform is needed to ensure that HUD programs are improved, said Toomey.

A committee Republican who supported Fudges nomination, South Carolinas Tim Scott, said he also disliked how Fudge had characterized the Republican Party as it relates to issues of race but has worked with Fudge over the past decade, and found her to be quite intelligent, motivated and tenacious.

One of the things I continue to encourage her to do is have an open door towards the Republicans on this committee, said Scott. She assured me that will be her goal.

New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez noted that the Senate has confirmed many nominees with robust support from our Republican colleagues with a history of commentary far more extraordinarily upsetting than any of the comments that have been associated with Rep. Fudge.

From everything I know of Rep. Fudge, both when she was the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and in her other work, I believe she will work with people on both sides of the aisle, said Menendez.

The committees new chairman, Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown, said it will prioritize housing under his leadership more than it has in the past, and hell be thrilled to work with Fudge.

Without affordable homes and safe neighborhoods, people dont live as long, their medical care is inadequate, their children attend struggling schools, they dont have nearby grocery stores with nutritious food options, said Brown. In short, housing is the gateway to opportunity, we all know that, into building a middle class life.

Brown said he will ask Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to bring Fudges nomination before the full Senate as soon as possible, but said it could be delayed by the upcoming trial to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in last months riot at the U.S. Capitol that resulted in the deaths of five people, including a Capitol Police officer.

I dont know if impeachment stops us from doing other things, said Brown. Its something we dont have a lot of historical precedent for.

Read more:

Ohios Jim Jordan endorsed QAnon-linked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and continues to defend her

Rep. Jim Jordan will cheer on former President Trump from the sidelines during his Senate impeachment trial

Rep. Bob Gibbs gives thumbs up to border fence, thumbs down to Capitol Hill security fence

Rocky River Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez gets flak for voting to impeach President Donald Trump but doesnt regret taking a stand

Sen. Rob Portman hopes for coronavirus compromise with Biden administration

Nina Turner takes big fundraising lead in congressional race to succeed Marcia Fudge; her donors include actress Susan Sarandon and entrepreneur Andrew Yang

Sherrod Brown hopes Senate can pass $15 hourly minimum wage and coronavirus aid for local governments with or without Republican support

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan wont run for U.S. Senate next year

Senators grill Ohios Rep. Marcia Fudge at her confirmation hearing to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Sen. Rob Portman backs measure to question constitutionality of impeaching former President Donald Trump

Rob Portman talks about his future plans and whats ahead for the Republican Party

Sen. Rob Portman announces he wont seek re-election

U.S. Capitol riot prompts Democrat Jeff Sites to seek Rep. Jim Jordans congressional seat

(Newser)  Ken Frazier, the longtime chief executive of Merck and one of the few remaining Black CEOs of a Fortune 500 company, is retiring, per the AP. Frazier, Merck's CEO for the past decade, will be replaced by Rob Davis, the chief financial officer, the company said Thursday. Frazier will become executive chairman of the board during a transition period. Frazier joined Merck in 1992 as general counsel to one of Merck's pharmaceutical businesses and worked his way up to the top job. Last month, when Walgreens named Roz Brewer as its new CEO, there were four Black CEOs at Fortune 500 firms. With Frazier's departure, that number is back down to three. Frazier was instrumental in orchestrating some of Merck's most successful ventures, including the drug Keytruda in the field of cancer immunotherapy, per the Wall Street Journal.

story continues below

The drug is now one of the company's biggest sellers. Frazier also didn't shy from the national spotlight on volatile issues. He clashed with then-President Trump over his refusal to condemn the white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, saying, "America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry, and group supremacy." He stepped down from the president's manufacturing council and was attacked by Trump on Twitter the same day. Other executives followed, and the council was quickly disbanded. Frazier spoke out publicly about inequality in the US again last year during the protests that followed the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Frazier said it could just as easily have been him.

(Read more Merck stories.)
Teresa Giudice and her new boyfriend Luis Ruelas looked happy in love as they hit the slopes in coordinating white snowsuits on a winter getaway.

In the 48-year-old Bravo star latest Instagram post on Wednesday, she looked happier than ever in a pair of skis with a beaming smile across her face.

'Love being on the slopes with you,' the mother-of-four, who split from her ex-husband Joe after 20 years of marriage last year, captioned her post.

Snow bunnies: Teresa Giudice and her new boyfriend Luis Ruelas looked happy in love as they hit the slopes in coordinating white snowsuits on a winter getaway

Both shots featured the duo standing close together in nature and Ruelas, 46, tilting toward Giudice, who wore a fuzzy head band and black gloves.

Within three hours, her post gained more than 35,000 likes and hundreds of comments from fans, who have loved seeing the pair's relationship blossom since they began dating in the fall of 2020.

Among the hundreds of comments Giudice received, Real Housewives of Dallas star Stephanie Hollman wrote that her pal looked 'beautiful.'

'Love being on the slopes with you,' the mother-of-four, who split from her ex-husband after 20 years of marriage last year, captioned her slideshow

Last week, the couple documented their trip to Los Angeles on social media, which included hiking and dinner at Mastro's Steakhouse in Los Angeles.

She went public with their relationship in November, after previously being married to Giuseppe 'Joe' Giudice from 1999 until their separation in December 2019.

The media personality's former husband is reportedly both aware and supportive of her new relationship.

Vacationing: Last week, the couple documented their trip to Los Angeles on social media, which included hiking and dinner at Mastro's Steakhouse in Los Angeles

In 2009, Joe and Teresa couple filed for bankruptcy, which set off a chain of legal battles culminating in the two being convicted for various forms of fraud.

Five years later, the two were handed prison sentences; Joe's status as an illegal immigrant was also brought into question, as he had never gained citizenship despite living in the United States since he was a year old.

At the end of his time being incarcerated, Joe went to live with his family in Italy to await the results of his deportation hearing and subsequent appeals.
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AUSTIN, Minn.  A Mower County man gets probation for threatening a woman.

Kenneth Eugene Stoltz Jr., 57 of Austin, was given two years of probation and 20 hours of community work service Thursday. He pleaded guilty in November 2020 to one felony count of terrorist threats.

Austin police say they got a call on September 4, 2019 from a woman claiming Stoltz was threatening her life. The woman told officers that Stoltz was holding a large knife in the 400 block of 4th Avenue SW.

Police say they had to threaten to shoot Stoltz with a taser before he obeyed officers when they tried to arrest him. Court documents state Stoltz told police his victim was stalking Stoltz daughter and he had gotten a knife to scare them away.
MISSION, Texas, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Frontera Holdings LLC (Frontera or the Company) announced today that it has entered into a Restructuring Support Agreement (RSA) with approximately 97 percent of its term loan lenders, 100 percent of its noteholders, and its 100 percent equity holder, through which most of the Company's debt will be converted into equity and the current term loan and revolving credit facility lenders will become the new owners of the Company. To advance this process, the Company has filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Throughout this process and beyond, the Company fully expects that employees and vendors will continue to be paid and the Frontera Energy Center will continue to generate electricity and serve its customers. The Company's subsidiary entities in Mexico are not included in the chapter 11 filing and also are continuing to operate in the ordinary course of business.

"These actions represent an important milestone to reducing debt and strengthening the Company for the benefit of our stakeholders," said Frontera CEO Lee Davis. "Frontera intends to use the court-supervised process to create a sustainable capital structure and position the Company to achieve long-term success."

The Company has entered into an RSA with holders of approximately 97 percent of its term loan debt and 100 percent of its secured notes, along with the 100 percent equity holder Lonestar Generation LLC, on the terms of a comprehensive financial restructuring. Currently, Frontera has $773 million in debt under a secured term loan and revolving credit facility, as well as $171 million in secured notes. Under this agreement, lenders agree to convert a substantial portion of the current term loan and revolving credit facility debt into equity. Assuming approval by the Bankruptcy Court, these lenders will become the new owners of the Frontera Energy Center.

Frontera has secured $70 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to ensure liquidity throughout the chapter 11 process. The Company's liquidity position will allow the plant to operate the business in the ordinary course and fund chapter 11 administrative costs. The DIP financing will be a part of $145 million in exit financing provided by lenders upon emergence from chapter 11.

To ensure its ability to continue operating in the ordinary course of business, Frontera is filing customary "first day" motions with the court. Information about the case will be available through the claims agent website at http://cases.primeclerk.com/Frontera.

PJT Partners LP is serving as investment banker for the Company; Kirkland & Ellis and Jackson Walker L.L.P. are serving as legal counsel; and Alvarez & Marsal is serving as financial advisor. Term loan lender advisors include Houlihan Lokey Inc. and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Noteholder advisors include Silver Foundry, LP and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

About Frontera Holdings, LLC

Frontera Holdings operates a 526 MW combined cycle natural gas plant near Mission, Texas, and exports power to Mexico.

SOURCE Frontera Holdings, LLC


Photovoltaic (PV) power stations in north China's Shanxi province have not only helped free all the poor population of the province from poverty, but made Shanxi one of the most successful provinces in China in terms of income from PV power generation and profits received by villages from PV power projects last year.

Covering all the previous impoverished counties and villages in Shanxi province, PV power stations represent the largest poverty alleviation program of the province. As of the end of 2020, the installed capacity of PV power stations across the province reached 2.94 million kW, while the number and installed capacity of village-level PV power stations hit 5,479 and 1.55 million kW respectively.

"PV projects bring better life to me." The remark by local people reflects their heartfelt gratitude for PV power stations built to help them get rid of poverty.

Erji village in Daning county of Shanxi province is well known for developing PV power projects.

Since it piloted PV power stations in 2014, Erji has transformed from a poor village without collective economy into one that enjoys an average annual collective income of about 300,000 yuan ($46,440) from PV projects, said Xu Yusheng, secretary of Communist Party of China (CPC) branch in Erji village.

With the collective income, the village created various public-service jobs, including sanitation worker, security guard, e-commerce service staff, and village doctor, for poor people, in a bid to help them increase income through work.

Small public welfare undertakings have also thrived in Erji village following the victory of local people over poverty. With smoother roads, pruned trees, renovated squares and other great changes, the village is seeing more and more pleasant living environment with each passing day.

"I've benefited so much from these favorable policies," Ma Yue'en, a villager in his eighties told People's Daily happily. Since PV power stations were introduced into the village, Ma has not only enjoyed old-age pension from the government, but received free chemical fertilizers from the village.

To encourage people to support their ageing parents, Erji village stipulated that the village adds 200 yuan to every 1,000 yuan of living expenses children give to their parents.

In an effort to help people suffering from extreme poverty, Shanxi province channeled more PV projects into counties and villages in extreme poverty, according to Zhang Linyang, an official from Shanxi Poverty Alleviation and Development Office.

Forty three percent of the poverty alleviation PV projects in Shanxi province are located in ten counties that suffered from extreme poverty, Zhang noted.

Because of poverty alleviation projects, Linxian county, which used to be the largest impoverished county in Shanxi province, has witnessed tremendous changes.

In Baiwen township of Linxian county, impressive PV power stations covering an area of about 80 hectares look just like the vast blue ocean from a distance.

The "blue ocean" can generate 44 million kWh of electricity per year, benefiting people in six villages of Baiwen township with an annual income of around 37 million yuan.

To make the most of resources, local people have also grown medicinal herbs like rhizoma anemarrhenae and Chinese ground orchid (Bletilla striata) under the PV panels of the power stations.

With a typical landform of loess plateau, Linxian County is crisscrossed with ravines and gullies. To conserve land, the county built PV power stations in one specific location according to local conditions.

The PV power stations have helped increase the income of 4,997 poor households in 53 poor villages by offering them multiple sources of income, including rental income from land occupied by power stations, wages from planting medicinal herbs, as well as money from secondary distribution of collective income of their villages, according to Gao Zerong, a member of the standing committee of CPC Linxian county committee.

PV projects have played a significant role in fighting poverty in and consolidating poverty alleviation results of Linxian county, which used to feature large poor population and high incidence of poverty, Gao pointed out.

"Now that we don't need to worry about our livelihood, villagers have a stronger sense of happiness," said Wang Xiaolan, a woman in Kangjiawan village, Muguaping township of Linxian county.

Wang and her husband have both taken public-service jobs offered by her village, which can ensure a combined annual income of over 200,00 yuan for their family, Wang told People's Daily.

Kangjiawan village has also opened daycare center for the elderly who live alone, Wang said, explaining that these people can enjoy free meals and laundry service at the center, and the expenditure of the center is covered by income from the local PV power stations.

By the end of 2020, Shanxi province had gained an income of 3.61 billion yuan from poverty alleviation PV power projects, according to reliable data, which also showed that over 3.26 billion yuan of the income went to 9,965 villages in the province.

In 2020 alone, the province saw an income of 1.96 billion yuan from its PV projects, which serves as a pillar of Shanxi in securing the final victory over poverty and offsetting the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To make sure all the income from the PV power stations is used for the people, Shanxi became the first province in China to create an income distribution management system for poverty alleviation PV projects, according to Zhang, who explained that the system enables various counties and villages to upload relevant information in a real-time manner to guarantee fair and transparent distribution of income.

Moreover, Shanxi province has connected all of its PV power stations to China's national PV poverty alleviation information monitoring system, in a bid to supervise the operation of PV power stations at any time, Zhang noted.

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New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on Thursday said that more than 11,000 people have been convicted in three years under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso Act) 2012.

In a reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the Centre said fast track courts have also been set up in all states to hear such cases.

NCP MP Dr Fauzia Khan sought information about the number of criminals convicted in the states under the Act and the special courts made for it.

Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani gave a written answer to this question and also provided state-wise figures of convicted criminals between 2014 and 2016.

In the written reply, Smriti Irani said 2,686 accused in 2014, 4,567 in 2015 and 3,859 in 2016 were convicted under the Pocso Act. Thus, in three years, the court convicted a total of 11,112 accused under the Act.

A majority of the convicted were reported from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. For instance, in Madhya Pradesh, 848 accused were convicted in 2014, 944 in 2015 and 792 in 2016. In Uttar Pradesh, 410 were convicted in 2014, 1,241 in 2015 and 1,003 in 2016.

Smriti Irani said 28 states were allocated Rs 140 crore in 2019-20 for setting up 1,023 fast track special courts, including 389 special Posco courts to speed up the hearing of cases related to rape and other Pocso Act violations.

She said in the financial year 2020-21, an amount of Rs 89.89 crore was disbursed in '21 and as of December 2020, there are 609 fast track courts, including 331 special Pocso courts.


Appointment

4 February 2021

A luxury hospitality veteran with a wealth of experience, Munz joins Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club following 30 years with The Ritz-Carlton brand, where he served as general manager at some of the brand's top resorts and hotels across the United States. Most recently, Munz served as general manager at The Ritz-Carlton Washington, D.C. for five years where he repositioned the hotel through a $12 million, two-year room and facilities renovation project, maintained a Five-Diamond rating and hosted presidents, royalty and global leaders at the property. Prior to his role in D.C., Munz served as general manager at The Ritz-Carlton's Half Moon Bay in California and Ritz-Carlton, Phoenix. Munz also held roles as a director of sales and marketing and as a hotel manager at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, also in Orange County. At Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club, Munz will oversee all aspects of operations in his role as general manager, from day-to-day staff and guest management to serving as an ambassador for the resort and brand leading a team of over 550. Munz holds a bachelor of arts degree in Hotel and Restaurant Administration from Florida State University. He has always been an active member of the communities in which he has worked, serving numerous charitable organizations and most recently serving on the Board of Directors of D.C. Central Kitchen in our nation's capital.
Florida Representative Matthew Gaetz announced his willingness to resign from Congress to join former President Donald Trump's impeachment defense team, a report said.

Gaetz signified his intention to resign from Congress in a podcast interview conducted by War Room Pandemic Host Steve Bannon, who previously served as chief strategist for the White House during Trump's administration.

"If the president called me and wanted me to go defend him on the floor of the Senate, that would be the top priority in my life. I would leave my House seat. I would leave my home," Gaetz declared.

"I would do anything I had to do to ensure the greatest president in my lifetime--one of the greatest presidents our country has ever had, maybe the greatest president our country has ever had," he added, "got a full-throated defense that wasn't crouched down, that wasn't in fear of losing some moderate Republican senator, but was worthy of the fight that he gave to the great people of this country for four years."

According to Townhall, Gaetz made such statements in response to Bannon's question if he would be willing to step down Congress "to defend the president in the way" he wanted him defended.

"There were some of us who checked to see where we could be the ones to go defend in the Senate because we would be honored to and the word we got back from House Ethics is that we could not, as sitting members of the House, go and defend him in the Senate," Gaetz revealed.

Gaetz explained that although he loved his constituents, he viewed the Trump presidency's cancelation as a "major risk" to the country and would then be most willing to join the former president's defense team for his second impeachment, which is scheduled on February 8.

"I view this cancelation of the Trump presidency and the Trump movement as one of the major risks to my people, both in my district and all throughout this great country," he said.

Bannon said he is pretty sure that Gaetz's constituents would support him if he were to be part of Trump's defense team.

Trump's defense team recently got overhauled as the initial five-member team disbanded for not being agreement with the former president's intended defense approach for his case. The five-member team that included South Carolina lawyer Butch Bowers, South Carolina Criminal Defense lawyer Deborah Barbier, North Carolina federal prosecutor Josh Howard, criminal prosecutor Johnny Gasser, and Democrat Illinois Representative Greg Harris all left Trump a week before his trial, CNN said.

As per the Associated Press, Trump announced new members of his team on Sunday in the persons of David Schoen, a federal defense lawyer, and Bruce Castor, the previous attorney general of Pennsylvania. Schoen and Castor came out with a 14-page answer in behalf of their client addressed to the Senate in answer to the "incitement of insurrection" charges against him on Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Trump's response, which Christianity Daily reported previously, was cited by Townhall as a "very strong case in his defense" since the lawyers were able to clearly present the "salient arguments for his innocence."
A victim of NIA, Alhagie Lang Ceesay, yesterday testified before the Truth Commission, giving account of his encounter with workers of Kanilai Family Farm, his detention at NIA and tortures.

He recalled that on 12 August 2012, being an ulcer patient, he planned a trip to Dakar for treatment.

According to him, while driving, he saw a vehicle at Abuko. He applied his brake though he was in a hurry to catch up the ferry. He added that during the course, the cattle were also crossing the road.

"The boys from Kanilai Family Farm that were in the vehicle insulted me because they asked me to stop and let the cattle pass. They rushed and beat me with sticks."

"As they were pulling me out of my car, I removed a knife and asked them to stop. I then forced my way out and upon arrival at Banjuliding Police Station; I was stopped, arrested and taken to the Abuko Station."

He added that after having given their statements, the senior officer said it was just a mistake and he reconciled him with them. He said that was the time he left for Dakar.

Mr. Ceesay further testified that upon arrival at the Amdalai Border Post, he overheard an officer who spoke on phone and that officer later told him (Ceesay) that he was ordered to arrest him (Ceesay).

He revealed that he was taken to the NIA and was beaten seriously, with Pa Bojang recording the tortures.

"After the beating, Saul Badjie and Gajaga came from the State House and said the president wanted me to explain the matter. I narrated all the things that happened, and they looked at each other and asked what a traffic case had to do with the NIA and the president's interest in that."

He said that he was kept at NIA detention for 14 days before taken to Abuko Police Station to secure a bail.

He revealed that the information given to Jammeh was that he wanted to stage a coup. According to him, he was told that it was Pa Bojang who reported that to Jammeh.

"I was subsequently taken to court and charged with threat but later fined D1, 000 or serve year in prison. I later left for Senegal after paying the fine and spent six years because there were people who used to come in my house to search for me."
Wallace suggested that inside connections at the corporate level are steering vaccines to teachers within some suburban school districts, leaving others without vaccines. He pointed to a partnership that Walgreens, which is based in Deerfield, made with Deerfield School District 109 to provide vaccines to its teachers. After leaders of other area school districts expressed concerns about equitable distribution of the vaccine, seven school districts in Lake County were added to the Walgreens partnership.


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Bloombox Club, which was acquired by the Company in November 2020, is expanding its popular indoor plant subscription platform to Germany. Bloombox Club will launch under the new domain, https://bloomboxclub.de/ in Germany and will offer the same features that made Bloombox Club successful in the United Kingdom. These features will include its plant subscription service, extensive indoor plant selection, plant care and self-care packages, and a wide variety of pots and accessories.

"We are really excited to be rolling Bloombox Club out into Germany," said Dr. Katie Cooper, Bloombox Club founder. "The German plant market is ripe for a player like Bloombox Club. More than that, for us as a business it makes sense as we will get the chance to attract new customers while using our current supply chain that is already set up to deliver into other European countries."

Dr. Katie Cooper founded Bloombox Club in the United Kingdom in 2015 after she saw positive results with clients after introducing plants to her therapeutic practice as a psychologist. Over the past few years, Bloombox Club has grown into a thriving business, has delivered over 55,000 plants to over 24,000 customers across the UK, and achieved a high 4.4 star rating on Trustpilot. Bloombox Club products are packaged in environmentally conscious material and delivered across the United Kingdom using courier firms.

Cooper and her team will continue to operate Bloombox Club as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, while leveraging the e-commerce and technical expertise of PlantX to drive higher conversions and accelerate expansion into Germany. PlantX continues to expand with its partnerships, brick-and mortar locations, and domains throughout Canada, the United States and the Israel.

"We truly believe in Bloombox Club and the importance of indoor plants as a vertical for our company," said Julia Frank, PlantX CEO. "It is remarkable to watch them grow their platform and expand into new and exciting territories."

About Bloombox Club

Bloombox Club is a UK-based indoor plant and natural product shop and subscription company that brings indoors the great outdoors to boost its customers' health and well-being. Bloombox Club sources, curates, and tells the story of its indoor plants and superior natural products for the home and delivers them to its customers' doors. Bloombox Club has created an active community loyal to its brand by curating its products and educating its customers on the plants' genus and benefits.

About PlantX Life Inc.

As the digital face of the plant-based community, PlantX's platform is the one-stop-shop for everything plant-based. With its fast growing category verticals, the Company offers customers across North America more than 10,000 plant-based products. In addition to offering meal and indoor plant deliveries, the Company currently has plans underway to expand its product lines to include cosmetics, clothing, and its own water brand  but the business is not limited to an e-commerce platform. The Company uses its digital platform to build a community of like-minded consumers, and most importantly, provide education. Its successful enterprise is being built and fortified on partnerships with top nutritionists, chefs and brands. The Company eliminates the barriers to entry for anyone interested in living a plant-based lifestyle, and thriving in a longer, healthier and happier life.

Forward Looking-Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "likely", "should", "would", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "proposed", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy. The forward-looking information contained herein includes, without limitation, statements regarding the business and strategic plans of Bloombox Club and the Company.

By their nature, forward-looking information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. A variety of factors, including known and unknown risks, many of which are beyond our control, could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this press release including, without limitation: the Company's ability to comply with all applicable governmental regulations including all applicable food safety laws and regulations; impacts to the business and operations of the Company due to the COVID-19 epidemic; a limited operating history, the ability of the Company to access capital to meet future financing needs; the Company's reliance on management and key personnel; competition; changes in consumer trends; foreign currency fluctuations; and general economic, market or business conditions.

Additional risk factors can also be found in the Company's continuous disclosure documents which have been filed on SEDAR and can be accessed at www.sedar.com . Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date of this press release and is based on the beliefs, estimates, expectations and opinions of management on the date such forward-looking information is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE PlantX Life Inc.

Related Links

https://plantx.com/


Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Robert Vadra

The Congress party received donations worth Rs 139 crore in 2019-20, the year in which the Lok Sabha elections were held.

The contributions were down from Rs 146 crore that the party received a year ago, according to the details shared by the Congress party with the Election Commission (EC).

Among the list of 352 donations (excess of Rs 20,000) between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, Electoral Trusts remain the Congress partys biggest donors. The Prudent Electoral Trust (backed by Bharti Airtel and DLF) donated Rs 30 crore while the Jankalyan Electoral Trust contributed Rs 25 crore. Electoral trusts get donations from corporate firms which are distributed among political parties.

Among corporate houses, the party has received Rs 20 crore from ITC group and its subsidiary companies. While the ITC donated nearly 13 crore, its subsidiary firms ITC Infotech contributed Rs 4 crore and Russel Credit Limited, another ITC subsidiary, donated Rs 1.4 crore to the grand old party.

The other corporate houses that donated to the Congress in 2019-19 are HEG limited (Rs 3.5 crore), Gwalior Alcobrew (Rs 5 crore) and BG Shirke construction (Rs 4 crore).

Congress leader Kapil Sibal, one among the 23 leaders who wrote the letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi last year seeking overhaul in party leadership, has contributed Rs 3 crore, thus becoming the biggest individual donor to the Congress. Other leaders including Raj Babbar, Kumari Selja and Ripun Bora donated around Rs 1 lakh each to the party.

READ | No clarity on internal polls, a level of disenchantment within Congress: Kapil Sibal

Former PM Manmohan Singh has contributed Rs 54,000, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has donated Rs 50,000 and senior leader Rahul Gandhi has contributed Rs 54,000 to the party.

All political parties are mandated to declare the donation details of more than Rs 20,000 made to them by individuals, companies and trusts.

As of now, the EC has shared the donation details of the Congress, the NCP and the BSP. Reports submitted by the BJP, the TMC, the CPI and the CPM for the year 2019-20 have not been shared yet.

The BJP has been the biggest beneficiary of donations in the last few years. The ruling party received around 80 percent of donations received by all parties in 2018-19, according to an analysis by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) . The NCP received Rs 59.9 crore, and the BSP has said it has not received any donation above Rs 20,000 in the year.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek OBrien

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien on Thursday pressed the government to repeal the three controversial farm laws and offered a ''Repealing Bill 2021' drafted by him for the purpose.

Participating in a discussion on the motion of thanks on the president's address in the Rajya Sabha, the Trinamool MP also referred to the death of a farmer during the tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day and said there should be a 'proper inquiry' so the truth could come out.

He interrupted his speech to observe a minute's silence in the House along with other Opposition leaders, mainly the Congress, to pay tribute to farmers who had lost their lives during the two month agitation.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at border points into Delhi since November to demand a rollback of the three farm laws. Talks between the government and farmer leaders have yielded no result so far.

'The 'Repealing Bill 2021'... this will repeal all (three controversial farm laws). I have taken the liberty of drafting the Repealing Bill 2021. I will share it with them. You repeal these bills (farm laws). There is a way to do it. Eighteen months' pause you will put on these (laws), but how?' he said in the Rajya Sabha. The government had made a proposal to suspend the laws for 18 months.

Referring to the events that unfolded on January 26, O'Brien said, 'Just imagine that unfortunate tractor incident where a farmer died under mysterious circumstances, just imagine if that happened in Bengal or Maharashtra... All I'm saying is that the truth be told. I'm not coming to any conclusions. Let the truth come out. The home minister of India is in charge. Do a proper inquiry and let the truth come out'.

He said the political and administrative responsibility lies with the prime minister and the home minister.

Highlighting the Centre's resolve to double farmer income by 2022, O'Brien said at the current rate this will not happen till 2028. 'In Bengal, in TMC government, from 2011 to now, not doubled, farmer income has tripled in West Bengal,' he said. The Trinamool MP said the farms laws were not sent to a select committee for scrutiny and accused the government of failing the sanctity of Parliament.

Sending out a message to the farmers' community, he said, 'Yeh aapki roji roti ki baat hai. Hum aapke saath hain (This is about your livelihood, We all stand by you).' ' I cut short my speech for one minute and stand to give tribute to the farmers who lost their lives in this agitation,' he added. O'Brien continued his speech after the minute's silence.

Referring to the farmers' agitation, he said, 'It is their movement. It is not anybody's movement. ' He also alleged that the government had failed the people of India. He drew the attention of the House towards the government's divestment policy, rising share of states funding in railways projects, higher mortality rates among infants and mothers, job losses especially during pandemic and frozen spending under MPLADS (till 2021-22).

'First take care of Delhi then think about Bengal. Don't make the pandemic excuse,' O'Brien told the House.

O'Brien claimed the government had failed the migrant workers and also India's federal structure.

'The home minister was to come to Bengal for a political rally. He needed to stay back in Delhi. So what was done. Two and a half or one and a half MLAs who were switching sides, they were sent the chartered planes and brought there in four hours,' he said, adding that he wished so much love, care and affection was shown towards migrant workers.

According to O'Brien, when it comes to migrant workers, when their data is sought in Parliament, the government truly becomes the NDA - No Data Available.

When the Central government imposes cess, the collected amount is not shared with states, he said. 'Out of the gross revenue in 1980, 2 per cent was cess. Now almost 16 per cent is being collected as cess. Every time you collect cess you deprive the states.' The Trinamool MP also said, 'They have failed the media. You can intimidate and threaten media barons but not the young media persons (on the ground).'

Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-03 23:50:21|Editor: huaxia

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Aerial photo taken on Jan. 14, 2021 shows the container terminal of the Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang City, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo by Geng Yuhe/Xinhua)

Customs data shows that China's exports managed a 4-percent yearly increase in 2020, despite the turbulence, with the total export value reaching 17.93 trillion yuan (about 2.77 trillion U.S. dollars).

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- For Chinese exporters, the business environment last year was reminiscent of an action movie. It opened with a sudden halt, followed by efforts to cope by expanding the domestic market or switching to the manufacture of epidemic-control equipment, and then ended with rocketing overseas orders and a shortage of containers.

Customs data shows that China's exports managed a 4-percent yearly increase in 2020, despite the turbulence, with the total export value reaching 17.93 trillion yuan (about 2.77 trillion U.S. dollars). In December alone, exports surged by 10.9 percent year on year in yuan terms.

As the new year gets underway, it is worth watching to see whether such "dark horse" export performance continues into 2021, and how China's foreign-trade landscape evolves.

China's foreign trade is expected to maintain steady growth this year, with its scale continuing to expand, according to Liang Ming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Liang noted that the country's foreign trade reached several historic highs in 2020, despite the headwinds, providing a good basis for its performance in 2021.

China remained the world's largest trading nation in goods last year. Over the first 10 months of 2020, China's exports reached a record high of 14.2 percent of the global total, figures from the country's customs administration show.

The unexpected export boom was mainly driven by China's position as the first country in and out of the COVID-19 epidemic, with industrial production rebounding quickly, combined with the country's advantages in industrial chains, according to a research report by CITIC Securities.

Dubbed the "world's factory," China has been the only country that possesses all the industrial categories listed in the United Nations' industrial classification.

A recent report from Alibaba's cross-border B2B trade platform offered vivid details about the diversity of Chinese exports. Foreign buyers chased after a variety of Chinese products amid the pandemic, ranging from mask-production machinery to work-from-home electronic products, and even wigs and paper diapers.

Looking ahead, the brokerage company took a positive view on China's export performance in 2021, predicting that an overall demand recovery, driven by vaccine availability and stimulus policies, will lead to an increase in the country's exports.

Moreover, new business models such as cross-border e-commerce have emerged as new drivers of China's foreign trade.

The latest data shows that China's cross-border e-commerce business saw rapid expansion in 2020, with the aggregate import-export volume surging by 31.1 percent from a year ago. The total number of overseas warehouses has surpassed 1,800, with a sharp increase of 80 percent in 2020.

However, the future is still not rosy for China's foreign trade, as the world continues to grapple with resurgences of COVID-19 cases.

The purchasing managers' index for China's manufacturing sector came in at 51.3 in January, edging down 0.6 percentage points from December. The sub-index for new export orders dropped to 50.2 percent in January from 51.3 percent a month earlier.

Yet, the impact of COVID-19 resurgences on China's industrial production may be largely neutral, according to a research note from Huatai Securities, with the decision of many migrant workers to stay put during the Spring Festival likely resulting in an earlier-than-usual resumption schedule after the holiday this year.

In this context, the precautionary measures may even benefit the productivity of China's export sector, where orders have been piling up for the next three to six months, the research note added. 

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  President Rodrigo Duterte has declared September of every year as "Philippine Film Industry Month."

Under Proclamation No. 1085 signed by Duterte on Wednesday and released by Malacanang on Thursday, the Film Development Council of the Philippines is tasked to lead activities for the month-long celebration.

"There is a need to recognize the invaluable contribution and sacrifices of all stakeholders and sectors of the film industry, as well as provide avenues to showcase and celebrate the achievements and progress of the discipline of film and filmmaking," the proclamation read.

All other units and agencies of the national government, as well as the private sector, are also enjoined to provide necessary assistance to FDCP in promoting and implementing the projects.
Auto supplier Robert Bosch said on Thursday the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and a semiconductor chip shortage will weigh on global automotive production growth in 2021. Around 85 million vehicles will roll off assembly lines around the world this year, more than the 78 million units produced in 2020 but still below the 92 million cars produced in 2019, the Stuttgart-based car parts supplier said. Global automotive production hit a high of 98 million units in 2017. "We are quite positive," Chief Executive Volkmar Denner said, although he added that "we ...
Military rule in Myanmar might 'never end' after coup, religious leader warns

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The military coup in Myanmar might signal the end of democracy in the country if it succeeds, a religious leader from Myanmar now living in the United States said.

On Feb. 1, Myanmars military seized power, capturing the nations elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and overturning nine years of civilian government. Suu Kyi had spent 15 years in prison while peacefully advocating for democracy in Myanmar. She leads the pro-democracy NLD party.

The religious leader originally from Myanmar, whose name will not be revealed due to security reasons, told The Christian Post that even when democracy was functioning, Suu Kyi had to worry about the militarys response to her actions. When the military attacked Myanmars Muslim minority, there was little she could do to oppose them.

American people need to know that in order to make change in Myanmar, this is the final and the last opportunity. If nothing happens at this point, this rule will never end. It has been five years since moving into democracy, and we are moving back to the beginning again, he said.

He stressed that Myanmars people love Suu Kyi, but its unclear how much power she has to negotiate with the military.

The last five years have been peaceful and prosperous for Myanmar, he noted. As the people had freedom and the country was succeeding economically, the military felt its power fading, he observed.

A lot of people talk about the bad things about the military junta. The junta sees themselves as losing their people, and the people are hating them so much, he said.

The military likely launched a coup because it knew it would not control Myanmars future, he contended. In the 2020 election, the NLD party won in a landslide.

The military, led by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, claimed that the landslide election victory of the pro-democracy party was a result of voter fraud and declared a one-year state of emergency. It now enforces a curfew on citizens and has closed the countrys airports.

International Christian Concern Southeast Asia Regional Manager Gina Goh expressed concern that the military would crack down on minority religious groups as they did in the past.

The military is notorious for its relations with the ultranationalist ultra-Buddhist group the Ma Ba Tha, she said. The military together with Ma Ba Tha has targeted the Muslims in the country, but they also go after Christians. Once they get a hold of the power, they might resort to things they were doing before they passed the power to the civilian government. They kill. They rape minority Christians.

The religious leader who spoke to CP believes a lack of support for Myanmar from the Trump administration may have given Myanmars military the confidence it needed to launch the coup. In contrast, visits from former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the Obama administration encouraged democracy, he argued.

In Myanmar, the military holds immense power and controls 25% of the government, according to the countrys constitution. Military leaders are nationalists who support the countrys majority religion of Buddhism.

[The coup is] a power play," said Goh. "The military is almost like a gang. They can use their power to intimidate people.

The military has paid protesters to support the coup alongside soldiers, the religious leader said. International pressure and sanctions will not affect the armys decisions.

A lot of people have been praying for Myanmar and many countries have shown their concerns, he said. There is nothing international pressure can do to the military junta. They know how to handle it. They have known how to handle it for a long time. They dont care about the political sanctions or all of it.

The best thing Christians worldwide can do to help is pray, he said.

I dont know what will happen right now. The military junta hates Christians, he said. People are crying right now. They are all sad, including me. We dont even know what we feel right now.
ALBANY  Hours after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker were served with a lawsuit over their failure to include incarcerated individuals in the early stages of the coronavirus vaccination rollout, state officials said they would begin inoculating more than 1,000 inmates who are 65 and over.

The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision late Thursday announced the updated response a few hours after initially saying the agency was working with the state health department on a plan for vaccinating prisoners.

"There are 1,075 people who are in the system who are 65 and older, and DOCCS is in the process of preparing to vaccinate that population consistent with statewide guidance for that age group," DOCCS spokesman Thomas Mailey said in a statement.

Downstate attorneys and other advocacy groups on Thursday filed a petition in state Supreme Court seeking to compel the state to include incarcerated individuals in New York's second  or 1b  phase of vaccination, arguing that the states policy runs counter to federal guidance advising vaccination priority for people in congregate settings.

The petition, filed in Bronx County by several groups on behalf of inmates in state prisons, calls for the immediate inclusion of inmates in the 1b vaccination phase, labeling their exclusion arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion. They argue the exclusion of inmates in the vaccination phrase is a civil rights violation of the Equal Protections Clause.

Excluding incarcerated people from prioritization is a fundamental contradiction of the states goal to ensure equitable access to the vaccine regardless of factors such as wealth or social status, the lawsuit argues. And it contradicts respondents public recognition that vaccine access for Black and brown communities must be ensured, as those communities have suffered disproportionate rates of infection and death from the virus."

New York's phased vaccination plan indicates that correction, parole and probation personnel, as well as staff at juvenile detention centers, were eligible as of Jan. 11 to receive the vaccine, but does not include those who are incarcerated or part of supervised release programs.

That runs counter to federal guidelines, the lawsuit alleges, noting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises inoculating prison staff and inmates at the same time. The American Medical Association also recommends that plan.

The AMA does not differentiate between the risk of infection to correctional workers and the risk of infection to incarcerated persons, recognizing that both should be prioritized in receiving access to safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine in the initial phases of distribution, the lawsuit states.

As of Wednesday, there have been more than 5,100 COVID-19 cases in state prisons, according to state records, representing roughly 9 percent of the statewide prison population who have been tested. Nearly 4,500 of those infected have recovered; 30 inmates have died from the virus.

There have been nearly 4,400 COVID-19 cases among prison staff, with seven deaths as of Wednesday, according to state figures.

Mailey, in an earlier statement to the Times Union in response to the lawsuit, said they were still working on a plan to vaccine inmates.

The entire incarcerated population has been tested for COVID-19 and an asymptomatic testing program is currently underway, he said. Also, the department has implemented a regular, voluntary staff testing program at each of its facilities statewide.

Earlier this week, Cuomo gave localities authority to decide whether to expand vaccination eligibility to additional populations, including restaurant workers and taxi and ride-share drivers. But New York has provided few details on its plan for vaccinating inmates.

Sex offenders who are confined in psychiatric hospitals after finishing prison terms have more access to the vaccine because the facilities are overseen by the State Office of Mental Health rather than the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

That office provided little detail of their inoculation policy, however, other than noting that 2,757 patients statewide have been vaccinated at OMH's psychiatric centers and 908 of those confined have refused the shots.

Other state-run congregate facilities, including housing for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities as well as homeless shelters, are included in the 1b phase.

Read the complete lawsuit filing:
A woman in Russia went to a plastic surgeon for breast shaping surgery and came out with an unwanted 'Kardashian bum' she described as 'terrifyingly' large.

Clinical psychologist Lyubov Laufer, 45, says her life has been ruined by the traumatic experience which also left her with 'wonky boobs'.

'I have lost everything - my job and my family as I cannot sleep in the same room as my husband,' said the mother of three.

After a prominent plastic surgeon persuaded her to have breast surgery, she was passed off to another doctor at the last moment - and woke from a five-hour operation to find the 'terrifying size' of her new bottom.

Lyubov Laufer, pictured, was persuaded by a prominent Russian plastic surgeon to have breast-shaping surgery - but it did not go as planned

Operation: Dr Rustam Kurmanbaev after he had just finished perfomed lipofilling for Lyubov Laufer, who was told at the last moment about a switch of medic

'Terrifying': Laufer said of her unwanted new bottom: 'Forgive me Kim Kardashian, but I woke up with my buttocks a terrifying size that I had not asked for'

Not what I expected: Laufer agreed that any excess would go to her buttocks, but was appalled when she realised how big they had become after the operation

Laufer had initially had successful treatment with plastic surgeon Tatyana Romanovskaya to remove breast implants after seven years due to inflammation.

The surgeon persuaded her to subsequently undergo lipofilling, grafting her own fat to improve her breast shape, she said.

She took a four-hour flight to Novosibirsk, where the doctor is mainly based, for the procedure.

Minutes before the treatment she was told the medic's colleague Rustam Kurmanbaev would perform the 3,900 surgery, she said.

She 'cried' about the change in doctor but went ahead, discussing with the medic where the fat would be removed from.

If there was excess, she agreed it would go to her buttocks, but was appalled when she realised how big they had become after the operation.

The procedure lasted five hours and she woke in 'excruciating pain' and requiring oxygen as she suffered 'convulsions'.

Laufer had been talked into getting the surgery by plastic surgeon Tatyana Romanovskaya (left) - but was told at the last moment that her colleague Rustam Kurmanbaev (right) would perform the 3,900 surgery

Clinical psychologist Laufer, pictured, says her life has been ruined by the traumatic experience which also left her with 'wonky boobs'

'I felt horror when I saw my breasts, and huge fear in my soul about how I would live with it,' she said. 'Everything froze in me.

'And forgive me Kim Kardashian, but I woke up with my buttocks a terrifying size that I had not asked for. Even in my worst dream, I could not dream of a Kardashian-like bum on my slender body.'

She said she weighs 55kg and two litres of fat had been taken from different places in her body, mostly injected into her buttocks.

Back in Moscow, doctors were shocked at the damage to her body with 'holes and tunnels' under her scarred skin.

'My husband is afraid to hug me,' she said. Her spouse is also a doctor.

'It looks as if my abdomen was torn in two, my breasts became wonky, different shapes and distorted. It's a nightmare.

'But the worst thing was the size of the buttocks.'

When she revealed her story on social media, Dr Kurmanbaev sued her in a Russian court - but lost. His clinic declined to comment on the case, reported Komsomolskaya Pravda.

She is now taking action against the doctor via the ethics committee of the Russian Society of Plastic Surgeons amid a finding of 'multiple errors' in the surgery.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin has confirmed those over the age of 70 will not be given the "game-changer" AstraZeneca Covid vaccine.

Serious doubts have now been cast over the vaccination programme, which will have to be changed following advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) that AstraZeneca could be less effective on older people.

The committee has said that where "practicable and timely", mRNA vaccines (such as the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines) should be used for the over 70s.

Mr Martin admitted the move away from using AstraZeneca, which can be easily stored and administered by GPs, will pose challenges.

"That will mean change in terms of the operation of the plan and will be a significant logistical challenge to the Health Service Executive, and they're currently working through the implications of this," Mr Martin said.

"All three vaccines are safe and effective but given the higher efficacy data around the mRNA vaccines, namely Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the CMO is recommending that it would be preferable to use them where practical and timely for the over 70s.

"Given that the over 70s are the most vulnerable to death and to illness if they get Covid the recommendation is that we apply those vaccines  Moderna and Pfizer  to the over 70s and that is what's going to happen."

The Taoiseach promised the vaccination of those over 70 will still begin on February 15, but only the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be used.

Mr Martin suggested the vaccination of other groups may now be brought forward as a result of the recommendation.

"It means for other groupings and the cohorts four, five, six and seven that they'll be able to come forward in terms of AstraZeneca," he told TodayFM'sThe Last Word programme.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin admitted that the move away from using AstraZeneca, which can be easily stored and administered by GPs, will pose challenges.

A statement from the Department of Health on Wednesday evening confirmed that the NIAC has recommended that mRNA vaccines be used for the over 70s in Ireland where practicable and timely.

The mRNA vaccines approved for Ireland are the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

The NIAC also recommended that in line with the approvals granted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), all currently authorised Covid-19 vaccines can be used in adults of all ages, including those aged 70 years and older.

The NIAC stated that given the high rates of community transmission, the best vaccine to administer to the older population is the one which can be soonest administered.

Where practicable and timely, those aged 70 years and older should be given mRNA vaccines, as these vaccines have a higher reported overall efficacy which makes them preferable for use in those at highest risk of adverse outcomes".

The Department of Health said that "a number of other EU countries have made similar decisions with regard to the provision of mRNA vaccines to older people".

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan stated that the main objective of the vaccine programme was to "prevent morbidity and mortality".

He said: "International and national data indicate that those aged 70 years and older are at significantly higher risk of hospitalisation and mortality.

"Due to the demonstrated efficacy of mRNA vaccines in older persons and in recognition of their particular vulnerability in terms of their increased risk of death and serious disease if they contract Covid-19, it has been recommended that mRNA vaccines be administered to all those over 70 years in order to provide the highest level of protection available to this population."

The Department statement added: "The expert advice to the [Health] Minister [Stephen Donnelly] recognised that currently there is limited data on the AstraZeneca vaccine in relation to older age groups.

"Those aged over 70 are a key priority group for protection because of their greater risk of severe illness, hospitalisation and death from Covid-19."

Mr Donnelly said: "It has been a remarkable achievement by science to have developed, rigorously tested, gained regulatory approval and distributed three safe and effective vaccines in little over a year since SARS-COV-2 was first identified.

Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire

"The addition of a third Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca will significantly enhance the implementation of our vaccination programme and, together with those from Pfizer and Moderna, will play a very important role in protecting our population from COVID-19 and helping us to overcome the challenges which we have faced over the last year.

"The roll-out of community vaccinations to our over 70s will begin as planned this month starting with those aged 85 and over."

The statement from the Department confirmed that supplies of AstraZeneca will begin arriving in Ireland from next week and deliveries of Pfizer and Moderna will continue as scheduled.

Sinn Fein health spokesperson David Cullinane described the decision as a "major setback" in the vaccine programme.

This will have consequences for targets and the speed and efficiency of the rollout.

We do not know how long it will take to vaccinate over 70s without the AstraZeneca vaccine, and there is no sense now what the strategy is or the timeframes."

Mr Cullinane called on Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to set out clear revised targets and provide certainty on how this will be rolled out practically through GPs.
Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist (ex-Diplomat), Editor, Analyst, Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and Globalization), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan. (E-mail: awanzamir@yahoo.com).

In the last four decades, China worked very hard and modernized its infrastructure, utilized S&T to upgrade its industrial base, liberalized its trade and investments, enhanced its exports and economic activities, and achieved the second-largest economic power status.

China has also modernized its defense, utilized advanced technologies, and improved skills to build a deterrence in the world. China has already emerged as a geopolitical power, with strong muscles and economic might.

China has not invaded any other country, never looted or controlled other natural resources. What so ever, China has achieved is due to its persistent hard work, and right policies, and in time decisions.

In the background of US-China relations, which started in established in the 1970s, after recognizing each other formally and opening up embassies in each other's country, they picked up very quickly, cooperated almost in all walks of life, economy, technology, and the political domain was witnessed. Both countries were beneficiary of each other and were satisfied until China surpassed German and Japanese economies in 2006 and 2010, respectively. A noticeable change was felt from the US side, and feelings of containing China, countering China, and resisting China's rise were very visible. During the President Trump era, 2016-2020, the confrontation touched peaks, and even direct military conflict was also possible almost, especially in the South China sea.

Recently, the Chinese Defense Ministry warned the US that as the Biden administration works to shore up its Asian alliances against Beijing, any attempt to contain China is "mission impossible."

China is struggling to revamp its military, in line with President Xi Jinping's vision to renovate the People's Liberation Army into an entirely modernized, "world-class" fighting force by 2050.

"The facts show that to contain China is mission impossible, and will only end up in shooting yourself in the foot," cautioned defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian.

"Sino-US military relations are currently at a new historic starting point" with the entrance of the Biden administration, said Wu, commending the US to adopt a "non-confrontational, mutually respectful, win-win mentality."

Confrontation among the two superpowers has shown no sign of waning under the Biden administration, which positioned groups of warships, including a US aircraft carrier, to the South China Sea over the weekend.

In response, the Trump administration often sent warships near islands controlled by Beijing in "freedom of navigation operations," which China has dismissed as meager posturing.

Washington has pursued to firm up ties with Asian nations this week, with US President Joe Biden reaffirming his administration's "unwavering commitment" to defend Japan, including the disputed Senkaku Islands claimed by China, in a Wednesday call with the country's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

The new US Defence Secretary, Lloyd Austin III, also argued regional security threats in recent calls with counterparts in South Korea, Australia, and India  the latter two have seen deteriorating ties with China. It is worth mentioning that South Kore, Australia, and Japan has vital economic interests with China and signatory to RECP. However, India is entirely in the arms of the US and opposing China in all possible manners.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Thursday dismissed the US-Japan security alliance as a "relic of the Cold War" and believed that disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved between "countries directly involved" and not those outside the region. Any interference from outside may further complicate the situation.

It is desired that Joe Biden-Administration, may study and understand the ground realities. Assessing and Realizing China's real potential, his administration may promote cooperation and collaboration based on a win-win principle to boost ties on the economic front and contribute to the global economy. Encourage peace and stability to ensure international peace and tranquility, for healthy environments to socio-economic developments worldwide. Joining hands for humankind's welfare and spare all energies to fight against hunger, terrorism, poverty, the worst enemies of humanity.

However, the new administration may focus on domestic issues to over-come. In any case, China has surpassed the stage where it can be coerced, contained, or resist its rise.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
State Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday reported a 6.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in net profit for October-December quarter at Rs 5,196 crore. Sequentially, net profit rose 13.60 per cent from Rs 4,574 cr in preceding July-September quarter.

The bank's net interest income rose 3.8 per cent YoY to Rs 28,820 crore. On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, it rose 2.3 per cent from Rs 28,181 crore in September quarter. Its net interest margin (NIM) contracted 21 basis points to 3.12 per cent, while domestic NIM contracted 25 basis points to 3.34 per cent.

Domestic current account and saving account (CASA) deposits rose 15.5 per cent to Rs 15.46 lakh crore, while CASA ratio expanded 43 basis points to 45.15 per cent.

Also read: SBI Card appoints Rama Mohan Rao Amara as MD & CEO for 2 years

SBI's gross advances rose 6.7 per cent YoY to Rs 24.56 lakh crore, led by a pre-COVID level growth of 15.5 per cent in retail loans. Home loans, which constitute 23 per cent of bank's domestic advances, also grew by 10 per cent.

SBI's gross non-performing assets (NPA) ratio was at 4.77 per cent in December quarter, while net NPA ratio stood at 1.23 per cent. In value terms, gross NPA stood at Rs 1.17 lakh crore, while net NPA were at Rs 29,032 crore.

The bank's gross and net NPA ratios would have been higher at 5.44 per cent and 1.81 per cent, respectively, if not for the Supreme Court order directing that accounts not declared as NPA till August 31, 2020 should not be declared as NPA till further orders.

"Pending the disposal of the case, the bank has made a provision of Rs 5,265 crore as at December 31, 2020 in respect of these accounts (including unrealised interest) as a matter of prudence," the bank said.

The bank's provision coverage ratio stood at 90.21 per cent as on December 31, 2020 as against 81.73 per cent a year ago. Without the Supreme Court order, the provision coverage ratio would have been at 86.33 per cent.

On a consolidated basis, SBI's net profit fell 4.2 per cent YoY to Rs 6,258 crore. Sequentially, it rose 19.3 per cent from Rs 5,246 crore in July-September quarter.

Also read: HDFC Bank Q3 results: Net profit rises 18% to Rs 8,758 crore; NII grows 15%

Also read: Canara Bank Q3 net profit zooms to Rs 750 crore


GODFREY  Bethany Bohn has launched her campaign for village clerk in Godfrey.

Bohn began working for the village in 2012, starting in the assessors office. When the township dissolved she was selected to serve as deputy village clerk for three years under the direction of Pam Whisler, Godfrey Village Clerk for more than 40 years. Upon Whislers retirement in 2018, Bohn was named to fill the position of village clerk.

The knowledge she (Whisler) passed to me is invaluable, said Bohn.  This position is important to me, and I love working with the residents of the Village of Godfrey.

The village clerk is the keeper of public record, local election authority, and the liason between the residents and the board, she said. Knowledge to effectively perform the duties of the village clerk, and my desire to see the office function at its highest level, is vital.

In 2019, after three years of training, Bohn received her Registered Municipal Clerk, Certified Municipal Clerk and Certified Illinois Assessment Officer designations. She currently is a member of the Illinois Municipal Clerks Association and the International Institute of Municipal Clerks.

Originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, Bohn said she fell in love with the area and moved here in 2005. She and her husband, John, celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary this past December. They have three children: Jake, A.H.S. 2016 valedictorian, 2020 high distinction graduate of the University of Illinois with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering currently works for Epic Medical Software; Madison, currently studying at Saint Leo University in Florida and majoring in Pre-medicine; and Piper, a senior honor roll student at Marquette Catholic High School.

Godfrey is my home, and I am proud to be a part of its growth and development, she said. I hope to continue to serve this community and its residents for years to come.
USA Today is publishing an updated list of those arrested, including details of their alleged crimes and how they were caught. Some have turned themselves in, but the Bureau has also reportedly received over 140,000 tips leading to arrests  the majority coming from family members, friends, neighbors, and people who went to high school with the rioters and recognize them from footage taken inside the Capitol.

Kathmandu, February 4

Researchers studying the possibility of producing hydrogen fuel in Nepal say the country has a potential of exporting this fuel to Europe within a decade.

The government-run fuel distribution monopoly Nepal Oil Corporation has partnered with the Kathmandu University for the study. As the study has formally begun, the team members say they are hopeful of some good results.

Biraj Singh Thapa, an academician of the KU Green Hydrogen Lab, who is leading the study, says if the country can produce hydrogen fuel as expected, it can also save millions of rupees that it spends on fossil fuel every year.

There is a possibility of meeting the demand for fuel completely by utilising the electricity that would otherwise go to waste, he says, We see Nepal can achieve prosperity by selling this clean energy as its demand is high in the world.

As using this form of fuel does not emit smoke, it is considered green energy. Hence, developed countries have prioritised it to replace the use of diesel, petrol, and petroleum gas, according to experts. Many countries have already announced to stop using fossil fuels considering its impact on the environment. Hence, the market for hydrogen fuel is believed to be lucrative.
WASHINGTON - The National Zoo said Thursday that after 63 years it is severing its relationship with its fundraising partner, Friends of the National Zoo.

The action is being taken as the zoo faces an estimated $15 million budget shortfall due to covid-19, which has kept the Smithsonian landmark in Washington closed for much of the last year.

FONZ, which has also been financially slammed by the virus, must vacate its offices at the zoo. Its members will be offered memberships in a similar program run by the zoo.

"It's a sad moment in our history," Steve Monfort, the zoo's director, said. "Friends of the National Zoo has been with us for 63 years . . . It's a very tough decision . . . There's nothing negative to say about FONZ."

FONZ was launched in 1958 with a $50 donation from the zoo's retired director William M. Mann, a renowned zoologist and explorer who had run the zoo for 31 years, according to the zoo's website and Mann's obituary.

He became the first FONZ member. About 18,000 households now have memberships, which brought discounts and other perks.

FONZ also hosted events and ran guest services and concessions, among other things, the zoo says on its website.

Over the years it helped fund field studies of elephants in Sri Lanka and the release of golden lion tamarins in Brazil, and helped secure the 3,000 acres of land that is now the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va.

It helped raise money for giant pandas and the first ZooLights display, and it recruited thousands of volunteers, according to the zoo's website.

It saw the arrival and departure of iconic animals, as well as births and deaths, for over six decades.

"The covid-19 pandemic has had an enormous financial impact on both FONZ and the zoo," said Lynn Mento, the executive director of FONZ. "It required us to rethink our long-standing relationship. Both sides had to think carefully, as revenues started to decline, how we can make a go of this together."

She added: "And we simply were not able to set a path forward. So we decided it was the right time for a seamless transition of responsibilities from FONZ over to the zoo."

Mento called the decision "hugely sad."

"It's an enormous loss," she said. "For the fabulous FONZ team, it's a personal loss. But for our members and visitors and our education families and our event attendees, it's a real loss for the community."

The formal separation will take place over the next 90 days.

Monfort said that "both FONZ and the zoo are heavily reliant on nonfederal revenues that are generated through being open to the public."

And the zoo has often been closed to the public in recent months. It first shut down in March because of the virus, reopened in July, and closed again in November.

"The longer and longer it went, the more evident . . . the extent of our financial losses became," Monfort said.

There were layoffs at the zoo over the summer. FONZ had to cut its staff, too, Mento said. FONZ was down to 26 salaried employees, from 70.

But further cuts in expenses were needed for the zoo to survive. "I have to prioritize that over anything else," Monfort said. "It was terrible. It's a Sophie's choice, really."

While FONZ, a nonprofit, has been a loyal and beneficial fundraising partner, he said, the zoo pays FONZ for programs and work it does. In addition, much of the FONZ fundraising, as well as the volunteer program, have been shifted over to the Smithsonian and the zoo, Monfort said.

Still, at times, the flow of funds from the zoo to FONZ was greater than the funds coming from FONZ to the zoo.

The two had been trying to agree on arrangement since July, but failed.

"We had no . . . preconceived notion that we would end up . . . dissolving the partnership," Monfort said. "It wasn't something that was planned. It unveiled itself to us really as we started cranking on the numbers."

Smithsonian leadership got involved. "We wanted to be sure we tried everything we could," he said.

"At the end of the day the decision was made, mutually," to part ways, he said. "We value what they did, and we've really respected their passion for our mission . . . These are great people. This is something that is heartbreaking for us."

Mento said that, while the future was uncertain, "the FONZ mission to save endangered animals and inspire the next generation of conservationists . . . in some form will continue."
Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID
The IMF on Thursday welcomed India's Union Budget for focussing on growth and said fiscal policy can and should play an important role in facilitating a strong and inclusive

Gerry Rice, Director of Communications at the (IMF), at a press conference here said the Union Budget rightly focuses on health, education, public infrastructure and, if fully implemented, can help increase India's growth potential.

We welcome the Indian government budget's focus on growth. Fiscal policy can and should play an important role in facilitating a strong and inclusive economic recovery, Rice said, responding to a question on the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on February 1.

We also welcome measures to improve fiscal transparency by including food subsidies in the budget. Of course, a medium-term fiscal consolidation strategy will be important to ensure credibility, he said.

And we also agree with the need to further strengthen the financial sector and look forward to the details of the proposed measures in that area, Rice said.

Finance Minister Sitharaman on Monday proposed a sharp increase in expenditure on infrastructure, doubling of healthcare spending and raising the cap on foreign investment in insurance in her Budget for the next fiscal in a bid to pull Indian's economy out of the pandemic-induced economic crisis.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
CFSB Center Named Regional COVID Vaccination Site

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MURRAY - State officials have selected Murray State University's CFSB Center to serve as a regional COVID-19 vaccination site.Vaccinations will take place on February 10 and February 17 from 8 am until 12 pm.To register, visit the Calloway County Health Department website at the link below or call 270-753-3381.Project partners include Murray-Calloway County Hospital, the City of Murray, Calloway County, and Murray State University Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bob Jackson.As of February 1, the COVID-19 vaccination priority is phase 1b, which includes anyone age 70 or older. All vaccination sites have been asked to prioritize this population until further notice. Anyone that was included in phases 1a and 1b will remain eligible.As vaccine quantities and available appointment times allow, anyone in phase 1c can also be scheduled to ensure that each vaccination site administers 90 percent or more of the vaccine doses they receive within seven days of arrival."Murray State University is very pleased to assist the Commonwealth and Gov. Beshear as a regional COVID-19 vaccination site," said Murray State President Dr. Bob Jackson. "We have excellent facilities, dedicated people and an important duty to help with delivering vaccinations to this region in partnership with the Calloway County Health Department, Murray Calloway County Hospital, Murray State Health Services, and many others in the Jackson Purchase as we work to end this pandemic."On the Net:

A New York man serving time in federal prison for traveling to Scranton to have sex with someone he believed to be 14 years old asked a judge to release him because hes at risk of dying or falling seriously ill from the coronavirus.

Charles Senke, 63, suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and several other medical issues that place him at an increased risk for severe COVID-19 complications, according to a brief filed Wednesday signed by his federal public defender, Quin M. Sorenson.

Senke has already served 58 months of the 120-month sentence imposed Jan. 29, 2019, by Senior U.S. District Judge James M. Munley following his conviction on child exploitation charges. Senke is incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Allenwood  Low, where his defense said more than 280 inmates have tested positive for the virus over the last several months.

Senke tested positive for COVID-19 in December, his attorneys said in the brief, and remains at significant risk.

As to protecting the health of Mr. Senke, early release is not only appropriate but necessary, according to the brief. Mr. Senke faces a serious present danger of illness or even death from incarceration, particularly with the spread of contagion, and that danger will only escalate the longer he is imprisoned.

Authorities arrested Senke on Feb. 4, 2015, after the state attorney generals office conducted an online undercover sting operation targeting adults seeking sex with minors.

An investigator posed as a 14-year-old child online and communicated with Senke, who traveled from Syracuse to Scranton to engage in sexual activity.

State-level charges were dropped after a federal grand jury indicted him in December 2016.

On Oct. 3, 2018, a federal jury found him guilty of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, online enticement and attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor.

While his crime was serious, the time Senke has spent incarcerated could be considered just punishment, his attorneys argued. Senkes prison record shows no disciplinary issues and he has engaged in significant efforts at rehabilitation. If released, he has family he can stay with in New York.

A judge had not ruled as of Thursday.
Burma Ceasefire Signatories Vow to Work with Myanmar Military Govt for Peace Process

PPST leaders held a Zoom meeting on Tuesday. / NCA Facebook

Yangon  The Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) of the 10 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) signatories have announced they will stick to the NCA in implementing the peace process with the military government that seized the power in a coup on Monday.

The PPST had a special meeting following the coup and released a statement saying it would continue the peace process with Myanmars military or Tatmadaw.

The Tatmadaw said it would hold talks to achieve as concrete a peace as possible with NCA signatories, PPST spokesman, Karen National Union (KNU) general secretary Padoh Saw Ta Doh Moo told The Irrawaddy.

They said they would try to build as concrete a peace as possible. As our groups are pursuing the NCA path, we will try to understand how they define as much as possible. We have agreed to find a solution that will allow all [the armed groups] to work together, he said.

Political analyst U Than Soe Naing said though the PPST has condemned the coup, it is likely to continue peace negotiations with a military government based within the NCA framework.

Though the NCA path may work for a ceasefire, it will not solve the civil wars, said U Than Soe Naing. [Armed groups] have fought for federalism, equality and self-determination. But federalism is not what they can ask from the military. The military is not a democratic institution, it is a regimented organization of one blood, one voice and one command.

In its statement on Tuesday, the PPST condemned the Tatmadaw resorting to a coup to solve political issues and called for the release of all the detained leaders. It also called on the Tatmadaw to declare an unconditional nationwide ceasefire.

The PPST was formed by eight original signatories of the NCA in 2016 to open peace talks with the government and the Tatmadaw. At the time, it was led by the KNU, the most powerful group among the signatories. Currently, it is led by the Restoration Council of Shan State.

Over the past five years under the National League for Democracy, the PPST and the government held four rounds of Union-level peace talks, called the 21st-Century Panglong Peace Conference, and signed 71 agreements.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko

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[February 04, 2021] CACI Named a Fortune World's Most Admired Company

CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI) announced today that Fortune magazine has recognized it as one of the World's Most Admired Companies for 2021, CACI's 10th time appearing on the list. CACI ranked eighth among Information Technology Services companies worldwide. CACI earned top scores under Fortune's survey criteria, which include innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment, quality of products and services, and global competitiveness. CACI was chosen from among approximately 1,500 companies considered by Fortune from around the world. The honor comes as CACI continues to grow and build its reputation as a leading national security company with new expertise and technology offerings for its government customers. Most recently, CACI delivered a laser communications transmitter to NASA for use on board one of the agency's deep space missions. ACI is also an innovator in the areas of Counter-Unmanned Aerial System, Secure Communications, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Agile (News - Alert) Software, and other high-technology fields.



Fortune, in partnership with the global management consulting firm Korn Ferry, surveys thousands of top corporate executives and directors to compile the Most Admired rankings. A company must score in the top half of its industry group to be included on the list. John Mengucci, CACI President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "CACI has earned this top honor from Fortune again because of the groundbreaking technology our talented employees invent and develop. These advances, which are critical to protect the national security of the United States, are a result of the commitment and dedication CACI engineers, scientists, technicians, and others have exhibited in these exceptional times - to the company and our customers."

CACI's approximately 23,000 talented employees are vigilant in providing the unique expertise and distinctive technology that address our customers' greatest enterprise and mission challenges. Our culture of good character, innovation, and excellence drives our success and earns us recognition as a Fortune World's Most Admired Company. As a member of the Fortune 1000 Largest Companies, the Russell 1000 Index, and the S&P MidCap 400 Index, we consistently deliver strong shareholder value. Visit us at www.caci.com. There are statements made herein which do not address historical facts, and therefore could be interpreted to be forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in CACI's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, and other such filings that CACI makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Any forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon and only speak as of the date hereof. CACI-Company News View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005120/en/

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Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
I first got to know Kevin many years ago when he was in sixth grade and I had just left being the United States attorney here in Chicago, Valukas said Thursday. I got involved in a tutoring program. Over the years he and I have stayed in contact and I consider him a second son to me.
By Donald Kirk.





The renaissance of undisguised military rule in Myanmar should provide inspiration for Donald Trump. The generals who jailed democracy crusader Aung San Suu Kyi and her cohorts are raising the same claims about Myanmar's parliamentary elections in November that Trump has been charging in U.S. elections held around the same time. Having won only 33 of 476 seats for their candidates against 396 for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, they say the voting was rigged, the count was fraudulent and they want to look at the voting rolls.



The big difference between Trump and the generals in Myanmar is that they are able to exert their authority without having to worry about a legal system rejecting their ridiculous claims. Nor do they risk impeachment by a legislative body in which their opponents are capable of mustering enough votes to embarrass them severely if not throw out their leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the army and, it seems, the country.



The line between dictatorship and democracy is narrow and often violated. Clearly Trump, by ranting and raving about election fraud, then spurring an unruly mob into an assault on the halls of the American Congress as it was about to certify the result of the presidential election, would love to reign unchecked by legal niceties. His failure to accomplish that goal marks both a victory for democracy and a signal that another more powerful demagogue might someday undermine and destroy the democratic system.



The tragedy of the Myanmar coup is that the country appeared to be on the way to a democratic form of governance that the vast majority of its 54 million people favor over military rule. The lesson of Myanmar is that attempts at democracy around the world risk the same fates.



Yes, the generals, under the constitution promulgated in 2008, were guaranteed one fourth of the seats in the parliament as well as the all-important posts of defense and home minister with authority over the national police. No, Suu Kyi, having been freed from 16 years of confinement to her estate in Yangon, the country's most important city, could not be president, according to the constitution, because her two sons by her marriage to her late husband, a British academic, are citizens of a foreign country. Given the title of state councilor, however, she was still seen as above the president, U Win Myint, who was also jailed.



The fact that Suu Kyi and her political allies were so easily ousted is all the more incredible after she supported the generals in their ruthless crackdown on the dissident Muslim minority, the Rohingyas, a million of whom have fled across the western border into Bangladesh. Her defense of the anti-Muslim campaign against genocide charges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague shocked those who had seen her as a heroine battling dictatorship. Who would believe that Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigning for democracy, would align with the generals?



Military power-mongers do not easily share power with civilian reformers. Generals, trained in warfare, assume they are qualified to govern just because they have the weapons. So it was in Korea that Park Chung-hee, a general who had gone through military schooling in Japan, seized power on May 16, 1961, from a short-lived civilian government elected after the downfall of Rhee Syngman in the student revolution of April 1960. The struggle against military rule was a dominant theme in Korean life at least until mass protest forced Park's successor, General Chun Doo-hwan, to agree in 1987 to a democratic constitution mandating presidential elections every five years.



Democratic institutions, though, are difficult to uphold. The instinct of bureaucrats is to stifle dissent. Military leaders at some stage grow restive and impatient, assuming they have the armed might to wipe away trouble-makers opposed to their view of law and order. Dictators also assume they are capable of running civilian agencies responsible for fields such as education and finance in which they have no skills.



Korea has gone through a terrific process from dictatorship to democracy. The system will be in jeopardy, however, if talk about North Korean human rights abuses is discouraged and concessions to dictatorship are an option. The U.S. is also surviving a challenge in the form of charges by a demented ex-leader who hopefully will fade into history. The Myanmar coup shows how swiftly seeming progress in any transition to democracy can go into reverse when the generals decide, whatever people think, their might makes right.





Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com, writes from Seoul as well as Washington for decades.


Canadas second-biggest oil company, Suncor Energy Inc, said on Thursday it had started a third-party safety review, after three contract workers died in two separate mining accidents.

Chief Executive Mark Little said the review would focus on mining operations, which are one of the ways the company extracts crude from Albertas oil sands. It is scheduled for completion this quarter.

As devastating as this has been for all of us, I cant even comprehend how difficult this is on the families, Little said, before pausing the quarterly conference call to hold a moment of silence for the workers.

A man died last month when a bulldozer he was driving fell through the ice of a tailings pond at Suncors base mine near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

In December, a bulldozer hit a truck at the Fort Hills, Alberta, site, killing two workers.

Albertas occupational health and safety department is investigating both incidents.

They follow accidents during construction of Trans Mountain Corps oil pipeline expansion, causing it to halt work temporarily.

Suncor on Wednesday said it narrowed its fourth-quarter loss on cost-saving measures.

Even as oil prices rise, Little ruled out any increase to 2021 capital-spending plans, a range of C$3.8 billion ($2.96 billion) to C$4.5 billion. Suncor has restarted work on its cogeneration project, which will replace coke-fired boilers with natural gas units at its base operations, and its Forty Mile wind farm in Alberta.

Two-thirds of additional funds from rising prices will repay debt, while one-third will buy back shares, Chief Financial Officer Alister Cowan said.

Suncor sold its 27% stake in the Golden Eagle fields for $325 million to North Sea oil producer EnQuest. ($1 = 1.2830 Canadian dollars)
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Chief Minister Sarbananda



Sonowal on Thursday visited Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district to review the arrangements being made for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit on February seven.

The prime minister would ceremoniously launch the ' Mala' project for the upgradation of state highways and also lay the foundation of two medical colleges of Biswanath and Charaideo from the same venue on Sunday.

The chief minister reviewed the security arrangements and instructed Director General of Police to have close surveillance along with installations of CCTVs at the programme venue.

Sonowal assessed preparedness of the helipad which is adjacent to the meeting venue, an official release said.

Sonowal also took stock of preparations made so that the large crowd congregating at the venue do not experience any hassle.

He also reviewed the traffic arrangements and route lining for the Prime Ministers programme.

The chief minister also directed the district and health authorities to ensure compliance of COVID-19 safety protocols during the event.

Sonowal, later while talking to mediapersons at the venue, said that people of especially from Sonitpur and its adjoining districts are eagerly waiting for the prime ministers visit.

A series of special packages have been announced as a result of which Assam is doing well not only in India but in the larger landscape of South East Asian nations.

Modi's love for the state has also been eloquently translated in the budget announcements which allotted Rs 34,000 crore for the construction of 1300 km of highways and district roads,Rs 300 crore for the infrastructure development of Kamakhya temple and Rs 1097 crore for construction of roads and embankments for Majuli, Sonowal said.

He also thanked prime minister for allocation of Rs 1000 crore for the welfare of tea communities.

The chief minister was accompanied by Industry and Commerce minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, Handloom and Textile minister Ranjit Dutta, Panchayat and Rural Development minister Naba Kumar Doley, Chief Secretary Jishnu Baruah, DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta and other senior officials.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that Ukraine and Romania have mutual interests in the energy sector, so it is important to develop cooperation in this area.

Shmyhal said this during a phone call with Romanian Prime Minister Florin Citu, the Ukrainian government's press service reported.

"Ukraine and Romania have mutual interests in the energy sector  the diversification of gas and electricity sources, the development of transport corridors and transit potential. We are ready to discuss the prospects of development in these issues in the near future at the expert level between the concerned ministries and the concerned energy companies," Shmyhal said.

Shmyhal stressed that both countries had considerable potential for the development of cooperation in the field of energy. According to him, one of the priorities of the Ukrainian energy sector is full technical synchronization with the energy system of the European Union.

Both parties discussed economic cooperation and noted the importance in this context of the Ukrainian-Romanian joint commission on economic, industrial, scientific and technical cooperation.

op

Shmyhal also noted that it would be expedient to intensify measures as part of cross-border cooperation, in particular to strengthen cooperation between Ukrainian and Romanian border agencies.

Shmyhal thanked Romania for its readiness to support Ukraine in joining the EU's Common Aviation Area. He also welcomed Romania's decision to support the need to develop a European Commission mechanism for the Eastern Partnership countries to access the COVID-19 vaccine.

For his part, Citu expressed support for Ukraine's European integration aspirations, as well as Romania's interest in developing infrastructure projects together with Ukraine.

Shmyhal congratulated Citu on his appointment as Romania's prime minister and said that the Government of Ukraine was ready to work closely with the Government of Romania in all areas of common interest.

A man has been charged with assault and criminal damage after allegedly pinning a hospital nurse against a wall while refusing coronavirus treatment.

Police said officers were called to the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham after a man was said to have cracked a window, pushed one nurse and pinned another against a wall.

Jake Brinley was arrested at the scene at around 8.50am on Tuesday, Nottinghamshire Police said.

The 23-year-old has now been charged with two counts of assault and one charge of criminal damage.

Two response constables were forced to physically restrain the man and now have to to self-isolate for 10 days, police said.

Brinley, of no fixed address, was set to appear at the city's magistrates' court on Wednesday.

Inspector Charlotte Allardice, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "Our response teams quickly attended the scene and brought the incident to a safe conclusion.

"The incident was immediately investigated resulting in a man now being brought before the courts.

Recommended Body left on ward for five hours as nurses look after 17 patients each

"The officers involved went into this situation equipped with the required protective gear but knew that they risked exposure to the virus due to prolonged close contact and that it would result in them having to isolate at the very least."

Police said there have been hundreds of incidents of assault on key workers across Nottingham during the pandemic so far.

Ms Allardice added: This serves as a stark reminder of the challenges faced by officers and NHS staff during this pandemic and the fact that they put themselves at risk in order to serve the public and protect the NHS.

Sarah Moppett, Interim Chief Nurse at Nottingham City Hospitals, said: We will not tolerate violence, aggression or abuse towards our staff.

Our staff continue to work tirelessly to be there when our communities need us, in what are exceptionally difficult circumstances. So that we can carry on being there for the public, we need their support; not violence or aggression."
The Peoples Committee of Dong Nai on Wednesday issued a document to leaders of enterprises located in the southern Vietnamese province to discourage domestic migrant workers from returning to their hometowns for 2021 Lunar New Year celebration in order to curb the spread of COVID-19.

In the document, the provincial authorities said they understand desires to return home for the holiday, yet with COVID-19 outbreaks in ten provinces and cities in Vietnam, the top priority is to stall the transmission of the viral disease by minimizing travel between localities.

People who return home in localities with COVID-19 infections or travel to those areas to celebrate Tet may face quarantine or be restricted from coming back to Dong Nai for work immediately following the holiday.

In addition, those who return may potentially be subject to mandatory centralized quarantine, leading to a serious shortage of laborers and subsequently affecting post-holiday production.

There will be another Tet after this Tet, but there will not be another chance to suppress the pandemic, authorities emphasized in the document.

Dong Nai chairman Cao Tien Dung called on corporate leaders in the province to ask internal migrant workers to remain in the locality during the Lunar New Year celebrations.

The chairman suggested that enterprises, depending on their capabilities, provide financial support for workers who decide to stay.

Workers who do return to their hometowns for Tet, after returning to Dong Nai for work, must make medical declarations and strictly abide by quarantine regulations.

It is estimated that about 1.2 million internal migrant workers are working for enterprises in Dong Nai.

Residents of the province are also advised against organizing year-end or new-year parties and to restrict large gatherings during Tet celebrations.

Dong Nai has reported no cases of community transmission, but has instead placed a number of people in direct and indirect contact with COVID-19 patients under quarantine since the beginning of the latest coronavirus wave.

Vietnam has recorded 366 local COVID-19 infections since January 28, when the country logged its first two domestic infections after nearly two months.

Two hundred and seventy-seven patients were logged in Hai Duong, 42 in Quang Ninh, 21 in Hanoi, 14 in Gia Lai, three in Bac Ninh, two in Hoa Binh, four in Binh Duong and one each in Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, and Bac Giang.

Most of the domestically-transmitted infections have been linked to Hai Duong and Quang Ninh, both located in northern Vietnam.

Health officials have conducted aggressive contact tracing as well as targeted testing and lockdowns since the new wave blindsided the country.

The Southeast Asian country has documented 1,948 coronavirus patients as of Thursday morning, with 1,461 recoveries and virus-related 35 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

It confirmed 84 local transmissions on January 28, 62 on January 29, 61 on January 30, 31 on January 31, 32 on February 1, 31 on February 2, 28 on February 3, and 37 on February 4 morning.

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Position Objective: Responsible for the assessment and coordination of patient care for the achievement of patient outcomes. Assesses, plans, implements, evaluates and coordinates patient care needs to facilitate the plan of care and timely discharge. Essential Job Duties: Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions Completes assessment of patient's clinical course to provide ongoing patient care coordination, verify patient's need for acute hospital level of care and identify discharge planning needs. Assesses patient/family adaptation to illness/disability and capacity to provide for patient's care needs. Identifies obstacles to discharge; seeks peer and director consultation regarding problematic cases or cases demonstrating deviations from the plan of care. Develops and arranges discharge plans for patients discharged to home with home health, Hospice, home infusion and routine sub-acute and skilled nursing facility placements and completes all necessary paperwork. Refers patients with complex discharge or psychosocial needs to Social Work. Communicates with Placement Specialists to ensure safe and appropriate transfers to lower levels of care. (Assisted Living, subacute, snfs etc). Collaborates with physicians, nurses, and other disciplines involved with care of the patient to foster a coordinated approach to patient care. Responsible for communicating with physician regarding the medical plan of care, anticipated discharge, and consideration of alternative setting. Facilitates and impacts process issues to avoid delays in patient care. Collaborates with UM nurse to assess patient's clinical course and verify need for acute hospital level of care or medical stability for care at the next level. Intervenes with appropriate individuals/department regarding delays in service that may have an impact on quality of care and/or length of stay. Collaborates with UM nurse to identify factors contributing to delays in service or delayed discharge. Provide feedback to unit management regarding delays in patient care services. Prepare patients and families for transition from hospital to home or alternative setting. Involve patients in their discharge planning to encourage independence. Involve family in care while patient is in hospital to create realistic expectations for post-hospital care. Assure appropriate teaching is started. Documentation will reflect plan of care to address post-hospital care needs and evidence of patient/family involvement in planning. Maintains clear and concise documentation in each patient record to reflect physical and functional limitations, psychosocial characteristics, educational needs of patient & family, family/social support systems, financial, economic, and discharge needs. Initiates referrals to disciplines as indicated. Educational/Experience Requirements: Graduate of an approved nursing program.

Five years of clinical nursing experience in an acute care hospital setting with prior utilization review/utilization management experience. Required License/Certifications: Current licensure as a registered nurse by the Maryland Board of Nursing. Adherence to the credentialing requirements of AAMC as stated in the nursing bylaws. Working Conditions, Equipment, Physical Demands: There is a reasonable expectation that employees in this position will be exposed to blood-borne pathogens. Physical Demands - Medium work. Exerting up to 50 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 30 pounds of force frequently, and/or up to 10 pounds of force constantly to move objects. The physical demands and work environment that have been described are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The above job description is an overview of the functions and requirements for this position. This document is not intended to be an exhaustive list encompassing every duty and requirement of this position; your supervisor may assign other duties as deemed necessary.


CAMBRIDGE, England, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC) today announced the latest version of tket (pronounced "ticket"), its high-performance quantum software development kit (SDK), with all licence restrictions removed for use of tket's Python module (also known as "pytket").

Python is an open-source, general-purpose coding language predominate in quantum computing programming and software development. With this latest release, any Python user with access to a quantum computer can deploy the tket SDK in any context, commercial or otherwise, and benefit from its capabilities.

Version 0.7 also now enables quantum circuit execution on Microsoft Azure Quantum (public preview version), as well as extends classical control of quantum operations on ion trap systems from Honeywell Quantum Solutions.

"By providing free access to our premier tket SDK to the legions of Python users across the world, we hope to accelerate the development of quantum computing research and applications across multiple industry sectors," said Mehdi Bozzo-Rey, Head of Business Development, Cambridge Quantum Computing. "By increasing the number of tket-compatible cloud-based quantum computing platforms as well, we've made it easier for virtually any programmer to explore developing quantum algorithms and software."

Originally developed and continuously updated by CQC's team of quantum computing scientists, tket enables researchers, algorithm designers and software developers to build and execute quantum circuits that produce the best results on the most advanced quantum devices available. tket translates machine-independent algorithms into executable circuits, optimizing the physical qubit layout while reducing the number of required quantum gates.

tket supports virtually all quantum hardware devices and quantum programming languages, and allows users to migrate between devices by changing just a single line of code, making a developer's research program platform-independent. tket is used by many quantum hardware providers as well as major companies worldwide.

Other new features in the v0.7 release of tket include:

Improved circuit optimization and noise mitigation performance, with new methods to make constructing quantum circuits easier;

Substitution of named operations with other operations, boxes or circuits; and

Support for mid-circuit measurement on IBM Quantum premium devices.

The changelog for this version is available at: https://cqcl.github.io/pytket/build/html/changelog.html

To learn more about using tket with Azure Quantum, see our blog post at: https://medium.com/cambridge-quantum-computing/execute-circuits-on-azure-quantum-using-t-ket-81900d55393e

About Cambridge Quantum Computing

Founded in 2014 and backed by some of the world's leading quantum computing companies, CQC is a global leader in quantum software and quantum algorithms, enabling clients to achieve the most out of rapidly evolving quantum computing hardware. CQC has offices in the UK, USA and Japan. For more information, visit CQC at http://www.cambridgequantum.com and on LinkedIn.

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Air Force Chief General Charles Brown tweeted on January 27, 2021, Let me be clear, the U.S. Air Force is committed to providing Electromagnetic Spectrum [EMS] superior Air Forces to achieve victory in all domain competitions and conflict. That same day he acknowledged that the Air Force has been asleep at the wheel for the last 25  30 years when it comes to operations in the EMS. [1]

One Air Force element not asleep was the Air University, which formed an Electromagnetic Defense Task Force (EDTF  note Defense) that published an action-oriented report in 2018, including exhortations like ITS TIME FOR BOLD ACTION and In countering EMS challenges, some windows of opportunity needed to compete with our adversaries are closing. Meanwhile, EMS threats that have existed since the 1960s and earlier, such as nuclear-EMP [electromagnetic pulse] and geomagnetic storms, have regained prominence. [2]

This paper (1) summarizes some key aspects of the EDTFs 2018 report and a follow-on 2019 report, and (2) focuses on nuclear-EMP superiority through assured defensive measures.

EDTF Reports

Among the 2018 EDTFs major issue areas were a range of military-related concerns. For example,

... military installations represent the vulnerable underbelly of the defense enterprise.

 even organizations like USSTRATCOM that have kept up with hardening requirements since the end of the Cold War might not meet mission challenges due to structural and system dependencies which rely on unhardened sources of electricity.

 an EMP would cause instantaneous and simultaneous loss of many technologies reliant on electrical power and computer circuit boards, such as cell phones and GPS devices.

certain EMS vulnerabilities are not novel: Dont regard EMP as a hard to understand newly discovered effect.  our collective knowledge on EMS phenomena is the lowest point in recent history while the risks and threats are possibly the highest given the nature of widening knowledge and capability.

... where EMS damage is severe enough, equipment may be permanently incapacitated. These kinds of vulnerabilities require planners to think creatively about mission essentials ...

 well known EMP, GMD [geomagnetic disturbances] and other EMS phenomena do not directly cause harm to humans, some effects can be extremely dangerous and potentially deadly. [3]

In 2019 the EDTF noted that " in 2018 the White House, U.S. Congress, the Enterprise Capability Collaboration Team (ECCT), and [EDTF] simultaneously converged on the reality that the preponderance of military forces is ill prepared for an environment characterized by a degraded electromagnetic spectrum." Accordingly, the EDTF shifted its focus to Joint Force resilience and pointed out that "It is the policy of the United States to prepare for the effects of EMP through targeted approaches that coordinate whole-of-government activities and encourage private-sector engagement." [4]

The 2019 EDTFs long conclusion included this statement: It is the strongest recommendation of this task force that USNORTHCOM develop concepts of operations and contingency plans for major EMS impacts (including EMP, GMD, and space-based PNT [positioning, navigation, timing]/GPS degradation) to the lower contiguous 48 states. Such plans may be built for little to no cost. However, the degree to which the resilience of the United States and Joint Force will be enhanced by this straightforward strategy cannot be overstated. [5]

Superiority Through Defensive Measures Against Nuclear-EMP Attacks

Nuclear EMP is the focus because of (a) its potential for existential damage to the United States (possible eventual deaths of up to 90% of the U.S. population [6]) from a one-or-few weapon attack by Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, or perhaps a terrorist organization; (b) its potential for disabling U.S. military equipment deployed at worldwide installations or in space; and (c) no assurance that such attacks would be deterred by a U.S. nuclear response, including "assured destruction" (from mutually assured destruction, MAD).

In a military world often dominated by offenses, defenses offer the best outcome when facing possible nuclear EMP. For example, if even a tiny nuclear power like North Korea can cause the deaths of 200-300 hundred million Americans by a prolonged nuclear-EMP-induced electricity blackout, it makes no sense for the U.S. to rely on a retaliatory threat of immediately killing perhaps a third of ~26 million North Koreans (a U.S.: N.K. death ratio approaching ~30:1) and destroying its tiny industrial capacity. [7]

Basing deterrence of a nuclear-EMP attack on MAD is flawed. A blackout attack on our homeland could cause any U.S. response to be fragmented and ineffective because of possible delays due to attacker denials or third-party nuclear threats plus command and control uncertainties; homeland turmoil due to electricity outages (which also affect military installations); failures in communications, computers, weapon-systems, support equipment; etc. If a non-optimum U.S. nuclear retaliatory response were to finally occur, it could be answered with an even more devastating nuclear counter-attack from one or more nuclear adversaries.

In case of an EMP attack on a remote Air Force base (for example, Guam), major U.S. nuclear retaliation would seem even less credible. The EMP could disable the aircraft, support systems, and electricity supplies but leave the physical airframes, other equipment, buildings, runways, AND PERSONNEL undamaged. In addition to warfare setbacks, there could be significant Air Force embarrassment and Congressional inquiries as to why the systems were not properly hardened. U.S. leaders could deliberate and determine a response deemed appropriate, assuming the attackers identity is verified, but verification may be difficult in the case of denials and false-flag operations by various adversaries. Recall that there was NO immediate U.S. military response after January 2020 clearly identifiable Iranian strike with missiles on our forces at two Iraqi airbases. Although there were dozens of brain injuries, no U.S. deaths resulted; later, some missile defenses were installed.

The many nuclear-EMP threats from China and Russia are described in great detail in two documents, the Key Judgments of which are included here as Endnotes. [8] Suffice it to say that the threat is massive, from both missiles and space, and believed to be in excess of current military hardening standards. Notably, EMP attacks are regarded as associates of information, electronic, cyber, non-kinetic warfare, more like EMS operations than all out nuclear combat. Further, The Congressionally created EMP Commission assesses that North Korea already has super-EMP nuclear weapons and the capability to deliver them. ... Iran may also already  or soon  have the capability to deliver an EMP attack. [6]

So, what should the Air Force do to achieve EMP superiority?

The EDTF already highlighted U.S. policy to prepare for the effects of EMP. The EMP Commission and the Executive Order on Coordinating National Resilience to Electromagnetic Pulses also call for protecting Americas electric grids by hardening transformers and control systems and protecting other life-sustaining critical infrastructures from the catastrophic consequences of EMP. [9] The Air Force should encourage and, where appropriate, help accelerate implementing such protection measures. Possible Air Force roles in recovery and reconstitution should also be considered.

Air Force bases and systems in the continental U.S. and worldwide should no longer remain vulnerable to extended offsite power outages and associated fuel shortages. The Air Force should deploy at selected bases on-site off-grid protected power supplies (e.g., very small nuclear power plants [10], possibly mobile nuclear-powered generators) along with protected on-site fuel storage for extended periods. Also, the electronics in all essential military systems should be tested and certified to withstand anticipated severe EMP-generated effects.

The Space Force should ensure that key satellites and associated terrestrial control stations are hardened to withstand EMP attacks. It should also deploy capabilities to examine space-based systems suspected of carrying nuclear weapons. Together with the Army and Navy, the Air Force and Space Force should collectively pursue development and deployment of exo-atmospheric land-, sea-, and space-based interceptors to defend against hostile global launches of suspect EMP-carrying missiles (including new hypersonic missiles) and suspect EMP satellites. A robust array of non-threatening defenses to protect Air Force bases (plus other-service installations and nearby U.S. interests) would strengthen U.S. deterrence against nuclear-EMP attacks as well as non-EMP missile threats; the costs would be trivial compared to U.S. losses from a nuclear-EMP attack!

In summary, as the Air Force strives for EMS superiority, it should concentrate on a wide range of defensive measures, such as identifying and hardening ALL mission-essential elements, securing essential electricity and fuel supplies, and prudently deploying active defenses. All of these efforts should be aimed at countering current homeland, overseas, and space vulnerabilities to EMP attacks on Air Force and Space Force systems and bases.

Norman Haller has led and assisted analyses, planning, and preparing reports for DoD and Congress on nuclear and non-nuclear forces for deterrence and defense against missile attacks. Now a consultant, he served in the Air Force, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission as the Chairmans Executive Assistant. Dr. Peter Vincent Pry is Executive Director of the EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security, served as Chief of Staff of the Congressional EMP Commission, and on the staffs of the House Armed Services Committee and the CIA.

ENDNOTES [8]

A. Russia: EMP Threat. The Russian Federations Military Doctrine, Plans, and Capabilities for Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack

KEY JUDGMENTS. The United States and NATO allies regularly experience major Russian cyber-attacks penetrating government agencies and critical infrastructures for electric power, telecommunications, transportation, and other sectors vital to electronic civilization. These events practice a new way of warfare, including EMP attacks, that could blackout North America and NATO Europe and win World War III at the speed of light. Any nuclear weapon detonated in outer space, 30 kilometers or higher, will generate a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) damaging all kinds of electronics, blacking-out electric grids, and collapsing other life-sustaining critical infrastructures. No blast, thermal, fallout, or effects other than HEMP are experienced in the atmosphere and on the ground. Because HEMP attacks electronics, Russian military doctrine categorizes nuclear HEMP attack as a dimension of Information Warfare, Electronic Warfare, and Cyber Warfare, which are modes of warfare operating within the electromagnetic spectrum. Russia has "Super-EMP" weapons specialized for HEMP attack that potentially generate 100,000 volts/meter or higher, greatly exceeding the U.S. military hardening standard (50,000 volts/meter). As a result of its HEMP nuclear tests, the Soviet Union, and today Russia, probably knows a lot more about HEMP effects than the United States. "Super-EMP is afirst-strike weapon," according to Aleksey Vaschenko, who describes Russian nuclear weapons specially designed to make extraordinarily powerful HEMP fields as Russia's means for defeating the United States. Hypersonic vehicles are potentially a new avenue for surprise HEMP attack, flying at 50-100 kilometers altitude: the optimum height-of-burst for Super-EMP warheads. Russia has the technical capability to clandestinely orbit a nuclear-armed satellite or satellites to be maintained in orbit for years until needed to make a surprise HEMP attack. HEMP attack could achieve for Russia a key objective the USSR could not achieve during the Cold Warneutralizing U.S. ballistic missile submarines at sea. Russia probably remains the world's leader in Non-Nuclear EMP (NNEMP) weapons, also called Radio-Frequency Weapons (RFWs). The marriage of NNEMP to drones or cruise missiles, equipped with sensors to follow high-power electric lines and target control centers and transformers, introduces a major new threat to national power grids. As Russia categorizes HEMP attack as Information, Electronic or Cyber Warfare, Moscow's already very loose strictures for nuclear employment may not even apply to HEMP.

B. China: EMP Threat. The Peoples Republic of China Military Doctrine, Plans, and Capabilities for Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack

KEY JUDGMENTS. China has long known about nuclear high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) and invested in protecting military forces and critical infrastructures from HEMP and other nuclear weapon effects during the Cold War, and continuing today. China has HEMP simulators and defensive and offensive programs that are almost certainly more robust than any in the United States. Chinese military writings are replete with references to making HEMP attacks against the United States as a means of prevailing in war. China's military doctrine closely associates cyber-attacks with nuclear HEMP attack as part of a combined operation in what they call Total Information Warfare. Cyber bugs and hacking are the tip of the spear, the functional equivalent of scouts and sappers who do reconnaissance and secretly prepare the beaches for the arrival of D-Day, or like the motorcycle troops that preceded the heavy armored divisions in Germany's Blitzkrieg. Chinese open source military writings describe the possession of Super-EMP weapons. Taiwan military intelligence in open sources credits China with having a Super-EMP nuclear weapon based on design information stolen from the U.S. nuclear weapon labs. HEMP appears to be the key to victory in China's military doctrine against U.S. aircraft carriers and Taiwan. China is on the verge of deploying or has already deployed hypersonic weapons that could be armed with nuclear or non-nuclear EMP warheads, greatly increasing the threat of surprise attack against U.S. forces Pacific and against the United States. China has the technical capability to make a surprise HEMP attack by nuclear-armed satellite orbited over the south polar region to evade U.S. BMEWS radars and National Missile Defenses, as planned by the USSR during the Cold War with its secret weapon, the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS). It seems highly likely that China's development of offensive HEMP capabilities would inform and drive defensive capabilities, especially the protection of critical infrastructures necessary to support their war effort. Moreover, China's proximity to North Korea and Taiwan both potential nuclear flashpoints for an HEMP eventwould likely raise Beijing's concern about protecting its critical infrastructures in this dangerous neighborhood. China's alleged nuclear "No First Use" doctrine, like the USSR's during the Cold War, is almost certainly disinformation. In 2020, a panel of China's military experts threatened to punish U.S. Navy ships for challenging China's illegal annexation of the South China Sea by making an EMP attackone of the options they considered least provocative. This, too, like other evidence, suggests Beijing considers HEMP attack as something short of nuclear or even kinetic conflict, akin to "gray zone" threats like electronic and cyber warfare.

Notes:

[1] https://twitter.com/19611483/status/1354598101940633605 and Air Force chief: Electromagnetic spectrum could be cheaper option to defeat enemies (c4isrnet.com)

[2] Pages 1 and 5. LP_0002_DeMaio_Electromagnetic_Defense_Task_Force.pdf (af.edu)

[3] Ibid. Pages 14, 16, 17, 20-21, 22, 23.

[4] Pages 3 and 4. Electromagnetic Defense Task Force 2.02019 Report (af.edu)

[5] Ibid. Page 46.

[6] https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16524/iran-emp-nuclear-attack

[7] MAD Is Bad U.S. Policy for Iran and North Korea | RealClearDefense

[8] Dr. Peter Vincent Pry. Executive Director EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security. January 2021. Russia EMP Threat. Also, June 10, 2020. China EMP Threat.

[9] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-coordinating-national-resilience-electromagnetic-pulses/ Also, EMP Commission, Assessing the Threat from EMP Attack (July 2017) and www.firstempcommission.org.

[10] https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-promoting-small-modular-reactors-national-defense-space-exploration/
New revelations from the former treasurer of Spains Popular Party (PP), Luis Barcenas, who is serving a 29-year sentence over a sweeping graft case known as Gurtel, could affect the outcome of a new trial probing an illegal funding system run by the conservative group.

In February 2013, EL PAIS revealed the existence of secret handwritten ledgers that became known as the Barcenas papers. These accounts showed cash donations and outgoing payments from 1990 to 2008 that suggested irregular payments and salaries within the PP. The parallel accounting appeared to reflect unlawful corporate donations as well as regular kickbacks to senior party officials. None of this money was declared to the tax authorities.

Now, with less than a week to go before the start of a trial over the PPs alleged illegal funding  in which Barcenas is the main accused party and faces a five-year sentence  the former treasurer has sent prosecutors a letter expressing his desire to cooperate with the justice system. Jose Maria Aznar and Mariano Rajoy, two former prime ministers who served at the time when the PP was allegedly running this parallel accounting system, will appear in court as witnesses.

Donations for contracts

Former PP Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Victor J Blanco / GTRES

In the letter, to which EL PAIS has had access, Barcenas suggests that several public contracts may have been awarded to companies in exchange for corporate donations under Aznar, who was in office between 1996 and 2004.

Judge Santiago Pedraz of Spains High Court, the Audiencia Nacional, is investigating 23 contracts worth a combined 600 million awarded by five ministries under the Aznar administration between 2000 and 2004. Many contracts went to a building company named Constructora Hispanica, whose owner, Alfonso Garcia Pozuelo, was a major party donor who made nine contributions in different years.

For the last seven years, while the pre-trial investigation was underway, Barcenas had denied that the 8 million in corporate donations reflected in the parallel accounts were tied to contract awards. But in his letter to prosecutors, the disgraced bookkeeper says that he kept quiet all these years because hed been promised that his wife, Rosalia Iglesias, would not be sent to prison.

Id already said in my statement to the judge of July 15, 2013 that I had been pressured into keeping quiet and not incriminating or staining my partys good name, due to the risk of my wife potentially going to prison, he notes. Rosalia Iglesias was ultimately convicted at the Gurtel trial of 2018 and she began serving a 13-year sentence in November of last year.

Shredded documents

In his written confession to corruption prosecutors, Barcenas also says that in 2009 he showed documents proving the PPs illegal financing to then-prime minister Mariano Rajoy, and that the latter put the papers in a shredder, unaware that Barcenas had made copies, many of which were stolen from my wifes studio when it was broken into. According to Barcenas, Rajoy was perfectly aware of the existence of this parallel accounting system.

Since 1982 there was an institutionalized system of financing with unofficial revenue obtained through donations, reads the letter. Some of those donations were made by people with ties to companies that benefited from major public contract awards. The donations were made in cash directly to [Barcenas predecessor, the deceased former treasurer] Alvaro Lapuerta, and I was present in some cases. Barcenas says that the vast majority of donations were not made with the goal of securing contracts, but that there were a few specific cases where that was the driving motivation.

Cash-filled envelopes

Former PP Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. JUAN MEDINA / REUTERS

Barcenas goes on to name specific individuals whom he says regularly received cash-filled envelopes as bonuses that came out of this secret fund: Rajoy himself, former party secretary general Maria Dolores de Cospedal, former Defense Minister Federico Trillo, former Senate speaker Pio Garcia-Escudero, former Deputy Prime Minister Francisco Alvarez-Cascos, former Interior and Justice Minister Angel Acebes, former Deputy Prime Minister Javier Arenas, and former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato  who was tried in a separate case involving wrongdoing at the helm of the bailed-out bank Bankia.

According to Barcenas, there is a recorded conversation currently in the power of an unnamed individual, discussing these cash payments made monthly to these members of the PP, among which Mariano Rajoy was expressly mentioned.

Catalan campaign

The revelations come in the middle of an election campaign in Catalonia, where the PP is fighting to ensure it is not overtaken at the polls by the far-right Vox. Senior PP officials are dismissing the statements as relating to a case that is part of the past, that we have forgotten and learned from, in the words of PP senator Javier Maroto. While Barcenas letter to prosecutors does not incriminate any current party leader, it could erode the PPs image at a delicate time. But Barcenas claims it is a result of soul-searching.

Ive been deprived of my freedom for nearly four-and-a-half years, and this situation makes one think about the mistakes I may have made in life, about the damage that I may have inflicted on society as a result of [living in] a Spain where the general feeling was that anything goes, writes Barcenas in his letter. I am aware of these mistakes and of the pain I have inflicted on my wife and son. They do not deserve this suffering. All of these circumstances have led me to present this written document and offer to cooperate with the justice system.

Gurtel connection

The current investigation grew out of the earlier Gurtel scandal, a sweeping graft case affecting scores of local and regional PP officials who awarded no-bid contracts to a business conglomerate led by a well-connected entrepreneur named Francisco Correa. In October 2020, the Supreme Court confirmed 29 convictions handed down in 2018 against leading members of Gurtel. One of the convicted individuals was Barcenas, who was also found to have a fortune hidden away in foreign bank accounts.

Supreme Court justices also backed the High Courts decision declaring the PPs civil liability in connection with the case, and telling it to return 245,000 obtained through unlawful channels. But they found that the lower courts wording had made it seem like the existence of the parallel accounting was a proven fact, when this was not on trial in 2018.

The May 2018 ruling triggered a political earthquake in Spain and ended Rajoys career. Pedro Sanchez of the Socialist Party (PSOE) led a successful no-confidence motion with support from Unidas Podemos and various small regional parties, and was sworn into office on June 2 of that year.

English version by Susana Urra.
" " Color guard of African-American engineers, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 1943. Buyenlarge/Getty Images

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology had its first African-American graduate, Robert R. Taylor, in 1892. It was only 25 years later, in 1917, that the university gave its first civil engineering diploma to an African-American. For quite a while throughout history, engineering was almost entirely the domain of white men.

Although Caucasian males still dominate the profession in the U.S. (only 5 percent of engineers are African-American, only 13.4 percent are women of any race, according to one 2011 report), it's important to recognize the significant legacies that Black men and women have created in the field [source: Koebler].

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In this article, we'll head from the copy machines at work to the satellites in space and meet some African-Americans who aren't just pioneers for their race but are trailblazers in their profession.
Direct payments in 2020 by the National Defense Ministry to Romanian companies totaled over 1.5 billion lei, Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Thursday, mentioning also that payments for infrastructure works stood at about 750 million lei.

"The National Defense Ministry wants to engage as much as possible the national defense industry in the endowment programs of the Romanian Army," the Minister wrote on Facebook.

In this context, Ciuca said that he had a meeting on Thursday with Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, Claudiu Nasui.

"The military experts presented the team of the Economy Ministry the essential endowment programs for the next 10 years, as well as a projection of the certain acquisitions the Army intends to make from the national economic operators between 2021 - 2030. Knowing the needs of defense as regards the procurement of new equipment, ammunition and spare parts, but also the necessary maintenance services, our defense industry can adapt to cover as much as possible of the military demand. We will thus contribute to an important share of the Defense budget being injected into Romanian companies," Nicolae Ciuca wrote.

The Minister says that the National Defense Ministry wants "the same level of engagement of the Romanian defense industry to be maintained in 2021 too, thus responding to a national security interest. (...) In addition, we will create jobs with a high degree of specialization, we will inject capital into the Romanian economy and we will revive the national defense industry," he underscores.

New business plan sets the wheels in motion for tyre wholesaler

Meidanis-Sofos Elastika S.A., a third-generation family business, is one of the most prominent tyre companies in Greece and the first to benefit from the EBRDs advisory programme in the country.

In a traditionally male-dominated field, Meidanis-Sofos Elastika is a woman-led business, breaking all the moulds. Angela Sofou has been serving as the companys Managing Director since 2015. She is joined by her cousin, Angelos Meidanis, Commercial Director, and her sister Eleni Sofou, Financial and Business Development Director.

Each of us has a separate role but we take all the strategic decisions together, says Angela.

When asked what they particularly value in the business, they replied in unison that the foundation of the company is the collaborative culture and the strong relationships among the employees and the clients as well as the quality of the products they offer.

The only contact the car has with the road is through the tyres. The tyres must therefore be of the highest quality, says Eleni. We first brought the Korean tyre brand Hankook to Greece in 1978. When we started our collaboration, Hankook was not the worldwide leading company it is now.

Throughout the challenges of the long-lasting financial crisis in Greece, the company has nevertheless managed to grow further. The Covid-19 crisis and its economic impact created additional challenges for most companies in the sector, including Meidanis-Sofos Elastika, yet the business not only remained resilient but has managed to extend its collaborations with suppliers, increase the number of employees and maintain its turnover.

It plays a very big role, how well you have organised and fortified your business in the face of a possible crisis, Angela reflects.

I think our company has very good reflexes and we can maintain our reputation and manage any crises that arise, says Eleni.

Meidanis-Sofos Elastika had big plans for the future and asked the EBRD for their guidance in order to achieve them. As part of the Banks Advice for Small Businesses programme in Greece, funded by the European Union through the European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH) of the European Investment Bank, Kantor Management Consultants S.A. was appointed to help develop their new business plan.

In response to the dynamic market conditions, Meidanis-Sofos Elastika wanted to renew and redefine its strategic plan by shaping and evaluating alternative business strategies, with the main objectives being to improve its efficiency, achieve higher profitability and increase its market share.

It boosts your confidence to hear what you are doing well and to see your ideas captured in a plan, Angelos notes. It is very important to receive not only funding, but also know-how, and this is why we reached out to the EBRD, concludes Eleni.

The EBRD launched its programme in Greece in March 2018. Since then, more than 100 companies have benefited from advisory support through its network of consultants and advisors.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Pfizer officials told Gov. Mike DeWine they will increase vaccine shipments to Ohio by 40% around the middle of February, the governor said Thursday.

Meantime, Moderna doses are also expected to rise, DeWine said during a Thursday coronavirus briefing broadcast from his Greene County home.

Next week the state expects to receive 105,200 Moderna doses.

Currently, around 73,000 doses each from Pfizer and Moderna are shipped to Ohio a week.

Pfizer officials also told DeWine that by the end of March shipments would double from the current level shipped to Ohio now, DeWine said.

That should mean our numbers will increase, DeWine said.

A total of 935,383 doses have been administered in the state as of Thursday, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Of this, 238,732 vaccines are considered completed because these people have received a second dose.

Nursing home update

The vaccine shipments werent the only news DeWine shared Thursday. DeWine said that nursing homes are starting to see a significant drop in cases.

DeWine attributed this to all first doses being administered at nursing homes, most second doses and vaccination progress underway in other long-term care facilities, thanks to the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program, a federal effort with pharmacy companies.

Obviously, fewer people will be going to the hospitals, and fewer people will be dying, DeWine said.

Fifty-four percent of coronavirus deaths are of nursing home residents. Hospital patients who have the coronavirus can be difficult to treat -- especially when theyre on ventilators. They need to be turned several times a day and Ohio hospitals have reported it takes four people to turn them, which takes away from other duties they have.

Curfew update

On Thursday, 2,252 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized in Ohio. This could put Ohio on track for a lifting of the overnight curfew Feb. 11.

Remember, we said that if its under 2,500 seven straight days, we would be able to take off the curfew, DeWine said. So if we continue that for seven days, well take a look at it next Thursday and we may be able to take the curfew off.

Currently, the overnight curfew is from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. The target of the curfew is the riskiest behavior that can result in coronavirus spread -- including people who may be impaired by alcohol who dont maintain social distancing and mask wearing.

More coverage:

4,120 new coronavirus cases reported in Ohio: Thursday update

Gov. Mike DeWine to provide a coronavirus update: Watch live

Why Ohios nursing home coronavirus vaccinations -- run by pharmacies and the feds -- were swift, while other shots have been sluggish

Ohio scammed into paying out hundreds of millions in fraudulent pandemic unemployment: Capitol Letter

With 908,096 shots given, Ohio vaccine doses now exceed coronavirus cases: Wednesday update

Ohio senator leaves committee meeting, after unmasked members of public change the socially distant seating arrangement

Residents of 5 Northeast Ohio nursing homes to be revaccinated for coronavirus due to potential temperature issues in storage

Gov. Mike DeWine recognizes Black History Month by incorrectly recycling proclamation from 2020

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BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI  A would-be bank robber was arrested in southeast Michigan this week after purposely ramming a vehicle through a banks front doors.

A 37-year-old Detroit man is in jail on charges of attempted bank robbery after he was apprehended at the scene of the incident on Tuesday afternoon in Bloomfield Township, according to a news release from the Bloomfield Township Police Department. The suspect was wearing a bulletproof vest, a gasmask and a bulletproof hat.

Around 2:40 p.m., the suspect allegedly purposely drove a silver SUV into the front doors of Level One Bank, 6450 Telegraph Road, and then attempted to drive away but the vehicle was disabled, police said.

Two police officers were on the scene within seconds of a 911 call reporting gunshots outside the bank, police said. The officers observed the silver SUV with heavy front-end damage and a suspect fleeing from the vehicle. The suspect was quickly taken into custody without further incident.

The supposed gunshots turned out to be the sound of the vehicle impacting the building, WDIV Local 4 reports.

He made it 3 to 5 feet inside the bank and then he immediately started to back out, Lt. Paul Schwab told the TV station. At no time did he ever get out of the car or demand any money to bank employees. In my 26 years, its the first time we had someone crash into the front of a bank in an attempt to rob it.

The Bloomfield Township Police Department is working on the case with the FBI.

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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
An autistic teenager who started writing thank you cards to health and care workers to deal with his anxiety about the pandemic has now sent almost 600 cards and is aiming for 5,000.

Patrick Joyce, 16, from Glasgow, began writing to healthcare staff in mid-January to thank them for helping Covid-19 patients.

He has since received many responses to his cards, including from former Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Patricks mother, Indra Joyce, said he had been struggling with severe anxiety stemmed from the pandemic, but writing the letters has transformed him.

Patricks mother suggested he start writing the cards to help ease his anxiety about the pandemic (@Indra68/Twitter/PA)

He was having a complete breakdown. I had to get emergency (child and mental health services) support, Ms Joyce told the PA news agency.

He was so fixated on the Covid stats and particularly the deaths.

Hes now a happy boy! It has transformed him. Paddy feels useful and that he is making a difference.

Former taoiseach Mr Varadkar returned to medicine last year as a doctor to aid the response to Covid-19 in Ireland.

Writing in response to Patrick  also known as Paddy  Mr Varadkar thanked the teenager for his lovely colourful card and said the letter is now sitting on his window sill in his office.

Leo Varadkar said he is keeping Patricks card on his window sill in his office (@Indra68/Twitter)

Ms Joyce is Patricks full-time carer after his father died in 2014, when he was 10.

After a traumatic birth, Patrick was diagnosed with various cognitive disabilities, including global developmental delay (GDD) and autism.

Patrick is 16, but due to GDD he is more like a seven to eight-year-old, Ms Joyce said.

But throughout all his struggles and difficulties, he has always been sweet-natured and he gets upset when people are sad and wants to hug them to make it better.

The familys card-writing journey began last month when Ms Joyce posted to Twitter asking for the names and hospital addresses of NHS workers, so Patrick could start penning the letters.

One of many replies Patrick has received (Indra Joyce/PA)

Patricks efforts have been warmly received by frontline workers (@Indra68/Twitter/PA)

The post was warmly received and Ms Joyce said her son has since been averaging between 10 and 50 cards per day, with him writing and his mum filling the envelopes.

It depends how keen he is and how much energy he has, and if the footie is on, she said, noting Patrick is a keen Everton fan.

Ms Joyce said she expects him to exceed his 5,000-card target, adding: Once he decides something, hes fairly determined to stick to it.

Patrick is determined to write at least 5,000 cards (@Indra68/Twitter/PA)

Speaking during childrens mental health week, Ms Joyce said she would recommend parents to find similar activities if their child is struggling with anxiety about the pandemic.

If it helps (Im) all for it she said.

I knew Paddy loved writing  others might find solace in art, or fitness, or music, but I support and help him too, so its also helped our relationship.

If you would like to share the name and address of a health worker so Patrick can send them a card, you can send Ms Joyce a direct message via Twitter with her handle @Indra68.
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Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), has been fined for what a Moscow court called "disobeying police."

Sobol's lawyer, Vladimir Voronin, said on February 4 after his client was fined 1,000 rubles ($13) that he will appeal the ruling.

"The charge is related to Sobol's arrival at [Moscow's] Vnukovo airport on January 17 to meet Navalny, who returned from Germany that day. Sobol was just sitting in a cafe without causing any problems and it was the police who broke the law by detaining her without explanation," Voronin said.

Sobol is currently under house arrest on suspicion of violating sanitary and epidemiological regulations during the coronavirus pandemic while taking part in a January 23 unsanctioned rally to protest Navalny's arrest.

That charge came down earlier on February 4, Voronin said on Twitter. If convicted, Sobol faces up to two years in prison.

Sobol, along with Navalny's brother, Oleg, and the coordinator of Navalny's Moscow headquarters, Oleg Stepanov, were detained last week and placed under house arrest until March 23.

The house arrests have been widely criticized as an attempt by the authorities to prevent them from taking part in rallies in support of Navalny, such as those that took place on January 23 and January 31.

Navalny was arrested on January 17 upon his arrival from Germany, where he was treated for a poison attack in Siberia in August, for which he has blamed Kremlin. The Kremlin has denied any involvement.

Navalny was charged with violating probation related to an embezzlement case that he has called politically motivated.

On February 2, Navalny was found guilty of violating the terms of the suspended sentence and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. Given the time he had already spent in detention, the court said he would have to serve 2 years and 8 months behind bars.

The ruling sparked new protests across the country, with more than 1,400 people detained on February 2.

With reporting by TASS
Enabling broker-dealers with greater access, liquidity and transparency in the private markets

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / InvestX, a leading private equity marketplace that empowers broker-dealers to trade in pre-IPO giants, announces the launch of its enhanced state of the art trading platform, InvestX GEM. The platform allows broker-dealers to easily transact in private equity through an intuitive, reliable, and transparent technology solution. The GEM acronym is representative of the high-growth industry, Growth Equity Marketplace.

With decades of experience and industry expertise in the private market sector, InvestX navigates the complexities of transacting in the private markets for its clients. InvestX GEM was designed to deliver broader access, liquidity, and innovation through real-time information, price-discovery and technology. GEM eliminates the typical long holds of private investing and allows for block and single share trading. The platform is a cloud-based solution that can be connected via a web-based login or a FIX protocol, which integrates directly with the back-end systems of broker-dealers, further facilitating the electronic trading of private securities.

"Last year we saw an enormous influx of pre-IPO giants going public and doubling in their trading debuts from their set IPO price," said Marcus New, CEO and Chief Entrepreneur of InvestX. "As this asset class continues to explode, we are excited to introduce a next generation electronic platform to more easily facilitate private market transactions. We continue to work to democratize investing in private equity, and our marketplace does just that by creating new opportunities for accessing and trading in the once elusive private markets."

The launch of InvestX GEM comes on the heels of the company's significant investment in the U.S. with a new headquarters established in New York City, as well as the appointment of Brian Schaeffer, as Managing Director, Head of Business Development. Prior to InvestX, Schaeffer was the Founder and President of Clearpool Group. "InvestX GEM is democratizing the private equity markets by creating a trusted marketplace for the sell side to invest in private securities," said Schaeffer. "We have designed a platform and user interface that has the same tangibility that traders are familiar with."

InvestX GEM connects broker dealers with access to shares of private billion-dollar technology companies and offers them a platform to trade these shares. The company differentiates itself by providing its broker-dealer clients with FIX connectivity for real time information and trading. InvestX's decades of experience and industry expertise of the private markets have yielded its clients favorable returns, delivering on the firm's initiative to provide transparency and value to its investors. This extensive expertise in this market has culminated in the development of InvestX GEM.

About InvestX:

Launched in 2014, InvestX provides the $30 trillion dollar wealth management industry with access to the private equity asset class.?InvestX empowers broker-dealers and advisors with access, liquidity, and innovation to the private equity asset class through investments in pre-IPO giants on a state-of-the-art trading platform. Sell-side firms can access unbiased information, and trade shares of institutional quality private equity, without the traditional multi-million-dollar investment minimums. InvestX is democratizing the growth equity asset class by offering real-time trading technology that provides better access, liquidity, and transparency to an antiquated process. For more information visit https://www.investx.com/.

Media Contact:

Lauren Perry

Caliber Corporate Advisers

lauren@calibercorporate.com

952.221.4615

SOURCE: InvestX

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627905/InvestX-Launches-GEM-a-Trading-Platform-Delivering-Access-to-Pre-IPO-Giants

Downtown 2021

Through Feb. 20. La MaMa Galleria, 47 Great Jones Street, Manhattan; Fridays and Saturdays, or by appointment, lamamagalleria@gmail.com.

New York City art galleries form a resilient and irrepressible ecosystem, one that has survived recessions, gentrification, at least one hurricane, and now an aggressive pandemic. Through everything, the system continues to sprout new life. The group show Downtown 2021, curated by the artist Sam Gordon, pays homage to this phenomenon by giving more than two dozen galleries their hardscrabble props.

The shows title is adapted from Edo Bertoglios Downtown 81, a film about the 1980s art-and-club scene in the East Village, La MaMa Gallerias longtime neighborhood. But as surveyed by Gordon, downtown is expansive terrain, encompassing not just Manhattan but also Brooklyn and Queens. More than that, the word describes an attitude, one that blends a pull toward independence with a commitment to community.

Victorian quarantine workers will be at the head of the queue for the vaccine and should be getting their first shots by the end of the month. Mr Andrews said he expected the Australian Open, due to start on Monday, would go ahead, and tournament boss Craig Tiley said organisers were going full steam ahead with the grand slam event as officials awaited test results from more than 500 players. We fully expect them all to test negative and continue with play tomorrow like we originally planned, Tiley said. Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said the new local case and potential COVID-19 transmission within hotel quarantine meant something has gone wrong, no question about that.

Loading Ms Neville said that in light of the more virulent British strain, the governments infection control teams were looking at different procedures. Things like in the health hotels, we use N95 masks when were moving infectious people, but we may need to do fitted masks, that could be one of the procedures we need to change, she told radio station 3AW. The 26-year-old Noble Park mans case brought an end to Victorias 28-day run of zero community transmission. Genomic testing results, which will reveal if he is carrying one of the more virulent strains of the virus, are expected on Friday. Authorities said on Thursday he had a high viral load and was probably carrying the mutant British strain. A massive testing and contact tracing operation is under way and hotel quarantine workers will now be tested on their days off.

The young man visited 14 exposure sites, including Kmart, Coles and Bunnings stores, before showing symptoms of the virus and there were long delays at testing sites across Melbourne on Thursday, with at least one in the citys south-east having to close not long after it opened. The Health Department said on Thursday evening that investigations carried out by contact tracers had revealed 17 social and household close contacts of the worker, nine of whom have so far tested negative with further results to come. Late on Thursday night, the Health Department released more information saying 15 of the 17 close contacts of the worker has tested negative and the final two results were expected on Friday. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Other states are watching the situation closely with NSW screening passengers arriving on flights from Melbourne. The South Australian and Queensland borders are staying open but WA Premier Mark McGowan said that a planned relaxation of border controls to Victoria would be paused.

On Wednesday, the Victorian government revealed a returned traveller in hotel quarantine had tested positive to the exact same British variant of the coronavirus as a family staying across the hall, with health authorities suspecting the viral load was so high in the familys room that particles had spread across the corridor. Loading A member of the family recalled opening the hotel room door  either to collect food or put out laundry  at the same time as someone in the room opposite opened their door. CCTV footage has not shown any occasion on which members of the two rooms left their rooms at the same time. The cases have reignited debate around Australias hotel quarantine program, with some experts arguing high-rise hotels were never designed for this purpose and that further outbreaks are inevitable. Epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws, an adviser to the World Health Organisation, said the sheer number of exposure sites the hotel quarantine worker had visited in recent days, along with increasing concerns he was infected with the highly infectious British super-strain, had created a perfect storm of risk.

With the variant, theyre up to 70 per cent more infectious, Professor McLaws said. It is highly likely that this poor young man will have inadvertently caused infection around Melbourne, so I think Melburnians need to be ready for a problem. Professor McLaws said Australian authorities had failed to develop a quarantine program that acknowledged the serious threat posed by opportunistic airborne spread of the virus. She wants a purpose-built quarantine building with corridors and rooms that have at least 10 airflow changes per hour. The hotel quarantine program should only have been an emergency response to get Australians and residents back home, she said. Unfortunately it has become the norm. Questions remain about how and when the young man became infected. He tested negative on January 29, his last day working at the quarantine hotel. In the ensuing days, he developed symptoms and then was tested again on February 2, returning a positive test.

Associate Professor Paul Griffin, a COVID-19 testing expert at the University of Queensland, said it can take several days after a person is exposed for the virus to build up high enough levels in their body that it can be detected. On average, it takes five days for a person to test positive after being exposed. However, this can vary widely, from one to 14 days. [Exposure] could have been a small number of days before that positive test  two or three, or up to 14. But most likely around that five days before. Somewhere in the preceding week would be most likely, he said. University of Sydney infectious diseases expert Professor Robert Booy said the next 48 hours would be crucial. One case by itself doesnt seem like much, but because two days before he became symptomatic he went to at least half a dozen locations right around Melbourne there are a lot more people at risk, Professor Booy said.

However, he said the state government had so far done all it could to curb the spread of the virus and he was hopeful any outbreak would be contained swiftly by Victorias bolstered contact tracing system and mass testing. Theyre acting as fast as is humanly possible, he said. University of South Australia biostatistics and epidemiology professor Adrian Esterman said the prospect of a short and sharp lockdown could not be ruled out if more cases emerged in the next 24 to 48 hours or if the man was confirmed to be infected with the UK strain of the virus. If it does turn out to be the UK variant, its of much more concern because it is much more contagious, he said. I am hopeful it wont come to another lockdown. I have had criticism this morning for saying this and been told I am being alarmist, but if it is the UK variant, I am not being alarmist at all, I am being very sensible. Professor Esterman said it was important to remember that only 10 to 20 per cent of people cause 80 per cent of cases. In other words, the majority of infected people are not very infectious, he said.

Professor Toole said the mans high viral load elevated the risk he could have passed the virus on at some of the venues he went to because face masks were not mandated at that time. Loading Given what we know now about aerosol transmission its not unlikely that he infected someone else, but its such a guessing game, Professor Toole said. Theres a lot of luck in this whole sequence of events. Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng announced there would be new measures to test hotel quarantine workers including testing them after they finish a run of shifts and on their days off. Meanwhile, Mr Andrews said he would consider moving hotel quarantine away from Melbourne and into regional areas if health experts and national cabinet suggested the proposal, but it didnt remove all risk of the virus escaping quarantine.
The Canadian Press

Toronto FC needs a win, not another injury or self-inflicted wound. But this week's welcome news that Spanish playmaker Alejandro Pozuelo is expected to make his season debut Saturday at Columbus (2-2-2) has been overshadowed by news that the club's two other designated players have been sidelined for vastly different reasons. Toronto (1-3-2) confirmed Friday that Venezuelan international winger Yeferson Sotledo has a hamstring injury. The hope is Soteldo won't be out longer than four to six weeks. With an international break looming after weekend play, TFC doesn't play again until June 19. The prognosis for star striker Jozy Altidore is murkier. A source confirmed an ESPN report that the U.S. international has been told by the club to train on his own away from the first team. Officially the club has only said it is an internal matter that is being handled in-house. Now based in Orlando, away from prying eyes, the team had probably hoped to keep to that way. ESPN reported Thursday that Altidore had been told to train separately after confronting coach Chris Armas in the wake of being substituted in the 70th minute of last Saturday's 1-0 loss at Orlando City. The source, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said in fact the decision was made after several incidents. Altidore is in his seventh season with Toronto, which signed him to a three-year contract extension in February 2019. He is due to make US$3.6 million this season, according to the MLS Players Association. While the striker has spoken often about his affection for Toronto and its fans, he has butted heads with the club in the past. The two apparently have reached an impasse. Toronto's woes grew Friday when the Venezuelan Football Federation, in a post on its official Twitter feed, revealed the injury to Soteldo, who has made four appearances since joining the team from Brazil's Santos FC on April 26 in a $6.5-million transfer. GM Ali Curtis said the injury was only confirmed late Thursday afternoon, adding the club had not expected the Venezuelan federation to announce it. It's been that kind of season for Toronto, which has taken steps forward only to stumble backwards. Pozuelo, the league's reigning MVP, has been out since suffering a thigh injury in preseason. Toronto has won just two of 10 games (2-5-3) in all competitions without him this season. Armas says Pozuelo is healthy and will likely see some action, although he wouldn't predict how much. Both teams have had a bumpy rise so far this season. Armas says his side, which goes into weekend play 25th in the overall standings, has had "some really good moments." "But in order to win in our league, we have to put it together for 90 minutes. And we haven't done that.  We have to execute in the moment of truth," he said. Columbus coach Caleb Porter is also looking for improvements in the defending champions. "The best teams, even more than ever, it comes down to execution," he said. "The best teams aren't changing a lot. They're just executing better than everybody else. So we want to get into a situation like last year where we're executing better. And I do think it's coming. We had another great week in training." In looking at Toronto over the last couple of seasons, Armas says it can score and create "but there's also a team that has given up a lot of goals in a lot of different ways." That includes this season, when Toronto's backline has been breached too often, including on set pieces. Armas has lamented "soft goals." TFC is currently tied for 23rd in the league on defence, conceding 1.67 goals a game. It is tied for 15th on offence, scoring 1.17 goals per outing. Columbus ranks fifth in defence, giving up 0.83 goals game. But it has struggled on offence this season, ranking tied for 23rd at scoring at 0.83 goals a game. The Crew have scored just five goals in six games, although four of those matches have been on the road. Columbus star Lucas Zelarayan has accounted for three of those goals, all from direct free kicks. Two came in last Saturday's 2-1 win over New York City FC with the Argentine designated player notching the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Zelarayan is only the sixth player in MLS history to score two direct free-kick goals in a single game. He is the 12th player to score off three free kicks in a season (he also scored against D.C. United on May 8) and the first since Laurent Ciman, formerly of Toronto and Montreal, did it for Los Angeles FC in 2018. "You know when he steps up something special's going to happen," Columbus goalkeeper Eloy Room said of Zelarayan. Sebastian Giovinco has the league's single-season record with six direct free-kick goals in 2017 (the record book goes back to 2003 when Opta started keep track of the statistic). The former TFC star also stands No. 2 on the list with five in 2015. David Beckham ranks third, with four for the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2012. In all, Zelarayan has nine goals in 21 regular-season appearances for Columbus, including four game-winners. Toronto has enjoyed success against Columbus in recent times. It is undefeated in the past five contests (3-0-2) and has lost just twice in the last 12 league meetings (6-2-4). "We're playing a very good team," Porter said. "They're having a little bit of an up-and-down run like us as well but they're a good team. They have very good players. "They've had our number. They've definitely had our number and I know our guys are eager to change that." Still, the Crew hold a 9-4-6 all-time regular-season edge at home, outscoring Toronto FC 36-28 at Historic Crew Stadium. And Columbus is undefeated at home in 11 matches (9-0-2) in all competitions, a run that dates back to last October. Saturday's marks the Crew's penultimate game at Historic Crew Stadium, Major League Soccers first soccer-specific stadium. The curtain will go down June 19 against Chicago Fire FC. "We want to make those both wins, to close out that stadium on a positive," said Porter. Their future home, currently dubbed New Crew Stadium, will open in July. It features 20,000 seats and a supporters' section that features standing room for 3,356. The old stadium opened in 1999 at a cost of US$28.5 million. The new venue is expected to cost some $315 million. Armas, who played more than 300 regular-season and playoff games over 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chicago Fire from 1996 to 2007, has good and bad memories of playing in Columbus. "On many nights I was being booed there as a player by their avid fans and supporters which was always cool," said Armas. "But on many other nights, I was with the U.S. national team being cheered on by maybe the same people." Both sides have injury concerns. Toronto forward Dom Dwyer is listed as out while centre back Omar Gonzalez (thigh) and midfielder Jonathan Osorio are listed as questionable, all with thigh injuries, For Columbus, Kevin Molino (hamstring), Aidan Morris (knee) and Milton Valenzuela (thigh) are listed as out. Questionable are Marlon Hairston (knee), Perry Kitchen (thigh), Derrick Etienne (thigh), Waylon Francis (thigh) and Artur (hip). Toronto's two-game unbeaten run ended in last week's loss at Orlando. The Crew's win over NYCFC win at Red Bull Arena snapped a two-game losing streak. Saturday's game will feature sections for fully vaccinated fans. In partnership with Columbus Public Health, the Crew are providing COVID-19 vaccinations to supporters at the stadium, although that does not permit same-day entry into the vaccinated sections. TORONTO FC (1-3-2) AT COLUMBUS CREW (2-2-2) Saturday, 3 p.m. ET at Historic Crew Stadium. LAST TIME: Toronto won 2-0 on May 12 in Orlando, with both goals coming on set pieces. TIES THAT BIND: Columbus president and GM Tim Bezbatchenko helped build the Toronto side that won the treble in 2017. Former Canadian international goalkeeper Pat Onstad is the Crew's technical director and vice-president of soccer operations. Jaime McMillan (V-P of soccer administrations and operations) and Corey Wray (assistant GM) are also in the Columbus front office. Canadian midfielder Liam Fraser is on loan from TFC to Columbus, but is ineligible to play Saturday. Centre back Josh Williams also played for TFC. --- Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2021. Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
The Church of England faces a financial crunch after seeing donations fall by 20 per cent during the pandemic with 5,000 of its 12,000 parishes now loss-making.

Senior clergy also believe up to fifth of regular worshippers may never return once the crisis is over - and the number of paid priests could be cut by 20 per cent.

This could see the CofE try to recruit more unpaid clergy to reduce costs, although it already has 2,870 unpaid clergy and 7,370 retired clergy who still officiate.

Churches were shut during the first and second lockdowns, and more than half have stayed closed during the third - although they are now legally allowed to open.

With the average age of a CofE member at 61, the Archbishop of York is launching a new strategy later this month to attract more young and BAME worshippers.

Senior clergy at the Church of England believe up to fifth of regular worshippers may never return once the crisis is over - and the number of paid priests could be cut by 20 per cent

An internal report raised questions over the 'sustainability' of many local churches and a financial subsidy given to 5,000 loss-making parishes out of a total of 12,000.

The report, revealed by The Sunday Times, warned up to 20 per cent of regular worshippers may never return and dioceses are trying to 'prune' the number of staff.

Sources said the number of paid priests could be cut by 10 to 20 per cent, as Archbishop Stephen Cottrell prepares to announce a transformation programme.

He is set to reveal on February 25 how the CofE can attract a younger and more ethnically diverse flock, and be a 'Jesus-shaped church' focused on the wider world.

However there are concerns among some traditionalists that the Archbishop is 'cashing in on the coronavirus' amid concerns for the network of 16,000 churches.

It is claimed there will be a management system imposed on parishes which will see assets such as vicarages sold and retained clergy given larger areas to run.

Churches were shut during the first and second lockdowns, and more than half have stayed closed during the third - although they are now legally allowed to open

Writing in the Church Times today, the Archbishop said the Church will have to make 'tough' and 'challenging' changes to spread its clergy fairly across the 42 dioceses.

However he added that clergy are still needed to serve the CofE and are 'are not being pushed out' of their jobs to make up for the continued drop in income.

Archbishop Cottrell wrote: 'It is highly likely that some dioceses are having to reduce the overall number of stipendiary clergy. No one wants to do this. But our key priority is to make sure that it is done prudently and sensitively.

'To put it simply: clergy are not being pushed out, but the preference seems to be that, as some retire and move on, some posts are not being filled.

'Even without Covid, we have known for some years that there would be a big bulge of clergy retirements. We also know that, in some dioceses, particularly in the north, some posts have been hard to fill. We, therefore, still need clergy.'

The CofE and other Christian denominations moved wholesale towards online services after the Government first ordered churches to shut in March last year.

Reverend Lucy Winkett, of St James's Piccadilly in London, delivers an online service last May

But it is thought that some worshippers will not return after the crisis because they have adapted to online services and no longer wish to attend physically.

A Tearfund study also found a quarter of UK adults had watched or listened to a religious service since the lockdown began, and one in 20 had started praying.

There has also been growth in the Alpha course, an introduction to Christianity, which has seen attendance triple at some churches compared to before lockdown.

And research last July estimated online worship had attracted 200,000 to 300,000 people who were either completely new to church or had attended irregularly.

Included within this figure were between 100,000 and 200,000 people who intended to continue with worship either online or in-person, according to the CofE.

But there are also others, such as the elderly or poor, who don't have internet access and have therefore missed out on nearly a whole year of church services.

The CofE study from last July also found between 100,000 and 200,000 of the pre-Covid worshipping community may not return once the pandemic is over.

A socially distanced wedding takes place in a church in Aigburth, Liverpool, in July 2020

The CofE had seen its attendance halve in a generation before the pandemic and it now faces a huge challenge to attract more younger members to sustain its future.

Parish-giving, which is the majority of its revenue, came to 1.1billion before the pandemic, but the lack of physical collections has seen this dramatically reduce.

In the Diocese of Chelmsford, where 61 clergy posts were made redundant last November, donations will be down by 20 per cent this year, reported the Spectator.

However the 'parish share' - the money parishes share with the diocese - was down by 8.1 per cent on the previous year in aggregate at the end of November 2020.

The CofE has also said regular planned giving through direct debit or standing order appears to be withstanding the pandemic better than other parish income.

Data released by the CofE last October for 2019 showed fewer than 700,000 people turned up for Sunday services after congregations fell 14 per cent in a decade.

Reverend Jarel Robinson-Brown, from a prominent CofE parish in London, yesterday condemned the commemoration of Captain Tom Moore as a 'cult of white British nationalism'

Meanwhile, a clergyman from a prominent CofE parish yesterday condemned the commemoration of Captain Sir Tom Moore as a 'cult of white British nationalism'.

Reverend Jarel Robinson-Brown appeared to dismiss the work of the war veteran, whose efforts were praised by all political leaders and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The cleric, newly appointed to a prestigious post by the Bishop of London, added that he would not join last night's national clap to mark the passing of Captain Tom.

The intervention appeared to undermine the CofE and its handling of the Covid crisis at a time when its leaders have faced criticism for their willingness to shut churches.

Reverend Robinson-Brown, a former Methodist minister, was last month appointed as a curate at the oldest church in the City of London, All Hallows By the Tower.
MEMOIR

ALL THE YOUNG MEN

by Ruth Coker Burks and Kevin Carr OLeary (Trapeze 16.99, 355 pp)

A memoir about the early days of the Aids epidemic in America may not sound like a rattling good read, but then Ruth Coker Burks isnt your average writer. A churchgoing Southern belle, Ruth was a single mother selling houses in Arkansas. She had heard talk of a gay cancer, but had only the haziest idea of what it was.

In 1986, while visiting a friend in hospital, Ruth walked past a room with a red biohazard tarpaulin taped over the entrance. Out of sheer nosiness, she stopped outside the door and heard a faint voice calling for help.

The nurses refused to go inside, so Ruth pushed past the tarpaulin and found a young man called Jimmy, so emaciated that you couldnt tell him from the sheets, calling out for his mother.

Ruth Coker Burks has penned a memoir about the early days of the Aids epidemic in America. Pictured: Ruth at a U.S. Pride concert

When Ruth managed to contact Jimmys mother, she was told: That thing is not my son. Ruth sat with Jimmy for 13 hours until he died.

As no one claimed his ashes, the hospital sent them to her. None of the local cemeteries would take someone who had died of Aids so one night Ruth buried Jimmys ashes in her fathers grave. From then on, she writes, Id gone down some kind of rabbit hole.

Although her deeply conservative Southern state was a world away from gay centres like San Francisco, the number of gay men returning home to die in Arkansas was increasing.

Local hospitals started calling Ruth when they had an Aids patient. The doctors and nurses barely provided even basic care and almost all of her boys, as she came to think of them, had been rejected by their families.

Of course, the American Deep South wasnt alone in ostracising those who had Aids and seeing the disease as some kind of punishment for their lifestyle; the hit recent Channel 4 series Its A Sin shows that things were just as bad in Britain at the beginning of the epidemic.

Night after night, Ruth sat with these strangers, comforting them in their final hours. When she couldnt get a babysitter, she would bring her four-year-old daughter Allison along with her.

Before long, young men began calling out of the blue. Most of them knew what was coming, but didnt know what to do, she writes.

In between her job and childcare, Ruth would find them somewhere to live, cook for them and battle to get them disability payments.

ALL THE YOUNG MEN by Ruth Coker Burks and Kevin Carr OLeary (Trapeze 16.99, 355 pp)

Ruth read everything she could about the disease, becoming more expert than many of the doctors, and even learned how to take blood samples so she could encourage people to get tested.

Her outspoken advocacy soon made her a pariah: her best friend dumped her, her church congregation shunned her and she woke up several times to find that the Ku Klux Klan had left a burning cross on her lawn. One of the few hopeful signs came in 1987, when a gloveless Princess Diana was filmed shaking hands with a man who had Aids. Maybe things are changing, Ruth reflected.

After overhearing two women at church gossiping about a disgusting local gay bar, Ruth charmed the owner into allowing her to talk to the bars customers about safe sex.

This was her introduction to drag queens, who teased her, gave her fashion advice and, when she couldnt make it to school pick-up time, I had gay men and lesbians lining up with all the stay-at-home moms in station wagons.

Ruths closest friend among the drag queens was Billy, a dazzlingly handsome young man who, with grim inevitability, eventually succumbed to Aids. One of the last things he did was give a talk to Allisons class; a sign of just how far things had come in the acceptance of gay men.

In the end, Ruth buried almost 40 men and helped many others. She ceaselessly lobbied Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas and, when he became U.S. President in 1993, he championed Aids funding and research.

Yet Ruth, who had done so much to fight prejudice and educate people, was never offered a job with an Aids organisation and continued her work alone.

At times, this book makes for painful reading, but it is never depressing because Ruth Coker Burks tells her story with verve and Southern charm. Not surprisingly, a film of All The Young Men is already in the works.

Its never clear exactly what compelled Ruth to devote her life to helping those with Aids, at a time when the whole world seemed to be against her.

In the end, perhaps, it all came down to her stubborn determination that something had to be done for these young men.

I was tired of waiting for them to die, she says. I was actually trying to help them live instead.
The United States and France on Thursday emphasised the "urgent need" for Lebanon's leaders to form a "credible and effective government", six months after a blast devastated Beirut's port.

In a joint statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the formation of a government and enactment of reforms were "crucial" for the ongoing support of international donors.

"The six-month anniversary of this tragic event underscores the urgent and vital need for Lebanese stakeholders to finally act upon the commitments they have made to form a credible and effective government, and to pave the way for the implementation of necessary reforms, in accordance with the aspirations of the Lebanese people," the two top diplomats said.

They said they also expected "rapid results" from the investigation into the causes of the blast, which killed more than 200 people and gutted a large part of southern Beirut.

France's ambassador to Lebanon, Anne Grillo, earlier expressed frustration at the delay in shedding light on the disaster.

"Six months after the explosion, it is unacceptable that the Lebanese people should still be waiting for answers from its leaders," she said in a statement.

Lebanon's cabinet stepped down after the August 4 explosion, but efforts to form a new one have since hit a wall.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has visited Lebanon twice since the blast, has conditioned the triggering of a massive aid plan on the formation of a reform-minded government.

The French government is hoping for backing on the issue from new US President Joe Biden's administration.

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Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 4 : The Congress in Kerala said on Thursday that it will carry out extensive public campaign against "intensive back-door recruitments" done by the CPI-led UDF government and "review" such cases when it returns to power in the southern state.

"The LDF government led by the CPI-M is on a recruitment spree in Kerala and thereby cheating educated unemployed youths in the state," Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala told the media at Kozhikode during his 'Aiswarya Kerala Yatra'.

"Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is giving largesse to CPI-M cadres at the expense of ordinary educated unemployed youths who don't have political influence. The Congress and the UDF will take their protests to the streets for the sake of youths of Kerala," the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly added.

The Congress leader also said that the recruitment lists prepared by the State Public Service Commission will be of no use as majority of government jobs will be given by the LDF government through the back door.

Chennithala said that the state government had also regularised the services of 118 temporary workers posted in the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-Dit), a department under the Chief Minister.

A Cabinet meeting on Wednesday had regularised 118 temporary workers, leading to an uproar in the state. "Vijayan had overlooked a note of objection by the Finance Department," highly placed sources had told IANS.

Meanwhile, KPCC President Mullappally Ramachandran said that the United Democratic Front will "review" all back-door recruitment once it returns to power in the state.

Speaking to IANS on phone, he said: "The LDF government is indulging in favouritism on a mass scale at the expense of poor and educated but unemployed youths, who have been struggling to crack the state public service commission exams. These youths will never forgive the Left government for these back-door recruitments. We will review all these recruitments once we come back to power."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
WASHINGTON - Even as President Joe Biden meets with senators and works the phones with Capitol Hill to push for a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, his team is increasingly focused on selling the plan directly to voters.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Washington. Even as President Joe Biden gathers with senators and works the phones to push for a giant COVID relief package, his team is increasingly focused on selling the plan directly to voters. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON - Even as President Joe Biden meets with senators and works the phones with Capitol Hill to push for a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, his team is increasingly focused on selling the plan directly to voters.

His administration has done 60-plus interviews with national TV and radio shows. There have been spots on local TV news and briefings last week with more than 50 groups including General Motors, Meals on Wheels America and Planned Parenthood. One of the main goals is to stop people from getting bogged down in the tangle of partisan deal-making and convince them that every penny of the go big package is needed.

The public is not getting caught up in process  what they want is results, said Cedric Richmond, the White House director of public engagement. People these days are not worried about the inside-the-beltway terminology. Theyre looking at whos doing what to help.

The president told House Democrats on Wednesday that he views the package's proposal for $1,400 in direct payments to individuals as a foundational promise to voters. It represents a strategic bet by the White House that voters will suspend their partisan beliefs to evaluate the plan and support its massive scope.

Biden has suggested he may be flexible on the $1.9 trillion topline figure for the plan and on ways to more narrowly target who gets direct payments. But the $1,400 amount  on top of $600 in payments approved in December  appears to be nonnegotiable.

"Im not going to start my administration by breaking a promise to the American people, he said.

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2021, photo, President Joe Biden during his meeting with Democratic lawmakers to discuss a coronavirus relief package, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Even as President Joe Biden gathers with senators and works the phones to push for a giant COVID relief package, his team is increasingly focused on selling the plan directly to voters. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

On Capitol Hill, Democrats pushed ahead on Thursday with the budget process that will pave the way for eventually passing the aid.

Senators were poised for an all-night session to consider amendments that could define the contours of the eventual bill. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, have partnered on a measure that could prevent upper-income taxpayers from qualifying for Bidens proposed $1,400 direct payments.

The Biden package comes after $4 trillion in rescue spending that cushioned the financial blow from the pandemic but did little to stop the disease. It includes politically divisive provisions such as a $15 hourly minimum wage and $350 billion in aid for state and local governments. Ten Republican senators countered with a $618 billion package, one-third of what Biden is offering.

Biden entered the presidency with Americans generally hopeful about his ability to fight the pandemic and guide the economy. About three-quarters said they have at least some confidence in his ability to handle the coronavirus, while roughly two-thirds had at least some confidence in his economic leadership, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Most Americans still see the need for government stimulus. A survey released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University found 68% of U.S. adults support Bidens stimulus package and 24% oppose it. But Republicans are divided on the measure, with 47% opposed and 37% favouring it. Nearly all Democrats backed the plan.

Based on his interactions, Richmond sees these elements of the package as the most popular: the direct payments, the $160 billion for widespread vaccinations, food and nutrition assistance for struggling Americans, and the push to halve the child poverty rate through tax credits and other benefits.

But even Republicans who are supportive of some kind of aid are telling their voters Biden's plan is too expensive  and it's possible people could be turned off if they think stimulus dollars are being wasted.

The group of GOP senators behind the counterproposal told Biden in a letter Thursday that they had significant questions about the size and scope of his plan given how much Congress already has allocated and the more than $60 billion in emergency assistance they said states and districts have yet to spend on public schools.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told KUTV in Salt Lake City that aid to state and local governments, a particular sticking point for Republicans, should be based on actual need, as opposed to a simple blanket payment of billions of dollars, which in many cases would represent a windfall." But Romney also stepped toward bipartisanship Thursday by proposing payments of at least $3,000 per child to families, though they would be paid for in part by cutting other government programs and tax credits that are targeted toward families.

Republicans are betting Biden will pay a price politically if he doesn't take a bipartisan tack. By contrast, Democrats hope Republicans will pay a price if voters don't see them engaging with the fullness of the crisis.

The White House can point to at least one Republican who considers Bidens plan essential: Jeff Williams, the mayor of Arlington, Texas. Williams knows there could be a partisan backlash to supporting Bidens plan. But, on the merits, the term-limited mayor sees no alternative.

The city is gearing up for property tax assessments, and estimates are that revenues could drop 10%, largely because commercial real estate has taken a severe hit as offices, restaurants and hotels have emptied. Williams said he believes Republicans ultimately want to help, too, even if they choke on the high price tag.

Its the right thing to do, he said. The gist of this is that you always have those extremists that are there, but most of our Republicans have been supportive of getting fiscal assistance to cities. They cant come up with that dollar amount.

The United States has lost roughly 10 million jobs because of the pandemic, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates that without additional aid, the jobs won't return in full until 2024. The Census Bureau estimates 1 in 8 households with children lacks sufficient food.

But the picture is also complicated. The Penn Wharton Budget Model found in a report released Wednesday that 73% of the $1,400 stimulus checks would go into savings, meaning there would be limited growth in consumer spending, which helps propel the economy.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Penn Wharton analysis was flawed because it assumes that the U.S. economy is running near full capacity, which would be news to the millions of Americans who are out of work or facing reduced hours and reduced paychecks."
Tanzanias health ministry has denied claims being circulated on social media that hospitals are overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.



The ministrys permanent secretary, Mabula Mchembe, said the public should not spread fear among people.



The government has repeatedly been accused of playing down the threat posed by Covid-19.



Prof Mchembe said that he had visited Mloganzila and Muhimbilia - two major hospitals in the main city Dar es Salaam - and was "satisfied that not everyone admitted here is suffering from Covid-19 as said by social media".



His comments came a few days after Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima showed journalists how to make a concoction from onions, ginger, lemons and green peppers, and encouraged the public to take it as a precautionary measure.



There is no scientific evidence that it helps to combat the virus.



Tanzania is one of the few countries in the world to not publish any data on Covid-19 cases. It last did so in May 2020, when about 500 cases and 20 deaths were recorded. The following month, Mr Magufuli declared Tanzania "coronavirus-free".



Last month, President John Magufuli said some Tanzanians had travelled abroad to take the vaccine but "ended up bringing us a strange coronavirus". The comments were seen as an apparent admission that the virus may be circulating in the country.



Dr Gwajima also warned media outlets not to report unofficial information on coronavirus or any disease. The warning comes after the Catholic Church said it had observed an increase in requiem masses, blaming funerals on a spike in coronavirus infections.



The US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised against all travel to Tanzania and updated its alert to level four, meaning transmission of coronavirus in the country is "high or rising rapidly".



On Monday, Dr Gwajima said that "for now the government has no plans to receive the Covid vaccine being distributed in other countries".



Last week, President John Magufuli warned officials against acquiring vaccines saying they could harm people, without giving evidence.



Millions of people have already been inoculated in many countries after the vaccines were given emergency approval. Vaccines are rigorously tested in trials involving thousands of people before being assessed by health regulators.



They look at all the data on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines before approving them for use on a wider population. Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged Tanzania to consider inoculating its population.

Source: BBC









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Tricare often seems like a never-ending puzzle. Military spouses struggle to figure out what is covered, which provider they can see, and what has changed since the last time they visited the doctor.

Vision coverage is a little easier to understand -- if you have Tricare Prime and no additional insurance.

What does Tricare cover for vision?

When it comes to eye coverage, Tricare vision benefits may cover exams or other services, depending on your age, your coverage and your beneficiary status.

As an active-duty family member, you get one routine eye exam each year. One well-child eye exam for those between the ages of 3 and 6 is covered every two years to screen for amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (crossed eyes) at no cost. But that's pretty much it. If you need more exams or appointments, you may be able to get them after a referral from your primary care manager.

What about the FEDVIP vision coverage?

If you need more coverage, you might consider the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program, or FEDVIP, vision coverage. It is available during open enrollment season, which runs from mid-November to mid-December, and requires an additional payment each month. You can view the available plans online and compare prices using an online tool.

The FEDVIP coverage has enrollment options that include paying for spouse (self), spouse and one child (self plus one), or family (spouse plus multiple children). Active-duty service members cannot use this program.

Costs vary depending on the plan. Monthly costs range from $6 to $15 for spouse and from $20 to $32 for spouse and multiple children. Make sure to view the additional features, as well as limitations for cost of glasses and contact lenses.

Who accepts Tricare vision insurance?

When it's time for an eye exam, some installations may see dependents at the military treatment facility optometrist. Most exchanges also have an optical shop, which can perform exams and order glasses.

You can make an appointment for an eye exam with any local network provider -- without a referral. Many military spouses report on social media that they have gotten eye exams covered at places like Walmart or Costco, but that may not always be the case.

Eileen Huck, deputy director for health care at the National Military Family Association, said the best advice to keep out-of-pocket costs low is, "To visit a network provider, which you can find by checking the directories maintained by the regional Managed Care Support Contractors."

Does Tricare cover glasses?

Now that you've successfully had your eyes checked, you may discover you need glasses. Most of the time, Tricare does not cover the cost of glasses for dependents. Rare exceptions include when glasses (or contacts) are needed to treat certain conditions, such as glaucoma or keratoconus and to retain moisture in the eyes. The full list of exceptions is available on the Tricare website.

The cost of glasses depends largely on the kind of lenses you need, based on your prescription. Some people can get away with $5 readers from Target; others will spend $300 on the glasses they need.

It's best to shop around when purchasing glasses, especially if you want to stay within budget. Some places may even offer a military discount, like the 10% Zenni Optical offers through ID.me. That discount is open to active-duty members, reservists, veterans and military spouses.

Does Tricare cover a contacts exam?

If you prefer contact lenses over glasses, you're pretty much out of luck with regular Tricare coverage. It doesn't cover routine contact lens services, the contacts themselves or the contact lens fittings -- even if done during a routine exam. If you're a contact wearer, you may want to consider using additional coverage, either through your employer, the FEDVIP program or a third party.

Will Tricare cover LASIK?

According to their website, the answer is no, LASIK is not covered by Tricare.

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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI)  Indiana Senator Jon Ford, of Terre Haute, looks to expand the eligibility guidelines of the states Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to serve more Hoosier families.

TANF can provide cash assistance and services like childcare assistance, job preparation, and work assistance. Currently, a family must earn less than or equal to 17% of the Federal Poverty Level to qualify, which is $20,000 for a family of three. Senator Ford says this would leave around $3,400 a year to pay for rent, food, and other necessities.

His bill (Senate Bill 233) would adjust the income eligibility requirements for TANF from 17% to 35% in two years, and in three years, from 35% to 50%.

"Imagine the number of families in Indiana that are in need of assistance but can't apply for TANF because they make more than 17% of the Federal Poverty Level," Ford said. "TANF is a critical means of providing for Hoosier children and helping parents find their footing. Strong families enable a strong society, and TANF helps accomplish this."

Senator Ford said the Wabash Valley has pockets of deep generational poverty, and he believes changing the guideline to offer assistance to more families could help communities across the state. We talk a lot here at the Statehouse and in our region about workforce development and the quality of employees. What it really comes down to is, to attract business, is we have to have a quality workforce. And, families in poverty doesnt equate to qualified workforces. We need to help people lift themselves up.

Fords bill passed the Senate by a vote of 43 to 5. It has moved to the House for consideration.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday emphasised on the need of unity in the country to achieve the goal of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' and make India a great power in the world.

Addressing people in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur at the Centenary celebrations of 'Chauri Chaura' incident through video conference, the Prime Minister said unity had helped us to achieve freedom from the British rule and it will also help us in achieving our goal for 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'.

"The power of unity that broke the chains of slavery, the same power will also make India the great power in the world. This power of unity is the basic foundation of self-reliant India," the Prime Minister said.

Greeting the locals in Gorakhpur in the regional Bhojpuri language to connect with them, Modi said the government's aim to make India self-reliant was for the welfare of 130-crore Indians as well as for the benefit of the world.

Modi also explained how India dispatched necessary medicines to the people across the world during Covid-19 crisis and that the country also played a major role in bringing back Indians from over 50 different countries during the pandemic period. "India also sent foreigners to their countries during the period," the Prime Minister further said.

"Currently", Modi said, "India has been manufacturing Covid-19 vaccine and has established itself on top in inoculation of these vaccines".

He said our freedom fighters would have been feeling proud to see India providing vaccines to foreign countries amid this crisis situation.

Modi also mentioned that there is a need for extraordinary efforts to make this campaign a success.

Mentioning the importance of Budget 2021 presented in Parliament on February 1, the Prime Minister said there is a glimpse of government's effort in this Budget and it will give a "new boost" to the steps taken to deal with the challenges during the Covid-19 crisis.

Modi took part in the Chauri Chaura centenary celebrations which will be celebrated in all schools across the state throughout the year from Thursday (February 4) at 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The year-long celebrations will feature drawing, poster and quiz contests as well as slogan and poetry writing, speech and essay writing competitions.

The day marks 100 years of the 'Chauri Chaura' incident, a landmark event in the country's fight for independence. A group of freedom fighters had set ablaze a police station at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district of the then United Province (now Uttar Pradesh) on February 4, 1922, to protest against the high-handedness of the British regime. The incident claimed the lives of 22 policemen and three freedom fighters.

The Prime Minister also released a postal stamp dedicated to the centenary during the event.

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was also present on the occasion.
Nirav Modi files appeal in UK high court against his extradition to India

Hand over Mehul Choksi directly to India: Antigua and Barbuda PM to Dominica

PNB scam: Nirav Modi's sister moves court to get NBW canceled

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Mumbai, Feb 4: Fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi''s sister and her husband on Thursday approached a court here seeking cancellation of non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against them in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

Purvi Modi, Nirav Modi''s younger sister, is a Belgian national while her husband Maiank Mehta is a British citizen.

Both were earlier named as accused in the case, but last month the PMLA court here accepted their plea for turning approver (prosecution witness) in the case and getting pardon.

The couple, through their lawyers, filed applications before special Prevention of Money Laundering Act judge V C Barde, seeking cancellation of NBWs issued against them.

The court asked the Enforcement Directorate, the probe agency, to file a reply and posted the matter for hearing on February 11.

Previous govts drafted Budget with eye on vote bank: PM Modi

"Purvi Modi and her husband Maiank Mehta turned approver for assisting in confiscation of two flats in New York, one each in London and Mumbai, balances in two Swiss bank accounts and a bank account in Mumbai totalling Rs 579 crore in the Nirav Modi bank fraud case," the ED had said earlier.

Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, both declared fugitive, are accused of cheating the PNB of Rs 13,000 crore by fraudulently obtaining Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) from its Brady House branch in Mumbai.

LoUs are issued as bank guarantee to obtain credit from overseas institutions.

Nirav Modi, 49, is presently in a London jail after his arrest there in 2019, and the legal process to extradite him to India on money laundering charges is underway. Choksi is said to be living in Barbuda and Antigua.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 19:09 [IST]
Dr. Ebony Hilton Leads Call for Secretary of Equity

An honest and comprehensive reckoning with Americas racial history and enacting solutions to address it is perhaps the transcendent issue of our time, argues Janet Murguia, the president of UnidosUS, a D.C.-based advocacy organization.

The path forward may be difficult, complicated, and contested, but it is essential to pursue, Murguia remarked in a news release where she and other advocates form the Racial Equity Anchor Collaborative.

The collaborative is the foremost diverse coalition of national, racial justice, and civil rights organizations representing and serving more than 53 million people in the U.S.

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The group calls on President Joe Biden to create an office within the White House to coordinate efforts to reduce racial inequality in all its forms.

Shortly after his Jan. 20 swearing-in, President Biden issued an executive order to advance equity and support for underserved communities.

The President had pledged to do his part in the fight against systemic racism in America, and his executive order charges all federal agencies with reviewing equity in their programs and actions.

President Biden has demanded that the Office of Management and Budget analyze whether federal dollars are equitably distributed in communities of color.

The coalition argues that the new administration also should establish a White House Office on Racial Equity and Inclusion.

The office would coordinate the full range of federal agency efforts to advance racial equity, centered on the administrations promise to confront systemic racism and heal the soul of our nation.

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Murguia declared that creating such office is a crucial first step toward ensuring that our country lives up to its core shared value of equal opportunity for all Americans.

The coalition is not alone in pushing the Biden administration to create an office responsible for racial equity.

Dr. Ebony Hilton, the medical director and co-founder of GoodStock Consulting, LLC, and an anesthesiologist and critical care physician at the University of Virginia, has started a change.org petition for the Biden administration to create and appoint a Secretary of Equity.

Comparable to a Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer of an organization, the Secretary of Equity would serve as a catalyst to initiate equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) assessments and policies while leveraging best practices and resources across various federal agencies, Dr. Hilton wrote in a letter on behalf of GoodStock Consulting.

The vision of the position is to use objective information and analytics to create and support a culture of inclusion and belonging where individuals from all diversity dimensions, racial and ethnic identities, ages, nationalities, social and economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, religious, political and ideological perspectives, and physical and mental abilities, are able to thrive and be actively engaged, her letter continued.

The importance of the position is underscored by Covid-19 statistics, which show that African Americans are disproportionately affected by the virus. Data also show that access to the vaccine is eluding the Black community.

According to statistics compiled by the independent nonprofit KFF, which focuses on national health issues, as of January 19, 2021, over 12 million COVID-19 vaccines had been administered across the country.

To date, race and ethnicity vaccination patterns appear to be at odds with who the virus has affected the most, KFF reported.

Based on vaccinations with known race/ethnicity, the share of vaccinations among Black people is smaller than their share of cases in all 16 reporting states and smaller than their share of deaths in 15 states.

For example, in Mississippi, Black people account for 15 percent of vaccinations, compared to 38 percent of cases and 42 percent of deaths, and, in Delaware, 8 percent of vaccinations have been received by Black people, while they make up nearly a quarter of cases (24 percent) and deaths (23 percent).

In Pennsylvania, just 3 percent of those vaccinated are Black.

As vaccine distribution continues, ensuring racial equity will be important for mitigating the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on people of color, preventing widening health disparities, and achieving broad population immunity, KFF officials wrote.

Dr. Hilton noted further that the Secretary of Equity would provide strategic and programmatic leadership for diversity and inclusion initiatives that advance diversity as a critical component of federal and local policies.

This position will lead a team of Equity Officers that sit within these targeted federal agencies to assess the existing and potential disparities specific to that agency and its respective industries  greater than racial disparities and within all diversity dimensions, Dr. Hilton noted.

As mentioned, this position would work across various agencies with specific interest and collaborative partnerships with the agencies that directly impact the social determinants of health like the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Treasury, the Small Business Administration and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Regarding establishing a White House Office on Racial Equity and Inclusion, the National Urban League President Marc Morial also noted his support.

Even before 2020 exposed our pandemic of a deadly triple disease and economic hardship and racial unrest, America was a nation that still had only begun to grapple with the legacy of white supremacy, Morial stated.

Establishing a White House Office on Racial Equity and Inclusion is our best hope of nurturing that awakening and achieving our true potential.

Watch Dr. Ebony Hiltons interview with the Black Press at Facebook.com/BlackPressUSA, Twitter: @BlackPressUSA, and YouTube.com/BlackPressUSATV.
Police stand guard on a street in Yangon, Burma on Feb. 4, 2021, days after a military coup. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Beijing, Longtime Supporter of Burma, Watching Coup Situation Closely: Reporter

Beijing has much at stake in Burma as the Southeast Asian country plunged into a political crisis after a military coup, according to OANN TV host and former Navy intelligence officer Jack Posobiec.

When it comes to the Burma situationthis is all about the reach and the stretch of the CCPs [Chinese Communist Party] influence across not only in East Asia, the South China Sea, but now were seeing into Southeast Asia, said Posobiec in an interview with The Epoch Times sister media NTD.

On Jan. 31, Burmas military seized control of the country by arresting the countrys top political leader Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of other lawmakers. The army said it carried out the coup because of alleged electoral fraud during the federal elections in November last year. Suu Kyis political party, National League for Democracy, had won by a landslide. The military placed Burmese army chief Min Aung Hlaing, 64, in charge of the country.

The Burmese military has since drawn widespread criticism for its coup, including foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G-7) nations, human rights groups, and United Nations special rapporteur Tom Andrews.

CCP

Posobiec said Chinas long history of supporting Burma, whether it was led by Suu Kyi or the former military junta, had to do with how the CCP sees its southeast neighbor as an important source of rare earth metals and a strategic corridor to the Indian Ocean. Burma and southwestern Chinas Yunnan Province share an extensive border.

On Feb. 2, China and Russia blocked a U.N. Security Council joint statement condemning the military coup.

China and Russia also blocked a U.N. Security Council statement in March 2017, that expressed concern about the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Burmas coastal Rakhine State. The persecution has resulted in more than 740,000 Rohingya refugees fleeing to Burmas western neighbor Bangladesh.

In 2007, China and Russia vetoed a U.S. resolution calling on Burmas military junta, then in control of the state, to release political prisoners and speed up its progress toward democracy.

Burma is one of the largest producers of rare earths in the world. According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, Burma ranked third in rare-earth production in 2019, behind China and the United States. China accounts for over 70 percent of global annual production.

According to Chinese state-run media Global Times, China imported 26,000 tons of carbonate-based rare earth compounds from Burma in 2018.

Rare earths are 17 elements on the periodic table that are required for manufacturing electronics, such as computers, digital cameras, and computer monitors, as well as defense products used by the U.S. military.

In 2018, China and Burma signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the construction of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), which includes rails and roads that will link Yunnans capital of Kunming to the Burmese cities of Muse and Mandalay, which are, in turn, linked to Burmas port of Kyaukpyu in southern Rakhine State.

The CMEC project, which also includes building oil and gas pipelines, is a part of Chinas foreign policy project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as One Belt, One Road).

Through the sea port and other Chinese-built infrastructure, Beijing can ship oil from Iran through Burma, bypassing the Strait of Malacca.

Posobiec explained that Chinese construction projects in Burma, as well as similar projects in Pakistan, serve as strategic encirclement against Indian forces as the Chinese regime seeks to expand its influence in the Indian Ocean.

China also has similar BRI construction projects in Pakistan, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which included the development of the Pakistan port of Gwadar.

Last month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping traveled to Burma and met with Suu Kyi. The two sides signed 33 agreements, including an MoU on local cooperation under the CMEC between Yunnan and Mandalay, according to the Burmese government.

While it remains to be seen whether Beijing would publicly side with the Burmese military or Suu Kyi, the army chief Min Aung Hlaing visited China in mid-January. At the meeting, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi praised Burmas military for taking national revitalization as its mission.

Biden Administration

I think the Biden administrations response has been completely soft, Posobiec said. He questioned why neither President Joe Biden nor State Secretary Antony Blinken has held a press conference to talk about Burma.

He added: Theres no talk of economic warfare. Theres no talk of economic leverage that the United States could be using against China, against Burma in this situation.

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department designated the military takeover in Burma a coup, meaning that U.S. aid to the Southeast Asian country will be cut.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement on Jan. 31 saying that the U.S. will take action against those responsible for the military actions in Burma.

On Feb. 1, Biden issued a statement saying the United States will work with our partners throughout the region and the world to support the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in Burma.

According to the White House, Biden has since spoken to South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison about the Burma situation, including about working together to hold to account those responsible for the coup in Burma.

On Feb. 3, Rep. Carlos A Gimenez (R-Fla.) warned on Twitter that Burmas military coup emboldens #Chinas interests in the Indo-Pacific and undermines everything we stand for.

The international community must come together to condemn, sanction, and increase diplomatic pressure on the military to return Myanmar [alternative name for Burma] to civilian authority, he added.

ANN ARBOR, MI  A petition for an opt-in, in-person graduation ceremony at the University of Michigan has gained more than 2,700 signatures just a few hours after the university announced plans for a virtual event for 2021 graduates.

Due to health and safety concerns related to COVID-19, this years commencement ceremony on May 1 will be virtual, university officials said. It will be the second straight year UMs commencement ceremonies are online because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But members of the UM community said they think an in-person graduation can be done safely.

COVID concerns prompt another virtual spring graduation at University of Michigan

Their petition calls for an opt-in, socially distanced in-person graduation at Michigan Stadium. The stadium can seat more than 107,000 people, which is more than enough room for an in-person ceremony that meets current state guidelines for in-person events, petition organizers said.

About 8,000 seniors in the stadium wouldnt even fill 10% of the capacity and it would be even less if you split up by major. That could be doable with masks and testing, the petition states.

Tal Lipkin, a senior in UMs Ford School of Public Policy and creator of the petition, said in a statement that the decision to have commencement entirely online left her and her classmates feeling frustrated and defeated.

She created the petition, she said, to give students an opportunity to voice their concerns. It immediately became clear students and families agree there is the potential for a safe graduation ceremony, Lipkin said.

As seniors, nearly a third of our college experience has been seized by the COVID pandemic with commencement now marking the latest and likely final blow, Lipkin said. While we understand that safety remains the top priority among both the university and the students, we strongly believe there is a way to engage in an in-person commencement that is voluntary, socially-distanced, and in accordance with all local and state regulations.

Celia Oleshansky, a UM senior, said she was sad when she heard commencement be online, but was not surprised. Commencement is important to her and other seniors based on the support of the petition, she said, and she thinks and in-person graduation would be an appropriate way to honor her hard work.

(Having) students only and opt-in would alleviate so many of the liability problems, as well as the fact that there is more than enough space to have everyone socially distant and wear masks, Oleshansky said. If students are being trusted to study in enclosed spaces I dont understand why we cant have a graduation ceremony.

UM conducted a survey of recent graduates and more than 70% said they would be at least moderately interested in returning to take part in future in-person graduation ceremonies, according to a university news release. The same survey showed that students are interested in taking part in a virtual commencement ceremony if the university was unable to host an in-person ceremony, the release states.

In the release UM President Mark Schlissel noted the university does not know what public health measures will need to be in place in May to host events like commencement.

UM is currently under a stay-in-place recommendation by the Washtenaw County Health Department as COVID-19 cases rise on campus, including 21 cases of the more easily transmitted B.1.1.7 variant.

34% of COVID-19 cases in Washtenaw County associated with University of Michigan

UM is inviting students to attend future in-person commencement ceremonies and considering options for inviting class of 2020 and class of 2021 graduates back to campus for special in-person celebrations, Schlissel said.

Oleshansky said she would love to come back for graduation, but it might be unrealistic if the school plans it during the same weekend as future commencement ceremonies.

 (UM) had the resources to make this happen, and their refusal to do so is an embarrassment to the institution, Oleshansky said. How can we call ourselves the leaders and the best if at every opportunity we have chosen the most disappointing option?

READ MORE:

What you should know about the University of Michigans latest stay-in-place recommendation

34% of COVID-19 cases in Washtenaw County associated with University of Michigan

University of Michigan being sued for FOIA violation, legal complaint states
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Research about the causes and reasons for the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust, based on documentation has gone on for dozens of years, and has ascertained a variety of long-range processes that coalesced in certain historical circumstances. Yet Dr. Hanan Shai, in the article that was published this week under the auspices of the BESA center (Jan. 15, A serious moral failure at Yad Vashem) instructs us, without a flutter of an eyelid, that there were two central reasons.

The first reason: that in contrast to the scientific revolution, whose founders replaced the narratives a...
A serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been wounded as a result of the shelling attacks of Ukrainian positions launched by Russia-occupation forces, the Pivnich (North) Operational Command reported.

"Today, on February 4, not far from Pivdenne settlement, in the area of responsibility of the Pivnich tactical group, the Russia-occupation forces once again violated the ceasefire regime and fired at our positions with 82-mm mortars and small arms. As a result of the shelling attacks, one Ukrainian serviceman received a gunshot wound," the command said on its Facebook page.

The soldier was promptly taken to a medical institution, where he is being provided with the necessary medical assistance. The leadership of the military unit and the working group of the military law enforcement service are working at the scene.

It is noted that the OSCE representatives were informed about the actions of the enemy through the Ukrainian side of the JCCC.

Aiken residents rolled up their sleeves Wednesday in the City of Aiken Municipal Building to give blood while the American Red Cross collected donations.

Each patient's blood donation will be tested for COVID-19 antibodies as an added bonus. These antibody-positive units could go toward helping current coronavirus hospital patients, as many hospitals have a need for convalescent plasma.

Kristen Boyle, an account representative for the Red Cross, said giving blood is always important, especially now.

"We need people to donate, donate, donate," said Boyle.

Terry Washington came by to donate Wednesday afternoon and he said it's something he enjoys doing.

"I always like to help people out and make sure everyone else can stay healthy, as well as myself," Washington said.

Rachel Clough also donated blood Wednesday afternoon.

"Im a Realtor and the Aiken Board of Realtors sent out an email to all of the members asking us to go and donate," Clough said. "I was very happy to do so."

Clough said she hadn't donated in a while and the email was a "good reminder that thats something we should all be doing."

Michelle Dunlap, a phlebotomist at the drive, emphasized the importance of giving blood by saying it "saves lives."

"Everybody needs someone to step in and be their brave hero to donate blood to help save a life," Dunlap said.
Since beginning this column I notice that everyone has an opinion.

Which is fair enough. Who wants sheep? Its an indication of peoples commitment to the city and their passion for the place that theyre bothered enough to take a view.

Not quite as many can volunteer an alternative to the status quo. Not a solution, necessarily  not when I didnt mention a problem in the first place  but a way to maybe outflank issues before they become problems. Or to see potential avenues worth pursuing.

Hence I got on the phone to Barry OConnor.

Something we have that others dont, is history, he said.

Grace Neville from UCC gave me a book a few years ago  she co-edited it with Joachim Fischer  called As Others Saw Us: Cork through European Eyes.

Its a book of accounts of peoples experiences with and in Cork, going back to 1149. One of them is from Alexis de Tocqueville in 1835  he went on to write a travel book about America thats still cited today  and when he came to Cork he said the city was very attractive, fine houses and so on.

But he also says he went through Cork in an open carriage with 'two young men, very merry after drinking much wine  these young people talked to almost all the passers-by and joked with them, everyone replied with laughter and other jokes  I thought I was in France'. Thats 1835, but it could be yesterday

Now retired as President of Cork Institute of Technology, it wasnt a surprise after his reference to de Tocqueville to hear Barry advocate strongly for Cork to look to Europe.

Id always be of the opinion that Cork should be a city with a major European focus. We have direct connections  which will come back after the pandemic  with the port of Cork and the airport.

The point being, I often think Cork is wasting its time trying to get money out of Dublin. There are better resources available through the EU  for research, collaboration, all of that.

I remember an event in Cork involving the city of Bordeaux which was organised by Cork City Council. I was talking to a woman who was with the university there and they were looking for a city which they could partner with for teacher-training purposes, to get teachers on placement in schools, so I connected them with the North Mon over a couple of years.

Barry O'Connor, former president of CIT.

Cities like that are crying out for connection  medium-sized cities, second cities.

This is an interesting phenomenon in and of itself, and Barry pointed out that if Cork were to build up partnerships in Europe it might be no harm to look for cities that feel a little hard done by because theyre seen as second cities in a sense; Im talking about the likes of Bordeaux or Lyon in France, Graz in Austria, these are cities which could be tapped into.

With his background in education it wasnt a surprise when he pointed out that Cork has educational advantages that are unavailable elsewhere in the country.

What we have, we need to make others aware of. There are joint degrees from UCC and MTU (Munster Technological University), for instance, which maximise the resources of the two universities for the common good  but those arent on offer anywhere else in the country.

It was a huge achievement to get the UNESCO Learning City Award a few years ago too. I dont think people realise that

To put that in context, the two previous UNESCO Learning Cities were Beijing and Mexico City.

When UNESCO officials came to Cork to inspect the bid, one of the things that really surprised them was that the work being done on the bid was being done on a voluntary basis.

John OHalloran in UCC, Ted Owens in the ETB, Ann Doherty in City Council, all of those people were doing that work on top of their day jobs; Im quite sure in Beijing someone, or a whole team of people, was given the job and their desk was cleared until they got the bid over the line.

Opportunity knocks

Should it be a matter of people working on projects like that in their spare time, though? Would it not be better to have someone given that kind of brief  to operate as a facilitator between the different agencies if an opportunity like this pops up?

Maybe, he said.

Someone doing that job would probably help. All the bits and pieces are there, a bit like having all the ingredients without having a specific recipe. Or a cook.

These are things that are happening organically, which is great, but is there room for the city to go out and be proactive, to look for opportunities or to create opportunities itself? Absolutely.

Take Brexit. The fact that Britain has opted out of Erasmus programmes means suddenly therell be thousands of European students who are keen to have an English-language experience while theyre in college, but they cant have that experience in Britain anymore.

A crazy decision in Britain, but why dont we go after those students? Thats what I mean when I say we should be proactive

When Brexit was being discussed a year or two ago people were saying all the European companies in London would leave and head to Dublin.

As far as I can see a lot of them have headed to Frankfurt instead, but there are opportunities for Cork in terms of bringing in students. From my time in CIT I found that Corks size and safety were huge selling points for overseas students  it was big enough for them to enjoy as a city in terms of nightlife, but small enough to feel safe compared to much bigger urban areas.

That was the feedback we got from students from places as far apart as the Middle East and the US. And looping around to where we started, a lot of them told us that Cork was also the ideal base if they wanted to travel to Europe for a holiday in Paris or to meet friends in Holland or whatever they wanted to do.

And were back again to the need to have a European focus.

Linking up Cork

Its not all about looking east. He pointed out that recent announcements in Cork augur well for the city as a whole, even if they could be augmented.

You were writing last week about bus transport and the train link thats planned for the city, to move people east-west from Ballincollig to Mahon, which is a great initiative.

But moving people north-south cant be neglected either. You cant get a rail link up the hills on the northside of Cork, so surely the solution there is smaller buses and more of them.

Because these are all linked. Improved access to the city, and within the city, means improved access to education, that makes the city more attractive when youre trying to attract inward investment from Europe.

That in turn makes it more likely that people will want to visit here on holidays. And were back to de Tocqueville in his open carriage.

We are. Only now its a bus. But its still Cork.
COLUMBIA  An effort by South Carolinas Democratic House leader to bar police from stopping vehicles only because they bear tag-obscuring frames failed to gain traction among lawmakers Feb. 3.

Columbia attorney and bill sponsor Todd Rutherford said the issue is about freedom of speech and preventing police from checking drivers' license plates at random.

It takes just a cursory glance on any highway, any byway, any secondary road in South Carolina to see these frames are ubiquitous, and at some point the law has to catch up with what peoples personal habits are, the House Minority Leader told The Post and Courier on Feb. 3, minutes after a subcommittee opted not to vote on his proposal amid backlash from a former sheriff and other law enforcement officials.

We have 50 states. Fifty state tag systems," state Rep. Bruce Bryant, R-Lake Wylie and a 20-year York County sheriff, told the House panel. "And its important that someone, whether its law enforcement or someone thats just been robbed or assaulted or burglarized, if they get a glimpse of a tag, that they can tell where that tags from."

Frames obscuring a plates letters, numbers, registration or state logo have been illegal since 2013, but Rutherford said the law is already outdated, and in the wake of a summers worth of calls for racial equality, police reform and civil justice, giving authorities latitude to make traffic stops for no reason beyond a partially unreadable plate needs to be re-examined.

Mostly, its just a recognition of where society already is," he said. "Every dealership that I know of gives people these frames. You can buy them at every gas station and any store, and then you give an officer probable cause to pull you over because of it."

S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles chief Kevin Shwedo told lawmakers he understood the concerns aired by law enforcement, especially with more than 400 vanity plates available for motorists to choose from in South Carolina.

One of the key things you can tell is whos behind the wheel from a license plate, he said. If youre covering the state (logo) or the registration sticker, its difficult for (police) to do their job.

Thats made even more challenging since under Rutherfords measure a person would have to have committed at least one other violation besides having a frame before police could make a traffic stop, the Sheriffs Association said.

I'm sensitive to the concern there are certain biases out there for certain folks making these stops, but I'm also concerned about the officer safety and public safety if we allow this to move forward, said Jarod Bruder, the associations vice president.

Rutherford, a criminal defense attorney, said law enforcement agencies already have expansive powers.

Law enforcement would love if we walked around with our criminal record and our entire background on our foreheads. Thats not the reality we live in. Nothing about having a frame around your license plate makes it more difficult, for police. If the officer believes that he need not approach that car, then he can call for backup.

The House Education and Public Works subcommittee that tabled Rutherfords bill could bring it up again, but it was not clear whether members would do so.
I t used to be a joke, the British unwillingness to speak a foreign language. Now its not even funny. We learn today that far fewer students are taking arts subjects at university, and in the case of modern languages, theres been a decrease of over a third since 2011 to 3,830.

Whats going on? Has the entire nation been relying on Google Translate when they go abroad? Well, probably.

But its also the flip side of the other obvious trend, that more young people are gravitating to computer sciences, engineering and medicine. You know, its possible to have both.

So much for Brexit Britains push to engage constructively with our European neighbours and create new vibrant export markets. In all these endeavours it helps not to start with the assumption that everyone else is going to speak English, even if quite often it turns out to be true. The upside to Brexit is that young Brits arent going to be hideously embarrassed in Brussels by being surrounded by polyglots: most Belgians fret if they cant speak four languages.

The decline at university is the natural result of a falling off in languages further down the educational system. Thats much more problematic. This time last year a report by the Higher Education Policy Institute warned that UK pupils are miles behind their European counterparts when it comes to knowledge of a foreign language. Less than a third of 16 to 30-year-olds are able to speak and read another language.

Why? Back in 2002, the Labour government scrapped the requirement that everyone should study languages at key stage four, to set them up for GCSE.

The inexorable result is that fewer than half of UK pupils take modern languages at GCSE, compared with over three quarters back then. Thats a failed policy then.

Time for the man of the moment, Gavin Williamson, Education Secretary, to reverse it. Then theres the unspoken problem, that so much of what language tuition remains is done by private schools.
1. Yes. The public must have assurances that ethical standards are met by everyone.

2. Yes. As long as an independent board hears the grievances, its a worthwhile idea.

3. No. The concept is too broad. It should be limited to the citys elected officials.

4. No. There are plenty of stipulations in place already. An ordinance is a waste of time.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without seeing how it would be structured and applied.

Vote

View Results
Thursday marks two years after 46-year-old Tyrone Michael Shaw was killed by a single shot when his car broke down on Interstate 81 in Dauphin County.

State police are still investigating the case and asking for the publics help.

According to police, Shaw was shot between 7:10 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 4, 2019. His black 2004 GMC Yukon had broken down at mile marker 75.4 in West Hanover Township.

Shaw died from a single gunshot wound to the head after he was forced to stop along the shoulder because of his vehicle, police said. The shooting appears to be an isolated incident and police said evidence shows he was killed within minutes of breaking down.

Witnesses previously described the presence of a secondary vehicle positioned behind Shaws SUV around the time of his death, police said.

Shaw, from Roselle Park, New Jersey, was visiting at least one home in the Allison Hill neighborhood of Harrisburg in the hours before his death, police said.

Investigators are continuing to work with New Jersey State Police and the Harrisburg Police Department to develop leads.

A cash reward of $5,000 is being offered to anyone whose information leads to an arrest, police said.

People can submit tips anonymously through the Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers website. Tips can also be sent through a text message to 717-645- 3275, or by contacting the state police Harrisburg barracks at 717-671-7500. Anyone with information should reference incident number PA19-148032.
In Congress, it's getting gross.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a far-left socialist who now earns $174,000 a year, poses for Vogue glamour shoots, and got a coveted first spot in the COVID vaccination line at age 31, would have you know she's actually a ... victim.

Here is just one string of her new trend in self-absorbed victim-tweets.

You may not know that you know a survivor, but its highly likely that you do.



Survivors of trauma are close to you. They are people you love & you may not know.



Many decide whether their story is safe with someone by how they respond to other survivors.



Dont push them away.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 3, 2021

This followed her previous meltdown a few days earlier regarding her claim that she was a maiden-in-distress facing imminent death when a mob breached the Capitol building on Jan. 6, a place it turns out she wasn't actually in. This, on top of Sen. Ted Cruz supposedly trying to 'murder' her, she claimed.

Had enough?

Rep. Ilhan Omar, another far-left socialist who got rescued by American as a child refugee from a socialist hellhole, did a lot of fashion photo shoots, spewed the fourth world's most disgusting anti-Semitic tropes with congressional impunity, and engaged in oodles of ballot-harvestings and campaign violations and apparently married her brother, all scot-free, would have you know that she's actually a victim, too. Despite being immune from rule of law no matter what she does, everyone does her wrong:

I will be honest and say its getting really scary to serve with people with guns, who dehumanize and target you.



I fear that with no accountability, no recourse and calls to move on will turn this toxic environment into a deadly situation.  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 3, 2021

Omar subscribes to the Chekhovian rule of drama that if a gun is introduced in the first act of a drama, then the gun must be fired in the next. That's drama of course, not real life. Omar is the queen of drama. So here we have another maiden in distress, shivering at the sight of a Republican with a gun. Spare us.

There's also fellow squad member, Ayanna Pressley, another hard-left advocate of the 20th century's most murderous ideology, who decided on "going public" about her travails with alocopeia, a condition that causes hair loss.

According to NPR, citing the video below:

"I've only been bald in the privacy of my home and in the company of close friends," Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts says at the beginning of an emotional video in which she revealed she is living with alopecia. "I do believe going public will help," she says in the video published by The Root. "I'm ready now, because I want to be freed from the secret and the shame that secret carries with it. Because I'm not here just to occupy space  I'm here to create it."

Her whopper? Her claim to feel any shame.

Pressley to her credit though had a real loss to discuss, quite unlike the others,whose claims to victimhood were vaporous.

These women, as noted earlier, are the hardest of hard-left socialists, communists, more likely. Yet they're unlike their spiritual forebears in that they've introduced Oprah-style self-pity and "opening up" and "sharing" in a narcissistic bid to get attention.

You don't see Bernie Sanders engaging openly in such self-pity and letting it all hang out. You don't see Nancy Pelosi doing that, either. Not even their spiritual mentor, Hugo Chavez did that -- he had too much leering malevolence for that. Mao? Lenin? Stalin? For all the evil they engaged in, they never went Oprah on us. Only Fidel Castro, and maybe Evita Peron had a foot in that bucket at times.

One wonders what might be going on? It might be that they really are the Oprah generation just acting out the oversharing and weeping they saw on T.V. since they were children.

Or that their addiction to social media, particularly Instagram and Twitter, both of which encourage vanity, are all that they know.

Or that they don't do anything in Congress leaves them with a lot of idle time on their hands for navel-gazing and Instagram emoting.

Or it might be something more disgusting: A bid to sell their Orwellian socialist vision with a creepy candy-coating of sugar and treacle, now that word is out that socialism creates hellholes wherever it's tried.

Whatever it is, it's narcissism and self-absorption, the very opposite of the American lend-a-hand frontier spirit. People like AOC and Omar are so enthralled by their festival of self-pity they'll never understand what makes America great. They just sell socialism by emoting.

Image: Screen shot from shareable video posted on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Instagram site.
Things to Do in San Diego at a Distance in February

The ability of Manitoba to stop the spread of COVID-19 will be put to a new test amid the appearance of more contagious variants in Saskatchewan, and the absence of a plan to erect border checkpoints.

The ability of Manitoba to stop the spread of COVID-19 will be put to a new test amid the appearance of more contagious variants in Saskatchewan, and the absence of a plan to erect border checkpoints.

"For variants, there is no playbook or blueprint for what to do," said Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, a renowned University of Manitoba virologist.

SUPPLIED Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, assistant professor and Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba.

"It's certainly a difficult problem to address."

In recent weeks, virus variants have emerged that make COVID-19 easier to transmit. The mutations might be more deadly, could infect people a second time, and might also be more effective at infecting people who have been vaccinated.

Manitoba has so far not tracked any variants in the 5 per cent of positive test samples that it screens. Saskatchewan announced Tuesday that two cases of the B.1.1.7 strain emerged in tests taken in mid-January, involving someone who had returned from the United Kingdom, and one of their close contacts.

Last Friday, Manitoba expanded its quarantine requirement because of such variants, meaning anyone who arrives in Manitoba, aside from essential workers, must self-isolate.

Kindrachuk, who has been critical of Manitoba's COVID-19 response, said the provinces decision to broaden the quarantine was the right move.

"Manitoba has set the tone. Outside of the Atlantic bubble, we haven't seen other provinces that have done this," he said.

"I think the stance they are taking is quite admirable."

For months, the Atlantic provinces prevented COVID-19 cases arriving from the rest of Canada by requiring people to quarantine upon arrival. The provinces have ended the so-called Atlantic bubble, but New Brunswick still requires a quarantine and pre-registration before arrival.

Kindrachuk said Manitoba probably wouldnt benefit by putting up checkpoints at the more than 70 roads linking it to Saskatchewan and Ontario.

"What do those resource allocations take away from? Because you can't just bring in added people; you have to move them from somewhere else," he said.

The Justice Department said officials have put up signs at provincial borders about the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days, and the penalties for not doing so.

"Enforcement efforts are fluid and adjusted on an as-needed basis. Communication and education remain the focal point of these efforts," a spokeswoman wrote.

Meanwhile, the federal government is looking at expanding its mandatory hotel quarantine for air passengers to include the land border.

Manitoba acting deputy chief public health officer Jazz Atwal said the province is part of those talks. "Theyre finalizing some of their work," he said of Ottawa.

Kindrachuk said there might be some small-scale ways to monitor people who arrive from other provinces, such as checking in on people with non-Manitoba licence plates, or have Liquor Mart staff take note of people who present out-of-province driver's licences.

By far, he said, the best thing to do is follow the long-standing advice to avoid gatherings, wear a mask and wash one's hands.

"We can't cover every piece of terrain possible to stop the potential incursion of this virus into the community," Kindrachuk said, adding the province's contact-tracing system must be up to the task.

"Our greatest strength is trying to pick up (variant) cases, if and when they first are identified, and figure out how, as quickly as possible, to ensure transmission does not sort of take off."

That will be crucial to avoiding another lockdown, said Atwal.

"If something is more communicable, (if) it has the same impact on morbidity, morality hospitalizations (as existing strains), obviously that would impact our ability to loosen the orders, if a variant does ever come hold in Manitoba."

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
This editorial appears in the February 5, 2021 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

EDITORIAL

Opposition Threatens to Derail

The Davos Globalists Great Reset

[Print version of this editorial]

Jan. 29For those globalist oligarchs who spent four years obsessively focused on removing Donald Trump from the Presidency, the January 20 inauguration of Joe Biden should have been a moment of immense relief. While Trump was prevented from carrying out his plans for a full, decisive break with the strategic orientation of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, largely due to the fabricated Russiagate narrative, he repeatedly interfered with their plans, and his unpredictability made him a constant threat to inflict more damage.

Trumps intention to collaborate closely with President Vladimir Putin and Russia represented a danger to the designs of the British-led imperial forces, to keep the world divided along classic geopolitical lines, while his withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord and the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreementa central feature of Obamas anti-China Asia Pivotdisrupted years-long plans for eliminating the ability of sovereign nations to exert control over their economic and trade policies.

Yet, after removing Trump from his role as Commander-in-Chief, the anti-Trump forces have continued to move aggressively to destroy him and the movement which produced seventy-five million votes for him in the 2020 election. Using the pretext of an alleged storming of the Capitol on January 6, Trump was impeached an unprecedented second time, without even a preliminary investigation of what actually occurred, which would have shown that intelligence and security agenciessuch as the CIA and FBIlikely had a hand in provoking the deadly events of that day.

Further, a heavy-handed escalation of the surveillance state is underway, which includes calls for more aggressive monitoring of right-wing groups by passing a new, more extensive Patriot Act; censorship of social media platforms by the Big Tech accomplices of the military-industrial complex; and the designation of Trump supporters as violent thugs and terrorists. Meanwhile, troops remain stationed in Washington, allegedly to protect the Capitol from those accused of preparing a violent assault during the coming impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate.

In the background is the continuous drone of QAnon-related voices, with their insistent claims that Biden is not the President, that the military has been empowered by Trump to impose martial law by secretly invoking the Insurrection Act, and that Biden, Hillary Clinton, and thousands of others will be arrested and tried before military tribunals, in preparation for his return, in March or April. The Q interpreters are calling on Trumps supporters to continue to Trust the Planwhich provides the anti-Trump forces with a justification for an ongoing demonization of his supporters, and a pretext for a more militant crackdown against them.

To step back for a moment, the whole situation bears an eerie resemblance to a Hollywood script, with the United States being turned into a Banana Republic, in which those who fabricated Russiagate and the Ukraine impeachment fiascos are portrayed as the guardians of democracy, protecting the nation against fascist mobs, justifying the use of the tools of a dictatorship to protect a fragile republic. It should lead a sensible citizen to ask, Why the overkill? What is really going on here?

The Davos Agenda

The answer begins with the intent of those financial, corporate, and intelligence networks behind Biden to rapidly push ahead the genocidal Green Agenda, which had been delayed by the Trump presidency. Within hours of his inauguration, Biden enacted measures and issued numerous Executive Orders that reversed Trump policiespolicies that had been implemented to prevent the further deterioration of the nation into a post-industrial rubbish heap. Biden reinstated the U.S. as a signatory of the anti-growth Paris Climate Accord, cancelled the Keystone XL Pipeline project, signed several other Executive Orders coherent with a Green policy, and signalled his support to Congressional allies to proceed with the anti-growth Green New Deal, based on the premise that advances in efficient industrial and agricultural production are the cause of climate change.

The global component of this push was an online conference of the World Economic Forum (WEF) of the Davos billionaires, from January 25 to 29, in which corporate leaders from around the world were joined by leading heads of state, to proclaim allegiance to a shift to a sustainable energy future. Presented as an emergency policy to prevent devastating climate disasters, based on the false claims that CO 2 emissions threaten human survival, the impetus behind this is a more than fifty-year campaign by neo-Malthusians to reduce the worlds population, using the fraudulent claim that there are too many people engaged in a struggle over too few resources. Typical of this is the assertion of leading Malthusian Prince Charles, that Humanity ... has caused immense destruction to the planet that sustains us.

The problem facing the Davos crowd is that, despite years of Fake Science propaganda blaming human beings for the destruction of Mother Naturethe line pushed by the British monarchy under the leadership of Prince Philip and Prince Charles, and now with the support of leading financial and corporate CEOsmany nations are resisting the demands to transform their economies through the imposition of killer austerity policies and deindustrialization. The devastating COVID-19 pandemic, which was initially seen as creating an impetus to enable a Just Transition out of fossil-fuel and nuclear energy sources into sustainable sources, has created concern for the WEFs Founder and Executive Chairman, Klaus Schwab, who expressed his fears that nations will reassert their authority to direct resources to fight the pandemic, instead of submitting to global governance.

To counter this potential reassertion of the use of sovereignty to defend lives, the Davos cabal, under the direction of Prince Charles, Schwab, former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, Sir Michael Bloomberg, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, has organized an extensive network of CEOs of leading private financial and other corporate cartels, to agree to a top-down policy of cutting credit to businesses and enterprises with a carbon footprint, while using the credit-generating power of central banks to produce a flood of liquidity to finance the shift to a green economy.

While they are bragging about the opportunity created by committing $30 trillion in capital funds for this transformation, it has not escaped notice that only 0.8% of these funds are being offered to nations in Asia and Eurasia, as these nations remain committed to improving infrastructureparticularly in energy, transportation, and chemistry (e.g., fertilizer production)to improve the lives of their citizens, which is unacceptable in the dystopian future concocted by the Davos oligarchs.

Opposition Emerges Among Sovereign States

Resistance to the Davos reset was evident in addresses by Chinas President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, both of whom warned that growing economic inequality is a greater danger to humanity than the threat of climate change (that is, the threat invented by the Fake Science behind climate change).

In his speech, while stating that China is taking aggressive measures to combat pollution, President Xi insisted that the present crisis calls for advances in science and technology, especially in infrastructure development in the former colonial nations, in which he included modern health care systems as a priority, given the threat from the pandemic.

China is addressing its future energy needs not by returning to medievally inefficient sustainable systems, such as wind and solar technologies, but by building clean coal plants and nuclear power plants, including nuclear fusion, which are scheduled to provide nearly 100% of Chinas power needs in the near future. To meet the needs of growing populations in the developing sector, he insisted that a multilateral approach is required, meaning that the attempt to use funding to blackmail poor nations into accepting a unilateral imposition of austerity through the sustainable future demanded by Davos, is unacceptable.

President Putin was more explicit in his warning that there is a danger of war if there is no commitment to real economic development, of the type rejected by Davos. There is a chance, he said, that we will face a formidable breakdown in global development, which will be fraught with a war of all against all and attempts to deal with contradictions through the appointment of internal and external enemies and the destruction of not only traditional values ... but fundamental freedoms.

Elaborating on this latter point, Putin explicitly denounced measures employed by Big Tech to suppress free speech and free press in some countriesan obvious reference to censorship in the U.S.while allowing the same platforms to be used for regime-change in other countries, as in the backing for Alexei Navalnys opposition forces in Russia. He also denounced the great transfer of wealth to 1% of the population, an obvious reference to the financial policies in the trans-Atlantic region, where virtually free money is provided by central banks to speculators, who prosper from the resulting speculative bubbles, while imposing crushing debt on the real economy and poverty on the vast majority of the population.

Given what Xi and Putin presented, as a defense of governments pursuing the sovereign interests of their nations through multilateral dialogue, it is no surprise that those behind Davos are providing funding and logistical support for regime change operations against them, to defend their utopian plans for a world order dominated by global corporatist interests. Excerpts from the speeches of Xi and Putin appear in this issue of EIR.

Whither the United States?

It is those same corporate interests that were behind the ouster of Donald Trump, and the drive to crush his movement. That a strong, sovereign U.S.committed to the scientific and technological development explicit in Trumps return to a Kennedy-style space program and a robust turn toward a future based on nuclear energycould join in a cooperative alliance with Russia and China, is the source of the fear that led his enemies to the fraudulent measures employed to crush that potential. It is an alliance of four powersthe U.S., Russia, China, and Indiaas proposed by American economist and statesman Lyndon LaRouche, which is necessary to realize that potential, and which can mobilize the economic and military power to defeat the modern British Empire, which includes the City of London, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley, the leading forces behind the Davos Great Reset.

Which raises the question in the minds of the Malthusian oligarchs, whether Biden will be able to extinguish the desire for economic growth which was sparked by Trumps moves in that direction. It is unlikely that Americans will embrace a further reduction in living standards, resulting from the Davos demands for a sustainable future, as most Americans still retain an optimistic sense that the key to future prosperity is to be found in advances in science and technology applied to physical production, and will reject austerity for the sake of enriching those already wallowing in wealth, if there is an alternative visible.

To provide leadership to that innate set of beliefs, the LaRouche movement is producing a White Paper which will expose the intent of the Davos oligarchs in their desire to reduce the worlds population. The paper will be published by the Executive Intelligence Review, complete with charts and graphs to demonstrate the deadly effects of reducing the energy-flux density of power production worldwide, along with a review of the history of the Malthusians and their commitment to population reduction.

Lyndon LaRouche devoted more than fifty years of his life to organizing an opposition to the efforts of the British Empire to stifle economic development and reverse scientific advance. As a result of his emergence as a leader in this fight globallyin which he combined exposure of these nefarious, anti-human operations, with many specific plans for regional and multi-continental development projectshe was targeted by the same forces which later ran the regime-change operations against President Trump, and was slandered and eventually unjustly imprisoned.

This new report will complement an earlier report published by the LaRouche movement, The LaRouche Plan to Reopen the U.S. Economy: The World Needs 1.5 Billion New, Productive Jobs.

With the two reports in hand, those in the U.S. committed to restoring the productive power of the U.S. economy will possess the blueprint that can enable them to join forces with leaders of other sovereign nation states, to crush the genocidal intentions of the Davos establishment, and facilitate a shift into a New Paradigm, in which a multilateral effort to achieve the Common Aims of Mankind defeats those impelled by their Satanic impulses to commit mass murder to defend their bankrupt and collapsing world order.
About 78% of nursing home residents nationwide agreed to take the COVID-19 vaccine but staff members were less receptive, with just 37.5% participating, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The findings confirm concerns medical professionals expressed since the launch of the wide scale vaccination program in December and illustrate much more work needs to be done to alleviate fears driving down the participation rates, said Dr. Radhika Gharpure, the studys lead author.

The low vaccination coverage among the health care personnel in these facilities is concerning, Gharpure said in an email. LTCF staff make up more than one-fifth of the health care workforce and care for people who are medically fragile and at high risk of serious COVID-19 complications ... Ensuring (they) have access to COVID-19 vaccination  and confidence in the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines  is a public health priority.

The findings are based on the CDCs survey of 11,460 nursing homes that administered the first dose of the vaccine between Dec. 18, 2020 to Jan. 17, 2021. Gharpure noted the study has limitations because it only counted persons vaccinated at the homes. Some staff may have chosen to be vaccinated elsewhere.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is not tracking the percentage of staff that decline the vaccine, said spokesman Barry Ciccocioppo.

Locally, officials at three of the 17 Lackawanna County nursing homes that responded to a request for information report participation rates were higher than the national average.

At the Gino J. Merli Veterans Center in Scranton, 97% of residents and 74% of staff took part in its first vaccine clinic, said Joseph Butera, a spokesman for the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

Genesis Healthcare reported the following participation rates for homes it operates in Lackawanna County: Abington Manor, Clarks Summit, 93% residents, 70% staff; and Linwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Scranton, 95% residents, 56% staff.

Andrew Benson, a spokesman for Guardian Healthcare Taylor in Taylor, formerly known as Riverside Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, said the vast majority of residents and staff were vaccinated, but did not provide exact figures. Eric Yashinski, administrator at Adventura and Creekside in Carbondale also did not provide figures but said he was very happy with the participation rate.

The CDC study attributes the low staff participation rate to several factors, including concerns about potential side effects and skepticism over the safety of the vaccine, which was approved under an emergency authorization.

Zach Shamberg, president of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, a trade group for long term care operators, said false information on the Internet also has been a deterrent, including claims the vaccine can cause infertility.

They are seeing information spread on Facebook with regard to infertility. Even though its been disproved in clinical trials, its very pervasive and is causing a lot of people to wait, Shamberg said.

Gharpure said the CDC is working with a variety of health care associations to beef up educational efforts.

Its clear that we must work harder to increase access, build vaccine confidence, and ensure they have the information they need to make an informed decision around vaccination, Gharpure said.
A Chinese company director attempted suicide after murdering his Vietnamese girlfriend in the southern province of Binh Duong.

Officers under the provincial Department of Public Security confirmed on Wednesday they were investigating the murder, which took place in Ben Cat Town, earlier the same day.

The victim was D.T.V.Tr., a 27-year-old from the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.

The suspect is Chang Chao Ching, the 57-year-old Chinese director of Super Metal Vietnam, where Tr. was employed.

According to preliminary information, Chang and Tr. were in a romantic relationship.

At around 6:00 pm on Wednesday, the two had an argument at Changs office, during which Chang took a knife to slit Tr.s throat.

After murdering the victim, Chang left the company headquarters with the weapon.

After receiving a report on the case, police officers managed to track down Changs car and surround him.

Unable to escape, the murder suspect attempted to kill himself by cutting his wrist with the knife.

However, officers quickly broke the car window and brought him to the hospital for emergency treatment.

Chang is being treated under police supervision at the Binh Duong General Hospital.

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State Track: Arrows' Mack and Heesch among six area event winners on opening day

Watertown seniors Cooper Mack and Maggie Heesch and four other area athletes notched event wins Friday during the opening day of the 2021 State High School Track and Field Meet.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
MONTREAL - Air Canada will pause all operations of its Rouge aircraft indefinitely and lay off 80 employees starting Feb. 8, the latest round of cuts at Canada's struggling airlines.

An Air Canada Rouge jet takes off from Montreal'sTrudeau International Airport, Friday, March 20, 2020. Air Canada is grounding its Rouge fleet as a result of new travel rules brought in by the government last week to scale back non-essential travel even more. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL - Air Canada will pause all operations of its Rouge aircraft indefinitely and lay off 80 employees starting Feb. 8, the latest round of cuts at Canada's struggling airlines.

The airline's announcement comes as Canadian carriers suspend all flights to Mexico and the Caribbean at the request of the federal government, a measure that is expected last until at least April 30.

"We are again pausing our Rouge operations effective Feb. 8 as these flights are primarily operated by Rouge," Air Canada said in a statement.

Rouge flights were suspended earlier in the pandemic, but were restarted in November ahead of the winter travel season.

Airlines have blamed a series of increasingly severe travel restrictions this winter for their need to cut additional staff and routes. In January, Air Canada announced layoffs of around 1,700 employees, when the company saw a drop in bookings because of a new requirement that travellers entering Canada show proof of a negative COVID-19 test.

In addition to the most recent flight suspensions, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced more restrictions on Jan. 29 that were meant to deter Canadians from travelling, including a requirement that entrants to the country quarantine in hotels at their own expense.

The details of the quarantine program, including the date when the requirement will go into effect, have yet to be announced. Airlines will continue to operate flights from Mexico and the Caribbean back to Canada until at least mid-February.

Air Canada said Rouge "remains a part of Air Canada's overall business strategy."

Air Canada is still running flights to other parts of the world, including Europe and Asia, where they have contracts to operate cargo service. As passenger revenue declines, cargo has become an increasingly important part of the company's business, and could soon surpass its revenue from ticket sales.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:AC)
The worlds largest grid-scale solar battery, with a potential capacity of 1200 megawatts  about eight times the size of the South Australian big battery  is to be built in the NSW Hunter Valley at Kurri Kurri, 35 kilometres north-west of Newcastle.

The project is being developed by CEP Energy, which is sourcing its power from factory and warehouse rooftops around the country, many of which are owned by the property giant Pelligra which has 10 million square metres of rooftop space.

An artists impression of CEP Energys planned mega battery (1200MW) to be developed at Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley.

Morris Iemma, the former NSW Labor premier who is now chairman of CEP Energy, said that Australia leads the world in the uptake of solar on homes, but is far behind in commercial solar. The deal between CEP Energy and Pelligra shows how much potential there is to build grid-scale solar around cities where power is needed most and where grid connections already exist by using industrial and commercial roof space, he said.

The announcement of the Kurri Kurri battery is also evidence that the NSW government policies supporting renewable energy were working, said Mr Iemma.
Although clown fish are conceived on coral reefs, they spend the first part of their lives as larvae drifting in the open ocean. The fish are not yet orange, striped or even capable of swimming. They are still plankton, a term that comes from the Greek word for wanderer, and wander they do, drifting at the mercy of the currents in an oceanic rumspringa.

When the baby clown fish grow big enough to swim against the tide, they high-tail it home. The fish cant see the reef, but they can hear its snapping, grunting, gurgling, popping and croaking. These noises make up the soundscape of a healthy reef, and larval fish rely on these soundscapes to find their way back to the reefs, where they will spend the rest of their lives  that is, if they can hear them.

But humans  and their ships, seismic surveys, air guns, pile drivers, dynamite fishing, drilling platforms, speedboats and even surfing  have made the ocean an unbearably noisy place for marine life, according to a sweeping review of the prevalence and intensity of the impacts of anthropogenic ocean noise published on Thursday in the journal Science. The paper, a collaboration among 25 authors from across the globe and various fields of marine acoustics, is the largest synthesis of evidence on the effects of oceanic noise pollution.

They hit the nail on the head, said Kerri Seger, a senior scientist at Applied Ocean Sciences who was not involved with the research. By the third page, I was like, Im going to send this to my students.


As the police-escorted car travelled along Swanston Street shortly before 6pm, it slowed to a crawling pace, and Mr Macmillan stood to wave to the people.

British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan waving to the crowd which greeted him and Lady Dorothy Macmillan on their arrival at Melbourne airport Credit:The Age Archives

Crowds lining the route from Melbourne airport cheered the British Prime Minister (Mr. Macmillan) and Lady Dorothy Macmillan yesterday afternoon as they drove in an open car to Government House.

CROWDS LINE THE ROUTE TO CHEER MR. MACMILLAN - Three-day visit to state begins

First published in The Age on February 6, 1958

Informal scenes marked the arrival of Mr. Macmillan at the airport to begin his Victorian visit.

Immediately after being welcomed by the Premier (Mr. Bolte) Mr. Macmillan broke away from the official party, explaining I must see the people.

How are you? Glad to see you, Good luck, he called to the 300 spectators.

The R.A.A.F. Convair aircraft which brought Mr. Macmillan from Sydney arrived at Essendon 15 minutes late, after what the Prime Minister described as a rough passage.

Demonstrations


Gigi Hadid decided even before her daughter Khai was born that she would keep the child out of the spotlight.

And in her March Vogue cover story, the 25-year-old supermodel shared she was inspired by the way her close friend Blake Lively, 33, and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 44, have raised their three children.

'I have friends who are public figures and that's how theyve gone about it, and I see their kids really blossom in a different way,' Gigi said referring to Blake and Ryan.

She won't show her baby's face: Gigi Hadid decided even before her daughter Khai was born that she would keep the child out of the spotlight

This is the most she has shown: The Versace model holding her little mini me baby

Ryan and Blake do not post about their kids - James, aged six, Inez, aged four, and Betty, aged one - on social media or take them to events.

And the only time they took any of their kids to a red carpet event was when Ryan was getting his star on the Hollywood walk of fame in 2016; James and Inez were both very young at the time and Betty was not yet born.

Vogue also talked to Blake for the cover story. 'I told her you have to do what works for you,' the Gossip Girl star said.

A close bond: And in her March Vogue cover story, the 25-year-old supermodel shared she was inspired by the way her close friend Blake Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds have raised their three children. Seen in 2017

'Gigi has a really special relationship with her fans, and I love how open she is on social media. I love seeing into her world,' added The Town star.

'Im grateful for what she shares but also understand whatever boundaries she chooses to set.'

Hadid also said that her partner Zany Malik is in line with her direction.

Gigi told Vogue writer Chloe Malle - who is the daughter of Hollywood actress Candice Bergen and the late French film director Louis Malle - that 'protecting their childs privacy is something both she and Malik have been aligned on from the beginning.'

Support: 'I have friends who are public figures and thats how theyve gone about it, and I see their kids really blossom in a different way,' Gigi said referring to Blake and Ryan (pictured together in 2017)

Having moved to her family's ranch amid the pandemic, Gigi has kept her social media activity to a minimum, but does often treat her fans to glimpses at her life as a new mother.

She shot the cover 10 weeks after giving birth

Although Gigi gave birth in September, she chose to keep her daughter's name private until last month, when she quietly changed her Instagram bio to read, 'Khai's mom'.

The internet was lit up with speculation the newborn had been named Dorothea, after her friend Taylor Swift released a song of the same name back in December.

The name does, however, bear a resemblance to Gigi's sister Bella Hadid's middle name, Khair.

Fans have also suggested the name is a nod to the Arabic roots in both of their families.

According to some speculators, the name Khai reportedly means 'crowned' in Arabic, which would fit nicely with Zayn's surname which means 'King'.

Gigi is also aware of the lessons she wishes to bestow upon a daughter at an early age - particularly understanding her heritage.

Zayn is of Pakistani heritage while Gigi's father, Mohamed is Palestinian.

Her friend's advice: Vogue also talked to Blake for the cover story. 'I told her you have to do what works for you,' the Gossip Girl star said

Discussing her experience growing up in a household with a Muslim father and Christian mother, Gigi revealed that she was grateful that it taught her about religion while other children remained ignorant.

She recalled a time when her younger brother Anwar, now 21, was told in elementary school that their father was a 'terrorist' after 9/11, simply because he was Muslim.

Revealing that she never wants her daughter to be put in a similar position, she vowed that she and Zayn will teach Khai to 'fully understand' her background and 'give her the tools' to challenge and teach any children that may not understand and taunt her.

A team: Gigi told Vogue writer Chloe Malle - who is the daughter of Hollywood actress Candice Bergen and the late French film director Louis Malle - that 'protecting their childs privacy is something both she and Malik have been aligned on from the beginning.' Seen in 2017

While Gigi is now a proud mother of her own, her own mum Yolanda has also never felt prouder.

Yolanda told Vogue: 'I'm proud of her face on a magazine, but seeing her give birth was a whole other level of proud.

'You go from looking at her as a daughter to looking at her as a fellow mother.'

Also in her Vogue interview, she said Zayn caught their newborn when she delivered daughter Khai at home following a 14 hour labor.

The model spoke candidly about her 'animalistic' experience.

She revealed she welcomed her first child at her family ranch in Bucks County, Pennsylvania on September 20 with Zayn, her mother, Yolanda; her sister, Bella; and a local midwife and her assistant by her side.

Admitting that she looked 'crazy' during labor, Gigi described her experience by stating, 'I was an animal woman.'

Mommy approves: Yolanda told Vogue: 'I'm proud of her face on a magazine, but seeing her give birth was a whole other level of proud. 'You go from looking at her as a daughter to looking at her as a fellow mother'

Revealing that she had no idea she had even given birth amid the wild experience and exhaustion, she explained that she looked up to see new dad Zayn cradling their newborn after catching their daughter,

She noted: 'I had to dig deep. I knew it was going to be the craziest pain in my life, but you have to surrender to it and be like, "This is what it is". I loved that.'

Although she made it through, Gigi confessed that there were times in her labor where she had second thoughts about having a natural birth.

'There definitely was a point where I was like, I wonder what it would be like with an epidural, how it would be different', she mused.

'My midwife looked at me and was like, "You're doing it. No one can help you. You're past the point of the epidural anyway, so you'd be pushing exactly the same way in a hospital bed."'

Gigi added that she could see 'terror' in the eyes of her family members, but could also see that they remained tremendously proud of her efforts.

'I know my mom and Zayn and Bella were proud of me, but at certain points I saw each of them in terror,' Gigi recalled. 'Afterward, Z and I looked at each other and were like, "We can have some time before we do that again."'

Over the span of four years, Gigi has made 35 appearances on international Vogue magazine covers, but this one was different.

Slim again: She has been showing off her post baby body on social media

Shooting the cover a mere 10 weeks after welcoming her first child, the model was under no illusion that her body hadn't changed, but remained unfazed.

In an empowering statement, she said: 'I know that I'm not as small as I was before, but I also am a very realistic thinker. I straight up was like, "Yeah, I'll shoot a Vogue cover, but I'm obviously not going to be a size 0"'.

She added: 'Nor do I, at this point, feel like I need to be back to that. I also think it's a blessing of this time in fashion that anyone who says that I have to be that can suck it.'

Gigi and Zayn were first linked in November 2015. The couple covered Vogue in April 2016 for a love filled shoot and one month later, they attend the Met Gala together. Gigi and Zayn split in March 2018 but one month later, they were seen kissing in New York City.

By January 2019 they split again but were back together by December 2019; the couple confirmed their romance again in February 2020. She shared a throwback snap of Zayn at the Hadid family farm in December 2019.

By April 28, 2020, Gigi was rumored to be pregnant, which she confirmed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Vogue's March 2020 issue is available on newsstands nationwide on February 16th.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2021 5:43 pm

Amid a county- and statewide struggle to get Washingtons aging population  especially those with limited internet access or capabilities  vaccinated against COVID-19, Lewis County officials say state guidance, or lack thereof, is hindering local efforts.

Although the states four new mass drive-through sites aim to boost overall vaccination rates, Public Health Director J.P. Anderson says theyre counter to the targeted approach required to reach specific populations. He noted that local officials have received no guidance as to how to get seniors who cant drive to those sites. The closest site is in Ridgefield, an hour away from Centralia, and providing mass transportation to seniors who cant drive isnt a safe option in a pandemic.

As state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah alluded to last month, the mass vaccination sites have also siphoned off doses that would otherwise be allocated to local providers. This week, Anderson reported that the county only expected about 600 doses to roll in from the state, likely due to how many doses are being funneled to the mass vaccination sites.

It seems fundamentally counterproductive to (Inslees) desire to reduce infection rates, County Commissioner Lindsey Pollock said of the mass vaccination sites.

Commissioner Stamper echoed the sentiment.

Once again, the underserved are being left holding the door for everyone else, he said. And Im very concerned about that.

Last week, at the request of the Department of Health, Lewis County submitted a plan detailing how it would help host one of the states mass vaccination sites. Its unclear when more would be set up, though, or if Lewis County has a shot. But officials noted that out-of-towners are already driving to Lewis County to get the vaccine, indicating that it may be an optimal central location for Southwest Washington.

Regarding the states approach, Lewis County Seniors Executive Director Glenda Forga also lambasted Inslees recent response to concerns that seniors without internet connection or with little technical capabilities are facing major barriers to landing vaccine appointments. In a press conference last week, Inslee said help would largely have to come from individuals  neighbors and grandkids, for example  stepping up.

Its good to be a nice neighbor  but to depend on that for a solution, for the end-all solution, Im really disappointed in that line of thinking with our leadership, Forga said. I really am.

When Lewis County Seniors operated a homebound meal program years ago  now spearheaded by a different organization  then-program coordinator Forga said she saw first-hand how many seniors have little to no support network. No neighbors or family members means no one to guide them through the Department of Healths website or to drive them to a clinic.

Now, Anderson says Lewis County Seniors may play a critical role in reaching those residents. The nonprofit agrees, but says conversations so far have been stunted.

We have logistics, we have routes, we have names, we have phone numbers, Forga said Tuesday. Conversations need to happen now.

Plans have been floated to use the nonprofits existing meal delivery program as a means to get information or the vaccine itself out to seniors. And while Anderson said Lewis County Seniors will be an asset in the effort to get the countys most vulnerable residents vaccinated, he also noted that planning will only begin in earnest once Birds Eye Medical  a provider contracting with the county  begins receiving doses from the state. As of Wednesday, that hasnt happened.

Anderson and Health Officer Dr. Wood said this week that they will advocate for the state to allocate a larger cut of vaccines to the county, given its large population of seniors and people without internet connection.


Former President Donald Trump raised a record-shattering $61.6 million in his re-election campaign just from individual donors in Texas, the final campaign finance reports on the 2020 campaign show.

Trumps totals are more than four times what he raised in 2016 from individual donors in Texas and are nearly double the $32.7 million President Joe Biden raised in the state, according to Federal Election Commission records.

In 2016, Trump relied heavily on his own finances to cover his campaign expenses. But over the last four years, Trump has aggressively raised money from Americans. Trump put a particular focus on Texas, a state he made 19 stops in during his presidency, many of them to hold rallies and raise money for his re-election.

That fundraising advantage was predicted by Trump campaign officials in late 2020, who said Bidens policies on climate change would open up donations from Texans worried about the future of oil and gas. Trumps focus on Texas led to 19 visits to the state during his presidency, many of them to hold rallies and raise money for his re-election.

CAMPAIGN TRAIL: Trump proves Texas is still red

More Information PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISING IN TEXAS A look back at how much money from individual donors in Texas went to 5 presidential campaigns over the last 5 years. All data from the Federal Election Commission 2020: $94.3M Total $61.6M Donald Trump - $32.7M Joe Biden 2016: $36.8M Total $22.7M Hillary Clinton - $14.1M Donald Trump 2012: $61.1M Total $38.0 M Mitt Romney - $23.1M Barack Obama 2008: $39.6M $20.8M Barack Obama - $18.8M John McCain 2004: $29.8M Total $24.7M George W. Bush - $5.1M John Kerry See More Collapse

In the closing days of the campaign, Samantha Zager, the deputy national press secretary for the Trump campaign, said she wasnt surprised at the flow of Texas money.

Texans would never vote for Bidens radical agenda, including a call to end the oil industry by 2025, she said.

Where the money came from in Texas seems to back up that point. Trump raised more money from the Houston metro area than any other city except Los Angeles. According to an analysis for the Center for Responsive Politics, Trump raised almost $14 million just from the Houston region. In the Los Angeles area, Trump raised almost $16 million. Those totals do not include donations from political action committees in Texas, many with ties to the oil and gas industry.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Trump carried Texas in 2020, winning with a 631,000-vote margin out of more than 11 million votes cast. Still, it was the states closest margin of victory for a Republican running for the White House since 1996.

Trumps affinity for Texas was clear even in the final weeks of his presidency. His last official trip as president before leaving the White House was to Hidalgo County on the border. While he used the trip to celebrate sections of the partially completed border wall, he also talked up how well he did with voters along stretches of the border where he had wanted to build a wall. Trump only won 41 percent of the vote in Hidalgo County, but that was the best showing for a Republican in that county since President George W. Bush, a Texan, won 44 percent of the vote in 2004.

Trump reveled in winning other border counties, such as nearby Zapata, which hadnt voted for a Republican in 100 years.

RELATED: 83% of Texas Republicans believe unfounded 2020 voter fraud claims, poll finds

During his speech in Hidalgo County, Trump bragged that not only did I win Texas in historic numbers, but I won border towns, which are largely Hispanic, and people were amazed to see that.

Bidens share of the vote, 46 percent, was the best for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976.

While Biden was outraised in Texas, his $32.7 million from the state represents a record for Democrats. In 2012, then-President Barack Obama raised $23.1 million in the state.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com
The first phase of a national project aimed at improving living conditions and creating job opportunities for more than 5,000 poor villages nationwide was launched last week.

President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi who spearheaded the project instructed the government to facilitate improving 1,500 villages in its first phase.

This phase of the plan, entitled the National Programme for the Development of Egyptian Villages, will last until the end of the year and will target improving the quality of life in villages where 57 per cent of Egypts population resides.

The rate of poverty in these villages exceeds 55 per cent. The rates of illiteracy and the percentage of households where women are the bread-winners are higher than in other villages and urban areas. Most of these villages lack potable water, proper sanitation, natural gas networks, and paved roads.

The villages included in the first phase are in Assiut, Sohag, Beheira, Qena, Minya, Aswan, Luxor, Menoufiya, Fayoum, Beni Sweif, Giza, Al-Wadi Al-Gedid, Qalioubiya, Daqahliya, Alexandria, Gharbiya, Sharqiya, Ismailia, Damietta, and Kafr Al-Sheikh governorates.

There is a dire need to rally the efforts of the state bodies together with civil society organisations and individuals to successfully implement this huge project, said Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Radi.

Radi said the project is designed to complement Egypts Decent Life programme to improve rural communities by ensuring better living conditions, reducing poverty, upgrading infrastructure and improving public services, especially educational, housing, healthcare, power, sanitation, drinking water, and natural gas services.

The programme also focuses on supporting small and medium enterprises [SMEs] in these villages, improving healthcare units, upgrading the efficiency of irrigation networks, enhancing agricultural and veterinary services and establishing advanced dairy collection centres, Radi pointed out. He said the plan will include the relocation of public service offices in governorates and villages, and connecting them electronically to the related ministries in their new headquarters in the New Administrative Capital.

This is not the first time the countrys poorest villages have been focused on, according to Hani Younis, the spokesman of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Construction. In 2019, there was a presidential initiative to develop 143 villages in 11 governorates; civil society participated in improving 37 of them in the governorates of Minya, Assiut, Sohag, and Qena.

The rate of internal migration from the countryside to the cities, according to Younis, has reached 55 per cent. Developing Egyptian villages will contribute to the reduction of migration to the cities. The prime minister announced that Egyptian, not foreign, companies will be tasked with providing the resources needed for the project, Younis said.

Younis said he believed the scheme would provide several job opportunities for youth. Factories would cooperate with the government to implement this national project, thus revitalising the countrys economy. (see p. 14)

*A version of this article appears in print in the 4 February , 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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CALGARY, AB, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - TransAlta Corporation (TSX:TA) (NYSE:TAC) ("TransAlta" or the "Company") today announced that Dawn Farrell, President and Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"), will retire from the Company and the Board on March 31, 2021, after leading the company for almost a decade. John Kousinioris, currently Chief Operating Officer ("COO") and President of TransAlta Renewables Inc. (TSX: RNW) ("TransAlta Renewables"), will succeed Mrs. Farrell as President and Chief Executive Officer and will join the Board of TransAlta on April 1, 2021.

"Over the past decade, we've seen the electricity sector fundamentally shift due to regulatory changes, increased competition and technological advancement. I'm proud that TransAlta has faced into these challenges and has been able to accomplish a momentous multi-year transformation: from a primarily Alberta-based, coal-fired electricity company into a leading clean and renewables-focused electricity company spanning three countries, delivering growing cash flows, and competitively positioned to take on the vast opportunities ahead of the net zero economy," said Mrs. Farrell.

"Dawn has navigated TransAlta through the final stages of electricity de-regulation in Alberta while also aggressively adjusting the company's strategy to respond to major shifts in the regulation of carbon. Through her strategic leadership, she has succeeded in transforming TransAlta into a sustainable and renewables-focused leader in the power industry," remarked John Dielwart, Chair of the Board of Directors. "On behalf of all Board members, we thank her for her service and leadership and wish her all the best in retirement."

"Executive development and succession planning are critical responsibilities of the Board of Directors and today's announcement is the outcome of a formal, comprehensive and thoughtful CEO succession process that highlights the depth of TransAlta's leadership," commented John Dielwart. "John Kousinioris has demonstrated outstanding vision and leadership. His prior leadership roles have provided him with responsibility for almost every aspect of our business and demonstrated his commitment to the Company's long-term success. His strategic thinking, commercial acumen, growth mindset, and people leadership skills will serve TransAlta well in the years ahead. The Board is confident in our unanimous choice of John as Dawn's successor and we look forward to TransAlta's future under his leadership."

"I fully supported the choice of John as the next President and CEO of TransAlta." said Mrs. Farrell. "John is the right leader to deliver strong financial returns from our existing businesses and to realize continued growth and success in what will be a very exciting time in our industry as we look ahead."

"It has been a pleasure to work with Dawn. I've admired and learned from her leadership, integrity and commitment to, and vision for, TransAlta. We've worked closely together for over eight years and, thanks to her active support of my leadership, I am confident that we'll realize a seamless transition," said John Kousinioris. "I'm excited to lead TransAlta and to continue working with the entire TransAlta team to meet the clean energy needs and objectives of our customers through a focus on operational excellence and environmental stewardship. Customers everywhere want low-cost, reliable clean power and I'm looking forward to expanding our customer base by meeting these needs while creating long-term sustainable value for our shareholders."

As part of the transition, John Kousinioris will be stepping down as President and as a member of the Board of Directors of TransAlta Renewables effective February 5, 2021. Todd Stack will continue as the Company's Chief Financial Officer and will assume the role of President of TransAlta Renewables. He will also join the Board of TransAlta Renewables effective February 6, 2021.

Dawn Farrell has over 35 years of experience in the electricity industry, with roles at TransAlta and BC Hydro. Before serving as CEO, Dawn held various leadership positions at TransAlta and between 20032007 worked at BC Hydro leading the company's generation business. She was instrumental in the development of TransAlta's Wind and Renewables business through the acquisition of Vision Quest Windelectric and subsequently Canadian Hydro Developers Inc., which solidified TransAlta as the leading independent renewables power company in Canada. Dawn sits on the board of directors of The Chemours Company, a NYSE-listed chemical company and the Business Council of Alberta. She is also a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Business Council of Canada. In July 2020, Dawn was named the first Chancellor of Mount Royal University. Dawn holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Finance and a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Calgary. She has also attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University.

John Kousinioris has held various leadership positions at TransAlta including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Growth Officer and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer and has served as President and a director of TransAlta Renewables since 2017. Prior to joining TransAlta, he was a partner and co-head of the corporate commercial department at Bennett Jones LLP. He has extensive experience in operations, business development and commercial matters as well as securities law, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. He is Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of Bow Valley College. John has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Honours Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario, a Master of Business Administration degree from York University and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. John has also attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University.

Todd Stack joined the Company in 1990 and has extensive experience in capital markets, finance, valuation, economics and the power industry. Todd currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer at TransAlta and previously served as the CFO for TransAlta Renewables. He is an accomplished executive and has played a prominent role in the IPO and growth of TransAlta Renewables over the past eight years. Todd has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alberta and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Calgary. He is a registered professional engineer in Alberta and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

About TransAlta:

TransAlta owns, operates and develops a diverse fleet of electrical power generation assets in Canada, the United States and Australia with a focus on long-term shareholder value. TransAlta provides municipalities, medium and large industries, businesses and utility customers with clean, affordable, energy-efficient and reliable power. Today, TransAlta is one of Canada's largest producers of wind power and Alberta's largest producer of hydro-electric power. For 110 years, TransAlta has been a responsible operator and a proud community member where its employees work and live. TransAlta aligns its corporate goals with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and has been recognized by CDP (formerly Climate Disclosure Project) as an industry leader on Climate Change Management, having recently achieved an A- score from CDP. For more information about TransAlta, visit its website at transalta.com.

About TransAlta Renewables:

TransAlta Renewables is among the largest of any publicly traded renewable independent power producers ("IPP") in Canada. Our asset platform and economic interests are diversified in terms of geography, generation and counterparties and consist of interests in 23 wind facilities, 13 hydroelectric facilities, seven natural gas generation facilities, one solar facility, one natural gas pipeline, and one battery storage project, representing an ownership interest of 2,537 megawatts of owned generating capacity, located in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, the States of Wyoming, Massachusetts, Minnesota and the State of Western Australia. Our objectives are to (i) provide stable, consistent returns for investors through the ownership of, and investment in, highly contracted renewable and natural gas power generation and other infrastructure assets that provide stable cash flow primarily through long-term contracts with strong counterparties; (ii) pursue and capitalize on strategic growth opportunities in the renewable and natural gas power generation and other infrastructure sectors; (iii) maintain diversity in terms of geography, generation and counterparties; and (iv) pay out 80 to 85 per cent of cash available for distribution to the shareholders of the Company on an annual basis.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "continue", "may", "will", "propose", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. More particularly, and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements and information relating to the Company's strategy and realizing future growth. These forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions considered by the Company and TransAlta Renewables to be reasonable as of the date of this news release, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual performance, events or results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements, which include: changes in electricity market conditions; construction or development risks; and other risk factors contained in the Company's and TransAlta Renewables' respective Annual Information Forms and Management's Discussion and Analyses for the year end dated December 31, 2019, filed under the Company's profile with the Canadian securities regulators on www.sedar.com and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on www.sec.gov.

SOURCE TransAlta Corporation

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 Local and regional authorities urge EU and national institutions to protect young Europeans' rights to work, fair remuneration and access to social protection as part of the recovery. The pandemic has caused a sharp rise in youth unemployment across the European Union. Therefore, regions and cities ask to include youth employment measures in national recovery plans. These are among the main messages conveyed by the opinion which was drafted by Romy Karier (LU/EPP) and debated by the Plenary of the European Committee of the Regions.

The Plenary of the European Committee of the Regions debated the opinion drafted by Romy Karier (LU/EPP), Member of Clervaux municipal council, on the Reinforced Youth Guarantee , the EU initiative to fight unemployment among citizens under the age of 30. Local and regional authorities welcome the reinforcement of this instrument created seven years ago. Nevertheless, they find it regrettable that in the 2021-2027 programming period the resources allocated to support the Youth Guarantee have not been substantially increased, despite the critical context of the COVID-19 crisis.

The latest figures from Eurostat shows that in December 2020 the youth unemployment rate was 17.8% in the EU (3.138 million under 25 year olds), up from 14.8% in December 2019, while the percentage of NEET (Neither in Employment or in Education or Training) amongst citizens under 30 increased from 12,5% in 2019 to 13,5% in the third quarter of 2020, with a peak of nearly 15% before the summer.

The rapporteur Romy Karier highlighted that " If they are listened to, regions and localities can make a major contribution to fight against youth unemployment. Like all levels of power, we must step up our efforts and work hand in hand in this moment of crisis. It is in this perspective that we propose concrete and strong measures to reinforce the European Youth Guarantee. Without a real commitment to increase the support to our youth, either financially or by improving our strategies, the consequences are likely to be dramatic and to extend well beyond the current crisis. But if instead, we come together, I am convinced that we can avoid a new lost generation ".

In order to effectively address youth unemployment in light of the pandemic, local and regional leaders ask to complement the Reinforced Youth Guarantee with the prolongation and extension of SURE , the EUR 100 billion temporary mechanism created to help Member States protect workers affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, the CoR calls for the inclusion of youth employment measures in the national Recovery and Resilience Plans , and warns against policies that seek to promote youth employment by undermining peoples rights to fair remuneration and access to social protection as part of the recovery.

The CoR underlines that local and regional authorities are crucial to support the effective implementation of the Youth Guarantee because they can be the bridge between educational institutions and public employment services. The Committee stresses the importance of promoting labour mobility through the reinforced Youth Guarantee, between Member States and between regions, given the important role that migration plays in shaping labour market opportunities. Therefore, regions and cities regret that this provision, which existed in the original Youth Guarantee, has not been retained in the new proposal.

Furthermore, CoR's members reiterate that it is essential to define clear and precise binding criteria regarding the quality of the Youth Guarantee offers of employment, education, training, and apprenticeships. It is equally important to reduce the administrative burden on young job-seekers: the online registration through specific Youth Guarantee e-platforms should be the standard procedure.

The final result of the vote on the opinion will be announced at the end of the Plenary session.

Background:

The EU supports Member States in reducing youth unemployment and inactivity through the Youth Employment Support package , which is built around four strands. One of these is the Youth Guarantee, an initiative created in 2013 that had already helped 24 million young people. Following a European Commission's proposal, the Council approved a recommendation on a reinforced Youth Guarantee last year.

With the Guarantee, all Member States committed to ensure that all young people under the age of 30 receive a good quality offer of employment, continued education, apprenticeship or traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education.

Contacts:

Matteo Miglietta

Tel. +32 (0)470 895 382

matteo.miglietta@cor.europa.eu
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American Airlines will notify 13,000 workers that they could be laid off due the prolonged industry downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The airline said on Wednesday that the employees are at risk of furlough when a US . aid package for airline workers expires on April 1.

They are blaming slower-than-expected COVID-19 vaccine rollouts and new international travel restrictions for dampening the demand on flights.

The airline, which is based in Fort Worth, Texas, said it expects to fly at least 45 percent less in the first quarter as a result.

In a letter to employees, Chief Executive Doug Parker and President Robert Isom said American no longer expects to be at full capacity this summer.

American Airlines expects to fly at least 45 percent less in the first quarter of 2021 and no longer expects to be at full capacity this summer as expectations for a recovery in travel are delayed by the slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines

'We are nearly five weeks into 2021, and unfortunately, we find ourselves in a situation similar to much of 2020,' they said.

'The vaccine is not being distributed as quickly as any of us believed, and new restrictions on international travel that require customers to have a negative COVID-19 test have dampened demand,' they said.

'Of course, this is not where we want to be, and we will work with union leadership to do everything we can to mitigate job impact as much as possible.'

American furloughed 19,000 workers in October after a prior round of federal support expired, but brought the workers back after Congress enacted more federal support - $15 billion - at the end of 2020.

That support will run out at the end of March.

Parker and Isom said they backed efforts by airline worker unions to win another round of support in Congress.

The unions are already pushing for another $15 billion in payroll assistance to protect jobs through the summer.

United Airlines has sent fresh furlough warnings to 14,000 employees, while Delta Air Lines Inc and Southwest Airlines Co have averted layoffs mostly thanks to voluntary leave programs.

American and United also offered voluntary deals to reduce staffing last year but were still forced to furlough.

American said it was launching a fresh round of exit packages in an effort to mitigate potential involuntary furloughs, similar to plans by United.

They are required by law to inform employees whose jobs are at risk, generally within 60 days.

American's potential furloughs include 1,850 pilots and 4,245 flight attendants. United's pilots approved a deal late last year to prevent furloughs until June.

Last month American's wholly owned regional subsidiary, PSA Airlines, said it planned to resume pilot hiring this year, as have ultra low-cost carriers including Allegiant and privately owned Frontier Airlines.

The Allied Pilots Association, which represents American's pilots, said actions by management and their treatment of the airline's balance sheet 'have placed American in a more precarious situation than our competitors.'

American is the most leveraged of the major US carriers. Last week it took advantage of a sharp rise in shares after a mention on Reddit's WallStreetBets forum to launch a fresh $1 billion stock sale to boost liquidity.



Northern Irelands First Minister called for calm amid the row over post-Brexit trade disruption as the regions police chief warned people to step back from the brink of violence.

Arlene Foster stressed that frustrations must be channelled through constitutional means after Police Service of Northern Ireland chief constable Simon Byrne warned of a febrile atmosphere.

Inspections on animal-based produce arriving from Great Britain, which are required under Brexits contentious Northern Ireland Protocol, are currently suspended amid fears for the safety of staff.

Police have blamed menacing graffiti on disgruntled individuals and small groups and have made clear there is no evidence of wider paramilitary involvement in threats.

Mr Byrne nevertheless warned of the potential for the simmering tensions within the loyalist community to escalate.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne (Brian Lawless/PA)

It is now time for wise words and calm heads, Mr Byrne told members of the NI Policing Board.

We need to work together to look at a route map to normality because that seems to be the opportunity before us, to step back from the brink in terms of community tension.

Mrs Foster, who has calling for the protocol to be scrapped, made her own appeal for calm after a meeting of the Stormont executive.

However, she stressed that the concerns of unionists over the protocols potential to damage Northern Irelands link with the rest of the UK could not be dismissed or ignored.

The DUP leader has herself been forced to dismiss claims from rivals that she is whipping up tensions with her vocal opposition to the protocol.

We will have to find a way forward, thatll have to be found quickly because the disruption is causing community tensions and of course we do want everyone to stay calm and we do want people to act through constitutional politics but if theyre being ignored then they become more angry and even more tense, she said.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy joined First Minister Arlene Foster at Thursdays press conference (Presseye/PA)

The DUP leader appeared at a post executive press conference alongside Sinn Fein Finance minister Conor Murphy because deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill is currently self isolating.

Mr Murphy and his party colleagues have rejected any suggestion that the protocol, which is designed to avoid a return of a hard border on the island of Ireland, should be binned.

Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney has said it is unrealistic to suggest the arrangement, which is the mainstay of the Brexit withdrawal deal, could be ditched.

Mr Murphy said there were agreed UK/EU structures to address issues of concern around how it has functioned in the first number of weeks since it came into force.

He said those structures should be used to find solution in a calm manner.

I think it is very clear that we do need a dialling down of the rhetoric, and weve heard some comments which I think are dangerous from people who should know better on radio and programmes yesterday, he said.

And of course those people will never be the ones who will either suffer as a consequence of any action taken nor be involved in it themselves and will engage in some handwringing if violence does break out.

The politicians were both asked to react to comments from David Campbell, a spokesman for an umbrella group representing loyalist paramilitary organisations.

He caused controversy on Wednesday when raised the prospect of people having to physically fight to maintain freedoms within the UK.

Conor Murphy said there needed to be dialling down of rhetoric (PressEye/PA)

Mr Byrne branded those remarks as inflammatory on Thursday.

Mrs Foster added: I didnt hear David make those comments yesterday but I have to say I was quite shocked when I heard them just about 10 minutes ago actually when somebody related the comments to me.

Obviously, from my perspective, Im always against any forms of violence, I believe in constitutional politics.

Mr Murphy said Mr Campbell should know better.

People need to be very careful with words and the intent behind those words, he said.

Boris Johnson has warned he would consider suspending elements of the protocol if the issues causing trade disruption are not addressed.

The British Government and European Commission are due to hold further talks aimed at finding solutions next week.

UK Cabinet Minister Michael Gove has suggested extending of a series of grace periods that are currently in operation that limit the level of bureaucracy associated with the protocol.

Downing St wants to extend these exemption periods, some of which are due to expire at the end of March, to January 2023 in order to provide space to find permanent solutions.

Asked about the prospect of extensions on Thursday, European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said it would be for the Joint UK/EU committee on the functioning of the protocol to see what is the way forward.

Checks on animal-based produce remained suspended on Thursday.

Executive ministers were awaiting a formal threat assessment report from the PSNI before a decision is taken on when inspectors can return to their duties.

Mr Murphy said: We want to see the workers back in place working safely as quickly as possible.

The DUP is pursuing a series of political moves aimed at undermining the protocol, including a boycott on engagement with the Irish government on issues related to its operation and a vow to oppose any protocol-related legislation at the Assembly.

The party also launched an online parliamentary petition on Thursday morning with the aim of getting the 100,000 signatures required for the matter to be considered for Westminster debate.

The petition passed more than 40,000 signatures shortly after 6pm on Thursday.
The government on Thursday said the second dose of Covid-19 vaccines will be administered to healthcare workers starting February 13.

NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul made the announcement in a public briefing. The first phase of the nationwide vaccination drive against Covid-19 had begun on January 16. Healthcare workers have only been given the first dose, so far, Paul said.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said at the briefing that the third nationwide sero survey showed that the large proportion of population still remains vulnerable to Covid-19. "About 21.5 per cent of population surveyed from December 17 to January 8 showed evidence of past exposure to coronavirus," the ICMR said.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry informed on Thursday that nearly 4.5 million beneficiaries have received Covid-19 vaccine shots in 19 days. "Many other countries have had a head start of almost 65 days. India launched the countrywide Covid-19vaccination drive on January 16. The number of beneficiaries being vaccinated every day has also shown a progressive increase," the ministry said.

In a span of 24 hours, 3,10,604 people were vaccinated across 8,041 sessions, it said, adding that 84,617 sessions have been conducted so far.
The Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee is holding its next meeting at 7pm CST tonight, February 4, to discuss how to mobilize opposition to the deadly reopening of schools. Register now and share this link with your coworkers to build the committee!

In a statement by its editorial board Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal angrily criticized President Joe Biden for being too soft on Chicago teachers, who are defying Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoots order to resume in-person classes even as the pandemic continues to spread in the city of nearly 3 million residents. The newspaper complains that any vacillation by the Democratic president will only encourage educators across the country to resist his administrations plans to reopen schools by mid-April.

The angry broadside by the Journal, the mouthpiece of Americas financial oligarchy, exposes the feigned concern about the educational and emotional needs of children as the motivation for reopening schools as so much hot air. The newspaper is filled with anxiety because the reopening of schools is seen as critical to reopening the economy and putting parents back to work, where they can continue pumping out profits for Wall Street and the major corporations.

In front of the Wall Street Journal building in New York City (Source: Flickr/Jennifer Feuchter)

While the Journal complains about the perceived timidness of the new administration, Biden, a capitalist politician with decades of experience, shares the same basic aim. He spelled this out in a news conference last week, during which he said opening schools would have the added advantage of putting millions of people back to work. All those mothers and fathers that are home, taking care of their children rather than go to work, even when they can work. So, this is about generating economic growth overall as well.

The editorial board statement is headlined Wheres Biden on Opening Schools? and includes the underline So far hes buckling to the unions that wont return to classrooms. The newspaper, which was an early proponent of Trumps herd immunity policy and opponent of any lockdowns, writes: Perhaps you've heard, a few thousand times, that the Biden Administration will listen to the science. Well, the science says schools can safely reopen, but the White House is still listening, make that bowing, to the non-scientists who run the teachers unions.

The assertion that science says schools can safely open, has been repeated ad nauseam by the New York Times, Washington Post and virtually every other corporate media outlet. On Wednesday, Bidens new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, told reporters, There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated.

Only last week, as the Journal editorial board complained, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki wobbled about the results of the widely publicized study by CDC researchers, which was based on small rural Wisconsin districts where all children wore three-layered cloth masks and were supervised by researchers. The findings, Psaki admitted, were not reflective of every school district and community in the country.

Scientific studies conducted in Canada, India and other countries prove schools are major vectors for the community transmission of the deadly disease and that the closing schools is one of the most effective means of mitigating the spread of the virus and saving lives. The push to schools in the countrys third-largest school district is all the more criminal given the emergence of new, more virulent and lethal variants of the virus.

The Journal editorial continues, Mr. Biden has set a goal of reopening schools in his first 100 days, and the current union standoff in Chicago is his first big test. Elementary and middle school teachers there have refused to show up to classrooms as ordered, the editorial board declares, and as result the district has postponed reopening schools for two days.

The editorial accuses Lightfoot of pandering to the teachers union, citing her comment, We are practically begging [Chicago Teachers Union] to come to the table so we can get a deal done. The paper replies: No kidding. The district has surrendered to most union demands, which include allowing 5,000 or so employees to work from home because they have underlying health conditions. It has also spent $100 million on personal protective equipment, disinfectants, ventilation improvements, and portable air purifiers, and it will provide regular testing and contact tracing.

Yet now the union wants the district to let other staff work remotely if they wish and vaccinate teachers before they return to classrooms. If Chicago agrees to that, other unions would howl.

Speaking for the most right-wing sections of the ruling class, the Journal no doubt would prefer teaching these disobedient teachers a lesson by firing them like Ronald Reagan did to the striking air traffic controllers in 1981, stripping them of their teaching licenses or jailing them. Any further concessions by Lightfoot, the Journal warns, will only encourage teachers around the country to resist the reopening of schools.

The Journal goes on to complain, Large school districts in California including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Fresno have surrendered and are resisting Gov. Gavin Newsoms exhortations to reopen. It approvingly quotes Californias Democratic governor, who told the Association of California School Administrators last week: If we wait for the perfect, we might as well just pack it up. If everybody has to be vaccinated, we might as well just tell people the truth: There will be no in-person instruction in the state of California.

The editorial concludes by asserting that Bidens position is: If Republicans want to reopen schools in their towns, fine. But were not going to ask unions in big urban school districts to do so.

If Lightfootwho has been in constant discussions with the Biden administrationhas put off a direct conflict with Chicago teachers, it is only because the Democrats realize that taking retaliatory action could provoke a powerful response not only by teachers across the country, but broader sections of the working class opposed to the deadly back-to-school and back-to-work policies.

Biden, whose wife hosted the presidents of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) for a White House meeting on the very first day of the new administration, prefers to rely on the unions to suppress resistance and force through a return to classes without a social explosion.

The two-day cooling off period in Chicago has been used for intense discussions on what the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) needs to sell a back-to-work deal to its members, as well as the barrage of media and CDC pronouncements about a safe return to wear down the resistance of teachers and parents.

The Journal falsely identifies the rank-and-file teachers in Chicago and around the country with the teachers unions. The fact is the CTU gave the green light for the phased-in reopening of schools on January 6 and stood by idly as Lightfoot docked the pay of teachers who refused to return and locked them out of their school computer accounts, preventing them from teaching remotely.

The CTU only called for a membership vote on collective action three weeks after, as anger and demands for strike action grew. The union has repeatedly offered to send teachers back if only Lightfoot issues worthless promises about vaccinating teachers, excuses those with health issues and establishes some type of infection threshold.

AFT President Randi Weingarten recently tweeted, If NYC can figure out in-person learning, so can Chicago, pointing to the treacherous deal signed by the unions New York City affiliate with Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio to reopen the nations largest school district, with catastrophic results.

Democratic state and local officials, working with the unions, have been just as adamant about reopening schools as their Republican counterparts. Having handed over trillions of dollars to Wall Street and major corporations in the bipartisan CARES Act, passed last year, both parties have pushed to reopen the schools to get the parents of schoolchildren back into factories and other workplaces to produce the profits to pay for the massive government bailout.

While offering the velvet glove of working together with the unions, the Democrats are reserving the iron fist of state repression against teachers if they refuse to risk their lives and those their students and communities. On Monday, the Democratic administration of Mayor Muriel Bowser filed an emergency motion against the Washington Teachers Union seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent teachers from participating in a strike or other work stoppage or even discussing a strike against school reopenings.

The Wall Street Journal, which carried several editorials and articles in the early months of the pandemic supporting the Swedish model of letting the deadly virus rip through the population without the slightest public health measures to stop it, speaks for those sections of the ruling class whose hatred towards the working class is not as veiled as those generally aligned with the Democrats. But the actions of Biden and Lightfoot demonstrate that they all agree that lives must be sacrificed for corporate profit.

For educators throughout the world, saving lives is a non-negotiable issue. That is why teachers in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles and in many states and cities across the US and the world have formed rank-and-file safety committees, independent of the unions, to fight for schools to be kept closed until vaccines are widely available and the pandemic is contained. These committees are reaching out to workers in every industry to prepare a general strike to close schools and halt non-essential production and guarantee full income to workers and small businesses.

At the same time, vast resources must be reallocated from the government bailout of the rich and through the expropriation of the private fortunes of the pandemic profiteers to provide high-quality remote learning, assistance to parents and students, a massive expansion of the production and distribution of vaccines, and other measures needed to eradicate the pandemic and secure the livelihoods of workers.
National

Weekly COVID positivity rate in Nagaland, 7 other States worrying: Health ministry

Spl. Correspondent NEW DELHI, FEB 4 (NPN) | Publish Date: 2/4/2021 12:06:54 PM IST

Health ministry on Thursday said that positivity rate in eight states including Nagaland was worrying.

India has a weekly positivity rate of 1.82 per cent, while the government data shared on Thursday showed that Kerala reported the highest weekly positivity rate of COVID-19 infections of 11.2%, followed by Chhattisgarh (6.20%), Maharashtra (4.70%), Goa (4.40%), Nagaland (3.60%), Ladakh (2.90%), Puducherry (2.60%), and Chandigarh (2.10%).

It is definitely worrying that the weekly positivity rate in these eight states and union territories are more than the national positivity rate. We are in touch with the administrations and are sending national team, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a press briefing.

At a time when almost all states were showing a declining trend in the number of cases and deaths due to COVID-19, Kerala and Maharashtra continue to report a large number of cases, contributing to almost 70% of active COVID-19 cases in the country, he said. The high positivity rate in the other states implies that the spread of the infection is not being contained well, it said.

State COVID tally 12121

DIMAPUR, FEB 4 (NPN): Nagaland COVID-19 caseload to rose to 12121 on Thursday after four new cases were reported-- 3 in Kohima and 1 in Dimapur.

As on February 4, the state recorded 66 active cases while six more patients recovered from the infection on Thursday.

(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Belarus urgently needs a law on personal data protection amid growing violence against security officers whose identities were disclosed on the internet after the crackdown on post-election protests, Vladimir Andreichenko, the speaker of the Belarusian parliament's lower house, said on Thursday

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) Belarus urgently needs a law on personal data protection amid growing violence against security officers whose identities were disclosed on the internet after the crackdown on post-election protests, Vladimir Andreichenko, the speaker of the Belarusian parliament's lower house, said on Thursday.

Several Belarusian opposition Telegram channels specifically collect and publish personal details of security officers that purportedly used excess force suppressing the protests. According to the Belarusian Interior Ministry, in the five months to mid-January, it recorded 225 instances of security officers and their families receiving threats, 382 instances of verbal abuse, 92 instances of defamation and over 18,000 instances of disclosure of personal data.

"We need preemptive legislative measures as soon as possible. The prevailing situation in Belarus shows the importance of ensuring the protection of personal data from unlawful assault. Therefore, the [parliament's] national security committee should promptly, by the end of February, draft a data protection bill," Andreichenko said at a house session, as quoted by Belarusian news agency Belta.

The bill will entail amendments to Belarus' criminal and executive legislation, according to the house head.

Lawmaker Svetlana Liubetskaya was quoted in the same report as saying that the bill would address the human right to privacy and the scope of punishment for its violation. Perpetrators might face criminal prosecution, she added.

"Irregularities in the processing of personal data will entail liability depending on the consequences and ensuing damage. The lawmaker proposes codifying all these issues," Liubetskaya said.

Mass protests continue in Belarus, albeit the number of participants is on a downward curve. People took to the streets last August in response to President Alexander Lukashenko claiming landslide victory in a presidential election to sit a sixth consecutive term. Use of force and violent clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers were more typical of the initial phase of protests.
From left to right, the experts Morgana Vighi, Odei Garcia-Garin and Bertrand Bouchard. Credit: Alex Aguilar, CRG Large Marine Vertebrates (UB-IRBio)

Floating sea macro-litter is a threat to the conservation of marine ecosystems worldwide. The largest density of floating litter is in the great ocean gyres systems of circular currents that spin and catch litterbut the polluting waste is abundant in coastal waters and semi closed seas such as the Mediterranean.

MARLIT, an open access web app based on an algorithm designed with deep learning techniques, will enable the detection and quantification of floating plastics in the sea with a reliability over 80%, according to a study published in the journal Environmental Pollution and carried out by experts of the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio).

This methodology results from the analysis through artificial intelligence techniques of more than 3,800 aerial images of the Mediterranean coast in Catalonia, and it will allow researchers to make progress in the assessment of the presence, density and distribution of the plastic pollutants in the seas and oceans worldwide. Among the participants in the study, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, are the experts of the Consolidated Research Group on Large Marine Vertebrates of the UB and IRBio, and the Research Group on Biostatistics and Bioinformatics (GRBIO) of the UB, integrated in the Bioinformatics Barcelona platform (BIB).

Litter that floats and pollutes the ocean

Historically, direct observations (boats, planes, etc.) are the base for the common methodology to assess the impact of floating marine macro-litter (FMML). However, the great ocean area and the volume of data make it hard for the researchers to advance with the monitoring studies.

"Automatic aerial photography techniques combined with analytical algorithms are more efficient protocols for the control and study of this kind of pollutants," notes Odei Garcia-Garin, first author of the article and member of the CRG on Large Marine Mammals, led by Professor Alex Aguilar.

"However, he continues, automated remote sensing of these materials is at an early stage. There are several factors in the ocean (waves, wind, clouds, etc.) that harden the detection of floating litter automatically with the aerial images of the marine surface. This is why there are only a few studies that made the effort to work on algorithms to apply to this new research context."

The experts designed a new algorithm to automate the quantification of floating plastics in the sea through aerial photographs by applying the deep learning techniques, automatic learning methodology with artificial neuronal networks able to learn and take the learning to higher levels.

"The great amount of images of the marine surface obtained by drones and planes in monitoring campaigns on marine litter also in experimental studies with known floating objects enabled us to develop and test a new algorithm that reaches a 80% of precision in the remote sensing of floating marine macro-litter," notes Garcia-Garin, member of the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the UB and IRBio.

Preservation of the oceans with deep learning techniques

The new algorithm has been implemented to MARLIT, an open access web app described in the article and which is available to all managers and professionals in the study of the detection and quantification of floating marine macro-litter with aerial images. In particular, this is a proof of concept based on an R Shiny package, a methodological innovation with great interest to speed up the monitoring procedures of floating marine macro-litter.

MARLIT enables the analysis of images individually, as well as to divide them into several segments according to the user's guidelines, identify the presence of floating litter in each certain area and estimate their density with the image metadata (height, resolution). In the future, it is expected to adapt the app to a remote sensor (for instance, a drone) to automate the remote sensing process.

At a European level, the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive indicates the application of FMML monitoring techniques to fulfill the continuous assessment of the environmental state of the marine environment. "Therefore, the automatization of monitoring processes and the use of apps such as MARLIT would ease the member states' fulfillment of the directive," conclude the authors of the study.

Explore further Are plastics and microplastics in the ocean on the increase?

More information: Odei Garcia-Garin et al. Automatic detection and quantification of floating marine macro-litter in aerial images: Introducing a novel deep learning approach connected to a web application in R, Environmental Pollution (2021). Journal information: Environmental Pollution Odei Garcia-Garin et al. Automatic detection and quantification of floating marine macro-litter in aerial images: Introducing a novel deep learning approach connected to a web application in R,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116490
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 4 : The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which was heading for a vertical split in Kerala over the issue of the Pala Assembly seat has almost reconciled to the fact that the party may not get the seat.

NCP leader and sitting MLA from Pala Mani C.Kappan while speaking to media persons at Thiruvananthapuram said, "I am an ardent follower of party national president Sharad Pawarji and if he asks me to shift the seat, I will do so." The NCP has been at loggerheads within the LDF over the Pala seat with Mani C.Kappan adamant on the seat. Kappan had insisted that he had wrested the seat which was with the Kerala Congress (Mani) represented by its leader K.M. Mani for 50 years. Kappan had won the seat in the by-election held after the passing away of K.M. Mani.

Interestingly, the Kerala Congress (Mani) switched from the UDF before the local body elections. Ever since there have been rumours about the CPI(M) giving the seat back to the Kerala Congress (Mani) as the son of K.M. Mani and former MP, Jose K. Mani, who is the present Chairman of the party, insisted that the seat be represented by a Kerala Congress leader. It is learnt that Jose himself will contest from Pala in the 2021 Assembly elections.

The meeting at the residence of Sharad Pawar in Delhi was attended by the CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, and it is decided that the NCP national general secretary in-charge of Kerala and former Union Minister Praful Patel will meet Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Thiruvananthapuram and sort things out.

Highly placed sources in the NCP told IANS: "Sharad Pawarji is the ultimate leader of the NCP and if he asks Kappan to shift his seat, he will willingly do so. Kappan may either get a Rajya Sabha seat or will be given a sure seat in the Assembly elections."
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~ A sacrifice was made, but salaries ensured ~

PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs together with Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion presented the three publicly debated legislative amendments to the Parliament of Sint Maarten on the cost-cutting measures. The first being the Temporary National Ordinance to standardize the top incomes and reduce the employment benefits by 12.5% per July 1, 2020, within the (semi) public sector entities in order to meet the conditions set by the Government of the Netherlands for receiving the second tranche of liquidity support. This measure will also apply to existing employment contracts with a maximum salary to a limit of 130% of the new standardized salary, including an equal maximum of the secondary employment conditions of the Prime Minister of the country and with an equal effect on the rates for consultants. This law was successfully passed in Parliament with 14 votes in favor and one against on Tuesday, February 2, 2021, after much deliberation between the Ministers and the members of Parliament.

During Tuesdays public meeting, Members of Parliament (MPs) also passed a motion tabled by MP Claudius Buncamper, for the government to evaluate whether the three temporary national ordinances are still needed within no more than six months, and every six months thereafter until further notice. The government continues to state that it is until St. Maarten has improved financially to the point where there is no longer a need for financial assistance for governments budget.

Today, February 3, 2021, Parliament unanimously passed the Temporary National Ordinance to amend the employment conditions of political authorities. As such, this law will reduce the employment conditions of political authorities by 25% per July 1, 2020. This evening, Parliament also passed the third Temporary National Ordinance to reduce the employment conditions for civil servants by adjusting the terms of employment by 12.5% per July 1, 2020. This will entail the temporary reduction of holiday allowance and the right to holiday hours, the non-granting of increases in the remuneration, and the reduction of the remuneration for overtime for government employees until the government finds itself in a position to afford such.

Prime Minister Jacobs stated, Moving forward, here we are at a crossroads where the work of recovery and getting St. Maarten back on its feet financially is far from done. There is lots of work to do. None of us are happy to come here with this type of law. No one wants to touch the income of civil servants. We all have to grow and youre never too old to grow. The words you say, the actions you do and your very thoughts come back three-fold. Even your thoughts, the words you speak in secret and the actions that you do in secret will come back to you. A liar has to remember a lie, and through the consistency of what has been said, sent, and repeated over and over and over again, I have shown what are the facts, and so I thank the members of Parliament and the people of St. Maarten who understand the position, stated Prime Minister Jacobs.

The passing of these temporary national ordinances will make the implementation of these cost-cutting measures enforceable. All previous governments before stood on the precipice, but never took any cuts in solidarity with the people of St. Maarten and civil servants. The Government and Parliament of St. Maarten put the country above itself. They took office during one of the most difficult moments in the countrys recent history during this COVID-19 pandemic which struck not only St. Maarten but the entire world. The government will continue to do what is right, ensuring that its vision for the country is realized; building back better, building reserves, and strengthening St. Maartens economic capacity.



I challenge you the people of St. Maarten to read; its fundamental. My love of reading as a child has served me well today. I do not have a law degree but I can read laws and I can analyze them. In our earlier education days, we were rewarded for remembering and regurgitating. Now, we talk about reading to analyze and apply... this is what I want for our people  to be able to listen, read and draw their own conclusions. In every situation, you do not have to be in four walls to learn and COVID-19 taught us that. We do not need to leave the country to learn either. Everyone needs to be looking online for all the free courses possible. Build yourself up, because when you build yourself up individually as a united front we are stronger, she continued.

We do not want to hurt our civil servants. There are civil servants who we need to still assess. There are those we want to get to work. Lets find ways to get them to work. That is what I say as the head of General Affairs. For those doing their work and the work of others, thank you. Without you, we could not be here today. We are not standing on your backs and your shoulders and taking any kind of credit for it. Every time I stand and I speak, I speak on behalf of you. You are the government. I look forward in a positive manner towards better days, concluded Prime Minister Jacobs.
A family in Jefferson County, Alabama is in mourning after a father-of-two died from from the British COVID-19 variant, aged just 35.

Alfonzia Jackson Jr., 35, was diagnosed with the B.1.1.7 variant earlier last week while struggling to live at the UAB hospital.

On Tuesday night, his wife, Ashley Jackson, took to Facebook around 9pm to announced that Alfonzia had died.

'Lord this day has been hard,' Ashley posted on Facebook. 'I wouldn't wish this on anyone as I said good bye to my amazing husband.'

She continued: 'Our girls are going to truly miss you, you were an amazing dad and I will keep your memory alive through them and they will always remember you.

Alfonzia Jackson Jr., husband to Ashley and father to two daughters, passed on Tuesday night

Jackson had the UK COVID-19 variant and was on a ventilator in the days leading to his death

'You are now our guardian Angel and you are at peace, rest on my amazing husband until we meet again.'

She also posted an emotional tribute featuring pictures and videos of the family, set to I'll Be Missing You.

WBRC previously reported about Alfonzia Jackson Jr., who Ashley said was admitted to the hospital with COVID symptoms and shortness of breath on January 22, despite her having no idea how he would've contracted the virus.

'My husband just went to work and home,' Ashley Jackson said. 'Gas station here and there. Not nothing like going out and having a good time, just a hardworking man.'

Rapid tests showed a negative diagnosis for COVID-19, but after surgery to relieve heart failure, a PCR test showed that Alfonzia did have COVID-19.

Ashley Jackson announced Alfonzia's death on Facebook with an emotional tribute

Alfonzia Jackson Jr. was admitted to the hospital on January 22 with COVID symptoms

The Jefferson County Health Department later called Ashley to tell her that Alfonzia had the U.K. variant.

Alfonzia was placed on a ventilator in the days before he died.

A GoFundMe page originally set up to pay for medical expenses has raised over $131,000 for the family so far.

Mutations of COVID-19 were always possible, as viruses are often characterized by their ability to change and adapt.

Mutated strains from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil have come into focus recently, however, with the UK strain becoming the most prevalent mutation in the United States.

The latest from the CDC reports 541 cases of the UK mutation in the United States in 33 different states.

Meanwhile, there have been just five reported cases of the other significant mutations combined to this point.

The UK variant was initially believed to only be more contagious, although UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has since said it may also be more deadly.

It's unclear how the father of two could've contracted the virus, according to his wife

A GoFundMe initially set aside for medical expenses has raised over $131,000 for the family

The two vaccines currently available in the United States are thought to be effective against the variants, although booster shots might be required down the line.

Last week, a person in New Jersey died of the UK variant, which is believed to be the first death of the strain in the United States.

The person who died in New Jersey had no recent history of any international travel.

Alabama has seen just three confirmed cases of the UK variant, although shortfalls in sequencing of the virus around the country leave open the possibility that the strain is much more prevalent than is being reported.

The death toll from COVID-19 is approaching 450,000 in the United States

The tragedy in that state comes on the heels of some positive developments in the fight against COVID-19.

The latest data from Johns Hopkins University showed a 44 percent decline in coronavirus cases from three weeks ago over a seven-day rolling period.

With vaccination rates remaining relatively low in the United States, it's not believed to be a factor in the declining numbers, making the outlook even rosier.

Instead, the decline may be able to be attributed to a decrease in travel since the end of the holiday season.

It may also be due to a lower count of cases than those who have actually contracted the virus, with antibodies hopefully protecting those people.

In total, there have been over 26 million COVID-19 cases in the United States, with the death toll quickly approaching 450,000.

Among the variants in the United States, the UK strain is the most dominant, with it spreading to 33 states and counting so far and accounting for over 500 cases
Culture Minister Bogdan Gheorghiu met on Wednesday with the Romanian Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Cristian Istrate, on which occasion he discussed the importance of culture in diplomatic relations, according to AGERPRES.

"We discussed the importance of culture in diplomatic relations and the projects that Romania and Russia developed in the past. One of them was the organization by the Ministry of Culture of the Romanian Culture Days in the Russian Federation, in 2012. The program included concerts of classical and contemporary music, dance and folk music performances, film presentations, exhibitions of photographic and traditional art, in cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, etc," Gheorghiu wrote on Facebook.

Bogdan Gheorghiu expressed his satisfaction for the determination of the Romanian diplomat to promote Romanian culture in Russia.

"I was glad to learn that one of the priorities of the new ambassador is to promote Romanian culture in Russia. I wish him much success in developing projects, especially in this period when Russia is facing a special situation!," the culture minister wrote.
Sheriff K.P. Gibson is honored to announce that the Louisiana Sheriffs Scholarship Program is currently underway. The Louisiana Sheriffs Scholarship Program will award scholarships providing assistance to worthy Louisiana students in furthering their education and training with resources made available through the Louisiana Sheriffs Honorary Membership Program. A Scholarship of $500 from the Louisiana Sheriffs Scholarship Program will be awarded to one graduating high school student in Acadia Parish. There shall be no restrictions on any applicant by reason of age, race, creed, color, sex or national origin.

In addition, Sheriff KP Gibson will award a scholarship of $500 to six additional high school seniors from Acadia Parish. There will be seven scholarships awarded in all: one high school recipient will receive the Louisiana Sheriffs Scholarship and six high school recipients will receive the Acadia Parish Sheriffs Office Scholarship.

Scholarship Program details and applications can be obtained by visiting www.apso.org, requesting an application from your high school counselors or by contacting Kim Miller, Human Resource Director for the Acadia Parish Sheriff's Office, at 337-788-8793 or via email at kim.miller@apso.org.

The Nagol is Back! VTOs guide to this years Nagol, plus where to stay and play in south, central and north Pentecost.
NEW DELHI : About one in four of India's 1.35 billion people may have been infected with the coronavirus, said a source with direct knowledge of a government serological survey , suggesting the country's real caseload was many times higher than reported.

India has confirmed 10.8 million Covid-19 infections, the most anywhere outside the United States. But the survey, whose findings are much more conservative than a private one from last week, indicates India's actual cases may have crossed 300 million.

The state-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which conducted the survey, said it would only share the findings at a news conference on Thursday. The source declined to be named ahead of the official announcement.

It was not immediately clear how many people participated in the latest survey.

Following another survey done in August and September using blood samples of more than 29,000 people older than 10, ICMR had concluded that one in 15 Indians had Covid-19 antibodies. The figure jumped to one in six in densely-populated urban slums.

A survey released by the government of the capital New Delhi this week found that more than half of its 20 million inhabitants may have been infected with the coronavirus.

Separate tests done on more than 700,000 people across India by diagnostics company Thyrocare Technologies showed 55% of the population may have already been infected, its chief told Reuters last week.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says at least 60% to 70% of a population needs to have immunity to break the chain of transmission.

India reported 11,039 new cases on Wednesday. Deaths rose by 110 to 154,596. Infections and fatalities have come down significantly since a mid-September peak of nearly 100,000 a day.

Its vaccination programme, touted by the government as the world's biggest, has covered more than 4 million people in 18 days, with the aim to reach 300 million by August.

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Bitcoin and Precious Metals may be disconnecting trends

In the recent past, quite a bit of attention was focused on Bitcoin throughout the October 2020 to January 2021 rally phase. It was an incredible rally of over 400% and many analysts had highlighted the alignment of Bitcoin to Precious Metals prior to the breakout rally in Bitcoin. The renewed interest in Cryptos in October broke this alignment as Cryptos rallied while Precious Metals stayed mostly flat to negative.

My research team and I have written on How To Spot The End Of An Excess Phase (Part I and Part II)near the end of November 2020, which spotlighted Bitcoin. We have further identified a broad market cycle phase which has shifted from Appreciation to Depreciation, taking place in late 2018/early 2019, and believed the rally in Bitcoin was driven by this excess phase enthusiasm.

The Reddit group that has disrupted trading over the past few months has opened fresh wounds across many hedge funds and ETFs. The weighting of technology-heavy ETFs has shifted and capital is shifting away from risks much faster than anyone expected. This #WallStreetBets Reddit group has shown the strength and fortitude to continue to execute their group buying across various heavily shorted symbols and rumour is that they are targeting Silver.

Shifting Capital May Increase Volatility Of Trends In Bitcoin/Metals

The process of reducing liquidity in the markets, buy Buying and HOLDING shares, while levering positions with Call Options has created a short-squeeze of epic proportions  weve only seen this a few times in history. What it means for traders is that the next few weeks could be very volatile and dangerous and/or opportunistic.

If capital moves away from Cryptos as this Reddit plan is executed, a breakdown of the support channel is very likely  targeting $25,000 or lower. Additionally, precious metals, particularly Silver and Silver-related shares, are likely to experience a potentially epic short-squeeze event. This event may send Silver skyrocketing above $45 a share very quickly.

This Daily Bitcoin chart highlights the current Excess Phase process (currently trending in Phase #3 waiting for the breakdown in trend to complete Phase #4). This breakdown event will likely prompt Bitcoin traders to wait for a new bottom to set up in the future and possibly use their capital to move into the Reddit-focused short-squeeze plays.

Silver May Rally Above $45 Very Quickly  Possibly Targeting $85+ On A Breakout

Additionally, the following Monthly Silver Futures chart highlights the extended Cup-n-Handle setup that appears to suggest a move to $45 (or higher) is very likely. As the Reddit group targets SLV, AG, and SILJ, it is very likely that spot prices will climb rapidly as metals investors buy as much physical metal as possible. This is a shotgun style of a short-squeeze. It will likely result in the entire precious metals sector moving higher in some form whereas the leading ETFs, Miners, and Spot will drive the trends.

Be sure to sign up for our free market trend analysis and signals now so you dont miss our next special report!

The disconnect happens when Bitcoin stalls/breaks down and precious metals rally. Traders are very likely to take their Bitcoin gains and shift into precious metals as this breakout trend extends. If you were lucky enough to have physical Silver or Gold already, sit back and enjoy the ride. If not, you will likely join the hundreds of thousands of Reddit and other traders that attempt to jump into this new Silver trend on Monday.

The one thing everyone needs to consider as these events play out is Liquidity. The process being executed by the Reddit group attempts to limit liquidity for short-sellers. This process creates a potential gamma squeeze  where prices climb incredibly fast as short-sellers are forced to take any ASK to get out of their shorts.

If this were to happen in Silver, or any other symbols, we may see very strange prices levels reached over the next few weeks+. Remember the Flash-Crash and how that played out? This is the same type of event except it traps the shorts forcing prices to skyrocket instead of collapsing.

Major sectors, ETFs and hundreds of stock symbols may get shoved around over the next few days/weeks. This means well likely see increased volatility. Over time, things will settle down and well be able to adjust to new trend/trade setups. Right now, we need to prepare for a very volatile period in the markets with the potential for a flash-crash or flash-rally taking place.

I publish these articles and research posts to teach our readers the importance of using efficient trading strategies to grow their wealth, achieve financial goals and have more free time. 2021 is going to be full of great trading opportunities for those who know how to take advantage of sector rotations, relative strength, and momentum. Quite literally, hundreds of these setups and trades will be generated over the next 3 to 6 months for those subscribers using the BAN strategy. Sign up now and I will teach you how to create and trade your own hotlist in my FREE (less than) one-hour tutorial on the Best Asset Now.

For those that dont have the time to research and create their own BAN Hotlist, you can get my Hotlist, daily technical analysis and research, as well as my trade alerts, all delivered to your inbox every day with the BAN Trader Pro newsletter service. Dont let these great trading and investment opportunities come to pass without you taking your piece of the pie!

Happy Trading!

Chris Vermeulen

www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic



Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better.



His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility.



He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect.

Chris Vermeulen Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Fired Parler CEO John Matze has claimed he was sacked for trying to ban QAnon

Fired Parler CEO John Matze has claimed he was sacked for trying to ban QAnon conspiracy theories from the site, as investor Dan Bongino slams him as a liar in a bitter fall-out at the struggling social media app.

Investors including Bongino and conservative mega-donor Rebekah Mercer fired Matze from the app he co-founded on Friday, and this week the ousted CEO took the dispute public.

Matze claimed in an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday that he'd pushed Mercer to have Parler do more to restrict domestic terrorists, white supremacists and supporters of QAnon.

'I got dead silence as a response, and I took that dead silence as disagreement,' he claimed of his pleas to Mercer.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Bongino slammed Matze's comments about his firing as 'inaccurate and misleading.'

Bongino, a conservative podcast host and commentator, said that Matze had 'difficulty reconciling guidelines enforcement on the one hand, and free expression on the other.'

'We intend to demonstrate that there is no conflict between these, because the free exchange of ideas requires the exclusion of (threats of) violence,' he added.

The executive shake-up is the latest woe to befall Parler, which remains effectively offline after Amazon Web Services last month revoked server support over 'egregious content' on the app after the U.S. Capitol riot.

Parler investor Dan Bongino responded in a video press conference livestreamed on Facebook on Wednesday night, blasting Matze as untruthful

As well, Apple removed the app from its store, following a similar move from Google, making Parler effectively unavailable on smartphones.

In a leaked memo, Matze squarely blamed Mercer for his firing, writing: 'Over the past few months, I've met constant resistance to my product vision, my strong belief in free speech and my view of how the Parler site should be managed.'

Bongino responded in a video livestreamed on Facebook on Wednesday night, blasting Matze as untruthful.

'I'm really p***ed off right now,' Bongino said. 'The relationship with Parler and the CEO did not work out because the CEO's vision was not ours. Everybody clear on that? Our vision was crystal clear.'

'This site was going to be a free speech platform or it was going to be nothing,' Bongino said. 'The vision of the company as a free speech platform was mine and the two other owners, and we were resolutely committed to that.'

'We could have been up in a week, if we had just bent the knee and followed all the ridiculous Apple edicts to become a heavy-moderation site to the left of Twitter,' he said.

Parler remains effectively offline after Amazon Web Services last month revoked server support over 'egregious content' on the app after the US Capitol riot

'We don't want garbage on our site either and we took the proper steps to do that, but we were a free speech site,' he added.

Bongino also insisted that he and the other owners had repeatedly warned Matze about product stability. 'Wait until the real story comes out,' he said. 'Is he really sure he wants to get into this?'

On his livestream, Bongino hinted that 'terrible decisions' were made under Matze's leadership that led to the site being taken offline, without offering further details.

'We needed to get up and fight back, some terrible decisions were made in the past, that led us to getting put down by Amazon and others,' he said.

Parler was founded in 2018 by Mercer, John Matze and his college friend Jared Thomson.

'Parler is more than a social media platform; it is a beacon in todays fight for free speech and open, productive dialogue,' Bongino told DailyMail.com.

'We are continuing to move forward with our relaunch and look forward to welcoming everyone back very soon,' he added.

In a memo Matze sent out to staff this week, first obtained by Fox News, he pointedly said that the decision was made by a board 'controlled by Rebekah Mercer'.

Matze blamed Rebekah Mercer (above), the billionaire Parler investor, for his firing

The former CEO said he had been met with 'constant resistance' to his 'belief in free speech' and vision for Parler after Amazon Web Services shut down the site for 'egregious content' related to the Capitol riots.

On Friday, the Parler board decided to to terminate Matze, he wrote in his memo.

Rebekah Mercer, prominent conservative donor and activist Rebekah Mercer, 47, is a prominent conservative donor and activist. Based in New York, she was briefly a stock trader and was married to a high-ranking Morgan Stanley executive. She is now listed as 'retired' or 'homemaker' on financial declarations. Others give her a different title: the 'First Lady of the Alt-Right.' Her father, Robert, is the co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies hedge fund and is estimated by Bloomberg to be worth at least $1 billion. The Mercers for years donated to the Koch brothers' political network, but started to act alone after the Republicans' failure to unseat president Barack Obama reportedly led Rebekah to say the Koch network was full of 'fools.' They initially backed Ted Cruz, pushing him to take a harder line on immigration during the presidential primaries, before switching their allegiance to Trump. Publicity shy, their money, according to a December 2017 report in Quartz, is spent on Breitbart, Cambridge Analytica, a machine gun company and a horse farm in Florida. Advertisement

'I did not participate in this decision,' Matze wrote.

'I understand that those who now control the company have made some communications to employees and other third parties that have unfortunately created confusion and prompted me to make this public statement.

'Over the past few months, I've met constant resistance to my product vision, my strong belief in free speech and my view of how the Parler site should be managed.

'For example, I advocated for more product stability and what I believe is a more effective approach to content moderation,' Matze wrote.

'Over the past few weeks, I have worked endless hours and fought constant battles to get the Parler site running but at this point, the future of Parler is no longer in my hands.'

Mercer, whom Matze blamed for his firing, is the daughter of Robert Mercer, a hedge fund manager and the co-founder of the now-defunct political data-analysis firm Cambridge Analytica.

In November she revealed that she had been financing the new app.

'John and I started Parler to provide a neutral platform for free speech, as our founders intended, and also to create a social media environment that would protect data privacy,' she said.

'The ever increasing tyranny and hubris of our tech overlords demands that someone lead the fight against data mining, and for the protection of free speech online.

'That someone is Parler, a beacon to all who value their liberty, free speech, and personal privacy.'

The app rocketed into the spotlight after conservatives flocked to the site, when they were forced from Twitter. Before it went offline, according to Parler, the service had about 15 million total users.
(Natural News) Banks can now deny or approve loans by screening a persons face and voice using a newly developed artificial intelligence (AI) designed to determine trustworthiness.

Japanese tech company DeepScore recently unveiled its facial and voice recognition app, which it also called DeepScore, at the trade event Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The AI-enabled app analyzes muscular twitches in the face and changes in the voice to calculate a True Score while the customer answers a 10-item questionnaire. The app is able to determine trustworthiness in only a minute.

The company touts DeepScore as the next-generation scoring engine for financial institutions. But tech experts are concerned that the app might be inaccurate and discriminatory against people with tics or anxiety. Others also raised privacy concerns.

Facial and voice recognition app might be inaccurate, biased

DeepScore CEO Shirabe Ogino said that the app is based on more than 200 studies about the link between dishonesty, micro-movements and stress.

When you tell a lie, you feel stress, your eye or mouth moves and your voice will skew, Ogino said in a statement.

The firm claims that the app can determine lies with a 70 percent accuracy and a 30 percent false-negative rate. If the app thinks that the customer lied to any of the questions, it will alert companies to increase fees or conduct additional examinations.

But AI experts have reservations about the new product. Rumman Chowdhury, founder of algorithmic bias auditing platform Parity AI, thinks that the app may be biased against people with tics and anxiety. She said that while there are general behavior patterns when lying, these are not always true for everyone.

I might touch my nose because its a nervous tic that Ive developed. It doesnt mean that Im lying, Chowdhury told Motherboard. She added that many of the studies cited by the firm addressed the correlation of facial movements with stress, not lying per se.

Amos Toh, an AI researcher for Human Rights Watch, raised similar concerns.

The serious concern I have about this kind of technology is that there is simply no reliable science to indicate that peoples facial expressions or the inflections of their voice are proxies for their internal mental and emotional states, Toh said.

Ogino admitted that no algorithm is 100 percent accurate. But he noted that the app is calibrated to address physical differences and is only one component of a lenders decision-making process.

Facial recognition threatens privacy

Data security experts are also concerned about the privacy threats posed by the app. Ioannis Kouvakas, a legal officer for the U.K.-based Privacy International, said that the use of the app is not likely legal in the European Union (EU) due to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Under the GDPR, biometric data such as face images are considered sensitive. Processing biometric data for identification purposes is prohibited unless the person explicitly consented.

But some countries lack comprehensive data protection laws, including Indonesia and Vietnam where DeepScore has active customers. In the United States, facial recognition laws vary per state. States such as Illinois and Washington have strict regulations in place but others do not. (Related: Surveillance state: 1 in 2 American adults is already in the FBIs facial recognition database.)

Ogino said that prospective borrowers can opt out of the service or find another financial institution to work with. But making those choices are often mired by an unfair balance of power.

Its very easy to claim that you rely on consent, but there is a very unfair balance of power, Kouvakas said. Its really hard to say no to the person deciding whether youre getting [your money] or not next month.

Learn more about the privacy threats posed by the tech industry at PrivacyWatch.news.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

Vice.com

DeIdentifiction.co

NextGov.com
Nearly a decade into the smart city movement, observers from planning, transportation and privacy arenas are turning a critical eye to technology in search of a problem to solve.Too often, smart city projects end up being just plain old surveillance, said Julia Thayne, a founder of Urban Movement Labs who is helping to lead mobility innovation within the office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.And so, I think we want to take elements of smart cities, said Thayne, on comments on a panel at the Micromobility World conference last week. I dont think the concept is the same as what it was introduced as seven years ago, or whenever it was.Citing the controversies around a $30 million smart streetlights program in San Diego, where residents claimed the police department was often allowed access to video footage gathered from the cameras mounted on the lights, speakers at the mobility conference took a questionable view of how smart city has evolved in the lexicon of urban planning, innovation and the general notion of what makes up a modern city.Smart cities is almost an impossibly vague term, remarked David Zipper, a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy Schools Taubman Center for State and Local Government, during the conference.Whats smart? Its anything you want it to be. Its by definition good  smart, he added.Its not that technology and innovation have no place in the aim of making cities work better and more efficiently, Zipper and others argue.If smart city applications are addressing a particular city problem that technology can solve, Zipper said hes all for it, but he draws the line at products that arent addressing an immediate issue.... When you start talking about smart streetlights, thats not a problem, he said. Thats a product in search of a problem.In September, the San Diego City Council hit the pause button on its smart streetlights program by turning off the cameras, following pressure from social justice activists. Too often, experts argue, cities lack policy guardrails to narrowly tailor smart city applications against overreach when it comes to privacy.The methods by which you make real great use of big data are not really ones that are very conducive to the way we govern in a democracy, said Lilian Coral, former chief data officer for the city of Los Angeles, in an interview within June 2020.And I think thats the big tension. I think, in a lot of ways I believe cities really need access to more data, more data that is actually available out there, in order to make better decisions. But the challenge is, I dont think theyve been able to quite develop a vision for how to use that data, said Coral.Not all innovation is tech, and sometimes to be truly smart, cities just need to stick to the basics, according to the experts.If I could think of one really smart thing the Biden administration could do with Secretary of Transportation [Pete] Buttigieg, hopefully about to be installed, it would be to have a Marshall Plan, if you will, of sidewalk construction, which I think starts to get us to where we need to really make it possible to be without a car, said Zipper.Janette Sadik-Khan, who chairs the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), echoed a similar low-tech message.The important thing isnt the technology, as much as what the technology makes possible, Sadik-Khan remarked. The point isnt to have cooler or smarter cars, or bikes, or scooters. Its to have better cities. And I think we need to rethink what transportation infrastructure needs. And update the hardware of our streets. Those physical bus lanes and bike lanes and better sidewalks.
Transmission electron micrograph of RSV. Credit: CDC/ Dr. Erskine Palmer / Public Domain

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine found that while most individuals responded to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) natural reinfection with a typical sustained antibody response associated with protection, a few individuals surprisingly responded atypically, not being able to sustain the antibody response, which declined to levels that made the individuals susceptible to RSV reinfection.

The researchers highlight in their study, published in the journal Vaccine, that their findings point at a subpopulation of people who also may not maintain an antibody response to vaccines and suggest the need to characterize patient-specific responses to respiratory viral infections, such as COVID-19.

"RSV is the leading cause of childhood acute lower respiratory illness worldwide and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults," said corresponding author Dr. Pedro A. Piedra, professor of molecular virology and microbiology, pediatrics and of pharmacology and chemical biology at Baylor. He also is the director of Baylor's Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-Certified Respiratory Virus Diagnostic Laboratory. Piedra also is a leader in the fight against COVID-19.

In response to RSV infection, the body produces specific antibodies that have been correlated with protection from infection and reduction of severe disease, but reinfection is still frequent.

"To understand RSV reinfection, we studied the levels of the natural RSV-specific antibody response on an adult population during an RVS season in Houston," said first author Brittani N. Blunck, graduate student in the Piedra lab.

The researchers found that the 19 individuals they studied could be placed in one of three categories according to their antibody profiles: A) those whose RSV antibody profile did not change, an indication that they did not get reinfected during the study period. B) those who showed an increase in RSV antibodies, a typical response showing that they had a reinfection that boosted the antibody response, and C) a surprising, small group that showed good antibody levels at the beginning of the study followed by a quick decline in antibodies to levels that made them susceptible to reinfection.

The 'original antigenic sin'

"The other important finding was what we call the 'original antigenic sin,'" Piedra said. "This phenomenon, which has been demonstrated for the influenza virus and others, refers to the immune system responding more to older infections than to recent infections."

In this original antigenic sin case, the immune system produced a stronger antibody response to RSV strains it had encountered long ago than to other strains of the same virus it encountered more recently.

"That was surprising but not totally unexpected because we see that with other viruses. However, we had not seen that for RSV before," Piedra said.

"We think that our main findings, the existence of a small portion of a human population that does not sustain an RSV antibody response after reinfection and the original antigenic sin, have important implications for vaccine development and deserve further study," Blunck said.

"Understanding natural reinfection is essential for vaccine development because it helps us design more effective vaccines," said co-author Dr. E. Lynn Zechiedrich, Kyle and Josephine Morrow Chair in Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor.

"This study is also relevant to the current COVID-19 epidemic, as in some ways RSV and SASRS-Cov-2 are similar," said co-author Dr. Brian Gilbert, associate professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor. "We need more detailed studies on the immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19."

The researchers are continuing their studies by investigating the responses of other branches of the immune system, such as the cellular immune response, to RSV reinfection, as well as the mechanism that mediates the atypical antibody response observed in this work.

More information: Brittani N. Blunck et al, A prospective surveillance study on the kinetics of the humoral immune response to the respiratory syncytial virus fusion protein in adults in Houston, Texas, Vaccine (2021). Journal information: Vaccine Brittani N. Blunck et al, A prospective surveillance study on the kinetics of the humoral immune response to the respiratory syncytial virus fusion protein in adults in Houston, Texas,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.01.045
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : Congress MP Manish Tewari on Thursday gave adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha over the three contentious farm laws.

In the notice, he said: "I hereby give notice of my intention to ask for leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the business of the house for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent importance, namely: The three farm laws, The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services) Act, 2020 pushed through by Parliament, have the potential to subjugate India's farmers to a handful of crony capitalists." He said in the notice that thousands of farmers have been protesting against the laws since August last year and more than 130 farmers have (till January 20) lost their lives during the protests, and multiple rounds of negotiations have failed. There is enough ground for the government to set these laws completely aside -- for not following the established procedure, stepping over the power of states and the government itself agreeing, however reluctantly, to keep them in abeyance for 18 months.

The leader of the Congress party in the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday requested the Speaker amid uproar that the government should first discuss the farmers' issue on priority.

Referring to similar protest in the Rajya Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said both government and opposition parties in a meeting decided earlier in the day to let the House function by allowing 15 hours discussion on motion of thanks to President's address, which is a tradition, and then take farmers's issue.

"I am not aware why the opposition changed its strategy," Joshi said.

The opposition has been raising voice in support of the farmers protesting on various Delhi borders since November 26 seeking withdrawal of the farm laws.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 04th Feb, 2021) The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity held its annual award ceremony today with messages of congratulations conveyed to the 2021 honorees by His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed el-Tayeb  the 2019 honorees.

Recognised for their respective efforts to advocate for peaceful resolution to conflict and advocacy of values outlined in the Document on Human Fraternity, both UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and Moroccan-French activist, Latifa Ibn Ziaten, were presented as the two honorees of the 2021 award.

Anchored around the picturesque setting of the Founders Memorial, in Abu Dhabi, the awards ceremony included the acceptance speeches of the two honorees, along with messages from Pope Francis and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed el-Tayeb.

With the award inspired by the UAEs founder and his lifelong commitment to humanitarian values, the Founders Memorial was a perfect backdrop to a truly moving, visual experience. With the ceremony online, viewers from all over the world are able to tune in to join in the celebrations and watch the honorees accept their award.

In his goodwill message to both 2021 honorees, His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, said, "Firstly, I must begin by saying that His Holiness Pope Francis has been a courageous brother and constant friend on the path of fraternity and peace. Such efforts have seen the United Nations General Assembly adopting the anniversary of the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity, February 4th, to be the International Day of Human Fraternity, which will now encourage universal support in pursuing the spread the intercultural dialogue, co-existence, and human fraternity. This is a victory for human dignity everywhere.

"I also extend my greetings and blessings to Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, as an honoree of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity. It is clear that his wide-range of humanitarian efforts exerted through the UN have sought to rid humanity of the sufferings of conflicts, and ease the negative effects of the pandemic."

"Joint 2021 honoree, Latifa Ibn Ziaten is a rare role model for the world. Her generosity of spirit and steadfastness in her ability to transform personal suffering into a message of security and safety for all, is a victory for all humanity and a reminder of the good that is always capable of defeating the forces of evil."

Addressing the event from The Vatican, Pope Francis spoke of the importance of human fraternity as the 21st centurys key challenge, saying, "To the Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, I thank for the companionship during this journey of reflection and the writing of the Document [on Human Fraternity].

I know it wasnt an easy task but together we helped each other, consolidating in true fraternity.

"Today, fraternity is the new frontier of humanity. Either we are brothers or we destroy ourselves. It is the challenge of our century; the challenge of our time. Human Fraternity means respect, to listen with an open heart, and to have strength in our principles.

"Born from the same father, with different cultures and traditions, we are all still brothers; and respecting our different cultures and traditions, our different citizenships, we must build this fraternity not negotiate it. It is time to listen and for sincere acceptance."

The Secretary-General of the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity, and contributing author to the Document on Human Fraternity, Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, added, "On this day of celebration for human fraternity, we are indeed honoured to have received the support of two of the worlds most influential world leaders and previous honorees of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, united with a common message and purpose  to advance humanity as one family, undivided.

"The 2021 honorees  Latifa Ibn Zaiten and UN Secretary-General Guterres  are truly representative of the values championed in the Document on Human Fraternity, which forms the assessment criteria for the award. Indeed, their respective efforts to address some of the worlds key socio-cultural and political issues are an inspiration to all and role models for many who will also heed the call to act."

Marking the second anniversary since the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity by the Pope and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, the International Day of Human Fraternity was introduced by the UN General Assembly, in December 2020; the date chosen to commemorate the historic meeting of the Pope and Grand Imam, at the documents signing, in 2019.

In addition to the awards ceremony and as part of the wider celebrations of the first International Day of Human Fraternity, several key landmarks in both The Vatican and Abu Dhabi will be lit up on Thursday evening.

The nominations process for the 2022 awards will open 1st May 2021 and end of December 2021. To find out if you qualify as a nominator or to nominate a candidate for next years award, go to: www.zayedaward.org.
guest column

Hundreds of millions of people globally remain excluded from formal financial services to meet their needs in an affordable way. According to Findex (2017), 17% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa report not having a financial account because they cannot produce identity documents that banks are requesting as part of their anti-money laundering obligations.

A major reason for this has been the ineffective implementation of the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML-CFT). The result of this has been the exclusion of the most vulnerable  those living in rural areas, informal settlements, and women  from formal financial services. Ironically, these individuals pose the least risk to money laundering due to their limited access to formal financial services.

The Financial Action Task Force requires countries and institutions to use a risk-based approach when implementing AML-CFT controls. Practically, this means aligning the amount of resources applied with the level of money laundering risk. Doing this is supposed to enhance the financial system's ability to combat financial crime and reduce the amount of "red-tape" for lower-risk individuals. The Financial Action Task Force recognizes financial exclusion as a key money laundering risk and encourages countries to consider financial inclusion as an ally in achieving financial integrity.

However, many countries are not using an effective risk-based approach and do not consider financial inclusion as a complimentary objective to financial integrity. The result is that many individuals are being excluded from the formal financial system, including individuals that pose very little material money laundering risk. This is also affecting the ability of developing countries to participate in international financial markets and is raising their risk profile in the global financial system.

Furthermore, evidence suggests that AML-CFT measures are having limited impact in countering money laundering and terrorism financing in developing countries. Recent results from the Financial Action Task Force's evaluation process show that AML-CFT frameworks in the bulk of African countries achieve a "low effectiveness" score. Clearly, intention is not matching reality. The effects of these frameworks are going against the grain of the intention of the FATF recommendations.

The global standards are supposed to drive reduction of financial crime and improve economic development for countries by improving governance and accountability. The absence of financial integrity strategies and policies at the country level is translating to insufficient direction and accountability in the way the standards are being implemented. This lack of direction is coinciding with a shortage of the necessary skills, resources and tools to implement effective inclusive risk-based approaches.

COVID-19 has upped the ante to implement effective frameworks for a rapid transition towards effective risk-based approaches that are inclusive as institutions need to find ways to undertake their obligations remotely. Doing so is easier said than done, though, as institutions with increasingly obsolete methodologies are caught in the headlights. Without clear direction, the necessary tools, and proper implementation, AML-CFT will continue to present a key barrier to inclusive economic growth.

However, there are some initiatives helping to break down this barrier. For example, in July 2020, the Alliance for Financial Inclusion and Cenfri, in partnership with FSD Africa, launched an Inclusive Integrity Toolkit as a practical tool to navigate the transition to effective risk-based approaches with a priority on supporting financial inclusion. Supported by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group, the Asia/ Pacific Group on Money Laundering, and the Financial Action Group of Latin America (GAFILAT), the toolkit provides guidance to countries while considering each part of the AML-CFT ecosystem.

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Specifically, the toolkit highlights key challenges, options and best practices for countries to align financial integrity, financial inclusion and development. It also leverages specific country experiences to provide practical examples of how such challenges have been addressed and how they align with risk-based approaches and how they support financial inclusion. Guidance is provided by Cenfri and the toolkit is hosted by Alliance for Financial Inclusion and FSD Africa. Countries can refer to the toolkit as they look to navigate the implementation of inclusive financial integrity frameworks and reach out to Cenfri if they need further guidance.

The requirement to implement a risk-based approach to AML-CFT has been in place since 2010, and the need to consider financial inclusion as a complimentary objective is well documented. it's time for the global community to step up, embrace it and implement it in the right way.
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CALGARY, AB, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Waterous Energy Fund ("WEF") addresses the continued efforts taken by Osum Oil Sands Corp. ("Osum", or the "Company") to obstruct the ability of Osum's shareholders to achieve liquidity through WEF's offer (the "Bid", or the "Offer") as outlined in Osum's press release on February 1, 2021.

WEF Reaffirms the Strong Shareholder Support It Has Received

Shareholder support for WEF's bid has increased since the ruling of the Alberta Securities Commission ("ASC") dismissing Osum's application to cease trade the Bid. As of February 3, shareholders holding more than 50% of the outstanding shares not owned by WEF have either tendered their shares, submitted their shares to their brokers for bulk tendering, or expressed an intention to tender, including approximately 40% who signed binding support agreements to tender their shares. WEF therefore continues to reasonably believe the Minimum Tender Condition has been satisfied and will remain to be satisfied on the expiry of the Offer, paving the way for a successful acquisition. Statements by Osum that their information agent has contradictory data are misleading; their information agent has no line of sight to the depositary process nor the shareholder engagement in support of the tendering process.

Any Alternative Bid for Osum Requires the Consent of WEF, Whether Submitted on a Friendly or Unsolicited Basis

Any alternative transaction for the acquisition of the outstanding shares of Osum requires the consent of WEF in two ways. First, WEF must consent to any transaction resulting in a change of control, a right afforded to WEF under the terms of its Investor Rights Agreements (as disclosed in WEF's Offer Circular and in WEF's January 28, 2021 press release). The Company now wrongfully claims that it can invalidate and disregard this consent right of WEF after having conceded in its Directors' Circular that the same change of control approval right has previously been asserted by Azimuth Capital Management (a holder of 2.1% of Osum's outstanding shares), and considered by Osum, to prevent the sale of the Company.

Second, WEF's support agreements preclude acceptance by the supporting shareholders of a competing bid without WEF consent, and certain of these support agreements have no fixed expiry date. More specifically, while certain of these support agreements expire on March 31, 2021, WEF has signed support agreements with shareholders representing 6% of the shareholder base (51% inclusive of WEF's existing shareholdings) which have no expiry date, so long as WEF continues to pursue and extend its bid. Under Canadian Securities law, a bidder under any take-over bid must be able to acquire at least 50% of the shares not currently owned by the bidder. As a result, a competing bid is not possible without WEF's consent. WEF has made it clear to Osum that it has no intention of selling its shares or consenting to a change of control at this time.

Offer Details

Under the terms of the Offer, Osum's shareholders will receive $2.40 in cash for each Common Share subject to the Offer. Shareholders are encouraged to tender today by executing the Letter of Transmittal and deposit it with the share certificate to WEF's Depositary and Information Agent, Kingsdale Advisors, at the address indicated in the Letter of Transmittal. The foregoing action must be taken in advance of the Expiry Time of 5:00 p.m. (Calgary time) on February 24, 2021. If you have any questions or require assistance with tendering to the Offer please contact Kingsdale Advisors, by telephone toll-free in North America at 1-866-581-0506 and at 1-416-867-2272 outside North America or by e-mail at [email protected].

About Waterous Energy Fund: Waterous Energy Fund is a Calgary-based energy investment firm with offices in Houston and New York. Founded in 2017, the firm is pursuing investments in the North American oil and gas sector. For additional information, see www.waterous.com

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are forward looking statements and are prospective in nature. Forward looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events, and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "will", "could", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe", or "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. Such statements reflect current reasonable assumptions, beliefs and expectations of WEF but are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. In particular, this press release includes forward looking statements to the successful completion of WEF's take-over bid and the lack of alternative transactions being available to Osum's shareholders. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from WEF's expectations include, among other things, risks inherent to regulatory proceedings, as well as risks inherent to a transaction such as the Offer, including but not limited to events occurring which cause a material adverse change in the business, affairs, prospects or assets of Osum, and events occurring which affect WEF's financing commitments. Forward looking statements should, therefore, be construed in light of such risks and other factors. WEF is under no obligation and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE Waterous Energy Fund
What just happened? Pornhub, still reeling from the New York Times report that alleged the service was profiting from non-consensual videos, has announced a series of new security measures to identify illegal content and keep it off the site, including using a third-party company to verify users.

In December, a report by the New York Times Nicholas Kristof highlighted the number of clips on Pornhub showing rape and the sexual abuse of underage girls, alleging that the company has monetized these videos.

A special thanks to those young women and men who shared their stories and documentation about Pornhub, because they didn't want other kids to endure what they had suffered. It was their courage, their stories, that made this happen. Teens like Serena: https://t.co/syVIjZgEy6  Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) December 8, 2020

In response, Pornhub stopped uploadsonly content partners and those in its Model Program can upload contentand limited downloads to those who paid for them within the verified Model Program. The site removed millions of videos, and Mastercard and Visa cut ties with Pornhub, forcing it to use cryptocurrency for payments.

The company has now announced a series of industry-leading safety and security policies, designed to combat and eradicate illegal videos.

In addition to using software to identify and remove images of child abuse, Pornhub and parent MindGeek are expanding their team of human moderators and introducing extra training. It has also launched a Trusted Flagger Program that consists of more than 40 leading non-profit organizations dedicated to child safety on the internet.

Uploads are still limited to studio partners and verified users who are part of the Model Program. Those who want to join need their identifications verified by London-based firm Yoti. Ars Technica reports that the process involves sending a current photo and ID that Pornhub and MindGeek never view. Once Yoti verifies the information, the data is encryptedeven the company itself cannot see it.
Brien appeared in court via video and spoke only to confirm name and address

He is also accused of failing to inform his new employer of reason he was sacked

An anti-corruption expert has been cleared of laundering some of the proceeds of her Commonwealth Secretariat lawyer husbands alleged 1.3million fraud.

Melissa Khemani, 41, had been accused of laundering 61,000 between October 2018 and 2019, but was cleared of the charge today.

Her husband Joshua Brien, 47, allegedly defrauded the Commonwealth Secretariat by creating false invoices while employed as a legal adviser at the organisations headquarters at Marlborough House in Westminster.

Brien, of Notting Hill, West London, is also accused of failing to inform US law firm Colley, where he became general counsel, of the reason he had been dismissed from his previous employer.

Ms Khemani is a renowned anti-corruption expert who also worked at the headquarters of the Commonwealth.

Melissa Khemani (pictured right), 41, had been accused of laundering 61,000 between October 2018 and 2019, but was cleared of the charge today. Her husband Joshua Brien (left), 47, allegedly defrauded the Commonwealth Secretariat

The couple were charged as part of an investigation by the Mets Economic Crime Command.

Brien, an expert in sea law, is accused of creating false invoices worth 1.3million while employed by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

He is further accused of fraud by failing to inform his new employer the reason he had been sacked.

One of the fraud charges alleges Brien provided fraudulent bank statements claiming to have a bank balance of 641,139.05 when in fact only had 893.45, intending to rent his place of residence.

The couple (both pictured above) were charged as part of an investigation by the Mets Economic Crime Command. Brien is further accused of fraud by failing to inform his new employer the reason he had been sacked

He appeared in court via video link and spoke only to confirm his name and address.

Brien is facing three charges of fraud by abuse of position, two charges of fraud by false representation, three charge of acquiring criminal property, concealing criminal property and possession of an article for use in the course of fraud.

The charges date between 1 January 2015 and 29 October last year.

Ms Khemani, of Holland Park, West London, was cleared of a single count of money laundering.
A former natural-gas trader from Katy has pleaded guilty for his role in an insider-trading scheme that generated nearly a million dollars.

John Ed James, 51, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore, according to a news release.
The country's cumulative installed PV capacity reached 1.7 GW at the end of 2019, as a result of the grid-connected projects tendered by the Russian government between 2014 and 2019. The remaining 500 MW quota of the 2.2 GW tendering scheme should be assigned this year. The Russian government will tender another 500 MW of solar capacity this year in the frame of the program for large scale renewables that it launched in 2014. "Around 1.7 GW of solar capacity was online in Russia at the end of 2020," Anton Usachev, president of the Russian Solar Energy Association, told pv magazine. "This capacity ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Opposition BJP legislator Pravin Darekar on Thursday accused Maharashtra's MVA government of giving concessions to the rich, but "harassing" common people and farmers for recovery of electricity bills. The leader of opposition in the legislative council said if the Shiv Sena-led government failed to immediately stop "harassment" of common citizens and farmers over recovery of power dues, the BJP will intensify its statewide agitation over the issue.

Darekar was addressing a press conference at the Latur collectorate in central Maharashtra. Earlier, he submitted a memorandum listing various demands of the BJP to district collector Prithviraj BP.

Darekar said, During the kharif season, farmers were facing problems due to natural calamities. They had to undertake double sowing and were affected by heavy rains. "Now, there is an abundant supply of water in Latur district. But, due to erratic power supply, crops cannot be irrigated." The BJP leader hit out at the MVA government over recovery of pending power dues from cultivators.

"The government is harassing farmers for recovery of power bills. We demand that farmers be given concession to pay electricity bills. Interest and penalties levied on original bills should be waived and 50 per cent discount be given on original bills," he said. The government had announced to provide 300 units of free electricity to farmers but it has failed to implement its promise, Darekar said.

Talking about crop insurance, he said insurance companies are not ready to accept loss estimation survey of the revenue department. Their is no coordination between the government, insurance companies and the agriculture department, Darekar said.

Asked about the alleged fixing of contest in the Latur Rural constituency during the 2019 assembly polls, a claim made by BJP leader Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar, Darekar said the issue will be discussed at the party level. Late last month, Patil Nilangekar had alleged that the 2019 Assembly poll fight in Latur Rural, contested by the Shiv Sena, then a BJP ally, was "fixed", a charge rejected by Congress MLA Dhiraj Deshmukh, who eventually won the seat. The Sena and the Congress are now allies in the ruling coalition.

Nilangekar is a senior leader and also a member of the BJPs core committee. The issue raised by him will be discussed at the party level," Darekar said. He lambasted the Shiv Sena, saying the former BJP ally has moved away from the path of Hindutva.

Speaking at the press meet, Patil Nilangekar said if the MVA government fails to announce a decision about relief on pending electricity bills within 8 to 10 days, the BJP will launch a jail-bharo (fill the prison) agitation.
Microsoft has issued a reminder to users of its Skype for Business Online platform that the service will be retired in six months.

The company originally announced back in 2019 that it would be discontinuing the online communications software as it was being superseded by Microsoft Teams.

In a blog post this week, it reiterated access to the platform will end on 31 July 2021.

Skype for Business Online has been a critical communications tool for millions of organisations across the globe, Microsoft stated.

Once customers experience the way Teams brings together chat, calling, meetings and more, they realise the amazing potential to collaborate seamlessly and simplify work in a secure and compliant way, it added.

Microsoft provided tips for those businesses which still needed to migrate to Teams.

The company said most Skype for Business Online customers have deployed Teams, either with Overlapping Capabilities or Select Capabilities, and are gradually moving users and workloads.

For those companies which had not started the upgrade planning process yet, it recommended the following resources:

Microsoft Teams admin documentation providing guidance for rolling out, managing, and preparing users for Teams.

providing guidance for rolling out, managing, and preparing users for Teams. Teams upgrade planning workshops offer a proven framework for planning and implementing your upgrade from Skype for Business to Teams.

offer a proven framework for planning and implementing your upgrade from Skype for Business to Teams. Microsoft Chalk Talks workshops teach best practices and practical guidance around some of the most popular and compelling scenarios in Teams.

Certain Skype for Business Online customers will automatically be upgraded to Microsoft Teams.

Customers scheduled for automated upgrades will receive notifications in both the Teams admin centre, as well as the Microsoft 365 Message Centre, at least three months before their upgrade date to allow time for technical and user readiness, Microsoft stated.

Huge Teams uptake

Fuelled by widespread COVID-19 lockdowns which forced many employees to work from home, Microsofts Teams remote productivity suite saw impressive uptake in 2020.

While it had recorded a steady increase of 7 million daily active users between July and November 2019, numbers truly started to escalate around the start of the second quarter of 2020.

In March, Microsoft reported that it had 32 million daily active users  an increase of 12 million in four months. It added the same number of new users within a month to reach 44 million in April 2020.

One month after this, it had a further 26 million daily active users. By 28 October 2020, Microsoft said Teams had 115 million daily active users, representing an increase of 784% in 15 months.

According to VentureBeat, 500,000 organisations were using Teams in 2020, a tenfold increase from the 50,000 in 2017.

Now read: Early version of Windows 10X leaked online
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BRUSSELS, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) is open to use COVID-19 vaccines from China and Russia, reported the Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday.

A medical worker receives an injection with a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the Spallanzani Hospital in Rome, Italy, Dec. 27, 2020. (Photo by Andrea Sabbadini/Xinhua)

According to the report, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers during a meeting on Tuesday that vaccine producers from China and Russia "could get ... a conditional market authorization like the other ones" when they "open their books" and "show all the data."

Meanwhile, a commission spokesperson said one prerequisite for the EU's order for COVID-19 vaccines is that they can be produced inside the bloc, the AFP reported.

The vaccines approved so far by the EU are from U.S.-Germany joint venture Pfizer-BioNTech, British-Swedish multinational AstraZeneca, and Moderna from the United States.

Europe is now facing a vaccine shortage as pharmacies including AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech are supplying vaccines less than anticipated, drawing public criticism and prompting demands for alternatives.

Many countries in the region have already delayed or even halted their coronavirus immunizations due to the shortage.
Over 21 per cent of the population, aged 10 years and above, showed evidence of past exposure to COVID-19 in the ICMR's latest national serosurvey, the government said on Thursday, noting that a large proportion of people are still vulnerable to the infection.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) third national serosurvey was conducted between December 7 last year and January 8. Presenting the findings of the survey, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said 21.4 per cent of the 28,589 people, aged 18 years and above, surveyed during the period showed evidence of past exposure to the coronavirus infection. While 25.3 per cent of children aged 10 to 17 years from the same number of surveyed population have had the disease, he said.

Urban slums (31.7 per cent) and urban non-slums (26.2 per cent) had a higher SARS-CoV-2 prevalence than that in rural areas (19.1 per cent), Bhargava said, adding that 23.4 per cent of individuals above 60 years of age had suffered from COVID-19.

Blood samples of 7,171 healthcare workers were also collected during the same period and the seroprevalence was found to be 25.7 per cent, the ICMR director general said. The survey was conducted in the same 700 villages or wards in 70 districts in 21 states selected during the first and second rounds of the national serosurvey.

NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul said healthcare workers will receive the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine starting February 13. The first phase of the nationwide vaccination drive against Covid-19 had begun on January 16. Healthcare workers have only been given the first dose, so far, Paul said.

There is a very structured & robust system of AEFI monitoring in this country. It has been further strengthened in view of COVID19 vaccination. We have 8563 AEFI so far when we have done vaccination in lakhs. This is 0.18% of vaccinated people: Union Health Secy Rajesh Bhushan pic.twitter.com/Th1jt6qv9v ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2021

Talking about side effects reported across the country, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said there was a "very structured and robust system of adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) monitoring in the country."

"It has been further strengthened in view of Covid-19 vaccination. We have 8,563 AEFI so far when we have done vaccination in lakhs. This is 0.18% of vaccinated people," Bhushan said.

ALSO READ | Healthcare Workers to be Given Second Dose of Covid-19 Vaccine from February 13, Says Govt

The Health Ministry said on Thursday that 4.5 million beneficiaries have received coronavirus vaccine shots in 19 days. India became the fastest country in the world to reach the 4 million Covid-19 vaccination mark, achieving this feat in 18 days, it said.

"Many other countries have had a head start of almost 65 days. India launched the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16. The number of beneficiaries being vaccinated every day has also shown a progressive increase," the ministry said.

In a span of 24 hours, 3,10,604 people were vaccinated across 8,041 sessions, it said, adding that 84,617 sessions have been conducted so far.

India's COVID-19 active caseload has dropped to 1.55 lakh (1,55,025) and comprises just 1.44 per cent of the total infections. The day-on-day change in the number of active cases over the last few weeks depicts the consistent decline in active cases.

India's Daily Positivity Rate is1.82 per cent, as of today, it said. "India has maintained the daily positivity rate below 2 per cent in last few weeks (19 days)," the ministry said. The total recoveries have surged to 1,04,80,455.

"The difference in new recoveries outnumbering new cases has also improved the recovery rate to 97.13 per cent. The total recovered cases are 67.6 times the active cases," the ministry highlighted.

It said 86.04 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in six states and union territories. At 7,030, Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single day recoveries while 6,380 people recovered in Kerala in a span of 24 hours followed by 533 in Tamil Nadu.

What You Need to Know About the Lawyers Arguments on Impeachment

Commentary

The House of Representatives has sent to the Senate a single article of impeachment (pdf) against former President Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, the prosecuting representatives from the House (called, by Anglo American tradition, the House managers) submitted a supporting legal brief; the Trump defense team has responded.

The accusers brief is designated a trial memorandum (pdf) in imitation of the term used in some states for trial court briefs. The defense brief is labeled an answer (pdf).

Here are some takeaways from the documents.

Final Version of Article Differs From First Draft

While the first draft claimed Trump was guilty of willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States, the final draft says Trump only willfully made statements that, in context, encouragedand foreseeably resulted inlawless action at the Capitol.

The evidence shows that the Capitol incursion was planned long before Trump gave his speech and that it began before he was finished. He didnt speak where the violence occurred; he was nearly a mile and a half away. And he explicitly told his supporters to walk to the Capitol peaceably. These facts explain why the earlier version of the article was changed to expunge the claim of willful incitement.

According to the Supreme Court (pdf), for a speech to be incitement, the speaker must actually intend to rouse his audience to imminent lawless action. Its not enough that violence might be foreseeable.

So whatever you may think of Trumps speech, the evidence shows, and the prosecutors implicitly admit, he didnt commit a crime. This creates some problems for the prosecution.

Trump Legal Team Raises the First Amendment

The first problem for the prosecution is that if Trumps speech wasnt an incitement to violence, then it almost certainly was protected by the First Amendment. The Trump team emphasizes that fact, and properly so.

The Accusers Response

The prosecutors memorandum also claims that no crime is necessary for impeachment. It cites non-criminal examples that it believes would justify impeachment (e.g., if the president publicly championed the adoption of totalitarian government).

That argument is an effort to address another problem facing the prosecution: We now know that impeachment does require proof of a crime. Among the Constitutions grounds for impeachment, the first three are Treason, Bribery and other high Crimes. These are all crimes.

The fourth ground is high  Misdemeanors. Newly consulted 18th-century law books inform us (pdf) that when the Constitution was adopted, a high misdemeanor always was a serious crime. Examples included bribery, assault, and attempted murder.

Unfortunately, the Trump teams answer didnt challenge the managers claim that a non-criminal offense can be impeachable. That was a lost opportunity.

The Presidential Electionas Seen by the Prosecution

From many years of political experience, I understand that one reason for the impeachment is to make it socially unacceptable to doubt the results of the 2020 presidential election. Hence, the article of impeachment rests its case heavily on Trumps false insistence, without evidence, that he was robbed of victory. Indignation at Trumps refusal to accept the contested results fairly oozes from the prosecutions papers.

According to the prosecution, Trump couldnt possibly believe his false claims of election fraud, so he fabricated them to place his own political ambition above our Nations commitment to democracy and the rule of law.

The Presidential Electionas Seen by the Defense

The defense argues in its answer that Trumps assertions of electoral fraud are protected by the First Amendment because Insufficient evidence exists upon which a reasonable jurist could conclude that the 45th Presidents statements were accurate or not .

True, but rather tepid. The prosecution must rebut the charge that Trump was deliberately making false claims just to further his own ambition. It can do so by calling carefully selected witnesses to testify to election defects. Theres no lack of such witnesses.

Regrettably, one of the defense attorneys has announced that evidence of election defects wont be introduced. I think thats a lost legal opportunity.

I think its also a lost political opportunity. Testimony about the election is the last thing the accusers want. Tens of millions of Americans who depend on the mainstream media remain totally clueless about the elections many problems, which include a blatant violation of the Constitution and federal law. Witnesses on the Senate floor would enlighten those Americans.

For the first time, they would learn that, at least with regard to the election, the mainstream media and liberal politicians havent been truthful.

If the defense were to offer witnesses to election irregularities, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), as presiding officer, might try to exclude their testimony. But the attempt would send its own negative message.

In sum, no one knows yet whether the electoral defects actually changed the presidential result. But to defend against the charge that Trump was serving his own ambition rather the protecting democracy, his team should show why the former president had reason to think the election was stolen.

The Defense Team Pleads Bill of Attainder

A bill of attainder is a measure passed by a legislature declaringusually without notice or trialthat a person is guilty of a serious crime. The Constitution forbids both Congress and the state legislatures from passing bills of attainder. The defense argues that Should the Senate act on the Article of Impeachment  it will have passed a Bill of Attainder in violation of Article 1, Sec. 9. Cl. 3 of the United States Constitution.

This is a stretch. In writing on the issue of whether someone can be impeached after leaving office, Ive said that one reason for a no answer is the Constitutions strong policy against retroactive and similarly unfair measures. The documents ban on bills of attainder is an example of that policy. Ive pointed out that impeachment of an ex-officer is similar to a bill of attainder in some ways. But its not the same thing.

Does Article of Impeachment Include Too Many Charges?

The defense thinks it does. Its answer alleges, The Article is constitutionally flawed in that it charges multiple instances of allegedly impeachable conduct in a single article.

Im not sure about that. The article isnt brilliantly drafted, but all its factual assertions seem to point to a single charge: that Trump recklessly promoted (incited) violence against the government.

Can Senate Convict Someone Who Already Has Left Office?

Both sides spill a lot of ink on this question. And rightly so, because its very important and quite unsettled. In an earlier column, I outlined arguments on both sides.

However, the defense missed another opportunity here. Probably the best argument against the impeachment of a former officer is the Constitutions list of who can be impeached: The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States.

If I were an adviser to the defense team (which I have no interest in being), Id point out that former officers arent on this listand that theres good evidence that anyone not on the list cant be impeached.

The Risks of Accusing Others of What Youre Doing

Conservatives sometimes observe that when people on the left accuse them of something bad, its a sign those people are doing the same thing.

This leftist tactic sometimes works, but it can be risky: Remember how Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), in a brilliant Senate speech, turned Democrats impeachment charges against them.

Yet the prosecutors repeat this mistake by filling their papers with accusations that can rebound against Democrats. For example:

The prosecutions memorandum accuses Trump of dereliction of duty in the hours immediately following the Capitol incursion. But as bad as the Capitol incursion was, by almost any scale of measurement, the BLM-Antifa riots last year were worse. Yet many Democratic state and local officials were derelict in quelling the violencenot for just two or three hours, but for weeks and months.

In 2011, a mob of (leftist) union protesters seized the Wisconsin state Capitol. They were never charged with insurrection.

In 2018, opponents of the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh invaded and occupied part of the U.S. Capitol, occupied the Hart Senate building, and tried to break down the doors of the Supreme Court. They werent charged with insurrection either.

If allegations against Trump are sufficient to be incitement, then there are plenty of Democratic politicians to charge with the same offense. For example, the prosecutors memorandum repeatedly blames Trump for the bad behavior of a tiny minority of his supporters. By the same standard, one could pin all sorts of bad behavior on leading Democratic politicians. Also by the prosecutors standards, you could argue that then-Sen. Kamala Harris incited further BLM-Antifa riots in June 2020, and that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) incited the anti-Kavanaugh building incursions in 2018. Wed also have to ostracize prominent Democrats such as Barack Obamas campaign manager, Jim Messina, because, like Trump, Messina told Obama supporters to fight like hell.

Heres a useful way of getting political perspective on the wrongful Capitol incursions. First, keep in mind the lefts long history of violence. Next, imagine Trump had been declared the winner of the 2020 election, and suppose that Joe Biden used strong political rhetoric to challenge the election. Subsequently, infuriated Biden supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Would Biden have been charged with incitement to insurrection? Of course not. Nor should he have been.

The wording of the prosecutions case invites that sort of political defense. Which is more evidence that this snap impeachment wasnt well-advised.

Robert G. Natelson, a former constitutional law professor at the University of Montana, is a senior fellow in constitutional jurisprudence at the Independence Institute in Denver. His scholarly writings span many constitutional subjects, including impeachment.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

It doesnt take much to set the hares running in the anxious Labor Party these days, but naughty Joel Fitzgibbon enlisted none other than John Howard to raise the paranoia level on Thursday.

Nonchalantly lounging in the House of Representatives during question time, the maverick Fitzgibbon - once a minister, now a restive backbencher - turned his attention to the former Liberal prime ministers political autobiography, Lazarus Rising.

Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon holds a copy of John Howards book Lazarus Rising in Question Time. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The timing seemed no accident, and he appeared overly keen to ensure colleagues and the cameras recorded his chosen reading material.

The drumbeat around Parliament during this first week of sittings for 2021 has been about Labors leadership. Will Anthony Albanese survive until the next federal election, expected late this year?


Credit: Studio Romantic/Shutterstock

Thanks to the efforts of scientists, healthcare workers and trial participants around the world, a number of COVID-19 vaccines have now been authorized for general use. But while millions have been given a jab, billions still need to be vaccinated. We need to produce as many doses as we can.

So, it's good news that two additional vaccines are on the horizon. Vaccine developers Novavax and Johnson & Johnson recently released data from the phase 3 clinical trials of their jabs, which will hopefully join the list of those approved later this year.

Both of these vaccines share some similarities with those already being delivered, but they also have some notable differences. Here, let's take a look at how they work and how effective they could be.

Johnson & Johnson

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being tested in 44,000 people across the US, Brazil and South Africa. Preliminary data suggests the amount by which it reduces the risk of moderate to severe COVID-19 (its efficacy) is 66%, four weeks after vaccination.

This figure might suggest that the vaccine isn't as good as the Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna jabs, which in trials reduced the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 by over 90%. However, its phase 3 trial started in November 2020, meaning the vaccine came up against some of the new, tougher variants of the coronavirus during testing. Indeed, its efficacy against B1351, the variant first found in South Africa, was only 57%  but some the authorized vaccines are less effective against this variant too.

One-third of trial participants were over 60, and the vaccine seems to work just as well in them as in younger people. This is good news, given the recent questions over how effective the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is in older people.

But perhaps the most important point is that none of those given the Johnson & Johnson vaccine died or were admitted to hospital with COVID-19. The results also show the vaccine reduced the risk severe of disease by 85%.

The vaccine's design is similar to the Oxford/AstraZeneca one. It focuses on a particular part of the coronavirus that we think triggers a protective immune responsethe spike protein, which sticks up on the virus's surface. The genetic code for just the coronavirus's spike protein has been put into a harmless strain of another virusan adenovirus, called Ad26  which has been altered so it can't cause disease. It can, though, still get inside our cells. When it does, the cell reads the genetic code for the spike protein and produces lots of copies of the protein. The immune system then mounts a response to these.

In the trials, researchers found that people assessed 28 days after receiving one dose showed a strong immune response. So, Johnson & Johnson is seeking approval for a single-dose regime (all of the vaccines authorized so far require two doses). However, they are continuing with tests to see whether giving two doses makes a difference.

It would be great if one dose was enough: more people could be given the vaccine sooner. The UK has ordered 30 million doses, which using a one-dose regime would cover half the country's adults.

Novavax

The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine is a little bit different. It still uses the idea of taking the genetic code for the spike protein and putting it into another virus, but in this case the "carrier" virus is one that infects insects, a baculovirus. It's used to infect moth cells, which go on to produce copies of the spike protein. These are then harvested and purified into a vaccine to give to people. So instead of our bodies making copies of the spike protein to stimulate the immune system, with this vaccine the proteins arrive ready-made.

This method may sound a bit weird, but it's a very standard way of making proteins for experiments in biology. It's been around for over 30 years.

The phase 3 trial of Novavax's vaccine involved 15,000 people and was run in the UK. Preliminary analysis shows that 62 participants developed symptomatic COVID-19: 56 in the placebo group and just six in the vaccine group. This makes the estimated efficacy 89%.

Some of the 56 patients in the placebo group were found to have the more infectious B117 variant of the virus that arose in the UK. This shows that volunteers were exposed to this variant and suggests that the vaccine will protect against it. Meanwhile, in a separate trial in South Africa, the vaccine was shown to reduce the risk of symptomatic disease by 60%. This suggests it will be relatively effective against the problematic B1351 strain too.

If authorized, the vaccine will be manufactured in the UK. Currently, Britain has 60 million doses on order, which again is enough to vaccinate half the adults in the country.

It's important to remember that for both vaccines, the figures quoted are from the first detailed look at the trial results. More calculations are still to be done and everything has to be reviewed by other scientists (peer review), so the final numbers may change.

We also don't know yet if these vaccines will limit viral transmission or just limit people from developing disease, nor how long their effects will last. But in a way, it doesn't matter. Really, we need vaccines to help get the pandemic under control in the short term, and the more options we have, the faster we can move towards this.

Some vaccines will probably be chosen by some countries because they work better in particular age groups or against certain strains, or because they are easier to transport. These two can be stored in a normal fridge so, unlike some COVID-19 vaccines, they could be easily used anywhere in the world.

Explore further Phase 3 trials begin for Novavax vaccine in US, Mexico

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The Supreme Court of Mexico ruled against proposed changes to how the countrys electricity market is regulated, saying they would prioritize the state utility over private companies, which was unconstitutional.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the ruling would set back efforts by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to give more power to state-owned companies such as utility CFE and oil giant Pemex.

The Mexican Energy Ministry last year published a policy that required the grid operator of the country to buy electricity from CFE before it buys from private companies, many of which had invested in solar and wind generation capacity. The ministrys argument was that prioritizing electricity from CFE ensured the reliability of the grid, but Mexicos antitrust regulator disagreed and took the case to the Supreme Court.

The feeling that this decision of the court leaves us with is that one way or another, there is still a good system of checks and balances, a senior counsel with law firm Thompson & Knight told the Wall Street Journal.

Private power companies that had invested billions in new generation capacity took the government to court in 2019 after it allowed CFE to get clean energy credits for old power generation capacity. The companies argued that this reduced the value of their investments and changed the rules under which these investments were made.

Now, the Supreme Court ruling threatens this rule-change proposal by the Obrador government: the Mexican President just sent the bill seeking to change the way companies invest in new generation capacity to the countrys parliament. If the bill becomes a law, the Supreme Court will likely strike it down as well, according to analysts.

The bill is much more aggressive against the rights of private investors than the reliability policy, so this is an unmistakable indication that the proposed reforms in the bill would be unconstitutional, Pablo Zarate, Mexico managing director of consultancy FTI Consulting, told the WSJ.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Residents and opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State have lambasted the governor, Godwin Obaseki, for operating without a State Executive Council 84 days after being sworn-in for a second term in office.

Mr Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, were inaugurated for a second term in office on November 12, 2020, following their victory in the September 19 governorship election under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The governor had shortly after his inauguration re-appointed Osarodion Ogie as the Secretary to the State Government. No other appointment has been made since then.

The spokesperson of APC in Edo, Chris Azebanmwan, said Mr Obaseki was running Edo State like a sole administrator, adding that it was against democratic practice to run a state without a cabinet to deliberate state policies.

There are some policies and actions of a state that legally and constitutionally should not be undertaken without the approval of the State Executive Council. As we speak, some of those actions are being taken solely by Godwin Obaseki as a sole administrator. He has not displayed the tendencies of a democratically elected governor, Mr Azebanmwan said.

Shaka Umaru, a resident of Auchi, said the drafters of the constitution understood that having a functional state cabinet would allow room for a multiplicity of ideas to run the state.

He added, Unfortunately Mr Obaseki has denied the Edo people the benefit of the collective wisdom of ideas. So, he is running the state like a sole administrator not like a democratic governor and this portends great danger for the democratic processes in the state.

A rights activist and lawyer, Douglas Ogbankwa, said not having a cabinet has denied the state of having a representative from different strata in the running of government as provided by the constitution.

The constitution of the SEC is a compulsory pre-requisite for the running of a state as provided for by our ground norm, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended).

This gives the governor of a state an opportunity of picking the brains and skills of members of the SEC, through the weekly council meeting before making vital policy decisions. This vantage position is currently lacking in Edo due to the failure and refusal of the governor to constitute the SEC, Mr Ogbankwa said.

Mr Ogbankwa continued, The constitution provides that each local government of the state shall provide at least one member of the council. This brings about inclusive government and gives each of the local governments in the state a sense of belonging in the running of the affairs of the state. Sadly, this situation is currently lacking in Edo State.

The PDP spokesperson in the state, Chris Nehikhare, has, however, disagreed with the positions of these residents and APC, saying Mr Obaseki has not violated any constitutional powers by not forming his cabinet yet.

Mr Nehikhare said, The governor is well within his legal rights in forming his cabinet and I am sure at the appropriate time the cabinet will be set up to tackle the myriad of problems that need to be solved in Edo State.

This period that the cabinet has not been set up, the governor set up a high-powered team to look at the reforms which is one of the cardinal areas he campaigned on by trying to make Edo State great again.

One of our themes for the election was resetting Edo and in doing this, parameters need to be set up. For anybody to think that nothing is going on the person is not in touch. In the last two months, despite this, the state government has commissioned many projects and initiated others. Salaries are being paid, the House of Assembly is working, courts are working, the government is working very well.

Mr Obaseki won his re-election on the platform of the PDP in the September 19, 2020 gubernatorial election held in the state. He defeated the candidate of the APC, Ize-Iyamu, by a wide margin.

The Governor had defected to the PDP from the APC when he was denied a return ticket of the party for allegedly having fake credentials.

As of the time he was denied the ticket of the party on whose platform he first became governor in 2016, many analysts said he lost out in the ticket race because of his estranged relationship with then national chairperson of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole.

ADVERTISEMENT
Iran reportedly conducted a 'surgical strike' in Pakistan this week. Iranian forces managed to rescue two of their soldiers who were imprisoned in Pakistan.

Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) rescued two of its soldiers in an intelligence operation inside Pakistan's territory, the force said in a statement. IRGC Ground Force's Quds Base in Southeastern Iran has released a statement saying that two of its border guards were rescued in successful operation in Pakistan on Tuesday night, i.e. February 2, 2021.

"A successful operation was carried out last Tuesday night to rescue two kidnapped border guards who were taken as hostages by Jaish ul-Adl organization two and a half years ago," the IRGC said in its statement.

According to the statement, the rescued soldiers have been transported back to Iran.

On October 16, 2018, a Pakistan-based radical Wahhabi terrorist group called 'Jaish ul-Adl' had kidnapped 12 IRGC guards and taken them to the city of Merkava in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, which is on the border of Pakistan and Iran, according to local reports.

Military personnel reportedly constituted a joint committee between Tehran and Islamabad in order to free the captured IRGC guards. On November 15, 2018, five of the 12 captured soldiers were released. While on March 21, 2019, four more Iranian soldiers were rescued by Pakistan army.

Jaish ul-Adl, which has been declared a terrorist organisation by Iran, has been engaged in an armed struggle against the Iranian government. The terrorist organisation claims to defend the rights of Baloch Sunnis in Iran.

The terrorist outfit has conducted several cross-border attacks from South-West Pakistan into South-East Iran. Jaish ul-Adl claimed responsibility for the February 2019 attack on Iran's Basij paramilitary base. During this attack, Jaish ul-Adl killed and wounded dozens of IRGC guards after a bus transporting them was attacked.

Also Read: Israeli investigators to arrive in Delhi; Iranian hand suspected behind explosion
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
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OTTAWA - The federal Conservatives called Thursday for a special House of Commons committee to study Canada-U.S. relations, a move that appeared to win tacit support from the Liberal foreign affairs minister.

The Canadian and American flags are seen on top of the Peace Arch at the Canada/USA border in Surrey, B.C. Friday, March 20, 2020. The federal Conservatives are calling for a special House of Commons committee devoted to Canada-U.S. relations. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

OTTAWA - The federal Conservatives called Thursday for a special House of Commons committee to study Canada-U.S. relations, a move that appeared to win tacit support from the Liberal foreign affairs minister.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole argued that Canada's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is so inextricably linked to the United States that more needs to be done to protect Canadian workers and families from policies of the new Biden administration.

The House of Commons debated the Conservative motion that calls for the new committee to focus on the economic relationship between the two countries, saying that the ongoing pandemic calls for "a serious plan for the economic recovery that recognizes the integration of the North American economy."

While the proposed committee would have a broad mandate, the Conservatives emphasized the Buy American provisions being advanced by U.S. President Joe Biden, and the case of an Enbridge pipeline known as Line 5, which some U.S. officials want to close.

"We're standing up for hundreds of thousands of jobs in Canada, families that depend on trade access with the United States, our closest ally, our closest trading partner," O'Toole said.

Conservative MP Michael Chong, the party's critic for foreign affairs, said as much as Canadians might be breathing a sigh of relief at Biden's replacement of Donald Trump, the new president's cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline was a serious blow to Canada's economic recovery.

"Even with a new U.S. president, who is a decent man with good intentions, the facts are right in front of us," said Chong. "They made a decision that damaged our economic recovery and threatens the very unity of this country."

If the Conservative motion is passed in the Commons, the new committee would be tasked with producing reports on those issues by certain deadlines, and also have the power to call the deputy prime minister, foreign affairs minister and the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. as witnesses.

During Thursday's debate, Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said he's open to the idea of the new committee but he noted several other parliamentary committees on trade and foreign relations already exist.

"However, there's a very special relationship here between Canada and the United States," Garneau said when asked by a Conservative MP whether he would support the creation of the new committee.

"The creation of the committee, as being proposed today, will add another forum for discussion on the matters that concern us as Canadians in our dealings with the United States, and we are certainly open to that."

The committee would also explore what the government is doing with the U.S. to procure a steady stream of COVID-19 vaccines.

Most Opposition day motions are not binding on the government, though they can be used to create political pressure for action. But MPs can choose to create committees within the Commons with a simple vote.

The call for a Canada-U.S. special committee has echoes of a previous successful attempt by the Conservatives to get a committee struck to focus on Canada-China relations, over objections from the Liberals.

The Buy American provisions and the future of Enbridge Line 5 are hot-button political issues.

Each day, the pipeline carries millions of litres of the liquids used in propane, crossing northern Michigan and Wisconsin before ending in Sarnia, Ont.

The governor of Michigan wants the pipeline shut down and environmental activists are pressing Biden to support that in the spirit of his recent decision to cancel construction of Keystone.

The Conservatives accused the Liberals of not doing enough to convince Biden to change his mind on Keystone, and now say more needs to be done to ensure Line 5 stays open to protect the associated jobs.

Biden is also advocating for protectionist Buy American policies, an issue Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did address on a call with U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris earlier this week.

Canadian businesses have raised concerns they'll be stopped from bidding on U.S. government contracts, and Trudeau's office said part of his call with Harris was about "avoiding the unintended consequences" of a Buy American approach.

Garneau said the government is continuing the campaign it began during the Trump administration to persuade American politicians at all levels that "open, transparent trade between the two countries is in both of our interests."

"We will continue to carry that message not only to the federal administration, but to governors and other American politicians to ensure that protectionism does not creep into the relationship that exists between the two countries," Garneau added.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2021.
The Oregon Employment Department promises to be more timely and more transparent about jobless benefits payments, and to be accessible in more languages, under terms of a pending settlement of a class-action lawsuit.

The Oregon Law Center filed the suit last summer on behalf of 13 jobless Oregonians, amid extraordinary delays in paying jobless benefits. The suit didnt seek monetary damages, but aimed to compel the department to speed up claims processing and to do more to communicate with workers who dont speak English.

After I lost my job, I applied for unemployment. I waited months for benefits to begin without knowing what was happening -- I couldnt pay rent, and I really worried about how it would affect my daughter and I, said Lisa Exterovich, one of the lawsuits plaintiffs, in a written statement Wednesday.

She said the Wednesdays settlement commits the department to paying people benefits more quickly, working to improve communications with those seeking benefits, and providing assistance to people who dont speak English.

Terms of the settlement require the employment department to:

 Meet federal standards for timely benefits payments and claims adjudication by March 1 and April 1, respectively.

 Complete the initial processing of jobless claims within 21 days, and notifying applicants of their status.

 Make its online claims for available in Spanish by May 1, or explain why it wasnt able to.

 Eventually make online applications available in 10 languages, and make downloadable paper applications available until then.

 Give non-English speakers more time to file claims and allow them to backdate claims if language barriers delayed applications.

We are committed to doing right by the Oregonians relying on us, reaching the goals set forth in the proposed settlement, and being transparent about our progress along the way, acting director David Gerstenfeld said in a statement Wednesday.

Oregon has substantially reduced the number of backlogged jobless claims over the past several months, though thousands of workers are still waiting for payments. And Oregon, like other states, is still working through some expanded and extended benefits authorized by Congress at the end of December.

The state has paid out $7.3 billion in nearly 11 months since the coronavirus pandemic began, on par with the total amount paid in the prior decade.

-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway
If George Zivkovic (C8) was surprised by the idea of International Golden Retriever Day, Peter Miniutti of Ashbury wonders what he thinks about today which is both wear red day and work naked day. Decisions, decisions.

Alternative names offered for Jim Pollitts Audrey parking spot (C8) are all sunshine and lollipops. Those consistently fortuitous parking spaces have always been referred to by both Brian Moore of Armidale and Max Petrie of Palm Beach as a Kojak park, while David B. Porter of Chatswood and Mel White of Greenwich both emphatically rule in favour of Doris Day Parking.

Another who offers an alternative to the Audrey parking spot (C8) is Suzanne Saunders of Mullumbimby. To my 82-year-old father, and my 78-year-old friend, its always been a rock star park.

Theres a rich vein of Aussiewood film titles (C8) just waiting to be mined, going by the number of suggestions flowing into the Column 8 mailbox. One of the most popular suggestions, and understandably so, was to make our own dark comedy crime thriller Bargo. Jeff Sormus of East Corrimal nominates Too Easy Rider and Once Upon A Time In

Villawood, while Russ Couch of Woonona suggests Meet the Ockers and The Melbourne Identity. Don Bain of Port Macquarie comes back for a second suck of the sauce bottle with Schnitty Schnitty Bang Bang; The Good, the Bad and the Uggboot; True Girt and My Fair Tradie, the latter of which definitely has legs as far as Granny is concerned.

Another movie incongruity (C8) from Joan Brown of Orange. How often do you see someone in a movie who needs to find a priest or minister go into an apparently empty church at any time of the day , and lo! there he is, doing something vaguely clerical, despite having a separate adjacent residence?
Queens students will be among those to benefit from the payment (Liam McBurney/PA)

Almost 40,000 students at university or in full time education in Northern Ireland will receive a one off 500 payment to mitigate against the disruption caused by Covid-19.

The scheme will cost 22 million and students have been told they can expect payment before the end of March.

The NI Executive agreed the proposal from Economy Minister Diane Dodds on Thursday, the funding coming from a wider package of 37.7m in support

10.4m is included in the package announced on Tuesday by Finance Minister Conor Murphy for students facing particular hardship

Mrs Dodds said she was acutely aware students have experienced significant disruption since the start of the pandemic.

I am pleased to announce that I have secured 22million from the Executive to fund a one-off discretionary payment of 500 to all students from the UK and EU who are in full time higher education in Northern Ireland, whether that is in a university or further education college setting, she said.

The majority of students in universities and further education are taking their courses online due to the pandemic and many have been left facing bills for rent for accommodation they have not been able to live in.

Support was also announced to address digital poverty, the provision of safe working, learning and research environments, as well as compensation for universities for a loss in income through rental pauses and releasing students from accommodation contracts.

Students have also faced losing jobs and have been unable to find, work to supplement their income from student loans due business closures during extended periods of lockdown.

Ellen Fearon, president of the student body NUS-USI, said it was a welcome announcement after a difficult year for students.

So many students have endured financial stress, isolation, academic pressures, housing problems, additional caring responsibilities and digital inequality, she said.

Now its important that students who are not eligible for this grant, including part-time students and international students, are also financially supported.

Queens University President and Vice-Chancellor Prof Ian Greer said the measure will bolster the range of interventions already made by the university, including pausing accommodation contracts.

Prof Paul Bartholomew, Vice-Chancellor at Ulster University, said the institution will work closely with the department to distribute these additional funds to our students as soon as possible.

Education Minister Peter Weir has called on Ulster University to follow the lead of Queens by ending rental contracts for students unable to stay on site.
Mumbai, Feb 4 : In fresh action in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, the Enforcement Directorate has issued provisional orders attaching assets worth nearly Rs 14.50 crore belonging to the Gitanjali Group and its absconding Director Mehul Choksi, officials said on Thursday.

The assets comprise immovable properties including a 1,460 square feet flat in O2 Towers, Goregaon, a Mercedes Benz care in the company name besides movable assets like gold and platinum jewellery, diamond and pearl-silver necklaces and high-end watches.

The action comes in the ongoing probe into the money-laundering case against Choksi and others three years after the ED entered the scene since February 2018.

Among other things, the accused were charged with cheating the PNB in connivance with some banks to fraudulently get Letters of Undertaking (LoU) which caused huge losses to the bank.

Previously, the ED had attached properties worth Rs 2,550 crore in the case in which Choksi's nephew Nirav Modi is also the prime accused, along with several of their family members, business associates and bank officials.

While Choksi has become a citizen of Antigua & Barbuda in the West Indies, Modi is currently in the UK fighting an extradition case to India.
A number of academics from Leicester University have taken action against plans to drop Chaucer and Beowulf from their English curriculum.

Last month, plans emerged showing that the university wanted to shelve Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, as well as other works including old English epic poem Beowulf, citing 'a drop in demand' for the subjects.

The changes came as one of a number of proposals the university sought consultation over, including plans to cut 60 posts.

The modules would be dropped from Leicester's English language and medieval literature in favour of modules focusing on race and gender in an attempt to create a 'decolonised curriculum'.

A number of academics from Leicester University (pictured) have taken action against plans to drop Chaucer and Beowulf from their English curriculum

Professor Isobel Armstrong (left) has returned her honorary doctorate from the university to protest the proposed module changes and Professor Catherine Clarke (right), an English Studies MA examiner at the university, resigned over the proposed move

The University quickly faced a barrage of criticism and a spokesperson insisted the authors were not being dropped for being 'too white'.

They also said: 'Many reading lists are dominated by white authors. This ignores many great BAME scholars and also means that BAME students do not see themselves reflected in what they are being taught.'

However, writing for Times Higher Education, Dr Shazia Jagot, who studied at the University of Leicester, said the proposed changes could actually directly impact on the education of BAME students.

She wrote: 'The idea of culling whole periods of literature is absolutely antithetical to the twin goals of diversifying and decolonising English as a discipline.'

Dr Jagot added: 'What happens when you remove the opportunity for students, particularly black and ethnic minority students, to read Beowulf, Chaucer and Milton?

Chaucer, the Father of English Literature Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1342 - 1400) ranks alongside William Shakespeare as one the most important poets of the English language. His masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, is considered one of the first works written in modern English, marking a shift from the Old English which preceded the Middle Ages. For this reason he is described as 'the first finder of our language.' The Canterbury Tales was hugely popular in Medieval England because it was one of the few works which was written in English rather than French - the language of the ruling classes. Chaucer's poem follows a group of pilgrims on their way from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at the cathedral. The pilgrims, including Chaucer himself, have a story-telling contest on their way to Canterbury and their 24 stories form the basis of the narrative. The enduring popularity of the work is testament to its humour, characters and vivid descriptions of various social groups from knights to cooks. Pilgrims tell tales of varying tones, some are pious and witty, others are vulgar and bawdy. Chaucer originally planned to write more than a hundred tales but only completed 24. In surviving copies the stories appear in various orders with the Hengwrt manuscript, held in the National Library of Wales, considered to be the most accurate. Chaucer was born in London, his father was a wine maker as per family tradition. In addition to his literature, Chaucer contributed to society as a courtier, diplomat and civil servant and was the trusted aide of three successive kings: Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV. In 1994, literary critic Harold Bloom placed Chaucer among the greatest Western writers of all time. Such is the respect for the writer, he was first person to be buried in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner. Advertisement

'They are robbed of the chance to read texts foundational to the history of English literature and to engage in the rich, energetic work that is tackling racism, white supremacy and sexism in the discipline.'

She also said that by excluding writers such as Chaucer from the curriculum, students from a BAME background are 'robbed of a form of cultural capital' that continues to have a significance in society.

Now though, a number of academics have gone further than just criticising the potential changes.

Professor Isobel Armstrong, a fellow of the British Academy, has returned her honorary doctorate from the university to protest the proposed module changes, the BBC reports.

Explaining why Professor Armstrong returned her honorary doctorate, the Leicester branch of the University and College Union said the decision had been made in protest over the 'egregious attack' on English at Leicester and the University's 'attempt to eradicate 1,000+ years of language and literature.'

However, Professor Armstrong was not alone in taking action against the proposed curriculum changes, with Professor Catherine Clarke, an English Studies MA examiner at the university, resigning.

In a statement issued on Twitter, she said: 'Studying English at undergraduate level should open up students to new ideas, challenges and inspiration  not simply pen them into their comfort zones, without room for discovery and adventure.'

Another Leicester academic, David Clark, who specialises in 'medievalism/gender/sexuality' Tweeted: 'I'm bemused by the implication none of us already teaches/writes about race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or decolonising the curriculum: or that our areas aren't relevant to the discussion.'

However, it's not just academics who are up in arms over the suggested curriculum changes, with final year English student Rhiannon Jenkins, 21, saying that decolonisation can be achieved by ditching the medievalism and early modern English literature modules.

Jenkins, who is the course representative for final year English students, told the BBC that she believes the university has used the 'rhetoric of decolonisation' to suggest that the modules at risk have no place for decolonisation.

She also claimed the university would not allow first year students to be polled to ask which modules they would be interested in.

However, a university spokesperson said that this was not the case because the university's module selection process had not started yet and that the university would continue to offer a 'wide chronological range'.

Since the plans were made public, a number of university staff members have received online abuse over the proposed module changes, a university spokesperson said.

They said: 'Some staff have received abusive messages following some inaccurate reports in the media and we are providing the necessary support for them.

'We also had some staff receiving abuse for doing research in related areas.'

It comes after top historian Professor Robert Tombs hit back at Leicester University's plans to drop literary giant Geoffrey Chaucer.

Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, known as the Father of English Literature (left) and the epic poem Beowulf (right) which was written in Old English

Hitting back at the plans, Professor Tombs told MailOnline: 'I realize now that my own education was sadly narrow: both at school and at university very much focused on modern subjects - certainly nothing before Shakespeare.

'Only very recently did I discover Homer, Chaucer and Beowulf, and every one opened new worlds.

'What a tragedy if these are being denied to students now, and how crazy if this narrowing down is being done in the name of 'diversity' or 'decolonization'.

'The value of literature is to help is to imagine worlds we cannot otherwise reach, not to tell us about what is already familiar.'

Dr Christine Rauer, a lecturer at the University of St Andrews, also questioned the proposed move by the University of Leicester and told MailOnline: 'It's hard to see why race, ethnicity, sexuality and diversity can't be taught alongside Chaucer and Beowulf.

Dr Shazia Jagot (pictured), who studied at the University of Leicester, said the proposed changes could actually directly impact on the education of BAME students

'Bring in the new topics while also keeping the medieval!'

Speaking after the plans were first revealed, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson accused the university of absolute madness, while the University and College Union dubbed the plans short-sighted and intellectually void.

A spokesperson for the University of Leicester previously told MailOnline that: 'Students at the University of Leicester will continue to study some of the best-loved authors in the English language, from Shakespeare, Austen and Dickens to Keats, Shelley and Byron, to Woolf, Toni Morrison and Colston Whitehead.

'There is absolutely no truth to the suggestion that certain modules are being eliminated for being "too white."

'We want to offer courses that match our students' own interests and enthusiasms, as reflected in their own choices and the feedback we have been hearing.

'Leicester continues to be a research-intensive, comprehensive university that offers a broad range of subjects. We will be engaging closely with staff and students to hear their ideas and suggestions in response to the proposals.'

A decade ago, Leicester came 17th in the Guardian University Guide's national league tables. It was also top university for 'student satisfaction' outside Oxbridge.

However, the university has since slipped to number 77 out of the UK's 121 universities, according to the Guardian's most recent league table.

It's latest annual report showed that student numbers dropped to 18,338 in the 2018/19 academic year.

Its intake dipped from 3,668 to 2,855.
Donald and Melania Trump leave the White House for the last time before Joe Biden's inauguration. Photo: Reuters/Leah Millis

Georgia state officials have launched a voter fraud probe into lawyer L Lin Wood, one of the cheerleaders for Donald Trumps false claims that widespread cheating decided the US presidential election.

Mr Wood spoke at rallies and filed unsuccessful lawsuits seeking to undo President Joe Bidens victory in the state, which Mr Biden won by nearly 11,700 votes.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office confirmed it is investigating whether Mr Wood was a legal resident when he cast his ballot in the November 3 election.

The inquiry was prompted by an email Mr Wood allegedly sent a television reporter stating he had been living in South Carolina for several months after buying a home there in April, officials said.

Mr Wood (68) denied he had moved out of the state before the election. It wasnt until Monday this week, he said, when he filed paperwork to make the South Carolina property he bought in April 2020 his new official residence.

Ive always been a resident of the state of Georgia until I declared the change of residency to South Carolina, he said. I never considered myself domiciled in 2020 anywhere than Georgia.

Read More

The probe is the latest Mr Wood faces for his role in spreading Mr Trumps baseless claims, a stance that has also left him banned from Twitter, visited by the Secret Service and investigated by the state law association.

In December, he filed a federal lawsuit looking to overturn Georgias presidential election results by alleging the states voting procedures involving mail-in ballots and signature matching were unlawful. Earlier that month, an appeals court rejected a similar lawsuit filed by him contesting the election results. That same court also rejected another lawsuit that sought to examine voting machines.

One day after the Capitol riots last month, Twitter permanently suspended two of Mr Woodss accounts and he took to Parler. One post appeared to threaten then vice president Mike Pence. It read: Get the firing squads ready. Pence goes FIRST. The site later removed the post.

The new inquiry into his voting status began with an email to a WSB-TV reporter that read: I have been domiciled in South Carolina for several months after purchasing property in the state in April.

Georgia states a person can no longer be considered a resident if they move to another state with the intention of making it such persons residence.

Im confident that I spent more time in Georgia than in South Carolina, he said. I always considered my residency to be in the state of Georgia.

I didnt change it until February 1. ( Washington Post)

Read More

 Washington Post
I wrote about Vladimir Putins poisoning of Alex Navalny in Inside Putins underpants op. Its an incredible story. For background I recommend Leonid Bershidskys January 18 Bloomberg column Navalny vs. Putin is an epic existential battle. Perhaps even more incredible is Navalnys subsequent return to Russia. Bershidskys column on Navalnys return is here.

Having returned to Russia, Navalny has now been sentenced to prison for three and a half years. If I understand correctly, however, the judge kindly credited Navalnys prior one-year imprisonment against the sentence he is now to serve. The Wall Street Journal reported on the scene inside the courtroom:

Mr. Navalny, who was kept in a glass cage throughout the hearing, laughed to himself as the judge read the lengthy verdict. He drew a heart with his finger and looked at his wife, Yulia, as the judge neared the end of the sentencing. During his testimony, the opposition politician blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for a poisoning attack against him last year and called the court proceedings an act of cowardice. Striking at the image of Mr. Putin as a master strategist, he said the Kremlin leader never fought his enemies fairly. [Putins] only method is killing people, Mr. Navalny said. For as much as he pretends to be a great geopolitician, hell go down in history as a poisoner. * * * * * Russian prosecutors say Mr. Navalny violated conditions of a suspended sentence from 2014 by failing to check in regularly with prison authorities while he was recovering in Germany from a near-fatal poison attack last year. The 3-year sentence credits the time Mr. Navalny served under house arrest, leaving him to serve 32 months behind bars. The sentence temporarily removes a longtime thorn in the Kremlins side, an opposition leader who aimed to unseat the ruling United Russia in parliamentary elections later this year.

Today the New York Times has published excerpts of Navalnys comments in court on Tuesday under the heading Vladimir the Poisoner of Underpants. Among other things, Navalny notes:

The reason why it all happened is one mans hatred and fear  one man hiding in a bunker. I mortally offended him by surviving an attempt at my life he ordered.  I mortally offended him by surviving, thanks to good people, thanks to pilots and doctors. And then I committed an even more serious offense: I didnt go into hiding, didnt start living under protection in a smaller bunker I could afford. Then something truly terrifying happened  I participated in the investigation of my own poisoning, and we showed and proved, that it was Putin who, using Russias Federal Security Service, exercised this attempted murder.  And thats driving this thieving little man in his bunker out of his mind. The fact that it all came to light. Theres no popularity ratings. No massive support. Theres none of that. Because it turns out that dealing with a political opponent who has no access to television and no political party merely requires trying to kill him with a chemical weapon. So, of course, hes losing his mind over this. Because everyone was convinced that hes just a petty bureaucrat who was accidentally appointed to his position. Hes never participated in any debates or campaigned in an election. Murder is the only way he knows how to fight.  Hell go down in history as nothing but a poisoner. We all remember Alexander the Liberator [Alexander II] and Yaroslav the Wise [Yaroslav I]. Well, now well have Vladimir the Poisoner of Underpants  thats how he will go down in history. 

John McCormack links to the full translation of Navalnys remarks here and embeds the Twitter video below. I concur with McCormack that the courage Alexei Navalny displays in this speech in court is breathtaking[.]

MUST WATCH: #Navalnys speech from court. This kind of bravery in the face of a violent regime that has already tried to murder you is inspiring. Having survived one attempt on his life, he appears to have lost all fear, and grows stronger. pic.twitter.com/4CFiiQFCgL  James Holland (@James7Holland) February 2, 2021
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has urged the Court of Appeal in Lagos to list Mohammed Yunusa, a judge recently discharged of bribery charges, for re-trial.

The Lagos State High Court in Ikeja had in a ruling on January 25 discharged Mr Yunusa of the bribery charges, citing a December 23, 2020 letter by the National Judicial Council (NJC) which lifted the suspension slammed on him in July 2016.

EFCCs prosecutor, Wahab Shittu, had called 10 prosecution witnesses with only about two more to be presented, when the court struck out Mr Yunusas name off the charges, and ordered his alleged co-accomplice, Esther Agbo, to continue facing the trial.

Not satisfied

Dissatisfied with the trial courts ruling, the commission filed a notice of appeal to challenge it at the Court of Appeal in Lagos on Wednesday.

The anti-corruption agency raised three grounds of appeal in the notice of appeal obtained by PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday.

It prayed for an order setting aside the order of the trial court striking out the name of the 1st respondent (Mr Yunusa) and discharging the 1st respondent from the information.

It also sought an order directing the trial court to relist and restore the name of the 1st respondent as the 1st defendant in the Information before the trial court.

Judges not immune from prosecution

The agency said the trial judges ruling attempted to confer immunity on Mr Yunusa as a judicial officer even when the Nigerian Constitution does not grant such immunity to judges.

EFCCs prosecutor, Mr Shittu, who filed the appeal quoted the trial judge as saying in her ruling, Upon the application of the learned silk, J. A Odubela, SAN, and the document tendered admitted and marked as Exhibit A2, the 1st defendant having been recalled on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council is a sitting judicial officer of the federation, hence immune from criminal proceedings.

Faulting the ruling, Mr Shittu argued that section 308 of the Nigerian Constitution confers immunity from criminal prosecution on only serving President, Vice- President, as well as governors and deputy governors of state, and not on any other persons or authorities.

He added that section 153(1), paragraph 21(b) of Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the Nigerian Constitution does not give rise to the interpretation that a criminal allegation against a judge must be first disposed of by the National Judicial Council (NJC) before criminal proceedings against a judicial officer can be initiated by the state.

The exercise of criminal prosecutorial powers by the state is derived from constitutional and statutory provisions, he added.

NJCs disciplinary power distinct from EFCCs power to prosecute

In another ground of appeal, EFCC argued that the trial court erred in law and misdirected itself in the interpretation of the decision in Nganjiwa vs FRN (017 LPELR 43391CA.

In the case referred to, the Court of Appeal had in 2017 ruled that a judge of the Federal High Court, Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, could not be prosecuted unless he was first disciplined by the NJC.

But Mr Shittu, in faulting the discharge of Mr Yunusa, noted that his trial commenced after a case against him had been referred to the NJC.

He argued that the Nganjiwa vs FRN case did not decide that a matter determined by the NJC one way or the other cannot be subject to subsequent criminal proceedings against the serving judge in respect of alleged criminal offences.

Constitutional powers assigned to the National Judicial Council and law enforcement agencies are distinct and separate and the exercise of any of such powers is not dependent on the other.

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National Judicial Council is constitutionally vested with administrative and disciplinary jurisdictional powers against judicial officers while law enforcement agencies are vested with investigative and prosecutorial powers for criminal offences.

NJCs letter cant stop criminal proceedings

He argued that the trial judge erred in law in holding that, consequently, the case against the 1st defendant (Mr Yunusa) is hereby struck out and he is accordingly discharged.

As part of the particulars of errors raised under the grounds of appeal, Mr Shittu contended that a judicial officer is not immune from criminal prosecution by constitutional or statutory provisions.

He argued that the precondition for the prosecution of a judge as set in the Nganjiwa vs FRN case was fulfilled in Mr Yunusas case as his matter was first referred to the NJC before he was charged before the Lagos State High Court.

Exhibit A2, letter dated January 11, 2021, admitted in the trial court from the Federal High Court of Nigeria and letter dated December 23, 2020, from the National Judicial Council being administrative actions cannot operate to terminate criminal proceedings involving the 1st respondent and the 2nd respondent which had reached an advanced stage leading to testimonies of 10 prosecution witnesses and the admission of several legally admissible evidential materials in the proceedings, he added.

Backstory

Mr Yunusa was a serving judge at the Enugu Division of the Federal High Court when he was, in July 2016 suspended by the NJC pending President Muhammadu Buharis approval of the councils recommendation for his compulsory retirement.

His sanction was based on a petition by the Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) accusing him of arbitrarily giving orders to restrain anti-corruption agencies from carrying out their statutory duties of investigation and prosecution.

In January 2018, the EFCC arraigned him on three counts of taking bribes from a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Rickey Tarfa, who is also being separately prosecuted by the commission on similar charges.

The anti-graft agency, in February 2020, scaled the charges up to nine counts. It re-arraigned Mr Yunusa alongside Esther Agbor, a worker at Mr Tarfas law firm, who was accused of paying N1.5 million to the judges bank account.

The commission, in the amended charges, accused the two defendants of attempted perversion of the course of justice, corruption by a public official, use of office or position for gratification to the tune of N2,2 million.

The EFCC had called 10 prosecution witnesses when Serifat Solebo, the trial judge at the Special Offences Division of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja discharged Mr Yunusa in a ruling delivered on January 25.
India has strongly raised the issue of the wrong depiction of the map of India on the World Health Organisation's (WHO) website, Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, informed Rajya Sabha, adding that the Indian government's position on correct portrayal of its boundaries has been "unambiguously reiterated".

Replying to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Muraleedharan said that the WHO has informed the Indian Permanent Mission in Geneva that they have put a disclaimer on the portal specifying that "designations employed and presentation of these materials do not imply the expression of any opinion on part of the WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area".

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

Last month, it was reported that the map of India on WHO's website was not correctly depicted.

The map on the WHO's COVID-19 situation dashboard showed Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were marked in grey colour, while the rest of India was in navy blue.

"The issue of wrong depiction of the map of India on the WHO's website has been raised strongly with the WHO. In response the WHO has informed Permanent Mission of India in Geneva that they have put a disclaimer on the portal," Muraleedharan said.

"The disclaimer says 'designations employed and presentation of these materials do not imply the expression of any opinion on part of the WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area or of its authorities or concerning legal status of any country, territory or area of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries dotted/dashed lines on maps represent approx border lines for which there may not be full agreement'. Nevertheless, the GoI's position on the right depiction of boundaries is unambiguously reiterated," he added. (ANI)

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A Williamstown man is in hospital with life-threatening stab wounds after an intruder allegedly attacked the 53-year-old inside his home.

A police spokeswoman said the man had been sleeping when he woke to find an unknown woman had broken into his home on The Strand, about 1.30am Thursday.

Police at the scene of Thursdays stabbing. Credit:Jason South

The man was then stabbed multiple times before the woman fled the scene, the spokeswoman said.

The 53-year-old victim was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
A woman has been left terrified after discovering a six-foot carpet python slithering up the stairs of her two-storey house.

The resident ran from the house in Logan, Queensland, and locked the door before calling snake catcher Glenn 'Ozzie' Lawrence on January 29.

By the time Mr Lawrence entered the home, the reptile had found its way into the bathroom, a common spot for snakes to seek refuge during wet weather.

Mr Lawrence told Daily Mail Australia the coastal carpet python was relatively easy to catch as it was already cornered in a small room, despite acting a little defensive.

The Shailer Park resident discovered the snake slithering up the stairs of her two-storey home before it made itself at home in her bathroom (pictured)

The handler said the resident's 'phobias and fears were through the roof' and he spent some time trying to calm her down after the python had been secured.

He said OzCapture Snake Relocations receivea at least five calls a day from residents finding unwanted serpents underneath air conditioning units, fridges, washing machines and dryers.

Snakes found in bathrooms are not as common, Mr Lawrence said.

'Thanking the powers that be it wasn't actually in the toilet itself', Mr Lawrence captioned a series of photos of the carpet python on Facebook.

The 2 metre carpet python was found professional snake handler hiding in the bathroom

'My pet fear at night', one comment read.

Another cautioned other home owners saying, 'That's why you always put the lid down!'

Mr Lawrence said the combination of recent wet weather and the amount of snake hatchlings being born at this time of year had resulted in more relocations.

'Snakes will sense a low pressure storm, leave their trees and seek shelter when the rain is here,' he said.

'When there's rain they crawl into roofs, pergolas, covered area, barbecues and garages.'

The carpet python was relocated into bush land a kilometre away from the residents home in Logan, Queensland.

Mr Lawrence said handlers will relocate the invading reptile within 5km of where the snake was found, away from suburban areas.
The Biden administration is considering sending masks to every single household in the U.S., a new report says.

Officials told NBC News that the White House's COVID-19 Response Team is currently assessing different ways of mailing face coverings to 328 million Americans.

It is currently unclear how much the plan will cost, how many masks would be sent to each household, what types of masks would be included in the package and if people are required to receive them.

Although the plan has been discussed by the administration's top public health experts, no final proposal has been sent to President Joe Biden for approval.

It comes as some officials call for better - or double - masks to be warn as COVID variants from the UK, South Africa and Brazil continue to spread across the country.

The Biden administration is currently assessing a plan to send masks directly to every single American household but no details are available on how much the plan would cost or how many masks would be sent. Pictured: Biden holds up a face mask as he speaks about the U.S. economy in Delaware, November 2020

Two organizations, ASTM International and the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. are also working on a plan to establish standards for consumer face masks. Pictured: A street vendor sells face masks and hand sanitizer as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening, July 2020

Prior to taking office, Biden has stressed the importance of wearing masks to combat the spread of COVID-19 and called it a 'patriotic duty.'

One of his first acts was asking every Americans to commit to wearing a mask every day for his first 100 days in his office, short of a nationwide mandate.

Biden has also signed numerous executive actions related to face coverings including that they be worn on federal property, on public transit, while passing through airports and on domestic flights.

It is a stark contrast to former President Donald Trump, who never enacted such orders and who seldom wore a mask in public.

In fact, in April 2020, the U.S. Postal Service has been planning on sending every American household a face mask, according to public records obtained by The Washington Post.

According to a draft press release, the agency was planning on sending out 650 million masks, enough to send five coverings on every household.

Additionally, the plan was to send masks to states that has been hardest early on like New York and Michigan.

However, a senior administration official told The Post that the White House nixed the plan after learning about it.

One official told The Post: There was concern from some in the White House Domestic Policy Council and the office of the vice president that households receiving masks might create concern or panic.'

Meanwhile, the U.S. may soon enact the very first standards for consumer face masks.

CNN reports that ASTM International, an international standards organization, is working on standards with the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory to 'establish minimum design, performance (testing), labeling, user instruction, reporting and classification, and conformity assessment requirements for barrier face coverings.'

The organizations hope this will give Americans guidance on which masks offer the best protection and which masks do not.

The standards, which are still being drafted, will be reviewed by ASTM's Subcommittee on Respiratory Hazards before a final proposal is put together.

When the pandemic began, it led to a shortage of masks and people fashioning face coverings out of anything they could find including shirts as well as people

In fact, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol seized nearly 13 million counterfeit face masks between September 2019 and September 2020.

First reported by The Wall Street Journal, the masks were seized at 300 points of entry with about 51 percent of the seizures originating from China.

The counterfeit products were mainly masks that were claimed to be made by well-known companies such as 3M.

For example, one seizure, in Cincinnati, Ohio, in December 2020, included 21 boxes labeled as 3M Mask Model 1860, reported The Journal.

If the masks has been genuine 3M masks, they would have had a retail value of $65,520.
POST Commission

Duty To De-Escalate

Does the Police Reform Law Go Far Enough?

(TNS)  The police reform bill started out simply enough: A bicameral effort to limit the use of force by police officers, limit or eliminate no-knock warrants and to make policing more equitableIt wound up an overarching bill encompassing training, use of force, oversight and much more. It's ultimate aim, according to key negotiator Sen. Cynthia Creem, D- Newton, is to address ingrained, systemic racial bias."Institutional racism has been around forever," she said. "It's so ingrained for so many people, it's almost subconscious."As a lead negotiator on Beacon Hill, Watertown Sen. William Brownsberger played an integral role in securing passage of the law in late December 2020. Speaking by phone, he said once a level of consensus formed around the core components of the police reform effort, he made it his "mission above all else to carry those across the finish line."That sprint to the finish included a final stage of negotiations initiated after Gov. Charlie Baker returned a version of the bill to lawmakers Dec. 10. With the threat of a veto, Baker sought to compromise on specific sections of the bill's text, asking restrictions on the use of facial recognition technology be loosened and requesting some control of police training oversight be retained in the state's executive branch.On Dec. 31, 2020, Baker signed the reform overhaul into law after Senate and House members approved a final amended versionBrownsberger said he was "extremely happy" with the compromises made to secure passage of the final version of the bill "because I view the compromises that we made as absolutely necessary to getting the bill done  and I am very happy to get the bill done.""The core of this bill is such a big deal, that I don't regret anything in the way of compromises that we had to make," he added. "Certainly there are things that I might have done differently, but that's just not what I am thinking about."Creem, who first filed a bill aimed at limiting the use of force, choke holds and no-knock warrants among other issues, is happy to see the bill in its final form."It's different than where we started out, but it's a great bill," Creem said.Creem went on to call the bill a sweeping change to policing in Massachusetts. The best part to her  it does not close the door on further changes, particularly to facial recognition technology.Central to the 129-page bill is the Police Officers Standards and Training, POST, commission, which Brownsberger said will hold "enormous powers to oversee policing in Massachusetts."After being appointed by the state's attorney general and governor, members of the POST commission will set about setting procedural rules and regulations. The state senator said he was hopeful most of that work would be completed by the end of 2021 and estimated the public would really begin to see tangible effects of the law in about five years.Brownsberger said the law passed at the end of last year will help bring much-needed structure to policing in Massachusetts that he said is currently "uneven"."You have some great departments, you have some totally heroic officers; at the same time you have some departments that are weakly managed; and some problem officers [who] they tend to be concentrated in the more weakly managed departments, where discipline is weak," Brownsberger said."I think we have the opportunity to bring all of Massachusetts to the same high level, and the result of that I think will be greater credibility for policing."Before the bill passed, Massachusetts was one of just four states in the U.S. without a POST system.In and of itself, a POST system is not necessarily a panacea, said Rahsaan Hall, director of the Racial Justice Program for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts."It's only as strong as the provisions within it and the independence of the commission," Hall said. "And by all accounts, this is probably one of the strongest POST commissions in the country."The new law creates a so-called "duty to de-escalate," requiring that officers responding to crises take steps to calm the situation."De-escalation by police officers is all about slowing things down," said Annabel Lane, a Brookline Police Department social worker who serves on the board of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Massachusetts. "The goal is to provide the individual in crisis with time and space, as much as possible while ensuring scene safety, so that you can build rapport."In her day job, Lane coordinates regional trainings on mental health and substance use response for police officers throughout Norfolk County."An underlying component that is key is the ability to recognize when an individual is experiencing mental health symptoms rather than engaging in purposefully dangerous or criminal behavior; these are skills that police undergo extensive training to develop," she said in an email.Despite this training, police interactions with individuals who have mental illness can sometimes turn deadly.In Brookline last year, Boston Police officers and a Massachusetts State Trooper shot and killed a man following a confrontation outside Brigham and Women's Hospital and a subsequent car chase. The man's family said he had bipolar and schizoaffective disorders.Lane said she's unsure what impact the new police reform law will have on police interactions with individuals who have mental illness."In my experience, the challenge in Massachusetts has more to do with a lack of accessible, ongoing mental health supports than a failure of police departments," she said. "I see officers trying to manage incredibly complex situations and triage people and connect them to needed supports as best they can  yet these supports are just not available enough."The new law is "an important step in the foundation of changing the way policing happens, especially in communities of color," the ACLU's Hall said. "There were some significant components to this bill that have the potential to really rein in racially disparate and aggressive policing."Among these promising components, he said, are the chokehold ban, limits on crowd-control tactics and no-knock warrants, and the creation of a duty to intervene when an officer sees a colleague using excessive physical force.But, he added, "There are also some pieces that were important that were left out."An earlier version of the bill included modest reforms of qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that protects police officers from civil liability  and those didn't make the final cut of the bill. He pointed to the law's lack of substantial regulation on facial and biometric surveillance technologies.Hall also shared his vision for successful police reform."To me, it looks like fewer police on the streets. To me, it looks like fewer people complaining of racial profiling," he said. "It means the elimination of disparities in motor vehicle stops. It means the end of the hypersurveillance of our communities. It means the end of wrongful convictions that begin with overaggressive and substandard policing that is racially biased."

Many Law & Order diehard fans know the words to the iconic opening scene. Its become a staple of the series, and even the spinoffs sport opening lines as well. It gets the audience ready to watch the unique police procedural and be entertained. But you might wonder where youve heard that legendary voice before. It turns out the actor has had many other popular roles where you might have heard him.

Who narrates the opening scene for Law & Order and its spinoffs?

Jerry Orbach and Chris Noth in Law & Order | Jessica Burstein/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Many fans of the series Law & Order know the opener by heart, and its become synonymous with the show: In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: The police who investigate crime, and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.

But who actually says those words? It turns out its an actor named Steven Zirnkilton. But he doesnt just voice the lines for Law & Order, but for all of the five series in the United States lasting from 1990 onward, according to the actors Fandom page for the series. Its actually quite an accomplishment, and that means he voices the opener for Law & Order: SVU as well, which is working on its 22nd season.

How did Steven Zirnkilton get the pivotal role?

Kathryn Erbe, Vincent Donofrio, Eric Bogosian, Chris Noth, Alicia Witt in Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Eric Ogden/USA/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

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Zirnkilton was actually in the pilot episode of Law & Order in a small role as a detective that included two sentences. But from there, he would become the voice actor for the narration known by many. But how did that transition happen? According to an interview Zirnkilton had with Speak Easy and Backstage, it all came down to his previous connection with Dick Wolf, the creator of the shows. Wolf was looking to purchase a house in Maine, and Zirnkilton had his appropriate licenses to help, including an insurance license, and he got in touch. After helping him, Zirnkilton gave him his VO demo, and he later received a call to work on Nasty Boys, which didnt last long. From there, he scored his small part as a detective, and finally he became the voice of the opening lines.

Then I got a call from Mr. Wolfs secretary saying that Mr. Wolf has a show called Law & Order, and hed like you to play a detective in the show, Zirnkilton recalled. I played a detective in the pilot and shared a trailer with William H. Macy, by the way! Nobody wanted the show. CBS and Fox both passed. Nearly a year went by and then Brandon Tartikoff at NBC decided to give it a try. Mr. Wolfs secretary called me again and said, Please meet Mr. Wolf at the recording studio. He has something hed like you to read. And that was the opening. I had no idea if the show would have any legs, but happily it hung around for a while.

Heres why the narrator of the opening scene of Law & Order sounds so familiar

Steven Zirnkilton might sound familiar because hes been in a decent amount of television series and movies. He played the voice of a reporter in The Rugrats Movie in 1998 according to IMDb, and hes also worked on numerous other shows as well.

Zirnkilton has worked on other Dick Wolf created shows, including Arrest & Trial as the narrator. He has also had a voice role in the series Dragnet, which was created by Dick Wolf and Jack Webb. He was the narrator for Crime & Punishment, another Wolf series, as well.

He has even been a voice over for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2004. The actor also had a role narrating a play on the Law & Order introduction in an episode of Family Guy in 2005. Other roles include being the narrator in The Stag Hunt in 2008, as well as a motel clerk in the movie Too Cold to Swim in 2018.

But Zirnkilton isnt just an actor. Hes had on a different hat before as a member of the Maine House of Representatives at one point. He served a total of four terms from 1982 to 1988, and in 1992 to 1994 as well.

Steven Zirnkilton has worked in numerous other projects before besides Law & Order, making his voice familiar to many.


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In 2008, Bianey Garcia was walking with her boyfriend down Roosevelt Avenue, the main artery in the diverse Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens, New York, around 4 a.m. after leaving a gay club. She was 18 at the time, and she had just started her gender transition.

It was the first time that I dressed up sexy for my boyfriend, she told NBC News. But before they reached their destination, she said a van pulled up next to them.

Five officers get out of the van, they push me, face to the wall, they take my purse, and they empty it to the floor, and they found condoms, and they literally told me that I was doing sex work, Garcia said, adding that she got the condoms at the club, where they were available for free.

I tried to explain them that I wasn't doing sex work, that the person walking next to me was my boyfriend, she said. He also tried to explain that we are partners, and the officer told my boyfriend, You have to go or you're going to be arrested.

Garcia was arrested under Section 240.37 of the New York State Penal Code, a decades-old loitering law that LGBTQ advocates have long called the walking while trans law.

I didn't know that the NYPD can stop me and arrest me just for being me, for dressing sexy, for wearing clothes that doesn't, you know, apply to my gender, she said.

She pleaded guilty to the charge of loitering for the purpose of prostitution, because she didnt know her rights, she said. As an immigrant who was undocumented at the time, she was afraid of being deported like some of her close friends had been.

For the last three years, Garcia and other activists at Make the Road New York, a grassroots, immigrants rights organization, have advocated for the repeal of the so-called walking while trans law.

On Tuesday, they achieved their goal: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation to repeal the measure. He said in a statement that the repeal is a critical step toward reforming our policing system and reducing the harassment and criminalization transgender people face simply for being themselves.

Story continues

Garcia said she cried like a baby when she heard the news.

I cry because I really feel the pain of people when they share their experiences with a lawmaker, she said, noting that she and other activists had traveled to the state Capitol in Albany to speak with legislators about repealing the measure. But also, it makes me think that we have rights, we have people that are defending us, lawmakers that are part of this movement.

In light of the repeal, the New York Police Department issued new guidance Wednesday that officers may not arrest an individual for this charge, according to an internal memo obtained by the New York Post.

The NYPD did not immediately respond to NBC News request for comment on the repeal and accusations made against the department in its past enforcement of the now-defunct statute. However, in 2018, for an article in The Cut about the walking while trans statute, an NYPD spokesperson said the department does not target transgender persons for arrest.

Arrests are made based on community complaints pertaining to allegations of prostitution, Detective Kellyann Ort said at the time.

Incredibly broad and vague

Passed in 1976, Section 240.37 aimed to prevent loitering for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. However, Gabriel Arkles, senior counsel at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the measure was incredibly broad and vague.

It allowed people to be arrested for being outside in public, talking to other people while having an intention of engaging in prostitution, he told NBC News. Of course, its not really possible to know why somebody is out on the street and talking to people.

The law allowed police to remove people they deemed criminal from public spaces, according to Richard Saenz, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ legal advocacy group.

We saw this law being used against LGBT people and specifically transgender women or people who appeared more feminine, Saenz said. They would be stopped by police under this law and face harassment or arrest.

This went on for decades, he said, and the law eventually earned the walking while trans name.

Basically, it became known that if you are trans, and you are out in a public space or even in your own neighborhood, you could be stopped by police for no other reason than being outside, Saenz said.

Many trans people participate in the sex trade due to the harassment and discrimination they face in the traditional workforce, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality. In a 2015 survey, the organization found that, of 694 respondents, nearly 11 percent reported having participated in sex work. Of trans sex workers surveyed, nearly 70 percent reported adverse job outcomes in the traditional workforce, such as being denied a job or promotion or being fired because of their gender identity or expression. Those who lost a job due to anti-transgender bias were almost three times as likely to engage in the sex trade, the survey found.

Image: Kristen Lovell (Kristen Lovell)

Kristen Lovell, who was a sex worker in New York Citys Meatpacking District in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, said she was arrested more than 40 times under the walking while trans law and spent numerous hours in Rikers Island, New York Citys notorious jail complex.

She said police would tell her, We've watched you interact with three people, so that's why we've got to take you in.

My thing is, if you're arresting me for prostitution, aren't I supposed to be going with these people? Anybody could have asked me anything. They could ask me for directions, or they could have just said hello, she said, adding that police would justify the arrest by saying that she was interacting with people in the Meatpacking District, which was known as a prostitution zone.

Then they would also try to find various other ways to criminalize you, from trespassing, loitering, she said. Once, she said police even handcuffed her to a pole in a jail holding cell for two days. She sued the city and won a settlement, but it was just a constant battle, she said.

Over the years, Saenz said that lawyers at Lambda Legal have heard horrible stories and read official police statements that say people were stopped because of what they were wearing. According to the repeal bill, one police officer involved in a Legal Aid Society lawsuit challenging the statute testified that he was trained to identify prostitutes by looking for women with Adam's apples, big hands and big feet.

We've heard that a number of people who were stopped under the walking while trans statute faced police violence, including misgendering, being verbally assaulted, sexually assaulted, he said.

Trans people face more violence from police that their cisgender counterparts, particularly if they are sex workers, according to data from the National Center for Trans Equality. Of trans survey participants who participated in sex work or other underground economies, 16 percent reported facing police violence. For Black trans people, 53 percent reported experiencing police violence, according to the organization. The walking while trans law increased that risk further, Saenz said.

Assemblymember Amy Paulin, who sponsored the repeal in the New York State Assembly, and state Sen. Brad Hoylman, who sponsored it in the State Senate, both said the law was discriminatory in its application. In their press releases about the repeal, the Democratic lawmakers cited data from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, which found that in 2018, 91 percent of people arrested under the statute were Black and Latino, and 80 percent identified as women. The data didnt include information about the number of trans people arrested under the law.

Those who were charged under the now-defunct law would have a misdemeanor offense on their record, which can affect someones ability to find employment and housing, Saenz said. It can also make someone ineligible to adjust their immigration status, or even result in deportation.

We need protection

Though the statute wasnt passed until 1976, Lovell said policing of people based on their gender expression goes back further than that, with the criminalization of trans people and dress codes.

This is one of the things that led up to the Stonewall riots, so this is even before 1976, she said. This type of problem in New York City persisted for decades now, so this is bigger than just the 1976 walking while trans bill.

For example, in the 40s, 50s and 60s, police reportedly used an informal three-article rule, which required people to wear three pieces of female attire to avoid being arrested for cross-dressing. LGBTQ people interviewed by researchers reported being arrested in bar raids under the rule.

With the walking while trans law now repealed, Garcia said she fears police will use other excuses to arrest people in her community.

Transgender women, we need protection, she said. We need to implement laws to protect transgender people from police harassment, not only in New York, but also in other states.

Image: Bianey Garcia (Make the Road New York)

Arkles said a number of other states have similar laws to the one New York just repealed, including California, Arizona and Ohio. A 2020 Miami Law Review article also notes such laws exist in Georgia, New Jersey and Chicago.

Under New Yorks repeal, no currently pending prosecutions should continue, but the repeal doesnt appear to provide a way for people with past convictions under the law, like Lovell, to have them expunged.

The repeal is significant for the LGBTQ community, but especially trans women of color, Saenz said.

The historical significance of this is not just the repeal of this law, but it's the organizing and the leadership of those most impacted by the laws, which are trans women of color who really did lead us to this moment, he said, adding that activists like Garcia showed elected officials that real people are harmed by these laws.

Saenz said the transgender community also built on the momentum of a trans-led march for Black trans lives that 15,000 people attended in Brooklyn in June.

They use that momentum to show that these laws and the unlawful enforcement of these laws against transgender women of color cannot stand, he said. That, for me, is really the historical significance of this  is showing that trans women are leaders ... and we should listen to them.

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A new study by Northwestern University researchers finds involvement with firearms by high-risk youth is associated with firearm violence during adulthood.

"Association of Firearm Access, Use, and Victimization During Adolescence with Firearm Perpetration During Adulthood in a 16-year Longitudinal Study of Youth Involved in the Juvenile Justice System" will publish in JAMA Network Open.

The longitudinal study of juvenile justice youth is the first to analyze firearm victimization and access during adolescence and its association with firearm violence in adulthood.

The study is based on data collected in the Northwestern Juvenile Project. In the mid-1990s, researchers interviewed 1,829 randomly selected youth who were newly admitted to juvenile detention. The investigators then followed them for the next 16 years no matter where they were livingconducting a total of 17,766 face-to-face interviews. The study's overall goal was to ascertain the health needs and outcomes of youth in the juvenile justice system.

"Youth in the juvenile justice system are disproportionately poor and from racial/ethnic minority groups," said behavioral scientist Dr. Linda Teplin, the Owen L. Coon Professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "They are at high risk for nearly every dire outcome, including death by firearm. To date, more than 10% of our sample have died, nearly half of these from firearm injuries."

In the current paper, Northwestern Medicine researchers found that participants who had been victimized by a weapon as adolescents were between two and three times more likely to perpetuate firearm violence as adults. They also found those with access to a firearm during adolescence were far more likely to perpetuate firearm violence as an adult.

"We anticipated that involvement with firearms might continue beyond adolescence. But we were surprised that being victimized during adolescence would be associated with perpetrating as an adult," Teplin said.

Firearms deaths are a significant public health problem in the U.S., accounting for nearly 200,000 homicides between 2003 and 2018. Despite an overall decrease in homicides over the past three years, the proportion involving firearms peaked in 2018 accounting for 72% of homicides.

The Northwestern researchers investigated three aspects of firearm involvement during adolescence: use (to threaten, shoot); access (ownership, firearm in the home, ease of access, gang carries a firearm); and victimization (gunshot injury, threatened with a weapon). Nearly all types of firearm involvement during adolescence were significantly associated with the perpetration of firearm violence during adulthood.

"Unfortunately, firearm involvementboth perpetration and victimizationis the norm, not the exception, in these high-risk adolescents," notes author Dr. Leah Welty, professor in preventive medicine at Feinberg. The investigators found that prior to age 18, three-fourths of males had shot or threatened someone. Three-fourths had been threatened themselves, and one in 10 had been shot. "Girls were not immune," Welty said. "Nearly two-thirds of females had been threatened with a weapon."

"Clearly, being victimized during adolescence has consequences," Teplin said. "Youth victimized at school may perform poorly, cut classes and ultimately drop out, limiting their employment opportunities. They may then join gangs or sell drugs, increasing their exposure to high-risk situations. Finally, exposure to violencewhether in the home, at school or in the streetsmay cause youth to carry firearms to protect themselves. In this way, victims become perpetrators."

The researchers offer several recommendations communities and households might take to address this public health crisis and reduce firearms deaths.

"We need preventive interventions that target high-risk youth like our participants. Neighborhoods also matter. Firearm violence is concentrated in blighted urban communities where it's easy to obtain guns and find places to hide them. Youth may borrow from friends or rent from their gang," Teplin said.

The authors also recommend training pediatricians to educate parents on the safe storage of firearms. When weighed against the risk of injury and death, the cost is negligible at $25 for a pistol-sized lock box.

The researchers will next investigate intergenerational patterns of firearm victimization and perpetration.

Explore further Exposure to violence takes a toll on the socioemotional well-being of Californians
Harare  ZIMPLATS, the mining leader in platinum group metals (PGMs), has spent US$0,5 million on exploration projects over the last quarter of 2020.

This is out of a total of $0,9 million committed for such projects.

The company disclosed the spending in a production updated for the last quarter of the past year, ended December 31.

Total operating cash costs increased by 1 percent to $96,542 up from the previous quarter mainly due to local government rates and computer software licence fees, which are paid bi-annually.

A total of $1,8 million was transferred from operating costs to closing stocks during the quarter compared to $5,6 million in the previous quarter.

This was due to the 3 percent decrease in tonnes of ore mined and 1 percent increase in the volume of ore milled.

Tonnes mined decreased 3 percent to 1,81 million, down from the previous quarter.

Four employees tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).

Three of them had since recovered while one was still under management at the company's medical facility as at the end of the quarter.

- CAJ News
None can take the land of our farmers: PM Modi

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: The Chauri Chaura centenary celebrations makes it even more special as we enter 75 years years of India's independence, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi said.

The PM also released a postal stamp related to the Chauri Chaura incident in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adtiyanath.

The PM urged young writers to come forward and write books on freedom fighters, who gave up their lives for India.

The PM said that we have strengthened our farmers and villagers. No one can take land of our farmers.

We believe that that when our farm sector of the country is strengthened, the country will progress. In the Budget, it was announced that 1,000 Mandis will be linked to e-NAM and this will make our farmers Atmanirbhar, the PM also said. PM Modi also said that the collective strength showcased by our freedom fighters is the foundation of Atmanirbhar.

We must never forget the sacrifices made by by our freedom fighters and it is because of them that we are standing on our sovereign soil, he also added. Our freedom fighters had the privilege to die for the country and we have the privilege to live for it. We must make this a decisive year in realising our dreams, the PM also added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier inaugurated the Chauri Chaura Centenary Celebrations at Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.

The day marks 100 years of the 'Chauri Chaura' incident, a landmark event in the country's fight for independence.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

The centenary celebrations and various events planned by the State government will begin in all 75 districts of the State from 4th February 2021 and will continue till 4th February 2022.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 12:23 [IST]
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The recalcitrant Tatmadaw is unlikely to take up civilian government-led efforts at reconciliation.

Myanmars ambitious plan to bring armed ethnic groups under the tent of a nationwide peace accord after decades of conflict appears essentially dead in the water following this weeks military coup that unseated Aung San Suu Kyis democratically elected government, ethnic groups and analysts said.

On Monday, Myanmars military dissolved parliament in a bloodless coup that gave it control of the country. Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of the democratically elected government and whose ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) won in a landslide of the 2015 and 2020 elections, was taken into custody along with other party leaders.

The putsch, which saw General Min Aung Hlaing declare a one-year state of emergency, drew condemnation from Western governments and from Myanmars 10 ethnic armies that have signed the Nationwide Cease-Fire Agreement (NCA) with the militarya fragile 2015 pact intended to end decades of conflict that have hindered the countrys political and economic development.

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday expressed deep concern at the declaration of the state of emergency imposed in Myanmar by the military on 1 February and the arbitrary detention of members of the Government, including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint and others, it said in a press statement that called for the release of detainees but stopped short of condemnation after days of deliberations.

During Aung San Suu Kyis 2016-20 tenure, only two ethnic armed groups joined the NCA, but following the 2020 election in November, the NLD had said ending the countrys civil wars was a top priority. The military, which has traditionally opposed any efforts to reconcile with the groups, is unlikely to further the peace process, experts said.

On Tuesday, the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST), which comprises the leaders of the 10 NCA signatories, convened a special meeting and issued a statement condemning the military coup, saying it had derailed efforts to build a federal democratic union in Myanmar.

We are still in the middle of democratic transition. This military coup has reversed that course and left our goal of establishing federalism further away, said PPST spokesperson Padoh Saw Tardo Hmu, who is also secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU)one of the 10 NCA signatories.

We see this action as contrary to what the whole country had accepted as a common goal. We are calling for the unconditional release of all detained leaders, including State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the establishment of conditions that allow for continued negotiations.

Padoh Saw Tardo Hmu said that by terminating government delegates, the Tatmadaw had brought the peace process in a standstill, as the NCA was signed by both military and government delegates. But he said that the 10 NCA signatories intend to stick to the path agreed to as part of the pact and urged the military to declare a nationwide ceasefire.

The armed groups also called on the U.N. and international community to intervene and assist in resolving the countrys problems.

Colonel Khan San, spokesperson of Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS)another NCA signatorytold RFAs Myanmar Service that his armed group is acting on four priorities following the coup.

First, the military coup is detrimental to trust and peace. Second, the RCSS will stand with the people in building federalism and democracy. Third, we are concerned that the NCA may be defunct as a result of the coup. And lastly, we are urging all relevant parties to meet and continue negotiations, he said.

RFA was unable to contact representatives of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), an alliance of some of the largest of rebel forces that have been at war with the central government for decades and have resisted signing the NCA because they want to keep their armies.

However, the FPNCCwhich is pursuing a confederate system in Myanmar that allows ethnic organizations to maintain their own armed forces, despite the objections of the Tatmadawhad welcomed the NLDs election victory and pledged to work with the government toward national reconciliation based on equal partnership.

Myanmar's military personnel stand guard at a checkpoint manned with an armored vehicle in a road leading to the parliament building in Naypyitaw, Feb. 2, 2021. AP Photo

Prospects for peace

RFA spoke with Min Zaw Oo, executive director of the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security (MIPS), who said the continuation of the peace process now depends on the new government formed by the military.

How the NCA is viewed, how the contents of the agreement are adhered to, and how other peace agreements proceed all depends on the new government, he said.

If the new government recognizes the peace contracts and agrees to uphold the NCA, the peace process between the ethnic armed organizations and the state will continue.

Outside experts were less convinced, largely agreeing that the military will exploit its new power to end negotiations with the countrys ethnic armies.

Murray Hiebert, a senior associate of the Southeast Asia Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the military had shown little interest in the peace process to begin with and is unlikely to do so going forward.

I think with most of the armed ethnic groups, the coup puts paid to the peace process, he said.

In recent years, the  process was largely run by Aung San Suu Kyi and her team. Often the military didnt attend the talks and the military often vetoed efforts at finding a compromise solution.

David Steinberg, professor emeritus of Asian studies at Georgetown University and an expert on Myanmar, said that even when the NLD was in power, the peace process wasnt going anywhere.

Aung San Suu Kyi had her own goals about that, but the militarythey control the minority border area ministry, he said.

Steinberg said that the militarys power is protected under the countrys 2008 constitution and that it is willing to trample the rights and freedoms of the people, as long as it can retain control.

They dont look at these democratic values as being important, so therefore theyre willing to give up some of that as long as they retain the elements critical to them, which is the autonomy of the military and control over that no minority group will secede from the Union or have too much power.

Rohingya Muslim children from Myanmar wait to receive food handouts at the Thaingkhali refugee camp in Ukhiya, Bangladesh, in a file photo. AP Photo

Rohingya crisis

Experts also agreed that with the coup there is little hope for any kind of resolution to the situation facing the countrys Muslim Rohingya population, more than 830,000 of whom fled western Myanmars Rakhine state for neighboring Bangladesh during brutal military-led crackdowns on their communities in 2016 and 2017 in response to deadly attacks by a Rohingya militant group on police outposts. The refugees still live in vast, cramped displacement camps on the Bangladeshi side of the border.

While Myanmar has pressed Bangladesh to send the Rohingya home, the refugees themselves have resisted repatriation without citizenship and safety guarantees, and the more than 600,000 who remain in Myanmar are in a precarious state, with an estimated 125,000 confined to open-air camps in Rakhine state since 2012.

Considered illegal immigrants, the Rohingya face systematic discrimination and are denied access to basic services and jobs.

CSISs Hiebert told RFA he believes theres almost no chance of finding an amicable solution to the situation.

The Tatmadaw has no trust among the Rohingya, he added.

Georgetowns Steinberg agreed, noting that Myanmar was more than willing to sweep the issue under the rug when the country was helmed by Aung San Suu Kyi. The NLD leader led the countrys defense against genocide-related charges over the militarys crackdown on the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2019, saying it occurred during operations to sweep northern Rakhine of Muslim insurgents who had attacked police posts.

[Government efforts to resolve the issue] werent going anywhere anyway, Steinberg said.

They werent going to do anything about the Rohingya because it was ethnic cleansing and a very strong prejudice against them and against Muslims in general.

Charles Dunst, a visiting scholar with the East-West Center, told RFA that the coup will only worsen the multitude of crises that Myanmar faces, including that of its multiple civil wars.

The Tatmadaw not only remains responsible for violence against the Rohingya, but has a poor relationship with various other minority groups waging such war against what they believe to be an illegitimate state, he said.

I expect that the Tatmadaw will struggle to govern, ultimately leading to the proliferation of further conflict and poverty.

Reported by Roseanne Gerin and by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Billionaire heiress Francesca Packer Barham is well and truly smitten with her new boyfriend, Adam Cooper.

On Thursday, the 26-year-old niece of James Packer hit the gym for a fourth day in a row with her new partner for 'slay week'.

'Coming for you,' Francesca cheekily captioned a selfie, as she posed in a very revealing cleavage-baring crop top to attend a cardio class run by her beau at Sydney's Vive Active.

Working it! Heiress Francesca Packer (middle) cuddled up to boyfriend Adam Cooper (right) in revealing activewear after an intense cardio gym session in Sydney on Thursday

Francesca is on track to do seven intense classes in seven days at the gym.

After enduring her boyfriend's 'hump day' booty exercises on Wednesday, Francesca joked she 'couldn't feel her bum'.

On Thursday, she captioned a group selfie with Adam and a female friend: 'survived cardio day!'

'Coming for you': Francesca shared a cheeky selfie in her cleavage-baring crop top as she headed to a cardio class run by her beau at Sydney's Vive Active for 'day 4' of 'slay week'

Three days to go! Francesca is on track to do seven intense classes in seven days at the gym

'Summer loving': In January, Adam shared this sweet picture of the couple as they enjoyed a stay at the InterContinental Hayman Island Resort

Francesca confirmed her relationship with The Daily Telegraph in December.

'Adam is a really great guy. We've been dating for a while,' she told the newspaper.

In January, Adam shared a sweet picture of the couple as they enjoyed a stay at the InterContinental Hayman Island Resort.

'Summer loving happen so fast,' he wrote, adding the hashtag 'cutie'.

Adam is the head of training at Performance Vive Active, a Pilates franchise with studios in Double Bay and Brookvale.

He is also a personal trainer and a member of the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club.

Heiress: Francesca, the granddaughter of late media mogul Kerry Packer, and daughter of philanthropist Gretel Packer and her ex-husband, English financier Nick Barham, was born in Sydney, but spent the first five years of her life in Surrey, England

Francesca's former boyfriends include: guitarist Joshua Mullane, property developer Kelli Holland and Sam Zacharia, the son of celebrity surgeon Dr Michael Zacharia.

She is the granddaughter of late media mogul Kerry Packer, and daughter of philanthropist Gretel Packer and her ex-husband, English financier Nick Barham.

Her uncle is businessman James Packer.

New Delhi: Nearly 4.5 million (44,49,552) beneficiaries have received COVID-19 vaccine shots in merely 19 days, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday (February 4).

India became the fastest country in the world to reach the 4 million COVID-19 vaccination mark, achieving this feat in just 18 days.

"Many other countries have had a head start of almost 65 days. India launched the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16. The number of beneficiaries being vaccinated every day has also shown a progressive increase," the Health Ministry said.

In a span of 24 hours, over 3,10,604 people were vaccinated across 8,041 sessions, with the cumulative total of 84,617 sessions so far, the ministry added.

Indias COVID-19 active caseload has dropped to 1.55 lakh (1,55,025) and comprises just 1.44 percent of the total infections.

The day-on-day change in the number of active cases over the last few weeks depicts a consistent decline in active cases.

"India has maintained the daily positivity rate below 2 percent in the last few weeks (19 days)," the ministry said. The total recoveries have surged to 1,04,80,455.

The ministry highlighted that, "the difference in new recoveries outnumbering new cases has also improved the recovery rate to 97.13 percent. The total recovered cases are 67.6 times the active cases."

It said 86.04 percent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in six states and union territories.

At 7,030, Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single day recoveries while 6,380 people recovered in Kerala in a span of 24 hours followed by 533 in Tamil Nadu.

The ministry said that 84.67 percent of the new cases too are from six states and UTs.

Kerala continues to report the highest daily new cases at 6,356. It is followed by Maharashtra with 2,992, while Tamil Nadu reported 514 new cases.

Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties at 30 followed by Kerala (20). West Bengal and Chhattisgarh reported 7 casualties each.

Live TV
LANSING, MI - Laura Cox is back on the ballot in the race for Michigan Republican Party chair, entering the fray days before Saturdays election.

The current party chair went in swinging at Ron Weiser, a two-time former party chair who was previously considered the presumptive incoming co-chair alongside 11th District GOP Chair Meshawn Maddock. Cox sent an email to activists alleging that Weiser in 2018 made a secret deal involving a $200,000 payment to convince a political candidate to bow out of a race.

Cox accused Weiser in a Jan. 15 email of paying former Secretary of State candidate Stanley Grot $200,000 to step down from his 2018 campaign. She added that an investigation by Jonathan E. Lauderbach of the Warner Norcross-Judd law firm in Midland could not find a contract for work Grot did to earn that payment.

There is clear evidence that a secret deal was made between Ron Weiser and Stan Grot, she wrote. Between August 20, 2018 and February 12, 2019, Stan Grot was paid the sum of $200,000  within only 7 months -- from the Partys Administrative Account. The payments were made so he would withdraw as a candidate for Secretary of State and ensure the party nominated Mary Treder Lang at the August 2018 convention.

Messages were left with Lauderbach for comment. Grot dropped out before the August 2018 state convention, and said Thursday that it was because he didnt have a chance to win over Lang, who eventually lost to Jocelyn Benson by about 370,000 votes.

Coxs allegations were made public just two days before Michigan Republicans are set to elect new co-chairs to oversee the partys strategy in the next election cycle. Her candidacy is intended to block Weiser from taking over, as she said she would resign April 3 to allow the state committee to pick a new party leader.

Cox said Weisers deal with Grot not only defrauded state delegates of choosing a candidate, but it also could open the party to a campaign finance investigation.

Weiser called the allegations baseless in a statement.

Laura Coxs baseless allegations are a desperate attempt to smear my name, based on a longstanding political grudge, and her inability to hold onto the job of party chair that she could not keep on her own merits. The contract in question was drafted by counsel, and I relied on that counsel, Weiser wrote.

Weiser told MLive there is not a copy of the contract available. He added that Coxs political grudge against him stems from not doing more to support her husband, former Attorney General Mike Cox, during the 2010 primary race for governor. That race was eventually won by former Gov. Rick Snyder.

Maddock wrote on Facebook that Cox was a bitter, sore loser.

We might have won Michigan if someone else was serving as party Chairman, Maddock wrote.

Cox said she confronted Weiser about the payments in 2019, writing that she regretted not taking action sooner out of respect for Weisers serious health and family issues and longtime service to the party.

However, the Partys Bylaws require a CPA-certified audit or review of the Partys expenditures during each Election Cycle (i.e., from Election Day 2018 to Election Day 2020), she wrote. So, I always knew, that come hell or high water, the audit was the proverbial Sword of Damocles that would force me to confront Ron soon after the November 3, 2020 election, if not earlier. While I had hoped that with time Ron would relent and engage with me on this issue and work toward the best possible solution for the Party, that has not happened.

Michigan law allows for political parties to maintain secretive administrative accounts if they dont directly fund campaign work.

Related: Secretive funds allow Michigan lawmakers to accept corporate cash

Laura has known about these issues for the past two years and, had there been any violation, which there wasnt, she would have compounded the problem and she would have been liable, Weiser wrote in his statement. Furthermore, Laura appointed Grot as chair of the budget committee, putting him in charge of the partys finances, undermining her entire assertion.

Grot is currently Shelby Township Clerk and serves on the partys state budget committee and as chair of the Michigan 10th Congressional District Republicans.

Grot received six payments of $10,000, Cox said while citing the Lauderbach report, and then a $140,000 payment in 2019. Cox said the payments finished two weeks before she assumed the chairwoman role in February 2019.

The $140,000 was so substantial that the partys CFO had to borrow from the partys line of credit, Cox wrote, adding an accusation that Weiser told her the payment came from him.

Neither Weiser nor Grot spoke with Lauderbach for his report, according to Coxs email, saying Weisers silence and obstruction speak volumes.

Read more from MLive:

Pressure increases on University of Michigan regent Ron Weiser to resign after Capitol violence

With Trump gone, Michigan Republicans look to unite in opposition to Whitmer

Presence at US Capitol ahead of riot not likely to affect prospective Michigan GOP co-chairs candidacy
The Dust Control Systems Market is poised to experience spend growth of more than USD 4.57 billion between 2021-2025 at a CAGR of over 4.70%. The report also provides the market impact and new opportunities created due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Request free sample pages

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SpendEdge has announced the release of its Global Dust Control Systems Market Procurement Intelligence Report (Graphic: Business Wire)

Read the 120-page research report with TOC and LOE on "Dust Control Systems Market Procurement Intelligence Report, Pricing Outlook in Geographies that include APAC, North America, South America, and MEA, and insights into best practices to optimize procurement spend."

SpendEdge's reports now include an in-depth complimentary analysis of the COVID-19 impact on procurement and the latest market data to help your company overcome sourcing challenges. Our Dust Control Systems Market procurement intelligence report offers actionable procurement intelligence insights, sourcing strategies, and action plans to mitigate risks arising out of the current pandemic situation. The insights offered by our reports will help procurement professionals streamline supply chain operations and gain insights into the best procurement practices to mitigate losses.

Information on Latest Trends and Supply Chain Market Information Knowledge centre on COVID-19 impact assessment

Insights into the Market Price Trends

Suppliers in this market have moderate bargaining power owing to moderate pressure from substitutes and a moderate level of threat from new entrants.

Buyers can benchmark their preferred pricing models for dust control systems Market, Procurement, Management with the wider industry information and identify the cost-saving potential.

Insights to help buyers identify and shortlist the most suitable suppliers for their Dust Control Systems Market requirements. This procurement report answers the following questions:

Am I engaging with the right suppliers?

Which KPIs should I use to evaluate my incumbent suppliers?

Which supplier selection criteria are relevant for?

What are the Dust Control Systems Market category essentials in terms of SLAs and RFx?

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Insights into strategies that will help buyers optimize their category management practices. The report answers the following questions:

What should be my strategic procurement objectives, activities, and enablers for the Dust Control Systems Market category?

What negotiation levers can I pull for cost-saving?

What are Dust Control Systems Market procurement best practices I should be promoting in my supply chain?

Some of the top Dust Control Systems Market suppliers enlisted in this report

This Dust Control Systems Market procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies.

Nederman Holding AB

Donaldson Co. Inc.

Parker-Hannifin Corp

Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Camfil AB

Sly Inc.

Hamon Cie (International) SA

Spraying Systems Co.

CW Machine Worx

Duztech AB

Quaker Chemical Corp.

Get access to regular sourcing and procurement insights to our digital procurement platform- Contact Us

Table of Content

Executive Summary

Market Insights

Category Pricing Insights

Cost-saving Opportunities

Best Practices

Category Ecosystem

Category Management Strategy

Category Management Enablers

Suppliers Selection

Suppliers under Coverage

US Market Insights

Category scope

Appendix

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Illinois will receive $19.8 million as part of a $573 million settlement accusing consulting firm McKinsey & Co. of contributing to the opioid epidemic.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul, along with a coalition of 53 attorneys general, settled the investigation into McKinsey & Co. over work with opioid companies to promote the drugs.

President Biden is expected to roll back many of former President Trumps decisions, but the creation of the Space Force wont be one of them. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told Reuters and other attendees at a February 3rd briefing that the Space Force had Bidens full support. The dedicated military branch isnt about to vanish any time soon, then.

Psaki had suggested Biden wasnt thrilled with Space Force in a briefing the day before.

Trump formally established the Space Force in December 2019. The American military already had a Space Command under the Air Force, but Trump saw a devoted Space Force as necessary to handle emerging national security threats in orbit and beyond, such as anti-satellite weapons. Critics have claimed it was more of superficial project than a meaningful change, and that wasnt helped by the Star Trek-like imagery. However, it has conducted full-fledged missions  its a practical reality.

Whether or not the Space Force changes under Bidens administration is unclear. Many expect the new President to rethink Trump-era space projects like the Artemis program as he focuses on more pressing issues like the pandemic recovery and climate change. Biden might not be as invested in the Space Force as his predecessor. However, the decision to keep the Force suggests it might remain on a steady course  much to the delight of Netflix.
Liverpool have a rich history of pulling off the most extraordinary comebacks but, even by their standards, the Premier League title looks out of touch from here.

Brighton played superbly on Wednesday night at Anfield and deserved their 1-0 win but for Jurgen Klopp it's now a return to the drawing board as he revisits problems he would have been forgiven for thinking he had banished after impressive wins over Tottenham and West Ham.

So what could Klopp change for Sunday's showdown against Manchester City at Anfield? Sportsmail takes a look...

Liverpool slumped to a frustrating 1-0 defeat by Brighton at Anfield on Wednesday night

THIAGO TOILING

It has been difficult to gauge precisely what Thiago has brought to Liverpool's midfield on a consistent basis during his first regular run of games in the team. He hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been as good as expected either.

There was a moment in Liverpool's win over West Ham at the weekend where Gary Neville compared him to Juan Sebastian Veron's time at Manchester United. That felt too far - Thiago is playing in a midfield that doesn't have Virgil van Dijk or Joe Gomez behind it and, at times, has instead been tasked with protecting the two players who he'd have expected to have alongside him in Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.

But against Brighton, and against other teams too, Thiago found it difficult to dictate play in the way he is renowned to. He has started in a midfield three alongside James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum in both those matches and, while there have been flashes of the flair and invention that make him such a enthralling player to watch, it hasn't been anything more than that.

In the first half against West Ham, he picked out Divock Origi with a stunning through ball while against Brighton he started a clever free-kick routine that nearly led to an equaliser.

Playing City might suit his game - it'll be a more high-octane match where he can run on instinct a little bit more, rather than collecting the ball and looking up at two lines of players ready to repel him. But Liverpool would have been hoping his vision would help them break down teams such as Newcastle, Brighton, Southampton and Burnley - instead, they've dropped points in all those games.

Thiago has impressed in patches but Liverpool need more from him to return to top form

SALAH FINDS TROUBLE

Liverpool have been heavily reliant on Mohamed Salah, especially without Sadio Mane in their recent games

Like all good goalscorers, there are times where Mohamed Salah clings onto the ball for too long. It isn't anything new, especially at Liverpool - Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez were the same in the 2013-14 season, where they nearly propelled Liverpool to the title.

But when Salah is without Sadio Mane, there is an unspoken onus on him to step up to the plate a bit more, which against Brighton contributed to him repeatedly running into trouble. Credit must also go to Brighton's defence, especially Adam Webster, who dealt with him brilliantly at Anfield.

Part of Salah's genius is that even though cutting in on his left is so predictable, there are times when it is still so hard to stop - look at his first goal against West Ham last Sunday as an example. But without Mane, Liverpool's attack is blunted and Klopp could benefit from having Salah a bit more central to the action.

If Mane doesn't make a return for City on Sunday, it is something Klopp could consider. Salah through the middle could also make it harder for City's defence to anticipate what he is going to do when in possession and, when the route to goal is as instinctive as it is to someone like Salah, it might make him more dangerous.

FIRMINO NEEDS TO FIRE

The Brazilian has been a little bit of a lightning rod for criticism this season and in front of the cameras Klopp has not needed a second invitation to stick up for the man who has served him so tirelessly at Liverpool.

But make no mistake about it, Roberto Firmino has not reached his finest form this season and against teams like Brighton his head seems to drop after too much time hitting dead ends.

Klopp seems to sense it too - he replaced him with Curtis Jones in the 79th minute with Liverpool desperate for an equaliser.

In some ways, that felt damning on Firmino. If you desperately need a goal, you normally keep your No 9 on the pitch. Things like that can hit a striker's confidence as much as missing a decent chance. Klopp needs to put his arm around him between now and Sunday, regardless of what he says publicly.

Roberto Firmino looks out of confidence and it was a surprise to see him taken off at 1-0

INJECT URGENCY INTO FORWARD PLAY

All the above has contributed to Liverpool looking languid on the ball in recent games. Yes, there's a packed fixture list. Yes, Liverpool have had a lot of injuries so the players that do play may understandably be feeling particularly leggy.

But the pace of Liverpool's play when in possession of the ball hasn't been good enough lately. There doesn't look like there is much urgency to claim three points. Tempo, of course, is influenced by confidence and the more belief there is in the team, the more comfortable players feel with faster passing.

It is particularly essential when facing teams who are prepared to spend swathes of matches sitting back and defending, like Brighton were.

Liverpool's best chance on Wednesday came when a slick passing interchange led to Trent Alexander-Arnold pulling the ball back from the byline to Salah, who fired narrowly wide. They need more of it.

Liverpool's best chance to score against Brighton came after a slick passing move

GET HENDERSON BACK IN MIDFIELD... OR CURTIS JONES!

Plenty has been made of Liverpool's midfield, and overall team, being disjointed with Henderson in defence, even though he has performed admirably since stepping back.

But another of Liverpool's best midfielders this season is Curtis Jones, and he has repeatedly found himself on the bench in recent weeks. Some time out of the spotlight could have done him good after stepping up so valiantly when Liverpool's injuries were piling up again earlier in the campaign.

Jones made a fabulous contribution when he came off the bench against West Ham, providing an immediate assist for Salah's opener with some direct running and inventive passing.

It was a mistake from Klopp to leave Jones on the bench until the 79th minute against Brighton and the 20-year-old is good enough to start against City on Sunday. And certainly fresh enough.

Curtis Jones looks ready for a run in the side and could have come on sooner against Brighton

For Jurgen Klopp, it's a huge run of games ahead that will shape the rest of Liverpool's season

AND IT'S CRUNCH TIME FOR LIVERPOOL

It's City on Sunday, but it doesn't get any easier for Liverpool after that. They meet Leicester the following weekend at the King Power Stadium, with Brendan Rodgers' men in hot pursuit of a Champions League place.

They then play RB Leipzig in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 encounter before the Merseyside derby against Everton at Anfield. Carlo Ancelotti's men are, at present, four points behind Liverpool but have two games in hand.
When getting vaccinated against COVID-19, theres no sense being picky. You should take the first authorized vaccine thats offered, experts say.

The newest COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, from Johnson & Johnson, is probably a little less effective at preventing sickness than the two shots already being administered around the United States, from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Last week, Johnson & Johnson announced that, in a 45,000-person trial, its vaccine was about 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 illness. No one who received the vaccine was hospitalized with or died of the disease, according to the company, which filed an application for emergency use authorization with the Food and Drug Administration Thursday. If the agency authorizes use of the vaccine, millions of doses could be shipped out of J&Js warehouses beginning in late February.

The J&J vaccine is similar to the shots from Moderna and Pfizer but uses a different strategy for transporting genetic code into human cells to stimulate immunity to the disease. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were found in trials last fall to be 94% effective against confirmed COVID-19. They also prevented nearly all severe cases.

But the difference in those efficacy numbers may be deceptive. The vaccines were tested in different locations and at different phases of the pandemic. And J&J gave subjects in its trial only one dose of the vaccine, while Moderna and Pfizer have two-dose schedules, separated by 28 and 21 days, respectively. The bottom line, however, is that all three do a good job at preventing serious COVID-19.

Its a bit like, do you want a Lamborghini or a Chevy to get to work? said Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinics Vaccine Research Group. Ultimately, I just need to get to work. If a Chevy is available, sign me up.

So while expert panels may debate in the future about which vaccine is best for whom, from a personal and public health perspective, the best advice for now is to get whatever you can as soon as you can get it, because the sooner we all get vaccinated the better off we all are, said Norman Hearst, a family doctor and epidemiologist at the University of California-San Francisco.

Here are five reasons experts say you should take the J&J shot  assuming the FDA authorizes it  if its the one thats offered to you first:

1. All three vaccines protect against hospitalization and death.

Of the 10 cases of severe disease in the Pfizer trial, nine received a placebo, or fake vaccine, and none of the 30 severe cases in the Moderna trial occurred in people who got the true vaccine. Johnson & Johnson did not release specific numbers but said none of the vaccinated patients were hospitalized or died. The real goal is to keep people out of the hospital and the ICU and the morgue, said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. This vaccine will do that well.

2. The efficacy levels could be a case of apples and oranges.

The data that Moderna and Pfizer presented to the FDA for their vaccines came from large clinical trials that took place over the summer and early fall in the United States. At the time, none of the new variants of COVID-19  some of which may be better at evading the immune responses produced by vaccines  were circulating here. In contrast, the J&J trial began in September and was put into the arms of people in South America, South Africa, and the United States.

Newly widespread variants in Brazil and South Africa appear somewhat better at evading the vaccines defenses, and its possible a new variant in California  where many J&J volunteers were enrolled  may also have that trait. The J&J vaccine was 72% effective against moderate to severe COVID-19 in the U.S. part of the trial, compared with 57% in South Africa, where a more contagious mutant virus is the dominant strain. Another vaccine, made by the Maryland company Novavax, had 90% efficacy in a large British trial, but only about 50% in South Africa. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines might not have gotten the same sparkling results had they been tested more recently  or in South Africa.

This vaccine was tested in the pandemic here and now, said Dan Barouch, a Harvard Medical School professor whose lab at the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston developed the J&J vaccine. The pandemic is a much more complex pandemic than it was several months ago.

Some of that difference in performance also could be attributable to different patient populations or disease conditions, and not just the mutant virus. A large percentage of South Africans carry HIV. Chinese vaccines have performed wildly differently in countries where they were tested in recent months.

We dont know which vaccines are the Lamborghinis, Poland said, because these arent true head-to-head comparisons.

3. Speed is of the essence.

To stop the spread of COVID-19, the mutation of the virus that causes it and the continued pummeling of the economy, we all need to be vaccinated as quickly as possible. The inadequate supply of vaccines has been felt acutely.

Virginia Banks 103-year-old mother is one of the few living Americans who were around for the countrys last great pandemic  the 1918 influenza  yet shes been unable to get a COVID-19 vaccination, said Banks, a physician with Northeast Ohio Infectious Disease Associates in Youngstown.

Patients cant be picky about which vaccine they accept, Banks said. People need to get vaccinated with the vaccines out today so we can get closer to herd immunity to slow the spread of the virus.

Banks has worked hard to promote COVID-19 vaccines to skeptical minority communities, frequently appearing on local TV news and making at least two presentations by Zoom each week. Black people to date have been vaccinated against COVID-19 at much lower rates than whites.

Theres a downside to waiting, said William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Delaying vaccination carries serious risks, given that more than 3,800 Americans have been dying every day of COVID-19.

4. The J&J vaccine appears to have some real advantages.

First, it seems to cause fewer serious side effects like the fever and malaise suffered by some Pfizer and Moderna vaccine recipients. High fever and dehydration are particular concerns in fragile elderly people who have one foot on the banana peel, said Kathryn Edwards, scientific director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program. The J&J vaccine may be a better vaccine for the infirm.

Many people may also prefer the J&J shot because its one and done, Schaffner said. Easier for administrators too: just one appointment to schedule.

5. The J&J vaccine is much easier to ship, store, and administer.

While the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can be stored in regular refrigerators, the Pfizer vaccine must be kept long term in ultracold freezers at temperatures between minus 112 degrees and minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines must be used or discarded within six hours after the vial is opened. Vials of the J&J vaccine can be stored in a refrigerator and restored for later use if doses remain. Right now we have mass immunization clinics that are open but have no vaccine, said Offit. Here you have a single-dose regime with easy storage and handling.

A persons address  not their personal preference  may determine which vaccine they receive, said E. John Wherry, director of the Institute for Immunology at the University of Pennsylvanias Perelman School of Medicine. He pointed out that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a simpler choice for rural areas.

A vaccine doesnt have to be 95% effective to be an incredible leap forward, said Wherry. When we get to the point where we have choices about which vaccine to give, it will be a luxury to have to struggle with that question.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
Katherine Johnson is a famous NASA mathematician whose calculations helped send the first American astronaut into space and although she never made it to the final frontier, her name will.

Northrop Grumman, an aerospace and defense technology firm, announced it has named the NG-15 Cygnus cargo ship SS. Katherine Johnson.

The craft is set to launch to the International Space Station on February 20, marking the 59th anniversary of when Johnson's calculations made it possible for John Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 mission.

Northrop Grumman made the announcement in celebration of Black History month, saying it is 'the company's tradition to name each Cygnus spacecraft after an individual who has played a pivotal role in human spaceflight.'

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Northrop Grumman, an aerospace and defense technology firm, announced it has named the NG-15 Cygnus cargo ship SS. Katherine Johnson, the NASA mathematician that helped send the first American into space

Johnson, along with three other women, was largely forgotten until the book 'Hidden Figures' was released in 2017 by author Margot Lee Shetterly.

The book was made into a popular movie that same year and Jackson's character was played by actress Taraji P. Henson, which highlights her work with follow NASA employees Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan.

Johnson was hired by NASA's precursor organization, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, in 1953.

She and other black women worked in the segregated computing unit at what is now called Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

The craft is set to launch to the International Space Station on February 20, marking the 59th anniversary of when Johnson's calculations made it possible for John Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 mission

Johnson joined Project Mercury, the nation's first human space program, that year as one of the so-called 'computers' who calculated rocket trajectories and earth orbits by hand, using a pencil and slide rule.

'Our office computed all the (rocket) trajectories,' Johnson told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in 2012.

'You tell me when and where you want it to come down, and I will tell you where and when and how to launch it.'

In 1961, Johnson did trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 Mission, the first to carry an American into space.

In 1962, she manually verified calculations by a nascent NASA computer for astronaut John Glenn's groundbreaking orbital mission as the US beat the Soviet Union (USSR) in the Space Race.

'Get the girl to check the numbers,' a computer-skeptical Glenn had insisted in the days before the launch.

Seven years later Johnson calculated the precise trajectories that allowed the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon in 1969 before the world watched Neil Armstrong's historic moonwalk.

Johnson considered her work on the Apollo moon missions to be her greatest contribution to space exploration.

She also worked on the Space Shuttle program before retiring in 1986.

After leaving her career in space, Johnson spent her time encouraging students to embark on their own journeys in fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Johnson and her black colleagues had been relatively unsung heroes of America's Space Race until 2015, when President Barack Obama awarded Johnson - then 97 - the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

The S.S. Katherine Johnson is planned to sit atop the firm's Antares rocket for the journey to the International Space Station. The cargo ship will hold a 8,200-pound payload that includes experiments and supplies for the Expedition 64 crew aboard the orbiting laboratory

Johnson died at the age of 1010 on February 24, 2020.

'Her work at NASA quite literally launched Americans into space and her legacy continues to inspire young black women every day,' Northrop Grumman said.

'Northrop Grumman is proud to celebrate the life of Katherine Johnson and her endlessly perseverant spirit.'

The S.S. Katherine Johnson is planned to sit atop the firm's Antares rocket for the journey to the International Space Station.

The cargo ship will hold a 8,200-pound payload that includes experiments and supplies for the Expedition 64 crew aboard the orbiting laboratory.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / Foundation Farms, Corp., ("Foundation Farms") a subsidiary of GME Innotainment, Inc. (OTC PINK:GMEV) today announced that the Company has issued a purchase order for the supply and installation of vertical farm equipment package for the Company's Red Deer location. ZipGrow Inc., will supply Foundation Farms with its hydroponic plant production system that is marketed as "the most established, successful and economical indoor vertical farming platform on earth". Installation and commissioning will be completed at the beginning of the second quarter of 2021. In the meantime, the company is reviewing additional locations for its vertical farms.

When asked about the company's choice of suppliers for this first of many vertical farms, Ed Kroeker, CEO of Foundation Farms stated, "As a company we are committed to becoming known as the best owner operator in the vertical farming business sector. We have selected a basic grow technology that has commercially proven itself throughout all climatic and socio-economic zones. ZipGrow has supplied installations that are operating successfully in the far north, across southern Canada, throughout the continental United States and, more recently, in the Middle East. The addition of our proprietary E-ROOTS system will catapult us forward as technology leaders in an industry where success is measured by profitability, superior product quality, and local consumer supply security."

Yves R. Michel, GMEV CEO supported the supplier selection decision by stating, "The company name itself-Foundation Farms-reflects a corporate culture which recognizes that strong foundations are necessary to support large growth. I am pleased that the team continues this growth strategy in its selection of a technology supplier. By adding its own E-ROOTS package to the foundation, the company has already signaled its leadership agenda to the industry".

Contact:

Yves R. Michel

Chief Executive Officer and Director

208 East 51st St., Suite 170

New York, NY 10022

www.srcorpgroup.com

OTC PINK: GMEV

This press release may include certain statements that are forward-looking in nature and that involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on GME Innotainment, Inc., current expectations and projections regarding future events, which are based on currently available information. The forward-looking statements in this press release may also include statements relating to GME Innotainment, Inc.'s anticipated new developments, business prospects, financial performance, strategies and similar matters. GME Innotainment, Inc. disclaims any obligation to update any of its forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.

SOURCE: GME Innotainment, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627637/Foundation-Farms-Corp-Issues-Purchase-Order-For-First-Vertical-Farm-Installation
Police on Wednesday morning raided the home of musician Mathias Walukagga in Maya, Wakiso District and arrested at least 45 people said to be his campaign agents in today's mayoral election.

Kampala Metropolitan deputy police spokesperson, Mr Luke Owoyesigyire said the 12 am operation was based on information that a group of people had gathered at the musician's home for unknown reasons.

"At least 45 suspects, most of them residents of Kawempe Division, Kampala were arrested and are currently detained at Nateete Police Station [Kampala] and Nsangi Police Station on allegations of doing negligent acts likely to spread an infection of a disease," Mr Owoyesgyire said.

Police said Walukagga, a contestant for Kyengera town council mayoral seat on National Unity Platform (NUP) ticket, was not arrested because he ran and hid in his house upon seeing the detectives.

"The suspects are being processed and will be arraigned in courts of law at any time," Mr Owoyesigyire added.

However, an eye witness who preferred not to be named said the suspects were Walukagga's polling agents in today's elections and their arrest is politically motivated.

He said the raid was led by incumbent mayor, Hajji Abdul Kiyimba who recently lost Bukoto South Constituency MP race (Lwengo district) to NUP's Twaha Kagabo.

"The operation was led by Hajji Kiyimba. All people found at home were badly beaten and left bleeding. They were all bundled in tow police patrol trucks," he said.

Mr Kiyimba, an NRM candidate Kiyimba petitioned the Masaka magistrate's court seeking vote recount but the application was dismissed before he appealed in the High Court which upheld the lower court's decision.

When asked, Walukagga who was found at his home said the arrest was intended to weaken his campaign camp.

"Most of them are my campaign agents. Others are my friends, mostly musicians. Is it illegal to be visited by a friend? I'm a musician. I was trying to brief them and prepare for today's campaign," said the Kadongokamu artiste.
Marissa Tremblay assembles gas reservoirs on a custom extraction line, part of Purdues developing noble gas thermochronology laboratory. The reservoirs hold noble gases of known composition to calibrate the gases being measured by Tremblay and her team. (Purdue University photo/John Underwood)

As 2020 ties for warmest year on record, a Purdue scientist is bringing new data to the table

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  An early-career scientist from Purdue University has developed a novel method of measuring the temperature history of continental surfaces, a critical innovation considering that most information on past climate comes from ocean data. As overall global temperatures in 2020 reached record highs, data collected through this new method could help scientists working diligently to discover innovative ways of understanding and addressing climate change.

As a noble gas geochemist, Marissa Tremblay, professor of geochemistry in Purdues Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, studies the behavior of noble gases in rocks and minerals. While the study of noble gases has contributed to climate conversations since the 1970s, Tremblay has discovered a way of harnessing data from a behavior conventionally classified as useless.

The behavior, called temperature dependent diffusion, occurs when gases escape from their host mineral. Processes such as cosmic ray bombardment or radioactive decay may cause noble gases to form inside certain rocks and minerals. On the moon, for example, exposure to high-energy cosmic rays from space generates neon in minerals at the moons surface. Different temperatures, then, cause the noble gases to seep out of the mineral at different rates. Tremblay uses temperature dependent diffusion to determine the age and temperature history of minerals on planetary surfaces, including on Earth, the moon and Mars.

Noble gas scientists have known about the leaky behavior of noble gases for a long time; however, it was categorized as an undesirable behavior in measuring noble gases, so these methods were avoided, Tremblay said. We flipped that on its head and said, Lets actually use this to learn about temperature history.

Tremblays method is drawing attention from across the scientific community. Two of her projects  to take place in Antarctica and India  have recently received funding from the National Science Foundation. Tremblay also received the 2021 Marion Milligan Mason Award for Women in the Chemical Sciences. Presented by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Mason Award recognizes early-career scientists whose research promises both to advance their field and benefit society.

These honors signify the potentially profound implications of Tremblays research, which feels particularly timely given year-end reports on Earths current climate.

According to the latest data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2020 has tied 2016 as the warmest year on record, and the onset of 2021 marks closure of the warmest decade on record. Understanding how temperature has changed over time on land could have major implications for conversations about climate change, which, in the absence of many records on land, have relied largely on marine and ocean data.

Tremblays team will travel to the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys, a region where the surface has been exposed for millions of years, to ascertain temperatures from the mid-Pliocene Warm Period, 3.33.0 million years before present. Identifying surface temperatures and correlating these to sea levels will fill a gap in existing climate history data, as existing ice cores provide information for only the last approximately 1 million years.

While we have a good idea about how much sea level changed in the mid-Pliocene, we dont know exactly how this relates to temperature, particularly in Antarctica. Having land-temperature data points will improve climate models. Tremblay said.

The mid-Pliocene period is considered the closest known analogue to current climate conditions, so modeling the periods climate is critical to understanding how todays climate could change in the future. The project is one of Tremblays NSF-funded projects and will proceed when travel is safe and practical.

While information from Antarctica will be used in predicting future climate change, studying how snow coverage has changed in the Alps is garnering useful information about the past. Using temperature dependent diffusion of noble gases to assess how, when and why snow coverage changed is providing valuable information about hazardous snow movements as well as issues of water access in the region.

Using the relationship between temperature and snow cover, we can figure out when snow cover started to change, Tremblay said. In this case, we can see that there is a change in snow cover within the last several hundred years, or since the start of the industrial period.

Reaching further back in time, Tremblay also is using noble gases to determine time between volcanic flows during the formation of the Indian Deccan Traps. Developing over the course of about a million years at the end of the Cretaceous period, roughly 66 million years before present, the region is made of layered volcanic flows that cover an area of about 500,000 square kilometers, today. Formation of the region is often linked to the mass extinction event that killed the non-avian dinosaurs, but even with the most precise dating methods, questions still remain about the correlation between volcanic activity and an effect on living beings.

Tremblays team will diverge from traditional approaches to dating. Instead of asking how long ago the flows occurred, they will use noble gas measurements to ask how much time passed between individual lava flows. Measuring noble gases at different depths may tell Tremblay how long the volcanic rock was exposed at the surface before being covered by a newer layer. The resulting timeline will bridge existing dates, offering researchers more comprehensive timelines to consider. Tremblays work in the Deccan Traps also has received NSF support.

Noble gas diffusion occurs beyond Earths atmosphere, and Tremblay has extended her scientific questioning to match. As part of the science team using the Lafayette meteorite to date the existence of transient, sub-surface water on Mars, Tremblay focuses on minerals within the meteorite known to have been produced in proximity to water. Temperature dependent diffusion has allowed Tremblay to determine that this water-borne mineral was not altered by events such as ejection from Mars surface, space travel and entering Earth atmosphere.

By measuring the presence of argon, Tremblay has been able to study lunar impact history. When the surface is heated during an impact, the minerals lose argon at different rates. The resulting measurements tell Tremblay when the impact occurred and how hot the surface became. The timing of impacts on the Moon could inform our understanding of how similar collisions could have affected the early Earth billions of years ago, including the development of life.

Since joining Purdue last fall, Tremblay has committed much of her time to building the technology of her lab, Thermochronology @ Purdue, in which she and her students will be able to replicate the naturally occurring processes that form and diffuse noble gases. Stocked with a collection of high-tech and one-of-a-kind equipment, the new noble gas thermochronology laboratory is on pace to be at the forefront of noble gas measurements.

There are not many labs in the world equipped to study past climate with cosmogenic noble gases, and well be one of them, she said. The area is still emerging, but I think its going to be very important in the next 10-20 years.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 5 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://purdue.edu/.

Writer: Christy McCarter, mccarter@purdue.edu

Media contact: Brittany Steff, 765-494-7833, bsteff@purdue.edu

Source: Marissa Tremblay, tremblam@purdue.edu

Journalists visiting campus : Journalists should follow Protect Purdue protocols and the following guidelines:
Newsmax anchor Bob Sellers repeatedly tried to cut off MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in an interview Tuesday after the Trump-supporting executive spread election fraud falsehoods on air. That's a particularly touchy topic for the conservative news channel, because it was named in a lawsuit claiming it spread misinformation about voting machines.

Lindell was invited on Newsmax to discuss "cancel culture." Twitter banned his personal account and the MyPillow account for repeatedly sharing election misinformation. But at the beginning of the interview, Lindell discussed the conspiracy theories that got him kicked off Twitter.

"We have all this election fraud with these Dominion machines," Lindell said. "We have 100% proof."

Sellers quickly interjected.

"Mike, you're talking about machines. We at Newsmax have not been able to verify any of those kinds of allegations," he said, before reading from a statement: "While there were some clear evidence of some cases of voter fraud and election irregularities, the election results in every state were certified, and Newsmax accepts the results as legal and final. The courts have also supported that view."

An executive at Dominion Voting Systems has previously sued Newsmax and others over false claims of voter fraud. Following the lawsuit, Newsmax ran an on-air news segment correcting the prior falsehoods it disseminated on its network.

Separately, Dominion has sent Lindell a letter warning that litigation is "imminent." Lindell told CNN he welcomes a lawsuit from Dominion and has "100 percent evidence."

While reading the statement, Lindell was shouting over Sellers, claiming that Newsmax was trying to do the same thing to him that Twitter did.

"You have just suppressed me, just like Twitter," Lindell said.

Sellers grew agitated as Lindell continued to talk over him.

"We wanted to talk about canceling culture, if you will," Sellers said, adding, "We don't want to relitigate the allegations that you're making, Mike."

Less than two minutes into the interview, Sellers asked the show's producers, "Can we get out of here, please? I don't want to have to keep going over this. We at Newsmax have not been able to verify any of those allegations."

When Sellers' co-anchor Heather Childers, a former "Fox & Friends First" anchor, continued the conversation, Sellers promptly got up out of his anchor chair and walked off set.

Yet, later Tuesday, Newsmax brought Lindell back on the network for an interview with anchor Rob Schmitt.

Schmitt referred to Lindell as "our good friend" and gave Lindell another opportunity to discuss his Twitter ban.

"Obviously you were on the network earlier in the day. We made some waves there. We'll leave it at that," he said, adding, "You and Newsmax have always had a very good relationship."

Lindell spoke about impeachment, but he did not discuss voter fraud in his second interview on Newsmax on Tuesday. The interview also touched on the ban of Lindell's personal and professional Twitter accounts, and Schmitt talked about businesses that no longer sell MyPillow pillows.

There is no evidence that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and the Trump administration and election officials have called the 2020 presidential election the "most secure" election in US history. President Joe Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million votes and he won the electoral map 306 to 232.

Newsmax was just one of the defendants in the Dominion lawsuit. The list also included the Trump campaign, Rudy Giuliani, Trump adviser Sidney Powell, conservative media outlet One America News Network, the right-wing website Gateway Pundit, and Colorado businessman and activist Joseph Oltmann, among others.

-- CNN's Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report
UPPSALA, SWEDEN - LIDDS AB (publ) announces that a scientific article will be published in the highly ranked European Urology Focus describing LIDDS clinical Phase IIb study, LPC-004, and its clinical results. The study met both primary and secondary endpoints by confirming efficacy and safety with Liproca Depot given as intraprostatic injection in low- and intermediate risk prostate cancer patients.

"We are pleased that this manuscript is accepted in a highly recognized scientific paper and the results further validates NanoZolid as being an innovative technology platform," said Monica Wallter, CEO of LIDDS.

Liproca Depot, which comprises the NanoZolid technology combined with an antiandrogen drug (2-hydroxyflutamide) injected into the prostate, met both the primary and secondary endpoints in the study. Efficacy was shown by a maintained PSA decrease over 6 months, lower prostate volume and unchanged or improved MRI results. No hormonal side effects were shown. LIDDS concludes that Liproca Depot can be a new potential local treatment that is effective in controlling cancer for intermediate risk patients under "Active Surveillance". The manuscript has the title "Liproca Depot - A new antiandrogen treatment for active surveillance patients" and is planned to be published on the European Urology Focus webpage during February.

"The results confirm that Liproca Depot can offer a completely novel approach to complement active surveillance in intermediate risk prostate cancer patients. Liproca Depot is well tolerated without the hormonal side effects otherwise associated with anti-androgen therapy and is equally easy to administer as performing a prostate biopsy. Liproca Depot treatment could contribute to the benefit of prostate cancer patients in the future, says Professor Laurence Klotz, a world leading expert and one of the study investigators and Professor at the University of Toronto Division of Urology.

The NanoZolid technology has during the last years been shown to enable a local controlled release of a wide range of drugs following a single injection, resulting in stable and pharmacologically relevant effects over the desired time-period, to overcome issues with systemic adverse effects or local frequent treatments. LIDDS has active projects where NanoZolid is successfully combined with cytotoxic- and immune modulating compounds with the intention to treat solid cancer tumors.

About the LPC-004 study

The LPC-004 study was a single blind, two-part dose finding study aimed to determine the highest tolerable dose of Liproca Depot and to determine the level of PSA reduction for part II patients at month 5 (primary endpoints). The study was conducted at specialist urology clinics in Canada, Lithuania and Finland. The study involved 61 patients diagnosed with localized non-aggressive prostate cancer who were on Active Surveillance. Patients were followed for six months to assess response and tolerability. Following the LPC-004 study, a voluntary open label extension study was initiated offering patients a second injection of Liproca Depot once the patient's PSA level had returned to its pre-treatment level. Results showed that 50 % of the patients in the open label extension study remained at low PSA levels for at least 10 months from their first Liproca Depot injection and were therefore not treated with a second injection.

For more information, please contact:

Monica Wallter, CEO, +46
DUBLIN, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Molecular Diagnostics for Infectious Disease - Market Forecasts, Strategies and Trends - By Syndrome and by Country - With Multiplex and Point of Care Market Analysis, Executive Guides and Customization 2020 to 2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Multiplex testing threatens existing infectious disease practice. The microbiology lab may disappear.

The Molecular Diagnostics - Infectious Disease sector of the clinical diagnostics industry is poised for record growth.



A market that just keeps on growing. In spite of the steady decline of disease prevalence, the diagnostic sector keeps growing. Find out why in the informative report. And find out about the exciting developments in multiplex assays which threaten to change diagnosis and treatment while limiting the threat of anti microbial drug resistance.

Infectious disease testing directly benefits from the explosion in biotechnology, especially genomics.

Exciting technical developments especially in the seesaw between sequencing and immunoassay, hold the promise of a dynamic, growing and evolving world market that holds the promise of diagnostics taking the lead in infectious disease eradication.

The report includes detailed breakouts for 15 Countries and 4 Regions. A detailed breakout for any country in the world is available to purchasers of the report.

Learn all about it in this new report. A range of dynamic trends are pushing market growth and company valuations.

Trends like:

Multiplex testing

Emerging economies and global prosperity

Biotechnology advances in genetics

Pathogen evolution

Climate change

Globalization

The rise of rapid testing

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction and Market Definition

1.1 What is Molecular Diagnostics

1.2 The Diagnostics Revolution

1.3 Market Definition

1.3.1 Volumes

1.3.2 Prices

1.3.3 Revenue Market Size

1.4 Methodology

1.4.1 Authors

1.4.2 Sources

1.5 U.S. Medical Market and Clinical Laboratory Testing - Perspective

1.5.1 U.S. Medicare Expenditures for Clinical Testing



2. The Infectious Diseases - Market Analysis by Disease

2.1 HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus (AIDS)

2.1.1 Virology

2.1.1.1 Classification

2.1.1.2 Structure and genome

2.1.1.3 Tropism

2.1.1.4 Replication cycle

2.1.1.5 Genetic variability

2.1.2 Diagnosis

2.1.3 Testing

2.1.3.1 Antibody tests

2.1.3.2 Point of Care Tests (POCT)

2.1.3.3 Antigen Tests

2.1.3.4 Nucleic acid-based tests (NAT)

2.1.3.5 Other tests used in HIV treatment

2.1.4 Market Opportunity Analysis

2.2 HBV - Hepatitis B

2.2.1 Virology

2.2.1.1 Genome

2.2.1.2 Pathogenesis

2.2.1.3 Hepatitis B virus replication

2.2.1.4 Serotypes and genotypes

2.2.2 Mechanisms

2.2.3 Diagnosis

2.2.4 Market Opportunity Analysis

2.3 HCV - Hepatitis C

2.3.1 Taxonomy

2.3.2 Structure

2.3.2.2 Genome

2.3.3 Molecular biology

2.3.4 Replication

2.3.5 Genotypes

2.3.5.1 Clinical importance

2.3.6 Market Opportunity Analysis

2.4 HPV - Human papillomavirus

2.4.1 Virology

2.4.1.1 E6/E7 proteins

2.4.1.2 Role in cancer

2.4.1.3 E2 research

2.4.1.4 Latency period

2.4.1.5 Clearance

2.4.2 Diagnosis

2.4.2.1 Cervical testing

2.4.2.2 Oral testing

2.4.2.3 Testing men

2.4.2.4 Other testing

2.4.3 Market Opportunity Analysis

2.5 Influenza

2.5.1 Virology

2.5.1.1 Types of virus

2.5.1.2 Influenzavirus A

2.5.1.3 Influenzavirus B

2.5.1.4 Influenzavirus C

2.5.1.5 Structure, properties, and subtype nomenclature

2.5.1.6 Replication

2.5.2 Testing

2.5.2.1 Advantages/Disadvantages of Molecular Assays

2.5.3 Market Opportunity Analysis

2.6 CTGC - Chlamydia/Gonorhea

2.6.1 Gonorrhea

2.6.1.1 Diagnosis

2.6.1.2 Screening

2.6.2 Chlamydia

2.6.2.1 Diagnosis

2.6.2.2 Screening

2.6.3 Testing

2.6.3.1 Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs).

2.6.3.2 Performance of NAAT Tests

2.6.4 Market Opportunity Analysis

2.7 Tuberculosis

2.7.1 Mycobacteria

2.7.2 Diagnosis

2.7.2.1 Active tuberculosis

2.7.2.2 Latent tuberculosis

2.7.3 Epidemiology

2.7.4 Molecular Diagnostic Tests

2.7.5 Market Opportunity Analysis

2.8 MRSA - Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

2.8.1 Diagnosis

2.8.2 FDA Approved Molecular Tests

2.8.3 Market Opportunity Analysis

2.9 VRE - Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus

2.9.1 FDA Approved MDx Tests for VRE

2.9.2 Market Opportunity Analysis

2.10 Blood Screening

2.10.1 Collection and Testing

2.10.2 FDA Approved Multiplex Assays

2.10.3 Market Opportunity Analysis



3. Industry Overview

3.1 Industry Participants

3.1.1 IVD Supplier

3.1.2 Independent lab specialized/esoteric

3.1.3 Independent lab national/regional

3.1.4 Independent lab analytical

3.1.5 Public National/regional lab

3.1.6 Hospital lab

3.1.7 Physician lab

3.1.8 Audit body

3.2 The Clinical Laboratory Market Segments

3.2.1 Traditional Market Segmentation

3.2.2 Laboratory Focus and Segmentation

3.3 Industry Structure

3.3.1 Hospital Testing Share

3.3.2 Economies of Scale

3.3.2.1 Hospital vs. Central Lab

3.3.3 Physician Office Lab's

3.3.4 Physician's and POCT

3.4 Profiles of Key MDx Companies

Abbott Diagnostics

Accelerate Diagnostics

Ador Diagnostics

Akonni Biosystems

Alveo Technologies

Applied BioCode

Atlas Genetics

Aus Diagnostics

BD Diagnostics

Beckman Coulter

Biocartis

bioMerieux

Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bosch Healthcare Solutions GmbH

Cepheid

Chembio

Curetis

DiagenodeDiagnostics

DiaSorin

Eiken Chemical

Fusion Genomics

Genedrive

GenePOC Diagnostics

GenMark Dx

Grifols

Hologic

Illumina

Inflammatix

Janssen Diagnostics

Karius

Lexagene

Luminex

Mbio Diagnostics

Meridian Bioscience

Mesa Biotech

Mobidiag

Nanomix

Oxford Nanopore Technologies

Panagene

Primerdesign

Prominex

Qiagen

Quantumdx

Quidel

Roche Molecular Diagnostics

Seegene

Siemens Healthineers

T2 Biosystems

Thermo Fisher

Veramarx

XCR Diagnostics

4. Market Trends

4.1 Factors Driving Growth

4.1.1 New Genotypes Creating New Markets

4.1.2 Aging Population a Boon for All Diagnostics

4.1.3 Developing World Driving ID Dx Growth

4.1.4 Point of Care - Why Centralization is Losing Steam

4.1.5 Self Testing

4.1.6 The Need for Speed

4.2 Factors Limiting Growth

4.2.1 Lower Costs

4.2.2 Infectious Disease is Declining

4.2.3 Wellness Hurts

4.2.4 Economic Growth improves Living Standards

4.3 Instrumentation and Automation

4.3.1 Instruments Key to Market Share

4.3.2 The Shrinking Machine.

4.3.2 Multiplex, Point of Care and The Speed Factor

4.4 Diagnostic Technology Development

4.4.1 The Sepsis Testing Market - A New Direction?

4.4.2 POCT/Self Testing as a Disruptive Force

4.4.3 The Genetics Play - One Test for All Known Infections

4.4.4 Antibiotic Resistance Genes - Simplifying Diagnostics



5. Molecular Dx - Infectious Disease Recent Developments

Recent Developments- Importance and How to Use This Section

Importance of These Developments

How to Use This Section

Fusion Genomics to Assess NGS-Based Respiratory Tract Infection Assay

New Genomic Tests Diagnose Deadly Infections Faster

Biotia Raises $2.4M Seed Round

Seed Round STDs resurge in US

Ares Genetics signs R&D agreement with leading global IVD corporation

Cell-Free DNA Used for Infectious Disease Testing

One BioMed Raises $5M

FDA grants Qiagen clearance for syndromic testing system

iCubate, Wondfo Biotech Form Chinese JV to Develop MDx Assays

Researchers Launch CRISPR Dx Firm Sherlock Biosciences

Israel's BATM to Invest up to $30M in Ador Diagnostics

BATM to Invest up to in Ador Diagnostics Superbug Test from Mobidiag Gets CE Mark

Akonni Biosystems Submits Multiplex Diagnostics System to FDA

Mesa Biotech RSV Test Wins CE Mark

Karius Test to Be Available in Brazil

Panagene's STD kit gains Approval

Startup Prominex Raises $4M in Series A

in Series A GenePOC's Investment Validated by Medicare Decision

GenePOC launches its GenePOC CDiff test in Canada

NYU researchers adapt HIV test to Zika virus

researchers adapt HIV test to Zika virus GA-EMS receives diagnostic device contract

Biocartis & Immunexpress Sign Partnership for Sepsis

PerkinElmer to Acquire Euroimmun for $1.3B

Alveo Closes Financing to Create Accessible Diagnostics Devices

Siemens Healthineers completes takeover of Fast Track Diagnostics

Sekisui Diagnostics Enters Strategic Alliance with Mesa Biotech Inc

Chembio and FIND to Develop Point-of-Care Multiplex Test

Locus Biosciences and IDbyDNA Partner to Develop Companion Diagnostic Test

Alere bags FDA nod for rapid flu diagnostic

FDA approves tests of tick-borne disease to protect blood supply

Qiagen Trichomonas Assay Gets CE Mark

Vela Diagnostics HSV Test Gets FDA Clearance

QIAGEN enters into an agreement to acquire STAT-Dx

Bruker to Acquire Majority Stake in Infectious Disease MDx Firm Hain

Applied BioCode's Syndromic Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel Approved by the FDA

Ares Genetics to develop AI diagnostic test for infectious diseases

FDA Considers Guidelines for NGS-Based Infectious Disease Diagnostics

6. The Global Market for Molecular Diagnostics Infectious Disease

6.1 Global Market Overview by Country

6.2 Global Market by Syndrome-Overview



7. Global Molecular Diagnostics Infectious Disease Markets-By Syndrome

7.1 Respiratory

7.2 Gastrointestinal

7.3 Blood

7.4 Meningitis/Encephalitis

7.5 Sexually Transmitted Disease

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/18k373

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New Delhi: Smartphone brand realme is set to launch two new smartphones -- realme X7 and realme X7 Pro -- in India on Thursday (February 4).

The Realme phones will be launching at 12:30PM IST. You can watch the livestreaming of the phone's launch here.

Madhav Sheth, Vice President, Realme and CEO, Realme India and Europe has tweeted:

With a thinner, faster & more efficient fingerprint sensor! #realmeX7Pro Launching tomorrow at 12:30PM ISThttps://t.co/8pvXQxrVCH pic.twitter.com/rW6cMPf8XR  Madhav FutureX (@MadhavSheth1) February 3, 2021

Realme X7 and X7 Pro will be powered by MediaTek octacore Dimensity 800U processors and support 5G connectivity, as per an IANS report.

While X7 Pro features the MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ SoC, the realme X7 will house the Dimensity 800U SoC. The realme X7 series also offer punch-hole AMOLED display, 64MP quad-camera setup, among other exciting features. The MediaTek SoC comes with MediaTek 5G UltraSave technology. The chipset can get 2.3Gbps download speeds and is built using a 7nm process.It has an octa-core CPU with a dual cluster consisting of two Arm Cortex-A76 processors with a clock speed of 2.4GHz, IANS had said.

Realme had earlier announced that it will also be one of the first brands to introduce a smartphone with MediaTek's new Dimensity 1200 flagship 5G smartphone chip, likely to be called X9, to build a dual flagship portfolio in 2021.

"We will continue to work closely with MediaTek to foster development, adoption and large-scale popularity of 5G around the world," Sheth had said in a statement.

MediaTek launched the Dimensity 1200 flagship 5G smartphone chip that comes with a 6nm advanced production process, bringing powerful performance and lower power consumption.
STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. The Artsakh search and rescue teams are unable to resume their operations to find casualties of the 2020 war because the Azerbaijani authorities are still banning the operations for unknown reasons.

The most recent S&R operation  usually conducted every day - took place on February 2.

On February 3, the Azeri authorities indefinitely banned the Artsakh rescuers from resuming their operations without giving any explanation.

On February 4, the Artsakh rescue service said the Azeri authorities arent allowing them to work because of the various kinds of works that the Azerbaijanis are implementing in the settlements that have gone under their control.

Since 2020 November 13  the day the search operations for bodies of the dead and MIAs began  Artsakh authorities have found the remains of 1355 persons. According to preliminary information, 15 of the 1355 victims were civilians, while the remaining 1340 were military servicemen.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
By Benjamin Jumbe

Opposition Forum for Democratic Change has accused government of lacking a clear well planned strategy for reopening schools.

This comes days after cabinet okayed schools to reopen for semi-candidate classes nearly a year after they were closed following the coronavirus outbreak.

However, the Cabinet meeting on Monday put a condition for the reopening, with government saying there will first be an inspection conducted by officials from both ministries of Health and that of Education to ascertain the schools preparedness to receive the learners in the face of a pandemic.

They also implored parents of children in semi candidate classes to provide them with two masks each.

Now speaking to Kfm, the FDC spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda says government needed to have conducted an assessment on finalists who reported back earlier, further insisting that government should not put the task of providing masks to the already burdened parents.

President Museveni is expected to give further guidance on the exact dates for reopening of the schools in his address later this evening.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has sounded a note of caution on the trading frenzy which saw individual investors take on Wall Street hedge funds.

Bailey said the Bank was 'watching carefully' after retail investors banded together on social media site Reddit, piling into a number of unpopular stocks to drive up their price and punish short-selling hedge funds.

Most of the action has taken place in the US, as video game chain Gamestop became the centre of attention. But UK investors were buying in too, attempting to join in on the enormous rally.

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said he has been 'watching carefully' as retail investors band together on social media site Reddit to punish short-selling hedge funds

Bailey said people would be 'right to point to the risks', as many investors using trading platforms take on leverage.

This means they borrow to help them take larger bets on a stock  meaning their profits can be much larger, but so can their losses. He said: 'That puts investors at very high risk of losing their money.'

This is especially true when a stock like Gamestop is driven unnaturally high, as in recent weeks, since it is likely to come tumbling back down. Yesterday alone, Gamestop plunged by 42 per cent.

Janet Yellen, US treasury secretary, called a meeting of regulators to assess 'whether recent activities are consistent with investor protection and fair and efficient markets'.

Dodgecoin, a digital currency initially created as a joke, jumped 48 per cent yesterday after Tesla founder Elon Musk tweeted that it was 'the people's crypto'.
 Flash

China and Japan have agreed to properly manage their differences through dialogue and pragmatically promote cooperation in maritime affairs, making the East China Sea a sea of peace, cooperation and friendship.

The agreement was reached during the 12th round of high-level consultations on maritime affairs held between the two countries via video link on Wednesday. Based on a meeting of delegation heads on Jan. 20, this round of consultations saw a plenary meeting for the consultation mechanism and three working group meetings on maritime defense, maritime law enforcement and security, and the marine economy.

Stressing the importance of peace and stability in the East China Sea, the two sides agreed to hold annual and special meetings for the defense sector's maritime and air liaison mechanism as soon as possible, accelerate the construction of a direct telephone line under the mechanism, and strengthen crisis management and control to prevent unexpected events.

China and Japan reached a consensus on maritime search cooperation between the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center and the Japan Coast Guard, combating maritime crimes and promoting exchanges between law enforcement officers.

The two sides agreed to promote exchanges concerning marine environmental protection and to further strengthen cooperation on the prevention and control of marine plastic waste.

They also agreed to carry out exchanges between maritime personnel from the two foreign ministries, promote exchanges between young officials, and support exchanges and cooperation among think tanks as well as academic and educational institutions.

The two sides pledged to cooperate further in combating illegal fishing, promoting eel resource management and conserving fishery resources in the North Pacific.

They also exchanged views on marine resources and energy, wastewater treatment at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, marine science and technology, and marine industrial cooperation.

They agreed in principle to hold the 13th round of high-level consultations on maritime affairs later this year.


US to end support for Yemen offensive: NSA Sullivan

Washington, Feb 4 (UNI) US President Joe Biden will on Thursday announce an end to the country's support for the military offensive operations in Yemen, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

Sullivan clarified that this decision does not extend to actions against al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula.

Sullivan said Washington has spoken with senior officials in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia regarding this issue.

NEWTON, Mass., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MPINarada announces they have attained UL1973 compliance and UL 9540A testing certification for their high rate NESP lithium battery system making it one of the safest choices for lithium data center solutions.

The UL 9540A certification is a testing method used for evaluating fire propagation and thermal runway in battery energy storage systems (BESS) and is in compliance with the latest regulations of the ICC International Fire Code (IFC2018) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA 855), which is the standard for the installation of energy storage systems. The new certification status indicates critical information for making important safety decisions when installing and using a BESS.

"MPINarada recognizes the importance of standards that evaluate the safety of batteries for energy storage systems and other products that are core to our business," said Micheal Sirard , Executive Vice President, Technical Operations & Engineering. "This certification achievement demonstrates our commitment to compliance and affirms that we have one of the safest lithium ion options available on the market."

The Narada NESP Series are high-capacity lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries designed for a wide range of Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) solutions. Narada NESP batteries provide a more open operating temperature range and deliver exceptional warranty, safety, and life. With single discharge capacities, up to 200kW, the NESP series also utilizes a smaller footprint and weighs less than traditional lead acid batteries.

Offering one of the most power dense designs of an LFP chemistry makes it an ideal alternative to NMC. More information on the high rate NESP lithium UPS battery system can be found at www.mpinarada.com .

About MPINarada: Since 1994, Narada has been a leader of one of the broadest and most reliable VRLA and lithium battery solutions for telecom , data center , colocation, edge, grid, microgrid, and C&I energy storage . MPINarada is the North American operation providing local sales support, engineering and design, and multiple inventory locations.

CONTACT: Jennifer MacNeil

Marketing Manager

[email protected]

SOURCE MPINarada

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https://www.mpinarada.com


A house on Seward Avenue, Auburn, New York, has an unfurled flag attached to a porch column. The flag, 3 feet by 6 feet, is navy blue with large, white block letters. The words on the flag are: F--- Biden." (Full profanity is on the flag.) Though not contested, it is my opinion that the flag is protected speech within the definition of speech protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court. President Joseph R. Biden has had a close relationship with Auburn for more than 50 years. In December 1972, his wife, Neilia, and their infant daughter, Naomi, were killed in an automobile crash in Delaware. Mrs. Biden was from Auburn and her father, Robert Hunter, owned and operated Hunters Dinerant. President Biden has returned to Auburn many times in the decades since his wife passed away. Cayuga Community College makes two annual awards in honor of Neilia Hunter Biden. Seward Avenue is so named in honor of William Henry Seward. Even a brief description of his pivotal role in the preservation of the United States of America would exceed the word limit for this letter. It may, however, be sufficient and appropriate to recall Mr. Sewards reply when he was asked if he had any final words, as he lay on his death bed in 1872. He said: Love one another.
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors US and Canada newswires

Esports Entertainment Group ( ) shares climbed Thursday after an analyst from Noble Capital Markets raised the firm's price target on the stock to $11 per share from $10 and reiterated an Outperform rating in a note to clients. The company has recently closed on its EGL acquisition and appears set to soon close on Lucky Dino, Noble wrote. Based on comments at NobleCon 17, management appears sanguine about closing the ggCircuit and Helix acquisitions in March or early April. We believe that the closing of these acquisitions will raise the investment profile of the company. Shares closed 7.1% higher Thursday at $8.27.

International Montoro Resources Inc ( ) (OTCPINK:IMTFF) announced Thursday that its board of directors has approved the company's name-change to Marvel Discovery Corp. The move is subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange and the company will also be seeking the exchanges approval to change its trading symbol to MARV upon completion, according to a statement. While it awaits approval, the company said it will be doing all the necessary documentation associated with the name-change. The company added that the name-change will be done without any share consolidation.

Inc ( ) (FRA:3AT) announced that it will launch a wave of new digital initiatives as part of its 2021 strategic growth plan, which includes investments in its technology infrastructure as well as the companys digital platforms and products in order to achieve near-term profitability, debt reduction, and double-digit revenue growth. MediaCentral said it will build its foundational future on its alternative news platform NOW Magazine and the Georgia Straight, while the companys new unified technology infrastructure is expected to significantly enhance the user experience across all of its wholly-owned digital platforms.

(NASDAQ: VUZI), a leading supplier of smart glasses and augmented reality (AR) technology and products, has completed the first phase of development with a US medical partner to build a customized head-mounted display system for assisted cancer surgery. The program was first announced in October 2020, New York-based Vuzix said in a statement. Vuzix said a second phase of development is currently being contemplated by the customer and could result in potentially greater non-recurring engineering (NRE) revenues, if awarded by the customer, in subsequent phases before an accepted final product design could be expected to lead to a volume original equipment manufacturing (OEM) production order.

( )(FRA:1XMA)( ) announced Thursday that it closed a non-brokered private placement that raised $365,547. The offering consisted of 1,218,493 units at $0.30 apiece. Each Unit consists of one share and one transferable share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder to purchase, for a period of 36 months from the date of issue, one additional share at $0.45 per share. The hold expiry date for the placement is June 5, 2021. The net proceeds will be used for the further exploration of the company's British Columbia mineral properties and general working capital.

GGX Gold Corp ( ) (OTCQB:GGXXF) (FRA:3SR2) announced Thursday further results of its 2020 exploration program at the Gold Drop property in the Greenwood Mining Camp of south-central British Columbia. The company said assay results were received for drill holes 8 to 10 on the COD vein and two surface rock chip samples from the property. Highlights from the drill core assays include 27.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over 1.18 meters (m) in hole 10, and 11.95 g/t gold over 0.59m in hole 9. The weighted average for the intercept from 17.57m to 21.8m in hole COD20-10 is 4.23m grading 8.75 g/t. The company also said holes COD20-09 and 10 were drilled to test the northern limit of an area of high-grade mineralization that was discovered in 2018 and drilled that year and in 2019.

Ipsidy Inc ( ) announced an expansion Thursday of its Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) offerings to include AuthentifID, which provides a passwordless login tied to a trusted identity. AuthentifID incorporates Proof, Ipsidys mobile biometric identity verification service that scans an ID and automatically matches a selfie to the document photo. The combined solution, developed in partnership with LoginID, establishes a password free digital chain of trust between biometrically verified individuals, their accounts and their devices.

PharmaDrug Inc. ( ) (OTCPINK:LMLLF) said it entered into a supply agreement on January 4, 2021, with a Canadian-based multinational cannabis company for EU-GMP certified medical cannabis, with the supply already registered and approved for sale in the German market. Under the supply agreement, the company's licensed German distributor, Pharmadrug Production GmbH will purchase branded medical cannabis from the supplier's German subsidiary. Pharmadrug Production has already received regulatory approval to distribute the cannabis and the product has been added to their license. The group said the flower will be imported into Germany by the global supplier and sold under the supplier's medical cannabis brand.

( ) ( ) (FRA:4WE) reported that its terpene-infused, one-gram Saturday Cannabis vaporizer was named Top Selling Vape for January at the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), as the products availability expands to retailers as well as other Canadian provinces. The company also confirmed that its Color Cannabis products are now available in 15-gram nitrogen-infused pouches through the OCS, Canadas largest cannabis retail distributor, in award-winning strains such as Pedros Sweet Sativa, Ghost Train Haze, and Black Sugar Rose.

Inc (TSX:BRAG) (OTCMKTS:BRGGF) announced that its wholly-owned ORYX Gaming subsidiary had become the exclusive content aggregation partner to MerkurXtip, expanding its footprint in Serbia and extending the reach of ORYXs premium products. Bragg Gaming said MerkurXtip will also use ORYXs Data Platform to analyze product performance, perform targeted marketing campaigns and offer player engagement tools, such as free rounds, leaderboards, tournaments and achievements, which have proven to significantly increase player retention and player values.

PlantX Life Inc ( ) (FRA:WNT1) (OTCQB:PLTXF) announced Thursday an expansion of the company's popular plant subscription platform Bloombox Club UK to Germany. Bloombox Club, which was acquired by the company in November 2020, will launch under the new domain, https://bloomboxclub.de/ in Germany and will offer the same features that made Bloombox Club successful in the UK. These features will include its plant subscription service, extensive indoor plant selection, plant care and self-care packages, and a wide variety of pots and accessories.

Loop Insights Inc ( ) (OTCQBRACMF) said it has launched a pilot agreement with Maplin Electronics, the UKs leading online electronics retailer, to implement its real-time artificial intelligence (AI) analytics platform. The provider of AI-powered, automated marketing, contact tracing, and contactless solutions said the agreement with Maplin represents the continued expansion into the UKs retail industry. Under the deal, Loop will deploy its insights platform, consisting of its web-based portal, analytics dashboard, and AI-driven retail insights, while Maplin will also provide Loop with access to web traffic data from its e-commerce platform, allowing the company to create a unified picture of Maplins retail business in the digital world, which it said will establish new opportunities for increased revenues, consumer engagement, and data monetization.

Talon Metals Corp ( ) (OTCMKTS:TLOFF) (FRA:TAO) has further updated its preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the giant Tamarack nickel project in Minnesota, USA, which shows low costs, a high rate of return and quick pay-back. Tamarack is one of the only undeveloped nickel projects in the US and the latest study looked at the economics for three potential production scenarios. These are: nickel sulphates for the electric vehicle (EV) market; concentrates for refined nickel powders, also for the electric vehicle (EV) market; and nickel concentrates for the traditional stainless steel market. All three showed robust economics.

( ) ( ) said Thursday it has completed the acquisition of mobile health and wellness service provider IV Hydreight for US$1.6 million. Hydreight provides a unique, custom-built, proprietary telemedicine service that allows users to book confidential health and wellness or medical services on the go through a mobile platform. Its business model leverages decentralized healthcare to bring quality telehealth, medical, health and wellness services to people in an efficient, scalable and cost-effective way. Vancouver-based Victory Square said it will adopt this acquisition in its planned global VSH growth strategy for the emerging lucrative telehealth platform.

Predictmedix Inc ( ) ( ) is partnering with Juiceworks Exhibits (JUICEWORKS) and Wellness for Humanity to deploy its Safe Entry Stations at this weekend's Super Bowl festivities in Tampa, Florida. Also, E11EVEN Miami has teamed up with Dave Portnoy & Barstool Sports, alongside Pied Piper Productions to throw two parties in Tampa, leading up to Sunday's Big Game. The world's first and only 24/7 ultra-club, E11EVEN Miami, is known for presenting up close & personal live performances while playing host to some of the biggest celebrities in the world, including Drake, Kendall Jenner, Miley Cyrus, Usher, Nicky Jam, Nicki Minaj, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Sting, among others.

GSRX Industries Inc (OTCPINK:GSRX) announced Thursday that it will be launching a virtual delivery only restaurant (VDOR) called Wrap Hack Cafe in March. The first Wrap Hack Cafe will serve the State College, Pennsylvania market, the company said, utilizing the GrubHub network to deliver orders. State College is home to Penn State University, with an annual enrollment of more than 45,000 graduate and undergraduate students, making it one of the largest universities in the US.

Soma Gold Corp ( ) ( ) has reported encouraging drill assays from its Cordero-Balvina mine project in Colombia, which shows potential for even stronger economics at the mine where production is expected this June or July. The company has now completed the next phase of infill drilling at the deposit and highlights include 3.70 metres (m) of 2.37 grams per ton (g/t) gold, including 0.70m of 7.23 g/t gold.

Corp ( ) announced Thursday that it has released CareLynk -- an innovative Artificial Intelligence-enabled healthcare directory that allows users to call one number and connect to any doctor across the US. The company said CareLynk utilizes natural language processing (NLP) and voice-to-text technology to understand what healthcare provider a caller is looking for. The system includes doctors from over 88 different medical specialties. Providers can be located by last name, zip code, and specialty. Results are filtered in order of relevance, allowing the user to quickly and efficiently locate the provider they are searching for -- hands-free.

District Metals Corp ( ) (OTCMKTS:MKVNF) (FRA:DFPP) expects to start drilling at its advanced stage polymetallic Tomtebo property in Sweden in late February or early March this year after it received all the necessary permits, along with news it has a new finance chief. Planned is a 5,000 metres (m) program to follow up historical holes to confirm high grades, to carry out infill and step-out drilling, and to conduct modern down-hole surveys.

Rideshare Rental Inc (OTC:YAYO), formerly YaYo Inc, has announced that CEO Ramy El-Batrawi, acting through his holding company X LLC, has agreed to sell 6 million shares of stock to Acuitas Group Holdings LLC, which will make the firm Rideshare Rentals controlling stockholder and kick off a leadership change. Acuitas, which will control more than 10 million shares after the sale, will nominate Terren Peizer, its sole member, to be executive chairman of the company. Peizer will replace Stephen Sanchez, who will resign to serve as the companys new CEO, the company said. Peizer is CEO of OnTrak Inc and BioVie Inc, where he has created approximately $2.5 billion in enterprise value. He also owns four private companies that possibly have greater value than the two public ones, the company said.

( ), a leading AI-powered hiring platform with the worlds largest network of recruiters, has announced that its chairman and CEO, Evan Sohn, will present the results of the companys Recruiter Index for January 2021 live on CNBC on Thursday, February 4, on The Exchange, which airs 1.00pm-2.00pm ET. The Recruiter Index is a survey of the Recruiter.com recruiter network, which is comprised of more than 27,500 small and independent recruiters. It has a successful track record of forecasting the Labor Departments jobs report by relying on the sentiment of recruiters. As our network continues to grow, the data we are generating across the business landscape provides strong insight into areas of business that show the most potential for growth, and I am excited for the opportunity to once again share the latest results with the CNBC audience, commented Sohn.

Inc. (CVE:EXRO) (OTCMKTS:EXROF) announced that it has signed an agreement with LAND Electric Motorcycles to produce up to 2000 units of its Coil Driver this year. LAND (E-Moto) is an innovative electric motorcycle manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, that produces a US-made, powerful, lightweight electric motorcycle called the District which showcases innovative vehicle design and craftsmanship for an enhanced riding experience. LAND was founded by industry veteran Scott Colosimo, who also founded Cleveland CycleWerks, which has been manufacturing gas motorcycles for more than 11 years.

Nemaura Medical, Inc. ( ) has announced its second management appointment of the week, naming Thomas Mortensen as head of EU commercial operations and marketing. In Thursday's statement, Nemaura CEO Dr Faz Chowdhury commented: Tom is an important addition to our team, as he will head up our operations in the E.U for our planned direct to consumer product. His extensive experience throughout Europe will help us determine the best way to position our products for country-specific audiences, and we look forward to his leadership and guidance as we ramp up our marketing activities, On Monday, Nemaura announced the appointment of Jay L. Warner, a 30-year veteran of the healthcare industry, as its head of US commercial operations.

Ltd. ( ) has announced its spring plans for the SMART Seeder MAX-S launch. Commencing in April, Clean Seed said it will have SMART Seeder MAX-S units operating on commercial farms in several regions in Western Canada. These operations will fully utilize singulation and our digital drive technology, proprietary variable rate metering systems and the companys proprietary SeedSync MAX software interface, the whole solution. Throughout spring, the company added, it will host multiple demonstration events with key early adopter targets and prospective distributers. Clean Seed will also be conducting in-depth virtual sessions for the agricultural community to highlight the specifications, capabilities, and agronomic benefits of the SMART Seeder MAX-S. Each farm will be operating the SMART Seeder MAX-S alongside their current air seeders providing each operator a direct comparison.

( ) (OTCMKTS:CZSVF) (FRA:BR2P) is getting into the lithium-ion battery game. The Vancouver-based company announced Thursday that it is working with leading graphite research and development laboratory ProGraphite GmbH to build several sample lithium-ion batteries using graphite from Goldcores Berkwood Graphite deposit in Quebec.

Information Services Corporation ( ) announced that its revenue for 2020 is expected to exceed the consensus estimate of $135.7 million, on strength in the Saskatchewan real estate market during the second half of the year, new customer acquisitions in the companys Services segment, as well as the addition of its new Recovery Solutions division. Information Services Corp also said it is well-positioned to manage through the COVID-19 related challenges in 2021, with its results expected to reflect that, yet it is unable, at this time, to predict the full impact of the pandemic on its 2021 financial results.

( ) (OTCMKTS:OQMGF) has reported the latest drill results from its flagship Marban project on the Malartic property in Quebec, including a new gold discovery which could become a new open pitable resource. The company is amid a 150,000 metre (m) drill campaign at its Alpha and Marban projects, and at Marban, 20,591 metres (m) of a 50,000m program have been sunk since August last year, in a bid to test extensions outside the preliminary economic assessment (PEA) pit area.

Silver Ltd ( ) (OTCMKTS:SLRRF) (FRA:8SR) is boosting its property portfolio with the addition of a new high-grade silver asset. The Roughrider property in the Walker Lane, west central Nevada, consists of six claims that contain shear-hosted quartz veins and stockworks along a one-kilometre-long shear zone. Earlier sampling by Silver Range returned 4,320 grams per ton (g/t) silver and 3,530 g/t silver from vein material exposed in underground workings along a 300 metre (m) interval, where the shear zone is intermittently exposed.

( ) (OTCMKTS:CYLYF) (FRA:CCY) announced an expanded drill program at its H1 site in Sri Lanka, according to a statement Thursday. The drill program, which was designed to develop the parameters of the H1 mine, will include six new 220-to-250-metres boreholes, the company told shareholders. The site is one of 121 grids held by Ceylons subsidiary Sarcon Development (Pvt) Ltd under EL 222.

Inc ( ) (OTCPINK:LHLNF) (FRA:LL1) has reached a management consulting agreement with Big Venture Sales Ltd and its CEO Robert Hatch to launch online sales of Mike Tyson-branded Iron Energy on its own website and through Amazon. Big Venture will also be responsible for handling distribution and warehousing to facilitate online sales, in addition to brick and mortar, the company said. Hatch launched Wisdom Natural Brands, which makes Stevia Sweetleaf Sweetener into 2,800 Walmart stores back in 2004. Sweetleaf Stevia, originally created in 1982, was the first sweetener to receive Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status.

Champignon Brands Inc ( ) (FRA:496) (OTCQB:SHRMF) chairman Roger McIntyre has unveiled changes to the board of the ketamine treatment specialist. The company said that Bill Wilkerson, who was appointed to the board on May 22, 2020, and elected vice-chair on September 14, 2020, has retired from the board after completing his six-month commitment to the company. "We thank Dr Wilkerson for the guidance and the expertise that he brought to Champignon. His sage counsel has served us well and we appreciate his dedication and active participation in preparing Champignon for its successful future", McIntyre said in a statement. Meanwhile, Champignon said that Olga M. Cwiek, a former senior television executive at CBC and CTV and who the company said is an experienced and effective practitioner of good governance, will be joining the board.

Mirasol Resources Ltd ( ) (OTCPK:MRZLF) (FRA:M8R) said it has appointed Timothy Heenan to the position of interim president, pending the appointment of a full-time president and chief executive. Heenan currently serves as vice president exploration and has worked for Mirasol since 2003. The company also said that Patrick Evans will serve as executive chair until the president and CEO is appointed.

( ), a leading AI-powered hiring platform with the worlds largest network of recruiters, has announced that its chairman and CEO, Evan Sohn, will present the results of the companys Recruiter Index for January 2021 live on CNBC on Thursday, February 4, on The Exchange, which airs 1.00pm-2.00pm ET. The Recruiter Index is a survey of the Recruiter.com recruiter network, which is comprised of more than 27,500 small and independent recruiters. It has a successful track record of forecasting the Labor Departments jobs report by relying on the sentiment of recruiters. As our network continues to grow, the data we are generating across the business landscape provides strong insight into areas of business that show the most potential for growth, and I am excited for the opportunity to once again share the latest results with the CNBC audience, commented Sohn.

Ltd. (CVE:CNI) said it has closed the first tranche of its non-brokered private placement of 6,235,666 units for gross proceeds of $1,870,700. Each unit consists of one common share in the capital of the company and one-half of one transferable common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder to acquire one share at a price of 75 cents per share for a period of 12 months following the date of closing of the offering. The net proceeds from the offering are expected to be used to finance the company's general working capital. In connection with the offering, the company shall pay, to an eligible person, a finder's fee of $30,456 and issue 40,608 finder warrants. The finder warrants are non-transferable and exercisable on the same terms as the warrants issued under the offering

Canntab Therapeutics Limited ( ) (OTCQB:CTABF) (FRA:TBF1) announced that it has granted, in accordance with the company's stock option plan, an aggregate of 50,000 options to purchase common shares to a consultant of the company. Each option is exercisable at a price of $0.80 per share for a period of two years, expiring February 3, 2023.

The TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing a proposal by Ltd ( ) (OTCQB:GRSLF) (FRA:GPE) to issue 141,097 shares at a deemed price of $0.74 per share to settle outstanding debt for $104,412.

Inc ( ) said the TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to its non-brokered private placement announced on January 21, 2021, which will see the issue of 32 million shares at a purchase price of 25 Canadian cents per share, together with 32 million share purchase warrants with an exercise price of 30 US cents (approximately 38 Canadian cents) until January 21, 2023, with nine placees.
We had President Trump for four years.

I already feel like weve had President Biden for eight.

There were many reasons for not liking Trump or the way he did things.

But at least he was an optimist. At least he saw the sun coming up every morning.

Biden sees every new dawn as the beginning of another dark and troubled day that only he and government intervention of the worst Democrat kind can make better.

Taking us back to the Jimmy Carter days of national malaise and pessimism, he keeps warning us about 100,000 more COVID-19 deaths in the next 30 days, years of mask mandates and the existential threat to the planet from climate change.

The only people happy with Bidens daily message of gloom and doom are the lefty Democrats in Congress who control him and his soulmates in the friendly liberal media.

MSNBC, CNN, New York Times columnists, Rachel Maddow, the Joe McCarthy of our age, and their progressive pals are thrilled with Biden.

Thats because hes spent the first days of his reign signing 40 executive orders designed to destroy or hobble the oil and gas industry, dismantle Trumps tough immigration policies and make racial and sexual equity (not equality) the main mission of the newly woked up federal government.

For the last four years Maddow and lefty Democrats like her in the media have accused Trump of being a dictator at least ten times a day.

But they apparently havent noticed yet that Joe Biden has been signing executive decrees like Joe Stalin on speed and plans to keep 5,000 armed National Guard troops on the streets of Washington until March.

Can you imagine how loudly Maddow, Chuck Todd and the hypocritical civil libertarians at the New York Times editorial page would have howled if Trump had brought 15,000 armed troops into D.C. for any reason  including a parade?

He sent a few busloads of soldiers to protect a federal courthouse in Seattle from being torched by rioters last year and he was called Hitler Junior.

Maddow and her fellow travelers in and out of government see right wing domestic terrorists hiding under every other deplorable bed between Manhattan and Hollywood.

Some of them are openly calling conservative Republicans, Trump supporters, Christians and even libertarians domestic terrorists and suggesting that they need to be deprogrammed in reeducation camps or denied jobs or government contracts based on their political beliefs.

On Wednesday the country got an alert from Bidens Department of Homeland Security that said there was a rising threat of domestic terrorism across the country from extremists emboldened by the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The DHS didnt name names, but everyone knows its terrorism alert was referring to conservatives and Trump supporters.

But come on, man.

Everyone on the right except some crazies with horns on their helmets has decried what happened at the Capitol.

Republicans and conservatives across the country are not fomenting violence or planning an insurrection, and never were, despite what Professor Maddow thinks.

But that doesnt matter.

If you voted for Trump, youre now looked at and treated like a potential domestic terrorist by the government, the liberal media and institutions like Facebook and Harvard.

If you say the wrong political thing in public or on Facebook, or if your neighbor or student rats you out, you might end up having your diploma rescinded, being censored or de-platformed by Twitter, losing your job or not being hired in the first place.

While the dishonest media treat Biden like a fragile flower and cheer-lead for his resurrection of some of President Obamas worst policies, its become a very scary time to be a conservative, a Trump supporter, a Christian or plain old Republican in Joe Bidens un-unified America.

Americas federal government has essentially become a one-party state and it, the media and Big Business are all on the same dangerous progressive page.

I dont know about you, but as I watch a moderate president taking us farther down the road to socialism  and serfdom  Im afraid for the future of America.

Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant and the author of Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan. His column is distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian military says that there have been no border incidents along the Armenian state borders Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact on February 3 and 4 and the stable operational situation was maintained.

Citing the National Security Service (NSS), the Ministry of Defense said in a news release that no incidents took place also in the Vorotan-Davit Bek part of the Goris-Kapan interstate road, which is under the responsibility of the NSS border troops.

The units of the Armenian Armed Forces and the National Security Service border troops continue controlling the border situation at the entire length of the borderline and are fulfilling their objectives, the Ministry of Defense said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

He said he wants to continue doing his part to keep others safe by remaining socially distantremaining out of stores and restaurants and mostly visiting with family over video though, he added, he wishes others would more closely follow the guidelines for slowing the spread of COVID-19.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Tuesday evening and Wednesday, the remains of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick were laid in honor in the U.S. Capitol rotunda. Officer Sicknick had been beaten to death in the U.S. Capitol during the Jan 6 Capitol coup attack by brainwashed Trump supporters, white supremacists and domestic terrorists.

Officer Sicknick was a 12 year veteran of the Capitol Police. He was also a veteran of the Air National Guard with which he was deployed in 1999 to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Southern Watch, and in 2003, to Kyrgystan in Operation Enduring Freedom.

Reflect on officer Sicknick serving in and surviving the war in Afghanistan only to be killed in the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former Commander-in-Chief Donald J Trump who was given multiple deferments from the Vietnam war based on a bogus bone spur diagnosis.

Capitol Police officers lined the Capitol steps as the remains of officer Sicknick and a framed U.S. flag were carried into the citadel of democracy he watched over. As he lay in honor in the rotunda, officers encircled and stood guard over officer Sicknicks remains. Two by two, they approached and saluted officer Sicknick.

Tuesday evening President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden also paid their respects, with the President laying his hands on the box holding officer Sicknicks ashes. Wednesday Congressional leaders and other dignitaries held a service and spoke.

Only four other people have lay in honor under the Capitol Rotunda in U.S. History. Lying in honor in the Capitol is the designation given for private citizens. When it is government or military officials, such as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, its called lying in state.

Over 100 Capitol and D.C. police officers were injured during the Jan 6 Capitol attack, many severely. Officers were seen being beaten with U.S. and Trump flag poles. They suffered brain injuries and smashed spinal discs. One lost an eye, another three fingers.

Officer Sicknick was the youngest of three sons of Gladys and Charles Sicknick, born in 1978 in New Brunswick New Jersey, where he grew up. In his spare time from service in the U.S. military and Capitol Police rescuing democracy, officer Sicknick rescued Dachshunds.

Officer Sicknick is survived by his parents, brothers Ken and Craig, and his girlfriend of 11 years Sandra Garza. He will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
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Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

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Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.
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WASHINGTON - Social media posts by a Washington state member of the Proud Boys arrested Wednesday indicate that he and others were planning in advance to organize a group that would attempt to overwhelm police barricades and breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, U.S. prosecutors alleged. Ethan Nordean, 30, and others appeared motivated in part by what they perceived to be an insufficient police response to the stabbing of one of their members who attended a December pro-Trump demonstration in the District of Columbia, the FBI said in charging papers.

Nordean, also known as Rufio Panman, was charged with attempting to obstruct Congress's certification of President-elect Joe Biden's electoral college victory, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, as well as additional counts, the Justice Department said.

In a 12-page affidavit, an FBI agent alleged a string of confrontational communications aimed in part at police and "this corrupt system" by Nordean and the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violence. President Donald Trump also famously told the group to "stand back and stand by" when asked during a presidential debate to condemn white supremacists and the Proud Boys in particular.

The group has since come under heavy law enforcement scrutiny, and one leader, Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, was arrested on his way to attend the Jan. 6 Trump rally for allegedly burning a Black Lives Matter banner torn down from a historic Washington church during a previous demonstration. Tarrio has pleaded not guilty.

The FBI and U.S. prosecutors have also charged nearly a dozen Proud Boys in the Capitol riot, including several accused of leading some of the most destructive, aggressive and early efforts to stampede police and break in to the building.

Information about an attorney for Nordean was not immediately available.

Since Jan. 6, Tarrio has called for a halt on participating in marches. Tarrio has denied that the Proud Boys organized any violence at the Capitol.

In a Proud Boys live-stream video taken at the Capitol shortly before it was stormed, someone who authorities say appears to be Nordean can be seen shouting at police through a bullhorn, "You took our boy in, and you let our stabber go." The statement appears to be a reference to Tarrio's arrest and the dismissal of charges against another man initially accused of being involved in a melee in which four people, including Proud Boys, were stabbed after a pro-Trump march on Dec. 12.

An FBI charging document details what it presented as growing resentment between the Proud Boys and law enforcement.

On Dec. 27, Nordean allegedly asked on social media for donations of "protective gear" and "communication equipment," saying, "Things have gotten more dangerous for us this past year."

He posted a video on the Parler social media platform that same day, captioned, "Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us," the affidavit stated. The affidavit also said he was showing himself and other members in military-style tactical gear and the phrase "Back the YELLOW," referring to the group's black and yellow colors.

Eight days later, the FBI said, Nordean "echoed," or shared, a post of a photograph of himself and another group leader that it identified only as Individual A, captioned, "And fight we will."

Nordean included a link to his podcast "Rebel Talk with Rufio," in which the two Proud Boy members discussed Individual A's stabbing outside Harry's Bar in Washington, which had become a gathering spot for the Proud Boys.

Archived Parler records show Nordean conducted the podcast with Jeremy Bertino, of Seattle, who was injured in the stabbings and who like Nordean was recorded maneuvering outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the FBI said.

"We [The Proud Boys] are looked at almost like the soldiers of the right wing. People are looking to us to lead the way . . . we gladly will step up and take our place where they want us. This stuff is real. We are in a war," Bertino said, the FBI alleged.

Nordean later continued, "The police are starting to become a problem," adding in frustration, "we've had their back for years," the affidavit charged. Nordean defended the Proud Boys' efforts to "protect the community," saying, "We're never going to look good doing it, because violence doesn't look good."

He then discussed what he called "blatant, rampant voter fraud" in the presidential election, and said the Proud Boys would "bring back that original spirit of 1776 of what really established the character of what America is," the FBI said.

"Democracy is dead? Well, then no peace for you. No democracy, no peace," Nordean said, according to charging papers.

The day before the riots, according to charging papers, Nordean posted, "Funny thing is that they don't realize is, is we are coming for them. You've chosen your side, black and yellow teamed with red, white and blue against everyone else."

Photographs and digital videos taken that day also show Nordean near the front of crowds that stormed the building and entering it after rioters forced entry, the FBI said. Bertino has not been charged in the Capitol riots and he could not be immediately reached for comment.

After the breach, Nordean continued, posting the caption"if you feel bad for the police, you are part of the problem . . ." with a photo of a U.S. Capitol Police officer dosing rioters with pepper spray.

Separately on Wednesday, U.S. authorities announced an indictment with new accusations against two previously charged men, self-described Hawaii Proud Boys founder Nicholas Ochs, 34, and Nicholas DeCarlo, 30, of Burleson, Tex. A seven-count indictment accuses the men of conspiring to plan, raise money and travel to Washington to disrupt Congress, posting images and video of the incursion in real-time, and defacing the U.S. Capitol's Memorial Door with the words "MURDER THE MEDIA," the name of their social media video collective.

Attorneys for Ochs and DeCarlo could not be reached for comment.

- - -

The Washington Post's Peter Hermann and Tom Jackman contributed to this report.
An impoverished fisherman is in line for a major payout after finding a rare orange Melo pearl worth 250,000 on a beach in Thailand.

Hatchai Niyomdecha, 37, was picking up shells with his family when they stumbled upon the rare find in Nakhon Si Thammarat province on January 27.

Hatchai found a discarded buoy washed ashore with a number of shell including three snail shells stuck to it, which he brother Worachat Niyomdecha, 35, took home.

They gave the snail shells to their father, Bangmad Niyomdecha, 60, who was in the process of cleaning them when he discovered the pearl - which is about the size of a 10 pence piece.

Melo pearls are formed by sea snails known as Melo Melo and deposited inside their shells, unlike traditional pearls which are found inside oysters.

Hatchai Niyomdecha, 37, discovered a rare orange Melo pearl on a beach in Nakhon Si Thammarat on January 27

Niyomdecha gave the shells to his father, Bangmad, to clean. When Bangmad opened the third shell, he found an orange pearl slightly bigger than a 10 pence peice

What are Melo pearls? Vivid orange Melo pearls fetch the highest prices Melo pearls are naturally occurring gems produced under the shell of a large sea snail species known as Melo Melo. The gems are formed when an irritant gets under the snail's shell, causing the animal to produce secretions to reduce its discomfort. Over several years the layers of secretions form a Melo pearl. The pearls range from brown to yellow or orange, depending on the colour of the snail shell the gem was grown in. Orange Melo pearls appear in only one of every several thousand shells, meaning these gems fetch the highest prices. Melo pearls cannot be farmed, like other pearls, because the gem has not yet been successfully cultured to be grown in foreign mussels or clams. This means the Melo pearl is only found when it naturally occurs. The gems are found in the South China Sea, in shallow waters off the coast of Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar. Source: Obsessed by Pearls Advertisement

Hatchai called his wife, Worachat Niyomdecha, 35, and his two boys to inspect the beautiful 7.68-gram precious gem with him and decided to check its value the next day.

They asked about the pearl among their neighbours who flocked to their home after finding out that what they found is an extremely expensive pearl.

Hatchai, who spotted the shells, claimed he had a strange dream a few days before finding the precious gem.

He said: 'An old man in white with a long moustache told me to come to the beach so I can receive a gift. I think he led me to finding the pearl.

'I want to sell the pearl for the highest price. The money won't just change my life, it will change my destiny. My whole family will have better lives.'

He believes that the old man could be a deity who wanted to help him get out of poverty as the pearl could be worth as much as 10 million Baht (250,000).

A few days later, a wealthy businessman from another province heard about the pearl and offered to buy the pearl for one million baht (25,000) but the family refused.

Another persistent luxury items collector increased the offer to five million baht but the family still declined, instead believing that they could get a much higher price for it.

A third potential buyer, this time from China, is now negotiating with the family to take the pearl for 10 million Baht - its expected price - but he wanted to see for himself if it was a genuine Melo.

He is expected to fly to Thailand next week but will have to undergo the required two-week quarantine and other guidelines before reaching the pearl owner's home.

Melo pearls range from orange to tan to brown in colour - with orange being the most expensive shade.

They are usually found in South China Sea and Andaman Sea off the coast of Burma and are produced by predatory sea snails called Volutidae.

The place where the Melo pearl was found, Nakhon Si Thammarat, has a coast on the Gulf of Thailand.

Ocean currents from the South China Sea often lead there.

The family asked their neighbours about the pearl and realised that the pearl was worth 250,000

The shell with the rare Melo pearl was found attached to a discarded buoy that had washed ashore
Biden's climate executive orders are a mini-Green New Deal

Posted on 4 February 2021 by dana1981

This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections

Imagine a deployment of federal investments to curb U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from various sectors including electricity, transportation, and agriculture, with the goal of creating millions of jobs and an eye on correcting environmental injustices in the process.

It sounds just like what was outlined in the February 2019 House Green New Deal Resolution, but also describes President Bidens new Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Although he disavowed the Green New Deal on the presidential campaign trail, Bidens latest climate executive order adheres closely to its framework.

Though smaller in scale, given that executive orders only apply to federal agency actions rather than the nation as a whole, this effort could reasonably be described as a mini-Green New Deal.

Targeting clean electricity and EVs

To curb greenhouse gas emissions, the climate crisis executive order targets the electricity and transportation sectors, combined responsible for more than half of American carbon pollution. The order calls on federal agencies to use all available procurement authorities to achieve or facilitate:

i) a carbon pollution-free electricity sector no later than 2035; and

(ii) clean and zero-emission vehicles for federal, state, local, and tribal government fleets, including vehicles of the United States Postal Service.

The executive order, applicable only to federal agencies and properties, also notes, the plan shall recommend any additional legislation needed to accomplish these objectives. EPA can use the order to justify regulating fossil fuel pollution, but given the legal challenges to EPAs previous power plant greenhouse gas regulation efforts under the Clean Power Plan first launched by the Obama/Biden administration in 2015, reaching the goal of zero emissions from the electricity sector by 2035 may require legislation from Congress. Thats a plausible but challenging prospect.

The directive for government fleets to transition to zero-emissions vehicles may be one of the most consequential components of President Bidens climate executive orders. The transportation sector accounts for the largest chunk of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at 28%. Unlike in the electricity sector, where emissions have steadily declined over the past decade as coal is replaced by cheaper and cleaner alternatives, transportation emissions remain stagnant at 2005 levels. Electric vehicles over time are expected to substantially reduce the transportation sector carbon footprint, especially when fueled by a steadily cleaner electric grid. But for now, EVs and plug-in hybrids account for just 2% of new U.S. vehicle sales. The average lifespan of a passenger car is close to 12 years, so turnover to cleaner alternatives will take time.

However, the federal fleet includes nearly 650,000 vehicles. There are currently 1.4 million EVs (including plug-in hybrids) in the U.S., so electrifying the federal fleet would increase that number by nearly 50%. The order did not stipulate a timeframe for the transition, or whether federal vehicles will be replaced by EVs once they have reached the end of their lifespans or sooner. Regardless, this federal procurement will create a stable boost in demand for the EV industry and will thus help reduce the costs of the vehicles and key components like batteries.

California Governor Gavin Newsom similarly signed an executive order in September 2020 mandating that all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the state must be emission-free by 2035. (Large freight-carrying trucks are regulated by the California Air Resources Board.) Massachusetts Republican Governor Charlie Baker set the same 2035 target just over a month ago in his states Clean Energy and Climate Plan. The auto industry appears to have received the message: Two days after Biden signed his climate crisis executive order, General Motors announced its intent to offer only zero-emissions vehicles by 2035, and GM has begun hiring over a thousand workers at two U.S. facilities to make batteries and EVs.

A focus on climate jobs

At the executive order signing ceremony January 27, President Biden said, When I think of climate, I think of jobs, and that mindset is evident in the orders. Biden took office with the U.S. unemployment rate at 6.4%, which is about halfway between the peak of the Great Recession in 2009 (10%) and the pre-COVID low of 3.5% a year ago. As the country slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, there are still nearly 11 million Americans looking for jobs. Tackling the climate crisis could provide ample employment opportunities.

For example, the executive order calls for the establishment of a Civilian Climate Corps that will create jobs to conserve and restore public lands and waters, bolster community resilience, increase reforestation, increase carbon sequestration in the agricultural sector, protect biodiversity, improve access to recreation, and address the changing climate. It harkens back to the Civilian Conservation Corps created in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the original New Deal, which employed 3 million young men over a nine-year period in jobs relating to the conservation and development of natural resources. Green New Deal proponents Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sunrise Movement co-founder Varshini Prakash pushed for the creation of a climate corps from their positions on Bidens climate task force. Much of the detail on how the new effort will work remain to be determined over the next three months, as cabinet-level positions fill in the blanks.

The order also aims to create jobs in clean technology sectors by stipulating that in making procurement decisions for EVs, clean energy, and energy efficiency, federal agencies will follow Bidens Made in America executive order, which requires that such products be purchased from American businesses whenever possible.

Environmental justice and natural carbon sequestration

Also like the original incarnation of the Green New Deal, Bidens climate crisis executive order focuses heavily on environmental justice  directing funding towards communities of color and low-income Americans disproportionately harmed by fossil fuel pollution, and revitalizing communities whose economies and jobs have historically relied on fossil fuels.

The order outlines the administrations policy to secure environmental justice and spur economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened by pollution and underinvestment in housing, transportation, water and wastewater infrastructure, and health care. It also establishes the Justice40 Initiative to recommend how federal investments can be made in a way that directs 40% of benefits to disadvantaged communities.

The Green New Deal resolution, never passed by the Senate, and Bidens climate crisis executive order both also call for efforts to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in soil and forests by restoring natural ecosystems. In addition to the Civilian Climate Corps, the order calls on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to encourage the voluntary adoption of climate-smart agricultural and forestry practices that decrease wildfire risk fueled by climate change and result in additional, measurable, and verifiable carbon reductions and sequestration and that source sustainable bioproducts and fuels.

Climate advocacy groups and Green New Deal advocates like the Sunrise Movement are cheering President Bidens executive orders and the prioritization of the climate crisis among a broad swath of his administration nominees. Most recognize and reluctantly accept that a full-blown Green New Deal may be out of reach given the divided Senate, but federal agencies can make progress toward its goals by implementing President Bidens executive orders while congressional Democrats continue to weigh what climate measures they can pass through the budget reconciliation process, infrastructure bills, and foreign aid.
Editor,

He just wouldnt tell the truth!

Sixty courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, rebuked or refused to hear Trumps claims of a rigged or fraudulent election.

At the White House rally on Jan. 6, President Trump should have said to his followers: After considerable analysis, I will concede the election to Joe Biden and congratulate him on his victory. If he would have said this, I do not believe his supporters would have viciously attacked the U.S. Capitol Building. Instead, he continued his unproven theory that the election was stolen and instructed his followers to march to the Capitol to take back our country. The result was a riot leaving five dead, a wrecked Capitol building, 25,000 soldiers in Washington for the inauguration, and a nationwide callup for the National Guard to protect state capitals. That is his legacy.

Will Donald Trump run in 2024? No, and heres why. (1) He will be involved in various embarrassing business and tax lawsuits. (2) His taxes will be disclosed that he didnt pay an amount anywhere close to the taxes he should have paid. (3) His inexcusable behavior since Election Day has plummeted his approval rating to about 33%. Does he still have the support of the 75 million that voted for him Nov. 3? (4) Hes a loser! He was a one-term president who lost the election to Joe Biden. And, just as important, he lost both houses of Congress, giving the Democrats a green light to do almost anything they want. Trump is also the only presidential candidate to lose the popular vote in two separate elections. Why would the Republican Party want to run him again?

How about kudos for our American legal system? Not one of the judges who presided over Trumps many legal suits ruled that a states election was fraudulent. Many of these judges were his Republican appointees. He could not bully any of them! They proved there is still justice in America. Thank you.

Donald Trumps behavior as president has been questionable, but from Election Day forward he has proven extremely dangerous to the United States. He doesnt believe in the democratic process, or democracy. In 2016 we elected a snake oil salesman. Please, America, I hope we all learned a hard lesson not to elect Donald Trump or anyone like him again.

Aaron DeRoy

Drums
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell jets to Moscow on February 4 amid jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and crackdown against protesters. According to the Moscow Times, Borrells visit marks the first to Russia by a tip EU envoy since 2017. His trip, however, has drawn criticism from some European capitals worried Moscow will spin it as evidence Brussels is keen to return to business as normal.

But Borrell has insisted that he will deliver clear message to the Kremlin despite it blanking Western calls to release Russian President Vladimir Putins domestic opponent Navalny, who was on Tuesday given a jail term of almost three years. Apart from Navalnys detention, the top EU envoy will also be discussing cooperation on issues including enlisting Russias help in reviving the Iran nuclear deal and tackling climate change. Russia, on the other hand, also hopes that relation with the 27-bloc nation could become warmer following Borrells visit.

Vladimir Chizhov, Russias permanent representative to the EU, has said that Borrells visit, which is scheduled for Feb 4-6, could pave way for similar meetings in the future. Asked if it could also unfreeze the relations between the two, Chizhov clarified Russias mutual relation with EU wasnt deeply frozen in the first place.

Read: Russia Struggles To Accommodate Detained Protesters

Read: US To Adopt Different Approaches For Russia, China

EU-Russia relations

While both the European Union and Russian Federation share several contracts on trade, politics, personal data protection and implementation of JCPOA, their ties have been severed since 2014. Primary causes include Russias illegal annexation of Crimea, support for rebel groups in eastern Ukraine, policies in the neighbourhood, disinformation campaigns and negative internal developments. Putin administrations intervention in Syria, Libya and sub-Saharan Africa have also irked the bloc promoting it renew several sanctions against Moscow.

Federica Mogherini, who served as EUs High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy from 2014 till 2019, previously visited Russia in 2017. Since then, there have been several telephonic discussions and virtual conferences, but no in-person meeting has been conducted. "The latest visit to Russia was paid by Federica Mogherini, Josep Borrell's predecessor in the post, back in April 2017. Of course, there have been both phone conversations and meetings on the sidelines of different events, but no full-scale visits have been paid since," Chizhov recalled speaking to Sputnik.

Read: US Joins Russia In Extending Bilateral Nuclear Arms Treaty For Five Years

Read: Kremlin 'justifies' Police Crackdown On Navalny Protesters; Call Action framework Of Law'


WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, approximately $93.3 million to deliver a suite of 10 science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon in 2023. The delivery, planned for Mare Crisium, a low-lying basin on the Moon's near side, will investigate a variety of lunar surface conditions and resources. Such investigations will help prepare for human missions to the lunar surface.

The award is part of the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, in which NASA is securing the service of commercial partners to quickly land science and technology payloads on the lunar surface. The initiative is a key part of NASA's Artemis program. Firefly Aerospace will be responsible for end-to-end delivery services, including payload integration, launch from Earth, landing on the Moon, and mission operations. This is the sixth award for lunar surface delivery under the CLPS initiative.

"We're excited another CLPS provider has won its first task order award. With this initiative, we seek to develop ways for new science and technology development utilizing a service-based model," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This allows U.S. vendors to not only demonstrate their ability to safely deliver payloads to our celestial neighbor, but also expand this capability for others who want to take advantage of this cutting edge approach to explore the Moon."

This is the first delivery awarded to Firefly Aerospace, which will provide the lunar delivery service using its Blue Ghost lander, which the company designed and developed at its Cedar Park facility. This facility also will house the integration of NASA and any non-NASA payloads, and also will serve as the company's mission operations center for the 2023 delivery.

"The payloads we're sending as part of this delivery service span across multiple areas, from investigating the lunar soil and testing a sample capture technology, to giving us information about the Moon's thermal properties and magnetic field," said Chris Culbert, manager of the CLPS initiative at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Mare Crisium, where Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost will land, is a more than 300-mile-wide basin where instruments will gather data to provide insight into the Moon's regolith  loose, fragmented rock and soil  properties, geophysical characteristics, and the interaction of solar wind and Earth's magnetic field.

The payloads, collectively expected to total 207 pounds (94 kg) in mass, include:

The Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC), which will determine how lunar regolith sticks to a range of materials exposed to the Moon's environment during landing and lander operations. Components will be derived from the Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) facility currently on the International Space Station.

The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflectors (NGLR), which will serve as a target for lasers on Earth to precisely measure the distance between Earth and the Moon. The retroreflector that will fly on this mission also will provide data that could be used to understand various aspects of the lunar interior and address fundamental physics questions.

The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI), which will capture images of the interaction of Earth's magnetosphere with the flow of charged particles from the Sun, called the solar wind.

The Reconfigurable, Radiation Tolerant Computer System (RadPC), which aims to demonstrate a radiation-tolerant computing technology. Due to the Moon's lack of atmosphere and magnetic field, radiation from the Sun will be a challenge for electronics. This investigation also will characterize the radiation effects on the lunar surface.

The Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS), which is designed to characterize the structure and composition of the Moon's mantle by studying electric and magnetic fields. The investigation will make use of a flight-spare magnetometer, a device that measures magnetic fields, originally made for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft currently orbiting Mars.

The Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER), which is designed to measure heat flow from the interior of the Moon. The probe will attempt to drill 7 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters) into the lunar regolith to investigate the Moon's thermal properties at different depths.

The Lunar PlanetVac (LPV), which is designed to acquire lunar regolith from the surface and transfer it to other instruments that would analyze the material or put it in a container that another spacecraft could return to Earth.

Stereo CAmeras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS 1.1), which will capture video and still images of the area under the lander from when the engine plume first disturbs the lunar surface through engine shutdown. Long-focal-length cameras will determine the pre-landing surface topography. Photogrammetry will be used to reconstruct the changing surface during landing. Understanding the physics of rocket exhaust on the regolith, and the displacement of dust, gravel, and rocks is critical to understanding how to best avoid kicking up surface materials during the terminal phase of flight/landing on the Moon and other celestial bodies.

The Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS), which will generate a non-uniform electric field using varying high voltage on multiple electrodes. This traveling field, in turn, carries away the particles and has potential applications in thermal radiators, spacesuit fabrics, visors, camera lenses, solar panels, and many other technologies.

The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE), which is based on GPS. LuGRE will continue to extend the reach of GPS signals and, if successful, be the first to discern GPS signals at lunar distances.

The CLPS initiative is a key part of NASA's Artemis lunar exploration efforts. The science and technology payloads sent to the Moon's surface as part of the initiative will help lay the foundation for human missions and a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface.

For more information about CLPS, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/CLPS

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


Russias Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine is the first vaccine to arrive in Iran, as the country warns that a fourth wave of coronavirus is imminent.

Head of the Iranian Health Ministry's public relations office Kianoush Jahanpour had announced the imminent arrival of the vaccines to Iranian media ahead of time. Iranian media outlets were on the scene at Imam Khomeini International Airport to cover the arrival of the boxes labeled Sputnik V. Health Ministry officials said yesterday that the first shipment would include 500,000 doses of the vaccine.

Iranian officials have previously said that in addition to the Russian Sputnik vaccine, they have been in talks with India and China to import vaccines. Conflicting reports are ongoing concerning the amount of each vaccine Iran will receive. Iranian officials have been in negotiations with these countries and have not been able to give exact numbers. Iran is also reportedly working with Cuba to develop a vaccine.

As Iran continues to negotiate for more, officials are warning of a fourth wave. Head of medical sciences at Kermanshah University Mohammad Reza Moradi warned that Iranians have already begun their New Year shopping and, given the lack of adherence to health protocols, we will be entangled in a fourth wave soon. The Iranian New Year (Nowruz) is in March, and while people celebrate the day with their nuclear family, they then spend the next two weeks visiting other family members. Most offices are closed for the holidays during this time, and families travel outside of their own provinces as well.

Payam Tabarsi, a member of the medical staff of Irans anti-coronavirus task force, said conditions in Iran are almost ripe for entering a fourth wave. He warned that if Iran enters its fourth wave in late February, it will last until late April. If Iran continues on its current path and people continue to ignore health protocols, they will 100% enter a fourth wave, Tabarsi added.

He said Irans Barekat COVID-19 vaccine has been tested on 45 individuals; they are still awaiting the results of 10 individuals. If the test is approved, Iran would have no difficulties mass-producing the vaccine, he said. Mass vaccinations, however, are another matter, Tabarsi added.

Irans COVID-19 numbers are once again relatively low compared to when they reached their peak during the third wave. In the last 24 hours, 79 deaths from COVID-19 have been confirmed. During the peak of the third wave, daily deaths in the mid 300s were being confirmed. Officials have warned that the actual numbers could be as much as twice these figures.

Many Iranians are still shocked by the sudden deaths recently of two famous, former Iranian soccer players due to the coronavirus. Mehrdad Minavand and Ali Ansarian died within days of each other. Both were in their 40s.
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Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID
We believe this approach will be key to making an HIV vaccine and possibly important for making vaccines against other pathogens."Schief presented the results on behalf of the study team at the International AIDS Society HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P) virtual conference.The study sets the stage for additional clinical trials that will seek to refine and extend the approach--with the long-term goal of creating a safe and effective HIV vaccine.As a next step, IAVI and Scripps Research are partnering with the biotechnology company Moderna to develop and test an mRNA-based vaccine that harnesses the approach to produce the same beneficial immune cells. Using mRNA technology could significantly accelerate the pace of HIV vaccine development.HIV, which affects more than 38 million people globally, is known to be among the most difficult viruses to target with a vaccine, in large part because it constantly evolves into different strains to evade the immune system."These exciting findings emerge from remarkably creative, innovative science and are a testament to the research team's talent, dedication and collaborative spirit, and to the generosity of the trial participants," says Mark Feinberg, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of IAVI."Given the urgent need for an HIV vaccine to rein in the global epidemic, we think these results will have broad implications for HIV vaccine researchers as they decide which scientific directions to pursue.The collaboration among individuals and institutions that made this important and exceptionally complex clinical trial so successful will be tremendously enabling to accelerate future HIV vaccine research."For decades now, HIV researchers have pursued the holy grail of stimulating the immune system to create rare but powerful antibodies that can neutralize diverse strains of HIV.Known as "broadly neutralizing antibodies," or bnAbs, these specialized blood proteins could attach to HIV spikes, proteins on the virion surface that allow the virus to enter human cells, and disable them via important yet difficult-to-access regions that don't vary much from strain to strain."We and others postulated many years ago that in order to induce bnAbs, you must start the process by triggering the right B cells--cells that have special properties giving them potential to develop into bnAb-secreting cells," Schief says."In this trial, the targeted cells were only about one in a million of all naive B cells. To get the right antibody response, we first need to prime the right B cells. The data from this trial affirms the ability of the vaccine immunogen to do this."The priming step would be the first stage of a multi-step vaccine regimen aimed at eliciting many different types of bnAbs, he says.The strategy of targeting naive B cells with specific properties is called "germline-targeting," as these young B cells display antibodies encoded by unmutated, or "germline" genes.Researchers believe the approach could also be applied to vaccines for other challenging pathogens such as influenza, dengue, Zika, hepatitis C viruses and malaria."This is a tremendous achievement for vaccine science as a whole," says Dennis Burton, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research, scientific director of the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center and director of the NIH Consortium for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development."This clinical trial has shown that we can drive immune responses in predictable ways to make new and better vaccines, and not just for HIV. We believe this type of vaccine engineering can be applied more broadly, bringing about a new day in vaccinology."The clinical trial, IAVI G001, was sponsored by IAVI and took place at two sites: George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C., and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch) in Seattle, enrolling 48 healthy adult volunteers.Participants received either a placebo or two doses of the vaccine compound, eOD-GT8 60mer, along with an adjuvant developed by the pharmaceutical company GSK.Julie McElrath, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president and director of Fred Hutch's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, and David Diemert, M.D., professor of medicine at GWU School of Medicine and Health Sciences, were lead investigators at the trial sites."This is a landmark study in the HIV vaccine field, demonstrating success in the first step of a pathway to induce broad neutralizing antibodies against HIV-1," McElrath says. "The novel design of the immunogen, the clinical trial and the molecular B cell analyses provide a roadmap to accelerate further progress toward an HIV vaccine."Funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through the Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery, supported a wide network of partners conducting complex analyses.The critical assay used to judge the vaccine candidate, epitope-specific single B cell sorting and B cell receptor (BCR) sequencing, was developed and carried out by teams at the NIH Vaccine Research Center, led by Adrian McDermott, Ph.D. (chief of the Vaccine Immunology Program), Richard Koup, M.D. (deputy director and chief of the Immunology Laboratory and Immunology Section), and research scientist David Leggat, Ph.D.; and at Fred Hutch, led by McElrath and senior staff scientist Kristen Cohen, Ph.D. Study design and data analysis were led by staff scientists Allan deCamp, Ph.D., Greg Finak, Ph.D., and Jimmy Fulp at the Vaccine Immunology Statistical Center at Fred Hutch, with assistance from the Schief lab.Source: Eurekalert

'Screams echoed throughout the building': Women raped, tortured in China's 're-education' camps

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Women imprisoned in Chinas network of internment camps in Xinjiang are subject to horrific torture, systematic rape, and sexual abuse as the country's Communist leadership seeks to "destroy" those it sees as a threat, a graphic new report has revealed.

A report from the BBC highlights interviews from several former detainees and a guard who shared firsthand accounts of their horrific experiences in China's internment camps in the Xinjiang region.

Estimates suggest that over 1 million to as many as 3 million Uyghur Muslims and other minority groups in Western China have been subject to these internment camps, which are intended to strip Uyghurs and other minorities of their culture, language and religion, and indoctrinate them into mainstream Chinese culture.

Tursunay Ziawudun, a woman who spent nine months inside one of these camps before fleeing to the U.S., told the BBC that women were removed from the cells "every night" and raped by one or more masked Chinese men. She said she was tortured and later gang-raped on three occasions, each time by two or three men.

She also recalled how police tortured her with electric shocks and, in one instance, violently abused her when she was unsure of her husbands whereabouts, kicking her with their heavy boots.

Because of the severity of the abuse, rape, and torture, Ziawudun said that there were many people in those cells who lost their minds."

"Their goal is to destroy everyone," she said. "And everybody knows it."

Gulzira Auelkhan, a Kazakh woman from Xinjiang who was detained for 18 months in the camp system, recounted how she was forced to strip Uyghur women naked and handcuff them before leaving them alone with Chinese men.

"My job was to remove their clothes above the waist and handcuff them so they cannot move," she recalled. "Then I would leave the women in the room and a man would enter  some Chinese man from outside or policeman. I sat silently next to the door, and when the man left the room I took the woman for a shower."

The Chinese men "would pay money to have their pick of the prettiest young inmates," she said, stressing that the physical violence she witnessed amounted to rape.

Qelbinur Sedik, an Uzbek woman from Xinjiang, who was forced to give language lessons to the detainees, said the womens camp was "tightly controlled. She said there were four kinds of electric shock women would be subjected to  the chair, the glove, the helmet, and anal rape with a stick.

The screams echoed throughout the building, she told the BBC. I could hear them during lunch and sometimes when I was in class.

Sedik said that one time, she asked a Chinese camp policewoman about the rumors of rape. The women replied, "Yes, the rape has become a culture. It is gang rape and the Chinese police not only rape them but also electrocute them. They are subject to horrific torture."

Interviewees also shared how they were required to watch propaganda videos praising Chinese President Xi Jinping and sing patriotic songs. They were also forced to undergo medical tests, take pills, and were forcibly injected every 15 days with a "vaccine" that brought on nausea and numbness. Women were also forcibly injected with IUDs or sterilized.

One former prison guard shared how women were forced to memorize books about Xi Jinping. Those who failed to complete the task were punished with food deprivation and beatings.

"I entered those camps. I took detainees into those camps," he said. "I saw those sick, miserable people. They definitely experienced various types of torture. I am sure about that."

China has repeatedly denied that it is persecuting ethnic groups in Xinjiang; however, reports reveal it is actually expanding its network of detention facilities.

An earlier report documented how hospitals in Xinjiang were ordered to abort and kill all babies born in excess of Chinas mandated family planning limits  including newborns born after being carried to full term. The orders were part of strict family-planning policies intended to restrict Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities to three children.

In January, the former Trump administration officially designated China's persecution of minorities in western Xinjiang Province as "genocide" and "crimes against humanity."

I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the time, adding that the Chinese Communist Party  which he described as a Marxist-Leninist regime that exerts power over the long-suffering Chinese people through brainwashing and brute force  is "engaged in the forced assimilation and eventual erasure of a vulnerable ethnic and religious minority group."

The Biden administration has not stated whether it would maintain the previous administration's declaration that China is committing genocide against its Uyghur population.

White House Press Secretary Psaki told reporters at a press briefing that Biden has "spoken before to the horrific treatment" of Uyghurs, but she will "check" what the Biden administration's policy will be, RCP previously reported.

However, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that he believes genocide had been committed against the Uyghurs.

Christian leaders have urged Christians in the West to care about the persecution of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities. In September, Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore said that the crimes being perpetrated against religious minorities in China and elsewhere rely on invisibility where the rest of the world doesn't pay attention and tribalism.

The way of Jesus Christ says that we pay attention to our neighbor on the side of the road who is persecuted, who is being beaten, he said. So let's pray for the Uyghur [and] for other persecuted peoples. Let's pray not just individually, but together, and pray for them by name.

Let's be the people who stand up for whoever is being made invisible, whoever is being intimidated and bullied in our own neighborhoods and in our own communities because we're the people of Jesus Christ.
First Minister Arlene Foster believes majoritarianism is back in Northern Ireland as unionists appear outnumbered in their push back against the protocol agreement.

The Sinn Fein leadership, however, played down the issues arising from the Northern Ireland protocol as teething problems.

Mrs Foster, deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill, the UK Government and the European Union met on Wednesday to discuss the protocol after Brussels performed a swift u-turn on invoking article 16 of the protocol last week.

As part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, the protocol sees physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland, creating a de facto Irish Sea border - something which has angered unionists.

Article 16 allows either side to disregard certain measures should they feel it is causing major problems.

Irelands Foreign Minister Simon Coveney insisted that the protocol will not be scrapped and said it was not realistic to drop it with no alternative offered.

DUP leader Mrs Foster told Radio Ulsters Good Morning Ulster that all of Northern Irelands unionist politicians are against the protocol.

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She said that if the Irish and UK Governments, and the EU believe the protocol is the way forward then they must come out and state that.

We were told for years that majoritarianism doesn't work in Northern Ireland but it appears now that majoritarianism is back and if we dont like it then we have to suck it up, added Mrs Foster.

The first minister said any extension of the grace period was a sticking plaster and does not provide permanent solutions for businesses and consumers.

People need to take their heads out of the sand, take their fingers out of their ears and actually listen to what people are having to deal with here in Northern Ireland, she stated.

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Meanwhile, Sinn Feins northern leader Ms ONeill and the partys president Mary Lou McDonald labelled the issues around trade as teething problems.

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The deputy first minister said the DUPs five-point plan to undermine the protocol was very unrealistic.

Its also ironic given the fact that these were the Brexiteer champions, Ms ONeill told RTE Radio 1.

She said the DUP and Tories "delivered us Brexit - a Brexit that everybody warned would have consequences".

The outworking of which were dealing with today with the new trading realities that now exist.

There are things that are the new realities and you cant do anything about it in a post-Brexit world.

However, there are things that need to be ironed out and there are kinks in the protocol being implemented because were not even six weeks into this operation.

Ms McDonald added on BBC Radio 4: We need cool heads, we need calm mature leadership and these teething problems that do exist need to be identified and need to be ironed out.

I believe that there are huge mechanisms and flexibilities for that to happen. We dont need melodrama.

Elsewhere, Sinn Feins Junior Minister Declan Kearney said on Newstalk that unionists were dialling up the rhetoric, whipping up tensions unnecessarily, and potentially taking us into a situation where none of us want to be.

Arlene Foster dismissed suggestions she or her party were whipping up tensions.

As part of their five-point plan opposing the protocol, the party's petition to the UK Government went live on Thursday morning.
Connecticut motorists will now be able to renew their drivers license or non-driver ID online without visiting the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The state has already been allowing residents to renew their license online through a pilot program the last 45 days. That program saw 20,000 residents use the service to renew online.

Ive been through a few campaigns now and everybody loves to beat up the DMV, Gov. Ned Lamont said Wednesday afternoon during a virtual press conference announcing the new service. Its sort of an example of government that cant get out of its own way.

Lamont described the online service as forward facing, and spoke of seeing residents as customers. Never going to say its delightful renewing your license, but were making it as good as we possibly can, he said.

The service does not allow users to change any of the information on their license in its current form. Beginning Feb. 15, drivers will be able to change their address on their license renewal or duplicate, DMV Commissioner Sibongile Magubane said during the conference call.

Commercial drivers licenses and drive-only licenses for undocumented residents can also not be renewed online.

Magubane said a future package of updates to existing DMV transactions include placards and online cancellation of license plates. Were looking at everything to see what drives the most traffic, she said.

Deputy Commissioner Tony Guerrera said commercial licenses could be piloted in a future update.

Connecticut House Democrats photo

Residents will also still be able to use AAA offices to renew their license, rather than going to the DMV or online.

Its unclear how much the option to renew a drivers license online will reduce foot traffic at DMV offices. Residents who want to renew their license in-person are not required to make an appointment.

Magubane said during the pilot program, around 20 percent of residents who were given the option to renew online took it.

Josh Geballe, the states chief operating officer, said some of the people who received the flyer in the mail inviting them to renew online believed it was a scam.

Now that were confirming for the general public that this is real and getting the message out there, Im sure well see the rates go up, he said.

Magubane said she told the governor when he asked about her five-year plan for the agency that she envisioned residents sitting in their houses, some in their sweatpants some in their pajamas, receiving an online invitation to complete their drivers license renewal.

You know it wasnt too long ago that you had to take time off of work, find a babysitter or even leave your family to spend time at DMV to ensure you got your transaction completed, Guerrera said. He contrasted that experience with peoples ability to sit at home and order virtually anything off of Amazon.

I still dont want people waiting in long lines for a variety of reasons, and COVID is one of them, Lamont said. I think the days of waiting in long curling lines at DMV or waiting to vote, and lines in general are going to be coming to an end.

The former warden of the prison where Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide is now overseeing a New Jersey correctional facility that has been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, NJ Advance Media has learned.

Lamine NDiaye, the former warden at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, started on the job at Fort Dix federal prison on Feb. 1, a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) spokesman confirmed, adding it is a temporary assignment.

NDiaye came under intense scrutiny in August 2019 when Epstein, who was facing federal charges for sex-trafficking, was found unresponsive in his jail cell.

NDiaye was subsequently removed as warden and placed on desk duty at the BOPs regional office in Pennsylvania as authorities investigated Epsteins death, according to the Associated Press.

He takes over as acting warden at Fort Dix after its former warden was removed from his post this week amid a coronavirus outbreak that has affected more than half the inmate population.

The BOP said David Ortiz, Fort Dixs former warden, was temporarily assigned this month to the agencys northeast regional office in Philadelphia. The BOP originally did not specify who would lead the prison in Ortizs absence.

Eldiago Todman, the president of AFGE Local 2001, the correctional officers union, said NDiaye sent a note to staff this week announcing he was the acting warden.

The move comes as lawmakers, attorneys and families of inmates continue to publicly scrutinize the BOP and their response to the handling of the pandemic at the Burlington County facility. More than 1,600 inmates have tested positive for the virus, the most of any other facility in the federal system, according to the BOP. The first inmate died from the virus last month.

The situation at FCI Fort Dix is dire and I fear for my life, one inmate wrote to a federal judge on Jan. 30. Im sick and Im being ignored by medical staff. Our jailers and medical staff are sick and are fleeing the situation. We need intervention.

The prison saw an uptick in cases this week, and now 176 inmates are positive with the virus as of Wednesday, according to the BOP.

NDiaye was set to take a leadership role at Fort Dix last year, according to the Associated Press, but Todman said it didnt happen after the agency faced backlash for the move.

After Epsteins death, then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr described Epsteins suicide as the result of a perfect storm of screw-ups and a series of irregularities at the correctional facility that NDiaye oversaw.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com.

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The following is an opinion piece.

The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo is still planning on carrying out a semblance of its annual celebration starting next week.

Even as Houston just announced the cancellation to their already postponed event dates. Even with Fiesta San Antonio announcing they're postponing to mid-June. Even with the Archdiocese of San Antonio ditching the traditional cross for a sprinkle of ashes for upcoming Ash Wednesday services. Even with most other regional rodeos hanging up their collective chaps. Even as new variants slightly creep throughout the U.S., including the U.K. variant that's somehow more likely to spread. Even after a diplomatic letter sent by Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, just weeks after losing one of his best friends to Covid-19, the rodeo is still slated to go on.

Regional performers and cheesy ACDC tribute bands are lined up. The annual cattle drive was shelved because of Covid-19. Limitations have been set for attendance. And they got rid of the freakishly long corn dogs and over-the-top snacks and the carnival.

So why are we going through this exercise when only 4,000 people are expected to attend each day totaling some 56,000 over the course of just over two weeks?

The fun of it all is gone. We run the risk of remembering the rodeo like we did in years past and comparing it to its 2021 counterpart. The energy from close to 60,000 attendees will be gone. The bigger-than-life belt buckles and glitzy rhinestones won't shine as bright with less rodeo-goers present. San Antonians won't wander around in turkey leg-induced stupors, covered in powdered sugar that has cascaded from a freshly fried mound of funnel cakes.

As the mayor currently pleads for San Antonians to not gather outside their households this Super Bowl weekend, it seems counterintuitive taking in a show inside a smaller, indoor arena just a few days later.

For its part, the organization has released a response to Wolff's letter.

The safety of our rodeo athletes, patrons and volunteers is of utmost importance to our sporting event that raises funds to help educate the youth of Texas, said Lauren Sides, communications and public relations manager for the rodeo. The precautionary measures we are implementing during the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo not only adheres to, but also exceeds current local and state health guidelines.

Yes, masks are required for those in attendance (and available through their shop), and temperature checks will be conducted at the gates (though their efficacy has long been contested throughout the pandemic), but it's hard to have confidence in the event's safety protocols when there is not a single mention of Covid-19 on their site (the lone mention is found in a link that leads to the the extended version of their safety protocols).

As we sail past the 450,000 mark of those who passed from the disease this week, having Covid-19 buried seems like an odd play that's left me and other San Antonians asking "What in tarnation?"

Correction: The post reflects the actual projected number of attendees over the course of the rodeo.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
October 24, 2020 was a sad day for Happiness Frank. Hours after she left home to gather palm fruits at a nearby farm, she received news that her son and breadwinner of the family, Israel Frank, had been bitten by a poisonous snake.

Bleeding from his right hand where the snake bit him, some villagers rushed him to a local traditional healer. But the healer could not save Israel. The 34-year-old died the next morning.

Mrs Frank said Israel would have received the right treatment for the snake bite and would have survived had the government hospital in Ukanafun Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State been functional. Her village, Akoyo, is barely a 10 minutes-drive from Ikot Akpa Nkuk, where the abandoned hospital is located.

If only we had a hospital here, I am sure my son would have survived. At least there would have been medical doctors who would have done something to save his life. Now see how he died, just like that, she said, unable to hold back her tears.

Like Mrs Frank, many residents of Ukanafun lack access to quality healthcare.

Enomfon Abraham died on December 10, 2020 due to heavy bleeding during childbirth. Her husband, Ekponoudim Abraham, told PREMIUM TIMES that she died because there were no emergency healthcare services in Ukanafun.

I had registered her for antenatal at the health centre. When labour started I took her to the health centre but there were no nurses there that Sunday, so I took her to a maternity home.

After delivery that night, she started bleeding and they could not stop the bleeding. This was happening at about 11 p.m. so I decided to look for a vehicle that night and rushed her to Mercy Hospital in Abak Local Government. When we got there, before the doctors could attend to her, she gave up, he said.

If there was a hospital here, I know that hospital is not God but I believe because of the doctors, they would have known what to do. It wouldnt have happened like that, he said.

The Ukanafun Cottage Hospital Project

Since the local government was created in 1981, Ukanafun, a former palm-oil hub, has been without a government healthcare facility, forcing many either to use the unreliable private clinics, traditional healers or to travel to other local government areas in the state for their healthcare needs.

In 2008, the state government announced that it was building a 50-bed cottage hospital in the area. The Godswill Akpabio-led administration, which initiated the project, said the hospital would provide effective healthcare services to the long-suffering people of the area. However, 12 years after, the hospital remains uncompleted and has been abandoned to rot.

Essien Udoh, a resident, said he was happy when the construction of the hospital started.

When they started the job, we were happy that, by the grace of God, we were going to have a general hospital in Ukanafun; and that would have been the first because there is no general hospital here.

But that joy was short-lived as the contractors soon stopped work and abandoned the project.

All of a sudden, they stopped work. Up till now, we cannot tell what is the problem between the contractors and the state government, Mr Udoh told PREMIUM TIMES.

When PREMIUM TIMES visited the site of the hospital in September, evidence of its abandonment was visible from afar. It was overgrown with bushes, while part of it had been converted to farmland.

The over 15 buildings in the hospital complex were built to the roofing stage and plastered. However, many of them now lie in waste, following years of neglect. Some of the ceilings had fallen apart. A few building materials, such as bricks and glass windows, were also seen in some of the buildings.

Findings by PREMIUM TIMES indicate that the construction of the Cottage Hospital, Ukanafun was awarded by the Akwa Ibom State Government to Global Corp Limited in August 2008, at the sum of N1, 120,036,491.42.

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The contractual agreement signed on November 12, 2008 showed that the hospital was designed to include a laboratory, a pharmacy, an accident and emergency unit, and doctors residential quarters, amongst other facilities.

The sum of N400,973,063.93, about 35 per cent of the contract sum, was paid to the contractor as mobilisation fee in December 2008. Subsequent payments followed and findings show that a total sum of N877, 014, 051.95, about 78 per cent of the contract sum, had been released to the contractor for the execution of the project.

The contract was later terminated by the state government on February 7, 2015. But in recent time, the state government has made different budgetary allocations for the completion of the project.

In 2016, N100 million was budgeted and another N300 million in 2017. In 2018 and 2019, it was N150 million each, while in 2020, it initially got N40 million but this was reviewed downward to N20 million.

Despite these huge budgetary allocations, no work has been done at the site, as it has since remained abandoned to rot.

Healthcare Services in Ukanafun

For the people of Ukanafun, the only government-owned health facilities are the overburdened primary healthcare centres (PHC), which clearly lack the capacity to meet the medical needs of the people.

There is a limit to the kind of cases the primary healthcare centres can cater for, but we always try our best, Thursday Akpan, the PHC Director in the local government area, told PREMIUM TIMES.

Other cases that are beyond us, we have to refer to the secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities. The Ikot Okoro General Hospital in Oruk Anam LGA and the one in Etim Ekpo LGA are the closest general hospitals.

Many of these primary healthcare centres are in dire need of attention, as they are dilapidated, understaffed and ill-equipped, PREMIUM TIMES finding reveals.

At the Primary Healthcare Centre Operational Base in Ikot Akpa Nkuk, many of the buildings are dilapidated.

The health centre at Afaha Odon, which is supposed to serve the needs of five communities, was under lock and key on both occasions when this reporter visited. A resident, who identified himself simply as Monday, told Premium Times that the centre was always locked up.

In Ohaobu-Ndoki, another community in Ukanafun, the health centre there looks abandoned.

Though there are private hospitals in Ukanafun, residents say their services are not affordable for them, and the quality of services offered by some do not reflect their expensive charges. As such, many are left to explore the services of churches, prayer houses and native healers like the popular Owo To Diok, aka Man First Bad.

For pregnant women in Ukanafun, midwives and traditional birth attendants locally known as Abia Uman are their best bet. Mrs Ekaefre, Madam Nene and Eka Sammy are some of the household names that are helping pregnant women deliver in Ukanafun.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), for every 1,000 births, Akwa Ibom records 42 infant deaths and maternal mortality in the state ranks among the worst in the country with 279 deaths per 100,000 births.

WHO stated that the high maternal mortality rate in Akwa Ibom is linked to low skilled birth attendants, such as the Abia Uman. A 2018 survey by WHO revealed that only 44 per cent of births in the state were attended by skilled medical personnel.

Contractor reacts

The chief executive officer of the contracting firm, Global Corp Limited, Jimie Idiong, said the completion of the project was stalled by deliberate delays in the release of funds and a breach of contract by the state government.

In a press release obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Idiong said the project suffered due to personal grouse between him and the governor who initiated the project, Mr Akpabio.

When Governor Akpabio knew through his administration machinery of the contract that it was my company that got the contract, he personally orchestrated the delay in the payment of the next two IPCs of N163, 059, 010.23 and N53, 347, 266.71 respectively put in May and June 2009. The first IPC of N163, 059, 010.23 was then paid in November 2009 while the second one was still pending.

Because of the willful delay in the payment of the IPCs, my bankers refused to advance me more money to progress on the work, and because of my mounting debt to the bank and suppliers, further work on the project stalled for almost two years until July 2011 when they paid the second IPC of N53, 347, 266.71.

Hoping that we had reached some amicability with the payment of the second IPC in July 2011, I borrowed again to continue the work and put in two more IPCs of N81, 153, 389.85 and N178, 481, 313.21. They paid only the first one of N81, 153, 389.85 in October 2011 but refused to pay the second one in after a lot of haggling, begging and crying as I was by now thrown into heavy debts with my bankers and suppliers, he said.

Mr Idiong also alleged that officials of the Akwa Ibom Ministry of Health compelled him to pay N100 million to their consultants, Oliver Ebong of Olkem Nigeria Limited, before his IPCs were processed.

So, it was only by July 2013, five years after the award of the contract, that the government paid a total of N877, 014, 051.95 but what came to our purse after the forced payment of N100, 000, 000 to the consultants was only N777, 014, 051.91 till date, he said.

He said he had submitted a variation of about N300 million, due to the rising cost of materials over the years, to complete the project but was ignored by the government. Instead, the government terminated the contract in 2015 and re-awarded it to another contractor at about N600 million, which is twice the money he requested to complete the project.

What is the justification for this? he asked.

The contractor considers this a breach of contract and sued the Akwa Ibom state government. In suit HUK/8/2015, Mr Idiong and his company, Global Corp Limited, are seeking the award of N1.2 billion as damages against the state government for breach of contract.

Cottage hospital Ukanafun, a campaign material  Activist

Over the years, many politicians had promised to ensure the completion of the cottage hospital project, but to no avail. Ufot Ibekwe, an Abuja-based lawyer and human rights activist, said the abandoned hospital had become nothing but a political campaign material.

Over the years, many politicians have used that hospital project as campaign material for their political aspirations. They all promised to complete it if voted into office, but disappeared afterwards, he said.

In January 2017, during an interdenominational service in Ukanafun tagged Prayer Project, the state governor, Udom Emmanuel, expressed his commitment to the completion of the cottage hospital project.

Mr Emmanuel, who was represented at the event by Udo Ekpenyong, the then commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs, thanked the people for their support in his election and said the state government was taking concrete steps to resolve issues with the contractor out of court.

However, three years down the line, the people are yet to see any tangible efforts by the state government to redeem these promises.

Charity Ido, who represents Ukanafun in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, also visited the hospital site in November 2019, and left with similar promises.

Why the hospital has not been completed  Akwa Ibom State Government

The Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Health, Augustine Umoh, said the hospital has not been completed due to the lawsuit initiated by the contractors, Global Corp Limited against the state government, following the termination of the contract.

Government desires to finish that hospital like we are doing in other places, but the only problem is that that place is under litigation. And once it is under litigation, you cant move further with it until it is sorted out, he said.

He said the state government terminated the contract because the firm failed to live up to the terms of the agreement.

Theyve been dragging since that contract was taken off their hands in February 2015 for nonperformance. Mind you, that was not even done by this regime but by the former regime. This is five years after, theyre still dragging it.

As long as they continue to fight and drag the government to court like that, that project is likely to continue stalling. And then, the people there plus the contractors, including the government who would have wanted to complete that facility for the benefit of the people, will be the ones to lose. Clearly, no one is winning, he said.

When asked why the government has been making budgetary allocations for a project under litigation, the commissioner referred this reporter to the states Ministry of Finance.

At the Ministry of Finance, officials said the commissioner was not available to answer questions from this reporter and requested a letter with questions about the budgetary allocations and amount released.

The ministry is yet to respond to those questions.

This investigation was done as part of the UDEME project.
News18 Daybreak | Jeff Bezos to Step Down as Amazon CEO, Sri Lanka Writes Off Strategic Port Deal With India & Japan After Week-Long Protests and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For

Feb 04, 2021 07:50 AM IST Daybreak



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What China Stands to Gain From Myanmar Militarys Coup and What it Means for India



A democratic India voiced a strong condemnation of the deeply disturbing developments in Myanmar on Monday, and said democracy must be upheld in its neighbour. A communist party ruled autocratic China, another neighbour of Myanmar, adopted an evasive and muted tone. It neither condemned nor expressed any concern. The CCP just said that reconciliation is needed between the civilian set-up and Myanmar military or Tatmadaw.



Jeff Bezos to Step Down as Amazon CEO, AWS Chief Andy Jassy to Succeed



Jeff Bezos, the founder and erstwhile chief executive officer of Amazon, has announced that starting Q3 2021, he will be renouncing his role at the helm of Amazon. Succeeding him into the future of the global technology giant will be Andy Jassy, the present chief of Amazon Web Services, and an Amazon employee for almost 24 years now.



Sri Lanka Writes Off Strategic Port Deal With India & Japan After Week-Long Protests Over 'Sell Out'



Sir Lanka Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's office on Tuesday said that they scrapped the deal to develop a major port terminal with India and Japan amid weeks-long protests by trade unions and opposition parties. Sri Lanka had previously agreed to develop the strategic East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo port with India and Japan.



RS Proceedings Begin, Oppn Gives Suspension of Business Notice over Farmer's Protests



After rounds of ruckus yesterday, the Rajya Sabha will assemble at 9 am this morning. The Opposition led by the Congress has submitted a slew of suspension of business notices over the ongoing farmers' agitation against the Centre's three new agri reform laws. The Upper House was adjourned for the day on Tuesday without transacting substantial business as the Congress.



Holding on to Old Cars Likely to Get Costly After Vehicle Scrapping Policy Comes into Effect



After the vehicle scrapping policy announced by the Union Budget 2021 on Monday comes into effect, holding on to 15-year-old vehicles will become expensive. While the cost for getting a fitness certificate for such commercial vehicles will go up by up to 62 times, the fee for renewal of registration of private vehicles will increase by up to eight times. Also, states will now impose green tax over and above the road tax that every vehicle owner needs to pay.



Kangana Faces Heavy Social Media Backlash for Countering Rihanna's Tweet



International pop sensation Rihanna has tweeted about the restriction on the supply of internet during the farmers' protest in Delhi. Soon after Rihanna's tweet, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut tweeted calling her a fool and a dummy. Kangana also said the protesting farmers were terrorists.



R Ashwin - India's Biggest Match-Winner At Home in the Last 10 Years



With his partner in decimating opposition batting line-ups, Ravindra Jadeja ruled out of the four-match Test series against England starting from the 5th of February in Chennai, the pressure will be on R Ashwin to come up with the goods and perform for India in what is a hugely significant series keeping in mind the World Test Championship Final at Lord's in June.
(Natural News) Molly Jong-Fast, editor-at-large of The Daily Beast, has been caught covering for an alleged pedophile.

It turns out she knew that Lincoln Project co-founder and GOP operative John Weaver had been sending sexually explicit text messages to underage boys, promising them jobs and career advice in exchange for sexual favors.

Nearly a dozen young men were targeted by Weaver, a married man with children who used to work for John McCain and John Kasich as a strategist.

According to several mutual friends, [Molly Jong-Fast] heard I had this story back in the early summer. And that it was circulating several outlets, tweeted political consultant Ryan Girdusky, a conservative activist who first broke the story on the scandal.

Fellow GOP strategist Arthur Schwartz also tweeted that Jong-Fast kept her mouth shut after learning that Weaver, one of her Lincoln Project sexual predator pals, is a certifiable pervert.

No one wants to hear from her (besides law enforcement), Schwartz added.

Weaver reportedly told one young man that he would spoil him the next time they saw each other. Weaver promised to help the boy by giving counsel and help[ing] with bills. The only catch was that the boy had to help Weaver out sensually.

Now that the news finally broke, the Lincoln Project issued a statement admitting that Weaver led a secret life that was built on a foundation of deception at every level. Weaver is a predator, a liar, and an abuser, the organization says, lamenting that they had no idea.

Girdusky, however, calls the Lincoln Projects statements an absolute lie. They knew.

Jong-Fast has yet to release any statement of her own clarifying whether or not she did, in fact, know about Weavers secret life while covering for him. Jong-Fast did, however, block Girdusky on Twitter.

John Weaver was executive director of the Texas Republican Party

Back in the day, Weaver rolled in top Republican circles. He was named head of the Republican Party in Texas around the time when Karl Roves political career was getting its start.

After allegedly making a pass at a young man during a state Republican function, however, Weavers reputation took a turn for the worse. He was eventually made unwelcome in some Texas Republican circles, and after working for John McCains 2000 campaign, left the Republican party entirely.

Weaver went on to continue working for McCain as a Democrat, as well as political consultant in Texas and Alabama. An extensive 2004 report by John Weaver was published by The Atlantic back in 2004.

As many as 21 different young men have since come forward to accuse Weaver of soliciting them.

In one instance, Weaver propositioned a 14-year-old boy, asking questions about his body while he was still in high school. After the boy turned 18, Weaver became even bolder.

None of the young men accused Weaver of any unlawful conduct, however there was one physical encounter that was consensual. The rest say they felt preyed upon by Weaver, believing that they had to continue engaging with his repeated messaging or else lose professional opportunities.

Mr. Weaver sent overt sexual solicitations to at least 10 of the men and, in the most explicit messages, offered professional and personal assistance in exchange for sex, reported The New York Times.

As you may recall from our reporting last fall, other employees at the Lincoln Project were caught doxing at least three lawyers working for President Donald Trump to address election fraud in Pennsylvania.

In at least one instance, Lincoln Project goons threatened the life of an attorney who was providing counsel to Team Trump. It seems the agenda is clear, and it wasnt protecting children.

More related news can be found at Corruption.news.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

CitizenFreePress.com

NYTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
The facial recognition app Clearview AI is not welcome in Canada and the company that developed it should delete Canadians faces from its database, the countrys privacy commissioner said on Wednesday.

What Clearview does is mass surveillance, and it is illegal, Commissioner Daniel Therrien said at a news conference. He forcefully denounced the company as putting all of society continually in a police lineup. Though the Canadian government does not have legal authority to enforce photo removal, the position  the strongest one an individual country has taken against the company  was clear: This is completely unacceptable.

Clearview scraped more than three billion photos from social media networks and other public websites in order to build a facial recognition app that is now used by over 2,400 U.S. law enforcement agencies, according to the company. When an officer runs a search, the app provides links to sites on the web where the persons face has appeared. The scope of the companys reach and law enforcement application was first reported by The New York Times in January 2020.

Mr. Therrien, along with three regional privacy commissioners in Canada, began an investigation into Clearview a year ago, after the article on the company was published. Privacy laws in Canada require getting peoples consent to use their personal data, giving the government grounds to pursue an inquiry. Authorities in Australia and the United Kingdom are jointly pursuing an inquiry of their own.
"We are delighted to have completed this significant acquisition," said chief executive Vincent Mascolo

( ) said it has completed the acquisition of Joy Transporters Ltd, giving it full ownership of the Saltpond and Cape Coast projects in Ghana.

The company described the Saltpond and Cape Coast portfolio as a highly prospective ground holding with high priority pegmatite targets.

The exploration area is positioned adjacent to IronRidges Ewoyaa lithium project, which is host to a 14.5mln tonne mineral resource.

A 12,500-metre drill programme is presently underway in Ghana aimed at expanding resources, and it will include exploration holes on two pegmatite targets at Saltpond.

"We are delighted to have completed this significant acquisition, providing IronRidge full ownership of the highly prospective Saltpond license and Cape Coast application, said Vincent Mascolo, IronRidge chief executive in a statement.

"The acquisition is part of the company's strategic plan in the region, providing valuable synergies with IronRidge's existing portfolio and team, as well as its growth strategy of creating and sustaining shareholder value through the discovery of fundamentally robust lithium projects at a time when demand for lithium is increasing significantly.

"The exploration RC drilling programme currently underway is progressing well and we look forward to keeping shareholders updated with our progress."

IronRidge noted that the 2.36mln shares issued in the acquisition are subject to a 12-month lock-in.
Joe and Santiago have helped build the company from the ground up and have been integral in helping this small business lender go from a concept to a prominent player in the alternative lending space.

Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, Santiago and Joe have solidified themselves as true leaders and have earned the respect and admiration of the company's employees, Board of Directors, and shareholders.

Santiago Rubio

Santiago Rubio joined Idea Financial as its very first full-time finance hire, tasked with spearheading the Finance and Accounting departments from its pre-revenue beginnings, managing its growth to scale, and helping the company establish itself as a leader in the small business lending space. As he takes on his new role as Chief Financial Officer, he will now be leading the sales and operations departments as well as his finance department.

Prior to joining Idea Financial, Santiago began his career in the auto lending industry, working at GM Financial, where he held various roles within the auto finance captive's operations. After several years of gaining experience and familiarizing himself with large company operations, he was inspired by the opportunity to build a department from scratch and become a part of a true financial start-up in his very hometown of Miami, FL. Santiago is a CFA charterholder and holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School, a B.B.A in Finance and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.

"When we founded Idea Financial, we needed to find smart people willing to take a career risk on a start-up. Santiago could not have fit the bill more. He has treated this company like his own and has been influential in every major decision we have made. We are extremely proud to have Santiago in this critical role, especially as we work more closely with the capital markets," states Larry Bassuk, Founder and President of Idea Financial.

A few words from Santiago:

"It is an exciting time to be at Idea Financial where we have held an exceptional track record of operational excellence and innovation within a competitive space that still has abundant opportunities. I look forward to take on increased responsibilities, and I am thrilled to continue working with the amazing team at Idea Financial that thrives in advancing our mission of helping small businesses charge forward."

Joe Salvatore

"Uncertain where to find a capable data scientist, I turned to LinkedIn and sent an unsolicited in-mail to Joe Salvatore," explained CEO and Founder,, Justin Leto. "After a few calls and meetings, it was obvious to me that Idea needed Joe. Thankfully, he took a great leap of faith and joined us. We have accomplished so much at Idea and Joe has been a pioneer; creating our automated underwriting system, forecasting risk, and guiding us through continued lending during Covid. More than anything, Joe is an advisor and his care for the company and its people is incomparable." Joe manages a team of data science engineers and has now taken the underwriting and marketing teams under his management.

Joe joined Idea Financial with a proven track record in data science, holding a PhD in behavioral science and master's degrees in both social psychology and statistics. When he is not supporting his Idea Financial family, he is a member of the faculties of University of Miami and Florida International University, as a professor of statistics.

A few words from Joe:

"It was serendipitous for Justin and I to cross paths back in 2017... I wasn't necessarily even aware I was interested in a new opportunity, but after a few meetings with the executive team, it was clear Idea Financial, pre-revenue no less, was the place I would call home," explained Joseph Salvatore. "I knew this was the place I could grow professionally alongside encouraging and capable folks, while simultaneously making an impact using data science to help accelerate our business growth both quickly and safely. It's clear to me today, in looking back at that final interview with the Idea Financial team, that was the last interview I will have ever had."

About Idea Financial:

Idea Financial is a provider of small business solutions, providing a unique line of credit as well as term loans to small businesses. IDF provides up to $250K in funds with same day approval and funding. In addition, IDF is expanding its product line to include case expense loans exclusive for attorneys as well as small business insurance products. Idea Financial was founded by Larry Bassuk and Justin Leto out of their law firm conference room in early 2017. Today, IDF has funded thousands of American small businesses and is proud to help businesses #ChargeForward.

Media Contact

Adriana Pinto

(786) 738-4076

[email protected]

SOURCE Idea Financial

Related Links

https://www.ideafinancial.com


Steve Hamilton, chief of mission to International Organization for Migration (IOM) to Korea, speaks with The Korea Times at his office in central Seoul, Jan. 26. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Lee Hyo-jin



Korea's willingness to embrace open immigration policies is reflected in its laws, but now it is time to put that spirit into action, says Steve Hamilton, chief of mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to Korea.



"Having come from outside, Korea is currently enjoying global prominence especially with its culture. Many people from various countries want to come here," Hamilton said during an interview with The Korea Times in the IOM Seoul office in Jung District, Jan. 26



Now is the perfect time to look at migrant policies and review various ways on how to attract people to stay, work, and live here, he said.



Hamilton, who joined the IOM in 1999, was appointed as the head of the Seoul office in December last year. Before his move to Korea, the immigration expert with two decades of experience in the field had been dispatched to seven countries including Norway, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Senegal.



"The organization's mission as a whole is the protection and welfare of all migrants and the promotion of evidence-based research on immigration policies," Hamilton said.



"We focus on assisting the Korean government with challenges around migration, based on an understanding of their priorities and challenges. And we cooperate with related governmental bodies including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)," he explained.



Korea is facing a massive challenge with its shrinking, aging population. It recorded more deaths than births in 2020 for the first time since the country began to collect relevant data. In this regard, open immigration policies are being regarded by many as one of the solutions to this problem.



While stating that such demographic changes are inevitable for developed countries, Hamilton agreed that an influx of foreigners would help mitigate the effects of Korea's steep population decline.



He expected that Korea will be able to see the results of successful immigration plans, as it knows well where it should be heading.



"The country has plenty of plans and laws on paper, such as the Immigration Control Act, the Multicultural Family support, Nationality Act, and the third basic plan for immigration policy. Now it has to focus on getting that spirit into action and results, which has been the challenge," Hamilton said.



In doing so, the government should be able to convince the public who are skeptical about the changes, on the necessity of such policies.



"People want to know why we need changes, but being able to articulate on that, especially in this day and age where there's misinformation from the other side, is surely a challenge for the government," he said.



Hamilton highlighted the importance of sustained efforts and a willingness of policymakers to take some political heat to stand for the betterment of the country.





Migrant laborers work in a farm in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, Jan. 22. / Korea Times photo by Lee Han-ho
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-03 23:53:27|Editor: huaxia

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Aerial photo taken on April 29, 2020 shows a view of a poverty-relief relocation site for the Baiku Yao People in Nandan County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming)

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- By removing all its national-level poverty-stricken counties from the list, China has made a major victory in fighting poverty. The following are some facts and figures on China's poverty reduction.

Over the past 40-plus years of reform and opening up, more than 700 million people in China have been lifted out of poverty, contributing to more than 70 percent of global poverty reduction.

By the end of 2020, nearly 100 million impoverished rural residents had escaped poverty since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, and all 832 national-level poverty-stricken counties had shaken off poverty.

Despite the unprecedented impacts brought by COVID-19, China removed the remaining 52 counties -- mostly in remote areas in the southwestern and western regions -- from the poverty list as scheduled last year.

According to different causes of poverty, China explored a slew of targeted and scientific alleviation measures, providing poor households with customized plans. The measures include developing industries and relocation.

China also develops ecological poverty-relief programs, including ecological compensation and government-sponsored afforestation projects. For example, forestry authorities nationwide have recruited a total of about 1.1 million forest rangers from impoverished households since 2016. More than 20 million people shook off poverty through such programs, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Other policies include providing medical insurance and aid, developing microfinance programs, establishing online platforms for selling agricultural products from poverty-stricken areas.

The government at various levels has also mobilized resources nationwide to help poverty-stricken regions. Since late 2012, China has selected over 500,000 cadres as the first CPC secretaries of villages and has sent more than 3 million cadres to impoverished villages to battle poverty on the frontline.

China has decided to set a five-year transition period for counties that have shaken off poverty to consolidate and expand its poverty alleviation achievements and to prevent people from falling back into poverty again.

The country has pledged to advance rural vitalization in the new development stage. The strategy will help improve the quality, efficiency and competitiveness of agriculture and deepen rural reforms and enhance the integrated urban-rural development. 
TORONTO, Feb. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (CSE: RWB and OTC: RWBYF) (RWB or the Company) today provided comments on U.S. Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., joint statement regarding comprehensive cannabis reform legislation in the 117th Congress.



This announcement today is a major step towards the end of prohibition of cannabis in the largest economy in the world and RWB has aggressively claimed our stake and positioned ourselves for the impending explosion of growth in the United States stated RWB CEO and Chairman Brad Rogers. I think the joint statement issued to pursue and prioritize comprehensive cannabis reform legislation in the current session is very welcome news for all cannabis stakeholders; whether they be medical patients, recreational users, employed in the cannabis sector, or investors.

Brad Rogers continued, In addition to the reform surrounding prohibition, I would like to applaud the joint statement taking aim at addressing the discriminatory nature of the failed war on drugs and the commitment to restorative justice. We at RWB see these reforms as a major step in the right direction.

RWB currently owns leading vape supplier Platinum Vape, whose products are sold in over 800 locations throughout California, Michigan, Oklahoma and soon to be available in Arizona; owns a 3.6 million square foot greenhouse in Illinois and recently announced definitive agreements to acquire THC operations in Illinois; owns the exclusive rights to brand both products and dispensaries in Michigan, Illinois and Florida with High Times, the leading cannabis brand in the United States; and has made the largest investment of any MSO in the State of Michigan.

About Red White & Bloom Brands Inc.

The Company is positioning itself to be one of the top three multi-state cannabis operators active in the U.S. legal cannabis and hemp sector. RWB is predominantly focusing its investments on the major US markets, including Michigan, Illinois, Massachusetts, Arizona and California with respect to cannabis, and the US and internationally for hemp-based CBD products.

For more information about Red White & Bloom Brands Inc., please contact:

Tyler Troup, Managing Director

Circadian Group IR

IR@RedWhiteBloom.com

Visit us on the web: www.RedWhiteBloom.com

Follow us on social media:

Twitter: @rwbbrands

Facebook: @redwhitebloombrands

Instagram: @redwhitebloombrands

Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

This press release contains forward-looking statements and information that are based on the beliefs of management and reflect the Companys current expectations. When used in this press release, the words estimate, project, belief, anticipate, intend, expect, plan, predict, may or should and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. The forward-looking statements and information in this press release includes information relating to the implementation of the Companys business plan and comprehensive cannabis reform legislation in the 117th Congress. Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Company with respect to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information.

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: risks associated with the implementation of the Companys business plan and matters relating thereto, risks associated with the cannabis industry, competition, regulatory change, the need for additional financing, reliance on key personnel, the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers or directors, and the volatility of the Companys common share price and volume. Forward-looking statements are made based on managements 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. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

There are a number of important factors that could cause the Companys actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by forward-looking statements and information. Such factors include, among others, risks related to the Companys proposed business, such as failure of the business strategy and government regulation; risks related to the Companys operations, such as additional financing requirements and access to capital, reliance on key and qualified personnel, insurance, competition, intellectual property and reliable supply chains; risks related to the Company and its business generally. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. When relying on the Companys forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. The Company has assumed a certain progression, which may not be realized. It has also assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraph will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. While the Company may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time.

THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS PRESS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS.
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) will soon step into the witness box to testify in the ongoing election petition at the Supreme Court.



A member of the Communication team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) says the EC boss will be exposed when she is being cross-examined by Tsatsu Tsikata, lawyer for the petitioner, John Dramani Mahama.



"Currently we have four different figures for total votes cast so which one should we work with . . . we have a clear case and very soon Ghanaians will see the thievery and corruption engaged in by the EC just to make Akufo-Addo President. We are waiting patiently for that day when she will be cross-examined by lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata and you will all see what will happen . . . " Kojo Danquah said on Peace FM's 'The Platform' programme.



Listen to him in the video below





Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Big Brother is Watching You is a slogan that became famous thanks to the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by British author George Orwell. The book, written in 1949, depicts a dark and dystopian future in the year 1984 when the world has three main states, Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia, with Oceania being ruled by Big Brother.

Oceania in Orwells story occupies the Americas, Australasia, Britain and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Big Brother rules with an iron fist and nips all dissent in the bud through tight security, censorship and round-the-clock surveillance. The totalitarian state of Oceania does not tolerate dissent in any form, and citizens are forbidden to express their beliefs on any issue. The slogan Big Brother is Watching You can be seen on telescreens everywhere.

The US experienced an Orwellian moment in 2020-2021 that will not be forgotten for generations. This time it was not an authoritarian regime run by a dictatorship that implemented it, but social media companies based in the US itself. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube decided to block the messages of sitting US president Donald Trump, preventing them from reaching his followers. Twitter claimed it was a security measure after the storming of the Capitol building in Washington on 6 January.

Trumps tweets and posts were deleted from Twitter and Facebook, followed by the permanent suspension of his accounts. This was accompanied by the purging of 70,000 accounts held by Trumps supporters. The land of the free has never looked more autocratic in the eyes of the world thanks to these practices by social media moguls.

The very same Twitter has hundreds of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) group accounts, which it has left untouched. Moreover, it has accounts held by the heads of state or government of states that have been involved in mass murder, genocide or terrorism, among them the Turkish, Iranian, Ethiopian and Qatari heads of state. All of these accounts are intact and have been left untouched.

The US big-tech companies have become dominant forces and the most valuable corporations in global stock markets in recent years, surpassing automobile and home appliance industry giants. In recent years, social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (owned by Google) have become driving forces in the online world, and once-humble software programmers have become the media tycoons of the world.

The likes of US cable network CNN owner Ted Turner or Sky network owner Rupert Murdoch no longer carry the same weight that they did two decades ago. Now, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey not only affect the news and information flow on the Internet but also actually have the audacity to control and censor opposing views.

Zuckerbergs Facebook formed an oversight committee last year that included a number of unsavoury figures, including Islamist Yemeni Nobel laureate Tawakkol Kerman. It is unfathomable that a member of an affiliate of an international terrorist group such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a sworn enemy of freedom, should become part of the censorship committee set up by Facebook under its new regulations.

It is becoming hard to criticise the Muslim Brotherhood on Twitter and Facebook without being flagged and even suspended. The Brotherhood inspired the likes of Al-Qaeda and IS, both of which have launched terrorist attacks in the US, including the 9/11 attacks in 2001 that killed over 3,000 US citizens. But that group, according to Dorsett and Zuckerberg, has special protection on social media, and some of its members even supervise the content of these applications.

Moreover, the US big-tech company Apple has followed suit and blocked the Parler app, an online service, on its servers after the Capitol Hill attack, with similar actions being taken by Amazon and Google.

Ironically, Twitter issued a statement condemning the actions of the Ugandan government in blocking its services in the country along with Facebook during the latest elections in the country. Such double standards and hypocrisy could not be more manifest, especially as Twitters statement came during the same week that the social media group blocked Trump and his supporters from expressing their views.

Dorsett and Zuckerberg along with a number of other moguls who could easily be called Barack Obama-era billionaires now control much of the Internet. They decide what they deem to be dangerous for national security and what is not as self-appointed national security experts.

Meanwhile, Facebook has a track record of attempting to influence elections and voters preferences. Facebook was involved in the Cambridge-Analytica scandal that ended in the insolvency of this British company in 2018. Cambridge-Analytica had earlier collected the personal data of 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge through 270,000 Facebook users and apps. The purpose was for the company to influence elections. Facebook denied any knowledge of such practices and claimed it had been deceived after the scandal was brought to light by the media.

But the question remains: are the claims of election rigging entirely false? If the social media platforms are supposedly open forums for the public to voice their concerns, why the cover-ups? If the recent US elections were as squeaky clean and legitimate as the Democratic Party declares them to be, why has almost every social media platform got involved in what appears to be a cover-up if there was really nothing to cover up? The same social media services looked the other way when US groups such as Antifa and BLM called for violence on them, leaving their accounts untouched.

2020 was one of the most bizarre years the world has seen since the end of World War II. Marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, economic recession and political chaos, it has witnessed the rise of new forms of power or oligarchical control, as represented by US big tech. If big-tech CEOs can now decide what people should think and how they should express themselves and even have a hand in deciding whom they believe to have won an election, then we are witnessing the signs of the rise of a new form of thought control.

Sooner rather than later, the media moguls will decide for governments who is the enemy and the course of action to be taken in political life, given the wealth and outreach they have amassed over the past decade. The fact that Zuckerberg escaped the Cambridge-Analytica scandal scot free and still wields the power to shut down the president of the United States, means that American politics has become a game of money, with democracy being only secondary.

Absolute power means absolute corruption, and the CEOs of the social media companies have abused their power. They are on their way towards becoming new big brothers, watching everyone and keeping everyone under their control.

*The writer is a political analyst and author of Egypts Arab Spring and the Winding Road to Democracy.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 4 February , 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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CSE: VYGR

OTCQB: VYGVF

Borse Frankfurt: UCD2

- Bolsters Voyager's Safe and Secure platform -



NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Voyager Digital Ltd. ("Voyager" or the "Company") (CSE: VYGR) (OTCQB: VYGVF) (FRA: UCD2), a publicly-traded, licensed crypto-asset broker that provides investors with a turnkey solution to trade crypto assets, today announced it has appointed Daniel Costantino, CISSP, CISM, CEH, as Chief Information Security Officer.

Mr. Costantino joins Voyager from Penn Medicine, where he was the Associate CIO and CISO. He will spearhead Voyager's implementation and maturity of several information technology and security programs, including further enhancements to infrastructure scalability and best-in-class security safeguards to continue ensuring complete platform and account protection to our customers. A highly decorated United States Marine, Dan served in both combat and humanitarian tours during his time in the military as a Cyber Network Operator. He was nominated as a "CSO of the Year'' finalist in 2019 and in 2020 and his team won "Best Security Team" in 2020 by SC Media. Dan is also the winner of the CSO50 Awards in 2019 and 2020 for cybersecurity innovation and thought leadership.

"At Voyager, safeguarding our users' assets and information is our first priority. Dan's extensive track record securing sensitive military and healthcare information on a large scale will add to our robust controls already in place today as we grow our business to meet unprecedented demand," said Steve Ehrlich, Co-founder and CEO of Voyager Digital. "We welcome Dan to the team and know his skillset will enhance our security features and provide reassurance to our community that they hold accounts on the most trusted and secure platform to trade digital assets."

In his most recent role at Penn Medicine, Dan led the IT Infrastructure and Information Security departments, managing a $60 million budget, while protecting and enabling one of the United States' leading schools of medicine, six hospitals, over 40,000 employees, and millions of patient records. He implemented comprehensive security programs and technologies, including vulnerability management for over 150,000 devices, identity protection, application and data protection safeguards, incident response, cloud computing infrastructure design, EMR security, and security operations. Further, Dan completed development and staffing of a 24/7 security operations center (SOC) for Penn Medicine, including active security monitoring, forensic analysis, threat intelligence, and technical orchestration of day-to-day security operations. Dan holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), and Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH) designations.

"Voyager's growth in the nascent digital asset space presents significant opportunities as the Company continues to expand its product offering and grows its business internationally," added Mr. Costantino. "I look forward to safeguarding the Voyager community during these exciting times as more and more retail investors discover and embrace digital assets, positioning the Voyager platform as the most secure to store and invest in digital assets."

For more information on Voyager Digital, please visit https://www.investvoyager.com . The Voyager app is available for Android and iPhone .

About Voyager Digital Ltd.

Voyager Digital Ltd. is a crypto-asset broker that provides retail and institutional investors with a turnkey solution to trade crypto assets. Voyager offers customers best execution and safe custody on a wide choice of popular crypto-assets. Voyager was founded by established Wall Street and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who teamed to bring a better, more transparent, and cost-efficient alternative for trading crypto-assets to the marketplace. Please visit us at https://www.investvoyager.com for more information and to review the latest Corporate Presentation.

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. No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this press release.

Certain information in this press release, including, but not limited to, statements regarding future growth and performance of the business, momentum in the businesses, future adoption of digital assets, and the Company's anticipated results may constitute forward looking information (collectively, forward-looking statements), which can be identified by the use of terms such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "intend," "continue" or "believe" (or the negatives) or other similar variations. Because of various risks and uncertainties, including those referenced below, actual events or results may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are subject to the risk that the global economy, industry, or the Company's businesses and investments do not perform as anticipated, that revenue or expenses estimates may not be met or may be materially less or more than those anticipated, that trading momentum does not continue or the demand for trading solutions declines, customer acquisition does not increase as planned, product and international expansion do not occur as planned and those other risks contained in the Company's public filings, including in its Management Discussion and Analysis and its Annual Information Form (AIF). Factors that could cause actual results of the Company and its businesses to differ materially from those described in such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, a decline in the digital asset market or general economic conditions; the failure or delay in the adoption of digital assets and the blockchain ecosystem by institutions; a delay or failure in developing infrastructure for the trading businesses or achieving mandates and gaining traction; failure to grow assets under management, an adverse development with respect to an issuer or party to the transaction or failure to obtain a required regulatory approval. In connection with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, the Company has made assumptions that no significant events occur outside of the Company's normal course of business and that current trends in respect of digital assets continue. Forward-looking statements, past and present performance and trends are not guarantees of future performance, accordingly, you should not put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, past performance, or current trends. Information identifying assumptions, risks, and uncertainties relating to the Company are contained in its filings with the Canadian securities regulators available at www.sedar.com . The forward-looking statements in this press release are applicable only as of the date of this release or as of the date specified in the relevant forward-looking statement and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after that date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Readers are cautioned that past performance is not indicative of future performance and current trends in the business and demand for digital assets may not continue and readers should not put undue reliance on past performance and current trends. All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

SOURCE Voyager Digital (Canada) Ltd.
MEXICO CITY, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. ("Televisa" or the "Company") announced today that it has committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), joining 1,000+ companies worldwide. The initiative drives ambitious climate action into the private sector by enabling companies to set science-based emissions reduction targets. It defines and promotes best practice in emissions reductions and net-zero targets in line with climate science.

Televisa is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and to strengthening its renewable energy programs in order to contribute to the national goal of clean energy generation, as well as to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal number seven, which fosters the use of and access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

The Science Based Targets initiative is a partnership between CDP, which is a not-for-profit charity that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Sustainability is a priority to Televisa and an important component in the formulation of its business strategy.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the Company's results and prospects. Actual results could differ materially from these statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release should be read in conjunction with the factors described in "Item 3. Key Information  Forward Looking Statements" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20 - F, which, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements made in this press release and in oral statements made by authorized officers of the Company. Statements contained in this release relating to the COVID-19 outbreak, the impact of which on our business performance and financial results remains inherently uncertain, are forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Televisa

Televisa is a leading media company in the Spanish-speaking world, an important cable operator in Mexico and an operator of a leading direct-to-home satellite pay television system in Mexico. Televisa distributes the content it produces through several broadcast channels in Mexico and in over 70 countries through 25 pay-tv brands, television networks, cable operators and over-the-top or "OTT" services. In the United States, Televisa's audiovisual content is distributed through Univision Communications Inc. ("Univision"), a leading media company serving the Hispanic market. Univision broadcasts Televisa's audiovisual content through multiple platforms in exchange for a royalty payment. In addition, Televisa has equity representing approximately 36% on a fully-diluted basis of the equity capital in Univision Holdings, Inc., the controlling company of Univision. Televisa's cable business offers integrated services, including video, high-speed data and voice services to residential and commercial customers as well as managed services to domestic and international carriers. Televisa owns a majority interest in Sky, a leading direct-to-home satellite pay television system and broadband provider in Mexico, operating also in the Dominican Republic and Central America. Televisa also has interests in magazine publishing and distribution, professional sports and live entertainment, feature-film production and distribution, and gaming.

SOURCE Grupo Televisa, S.A.B.

Related Links

http://www.televisa.com.mx


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Connecticut residents 65 and older could begin registering for COVID-19 vaccines as early as next week, Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday.

On average, just under half of the states 75 and older population have already received the vaccine, according to the Lamont administrations data. That population is the only group eligible to receive the vaccine in Phase 1B of the states rollout. Medical first responders, health care workers and staff and residents of longterm care facilities are also being vaccinated under Phase 1A.

Id like to think that well be able to give you a green light on 65 and over in a week or 10 days. Very soon thereafter people start getting their first shots, maybe itll take another week to get that done, the governor said.

Johnson and Johnson announced Thursday it submitted an application for an emergency use authorization for its one-shot vaccine candidate to the Food and Drug Administration.

The company estimates its vaccine can be stored for up to three months in a standard refrigerator. Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines already in use, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine uses a modified adenovirus as a vector, or carrier, of the virus genetic code to help a patients body develop antibodies.

As Connecticuts COVID hospitalizations reached their lowest point since before Thanksgiving and the states daily positivity rate was the lowest since Halloween, Lamont on Thursday warned of Super Bowl gatherings on Sunday.

Weve got to make sure its also an event we handle cautiously and make sure it doesnt create a spike-up, he said. The trendlines are so positive right now.

There were 37 fewer hospitalizations recorded Thursday, dropping the statewide total to 837.

The daily positivity rate declined as well. A total of 937 new infections were recorded out of 29,864 tests, for a positivity rate of 3.14 percent  down from 3.77 percent the previous day.

There were 28 more deaths were reported, bringing the states death toll to 7,185, a figure Lamont called tragically too much.

That comes as the states allocation of vaccine from the federal government has received a boost of about 5 percent. The Biden administration also announced this week that it would begin shipping vaccines directly to some pharmacy locations, including in Connecticut. Those additional doses, on top of the states increased allocation, puts the total number flowing into the state over 60,000 each week, according to the governors office.

Josh Geballe, the states chief operating officer, said the number of vaccines the state receives next week  when the 5 percent boost is supposed to start  should be the new minimum the state can expect to receive each week.

Thats very helpful in terms of us being able to provide better headlights for our providers about what they can expect, Geballe said.

Vaccine appointments that were canceled this week due to the winter storm are on track to be completed by the end of the weekend, according to Geballe.

Its unclear exactly when the state will begin vaccinating those with underlying health conditions and frontline essential workers, a group that includes teachers. The states vaccine website still lists likely March for both those categories.

Also unclear is exactly which health conditions will be included. The states website provides a link to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions lists of conditions that put people at greater risk of the virus.

But Lamont said the state is still working with the CDC to identify the list of co-morbidities. They had lists that included smoking and a whole variety of things, we want to narrow that list to make sure it really deals with people who are most at risk.

But Lamont said he would prefer to rely on the guidance of the CDC when asked about narrowing that list.

We want to be clear, we understand people are very anxious for information about who will be eligible that has an underlying chronic condition, said Deidre Gifford, acting commissioner of the states Department of Public Health. Its obviously complicated ... we need to rely on the CDC data and the list that they published.

Gifford said the states health care providers will be a key part of the effort, since they house the medical records needed to confirm a persons medical condition. For those who are not affiliated with one of those providers, the state will provide a way for people to raise their hand and be included, she said.

Later Thursday evening, Lamont announced he had signed his 89th executive order since the pandemic began. The order contained a broad swath of extensions, but also ensures residents stimulus checks will not be counted toward calculations on what benefits theyre able to receive.

Lamont also announced Thursday the state will allocate an extra $40 million to acute care hospitals through money Connecticut received through the Coronavirus Relief Fund.

That money was set aside for Connecticut as part of the CARES Act last April. The money will be sent to non-governmental, short-term general hospitals, that meet certain requirements for pandemic-related expenses, Lamonts office said in a statement.

The governor said the money, which comes on top of $980 million already dispersed to hospitals from the federal government, recognizes the front-line role the states hospitals played in the pandemic.

It is not an overstatement to say that this role has been heroic and continues to be indispensable as we all work together to defeat the virus, a statement from Lamont said. Our hospitals have needed to adapt to new protocols and infection control measures, while also ceasing elective procedures during the crest of the first wave of COVID-19, which had the effect of increasing costs and decreasing revenues, not to mention the physical, mental, and emotional toll this pandemic has taken on their staff.
Nokia Corporation

Financial Statement Release

4 February 2021 at 08:00 (CET +1)

Nokia Corporation Financial Report for Q4 and Full Year 2020

Solid margin performance driven by customer demand in North America

5% year-on-year decrease in reported net sales in Q4, primarily due to Mobile Access, as declines in network deployment and planning services were partially offset by growth in radio access products

1% growth in constant currency net sales in Q4

Continued improvements in our Mobile Access portfolio; strengthening roadmaps, reducing product costs and improving product performance; commitment to invest in R&D to drive product leadership

Increase in Mobile Access gross margin in Q4, primarily driven by improved 5G gross margin, partially offset by a project-related loss provision

Positive operating profit, on a reported basis, in Q4 and full year 2020

Non-IFRS operating profit in Q4 benefited by approximately EUR 250 million, due to the timing of revenue recognition and a net positive fluctuation in Nokia's venture fund investments

Strong free cash flow in Q4 and full year 2020 benefited from an early customer payment of approximately EUR 0.5 billion, which was expected in Q1 2021

Derecognized EUR 2.9 billion of Finnish deferred tax assets, which are not lost

Reiterated outlook for 2021 comparable operating margin of 7-10% and provided new outlook for net sales and free cash flow

Board does not propose a dividend or dividend authorization for the financial year 2020

This is a summary of the Nokia Corporation financial report for Q4 and full year 2020 published today. The complete financial report for Q4 and full year 2020 with tables is available at www.nokia.com/financials. Investors should not rely on summaries of our financial reports only, but should review the complete financial reports with tables.

PEKKA LUNDMARK, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ON Q4 AND FULL YEAR 2020 RESULTS





Nokia delivered a solid Q4 to end 2020 at the high end of our Outlook range. We saw healthy gross margin and operating margin performance for both Q4 and full year 2020, supported by a regional mix shift towards the higher margin North America region and by our ongoing R&D efforts to enhance product quality and cost competitiveness.

From a business group perspective, in Q4 and full year 2020, our gross margin improvement was primarily driven by Networks, as was our full year operating margin performance. In Q4, our operating profit performance benefited by approximately EUR 250 million from two unexpected, yet significant drivers: a timing benefit of approximately EUR 150 million as we recognized net sales at the very end of the quarter, which we had expected in 2021; and we had a net positive fluctuation in Nokia's venture fund investments of approximately EUR 100 million.

The healthy close to the year does not change our earlier communicated view for Nokia-level operating margin expected in 2021.

Net sales for Q4 were down 5% on a reported basis and up 1% in constant currency and for full year 2020 they were down 6% on a reported basis and down 4% in constant currency.

Nokia delivered strong cash performance in Q4 and full year 2020, benefitting from a large customer payment that had been expected in Q1 2021, marking the third consecutive quarter of positive free cash flow. Additionally, our liquidity position continues to be solid.

Financial improvement in Mobile Access was clear in both Q4 and full year 2020 results, reflecting our ongoing efforts to strengthen the competitiveness and cost position of our mobile radio products. Overall, we saw growth in radio access products in Q4 and full year 2020, with growth in 5G partially offset by decreases in legacy radio access products.

5G gross margin increased due to product cost reduction, partly helped by higher ReefShark shipment volumes. Our aim was to be above 35% for our KPI on shipments of our "5G Powered by ReefShark" portfolio; we ended the year at 43% and we remain on track to realize 70% by the end of 2021. This underlines the ongoing progress with our Mobile Networks turnaround and, as I said in Q3, we will invest whatever it takes to win in 5G. Completing the turnaround in Mobile Networks remains our top priority for 2021, and these visible signs of progress give me confidence that we are on the right track but there is still work to be done.

Our Enterprise business delivered another good set of results giving a solid foundation to build on. Q4 Enterprise net sales were up 1% in reported and 5% in constant currency. For full year 2020, they were up 11% in reported and 14% in constant currency, reflecting our leadership position in many areas, including in private wireless. We announced key partnerships with AT&T and Verizon for private wireless and won 79 new customers in Q4. We now have 260 private wireless customers. Public sector demand remains robust and we announced a US federal government cyber deal after the quarter end in mid-January.

At the end of 2020, we announced a new operating model to better align us with the needs of our customers and to better maintain and achieve technology leadership in the areas where we choose to compete.

Pleasingly we already have strong technology leadership positions in many key areas of our new business groups. In Network Infrastructure we have industry-leading FP4-based products and in Cloud and Network Services we are jointly developing transformational cloud-native 5G core solutions for CSPs and Enterprise customers. In our Mobile Networks business, together with Elisa and Qualcomm, we hold the worldwide 5G speed record.

These are encouraging results, however, as I said in Q3, we expect 2021 to be challenging, a year of transition, with meaningful headwinds due to market share loss and price erosion in North America.

Additionally, as I said, delivering on our new operating model for a strong and sustainable long-term business requires us to make further 5G R&D investments in 2021, meaning we will sacrifice some short-term margin to ensure leadership in 5G.

Considering these elements, we maintain our comparable operating margin outlook for 2021 and - as new items - give an outlook for net sales and free cash flow for 2021. As previously stated, we intend to provide a long-term outlook latest at Capital Markets Day on March 18.

Regarding dividend, we are pleased with Nokia's recent operational performance and satisfied that we have strengthened our cash position. However, with the focus on increased investments in 5G and strategic areas, while continuing to establish a track record of sustainable cash generation, the Board does not propose a dividend or dividend authorization for the financial year 2020. We intend to provide an update on our dividend policy latest at Capital Markets Day.

We took important steps in 2020 to accelerate roadmaps, improve execution and create a new way of working, which will enable Nokia to return to a sustainable long-term financial performance. We know we have our work cut out for us in 2021, but the new Group Leadership Team has hit the ground running. As announced earlier, we will go deep into each of our business groups at our Capital Markets Day to discuss specific targets and action plans.

I want to conclude by thanking everyone at Nokia. This has been a year of incredible change where our personal resilience as well as technology has been tested like never before. I am extremely proud of our team, their commitment and their achievements. Thank you.

NOKIA FINANCIAL RESULTS

EUR million (except for EPS in EUR) Q4'20 Q4'19 YoY change Constant currency YoY change Q1-Q4'20 Q1-Q4'19 YoY change Constant currency YoY change Net sales 6 568 6 903 (5)% 1% 21 867 23 315 (6)% (4)% Networks 5 040 5 439 (7)% (2)% 16 865 18 209 (7)% (5)% Nokia Software 864 870 (1)% 5% 2 658 2 767 (4)% (1)% Nokia Technologies 382 376 2% 3% 1 402 1 487 (6)% (6)% Group Common and Other 292 231 26% 26% 983 952 3% 2% Non-IFRS exclusions (1) 1 (3) (29) Eliminations (8) (13) (38) (71) Gross margin %1 39.2% 38.5% 70bps 37.6% 35.4% 220bps Operating profit/(loss) 475 803 (41)% 918 485 89% Networks 533 671 (21)% 964 665 45% Nokia Software 266 304 (13)% 511 589 (13)% Nokia Technologies 317 320 (1)% 1 164 1 239 (6)% Group Common and Other (27) (161) (525) (490) Non-IFRS exclusions (615) (331) (1 196) (1 518) Operating margin % 7.2% 11.6% (440)bps 4.2% 2.1% 210bps Net sales (non-IFRS) 6 569 6 903 (5)% 1% 21 870 23 344 (6)% (4)% Gross margin % (non-IFRS) 41.8% 40.0% 180bps 39.0% 36.5% 250bps Operating profit (non-IFRS) 1 090 1 134 (4)% 2 114 2 003 6% Operating margin % (non-IFRS) 16.6% 16.4% 20bps 9.7% 8.6% 110bps Financial income and expenses 29 (15) (106) (341) (69)% Income taxes (3 131) (246) (3 255) (138) Profit/(loss) for the period (2 608) 563 (2 421) 18 EPS, diluted (0.46) 0.10 (0.43) 0.00 Financial income and expenses (non-IFRS) (13) (46) (72)% (184) (337) (45)% Income taxes (non-IFRS) (286) (288) (1)% (488) (448) 9% Profit for the period (non-IFRS) 811 821 (1)% 1 464 1 230 19% EPS, diluted (non-IFRS) 0.14 0.15 (7)% 0.26 0.22 18% 1In Q4 2020, Nokia reclassified certain items of income and expenses from other operating income and expenses to the functions. The comparative reported results for Q4'19 and Q1-Q4'19 have been revised accordingly. Refer to note 1, "Basis of preparation" in the "Financial statement information" section for details. Results are as reported and relate to continuing operations unless otherwise specified. The financial information in the Nokia Corporation Financial Report for Q4 and full year 2020 is unaudited. Non-IFRS results exclude intangible asset amortization and other fair value adjustments, goodwill impairments, restructuring related charges and certain other items affecting comparability. For details, please refer to note 2, "Non-IFRS to reported reconciliation", in the notes to the Financial statement information in Nokia Corporation Financial Report for Q4 and full year 2020. Change in net sales at constant currency excludes the effect of changes in exchange rates in comparison to euro, our reporting currency. For more information on currency exposures, please refer to note 1, "Basis of Preparation", in the "Financial statement information" section in Nokia Corporation Financial Report for Q4 and full year 2020.

Net sales

In Q4 2020, reported net sales decreased 5%, primarily driven by lower net sales in Mobile Access, where a decline in network deployment and planning services was partially offset by growth in 5G radio access products. On a constant currency basis, Nokia net sales increased 1% in Q4 2020. In full year 2020, reported net sales decreased 6%, primarily due to network deployment and planning services in Mobile Access. In Nokia Enterprise, we continued to make great progress in full year 2020 and delivered 11% year-on-year growth in reported net sales. On a constant currency basis, Nokia net sales decreased 4% in full year 2020.

Gross margin

Reported gross margin in Q4 2020 was 39.2%, compared to 38.5% in Q4 2019. Non-IFRS gross margin was 41.8%, compared to 40.0% in Q4 2019. The improvement in gross margin was primarily driven by Mobile Access, where strong 5G gross margin expansion was partially offset by a project-related loss provision. To a lesser extent, our Q4 2020 gross margin performance was affected by mix shifts, with a higher proportion of Group Common and Other, as well as a decline in Nokia Software. In full year 2020, reported gross margin was 37.6%, compared to 35.4% in full year 2019. Non-IFRS gross margin was 39.0%, compared to 36.5% in full year 2019.

Operating profit

In Q4 2020, our non-IFRS and reported operating profit performance was positively affected by approximately EUR 250 million from two significant drivers: a timing benefit, as we recognized net sales at the very end of the quarter, which we had expected in 2021, and a net positive fluctuation in Nokia's venture fund investments. Our non-IFRS and reported diluted EPS benefited by approximately EUR 0.035 from these items.

Earnings per share

Non-IFRS diluted EPS in Q4 2020 was EUR 0.14, compared to EUR 0.15 in Q4 2019, primarily due to lower operating profit, partially offset by a net positive fluctuation in financial income and expenses. In full year 2020, non-IFRS diluted EPS was EUR 0.26, compared to 0.22 in full year 2019.

Reported diluted EPS in Q4 2020 was negative EUR 0.46, compared to EUR 0.10 in Q4 2019. The change was primarily driven by a net negative fluctuation in income taxes related to the EUR 2.9 billion derecognition of Finnish deferred tax assets and, to a lesser extent, lower operating profit, partially offset by a net positive fluctuation in financial income and expenses. In full year 2020, reported diluted EPS was negative EUR 0.43, compared to 0.00 in full year 2019. The derecognition was required due to a regular assessment of our ability to utilize the tax assets in Finland in the foreseeable future that is done primarily based on our historical performance. These tax assets are not lost, and the derecognition can be reversed. They can still be utilized in the taxation and the derecognition is not expected to affect the overall taxation of the Nokia Group or its cash taxes. For further details on the derecognition of Finnish deferred tax assets, please refer to note 6, "Deferred taxes" in the "Financial statement information" section in Nokia Corporation Financial Report for Q4 and full year 2020.

Cash performance

Q4 2020 was the third quarter in a row of positive free cash flow. During Q4 2020, net cash increased by approximately EUR 0.6 billion, resulting in an end-of-quarter net cash balance of approximately EUR 2.5 billion. During Q4 2020, total cash increased by approximately EUR 0.4 billion, resulting in an end-of-quarter total cash balance of approximately EUR 8.1 billion. Strong cash performance in Q4 and full year 2020 benefited from an early customer payment of approximately EUR 0.5 billion, which was expected in Q1 2021.

COVID-19

COVID-19 resulted in a net sales impact of approximately EUR 200 million in full year 2020, with the majority of these net sales expected to be shifted to future periods, rather than being lost. In addition, we had a temporary benefit of approximately EUR 250 million due to lower travel and personnel expenses related to COVID-19.

DIVIDEND

Beginning with the distribution for the financial year 2018, Nokia started paying dividends in quarterly instalments. On October 24, 2019, the Board resolved to pause dividend distributions, in order to: a) guarantee Nokia's ability to increase 5G investments, b) continue investing in growth in strategic focus areas of enterprise and software and c) strengthen Nokia's cash position. This was done in accordance with Nokia's dividend policy, which states that dividend decisions are made taking into account Nokia's cash position and expected cash flow generation.

The Board is pleased with Nokia's recent operational performance and the track record of sustainable cash generation that Nokia is starting to build. The Board is satisfied that Nokia has strengthened its cash position. However, the Board continues to focus on ensuring Nokia's ability to increase investments in 5G and strategic areas, while continuing to establish a track record of sustainable cash generation. Therefore, the Board does not propose a dividend or dividend authorization for the financial year 2020. After Q4 2021, the Board will assess the possibility of proposing a dividend distribution for the financial year 2021, taking into account the net cash position, as well as the outlook for 2022.

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has made vividly clear the critical importance of connectivity to keep society functioning. We believe we have a resilient customer base, and we feel a sense of duty to our customers and the communities they serve.

Due to significant uncertainties and risks in estimating the impact of customer-related delivery and implementation challenges, we are now focusing our COVID-19 disclosure on the impact of factory closures, which have had a net sales impact of approximately EUR 200 million in full year 2020, with the majority of these net sales expected to be shifted to future periods, rather than being lost. The EUR 200 million of negative impact in full year 2020 relates primarily to Alcatel Submarine Networks in Group Common and Other, which experienced temporary factory closures that particularly impacted Q1 2020 and Q2 2020.

COVID-19 also affected our operational costs (for example, temporary lower travel), capital expenditures (temporary delays), and cash outflows related to taxes (tax relief). In full year 2020, we had a temporary benefit of approximately EUR 250 million due to lower travel and personnel expenses related to COVID-19, of which approximately EUR 150 million benefited operating expenses and approximately EUR 100 million benefited cost of sales. In full year 2021, based on our current understanding of the COVID-19-related developments, we expect a temporary benefit of approximately EUR 150 million due to lower travel and personnel expenses related to COVID-19, of which approximately EUR 100 million is expected to benefit operating expenses and approximately EUR 50 million is expected to benefit cost of sales.

Potential risks and uncertainties continue to exist related to the scope and duration of the COVID-19 impact and the pace and shape of the economic recovery following the pandemic and it is impossible to predict with accuracy the precise impact of such risks on us, our operations and our business.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have continued to advance our 5G roadmap and product evolution, as planned, and we believe that our COVID-19 mitigation actions in R&D have been successful.

Health and safety

Naturally, Nokia's first focus during the COVID-19 pandemic is to our employees. We have in place strict protocols for Nokia facilities and provided clear advice to our employees about how they can mitigate the risks of COVID-19 in situations where they have to go about critical work. We have taken a range of steps, including banning international travel for Nokia employees, except for strictly-defined 'critical' reasons; closing all our facilities to all visitors, with the exception of people engaged in essential maintenance and services, and asking our staff to work from home wherever possible. We started implementing these measures in some regions already in January 2020 and have updated guidance as the situation has developed.

As the overwhelming majority of Nokia employees continue working remotely, we are providing guidance on how staff can maintain a healthy work-life balance and look after their physical and mental well-being.

Supporting the essential services our customers provide

The products and services that we provide have never been more critical in enabling the world to continue to function in an orderly way. We continue to work closely with all our customers, to ensure that the changing needs and requirements at this time are well understood and that we respond appropriately to them.

In Q4 2020, connectivity continued to bring together people isolated from each other by the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote working and schooling, robust delivery of basic services and smart deliveries are just some examples that have been enabled by our connectivity solutions. In December, we announced that, together with Vodafone India Foundation, we have deployed a Smart Agriculture solution that aims to improve the productivity of farmers in India. The pilot project is being implemented in 100 locations in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and will benefit over 50 000 farmers in the region by enhancing their productivity and income.

Nokia has a global manufacturing footprint designed for optimized global supply, and to mitigate against risks such as local disruptive events, transportation capacity problems, and political risks. Our supply network consists of 25 factories around the globe and six hubs for customer fulfillment. As a result, at the Nokia level, we are not dependent on one location or entity. We have also established a global command center to manage the supply chain challenges arising from the outbreak; and we are ready to activate relevant business continuity plans should the situation in any part of our organization require this.

These actions demonstrate our strong commitment to supporting global efforts to end the pandemic and overcoming the disruption and challenges we currently face.

OUTLOOK

Full Year 2021

Net sales, adjusted for currency fluctuations EUR 20.6 billion to EUR 21.8 billion, assuming continuation of 2020 year-end EUR/USD rate of 1.23 Comparable operating margin1 7 to 10% Free cash flow2 Positive

1 Comparable measures exclude intangible asset amortization and other fair value adjustments, goodwill impairments, restructuring related charges and certain other items affecting comparability. Refer to note 12 "Performance measures" in Nokia Corporation Financial Report for Q4 and full year 2020.

Comparable measures exclude intangible asset amortization and other fair value adjustments, goodwill impairments, restructuring related charges and certain other items affecting comparability. Refer to note 12 "Performance measures" in Nokia Corporation Financial Report for Q4 and full year 2020. 2 Free cash flow = net cash from/(used in) operating activities - capital expenditures + proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets - purchase of non-current financial investments + proceeds from sale of non-current financial investments.

Long term

Nokia intends to provide a long-term outlook, latest at Capital Markets Day on March 18, 2021

Dividend policy

In connection with the work on long term financial targets, Nokia will also assess its dividend policy, and intends to provide an update, latest at Capital Markets Day on March 18, 2021

OUTLOOK ASSUMPTIONS

In full year 2021, we expect our net sales, adjusted for currency fluctuations, to be affected by: A significant decline in Mobile Networks, due to not converting all of its 4G footprint into 5G footprint in North America in 2020, as well as price erosion in North America (new); Net sales growth, primarily in Network Infrastructure and Nokia Technologies (new);

Mobile Networks is expected to deliver comparable operating margin of around zero percent in full year 2021, and significant improvement over the longer term;

Network Infrastructure is expected to deliver comparable operating margin in the high single digit range in full year 2021, and gradual improvement over the longer term;

Cloud & Network Services is expected to deliver comparable operating margin in the mid-single digit range in full year 2021, and significant improvement over the longer term;

Nokia Technologies is expected to deliver a slight improvement in comparable operating profit in full year 2021, relative to full year 2020, and stable performance over the longer term;

Group Common and Other is expected to deliver a comparable operating loss of approximately EUR 200 million in full year 2021, and stable performance over the longer term;

In full year 2021, Nokia expects the free cash flow performance of Nokia Technologies to be approximately EUR 600 million lower than its operating profit, primarily due to prepayments we received from certain licensees;

Comparable financial income and expenses are expected to be an expense of approximately EUR 250 million in full year 2021 and over the longer-term (new);

Comparable income tax expenses are expected to be approximately EUR 450 million in full year 2021 and over the longer-term, subject to regional profit mix, net sales subject to withholding tax and the timing of patent licensing cash flow (new);

Cash outflows related to income taxes are expected to be approximately EUR 350 million in full year 2021 and over the longer term until our US or Finnish deferred tax assets are fully utilized (new);

Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately EUR 700 million in full year 2021 and EUR 600 million over the longer-term (new); and

Rule of thumb related to currency fluctuations: Assuming our current mix of net sales and total costs (refer to Note 1, "Basis of Preparation" in the "Financial statement information" section for details in Nokia Corporation Financial Report for Q4 and full year 2020), we expect that a 10% increase in the EUR/USD exchange rate would have an impact of approximately negative 4 to 5% on net sales and an approximately neutral impact on operating profit (new).

RISK FACTORS

Nokia and its business are exposed to a number of risks and uncertainties which include but are not limited to:

Competitive intensity, which is particularly impacting Mobile Networks and is expected to continue at a high level in full year 2021, as some competitors seek to take share in the early stages of 5G;

Our ability to accelerate our product roadmaps and cost competitiveness through additional 5G investments in full year 2021, thereby enabling us to drive product cost reductions and maintain the necessary scale to be competitive;

Some customers are reassessing their vendors in light of security concerns, creating near-term pressure to invest in order to secure long-term benefits;

Developments in North America following the conclusion of the C-band auction, including the potential for temporary capital expenditure constraints or the acceleration of 5G deployments;

Customer demand could weaken and risk could increase further in India, after the country's Supreme Court upheld a ruling that telecoms companies must pay retroactive license and spectrum fees;

Potential risks and uncertainties related to the scope and duration of the COVID-19 impact and the pace and shape of the economic recovery following the pandemic;

Our ability to procure certain standard components;

The timing of completions and acceptances of certain projects;

Our product and regional mix;

Macroeconomic, industry and competitive dynamics;

The timing and value of new and existing patent licensing agreements with smartphone vendors, automotive companies and consumer electronics companies;

Results in brand and technology licensing; costs to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights; and the regulatory landscape for patent licensing;

as well as the risk factors specified under "Forward-looking Statements" of this release, and our 2019 annual report on Form 20-F published on March 5, 2020 under "Operating and financial review and prospects-Risk factors" as supplemented by the form 6-K published on April 30, 2020 under the header "Risk Factors".

ANALYST CONFERENCE CALL

Nokia's analyst conference call will begin on February 4, 2021 at 3 p.m. Finnish time. A link to the webcast of the conference call will be available at www.nokia.com/financials . Media representatives can listen in via the link, or call +1-412-717-9224.

FINANCIAL CALENDAR 2021

Nokia plans to publish its "Nokia in 2020" annual report, which includes the review by the Board of Directors and the audited annual accounts, in week 9 of 2021. The annual report will be available at www.nokia.com/financials (http://www.nokia.com/financials).

(http://www.nokia.com/financials). Nokia's Capital Markets Day is planned to be held on March 18, 2021.

Nokia's Annual General Meeting 2021 is planned to be held on April 8, 2021.

Nokia plans to publish its first quarter 2021 results on April 29, 2021.

Nokia plans to publish its second quarter and half year 2021 results on July 29, 2021.

Nokia plans to publish its third quarter and January-September 2021 results on October 28, 2021.

Media Inquiries:

Nokia Communications

Tel. +358 10 448 4900

Email: press.services@nokia.com

Katja Antila, Head of Media Relations

Investor Inquiries:

Nokia Investor Relations

Tel. +358 40 803 4080

Email: investor.relations@nokia.com

About Nokia

We create the critical networks and technologies to bring together the world's intelligence, across businesses, cities, supply chains and societies.

With our commitment to innovation and technology leadership, driven by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs, we deliver networks at the limits of science across mobile, infrastructure, cloud, and enabling technologies.

Adhering to the highest standards of integrity and security, we help build the capabilities we need for a more productive, sustainable and inclusive world.

For our latest updates, please visit us online www.nokia.com and follow us on Twitter @nokia.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

It should be noted that Nokia and its businesses are exposed to various risks and uncertainties and certain statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect Nokia's current expectations and views of future developments and include statements regarding: A) expectations, plans or benefits related to our strategies, growth management and operational key performance indicators; B) expectations, plans or benefits related to future performance of our businesses (including the expected impact, timing and duration of that impact of COVID-19 on our businesses, our supply chain and our customers' businesses) and any future dividends including timing and qualitative and quantitative thresholds associated therewith; C) expectations and targets regarding financial performance, cash generation, results, the timing of receivables, operating expenses, taxes, currency exchange rates, hedging, cost savings, product cost reductions and competitiveness, as well as results of operations including targeted synergies, better commercial management and those results related to market share, prices, net sales, income and margins; D) expectations, plans or benefits related to changes in organizational and operational structure; E) expectations regarding competition within our market, market developments, general economic conditions and structural and legal change globally and in national and regional markets, such as China; F) our ability to integrate acquired businesses into our operations and achieve the targeted business plans and benefits, including targeted benefits, synergies, cost savings and efficiencies; G) expectations, plans or benefits related to any future collaboration or to business collaboration agreements or patent license agreements or arbitration awards, including income to be received under any collaboration or partnership, agreement or award; H) timing of the deliveries of our products and services, including our short term and longer term expectations around the rollout of 5G, investment requirements with such rollout, and our ability to capitalize on such rollout; I) expectations and targets regarding collaboration and partnering arrangements, joint ventures or the creation of joint ventures, and the related administrative, legal, regulatory and other conditions, as well as our expected customer reach; J) outcome of pending and threatened litigation, arbitration, disputes, regulatory proceedings or investigations by authorities; K) expectations regarding restructurings, investments, capital structure optimization efforts, uses of proceeds from transactions, acquisitions and divestments and our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in connection with any such restructurings, investments, capital structure optimization efforts, divestments and acquisitions, including our current cost savings program; L) expectations, plans or benefits related to future capital expenditures, reduction of support function costs, temporary incremental expenditures or other R&D expenditures to develop or rollout software and other new products, including 5G, ReefShark and increased digitalization; M) expectations regarding our customers' future actions, including our customers' capital expenditure constraints and our ability to satisfy customer's needs and retain their business; and N) statements preceded by or including "believe", "expect", "expectations", "deliver", "maintain", "strengthen", "target", "estimate", "plan", "intend", "assumption", "focus", "continue", "should", "will" or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are based on management's best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to them. These forward-looking statements are only predictions based upon our current expectations and views of future events and developments and are subject to risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) our strategy is subject to various risks and uncertainties and we may be unable to successfully implement our strategic plans, sustain or improve the operational and financial performance of our business groups, correctly identify or successfully pursue business opportunities or otherwise grow our business; 2) general economic and market conditions, general public health conditions (including its impact on our supply chains) and other developments in the economies where we operate, including the timeline for the deployment of 5G and our ability to successfully capitalize on that deployment; 3) competition and our ability to effectively and profitably invest in existing and new high-quality products, services, upgrades and technologies and bring them to market in a timely manner; 4) our dependence on the development of the industries in which we operate, including the cyclicality and variability of the information technology and telecommunications industries and our own R&D capabilities and investments; 5) our dependence on a limited number of customers and large multi-year agreements, as well as external events impacting our customers including mergers and acquisitions and the possibility of our customers awarding business to our competitors; 6) our ability to maintain our existing sources of intellectual property-related revenue through our intellectual property, including through licensing, establishing new sources of revenue and protecting our intellectual property from infringement; 7) our ability to manage and improve our financial and operating performance, cost savings, competitiveness and synergies generally, expectations and timing around our ability to recognize any net sales and our ability to implement changes to our organizational and operational structure efficiently; 8) our global business and exposure to regulatory, political or other developments in various countries or regions, including emerging markets and the associated risks in relation to tax matters and exchange controls, among others; 9) our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits, synergies, cost savings and efficiencies of acquisitions; 10) exchange rate fluctuations, as well as hedging activities; 11) our ability to successfully realize the expectations, plans or benefits related to any future collaboration or business collaboration agreements and patent license agreements or arbitration awards, including income to be received under any collaboration, partnership, agreement or arbitration award; 12) Nokia Technologies' ability to protect its IPR and to maintain and establish new sources of patent, brand and technology licensing income and IPR-related revenues, particularly in the smartphone market, which may not materialize as planned, 13) our dependence on IPR technologies, including those that we have developed and those that are licensed to us, and the risk of associated IPR-related legal claims, licensing costs and restrictions on use; 14) our exposure to direct and indirect regulation, including economic or trade policies, and the reliability of our governance, internal controls and compliance processes to prevent regulatory penalties in our business or in our joint ventures; 15) our reliance on third-party solutions for data storage and service distribution, which expose us to risks relating to security, regulation and cybersecurity breaches; 16) inefficiencies, breaches, malfunctions or disruptions of information technology systems, or our customers' security concerns; 17) our exposure to various legal frameworks regulating corruption, fraud, trade policies, and other risk areas, and the possibility of proceedings or investigations that result in fines, penalties or sanctions; 18) adverse developments with respect to customer financing or extended payment terms we provide to customers; 19) the potential complex tax issues, tax disputes and tax obligations we may face in various jurisdictions, including the risk of obligations to pay additional taxes; 20) our actual or anticipated performance, among other factors, which could reduce our ability to utilize deferred tax assets; 21) our ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled employees; 22) disruptions to our manufacturing, service creation, delivery, logistics and supply chain processes, and the risks related to our production sites; 23) the impact of litigation, arbitration, agreement-related disputes or product liability allegations associated with our business; 24) our ability to re-establish investment grade rating or maintain our credit ratings; 25) our ability to achieve targeted benefits from, or successfully implement planned transactions, as well as the liabilities related thereto; 26) our involvement in joint ventures and jointly-managed companies; 27) the carrying amount of our goodwill may not be recoverable; 28) uncertainty related to the amount of dividends and equity return (if any) we are able to distribute to shareholders for each financial period; 29) pension costs, employee fund-related costs, and healthcare costs; 30) our ability to successfully complete and capitalize on our order backlogs and continue converting our sales pipeline into net sales; 31) risks related to undersea infrastructure; and 32) the scope and duration of the COVID-19 impact on the global economy and financial markets as well as our customers, supply chain, product development, service delivery, other operations and our financial, tax, pension and other assets, and the shape of the economic recovery following the pandemic as well as the risk factors specified in our 2019 annual report on Form 20-F published on March 5, 2020 under "Operating and financial review and prospects-Risk factors" as supplemented by the form 6-K published on April 30, 2020 under the header "Risk Factors" and in our other filings or documents furnished with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proven to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.

Attachment
The Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine could be provided to people over 70 if there wasnt the choice of Pfizer and Moderna shots where there is more data on older groups, the chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee has said.

Professor Karina Butler has said there would be no reservations about giving the Astrazeneca vaccine to older people.

Ireland is trying to mitigate against severe outcomes in those who are most vulnerable and the Pfizer and Moderna jabs appear to be a bit better at doing that with more data to back them up, the chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee said while speaking on Morning Ireland.

Prof Butler said that it was limited data rather than any fear of using the vaccine on older people that drove the decision.

Read More

She said: All vaccines used in Ireland have been shown to prevent serious hospitalisation and severe disease across all age groups.

Marginal benefits from Moderna and Pfizer vaccines across older age groups, and the option of a choice, are what influenced the decision, Prof Butler explained.

This comes as the HSE recommended using mRNA shots, such as the Pfizer and Moderna jabs, on those who are older and more susceptible to severe disease and mortality instead of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

With the Astrazeneca vaccine, the overall efficacy was somewhat lower than with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

We have every reason to believe it would work across the different age groups because the immune responses in different people looked equally good, but there just wasnt enough data in the older age groups in that and we had another choice.

"If there was no other choice you would be saying absolutely fine, this vaccine is above the bar that any of us thought we would have, that the World Health Organisation set, absolutely it is a good vaccine and it is has other things that we will come to that may turn out over time to show it has definite advantage.

"For now, on the information we have now, we are anxious to protect against severe outcomes in those who are most vulnerable and we have two vaccines that seem to be a bit better at doing that than the second one and we have more data on them in the older age groups, she added, saying all three vaccines are safe.

Prof Butler said all vaccines that have been approved by the European Medicines Agency are safe vaccines and also pointed to the study published this week which appears to show the AstraZeneca vaccine also slows the spread of the virus by two thirds (67pc).

Crucially, the Nphet member said there will be no untimely delay in rolling out these vaccines due to the change of plan within the vaccination programme.

The AstraZeneca vaccine could be used for over 70s should there be a significant delay in deliveries of Pfizer and Moderna shots, as Prof Butler said: In that event, we will say the best vaccine is the one that is available to you.

We have a range of very good vaccines, there are differences between them but all of them have been shown to protect against hospitalisation and severe disease. There may be marginal benefits in some populations of one over another and they will be placed as best as we can, Prof Butler said.

Prof Butler said that overall, we are in a very good position when it came to vaccines and while there are slight differences between them, they all prevent serious hospitalisation and disease across the age groups, as far as we can tell.

Read More




Alabama released its COVID-19 vaccine appointment portal Monday afternoon.

By Tuesday, appointments to get the vaccine were unavailable in every North Alabama county.

Thats really disheartening, I mean, if they set a date for when youre allowed to get the vaccine, but then theyre not taking appointments, thats extremely disheartening for everyone whos waited this long to get one," said Kera Vest.

Vest was excited to roll up her sleeve when she found out she'd be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine as a substitute teacher. However, like many people in North Alabama, she has more questions than answers when it comes to making an appointment on the online portal.

Kind of confused, like how are we supposed to get it? Theyre not taking appointments, is it just first come, first serve then?" said Vest.

If you aren't having luck with the state's online portal, a spokesperson with ADPH, Dr. Karen Landers, suggests looking at the vaccine clinic dashboard to see if you can make an appointment with one of the private providers. The county health departments in North Alabama are also taking walk-ins while supplies last.

"We do expect to open up the portal for more appointments, once we have more vaccines that we know will be coming. And we expect to be able to open up some appointments past the month of February, again, once we know if we have more vaccine available. We do not want people to make appointments if we dont know whether or not were going to receive vaccine to be able to honor those appointments," said Dr. Landers.

Dr. Landers wants to remind you that the online portal is only to receive the vaccine from a county health department. Private providers handle their appointments separately.
Ahead of the assembly polls in Assam, state health, education and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that the BJP does not need votes from the Bengali-origin Muslim community in the state elections, often referred to as the Miya Muslims to win the elections. The state minister also went on to say that the community is openly challenging Assamese culture and language and the composite Indian culture.

They have started identifying themselves as Miyas. These so called Miya people are very very communal and fundamental and they are involved in many activities to distort Assamese culture and Assamese language. So I dont want to be an MLA with their vote. I will not be able to sit in the Assembly if they voted for me, Sarma told reporters in Guwahati, according to Indian Express.

The people who are openly challenging Assamese culture and language and challenging composite Indian culture, they should not vote for us, he added.

Sarma said that the ruling BJP will not give tickets to those identifying themselves as Miya Muslims and he also urged Congress to do the same. The assembly election in Assam is due in March-April this year.

Congress is contesting the elections in alliance with the AIUDF  a party which enjoys support in the Bengali-origin Muslim community. However, Sarma said that the BJPs poll prospects will not be affected by the alliance.

Himanta Biswa Sarma minister said the state government has worked for the development of the community, but the community is not going to vote for the party in the polls.

Responding to the question of the community affecting the votes of BJP in the stata elections, Biswa said that the vote share will not impact the partys goal of winning over 100 of the total 126 Assembly seats.

Speaking on the NRC published in 2019, Sarma accused Prateek Hajela, state coordinator of the NRC, of singularly responsible for the mess, both financial and legal, and the injustice to the people of Assam.


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A demand for a massive amount of data from nine technology companies -- including Facebook and Twitter -- has been made by the Federal Trade Commission in what could be a prelude to regulation on the handling data by the industry.

The demand made Monday by the FTC seeks to obtain information on how many users the companies have, how active the users are, what the companies know about them, how they got that information, and what steps the companies take to continue to engage users.

The agency also wants to know how social media and video streaming companies process the data they collect and what kinds of inferences they are able to make about user attributes, interest and interactions.

In addition, the commission is gathering information on the companies' business models and how they target children and families.

Firms targeted in the FTC's demand were Facebook, WhatsApp, Snap, Twitter, YouTube, ByteDance, Twitch, Reddit and Discord.

Data gathered from the demand will be used for a study that will "lift the hood on the social media and video streaming firms to carefully study their engines," the commission said in a statement.

"Despite their central role in our daily lives, the decisions that prominent online platforms make regarding consumers and consumer data remain shrouded in secrecy," it noted. "Critical questions about business models, algorithms, and data collection and use have gone unanswered."

"Policymakers and the public are in the dark about what social media and video streaming services do to capture and sell users' data and attention," it continued. "It is alarming that we still know so little about companies that know so much about us."

'Fishing Expedition'

Not all the members of the commission supported the data dump demand.

Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips, in a dissenting opinion, called the move "an undisciplined foray into a wide variety of topics, some only tangentially related to the stated focus of this investigation."

"The actions undertaken today trade a real opportunity to use scarce government resources to advance public understanding of consumer data privacy practices -- critical to informing ongoing policy discussions in the United States and internationally -- for the appearance of action on a litany of gripes with technology companies," he maintained.

"The breadth of the inquiry, the tangential relationship of its parts, and the dissimilarity of the recipients combine to render these orders unlikely to produce the kind of information the public needs," he continued, "and certain to divert scarce Commission resources better directed elsewhere."

Julian Sanchez, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute, a public policy think tank in Washington, D.C. also questioned the wisdom of the FTC's move.

"The breadth of the information requests -- covering everything from data practices to advertising to business strategy -- from nine somewhat arbitrarily chosen companies with quite different business models gives this the feel of something of a fishing expedition," he told TechNewsWorld.

"Given that the FTC is primarily an enforcement agency, I don't know if this sort of open-ended data dive is the best use of their limited manpower," he continued.

"To my mind," he added, "it would make more sense for Congress to take the lead in reviewing industry privacy practices for the purpose of informing federal privacy policy, and let FTC focus on investigating specific violations."

Data Dump Needed

While the FTC's information demand is hefty and complex, it's necessary, countered Michelle Richardson, director of the Privacy & Data Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology, an online civil liberties and human rights advocacy organization in Washington, D.C.

"You need a lot of information if you're going to go ahead and either enforce against bad behavior or draft guidance for companies," she told TechNewsWorld.

"This seems like a first step that will eventually lead to closer scrutiny of the companies in the interest of consumers," she said.

"This can lead to a public-facing report that will inform consumers so they can make better choices," she continued.

"It will allow the FTC to be smarter in its own choices about bringing cases," she added, "and help it set a baseline of explicit questions to ask all companies."

Performing these kinds of studies based on data gathered from the industries it regulates is part of the FTC's job, maintained Rob Shavell, CEO and co-founder of Abine, a Boston-based maker of software for managing passwords, masking email and blocking ads and trackers.

"It's important to have this information so Congress can make decisions based on actual data, not company statements about their data, which can be misleading," he told TechNewsWorld.

Hidden Antitrust Agenda

However, French Caldwell, CFO of The Analyst Syndicate, an IT research and analysis group, asserted that the commission appears to be interested in more than privacy in its demand for data.

"They've gone beyond what is necessary for their stated purposes," he told TechNewsWorld. "The only reason I can see for that is that they're looking at antitrust, not just privacy."

Although consumers are supposed to be the beneficiaries of the FTC's data grab, they might not be the prime beneficiaries.

"The biggest beneficiaries of the information gathered by the FTC are going to be regulators," said Fred H. Cate, vice president for research at Indiana University.

"They'll be able to understand more about what's going on," he told TechNewsWorld. "That will determine if they pursue other measures or if they're satisfied with what they learn and stop there. In which case, consumers may not benefit much at all."

"I also think it's overblown that we, the public, would know what to do with information like this," he added. "If every social media company is doing the same aggressive things with data, am I really going to abandon one when I don't really have a choice of anywhere else to go to?"

Reality, Not Fear Mongering

Liz Miller, vice president and a principal analyst at Constellation Research, a technology research and advisory firm in Cupertino, Calif. maintained that the lack of focus of the study will reduce any potential benefits for consumers.

"Unlike previous FTC research initiatives -- say, for example, advertising practices of cigarette companies and the impact these branding initiatives have had on influencing children to smoke -- this current investigation doesn't seem to have a specific outcome in mind other than to say social media and technology are bad," she told TechNewsWorld.

"As someone who's career has largely centered on research, I am all for true investigations into the impact of technology -- in this case, social media on community," she said, "but the scope of this study is arbitrary."

Since most of the laws on the books governing technology are antiquated, Miller expects to see more investigations into the sector.

"My hope is," she said, "that we see more informed legislation based on the realities of today and tomorrow's consumption, development and business of digital rather than fear mongering over what those evil elites in big tech are doing to everyone."

John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John.



Advanced telehealth technology is being used to improve patient care in the field by connecting rural emergency medical services (EMS) responders to Tucson emergency medicine physicians in a joint project involving the University of Arizona Health Sciences and Banner - University Medical Center Tucson.

Rural EMS and ambulance agencies face several challenges in providing sustainable prehospital care to remote communities, including low call volumes, long transport distances, reliance on volunteers, an aging workforce and difficulty meeting increased educational standards. The Arizona Rural EMS Advanced Telemedicine Demonstration Initiative (AzREADI) addresses these challenges by giving rural EMS responders 24/7 access to real-time consultations with board-certified EMS physicians.

"Connecting to a remote specialist prior to hospital arrival can decrease the time from symptom onset to treatment, which is especially important for stroke or traumatic brain injury, for instance, when 'time is brain,'" said Joshua Gaither, MD, associate professor and EMS Fellowship director in the UArizona College of Medicine - Tucson's Department of Emergency Medicine.

The use of telemedicine services is vital in rural areas, where the COVID-19 pandemic has stressed already limited resources. AzREADI capitalizes on improvements in wireless broadband capabilities to extend communications and improve real-time patient care while optimizing resources and decreasing costs.

"EMS vehicles are being equipped with broadband cellular connection and high-speed internet access to the Banner - University Medical Center Tucson Emergency Department, making it much easier for an emergency department physician to immediately access the information, make a diagnosis, recommend a transfer or prepare the medical equipment necessary to treat the patient upon arrival," Dr. Gaither said.

Two partner EMS agencies are participating in the pilot program: the Rio Rico Fire and Medical District, serving the rural area just north of the Arizona-Mexico border; and the Sonoita-Elgin Fire District, serving rural communities between Tucson and Sierra Vista. Cobmined, their EMS service areas include 19,941 Arizona citizens and span 792 square miles in southern Arizona.

"Having the AzREADI resource available to the crews gives them a very near 'in-person' medical support experience," said Richard Johnson, deputy chief of the Rio Rico Medical and Fire District. "The ability for them to contact a physician and, via the technology, hear the medical recommendation is a great comfort to me as a supervisor, knowing that my personnel are supported to that extent regardless of their location."

"With the technology resources provided by AzREADI, we now have the ability to share vital clinical information with doctors in real time, which makes for more effective decision making and ensures that patients get the best care while allowing us to maximize our resources," added Marc Meredith, acting operations chief of the Sonoita-Elgin Fire District. "We are grateful to be part of this important program to enhance medical care in rural settings."

AzREADI is funded by a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant with the UArizona Center for Rural Health at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. The Center for Rural Health was one of only eight recipients in the nation to receive a three-year, $750,000 supplement to its HRSA Rural Hospital Flexibility Program award for the AzREADI project.

"EMS providers can use the AzREADI telehealth platform at the scene of the accident or illness or en route to a medical facility to virtually receive additional input on the best treatment option for the patient," said co-investigator Amber Rice, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine who also serves as medical director for two Tucson fire departments. "The anticipated effects are better triaging, advanced onsite care, and referrals to facilities that could best meet the patient's needs."

Other co-investigators are: Melody Glenn, MD, assistant professor and base hospital medical director for Banner - UMC Tucson, and Daniel Spaite, MD, professor and Virginia Piper Distinguished Chair of Emergency Medicine, from the Department of Emergency Medicine; and Arizona Telemedicine Program Founding Director Ronald Weinstein, MD.

"We are thrilled to partner with these outstanding agencies, using technology to help connect patients and providers to more resources," Dr. Glenn said. "This innovative project allows us to achieve one of the main goals of high-quality prehospital care: get the right care to the right patient at the right time."

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has followed the path of many American presidents in bringing his own foreign policy brand into office. His foreign policy for the middle class is less pithy than Donald Trumps America First. But for a world trying to gauge the USs new leadershipand an electorate with an uneasy relationship with globalisation and other disruptive economic forcesit may be just as consequential. Bidens promise to the world is reengagement, whether on issues from which the US has been absent, such as climate change, or in multilateral institutions his predecessor sought to blow up, such as the WHO. But national security adviser Jake Sullivan and other senior aides are also making it clear that doesnt portend a return to a pre-Trump model. The big idea is that since the end of World War II, Washington has gradually shifted from policies that fostered middle-class prosperity to ones that furthered the interests of multinational corporations and investors. That, of course, is the same economic grievance that Trump harnessed to win the presidency in 2016the elites sold us out.

The consequences of that perceived betrayal are by now familiar: rising inequality, stagnant median household incomes, and employment shocks caused by the rise of China and technological change. In the wake of Trumps victory, some graduates of the Obama administration including Sullivan embraced the idea that US policymakers had failed for too long to acknowledge the fallout from globalisation. As Trump unleashed his trade wars, jeopardising long-standing alliances in the name of the American worker, the Obama graduates were teaming up with centrist Republican policy veterans to devise an alternative. Among the efforts was the establishment of a bipartisan task force under the auspices of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, a Washington, DC, think tank where Obamas former commerce secretary, Penny Pritzker, chairs the board of trustees. The stated goal when it convened in 2018: come up with ideas for a foreign policy that works better for the middle class.

Canada designates Proud Boys as a terrorist entity The Canadian government designated the Proud Boys group as a terrorist entity, noting they played a pivotal role in the insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan 6. The Proud Boys have faced increased scrutiny after seizing on the Trump administration's policies and was a major agitator during earlier protests and the Capitol riot.
Two teenage killers who murdered a vulnerable alcoholic in her own home will have their identities kept secret for life after a High Court judge ruled that naming them would cause the pair very serious harm.

The girls were aged 13 and 14 when they put 39-year-old Angela Wrightson through a five-hour ordeal in Hartlepool in 2014, while posing for Snapchat selfies.

In a judgment published on Thursday, Mrs Justice Tipples granted the pair lifelong anonymity, an order that has previously been made in only a handful of cases in these circumstances, including that of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, the killers of toddler James Bulger.

The two young women were handed life sentences at Leeds Crown Court in 2016 and told they must serve a minimum of 15 years behind bars.

At the end of the trial, judge Mr Justice Globe refused to lift reporting restrictions preventing the media from identifying the killers.

Their anonymity automatically expired when they turned 18, leading their lawyers to ask the High Court in October last year to grant permanent injunctions preventing them from being identified in relation to Ms Wrightsons murder.

In her judgment, Mrs Justice Tipples said the case had resulted in public outrage and revulsion, together with public concern about how these two young girls could commit such a brutal murder.

But the judge concluded that revealing the girls identities is likely to cause each of them very serious harm, adding that this was an exceptional case in which the balance was tipped very firmly in favour of protecting their rights.

It is both necessary and proportionate to grant the injunctions sought so that both their identities are protected and not revealed, the judge ruled.

The young women, known as D and F, join killers Venables and Thompson, who murdered two-year-old James Bulger in Liverpool in 1993, and Mary Bell, who killed two young children in 1968, in having lifelong anonymity.

Similar orders have also been made in respect of Maxine Carr, the former girlfriend of Soham murderer Ian Huntley who was jailed for giving him a false alibi, the so-called Edlington brothers, who tortured two young boys in South Yorkshire in 2009, and Britains then-youngest terrorist, known only as RXG, who instructed an Australian jihadist to launch attacks on Anzac Day in 2015.

Ian Murray, executive director of the Society of Editors, said it was important that the court decision regarding the two girls did not create a precedent and that it was essential all cases were considered on an individual basis.

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson

Mary Bell

Maxine Carr

So-called Edlington brothers

RXG

In her judgment, Mrs Justice Tipples said: I am quite satisfied that this is a case where there is a real and immediate risk of serious physical harm or death to F at her own hand if her anonymity is not preserved.

The judge said the other girl was also entitled to an injunction banning her identification as one of the killers, noting that expert psychological evidence had shown that if her identity was revealed it would significantly increase her risk of self-harm.

At Octobers hearing, Edward Fitzgerald QC told Mrs Justice Tipples that both girls suffered from recognisable mental conditions, adding that they were extremely psychologically vulnerable.

Miss Wrightson, who was known locally as Alco Ange, suffered a horrific and prolonged attack at her home in Stephen Street, Hartlepool, in December 2014.

She was hit with a shovel, a TV, a coffee table and a stick studded with screws after she let the girls into her home.

She was found dead in her blood-spattered living room the next morning.

In response to Thursdays ruling, Mr Murray said: What is important is that this decision by the courts to order lifelong anonymity for the perpetrators of such a terrible crime does not create a precedent.

What is essential is that all cases must be considered on an individual basis if the principles of open justice and providing a deterrent are to be fulfilled.

Mark Hanna, a senior journalism lecturer and co-author of McNaes Essential Law For Journalists, said the judge had made her decision on anonymity having considered detailed medical evidence about F which it is hard to argue against.

Mr Hanna said: The judge ruled out public identification of the other murderer mainly on the ground that it could lead to Fs public identification too.

This is an exceptional case due to the girls age when the murder was committed and other factors, he said.

It may be that people convicted as older teenagers or when adults of such horrendous crime will in future cite the risk of suicide or self-harm to argue for such anonymity.

But if such people cannot be identified by the media, fewer details of their crimes and what made them criminals can be published.

For such anonymity injunctions to become common would not be open justice, and would restrict debate about how crime can be investigated and prevented.
Ahora | Mensaje a la Nacion del presidente de la Republica, @FSagasti. #NoBajemosLaGuardia

?? En vivo: https://t.co/86PVeHs1FC
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- BAIC BJEV, the new energy vehicle (NEV) unit of BAIC Group, intends to launch a model jointly developed with Huawei in April and start selling the new vehicle in November 2021, according to a local media outlet.

The NEV maker revealed in last May that Huawei's HiCar technology had been tested on some vehicles. A local report said in early January the HiCar-powered model would hit the market in the first half of 2021.



Photo credit: BAIC BJEV



Within the cooperation with BAIC BJEV, Huawei will responsible for making the R&D achievements of software system, ICT (information and communications technology) and cloud computing practically viable.

Huawei officially launched its in-car smart interaction system HiCar, which connects vehicles with such intelligent facilities as mobile phones, televisions and computers. Both USB and wireless method are available for users activating the HiCar system.

In last July, Chinese automaker BYD announced the release of its flagship model Han, the first vehicle powered by Huaweis HiCar solution.

Huawei said its 5G-enabled HiCar system would be available on more than 120 car models from 30 plus automakers, including Chery, JAC Motors, Volvo Cars, FAW Group and GAC Group.

The smart device provider also set up a smart car solution business unit (BU), which is currently under the charge of Huaweis Consumer business group (BG)'s management committee. The BU focuses on five aspects, namely smart driving smart cockpit, intelligent network, intelligent electrification and cloud services.

Huawei would join hands with Changan Automobile and CATL to develop a new upmarket brand, Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, said in last November.
Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID
Indian Air Force Chief RKS Bhadauria today said that Rafale aircraft has caused worries in the Chinese camp. "Of course, it will: IAF Chief RKS Bhadauria on being asked if Rafale aircraft has caused worries in the Chinese camp," reports ANI.

Of course, it will: IAF Chief RKS Bhadauria on being asked if Rafale aircraft has caused worries in the Chinese camp pic.twitter.com/xfzK4hSkPp  ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2021





IAF chief further added, "they had brought their J-20 fighter aircraft (to areas close to Eastern Ladakh) and they go off from there but that is the flexibility of airpower. The moment Indian Rafales were brought in, their J-20 was there. We know their actions and capabilities."

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

IAF Chief said to ANI, "situation there (India-China border) is that talks are going on. All depends on how talks go. Lot of attention is being given to that & if de-escalation & disengagement starts, it'll be good. If it doesnt happen or some new situation happens,we're fully prepared."

From Chinas side, there've been some pullbacks from air deployment & changes in deployment. But there have been some other actions which are contrary like strengthening their air defence capability, those deployments haven't reduced & deployments are being strengthened:IAF Chief https://t.co/lWCocgJQZD  ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2021

Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said that from Chinas side, there've been some pullbacks from air deployment & changes in deployment. But there have been some other actions which are contrary like strengthening their air defence capability, those deployments haven't reduced & deployments are being strengthened.

Last month, the third batch of three Rafale fighter jets landed in India. With the arrival of the new batch, the number of Rafale aircraft has increased to 11. The air force had ordered a total of 36 warplanes at a cost of 59,000 crores from France in September 2016. The Rafale jets, manufactured by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, are India's first major acquisition of fighter planes in 23 years after the Sukhoi jets were imported from Russia. The new fleet of Rafale jets has been carrying out sorties in eastern Ladakh.

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Iqbal Husain, a graduate of homeopathic medicine and a cofounder of the Homeopathic Association of Greater Chicago, has completed his new book Homeopathy in Practice: Clinical Insights into Remedies Vol.3: an extensive listing where readers will be able to search the accurate homeopathic remedy for illnesses in an easy and understandable way.

Husain writes, Homeopathy is an alternative, complementary, cost-effective, and very safe healing system for infants to old age. During early period of twentieth century, it was practiced parallel to the conventional (allopathic) system. It is widely practiced in Germany, United Kingdom, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The classical books on homeopathy, published before the 1900s, describe often in obsolete medical terms, the theory, philosophy, and symptoms of provings (drug testing). They are deficient in application methods to find the correct homeopathic remedy easily. They have little reference to pathological changes in tissues. In practice, different patients express their symptoms in different words even though suffering from same disease. It is often difficult to find the correct homeopathic remedy based on the patients symptoms alone. K. Robinson, MD, a contemporary expert, wrote in an editorial The Cutting Edge, suppose, the overwhelming drive in the practice of homeopathy is toward precision in prescribing. Because the accurate prescribing is so difficult, we find ourselves studying constantly, and yet we never feel complete (J. A. I. H, vol. 79, no. 1, March 1986). This book, Homeopathy in Practice: Clinical Insights into Homeopathy and Remedies, offers the practical aspects and clinical keynotes on remedies related to various illnesses, backed by successful reports from journals, books, personal discussions, and experiences of others. This book will help find the correct remedy easily. Just refer to the relevant heading in the contents. Go to the associate page(s) and glance through the keynotes of remedies. You will often spot the correct homeopathic remedy.

Published by Page Publishing, Iqbal Husains excellent creation is a seamless reference that will help the homeopathic community and will ease difficulties in clinical applications.

Readers who wish to experience this informative work can purchase Homeopathy in Practice: Clinical Insights into Remedies Vol.3 at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
BOE Member Malia Cohen Raises Red Flag on Bank-Breaking Prop 19 Tax Costs

Malia M. Cohen, the only African American member of the California Board of Equalization (BOE), has some critical concerns about the cost homeowners will have to bear because of Proposition 19, a constitutional amendment that took effect on Dec. 16, 2020.

Cohen, who represents 10 million Californians in 23 counties on the board, is concerned with how Prop 19 will affect Black and other minority homeowners across California. The BOE is the commission responsible for implementing the law.

The challenge is that it was voted upon and the election has been certified. So, its the law, Cohen said during a virtual media news briefing with reporters from across the state on Jan. 29 organized by California Black Media.

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In her commentary, Cohen discussed the ways the law will impact all property owners.

It not only affects our respective Black communities, she told the reporters. It affects all homeowners and property owners in the state of California. When people wake up there is going to be a massive coalition (to fight it)  possibly an uprising. People need to know what the real deal is.

Cohen said, at appearances she is planning similar to the news briefing she had with CBM, residents of California will begin to hear about the first steps they can take to become educated about how Prop.19 will hit their bottom lines. This is something she feels was not adequately explained to voters when the referendum was placed on the ballot last November.

On Nov. 3, 2020, California voters approved Prop. 19, the Home Protection for Seniors, Severely Disabled, Families, and Victims of Wildfire or Natural Disasters Act.

Although Prop 19 was enacted in December, Cohen warns that a critical part of the legislation will take effect on Feb 16. Until that date, the state currently allows tax breaks for parent-child transfers. When parents give or sell real property to their children (or perhaps, grandchildren), that heir continues to pay property taxes at the same rate assessed on the home value as the parent.

After Feb. 16, Prop. 19 will eradicate the parent-child exclusion. Then, parents would still be able to transfer their house to a child, and the child may keep the parents assessed value. But the Prop. 19 law has added one critical condition: the child must move into the residence and make the property his or her own primary residence. If not, the property will be reassessed at what the current tax cost is for the home at that time.

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Cohen discussed the immediate property tax implications and how it might impede property owners intentions to create generational wealth by transferring their personal residence and other property they own to their children as part of their estate planning.

BOE Tax Counsel Richard Moon also participated in the briefing.

What is required that a child moving into the home must file a homeowner exemption and that needs to be done within a year of the transfer date, Moon said. The child has one year to move into the family home and maintain that family home in order to keep the exclusion. But if they move out after three years, the property would be assessed at that point.

Rates of Black homeownership in California and across the country are still far below that of Whites and other minorities. Critics of the law say the fact that Prop. 19 could set up even more barriers to African Americans owning homes  and straddle struggling families with additional financial burdens  is problematic.

About 2.2 million Black people reside in California, around 5.5% of the states population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the rate of White American homeownership sails over 73%, while that of African Americans stands at 41%, Black Enterprise magazine reported in 2019.

According to data compiled by Lending Tree, the countrys leading online home loan marketplace, Los Angeles is one of the cities with the highest percentage of Black homeowners. Utahs Salt Lake City, Texas San Antonio, Oregons Portland, and Northern Californias San Jose are also included on that list.

African Americans primarily generate wealth through homeownership and home inheritances, according to data included in the Urban Institutes 2019 Black Homeownership Gap: Research Trends and Why Growing Gap Matters report.

Homeownership is currently the largest single source of wealth-building among the Black population, the study stated. Between 2005 and 2008, over 240,000 African Americans lost their homes to foreclosure according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

The financial crisis triggered a massive destruction of wealth for African Americans, Alanna McCargo, co-director of the Urban Institutes Housing Finance Policy Center told the Washington Post in 2019. Wealth is inextricably linked to housing, and that wealth gap is evident in figures for Black-owned property in this country.

The law, as it is written, would exclude from the term purchase and the phrase change in ownership for purposes of determining the full cash value of property in the purchase or transfer of a family home or family farm, for example.

Hardy Brown, Publisher Emertius of the Black Voice News in Riverside  the oldest African American-owned newspaper in that city  says some of the spirit of Prop 19 may have been positive. The state intended to provide financial cover for the mostly White Californians living in fire and flood prone parts of the state in the event disaster happens. But what it ends up doing, he argues, is decimate the wealth of Blacks and other minorities.

It doesnt help, says Brown. It might make a quick buck for campaign contributors or help the state to be a good neighbor to some people, but severely harms others in the process. What it really ends up doing is putting another law on the necks of Black people in the state of California. It will choke the breath right out of us.

Under its constitutional mandate, the BOE oversees the assessment practices of the states 58 county assessors, who are charged with establishing values for approximately 13.6 million properties each year.

We are not talking about $25 million palaces in Malibu. We are talking about humble homes. Middle-class homes, Cohen said. I live in the Bay View community (of San Francisco). Were talking about Baldwin Hills of Los Angeles or Encanto in San Diego and other communities throughout California. Homes that were purchased for $100,000 decades ago that now have a market value of over $1 million. These homes were paid for through hard work and could be potentially lost.


Myanmar's military-run government has ordered internet service providers to temporarily block access to Facebook amid growing protests days after seizing power from its civilian leadership -- even though it continued to post updates on the social-media platform.

Myanmar's Ministry of Transport and Communications sent a notice to all telecommunications companies saying Facebook and its services should be made unavailable until Feb. 7 in order to maintain "stability" in the country. Facebook is aware its platform "is currently disrupted for some people," a company spokeswoman said.

"We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information," the Facebook spokeswoman said in a statement. Facebook is one of Myanmar's most prominent social-media platform, even though the company doesn't disclose the number of users in the country.

Telenor Myanmar, one of two wholly foreign-owned mobile operators in the country, said in an overnight statement it would comply with the directive, but expressed "grave concerns" over its impact on human rights. "While the directive has legal basis in Myanmar law, Telenor does not believe that the request is based on necessity and proportionality, in accordance with international human rights law," the company said.

The move comes after residents in Yangon on Wednesday night protested for a second straight evening, singing songs, banging on pots and honking car horns in protest of the military coup. Earlier on Wednesday, authorities filed criminal charges against former leader Aung San Suu Kyi for possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies, an apparent violation of an import-export law. She faces as many as three years in prison if convicted.

Suu Kyi has called on supporters to resist Myanmar's generals, who seized power on Monday after claiming without presenting evidence that her landslide victory in November's election was tainted with fraud. The military has meanwhile pledged to hold elections after a yearlong state of emergency as part of a larger effort to project stability in the country.

With a block on Facebook in place, protesters temporarily lose access to a platform that is central to a pro-democracy "Civil Disobedience Movement," which gained nearly 200,000 followers in two days. Activists including medical professionals announced on Thursday that 82 hospitals would stop work in protest of what it called an "illegitimate" government.

"We need to boycott them by not wasting our money on these evils," one supporter posted in reference to the military's vast business interests in the country. The coup "is going to effect every single one of our lives."

Still, the military continued to use Facebook itself after issuing the order to block it, saying in a statement Thursday that protesters were "undermining public interest and disrupting the state's administration." In lieu of public healthcare facilities, it urged people to use military hospitals instead.

"Health workers are urged to remain loyal to the people in accordance with their pledges, not to listen to the instigators who are willing to wreak havoc on the people and the state," the army said in its first response to the online protest campaign.

Military chief Min Aung Hlaing said on Wednesday evening the nation will continue diplomatic ties with all countries, with its nonaligned foreign policy remaining unchanged, the military-run Myawady TV announced. The army also appointed four new ministers, for a total of 18 positions so far.

In addition to Suu Kyi, former President Win Myint was also charged, but for breaching the natural disaster management law over an election campaign rally that police say violated covid-19 restrictions. He faces the same penalty. NLD lawmakers released a statement demanding the immediate release of the two, recognition of the 2020 election results and the removal of all barriers to holding a new parliamentary session.

On Wednesday, the Yangon Stock Exchange resumed trading for the first time since the coup while businesses largely remain open. Still, there are concerns that the coup may prompt foreign investors to halt operations or pull out from the country entirely.

"Foreign companies had hoped the end of military rule in 2011 would improve the business environment in one of Asia's key resource-rich markets, but we expect the coup to damage Myanmar's economic recovery plans and erase foreign investor interest," Kaho Yu, senior Asia analyst at political risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, wrote in a research note to clients.
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About 20 million belonging to the Ekiti State Governors (cabinet) office was on Wednesday reportedly snatched by armed robbers in Ado Ekiti.

The money was reportedly in the possession of the accountants from the cabinet department. They had gone to a commercial bank to withdraw the cash.

Witnesses told PREMIUM TIMES the money was snatched from the civil servants by the armed robbers along Secretariat Road in the capital city as they were returning to the governors office.

The staff were paymasters and accountants attached to the Cabinet Department of the governors office, a source said.

They went to make a withdrawal at the behest of their superior and while returning, the robbers waylaid them at a place between the Chicken Republic and Fajuyi Park and dispossessed them of the huge cash.

This newspaper was told robbers shot sporadically into the air as they escaped through the GRA area to Ilawe road.

Police, officials speak

Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Police Commissioner, Babatunde Mobayo, only confirmed that some persons were robbed huge sums of money. He also said the incident did not occur at a bank.

Mr Mobayos statement, which was signed on his behalf by the state police spokesperson, Sunday Abutu, said some persons had been invited for interrogation in connection with the crime.

For clarity, the incident that occurred today (Wednesday) in Ado-Ekiti was about a driver of a Toyota Corolla car with about three other occupants who were accosted by a group of yet to be identified hoodlums and dispossessed them of some amount of money, the police commissioner said.

Upon the receipt of the information, the Commander, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), led his operatives to the scene but the hoodlums had fled the scene already.

Meanwhile, some persons have been invited by the police for interrogation and further investigation while serious effort is ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects.

When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Olayinka Oyebode, said only the police could make a statement on the crime.

Even if the money belongs Mr Governor, only the police command has the right place to get a clear statement on the matter, he said.

I am not competent to make any statement on it, he added.
This story originally appeared in the Texas Tribune.

In the middle of a recent shift at Kroger in Cedar Hill, Jackie Ryan was assisting customers with self-checkout when an elderly woman asked for help finding canned pumpkin. While Ryan pointed her in the right direction, the woman mentioned that she had been feeling sick. After Ryan helped her and her son pay for their groceries, the woman suddenly collapsed.

Ryan quickly dialed 911, and a team of EMTs arrived to take the woman to the hospital. While overhearing the first responders question the woman, Ryan discovered that she had been sick for over two months and received a COVID-19 test earlier that same day.

Ryan didnt know the results of the test, but concerned about potential exposure to the virus, she asked her manager if she needed to quarantine or take time off work.

If you dont get any symptoms, then its fine, the manager replied.

April Martin, the corporate affairs manager for the Kroger Dallas Division, said that Kroger has complied with all health and safety regulations when identifying positive cases among store employees.

Nearly a year into the pandemic, Ryans experience that day reflects the challenges that grocery store workers across Texas are facing in their stores every day. For months, workers have risked their health to keep shorthanded grocery stores open, all while dealing with increased hours and customers refusing to wear masks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices urged states to include front-line essential workers in Phase 1B of vaccine allocation. But Texas decided not to include any essential employees like grocery store workers in the states current vaccine priority groups. Without any guarantee of vaccine prioritization, grocery workers now find themselves overwhelmed and continually exposed to the virus with no end in sight.

Its kind of a big mess, Ryan said. Thats what it feels like. It feels like a big mess, and it feels like theres no right answer.

Martin said the grocery store company, like several American businesses that had to swiftly alter how they operate in a pandemic, has spent more than $1 billion to provide safeguards against the virus and give employees bonuses, paid leave and wage premiums, among other things.

"Our dedicated associates have gone above and beyond to serve our customers and communities during one of the most challenging times in our nations history, and were committed to providing the resources and support to keep them and their families safe as they continue their remarkable effort," she said.

Back in April, when people made a rush for essential supplies like toilet paper and soap, Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted a message of support for grocery store workers, saying that everyone across our state appreciates your hard work to help Texans respond to the #coronavirus. Since then, workers say they have felt forgotten and abandoned by the state government.

In December, the Texas Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel, in charge of designating each population currently eligible to receive vaccinations, decided against including front-line essential workers in Phase 1B. The Department of State Health Services said that the panel wanted to reserve vaccine doses for those at the highest risk of death, which includes people over 65 and anyone over 16 with a chronic medical condition that puts them at higher risk.

At least 8 million Texans currently qualify for Phase 1A or 1B of vaccine allocation, but the state has received fewer than 4 million doses thus far. The panel is currently considering potential priority groups for Phase 1C of vaccine rollout, and its decision will depend on epidemiological data about virus transmission, according to DSHS Director of Media Relations Chris Van Deusen.

However, at least 11 states and the District of Columbia followed CDC recommendations by deciding to put front-line essential workers, including grocery store employees, in the their latest rounds of vaccine allocation, according to The Washington Post. New York allowed grocery workers to start getting the vaccine last month. Arkansas has also started vaccinating teachers and educators in the first round of essential workers to receive doses, and the state plans to expand distribution to other essential workers later this month.

You feel like you dont matter when your own state goes against every recommendation that there is out there, said Dawn Hand, who works at a Kroger in Houston. Why dont we matter? Whats your answer to that?

While 17.7% of the total Texas population is uninsured, 24% of grocery workers in 11 Texas cities have no health insurance, according to an Associated Press analysis of census data. The pandemic has disproportionately impacted people of color in Texas, and COVID-19 is deadlier for Black and brown people in the state. Black and Hispanic Texans have also faced more obstacles than white people in accessing the vaccine. Hispanic Texans make up 46% of grocery store workers in the 11 analyzed Texas cities and just over 39% of the state population. Black Texans make up more than 17% of grocery store employees in those cities, compared to just under 12% of the state population.

The AP compiled information from the U.S. Census Bureau on cities with the largest populations of front-line workers to estimate the proportion of such employees in different demographic groups in 100 cities across the country. The Tribune analyzed the data on the 11 Texas cities in that list: Amarillo, Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Irving, Lubbock and San Antonio.

In early January, state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, spearheaded a letter from 10 state representatives to Abbott and Dr. John Hellerstedt, the DSHS commissioner, asking for essential workers like teachers and grocery store employees to be given vaccine priority. Goodwin argued that such workers should receive the vaccine as soon as possible because they are risking their lives every day to keep Texans healthy and safe.

Goodwin told The Texas Tribune that she wants grocery workers prioritized in the next phase of distribution, although she understands that the panels decisions remain extremely difficult.

I wasnt aware that other states had added grocery store workers to Phase 1B, and I think maybe its something to point out to the EVAP committee and see if they would reconsider adding grocery store workers to Phase 1B, Goodwin said.

In a rare move, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also sent a letter to Imelda Garcia, chair of the EVAP, requesting changes to the vaccine rollout plan to make distribution more efficient and effective. Patrick specifically asked for teachers to be prioritized, but he did not mention grocery store workers.

Patricks office did not respond to a request for comment, and Garcia declined an interview request from the Tribune.

Even well over a month after vaccines received federal approval, Texas continues to see dangerously high levels of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Just last week, three other workers at her Kroger location tested positive for the coronavirus, Hand said. According to one study from the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, grocery workers who interact with customers are five times more likely to contract the virus than employees in other positions

You gotta scramble to fill their schedule, and a lot of people  theyre tired, they dont wanna do it, Hand said. It sucks. It really sucks. What do you do? We just have to get up every morning and push on, and thats all we can do to ensure that the community that we care about gets fed.

To make matters worse, grocery workers also frequently find themselves in the middle of fights over mask mandates and safety protocols in their stores. Despite a requirement for all customers and employees to wear masks at Kroger, both Hand and Ryan said they see people come into the store without masks every day.

In fact, multiple members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1000 have been fired for excessive confrontations with customers who refused to wear a mask in their stores, union president Ricky Burris said in his January 2021 membership update.

Martin, the Kroger corporate affairs manager, said the store provided tips for de-escalation to help employees interact with customers frustrated about the mask mandate. Still, workers have felt powerless to say anything to those customers, according to Ryan and Hand.

The people that I work with, we just do our jobs, Ryan said. We have people come into the store daily who do not have face masks on, and nobody says anything to them. We just dont. The managers dont say anything to them, the associates dont say anything to them because we know the risks of asking someone to put a face mask on or to leave the store, so we just dont.

Hand and Ryan said workers dont always have enough time to properly sanitize different parts of the store, and managers have failed to communicate clearly the protocol that employees have to follow when one tests positive. Because most people remain desperate for work during a pandemic-related recession, workers often avoid reporting symptoms or following procedures because they need the money.

A lot of employees are not gonna step forward and say I need to quarantine. I need to get tested, Ryan said. Theres no benefit to getting tested. Youre gonna lose hours, youre gonna lose work time, youre potentially not gonna get paid for choosing to take the safe route.

Facing such difficult situations and virus exposure every single day, grocery store workers desperately need additional support to maintain their mental health and wellbeing, Ryan added. Last year, Kroger offered six free counseling sessions to all employees, but its unclear if the company will provide the same opportunity again in 2021.

The crazy thing is Ive never in my life called my store and said I need a mental health day, but I literally did it that last week when that lady fell out at my register, Ryan said.

With so much tension at work and little support from the state or from their employers, many grocery workers still see the vaccine as their last hope for better months ahead. Although they recognize the need for high risk and elderly individuals to receive vaccine priority as well, they also point out that they will continue to expose their families at home until they receive protection by being vaccinated.

Our seniors need it. And my God, if my son had cancer, God forbid, Id want him to get the vaccine, and Id want him to get it before me, Hand said. So I try to look at it as if it was my family. I would really, really prefer them to get it before me, but then Im the one thats exposing them, so on that same side of the coin, I need it too.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
said Thursday that it has signed a deal with to transform the aerospace firms technology supply chain and operating model.

The deal will help HCL expand its global footprint, especially in France, Germany and Spain. As part of the deal, the IT major will deliver multiple services from its centres in France.



HCL will establish a modernised digital workplace to enhance the user experience and service quality for the majority of employees globally.



HCL, in this partnership with Airbus, will rapidly simplify the existing IT processes and optimisation of delivery costs, the firm said.

The deal also involves a Proactive Delivery model with automation and advanced analytics. As part of the deal, it will also provide augmented reality / virtual reality based remote support for quick and effective resolution of onsite issues as well as cloud-based virtual workspace platform for inherent scalability and flexibility.



ALSO READ: Pick-up in leisure travel helps hotels post sequential revenue growth

was selected as Airbus' preferred partner as it was able to offer the broadest combination of standard functionality and innovation capabilities to generate greater efficiency and improved time to market, the IT company said in a statement.



"We're delighted to be working with as a key strategic partner in its digital workplace transformation journey. The combination of HCL's scale transformational expertise and management capabilities of IT and OT landscape will enable Airbus to remain at the forefront of innovation and deliver leading-edge user experiences, said Sandeep Saxena, the executive vice president (UK&I, France & Benelux) of


The HSEs Chief, Paul Reid has warned that teams are stretched to the limit as they try to support public and private nursing homes and long-term care facilities amid significant numbers of Covid-19 outbreaks.

At the HSEs weekly briefing on Thursday, HSE Chief Operations Officer Anne O'Connor detailed how it is currently dealing with 560 open outbreaks across hospital and long-term residential care facility settings, of which 428 outbreaks are in residential care facilities.

Anne OConnor, Chief Operations Officer, HSE. Photograph: Leon Farrel / Photocall Ireland

She said the south and east of the country were the worst affected.

Outbreaks continue to be a challenge for us, said Ms OConnor.

The South and the East continue to be the areas with the highest rate of outbreaks and certainly the capacity that is required still, particularly in our community services, to support nursing homes and other residential care facilities experiencing outbreaks is quite significant, she said.

Ms OConnor said that as of this week, the HSE is supporting 1,466 long-term residential care facilities nationally with specific supports to 279 of those.

Across all of our long term residential care facilities, we are now experiencing outbreaks in 21 per cent of all of them. In relation to nursing homes and older persons specifically, theres 193 centres with outbreaks- thats now 34 per cent of all of the nursing homes, she said.

In the region of 2,000 staff are unavailable for work across nursing homes.

More than 60 outbreaks in Cork and Kerry

Locally, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare said it is supporting the residents of a significant number of private nursing homes where there are Covid-19 outbreaks, as well as supporting our own residential facilities where there are outbreaks.

In a statement, it said there are currently more than 60 outbreaks in residential settings such as private nursing homes, community hospitals, disability centres and mental health services across Cork and Kerry, although it said the majority of these outbreaks are in residential centres for older people.

Our absolute priority in all cases is to make sure the residents of nursing homes (whether the facility is a public or private) continue to receive the care they need, despite the challenge presented by Covid-19 related staff leave.

The level of staff ill with Covid-19 across the health service means that it is difficult for some locations to maintain their staffing at the levels needed, and this is a constant challenge. Staff are going to heroic lengths to make sure that residents continue to receive the care they need, the statement said.

Staff redeployed

Cork Kerry Community Healthcare said that where possible, it has redeployed staff, particularly nurses and healthcare assistants.

We are incredibly grateful to these staff for agreeing to be redeployed at short notice to settings in crisis due to Covid-19 outbreaks. We would like to thank the many nurses and healthcare staff who have so far come forward to work additional hours and shifts, or who have been redeployed, and who are making such a difference at this time.

We have also worked with private nursing homes in order to put them in touch with other sources of staff  for example, nurses working in other settings such as GP practices have offered to work some shifts in nursing homes in crisis.

We have requested the assistance of the Defence Forces in providing support around cleaning and waste disposal at a number of nursing homes in crisis, allowing our nurses and healthcare assistants to focus on the care of residents and patients, it added.
The pre-dawn coup in Myanmar on Monday recalls the worldwide outrage that Singapores patriarch Lee Kuan Yew caused in 1996 by questioning Daw Aung San Suu Kyis ability to govern if ever she came to power. He said he had told the Americans, who were pressing for democracy to be restored, that they should be around to pick up the broken pieces if the experiment collapsed.

It is tragically ironic 25 years later that the only way Ms Suu Kyi can prove her mettle may be another prolonged spell of imprisonment by the ruthless military junta. The sufferings of the 1.3 million persecuted Rohingyas will be much greater. But the worst victims of Mondays coup are more than 55 million Myanmarese whose long delayed and hard-won democratic rights have again been brutally suppressed.

The 75-year-old Ms Suu Kyi has been accused of doing nothing to stop the rape, murder and possible genocide of Rohingyas. She was suspected of sharing the deep-seated prejudice of her Buddhist Mongolian compatriots against the darker skinned and largely Muslim, Bengali-speaking Rohingyas of Myanmars Rakhine province. Even under British rule, the old Burma was periodically ravaged by massacres of the immigrant Indian, mainly Tamil, community. While those immigrants were evicted at independence, the Rohingyas remained and today bear the brunt of Myanmar's racism.

Ms Suu Kyi has reason to be grateful to the Rohingyas who supported her 1988 democracy movement. The Rohingya-led National Democratic Party for Human Rights returned four members to Parliament in the 1990 election when her victorious National League for Democracy should have formed the government. But the military suppressed all opposition, placed Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest, banned the NDPR, and jailed and tortured its leaders. Myanmar does not now have a single Rohingya MP. The Rohingyas have no voting rights.

Politically, Ms Suu Kyi was blamed for acquiescing in the 2008 constitution which entitled the Tatmadaw  the military  to choose the vice-president and the home, defence and border affairs ministers, as well as control 25 per cent of parliamentary seats. But she probably knew the limits of her authority. Mondays coup, the militarys declaration of another year-long state of emergency, and the appointment of the commander-in-chief, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, as the national leader, confirmed that the military insists on obedience.

As the daughter of liberation hero, Gen. Aung San, who was assassinated on the eve of independence in 1948, she may be an iconic figure, and quite popular with Myanmars majority. But the military wanted her only to bestow legitimacy on their iron grip by letting the government turn a pretty face to the world.

Like all those who stage coups, the Tatmadaw says it will hold a free and fair general election after the emergency ends. When that will be and how free the exercise can be is anybodys guess. But if the future is uncertain, there are no prizes for identifying the cause of the present crisis. The timing of this second suppression of civilian government  there were two other coups in 1962 and 1988  is easily explained.

Myanmars Parliament was scheduled to meet on Monday to approve of the new government formed as a result of the general election held in November 2020. The Army was determined to prevent this because more than 70 per cent of voters defied Covid-19 and stringent pandemic restrictions to ensure a landslide victory for Ms Suu Kyis NLD party. They inflicted a resounding defeat on the military-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, which has been clamouring ever since for just such action. The military has now obliged the USDP by accusing the countrys election commission of failing to address huge irregularities in the November election and is trying to justify its action by citing the need to preserve the stability of the state.

But it is difficult to understand the Tatmadaws long-term plans. If the emergency is for only a year, does it intend to restore truly civilian rule in February 2022? Since President Win Myint, the only person authorised under the constitution to declare a state of emergency, has also been detained, Monday mornings coup becomes an illegal operation.

Moreover, Ms Suu Kyis prompt and instinctive response was to urge her supporters to not accept this event and to protest against the coup. In a letter written in preparation for her impending detention, she said the militarys actions had put the country back under dictatorship.

The armed forces ruled Myanmar until 2011 when democratic reforms spearheaded by Ms Suu Kyi ended military rule. She spent nearly 15 years in detention between 1989 and 2010 and was internationally hailed as a beacon of democracy and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She is now a global heroine, and Monday mornings widely condemned coup was seen as much as an outrage against her as a national betrayal.

Nevertheless, Lee Kuan Yew had feared that only the military could save Myanmar from civil war. Not for him P.V. Narasimha Raos faith, expressed in Singapore to thunderous applause, that the answer to the problems of democracy was more, not less, democracy. He even saw Raos defeat in 1996 as retribution for such colossal naivete. Despite a low opinion of Myanmars generals, Lee saw the military as the only institution that could avoid civil war.

Perversely, that may be true even now. The military remains the main protagonist in any Myanmarese power struggle, the only one that can crush all other contenders.

RIGA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) Latvia welcomes the prolongation of the New START treaty by the United States and Russia, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said.

"#Latvia welcomes the agreement between US and Russia to extend the #NewSTART treaty for 5 years," Rinkevics said on Twitter.

"The treaty contributes to the international stability and is important for development of arms control regime," he said.

On February 3, Moscow and Washington exchanged official notes on the extension of New START for another five years with no revisions. The treaty is now set to expire on February 5, 2026.
The Virginia Senate voted to pass a bill on Wednesday that would abolish the death penalty.

The vote stood at 21-17 along party lines, with 21 Democrats in favor and 17 Republicans against the measure.

Virginia Senate Against Death Penalty

One individual abstained from the vote, namely Republican state Sen. Bill Stanley.

The bill, SB 1165, is sponsored by state Sen. Scott Surovell. He is a Democrat and currently awaits approbation by Gov. Ralph Northam, who is also a fellow Democrat.

If the measure is passed into law, it will mark a significant policy change for a state that throughout its centuries-long history, has led the United States in the number of executions it has conducted.

Advocates currently expect the House version of the bill to conveniently clear the Democratic-controlled chamber. According to Northam, he supports the legislation.

Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment was looking to recast the bill in a way that would not eliminate the death penalty entirely but would diminish its scope. However, Norment's proposals were defeated.

The move is paving the way for Virginia to be the 23rd state in the US to end capital punishment. A House version is anticipated to conveniently pass when it goes to a full floor vote.

According to Northam, "The practice is fundamentally inequitable. It is inhumane. It is ineffective. And we know that in some cases, people on death row have been found innocent. It's time for Virginia to join 22 other states and abolish the death penalty. I applaud every Senator who cast a courageous vote today, and I look forward to signing this bill into law," reported Huffpost.

Also Read: First Female Execution Since 1953: Lisa Montgomery Dies at 1:31 AM

The move could potentially make the commonwealth one of the first states in the South to eradicate capital punishment.

Virginia Democratic Sen. Scott A. Surovell, who initially sponsored the bill, used racial disparities and wrongful convictions in the application of the death penalty as reasons it should be eliminated.

According to Surovell (D-Fairfax), who sponsored the abolition bill, an estimated 1 in 10 people sentenced to death across the United States had been wrongly convicted.

He stated, "I cannot think of anything that's more awful, unspeakable and wrong for a government to do than to use its power to execute somebody who didn't commit the crime they're accused of," reported The Washington Post.

A similar bill cleared a House committee previously in the day and could come up for a floor vote in the lower chamber by Friday.

Also, according to Surovell, "If we look back 50 years from now, the electric chair, the lethal injection table - they're going to be sitting in a museum. This thing is going to be a museum piece and people are going to look back and wonder how it ever was we used these things," reported Virginia Mercury.

Democrats raised alarm regarding the racial disparities in the application of the death penalty. They pointed to research exhibiting that it does not deter crime.

Republicans pushed for a "no" vote on the bill. They stated it would not provide victims' families a chance at justice and conveyed concerns that people convicted of virulent murders would be eligible for parole.

Related Article: Judge Postpones Execution of Only Woman on Federal Death Row

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has conceded before the scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of (ECP) that it had received funds from slain Al Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden, said the country's Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Farrukh Habib.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday after hearings of foreign funding cases against the PML-N and Peoples Party (PPP) by the scrutiny committee, Habib said that former Prime Minister laid the foundation of foreign funding in Pakistan by receiving funds from Osama bin Laden to topple former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's government, Dawn reported.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader said that the PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party had failed to provide the details of their donors.

He also criticised the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and said its chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had received funds from Libya and Iraq.

A few days back, Pakistan former envoy to the US, Abida Hussain revealed that Osama bin Laden had supported and extended financial assistance to

"Yes, he (Osama bin Laden) supported Mian at one time. However, that is a complicated story. He (Osama) used to extend financial assistance [to Nawaz Sharif]," Express Tribune quoted her as saying.

Abida, also an ex-cabinet member of Nawaz Sharif's government, recalled that at one-time bin Laden was popular and liked by everyone including the Americans but at a later stage, he was treated as a 'stranger'.

Nawaz Sharif, who has been the prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, has been accused, time and again, of taking money from slain terrorist Osama bin Laden in order to promote and fund jihad in Kashmir. He served as prime minister from 1990-93, 1997-98, and 2013-17.

Sharif, the 70-year-old supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) who was ousted from power in 2017 by the Supreme Court on corruption charges, is in London for medical treatment.

Osama was killed in a midnight raid by the US Navy SEALs in Pakistan's garrison town of Abbottabad in 2011.

Pakistan had officially denied having any knowledge of the terror chief until he was shot dead in a raid by US forces. Pakistan has been accused of using its soil to perpetrate terror in neighbouring countries.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)



Hundreds of people in Muong Xen town of the mountainous district of Ky Son in the central province of Nghe An have flocked to the house of a local man to admire a peach tree with the unique position called "Buddha's hand".

This peach tree is priced over a hundred of million VND (over $5,000), a very high price for a peach tree.

Hien, a local woman, who joined others to visit the tree last night, told VietNamNet that the shape of the tree and the color of its peach blossoms are special.

A VietNamNet reporter contacted the tree owner, a man named Tran Van Ca, who said that he had to pay up to VND10 million (nearly $500) for transporting the tree from the Vietnam-Laos border to his home in Muong Xen town. Ca refused to disclose the price of the tree.

The peach tree is over 3m high, the canopy is 4m wide, and many young flowers and leaves are sprouting.

The peach tree looks like a Buddha's hand. The front and back are like a human hand. One offered me VND80 million (nearly $4,000) to take it to Hanoi but I have not agreed to sell. I would like to sell it for at least VND100 million, Ca said.

Many people visit Cas house to admire the tree.

Hundreds of people in Muong Xen town have flocked to Mr. Ca's house to admire a peach tree with the unique position called "Buddha's hand"

Ca, the owner of the peach tree, said the tree is special because it looks like a hand of Buddha.

The flowers

On the same day, a man named Quan in Vinh City, Nghe An province sold a peach tree of about 5 meters high for VND80 million. This peach tree also attracted a lot of visitors who came to take pictures with it.

Peach blossoms.

Mr. Quan and his peach tree.

This is one of the largest peach trees in Vinh City at present.

Quoc Huy
jeff either is an idiot or can't read. I've definitely been on my friends about throwing their shit out and the only person I know still using it is using up what he has to get rid of it - a drag queen friend of mine - because it was a gift so....fine



I was SO excited to see Bob and Monet finally post sibling watchery but the untucked discussion is on their patreon!  I'll have to move some coins for them when I get paid next week.

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Same on sibling rivalry! Was living for Bob trying his best to hold back and save it for the patreon cuz u know she just wanted to go off on it sooo bad!

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ESPECIALLY since I caught Bob's story the night the fight happened and she was living, ack! I need to check reddit to see if anyone commented what they said.....

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I too have wait until I get some money so I can get their Patreon content

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Ugh! I'm behind on Sibling Rivalry

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Ughhhh me tooo!! I was so ready to hear them talk about it lol

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oh shut up Patrick Starr.

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So how do we feel about Elliott ~allegedly calling Kandy and Symone ghetto and calling Symone's durag look ratchet? 

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saying something about 'black girl magic in a non threatening way' or some shit right?



It's why I can't feel but so bad about Kandy coming for her unnecessarily during the untucked because clearly Kandy sensed some mess underneath

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She made the 'black girl magic but not aggressive' comment, as well as a comment about her not understanding why people can't spell her name right when they have no problems with black drag names, after the season was filmed.



Kandy went on instagram live and said Elliott called her and Symone ghetto and Symone's durag look ratchet while filming the season. She also said Elliott would put on a blaccent when talking to a black producer. Symone was supporting Kandy in the comment section and based on Elliott's behaviour after the show I fully believe what Kandy was saying.

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Mizz two ts is a white single suburban mom dressing up at the mall sipping on pinot grigio from a starbucks mug...cant say we didnt see it coming since it is all in character



Also i love missy pyle but everytime i see her in or out of drag i see missy pyle :/

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I feel vindicated bc I hated her mediocre soccer mom looking ass from the minute she stepped into the workroom.

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I clocked Elliott with Two Transgressions sus behavior from the get-go, so this isnt surprising

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like pikapika said in another post, shes racistt with two t's.

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I'm just gonna leave this here for anyone who hasn't seen the clip from Kandy's live:









Now knowing that, the context in which Kandy said "read the room/be more self-aware" makes SO much more sense now. She wasn't just coming at Elliott for no reason.



Ironically, the fact that the show framed it as Kandy being the bully/villain going after poor lil Elliot out of no where is a microagression in and of itself.

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suddenly it makes sense why elliott said she doesnt feel at home in the texas scene (a scene with a lot of black queens) 

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That problematic fan fave trixie making coin. Gotta appreciate the hustle.



...but girl a bar in this economy? In this pandemic?

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It's not a new bar, it was at risk of shutting down. One of the oldest gay bar in her hometown. She basically helped saved it from going under.

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is trixie still problematique? I don't follow her closely but from what I've seen it seems that she's grown a lot since her drag race days.

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I feel like she gets canceled a lot...a lot more than bianca it seems...probably because of how wide a net her fanbase is (including minors probably)



Shes very unapologotic for some her more minor offenses, ( like i think she still associates with problematic make up youtubers) which is fine, but i can see that as getting her into trouble in the near future. She can say some stupid stuff but id like to think her heart is in the right place

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She's said plenty of dumb shit since drag race. Anyone alarmed by Elliott's microaggressions needs to revisit All Stars. She also posted some tone deaf stuff/was mysteriously silent when BLM protests started last summer. I think she's had incredible growth via PR training and will make me chuckle from time to time but I don't trust her.

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It's more of a personal investment than a business one. That bar is in an expensive area (for Milwaukee) and was borderline permanently closing throughout the entire pandemic.



(The other gay bars are in a more isolated part of town, so their rent's a lot cheaper.)

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[ spoiler ] I purposely left out Silky "traveling, taking gigs that nobody is practicing social distancing or wearing masks during a global pandemic in large crowds" Nutmeg Ganache name out of the Im Busy challenge section.

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Wait was she in pv too

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https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/119806788.html Yeah, with Vangie 

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Willam was saying on Racechaser there's actually a lot of queens going to PV but just never got caught like Shangela, Silky and Vangie.

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can I talk about DRUK in here or is there usually a separate post?

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feel free to discuss here babe!

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Can we talk about the GAG of today's lipsync and Michelle pulling her best little miss sunshine's mom impersonation? Bc I was shook lol

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Ginny owns a piece of my heart after that.

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um it actually pissed me off



if theyre just gonna WALK OFF then replace them with Joe Black



Edited at 2021-02-04 11:15 pm (UTC)

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"Ginny is gone, and Sister? She is too busy whipping the thinnest ponytail of all time around on that stage."



lmfaoooo

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how the fuck have sister sister and ellie diamond not been eliminated yet?



sister sister in particular might be one of the least exciting queens to ever be on drag race and i am tired of watching her dry shave while looking like fucking frankenstein

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I think when you said Ellie Diamond you meant Ginny Lemon

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I can't tell the difference between Ellie and Sister Sister

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Ellie is kind of cute out of drag and at least has great makeup

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I lost it when she called out Ru for not saying her name with a Scottish accent 

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I felt bad for Sister Sister because she never got any screen time but now I see why. She brings absolutely nothing to the show

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When is Ellie getting called out on wearing a variation of chaps every look? I'm tired.

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Aw Ellie is one of my favs this season.



I'm beyond bored of Sister Sister though.

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Shut up jeffr**

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I knew nothing about the s13 cast before, but after a friend pointed out that Symone is best friends with Gigi, Ive been disappointed. Shes still my front runner, but pleeeeease find a better crew, sis.

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Yeah, but we don't know what their relationship is like and Symone seems like a very well rounded person that wouldn't put up with caucasity but

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Im hoping Symone doesnt! I just hate seeing mediocre whites attached to talented black folks lmao

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love love love symone, but after seeing that she can't sew at all after the last episode, it's apparent that she and gigi are kind of cut from the same drag cloth. gorgeous skinny LA models with tastefully tailored outfits that other people make for them. symone has more charisma and star power but nonetheless.

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[ Spoiler (click to open) ] It's a crime that so many really good queens have gone when sister sister and Ellie diamond exist tbh.



Edited at 2021-02-04 09:16 pm (UTC)

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Sadly a lot of fans remain toxic... Kandy was using a hand mirror and they try to cancel her by associate of a product.

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im still sad about asttina :(

im gonna watch tonight and probs talk about it in the drag race US post, i always forget drag race UK is before.

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I want Symone to win she is flawless. I dont like kandy but they are very entertaining. Utica has grown on me especially her looks last week. Awhora from uk drag race is so strange looking. Like why would you pay for your face to look like that? Its such a trashy uk look where I can just look at someone and know they are british.

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All British reality tv people end up looking exactly the same and it's such a fascinating look

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Yes the look is very british..the only non Brit I can think of with similar look is James Charles. Some of the girls I went to school have this look and I will never understand why they think it looks good.

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i think my favourite part about the kandy j* interaction is eureka replying "Werrrrq bitch", deleting it, then replying to the same tweet w "Tea! Actually" like... what goes on LMAO

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omg I seen that... I was gonna include but I couldn't find her tweet.

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(@FahadShabbir)

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th February, 2021) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took note of the "milestone" decision taken by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to find the infamous commander of an African rebel group Dominic Ongwen guilty of crimes against humanity.

Earlier on Thursday, the ICC ruled that Ongwen, Uganda's commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) guerrilla group, guilty of committing over 60 war crimes and crimes against humanity that included murder, intentional attacks against civilians, rape, enslavement and forced marriage, among many others, that took place in Northern Uganda in 2002-2005.

"The Secretary-General takes note of the judgment issued today by the International ICC against Dominic Ongwen, a commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)," Dujarric said. "The judgment is a significant milestone in accountability and a step forward in efforts to bring justice to the victims of LRA crimes, and reaffirms that impunity will not be tolerated.

"

Guterres stressed that the court's decision marks the first time a criminal case involving forced marriage has been heard at the ICC.

"It highlights the critical need to eradicate sexual and gender-based violence," Guterres said.

Ongwen, who was abducted by the LRA group to be a child militant and then rose to the high-ranking position, was arrested and placed in ICC detention in early 2015, ten years after the court issued an arrest warrant for his capture. The trial on his case lasted from December 2016 to March 2020.

The LRA is a rebel group founded in 1987 in Northern Uganda against the government of incumbent President Yoweri Museveni. The organization later expanded its actives to the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. The group, previously included on the US' list of terrorist organizations, is notorious for its brutal deeds, including murder, child-sex slavery, torture, child abduction and others.

Capitol Hill, Monrovia  Montserrado County District #8 Rep. Moses Acarous Gray has called on Police Inspector General Patrick Sudue to caution his men against what he termed as their constant denigration of members of the House of Representatives.

Rep. Gray, speaking during the appearance of Col. Sudue and Transport Minister Samuel Wlue on Tuesday said, on several occasions, some police officers intentionally obstruct members of the Legislature from discharging their legislative functions either by impounding their vehicles or attacking them physically under the pretense that they (police) are performing their duties.

Rep. Gray, who chairs the House Committee on Executive, named several incidents, one involving Rep. Vincent Willie (District #4, Grand Bassa County) and a police officer who allegedly attempted to discharge a firearm at the lawmaker. He said several of his colleagues including House Speaker Bhofal Chambers (District #2, Maryland County), Reps. Yekeh Kolubah (District #10, Montserrado County), Francis Saidy Dopoh (District #3, River Gee County), Richard Koon (District #11, Montserrado County) and Hanson Kiazolu (District 17, Montserrado County) had all been victims of police intimidation on separate occasions.

Citing several constitutional provisions, Rep. Gray noted that although members of the Legislature are not above the law, the Police should be cautious in dealing with them in order to not violate their rights and privileges accorded by the constitution of Liberia just as the President, Vice President and members of the Judiciary.

"The House of rep will not tolerate any more disrespect from a police officer. I am not saying that when a lawmaker violates the law, the police cannot act, the police is under obligation to act. But they should not be against the rights and privileges of the lawmakers," he warned.

His assertions were in response to comments made by Inspector General Sudue that the amended traffic law now gives members of the Legislature and other VIPs the right to ply opposite lane during times of emergency, but advised that they should use a single license plate assigned to them and an official vehicle, not multiple plates and cars as currently used. He also called on the lawmakers to install emergency lights and sirens on their vehicles to be easily identifiable.
NEW YORK, Feb. 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of the securities of Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) between March 13, 2020 and December 15, 2020, 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 April 5, 2021.



SO WHAT: If you purchased Tyson 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 Tyson class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2022.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than April 5, 2021. 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 or resources. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 3 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, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Tyson knew, or should have known, that the highly contagious coronavirus was spreading throughout the globe; (2) Tyson did not in fact have sufficient safety protocols to protect its employees in its facilities; (3) as a result, Tyson employees contracted and spread the coronavirus within the facilities; (4) as a result of the foregoing, Tyson would face negative impact to its production, including complete shutdowns of certain facilities; (5) due to the failure to protect its employees, Tyson would suffer financial harm related to its lowered production; and (6) as a result, defendants public statements were materially false and/or misleading at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Tyson class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2022.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@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

lrosen@rosenlegal.com

pkim@rosenlegal.com

cases@rosenlegal.com

www.rosenlegal.com
On Tuesday, Amazon released an 8,000-word press release chock-full of revelations about the company, including Jeff Bezos official resignation as chief executive office of the etail megalodon, his replacement by Amazon insider Andy Jassy, and record-breakingly lucrative year-end numbers. In 2020 Amazons annual revenue shot up 38% to a whopping $386 billion, which comes out to a yearly increase of over $100 billion. But 38% seems like a small number compared to the companys net profit growth, which increased a stunning 84% from 2019 to 2020. Amazon is on track for world domination. And while the company faces serious antitrust charges from the European Union as well as antitrust probes from this side of the Atlantic, the $1.7 trillion company is charging full steam ahead. In fact, projections for the first quarter of 2021 are predicting a further 30 to 40% boost for the companys revenue. And as Amazon continues to consolidate and dominate markets around the world and post bigger and bigger profit margins, they are undoubtedly eating up more and more resources. But while Amazon is quick to publish all kinds of information about its economic growth, the company is extremely cagey about its ecological footprint.

In the Big Tech world, where ESG (environmental, social, and governance) tends to be a mainstream investment focus instead of a fringe trend, its standard operating procedure for a company to publish annual reports providing detailed information about their carbon emissions, electricity use, and total energy consumption. Alphabet does it. Apple does it. Facebook does it. Microsoft does it. Amazon, not so much. Despite Jeff Bezos somewhat underwhelming attempts to paint himself as an environmental justice warrior (in his resignation announcement, the ex-CEO--and richest man on Earth--cited a desire to spend more time on side projects including the Bezos Earth Fund), Amazons near-total silence on their own energy use paints a much clearer picture of the companys priorities.

Related: Oil Prices Continue To Rise As Bullish News Mounts



The stark lack of information about the companys energy consumption is particularly marked because Amazon is not quiet about other aspects of their environmental impact (particularly when it stands to make for good PR). the company has been pressured into releasing some less-than-stellar numbers about their ecological footprint in the past, however, that hint at the enormity of the companys energy consumption.

For years, Amazon has been coy about its energy use and emissions, Forbes reported this week. In 2019, amid rising pressure from its employees, the company finally revealed its carbon-dioxide emissions, which totaled about 44.4 million tons in 2018. Last June, the company reported that its emissions jumped by 15% over the prior year to about 51.1 million tons. As Forbes points out, this puts Amazon in the company of oil giants and other infamously emissions-heavy ventures.

Not that this should come as any huge surprise. Data centers are infamously ravenous for energy and Amazons fleet of delivery trucks and over 80 cargo jets are putting in some major mileage to make sure you get your electric tea kettle, phone case, and cat toys in record time.

When Forbes reached out to Amazon about its deliberately obfuscated energy use, company spokesperson Luis Davila credited Amazonian exceptionalism, suggesting that Amazon is just too complex and special to be able to provide that kind of information before deflecting with promises of carbon neutrality by 2040.

Yes, Amazon is just one company and energy use is just one metric. But theyre also the biggest company in the world, and in the era of fast-approaching catastrophic climate change, transparency and accountability have more importance and gravity than ever. While world leaders are finally beginning to fall in line with a global clean energy transition, the private sector is all over the map. Its critically important to take a closer look at world-leading and -shaping companies like Amazon and ask questions about greenwashing versus genuinely responsible business practices. And that starts with making issues like energy usage public knowledge.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

New construction is continuing in downtown Huntsville as Prince Holdings and Bank Independent on Thursday broke ground on a five-story office building.

The construction site is at 225 Holmes Avenue across from the Times Building and across the Greene Street intersection from the new city-owned parking garage. The building will provide more than 77,000 square feet of Class A office space  an asset in short supply in the downtown area.

There will also be space for ground floor retail in whats become a popular concept in recent years. That is expected to include at least one restaurant, according to Tim Singleton, Bank Independent area president for Madison County.

Bank Independents Madison County headquarters will anchor the building with a sales office on the ground floor and commercial offices on the fifth floor. Additional retail and office space is available for lease and can be customized to meet specific needs, the bank said in announcing the project.

The building is expected to be completed in 15 to 18 months, Singleton said.

Bank Independent is invested in the future of downtown Huntsville and Madison County, Macke Mauldin, President and CEO of BancIndependent, Inc., said in the announcement. We have been part of the downtown Huntsville community since 2014, and we are excited to demonstrate our commitment to this market with the development of 225 Holmes Avenue.

Prince Holdings is a local, family owned and operated asset management firm with a strong emphasis on community reinvestment projects.

Its been great to watch downtown Huntsville develop into a lively and distinct community, Brendan Prince, manager of Prince Holdings, said in the announcement. It has balanced authenticity with economic growth. Prince Holdings is excited to contribute to such a dynamic area.

Nola VanPeursem Architects are serving as the architectural firm for 225 Holmes Avenue. Robins & Morton is the lead contractor, and Colliers International in Alabama is the leasing agent.

Updated today, Feb. 4, 2021, at 11:32 a.m. with additional details.
A new three-drug, all-oral, six-month treatment is providing hope to patients in Tajikistan with highly drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, which until now had limited treatment options and poor prognosis.

Tajikistan is the first country in Central Asia and second in the world after Ukraine to provide access to the novel 'BPaL' regimen to patients suffering from the extensively drug-resistant (XDR-TB) form of tuberculosis under operational research conditions from December 2020. The regimen consists of three drugs bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid.

XDR-TB is caused by bacteria resistant to some of the most effective anti-TB drugs and these strains develop from mismanaged treatment of patients with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).

"The BPaL regimen offers the shortest possible treatment course for XDR-TB patients, excludes injectable drugs, is easy to use and more affordable," says Veriko Mirtskhulava, senior epidemiologist at KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, an international NGO devoted to eliminating TB.

"Conventional treatment regimen for patients with XDR-TB consists of 78 antibiotics for a minimum of 18 months, including any of the injectable drugs, which not every patient can tolerate."

The BPaL regimen, developed by the non-profit organization TB Alliance, is being implemented in Tajikistan by the National Tuberculosis Programme with support from the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation.

As the regimen is still a novel anti-TB treatment, it is essential to closely monitor its feasibility, acceptability, safety and effectiveness, and ensure systematic and standardized data collection. Tajikistan has the human resource capacity and infrastructure for it. After analyzing the operational research data on the regimen's safety and effectiveness, a decision will be made about scaling up the BPaL treatment under regular health service delivery conditions." Veriko Mirtskhulava, Senior Epidemiologist, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation

While TB is preventable and mostly curable with early detection and proper treatment, conventional drugs do not work in drug-resistant strains of TB. MDR-TB is resistant to the two most powerful first-line TB drugs isoniazid and rifampicin. In addition, XDR-TB has resistance to second-line TB drugs  any fluoroquinolone and any of the three injectable drugs amikacin, capreomycin and kanamycin.

According to the World Health Organization, there was a ten per cent increase in MDR-TB in 2019 compared to the previous year, and the cure rate of XDR-TB worldwide is only 43 per cent. However, the BPaL regimen has shown success in treating 90 per cent of XDR-TB patients in TB Alliance's Nix-TB trial, which was conducted at three sites in South Africa. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year.

"We now have preliminary evidence that with the right drugs and drug regimens, highly resistant forms of TB might be able to be treated with similar number of drugs and similar duration as that needed for the treatment of drug-sensitive TB," says Sandeep Juneja, TB Alliance's senior vice-president of market access.

The BPaL regimen was first approved in August 2019 in the US and it has been recommended by the WHO under operational research conditions. Many more countries are expected to begin operational research soon including South Africa and Nigeria, as well as through efforts like the TB Alliance's LIFT-TB programme, which is supported by South Korea, enrolling patients in Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, The Philippines, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

"Our priority is to rapidly enable the widespread rollout of the BPaL regimen to those in need, no matter where they live. For countries where pretomanid is not yet approved, our global commercialization partner Viatris has established a named patient access programme," Juneja tells SciDev.Net.

All three drugs in the regimen are available to approximately 150 low- and middle-income countries throughthe Stop TB Partnership's Global Drug Facility at a cost of under US$1,000 per six-month treatment course.

"The approval of this regimen [under operational researchconditions] is a major step forward for people affected by XDR-TB. However, there is an urgent need for the scale up of laboratory capacity to test for resistance to these newer drugs. A recent small study from South Africa has already found worrying levels of resistance to bedaquiline in rifampicin- resistant TB," says Khai Lin Huang, infectious diseases physician at theBurnet Institutein Melbourne, Australia.

Khai Lin tells SciDev.Net that resistance to antimicrobials will almost certainly occur with increasing use, but the risk and impact can be managed with appropriate systems in place.

"Currently, the evidence for the BPaL regimen comes from a single trial in a single country,but more experience and data are needed. It is important that countries have a framework and capacity to be able to conduct operational research and adapt quickly," he adds.

Ending the TB epidemic by 2030 is among the health targets of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Globally, 1.4 million people died and an estimated ten million people, including 1.2 million children, fell ill with TB in 2019. Eight countries accounted for two-thirds of the total new cases, with India leading the count, followed by Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa, according to WHO.
In 2004, the artistic director Judith Jamison told the Baltimore Sun that Fisher-Harrell was the quintessential Ailey dancer with impeccable artistry. The story also noted that she had commuted from Baltimore to New York City for over a decade, allowing her to raise her daughter in the former city while pursuing her Ailey career. Her hyphenated first name, Fisher-Harrell told the newspaper, came from there being two Lindas in the Ailey Company.

QUEENS, NYRomantic Depot Queens has announced the grand opening of its Queens Megastore. Romantic Depot Queens is a lingerie store and adult toy store servicing the Queens, Brooklyn, and Long Island markets of the NYC metro area.

Romantic Depot has been servicing the NYC area for more than 20 years, and has continued to serve customers throughout the pandemic, but now it is reopening all of its brick and mortar stores, as well as celebrating the grand opening of this new location with a 40 percent off sales event.

Not only that, but the store also features a "Wheel of Romance," where shoppers can spin to win prizes whether they make a purchase or not.

The store has departments to serve almost any adult need, including lubes and massage oils in a variety of brands and flavors; lingerie, including teddies, sheer body stockings and thigh-highs; BDSM toys for beginners as well as pros; couples' games and gifts like "Truth or Dare" and "Ladies Night"; vibrators, dildos and anal toys; cock rings; an extensive line of condoms and lubesand much more.

The goal of all Romantic Depot employees is to deliver top-notch customer service, answer whatever questions a customer may have, and ensure that every visitor is 100 percent satisfied. Employees have years of experience and are willing to offer suggestions and demonstrations. (The store's customer service is just one reason Romantic Depot was named the Best Medium Retail Chain of 2020 by AVN.)

Romantic Depot Queens is located at 4207 Queens Boulevard at the corner of Greenpoint Ave. and 47th Street, across from Roosevelt Avenue and just 42 feet from the Sunnyside Station 7 Train entrance. The store also offers shy shoppers a discreet VIP entrance off Greenpoint Avenue. (Note: All guests and staff are required to wear masks. Hand sanitizing stations are located throughout the store, though management encourages social distancing as well, which protects both safety and privacy.)

Romantic Depot Queens is open daily from 10 a.m. to midnight, though on Friday and Saturday nights, closing time is at 1 a.m.

Those who aren't in the New York metro area can shop all of Romantic Depot's luxury brands and products at RomanticDepot.com/store for fast, discreet delivery.
Experts call for bilateral effort on IP

From:ChinaDaily | 2021-02-04 12:37

Intellectual property law experts in the US and China are calling for both governments to further collaborate on internet protocol (IP) to address common challenges and improve trade relations.

It's "critical" for the US and China to cooperate in general and on IP issues in particular, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley Law, at a recent virtual conference held by University of California-Berkeley and Tsinghua University.

"I think an underlying theme for this cooperation is the importance of having fair adjudication of disputes in the courts. It's essential wherever the courts are deciding these questions that they do so without bias," said Chemerinsky.

Last year, the Trump administration banned the WeChat app over "national security" concerns. Chemerinsky filed an amicus brief in support of a group of WeChat users who sued the administration for violating the First Amendment. A federal judge has ruled in favor of the WeChat users.

"I think that in the world we live in now, having those kinds of media available and available to all is crucial. And I felt that what President Trump did was inconsistent with American law, and especially the First Amendment," he said.

In the past three or four years, the China-US trade relationship has "deeply drifted in the troubled waters", generating "tremendous uncertainty and anxiety in each society", said Weixing Shen, dean of the School of Law at Tsinghua University.

"Now as the Trump administration has stepped down and the US has a fresh rebooting, both countries are approaching a new crossroad," he said. "As two leading countries in the world, each side's political choice would heavily influence the future of our global community. At this crucial moment, mutual understanding and trust is essential from intellectual properties perspective."

Zhang Yuejiao, a law professor at Tsinghua University and former chair of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body, said she hoped the new US administration and China could "open direct dialogue as soon as possible".

It's important for the two sides to build trust now because "after a very bad trade war, people get very upset", and then the two countries can enhance mutual understanding to achieve win-win cooperation, said Zhang, adding that China and the US, the two biggest economies in the world, play "a very crucial role" for the world's peaceful development.

"I strongly believe that in the field of intellectual property, we have many common grounds, many common thoughts, and many shared ideas and experience. So we should encourage direct dialogue  people to people, judges to judges, and professors to professors," she said.

For instance, the two countries face a common problem for pharmaceutical products amid the COVID-19 pandemic, said Zhang. How to address the tension between patent protection of pharmaceutical products and the public interest needs urgent resolution.

"It requires the wisdom of all mankind to jointly overcome the pandemic and other global issues," she said.

Zhang also told the conference that China has recently amended its patent, copyright and trademark laws to further improve the protection level. Specialized IP courts have been established in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and recently in Hainan.

According to the World Intellectual Property Indicators 2020 report released in December, China's IP office received 1.4 million patent applications in 2019, more than twice the number received by authorities in the US, the second-busiest country.

China's IP office had the highest volume of filing activity with a class count of around 7.8 million, followed by the IP office of the US, with a total of 672,681 filings, the report shows.

"China moved from the third position in 2009 to claim to the top spot in 2011, and has continued to have the ranking in the past nine years," said Zhang.

Raymond Chen, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, said, "Since my visit to Beijing nine or 10 years ago, China's intellectual property office and courts have become even more important and crucial in incentivizing, protecting and rewarding technological innovation both in China as well as around the world," he said.

Chen said the world could realize the goal of "worldwide patent" that would "create tremendous efficiencies" for inventors, if countries and governments are "genuinely working" toward it.

Facing the rapid development of cutting-edge technologies, Zhang said the US and China need to focus on the new issues, such as artificial intelligence, digitalization, big data, internet of things and 5G, to extend the scope of cooperation.

"First, we need to seek common ground principles that can be accepted by all and then introduce those proposals under the context of WTO, or work bilaterally or regionally," she said.

It's also important for the two sides to focus on professional knowledge and IP cooperation without "political bias", she added. "For the trade war, I should say, there are only losers, no winners; and intellectual property is the field where we can achieve an immediate win-win situation," she said.
Is she right there whenever Biden faces the cameras in case he keels over? Or is this some attempt to add presidential gravitas to a problematic choice for the ticket, so lacking in appeal that she dropped out of the presidential field before the Iowa caucuses? Or, are we being prepared for Harris to assume the presidency sooner than anyone expected? Whatever the motives, Joe Bidens handlers seem to have decided that they need to double-team presidential public events when the cameras start rolling. Amie Parnes reports in The Hill:

When President Biden has delivered remarks or held photo ops during the first two weeks of his administration, Vice President Harris has been a consistent presence, always in the room if not right by his side. The White House has painted a deliberate picture of a president and vice president in lockstep together. When Biden has signed executive orders, spoken about the coronavirus pandemic or met with GOP senators on a relief package, Harris has been in the picture.

Parnes quotes anonymous sources who claim that Kamala adds value, that shes a member of the team, that Biden understands well the value of a VP (standing there, doing noting as he speaks or signs), finally, with a named source:

The White House is clearly communicating the president values the VP and she is more of a deputy president than a leader with a discrete portfolio, said Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons.

Then, there are identity politics race-mongering implications that are cited as important:

The 78-year-old president is a white man. (snip) Katherine Jellison, a professor of history at Ohio University and a scholar of womens studies, said it also signals how much President Biden recognizes the key role Black women played in getting him to the White House. (snip) The vice president has also been signaling that she could serve as the administrations voice in speaking directly to minority communities about getting the COVID-19 vaccination.

But I wonder if it really adds luster to Harris to show up, masked, with nothing better to do than just stand there?

Biden signs Executive orders on immigration, Feb. 2, 2021 with Kamala standing silently

(YouTube screengrab, cropped)

Of course, when she went out on her own and gave interviews to a TV stations in West Virginia and Arizona, it became a big mess, so keeping her tethered to Biden in public with her mouth covered up may be simply gaffe-protection.

Clearly, the Biden-Harris (or Harris-Biden) administration (as Joe has called it) is a team like no other in the history of the presidency.
Tehran, Feb 4 : A high-ranking Iraqi delegation headed by Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other senior officials in Tehran to discuss the expansion of bilateral ties.

During the meeting on Wednesday, the Iranian President praised the potential of the economic cooperation between the two countries, and set a goal of $20 billion for bilateral trade, Xinhua news agency.

Rouhani said Tehran opposes any foreign intervention in Iraq's internal affairs.

He said that the assassination of senior commanders Qasem Soleimani (Iran) and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (Iraq) in a US operation was "an example of the most shameless foreign interference in the internal affairs of Iraq".

Rouhani voiced hope that the new US administration will realise its presence in West Asia is "detrimental to security", and will reconsider its policies.

"The Iraqi people and government have always appreciated Iran's support and cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Iraq, especially against the IS group, and we will never forget it," said Hussein.

He stressed that Iraq is pursuing the withdrawal of foreign troops from its territory.

Earlier in the day, Hussein met his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Zarif thanked the Iraqi government for its role in the judicial process of the assassination of Soleimani and al-Muhandi, and hoped that the perpetrators of the crime will be punished through legal proceedings.

"Putting an end to the presence of US forces in the region would be the best response to this terrorist act," the Iranian Foreign Minister stated.

Zarif also expected the bilateral agreements on industrial sites, border commercial areas, traffic of tradesmen and pilgrims, transportation of goods, and banking issues to bear fruit.
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A young woman has discovered Westfield gift vouchers can be used everywhere Eftpos cards are accepted, not just in shopping centres.

Alex Davidson, from New South Wales, shared a now-viral TikTok video about the little-known loophole after she was paid in gift cards for a modelling shoot she did in a shopping mall.

Initially she declined to accept the gift cards because she preferred actual money in her bank account, but the employer explained she can use the voucher anywhere outside of the shopping centre.

And much to her surprise, Alex said she managed to use the gift card at a petrol station.

Scroll down for video

Alex Davidson (pictured), from New South Wales, has discovered Westfield gift vouchers can be used everywhere Eftpos cards are accepted, not just in shopping centres

Many shoppers claimed they were able to use the Westfield gift card anywhere Eftpos cards are accepted

'I just thought I'd let you all know that when people are giving you gift cards for shopping centres as a whole, it's kind of annoying, I don't really enjoy that,' she said.

'But they're literally an Eftpos gift card, it is not just for the shopping centres.'

'How are they going to know? How are they going to know if the gift card is not going to be spent at a store? Like if it can be used at any store in our shopping centre, it can be used at any of those stores anywhere. Does that make sense?'

Alex said she learned about the versatile gift cards following a brief modelling stint at a shopping centre.

'I did a shoot... and she was going to pay me in gift cards. I was like "no way, I'm not doing this shoot, I'm not getting paid, I don't want to spend money in a shopping centre",' she explained.

'And she was like "I shouldn't tell you this but they're actually just Eftpos gift cards. Most shopping centres just label the cards themselves with their logo or shopping centre names but it's usually like an Eftpos gift card.

'So you could it use at petrol stations or wherever you like.'

Much to her surprise, Alex said she managed to use the gift card at a petrol station after she filled her car up with fuel

According to Westfield's website, the gift cards are redeemable wherever Eftpos cards available both inside and outside Westfield shopping centres.

However, the company warned shoppers 'some retailers 'may choose not to accept Westfield gift cards'.

In her TikTok video, Alex said she was paid in gift cards for a modelling shoot she did with a shopping mall, in which she later used to pay for petrol

Alex's TikTok video has since been viewed more than 220,000 times, with hundreds of people responding to her claim, including those who work for Westfield or in the retail industry.

Dozens of retail workers confirmed the gift cards work everywhere.

'A Westfield gift card works anywhere... source: I worked for Westfields,' one said.

One Big W employee claimed they only found this out a few weeks ago when a customer used a Westfield gift card to pay for their items.

'And it worked - wild,' the employee said.

While another said: 'I work in retail and we regularly have people use Westfield gift cards when we aren't a Westfield shopping centre and they all go through fine.'

And one Woolworths employee claimed she works at the supermarket that isn't part of Westfield and the gift cards 'actually do work in our stores'.

One shopper said she was surprised her gift card worked when she used it to pay for an online shopping order.

Many revealed they have been using their gift cards everywhere for years, including Kmart, fast food, Dan Murphy's, as well as 'random cafes'.

'OMG don't tell them the secret. Now I'm going to be caught, I've been using my gift cards everywhere forever,' one wrote.

Meanwhile, some said they had no idea, with one saying: 'My mind is blown.'
Photo: Contributed

The Virginia Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would abolish the death penalty, a measure that if passed into law would mark a major policy change for a state that over its centuries-long history has led the nation in the number of executions it has carried out.

The Democrat-controlled chamber approved the bill in a 21-17 vote that split along party lines and was seen as a key hurdle for the measure. Advocates now expect the House version of the bill to easily clear that chamber, and Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has said he supports the legislation.

Wednesday's vote followed a lengthy, emotional floor debate.

I cannot think of anything that is more awful, unspeakable and wrong for a government to do than to use its power to execute somebody who didnt commit the crime theyre accused of. The problem with capital punishment is that once its inflicted you cant take it back, it cant be corrected, Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell, the bills sponsor, said as he introduced it.

Democrats raised concerns about the racial disparities in the application of the death penalty and pointed to research that shows it does not deter crime.

Republicans urged a "no" vote on the bill, saying it wouldn't give victims' families a chance at justice and voicing concerns that people convicted of heinous murders would be eligible for parole.

GOP Sen. Bill Stanley, who had initially co-patroned the measure, angrily spoke against it after Democrats a day earlier rejected attempts from Republicans to amend the bill, including changes Stanley proposed that he said would have guaranteed that people convicted of aggravated murder would never leave prison.

This could have been coming out today as a bipartisan effort to end the death penalty. Instead its a party-line effort, said Stanley, who also spoke about his personal opposition to capital punishment. He ultimately did not vote.

Republican Sen. Mark Obenshain acknowledged the misapplications of capital punishment of decades and centuries past but said that should not be a reason to do away with the death penalty entirely.

He described the brutal crimes committed by two men formerly on death row: Ivan Teleguz, convicted in 2006 of hiring a man to kill the mother of his child, and Ricky Gray, who was convicted of killing a family of four, slashing their throats and setting their home ablaze in 2006. Teleguz had his sentence commuted to life without parole in 2017; Gray was executed the same year.

These are savage crimes. These are the worst of the worst, he said.

Democrat Janet Howell said she used to be a fervent supporter of the death penalty, a position that changed after the murder of her father-in-law. She described in emotional testimony how his killing affected her family and how they found themselves in disagreement over the death penalty and the punishment her father-in-law's killer should face.

I dont buy the idea that we would support the death penalty for the benefit of victims' families. It doesnt work that way. Trust me, it doesnt work that way, she said.

Virginia has executed nearly 1,400 people in more than four centuries, more than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In modern times, Virginia is second only to Texas in the number of executions since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/04/2021 -- Global School Furniture Market Comprehensive Study is an expert and top to bottom investigation on the momentum condition of the worldwide School Furniture industry with an attention on the Global market. The report gives key insights available status of the School Furniture producers and is an important wellspring of direction and course for organizations and people keen on the business. By and large, the report gives an inside and out understanding of 2020-2025 worldwide School Furniture Market covering extremely significant parameters.



Key Players in This Report Include,

Herman Miller, Inc., HNI Corporation, KI, Steelcase, Ballen Panels Ltd, VS Vereinigte SpezialmAbelfabriken GmbH & Co. KG, FLEETWOOD GROUP, Hertz Furniture, Knoll, Inc



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Brief Summary of School Furniture:

Many schools around the globe are adopting furniture as per the requirements of teachers & students so to create an environment favorable for student-oriented education. As students spend many hours of the day in schools, the selection of school furniture has an important role in making an effective & high-performance learning environment. Inappropriate and uncomfortable desks & chairs used in classrooms can have hostile effects on the students & teachers wellness. Today, institutions are advancing their existing resources & procuring new furniture keeping in mind these factors. The Pre K-12 schools are accepting new and attractive furniture to make the school space energetic and engaging for students. As the determinative years of a child's education are very vital, schools are careful while choosing furniture for early childhood classroom experiences. Key players in the market are providing eco-friendly as well as green solutions for storage equipment, seating, as well as laboratory furniture owing to the increasing demand for such furniture for contemporary classrooms.



Growth Drivers

? Increasing Demand For Ergonomically Designed Furniture To Avoid Health & Posture Problems In Children

? Acceptance Of Portable Furniture For Flip Classrooms

? Government Initiatives To Support Education



Market Trends

? Rapid Popularity Of Online Retailing



Market Roadblocks

? Huge Costs Of Transportation & Logistics



The Global School Furniture Market segments and Market Data Break Down are illuminated below:

School Furniture Market by Type (Desks and Chairs, Storage, Lab Equipment, Others), Sales Channel (Online, Offline), Material Type (Wood, Metal, Plastic, Others)



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Regions Covered in the School Furniture Market:

- The Middle East and Africa (South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, Egypt, etc.)

- North America (United States, Mexico & Canada)

- South America (Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, etc.)

- Europe (Turkey, Spain, Turkey, Netherlands Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)

- Asia-Pacific (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia).



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Chapter 2 to inspect the leading manufacturers (Cost Structure, Raw Material) with sales Analysis, revenue Analysis, and price Analysis of School Furniture Market;

Chapter 3 to show the focused circumstance among the best producers, with deals, income, and School Furniture market share 2020;

Chapter 4 to display the regional analysis of Global School Furniture Market with revenue and sales of an industry, from 2020 to 2022;

Chapter 5, 6, 7 to analyze the key countries (United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea & Taiwan), with sales, revenue and market share in key regions;

Chapter 8 and 9 to exhibit International and Regional Marketing Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis, Trade Type Analysis;

Chapter 10 and 11 to analyze the market by product type and application/end users (industry sales, share, and growth rate) from 2020 to 2026

Chapter 12 to show School Furniture Market forecast by regions, forecast by type and forecast by application with revenue and sales, from 2020 to 2025;

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- What are the School Furniture Market trends business owners can rely upon in the coming years?

- What are the threats and challenges expected to restrict the progress of the School Furniture Market across different countries?

South Africa: Flooding closes N18 in North West

Motorists are being urged to avoid traveling on N18 road between Vryburg and Taung as a result of flooding, the North West Cooperative Governance department said on Thursday.

Departmental spokesperson, Dineo Mahlakoana, said due to recent torrential rains, most sections of the roads are covered by water and cannot be used.

Tygerkloof and Brussels on the N18 are reported to be flooded. Members of the Disaster Management Team in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District have been dispatched to all affected areas to provide the necessary assistance, said Mohlakoana.

Due to the continuing rainfall, Mohlakoana said flooding is expected in many areas across the province for the next few days.

Motorists and pedestrians should avoid crossing flooded streams and rivers. Motorists are also requested to use alternative routes or cancel their trips until it is safe to travel.

" We further appeal to motorists to cooperate with our law enforcement authorities, especially at the points of road closures, Mohlakoana said.

Condolences for Mpumalanga storm victims

Meanwhile, Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane, has conveyed her condolences to the families of the victims of recent storms that swept across the province.

This follows the passing of at least 10 people during the heavy rains that followed Tropical Cyclone Eloise, which reached the province last week.

Most of the fatalities were attributable to drowning as a result of the flooded rivers.

As the provincial government, we are saddened by the passing of our people through this natural disaster, the Premier said on Thursday.

She said that the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs remains on high alert.

The provincial Disaster Management Centre has provided temporary shelter and relief material, such as tarpaulins, mattresses and food parcels across the province.

We appeal to the people of Mpumalanga to continue to practice caution and vigilance when traveling on our roads.

"We further urge the people of Mpumalanga to please report emergency cases through our Disaster Toll Free number on 0800 202 507, Mtshweni-Tsipane said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
VK Sasikala, who was the aide of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha, will return on February 8 to the state after serving her jail term. While it is expected that she will be welcomed with a grand party, the move has rattled many in the ruling AIADMK, with the tussle over the party's leadership expected to raise its head once again.

Top ministers of the AIADMK government met the state police chief on Thursday evening to protest against the use of the AIADMK flag on Sasikala's car when she discharged from a Bengaluru hospital last week. They also lodged a complaint on the issue.

Sasikala, who has been serving time in the Bengaluru Central Jail for the last four years, was discharged on January 27. But being infected with the coronavirus, she was recuperating at a Bengaluru hospital, and later moved to a resort in the city to rest and recover her health.

She moved from the hospital to the resort in a car that sported the AIADMK flag, at a time when the party has completely distanced itself from her saying that she is "not even a member of the it".

However, her nephew TTV Dinakaran, who is the founder of AMMK and an MLA from Jayalalitha's erstwhile constituency RK Nagar insists that she continues to be the AIADMK general secretary and this issue is now being fought legally.

"The way in which others have installed themselves to various posts of the party is illegal, and goes against the party's own by-laws. Let the courts decide on this," he told reporters in Madurai on Wednesday.

Dinakaran also said that supporters of Sasikala will be standing along the route from the Bengaluru-Tamil Nadu border all the way to Chennai as she makes her return.

She also plans to visit the Jayalalithaa memorial whenever it opens again, he said, adding that the fact that the memorial was "closed for maintenance" just as her return plans were made was laughable.

While the AIADMK did not respond to this jibe, it is clear that the party is worried about its own functionaries who may be more loyal to Sasikala rather that the current brass of chief minister E Palanisami and deputy CM O Panneerselvam.

Late Wednesday night, it expelled its Karnataka unit convenor MP Yuvaraj for 'anti-part activities' after it emerged that he had met Sasikala on February 1 at the resort where she is staying.

The ADMK is also acting against party functionaries who are putting up posters in various districts welcoming her -- but, as Dinakaran predicted, there are 'sleeper cells' loyal to Sasikala active at even village levels. Posters that portrayed her as 'Raja Matha' were put up in Kodaikanal by some panchayat functionaries. These posters sported pictures of the CM and Deputy CM, but also referred to her as the permanent general secretary of the AIADMK -- a hotly contested claim.

Nearer to February 8, the party top brass is likely to face more embarrassment as there are reports of posters being put up from different districts on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, Dinakaran, while saying that Sasikala would be welcomed back into Tamil Nadu will festive fervor, asked party workers to adhere to Covid protocols in all activities.
The first interim reading of efficacy data from Phase III will be out in March, according to Bharat Biotech MD and CEO Dr Krishna Ella.

India's first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, co-developed by Bharat Biotech along with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)National Institute of Virology (NIV), is going to be shipped globally, according to the Indian vaccinemaker. While the vaccine was given emergency use approval by the Drugs Controller General of India in early January, it is still currently in Phase III clinical trials with around 26,000 volunteers around the country and Phase I and II data have shown that is effective against the novel coronavirus .

According to a report in Mint, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech Dr Krishna Ella said that the first interim reading of efficacy data from Phase III will be out in March. Recent data from the company indicates the COVAXIN shot is effective against the new SARS-CoV-2 variant that emerged from the UK. However, three other variants are also circulating in the global population currently, originating in South Africa, Brazil and Japan.

USA

Bharat Biotech signed a contract with US biopharmaceutical company Ocugen to co-develop, supply, and sell its COVID-19 vaccine COVAXIN in the USA. While Ocugen prepares to production the vaccine en masse, Bharat Biotech will still supply the initial doses, the exact number of which has yet to be announced.

Ocugen has already begun discussions with Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in order to get the necessary approvals to introduce the vaccine in the US and make it a part of the country's national inoculation drive. So far, the country has also granted emergency use approval to COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

Bharat Biotech has sold the exclusive right to COVAXIN and Ocugen will enjoy the 45 percent of the profits.

Brazil

A team from Brazil's Precisa Medicamentos visited the Bharat Biotech facility in India on 7 and 8 January. The pharma company signed a deal to export the vaccine to Brazil. The Ambassador of Brazil Andre Aranha Correa do Lago has also expressed an interest in getting the vaccine to the South American country.

The government will buy the vaccine for public use while the private market will get the vaccine once approved by ANVISA, the Brazilian regulatory authority.
STANDISH, MI  A year ago, a former sheriffs deputy addressed the Bay County Board of Commissioners to share his fear of SWAT teams descending on gun-owners homes.

They will either take the gun or kill that person, said the man, Roger A. Broadstone.

Now, Broadstone is charged with trying to kill five Michigan State Police troopers who came to his house to question him about a fraud complaint, allegedly by rigging his rural home with a booby trap.

Earlier this week, Broadstone was arraigned on 16 criminal charges in Arenac County, including five counts of attempted murder. Each of those five counts relates to an individual trooper that Broadstone allegedly tried to kill when they came to his rural home on Jan. 20.

Broadstone barricaded himself in his house until police obtained a search warrant. Broadstone resisted arrest, disarming one trooper of a Taser in the process, police have said.

His attorney, Duane L. Hadley, said the case is a bizarre one, but that Broadstone maintains his innocence.

Guns and red flag laws

Broadstone, 67, attended the Bay County Board of Commissioners meeting on Jan. 14, 2020. Like several others there, he spoke during the citizen input portion to voice his support for Bay City becoming a Second Amendment sanctuary city.

Broadstone, who wore a red MAGA hat while seated in the gallery, said he attended the meeting even though he lives in neighboring Arenac County. He said he has 72 college credits in criminal law, previously worked for the Oscoda County Sheriffs Office, and retired from the Michigan Department of Corrections.

He said times are different from when he was a youth, when he and his peers would leave guns in their trunks at school to go hunting after class.

We just finished our deer season here in Michigan, Broadstone told commissioners. I dont remember any mass shootings. Guns dont seem to be the problem.

Broadstone criticized red flag laws, which would allow authorities to temporarily confiscate someones firearms if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

These red flag laws is just an excuse, he told the commission. You guys all know that. I know that. Somebody tells me Im crazy  but then they will come out to your house and theyre gonna come with a SWAT team. Theyre not gonna come, knock on your door, and say, Please, give me your gun. They are gonna come in force.  they go up against a normal citizen that is alone in the house that has no way of protecting himself at all and they will either take the gun or kill that person.

Broadstone ended his speech by asking the commissioners to support the Second Amendment and to allow our police officers to do their job. They do a good job of it if you just let them.

Broadstones comments elicited applause from several others in the audience and one many saying, Hear, hear.

To watch Broadstones comments, skip to one hour and six minutes into the above video.

The Oscoda County Clerks Office confirmed Broadstone was employed as a sheriffs deputy from June 30, 1986, through Sept. 5 of the same year. The reason his tenure as a deputy was so short-lived was not provided.

Chris Gautz, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections, said his agency employed Broadstone in the 1980s and 90s, though he was unable to provide additional details.

Broadstones criminal record includes convictions for malicious destruction of property in 1997 and maintaining a drug vehicle, assault with a dangerous weapon, unlawful imprisonment, carrying a concealed weapon, and delivering or manufacturing marijuana, all from 2011. In September 2011, Broadstone was sentenced to 18 months probation on a concealed weapons conviction, Gautz said.

Broadstones Facebook account features photos indicating he was in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, waving American and ex-President Donald J. Trump flags and wearing pro-Trump apparel. His Facebook page also features numerous links to pro-Trump and election fraud conspiracy theories, many of which carry disclaimers that fact-checkers have disputed the information therein.

Broadstone was also vocal on social media criticizing Capitol police for the death of 35-year-old rioter Ashli Babbitt.

The Police Murder that woman, his account posted on a Facebook group called Michiganders for Constitutional rights. They shot her for no reason. She was just standing there

On a photo showing Broadstone standing before the Washington Monument with his flags raised, Broadstones account commented on Jan. 10, I would do it all over again.

Michigan State Police Special 1st Lt. Derrick Carroll said there is no indication Broadstone is linked to any Michigan militia groups, nor is he being investigated for participating in the Jan. 6 riots.

Its an interesting, bizarre case

A year after Broadstone addressed the Bay County Board of Commissioners, police began investigating him when a Merritt woman on Jan. 19 contacted the state police to report her credit card was used to purchase more than $1,500 worth of items from the Walmart in West Branch. The purchase was made online using the victims credit card and Broadstone was listed as a secondary person to pick up the order, police have said.

Surveillance camera footage showed Broadstone picking up the order at Walmart, troopers said.

On Jan. 20, troopers went to Broadstones Twining home to interview him. Broadstone refused to come out.

Troopers said he barricaded himself in his house and told them through an open window that they would need a search warrant to come inside.

Troopers then obtained a search warrant and entered Broadstones home, finding he had set up a booby trap and made other preparations to harm them. Broadstone resisted as he was being arrested and ended up disarming one trooper of his Taser, said Lt. Carroll. A trooper was also injured, though Carroll declined to provide specifics of the injury.

Troopers also found several items from the Walmart purchase in Broadstones home, they added.

Carroll said he could not describe the booby trap. He added Broadstone was not injured when arrested and that police did not seize firearms from Broadstones home.

Broadstone on Jan. 25 was arraigned in Ogemaw County District Court on single counts of illegal use of a financial transaction device and using a computer to commit a crime. On Feb. 1, Broadstone was arraigned in Arenac County District Court on the following 16 charges:

 Five counts of attempted murder

 Four counts of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing police

 One count of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing police causing injury

 One count of disarming a police officer, non-firearm

 One count of attempting to disarm a police officer of a firearm

 One count placing an offensive substance with intent to injure

 One count of arson-preparation to burn a dwelling

 One count of felon in possession of ammunition

 One count malicious destruction of police property

Standish attorney Duane L. Hadley is representing Broadstone in his Arenac County matters, while West Branch attorney Thomas E. Schaiberger is handling the Ogemaw County case.

Hadley said Broadstone has no connection with the Merritt woman whose credit card information was used to make the Walmart purchases. Broadstone had been conversing online with a woman in Spain, who had obtained the Merritt womans credit card information and made the Walmart purchase, then asked Broadstone to pick up and ship the items to her, Hadley said.

Its an interesting, bizarre case, Hadley said. He maintains his innocence. He pled not guilty to all the charges and were going through the legal process.

On Monday, Feb. 1, Hadley attained a petition signed by Arenac County Chief District Judge Richard E. Vollbach Jr. to have Broadstone sent to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Ypsilanti to undergo a competency evaluation. Staff there have 63 days to complete the examination. Gauging competency means determining if a defendants current mental or emotional state is fit enough for trial, to the extent he or she understands the charges against them and their constitutional rights.

Last year, Broadstone and his wife had been visiting several commission meetings around the state to support Second Amendment rights, Hadley said.

They were running pretty hot in different counties before COVID hit, he said. Broadstone and his wife of 48 years are currently going through a divorce, Hadley said. Broadstone has three adult daughters, he added.

One of Broadstones daughters who was contacted by MLive declined to comment and asked that MLive not contact her or any other family members.

Broadstones next court date is pending.

Read more:

Michigan man accused of trying to kill 5 state police by booby-trapping house

Body camera video shows Michigan man attack police with hockey stick at Captiol riots

Police seeking man in U-M hoodie involved in violent riots at U.S. Capitol


In an unprecedented move, the National Assembly passed a motion Thursday to impeach a senior judge who has been accused of abusing judicial power in several politically sensitive court rulings.





The motion to oust Lim Seong-geun, currently a senior judge at the Busan High Court, marks the first-ever impeachment bill passed against a sitting justice in the country.





The assembly led by the ruling Democratic Party (DP) voted 179 to 102 in favor of impeaching Lim, with three abstentions and four spoiled votes, clearing the way for the motion to go to the Constitutional Court for a final decision.



No judge has been impeached in South Korea before. Two motions of impeachment against Supreme Court judges were proposed in 1985 and 2009, but they were voted down or scrapped at the legislature.





Lim was indicted in 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of other judges' exercising of rights, for allegedly meddling in several trials between 2015 and 2016, while he was serving at the Seoul Central District Court.



He was accused of exerting his authority as a senior judge to step in and influence a libel case filed by the former government against a Japanese journalist in 2015. The Seoul-based journalist published a column questioning then President Park Geun-hye's whereabouts at the moment of the deadly sinking of the ferry Sewol the previous year.



In February last year, a Seoul court acquitted Lim of the power abuse and other charges but still acknowledged his "unconstitutional act" of meddling in trials.





Lim is one of scores of justices implicated in a broader judicial power abuse scandal surrounding Yang Sung-tae who served as the chief justice of the Supreme Court under ousted former President Park Geun-hye. Yang is currently facing a trial on charges of unfairly influencing politically sensitive trials and oppressing progressive judges.





The DP has taken it as the National Assembly's duty to punish Lim for his "unconstitutional infringement on other judges' independence," but the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) vehemently denounced the motion as the ruling party's attempt to "tame" the judiciary.





The latest parliamentary passage of the motion now leaves it up to the Constitutional Court to determine the fate of Lim.



Later in the day, the Constitutional Court accepted the impeachment resolution and the full bench of the court will begin to review the case.





But many expect the court will be unable to deliver its decision before Feb. 28 when Lim is scheduled to retire as a judge. The court could dismiss the case as ineligible for deliberation if Lim's retirement comes before it makes a final ruling, according to legal experts.





Stepping up the ante against the DP, the PPP threatened to propose its own motion to impeach Chief Supreme Court Justice Kim Meong-su, who allegedly rejected Lim's offer to resign in May last year for a political reason, and urged him to step down.













According to a recording of Kim's remarks when Lim visited him to express his intention to resign at that time, which was disclosed by Lim's lawyer on Thursday, Kim said he could face a backlash from lawmakers if he lets him go while his parliamentary impeachment is being pursued.





Kim initially denied making the comments but apologized for giving a false account of the incident based on his uncertain memory after the recording was disclosed.





"Whatever reason it was, I apologize deeply to Lim and those who have been disappointed," Kim told reporters.



PPP spokesman Rep. Bae June-young said Kim lost his qualification as the leader of judges.





"If a modicum of conscience is left as a justice, he should decide his own fate," he added.





Lim's side also lamented the passage of the impeachment motion as "highly incomprehensible and regrettable."

(Yonhap)


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Thirty thousand residents who have had their private details compromised by hackers targeting government agency Service NSW haven't been notified almost a year later.

Head of Service NSW Damon Rees confessed to a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday that 20-30 per cent of people affected by the March 2020 hack have not been contacted.

He also admitted that New South Wales citizens were still having personal data emailed to external agencies, despite the practice contributing to the data breach.

30,000 residents who have had private details compromised by hackers targeting government agency Service NSW still haven't been notified (stock image)

104,000 people had their private details compromised, but Mr Rees said only four out of five had their current mailing address in the system.

'The method of notification in order to not generate risk for the public is registered person-to-person mail,' he told the inquiry.

A top police officer told the inquiry an investigation into the hack is ongoing, and said the breach was caused by 'malicious actors'.

'Some data breaches are caused by human error. Certainly wasn't the case in this,' said Deputy Commissioner for Investigations and Counter Terrorism David Hudson.

Mr Rees admitted to the inquiry that Service NSW still emails residents' personal data, including driver licences, to partner agencies.

This is despite a report by NSW Auditor-General Margaret Crawford finding that 'emailing personal customer information to client agencies' contributed to the breach.

Mr Rees said the agency was implementing a change to that process which would take place at least through this year.

Head of Service NSW (pictured) Damon Rees confessed to a parliamentary inquiry that 20-30 per cent of people affected by the March 2020 hack have not been contacted

The December 2020 Auditor-General's report was a scathing assessment of Service NSW's handling of private information, even months after the hack.

'Service NSW is not effectively handling personal customer and business information to ensure its privacy,' the report said.

'Previously identified risks and recommended solutions had not been implemented on a timely basis.'

The report also noted that the 'weaknesses' in IT and security impacted four million Australians.
STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. The Secretary of the Security Council of Artsakh Vitaly Balasanyan is denying social media reports claiming that the countrys Defense Army will be dissolved. On the contrary, he said that the government of Artsakh is now working on the formation of professional units on contractual basis.

There are rumors claiming as if Azerbaijani state flags will be installed on governmental buildings at the Renaissance Square in Stepanakert City. I find it necessary to categorically deny these reports. Some news media and social media accounts are circulating reports claiming that the Artsakh Defense Army will be dissolved and according to the logic of these reports there wont be an organization of the border protection of Artsakh. In this regard Id like to inform the public that the government bodies of Artsakh are now working on the issue of forming contractual basis, professional units for the protection of our borders, he said in a statement.

He reiterated that the government of Artsakh is always committed to fulfilling its duties of ensuring the security of the population and normal living.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
The U Minh Thuong National Park is the fifth biosphere reserve in Vietnam recognised by UNESCO and the eighth ramsar site in the country. It is a tourist site that should not be missed when visiting the Mekong delta province of Kien Giang.
A report on low pay levels and working conditions in the childcare sector is to be given to the Department of Children in the coming days, the minister has said.

Roderic OGorman, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, said the report will outline the issues and solutions to pay and conditions for workers in the sector.

The department appointed former Labour Court chairman and barrister Dr Kevin Duffy to be the independent chairman of the process.

In December, 2020, working in partnership with (unions) Siptu, Childhood Services Ireland and Ibec, I began a short process in which interested parties were invited to discuss how best to address issues of pay and conditions in the sector, and how a joint labour committee might support this, Mr OGorman told the Dail.

The Early Learning and Childcare sector has shown real leadership throughout this pandemic, with the reopening of services in June and in how they have continued to provide education and care to vulnerable children and those of essential workers. #TogetherForEarlyYears pic.twitter.com/rHfae3bLBW  Roderic OaGorman TD (@rodericogorman) February 4, 2021

The series of meetings concluded earlier this week, and Dr Duffy will shortly submit to me a report outlining the issues and the possible solutions raised in the process, and make recommendation on the next steps.

I recognise there are significant further steps to be taken, but I understand that there is broad agreement on the potential benefits of regulating wages in the sector, and the possible benefits of establishing a joint labour committee as a way forward.

I welcome the commitment that all the parties have shown in engaging in the process so far.

I am very hopeful that progress will continue over the months ahead.

It comes after a survey published last week found that just 22% of early years educators earn more than the living wage of 12.30 euro per hour, while 90% of the sectors professionals struggle to make ends meet.

The survey of 2,000 professionals also found that nearly half of workers are actively seeking another job because of low pay levels.

Over 1,800 early learning and childcare services are currently open and providing childcare to children of essential workers and to vulnerable children.

Sinn Feins Kathleen Funchion said that workers want more than thanks and admiration.

We have continued to have a broken childcare system that has been underfunded Kathleen Funchion

They want better pay and conditions, they deserve better pay and conditions and they want their work to be valued by actions of this Government, she told the Dail.

We have continued to have a broken childcare system that has been underfunded.

It cannot be understated the impact of this terrible disease has had on all of our health and our freedom, the list really is endless.

But it has presented us with a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity, to completely overhaul the current childcare system.

The reality is there can be no recovery without a properly funded childcare sector that works for everybody, and not a strategy that doesnt simply patch up what we have, but thinks big and is brave.

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary when tens of thousands of the sector marched through Dublin, seeking better pay and working conditions.

It is being marked by a day of online events.

Ahead of the virtual day of protest tomorrow by @BigStartIreland @SIPTU I raised the issue of pay and conditions with the Minister directly this afternoon @labour supports this day of action @ivanabacik @alankellylabour pic.twitter.com/quZHnplIyK  SeAn Sherlock TD (@seansherlocktd) February 4, 2021

Labours Sean Sherlock said he doubts the report will recommend the status quo to remain.

He said it is reasonable to expect the report to recommend an increase in pay and conditions.

Mr Sherlock added: If there is such an outcome in that it advocates pay increase and better working conditions, how soon thereafter does the Government anticipate it will act on those recommendations?

Mr OGorman said he sees the crucial importance of increasing wages across the sector.

There will be no lack of speed on my part to take the recommendations we get and implementing them, Mr OGorman added.
WASHINGTON - After a private meeting Wednesday night of the House Republican conference meant to hold together an increasingly divided party, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., defended controversial freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. But as he lauded Greene's apology to Republicans for her history of outrageous rhetoric on social media, McCarthy also claimed that the extremist ideology she supports was foreign to him.

"I think it would be helpful if you could hear exactly what she told all of us - denouncing Q-on, I don't know if I say it right, I don't even know what it is," said McCarthy, referring to QAnon, a radicalized movement based on false claims that the FBI has deemed a domestic terrorism threat.

McCarthy's comment set off immediate backlash, with critics pointing out that the minority leader has addressed QAnon before in TV interviews and at news conferences.

"He has said QAnon before. He knows full well what QAnon is," MSNBC's Brian Williams said Wednesday night.

On CNN, Chris Cuomo noted that QAnon played a major role in the attempted insurrection in the Capitol last month.

"You should just remind him next time you see him: Remember all those signs that the people were holding up as they savagely attacked our Capitol? Remember it said QAnon? That's QAnon," said Cuomo Wednesday night after showing a clip of McCarthy's comments

A spokeswoman for McCarthy did not immediately respond to a message from The Washington Post early on Thursday.

McCarthy's response came after he chose not to revoke Greene's committee roles as a rebuke for her comments online that encouraged political violence and pushed anti-Semitic falsehoods. Greene has falsely claimed the California wildfires were caused by lasers in space owned by a coterie of Jewish bankers and that both the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand and the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., were examples of a "false flag" operation.

Greene has not publicly denounced QAnon. She has also not publicly apologized for her posts on social media and recently maintained on Twitter that she "will never apologize."

Democrats plan to hold a House vote on Thursday to remove the representative from her committee assignments.

Despite McCarthy claiming ignorance of QAnon, he has referenced it in past interviews. In an Aug. 20 interview with Fox News's Shannon Bream, McCarthy condemned the extremist ideology.

"Let me be very clear, there is no place for QAnon in the Republican Party. I do not support it," he said.

During a news conference in November, a reporter asked McCarthy if he had concerns about new members like Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., who have supported QAnon, potentially creating controversy for the House GOP. The House minority leader responded that both representatives "denounced Q-on," mispronouncing QAnon.

QAnon played a central role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by radicalizing many of the rioters, The Post reported. Many of the people who stormed the Capitol had clothing and flags promoting QAnon.

In response to McCarthy's comments and his decision not to censure Greene, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the minority leader a "coward" for ignoring calls from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other prominent party members to sideline the Georgia representative.

"As No 2. Senate Republican John Thune warned Tuesday, McCarthy has chosen to make House Republicans 'the party of conspiracy theories and QAnon' and Rep. Greene is in the driver's seat," Pelosi said in a statement.
From a passerby's point of view, California Ripped Fitness looks (mostly) plucked out of pre-pandemic times.

People walk in and out of the San Jose gym, clad in workout leggings, shorts and sneakers, continuing to work out despite state and county regulations that prohibit gyms from operating indoors.

California Ripped has some acknowledgments of the realities of the pandemic  a mask requirement and materials to wipe down equipment after use. It is unclear if there are any social distancing guidelines or capacity limits.

But the gym marches on, remaining open despite more than $500,000 in fines and the threat of legal action by Santa Clara County. In fact, it makes its feelings about the county shutdown abundantly clear.

"Were not saying that theres no virus or we dont believe it," said the gym's manager to Bay Area News Group in an anonymous interview, "but we do believe that we can provide a place where people can come safely and stay healthy  and also provide the ability for us to pay our bills and make a living.

A sign photographed by the Bay Area News Group makes assorted claims about the gym's opening being protected by the First and Fifth Amendments.

"We are protesting that health clubs and exercise are essential," a sign posted outside the gym reads.

The gym, which also has locations in Lincoln, Granite Bay and Roseville, has received dozens of complaints from the county since December, KTVU-TV reported, when the county returned to the purple tier. (It was open in the months prior, when the county was in the red tier.)

While the gym's owner told Bay Area News Group that the gym has yet to experience any outbreaks, community members and public health officials have expressed concern about the risks of the gym defying the state's health guidelines amid the pandemic.

Its truly unfortunate that this business continues to operate indoors when it is not allowed due to the high transmissions rates in our community. It is especially worrisome because most other similar businesses have complied with the order and have adapted to outside operations that are allowed. This particular business has continued to violate the order and put people at risk, said Michael Balliet, the county director of community and business engagement, in a statement to SFGATE.

This business is also located in a part of our community that is highly impacted by COVID-19.

Studies have repeatedly found that gyms are "superspreader" sites  even with measures in place to protect attendees. One case, in a Canadian gym, found that at least 60 people got COVID-19 despite distancing requirements and other safety measures in place.

As of Thursday, the county has reported over 103,000 COVID-19 cases and 1,473 deaths, a large chunk of which have taken place in the past three months.
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Months before the Assembly elections in West Bengal, BJP leader Srijan Roy returned to the TMC. He is said to be the brother-in-law of BJP's national vice-president Mukul Roy. TMC spokesperson and West Bengal minister Bratya Basu confirmed that Roy was a TMC veteran who had switched sides to the BJP in 2019.

"The politics which is going on in West Bengal is against our ideals. We need to strengthen the hands of party supremo Mamata Banerjee to ensure that secularism flourishes in the state," Srijan Roy said after returning back to the TMC.

Bengali film actor and model Nilanjana Majumdar and lawyer Jyotiprakash Chattopadhyay also joined the TMC. Basu said that Chattopadhyay had represented TMC leaders in the Narada sting tapes case in the Calcutta High Court.

READ | Two-time MLA Dipak Haldar Resigns From TMC Ahead Of West Bengal Polls

TMC Exodus

Ahead of the West Bengal polls, several leaders have quit Mamata Banerjee's TMC. Earlier, West Bengal political heavyweight and a former close aide of the CM, Suvendu Adhikari switched to the BJP. Joining him were TMC MP Sunil Mondal and nine sitting MLAs. The second minister to resign from the TMC was Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who wished to quit politics. Meanwhile, the TMC said that those who are leaving do not have long political history.

READ | Suvendu Adhikari Says Mamata-led TMC Rigged 2018 Panchayat Polls: 'I Was There So I Know'

WB Assembly Election

The West Bengal Assembly with 294 seats will go to polls in April-May 2021, Trinamool holds 222 seats at present. However, BJP has made major inroads in the state in the Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats out of 42 and establishing itself as the major opposition force in the state. Recently, TMC trumped BJP in all 3 polls, but the BJP is using its booth-level strategy and has regularly dispatched its top leaders including Amit Shah and JP Nadda in the state for winning the upcoming elections.

READ | BJP Shares Clip Of Mamata Saying 'TMC Lost Bitterly In 6 Lok Sabha Seats', Makes Prophecy

READ | BJP Leaders Rush To Matua Bastion After Shah Cancels Visit; TMC Says 'CAA Promise False'
Investigators believe a fire that burned six school buses at a Racine County, Wisconsin, depot was ignited by an electrical problem and was not suspicious in nature.

The fire at the Thomas Bus Service lot in the Town of Burlington early on Feb. 2 prompted the Burlington Area School District to cancel classes for the day.

The company had enough buses to transport students in the Brighton School District in western Kenosha County without delay.

The estimated cost of the fire damage is $525,000. A Racine County sheriffs deputy spotted the fire about 4 a.m. The business was closed at the time and no employees were present.

More than half-a-dozen other buses on the lot did not appear damaged, the Kenosha News reported.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Wisconsin
Singapore approves Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

Photo courtesy: Steven Cornfield on Unsplash

Singapore on Wednesday approved the use of a second COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 18 years and above. The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is the second to be approved after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine currently being used.

The Expert Committee has independently reviewed the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines safety and efficacy data for different population segments in Singapore, and has been briefed by The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) on its full range of considerations in granting interim authorisation, and is satisfied with its safety and efficacy.

In assessing the suitability of vaccine candidates for specific population groups, the Expert Committee took into consideration the safety, efficacy and tolerability of the vaccine and data adequacy of clinical trials. The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine demonstrated a high vaccine efficacy of 94%, and its safety profile is consistent with the standards set for other registered vaccines used in the immunisation against other diseases, a release on the Ministry of Health website stated.

The Expert Committee has however stated that pregnant women, severely immuno-compromised persons, those under the age of 18 and those with a history of anaphylaxis or severe allergies should also not be given the vaccine at this time.

We just announced that the Singapore Health Sciences Authority has approved the interim authorization of the COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna for use under the Pandemic Special Access Route. Read more: https://t.co/svj6LUJOBV pic.twitter.com/2ZLjeArEmB  Moderna (@moderna_tx) February 3, 2021

The HSA authorised the Moderna vaccine under the Pandemic Special Access Route (PSAR) with the vaccine to be progressively rolled out when shipments of the vaccine arrive. The first such shipment is expected in March 2021.

More vaccines from both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech will arrive over the course of the year. We will continue to monitor our supplies closely to ensure that we will have enough vaccines for all Singaporeans and long-term residents in Singapore by the third quarter of 2021, the MOH release said.

As of February 2, more than 175,000 individuals have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and about 6,000 of them have also received their second dose of the vaccine, and completed the full vaccination regimen, the ministry said.
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The Biden Administration has determined it can't release information on the various officials who entered the White House grounds during the dramatic tense when President Donald Trump was waging a desperate bid to overturn the election results.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday the administration couldn't provide information on the comings and goings of the prior White House, a day after DailyMail.com put the question to her.

'We cannot. That is under the purview of the National Archives so Id certainly point you to there,' she said at Wednesday's briefing in response to a follow up question.

The information is of particular interest because the Trump administration did not provide public information about who was granted permission to be on White House grounds.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday the White House cannot release information about who came and went from the building during the last weeks of the Trump Administration

It will be years before the public can gain access to the information.

According to a statement released by the National Archives Public and Media Communications, 'NARA will accept FOIA requests for Trump Administration records beginning on January 20, 2026, in accordance with the Presidential Records Act. The PRA does not allow for public access requests until five years after the end of a presidential administration.'

In the tense days while Trump was contesting the election and leading up to the January 6 riot at the Capitol, officials connected to his overturn movement were only identified if they happened to be spotted by reporters or camera crews.

Among those spotted at the White House was Sidney Powell, who was involved in a series of 'kraken' lawsuits seeking to overturn election results in state courts.

She was seen at the White House days before Christmas, even after the Trump campaign had distanced itself from her following an infamous press conference where she described a conspiracy to rig the elections involving Venezuela, Cuba, China and Dominion voting machines.

Former Trump National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, who had publicly called for Trump to use martial law to rerun the election in states he lost, was at the White House for a meeting with Powell.

President Donald Trump stopped an Obama Administration policy of releasing records of people who entered the White House

Reporters had to look for clues such as a Marine outside the West Wing to determine when Trump was likely in the Oval Office during weeks after the election when the White House posted vague public schedules

Among those turning up was 'Kraken' lawyer Sidney Powell

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani also showed up in person at the White House as he led the overturn effort that didn't pan out in court

Founder and CEO of Overstock.com Patrick Byrne showed up for one heated meeting

The National Archives took ownership of Trump records after he left office

Days after the January 6 MAGA rally at the Capitol, MyPillow exec Mike Lindell was spotted at the White House. A Washington Post photographer obtained a close-up of papers carried by Lindell.

One ominous line said 'martial law if necessary upon the first hint of any....' Another line, partly obscured by Lindell's hand, most likely referenced the 'Insurrection Act'  the subject of discussion before after the election about use of forces inside the country. It said to 'Act now as a result of the assault on the ...'

Lindell said later he had met with the president. It did not appear on Trump's public schedule.

Psaki said the Biden White House would resume the Obama Administration practice of releasing quarterly updates on people who had been admitted to White House grounds.

She deferred to the National Archives and Records Administration, which became custodian of the Trump archives after Inauguration Day. That means they records could remain under seal for years under policies outlined under the Presidential Records Act.

One caveat is that the law does provide for lawmakers and law enforcement access to records as needed. It 'establishes procedures for Congress, courts, and subsequent Administrations to obtain special access to records from NARA that remain closed to the public, following a privilege review period by the former and incumbent Presidents,' according to the Archives.

Trump has chosen seven aides, many former White House counsel officials, to field information requests, Business Insider reported last month.

Among them is former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, who represented Trump in his first impeachment, and signed onto numerous letters denying House Democrats access to information.

He was also a participant in dramatic White House encounters in the last days of the Trump administration, including one with former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, who turned up to tell existing staff they were quitters who weren't willing to commit to the election fight, according to Axios.

COOS COUNTY, Ore.  Coos County public health officials are trying to get a large COVID-19 outbreak under control. It all started at a karaoke night.

Officials said they have connected at least 30 cases to the two-night karaoke party that was held at a Coos County bar in early January.

They said the bar was technically not breaking the rules by being open because it happened before the county went back into the extreme risk category. Restaurants and bars were allowed to be open at 25% capacity.

Im willing to bet that there were more people in there than the 25% capacity, but we dont know," he said.

Gleason said this outbreak has forced multiple school districts to put classrooms into quarantine after being exposed to someone who attended the karaoke event.

After months of telling people to follow the rules, he said dealing with this situation has been frustrating.

When adults in the community make the decision that they do then impact the community as a whole which results to kids not getting back to school, which is it: Do you want get back to school or have the ability to sing?" Gleason said.

Right now, Gleason said they are unable to identify the bar due to privacy reasons. He also said they are unable to report the outbreak because its not considered a workplace outbreak by the Oregon Health Authority.

However, Aaron Corvin with Oregon OSHA said they have opened up an investigation against the Silver Dollar Tavern near Coos Bay.

That inspection was opened in response to a referral we received from Oregon Health Authority, he said. This transpired pretty recently.

Gleason said they are doing everything the can to finish contract tracing and getting the outbreak under control. However, he said he hopes this acts as a lesson to everyone to stay away from large gatherings until the pandemic is over.

Youre singing and theres a lot of spitting that goes along with that," said Gleason. "Not intentionally but its just not a safe event.
(CNN)  The day has finally come. You've received the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine currently on the Western market  Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca.

Does that mean you're free to go about life as you did before the pandemic once immunity kicks in?

Sorry, there is no immunity passport yet, experts told CNN. There are still safety precautions you need to follow in order to keep you, your loved ones and everyone else safe and protected from the deadly coronavirus.

Read on for answers from the experts on top questions such as when can you stop wearing a mask, eat inside a restaurant, travel, go to sporting events and concerts, and freely visit friends and family.

Can I please stop wearing a face mask?

Let's "face" it: The answer is no.

Try to think of a face mask as your new best friend, one that you plan to cherish and appreciate for a good, long time. Here are five reasons why.

1) It's not 100% protection. Even the best of the currently available vaccines only offer up to 95% protection when you are fully immunized. That means there is a 5% chance you can catch the novel coronavirus at any time.

Think that sounds small? Let's compare that risk to birth control: Pills, patches, vaginal rings and shots are 91% to 96% effective. Yet that translates to nine women becoming pregnant for every 100 women on each of those forms of birth control, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

2) Everyone's different. Some people are going to mount more robust immune responses to both rounds of the Covid-19 vaccination than others. That's one of the key reasons experts are insisting everyone receive the second shot of the vaccine within a key time frame.

"In looking at the Phase 1, Phase 2 data, what I saw with a single dose is some people had high levels of virus-neutralizing antibody, others were nonresponders," said vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean at the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, in a prior interview.

"So the major reason for the second dose is to get everybody to respond. If you just get a single dose, you don't really know where you stand," Hotez said.

Remember, it can take two to three weeks after you get the second shot before your immunity fully kicks in.

3) A moving target. As is typical with viruses, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is mutating around the world -- creating variants that are proving to be more contagious than those the US is currently battling.

Experts are already warning that antibodies from a prior case of Covid-19 won't protect against being reinfected with a variant from South Africa.

"If it becomes dominant, the experience of our colleagues in South Africa indicate that even if you've been infected with the original virus that there is a very high rate of reinfection," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Monday. "Previous infection does not seem to protect you against reinfection."

There is also a possibility that the current vaccines won't fully protect against the new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. That's being studied feverishly right now, so stay tuned.

4) You could be a silent spreader. Remember "Typhoid Mary" Mallon? She was an Irish immigrant who worked as a cook for New York families and refused to believe she was an asymptomatic conduit for typhoid fever because she remained healthy. Refusing to cooperate with authorities, Mallon contaminated at least 122 people in the 1880s, leaving five dead, before she was caught and quarantined twice for a total of 26 years.

That scenario could apply to Covid-19.

"We don't yet know whether being vaccinated means that you're no longer a carrier of coronavirus. That is, fully immunized people may still be able to spread Covid-19 to others," said CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and visiting professor at George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

"It's possible that someone could get the vaccine but could still be an asymptomatic carrier," Wen said in a Q&A for CNN. "They may not show symptoms, but they have the virus in their nasal passageway so that if they're speaking, breathing, sneezing and so on, they can still transmit it to others."

5) Will immunity last? Researchers don't yet know just how long the immunity given by the current vaccines -- such as it is -- will last. There is a possibility that booster doses may be needed in the months or years to come. That's not uncommon -- adults need tetanus and diphtheria boosters every 10 years.

So until more is known about how long the protection lasts -- and against which variants -- stay safe and protect others by wearing a mask.

When can I hang out with friends and family?

That depends on everyone's vaccine status, experts say. If friends or other members of your family have also received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, the risk is greatly reduced, especially if the visit is outdoors.

"It's probably pretty safe to see others who were also vaccinated, after everyone gets both doses and waits a few weeks," Wen said.

It would also be safe if the unvaccinated friends or family members or friends quarantined for 10 days before the outdoor get-together.

However, if the visit is indoors, "there is going to be some level of risk," Wen said, especially with the current spread of more contagious variants and the less than 100% efficacy of today's vaccines.

"That risk will be much lower than if you were not vaccinated, but the risk is still going to be there to you, and you could still be a risk to the unvaccinated members of your family, as you could be an asymptomatic carrier who transmits to them," Wen said.

"If you really want to spend time with the grandkids indoors, the safest way to do this is still for everyone to quarantine for at least 10 days and lower their risk during these 10 days," Wen said. "Quarantining for seven days and a negative test is an option too, but everyone also has to do the quarantine  a negative test alone is not enough."

And again, just because you've been vaccinated, that doesn't reduce your responsibility. You should continue to wear a mask and practice social distancing whenever you are around others.

"You wouldn't want to engage in activities where you could potentially acquire the novel coronavirus and then transmit it to others," Wen said.

"That includes seeing other people who are vaccinated, but not wearing a mask  based on what we know now, they could have the virus and pass it onto you, and you could pass it onto the people you live with. An abundance of caution is still a good idea."

When can I eat at an indoor restaurant or go to a concert or sporting event?

Indoor restaurants are likely hotspots for Covid-19 transmission. That's partly because no one is wearing a mask while they eat, thus spreading their respiratory droplets around as they socialize.

The other reason? Most restaurants do not have HEPA filters or other filtration equipment on their circulation systems, leaving the air poorly ventilated and a prime breeding ground for virus spread. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends avoiding "poorly ventilated spaces."

So even with a second vaccine, you're still taking a chance that you might be exposed to Covid-19 and become a silent spreader.

But won't the typical 6-foot spread between tables or booth partitions do the trick?

"I think the 6 feet indoors is not enough by itself," said Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, who has been studying Covid-19 transmission.

"You have to have good ventilation in that bar or restaurant," said Marr, the co-author of a paper on airborne transmission of Covid-19 via very small droplets called aerosols.

However, even a HEPA filter wouldn't make environmental engineer Marr feel comfortable eating inside a restaurant. In order for the filter to protect you, the virus-laden air would have to pass through the air handling system and be filtered first before it gets to you, she said.

"HEPA filters reduce the amount of virus in the background air, but most transmission takes place in these close contact type of scenarios where you're near someone that's infected and they're spreading lots of virus. The HEPA filter doesn't help with that," she said.

"And since I can't wear a mask while I'm eating, I'm just avoiding indoor restaurants until this is over," Marr said.

What about fun things to do, such as concerts and sporting events?

"Once vaccinated, an outdoor sporting event or concert is probably safe, if there is good social distancing between households and everyone is wearing masks," Wen said. "Indoor, crowded gatherings are probably still best to avoid even if you're vaccinated."

Can I travel if I've been vaccinated?

"I want to emphasize that now is not the time to be traveling period, internationally or domestically, it's just not a good time to be traveling," said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC's new director, in a CNN global town hall last week.

And that applies to people who have already been vaccinated, added Fauci, the White House chief medical adviser.

"Getting vaccinated does not say now I have a free pass to travel," Fauci said at the CNN global town hall. "Nor does it say that I have a free pass to put aside all of the public health measures that we talk about all the time."

"I mean, if you absolutely have to travel and it's essential, then obviously, one would have to do that. But we don't want people to think because they got vaccinated, then other public health recommendations just don't apply," Fauci said.
[February 04, 2021] The IoT Community - Internet of Things Community Announces Hippo Technologies, Inc., Has Joined Its Elite IoT Ecosystem as a Platinum Level Corporate Member

The IoT Community (Internet of Things Community), the world's largest community of CXOs and IoT professionals and practitioners, announces Hippo Technologies, Inc., a virtual care company delivering solutions for healthcare and medical education, has joined its elite ecosystem as a Platinum level corporate member. Its industry-leading Hippo Virtual Care platform and products bridge the gap between physical care and virtual care, enabling healthcare providers and educators to overcome the barriers of time, distance and training. Hippo Technologies, Inc., will be participating in the series of IoT Slam events, taking place throughout 2021. In addition, Dr. Patrick Quinlan, CEO and Co-founder of Hippo Technologies, Inc., a healthcare industry veteran and former CEO of Ochsner Health, is appointed to the IoT Community Advisory Board and will serve on the Healthcare IoT Center of Excellence in an at-large capacity - collectively helping advance the evolution and uptake of next generation IoT-enabled solutions. Hippo Technologies, Inc., joins the elite IoT Community ecosystem comprising the biggest names in technology and household names across the IoT industry. Over the past five years, IoT Community has engaged with industry leaders to create the most compelling and trusted thought leadership content in the IoT ecosystem. Hippo Technologies, Inc., will work collaboratively with the community to address the wide variety of barriers, inhibitors, and technical and operational issues that accompany the Healthcare IoT, Digital Health and Virtual Care ecosystems helping to make a real difference particularly in underserved and under-resourced communities around the world. Also by virtue of this coming together of the two organizations, IoT Community individual members, of which there are 26,000-plus globally, will now be able to gain access to exclusive content via Hippo Technologies', Inc., Hippo HIVE, the Hippo Healthcare Institute for Virtual Education, that provides access to quality healthcare and education to everyone, everywhere. The roll-out of this integration is expected to be completed by April 9th, in time for the IoT Day Slam 2021. At the April 9th, 2021 IoT Day Slam virtual event, Hippo Technologies, Inc., joins a world class lineup of IoT thought leaders and executive speakers where they will deliver a keynote address at this landmark event, which marks the IoT Community's fourteenth IoT Slam branded event. The event is held annually in celebration of World IoT Day 2021, April 9th. David Hill, Execuive Director of the IoT Community said: "We are delighted to welcome Hippo Technologies, Inc., to our IoT Community corporate member ecosystem as a Platinum level corporate member, adding Dr. Quinlan to our Advisory Board and Healthcare IoT CoE. Hippo's powerful virtual care offerings enable increased safety and convenience, as well as the ability to scale and share knowledge without boundaries, improving access to quality healthcare and improving outcomes. We look forward to helping make a real difference advocating the deployment and use of these transformative technologies across the Healthcare domain and beyond."



Dr. Tom Bradicich, Hewlett Packard Fellow, at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and IoT Community Advisory Board Chair, said: "We are pleased that Hippo Technologies, Inc., will join us in the IoT Community, and that Dr. Patrick Quinlan will join our Advisory Board. We look forward to hearing their future vision for edge-to-cloud Healthcare at our 2021 IoT Slam events, beginning at the April 9th IoT Day Slam." Patrick Quinlan, CEO, Hippo Technologies, Inc., said: "Becoming a member of the prestigious IoT Community is a real honor for Hippo Technologies, Inc., and we are thrilled to join as Platinum Members. I am proud and excited to join the IoT Community Advisory Board and Healthcare IoT Center of Excellence, helping to further raise the focus at a core level, on the critically important issues relating to Healthcare and IoT."

Chris Sullivan, Global Healthcare practice lead, Zebra Technologies (News - Alert) and Chair of the IoT Community Healthcare IoT Center of Excellence, said: "We are excited to welcome Hippo Technologies, Inc., and Dr. Patrick Quinlan to the Healthcare IoT Center of Excellence, and by doing so, adding great depth of expertise in transformative virtual care - one of the core areas of focus for the HIoTCoE in 2021, in view of the global virus pandemic." IoT Day Slam 2021 Registration Details Virtual Broadcast: Access to the IoT Day Slam 2021 virtual event on April 9th is FREE to all. To register for the live and real-time global broadcast, visit: https://iotslam.com/iot-slam-conference-registration/ IoT Community Practitioner Membership (Free Individual membership) IoT Practitioners seeking to expand their knowledge in the IoT are welcome to join the world's largest community consisting of 26,000+ members here for FREE. https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4662022 Collaboration Opportunities IoT solution providers seeking accession to the IoT Community should email info@iotcommunity.net About IoT Community (Internet of Things Community) The IoT Community is the world's largest CxO community of senior business leaders and IoT practitioners consisting of 26,000+ members. The function is to focus on adoption and application of IoT in commercial environments, overcoming the variety of barriers, inhibitors, technical and operational issues. For more information, visit http://www.iotcommunity.net Twitter (News - Alert) : Follow @IoTCommunity @IoTChannel or hashtag #IoTCommunity LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/9370944/ About Hippo Technologies, Inc. Hippo Technologies, Inc., is a virtual care company delivering products and services for healthcare and medical education. The Hippo Virtual Care platform connects enterprise systems, databases, IOT devices, wearables and technologies together to bridge the gap between physical care and virtual care. Its products include hands-free, voice-activated, head-worn devices and HIPAA and GDPR compliant software allowing clinicians to communicate and collaborate virtually in real time with remote colleagues and students, search medical records, and automatically access files and imaging during patient examinations, procedures, consultations and rounding. Hippo delivers a unique "through the eyes of the clinician" experience with the safety and convenience of remote care. For more information, visit https://myhippo.life/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204006009/en/

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Amid the controversy on American pop-icon Rihannas Twitter comment on the farm laws in India, Former J&K Bureaucrat Shah Faesal became the latest to join the #IndiaTogether campaign. The 2010 Civil Services topper in India, while commenting on Sachin Tendulkars tweet wrote, "Yes. Ghar ki baat ghar ke andar hi achi." (Yes, internal matters should remain within the four walls of our home).

Yes. Ghar ki baat ghar ke andar hi achi. https://t.co/yxEfHUxJjK  Shah Faesal (@shahfaesal) February 3, 2021

Responding further to a question by CNN-News18 on whether an old interview with a British broadcaster, where Faesal had hit out at the Indian Government after abrogation of Article 370 was a mistake and he regrets it, Faesal wrote, "Oh yes. One would have to be far more careful with words when talking about India's internal matters to a global audience."

Was this BBC interview a mistake? Do you regret it? pic.twitter.com/Grg6zjHkYd  Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) February 3, 2021

Oh yes. One would have to be far more careful with words when talking about India's internal matters to a global audience.  Shah Faesal (@shahfaesal) February 3, 2021

On August 14, 2019, Shah Faesal had triggered a major controversy when during an interview with a British Broadcaster, he said, "I think its too early for all of us, I am not going to be a stooge. I think one clarity which this step has brought unto all of us, is that those people who believed that India would not betray this generation of Kashmiris, you know my grandfathers generation, when in 1953, the Prime Minister of Jammu & Kashmir was handcuffed by a very small level police constable, my grandfathers generation got alienated and they got betrayed. And my fathers generation in 1987, when the elections were held in the Jammu & Kashmir state, and the elections were rigged, my fathers generation they got betrayed that time, and that demolished, the democratic institutions and the democratic methodology, and we saw an eruption of militancy in Kashmir in 1988."

"You know this new insult," Faesal continues in the video interview, this new phase if indignation that has begun on 5th August 2019 and its my generation which has now got the taste of betrayal and I dont know how this is going to play out in next 50 to 70 years.

Faesal was responding to a question by the anchor, "So, which is it for you, Mr. Faesal, are you going to be stooge or a separatist?"

Harvard-educated Faesal resigned from the Indian Civil services in January 2019 and wrote a critical Facebook post that went viral. Even as he began his political career that year in February with a speech in Kupwara in north Kashmir, in March he formally launched the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Movement. Yet in August 2020, merely a year after he began his political journey, Shah Faesal quit active politics.

The latest confession by the former bureaucrat and politician has given rise to fresh speculation on whether Faesal will return to bureaucracy. Rumour mills had indicated that he may be roped in as an advisor to the Lt. Governor of Ladakh, since Faesal wants to avoid living in Kashmir due to security concerns. Government sources have rejected these rumours as baseless.

Even as his official resignation from bureaucracy still remains pending before the DoPT, sources indicate that while the Government of India hasnt taken any final call in the matter, the Government may not be completely averse to the idea in the months ahead with a final decision only left to the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and the Home Ministry (MHA). The move however is likely to see stiff resistance from senior bureaucracy who see this as a move to bargain ones commitment to Indian constitution and the law of the land which may set a bad precedent in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir which has recently seen constitutional changes.

Aditya Raj Kaul is Contributing Editor, News18 group with more than a decade long experience in covering Conflict, Foreign Policy and Internal Security. He can be reached at Aditya.Kaul@nw18.com
An Indore court sentenced a man to one year in prison for a crime committed 23 years ago, as per a report in PTI. He had stolen 2 fans from a shop.

Judicial Magistrate First Class Bhupendra Arya sentenced 55-year-old Shankar on February 2 and fined him Rs 1000.

There were 5 prosecution witnesses according to Assistant District Public Prosecutor Officer Sanjeev Pandey.

iStock

Shankar was apprehended with the goods on March 23, 1998. The incident happened under the Kotwali police station area.

The reason he was nabbed was due to a watchman who was high on alert.

iStock

The price of the two fans confiscated from him cost around Rs 500.

But after Shankar got bail, he was absconding. Hence the delay in sentencing added Pandey.



Ironically had Shankar not absconded, he would have served his sentence in 1999 and been a free man. But now, in middle age he has to go to prison albeit for one year due to him running away back in 1998.

Not something we see often and it is very rare and bizarre to say the least.

Just shows that life has a way of surprising you.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy today said it will elevate Melissa Seixas to serve as president of Duke Energy Florida, effective Feb. 16. Currently vice president government and community relations for Duke Energy Florida, Seixas will succeed Catherine Stempien, who is leaving at the end of February for a position outside of the company.

Seixas, 55, will lead the company's work with customers, employees, policymakers and others to advance the clean energy vision for the state, expand electrification efforts, and focus on strategic philanthropic initiatives and community relations. She will have responsibility for managing state and local regulatory and government relations across the Sunshine State.

"Melissa's many years of experience with the company have prepared her well for this important role," said Doug Esamann, executive vice president energy solutions, president Midwest and Florida Regions and natural gas business unit. "She is well-known throughout our Florida communities and will build on the great progress the team has already accomplished. She will continue to advocate for policies and practices that meet the energy needs of our customers to ensure we deliver the safe and reliable service they expect and deserve."

In her role as vice president government and community relations, Seixas directed Duke Energy Florida's efforts to strengthen relationships with local municipal, community and civic organizations, as well as business leaders throughout the company's 35-county service area. Her team worked closely with leaders to help communities achieve their energy, growth and sustainability goals.

In 1986, Seixas joined Florida Power (which later became Progress Energy and then Duke Energy) in distribution engineering. Over her 34-year career with the company, she has served in numerous roles with increasing leadership responsibilities.

Seixas holds a bachelor's degree in American history from Eckerd College and a master's degree in American history from the University of South Florida. Her executive training includes a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) certification from Johns Hopkins University, and programs with the Edison Electric Institute and Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

Seixas has a strong tradition of supporting her community. She has served on numerous boards for nonprofit and business organizations including the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and the Pinellas County Urban League, and she served as immediate past chair of the board of directors for the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership. She also has a long history of service to the University of South Florida and was honored as the 2019 recipient of the USFSP Regional Chancellor Award for Civic Leadership. She currently serves as a member of the USF St. Petersburg Campus Advisory Board and was recently appointed to the board of trustees for the University of South Florida.

"We're excited to have Melissa as the new state president as our company continues its clean energy transformation journey, and we deeply appreciate Catherine's leadership and contributions to our company. We wish her all the best," said Esamann.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S. It employs 30,000 people and has an electric generating capacity of 51,000 megawatts through its regulated utilities, and 3,000 megawatts through its nonregulated Duke Energy Renewables unit.

Duke Energy is transforming its customers' experience, modernizing the energy grid, generating cleaner energy and expanding natural gas infrastructure to create a smarter energy future for the people and communities it serves. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure unit's regulated utilities serve approximately 7.7 million retail electric customers in six states  North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to more than 1.6 million customers in five states  North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The Duke Energy Renewables unit operates wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S., as well as energy storage and microgrid projects.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2020 "World's Most Admired Companies" list, and Forbes' 2019 "America's Best Employers" list. More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Valerie Patterson

Media line: 800.559.3853

Cell: 704-577-1821

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Duke Energy

Related Links

www.duke-energy.com


Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 14:12:04|Editor: huaxia

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CANBERRA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Australia's borders could be opened sooner than expected if COVID-19 vaccines effectively prevent transmission, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

Morrison and Brendan Murphy, secretary of the Department of Health, said during a live social media event hosted by News Corp Australia on Wednesday night that opening Australia's borders was dependent on the efficacy of vaccines.

"The key thing that I think is going to impact on that decision is going to be whether the evidence emerges about transmissibility and how the vaccine protects against that," Morrison said.

"If it indeed does stop transmission between people, then that could be quite a game changer. But that will not be evident for some time yet."

Murphy said in January that border closures and the hotel quarantine system for Australians returning to the country would likely remain in place for the entirety of 2021.

However, on Wednesday night he offered hope that travel could return to normal in 2021.

"So if, as we suspect, these vaccines are effective at preventing transmission, the sooner we get the population vaccinated, the sooner people stand up. Not only will they be protected, but then we will get on this path towards good herd immunity and that will speed up the return to international travel," he said.

On Thursday, Morrison said in a statement that the government had secured an additional 10 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, meaning Australia will receive 20 million Pfizer doses in 2021.

The vaccination program "remains on track" for commencement of delivery in late February to people in the first priority group in the country, according to the prime minister. Enditem
Midlanders Jenny Cudd and Eliel Rosa have been indicted on five federal charges for their participation in riots at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, according to a grand jury indictment filed Wednesday.

Theyre each facing charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

MORE ON THE CAPITOL ATTACK: The Texas woman who took a private jet to D.C. to 'storm the Capitol' has been charged

Cudd and Rosa were previously charged with misdemeanors for entering and remaining on restricted grounds and disorderly conduct or violent entry. Grand juries are required for the indictment of felonies at the federal level.

According to the indictment, Cudd and Rosa unlawfully and knowingly entered the Capitol building with the intent to disrupt Congressional proceedings while then Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and former Vice President Mike Pence were temporarily visiting the building.

The two Midlanders traveled to Washington, D.C., together and both entered the Capitol building after riots broke out there, according to posts on Cudds since-deleted social media pages. In an excerpt of one Facebook live video that went viral on Twitter, Cudd said, We did break down Nancy Pelosis door and somebody stole her gavel. She later denied entering any lawmakers offices in news interviews.

On Monday, Cudds attorney requested permission for Cudd to travel to Mexico for a work-related bonding retreat. A judge had not yet ruled on that motion to travel as of Thursday.

During a court appearance on Jan. 21, a federal judge revoked Cudd and Rosas travel privileges outside the continental U.S. They were also ordered not to travel to Washington, D.C., unless it was related to their case and to inform pretrial services of any travel within the U.S.

Cudds attorney stated that the trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico, was booked prior to the Capitol riots and prepaid. The weekend retreat for Cudds employees and their spouses is supposed to take place from Feb. 18-21.

A court hearing scheduled for Thursday has been moved to a later date.
Bir Lehlu (Sahrawi Republic), Feb 04, 2021 (SPS) - The President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Frente POLISARIO, Mr. Brahim Gali, sent a congratulatory message to his Angolan counterpart, Mr. Joao Laurenzo, in occasion of the commemoration of the historic anniversary of the armed struggle of the Angolan people against Portuguese colonialism.

"Allow me personally and on behalf of the government and the Saharawi people, to express our most sincere congratulations on this historic anniversary of February 4, the date on which the beginning of the war of independence against colonialism is commemorated, as well as to congratulate the brother people of Angola to whom we are joined by ties of friendship and solidarity , adds the letter.

The heroic battle fought by the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) represented a fundamental factor that inspired the other African peoples, who still suffered from the colonialist yoke ", highlights the letter.

President Gali has also took advantage of to" express his gratitude to the Angolan president for the warm welcome to the Saharawi Foreign Minister and the fruitful discussions on issues of common interest at regional and continental level. " SPS

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This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
The surge of coronavirus cases after the holidays made January the deadliest month since the pandemic began in Bexar County last March, according to Metropolitan Health District records.

Officials reported about 600 COVID-19 deaths in January, which represent more than one-fourth of all deaths since the pandemic began. Even when excluding a 72-case backlog reported late in the month, January was still more deadly than any other month.

August was the second-deadliest month, when officials reported a little more than 450 deaths in the aftermath of the summer spike in cases.

Its hard to predict how long those high figures will continue, Rita Espinoza, the chief of epidemiology for Metro Health, said about the winter surge in deaths. We do know any time we see an increase in cases, which weve seen for several weeks now, that we will then see an increase in deaths.

It's really going to be hard to say how long that will last, she continued. It could be several more weeks that well see the deaths being.. at a high level.

As coronavirus cases soared higher than ever after the holidays, health officials warned that the rise in infections would eventually bring deadly consequences. Mayor Ron Nirenberg reported Wednesday that 14 more residents died of COVID-19, bringing the countys total death toll to 2,181 deaths.

Over the last 11 months, at least 1 in every 1,000 Bexar County residents have died of COVID-19.

Its important to remember that every number that we mention is a person, said County Judge Nelson Wolff. Its tragic  tragic.

Along with the grim double-digit death tolls, officials during Wednesdays daily city-county briefing did have some good news: San Antonio hospitals were caring for 1,127 COVID-19 patients, the lowest volume in five weeks and a drop of 49 since the day before.

At a height about two weeks ago, 1,520 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in San Antonio, filling up intensive care units, crowding emergency rooms and stretching health care workers thin.

Its good to see another drop in our hospitalizations tonight, Wolff said.

Of those hospitalized, 394 needed intensive care and 236 were using ventilators. This same time last week, 1,341 people were hospitalized, of whom 394 were being cared for in intensive care units and 255 relied on ventilators to breathe.

Although the strain on health care systems has eased, dozens of people afflicted with COVID-19 are hospitalized every day.

Within the last 24 hours, 121 COVID-19 patients were admitted to Bexar County hospitals.

marina.riker@express-news.net
Politicians from both political parties came together to testify to the work of God in the country and pray for reconciliation on Thursday, just like they do every week, only this time their prayers were televised on C-SPAN.

The National Prayer Breakfast represents the most public-facing display of the regular bipartisan prayer meetings that take place in each chamber of Congress. Due to the pandemic, the annual event was held virtually for the first time in history, and the politicians petitions for unity felt more critical coming less than a month after the divisive uprising at the Capitol where they work.

The recent hour-long presentation consisted of pre-recorded clips from President Joe Biden, several former presidents, and members of Congress. They appealed to Christian teachings on neighborly love and reconciliation to get the country through political divisions and the burdens of the coronavirus crisis.

For me in the darkest moments, faith provides hope and solace, said Biden, who referenced one his favorite quotes, philosopher Sren Kierkegaards line that faith sees best in the dark.

It provides clarity and purpose as well. It shows the way forward, as one nation in a common purpose: to respect one another, to care for one another, and to leave no one behind.

The president urged the country to see each otherespecially the hungry, the needy, the dyingas fellow Americans rather than as Republicans and Democrats. Other participants likewise emphasized a spirit of bipartisanship, rooted in their convictions around a common humanity before God.

The four co-chairs of the event Sen. Tim Scott, Sen. Chris Coons, Rep. John Moolenaar, and Rep. Tom Suozziconvene weekly prayer breakfasts where members of Congress share prayer requests, reflections, hymns, and their testimonies.

Our nation today more than ever needs to see a bipartisan coalition of believers, believing in America, our God, and frankly, all of you, our country, said Scott, a Republican and evangelical from South Carolina.

Every president since Dwight Eisenhower has attended the National Prayer Breakfast, put on by the Fellowship Foundation, also called the Fellowship or the Family. The Christian organization brings together Capitol Hill influencers for prayer and fellowship outside the constraints of political obligations. (The National Prayer Breakfast is not the same as the National Day of Prayer, which is acknowledged every May by presidential proclamation, or the Easter Prayer Breakfast, a White House tradition President Barack Obama began in 2010.)

Coons, a lifelong Presbyterian with a degree from Yale Divinity School, said the National Prayer Breakfast recognizes the teachings of Jesus but is not limited to Christianity. Nearly 9 in 10 members of Congress (88%) identify with a Christian tradition, compared to 65 percent of the country overall.

Some have scrutinized the Fellowship Foundation over the years for its secrecy and raised concerns after last years National Prayer Breakfast turned political, with former President Donald Trump touting his acquittal during his remarks.

Its the second year in a row that the event fell the same week as impeachment proceedings. In 2020, Senate chaplain Barry Black told CT that even during politically challenging seasons, like impeachment trials or government shutdowns, members of Congress continue to unite in prayer.

I see God at work in the fact that every week senators come together for a prayer breakfast, the chaplain said. I see God at work when I see every week senators coming to a Bible study, again both sides of the aisle.  As chaotic as things may seem sometimes, I see God at work in the level of civility that we somehow seem to manage in spite of how polarized our nation is.

The gatherings have continued virtually during the pandemic.

Its a different way to do it, but the same faithful God who is at work around us and through us, said Sen. James Lankford, a Republican and Baptist minister from Oklahoma. He read from 2 Corinthians 5, likening Christian politicians to those in the early church charged as Christs ambassadors, entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation.

Help us to be reconciled. Help us to see each other as you see us, Lankford prayed. Give us unity through the challenges to be able to answer the hard questions that we have to face together.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York mentioned how much she missed in-person worship and singing, calling it one of the hardest impacts of COVID-19 and saying, This prayer breakfast gives us a chance to share in that national fellowship.

Suozzi, a fellow New York Democrat, said the event brought participants together to remember the call to to love their neighbors and their enemies, one of the biggest challenges we have right now.

Thursday mornings presentation included historical clips spanning from Ronald Reagan in 1984 to Trump in 2017, as well as new statements from former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

Prayer is the language of reconciliation, Bush said. It has the vocabulary of grace, love, and peace our nation needs to move forward together.

AUSTIN, TX / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / Thermon Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:THR) ("Thermon"), a global leader in industrial process heating solutions, today announced consolidated financial results for the third quarter ("Q3 2021") of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021 ("Fiscal 2021"). Key highlights for Q3 2021 include:

Revenue of $79.6 million

Income from Operations of $10.2 million and Net Income of $6.2 million

Fully diluted GAAP earnings per share ("EPS") of $0.18

Non-GAAP Adjusted EPS of $0.30

Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA of $18.5 million, or 23.3% of revenue

Generated cash provided by operating activities of $2.9 million

Completed additional debt repayment of $5.6 million

"I am pleased with the solid execution by our team in an uncertain environment, delivering a strong quarter of profit and positive cash flow. We have seen accelerating interest in our industry leading Genesis Network mesh control and monitoring technology since its launch last quarter, and we continue to invest in other exciting new technologies through our R&D program. Our teams have executed the previously announced continuous improvement and restructuring programs, resulting in gross profit margin expansion of 310 basis points to 46.4% and Adjusted EBITDA margins of 23.3% - the highest in any quarter since December 2017. We expect our customer's capital spending levels to remain depressed in the near term, but have observed positive trends in maintenance spending in recent months. In the long-term, we will drive value creation for our shareholders by delivering industry leading technology and safety while continuing to manage our overall cost structure for the level of incoming business," said Bruce Thames, Thermon's President and Chief Executive Officer.

During Q3 2021, the Company generated revenue of $79.6 million versus $100.5 million in Q3 2020, a decrease of $20.9 million, or 21%. During Q3 2021, new facility construction (or "Greenfield") and facility maintenance, repair and operations and upgrade or expansion (or "MRO/UE") activity from our legacy heat tracing business accounted for 38% and 62% of revenue, respectively, which compares to 38% and 62%, respectively, in Q3 2020. Gross margin during Q3 2021 was 46.4%, as compared to 43.3% in Q3 2020.

Q3 2021 total orders were $71.0 million versus $99.0 million in Q3 2020, a decrease of $28.0 million, or 28%. Q3 2021 backlog of $110.1 million represents a $7.6 million increase, or 7%, as compared to Q3 2020 backlog of $102.5 million.

Q3 2021 net income attributable to Thermon and EPS were $6.2 million and $0.18, respectively, compared to net income and EPS of $6.5 million and $0.20, respectively, in Q3 2020. After taking into account the impact of restructuring, the benefit from the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (the "CEWS") and intangible amortization related to prior acquisition activities (see table, Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Thermon to Adjusted Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted EPS), the Company generated an Adjusted Net Income in Q3 2021 of $10.0 million and Adjusted EPS of $0.30 compared to $9.5 million and $0.28, respectively, in Q3 2020.

Adjusted EBITDA was $18.5 million in Q3 2021 as compared to $20.9 million in Q3 2020, a decrease of $2.4 million, or 11% (see table, Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Thermon to Adjusted EBITDA).

During the first nine months of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021 ("YTD 2021"), the Company generated revenue of $202.9 million compared to $295.1 million in the first nine months of the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 ("YTD 2020"), a decrease of $92.2 million, or 31%.

YTD 2021 orders were $207.4 million compared to $274.9 million in YTD 2020, a decrease of $67.5 million, or 25%.

YTD 2021 Net Income (Loss) attributable to Thermon and EPS were $1.9 million and $0.06, respectively, compared to $14.9 million and $0.45 in YTD 2020. After taking into account the impact of restructuring, the benefit from the CEWS and intangible amortization (see table, Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Thermon to Adjusted Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted EPS), the Company generated Adjusted Net Income in YTD 2021 of $10.3 million and Adjusted EPS of $0.31 compared to $23.8 million and $0.72, respectively, during YTD 2020. Adjusted EBITDA was $30.4 million in YTD 2021 as compared to $55.0 million in YTD 2020, a decrease of $24.6 million, or 45%.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $169.1 million of gross outstanding debt and $49.6 million of cash and cash equivalents, representing net debt of $119.5 million. Based on the trailing twelve month Adjusted EBITDA of the Company, our net debt to trailing twelve month Adjusted EBITDA ratio was 3.0x as of December 31, 2020.

Outlook

Despite the uncertain global economic conditions, we are re-instituting revenue guidance and estimate our revenue for the quarter ending March 31, 2021 will be approximately $69-76 million. We will prioritize our capital allocation towards additional debt reduction in the near term, and target a Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio of 1.5x - 2.0x under normal conditions.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

Thermon's senior management team, including Bruce Thames, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Jay Peterson, Chief Financial Officer, will discuss Q3 2021 results during a conference call today at 10:00 a.m. (Central Time), which will be simultaneously webcast on Thermon's investor relations website located at http://ir.thermon.com. Investment community professionals interested in participating in the question-and-answer session may access the call by dialing (877) 407-5976 from within the United States/Canada and (412) 902-0031 from outside of the United States/Canada. A replay of the webcast will be available on Thermon's investor relations website after the conclusion of the call.

About Thermon

Through its global network, Thermon provides safe, reliable and mission critical industrial process heating solutions. Thermon specializes in providing complete flow assurance, process heating, temperature maintenance, freeze protection and environmental monitoring solutions. Thermon is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit www.thermon.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Disclosure in this release of "Adjusted EPS," "Adjusted EBITDA,", "Adjusted EBITDA margin" and "Adjusted Net Income (Loss)" which are "non-GAAP financial measures" as defined under the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), are intended as supplemental measures of our financial performance that are not required by, or presented in accordance with, U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). "Adjusted Net Income" and "Adjusted EPS" (or "Adjusted fully diluted EPS") represent net income attributable to Thermon before costs related to restructuring, the benefit from the CEWS, costs related to the consolidation of our operating footprint in Canada, amortization of intangible assets, and the income tax effect on any non-tax adjustments, per fully-diluted common share in the case of Adjusted EPS. "Adjusted EBITDA" represents net income attributable to Thermon before interest expense (net of interest income), income tax expense, depreciation and amortization expense, stock-based compensation expense, income attributable to non-controlling interests, costs related to restructuring, the benefit from the CEWS and costs related to the consolidation of our operating footprint in Canada. "Free Cash Flow" represents cash provided by operating activities less cash used for the purchase of property, plant and equipment, net of sales of rental equipment and proceeds from sales of land and buildings.

We believe these non-GAAP financial measures are meaningful to our investors to enhance their understanding of our financial performance and are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties to compare our performance with the performance of other companies that report Adjusted EPS, Adjusted EBITDA, or Adjusted Net Income (Loss). Adjusted EPS, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income (Loss) should be considered in addition to, not as substitutes for, income from operations, net income, net income per share and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP. We provide Free Cash Flow as a measure of our liquidity. Our calculation of Adjusted EPS, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Free Cash Flow may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. For a description of how Adjusted EPS, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, and Free Cash Flow are calculated and reconciliations to the corresponding GAAP measures, see the sections of this release titled "Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) attributable to Thermon to Adjusted EBITDA," "Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) attributable to Thermon to Adjusted Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted EPS" and "Reconciliation of Cash Provided by Operating Activities to Free Cash Flow."

Forward-Looking Statements

This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws in addition to historical information. These forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding our industry, business strategy, plans, goals and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, capital expenditures, liquidity and capital resources and other financial and operating information. When used herein, the words "anticipate," "assume," "believe," "budget," "continue," "contemplate," "could," "should" "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "will," "would," "future," and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking statements in this release. Forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations regarding future events, results or outcomes. These expectations may or may not be realized. Some of these expectations may be based upon assumptions, data or judgments that prove to be incorrect. In addition, our business and operations involve numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could result in our expectations not being realized or otherwise materially affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Actual events, results and outcomes may differ materially from our expectations due to a variety of factors. Although it is not possible to identify all of these factors, they include, among others, (i) the outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19); (ii) general economic conditions and cyclicality in the markets we serve; (iii) future growth of energy, chemical processing and power generation capital investments; (iv) our ability to operate successfully in foreign countries; (v) our ability to deliver existing orders within our backlog; (vi) our ability to effectively integrate Thermon Heating Systems product lines into our existing sales and market channels; (vii) the imposition of certain operating and financial restrictions contained in our debt agreements; (viii) tax liabilities and changes to tax policy; (ix) our ability to bid and win new contracts; (x) our ability to successfully develop and improve our products and successfully implement new technologies; (xi) competition from various other sources providing similar heat tracing and process heating products and services, or alternative technologies, to customers; (xii) our revenue mix; (xiii) our ability to acquire smaller value added companies; (xiv) changes in relevant currency exchange rates; (xv) impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets; (xvi) our ability to attract and retain qualified management and employees, particularly in our overseas markets; (xvii) our ability to protect our trade secrets; (xviii) our ability to protect our intellectual property; (xix) our ability to protect data and thwart potential cyber-attacks; (xx) a material disruption at any of our manufacturing facilities; (xxi) our dependence on subcontractors and third-party suppliers; (xxii) our ability to profit on fixed-price contracts; (xxiii) our ability to achieve our operational initiatives; (xxiv) potential liability related to our products as well as the delivery of products and services; (xxv) our ability to comply with foreign anti-corruption laws; (xxvi) export control regulations or sanctions; (xxvii) changes in U.S. and foreign government administrative policy; (xxviii) geopolitical instability in Russia and Ukraine and related sanctions by the U.S. government; (xxix) our ability to comply with the complex and dynamic system of laws and regulations applicable to domestic and international operations, including U.S. government tariffs; (xxx) environmental and health and safety laws and regulations as well as environmental liabilities; (xxxi) climate change and related regulation of greenhouse gases; and (xxxii) those factors listed under Item 1A "Risk Factors" included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on June 1, 2020 and in any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K or other filings that we have filed or may file with the SEC. Any one or a combination of these factors could materially affect our future results of operations and could influence whether any forward-looking statements contained in this release ultimately prove to be accurate.

Our forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results and future performance may differ materially from those suggested in any forward-looking statements. We do not intend to update these statements unless we are required to do so under applicable securities laws.

CONTACT:

Kevin Fox

(512) 690-0600

Investor.Relations@thermon.com

Thermon Group Holdings, Inc. and Subsidiaries

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Selected Balance Sheet Data

(Unaudited, in Thousands except per share amounts)

Three Months Ended Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended Nine Months Ended December 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 December 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 Sales $ 79,604 $ 100,468 $ 202,858 $ 295,115 Cost of sales 42,644 56,988 112,848 169,061 Gross profit 36,960 43,480 90,010 126,054 Operating expenses: Marketing, general and administrative and engineering 20,452 25,226 64,681 78,732 Stock compensation expense 430 1,328 2,921 3,670 Restructuring and other charges 3,783 - 8,692 - Amortization of intangible assets 2,135 4,460 7,265 13,354 Income from operations 10,160 12,466 6,451 30,298 Interest income and expense, net (2,176 ) (2,834 ) (6,631 ) (9,569 ) Debt cost amortization (257 ) (704 ) (773 ) (1,574 ) Interest expense, net (2,433 ) (3,538 ) (7,404 ) (11,143 ) Other income (expense) 874 (62 ) 2,188 (1 ) Income before provision for taxes 8,601 8,866 1,235 19,154 Income tax expense (benefit) 2,426 2,344 (693 ) 4,250 Net Income (Loss) 6,175 6,522 1,928 14,904 Income attributable to non-controlling interests - - - (2 ) Net Income (Loss) attributable to Thermon 6,175 6,522 1,928 14,906 Net income (loss) per common share: Basic income (loss) per share $ 0.19 $ 0.20 $ 0.06 $ 0.46 Diluted income (loss) per share $ 0.18 $ 0.20 $ 0.06 $ 0.45 Weighted-average shares used in computing Net Income (Loss) per common share: Basic common shares 33,181 32,786 33,111 32,716 Fully-diluted common shares 33,420 33,259 33,234 33,125

December 31, 2020 (unaudited) March 31, 2020 Cash and cash equivalents $ 49,617 $ 43,237 Total debt (principal amount) 169,125 176,000 Total equity 379,582 346,439

Thermon Group Holdings, Inc. and Subsidiaries

Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Thermon to Adjusted EBITDA

(Unaudited, in Thousands)

Three

Months

Ended

December 31, 2020 Three

Months

Ended

December 31, 2019 Nine

Months

Ended

December 31, 2020 Nine

Months

Ended

December 31, 2019 GAAP Net Income (Loss) attributable to Thermon $ 6,175 $ 6,522 $ 1,928 $ 14,906 Interest expense, net 2,433 3,538 7,404 11,143 Income tax expense (benefit) 2,426 2,344 (693 ) 4,250 Depreciation and amortization expense 4,974 7,123 15,617 21,079 EBITDA (non-GAAP) $ 16,008 $ 19,527 $ 24,256 $ 51,378 Stock compensation expense 430 1,328 2,921 3,670 Restructuring and other charges/(income) 3,783 - 8,692 - Income (loss) attributable to non-controlling interests - - - (2 ) Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (1,700 ) - (5,505 ) - Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP) $ 18,521 $ 20,855 $ 30,364 $ 55,046 Adjusted EBITDA margin 23.3 % 20.8 % 15.0 % 18.7 %

Thermon Group Holdings, Inc. and Subsidiaries

Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Thermon to Adjusted Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted EPS

(Unaudited, in Thousands except per share amounts)

Three

Months

Ended

December 31, 2020 Three

Months

Ended

December 31, 2019 Nine

Months

Ended

December 31, 2020 Nine

Months

Ended

December 31, 2019 Adjustment to: GAAP Net Income (Loss) attributable to Thermon $ 6,175 $ 6,522 $ 1,928 $ 14,906 Restructuring and other charges/(income) 3,783 - 8,692 - Operating expense Amortization of intangible assets 2,135 4,460 7,265 13,354 Intangible amortization Tax benefit for impact of foreign rate reductions - (447 ) - (1,231 ) Tax benefit Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (1,700 ) - (5,505 ) - Cost of Sales and Operating expense Tax effect of adjustments (443 ) (1,070 ) (2,094 ) (3,205 ) Adjusted Net Income (Loss) (non-GAAP) $ 9,950 $ 9,465 $ 10,286 $ 23,824 Adjusted fully diluted earnings per common share (adjusted EPS) (non-GAAP) $ 0.30 $ 0.28 $ 0.31 $ 0.72 Fully-diluted common shares 33,420 33,259 33,234 33,125

Thermon Group Holdings, Inc. and Subsidiaries

Reconciliation of Cash Provided by Operating Activities to Free Cash Flow

(Unaudited, in Thousands)

Three

Months

Ended

December 31, 2020 Three

Months

Ended

December 31, 2019 Nine

Months

Ended

December 31, 2020 Nine

Months

Ended

December 31, 2019 Cash provided by operating activities $ 2,875 $ 22,305 $ 15,479 $ 52,355 Less: Cash used for purchases of property, plant and equipment (576 ) (2,862 ) (4,708 ) (6,701 ) Plus: Sale of rental equipment 28 226 65 371 Plus: Proceeds from sales of land and buildings - 242 - 242 Free cash flow provided (non-GAAP) $ 2,327 $ 19,911 $ 10,836 $ 46,267

SOURCE: Thermon Group Holdings, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627823/Thermon-Reports-Third-Quarter-Fiscal-2021-Results
China, Russia, Turkey and Iran are some of the worlds authoritarian countries that have increasingly spread political repression abroad with little consequence, according to a report released Thursday.



Freedom House, a Washington-based democracy advocacy group, identified authoritarian nations that have resorted to tactics in recent years to murder and intimidate critics living outside their borders.



Titled Out of Sight, Not Out of Reach, the report said there have been at least 608 acts of physical repression against individuals since 2014 in 79 countries, including the United States. About 3.5 million people were affected by direct or secondary attacks in that time span, the report said.



China was the worst offender, conducting the most sophisticated, global and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world, said Freedom House.



China deployed a wide range of tactics against dissidents abroad, including Uighurs, Han Chinese, Tibetans and Falun Gong adherents, according to the report. Bejing also kidnapped exiled activists such as Gui Minhai, a bookseller of Swedish nationality who was relocated back to China from Thailand in 2015.



Turkey ranked a close second in the use of transnational repression, particularly after the July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The report said Turkey engaged in murders, interstate extraditions, physical threats and mobility controls such as passport cancellations and denial of consular assistance.



The report said Russia engaged in highly aggressive acts of repression abroad by heavily relying on assassinations of people deemed as threats by the Russian government.



The Kremlins repression campaign resulted in seven of 26 assassinations or assassination attempts identified worldwide by Freedom House between 2014 and 2020.

The report said Iran expanded its covert campaign of assassinations abroad and harassment of political opponents and dissidents. It linked Iran to five assassinations or assassination attempts in three countries and said at least two assassination plans were thwarted. Among Irans targets were journalists and dissidents that authorities frequently called terrorists.



In addition to Pakistan and Azerbaijan, all five Central Asian republics  Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan  also targeted their nationals abroad with tactics such as assaults and detentions, according to the report. Saudi Arabia, Rwanda and Thailand were also cited for concerted campaigns against their nationals abroad.



A dozen countries, including China, Russia and Turkey, began using criminal listings from the International Criminal Police Organization to suppress individuals. The countries placed names on Interpols criminal watch lists, while the agency had little capacity to validate them, the report said.



The report focused primarily on countries the group said methodically targeted relatively large numbers of dissidents and acted with increasing impunity due to the lack of consequences.



Freedom House did not explore U.S. treatment of its dissidents in other countries such as Edward Snowden, who was granted temporary asylum in Russia in 2013 after leaking secret U.S. intelligence. In 2020, he was granted permanent residency in Russia.



Snowden has not complained of the types of treatment other activists have received from their home countries.


The current measures will remain in effect at least until April 30.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said quarantine curbs in the country will continue after April.

"We will have the quarantine until April 30, but this, unfortunately, is not the final date when it is lifted. It will most likely continue in one form or another, perhaps with easing, perhaps it will be adaptive," he said at an EBA Global Outlook 2021: the Year of Big Questions meeting with businesses.

Read alsoCOVID-19: Over 5,000 new active cases reported as of Feb 4Shmyhal says he expects Ukraine will overcome the coronavirus epidemic this year.

"We are still at the stage of fighting the coronavirus. We expect to win this year, and April will be decisive for our moving forward," he said.

On February 3, Shmyhal said the Cabinet of Ministers, Ukraine's government, would decide on re-imposing an adaptive quarantine in the coming days.

Adaptive quarantine in Ukraine

The adaptive quarantine was first introduced on August 1. Ukrainian regions were split into the red, green, orange zones depending on hospital bed occupancy rates, the average number of PCR and ELISA tests, the incidence of COVID-19 cases, and daily spread dynamics.

Quarantine-related curbs differed in each zone. The mildest ones were in the green zone, while the regions included in the red zone had to introduce the toughest restrictive measures.

Reporting by UNIAN
A tool can help emergency physicians predict which patients with mini-strokes are at greatest risk of having a major stroke within the week, according to a validation study led by Dr. Jeffrey Perry, emergency physician and senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa. Credit: The Ottawa Hospital

A made-in-Ottawa tool can help emergency physicians predict which patients with mini-strokes are at greatest risk of having a major stroke within the week, according to a study published in The BMJ.

"Mini-strokes can be a warning that a larger stroke is coming," said, emergency physician and senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa. "Thankfully, we're very good at preventing subsequent strokes if patients come to the emergency department promptly."

A mini-stroke, or transient ischemic attack (TIA), is a temporary blockage of the brain's blood supply. The symptoms are similar to strokedrooping face, weakness in the arm or leg, loss of vision, and slurred or jumbled speech. Unlike a stroke, symptoms usually last minutes to hours, and do not cause permanent damage.

If a TIA is not treated, there is up to a 1 in 10 chance of having a subsequent stroke. The risk is greatest in the first week.

"TIA or mini-strokes are quite commonwe see one to two patients a day at The Ottawa Hospital emergency departments," said Dr. Perry. "We developed the Canadian TIA Score to help us better identify who is at greatest risk of stroke and needs care most urgently. On the flip side, it also helps us gives patients at low risk some peace of mind."

The Canadian TIA Score uses thirteen pieces of information collected in the emergency department to categorize patients as being at low (less than 0.5 percent), medium (2.3 percent), or high (6 percent) risk of having a stroke within the week.

"For high-risk patients we do absolutely everything we can while they are in the ED, including diagnostic imaging, starting treatment and bringing in a neurologist," said Dr. Perry. "For medium-risk patients, we do similar things but refer them to a stroke prevention clinic, where they can see a neurologist in a day or two. Low-risk patients can safely start their treatment as a neurology outpatient or with their family doctor."

The tool was validated in 13 Canadian emergency departments over five years. Of the 7,607 patients enrolled who had TIA or a minor stroke, 17 percent (1,293) were categorized as low risk, 71 percent (5,400) were categorized as medium risk and 13 percent (989) were categorized as high risk.

Overall, 108 patients (1.4 percent) in the study had a subsequent stroke within the week, while 83 (1.1 percent) had surgery to improve blood flow in their neck to prevent a stroke. This low rate of stroke is testament to the preventative care provided in the ED.

The study showed the Canadian TIA Score accurately categorized patients into the three risk groups, and performed significantly better than the existing ABCD2 score. That score only categorizes TIA patients as being at low or high risk of a stroke, which is not always helpful to physicians.

"The Canadian TIA Score can now be safety used in emergency departments, where it can help physicians make the best care decisions for patients with mini-strokes," said Dr. Perry.

The Canadian TIA Score can help ensure that patients like Peter Nephin are prioritized for urgent care. In 2020, the avid cyclist felt a persistent tingling in his right arm while reading at the cottage. When his wife noticed he had a new speech impediment, they rushed to the local emergency department. They were sent to The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, the regional stroke centre, where imaging showed a 55 percent blockage and a blood clot in one of Peter's neck arteries. He stayed in hospital for a few days, where he received blood thinners to get rid of the clot and surgery to remove the blockage.

"It was a scary time, but the staff at the hospital help calm you down. I felt like I was being well looked after -they had my life in their hands," said Peter, who is now in good health with no lingering effects from the TIA.

TIA is a medical emergency. Anyone who experiences symptoms should call 911 or have someone drive them to an emergency department if their symptoms have fully resolved.

"Three quarters of the patients in our study said this was their first mini-stroke, and over a third arrived by ambulance" said Dr. Perry. "It's a reminder that you should always take stroke symptoms seriously, even if they seem to pass quickly."

The Canadian TIA Score is available online and through The Ottawa Rules app.

Explore further US hospital admissions for stroke fell by almost a third during lockdown

More information: Prospective validation of Canadian TIA Score and comparison with ABCD2 and ABCD2i for subsequent stroke risk after transient ischaemic attack: multicentre prospective cohort study. Jeffrey J Perry, Marco L A Sivilotti, Marcel Emond, Ian G Stiell, Grant Stotts, Jacques Lee, Andrew Worster, Judy Morris, Ka Wai Cheung, Albert Y Jin, Wieslaw J Oczkowski, Demetrios J Sahlas, Heather E Murray, Ariane Mackey, Steve Verreault, Marie-Christine Camden, Samuel Yip, Philip Teal, David J Gladstone, Mark I Boulos, Nicolas Chagnon, Elizabeth Shouldice, Clare Atzema, Tarik Slaoui, Jeanne Teitlebaum, Kasim Abdulaziz, Marie-Joe Nemnom, George A Wells, Mukul Sharma. The BMJ. Feb 3, 2021. Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ) Prospective validation of Canadian TIA Score and comparison with ABCD2 and ABCD2i for subsequent stroke risk after transient ischaemic attack: multicentre prospective cohort study. Jeffrey J Perry, Marco L A Sivilotti, Marcel Emond, Ian G Stiell, Grant Stotts, Jacques Lee, Andrew Worster, Judy Morris, Ka Wai Cheung, Albert Y Jin, Wieslaw J Oczkowski, Demetrios J Sahlas, Heather E Murray, Ariane Mackey, Steve Verreault, Marie-Christine Camden, Samuel Yip, Philip Teal, David J Gladstone, Mark I Boulos, Nicolas Chagnon, Elizabeth Shouldice, Clare Atzema, Tarik Slaoui, Jeanne Teitlebaum, Kasim Abdulaziz, Marie-Joe Nemnom, George A Wells, Mukul Sharma. The. Feb 3, 2021.

Provided by The Ottawa Hospital

Drucker + Falk's Lumen Apartments in Hampton, VA - Recognized by J Turner Research in Elite 1% for Online Reputation Our residents satisfaction is a major driving force for our business.

Leading apartment industry research firm, J Turner Research, has announced the 2020 Elite 1% Online Reputation Assessment (ORA) Power Ranking of properties with the best online reputation in the nation as determined based on individual ORA scores. The research firm partners with Multifamily Executive to publish the ORA Power Ranking, evaluating top properties and management companies in the U.S. based on their ORA scores, a cumulative compilation of a propertys ratings across multiple review sites. The online ratings of more than 122,000 properties are monitored and analyzed nationwide, and properties are assigned a score of 0-100. This score aids in comparing properties and portfolios against one another and serves as a reference point for local, regional, and national competition.

In the seventh annual 2020 Elite 1% ORA Power Ranking, 1,303 properties made it to the ORA Elite club (only 12 more than last year). Of those 1,300 plus apartment communities, 12 Drucker + Falk (DF) Multifamily communities made the list with an ORA score of 90% or higher.

Drucker + Falk, a best in-class multifamily management organization and full-service real estate and investment firm, is proud to be recognized in the Elite 1% again this year for twelve communities, spanning three states. DF Multifamily currently manages apartment homes in 13 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

See below for the 12 Drucker + Falk - managed apartment communities on the Elite 1% list:

The Crossings at Red Mill Apartments | Virginia Beach, VA

Venture Apartments iN Tech Center | Newport News, VA

Sapphire at Centerpointe | Midlothian, VA

The Chapman Apartments | Hampton, VA

Logans Landing Apartment Homes | Lynchburg, VA

Lumen | Hampton, VA

The Choices at Holland Windsor | Virginia Beach, VA

Haygood Halls | Virginia Beach, VA

The Charleston | Columbus, OH

The Lincoln Apartments | Raleigh, NC

The Chase Apartments | Burlington, NC

AXIS at PTC | Hampton, VA

Tarra Secrest, Director of Marketing + Property Development for Drucker + Falk, said, Our residents satisfaction is a major driving force for our business. We find their feedback to be essential in everything we do and having multiple DF communities named to the ORA Power Ranking list each year is a testament to the daily efforts of our on-site teams to create positive experiences for each and every one of our residents.

ABOUT DRUCKER + FALK

Founded in 1938, Drucker + Falk is a full-service real estate and investment firm managing a diverse portfolio of nearly 40,000 apartment homes and approximately 3,000,000 square feet of office, retail and industrial space in 13 states. In addition to managing a broad range of properties, including class A+ to affordable apartment communities, mixed-use and all types of commercial properties, Drucker + Falk partners with clients on developing new properties, renovating and repositioning assets, converting historic properties to unique, upscale apartment homes and offers commercial leasing and sales services.

ABOUT ORA POWER RANKINGS

Developed by J Turner Research, the ORA Power Rankings are a monthly, independent ranking of apartment properties and management companies based on their Online Reputation Assessment (ORA) scores. A property or management company is not required to be a J Turner Research client to qualify for this ranking, which is published by J Turners media partner Multifamily Executive. To learn more or to request your ORA score, visit http://www.jturnerresearch.com/about/what-is-ora-score.


Source: Reuters

Technology giant Apple is nearing a deal with South Korean automakers Hyundai-Kia to manufacture autonomous electric vehicles under the Apple brand name.

The "Apple Car" will be manufactured at the Kia assembly plant in Georgia, United States, CNBC reported.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story.

Spokespersons for both Apple and Hyundai-Kia declined comment when reached by CNBC.

Also read: Apple's self-driving car is at least 5-7 years away, but work seems to be ramping up

The companies have not yet finalised a deal and Apple might also decide to tie-up with another automaker either separately or with Hyundai, the report said.

"I doubt Hyundai is the only automaker they could strike a deal with, there could be somebody else," a source told the news channel.

Some media reports suggested a 2024 rollout of the passenger vehicle but CNBC reported that this could be pushed.

Reuters had in December reported that Apple is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is aiming for production of a passenger vehicle in 2024. The vehicle could include Apple's own battery technology.

One media report also suggested that Apple is planning to invest $3.6 billion in Kia Motors , which is an affiliate of Hyundai.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dalan Animal Health, a pioneer in insect vaccination, announced today the issuance of a Notice of Allowance for U.S. Patent Application 15/747,252 "Edible Vaccination Against Microbial Pathogens." The original technology was developed at the University of Helsinki, Finland, by Dr. Dalial Freitak and Dr. Heli Salmela. It was assigned to Dalan Animal Health in 2020 as part of a license agreement with the University of Helsinki. The patent application covers preventing American Foulbrood disease in honeybees by orally administering a vaccine to the queen bee. American Foulbrood is a highly contagious disease that is threatening hives around the world.

Honeybees are used commercially at large scale and play a critical role in the world's food supply chain. Disease outbreaks in honeybees are endangering food security globally. Vaccination is already the most effective strategy for disease prevention and containment in other livestock species. In contrast to chemical containment or antibiotic use, vaccination is also a safer, less labor intensive, and sustainable and effective strategy in organic agriculture. Dalan's technology has shown to convey significant protection against disease.

"We are very excited about this Notice of Allowance. It brings our company one big step closer to offering sustainable solutions to saving the world's honeybees," says Annette Kleiser, Dalan's Chief Executive Officer. "Dr. Freitak and her colleagues have created a true breakthrough, something agriculture has needed for a long time."

About Dalan Animal Health

Dalan Animal Health is a leading insect health company dedicated to providing sustainable solutions to ensure safe food supply. We discover and develop insect vaccines. For more information, please visit www.dalan.com

SOURCE Dalan Animal Health
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V Purushotham Naidu and Padmaja, the lecturer-couple who are charged with killing their two daughters have been shifted from Madanapalle sub-jail to a state-run mental hospital in Visakhapatnam according to TOI.

TOI

Government psychiatrists at Madanapalle and SVRR government hospital in Tirupati said both husband and wife are suffering from delusions and require a comprehensive analysis of their mental state with a psychologist present.

They also advised that the couple needed the care of a custodian.

Twitter

Following the advice of the psychiatrists, the sub-jail authorities made arrangements to shift Naidu and Padmaja to Visakhapatnam in a police van guarded by armed reserve cops.

Meanwhile, police are awaiting the post-mortem reports of the two girls.


A suburban Des Moines, Iowa, insurance agent has been charged with multiple felony counts after state officials say he collected thousands of dollars in premiums for nonexistent insurance policies after his license was revoked.

The Iowa Insurance Division said Adam Hocking, 35, who owns Adam Hocking & Associates in Windsor Heights, has been charged with insurance fraud, theft, fraudulent sales practices and forgery.

Hocking actively engaged in the business of insurance after his license had been revoked for a period of five years in October, the divisions fraud bureau said in a news release. Officials said he also created fictitious insurance policies and collected insurance premiums on them. Prosecutors said that led victims to believe they had valid insurance coverage, only to find out they had no coverage when they attempted to file loss claims.

Hocking was previously arrested in November 2020 on similar charges. He was arrested in West Des Moines on Nov. 6, 2020, booked into the Polk County Jail, and released after paying a $27,000 bond.

Hocking was arrested on the new charges on Jan. 19 and was released after posting a $25,000 bond. A trial date has not been set.

A phone message left for Hocking was not immediately returned.

Related:

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Agencies Fraud Abuse Molestation Iowa
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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
A Lancaster man who admitted last year to sexually abusing children at a Kenyan orphanage his family founded was sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Edward G. Smith sentenced 61-year-old Gregory Dow to 15 years and eight months in prison. He must also pay $16,000 in restitution and live under supervised release for the rest of his life, the judge said.

In June 2020, Dow pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting four children who lived at an orphanage he and his family founded in 2008. Dow Family Childrens Home, was located near Boito, Kenya, and was operational for nearly a decade, federal prosecutors said.

Dow fled Kenya for Lancaster County in 2017 after sexual abuse accusations were made against him, prosecutors said.

FBI investigators learned Dow  who claimed to be a Christian missionary and asked to be called Dad  abused at least four teenage Kenyan girls between October 2013 and September 2017, prosecutors said. They said two of the girls were 11 years old when the abuse began.

Instead of being a father figure, he preyed on their youth and vulnerability, said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams.

Dows wife personally took the girls to a health clinic to have birth control devices put in their arms, authorities said. This helped Dow commit the abuse without fear of impregnating his victims, prosecutors said.

FBI Special Agent Michael J. Driscoll described Dow as a wolf in sheeps clothing who betrayed an entire communitys trust.

Under the guise of faith-based charity work benefiting orphaned children, Gregory Dow traveled halfway around the world to prey on incredibly vulnerable victims, Williams said. His crimes are nearly incomprehensible in their depravity. We thank the witnesses in this case for coming forward to report him, and our law enforcement partners in the United States and in Kenya for working diligently to bring him to justice. It is no exaggeration to say that the worlds children are safer with Dow behind bars.

READ MORE: Driver who fell asleep before killing construction worker charged with vehicular homicide: police

Neighbors saw, reported problems before parents were charged with abusing 5 kids
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is investigating whether certain officers and/or directors of SolarWinds Corporation (SolarWinds or the Company) (NYSE: SWI) breached their fiduciary duties to SolarWinds and the Companys shareholders.



The investigation concerns whether certain officers and/or directors of SolarWinds, among other things, mismanaged the Companys cybersecurity risks, including a cyberattack on the Companys systems, the disclosure of which resulted in an approximate decline of 40% of the value of SolarWinds stock shares.

If you have held SolarWinds stock continuously since September 2019 and wish to discuss Kehoe Law Firms investigation or have questions about your potential legal rights, please contact Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, myarnoff@kehoelawfirm.com, info@kehoelawfirm.com, securities@kehoelawfirm.com, to learn more about the investigation or potential legal claims.

Kehoe Law Firm, P.C., with offices in New York and Philadelphia, is a multidisciplinary, plaintiffside law firm dedicated to protecting investors from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duties, and corporate misconduct. Combined, the partners at Kehoe Law Firm have served as Lead Counsel or Co-Lead Counsel in cases that have recovered more than $10 billion dollars on behalf of institutional and individual investors.

This notice may constitute attorney advertising.

This bill would impose targeted sanctions against Russian officials complicit in brazen violations of international law including the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny, the statement said.  Source: US senators introduce bill on sanctions against Russia over Navalny  World  TASS

Well that was predictable.next stop? End the Nord 2!

WtR

PS: I do find the US Hypocrisy interesting. I find the USA lacking in High Ground in everything anymore!
As a result of a fire in Zaporizhia Regional Infectious Diseases Clinical Hospital, which broke out on Thursday night, four people died  a doctor and three patients, two more were injured, Head of Zaporizhia Regional State Administration Oleksandr Starukh said.

"On February 3 at 23:25 in the city of Zaporizhia on 142 Hvardiysky Boulevard, on the territory of the Regional Infectious Diseases Clinical Hospital of Zaporizhia regional council, a fire broke out on the first floor of the five-story building of the medical facility. As a result of the fire, four people died and two people were injured," the State Emergency Service of Zaporizhia said on the website on Thursday night.

According to a correspondent of Interfax-Ukraine, the fire broke out in one of the intensive care wards, located on the first floor of the multi-storey building of Zaporizhia Regional Clinical Hospital.

Starukh, who arrived at the scene, told journalists that a woman, a doctor born in 1994, had died and three patients who underwent mechanical ventilation during the fire.

The press service of the State Emergency Service in Zaporizhia region said the 101 Rescue Service received information about the fire in the medical facility on February 3 at 23:25, and already at 00:19 on February 4, the fire on an area of 20 square meters was eliminated.

During search and rescue operations, firefighters found the bodies of four people, including one medical worker.

It is known that firefighters managed to evacuate eight more people from the source of the fire, two of them were hospitalized.

For rescuers who were in contact with patients, sanitization was carried out at a disinfection post established on the territory of the hospital.

Some 60 firefighters and 16 units of special equipment were involved to extinguish the fire.

An investigation is underway. The causes of the fire are being established.
The U.S. House on Wednesday approved a budget resolution that would pave the way for President Joe Bidens $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill to pass by majority vote.

While the budget resolution would trigger a procedure known as reconciliation and allow congressional Democrats to pass the stimulus without Republican votes, Biden and Democrats who met with the president on Wednesday said they still wanted to get GOP buy-in.

While he supports bipartisanship, he also understands there is a fierce urgency of getting this done, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez told NJ Advance Media after a 90-minute meeting with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Democratic committee chairs like himself. Yes, we would love to have Republicans but not at the cost of doing something that is big and bold.

One area of compromise could be scaling back the $1,400 stimulus payments. Under the current proposal, some families earning more than $400,000 could get a check.

Further targeting means not the size of the check, it means the income level of people who receive the check, and thats something that has been under discussion,: said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki. There hasnt been a conclusion, but certainly hes open to having that discussion.

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons said the topic was broached during an hour-long meeting with fellow Delaware Democratic Sen. Tom Carper and Biden, who used to represent the state in the Senate.

We did have a conversation about the direct payments and how those might be modified in a way to ensure theyre targeted but President Biden was clear with us and with our caucus that hes not going to forget the middle class, Coons said.

Hes not going to walk back from a real commitment he made, not just in Georgia but nationally, to deliver targeted relief to those Americans most in need.

Psaki said she expected changes to the bill before Biden signed it into law.

The president, having served in the Senate for 36 years, fully recognizes that the bill he proposed, that he did a primetime address on two weeks ago, that may not look exactly like the bill that comes out, she said Wednesday at her daily press briefing.

One possible compromise would be to provide the full $1,400 only to individuals making no more than $50,000 and married couples making no more than $100,000, the Washington Post reported. The current proposal set the thresholds at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found 78% of Americans supported the $1,400 stimulus payments, with only 18% in opposition. Republicans backed the direct payments, 64% to 32%.

Struggling to pay the bills, American households need an infusion of cash and need it now, Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy said. So give it to them, is the resounding judgment of the public.

The poll of 1,075 U.S. adults was conducted from Jan. 28-Feb. 1 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

Biden already rejected a proposal by 10 Senate Republicans to shave the package by more than two-thirds, to $618 billion.

Democrats still bear the scars from 2009, when their stimulus bill in response to the Great Recession was scaled back in order to attract Republican support. Biden was vice president at the time, and the limited spending resulted in a more tepid recovery.

History teaches us that the failure to do more created more economic pain, Menendez said.

The GOP package also stripped out Bidens proposal for $350 billion federal aid to help state and local governments pay the salaries of health care workers, teachers and other public employees. Menendez called the money an absolute necessity and Coons called any effort to pass a bill without state and local aid a nonstarter.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

The House vote, largely along party lines, was 218-212. The Senate plans to debate the bill beginning Thursday.

Congressional Republicans complained that the stimulus would increase the deficit, even though they used the same process in 2017 to pass a tax law that the Congressional Budget Office said would increase the deficit by the same $1.9 trillion as Bidens proposal.

Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, used the debate to lash into Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey in response to Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., who said the Biden plan delivers bold relief to the American people and deserves strong bipartisan support here in the House.

Smith said New Jersey had received $9.5 billion in taxpayer bailouts snd would get another $9.5 billion under the stimulus plan.

That very same government has enacted lockdown policies directly leading to the closure of more than 3,000 small businesses and that state, very sadly, actually has the highest per capita death rate of all states, he said.

Since New Jersey was one of the hardest hit at the start of the pandemic, it is true that its coronavirus death rate remains the highest in the country. And it is true that about one-third of the states small businesses have closed.

New Jersey is the densest state in the nation and was one of the earliest states to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Murphy spokeswoman Alyana Alfaro Post said. Since the pandemic began, Governor Murphy has taken decisive action to protect the lives of as many New Jerseyans as possible while also responsibly easing restrictions and ensure economic health for our state.

In addition, New Jersey received just $2.4 billion under the CARES Act and would have received $8 billion under the stimulus bill proposed in December until the state and local assistance was stripped from the final bill.

Smith did not respond to a request for comment on how he came up with the figures.

In 2019, his state of Missouri received $23.6 billion more from Washington than it paid in federal taxes, 14th highest of the 50 states, while New Jersey received $10.3 billion less, ranking 49th, according to the State University of New Yorks Rockefeller Institute of Government.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
President of Somaliland Muse Bihi Abdi said he would offer a helping hand to Somalia if they recognize Somaliland's sovereignty.

Speaking during the 27th anniversary of Somaliland Armed Forces, Bihi said that the people of Somaliland were saddened by the crisis in Somalia.

"We are close to Somalia they are Muslims and their problem hurts us, we just pray for the there nothing we can do," Bihi said.

"If they had a different perspective and recognise us we would have helped them if we had the resources,"

Meanwhile, the Somaliland president expressed his sorrow over the killing of General Galal and the civilians who were killed at the Afrik Hotel in Mogadishu on Sunday.

Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 and has maintained its effort to be a separate country ever since, but it has not been internationally recognized.

The government in Mogadishu, however, wants the country's northern territory to be part of a single Somali state.
She moved into her parent's home at Queensland's Maleny after splitting with her ex-boyfriend, Taite Radley.

And four months on from relocating to the Sunshine State, Ali Oetjen has revealed she's found a place of her own.

In a post to her Instagram Stories on Thursday, the 34-year-old detailed her excitement about moving into a modern two-bedroom house 'on rainforest acreage'.

Settling into the Sunshine State: Ali Oetjen (pictured) has revealed she's moved out of her parent's house in Queensland and into a stylish home of her own

'Everywhere you look here is magical. It's beautiful,' the former Bachelorette and SAS Australia star gushed. 'Let me show you around.'

In a series of videos to her account, Ali gave her followers a virtual tour of the gorgeous property she would soon be moving into.

The two-bedroom, two-bathroom home features an overly large and stylish kitchen, and two enormous balconies overlooking the rainforest below.

'Walking in through the front door... Beautiful big deck... Beautiful big kitchen... Can do my cooking tutorials,' Ali explained, before panning the camera up to the loft-style 'home office' and then walking out to the home's main deck.

'You can see so many butterflies... So many walking tracks down there... To my own little creek.'

Details: In a post to her Instagram Stories on Thursday, Ali detailed her excitement about moving into a modern two-bedroom house 'on rainforest acreage'

'Everywhere you look here is magical. It's beautiful,' the former Bachelorette and SAS Australia star gushed. 'Let me show you around'

What does it look like? In a series of videos to her account, Ali gave her followers a virtual tour of the gorgeous property she would soon be moving into

Luxury pad! The two-bedroom, two-bathroom home features an overly large and stylish kitchen, and two enormous balconies overlooking the rainforest below

'Walking in through the front door... Beautiful big deck... Beautiful big kitchen... Can do my cooking tutorials,' Ali explained, before panning the camera up to the loft-style 'home office' and then walking out to the home's main deck

Walking back inside and closing the balcony door, Ali showed off the huge living space, before walking her followers through to the laundry.

She then showed off the guest bedroom, complete with its own balcony and toilet, before heading to the 'ultimate master bedroom'.

'This will be my bedroom. Can't wait to bring you live meditation out there with nature,' Ali said while pointing out to another balcony.

Lounge room: Walking back inside and closing the balcony door, Ali showed off the huge living space, before walking her followers through to the laundry

Main room: She then showed off the guest bedroom, complete with its own balcony and toilet, before heading to the 'ultimate master bedroom'

She then took her followers through to a second bathroom, before walking into what should be the main bedroom, but will instead be used as a walk-in closet.

'Manifested this house to a tee!' the beauty captioned the video. 'There you have it. So excited!'

Ali's videos follow her revealing she was moving out of her parent's home on Instagram on Wednesday, which she moved into following her split from Taite,
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The racism controversy engulfing Collingwood Football Club and outgoing president Eddie McGuire is a fiasco and is concentrating minds on who might replace him. McGuire announced he would depart Collingwood after 23 seasons at the end of 2021. Lets see if he lasts that long.

Eddie Maguire and Christine Holgate. Credit:John Shakespeare

Investor John Wylie, who finished up after eight years at the Australian Sports Commission last year, is mentioned as a potential successor. So it was fascinating to see Wylies investment business Tanarra touted as potential buyer of Tabcorps $3 billion wagering business because owning a stake in a gaming company is incompatible with presiding over a football club. The optics, for one.

Tanarra came out of the gates early on Wednesday determined to stamp out what it called wildly inaccurate speculation, calling a report in the Australian Financial Review false and misleading.

It had no basis in truth, now or at any time in the past  investors should disregard this story.
BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Walker & Dunlop, Inc. announced today that it structured $28,362,000 in Fannie Mae Green financing for Maple Grove Apartment Homes and Middleton Shores Apartments, located in Madison and Middleton, Wisconsin. The portfolio comprises 462 units in total, all of which qualify as mission-driven, affordable housing under Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) guidelines.

Led by Pat Dempsey, Jeff Schmidt, and Tim Cotter, Walker & Dunlop's financing team expertly navigated Fannie Mae's loan programs to refinance each property through the agency's Green Building Certification program. At the time of the financing, both Maple Grove and Middleton Shores had already undergone significant green upgrades. This precluded the properties from qualifying for discounted financing through the Green Rewards program, which incentivizes future upgrades. The team identified the lesser-known Green Building Certification program, which rewards existing green improvements and maintenance practices, as an ideal fit for the client. Working alongside Eric and Michaela Truelove of Green Building Resources, LLC, Walker & Dunlop secured Green Globes certificates from Green Building Initiative.

In addition to securing reduced rates on behalf of the client, Walker & Dunlop's team successfully incorporated the acquisition of 38 orphaned units into the transaction. Located adjacent to Maple Grove, the orphaned market-rate property formerly known as Valley Crossing was originally developed by the same firm in the 1990s and features identical aesthetics and floor plans. Walker & Dunlop worked to seamlessly incorporate the acquisition collateral into the transaction, making for a 340-unit property at closing.

Walker & Dunlop's Dempsey commented, "We were pleased to put our expertise to the test for Maple Grove and Middleton shores once again. Our team originally financed the properties in 2010, and were able to cut the financing rates nearly in half through this refinance assignment. This was due to a combination of green financing, historically low rates, and the organically affordable rents  all of which added up to the best pricing possible from Fannie Mae."

The client, Sue Case, added, "Our refinance was complicated with green certification and a purchase of additional units, but the Walker & Dunlop team led us through the process with expertise, skill, and even humor. We certainly plan on working with them again!"

Walker & Dunlop is a top-ranked multifamily lender in the United States. For information about Walker & Dunlop's view on the apartment market, including economic updates and expert perspectives on markets, leadership, and the road ahead, download our Winter Multifamily Outlook.

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD), headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is one of the largest commercial real estate finance companies in the United States. The company provides a comprehensive range of capital solutions for all commercial real estate asset classes, as well as investment sales brokerage services to owners of multifamily properties. Walker & Dunlop is included on the S&P SmallCap 600 Index and was ranked as one of FORTUNE Magazine's Fastest Growing Companies in 2014, 2017, and 2018. Walker & Dunlop's 1,000+ professionals in 41 offices across the nation have an unyielding commitment to client satisfaction.

SOURCE Walker & Dunlop, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.walkerdunlop.com


The chief executive officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Segun Awolowo has expressed delight over the attainment of Global Organic Certification status for Nigerian sesame seed by WACOT Nigeria from ECOCERT International.

He disclosed this in his Abuja office when he hosted the National Sesame Seeds Association of Nigeria (NSSAN) led by the president, Mr Sheriff Balogun and his deputy, Mr Sadiq Kassim.

According to Awolowo, this marked a landmark achievement for Nigeria as WACOT Nigeria Ltd attained the Global Organic Certification Status of the Nigerian Sesame Seed by ECOCERT INTERNATIONAL, the first of its kind in the history of the country. He said this places Nigeria on the world map of organic product producers and marketers.

The association acknowledged NEPC's role in promoting and supporting the NSSAN through stringent emphasis on quality product standards and various collaborations in capacity building of rural farmers in good agricultural practices along the value chain.

he said: "It was indeed an honor to be presented with the certificate by the President of NSSAN.

We spoke about the establishment of commercial Hulling Facilities for the seeds to support the growth of the sector. NEPC looks forward to supporting NSSAN."

In the same vein, the NEPC boss, hosted the CEO of Shea Tribe, Ms Kanyinsola Demola-Seriki, an an indigenous company, proudly made in Nigeria that creates 100% organic and handmade skincare/grooming products.

Materials for products are sourced locally in Saki, Oyo State. Her mission is to promote healthy living, introduce African beauty and health formulas to the world. She decided that in order to do this she needs the support of NEPC to grow her business exponentially.

Awolowo added that NEPC is a strong supporter of women and youth in export development and in her, NEPC has found both. "NEPC looks forward to accompanying her on her journey to the international market place."

OK, people. I know you thought that once Donald Trump was out of office, you could sort of ignore politics for a while. But really, youre stuck indoors, youve already reorganized the closets, and you finished The Queens Gambit in December.

Lets see if youve been paying attention.
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 09:30:29|Editor: huaxia

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TRIPOLI, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday said that nearly 140 illegal migrants have been rescued off Libya's western coast.

"Nearly 140 persons aboard 2 boats have been intercepted/rescued by Libyan Coast Guard and returned to Tripoli. UNHCR and partner IRC (International Rescue Committee) are providing assistance and medical care to all survivors," UNHCR tweeted.

It reiterated that Libya is not a safe port for refugees to disembark at.

Thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, choose to cross the Mediterranean from Libya towards Europe, due to the state of insecurity and chaos in the North African nation following the fall of its leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Last year, 323 migrants died and 417 others went missing on the Central Mediterranean route, while 11,891 more were rescued and returned to Libya, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Enditem
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has said asking the oil companies operating in the country to relocate to the Niger Delta without first addressing the security concerns in the area would escalate crude oil production cost.

Sylva insisted that youths and residents of the region must eschew restiveness and work for peace and security as preconditions for multinationals to relocate.

The minister spoke in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, at the special town hall meeting organised by the state government and the ministry of petroleum resources with chiefs, youths and other stakeholders in the state.

A statement by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), recalled that the interactive session was a directive of President Muhammadu Buhari, after the #ENDSARS protest last year, for ministers and other top government functionaries to enlighten Nigerians about the plans and programmes of the federal government.

Stressing that Nigeria's unit per barrel cost was the highest among the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members, the minister noted that the agitation must be looked at from the perspective of cost.

"It will be cheaper for oil companies to operate from here because it is nearer from the operating areas. The only concern is that we have a responsibility to bring peace and security because that is another source of cost.

"If you don't have peace and security and the oil companies move back here, then you add to the cost of oil production," he explained.

He maintained that it would make sense to the oil companies to return if the environment is safe because it will be cheaper for them, but clarified that on its part, the ministry was not against the oil companies moving back.

"They were here before. Shell was in Port Harcourt and Warri and most of other companies were here. They only ran away when insecurity took over the region. It is time to bring back peace and security so that those firms can return," he said.

The minister further reiterated that the current administration was committed to the development of Bayelsa State and other states of the Niger Delta.

Sylva affirmed that the federal government was willing to promote more investments that will create jobs and prosperity for citizens and residents of the state and listed the Nigerian Content Tower as one of top achievements of the current administration.

The minister further stated that the federal government is promoting the development of Nigerian Oil and Gas Park at Ogbia LGA of the state and is facilitating the development of two modular refineries within the state.

He listed the refineries as the 12,000 barrels per day Hydroskimming modular refinery being constructed by Azikel Petroleum Limited at Obunagha, Gbarain, and the 2000 barrels per day modular refinery being developed by Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited at Okpoama, Brass Local Government Area.

He added that the federal government has also taken final investment decision on the Brass Fertiliser and Petrochemical Project, among other projects.

The minister affirmed that the various projects would create thousands of direct and indirect jobs for Bayelsans and other Nigerians during the construction stage as well as the operations phase of the facilities.

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Speaking further, Sylva charged residents and stakeholders in Bayelsa state to embrace unity and collaborative spirit in order to enjoy more developmental strides.

He said: "From this meeting, we expect a lot more understanding because some of the problems we have are as result of breakdown in communication. This forum will create a platform to understand the plans of what the state government is doing and how the federal government can also assist in order to create a better life for the people."

In his remarks, Governor Douye Diri pleaded for unity, synergy, collaboration and cooperation from all parties to move the state forward and requested the federal government to commence the Nembe/Brass road.

"All the projects that you have located in Brass local council will become elephant projects if we do not have a road leading there," he said.
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Vietnam supports Agent Orange/dioxin victims in requesting legal responsibilities from US companies producing and selling the toxic chemical used during the war in Vietnam,

stated Foreign Ministrys spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang on February 4 while commenting on a French courts acceptance of the lawsuit filed by Tran To Nga, a French Vietnamese, against 14 US chemical companies.

Millions of AO victims' descendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemicals effects.(Photo: VNA)

We believe that the companies must bear the responsibility in addressing the consequences that Agent Orange/dioxin left on Vietnam, she said at the Foreign Ministry's online press conference.

Hang underlined that Vietnam has suffered severe war aftermaths, including the long-term and devastated impacts of Agent Orange/dioxin.

Nga, born in 1942, filed the lawsuit in May 2014. Among the companies named in her suit, there are such names as Monsanto (now under the German group Bayer) and Dow Chemical.

With the support of several non-governmental organisations, Nga accused the companies of causing lasting harm to the health of her, her children and countless others, as well as destroying the environment.

Nga graduated from a Hanoi university in 1966 and became a war correspondent of the Liberation News Agency, now the Vietnam News Agency. She worked in some of the most heavily AO/Dioxin affected areas in southern Vietnam such as Cu Chi, Ben Cat and along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, ultimately experiencing contamination effects herself.

Among her three children, the first child died of heart defects and the second suffers from a blood disease.

On April 16, 2015, the Crown Court of Evry city held the first hearing on the case, but since then, lawyers for the chemical companies have tried every way to draw out procedures.

The trial was scheduled to open in October 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19.

From 1961-1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 million litres of herbicides - 44 million litres of which were AO, containing nearly 370 kilograms of dioxin - over southern Vietnam.

As a result, around 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the toxic chemical. Many of the victims have died, while millions of their descendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemicals effects.

Nga claims compensations for health problems.

The French court is expected to rule on the lawsuit on May 10.

If the court decides in her favour, Nga would be the first Vietnamese AO/dioxin victim to be compensated./.VNA
Charles Blow is a New York Times columnist whose output is usually around the bend, even by the low standards of that publication. But his most recent column is surprisingly cogent. It begins with the observation that black political power appears to be ascendant:

It is easy to believe that Black power and influence are growing in America, and that the logical conclusion is that a set of policies favoring the Black community in America  a so-called Black agenda  is growing more likely as the years pass and the percentage of nonwhite Americans rises.

But things are not so simple. Blow identifies two obstacles to achievement of what he considers to be the black agenda:

But some of what we see may be illusory and in some ways the passing of a Black agenda may become harder, not easier. The window that could allow the passage of such a slate of policies may be closing as we speak.

Democrats face an intractable problem: their voters are concentrated in a small number of states.

As Norman Ornstein tweeted in 2018: I want to repeat a statistic I use in every talk: By 2040 or so, 70 percent of Americans will live in 15 states. Meaning 30 percent will choose 70 senators. And the 30 percent will be older, whiter, more rural, more male than the 70 percent. Unsettling to say the least.

Not so unsettling if you are an old white guy. Blow continues:

If you think it has been hard to get this Senate to embrace policies like reparations or voting rights that stand to benefit Black people, imagine how much harder that task will be before a Senate that continues to tilt toward smaller states.

The idea that reparations constitute a plausible agenda is delusional, but the point is well taken. Blow is right about the filibuster:

I believe [Senator McConnell] is playing a Brer Rabbit-style trick with the ultimate goal of creating a nightmare scenario for progressives. While abandoning the filibuster would indeed be advantageous to liberals in the short term, in the long term  when it may become harder and harder for Democrats to maintain control of the chamber  it could be a disaster, allowing the minority in America to say what becomes law and which judges get confirmed.

Of course, that minority would not be able to enact legislation, but it would be able to block left-wing measures that may emanate from the House. But that isnt the only problem. Liberals always want to depict America in two colors, black and white. But demography is against what Blow sees as the black agenda there, too:

Furthermore, a Pew demographic analysis has found that by 2065, Hispanics in America will nearly double the population of Black people, and Asians will overtake Black people as the nations second-largest minority. Each of these groups have their own specific legislative agendas. How high on the list of priorities will be the agenda of the third-largest minority group at that point?

Good question! There is another point, too, which Blow does not raise. More than half of all Africans who have come to the U.S. have come voluntarily, as immigrants, not as slaves. And that majority grows every day. Such Africans come here for the same reasons as everyone else, in search of opportunity. Why should their legislative agenda prioritize an endless rehashing of the Democratic Partys sins of slavery and Jim Crow?

For quite a few years, liberals have confidently believed that demography is on their side; even that it makes their ultimate victory inevitable. But as Blow correctly observes, demographic tides may be moving in a very different direction.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recalls that the protests are of a peaceful nature, while the police use "excessive force". Students protest against the appointment of an Erdogan loyalist as dean of Bogazici University. Officers arrested 250 people, dozens are detained.

Istanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has launched an appeal to the Turkish government and to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to demand the release of dozens of students and LGBTI + rights activists arrested in recent weeks.

In a message on social media, the office led by Michelle Bachelet states: " We call for prompt release of students and protestors arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations, and urge the police to stop using excessive force."

For about a month, young people and human rights groups have taken to the streets against the appointment of Melih Bulu, a person with inadequate skills and chosen on the basis of his loyalty to Erdogan as dean of Bogazici University, one of the main educational institutions in Turkey. Demonstrations have intensified in recent days, following the arrest of over 250 people by police inside the university and in other parts of the country, including Ankara and Izmir.

Dozens of students are still under arrest. They face trial and jail.

" We condemn homophobic & transphobic comments by officials, inciting hatred and discrimination against LGBT people - continues the note from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The reference is to comments and messages on social networks, some of which blocked or reported by the managers themselves, posted by leading personalities including President Erdogan himself and the Turkish Minister of the Interior Suleyman Soylu.

On February 2, officers in riot gear forcibly dispersed hundreds of young people gathered in protest in the Kadikoy district, on the Asian side of Istanbul. In the evening at least 104 people were interrogated in Kadikoy, Sariyer and Besiktas on the European side of the economic and commercial capital of Turkey.

Several residents of the three districts joined the university and activists, honking their horns and banging pots and dishes together. In response, Erdogan added fuel to the fire by branding the demonstrators as "vandals" and invoking the iron fist of the police.

The University demonstrations represent one of the rare open challenges to President Erdogan's power in recent years. After the night of an attempted military coup in the summer of 2016 in which 250 people died, when the AKP leader's power wavered, the government launched a veritable witch hunt.

Tens of thousands of opponents were targeted  activists, leading figures at home and abroad, military, judges, teachers, intellectuals  for membership, real or imagined, in the movement of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, accused of being the mastermind of the failed coup.

Since the start of the protests, the president has also said several times that he does not want pro LGBTI youth in the country, extolling the "national and spiritual" values linked to Islam. Fahrettin Altun, Erdogans director of communications, defined gay and trans rights activists as a "savage minority" that promotes "immorality as freedom".
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG executives ignored warnings from colleagues about troubled steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta as they channeled $1.2 billion of client funds to his businesses, according to people familiar with the matter.Bankers in Credit Suisses commodity trade-finance unit blacklisted Guptas Liberty Commodities Ltd. in 2016 because they suspected some of its deals werent legitimate, the people said. When they learned about two years later that the bank was lending to his companies through a suite of investment funds, which eventually grew to $10 billion, they flagged their worries to leaders in compliance and the division that housed the loans, one of the people said.The disclosure that Credit Suisse may have put clients at risk despite internal concerns over Guptas businesses adds a new twist to the debacle stemming from the March implosion of Greensill Capital, the finance firm at the center of the three-way relationship.Investigations, LawsuitsThe U.K. Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Guptas group of companies for suspected fraud, including in its financing deals with Greensill, according to a May 14 statement. Credit Suisse has sued to force Guptas Liberty Commodities into insolvency and has since shut the funds that made the loans and launched an internal investigation. Investors are staring at losses as the bank confronts embarrassing lawsuits.We are currently focusing our efforts on recovering our investors money, Will Bowen, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in London, said in an emailed statement, adding that the banks internal probe will focus on all of the issues linked to the funds. We are committed to learning the lessons and will share the relevant lessons learnt at the appropriate time.Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Gupta Family Group Alliance, or GFG Alliance, a collective of businesses linked to Gupta including Liberty Commodities, denied any wrongdoing.The Greensill saga represents just one of the two disasters that rocked Credit Suisse in the first half of 2021. Since Greensill began unraveling, the bank has announced a $5.5 billion hit from the blowup at Archegos Capital Management.ApologiesFormer Chairman Urs Rohner apologized to shareholders and his successor, Antonio Horta-Osorio, who arrived at the end of April, has promised a sweeping strategy review.Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein, who was head of the division that oversaw trade finance, wasnt aware of the internal concerns about Gupta that had prompted the bank to cut him off, according to a person familiar with the matter.Employees at the trade-finance unit, which lends money for the buying and selling of commodities, cut ties with Gupta in 2016 after becoming skeptical toward his Liberty Commodities, the people said. They distrusted the documents the company provided, triggering doubts about its transactions, they said. In one example reported by Bloomberg, the company had presented another bank with what seemed to be duplicate shipping receipts. Credit Suisses commodity team had stopped working with Gupta after identifying suspicious shipments while the banks credit-structuring team lobbied against the Greensill funds, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.A spokesman for Gupta has denied any wrongdoing.Banking TiesLiberty Commodities pledged assets to Credit Suisse as security for borrowings in 2013 but by early 2016, all such commitments had been extinguished, indicating that the financing relationship had ceased, U.K. Companies House filings show. And while Guptas company listed the Swiss bank as one of its lenders in its 2014 annual report, it didnt in the following years report, which is dated May 2016, according to the filings.Their counterparts at other banks, including Macquarie Group Ltd. and Sberbank PJSC, halted trading with Liberty Commodities around the same time because of similar concerns; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also stopped in 2016, Bloomberg has reported.Nevertheless, executives at Credit Suisses asset-management division -- which creates investment products for clients and charges a fee for overseeing them -- began arranging a suite of funds focused on supply-chain finance in 2017. The entities bought securitized loans packaged by Greensill, a firm created by Australian businessman Lex Greensill. Much of the debts were linked to Guptas businesses.WarningsOfficials at the commodity trade-finance unit were concerned when they found out about the funds links to Gupta and took their fears to Thomas Grotzer, general counsel for the banks Swiss division. They also warned Luc Mathys and Lukas Haas, the bankers who helped oversee the trades at the asset-management unit.Grotzer was promoted last month to interim global head of compliance at Credit Suisse. He didnt respond to requests for comment. Mathys, head of fixed-income at the asset-management division, and Haas, a portfolio manager, were put on temporary leave in March. Neither responded to requests for comment.The bank pushed ahead with the funds and marketed them to investors as being made up of short-term debt secured on invoices, assets considered so safe that Credit Suisse gave the largest vehicle its lowest rating for risk. Yet part of the loans were linked to mere possible future revenues.Other parts of the bank continued working with Gupta as well. Credit Suisses investment bankers were due to lead an initial public offering for Libertys U.S. steel arm, which was ultimately pulled, according to a statement from the company. Gupta also announced that the Swiss bank would finance his planned acquisition of Thyssenkrupp AGs steel unit, which fell apart earlier this year.Credit Suisse has so far recouped about $5.9 billion of the $10 billion in these supply-chain funds, but it remains unclear how much will be returned ultimately to investors. Loans to Guptas businesses are among a batch of debts that are the principal sources of valuation uncertainty, the bank said earlier this month.Liberty Commoditiess external legal advisors investigated alleged rumors concerning the paperwork it used in 2019, according to Mitchell, the spokesman for GFG Alliance. They found no evidence to substantiate the rumors, nor was the company ever subject to further complaints or proceedings, he said.LCL has ongoing banking relationships with separate financial institutions, Mitchell said, referring to Liberty Commodities. The trade-finance market has been hugely challenging for all but the very largest commodities traders in recent years. Nevertheless, no financial institution has been left out of pocket as a result of lending money to LCL. On the contrary, they have received substantial commercial returns.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning has supported the renaming of Novhorodske, Bakhmutsky district, Donetsk region, to New York, said Deputy Head of the Committee Oleksandr Kachura (Servant of the People faction).

"Today, at a meeting of the committee of state power and local self-government, it was decided to rename the urban-type settlement Novhorodske, Bakhmutsky district of Donetsk region, to New York," the deputy wrote on the Telegram channel.

He also noted that the decision was made "on the basis of a motion from Donetsk military-civil administration: the appeal says that this is the historical name of the settlement, which was used until 1951."
VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp. (CSE: MEGA) (the "Company" or "MegaWatt") is pleased to announce that further to its press release of January 27, 2021, it has completed the acquisition of a 100% interest (subject to a 2% NSR)(the "Acquisition") in and to the Route 381 Lithium Property, comprised of 40 mineral claims located in James Bay Territory, north of Matagami in the Province of Quebec, and covering 2,126 hectares (the "Route 381 Lithium Property"). The Route 381 Lithium Property is located directly west of and adjacent to Stria Lithium Inc.'s Pontax-Lithium project.

In consideration for the Acquisition, the Company paid the vendors an aggregate of $60,000 and issued 4,000,000 common shares in the capital of the Company (the "Payment Shares") at a deemed price of $0.32 per Payment Share. In addition, the Company will grant the vendors a 2% net smelter royalty. The Payment Shares are subject to a 4 month and one days hold period pursuant to applicable securities laws.

Further to the Company's press release of January 21, 2021, in conjunction with the Acquisition the Company has completed a name change to "MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp.". The Company's common shares will commence trading under the new symbol "MEGA" on February 4, 2021.

David Thornley-Hall, CEO of the Company, states, "The acquisition of the Route 381 Lithium Property complements the Company's project portfolio and demonstrates the shift in strategic direction towards the acquisition and exploration of battery metals assets. The Route 381 Lithium Property is located in an exciting and prolific hard-rock lithium jurisdiction with several actively advancing lithium projects including Critical Elements Lithium Corporation's Rose Project, the Whabouchi lithium project and Galaxy Lithium (Canada) Inc.'s James Bay Lithium Project. The Company looks forward to our inaugural exploration program on the project during the 2021 field season".

About MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp.

MegaWatt is a British Columbia based company involved in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in Canada. The Company holds an option to acquire a 100% undivided interest, subject to a 1.5% NSR on all base, rare earth elements and precious metals, in the Cobalt Hill Property, consisting of eight mineral claims covering an area of approximately 1,727.43 hectares located in the Trail Creek Mining Division in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.

Additionally, the Company has acquired a 60% interest in a company that indirectly holds a 100% interest (subject to a 2% NSR) in two prospective silver-zinc projects in Australia, being the Tyr Silver Project and the Century South Silver-Zinc Project (see press release dated August 13, 2020).

Investors can learn more about the Company and team at https://www.walcottresources.com

The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release includes "forward-looking information" that is subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Forward-looking statements may include but are not limited to, statements relating to the trading of the Company's common shares on the Exchange and the Company's use of proceeds and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties normally incident to such events. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future events and that actual events or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements represent management's best judgment based on information currently available. No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release.

SOURCE MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  After being publicly challenged by Cuyahoga County Council, County Executive Armond Budish on Wednesday backed off plans to sign and send 176,000 informational letters to seniors about COVID-19 vaccinations.

Instead, county spokesman Dale Armbruster told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer that the administration has chosen to take advantage of some faster alternatives to educate seniors about the vaccine.

We feel these are faster and cheaper ways to get the information out, especially because delivery times for the post office can be challenging, Armbruster said. He cited use of the 2-1-1 phone line, the countys social media accounts and bi-weekly news conferences that can be viewed on YouTube.

The move comes two days after the Board of Control approved $35,000 for postage on the letters. During that meeting, two County Council representatives questioned why Budish would sign the letters rather than someone from the independent Board of Health, which oversees the vaccination efforts.

Trevor McAleer, who attended Mondays board meeting on behalf of County Council President Pernel Jones Jr., and Councilwoman Nan Baker said they thought Budishs signature would confuse people. McAleer asked that Health Commissioner Terry Allan sign the letters.

I think this confuses peoplegetting letters from elected officials about where to go to get information on vaccines, said McAleer on Monday. I dont know why we wouldnt funnel all information through the Board of Health.

Hours after the board meeting, a county spokeswoman said the administration was asking Allan to sign the letter along with Budish.

On Wednesday, Armbruster said Allan had agreed to sign the letters.

A spokesman for the Board of Health could not be reached for comment.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 15:10:31|Editor: huaxia

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Tian Yongxiang, a 24-year-old Tujia woman from Gao'ao Village, Guzhang county of China's Hunan Province has cried to welcome her wedding day. This is a unique folk custom observed by the Tujia people in many parts of China. The bride-to-be cries before her wedding ceremony to express her reluctance to part with her family. According to tradition, Tujia people judge a bride's intelligence and virtue on how well she can sing crying songs.
I am online with eight members of the family of my client, a nursing home resident dying of Covid-19. The camera is inches from her mouth as she takes her last labored breaths. Her daughter speaks in a voice as flat and exhausted as her eyes: I knew this would happen. The family tells me about the countless repressions they survived in the former Soviet Union and how it prepared them for living through a pandemic in an American nursing home. There is no rage, only resignation: This abandonment by the United States government is just the latest in a long line of state-sanctioned betrayals.

I share their frustrations. As a disabled rabbi serving hospitals and nursing homes during the pandemic, I expected the worst from American public health policy. But it has still been shocking to see all the potential for prevention and harm reduction slip through our fingers.

Now the vaccines have arrived, but the rollout is flowing through the familiar tributaries of ableism, ageism, sizeism and racism that have been feeding the ocean of death in this country all along. When the coronavirus first reached the United States just over a year ago, I feared that the lives of disabled and elderly people would be treated as more disposable than other lives. But I underestimated the extent of the damage it would do. The terrible human and systemic failings that have led so many to treat some lives as expendable have fed the virus, driving the pandemic to unmanageable proportions, putting all Americans in more danger.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that people over 65 and younger high-risk people be inoculated during the first phase, but here in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced that the states vaccine allocation plan will be changed to an age based one, deprioritizing essential workers in transportation, manufacturing and industrial services, as well as younger high-risk people like me. Ironically, I qualify for a vaccine as a health care worker even though the work I am doing now is low risk and mostly virtual, and not because of my compromised immune system, which makes me more likely to die from the virus.

MANILA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the acquisition of an additional 15 brand new Black Hawk helicopters to beef up the military's air assets, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Thursday.

At a virtual press conference, Nograles said the new set of 15 Black Hawk helicopters the Philippines plans to buy is on top of the 16 brand new Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawk helicopters the Philippines bought last year.

Nograles said the 15 Black Hawk units in the shopping list are only "an indicative number" and can still change depending on the availability of funds.

Nograles said Duterte gave his approval during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Seven soldiers died in a Huey helicopter crash in Bukidnon province in the southern Philippines last month.

"The crash was the fourth since July last year, and the president wants to end all these tragic deaths," Nograles said. Three involved Huey helicopters.

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) grounded all of its Huey helicopters following the Bukidnon crash.

Nograles stressed the need to upgrade the heavy-lift helicopter capability, adding the Philippines needs at least 76 helicopters.

"And while the president initially agreed to acquire 55 new helicopters, that number was reduced to 15 owing to the challenges that we currently face," he said, referring to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines commissioned the first six of 16 Polish-made Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawk helicopters ordered in 2019. The remaining 10 units will be delivered within the first quarter of 2021, defense officials said.
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called for spreading peace, upholding the values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, and rejecting all forms of violence and extremism that have claimed the lives of many in a post on his official social media accounts on Thursday.

In a message on the International Day of Human Fraternity which falls on 4 February, El-Sisi assured that religious institutions and leaders in Egypt are exerting their best to promote dialogue between followers of the different faiths and to raise awareness of common human values.

The occasion reminds us of the importance of holding dialogue to understand and accept the other and strengthening cooperation to reject fanaticism and fight against hate speech, as well as spread the values of tolerance, justice, and equality to achieve peace and stability, El-Sisi wrote.

"We always strive to consolidate the foundations of brotherhood among members of society as a single national fabric, enjoying all their rights without discrimination," he added.

Egypt addresses calls of hatred and incitement to violence, El-Sisi stressed in his message.

The occasion dates back to the signing of the Document of Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together between Pope Francis of the Catholic Church and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, in Abu Dhabi on 4 February 2019.

In December 2020, the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly unanimously approved an Egypt-backed resolution to declare 4 February as the International Day of Human Fraternity starting 2021.

The resolution was introduced by 34 UN member states, including Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

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Ambassador of Belarus A.Koniuk meets the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia

On February 2, 2021 the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Armenia, Aleksandr Konyuk, met with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Ghevondyan.

During the conversation the parties confirmed the strategic nature of relations between our countries and discussed the prospects for further development of the bilateral trade turnover.

The interlocutors noted the mutual intention of further development of the Belarusian-Armenian cooperation in the political, trade, economic and humanitarian spheres, as well as interaction within the framework of integration associations.

The parties also outlined specific steps to implement the planned bilateral activities.

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King Deer Group, a private Chinese company specializing in cashmere manufacturing, has been doing business in Africa for the past 24 years. Its Madagascar factory remained unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic and continued to support people's livelihood during this challenging period. "Thanks to maritime transport, the supply of spun yarn exported from China has not been interrupted. Our products are still being exported to Europe and North America", said Zheng Haosheng, the group's president.





King Deer is one of the many Chinese private companies investing in Africa. According to statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), private companies now account for more than 70 percent of all Chinese companies investing on the continent. The Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2013, has clearly reinforced this trend.





"The scope of cooperation is constantly expanding from contract work to emerging sectors such as e-commerce, finance, and industrial parks. Industrial chains are gradually emerging in African countries, where Chinese private enterprises are achieving sustainable growth while supporting regional economic development," He Song, Deputy Director General of MOFCOM's Department of West Asian and African Affairs, said at the 2020 China-Africa Private Sector Cooperation Forum held on December 11, 2020, in Beijing. As a sub-forum of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), it has become an important platform and flagship event for strengthening exchange and broadening cooperation between Chinese and African private enterprises.





Comprehensive industrial chains





Xu Lejiang, Executive Vice Chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, disclosed at the forum that the number of Chinese private companies investing in Africa has now exceeded 9,000, with a total investment of more than $20 billion. One third of them are manufacturing companies, which have played an instrumental role in boosting economic development, creating job opportunities and improving living standards in Africa.





Since 2014, Sunda Group, a Chinese trading company, has invested in eight production lines in Ghana for the manufacturing of baby nappies, with a combined annual production of around 1.5 billion pieces. In the meantime, the company has noted a strong demand for industrialization and consumer goods in African countries. Therefore, Sunda set up a business partnership with Keda Machinery, a Chinese ceramic manufacturer, to explore further investment opportunities. The two partners have completed the construction of four ceramic factories in Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, and Tanzania, employing around 1,000 African workers in each plant.





Economic and commercial cooperation parks are an essential vehicle for the industrialization of African countries, helping to facilitate the development of comprehensive industrial chains, generate employment for Africans and raise tax revenues for the countries concerned, said Wang Licheng, Chairman of the China-Africa Business Council.





Huajian Group, a women's footwear giant based in Dongguan, Guangdong Province in south China, financed the first industrial park in Ethiopia in 2012. The park has stimulated coordinated development of Ethiopian footwear industrial chains, both upstream and downstream, creating an industrial cluster in the country. Annual exports of women's shoes now amount to more than 2 million pairs, generating significant foreign exchange earnings for Ethiopia and creating several thousand local jobs.





"Industrial parks provide the incentives for business investment that meets individual African countries' development needs and growth strategies. It allows them to control costs and increase productivity," said Hany Besada, senior researcher and Program Advisor at the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC).





Besada said a company's willingness to localize is a crucial determinant of whether it has a long-term strategy in the region in which it invests. According to a UNOSSC survey, an increasing number of Chinese companies are no longer only pursuing short-term projects, but also adopting localization strategies such as partnership building, long-term planning, and the promotion of mutual economic and social benefits. These developments are particularly beneficial to the host countries.





New opportunities





Despite the huge impact of the pandemic, Sino-African trade shrank by just under 20 percent between January and October 2020, while China's direct investment in Africa during this period remained largely the same as in 2019, with a slight decline of 0.7 percent. "This is closely linked to the contribution of Sino-African private sector cooperation," said Wu Peng, Director-General of the Department of African Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.





According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the impact of the measures taken by African countries to contain the pandemic could cost the continent 2.5 percent of its GDP per month, amounting to $65.7 billion. Hence the pandemic has made African governments more aware of the importance and urgency of economic diversification. They have implemented supportive measures to help their manufacturing and other industries to overcome the crisis, thus creating new opportunities for development. At the same time, the digital economy is growing rapidly in Africa, with a large number of companies burgeoning in the fields of e-commerce, mobile payment, financial technologies, e-education, transport, and logistics.





"We need to pay special attention to the health and pharmaceutical sectors, as they could be the engines of economic recovery," said Amadou Hott, Senegalese Minister of Economy, Planning, and Cooperation.





However, Chinese companies are still experiencing difficulties in Africa because of the pandemic. Many cross-border cooperation projects have not been able to get off the ground as planned. "We hope that African governments will continue to strengthen the prevention and control measures against the pandemic and restore a secure investment environment as soon as possible," said Wang from the China-Africa Business Council.





According to Said Adren, General Manager of the Shanghai Branch of Moroccan Bank of Foreign Trade, much remains to be done in terms of investment environment in Africa. The Doing Business ranking published each year by the World Bank, the ultimate reference for investors, shows that only three African countries - Mauritius, Rwanda, and Morocco - made it into the world's top 60 in 2020.





"In any case, an active cooperation has been set in motion. In addition, the 2020 China-Africa Private Sector Cooperation Forum is one of the platforms for promoting Chinese investment in Africa," Adren said.
[February 04, 2021] Osmose Strengthens Leadership Team With Three New Senior Hires

Osmose Utilities Services, Inc. (Osmose), the market-leading provider of infrastructure support services for electric and telecommunications utilities, today announced the hiring of three senior executives who will lead the company's finance, human resources, marketing and innovation initiatives. Kevin Brennan has joined Osmose as its Chief Financial Officer, Mark Copeland has joined as Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, and Megan Hilley has joined as the company's Chief Human Resources Officer. The addition of Brennan, Copeland and Hilley to Osmose's executive leadership team is driven by the company's continued growth and the increasing need for utilities to ensure the resilience of the critical structures that support their grid operations. "With the addition of Kevin, Mark and Megan, we are continuing to lift Osmose's capacity to provide superior financial benefit, operational innovation and service quality for our customers," said P. Cody Phipps, CEO of Osmose. "2020 has been a pivotal year for Osmose as utility organizations looked to improve how they innovate and enhance the performance of their grid structures to ensure resiliency," said Phipps. "We are now positioned as never before to deliver on our structural resiliency promise to customers." Before joining Osmose, Kevin Brennan served as CFO of PureStar, a leading service provider in the hospitality industry with over 5,000 employees in North America, Mexico and the Bahamas. Before his time a PureStar, Kevin served as the Chief Financial Officer of a $1B Division of ABM Industries and prior to that held several senior financial positions at Siemens (News - Alert) Corporation. Kevin is a Certified Public Accountant and graduated from the University of Georgia.



Mark Copeland joins Osmose from Diversey, a Bain Capital portfolio company, where he served as Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer. Prior to Diversey, Copeland held the roles of Chief Marketing Officer and SVP, Innovation for Restaurant Technologies and Vice President of Marketing for the Hospitality, Healthcare and Commercial business segment of Ecolab's North American Institutional business. Copeland's business-to-business marketing and innovation experience is bolstered by a strong background in consumer goods product marketing having spent 17 years with S.C. Johnson in a series of leadership positions. He is a graduate of University of Cambridge. Prior to Osmose, Hilley most recently held the position of General Counsel and Chief Human Resources Officer with PureStar. Before that, she held the role of Vice President of Human Resources with ABM Industries. Hilley began her career as an attorney with the law firm, King & Spalding. She earned both a Bachelor and JD degree from University of Georgia.

"Osmose has embarked on an accelerated growth plan, including recent expansion to Europe and Canada, and these leadership team additions confirm our willingness to invest to better serve and support our customers in the future. I'm excited to welcome Kevin, Mark and Megan to our team," said Phipps. About Osmose Utilities Services Founded in 1934, Osmose is the market-leading provider of critical inspection, mobile contact voltage testing, maintenance and restoration services for electric transmission, distribution and telecommunications utilities in the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Headquartered near Atlanta in Peachtree City, Georgia, the company employs more than 4,000 people. Osmose's field technicians, professional engineers, wood scientists and corrosion experts utilize their expertise to identify and solve issues to make utility infrastructure safer, longer-lasting and more resilient while lowering the total cost of ownership. Osmose is a portfolio company of EQT Infrastructure. Learn more at https://www.osmose.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005188/en/

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TORONTO, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 1Password today announced that Akshay Bhargava has joined the company as Chief Product Officer and GM of Emerging Solutions. Bhargava will spearhead emerging products to cement 1Password at the forefront of the security space, delivering cutting-edge services and features that reflect the company's relentless focus on security and user experience.

Bhargava joins 1Password having worked most recently as Chief Product Officer at Malwarebytes, where he was responsible for product strategy and innovation. Under his leadership, the company developed many new B2B and B2C offerings that were central to its acquisition of business customers, quadrupling new business growth and tripling its average B2B deal size in just over 2 years.

As an executive at Oracle Cloud Business Group, Bhargava oversaw a multibillion-dollar annual product portfolio, including the release of new cloud security, monitoring and analytics services. Prior, he was a product leader at FireEye, establishing a double-figure portfolio of products, both through organic development and strategic acquisition. He has also worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, advising the boards and CEOs of several Fortune 1000 companies. He was recognized among The Software Report's Top 25 Software Product Executives of 2020, and won the 2021 BIG Innovation Award.

"Akshay has an extraordinary track record," said 1Password CEO Jeff Shiner. "Time and again he has shown the vision needed to deliver products that the market is crying out for  and that customers prefer to use. I look forward to working with Akshay to take 1Password to the next level."

Bhargava will be continuing the product work that has established 1Password not only as the world's most loved password manager for consumers and business, but increasingly as a user-friendly and feature-rich security suite to keep businesses and families safe online.

1Password recently announced the release of domain breach reports, which help businesses to identify employees affected by data breaches so effective action can be taken. It also recently announced a partnership with Privacy.com that lets customers create virtual credit card information in a browser to make payments more safely online  a boon to both business and consumer customers.

"We're fond of saying that 1Password is more than just a password manager, and 2020 was the year we really began to show that," Shiner added. "With Akshay at the top of a supremely talented product team, I'm excited to accelerate that trend, and grow 1Password into the smartest, most user-centric security service in the world, with the best password manager available at its core."

Bhargava rounds out a world-class executive team led by CEO Jeff Shiner, alongside Chief Financial Officer, Jeannie De Guzman, and Chief Revenue Officer, Julian Teixeira.

About 1Password

1Password is the world's most-loved password manager. Combining industry-leading security and award-winning design, the company provides private, secure and user-friendly password management to businesses and consumers around the world. As an Enterprise Password Manager, 1Password is trusted by more than 75,000 business customers, including IBM, Slack, PagerDuty, Dropbox, Gitlab and Roche. Learn more at 1Password.com.

SOURCE 1Password
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Painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell was renowned for capturing the essence of American life in his paintings and magazine cover illustrations over a span of six decades.

What if he were alive and active today?

Montclair Art Museums new exhibit, Fragile Freedoms: Maggie Meiners Revisits Rockwell, features 18 photographs that reinterpret and update the legendary artists classic images of mid-century America culture. The show will open on Sunday, Feb. 7, and run through June 13 at the museums 3 S. Mountain Ave. location.

Photo artist Maggie Meiners was inspired by a 2010 visit with her family to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. There she noticed that Rockwells paintings were really sparking conversations among visitors. The Winnetka, Illinois-based photographer decided to recreate some of Rockwells classic paintings with the hope that these images will be a platform for people to use for discussion, to expand dialogue while connecting people on all levels.

One of Meiners reworkings involves Rockwells 1943 painting Freedom from Fear, which depicts a white couple tucking their children into bed while holding a newspaper with a blaring headline on World War II bombings. Meiners photo shows a Black mother looking over her sleeping children while holding a paper with a headline reading Another Black Youth Shot.

Rockwells 1964 Civil Rights-era painting The Problem We All Live With, which captures 6-year-old Ruby Bridges walking past a racial slur scrawled on the wall as shes escorted by U.S. marshals to her first day of class at an all-white school, is updated by in Meiners photo titled Dream Act. It shows a young immigrant girl surrounded by four U.S. border patrol agents.

On a lighter note, Meiners replaces the male sailor shown getting the latest update on his body art in Rockwells 1944 The Tattoo Artist with a woman.

Other Meiners reinterpretations include updates of Rockwells Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship and Freedom from Want. The exhibit is complemented by three original Rockwell paintings and archival documents.

Look closely at these detailed photographs and compare them with Rockwells originals from the 1940s and 1950s, curators Gail Stavitsky and Alison Van Denend write in their online note for Fragile Freedoms. What has changed in the world since then? What has stayed the same? Think about the artists perspectives on civic engagement, immigration, gun control, religion, gender, racism and the impact of technology, and talk with the people you came here with about what we can do to protect our fragile freedoms.

A brief video showing Meiners at work recreating Freedom of Speech can be viewed on the museums website or on Vimeo.

A brief video showing photographer Maggie Meiners at work recreating Freedom of Speech can be viewed on the museums website or on Vimeo.Montclair Art Museum

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Alabama House Speaker Mac McCutcheon said today that the House has a backup to Gov. Kay Iveys plan to lease three mens prisons.

McCutcheon said the backup would be a bond issue to build prisons the state would own.

For more than two years, the Ivey administration and the Alabama Department of Corrections have pursued their idea to have companies finance, build, and maintain the prisons and lease them to the state.

Iveys predecessor, Gov. Robert Bentley, proposed building prisons with a bond issue. The Legislature debated the idea over two years but did not approve it.

On Monday, Ivey signed 30-year lease agreements for new prisons to be built in Elmore and Escambia counties by a developer team led by CoreCivic. The governors office and ADOC are in negotiations on a third prison to be built in Bibb County.

McCutcheon said legislators still have questions about leasing prisons.

Were wanting to see some information on the lease agreements, McCutcheon said. The House has a backup plan to move forward instead of a lease program. This would be a state bond issue where the state would actually own the facilities and not lease them. But then again, out of respect for the governors office, theyve put a lot of work into getting to this point.

We have a lawsuit hanging over our heads from the Department of Justice. So, we want to make sure that were not doing anything to hurt that. So, still a lot of questions.

Gina Maiola, press secretary for Ivey, said the governor knows about the backup plan.

The governor is in continuous discussions with legislative leadership and various members of the Legislature on this issue and others, Maiola said. We look forward to a productive regular session. The legislative session started Tuesday.

McCutcheon said legislation is being drafted on the House prison plan but no bill has been introduced.

We have a draft bill that were working on and we may end up dropping (introducing) that, McCutcheon said. We want to be in concert with the governor to make sure that this is not going to be something that she would not know about and have knowledge of.

Asked what would trigger the House to go ahead and pursue its backup plan, McCutcheon said he did not want to speculate.

Its going to be a backup plan, he said. How we move forward with it will depend on what happens. I wouldnt want to speculate on it.

The governors office did not release final financial terms of the lease agreements. The leases say that financial close for the agreements will be by June 30. The state will begin making the lease payments when the prisons are ready to use, which is expected to be in 2025.

The governors office said negotiations would continue as CoreCivic works to find the best interest rates to finance the prisons. The exact amounts of the lease payments wont be known until the finance arrangements are completed, the governors office said.

But the governors office also said the total payments of the three leases are subject to an affordability limit of $88.6 million a year in fiscal year 2022 dollars. Based on that, the first lease payments, expected to be due in 2025 when the prisons are finished, would total $94 million, the governors office said.

In an interview Wednesday, Ivey was asked about concerns from some legislators about the lease agreements putting the state in debt. Ivey said the lease obligations would not be debts.

Were not incurring debt. Were not borrowing money. Were not raising taxes, the governor said.

The ADOC says it can pay the leases with savings gained from closing old prisons, consolidating some services, and more efficient staffing of new prisons. The lease payments will include rent, annual preventative maintenance and lifecycle replacement costs. Rent, which will make up about 80% of the lease payments, will be flat over the 30-year leases, while the maintenance and life cycle replacements will increase slightly year-by-year because of inflation, the governors office said in a fact sheet it released on Monday.

Ivey said the maintenance and replacement costs are important so that at the end of the lease period weve still got healthy prisons, or substantial prisons that are still safe. And weve not maintained our prisons through the years for decades, hence our problem.

So doing nothing is absolutely no option, Ivey said. Weve got the DOJ and the federal government breathing down our necks on that issue. And weve just got to have new prisons as the base to get us started to providing safety for inmates and the officers and to start rehabilitating instead of just warehousing prisoners.

Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, chairman of the House General Fund committee, said legislators are worried about the cost of the leases and about spending about $3 billion over 30 years without gaining ownership of the prisons.

I just think the Legislature is concerned about the fact that if were going to put this kind of money out that we would like to own the buildings at some point, not just be in a perpetual lease situation, Clouse said.

Clouse said Rep. Mike Jones, R-Andalusia, has been working on a bond issue bill. Clouse said the Legislature needs a backup plan in case this lease thing just completely falls on its face, cant get financing or it just doesnt work.

Clouse said the lease agreements are turning out to be more expensive and said the final number is uncertain.

Until we see something on paper, see the final version, then I think its just unknown, Clouse said.

Jones could not be reached for comment.
More graffiti threats targeting port staff in Larne and Belfast have appeared in Co Armagh.

The threats, which appeared overnight in the Mourneview estate in Lurgan, said that border post staff were active targets.

The messages, daubed on a white wall, say: Loyalist Lurgan says no, along said a list of bullet-points reading: NI Protocol, no Irish sea border, Belfast Agreement and surrender.

The graffiti also accuses Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Sinn Fein of talking about a united Ireland, which is an act of war... were ready.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne on Thursday acknowledged the rising community tension in the form of graffiti and posters in recent days and added the atmosphere appeared febrile.

He urged people to take a step back from the brink of violence.

Other messages, which have appeared in parts of Belfast, have targeted the DUP and Tanaiste Leo Varadkar.

Staff performing Brexit checks at ports in Larne and Belfast were temporarily stood down over safety concerns earlier this week.

Threatening graffiti appeared near ports, however police have said there was no suggestion of involvement by loyalist paramilitaries.

As a result of recent developments, police have changed their operational tempo and will be accelerating development of intelligence.

Mr Byrne told the Policing Board in Belfast: It is now time for wise words and calm heads.

We need to work together to look at a route map to normality because that seems to be the opportunity before us, to step back from the brink in terms of community tension.

His position was echoed by First Minister Arlene Foster, who urged calm while appearing at an Executive press conference with Finance Minister Conor Murphy on Thursday.

I do think its incredibly important that people do stay calm and that they focus their energies on constitutional politics and take things forward in that fashion, said the DUP leader.

Constitutional politics is the way forward. I know people are very frustrated, but they need to channel that frustration through constitutional politics so that we can effect change in that fashion.

Mr Murphy added: I think it is very clear that we do need to dial down the rhetoric and weve heard some comments which I think are dangerous from people who should know better on radio programmes yesterday.

Meanwhile, Alliance councillor Peter Lavery said those behind intimidating graffiti in Lurgan do not represent the people in Lurgan, and the local community does not want to see violence return to our streets.

I have been in contact with senior council management asking that the graffiti be removed ASAP, he added.

Those who are whipping up hatred need to take a step back and cool the rhetoric before someone gets injured. We all need to remain calm and work through problems together.

The PSNI has been asked to issue a comment in relation to the Lurgan graffiti.
Monrovia  The new French Ambassador, Michael Roux, touted the new dimensions of bilateral relations between the Republic of Liberia and France during a visit with Finance and Development Planning Minister Samuel D. Tweah, Jr. last Monday.

Ambassador Roux noted that relations between the two countries have never historically achieved its current status, largely crediting this to President George Manneh Weah's close affinity to the people of France. He noted that the recent commencement of Air France flights to Liberia is an indication of the confidence the Government of France reposes in the prospects for growth in the Liberian economy, thanking the Government for its support in making this happen.

Ambassador Roux recounted that because of the case made by President Weah during his formal visit to France in 2018, President Macron of France agreed to include Liberia among the list of 19 high priority countries for French bilateral assistance. This led to the first ever French budget support of USD 5 million in 2019.

Ambassador Roux disclosed that French bilateral assistance to Liberia since 2018 amounts to some USD 33 million. These resources are variously supporting development projects through the French Development Agency (AFD) and its partner Non-Governmental Organizations like Mercicorps, which is presently implementing a USD 5 million youth project in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The Ambassador revealed that a US$10 million urban development project is being designed for the main urban areas of Monrovia. He also disclosed that the AFD is presently supporting 40 Liberians in a wide variety of technical fields in Yamoussoukro, La Cote d'Ivoire.

Praising the Government of Liberia for its leadership and efforts in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ambassador disclosed that France has provided USD 3 million through Action Against Hunger (ACF), a French NGO, noting that the France will continue to stand by Liberia in its fight against the pandemic.
The trip to Mars will be long and arduous for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts, that's why the space agency is looking at possible solutions to help shorten travel time, and among the possibilities is using a nuclear-powered rocket.

Dangers of Prolonged Space Travel

According to CNN, the proposal to use a nuclear-powered rocket comes from the company called Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies (USNC-Tech), which is based in Seattle, Washington, United States.

The company proposed using nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) engine to bring humans to Mars, which NASA is planning to achieve by 2035.

With the technologies available now, the fastest trip to Mars of an unmanned spacecraft is seven months, but the news outlet said it would take around nine months for a crewed mission to reach the Martian soil.

But according to Jeff Sheehy, chief engineer of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, a trip from Earth to Mars and back to Earth would at least take three years.

Unfortunately, there has been past evidence linking dangerous side effects to the human body to prolonged space travel, so this could be incredibly hard and even perilous to the first brave astronauts who accept the mission.

Prolonged space travel would increase man's exposure to space radiation that could cause a variety of health problems, including radiation sickness and a lifetime risk of getting cancer, degenerative sickness, and more.

Furthermore, Mars itself is a hostile environment not suitable for human exploration, so the entire mission would be exceptionally hard.

"The longer you're out there, the more time there is for stuff to go wrong," Sheehy said.

Read More: Valentines BIG Space Roses: Students Sell These Bouquets to Fund Cosmic Ray Ballooning Program

Using an NTP System

So, to ease some of the burden, USNC-Tech proposed the idea.

According to the company's director of engineering, Michael Eades, the nuclear-powered rockets is two times more efficient and much more powerful than the chemical engines that we use today.

It means that this specific type of rocket would be able to travel faster and further, all the while burning less fuel.

"Nuclear technology will expand humanity's reach beyond low Earth orbit, and into deep space," Eades said.

An NTP system would use a nuclear reactor to generate enough heat from a uranium fuel, then the thermal energy would then heat a liquid propellant such as liquid hydrogen, which then expands into a gas and then shoots out of the back end that produces thrust and would propel the rocket forward.

With the system, astronauts can make a round trip to Mars in less than two years, which would reduce safety and health risks.

Solving a Challenge

Besides opening the solar system to Earth, Eades even said that the technology could open up opportunities for galactic business.

But one of the challenges of building an NTP system is finding a uranium fuel that could endure the extremely high temperatures within the nuclear thermal engine, but USNC-Tech said they have solved the problem.

They have created a fuel that could operate to temperatures reaching 2,700 degrees Kelvin (4,400 degrees Fahrenheit) and also contains silicon carbide that prevents radioactive products from leaking, protecting the astronauts.

Related Article: SpaceX SN9 Starship Crash Video: Mars Rocket Landing Ends in Disaster, Is This Bad News for Elon Musk?

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Written by: Nhx Tingson

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Dr. Benjamin Okyere Ankrah, a lecturer at the Central University in Accra, has called on President Nana Akufo-Addo to direct the Military to discipline offenders of the COVID-19 protocols.



According to him, there should a Military presence across the nation to ensure no Ghanaian defies the protocols, particularly regarding the mandatory wearing of nose masks.



The COVID-19 situation in Ghana is horrifying as there is a sudden upsurge in the cases.



According to data released by the Ghana Health Service, the country's daily cases currently stands at 777 resulting in 5,786 active cases.



President Nana Akufo-Addo has warned of a possible lockdown should the citizenry become recalcitrant in observing the safety protocols.



He has also charged the security forces to enforce the protocols.



Contributing to Peace FM's "Kokrokoo", Dr. Otchere-Ankrah is of a strong view that soldiers should be seen at vantage points as part of the strategy to enforce the protocols.



To him, the presence of soldiers will help reduce the COVID-19 cases believing there will be no Ghanaian who will dare disregard wearing nose masks or falter in observing the precautionary measures to avoid contracting and spreading the disease.



''Ghana is blessed not to have wars. The lot of soldiers we're training are normally sent for peacekeeping in foreign countries. Why don't we employ their services? We could, for instance, send about 20 soldiers to Lapaz or 50 to Madina. They should just be stationed there and all they have to do is stand there with their gun wrapped around them'," he said.



He added it's about time to spread fear because that's one of the best tools, he believes, will change the Ghanaian behavior towards the disease saying ''at first, we said spread calm, not fear but right now, let's spread fear''.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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RTHK: Biden ready to work with, confront China

US President Joe Biden on Thursday called China's America's most serious competitor, but said the United States is ready to work with China when it is in its interests to do so.

"We will ... take on directly the challenges posed (to) our prosperity, security and democratic values by our most serious competitor, China," Biden said in a speech during his first visit to the State Department.

"We will confront China's economic abuses, counter its aggressive course of action to push back China's attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance," he said. "But we're ready to work with Beijing, when it's in America's interest to do so."

Biden also said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call last week that the days of the United States "rolling over" in the face of Russian activities are over.

Biden brought up a host of US concerns with Putin in their phone call, including election interference, alleged Russian bounties to Taliban insurgents for killing American troops and Ukraine. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

A convicted IRA bomber is one of Sinn Feins three new nominations to take a place as a member of the Education Authority in Northern Ireland.

Paul Kavanagh was sentenced to five life terms for blowing up Chelsea Barracks in 1981, and took up his position with the EA this week.

He was released from jail following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Kavanagh, who is also employed by the Martin McGuinness Peace Foundation, will receive 8,800 per year plus travel and subsistence allowances after taking up membership.

An Army bomb disposal officer was killed in the 1981 blast as he dealt with another device at a restaurant in Oxford Street.

Kenneth Howorth was posthumously awarded the George Cross.

Mr Kavanagh is married to senior Sinn Fein politician and Foyle MLA Martina Anderson. The marriage took place in 1989 at Full Sutton Prison while they were serving terms in separate prisons in England, both convicted of being involved in IRA bombing campaigns on the UK mainland.

Mr Kavanagh had also previously served as special adviser to former Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

In 2013 he won compensation after losing his role as a special adviser after a bill drafted by TUV leader Jim Allister prevented anyone with a criminal record from holding the position.

At the time Mr Kavanagh said the Bill victimised former prisoners, especially members of Sinn Fein.

Twenty years into a peace process and the victimisation goes on and were still going to exclude people? he said.

Exclusion was part of the problem that we had and why we ended up in conflict. Is the message out there, thats what were going back to, exclusion.

I worked in the community and voluntary sector for seven years before coming to the Assembly, working with some of the most deprived communities, trying to help build a better society.

Ex-prisoners are saying to me `why are we being victimised?

In making the announcement of new EA membership, the Department of Education said: Mr Kavanagh brings to the board of the EA experience of communication and influencing skills, developing and maintaining co-operative working relationships within a corporate governance framework and analytical ability and decision making as a school Governor.

He has experience of budgetary management in an organisational environment.

Mr Kavanagh has declared that during the last five years he has undertaken political activity for Sinn Fein and canvassed on behalf of the party, or helped at elections.

TUV leader Jim Allister said the appointment sends a dreadful message to a new generation of children.

DUP East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell said there would be anger at Sinn Feins decision to nominate the convicted bomber.

A Sinn Fein spokesperson said: Paul Kavanagh has a wealth of experience in education, government and policy development.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: Under the Education Act 2014, 12 board members are appointed directly by the Department of Education with the remaining 8 Board members appointed directly by political parties in accordance with the DHondt principles.

Under this legislation, political members are not ministerial appointments and as such the Minister and Department have no role in the nomination process.

The Minister is informed by the relevant political party that the member is in post, having confirmed to the Department that they wish to take up office following nomination in accordance with Schedule 1, Paragraph 3.

Some parents at Lumen Christi College were angered when Mr Kavanagh was proposed as a member of the Board of Governors at the Londonderry School in 2012, a position he has held for the last nine years.

At the time of his appointment to the Board of Governors at Lumen Christie College, Sinn Fein said Mr Kavanagh had made a significant contribution to his community over many years.

This has included spending over four years as a governor of a local school in Derry, the party said.

Republican ex-prisoners have played a significant role in the development of the peace process and in community development work within the areas where they live.

Those involved in this work should be encouraged not demonised.

Two other people were killed by the IRA unit in which Mr Kavanagh was a member.

Nora Field and John Breslin were civilians caught up in the explosion at the headquarters of the Irish Guards, in October 1981.

Also nominated for EA positions by Sinn Fein were Angela Mervyn, currently employed by the West Belfast Partnership Board in the role of Education Programmes Manager and Frank Maskey, recently retired as Principal of Corpus Christi College.

Gillian McGrath, recently retired Director of Education in the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, was nominated by the NI Commission for Catholic Education to represent the interests of trustees of maintained schools.

The Board is made up of 20 members, some nominated by political parties. The EA is responsible for the delivery of education services throughout Northern Ireland.
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The Commission for Women (NCW) has moved the challenging the verdict which had said that groping a minor's breast without "skin to skin contact" cannot be termed as sexual assault as defined under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde had on January 27 stayed the high court's verdict after Attorney General K K Venugopal had mentioned the matter before it and said that the judgment was unprecedented and was likely to set a dangerous precedent.

The top court had also issued notice to Maharashtra government and permitted the Attorney General to file an appeal against the January 19 verdict of the Nagpur bench of the

In its plea filed in the apex court, the has said that if such a perverse interpretation of physical contact is allowed, it will adversely impact the basic rights of women, who are victims of sexual offences in the society and will undermine the beneficial statutory safeguards prescribed under various legislations aimed at protecting the interest of women.

The petitioner is aggrieved by the impugned order, and the perverse interpretation adopted by the high court that the term physical contact' in section 7 POCSO Act means only skin to skin touch', the plea said.

The has said that such a narrow interpretation adopted in the high court order sets a dangerous precedent which would have a cascading effect on the safety of women and children.

In its verdict, the high court had said that since the man groped the child without removing her clothes, the offence cannot be termed as sexual assault but it does constitute the offence of outraging a woman's modesty under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code.

It had modified the order of a sessions court, which had sentenced a 39-year-old man to three years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

A lawyers' body, Youth Bar Association of India', has already filed a plea in the top court against the high court verdict.

As per the prosecution and the minor victim's testimony in the court, in December 2016, the accused had taken the girl to his house in Nagpur on the pretext of giving her something to eat.

Once there, he gripped her breast and attempted to remove her clothes, the high court had recorded in the verdict.

However, since the accused groped her without removing her clothes, the offence cannot be termed as sexual assault and, instead, constitutes the offence of outraging a woman's modesty under IPC section 354, the high court had held.

While IPC section 354 entails a minimum imprisonment for one year, sexual assault under the POCSO Act entails a minimum imprisonment of three years.

The sessions court had sentenced the man to three years of imprisonment for the offences under the POCSO Act as also under section 354 of the IPC. The sentences were to run concurrently.

The high court, however, acquitted him under the POCSO Act while upholding his conviction under IPC section 354.

"The act of pressing of breast of the child aged 12 years, in the absence of any specific detail as to whether the top was removed or whether he inserted his hand inside the top and pressed her breast, would not fall in the definition of sexual assault," it had said.

It had said that "the act of pressing breast can be a criminal force to a woman/ girl with the intention to outrage her modesty".

The POCSO Act defines sexual assault as when someone "with sexual intent touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of the child or makes the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breast of such person or any other person, or does any other act with sexual intent which involves physical contact without penetration is said to commit sexual assault".

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
She's been the host of Germany's Next Top Model since it started in 2006.

And Heidi Klum showed this year's hopefuls how it's done as she posed up a storm during a sizzling promo shoot for the latest season's launch on Thursday.

The supermodel, 47, looked absolutely incredible as she flaunted her sensational figure in a racy red dress which boasted a daring thigh-high split.

Wow! Heidi Klum showed this year's hopefuls how it's done as she posed up a storm during a sizzling promo shoot for Germany's Next Top Model

Heidi stood out in her beaded red dress, making sure to work all her angles as she was surrounded by other stunning models who all rocked white.

The blonde beauty flashed a glimpse of her ample assets in one of the sizzling snaps, with her dress boasting a cut-out section down one side and just a single sleeve.

She added a little extra height to her toned frame with a pair of red heels and further highlighted her tanned pins with a sultry strap detail across one thigh.

Heidi completed her ultra-glam look by wearing her long locks down and cascading over her shoulders as well as adding a chic silver bracelet.

Work it: The model, 47, looked incredible as she flaunted her sensational figure in a racy red dress which boasted a daring thigh-high split while surrounded by models in white

Veteran: The star is entering her fourth decade as a model, affording her much expertise to impart on the latest batch of fashion world hopefuls

Model behaviour: The runway veteran and her group of hopefuls displayed their modelling prowess as they struck a series of poses

It comes after Heidi showed off her cheeky side as she flashed her peachy posterior in a funny behind-the-scenes clip from her latest photoshoot for Vogue.

The beauty looked sensational as she rocked a quirky dress with a pink lining and dozens of toilet paper sheets while larking around infront of the camera.

Heidi appeared to be in great spirits as she looked over one shoulder and pulled a funny expression.

She left little to the imagination as she showcased her toned frame from behind, wearing the quirky backless ensemble around her front.

Glam: Heidi's intricately beaded dress featured a chic cut-out back and elegant train

Family: Heidi returned to her native Germany with her four children to film the latest series

Expert: The blonde beauty ensured to work all of her angles as she showed the new recruits how to sizzle innfront of a camera

Explaining her unusual look, Heidi revealed she was taking part in a new challenge set by fashion magazine Vogue as she added #VogueCouchCouture to her post.

The challenge is about creativity, ingenuity, and improvisation, according to Vogue, and was set up to celebrate Couture Week in Paris which has been very different this year amid the pandemic.

Heidi also shared a snap of her creation next to Valentinos actual ensemble and a short clip flaunting her at-home creation, proving her efforts were impressive.

Using only items which could be found around the house, Heidi styled her look out of sponges, toilet paper and sponges.

Capital city: In recent weeks, the cast have been seen shooting episodes in and around Berlin

Incredible: She flaunted her ample assets in the cut-out dress which skimmed over her curves

Heidi's shoot came after she and her daughter Leni, 16, shared the cover of Vogue Germany in December

The doting mother penned a sweet tribute to her daughter online after the high-fashion shoot.

'I'm so proud of you. And not because you chose this path. I know that no matter which way you go, it will be your own,' she wrote in German on social media.

'You always know exactly what you want and what you don't want. You are not a mini-me. And I'm happy for you that you can now show who YOU are.'

Cheeky! It comes after Heidi flashed her peachy posterior in a funny behind-the-scenes clip from her latest photoshoot for Vogue

Getting creative: The model explained she was wearing a dress made out of toilet paper as she posed up a storm in her quirky ensemble
POMPANO BEACH, Fla., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kira Labs Inc, a leading manufacturer of over 30 beauty innovation brands, continues partnership with Simple Life Medical donating 50,000 Medyskin Hand Sanitizers to The City of Miami in continuous efforts to help local communities stay safe.

Photo (left to right): Miguel Mayorca, Ashley Mendoza, Francis X. Suarez, David Rosen, Isaac Maman, Maria Llanso, Ilene Mayorca

Kira Labs and Simple Life Medical have previously teamed up to donate hand sanitizer tubes to South Florida hospitals and clinics to help protect medical personnel from coronavirus. The giveaway of 50,000 units of Medyskin hand sanitizers is part of Kira Labs' generous donation of 1 million tubes to organizations in need. The company wants to continue helping by donating locally and shipping to hospitals, schools and nonprofits across the nation.

All Medyskin hand sanitizers were produced at the Kira Labs' FDA registered manufacturing facility in Pompano Beach and made with high-grade purified alcohol. The sanitizers use at least 70% alcohol which exceeds the 60 percent minimum recommended amount per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Interested organizations may fill out a donation form at www.kiralabs.com/donations to request a minimum of 2,500 and up to a maximum of 20,000 sanitizer tubes.

About Kira Labs Inc

Kira Labs was founded in 2003 and has grown into a leading marketer and manufacturer of beauty innovations featured in 10,000+ stores. Appealing design, value and high quality, functional formulas characterize all of the Kira Labs brands, which feature products in multiple categories including Face, Hair, Body, Men's, Natural, Home and Pet. For more information, please visit www.kiralabs.com .

About Simple Life Medical

Simple Life Medical offers the latest state of the art solutions such as FDA approved rapid antibody tests, civilian and FDA approved medical PPE, personal protection equipment, chemical and non-chemical disinfection that continuously kills viruses and bacteria for weeks and months. UV direct and indirect lighting systems, and other innovative solutions are offered to fit the needs of each individual organization.

Contact:

Maria LLanso

Kira Labs

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SOURCE Kira Labs

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A Warwick University professor wrongly claimed a female Holocaust survivor had had a sexual lesbian relationship with a Nazi concentration camp guard, a research misconduct investigation has found.

A panel convened by the university concluded there was 'insufficient evidence' to support historian Dr Anna Hajkova's claims that a Jewish prisoner and an SS guard had had a sexual relationship.

The extraordinary claim was made by Dr Hajkova after testimonies by survivors of the camps and legal documents from the Nazi's trial led her to conclude an affair had occurred between the two women.

When the professor, who specialises in an LGBTQ+ study of the Holocaust, contacted the prisoner's daughter in 2014, she was told the women's relationship had not been sexual, whether consensual or coercive.

Dr Hajkova reportedly promised not to use the Holocaust survivor's name, only to name her and the SS guard in promotional lectures in Germany and Austria about her research published on Twitter last year.

The historian had tweeted a photo of the Jewish woman, and in a second online announcement in German stated: 'the inmates of the... women's satellite camp observed the relationship between the guard and the prisoner woman with fascination and loathing'.

Horrified, the woman's daughter took Dr Hajkova to a German court, where she was fined 3,700 in October for breaching a law preventing anyone from defaming the deceased.

A research misconduct panel convened by Warwick has now concluded that Dr Hajkova's claims lacked sufficient evidence to support them.

Dr Anna Hajkova said testimonies by survivors and legal documents from the SS guard's trial led her to conclude that the Jewish prisoner and the Nazi had had a sexual relationship

SS guards being guarded by Allied soldiers after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen in 1945

Dr Anna Hajkova: The Czech historian at Warwick University leading LGBTQ+ studies of the Holocaust Dr Anna Hajkova, associate professor of modern continental history at Warwick Anna Hajkova, a Czech historian at the University of Warwick, specialises in sexuality during the Holocaust. In an interview with the Guardian, she said: 'My approach to queer Holocaust history shows a more complex, more human, and more real society beyond monsters and saints.' Hajkova studied modern history at the Humboldt University Berlin and the University of Amsterdam between 1998 and 2006. She obtained her PhD from the University of Toronto in 2013 with a thesis about prisoner society in Theresienstadt Ghetto - for which she was awarded. Her works include the 2013 paper 'Sexual Barter in Times of Genocide: Negotiating the Sexual Economy of the Theresienstadt Ghetto', and the 2020 book The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt. She also edited an issue of German History titled 'Sexuality, Holocaust, Stigma' and is the chairman of the academic advisory board of Spolecnost pro queer pamet [de] ('Society for Queer Memory'), a Czech society which collects information about LGBT history. Advertisement

It recommended she apologise to the woman's daughter for the 'distress' caused, undergo 'research integrity training' and have 'all references made to a physical relationship' between the two women removed from the Internet.

The panel also recommended that Warwick 'progresses the issues raised within the investigation in a process outside of the research misconduct enquiry', according to a letter seen by Times Higher Education.

Dr Hajkova is said to have been told by the daughter in 2014 that her mother's relationship with the guard had not been sexual.

The academic allegedly promised at the time that she would not use the survivor's full name in her research.

However, in 2019, Dr Hajkova named both the prisoner and the guard in her research, suggesting that they might have had a sexual relationship based on the testimonies of survivors and legal documents from the guard's trial.

However, her work acknowledged that there was no concrete evidence of a sexual relationship, whether consensual or otherwise, between the two women.

She is said to have claimed that she 'simply forgot' her previous agreement not to name the woman.

When promoting one of her lectures, she also included a photo of the woman. In another she wrote in German: 'The inmates of the  women's satellite camp observed the relationship between the guard and the prisoner woman with fascination and loathing'.

In October, Dr Hajkova told the Guardian that she had complied with the German court ruling, even referring to the woman using a pseudonym, rather than just an abbreviated name as required, when describing her relationship with the guard.

Her lawyers also invoked her right to academic freedom and freedom of opinion.

Dr Hajkova's research concerns queer aspects of the Holocaust, asserting that LGBTQ+ relationships in concentration camps have been left out of historical accounts because of homophobia.

In a statement released by her lawyer, the prisoner's daughter told MailOnline: 'I had to protect my mother's name and reputation against these unfounded allegations. This has been a terrible ordeal but I'm glad the University has accepted that Dr Hajkova committed research misconduct.'

Daniel Sokol, the daughter's barrister, welcomed the panel's finding of research misconduct.

He added: 'It has been a slow process which has taken a heavy toll on my client. We hope the university will honour its commitment to prevent further scholarly misconduct and allow my client to get on with her life.'

A Warwick spokesman told MailOnline the panel's recommendations 'have been accepted in their entirety and implemented', but declined to comment further due to 'active processes ongoing in relation to this matter'.

In a statement issued by the University and College Union on behalf of Dr Hajkova, her caseworker told Times Higher Education: 'The university's processes have not yet concluded in regard to this matter, so it is not possible for Dr Hajkova to comment on the case at this stage as she, unlike the complainant, is bound by the university's confidentiality requirements.'

A Holocaust survivor who slept opposite the prisoner reportedly named in Dr Hajkova's research told the Guardian she did not believe that the woman had had any kind of sexual relationship with the guard, though she acknowledged that such relationships did exist.

The prisoner reportedly named in the research has now died but her daughter asserts that she did not have a sexual relationship with the guard. Pictured: Female inmates at Bergen-Belsen shortly after British troops liberated the camp in April 1945

A research misconduct panel convened by Warwick University has now concluded that Dr Hajkova's claims lacked sufficient evidence to support them

How Germany's post-WW2 constitution prevents the 'deceased from being defamed' After World War Two and the horrors of the Nazi government, a constitution for then West Germany was drawn up to protects basic human rights. The German constitution drawn up after the war and first enforced in 1949 after it was approved by the Western Allies - known as the Basic Law - states: 'Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.' This forms the basis of Article 189 of the German Criminal Code, which makes the disparaging of the 'memory of a deceased person' a criminal offence, punishable with a fine or imprisonment for up to two years. Advertisement

She told the paper that the guard would sit on the prisoner's bed in the evenings and they would talk and sometimes laugh 'but there was no chance of undressing or anything like that'.

She added that the women's relationship inspired 'titillating gossip' within the camp but not from anyone who had shared a room with the woman or had first-hand knowledge of the meetings, as she did.

The survivor, who detailed the women's relationship in her own memoir, told the Guardian that it would be 'unthinkable' for the prisoner to have refused the meetings with the guard, explaining that 'a prisoner cannot afford to reject a warden who is interested in you.

'You hope she will help you to be put to easier work and maybe sneak some food to them.'

In the earlier court proceedings in April, the reportedly named prisoner's daughter said that her mother met the Nazi guard in a concentration camp in Hamburg in 1944.

The court heard that the guard fell in love with the woman's mother and hoped they might have had a future together after the war.

The guard followed the prisoner when she was taken to two other concentration camps, with the last being the notorious Bergen-Belsen, in northern Germany.

The survivor who spoke to the Guardian agreed, saying that she had seen the two women again at Bergen-Belsen towards the end of the war.

'We were sitting on the wooden floor in a hut with no beds, no food and no water, full of lice and waiting for our death. We were abandoned by the staff, locked in and left to die,' she said.

'It was most strange that [the guard] chose to enter such a horrible situation. I thought she must be very much in love with [the prisoner] to be ready to suffer so much.'

When the camp was liberated after the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, the guard was arrested while trying to pose as a prisoner. She was sentenced to two years in prison by a British military court.

The survivor said Dr Hajkova had never contacted her but thought she must have been aware of her memoir.

Dr Hajkova's research considers the LGBTQ+ history of the Holocaust. She says stories of queer relationships in concentration camps have been erased or omitted due to homophobia. Pictured: Bergen-Belsen inmates queue for food in after liberation in April 1945
A father of seven who told gardai he thought he was attending a job interview but ended up taking part in a violent forced eviction has been jailed for three years.

Desmond McGrath (50) was part of a gang of seven men, including convicted murderer Declan Duffy and INLA kidnapper Dessie O'Hare, also known as The Border Fox, who falsely imprisoned and tried to evict a family from their home.

McGrath also took part in the assault of a security guard who became involved in the incident, punching and kicking the man.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that five of the men involved, including O'Hare and Duffy, were convicted in the Special Criminal Court in 2019. The court heard that O'Hare and Duffy were the ringleaders of the events.

Following his arrest, McGrath told gardai that before he arrived at the scene he had been told he was attending a job interview for security work. The court heard McGrath was dressed almost as a bouncer for that reason at the time of the offences. McGrath of Cushlawn Park, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to John Roche at The Towers, Garter Lane, Saggart, on June 9, 2015.

He also pleaded guilty to the false imprisonment of both Martin Byrne and Lisa Byrne at the same address on the same date. His 11 previous convictions include larceny and road traffic offences.

Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Karen O'Connor said the offence was aggravated by the level of violence against the security guard and the impact the offence had on the family who were falsely imprisoned.

Judge O'Connor said the mitigating factors were McGrath's guilty plea, his admissions, his remorse, his difficult background and his efforts to rehabilitate from drug and alcohol addiction.

She said a distinction could be made between himself and others who took part in the offences. She sentenced McGrath to four years imprisonment, but suspended the final 12 months of the sentence on strict conditions.

At a previous sentencing hearing, Sergeant Eamon O'Neill told Garret Baker BL, prosecuting, that Mr Byrne had worked in the security industry for 25 years prior to the events in June 2015.

Mr Byrne was employed as head of security of the Mansfield Group which ran various properties such as Citywest Hotel. Sgt O'Neill said that on the date in question, Mr Byrne attended an office in which O'Hare was present. They were joined by Duffy and five more men arrived including McGrath.

Mr Byrne was told by O'Hare that his services were no longer required and that he was to immediately vacate the property at Garter Lane where he had been residing with his family as part of his employment arrangement.

Mr Byrne said that if he was given 24 hours he could move his family and his possessions out of the property, but this offer was rejected.

He tried to leave of his own accord but he was surrounded, grabbed and bundled into a car by the men.
A DELIVERY cyclist accused of murdering a schoolboy in Dublin last week can be named by the media, a judge has ruled.

Judge Victor Blake noted today that the accused, George Gonzaga Bento, and the 16-year-old boy were not known to each other, and there was no risk that naming him would identify the victim.

The teen suffered fatal injuries last week and was rushed to the Mater Hospital but was later pronounced dead.

The secondary schoolboy cannot be identified due a recent judgment preventing the news media from identifying any deceased child victim.

Mr Bento, who is from Brazil but has lived and worked in Dublin for several years, was charged on Saturday.

He appeared at Dublin District Court later that day when Judge John Campbell made an order that his name could not be published either, to protect the identity of the victim.

He later told a solicitor for Independent News & Media, publisher of the Sunday World, that it was an interim order until the defendants next appearance, and the matter could be taken up then.

Mr Bento, a food delivery cyclist with an address at East Wall, D.3, appeared before Judge Victor Blake at Cloverhill District Court yesterday.

He was remanded in continuing custody to appear again on March 4 next for formal directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions to be obtained.

Dressed in a light brown tracksuit, Mr Bento listened to the proceedings with the assistance of an interpreter. He did not address the court.

Tom Murphy BL, for Independent Newspapers, other national newspapers and RTE, asked the judge not to prevent the naming of the accused.

The original order had been made in error and publishing his name him would not prejudice his right to a fair trial, the barrister argued.

It was accepted the child could not be identified due to reporting restrictions under Section 252 of the Children Act.

State solicitor Mairead White said the medias application was not opposed, and she asked Detective Sergeant Shane Noone to give the court some factual background.

In evidence, he told the court that three parties were at the incident, and none of the three were known to each other.

It is the investigation teams belief, and my belief, that they were not known to each other, that they were strangers, he said.

There were two in one group, eight to 10 in another, and one other person was the third party, he told the court.

The State solicitor said on that basis the application would not be opposed.

The medias barrister argued that this case differed to another recently, where an adult could not be named to prevent identification of a deceased child.

There is no link whatsoever between the accused and the deceased in this case, Mr Murphy said, adding that, there is no risk to the identity of the child, which I acknowledge is prohibited, there is no risk of that happening by identifying the accused.

Barry Ward BL, for the defence, did not object.

Judge Blake said he was not renewing the order preventing identification of Mr Bento. Following a request by the defence, however, he ordered that his specific address could not be reported.

At his first hearing on Saturday, Detective Sergeant Noone said the accused had no reply to the murder charge and in response to the weapon allegation, he answered: This is the charge, or this is the final decision.

A bail application in a murder case can only be heard by the High Court. Mr Bento has not yet indicated how he will plead.




Spare a thought for the team inside Transport for NSW who have been asked to cough up for another farewell gift. And not just for any member of the team, but outgoing agency secretary Rodd Staples who finishes up on February 21.

How do we know? Because an email sent out by Staples chief of staff Rachel Simpson to more than 200 staff members has invited them to contribute to the bosss farewell gift, all from a GoFundMe page. Were not joking. Weve had lots of people reach out to us asking how they can contribute to a farewell gift ... so we have set up a GoFundMe account to help facilitate this, Simpson wrote to staff on Thursday last week with a link to the page. Please feel free to send this link far and wide to anyone who may also like to contribute, she added helpfully. The page is now up and running with a tally of whos donated what.

Staples is leaving after just over three years in the role. Transport Minister Andrew Constance revealed in November the government would seek a new direction for the agency which oversees the largest transport projects in the country. Staples took over from Tim Reardon who is now head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. His departure comes on the back of a tumultuous year for Transport for NSW which was embroiled in controversy over the purchase of a highly contaminated site at Camellia, near Parramatta. Mr Staples was not in the top job at the time of the purchase of the property in 2016, but instead was head of the Sydney Metro rail projects.

Its hard to say whether Staples  who was on a salary north of $600,000 a year plus payout  was popular in the office or whether enterprising team members are just keen to keep on his good side but the funding page is well subscribed. Senior staff including executive director Tessa Knox-Grant have chipped in, along with deputy secretary Joost de Kock, NSW TrainLink boss Pete Allaway, chief people officer Kirsten Watson and acting corporate services boss Fiona Trussell. The collection has hit $1840 on a $900 goal. Thats quite some gift.

The last word
Lucinda Saxton has completed her new book Twice upon a Time: a poignant and evocative tale that keeps the pages turning through its heartwarming conclusion.

Lucinda writes, Inspired by true events, Twice upon a Time begins during the aftermath of the Trail of Tears, a journey when our government treated honorable people as viruses to be exterminated.

In this instance, Cherokee Native Americans: they had followed laws, they had their own alphabet, they had a government so compelling it was copied by the interlopers.

Ms. Saxton describes struggles and love stories handed down by fragments and educated guess involving two of her ancestors, stunning Winter Flower and gorgeous John John. Of the two, only John John is accounted for in the published first census of new arrivals in Oklahoma in 1839 Cherokee Roots (Western Rolls).

The true events within may act as a bridge between the quelling white supposed patriots and victimized people of color as Saxton also shines a lamp onto formerly rarely published facts of Martin Luther Kings 1960s movement.

Heroes of Twice Upon a Time overcoming injustice, with Gods glorious guidance, brings the reader to new heights of resolution and inspiration.

Published by Page Publishing, Lucinda Saxtons stirring tale is professed to be required reading for all incoming college freshman and an excellent choice for avid historical fiction readers.

Readers who wish to experience this engrossing work can purchase Twice upon a Time at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing understands that authors should be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and the like. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.

Douglas J. Arent  Executive Director, Strategic Public-Private Partnerships

As executive director, Doug Arent focuses on strategic public and private partnerships with NREL to transform energy economies at speed and scale across the globe.

Arent has worked in research on energy and sustainability for more than 30 years, publishing extensively on topics within clean energy, renewable energy, power systems, natural gas, and the intersection of science and public policy.

In addition to his NREL responsibilities, Arent is senior visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He serves on the World Economic Forum Future of Electricity Working Group and advisory boards for the Post Carbon Transition Program at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at Oxford University, U.K.; the Smart Electric Power Association; and the Energy Academy of Europe, Netherlands. He is also member of the Keystone Energy Board. Arent is the editor in chief for Renewable Energy Focus and is associate editor for the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.

Arent has a Ph.D. from Princeton University, an MBA from Regis University, and a bachelor's of science from Harvey Mudd College in California.
PHOENIX, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Trutankless, Inc. (OTCQB: TKLS) manufactures an award-winning line of smart electric tankless water heaters. Trutankless has partnered with Cypress Industries based in Austin, Texas to launch production in North America.

"We expect to see a tremendous improvement in our operating efficiencies along with increased manufacturing capabilities which we expect will yield benefits, especially as we prepare to launch additional products" stated Michael Stebbins, President and CEO, of Trutankless, Inc. "We now have a complete team with the vertically integrated capabilities of Cypress Industries in North America."

"We are confident that the unique products offered by Trutankless are the future and we're excited to be a part of the plans for growth," stated Tom Lonsdale, CEO of Cypress Industries. "Our teams spent much of 2020 getting aligned and improving product design for high volume manufacturing."

Trutankless had a sales backlog at the end of 2020 and the trend is continuing into the first quarter 2021 based on the record orders received. Accordingly, our team has been working with our partners in the wholesale plumbing channel to ensure the best outcome by actively forecasting, sharing information, and helping to meet demand where needed while cultivating additional markets.

This release will be filed today by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an exhibit to Form 8-K.

About Cypress Industries:

Cypress Industries is a vertically-integrated global contract manufacturer with ISO9001:2015 certification. Cypress has manufacturing facilities in Austin, Texas, Mexico, India and China. Core competencies include PCBA, sheet metal fabrication, high level assembly, wire harnesses, design for manufacturability and value engineering, while multiple manufacturing locations give customers flexibility. Please visit: www.cypressindustries.com

About Trutankless, Inc.:

Trutankless, Inc. (OTCQB: TKLS ) is a technology-driven developer of accessible, next-generation home automation and efficiency systems. The Company's primary products are a line of electric tankless water heaters that surpasses traditional tank water heaters in energy efficiency, output, dependability and environmental sustainability. The Company sells its products to plumbing wholesale distributors and dealers throughout the United States. Trutankless, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Please visit www.trutankless.com or call 855-TO-BUY-TRU.

Connect on social media:

www.houzz.com/pro/trutankless

www.facebook.com/trutankless

www.twitter.com/trutankless

www.youtube.com/trutankless

Forward-Looking Statement: The statements in this press release regarding any implied or perceived benefits from the release by Trutankless of its line of electric tankless water heaters or added key strategic sales and distribution partners are forward-looking statements. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, risks of the key strategic sales and distribution partners ability to sell our product, and effects of legal and administrative proceedings and governmental regulation, especially in a foreign country, future financial and operational results, competition, general economic conditions, and the ability to manage and continue growth.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual outcomes may vary materially from those indicated. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements we make in this news release include the introduction of new technology, market conditions, and those set forth in reports or documents we file from time to time with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to revise or update such statements to reflect current events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. There is no guarantee that any specific outcome will be achieved. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

SOURCE Trutankless, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.trutankless.com


People

Labor secretary nominee comes with a long record on union issues, contracting oversight

Boston mayor and Labor secretary-designate Marty Walsh (Photo credit: vasilis asvestas / shutterstock.com)

Marty Walsh, Boston's mayor and former union member and official, is set to appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Feb. 4 to his nomination to be Secretary of Labor. He'll bring a resume of work on diversifying contractors who worked with the city of Boston during his tenure.

If confirmed, Walsh will play a major role in federal workplaces and federal contracting, overseeing the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, leading the enforcement of prevailing wage laws and anti-discrimination policies for federal contractors.

Already, the Biden administration has reversed a Trump policy limiting diversity and inclusion training for contractors.

"I think that's a signal to the contractor community of the focus that the agency is going to have in terms of overall diversity, equity and inclusion, but also how they may be approaching their enforcement in their audits," said Sheila Willis, an attorney with labor and employment law firm Fisher Phillips who does work on federal contractor compliance.

Walsh comes from a background in labor organizing, experience that Biden has touted, along with Walsh's support for a $15 minimum wage. He was the president of a local building trades union before being elected as mayor of Boston in 2013.

"It's heartening that President Biden has nominated a long-time union member and leader to head the Department of Labor," said American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley in a statement to FCW. "The Secretary of Labor is a critical positions for federal employees and all working people across the country."

Walsh has a record of "building bridges between labor and the business community," said the president and CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, James Rooney, in a congratulatory statement about Walsh's nomination.

"Through the years, I have seen him find common ground on complex issues facing our region and our residents. His experience as a labor leader and ability to connect and inspire people from all backgrounds ensures that our Country will benefit from his ascension to President Biden's cabinet," he told FCW.

During his time as mayor, Walsh fronted several initiatives to expand contracting opportunities for small and local businesses owned by women, minorities and veterans.

Some city councilors have voiced skepticism about the city's claims it has made progress in diversifying contracting, and some civil rights groups and community organizations have encouraged the city to take a more proactive approach in doing business with minority- and women-owned businesses.

In fiscal year 2019, women- and minority-owned businesses were 5.3 percent of contract spending in the city. Reporting by WGBH, a public radio station in Boston, found that overall, less than 2 percent of the total COVID-19 related contract spending went to Boston-based, minority-owned businesses, although that percentage was higher for grants.

Walsh's 2016 executive order set spending goals for minority and women owned businesses in contracting and establishing training on bidding and performance on city contracts for women and minority business owners.

Last year, Walsh issued another executive order that tried to bring the number of minority contractors by updating a directory of local minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses; training city employees who work on procurement and requiring each department to create a procurement plan with an equity lens and to verify the use of the updated directory.

That order also called on the Department of Innovation and Technology and the procurement department to improve the city's procurement website.

He also established a Supplier Diversity Advisory Council including business and civil rights representatives to work on the issue, contracted out BBC Research and Consulting for a study of efforts to diversify contracting and created a cabinet-level Chief of Equity position to help guide equity and racial justice in the city's policies.

A Georgia clinic that flouted the state's rules for who is eligible to get COVID-19 vaccins and gave teachers shots ahead of their turn has been barred from giving any vaccines for six months.

State health officials seized about 470 doses of Pfizer vaccine from the Medical Center of Elberton on Friday, after discovering it was helping teachers skip the line, according to KYFF4.

Georgia is still in the first phase of its vaccine rollout, making health care workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, law enforcement members and people 65 or older eligible for vaccination.

Teachers are not yet eligible, but White House and CDC officials have said it is safe for students and teachers to be back in school, in person, without being vaccinated.

Children rarely become infected and don't often spread coronavirus at schools, according to numerous CDC studies.

'Vaccine providers must adhere to the current phase of vaccination to ensure that the state's limited vaccine supply is going to those most at risk,' officials with the Georgia Department of Public Health said in a statement.

A Georgia health clinic let teachers skip the vaccination line amid the state's slow rollout that has seen fewer than 1 million high-risk people vaccinated

The Medical Center of Elberton (pictured) ignored Georgia's guidelines for vaccine eligibility and gave COVID-19 shots to teachers. Hundreds of doses were seized and it barred from vaccinating for six months

The clinic said it expanded its vaccination program beyond groups approved to get shots by the state to vaccinate teachers who were back to work in-person.

About 40 percent of teachers and other staff members for the Elberton County school district have already gotten vaccines - likely ahead of the line - officials told US News and World Report.

The clinic appealed the state's decision, but was denied.

Medical Center of Elberton's misconduct will strike a major blow to the small, rural county surrounding it.

It was the largest vaccination site in the area, and received nearly 4,00 0 of the 5,000 doses allocated to Elberton since January.

The clinic will be allowed only to keep vaccine needed to give people second doses, and appeal denial means it is suspended from doling out any more vaccines for the next six months.

Doses from the fraudulent clinic are being redistributed to other area pharmacies. At least one was recently authorized to give COVID-19 shots - likely the result of the Elberton debacle.

Georgia's vaccination effort is moving slowly, and some of the state's most at-risk populations are likely still unprotected from coronavirus.

Just 7.7 percent of its population has had one or more doses of the vaccine and the state has only used 60 percent of the doses distributed to it by the federal government.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (right) has said that teachers will not be allowed earlier access to vaccines. The state's rollout got off to a slow state and it is still vaccinating only its first priority group, including health care workers and people 65 or older (file)

Only 14 states rank lower than Georgia for vaccinations: New Hampshire, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Alabama, Iowa and Idaho.

Vaccine has been across the country, however, and many at-risk people are still not vaccinated.

The White House and CDC updated their guidance and urged states to give vaccines to anyone 65 or older as reports emerged that states were throwing out doses of vaccines because they couldn't find people to give them to before they spoiled.

It was meant to speed up the rollout to get more people some protection faster, but not to push the most at-risk people to the back of the line.

CDC has also said that keeping schools open for in-person learning is a top priority.

And vaccinations for teachers are not necessary.

'Vaccinations of teachers is not a prerequisite for safely reopening schools,' said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a Wednesday White House press briefing.

'There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated.'

Three studies found that as long as schools had students and teachers take precautions like mask-wearing and social distancing during in-person learning, there were not outbreaks that forced the schools to close down again.

In one study of six school districts in North Carolina, researchers found no cases of child-to-adult transmission that occured in school.
The European Union is allowing its diplomats in Moscow to be vaccinated with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine if they choose, even though it hasn't been approved by the bloc's regulators, according to an internal email seen by RFE/RL.



In an e-mail sent from a senior person in the EU delegation in Moscow on February 3 titled "Covid Vaccine -- Urgent Request For Feedback Today," staff were informed that Russian authorities had decided to "extend the COVID vaccination campaign also to the diplomatic corps, organized by the city of Moscow."

The statement adds that "for that purpose, they are collecting the data of diplomatic mission staff or their family members over 18 willing to be vaccinated (first name and last name, date of birth, and the Ministrys accreditation card numbers)."



Sputnik V is not mentioned anywhere explicitly in the text, but the e-mail states that Russian authorities "are not specifying the vaccine to be used" and that "more information about where and how the vaccination would take place will be sent later when they see the interest from the diplomatic community."



The e-mail adds, however, that "we have from the HQ not received any decisive opinion on whether we should get local vaccinations or non-EMA approved vaccines, where such are available."

Infographic: How Effective Are COVID-19 Vaccines?

To date, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved three vaccines: Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca.



"We have been advised that this is a personal decision of each individual but it is not a proper duty of care to recommend any vaccine that has not been approved by EMA. Hence, the delegation cannot actively recommend, but is leaving it to any individual to decide whether you and/or your adult, in Moscow registered, family member wants this," the letter said.



In a written response to an RFE/RL question on whether the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EUs diplomatic corps, had proposed guidelines to its various delegations worldwide on how to approach the issue of local COVID vaccinations with non-EMA approved vaccines, EEAS spokesperson Nabila Massrali said that "the EEAS is discussing with member states the different options for vaccination of EU diplomats and staff posted abroad in due respect of the EU policy on the timing and pace of deploying the vaccines (i.e. priority groups); the logistical and legal challenges and in line with EU support to third countries."



A source in Moscow told RFE/RL that Russian officials have been offering European diplomats the vaccine "like crazy, at every occasion, at every meeting."



Sputnik Vs official Twitter account, meanwhile, notes that Italys ambassador to Russia, Pasquale Terracciano, was vaccinated by them and in their post from 19 January he is quoted as saying "I have been inoculated with the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V. I have not experienced any noticeable side effects."



The Russian government's offer comes at a time when the EU's vaccine rollout continues to sputter.



The EU rollout started several weeks after both Britain and the United States and the bloc had on average administered just 2.6 vaccination doses per 100 people, compared to the U.K.'s 12.5 doses and 8.8 in the United States.



The EU's problems have been compounded by supply problems involving Pfizer/BionTech, and more significantly, AstraZeneca, which in late January announced it was cutting back planned supplies to the EU by a reported 60 percent to 31 million doses following disruptions at its plant in Belgium.



The delays are also acknowledged in the e-mail, which stated that "we in the EU delegation can also unfortunately not respond to any possible questions you may have on medical prerogatives of the vaccine, its safety and efficacy beyond what you read in the media already."



"The fact remains that from all we know other vaccines may take longer to make it to Moscow (or even for us to get vaccines in our home countries or Brussels)," it added.

The clamor for the Sputnik V vaccine in Europe has also increased after the renowned scientific journal The Lancet published the news earlier this week that the Russian vaccine was 91.6 percent effective in preventing people from developing COVID-19, according to peer-reviewed results from its late-stage clinical trial.



Several European politicians have recently pushed for the EU to approve Sputnik V, and Emer Cooke, the head of the EMA, said in a press conference last week that the agency had "not received an application either for a rolling review or for marketing authorization," but added that "we are in discussions with the company who is responsible for this vaccine. And they have raised a number of questions with us in the context of scientific advice. And this will obviously shape how the evaluation could go forward in the future."



Hungary, using an emergency authorization, broke ranks with the rest of the EU in January when it bought two million doses of Sputnik V but it has not received the vaccination yet.
A Multnomah County grand jury returned a 31-count indictment Wednesday against a man accused of striking and killing one woman and injuring seven other people in a wild, 15-block rampage in his Honda Element last week in Southeast Portland.

The indictment charges Paul Rivas with second-degree murder and failure to perform the duties of a driver in the killing of Jean Gerich, 77, a pedestrian who was hit twice and then dragged for a block.

She died about three hours later from blunt force trauma at OHSU Hospital, according to her son and daughter.

The second-degree murder charge alleges Rivas unlawfully and intentionally caused Gerichs death.

For each of the seven others who were struck and injured, the indictment charges Rivas with second-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault, attempted second-degree murder and failure to perform the duties of a driver to an injured person.

The final count of the seven-page indictment charges Rivas with resisting arrest stemming from when Officers Zachary Kenney and Matt Jacobsen tried to take him into custody after a crowd of bystanders cornered him.

Rivas is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in Multnomah County Circuit Courts Justice Center 3 courtroom.

Rivas, through a court-appointed lawyer, last week entered not guilty pleas to an initial 14-count criminal information. His attorney Jonathan Sarre couldnt immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Gerich, a 48-year Portland resident, had just left an appointment with her massage therapist and had barely made it to the sidewalk across the street when she was first struck by Rivas SUV, according to witnesses, police, friends and family.

Larry Wolfe, her massage therapist, heard a loud crash and emerged from his home and reported seeing Gerich sitting down near Southeast 19th Avenue and Stark Street, visibly injured and Rivas Honda initially driving away, according to a probable cause affidavit.

But Wolfe told police that the SUV made a rapid U-turn and came back, jumped the sidewalk and ran over Gerich a second time and dragged her underneath, according to the affidavit. Wolfe told officers he believed Gerich was struck intentionally, the affidavit said.

Numerous witnesses recounted to police that Rivas appeared to be deliberately attempting to strike vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians by swerving toward them while in the road or on sidewalks. He sped away after hitting people, without making any attempt to stop or render aid, according to police and prosecutors.

Detectives said the crime scene stretched from Southeast Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard to Southeast 15th Avenue and from East Burnside Street to Belmont Street. Rivas was arrested at Southeast 17th and Stark and taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation before he was booked into jail at 11 p.m. that night.

The other people listed in the indictment are Juan Caicedo-Gomez, Raymond Chihak, Travis Andrews, Prudence Hayes, Faviola Palomera, Donald Hinson and Miguel Rochin.

Andrews, who was walking in the area, told police he saw the Honda Element driving on the sidewalk near Southeast Stark Street and 18th Avenue, appearing to head directly toward him. Andrews said he made eye contact with the driver, then stepped off the sidewalk to avoid getting hit, but the Honda turned toward him and drove at him in the road, striking him in the right foot and lower leg, the affidavit said. Andrews watched as the Honda turned around and headed east on Stark and crashed.

Rivas hit a black Chevrolet El Camino and ran off, witnesses told police. Andrews and other bystanders chased after Rivas and cornered him before police arrested him. Rivas was seen on video footage making the sign of a cross with his hands over his chest before he was taken into custody.

Hayes said she was in her car when she saw Rivas Honda strike a bicyclist, sending the cyclist hurtling over the hood of the car, before the Honda collided with her own car. She said she required staples to close head wounds she suffered from the collision, according to the affidavit.

Hinson was riding his bicycle on Southeast 18th Avenue when the Honda drove straight at him without slowing, sending him and his bicycle onto the hood of the Honda. He fell onto the street and suffered injuries to his leg and a cut to his nose, the affidavit said.

Others described similar wild behavior by the Honda that seemed to target them.

Chihak said he was on the sidewalk near Southeast 19th Avenue and Stark when he heard screaming. That was when he noticed the Honda speeding directly toward him. It struck him as he stood on the sidewalk, he said, then sped off, according to the affidavit. Chihak also was treated for his injuries at a hospital.

Caicedo-Gomez was riding in the bike lane on Southeast Belmont Street when the Honda swerved into the lane and hit him from behind, throwing him off his bicycle, according to police.

Palomera said she was walking in Laurelhurst Park and saw the Honda doing U-turns nearby. The next thing she knew she woke up in the hospital with a head injury after she had been knocked unconscious when the Honda was seen driving out of the park and struck her while walking, according to her statement to police and a witness account, the affidavit said.

Rivas gave detectives bizarre explanations for what occurred when questioned the next day, according to court documents.

He initially claimed his Honda Element was having brake problems and that he was searching for an auto repair shop. Other times, he suggested the injuries could have been inflicted by another, similar looking Honda, not his. He admitted at one point to striking a bicyclist but characterized the collision as an emergency maneuver he made to avoid a more serious crash with oncoming traffic, Multnomah County prosecutor Sean P. Hughey wrote in the affidavit.

Detectives are continuing to investigate and suspect Rivas is suffering from some type of mental illness or ailment. There was no sign of drugs immediately detectable in his system, police said.

Rivas told court officials hes been living in a fifth-wheel trailer in Oregon City for 13 years. He has prior addresses in Washington. Rivas also said hes divorced but has multiple girlfriends, according to court records. He told court officials he last drank alcohol six months ago and hasnt used hard drugs in four decades, according to the records. The court listed aliases of Rocket and Pablo for him.

He told court officials he receives Supplemental Security Income for a disability and has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression in the past. He claimed he was diagnosed with those mental health problems while in the Secret Service, but theres no record he was ever in the Secret Service.

Rivas is originally from Kansas, married a woman 14 years younger when he was age 32 in Michigan, where he worked at one time as a design engineer for General Motors, according to a relative. They were married for 10 years and had a daughter before they divorced. Rivas followed his ex-wife to Washington state, where she obtained a stalking order against him.

Rivas had his license suspended for a brief time after a 2013 conviction for failure to obey traffic signals and failure to provide proof of compliance. Court records show it was reinstated on Dec. 8, 2014.

He has three failure to obey traffic device convictions from 2007, 2011 and 2013, according to Oregon court records.

Rivas also has a March 2019 conviction in Clark County for second-degree voyeurism and was ordered then to undergo a psychosexual evaluation. He was arrested at a post office in Vancouver on Aug. 14, 2018, after he was seen trying to use his phone to film under the skirt of a woman standing in line in front of him, according to court records.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
design and digital media leadership positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. ;

and the Smithsonian Institution in ; president and CEO of the Milwaukee Public Museum, Wisconsin's largest museum and one of the oldest natural history and science institutions in the nation;

largest museum and one of the oldest natural history and science institutions in the nation; executive director of the prestigious deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Boston ;

; and most recently, executive director of the renowned Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, New York .

"I'm elated and humbled to accept this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to chart a new course for Yerkes Observatory. Our community has the chance to build on the observatory's 124-year legacy of groundbreaking scientific research, discoveries, and educationand to share one of the Midwest's best-kept secrets with new generations of explorers across the globe," said Mr. Kois. "I believe the dynamic YFF board and devoted community of supporters around Geneva Lake can secure Yerkes' position as a platform for ongoing scientific researcheven as we find new ways of growing public understanding of astronomy and build scientific literacy. If we want new generations of diverse scientists ready to address the big challenges of the future, enchanting beacons like Yerkes must thrive to attract and inspire them."

In a unanimous vote, the Yerkes Future Foundation Board of Directors appointed Mr. Kois to serve as the Observatory's new executive director following an extensive national search led by Koya Leadership Partners, a national leader in executive placement for non-profit institutions. The appointment is YFF's first significant step to advance a global campaign dedicated to re-envisioning, preserving, and expanding the Observatory. YFF, led by a board comprised of local volunteers, assumed ownership for the Observatory in May, 2020.

Dianna Colman, board president of YFF, said, "We are deeply committed to preserving the rich scientific history of Yerkes Observatory and unlocking its potential to contribute to research and education on a global scale. After conducting a comprehensive executive search process, we have absolutely found the right leader to carry this meaningful mission forward. Dennis' years of success in elevating cultural and scientific institutions onto the national stage, along with his local roots and profound respect for the history of the Observatory will benefit our community and build support statewide, nationally and internationally for Yerkes' future."

Mr. Kois, a Wisconsin native, is an honors graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) with a bachelor's degree in museum design. He earned a master's degree in museum studies from New York University and attended the prestigious Getty Leadership Institute for non-profit leaders, as well as executive education programs in data analytics at Harvard University. In 2016, Mr. Kois was honored as UWM's "Alumni of the Year," and in 2018, he was elected vice-chairman of the Association of Science Museum Directors, an organization comprised of the leaders of the largest public science institutions in North America. Mr. Kois and his fiancee, Kelly Gauthier, a project management leader for the University of Wisconsin system, have five children between them ranging in age from 3 to 15 years.

About Yerkes Observatory

Yerkes Observatory is known globally as the birthplace of modern astrophysics and remains the home to the world's largest refracting telescope. Since 1897, the Observatory has welcomed world-renowned astronomers, astronauts, Nobel prize winners, scientists, and educators. Located on Geneva Lake in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, the Observatory houses multiple telescopes still actively used for research in addition to the "Great Refractor," a glass-plate library, and several laboratories surrounded by 50 acres of grounds designed by the legendary firm Olmsted and Olmsted. In 2020, the Yerkes Future Foundation assumed long-term stewardship for preserving and expanding the Observatory. The community-based Foundation is currently leading a campaign to restore the Observatory and maximize its potential to contribute to global research and educational initiatives.

About the Scientific Legacy of Yerkes

Yerkes Observatory has a 124-year history of leading science, research, and astrophysics engineering initiatives that have transcended generations and been cited in the international scientific literature more than 10,000 times. Founded by renowned astronomer George Ellery Hale in 1892, the Observatory's laboratories produced the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC) for NASA in 2012. Renowned astronomers and scientists who have walked the observatory's halls include Edwin Hubble, Otto Struve, Gerard Kuiper, Carl Sagan, NASA's first Chief of Astronomy Nancy Grace Roman, and Nobel prize-winners Albert Einstein and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.

SOURCE Yerkes Observatory

Representative image (PC- MoneyControl.Com)

The Finance Ministers announcements on February 1, 2021 have been large and widespread. There are substantial changes in the text of tax laws which affect all classes of indirect taxes such a GST, Customs and even the no longer commonly applicable Central Excise laws. In this article, we seek to examine the major changes as they affect the industry and common man alike.

1. Another Cess makes a debut

The Finance Minister gave extensive account for the commitment of the Government to the cause of the farmers. She gave detailed figures as regards the expenses of the Government on MSP commitments and other reforms on the agricultural front. However, it is others who have to foot the tab for these commitments of the Government. It is in this context that this proposal to introduce a new cess named as Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) is to be viewed.

The text of the Finance Bill, 2021 reveals that this cess is dedicated for purposes of financing the agriculture infrastructure and other development expenditure.

Two changes have been made for the purpose of this cess. The first change relates to imported goods where the annexure to the speech of the FM lists out twelve different species of goods on which such cess will be imposed. A review of this list presents a curious picture in so far as there appears to be no underlying homogeneity in the constituents of this list.

For example, at one end of the spectrum are price inelastic goods such as gold, silver, alcoholic beverages, etc whereas at the other end of the spectrum, there are edible commodities such as gram, peas, lentil, apples, sunflower oil, etc with certain other commodities such as cotton, fertilizers, etc in the middle.

Furthermore, there is a huge variation in the rates of the commodities, with alcohol obviously being the highest at 100% with some commodities at 5%. Interestingly, a note has been appended to this list that overall there would be no additional burden on the consumer on most of these items.

The other change is in respect of another price-inelastic category of goods which are still outside the GST regime and are subject to central excise duty. Petrol and diesel continue to be the lifeline of transportation in India and have been saddled with this cess, that too at a high rate of Rs 2.5/litre and Rs 4/litre respectively.

The saving grace is that no higher tax incidence is proposed on the citizens on this account in so far as simultaneously the excise duty has been reduced on these fuels. Thus, the budget speech carries a note that overall there would be no additional burden on the consumer.

There is substance in this claim in so far as the net tax outgo for the consumer will remain the same despite the cess. Simultaneously, the amount which will be collected from the consumer under this head of cess will specifically be available to the Government for the purpose of meeting its agriculture related obligation without a requirement to share these proceeds with the states under the devolution formula. In other words, the Government is carving out this cess from the existing tax pool in so far as petrol and diesel are concerned.

2. Proposal to omit the GST annual audit obligation of the businesses

One key amendment in the GST laws is the acceptance of the GST Council proposal to do away with the requirement of annual audit applicable on large taxpayers.

At the time when GST was introduced, this particular provision was apparently pedestalled on the need for annual reconciliation of the taxpayers accounts besides providing a via-media to the tax officers to obtain confirmation of the taxpayers affairs by way of independent audit by practicing chartered accountants. This would ensure that the anomalies and inadvertent errors on the tax positions of the taxpayers and errors in GST compliances would be addressed at the taxpayers end itself, thereby reducing scope of litigation.

Even though the underlying objective of the mechanism was noble, the confusion which arose in the initial days of implementation of GST and the inability of taxpayers to timely migrate to the new system (GSTN) led to various representations being made against the annual audit obligations and the Government also factored these when it extended the due dates on multiple occasions.

The annual return for 2017-18 deadline being extended 7 times, negative feedback regarding their filing and working of GSTN, severe criticism of high cost of compliance, etc. were certain facets which were noted by the GST council in its 39th meeting held on 14th March, 2020. As a consequence, the Government has undone the existing provisions to make mandatory annual audit as optional and permit self-certification as well.

This implies that the requirement for a third-party validation by way of audit is no longer necessary. However, to allow the taxpayers who like to seek comfort in independent external audit, annual audit reports will still be accepted. In other words, the compliance has been rationalized for the benefit of taxpayer fraternity, and thus another large criticism has been done away with.

3. Restrictions on input tax credit

In an amendment which renders moot many constitutional and legal challenges currently being considered by multiple high courts, the Government has added another obligation for the taxpayers to take input tax credit.

It was being argued by the taxpayers that certain rules exist in the GST law which restrict the input tax credit in the event the supplier does not carry out the necessary compliances at its own end, and thus, input tax credit is being denied to the taxpayers for events which are beyond their control. It was argued by the taxpayers that such a restriction of input tax credit was not manifest from the GST law.

Pre-emptively overruling such challenges, the Government has carried out this amendment to provide a legislative backing to the Rules restricting the input tax credit. Given the sentimental aspects and legal issues associated with such requirement, one would expect challenges to the validity of this provision would soon come up for consideration before Indian courts.

4. Overriding the doctrine of mutuality

The scope of supply has been amended to include transactions between clubs, etc. and their members. There were judicial rulings which applied the doctrine of mutuality, peculiar to tax laws, to bold that club and their members are essentially same and thus, there is no taxable transaction between them. A retrospective amendment has been proposed to ensure that such transactions will be covered under supply, and GST is collected on the amounts paid by members towards the supplies of goods and services. In fact, a validation law has been enacted which overrules contrary rulings in favor of taxpayers.

5. Time limit for customs investigations.

A new section has been proposed which providess for a limitation of two years, further extendable by one more year, as sunset period for audit, search, seizure or summons for completion of the investigations. Thus, there shall be no more long drawn inquiry procedures, in a big relief to open ended inquiries by customs officers.

6. Time bound customs exemptions

All new conditional exemptions under the Customs Act, 1962 shall be valid now only for two years, instead of being open-ended in the past. Further, the new customs duty framework shall be in place after the Government would review about 400 exemption notifications. As a result, reviewing such exemptions on a periodical basis will become a norm and businesses will have to adjust to such dynamic Customs Duty regime.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 13:50:00|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, started visiting southwest China's Guizhou Province on Wednesday, about one week before the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year.

For nine years in a row, Xi has made it a tradition to visit ordinary people, especially the disadvantaged groups, ahead of the Spring Festival, the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar.

The following are some of the most memorable moments of Xi's interactions with these people during his pre-Spring Festival tours.

2020, Yunnan

Xi went to the home of farmer Li Fashun in Simola Wa Village, Yunnan Province, where he learned about the family's daily life, and was invited to join the family in making rice cakes. He also beat a wooden drum of the Wa ethnic group three times, a local ritual activity to bless the coming year.

The year 2020 marked the deadline for China to eliminate absolute poverty. During the inspection, Xi noted that shaking off poverty is the starting point for a new and happy life, calling for vigorously promoting rural vitalization after a moderately prosperous society in all respects is achieved.

2019, Beijing

Xi visited the hutong neighborhoods of central Beijing and particularly dropped in on an express delivery station there, stressing that priority should be given to solving employment problems and creating more jobs.

He praised the hard work of deliverymen, saying they were "busy as bees" to bring convenience to people's lives.

2018, Sichuan

Xi went deep into the mountains of impoverished Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

In two ethnic Yi villages, Xi was happy to learn that villagers have increased their incomes by raising cattle and growing potatoes, peppers and walnuts.

"Not a single ethnic group or family should be left behind in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects," Xi said.

He also told villagers later during the inspection: "My job is to serve the people."

2017, Hebei

Xi went to a village in Hebei Province, a short drive from Beijing. In the house of poor villager Xu Wan, Xi asked about the family's drinking water, TV programs and activities it had planned for the Lunar New Year.

Xi even sat down with Xu and helped him with his household budget.

While visiting villager Xu Haicheng's home, Xi chatted with village cadres and farmers, and said poverty eradication is the "bottom-line task" in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

2016, Jiangxi

Xi visited the house of Zuo Xiufa, grandson of a revolutionary martyr living in a poverty-stricken village in the city of Jinggangshan, Jiangxi Province. Xi was glad to see that Zuo had shaken off poverty by using local bamboo resources to start his own processing business.

Calling Jinggangshan the cradle of the Chinese revolution, Xi called for carrying forward the Jinggangshan Spirit in the modern context.

2015, Shaanxi

Xi met with old acquaintances from Liangjiahe Village, Shaanxi Province, where he had spent seven years as an adolescent and young adult. "I will never forget the villagers here and the people in the old revolutionary base," Xi said.

"A well-off society is incomplete if people in old revolutionary base areas cannot shake off poverty," Xi said later during a meeting with officials from Shaanxi and neighboring provincial regions in northwest China.

2014, Inner Mongolia

Braving the cold in northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xi visited the home of forestry worker Guo Yongcai in a border town.

Inside the house in a dilapidated neighborhood, Xi checked the cellar and the fireplace and chatted with Guo to learn about his difficulties.

He later went to a children's welfare home where he used sign language to interact with the hearing-impaired. Xi called for love for children, especially orphans and the disabled, from across the society.

2013, Gansu

Xi went to villages located in a hostile natural environment in northwestern Gansu Province, asking villagers whether they had enough food, sufficient subsistence allowances, and access to medical and educational resources.

He emphasized stepped up efforts to ensure millions in arid parts of Gansu have access to stable supply of drinking water.

Xi also visited a construction site to learn about the rebuilding work of the county seat, where a landslide two years earlier had caused severe damages. There, he chatted with migrant workers, ordering better protection of their legitimate rights and interests. Enditem
Holiday home property ownership remains elusive for the majority of New Zealanders, according to new research.

The Long White study, which surveyed 1000 adult New Zealanders found just over a seventh (15 per cent) of Kiwis say they or a member of their immediate family currently own a bach.

Bach ownership is highest amongst those living in the Auckland (21 per cent) and Bay of Plenty (22 per cent) regions.

The results also found that while bach ownership is restricted to a small proportion of the population, almost three quarters (73 per cent) of New Zealanders had stayed at a bach at some point in their lives.

GM of marketing for Long White beverages Oliver Downs says the survey is one of the first studies to quantify the level of holiday home ownership for the average Kiwi.

Until now there has been little research available to help us better understand the numbers of New Zealanders who own a bach and the accessibility of this lifestyle asset.

What was particularly interesting to see in the results was the fact that holiday homes are a shared space for a much wider group of friends and family."

The study also found that for more than a quarter (27 per cent) of the population, social media has reduced the amount of time we spend with our friends - a figure much higher for those aged 25-44 where more than four in ten (42 per cent) of this age group say their time on these platforms has compromised their face-to-face time with friends.

When it comes to the biggest impact on their friendships over the past year, almost a fifth (19 per cent) say the challenges of COVID and social distancing, around a seventh (13 per cent) say a lack of time, 12 per cent say work commitments, 11 per cent blame a lack of money and a tenth (9 per cet) say they have felt too depressed to catch up with anyone.

While many of us have struggled to connect with friends during the past 12 months when asked what would make them the happiest, making plans with a friend they had not seen in a long time was the most popular answer for a seventh (15 per cent) of respondents.

The simple pleasure of a sunny day would make 13 per cent of Kiwis the happiest while a tenth (11 per cent) say heading to a bach would bring the most joy to their day.

Psychologist and bach owner Sara Chatwin says baches give people a way to connect in a small group, in their own environment, giving them a piece of paradise with those around them who matter most.

A bach is an escape from the daily grind and an opportunity to hang out with people who resonate with you and who make you happy.

Access to the opportunity to chill and relax has enormous benefits for over well-being, for example, stress diminishes, good hormones are released, sleep patterns can actually improve meaning mood and energy are more positively pitched.

As an island nation, the sea and the beach beckons us. We generally have a mindset that has been created by our environment and opportunities we have to interact with our friends in our favourite places in this beautiful country of ours.

Chatwin says COVID has shown us how important human connection is and a lack of social contact can create problems.

People begin to experience loneliness and can become anxious and depressed. Sometimes people speak of feeling that they have no direction or focus because interface with people and friends punctuates a day and can give some people a sense of perspective.

"We tend to be social creatures even if we only choose a few friends to interact with,"

The research also showed that when it comes to the people we have the most fun with; Kiwis say this is most likely to be their partner (39 per cent), followed by their friends (28 per cent) and children (20 per cent). Siblings (4 per cent) and parents (2 per cent) were also mentioned.

One of the things the pandemic has taught us is to nurture and cherish the relationships with our partners and our families because often, they are all we have and arguably all we need, she says.

The Long White study was commissioned as part of a new nationwide campaign which was designed to make coastal property ownership a reality for one New Zealander.

The Long White Win a Bach campaign from Asahi Beverages is believed to offer one of the years largest single cash prizes outside of the New Zealand Lotteries Commission and will provide a contribution of $500,000 towards a holiday home for one Kiwi consumer.

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We had President Trump for four years.

I already feel like weve had President Biden for eight.

There were many reasons for not liking Trump or the way he did things.

But at least he was an optimist. At least he saw the sun coming up every morning.

Biden sees every new dawn as the beginning of another dark and troubled day that only he and government intervention of the worst Democrat kind can make better.

Taking us back to the Jimmy Carter days of national malaise and pessimism, he keeps warning us about 100,000 more COVID-19 deaths in the next 30 days, years of mask mandates and the existential threat to the planet from climate change.

The only people happy with Bidens daily message of gloom and doom are the lefty Democrats in Congress who control him and his soulmates in the friendly liberal media.

MSNBC, CNN, New York Times columnists, Rachel Maddow, the Joe McCarthy of our age, and their progressive pals are thrilled with Biden.

Thats because hes spent the first days of his reign signing 40 executive orders designed to destroy or hobble the oil and gas industry, dismantle Trumps tough immigration policies and make racial and sexual equity (not equality) the main mission of the newly woked up federal government.

For the last four years Maddow and lefty Democrats like her in the media have accused Trump of being a dictator at least ten times a day.

But they apparently havent noticed yet that Joe Biden has been signing executive decrees like Joe Stalin on speed and plans to keep 5,000 armed National Guard troops on the streets of Washington until March.

Can you imagine how loudly Maddow, Chuck Todd and the hypocritical civil libertarians at the New York Times editorial page would have howled if Trump had brought 15,000 armed troops into D.C. for any reason  including a parade?

He sent a few busloads of soldiers to protect a federal courthouse in Seattle from being torched by rioters last year and he was called Hitler Junior.

Maddow and her fellow travelers in and out of government see right wing domestic terrorists hiding under every other deplorable bed between Manhattan and Hollywood.

Some of them are openly calling conservative Republicans, Trump supporters, Christians and even libertarians domestic terrorists and suggesting that they need to be deprogrammed in reeducation camps or denied jobs or government contracts based on their political beliefs.

On Wednesday the country got an alert from Bidens Department of Homeland Security that said there was a rising threat of domestic terrorism across the country from extremists emboldened by the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The DHS didnt name names, but everyone knows its terrorism alert was referring to conservatives and Trump supporters.

But come on, man.

Everyone on the right except some crazies with horns on their helmets has decried what happened at the Capitol.

Republicans and conservatives across the country are not fomenting violence or planning an insurrection, and never were, despite what Professor Maddow thinks.

But that doesnt matter.

If you voted for Trump, youre now looked at and treated like a potential domestic terrorist by the government, the liberal media and institutions like Facebook and Harvard.

If you say the wrong political thing in public or on Facebook, or if your neighbor or student rats you out, you might end up having your diploma rescinded, being censored or de-platformed by Twitter, losing your job or not being hired in the first place.

While the dishonest media treat Biden like a fragile flower and cheer-lead for his resurrection of some of President Obamas worst policies, its become a very scary time to be a conservative, a Trump supporter, a Christian or plain old Republican in Joe Bidens un-unified America.

Americas federal government has essentially become a one-party state and it, the media and Big Business are all on the same dangerous progressive page.

I dont know about you, but as I watch a moderate president taking us farther down the road to socialism  and serfdom  Im afraid for the future of America.

Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant and the author of Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan. His column is distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
- which recently declared that its network is 5G-ready - does not anticipate any material change in its capital expenditure profile with the advent of fifth-generation services, its CEO Gopal Vittal said on Thursday.

Addressing an investor call after announcing a strong Q3 performance, Vittal also said that the company will shut down its copper infrastructure in a year or so, and only have fibre to the home.

"We are...in the process of rapidly upgrading our legacy copper assets completely to Fibre," he said, terming it a "game-changing move".

Outlining the company's spectrum strategy, Vittal said is keen on a full footprint of sub-GHz spectrum across the country, even as it looks to balance a combination of capacity and renewals.

"There are many circles...where we don't have a sub GHz spectrum, so we would love to have that. There are some renewals coming up on 1800 band, there is also some capacity spectrum available on 2300 band where we already got deployed equipment...a combination of capacity or renewal we will look and balance it, and make sure we optimise what we do," Vittal said.

His comments came at a time when the government has set the ball rolling for the spectrum auction, in which radio waves valued at Rs 3.92 lakh crore will be put on the block. The auction in seven spectrum bands for mobile services - 700, 800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2300 and 2500 MHz bands - is scheduled to start from March 1.

On tariff hikes, the Airtel top honcho declined to comment on specific timing when rates would go up, saying it is a competitive issue and based on market dynamics.

"I believe, we will be ready to take up tariffs if and when any player actually moves tariffs, given that we are already at a premium," he said.

Vittal maintained that the industry needs tariff hike to nudge the average realisation per user per month towards Rs 200 initially, and Rs 300 eventually.

"We would love to see tariffs go up. This is obviously something that industry needs if ARPUs (Average Revenue Per User) have to go to Rs 200 and finally to Rs 300, which is something as an industry we deserve in order to generate a reasonably good return on capital deployed...this is what would be required for the business model to succeed," Vittal said.

The company had last week announced that its network is ready as it successfully demonstrated live fifth-generation service -- with ultra-high speeds -- over a commercial network in Hyderabad.

"We do not believe that with introduction, whenever it comes, we are going to see any material change in profile. As you invest in 5G, you will stop investing in 4G because capacity creation will be done on which will obviously be the lower cost of producing a gigabyte, given that you have much higher spectrum in those bands," Vittal said.

has logged net profit of Rs 854 crore for December quarter against Rs 1,035 crore loss a year ago, as the telco witnessed improved realisations and the strong customer additions.

Airtel also posted its highest-ever consolidated quarterly revenue of Rs 26,518 crore in the third quarter of 2020-21, up 24.2 per cent over the year-ago period.

On Wednesday, the board of Bharti Airtel also approved fundraising plans of up to Rs 7,500 crore via debt instruments such as debentures and bonds in one or more tranches.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Roseburg, OR (97470)

Today

Partly cloudy. Low 49F. N winds at 10 to 15 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

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Partly cloudy. Low 49F. N winds at 10 to 15 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Ohio will receive more than $24 million from a nationwide, nine-figure set of settlements with an opioid companies consultant accused of contributing to a crisis that resulted in hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths, the state attorney general announced Thursday.

McKinsey & Company agreed to pay nearly $600 million to resolve claims made by 49 states, the District of Columbia and five territories to resolve accusations that the New York-based company advised OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and other drugmakers on how to market and sell more addictive painkillers while the U.S. saw record-high overdose death rates.

The settlement came after extensive negotiations, but the company was not sued before the agreement was reached. In that way, it is separate but related to thousands of federal lawsuits filed against drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies by local governments  all of which are being heard by a federal judge in Cleveland  and similar lawsuits filed by attorneys general in state courts.

Several drug companies in 2019 reached settlements worth more than $300 million with Cuyahoga and Summit counties to avert what would have been the first federal trial.

The state itself has not yet gone to trial in either of the lawsuits it filed, and the McKinsey settlement is the first it reached. Under the agreement, Ohio will receive $20 million this year and a total of $4.7 million paid over the following four years, according to a news release from Attorney General Dave Yosts office.

The release said the money will go into a foundation set up through the OneOhio plan, which most cities, counties and the state agreed to in March 2020 to dole out settlement money obtained in the opioid litigation.

Ohios portion of the McKinsey settlement is the first money that any portion of the plan gets, as settlements Cuyahoga and Summit counties obtained were reached before the plans formation. However, Yost spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle said the new settlement will only go toward the foundation and not into either the state or local governments coffers. The foundation will distribute money based on the needs of specific regions, she said.

We had more overdose deaths than weve ever had after the (coronavirus) pandemic hit, Yost said in a video accompanying the announcement. And this settlement  gives us the opportunity to start putting resources to work to combat this.

Gov. Mike DeWine said in his bi-weekly coronavirus briefing shown on TV and online that he was pleased Yost will use the settlement as seed money for the OneOhio plan.

McKinsey Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader said in a statement that the company chose to settle in order to provide fast, meaningful support to communities across the United States.

We deeply regret that we did not adequately acknowledge the tragic consequences of the epidemic unfolding in our communities, Sneader continued. With this agreement, we hope to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis in the U.S.

A document filed Thursday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court said McKinsey created and implemented plans for drugmakers to aggressively advertise to health-care providers who prescribed the largest number of opioid painkillers.

The company worked with Purdue Pharma  which filed for bankruptcy as part of a plan to settle its lawsuits and separately entered into a criminal plea agreement and civil settlement package with the Justice Department worth more than $8 billion  for 15 years. McKinsey advised the Connecticut drug giant on how to increase the sales of OxyContin and later encouraged it to get into the addiction treatment medication business, according to the document.

The company earned millions creating marketing plans for drugmakers, including Mallinckrodt, Johnson & Johnson and Endo International, and led to a flood of painkillers sent to Ohio, the document stated.

As part of its settlement, McKinsey agreed to prepare to publicly release tens of thousands of documents that detail its work for Purdue Pharma and other drug companies, Yosts office said. The company will also adopt a stricter policy on retaining documents and continue to investigate claims that two employees tried to destroy documents after they found out Purdue Pharma was under investigation, among other actions.

McKinsey said it fired two employees who talked about destroying documents and stopped consulting with opioid companies in 2019. It previously said it was cooperating with authorities.

The opioid lawsuits allege malfeasance in making, promoting and dispensing the painkillers that led to nearly 450,000 opioid overdose deaths nationwide between 1999 and 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Aspen, CO (81611)

Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 44F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 44F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.

Abuja  Despite the Nigerian military's efforts to end banditry, at least 31 people have been killed this week in different locations in the country including Niger, Kaduna and Zamfara states.

The latest incident resulted in the killing of 21 people in the Shiroro local government area of Niger state on January 2, 2021. About 40 other people were reported abducted.

Reports say that more than 300 bandits riding motorcycles and carrying sophisticated weapons invaded Kurebe, Sabon-gida, Sarari and Rafin Kanya in Niger state.

"They moved from community to community shooting sporadically," an eyewitness said.

'A massacre'

A member of staff of the Shiroro local government council, Mr Galadima Salisu, described the incident as "a massacre".

"I am afraid that our area will be completely taken over by bandits who now operate at will," he said.

Niger State Government Secretary Ahmed Matane confirmed the incident and said the attack appeared to be a reprisal because some vigilantes that were not involved in the last invasion of the area were killed.

Matane said the bandits must have crossed into the state from Kaduna state.

"Government has assessed the situation; we have deployed air force personnel to the area. Their helicopters are now combing the forest looking for the bandits," he said.

Matane said those injured were taken to "nearby hospitals for treatment", adding that government will cater for their treatment.

Other attacks

The Kaduna state government also reported an attack by bandits in different locations, in which seven people were killed.

The government said that three people were killed in Warsa Piti, in Mariri District of Lere local government area, and four were killed in Igabi and Chikun local government areas.

Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs Samuel Aruwan said the bandits invaded the communities late on Monday night and began shooting sporadically.

Aruwan said troops were mobilised to the location and engaged the assailants who fled into the forest.

Mr Mustapha Jafaru, spokesman of the Zamfara state House of Assembly, also reported that three people were killed on Tuesday night when bandits invaded the Speaker's country home in Magarya, Kanwa District.

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Jafaru said on Wednesday that the bandits also torched several houses, killed animals and destroyed foodstuffs during the attack.

Meanwhile, the federal government has reported that no fewer than 158 bandits, terrorists and criminal elements have been killed by the military across the country since January 2021.

Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed said in Abuja on February 2, 2021 that the figure did not include scores of other terrorists and armed bandits killed in airstrikes.

Arms seized

Mohammed said some 52 criminal elements were arrested, with scores of arms, ammunition and equipment being recovered, while troops also rescued a total of 17 kidnapped victims across the country.

He said that a total of 684,856 barrels of stolen crude oil, 1,724,000 litres of stolen automotive gas oil and 500,000 litres of dual purpose kerosene were recovered.

He said 118 armed bandits were killed in the North West alone and a total of 11 kidnap victims were rescued within the same period.

"A total of 11 arrests were made and those arrested include high- profile armed bandits, gun runners and bandits' collaborators," he said.

In the North East, the minister said 30 terrorists, including some of their commanders, were killed by troops and scores of others were killed in air raids.

He said several gun trucks were seized in addition to the 13 which were recently captured in Marte, Borno, while others were destroyed by the troops.
US employment growth likely rebounded; more government money still needed

US job growth likely rebounded in January as authorities began easing covid-19 restrictions on businesses with the ebbing pace of infections, which could offer the strongest signal yet that the worst of the labor market turmoil was behind after the economy shed jobs in December.

The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday will, however, not lessen the need for additional relief money from the government, with millions of people experiencing long bouts of unemployment and others having permanently lost their jobs, and given up the search for work.

The economy would still be about 10 million jobs short from the labor market's peak in February 2020. President Joe Biden is pushing the U.S. Congress to pass a $1.9 trillion recovery plan, which has been met with resistance from mostly Republican lawmakers, now worried about the swelling national debt.

Biden's fellow Democrats in the Senate were on Thursday set to take a first step toward the ultimate passage of the proposed stimulus package.

"The stimulus has to pass," said Jason Reed, finance professor at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. "Whatever the payrolls number is, we shouldn't forget we are significantly under the amount of jobs needed to get back to where we were a year ago."
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday awarded N150,000 cost against Olawale Bakare, the co-defendant of Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters.

The two men are being prosecuted for treasonable felony by the Attorney-General of the Federations office.

Trial judge, Ijeoma Ojukwu, initially awarded N100,000 cost against Mr Bakare for his absence from court on Thursday.

She, however, added N50,000 to it after the defence lawyer said it was impossible for the defendant to be available for the hearing scheduled for Friday.

Mr Sowore arrived at the proceedings late, but early enough to avert being slammed with similar fine.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Bakare moved to the UK to pursue an academic programme despite the ongoing court case.

Hearing

At the resumed hearing Thursday morning, neither the defendants nor their lawyers were present.

But the judge noted that the defence team led by Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, sent in a letter dated January 29 asking that the trial scheduled for Thursday and Friday be postponed to another day.

Reacting, the prosecuting counsel, Aminu Alilu, said the letter failed to adduce any reason for the request to be granted.

He urged the court to revoke the bail granted the defendants and award costs against them for their absence.

The judge stood the matter down till after mid-day to rule.

By the time the hearing resumed in the afternoon, a lawyer from the defence team, Marshall Abubakar, appeared, and about 25 minutes into the proceedings, Mr Sowore too walked in.

Mr Abubakar said the defence team had not been informed of any counter-directive from the judge or a counter-opinion from the prosecution concerning the defences January 29 letter.

So both the defence lawyers and the defendants had presumed that the proceedings fixed for Thursday and Friday had been postponed as requested in the letter.

He insisted that the letter by the defence had given enough notice and constituted sufficient grounds for the request contained in it to be granted.

He said As your lordship is aware, January 25, this matter was scheduled to go on and we were ready and in court.

However, owing to the demise of Justice Watila of Abeokuta Division, the court could not proceed.

It was hoped that if the proceeding had gone on, we would have informed your lordship that todays date would not be convenient for the defence.

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Responding, the prosecuting counsel described Mr Abubakars submission as very shocking and alarming that this honourable court for the second time will be waiting for these eminent defendants.

He recalled how the court awarded N200,000 cost against the prosecution for causing a delay last year.

He urged the court to revoke the bail granted the second defendant who was absent.

Ruling

Ruling, the judge said the presumption by the defence that the case had been fixed for another date on the basis of their letter that was anchored on no reason was baseless.

She said she would refrain from revoking Mr Bakares bail, but she awarded the cost of N100,000 against him.

The court awarded another N50,000 cost against him after the prosecution urged the judge to order the trial to continue Friday as earlier scheduled and the defence lawyer made it clear that it was impossible for Mr Bakare to travel from Osogbo in Osun State and be in Abuja by Friday.

It will be recalled that the judge had in her ruling granting bail to the defendants restricted Mr Sowore to Abuja and Mr Bakare to Osogbo, except when he needed to travel to Abuja for his trial.

Mrs Ojukwu said the total cost of N150,000 awarded against Mr Bakare on Thursday was to discourage inordinate delay in the case.

She adjourned the trial till April 28 and 29.

The Attorney-Generals office accused the two defendants of organising a protest tagged #RevolutionNow allegedly aimed at toppling President Muhammadu Buhari.
Paul J. Crutzen, a Dutch scientist who earned a Nobel Prize for work that warned the world about the threat of chemicals to the planets ozone layer and who went on to push for action against global warming, died on Jan. 28 in Mainz, Germany. He was 87.

The Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz announced the death, in a hospital, but did not state the cause. Susanne Benner, a spokeswoman for the institute, said Dr. Crutzen had been treated for Parkinsons disease.

Martin Stratmann, the president of the Max Planck Society, said in a statement that Dr. Crutzens work had led to the ban on ozone-depleting chemicals, a hitherto unique example of how Nobel Prize-winning basic research can directly lead to a global political decision.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has called an emergency meeting with NSA Ajit Doval, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava and Director of Intelligence Bureau Arvind Kumar to discuss the preparations for Saturday (February 6), when the Farmer Unions are going to stage a three-hour-long Chakka Jam all over the country.

Yesterday, Amit Shah took it to his official Twitter handle to express his anger and rejected the international propaganda. The Home Minister wrote, "No propaganda can deter Indias unity!" while retweeting the Ministry of Home Affairs official statement.

Earlier, Delhi Police has been making detailed preparations, from nailed cement into the roads to high rise wired fences, to stop the protesting farmers from entering the national capital on the proposed day.

Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava arrives at the Parliament to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah. pic.twitter.com/7FXMvlMrEq  ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2021

Meanwhile, in an interview with ANI Bharatiya Kisan Union leader, Rakesh Tikait said, "There'll be a three-hour-long 'chakka jaam' on 6th Feb. It won't take place in Delhi but everywhere outside Delhi. The people that will be stuck in it will be given food and water. We will tell them what is the Govt doing with us."

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MOSCOW -- In late January, as Russia was being rocked by a wave of protests sparked by the January 17 arrest of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, the country's education minister addressed the upper chamber of parliament, the Federation Council.

"How are children supposed to achieve the goals that have been set for them? What can influence their world view and at what moment of their lives?" Sergei Kravtsov asked lawmakers on January 27. "What can be done to prevent the possibility of anyone exercising a destructive influence on children?"

His questions came in the context of comments by state officials and reports by Kremlin-controlled media outlets that appeared aimed, despite a lack of evidence, at portraying Navalny and other protest organizers as being bent on luring minors into the streets to oppose the government.

As part of the answer, Kravtsov announced a program called Navigators of Childhood, which aims to create a new position in Russian schools called "adviser to the school director for upbringing ['vospitaniye' in Russian] --and work with student organizations." The term "vospitaniye" denotes the process of raising and educating children with proper behavior for integration into adult society.

Some observers, however, see the initiative as an effort to keep school-aged Russians away from anti-government protests. Officials have been warning minors to steer clear of street demonstrations since 2017, when teenagers were among the tens of thousands who demonstrated after Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation released a viral video expose of lavish homes allegedly owned or used by then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Opposite Effect?

Political analyst Konstantin Kalachyov said that if the aim was to prevent teenagers from attending rallies, it could backfire. He suggested that the authorities should avoid any effort to introduce "political commissars" -- a term for the functionaries who sought to ensure Communist Party loyalty and discipline in the army and the workplace in the Soviet era -- into Russia's schools.

"If some sort of political commissars or 'upbringers' appear in schools and start explaining to children the danger of participating in protests, it will only stimulate their interest in such things," Kalachyov told RFE/RL.

The Navigators of Childhood initiative will roll out nationally in 2022, but is already being implemented in 10 test regions, from Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea to the Pacific island of Sakhalin. One of the locations is the city of Sevastopol in Crimea, the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula that was seized by Russia in 2014.

The project is being managed by the Russian Movement of Schoolchildren (RDSh), which -- despite its grassroots name -- was created on the order of President Vladimir Putin in 2015 as part of his youth initiative aimed at "the formation of the personality on the basis of the prevailing values of Russian society."

The RDSh is headed by 33-year-old Irina Pleshcheva, who formerly worked for the pro-Putin All-Russia Popular Front (ONF), the Moscow region administration, and the pro-Putin Nashi youth movement.

In comments to RFE/RL, Pleshcheva said that the plan for school advisers was not a response to the protests that swept Russia after the jailing of Navalny, who was arrested upon arrival from Germany, where he had been treated for an nerve-agent poisoning in Siberia in August that he blames on Putin.

"This project is already six months old," she said. "We began it last year. You might recall that the State Duma (the lower parliament chamber) last May held discussions on the project of patriotic education and these positions were announced then."

She said the purpose of the initiative was to improve communications with children and to convey their concerns to the authorities. "I know that, besides education, our children get very little out of school," Pleshcheva said. "They do not have any other opportunities, including the opportunity to interact normally with one another outside of social media. On top of this, we now have the pandemic, which has imposed many restrictions. Teachers say they simply don't have time for the children."

She told RFE/RL the new counselors will develop extracurricular activities together with schoolchildren, giving as examples computer gaming, civic volunteer programs, and monitoring school-meal programs.

"In general, schoolchildren are not very interested in politics," she said. "If you look at TikTok, even during the last few weeks, when children were provoked into going to protests, you see that children there are more interested in the latest dances or memes or who is in love with whom. During puberty, children are interested in other things besides politics."

'They Need To Be Integrated'

"We are not talking about political education, but about communicating with children," Pleshcheva added. "The point of that communication is to be able to answer questions that interest them."

Pleshcheva told the newspaper Kommersant that the new counselors "will have to know the language and memes of children, to watch the same livestreams and films that they watch, to listen to the music that they listen to, to be active in social media, and to understand video and computer games."

According to Kommersant, she said that particular attention would be paid to children who had been detained at unsanctioned demonstrations so that "they wouldn't feel that we are angry with them or that they are abandoned."

"They need to be integrated into RDSh projects," she added.

The RDSh plans to offer a salary supplement of 15,000 rubles ($200) per month to the new counselors, who will be recruited from current teachers and people about to graduate from pedagogical institutes. Those selected will pass through a 106-hour training program. The expectation is that some 2,500 counselors will pass through the program the first year and begin working in some of the country's more than 40,000 schools.

Analyst Kalachyov predicted that the new initiative would likely share the fate of Nashi, a Kremlin-backed youth group that was prominent a decade ago but no longer exists. "It ended long ago and many of its activists are now opposition-minded," he said. "They were disappointed with the future that was depicted for them but was never realized. Their expectations were raised, and they were disenchanted."

Child psychologist Svetlana Kachmar was also skeptical. "I see that this project is being run by people who used to be in Nashi," she told RFE/RL. "But as soon as that organization was no longer propped up or given financing, it disappeared from our daily life. Society didn't accept it."

School Psychologists Cut

"I am sure that the new workers will not be sufficiently trained to speak with children about politics," Kachmar said. "And our children are not so stupid that they won't see when they are being pressured or notice when some information is being foisted off on them."

Kachmar added that schools have recently cut the number of psychologists, speech therapists, and other such professionals in Russian schools. "We should ask the Education Ministry why they cut from the schools all forms of this kind of support but now they are trying to cover their tracks and introduce these new positions," she said. "We must demand the return of real specialists."

Vsevolod Lukhovitsky, head of the professional organization Teacher, said the project would likely fail because too few people would be willing to take on the work for 15,000 rubles a month. "I think our bureaucrats will forget about this in a few months," he said.

According to a survey conducted during the mass anti-Putin demonstrations on January 31, less than 2 percent of the participants were under the age of 18. Sixty-six percent of participants were aged 18-35.

Written by Robert Coalson based on reporting from Moscow by Lyubov Chizhova of RFE/RL's Russian Service
The Centre placed a second purchase order with Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) for the supply of one crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Covishield. The COVID-19 jab costs Rs 210, including GST, to the government.

HLL Lifecare Limited, a public sector undertaking, issued the supply order on behalf of the Union health ministry in the name of SII's Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs Prakash Kumar Singh.

Total cost of the government orders with SII has risen to Rs 441 crore with the second order and a previous order of 11 crore doses of Covishield worth Rs 231 crore.

These orders are in line with the government's commitment on January 11 to buy 4.5 crore doses from Serum Institute in addition to the first order of 1.1 crore doses.

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry has claimed that India has become the fastest country in the world to reach the 4 million vaccination mark in 18 days. "As on February, 1, India was among the top five countries in terms of number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to people. India continues to undertake its vaccination drive at a fast pace," the ministry highlighted.

It said that 14 states and Union Territories have not reported any deaths in the last 24 hours including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry, Sikkim and Tripura. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved two coronavirus vaccines -- SII-AstraZeneca's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for an emergency use in the country.

With PTI inputs; by Mehak Agarwal

Also read: Bharat Biotech to sell Covaxin in US, signs deal with Ocugen

Also read: Covishield's supply order placed after DCGI approval: Ashwini Choubey
The bottles contained a clear liquid substance, which tested positive to GBL.

Air cargo consignment bottles were examined by Australian Border Force officers in Sydney and Melbourne in November when the investigation began.

A 37-year-old Queensland man has been charged with importing a border controlled drug.

About 120 litres of Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) was detected inside plastic bottles labelled as cleaning supplies, skincare products and fishing gear.

A Queensland man has been charged after allegedly importing $450,000 worth of liquid fantasy into Australia.

A 37-year-old Clear Island Waters man was charged on Wednesday with six counts of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug under the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment.

About 120 litres of GBL in air cargos.

He will appear in Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday.

AFP Detective acting Inspector Scott Curtis said investigations into the importation remain ongoing.
DUP leader Arlene Foster has appealed to unionists not to turn against each other amid frustrations over Brexit and the implementation of the NI Protocol.

The First Minister said there had been a "coming together of unionism" in recent days to oppose the protocol but asked them to "not turn in on ourselves" and blame each other as community tensions escalate.

Mrs Foster was speaking at a press conference where the latest Covid-briefing was due to be delivered with Finance Minister Conor Murphy standing in for Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill, who is self-isolating.

But the discussion quickly became dominated by questions on Brexit and circumstances surrounding it in recent days, with Mr Murphy denying the Executive had become embroiled in a row over differences of opinion relating to the protocol.

Mr Murphy said the Executive is determined to iron out problems with the protocol "in a calm fashion using the mechanisms agreed". "There are measures in place to work through that," he said.

"We have to advise and support people here who are affected by this. Let's work our way calmly through these difficulties," he said.

But Mrs Foster said she was disappointed neither Dublin nor the EU had acknowledged the difficulties currently being faced in Northern Ireland.

"We do want everyone to stay calm but if they're being ignored they become more angry and more tense.

"I think the way forward is to scrap the protocol. The government sleepwalked into the Protocol thinking they would sort it out later. Now the Protocol is coming home to roost," she said.

Both ministers were asked about comments from David Campbell, the chairman of the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC), who said it may be necessary "to fight physically to maintain our freedoms within the UK". It led to calls from PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne for this rhetoric to be "de-escalated".

Mrs Foster said she was shocked by these comments and called for people to stick to "constitutional politics" when frustrated.

The ministers were united in praising the community's adherence to coronavirus restrictions recently, which has led to the latest drop in the R (reproduction) number to 0.75-0.85.

Expand Close Finance Minister Conor Murphy. Kevin Boyes/Press Eye / Facebook

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Mr Murphy said there had been good progress on the vaccination front, with more than a quarter of a million people (263,735) now having received their first vaccine according to figures from Mrs Foster.

"In real terms this means thousands of people have been protected from this deadly virus," she said, urging people to "push on" with restrictions.

Hospitals and intensive care units are still under significant pressure, she warned.

Over the last two weeks the Executive has approved a further 420m for its Covid-19 response, Mr Murphy said. 40,000 Northern Ireland students will now receive 500 each for "the hardship that the pandemic has caused", while mental health provision will also receive funding.

Further funding has also been approved for blended learning and support for childcare.

But Mr Murphy said he's conscious there's businesses that still have not received support and encouraged ministers to bring forward schemes to get that support to those businesses.

Pakistan has received its first doses of the coronavirus vaccine, with China donating half a million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to the country, the health minister says.

A Pakistani military aircraft carrying the shipment landed in the Pakistani capital Islamabad early on Monday, Dr Faisal Sultan said.



Praise be to Allah, the first batch of Sinopharm vaccine has arrived! Grateful to China and everyone who made this happen, he said.



Video footage showed a forklift unloading boxes of the vaccine from a military transport plane.



Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned company, has developed one of two major Chinese vaccines to have been rolled out around the globe, alongside Sinovacs Coronavac vaccine.





Phase three trials for the Chinese CanSino vaccine are also ongoing in Pakistan, which granted emergency use authorisation for the Sinopharm, AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines last month.



It currently ranks among top 10 candidate vaccines approaching the end of clinical trials on the WHO list, says its website.



Mondays Sinopharm shipment marks the first vaccines to be imported into the South Asian country of 220 million people, where more than 546,000 cases of the coronavirus have been registered since the pandemic began.





At least 11,785 people have died from the virus, with daily case numbers at an average of 1,800 over the last two weeks, according to official data.



The first doses of the vaccine will be provided to more than 400,000 front-line healthcare workers across the country, as per the governments vaccine roll-out plan.





After that, the shots will be provided to citizens over the age of 65, who generally face a higher mortality risk from the virus.









Source: aljazeera.com









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Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Stakeholder Gold Corporation (TSXV: SRC) ("Stakeholder" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Ben Davies to the Board to serve as an independent director. Mr. Davies is an experienced portfolio manager and fintech entrepreneur with over 20 years of Investment Management and Principal trading experience and has founded and scaled several financial services companies.

Mr. Davies is co-founder and COO of HugoSave, a fintech company based in Singapore which provides 'Wealthcare' services through one single mobile application. He is also a co-founder of Hinde Capital which managed the Hinde Dividend Value Fund and the Hinde Gold Fund, a leading international Precious Metals Fund from 2007 to 2012. His macro and commodity insights have received extensive coverage in the firm's renown HindeSight Investor Letter.

Mr. Davies was a founding partner of Variant Perception, an independent global macro research firm, and was a former Head of US Rates and Principal trading at RBS Greenwich Capital in London, UK.

"Mr. Davies has capital market industry associations in London and in Asia and has spent time evaluating mining company projects and management teams while fulfilling his role as co-lead portfolio manager of the Hinde Gold Fund. Ben's knowledge, industry experience and network can serve to benefit Stakeholder meaningfully. We are very pleased to secure his participation and input as an independent director to the Company," stated Chris Berlet, President and CEO.

About Stakeholder

Stakeholder Gold Corp. is a junior resource company developing cash flow from the production and sale of exotic Blue Quartzite at its wholly owned Blue Quartzite Quarry in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Stakeholder Gold Corp. also has 100% ownership of the Ballarat Gold Project which holds 7,442 hectares of claims located in the heart of the White Gold District of the Yukon Territory, Canada. The Company's Ballarat Project claim group includes an area extending over 10 km of the road construction route for the Northern Gateway Road which is being built to service the White Gold District. The Ballarat claim group also includes title to 10 claims located within the nearby Coffee Project which is being developed by Newmont Corp. south of the Yukon river.

For further information please contact:

Stakeholder Gold Corporation

Telephone: (416) 525 - 6869

cberlet@stakeholdergold.com

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information. All information, other than information of historical fact, constitute "forward-looking statements" and includes any information that addresses activities, events, or developments that the Corporation believes, expects, or anticipates will or may occur in the future including the Corporation's strategy, plans or future financial or operating performance.

When used in this news release, the words "estimate", "project", "anticipate", "expect", "intend", "believe", "hope", "may" and similar expressions, as well as "will", "shall" and other indications of future tense, are intended to identify forward- looking information. The forward-looking information is based on current expectations and applies only as of the date on which they were made. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, the ability of the Corporation to fund the exploration expenditures required underthe Agreement. Other factors such as uncertainties regarding government regulations could also affect the results. Other risks may be set out in the Corporation's annual financial statements, MD&A and other publicly filed documents.

The Corporation cautions that there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required by law, the Corporation does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking information contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

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 release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73581
NEW DELHI: Here is the list of top 10 stocks that could be in focus on Thursday.

Reliance Industries: The Future Group on Wednesday challenged the Delhi high court interim order that directed it to abide by a Singapore tribunal ruling, barring it from selling its assets to Reliance Industries Ltd. Future Group is caught in a feud between Amazon and Reliance, which are competing for dominance in Indias $1 trillion consumer retail market.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories: Shares of the pharma major jumped 4% on the National Stock Exchange on Wednesday, after peer-reviewed phase-3 trial results of Russias Sputnik V vaccine published in The Lancet showed an efficacy of 91.6%. These are the highest efficacy figures so far for vaccines that could potentially come to India.

State Bank of India: Will release its December quarter earnings today. The country's largest lender, is likely to see a decline in profitability due to higher provisions, but could get support from lower tax cost for the quarter ended December 2020. Net interest income is expected to grow 2-4% due to high base and fall in deposit rates with loan growth around 6-8% YoY.

Future Group: Indias markets regulator has barred Future Group founder Kishore Biyani and several related entities, including his brother Anil, from accessing the securities market in an insider trading case dating back to 2017. Biyani, a pioneer of Indian retail, has also been barred from transacting in securities of Future Retail for two years.

Bharti Airtel: After six straight quarters of losses, Bharti Airtel Ltd returned to the black in the December quarter because of a one-time gain from the merger of its tower subsidiary and Indus Towers Ltd. Indias second-largest telecom operator on Wednesday reported a consolidated net profit of 854 crore for the three months ended December. It had posted a loss of 1,035 crore in the year-ago period.

Jubilant FoodWorks: The operator of Dominos Pizza and Dunkin Donuts restaurants in India, reported a 22% rise in quarterly profit because of a surge in delivery and takeaway sales. Net profit rose to 123.91 crore in the three months ended 31 December from 101.80 crore in the year earlier. Consolidated revenue from operations, however, fell marginally to 1,069.27 crore from 1,071 crore due to seating-capacity restrictions in restaurants.

HeroMoto Corp: Has appointed Ravi Avalur as the head of its new business unit that will be responsible for Harley-Davidson Inc.s motorcycle business in India. Avalur was the former managing director of Italian motorcycle maker, Ducati, in India, and will report to Hero MotoCorp chairman Pawan Munjal. The two-wheeler maker will also report its December quarter results today.

Telecom stocks: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has accepted a petition from telecom companies seeking a truncated tenure for bank guarantees with a validity of one year instead of the mandated three as lenders are reluctant to provide fresh backing for a longer period. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are said to be in talks with SBI, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank for fresh guarantees ahead of airwave auctions that start 1 March.

Cipla Ltd: The company plans to shift more brands from its generic drugs business to its consumer health operations under Cipla Health Ltd, the pharmaceutical giants global chief financial officer Kedar Upadhye told Mint.

Apollo Tyres: Reported a 150% year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit of Rs444 crore for the quarter ended 31 December, as vehicle production returned to pre-Covid level in India and foreign markets. It had reported a net profit of Rs174 crore in the year-ago period. Sales during the December quarter grew 14% to 4,965 crore.

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Bayer AG struck a $2 billion deal to resolve a class action of future claims relating to allegations that its widely used weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, the company and lawyers for U.S. consumers said on Wednesday.

Bayer has been struggling to finalize the settlement of claims that Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides cause non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a type of cancer. Bayer inherited the business and the litigation as part of a $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto in 2018.

Wednesdays deal proposes creating a class of future claimants who have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and who were exposed to Roundup prior to their diagnosis. The settlement also includes benefits for people who were exposed to Roundup who develop the cancer in the future.

Bayer will provide $2 billion for an initial four-year period as compensation and to cover outreach and diagnostic assistance. The company said the settlement amount was disclosed last year when it made a provision.

People exposed to Roundup who were diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma may be eligible for up to $200,000 in compensation.

The company has said the weedkillers are safe and that studies and health regulators have deemed glyphosate is not carcinogenic to people.

The deal also aims to address concerns raised by federal judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco, who questioned the legality of a prior settlement plan.

In June, Bayer reached a wider $9.6 billion settlement that would resolve the bulk of U.S. lawsuits that were already filed, which claimed Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Topics Trends Claims
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to create an anti-Iranian alliance with the UAE and Bahrain to act in parallel with the Biden administration, Israel Hayom reported.

According to the publications, Netanyahu wanted to use his visits to the UAE and Bahrain to agree on positions related to the Iranian issue.

Israeli media reported earlier that Netanyahu had postponed his planned visits to the Gulf states due to new isolation measures in Israel, including the closure of Ben Gurion Airport.

According to the agency, Israel is very concerned about the Iranian provocation and the growing level of uranium enrichment, as well as reports that the Biden administration plans to lift the sanctions imposed on Iran and return to the nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, the head of the Israeli spy Mossad, Yossi Cohen, is expected to meet with US officials in the next two weeks. Cohen is expected to give the Americans classified intelligence information related to the repositioning of Iran in Syria and his plans to carry out terrorist attacks in the Middle East.

According to the source, Israeli officials have expressed concern that Biden has appointed most of former President Barack Obama's staff, claiming they are politicians and not intelligence experts.

Thus, Israel fears that these officers will force the president to maintain his pragmatic line on Iran and return to the original nuclear deal, Wallah noted.
She might be a supermodel but Naomi Campbell hasnt forgotten her London roots.

The catwalk queen has teamed up with restaurateur and racing driver Giuseppe Cipriani to donate 600 pre-packaged food gift bags to frontline workers at St Georges Hospital in Tooting.

Miss Campbell, who grew up in nearby Streatham, is giving back to those putting their lives on the line during the pandemic because she is proud of her home city.

I wanted to do a little something to show my appreciation for the frontline staff at St Georges, who like so many healthcare professionals across the UK have worked tirelessly around the clock in these difficult times, she told the Mail.

Model Naomi Campbell walks the runway for Fendi on 27 January in Paris. Campbell has donated 600 pre-packaged food gift bags to frontline workers at St Georges Hospital in Tooting

I am and will always be a proud South London girl. Even though I am far from home right now, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone.

'And when it is safe to do so, I look forward to reuniting with my family and loved ones in London. Lets continue to look out for each other and uplift our strong and amazing NHS heroes.

Miss Campbell, 50, did something similar last year when she and Cipriani delivered food baskets to those in need across New York City.

Staff nurses work in the corridor in the Acute Dependency Unit at St George's Hospital in Tooting, south-west London

Following the success of that initiative, she is now trying it out on her home soil at a hospital which has faced enormous pressure thanks to its huge intake of Covid patients.

The food packages contains one pack of tagliolini pasta, one pack of spaghetti, four bottles of virgin Bellini cocktail, one jar of tomato and basil sauce, and one freshly baked peach plum cake.

Molly Simpson, at the St Georges Hospital Charity, said: We are so grateful to Naomi Campbell and Giuseppe Cipriani for their incredible donation towards our staff welling boxes. The boxes have created so many smiles amongst our staff.

Miss Campbell, who has spent much of lockdown in the US, recently appeared on the catwalk in Fendis fashion show at Paris Haute Couture week.
When Vodafone shares slumped to record lows last October, the telecoms giant was written off as a pandemic loser.

The company had been hit by a severe dip in roaming charges as would-be travellers stayed at home and planes were grounded.

But back in November the stock started to turn after chief executive Nick Read hinted that business had picked up, driven by customers spending longer on the phone and requiring more mobile data.

Back to growth: Vodafone has posted a 0.4 per cent increase in revenue growth for the three months to the end of December, beating analyst expectations for a decline

Yesterday the improvement was confirmed as the company posted a 0.4 per cent increase in revenue growth for the three months to the end of December, beating analyst expectations for a decline.

The figures were also given a leg up by a particularly strong performance in Germany as broadband customers upgraded to higher speeds while being forced to work from home.

Relieved Read said: 'We are now firmly back into growth and expect that growth to continue from here.'

Stock Watch - STV STV set pulses racing after the broadcaster said its streaming service had attracted record numbers in January. The Scottish TV company posted a 115pc surge in streaming numbers compared to the same month last year. The figures were boosted by people stuck at home during the Covid lockdown. Richard Williams, director of digital at STV, said: 'We're only one month into 2021 but we've already exceeded all expectations.' Shares gained 2.1 per cent, or 7p, to 338p.

Vodafone leaped 5.9 per cent, or 7.48p, at 134.86p and finished top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard. Also back in fashion were diamonds after Anglo American said sales at De Beers had returned to pre-pandemic levels.

The sales were boosted by Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day  which is coming up next week.

Investors cheered as the diamond market has been struggling for some years with younger generations turning their back on the stones due to the negative connotations around how they are mined in Africa.

Anglo stock rose 0.5 per cent, or 11.5p, to 2440.5p.

But the two blue-chip heavyweights could not budge the FTSE 100 which finished down 0.1 per cent, or 8.83 points, at 6507.82.

With the Reddit rebels no longer stirring trouble, traders were talking mergers and acquisitions.

Shell has results out today and like rival BP the oiler is moving into the green energy space pledging to be carbon neutral by 2050.

But many in the market have questioned how these oil giants plan to hit those targets without making large-scale transformational acquisitions.

Andrew Monk, broker at VSA Capital, says bolt on deals will not suffice, adding that there has been some chatter Shell could buy FTSE 100 energy provider SSE.

He said: 'With the oil majors reporting this week the question people are asking is whether they will make big acquisitions into transitional energy and not these tiny ones they are doing  will Shell bid for SSE? SSE is the biggest wind farm owner in UK and electricity supplier. It solves the whole transitional energy value chain problem for them.'

Shell was up 1.8 per cent, or 22.2p, at 1272.4p, while SSE was off 0.7 per cent, or 11p, at 1499p.

Another stock attracting attention was French Connection as shares at one point were up 25 per cent, although the fashion seller cooled to finish the session up 0.9 per cent, or 0.1p, at 11.1p.

Founder and majority shareholder Stephen Marks has for the past year been publicly open to offers and there was talk that he may have finally found a bidder.

Brokers said the pandemic had forced the retail industry into a period of consolidation.

They added that Boohoo's (up 1.4 per cent, or 4.7p, to 348.2p) deal for Debenhams and Asos (up 0.4 per cent, or 20p, to 5074p) snapping up the crown jewels at Arcadia, showed there is still high demand for bricks-and-mortar retailers.

On the FTSE 250  which was up 0.3 per cent, or 62.23 points, at 20,752.44  Aston Martin shares were down 6.1 per cent, or 138p, at 2135p.

The James Bond car maker had a rocky 2020 but has a large customer base in China and the hope is that the country's strong rebound from the pandemic could boost Aston's sales in the long run.
Researchers in the UK, South Africa and Brazil have reported the latest efficacy results from phase III trials of the OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine currently being rolled out in the UK to protect against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Researchers from the Oxford Vaccine Group and collaborators say the findings support the current regimen of administering two standard doses 12 weeks apart  a policy that has recently been a topic of substantial debate.

Merryn Voysey and colleagues say: ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination programs aimed at vaccinating a large proportion of the population with a single dose, with a second dose given after a 3 month period is an effective strategy for reducing disease, and may be the optimal for rollout of a pandemic vaccine when supplies are limited in the short term.

Furthermore, the trial findings suggest that a single vaccine dose is highly effective for the first 90 days, thereby further supporting the current policy.

However, since patient follow-up is limited to the time period described here, it is not clear how long protection from a single dose might last, say the researchers.

For this reason, a second dose of vaccine is recommended, they write.

An initial version of the research paper is available on the Preprints with The Lancet* server, while the article undergoes peer review.

The current situation with vaccine rollout

The high morbidity and mortality rates associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have led to unprecedented efforts to develop effective vaccines against the causative agent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Vaccination programs are now being rolled out at the population level in several countries, focusing on high-risk groups such as the elderly, people with underlying health conditions, and frontline workers.

The OxfordAstraZeneca ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine received emergency use authorization from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) based on interim efficacy results (70.4%) pooled from Brazil and the UK until 4th November 2020.

The MHRA approval was received based on a regimen of two standard doses administered 4 to 12 weeks apart  a policy that has since been approved for use in many other countries.

Following regulatory approval, a key question for policymakers to plan the optimal approach to rollout is the optimal dose interval, says Voysey and colleagues.

The planned rollout of the AZD1222 vaccine in the UK involves vaccinating high-risk categories with a first dose that is given immediately, and a second dose given 12 weeks later - a policy that has been the topic of much debate.

The World Health Organization has recently recommended a maximum 6-week interval between the two doses, say the researchers.

What have the latest investigations involved?

Now, Voysey and the team have reported the findings from phase III efficacy trials conducted in the United Kingdom and Brazil, and phase I/II clinical trials conducted in the UK and South Africa.

The results follow a further month of data collection (cut-off date 7th December 2020) among a population of 17,177 adult participants who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 at baseline.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive two standard doses (SD) of the AZD1222 vaccine (5x1010 viral particles) or a control vaccine (saline placebo). In the UK trial, a subset of participants received a lower dose (LD) of the first vaccine (2.2x1010 viral particles) or a control vaccine.

Results are broken down by the interval between the two doses and the efficacy of a single vaccine dose is also investigated.

What are the latest findings?

Over the study period, 619 people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). Of those, 332 had developed symptomatic infection after more than 14 days following a second vaccination.

The overall vaccine efficacy of more than 14 days post-second dose was 66.7%, with an efficacy of 74.0% observed in the SD/SD group and 57.4% in the LD/SD group.

Efficacy following a single standard dose was 59% day 22 post-vaccination and 86% at day 90 post-vaccination. Furthermore, antibody levels were maintained during this 3-month period, with only minimal waning observed by day 90.

Efficacy was higher with a longer prime-boost interval

Interestingly, after a second dose in the SD/SD group, the team found that vaccine efficacy was higher among those with a longer interval between first and second dose.

Efficacy reached 82.4% among those who received a booster after an interval of 12 weeks or more, whereas it only reached 54.9% among those with a prime-boost interval of less than 6 weeks.

The findings support the current rollout regimen in the UK

The researchers say the analysis provides strong evidence to support the efficacy of two standard vaccine doses  the regimen currently approved by the MHRA and other regulators.

The study also shows that higher vaccine efficacy is obtained with a longer prime-boost interval and that a single dose is highly effective during the first 90 days, thereby providing further support for current policy, says the team.

However, it is not clear how long protection might last with a single dose as follow up is currently limited to the time periods described here, and, for this reason, a second dose of vaccine is recommended, warns Voysey and colleagues.

However, where there is a limited supply of vaccine, a policy of initially vaccinating a larger cohort with a single dose may provide better overall population protection than vaccinating half the number of individuals with two doses in the short term, concludes the team.

*Important Notice

Preprints with The Lancet publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

NEW: fresh data from trials in Brazil, South Africa and the UK shows the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is highly effective with a 12 week gap between doses.



Efficacy is in fact much higher with a 12 week interval than a shorter gap



Story by @donatopmancini: https://t.co/PK4NHhGHeH pic.twitter.com/W3urxSECKL  John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) February 2, 2021

BILLINGS, Mont. - The Biden administration said Thursday it was delaying a rule finalized in former President Donald Trump's last days in office that would have drastically weakened the government's power to enforce a century-old law protecting most wild birds.

FILE - In this March 29, 2020, file photo, a bird flies among wind turbines near King City, Mo. The Trump administration is moving to scale back criminal enforcement of a century-old law protecting most American wild bird species. The former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told AP billions of birds could die if the government doesn't hold companies liable for accidental bird deaths. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

BILLINGS, Mont. - The Biden administration said Thursday it was delaying a rule finalized in former President Donald Trump's last days in office that would have drastically weakened the government's power to enforce a century-old law protecting most wild birds.

The rule could mean more birds die, including those that land in oil pits or collide with power lines or other structures, government studies say. But under Trump, the Interior Department sided with industry groups that had long sought to end criminal prosecutions of accidental but preventable bird deaths.

While the new rule had been set to take effect Monday, Interior Department officials said they were putting it off at President Joe Biden's direction and will reopen the issue to public comment.

The migratory bird rule was among dozens of Trump-era environmental policies that Biden ordered to be reconsidered on his first day in office. Former federal officials, environmental groups and Democrats in Congress contend many of the Trump rules were meant to benefit private industry at the expense of conservation.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is a bedrock environmental law critical to protecting migratory birds and restoring declining bird populations," Interior spokesperson Melissa Schwartz said. The Trump administration sought to overturn decades of bipartisan and international precedent in order to protect corporate polluters.

FILE - In this June 26, 2010 file photo, Plaquemines Parish Coastal Zone Director P.J. Hahn rescues a heavily oiled bird from the waters of Barataria Bay, La. The Trump administration wants to end the criminal penalties under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to pressure companies into taking measures to prevent unintentional bird deaths. Critics including top Interior Department officials from Republican and Democratic administrations say the proposed change could devastate threatened and endangered species and accelerate a bird population decline across North America since the 1970s. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

A federal judge in August had blocked a prior attempt by the Trump administration to change how the bird treaty was enforced. But the administration remained adamant that the law had been wielded inappropriately for decades to penalize companies and other entities that kill birds accidentally.

The highest-profile case brought under the law resulted in a $100 million settlement by energy company BP after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill killed about 100,000 birds.

Hundreds of other enforcement cases  including against utilities, oil companies and wind energy developers  resulted in criminal fines and civil penalties totalling $5.8 million between 2010 and 2018. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said relatively few cases end in criminal prosecutions.

FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2015, file photo, Dan Ashe, then-director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, talks following an animal release at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City, Colo. Former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Ashe told The Associated Press that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act's threat of prosecution served as "a brake on industry" that had saved probably billions of birds. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

More than 1,000 North American species are covered by the law  from the fast-flying peregrine falcon to numerous tiny songbirds and more than 20 species of owls. Non-native species and some game birds like turkeys are not on the list.

In 2017, the government stopped enforcing the law against companies and others in accidental bird deaths.

The move drew backlash from organizations advocating for an estimated 46 million U.S. birdwatchers. It came as species across North America already were in steep decline, with some 3 billion fewer birds compared with 1970, according to researchers.

FILE - In this June 26, 2010, file photo, Plaquemines Parish Coastal Zone Director P.J. Hahn rescues a heavily oiled bird from the waters of Barataria Bay, La. The Biden administration on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, delayed a rule finalized in President Donald Trump's last days in office that would have drastically weakened the government's enforcement powers under a century-old law protecting most American wild birds. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

A Trump administration analysis of the rule change didn't put a number on how many more birds could die. But it said some vulnerable species could decline to the point they would require protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Former federal officials and some scientists had said billions more birds could have died in coming decades under Trump's new rule. Advocacy groups, including the Audubon Society, had lobbied the Biden transition team to block it. They want the administration to set up a permitting system instead, so that wildlife officials can more closely regulate bird deaths.

All indications are the birds need more protections and that the public strongly supports protections and loves birds, said Steve Holmer with the American Bird Conservancy. There has been great progress in finding solutions to bird mortality, and we're hopeful the administration will create a process to start implementing those solutions."

FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2019, file photo thousands of snow geese take flight over a farm field at their winter grounds, in the Skagit Valley near Conway, Wash. The Biden administration on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, delayed a rule finalized in President Donald Trump's last days in office that would have drastically weakened the government's enforcement powers under a century-old law protecting most American wild birds. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

Industry sources and other human activities  from oil pits and wind turbines, to vehicle strikes and glass building collisions  kill an estimated 460 million to 1.4 billion birds annually, out of an overall 7.2 billion birds in North America, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and recent studies. Researchers say cats kill the most birds; more than 2 billion a year.

Virginias Democratic governor blamed the Trump administration decision to end enforcement of the migratory bird law for the 2019 destruction of a nesting ground for 25,000 shorebirds to make way for a road and tunnel.

Many companies have sought to reduce bird deaths in recent decades by working with wildlife officials, but the incentive drops without the threat of criminal liability.

Industry groups that supported the Trump rule declined to say if they will fight to keep it.

Our focus remains on working with the Biden administration in support of policies that support environmental protection while providing regulatory certainty, said Amy Emmert, a senior policy adviser with the American Petroleum Institute.

Brian Reil with the Edison Electric Institute said utility companies that the trade group represents have a record of taking steps to protect wildlife and plan to work with the Biden administration.

The 1918 migratory bird treaty came after many U.S. bird populations had been decimated by hunting and poaching  much of it for feathers for womens hats.

Follow Brown on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewBrownAP.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : While hearing a petition seeking inclusion of judges and advocates in the first phase of the Covid vaccination drive in the country, the Delhi High Court on Thursday said that it sees no reason to change the priorities set by the Central government.

The government aims to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people in the first phase, which includes three crore healthcare and frontline workers and 27 crore elderly people, mostly above the age of 50 years with comorbidities such as diabetes, heart or liver ailments.

"The government has its own priorities and we do not see any reason to change the priority for vaccination," said a bench comprising Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh said.

The bench, however, directed the Central government and the Unique Identification Authority of India to consider the petition filed by Amrender Singh, a practicing lawyer, as a representation.

The petition had stated that several advocates faced unprecedented times due to the outbreak of the pandemic and they are still dealing with the repercussions of the same.

The petition said that the government failed to include the legal fraternity in its first vaccination drive without having regard to the life, health and well-being of the judges, practicing advocates and other staff of the legal fraternity, it added.

On January 19, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had written to Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for including judges, judicial staff and members of the legal fraternity in the category of frontline workers and extend the benefits of the vaccination programme to them.

The nationwide vaccination drive had started on January 16 with the help of two vaccines -- Covaxin and Covishield. Till now, nearly 45 lakh people have been vaccinated across the country.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
In the early 1990s, Crossroads Theatre Companys creative team was approached by a funder of the acclaimed Great Performances PBS television program and asked: If you could film any one Crossroads production for a national broadcast, what would it be?

The team unhesitatingly chose The Colored Museum, written by an emerging playwright named George C. Wolfe.

Now, some three decades later, the theater company once again readily has chosen The Colored Museum  this time to serve as an online encore performance while its stage remains dark amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Crossroads has posted the 1991 PBS production of The Colored Museum on its website for free on-demand viewing through February.

The play, which had its world premiere at the New Brunswick venue in 1986 while Wolfe was Crossroads artist in residence, is a stinging satire constructed of sketches  or exhibits  addressing various aspects of African-American identity and culture. One exhibit has a womens wigs coming to life to challenge her identity issues. Another has a man confronting himself as a child.

The Colored Museum made its way to off-Broadway less than a year after its debut. Wolfe since has become a prominent playwright, actor and director. His most recent directorial work is the Netflix film production of Ma Raineys Black Bottom starring the late Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis.

The on-demand streaming is available at crossroadstheatrecompany.org.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has emerged from talks with Google boss Sundar Pichai confident the search giant will not quit Australia, in a sign the brinkmanship over new digital media rules may be subsiding.

Mr Morrison said that he held constructive talks with Google chief executive Mr Pichai on Thursday morning and expressed confidence that it would not shut down its search engine in Australia if new laws forcing it and Facebook to pay for appearance of news on their platforms were implemented.

I have been able to send them the best possible signals that should give them a great encouragement to engage with the process, and conclude the arrangements wed like to see them conclude with the various news organisations, Mr Morrison said on Thursday. I think we have been able to get that into a much more positive space about their ability to continue to provide services here in Australia.

In a further sign Googles position may be softening, industry sources familiar with the search giants plans said it would launch its News Showcase product as early as tomorrow. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed last week that Google had reversed plans to halt the launch of the news product in response to its grilling at a Senate Hearing two weeks ago.
Portlands police chief is asking the city to cut his budget by just 1%, or $3.4 million from current spending, not the full 5% reduction that the mayor directed each city bureau to consider.

The Police Bureau would use the money to begin to fill more than 100 vacancies, Chief Chuck Lovell said.

Without it, according to the budget proposal, the bureau will be unable to afford hiring into any of these 100+ vacant positions for the entirety of the year, and likely forever unless other ongoing funding can be secured to cover position costs.

The bureau currently has 92 officer and 44 civilian employee vacancies for a total of 136. It is authorized to have 916 sworn officers, police officials said.

The requested $226.9 million police budget for the fiscal year that begins in July marks a slight drop from this years $230 million spending plan.

The 5% reduction requested by Mayor Ted Wheeler would cut at least $10.1 million and would set the bureau back significantly, Lovell said in his proposal.

It would mean a reduced police force as the bureau continues to struggle with slower response times to emergency calls, Lovell said.

Wheeler, the citys police commissioner, didnt signal what he thinks of the budget proposal.

Theres no secret the mayor has concerns about the available resources of the Police Bureau and wants to find ways so we can be responsible to the communitys safety concerns, said Jim Middaugh, Wheelers spokesman. He has just received the proposal and will consider it as part of a citywide analysis.

Lovell and other police officials will go before the City Council for budget review over the next several months. City commissioners and the mayor identified the development of a new model for public safety as among their top priorities for the next budget cycle.

But they have offered few details of what they would do, except the mayor saying last month he wont revive the police Gun Violence Reduction Team. The city recorded 55 homicides last year, the most in 26 years. There have been approximately 105 shootings and six gun-related killings so far this year, police said.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who had pushed for deeper cuts to the bureaus budget last year, said shes against providing any additional money to the bureau until the community decides how public safety should be reimagined in the city.

I have no intentions of putting more money into the Portland Police Bureau until we have a shared vision of what transformation looks like, Hardesty said.

She said the bureau has historically used its savings from police vacancies as a slush fund to pay for other programs and shes opposed to that.

I want the police to only do the job theyre hired to do and that is to solve crime. The chief has the ability to assign his officers anywhere he thinks he needs them, she said. We will rebuild the bureau, but we will only rebuild when we know what were rebuilding.

A record number of police officers have retired or simply left this year.

From July 1 through Feb. 3, 110 officers have left, including 73 who retired and 37 who resigned, according to Ken Lee, the bureaus senior business operations manager.

The chiefs proposal follows a momentous year of racial justice demonstrations and protests against police brutality spurred by the videotaped death of George Floyd, a Black man who lost consciousness after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck.

Facing community calls for defunding police, Portlands City Council in June cut $15 million from the bureau by eliminating three specialty units, including the Gun Violence Reduction Team, school resource officers and transit police.

That was above $11.8 million in general fund reductions that mayor had previously directed the bureau to take for this fiscal year, achieved partly through vacancy savings and elimination of the body worn camera program.

A 12-member community advisory committee for the Police Bureau analyzed the budget and noted the bureau has had a hiring freeze since June.

Drastic funding cuts to a wide range of PPB programs and operations, without sufficient strategies to address immediate and long-term consequences, has established a foundation for instability in PPB budgeting, the advisory group wrote to the mayor and council members.

While the bureau has sought to improve community engagement and diversity among its ranks, the advisory group wrote: The current fiscal crisis has forced most of these measures to be cut or eliminated. This not only negatively impacts PPBs progress on these initiatives in FY2021-22, it also jeopardizes PPBs long-term ability to rebuild community trust and to meet and sustain its stated goals in these important areas.

Police response times increased last summer, largely due to reduced staff and officers pulled from patrol to do protest coverage, bureau officials wrote in their proposal.

The average police response to high-priority calls increased to 16.4 minutes last August but dropped to an average of 10.4 minutes in December. That still remains higher than the 8.2- minute average in January 2020 for high-priority calls.

As planned, the bureau on Thursday will start pulling 32 officers from six police specialty units to help fill patrol shifts across its three precincts and reduce overtime.

However, if the bureau does not have the funding to maintain patrol staffing levels by hiring new officers to replace departing officers, response times will likely return to slower levels of service, the budget proposal said.

How the bureau would recruit new officers is unclear, as it lost its three-member recruiting team  the lead recruiter resigned and two officers were placed back on patrol. Police also have fewer investigators to check into prospective recruits backgrounds  seven, down from 18.

The personnel division doesnt have the recruiting ability beyond social media and Bureau of Human Resources advertising, the budget proposal said.

To improve accountability, the advisory committee recommended police require officers to once again display their names on their uniforms and equip officers with body cameras.

Police leaders faced criticism last June when they allowed officers to remove name tags during protests and replace them with tape containing six-digit employee numbers that were difficult to read. The bureau then pledged to stencil large three-digit numbers on officers helmets by mid-November for easier identification during protests. The bureau has added the three-digit numbers to helmets by velcro, Lt. Greg Pashley said.

Police officials said the name tag decision was made out of concern for the personal safety of officers following doxing -- the release and distribution of personal information.

Two federal judges have urged body cameras for Portland police. The city has discussed the program for years with little traction.

The city previously set aside $834,619 in one-time appropriation and $1.8 million in ongoing funding for body cameras, but the mayor in April eliminated the money due to a forecasted city deficit amid the pandemic and other higher priorities.

Hardesty remains opposed to body-worn cameras for police if theyre allowed to view the footage before they write their reports, arguing that personal cell phone video from the public is more effective in capturing any police wrongdoing.

Officer Brian Hunzeker, president of the Portland Police Association, said the bureau is already losing prospective recruits because of the bureaus hiring freeze.

Theyre going to other agencies because we cant afford to put them on the books, he said.

He also said he doesnt expect the use of traffic officers, canine officers and others pulled to fill patrol shifts will reduce response times significantly.

Thats because, he said, theyre not adding to patrol but trying to maintain minimum precinct staffing without calling in off-duty officers on overtime to fill the shifts, he said.

Protest-related overtime covering July 1 through Dec. 23 was $4.3 million, represented 59,500 officer hours, according to Lee.

Overall police overtime costs are expected to reach from $13 million to $15 million by the end of this fiscal year, including for backfilling vacant patrol shifts, Lee said.

As part of its budget request, the bureau has requested about $10 million in overtime for next fiscal year.

The union is urging the bureau to bring back the retire-rehire program that former Chief Jami Resch halted because of its expense. It was more costly due to the rehired veteran officers earning higher pay than new hires.

The program allows a retiree who was hired before 2008 to retire and then be hired back within days and remain on the force for up to two years for detectives or sergeants, or six years for officers. While the retiree would be paid at a higher rate than a new recruit, they could immediately hit the streets in uniform.

Now, the bureau waits about 18 months before a new hire is trained.

The citys budget office will review the police proposal and the City Council will schedule a work session to examine it in March. The mayors proposed budget is expected on April 29, with the council adopting next years spending plan in June.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
Imagine you have some neighbors in a mansion down the road who pamper one child with a credit card, the best private school and a Tesla.

The parents treat most of their other kids decently but not lavishly  and then you discover that the family consigns one child to an unheated, vermin-infested room in the basement, denying her dental care and often leaving her without food.

Youd call 911 to report child abuse. Youd say those responsible should be locked up. Youd steam about how vile adults must be to allow a child to suffer like that.

But thats us. That household, writ large, is America and our moral stain of child poverty.

Some American children attend $70,000-a-year nursery schools, but 12 million kids live in households that lack food. The United States has long had one of the highest rates of child poverty in the advanced world  and then the coronavirus pandemic aggravated the suffering.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 06:27:17|Editor: huaxia

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THE HAGUE, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Wednesday said that it has jurisdiction to rule in a case brought in by Iran against the United States in a bid to end sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.

During the hearings in September last year, lawyers of the United States had requested judges at the principal judicial organ of the United Nations to drop the case. However, on Wednesday a majority of the panel of 16 judges rejected the objection by the U.S. and found that the ICJ has jurisdiction in the case.

In 2018, Iran requested the judges at the ICJ to order the immediate lifting of sanctions imposed to Iran by the United States. The lawsuit followed the decision by then U.S. President Donald Trump to quit the nuclear agreement, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed in 2015.

In addition, the U.S. announced the reinstatement in full effect of U.S. nuclear sanctions on Iran and a high level of economic sanctions, targeting, directly or indirectly, Iran and Iranian companies and/or nationals.

After this reinstatement of the sanctions, Iran started proceedings against the United States before the ICJ. According to Iran, the U.S. violated a 1955 friendship treaty between the two countries, the Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights, and requested the Court to indicate provisional measures.

Tehran booked a first jurisdictional win in the case in October 2018 when the ICJ issued an interim order to lift restrictive measures linked to humanitarian trade, food, medicine and civil aviation while the lawsuit is pending. The U.S. responded by formally ending the Treaty of Amity with Iran.

A final judgment in the case can take years. The role of the ICJ is to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized UN organs and specialized agencies, in accordance with international law. Enditem
The Biden administration is ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, national security adviser Jake Sullivan announced on Thursday. The move, which Biden promised on the campaign trail, marks a shift away from the Trump administrations Saudi-centric approach to the Middle East, as well as one of the Obama administrations most controversial foreign-policy legacies.

The U.S. has provided logistical and intelligence support to the Saudi-led campaign against the Iran-aligned Houthis, even as that campaign has been condemned by human rights groups for a shockingly high number of civilian casualties and for contributing to what is generally considered the worlds worst ongoing humanitarian crisis. Both sides in the conflict have been accused of war crimes.

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Trump, who often defended the Saudi government in part because of its U.S. weapons purchases, vetoed a congressional resolution last year that would have cut off U.S. support for the war. Stopping the war has become a major priority and organizing issue for foreign policy progressives over the years. A number of Obama officials, including Sullivan and now-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, later expressed regret about the administrations role in supporting it. (According to some reports, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was also strongly opposed to the Saudi intervention when he was commander of U.S. Central Command.)

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Its not quite clear yet what the decision will mean in practice. U.S. practical support for the Saudi effort is already more limited than it used to be. Biden may provide some more details in a speech at the State Department on Thursday afternoon. Sullivan also said that Austin will lead a review of U.S. military force deployments around the world. Along with todays announcement, senior U.S. diplomat Tim Lenderking is also being named as a special envoy for Yemen in an attempt to rescue foundering peace talks in the country.

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Also meaningful: Sullivan emphasized in his announcement that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had been informed of the decision before it was announced. This doesnt mean theyll be happy about it, but it marks a change from the Trump era when the governments involved were often blindsided by the presidents foreign policy announcements.

Even if the Yemen move ends up being little more than a symbolic gesture, its meaningful symbolism. Its a sign that the new administration has limited tolerance for Saudi Arabias foreign-policy adventurism and isnt that worried about its critics accusing it of being soft on Iran.

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Last week, the administration announced a temporary freeze on weapons sales to Saudi Arabia as well as a review of arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, including the $23 billion arms deal that went through in the final days of the Trump administration.

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Blinken is also reviewing the last-minute Trump decision to designate the Houthis as a terrorist groups, which humanitarian groups say could hamper the delivery of aid to areas they control. According to the Wall Street Journals reporting, the decision is likely to be reversed.

In another notable recent development, Biden named Rob Malley, one of the key negotiators of the 2015 nuclear deal, as special U.S. envoy to Iran, despite immediate objections from conservatives that he would be too soft on Tehran.

I wrote in November that Yemen would be an early test of whether Biden team was serious about its promise of a new approach to the Middle Eastand to Saudi Arabia in particular. Its early days, but so far, it appears to be real.
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 4 : Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has special feelings for the people of Kerala and cited the example of the PM reaching a firecracker explosion site at a temple at Puttingal in Kollam within three hours of the incident.

Nadda recalled that when 400 people had lost their lives in that incident Modi had directed him, the then Union health minister, to stay in Kerala to lead the rescue operations and attend to the critically injured along with a team of doctors from AIIMS, New Delhi.

Nadda said that Modi had brought 40 Kerala nurses who were stuck at the ISIS headquarters in Iraq as captives back to Kerala. He said that he had mentioned these incidents to illustrate the love and care Modi had for the state.

He said that the Modi government had provided Rs 65,000 crore for 1000 km of national highway development in Kerala in the latest Union budget and added that this is the care and love of the Narendra Modi government for Kerala.

The BJP leader said that whether there is a BJP government in Kerala or not is a matter for the people to decide but the BJP is committed to serve the people of the state.

He lashed out at both the LDF and the UDF and said that both these fronts are two sides of the same coin. He ridiculed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's stand in the gold smuggling case and said that Vijayan had earlier welcomed the central agencies for an impartial investigation and when the agencies reached at the door step of the Chief Minister's Office he showered abuses on them. Nadda pointed out that this was the double standard adopted by the CPM and the LDF in Kerala.

Coming down heavily on the UDF, he said that Oommen Chandy who was kicked out by the people of Kerala has come back again to lead the Congress and the UDF in the coming assembly elections. He asked the Grand Old Party whether it has any qualms in bringing old wine in a new bottle.

The BJP leader said that even Kerala assembly speaker Sreeramakrishnan is under the scanner in the gold smuggling case and charged the LDF government of having brought a resolution against the constitutional body, the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The former Union health minister lashed out at the Kerala health department and the minister in particular and said that there is a whopping increase in Covid cases in the state. The test positivity rate of the state is five times that of other parts of the country. The state health minister is making ridiculous statements that the Covid spread in Kerala is owing to the population density.

He said that while the Congress and the CPM are fighting against each other in Kerala, they are in cahoots in West Bengal. He added that the people of Kerala will be ready for ushering in a change in regime in the state.

The BJP leader said that the people of the state should kick out the corrupt and inept LDF and UDF and bring the BJP to power for the all round development of the state.

Meanwhile, the former DG of the Kerala Police, Jacob Thomas, received his BJP membership from JP Nadda.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Gov. Andrew Cuomos order to protect renters from eviction during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is at the heart of a landlord-tenant dispute over a posh Annadale residence  as the homeowner contends he is being abused by the moratorium.

In 2017, Michael Mesheriakov and his wife bought a home located at 848 Edgegrove Ave. and decided to rent it while she was attending medical school, Mesheriakov said in a phone interview with the Advance/SILive.com.

Their tenants, Nicodemus Miller and his wife Kim Demetro, started missing their $4,450 per month rent payments in June 2019 and havent paid since, the homeowners allege.

The renters have suffered financial hardship during the course of the pandemic, state court papers filed by Miller and Demetros lawyer, Brittany Daniels, in Richmond County Civil Court on Nov. 23.

[I] originally fell behind in rent because of my parents illness and medical needs, Miller wrote in his court papers.

The couple lives at the Edgegrove Avenue home with Millers parents and their four children, of which one is 7 months old.

Millers parents are very ill and his father is on life-sustaining equipment, Daniels wrote in court papers.

During the pandemic, Miller lost his job as a machine repairman and has been receiving unemployment benefits of $504 per week since March 30, 2020, according to his court documents.

His wife also lost her job as a seamstress and the couples children receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, their court papers state.

On Oct. 21, 2019, a court issued an order of eviction against Miller and Demetro, but, as the case was waiting to be heard before a judge, the coronavirus pandemic hit and everything got pushed back.

The case was expected to be heard by Dec. 31, 2020, but before that could happen, Cuomo signed the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020, effectively stopping evictions until May 1, 2021.

If [I] am evicted, my family and I have nowhere to go and will be forced to enter the shelter system where we risk contracting COVID-19, Miller wrote in court papers filed in November 2020.

HOMEOWNER DISPUTES CLAIM

Igor Dodin, Mesheriakovs former lawyer, alleged in court filings those claims are unsubstantiated.

These respondents are professional non-paying tenants, well versed in the mechanisms at their disposal to disadvantage landlords and they have demonstrated an enthusiastic utilization of all such mechanisms, Dodin wrote. Of course residing in what is effectively an entire single-family home for free is preferable, hence the respondents conduct. They are far from facing financial hardship and could easily afford to move into a less expensive apartment immediately.

On Dec. 31, 2019 Miller filed for bankruptcy in the Eastern District of New York and on Aug. 10, 2020 the federal court issued an order of discharge of debtor, court papers indicate.

The order effectively prohibits any attempt to collect from the debtor(s) a debt that has been discharged. For example, a creditor is not permitted to contact a debtor by mail, phone, or otherwise, to file or continue a lawsuit, to attach wages or other property, or to take any other action to collect a discharged debt from the debtor. However, a creditor may have the right to enforce a valid lien, such as a mortgage or security interest, against the debtors property after the bankruptcy, if that lien was not avoided or eliminated in the bankruptcy case.

A SYMPTOM OF A BIGGER PROBLEM

With 20 alleged missed payments accounting for a total of $89,000, Mesheriakov says his tenant is the symptom of a bigger problem.

I, along with thousands of other hardworking landlords, are being abused by the moratorium and the protections of the laws, Mesheriakov told the Advance/SILive.com. This is incompetence of the government. We are just surviving. We are working and are doing our best.

Mesheriakov and his former lawyer have argued his tenants are fully capable to pay for the rent stipulated.

An affidavit filed in Richmond Civil Court shows Miller earning a weekly income of $800 to $900 as his parents caretaker and $504 in weekly unemployment benefits.

Even if this were true, which it is not, and giving the respondents the benefit of the lower number of $800 per week, respondents would still be earning a monthly income of $5,216 or $62,592 annually  a far cry from poverty level income and more than enough to procure a reasonably-priced apartment, Dodin wrote.

Both Demetro and Miller filed a declaration of hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic on Jan. 21, court records indicate.

Elina Lecour, who is now representing Mesheriakov, called the whole process very biased in a phone interview with the Advance/SILive.com.

Right now I understand COVID really is causing a lot of delays and payments but its very biased at the moment especially [for] my client, right now he is out of a home and hes essentially being destroyed, Lecour said. Its all a one-way direction.

Daniels, the tenants lawyer, did not respond to multiple emails and did not return a call seeking comment for this story.

A man at the Edgegrove Avenue home who identified himself as a family member of Miller said he is getting out as soon as he can, declined further comment on the record and asked a reporter leave us alone.
Bayer Reaches $2 Billion Deal Over Future Roundup Cancer Claims

Bayer AG struck a $2 billion deal to resolve future legal claims that its widely used weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, the German company said on Wednesday.

Bayer has been struggling to finalize the settlement of claims that Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides cause non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a type of cancer. Bayer inherited the business and the litigation as part of a $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto in 2018.

The company has said that decades of studies have shown Roundup and glyphosate are safe for human use.

Wednesdays settlement would cover future claims brought by individuals who have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and were exposed to Roundup before their diagnosis. The settlement also includes benefits for people who were exposed to Roundup and develop the cancer in the future.

Roundup, which Monsanto first brought to the market in 1974, is widely used by farmers across the United States and Brazil, alongside crops that are genetically engineered to withstand the its herbicidal effect.

Glyphosate will remain on the market. Bayer agreed to seek permission from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to provide a reference link on labels so consumers can find scientific studies on the weedkiller.

Under the proposed plan, Bayer will provide $2 billion for a four-year period as compensation and to cover outreach and diagnostic assistance. Future claimants could receive up to $200,000 under the deal.

The parties can agree to extend the settlement period.

The company said the settlement amount was disclosed last year.

The agreement must be approved by U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco.

Chhabria in June questioned the legality of a prior settlement plan that Bayer proposed, which envisioned creating a panel of scientists who would rule on the viability of claims.

Under the revised deal, anyone who does not make a claim during the four-year period would then be able to sue in court, according Elizabeth Cabraser, an attorney for the proposed class. She also said anyone diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma who does not like their compensation offer under the class plan can go to the court system and try for a better result.

A bridge is decorated with the logo of a Bayer AG, a German pharmaceutical and chemical maker in Wuppertal, Germany August 9, 2019. (Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

In June, Bayer reached a wider $9.6 billion settlement that would resolve the bulk of the more than 100,000 U.S. lawsuits that were already filed over Roundup.

Bayers stock has been battered by the litigation, but also by billions of euros in writedowns, and a bleaker profit outlook, in large part related to the $63 billion Monsanto takeover.

The group last year announced 9.25 billion euros in impairment charges on agricultural assets and shocked markets by predicting a slight decline in core earnings per share in 2021 on weaker demand by farmers.

By Tom Hals and Tina Bellon
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Washington: As Scott Morrison works to convince Craig Kelly to rein in his more eccentric views on the coronavirus, he need only look at the US Congress to see that things could be far worse.

Kevin McCarthy, the most senior Republican in the US House of Representatives, is facing the challenge of how to deal with Marjorie Taylor Greene, a first-term congresswoman from Georgia whose inflammatory rhetoric makes Kellys Facebook posts seem tame.

Democrats are calling on Marjorie Taylor Greene to be stripped from her committee assignments for her extreme views. Credit:AP

Before entering Congress, Greene voiced support for QAnon - the wild conspiracy that regards Democrats as Satan-worshipping paedophiles. She berated mass shooting survivors in public, claiming mass shootings were actually hoaxes.

She used Facebook to advocate the killing of prominent Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and argued that laser beams from space started the deadly 2018 California wildfires.
Axis Mutual Fund has launched a Greater China Equity Fund of Fund following strong returns delivered by Edelweiss Greater China Equity Offshore Fund, the only other Indian mutual fund focused on China.

The Edelweiss Fund, with a size of 762 crore, has delivered a return of 84% in rupee terms over the past year, vastly outstripping the 28% delivered by the S&P BSE 500 Total Returns Index (TRI). Its 10 year return stands at 16.73% CAGR, also higher than the 12% delivered by the S&P BSE 500 TRI. Axis Mutual Fund has a tie up with Schroders Asset Management, a global asset manager and the new fund will feed into Schroders International Selection Fund - Greater China.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

The underlying Schroders fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, was launched in 2002. It focuses on stock markets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It has delivered a CAGR of around 9.8% in US dollar terms over the past 10 years. In calendar year 2020, it is up 43% in dollar terms. Its top three holdings are Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Alibaba Ground Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

"We believe international investing is an important part of an investor's portfolio, and emerging markets, particularly China, present an interesting investment opportunity. In the post COVID world, this is an economy rebounding quickly from crisis with opportunities in tech, financials and consumptions," said Radhika Gupta, CEO, Edelweiss Mutual Fund.

Some investment professionals, however, continue to favour US stocks for global diversification. "Investors can allocate 10-15% of their portfolio in international funds. However within this basket, I prefer the US market over China. The former has the world's most innovative companies and is much less correlated with India than China is," said Amol Joshi, founder, Plan Rupee Investment Services, a Mumbai based mutual fund distributor.

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It only makes sense. When a doctor prescribes an experimental or especially expensive medication or treatment, the first call is to the insurance company to make sure itll pick up the tab. But too often in Texas that commonsense requirement turns out to be a hassle, rather than a help, and can sometimes cause life-threatening delays.

Thats whats behind a push in the Texas Legislature by the Texas Medical Association, which is lobbying for additional reforms after partially addressing the problem two years ago. Doctors claim that prior authorization requirements have progressively expanded, requiring more of doctors time, negatively impacting patients and  many believe  only padding insurers pockets.

More Information q See More Collapse

Were sympathetic to insurers argument that without the need to get prior authorization, the cost of medical care could skyrocket, but the doctors arent seeking to get rid of prior authorization altogether. Theyre asking for rules that will allow sensible exceptions.

Many patients just end up paying for needed procedures out of pocket, because they dont want to wait on the insurance company getting back or theyve been denied, said Clayton Stewart, TMA associate director for advocacy. When youre paying a premium every month on your insurance, you really should have that coverage.

Not all services or drugs require prior authorization, but a survey of Texas doctors found that 80 percent of them reported having to obtain prior approval for medical procedures, while 85 percent had done so for prescription medications, even when what is prescribed is common or a generic prescription. Physicians said that on average they complete 31 prior authorization requests a week.

Most of the time, obtaining clearance led to delayed patient care, the survey found, with some patients choosing to abandon treatment altogether.

Even when successful, the process can be frustrating, said Dr. Debra Patt, an Austin oncologist. A recent prescription for a patient with metastatic breast cancer was denied by the insurance company and on her appeal, she was referred to a peer review with a family practitioner.

He tried to insist to me that the patient had progressed on [cancer drug] Herceptin, so she didnt need Herceptin again, Patt told the editorial board. And I said, Dont you know that this is the standard of care?

It took several phone calls and more than an hour to settle the matter, she said.

Health insurance providers also argue that prior authorization protects patients, keeping them from risky procedures and unnecessary tests. It also safeguards patients by insurers having an overall picture of care that individual doctors may lack.

Were the only ones that have that 360 view of what is going on with the patient to know that there was going to be an adverse reaction between two or three drugs, or between a surgery and another drug, said Jamie Dudensing, CEO for the Texas Association of Health Plans.

Controlling their costs is important, she added, but those savings come from keeping overtreatment in check, which also benefits patients.

That may be a hard pill to swallow  that in demanding prior approval insurers are as focused on patient health as their own bottom lines  but its clear that sometimes it helps to require doctors to justify major treatments or additional tests.

Keeping Texans safe should be the priority for lawmakers. They should avoid legislation that offers a blanket removal of prior authorization, such as HB 1145, which would exempt in-network service providers from the requirement. They should instead focus on bills such as HB 907, which protects prescriptions for chronic or autoimmune diseases, and HB 410, which removes prior authorization requirements from state-mandated benefits for health care plans, including mammography, mastectomy and diabetes management.

For the Legislature, the goal must be to balance efforts by health insurers to limit costs with the need to reduce administrative burdens on physicians  not for their sake alone, but so that they can provide timely medical care to Texans in need.
COPPELL, Texas, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Costar Technologies, Inc. (the "Company") (OTC Markets Group: CSTI) announced today that Rory Cowan has retired as Chair and a member of the Company's Board of Directors, effective February 1, 2021. Mr. Cowan has done so to minimize his outside professional duties and not as a result of any dispute or disagreement with the Company or its Board of Directors on any matter relating to the operations, policies or practices of the Company. In connection with Mr. Cowan's retirement, the size of the Board was reduced from six to five directors.

Mr. Cowan stated, "It has been a pleasure serving as a director of the Company over the last 20 years. Costar remains in great hands and I look forward to its continued success."

Scott Switzer, the Company's Interim President and CEO, stated, "On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I would like to thank Rory for his valuable service and contributions to the Company over the past two decades. We have benefited greatly from Rory's leadership and vision and wish him well in all his future endeavors."

Sally Washlow, a current director of the Company, has been appointed as the new Chair of the Board of the Directors, and brings valuable management and operating experience to the role. Ms. Washlow, 49, currently leads the Midwest practice for the International Center for Executive Options, a boutique solutions provider for executives within LHH, a global human capital consulting firm. From 2015 to 2017, Ms. Washlow was the Chief Executive Officer of Cedar Electronics Corporation, a supplier of consumer electronics, automotive aftermarket and marine products, and led the integration of its Cobra and Escort electronics businesses. Prior to that, Ms. Washlow worked for 13 years at Cobra Electronics Corporation (COBR) in various capacities, including as President from 2013 until 2015. Ms. Washlow received an MBA in Marketing from DePaul University and a BA in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University. She is also a member of the Board of Industry Leaders of the Consumer Technology Association and serves on the audit committee.

About Costar Technologies, Inc.

Costar Technologies, Inc. develops, designs, manufactures and distributes a range of security solution products including surveillance cameras, lenses, digital video recorders and high-speed domes. The Company also develops, designs and distributes industrial vision products to observe repetitive production and assembly lines, thereby increasing efficiency by detecting faults in the production process. Headquartered in Coppell, Texas, the Company's shares currently trade on the OTC Markets Group under the ticker symbol "CSTI". Costar was ranked as the 40th largest company in a&s magazine's Security 50 for 2020. Security 50 is an annual ranking by the magazine of the world's largest security manufacturers in the areas of video surveillance, access control and intruder alarms, based on sales revenue.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Company's ability to grow revenue and earnings, that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to risks related to the ability to diversify business across vertical markets, secure new customer wins, and launch new products. You can often identify forward-looking statements by words such as "believe," "may," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "expect," "predict," "potential," or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations, but they involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of the risks and uncertainties.

You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions, or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information, except to the extent required by applicable laws.

SOURCE Costar Technologies, Inc.
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New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday said that it has carried out searches at several premises of East Coast Railway official Rabi Narayan Rath in Odisha's Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in connection with a graft case.

A CBI official said that the agency registered a case against Rath, the ECoR's Travelling Inspector (Accounts), on allegations that he had possessed disproportionate assets during the period between April 1, 2006 to November 30, 2020 to the tune of Rs 1.19 crore.
The first Apple electric car will be built on Hyundai's electric vehicle platform and the initial model could lead to new vehicles built in association with General Motors and European manufacturer PSA, TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said.

In a fresh note to investors issued late on Monday, Kuo said that Apple's deep collaboration with current automakers (Hyundai Group, GM and PSA) who have extensive development, production, and qualification experience will significantly shorten the Apple Car development time and create a time-to-market advantage".

"We believe that Apple will leverage current automakers' resources and focus on self-driving hardware and software, semiconductors, battery-related technologies, form factor and internal space designs, innovative user experience, and the integration with Apple's existing ecosystem," he added.

Kuo believes that the earliest possible date for an Apple car to hit the market is 2025, reports AppleInsider.

Unveiled in December, Hyundai's E-GMP is a dedicated battery electric vehicle (BEV) platform that consists of up to two motors, five-link rear suspension, integrated drive axle, battery cells, charging system and other rolling chassis components.

According to the company, the system has a maximum range of about 310 miles on a full charge and be charged up to 80 per cent within 18 minutes.

Also Watch:

Hyundai aims to use E-GMP as a foundation for several models, set to debut under both its flagship and Kia brands this year.

The Apple Car is rumoured to feature LiDAR technology, which could add a lot of depth to onboard AI functions.

The Apple Car is expected to use a "C1" chip based on the A12 Bionic processor with in-cabin AI capabilities such as eye-tracking.

According to US-based magazine 'EETimes', Apple will require a chip foundry with capacity for automotive processes, which Samsung or TSMC could supply to Apple.

Cable TV and internet provider Comcast seemed headed for a showdown with the attorneys general of Connecticut and Pennsylvania over plans to enforce broadband service data caps and surcharges.

But on Wednesday, the Philadephia-based company bought a little extra time to figure out its next move.

Comcast officials said the company will suspend until July the implementation of its data caps and new fees for heavy users of the companys high speed internet service in more than a dozen states. Prior to Wednesdays announcement, the data cap and surcharges were set to begin in March.

The companys announcement came just hours before Connecticut Attorney General William Tong told reporters at a press conference outside the State Capitol that the data cap and surcharge is wrong and unconscionable.

This is not good for Connecticut or Connecticut families, to ask them to pay more for broadband at a time when they need it most, Tong said. Its not a luxury, its an essential public service.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro had also raised concerns about Comcasts actions, according to The Washington Post. The company had previously announced a suspension in Massachusetts after state lawmakers introduced legislation that sought to take aim at the new fees.

Besides Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, Comcast planned to enforce the data cap in Delaware, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, Vermont, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Tong said since Comcast first announced the plan in November 2020, his office has received numerous complaints about how easy it was for households with multiple internet users to surpass the cap and be charged for excess usage.

Residential customers in Connecticut and other states who dont have an unlimited plan will be given up to 1.2 terabytes of data in a billing cycle. Any data usage in excess of that will have a surcharge of $10 for every additional 50 gigabytes used, up to a maximum of $100.

Connecticut consumers who have Comcast as their broadband provider told Hearst Connecticut Media they easily reached the cap in the months since the it was announced.

Sharon Rosenblatt of Ridgefield said the three people surpassed the cap in late January, but was told the company wasnt imposing the surcharges until May. The company offers notifications to subscribers who are approaching the data cap limit.

Peter Carusone complained via Twitter that we are at 1.9 terabytes, so thats an extra $60 a month during a time where the state wants you to stay home.

Peter Sonski of Haddam knew once Comcast announced the data cap that he was better off paying the $11 a month extra so that he would have unlimited data.

My consumption level was such that anything less than unlimited was inadequate, Sonski said.

Jess Denny said via Twitter that her household uses about 1.5 terabytes a month.

We talked about it, and have decided to cut the cable off, keeping the high speed internet and paying extra for unlimited data, Denny said. Unfortunately, Comcast is the only high speed internet option at our home.

Jason Zandri, a Wallingford Town Councilman and an information technology expert for 24 years, called Tongs criticism of Comcast a good start.

I don't know what powers the Attorney General or the state has but they should bring all available resources to bear on Comcast to loosen their grip from the throats of their customers, Zandri said.

Comcast officials had previously said the broadband cap would impact only 5 percent of its customer base. In a statement, the company said the delay in implementing the cap was done in order to provide customers in northeast markets with additional time to become familiar with the new plan.

Customers in these markets now have six months to understand their data usage, the statement said in part. The earliest that the very small percentage of customers who exceed 1.2 TB of data could have any charges due under the plan is August 2021.

Company officials have consistently maintained that 1.2 terabytes is a massive amount of data that enables consumers to video conference for 3,500 hours, watch 1,200 hours of distance learning videos, stream 500 hours of high-definition video content a month, or play more than 34,000 hours of online games.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - PORTOFINO RESOURCES INC. (TSXV: POR) (FSE: POTA) ("Portofino" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has received encouraging Soil Gas Hydrocarbons ("SGH") Silver-Copper-volcanogenic massive sulfides ("Ag-Cu-VMS")-in-soil results from a focused geochemical survey conducted in October/November at its South of Otter property. These results compliment the anomalous SGH gold-in-soil results previously announced on January 5th, 2021 (see press release). The South of Otter property is situated in the Red Lake Gold Camp of northwestern Ontario. It is only 8 kilometres ("km") east of Great Bear Resources Dixie Project and contiguous to Dixie Gold's Red Lake Gold Project. Both Great Bear and Dixie Gold recently announced multiple SGH gold-in-soil anomalies and have utilized the SGH analysis method to successfully vector toward gold exploration targets.

During Phase 1 of the SGH program, Portofino's team completed 168 soil samples over the Yellow Jacket and Cliff Zone gold targets that were previously trenched in 2020. These trench locations resulted in new gold mineralization discoveries on the South of Otter property. Channel and chip sample results from the trenches returned 1.09 grams/tonne ("g/t") gold over 0.58metres ("m") and 0.220 g/t gold over 0.35m respectively (news release September 15th, 2020). Portofino's soil survey covered an area totalling approximately 160,000 square metres in size and the SGH analytical method was successful in outlining Ag-Cu-VMS-in-soil anomalies proximal to the Yellow Jacket Zone. (Figure 1.).

SGH hydrocarbon signatures detect and analyze hydrocarbon residues produced by the decomposition of naturally occurring bacteria that fed on gold in rock. These residues subsequently migrated to the surface as a flux of different classes of hydrocarbons or decomposition products (ActLabs Report).

The subjective SGH confidence rating for the survey assigned to the anomalies at the Yellow Jacket Trench is as follows:

3.0 on a scale of 6.0 for Silver

4.5 on a scale of 6.0 for Copper

5.0 on a scale of 6.0 for VMS

This compliments a rating of 5.5 on a scale of 6.0 for Gold previously reported. Confidence ratings begin to be categorized as "good" at 4.0 (ActLabs Report).

Phase 2 sampling completed

Portofino's geological crew returned to the South of Otter property during January 2021 to expand the areas of geochemical surveys. The 2021 Phase 2 SGH Soil Sampling Program has been completed and resulted in approximately 202 additional SGH soil samples being collected at the expanded Cliff Zone and Yellow Jacket Zone grids. The Phase 2 program doubled the size of the Phase 1 sampled area. The samples were taken from 100m spaced grid lines with sample stations every 25m along the lines and samples have been submitted to the laboratory for assay.

Portofino's CEO, David Tafel comments:

"The limited soil sampling program utilizing the SGH analytical method at the South of Otter property is very encouraging. This methodology for focusing exploration efforts toward those areas of bedrock mineralization in a region of minimal outcrop exposure has worked well for Great Bear Resources at their Dixie Project and Portofino at South of Otter. In addition, the previously announced positive gold-in-soil results have now been complimented by the Silver-Copper-VMS-in-soil results.

"Also, our crew are to be commended on successfully enduring the January cold and expanding the soil survey coverage around the positive Phase 1 results. We look forward to receiving the most recent Phase 2 soil analyses. The program objective is to pinpoint drill targets for a follow-up program."

Figure (2) Portofino's South of Otter Property in the Red Lake gold mining camp and its location relative to Great Bear Resources outstanding discoveries.



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3751/73608_4b1e2e0de4736897_001full.jpg

About the South of Otter Property

The 5,363 hectares South of Otter Property is contained within the Birch-Uchi-Confederation Lakes greenstone belt which hosts the world-renowned Red Lake gold deposits and includes the outstanding Dixie project currently being drilled by Great Bear Resources Ltd. ("GBR"). Over the past 2 years, GBR has reported company-building drill results with mineralized intersections commonly returning bonanza gold grades in association with coarse visible gold grains. Portofino's South of Otter Property boundary is located approximately 8 km east of GBR's claims (Figure 2).

The Property contains excellent targets for both Red Lake-style gold mineralization as well as gold-bearing base metal prospects. Historical work on the claims includes prospecting, sampling, limited drilling, and airborne geophysical surveys.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Mike Kilbourne, P.Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About Portofino Resources Inc.

Portofino is a Vancouver-based Canadian company focused on exploring and developing mineral resource projects in the Americas. Its South of Otter and Bruce Lake projects are in the historic gold mining district of Red Lake, Ontario proximal to the high-grade Dixie gold project owned by Great Bear Resources Ltd. In addition, Portofino holds three other northwestern Ontario gold projects; the Gold Creek property located immediately south of the historic Shebandowan Nickel-Copper mine, as well as the Sapawe West and Melema West properties located in the rapidly developing Atikokan gold mining camp. The Company also maintains a 100% interest in the Yergo lithium salar property located within the world-renowned "Lithium Triangle" in Argentina. For further information on the Company, its projects and its management please visit our website: https://www.portofinoresources.com/.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"David G. Tafel"

Chief Executive Officer

For Further Information Contact:

David Tafel CEO,

Director 604-683-1991

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements concerning future operations of Portofino Resources Inc. (the "Company"). All forward-looking statements concerning the Company's future plans and operations, including management's assessment of the Company's project expectations or beliefs may be subject to certain assumptions, risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual performance and exploration and financial results may differ materially from any estimates or projections.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73608

[February 04, 2021] Flor de Cana Rum receives the Sustainability Award at the 2020 Green Awards

LONDON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Flor de Cana, a sustainably produced premium rum brand, has been honored with the prestigious "Sustainability Award", the highest distinction given during the 2020 Green Awards (organized by The Drinks Business), in recognition of the brand's leadership within the industry and historic commitment to sustainable practices. Today, Flor de Cana is the only global spirit to hold the world's two top sustainability certifications: Carbon Neutral and Fair Trade. While this achievement impressed the judges, it was the additional efforts of this family-owned brand that secured its position as recipient of the award, in particular the use of 100% renewable energy to distill its rum, planting 50,000 trees annually sine 2005 and its programs to support the local community.



The Carbon Neutral certification, issued by Carbon Trust, assures consumers that Flor de Cana offsets all carbon emissions during the entire lifecycle of the rum, from field to market. Meanwhile, the Fair Trade certification, issued by Fair Trade USA, verifies that the rum is sustainably produced in compliance with over 300 rigorous labor, social and environmental standards. The Flor de Cana story began in 1890 when a young Italian adventurer decided to establish a distillery at the base of Nicaragua's tallest and most active volcano, the San Cristobal. 130 years and five family generations later, the entire production process of Flor de Cana continues under the supervision of the same family, mastering the art of sustainable rum making.

About Flor de Cana Rum

Flor de Cana is a sustainably produced premium rum that's Carbon Neutral & Fair Trade certified. From an 1890 family estate, it's distilled with 100% renewable energy and naturally aged without sugar. It was awarded "Best Rum Producer of the Year" by the International Wine and Spirit Competition in 2017. www.flordecana.com Contact: corporatecommunications@flordecana.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1432495/Flor_de_Can_a_12_Year_Rum.jpg

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Australias decision to close its borders protected it from the coronavirus. But that policy is wreaking havoc on the countrys universities, which relied on lucrative tuition from foreign students who are stuck overseas.

Experts say it will take years for the schools, among the best in the world, to recover from the economic damage. Already, Australian universities have cut more than 17,000 jobs, according to industry group Universities Australia. It said operating revenue fell 4.9% last year and is expected to fall another 5.5% this year.

As students finish and we havent got new ones coming, were yet to hit the bottom basically," said Peter Hurley, a policy fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Education and Health Policy, which forecast that the countrys universities could lose up to $15 billion in international tuition through 2023.

Leaders all over the world have needed to balance protecting their populations from the virus with the economic damage that those policies can cause. But with a vaccine rollout expected to start in Australia soon, pressure is ramping up on conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison to provide clarity on how and when international students could return.

Leaders in the nations states and territories have pressed for some places in the quarantine system to be reserved for international students, but Mr. Morrison has argued that returning Australians must come first. Thousands of Australians remain stranded overseas because the government has imposed caps on returning travelers, part of an effort to ease pressure on its hotel quarantine system and to minimize the risk of highly contagious variants of the coronavirus from spreading into the community.

The matter could be discussed at a cabinet meeting later this week. Any change in policy could signal whether Mr. Morrison is ready to loosen border restrictions with vaccines on the horizon.

Phil Honeywood, chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia, said overseas students are starting to doubt that they will return to Australia this year. He is concerned some students may drop out and go study in other countries like Canada, the U.K. and the U.S.

The stickability of those students is now in question," he said.

Ahmed Korayem, a 32-year-old in Egypt, wasnt sure whether to start a masters program in compliance and regulation at an Australian university because of the countrys border closures. He worries that studying online wouldnt be the same as being there in person and that it would be difficult to interact with his professors because of the time difference.

Mr. Korayem has decided to enroll at school, but he said a prolonged period of border closures could force him to drop out later.

If its three months and then I would be able to move and continue my studies face-to-face, I can handle this. If its more than that, then I think no," said Mr. Korayem. The uncertainty can be stressful."

Foreign students, particularly from China and India, have been lured to Australia by its relative proximity to Asia, easy access to visas and high-quality schools. Australian universities charged them higher fees than domestic students; international tuition at one point made up more than 40% of student revenue at universities, according to an estimate from the Mitchell Institute.

Although students can study remotely online, international-student enrollments were already down 14% as of November, according to Australian government data. The number of international students physically in the country has fallen furtherand is down about 35% when compared with pre-pandemic levelsaccording to the Mitchell Institutes Mr. Hurley.

I dont think anybody had on their risk scenarios literally no international travel," said Paul Duldig, chief operating officer at Australian National University in Canberra, the capital. The school estimates its international-student tuition fees fell last year by about 30%.

Aside from cutting staff, universities are delaying campus improvements and eliminating fields of study. Australias reputation for producing important academic research is also at stake, given that universities used much of that international tuition to fund scholarly pursuits. About 11% of Australias researchers, including postgraduate students and staff, could lose their jobs due to the decline in fees from international students, according to research from the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education.

To make up for the revenue decline, the Australian government included about $770 million in aid to fund university research in this financial years budget. But a long-term solution depends on allowing international students back into the country, according to academics who have studied university finances.

Before the pandemic, Australia was the third top destination for international students, behind the U.S. and the U.K., according to United Nations data. Australian universities were also more reliant on international students than other countries. In 2018, 27% of all students in higher education in Australia were from overseas, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of wealthy countries that has 37 members. That was the second highest percentage in the OECD, behind tiny Luxembourg. In the U.S., just 5% were international students.

At Monash University, one of Australias top research schools, tuition from international students fell $85 million last year and overall revenue dropped by $270 million, a nearly 5% decline. The school is cutting 277 jobs and eliminating 2% of its courses. It is also shelving or deferring long-term building plans, including a new medical educational center, a biomedical teaching facility and an artificial-intelligence and data-science building.

Margaret Gardner, the president and vice chancellor of the university, said having international students on campus enriches the academic experience for domestic students who get exposed to different cultures and viewpoints even if they are going to school close to home.

Its not just about plugging a hole," she said. I cant begin to tell you how much difference it makes to the education you provide."

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 21:24:46|Editor: huaxia

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KIGALI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-four more companies from China were registered in Rwanda last year, bringing in investments totaling 300 million U.S. dollars, according to the government's investment arm.

Most Chinese investments in the central African nation are in the sectors of construction and real estate, mining, ICT, manufacturing and hospitality, according to a statement provided to Xinhua on Thursday by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

RDB said it is currently encouraging more diversified investments in sectors beyond real estate and manufacturing, the two main sectors Chinese companies invest, and to further partner with local entrepreneurs who have innovative, promising projects.

Although many businesses in Rwanda have been affected by COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictive measures since last year, some sectors are still profitable while not operating at full capacity, according to Theoneste Ntagengerwa, spokesperson of the Rwandan Private Sector Federation.

He suggested them as potential business for investing, including manufacturing anti-pandemic materials and medical supplies, agriculture and agricultural product processing, which generally continued operating during the pandemic.

He also said investors shall consider investing sectors essential for economoy. Enditem
Biden Meets GOP on Virus Aid, But No Quick Deal

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden has told Republican senators he's unwilling to settle on too small a coronavirus aid package after meeting for two hours over their slimmed down proposal.Their $618 billion plan is about a third of what he's seeking.The Republicans are looking at fewer and smaller benefits, including $1,000 in direct payments to individuals earning up to $40,000 a year, or $80,000 for couples.Maine Sen. Susan Collins says the meeting at the White House on Monday resulted in no compromise on differences.But she and the other Republicans say there was agreement to keep discussions going.On Capitol Hill, Democrats pushed ahead to lay the groundwork for passage of their full package without relying on Republican support.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
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Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Police have arrested a man after he allegedly drove a car down Bourke Street Mall a week ago, sparking panic among shoppers.

A warrant was issued about midday on Thursday for Bryce ODonnell, with police urging the man to hand himself in to authorities.

Bryce ODonnell has been arrested over last weeks Bourke Street incident. Credit:Victoria Police

Mr ODonnell, 20, was arrested at an address in Ballarat just before 4pm on Thursday.

This man allegedly drove a vehicle down Bourke Street Mall on January 28. He is currently in custody assisting police with enquiries, a police spokeswoman said.


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As schools across the United States debate whether children will be able to attend classes in person amid an ongoing pandemic, only about half of the states are allowing teachers to get a shot of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The New York Times tracks vaccine eligibility rules in all 50 states and found that at least 24 states and Washington, D.C., are providing shots to some teachers of kindergarten through high school, though some of those states only consider teachers eligible for the vaccine in certain counties.

Where teachers cannot yet be vaccinated for the virus Average daily cases per 100,000 people in past week 10 30 50 70 Eligible in some counties Teachers eligible for vaccine Miss. N.C. Okla. W.Va.* La. Mass. Fla. Wash. N.M. S.D. Texas Calif. Ala. Ga. Pa. Mo. Colo. Tenn. Wyo. Alaska Nev. Vt. Mont. S.C. N.H. N.J. Md. Maine R.I. Wis. N.D. Ind. Conn. Note: Data is as of Feb. 3 and can lag. *West Virginia teachers and school employees over the age of 50 are eligible to receive the vaccine.  Sources: New York Times database of reports from state and local health agencies

In West Virginia, teachers are eligible for the vaccine only if they are age 50 or older. In Montana, a limited number of teachers are allowed to get shots if they have specific medical conditions. In certain states like Texas and Florida, officials have ordered schools to reopen for in-person learning, but teachers have not been made eligible for shots. Of the 15 counties with the worst coronavirus outbreaks now, more than half are in Texas.

And even in states where teachers are allowed to get shots in any county, a sudden expansion of vaccine eligibility, combined with a limited supply of doses, has made it difficult for some to make appointments. For example, Arizona, which currently has the second-highest statewide outbreak, has said teachers may receive the vaccine. But with a slower-than-average vaccine rollout, some educators remain at risk.

As more contagious virus variants emerge and spread, how quickly states can administer doses from a limited vaccine supply to teachers has become a critical part of the argument about how best to reopen school systems across the nation.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, weighed in on the debate on Wednesday, explaining that there is increasing data to suggest that schools can reopen safely, even if teachers are not able to get shots.

Vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools, she said during a White House briefing.
Philadelphia opened its first city-run mass vaccination clinic at the Convention Center on Wednesday, as New Jersey relaxed some restrictions on restaurants and bars, providers around the region rescheduled shots delayed by the snowstorm, and public officials asked for continued patience as people seek still-scarce appointments.

Montgomery County, for instance, received 3,500 fewer first doses this week than last, leaving the county clinic with only enough supply for appointments scheduled through Monday, said Commissioner Val Arkoosh. That kind of unpredictability, along with the general short supply of vaccine, is what keeps providers from being able to schedule appointments as quickly as many in the public would like.

We do have the infrastructure in place to administer a lot of vaccine each day, Arkoosh said. We just need more vaccine.

New Jersey residents are still hitting long delays when trying to schedule appointments using the state call center or website.

We know that appointments remain hard to come by, Gov. Phil Murphy said. Please understand that this is because we just dont have the supply we need to satisfy demand. As our supply increases, we will be able to open more and more appointments.

The federal supply is slowly growing, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey are both receiving more doses as a result. The United States administered an average of more than 1.3 million shots a day over the last week,. compared with about 1.1 million the previous week, White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday. That means the country is on track to meet President Joe Bidens goal of administering 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office.

In New Jersey, health officials are working with local leaders to turn places of worship and community centers into vaccination sites, aiming to improve access in communities of color.

In Philadelphia, the effort centered Wednesday on the Convention Center, where residents went to get vaccines at the first of several sites the city has vowed to open this month after the closure of the troubled Philly Fighting COVID site.

The city plans to open three first-dose clinics and three-second dose clinics by the end of the month, health department spokesperson James Garrow said. One clinic will be open each day, Garrow said, vaccinating about 500 people per day. The city has not yet determined the locations for the other clinics, which will be in different areas of the city.

Philly Fighting COVID was a mistake, Mayor Jim Kenney said at the Convention Center opening. Were moving on.

The clinic, which has 20 vaccination stations and 80 workers, will be used this week and next to vaccinate people who already received a first dose. The city has reached out to everyone who got a first shot from Philly Fighting COVID for whom contact information was available, said city spokesperson Lauren Cox.

Anyone in that situation who has not been contacted by the city should call 215-685-5488.

The city has paid $65,000 to the Convention Center to rent the space for all of February and run a series of nine clinics, Cox said. The health department is discussing renting the space to the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium and hospitals for them to run clinics on days when the citys is not operating.

Philly Fighting COVID fallout

Asked Wednesday about some lawmakers calls for his resignation over the citys partnership with Philly Fighting COVID  with which the city severed ties due to questions about its patient privacy policy and for-profit status  Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said he understood peoples concerns but did not plan to resign.

I have something still to contribute, Farley said. We have an epidemic to fight, a lot of people to vaccinate.

Kenney backed his health commissioner, saying Farley is doing a great job and his department a terrific job at keeping this pandemic at bay.

Deputy Health Commissioner Caroline Johnson resigned last week over her role in the contracting process.

 READ MORE: Next up in the Philly Fighting COVID debacle: A political fight in City Hall

Asked what he knew of Philly Fighting COVID before touting the grand opening of its mass vaccination site at the Convention Center last month, Kenney said he [doesnt] get involved in any contracts in the city. He also suggested that members of City Council who have blamed him for the controversy are doing so unfairly because they did not question the group during a November hearing.

City Council had an opportunity, Kenney said. So questions werent asked that should have been asked, and were moving forward.

Council has proposed legislation to provide more oversight in the vaccine rollout and is preparing to question administration officials at a Friday hearing.

Joe Grace, spokesperson for Council President Darrell L. Clarke, pushed back on Kenneys characterization Wednesday, saying the November hearing was focused on examining the citys overall COVID-19 preparedness.

The administration has the authority to issue a contract and thats the administrations job, Grace said. Our job is to provide oversight.

More capacity, curfew lifted

In New Jersey,

restaurants, gyms, salons, performance venues, and other indoor businesses will be allowed starting Friday to increase their customer capacity to 35%, Murphy said. The same goes for other indoor gatherings, with a cap of 150 people.

The 10 p.m. curfew for indoor dining at bars and restaurants will also be lifted Friday. Sitting at bars remains prohibited.

Im proud that weve been able to protect our restaurants from the roller coaster of openings and closings that other states have had to implement, Murphy said. Because we opened indoor dining responsibly, not once have we had to reduce capacity. And now, because of your compliance, we can further expand indoor dining.

Dont share appointment links, Montco asks

Montgomery County next week will launch a vaccine information hotline, which residents will soon also be able to use to preregister for appointments.

The county has also added a preregistration tracker to its website, allowing residents who have preregistered through the countys form to get a sense of where they stand in line. Nearly 140,000 people have used the form, and it could be up to 12 weeks before someone who has preregistered may hear back from the county about scheduling an appointment, Arkoosh said.

Some people are jumping the line by using other peoples scheduling links, Arkoosh said. She asked that anyone who receives an email from the county allowing them to schedule an appointment not share the link.

This is not ethical or moral, and it needs to stop, Arkoosh said. Its extremely frustrating to folks that are eligible and have been following all the rules  to see others grab a link off of Facebook and make an appointment for themselves.

Anyone who is not eligible for the vaccine will be turned away if they show up for an appointment. The county cannot stop the links from being reused because the flaw is inherent to the software program the state is having counties use, Arkoosh said.

The countys case numbers and positivity rate continue to drop, Arkoosh said, coming down from holiday surges, though still much higher than before Halloween.

We remain in a serious and continually evolving situation, she said. While we wait hopefully patiently for enough vaccine to arrive in our community to vaccinate everyone who would like to be vaccinated, we must continue to do the things we know work  which are wearing a mask, washing our hands, and watching our distance.

Staff writers Laura McCrystal, Erin McCarthy, and Rob Tornoe contributed to this article.

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Local officials should be the first ones to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Department of the Interior and Local Government spokesman Jonathan Malaya said.

"I think we should lead by example," he added, in order to boost vaccine confidence of Filipinos.

"Mauna na po ang mga mayor magpabakuna para ipakita sa ating mga kababayan ang effectivity and safety of the vaccine," Malaya said.

[Translation: Mayors should be first to be vaccinated to show the people the effectivity and safety of the vaccine.]

Malaya made the statement during the briefing of Pasay City authorities on their local immunization program, which was attended by members of the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic team.

An online survey led by researchers from the University of Santo Tomas showed 9 out of 10 Filipinos have concerns about COVID-19 vaccines, with many worried about their effects, efficacy, safety, and high cost.

Another survey by Pulse Asia also showed 47% of Filipinos do not want to be vaccinated when doses become available.

Ma. Lourdes San Juan, assistant head of the Pasay City Health Office, also said that after interviewing residents, only less than 40% said they are willing to get vaccinated due to false information circulating in social media that greatly dampened vaccine confidence.

Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano said she is willing to be inoculated first to encourage her constituents.

Both national and local authorities said efforts are being implemented to properly inform the public of the advantages of getting immunized.
Over 21 percent of the population, aged 10 years and above, showed evidence of past exposure to COVID-19 in the ICMR's latest national serosurvey, the government said on Thursday, noting that a large proportion of people are still vulnerable to the infection.

The prevalence of the infection has been found among 25.7 percent of healthcare workers, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) third national serosurvey conducted between December 17 last year and January 8.

Presenting the findings of the survey at a media briefing, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said 21.4 percent of the 28,589 people, aged 18 years and above, surveyed during the period showed evidence of past exposure to the coronavirus infection. While 25.3 percent of children aged 10 to 17 years from the same number of surveyed population have had the disease, he said.

Urban slums (31.7 percent) and urban non-slums (26.2 percent) had a higher SARS-CoV-2 prevalence than that in rural areas (19.1 percent), Bhargava said, adding that the seroprevalence was 23.4 percent among individuals above 60 years of age.

Besides, blood samples of 7,171 healthcare workers were also collected during the same period and the seroprevalence was found to be 25.7 percent, the ICMR director general said.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

"Overall seroprevalence is 21.5 percent of the population.A large proportion of the population still remains vulnerable, which calls for no complacency in following COVID-19-appropriate behaviour by all. This apart, it points out the necessity of vaccine," Bhargava said.

The seroprevalence was found to be 26.6 percent among surveyed doctors, 25.4 percent among paramedical staff, 25.3 percent among field staff and 24.9 among administration staff, he said.

"Thus, the prevalence of the infection has been found amongst 25.7 percent of healthcare workers," Bhargava said.

The latest survey has been conducted in the same 700 villages and wards in 70 districts of 21 states which were selected during the first and second rounds of the serosurvey held previously in May-June and August-September last year respectively.

Among the surveyed male population, the sero-prevalence was 20.3 percent, while it was 22.7 percent among the surveyed female population.

The seroprevalence was 19.9 percent in the age group of 18-44 years, 23.4 percent among 45-60 years and 23.4 percent among the surveyed population above 60 years of age.

On the coronavirus situation in the country, UnionHealth Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said India's COVID-19 cumulative positivity rate has declined to 5.42 percent.The weekly positivity rate (last week) was recorded at 1.82 percent, he said.

Bhushan said that 47 districts have not reported any new case of COVID-19 and 251 districts have not registered any new deaths in the last three weeks.

Two states -- Kerala (69,365) and Maharashtra (38,762) -- account for 70 percent of the total active cases in the country, he said.

The worldwide COVID-19 situation is still worrisome, Bhushan said, adding that some countries have seen multiple peaks, while some have seen surge in cases at least twice.

"In India, cases are declining. But we still have to follow COVID-19-appropriate behaviour," the Union Health Secretary said.

While countries like the US, the UK, Brazil, Germany and Russia have shown a surge in deaths for a second time, India is seeing a decline in the number of COVID-19 deaths.

Niti Aayog Member V K Paul said the current serosurvey shows that even now, the infection can spread to more than 75 percent people.

He stated that hence, it is very crucial to strictly following COVID-appropriate behaviour.

We have seen in many countries how the graph came down but suddenly saw a spike. A big proportion of our population is still vulnerable, he said.

However, Paul also mentioned that through the national mission for vaccination, "we will be able to overcome the pandemic in a better way".

He appealed to the media and the public to be a part of this drive. I request you to continue to promote positive behaviour and acceptance of vaccines, and see that science is driving the whole process of pandemic fight in this great country, Paul said.

He also mentioned that the speed with which 45 percent of healthcare workers (HCWs) have already been vaccinated is an evidence that the hesitancy has gone and confidence has grown among the citizens and HCWs.
A head teacher in Thailand pulled a gun out at morning assembly on Thursday as he addressed claims he had been sleeping with a 15-year-old pupil.

Principal Sayan Chaleephol, 60, caused children at the Thepha School in Songkhla province to flee screaming after he showed them the weapon.

Students had lined up to sing the national anthem and raise the flag when the head teacher started apologising over the accusations he had sex with the teenage girl.

A head teacher in Thailand pulled a gun out at morning assembly on Thursday as he addressed claims he had been sleeping with a 15-year-old pupil

After he announced the school's agenda, the director pulled out the gun and showed it to hundreds of shocked students.

Mobile phone footage from a terrified teacher shows the moment the pupils fled in fear.

One of the students told local media: 'The director was talking about budgets and financial details when all of a sudden he said "sorry, please forgive me".'

The teacher then put away the microphone, unbuttoned his suit and pulled out a gun from a waist holster.

Principal Sayan Chaleephol caused children at the Thepha School in Songkhla province to flee screaming after he showed them the weapon

The teacher then put away the microphone, unbuttoned his suit and pulled out a gun from a waist holster

Terrified students screamed and ran away in different directions.

The teachers ushered the headmaster into a room so he could compose himself. There was announcement in the school that classes were closed for the day and that parents should come and take their children home.

Police said that the director had allegedly been having an affair with the girl since last year.

After he announced the school's agenda, the director pulled out the gun and showed it to hundreds of shocked students

The teachers ushered the headmaster into a room so he could compose himself after the shocking moment

The girl's parents allegedly knew about the affair and pressured him to stop seeing their daughter.

Local media reported that many people at the school knew about the relationship and the headmaster had become increasingly stressed about it.

Liutenant Colonel Thammarat Petchnongchum, Superintendent of Thepha Police Station, said: 'Yesterday, there was a parent of a female student who reported to the investigator about the daughter's relationship with the director.

Terrified students screamed and ran away in different directions after seeing the teacher take out the gun

There was announcement in the school that classes were closed for the day and that parents should come and take their children home

'They said they have recorded it happening daily as evidence.

'It is still in the process of investigating the facts, waiting for the results of the examination of the children from the hospital and investigating the children together with a multidisciplinary team.

'This teacher has been the school director for two years and staff and students say he is normally a good person without any problems and often talks to students in their free time. So all of the students and teachers were shocked that this had happened.'
In his complaint, Anurag Singh alleged that Usmani had used provocative words and language in his speech to trigger hatred and anger against the UP govt and promote enmity among various religious communities

Lucknow: Days after having been booked by the Maharastra Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of people with his remarks at the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune, former AMU student Sharjeel Usmani was slapped with the charge of sedition by the Lucknow Police.

The case against Usmani was lodged at the Hazratganj Police Station in Lucknow on Wednesday night on the complaint of a city resident Anurag Singh, police said on Thursday.

Singh has alleged in his complaint that Usmani used provocative words and language in his speech at Elgar Parishad conclave on 30 January in Pune with an aim to trigger hatred and anger against the UP government and promoting enmity among various religious communities.

On Singh's complaint, an FIR has been lodged against Usmani under sections 124A, 153 A and 505 (1) (B) of the IPC for allegedly committing sedition, promoting communal hatred and making statements aimed at alarming people and inciting them to commit offences against the state, a senior police official said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Pune police had booked Usmani under section 153 A for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups of people on the ground religion etc.

A day after the registration of the FIR against Usmani in Pune, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had on Wednesday said the former AMU student leader would be arrested from whichever state he is in.

He had said the police booked Usmani, an Uttar Pradesh resident, for his "offensive remarks" after conducting a probe into the video clippings of the 30 January conclave in Pune.

During the conclave, writer-activist Arundhati Roy, Justice (Retd) BG Kolse Patil and former IPS officer SM Mushrif were also among those who addressed the gathering.

Three years ago, several Left-leaning activists were arrested by police for alleged Naxal links following the December 31, 2017, Elgar Parishad conclave and the caste violence at Pune's Koregaon-Bhima war memorial the next day.
Almost 11,000 Hong Kong residents moved to Taiwan in 2020, almost double the number of 2019. As per Taiwans National Immigration Agency, a number of Hong Kongers granted short-term residency soared to 10,813 from 5,858 in the previous year. Experts believe that the exodus has been expedited by Chinas imposition of draconian National Security Law and the pro-democracy protests that followed.

Taiwan, which is also battered by the Xi Jinping administrations One nation, two systems policy has blatantly supported Hong Kongers in their pro-democracy movement. The islands president Tsai Ing-wen has also advocated for human rights and in 2020 launched a new office to deal with Hong Kongers seeking to stay on the island. As of now, Taiwan does not have asylum or refugee law, nor does it accept refugee applications, however, allows refugees to live on various terms like investment visas.

Read: Hong Kong Government Critic Jimmy Lai Returns To Court

Read: New UK Citizenship Visa Route Opens For Hong Kong Residents

Last year, Hong Kongers immigration to Taiwan became a matter of deliberation after Chinese officials detained 11 people doing the same. Although China asserted that the arrests were made for flouting National Security Law and those arrested were protestors, the event attracted global ire for China.

Chinese crackdown on Hong Kong

Chinas Xi Jinping administration passed the draconian extradition law in early 2019, triggering massive anti-china protests across Hong Kong. However, with City-States Chief Executive Carrie Lam refusing to acknowledge protesters demand and mainland sending troops to quell the demonstrations, the protest soon turned violent. In response to eroding law and order in Hong Kong, China then passed National Security Law thorough which it had detained over 10,000 protesters, seized media houses inter alia. Despite the mainlands repeated efforts at silencing the voices, protesters still voice their call for liberty and sovereignty.

Recently, Hong Kong pro-democracy movement was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by US lawmakers whove hailed the protesters as campaigners for global inspiration in the face of a crackdown by Beijing. In a bipartisan letter addressed to the Nobel Prize Committee, the nine lawmakers stressed that the Hong Kong protests amount to one of the largest mass protests in the history and that it has been peacefully advocating for democracy and human rights since 1997.

Read: Hong Kong Pro-democracy Movement Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize By US

Read: Britain Doubles Down Over Visa Scheme For Hongkongers, Says 'will Not Look Other Way'

Representative Image/ Pixabey
In Tehran, privacy has been severely damaged by the destruction of outdoor as well as indoor spaces. Buildings are immediately adjacent to streets and urban open spaces are disappearing. Human presence in the city is endangered and group activities are gradually disappearing. These changes have completely altered the face of the city and the inhabitants, in less than a century, have completely lost their connection with the past. This is why the architects of TDC Office worked on a five-storey, medium-sized condominium building, a very common typology, to offer a solution to the shrinking space in between.

Allocating a space between the city and the home, House #6 offers residents a place to engage in creative activities, socialise with neighbours and spend time with family. A space that links the house and the atelier with the city, both internally and externally, to make the relationship between inside and outside more fluid, an extension where urban life flows and part of the layers of the past can be recovered.

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"They threw her out the second-story window. She broke her arm and leg." I sat and listened to the Social Worker describe the incident while sitting in my office at the hospital where I worked. She talked about the Group Home, where I had served as Clinical Director a few months prior. The Group Home was a collaborative effort between County Mental Health and a local non-profit program for troubled teenagers.

While working for the Group Home, the teenagers frequently complained about their human rights. Against my recommendation, the organization leaders acquiesced and gave the teenagers more authority over program development and day-to-day activities. I warned the leaders it could be dangerous to the staff. Regardless, they gave the Teens their "rights," and thirty days later they felt empowered to throw a staff member out a second-story window!

The teenagers in the Program asked a legitimate question. "Don't we have rights as humans?"

But what they meant was, "We know what humans should be, so give us our rights.

California County Mental Health and my Clinical Team supported the Group Home. Together we developed a plan based on our assumptions of childhood development. Teenagers thirst for identity and need healthy structure. Our goal provided a program to boost their self-esteem and self-worth. Our definition of what makes a teenager "human" controlled the rights of the Group Home residents.

It is a lesson to ponder as our country questions its identity, and new government programs mandate what it means to be human in schools and courts.

Here are two examples.

The Biden White House is implementing social programs mandating human rights for transgender individuals. The phrase human rights is a noble statement. But it is not the rights of humans that give Biden's programs their impetus, but the mandate to define what it means to be human.

The Church Times, an Anglican weekly newspaper in London, provides another example. On December 18, 2020, Tum Wyatt wrote:

In an explanatory memorandum, the Bishops (the Church of Wales) acknowledge that scripture and Christian tradition have understood unions of one man and one woman as the only context for sexual relationships. "However, with new social, scientific and psychological understandings of sexuality in the last one and a half centuries, we believe that same-sex relationships can be understood in a radically different way, and that the teaching of Scripture should therefore be re-interrogated," the Bishops write.

According to the Church in London, the Bible would eliminate human rights because its definition of being human conflicts with the cultural meaning.

In both examples, human rights assume the authority to control one's life because of the right to define what it means to be human. Laws and social programs are simply a byproduct of the definition.

As the teenagers in the Group Home, it's not merely the rights afforded humans but the assumption that humans create and control the definition.

These are essential questions for one's self-esteem and self-worth.

If I have the right to be human, do I know what it means to be human? Will my knowledge and wisdom provide the best journey of the human experience? Should I know what it means to be human before you give me the rights to be one?

What about Cancel Culture? Woke Programs? Socialism? They advertise human rights, promising personal freedom. Paradoxically they circumscribe and limit one's rights by their definition of being human.

The common thread in this conflict is the search for significance. The freedom to discover meaning and the fullness of life. No easy task, even if your rights had no restrictions and all comforts of material prosperity.

You can whittle away at life's obstacles, social constraints, economic hardships, and physical challenges. When finished carving, life's questions, and imperfections continue to plague the human condition. You might have attained your rights but missed the right to become who God intended you to be.

It is a paradox of freedom.

"Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39).

According to Christ, your rights include "finding your life." But it is not your "rights" that unlock the mystery of purpose and significance. One's rights are the opportunity for life's answers, not the answers themselves. Believing you have found the definition of life and humanity precludes Christ's meaning. But to lose your definition and embrace Christ is to find the life God intended for humanity.

During the next four years, new social programs will be developed and implemented by the Biden presidency. The White House will poise itself to define humanity and legally enforce its requirements. Unfortunately, if you don't share their definition of human significance, you will lose your rights.

Will it be good for our self-esteem and personal identity? Or, like the Group Home, will it throw us out the window because we have lost our identity?
Amnesty International is urging the international community to "urgently intervene" to save the lives of four ethnic Baluch and four ethnic Arab men who are on death row following what the human rights watchdog called "flagrantly unfair trials."

"The recent escalation in executions of Baluchis and Ahwazi Arabs raises serious concerns that the authorities are using the death penalty to sow fear among disadvantaged ethnic minorities, as well as the wider population," Diana Eltahawy, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at the London-based group, said in a statement on February 4.

"The disproportionate use of the death penalty against Iran's ethnic minorities epitomizes the entrenched discrimination and repression they have faced for decades," Eltahawy added.

The statement called for "concerted action" by the international community, including United Nations human rights bodies and the European Union, to "stop the Iranian authorities from carrying out executions after flagrantly unfair trials marred by torture-tainted 'confessions'."

It cited figures obtained from the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, which promotes human rights in Iran, according to which the country has executed at least 49 people since December 1, 2020. More than a third of them were Baluchis.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has denounced what it called a crackdown on ethnic and religious minority groups in Iran since mid-December 2020, in particular Kurdish, ethnic Arab, and Baluch communities.

Amnesty International said the four Baluch prisoners on death row in Zahedan prison in Sistan-Baluchestan Province and in Dastgerd prison in Esfahan Province "have all been subjected to a catalogue of human rights violations, including enforced disappearance and torture."

Three ethnic Arabs on death row have sewn their lips together and have been on hunger strike since January 23 in Sheiban prison in Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, "in protest at their prison conditions, denial of family visits, and the ongoing threat of execution," the watchdog said.

The fourth ethnic Arab inmate "has been forcibly disappeared since April 2020, putting him at risk of torture and secret execution."

Amnesty International's plea comes a day after 36 civil society and human rights organizations denounced "an ongoing wave of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, and enforced disappearances by the Iranian authorities" targeting Iran's "disadvantaged" Kurdish minority.

The groups said in a statement that at least 96 members of the community had been arrested in five provinces since January 6.

They included "civil society activists, labor rights activists, environmentalists, writers, university students, and formerly imprisoned political activists as well as individuals with no known history of activism," they said.
Stockholm (Sweden), Feb 04, 2021 (SPS) - The Swedish Foreign Minister, Ann Linde, made it clear that the conflict in Western Sahara is a decolonization problem within the UN, stressing that the status of Western Sahara can only be determined through a just, sustainable and mutually acceptable negotiated solution that satisfies the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination in accordance with international law, including Security Council resolutions of the ONU."

Clearing doubts about the position of the Nordic country, after Donal Trump's illegal maneuver in Western Sahara, and the clear adherence to international legality, Ann Linde asserted that the recognition of Morocco's claims without taking into account international law and the resolutions of the UN Security Council do not contribute to a lasting solution to the conflict. "

Likewise, she announced that her Government will continue to be clear in all contexts, including in contacts with the newly appointed Biden administration, about the importance of working to resume the UN-led process to find a solution to the issue of Western Sahara that is in line with international law. "

"Working under the auspices of the United Nations is of the utmost importance, especially in light of the recent events on the ground in Guerguerat, and to appoint the Secretary General's personal envoy as soon as possible," added the Foreign Minister.

The government is putting pressure on the UN for this to happen. I myself have raised the issue with the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, defended Ann Linde in response to the vice president of the Swedish parliament, Lotta Johnsson Fornarve

I also spoke recently with my Moroccan colleague and stressed the importance of resuming the political process under the auspices of the United Nations. The same message has been transmitted to the Frente POLISARIO at the level of senior officials, she added. SPS

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If youre looking for an entry-level job in Hartford, knowing what the minimum wage is in the city is crucial. Not only will it help you understand why certain jobs pay specific amounts, but it also empowers you to assess whether the work involved in the position feels fair based on what youll earn. If youre seeking out a minimum wage position in Hartford, Connecticut, heres what you need to know.

What Is the Minimum Wage in Hartford, Connecticut?

Starting on September 1, 2020, the minimum wage in Hartford, Connecticut, reached $12.00 per hour for nonexempt employees. The vast majority of the workforce qualifies as nonexempt, though there are a few exceptions.

For example, the minimum wage for qualifying tipped workers in hotels and restaurants is $6.38 per hour. For bartenders, $8.23 per hour is the minimum. However, in those cases, the workers tips have to bring the employee up to the equivalent of $12.00 per hour. If that doesnt happen, the employer is legally required to make up the difference.

Will the Minimum Wage in Hartford, Connecticut Change?

Yes, the minimum wage in Hartford is scheduled to change. Starting on August 1, 2021, it will rise to $13.00 per hour for non-tipped employees. Once July 1, 2022 rolls around, it will rise again, hitting $14.00 per hour for non-tipped workers. Then, it is scheduled to go up once more on June 1, 2023, reaching $15.00 per hour for employees who dont receive tips.

Beginning on January 1, 2024, the minimum wage in Hartford could change again. When that day arrives, the minimum wage is tied to the Department of Labors employment cost index. Changes to that index can result in minimum wage increases, ensuring the minimum wage ultimately keeps pace with the states economy.

However, while that plan is approved, that doesnt mean federal law changes may not alter the Hartford minimum wage. President Joe Biden has expressed interest in a $15.00 per hour minimum wage. Should that move forward, every state and city would have to increase their minimum wage to meet that mark, as states cannot have a minimum wage thats lower than whats required by the federal government.

Still, it isnt clear whether a federal minimum wage increase will actually occur. It will depend on upcoming legislation, which would require Congressional approval, not just President Bidens support.

Is the Hartford Minimum Wage Different from the Connecticut Minimum Wage?

No, Hartford does not have a different minimum wage than whats required for the rest of Connecticut. Hartford currently follows the states standard, not one thats unique to the city.

Do you think the minimum wage in Hartford, Connecticut is fair? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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A report by the BBC details shocking allegations by former detainees of rape, sexual abuse, and torture.

International lawmakers have called on their governments to urgently probe allegations of genocide and crimes against humanity in northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in response to shocking new allegations of widespread rape by former internment camp detainees.

A report by the BBC on Tuesday included interviews with several women who claimed they were systematically raped, sexually abused, and tortured while held in the XUARs vast network of internment camps, where authorities are believed to have held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities since early 2017.

Tursunay Ziawudun spent nine months detained at a camp before she was able to flee the country and relocate to the U.S. She told the BBC that women were removed from their cells every night and raped by masked Chinese men, and that she was tortured and later gang-raped on three occasions.

Gulzira Auelkhan, and ethnic Kazakh who was held for 18 months in a camp, said she was forced to handcuff detainees to their beds, remove their clothes, wait outside the room while various Chinese men entered, and then help the detainee shower after they left.

One woman described watching someone be gang-raped in front of around 100 detainees, while others detailed torture that included being penetrated and sodomized with electric batons, as well as receiving vaccines that left them sterilized.

On Wednesday, Ziawudun told RFA additional details about her abuse in the camp, saying that the first time she was raped, four men came to get her from her cell.

They dont immediately start raping you. First, they interrogate you, coerce you, scream at you, threaten you, then rape you in turn with torture, she said.

Theyre Chinese men wearing masks and black clothes. I dont know what kind of people they are. During my three talks, different people gang-raped me.

Ziawudun said that when she told her husband about the rape she enduring in the camp, he was horrified, but not surprised.

He said he could sense what happened to me without me saying a single word. His tears fell and said he could never blame me for what happened, she said.

You can see the intense hatred in the eyes of the Chinese police towards us. They believe they have a duty to torture us even to death. I think theres an order from above to destroy us. I can feel that theyre ordered to destroy us one way or another, even though theyre not publicly executing us.

Beginning in October 2018, Beijing acknowledged the existence of the camps, but described them as voluntary vocational centers, despite reporting by RFA which has found that detainees are mostly held against their will in poor conditions, where they are forced to endure inhumane treatment and political indoctrination.

While former detainees have reported isolated incidents of rape and sexual abuse in the XUARs camps, the BBCs investigation provides some of the most damning evidence that such practices occur on a systematic and widespread basis.

And experts believe that while President Xi Jinping and other high-ranking members of the central government may not have ordered such abuses, it is extremely unlikely that they are not aware of them.

Calls for probe

In response to Tuesdays report, members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC)a group of more than 200 lawmakers from across the globenoted that the international community has been too complacent about abuses in the XUAR and warned that the time for mere words has long passed.

IPAC is united in horror and in condemnation of sickening reports of the torture and rape of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the internment camps of Xinjiang, the group said in a letter signed by more than 30 lawmakers.

Eyewitness testimonies broadcast by the BBC have exposed depraved and dehumanizing treatment of those detained in several camps.

IPAC called for a coordinated effort to hold China to account.

We again call for a U.N. led or international legal investigation of crimes against humanity and genocide that are taking place in Xinjiang, and in the meantime for individual states to respond to their obligations under the genocide convention and take collective urgent political action in response to this evidence, the letter said.

IPACs statement included signatures by U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, co-chair of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), and Robert Menendez, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as lawmakers from Australia, Canada, Denmark, the EU, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the U.K.

A spokesperson told RFA in an emailed statement that the U.S. State Department is "deeply disturbed" by the BBC report and called on Beijing to "allow for immediate and independent investigations by international observers into these shocking allegations."

"The PRC has committed crimes against humanity and genocide in Xinjiang against Uyghurs, and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups," the statement said.

"These atrocities shock the conscience and must be met with serious consequences ... The United States calls upon the leaders of the PRC to immediately release all arbitrarily detained people and abolish the internment camps; to cease enforced sterilizations; to end all torture; and to stop persecuting Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang."

The BBC report also prompted statements from human rights advocates, including Sophie Richardson, China director for New York-based Human Rights Watch, who echoed concerns that more must be done to confront China on the situation in the XUAR.

Where. Is. The. Prosecution? Because the evidence of *persecution* just keeps coming, she said in a tweet.

German researcher Adrian Zenz, who in a June 2020 report linked decreases in the birthrate and natural population growth rate in the XUAR in 2018 to forced sterilization and concluded that such measures amount to genocide under United Nations definitions, also weighed in, tweeting, Its time our political leaders stopped pretending this isn't a big deal.

When Zenzs study came out, official Chinese media vilified him and said Beijing is considering suing him for libel, while the foreign ministry denounced him.

But on Tuesday, the senior fellow at the Washington-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and leading expert on Chinas policies toward Uyghurs doubled down, saying the BBC report could tick another box of the U.N. Genocide Convention and pointing to criteria that include causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.

US actions

The BBCs investigation follows the Jan. 19 announcement by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he had determined China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity in the XUAR against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups, and that Beijing and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) must be held to account.

Pompeos designation, which came on his last full day as top U.S. diplomat and marked the first time Chinas policies in the XUAR were labeled genocide by a foreign government, cited the forced assimilation and eventual erasure of a vulnerable ethnic and religious minority group.

The new Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has endorsed the designation, suggesting that President Joe Bidens administration will pursue a more forceful approach in holding China accountable for its abuses in the region. Emily Horne, the spokesperson for Bidens National Security Council, told the Washington Examiner over the weekend that President Biden has called the oppression of the Uyghurs a genocide, and he stands against it in the strongest possible terms.

On Jan. 20, the first day of the Biden administration, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying slammed Pompeos venomous lies and called the determination nothing more than a piece of wastepaper.

Former President Donald Trumps administration in July leveled sanctions against several top Chinese officials deemed responsible for rights violations in the region, including regional party secretary Chen Quanguo, under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.

The move, which marked the first time Washington had sanctioned a member of Chinas powerful Politburo, followed Trumps enactment in June of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (UHRPA), which passed nearly unanimously through both houses of Congress at the end of May. The legislation highlights arbitrary incarceration, forced labor, and other abuses in the XUAR and provides for sanctions against the Chinese officials who enforce them.

Reported by Gulchehra Hoja and Alim Seytoff for RFAs Uyghur Service. Translated by Alim Seytoff. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
India-based SpiceJet Airlines begins transport and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines throughout India other select international locations. We are pleased to extend our partnership with SmartKargo for innovative technology supporting highly-efficient air cargo operations; especially important now, as we serve communities with the critical transport of sensitive medicines and Covid-19 vaccines.Mr. Sanjiv Gupta, CEO, Spice Xpress

QuantumID Technologies, Inc. today announced that SpiceJet has renewed its contract with SmartKargo to continue the delivery of real-time shipment data and innovative air cargo technology that powers key operations for the carriers air cargo business arm, Spice Xpress.

Since 2015, SpiceJet has utilized the SmartKargo platform to support and grow its domestic and international Cargo business, including its important Pharma Pro cold-chain services.

Since the pandemic lockdowns of early 2020, SpiceJet and Spice Xpress have together played a critical role, working relentlessly to ensure that Indias supply chain remained intact; providing the transportation of vital goods and medical supplies to all corners of India and the world. SpiceJet has operated more than 12,906 cargo flights since the lockdown began and carried around 1,04,800 tones of cargo. Most recently, the airline has partnered with a variety of airports and logistics entitles to safely and efficiently transport Covid-19 vaccines.

Mr. Sanjiv Gupta, CEO of Spice Xpress said: For the past 5 years, SmartKargo technology has provided Spice Xpress with the advanced digital tools needed to quickly and effectively transform our cargo business. As a result, we have been able to further digitize our processes to support highly efficient air cargo operations, growth and improved experience for our customers. We are very pleased to extend the partnership and we look forward to continuing our growth and service to our communities; especially in the critical transport and delivery of medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and vaccines due to Covid-19.

Spice Xpress has the capability to transport extremely sensitive drugs, vaccines blood samples and medicines in controlled temperatures ranging from -40c to +25c. Besides, the airline also offers other benefits such as a network of warehouses equipped with deep freezers to enable change of cool packs and ground vehicles and containers to help transport sensitive cargo. Spice Xpress has the capability of providing door-to-door deliveries to over 12,600 pin codes across India.

Most recently, as part of its continued efforts, the airline has partnered with a variety of airports and logistics entitles to transport Covid-19 vaccines via its Pharma Pro cold-chain service.

Mr. Gupta added, The success of the biggest vaccination drive largely depends upon the transport, storage and distribution of vaccines to every part of the world without any major challenges. At SpiceJet, we are ensuring no stones are left unturned in making this drive a remarkable success. Our latest tie-up with Adani Ahmedabad International Airport Limited is another step in that direction to help in the seamless transportation of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Mr. Milind Tavshikar, Chief Executive Officer of QuantumID Technologies and SmartKargo said: We applaud our friends and colleagues at SpiceJet for their remarkable work in distributing critical medical supplies and temperature-controlled vaccines across India and the world. On behalf of the SmartKargo team, we express our gratitude for your continued support."

SmartKargo provides airlines with real-time shipment data and tracking, paperless e-AWBs; ease of booking for Cargo agents and customers with single- screen data entries; powerful pricing and rate-making via simplification; real-time capacity management: user-configurable real-time business intelligence and reporting; integrated Cargo Revenue accounting and more.

In addition, SmartKargo provides streamlined access to growth in cargo revenues via its e-commerce engine, which is available as an add-on or stand-alone service that wraps around an airlines existing cargo technology platform.

For more information visit http://www.smartkargo.com

About SmartKargo

SmartKargo technology powers the largest volume of daily air cargo transactions in the world today, and assists airlines looking for forward-looking solutions to run and grow their air cargo business. The SmartKargo Software as a Service (SaaS) platform provides an innovative solution set, created exclusively for the worlds airlines. Using real-time data, robust mobile applications and seamless integrations, the SmartKargo solution can be deployed quickly. The end-to-end technology provides ease-of-use and visibility of information to all members in a shipments logistics chain and opens doors to the rapid revenue growth associated with integrated logistics for e-commerce. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts with key offices located in India, Philippines, Brazil and Canada.

About SpiceJet Ltd and SpiceXpress

SpiceJet Airlines offers safe, on-time and efficient air freight transportation backed by SpiceJet's state-of-the-art infrastructure and the expertise of its dedicated cargo professionals in the Spice Xpress cargo business unit. With a network spanning 54 domestic and 45 international destinations, and a fleet of 17 cargo planes, Spice Xpress is capable of flying over 500 tonnes of cargo per day to a wide list of destinations. The airline has partnered with global leaders in cold chain solutions offering active and passive packaging with dedicated equipment to perform seamless cold chain operations. The cargo team is backed by years of experience, and is highly capable in providing professionally handled cargo and logistics services, with fast international freighter service also available via Delhi.

For more information please contact:

Jen Pemberton

SmartKargo Media Relations

jen@smartkargo.com
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Research by Te Herenga WakaVictoria University of Wellington Adjunct Professor Azra Moeed MNZM and independent researcher Dr. Jenny Horsley shows Aotearoa New Zealand's smartest young science students aren't always identified in the school system.

Their research is laid out in a chapter in the Handbook of Giftedness and Talent Development in the Asia-Pacific.

"We were surprised to find that PAT English and Mathematics tests were one of the key ways high-ability science students were identified," says Dr. Moeed, pointing out not all high-ability science students have skills that transfer to other subjects.

Dr. Moeed, from the University's Wellington Faculty of Education, has been teaching and researching science in New Zealand schools for 40 years, and she and Dr. Horsley's research into the identification of high-academic-ability science students was inspired by Professor Sir Paul Callaghan's call for innovation many years ago.

The world's collective response to COVID-19 has relied on top scientists and proves our need to have the best thinkers, says Dr. Moeed. "We need those who can think in new ways about the old and new issues we face in our everyday lives, for us to be able to live a satisfying life."

Other countries have similar issues in identifying high-ability studentssome using testing to identify them, others using teacher observations of student's learning behaviors. And this gap exists in primary school education as well.

"We do not have equitable science teaching and learning in primary schools," says Dr. Moeed, "This is often because the primary teachers are generalists and some don't feel confident to teach science. An unintended consequence of focus on literacy and numeracy in the early 2000s was less time for teacher education in science."

The academics have also found research into the experience of high-ability science students in New Zealand's small towns is scarce. Although those in cities can participate in science fairs, or visit the local university and access lecturers, who can support those who reach out to them, those in small towns aren't so lucky.

"In my experience in New Zealand, we are very good at coming up with solutions on a local basis. But identification and provision for equitable access of science education to all high-ability students is needed," says Dr. Moeed.

High-academic-ability students involved in the study, run with several top teachers, said they wanted their teachers to engage them in more practical work that challenges them to think, and helps them understand how science is done and scientific knowledge is created and validated.

"Our science curriculum lecturers model how to generate an interest in and enthusiasm for science through engaging in practical work and science investigationengagement in science needs to be both hands-on and mind-on."

Primary principals have recently asked the Ministry of Education for more support in providing teachers with better professional development in science and mathematicsincluding a request to bring back the science advisers that existed to support teachers during the 1990s and 2000s.

New Zealand has produced some great leaders in science, and the opportunity to engage in and learn and excel in science is a reasonable expectation of science education in New Zealand, says Dr. Moeed.

"We need scientifically literate citizens, but we also need our future science leaders to be identified, nurtured, and taught so they develop a nuanced understanding of how scientific knowledge is created."

Explore further Less is more when learning through science investigation

More information: Jenny Horsley et al. How Do Teachers Meet the Academic Needs of High-Ability Students in Science?, Handbook of Giftedness and Talent Development in the Asia-Pacific (2021). Jenny Horsley et al. How Do Teachers Meet the Academic Needs of High-Ability Students in Science?,(2021). DOI: 10.1007/978-981-13-3041-4_33
Alabamas 2021 recruiting class is official and also historic as Nick Sabans haul is now the No. 1 class in the history of the 247Sports composite.

Even with most of the class signed in December, the Tide still managed to lock down some highly coveted players in 5-star running back Camar Wheaton and 4-star safety Terrion Arnold, one of the top uncommitted players in the nation.

Lauren Sisler & Alabama beat writer Mike Rodak break down an exciting group of players headed to Tuscaloosa.

Patrick Greenfield (@PCGreenfield) is a sports/social producer for AL.com who has previously covered the LSU Tigers & New Orleans Saints for NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune and the Portland Trail Blazers for the Oregonian + countless prep events for both outlets.
Around 4,000 Covid variants exist around the world, the UK's vaccine minister said today.

Nadhim Zahawi said that the UK is keeping a 'library' of the mutations so it is better prepared to ensure jabs can be updated as needed in the future.

Scientists fear the SARS-CoV-2 virus  which is constantly evolving  could learn to evade vaccine-triggered immunity. The main worrying variants at the moment are B.1.1.7, found in England; B.1.351, which emerged in South Africa; and P.1, from Brazil.

The South African and Brazilian variants both carry a mutation called E484K, which changes the spike protein on the virus in a way that makes vaccines less effective. But top Government advisers insist the current crop of Covid jabs should still work and won't be rendered completely useless.

In a bid to overcome the threat of variants, jab manufacturers say they are already working on updating their vaccines because they need to be extremely specific in order to offer the best form of protection.

However, top experts today dismissed the 4,000 claim and suggested Mr Zahawi was confused between 'variants' and individual mutations. Not every mutation is a variant.

The Government vaccines tsar Nadhim Zahawi said that the UK was storing the mutations so it is better prepared to ensure vaccines can be updated as needed

The main worrying variants at the moment are B.1.1.7, found in England; B.1.351, which emerged in South Africa; and P.1, from Brazil

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, named ChAdOx1, is one of the most advanced in the world and has already been given to millions of people and data suggests it can stop transmission of the virus as well as severe Covid-19 disease

Liverpool and Warrington find cases of mutation known as E484K Public Health England has identified cases of the original virus strain with the mutation, scientifically known as E484K, in the Liverpool City Region and Warrington. The mutation has also been found in Preston and West Lancashire, according to health officials, and people living in those areas are being urged to take a Covid-19 test if they are feeling unwell  with symptoms including a cold, mild flu and headaches. The E484K mutation  also found in the South African and Brazilian variants  appears to boost the virus's ability to avoid the immune system, raising the risk of reinfections or the current crop of vaccines being less effective. It has appeared separately in cases of both the Kent variant and on the original version of the virus. Neither are yet being described as new variants but represent physical differences to the virus that could change how it behaves. It comes after 32 people in Liverpool have also been struck down with the original strain of the virus with the E484K mutation. MailOnline understands the cases were spotted three weeks ago. A cluster of an initial five cases was detected on January 10 among staff at Liverpool Women's Hospital who had attended an event outside the hospital, believed to be a funeral. Warrington Council have said they will get behind enhanced contact tracing in the town. Thara Raj, Warrington's director of public health, explained how 'some residents may be concerned' but added it shouldn't 'cause any further alarm'. Ms Raj added: 'We are monitoring the situation closely and all necessary public health interventions are being undertaken.' Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, director of public health and wellbeing at Lancashire County Council, said: 'If you live in Preston or West Lancashire and you're feeling under the weather, please get a Covid test. 'Understandably, some residents may be concerned but all viruses mutate over time so this should not cause any further alarm. Advertisement

And the Oxford/AstraZeneca team, makers of one of the world's most advanced vaccines so far, confirmed yesterday that they will have their adapted version ready and manufactured before the end of 2021.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Zahawi said: 'All manufacturers - Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford/AstraZeneca and others - are looking at how they can improve their vaccine to make sure we are ready for any variant.

'There are about 4,000 variants around the world of Covid now.

'We have the largest genome sequencing industry - we have about 50 per cent of the world's genome sequencing industry - and we are keeping a library of all the variants so that we are ready to be able to respond, whether in the autumn or beyond, to any challenge the virus may present, and produce the next vaccine so we can always protect the United Kingdom and of course the rest of the world as well.'

Mr Zahawi's comments come after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claimed last month that there are 12,000 different mutations of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Professor Ravi Gupta, who is studying Covid mutations at Cambridge University, said: 'The vaccine minister is not referring to variants as we have come to know them rather he is referring to individual mutations.

'The number of mutations has little actual relevance as many mutations emerge and disappear continuously.

'Scientists are using "variants" to describe viruses with mutations that are transmitting in the general population  there aren't 4,000 of those.'

Vaccines are likely to have be updated over time to cope with mutated variants of the coronavirus because they make specific molecules to target the virus.

One of the main ways the immune system destroys viruses  but not the only one  is by using antibodies, but these are generally unique to every different virus and must be made from scratch.

Vaccinating someone introduces a part of the virus to the body so the immune system can mould antibodies to it and then store them in case it comes into contact with the real, live virus in the future.

When the virus mutates and changes shape  as its spike protein has in coronavirus cases caused by the South Africa variant and the ones found in Brazil and Kent  these antibodies can become outdated and less successful at targeting the virus.

In a separate interview with BBC Breakfast Mr Zahawi said data from frontline health workers and care home residents would provide a 'clear roadmap' for reopening the economy.

He said: 'We have got two sets of data that we are waiting for. One is in care homes where Public Health England are testing residents because they are in category one, and one with health frontline workers who are category two of that top nine.'

'Those pieces of evidence coupled with other pieces of evidence from other countries as well will hopefully give us a very clear roadmap to opening the economy where we see a huge reduction in hopefully of deaths and hospitalisation.'

So far the UK has placed orders for 367million doses of the seven most promising Covid vaccines  made by AstraZeneca , Pfizer , Moderna, Valneva, Janssen, GlaxoSmithKline and Novavax  at a cost of 2.9billion
A Northern Ireland council has been urged to launch an investigation following claims confidential minutes of a planning committee meeting were shared on social media.

Bringing the issue to the attention of the chamber, UUP Councillor Robert Colvin told Januarys meeting of Mid-Ulster District Council that the alleged leak of confidential minutes was unacceptable.

I understand why this council splits the minutes of its meeting into two sections, one for open business and one for confidential minutes, he said.

However, I am of the understanding this system has failed. I believe some of the confidential minutes from the planning committee were published on social media.

That has to be unacceptable and an investigation must take place.

His party colleague, Councillor Derek McKinney seconded the proposal to investigate the matter.

We need to look into this, said Mr McKinney. When we are reading things that were said in confidential business on social media we need to make something more of it.

We need to have an investigation in our own house to see where the problems are coming from. These discussions are private and the circumstances of them should stay private.

Councils Chair, Councillor Cathal Mallaghan said the issue would be brought to the policy and resource committee for further discussion.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service about the alleged leak, Councillor Colvin acknowledged investigating this matter will not be easy but stressed its importance.

"It really should not have been out in the public domain but I am reliably informed it was on social media.

That shouldnt be happening and an investigation will have to look at how that happened.

It will not be easy Im sure."

He added: "I think it is vitally important council investigate this to show that we do take this issue seriously.

On the possibility of the investigation itself being confidentially, Councillor Colvin said, while it was not his decision to make, some aspects of it should be made public.

It will be interesting to see how it is approached at committee, said Councillor Colvin.

I could have raised the issue in confidential business myself but, as it was, the information around which I was talking was already in the public therefore I felt it needed to be discussed in public.

Of course, it is not for me to decide but the matter is already in the public domain so I would expect the issue to be discussed in the open business section of the policy and resources committee meeting.

I will be very interested to see what shape the investigation will take but I am adamant there needs to be one.

It is the sort of thing that if happens and is allowed to happen, it undermines the entire point of confidential business.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 02:46:07|Editor: huaxia

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AMMAN, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Wednesday reported 1,280 new COVID-19 cases, increasing the tally in the country to 330,474, said a joint statement issued by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health.

It also recorded 10 deaths from the virus, increasing the death toll to 4,344. There are currently 8,912 active COVID-19 cases in Jordan.

A total of 22,315 virus tests were conducted on Wednesday, bringing the cumulative number of coronavirus tests administered since the outbreak of the pandemic to 3,936,085, the statement added.

Also on Wednesday, Minister of State for Media Affairs Ali Al Ayed said the government is not looking into imposing a curfew in spite of a rise in cases over the past few weeks.

The minister added that any decisions to resort to lockdown will be carefully studied to also assess their impact on the various sectors. Enditem
IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vertimass is proud to announce that its President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Charles Wyman was recently ranked as the number 11 scientist globally in biotechnology in Stanford University's list of the World's Top 2% of Scientists. The comprehensive list identified the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists among the world's nearly 7 million considered.

Vertimass Executive Vice President Tom Mullen explained, "Dr. Wyman's citations leave a legacy of progress and innovation in the world of biotechnology that will live on for decades to come. He is a remarkable scientist and an even more remarkable asset to the Vertimass team as we continue to develop our breakthrough Vertimass biofuels technology, positively impacting the fuel industry with technologies that substantially expand the use of sustainable transportation fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy security and domestic economies."

This Stanford database is said to have been developed in order to assess scientists for career-long citation impact, and the authors reviewed the citation counts for hundreds of thousands of authors who have published their research findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals, ultimately identifying the top 2% of authors. To learn more about this study please read here and to access the full list, please visit: https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/2

Vertimass President and CEO Dr. Charles Wyman noted, "It is an honor to be included in a group of such influential scientists and engineers. I am proud that my contributions over a long career have a positive impact, and look forward to Vertimass' groundbreaking technology helping fulfill the immediate need to rapidly reduce the carbon footprint for transportation."

Dr. Wyman's experience includes 17 years of leadership positions with increasing responsibilities at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); over 26 years as a professor at the University of New Hampshire, Dartmouth College, and the University of California Riverside; and 8 years in industrial engineering and management positions at Monsanto Company; Badger Engineers; and BC International, a startup focused on commercializing cellulosic ethanol technology. He was also a founder of Mascoma Corporation and an officer in the United States Army. He holds Ph.D. and master's degrees in chemical engineering from Princeton University, a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Massachusetts, and an MBA from the University of Denver.

About Vertimass LLC

Vertimass LCC is based in Irvine, Calif. The mission of Vertimass LLC is to develop and widely license breakthrough technologies that substantially expand production of sustainable transportation fuels and chemicals that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy security and domestic economies. Commercialization of proprietary Vertimass technology can overcome the blend wall that currently impedes expansion of ethanol production from multiple sources of biomass and open up large new markets for aircraft and heavy-duty vehicle fuels and for chemicals not currently amenable to ethanol. For more information, visit http://www.vertimass.com/

This is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Such an offer may only be made by means of an offering document that must accompany or precede this information. There is no assurance that this strategy will succeed to meet its objectives. All investments have risk including loss of investment; please see the risk factors section of the offering document. Securities offered through Shopoff Securities, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC.

Contact: Julie Leber

Spotlight Marketing Communications

949.427.1391

[email protected]

SOURCE Vertimass LLC

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Mission Majnu: Sidharth Malhotra, Rashmika Mandanna To Fly To Lucknow, Shoot To Commence From 12th February?

Sidharth Malhotra is currently super busy with new projects coming up one after the other. He is dabbling between two films- Thank God and Mission Majnu. in fact, we hear that the shoot of Mission Majnu is all set to commence next week. And guess what- the team would be heading to Lucknow to shoot the first schedule.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sidharth Malhotra (@sidmalhotra)

If reports are to be believed, then the cast and crew would be flying to Lucknow to begin the shoot of the film. In fact, it has been stated that the shoot would commence from the 12th of February. A TOI report mentioned that the shooting schedule would be for 45 days. The team would shoot in popular locations like the Jahangirabad Palace in Hazratganj, La Martiniere, on the city roads and also in Malihabad.

This would be the ssecon\d time that Sidharth will shoot a film in the city after Jabariya Jodi. The film is based on true events and the actor will essay the role of a RAW agent, involved in a covert operation that would seal the fate of the relationship between the neighbouring countries. It would mark the debut of South star Rashmika Mandanna in Bollywood. Are you excited for the film?
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Imported pork meat being sold in supermarkets will also be covered by the 60-day price freeze, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.

During a virtual briefing on Thursday, Roque said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez vowed to also include imported pork to the price cap imposed in the National Capital Region for 60 days.

"Magkakaroon po ng label na imported ang baboy na binibenta sa supermarket, at kapag ito ay imported na baboy, subject na rin po siya sa price cap," he said.

[Translation: Imported pork sold in supermarkets will have labels, and if the pork is imported, it will also be subjected to the price cap.]

As the country has a deficit of about 400 metric tons due to African swine fever and market manipulators, pork prices have skyrocketed from 320 to 400, forcing the government to impose a price ceiling, Roque said.

President Rodrigo Duterte issued an executive order last Monday placing a price cap on pork and chicken products in Metro Manila to address the spiking prices amid the low supply of meat products. The Department of Agriculture earlier said the order only covers the region's public or wet markets.

Roque said an imported pork meat per kilo only costs about 114, including the tariff, while local producers have to cough up 171 for a kilo of pork.

Given this, Roque stressed the government is cautious about increasing pork imports as this move may kill the local hog industry, which has been suffering from ASF.

"Ang priority ay mag-angkat muna galing sa Visayas at Mindanao," he said.

[Translation: The priority is to initially source from Visayas and Mindanao.]

New Delhi: India has called for a balanced approach on Myanmar at the United Nations Security Council meeting that took place on Tuesday even as the UK-backed draft is still being considered. New Delhi's balanced approach, which has been perceived as a very constructive one, calls for support for the democratic process in the country, given it is a neighboring country.

The UNSC has not yet been able to come up with any statement on the coup in the country when the meeting took place on February 2. In the aftermath of the bloodless coup staged by the military in Myanmar, India's Ministry of External Affairs in a statement had expressed its "deep concern", calling for upholding of the "rule of law and the democratic process".

India has a close relationship with the country. While Aung Saan Suu Kyi's India connect is well known, including her education in India and through her father Aung San, New Delhi has been able to build close military cooperation with Myanmar's military--especially in terms of counter-insurgency operations in border areas. Last year, Myanmar inducted INS Sindhuvir which was given by India. It was inducted as UMS Minye Theinkhathu and is the country's only submarine.

The U, which is the president of the core UN body for this month and as the chair, decides on the key issues that can be raised and scheduling of the talks on global issues. UK Foreign secretary Dominic Raab in a tweet had said, "As President of the UN Security Council we brought forward an emergency meeting on Myanmar to fast-track necessary discussions on what should be done."

The draft has called for the removal of the state of emergency and reinstatement of democratic norms, according to media reports quoting the leaked document. While UNSC is working on a common press statement on the coup in the country, especially in the face of differing views expressed primarily by China, it is expected that perhaps in the next stage, talks may resume to put more pressure if there is no progress. However, it is clear that forming a consensus on this contentious issue will be a difficult task.

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By BRIAN MELLEY

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES  The California Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit Wednesday that sought to overturn a ballot measure that kept app-based ride-hailing and delivery drivers independent contractors instead of employees eligible for benefits and job protections.

Justices declined to hear the case brought by drivers and unions who opposed the measure. They said the case could be filed in a lower court.





. . .
Martian atmospheric oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and argon ions have been escaping Mars for billions of years and could be preserved inside the uppermost hundreds of nanometers of Phobos nearside regolith grains, which may be brought back to Earth by future sample return missions.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is preparing to send the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) probe to Phobos in 2024 to collect the first samples from its surface and deliver them to Earth.

But those samples could reveal a lot more than the origin of Phobos if MMX were to land on the nearside of the moon, or the side that always faces Mars, said Dr. Quentin Nenon, a researcher in the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.

Phobos is currently tidally locked on its orbit, always showing its nearside to the Red Planet, and has probably kept this configuration for at least tens of millions of years.

As a result, the nearside rocks have been bathed for millennia in Martian atoms and molecules.

To measure the Martian ions in Phobos orbit, Dr. Nenon and colleagues analyzed data collected by the Suprathermal and Thermal Ion Composition (STATIC) instrument on board NASAs Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter.

They found that the uppermost surface layer of Phobos nearside has been subjected to 20 to 100 times more wayward Martian ions than its far side.

We knew that Mars lost its atmosphere to space, and now we know that some of it ended up on Phobos, Dr. Nenon said.

So hopefully this finding will have an impact on the scientific activities of the MMX mission.

With a sample from the nearside we could see an archive of the past atmosphere of Mars in the shallow layers of grain, while deeper in the grain we could see the primitive composition of Phobos, he added.

The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

_____

Q. Nenon et al. Implantation of Martian atmospheric ions within the regolith of Phobos. Nat. Geosci, published online February 1, 2021; doi: 10.1038/s41561-020-00682-0

This article is based on text provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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Chandigarh, Feb 4 : Punjab has emerged as a pioneer state in the country for bringing in qualitative improvement in school education in the past three years, the Economic Survey 2020-21 has said.

Punjab has reported the highest attendance rate in the country of 61.6 per cent in the age group of 3-5 years i.e. early childhood education.

Punjab School Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla said on Thursday that the state is witnessing a revolution in school education.

"With a view to strengthen the foundation of the learning level from the very beginning, our government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is also the first in the country to start pre-primary classes on November 14, 2017. This achievement also marks the continuous efforts of the school teachers as well who have been working hard to transform the government schools," he said.

Singla said the dedicated efforts have fructified in the form of overwhelming response from the community as in 2018-19 the enrolment in pre-primary was 2.13 lakh, in 2019-20 it rose to 2.25 lakh and in 2020-21 the government schools have witnessed unprecedented enrolment of around 3.30 lakh students.

He said it indicated the change in the mindset as well as the trust being reposed by people in the reforms in school education in Punjab.

The minister said the pre-primary classrooms in about 13,000 government schools have been equipped with state-of-the-art "Khed Mahals' (playway classes) so that the students could be taught with a play way method.
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A model-based analysis of the run-off shows Zelensky is taking the lead in pair with all major rivals.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stays in the lead of the presidential rating.

This is seen from findings of a poll conducted by the Rating Sociological Group on February 2-3, as reported on the agency's website on February 4.

"Zelensky is still in the lead in the presidential rating. If the presidential elections had been held soon, 21.2% among those who intend to vote and have made up their mind would have supported him," the sociologists said.

Another 17.1% of respondents would have voted for co-chair of the Opposition Platform - For Life Party Yuriy Boyko, 16.4% would have backed ex-President, European Solidarity Party leader Petro Poroshenko, and 12.3% would have supported Batkivshchyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

Read alsoZelensky still on top of presidential rating  pollAt the same time, 7.5% of respondents would have voted for leader of the Syla i Chest (Strength and Honor) Party Ihor Smeshko, 7.5% for leader of the Ukrainian Strategy Party (former Prime Minister) Volodymyr Groysman, 4.0% for Radical Party leader Oleh Liashko, 3.2% Verkhovna Rada Chairman Dmytro Razumkov, and 3.1% for member of the Holos (Voice) Party Serhiy Prytula.

Some 2.1% would have cast their votes for leader of the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda Oleh Tiahnybok and 1.1% for incumbent Kyiv Mayor, UDAR Party leader Vitaliy Klitschko.

A model-based analysis of the run-off shows Zelensky is taking the lead in pair with all major rivals.

In particular, Zelensky would have 56% against 44% if paired with Poroshenko, 60% against 40% if paired with Boyko, and 55% against 45% if paired with Tymoshenko.

Also, Boyko takes the lead with 51% against 49% if paired with Poroshenko.

Mechanics of the poll

The poll was conducted through computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) using a random selection of cell numbers.

The sample is representative of the adult population (aged 18 and older).

Some 2,000 respondents were polled in all regions of Ukraine except Crimea and other Russia-occupied parts of Ukraine, namely certain districts in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The margin of error does not exceed 2.2%.

Reporting by UNIAN

While there is an outpour of COVID-19 vaccine-related news on social media, television, newspaper, and government information channels, little awareness has been spread around the vaccine for cervical cancer, which is the cause of second-highest cancer-related deaths among Indian women.

On world cancer day, here's all you need to know about cervical cancer, and how HPV vaccine, which is currently available in India, can help prevent it.

Cervical cancer is caused by a persistent infection by a sexually transmitted virus called papillomavirus (HPV) and is easily detected through a simple screening procedure called the pap smear test. However, health experts claim that most Indian women do not opt for such routine health check-ups since there is still a lot of stigma and shame associated with women's reproductive health. Hence, by the time they consult doctors, in most cases, cancer had already progressed to an advanced stage, thereby causing a higher number of deaths.

Dr Rakesh Badhe, Surgical oncologist, Apollo Spectra Hospital, Mumbai, pointed out that one of the main reasons cervical cancer impacts so many women is poor genital hygiene in our country.

"Cervical cancer happens because of the papillomavirus, which is an STD. If you combine the virus, with poor genital hygiene, especially post-coital hygiene, then the chances of developing cervical cancer amplify," said Badhe.

"There are studies which very clearly prognosticate the fact that in communities where genital hygiene is followed more rigorously, lesser cases of cervical cancer are noticed," Badhe added. Generally, cervical cancer impacts rural women more than their urban counterparts.

Badhe pointed out that the HPV vaccine prevents sexually transmitted diseases, thereby averting cervical cancer. "It also prevents cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, which is caused by HPV and can lead to cancer if it goes untreated," he said.

How does the vaccine work?

HPV, since it is an STD is generally found in sexually active adults, pointed out Neha Kumar, Sr Consultant- Gyneoncology, BLK Cancer Centre, BLK Super Speciality Hospital. "However, more than 95 per cent of such adults can fight this virus through their immunity. In some cases, in which the virus persists over many years, it leads to cervical cancer," said Kumar.

"There are two types of HPV vaccines, bivalent and quadrivalent. Bivalent covers two strains of HPV, while quadrivalent covers four strains of the virus. The most common being used nowadays is the quadrivalent vaccine which covers 16 and 18 HPV strains, which are responsible for cervical cancer, as well as HPV strains 6 and 11, which are responsible for 90 per cent of genital warts," added Kumar.

Who are eligible for this vaccine?

As of now, the HPV vaccine is being given to adolescent girls, before the onset of sexual activities, around the age of 11 to 12 years, pointed out Kumar.

"In young girls, the vaccine prevents the infection caused by the previously mentioned strains of HPV. However, it covers only 70 per cent of cervical cancer. Therefore, it doesn't mean that you can never develop cervical cancer if you had an HPV vaccine. It only means that your chances of having cervical cancer are greatly reduced," said Kumar. Kumar suggested that since this vaccine does not provide a complete guarantee, sexually active women should continue with routine screenings even after vaccination.

Apart from adolescent girls, young-adults between 13-26 years can also take this vaccine. However, their doses differ. "In the USA, the HPV vaccine has been approved for older women too, up to the age of 45 years. But we need to understand that this is a preventive vaccine and not a therapeutic one. Therefore, if someone already has an HPV infection, the vaccine will not cure it," Kumar said.

Dr Manjula Patil, consultant obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Motherhood Hospitals, Bangalore said that for young girls, who are vaccinated before the onset of sexual activity, there are enough antibodies to fight against the HPV, which might not be the case, if the immunization happens in later years, for sexually active women.

Should boys be vaccinated?

"There are various HPV strains that can cause oral HPV infection and penile, vaginal and valval cancer. It is also responsible for genital warts. Therefore, there is also a trend to immunize boys in developed countries, not just girls," said Patil.

"Another reason boys are vaccinated is because they are always the carrier of HPV, and most women contract the HPV infection from men. Therefore, the idea behind immunizing boys is that the HPV injection is being targeted at the source so that it can be irradicated from its origin itself," added Patil.

Can pregnant women take this vaccine?

Dr Surabhi Siddhartha, Consultant, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Motherhood Hospital, Kharghar said, "there are two brands of the vaccine currently available in India, Cervarix and Gardasil."

"The vaccines can be taken any time, and it is given in separate doses, and as a shot in the arm. However, Pregnant women should avoid taking this vaccine. In fact, the vaccination process takes six months to complete. During this time, it is advisable to avoid pregnancy altogether," said Siddhartha.

What kind of vaccine doses are needed?

Experts claim that below 15 years of age, two doses are required six months apart, and after 15 years of age, three doses are required  the first dose at 0-month, second dose at the third month, and the third dose at sixth month. For women older than 26-years-old, it is generally given on a case-by-case basis.

"In 106 countries globally, the HPV vaccine is a part of the national immunization schedule. In our country, it has not yet been incorporated in the national immunization schedule but what we do here is opportunistic vaccination, which means that when we see girls or patients who have adolescent daughters, we recommend it," pointed out Kumar.

"It is a safe vaccine as far as efficacy is concerned. Otherwise, the side effects are the same as most vaccines cause, like local pain and tenderness. However, there had been very few cases of other issues, but those are sparse and rare. They have not been documented or proved conclusively. So, if 106 countries have incorporated it in their immunization schedule, it speaks for the fact that efficacy of this vaccine is good," she added.

Other gynecological cancers that impact women are uterus cancer, ovarian, vaginal, and valval cancer. Uterine cancer is generally detected in the post-menopausal age group and sometimes in younger women who have irregular vaginal bleeding for a prolonged time. Ovarian cancer is also known as the silent killer, and it is challenging to detect because its symptoms are non-specific. Therefore, it has a high fatality rate. Vaginal and valval cancers are rare. Valval cancer mostly occurs in older women in their 60s or 70s. Those women with polycystic ovaries should also monitor their status, and go for transvaginal sonography to avoid any cancerous development.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 11:20:10|Editor: huaxia

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by Yosley Carrero

HAVANA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- "China's success in poverty alleviation gives a great lesson for mankind amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the complex geopolitical landscape worldwide," a Cuban analyst has said.

The Chinese government has lifted some 700 million people out of poverty since 1978, and brought economic prosperity to its population, Ruvislei Gonzalez, head of the Asia and Oceania Division at Havana's Center for the Study of International Politics, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"It comes as many countries and continents continue to experience a significant setback in fighting poverty due to the current sanitary emergency, and subsequent contractions of the world economies," he said.

"The leadership of the Communist Party of China has been fundamental not only to combat poverty but also to implement public policies aiming to create new employment opportunities and to improve Chinese people's access to health services and education," said Gonzalez.

This impressive achievement is the result of solid steps China has taken since the country initiated the reform and opening-up in 1978, he added.

It demonstrates "the effectiveness of China's comprehensive approach in fighting extreme poverty in keeping with principles promoted by socialism with Chinese characteristics," said Gonzalez.

Unlike other nations, China's poverty alleviation strategy has not only focused on the development of big cities and metropolitan areas, the expert said.

"China has done a great job by boosting rural development and benefiting millions of people particularly from the country's westernmost region," Gonzalez said.

"Indeed, people living outside the urban areas are very much enjoying the improvement of housing, road and telecommunications infrastructure in Chinese towns and communities," he added.

"As a result of the elimination of extreme poverty in China, people have improved their purchasing power, followed by a further rise in consumption of goods and services across the country," he said.

Besides, this historic achievement in eradicating poverty sets internal conditions for "China's Belt and Road Initiative to better bolster social and economic development at all levels," said Gonzalez.

The Chinese government has demonstrated that political will along with short- and long-term strategies are indispensable to address the world challenges, he said, adding that "the amount of people China has lifted out of poverty outnumbers the population of some entire nations and continents." Enditem
The White Tiger Star Adarsh Gourav Reveals He Worked At A Food Stall & Lived In A Village For Two Weeks To Get His Part Right

Ramin Bahranis The White Tiger is currently winning applause all around the globe and the Netflix film has catapulted its leading man Adarsh Gourav. The young star who plays Balram Halwai in the movie has been lauded internationally for his terrific performance and despite being based on a bestselling novel the actor managed to breathe life into the character and make it his won.

The road to morphing into Balram Halwai wasnt as straight forward for the actor. Adarsh confesses that instead of going by the book he did his own research and went so far as to work at a food stall and even live in a village in Jharkhand to get into the skin of his character.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Adarsh Gourav (@gouravadarsh)

Adarsh tells PeepingMoon.com in an interview that he did read Aravind Adigas book when he was a teen but didnt go re-reading it after he bagged the film. I asked Ramin whether I should re-read but he said to find my own character and interpretation. He told me to find my own version of Balram and the entire process of how he is sketched. I did go to a village in Jharkhand, stayed there for a couple of weeks and thereafter I went to Delhi and worked at a food stall for a couple of weeks and then I used to roam on the streets of Delhi as Balram. Somewhere in the month of September, we started reading the script and going to audition for other characters and try doing the same scene in different ways and thats how I found the character of Balram, Adarsh tells the portal.

The actor's efforts certainly paid off and soon after release, Adarsh was nominated for his performance for the Independent Spirit Award in the Best Male Lead category.

Also starring Priyanka Chopra and Rajkummar Rao, The White Tiger is streaming on Netflix.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), under the Dept. of MGNREGA, Ludhiana, has released a MGNREGA Notification 2021 calling for applications in a prescribed format from qualified and experienced candidates for filling Twenty-Seven (27) vacancies to the post of Accountants, Computer Assistants, Technical Assistants and Gram Rozgar Sahayaks in MGNREGA through direct recruitment to be posted at Ludhiana in Punjab, India on a fulltime basis. The offline application process towards the same started on January 29, 2021 and closes on February 15, 2021.

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Accountants, Computer Assistants, Technical Assistants and Gram Rozgar Sahayaks in MGNREGA Organisation Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) Educational Qualification Passed 10+2/Intermediate with data entry skills; possess a Degree/Diploma in Civil engineering discipline with proficiency in computer skills; M.Com/B.Com/CA; B.A/B.Sc(IT)/B.Tech/MCA Degree Experience Refer to the advertisement Job Responsibilities null Skills Required Data Entry Skills, Computer Skills Job Location Ludhiana Salary Scale Pay ranging from Rs. 8,000 to 15,000 per month Industry Dept. of MGNREGA, Ludhiana Application Start Date January 29, 2021 Application End Date February 15, 2021

MGNREGA Recruitment 2021: Age Criteria And Fees

Desirous candidates applying for MGNREGA Jobs 2021 through MGNREGA Recruitment 2021 must have must have attained 21 years of age and not have exceeded 40 years of age for all posts (18 years to 35 years for Gram Rozgar Sahayaks posts), with relaxation (upper age limit) for SC/ST and OBC (NCL) candidates as per Govt. of India guidelines as specified in the MGNREGA Notification 2021.

For details regarding application fee for MGNREGA Jobs 2021 through MGNREGA Recruitment 2021, refer to the MGNREGA Notification 2021 given at the end of the article.

Also Read: Gujarat Information Directorate Recruitment 2021 For 77 Senior Sub Editors And Information Assistants Posts

MGNREGA Recruitment 2021: MGNREGA Vacancy Details

Gram Rozgar Sahayak - 14 Posts

Computer Assistant - 06 Posts

Accountant - 04 Posts

Technical Assistant - 03 Posts

Total - 27

MGNREGA Recruitment 2021: Education And Experience

Desirous candidates applying for MGNREGA Jobs 2021 through MGNREGA Recruitment 2021 must have passed 10+2/Intermediate with data entry skills; possess a Degree/Diploma in Civil engineering discipline with proficiency in computer skills; M.Com/B.Com/CA; B.A/B.Sc(IT)/B.Tech/MCA Degree from a recognised University/Institution with relevant years of experience in the concerned area/field as detailed in the MGNREGA Notification 2021.

MGNREGA Recruitment 2021: Selection And Pay

The selection of candidates for MGNREGA Jobs 2021 through MGNREGA Recruitment 2021 will be done through a Written Examination, Academic Qualification, Experience and Interview Session as stated in the MGNREGA Notification 2021.

Candidates selected for MGNREGA Jobs 2021 through MGNREGA Recruitment 2021 will be paid emolument in the pay ranging from Rs. 8,000 to 15,000 per month.

Also Read: RPSC Recruitment 2021 For 859 Police Sub Inspector/Platoon Commander Posts, Apply Online Before March 10

MGNREGA Recruitment 2021: How To Apply

Candidates applying for MGNREGA Jobs 2021 through MGNREGA Recruitment 2021 must submit their applications on or before February 15, 2021.

Download MGNREGA Recruitment 2021 PDF Notification for Accountants, Computer Assistants, Technical Assistants and Sahayaks posts
(JNS)  Now is the time to unpack the arsenal of arguments that were not so necessary during the era of former U.S. President Donald Trump, and refresh the discourse about Israeli rights to Jerusalem and to Judea and Samaria, that latter home to half a million Jews. Doing so has become urgent in the wake of the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden, a sworn opponent of Israeli settlements, and his appointment of figures like former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.

Israel is already in low-level contact with the new administration about the Iranian nuclear issue. Is...
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Artist Marina DeBris starts each day combing the beaches of Sydneys eastern suburbs for rubbish that she fashions into a kind of couture called trashion. Its not hard for this trashionista to find raw materials for her creations. You wouldnt believe some of the things I find washed up on the beach, she says  the most common: cigarette butts; the strangest: a latex sex toy. Model and scientist Laura Wells wears The ones that got away, which Marina DeBris made from aluminium cans and plastic bottles. Credit:Nic Walker After her daily morning run or swim, she rides home on her bicycle with a bag that is usually full of objets trouves. At home she dons an old pair of gloves and sorts, cleans, colour codes and crafts the litter into wearable art. Her Randwick basement studio resembles the atelier of a high-end fashion house. But instead of boxes of lace and buttons, her milk crates contain sorted swimming goggles, water bottles, fishing tackle and lures that shes found on the beach or in the ocean. Rather than reams of fabric, she has rolls of fishing net and buckets filled with fish-shaped soy sauce bottles, the kind that are sold with takeaway sushi (shes collected hundreds over the years). She hand-sews the tiny plastic containers onto fishnet to create a bodice that looks like a coral reef or a bed of pearls. Marina DeBris collects rubbish at Gordons Bay. Credit:Nick Moir A mermaids tail is wired and drilled together with crushed aluminium cans and plastic bottles (pictured above). Stray items such as raffia torn from a beach umbrella are used like feather boas to provide the final flourishes of an outfit. In the corner, a rack of clothes reminiscent of the backstage at a pret-a-porter show contains a pair of pants made from chip and Twistie packets patch-worked together. No refuse is refused here.

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A new installation at the Greenwood Plaza in North Sydney Credit:Louie Douvis Some of these outfits feature in Beach Couture: A Haute Mess, her solo show at Darling Harbours Australian National Maritime Museum, along with an archaeological-style display of artefacts found at Coogee Beach, Gordons Bay and some of Sydneys northern beaches. These include false teeth and fingernails, 50s-style toys, toothbrushes and stiletto heels worn down by the waves. Museum visitors could be excused for thinking they are getting a playful sneak preview of next seasons Paris catwalk shows, but the exhibition is designed to unveil a serious subject: the hidden cost of ocean pollution. Statistics are edifying: about 8 million tonnes of plastic enters our ocean every year, adding to the estimated 150 million tonnes that now circulate the marine environment. Environmental experts say that by 2050 there will likely be more plastic in the ocean than fish. About 800 species of animals worldwide, including 77 Australian ones, are affected by marine debris. More than 75 per cent of what is removed from our beaches is made from plastic that never breaks down. Marina DeBris with some of her work, exhibited at the Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour. Credit:Louie Douvis After mask-wearing became mandatory in NSW last month due to COVID-19, DeBris said another pandemic loomed: the number of face masks washing up on beaches. Each day she collects at least five or six, as well as countless single-use coffee cups and lids. Last May, in Gordons Bay, she intercepted more than 30 packages, each comprising 50 disposable face masks, from some of the 50 shipping containers that went overboard from the APL England ship spill. Shes piecing together some of the masks she found into a sort of Jacobean-style collar, a work-in-progress on one of the mannequins in her home studio. Those were only the ones that made it to the beach that day; there were many more lost at sea, she says. These masks, with their plastic packaging and indestructible elastics, are one more unnecessary hazard to marine life. This is all just the tip of the plastic iceberg.

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These masks, with their plastic packaging and indestructible elastics, are one more unnecessary hazard to marine life. Marina DeBris Beach Couture is the Maritime Museums first exhibition in what the United Nations has deemed the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. It is also the latest in a continuum of projects over the years to explore and promote greater understanding of the ecological issues facing our oceans, including Sydney Harbour Gallery and Beautiful Whale. The museum calls them exhibitions with a purpose  you walk away feeling inspired to take action for oceans. Detroit-born DeBris, an environmentalist who calls herself an artivist (an art/activist), changed her name in about 2009 when she started to get serious about the problem of sea and beach pollution. (She prefers to go by this rather than her birth name.) Even her chosen name  Marina DeBris  is a witty way to make you think differently about the waste that washes up on our shores. Marina DeBris, inside her home studio. Credit:Matthew Abbott Ive always had this really secret desire to be a fashion designer. But I knew that I would be devoured by that industry, DeBris says. Instead she studied at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design in the United States. In the 1980s , when there was a dearth of graphic designers in Australia, she migrated from New York, finding work and a home on Bondi Beach and falling in love with the sea and the sand. She returned to California, living in Venice Beach in the 1990s, where her environmental activism began in earnest.

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Id run on the beach and immediately noticed how much rubbish washed up there. I collected and piled up all the Styrofoam cups I found and took them back to the local 7/11 and demanded to speak to the manager. I said: What are you gonna do about this? and he just looked at me like, What the hell is your problem? Its not my problem. And I knew that they would do nothing. So I knew I had to do something. She started volunteering with local environment groups such as Heal the Bay and Algalita, whose founder, oceanographer Captain Charles Moore, became a mentor. Sailing his yacht across the Pacific in 1997, Moore was the first to discover the swirling soup of plastic debris in the Pacifics northeastern gyre  known by many as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. White Trash by Marina DeBris, worn by model Hannah Kat Jones. Credit:Richard Flynn At first she began creating graphic art for these organisations, as well as the 5 Gyres Institute, which funds research expeditions to fish out plastic from oceanic gyres, the natural whirlpools where rubbish, toxic for fish and birds, circulates. Another early influence was Seattle photographer Chris Jordan, who is known for his 2017 documentary Albatross, a powerfully moving story about birds on Midway Island in the Pacific, whose bodies are filled with ocean plastics. But it was his earlier work, documenting the millions of mobile phone and computer power boards that went to landfill, that galvanised her into action for oceans. He put a visual to these massive numbers of things we dispose of to landfill, which is what led me to do the same  to put a visual face on things that we dont really see or understand  If someone runs a number by you  say we dispose of x million single-use coffee cups per minute, its hard to know what that means until you see them all piled up before you. So for me, with my visual background, the best way to express myself is with pictures, not numbers. She started using the polystyrene cups and takeaway containers washed up on the Californian coast to create a polystyrene dress she calls Takeaway Queen, which was her first piece of wearable art.

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I had no training in fashion or clothes-making; I just made the whole thing on the mannequin. And then, when I went to take it off the model, I realised I couldnt get it off the giant life-sized Barbie doll  so I had to keep going. Takeaway Queen by Marina DeBris, featuring model Hannah Kat Jones. Credit:Richard Flynn Another, called White Trash, she assembled with a rainbow of coloured cigarette lighters and plastic cutlery that washed up around Venice Beach. Her first solo exhibition of refashioned garbage was in 2009, and she hasnt stopped since. In 2013, DeBris exhibited in Sculpture by the Sea. She returned to live in Sydney soon afterwards. In 2017, she won the Sydney Water environmental sculpture subsidy and picked up both the Waverley mayor and peoples choice awards at Sculpture that year for her Inconvenience Store. That work, a spoof on a convenience store, is now on display at the Maritime Museum too, and has previously been installed at Taronga Zoo. As well as ocean debris, shes picked up a host of other art and environment awards, as well as commissions. I want the pieces to be realistic and slightly upsetting. They also smell... Marina DeBris Local governments across Sydney have been eager to enlist DeBris to use her work to help them highlight pollution in their local government areas. Many schools and teachers across the country are using recycled goods  often from the ocean  to create their own Trashion shows. Shows such as the ABCs War on Waste, she feels, helped make headway in terms of people cutting back on single-use items such as coffee cups and plastic bags. Although, the ban on reusable keep cups at cafes during the pandemic has put paid to that for now. She feels its time to refocus our energies on becoming more conscious about our consumption habits.

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Imperial Valley News Center

San Francisco Resident Ordered To Return Stolen Cryptocurrency And Cash To Victims Of Multi-Million Dollar Cryptocurrency Fraud

San Jose, California - Jerry Ji Guo was sentenced for his role is a scheme to defraud his clients of cash and cryptocurrency in connection with an initial coin offering, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Craig D. Fair. Guo was ordered to pay $4,392,636.14 in restitution, and was sentenced to a term of six months in prison. The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Beth Labson Freeman, U.S. District Judge.

Guo, 33, of San Francisco, pleaded guilty to the charge on August 26, 2019. In pleading guilty, Guo admitted he represented himself as an initial coin offering consultant and promised his clients he would perform marketing and publicity services. Rather than perform these services, Guo embezzled the clients cash and cryptocurrency.

Some criminals believe mistakenly that cryptocurrency is beyond the reach of law enforcement, said U.S. Attorney Anderson. This case shows we can use criminal forfeiture to compensate fraud victims even when cryptocurrency is used in the fraud.

The FBI is tasked with pursuing crimes and the various means and methods that criminals use to commit those crimes, said FBI San Francisco Special Agent in Charge Craig D. Fair. In the financial sector, cryptocurrency has emerged as a significant threat as it affords criminals with a space to conduct activity that is particularly difficult to trace and detect, he said. In this case, the FBI relied upon partners in the private sector to respond appropriately to legal process so the FBI could make efforts to locate and seize stolen cryptocurrency.

A federal grand jury indicted Guo on November 15, 2018, charging him with eight counts of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1343. Guo pleaded guilty to one count and the remaining counts were dismissed.

In addition to pleading guilty, Guo agreed to cooperate with the government in the identification and return of property through the forfeiture process. On November 14, 2019, the government obtained a stipulated application for a preliminary order of forfeiture. Further, the government obtained warrants to seize the stolen cash and cryptocurrency, and on February 26, 2020, obtained a final order of forfeiture against the stolen property. Accordingly, the government now is in a position to return the stolen property to the victims.

According to papers filed by the government, the current value of the cash and cryptocurrency is now estimated to be more than $20 million. The Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, a component of the Department of Justices Criminal Division in Washington, D.C., will use the victim restoration process to return stolen property to victims.

In addition to the prison term and restitution, Judge Freeman also sentenced the defendant to a three-year period of supervised release.

Assistant United States Attorneys Daniel Kaleba and Chris Kaltsas prosecuted the case with the assistance of Elise Etter. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI.
"The bad news is other departments with antiquated systems are doing exactly what you're doing. ... Theres a likelihood something like this is going to happen in state government again unless we get our act together."

-- State Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin

Quote
The Provo Canyon School in Utah, where Paris Hilton allegedly endured 11 months of abuse, reportedly used a substance called 'booty juice' to sedate teenagers and in one case drugged a 14-year-old girl 17 times in three months, documents from an Oregon senator reveal.

According to the documents shared by Oregon Sen Sara Gelser and obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune, the 14-year-old girl was sent to the facility in 2019 by social workers from Oregon's foster care system.

Over the three months she was there, the teenager - who has a developmental and intellectual disability - was allegedly pinned down nearly 30 times by employees who in some cases used restraints.

The teenager reported that she was beat up at least four times by other students, with one punching her in the face while she was sleeping.

She was also allegedly injected with sedatives 17 times. That sounded the alarm with child welfare officials in Oregon who flew to Utah to bring the teen back to Oregon.

The Provo Canyon School reportedly used a substance called 'booty juice' to sedate teenagers and in one case drugged a 14-year-old girl 17 times in three months, according to an investigation into the Utah facility (pictured)

The school was attended by Paris Hilton (pictured in October 2020), who claimed she endured 11 months of abuse. Hilton has been protesting for the school to be shut down

According to the Tribune, an Oregon worker wrote in their report: 'Typically, in a restraint, [the girl] stated she received 'booty juice,' which she described as a liquid that makes someone fall asleep and calms you down.'

'After receiving booty juice, [she] would then spend time in the calming room, staff would shut the door and hold the door while they stand there,' the report reads.

The teen was being injected with Haldol, an antipsychotic, that could cause irreversible side effects in children like long-term muscle spasms.

Sen Gelser told the Tribute: 'The whole idea of sending her to Provo Canyon School was supposed to be that her needs were so great, that this was the only place that could help her.

'And what they sent back to us was a broken, injured, frightened child with more trauma than she went there with.'

In a statement to the Tribune, Provo Canyon School administrators said they couldn't comment on an individual's treatment, but they did speak about the use of chemical restraints and solitary confinement.

Last month, Hilton, 39, released never-before-seen photos of herself at the age of 18 (pictured) which were taken shortly after returning home to New York from the school

School officials said they 'eliminated the use of seclusion or isolation some time ago,' but according to the newspaper, records show that Provo Canyon was using seclusion as recently as 2019.

At the time, on the teen's paperwork there was a label that read: 'Seclusion/Restraint Order.'

Staffers wrote that same line nine times over the three months the teen was there because they reportedly felt she was a safety risk.

School officials also said: 'The infrequent use of medications to assist a patient in gaining control is within the standard of care or the requirements in Utah code.

'We do not use medication to sedate, render a patient immobile or restrict them in their ability to continue to engage actively in their care.'

Utah Sen Mike McKell, has introduced legislation that would limit the use of restraints and isolation at youth treatment centers in the state.

The legislation would also ban the sedatives unless a facility gets special permission from state regulators, according to the Tribune.

Provo Canyon School has previously been blasted by Hilton, who claimed in her documentary This Is Paris that she endured emotional and physical abuse as a teenager, while attending the facility.

Last month, Hilton, 39, released never-before-seen photos of herself at the age of 18, which were taken shortly after returning home to New York from the boarding school.

'These photos were taken when I was 18 and had recently came home from the horrible experiences I went through at #ProvoCanyonSchool. I can see the pain in my eyes. I was so traumatized that I pretended everything was okay, trying to block out the painful memories,' Paris wrote in the caption.

Getting into the New York party scene at an early age, Hilton would sneak out of her family residence at the Waldorf Astoria to go underage clubbing, prompting her parents Rick and Kathy to look for behavioral programs to curtail her wild child ways.

Upon the This Is Paris release in September, Provo denied the star's abuse allegations. The institution said they are now under new ownership and the administration has said it can't comment on anything that came before, including Hilton's time there

At the age of 17 she was sent away to Provo which she deemed, 'the worst of the worst'.

Kidnapped from her bed at her parent's home in the middle of the night, once she arrived at the school she was allegedly beaten, drugged, abused (verbally, mentally, and sexually) and forced into solitary confinement.

The culmination of nearly a year of daily horror, caused her to develop insomnia, depression, trust issues, and crippling nightmares. Upon returning home she buried the trauma and rebranded herself as the bubbly, pink-loving, glamour girl she has come to be associated with.

Upon the This Is Paris release in September, Provo denied the star's abuse allegations.

The institution said they are now under new ownership and the administration has said it can't comment on anything that came before, including Hilton's time there.

Owners of the school pointed to a statement on the school website that said the previous owners sold the school in 2000. 'We are committed to providing high-quality care to youth with special, and often complex, emotional, behavioral and psychiatric needs,' the statement read.

'They lie to the families and they lie to the children. They're manipulators, so obviously they're going to lie to try to protect themselves from what they've done,' Hilton said in a December interview with USA Today.

In October, Hilton and others protested for the school to be shut down.

She and others at the protest vowed to push forward until all schools that mistreat youth are shut down.

'There is thousands of these schools all around. Provo Canyon is just the first one that I want to go down,' Hilton said at the time. 'From there, it will be a domino effect.'
Most Americans probably dont know it, but the European Union rollout of covid vaccines has been a fiasco. Now that a Democrat is safely in the White House, the story of how much better the U.S. has performed can be told. Watch for it, coming soon to the New York Times. This is from Steves post immediately below:

Equally interesting, however, is what has happened within Europe. At the Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard quotes Die Zeit to the effect that the EUs vaccine rollout is the best advertisement for Brexit.

What has the EU done wrong? Partly it was misplaced priorities:

Rather than spend months trying to drive down the price  when the imperative was time  the Commission should have done the opposite. Germanys IFO Institute said it should have paid a dose premium to bring forward production since the cost of pandemic measures in lost GDP is hundreds of times greater. IFO calculates that the economic utility of each shot is 1,500. The EU treated Big Pharma as the enemy when it should have been pulling out all the stops to help these companies.

And partly it was the arrogance and lack of accountability of the EU, which is not really a democracy:

The vaccine saga exposes a great number of EU pathologies, starting with the breathtaking absence of apology. Heads would roll in a democratic state. The EUs constitutional structure shields the executive from accountability. Ursula von der Leyen breezily insisted yesterday that the handling of vaccine procurement had been a great success.

Self-congratulation is always a viable option, especially when you never have to face voters.

The case for totalitarianism and for its little brother, rule by certified experts, has always revolved around efficiency. And yet history has shown that seemingly messy democratic countries, like ours, do better than authoritarian states, both year in and year out, and especially in times of crisis.

When the world looks back on the Wuhan virus, the story will have heroes and villains. The villains likely will include Dr. Fauci, who was in considerable part responsible for the dangerous virus research that was carried out, with American funding, at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, increasingly regarded as the probable source of covid. And is there any doubt that Hero #1 will be President Trump, who lowered regulatory barriers and partnered with private industry to produce not just one, but multiple vaccines in record-smashing time?

PAUL ADDS: As is clear from the chart in Johns post, the UK is doing quite well, comparatively, when it comes to vaccinating its population. Why? Because it got a head start on the rest of Europe, and a slight head start on the U.S., in early December.

Why? Because it had the good sense to leave the EU. Had it not done so, the EU bureaucracy would have held the Brits back and the the UK would be lagging with the rest of Europe.
Yellen Convenes Meeting to Probe GameStop Volatility and Ensure Markets Are Functioning Properly

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she will hold a meeting Thursday with top financial market regulators to discuss recent trading volatility that saw shares like GameStop soar, fueled by online communities seeking to build buying momentum and profit from heavily shorted stocks.

We really need to make sure that our financial markets are functioning properly, efficiently, and that investors are protected, Yellen told ABCs Good Morning America on Thursday.

Were going to discuss these recent events and discuss whether or not the recent events warrant further action, she said, adding, We need to understand deeply what happened before we go to action, but certainly were looking carefully at these events.

Frenzied trading of GameStop stock sent shares surging over 400 percent last week before falling sharply. The situation, which includes other stocks like AMC and Nokia, has spurred calls for stronger regulations. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the countrys top financial regulator, said last week it was closely monitoring the extreme price volatility of certain stocks trading prices over the past several days and noted that extreme stock price volatility has the potential to expose investors to rapid and severe losses and undermine market confidence.

The market gyrations led some retail investor apps, such as Robinhood, to limit trading in some of the most volatile stocks last week, drawing criticism and sparking a class action lawsuit against Robinhood (pdf), which claimed that the app deprived retail investors of the ability to invest in the open-market and manipulating the open-market.

Word of the meeting that Yellen has convened was first reported on Feb. 3, with a Treasury Department spokesperson saying that Yellen believes the integrity of markets is important and has asked for a discussion of recent volatility in financial markets and whether recent activities are consistent with investor protection and fair and efficient markets.

This raised questions around whether Yellen had asked for written authorization to participate in a meeting responding to the volatility in light of an ethics agreement Yellen signed relating to the hundreds of thousands of dollars she received in speaking fees from Wall Street, including some $800,000 from Citadel, according to filings with the Office of Government Ethics.

Citadel has poured money into the hedge fund Melvin Capital, which took a strong short position against GameStop and was exposed to losses as GameStop shares surged.

The ethics agreement Yellen signed states that shell request written authorization to participate personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties in which I know that entity is a party or represents a party.

According to a document seen and reported on by Reuters, Yellen sought and received permission from ethics lawyers before calling the meeting. She also received the green light to engage on wide-ranging issues in the financial services industry, with a Treasury ethics official, Brian Sonfield, saying it would be difficult, if not impossible for Yellen to recuse herself from matters involving market volatility.

You are the secretary of the Treasury, the duties of which require you to be involved in a broad array of matters focused on these sectors, Sonfield wrote, according to Reuters.

Issues relating to these sectors could arise at any time without the opportunity for consultation with the ethics office, and argue in favor of prior authorization.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Contributed / Danbury Fire Department

DANBURY  The city fire department plans to purchase new equipment and offer training programs thanks to a donation and potential grant.

The department is seeking a federal firefighters grant that would provide $360,000 for equipment. A city match of $40,000 from the capital budget would be required.

Even if the shift that GameStop signifies is not a risk to the financial system, it could prod regulators to look into new rules, especially given the concerns of lawmakers who have already called for the S.E.C. and others to address the situation. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, sent a letter to the S.E.C. last week demanding that it respond with an explanation of how the agency will address the market distortions.

The commission must review recent market activity affecting GameStop and other companies and act to ensure that markets reflect real value, rather than the highly leveraged bets of wealthy traders or those who seek to inflict financial damage on those traders, Ms. Warren wrote.

Securities lawyers said much of the response will depend on what the regulators determine drove the market volatility around GameStop, including the role that retail investors played, whether there was any market manipulation and if there was adequate disclosure by market participants  like Robinhood  that facilitated the trading.

When it comes to market manipulation, James Angel, a finance professor at Georgetown Universitys McDonough School of Business, said he expects the S.E.C. will focus on what role, if any, big investors like hedge funds played in moving the stocks, as well as whether any high-frequency trading strategies exacerbated the spike.

Mr. Angel said its possible that high frequency traders engaged in a strategy known as momentum ignition, which involves initiating a series of trades with the intent to ignite a rapid move in a stocks price.

Any kind of order ignition trades designed to manipulate prices are the kind of thing we want them to investigate, he said.

The role that retail investors played will be harder to address. Many of the small investors who drove up the price of GameStop did so in order to squeeze hedge funds who had bet on the share price falling. They communicated their motivations in public, on chat boards and social media, did not hide their intent to hurt investors on the other side of the trade and often boasted about losing money.
Photo: (Photo : pexels)

A Louisiana mom pretended to be her daughter to save her kid from killers. She was shot to death by the killers hired by her brother.

According to reports, the prime suspect in the crime is the Louisiana mom's brother, who was accused of sexually abusing his niece.

34-year-old Brittany Cormier was found dead in her home in Montegut, Louisiana. Her friend Hope Nettleton was visiting Brittany when the killers came. The two were both shot and found dead by authorities.

Reports say that Nettleton even tried to fight the gunmen before being shot to death.

ALSO READ: Pregnant woman shot to death while pushing 1-year-old daughter in a stroller

The prime suspect

The investigators to the horrible crime focused on Beaux Cormier, the Louisiana mom's brother. That is because the convicted sex offender was accused of raping his niece, the daughter of Brittany.

The solid rape case against Beaux led the police to believe that he had a motive for the crime.

The Terreborn Parish Sheriff also accused Beaux of hiring someone to kill his niece.

According to the authorities, Beaux even became part of the surveillance during the first attempt to kill the girl.

ALSO READ: Dad with Five Daughters Wants Sixth Baby to Be a Boy; to Confirm, He Cut Open Wife's Stomach

Mom pretends to be her daughter to save her child

According to Terreborn Parish Sheriff Timothy Soignet, the killers carried out their plan last January 13. That is when the Louisiana mom pretended to be her daughter to save her kid.

The hired killers were supposed to kill Beaux's niece. However, Brittany asked her daughter and stepdaughter to hide in a closet. The Louisiana mom even pretended to be the daughter. Soignet told in a press release, "Brittany Cormier was murdered as a result of telling the shooter she was, in fact, the rape victim, likely saving the life of the actual rape victim."

Friends of Brittany shared in an interview that the 34-year-old mother is willing to do anything for her daughter. Friends think that she locked the girls in the closet to protect them.

Her friend even said, "But to this extent? I would have never thought it would ever have come down to this."

ALSO READ: Mother and Baby Found Dead in Texas; Mom's Womb Was Cut Open

The killers are in police custody

The New York Post reported that the two killers who Beaux hired confessed to the crime.

Andrew Eskine, 25 years old, and Dalvin Wilson, 22 years old, are now held on a bond worth 2 million US dollars. They have also been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

The District Attorney handling the case, Joe Waitz Jr., said in an interview, "The death penalty is definitely on the table."

Beaux Cormier, the mastermind of the crime, is already a convicted sex offender. He is facing charges of third-degree rape.

ALSO READ: Detroit Mom Accidentally Shoots Daughter After an Argument with Neighbor over Food Delivery
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Scam calls to people in Bahrain are in fact made from phone lines outside Bahrain, yet gives the receivers the impression that they are local calls, revealed Director-General of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security.

Citizens and residents must not respond to any such anonymous or suspicious calls which is the main protection from scam and fraud cases, he added.

He added that when encountering any fraud attempt, the bank should be contacted immediately to stop the account and file a complaint at the Anti-Economic Crimes Directorate by calling the hotline 992.

Regarding payment through the Benefit Pay app, the company follows accredited and accurate technological procedures. It doesnt allow its employees to contact clients for the pins of bank cards or accounts. It continuously warns of any scam attempt and requests to report suspicious calls to concerned authorities.

He highlighted that those involved in fraud and scam crimes depend on convincing the receiver of winning a prize and then requesting information such as the pin or OPT of data update to use them to access and control his/her bank account.

It is important not to respond to such phone calls, SMSs or social media messages and contact the concerned bank through its official phone number to report the incident. He affirmed that no financial organisation requests information or data update from clients via the phone or social media.
Demonstrators carry black flags and pictures of missing Tamils during a protest march in Sri Lanka's northern town of Kilinochchi

Thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils defied bans to stage protests as the Sinhala-majority government celebrated its independence day with a military parade.

Demonstrators marched in northern and eastern regions to demand the release of prisoners and seek information on thousands of Tamils missing since the end of an ethnic war 11 years ago, Tamil legislator M. A. Sumanthiran said.

Police obtained court orders banning the protests, but thousands joined the marches anyway, shouting anti-government slogans and displaying black flags of defiance.

"The reason for this protest walk is to draw attention to the rights of the Tamil-speaking people that have been denied in this country," Sumanthiran said.

The legislator for the main opposition Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance, said the group also wanted to draw attention to the military occupation of private land in the 1972-2009 civil war.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (centre) celebrated the national day at a military parade in the capital Colombo

Sri Lanka's Muslims, the second-largest minority after Tamils, joined the protests to demand that the government end the forced cremation of those who die of Covid-19.

Muslims want their dead buried according to Islamic rites, but the government says traditional burials of coronavirus victims could contaminate ground water.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a member of the majority Sinhalese Buddhist community and a key figure in the crushing of Tamil rebels, celebrated the national day at a military parade in the capital Colombo.

"I govern this country in accordance with Buddhist teachings," he said in an address.

Members of the air force band march during the parade in Colombo

"Every person in this country, irrespective of his or her ethnic or religious identification, has the right to enjoy the freedom as equals under the nation's legal framework."

Since winning a landslide in November 2019, Rajapaksa has ended the singing of the national anthem in Tamil, started three years earlier.

Critics said the move dealt a blow to Tamil-Sinhala reconciliation efforts.

The war claimed more than 100,000 lives. The bloody finale also brought allegations that up to 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by troops, a charge the military denies.
Wapiti Medical Staffing, a healthcare staffing company with nearly 25 years experience, announced today that they have won the Best of Staffing Client and Talent Diamond Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. Diamond Award winners have won the Best of Staffing Award for at least 5 years in a row, consistently earning industry-leading satisfaction scores. This marks the seventh consecutive year that Wapiti has won the awards.

Wapitis focus on creating and nurturing strong client/candidate partnerships is reflected in its Net Promoter Scores (NPS):

Client Net Promoter Score

Wapiti Medical Staffing: 78%

Industry Average: 28%

Candidate Net Promoter Score

Wapiti Mediical Staffing: 73.9%

Industry Average: 18%

On average, clients and candidates of winning agencies are twice as likely to be completely satisfied with the services provided compared to those working with non-winning agencies.

Wapiti CEO Kim Herrmann states, Wapiti is extremely honored to win this award for a seventh year in a row. The results salute our incredible staff who work diligently to nurture valued partnerships in our industry. We are always grateful for the feedback we receive, which continually helps us improve our service to communities: one employee, one healthcare provider, one facility at a time.

About Wapiti Medical Staffing

Wapiti Medical Staffing provides locum tenens, full-time coverage, and perm placement staffing solutions to medical facilities throughout the Upper Midwest. Coverage types include MD/DO, APP, CRNA, and additional specialties as requested. Visit http://www.wapitimedical.com for more information.

About ClearlyRated

Rooted in satisfaction research for professional service firms, ClearlyRated utilizes a Net Promoter Score survey program to help professional service firms measure their service experience, build online reputation, and differentiate on service quality. Learn more at https://www.clearlyrated.com/solutions/.

About Best of Staffing

ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the U.S. and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service quality based entirely on ratings provided by their clients and placed talent. Award winners are showcased by city and area of expertise on ClearlyRated.coman online business directory that helps buyers of professional services find service leaders and vet prospective firms with the help of validated ratings and testimonials.
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Full results from Friday's state track meets

Get your full results from the AA, A and B boys and girls state track meets here.
Thanks to the efforts of scientists, healthcare workers and trial participants around the world, a number of COVID-19 vaccines have now been authorised for general use. But while millions have been given a jab, billions still need to be vaccinated. We need to produce as many doses as we can.

So, its good news that two additional vaccines are on the horizon. Vaccine developers Novavax and Johnson & Johnson recently released data from the phase 3 clinical trials of their jabs, which will hopefully join the list of those approved later this year.

Both of these vaccines share some similarities with those already being delivered, but they also have some notable differences. Here, lets take a look at how they work and how effective they could be.

Johnson & Johnson

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being tested in 44,000 people across the US, Brazil and South Africa. Preliminary data suggests the amount by which it reduces the risk of moderate to severe COVID-19 (its efficacy) is 66%, four weeks after vaccination.

This figure might suggest that the vaccine isnt as good as the Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna jabs, which in trials reduced the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 by over 90%. However, its phase 3 trial started in November 2020, meaning the vaccine came up against some of the new, tougher variants of the coronavirus during testing. Indeed, its efficacy against B1351, the variant first found in South Africa, was only 57%  but some the authorised vaccines are less effective against this variant too.

One-third of trial participants were over 60, and the vaccine seems to work just as well in them as in younger people. This is good news, given the recent questions over how effective the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is in older people.

But perhaps the most important point is that none of those given the Johnson & Johnson vaccine died or were admitted to hospital with COVID-19. The results also show the vaccine reduced the risk severe of disease by 85%.

The vaccines design is similar to the Oxford/AstraZeneca one. It focuses on a particular part of the coronavirus that we think triggers a protective immune response  the spike protein, which sticks up on the viruss surface. The genetic code for just the coronaviruss spike protein has been put into a harmless strain of another virus  an adenovirus, called Ad26  which has been altered so it cant cause disease. It can, though, still get inside our cells. When it does, the cell reads the genetic code for the spike protein and produces lots of copies of the protein. The immune system then mounts a response to these.

In the trials, researchers found that people assessed 28 days after receiving one dose showed a strong immune response. So, Johnson & Johnson is seeking approval for a single-dose regime (all of the vaccines authorised so far require two doses). However, they are continuing with tests to see whether giving two doses makes a difference.

It would be great if one dose was enough: more people could be given the vaccine sooner. The UK has ordered 30 million doses, which using a one-dose regime would cover half the countrys adults.

Novavax

The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine is a little bit different. It still uses the idea of taking the genetic code for the spike protein and putting it into another virus, but in this case the carrier virus is one that infects insects, a baculovirus.

Its used to infect moth cells, which go on to produce copies of the spike protein. These are then harvested and purified into a vaccine to give to people. So instead of our bodies making copies of the spike protein to stimulate the immune system, with this vaccine the proteins arrive ready-made.

This method may sound a bit weird, but its a very standard way of making proteins for experiments in biology. Its been around for over 30 years.

The phase 3 trial of Novavaxs vaccine involved 15,000 people and was run in the UK. Preliminary analysis shows that 62 participants developed symptomatic COVID-19: 56 in the placebo group and just six in the vaccine group. This makes the estimated efficacy 89%.

Some of the 56 patients in the placebo group were found to have the more infectious B117 variant of the virus that arose in the UK. This shows that volunteers were exposed to this variant and suggests that the vaccine will protect against it. Meanwhile, in a separate trial in South Africa, the vaccine was shown to reduce the risk of symptomatic disease by 60%. This suggests it will be relatively effective against the problematic B1351 strain too.

If authorised, the vaccine will be manufactured in the UK. Currently, Britain has 60 million doses on order, which again is enough to vaccinate half the adults in the country.

Its important to remember that for both vaccines, the figures quoted are from the first detailed look at the trial results. More calculations are still to be done and everything has to be reviewed by other scientists (peer review), so the final numbers may change.

We also dont know yet if these vaccines will limit viral transmission or just limit people from developing disease, nor how long their effects will last. But in a way, it doesnt matter. Really, we need vaccines to help get the pandemic under control in the short term, and the more options we have, the faster we can move towards this.

Some vaccines will probably be chosen by some countries because they work better in particular age groups or against certain strains, or because they are easier to transport. These two can be stored in a normal fridge so, unlike some COVID-19 vaccines, they could be easily used anywhere in the world.

Sarah Pitt, Principal Lecturer, Microbiology and Biomedical Science Practice, Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science, University of Brighton

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
A high-profile Australian vegan influencer has compared killing animals for human consumption to the Holocaust.

James Aspey has been vegan for eight years and is best known for taking a vow of silence for a year to raise awareness for animal rights.

The 34-year-old now travels the world preaching about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle, while taking donations from strangers on Patreon to fund his lifestyle.

Mr Aspey's Instagram bio says 'Animal rights is an anti-holocaust movement' and, on Monday, he took aim at comedian-turned activist Russell Brand and accused him of telling people it's 'OK to consume the flesh of holocaust victims'.

James Aspey (pictured) has been vegan for eight years and is best known for taking a vow of silence for a year to raise awareness for animal rights

On Monday, he took aim at comedian-turned activist Russell Brand and accused him of telling people it's 'OK to consume the flesh of holocaust victims' (pictured)

The Holocaust occurred between 1941 and 1945 across German-occupied Europe in World War II.

While the word itself is defined as 'destruction or slaughter on a mass scale', the term 'holocaust' has become synonymous with the genocide of six-million European Jews at the hands of Nazi Germany.

Mr Aspey's heated response was in response to Brand saying it was possible to eat meat ethically.

'Take this more seriously,' he said in a message to Brand.

'Animal right is not a f***ing joke. They are being murdered in gas chambers. Going vegan is just one step. Ending the holocaust is next.'

James Aspey is pictured with his wife Nikki. His Instagram bio says: 'Animal rights is an anti-holocaust movement'

Mr Aspey has also used social media to fire shots at critics who tried to condemn his use of the term (pictured)

He then offered to speak on the celebrity's podcast, Under The Skin, to 'explain more thoroughly'.

When asked by Daily Mail Australia why he refers to the consumption of animals as a holocaust, Aspey stood by his word choice.

'The animal holocaust was happening before, during and after the WWII Holocaust. It is a separate situation but it should be noted there are many parallels,' he said.

The influencer went on to explain that animals are gassed to death in chambers, like one-third of Europe's Jewish population, and said it's 'an atrocity that has absolutely no place in civil society'.

But Mr Aspey has also used social media to fire shots at critics who tried to condemn his use of the term.

Mr Aspey and Nikki (pictured) travel the world preaching about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle

Mr Aspey (pictured) responded to critics and said 'all lives matter' was a 'counter-movement'

'When you shove dictionary definitions of the word 'holocaust' in the faces of Jewish people to justify using [the] word to describe animal agriculture, you know that you sounds like the 'all lives matter' crowd,' one woman wrote.

'All lives matter' is a slogan associated with criticism of the 'black lives matter' social movement, created in response to racism and violence against people of colour.

The social media user continued: 'Context matters when using historically triggering words.'

Mr Aspey responded and said 'all lives matter' was a 'counter-movement' and that 'calling the animal holocaust a holocaust isn't taking away anything from what happened during WWII'.

Another woman pointed out that simply saying the use of the word 'holocaust' is not 'taking away anything from what happened during WWII' does not stop people - vegan, Jewish and otherwise - from being offended.

Mr Aspey (pictured with his wife Nikki) claimed the word 'holocaust' is the reason he is getting more media attention

She suggested he use a phrase such as 'humans kill animals in their trillions with no legitimate reason to do so' instead.

Mr Aspey then claimed the word 'holocaust' is the reason he is getting more media attention.

After a media interview, he said: 'Do you really think if I had just said, 'trillions of deaths per year?' OBVIOUSLY NOT because Ive been saying that for YEARS and nothing.'

'Now, a week after no longer caring about offending people, [the media outlet] sends me an email.'

When questioned by Daily Mail Australia, Mr Aspey said he knew why the term was causing offence, but maintained he was in the right.

Mr Aspey made headlines in January when he rescued a puppy from a drain in Bali (pictured)

'They think their suffering is being trivialized by comparing human suffering to animal suffering,' he said.

'For one, it isnt a comparison. It is a fact that non-human animals are experiencing a holocaust. And two, when we suffer, we all suffer the same. Humans are animals, too.'

Mr Aspey made headlines in January when he rescued a puppy from a drain in Bali.

He used social media to ask his 254,000 followers if they knew of a 'lactating mother' to feed the puppy, but refused the help of vet services.

The influencer was accused of putting a newborn puppy's life at risk to boost his popularity online.

In an update, Mr Aspey announced she had sadly died, despite the best efforts of a local vet.
Last winter, Chintan Pandya, one of the most celebrated Indian chefs in the United States, was in his dining room at home, wondering what his next restaurant could be. His wife, Namrata, offered him a bowl of thinly sliced potatoes and a gourd commonly known as tindora in Hindi, sauteed with cumin, ginger, green chile and turmeric.

He was inspired by familiarity of the dishs flavor.

Many cuisines have elevated their rural, rustic dishes  acquacotta, feijoada, mapo tofu  but provincial Indian food has yet to find its Provencal moment.

At the culinary school I went to in India, said Mr. Pandya, we were never taught Meghalayan food, but we had to read Larousse Gastronomique and were taught about bouillabaisse, this fishermens stew, so exquisite and all that. But not our own food.

His solution is Dhamaka, scheduled to open Feb. 14  two days after indoor dining is allowed again in New York City  in the Essex Market on the Lower East Side.
Welcome to Midland, Angelica Ramsey.

Friday is the day the Midland ISD is expected to approve your contract making you the 12th permanent superintendent in the history of the district.

We are waiting to see a copy of the contract, but it is expected that your salary will be the same as the person who previously held the position. I have to admit that I thought Midland ISDs next leader would demand a higher salary, considering the challenge that awaits. However, from what I understand, you are full of surprises.

When asked what computer set-up you wanted, you said that you want whatever teachers have. Even asked a second time about mobile devices and other perks of the office, you repeated your request  if it is good enough for the person on educations frontline, it is good enough for you.

I look forward to meeting you face to face, because at this point you seem too good to be true. My guess is there are thousands of people like me. Theyll want confirmation that you are the real thing. No, check that. Theyll want confirmation you are the right person to lead public education in Midland.

A little warning. There are going to be people who question the idea of bringing someone in from California. They believe everyone from California worships at the altar of Nancy Pelosi and takes their cues from Hollywood. They missed the part of your story where you said, I probably shouldn't say this out loud, but I didn't like living in the Bay Area. They dont understand that someone can be excited about a move from the Golden State to the Permian Basin, because it's like we're getting back to real people that you can be real with.

Dr. Ramsey, Midlanders will be skeptical. It doesnt matter that your previous board president told the Reporter-Telegram that one of your great legacies was your ability to align community support, to make those connections from the Rotary Club to the chamber to parent groups and teachers. Nor will they be satisfied that you are data driven, including when that data tells you Classroom size is the indicator of student success.

But in the end, we all know this is entirely about the results produced. Your legacy will be about turning around our culture problem, finding our academic performance flaws and fixing them and creating an education plan for one of the most complicated places  if not the most complicated -- for education in the state. Midland is not an easy place when it comes to education and academic success. If it was, our paths likely would never have crossed. But here we are.

Dr. Ramsey, we are about to hand you the keys to our educational kingdom. It is an awesome responsibility. Let me rephrase that; it is an awesome opportunity. I really believe that, and if you show youre capable where others have fallen short, this community will be willing to shower you and the district with the type of support that only Midland can.
About 15 per cent of Britons are refusing the coronavirus jab and uptake rates are lowest among ethnic minorities, Britain's vaccine tsar revealed today.

Nadhim Zahawi, the Covid jab deployment minister, said it's the highest uptake of any vaccination programme run by the NHS, including the annual flu jab.

But Mr Zahawi, who was born in Iraq and moved to the UK aged nine, added although figures suggest uptake is high, vaccine hesitancy 'is skewed heavily towards BAME communities'.

Scientists believe uptake of 85 per cent would be enough to achieve herd immunity, when so many people are immune to a disease that it peters out.

Mr Zahawi told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'At the moment this is the highest uptake of any vaccination programme including all of the flu vaccination programmes the NHS have run.

'So currently the UK is a standout country in terms of people wanting to keep themselves safe by being vaccinated and keep their families and communities safe.'

SAGE  number 10's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies  has warned low uptake among minority groups could pose a 'significant risk' to Britain's vaccine drive if enough people turn the jab down.

Mufti Zubair Bult, a Muslim imam and chaplain, receives the Covid-19 vaccine at Whetley Medical Centre in Bradford. The vaccines minister has warned of lower uptake in ethnic minorities

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said uptake was lower in BAME groups

The advisory panel has blamed years of 'structural and institutional racism and discrimination' for vaccine scepticism among BAME communities, mainly black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi people.

Boris Johnson visited a vaccination clinic at the Muslim Al-Hikmah centre in Batley, West Yorkshire, this week, in an effort to boost uptake among BAME groups.

It comes after the UK's rollout of jabs hit the milestone of 10million people covered yesterday.

And 23million has been set aside for a 'local champions programme' to support local leaders in convincing everyone in their community to get the jabs.

The paper presented by SAGE included the results of a survey which showed a shocking 71.8 per cent of Black people said they were unlikely to get a Covid-19 vaccine if offered one

Mr Zahawi added: 'I am spending a lot of time with the NHS to make sure we record, of course, ethnicity but also have a strategy of how we reach those hard to reach groups working with local government.'

The minister could not say whether the health service was recording when someone asked for a jab says they will not get it.

It came after an ONS survey published last month said uptake was at 85 per cent overall, a rise of seven per cent since their previous survey between December 10 to 13.

The Prime Minister urged everyone to make sure they got their jabs during a visit to a vaccination site in Yorkshire this week.

'The vaccine programme has got to continue to be successful,' he said.

'We have got to make sure we don't get thrown off course by new variants, we have got to make sure that we continue to keep the disease under control and the level of infections come down.'

The Government is aiming to vaccinate all 15million in the top priority groups - over-70s, NHS staff, vulnerable and care home residents - by mid-February, meaning they will need to get jabs into the arms of 350,000 people a day.

Meanwhile, it emerged last month that Number 10 has hired a PR firm to boost uptake of the jab among BAME groups.

London-based Multicultural Marketing Consultancy (MMC) has been tasked with clamping down on vaccine misinformation and improving jab hesitancy among minorities.

MMC prides itself on its 'ability to connect with communities' at a 'grassroots level' through media and other channels, according to the company's website.

The firm has previously worked on No10 campaigns to increase awareness about prostate cancer in black men and female genital mutilation.

CONAKRY, Feb 3 (Reuters) - China will donate 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Guinea, the West African nation's foreign minister Ibrahima Khalil Kaba told Reuters on Wednesday.

China's ambassador in Conakry announced the donation in a meeting on Tuesday, Kaba said. He did not specify which Chinese-developed vaccine would be donated or when the doses would arrive.

While vaccination campaigns are well underway in many wealthy countries, limited early access to vaccines made by Western drugmakers means most African countries have yet to launch inoculation drives.

So-called vaccine diplomacy by China and Russia is cultivating goodwill in parts of the world after pharmaceutical companies including U.S.-based Pfizer Inc announced shortfalls in distribution plans.

On Monday, China said it was providing vaccine aid to 13 countries globally and planned to help a further 38.

In January, Guinea approved Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for domestic use, becoming the second African country to do so. Most others are waiting for disbursements from COVAX, a global scheme for lower-income countries co-led by the World Health Organisation.

Guinea has so far recorded over 14,500 COVID-19 cases and 83 deaths. (Reporting by Saliou Samb Writing by Alessandra Prentice Editing by Edward McAllister and Pravin Char)
document

The Portfolio Committee on Social Development has received its follow-up briefing from the department, outlining its plans on how it hopes to deal with the lapsed temporary disability grants.

The committee heard that 70% of the reassessments had been completed and that paper-based assessments were introduced and that arrangements had been made for previous medical records to be used for Sassa (South African Social Security Agency) beneficiaries.

Sassa's Chief Executive Officer, Ms Busisiwe Memela, revealed that 214 000 beneficiaries were affected and that those that Sassa had committed itself to reinstate, will receive their payments tomorrow, and they will be backdated.

The Executive Manager, Ms Dianne Dunkerley, said "two of our biggest hospitals were unable to assist as they are occupied with a surge in Covid-19 cases". Potential risks included not completing the project by March 2021, limited availability of community halls, criminals queuing and selling spaces, and overcrowding and lack of social distancing at pay points.

These challenges were mitigated in various ways, including increasing operating days, staff working on weekends, conducting assessments at alternative facilities other than the usual health facilities, and introducing the booking system.

The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Mondli Gungubele, it was comforting that the department also looked to work closely with the South African Post Office in resolving the challenge of queues at Sassa pay points.

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Members sought clarity on various issues including the breakdown of doctors that are being used for assessments, the 80 cases doctors were expected to do per day, distribution of food vouchers by councillors.

Committee Member, Ms Laetitia Arries, said food vouchers in KwaZulu-Natal were distributed by the councillors and that should not be allowed as it may contaminate the department's programme with politics. She sought clarity on why the Western Cape and Gauteng seemed to be slow in reinstating the temporary disability grant.

Mr Gungubele said there was demonstrable action in the plan, and that although there was a need to restructure and augment, the committee appreciated it.

"This plan is about interventions. If you intervene it means there is a problem, and that needs to be described, and a preferred situation should be clearly articulated once you identify the manifestation."

It was revealed that there had been challenges with the previous medical records and that the assessments were not a full physical assessment but based on the documents that have been provided. The 286 contracted doctors can now do a maximum of 80 assessments. Declined assessments are appealable within 90 days of receiving the decision.

Ms Dunkerley said reconsideration by Sassa will no longer be required as this was an administrative step that rarely changed the original decision.

Minister Lindiwe Zulu, who led the delegation, said interventions of the department should seek to empower the beneficiaries and the volunteers. "We commit ourselves to do the best that we can do at all times."

The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

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The Nagol is Back! VTOs guide to this years Nagol, plus where to stay and play in south, central and north Pentecost.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Another man was found dead on Thursday near the ice plant in Navotas City, a local disaster management official confirmed, raising the death toll in the ammonia leak incident there to two.

The latest fatality was a 54-year-old electrician at the T.P. Marcelo Ice Plant and Cold Storage, Vonne Villanueva of the Navotas City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office told CNN Philippines on Thursday.

Authorities initially reported that a 44-year-old man  a long-time worker at the facility owned by Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangcos mother and relatives  died, and 96 others were hospitalized due to the incident.

Villanueva said earlier in the day that 22 people remain hospitalized after inhaling ammonia from the T.P. Marcelo plant, five of whom were in critical condition.

They are at the Philippine General Hospital. There are 22 patients there. Out of the 22, five were reported to be still in critical condition, Vonne Villanueva of the Navotas City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office told CNN Philippines New Day.

Around 2,500 to 3,000 evacuated families returned to their homes after the situation was declared under control at around 8:23 p.m. Wednesday, Villanueva said. Authorities said the leak was contained past 10 p.m.

The cause of the leak is still under investigation, the officer said, adding special rescue units are checking if there are any more risks of leakage at the ice plant.

The local government is coordinating with the company's management to make sure no ammonia residue gets mixed with the treated sewage that goes into Manila Bay to avoid environmental problems, he added.

This is the first reported ammonia leak associated with the T.P. Marcelo plant, Villanueva said. But he added there was a similar incident around three weeks ago in the Magsimpan Ice Plant, which is owned by a different corporation in Navotas, a fish port.

"The ice is being used for the storage of fish, storage of food and items that are being kept in storage facilities in Navotas that's why there are a lot of storage and ice plant in Navotas," he said.

Villanueva vowed to increase their capacity to respond to hazardous materials as well as stricter inspections of the safety procedures being implemented in cold storage facilities to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Ammonia is a health hazard. Exposure to the chemical, which is used in refrigeration systems, can result in irritation, severe respiratory injuries, and could be fatal at high concentrations, according to health experts.

The United Nations welcomed the extension of the New START treaty between the United States and Russia for five years.

"We very much welcome the extension, the five-year extension of the New START as a means of maintaining verifiable limits on the world's largest nuclear arsenal, and I think it's a first step of reinvigorating the nuclear arms control regime," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"From our point of view, we encourage both Russia and the United States to use these next five years to negotiate further reductions in their nuclear weapons, as well as new agreements that can address the emerging nuclear weapons challenges of our time and make the world a better place," he told a daily press briefing.

The spokesman expressed the hope that more countries that have nuclear weapons will join nuclear disarmament efforts.

"It is clear that the more countries that have nuclear weapons engage in disarmament talks and move towards a world free of nuclear weapons, the better we will all be," Xinhua cited Dujarric as saying.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 04:08:02|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday welcomed the conviction of a Ugandan rebel commander by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The secretary-general took note of the judgment issued on Thursday by the ICC against Ongwen, a commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Ongwen was found guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including sexual and gender-based crimes, which took place in northern Uganda between July 2002 and December 2005, said Stephane Dujarric, Guterres' spokesman, in a statement.

The judgment is a significant milestone in accountability and a step forward in efforts to bring justice to the victims of LRA crimes, and reaffirms that impunity will not be tolerated, said the statement.

The judgment also marks the first time that the crime of forced marriage has been considered by the ICC and highlights the critical need to eradicate sexual and gender-based violence, it added.

The secretary-general's thoughts are with the victims of crimes against humanity and war crimes for which Ongwen has been found guilty, said the statement.

Ongwen was arrested in the Central African Republic in January 2015 and transferred to the ICC's custody later that month, almost 10 years after the issuance of an arrest warrant against him by the ICC. Enditem
Davos attendees often recall Chinese President Xi Jinping's unequivocal endorsement of globalization in his 2017 speech which took place in the wake of protectionist, populist and nationalist rhetoric that shaped much of the US presidential election campaign in 2016. It was a moment in time when many believed that globalization was the cause of "frequent regional conflicts, global challenges like terrorism and refugees, as well as poverty, unemployment and a widening income gap" but President Xi made it clear then that "many of the problems troubling the world are not caused by economic globalization" and reminded everyone that "just blaming economic globalization for the world's problems is inconsistent with reality, and it will not help solve the problems."

Photo taken on Jan. 22, 2018 shows the logo of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)

However, four years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has replaced economic globalization as the primary source of uncertainty about the future. This is not surprising because the effects of a global pandemic are felt at both the national and local level. But what is most unsettling about a pandemic is that no country alone can prevent such occurrences or mitigate their impact.

Therefore, President Xi reminded the international community once again that "no global problem can be solved by any one country alone. There must be global action, global response and global cooperation." He shared this observation in his opening speech of the Davos Agenda, the first virtual edition of the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting. He also emphasized that the future of multilateralism required a strong commitment "to consultation and cooperation instead of conflict and confrontation".

His comments struck a deep chord with the international community not only because the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic but also because China has avoided falling into a recession while taking strong measures to fight the virus. Yet President Xi's central message that countries embrace openness and multilateralism also came with a warning of the risks that "to build small circles or start a new cold war, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to wilfully impose decoupling, supply disruption or sanctions, and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation."

This message was not lost on the other heads of state and government speaking in the Davos programme. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore remarked in the closing address that the international order must be underpinned by stable great power relations and astutely characterized China-US relations as the most important bilateral relationship in the world. He made clear that for smaller open economies, international cooperation and multilateral efforts to fight the COVID pandemic require an international order underpinned by stable great power relations.

The Davos Agenda showed that there is renewed sense of hope for multilateralism but there is much work to be done. The key will be as President Xi observed that the problems facing the world are intricate and complex. The way out of them is through upholding multilateralism and building a community with a shared future for mankind."

(The author W. Lee Howell is the Managing Director of World Economic Forum.)
Tesla Model S 2021 Refresh's alleged dangerous butterfly steering wheel is now allowed in the United Kingdom despite the warnings of different experts and analysts. Different sources revealed images of a steering wheel with a rectangular design.

I love it. My model 3 Performance is coming in 8 weeks. Can't wait.  Marty Sullens (@Sumohax0r) January 28, 2021

Also Read: 'Apple Car' EV: Apple and Hyundai-Kia Near Closing a Deal to Create 'Driverless' Vehicle!

However, some speculations explained that this version of the steering is only for show and not for the EV's actual production model. According to The Next Web's latest report, what caught the consumers' attention is not Tesla Model S' driving features and capabilities, it is the butterfly steering wheel itself.

Opinions about the new design are divided, with some saying that they love it and others criticizing the new steering wheel design.

Is Tesla Model S' new steering wheel legal?

In the United States, publicly available regulations state that steering wheels should be round and complete before it is allowed to be used in new cars and EVs. However, Road and Track talked with the National Highway Transport Safety Administration and said that they are not sure if the new "yoke" steering wheel is illegal or legal.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom said that Tesla's new steering wheel design could be allowed, but the country didn't specifically encourage using it.

"The regulations relating to steering equipment (UN-ECE Regulation 79) does not stipulate any shape or size of the steering wheel," said the U.K.'s Department for Transport via The Next Web.

This means that any design for the steering wheel is allowed, which is quite different compared to the regulations in the United States. In the United Kingdom, manufacturers are allowed to use game controllers, joysticks, and anything they can integrate to act as steering wheels for their electric vehicles and regular cars.

Is the butterfly steering wheel really dangerous?

According to NewsTube's previous report, HG.org, a legal source that provides lawyers, said that there are certain issues that drivers will face if they use Tesla's new steering wheel design. Since it is rectangular, the innovation will prevent them from shuffling the steering wheel between their hands when they go into a fully locked position.

Making a full u-turn would also be really difficult since it could be stuck against your knees, especially if you are a tall person. These are just some of the consequences that could happen if it is approved. You can click here if to know more info.

For more news updates about Tesla and its upcoming electric vehicle innovations, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Elon Musk Admits Tesla Cars Paint Job a Mess, Warns Buyers to Buy at Two Specific Moments

This article is owned by TechTimes.

Written by: Giuliano de Leon.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TPS=NO HTML_BYTES=73228 DESTINAZIONE=http://www.ehealthdirectory.net/ DOCTYPE=HTML 5.0 KEYWORDS_ESTRAPOLATE=tai chi, treatment, chinese, medicine, stress, people, the body ALEXA_POS=9999999 IPs=143.95.148.72 RSS=https://www.sciencedaily.com/rss/top/health.xml HTML_LINGUA=en-US HTML_CHARSET=UTF-8 HTML_TITOLO=Alternative Medicine News and Information | eHealthDirectory.net HTML_DESCRIZIONE=Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and other meditative forms of martial arts have been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years. These meditative forms of martial arts are occasionally named internal forms. Forms such as 8 palms or BaGua are based off the numerology of works such as the I Ching. These martial art forms concentrate on body posture and alignment, relaxation, meditation, and deep breathing. This article will talk mostly about Tai Chi, although any Chinese internal art could apply to what is being discussed here. Tai Chi is a great remedy for stress and helps promote good posture as well. A lot of Tai Chi practitioners claim that they never need to visit a chiropractor. Chinese medicine has a great influence on Tai Chi practice, which is a holistic approach to well being that integrates what Westerners might call homeopathy, massage, and physiotherapy as well as acupuncture and ideas of how the body works. A lot of highly sought after and highly priced medical physicians are also naturopaths and homeopaths and have taught themselves the system of Eastern medicine. A typical session of Tai Chi lasts about an hour. Students are encouraged to focus their attention on the basic movements and relax. These movements are designed to enhance balance, body awareness, coordination, flexibility, and strength. Also a major part of internal Chinese martial arts like Tai Chi is deep breathing exercises. If practiced properly, these arts can be used for self-defense. Tai Chi teaches sticky hands drills, search hands, and push hands for training on how to knock someone to the ground, search for the center of a person'
Kim Chang-woo, far left, head of KB Kookmin Bank Myanmar, stands along with high-level local officials at the official opening ceremony of the bank's branch in Yangon on Jan. 27. / Courtesy of KB Kookmin Bank



By Anna J. Park



It has been less than a week since KB Kookmin Bank's Yangon branch in Myanmar  the first one in the Southeast Asian country  was launched, Jan. 27, but the Korean lender faces an emergency situation following the military coup there earlier this month.



An official at the bank said the regime change was unexpected, but operations at the Yangon branch have returned to normal.



"On Monday  the day of the coup  all financial transactions were frozen. But on Tuesday, the bank's financial operation went back to usual, as the freezing of accounts and transactions was lifted," a bank official told The Korea Times. "We have completed checking on the safety of our staff in Myanmar."



Regarding concerns that the sudden regime change escalates risks for KB's Southeast Asia business plans, the bank's official said that no one can be sure right now about the future impact of the coup and added that global businesses in Southeast Asia have been planned and executed from a long-term strategic perspective.



"Global business plans are not made with a short-term view. We've been preparing for this new business in Myanmar for years, and it's been executed with long-term, strategic goals and perspectives in mind," the official explained.






President Moon Jae-in, left, speaks on the phone with U.S. President Joe Biden, Thursday, for the first time since the new U.S. leader took office last month. Yonhap



By Do Je-hae



The first phone call early Thursday (KST) between the leaders of South Korea and the U.S. highlighted the need for the two countries to narrow the differences in their respective policies toward dealing with North Korea, according to experts.



"U.S. President Joe Biden said that he evaluated the efforts of South Korea, the main party in the resolution of the Korean Peninsula issue, and that it is important for the U.S. and South Korea to have the same position and work closely for common goals," presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok said in a briefing after the phone conversation between President Moon Jae-in and Biden.



Some analysts said that the remarks could be seen as a warning from Washington not to speed up things with North Korea while the U.S. is undertaking a meticulous review of the North Korea policy of the previous administration. Moon has reiterated that the Singapore agreement between Biden's predecessor Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un should be the starting point of the U.S.'s North Korea policy during the Biden administration. But such a view has raised questions in the policy community here and in the U.S.











President Moon Jae-in speaks on the phone with U.S. President Joe Biden, Thursday, at Cheong Wa Dae. Suh Hoon, left, head of the presidential national security office, is taking notes. Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae.
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The Canadian government designated the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity on Wednesday, citing the far-right group's pivotal role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 as a reason for the decision.

The Proud Boys have faced increased scrutiny after seizing on the former Trump administration's policies and the group was a major agitator during earlier protests and the Capitol riot that saw the deaths of five people.

The Proud Boys is a far-right, male chauvinist extremist group known for engaging in violent clashes at political rallies.

Canada is the first country to designate them as a terrorist entity.

During a September presidential debate, Donald Trump had urged the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by' when asked to condemn them by a moderator.

Members of the far-right group Proud Boys make 'OK' hand gestures indicating 'white power' as supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, the day of the Capitol riots that saw the deaths of five people

Two people, one of them with a Proud Boys shirt, gesture with the White Power sign, as supporters of US President Donald J. Trump gather to support his legal challenges to the 2020 presidential election, in November last year

Senior officials speaking on a technical briefing said authorities had been monitoring and collecting evidence about the Proud Boys before the Capitol Hill insurrection.

But they confirmed that the event provided information that helped with the decision to list the organization.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said they revealed themselves.

'Their intent and their escalation toward violence became quite clear,' Blair said.

Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of Proud Boys, called the terrorist designation 'ridiculous.'

'There is no basis for it. It's infringement of free speech rights. All the Canadian Proud Boys have ever done is go to rallies,' Tarrio said in a phone interview. 'They used what happened at the Capitol to push for this.'

Tarrio said the Canadian chapters are very quiet compared to their American counterparts. He estimated there are between 1,000 and 1,500 Proud Boys in Canada.

Tarrio was arrested in Washington shortly before the Capitol riot. He was accused of vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church during an earlier protest in the nation's capital.

U.S. Federal authorities, meanwhile, arrested Wednesday a man who describes himself as the 'Sergeant of Arms' of the Seattle chapter of the Proud Boys after he was charged in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Pictured: Pro-Trump rioters breach the security perimeter and penetrate the U.S. Capitol to protest against the Electoral College vote count that would certify President-elect Joe Biden as the winner in Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 6

Pictured: A view from inside the Capitol building as Police hold back supporters of US President Donald Trump as they gather outside the US Capitol's Rotunda on January 6, 2021

He is at least the eighth defendant linked to the Proud Boys facing federal charges after thousands of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden's presidential win

Asked whether the U.S. will follow Canada and designate Proud Boys as a terrorist entity, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. has a domestic extremism review underway. 'We will wait for that review to conclude before we make any determinations,' Psaki said.

The terrorist designation in Canada means the group may have assets seized and face harsher terrorism-related criminal penalties.

A government official said just because they are a member doesn't mean they will be charged with a crime, but if they do engage in violent acts they could be charged with terrorist crimes.

Sending money to the organization or buying Proud Boys paraphernalia would also be a crime.

Pictured: Supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol where a noose has been set up, in Washington DC on January 6, 2021

Pictured: A supporter of President Donald Trump carries a Confederate battle flag on the second floor of the U.S. Capitol near the entrance to the Senate after breaching security defenses, in Washington, January 6

'The group and its members have openly encouraged, planned, and conducted violent activities against those they perceive to be opposed to their ideology and political beliefs,' the Canadian government said in briefing materials.

'The group regularly attends Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests as counter-protesters, often engaging in violence targeting BLM supporters. On January 6, 2021, the Proud Boys played a pivotal role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.'

The government calls the Proud Boys a neo-fascist organization with semiautonomous chapters located in the United States, Canada, and internationally.

It said it engages in political violence and that members espouse misogynistic, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and white supremacist ideologies.

'Since 2018 we have seen an escalation towards violence for this group,' Blair said.

Pictured: Members of the far-right group the Proud Boys gather in E street northwest before marching into Freedom Plaza, in Washington, DC, USA, 12 December 2020

Blair said four right-wing groups including a white supremacist group called The Base that espoused using violence to accelerate overthrowing the U.S. government and Neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division were also designated as terrorist entities.

They are a part of 13 additions to the list which also include three groups linked to al-Qaida, four associated with the Islamic State group and one Kashmiri organization.

The Proud Boys were formed in 2016 by Canadian Gavin McInnes, who co-founded Vice Media. Tarrio said McInnes is no longer a member.

Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said Trudeau's Liberal government is trying to attach their star to the anti-Trump sentiment prevalent in Canada.

'Since the Proud Boys are identified with Trump, they are an easy target. Had Trump won the election, I'm confident the Liberals would not have gone after the Proud Boys,' Wiseman said.

'There is right-wing extremism in Canada but much, much less than in the U.S.'
Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank, has accepted a mandate from Italy's president to form a national unity government.

Why it matters: Italy's government collapsed last week over a dispute about the disbursement of recovery funds from the EU, and the popular prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, has been unable to cobble together a parliamentary majority. That task now falls to Draghi, with an election looming if he fails.

The big picture: Italians voted overwhelmingly for populist parties in 2018, but with two wobbly coalitions having come and gone  and no votes having been cast  the ultimate establishment technocrat is now poised to take power.

The events have been dramatic but, in the context of Italy's chaotic politics, not particularly unusual. Conte's 2.5-year tenure is actually longer than most recent Italian prime ministers have managed.

He was an obscure law professor until 2018, elevated to prime minister not by voters but by two populist parties  Five Star and the League  searching for a figure they could both accept.

Conte survived their divorce in 2019 to form a new center-left government, and his stature grew during the pandemic as he ordered Europes first lockdown and lobbied for relief funds from the EU. His approval rating currently sits at 59%.

But his government fell after a small party led by former prime minister Matteo Renzi withdrew, and his efforts to put it back together over the past week have ended in failure.

Driving the news: President Sergio Mattarella asked Draghi on Wednesday to attempt to form a government so as to avoid snap elections during the pandemic. He accepted.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

Over 2.9 lakh incidents related to were reported in 2020, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

As per the information reported to and tracked by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), a total number of 1,59,761; 2,46,514 and 2,90,445 incidents pertaining to were reported during 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Sanjay Dhotre said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

These incidents included phishing attacks, network scanning and probing, viruses and website hacking, he added.

The Minister noted that the rising popularity of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) along with e-commerce has also expanded the scope of digital payments.

"The percentage rise in digital transactions is 46 per cent in 2020 in comparison to 2018-19," he said.

The numbers of digital transactions have increased from 3,134 crore in the financial year (FY) 2018-19 to 4,572 crore in FY 2019-20, Dhotre added.

Responding to a separate query, the minister said the number of websites/webpages/accounts blocked stood at 9,849 in 2020.

This was 2,799 in 2018 and 3,635 in the year 2019.

He said Section 69A of the IT Act empowers the government to block any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states or public order.

In response to another question, Dhotre said 6,233 cases were registered in 2019 under fraud and cheating (involving communication devices as medium/ target as per Information Technology Act 2000), as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.

"As per NCRB, number of cases registered under fraud and cheating (involving communication devices as medium/ target as per IT Act 2000) for cyber crimes are 3,466, 3,353, 6,233 during the year 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively," he added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Police are hunting a thug who punched a man in the face outside a pub in South London.

CCTV footage released by Scotland Yard shows a man being assaulted outside a licensed premises on Clapham High Street in Lambeth at around 10.15pm on October 20 last year.

Two men were speaking with the victim when one of them pushed him and then punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.

Police are hunting a thug who punched a man in the face outside a pub in South London

He was found by a member of the public who called an ambulance and notified the police. He was taken to a local hospital with severe head injuries, according to a statement by the Met.

Detective Constable Olivia Broughton, from Central South Command Unit, said: 'Violent behaviour such as this will not be tolerated.

'We will do everything in our power to stop aggressive behaviour on the streets of London and would like your help to identify the man responsible for this attack.'

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information please call 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting CAD reference 8384/20OCT20. Or you can report anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Abby Johnson's new project helps women seek legal action for post-abortion injuries

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A prominent pro-life activist has started a new project designed to help women who want to take legal action after experiencing complications from an abortion.

Hurt After Abortion, launched last month, is the latest project of Pro-Love Ministries, which was founded by pro-life activist and former Planned Parenthood Employee of the Year, Abby Johnson. The project is a partnership with the Thomas More Society, a notable Catholic law firm.

Pamela Whitehead, who serves as executive director of Hurt After Abortion, described the project in an interview with The Christian Post.

We have a website and the hope is that women who have been physically harmed by having an abortion procedure and who are seeking help in some way would find our site, she said. We offer a free legal consultation and if the lawyers decide to take her case, then their services would be free of charge to her. We also offer a referral to an options-based healing network for abortion that would individualize the care to that woman based on her needs.

We also can help women access their medical records and get a copy of their medical records. Many people dont even know that they have that access, that they have that right. Often women, part of their healing journey is looking back and trying to remember exactly what happened," Whitehead said.

"Many women who go through these procedures and have an injury feel like maybe they got what they deserved, or this is just what happened to me and I cant hear this because I already have shame about what Ive done, she added.

After expressing a desire for states to increase health and safety oversight at abortion clinics, Whitehead described her expectations for the new project as limitless."

We really believe that God is going to send the women to us. We know without a doubt that many of these women are sitting at church. ... We believe that many of those women are sitting in our church pews seeking answers, looking for help and also not finding it, so we hope to be that help.

In an interview with CP, Johnson offered details about her own inspiration for creating the Hurt After Abortion project. In addition to operating six projects under Pro-Love Ministries, Johnson also founded the group And Then There Were None, which is designed to help abortion clinic workers leave the industry.

Johnson told CP that she had long wanted to place billboards outside of abortion clinics that just simply said: Have you been hurt after an abortion?

I have a lot of kids, so I would be up late at night, nursing or feeding babies, and I would see all of these advertisements for law firms. Im assuming they were class-action lawsuits  and they would say, If youve been hurt by these products or if youve been hurt by this thing or that thing, call this law office. And I just thought, why arent we doing something like that in the pro-life movement?

I even called my private attorneys on multiple occasions to discuss being an expert witness on various personal injury lawsuits that patients had filed, but those always settle out of court. And so I thought, there have to be women who want to come forward who have been harmed by the abortion industry, but they just dont know where to go. And that had always been in the back of my mind for years.

As Johnson explained, Whitehead went to the Vita Institute at Notre Dame one summer where she had the realization that we also need to be reaching out to these women and giving them an opportunity to seek legal recourse.

Whitehead elaborated on what happened during her 2019 trip to the Vita Institute that led her to have that realization.

Im sitting in this session, the lecture, and Carter Snead is the dean of the de Nicola Center for Ethics & Culture at Notre Dame, and he was giving a lecture on the history of abortion in America, she recounted to CP.

After mentioning several challenges over the years to the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide, Snead noted that each time, the case would go to the Supreme Court but there wasnt enough evidence to overturn Roe v. Wade, and he said that several times with every case throughout the lecture.

Whitehead told CP that the premise that there was not enough evidence to overturn Roe resounded in me loudly and reminded her of her own experience of having an abortion in 2001: I left that clinic in an ambulance because I was injured. The 14th Amendment gives women, supposedly gives the right to have an abortion because of the right to privacy.

But theres another part of the 14th Amendment that is supposed to afford us equal protection under the law. And as he was talking, I was reminded of that. I did not receive equal protection; I was not given the same standard of care that women who were having other surgeries were given, she contended.

Whitehead suffered a perforated uterus during her abortion, even though she was told that the procedure was a safe form of healthcare and that it would improve her life.

Following Sneads speech at the Vita Institute, Whitehead spoke with him and asserted that women who have been harmed by abortion are the evidence thats needed to overturn Roe.

After returning from the Vita Institute, Whitehead shared her idea to create what would eventually become the Hurt After Abortion project. Johnson believed at the time that it was a project Pro-Love Ministries could undertake, but also realized she would have to find attorneys who are willing to actually try these cases.

And so, I talked to the Thomas More Society who we work with frequently for our And Then There Were None clients, and I talked to them about it and said, Look, if we do this, will you help us, will you litigate these cases for us? And they were all in, Johnson recalled. One thing just sort of led to another, and we realized that we had enough help to actually get this thing going.

According to Hurt After Abortion, physical injuries from abortion include heavy bleeding, infection, incomplete abortion, damage to the cervix, scarring of the uterine lining, perforation of the uterus, (and) damage to internal organs.

Abortions can also result in psychological injuries, such as eating disorders, relationship problems, flashbacks of abortion, suicidal thoughts, sexual dysfunction, alcohol and drug abuse, (and) self-harm, as well as the emotional hurts of guilt, regret, depression, (and) anger.

One of the problems that we have here in the United States is we have very poor tracking of these complication rates, Johnson said. So when a woman presents to an emergency room and she had an abortion and shes bleeding, theyre going to report that as just simply a hemorrhage. Theyre not going to say, Oh, she was hemorrhaging because of an abortion, theyre just going to say shes hemorrhaging.

Johnson explained that in Finland, a country with better tracking, Their serious complication rate lies at about 20%, adding, We know that the complication rate is a lot higher in the United States than what the abortion industry claims it is. Its just because of poor reporting that we dont actually know what that rate is.

While the Hurt After Abortion project is itself a new venture, Johnson is already looking down the road for new opportunities to expand her pro-life ministry: We always have projects on the horizon, we always have ideas that were coming up with. Were always looking for gaps that need to be filled. Were always looking for how we can best serve women and their children.
Police say one of the supporters of former presidential candidate, Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, who was reported missing three weeks ago is in prison after he was arrested and convicted on charges of being in possession paper or implement for forgery and uttering counterfeit currency.

The deputy police spokesperson for Kampala Metropolitan, ASP Luke Owoyesigyire said Wednesday that Deus Tumuhimbise, said to be one of the coordinators of Mr Kyagulanyi's presidential campaigns was arrested On January 7, 2021 for allegedly issuing counterfeit notes of $5,100 to East Africa Plastic Products Company Ltd located in Mbalala industrial park in Mukono District.

"Deus was arrested on January 7, 2021 on allegations of issuing counterfeit notes of $5100 USD to East Africa Plastic Products Company Ltd located in Mbalala industrial park by Mbalala Police station," ASP Owoyesigyire said.

He said the case was investigated by Mukono police before Tumuhimbise was later arraigned in Mukono Magistrates Court where he was convicted and sentenced to six months on two counts -of being in possession paper or implement for forgery and uttering counterfeit currency.

ASP Owoyesigyire's statement posted on police social media platforms was prompted by a Facebook post in which a social media user said Tuhimbise was last seen on December 28, 2020 at the burial ceremony of one of Bobi Wine's personal guards, Francis Senteza Kalibala also known as Frank.

Senteza died in hospital after he was allegedly run over by a military truck as the Kyadondo East MP's convoy drove journalist Ashraf Kasirye from Masaka to Kampala for further medical attention after he was injured as police dispersed NUP supporters in Masaka.

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"We have seen a post circulating on social media alleging that a one Deus Tumuhimbise alias Deus firebase has been missing and was last seen during the late Frank Senteza's burial. This is not true that he is missing," ASP Owoyesigyire said before explaining circumstance following Tumuhimbise's arrest.

Disappearing Ugandans

Over the past few months, hordes of Ugandans, especially the youth, have been rounded up by unidentified people who relatives of the victims suspect to be security operatives.

Many of those who have been picked up have not been in contact with their loved ones since. It has taken months for some, and the crackdown seems to continue.

The different accounts this publication has gathered about many of those arrests - in fact almost all - show that they are supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party and their loved ones suspect that the arrests are politically motivated.

NUP party and its leader, Mr Kyagulanyi, have on many occasions cried out about what they say is the continued harassment and illegal detention of their supporters and members.
If theres one mutation that keeps scientists awake at night, its E484K. The mutation was found in both the South African variant (B1351) and the Brazilian variant (P1), but not in the UK variant (B117). This so-called escape mutation raised fears that the approved COVID vaccines may not be as effective against these variants. The E484K mutation has now been found in the UK variant as well  albeit in just 11 cases.

The mutates slowly, accumulating around two single-letter mutations per month in its genome. This rate of change is about half that of flu viruses. Early in the pandemic, few scientists were worried that the would mutate into something more dangerous. But in November 2020, that swiftly changed when the first variant of concern was discovered. The newly discovered variant B117 was associated with the huge spike in cases in south-east England and London.

Receptor-binding domain

While all mutations found in emerging variants of coronavirus should be monitored, scientists are particularly interested in mutations occurring in the viruss spike protein, specifically the receptor-binding domain (RBD) section of the spike protein. This section of the virus latches onto our cells and initiates infection. Mutations in the RBD can help the virus bind more tightly to our cells, making it more infectious.

The immunity we develop to the coronavirus, following vaccination or infection, is largely due to the development of antibodies that bind to the RBD. Mutations in this region can allow the virus to evade or partially evade these antibodies. This is the reason they are called escape mutations. E484K is one such mutation.

The mutation name comes from the position in the string of RNA (the viruss genetic code) that it occurs (484). The letter E refers to the amino acid that was originally at this location (glutamic acid). And K refers to the amino acid that is now in that location (lysine).

Several studies have shown that mutation E484K stops antibodies that target this position from binding to it. However, after an infection or vaccination, we dont produce antibodies targeting only one area of the virus. We produce a mixture of antibodies, each targeting different areas of the virus.

How detrimental it is to lose the effect of antibodies targeting this one specific region will depend on how much our immune system relies on antibodies targeting this particular site.

Two studies, one in Seattle, the other in New York, investigated this. In the Seattle study, which is a preprint (meaning it is yet to be peer reviewed), scientists examined the ability of antibodies from eight people who had recovered from COVID to stop the mutated form of the virus infecting cells  in other words, to neutralise the virus.

In samples from three of the people, the ability of the antibodies to neutralise the virus was reduced by up to 90% when presented with the E484K mutated form. And it was reduced in samples from one person when presented with a different mutation at the same position. However, the neutralisation ability of samples from four of the people was unaffected by the mutation.

In the New York study, scientists examined the effect of a range of mutations on the ability of antibodies, collected from four people, to neutralise the virus. The researchers found that none of the antibodies were affected by the E484K mutation. Yet two of the samples saw a reduction in neutralisation ability when challenged with mutations occurring at different positions in the spike protein. This highlights the uniqueness of the antibody response produced by different people.

Both these laboratory studies used only a few samples collected from people who were naturally infected, as opposed to vaccinated, so the results may differ, as we know immunity gained through vaccination is generally more robust. Consequently, several research groups have recently released data, as preprints, examining the impact of this mutation on vaccine-induced protection.

Effect on vaccines

One of these studies, published by scientists in New York, looked at antibodies from 15 people vaccinated with either of the two approved mRNA-based vaccines (those produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna). The second, published by scientists in Texas in collaboration with Pfizer, looked at antibodies from 20 people vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. A third, released by scientists in Cambridge, England,, looked at five people vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Both the New York and Texas studies showed that while the effectiveness of the vaccine to protect against variants carrying the E484K mutation was slightly reduced for some people, it was still within an acceptable level. Decreases in antibody neutralisation ability are measured in fold change. As an example, the antibodies produced by an influenza vaccine would need to see a fold decrease of more than 4 before scientists would have to alter the vaccine.

The Texas study reported a fold decrease of 1.48 in antibodies, and the New York study reported fold decreases of between 1 and 3. However, the Cambridge study found that antibodies from three of the five people had a fold decrease greater than 4 when challenged with a virus carrying the E484K mutation.

A key difference between the Cambridge and US studies is that the US studies used the South African variant, whereas the Cambridge study introduced the E484K mutation into the UK variant (B117) and used this in their tests. This may indicate that the recent reports of the detection of this mutation in B117 should be of greater concern to UK health officials than the importation and subsequent circulation of the South African variant. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that the above studies are based on very small sample numbers and any conclusions should be drawn with caution.

Nevertheless, it highlights the importance of examining the combined effect of multiple mutations as opposed to studying only individual ones, as it is unlikely that any single mutation would lead to complete escape from natural or vaccine-derived immunity.
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ULAN BATOR, Feb. 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Feb, 2021 ) :Mongolia will launch a door-to-door COVID-19 testing campaign here on Feb. 11, when a 24-hour, two-week-length lockdown comes into effect in the capital, the State Emergency Commission (SEC) said Thursday.

The planned lockdown period will cover the Lunar New Year and the traditional White Moon festival, during which 280 tracing teams will run a mass test of 420,000 households in the city, the commission said in a statement.

Ulan Bator has become the epicenter of COVID-19, where there is now a high risk of infection, Amarjargal Ambaselmaa, head of the National Center for Communicable Diseases Surveillance Department, has said.

She said that as the source of some confirmed cases has yet to be identified, asymptomatic patients are likely walk among the public.

So far, Mongolia has reported 1,890 COVID-19 cases, with more than 1,000 detected in Ulan Bator, home to over half of the country's 3.3 million population.
With 84% of SMEs feeling frustrated by lacklustre business banking offerings, banks must accelerate digital innovation roadmaps to retain customers and attract new ones

Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, today released a new report highlighting SME frustrations with business banking services. The survey showed that digital banking services have been vital for SMEs during the past year, with almost four-in-five (78%) saying the COVID-19 outbreak has made them more reliant on digital banking than ever before. Yet despite the increase in demand, 84% of SMEs are frustrated with their business banking experience, while three quarters say banks "must do more" to offer a better digital experience.

With fintechs like Tide and a growing number of challenger banks offering business banking services, SMEs are being offered more digital alternatives than ever. Given the rising dissatisfaction among the surveyed SMEs, banks must move quickly to address frustrations and seize this opportunity to further digitise services, or risk losing market share. Other key findings among SMEs surveyed include:

Almost nine in ten (89%) of the 400 UK SMEs surveyed say it is important that banks offer more digital services within business banking post-COVID-19

More than two thirds (67%) of SMEs say that if their business bank account provider is unable to provide better digital capabilities, they are more likely to switch to another provider

28% have changed business bank accounts in the last two years, citing better online and digital customer support (31%) and better services (29%) as the main reasons for switching

68% say the digital features of business bank accounts aren't as advanced as consumer bank accounts

"SMEs are craving digital banking experiences, but have previously been limited by what's on offer. In the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital channels became the only way for SMEs to manage finances, apply for loans and make payments so they had to adapt, and they aren't keen to go back to the old ways," explains Ian Johnson, Managing Director Europe at Marqeta. "At the same time, new and innovative fintechs, like Tide and Capital on Tap, have entered the scene offering a frictionless digital experience to SME customers. Challenger banks like Starling Bank, Revolut and Monzo have also launched business banking propositions which are driving up SMEs' expectations around business banking, which may create a perfect storm. If banks don't act now to improve existing digital services, they risk losing a vital revenue stream as customers switch to other providers with better offerings."

Banks must address SME frustrations to compete

Of the SMEs surveyed, the biggest frustrations with their business bank account were restrictions in what they can do on the digital platforms without paying more (33%); lengthy lending decisions and inflexible credit offerings (30%); and difficulty integrating business bank accounts with other business systems, such as accounting (29%). The SMEs surveyed are also struggling to make sense of the options available to them, as 57% of those surveyed find it confusing to understand the differences between digital banking products.

When asked about their future banking needs and the types of features they would like their business bank account to offer, those surveyed say the following were the most important:

The ability to track income and expenditure in real-time from their business bank accounts (82%)

The ability to send, pay and track invoices directly from their business bank account (80%)

The ability to integrate business banking with other systems, like accounting, to help speed up decision making on loans (77%)

"Our survey results suggest that SMEs want greater integration, choice and flexibility from digital business bank accounts. However, while banks are taking steps to improve digital services, we believe more can be done, especially for those still hampered by legacy. Every bank, regardless of their digital maturity, should focus on improving the digital services and features that users are demanding to better manage their finances, quickly access funding and link up with existing systems," concludes Johnson. "To succeed, we believe that banks need to be supported with modern core banking and payment platforms, using an API-driven approach to help them develop and launch new digital products and services at pace. Time is of the essence, as those who can move quickly and double down on digital to address SME frustrations may be well placed to take advantage in a confusing, complex market."

Business banking whitepaper

This study has been published in Marqeta's latest whitepaper "SME Banking: Business banking done differently". You can download the paper in full here: https://www.marqeta.com/uk/resources/business-banking

About the study

The findings are from 400 survey responses from SME business owners who have a business bank account. SMEs were defined as businesses with 10-250 employees. The study was conducted by Censuswide and commissioned by Marqeta.

About Marqeta

Marqeta is the modern card issuing platform empowering builders to bring the most innovative products to the world. Marqeta provides developers advanced infrastructure and tools for building highly configurable payment cards. With its open APIs, the Marqeta platform is designed for businesses who want to easily build tailored payment solutions to create best-in-class experiences and power new modes of money movement. Marqeta is headquartered in Oakland, California. For more information, visit www.marqeta.com, Twitter and LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005234/en/

Contacts:

Tom Reynolds Robert Fretwell

Spark Communications for Marqeta

0207 436 0420

marqeta@sparkcomms.co.uk
Courtesy, Republican Accountability Project

Sen. Ted Cruz is responding to the 100 billboards across Texas featuring his face with the word "resign."

A spokesperson for the Cruz camp shared the following statement Tuesday evening.

A hairdresser has shaved her head to raise money for doctors who helped her sister with a rare skin condition which left her 'looking like Deadpool'.

Harriet Stuckey, 27, from Somerset, developed Castleman disease, a life-threatening condition which triggers an abnormal overgrowth of cells of the lymph system, leaving a grapefruit-sized tumour on her pelvis.

Due to the disease, Harriet also suffered from a rare skin disease called Paraneoplastic Pemphigus, causing sore, agonising blisters to erupt across her entire body - which she says left her 'looking like something out of Deadpool', the 2016 Marvel movie featuring actor Ryan Reynolds.

The tumour was removed in 2017 and Harriet no longer suffers from either disease but still has extensive scarring and a lung condition which affects her breathing and shortens life expectancy.

Last week, Harriet shaved sister Olivia's hair off to raise more than 2,000 for Southmead Hospital Charity, to say thank you for saving Harriet's life.

Hairdresser Olivia Stuckey (pictured left) has shaved her head to raise money for doctors who helped her sister (pictured right) with a rare skin condition which left her 'looking like Deadpool'

Harriet Stuckey (pictured with her sister Olivia), 27, from Somerset, developed Castleman disease, a life-threatening condition which triggers an abnormal overgrowth of cells of the lymph system, leaving a grapefruit-sized tumour on her pelvis

Harriet said: 'I looked like something out of Deadpool. I would scream with pain when they had to bathe me. My hair fell out, so I only had strands left, I looked like an old man.

'Humour kept me going through it all. I had a brilliant family behind me and I'm really proud of my sister.'

Harriet was travelling in Australia in 2016 when she became ill - and noticed ulcers on her mouth.

Due to the disease, Harriet (pictured left, before her illness) also suffered from a rare skin disease called Paraneoplastic Pemphigus, causing sore, agonising blisters to erupt across her entire body - which she says left her 'looking like something out of Deadpool' (pictured right)

The tumour was removed in 2017 and Harriet (pictured centre, with her family) no longer suffers from either disease but still has extensive scarring and a lung condition which affects her breathing and shortens life expectancy

After travelling to Florida to surprise the rest of her family who had gone on holiday - Harriet's health declined and she was soon rushed back to England with her father, Ricky.

After a scan at Musgrove Hospital, Taunton, a tumour was spotted on her pelvis and later attributed to Harriet's Castleman's disease.

Meanwhile, Harriet began to develop blisters all over her body - eventually diagnosed as a rare skin disease called Paraneoplastic Pemphigus.

Olivia, 21, said: 'As an autoimmune disease there's not much you can really do - once your body wants to fight itself its uncontrollable.

Last week, Harriet (pictured left, before her illness, and right, being treated for it) shaved sister Olivia's hair off to raise more than 2,000 for Southmead Hospital Charity, to say thank you for saving Harriet's life

The progression of Harriet's skin condition from September 2016 (left) to December (right) of the same year

Harriet (pictured during her treatment, and right, with a picture of Deadpool) was travelling in Australia in 2016 when she became ill - and noticed ulcers on her mouth

'It was all about trying to calm her skin down at the start - it was like she'd been burnt. She couldn't get dressed as her skin was so blistered up.'

WHAT IS CASTLEMAN DISEASE? Castleman disease isn't actually a single disease. Instead, it is a group of inflammatory disorders that cause an abnormal overgrowth of cells of the lymph system. It's diagnosed in about 5,000 people of all ages each year in the US, which makes it roughly as common as Lou Gehrig's disease, also called ALS. Patients experience a range of symptoms - from a single abnormal lymph node with mild flu-like symptoms to abnormal lymph nodes located throughout their entire body, abnormal blood cell counts, and life-threatening failure of multiple organ systems, such as the kidneys, liver, heart, and lungs. The most severe subtype, idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD), has similarities to both autoimmune conditions as well as cancer. About 35 percent of patients with iMCD will die within five years of diagnosis. In 2014, the FDA approved the drug siltuximab to treat iMCD, and studies have shown it can send between one-third and one-half of patients into a remission that generally lasts for years. Source: University of Pennsylvania Advertisement

Harriet's tumour, humorously named 'Norman,' was eventually removed at Southmead Hospital.

Residue from the tumour, this time inactive, was soon found - but doctors said operating would cause more harm than good due to Harriet's already precarious health - and pulled the plug right as she was about to have the operation in May 2017.

Harriet has had radiotherapy on the tumour since, which is keeping the Castleman's at bay.

Harriet's skin has since cleared, but she has been left with scars all over her body. She has also been left with a serious lung condition called Bronchiolitis Obliterans.

Doctors told Harriet four years ago she only had two years left - but Harriet is determined to fight.

'I just have to live life and hope I last longer than most people with this lung condition,' she said. 'Four years ago, my lung consultant - we called him Doctor Death - wrote me off.

'He said go live the best life you can because soon your quality of life will be reduced. But four years on I'm still here - I'm a bit stumped. Perhaps because the lung condition is so rare, they've got nothing to compare it to.'

Harriet is incredibly close with her family, and her sister Olivia said they always try to find the funny side of bad situations.

Olivia said: 'I think joking about it is the only way - otherwise you're just always sad. We all joked and said she has to dress up as Deadpool. Her attitude is much better than I would be.'

Last week Harriet shaved Olivia's hair off to raise more than 2,000 for Southmead Hospital Charity through their Just Giving page, to say thank you for saving Harriet's life.

Olivia, who lives with Harriet in an annex next door to their parents, said: 'Southmead Hospital have been remarkable in helping Harriet through her rare diseases.

Harriet's (pictured) tumour, humorously named 'Norman,' was eventually removed at Southmead Hospital

Residue from the tumour, this time inactive, was soon found - but doctors said operating would cause more harm than good due to Harriet's already precarious health - and pulled the plug right as she was about to have the operation in May 2017. Harriet has had radiotherapy on the tumour since, which is keeping the Castleman's at bay

'My initial target was 500. The immunology department has been a major importance to her trying to find a solution to our unanswered questions.

'Although Harriet has been left with a life-limiting lung condition, we still have her with us and for that we are grateful.

'Everyone knows my hair is definitely part of my personality but as Harriet lost her hair due to the trauma and treatment, I am inspired by the way she handled it all and if she can do it, so can I.'
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An American bistro with a French twist is en route to Hershey.

On Feb. 15, Cafe aMusee will open at the The Hershey Story at 63 W. Chocolate Ave., replacing the former The Pantry Cafe.

Were really proud to bring a locally owned business to downtown Hershey, said Angela Megoulas, Cafe aMusee co-owner. Weve developed a great menu that balances unique selections with more classic food items.

Shes joined in the venture by friend and business partner, Irene Gekas. The two have operated restaurants at Hersheypark for about 18 years, and owned 2201 in the Boro in Camp Hill in the early 2000s.

Their new cafe will highlight breakfast and lunch options, and will introduce central Pennsylvania to La Colombe Coffee Roasters. La Colombe is headquartered in Philadelphia and operates cafes in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Diners will be able to order La Colombes popular draft latte and cold brew, as well as Black and Tan, a combination of the two draft coffee beverages.

Breakfast options will encompass warm cinnamon roll skillet, a croiwaffle served with chocolate or chocolate hazelnut spread and croque monsieur. For lunch, diners will find Wagyu beef burgers, grilled salmon sandwiches and tahini cauliflower bowls.

Additionally, there will be steak frites, macaroni au gratin and Southern fried chicken. Daily specials and homemade soups will round out the offerings along with pastries and breads delivered daily from Philadelphia bakeries.

For those looking for a sweet treat, the cafe will serve popular hot chocolate bombs with a side of steamed milk for hot chocolate. Diners also can order syringes filled with warm milk chocolate, sold separately or with whipped cream and strawberries for topping on dessert pizzas.

Admission to the museum is not required to dine in the restaurant.

The cafes hours will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., daily. Online ordering will be available through Cafea Musees website. Phone is 717-508-1729.
Due to the Tatmadaws wariness of Beijing as well as New Delhis close strategic partnership with the United States, India should be in a good position to deal with the eventualities

Foreign policy may be occasionally influenced by idealism, but it is definitely shaped by self-interest. The coup in Myanmar presents a complex mosaic of threats and opportunities for India. As we witness the unravelling of the delicate power-sharing deal between Myanmars military (Tatmadaw) and civilian leadership led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the immediate temptation is to interpret the developments as a setback for India, or at the very least a tension between New Delhis democratic values and strategic interests. This fear (expressed here or here, for instance) is premature.

There was never any real tension between idealism and realpolitik for democratic nations in their terms of engagement with Myanmar. The Wests abandonment of Suu Kyi carried with it a sense of betrayal and a conviction that Myanmars democratic veneer was nominal and never based on liberal values. The backsliding of democracy here isnt a tectonic shift.

If anything, the developments on 1 February  when the Tatmadaw detained Suu Kyi, President Win Myint along with other senior political leaders of the ruling National League for Democracy party (NLD) and slapped a state of emergency for one year in a power grab  flips Myanmars politics formally back to the template India is accustomed to for decades, and this time New Delhi may even hold a marginal leverage over Beijing.

One of the key questions around Mondays power grab by the military  a few months after its proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) suffered a poll drubbing at the hands of NLD in November  centres on the reason behind the coup. Tatmadaws official position is election fraud but the likely answers  as scholars and analysts have assessed  exemplify how little difference there was politically between the civilian and military leadership. In fact, the power struggle that led to the coup stemmed from the fact that Suu Kyi was increasingly eating into the militarys political space with her anti-minority politics and soaring popularity among the Bamar-Buddhist majority, leading Tatmadaw to fear that its structural control over Myanmars political system may wane.

The more Suu Kyi received flak from the West for her authoritarian ways, justifying of ethnic cleansing and xenophobic politics, the more she made nationalism a key plank of her political appeal and cultivated closer ties with China to stave off pressure from the West. Her stout defence at the ICJ of Tatmadaws bloody crackdown on Rohingya minorities in 2017 instead of endearing her to the military, made the conservative faction of Tatmadaw led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing  who seized power through the coup  feel threatened and insecure.

The final straw, perhaps, was an unhappy coincidence that occurred due to Tatmadaw commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaings approaching retirement and Suu Kyis audacious attempts to bring Constitutional amendments that would have gradually shrunk the militarys share of Parliament from 25 percent as mandated by the 2008 Constitution to five percent. It may have ended up convincing the Tatmadaw that it had to move now or risk getting permanently marginalised.

Champa Patel, director of the Asia-Pacific Program at Chatham House in London, explains that it was always a risk that the military would step in to try and shore up their power Their insecurity has deepened as (Suu Kyi) consolidated her power within the country and deepened ties with countries such as China in comments to the Associated Press.

The issue of Myanmar-China ties under Suu Kyi is a complicated one. In order to protect its considerable interests in the field of gas and oil, to extend the BRI infrastructural network and also to protect Chinas interests as Myanmars biggest trading partner, Beijing sought stability in bilateral ties and developed a close relationship with Suu Kyi while its relationship with the Tatmadaw remained fractious. Part of the reason why the Myanmar military decided to enter into a power-sharing agreement with a civilian leadership was that it wanted to hedge against exclusive dependence on China in the spheres of economy and external affairs having been boxed into a corner by sanctions imposed by the United States.

Washington imposed waves of sanctions in 1988, 1997 and in 2010 while trying to force Myanmars generals into sharing power with Suu Kyis party, and yielding strategic space to Beijing in the process. Chinas shielding of Myanmar, however, came at a price.

While Beijing gave Naypyidaw cushion from Western sanctions, it remained entrenched into Myanmars ethnic insurgency movements  providing rebel groups such as Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and United Wa State Army  with arms and logistical support to safeguard own strategic interests, and sometimes to play both sides.

In July last year, army chief General Min Aung Hlaing accused China of arming the Arakan Army and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army rebels, whom Myanmar calls terrorist organisations that are active in the Rakhine State in western Myanmar bordering China.

As a USIP report on Chinas role in Myanmars internal conflicts points out, the PLA and actors with possible links to the PLA are supplying weapons to ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, and may even have tried to pressure the Tatmadaw to stop offensives against ethnic armed groups. Retired PLA also continue to engage in lucrative business deals and even serve as mercenaries for ethnic armed groups in Myanmar. https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2018-09/ssg-report-chinas-role-in-myanmars-internal-conflicts.pdf

University of London scholar Avinash Paliwal also notes Chinas role in 2011, when the ceasefire between the KIO and Tatmadaw broke down. The Kachin outfit wanted Indias help but with New Delhi refusing to play ball it was Beijing that enabled the KIO to mount serious resistance to the Tatmadaw, while simultaneously promising Naypyidaw to deliver the group to the negotiations table.

For all these reasons, the Myanmar militarys relationship with Beijing remains marked by a lack of trust. Bilahari Kausikan observes in Asia Nikkei that the Tatmadaw is strongly nationalist and has no intrinsic affinity with China. Historically and up to the present day, the Tatmadaw has viewed Beijing's support for the Burmese Communist Party and ethnic insurgencies with grave suspicion. Given other options, the Tatmadaw will not want to be overly dependent on China.

Looking at Chinas reaction  the fact that it blocked the UN Security Council from issuing a joint condemnation of the coup, or its State medias description of the event as a Cabinet reshuffle, along with the fact that three weeks before Hlaing grabbed power he may have tipped off the visiting Wang Yi, Chinas state counsellor, about the turn of events  many have speculated that China is backing the coup or could even be behind it.

That doesnt fully explain Chinas need for stability in bilateral ties. It had reached a comfortable position with Suu Kyi who visited China several times and laid out support, albeit gingerly, for Beijings range of projects covering infrastructure, energy, mining industry despite strong local opposition. Wang Yis recent visit, in fact, was interpreted as Beijings tacit support for NLDs election win and an indication from Beijing that it would like to see stability and faster advancement on projects that it needs to develop for access to the Bay of Bengal.

In fact, as Paliwal has written in Hindustan Times, the Tatmadaw perceived Suu Kyis perceived tilt towards Beijing as a Machiavellian attempt to carve out more political support for herself when the West had abandoned Suu Kyi.

Reuters reports that the ruling Communist Partys official Peoples Daily newspaper has recently stated that as a neighbour on Chinas southern border, a split Myanmar in turmoil is obviously not what China wants to see. It ties with what Zhao Gancheng of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies told AP. As a neighbouring country, I cant see anything good for China, given that all of Chinas investments and infrastructure construction need a stable environment China is concerned about this development.

India does have to sort out the complex calculus of promoting democratic values and securing strategic interests but unlike China, its relationship with the Tatmadaw is not marked by distrust and suspicion. From its overtly pro-democracy position in the end of 1980s and early 1990s, New Delhis position towards the Tatmadaw  which has never relinquished its grip over Myanmar despite erecting a political front  gradually became of critical importance as India invested heavily in building trust with the generals driven by an urgent need to secure its northeastern border and blunt the extremist threats from Mizo insurgency and Naga separatist groups.

Unlike Beijing, New Delhi is on firmer geopolitical footing here because Chinas meddling in Myanmars ethnic politics and links with militia forces that operate on their common border have made the Tatmadaw wary of Beijing.

For its part, India has expressed its deep concern with the developments in Nay Pyi Taw. The MEA release states India has always been steadfast in its support to the process of democratic transition in Myanmar. We believe that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld. We are monitoring the situation closely.

This is the farthest that New Delhi may go in publicly condemning the coup in Myanmar unlike its Quad partners such as the US and Australia, as Abhijnan Rej has pointed out in The Diplomat.

Under the hood, however, the effort to further consolidate the relationship with the Tatmadaw while nudging the military to reopen the democratic process shall go on. The thing to note here is that India has always maintained a robust rapport with Myanmars defence and security edifice based on a realist approach to foreign policy, need to safeguard national security and an acknowledgement that New Delhi lacks the toolkit or the power to force Myanmar military to relinquish control or initiate a vigorous democratic process.

In the past few years, officials from the defence and security establishment have made several reciprocal visits to underline the closeness of ties. The 2017 visit by Gen Hlaing was an indication that the Tatmadaw was eager to diversify its defence cooperation with India and it also presented a chance for New Delhi to balance its interests in a country that was seen to be ensconced firmly in Chinas sphere of influence. India had offered to sell artillery guns, naval boats, road-building and other defence-related equipment, and some lightweight torpedoes as well. Hlaings visit two years later in 2019 resulted in both nations signing a new memorandum of understanding on bilateral defence cooperation. On that occasion, Tatmadaws top commander had met senior Indian leaders, including the chief of all three major Indian armed services: Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat, and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh.

The visit came shortly after both countries carried out a coordinated border security operation against militia groups along the shared border, and New Delhi supplied an initial batch of indigenously built torpedoes for the Myanmar Navy at an estimated cost of $37.9 million.

A release by Indias defence ministry covering that visit had called Myanmar a key pillar of Indias Act East Policy and stated that the talks between both sides were aimed at enhancing defence co-operation, review joint exercises and training provided to Myanmar Defence Services, strengthen maritime security by joint surveillance and capacity building, medical co-operation, pollution response and for developing new infrastructure.

India gave Myanmar a Soviet-era Kilo-class submarine last year and that announcement came shortly after Indias politico-military visit to Myanmar on 4-5 October when Indian Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla met Suu Kyi and Hlaing during their visit to Myanmar. During the visit, the two sides agreed to strengthen their partnership in connectivity projects, capacity-building and trade, and to broaden their defence exchanges across all three services  army, navy and air force, reported The Financial Times.

On the Tatmadaws side, this burgeoning security cooperation, apart from being a hedge against China, also stems from a belief India wont play a destabilising or outsized role in its ethnic politics. Paliwal has shown how the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), who control pockets of territory near the India-China-Myanmar trijunction can generate critical intelligence for India and even empower Indias so-called Tibet card but he also points out that New Delhi has shied away from strengthening such a relationship out of fear of upsetting Naypyidaw, and because of a complicated history of failed outreach.

On the much-discussed dilemma between Indias need for promoting democracy in the neighbourhood, India will take the road it has always taken  engage with the military establishment to secure its core interests and gently raise the issue in closed-door discussions, as scholar Constantino Xavier has explained.

This would also indicate a remarkable continuity in Indias approach. In 2006, Indias then foreign secretary Shyam Saran during an MEA press briefing had called Myanmar Indias bridgehead to Southeast Asia. To a question on Indias engagement with a military-ruled state, he had said: there are various reasons for which it is important for India and Myanmar to remain engaged. Now, while we remain engaged, does it mean that we do not care about democracy in Myanmar? No. As I just explained to you, in the meetings that our leaders have had with leaders of Myanmar, as a friend we have made known also our view on the current situation.

Five years later, Ambassador Vishnu Prakash, on Myanmar president Thein Seins visit to India, had stated during an MEA press briefing that India deals with the Government of the day which is in power. Regardless of the complexion of the Government in our neighbourhood, it is for the people of a country to decide what kind of a government they want, we deal with the Government of the day.

This realist calculus will again be at play, and due to the Tatmadaws wariness of Beijing as well as New Delhis close strategic partnership with the United States, India should be in a good position to deal with the eventualities. India's strategic perspective now appears firmer.
US, Britain seek new WHO look into possible origins of COVID-19 in China

Most sophisticated repression of minorities conducted by China abroad: Report

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: The most sophisticated and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression, targeting religious minorities like Uighurs, political dissidents and former Communist party members who have fled abroad is done by China, a new report has said.

The Freedom House report said that the Chinese government's transnational repression is is unparalleled. Freedom House is a US government funded and Washington based advocacy group for democracy and human rights.

The report said that "members of ethnic and religious minorities, former insiders of the Chinese Communist Party, human rights defenders, and increasingly, people from Hong Kong-all have been subjected to serious forms of transnational repression, including assassination attempts and renditions."

The report pointed out to the Chinese authorities' 2015 kidnapping of Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizenship, who was later forced to renounce his citizenship while in Chinese custody. This was a striking example of Beijing's disregard for nationality, sovereignty and human rights, the report said.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

It may be recalled that Beijing had sanctioned Freedom House in 2019 over what it called efforts to interfere in its internal affairs. "These egregious and high-profile cases are only the tip of the iceberg of a much broader system of surveillance, harassment, and intimidation that leaves many overseas Chinese and exile minorities feeling that the CCP is watching them and constraining their ability to exercise basic rights even when living in a foreign democracy," Freedom House also said.
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan  A network of shadowy power brokers and warlords, bankrolled by the Afghan government and the national police force, is luring disadvantaged people into joining militias, sometimes under false pretenses, out of a growing desperation to hold territory around highways in the countrys north, according to former militia members and local officials.

These key arteries, which are the few means of road travel between the provinces, have increasingly become the front line for an emboldened Taliban insurgency. To protect them, local officials in Balkh Province are manning highway outposts with often untrained Afghans, who are given little more than a rifle and the promise of a paycheck if they survive. Others have been offered construction jobs, only to arrive and realize there is no repair work to be done.

The militia members are dropped in areas too dangerous to flee and only picked up weeks or months later, dead or alive.

The crooked recruitment practice is the latest indication that Afghanistans security forces have been hollowed out by degrading morale and poor recruitment as Taliban attacks continue at an unrelenting pace across the country.

[February 04, 2021] Media Alert: Farsight Security to Keynote and Judge Prestigious UK Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge

SAN MATEO, Calif., Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- What:

Farsight Security, Inc. CEO Dr. Paul Vixie to deliver keynote and Farsight Security, Inc. Principal Architect Boris Taratine to judge this years prestigious UK Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge. Farsight is also a sponsor for the virtual event. The UK Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge is designed to identify and foster the next generation of policy and strategy leaders for the cyber security challenges of the future. Hosted by the Atlantic Councils Cyber Statecraft Initiative, the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge is a global cyber policy and strategy competition. It is the fourth year of the U.K. Cyber 9/12 event where students compete in developing policy recommendations to help the U.K. government tackle a fictional cyber incident. The competition has been designed to provide student competitors across varied disciplines a deeper understanding of the strategy challenges associated with cyber security, crisis and conflict. The diverse skill sets of its participants will be tested as they are presented with a variety of scenario injects ranging from news reports, technical reports, intelligence reports and social media feeds. As a team, they must develop their joint understanding of the problem, develop options, and then present their suggested solution in a verbal presentation to judging panels. Mr. Taratine returns once again for his fourth year at the UK Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge to serve on the judging panel, which consists of experienced industry, academic and U.K. government cyber security experts. You can learn more about his experience participating in this event in his latest blog article, Investing in Cybersecuritys Future: The UK Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge. Having received a briefing on the teams policy recommendations, the judging panel asks questions of the teams before scoring their performance and giving feedback. Alongside the competition, the students will be invited to participate in career development sessions and workshops aimed in inspiring interest in various cyber security opportnities. For more details on the event, please visit here.



Who:

Dr. Paul Vixie, Chairman, CEO and Cofounder, Farsight Security, Inc., @FarsightSecInc

Boris Taratine, Principal Architect, Farsight Security, Inc., @FarsightSecInc When:

Tuesday, February 16th and Wednesday, February 17th 2021





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Dr. Paul Vixie, CEO from @FarsightSecInc, to keynote the @AtlanticCouncil @Cyber912_UK #cyber912 Interview Opportunities:

Farsight Security CEO Dr. Paul Vixie is available to discuss his keynote and explain the importance this competition plays in helping to educate and prepare interested college students about the potential cyberthreats facing the world and the skills necessary to deter such threats. About the UK Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge The Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge was established by the Atlantic Council's Cyber Statecraft Initiative. Now entering its eighth year globally, the Strategy Challenge is a one-of-a-kind competition designed to provide students across academic disciplines with a deeper understanding of the policy challenges associated with cyber crisis and conflict. This will be the fourth annual UK competition. Part interactive learning experience and part competitive scenario exercise, it challenges teams to respond to a realistic, evolving cyber-attack and analyse the threat it poses to national, international, and private sector interests. Students have a unique opportunity to interact with expert mentors and high-level cyber professionals while developing valuable skills in policy analysis and presentation. Alongside the competition, students are also provided with a range of career development and personal development focused briefing and mentoring sessions as well as keynote talks from senior leaders from across industry, government and the cyber security world. Due to COVID19 lockdown restrictions, this years event will be run entirely virtually but there will be a Prize Giving Reception held at the BT Tower, in London, at a date later in the year, as and when the COVID19 restrictions are eased. A video compilation from the 2019 UK competition is available via YouTube. About Farsight Security, Inc. Farsight Security, Inc. is the worlds largest provider of historical and real-time passive DNS data. We enable security teams to qualify, enrich and correlate all sources of threat data and ultimately save time when it is most critical - during an attack or investigation. Our solutions provide enterprise, government and security industry personnel and platforms with unmatched global visibility, context and response. Farsight Security is headquartered in San Mateo, California, USA. Learn more about how we can empower your threat platform and security team with Farsight Security passive DNS solutions at www.farsightsecurity.com or follow us on Twitter: @FarsightSecInc. Farsight Security, Inc.

Karen Burke

Director of Corporate Communications

kburke@fsi.io UK Cyber 9/12 Competition Enquiries

Robert Black

Director, UK Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge

+44 (0)7775 680121

Cyber 9/12 Communications Enquiries

Joh Peterson

Communications Director, UK Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge

comms@cyber912uk.org Atlantic Council Enquiries

Simon P. Handler | Assistant Director, Cyber Statecraft Initiative

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

1030 15th Street NW, 12th Floor | Washington, DC 20005

T: 1.202.778.4951| E: SHandler@AtlanticCouncil.org| @SimonPHandler

www.facebook.com/AtlanticCouncil | @AtlanticCouncil | www.AtlanticCouncil.org



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ISLAMABAD, Feb 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Feb, 2021 ) :Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser on Thursday said that the resolution of Kashmir issue was essential for peace and stability in the region.

Expressing his views about the Kashmir Solidarity Day which is being marked on February 5, Speaker said that the use of brutal force against unarmed Kashmiris in Indian Illegaly occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) could neither crush their independence movement nor change the principled position of Pakistan on Kashmir.

He said that curfew has been imposed in occupied Kashmir for the last one and half years due to which the people were deprived of their basic rights.

Speaker also expressed concern that there was a shortage of medicines and food due to the curfew and lockdown imposed since long , which could lead to severe catastrophe. He urged the United Nations to take notice of the ongoing barbarism by India in IIOJK and stop India from gross violations of human rights and also put pressue on India to implrmrt UNSC resolutions on Kashmir .

The Speaker warned that the silence of the international community on the Kashmir issue could be a prelude to a major war in the region.

Highlighting Pakistan's support and principled stand for the struggle of the Kashmiri people for independence, the Speaker said that the Pakistani government and people would continue to provide moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle for self-determination at every forum. He said that the Parliament of Pakistan is committed to the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue as it has always emphasized to resolve the Kashmir issue in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council and to stop the atrocities committed by Indian forces in the occupied valley.

He reiterated parliamentary support on every international and regional forums for the resolution of Kashmir issue. He said that the forcible occupation of Kashmir by India was against the moral values of modern society and the basic right of the people to self-determination.

The Speaker urged the United Nations to implement its resolutions on Kashmir and put pressure on India to stop using brutal force. He expressed the hope that people of occupied Kashmir would witness the dawn of freedom and the people there would be able to live in a peaceful environment.
Conroy Gold & Natural Resources PLC - gold explorer in Ireland and Finland - Finds further gold discoveries on its Glenish gold licence: a large new gold-in-soil anomaly, and a new gold mineralised outcrop indicating an extension of the Glenish Gold target.

"The newly discovered gold-in-soil anomaly lies 2 kilometres northeast of the Glenish gold target and is located at Corlongford on the border between the Glenish gold licence and the Clontibret gold licence. The anomaly covers an area circa 500 metres by 400 metres and is bisected by the Orlock Bridge Fault Zone which is a major control on gold mineralisation in the Longford-Down Massif," company says.

Rock chip sampling in the Glenish Licence area has discovered gold in bedrock in two areas, one within the Glenish gold target and adjacent to a previous gold mineralised zone announced with values up to 0.2 grammes per tonne gold, the other 200 metres to the east of the Glenish gold target suggesting that the Glenish gold target may extend further than previously indicated by gold- in-soil sampling, Conroy adds.

Chair Richard Conroy says: "The continued progress on the company's Glenish licence, including the discovery of a substantial new gold anomaly at Corlongford close to the border with the Clontibret licence, is highly encouraging and gives further credence to the estimates of 8.8 million potential contained ounces gold in the Clontibret-Clay Lake-Glenish gold target areas. This is in addition to the 517,000 ounces gold resource at Clontibret. I am looking forward to accelerated progress in the coming year as part of a joint venture relationship and the company is planning accordingly."

Current stock price: 35.40 pence

Year-to-date change: down 16%

By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Anchored around the picturesque setting of the Founder's Memorial, in Abu Dhabi, the awards ceremony included the acceptance speeches of the two honorees, along with messages from Pope Francis and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed Al-Tayeb.

With the award inspired by the UAE's founder and his lifelong commitment to humanitarian values, the Founder's Memorial was a perfect backdrop to a truly moving, visual experience. With the ceremony online, viewers from all over the world are able to tune in to join in the celebrations and watch the honorees accept their award.

In his goodwill message to both 2021 honorees, His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, said:

"Firstly, I must begin by saying that His Holiness Pope Francis has been a courageous brother and constant friend on the path of fraternity and peace. Such efforts have seen the United Nations General Assembly adopting the anniversary of the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity, February 4th, to be the International Day of Human Fraternity, which will now encourage universal support in pursuing the spread the intercultural dialogue, co-existence, and human fraternity. This is a victory for human dignity everywhere.

"I also extend my greetings and blessings to His Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, as an honoree of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity. It is clear that his wide-range of humanitarian efforts exerted through the UN have sought to rid humanity of the sufferings of conflicts, and ease the negative effects of the pandemic."

"Joint 2021 honoree, Latifa Ibn Ziaten is a rare role model for the world. Her generosity of spirit and steadfastness in her ability to transform personal suffering into a message of security and safety for all, is a victory for all humanity and a reminder of the good that is always capable of defeating the forces of evil."

Addressing the event from The Vatican, Pope Francis spoke of the importance of human fraternity as the 21st century's key challenge, saying:

"To the Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, I thank for the companionship during this journey of reflection and the writing of the Document [on Human Fraternity]. I know it wasn't an easy task but together we helped each other, consolidating in true fraternity.

"Today, fraternity is the new frontier of humanity. Either we are brothers or we destroy ourselves. It is the challenge of our century; the challenge of our time. Human Fraternity means respect, to listen with an open heart, and to have strength in our principles.

"Born from the same father, with different cultures and traditions, we are all still brothers; and respecting our different cultures and traditions, our different citizenships, we must build this fraternity not negotiate it. It is time to listen and for sincere acceptance."

The Secretary-General of the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity, and contributing author to the Document on Human Fraternity, Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, added:

"On this day of celebration for human fraternity, we are indeed honored to have received the support of two of the world's most influential world leaders and previous honorees of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, united with a common message and purpose  to advance humanity as one family, undivided.

"The 2021 honorees  Latifa Ibn Zaiten and UN Secretary-General Guterres  are truly representative of the values championed in the Document on Human Fraternity, which forms the assessment criteria for the award. Indeed, their respective efforts to address some of the world's key socio-cultural and political issues are an inspiration to all and role models for many who will also heed the call to act."

Marking the second anniversary since the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity by the Pope and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, the International Day of Human Fraternity was introduced by the UN General Assembly, in December 2020; the date chosen to commemorate the historic meeting of the Pope and Grand Imam, at the document's signing, in 2019.

In addition to the awards ceremony and as part of the wider celebrations of the first International Day of Human Fraternity, several key landmarks in both The Vatican and Abu Dhabi will be lit up on Thursday evening.

The nominations process for the 2022 awards will open 1st May 2021 and end of December 2021. To find out if you qualify as a nominator or to nominate a candidate for next year's award, go to: www.zayedaward.org.

About ZAHF

The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity seeks to honor the legacy of the founder of the United Arab Emirates by celebrating people everywhere who embody through their work his lifelong commitment to human fraternity. It is awarded by the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity and includes a financial prize of one million dollars. It was created in February, 2019, to mark the historic meeting in Abu Dhabi of the head of the Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Francis, and His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmad al-Tayeb, to co-sign the historic Document of Human Fraternity. Pope Francis and Grand Imam al-Tayeb were the first honorary co-recipients of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity.

About HCHF

Formed in 2019, the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity is an independent committee dedicated to achieving the aspirations of the Document for Human Fraternity by bringing people across the world together, in the spirit of peaceful co-existence. The committee comprises a diverse group of international religious leaders, scholars and cultural leaders.

Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1433318/ZAHF_2021_Honorees_Acceptance_Speeches.mp4

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1433316/2021_Zayed_Award_for_Human_Fraternity.jpg

SOURCE The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity
A recently released economic report confirmed what many people already, that the private sector lost a lot of money and as a result either fur Read more

The three-year-old Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ may no longer receive Android OS updates but they continue to receive monthly security patches. The 2018 Galaxy S series flagships are now picking up the February 2021 Android security patch with a new update.

The update is currently rolling out over the air (OTA) with the firmware versions G960FXXSEFUA1 and G965FXXSEFUA1 for the two devices respectively. It is available across all major regions where the Galaxy S9 duo were sold. This update only brings the latest security patch, so dont go deep looking for any new features.

Nonetheless, the February 2021 Android security patch fixes four critical and dozens of high-risk vulnerabilities found in Android OS as well as Samsungs One UI. So youd want to upgrade to the latest security level as early as possible.

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If youre using one of the Galaxy S9 or Galaxy S9+, be on the lookout for this update if you havent already received it. You should get a notification prompting you to download the latest update anytime now. You can also manually check for updates through the Settings app on your phone, under the Software update menu.

Samsung Galaxy S9, S9+ receive February 2021 security update

As mentioned earlier, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ have already received their second and final major Android OS updates. The two devices arrived on the scene with Android 8 Oreo back in 2018. They have since received their Android 9.0 Pie and Android 10 updates over the past two years.

Samsung last year did promise to offer up to three years of Android OS updates to its flagship models as well as select mid-range smartphones. However, this generosity only extends to phones launched in 2019 and beyond. So the Galaxy s9 duo are out of favor. The One UI 2.5 update, which arrived in October last year, was perhaps the last major feature update for the two phones.

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As for the security updates, they continue to receive the Android security maintenance releases monthly. They will likely receive monthly security updates for a few more months, or maybe, for another year. Samsung will eventually drop them to the quarterly cycle before software support completely dries up.

If youre using a Galaxy S9 or S9+ and are looking to upgrade to a newer phone before they reach their end of life, the recently launched Galaxy S21 series might be an ideal choice. Samsung is offering a decent $350 in trade-in value for the two 2018 phones. The prices of the Galaxy S21 series, meanwhile, start at $799.99 and go all the way up to $1379.99.

China's top legislature briefed some national lawmakers on the upcoming annual legislative session to prepare them well on Wednesday. The session is due on March 5.

Briefing the lawmakers, Yang Zhenwu, secretary-general of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said the session would make comprehensive plans and arrangements for China's economic and social development work this year.

Summing up the top legislature's efforts in 2020, Yang said it had deliberated 51 legislative bills and draft decisions, adopting 33 of them. The legislature also heard 30 reports and inspected the enforcement of six laws and one decision, among other accomplishments.

Various tasks set at the last annual legislative session have been completed, Yang said. He added that the top legislature did its part in balancing COVID-19 responses with China's economic and social development.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Leviathan Natural Products Inc. (CSE: EPIC) (the "Company" or "Leviathan") is pleased to provide the following corporate update with respect to its product development and operations in Tennessee, USA, Antioquia, Colombia, and Ontario, Canada.

Leviathan US - Carthage, Tennessee Facility

Leviathan US, Inc. ("Leviathan US"), is accelerating its US business extracting and processing cannabinoid products from hemp biomass at its newly renovated 37,000 square foot facility on 9.75 acres in Carthage, Tennessee. The facility features a unique ethanol processing technique. This process involves chilling the ethanol and plant biomass to -80C with liquid nitrogen. The ultra-low temperatures produce the precise formulations with superior potency and purity. The state-of-the-art facility includes 2,500 square feet of custom C1D2 extraction clean room space with foam fire suppression systems, security cameras and precision air handling.

Leviathan US plans to initially sell the following hemp-derived extracts for wholesale distribution across the United States: crude oil, THC-free crude, distillate, and THC-free distillate. In addition, the Company utilizes its leading-edge processes to produce highly sought after and valuable crystal-resistant distillate ("CRD"). Crystallization is unwanted in vape cartridges as suspended crystals can make the product difficult to use.

As Leviathan US moves forward, its business strategy in 2021 will focus on the highest margin products in in the cannabinoid extraction segment through the manufacturing of finished products for the Company's own brands and through white labeling formulations for select customers. The Company is currently creating a proprietary portfolio of health and wellness- focused cannabinoid brands. The launch and distribution of branded products are projected for early in the 2nd calendar quarter of 2021, and will consist of tinctures, vape pens, and gummies. Here is a sneak peek at the Jekyll & Hyde branded, proprietary vape line:





Figure 1

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2564/73631_82ff018b148c7b14_001full.jpg

Leviathan's unique high quality product formulations have already resulted in some early successes that include:

The execution of split toll processing agreements with local Tennessee hemp farmers for recently harvested crops. Under these agreements, Leviathan US processes the farmers' biomass and in exchange for this service retains half of the extracted product.

Currently, the facility has approximately 60,000 pounds of hemp biomass on hand under split toll arrangements. This supply allows the facility to build its own inventory of crude oil, which can be further processed and sold without incurring the cost of purchasing hemp biomass.

US$120,000 order from a Las Vegas, Nevada distributor for 30,000 vape pens filled with crystal resistant CBD distillate.

US$59,000 order from a Smith County, Tennessee distributor for 132 liters of full spectrum distillate.

LCG Holdings Inc. - Carmen de Viboral, Antioquia, Colombia Facility

LCG Holdings Inc. ("LCG") will begin cultivation of specialized strains of hemp with high concentrations of CBD, CBG & CBN in the next few weeks, for extract and manufacturing of cannabinoid products. In addition, LCG plans on cultivating medicinal mushrooms for nutraceutical uses and for medical R&D, and plans to sell to authorized biotechs and other research groups around the world.

To realize this objective, LCG intends to shortly complete the acquisition of a property comprised of 22.43 flat acres of land in the Municipality of Carmen de Viboral, Colombia (the "Property"). In addition to the land itself, all infrastructure on the Property will be acquired by LCG, including green house infrastructure, office space, workers' quarters, and drying rooms. Pursuant to an option and purchase agreement with an arm's length vendor (the "Agreement"), LCG is required to make five installment payments over eighteen months. The fourth scheduled payment of US$354,330, which triggers the transfer of title, is due the first calendar quarter of 2021.

LCG will continue to retrofit the Property, as needed, to meet its various operational requirements. LCG is continuing to work towards obtaining all applicable permits and expects to be operational in the 2nd calendar quarter of 2021.

Concurrent with the acquisition of the above noted Property, LCG has executed a non-binding letter of agreement to acquire a Colombian company for US$173,088 that has been granted psychoactive and non-psychoactive hemp and cannabis licenses. The Company has negotiated four installment payments over fifteen months. Management will press release final terms once a definitive agreement has been reached and the payment schedule has been successfully concluded.

Woodstock Biomed Inc - Pelham, Ontario Facility

Leviathan's wholly owned subsidiary, Woodstock Biomed Inc. ("Woodstock"), owns a 30-acre property with greenhouse infrastructure in Pelham, Ontario, Canada. The Woodstock property operates under a lease agreement with Medical Saints Ltd. ("Medical Saints"), a Health Canada regulated licensed producer of industrial hemp.

On November 26, 2020, the Company announced that Woodstock finalized a three-year lease agreement (the "Agreement") with Medical Saints. The Agreement was entered into pursuant to the previously announced joint venture between Woodstock and Medical Saints. The Agreement allows for important research and development ("R&D") in the industrial hemp sector at Woodstock's greenhouse facility. The R&D focuses on the development of superior strains of hemp, distinct from the cannabis plant category, owing to the absence of material amounts of THC. The process involves the examination of various cultivation methods, analyzing soil conditions, studying the speed of plant maturation, and identifying the best retention methods of desirable terpenes. A test crop was planted in the summer of 2020 and the harvest of this test crop was recently completed.

Medical Saints invested a total of $655,000 in Woodstock's Pelham property and the R&D project for security fencing and modest repairs to existing soft-sided greenhouse structures necessary to maintain operational functionality. Depending on the success of this project, and if revenue streams are ultimately realized, Medical Saints will recoup its original investment based on a revenue sharing arrangement with Woodstock. If revenues are realized, 100% of net revenues will be used to repay Medical Saints' initial investment, and then Medical Saints and Woodstock will share revenues on a 50-50 basis with respect to any ongoing proceeds.

IR Firm Retained - Renmark Financial Communications

The Company is pleased to announce that it has retained the services of Renmark Financial Communications Inc. ("Renmark") to manage its investor relations activities. Renmark is a leading full-service investor relations firm representing publicly traded companies listed on all major North American markets.

In consideration for services provided, Leviathan will pay a monthly fee of up to C$8,000, starting January 2021 for a period of six months ending on June 30th, 2021, after which the agreement can be terminated at any time by either providing 30 days notice to the other party. Renmark does not have any interest, directly or indirectly, in Leviathan or its securities, or any right or intent to acquire such an interest.

Financial Statements - Three Months Ended November 30, 2020

In addition to activities described above, on January 28, 2021 the Company filed its interim financial statements and related Management Discussion & Analysis for the three months ended November 30, 2020. Documents may be found on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

About Leviathan Natural Products

Leviathan concentrates on non-psychoactive hemp derived products for the health and wellness market. Leviathan plans on executing a series of buy and build transactions extending across all vertical markets in Canada and internationally. The Company's global capabilities position it to become a leading multi-jurisdictional cannabinoid producer - one that brings together the best cannabinoid products, brands and expertise from Canada and around the world. The Leviathan portfolio currently comprises Jekyll+Hyde Brand Builders Inc., a marketing services agency specializing in the cannabis/hemp sector; Leviathan US, Inc., which began manufacturing cannabinoid products in August 2020 from its facility in Carthage, Tennessee; LCG Holdings Inc., a hemp cultivation and processing facility in Carmen de Viboral, Colombia, which expects to be operational in calendar Q2 2021; and Woodstock Biomed Inc., which owns a 30-acre property with greenhouse infrastructure in Pelham, Ontario. The Woodstock property operates under a lease agreement with Medical Saints Ltd. ("Medical Saints"), a Health Canada regulated licensed producer of industrial hemp.

www.Leviathan-Naturals.com

For more information, contact:

Martin J. Doane, CEO, Leviathan Natural Products Inc.

416.903.6691

Jayne Beckwith, Chief Communications Officer, Leviathan Natural Products Inc.

416. 806.0591

Renmark Financial Communications Inc.

Melanie Barbeau: mbarbeau@renmarkfinancial.com

Tel: (416) 644-2020 or (212) 812-7680l

www.renmarkfinancial.com

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 NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that contemplate activities, events or developments that the Company anticipates will or may occur in the future. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, those regarding the Company's plan to sell hemp-derived extracts for wholesale distribution across the United States, the anticipated timing of the Company's launch of its portfolio of health and wellness-focused cannabinoid brands, the anticipated timing of cultivation of specialized strains of hemp, the proposed acquisition of the Property, the proposed acquisition of a Colombian company that has been granted psychoactive and non-psychoactive hemp and cannabis licenses, and Agreement resulting in the development of superior strains of hemp. The material factors or assumptions used to develop these forward- looking statements include that the non-binding arrangements and informal understandings the Company has with third parties will develop into binding agreements to support the sale of the Company's health and wellness-focused cannabinoid brands and hemp-derived extracts, that LCG's previously planted hemp crops will grow on standard timelines, that informal discussions the Company and its representatives have had will develop into binding contracts pertaining to the sale of medicinal mushrooms, that the vendor of the Property will continue to abide by its contractual obligations and transfer title to LCG upon sale of the final instalment payment, and that the counterparty to the LCG's letter of intent in respect of the purchase of the Colombian company holding hemp and cannabis licenses will continue to negotiate with the Company in good faith. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in these forward- looking statements are reasonable, they are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, they should not be relied upon and there can be no assurance that any of them will prove to be accurate. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current expectations based on information currently available to management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause outcomes to differ materially from those projected. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk that the non-binding arrangements and informal understandings the Company has with third parties with respect to sale of the Company's health and wellness-focused cannabinoid brands and hemp-derived extracts will not develop into binding contracts, the LCG's previously planted hemp crops will fail to grow on standard timelines or that the crops will spoil, that informal discussions the Company and its representatives have had will not develop into binding contracts pertaining to the sale of medicinal mushrooms on terms acceptable to the Company, that the Vendor of the Property will renege on its obligations to LCG, and that the counterparty to LCG's letter of intent will terminate the agreement or propose terms that are unacceptable to the Company. Readers should refer to the risk disclosure included from time-to-time in the documents the Company files on SEDAR, available at www.sedar.com. Finally, these forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company assumes no obligation to update them except as required by applicable law.

Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Source: Leviathan Natural Products Inc.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73631
Today's International Criminal Court (ICC) verdict about former top Lord Resistance Army (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen - whether he is convicted or acquitted - is likely to stir emotions and evoke troubling memories in Acholi, the epicentre of the insurgency.

The LRA war commanded by former altar boy Joseph Kony, who claims to have mystical powers and disposed rule based on the 10 Biblical Commandments, erupted in 1987 and succeeded Holy Spirit Movement rebellion led Alice Auma Lakwena, Kony's aunt.

Both Lakwena and Kony retailed themselves as iconic defenders of Acholi people against the excesses of President Museveni-led government.

Ugandan troops defeated Lakwena in Busoga in1988 and she fled to Kenya where she died in a refugee camp

For nearly two-decades, the LRA mainly terrorised Acholi Sub-region before making a foray into Lango and Teso where Amuka and Arrow Boys militia groups, respectively, beat them back aided by UPDF firepower.

The rebel group is responsible for one of Africa's longest running conflict and Kony, an ICC indictee, has eluded capture despite hot pursuit over the years by more modern Ugandan military and American Special Forces.

The memory of LRA across much of northern Uganda was that of a group that abducted children as soldiers, pillaged villages for food and material possession and conscripted girls as sex slaves.

It's estimated upto two million people were forced into Internally displaced persons (IDP) camps from where tens of thousands died due to squalid conditions.

Instead of targeting the military, Kony and his fighters turned guns against locals they accused of siding with the government of Uganda.

To put the suffering of the innocent community to an end, in 1991, the Ugandan military under the command of David Tinyefuza, who has since renamed himself David Sejusa, launched the brutal Operation North that more or less deployed a scorched earth policy.

The indiscriminate targeting caused disaffection among the population and others elected to join the rebels for self-defence and the hapless were caught in cross-fire.

LRA drew support from the government of Sudan which claimed to do so in retaliation of Uganda's long support to the John Garang's Sudan Peoples Liberations Army/Movement (SPLA/M).

The LRA became more aggressive in its ill operations against unarmed civilians, some locals who teamed up to counter their ill motives were not spared either.

In 2002, the Ugandan army launched Operation Iron Fist commanded by late Aronda Nyakairima, which weakened the LRA, but did not stop its atrocities.

For fears of being abducted, children, nicknamed night commuters, trekked to trading centres and towns as early as 4pm where they spent nights in the cold on shop porches, hospitals, schools and churches.

Men of God step in

In their efforts to end the war that had seen many lives lost, destruction of properties, in 1997, the clergy operating in Acholi formed Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI) to advance their search for peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Now Gulu Archbishop John Baptist O'dama and retired Kitgum Bishop Macleord Baker Ochola stewarded efforts to build confidence in the LRA fighters to embrace peace talks, but the government looked at the clerics with suspicion, occasionally branding them collaborators.

Then State Minister for Northern Uganda, Betty Bigombe, had nearly secured Knoy's signature on a peace deal in 1994 before things faltered at the last minute.

In 1998, the ARLPI met parents of abducted children, chiefs, elders and local council leaders to explore urgent ways to end the insurgency. They held rallies and organised prayers to galvanise the population to reject violence, and placed fliers with messages exhorting peace in markets known to be frequented by LRA rebels.

These decisions were influenced by the traditional values and norms of the Acholi people, which emphasised reconciliation and restorative approaches rather than acts of revenge.

Programmes on the state-run Radio Freedom, and later Mega FM, provided a forum for people to voice their views and raise issues directly with both the LRA (whose members were known to tune in) and state security forces.

The ARLPI also wrote pastoral letters - open letters in the press - to the LRA and the government. The letters highlighted the urgent need for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and spoke out strongly against forced displacement and the poor conditions within displacement camps.

The government's decision to set up the Amnesty Commission 1999 came in handy as it helped many rebels who surrendered to be forgiven and processed for resettlement and ARLPI used the amnesty arrangement to persuade both the LRA and government to talk.

Hopes for peace talks were dashed in 2002 when government forces launched Operation Iron Fist, and LRA spread its tentacles to Lango and Teso sub-regions and parts of West Nile.

LRA and ARLPI had more than 24 meetings with minutes of all meetings recorded and hard copies given to both President Museveni and the LRA for transparency and consistency.

The second meeting in April 2001 in Pajule Sub-county, Pader district, was interrupted by the UPDF and a cultural leader was injured.

Heavy UPDF bombardment disrupted a fifth meeting in Pajule in 2003.

LRA counter-accused ARLPI of working for the government and trick them to be decimated and Kony killed.

In latter years, the war spiked and subsided intermittently until 2005 when LRA, under UPDF pressure and South Sudan's self-government, relocated to Garamba forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo from where the rebel force made incursions into the Central African Republic and Chad.

The International Criminal Court in the same year issued arrest warrants for Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Raska Lukwiya and Dominic Ongwen.

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Within months the LRA leadership had expressed a desire for peace talks with Uganda government, and the talks began in earnest in 2006 under Government of South Sudan mediation.

Whereas Kony at the last moment in 2008 declined to put his signature to the peace pact, the end to fighting enabled internally displaced people's camps to close and nearly two million to return home.

In the same year, Vincent Otti, Kony's deputy was killed. It's alleged that Kony himself killed Otti, who he accused of spying on him and working for the government of Uganda.

Worst LRA massacres

The Lukodi massacre. Bungatira Sub-county in Gulu District, 69 lives were lost to suspected Lord Resistance Army Rebels (LRA), in May 19, 2004.

Atiak massacre. The LRA attacked Atiak IDP, Atiak Sub- county in present day Amuru District, in 1994. A total of 300 lives were lost. The attack is alleged to have been commanded Vincent Otti, the former LRA second in Command.

The rebels also abducted dozens of people before retreating to their hideouts.

In 2002, 28, people were allegedly 'cooked' in pots by Kony's rebels in Omot Sub- county, Agago District.

A total of 56, people were murdered by the LRA in Mucwiny Sub-county, Kitgum District.

Atulie'er village in southwest China's Sichuan province, known as a "cliff village" as it is perched on an 800-meter-high cliff, has become an Internet-famous tourist attraction.

Photo taken on May 5, 2018, shows a newly-built steel ladder along the cliff in Atulie'er village, Zhaojue county, Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan province. (People's Daily Online/Laobing)

In the past, residents of Atulie'er village lived in poverty and had to use a series of rattan ladders to scale the cliff, which could be very dangerous.

At the end of 2016, the local government invested over one million yuan ($150,000) in building a 2,556-step and nearly 3-km-long steel ladder, making it safer for villagers to climb up and down the cliff.

Since then, the "cliff village" located in Zhaojue county, Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture of Sichuan province, has seen steady improvement in its infrastructure.

After being covered by 5G signals, Atulie'er village has become more widely known through live-streaming shows and seen a growing number of tourists. Even the steel ladder becomes a must-see tourist spot.

"Before the National Day holiday in last October, officials of our village encouraged me to open a diner. I did and earned 1,000 yuan per day by selling bean jelly, cold noodles, and fried potatoes during the holiday," a resident in Atulie'er village said happily.

Under the guidance of poverty-relief officials, more and more people in Atulie'er village have opened agritainment restaurants and shops.

Residents in Atulie'er village, southwest China's Sichuan province, air corn after an autumn harvest, Nov. 4, 2017. (People's Daily Online/Rao Guojun)

Recently, Mou'se Subure, a resident in Atulie'er village who has already been relocated to a new community at the county seat last May, has been busy building a new house above the cliff.

Mou'se spends eight hours climbing up and down the steel ladder every day to carry construction materials such as cement and PVC tiles to the village.

"I want to build a homestay hotel for tourists in the village," he explained, adding that he is living a comfortable life in the new community down the cliff.

"My new home has three bedrooms. There's even a study room for my children," he said. With the help of the local government, he only spent less than 10,000 yuan on his new home, which has various domestic appliances, including flat TV, induction cooker and washing machine.

The new community is clean, well lit at night, and equipped with shops and schools, he said, noting that it is much better than the adobe houses above the cliff.

Back in May 2020, all the 84 poor households of Atulie'er village were relocated to new houses at a resettlement site down the cliff. Villagers received vocational training and secured jobs in the downtown area of the county, gradually becoming better-off.

After being relocated, many villagers have turned their old adobe houses into hotels, and provided them to tourists at a price of 50 yuan for each room per day. However, the adobe houses are normally vulnerable to the rain and wind and most of them don't have cement floor.

Children climb up a newly-built steel ladder along the cliff in Atulie'er village, Zhaojue county, Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan province, November 2017. (People's Daily Online/Rao Guojun)

"I will lay two layers of PVC tiles on the roof of the house and pave the floor with cement so that the house is warm in winter and cool in summer," Mou'se told People's Daily, describing a new hotel that will soon be completed.

According to Mou'se, he and five other households plan to run the hotel together. "We will build three rooms first and make them available to visitors before the Spring Festival," he said.

Although he just shook off poverty in 2020, Mou'se isn't worried about the money for building the hotel at all.

"Last April, I bought over 70 lambs and now have a total of 120 sheep if counting all the newborn," Mou'se said, referring to a flock of sheep in the mountains of the village.

This batch of sheep has been ordered by a company, which is expected to bring a net income of over 40,000 yuan to his family.

Besides, since Mou'se and other villagers have transferred the use right of about 13.33 hectares of land to an agricultural company for growing olives, and many villagers, including him, have been hired by the company to take care of the olive trees, each of them could receive a monthly salary of over 2,000 yuan.

Last year, the olives were harvested for the first time, and 50 kg of olives can produce 6.5 kg of olive oil, which sold very well, according to Mou'se, adding that villagers got cash dividends from the company.

"By developing homestay hotel businesses, we can attract more tourists and better promote local products," said Jiri, secretary of Communist Party of China (CPC) branch of Atulie'er village.

"The government has also helped us plant navel oranges and traditional Chinese herbs including notoginseng," the official added, who believes that the "cliff village" will become more famous with the help of the government.
Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for release, publication, distribution or dissemination, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, in or into the United States.

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / GHP Noetic Science-Psychedelic Pharma Inc. (TSXV:PSYF.P) ("GHP"), a capital pool company, and Diamond Therapeutics Inc. ("Diamond"), a psychedelic drug development company focused on low-dose therapies for mental health, are pleased to announce the signing of a letter of intent dated effective February 2, 2021 (the "LOI"). The LOI sets out the general terms and conditions pursuant to which GHP has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities of Diamond in exchange for securities of GHP (the "Transaction").

The Transaction will result in a reverse take-over of GHP by Diamond and will constitute GHP's "Qualifying Transaction" as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). GHP and Diamond are at arm's length and the Transaction will not be a non-arm's length transaction under the policies of the Exchange. On closing of the Transaction (the "Closing"), it is expected that the Resulting Issuer (as defined below), will be listed as a Tier 2 Industrial Issuer on the Exchange, and its business will be that of Diamond.

About GHP

GHP is a Capital Pool Company (as defined in the policies of the Exchange) led by Michael Franks and Sa'ad Shah of Grey House Partners GP Inc. Its principal business activity is to identify and evaluate opportunities to acquire assets or business. Incorporated under the laws of the Province of Ontario, GHP is a reporting issuer in the Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. Its common shares (each, a "GHP Share") are listed for trading on the Exchange under the symbol PSYF.P.

About Diamond Therapeutics

Incorporated in 2018, Diamond is a private, Toronto-based company with a mission to develop new and better drugs for mental health conditions by unlocking the promise of psychedelic compounds. Diamond is focused on developing and commercializing sub-perceptual, non-hallucinogenic treatments that hold potential for use across a broad patient cohort, with the goal of maximizing the positive impact better drugs can have on the global mental health crisis.

Terms of the Transaction

The Transaction is expected to proceed by way of a three-cornered amalgamation, pursuant to which Diamond will merge with a wholly-owned subsidiary of GHP formed for the purposes of completing the Transaction, following which GHP (following the Closing, the "Resulting Issuer") will change its name to "Diamond Therapeutics Inc." or such other name as may be determined by GHP and Diamond (the "Name Change"), and continue the business of Diamond. The final structure of the Transaction will be determined after the parties have considered applicable tax, securities and accounting matters. The Transaction will be subject to, among other things, the execution of a definitive agreement (the "Definitive Agreement") to be negotiated by the parties.

Prior to the Closing, it is expected that the issued and outstanding GHP Shares will be consolidated (the "Consolidation") on the basis of one post-Consolidation GHP Share for each 2.2727 pre-Consolidation GHP Shares (or such other ratio as may be determined by the parties).

As contemplated in the LOI, at the Closing, GHP will issue approximately 88.96 million GHP Shares to the holders of Diamond common shares, on the basis of 4.2221 post-Consolidation GHP Shares (or such other number as may be determined by the parties) for each outstanding common share of Diamond (the "Exchange Ratio"), on a pro rata basis.

All Diamond stock options outstanding immediately prior to the Closing will be exchanged for GHP stock options, or become exercisable into GHP Shares in accordance with their terms, as adjusted by the Exchange Ratio, with the same vesting and expiry dates.

All Diamond warrants outstanding immediately prior to the Closing will be exchanged for GHP warrants, or become exercisable into GHP Shares in accordance with their terms, as adjusted by the Exchange Ratio, with the same vesting and expiry dates.

Completion of the Transaction will be subject to various conditions, including: the parties entering into the Definitive Agreement; the parties obtaining all required directors' shareholders', regulatory and third-party consents for the Transaction, including the conditional approval of the Exchange; completion of the Private Placement (as defined below); completion of the Consolidation; and compliance with applicable listing requirements of the Exchange. No finder's fees are expected to be paid in connection with the Transaction.

Prior to the Closing, GHP will call a meeting of its shareholders for the purpose of approving, among other things: the Name Change; the Consolidation; the election of new directors as determined by the parties; and, if required, an increase in the number of directors of GHP.

While GHP and Diamond, and their respective insiders, are at arm's length, Noetic Psychedelic Fund LP ("Noetic Fund"), a widely-held limited partnership, and GHP Diamond SPV LP, a single purpose entity, hold an aggregate of 8.5% of the outstanding common shares of Diamond. Grey House Partners GP Inc., a company controlled by certain directors and officers of GHP, is the general partner of Noetic Fund.

Proposed Private Placement

Prior to the Closing, GHP or Diamond is expected to undertake a private placement of subscription receipts to raise minimum gross proceeds of $2,000,000 (the "Private Placement"), on terms to be determined.

None of the securities to be issued in connection with the Transaction or the Private Placement have been, or will 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 any 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 registration is available. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction where such offer or solicitation would be unlawful, including the United States.

Management and Directors of the Resulting Issuer

It is anticipated that, at the Closing, all current officers and directors of GHP will resign and be replaced by nominees of Diamond, which are expected to include:

Judith Blumstock - Chief Executive Officer and Director

One of Canada's top health science executives, Ms. Blumstock has over 25 years of venture capital and private equity experience, spanning early to late-stage investments in life sciences and biotechnology. She spent more than ten years as the Executive Director of Corporate Development at Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners (TIAP), formerly known as MaRS Innovation Inc. Before this, Ms. Blumstock was a principal with Genesys Capital Management Inc., one of the largest Canadian-based venture-capital firms focused exclusively on the life sciences industry.

William Hilson - Executive Chair

Mr. Hilson brings over two decades of operational and capital markets experience in the pharmaceutical and health care sectors. He was the founding Chief Financial Officer and, subsequently, Chief Commercial Officer of Cronos Group Inc. (CRON). Prior to Cronos, Mr. Hilson spent over 15 years in executive roles with multinational pharmaceutical companies, serving as Chief Financial Officer at both Serono Canada Inc. and EMD Serono Inc ., a division of Merck KGaA.

Richard Boadway - Lead Independent Director

Mr. Broadway brings expertise in strategy and corporate governance drawn from his 40-year career, including his most recent role as Chief Executive Officer of Longitude Licensing Limited, a private equity-backed patent assertion entity specializing in the global licensing of significant patent portfolios.

Peter Pekos - Director

A veteran of the pharmaceutical services industry, Mr. Pekos founded Dalton Pharma Services in Toronto in 1986 and has managed all phases of its 30-years of growth.

Sponsorship

The Transaction will be subject to the sponsorship requirements of the Exchange unless a waiver or exemption from the sponsorship requirement is available. If required, a sponsor will be identified at a later date and will be announced in a subsequent news release. GHP intends to apply for a waiver of the sponsorship requirement in connection with the Transaction.

Trading in GHP Shares

Trading in GHP Shares on the Exchange has been halted in compliance with the policies of the Exchange in connection with the announcement of the proposed Transaction, and is expected to remain halted pending the review of the proposed Transaction by the Exchange and satisfaction of the conditions of the Exchange for resumption of trading. It is not expected that trading in the GHP Shares will resume prior to the Closing.

Further Information

A summary of significant financial information with respect to Diamond, as well as further details about the proposed Transaction, the Private Placement, and the expected directors, officers and other insiders of the Resulting Issuer following the Closing, will be included in a subsequent news release.

Further details about the Resulting Issuer will be provided in the disclosure document to be prepared and filed in connection with the Transaction. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in such disclosure document, any information released with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon.

All information in this news release concerning GHP and Diamond, as applicable, was supplied by management of such party and has not been independently verified by the other party.

Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including Exchange acceptance and, if applicable, disinterested shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of GHP should be considered highly speculative.

The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

For further information, please contact:

Michael Franks, GHP

Email: michael@greyhousepartners.ca

Telephone: 647.949.2663

Rebecca Brown, Diamond Therapeutics

Email: rebecca@diamondthera.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are statements other than statements of historical fact that can be identified by phrases such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "aims", "plans" and "believes", and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: the proposed terms of the Transaction and the Private Placement; the expected directors and officers of the Resulting Issuer; and the business of Diamond. Forward- looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals; the risk that the Exchange may not approve the Transaction; that factors may occur which impede Diamond's future business plans; the results of continued development, marketing and sales; and other factors beyond the control of GHP and Diamond. 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. GHP disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this news release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE: GHP Noetic Science Psychedelic Pharma Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/628013/GHP-Noetic-Science-Psychedelic-Pharma-and-Diamond-Therapeutics-Announce-Proposed-Qualifying-Transaction
BAY CITY, MI  Last month, a 9-year-old Bay City girl was left as her familys sole survivor when her parents and baby brother went missing and later died of exposure to the winter elements. Now, a group of women Jeep enthusiasts are driving a caravan in the little girls honor, in hopes of raising donations for her benefit.

The afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 6, Jeep Babes-Michigan Chapter is leading a convoy of vehicles to benefit Michelle Dougherty, daughter of Douglas M. Dougherty and Amanda N. Pomeroy. Participants in the Ride for Michelle are to meet at the Shell gas station at 1990 Brock Road in Alger, at exit 202 on Interstate 75, at 2:30 p.m., with the procession to begin rolling at 3 p.m.

The plan is for the fleet to drive the six miles to where Michelle is now staying with an aunt, honk, wave, and drop off donations they have collected.

The event was organized by Jeep Babes member and Waterford resident Jaime L. Fessler, who does not know Michelle or her family.

The group I belong to, we love to get involved with the community and do some of these events, Fessler said. When I saw the news, I jumped right on it. I just figured for this little 9-year-old girl, its the least that we can do so. Its getting bigger than I anticipated, which is wonderful.

Jeep Babes has chapters throughout the country. Fessler described the group as a sisterhood where we all have that common love for Jeeps, an obsession if you will.

In addition to hosting meet-ups and trail-rides, the group has a community-minded aspect. To that end, Fessler has been collecting donations from those who are not attending, while attendees are encouraged to put any monetary contributions in a card they can deliver on Saturday.

The group has raised about $350 from donors who are not attending the ride. So far, 46 vehicles have signed up to join the convoy and Fessler expects there will at least 60.

Ive gotten tons of messages asking, What size clothes does she wear? What gaming system does she want? Fessler said.

Participants will pass donations through windows without leaving their vehicles, Fessler said.

Well honk and well cheer and spread some joy, she said.

Michelles parents and 8-month-old brother Jacob Dougherty were last seen visiting family in Rose City on Jan. 12. They were reported missing on Jan. 16.

Ogemaw County Sheriffs deputies had been following leads on the missing family when, on the afternoon of Jan. 23, a snowmobiler going through some woods in Rose Township came across the familys pickup truck, Sheriff Brian Gilbert has said.

The snowmobiler stopped and found all three deceased outside the vehicle. It appeared the truck had been stuck on a large rock and Dougherty was trying to get it unstuck, Gilbert has said.

The area was wooded with a two-track-type road, Frechette told The Associated Press. The vehicle was disabled on a boulder or rock. ... The nearest house was quite a distance. What exactly was going on with their thinking is hard for us to know.

Autopsies performed Jan. 27 indicated the trio died of exposure to cold weather, Undersheriff Paul Frechette told The Associated Press.

No foul play was involved, Frechette said. The deaths are the result of tragic circumstances of the family being stranded out in the winter elements.

After Saturdays donation drop-off, the caravan is to drive on to Gs Pizzeria & Deli, 200 W. Houghton Ave. in West Branch for a meet-up. Fessler added Gs has donated numerous gift cards for the effort.

Fessler said the group held a similar convoy for a girl late in 2020, which had about 30 vehicles and stretched about a half-mile.

Its pretty phenomenal, how we all just sort of fall in, she said.

Fessler stressed the convoy is by no means limited to Jeep Babes members or those who only drive Jeeps. All vehicles and drivers are welcome to join in the effort, she said.

Those who are interested in participating can RSVP at the Facebook event page here.

Also in the wake of the familys tragedy, a new Jeep-centric group has formed.

Its called Michigan Jeep Search and Rescue, and that was born because of this story, Fessler said. Theyre going to be working with law enforcement to be available and have people on-call if they ever need to go on a search-and-rescue like this again.

According to a joint obituary for the trio, the family had lived in Bay City for the past year and a half. Both Dougherty, 35, and Pomeroy, 32, had attended Ogemaw Heights High School.

Dougherty enjoyed camping, fishing and loved his children, the obituary states.

Pomeroy worked as a waitress at two restaurants and at a West Branch fruit and meat market.

She enjoyed camping, being a mother and raising her two children, the obituary states.

Jacob Dougherty, described in the obituary as a happy and joyful baby, had been born in Bay City on May 21.

A GoFundMe campaign was also started to help cover funeral costs, with any remaining funds going toward Michelle. The campaign ended with $20,321 having been raised.

Read more:

Bay City couple and their baby son died of exposure to the cold, police say

Missing Bay City family found dead in northern Michigan

Police looking for missing Bay City couple and infant son

Police still looking for person who killed Saginaw father of two
(This article is part of the California Today newsletter. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox.)

Good morning.

The sun was shining on the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum on Wednesday morning, as a parade of local elected leaders offered support and praised Gov. Gavin Newsom for his handling of the pandemic.

Oaklands mayor, Libby Schaaf, said she frequently heard from her counterparts in other cities how lucky we are in California to have Mr. Newsom, who has hustled to speed up vaccinations.

Nancy Skinner, the state senator who represents the area, said that we can thank the governor, for the recent significant decline in coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations. She was unequivocal that the stay-at-home orders, which Mr. Newsom abruptly lifted last week, were the reason the states terrifying winter surge had been brought to heel.
(Newser)  She thought she'd avoid jail by faking her death. Instead, she'll spend an extra year behind bars on top of an earlier sentence of 3.5 years. Julie Wheelerwho was found hiding in a closet last spring, days after her husband claimed she'd fallen from a steep cliffwas sentenced Wednesday to one year and one day in federal prison for conspiracy to obstruct justice, to be served after her 42-month sentence for defrauding a Veterans Affairs program. "By conspiring to avoid her federal sentence for health care fraud, she, with the aid of her husband, only made matters worse," US Attorney Mike Stuart says in a statement, per the Register-Herald. Wheeler's husband had called 911 on May 31, 2020, claiming his wife had fallen from a lookout over West Virginia's New River Gorge. Rescuers searched for days before Wheeler was found in her own home.

story continues below

Both she and her husband admitted to the scheme, which they'd planned so that Wheeler could avoid a federal sentencing hearing. Authorities say the couple planned to go into "permanent hiding." Instead, Wheeler and her husband were detained. A month later, she was sentenced to 42 months in prison and three years of supervised release for overbilling a Veterans Affairs program for spina bifida care, authorities say. She was also ordered to pay almost $290,000 in restitution. With Wednesday's addition, her total sentence is 4.5 years. In faking "a traumatic death," Wheeler "put many lives at risk and wasted valuable resources," Stuart says. Her husband, Rodney, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice during a hearing last month. He faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release at his sentencing on April 5, per WVNS. (Read more faked death stories.)
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Royal Dutch Shell slumped to a net loss of $21.68 billion in 2020, 71 per cent weaker than a profit of $15.8 billion posted in the year before, the oil major reported on Thursday, as global oil demand took a bashing from lockdowns and curbs introduced to flatten the curve of the pandemic spread.

Shells declaration came days after rival energy giants  Exxon Mobil and BP  announced similarly underwhelming results.

The oil and gas firm said significant uncertainty would persist in taking its toll on demand for energy products.

It revealed in September plans to cut 9,000 jobs around the world as a buffer against the coronavirus crisis.

Only last month, it said it would shed 330 jobs from its North Sea operations. Shell slashed its dividend for the first time since 1945 as part of tough but decisive actions to weather an extraordinary year, said Chief Executive Ben van Beurden.

The global energy industry, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, had had to review its long term aspiration as part of evolution from fossil fuels.

The magnitude of the Covid-19 crisis implies that firms like Shell are ramping up that transition.

BP announced an $18.1 billion loss for 2020 on Tuesday, signposting its first yearly loss in a decade the same day Exxon Mobil recorded a loss of $22.4 billion.

Oil and gas companies were severely hammered by a record oil price slump in April as transport fuel demand plunged following far-reaching curbs aimed at containing the advance of the virus.

Chevron and ConocoPhillips, both of them US oil and gas companies, also posted big losses.

It is probable that a possible shake-up in the industry is lying ahead following reports this week that Exxon and Chevron held preliminary deliberations late in 2020 towards forging a merger.

On Friday, a court in Netherlands ordered the Nigerian unit of Royal Dutch Shell, Shell Petroleum Development Company, to pay compensation for damage done to the livelihoods of four Nigerian farmers over oil spill incidents that happened between 2004 and 2007 in Rivers and Bayelsa States.
The MAGA NEXTGEN politico isn't backing down from criticism that connects him to the Capitol insurrection and there's no reason he should given that he's just coming off his best fundraising month EVAR.



A local connection tonight . . . A Kansas City interview asks him to explain his position and the upstart Missouri leader offers a perspective that cable news talkers mostly ignore.



Check-it . . .



KMBC: Sen. Josh Hawley talks about objection to Pennsylvania's mail-in vote

Deets:

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley gave his first interview with a Missouri television reporter after the riot at the U.S. Capitol last month.



Hawley's objection to Joe Biden's Electoral College victory is important. He was the first because without a senator joining any House objections they could not go forward.



His objection was to a 2019 law permitting mail-in voting in Pennsylvania.



"The law is called Act 77, Mike, and you're right, the basic facts are that the Pennsylvania constitution has never permitted universal mail-in balloting," Hawley said.

You decide . . .


Future Group on Wednesday challenged the Delhi high court interim order that directed it to abide by a Singapore tribunal ruling, barring it from selling its assets to Reliance Industries Ltd.

The petition argues that the Delhi high court does not have the authority to pass an order now to abide by the Singapore tribunal ruling since a single-judge bench of the court on 22 December had already passed a judgement on the deal," a person directly aware of the matter said.

Mentioning the matter before a bench of Delhi high court Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh, Future Retail Ltd, through its counsel Darius Khambata, urged the court to urgently hear the plea on Wednesday.

Opposing the move, senior advocate Rajiv Nayyar for Amazon, told the court proper procedure should be followed.

The bench said it will decide whether to admit the Future Group appeal on Thursday after latter routes the plea through the courts registrar.

Future Group is challenging Justice J.R. Midhas interim order on Tuesday that directed Future Retail to maintain status quo on the assets until the pronouncement of the reserved order". The court said it was of the prima facie view that a Singapore tribunal order that directed the company not to proceed with the sale of its assets was enforceable in India.

The debt-laden Future Group may face bankruptcy risks if the deal with Reliance collapses. Future Group is caught in a feud between Amazon and Reliance, which are competing for dominance in Indias $1 trillion consumer retail market.

Future Group has said that livelihoods of thousands of Future Retail employees will be at risk if the deal with Reliance Industries falls through.

Amazon has, however, reiterated that it is willing to help Future Retail overcome its financial challenges.

Contrary to reports carried in a section of the media, Amazon has not only been committed to an early resolution of the dispute with Future but continues to be willing to support Future Retail even during the temporary financial challenges posed by covid," an Amazon India spokesperson said.

On 29 August, Future Group announced it will sell the groups retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing assets to two Reliance Industries units for 24,713 crore on a slump sale basis.

Amazon, which bought a 49% stake in Future Coupons Pvt. Ltd. in August 2019, has argued that Future Groups proposed deal with Reliance Industries violates a contractual clause that bars Future Group promoters from forging an alliance with Reliance Industries without the US companys consent. After Future Group announced the proposed deal with Reliance, Amazon approached the Singapore tribunal as per the agreement between Amazon and Future Group.

On 25 October, in an emergency arbitration award, the tribunal restrained Future Group from taking any step or approach any regulator in relation with the proposed deal with Reliance Industries until a final verdict is given.

On 22 December, the Delhi high court upheld the tribunals emergency award and allowed Amazon to approach any regulator.

On 5 January, both Future Group and Amazon appointed the members and the judge for the SIAC arbitration panel that is supposed to pass the final ruling.

The Delhi high court on Tuesday asked Future Retail to maintain status quo with respect to its deal with RIL. This gives an interim relief to Amazon.com Inc as it battles to prevent the Future Groups asset sales to a rival.

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On the first-ever International Day of Human Fraternity on Thursday, Egypt's Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayyeb called on the world to join the interfaith and intercultural landmark Document of Human Fraternity and to support its aim of achieving fraternity, freedom, equality and justice.

Al-Tayyeb, the leader of the Sunni Muslim worlds top religious institution, met virtually with Pope Francis of the Catholic Church earlier today to mark the occasion.

The occasion dates back to the signing of the Document of Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together between Pope Francis and Al-Tayyeb in Abu Dhabi on 4 February 2019.

The Muslim leader said the event, which was declared by the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly in December 2020, is a message of peace to all humanity to cement brotherhood and cooperation, end wars, spread tolerance, and reject hatred.

The UN resolution to declare 4 February as the International Day of Human Fraternity aims to support all sincere efforts to mainstream the culture of coexistence and to combat discrimination, racism and hatred.

"It is a victory for the dignity of man, regardless of his religion, gender, colour or location," El-Tayeb stressed, adding that applying this document needs a sincere will and solid determination.

"I'm committed to continue working with my brother Pope Francis and with my brother scholars and symbols of religion, as well as with all those who love good and peace, to render the principles and goals of human brotherhood a tangible reality," he stressed.

During the virtual meeting, both religious leaders granted a fraternity award to the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, and the Moroccan Latifah Ibn Ziaten, whose son was murdered in France, and launched a campaign to put an end to religious extremism.

Short link:


Christies International Real Estate, a global player in ultra-luxury residential space, has announced its India foray with a tie-up with New Delhi-based Himmat & Rohini Singh LLP.

At a time when the luxury real estate market is experiencing a resurgence the world over, the collaboration would serve connoisseurs of high-end homes, estates and villas, the company said in a statement.

"The business ethos of Himmat Singh and Rohini Chaudhri Singh are perfectly aligned with Christies values, making them the obvious choice to be invited to our network," said Helena De Forton, director of regional operations for Europe, Middle East, Russia, India and Africa of Christies International Real Estate.

Established in New Delhi in 2005, Himmat & Rohini Singh LLP was founded by the husband and wife team of Himmat Singh and Rohini Chaudhri Singh, with experience in the luxury residential sector.

As high-net worth Indians continue to seek second-home opportunities not only within the country but throughout the world, the company can assist them by leveraging the global network of Christies International Real Estate specialists, the real estate firm said.

We are excited to welcome Christies International Real Estate and its 250-year-old legacy to India. We look forward to blending Christies global reach and best practices with our in-depth local knowledge and experience to offer our clients the absolute highest standard of professional service for all their luxury real estate requirements, whether in India or abroad, said Himmat Singh.

The luxury real estate market has grown substantially in India after the initial impact of the pandemic, as buyers look for larger, more versatile spaces to combine their professional and personal lives as part of the growing work from home culture, the company said.
Bangkok, 4 February 2021  With travel plans being put on hold, the world tour will have to wait a little longer. But, that doesnt mean staying in with your other half cannot be the most memorable month of love that youve ever shared! Amari has a collection of smart and sexy tips that are great for your relationship, allowing you to socially distance yourself from the world and give 100% attention to your favourite person.

Private Dining with a View

Level up your in-room dining experience by choosing a room where a dinner for two is given a backdrop of breathtaking views. In the morning, skip the buffet line and ask for breakfast to be served to your room. Plus, if youre looking to do an Instagrammable breakfast spread shot, this is the perfect opportunity for all the IG partners out there to earn some brownie points.

Alternatively, ask for a picnic basket packed with sweet and savoury goodies for an outdoor lunch on the beach. Romantic, intimate, and another picture perfect moment to share as a latergram.

Dining Al Fresco with an Elegant Twist

Set a date with your partner for something stylish if you find yourself missing those special occasion outings. An afternoon tea date for two by the pool takes you away from the stuffy indoors, offering a fresh ocean breeze and warm sunshine if thats your cup of tea.

If you prefer stargazing on the beach, you can set up a romantic sunset dining experience with spectacular ocean views, a private set menu meal that is only elevated by the dreamy atmosphere. Planning a proposal? This is the moment youve been waiting for all your life, hearing those two simple words: I do.

Massage Each Others Worries Away

Everyday life comes with its fair share of stress and obligations. Luckily, research shows that there are benefits to couples giving each other massages. It also strengthens emotional bonds in addition to providing physical relief from tension. Make time to give each other a relaxing massage, or opt for a couples massage together.

Ask your massage therapist for oil recommendations thatll create the ultimate experience for you, whether youre looking to unwind, to reinvigorate, or simply get lost in the rhythm together.

No Need to Wait  You Can Create Your Own Special Moments

Surprise your partner at home with personalised decorations, order in flowers or light up some candles to set the mood. If youre planning a staycation, ask the hotel for a special set-up: balloons and champagne are great ways to celebrate an anniversary, birthday  or the every day! Who says you need a reason to celebrate something special? Spice up your day by making the ordinary extraordinary.

Learn (or Re-Learn) a New Hobby Together

Whether youre looking to level up your culinary prowess by taking a cooking class together, or hoping to burn off your romantic dinner with a challenging new workout routine, we highly recommend planning something special and fun that the two of you can share.

Not sure what youd like to try? Paddleboarding, painting classes, and photography are some of the activities you can start exploring today!

Remember, you can create romance in your lives regardless of whether you are staying home or treating yourself to a private hotel stay. If you choose to travel, be responsible: wear your face masks in public areas, observe social distancing and keep your hands clean. Also check that the hotel you visit is committed to offering a safe and healthy environment through enhanced measures, like ONYX Clean offered by all Amari hotels. Remember: Travel remains possible as long as you travel safely, mindfully and positively.

Sweeten up your month of love with these suite stays at Amari! Visit Amari Hua Hin for a lovely afternoon tea set by the poolside, or enjoy a soothing couples massage at Amari Phukets Breeze Spa, where the open air plan means you can fully take in the lullaby of the ocean as your tensions melt away.

Book One Bedroom Suite Pool View at Amari Hua Hin with Just the Two of Us package for a three-course candlelit dinner at Shoreline Beach Club, complimentary wine and romantic room setup , complimentary in-room breakfast and guaranteed late check-out, nightly rates starting at THB 5,499 ++. Guests booking this package can also ultimately relax and unwind with Breeze Spas treatments with special promotion Buy 1 Get 1 Free. Book your stay with Amari Hua Hin until 28 February 2021.

Guests staying in One Bedroom Suite for a minimum three consecutive nights at Amari Phuket with Wellness Package can enjoy 60-minute foot or body massage at Breeze Spa, 25% off for Breeze Spa treatment and round-trip airport transfer. In addition to guaranteed late check-out until 16.00 hrs., , The nightly rates starting at THB 4,730 +++. The package is available until 30 September 2021.

You can also stay at Amari Koh Samui, which offers both al fresco sunset dinners and the in-room dining experience of your choice with sea views thatll last for years to come. Guests booking the Anniversary Package can stay in the Junior Suite Beach Wing for at least two consecutive nights, enjoy a romantic dinner on the beach for two, a complimentary 60-minute Signature Mood Massage at Breeze Spa and a complimentary room upgrade to the next room category. Nightly rates start at THB 5,020++. Celebrate your holiday at Amari Koh Samui until 31 March 2021.

For more information and reservation, please visit the websites

Amari Hua Hin : https://www.amari.com/huahin/special-offers/hotel-packages/just-the-two-of-us-package

Amari Phuket : https://www.amari.com/phuket/special-offers/hotel-packages/wellness-package

Amari Koh Samui: https://www.amari.com/koh-samui/special-offers/hotel-packages/anniversary-package
'Help us save our 7-year-old son'  Cancer patients family appeals to the kindness of strangers

My daughter's cancerous tumour will kill her without your urgent help

World Cancer Day 2021: Facts, history and significance of the deadly disease

India

oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P

New Delhi, Feb 04: In a bid to spread awareness, World Cancer Day is observed to inspire change and reduce the global impact of cancer. It can be seen that the day is celebrated every year on 4 February, and hence marking the ultimate year of the 'I Am and I Will' campaign which began in 2019.

World Cancer Day 2021: To achieve a healthier and brighter cancer-free world | Oneindia News

With just few clicks away from misleading, the aim to observe World Cancer Day is to reduce misconceptions about cancer and to help people in getting the right information on the same. It also offers a chance to make an impact in the betterment of the life of cancer patients and survivors.

'Indians should decide for India': Sachin Tendulkar after Rihanna's post on farmers protest

The sad fate can be seen that the leading cause of deaths around the world happens to be because of cancer. The top cancers that affect the Indian population are lung, breast, cervical, head and neck and colorectal cancer (CRC).

With several types of cancers around the globe, it is important to understand each type of cancer and how it impacts human body. On World Cancer Day, everyone comes together with a perspective to achieve a healthier and brighter world free of cancer.

LAC row: Chinas actions have been met with an appropriate response

In 2000, the World Cancer Day was originated at the first World Summit Against Cancer. The summit was held in Paris and was founded by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).

The World Health Organization (WHO), in a report, said that every 1 out of 10 Indians develop cancer and almost 16 million cases of the disease are registered annually.

Globally, 1 out of 6 people lose their lives due to cancer every year. It is an initiative started by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).

With this, the World Cancer Day is observed annually to spread awareness about the life-threatening disease.

NIA nets key naxalite involved in killing of 4 policemen at Jharkhand

What are the causes of cancer?

There is not a solid cause for developing cancer. But one needs to maintain and safeguard themselves from certain factors, such as toxic lifestyle habits as that reduces the risk of cancer.

a. Tobacco: Several reports claim that nicotine found in tobacco can increase the risk of cancer.

b. Foods: Foods, that are served with added preservatives, pesticides and other harmful ingredients causes the risk of cancer. Avoiding such foods, can reduce the risk of cancer.

c. Genes: While some cancers are an impact of social life, some types of cancers are hereditary. If you have genes running in your family which are faulty, it might cause cancer.

Jharkhand human trafficking racket: NIA nets key accused

d. Radiation: Radiation may disassemble atoms and cause DNA damage in cells which can cause severe disease like cancer. Talk with your doctor if you think you may be at risk for cancer because you were exposed to radiation.

e. Sedentary Lifestyle: Leading a lifestyle with little or no physical activity can lead to chronic disease such as cancer. Set a particular time to use it, and focus on physical activities like exercise, dance, aerobics etc.

What are the symptoms of cancer?

With several types of cancers present in the world, the symptoms of each one of them vary. However, there are certain types of cancers which have generic signs which are prominent enough for one to understand.

a. Severe weight loss

b. Extreme fatigue

c. Lump

d. Changes in bladder and bowel functioning

e. Severe skin changes

f. Acute pain

However, early detection of cancer is the only way possible to fight and win against this deadly disease. It is always best to consult with an expert and take advice and help at the right time.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 8:43 [IST]
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. President of the National Assembly of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan received on February 4 Resident Representative of UNDP in Armenia Dmitry Mariassin, who completes his mission in Armenia.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the National Assembly of Armenia, at the beginning of the meeting Ararat Mirzoyan thanked Dmitry Mariassin for the cooperation and the joint programs implemented in various spheres.

During the meeting the sides referred to the cooperation between the Armenian parliament and the UNDP, which is aimed at the strengthening of institutional capacities of the parliament.

Resident Representative of UNDP in Armenia Dmitry Mariassin thanked for the effective cooperation with the National Assembly f Armenia during his tenure.

Mirzoyan also referred to the Azerbaijani military aggression against Artsakh last autumn and the heavy consequences of the war, assessing the urgent return of the POWs and other detainees as a priority. The President of the parliament also highlighted the speedy elimination of other humanitarian problems and the active involvement of international partners in those activities.

Ararat Mirzoyan wished Dmitry Mariassin new achievements in his future activities.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : It was Maharaja vs Raja in Rajya Sabha on Thursday when the erstwhile Maharaja of Gwalior and now BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia and Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, former Raja of Raghogarh, launched no-holds-barred attacks on each other's parties.

During the discussion on the President's motion of thanks in the Upper House, first Scindia spoke on behalf of the BJP and criticised the Congress for attacking the government without any reason.

Scindia hailed Prime Minister Modi and said the name and fame of the country were increasing due to his able leadership. Attacking the opposition parties, he said: "If you want to be listened to, then you must cultivate the habit of listening to others as well. Still, opposition parties boycotted the President's address when the Budget session of Parliament began." Congress MP Digvijaya Singh spoke soon after Scindia and attacked the Prime Minister. He alleged that the PM was against the federal structure as he had imposed the lockdown without consulting states and without any prior notice. But he began with congratulating Scindia: "I would like to congratulate honourable Scindia ji. He has put forward the side of the BJP today as brilliantly as he used to put forward the views of the Congress in the past. Congratulations Scindia ji. Waah ji Maharaj." "This House is the House of States and I think the Prime Minister is against the federal structure as he did not consult chief ministers and imposed the lockdown. Even countries like Singapore gave eight days prior notice," Singh further said.

The former two-time chief minister of Madhya Pradesh attacked Scindia for joining the BJP. "He must answer why the Covid threat was overlooked to pull down the MP government?" Singh said the government was now ignoring the farmers' protest and questioned why Rajnath Singh, who had been at the forefront of farmers agitations in the past, was not kept in the panel that negotiated with the farmers but Piyush Goyal, who has nothing to do with farmers, was.

Singh added,"Dissent is the essence of democracy and dissenters are being booked in various cases and even denied bail."
OLMSTED TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- The Supreme Court of Ohio has mandated mediation regarding a lawsuit filed last fall by Olmsted Township Trustee Larry Abbott against the Board of Trustees and the townships fiscal officer.

In his lawsuit, Abbott alleged that the fiscal officer didnt produce requested public records in compliance with the legal obligation to do so. Hes seeking statutory damages, court costs and legal fees.

The matter is related to a four-month investigation confirming allegations of workplace harassment committed by Abbott. Messages left by cleveland.com to Abbotts attorney, Benjamin J. Yoder, were not returned.

All records were supplied except those which fall within the protection of attorney-client privilege, Olmsted Township Trustee Jeanene Kress said. At this point, we dont know whether the mediation is going to be accepted by Trustee Abbotts team.

There are options. He can send it back to the Ohio Supreme Court saying that this doesnt satisfy his request, or we can agree on something and its over. We just dont know at this point, Kress said.

As for Abbotts workplace harassment, last year Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty attorney Leslie Iams Kuntzs investigation confirmed alarming behavior from the elected official against Township Administrator Rebecca Corrigan.

The ordeal began after Abbott and Corrigan started a sexual relationship in January 2019 while attending a conference in Columbus. The affair ended five months later.

As a result of the investigation, the trustees on July 31 approved a series of controls and limitations regarding Abbott interacting with Corrigan. This included requiring Abbott to refrain from direct communication with all township department heads and employees on any matters involving township business, operations or actions.

Also, Abbotts input on township matters shall be confined to direct communication with the townships other elected officials.

Kuntzs report included interviews with 13 township employees/officeholders. Abbotts lawsuit involved seeking access to those documents.

Including the investigation, so far Olmsted Township has spent more than $43,000 related to Abbotts workplace harassment.

Were more than ready to put this behind us, Kress said. Our goal is to make sure were continuing to serve the people, so its a distraction, and nobody likes distractions. We just want to focus on the job.

Read more news from the Sun Post Herald.
Despite their essential worker status, some Manitoba truckers have been denied doctors appointments and other health-care services because their work takes them across borders.

Despite their essential worker status, some Manitoba truckers have been denied doctors appointments and other health-care services because their work takes them across borders.

One parent in the trucking industry was even told to keep their child home from school because of their employment, according to the Manitoba Trucking Association, which represents 300 trucking companies across the province.

"The denials were, unfortunately, primarily related to health-care services," said trucking association executive director Terry Shaw.

The complaints increased after Manitoba's travel restrictions and self-isolation rules were tightened last week to curb the spread of COVID-19 and variants of the virus. As essential workers, truckers do not have to self-isolate after returning to Manitoba, as long as they don't have any COVID-19 symptoms. Non-essential workers travelling for their jobs have to self-isolate for two weeks when they get back.

Shaw said he's been receiving a couple of complaints weekly from trucking industry professionals who were denied services because they answered "yes" when asked if they'd recently travelled out of province.

"There are 30,000 (or so) folks working in the trucking industry, so to get a couple of reports a week is not massive, but it shouldn't be happening at all, quite frankly. Especially at this point in the pandemic," Shaw said.

The industry's concerns were highlighted Wednesday when Dr. Jazz Atwal, Manitoba's deputy chief provincial public health officer, told a news conference some truckers weren't able to access washrooms or get doctor or dentist appointments. He said the industry has been in close contact with the province, and they've worked together to address the concerns.

"This is disappointing to hear. We rely on this industry to provide the goods and services we use every day, and we likely take these services for granted," Atwal said. "They offer a vital service and for them to be treated like this is unacceptable."

It's not the first time the trucking industry has raised alarm about denial of health-care services. In late November, at the trucking association's request, Shared Health issued a memo to all chief medical health officers and other doctors in the province emphasizing "essential travellers" must not be turned away. The memo outlined extra precautions, including the use of PPE and virtual appointments where possible.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
The volume of bilateral trade between Ukraine and Turkey for nine months of 2020 amounted to USD 3.7 billion, but the countries seek to increase it to USD 10 billion a year.

Finance Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko said this in an interview with Turkeys Anadolu Agency, the press service of the Ukrainian Finance Ministry reported.

"Ukraine and Turkey have moved from usual relations of neighboring countries to strategic partnership ... The indicators of mutual trade confirm this. Turkey is the fourth global market for Ukrainian exports and the sixth partner in terms of trade. In 2019, bilateral trade amounted to USD 5 billion. For nine months of 2020, it reached USD 3.7 billion," Marchenko said.

At the same time, he noted that the presidents of the two states had repeatedly voiced an ambitious goal  to increase the volume of bilateral trade to USD 10 billion. Therefore, according to the minister, there is an enormous potential for the growth of economic partnership, which is also confirmed by statistics: the volume of Ukrainian-Turkish trade turnover in 2019 increased by 22.3% compared to 2018.

As Ukrinform reported, Ukrainian exports in 2020 amounted to USD 49.3 billion, which is 1.7% lower than in 2019.

ish

Poland's Walesa calls for 'system change' in Russia The former president of Poland and Nobel peace prize laureate said jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was a "hero" who could one day win a Nobel himself

Polish freedom icon Lech Walesa on Wednesday called for international cooperation to bring about "system change" in Russia following the jailing of opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

A former leader of the Solidarity labour movement that brought a peaceful end to communism in Poland in 1989, Walesa called Navalny a "hero" who could one day win a Nobel Peace Prize.

The 77-year-old former Polish president spoke a day after top Kremlin critic Navalny was handed a prison term, leading his supporters to take to the streets of Moscow in protest.

"He doesn't have a Nobel (peace) prize yet, but he'll deserve one if he continues to take a stand like this," said Walesa, who himself won the award in 1983 for his leadership of Solidarity.

"We need heroes like him, but we also require a different kind of international solidarity to bring about a system change in Russia," Walesa told AFP in an interview in the city of Gdansk where his battle against communism began.

On Tuesday, Navalny received a jail term of two years and eight months for violating the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence on embezzlement charges he claims were a pretext to silence him.

Walesa said if he had a chance to speak to the 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner he would tell him to follow his communist-era example and fight the system.

"I felt that it wasn't the people who were to blame, but the system which allows for bad behaviour on the part of leaders. And that's something you can see in Russia," Walesa said.

"We shouldnt be fighting against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, specific individuals, or the police. Instead, we should be fighting for a new system that would preclude this kind of behaviour," he said.

- Protesting women -

Working as a shipyard electrician in Gdansk, Walesa stunned the communist bloc and the world when he led a 1980 strike by 17,000 shipyard workers.

The communist regime was forced to grudgingly recognise Solidarity as the Soviet bloc's first and only independent trade union after it gained millions of followers across Poland.

Story continues

Walesa later became Poland's first post-war democratically elected president in 1990.

The latest struggle in Poland has been over reproductive rights, with thousands protesting a government-backed court ruling that imposed a near-total ban on abortion last week.

The verdict means that all abortions in Poland are now banned except in cases of rape and incest, or when the mother's life or health are considered to be at risk.

Speaking of the protesting women, Walesa said: "I support them with all my heart. They are right.

"But for now I don't see any hope for the women's victory. Because a victory would have to involve overthrowing those in power, and those in power won't let themselves be overthrown," he added.

The outspoken critic of the right-wing ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party said he himself did not plan any return to politics.

"Of course I'm a patriot and whenever the nation calls, I'm available. But... Im now 77-years-old and no longer have the energy that I did back then."

amj/dt/har
English French

Bonjour,

Vous trouverez ci-apres la News Alert diffusee ce jour.

Bien cordialement,

Florence Lievre

Global PR Manager | Group Marketing & Communications

Capgemini Group | Paris

Tel.: +33 1 47 54 50 71

Email : florence.lievre@capgemini.com

_____________________

Capgemini Press contact:

Florence Lievre

Tel.:+ +33 1 47 54 50 71

E-mail: florence.lievre@capgemini.com Verkor Press contact:

Laura Inard

Tel.:+33 7 57 47 66 47

E-mail: laura.inard@verkor.com

Capgemini joins Verkor venture to reinforce the European low-carbon battery value chain

Paris, February 4 2021  Capgemini and Verkor announced today that Capgemini has joined the venture created by Verkor, the French industrial company with a mission to accelerate the production capacity of low-carbon batteries in Southern Europe through the creation of a first 16GWh Gigafactory.

Capgemini will help Verkor achieve excellence in low-carbon battery manufacturing by leveraging the full potential of digital and data.

Benoit Lemaignan, CEO of Verkor, said: We are delighted to attract such prestigious value chain partners to help deliver our vision of a competitive and sustainable battery supply chain in Europe. Key to our success is unifying the very best in talent, resources and expertise from across the globe so that we can work in an agile, fast-follower mode to bring locally manufactured, low-carbon battery cells to the market by 2023.

Capgeminis market leading capabilities in engineering and digital skills will enable us to refine our manufacturing process to reduce waste and improve the environmental and economic performance of our business model.

Roshan Gya, Managing Director Southern & Central Europe at Capgemini Invent, said: Developing a resilient and sustainable battery supply chain in Europe is critical for the energy transition and for the future of our automotive industry. Digital will play a key role in securing the competitiveness of European Gigafactories.

We are excited to apply our know-how in digital and contribute hand in hand with Verkor to the creation of a modern, connected and highly efficient Gigafactory in France.

Capgemini joins Schneider Electric, EIT InnoEnergy and GROUPE IDEC, who announced their partnership with Verkor in July 2020 .

About Capgemini

Capgemini is a global leader in consulting, digital transformation, technology, and engineering services. The Group is at the forefront of innovation to address the entire breadth of clients opportunities in the evolving world of cloud, digital and platforms. Building on its strong 50-year heritage and deep industry-specific expertise, Capgemini enables organizations to realize their business ambitions through an array of services from strategy to operations. A responsible and multicultural company of 265,000 people in nearly 50 countries, Capgeminis purpose is to unleash human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future. With Altran, the Group reported 2019 combined global revenues of 17 billion.

Visit us at www.capgemini.com .

About Verkor

Verkor, a French industrial company, will boost battery production in France with the support of EIT InnoEnergy, Schneider Electric, GROUPE IDEC and Capgemini. The new company will step up production of low-carbon batteries in southern Europe to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles and stationary storage.

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This will enable experts to treat patients with a multidisciplinary approach

Asian Cancer Institute established a new cancer treatment centre in association with Apex Hospital to provide timely treatment to cancer patients for western suburban residents. This will enable experts to treat patients with a multidisciplinary approach.

Dr Sanjay Sharma, Director, Asian Cancer Institute said This centre in collaboration with Apex Hospital will be a go-to, option for cancer patients in western suburbs. The centre with its expertise, latest technology, and multidisciplinary approach will offer a wide range of treatment for those in need. Along with standard treatment like chemotherapy and radiation therapy, laser surgery for oral cancer, reconstruction surgery for oral and breast cancer, laparoscopy for stomach cancer and microvascular flap surgery can be performed for patients with head and neck cancer.

Dr Dhairyasheel Savant, Joint Medical Director, Asian Cancer Institute said, The centre will also provide targeted therapy and immunotherapy for cancer patients of every age group as per ones disease status. Immunotherapy can be used in patients having head and neck, lung, kidney, bladder, liver, or breast cancer as it boosts the body's natural defence to fight cancer. Even a mutational test can be done and if it turns out to be positive then the patient can be suggested to opt for targeted therapy without any side-effects.

Dr Vrajesh Shah, Director, Apex Multi-speciality Hospitals said, The centre will encourage patients to report any abnormal changes occurring in the body. One will have to be watchful of the symptoms and avoid delaying the treatment. This centre will give a second chance to cancer patients by encouraging them to live a cancer-free life.
Birmingham Promise Executive Director Rachel Harmon said virtual family sessions will be offered this month to offer help completing the college financial assistance applications before the March 1 deadline.

We want to help simplify the filing process for students and their families, Harmon said.

Harmon said so far 340 seniors from Birmingham public high schools have applied for scholarships through the Birmingham Promise program. Last year, about 600 applied by the March 1 deadline.

Thinking in the long term when no one really knows what tomorrow is going to look like can be a challenge, Harmon said.

Birmingham City Schools students graduating in May must apply for Birmingham Promise and complete a FAFSA form, the federal application for student aid, by March 1 to be part of the tuition assistance program. Through Birmingham Promise, students at Birmingham City Schools are eligible to have college costs covered at any public two-year or four-year school in the state.

Students and parents can sign up for an individual family session online at https://calendly.com/camp-5 or call 205-843-5967 to make an appointment. Applicants can also attend virtual weekly sessions for Frequently Asked Questions at http://bit.ly/promisefaqs21.

We encourage parents to attend these sessions, Harmon said. Each session provides one hour with trained staff. That time is an important investment in our students futures.

Also, starting, Feb. 9, virtual weekly sessions for Frequently Asked Questions on the Birmingham Promise will be held every Tuesday in February at 6 p.m. Parents can get questions answered about FAFSA during the one-on-one appointments.

Due to disruptions in the school year from the coronavirus pandemic, FAFSA applications are currently down nationwide.

I understand that the pandemic has limited the flow of information for many students and parents but its important to know that aid and assistance is available, Mayor Woodfin said. We cannot let the circumstances of the pandemic dim the bright futures our students deserve.
[February 04, 2021] GrammaTech to Host Webinar with Leading Analyst Firm on Software Supply Chain Security

GrammaTech, a leading provider of application security testing products and software research services, today announced it will host a webinar featuring Forrester Analyst Sandy Carielli and Vince Arneja, CPO of GrammaTech (News - Alert) on Thursday, February 4, 2021.







WHO: Sandy Carielli, Principal Analyst, Forrester (News - Alert) has over 15 years of experience in the cyber security industry in software engineering, consulting, product management, and technology strategy roles. She was Director of Security Technologies for Entrust Datacard and guided next generation security and technology strategy. As Director of Product Management at RSA (News - Alert) , Sandy was responsible for SecurID and data protection. She has also held positions at @stake and BBN. Sandy has been a speaker at RSA Conference, SOURCE Boston, the NYSE Cyber Risk Board Forum and BSides Boston. Vince Arneja, Chief Product Officer, GrammaTech has over 20 years of experience in executive and senior level technical product management, focusing on application, cloud, mobile, endpoint and network security. Vince has a track record of building product strategies that lead to successful exits, including 5nine (acquired by Acronis (News - Alert) ), Sigaba (acquired by Proofpoint), OPAQ (acquired by Fortinet) and Arxan (then acquired by TA Associates and recently by Digital.ai). WHAT: Today, software development relies on an extensive supply chain of third party components to address cost and time-to-market pressures. These components, whether open source (OSS), custom ordered or commercial off the shelf (COTS) can be completely invisible to conventional Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools, if source code is unavailable. This webinar will discuss the risks associated with this lack of visibility and alternatives for performing SCA to discover and remediate vulnerabilities including new binary inspection approaches. The session will include customer use case examples involving Binary SCA for extracting a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) from applications to perform vulnerability assessments. WHEN: Thursday, February 4, 2021 at 11:00am - 12:00pm EST WHERE: "The Hidden Side of Software Composition Analysis (SCA) - When Source (News - Alert) Code is Unavailable" is accessible online with confirmed registration. HOW: To register, visit https://go.grammatech.com/forrester-grammatech-webinar/. To schedule a conversation with Vince Arneja, contact Marc Gendron at marc@mgpr.net or +1 781.237.0341.

About GrammaTech GrammaTech is a leading global provider of software analysis and testing solutions used by the world's most security conscious organizations to detect, measure, analyze and resolve security and safety vulnerabilities. The company is also a trusted cybersecurity research partner for the nation's civil, defense, and intelligence communities. GrammaTech has corporate headquarters in Bethesda MD with a Research and Development Center in Ithaca NY. Visit us at https://www.grammatech.com/, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005001/en/

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Shortly after bowing out of military service on Thursday, retired Gen. Gilbert Gapay receives a job offer from President Rodrigo Duterte.

Gapay stepped down as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as he reached the mandatory retirement age of 56. He was replaced by Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana.

During the change of command ceremony, Duterte congratulated Gapay for a "successful tour of duty," and offered him a government post. Gapay can choose to be with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System or the Department of National Defense, Duterte said.

"Sir, after tonight, you might opt to take the MWSS vacated by Gen. Salamat or you might also choose to be with your home ground, the DND. It's your choice," Duterte said.

Retired Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat has been MWSS Administrator since August 2019. It's not clear if he has already left the post as announced by the President.

Duterte prefers appointing military men to key government offices, saying they always get the job done.

On insurgency, terrorism

Duterte commended Gapay for leading the AFP towards our goal of eliminating insurgency and securing our sovereignty. Gapay reported that the military neutralized over 1,300 members of the communist terrorist group, a term the government uses to refer to the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, New Peoples Army, which the executive Anti-Terrorism Council recently designated as terrorist organizations.

Gapay said more than 4,000 have withdrawn support from the communist movement. The CPP claims, however, that reports on mass surrenders are fabricated.

I am confident that under Lt. Gen. Sobejanas leadership, the AFP will achieve even more milestones in the campaign to address the insurgency and terror and put an end to all these threats to our national security, Duterte said.

READ: New AFP chief vows to go after 'real threat,' avoid collateral damage

The commander in chief also promised continued support for the military, which has a 29 billion budget this year to procure defense equipment under its modernization program.

READ: Duterte orders purchase of 15 Black Hawk helicopters to decommission all Hueys
People need to step back from the brink of violence, Northern Irelands chief constable has said, amid rising tensions over disruption to Irish Sea trade from the rest of the UK after Brexit.

Simon Byrne warned of a febrile atmosphere after 26 graffiti incidents were detected across the country, and officials carrying out customs checks at ports in Belfast and Larne withdrew following the threats.

Police said they have changed their operational tempo and will be accelerating development of intelligence.

Mr Byrne told the Policing Board in Belfast: It is now time for wise words and calm heads.

We need to work together to look at a route map to normality because that seems to be the opportunity before us, to step back from the brink in terms of community tension.

Physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, which are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol, have been suspended at ports amid intimidation of staff.

Police have insisted there is no evidence that loyalist paramilitaries are involved in the campaign, instead blaming disgruntled individuals and small groups.

Boris Johnson has warned he is ready to override elements of the Brexit divorce settlement relating to Northern Ireland to prevent a trade barrier developing in the Irish Sea.

In the Commons on Wednesday, DUP MP Ian Paisley told the Prime Minister the protocol has betrayed his constituents, making them feel like foreigners in our country.

European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic is due to travel to the UK for talks next week amid a deepening row between London and Brussels.

It comes amid growing concern that measures in the Withdrawal Agreement intended to keep open the land border with the Republic are disrupting trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

The UK has requested an extension of grace periods of light touch regulation to allow the smooth flow of some trade.

Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster says the protocol should be replaced, but Dublin is focused on easing problems with the post-Brexit trade deal which have caused disruption at Irish Sea ports.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said: We need to be truthful with everybody  the protocol is not going to be scrapped.

He said ministers want to be helpful and flexibilities are possible but the problems are a consequence of the UKs Brexit negotiating stance.

Mr Coveney told the BBCs Radio Ulster: There is not going to be very dramatic change.

The fraught situation was further exacerbated last week when the European Commission briefly used Article 16 of the protocol to close the border to exports of coronavirus vaccine from the Republic.

Mr Coveney said it is unrealistic to expect the protocol to be scrapped.

Mrs Foster told the BBC: He is completely tone deaf to the concerns of unionism and he claimed to support the Belfast Agreement but the balance in the Belfast Agreement does not seem to matter.

Just carry on regardless of the fact that there is not one unionist politician in Northern Ireland that supports the protocol, but what about it, we will just continue on.

The DUP is pursing a series of political moves aimed at undermining the protocol, including a boycott on engagement with the Irish government on issues related to its operation and a vow to oppose any protocol-related legislation at the Assembly.

The party has also launched a parliamentary petition with the aim of getting the 100,000 signatures required for the matter to be consider for Westminster debate.

By 3pm on Thursday, within hours of it going live, the petition has attracted more than 20,000 signatures.




MBABANE  While considering bringing electricity tariffs to economic levels, the issue of affordability cannot be overlooked.

The dilemma that the sector finds itself in is that of ensuring that the conflicting goals of the different stakeholders are met.

The Eswatini Regulatory Authority (ESERA) recently announced the approval of the three per cent tariff on electricity for domestic consumers and there was no change effected on businesses except that the authority announced a decrease in the average tariff on electricity.

The decrease was staggered in two, with 1.33 per cent for the 2021/2022 financial year and 1.27 per cent for the 2022/2023 financial year.

Affordability

However, ESERA Manager Consumer and Stakeholder Management Sikhumbuzo Nkambule said it was difficult to strike a balance between affordability and efficient pricing of the electricity service.

He said high residential tariffs for instance, could undermine the Sustainable Development Goal 7 relating to access to clean and affordable energy.

In short, we are in a dilemma as a country, and the SADC region as a whole, the electricity must be accessed by the poor, hence it should be affordable, but at the same time we need investors who will perceive our electricity tariffs as sustainable, and that can only happen when those tariffs are cost-reflective, he said.

However, Nkambule said Eswatini needed to find a solution to balance the equation because electricity was the stimulus of the economy.

Nkambule said it was very important for the electricity supplier to continue to invest in developing the sector and this could be achieved through having a controlled profit margin over and above the actual costs of providing power supply.

He said this was called a return on Regulated Asset Base (a measure of productivity for all assets being utilised for the production of power, excluding donor and customer funded assets) and it is a very critical aspect of regulation.

Considering cost-reflective tariff is important in order for the regulators to consider how the less privileged can access energy supply at an affordable tariff rate. Also, the same cost reflective tariff is important for consumers, be it business or domestic, to ensure they pay the actual cost that is incurred in bringing electricity to the consumption point, he shared.

Nkambule submitted that a cost-reflective tariff reflects all costs associated with providing the service to a particular customer or group of customers with similar characteristics and this would take into account all costs incurred in the value chain, from generation, through transmission, to distribution.

He said cost-reflective tariffs therefore provide economic efficiency through sending proper signals to consumers, while ensuring sustainability on the part of the service provider.

If electricity is priced below the efficient cost, the service provider will be unwilling to meet an increase in demand, he said.






Black History Month on CSOtv: Musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform James Weldon Johnsons Lift Every Voice and Sing; Perkinsons String Quartet No. 1 (Calvary) and Movement for String Trio; Saint-Georges Violin Sonata in A Major No. 3; and Walkers Lyric for Strings. Additionally, musicians of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago contribute Jessie Montgomerys Starburst; Florence Prices Juba Dance from Symphony No. 1 in E Minor; and Sentimental Shards by Tyshawn Sorey. The Quince Ensemble performs an excerpt from Bryans Dust to Dust from Requiem, and pianist Thaddeus Tukes plays For Her.
Nightclubs across the UK face going 'extinct' this year, with 80 per cent unlikely to survive beyond this month, industry bosses have today claimed.

In a stark warning, the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) said the UK was on the 'cusp of losing a cultural institution' due to the impact of Covid on the late-night economy.

Taking aim at the Government, the group claims ministers have 'failed to recognise the devastating impact' of Covid restrictions on the industry and that nightclubs have been neglected in terms of support.

Industry chiefs including the owners of Halo in Bournemouth and Brighton's The Arch have now warned that hundreds of venues could be lost by the end of this month without the Government's help.

They have called for a 'robust' financial package to prop-up the industry while nightclubs remain closed and demanded the Government to set out a road-map out of lockdown for late-night venues.

A government spokesperson told MailOnline the UK has 'one of the most comprehensive and generous packages of business support in the world' and that measures such as closing clubs were necessary to save lives.

But Michael Kill, CEO of the NTIA, said: 'We are on the cusp of losing a cultural institution, the Government has ignored the sector and failed to recognise its economic and cultural value.

In a stark warning, the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) said the UK was on the 'cusp of losing a cultural institution'. Pictured: Clubs have been shut since the first UK lockdown in March 2020

The NTIA has accused ministers of 'failing to recognise the devastating impact' of Covid restrictions on the UK's night time economy. Pictured: Aqua nightclub in London

'Throughout this pandemic and the restrictive measures levied against the sector, it is clear that these businesses are being systematically eradicated from society.

The NTIA's list of demands which it says will help to save the nightclub industry  Late Night Economy Sector specific support for the hardest hit businesses in terms of grants  Extend the VAT cut to 5% for a further 12 months encompassing a broader part of the sector. Michael Kill, CEO of the NTIA, warned that 'we are on the cusp of losing a cultural institution'  Extension of Business Rates Holiday til end of 2021  Extend the Repayment and interest free period for all Government backed loan initiatives  Extend Covid Job Retention Scheme / Self-Employment Income Support Scheme until the end of 2021 - Allowing Flexible furlough  Defer Tax Payments to December 2021 - Allowing for full trading engagement before debts fall. - Resolution to the Commercial Rents issues currently which will be pivotal once the FM runs out at the end of March Advertisement

'As an industry we have faced extreme adversity during this pandemic, and the continued refusal for the leaders of this country to mention nightclubs or late night venues within the narrative.

'These amazing creative spaces are the breeding grounds for nurturing talent, bringing communities together, building resilience and expanding the global phenomenon around UK club culture and electronic and live music.

In a call for more support, he added: '(The industry) needs a robust financial package and which is tailored to support businesses and a road map giving a clear indication of the timelines for re opening against the backdrop of the vaccination rollout, to give hope to many who are overburdened with debt.

The nightclub and late night venue sector is one of the only industries in the UK to have remained closed throughout the Covid pandemic.

While pubs and bars reopened when the first national lockdown was eased in July, late-night venues remained closed as Government health officials deemed they could not reopen safely due to the risk of Covid.

But the move, taken over concerns that social distancing could not be maintained in a club environment, left millions without a workplace to go to.

Nationally, the industry is the fourth-biggest employer.

It accounts for around 8 per cent of the UK's employment - with around 3million jobs across the industry - while producing annual revenues of 70billion, according to the NTIA.

Nightclub owners have been able to furlough staff under the Covid Job Retention Scheme.

But figures from a recent NTIA survey, of 100 nightclub owners, show 86 per cent have made redundancies during the pandemic.

Of those, over 65 per cent made over 60 percent of the workforce redundant before the end of last year, the NTIA survey shows.

One nightclub owner, Ty Temel, who runs Halo Nightclub, Bournemouth said: 'Nightclubs have been largely sidelined in terms of support but without them, there will be huge economic, safety and social consequences.

One nightclub owner, Ty Temel, who runs Halo Nightclub (pictured), Bournemouth said: 'Nightclubs have been largely sidelined in terms of support but without them, there will be huge economic, safety and social consequences.'

Mr Temel said the Bournemouth hospitality sector produces 134million pounds of annual revenue for the local economy

What did the NTIA's nightclub owner survey reveal? - 88% of Nightclubs within the UK in Over 2 Months Rent Arrears with 50% Over 3 Months Rent Arrears moving into another Quarter at the start of January.  81% of Nightclubs within the UK will not survive past February without further support from the Government.  86% of Nightclubs have made redundancies with over 65% making over 60% of the workforce redundant before the end of 2020.  43% of Nightclubs surveyed had not received any Grant support from Government  Average Rateable Value for a Nightclubs & Late Venues - 105,986 Advertisement

'Our sector is a huge contributor to the local economy. The Bournemouth hospitality sector produces an estimated 134million pounds annual revenue to the local economy.

'Nightclubs have been partially if not fully closed since March 2020 with no real light at the end of the tunnel.

'Yet have not received any of the benefits other hospitality sectors have received such as 'eat out to help out' for restaurants.'

Drew Burke, director of Hangar, in Birmingham, said: 'The hospitality industry accounts for over 3 millions jobs, generating over 70billion of gross added directly to the UK economy with the umbrella effect providing trade for local businesses such as hotels, restaurants, salons, taxi services which many now sit redundant.

'This has effected not only business owners but staff who depend on their wages, breweries who provide beverages to venues, the customer who craves for social interaction and a release of work and home life duties, and so forth creating a huge domino effect what isn't being fixed.

'Without venues and nightclubs, a huge social void looms causing mass redundancies, and a huge influx on mental health.'

The NTIA warns that, without support, 81 of nightclubs within the UK will not survive past February, according to its survey.

Drew Burke, director of Hangar, in Birmingham, said the impact of closures has had a knock on effect on other businesses

Mike Grieve, MD of SubClub in Glasgow: 'The club and electronic music scene in Glasgow is amongst the most developed anywhere in Europe with a very well established network of promoters and clubs and a solid heritage going right back to the mid 80s.

'In the case of the Sub Club we have been consistently on the cutting edge since 1987. The cultural importance of that heritage to the city, and to Scotland more broadly, can hardly be overstated.'

Results from the survey also showed 43 per cent of nightclubs had not received any grant support from the Government since the start of the pandemic.

Last year Revolution Bars, one of the UK's biggest bar chains, blasted the Government's 'scandalous' treatment of bars and nightclubs during the pandemic, accusing it of 'deliberately sacrificing businesses and people's livelihoods'.

Chief executive Rob Pitcher said state support for bars which have seen their trade decimated during the crisis is 'totally inadequate' and called grants of 1,000 per wet-led pub or bar 'derisory and insulting'.

The group, which runs 74 bars in the UK, told investors it is down around 8.5million a month for the past six months from the same period last year after reporting a nearly 50 per cent fall in sales from 2019.

The chain reopened bars on July 6 following the first national lockdown. But it said it had been weighed down by restrictions including local lockdowns, the second national shutdown, table service and the 10pm curfew.

In November, Revolution creditors gave the green light to a restructuring plan which saw the company cut 130 jobs and permanently shut six sites in London, Bath, the West Midlands and Sunderland.

The company voluntary arrangement (CVA) also secured reduced rents at seven bars.

A spokesperson for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: 'We understand these are extremely challenging circumstances for businesses, particularly nightclubs.

'The current restrictions are essential so we can control the virus, protect the NHS and save lives.

'We have put in place one of the most comprehensive and generous packages of business support in the world, worth 280billion.

'This includes a one off grant of up to 9,000, monthly grants of up to 3,000, various loan schemes, a business rates holiday, as well as the extended furlough scheme.'
After producing movies such as Mad Max: Fury Road before going to work for America's real-life Immortan Joe, former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin hasn't worked much in the film industry lately. But now, his wife, actor Louise Linton -- star of the 2012 Cabin Fever remake (0% on Rotten Tomatoes) -- is getting back into the business in the only way their family knows how: by being total garbage people. Mnuchin launched his producing career as a side-business, partnering with human genital wart Brett Ratner, and now Linton has written and directed her first feature, Me You Madness, in which she also stars.

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Judging by the trailer, the plot concerns the exploits of a wealthy sex-addicted hedge fund manager -- in other words, the perfect movie for 2021. It also stars Gossip Girl's Ed Westwick, who was accused of sexual assault but not charged in 2018, and makes the use of neon colors in Batman & Robin seem subtle by comparison.

This isn't Linton's first writing project; her self-published memoirs, In Congo's Shadow: One Girl's Perilous Journey to the Heart of Africa, not surprisingly sparked a backlash for its white savior complex and general geographic fuck-ups. Most famously, Linton drew the country's ire for Instagramming her private plane ride to Fort Knox with Mnuchin. Now, in the midst of a goddamn pandemic, she is releasing a movie about the wacky exploits of a spoiled rich Wall Street ghoul. We'd ask her to read the room, but clearly, she would never step into the same room as us.

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It will shock no one to learn that this vanity project was financed by Linton's "friends and family," as she revealed to the New York Times, who published a lengthy profile of her in promotion of this schlock-fest. The movie hits VOD on February 12 -- just in time for couples who hate each other and themselves to check out on Valentine's Day.

You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter! And check out the podcast Rewatchability.

Top Image: Stormchaser Films

The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Thousands of people across the world fall to online scams every day. Pop-up ad scams, e-mail scams, lottery scams, credit card scams, payment app scams, fake virus attack alerts-- prefix anything with the word "scam" and it probably exists on the web.

Some scamsters, however, rely on age-old methods of baiting people online: comment-bombing on random Internet posts, enticing the vulnerable to click on dubious url links or mapping out scammy steps for them to follow in a bid to extract hard-earned money from them.

A YouTuber, Ben Taylor, who runs the channel "Pleasant Green" recently came across one such scammer on Facebook and the entire exchange between them somehow had a wholesome ending.

Quick glance at Taylor's YouTube bio and you'll get a gist of what's really about to come.

"I seem to run into scammers a lot. Most people ignore them. I like to get to know them. Follow me on my journey to expose internet scams and make good men out of the people behind them."

In the video, Taylor reveals how his new video came about.

"I'm on Facebook and I'm seeing what's going on with the world. Then I make the mistake of looking at the comments section of a particular news story," the YouTuber says before adding, "... And in between everyone's incredibly informed opinions, I read a comment that says..."

Pleasant Green / YouTube

Taylor obliges to the seemingly obvious catfish account of a "model" who types down an Instagram handle of a person who is randomly giving out money on the Cash App (mobile payment service) to the needy. "She's god sent," the catfish account claims before adding that she received $2000 just by Dming her on Instagram.

Taylor then DMs the "god sent" person on Instagram (another catfish account!) and asks "her" if she could help him with some money since he has been cash-strapped in the pandemic.

The scammer asks Taylor a bunch of questions to make it seem like a legitimate transaction. The scammer then sends a photoshopped image of a "successful transaction" of $2000 to Taylor's account. Of course, there was no money transfer done (scam, duh!).

Now comes the real scam bit. The scammer asks Taylor to pay $200 to process the $2000 transaction or have "her" access his Bitcoin-enabled Cash App.

After a long back and forth between the two, Taylor reverse-baits the scammer into clicking on a link which reveals "her" IP address and actual location in Nigeria.

As you might have already guessed it, it's not a "her" but a guy at the other side of the computer.

The scammer finally breaks and claims that he is a kid struggling to pay school tuition fees in Nigeria.

Pleasant Green / YouTube

"A large percentage of Nigeria youths especially scam. You see people buy cars, homes, raise family with scam money. You are motivated. There is no good work here. There are many ways to make it big with scams," the scamming kid says while revealing the "common" bitcoin scam.

Taylor, the YouTuber, gifts him $200 as a reward for spending his time on giving insights into a scam he wasn't aware of.
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More proof that Britain has passed the peak of the second wave of coronavirus emerged today as daily deaths and cases continued to fall and pressure on intensive care units finally started to ease.

Department of Health officials recorded another 915 Covid victims  including a seven-year-old  and 20,634 positive tests. Both daily counts were down by more than a quarter week-on-week.

Separate Public Health England figures showed all but three local authorities saw coronavirus infections drop last week, plummeting in London, the South East and other areas that were ravaged before Christmas. Cases in care homes fell by a third, data also showed.

The latest Test and Trace report today claimed positive Covid tests plunged by 41 per cent in the last fortnight, in another sign the crisis is firmly in retreat.

Meanwhile, NHS England statistics showed there were 5,283 patients in ICUs across the country on the last day of January, down slightly on the previous week when there were 5,446 beds in use. It's the first time ICU capacity has eased since the highly-infectious Kent Covid variant started to spiral out of control in December.

All key metrics now indicate the darkest days of the winter crisis are behind us, with the number of Covid hospital patients in general beds dropping to its lowest level for a month and in every region. And in another glimmer of hope, the mammoth vaccine roll-out is continuing to pick up pace with almost 475,000 jabs dished out yesterday. And 500,000 vulnerable Britons have now had both doses.

However a leading health figure issued a sobering reminder that the NHS is still at 'full stretch' and that staff are 'deeply exhausted' after working at 'fever pitch intensity' for weeks.

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said ICU numbers are coming down 'very slowly', adding that there are still 26,000 Covid-19 patients in hospitals - 40 per cent more than the peak in the first phase last April.

Despite all figures trending in the right direction, there is mounting anger over 'goalpost shifting' on lockdown as ministers and SAGE scientists suggested case numbers need to come down further before any 'significant' easing, shifting away from No10's original 'protect the NHS, save lives' mantra.

A 70-strong group of lockdown-sceptic Tories in the CRG block today demanded Boris Johnson lifts restrictions altogether by the summer. The Prime Minister is facing an angry backlash and claims he is being 'beaten up by scientists'.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi appeared to indicate this morning that the government is looking at the top nine risk categories - around 32million people - as the trigger point for a widespread downgrading of measures. So far the PM has only said that he will unveil a route map out of lockdown on February 22, after the first four most vulnerable groups have been covered.

There are claims that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is again leading calls within Cabinet for lockdown to be eased as early as possible - in contrast to the more cautious tone adopted by Mr Johnson recently.

MailOnline has developed an interactive tool to show you how the infection rate in your area has changed in the most recent week.

Encouraging figures show the number of positive tests recorded in English care homes dropped by more than a third last week, falling from 504 to 321. This, combined with the fact every eligible care home resident has now been vaccinated, suggest officials are finally getting a grip on the resurgence of the virus in the sector

Latest NHS England data published today showed there were 5,283 patients in ICUs across the country on the last day of January, down slightly on the previous week, when there were 5,446 beds in use. It is significant because it marks the first time ICU capacity has eased since the highly-infectious Kent Covid variant started to spiral out of control in December

The latest NHS Test and Trace report published today showed coronavirus infections fell by 40 per cent in the last two weeks, in another sign the crisis is firmly in retreat. The programme reported 196,257 positive tests in the week up to January 27, down from 333,802 in the seven days to January 13. Infections hit a record-high 389,946 in the week ending January 13

Despite the figures show 23 NHS trusts across England did not have a single spare intensive care bed on January 31. These included University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, one of the largest trusts in England, along with Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust

Covid deaths are down by a quarter in a week, in another sign the winter wave is now firmly in retreat

Infections have plunged by a similar amount in that time, but senior Tories have accused SAGE of 'goalpost shifting' over plans to ease lockdown

As the pandemic chaos continue to rage today:

Wales is planning to get schools back from February 22, the same date as Scotland and weeks before it is due to happen in England;

No10 launched the world's first trial into whether mixing and matching Covid vaccines can enhance protection;

Ministers have been slammed over delays to the 'quarantine hotels' plans with Matt Hancock not now expected to give the details until next week;

Sir Keir Starmer was forced to admit he was wrong to deny he had called for the UK to remain part of the European Medicine's Agency;

Britons went on to their doorsteps and balconies to clap in honour of the late Captain Sir Tom Moore.

Public Health England data published today revealed 146 out of 149 areas (98 per cent) recorded a drop in weekly positive tests in the seven days to January 31, with cases falling in all English regions for the second week running.

Infection rates plunged by more than 33 per cent in a third of local authorities and fell sharply by over 25 per cent in another 35 places. Cases are also down in every age group.

Encouraging figures also show the number of suspected outbreaks in English care homes dropped by more than a third last week, falling from 504 to 321. This, combined with the fact 80 per cent of care home residents have now been vaccinated, suggest officials are finally getting a grip on the resurgence of the virus in the sector.

The only three areas in England to see rises in the past week were Torbay, where it increased by 0.9 per cent to 169 per 100,000, Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, where the rate climbed 3.9 per cent to 210 and in Rutland where there was an uniquely large rise. The East Midlands county recorded a 33 per cent increase, with the rate now 230 per 100,000.

It is thought that a Covid outbreak in HMP Stocken in Stretton could be partly to blame. It has not been confirmed how many have tested positive for the coronavirus. The category C men's prison has around 950 inmates.

Despite the country heading in the right direction, the NHS figures show 23 trusts across England did not have a single spare intensive care bed on January 31. These included University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, one of the largest trusts in England, along with Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.

But the problem was not confined to the Midlands, as major trusts all over the country  including in Merseyside, London, Derbyshire and the home counties  also reported having no spare critical care capacity. Even hospitals in the South West, which had managed to avoid the worst of the pandemic throughout 2020, were seeing their ICUs pushed to the brink, with Portsmouth Hospitals University National Health Service Trust and the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust recording 100 per cent occupancy.

Despite lockdown starting to bring Britain's winter wave under control, ICUs nationally are still almost 70 per cent busier than they have been at any time over the past five years. For comparison, there were 3,034 critically-ill patients at the same time last winter, and the average over the last four years stood at 3,183.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi (left) appeared to indicate this morning that the government is looking at the top nine risk categories - around 32million people - as the trigger point for a widespread downgrading of measures. But there are claims Rishi Sunak (right) is among the Tories growing concerned about shifting goalposts

Oxford vaccine's 67% cut in transmission will save tens of THOUSANDS of lives Oxford's Covid vaccine could save tens of thousands of lives because it can cut the likelihood of catching coronavirus and passing it on by around two thirds, scientists say. Modelling produced by SAGE members from Warwick University predicted that more than 150,000 more people could die in 2021 if lockdown rules were lifted in March or April and vaccines did not stop people from spreading the virus. But with a 60 per cent infection-blocking capability  slightly lower than the 67 per cent that Oxford claims its vaccine is capable of  this could be halved, saving tens of thousands of lives. Oxford researchers, who are making their jab with pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and delivering more than a million of doses per week to the UK, confirmed last night that trials suggested the jab would stop most people from passing on the virus. This is critical because uptake will not be 100 per cent and not everyone who gets the vaccine will be protected by it, meaning the virus will still be a danger to some. Lifting lockdown after vaccinating people with jabs that don't stop the spread, the Warwick experts warned, would lead to 'an uncontrolled wave of infection in which only those successfully immunised will escape.' And even doing so with the Oxford vaccine rolled out to millions of people could still lead to a spike of 1,500 deaths per day if lockdown was lifted in February in exchange for the rule of six, or 2,000 per day if lockdown ends completely in July. Dr Paul Hunter, a scientist at the University of East Anglia who was not involved with the research, said social distancing could have to stay for another year in 2022 before it would be safe to return to normal. Advertisement

There are still about 35,000 people in hospital with Covid across the UK, which is still far higher than the 20,000 at the peak last spring. About 3,700 virus patients are fighting for their lives in ICU, compared to around 3,300 during the darkest days last April.

More positive statistics show the number of patients waiting longer than an hour to be handed over from ambulance teams to A&E staff at hospitals in England has fallen to its lowest level this winter.

A total of 2,339 delays of over 60 minutes were recorded across all acute trusts in the seven days to January 31, according to PA news agency analysis of NHS England figures.

This compares with 3,283 in the previous week, and 5,513 in the seven days to January 10  the highest weekly figure so far this winter.

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust reported the highest number last week for an individual trust (214 delays of more than 60 minutes), followed by the Royal Wolverhampton Trust (125) and University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Foundation Trust (118).

A handover delay does not always mean a patient has waited in the ambulance. They may have been moved into an A&E department, but staff were not available to complete the handover.

The figures come as the number of hospital patients in England with Covid-19 dropped to its lowest level for a month. A total of 26,374 hospital patients were recorded in English hospitals as of 8am on February 3  the lowest since 24,957 on January 3.

Patient numbers peaked at 34,336 on January 18, since when they have fallen by 23 per cent. The number of hospital admissions of people with Covid-19 has also decreased. A total of 2,347 admissions were recorded on February 1, down 22 per cent compared with January 1.

The figures suggest tighter restrictions on peoples movements and activities introduced across England after Christmas, culminating in the nationwide lockdown from January 5, are continuing to have an impact. Hospitals in some areas of the country are still experiencing pressures, however.

It comes as Tory anger mounts over 'goalpost shifting' on lockdown today as ministers and scientists suggested all over-50s should get vaccines before any 'significant' easing.

A supporter of Rishi Sunak told the Telegraph this morning: 'Rishi is concerned that the scientists have been moving the goalposts in recent weeks. It's no longer just about hospitalisations and protecting the NHS but cases and case numbers.'

They said Mr Sunak was adamant this third national squeeze must be the final lockdown and heralded it a 'fat lady sings moment' - the point at which Britain draws a line under a cycle of lockdowns for good.

Treasury sources played down the reports this morning, insisting those are 'not things he has said'. But they were hailed by lockdown-sceptic Tory MPs, who said he was 'quite right'.

Asked on Today whether the government was shifting the goalposts on when lockdown can ease, Mr Zahawi said: 'I think you've got to make sure your vaccination programme has protected the top nine categories in phase one...'

He reiterated that the PM will set out a roadmap and the intention is for restrictions to loosen 'gradually' from March 8, starting with schools.

Mr Zahawi declined to give a date for when the first nine groups in the priority list will have received their vaccine, but said people could 'do the maths'.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Nadhim Zahawi said: 'We will set out our target (for vaccinating groups 5-9) after we have hit our February 15 target.

'But you can do the maths. We did 600,000 in a single day  the deployment infrastructure that we've built can do as much vaccines as we get supply, so the limiting factor will be vaccine supply.

'You can see that in the next 10 or so days, we've got to do another almost touching five million and so if we keep that rate up we will very quickly go down the list of the top nine.'

Pressed on whether that meant it would take another 35 days from February 15 to have jabbed all 31 million people in the first nine cohorts, Mr Zahawi replied: 'That assumes the supply, so I don't want to commit to a date without going through it with a very fine toothcomb with the whole team, because our limiting factor is the supply of vaccines ultimately.

'With any manufacturing process, especially one that is new, there are challenges around that, as we've seen in Europe and as we saw in the early days in the UK as well.'
A Baltimore Police forensics team enters the house in West Baltimore where a U.S. Marshall was shot while serving an arrest warrant on Feb. 4, 2021. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

US Marshal Shot in Baltimore While Executing Arrest: Police

A U.S. Marshals Service officer was shot in West Baltimore, Maryland, while trying to carry out an arrest, the Baltimore Police said. Officials said the suspect was shot and killed by the marshal.

The marshal was serving a warrant in the 1400 block of N. Mount Street at about 6:45 a.m., officials told WBAL and other news outlets on Thursday.

Police officials stand outside a home on N. Mount Street where a U.S. Marshall was shot while while serving an arrest warrant in West Baltimore on Feb. 4, 2021. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

After the marshal was shot by a suspect, who was not named, the marshal returned fire. The suspect was killed while the marshal was taken to the hospital in unknown condition, officials told the station.

Confirmed: member of the U.S. Marshals shot while serving arrest warrant in the 1400 block of N. Mount Street  Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) February 4, 2021

Police Commissioner Michael Harrison and Mayor Brandon Scott arrived on the shooting scene on Thursday morning, officials told the Baltimore Sun.

Details about the incident were not provided.

Earlier this week, two FBI agents were shot and killed in Florida by a suspect in Sunrise.

Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson issued the following statement: We mourn the tragic loss of two of our FBI colleagues who were killed today in the line of duty  Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones and with their three colleagues who were shot in todays devastating events. On this dark day, we pay tribute to the brave men and women of the FBI who put their lives on the line every day in support of our mission. We will never forget the ultimate sacrifice made by these special agents.

The FBI later identified the suspect as David Lee Huber, 55, who was wanted on child pornography charges, reported Local10.
AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vyopta, a leading provider of Collaboration Intelligence, is now offering a tailored analytics and monitoring solution for Google Meet used in Education, Healthcare, and Corporate settings. This new solution empowers organizations of all sizes to understand key UC performance metrics for business and compliance reporting and service assurance for virtual collaboration. The focused-nature of this solution for Google Meet makes it easy for organizations to purchase, deploy, and quickly see value.

"While Vyopta's dedicated offering for Google Meet will benefit many organizations, we expect the analytics capabilities to make the most significant impact on virtual education, particularly in relation to attendance tracking," said Jonathan Sass, Vyopta's VP of Product Management. "Educators will now be able to demonstrate not only that classes took place, but that students were logged on and participating in their lessons. Participation is directly linked to quality of experience; if you aren't able to validate what the experience was, and it goes unreported, then user adoption or attendance can decline drastically."

Today, many school systems are already leveraging Google Meet's technology but lack the visibility that Vyopta provides to help ensure a high-quality experience, which encourages student attendance and engagement. Being able to provide the analytics and datasets for incident investigation improves remediation strategies and decreases downtime.

School systems using Google Meet and Vyopta can view how their IT infrastructure performs against increased demands, and how well the virtual meetings between students and teachers work to deliver synchronous course content. Specific metrics can be generated by class, subject, grade levels, school districts, or even specific campuses to create the necessary reports for the superintendent or the IT department.

Kjierstin Layton, Vyopta's channel practice director for state and local education and a board member for the U.S. Distance Learning Association, said that with the second round of CARES funding approved by Congress in December, there will be more oversight involved in securing funding for long-term distance learning needs.

Education administrators that use Vyopta's expanded coverage for Google Meet will be able to access detailed reports over semesters, a whole year or among certain groups and cost centers to measure how their learning programs are performing. That data is essential for the next round of budgeting and the deployment of more anticipated federal dollars to aid in expanding and improving distance learning.

"This increased oversight requires hard data around performance to justify budget requests including enrollment, participation rates, and overall quality of connection for all students," said Layton. "With Vyopta, schools will be able to confidently prove the effectiveness of their choices in how to adapt to online learning."

Learn more at www.vyopta.com/distance-learning-google-meet.

Related:

Vyopta Becomes First UC Monitoring and Analytics Provider to Support Google Meet

About Vyopta Incorporated

Vyopta , the Collaboration Intelligence company, is a global leader in comprehensive monitoring and analytics for Collaboration Performance Management and Workspace Insights. By integrating insights from multi-vendor Unified Communications & Collaboration vendors and IOT devices, Vyopta helps organizations deliver the best UC user experience and optimize their UC and real estate investments. Vyopta helps hundreds of organizations worldwide spanning 20+ industries monitor 6 million endpoints and over 20 billion meeting minutes a year.

SOURCE Vyopta Inc

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Findings from a recently published paper by Smithsonian senior scientist Thomas R. Watters reveal that Mercury has managed to retain much more of its interior heat than previously thought.

Images and data obtained by NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft show that Mercury has experienced only a modest amount of global contraction. This is in contrast to other studies that cite large amounts of contraction, suggesting Mercury cooled more quickly. Mercury's modest amount of global contraction suggests an evolutionary path for small rocky planets where interior heat is retained. "A case for limited global contraction of Mercury" was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment--Nature.

"It flies in the face of conventional wisdom that a body the size of Mercury, the smallest rocky planet in our solar system, has not cooled and become geologically inactive long ago," Watters said. "Somehow, Mercury has managed to insulate its interior and slowed the loss of heat that provides the driving force for geologic activity."

Images and data obtained by MESSENGER have revolutionized the view of the innermost rocky planet in the solar system. Among the many discoveries was the detection of a global array of large, cliff-like fault scarps (steep slopes), indicating that Mercury has contracted and its crust shriveled, mostly from the loss of interior heat. The amount Mercury has shrunken, however, is debated with some estimates of the decrease in the planet's diameter as much as 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) or more--a "super-contracted" Mercury. In a new study, the amount of contraction expressed by Mercury's fault scarps has been reevaluated. The decrease in diameter is found to be no more than 2 to 4 kilometers (1.2 to 2.5 miles) at most, indicating that Mercury has managed to retain much more of its interior heat than previously thought.

The paper explains that these findings are based on best images and topographic data returned by the MESSENGER mission that ended April 30, 2015, when the spacecraft crashed on the planet's surface. Large fault scarps, cliff-like landforms that look like a giant stair-step in the landscape that were first found in the flybys of Mariner 10 in the mid-1970s, were confirmed by MESSENGER to indicate the global contraction of Mercury. The large fault scarps were formed as Mercury's interior cooled causing the planet to shrink and crustal materials to be pushed together, break and thrust upward along faults making cliff-like mountains, some more than a kilometer high and hundreds of kilometers long.

"Early in the orbital phase of the mission we discovered that images that had been acquired were not optimum for detecting the fault scarps on Mercury," Watters said. "A campaign to obtain optimized images resulted in maps, that along with topographic data, greatly facilitated the identification of the fault scarps."

A new global map of the population of fault scarps that was made using the best available images before the European Space Agency's BepiColombo spacecraft returns to Mercury in 2025, shows that the amount the diameter of the planet has decreased is estimated to be at most 4 kilometers (2.5 miles). This is in stark contrast to the concept of a super-contracted Mercury. A relatively small change in diameter during the past 4 billion years indicates that Mercury has resisted shrinking by retaining its interior heat. This fits an emerging picture of Mercury as a planet that has maintained a hot interior, hot enough to preserve a liquid core, a long-lived magnetic field and very recent or current tectonic activity.

Watters is a senior scientist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum and a member of the MESSENGER science team. MESSENGER was a NASA spacecraft launched Aug. 3, 2004, and it began orbiting Mercury March 18, 2011. The mission was managed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Although MESSENGER completed its primary science objectives by March 2012, the spacecraft's mission was extended two times. The mission ended with a planned impact on the surface of Mercury April 30, 2015.

The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., is located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Chantilly, Virginia, near Washington Dulles International Airport. Both facilities, along with all Smithsonian museums, are temporarily closed as a public health precaution.

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An 'exhilarating' debut from a young Irish author depicting a young woman reliving past toxic relationships could be set to follow in the footsteps of the widely-successful Normal People.

Acts of Desperation, by Megan Nolan, 30, who lives in London, echoes the hit novel by Sally Rooney in its dark depiction of a destructive and desperate relationship between a young female and a cold, beautiful man.

The 'anti-romance' follows the obsession the unnamed narrator has with the cruel lover and interrogates what it means to be a woman addicted to love.

'Even now, even after all that took place between us, I can still feel how moved I am by him,' she writes. 'Ciaran was that downy, darkening blond of a baby just leaving its infancy. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. None of it mattered in the end; what he looked like, who he was, the things he would do to me.

'To make a beautiful man love and live with me had seemed  obviously, intuitively  the entire point of life. My need was greater than reality, stronger than the truth, more savage than either of us would eventually bear. How could it be true that a woman like me could need a mans love to feel like a person, to feel that I was worthy of life? And what would happen when I finally wore him down and took it?'

It has been widely praised by critics ahead of its release next month, with journalist and author Pandora Sykes writing on Instagram that the novel is 'poignant, poetic, raw and utterly unique - I couldn't stop reading.'

Acts of Desperation, by Megan Nolan, 30, who lives in London, has been hailed as 'richly dark', 'honest' and 'exhilarating' by critics

Megan grew up in Waterford before moving to Dublin and then London in 2015, where she worked as a freelance journalist.

She has since contributed to the New York Times and has a column in the New Statesmen.

Her debut novel began life as a narrative non-fiction exploring the relationships she had had in her younger years.

She was recently hailed one of The Guardian's 10 best debut novelists of 2021, and explained the novel had been painful to write.

The novel echoes Normal People in its dark depiction of a destructive and desperate relationship between a young female and a cold beautiful man

Megan explained: 'I was trying to understand myself and why I had done those things, when I knew it was so degrading to behave that way.

'I had given up an enormous amount in order to be the sort of person these men might like to be with.'

She started working on the project in 2016, but ended up throwing away 15,000 words before starting again.

The author said while the narrator has 'a lot of me in her' and the 'feelings are all real' but added that the events in the novel are 'fictional'.

The young Irish author, who lives in London, confessed the experience of writing was painful and said she spent a lot of the writing period crying

She confessed the experience of writing was painful and said she spent a lot of the period crying.

Meanwhile she revealed she writes in the dark with white noise playing loudly, adding: ' Complete sensory overload, or deprivation. I find it really difficult to write  so I just need to have complete concentration.'

According to the Penguin website, the novel has been praised by authors across the country, with Marian Keyes calling it 'incredibly honest and visceral.'

She wrote: 'Such brilliant writing about female desire, co-dependant love, the ownership that's taken of female bodies and how it corrupts our relationship to them. I identified hugely. Incredibly honest and visceral.'

She started working on the project as a non-fiction narrative in 2016 but ended up throwing away 15,000 words before starting again

Meanwhile author Jessica Andrews penned: 'A darkly rich and heady exploration of hunger and unraveling, Acts of Desperation is unashamed and honest.

'It questions the truest way to inhabit a body and shows us the horror and the beauty in learning to be alone.'

Upon acquiring the rights to Megan's debut novel in 2019, Michal Shavit, publishing director at Jonathan Cape, told the Bookseller: 'Exhilarating, painful, thrilling and devastating, it portrays an extraordinary confrontation with the self and a love story that will at once make you wince in recognition and keep you spellbound as you read.'

Dolan, like Normal People's author Sally Rooney, was in her twenties while writing the novel and from Dublin.

Sally Rooney was dubbed the voice of a generation after she became the youngest ever author to win the prestigious Costa prize at just 27 for her novel Normal People

Sally was dubbed the voice of a generation after she became the youngest ever author to win the prestigious Costa prize at just 27.

Normal People follows Connell and Marianne from their school days in County Sligo to university at Trinity College Dublin.

At school, he's well-liked and popular, while she's lonely, proud and intimidating. But when Connell comes to pick up his mother from her cleaning job at Marianne's house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers - one they are determined to conceal.

A year later, they're both studying in Dublin and Marianne has found her feet in a new social world but Connell hangs at the side lines, shy and uncertain.
This charade of the Cancel Culture has gone of the tracks. The Elite Media is intent on convincing their viewers that there was no election fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election, at least not enough to cause a change in the outcomemeaning that they are determined to disprove Donald Trumps contention that the election was stolen by the Democrats. Nonetheless, there is abundant circumstantial evidence of vote dumps in the wee hours of the morning after the polls closed and poll watchers were sent away from the polling places.

The Elites refused to investigate the allegations and now say their was no fraudulent outcome because no court found such. Yet, the courts did not hear the evidence and render an impartial judgment.

So the mantra now from the Elites is simple: Just keep repeating that the election was honest.

However, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell has spent over a million dollars on investigators who he contends have found proof of enough fraud to change the outcome of the election. Lindell appeared on Newsmax this week and ran head-on into the Elite Mantra of the election was legitimate

You can watch the interview in this article: Newsmax anchor leaves interview with My Pillow's Mike Lindell (nypost.com)

Commentary

We have two questions for these people who are carrying water for Joe Biden. The first was raised by Sean Hannity today (2-3-21) when he asked on his radio show: How much voter fraud is acceptable? and the second is: How can anyone say the election was honest when the allegations have not been investigated by an impartial tribunal? A cover-up proves nothing except that somebody has something they want to hide.

We dont think the election was fair and honest. We will hold to that position until there is an honest investigation into the issue. Until that is done we simply dont believe Joe Biden is the legitimate President of the United States.

***********

Update: Mike Lindell Says Newsmax 'Is Great,' MyPillow Soars Despite Boycotts | Newsmax.com
More than a year after an 11-year-old boy was found dead in a storage bin in his family's basement in Northern California, the child's father and stepmother have been arrested for allegedly torturing, poisoning and starving him.

Jordan Piper, 36, and Lindsay Piper, 38, were taken into custody on Wednesday and are facing child abuse and torture charges in connection with the January 2020 death of Roman Anthony Lopez.

'Although an autopsy revealed no obvious signs of trauma, Roman was found to be severely malnourished and dehydrated at the time of his death,' Placerville Police Chief Joseph Wren said during a press conference on Thursday.

Jordan Piper is charged with an additional count of willfully failing to provide food and water to the boy. Lindsay Piper is charged with a separate count of poisoning, Wren said.

Jordan Piper, 36 (left), and Lindsay Piper, 38 (right), have been charged with child abuse and torture in connection with the death of 11-year-old Roman Lopez in January 2020

Roman, Jordan's son and Lindsay's stepson, was found dead in a storage bin in the basement of his family's Northern California home in January 2020

Under state penal code, poisoning is defined as mingling 'any poison or harmful substance with any food, drink, medicine, or pharmaceutical product,' or willfully placing 'any poison or harmful substance in any spring, well, reservoir, or public water supply, where the person knows or should have known that the same would be taken by any human being to his or her injury.'

Wren said he couldn't give more details on the abuse Roman endured because the investigation is ongoing.

'I can tell you we have evidence that proves each of the crimes beyond a reasonable doubt that they were arrested for,' he said.

The Pipers have been booked into El Dorado County jail in Placerville.

Their arrests come after a year-long investigation involving several social services and other government agencies who Wren said had contacted the Pipers, who moved often.

Police found Roman's dehydrated and malnourished body just hours after he was reported missing by his parents from their Placerville residence

An autopsy revealed no obvious signs of trauma to Roman, who was one of six children living in the home at the time

At the time of Roman's death, the Pipers were caring for seven other children, ranging in age from 1 to 17 years old.

Three of the children were not related to the Pipers and are back with their biological family and another three were placed with Child Protective Services. One of the children is now 18, Wren said.

Placerville Police Chief Joseph Wren said during a press conference that cops have evidence to prove each charge beyond a reasonable doubt

Roman was found dead hours after being reported missing from his Placerville home in the 2800 block of Coloma Street on January 11, 2020. Police said his death was being investigated as suspicious but provided no other information about suspects, the boy's death or where his body had been found.

According to a new press release from the police, the boy was discovered inside a storage bin in the basement of the Piper family's home. Wren said that no details surrounding the boy's death had been made public until Thursday to protect the investigation.

Much of the case was said to have hinged on the analysis of forensic evidence, obtaining search warrants to seize electronic devices, reviewing data, and working with medical professionals and experts in the field of child abuse.

The investigative team contacted multiple agencies, in another state, including child protective services, medical providers, law enforcement agencies and courts.

'This is a horrific crime that rocked the community,' Wren told reporters, his voice breaking at times. 'The death of a child affects us all.'

The Pipers told the Sacramento Bee in an interview after the boy's body was found that they had searched for him but but could not find him.

So far, no one has been charged with causing the 11-year-old's death and it is still unclear how he died

Jordan (left) was awarded custody of Roman, after his birth mother, Rochelle Lopez, lost custody. Lindsay (right) was the legal caretaker of three children from Michigan

Roman died just two months after his family had relocated from Michigan to California

'We have no idea what happened, where they found him, what the autopsy report said, if thats even done, any suspects, nothing,' Jordan Piper said at the time. 'We have nothing.'

Roman and the family relocated from Michigan to Placerville in December 2019.

Jordan was awarded custody of Roman, after his birth mother, Rochelle Lopez, lost custody after suffering PTSD and substance abuse following her time in the US army in Iraq.

Jordan is the father of the three oldest children, while the younger three are not biologically the children of the adults but were in the care of Lindsay.

Kira Sutkay, mother of three of the other children, claimed she had agreed to Lindsay home-schooling her three children and taking them to doctors appointments while living in Michigan, but learnt that Piper had moved her and the children out of the state without her knowledge.

However, court records reveal Sutkay signed over attorney-at-law rights of her three children to Lindsay in July 2019, and that a court hearing in September granted permission to move them to California.
A new batch of urgent medical aid prepared by the health ministry and donated by the government to help Lebanon during the coronavirus crisis arrived in Beirut on Thursday, according to Yasser Alawi, the Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon.

The latest batch of medical supplies consists of a sizeable amount of the drug Remdesivir, which is used in treatment protocols for advanced cases of coronavirus, in addition to other medical supplies and drugs requested by Lebanon to support the health sector and compensate for the current shortage of supplies.

Alawi explained that the delivery of medical supplies is meant to build on efforts made during the past six months when Egypt started airlifting aid to Lebanon after the devastating Port of Beirut explosion.

"It is based on Egypts long-standing commitment and desire to continuously support the Lebanese state and people on all political, economic and medical fronts until they overcome the current crisis," he said.

The explosion at Beiruts port on 4 August devastated the Lebanese capital, killing at least 171 people, injuring around 6,000, and leaving as many as 300,000 homeless.

Egypt has already sent several aid shipments to Lebanon through an airlift per President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisis directives to provide humanitarian aid to help in the reconstruction of the blast-hit country.

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The Nigeria Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) in collaboration with Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO) has embarked on a two-day research voyage that is aimed at training early-career scientists along the Gulf of Guinea.

The initiative was part of efforts to gather oceanographic data and train the six scientists chosen from Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire in the field of Oceanographic research.

Speaking in Lagos, before the departure of RV Bayagbona vessel on the research expedition, the Chairman Vessel Operations, NIOMR, Dr. Adesina Adegbie, said the exercise validated the federal government's efforts in procuring the vessel in 2014.

He said the motive was for NIOMR to collaborate with Nippon Foundation-POGO (NF-POGO), which is sponsoring some early scientists to come on board the vessel for shipboard training, while the institute makes her vessel available.

He added: "For us is a major breakthrough in line with our mandate as we have done this before with other institutions like UNESCO, FAO and this is just to see NIOMR's contribution to oceanographic research and education in the Gulf of Guinea. Also, this will prove to the world that on this side of the Atlantic Ocean we have a sea-going vessel that is available for research and training.

"As a brand new vessel that the federal government bought, the vessel is one of the rare vessels in the West African sub region that combines Fisheries and Oceanography in resource identification, pollution monitoring, and understanding of the forces that operate in the waters. That was why the vessel was bought in 2014 to enable us to utilise the vessel to gather sufficient information in knowing the parameters in the ocean.

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"NIOMR is collaborating extensively with relevant stakeholders to achieve this because we know the ocean is a vast place and is very expensive to run a vessel like this. We have done a lot in this sector, because we have several departments working in the ocean like physical and chemical oceanography, Marine geology-geophysics, fisheries resources management," he stated.

Commenting on the project, the Project Leader and Assistant Director, Physical and Chemical Oceanography, Dr. Nubi Olubunmi, said the essence of the cruise was to gather oceanographic data within the Gulf of Guinea for sustainable resources management.

"In line with the United Nation Ocean decade for sustainable development we want to contribute our quota with our partnership with POGO and as the only oceanography institute in the country in order to fill necessary gaps within the sector. For example, the first hydrography of this region of the Gulf of Guinea was observed in 1962 but there is still lack of data despite several cruises over the years to quantify the bio-physical and biogeochemical processes taking place in the ocean. It is our responsibility within the framework of POGO mandate to act," he explained.
For several years the Palestinian question had seemed to decline in regional and international policy priorities, but it is on the rise again.

The most immediate reasons for this included renewed interest in Washington under the new, Joe Biden administration and increased inter-Arab interplay, notably between Egypt, Jordan and the PA.

They also include the Arab League Secretary Generals address to the UN Security Council, in which he reaffirmed Arab principles on the Palestinian question, the rights of the Palestinian people and the Arab peace initiative, as well as the peace and normalisation agreements concluded between four Arab countries and Israel last year.

Perhaps the ten years since the so-called Arab Spring have also generated compelling strategic conditions at the regional level, prompting the codification of Arab-Israeli relations and the resolution of a conflict that has defied peace-making efforts for the past two decades.

None of which necessarily implies that the region is on course to a solution to the conflict. An impetus has been building up in that direction, however, and all concerned parties are feeling their way in that context. Two observations should be registered in this regard.

Firstly, we do not know the substance of the recent communications between the parties concerned. Up to this point they have gone no further than to declare their general positions, which remain as far apart as they were at the beginning of the century.

Secondly, the domestic fronts of the two main players - Israel and the Palestinians - are not ready for diplomatic initiatives. They are both sharply divided as they approach general elections in a climate of that propels extremist attitudes and one-upmanship in each case.

Of course, this is hardly a new phenomenon at times of peace-making drives and it has not prevented various degrees of progress in the past. In fact, this may be the first possible scenario for the Palestinian question in the near future: the overall continuation of the status quo with some slow progress. Emirati and Bahraini normalisation initiatives, for example, brought about a suspension in the Israeli annexation of the West Bank settlements. Another example is the understanding reached between Israel and Hamas thanks to Qatars mediation.

The second scenario also presumes the continuation of the status quo, but over a longer period, culminating in the emergence of a de facto single state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.

Many factors may contribute to this: the recent resumption of security relations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel; intensive mutual dependency between Palestinians and Israelis in such matters as the currency, labour and economic activity in general; Gazas dependence on Israel for electricity, fishing and, in the near future, the processing and export of natural gas; and the demographic balance.

Once these factors are taken into account it can be seen that many of the ingredients for the birth of a single state already exist in concrete terms, regardless of the disparities in rights and standards of living. Such a scenario would transform the conflict over land into a conflict over equality. It could possibly also give rise to the third scenario: an Israeli-Palestinian confederate system in which each side would preserve political autonomy within certain geographic boundaries while Jerusalem would become the capital of the federation, making it the capital for both sides.

The fourth scenario is American-made. Within just six days after being sworn in, Joe Biden initiated a near U-turn in US policy on the Middle East conflict. He announced that the US would resume engagement with Palestinian leaders and that it would restore US assistance to UNRWA. In a marked shift in rhetoric, Richard Mills, the current deputy ambassador to the UN, affirmed the Biden administrations commitment to the two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in which Israel would live in safety side by side with a viable Palestinian state. In an online address to the UN Security Council, Mills said that this is the best way to ensure Israels future as a democratic and Jewish state.

Such actions and language are in sharp contrast with those of the Trump administration which delivered four years of favouritism for Israels far right government. If this scenario takes some steps back towards the contours of the US stance in the pre-Trump era, it continues to accept Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and Israeli rule over the Syrian Golan Heights. In addition, although the US appears prepared to revive diplomatic and political peacemaking efforts, it will do so within the general framework of disengagement from the Middle East which has declined in current US priorities.

The fifth scenario is Arab in origin. It proceeds from the coordinated backing by various Arab parties of a practical concept for promoting the Arab Peace Initiative. The concept takes as its premise that there are now six Arab countries in a state of peace with Israel, despite variations in the temperature of bilateral relations. In this framework the Arabs could benefit from the American scenario, reducing Israeli pressure on the Palestinians and shifting Israeli opinion in favour of a historic deal based on withdrawing from the occupied territories in exchange for peace and normalisation with all Arab countries.

This scenario would also be able to take advantage of the normalisation initiatives undertaken by the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, as well as recent Egyptian and Jordanian actions, in order to engage with diverse political forces in Israel and support what remains of the pro-peace camp there.

Those five scenarios differ considerably in substance and they have conflicting legal and philosophical foundations. For one thing, an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem and a viable Palestinian state are by no means the same thing.

There is a big difference between international law and resolutions as a frame of reference and picking up the peace process where it left off in order to build on whatever was concluded in the Deal of the Century project of the previous US administration.

Regardless of differences, the diverse scenarios risk remaining exercises in political theorising against a backdrop of shifting forces and realignments, but without changing the basic realities for which Palestinians continue to pay the price.

Therefore, the Arabs need to set in motion initiatives capable of changing reality for Palestinians on the ground, so that actions taken in the framework of any of the aforementioned scenarios can have real impact.

The Palestinians continued presence on the ground is a demographic reality demonstrating that Israel is not the only party able to create de facto realities with its settlement activities.

Bearing this in mind, the difficult task of achieving a Palestinian-Palestinian reconciliation is not just about mending fences, it is also about creating the realities of Palestinian statehood on the ground, and one of the cornerstones of statehood is that the state should possess a monopoly on legitimate recourse to arms.

Recently, Hamass military wing, the Ezzeddin Al-Qassam Brigades, conducted a military drill with 11 other paramilitary organisations in Gaza. Apart from the polarisation this creates over arms and the decision to use them, the proliferation of militias deprives the PA of an essential condition for its political legitimacy as the sole representative of the Palestinian people.

Rectifying this situation ahead of the Palestinian elections or even committing to doing so afterwards would probably vastly improve the Palestinian negotiating position, regardless of which of the scenarios unfolds.

Failure to rectify it means the continuation of the status quo, complete with the proliferation of pain and suffering.

At the same time, regional and international interest in peacemaking will decline and darkness will once again overshadow prospects for resolving the Palestinian question.

*The writer is chairman of the board, CEO and director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 4 February , 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Nigerians yesterday expressed divergent views over the security alert issued by the Department of State Services (DSS) warning of plots by some individuals and groups to cause ethnic-religious violence in some parts of the country.

DSS spokesperson, Dr Peter Afunanya, said the alleged plotters want to "exploit some fault lines" to wreak havoc in the country by causing inter-religious conflicts and also use their foot soldiers to attack some worship centres, religious leaders, personalities as well as key and vulnerable points."

This alarm is coming barely three weeks after the DSS had raised the alarm over planned attacks in the northern and southern parts of the country.

Rattled by the security alert, some notable individuals and groups yesterday called on the secret police to do everything possible to quell the planned attacks, while others asked the DSS to stop inflicting fears in the mind of Nigerians.

They urged the security agency to wake up to its constitutional responsibilities by tackling all forms of security threats endangering the nation.

In a statement issued yesterday, the DSS spokesperson said some people have continued to resort to statements, incitement, carelessness and divisions and to pitch citizens against each other in order to seemingly ignite the embers of tribal and religious discord.

He stated: "For the umpteenth time, the Service is strongly warning these elements to immediately desist from their nefarious (planned) acts or face the wrath of the law.

"DSS, in collaboration with other law enforcement and security agencies, will take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of citizens' lives and property."

On January 11, 2021, the DSS had issued an alert on plans by some elements working with external forces to incite religious violence throughout the country.

The DSS listed the target states to include Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Rivers, Oyo, Lagos and those in the South East.

It said the plans were to cause inter-religious conflict and use his infantrymen to attack some places of worship, religious leaders, personalities, as well as key and vulnerable points.

Reacting to yesterday's security alert, the Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze asked the DSS to name the perpetrators of the planned unrest in the country.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP, the Abia state chapter of the group said the security agencies must do what it needs to do by exposing those planning the attacks.

The branch, through Ignatius Akuma, expressed concern over the report urging the DSS to compel their sources to name those involved in the plot.

Akuma, who said the country has had enough of security challenges concerning the activities of herders even in the Northern parts where most of them come from, appealed to the service and other security agencies to do the needful before it escalates further.

He argued that if quitting them from areas where it has been established that they are involved in security breaches will solve the problems, he was 100 per cent in support of it.

"We have been living in fear of herders for too long even in our homes. Our farms are not safe any longer," he stated.

On its part, the apex northern socio-cultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said since the DSS knows the plotters and their satanic mission, it should be proactive in dealing with them.

According to national publicity secretary of the ACF, Mr Emmanuel Yawe, "raising an alarm means nothing when the people inciting a national crisis are left free."

Also, the Plateau Initiative for Development and Advancement of the Natives (PIDAN) said the reasons for all the security challenges in the land is injustice and insincerity that are being perpetrated by government and security agencies.

Nanle Gujor who is the secretary of PIDAN said if the nation wants peace there must be justice, insisting that a lot of things need to be put in place.

"The constitution of Nigeria is very clear; one is free to live in any part of the country of his choice. In doing so, you must respect the culture and tradition of the host', he stated. Gujor lamented that the unguided utterances by some people need to be addressed by security operatives, adding that the government should be sincere to call anybody or groups who made any inflammatory statement to order.

The PIDAN secretary also noted that it is their desire to have a peaceful country but that government and security agencies must be seen to display sincerity in all they do to avoid unnecessary tension everywhere.

Meanwhile, a Fulani group of Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN) has called on the service chiefs to have a sincere and holistic review of the nation's security system in order to end insecurity challenges in the country.

In a statement by its national president, Hon Khalil Mohammed Bello, the association noted that since independence, the nation, apart from the time of the civil war, has never faced the kind of threat it is facing now.

"If there is any time in the over sixty years of Nigeria's history, when almost all the entire people of the nation reposed trust and high degree of expectation for extraordinary or magical performance from the country's security chiefs, it is this time.

But the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) described as disturbing the strategy adopted by the Department of State Services (DSS), saying the warning was unnecessary and capable of exacerbating tension in the country.

PANDEF's national publicity secretary, Ken Robinson, recalled that the secret Police had raised a similar alarm a few weeks ago.

Robinson said, "PANDEF is disturbed by this strategy of the DSS. Recall that they had raised a similar Alarm a few weeks ago. PANDEF views the warning as unnecessary, and capable of exacerbating tension in the country. Our opinion remains the same. Tragically, the DSS has turned itself into a mere alarmist and doomster.

"Everyone, including the DSS, knows the causes of the many problems of the country. Principal amongst which is the way and manner the affairs of the country are being conducted.

Also, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other criminals are not invincible and until they are apprehended and successfully prosecuted, people will no longer have respect for those who are in charge of security.

Special assistant, media and communications of CAN, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, said whenever the DSS raises the alarm over the security of the country, they should be taken seriously because their primary responsibility includes but not limited to intelligence gathering.

Recalling that the agency had raised a similar alarm recently, the association challenged the secret police to name the suspects arrested, detained and arraigned so far.

The statement reads in part: "Whenever the Department of State Security (DSS) raises any alarm over the security of the country, ordinarily, one should take them seriously because of the fact that their primary responsibility includes but not limited to intelligence gathering. We recall that the agency raised a similar alarm recently.

But how many suspects have been arrested, detained and arraigned over the last ones?

"All the killings in the country have been happening without bringing those responsible to book. Are they not aware? People are being kidnapped on the highways and in their residences without any arrest. We wonder why?

"Those who are shedding the innocent blood and those who are kidnapping for ransom are they spirits?"

The CAN, however, called on those who are responsible for the security of lives and property of the people to wake up to their constitutional responsibilities.

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On its part, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) s appealed to faceless persons planning to subvert public peace and order in the country to sheath their swords.

The Nigerian apex Islamic body, in a statement issued yesterday by its spokesperson, Ibrahim Selemi, advocated religious beliefs of all and peaceful coexistence in the country.

"On our part, we shall continue to advocate for respect for the religious beliefs of all and peaceful coexistence in Nigeria. We sincerely believe that we are greater together," the body said.

NSCIA charged the security agencies, particularly the DSS, to fish out the enemies of the state.

"The Council will like to use this medium to applaud the majority of Nigerians for their tenacity in the defence of the unity and diversity of the country.

"We hereby call on the security, especially the DSS to fish out these enemies of the State and deal with them according to the law. This is because it is only when criminal elements are punished that we can effectively give potency to deterrence", the statement added.

Also, A Sokoto-based human right activists and public affairs analysts, Ibrahim Adamu TudunDoki, said the recent quit notice and subsequent unwarranted attack on Fulani settlements in Southwestern states were simply a fulfilment of the grand design to destabilise Nigeria,

Ibrahim, who is also the North West coordinator, Universal Periodic Review (Nigerian Report) in Geneva, added that even the insurgency in the North East, South West and part of the Middle-belt are all part of the grand design.

According to him, asking a Fulanis man not to use forest reserves equally means putting him out of his source of livelihood and business.

He added however that the toeing the path of quit notice would be counterproductive and pose a grievous danger to the Nigerian state hence the need to embrace dialogue, compensation and peaceful coexistence in every part of the country.
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A fortnight after he was sworn-in as the 46th President of the United States, will visit the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department on Thursday, where he would broadly talk about his foreign policy.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Biden "will broadly talk about foreign policy" during his maiden visit to the State Department.

"This will not be a laydown of his vision for every issue and every foreign policy issue. He will have plenty of time to do that," she said, lowering down the expectations.

Biden's trip to the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department is seen as an effort to boost the morale of the American diplomats. During his interaction, the president is expected to underscore the role of diplomacy in American leadership overseas.

After winning the November 3 presidential polls, Biden has spoken with over 20 world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 17. However, among the notable absentees is President Xi Jinping of China. In a little over a week, US Secretary of State has reached out to more than two dozens of his counterparts, including India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
She recently began filming for her role as Lucy in the film Am I OK? in Los Angeles.

And on Wednesday, Dakota Johnson was spotted arriving on set to continue shooting scenes of the drama.

The 31-year-old latest sighting comes amid reports she's moved in with boyfriend Chris Martin after three years of dating.

The latest: She recently began filming for her role as Lucy in the film Am I OK? in Los Angeles. And on Wednesday, Dakota Johnson was spotted arriving on set to continue shooting scenes of the drama

The brunette beauty was spotted rocking black jeans with a chic bomber jacket, adding sneakers for a casual touch.

The stunning movie star styled her long tresses pulled back into a bun with her fringe grazing her forehead.

Dakota arrived carrying a to go cup and meeting someone who appeared to be her assistant before putting on her face shield as she walked by crew members.

The daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson carried a large iced matcha and a binder as she made her way to set.

Starting her day: The 31-year-old latest sighting comes amid reports she's moved in with boyfriend Chris Martin after three years of dating

The film Am I Ok?, directed by Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne, is about best friends whose relationship is tested after one of them goes on a personal journey of self discovery.

Dakota plays Lucy, who embarks on the journey that tests their friendship but also reveals her own truths.

She stars alongside June Diane Raphael, Sonoya Mizuno, Tig, Molly Gordon, Sean Hayes and Jermaine Fowler.

Am I OK? began filming this month amid the COVID-19 pandemic, 1.5 years after the directors Tig and Stephanie were announced.

The screenplay is by Lauren Pomerantz with Will Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum under their Gloria Sanchez Productions; Dakota is also billed as a producer with her company, TeaTime Pictures.

Work time: The brunette beauty was spotted rocking black jeans with a chic bomber jacket, adding sneakers for a casual touch

Her day of filming comes amid reports she's moved in with Chris Martin after three years of dating.

The Coldplay frontman and the actress are reportedly living together at his Malibu mansion, after he purchased it in October, according to People magazine.

'Chris was always a big fan of Malibu. He loves the beach and often goes surfing and running,' a source told People. 'She seems to enjoy it as much as Chris does. They both love the outdoors and often take beach strolls.'

The insider said that initially Dakota 'seemed more of a city girl' but after meeting Chris, 44, has embraced her new lifestyle.

The couple, who began dating in 2017, often travel to Los Angeles for Sunday dinner with his ex wife Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband Brad Falcuk.

Gwyneth and Chris have two children together: daughter Apple, 16, and son Moses, 14.

In December, Dakota was seen wearing a large emerald hued ring on her wedding finger, sparking engagement rumors.

Global household insecticide market will grow by USD 4.11 billion during 2020-2024.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic the global household insecticide market registered a YOY growth of 13.9% in 2020 and the market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of about 6% during the forecast period. The report offers a detailed analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the market in optimistic, probable, and pessimistic forecast scenarios.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005525/en/

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Household Insecticide Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire)

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The 120-page report analyzes the household insecticide market by product (sprays, vaporizers, mosquito coils, baits, and others), distribution channel (offline distribution channel and online distribution channel), and geography (APAC, Europe, MEA, North America, and South America). The report offers competitive intelligence about market leaders, key industry opportunities, trends, and threats impacting the growth of the market. Also, the report includes information on marketing, brand, strategy and market development, sales, and supply functions. Download Our Free Sample Report to Know More

The household insecticide market is driven by the increasing prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases. In addition, the increasing demand for natural and organic repellents is anticipated to boost the growth of the household insecticide market.

Consumers across the world are increasingly becoming aware of the consequences of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, filariasis, chikungunya, and yellow fever. With the rising prevalence of these diseases, the demand for mosquito repellents and care products has increased worldwide. To capitalize on the demand, vendors in the market are offering a wide range of mosquito repellent products in various forms, including lotions, sprays, coils, repellent paints, and repellent pills. Therefore, the increasing prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases is expected to fuel the growth of the global household insecticide market during the forecast period.

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Major Five Household Insecticide Companies:

Dabur India Ltd.

Dabur India Ltd. operates its business through segments such as Consumer care business, Food business, Retail business, and Other segments. The company offers mosquito repellent under the brand Odomos.

Enesis Group

Enesis Group operates its business through segments such as Nutraceutical Functional Drink and Personal Home Care. The company offers mosquito repellent, insecticide aerosol, and synthetic pyrethroids-based aerosol insecticide under the brands Soffell, Force Magic, and Force Magic Microns.

FMC Corp.

FMC Corp. operates its business through segments such as FMC Agricultural Solutions and FMC Lithium. The company offers insecticides through brands Rynaxypyr and Cyazypyr.

Godrej Consumer Products Ltd.

Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. operates its business through segments such as Home care, Hair care, and Personal care. The company offers household insecticides through its brand HIT, across Indonesia, India, and Africa.

Jyothy Laboratories Ltd.

Jyothy Laboratories Ltd. operates its business through segments such as Fabric Care, Dishwash, Household Insecticide, Personal Care, and Laundry Services. The company offers household insecticides through brands such as Maxo A Grade and Maxo Genius.

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Household Insecticide Market Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2019-2024)

Sprays size and forecast 2019-2024

Vaporizers size and forecast 2019-2024

Mosquito coils size and forecast 2019-2024

Baits size and forecast 2019-2024

Others size and forecast 2019-2024

Household Insecticide Market Geographic Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2019-2024)

APAC size and forecast 2019-2024

North America size and forecast 2019-2024

Europe size and forecast 2019-2024

South America size and forecast 2019-2024

MEA size and forecast 2019-2024

Household Insecticide Market Distribution channel Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2019-2024)

Offline distribution channel size and forecast 2019-2024

Online distribution channel size and forecast 2019-2024

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Global Mosquito Repellent Market Global mosquito repellent market is segmented by product (Self-applicable and others) and geography (APAC, Europe, South America, North America, and MEA). Click Here to Get an Exclusive Free Sample Report

Global Household Cleaning Tools and Supplies Market Global household cleaning tools and supplies market is segmented by product (SPSS, mops and brooms, cleaning brushes, wipes, and others) and geography (APAC, Europe, MEA, North America, and South America). Click Here to Get an Exclusive Free Sample Report

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has claimed she feared the Capitol cop who was sent to evacuate her from her office during the January 6 riot because he looked at her 'with hostility' amid accusations she 'exaggerated' her experience because she was never actually in the building that was stormed, and after accusing Sen. Ted Cruz of trying to have her 'murdered'.

On January 6, Dem. Rep. AOC was in her office in the Cannon Office Building - which was evacuated but not breached - when rioters stormed the Capitol Building 0.3 miles away.

In an Instagram Live video on Monday night, she tearfully described fearing for her life as she hid behind the bathroom door in her office, unaware if it had been breached and unaware that even the Capitol Building had been breached.

She had been pondering what to order for lunch, she said, when 'all of a sudden' she heard 'loud bangs' and 'booms' with 'no voices'. Terrified, she ran into the bathroom in the back of her office to hide behind the door. Then, she watched a 'white man in a black beanie' walk into her office, yelling 'where is she?!'

He was a Capitol cop who had come to evacuate her and get her to safety.

But even after being told he was a cop, AOC says she was suspicious of him because he had 'no partner', was 'yelling' and looked at her 'aggressively'.

'There was no partner. He was not yelling "Capitol Police"...it didn't feel right. He was looking at me with a tremendous amount of anger and hostility and things weren't adding up. Like so many other communities in this country, just that presence doesn't necessarily give you clear signal if you're safe or not,' she said.

The cop told her to run over to the Longworth House Office Building, where she pounded on the door of Rep. Katie Porter and begged to be let inside. The pair sheltered there and AOC told Porter - who was 'drinking a cup of coffee' - that she wanted to survive the day and go on in life to become a mother.

On January 6, AOC tweeted that she'd barricaded 'for hours' but she didn't say where. On January 13, she said she 'thought she was going to die' and 'many of us narrowly escaped death'.

Now, she is being accused of dramatizing her experience because she was never in the Capitol Building, nor did she encounter any insurrectionists.

Scroll down for video

AOC's office is in the Cannon House building which is 0.3 miles from the Capitol Building itself. All of the Capitol buildings were placed on lockdown but the mob only ever breached the Capitol Building

In her February 1, 90-minute Instagram Live, AOC reenacted hiding behind the door of her office bathroom, terrified that an insurrectionist was coming for her. It was a Capitol cop in a 'beanie' yelled 'where is she?!' He had come to evacuate her but she thought he was thereto hurt her, she said

AOC 'EXAGGERATIONS' Westchester vs The Bronx AOC has long campaigned on the fact that she is a girl 'from the Bronx', who grew up 'in the Bronx'. But property records show her father bought a property in Yorktown Heights, Westchester, in the early 90s, around. On her website biography, it says: 'The state of Bronx public schools in the late '80s and early '90s sent her parents on a search for a solution. She ended up attending public school 40 minutes north in Yorktown, and much of her life was defined by the 40-minute commute between school and her family in the Bronx.' Cauliflower is racist In 2019, she said growing cauliflower in community gardens is 'taking a colonial approach to environmentalism.' 'A core component of the Green New Deal is having all of these projects make sense in a cultural context, and it's an area that we get the most pushback on because people say, "Why do you need to do that? That's too hard." 'But when you really think about it, when someone says that it's "too hard" to do a green space that grows Yucca instead of, I don't know, cauliflower or something - what you're doing is you're taking a colonial approach to environmentalism. She served cauliflower tacos at her in a Mexican restaurant in Union Square. Mexican border camps are 'concentration camps' 'The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are,' she said. She was slammed by Holocaust survivors. 'She should be removed from Congress. Shes spreading anti-Semitism, hatred and stupidity. The people on the border arent forced to be there  they go there on their own will. If someone doesnt know the difference, either theyre playing stupid or they just dont care,' Ed Mosberg, 93, told The New York Post. Advertisement

Among those who spoke out on Thursday was Republican Rep. Nancy Mace who said: 'I'm two doors down from AOC and no insurrectionists stormed our hallway'.

AOC hit back, calling her 'disgusting' and pointing out that she too feared for her life.

Mace replied: 'I have not once discounted your fear. We were ALL terrified that day. Im stating the fact that insurrectionists were never in our hallway... because they werent. I deal in facts.

'Unlike you, apparently.'

Others compared her to Jussie Smollett, the Empire actor who was accused of lying about being attacked by Trump supporters.

The hashtag #AlexandriaOcasioSmollett started trending and people said she too had lied about the events of the day.

Carlson, on his Fox News show, said: 'The only subject she really cares about  herself.

'There she is again. Defender of the common man, yammering on about the only subject she really cares about - herself.

'Wallowing around in Lake Me like it's interesting to anybody but her. Narcissism on parade.

'The perfect symbol of a culture dying from self-involvement.

'We've said that before and we've laughed as we did. But actually it's not funny. People will believe this crap. Some already do.'

She hit back at them and said the insurrectionists were 'trying' to get in to office building and that they were trying to reduce her trauma.

In her 90 minute video, AOC described her interaction with the Capitol cop dramatically.

She reenacted hiding behind her bathroom door and peeking through the gap between the hinge and the wall.

'I see this white man in a black beanie... he yells "where is she?!"

'I have never been quieter in my life...This man is a Capitol Police officer.

'But the story doesn't end there... there was no partner, there was no yelling "Capitol Police."

'It didn't feel right.

'He was looking at me with a tremendous amount of anger and hostility and things weren't adding up,' she said.

AOC'S DESCRIPTION OF 'AGGRESSIVE' CAPITOL COP WHO HAD COME TO SAVE HER 'All of a sudden I hear 'boom boom boom boom boom' on my door. Then, I hear these huge violent bangs on my door and every door, like someone was trying to break the door down. And there was no voices, there were no yells. No one saying who they were, nobody identifying themselves - just boom boom boom. 'I just get up and I run over to the legislative office and G just looks at me back and he goes "hide". "Run and hide". So I run back into my office, I slam my door, there's another kind of back area to my office, I open it - there's a closet and a bathroom- and I jump into my bathroom and close the door. 'Then I realize that the bathroom was the wrong choice so I start opening the door to the bathroom, so I hear these 'bang bang bangs'... I start opening the door to my bathroom going to run across to the closet. 'I open the door where I hear whoever was trying to get inside got into my office. Then I realize that it's too late. I go back in and hide in the bathroom. I hear these yells of "where is she? where is she?" I just thought to myself, "they got inside". This was the moment where I thought everything was over. 'It felt like I'm looking through this door hinge and I see this white an in a black beanie and yell again "where is she!?" I have never been quieter in my entire life. Then all of a sudden I hear my staffer, G yell out, he's like "hey hey hey, it's OK. Come out." 'So I'm like, I don't know, so deeply rattled. I'm still processing the end of my life when I come out. This man is a Capitol Police officer. But the story doesn't end. 'There was no partner. Was not yelling "Capitol Police" etc. But then, it didn't feel right. He was looking at me with a tremendous amount of anger and hostility and things weren't adding up. Like, there was no partner there and no one was yelling "this is Capitol Police, this is Capitol Police." 'He was looking at me and all of this anger and hostility and at first, in my brain and in my mind, I thought "OK I just came from this super intense experience just now, maybe I'm reading into this." Maybe I am projecting something on to him. I talked to G, my legislative director and he said, "no I didn't know if he was there to help us or hurt us either." 'G was actually like...this man came with so much hostility that G was sizing him up and didn't know if he was going to have to fight him. That is how, like, aggressive the situation was. We couldn't even tell, we couldn't read if this was a good situation or a bad situation. 'Like so many other communities in this country, just that presence doesn't necessarily give you clear signal if you're safe or not'. Advertisement

The Capitol cops that day were outnumbered by more than 10,000.

The entire Capitol was put on lockdown and people were told to shelter in place - including those in the offices where AOC was.

'He was looking at me and all of this anger and hostility and at first, in my brain and in my mind, I thought OK I just came from this super intense experience just now, maybe I'm reading into this.

'Maybe I am projecting something on to him.

'I talked to G, my legislative director, and he said, "no I didn't know if he was there to help us or hurt us either."

'G was actually like...this man came with so much hostility that G was sizing him up and didn't know if he was going to have to fight him.

'That is how, like, aggressive the situation was.

'We couldn't even tell, we couldn't read if this was a good situation or a bad situation.

'Like so many other communities in this country, just that presence doesn't necessarily give you clear signal if you're safe or not,' she said.

The cop told them to run across the street to the Longworth House Office Building, she said, where Porter's office was.

'We can hear, the buildings were not secure yet, that we can like hear all of these rioters behind the glass of the door.

'I hear the hinges cracking... you can hear all of this screaming.

'The yells only get louder and louder... so we run to this member's office start knocking on the door.

'I realized I had passed by Katie Porter's office.

'I saw Katie going into her office just like holding a cup of coffee because all of these developments were happening so quickly... some people were at different urgency levels,' she said.

Porter corroborated her story and said she consoled her while AOC opened closet doors and told her how she wanted to live to become a mother.

'I just hope I get to be a mom. I hope I don't die today,' Porter recounted Ocasio-Cortez as having told her.

'Narcissism on parade': Tucker Carlson blasts AOC over Capitol riot claims Tucker Carlson labelled Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez a 'narcissist' last night after she posted a tearful Instagram about her traumatic experience of the Capitol riot. He accused the 31-year-old Democrat of manipulating voters with a deceitful video targeted at younger generations on social media. In a live stream on Monday night Ocasio-Cortez described how she was terrified she was going to be killed by Donald Trump supporters storming the Hill on January 6. She also compared those who denied her story to the 'tactics' of abusers, revealing that she was a 'survivor of sexual assault.' During the riot AOC was in Cannon House - offices which are part of the Capitol complex and not the Capitol Building itself which is around 300 yards away. Carlson commented on her video: 'There she is again. Defender of the common man, yammering on about the only subject she really cares about - herself. 'Wallowing around in Lake Me like it's interesting to anybody but her. Narcissism on parade. 'The perfect symbol of a culture dying from self-involvement. We've said that before and we've laughed as we did. But actually it's not funny. People will believe this crap. Some already do. 'Carlson added: 'Trump voters weren't trying to kill her, and neither were U.S. senators.' Advertisement

AOC, in her video, then went on to slam the people telling her to apologize to Ted Cruz for claiming he tried to have her murdered.

'The reason I'm getting emotional in this moment is because these folks who tell us to move on, that it's not a big deal, that we should forget what's happened, or even telling us to apologize, these are the same tactics of abusers.

AOC previously accused Senator Ted Cruz of 'trying to have her murdered'. She was talking about the riot which she says he, among others, instigated

'I'm a survivor of sexual assault, I haven't told many people that in my life.

'As a survivor, I struggle with the idea of being believed.'

She gave no details about the assault or when it took place.

The New York congresswoman drew parallels between the lawmakers seeking to 'move on' from the Capitol riot and the denial tactics used by abusers.

'They're trying to tell us to move on without any accountability, without any truth-telling, or without confronting the extreme damage, loss of life, trauma,' she said.

'When we go through trauma, trauma compounds on each other.

'There's no, something really big happens to you and then you deal with it and you move on, and then when something else happens to you, you deal with that.

'Whether you had a negligent parent, or whether you had someone who was verbally abusive to you, whether you are a survivor of abuse, whether you experience any sort of trauma in your life, small to large.

'These episodes can compound on each other.

'All of your traumas can, kind of, intersect and interact.'

She said those telling people to move on were using the same tactics as abusers.

'She specifically called out some Republicans, including Ted Cruz, who she says encouraged the violence.

'Some of the representatives who actually encouraged people to threaten members of Congress are actually asking me to apologize for saying and speaking truth to what happened.

'These are the tactics that abusers use... And how I feel is, not again. I'm not going to let it happen to me againI'm not going to let it happen to our country,' she said.
It is based on international standards for immunization data storage.

Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformations, and Digitization Yaroslav Kucher says the ministry has developed a software module to track COVID-19 vaccination of Ukrainian citizens.

Read alsoHealth minister elaborates on progress to buy surplus COVID-19 vaccinesKucher made the comment during a briefing on February 3, as reported by an UNIAN correspondent.

"The COVID-19 vaccination campaign will take place using the available digital tools... So, when a patient visits a doctor, the latter could see that the patient has been vaccinated, which is shown in a common system, and the electronic system the healthcare sector uses works best for this. Therefore, we've developed an immunization module for it," he said.

The module is based on international standards for immunization data storage in a format convenient for both doctors and patients.

"At the same time, a doctor can enter information about a type of a vaccine, its dosage, method of vaccine administration, reasons for vaccinating or not being vaccinated ... Healthcare staff won't need to learn how to use the new software and come up with something. It will be incorporated in the [existing] healthcare information system in this or that particular healthcare institution," he added.

COVID-19 vaccine for Ukraine

On December 30, Ukraine signed a contract with China's Sinovac for the supply of 1.9 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine.

On January 30, 2021, Ukrainian Deputy Health Minister, Chief Medical Officer Viktor Liashko said Ukraine would receive 117,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine within the COVAX (the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility) in February.

From the middle of February to the end of June 2021, Ukraine will obtain 2.2 million to 3.7 million doses of an AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine.

First to get vaccinated will be healthcare workers, the elderly, and seriously ill patients.

In December 2020, the Health Ministry's coronavirus task force approved a COVID-19 immunization plan under which at least 50% of Ukrainians (20 million people) are to be vaccinated during 2021-2022.

On January 29, the National Commission for technology-related and environmental safety and emergencies approved a schedule for vaccination against the coronavirus in Ukraine in 2021.

Reporting by UNIAN
US President Joe Biden has told Prime Minister Scott Morrison he is eager to visit Australia in his new role in a phone call between the two leaders in which the pair talked about reducing global emissions, the growing challenge of China and the military coup in Myanmar.

Less than two weeks after taking office, Mr Biden told Mr Morrison it would be a high priority for his administration to work with allies and partners within the Indo-Pacific region.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has spoken with US President Joe Biden. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer, AP

Mr Morrison, who has been criticised by Labor for being overly close to Mr Bidens predecessor, Donald Trump, said the conversation on Thursday morning was very warm and there was nothing to fix in the relationship between the two nations.

He said to me again today, he sees the Australia-US relationship as providing the anchor for peace and security in our region, Mr Morrison told reporters in the prime ministerial courtyard on Thursday.



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The bullet-shaped 50-meter-tall SN-9 Starship rocket, a product of entrepreneur Elon Musk's private space company, lifted off as planned from the southern Texas launch site and traveled 10 kilometers into the sky before making its descent for a planned soft landing back on the launch pad.

The test launch and landing of a SpaceX Starship prototype Tuesday ended in a crash for the second time since December.

The spacecraft failed to return to a vertical position before reaching the ground and exploded on impact. The December test flight ended the same way. The next SpaceX prototype, the SN-10, stood on a launch pad near the crash site but was apparently undamaged. The company did not say when that test launch will be scheduled.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that it would investigate Tuesday's explosion, fueling tension between the agency and Musk. The FAA had investigated last year's launch, saying it did not meet public safety standards, but approved Tuesday's test after what it called "corrective actions."

The Starship is intended to carry people to the moon and Mars, perhaps in the coming years.


Jen Psaki was condemned for her homophobic tweet as it resurfaced from last year in which she used a word to describe Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham that some consider a homophobic tweet slur.

The tweet, dated Aug. 5, 2020, was sent before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Graham chaired, as the former acting Attorney General Sally Yates was set to testify.

"Only in 2020 does #LadyG get to push a bunch of debunked conspiracy theories while questioning @SallyQYates (aka an American hero)," Psaki tweeted in August 2020, before being hired as President Biden's press secretary.

The tweet, which was visible as of Wednesday afternoon on Psaki's account, ruffled feathers because of using the word "Lady G," which is used by those who challenge Graham's sexuality on social media.

Despite the mounting uproar, the tweet had not been deleted as of Wednesday afternoon. The tweet seemed to reference an article in the Washington Post 2020 that detailed allegations made against Sen. Lindsey Graham on Twitter by gay porn star Sean Harding. On the Left, Graham's opponents have used derogatory remarks against the South Carolina lawmaker for a long time, insinuating that he is a near gay guy because he is single.

Many personalities condemned the tweet. One of them is Steve Krakauer, Editor of Fourth Watch.

"If you want to know what a double media standard looks like, Jen Psaki, as a CNN employee, can tweet this, get hired to be a White House press secretary, and not even feel compelled to delete it after it was unsurfaced a few days ago," Steve Krakauer wrote. "She doesn't care. She's on the same tea," he ends his quote.

While Richard Grenell, the first openly gay person to serve in a Cabinet-level role under Trump as acting director of national intelligence, tweeted, "Homophobia and intolerance from the Left are growing. This should be widely condemned."

Jen Psaki on a homophobic tweet to Graham

Psaki hasn't responded yet to the media request to comment on this issue, but many were disappointed in her tweet. Many media personalities and influencers have retweeted the said tweet condemning its message.

"Very disappointed someone in her position would embrace this style of politics. It says more about her than it does about Senator Graham," Kevin Bishop, spokesman for Sen. Graham, told Fox News.

Graham is not new to this kind of comment towards his sexuality. In 2019, Rep. Ilhan Omar said that after saying Graham was "compromised." he was sentenced.

Homophobia and intolerance from the Left is growing.



This should be widely condemned. @PressSec https://t.co/94GW0Xzaoq  Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 3, 2021

The White House @PressSec joked *last year* that Lindsey Graham is a trans woman.



But because he's a Republican, CNN and MSNBC won't raise hell over this. Therefore, they're okay with actual transphobia https://t.co/nWOw7Qzqs3  Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 3, 2021

Omar's unfounded comment came on the same day that Stephanie Ruhle, anchor of MSNBC, came under fire for claiming that Trump was blackmailing Graham over "something pretty extreme."

After comedian-turned-activist Chelsea Handler also targeted him in a homophobic tweet, Graham refuted reports about sexual orientation in 2018. Handler wrote in her tweet, "If you're wondering why Republicans took a sick day today, it's probably because it's #NationalComingOutDay. Looking at you @LindseyGrahamSC."

Graham shrugged off the criticism of Handler and dismissed the idea of conspiracy.

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Showcasing Ontario's emerging biotech entrepreneurs and driving value from intellectual property

TORONTO, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - FACIT, a commercialization venture firm for Ontario cancer innovations, congratulates the 2021 winner of its Falcons' Fortunes pitch competition, Waterloo-based start-up Air Microfluidic Systems Inc. The winning pitch, delivered by CEO Mr. Run Ze Gao, focused on the development of an air microfluidics-enabled active compression sleeve for treating breast cancer-related lymphedema.

FACIT hosts the annual pitch competition as part of its broader mandate to build a culture supportive of entrepreneurship and commercialization in Ontario, shining a spotlight on the next generation of great companies and innovations from across the province. Now in its 8th year, the competition highlights six Ontario-based entrepreneurs working in the oncology sector as they pitch their innovations to a panel of industry-experienced investors for the $50,000 Ernsting Entrepreneurship Award. FACIT's Prospects Oncology Fund sponsors the award, which throughout the year, addresses the seed funding gap for early-stage, proof-of-concept projects with commercial potential.

The Prospects Oncology Fund frequently receives applications from previous Falcons' Fortunes' participants to further advance their innovations. FACIT is pleased to announce that the 2020 Falcons' Fortunes winner, local artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Bridge7 Oncology, has secured a follow-on Prospects Fund investment.

Bridge7 Oncology develops AI software to "learn" radiotherapy treatment planning. The platform learns by examining proprietary databases and providing automated plans for cancer patients, optimizing treatments and creating healthcare efficiencies. "This seed funding will allow us to complete our global pilot study and enable our technology to reach its next inflection point, positioning our company for further investment," said Dr. Tom Purdie, Co-Founder of Bridge7 Oncology. "Participating in and winning FACIT's 2020 pitch competition helped refine our company focus and facilitated engagement with investors and industry experts, enabling us to secure customers, international partnerships and early adopters of our technology."

A unique commercialization venture group, FACIT receives support through its strategic partner, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), which is funded by Ontario's Ministry of Colleges and Universities. "Commercialization culture and seed funding are essential for harnessing Ontario's incredible entrepreneurial spirit," remarked Hon. Ross Romano, Minister of Colleges and Universities. "With groups like FACIT focused on maximizing the value of the province's intellectual property and innovative talent, Ontario is poised to benefit from the incredible research being done at our province's leading postsecondary institutions and research institutes."

"Cultivating emerging entrepreneurs and highlighting exciting start-ups and innovations, like the ones we recognize and celebrate today, are important milestones in the future impact on patients living with cancer," said Dr. David O'Neill, President of FACIT. "To ensure Ontario benefits from its homegrown IP, a local ecosystem that can provide seed capital, experienced industry management, and capacity to support further development is essential."

About FACIT

FACIT is an award-winning commercialization venture firm that builds companies with entrepreneurs to accelerate oncology innovation, with a portfolio that has attracted more than $1 billion in investment to Ontario. Blending industry experience, capital and the unsurpassed clinician-scientist network of its strategic partner the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), FACIT capitalizes on the province's investment in research and healthcare to the benefit of the local economy and patients worldwide. FACIT's commercialization portfolio includes Turnstone Biologics, Fusion Pharmaceuticals, Triphase Accelerator and other biotechnology organizations. Cancer Breakthroughs. Realized. facit.ca.

About Bridge7 Oncology

Bridge7 uses Artificial Intelligence to automate the quality, efficiency, and consistency of cancer treatments so every patient gets access to the best treatment possible. Our Founders are recognized leaders in technology for automating radiation oncology processes. Dr. Tom Purdie (UHN, UofT) and Dr. Chris McIntosh (UHN, Vector Institute for AI) have built and commercialized automated treatment planning solutions currently in market. Our patented technology is the world's most advanced AI to detect treatment quality for radiation medicine treatments. Our AI has been developed over 7 years of research at UHN and validated in a dozen peer review publications. Our AI models are trained utilizing the largest structured databases of radiation treatments including over 10,000 treatments and 150,000 anatomical structures.

SOURCE FACIT Inc.

Related Links

http://facit.ca/


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Anne Hathaway has mastered the art of being a woman on the go.

The 38-year-old Devil Wears Prada star was seen pacing outside an office building in Santa Monica on Thursday as she took a phone call ahead of a business meeting.

Looking chic in a marmalade colored coat, Hathaway was seen quickly switching out her sneakers for heels before heading into a meeting with husband Adam Shulman.

Business casual: Anne Hathaway, 38, flexes her business casual style in an orange coat and sneakers as she takes a phone call in Santa Monica ahead of a business meeting

Leaning into color, she layered a pink T-shirt underneath the knee length jacket and sported a red face mask.

She opted for FRAME jeans on the bottom and a pair of Nike sneakers to reduce maximum time in heels.

The mother of two topped the look off with a pair of sunglasses and a black purse adorned with white geometric patterns, keeping her hair tied back in a bun.

Anne - who urged the public to call her 'Annie' on an episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon - recently snagged a role in a new Amazon anthology project, Solos, alongside Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and Uzo Aduba to name a few.

Comfort first: She was seen swapping shoes before the meeting as she tried to minimize a long day in dress shoes by bringing sneakers to pair with her FRAME jeans

The seven part series will analyze human connection as explored through the lens of an individual. The character-driven episodes will shed light on different perspectives during various moments in time, ultimately showing that everyone is connected through human experience.

Additionally she has signed on to a new project called WeCrashed for Apple TV alongside Jared Leto, that will delve into the drama of failed real estate startup WeWork.

The pair will portray WeWork founder Adam Neumann and his wife Rebekah, the upper echelon couple who ultimately landed in hot water when the business billed itself as a tech company.

Busy bee: Hathaway has snagged two new tv roles - a project for Amazon called Solos and an Apple TV program called WeCrashed

Hathaway and Leto will both be given executive producer credits on the show.

Though many seeing the Oceans 8 actress as incredibly likable both on and off screen, she recently talked to The Sun about dealing with online trolls over the course of her acting career.

'I did have my monster out there, I did have the internet turn on me and hate me and it was like a whole big thing,' she said, calling it 'a really good thing for me personally.'

She said that she saw it as an opportunity to be 'empowered,' ultimately learning not to sweat the bad stuff and just 'flow with it.'
On every trip that involves wildlife I have a secret urge to pocket the animals and take them home. I know this is wrong on so many levels, which is why, when I first read "The Whispering Land," I identified with Gerald Durrell: The author is my id.

"Keeping the torch beam firmly fixed on his eyes, so that he could not see what I was doing, I gently brought up my other hand and then, with a quick movement, I threw the cloth I carried over him, and grabbed," he writes in his memoir, which was published in Great Britain in 1961 and in the United States the following year.

Durrell had a valid reason for snatching the pygmy owl from its attic perch, one of dozens of critters captured during an eight-month expedition in South America. As I learned in the prequel, "A Zoo in My Luggage," the British naturalist was building a zoo on Jersey, in the Channel Islands, and needed residents. Since he couldn't very well order the animals from a Sears catalogue, he traveled to their habitats and scooped them up like a fashionista shopping on Rue Saint-Honore. In his first book, he ventures to then-British Cameroons; in the second installment, he journeys to Argentina, the land of peccaries, tapirs, seriemas and other fascinating fauna.

I am fully aware that, in most cases, removing animals from their natural environment is unethical. Yet, more than 20 years after discovering "The Whispering Land" in a Harvard Square bookstore (I liked the cover), I remain an eager passenger on Durrell's wild ride. For one, his excursions predate the Age of Enlightenment for wildlife protection and conservation. Two, his heart is in the right place: He dedicated his life (1925-1995) to protecting endangered animals and ensuring their future through his Jersey Zoo, which he founded in 1959, and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, which works in nearly 20 countries. And finally, he is a charming and witty fella. Imagine if "Fawlty Towers" had aired on Animal Planet, or if David Attenborough were Monty Python's seventh troupe member.

Case in (third) point: After an evening spent under a Land Rover in Patagonia - always the gentleman, he had insisted that the three female members of his party sleep inside the vehicle - he awakens to find a stranger in his midst. "He wore the supercilious expression of his race, the faint aristocratic sneer, as if he knew that I had slept in my clothes for the past three nights," he says of the bedroom-crashing guanaco. The shaggy cousin of the llama burps. "He paused for a moment, glaring at me, to make sure that his comment on my worth had made me feel properly humble." The animal trots off, and Durrell awaits the arrival of dawn swaddled like a baby in blankets, puffing away on cigarettes - another time-stamped habit.

In "A Zoo in My Luggage," Durrell spends most of the nearly 200 illustrated pages collecting and anthropomorphizing around Bafut, a mountain kingdom in the West African country. (Ralph Thompson contributed the inky drawings for both books.) Among his finds: Cholmondeley St. John, a chimp with a posh demeanor; Ticky, a black-footed mongoose; and Georgina, a baboon who runs amok in a British department store a la Curious George. In "The Whispering Land," Durrell starts in Buenos Aires, swoops south to Patagonia, then boomerangs back north to Calilegua, now a national park. His story opens and closes with a bureaucratic roundelay that many travelers, including those who are not transporting traps or a puma, may find relatable.

In the first half of the book, Durrell behaves like a (mostly) typical wildlife enthusiast, observing with his eyes and keeping his grabby hands idle. (One exception: an Aesop-slow tortoise they helped cross the road by throwing him into the back of the car. They later christened him Ethelbert.) When his team locates a colony of roughly a million penguins, his excitement is palpable. "In among these craters waddled the biggest collection of penguins I had ever seen, like a sea of Pigmy headwaiters, solemnly shuffling to and fro as if suffering from fallen arches due to a lifetime of carrying overloaded trays. . . . It was a breathtaking sight."

After describing their arduous trek to sea, he turns his lens on a family he names the Joneses and a chick from next door who is always popping by their nest for free food. The scene plays like a sitcom. "The parent Jones, being harried by its gaping-mouthed brood, its mind fully occupied with the task of regurgitating a pint of shrimps, did not seem to notice the introduction of a third head into the general melee that was going on around it."

On wildlife-viewing trips, I try to emulate Durrell in the field, especially his patience, curiosity and unbridled sense of wonder. This has paid off. On Sea Lion Island in the Falkland Islands, a Gentoo chick approached me and yanked on a Velcro strap on my coat. Then it regurgitated all over both of us. I was honored. The penguin, according to my unscientific interpretation, was trying to share its seafood meal with me, like splitting a cookie with a friend. In the Galapagos, I was swimming off a beach on San Cristobal Island when I noticed a pair of birds darting around underwater like battling submarines. They were Galapagos penguins. I swam with them, beneath a searing sun, and gave myself heat stroke. I dragged myself onto the beach and had to drink copious amounts of coconut water to recover. I imagine Durrell would have poured himself a glass of wine and jumped back in the water. I am clearly still a rookie.

The second half of the book focuses on rounding up animals, or "bichos," for his Jersey venue. (In "A Zoo in My Luggage," he and the locals refer to the wildlife as "beef," as in "Good morning. You bring beef?") When I first read the book, I found these anecdotes as entertaining as Doctor Dolittle's escapades, but I didn't pick up on the greater importance of Durrell's work until years later. When I cracked the book open again, I was more informed about wildlife conservation issues and eco-tourism. This knowledge helped deepen my admiration for his writings and mission. As he explains in the prologue to "A Zoo in My Luggage," "To me extirpation of an animal species is a criminal offence, just as the destruction of something else that we cannot recreate or replace, such as a Rembrandt or the Acropolis, would be." In his view, the tortoise is as sacred as, say, the Taj Mahal, a position I support. Ditto for some of his collecting practices.

To amass his animals, Durrell employs locals, providing them with another source of income. Once word gets out that a British man is interested in buying bichos, villagers start showing up at his doorstep like UPS drivers. He also buys wild animals kept as pets, such as a foulmouthed Tucuman Amazon parrot and a maltreated ocelot in critical condition. At his temporary digs in Calilegua, he administers a shot of penicillin, dresses the ocelot's wound and sets out food - both reader and writer cross their fingers. "Then, while I held my breath, she leant forward and lapped experimentally at the raw egg," he writes. "Within thirty seconds the plate was clean, and Luna [his guide] and I were dancing a complicated tango of delight round the patio."

Durrell expresses a similar level of exuberance for humans. He is accompanied by an engaging cast of characters, including the aforementioned Luna, who is the Robin to his Batman, and Edna, who keeps his gin glass full and feeds his animals whenever he is away from the estancia. He dedicates an entire chapter to an airplane seatmate named Rosa Lillipamplia, who has a "lava-flow of chins." The pair bond over a Proustian remembrance of praying mantises. "So, for ten minutes or so, we played with the insect, making it run up and down each other's arms, and laughing immoderately, so that all the other passengers obviously doubted our sanity." Note to postpandemic self: Be more open to chatting with other passengers; you might meet someone who also raced hermit crabs as a child.

Durrell closes with a quote from Darwin that is surprisingly not about animals but about the generosity of strangers. He adds that the zoo is private but open to the public. "So come and see us," he says invitingly. I will when I can, though I can't promise that I won't think about swiping its residents.
The recent migration of Fulani people and cattle herders from neighbouring South-west states into Kwara is causing anxiety in the southern district of the state.

However, the state government has urged the people not to panic but to ensure they live in harmony with the new settlers.

The new arrivals are believed to have moved northward into Kwara following their expulsion from some South-west states.

Backstory

PREMIUM TIMES reported how a Yoruba nationalist, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, gave Fulani settlers seven days to leave the Ibarapa area of Oyo State.

He had accused Fulani cattle herders of perpetrating kidnappings and other violent crimes in the area.

Mr Adeyemo then led some youth to Igangan in the area to enforce his quit notice, during which they damaged properties, including the house of the Seriki Fulani, Saliu Abdulkadir.

The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, had also ordered herders to vacate governments forest reserves he said they had encroached on in the state.

Last week, Mr Abdulkadir said he relocated his family to Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

Influx, horrendous tales

But communities in Kwara South said there has also been an influx of herders to their area who they complained were already encroaching on and destroying their farms.

Residents, mostly farmers, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES, said they feared the development would reenact their past bad experience with herders.

Sunday Adeniyi, a farmer in Offa, recounted how his cassava farm was destroyed by herders in 2019.

I saw their cows grazing on my farm and I wanted to chase at them. The next thing I noticed was that the herders were moving towards my direction with their cutlasses, he said.

I had to quickly hop on my bike before they tried anything, Mr Adeniyi added.

He said he did not harvest a single tuber of cassava from the farm of about three acres. Their cows destroyed everything.

Mr Adeniyi said the experience forced him to quit farming, adding that he now works as a bricklayer.

Another farmer in Osi in Ekiti Local Government Area, John Ayodele, recalled herders chasing his friends from his farm in broad daylight last year after grazing their cattle on the farm.

These people are ruthless. They destroyed many farms. In fact, they raped and stole from others, the septuagenarian told PREMIUM TIMES.

Messrs Adeniyi and Ayodele both urged the authorities not to allow the herders back into their areas.

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Kicks from the South

The movement of herders has been met with consternation and protests in Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state too.

In video footage seen by PREMIUM TIMES, residents of Igbaja on Monday stormed the palace of their king who was hosting a meeting of the Council of Chiefs of the local government.

The clip shows a large crowd marching towards the venue of the meeting and chanting in Yoruba: We dont want Bororo (Fulani herders) in our community anymore.

The king later addressed the people, promising to ensure an end to the menace of herders in the community.

In the name of Kabiyesi, Elese of Igbaja, and the kings of Ifelodun, I greet you all. Because of this same issue (herdsmen-farmers conflict), we have gathered here today for solutions to the problems. We dont want them too. We are working towards what you want, the king said.

Also, women in Oro in neighbouring Irepodun Local Government Area marched to the palace of their king to protest the influx of the herders into the town.

They said the herders had settled on a portion of land a prominent indigene had acquired to start a large farm.

Meanwhile, a group of prominent persons in the area, Igbomina Professionals Association (IPA), also decried the influx of the herders into the area.

The influx of Fulani herdsmen, recently expelled from some South-west towns, into Igbomina land in Kwara State calls for serious concern. Going by stories surrounding the activities of these people in their areas of former abode, the Igbomina Professionals Association (IPA) hereby rejects in totality their relocation to our area and illegal occupation of the lands on which they are currently erecting their new homes, the group said in a statement signed by Bayo Atoyebi and Kunle Akogun, its chairman and spokesperson respectively.

According to the group, the Fulani have lived in the area for ages without problem, until recently when alleged criminal herders joined the fray.

No need to panic  State government

But the state authorities have said there is no need to panic over the new arrivals.

The Secretary to the State Government, Mamman Jibril, said the government has put in place measures to prevent crisis between host communities and herders in the state.

He advised residents to go about their lawful business and maintain a harmonious relationship with one another.

Mr Jibril, who spoke to journalists in Ilorin on Sunday, urged the people not to entertain fear about the security of their lives and properties.

He said the state government was working with the security agencies, directors of personnel management (DPMs) in the local governments, and the leadership of Miyetti Allah to strengthen the existing peace between various economic interests in the state.

Security meeting

Meanwhile, the commissioner of police in the state, Mohammed Bagega, held a security meeting at the police headquarters on Tuesday.

The spokesperson of the police in the state, Okasanmi Ajayi, said the meeting was part of the efforts to allay the fear of the people on the influx of strange people suspected to be Fulani herders driven from neighbouring states.

According to him, traditional rulers and leaders of different settlements and villages were at the meeting.

The CP confirmed receiving information from different people on the alleged influx of Fulani herdsmen into the state and the step the command was taking to ensure there was no breakdown of law and order, Mr Okasanmi said in a statement.

He spoke frankly on the need for all hands to be on deck, collaboration among all stakeholders in the communities including resident Fulanis, so as to be able to fish out the defiantly inclined Fulanis in their midst. He admonished the stakeholders of the presence of peddlers of fake news in our society, and the need to verify any news before acting on the bases of such news.

He spoke of the need to make information on movements of strange people around them available to the police. The people should also embrace the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in settling issues while consultation among the people, including the resident Fulanis, should be encouraged, the spokesperson stated.

Mr Ajayi said the police commissioner advised the traditional rulers, as the leaders of their communities, not to abdicate their responsibility to the youth. He said the youth should be checked at all times for peace to reign in our communities.

On the feedback from the community leaders, Mr Ajayi said Billy Olajide, the Ololla of Olla, spoke extensively on the need for the government to take a decision on the issue of Fulani herders and the anxiety caused by their activities.

He solicited more logistics to be given to the police to enable them to perform optimally.

In his own contribution, the Alangwas of Lanwa, Jebba and Sadu area spoke of his efforts at making the Fulani in their area conform with all the peaceful engagements with their hosts. He promised to ensure that no breakdown of peace will happen in their area, he added.

According to Mr Ajayi, the Seriki Fulani Ajase also promised on behalf of his fellow Fulani to be lawful and join hands with the host communities to fish out criminals among them.

Other traditional rulers made different suggestions on how the situation could be tackled.

In conclusion, the CP admonished the stakeholders to put the collective interest above personal interest for the purpose of peaceful co-existence among the different people in the state.
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OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Health organizations in California are joining together in an unprecedented effort to vaccinate their members and the general public using a network of COVID-19 mass vaccination hubs throughout the state.

The consortium, initiated by Kaiser Permanente, includes Adventist Health, the California Medical Association, Dignity Health, and Futuro Health. California Primary Care Association will also be working with the consortium to ensure broad equitable access to the sites through its member federally qualified community health centers. In addition, the American Red Cross has provided its expertise on mass site planning.

The first 2 vaccination hubs are expected to open at Cal Poly Pomona, and at Moscone Center in San Francisco, on Feb. 5. Establishment of the hubs is aimed at accelerating vaccination of vulnerable individuals, especially those 75 years and older, as prioritized by the California Department of Public Health.

Starting Thursday, Feb. 4, available appointments at the consortium's vaccination hubs can be scheduled at California's My Turn vaccine scheduling website, myturn.ca.gov.

The hubs will offer vaccinations by appointment only, 7 days a week, as long as supply is available. Each site will start on Friday, Feb. 5, at a lower capacity, ramping up volume as site operations are refined, and continuing to increase the week of Feb. 7. Each site will have the capacity of administering up to 10,000 doses per day, depending on supply. The success of these hubs will be highly dependent on the available supply of vaccine.

Kaiser Permanente members and patients who use other providers in the consortium can seek vaccination appointments at the hubs, along with the general public. Kaiser Permanente members can also continue getting vaccinated as part of the organization's direct outreach. Members will be notified when an appointment is available for them at a Kaiser Permanente facility, with the current focus on outreach to people 75 and over, and then to 65-and-over as vaccine supply allows.

The goal for this unique collaboration among a consortium of health organizations and the State of California is to contribute to the broader solution for vaccine access, eventually creating a network of hubs around the state. Future locations will be chosen to maximize access, especially for communities with rural populations and people who have historically experienced lower rates of vaccination. No single organization could achieve this scale on its own.

"We want to acknowledge and thank the state for making additional vaccine available, which has made it possible to open this site for the community and our members. We are also grateful to the state for providing additional vaccine to allow us to increase our appointments for our members in our medical centers," said Greg A. Adams, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente. "We have helped form this consortium because our respective organizations recognize that we need to harness our collective efforts to make immediate and meaningful progress toward mass vaccination."

"We've experienced the tremendous power of collaboration throughout the COVID-19 pandemic," said Scott Reiner, CEO of Adventist Health. "Adventist Health is proud to continue that collaboration through this effort to provide much-needed vaccine to communities across California, especially our most vulnerable, in alignment with our mission of living God's love."

"Our health care teams are diligently working to get as many 'shots-in-arms' as possible for those most at risk," said Daryn Kumar, president and CEO of Dignity Health's Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center. "Despite the extra demands our caregivers have faced over the past year, they are once again responding with enthusiasm to help pave our community's way out of this historic emergency."

"Futuro Health is pleased to mobilize students, faculty, and alumni of allied health and nursing programs in support of this effort," said Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO of Futuro Health, a nonprofit organization founded by Kaiser Permanente and SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West to address the shortage in the allied health workforce. "This mass vaccination creates opportunity for students to help out and engage in direct patient care, gaining clinical hours required for licensure which has been so difficult to obtain during the pandemic. We need to ensure we have the next generation of workers to deliver care."

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.4 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health.

CONTACT: Marc Brown, Kaiser Permanente, [email protected]

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente

Related Links

http://www.kaiserpermanente.org


Prayagraj, Feb 4 : The Allahabad High Court on Thursday rejected the schedule proposed by the Uttar Pradesh's State Election Commission (SEC) for holding panchayat elections in the state.

The SEC had sought to hold panchayat polls in May, but the court ruled it out, observing that the panchayat elections should have concluded by January 13, 2021 as per the rules.

The SEC, in its submission before the high court, said that the voter list for panchayat polls had been prepared by January 22, however, the work on the reservation of seats by the state government is yet to be finalised which has delayed the process of holding elections.

The SEC further said that it will take at least 45 days more to prepare for the polls after the seat reservation is decided.

Uttar Pradesh Panchayati Raj minister, Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, had said in December that the notification regarding the panchayat elections will be issued after the completion of preparatory work for the polls which was already underway.
With the expansion of two existing GPO contracts, Ambu's position in single-use endoscopy continues to strengthen.

Ambu Inc., the world leader in single-use endoscopes, announced today that it has been granted national single-use endoscopy contract expansions with two major U.S. Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs). With these expansions, Ambu is now on contract with all four major GPOs in the U.S. with either a full or partial portfolio of single-use endoscopy categories available for the customers that are served by the GPOs.

On one contract, Ambu's aScope 4 Cysto has been added, while Ambu's aScope Duodeno has been added on another. The expanded agreements strengthen Ambu's position in single-use bronchoscopes, rhinolaryngoscopes, and now cystoscopes and duodenoscopes for the duration of the contracts.

The aScope 4 Cysto addition expands the single-use endoscopy category of an existing contract and will be effective immediately through November 2023. The expansion enables Ambu to more broadly serve 160 acute care hospitals in the U.S. and over 2,600 total sites across more than 20 states. This expanded agreement will further accelerate growth of Ambu's share of the single-use endoscope market by giving those accounts pre-negotiated terms for Ambu's bronchoscopy, rhinolaryngoscopy and cystoscopy products.

The aScope Duodeno addition to the existing contract with another major GPO, meanwhile, provides access to Ambu's entire suite of single-use endoscopes and will be effective through February 2022. This enables Ambu to serve more than 50% of the acute care hospitals in the U.S. This agreement will further accelerate Ambu's rapidly expanding share of the single-use endoscope market by giving those accounts pre-negotiated terms for Ambu's duodenoscopes.

In total, these contract expansions give 90% of U.S. hospitals access to Ambu's complete line of single-use endoscopes; 98% of U.S. hospitals have access to Ambu's rhinolaryngoscopes, bronchoscopes and cystoscopes. Three of the four major GPOs have now created specific single-use endoscope categories.

"We're very excited to see that GPOs, with existing contracts, are adding newly released products to expand the dedicated single-use endoscopy categories, serving hospitals and healthcare providers to provide a broader array of advanced single-use devices," said Steven Block, President of Ambu Inc., North America. "In particular, our duodenoscope contract expansion will accelerate adoption of single-use endoscopy in GI and provide hospitals with additional opportunities to follow the FDA recommendations to transition to new and innovative duodenoscope designs."

20 new endoscopy devices over the next three years

Ambu launched the world's first single-use flexible bronchoscope, the Ambu aScope in 2009. In 2020, more than 1 million Ambu single-use endoscopes were used in more than 6,000 hospitals making Ambu the world's largest supplier of single-use endoscopes.

Within bronchoscopy, 96% of the top 500 hospitals in the U.S. are using Ambu's sterile, single-use bronchoscopes in the OR and ICU setting. In the last 12 months, Ambu has increased its market share in the U.S. as hospitals continue to transition to single-use bronchoscopy to avoid costly and unnecessary expenses associated with workflow management and patient cross-contamination.

By 2023, Ambu expects to introduce another 20 new devices across all major areas of endoscopy, including GI, the largest endoscopy market globally.

About Ambu

Ambu has been bringing the solutions of the future to life since 1937. Today, millions of patients and healthcare professionals worldwide depend on the efficiency, safety and performance of our single-use endoscopy, anaesthesia, and patient monitoring diagnostics solutions. The manifestations of our efforts have ranged from early innovations like the Ambu Bag resuscitator and the Ambu BlueSensor electrodes to our newest landmark solutions like the Ambu aScope the world's first single-use flexible endoscope. Moreover, we continuously look to the future with a commitment to deliver innovative quality products that have a positive impact on the work of doctors, nurses and paramedics. Headquartered near Copenhagen in Denmark, Ambu employs approximately 4,000 people in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit ambu.com or ambuUSA.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005748/en/

Contacts:

U.S. media

NorthAmerica-PR@ambu.com

Ambu Inc., 6230 Old Dobbin Lane, Suite 250, Columbia, Maryland, 21045, United States, www.ambuusa.com

European and APAC media

Mikkel Trier Wagner, Director Corporate Communications, tel. +45 4191 0830, email: mtw@ambu.com

Ambu A/S, Baltorpbakken 13, 2750 Ballerup, Denmark, Tel. +45 7225 2000, CVR no.: 63 64 49 19, www.ambu.com
He was in tougher, but that didnt stop Consus Victory from collecting his third straight win  albeit a hard-earned one  in Wednesdays (Feb. 3) feature at The Meadows, an $11,000 conditioned trot.

Up in class after those two earlier wins, Consus Victory rolled to the point from the rail and appeared to be in complete control. But when challenged late by Mystical Peter, the five-year-old Cantab Hall-OK To Play gelding had to dig in for Dave Palone to edge Mystical Peter by a neck in 1:56 over a good surface. Rising MVP finished third.

Randy Bendis trains Consus Victory, who vaulted over $100,000 in career earnings, and owns with Reed Broadway.

Tony Hall piloted four winners on the 13-race card while 13 trainers each scored a victory.

Live racing at The Meadows continues Thursday (Feb. 4), when the 13-race program features a $1,050.59 carryover in the final-race Super Hi-5.

(Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)

WASHINGTON  Dozens of residents are fighting against a proposed zoning revision that, if passed, they claim could substantially restrict public events in town, particularly a popular local festival.

One of the many stipulations in the proposed revision, called the Proposed Revision to the Washington Zoning Regulations  Section 12.8 Temporary Uses, is to restrict special events in residential/farm zones to two, one-day events per year, or one, seven-consecutive day event, and require permits and parking plans.

An event this revision could jeopardize, residents argue, is the annual Five Senses Festival. The festival supports multiple nonprofits and local art, dance, culture and school exhibitions, and brings art and dance and music to town. It requires two weekends at a minimum to be viable, according to a lengthy letter that about 100 residents have signed, explaining in detail their concerns.

Additionally, if the revision passes, many art, drama and culture events would be restricted to two venues per year at any home, farm, land trust, library, museum or club.

In a followup to the signed letter, one resident who signed it said if the revisions are approved, the future of our farms, orchards, vineyards, museums, library, land trusts, nonprofits, (and) fundraising performances will be curtailed and threatened. Organic or other farming, apple picking and grape growing cannot sustain farms, they must and have evolved to survive. They are the symbol of rural Litchfield County.

Additionally, the letter refers to 70 pages of individual letters from residents who expressed strong disagreement against the proposed revision.

The Zoning Commission has held several public hearings on this issue, which were all were attended by about 100 people. The last hearing closed Jan. 12, but a special meeting is scheduled for Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom, to continue deliberations. A vote could take place at that time.

Washington First Selectman Jim Brinton said hes against the proposed revisions. According to Binton, the issue came about as a result of the Five Senses Festival.

The festival is the root of this whole proposed regulation. After the (first) festival, the neighbors had some concerns about the noise. They went to the Zoning Commission, said Brinton, adding that the commission then started looking into the regulations for whats allowed in town. They keep trying to tweak it and tweak it and tweak it, and what it comes down to is, its tailored to the Five Senses Festival. Its in a residential district but its a farm.

Brinton said while he supports the neighbors concerns and what the zoning board feels is best for the town, it just seemed implausable to me that all of these residents and organizations and civic groups be ignored.

He said what really concerns him is if theres an issue with a group, event or neighbors, we seem to skip over the most fundamental step, which is a simple communication between the two parties.

He added while he believes the Zoning Commission has good intentions with the reason for the revision, its just misguided. We can taylor this to address the issues and still continue with the festival.

One resident in support of the proposed revision, however, is former Zoning Commission member Valerie Friedman, who said there are plenty of public facilities in town to hold the events in question.

When you own or buy property in a residential zone, there is the expectation that youre going to have peace and quiet in your neighborhood, said Friedman, who said shes not a neighbor to any of the festivals or events that are in question. We have private schools, parks, public schools, libraries, churches and clubs. We have a lot of other options, so why are we being so lenient when it comes to allowing people to impose on their neighbors?

Nick Solley, chairman of the Zoning Commission, said the group is now in a deliberation period and cant comment on the topic.

We cannot and will not speak with anyone about the revisions. ... Only after we have voted up or down on this matter can we discuss publicly about the proposed regulation changes.

Brinton said both parties should be able to form a fair resolution that would satisfy all.

There is definitely a middle ground here, he said. They can achieve the goals of both the neighbors and retaining the Five Senses. We skip over that simple step of communication and go right to government.

sfox@milfordmirror.com
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Before Holbrook came along, producers had been reluctant to book solo artists on the theory that it would be hard to hold the attention of a crowd and audiences would perceive the event as not worth their money. For decades, audiences had gone to the theater to see beloved actors perform their signature characters: Chicagos own Joseph Jefferson as Rip Van Winkle was perhaps the best example of that. But Jefferson, who got trapped in that role for much of his career, had a whole show surrounding him, usually with scores of supporting actors.
- The Pound-to-Euro exchange rate was 1.1428 on 04.02.2021. See latest GBP/EUR forecast

- The Pound-to-Dollar exchange rate was 1.3675 on 04.02.2021. See latest GBP/USD forecast

Next article  Pound-to-Euro Rate Breaches 1.14, Sterling Dollar Steady - Exchange Rates Today 05.02.2021

Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates

The Pound to Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate drifted slightly lower on Wednesday. On a quiet day of trade ahead of todays Bank of England meeting, Cable lacked direction. Upward revisions to PMIs did little to move the needle, while a daily bounce in coronavirus cases to 19,000 a day (up from 16,000 prior) will have officials worrying that the decline is set to taper off while deaths continue to be more than 1,000 a day.

Analysts at Scotiabank provided an extensive forecast on the outlook for Sterling yesterday, previewing the possible guidance from the Bank of England and providing a prediction about where Cable may be headed, stating,

All things considered, the GBP should gain upon the banks set of communications [today] as the UK economy is faced with an improved medium-term outlook. Yet, markets are not buying that yet. Markets had also not expected the RBA to expand its bond-buying program earlier this week, but so it did, so caution around central bank meetings maybe a tad elevated. The BoE may again clearly highlight that negative rates remain part of the toolkit. We see the GBPs failure to clearly push above 1.37 as temporary and expect the pound to return to its path to 1.40 after tomorrows BoE announcement.

Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates

The Euro continues to hang around the 1.20 handle even as PMIs exceeded forecasts by some margins. Investors did not take the rising price pressures as a reason to be concerned that the ECB would turn more hawkish after CPI data also rose. The 0.9% reading (0.5% forecast) was more than 1.5% stronger than the -0.3% deflation seen previously and will have some wavering about how big a bounce we may see when economic activity is normalized.

US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rates

U.S. data was also overwhelmingly positive as ISM non-manufacturing, crude oil inventories, and ADP nonfarm employment all showed better activity than forecast. Despite this, the USD only managed to eke out a minor gain, though this was the third in a row. The stimulus package looks to be on its way, but the effects may have been priced in with the carrot of more spending long hanging over Wall Street.

OTHER MAJORS

Despite some weakness in U.S. stock market futures, the Australian Dollar was slightly higher on Thursday morning. USD/JPY was 0.1% higher despite the Nikkei 225 declining 0.9%, while the Chinese Yuan continues to trade sideways in an ever tighter range.

THE DAY AHEAD

The European session will be mostly about the Bank of England meeting, though the U.K. does also release a construction PMI. In North America, the ever-important initial jobless claims figure in the United States is forecast to be 830k. U.S. factory orders are also on tap and the FOMCs Daly is set to speak.
Dr. Raj Panjabi, the Indian American co-founder and CEO of Last Mile Health, speaks onstage during the TIME 100 Health Summit at Pier 17 on Oct. 17, 2019 in New York City. Panjabi, originally from Liberia, has been appointed global coordinator for President Joe Bidens Malaria Initiative. (Brian Ach/Getty Images for TIME 100 Health Summit)

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Politicians around the world must be held to account for mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic, argues a senior editor at The BMJ today.

Executive editor, Dr. Kamran Abbasi, argues that at the very least, COVID-19 might be classified as 'social murder' that requires redress.

Today 'social murder' may describe a lack of political attention to the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age that exacerbate the pandemic.

When politicians and experts say that they are willing to allow tens of thousands of premature deaths, for the sake of population immunity or in the hope of propping up the economy, is that not premeditated and reckless indifference to human life, he asks?

If policy failures lead to recurrent and mistimed lockdowns, who is responsible for the resulting non-COVID excess deaths?

And when politicians wilfully neglect scientific advice, international and historical experience, and their own alarming statistics and modelling, because to act goes against their political strategy or ideology, is that lawful?

He acknowledges that any nation's laws on political misconduct or negligence are complex, and not designed to react to unprecedented events, but says after more than 2 million people have died, "we must not look on impotently as elected representatives around the world remain unaccountable and unrepentant."

If citizens feel disempowered, who might hold negligent politicians to account, he asks?

He points out that official scientific advisers have often struggled to convince politicians to act until it is too late or kept silent to avoid public criticism, while much of the media is complicit too, "worried about telling pandemic truths to their readers and viewers, owners, and political friends."

It is this environment that has allowed COVID denial to flourish, for unaccountability to prevail, and for the great lies of 'world-beating' pandemic responses to be spun, argues Abbasi.

When citizens find no accountability among their leaders, and feel unsupported by experts and the media, the law remains one form of redress, he writes. Indeed, some legal avenues, including criminal negligence and misconduct in public office, are being explored, although proving any such claims will be difficult and drawn out.

What's left then in this circumstance is for citizens to lobby their political representatives for a public inquiry; for professionals in law, science, medicine, and the media, as well as holders of public office, to put their duty to the public above their loyalty to politicians and to speak out, to dissent lawfully, to be active in their calls for justice, especially for the disadvantaged.

"Politicians must be held to account by legal and electoral means, indeed by any national and international constitutional means necessary. State failures that led us to 2 million deaths are 'actions' and 'inactions' that should shame us all," he concludes.

In a linked editorial, Clare Wenham at the London School of Economics asks what went wrong in the global governance of COVID-19?

Looking at the latest report from the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, she argues that the system we have established for global health security cannot respond adequately to a health emergency.

She calls for collaborative action to fix the identified weaknesses, but acknowledges that given the politicisation of responses globally, any efforts to develop a standardised response to health emergencies will have to overcome serious challenges to secure agreement among all member states.

"We need a targeted review that names and shames governments, rather than obscuring them with generalisations," she writes. "I look forward to bolder reports from the independent panel that consider not only the economic and social effect of the pandemic but the failure of Western governments too."

Explore further Politicians and governments are suppressing science, argues The BMJ
BRUSSELS  A Belgian court on Thursday stripped a senior Iranian official of his diplomatic immunity, convicted him of organizing a thwarted bomb attack aimed at an Iranian opposition rally in France in 2018 and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

The Iranian official, Assadollah Assadi, a Vienna-based diplomat detained in Belgium, invoked his diplomatic status in refusing to testify during his trial, which began in November. Mr. Assadi, now 49, received the maximum sentence on charges of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist group. He did not attend the hearing on Thursday at the courthouse in Antwerp.

The conviction is a blow to the Iranian government as it tries to persuade the United States to re-enter the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal before Iranians vote in presidential elections in June.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, claimed in 2018 that the bomb plot allegations were a false flag operation designed to embarrass Iran as President Hassan Rouhani prepared to travel to Europe to rally support for the nuclear deal that President Donald J. Trump had recently abandoned.
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Last spring, when GameStop Corp. was just a struggling videogame retailer and before Reddit took it to the moon, two small money managers teamed up in an audacious bid to shake up its board of directors.

They thought the stock was worth a few more dollars.

They won, and then things got wild. Shares have zoomed from $4 all the way to above $400 and back to $90. John Brodericks Permit Capital has made more than $100 million, and Kurt Wolfs Hestia Capital is up around $50 million, at least in paper gains, according to regulatory filings. The duo risked their reputations on the future of GameStop and in doing so helped plant the seeds that turned into a stock rally that has captivated Wall Street.

Its sort of like after the Super Bowl when they ask someone how it feels and they say it doesnt feel real," said Mr. Broderick. I guess I can go to Disney World."

Their realized profits arent quite equal to each others right now, their stock-picking fairy tale colliding with the reality of corporate bylaws.

Mr. Broderick has been able to cash out much of his stake and book career-changing gains. Mr. Wolf, though, is now a director at the company, and board rules restrict his selling. He sold a piece at a big profit, but most of his potential gains are on paper, at the mercy of the rallys coming months. Just Tuesday, more than half of his gains disappeared.

A representative said Mr. Wolf declined to comment. GameStop hasnt commented on the trading.

The spark for GameStops rally has been credited to Ryan Cohen, who co-founded online pet-supplies retailer Chewy Inc. His bet, disclosed in August, gave investors a reason to believe that someone was about to transform GameStop into an internet retailer. In November, Mr. Cohen sent a letter to the board urging just that kind of pivot, and asking for board seats.

When Mr. Cohen got a board seat in January, it created another sea change. A crowd of amateur stock pickers on Reddit believed in him and began buying shares in waves. That nearly sunk hedge funds that had been betting against GameStop in dangerously concentrated amounts. The result: Shares soared from some $18 to $325an increase of more than 1,700%in three weeks. They touched $483 in intraday trading last week. They fell sharply Tuesday, closing at $90.

But the path for Mr. Cohens success was laid by Messrs. Broderick and Wolf, who were making an argument for value in GameStop long before it was cool. We believe the fair value of the Company is at least $19 per share," they wrote last year when the stock was around $4.

They are far from Wall Street giants.

Mr. Wolf, 47 years old, started Hestia Capital in 2009 after working at hedge funds and co-founding a health-care startup. He first bought GameStop in 2012. His firm is so small it doesnt have to file the quarterly disclosures required of those that manage over $100 million in outside money. At its peak, Hestia had spent just under $7 million to buy about 2.1% of GameStop, according to filings.

Mr. Broderick, 51, manages Permit Capital, based in West Conshohocken, Pa., outside Philadelphia. It is part of a broader financial group started by former Morgan Stanley executive Richard Worley and onetime FAO Schwarz chairman Peter Morse. The fund is named after a particularly hard-to-catch fish.

Permit Capital managed about $287 million as of December. Mr. Broderick first bought GameStop stock in 2011. At its peak, Permit had spent about $35 million on a 5.5% stake, making it one of the biggest holders, according to filings.

By any normal standards of corporate activity, GameStop has already been through a hectic few years. The company has changed strategies and CEOs, run a failed process to sell itself, and had multiple investors suggesting ways it could do better.

At the start of 2019, Mr. Wolf sent a public letter to the board urging a massive repurchase of shares. When the company only partly agreed, he publicly called for board changes.

After seeing the letter, Mr. Broderick reached out to Mr. Wolf and they formed a team. A few days later, GameStop agreed to add two new directors.

The peace didnt hold. On March 12, 2020, Messrs. Wolf and Broderick demanded two more seats, including one for Mr. Wolf.

This time, the company stood fast, arguing it had a strategy in place and had changed its board enough.

To win a board fight, an investor needs to canvass shareholders and lobby them for votes. This one, they had to do amid a pandemic. Messrs. Wolf and Broderick werent deterred.

To pay for the fight, Mr. Broderick said, he and Mr. Wolf racked up their personal credit cards and Permit borrowed to buy more stock on margin. Mr. Broderick had a new baby but seemed locked in his office. Mr. Wolf is raising five kids and some chickens outside Pittsburgh.

Mr. Broderick said he questioned whether the effort was worth it at times but that Mr. Wolfs excitement never waned.

I call him the Monitor, as in the lizard," Mr. Broderick said. He pursued this thing with incredible focus and with this intense energy every day."

Messrs. Wolf and Broderick argued that board members had squandered the shareholders money and urged them again to buy back stock. They said the board was wasting the asset of an enviable set of loyal customers that a booming game industry needs to connect with.

In June, shareholders elected Mr. Wolf and the other nominee to the board.

Mr. Cohen announced his investment a few weeks later.

GameStops fiscal quarter ended Saturday. Its board rules say directors cannot sell during a blackout period that starts seven days before the end of the quarterin other words, starting the week when GameStop shares soared 400%. The blackout period lasts until the day after the company discloses the results, typically the middle of March.

Shortly after Mr. Cohen joined the board, Mr. Wolfs Hestia sold several chunks of stock at prices around $20 and $30 a share, for a total of about $17 million, according to filings. That was already a significant return on the original investment, and left Hestia with 431,000 shares.

By the end of that week, board members were barred from selling more, just as the trading entered a new stratosphere.

Last week, Mr. Wolf watched his position rise to a value of $210 million and fall back to $80 million. At the close of Tuesday, it was around $40 million.

Mr. Broderick declined to say how much Permit has sold but that he significantly scaled back his investment as the price became untethered from fundamentals.

As of the end of the year, Permit had already sold about 2 million shares, according to filings. That would have brought in an estimated $21.5 million, based on closing prices. The firm still held 1.23 million shares, which, if sold at last months average closing price, would have been another $100 million in proceeds.

While he still believes in GameStops future, and thinks Messrs. Wolf and Cohen can turn it into an internet retailer, Mr. Broderick doesnt believe the stock is worth $300 a share. But he also no longer believes the $19 he and Mr. Wolf pitched last year is high enough.





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Fianna Fail Senator, Shane Cassells, has called on the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to offer the same supports and funding schemes to provincial newspapers as is being offered to independent commercial radio.

Senator Cassells call comes after the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland announced its latest 2.5m commercial radio funding round under the Sound & Vision Scheme. This follows on from funding previously granted to radio stations during the first lockdown last year.

It also comes at a time where journalists have been laid off from a number of provincial papers across the country in the last week.

The preferential treatment of radio over local print media by the Minister needs to be equalised, remarked Senator Cassells.

We need the same support for our local papers or quite frankly theyll be gone and with them the coverage of local news and sport in towns right across Ireland.

Commenting on the need for support for local papers Senator Cassells pointed out that 91% of advertising revenue for provincial papers comes from local businesses in their areas and the impact on their revenue streams during lockdown has been devastating.

There are 46 paid for local newspapers in this country. There was a call for funding from the provincial newspaper representation group - Local Ireland - in December and I made that further call for this in the Seanad last week," he said.

The reality is that if supports for the local print media sector are not brought in, that all those local court sittings and council meetings could go uncovered in the future, and where would that leave the transparent functioning of our democracy? Support from the Minister needs to be provided urgently in order to address this or we will be extending condolences in a few months on their demise.
Upperman African American Cultural Center Offers Numerous Events Celebrating Black History

UNCWs Upperman African American Cultural Center is offering a full calendar of events celebrating the legacies and histories of African descendants in America in observance of Black History Month.

From anti-racism staff and faculty trainings to socially distant outings, there is something for everyone in this years Black History Month, said Sean Palmer, executive director of the Upperman African American Cultural Center. The university is engaged in creating innovative programming to highlight the contribution of people of African descent even as we make adjustments due to the pandemic.

The public will have the opportunity to participate in virtual African American read-ins that are being held at DC Virgo and UNCWs Randall Library. Other events include BOOKed and Busy Black Cultural Center Reading Circle, with the reading of Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward; the viewing of Ethnic Notions by Marlon Riggs, a documentary tracing the evolution of the deeply rooted racial stereotypes which fueled anti-black prejudice; and Lifting As We Climb, a virtual panel discussion on the triumphs and challenges of black women and women of color in the helping professions.

Bakari Kitwana, a premier hip hop scholar, is the keynote speaker. This years observance celebrates the Black family and the evolution of hip hop. Kitwana is the author of The Hip Hop Generation, Why White Kids Love Hip Hop, Sweat the Technique and The Rap on Gangsta Rap! The month-long event concludes with the celebration of the 51st anniversary of the Black Student Union.

One of the amazing things about this years celebration is that you can access our events from the comfort of your home via Zoom, Facebook and Spotify, said Palmer.  I encourage everyone to join us at UNCW for a month that is sure to be beautiful, bold, brilliant and Black!

Visit Upperman Centers Black History Month website for a full list of events and to register. For more information, contact the Upperman Center at upperman@uncw.edu.

--Venita Jenkins

#OIDI

#UPPERMAN
Engine selected for new vessell

The Isle of Man Steam Packet Companys new flagship, Manxman, will be powered by what the Guinness World Records describes as the worlds most efficient four-stroke diesel engine.

Technology group Wartsila has been chosen to supply the new vessel with two eight-cylinder and two 10-cylinder engines, which are recognised for a high level of fuel efficiency which reduces exhaust emissions.

The Wartsila 31 engines will be installed at the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) in South Korea where Manxman is being constructed. Delivery to the shipyard is expected to commence in early 2022.

Work on physically constructing a replacement for the conventional ferry, Ben-my-Chree, is due to start later this year with the new vessel expected to commence service in Spring 2023.
Non-priority groups including Public Health England workers and friends of NHS staff have been jumping the queue for the coronavirus vaccine jab.

Over a hundred members of PHE staff at Porton Down, Wiltshire, have had the treatment, even though they are not in an of the qualifying categories.

The director at the facility insisted they were spare doses that would have gone to waste if they had not been used - but would not comment on the total.

Alex Sienkiewicz, Director at PHE Porton Down told MailOnline: 'The local NHS have offered spare doses of vaccines, at short notice, to their own staff, local residents, and some PHE laboratory staff.'

Meanwhile friends and family of NHS and social care staff were also revealed to have been fraudulently getting Covid vaccine jabs  after organisers of the rollout failed to vet people who applied for appointments on a dedicated website link.

The booking internet address was supposed to be only for priority healthcare workers, but was shared among friends and family in Bromsgrove, Worcs.

Over a hundred members of PHE staff at Porton Down, Wiltshire, have had the treatment jabs

Friends and family of NHS and social care staff in Bromsgrove also had jabs ahead of others

It sparked an onslaught of appointments at the vaccination hub at the Artrix arts centre who were not asked for IDs so managed to get their jabs.

Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCG, which oversees the vaccination programme there, refused to comment on the claims except to blame a 'national' issue.

One worried worker who highlighted the problem to the CCG at the weekend received an email in response warning the activity was 'fraudulent' and people should not be sharing the link - but accepted further checks should have been taking place on site to prevent any abuse of the system.

Priority patients attend the NHS Nightingale North East hospital to receive their jabs

SINGLE SHOT OF OXFORD'S JAB 76% EFFECTIVE FOR 12 WEEKS A single shot of Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine is 76 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic illness and may have a 'substantial effect' on transmission, research suggests. In a huge boost to the UK's immunisation drive, analysis of the jab trials found the first dose was extremely successful in preventing people from falling ill within the 12-week time window between getting a second dose. When the second dose is administered after three months, the jab's efficacy is bumped up to 82.4 per cent, according to the study, which has been submitted to The Lancet for publication. The results, from more than 17,000 trial volunteers, suggest Britain's vaccination gamble to delay its dosing regimen has paid off. In a bid to get wider vaccine coverage quicker, regulators pivoted from their original plan to give people their second dose after 21 days when the Oxford University/AstraZeneca jab was approved in late December. They pushed back the second dose for 12 weeks in the hope that giving partial protection to as many vulnerable people as possible would drive down hospital admissions. Boris Johnson tweeted: 'Really encouraging data from a new study today shows the Oxford/AZ vaccine provides significant protection against the virus.' The strategy has helped make Britain a world-leader in vaccinations, with 9.6million people now injected with at least a single dose of either Pfizer's or AstraZeneca's jab. Advertisement

The email, from the local NHS Staff Covid Helpline team, said: 'We are aware the link was fraudulently shared by people on social media and forwarded incorrectly by email.

'This is fraud by those who have undertaken this and those who have booked vaccination slots in this way.

'Unfortunately there are people in society who behave like this.'

The email added: 'We are in the process of strengthening the message for the staff at the Artrix Centre around eligibility checks, which should be in place.'

And they conclude: 'Please rest assured, we are doing our best. This is the biggest vaccination programme in history and the public reaction to this is unlike any we have ever encountered, which is causing challenges such as this up and down the country.

'We are doing our best to manage the messages and process around this, including being clear on the eligibility criteria for those being vaccinated in the priority groups and in checking eligibility at the sites we manage.'

A resident who got in touch said it was 'a shambles', and said he knew of four people who had been vaccinated when they should not have been.

'None of them work in care or the NHS. I am gobsmacked this is being allowed to happen,' he told Birmingham Live.

Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCG did not respond on whether anyone was vaccinated outside of priority groups.

A statement said: 'The NHS in Worcestershire provides vaccination appointment slots in line with the priority groups set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and in accordance with national guidance.

'There were some reported issues nationally with the booking system, these have been resolved and only those identified by NHS number as falling within the eligible cohorts will now be able to book a slot once they are invited to do so.'

Shaun Dix, a spokesman for NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire clinical commissioning group, told The Guardian: 'The staff at Porton Down have been offered the coronavirus vaccine due to the very nature of their work, which involves closely examining Covid-19, and its emerging variants, on a daily basis.'
A recently released economic report confirmed what many people already, that the private sector lost a lot of money and as a result either fur Read more
Care and Feeding is Slates parenting advice column. In addition to our traditional advice, every Thursday we feature an assortment of teachers from across the country answering your education questions. Have a question for our teachers? Email askateacher@slate.com or post it in the Slate Parenting Facebook group.

My husband and I are having some difficulty agreeing where to send our 5-year-old to school in the fall.

My husband comes from a small-minded family that wants to avoid Black people moving into the neighborhood, still refers to Black people by the N-word (never in front of our children), and generally acts as though people of other races/ethnicities/cultures are less than they are. My husband, unfortunately, absorbed some of these qualities, but Ive been adamant that he be at least neutral towards BIPOC in front of our children and me, and he has been respectful of that so far. He went to private school from kindergarten until graduation.

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I was raised primarily by my mom and grandparents, and when I was 10 my mom and I moved to a town that was split 65 percent African American, 30 percent white, and 5 percent other races. While there was some gang activity, by and large I had a very successful outcome from the public school system.

Now its approaching time for our 5-year-old to begin school, and my husband and I are butting heads on whether he should attend the private or public school in our town. By and large I am in favor of the public school, just based on the facts that its free and they are better equipped to serve a special needs child (our son has ADHD). Im not entirely opposed to the private school, but I want us to make an informed and educated decision. I also admit that I am prejudiced against the private school because I dont think hell receive the same quality education, and I also think this particular private school exists mainly for white flight and further perpetuates the necessity of the Black Lives Matter movement. My family supports the use of public schools.

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However, the same cant be said for my husband, who is being largely influenced by his family. He is strongly against public school, and thinks our son will turn out to be a thughis words verbatim. I feel like hes refusing to acknowledge the struggles weve already faced by having our son in a day care affiliated with a private school: elitism, exclusion, and a lack of willingness to accommodate his mental health needs. His family really doesnt want our son in public school, and are discouraging my husband from letting me send him there.

Can you weigh in on the pros and cons of both school systems and perhaps weigh in on your thoughts?

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If it matters, we are in a small town in South Carolina, about 45 minutes south of the state capital.

At an Impasse

Dear At an Impasse,

Honestly? I doubt that your husband will be persuaded by a pros-and-cons argument of private versus public education. Your husband wants to send your son to a private school despite the increased cost, the lack of services for students with ADHD, the previous negative experiences you had with private preschool, and the fact that you yourself received an excellent education from public school. Why? Because hes racist. Thats why hes refusing to acknowledge the issues youve raised with private schooling; for him, the most important factor is keeping your son in a de facto segregated school. What could I possibly say to counteract that?

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Public education isnt only about whats best for my kid; its about whats best for all of us.  Katie Holbrook

Look, maybe you will convince your husband that public school is the right choice. But ask yourself: Will he continue to button up his racism for the next 13 years? If your son has a Black teacher, will your husband respect her? If your son makes Black friends, will your husband be kind and welcoming to them? Will your husband learn to acknowledge the humanity and worth of Black people, Indigenous people, people of color? I sincerely hope so, but its also possible the opposite will happen; he could start to behave like the rest of his family. Even if he continues to be neutral toward BIPOC, as you say, I find it hard to believe that your children will not eventually pick up on his true feelings. Children are more perceptive than we give them credit for.

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In saying this, Im not trying to push you into the private school, honestly. I believe wholeheartedly in the mission and promise of public schools. Public education isnt only about whats best for my kid; its about whats best for all of us. Our society is better off with strong public schools, and our public schools would be stronger if we all sent our kids to them, if we invested in them equitably, if we treated them like the cornerstone of democracy they are.

Unfortunately, I dont think your disagreement over this issue will be limited to school. You and your husband need to have a heart-to-heartperhaps with the help of a professionalabout your values as individuals and as parents, about the kind of person you want your son to become, and the best way to prepare him for the future that awaits him. I will be thinking of you, Impasse.

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Ms. Holbrook (high school teacher, Texas)

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I have a 10-year-old daughter in fifth grade. She is in virtual school, and she has always struggled in math. She doesnt stay focused and is just not interestedshe cant muster motivation, and she doesnt care about her grades. Not in a defiant way, but just eh. I get email after email about her not paying attention, and I end up having to reteach her how to do her math at the end of the day. Sometimes I have to go back and watch the Zoom lesson to see how the teacher has taught it so I can show her their way. Previous teachers have also commented to me that she zones out and isnt excelling. Last year it could take almost an hour for her to memorize 10 multiplication facts. Sometimes she would forget the easiest ones.

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I started to wonder if maybe she has ADHD and I was missing something. Shes been doing OK this year, but Im definitely picking up the slack for her, helping her at home. Because of COVID, shes had three different teachers for math this year. The third teacher, who she has now, is a miracle worker. I dont know what shes done or how, but all the sudden my daughter is remembering what she learned from her math lesson on Zoom. My daughter can show me how to do the problems, and she can recite the little tricks here and there to solve the problems. Its like the electricity went on. Shes so excited shes getting it, and I am too!! Is it possible that this whole time its been the way her previous teachers taught math and that this particular teacher understands how to reach my daughter? Im curious for your thoughts.

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Whats Changed?

Dear Whats Changed,

Years ago, a student came to my classroom with a reputation of being poorly behaved and disrespectful. I had heard stories about her for years. But miraculously, I never had a problem with her, and we remain friends to this day. Halfway through the school year, I asked her how she managed to turn her life around.

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She said, On the first day of school, you told me I was starting with a clean slate. You didnt care about anything I had done before, and I was perfect in your eyes, so I decided to be perfect. I wanted to keep my slate clean.

I have no recollection of saying those words. Im sure I did, but as teachers, we often empty our toolboxes trying to help a student, and its often impossible to know what tool actually worked or what tool we even used.

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I tell you this story because its hard to say why a student suddenly changes with the introduction of a new teacher or a new setting, but it happens all the time. As was the case with my student, a student who struggled the previous year with learning or behavior can suddenly become a model student under new circumstances.

This teachers style of instruction might mesh well with your daughters style of learning. Or maybe this teacher has connected with your child on a personal level and has inspired her to work hard. Your daughter may have also matured to the point that she sees learning as more valuable than she once did, or maybe she has befriended a student in class who is doing well and supporting your daughter.

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My suggestion is to ask your daughter, and because she is a child and perhaps not as reflective as an adult, ask her the question in several ways. Questions like:

1. What do you think of your new math teacher?

2. What does she do to help you learn?

3. How do you connect differently with this new math teacher compared with your other math teachers?

4. How does your new math teacher teach math differently than your old math teachers?

5. Do you feel different about math now than you did at the beginning of the year?

6. On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel about yourself as a math student?

You might want to ask these questions over a period of days. Asking them all in a row may frustrate your daughter, increase her anxiety, or raise concerns. It will also give you a broader view of her feelings rather than looking at how she is feeling in a particular moment.

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The goal, of course, is to identify those things that are helping her to learn and ensuring that those things continue this year and beyond.

Mr. Dicks (fifth grade teacher, Connecticut)

My first grader has struggled all year with virtual school. His (fun! patient! wonderful!) teacher says hes engaged during synchronous instruction, and his tests came back in the 99th percentile, so on paper everything is fine. Backstage, however, its more complicated.

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At first he was overwhelmed by being on camera and would run away periodically to have a meltdown under the bed. We worked up his tolerance, but he was still falling apart, and any mistake could set him off.

He finally hit his stride, and we had a few weeks of peace. Until he started getting angry that he had to do the work he didnt like, stopped asking for or accepting help, ever, and generally got stuck in a place of anger and defiance. No reasonable negative consequences could budge him, either.

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I was a high school teacher until this year, and this situation felt so familiar to me that I said to hell with it and told him it was time to learn what high school kids know: No grown-up can ever trick or force people into learning or doing schoolwork. I told him he needed his own plan for staying motivated and doing things he didnt like. I explained that all grown-ups need to do some yucky work in able to work on amazing projects too.

So far this has been a miracle cure. He thought about it, decided on a plan, and adjusted as needed. Eighty percent of the time hes doing it all himself. Hes now almost cheerful even when hes fighting through work he doesnt enjoy, like hes embracing the suck and proud of himself for being so tough. Life is good, at least for now, and if he were 12 Id feel like this is 1,000 percent a valuable lesson. But hes 7. And now Im full of worries about it because my family and friends think Im turning him into a future nightmare child.

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Is it too soon for this? Have I screwed his next school year? He was such a good citizen in kindergartenI would hate to encourage power struggles in second grade. Am I doing that mean thing where I rush him through childhood so I can act like hes advanced? He still believes in Santa, and I believe in Jesus half the time, so were not usually grim realists intent on destroying all illusions of security.

Any reassurance you can give will be appreciated!

Too Young to Suck It Up?

Dear TYtSIU,

The first thing I would recommend is to slow down and take a deep breath. You have not screwed up your child at all. In fact, I agree with you that the lesson you taught him was a very important one. Kids today have a tendency to expect things instantly. Many of my students his age get frustrated when they dont master something on the first or second try. When this happens, I have a conversation with the student about grit.

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I honestly wish more parents would have these types of conversations with their child earlier. Embracing the suck is a life lesson in perseverance that should be taught as soon as possible. School can be really challenging, especially in the early grades. The fundamental concepts of math and reading are often taught in unengaging ways and require a large amount of repetition to master. Unfortunately, in some cases, theres no more engaging or entertaining way to teach a concept; sometimes youve just got to complete the worksheet. It seems like your son has begun to grasp this concept, and I strongly believe he will be better off for it. Youve done him a service, and its wonderful hes taken to it all so well.

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Mr. Hersey (second grade teacher, Washington)

We have a very middle-class problem. Our 4-year-old son is in his first year of preschool. My son is fairly advanced for his agehe knows his upper- and lowercase letters, can legibly write his name, and is working on basic additionbut he is a little immature socially and emotionally. My husband and I made the decision to enroll him in preschool purely for the extra peer time. He does attend a day care all day as well, as we both work.

Ive been surprised by his reaction to school. He seems bored, and I expressed this concern to his teacher at our conference in November. She reassured me that she would be breaking the class of 16 into groups to give some of the kids more of a challenge. This hasnt happened, and when we had distance learning last week I had to force him to put effort into the assignments. When he started in person again this week, I wrote a little note saying that he was bored with the assignments and that I didnt feel like he was putting in his best effort. I asked for advice and havent heard anything back. What should I do? Should I just let it go and continue to work on teaching him his phonics (thus compounding the being-ahead-academically problem)? Ask her for more challenging material? I dont want to be that parent.

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Its Only Preschool for Petes Sake

Dear Its Only Preschool,

To be honest, it looks like youre viewing the problem from the wrong angle to me. If hes ahead academically and you enrolled him in preschool in order to focus on his social skills, why are you worried about her providing more difficult work? Its absolutely true that bored children can exhibit some bad behavior, so I can see that being a concern, but I dont really see how the teacher providing him with academically challenging work (possibly different work from his peers) will help him learn social skills.

Thats not to say you shouldnt continue to foster a love of learning. Go on and get ahead on those pre-academic skills! Thats all good. But does it help address your main reason for enrolling him in school? Not really. I know this year with COVID-19, a lot of good options are off the table (play dates, for instance), and Im assuming that difficulties with COVID safety procedures have prevented his teacher from creating those groups. At my school, we werent able to start small-group instruction in classrooms until all the teachers rearranged their classrooms to create socially distanced spaces to do small group work, and even then, its groups of two children at most, which isnt ideal for fostering social skills.

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As for the distance learning component of his learning (I assume hes on some sort of hybrid schedule): I think a lot of kids struggle to do work for remote school. That has to do with different expectations of behavior between home and schoolkids think of home as a place they relax after school, and school as the place where the working happensso your son needing to be forced into work that he may do easily at school isnt really concerning to me.

A better indicator of school being too easy for him is if he is unhappy or acting out on the days that hes at in-person school, or if he is struggling to connect with his peers. At 4 years old, preschoolers arent expected to make significant academic growth. Most state standards for preschools focus on school readiness skills (walk in line, stay quiet when someone is reading you a story, etc.) or social skills (share, etc.). Theyre also supposed to provide an enriched environment to foster language growth and pre-academic classroom concepts (counting skills, shapes, etc.). Whether or not he can read isnt really something your preschool teacher is concerned with, and it will be addressed next year in kindergarten.

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As I said, I dont mean to discourage you from promoting academics or academic learning in your child. Just that unless youre seeing that boredom coupled with bad behavior, I dont think you have much to worry about.

Ms. Sarnell (early childhood special education teacher)

More Advice From Slate

My son is in third grade at a Spanish immersion public school, and he has a teacher he completely adores. Our principal, however, recently decided to restructure the entire third grade, and as a result, my son is being pulled away from his beloved teacher. What can I do?
He's one of Australia's most celebrated actors and filmmakers.

And as Hollywood winds down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Joel Edgerton decided to take things easy on Thursday by going for a morning surf.

The Zero Dark Thirty star, 46, caught waves at Sydney's Bondi Beach, where he has been living for the past few months since moving back home from Los Angeles.

Relaxed: As Hollywood winds down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Joel Edgerton decided to take things easy on Thursday by going for a morning surf at Sydney's Bondi Beach

He wore a long-sleeve Billabong rash vest and black boardshorts.

Joel, who is dating Vogue Australia fashion director Christine Centenera, later emerged from the surf and jogged up the beach.

Last month, he caught up with Chris Pratt in Sydney, after the Hollywood star jetted to Australia to film Thor: Love and Thunder.

Home away from home: The Zero Dark Thirty star, 46, caught waves at Bondi, where he has been living for the past few months since moving back home from Los Angeles

Outfit: He wore a long-sleeve Billabong rash vest and black boardshorts

Brisk run: Joel, who is dating Vogue Australia fashion director Christine Centenera, later emerged from the surf and jogged up the beach

Chris, 41, had just finished his two weeks of mandatory quarantine when he decided to meet up with Joel and his brother, actor Nash Edgerton.

The trio went for breakfast in the upmarket suburb of Vaucluse on January 31.

They were joined by another friend for coffee and breakfast.

Recent outing: Last month, Joel caught up with Chris Pratt (centre) in Sydney, after the Hollywood star jetted to Australia to film Thor: Love and Thunder

Chris was sporting more facial hair than usual, likely a result of his 14 days spent in a hotel room as per Australia's Covid-19 rules.

Meanwhile, Joel was rugged up against the gloomy weather in a black windbreaker.

The three actors shared a rather animated conversation as they dined over the course of an hour or so.
Footage captured at a bustling South Florida grocery store yesterday showed a swath of maskless shoppers and staff inside in violation of a local mask mandate.

The video was taken inside Oakes Farms Seed to Table Market in Collier County, Naples, about 42 miles south of Fort Myers, on Wednesday by NBCs Sam Brock.

The footage shows a large number of employees and shoppers  some elderly - gathered closely together, with the vast majority not wearing face masks or adhering social distancing guidelines.

Even though the county has a mask mandate in place, the store has a sign out front that states customers do not need to wear a face covering if they have a medical condition.

Those in our lovely government have ordered all persons entering indoor facilities to wear a mask. If you have a medical condition that prevents you from wearing a mask, you are exempt from this order. Due to HIPAA and the 4th Amendment we cannot legally ask you about your medical condition, the sign reads.

Therefore, if we see you without a mask, we will assume you have a medical condition and we will welcome you inside to support our business.

The stores owner, Alfie Oakes, has not yet responded to a DailyMail.com request for comment. However, in an interview with the TODAY show, he called the ongoing pandemic 'hogwash'.

Scroll down for video

The video was captured inside Oakes Farms Seed to Table Market in Collier County, Naples, about 42 miles south of Fort Myers, on Wednesday

The footage shows a large crowd of employees and shoppers  some elderly - gathered closely together, with the vast majority not wearing face masks or following social distancing guidelines

Even though the county has a mask mandate in place, the store has a sign out front that states customers do not need to wear a face covering if they have a medical condition

As #Flordia fights community spread of COVID on a massive scale, this is a 15-second snapshot of a supermarket in Naples. Many employees and customers- even older ones- with no masks on inside. Store sign outside cites medical exemptions, we cant ask questions. @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/rNUSOPLjeB  Sam Brock (@SamBrockNBC) February 3, 2021

Speaking to the network, Oakes said his reasoning behind his store's mask policy is that he doesnt believe they do anything to stop the spread of COVID-19, and added that he doesnt buy that hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from the virus.

I know that the masks don't work, and I know that the virus has not killed 400,000 people in this country. That's total hogwash, Oakes said.

Why don't we shut the world down because of a heart attack? Why don't we lock down cities because of heart attacks?

Oakes previously filed a federal lawsuit in November challenging the constitutionality of Collier Countys mask policy, claiming it violated his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The business owner alleged the mandate was being selectively enforced, claimed he was being targeted due to his political views, and called the virus a hoax according to the Naples Daily News.

In the US, as of Thursday, more than 450,000 people have died from COVID-19, and 27.7 million Americans have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began last March.

In Florida, one of the early hotspots for COVID-19, the states health department has recorded more than 1.7 million confirmed cases of the virus, as well as more than 27,000 coronavirus fatalities.

In Collier County alone, there have been more than 27,000 coronavirus infections and 413 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Viewers of the video appeared divided on the issue, with some defending the customers and employees depicted while others have expressed outrage

The stores owner, Alfie Oakes (above) said he doesnt believe masks do anything to stop the spread of COVID-19, and added that he doesnt buy that hundreds of thousands of Americans have been killed by the virus

Oakes previously filed a federal lawsuit in November challenging the constitutionality of Collier Countys mask policy (his store is shown above)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has repeatedly stated that masks and social distancing can help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

According to the CDC, experimental and epidemiological data support community masking to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

The public health institute also notes that masks help to reduce the emission of virus-laden droplets, which is especially relevant for asymptomatic or presymptomatic infected wearers who feel well and may be unaware of their infectiousness to others.

These people are estimated to account for more than 50 percent of all transmissions, according to the CDC.

Last week, health officials further suggested that Americans should actually wear two masks, instead of one, as more-contagious variants of COVID-19 from South Africa and the UK spread across the US.

This is a physical covering to prevent droplets and virus to get in, the nations leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday.

So, if you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on  it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective. And thats the reason why you see people either double-masking or doing a version of an N95.

In Florida, one of the early hotspots for COVID-19, the states health department has recorded more than 1.7 million confirmed cases of the virus, as well as more than 27,000 coronavirus fatalities

Despite being one of the nations hotspots for the virus, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken a lapse approach to the crisis, issuing very few closures, and lifting restrictions on bars, restaurants and virtually every other business in September.

DeSantis has also refused to shut down schools statewide and said a mask mandate is 'off the table.' Two months ago, he even criticized states like California with harsher restrictions and said he trusted his residents to 'use common sense'.

'How has that worked out in the states that have done it?... What about all these states where you have an explosion in cases?' DeSantis told reporters.

'At some point, does the observed experience matter? I'm opposed to mandates. Period. I don't think they work.'

Analysis conducted by DailyMail.com last week showed that Florida and California, another US hotspot, have near-identical rates of cases, deaths and hospitalizations  despite the Golden State imposing much stricter lockdown measures.

In light of Wednesdays video in Naples, County Commissioner Andy Solis said his biggest fear is that COVID-19 cases will increase and the hospitals will become overwhelmed if the local mask mandate isnt followed.

It's very disappointing and very concerning, he said.

The footage was captured on Wednesday, and resembles a scene from before the pandemic began in March

The video has since been viewed on Twitter more than 3.4 million times.

Viewers appeared divided on the issue, with some defending the customers and employees depicted while others have expressed outrage.

They're all immune, until they're not. And then an overworked, overstressed healthcare professional has to clean up their mess, wrote one user.

Another user hit back: I'm okay with wearing a mask to protect myself but if both the employees and the customers are okay with not wearing a mask why should anyone be mad at them for it. If you're scared of the virus stay home you shouldn't be out in the first place.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Leveljump Healthcare Corp. (TSXV: JUMP) ("Leveljump" or the "Company"), a Canadian leader in B2B telehealth solutions, is pleased to announce that the Company has applied to the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") for listing 10,757,622 common share purchase warrants.

A total of 10,757,622 subscription receipts units were issued pursuant to the Company's brokered private placements which closed on October 30, 2020 and November 25, 2020. The Financings were completed in conjunction with the Qualifying Transaction in which the Company's common shares were listed on the TSXV. Each unit is comprised of one common share of Leveljump and one share purchase warrant. Each share purchase warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one common share of the Company at an exercise price of C$0.50 until October 30, 2023.

The Warrants are governed by a warrant indenture between the Company and TSX Trust Company dated October 30, 2020, a copy of which is available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.

About Leveljump Healthcare

Leveljump Healthcare Corp., (TSXV: JUMP) is building a national medical diagnostic imaging company and brand, primarily by providing teleradiology (remote radiology) services to its client hospitals and imaging centers. Additionally, JUMP plans to expand through the acquisition of independent healthcare facilities focused on diagnostic imaging as well as acquiring new disruptive imaging technologies.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF

LEVELJUMP HEALTHCARE CORP.

Mitchell Geisler, Chief Executive Officer

info@leveljumphealthcare.com

(877) 722-6965

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to the Company's business plans and the outlook of the Company's industry. Although the Company believes, in light of the experience of its officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate, that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release and the Company assumes no responsibility to update them or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances other than as required by applicable securities laws. The Company undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third-parties in respect of the Company, Canadian Teleradiology Services, Inc., their securities, or their respective financial or operating results (as applicable).

Neither the Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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/73647
A Tillamook man died after losing control of his pickup on an icy highway and colliding with a log truck Wednesday morning in rural Washington County, troopers say.

Jerry Jefferies, 73, was going west on Oregon 6 when he lost control, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with an oncoming log truck, the Oregon State Police said, citing an early investigation.

Both vehicles caught fire, according to Forest Grove Fire & Rescue. Jefferies was fatally injured, the state police said.

The log truck driver, 61-year-old Jacob Douglas of Tillamook, wasnt hurt.

The incident was one of two serious crashes that closed Oregon 6 about two miles west of the community of Glenwood.

 The Oregonian/OregonLive

THERE are many crude jokes about marriage being like a life sentence but for one Limerick resident it is true.

Heike Phelan, who resides in the Kilmallock area, has married a man serving a 75 year sentence for murder, in a Texas super-maximum prison.

She doesnt shy away from the strangeness of the story which is more akin to a US cable TV station series than a Limerick Leader article.

Its bizarre, isnt it? I sometimes think, what?! said Heike in a broad Yorkshire accent. The 52-year old grew up in England but returned to her dads native county in 2005. Heike, the name coming from her German mum, has just released her third book called Convict Code about her husbands life in a US prison.

The obvious question the Leader asked is how does one fall in love with a person incarcerated in a different continent?

Years ago I had a friend in a Californian prison and I've been writing to him for years. I'd known him through somebody else. This one year I participated in a Christmas cards swap through a support website called prisontalk.com I put his name forward for members on there to send Christmas cards to cheer him up and then I had to send a load of cards to others.

They gave me a list of people to send cards to and one of the cards I sent ended up with my now husband's friend. He said, 'Oh I dont want to be writing overseas, I can't be bothered with all that. So he said to him, 'Here, do you want it?'. He said Oh yeah I'll have it, I have all the time in the world'.

Heike then received her first of many letters from William Matthew Schiffert in 2019.

That wasn't the intention of sending Christmas cards. It wasn't about writing back  it was just a cheer up thing. I got this letter unexpectedly, right out of the blue.

That one letter quickly became three or four a week.

A relationship didnt interest me at that point. It was not intended, I had no interest. I had never been one for bad boys. It took me a while before I started writing and I said to him in the very first letter, 'If I get any hint that you're lying or not being straight with me then that will be it. I have no interest in that. I'm not playing mind games."

"When you are getting three or four personal letters every week, especially if you are cynical and are looking out for red flags, you get to know somebody very well through personal letters. It was about 18 months after we had been writing back and forth when I went out to visit him because part of me wanted to see if the person on paper and the photos matched up.

When they met behind plexiglass William did match up to that person. Those three or four letters a week turned into three or four visits to Texas every year. But how does she reconcile herself with the fact that William is a convicted murderer for his role in a fatal knife attack in 2001.

From the start it was just meant as a Christmas card cheer up and we started just as friends. What he did was before I ever came in to his life. We talk about what he has done and what he is in prison for now. He is a different person now to how he was then. That happened 20 years ago. He is coming up to 52 now as well.

For the first few years their visits were behind plexiglass because he was in segregation for three years. Indeed, their first contact visit was sitting at a table face to face a year after they were married in 2012. So how did they wed?

We didn't really have a wedding day in the normal sense. At the time Texas didn't do wedding services in prisons. So we had to do a proxy wedding. We both had to fill in the paperwork, and I had to take it to the courthouse to get the marriage licence. We had to wait 72 hours from the issue of the licence to being able to book a day.

A proxy wedding meant I would need a stand in for William. On the day, I turned up at the courthouse at the required time. The judge asked me if I wanted to go through a whole ceremony with a stand in, and he offered the use of his secretary. Or did I just want him to fill in the paperwork and sign the marriage certificate. I went for the second option, just sign it all off. That was it. Very romantic!

Eight years on and they have lasted longer than many marriages, athough Heike hasnt seen him in a year now due to Covid. But she would love for him to be released and to live together.

Oh yeah, absolutely, I mean that will happen. It could potentially happen in the next couple of years. There are a lot of criminal justice reforms going on at the minute. There is a high possibility of two or three of those reforms this year and he could potentially be out in the next 18 months.

One wonders what William would make of County Limerick.

Heikes three books  Child Convict, Career Convict and Convict Code  can be ordered in local book stores or bought online.
President Joe Biden speaks about foreign policy at the State Department in Washington on Feb. 4, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden to Order Huge Addition to Refugee Cap Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

President Joe Biden on Thursday vowed to dramatically raise the cap on refugees permitted to enter the United States, even above the number during the last year of the Obama administration.

Today, Im approving an executive order to begin the hard work of restoring our refugee admissions program to help meet the unprecedented global need, Biden said at the State Department in Washington. Its going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged.

In early 2017, the cap was at 110,000. Former President Donald Trump lowered it to 15,000 for this fiscal year, which started in October 2020, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden said he would raise the cap to 125,000 in the next fiscal year, which starts on Oct. 1.

Biden directed the State Department to consult with Congress about making a down payment on that commitment as soon as possible.

Democrats control both chambers of Congress, making it likely Biden will get the cap he wants. If successful, hed be fulfilling a campaign promise.

Biden embraces the core values that have made us who we are and will prioritize restoring refugee admissions in line with our historic practice under both Democratic and Republican Administrations. He will set the annual global refugee admissions cap to 125,000, and seek to raise it over time commensurate with our responsibility, our values, and the unprecedented global need, his campaign website states.

A woman cooks near tents on a makeshift camp set by migrants in Necocli, Colombia, on Feb. 2, 2021. (Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images)

The United Nations praised the move on Thursday.

The action today by President Biden will save lives. Its that simple, Filippo Grandi, the bodys high commissioner for refugees, said in a statement. It also shows that strength is rooted in compassion. It signals that the United States will do its part, as it has historically done, to help the worlds most vulnerable people, including by welcoming them in the United States.

The agency said last month that only 22,770 refugees in urgent need of resettlement were resettled through it worldwide last year. That was the lowest number in nearly 20 years.

Countries across the world have curbed refugee admissions as they battle the pandemic, concerned that refugees cant be properly vetted.

The Trump administration said in a letter to Congress announcing its lowering of the refugee cap last year that it reflects the Administrations continuing commitment to prioritize the safety and well-being of Americans, especially in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

It accounts for the massive backlog in asylum casesnow more than 1.1 million individualsby prioritizing those who are already in the country seeking humanitarian protection. It also accounts for the arrival of refugees whose resettlement in the United States was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the administration added.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Over the past decade, the United States has resettled 55 percent of refugees, according to a United Nations refugee agency report released last year. Canada took over the top refugee resettlement nation in 2019.

The number of actual refugee admissions to the United States hit its recent peak in 2016 at nearly 85,000, according to State Department data. It has declined each year since then, hitting 11,814 in fiscal year 2020.
The two were taken by Fire Department ambulance to the University of Chicago Medical Center after Illinois State Police troopers, police officers and Fire Department emergency crews got there. The woman was listed in critical condition, while the man had been released as of Thursday, police said.
In a bizarre incident, a woman in Haryana murdered her husband and kept his body stuffed in a box bed for a week before disposing of it in a nearby drain.

The incident occurred pn the intervening night of January 11-12 in the city of Faridabad in January. The accused, along with four other accomplices, allegedly beat the victim - identified as Dinesh - with a stick and then strangled him to death, Indian Express reported. The body was then stuffed in a box bed inside his home in Sainik Colony to avoid detection.

Once the body started to smell after a week, the accused disposed of it in a drain in Dabua Colony. Dinesh's body was found in the drain on January 28.

His wife, who had initially failed to identify her husband's body, eventually cracked under police investigation and confessed to the crime after a friend of the victim identified the body. She was arrested on Tuesday while Faridabad Police remain on the lookout for her four accomplices including a man named Nitin whit whom she was allegedly having an affair.

According to a report in Times Now, one of the four accomplices also included a man whom the woman considered her uncle. Reports also suggest that the murder was committed since the woman saw her husband as an obstacle to her relationship with her paramour Nitin and thus decided to kill him off.

After staying in the same house with the body for a week, Nitin and a fourth accomplice - a friend of Nitin's - dumped the body in the Dabua drain. Nitin allegedly paid his friend. Rs 41,000 for the task.

On Tuesday, Faridabad police arrested the woman for murder and also confiscated the stick that was used to beat the victim. The search for the four accomplices is underway.
Syracuse, N.Y.  Syracuse University starts its spring semester Monday with a beefed up Covid-19 testing program designed to prevent out-of-control outbreaks like the one that forced it to halt classes in November two weeks earlier than scheduled.

SU is making every student get tested at least once a week. It plans to conduct as many as 300,000 Covid tests between now and May, three times more than it did during the fall semester. SU has spent about $1 million to build its own labs that will process tests within 24 to 36 hours. During the fall, SU partnered with Upstate Medical University which processed tests for SU and all the campuses in the SUNY system.

When SU experienced a spike in cases after Halloween, it did not get test results fast enough to stop asymptomatic students from spreading the virus, said Mike Haynie, SUs vice chancellor.

If we can identify new positive cases and isolate them before they can infect others, thats where we are going to win the day, Haynie said today.

Testing alone isnt the answer to the Covid threat, according to Haynie. If folks continue to engage in risky behavior we will be in the same position, he said. The most effective tool we have is personal accountability.

Another big outbreak could force SU to suspend in-person classes again. Thats because the state requires SU and other colleges to close classrooms and shift to online learning if they report 100 new positive Covid cases within a two-week period.

SUs Covid testing center for students and employees is in the Carrier Dome. SU also provides Covid testing to families of employees.

Haynie said managing Covid will be a challenge this semester because the virus is much more prevalent in Central New York and the U.S. than it was in August when SU began the fall semester.

SU is making all students provide proof of a negative Covid test before returning to campus, then get tested again after arriving.

About 1,600 SU students from non-contiguous states arrived last weekend and had to quarantine in dorms to comply with the states travel advisory. They were all tested Wednesday and those that test negative were expected to be released from quarantine later today.

Students from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont will begin arriving on campus Friday.

James T. Mulder covers health and higher education. Have a news tip? Contact him at (315) 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com
In this piece now at the Greenhouse Theater Center, Private Peaceful (Peaceful is his real last name) is the only storyteller. You sit down in your seat and watch the young man, played by the gifted Irish actor Shane ORegan, recount his life, from falling quietly in love with his brothers girl at home, to his determination in battle, to his love for his older brother. The show is performed on an empty stage. Aside from his own immersive capabilities, the only help available to ORegan are a few sound cues and a single bed which, when turned on its size, takes upon itself the representation of barbed wire and trenches.

As dawn broke, the first headstones began appearing against a backdrop of oil refineries and rolling freight trains.

Most were indistinguishable  knee-high, white, bearing spare inscriptions about those lying below.

Rhoda Hungary moved swiftly through Riverside Cemetery, home to more than 1,000 military graves, toward one marked simply SS Soule Capt. 1 Colorado Cav.

Small flags marked the spot and a letter dangled from the stone, revealing a damning secret.

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I tell you Ned it was hard to see little children on their knees have their brains beat out by men professing to be civilized, wrote Capt. Silas Soule to Maj. Edward Wynkoop. You would think it impossible for white men to butcher and mutilate human beings as they did there but every word I have told you is the truth which they do not deny.

Hungary, 59, a member of the Northern Arapaho tribe from Wyoming, knew the story well.

It wasnt enough for them to kill us; they also had to mutilate the bodies, she said.

It was a bitingly cold Wednesday morning in this scruffy sliver of Denver. Barbed wire fences and belching smokestacks surrounded the cemetery.

Lines of Cheyenne and Arapaho streamed toward Soules grave, paying silent tribute to the man who exposed the Sand Creek Massacre.

He refused to fire, said Otto Braided Hair, who helped organize events around the 150th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre last month. If his men did fire, many of us wouldnt be here today.

The killing commenced on Nov. 29, 1864, when 700 members of the Colorado Territory Militia led by Col. John Chivington attacked a Native American encampment in southeastern Colorado, slaughtering between 150 and 200 Indians  mostly women, children and the elderly.

One of the Indian leaders, Chief Black Kettle, had been told to fly an American flag and white flags over his tepee to avoid an attack. But his signal was ignored and the soldiers rampaged through the camps for six to eight hours. Black Kettle survived, only to be killed by soldiers four years later in Oklahoma.

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In Colorado it was seen as a heroic battle against a group of terrorists, said Colorado State Historian William Convery. There was a war on the Plains and people had been whipped into hysteria.

Chivington was hailed as a hero.

But Soule and fellow Cavalry officer Joseph Cramer knew better. They refused to take part in the attack and barred their men from shooting. Chivington threatened to court-martial them on the spot.

After the massacre, Soule, the son of abolitionists, wrote letters to his superiors exposing the horror in wrenching detail  fetuses ripped from mothers and scalped, scrotums turned into tobacco pouches, children shot for sport.

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I refused to fire and swore that none but a coward would, for by this time hundreds of women and children were coming toward us and getting on their knees for mercy, Soule wrote.

Congressional investigations found Chivington guilty of perpetrating the massacre, but he didnt go to prison. Soule was later shot dead in Denver, and his killers never brought to justice.

I came to honor him because he stood with us, Hungary said. My great-great-great-grandfather Chief White Antelope was killed that day. They cut off his nose, his ears and private parts. They didnt even leave the babies. It tears my heart.

The 150th anniversary of the massacre has provoked wide-ranging introspection in Colorado. The United Methodist Church sent a delegation of 600 members on a pilgrimage to Sand Creek in June as an act of repentance for the conduct of Chivington, a Methodist minister. The University of Denver issued a report last month calling its founder, the late Gov. John Evans, culpable in the massacre; it said he fanned the flames of war when he could have dampened them.

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There also are moves afoot to change the name of the nearly empty town of Chivington.

The farther we get from Sand Creek, the more important it is to remember it, Convery said. Under the right or wrong conditions we could be right back there again.

Many of the Indians at the cemetery took part in a 180-mile healing run between Denver and the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, near Eads.

People have been going to Sand Creek for years, but its all word of mouth until you set foot there, said Wilma Blackbear, 30, a Cheyenne from Watonga, Okla., who made the run. Its a beautiful experience, almost an out-of-body experience.

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Heather Whitethunder, 33, said Soules courage offers a valuable lesson.

It took just one person to change our entire history, she said.

Soules great-great-nephew Byron Strom, 68, of Des Moines examined the tombstone.

Im proud that one of my relatives had the courage to act that way, he said. I can only hope if I were put in that position I would have done the same thing.

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As the ceremony closed, tribal elders daubed paint on the runners faces and offered blessings. A circle of men with long braided hair pounded a drum and sang. Women wrapped in blankets howled into the bitter sky.

Their collective voices, mournful yet strong, drowned out the passing commuters and trains.

In the end its truly about forgiveness, Hungary said. But never forget.

nation@latimes.com
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MEDINA, Ohio -- During his first year in business as a Minuteman Press franchise owner in Medina, Dave Wyatt was faced with the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Wyatt is no stranger to tackling challenges: He spent eight years in the Army as an aircraft electrician and 19 years working for Konica Minolta.

During that time, I did a lot of training and calibrating equipment, so I was in many different types of businesses, he said. I saw independent print shops, UPS stores and Minuteman Press franchises. When I decided to own my own business, I knew I didnt want to open without support, so I went the franchise route.

He opened his Minuteman Medina store in November 2019 at 455 W. Liberty St.

Months later, the pandemic hit.

We reached out to local businesses early on to let them know we were there to help them in their time of need. They learned we were open as an essential business and that they could trust us, and that sparked our growth, he said.

One of the ways Wyatt helped other local businesses was through Minutemans free initiative Bounce Back Medina.

Bounce Back Medina simply connects local businesses with community members who are looking to shop local and support local. This is completely free, and we also provide participating businesses with free COVID-19 awareness posters.

This was our way of letting everyone know that we are all in this together and we will help in any way we can to lift each other up, he said.

He also reached out to local bars and restaurants, providing them with 100 free printed menus each.

I knew they needed to make changes to their menus or simply needed to use them to reach out to customers, so I thought it was the right thing to do, Wyatt said. They were very appreciative, and once again they saw that we were there to help them at a critical time.

He also printed free 10-minute parking signs for all businesses in the square downtown.

Curbside pickup became very big, and I just wanted to do my part to help other businesses adapt and stay safe, he said.

Good will goes a long way to growing sales. For example, we were honored to be able to help our graduating students last year by printing over 1,200 signs for families, Wyatt said.

We are proud to help keep businesses safe with social-distancing signage and branded face masks. They can safely reach out to their target audiences through direct mail postcards as well as Dynamic Direct Mail, where people are contacted both through the mail and online.

So, despite the challenges of the pandemic, Wyatt has seen his sales grow by 30 percent.

Furthering his local ties to the community, Wyatt makes sure to get involved and stay active.

Community is so important. I am a chamber ambassador for the Greater Medina Chamber of Commerce and also a member of the Wadsworth Chamber of Commerce. This allows me to get to know the new businesses as they are coming in or just joining the chamber.

I am a member of the Medina County Economic Development Corp. as well. I join as many networking groups as I can and still be comfortable with my time. Networking and growing relationships through the know, like and trust platform was key in thriving during this pandemic.

At Minuteman Press Medina, Wyatt is able to provide high-demand products and services that local businesses need right now.

We provide general printing services, custom-branded apparel, wide-format printing and signage, and direct mail campaigns. These are all items being ordered and used by our clients during the pandemic.

Wyatt also credits his local in-house staff of three employees, whom he is able to lean on to make sure his clients receive that personal touch and outstanding customer service.

We have a great team that works well together. Sierra is our graphic designer, Mary is our customer support rep and Eric is our production specialist, Wyatt said.

I am humbled to have the support I do from them. As a business owner ,you want to be comfortable when you are away from the shop, and they make it that way for me.

Wyatt expands on the ongoing local support he receives from Minuteman Press International: I have a great local support team in Regional Vice President Gary Nowak and Area Manager Rich DeRosa, who are only a call or email away. Everyone at Minuteman Press has been helpful during this pandemic, and they have really shown me that they have my back with constant communications and additional marketing strategies.

Wyatt shares the following advice for others who are looking to own a business: Ensure you have enough capital; my bank has been a good business partner, and because of that I was prepared when the pandemic first hit.

With that said, you cant be afraid to spend money in ways that will help you market and grow. Invest in people, inventory and equipment where it makes sense. I also encourage you to study, read books and listen to podcasts. Always be learning, and never stop.

For more information on Minuteman Press in Medina, visit https://www.medina.minutemanpress.com or call 330-725-4121.

Read more from the Medina Sun.
In articles on its web site, Izquierda Diario, the Workers Revolutionary Current (CRT), the Morenoite group in Spain, has opposed lockdowns and basic public health measures urgently needed to contain the coronavirus pandemic, which is raging across Spain and Europe. It denounces even limited restrictions imposed by Spains central and regional governments as an unacceptable encroachment on democratic rights.

In a 20 January article, sarcastically titled More restrictions, the recipe for confronting the third wave, the CRT rails against social distancing, declaring: As if it were a tap, they [the PSOE-Podemos government] are limiting our liberties and movements at their will. Measures that, like in March last year, also have a particular focus on working-class neighbourhoods. Once again, they are forcing us into a life of home to work and work to our homes.

In this way, curfews are an authoritarian and palliative measure, it continues, which try to obscure the failure of the management of the pandemic. Instead of taking real health measures such as the transfer of private healthcare resources into public management and the contracting of staff in line with the needs of caring for Covid cases as much as with a vaccination plan, they turn to restrictions, repression and the criminalization of the population, and in particular the youth.

Curfews are indeed insufficient as a health policy, but the CRTs denunciations of any collective public health policy involving social distancing as authoritarian repression of its lifestyles is deeply reactionary and cuts across any serious attempt to halt the pandemic.

COVID-19 is devastating Europe and the world, with over 2 million deaths including over 700,000 in Europe. Spain has recorded 2.8 million cases and around 60,000 fatalities, according to official figures, with over 400 deaths recorded every day last week. Excess death statistics indicate that the real death toll is over 85,000.

COVID-19 cases have exploded since the official save Christmas campaign in December, which encouraged the population into shops and restaurants to ensure businesses accrued profits during the holidays. This criminal policy continued in January, as the Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government refusing to implement a lockdown even as infections surged. As a result, January saw Spains highest-ever daily infection figures, with 44,357 new cases on 21 January. Hospitals are on the brink of collapse as intensive care units are swamped.

The CRTs calls for the transfer of private healthcare resources into public management, a policy it knows full well a PSOE-Podemos government will not implement, are simply a further attempt to distract from its opposition to basic public health measures. Even if more resources were allocated to hospitals, given that there is no treatment for COVID-19 and the limited availability of vaccines, this would not halt the growing wave of deaths.

The CRT is seeking to gloss over their support for this unrestrained herd immunity approach with phrase-mongering about strengthening health services and rhetorical denunciations of the PSOE-Podemos government. However, the CRTs anti-lock-down position makes it criminally complicit in the PSOE-Podemos governments policy. It has waged a protracted propaganda campaign against measures to control the spread of the virus, echoing demands of the far-right Vox party.

In a separate statement titled Third wave: an urgent programme of action to prevent a new social crime against the working class, published several days later, the CRT expands on this position. Posturing as critics of PSOE and Podemos, they state:

They [the government] are prohibiting meetings of more than six people, or even four, but they dont care that we are travelling in the hundreds on public transport. They want us to be in our houses earlier and earlier, but working families cannot stay away from work without losing their salaries during the quarantining of their children. They dont want economic activity to be paralyzed, but they let thousands of companies continue not to provide measures or protocols against the contagion ....

But what solution does the CRT propose? Instead of calling for workers to shelter at home on full pay, and aid to artists and small businesses, the CRT lays out 10 emergency measures. While appealing for the reinforcement of health care, vaccination programs and public transport, and for some basic measures to ensure income, and prevent evictions and dismissals, not one of their 10 measures mentions a shelter-at-home policy.

In fact, in the whole statement, the word lockdown ( confinamiento ) is mentioned a single timeas a passing reference to the border closures adopted by certain regional governments in Spain. This omission is not accidental.

The CRT is silent on this because they agree with all the fundamentals of the PSOE-Podemos governments herd immunity strategy. Their tactical criticisms amount to no more than window dressing for their support for keeping workers in work and children in schools, while dishonestly implying that workers lives and livelihoods can be safeguarded without a shelter-at-home policy. They aim to contain growing opposition among workers and youth to PSOE-Podemos policies and dissipate it into harmless channels.

This position is not a passing error or confusion of the CRT, but the reflection of material class interests it defends. The CRT speaks for affluent layers of the union bureaucracy and the professional middle class who stand to gain from multi-trillion-euro bank bailouts the European Union (EU) has approved amid the pandemic. Billions of euros are passing through management offices, works councils, and financial markets in which they are invested. But this funding is conditioned on support for the EUs herd immunity policy.

Reflecting its orientation to this corrupt social layer, the CRT works to tie the working class to the union bureaucracy, which has worked systematically to isolate and sell out strikes and protests. Referring at the end of their statement to the call by Spains main unions for a spring of mobilisations in supposed opposition to austerity measures imposed by the PSOE and Podemos, the CRT makes this perspective explicit.

The trade union bureaucracy is calling for symbolic mobilisations for the month of February, a totally impotent gesture, the statement declares. It is urgent to denounce this complicit policy and demand that the leaderships of the large unions convoke genuine days of struggle for a program of making the capitalists pay for the crisis [and] to prepare the ground for a general strike for the repeal of the labour and pensions reforms .

Despite correctly noting the complicity of the trade unions in imposing austerity measures and facilitating the ruling elites back-to-work campaign, the CRT issues no call for a break with these organisations. Instead, they call on the corrupt union leaderships to come together in opposition to the very policies the union bureaucracies have negotiated with employers and corporate management.

The CRT declares: For its part, the trade union left, along with critical sections of the CCOO [Workers Commissions] and UGT [General Union of Labour], social movements for housing, against energy shut-offs or in defence of public services, and together with the anti-capitalist left, have the responsibility of moving towards organizing solidarity with the struggles taking place, coordinating and supporting the organisation of precarious sectors which are coming into struggle.

Only this way can we force the union bureaucracies from below to come into struggle for a program for exiting this crisis in favour of the working class, the statement adds.

These are cynical lies. The way forward for workers in Spain and internationally lies not in appeals to the union bureaucracies, but in mobilising independently of the trade unions, the PSOE-Podemos government and their pseudo-left props in the Morenoite CRT. A strategy of putting pressure on the unions or the nominally left parties is a dead-end for the working class.

The International Committee of the Fourth International and its affiliated Socialist Equality Parties instead call on workers to form independent rank-and-file safety committees in every workplace and neighbourhood, to fight for an international general strike to enforce a scientific response to the pandemic. An immediate shelter-at-home policy must be imposed, with full pay for all workers affected and genuinely safe conditions must be put in place for all essential workers, under the democratic control of workers themselves.


A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 06:24:32|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Wednesday called for unhindered humanitarian access to the conflict-stricken Tigray region of Ethiopia as the Security Council is expected to hold closed-door consultations on the issue.

Humanitarian access to Tigray remains limited, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Very little is being allowed in. There was a convoy that was allowed in to reach some of the refugee camps, he told reporters. "What we need is to be able to just get in there in an unfettered manner without having to, I guess, negotiate for every truck, for every box (of aid)."

The United Nations has to work cooperatively with the federal government of Ethiopia, and has to go through it for the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Tigray, he told a daily press briefing. "That's the way it should be. But there is a grave humanitarian need in Tigray, and at this point, we're not able to reach the people that need to be reached."

The humanitarian situation in Tigray worsened after the Ethiopian government launched military operations in November 2020 against the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which rules Ethiopia's northernmost Tigray state.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Monday that access constraints in Ethiopia due to the ongoing conflict and administrative bureaucracy continue to challenge the urgent scale-up of humanitarian assistance and prevent the population from gaining life-saving support.

Access to essential services, livelihoods and cash remains restricted across large swathes of the region. Two refugee camps remain inaccessible since November 2020. Hunger is increasing and the health system has reportedly collapsed, said OCHA.

Access is particularly limited in rural areas, where 80 percent population of Tigray lived before the start of the conflict and where many additional people took refuge, said the office.

Although dozens of trucks carrying humanitarian commodities are being mobilized toward Tigray, most of the critical staff that are needed to carry out distributions and to ensure the response is principled and based on needs have not been able to travel to the region, it said.

The Security Council is expected to discuss the humanitarian situation in Tigray under "any other business" in closed-door consultations on Wednesday afternoon. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock is expected to brief the council members. Enditem
Vietnamese authorities have imposed isolation on the entirety of a commune with more than 14,000 people after two karaoke hostesses were confirmed as coronavirus cases in a northern province on Wednesday.

The lockdown of Hai Duong Provinces Tan Truong Commune will last for 21 days from 6:00 pm on Wednesday, according to a decision signed the same day by provincial chairman Nguyen Duong Thai.

The two karaoke hostesses, both 20 years old, had a complicated travel history so local authorities had put forward the lockdown to the provincial administration, said Vu Van Thuan, chairman of Tan Truong.

The commune has over 14,000 residents, Thuan explained.

It also accommodates many industrial parks so a lot of factory workers live here.

The two karaoke service girls had come into contact with an infected patient when they were confirmed to catch the virus on Wednesday.

The patients mother, wife, child, and close friend were also recorded as COVID-19 cases afterward.

Hai Duong is now considered the epicenter of Vietnam because 277 out of 366 local infections documented since January 28 were registered in the province.

The Southeast Asian country had spent almost two months detecting zero domestic cases before the new wave hit.

It has documented 1,948 coronavirus patients as of Thursday morning, with 1,461 recoveries and virus-related 35 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

Health officials confirmed 84 local transmissions on January 28, 62 on January 29, 61 on January 30, 31 on January 31, 32 on February 1, 31 on February 2, 28 on February 3, and 37 on February 4 morning.

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Pune-based IT professional, Nayan Verma, has made three trips to two different Tata Motors dealerships in the past week hoping to test drive the Tata Nexon that his family has zeroed in for purchase.

But Verma returned home disappointed each time as the queue to get behind the wheels of the car was dispiritingly long on both occasions. We chose the Nexon after evaluating four other SUVs and my son liked it very much. The only thing remaining is the physical connection with the car, which is just not happening, said the 32-year old.

About 150 km away in Mumbai, a Maruti Suzuki dealership is sitting on the lowest-ever inventory in its history. Demand for Wagon R and Swift have gone through the roof and buyers are reluctantly waiting 3-4 weeks for delivery. The situation now is much better than pre-Covid days, pointed out the dealer.

Maruti Suzuki is struggling to raise production beyond the current levels, as it has been running its factories at peak capacities. In fact, the car market leader has been in this situation since October-November last year when the festivals began and almost every car in the stock was lapped up by consumers.

The sustained jump in demand comes despite fuel prices of petrol and diesel breaking new records almost every day. Decadal low auto loan rates, attractive finance options and robust demand from non-urban pockets have helped turnaround market sentiments faster-than-expected.

Shashank Srivastava, executive director, marketing and sales, Maruti Suzuki India said, After a high festival demand, we thought that there would be a sharp fall in demand. But in fact, we have a pending order for about 215,000 vehicles currently. He was talking to analysts.

Because Maruti Suzuki is struggling to supply more, its dispatch numbers (wholesale) to dealers are looking sombre compared to its rivals. In January, for instance, the maker of Baleno, saw 0.6 percent drop in wholesales compared to the same month last year, but the rest of the industry grew by 25 percent during the same month. Maruti sold 1,39,000 units to its dealers in January.

Going forward, we would continue to have the situation where demand would chase supplies because now our stock levels are quite low. In fact, we started January with a very low stock both in the factory and in the network. The inventory stock at the beginning of January was around 21,000 in the network and the factory stock was about 700 vehicles, Srivastava added.

The Nexon SUV and Altroz premium hatchback have helped keep the production lines of Tata Motors factories busy. Like Maruti Suzuki and others, the Mumbai-based, third largest carmaker is also struggling to meet demand as the order backlog continues to get amplified.

Shailesh Chandra, President, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors said, We just kept our share of voice high through marketing campaigns, which supported the demand generation. Therefore, we have been able to garner very strong bookings in Q3 also.

We expect the demand to remain strong for us particularly because our channel inventory is possibly the lowest ever in our history, Chandra added while talking to analysts after Tata Motors announced its December quarter financials.

Tata Motors sales during January nearly doubled to 26,978 units on the back of incremental dispatches of the Altroz i-turbo, a new variant introduced in the month.

Venue, Creta and i20 are making the two Chennai-based factories of Hyundai buzzing with activity round the clock. The company's wholesales grew 24 percent in January to 52,000 units compared to the same month last year. But despite the hike in production Hyundai is still struggling to meet demand and the three models have a minimum waiting period of six weeks.

The demand surge is reflected even in the luxury segment. GLE, GLS and EQC, the three models of Mercedes-Benz, India's largest luxury carmaker, were totally sold out for January. While buyers must wait for the next allocation of the fully electric EQC (priced at Rs 1 crore) made from the company's German headquarters for India, the GLE and GLS have waiting periods of up to three months.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seal hangs on a fence at the agency's headquarters in Washington, on Dec. 11, 2014. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Arizona AG Sues Over Biden Administrations 100-Day Deportation Freeze

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Feb. 3 over a memo from the Biden administration that ordered a freeze on the majority of deportations for 100 days.

The DHS released the memo on Jan. 20 (pdf) that imposed the moratorium on most deportations and outlined categories of immigration offenders who will continue to be subject to arrest and eventual removal, including those who pose a national security risk or are suspected of terrorism or espionage.

Brnovich, a Republican, announced the lawsuit on Twitter late on Feb. 3, stating that he believes the policy puts Arizona public safety at risk.

The 100-Day Pause on Deportations includes those charged with or convicted of a crime, Brnovich said. Law enforcement officials have told our office they are concerned about whether released individuals are being tested for COVID-19.

Our office filed a lawsuit against DHS and federal officials over a policy that puts Arizona public safety at risk. The 100-Day Pause on Deportations includes those charged with or convicted of a crime.https://t.co/fCJpMGhn0Z (1/3) pic.twitter.com/16t0QG8Fz9  Mark Brnovich (@GeneralBrnovich) February 3, 2021

The attorney general said the lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court in Arizona to rule that the 100-Day Pause policy violates federal law.

The DHS, department Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Troy Miller, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Tae Johnson, and Acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Tracy Renaud are listed as defendants in the suit.

Arizona is the second state to file suit over the deportation moratorium, which was announced on President Joe Bidens first day in office.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Biden over the deportation freeze last week, and U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton on Jan. 26 issued a temporary restraining order sought by the state. That blocked Bidens policy nationwide for 14 days, until Feb. 23.

The Biden administration has failed to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations, Tipton said in his order.

Its really a straightforward lawsuit, Brnovich told KTAR News radio. We basically sued the Department of Homeland Security alleging that their new policy halting deportations is illegal and its also contrary to an MOU [memorandum of understanding] that we have with Homeland Security.

Similar to Texas, Arizona bases part of its argument on an agreement reached by the Trump administration between DHS and other states and localities in the final weeks of the former presidents administration. The deal states the department wont make changes to immigration enforcement without first consulting states and allowing them to comment.

The Biden administration has pushed back against the agreement in court filings, saying that it is unenforceable because an outgoing administration cannot contract away that power for an incoming administration.

According to data published Jan. 29 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the Texas lawsuit, the agency had released 176 immigrants with final orders of removal from Jan. 22 to Jan. 25the period the deportations freeze was in effect.

It is unconscionable for DHS to release potentially dangerous detainees into our state, especially when no efforts are made to coordinate with applicable courts and probation departments. I am asking the court to enforce the law, Brnovich said in a statement.

Arizona, as a border state, will be directly impacted by Defendants decision to flout their legal obligations, Brnovichs lawsuit states. Arizonas law enforcement community is particularly concerned that aliens who have been charged or convicted of crimes will be released as a result of DHSs 100-day moratorium.

The attorney general added on Twitter that while he backs the need for comprehensive immigration reform, he doesnt believe it can be achieved through unsafe and untenable executive orders.
The makers of all three vaccines have said that their shots proved to be anywhere from 70% to 95% effective in clinical trials in protecting people from illness caused by the virus. But it was unclear whether the vaccines could also suppress transmission of the virus  that is, whether someone inoculated could still acquire the virus without getting sick and spread it to others.
3 More Proud Boys Members Charged Over Alleged Involvement in US Capitol Breach

Another three Proud Boys have been charged for their alleged involvement during the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6, the Justice Department (DOJ) announced.

In two separate news releases, the department said they had arrested Ethan Nordean, 30, who also goes by the name Rufio Panman; Nicholas DeCarlo, 30, of Texas; and Nicholas R. Ochs, 34, of Hawaii for allegedly joining a group of people who breached the U.S. Capitol building as lawmakers were counting electoral votes.

According to court documents, Nordean is the self-described Sergeant of Arms of the Seattle Chapter of the Proud Boys. The group, established by libertarian Gavin McInnes, had previously attracted media attention for being involved in violent encounters, in particular, clashing with the extremist group Antifa.

An FBI Special agent said in a sworn affidavit that it had reviewed video footage and photographs of the Jan. 6 incident and identified Nordean participating in a march with other Proud Boys members shortly before the riots. The agent said other footage and photos show Nordean entering the Capitol building with other protesters.

A series of social media messages posted prior to Jan. 6, reviewed by the agent, allegedly indicate Nordeans intent to engage in conflict. He had posted a message asking for donations of protective gear and communications equipment on Dec. 27 and remarked Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us on Jan. 4, the agent said.

Nordean was charged with obstructing or impeding an official proceeding, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; aiding and abetting, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and knowingly entering or remaining in restricted building or grounds, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, which each carry a maximum penalty of one year in prison.

Meanwhile, the DOJ said a federal grand jury in Washington has indicted DeCarlo and Ochs with conspiring to obstruct the United States Congress certification of the 2020 election results.

Prosecutors alleged that the two men planned and raised money for their effort and then traveled to participate in the riots. They are also alleging that Ochs is the founder of the Honolulu chapter of the Proud Boys.

The indictment also accuses the pair of posting photos and videos of their actions inside the Capitol building during the incident and defaced a Memorial Door with the words MURDER THE MEDIA.

They have been indicted for conspiring to commit an offense against the United States, one count of theft of federal government property, one count of depredation against federal government property, and three counts of unlawful entry, disorderly conduct, or violent conduct in restricted buildings or grounds.

DeCarlo and Ochs were previously taken into custody on Jan. 26 and Jan. 7, respectively. The indictment was unsealed on Wednesday.

A group of protesters enter the U.S. Capitols Rotunda in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

These cases come days after two members of the Proud Boys group were indicted on a number of charges in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The two membersDominic Pezzola, 43, of New York, and William Pepe, 31, of New Yorkwere both indicted on charges of conspiracy, civil disorder, unlawfully entering restricted buildings or grounds, and disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted buildings or grounds.

Authorities also charged Pezzola with additional counts.

Federal authorities have expended significant effort to crackdown on protesters who participated in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach, which left five people dead. More than 400 cases have been opened related to the incident and over 150 people have been charged federally, the DOJ said late January.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday sent a letter to the head of the DOJ and FBI requesting answers to a series of questions over the agencies preparation and response to the U.S. Capitol breach.

The panel has asked for additional information about what the agencies knew prior to the incident, the actions they took to address concerns, whether threat assessments were conducted about the risk of violence for Jan. 6, the agencies role in responding to the incident, and the agencies prosecutorial response following the event.

The security failures that enabled the January 6 attack span multiple agencies, and emerging reports raise serious concerns about the adequacy of preparations by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the senators wrote (pdf).

Steven DAntuono, head of the FBI Washington field office, told reporters in January that the agency had received a lot of intelligence leading up to the Jan. 6 protest and had shared the information with law enforcement partners through its shared systems.

We immediately shared that information and action was taken as demonstrated by the arrest of Enrique Tarrio by the Metropolitan Police Department the night before the rally, DAntuono said, referring to the arrest of the head of the Proud Boys.

Other individuals were identified in other parts of the country and their travel subsequently disrupted.

A group of protesters enter the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Footage from Jan. 6 shows that a small group of individuals were mainly responsible for acts of violence and property destruction, while a larger group of protesters could be seen protesting in a more non-violent way.

Matt Braynard, former director of Data and Strategy for former President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign, told The Epoch Times that he believes charges against the non-violent protesters on Jan. 6 should be dropped.

Anybody that engaged in any violence on January 6, who may have assaulted a police officer or committed serious property damage or vandalism should face serious charges, Braynard said.

However, the vast majority of those people have not been charged with such crimes. Theyve been charged with simply walking through an open door to a public building, with no knowledge or no reason to expect that it would be illegal or forbidden.

Braynard has written to the DOJ and FBI about his concerns of charging non-violent protesters, arguing that many of the protesters who entered the Capitol reasonably believed they had permission to enter.

He argued that police officers opened the protective fencing around the Capitol and stood aside as crowds entered the building.

Footage that was circulating online reviewed by The Epoch Times shows several police officers allowing a crowd of protesters to breach a fence with minimal resistance, while other videos show police did not make a significant effort to prevent the protesters from entering the building.

Other videos did show police officers telling protesters that they were not allowed to be there and asking protesters to leave the premises.

Proud Boys was recently designated as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government. President Joe Biden and Trump have both previously condemned the group.
Lella Appireddy said that it was both surprising and shocking that SEC has developed an election surveillance app without following the appropriate government regulations. (Photo: facebook @LellaAppiReddy)

VIJAYAWADA: YSR Congress on Wednesday lodged a complaint with State Election Commission (SEC) objecting to the release of e-watch application without following proper norms.

Party state general secretary Lella Appireddy said that the Commission has released a mobile application named e-watch a technological platform to ensure free and fair elections. He said that it was both surprising and shocking that SEC has developed an election surveillance app without following the appropriate government regulations and it had not been developed by any State or Central government organization or by any government empanelled organization, which is violation of the citizens right to free and fair elections.

Appireddy said that it was appalling that the Commission is resorting to clandestine acts. He pointed out that during MPTC, ZPTC elections that were scheduled to take place last year, Nigha, a SEC-approved election vigilance application was given an overwhelming thumbs-up by citizens. He recalled that during the 2019 General Elections, the Centre-owned C-Vigil application was put to use in the state. He said he did not understand the rationale to have a new app. He demanded an immediate response from the SEC with regard to concerns about safety and security measures of huge volumes of data when it is hosted in private servers. He wanted to know who would take responsibility in case of any data breach. He sought immediate scrapping of e-watch application.
Almost two-thirds of Ukrainians support the idea of dissolving the Verkhovna Rada and holding early parliamentary elections, according to a poll conducted by the Rating Sociological Group in early February.

So, according to the results of a poll conducted on February 2-3, sociologists note that 63% support the idea of dissolving parliament and early re-elections, while 30% do not. Over the past two months, support for early parliamentary elections has increased from 58% to 63%.

At the same time, the leaders in the parliamentary rating are Opposition Platform - For Life (18.9%) and Servant of the People (18.6%). Some 15.2% would vote for the European Solidarity party, 12.2% - for the Batkivschyna party, 4.8% would choose the Ukrainian Strategy of Groisman party, the Radical Party would take 4.7%, while 4,5% of voters choose the Strength and Honor party, 4.4% belong to For the Future party, the Holos party would get 3.5%, the Shariy party - 3.4%, the Svoboda party - 3.1%, Vitali Klitschko's UDAR party - 2.4% %, Nash Krai party - 1.4%.

In addition, almost two-thirds of the polled Ukrainians - 62%, support the resignation of the government and the appointment of a new Cabinet, while 29% do not support it. Over the past two months, support for the idea of resigning and electing a new Cabinet has grown from 60% to 62%.

The adoption of the law of Ukraine On the All-Ukrainian Referendum is supported by 58% of the respondents, 28% do not support it, and 14% have not decided.

The initiative to provide citizens of Ukraine with the legislative right to private ownership of firearms is supported by 23%, not supported by 75%.

89% support protests demanding a reduction in tariffs. 10% are against the rallies. At the same time, 36% of respondents believe that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine bears the greatest responsibility for the increase in tariffs, 29% blame the Verkhovna Rada, 24% - the President.

The audience for the sociological survey: the population of Ukraine aged 18 and over in all regions, except for the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas. The sample is representative in terms of age, sex and type of settlement. Sample of population: 2,000 respondents. Interview method: CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviews - telephone interviews using a computer) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers. The error of representativeness of the study with a confidence level of 0.95: no more than 2.2%. Dates: February 2-3, 2021.
The United States has extended a key nuclear arms control treaty with Russia for five years, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

"Extending the New START Treaty makes the United States, U.S. allies and partners, and the world safer. An unconstrained nuclear competition would endanger us all," Blinken said.

In a statement, Blinken said the extension of the New START Treaty allows for verifiable limits on Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers until February 5, 2026 and the treaty's "verification regime enables us to monitor Russian compliance with the treaty and provides us with greater insight into Russia's nuclear posture, including through data exchanges and onsite inspections that allow U.S. inspectors to have eyes on Russian nuclear forces and facilities."

"We will also pursue arms control to reduce the dangers from China's modern and growing nuclear arsenal," Blinken added. "The United States is committed to effective arms control that enhances stability, transparency and predictability while reducing the risks of costly, dangerous arms races."

The top U.S. diplomat noted that "just as we engage the Russian Federation in ways that advance American interests, like seeking a five-year extension of New START and broader discussions to reduce the likelihood of crisis and conflict, we remain clear eyed about the challenges that Russia poses to the United States and the world."

"Even as we work with Russia to advance U.S. interests, so too will we work to hold Russia to account for adversarial actions as well as its human rights abuses, in close coordination with our allies and partners," CNN cited Blinkern as saying.
Australia has condemned China after for its treatment of Uyghur Muslims after 'deeply disturbing' accounts of systematic rape and torture emerged.

Prisoners and guards claimed they experienced or witnessed an organised system of mass rape, torture and sexual abuse of detained Uyghur women in the country's northwest Xinjiang Province, the BBC reported.

There are thought to be more than a million people currently detained in the Chinese Communist Party's brutal 're-education camps' - a legacy of President Xi Jinping who wanted to crackdown on the religious minority after a handful of terror attacks in the region during 2014.

Tursunay Ziawudun, now a refugee in the United States, spent nine months in a detainment camp for Uyghurs and other minorities and claims she was gang-raped three times

A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia had been 'consistent' in raising 'significant concerns' over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, China

The sickening first-hand interviews reveal the cruelty being dished out at the vast prison network, where those being held are also used as forced labour.

Gulzira Auelkhan, who spent 18 months locked up China's re-education camps, said she was made to chain up other prisoners before leaving them alone with Chinese men.

Later she would come back to clean the room.

'My job was to remove their clothes above the waist and handcuff them so they cannot move,' she said.

A new report claims Uyghur women have been subjected to an organised system of torture, rape and sexual abuse

China is forcing Uyghur workers to mass produce face masks as part of the country's Muslim 're-education' program during the coronavirus pandemic, report says. The file picture taken on June 18 shows workers at a garment factory in Aketao county of the Uyghur region Xinjiang

'Then I would leave the women in the room and a man would enter  some Chinese man from outside or policeman. I sat silently next to the door, and when the man left the room I took the woman for a shower.'

The Chinese men 'would pay money to have their pick of the prettiest young inmates'.

She said she was powerless to stop the system of 'organised rape'.

Tursunay Ziawudun, who spent nine months inside a 're-education' camp before fleeing to the US, said women were removed from the cells 'every night' and taken to a 'black room' with no surveillance cameras.

China's brutal 're-education camps' are being used to repress the ethnic minority (Detainees in a Xinjiang camp are pictured)

She said on three occasions she was gang raped by at least two men.

Ms Ziawudun was also badly beaten by police at the encampment who were interrogating her about the whereabouts of her husband.

An officer kicked her in the stomach causing her to bleed.

'Police boots are very hard and heavy, so at first I thought he was beating me with something,' she said.

'Then I realised that he was trampling on my belly. I almost passed out - I felt a hot flush go through me.'

Who are the Chinese Muslims? Muslims are not a new presence in China. Most of China's Muslim communities, including the Hui, Uighurs and Kazakhs, have lived in China for more than 1,000 years, according to fact tank Pew Research Center. The largest concentrations of Muslims today are in the western provinces of Xinjiang, Ningxia, Qinghai and Gansu. A substantial number of Muslims live in the cities of Beijing, Xi'an, Tianjin and Shanghai. Chinese Muslim men take part in gathering for the celebration of the Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, or the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice, at the Niu Jie mosque in Beijing, China They make up about two per cent of the 1.4 billion population in China. However, as the country is so populous, its Muslim population is expected to be the 19th largest in the world in 2030. The Muslim population in China is projected to increase from 23.3 million in 2010 to nearly 30 million in 2030. Those who grow up and live in places dominated by the Han Chinese have little knowledge about Islam - or religions in general - thus view it as a threat. Beijing's policymakers are predominately Han. At the same time, radical Muslim Uighurs have killed hundreds in recent years, causing China to implement even more extreme measures to quash potential separatist movements. Uighurs in particular have long been used to heavy-handed curbs on dress, religious practice and travel after a series of deadly riots in 2009 in Urumqi, according to the Financial Times. Schoolchildren were banned from fasting during Ramadan and attending religious events while parents were banned from giving newborns Muslim names such as 'Mohammed' and 'Jihad'. Certain symbols of Islam, such as beards and the veil, were also forbidden. Women with face-covering veils are sometimes not allowed on buses. Unauthorised pilgrimages to Mecca were also restricted. Advertisement

When her cellmate tried to ask the camp doctor for help he replied by saying that 'it is normal for women to bleed'.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia had been 'consistent' in raising 'significant concerns' over human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

'These latest reports of systematic torture and abuse of women are deeply disturbing and raise serious questions regarding the treatment of Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang,' she said.

'We consider transparency to be of utmost importance and continue to urge China to allow international observers, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, to be given immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang at the earliest opportunity.'

A crackdown on the authoritarian regime's Muslim population significantly expanded since 2017, following a series of terror attacks in the Special Administrative Region.

China's communist Party first denied the existence of re-education camps being used to repress the ethnic minority and stamp out their religious view.

But in the face of growing evidence that Uyghurs are being subjected to mass surveillance, arbitrary detention, forced indoctrination, unfair trials and torture, the Chinese government has been forced to admit their existence.

This email obtained by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute appears to show the Chinese government brokering a deal for forced labor

In fact, an article by the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece The Global Times, argued 'The West' should learn from China's governance methods.

Last year it was revealed Xinjiang birth rate fell by 120,000, or one third, amid reports of forced sterilised inside the detention camps.

Beijing has tried to fend off allegations of a slow-moving genocide by claiming the decline is a result 'the comprehensive implementation of the family planning policy'.

The largest and most extensive database of China's brutal 're-education camps' was mapped by a team of Australian researchers in 2020.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute identified over 380 sites in the restive north-western province of Xinjiang which are being used to detain hundreds of thousands of Western China's Uyghur population.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute identified over 380 sites in Xinjiang which are being used to detain hundreds of thousands of Western China's Uyghur population

Among the most disturbing aspects of the vast prison network is that factories are located alongside the camps, suggesting detainees are being used as forced labour.

At the UN General Assembly in 2019, 23 nation's including Australian condemned China its abhorrent 'human rights violations and abuses'.

'The Chinese government should urgently... (refrain) from the arbitrary detention of Uyghur and members of other Muslim communities,' the statement said.

During a trip to the Washington in July for AUSMIN talks, Payne also expressed concerns.

'We have continued to receive evidence of arbitrary detention; on surveillance of individuals; of attacks on their reproductive rights; forced labour  and they are very concerning,' she said.
Moscow Region district ex-head Shestun challenges 15-year prison sentence

 Moskva news agency, Anton Kardashov

15:41 04/02/2021

MOSCOW, February 4 (RAPSI)  Ex-head of the Moscow Regions Serpukhov District Alexander Shestun has filed an appeal against his 15-year prison sentence for fraud, bribery, money laundering and illegal business running, according to information on the Moscow Regional Courts website.

The appeal is set for February 18.

A court in the town of Podolsk near Moscow convicted and sentenced Shestun to 15 years in high-security prison. In addition to the prison term, he was fined 49 million rubles and prohibited from holding administrative posts for 8 years.

Other defendants Boris Krivodubsky and Sergey Samsonov are on the international wanted list.

Earlier, a prosecutor demanded a 20-year penal colony sentence for Shestun, a 50 million-ruble fine (over $650,000) and recovery of 64 million rubles (over $840,000) from him.

According to investigators, acting as a head of the Moscow Regions Serpukhov District, from 2003 to 2018, Shestun created 43 commercial organizations through his trustees and ran them. Profits he used for purchasing municipal land plots at bargain prices.

Moreover, between 2008 and 2011, Shestun along with his business partners Boris Krivodubsky and Sergey Samsonov illegally acquired title to four land plots with an area of 10 hectares through affiliated firms and therefore caused damage worth over 64.5 million rubles to the budget. In total, the accomplices sold illegally acquired plots for 160 million rubles. Initially, they bought the land for 628, 000 rubles, the case papers read.

One more charge count is related to a bribe worth 9.9 million rubles Shestun allegedly received from an employee of a district administration for the common protection. He pleads not guilty.




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Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 3, 2021) - Aion Therapeutic Inc. (CSE: AION) ("Aion Therapeutic" or the "Company") announced today that it has granted and issued options for the purchase of up to 4,000,000 common shares of the Company to a number of the Company's officers, directors and consultants. The stock options were granted on February 2, 2021 in accordance with the Company's stock option plan and are exercisable for a period of three years from the date of issuance at an exercise price of $0.15 per common share.

The stock options issued by the Company are subject to a mandatory hold period of four months and a day under applicable Canadian securities laws.

The Company also announced the resignation of Dr. James Thompson as President of Aion Therapeutic, effective February 2, 2021. Dr. Thompson tendered his resignation to accept a senior bio-medical advisor role with one of Aion Therapeutic's institutional investors which will allow him to continue to support the development of the Company.

Graham Simmonds, Executive Vice Chair & CEO of Aion Therapeutic, commented, "On behalf of the board and management team, we wish to extend our gratitude to Dr. Thompson for his valuable insight and service to the Company as President and we look forward to working with him in his new capacity."

About Aion Therapeutic Inc.

Aion Therapeutic Inc. (formerly, Osoyoos Cannabis Inc.) has a joint-venture agreement with a private, vertically-integrated licensed producer under the Cannabis Act (Canada) to offer contract tolling extraction services to third-party businesses. Additionally, the Company recently acquired 1196691 B.C. Ltd. d/b/a "PCAI Pharma" (www.pcai.ca) and its wholly-owned subsidiary AI Pharmaceuticals Jamaica Limited, a private corporation incorporated and operating under the laws of Jamaica. The business of AI Pharma involves, research and development, treatment, data mining and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (machine learning) techniques, focused on the development of combinatorial pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals utilizing compounds from cannabis (cannabinoids), psychedelic mushrooms (psilocybin), fungi (edible mushroom), natural psychedelic formulations (Ayahuasca), and other medicinal plants in a legal environment for this type of discovery. In addition, the Company is creating a strong international intellectual property portfolio related to their discoveries.

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations & Financial Media

Integrity Media Inc.

team@integritymedia.com

Toll Free: (888) 216-3595

www.IntegrityMedia.com

Aion Therapeutic Inc.

Graham Simmonds

Executive Vice Chair & CEO

(416) 843-2881

DISCLAIMER & READER ADVISORY

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", "may", "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. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the parties. The material factors and assumptions include regulatory and other third-party approvals; licensing and other risks. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the parties are 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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73619
WELLESLEY, Mass. and WATERTOWN, Mass., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In their first joint community investment, the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation and Tufts Health Plan Foundation are giving $1 million to 42 organizations across the region to expand vaccine education, awareness and outreach in communities of color. Eight Connecticut organizations will receive a total of $225,000 in funding. Just one month after Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan announced their combined organization, this investment is an immediate response to emerging needs in Black and Brown communities across the region disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

"We are at an inflection point in the pandemic," said Thomas Croswell, chief executive officer of the combined organization of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, and a member of the Tufts Health Plan Foundation board. "As vaccine production and distribution are ramping up, important education efforts are taking place to address community concerns and we need to support them."

Grant recommendations were informed by community organizations, public health leaders and other key stakeholders engaged in the vaccine rollout in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

"With the pandemic continuing to have a devastating impact on Black and Brown communities, this funding will give a boost to organizations across the region working tirelessly to support the needs of their community members and create awareness around the importance of the vaccine," said Michael Carson, president of the combined organization of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, and chairman of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation board.

Grants will support a range of organizationsfrom statewide organizations to local community nonprofits. They include faith-based organizations, trusted Black/Latinx-led community nonprofits, and organizations with experience coordinating multilingual efforts.

One of the organizations receiving a grant is the Hartford Health Department, serving the city of Hartford, Connecticut.

"Funding from the Harvard Pilgrim and Tufts Health Plan Foundations will support the development and dissemination of key messages to our Hartford residents about the efficacy, safety and importance of the COVID-19 vaccine," said Liany E. Arroyo, MPH, CPH, director of the Department of Health and Human Services for the City of Hartford. "Working with our trusted partners at Trinity Health  Saint Francis and community partners like Malta House, now is the time to continue to connect with our communities of color and immigrant and undocumented populations around vaccine safety and ways they can access the COVID vaccine and keep themselves and their families healthy."

The full list of nonprofit organizations receiving grants is:

Connecticut Total Grants: $225,000

Greater Bridgeport Area Prevention Partnership ( Bridgeport ), $20,000

), Hartford Health Department ( Hartford ), $30,000

), Health Equity Solutions ( Hartford ), $50,000

), Human Resources Agency ( New Britain , Bristol , Burlington , Farmington , Plainville , Plymouth ), $20,000

, , , , , ), Ministerial Health Fellowship ( Hartford , Middletown , New Britain , Meriden ), $20,000

, , , ), Project Access of New Haven ( New Haven ), $20,000

( ), Stamford Health Dept/The Family Centers ( Stamford ), $15,000

), URU, The Right to Be ( New Haven ), $50,000

Maine Total Grants: $125,000

Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition ( Portland ), $20,000

), Portland Minority Health Department ( Portland ), $40,000

), Presente! Maine ( Portland ), $25,000

( ), Somali Bantu Community Association ( Lewiston ), $20,000

), Wabanaki Public Health ( Millinocket ), $20,000

Massachusetts Total Grants: $350,000

African Community Education Program ( Worcester ), $20,000

), Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association (Lowell), $25,000

Greater Boston Latino Network ( Boston ), $25,000

), Greater Lawrence Community Action Council (Lawrence), $25,000

La Colaborativa (Chelsea), $25,000

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition ( Boston ), $45,000

), Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers ( Boston ) $50,000

) New North Citizens Council ( Springfield ), $20,000

), One Holyoke Community Development Corporation ( Holyoke ), $20,000

), Pinnacle Partnerships ( Brockton ), $20,000

), Public Health Institute of Western Mass. ( Springfield ), $30,000

), Resilient Sisterhood Project ( Boston ), $20,000

), Worcester Interfaith ( Worcester ), $25,000

New Hampshire Total Grants: $125,000

Amoskeag Health ( Manchester ), $40,000

), Granite State Organizing Project ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Granite State United Way ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Lamprey Health Care ( Nashua ), $20,000

), Manchester NAACP ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services ( Nashua ), $20,000

), New Hampshire Alliance of Immigrants and Refugees ( Manchester , Concord ), $15,000

Rhode Island Total Grants: $175,000

Children's Friend ( Providence ), $15,000

), Comprehensive Community Action Program ( Cranston ), $20,000

), Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center ( Newport ), $10,000

Community Center ( ), Local Initiatives Support Corporation RI ( Providence ), $20,000

), ONE Neighborhood Builders ( Providence ), $20,000

), Progreso Latino ( Central Falls ), $15,000

( ), Thundermist Health Center ( Woonsocket ), $20,000

), United Way of Rhode Island ( Providence ), $35,000

( ), West Elmwood Housing Development Corp. ( Providence ), $20,000

About the combined organization of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

The combination of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care represents the coming together of two of New England's most iconic nonprofit health care companies. Representing nearly 90 years of combined service to our members and the community, together we are building upon our diverse legacies and innovative collaboration by making it our purpose to guide and empower healthier lives for our members  no matter their age, health, race, identity, or income.

We strive to be a different kind of nonprofit health and wellbeing company, with a broad range of health plans, and innovative tools that make navigating health and wellbeing easier, guiding our members at every step of their health care journey to better health outcomes. We are committed to providing high-quality and affordable health care, improving the health and wellness of our members, and creating healthier communities throughout New England.

About Tufts Health Plan Foundation

Established in 2008, Tufts Health Plan Foundation supports the health and wellness of the diverse communities we serve. The Foundation has given more than $45 million to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island nonprofits that promote healthy aging. Tufts Health Plan Foundation funds programs that move communities toward implementing age-friendly policies and practices that are relevant, focus on older adults, and include them in community solutions. Visit tuftshealthplanfoundation.org for grant program information.

About the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation

Created in 1980, the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation supports Harvard Pilgrim's mission to improve the quality and value of health care for the people and communities we serve. The Harvard Pilgrim Foundation provides the tools, training and leadership to help build healthy communities throughout Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. In 2020, the Harvard Pilgrim Foundation awarded more than $10.4 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in the region. Since its inception in 1980, the Foundation has awarded $165 million in funds and resources throughout the four states. For more information, please visit www.harvardpilgrim.org/foundation.

SOURCE Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation

Related Links

www.harvardpilgrim.org


Repeal 3 farm laws: Derek O'Brien presses govt

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien on Thursday pressed the government to repeal the three controversial farm laws and offered a ''Repealing Bill 2021' drafted by him for the purpose.

Participating in a discussion on the motion of thanks on the president's address in the Rajya Sabha, the Trinamool MP also referred to the death of a farmer during the tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day and said there should be a "proper inquiry" so the truth could come out.

He interrupted his speech to observe a minute's silence in the House along with other Opposition leaders, mainly the Congress, to pay tribute to farmers who had lost their lives during the two month agitation.

No annual report from Lokpal laid in Parliament: Govt tells Rajya Sabha

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at border points into Delhi since November to demand a rollback of the three farm laws. Talks between the government and farmer leaders have yielded no result so far.

"The 'Repealing Bill 2021'... This will repeal all (three controversial farm laws). I have taken the liberty of drafting the Repealing Bill 2021. I will share it with them. You repeal these bills (farm laws). There is a way to do it. Eighteen months' pause you will put on these (laws), but how?" he said in the Rajya Sabha.

The government had made a proposal to suspend the laws for 18 months.

Referring to the events that unfolded on January 26, O'Brien said, "Just imagine that unfortunate tractor incident where a farmer died under mysterious circumstances, just imagine if that happened in Bengal or Maharashtra... All I'm saying is that the truth be told. I'm not coming to any conclusions. Let the truth come out. The home minister of India is in charge. Do a proper inquiry and let the truth come out".

He said the political and administrative responsibility lies with the prime minister and the home minister.

Highlighting the Centre's resolve to double farmer income by 2022, O'Brien said at the current rate this will not happen till 2028. "In Bengal, in TMC government, from 2011 to now, not doubled, farmer income has tripled in West Bengal," he said. The Trinamool MP said the farms laws were not sent to a select committee for scrutiny and accused the government of failing the sanctity of Parliament.

Sending out a message to the farmers' community, he said, "Yeh aapki roji roti ki baat hai. Hum aapke saath hain (This is about your livelihood, We all stand by you)."

" I cut short my speech for one minute and stand to give tribute to the farmers who lost their lives in this agitation," he added. O'Brien continued his speech after the minute's silence.

Referring to the farmers' agitation, he said, "It is their movement. It is not anybody's movement. "

He also alleged that the government had failed the people of India.

He drew the attention of the House towards the government's divestment policy, rising share of states funding in railways projects, higher mortality rates among infants and mothers, job losses especially during pandemic and frozen spending under MPLADS (till 2021-22).

"First take care of Delhi then think about Bengal. Don't make the pandemic excuse," O'Brien told the House.

O'Brien claimed the government had failed the migrant workers and also India's federal structure.

"The home minister was to come to Bengal for a political rally. He needed to stay back in Delhi. So what was done. Two and a half or one and a half MLAs who were switching sides, they were sent the chartered planes and brought there in four hours," he said, adding that he wished so much love, care and affection was shown towards migrant workers.

According to O'Brien, when it comes to migrant workers, when their data is sought in Parliament, the government truly becomes the NDA - No Data Available.

When the Central government imposes cess, the collected amount is not shared with states, he said. "Out of the gross revenue in 1980, 2 per cent was cess. Now almost 16 per cent is being collected as cess. Every time you collect cess you deprive the states."

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

The Trinamool MP also said, "They have failed the media. You can intimidate and threaten media barons but not the young media persons (on the ground)."

It is not unusual for CEOs to take a break from the public eye and rejuvenate. However, in the case of Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, Asias wealthiest individual, that leave dragged on for longer and was likely an unwilling one as the tech mogul butted heads with the Communist Party.

After nearly three months of total absence under intense government scrutiny, Ma has resurfaced after reportedly reaching a deal with China's regulators on restructuring his business empire.

According to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter, the country's regulators have agreed on a restructuring plan with Ant Group, China's biggest payments provider.

Mas business will combine all its business segments, including its technology offerings in blockchain and food delivery, into a financial holding company. To satisfy a requirement by regulators, Ant Group was previously planning to make one of its subsidiaries, Zhejiang Finance, a financial holding company.

Turning the fintech giant into a financial holding company will make it subject to capital requirements similar to those for banks. In other words, Ant will now be overseen by China's central bank.

The deal with regulators on reshaping Ant Group could clear a path to its initial public offering, but it might take some time to organize and also might have reduced price tag as the valuation on technology companies are much higher than on financial ones.

Ma, the co-founder and former chairman of the technology firm Alibaba and Ant Group, most visibly fell out of favor with Chinas Communist Party leadership in late October, when he publicly criticized banking policy.

Back then, Ma boldly delivered a speech criticizing national regulators, saying Chinese finance has no system. Further, he compared lending practices to a pawn shop mentality.

His statement unleashed a backlash from the highest levels, beginning with the regulators quashing of Ants IPO just a day before it was to happen and new draft micro-lending rules designed to put Ant in its place.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping personally halted the Ants $35 billion initial public offering.

Chinas markets watchdog has also opened a probe into Jack Mas Alibaba and its key competitor TenCent business practices concerning potentially anticompetitive behavior.

The authorities also ordered Mas other online financial company, Ant Group, to more or less figure out a way to become less of a threat.

The shares of major technology companies in the country have fallen sharply following the probe announcement, with Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com losing around $200 billion in value.

In the meantime, Ma was replaced with another Alibaba executive and his photo removed from the website. Until last week, for the past three months he has not appeared in public or been heard from. He failed to appear at several economic meetings where he has always been a frequent speaker. There were also reports that he had been warned in early December not to leave the country.

By Michael Kern for Safehaven.com
President Hage Geingob yesterday assured his administration will not compromise on the health and safety of Namibians by procuring Covid-19 vaccines that are not effective. Geingob, who also availed himself to receive the first jab once the vaccine becomes available, pleaded with citizens to be part of the vaccination campaign.

"Rest assured that the government will not do anything to compromise the health of our people," he stated while also announced an extended curfew albeit with adjusted hours of 22h00 and 05h00. Health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula yesterday announced the country is likely to take delivery of its first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine later this month.

The first batch will be mainly reserved for frontline workers and the vulnerable and will only be enough for 20% of the population. The country needs to vaccinate about 60% of its population to achieve herd immunity. Shangula confirmed talks are ongoing with countries such as Russia, China, India and the US to procure additional doses to cover the remaining 40% of the population.

He said so far, the country has made progress in preparation to acquire suitable covid-19 vaccines as it has made financial commitment to purchase doses sufficient to vaccinate 20% of the target population through the Covax facility.

"We have put in place mechanisms to ensure country readiness to roll out the Covid-19 vaccines.

A national Covid-19 deployment and vaccination plan has been developed and a Covid-19 vaccine task force was established," he added.

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The minister said that the task force was established with a purpose to review the latest evidence, training needs of the health workers and all regulatory, legal and safety frameworks to ensure a high-quality vaccination campaign.

He further assured that the Namibia Medical Regulatory Council is providing the necessary guidance and regulatory oversight. "In Namibia Polio, Measles and Tuberculosis prevention vaccines have worked very well to protect our people and to date, we have those diseases under control.

"The Covid-19 vaccination campaign will be rolled out under our Expanded Programme on Vaccination (EPI)," said Shangula.

The health minister further stated that Namibia will collaborate with Botswana in areas related to the procurement of vaccine, regulatory approval of vaccines and delivery of vaccines.

Rapid tests

Meanwhile, Shangula, who praised the country for doing relatively well when it comes to Covid-19 tests, said the ministry has completed the validation of antigen rapid test kits.

"This will allow for speedier and timely isolation of positive cases as well as expedited testing for departing tourists for jurisdictions that accept negative rapid test results for returning passengers," he said.

Struggling businesses still reeling from three-week lockdown of Sydney's northern beaches during the Covid-19 outbreak will receive barely any government help.

Non-essential businesses that were forced to close from December 20 and are still in trouble almost a month after lockdown ended on January 10.

Losing three weeks of trade over one of the busiest times of year was an enormous blow to small businesses, many of which went under or are barely hanging on.

But NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced on Thursday that grants of just $3,000 to $5,000 would be offered to affected operators.

An empty Manly corso is seen on December 23 during the Northern Beaches lockdown

A Covid-19 digital sign is seen on Manly beachfront on December 19 following an outbreak

'The northern beaches community and businesses did an outstanding job in helping control the spread of the virus at a critical time and unfortunately that had a material impact on many businesses,' he said.

'After almost 12 months we continue to battle the impacts of Covid, both in a health sense but also from an economic perspective.

'That is why we are providing targeted and temporary financial assistance to those impacted by the recent lockdown.'

Minister for Finance and Small Business Damien Tudehope then introduced the funding grant for eligible businesses.

'We know some businesses have been hit harder than others, which is why we are taking a tiered approach to these grants,' he said.

'The first tier of $3,000 is for small businesses that have suffered at least a 30 per cent decline in turnover due to the northern beaches lockdown.

A general view of an empty Manly Wharf on December 21 during lockdown

Empty streets were seen in the Northern Beaches after the government ordered lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19

'The second tier of $5,000 is for small businesses that have suffered at least a 50 per cent decline in turnover.'

The government will also do more to promote local attractions, help businesses understand their obligations and increase resources for mental health.

Health Minister and local MP Brad Hazzard welcomed the grant package saying he understands the impacts the community went through.

'I welcome the financial package which will assist local businesses who have had a tough time while they did what was necessary to help shut down local transmission on the beaches,' he said.

Member for Manly James Griffin said the lockdown's timing around Christmas and New Year 'placed enormous pressure' on local businesses.

'The NSW Government stands with our small businesses and it is hoped this package will help them cover unavoidable expenses and reduce the financial burden so many are facing right now.'

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 22:05:22|Editor: huaxia

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LUSAKA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Zambia on Thursday reported 1,514 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours as the second wave of the pandemic continues to take its toll on the southern African nation.

This has brought the cumulative cases to 59,003 since the outbreak of the pandemic in March last year.

According to the Ministry of Health figures, the new cases were picked from 8,598 tests done in the last 24 hours.

The country also recorded eight new deaths during the same period, bringing the total deaths to 812 while 826 patients were discharged bringing the total recoveries to 51,305.

The country has 6,886 active cases out of which 422 are hospitalized while 6,464 are being managed from homes.

Minister of Health Jonas Chanda said the government was concerned that almost one year since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country, adherence to prescribed measures such as wearing face masks was still being frowned upon.

He said during an update briefing that the ministry will refocus its preventive strategies within communities. The new strategies will try to address how to enhance adherence to prescribed measures. Enditem
In 2019, 10 Russian submarines plied the waters of the Arctic and the Barents Sea -- egresses to the Atlantic Ocean where they "exercise their ability to hold Europe and the continental United States at risk with land-attack missiles," said Adm. Robert Burke, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa and Allied Joint Command Naples.

And China, 900 nautical miles south of the Arctic Circle, has made it no secret that it wants to tap into what it calls "the Polar Silk Road's" natural resources, along with investment opportunities and commercial traffic potential as the polar ice caps melt. It has even declared itself a "near-Arctic state."

To deal with "increasingly aggressive intentions" by Russia and exploitation of the environmental resources by others in the fragile, remote Arctic, the U.S. is forging strong partnerships with regional and allied partners and matching adversaries' presence in the region, Burke said Tuesday during a virtual presentation hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. Naval Institute.

Read Next: Three Idaho Guardsmen Die in Second Fatal National Guard Black Hawk Crash This Year

This includes increased exercises with nations like Norway and Denmark and learning from the naval services of the nations that border the North Atlantic and Barents Sea, Burke said.

"My first big trip in command was to the 'High North' to meet with leadership of countries like Denmark, the Faroe Islands, which is (sic) part of Denmark, and then, Iceland," Burke said.

According to Burke, the U.S. Navy had a continuous presence of surface ships in the Arctic from May through November, deploying ships from Rota, Spain, to above the Arctic Circle and participating in exercises including Dynamic Mongoose, an exercise in which surface vessels and submarines play cat and mouse war games.

The Navy has also been working on how to "better operate in the challenging region," learning from the navies of the Danes and Norwegians who operate their ships in "marginal ice" and know how to read ice-choked waterways.

"Our [guided missile destroyer commanding officers] are going into the fjords and marginal ice, learning how to mitigate that risk intelligently," Burke said.

Burke said Russia's "aggressive actions have led a lot of countries ... especially the former Warsaw Pact allies, to be on edge."

Examples include placing Kalibr-class cruise missiles on one of their icebreakers, installing coastal defense cruise missile sites at "choke points along their northern flank," and claiming excessive "territorial waters and -- at least at one point -- exclusive economic-zones along the Northern Sea Route, which are not internal waters," he said.

"I think [Russia's] militarization of the Arctic on their northern coasts is the most concerning," Burke said.

Burke added that Russian power projection isn't limited to the Arctic. Russian forces continue to conduct "dangerous and unsafe intercepts" of U.S. and NATO aircraft, and they are "weaponizing the Mediterranean." Russia also held a parade featuring Iskander missile systems in Kaliningrad that threaten Baltic nations.

But while Russia has stepped up its presence around the globe, the U.S. has not been slacking, he said.

During the presentation, Burke showed a slide of that first trip to Iceland showing a dozen U.S. P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft were being serviced on the tarmac at Keflavik.

"They were busy, very busy. And it wasn't an exercise," he said.

To handle the load, the U.S. maritime patrol aircraft and surface ships work alongside partners from the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Norway, Denmark and more, allowing "us to do quite well quite well against sixth-generation Russian submarines," he said.

Responding to a question on whether the Navy needs to have icebreakers or hardened vessels as it increases its Arctic presence, Burke said he would leave the question "up to the force providers," adding that ship drivers are getting good at maneuvering in the challenging Arctic environment.

He said also that icebreaking is the U.S. Coast Guard's "core business ... today, anway," and the Navy and Coast Guard work together in many areas worldwide.

"We've got great partners in the U.S. Coast Guard. ... You know, if it stays in their core mission or we do some sort of shared thing, it's going to work great," Burke said.

Currently, the Coast Guard heavy icebreaker Polar Star is on deployment to the Arctic, breaking ice in the Chukchi Sea.

On Christmas Day 2020, the ship became the first U.S. surface vessel to sail north beyond 72 degrees latitude in winter, according to the Coast Guard.

"Our ice pilots expertly navigated the Polar Star through sea ice up to four-feet thick and, in doing so, serve as pioneers to the country's future of Arctic explorations," Polar Star commanding officer Capt. Bill Woitrya said in a release.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Related: Coast Guard: U.S. Must Work to Prevent a Fight in the Arctic
A man has been jailed for 18 months after attacking a 71-year-old-pensioner while he was walking across a street.

Seamus Ward struck Charlie Toye with such force with one punch as he walked across the Main Street in Milford, Co Donegal that he caused him to develop a brain bleed.

Ward, then aged 32, attacked Mr Toye after he had been drinking in a nearby pub and knocked the pensioner to the ground in a completely unprovoked attack.

The pensioner suffered a black eye, cuts to his face and was rushed to hospital.

A witness to the attack on June 24th, 2019, told how she heard Ward shout at Mr Toye "You think you're a big man now?" before attacking him.

Ward, of Drumkern, Milford appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court last week where he was charged with assault causing harm to Mr Toye.

He expressed remorse and offered his victim 2,000 in compensation.

However, Judge John Aylmer said he felt the level of remorse was questionable and that it seemed that the offer from the witness box was "too little too late."

He also noted that after the attack, Mr Toye complained that he had been taunted by Ward who allegedly made faces from him while driving by in his car.

A medical report on Mr Toye revealed he suffered a loss of consciousness, swelling and bruising, a black eye, cuts to the face and head and also a small bleed to the brain.

In his victim impact statement, the victim said he could not remember the attack and was in a lot of pain and confusion.

He was told that he could lose the sight in his right eye and had to have two teeth removed and got headaches for six months after the attack.

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He said he still wakes up in a pool of sweat because of the nightmares from the attack and even bought a dog for himself for company but also for security.

Mr Toye, who was in court accompanied by his daughter Tara, said it was the worst experience of his life.

Tragically his own brother was killed in a car accident at the exact spot where he was attacked back in the 1960s, he said.

Garda Mark McHugh told the court that Ward was arrested and he was shown CCTV of the incident.

He said he didn't recall the incident but said he was ashamed after watching the CCTV footage taken from a local bar named Dustys.

He said he was sorry and he hoped Mr Toye was okay and it was later revealed how the accused had called the local Garda station to enquire about the condition of Mr Toye.

He claimed there had been ongoing 'history' between the pair which arose out of allegations about his father, who was a former Garda.

Mr Toye had also claimed that following the attack, Ward had made faces at him from his jeep but this was denied by the accused.

Barrister for Ward, Mr Peter Nolan said his client had issues with alcohol and that he had been to rehab twice.

He had previous convictions including one for dangerous driving causing the death of a friend in 2008 for which he had done community service but had no convictions since that time.

Passing sentence Judge Aylmer said there had been mitigating circumstances in the case including that he cooperated fully with Gardai and admitted responsibility.

He accepted that Ward had an addiction to alcohol and cocaine after he was convicted of killing a friend through dangerous driving in 2008 and that he had been to rehab twice.

He added that it also appeared that the accused appeared remorseful and ashamed of what he had done.

However, the aggravating factors included that it was a vicious and unprovoked attack which had left Mr Toye seriously injured as well as having such a negative impact on his life.

He said Ward was lucky that he had not found himself before a superior court on more serious charges.

The Judge also noted that he was a carer for his elderly father and that he had offered 2,000 in compensation to the court.

Judge Aylmer said he placed the attack at the upper end of the scale of such offences albeit it at the lower end of that level and one which merited three and a half years in prison before mitigation.

With mitigation including the guilty plea and his cooperation, he was reducing that sentence to two and half years.

He said that this particular offence was too serious to suspend in its entirety but agreed to suspend the final 12 months meaning Ward was jailed for 18 months.

Judge Aylmer also ordered him to avoid alcohol and drugs, to attend all therapy recommended by the Probation Services and not to come within 20 metres of Mr Toye upon his release.
Targets in southern were attacked by Israeli Air Force jets and surface-to-surface missiles, causing material damage, the Syrian army command said in a statement.

Earlier, Syrian state media reported that air defense systems were repelling an Israeli air attack in Quneitra province in southern The Israeli army told Sputnik that they would not comment on foreign media reports about the IDF attack on targets in the Syrian province.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that at 10:42 pm, "carried out an aggression" from the airspace of the Golan Heights, using air-to-ground and surface-to-surface missiles to attack targets in the south.

According to the statement of the army command, the Syrian air defenses shot down most missiles. sustained material damage.

The Syrian leadership has repeatedly demanded that the UN Security Council exert pressure on to stop strikes on Syrian territory since such actions violated Syria's sovereignty and led to an increase in tension in the region.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Taiho Oncology, Inc. today announced that updated guidelines on the use of LONSURF (trifluridine and tipiracil) have been included in the latest National Comprehensive Cancer Network Drugs and Biologics Compendium (NCCN Compendium) for Colon Cancer (Version 2.2021 - January 21, 2021) and Rectal Cancer (Version 1.2021 - December 22, 2020). Specifically, the "Colon Cancer"a and "Rectal Cancer"b sections of the NCCN Compendium, now include a Category 2A recommendation for trifluridine and tipiracil as subsequent therapy, either single agent or in combination with bevacizumab (per NCCN, an FDA-approved biosimilar is an appropriate substitute for bevacizumab), as treatment options for patients who have progressed through all available regimens.1

LONSURF is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin- and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF biological therapy, and if RAS wild-type, an anti-EGFR therapy.2

The updated NCCN Compendium and Clinical Practice Guidelines are available at www.nccn.org.

About Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the U.S.3 In 2020, there were an estimated 147,950 new cases and 53,200 deaths in the U.S.3 Approximately 22 percent of U.S. patients with colorectal cancer are diagnosed at the distant or metastasized stage.3 Metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is associated with poor prognosis with a five-year survival rate of approximately 14.3 percent.3

Over the last decade, clinical outcomes for patients with mCRC have improved considerably due to the advent of novel treatment agents, predictive biomarkers, and a more strategic approach to the delivery of systemic therapies. Currently, the median overall survival for patients with mCRC being treated both in Phase III trials and in large observational series or registries is 30 months  more than double that of 20 years ago.4,5,6

About LONSURF2

LONSURF is an oral nucleoside antitumor agent discovered and developed by Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. LONSURF consists of a thymidine-based nucleoside analog, trifluridine, and the thymidine phosphorylase (TP) inhibitor, tipiracil, which increases trifluridine exposure by inhibiting its metabolism by TP. Trifluridine is incorporated into DNA, resulting in DNA dysfunction and inhibition of cell proliferation.

Since 2015, Taiho Pharmaceutical and Servier have been in an exclusive license agreement for the co-development and commercialization of LONSURF in Europe and other countries outside of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Asia.

Indications and Use

LONSURF is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with:

metastatic colorectal cancer previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin- and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF biological therapy, and if RAS wild-type, an anti-EGFR therapy

metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma previously treated with at least two prior lines of chemotherapy that included a fluoropyrimidine, a platinum, either a taxane or irinotecan, and if appropriate, HER2/neu-targeted therapy.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS

Severe Myelosuppression:

LONSURF caused severe and lifethreatening myelosuppression (Grade 34) consisting of neutropenia (38%), anemia (18%), thrombocytopenia (5%), and febrile neutropenia (3%). Two patients (0.2%) died due to neutropenic infection. A total of 12% of LONSURFtreated patients received granulocytecolony stimulating factors. Obtain complete blood counts prior to and on day 15 of each cycle of LONSURF and more frequently as clinically indicated. Withhold LONSURF for febrile neutropenia, absolute neutrophil count less than 500/mm3, or platelets less than 50,000/mm3. Upon recovery, resume LONSURF at a reduced dose as clinically indicated.

EmbryoFetal Toxicity:

LONSURF can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. Advise pregnant women of the potential risk to the fetus. Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment and for at least 6 months after the final dose.

USE IN SPECIFIC POPULATIONS

Lactation: It is not known whether LONSURF or its metabolites are present in human milk. There are no data to assess the effects of LONSURF or its metabolites on the breastfed infant or the effects on milk production. Because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in breastfed infants, advise women not to breastfeed during treatment with LONSURF and for 1 day following the final dose.

Male Contraception: Because of the potential for genotoxicity, advise males with female partners of reproductive potential to use condoms during treatment with LONSURF and for at least 3 months after the final dose.

Geriatric Use: Patients 65 years of age or over who received LONSURF had a higher incidence of the following compared to patients younger than 65 years: Grade 3 or 4 neutropenia (46% vs 32%), Grade 3 anemia (22% vs 16%), and Grade 3 or 4 thrombocytopenia (7% vs 4%).

Hepatic Impairment: Do not initiate LONSURF in patients with baseline moderate or severe (total bilirubin greater than 1.5 times ULN and any AST) hepatic impairment. Patients with severe hepatic impairment (total bilirubin greater than 3 times ULN and any AST) were not studied. No adjustment to the starting dose of LONSURF is recommended for patients with mild hepatic impairment.

Renal Impairment: No adjustment to the starting dosage of LONSURF is recommended in patients with mild or moderate renal impairment (CLcr of 30 to 89 mL/min). Reduce the starting dose of LONSURF for patients with severe renal impairment (CLcr of 15 to 29 mL/min) to a recommended dosage of 20 mg/m2.

ADVERSE REACTIONS

Most Common Adverse Drug Reactions in Patients Treated With LONSURF (5%): The most common adverse drug reactions in LONSURFtreated patients vs placebotreated patients with mCRC, respectively, were asthenia/fatigue (52% vs 35%), nausea (48% vs 24%), decreased appetite (39% vs 29%), diarrhea (32% vs 12%), vomiting (28% vs 14%), infections (27% vs 16%), abdominal pain (21% vs 18%), pyrexia (19% vs 14%), stomatitis (8% vs 6%), dysgeusia (7% vs 2%), and alopecia (7% vs 1%). In metastatic gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ), the most common adverse drug reactions, respectively were, nausea (37% vs 32%), decreased appetite (34% vs 31%), vomiting (25% vs 20%), infections (23% vs 16%) and diarrhea (23% vs 14%).

Pulmonary emboli occurred more frequently in LONSURFtreated patients compared to placebo: in mCRC (2% vs 0%) and in metastatic gastric cancer and GEJ (3% vs 2%).

Interstitial lung disease (0.2%), including fatalities, has been reported in clinical studies and clinical practice settings in Asia.

Laboratory Test Abnormalities in Patients Treated With LONSURF: The most common laboratory test abnormalities in LONSURFtreated patients vs placebo-treated patients with mCRC, respectively, were anemia (77% vs 33%), neutropenia (67% vs 1%), and thrombocytopenia (42% vs 8%). In metastatic gastric cancer or GEJ, the test abnormalities, respectively, were neutropenia (66% vs 4%), anemia (63% vs 38%), and thrombocytopenia (34% vs 9%).

Please see full Prescribing Information.

https://www.taihooncology.com/us/prescribing-information.pdf

About Taiho Oncology, Inc. (U.S.)

Taiho Oncology, Inc., a subsidiary of Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd., has established a world class clinical development organization that works urgently to develop innovative cancer treatments and has built a commercial business in the U.S. Taiho Oncology has an oral oncology pipeline consisting of selectively targeted agents. Advanced technology, dedicated researchers, and state of the art facilities are helping us to define the way the world treats cancer. It's our work; it's our passion; it's our legacy.

For more information about Taiho Oncology, please visit:

https://www.taihooncology.com/us

For more information about Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., please visit:

https://www.taiho.co.jp/en/

For more information about Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd., please visit:

https://www.otsuka.com/en/

Taiho Oncology U.S. Media Contact:

Craig Heit

GCI Health on behalf of Taiho Oncology

[email protected]

(347) 451-4733

LON-PM-US-1528 02/21

National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the NCCN Compendium are registered trademarks of National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

LONSURF is a registered trademark of Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. used under license by Taiho Oncology, Inc.

Copyright  TAIHO ONCOLOGY, INC. 2021

All rights reserved.

a Regorafenib or trifluridine + tipiracil with or without bevacizumab are treatment options for patients who have progressed through all available regimens.

b Regorafenib or trifluridine + tipiracil with or without bevacizumab are treatment options for patients who have progressed through all available regimens.

1 National Comprehensive Cancer Network Drugs and Biologics Compendium (NCCN Compendium) for Colon Cancer (Version 2.2021 - January 21, 2021) and Rectal Cancer (Version 1.2021 - December 22, 2020). Available at http://www.nccn.org/. Accessed February 2021.

2 LONSURF [US prescribing information]; Princeton, NJ: Taiho Oncology, Inc.; December 2019.

3 National Cancer Institute Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Program. Cancer Stat Facts: Colon and Rectum Cancer. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/colorect.html. Accessed January 2021.

4 Brenner H, Kloor M, Pox CP. Colorectal cancer. Lancet. 2014;383(9927):1490-1502.

5 Price TJ, Segelov E, Burge M, et al. Current opinion on optimal systemic treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer: outcome of the ACTG/AGITG expert meeting ECCO 2013. Expert review of anticancer therapy. 2014;14(12):1477-1493.

6 Van Cutsem E, Cervantes A, Adam R, et al. ESMO consensus guidelines for the management of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Ann Oncol. 2016;27(8):1386-1422.

SOURCE Taiho Oncology, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.taihooncology.com



China's latest move to support over 1,000 innovative small and medium-sized companies is conducive to enhancing the resilience of the industrial chain and boosting the high-quality development of the nation's sprawling industrial economy, officials and analysts said.





The comments came after the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday that the central government will allocate more than 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) from 2021 to 2025 to support the growth of more than 1,000"little giants", or SMEs that focus on a market niche and master key technologies with strong innovation capacity.





Such SMEs are similar to "hidden champions", a term coined by German author Hermann Simon to describe small, highly specialized world-market leaders in Germany.





Qu Xianming, an expert at the National Manufacturing Strategy Advisory Committee, a Beijing-based think tank, said innovative SMEs are a key link in the entire industrial chain and their role is irreplaceable.





Cultivating globally competitive "little giants" can help China better stabilize the supply chain and seek high-quality development in manufacturing, he said.





"China lags behind developed countries in making certain high-end industrial components, and the efforts to nurture SMEs that specialize in one or two products can help the country achieve breakthroughs in crucial areas and complement its industrial structure," Qu said.





Shi Zhengwen, a professor of tax law and policy at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, said, "The money can be used to attract provincial governments to increase their fiscal support to innovative, specialized SMEs."





The latest fiscal support is part of China's broader push to cultivate a globally competitive ecosystem of SMEs, which account for nearly 50 percent of the nation's tax revenue, 60 percent of China's GDP, 70 percent of technological innovation and 80 percent of urban employment in China, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.





Innovative growth





In August, President Xi Jinping called for efforts to foster the innovative development of micro, small and medium-sized technology companies during his inspection tour of Anhui province.





In response to the call, Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology, said earlier this year that the ministry plans to turn 10,000 SMEs into "little giants "over the next three to five years to help them improve their innovation capabilities, boost corporate management and accelerate digital transformation.





Last year, China SME Development Fund Co Ltd, a fund with registered capital of 35.75 billion yuan, was set up in Shanghai to promote the sustainable growth of SMEs in key sectors. The Ministry of Finance acts as a limited partner to the fund with a 42.66 percent stake amounting to 15.25 billion yuan.





Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the central government has rolled out a set of policies, including tax rebates, to help SMEs resume work and solve financing difficulties.





Cao Yuteng, CEO of FlexBot, a self-driving technology startup in Guiyang, Guizhou province, said he is very excited to see the government's commitment to help SMEs.





"Despite short-term difficulties amid the pandemic, we are working hard to use technologies to improve efficiency. We are confident about future development," Cao said.





FlexBot is not alone. About 92 percent of 605 surveyed SMEs in China said they are confident about their ability to innovate despite pressure from intensified competition, market uncertainties and challenges created by COVID-19, according to a report jointly released in July by US tech heavyweight HP Inc and Peking University's Guanghua School of Management.

The super vaccination site in Worcester will be located on the campus of Worcester State University multiple sources told MassLive. Its likely the city will officially announce the location during Thursdays weekly COVID briefing.

The briefing is scheduled for 4 p.m. on the campus of the university.

In discussing a possible site previously, City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said a site would have the capacity to vaccinate more than 1,000 people per day.

Gillette Stadium began operation as the states first mass vacation center last week. Soon after, officials announced Fenway Park would become another hub that could vaccinate thousands per day. Fenway began administering vaccines this week.

The Worcester location joins other mass vaccination sites around that state including the Eastfield Mall in Springfield, the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury and the Doubletree Hotel in Danvers.

During a weekly COVID briefing two weeks ago, Augustus said a super vaccination site would be established in Worcester but didnt release an exact location. Last week, Augustus said the city was waiting on the states approval.

During a town hall with MassLive on Tuesday, Augustus suggested that the super vaccination site could be active as soon as next week.

Worcester started providing the Moderna vaccine to first responders in early January at the Worcester Senior Center on Providence Street.

In the first two weeks, the city administered 1,318 vaccines, which includes first responders in Worcester, Grafton, Holden, Leicester, Millbury, Shrewsbury and West Boylson.

While the other mass vaccination sites have been arenas, the DCU Center is currently acting as a field hospital and Polar Park wont be complete until April.

Augustus said an ideal center would replicate whats being done at the Worcester Senior Center, just on a larger scale. A super vaccination site would include several registration sites.

The observation area also needs to be large enough for patients to wait 15 minutes after theyve received the vaccine. With upwards of 1,000 vaccines administered per day, the center would have to have a large footprint.

Beyond people, the center has to have enough space to store supplies.

Weve been exploring and I think weve got some good options, Augustus said.

While the citys two hospitals Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass Memorial Health Care have been involved in discussion, Worcester Medical Director Dr. Michael Hirsh said the city has yet to tap into the medical student population to use as volunteers.

Multiple colleges and universities in Worcester have nursing programs for students.

Theres a wealth of people we can tap into that I think would help us expand, Hirsh said. Its just really a matter of us fighting out the logistics.

Phase 2 began in Massachusetts in February. Hirsh believes Worcester remains on track to advance to the second phase soon.

Phase 2 includes teachers and other essential workers along with anyone age 75 or older. Individuals 65 or older with at least two comorbidities are also eligible.

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President Moon Jae-in, left, and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden / Yonhap



The leaders of South Korea and the United States agreed Thursday to draw up a joint "comprehensive" strategy on North Korea during their phone talks, Cheong Wa Dae announced.



South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden also agreed to work together for the shared goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and bringing lasting peace to the region, according to Moon's spokesman Kang Min-seok.



Moon proposed that the two sides make joint efforts to advance the denuclearization and peace-building process in the half-hour conversation.



Biden pledged close cooperation to achieve the aim, saying it is important for the allies to maintain the same position on the matter, Kang added.



They reaffirmed that the Seoul-Washington alliance, which has lasted for seven decades, is the key to regional peace and prosperity. They agreed to develop it as a "comprehensive and strategic" alliance to contribute to promoting democracy, human rights and multilateralism in the world, beyond the peninsula and the Indo-Pacific region.



On Japan, they shared the view that an improvement in Seoul-Tokyo relations is crucial, as well as the strengthening of trilateral security partnerships, Kang said.



Moon and Biden agreed to hold their summit as soon as the COVID-19 situation is stabilized, he added.



It was their first phone call since Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration as the U.S. leader.



"I just had a great conversation with President @JoeBiden @POTUS. I welcomed 'America's return' in the midst of mounting global challenges such as COVID-19, climate change and economic polarization," Moon wrote on his social networking accounts shortly after the talks.



Moon and Biden had their previous phone conversation on Nov. 12 following Biden's presidential election victory. They agreed to cooperate closely to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. Biden called South Korea a "linchpin" of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.



Since taking office, Biden has spoken over the phone with the leaders of such nations as Canada, Mexico, Britain, Russia and Japan. (Yonhap)
Shraddha Kapoor has wrapped up the first schedule of her upcoming film with Ranbir Kapoor, which is directed by Luv Ranjan. The actress was in New Delhi for the shoot schedule and returned to Mumbai on Wednesday evening.

Keeping it Simple Yet Chic Like Shraddha Kapoor, a Look at Her Style File

At the airport, she encountered paparazzi, who questioned her about her marriage rumours with photographer Rohan Shrestha. While her expressions were hidden due to her face mask, she did respond to the question saying, "What are you saying!"

Only recently, when Shraddha's close friend and co-actor Varun Dhawan had got married to Natasha Dalal, rumours swirled that she is in line to tie the knot with Rohan, sooner than later.

Responding to the speculations about their marriage, Sharddha's father Shakti Kapoor had said, "I don't know what reports and speculations are surfacing on the Internet. But I shall always stand by my daughter... in every decision of her life, she takes, including her marriage. Why only Rohan Shrestha? If she comes and tells me whoever she has chosen and wants to settle down with, I will not have any objection."

In 2019, Shraddha did a magazine photoshoot for which she collaborated with Rohan. At the time, both Shraddha and Rohan were teased by their Bollywood friends including his brother Siddhant Kapoor and Varun that almost confirmed their relationship.
Campus News

Cichocki, Kruger named SUNY Online Teaching Ambassadors

Dianna Cichocki, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Management Science and Systems, teaches a class pre-COVID-19. Photo: Nancy J. Parisi

By MELVIN BANKHEAD III

While quality content is a critical component of an effective online course, establishing a welcoming atmosphere that encourages and motivates students is equally as important and should not be overlooked.  Dianna Cichocki, clinical assistant professor Department of Management Science and Systems

UB faculty members Dianna Cichocki and Jessica Kruger have been selected as SUNY Online Teaching Ambassadors for 2021. The designation, according to UBs Educational Design Collaborative, which nominated the pair, recognizes enthusiastic and effective online teaching faculty from SUNY institutions who are positive and strong advocates for online teaching in the SUNY community. It is a pleasure for us to be able to join SUNY in recognizing Jessica and Dianna as the 2021 SUNY Online Teaching Ambassadors, Cheryl Oyer and Steve Sturman, co-chairs of the UB Educational Design Collaborative, said in a joint statement. As part of the UB and SUNY instructional communities, the enthusiasm and effectiveness of these two professors is a testament to UBs commitment to online education. The criteria (include) the recognition of faculty who are positive and strong advocates for online teaching in our SUNY community. They undeniably meet (these) criteria in their innovative pedagogy!

Dianna Cichocki

Cichocki, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Management Science and Systems in the School of Management, says shes honored to have been named a SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador. The prominence of online education has increased exponentially in the past year, and educators have been catapulted into the online space, she says. Effective online teaching is an art that develops over time and is not accomplished alone. I am blessed to work alongside an amazing team of educators who encourage one another to continually improve and ensure the best possible experience for our students. Cichocki earned an MS from Oswego State University, and a bachelors degree from St. John Fisher College. She is known for her contributions in the research areas of statistics and computing, business analytics and data science, and data modeling.

Jessica Kruger

Kruger, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, School of Public Health and Health Professions, also is very excited about designation and looks forward to promoting online learning at UB. Her research focuses on behaviors in eating and addiction, decision-making and behaviors that impact public health, and the science of teaching public health-related information. A health educator, she works with a diverse array of community-based organizations in Buffalo. She earned a PhD from the University of Toledo, and an MS from the University of Michigan-Flint. The SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador designation is particularly important now, proponents say, as colleges and universities across the nation have been forced to adapt to hybrid, in-person/online models of education or completely online learning in order to reduce density on campus and protect their students, instructors and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, despite having to make extensive shifts, online instructors remain dedicated to the success of their students.

Jessica Kruger, clinical assistant professor of community health and health behavior, distributes handouts during her PUB 320 class in 2018. Photo: Douglas Levere
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday (February 2, 2021) extended the interim protection order passed by a lower court in Kangana Ranaut's case involving unauthorised merger of three flats in Mumbai till February 5. Justice Prithviraj Chavan gave Ranaut time till Friday (February 5) to clarify if she will approach the civic body to seek regularisation of the illegal portions of her property in Mumbai's Khar area.

While the BMC in March 2018 had issued a notice to the actress for the alleged illegal merger, Kangana claimed it was the developer's fault. A report in Bar and Bench stated that Ranaut's lawyer Birendra Saraf told the court that the unauthorised construction in the building was the property developer's fault.

He also accused the Mumbai civic body of acting out of "vendetta" against her, referring to the demolition case. Back in September 2020, the BMC had demolished parts of Kangana's office in Bandra citing illegal construction.

"Where is the question of vendetta Saraf," the court asked Ranaut's lawyer. Saraf then sought out for interim protection to the actress so that he (Saraf) is able to get written instructions from her (Kangana) regarding regularisation.

Meanwhile, BMC lawyers informed the court that an application for regularisation is normally filed within 30 days from receiving the notice, but "she is already three years late. But the court can condone the delay."

The court has adjourned the hearing till Friday. According to previous reports, the ruling by Judge LS Chavan in the civil court had said that Kangana had made changes to the property which are grave violations of the building plans. The court ruled against Kangana citing changes like covering of the sunk area, duct area, common passage and converting the free Floor Space Index (FSI) into a habitable area.

ALSO READ: Kangana Ranaut Attacks Taapsee Pannu For Her Indirect Comment On Those Offended By Rihanna's Tweet

ALSO READ: Kangana Ranaut Summoned By Mumbai Police In Defamation Case Filed By Javed Akhtar
On August 5, two months after protests against racial injustice had kicked off around the country, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds held a signing ceremony for a new executive orderone that would grant people who had been incarcerated for a felony the right to vote upon completing their sentences.

Quite simply, when someone serves their sentence and pays the price our justice system has set for their crimes, Reynolds said, speaking in front of masked community leaders in her office at the state capitol, they should have their right to vote restored, automatically, plain and simple.

In one sense, it was a huge win for criminal justice advocates: Up to that point, Iowa was the only state that permanently barred people convicted of any kind of felony from voting unless they appealed to the governoreven as dozens of other states across the country have expanded voting rights for felons over the past quarter-century. Now, a mostly red state and a Donald Trump-aligned Republican governor had moved to reenfranchise tens of thousands of formerly incarcerated Iowans.

But in reality, the story is more complicated, and the future of felon voting rights in Iowa remains uncertainoffering a lesson in the challenges of reform and the limits of ushering in change through the quick fix of executive action.

For more than a decade, lawyers, advocacy groups and activists had been pressing the state government to restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated Iowans. Reynolds Republican predecessor, Terry Branstad, resisted those efforts. Then, Reynolds, who has her own personal story of redemption after two DUIs decades ago, announced in 2019 that she would support extending voting rights to felons who have completed their sentence by amending the state constitution. The question was whether the Legislature, controlled by her own party, would follow, and how long it would take.

After George Floyds killing by Minneapolis police in May, a new, more ad hoc group of Iowa activists saw a window of opportunity. Through daily protests in the state capitol over several days, the groupfirst called Des Moines Black Lives Matter, then the Des Moines Black Liberation Movementpressured Reynolds and the Legislature, at a time when criminal justice was in the national spotlight.

Story continues

We had been emailing [Reynolds] office, calling her office, and we were just getting the runaround, Jaylen Cavil, an organizer with the group, said in an interview. So, we protested at the capitol, at her office, outside of her office for hours on end, yelling, chanting. Anytime the door was open, we would be loud, making sure that Kim Reynolds was in there hearing us.

On June 12, Reynoldswhose spokesperson declined multiple requests for comment for this articleinvited the group to her office, alongside other local voting rights advocates and two Democratic state lawmakers. That day, she was set to sign a bipartisan police accountability law. Now, the activists were presenting her with a list of additional demands, with the restoration of voting rights at the top. Im here to listen, Reynolds told the group, according to a recording of the meeting released by Des Moines Black Liberation Movement.

The organizers wanted her to move faster than the amendment process, which would at least take two legislative sessions to play out, and instead to sign an executive order. The presidential election was only a few months away, and they hoped felons, who in Iowa are disproportionately Black, would be able to vote. For some of us, its an election that dictates what the rest of our lives will look like, Iowa Rep. RasTafari Smith, one of the lawmakers in attendance, says. Our people need to vote, Cavil told the governor.

During the meeting, Reynolds stood by her support for the slower process, but the protesters didnt let up. By June 16, she relented and agreed to sign the executive order, saying she would continue to work with the Legislature to push for a constitutional amendment in the longer term.

More than 3,000 released felons voted in the 2020 general election as a result of the executive order. But now both Reynolds and the activists are wrestling with the implications of the quick, dramatic change. The Black Liberation Movement organizers werent entirely satisfied, saying Iowas government didnt do enough to help register reenfranchised citizens ahead of the election. They also find the order too restrictive: It excludes the most violent offenders and requires them to complete probation and parole before being able to vote.

Reynolds, for her part, now needs to restart the process of pushing for an amendment. But with the coronavirus pandemic still raging and the presidential election in hindsight, the states legislative leadership has signaled that the amendment has become less urgent. And given how long the process takes, time might not be on Reynolds side: She is up for reelection in 2022.

The next governor can just as easily reverse course, leaving thousands of convicted Iowans seemingly stuck on a seesaw, with their right to vote at stake.

After the 2010 Census, the Prison Policy Initiative released a study finding that Black Iowans were incarcerated at a rate 10 times higher than white Iowans, and Native Americans at a rate seven times higher. According to the Iowa Department of Corrections, 25 percent of the states prison population is Black, while Iowas overall population is about 4 percent Black. Before Reynolds executive order, one out of every 10 Black people in the state didnt have the right to vote, according to the Sentencing Project.

Iowa has traditionally been in the top three [states] in terms of the worst record for incarcerating the percentage of African Americans in a state compared to the population, says Mark Bennett, a retired U.S. District Court judge and director of the Institute for Justice Reform and Innovation at Drake University.

Today, some three dozen states restore voting rights automatically upon release or upon completion of probation or parole, while Maine, Vermont and the District of Columbia never strip those rights in the first place. In Iowa, felony disenfranchisement was inscribed into states constitution before the Civil War: Article II, Section 5 permanently disenfranchises any person convicted of any infamous crime, which the Iowa Supreme Court has interpreted to mean any felony.

On Independence Day 2005, Governor Tom Vilsack, a Democrat now nominated to be Joe Bidens Agriculture secretary, signed an executive order restoring voting rights to people who had completed their sentences, probation, parole and supervised release, granting tens of thousands of citizens the right to vote. But six years later, the states Republican governor, Branstad, reversed the order upon entering office.

A few years after that, activists began to fight back, according to Daniel Zeno, then-policy and advocacy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa. In 2014, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of an Iowa woman named Kelli Jo Griffin who had lost her right to vote because of a nonviolent drug conviction. Two years later, the state Supreme Court ruled that Griffins disenfranchisement was permitted under the state constitution. About 20 organizations across the stateincluding the ACLU of Iowa, the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa and the League of Women Votersformed a coalition and realized, in Zenos words, We gotta change the Iowa constitution.

What happened next encouraged even the most jaded activists. In early 2017, Branstad stepped down to become President Donald Trumps ambassador to China. He had groomed his lieutenant governor, Reynolds, to assume leadership of the state, which she did in May; she was elected to the seat the next year. A former state senator from St. Charles, Iowa, Reynolds had a reputation as a hard-working conservative with a can-do attitude. Despite having worked closely with Branstad for years, she sought to carve out her own pathincluding on criminal justice.

In January 2019, Reynolds announced in her first Condition of the State address as elected governor that she was interested in permanently removing the states felon voting ban through a constitutional amendment. She told the story of a man in Waukee whose individual right to vote she had restored as governor. I dont think this man and others like him who have completed their sentences should have to wait for my say or any future governors say before they get that dignity back, she said in the address. Voting rights restoration became one of Reynolds top issues.

The national Republican Party at the time was coming around to criminal justice reform, with Trump signing the First Step Act in December 2018. But the impetus for Reynolds was partly personal. Early in her stint as a public servant, she had been charged with DUIs, in 1999 and 2000. Her second charge served as a turning point: Shes been sober since. In the run-up to the Condition of the State address, she told reporters that she herself had been a recipient of second chances and, I believe that people make mistakes and theres opportunities to change, and that needs to be recognized.

In March 2019, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced House Joint Resolution 14 (HJR 14), which proposed a constitutional amendment to restore felon voting rights. For the state constitution to be amended, the bill would have to pass the state House and Senatetwice, over successive legislative sessionsbefore being put to Iowa voters as a ballot measure. At the outset, it seemed like the amendment had a chance.

Advocates began reaching out to state lawmakers to encourage them to pass the bill. It was one of the biggest advocacy efforts we have ever done, says Myrna Loehrlein, chair of the Criminal and Juvenile Justice committee of the League of Women Voters. In addition to lobbying, the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa worked on engaging people, getting everyday Iowans to use their voices and talk with legislators, too, according to Connie Ryan, the groups executive director.

On March 28, HJR 14 passed the House by a vote of 95 to 2. House Republicans had voted overwhelmingly for the bill believing the state Senate would refine the legislation so that only felons who met certain criteria would be eligible to vote. On April 4, the upper chamber convened to consider the proposal. Senator Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican from Ottumwa (who has since been elected to Congress), gave a speech in favor of the amendment, telling the story of her late brother, who had been convicted of a felony. There are good people out there who do bad thingsmisjudgments, make mistakeswhen they are younger, she said.

But other Republicans thought the bill needed work. This language, I believe, was not clear enough, and there was not any parameters in regards to what those voting rights were, Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale, told reporters. As a result, the proposal sat in limbo until the next legislative session. The following February, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to modify the bill so that the amendment would not apply to felons who had committed violent crimes like murder and manslaughter, and all returning citizens who owe restitution to victims would have to pay off those debts beforehand. Reynolds, eager to move forward, signed onto attaching the modification to the amendment.

This past June, after Des Moines BLM met with Reynolds, the group announced that she was open to an executive order. Soon after, Senate Republicans backed away from the proposed constitutional amendment. Over the last couple days, it appeared the governor intended to sign an executive order regarding felon voting rights, Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs, said in a statement. It was the opinion of a number of my colleagues that an executive order eliminated the need for a constitutional amendment.

On June 14, the 2020 legislative session ended with HJR 14 quietly dying on the floor. The next step for advocates became clear: In the meantime, the ACLU of Iowa said in a statement, the Governor can restore the eligibility to vote for thousands of Iowans today, and moving forward, with an executive order.

After their meetings with the governor, Des Moines BLM spent the summer showing up at events across the state to urge her to sign the order. (Cavil even got hit by one of the governors SUVs at an event in Ackley; he was not injured.) Zeno of the ACLU credits the organizers with providing the extra push toward executive action. The protests in Iowa were absolutely, 100 percent, without question helpful in getting us to where we are now, he says.

During the signing, Reynolds surrounded herself with local community leaders and representatives from the NAACP, which also pushed for felon voting rights. But Des Moines BLM wasnt notified, Cavil says.

In the end, the executive order isnt exactly what advocates expected or hoped for, and in fact resembles the version of the constitutional amendment that Senate Republicans were pushing: It excludes those on parole, probation or other supervised release, and those convicted of homicide and related crimesthough it does not require payment of restitution. (Vilsacks executive order had not excluded violent offenders.)

A version of this debate has been a sticking point in Florida, where, in 2018, the state voted through a ballot initiative to restore voting rights to most felons who have completed their sentencesbefore the state Legislature stripped those rights away unless felons paid off court fines and fees. As a result, nearly 800,000 Floridians who might have voted in 2020 were ineligible.

In Iowa, after the signing of the executive order, Des Moines BLM began focusing on registering newly reenfranchised citizens to vote. But it wasnt until the week before the election that Rep. Smith acquired a list of nearly 40,000 names of newly eligible voters and their counties, after his office had contacted the Iowa Department of Corrections in the hopes of helping activists register voters. There was no emphasis on informing the public about this, Smith says.

It just had their names, Cavil adds. It didnt have their phone numbers, their addresses, their emails, any personal information, no way of contacting any of them.

The Iowa Department of Corrections did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the Iowa Secretary of States office, 4,127 Iowans whose registration was previously canceled because of a felony conviction reregistered to vote after the executive order was signed. Of those citizens, 3,179 voted in the 2020 general electiona fraction of those who were newly eligible.

More fundamentally, Reynolds executive order bears the same risk that Vilsacks did: It easily can be overturned by a successor. Iowa still remains one of the more restrictive states with regard to felony disenfranchisement. And Senate Republicans feel less urgency to act on voting rights after the executive order came into effect, Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver said at a forum with state leaders last month.

Activists say they will continue to push for a constitutional amendment. The executive order, they believe, was just a Band-Aid over a deep wound.

The executive order is not the final word, Zeno says. We believe in permanent solutions, something that permanently writes this law, and something that doesnt have the kinds of exclusions that this order has.

The Czech Republic surpassed the 1 million mark in terms of the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country as it recorded over 9,000 new infections on Wednesday. The European nation has become the 20th in the world to cross the threshold of recording over a million cases and is the smallest among all to post such a seven-digit number. The Czech Republic has registered over 16,600 deaths to date.

Read: Czech Court Ruling On Electoral Law To Help Small Parties

There are currently 93,043 active cases in the country, of which 1,002 patients are under critical care. Although the daily infection rate in Czechia has dropped from its peak in early January, it is still relatively high and poses a significant risk to the health infrastructure. The new emerging variants of COVID-19, which scientists say are highly contagious, are making the situation worse in the country of over 10 million people.

Read: Face Mask Sparks Scuffle In Czech Parliament

Poor policies, lack of trust

Many blame the current health crisis on the government, which has changed three health ministers since the start of the pandemic. Jan Trnka, a biochemist from Pragues Charles University, said that the government has clearly lacked in its approach to tackle the pandemic, adding that the country will likely have more people in hospitals in the coming weeks. According to a poll, the general public in Czechia is also not sure about the safety and efficacy of vaccines as over 50% have said they would not get inoculated.

Read: Biggest Czech Crematorium Overwhelmed By Pandemic Deaths

The coalition government of Prime Minister Andrej Babis has garnered a lot of criticism for repeatedly easing COVID-19 restrictions in the country. Before Christmas, the government allowed non-essential services to reopen, which resulted in a massive surge in cases and deaths. The mounting numbers prompted the government to reintroduce some restrictions and stop schools and the hospitality sector from reopening. Czechia is currently running a COVID-19 vaccination programme in the country and has so far administered nearly 3 lakh doses.

Read: Zegras Powers US Past Czech Republic At World Junior Tourney

(Image Credit: AP)


DENVER, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SambaSafety, the market leader in driver monitoring and mobility risk data solutions, has expanded its insurance state footprint to cover 80 percent of U.S. licensed drivers, positioning them as the leading provider of driver violation data for the insurance industry.

Developed specifically for the insurance industry, SambaSafety's Volta solution delivers unprecedented data insight to price driver risk at each stage of the policy lifecycle. Leveraging composite driver violation data in real-time with Volta, insurance professionals can immediately assess and price risk with higher accuracy, greater speed, and more savings than ever before.

The expanded footprint provides SambaSafety customers with more states in which to derive the benefits of Volta and delivers a more complete violation prefill solution for use at quote. By using the system's violation indicators to determine if a driver has activity, as well as violation detail reports as an alternative to state MVRs, insurers can easily identify drivers with violations from those with clean MVRs.

"We are excited to continue expanding our reach by adding seven new states to Volta's footprint," states Rich Lacey, Chief Product Officer. "This data is critical in helping insurers reduce premium leakage and accelerate the underwriting process without sacrificing its integrity."

This expansion continues to support SambaSafety's product mission of helping insurers make better, faster risk underwriting decisions and more accurate policy pricing decisions at quote, issue and renewal. The Volta platform also helps insurers reduce their overall operating expenses, as well as streamline the customer application and policy management process.

To learn more about SambaSafety's Volta platform, visit our website: https://sambasafety.com/volta/.

About SambaSafety

Since 1998, SambaSafety continues to be the pioneer and leading North American provider of cloud-based mobility risk management software solutions for organizations with commercial and non-commercial drivers. Through the collection, correlation, and analysis of driver information, SambaSafety helps employers identify high-risk drivers and enforce safety policies, insurers to make informed decisions, and background screeners to perform accurate, efficient pre-hire checks. Learn more at www.sambasafety.com.

Media Contact:

Eric Waldinger

SambaSafety

720.835.2851

[email protected]

SOURCE SambaSafety

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Highlights Sony FE 35mm F1.4 GM lens falls under the company's G Master full-frame lens series.

Sony FE 35mm F1.4 GM lens comes with an ability to capture smooth bokehs.

Earlier launched in the States, Sony FE 35mm F1.4 GM lens is now available in India.

Sony launched a new FE 35mm F1.4 GM lens three weeks ago in the United States. The lens, which is a part of company's G Master lens series, is now available in India for Rs 1,64,990. The lens is said to be Sony's 39th full-frame optic which supports the E-mount camera systems.

The new Sony lens weighs around 524grams, which makes it lightweight in comparison to other lenses such as Zeiss FE 35mm F1.4 lens featuring the same focal length. The company emphasises on the compact form factor of the Sony lens.

"At Sony, we are opening up a new world of possibilities and fill it with emotion through the power of creativity and technology. The FE 35mm F1.4 GM perfectly captures the moments that deserve to be cherished forever," said Mukesh Srivastava, Digital Imaging Head at Sony India. "With superb resolution and intelligent focus technology in a small, lightweight design, this is an indispensable lens that does not compromise on picture quality."

Going by the technical specifications, the lens is made of 14 elements in 10 groups. It consists of two XA (extreme aspherical) elements to maintain resolution throughout the image, a single ED glass element, and Nano AR Coating II. Sony states that when the FE 35mm F1.4 GM lens is paired with an E-mount camera body, the lens can deliver high-quality autofocus. Its AF capabilities can be "perfect for a wide range of uses such as shooting landscapes, portraits and street photography, for both stills and video."

Coming to the signature characteristic of Sony's G Master lens lineup, the FE 35mm F1.4 GM lens can also produce beautiful bokehs. A good bokeh photo can separate foreground from background neatly. And that is exactly what the lens is capable of doing. As Sony puts it, "The FE 35mm F1.4 GM delivers an almost circular aperture thanks to its 11-blade construction, a rare level of quality for a compact lens. Spherical aberration control at both the design and the manufacturing stages contributes to beautiful bokeh."

Other features include an aperture ring with switchable click stops and a customizable focus hold button (that is, a focus mode switch) for easy operation. The focus hold button can be assigned to several other functions via menu.

The FE 35mm F1.4 GM boasts dust and moisture resistant design as well as a fluorine front element coating which repels water, oil, and other contaminants. The lens is available for Rs 1,64,990 across all Sony centers in India starting today, that is, February 4, 2021.


FY2020 Q3 Year-to-Date Results Driven by 15% Underlying Revenue Growth of 14 Global Brands (e.g., ENTYVIO +24.0%, TAKHZYRO +38.1%, Immunoglobulin +13.7%); Generated Strong Margins and Cash Flow

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Confirming Full-Year Management Guidance and Raising Forecasts for Free Cash Flow and Reported EPS

Purpose-Led Sustainability Commitment Drives Recent Carbon Neutrality Achievement Across Value Chain



Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TOKYO:4502/NYSE:TAK) (Takeda) today announced financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 (period ended December 31, 2020).

TAKEDA CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER COSTA SAROUKOS commented:

Our third-quarter results demonstrate the resilience of our business model and the depth of our portfolio, with strong growth generated by our 14 global brands. As a values-based and R&D driven biopharmaceutical company, we remain focused on bringing life-transforming treatments to people with high unmet needs around the world. With the first of our seven potential filings in the next 12 months complete, we look forward to delivering the next generation of potentially transformative medicines and maintaining our commitment to patients, our people and the planet.

While maintaining business momentum, we also continue to deliver on our financial commitments, realizing strong year-to-date margins and cash flow, and exceeding our target for non-core asset divestitures. This progress reflects our ability to effectively and efficiently integrate the operations of Takeda and Shire, as we capture synergies and focus investment in our key business areas.

Takedas strong financial performance in Q3 allows us to confirm management guidance for FY2020, with further growth acceleration expected in Q4 as we conclude the fiscal year. Reflecting on the transformation of Takeda over the past few years and the world-class R&D engine we have built, we look to 2021 as an important inflection point, filled with a number of pivotal milestones that will position us for long-term sustainable growth.

FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

Results for Q3 FY2020 YTD (Nine-Month Period Ended December 31, 2020)

(billion yen, except

percentages and per

share amounts) REPORTED CORE (Non-IFRS)(1) UNDERLYING (2) (Non-IFRS) (1) Q3 FY2020 YTD vs. PRIOR YEAR Q3 FY2020 YTD vs. PRIOR YEAR Revenue 2,427.5 -3.6% 2,427.5 -3.6% +1.1% Operating Profit 358.7 +120.7% 780.6(3) -1.5% +8.5% Margin 14.8% +8.3pp 32.2% +0.7pp 32.1% Net Profit 178.9 +320.8% 519.8 -7.2% EPS (JPY) 115 yen +87 yen 333 yen -27 yen +4.5% Operating Cash Flow 610.0 +25.9% Free Cash Flow (Non-IFRS)(1) (4) 717.5 -3.8%

(1) Further information on certain of Takedas Non-IFRS measures is posted on Takedas investor relations website at https://www.takeda.com/investors/reports/quarterly-announcements/

(2) Underlying growth compares two periods (quarters or years) of financial results under a common basis and is used by management to assess the business. These financial results are calculated on a constant currency basis and excluding the impact of divestitures and other amounts that are unusual, non-recurring items or unrelated to our ongoing operations.

(3) Core Operating Profit represents net profit adjusted to exclude income tax expenses, the share of profit or loss of investments accounted for using the equity method, finance expenses and income, other operating expenses and income, amortization and impairment losses on acquired intangible assets and other items unrelated to Takedas core operations, such as purchase accounting effects and transaction related costs.

(4) Free Cash Flow represents cash flows from operating activities, excluding acquisition of plant, property and equipment, and including proceeds from sales of plant, property and equipment, as further adjusted to exclude the acquisition of intangible assets and the acquisition of investments, and to include the proceeds from sales and redemption of investments and proceeds from sales of business, net of cash and cash equivalents divested.

FY2020 Q3 YTD RESULTS DEMONSTRATE TAKEDAS CONTINUED RESILIENCE

Reported revenue, at JPY 2,427.5 billion (~$23.5B), was impacted primarily by foreign exchange and divestitures, however Takeda delivered year-to-date underlying revenue growth of 1.1% in the third quarter of FY2020, which was driven by strong growth in ENTYVIO, TAKHZYRO, and Immunoglobulin, and was consistent with full year guidance of low-single-digit growth.

Takeda delivered reported operating profit of JPY 358.7 billion (~$3.5B), which grew 120.7%, reflecting lower purchase price accounting (PPA) and integration costs. Core operating profit, which adjusts for PPA and non-recurring items, declined year-on-year to JPY 780.6 billion (~$7.6B)owing to foreign exchange impact and divestitures. The core operating profit margin was 32.2%. Underlying core operating profit grew 8.5% year-on-year. Underlying core operating profit margin, which adjusts for the impact of foreign exchange and divestiture effects, was 32.1%, driven by synergies and OPEX efficiencies.

Takedas reported net profit was JPY 178.9 billion, a 320.8% increase compared with the same period in the prior year.

Operating cash flow increased by 25.9% to JPY 610.0 billion, strengthening Takedas balance sheet and more than enabling the Company to satisfy dividend, debt, and interest payments. Free cash flow, which also reflects capital expenditures and proceeds from asset sales, was JPY 717.5 billion (~$7.0B). This represented a decrease of 3.8% in reported free cash flow versus the prior year; the growth rate was impacted by the ~JPY 375.5BN cash received in July 2019 for XIIDRA. Robust cash flow enabled further de-leveraging in Q3 and led to a 3.6x net debt/adjusted EBITDA ratio at the end of the period.

The overall impact of the global spread of COVID-19 on Takedas consolidated financial results for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2020 was not material, with several offsetting factors. There were adverse effects due to COVID-19 observed in certain therapeutic areas, especially in Neuroscience during periods when stay-at-home restrictions were in place reducing patient visits to medical care providers. This trend has fluctuated throughout the nine-month period, especially in recent months, as transmission of COVID-19 has increased significantly in many parts of the world. These adverse impacts have been partially offset by benefits from prescribing trends during the pandemic, such as an expansion of certain products with a more convenient administration profile that was observed in the early phase of the outbreak. With regard to operating expenses, voluntary suspension of certain business activities such as business travel and events in response to COVID-19 led to lower spending. As a result of these factors, the impact on Takedas profit was immaterial.

For the latest Takeda communications regarding COVID-19, please click here to visit the COVID-19 Information Center on Takedas website.

COMMERCIAL UPDATES ACROSS FIVE KEY BUSINESS AREAS

Takedas five key business areas  Gastroenterology, Rare Diseases, Plasma-Derived Therapies, Oncology and Neuroscience  with JPY 1,982.1 billion of reported revenue representing approximately 82% of total Q3 YTD revenues  delivered year-on-year underlying revenue growth of 4.4%. Takedas 14 global brands, with reported revenue of JPY 910.3 billion (~$8.8B) in aggregate, delivered a 15.4% increase in Q3 YTD underlying revenue growth compared to a year before.

Gastroenterology

The Gastroenterology franchise with JPY 588.8 billion in reported revenue represented 24% of sales, with underlying revenue growth of 14%. This was spearheaded by continued exceptional growth through expanded first line share of gut-selective ENTYVIO in the U.S., EU, and Japan.

Rare Diseases

The Rare Diseases franchise with JPY 446.7 billion in reported revenue represented 18% of sales, with underlying revenue growth declining 3%. The hereditary angioedema portfolio saw 16% underlying revenue growth, driven by continued excellent performance from TAKHZYRO, which continues to expand the hereditary angioedema prophylaxis market. Rare Hematology declined 11% on an underlying basis, with the competitive landscape in line with expectations. Rare Metabolic declined 1% on an underlying basis, but excluding NATPARA the portfolio saw 7% growth. Takeda is working closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a proposed plan to resupply NATPARA in the U.S. and had announced earlier in FY2020 that the required device modifications and product testing will likely delay availability beyond FY2020.

PDT Immunology

PDT Immunology with JPY 313.0 billion in reported revenue represented 13% of sales, with underlying revenue growth of 9% driven by continued strong Gammagard-Liquid demand in the U.S. and subcutaneous IG worldwide. Albumin sales declined 10% versus prior year, partially due to phasing and supply dynamics in China in 2019 and in some part due to a temporary interruption in submitting batches of Albumin Glass for release in China in Q3, for which we expect a resolution soon.

Oncology

Oncology with JPY 318.5 billion in reported revenue represented 13% of sales, with underlying revenue growth of 3%. Takedas portfolio continues to expand indications as growth brands offset the decline of older products in the portfolio.

Neuroscience

Neuroscience with JPY 315.1 billion in reported revenue represented 13% of sales, declining 2% on an underlying basis. The portfolio experienced a slowdown in momentum attributable to COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions that reduced patient visits and diagnoses. A recovery of prescribing trends has been noted, but new patient starts are not yet back to pre-COVID levels.

Q3 YTD Global Brand Highlights Business areas Product Reported Product Revenue

JPY (billion) Year-over-Year Underlying

Revenue Growth Gastroenterology ENTYVIO 319.3 +24.0% Rare Diseases TAKHZYRO 65.9 +38.1% PDT Immunology Immunoglobulin 248.0 +13.7% Oncology NINLARO 67.9 +20.4% Oncology ALUNBRIG 6.5 +29.2%

COST SAVINGS AND DIVESTITURES

Synergy deliverables and operational efficiencies supported margin performance, as Takeda delivered a year-to-date underlying core operating profit margin of 32.1%. Takeda is also deleveraging rapidly, with a net debt/adjusted EBITDA ratio of 3.6x at the end of Q3 (December 31, 2020), down from 3.8x in March 2020, even after the full-year dividend payment. Gross debt principal has reduced JPY 1.3TN (~$12.5B)in two years since the quarter ending March 31, 2019 (close of the Shire acquisition was announced on January 8, 2019), and Takeda is on course to meet its medium-term deleveraging goal of 2x within FY2021-FY2023.i

Takeda exceeded its $10B non-core asset divestiture target and has announced 11 deals since January 2019 to date for a total aggregate value of up to ~$11.6 billion, most recently including:

The completion of the previously announced sale of a portfolio of select OTC and prescription products to Hypera S.A. for a total value of $825 million USD. (Press Release)

The completion of the previously announced sale of TachoSil  Fibrin Sealant Patch to Corza Health, Inc. for 350 million. (Press Release)

Fibrin Sealant Patch to Corza Health, Inc. for 350 million. (Press Release) The completion of the previously announced sale of a portfolio of select prescription products to Cheplapharm for a total value of $562 million USD. (Press Release)

The completion of the previously announced sale of a portfolio of select products to Celltrion Inc. for a total value of $278 million USD inclusive of milestone payments. (Press Release)

An agreement to divest a portfolio of non-core prescription pharmaceutical products sold in China to Hasten Biopharmaceutic Co., Ltd. for $322 million USD, subject to customary legal and regulatory closing conditions. (Press Release)



Takeda further exceeded its original $700 million target and Q2 total of $1.1B for incremental cash from sales of real estate and securities, receiving ~$1.4B to date. As a result, the Company is raising its full year FY2020 Free Cash Flow forecast by JPY 50 billion to JPY 750  850 billion.

PIPELINE UPDATE: R&D PROGRESS WITH SUBMISSION OF TAK-721, THE FIRST OF SEVEN POTENTIAL FILINGS IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS

Takeda has built a world-class, state of the art R&D engine and has generated a diverse and dynamic pipeline of approximately 40 clinical-stage new molecular entities (NMEs) that is beginning to deliver. The companys Wave 1 pipeline NMEs, representing potential best-in-class/first-in-class therapies, has a number of notable anticipated near-term late-development milestones, pivotal data readouts or pivotal study starts.

Takedas pipeline portfolio has the potential to contribute significantly to its growth over the next decade, and remains on track to deliver on its milestone goals. Since Q2, one of its twelve near-term pivotal milestones has already been met (Maribavir phase 3 data readout). This is also one of five pivotal data readouts expected through fiscal year 2022, with additional near-term development milestones expected across all Wave 1 programs.

Takedas R&D engine continued to advance its Wave 1 pipeline, with recent highlights including:

TAK-721 has been granted priority review from the FDA and remains on track to be the first FDA-approved agent to treat eosinophilic esophagitis. TAK-721 previously received both Breakthrough Therapy designation and Orphan Drug designation from the FDA. (Press Release)

has been granted priority review from the FDA and remains on track to be the first FDA-approved agent to treat eosinophilic esophagitis. TAK-721 previously received both Breakthrough Therapy designation and Orphan Drug designation from the FDA. (Press Release) TAK-003 , Takedas tetravalent dengue vaccine candidate, continued to protect against dengue illness with an acceptable safety profile in the two years safety and efficacy follow-up published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases in December 2020. Regulatory submissions to the EMA and dengue endemic countries are expected in FY2020 Q4, containing three years of safety and efficacy follow-up; this data is to be presented at a medical meeting in FY2021.

, Takedas tetravalent dengue vaccine candidate, continued to protect against dengue illness with an acceptable safety profile in the two years safety and efficacy follow-up published in in December 2020. Regulatory submissions to the EMA and dengue endemic countries are expected in FY2020 Q4, containing three years of safety and efficacy follow-up; this data is to be presented at a medical meeting in FY2021. Mobocertinib (TAK-788) , a potential new oral standard of care for NSCLC patients with EGFR Exon20 insertion mutations, demonstrated clinically meaningful and durable responses in data presented at the 2020 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), with a confirmed objective response rate of 35% as assessed by investigator and a median duration of response of 17.5 months. It remains on track for FDA submission in Q4 2020 for Platinum Pretreated Patients with EGFR Exon20 insertion mutations. (Press release)

, a potential new oral standard of care for NSCLC patients with EGFR Exon20 insertion mutations, demonstrated clinically meaningful and durable responses in data presented at the 2020 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), with a confirmed objective response rate of 35% as assessed by investigator and a median duration of response of 17.5 months. It remains on track for FDA submission in Q4 2020 for Platinum Pretreated Patients with EGFR Exon20 insertion mutations. (Press release) Maribavir(TAK-620) met its phase 3 primary endpoint for the treatment of transplant recipients with refractory/resistant cytomegalovirus infections (Press release). Positive Phase 3 data for TAK-620 will be presented at the Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings (TCT) on February 12 and the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) Annual Meeting on March 14-17. Takeda anticipates FDA filing for maribavir as a treatment for CMV infection and disease in transplant patients resistant or refractory to prior therapy in H1 FY2021.



Other Notable Updates

In 2020, Takeda ranked first in NDA approvals in China, with four approvals including TAKHZYRO (Press Release), ENTYVIO, ADCETRIS, and REPLAGAL.

At the virtual 62nd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in December 2020, Takeda presented nine abstracts on key learnings from real-world data and retrospective studies. Takeda continues to gather and apply real-world evidence in the treatment of hemophilia, von Willebrand disease (VWD) and sickle cell disease (SCD) and advance personalized treatment in its ongoing commitment to people living with bleeding disorders. (Press Release)

At the 2020 American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting, Takeda shared final results from the Phase 3 HELP Study Open-Label Extension that demonstrate TAKHZYRO (lanadelumab-flyo) injection as a potential long-term preventive treatment option in patients with Hereditary Angioedema. The results were also published in the November 2020 issue of ACAAIs journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. (Press Release)

Lastly, Takeda is excited about the recent regulatory progress of a number of transformative therapies, including the FDA approval for the Supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) of ICLUSIG (ponatinib) for Adult Patients with Resistant or Intolerant Chronic-Phase CML. (Press Release)

KEY CORPORATE INITIATIVES

Several examples of corporate achievements in Q3 demonstrate Takedas progress toward its vision  discover and deliver life-transforming treatments, guided by our commitment to Patients, our People and the Planet.

Patients:

Takeda Demonstrates Industry Leadership in 2021 Access to Medicines Index

Takeda was ranked sixth overall in the 2021 Access to Medicine (AtM) Index. A rigorous, biennial research project, the AtM Index combines data-collection, verification, scoring and analysis to compare 20 of the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies on their efforts to address access to medicines. The company achieved notable high scores in all three technical areas evaluated by the Index, including being ranked first in Governance of Access. Takeda also demonstrated strong performance in the areas of health strengthening and compliance. This ranking demonstrates Takedas values-driven strategy and how an Access First approach across its Growth & Emerging Markets region is helping patients overcome access challenges in a more sustainable manner. (Press Release)

People:

Takeda Receives Global Top Employer Recognition

Takeda was one of only 16 companies to be named as a global Top Employer for 2021, an accolade the company has now received for a fourth consecutive year. The Top Employers Institute provides annual award certification to companies with outstanding culture, work environments, benefits and opportunities for their people based on the results of its HR Best Practices Survey. Takeda excelled globally in the areas of Values, Ethics & Integrity, Organizational Change, Leadership, Sustainability, Performance Management and Engagement and was also certified as a Top Employer in four regions and 38 countries. This honor demonstrates Takedas continued commitment to creating an exceptional people experience for its global workforce. (Press Release)

Planet:

Takeda Achieves Carbon Neutral Goal

Takeda recently announced it achieved carbon neutrality in its value chain for its fiscal year 2019. This milestone was met by a continued focus on internal energy conservation measures, procurement of green energy, and investment in renewable energy certificates and high-quality, verified carbon offsets. Such actions collectively address 100 percent of Takedas fiscal year 2019 scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and represent a significant step forward in Takedas sustainability journey. Minimizing the environmental impact of its business is a critical priority for Takeda and at the heart of its purpose: achieving Better Health for People, Brighter Future for the World. (Press Release)

Read more about how Takeda continues to deliver on its commitments to patients, people and the planet through its purpose-led sustainability commitment in its 2020 Sustainable Value Report: https://www.takeda.com/corporate-responsibility/sustainable-value-report/

COVID-19 UPDATE

Guided by its values, Takedas response to COVID-19 has focused on protecting the health and safety of employees, striving to ensure its medicines are available to patients who rely on them and playing a part to reduce transmission and support the communities where its employees live and work. Takeda has also undertaken a number of efforts to help the world respond to COVID-19, most recently including:

Worlds Leading Life Science Companies Now Enrolling COMMUNITY, A Global Platform Trial For Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 Press Release Takeda initiates a clinical phase 1/2 study in Japan of TAK-919, Modernas COVID-19 vaccine candidate Press Release Takeda licensed TAK-919 (Moderna) and TAK-019 (Novavax) COVID-19 vaccines in Japan, with approvals expected in FY2021 (Press Release), (Press Release)

FY2020 GUIDANCE

Full-Year Management Guidance Confirmed; Reported EPS Upgrade on More Favorable Tax Rate Assumption and Increased Forecast for Free Cash Flow Reflecting Additional Sale of Securities

(billion yen) FY2020 PRIOR FORECAST (October 2020) FY2020 UPDATED FORECAST (February 2021) Underlying

Management Guidance Revenue 3,200.0 3,200.0 Low-single-digit growth Reported Operating Profit 434.0 434.0 Core Operating Profit 984.0 984.0 High-single-digit growth Core Operating Profit Margin 30.8% 30.8% Low-30s% Reported Net Profit 124.0 180.5 Reported EPS (Yen) 79 116 Core EPS (Yen) 420 420 Low-teen growth Free Cash Flow 700-800 750-850 Annual Dividend per Share (Yen) 180 180



Takeda has solid growth momentum heading into Q4 FY2020 and potential for accelerated underlying growth and achieving an underlying core operating profit margin in the mid-30s over the medium term.

Core and underlying guidance for FY2020 remains unchanged.

Key Assumptions in FY2020 Forecast

Company guidance reflects managements expectations for continued business momentum across Takedas five key business areas, underlying revenue growth of its 14 global brands, and accelerated realization of cost synergies.

FY2020 guidance also reflects the following key assumptions, including (i) that there will not be an additional 505(b)2 competitor for subcutaneous VELCADE launched in the U.S. within FY2020; (ii) includes the impact of divestitures disclosed by Takeda as through February 4, 2021, with the exception of the divestment of Takeda Consumer Healthcare Company and non-core assets in China; and (iii) managements current expectations regarding COVID-19.

Based on currently available information, Takeda believes that its financial results for FY2020 will not be materially affected by COVID-19 and, accordingly, Takeda's FY2020 forecast reflects this belief. However, the situation surrounding COVID-19 remains highly fluid, and future COVID-19-related developments in FY2020, including new or additional COVID-19 outbreaks and additional or extended lockdowns, shelter-in-place orders or other government action in major markets, could result in further or more serious disruptions to Takedas business, such as slowdowns in demand for Takedas products, supply chain related issues or significant delays in its clinical trial programs. These events, if they occur, could result in additional impacts on Takedas business, results of operations or financial condition, as well as resulting in significant deviations from Takedas FY2020 forecast.

For more details on Takeda's Q3 FY2020 results and other financial information, please visit: https://www.takeda.com/investors/reports/quarterly-announcements/

Further Information

Takeda will share details regarding its commercial strategy in emerging markets and progress on its pipeline at its upcoming Growth & Emerging Markets Strategic Update call on March 11, 2021 and part 2 of its Wave 1 Pipeline Market Opportunity call on April 6, 2021, respectively.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TOKYO: 4502/NYSE: TAK) is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to discover and deliver life-transforming treatments, guided by our commitment to patients, our people and the planet. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Genetic and Hematology, Neuroscience, and Gastroenterology (GI). We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in peoples lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline. Our employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries. For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com.

Important Notice

For the purposes of this notice, press release means this document, any oral presentation, any question and answer session and any written or oral material discussed or distributed by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) regarding this release. This press release (including any oral briefing and any question-and-answer in connection with it) is not intended to, and does not constitute, represent or form part of any offer, invitation or solicitation of any offer to purchase, otherwise acquire, subscribe for, exchange, sell or otherwise dispose of, any securities or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction. No shares or other securities are being offered to the public by means of this press release. No offering of securities shall be made in the United States except pursuant to registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or an exemption therefrom. This press release is being given (together with any further information which may be provided to the recipient) on the condition that it is for use by the recipient for information purposes only (and not for the evaluation of any investment, acquisition, disposal or any other transaction). Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of applicable securities laws.

The companies in which Takeda directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this press release, Takeda is sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Takeda and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words we, us and our are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release and any materials distributed in connection with this press release may contain forward-looking statements, beliefs or opinions regarding Takedas future business, future position and results of operations, including estimates, forecasts, targets and plans for Takeda. Without limitation, forward-looking statements often include words such as targets, plans, believes, hopes, continues, expects, aims, intends, ensures, will, may, should, would, could anticipates, estimates, projects or similar expressions or the negative thereof. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions about many important factors, including the following, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements: the economic circumstances surrounding Takedas global business, including general economic conditions in Japan and the United States; competitive pressures and developments; changes to applicable laws and regulations; the success of or failure of product development programs; decisions of regulatory authorities and the timing thereof; fluctuations in interest and currency exchange rates; claims or concerns regarding the safety or efficacy of marketed products or product candidates; the impact of health crises, like the novel coronavirus pandemic, on Takeda and its customers and suppliers, including foreign governments in countries in which Takeda operates, or on other facets of its business; the timing and impact of post-merger integration efforts with acquired companies; the ability to divest assets that are not core to Takedas operations and the timing of any such divestment(s); and other factors identified in Takedas most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F and Takedas other reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, available on Takedas website at: https://www.takeda.com/investors/reports/sec-filings/ or at www.sec.gov. Takeda does not undertake to update any of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or any other forward-looking statements it may make, except as required by law or stock exchange rule. Past performance is not an indicator of future results and the results or statements of Takeda in this press release may not be indicative of, and are not an estimate, forecast, guarantee or projection of Takedas future results.

Certain Non-IFRS Financial Measures

This press release and materials distributed in connection with this press release include certain IFRS financial measures not presented in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), such as Underlying Revenue, Core Operating Profit, Underlying Core Operating Profit, Core Net Profit, Underlying Core EPS, Net Debt, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow. Takedas management evaluates results and makes operating and investment decisions using both IFRS and non-IFRS measures included in this press release. These non-IFRS measures exclude certain income, cost and cash flow items which are included in, or are calculated differently from, the most closely comparable measures presented in accordance with IFRS. By including these non-IFRS measures, management intends to provide investors with additional information to further analyze Takedas performance, core results and underlying trends. Takedas non-IFRS measures are not prepared in accordance with IFRS and such non-IFRS measures should be considered a supplement to, and not a substitute for, measures prepared in accordance with IFRS (which we sometimes refer to as reported measures). Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of non-IFRS financial measures to their most directly comparable IFRS measures.

Further information on certain of Takedas Non-IFRS measures is posted on Takedas investor relations website at https://www.takeda.com/investors/reports/quarterly-announcements/

Medical information

This press release contains information about products that may not be available in all countries, or may be available under different trademarks, for different indications, in different dosages, or in different strengths. Nothing contained herein should be considered a solicitation, promotion or advertisement for any prescription drugs including the ones under development.

Financial information

Takedas financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The revenue of Shire plc (Shire), which was historically, presented by Shire in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (U.S. GAAP), has been conformed to IFRS, without material difference. Convenience translations of JPY figures into USD are included for reference and have been calculated at a rate of JPY/USD of 103.19. During FY2019, Takeda completed the purchase price allocation for the assets acquired and the liabilities assumed as part of the Shire acquisition. Accordingly, PL statements for FY2019 Q3 were retrospectively adjusted.

i Please note the December 2020 debt profile assumes completion of ongoing make-whole calls on $1.25B 2021, $0.9B 2021 and $0.3B 2022 (completion scheduled for FY2020 Q4). 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210203006048/en/
The Trevor Bauer Show is about to come to its conclusion. At least thats what MLB Networks Jon Heyman reports.

Mets are engaged with Trevor Bauer. They expect to hear something  one way or another  in the next 24 hours or so. Situation is fluid but theres hope. @ByRobertMurray tweeted that the sides are talking.

Last week, Heyman reported on contract terms being discussed by Bauer and the Mets.

Mets offer to Bauer thought 3-4 years with opt-outs and less than $36M AAV record. Dodgers could have similar type interest but unlikely to go long. Some teams believe Bauer seeks much longer deal, and pitching comps theyve used are long deals: Cole (324M) and Strasburg (245M).

USA Todays Bob Nightengale reports The #Mets made their formal 3-4 year offer for at least $30 million a year to Trevor Bauer around Jan. 16 and since have remained the heavy favorites to land him.

Bauers agent, Rachel Luba, tweeted Thursday that Bauers decision is down to 2.

The 30-year-old Bauer has spent the offseason flirting with the Mets on social media, going out of his way to praise new owner Steve Cohen and the Mets fan base.

Bauer went into the winter as the best pitcher available on the open market, which makes sense, since he won the 2020 National League Cy Young Award with a career-best 1.73 ERA for the Cincinnati Reds.

Adding Bauer would complete a successful offseason for the Mets, which saw them also trade for Cleveland Indians All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor.

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The virtual mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Ukraine on the first review of the Stand-By Arrangement for Ukraine continues to work, IMF Spokesman Gerry Rice has said.

At a traditional briefing in Washington on February 4, he pointed out that there is no additional information on the mission's work so far, and advised to wait for communications later.

A week ago, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko announced that the mission had been extended by 7-10 days. According to him, the parties were in the active stage of negotiations and during this time the finalization of the memorandum regarding Ukraine's obligations is possible.

As reported, the mission started work on December 21-23 last year, after which a break was taken for the holidays until January 11. The mission conducts a remote discussion with Ukrainian authorities on the latest economic developments, as well as the measures and reforms required to complete the first review.
Looking for the Source

Amazed by the detailed pictures before him, the man asked if the clots could be taken out. They couldnt, Wang told him; what was done, was done. But it was essential to find out where those clots came from or it could happen again. Blood clots like this usually come from either the heart or the arteries that lead from the heart to the brain and eye. The CT done in the hospital showed his carotid artery. No clots there. They would need to look in the heart. But, Wang added, in up to 40 percent of strokes, the source of the clot is not found.

The most effective way to see the heart in action is with an echocardiogram, Wang told the man. Most of the time, the echo will be normal. Still, if something shows up, its often important information.

A second stroke is most likely within a few days of the first. This patient was still inside that window. Wang sent the patient to the emergency room at Yale New Haven Hospital and sent a note to the attending physician on duty. It seemed clear to him that this was indeed a kind of emergency.

Joshua Hyman was a fourth-year medical student just starting an ultrasound elective in the E.R. The attending physician, Dr. Karen Jubanyik, suggested that he see this new patient who was there for an echo. Jubanyik gave the student a quick rundown of the case. Hyman introduced himself to the patient, then asked if it would be OK if he took a look at his heart. It wouldnt be the official echo, Hyman told the patient, it was just a way for him, a student, to learn.

The patient agreed, and Hyman rolled the bulky machine into the tiny cubicle. He squirted gel onto an ultrasound probe and placed it a couple of inches below the patients left clavicle, just past the sternum, in the space between the third and fourth rib. He was still learning this technology, but he loved the way it could give you information about what was going on inside a patients body faster and sometimes better than just about anything else. Normally with the probe in this position, you see the light gray muscles of the two chambers on the left side of the heart squeezing around a dark center of black that is the blood  its the best way to see the business side of the heart, where blood from the lungs is injected into the bloodstream.

What he saw instead took his breath away. In the middle of the dark pools of moving blood was an enormous bright ball zooming back and forth across the screen with every heartbeat. What was that? Hyman froze the picture and took a measurement. A normal heart is about the size of a fist. This flapping circle was kiwi-size.
Expanding Internet access for those without reliable service remains a daunting logistical obstacle for many cities across the country.To help close this digital divide , Insight Enterprises recently announced a partnership with the city of Tucson, Ariz., where more than 32,000 homes still lack reliable Internet access needed for things like remote work and virtual learning.When the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the need to bolster connectivity last year, city leaders began discussing a city Wi-Fi expansion plan. Tucson city officials voted in August 2020 to use $4.4 million of federal CARES Act funds for its Community Wireless Program , which aims to provide service and routers to eligible residents.Tucson CIO Collin Boyce said the program and partnership are part of ongoing efforts to provide a municipally-managed broadband system and devices to residents who need service the most.We initially talked about doing community Wi-Fi, and we pivoted to LTE and pulled in two providers  JMA [Wireless] and Insight  to help with the implementation of the product, Boyce said, adding that several residents have already been provided with a durable ruggedized device similar to many basic hot spot devices.The need for a uniform city plan was perhaps most apparent when Tucson Unified School District began distributing devices needed for virtual learning. The problem was that not all of those devices worked everywhere, which caused headaches for officials and families.They were buying devices, and they went with Verizon, but Verizons reception isnt everywhere. Then they started to buy T-Mobile devices, and T-Mobile isnt everywhere, so they went to AT&T, he said.By addressing areas that have the highest need, we can consolidate the school districts to just us being that one provider so they no longer have to bounce between three providers in order to cover the gamut, he added. They will no longer have to deal with that nightmare scenario.Boyce said devices will be distributed to students in need with the help of the tech company. In the coming months, Boyce said, thousands more residents will have reliable Internet access.Its probably the largest partnership since Ive been in government with the local school district and the municipal government, Boyce said. Today, were slating around 5,000 devices we want to get out into the community.According to the Rand Corporation , approximately 20 percent of school districts have already adopted, plan to adopt, or are considering adopting virtual school as part of their district portfolio after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, many rural and underserved families still go without reliable service.Boyce served as Lansing, Mich.'s CIO until 2019, where he said theres a growing demand for virtual learning options. He thinks virtual and hybrid learning models will likely expand over the next two to three years," making universal connectivity vital.I think theres going to be a new hybrid school situation thats going to pop up and grow from out of this, Boyce said.According to an Insight case study, the first 5,000 endpoint devices will focus on connecting teleworkers and students. Phase 2 involves deploying endpoints and network core infrastructure with a strategic focus on public transportation and other public areas to maximize resident access. Boyce said the next phase of the plan will help cover roughly 70 to 80 percent of the city with LTE access.Were [now] going to start our deployment to our first roughly 1,000 citizens, he said Monday, adding that Phase 2 is estimated to begin in April.We will build it out so that by the next school year, we can easily double the population of people using our services.Insight hopes to help local governments lay the groundwork for future smart cities where remote work, education and health care through telehealth services will increasingly depend on reliable connectivity.Brian Louderback, regional director of state, local and education for Insight Public Sector , said Insights Community Wireless Broadband solution, announced on Jan. 27 , aims to help provide the infrastructure necessary to make public services more efficient.Our goal is to help our clients with some type of connectivity  overarching connectivity  within their cities and counties, he said. The reason behind that is to help solve the digital divide, which is a current problem, and also to transform tomorrow by focusing more on smart city concepts.That overarching connectivity will be vital for basic communication, as well.About 80 percent of the people who applied to Tucsons program have no access to the Internet. Boyce admitted that officials underestimated how many people had no connectivity to use city government websites, for instance.When you have something as major as a pandemic taking place, citizens that dont have Internet connectivity call, he said. It overwhelms our phone systems and the call takers. Providing this allows for better communication with our citizens.While the pandemic has created a plethora of obstacles for the public sector, Louderback said it's also necessitated a chance to think differently about public-private infrastructure partnerships that aim to close the digital divide. He said Tucson is a frontrunner in this regard.Our government agencies and public education systems are having to think differently and truly have the opportunity today to transform, he said.They are aggressively moving in that direction out of need, and I think thats a positive sign for all of us  that theyre embracing technology, that they have funding for technology and a vision on what transformation looks like in their communities, he added.
Iran has reportedly become the third nation to carry out a successful surgical strike operation deep inside Pakistan targetting the terror groups and freeing two soldiers who were taken hostage nearly three years ago. As per reports, the operation was carried out at night on February 2 without any prior knowledge to the Pakistan Military units deployed in the region, killing several army officials who were allegedly safeguarding the terror groups. Irans elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) have reportedly done an intelligence-based Special Ops Deep in Pakistan freeing two of its own soldiers. The operation was carried out inside the Pakistan controlled territory.

Reportedly Irans elite Revolutionary Guards has also hailed the mission as successful and said in a statement on February 3 that on Tuesday night the two kidnapped border guards were even rescued. They were taken as hostages by Jaish ul-Adl organization two and a half years ago but owing to the surgical strike. The IRGC soldiers have now reportedly returned to Iran.

As per reports, at least 12 IRGC guards were taken hostage to Pakistani territory in the city of Merkava in Sistan and Baluchestan Province on the border between both the nations, by Jaish ul-Adl organization on October 16, 2018. Following the incident, military officials had formed a joint committee between Tehran and Islamabad with an aim to free the IRGC guards. While five of them were released on November 15, 2018, another four Iranian soldiers were rescued by the Pakistani army on March 21, 2019.

Read - Iran's President Claims Big Victory In Bid To End Sanctions'

Read - UN Court Rules In Favour Of Iran, Agrees To Hear US' Exit From 2015 Nuclear Deal

Jaish ul-Adl group

Jaish ul-Adl, or Jaish al-Adl, is reportedly a Salafi jihadist militant organization has been designated as a terrorist organisation by Iran and is reportedly waging an armed struggle against the Iranian government by terming it as defending the rights of Baloch Sunnis in Iran. As per reports, it operates mainly in southeastern Iran with a considerable population of Sunni Baluchis along with a porous border with Pakistan. The group has previously been accused of carrying out several attacks against civilians as well as Iranian soldiers. As per reports, the terrorist organisation gets backing from the Pakistani Army.

Read - 'Humanitarian Gesture': Iran Agrees To Free Crew Members Of Seized South Korean Ship

Read - Iran's Hard-line Parliament Rejects President's Budget Draft

Read - Pakistan Super League Allowed 20% Capacity Crowds


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WASHINGTON - House Democrats on Thursday asked Donald Trump to testify under oath for his Senate impeachment trial, challenging him to respond to their charge that he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol. A Trump adviser said the former president won't testify.

WASHINGTON - House Democrats on Thursday asked Donald Trump to testify under oath for his Senate impeachment trial, challenging him to respond to their charge that he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol. A Trump adviser said the former president won't testify.

Although Democrats might not have the power to force Trumps testimony, the request from House impeachment managers is part of their overall effort to put the violent events of Jan. 6 on the record for history and hold him accountable for his words. Democrats will look to use his refusal to testify against him as they argue that the ex-president has avoided responsibility for his actions.

Hours after the Democrats' request was revealed, Trump adviser Jason Miller dismissed the trial as an unconstitutional proceeding and said the former president would not testify. Separately, Trumps lawyers denounced the request as a public relations stunt.

The impeachment trial starts Feb. 9. Trump, the first president to be impeached twice, is charged with inciting an insurrection on Jan. 6, when a mob of his supporters broke into the Capitol to interrupt the electoral vote count. Five people died. Before the riot, Trump had told his supporters to fight like hell to overturn his election defeat.

Democrats have said a trial is necessary to provide a final measure of accountability for the attack. If Trump is convicted, the Senate could hold a second vote to disqualify him from seeking office again.

In the letter to the former president and his attorneys, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, one of the impeachment managers, asked that Trump explain why he and his team have disputed key factual allegations at the centre of their case. He asked that Trump provide testimony about his conduct either before or during the Senate impeachment trial, and under cross-examination, as early as Monday, Feb. 8, and not later than Thursday, Feb. 11.

The request from Raskin cites the words of Trump's own attorneys, who in a legal brief earlier this week not only denied that Trump had incited the riot but also asserted that he had "performed admirably in his role as president, at all times doing what he thought was in the best interests of the American people.

With that argument, Raskin said, Trump had questioned critical facts in the case notwithstanding the clear and overwhelming evidence of your constitutionaloffence. He said Trump should be able to testify now that he is no longer president.

Trump attorneys Bruce Castor and David Schoen responded hours later that the letter proves that Democrats cannot prove your allegations and that an impeachment trial is too serious to try to play these games."

The back-and-forth continued Thursday evening when Raskin said Trump's refusal to testify "speaks volumes and plainly establishes an adverse inference supporting his guilt.

Any official accused of inciting armed violence against the government of the United States should welcome the chance to testify openly and honestly  that is, if the official had a defence, he said in a statement.

Defence lawyers, and many Senate Republicans, have argued that the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office, even though he was impeached while he was still president. In a test vote in the Senate last week, 45 Republicans voted for an effort to dismiss the trial on those grounds.

Democrats say the Republicans are arguing process because they can't defend the former president's actions, and they point to the many legal scholars who have said the trial is on firm constitutional ground.

Raskin said in the letter that if Trump refuses to appear, the managers will use his refusal against him in the trial  a similar argument put forth by House Democrats in last years impeachment trial, when many Trump officials ignored subpoenas. Trump was eventually acquitted of two charges that he abused his presidential powers by pressuring the Ukrainian government to investigate now-President Joe Biden.

The impeachment managers do not have the authority to subpoena witnesses now since the House has already voted to impeach him. The Senate could vote to subpoena Trump, or any other witnesses, on a simple majority vote during the trial. On Thursday, senators in both parties made it clear they would be reluctant to do so.

Shortly after Raskin's letter was made public, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said it would be a terrible idea" for Trump to testify. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Trumps statements before and after the attack on the Capitol are the most powerful evidence. His own words incriminate him. They show his guilty intent.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trumps closest GOP allies, said he thought the letter was a political ploy and noted that Democrats didnt invite or subpoena Trump to testify before the House voted to impeach him on Jan. 13.

Asked if he thinks Trump will testify, Graham said it would be a bad idea.

I dont think that would be in anybodys interest," he said.

Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
Check out the news you should not miss today:

Society

 Authorities in Hai Duong Province, located in northern Vietnam, on Wednesday decided to put a whole commune with around 14,200 people in isolation in 21 days, starting from 6:00 pm the same day, after two locals with a complicated travel history tested positive for COVID-19.

 Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong on Wednesday commented that the citys COVID-19 situation is not stressful at the moment and the southern metropolis will maintain festive events to celebrate the coming Lunar New Year, which falls on February 12, as planned.

 Ho Chi Minh City has found 37 people, with 26 having their samples being tested, who had contact with COVID-19 patient N.A.S., a notary from Hanoi who flew to Ho Chi Minh City on January 29 and visited several places including two coffee shops on Bui Vien Street in District 1.

 Officials in the southern province of Ba Ria  Vung Tau on Wednesday issued documents requesting the suspension of gatherings with more than 50 people in the locality, as well as advising people to cease their plans to travel or visit relatives outside the province to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

 Police in the southern province of Binh Duong are investigating a case in which 57-year-old Chinese Chang Chao Ching, general director of Super Metal Vietnam Company Limited, allegedly killed his girlfriend who worked at the same company before trying to kill himself but being saved by policemen.

Business

 The Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh is taking various steps to develop climate change-resilient aquaculture by setting its sights on expanding the local aquaculture area by 2,500ha to 40,000ha by 2030 as well as aiming to generate around VND420 million (US$18,230) in average earnings per ha over the next decade, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

 Ho Chi Minh Citys economy saw a variety of bright spots in the opening month of 2021 despite the ongoing complex developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the total retail sales of goods and revenue from consumer services in January reaching nearly VND120 trillion ($5.2 billion), up four percent year-on-year, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday, citing vice-chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Vo Van Hoan.

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Empowering users to be able to preserve and collect data wherever it lives, was a key factor in our collaboration with Onna.

Onna, the worlds first Knowledge Integration Platform on a mission to make enterprise information accessible, useful and private, has collaborated with Zapproved to build a direct integration between its ZDiscovery platform and Onnas Knowledge Integration Platform. This announcement marks a significant milestone in Onnas collaboration with leading legal technology companies to drive a better experience for customers.

With the exponential growth in the adoption of cloud tools and increased fragmentation of data, this new integration will allow corporate legal teams to more effectively preserve, collect, process and review all the relevant data in their organization directly from ZDiscovery for sources like Slack, Zoom and Microsoft Teams. By connecting seamlessly to Onnas API, Zapproved users are able to select which source to create a hold on and which users the hold applies to along with an optional date range.

Onnas Knowledge Integration Platform is a leading ediscovery solution that is making information across numerous apps less fragmented and more discoverable for legal teams across the globe. Combining the power of both the Onna and Zapproved platforms, allows users to:

- Conduct real-time ediscovery collections across all unstructured data sources

- Maintain an audit log of all ediscovery collections

- Enable users to run advanced searches across all data sources including specific channels and users

- Export data in multiple formats to upload to document review platforms

- Set up smart alerts to notify organizations any time there is sensitive or important information being transmitted

- Create groups within Onna with service providers and outside counsel to collaborate on matters and ediscovery requests

- Preserve and archive communications in their native, unaltered format, either wholly or in a granular fashion



Initiate legal holds across specific data sources, users and/or channels

Our collaboration with Zapproved is an important milestone in providing further value to our customers across the full breadth of ediscovery. Allowing them to search both structured and unstructured data and making it more discoverable will be a key factor in legal teams being able to conduct real-time collections. said Kelly Griswold, COO, Onna.

Rekha Shenoy, CPO, Zapproved commented, In the past 12 months, we started to notice a trend in the market with customers moving away from managing all their retention policies, preservations and information governance in each individual application they managed. Instead they were moving towards bundling all their data into a single location. We identified Onna to be at the forefront of that movement. Rekha continues, Empowering users to be able to preserve and collect data wherever it lives, was a key factor in our collaboration with Onna. Providing our customers with a best-in-class collaboration solution, with tight integration, allows both Zapproved and Onna to play to their strengths.

About Onna

Onna integrates knowledge from all workplace applications, allowing anyone to unify, protect, search, automate, and build on top of their organizations proprietary knowledge. With the rise of cloud-based and hosted workplace apps, knowledge is extremely fragmented and difficult to access in most organizations, costing businesses huge amounts of time and money in searching for their own information. Onnas Machine Learning-based Knowledge Integration Platform can be connected to any cloud or on-premise application, including GSuite, Office 365, Slack, Dropbox, Salesforce, and many more. It supports eDiscovery, information governance, knowledge management, archiving, monitoring for private and sensitive data sharing, and building bespoke internal workflow apps using proprietary information.

With headquarters in New York City and Barcelona and teams in Raleigh, San Francisco, Toulouse, and London, Onna supports some of the worlds leading companies, including Dropbox, Electronic Arts, Facebook, Fitbit, Lyft, NewsCorp, and Slack. Onna has raised $43M from investors, including Atomico, Dawn Capital, Dropbox, and Slack Fund. To learn more, visit http://www.onna.com.

About Zapproved

Zapproveds ZDiscovery platform is designed specifically for corporate legal teams. With this platform, you can take control of ediscovery from the moment litigation is anticipated until the matter is resolved. Our powerful yet intuitive system equips teams to reduce reliance on outside providers, dramatically lower costs, and build a better process. Backed by ironclad security and unrivaled customer support, our enterprise-class software is trusted by more corporate legal teams than any other. To learn more, visit http://www.zapproved.com.
What just happened? A jury has unanimously found willful infringement on Valve's part regarding the use of "rear-side control surfaces" (or back paddles) on its Steam Controller and ordered the company to pay $4 million in damages to Corsair-owned Ironburg Inventions and SCUF.

Ironburg Inventions and SCUF, the Corsair-owned maker of high-end performance controllers and holders of an "extensive patent portfolio," had warned Valve in 2014 regarding its Steam Controller design, accusing it of copying the paddle/trigger mechanism located on the gadget's backside.

A lawsuit followed a year later when Valve officially released the Steam Controller in 2015, ignoring these warnings and going on to produce 1.6 million units before discontinuing the hardware in 2019. In an announcement this week, Corsair revealed the verdict going in its favor, with Valve ordered by the US District Court in Washington to pay $4 million in damages after the jury unanimously found it guilty of willful infringement.

Microsoft licensed SCUF's patents for the Xbox Elite controller that came with interchangeable paddles on the rear

SCUF's lawyers likened the scenario to David and Goliath, accusing Valve of abusing its dominance and proceeding with the controller design despite knowing the risk. "Valve did know that its conduct involved an unreasonable risk of infringement, but it simply proceeded to infringe anyway  the classic David and Goliath story: Goliath does what Goliath wants to do," noted SCUF lawyer Rober Becker. Valve's lawyer, meanwhile, argued that the Steam Controller's design didn't fit the outlines of the patent, claiming that the plaintiff wanted a decision based on an altered reality.

A $4 million fine is chump change for a behemoth like Valve, though it'll probably want to avoid such legal setbacks in the future as it continues to work on a potential successor of the Steam Controller.
Parler has gone from making one of the most iconic comebacks in social media history, after getting kicked off its servers in Amazon Web Services (AWS), to having its CEO John Matze fired by its board. Now, Matze says that they are now under serious threats, and it includes his family, after getting kicked off Parler as the CEO of the social network.

The massive popularity and rise of Parler were short-lived and immediately fell to ruins for only several months, after the initial boycott of Facebook and Twitter because of its censorship and bans. Since then, Parler was considered as one of the "free internet" allowing people to discuss any topics in different forums, groups, and the news feed of the website.

Parler has enjoyed being the top choice of a massive population of America, being number one in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store towards the end of 2020 and during the start of 2021. However, Apple and Amazon moved against Parler and its services, initially being taken off the App Store, and following its removal from Amazon Web Services.

Read Also: Snowstorm Mount 'WoW' Arrives with BlizzCon 2021 Celebration Packs

Parler CEO John Matze Fired by Board's Rebekah Mercer

Parler almost made a comeback after an announcement in the middle of January, with the "Hello world, is this thing on?" and announcement that detailed it has been picked up by Epik, a hosting platform with ties to 4chan. However, that too was discontinued because of the recent termination of its founder and CEO, John Matze.

According to Reuters, John Matze has sent a text message that confirms his termination from Parler as the CEO, as directed by the board, who is led by Rebekah Mercer. Former CEO John Matze was fired from his position and designation as the top executive by the company last January 29, 2021, and he has already relayed this news to the social media's staff.

Moreover, Matze said that he was not informed of this decision when it was under deliberation, and claimed that he was kept in the dark, as he did not "participate in the decision" that was carried out by its board. Moreover, John Matze and Parler's board has not revealed the reason Matze was stripped of his position as the CEO, as both parties remain silent.

Parler Termination: John Matze and Family Receive Serious Threats

According to FOX News's Interview with John Matze, the former Parler CEO has revealed that he and his family, along with several members of the staff working with the social media has received serious threats and harassments. Now, the CEO and his family went into hiding because of these death threats, and several invasive violations against them.

John Matze gained his notorious status, along with Parler, after the alleged Capitol riot that was orchestrated within the "free speech" social media platform. This was also the reason why Parler was kicked off from AWS, Apple App Store, and Alphabet's Google.

Related Article: Clapper TikTok-Like App: Can It Replace Parler? Here's How It Works and Other Details

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Isaiah Alonzo

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Janine Dean says that Gov. Cuomo's cover-up of the real deaths in nursing homes is criminal. She thinks he should be accountable for the failed response and under reported deaths.

During the recent pandemic last year in NYC, there were many deaths in nursing homes. But the real tally was allegedly under-reported by the Governor. Until it was brought up by New York state Democratic Attorney General Letitia James.

The Governor was not concerned about the deaths

According to James, who reported the inconsistency of reported deaths, the toll from all the nursing homes was kept at only 50% of the actual deaths. When he was asked about these deaths, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) answered insensitively to the AGs query, saying whatever the number of the victims, they just died, reported The Blaze.

Soon his answer that publishes in a report reached Janice Dean, Fox News senior meteorologist who had things to say over the incensing remark. Sources say that she had her in-laws, who were victims, died from COVID-19 in one of the state nursing homes.

Dean was on the "The Glenn Beck Radio Program" talking about how the media is starting to cover how badly the governor performed which was different from how he claimed that it was dealt with properly. In simple words, the facts were rising and allegedly covered up what happened.

Dean said that she has been on Gov. Cuomo's cover-up for ten months, adding that he was many things but perfect. Proof of that is what's coming to face him.

Also read: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Faces Charges of Sexual Harassment from Former Development Aide

Blasting the New York Governor

She said the responses of the official to control the coronavirus pandemic was not enough. His March order sent many elderly infected from the hospital and into nursing homes for more bed space in hospitals.

A report by the Associated Press said Cuomo's orders were sent to nursing homes. A total of 4,500 patients were transferred immediately to what he called a feeding ground for the virus which sealed the fate of many who eventually died in these places.

For many, the decision he made was not correct and just aggravated the death toll even more. NYC was full of dead who had no chance, with flawed decision making.

Dean remarked that she has been criticizing him for his terrible decisions for about ten months since. She added that Cuomo and giving the order to transfer the elderly to viral feeding ground was not right. Topping it off, she said that he lied about the real deaths till now.

An investigation by the Justice Department said he was keeping information from them. A source person there repeated that he was not giving what they needed. It is when AG James investigated the matter with proof that deaths were not accurate and done intentionally by the Governor.

Deaths were so under-reported, said the AG.

Resignation of high-level Health officials

Janice mentions a story by the New York Times that reported the resignation of high-ranking officials in the health department of NYC. Many of them were disrespected by Cuomo and said many things. She noted that Gov. Cuomo's cover-up should be exposed and investigated.

Related article: NY State Democrats Block Subpoena for Records of Nursing Home Deaths, Republicans Say

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
PHOENIX, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Trox, a leading provider of education technology and collaboration solutions, today announced that it has been awarded a bid contract by the WSIPC Purchasing Program. Trox can now provide a multitude of high-quality technologies and services to select K-12 school districts and private schools in Washington State.

The WSIPC Purchasing Program ensures its 300-plus members have access to education technology solutions that have been vetted for their quality, relevance and value. This reduces the financial burden on the state's K-12 community  which serves more than one million students  and frees educators to focus on their mission.

"WSIPC Purchasing Program partners undergo a rigorous review to ensure they are able to competitively bid goods and services at a reasonable cost," said Marty Daybell, WSIPC Executive Director and CEO. "Trox consistently met or exceeded all program criteria to provide technology services to our members. We are pleased to welcome Trox to the Program."

Through the contract, schools will have access to Trox's diverse education technology and services portfolio, which includes:

Audio visual solutions

Remote learning solutions

Computing solutions

Health and safety solutions

STEM and collaborative learning solutions

Software and services

"Trox has helped thousands of education institutions stretch their IT dollars by providing affordable technologies through national, state and local contracts," said Clint Knudsen, Regional Vice President, Trox. "Our industry and technology experts have served nearly 200 school districts in Washington State for more than 20 years. We're excited to have the opportunity to provide hybrid and remote learning solutions to even more K-12 districts that are purchasing through this program."

The WSIPC Purchasing Program contract bid is effective through Dec. 31, 2023. Click here to learn more. Visit www.trox.com for more information about Trox.

About Trox

Providing technology that is in use by over 20 million students daily, Trox is committed to driving transformative change in education by enabling learning without limits. Learn more at www.trox.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Media Contact

Jenni Ottum

Trox

C: 480-231-4887

[email protected]

SOURCE Trox

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An official poster for the film "Minari" / Courtesy of Pan Cinema



By Park Han-sol



With ethnic Korean American director Lee Isaac Chung's critically acclaimed immigrant drama "Minari" landing a nod for Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Golden Globe Awards, the long-standing controversy surrounding certain rules set by the organizer, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), has emerged once again.



The nominees for the 78th Golden Globes were announced by HFPA, Wednesday (local time) and "Minari" was nominated alongside Thomas Vinterberg's "Another Round" (Denmark), Jayro Bustamante's "La Llorona" (France, Guatemala), Filippo Menghetti's "Two of Us" (U.S., France) and Edoardo Ponti's "The Life Ahead" (Italy).



The biggest surprise took place in the best supporting actress category in which Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung, who has so far nabbed 20 trophies from international film awards, wasn't nominated. The same treatment was given to Steven Yeun in the best drama actor category and Chung in the best director and best screenplay categories.



As soon as the announcement came, a debate was reignited over the HFPA rule regarding language eligibility, which barred "Minari" from competing in higher-profile categories  such as best motion picture.



"Minari has to compete as a foreign-language nominee  even though Mr. Chung is an American director, the movie was filmed in the United States, it was financed by American companies and it focuses on an immigrant family pursuing the American dream," New York Times reported.






(JTA)  On Jan. 27, 1969, nine Jews were hanged in Tahrir Square in the center of Baghdad as half a million people looked on.

It was the climax of a campaign of persecution that followed the establishment of Israel, which in turn hastened an exodus of what had been a strong and flourishing community. Of the 160,000 Jews who had lived in what is today Iraq since the destruction of the First Temple, only a handful of Jews remain.

When the Jews fled, they were not allowed to take anything more than three sets of clothing and 50 dinars  a pittance. Their communal and personal propert...
Omuthiya  The Oshikoto police are investigating a case of robbery after thieves got away with about N$65 000 when they pounced on the unsuspecting personnel at a Nampost branch in Oshigambo yesterday morning.

The incident happened while a staff member and a security guard were busy preparing to open up for business.

In video footage that has since gone viral, three men can be seen storming into the post office armed with pistols. Two men then assaulted the security guard, while another proceeded to the counter where a female staffer was.

Oshikoto police chief Commissioner Armas Shivute said the incident happened at 08h00 when the robber grabbed the unarmed security guard and later started kicking him all over his body. He sustained some injuries in the process.

"The robbers fired shots inside the building and fled in a getaway car, a silver Nissan Note, and no plate numbers were taken. No arrests have been made so far, police investigation continues," said Shivute.

Meanwhile, Nampost spokesperson Wilson Ashikoto said the incident will not affect operations of the branch. The branch was, however, closed for business yesterday.

In addition, he said, they will look into how to further enhance the security system at the premises. "Security is already beefed up at the premises, that is why we were able to capture the footage, and we are having a security officer on the ground.

This is however up for discussion to see how it can be improved more.

All in all, these incidences happen when one least expects and like you saw it happened while they were preparing to open, so one wouldn't know who has bad intentions," he said.
[February 03, 2021] Hitachi Building Technology and China Telecom Guangzhou enter into strategic partnership

GUANGZHOU, China, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On January 27, 2021, Hitachi Building Technology (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Telecom Guangzhou at Hitachi Building Technology's office building in Guangzhou. The signing of the agreement is a result of and in response to the Guangzhou government's call to facilitate the implementation of the latest plan for upgrading the city's infrastructure. The plan is designed to coordinate efforts at encouraging innovation across key industrial technologies, in concert with revamping and optimizing the infrastructure of the local industrial Internet and the Internet of Things, among other networks. Zhang Hui, deputy general manager of China Telecom Guangzhou and Guo Weiwen, general manager of Hitachi Building Technology, attended the signing ceremony at which they engaged in in-depth discussions about comprehensive building solutions that embrace digital transformation, intelligent upgrades and innovative services.



The partnership provides the opportunity for Hitachi Building Technology and China Telecom Guangzhou to further strengthen their longstanding and reliable relationship while creating new growth points by complementing their respective advantages and expanding the scope of the relationship to include new business sectors that the two parties can jointly explore and develop.

In addition to facilitating the convergence of 5G technologies with smart elevators, buildings and lifestyles, Hitachi Building Technology plans to collaborate closely with China Telecom Guangzhou in a move to provide smart cities and smart building solutions, with the aim of providing smarter, more efficient and secure products and services to the buildings. With a focus on infrastructure support as well as optimization, upgrading and integration of infrastructure, China Telecom Guangzhou plans to provide unified security, energy and device management services to buildings and complexes by leveraging Hitachi Building Technology's experience in project management in tandem with its comprehensive building management solution BIVALE. The partnership enables both companies to further their strategic ties in resource utilization, business integration and full-process services while enhancing their capabilities in innovation, creating a successful business model for cross-sector cooperation. Hitachi Building Technology plans to seek similar partnerships with like-minded firms across multiple sectors in an effort to bring a new and smart lifestyle experience to a building's occupants and visitors through the application of state-of-the-art technologies. SOURCE Hitachi Elevator (China) Co., Ltd.

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With word on the street suggesting 5G networks to be rolled out in the country soon, smartphone manufactures are expanding their 5G portfolio. While most of the 5G-enabled mobiles available in India are on the premium side, Realme has launched an affordable 5G smartphone and plans to make them accessible to all. The company has launched X7 5G starting at Rs 19,999, which is the most affordable 5G device in the country as of now.

"We are kicking off 2021 with the Realme X7 5G series with MediaTek's Dimensity 5G processors and extending it across price segments to make everyone future-ready. Half of the smartphones we plan to launch in 2021 will be 5G enabled. Even all our smartphones priced above Rs 20,000 will be 5G enabled. We have always been dedicated to popularise features desired by mass consumers at a democratised price, to enable users to experience the latest technology," says Madhav Sheth, Vice President and Chief Executive Officer - India and Europe at Realme.

ALSO READ: 5G path simplified by reducing notice period to 6 months: Govt

Realme has been fully ready to step into the next phase of growth, with the full-scale 5G product, R&D, and supply infrastructures. The company aims to be a leader in 5G mobile connectivity and will be adding more devices to its 5G portfolio, in India as well as globally. Even though the commercialisation of 5G networks is still about a year away, consumers can be future-ready by investing in 5G smartphones today.

"5G smartphone is not just about the 5G network. It's the power of the latest nanoscale 5G processor which provides enhanced power management, display optimisation, camera support, gaming performance, etc., combined with Realme's gene of design, technology and quality. Also, even though 5G is not yet available, the 5G network will bring a new lifestyle which may not be imaginable right now, just like how we did not imagine the convenience 4G will bring five years ago," explains Sheth. The company has been closely talking to most operators and will explore bundling offers for 5G networks in the future.

In-line with the government's mission of AatmaNirbhar Bharat, Realme has been manufacturing smartphones in India for some time. "More than 60 per cent of Realme smartphone supplies are purchased and made in India. We are working towards strengthening our localisation strategies, and are encouraging more of our suppliers and partners to open local factories in India and contribute more to our country's economy," adds Sheth.

ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G review: Sprints to pole position

Realme's manufacturing in the country is currently catering to domestic demand. However, the company will explore the opportunity to export India manufactured products at a later stage.

Commenting on the recent duty hike for smartphones components, Sheth avers, "the announcements are expected to boost localization and domestic manufacturing of mobile components, in the long term, which will bring more job opportunities to our industry".

Barely three years old, the Chinese smartphone player clocked 19 million sales in smartphones in the calendar year 2020. The company grew by 30 per cent as compared to CY 2019. In 2020, Realme expanded the business beyond smartphones and forayed into AIOT with the launch of smart hearables, wearables, smart TVs, smartwatch, and more. "In the festive season, despite all the difficulties, we were able to achieve over 6.3 million smartphones and over 2 million sales of AIOT products," adds Sheth.

ALSO READ: Airtel takes a U-turn with 5G demo
New Delhi, Feb 4 : The world needs an urgent and radical change to the way economies operate to save nature and to avoid a catastrophic breakdown, a first-of-its-kind landmoark review for biodiversity by an Indian-British economist has concluded.

The 600-page report has been commissioned by the UK Treasury, marking the first that time a national Finance Ministry has authorised a full assessment of the economic importance of nature.

It acknowledges the world is losing nature at an unprecedented rate, destroying this precious and finite resource that will "limit our wealth and damage our health".

The study from Professor Partha Dasgupta, the Cambridge University economist, says: "By taking seriously what we know about ecosystems and how they are affected by economic activity, the review presents a new way of approaching economic decision-making that accounts for nature as our most precious asset." It's the first time ever a mainstream economist, with the backing of the UK government, discussed the need for urgent and radical reforms required to halt and reverse the erosion of natural assets.

"We need a paradigm shift: to radically rethink how we think, act and measure economic success e.g. moving beyond GDP as a benchmark for prosperity, ensuring we place nature at the heart of our economic decision making," said Dasgupta.

"We can orient our economies from extractive to restorative systems that sustain our underlying natural wealth and assets, and at the same time create jobs, protect our health and well-being now and in the future.

"This will also help us achieve wider societal goals, including tackling climate change, and alleviating poverty," he said.

The review said two UN conferences this year -- on biodiversity and climate change -- provided opportunities for the international community to rethink an approach that has seen a 40 per cent plunge in the stocks of natural capital per head between 1992 and 2014.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on the review that 2021 is critical in determining whether "we can stop and reverse the concerning trend of fast-declining biodiversity".

"I welcome Professor Dasgupta's Review, which makes clear that protecting and enhancing nature needs more than good intentions -- it requires concerted, coordinated action.

"As co-host of COP26 (UN climate summit) and President of this year's G7, we are going to make sure the natural world stays right at the top of the global agenda. And we will be leading by example here at home as we build back greener from the pandemic through my 10-point plan," said Johnson.

British broadcaster and natural historian, David Attenborough said: "This comprehensive and immensely important report shows us how by bringing economics and ecology face to face, we can help to save the natural world and in doing so save ourselves." The global review on the Economics of Biodiversity, launched formally on February 2, finds that humanity has collectively mismanaged its global portfolio of assets, meaning the demands on nature far exceed its capacity to supply the goods and services "we all rely on".

Its publication comes ahead of COP15 for biological diversity, where new long-term international targets for addressing biodiversity loss are expected to be agreed; and COP26 for climate change, where nature and nature-based solutions to climate change are expected to play a prominent role.

Responding to the Dasgupta review, Christiana Figueres, former UNFCCC Executive Secretary, said: "It is a compelling example of the leadership we need from government and the world's leading experts on how to address the interrelated crises of nature and climate.

"The review makes it clear that it is less costly to conserve nature than to restore it once it is damaged or degraded and provides the economic rationale for expanding and improving the management of protected areas. We can translate this idea into action by protecting 30 per cent of the planet by 2030." The report said humanity must ensure its demands on nature do not exceed its sustainable supply and must increase the global supply of natural assets relative to their current level.

For example, expanding and improving management of Protected Areas; increasing investment in nature-based solutions; and deploying policies that discourage damaging forms of consumption and production.

It said almost all governments were exacerbating the biodiversity crisis by paying people more to exploit nature than to protect it.

A conservative estimate of the global cost of subsidies that damage nature was about $4 tillion to $6 trillion a year, it said.

"Humanity faces an urgent choice. Continuing down our current path presents extreme risks and uncertainty for our economies," the review said.

Brian O'Donnell, Director for Campaign for Nature, told IANS that the review is the most comprehensive economic case for a new path forward ever compiled.

"Now that we have entered a climate and ecological emergency, it is urgent that we update our economic systems at all levels to fully include nature." (Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text

TORONTO - Canada on Wednesday declared the Proud Boys a terrorist entity, adding the far-right group to a list that includes al-Qaida, ISIS and al-Shabab in an effort to crack down on "ideologically motivated violent extremism," described by the country's public safety minister as the "most significant threat to domestic security."

The announcement by Public Safety Minister Bill Blair came less than a month after Proud Boys allegedly joined the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol after attending a rally by then-President Donald Trump in the hope of overturning the presidential election. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died in that attack.

It also followed a warning last week by the Department of Homeland Security about the heightened threat of "ideologically motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition" and "perceived grievances fueled by false narratives."

Designation as a terrorist group carries financial and legal consequences. Police can seize the property of the group or its members; banks can seize their assets. It's a crime to knowingly provide assistance to a designated group to facilitate or carry out attacks. Group members may be denied entry to Canada.

The government also listed the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group whose members participated in the violent 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. The Base, another neo-Nazi group, and the Russian Imperial Movement, a Russian nationalist group with members linked to violent activity abroad.

"These groups are unfortunately active in Canada and around the world," Blair said. "Their violent actions and rhetoric are fueled by white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia and misogyny."

Also added to the list were seven groups affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State, as well as Hizbul Mujahideen, a militant Kashmiri liberation group.

Senior government officials said they were not aware of any other jurisdiction that has designated the Proud Boys as a terrorist group. They said the Capitol insurrection was not the "driving" factor, but it did produce a "trove of information" that was added to the intelligence reports that informed the decision.

The Canadian government says ideologically motivated violent extremism includes xenophobic violence, anti-authority violence, gender-driven violence and grievance-driven violence not clearly affiliated with an organized group but shaped by "echo chambers of online hate."

The Proud Boys was formed in 2016 by Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, a Canadian. The far-right, male-only group of self-described "Western chauvinists" has a history of street violence, including against Black Lives Matter demonstrators.

Canada said the group played a "pivotal role" in the attack on the Capitol, and that "leaders planned their participation by setting out objectives, issuing instructions and directing members during the insurrection."

Analysts say the Proud Boys were emboldened when Trump, pressed during the first presidential debate to condemn the group, told members to "stand back and stand by."

Asked whether there was evidence that the Proud Boys pose a "current serious security threat to Canada," Blair said, "Absolutely, yes," and citeda "serious and concerning escalation" to violence in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday the U.S. government was conducting its own review.

National security analysts in Canada have warned of the growing threat of right-wing extremist groups here, bolstered by transnational alliances they've built with counterparts in the United States and Europe.

"We are more and more preoccupied by the number of ultra right-wing extremists," David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Services, told a Canadian Senate committee in 2019.

Several months later, Canada announced that the neo-Nazi groups Blood & Honor and Combat 18 would be the first ideologically motivated extremist groups to be included on its list of terrorist groups.

Public Safety Canada reported in 2018 that it was "concerned about threats posed by those who harbor right-wing extremist views."

It cited several examples of right-wing extremist attacks in Canada, including the shooting of three Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officers in 2014 by a man motivated by anti-law enforcement and anti-government beliefs and a 2017 shooting at a Quebec City mosque that killed six worshipers by a man who was "motivated, at least in part, by his self-admitted fear of Muslims."

Neither of the men were charged with terrorism offenses.

In 2020, a 17-year-old accused of fatally stabbing a woman at a Toronto massage parlor became the first Canadian charged with terrorism in a case connected to the "incel," or involuntary celibate, ideology.

Canadian lawmakers voted unanimously last week to urge the federal government to designate the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity "immediately," but the move drew a backlash from anti-hate groups and national security analysts.

They said the nonbinding measure risked politicizing what's supposed to be a legal process guided by evidence and intelligence. Others asked why groups with ideological similarities to the Proud Boys weren't also listed.

Blair said politics played no role in the designation. He said the government is constantly monitoring and gathering intelligence to inform its decision.

Before the announcement Wednesday, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network expressed concern that the definition of a terrorist entity would have to be expanded to accommodate the Proud Boys. The group worried that a looser definition could be "exploited" to target anti-racist groups and people of color in the future. In a post on its website, it said Blair assured them that the Proud Boys "more than meet the criteria."

The listing process begins with the drafting of criminal and security intelligence reports detailing "reasonable grounds to believe that the entity has knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity."

Those reports are submitted to the public safety minister. If the minister is satisfied that the relevant criteria for listing the groups has been met, he or she can make a recommendation to cabinet to place the group on the list.

- - -

The Washington Post's Felicia Sonmez in Washington contributed to this report.
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday called for the release of Myanmars leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others detained by the military during a coup on Monday, but stopped short of condemning the coup.

The 15-member council was briefed on Tuesday, a day after the Myanmar army detained Suu Kyi and others, handed power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and imposed a one-year state of emergency.

Aung San Suu Kyi. Credit:AP

The military takeover cut short Myanmars long transition to democracy and drew condemnation from the United States and other Western countries.

An initial text, drafted by Britain, condemned the coup, but that language appeared to have been softened  there is no reference to a coup  to win support from China and Russia, which have traditionally shielded Myanmar from any significant council action.
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The Ministry of Finance, which has commenced with drawing up the 2021/22 National Budget, has urged all Namibians to ensure their voices are heard through a broadened open budget initiative. The 2021/22 budget, tentatively scheduled to be tabled by mid-March, is expected to be severely constrained due to subdued economic activity that has seen revenue decrease significantly.

During an interview with Inside Business yesterday, finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi advised Namibians to share their ideas and advice for the annual budget. Through this expanded consultative process Shiimi said all Namibians can ensure their voices are heard through representative organisations such as chambers (of mines and commerce), associations, civil society organisations and different political parties (through their chief whips). He also called on the youth (through the youth council), the private sector and the financial sector to provide their input in the tabling of the budget.

"The idea is to involve as many Namibians as possible in the formulation of the budget. I therefore urge the public to engage us. This is the Namibian budget so we want all voices to be heard. I have even issued a challenge on social media like Twitter for Namibians to provide their views on the upcoming budget," said Shiimi. A mere two years ago, in an Open Budget Survey of 2019, Namibia scored zero on the ability of the general public, especially vulnerable and under-represented communities, to participate in the drafting of the national budget.

The findings were part of a survey on Namibia's budgeting system. According to the findings, it is critical that governments inform and engage the public on vital decisions impacting their lives.

"Government budget decisions, including which taxes to levy, what services to provide, and how much debt to take on, affect how equal a society is and the well-being of its people, including whether the most disadvantaged will have real opportunities for a better life," read the statement.

Meanwhile, the finance minister admitted that the challenge for the upcoming budget will be to allocate adequate resources to the health sector as it grapples to deal with the impact of the pandemic. "Covid-19 is still with us and this means more resources will go to the procurement of the vaccine and to enable those treating people infected with the virus," said Shiimi.

Shiimi added that a major challenge in the budget will be how to distribute revenue severely constrained by stifled economic activity coupled with significantly declining Southern African Customs Union (SACU) revenue.

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The finance minister yesterday confirmed that due to limited cross-border trade in the region SACU revenue remains under pressure. "Excise duties make up the bulk of SACU revenue and these have fallen dramatically. This means there is much less flowing into the SACU revenue pool," Shiimi said.

He continued that available national resources will be needed to support SMEs and the agricultural sector. The latter is the biggest employer in the country on which a multitude of livelihoods depend. "Also, some state-owned enterprises need to be supported, particularly in the short term," said Shiimi.

Last year Shiimi tabled a 2020/21 national budget totalling N$72.8 billion from N$66.5 billion budgeted in the 2019/20 financial year. At the time he noted that the single-year budget reflected the commensurate urgency of addressing the elevated one-off needs arising from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Going forward, expenditure will have to be recalibrated to lower levels from the temporary Covid-19 induced peak so as to stabilise growth in public debt. These considerations would be integral to the fiscal policy stance for the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework," Shiimi said at the time.
It would be a mistake to think that what is going on in Uganda is purely a Museveni thing. Across the African landscape, there is a younger generation straining at the leash to make their voices heard  new wine trying to find expression on a continent steeped in old brew.

After the presidential election in Uganda, it dawned on me that there are two people in the country who dont fear President Yoweri Museveni: One is his tailor, and the other is his political rival, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, famously called Bobi Wine.

Musevenis tailor makes his suits in complete disregard of tailoring measurements. It would appear that either the president doesnt care anymore or he has given up on the person who dresses him.

In politics, however, Museveni will not cut his rival any slack, making Wine perhaps the most dangerous and endangered man in Uganda at this time.

Wine reminds Museveni of his own past in a strikingly dissimilar and troubling way. And this dissimilarity is the presidents biggest headache. But why should a 77-year-old veteran of guerrilla warfare and term-defying president lose sleep over a political rookie?

Wine was not born when Museveni joined other rebel groups in Tanzania to overthrow Idi Amin and was only four years old when Museveni moved again to topple Milton Obote, whose second coming proved more catastrophic than his first.

Between Idi Amin and Obote II on one hand, and the raft of ad-hoc regimes that squabbled for power on the other, over 100,000 Ugandans were killed in the late 1970s up to the early 1980s. The war-weary country felt a debt of gratitude when the Museveni-led National Resistance Army finally seized power and restored peace.

Museveni told the world back in the day that what happened was not merely a change of guard, It is a fundamental change. He then added, The people of Africa, the people of Uganda, are entitled to a democratic government. It is not a favour from any regime. The sovereign people must be the public, not the government.

Africa applauded. The West suspended suspicions about Musevenis radical leftist ideology and hailed him as the new face of a continent still blighted by apartheid, civil wars and tinpot military dictators.

Thirty-five years later, the face of the man in the mirror is hardly anything like that of the guerrilla firebrand and leader of what might have been the Salvation Army. His speech about sovereignty of the people is a hallow echo from a distant, almost forgotten past.

This was not the life that Wine chose. The life chose him. Though he might have continued to enjoy the good life as a celebrity, without the enormous risk that comes with challenging the status quo, Wine dared to be different. Our biggest problem is misgovernance, he said in an interview with DW.

For all his press-ups and treadmill gimmicks, the mirror reflection today is that of an intemperate dictator unwilling to permit free and fair political contest and mortally afraid of his slipping grip on power.

The challenge is not coming from the trenches where Museveni earned his stripes. It is coming from the field of partisan politics and spearheaded by a young man who was only a kid when Museveni first took power. Whether Museveni won or stole the last election from Wine, it is obvious that the battle for the soul of Uganda is now being fought on a different turf.

Museveni promised peace. With the exception of the entanglement with Somalis Al Shabab a decade ago, which backfired in a bomb explosion in the capital that left scores dead, Uganda has enjoyed relative peace. The economy has also improved under Museveni and his record in the fight against HIV/AIDS is one of the most outstanding on the continent.

But his rule without end has also taken a heavy toll on the country, raising serious questions about Ugandas future and the sustainability of the gains made.

Twice, Museveni has forced constitutional amendments to extend his hold on power, finally succeeding in removing term limits. He has the military under his thumb and has been widely accused of fomenting policies that favour his own ethnic group in the western and central regions, over other groups.

In what increasingly appears like a co-presidency, Museveni and First Lady, Janet, have unleashed a moral police on the population and part of their job description is to prescribe the length of a womans skirt and measure male testosterone levels.

Museveni has created a fantasy where Uganda cannot exist without him and whoever threatens that fantasy, as Bobi Wine did in the last election, challenges the presidents political immortality.

This was not the life that Wine chose. The life chose him. Though he might have continued to enjoy the good life as a celebrity, without the enormous risk that comes with challenging the status quo, Bobi Wine dared to be different. Our biggest problem is misgovernance, he said in an interview with DW. Its the governance question we want to solve and we cannot solve that until we get into leadership ourselves.

Forty-five-year-old Kizza Besigye and Musevenis personal physician for many years, had tried three times before and was muscled out. He backed off this time for fear of his life. But Bobi Wine and nine other presidential candidates took the plunge, hoping to move Olympus Museveni and address the discontent and desperate yearnings of the increasingly jobless and restless young population.

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Whether that same history also means that when younger politicians eventually come to power, they wont be any better than those they are seeking to supplant remains to be seen. For now, those who seek to replace politicians like Museveni, must find the secret of his tailors staying power.

Generations of Ugandans have not known any other leader and Museveni who speaks of the country like his plantation, will not be moved. He will exact the harvest from his farm until and unless he can personally choose the next husbandman when hes too old to lift a finger.

And Wine is nothing like that figurehead. He represents the fundamental change that Museveni spoke about decades ago; he carries the hopes and aspirations of his generation and despite repeated  even near-fatal -attacks on him in the last four years and supporters of his National Unity Platform, Wine has kept the fire burning.

Neither the trumped-up charges of sedition, the attack on his car that killed his driver, nor the use of security forces to intimidate him during and after the recent polls, has deterred him from challenging the status quo. He has done this knowing full well that theres little hope of redress in the courts.

Yet, the collective voice of the over six million voters who cast their ballots for Bobi Wine at the last election, is a significant dent on the glass ceiling of Musevenis dictatorship.

It would be a mistake to think that what is going on in Uganda is purely a Museveni thing. Across the African landscape, there is a younger generation straining at the leash to make their voices heard  new wine trying to find expression on a continent steeped in old brew.

In a 2017 article, Quartz Africa described the continent as the worlds youngest continent run by its oldest leaders. That partly explains the disgraceful silence by the African Union (AU) and African leaders after the shambolic elections in Uganda  its an old boys club thing.

From the #EndSARS movement and Omoyele Sowores Revolution Now in Nigeria, to Jonathan Sandys National Unity Reconciliation Party in Sierra Leone, and Julius Malemas Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa, there is an urgency among young Africans to reclaim the political space, even at considerable risk to their personal liberty and safety. Its not just about being heard; its also about making their voices count.

No one is sure how long it would take or what price would be paid. But even the history of the current gerontocrats shows that the tide ultimately favours the young.

Whether that same history also means that when younger politicians eventually come to power, they wont be any better than those they are seeking to supplant remains to be seen. For now, those who seek to replace politicians like Museveni, must find the secret of his tailors staying power.

Azu Ishiekwene is the managing director/editor-in-chief of The Interview.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  By the end of 2020, police on Staten Island had seen a disturbing spike in crime  including fatal shootings on the North Shore, vehicle thefts on the South Shore and commercial burglaries all over.

But the upward trend began after the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in March, civil unrest over the summer and sweeping police reforms. In fact, crime was at an all-time low across New York City prior to the shuttered businesses, protests, riots, school closings, NYPD personnel challenges and sweeping police reforms.

Now its 2021.

So what did crime look like on Staten Island in the first month of the new year, when compared with a pre-pandemic 2020?

ROBBERIES

Borough-wide, robberies are down 54.5%, as of Jan. 31, compared to the same time last year, according to the NYPDs CompStat figures.

The highest number of incidents in 2020 were reported in neighborhoods located on the North and East shores.

Residents in the 121st Precinct  which encompasses the western half of the North Shore and the West Shore  saw one incident last month, compared to six in the first month of 2020.

In the 122nd Precinct  which encompasses the East Shore and part of the South Shore  police have responded to a pair of incidents this year, compared to seven last year.

Police in the 120th Precinct  which covers the eastern half of the North Shore  responded to seven incidents this year, which matched the first month of 2020, data shows.

The RCDA Youth Speaker Series is an opportunity for young people to explore career choices while gaining an inside look at the people and institutions that make Staten Island run. More information on the flyer here: pic.twitter.com/7ck7a2nXvz  Michael E. McMahon (@StatenIslandDA) January 22, 2021

ASSAULTS

Felony assaults so far are down 20.5% across Staten Island, though one precinct has seen an increase.

The highest density of incidents last year were recorded in the 120th and 121st Precincts.

In the 120th Precinct, police have responded to 13 incidents this year, compared to 23 in January of last year.

In the 121st Precinct, however, the community saw 16 incidents in January, compared to 12 at the same time last year.

SHOOTINGS

In 2020, investigators responded to more than 40 shooting incidents across the borough, which represented a near 80% hike from 2019. A vast majority of the incidents occurred in neighborhoods across the North Shore.

Police so far this year have responded to one shooting on Staten Island.

The shooting last month at a recording studio in Stapleton left a 23-year-old man dead and police searching for multiple suspects.

There was one shooting incident reported in the first month of 2020, which proved non-fatal.

GRAND LARCENIES

Borough-wide, grand larcenies were up about 2% in January, data shows.

Officers in the 122nd Precinct so far are probing 32 incidents reported this year, compared to 23 incidents reported during the same time frame in 2020.

In the 123rd Precinct, police responded to 15 incidents last month, compared to 12 a year prior.

Many of the incidents across the two precincts include acts of fraud  sometimes involving a bank  according to CompStat figures.

BURGLARIES

A surge in burglaries across the city in 2020 may be slowing down in some precincts on Staten Island, but not all.

Police say one or more thieves recently have been targeting pricey tools left in work trucks in neighborhoods across the 121st Precincts North Shore sectors.

WANTED FOR BURGLARY



The SI Grand Larceny Squad is endeavoring to identify

the subject in the photo below who on 1/29/21 was observed removing tools from a Commercial Vehicle which was parked on Woolley Ave.



Anyone with information please  718-876-7662 pic.twitter.com/FVRhSy2m9L  NYPD 121st Precinct (@NYPD121Pct) February 3, 2021

The precinct in total saw eight burglaries last month, which is double what police responded to a year ago.

Borough-wide, however, the number of burglaries stacks up about even with 2020.

Police responded to 28 burglaries in the first month of 2021, compared to 27 last year.
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Maharashtra: The political environment in Maharashtra is getting intensified day by day as Shiv Sena and BJP stay determined to take action against the former Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) student Sharijil Usmani. In the latest turn of events, Shiv Sena, in its mouthpiece ''Saamna'', labelled Usmani lustful and his controversial speech rubbish.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has asked for strict action against Sharjeel Usmani, who had allegedly delivered a controversial speech at the Elgaar Parishad event in Pune on January 30. Responding to BJPs concern, Shiv Sena mentioned in an editorial in 'Saamana' that Sharjeel will be handcuffed.

The Saamana editorial read, "A lustful named Sharijil Usmani has come to Maharashtra and done some nonsense. Maharashtra will not tolerate the language it has used in the name of Hindutva. A group called 'Elgar' is assembled in Pune, the work of provoking from its platform is called Elgar, but the work is to play anti-Hindutva. There came a young man named Sharjeel Usmani and he preached on the subject that the Hindutva of our country is rotten. Everything Usmani has said is serious.

BJP MLA Ram Kadam has threatened to protest against the AMU alumni if the state government takes no action against him. He said, "Three days have passed, but no action has been taken against the leaders of Elgar Parishad till now, who insulted the Hindu religion and the Hindu society. The Maharashtra government is trying to save them...If the government does not take any action in the next 48 hours, we will have to get out on the streets and agitate as Hindu society will not tolerate insult."

A complaint has also been filed by an individual, named Anuraj Singh, emphasising on Sharijils usage of provocative words in his speech, which, he believes, defamed the image of the Hindu community.

A BJP delegate had met Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta and demanded to add 'sedition' charges against Usmani in FIR for making serious allegations against the working of the CM Yogis Uttar Pradesh government. In his speech, Sharjeel alleged that the UP police conduct daily encounters and most of the people killed in these planned encounters are either Muslims or Dalits.

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ROCHESTER, Minn.  A man arrested after a fast food drive-thru attack is now pleading guilty.

Kareem Isaiah Hollins, 22 of Rochester, entered a guilty plea Wednesday to one count of stalking.

Rochester police say Hollins and Emily Busho of Ellendale attacked two people waiting in the drive-thru at the Marion Road SE Burger King on June 14, 2020. Hollins was accused of grabbing the victims car keys and leaving, then resisting arrest and giving one officer a bloody nose.

His sentencing is now scheduled for March 15.

Busho was ticketed for 5th degree assault and disorderly conduct.
BEIJING, Feb. 4 -- The US move to send warship to sail through the Taiwan Strait and hype it publicly is an old trick to "manipulate" the cross-Strait situation. China is firmly opposed to that, said Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui, spokesperson for the PLA Eastern Theater Command, in a written statement published on Thursday.

Snr. Col. Zhang stated that the USS John S. McCain sailed through the Taiwan Strait earlier on February 4, which was tracked and monitored by the PLA Eastern Theater Command for the entire course. The move by the US is a repeat of its old trick to manipulate the cross-Strait situation in mixed ways, fabricate intense factors deliberately and disturb regional peace and stability.

Snr. Col. Zhang stressed that China is firmly opposed to the US move. No matter how the situation across the Taiwan Strait changes, the troops assigned to the PLA Eastern Theater Command will loyally perform their duties and missions, resolutely safeguard China's national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and firmly maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin, Jr. on Thursday said the Chinese survey vessel which recently sought shelter in the waters off Catanduanes "never intruded."

Locsin said the issue was "cleared up" during the executive session by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

"Chinese vessel never intruded; enter our territory seeking refuge even as China asked permission," he said on Twitter. "Coast Guard never attempted to board because it is illegal to try; Chinese vessel left right after storm passed. No intrusion. Period."

Locsin and the Philippine Coast Guard earlier said the ship, Jia Geng, was allowed to stay in Philippine waters due to bad weather. For "humanitarian reasons," the ship was granted permission to seek shelter in Cabugao Bay as requested by the Chinese Embassy.

PCG Commandant Admiral George Ursabia also said earlier the Chinese vessel has been monitored every now and then transiting Philippine waters in the north.

The survey vessel left Cabugao Bay early Monday.

The Chinese Embassy had criticized reports that the survey vessel's entry into the country was an intrusion.

Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
If all the people under age 65 with underlying medical conditions that put them especially at risk with COVID were suddenly added, Cuomo said, that would make 4 million more New Yorkers eligible for the vaccine. Then, the inability of people now eligible to get a vaccine  witnessed by vaccine centers running out of supplies and New Yorkers unable to get through on a special state vaccine telephone hotline  would be even worse.

'Let's recognize the reality'

Eligibility without availability is illusory. And not only is it illusory I think its counterproductive," Cuomo said. Telling 4 million people with medical conditions that they are eligible but were nowhere near being able to get it to you  (is) meaningless," Cuomo said.

Without an increase in the supply, then its just all posturing  Lets recognize the reality, he added.

Anxiety levels are already running high among people who are eligible  and cant get the vaccine.

Its frustrating and its totally a mess," said Gwen Cruz-Hunt, a resident of the Lovejoy neighborhood in Buffalo. She is 75 and has asthma and high blood pressure and has been unable to get the vaccine anywhere near Buffalo.
Oakland renter Angelica Rivas says that when she turns on the kitchen faucet, cockroaches spill out. And the water pressure is so low in her shower, she says, she often has to bring buckets of water from the kitchen just to bathe.

Rivas has lived in her apartment with her four children for nearly 15 years. She and her neighbors went on a rent strike last March to demand that the landlord make repairs.

Then the pandemic forced a Bay Area-wide shutdown, and Rivas, who worked as a housekeeper, and many of her neighbors at 1821 28th Ave. lost their jobs. The rent strike turned into an inability to pay.

In theory, Rivas and her neighbors shouldnt worry about losing their homes. In one of the strongest eviction moratoriums in the state, Oakland prohibits evictions for nonpayment of rent at most residential units.

Nevertheless, Rivas landlord has issued multiple eviction notices to tenants since March.

Housing experts and tenant advocates say Rivas situation isnt uncommon in the Bay Area because of confusion around a separate eviction moratorium issued by the state.

The statewide moratorium lets landlords send 15-day eviction notices as long as they include a form for tenants to fill out if they are unable to pay rent due to the pandemic.

Tenant advocates say Oaklands policy and other local moratoriums supersede the statewide law.

While we think its clear that Oaklands eviction moratorium and Alameda Countys eviction moratorium takes precedence. ... It appears that there are some landlords that have a different opinion, said Jackie Zaneri, a staff attorney at the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment who represents Rivas and other tenants in her building.

Housing experts say it can be confusing for landlords and tenants to know which moratorium to follow. Rivas landlord, Michael You, has included the form with his eviction notices.

Admittedly, it is a tricky time to be involved in managing property, You said. I do need the cooperation of the tenants to ensure access as well, and to help reduce the risk of infestation by good housekeeping standards. It is also troubling that I have not received rent from all the tenants for 10 months.

You said his tenants didnt complain about the condition of the apartments before the pandemic. The tenants and their lawyer said they did.

The situation underscores the complexities of enforcing local eviction moratoriums against a statewide policy with different rules. The result is confusion between landlords and tenants about what policies prevail. Meanwhile, both sides struggle with economic instability in an unrelenting pandemic that threatens to exacerbate the states homeless crisis. Many tenants, often terrified of an eviction on their record, give up and leave once they receive a notice, advocates say.

Most tenants are not able to consult with an attorney, and most tenants dont know their rights, said Alex Werth, a policy associate at East Bay Housing Organizations. These laws are extremely complicated. The eviction process is extremely complicated. For a lot of tenants, especially the most vulnerable ones, they will receive an eviction notice and either assume they must leave right away or will leave out of fear.

In late January, Gov. Gavin Newsom extended the statewide eviction moratorium to allow tenants facing financial hardship because of the pandemic to stay in their homes until June 30, when property owners will again be able to evict tenants who dont pay their rent.

Under the state law, tenants who receive a 15-day eviction notice for nonpayment of rent can file a declaration that they are unable to pay due to income losses as a result of the pandemic.

Meghan Gordon, the director of the housing unit at the East Bay Community Law Center, said when the pandemic started, landlords didnt know what was going on and an initial surge of eviction notices went out. But that surge died down as landlords learned of Oaklands protective order.

In March, the Oakland City Council passed a moratorium that bans eviction of most tenants in residential units built before 1996 for nonpayment of rent due to financial difficulties during the pandemic. It also prevents landlords from charging late fees for back rent, and limits certain rent increases.

Eviction notices are precursors to any eviction lawsuit. Under the citys policy, the moratorium provides an absolute defense against eviction if the notice was served during the local emergency, according to the city attorneys office.

The moratorium will be lifted only once the City Council votes to end the state of emergency.

Rivas neighbor, Felix Martinez, said the stove in his unit hasnt worked for nearly two years. He said his wife is constantly scraping mold off the walls.

Evelyn Rivas, another tenant, said she was shocked when she received the first eviction notice in April.

What if I lose my house? she asked in Spanish. What if Im out on the street?

Rent for several apartments in the building is nearly $1,500 a month.

In response to every eviction notice, Zaneri said she responded with a declaration from the tenants that they were unable to pay rent due to loss of income during the pandemic.

On Dec. 31, Zaneri sent a letter to the landlord demanding an end to the notices and that he immediately address repairs (including eliminate rodents and pests), replace missing or expired fire extinguishers and smoke detectors, fix broken door locks and stop up sewage leaks.

Zaneri said the landlord has not responded to the demand letter. She said she has spoken to the landlords attorney, who provided no timeline on repairs.

You, the landlord, told The Chronicle that he has commenced work to remediate the concerns raised by the tenants. The complexity of complying with COVID-19 pandemic restrictions while effectuating repairs to a property has elongated the process.

You said he expects the renovations and remediation of the property to be completed shortly. He did not respond to questions about why he was sending eviction notices despite the citys moratorium.

It is outrageous that a landlord who has totally neglected their duty to provide a safe and habitable apartment for tenants by failing to make major repairs for years would then give their tenants an eviction notice for failure to pay rent during the pandemic, Zaneri said.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani

INDIANAPOLIS -- Researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine, Regenstrief Institute, IUPUI and University of Miami Miller School of Medicine will study a problem that has been vexing healthcare professionals and families for decades, using scalable, low-cost, and noninvasive approaches to identify Alzheimer's disease and help improve the quality of life for patients and families. The grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging is expected to total nearly $5 million over five years.

About half of people who have Alzheimer's disease never receive a diagnosis, and for those who do, it can take three to five years after the onset of symptoms before the disease is identified.

The three studies will be led by Malaz Boustani, M.D., MPH of Regenstrief Institute and IU School of Medicine; Zina Ben Miled, PhD, M.S. of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI and James Galvin, M.D., MPH of Miami's Miller School of Medicine. Studies will be conducted in both Indiana and Florida.

"The low and late recognition of Alzheimer's disease by the American healthcare system has been a wicked problem that we have been working on solving for two decades. Such a problem leads to tremendous suffering for our patients, their loved ones and our entire society," said Dr. Boustani, a Regenstrief Institute research scientist and a professor of medicine at IU School of Medicine. "Early detection can help patients and their families develop a brain care plan and potentially lessen the burden of the disease. Our goal with this study is to provide validated tools for early detection that are easy for the patient and the provider, that are scalable, and that are sustainable."

Researchers plan to conduct a rigorous and reproducible evaluation in the real world of two scalable tools:

a passive digital marker developed by Drs. Ben-Miled and Boustani, and
In January 2021, Ukraine extracted 2.6 billion cubic meters of gas from its underground gas storage facilities (UGS), which is 33% higher than in January 2020, according to the press service of JSC Ukrtransgaz.

At the same time, as of February 1, there were 20.9 billion cubic meters of gas in Ukraines underground storage facilities, which exceeded the ten-year maximum.

The gas storage operator of Ukraine completed January 2021 with the highest gas reserves for the past 10 years. As of February 1, underground gas storage facilities accumulated 20.9 billion cubic meters of gas. At the same time, the volume of gas extraction from domestic underground storage facilities reached 2.6 billion cubic meters in January 2021, which is 33% higher than in the relevant period last year, reads the report.

In total, since the beginning of the heating season 2020/2021, including January, 7.3 billion cubic meters of gas have been extracted from Ukrainian gas storage facilities, which is 52% higher than in the same period last year.

As of February 1, 2021, foreign traders store 6.7 billion cubic meters of gas in the "customs warehouse" mode, which is 4.9 times more than in the same period last year. Of these, the volume of gas transferred to the underground storage facilities in the short haul mode amounted to 5 billion cubic meters.

Resident companies store 0.8 billion cubic meters of gas in the "customs warehouse" mode, which is 2.6 times more than in 2020. Of these, 0.5 billion cubic meters have been accumulated in the "short haul" mode.

In January 2021, more than 0.233 billion cubic meters of gas were exported from Ukrainian underground storage facilities, of which 0.166 billion cubic meters were delivered to Hungary, 0.061 billion and 0.006 billion cubic meters - to Poland and Slovakia, respectively.

As reported, the customs warehouse regime provides for storage of gas in Ukrainian UGS facilities for up to 1,095 days without paying customs duties; short haul" is a special service that enables the companys customers to book gas transportation services at a favorable tariff rate.

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T HE colossal struggle faced by energy giants to adapt to a green future amid the turmoil of the pandemic were laid bare today as Royal Dutch Shell posted its first ever headline loss - one of the biggest ever recorded by a UK-listed company.

The Anglo-Dutch supermajor - whose dividends underpin much of the UKs pensions - made a $21.7billion (16billion) underlying loss in 2020.

In 2019 it earned $15.8billion (11.6bn).

It follows a crash in the crude oil price, multi-billion dollar write-downs in the future value of oil-fields and growing costs associated with accelerating the transition to a low-carbon model.

Net income adjusted for cost of supply - Shells preferred profit measure which strips out many of these impairments - was down 71% per cent to $4.8bn, versus $16.5bn in 2019.

CEO Ben van Beurden described 2020 as an extraordinary year.

Results for the last-quarter were especially brutal, with an almost total 87% wipe-out in adjusted earnings to just $393million (289million) - below City forecasts - contributing to a $4.5bn (3.3bn) loss in the final three months of the year.

Shells decision to slash its dividend early in the crisis for the first time since 1945 and cut up to 9,000 jobs from its 86,000 global headcount kept a lid on net debt which is down $4billion from $79bn a year ago, towards a target of $65billion.

Dividends will nudge back up by around 4% this quarter to 17c-a-share after what van Beurden said were tough but decisive actions.

With the bad news already priced in, that sweetener and the promise of progressive increases saw shares nudge up 0.49c to 15.40 euro this morning.

Shells woes follow those of rival BP, which reported an $18.1billion (13.2billion) 2020 loss on Tuesday.

Both are pursuing differing strategies as they shift from fossil fuel to renewables with a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

Shell already operates the biggest natural gas trading operation on the planet and intends to double-down on its market expertise rather than join the scramble for renewable power assets.

Van Beurden told investors: We are coming out of 2020 with a stronger balance sheet, ready to accelerate our strategy and make the future of energy.

A school that offered a pupil 17,000 after he injured his foot was told told by a judge to think again and come up with more money.

The 15-year-old boy was injured after a teacher told him to move heavy cones in the playground.

Judge John O'Connor said in the Circuit Civil Court that Our Lady of Good Counsel Boys' National School could pay out as much as 25,000 to Joe Bennett, of Churchview Road, Killiney.

The judge granted the boy's barrister time to contact the school and inform it of the court's view before the settlement offer would be rejected and the case be sent to trial.

Grip

The barrister later told Judge O'Connor the school had increased its offer to 20,000.

Judge O'Connor had heard that in early February 2018, a teacher had told the then 12-year-old and another pupil to move cones that separated play areas.

The barrister said Joe had lost his grip on one of the wet cones, which fell on the big toe of his left foot.

"Liability has not been conceded, but we have the view of forensic engineer Karl Searson that the cone had been modified with the attachment to its base of a metal plate, making it unsuitable for being moved by children," the barrister said.

She said the boy had struggled through classes for the remainder of the school day.

The accident happened on a Friday, and the boy, due to increasing pain, had been taken to the accident and emergency unit of Tallaght Hospital, where it was found his big toe was fractured.

He had to have his nail punctured and the fluid drained.

He was on crutches for several days.

Judge O'Connor said the boy had suffered a great deal of pain and his social and sporting activities were affected.

He approved the increased compensation of 20,000.
A general view of the entrance and Signage of the Grand Hyatt hotel, one of the three hotels being used for quarantine of players and accompanying staff competing in the Australian Open on January 14, 2021 in Melbourne, Australia.(Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

Hundreds Isolate After Vic Covid-19 Case

Hundreds of Victorians have been forced to self-isolate after a hotel quarantine worker linked to the Australian Open tested positive to COVID-19.

The 26-year-old man from Noble Park in the citys southeast returned a positive test on February 3, five days after he completed his last shift as a resident support officer at the Grand Hyatt hotel, as part of the Australian Open quarantine program.

Two of the mans close household contacts have tested negative, while health authorities have been able to reach 19 of the 20 people identified as close contacts.

A further 600 casual contacts also have been told to isolate and get tested, as have 520 Australian Open players, officials and support staff.

Wastewater samples collected from the southeast on Tuesday have also come back negative for COVID-19.

These are all good positive early signs. We have got to this in good time, Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters on Thursday.

He said a review of CCTV at the Grand Hyatt showed the man was a model employee who correctly followed all safety procedures.

We can find no problem, no breach of protocol, anything of that nature in terms of his employment, Andrews said.

The case brought the states 28-day run of zero community transmission to an end and prompted a reintroduction of a number of restrictions.

Masks must now be worn indoors and the number of visitors allowed in private homes has been halved to 15, while a scheduled increase in the number of workers allowed to return to the office has been put on hold.

It is still unknown if the man is carrying a more-virulent international strain of the virus, with the results of genomic testing expected on Friday.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said it was likely the man contracted the virus from a positive case in the quarantine hotel.

Its not rocket science to say hes probably caught it from one of the cases. We are aware there were six cases at that hotel, he said, noting four were the more highly infectious UK variant.

Professor Cheng said it was unlikely the Australian Open would be cancelled but warned the situation was unfolding.

A number of hotel quarantine security guards last year contracted COVID-19, sparking Victorias second wave of coronavirus, which killed hundreds of people and led to months of lockdown.

Opposition Leader Michael OBrien said the state could not afford to have a repeat of history.

This is how it started last year. The government said that they learnt their lessons  clearly, something went wrong, he said.

Capacity is being boosted at testing sites across the state, as a list of exposure sites grows.

Anyone who has visited the sites, which are largely situated in Melbournes southeast, have been told to get tested and self-isolate for 14 days.

A number of states have also introduced restrictions for Victorian, including Tasmania, which has declared eight suburbs high-risk and told anyone who has recently been to the locations to immediately get tested and then isolate.

Anyone in Queensland who has been in Greater Melbourne since January 29 have also been told to get tested and isolate until they have those test results.

Those who have visited exposure sites will need to isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result. Similar rules apply in NSW.

Meanwhile, authorities on Wednesday confirmed the transmission of a coronavirus case between guests in separate hotel quarantine rooms.

Two separate groups of guests in opposite rooms at Melbournes Park Royal Hotel tested positive for the more infectious UK variant of the coronavirus.

Some 100 hotel quarantine staff members and 37 returned travellers who have completed their 14 days on the impacted floor are now self-isolating at home. None have yet tested positive.

Benita Kolovos in Melbourne
Kisumu  Siaya County Assembly passed the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2020 on Wednesday, making it the first county to pass the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Bill.

Already counties within the Nyanza region have started considering the draft Bill a week after it was released to the 47 county assemblies.

Siaya County Assembly passed the draft Bill during a special sitting that had earlier been gazetted by Speaker George Okode.

"Having followed procedures under the law, processed and approved the BBI constitutional amendment Bill unanimously," said Okode.

The Assembly with 41 members unanimously passed the Bill after debating it with all the debaters hailing the Bill as one that will herald a new Kenya.

Speaker Okode said the next step is to sign a certificate and forward it to the National Assembly and Senate.

"By tomorrow (Thursday), the speakers of the two houses will be having the certificate, the Bill itself and a report of the house," he said while addressing journalists outside the assembly.

Area Governor Cornel Rasanga who attended the session said he was satisfied that due process was followed in accordance to the law in passing the Bill and this captured the spirit of the people of Siaya.

"The support we are giving BBI here today, we want it to be extended so that other counties also do the same because BBI is the panacea for our development, peace and tranquility," said Rasanga.

On Tuesday, the Assembly held public participation across all the sub-counties.

Independent Electoral Boundary Commission (IEBC) Chairperson Wafula Chebukati had submitted the Bill to the 47 county assemblies for approval or rejection.

It will require two-thirds approval or 24 county assemblies before Kenyans can take a vote in a referendum.

Chebukati said the speakers of the assemblies are required to submit the decision to speakers of the National Assembly and the Senate within three months of the date of the IEBC forwarded the Bill for consideration having ascertained it had the support of at least 1 million registered voters.

Demi Moore marked her daughter Tallulah Willis' 27th birthday on Instagram on Thursday.

The actress, 58, shared a sweet post where she told her youngest child how 'honoured' she was to be her mother.

Alongside the touching birthday message, Demi uploaded a slew of throwback photos from Tallulah's childhood.

Happy Birthday! Demi Moore marked her daughter Tallulah Willis' 27th birthday on Instagram on Thursday

Demi wrote: 'The many faces of @buuski... Happy Birthday Tallulah Boo! You are a magnificent being and I am so honored to be your mother.

'As you step into the fullness of who you are today, I hope you let your light shine even brighter for all to share in the unique, magical sweetness of your being! May this be your best year yet.

'I love you, love you, love you.'

Special bond: The actress, 58, shared a sweet post where she told her youngest child how 'honoured' she was to be her mother

Touching: Demi wrote: 'The many faces of @buuski... Happy Birthday Tallulah Boo! You are a magnificent being and I am so honored to be your mother'

Throwback: Two of the childhood photos showed Demi hugging Tallulah as a daughter

Two of the childhood photos showed Demi hugging Tallulah as a daughter, while another showed Tallulah as a baby.

The actress cuddled one of the family's dogs in one photo as a child, with Demi also showing Tallulah in a grumpy mood.

Tallulah's older sister Rumer also took to Instagram to wish her Happy Birthday.

She wrote: My tiny queen, my petite filet, my baby starfish. Today you are 27. You came into this world with the same exuberance you move through everyday. Full of passion, a mischievous grin and seraphic poetry spilling from your sweet mouth. I love you.'

Tight knit family: Demi kisses Tallulah on the cheek as she wished her a happy 27th birthday

Proud mum: Demi shared several photos of Tallulah growing up over the years

Always loved animals: The actress cuddled one of the family's dogs in one photo as a child

Funny: Demi couldn't resist uploading a snap of Tallulah looking grumpy in a red bonnet

Tallulah's birthday comes after Demi spoke about how 'grateful' she was to self-isolate with ex-husband Bruce Willis, 65, and their children; Rumer, 32, Scout, 29, and Tallulah at the start of the pandemic.

The pair proved they were still the friendliest of exes as they isolated together last April in their former family home in Idaho.

Appearing on Naomi Campbell's YouTube series No Filter with Naomi she said: 'It worked out that Bruce came and spent time with us,' before adding Bruce's wife Emma and their two daughters; Evelyn Penn, six, and Mabel Ray, eight, became part of the group 'a little bit later when the kids were finished with school'.

Sisters: Tallulah's older sister Rumer also took to Instagram to wish her Happy Birthday

Family: Tallulah's birthday comes after Demi spoke about how 'grateful' she was to self-isolate with ex-husband Bruce Willis, 65, and their children last April

Demi continued: 'It was really a blessing, it's everything that's come forward has allowed us to reevaluate what's important and what needs attention that has been overlooked and neglected. It was amazing.

'Our family regardless of what the shape of it is, it's important to keep together and for the little ones to feel comfortable with me, and to know me so they also know their sisters better, it was really sweet and we did have some silly times for sure.'

In the two decades since Bruce and Demi's 13-year marriage ended in 2000, they have worked hard to build a happy friendship.

Following their break-up, both Bruce and Demi remarried.

Bruce was present Demi wed now ex-husband Ashton Kutcher in 2005, while last year Demi was on-hand at Willis' vow renewal ceremony to wife Emma.

The group regularly celebrate milestones as one big happy family, and Bruce and Emma even supported Demi at the launch of her memoir, Inside Out, in 2019.
Katie Price has revealed her infamous 'mucky mansion' has been burgled for a third time.

The model, 42, moved out of the 2 million Sussex property last year while it undergoes renovations, and is currently living in a rented 4,250 per month six-bedroom Surrey home with her children and boyfriend Carl Woods.

Yet after returning to the site to check on the progress, she found that the mansion had been broken into with thieves stealing old photographs and hard drives.

Shocking: Katie Price has revealed her infamous 'mucky mansion' has been burgled for a third time. She moved out of the property last year so it could undergo renovations

In a YouTube video, Katie explained: 'This house was burgled. So much s*** has gone. Even hard drives have gone. Oh well, if anyone wants to go through my old photos go for it. If it makes you feel good.'

Filming herself leaving the property, she added: 'It feels good not to be in that s***hole, horrible house.'

Katie's representative told The Sun Online: 'A representative for Katie will be notifying the police handling the matter on her most recent discovery.

'Sadly it is to be expected Katie will discover more missing items as the house was left ransacked and it takes time to list everything that's gone in an inventory.'

Ransacked: The model, 42, moved out of the 2 million Sussex property last year and has now found the mansion broken into with thieves stealing old photographs and hard drives

This is the third time the mucky mansion has been burgled, following reports of two break-ins within a matter of weeks last summer.

The mother-of-five relocated from her former home in West Sussex nicknamed the 'mucky mansion' before the country went into lockdown last March.

The former Loose Women star's rented home is just 10 minutres from her ex-husband Peter Andre, 47, whom she shares children Junior, 15, and Princess, 13, with.

There's no place like home: The model, 42, is currently living in a rented 4,250 per month six-bedroom Surrey home with her children and boyfriend Carl Woods (pictured on Wednesday)

Katie, who bought the sprawling country house back in 2014, vowed to renovate and sell the house, with doctors demanding she doesn't return for the sake of her mental health.

Over the past year, the TV star's abode stood decrepit and unkempt with abandoned facilities amid her recent financial woes.

Renovations kicked off in June 2019, but the influencer was left devastated when the mucky mansion was broken into and destroyed by intruders a year later.

In June 2020, thieves broke in to steal her I'm A Celebrity rucksack and leant the shower head over the ceiling which caused the bathroom to flood and the ceiling to collapse.

Just weeks later, she suffered a fresh blow as thieves broke in again, and she vowed to up security after a neighbour witnessed three men on her private property.

Katie told The Sun at the time: 'I've already contacted police and told them all this.

'I've got someone going to my house to put a padlock on the bottom of the field gate, it looks like people are wrecking my property to go in again.'

Terrible: Back in June 2020, thieves broke into her mucky mansion and flooded her bathroom, causing her ceiling to collapse (pictured)

According to the publication, a neighbour saw three men emerge from a black BMW.

The neighbour reported shouting at one of them to get off private property, only for them to reply they were looking for a toilet.

A source told MailOnline: 'Katie as a result of the recent invasion on her property is ramping up security to maintain a 24 hour surveillance on her house.

'It was quite clear that these people were not lost or indeed ramblers and were there with intent to raid Katies property. The neighbours are also close friends of Katie's and raised the alarm.'
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) today arrested an alleged drug peddler Jagtap Singh Anand in Mumbai. The NCB claims that they also recovered certain banned substances from him. Jagtap, who was arrested in the ongoing probe into the drug case related to the late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput death case, has been sent to the custody till February 8, 2021.

Previously, Jagtap's younger brother Karamjeet alias KJ was also arrested by the federal agency. According to sources in the NCB, the two brothers used to work together in supplying drugs to various people. The proceeds that KJ used to earn through such means was transferred into a bank account owed by Japtap Singh Anand. Based on these bank transactions, Japtap was arrested in the case.

Meanwhile alleged peddlers Rahila Furniturewala and British citizen Karan Sajjnani were grilled together at the NCB office. They both were arrested by the NCB previously and were currently in judicial custody.

"We have come across new findings in the Sushant Singh Rajput case and wanted to question them again. Hence they both were brought to the NCB office" said a senior officer from the NCB.

Maun  Lake Ngami Conservation Trust chairperson, Mr Sekano Bodio says there will be no commercial fishing at Lake Ngami this year due to low water levels.

The lake which is an integral part of the Okavango Delta is a seasonal shallow lake that depends mostly on spills from Boro River and Thamalakane River. The lake is critical to the local community; supporting fishing industry, farming, livestock and tourism.

Mr Bodio revealed in an interview that the lake did not receive adequate water as expected during flooding of Mohembo and Okavango Delta hence the decision to suspend fishing.

He said that normally around this time, fishers across the country prepared themselves for fishing season which started from March up-to December. He noted that the lake had also ran out of fish, adding that currently only barbell fish was found because it was able to survive in mud for months when the lake was dry.

The trust chairman also explained that the trust was not ready for this year's fishing season as they did not make any preparations to address environmental issues such as putting up camp sites, ablution facilities and skips for litter because of financial constraints.

Normally, the trust clears up camp sites and ensures all the necessities are in place before fishing commence.

All the licensed fishermen would be placed in the camps where they would work with the trust to ensure compliance with environmental regulations.

He said they needed more time to develop the site but stated that locals were allowed to fish for sustenance.

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Last year, department of Wildlife and National Parks lifted commercial fishing in the delta following availability of water in other fishing zones except Lake Ngami.

In a recent interview, department of water affairs and sanitation station manager, Mr Keodumetse Keetile confirmed that the inflow into the lake was currently low as compared to the previous years.

He stated that low water levels could be due to various hydrological factors such as high temperatures in the region resulting in surface water loss through direct evaporation and through percolation into the dry and thirsty sands and filling of dried lagoons and flood plains.

The lake is reported to have not received any water during the hydrological year 2018/19 due to insufficient rainfall that occurred in the Okavango basin catchment.

Chief technical officer at meteorological services in Maun, Mr Omphemetse Mokgweetsi once revealed that the weather forecast had indicated that the SADC region would experience more rainfall this year.

He said floods were expected from Angola which would eventually flow into Mohembo River which feeds the Okavango system and other water points.

He was optimistic that the water levels would increase in water sources across the Ngamiland district.

Source : BOPA
China Insider: China Treats Asymptomatic Patient Like a Criminal

The recent epidemic in Tonghua City, Jilin Province has spread rapidly. The authority reported on January 28 that an asymptomatic infected patient had infected more than 140 people, leading to the outbreak. The public security bureau and the prosecutors office of Tonghua City announced that they would start an investigation into this patient. However, its believed that a coverup by local officials led to the spread of the epidemic and the responsibility was shifted to an ordinary citizen.
Donna Reddy to lead the Company's CPG brand acceleration and retail operations through its next phase of growth

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) -Plant&Co. Brands Ltd. (CSE: VEGN) (FSE: VGP) (OTC Pink: VGANF) ("Plant&Co" or the "Company"), a modern health and wellness company curating delicious plant-based foods, is pleased to announce its board of directors has appointed Donna Reddy to the position of President of Plant&Co, effective immediately. Ms. Donna Reddy, a strategic and results-driven leader in the marketing and branding industry, will be responsible to lead the operations of the Company through its next phase of growth focused on expanding both the number of products offered and total addressable market.

"Donna is an important addition to our talented and entrepreneurial management team as we focus on establishing a leadership position in the plant-based food sector," said Shawn Moniz, CEO of Plant&Co. "Donna has an impressive track record in the food industry and has done an amazing job with the repackaging, rebranding, and launching a new marketing strategy for Holy Crap breakfast cereals. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Donna as we will build from this success by using our capital and technological resources to grow our own line of plant-based products through both acquisition and internal product development."

Ms. Reddy has a successful track record in the food and beverage sector as the VP of Brand Elevation at GreenSpace Brands, a food and beverage start-up, where she was responsible for overseeing Product Development, Branding, Marketing, and Design of 9 brands across Canada, including Love Child Organics baby food brand. Reddy also worked at Consumer Impact Marketing, a full-service marketing agency, and Universal Studios where she was responsible for driving growth in select retail locations. Reddy is also the recipient of various awards, including the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Mentorships from the University of Guelph, and a 2008 CIM Mark of a Leader Winner for Innovation.

Most recently, Ms. Reddy held the position of President of Holy Crap Foods Inc. Since joining Holy Crap in 2019, she has been instrumental in repositioning the brand and overseeing the rebrand for all four of the Holy Crap breakfast cereal flavours as well as increasing its product development efforts. Reddy also re-established a successful distribution model, developed a close relationship with BuyBC and other BC and Canada-wide enterprises. Due to Reddy's efforts, Holy Crap products are available for sale in many well-known Canadian retailers such as Whole Foods, London Drugs, Save On Foods, Organic Garage, Nature's Emporium, Choices Markets, The Big Carrot, Ambrosia, and Natures Fare Markets, online through its website www.holycrap.com and www.amazon.ca. Donna continues to build a loyal consumer base valuing the importance of each individual consumer interaction with the brand.

About Plant&Co. Brands Ltd.

Plant&Co. Brands Ltd. (CSE: VEGN) (FSE: VGP) (OTC Pink: VGANF) is modern health and wellness company curating delicious plant-based foods. For more information please visit: www.PlantandCo.com.

About Holy Crap Foods Inc.

At Holy Crap Foods Inc. our mission is to create products that create a healthy gut through simple, quality ingredients that ultimately feed the connection between gut and mind. Holy Crap is an organic breakfast cereal for today's consumer that expects their food to work hard for them. Our great tasting cereal helps maintain a healthy gut which creates a happy mind. For more information on our healthy and delicious breakfast cereals please visit: www.HolyCrap.com.

About YamChops

YamChops is a plant-based butcher shop based in Toronto, Ontario. Vegans, vegetarians, flexitarians and even meat enthusiasts love visiting the beautifully curated shop located in the heart of Toronto's food district. Whether customers sample YamChops' Tunaless "Tuna", Chick*n Schnitzel, Szechuan "Beef", Montreal Style "Steak", or browse their vegan grocery market assisted by knowledgeable staff, customers will have an unforgettable experience at YamChops vegan butcher shop. YamChops' mission is to provide extraordinary plant-based foods and provide extraordinary service to its customers, with a vision to expand its plant-based culinary experience and make YamChops the destination of choice for all consumers. For more product information please visit: www.YamChops.com.

For additional information, please contact:

Shawn Moniz

Chief Executive Officer

Plant&Co. Brands Ltd.

ir@plantandco.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by management.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is 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 information" in this news release includes information about the expectations, intentions, plans and future actions of the Company and YamChops. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates 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 anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. There are no assurances that the business plans for Plant&Co. or YamChops described in this news release will come into effect on the terms or time frame described herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73648
Jane Seymour has revealed she was mugged in broad daylight in her early twenties when she arrived in the US for the first time to film James Bond.

The British-American actress, 69, claimed she was later arrested when she tried to fly from Atlanta to Jamaica, but was let off by the authorities when she sobbed that the trip was to shoot scenes for the spy movie.

Jane added that she struggled to be taken seriously as an actress after her role as Bond girl Solitaire in Live and Let Die in 1973.

Speaking to Susannah Constantine on her podcast My Wardrobe Malfunction, she explained: 'I went to New Orleans to do the James Bond film when I was 20 or 21, and I was mugged actually. I was mugged at four o'clock in the afternoon on Bourbon Street.'

Speaking to Susannah Constantine on her podcast My Wardrobe Malfunction, Jane Seymour revealed she was mugged in broad daylight when she first went to America to film James Bond

'Then when I tried to go to Jamaica they stopped me in Atlanta and told me I didn't have the right visa for America, for transit, but I did have a visa that would allow me to go out and work, so I stupidly said, "That's stupid" and almost got arrested. Actually I did.

'They pulled me to a special room and interrogated me and I remember in tears saying, "But if you like James Bond you better let me get on an aeroplane, I'm in the James Bond film and if you don't let me get on the aeroplane there won't be a movie," and they said "OK well just this once, but don't do it again".

'Of course I had a lot of the costumes in my baggage, because they'd asked me to bring the costumes out.'

Mother-of-four Jane also revealed that British film execs initially considered her 'too exotic' for English girl-next-door roles.

Jane added that she struggled to be taken seriously as an actress after her role as Bond girl Solitaire in Live and Let Die in 1973

Jane - whose real name is Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg - was born in Uxbridge, Middlesex, but her London-born father's family hailed from Poland and her mother was Dutch and spent years living in Indonesia.

'I was told when I was an actress in England, I would get to the last choice between me and one other person and there were two things that counted against me,' she said.

'One was that I looked too exotic, so I could only play exotics, why is why I played Solitaire and Persian Princess in Sinbad. And they said I did not look or sound like "the girl next door". So that was it.

'And then if they found out I'd been a Bond girl that would sometimes count against being taken seriously.

Jane - whose real name is Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg - was born in Uxbridge, Middlesex, but her London-born father's family hailed from Poland and her mother was Dutch and spent years living in Indonesia. Pictured in December 2019

After moving to the States permanently in 1976, Jane said she began being offered major movie roles in England by American companies.

'I worked in England after I moved to America,' she said. 'I feel very universal, because I grew up with my mother being a foreigner and I've been in America longer now than I have been in England, but I go back there all the time, my family is there.'

Last year Jane insisted she could easily pass for 25 as she hit back back after producers got a younger actress to play her role in flashback scenes for her new mini-series.

She claimed show bosses originally told her she could play her mid-twenties self in her new role as Eleanor of Aquitaine in Glow and Darkness, in which she stars alongside Joan Collins.

Jane (pictured in July) recently insisted she could pass for 25 as she hit back back after producers got a younger actress to play her role in flashback scenes for her new show

Seymour said the option was then taken away and handed to a younger actress, leaving her fuming.

The actress revealed that thanks to 'rigid self-discipline' and eating just one meal a day she weighs the same as when she was 17.

She also explained that she has never had facial surgery, unlike many of her acting contemporaries.

Last month Jane told People that all four of her husbands left her for other women.

'I never ended the marriages - they did, by finding other people!' the Dancing With The Stars veteran revealed in a candid interview.

Jane is starring opposite Joan Collins (pictured) in new series Glow And Darkness, a medieval drama depicting the life of Saint Francis of Assisi

The actress was wed to Michael Attenborough from 1971 until 1973. She then married to Geoffrey Paner in 1977 but they split in 1978. Next came David Flynn, her spouse from 1981 until 1992. Her last husband was James Keach, whom she was with from 1993 until 2015.

These days she has been dating David Green but she told DailyMail.com in 2018 they have no plans to wed as things are perfect just the way they are. They have been together since 2014.

She described her divorces as 'painful' and 'depressing', but believes they've made her a better person in the long run.
HCL Technologies (NSE:HCLTECH), a leading global technology company, signs a five-year Digital Workplace Service Agreement with Airbus (EPA:AIR). HCL will establish a modernized digital workplace to enhance the user experience and service quality for the majority of Airbus employees globally.

Airbus selected HCL as its preferred partner as it was able to offer the broadest combination of standard functionality and innovation capabilities to generate greater efficiency and improved time to market. HCLs Fluid Workplace Model will empower Airbus to deploy the latest digital technologies. It will also rapidly simplify Airbus existing IT processes and optimization of delivery costs, using unique end-to-end management services to cover the information and operational technology landscape.

Were delighted to be working with Airbus as a key strategic partner in its digital workplace transformation journey. The combination of HCLs scale transformational expertise and management capabilities of IT and OT landscape will enable Airbus to remain at the forefront of innovation and deliver leading-edge user experiences, said Sandeep Saxena, Executive Vice President (UK&I, France & Benelux), HCL Technologies.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Washington: Amid alleged international propaganda to defame the Narendra Modi government over ongoing farmers' protest, the US Administration of President Joe Biden has said that it welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment.

The White House also stated that it acknowledges that peaceful protests are a hallmark of a thriving democracy.

What did the State Department say?



The State Department, while responding to a question on the ongoing farmers' protests in India, said the US encourages that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue. It further indicated that the new Joe Biden Administration is supportive of the Indian government's move to reform the agricultural sector that attracts private investment and greater market access to farmers. A State Department spokesperson said, "In general, the United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment".

"We recognise that peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy and note that the Indian Supreme Court has stated the same," the official said.

MEA rejects international propaganda to defame India

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi issued a statement emphasising that the farmers protests must be seen in the context of India's democratic ethos and polity. The MEA, in its statement, said some vested interest groups have tried to mobilise international support against the country.

It also highlighted that the Parliament of India had passed "reformist legislation" for the agricultural sector, which "a very small section of farmers" have some reservations about and therefore the laws have been kept on hold while talks are held.

The comments from MEA came after several international celebrities, including several American lawmakers, came out in support of the farmers' protests in India. "I am concerned by the reported actions against peaceful demonstrators protesting new agricultural reform laws in India," Congresswoman Haley Stevens said.

In a statement, she encouraged the Indian government and representatives of the protesting farmers to engage in productive discussions. "I will continue to monitor this situation closely. It has been particularly valuable to engage with stakeholders across the district on this topic and I remain appreciative to all who have reached out to share their perspective," Stevens said. Another Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, expressed solidarity with all the farmers protesting for their livelihood across India.

"India must protect their basic democratic rights, allow for the free flow of information, reinstate internet access and release all the journalists detained for covering the protests," she wrote on Twitter.

Remarks by foreign celebrities ill-informed and unwarranted: MEA

India has called the remarks by foreign leaders and organisations on protests by farmers as "ill-informed" and "unwarranted", asserting that the matter pertains to the internal affairs of a democratic country. "Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken.

"The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible," the MEA statement said following some high-profile celebrities tweeting over the agitation by the farmers.

Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at several Delhi border points since November last year, demanding the government to repeal the three farm laws and legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

Defending the three contentious farm laws, the MEA said, "these reforms gave expanded market access and provided greater flexibility to farmers. They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming."

Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said India's new farm laws have the "potential to represent a significant step forward" for reforms in the agriculture sector.

Live TV


By Ritah Kemigisa and Damali Mukhaye

Anti corruption agencies have expressed fear that the fight against corruption and accountability are bound to go silent with the suspension of one of their biggest funders, DGF.

The Democratic Governance Facility, DGF was on the orders of Museveni suspended for among others subverting government programmes and its questioned structure which is exclusively foreign headed.

Speaking to Kfm, the Executive Director of the Anti- Corruption Coalition Uganda Cissy Kagaba says there is no way government will be able to fight corruption if it is closing the civic space of Civil society organizations.

Kagaba says they will not be able to do research and carry out sensitization campaigns about corruption like they use to do and yet government will walk away scot free since there is no one to do the checks and balances.

Robert Ssempala, the Executive Director of Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda adds that DGF has been funding a lot of our outreach programs to empower journalists in terms of their safety and security, doing community engagement on the role of the media, supporting journalists with psychosocial therapy, medication and relocation.

He also says that the suspension will also impact on the toll of workers who have been paid using grants from DGF.
Sino-American rivalry bodes ill for Singapores politics and security but the storm has a few silver linings.

A tech rush of sorts is manifesting with Chinese technology giants like Alibaba, Tencent and Bytedance (the owner of TikTok) expanding their presence in Singapore, alongside their American competitors.

The shift in global value chains creates opportunities for Singapore to reach out to both sides of the Sino-American competition and attract and anchor investment across ASEAN as a non-China alternative. This is notwithstanding that the bifurcation of technology and supply chains would be detrimental to economic efficiency and potentially to the unity of ASEAN if different members align more with one side or another.

The motivating factors for these shifts are mainly geopolitical, and the danger remains that Singapore and other countries will be pressured to align with one side or another. If so, what will Singapore decide? This has been a central geopolitical concern in Singaporean thinking about its security and remained a live question throughout the past year.

Generally, Singapore worked hard to engage with former U.S. president Donald Trumps administration and, compared with many others in the region, is more like-minded about the need to balance against China.

Yet even to Singaporean observers, there have been many signs that suggest a trend of U.S. disengagementmost apparent in the American leaders absence at the annual East Asia Summit, hosted by ASEAN, since 2018. That trend is expected to be reversed to some degree under President Joe Biden.

In contrast, Chinas engagement with the region has continued and indeed stepped up with the Belt and Road Initiative as well as with assistance in dealing with the pandemic. Singapore is actively participating in the financing of many BRI activities and more broadly as a hub for Chinas growing business presence in ASEAN.

Singapores articulation of the Sino-American question is changing, even as it continues fundamentally to advocate for American engagement in the region. In a 2020 Foreign Affairs article on The endangered Asian century, Singapores Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong acknowledged how Chinas stake in the region has grown: Increasingly, and quite understandably, China wants to protect and advance its interests abroad and secure what it sees as its rightful place in international affairs.

The adjustment in comments on the South China Sea is noteworthy: statements made by Singapore immediately after the South China Sea arbitration in 2016 drew a stern reaction from Beijing; by comparison, when U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formalised support for the tribunal ruling rejecting Chinas maritime claims in the South China Sea, Singapore and ASEAN were relatively muted.

More than a few countries in the region are rethinking their policies towards China and the U.S..

For Singapore, while fundamentals remain in place, nuances may be discerned and theres considerable debate and divergence among prominent former diplomats and public intellectuals.

Singapores fundamental position is that countries shouldnt be forced to choose one side or the other, linked to an emphasis on the importance of an open regional architecture, in which influence is never exclusive and deepening ties with one does not mean going against the other.

The ability to engage multilaterally has worked in a rules-based international order that has helped small and middle powers to thrive. Theres concern that this multilateral system is fragmentingand ironically because of actions taken by the U.S., which has been the maker and mainstay of that order.

Many in Singapore remain cautious about talk of a Cold War 2.0; while conflicts didnt occur on Soviet Union or American soil, proxy conflicts were found in the AsiaPacific theatre.

Even short of war, the dangers of a war mentality applied to Sino-American competition are manifold. They include a legitimation of breaking the normal rules so that its only power and might that matter, the forcing of an either/or choice in relations, and the weakening of international institutions.

Singapore has been watchful over the undermining of the Paris climate agreement, and responded by stepping up commitments to address climate change in tandem with partners. Similarly, the weakening of the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization are major concerns. With the weakening of the WTO, Singapore has joined in the multi-party interim appeal arbitration arrangement to the WTOa coalition that is broad but which in Asia initially includes only China, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

In the WHO context, Singapore is notably involved in COVAXa global vaccine initiative to distribute 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines around the world by the end of this year. These efforts point to a wider strategic response that Singapore is making in the current security context: to reach out to and work with other non-great powers, especially ASEAN and Asian partners (with continuing ties with Japan and India and an uptick in engagement with South Korea), as well as the European Union and others further afield.

Most analysis in Singapore points to the clear bipartisan support for the U.S. to continue to be tough on China. In this regard, 2020 was a critical year for the broader re-examination of Singapores relations with both the U.S. and China, and what Singapore and other countries can and should do.

The pandemic has sharpened that awareness and accelerated the trends. Singapore can wish but cant directly improve the U.S. and China relationship. But it has sought to increase its abilities to secure its own position if relations continue to deteriorate. This is not only in dealing with the two great powers, but also in its efforts for regional community, a rules-based international order and working with other countries.

These efforts are set in the context of avoiding a war mentality, and the need to build consistent and steadfast engagement with other countries, taking a multilateral approach across a broad range of issues, especially in recovering and reconnecting in the wake of the pandemic.

For the security not only of Singapore but of many of the countries caught between the U.S. and China, theres nothing more, and nothing less, to be done.
Google Cloud lost US$5.6bn during the year but earnings overall still rose by 20%

( ), the owner of search engine Google, posted record numbers for the final quarter of 2020 after a surge in ad spending.

Revenues in the three months to end-December jumped by 23% over a year ago to US$56.9bn, while for 2020 overall there was a 13% rise to US$182.6bn.

It was the second quarter running that the Google-owner had posted record revenues.

Advertising sales, which includes YouTube, contributed 81% of the fourth-quarter total.

For the first time, Alphabet also split out Google Clouds contribution, which chipped in revenues of US$13bn for the year and US$3.8bn for the quarter.

Group earnings in the final three months soared 68% to US$15.6bn while for 2020 in total Alphabet posted net income of US$41.2bn, a 20% increase even with losses at Google Cloud of US$5.6bn and at what was described as other bets of US$4.48bn.

Ruth Porat, CFO of Google and Alphabet, said in the statement: Our strong fourth-quarter performance, with revenues of $56.9bn, was driven by Search and YouTube, as consumer and business activity recovered from earlier in the year.

"Google Cloud revenues were $13.1bn for 2020, with significant ongoing momentum, she added.

Philipp Schindler, Googles chief business officer, reiterated in a conference call that Youtube was a key driver behind the better-than-expected performance.

Our brand business was hit hard in the early stages of the pandemic, but rebounded in Q3 and into Q4. It really helps advertisers reach a younger audience.

We now reach more 18-to 49-year-olds than all linear TV networks combined, he added.

Google is facing a number of headwinds in the current year, including the possibility of multiple anti-monopoly writs aimed at the dominance of its search engine business.

Shares rose strongly on the results but later eased back to US$1,919.12, a gain of 1.4%.
SHENZHEN, China, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Huntkey has reached a strategic cooperation with space science and technology institute (Shenzhen) in air purification solutions recently.

https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Huntkey-air-purification-solutions-1024x923.jpg

Huntkey's sub-brand Oucica has always been committed to providing professional air purification solutions. The photocatalyst technology Oucica adopted was originally used in Japanese space station air purification. Now Huntkey will deepen relevant researches and promote it in people's daily life.

https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/purification-process-1024x601.png

Why choose photocatalyst technology to clean the air?

1) No consumable materials

Photocatalyst air purifiers generally do not need filters to be replaced, which makes the air purification process more convenient, and also reduces the cost.

2) No secondary pollution

Photocatalyst technology does not use adsorption method to clean the air, but decomposes harmful substances into water and carbon dioxide to achieve the purpose of purification, so there is no problem of secondary pollution.

3) No harmful substance will be generated

Sour smelly gas and ozone harmful UVC light are the drawbacks of traditional air purification. If photocatalyst technology is used, these problem will be solved easily. Carbon dioxide and water are the only substances produced in the whole process.

Why Choose Huntkey?

Compared with the traditional purification solutions, Huntkey has several advantages.

1) The unique photocatalyst air purification solution in the industry

Huntkey uses the exclusive MaSSC photocatalyst technology, which does not produce ozone and ultraviolet radiation, safe and environmentally friendly. Laboratory tests have confirmed that the MaSSC technology effectively kills 146 pathogens and harmful microorganisms, with a purification rate of 99%.

2) Professional R&D team and reliable customer services

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Mumbai, Feb 4 : Actor Abhimanyu Dassani is all set to return on screen with his second release, Shabbir Khan's Nikamma. He says his debut role in the 2018 film Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota taught him to push his craft and take it to the next level.

"It felt good to know that people loved your action in 'Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota', and that made me work harder for my next release, 'Nikamma', which is an all-out action entertainer.," said Abhimanyu, who has been paired opposite budding actress Shirley Setia in the film.

Nikamma also marks the return to screen of Shilpa Shetty after a hiatus of 13 years. She was last seen on the silver screen in the 2007 films, Life In A... Metro and Apne.

Abhimanyu was recently voted as Upcoming Action Hero among the newcomers of Bollywood at Vaayu, the college festival of NMIMS University Mumbai.
LONDON: The UK variant of the coronavirus has developed a new, concerning mutation in a small number of cases, which scientists said makes it similar to the South African and Brazilian variants and could reduce the efficacy of vaccines.

The emergence of the mutation to the variant first discovered in Britain highlights how complicated exiting COVID-19 lockdown will be even once vaccines are rolled out.

Public Health England said there had been 11 reports of the UK variant which feature the E484K mutation, mostly in south-west England.

The E484K mutation, which occurs on the spike protein of the virus, is the same change as has been seen in the South African and Brazilian variants that have caused international concern.

PHE is monitoring the situation closely and all necessary public health interventions are being undertaken, including enhanced contact tracing and control measures," a PHE spokesman said.

Several laboratory studies have found that vaccines and antibody therapy are less effective against the South African variant.

Health minister Matt Hancock said it was too early to tell the impact of variants on vaccines, but mutations of concern had been reported in Bristol and Liverpool.

We must continue to act with caution, not least because of the renewed challenges posed by new variants of the coronavirus," he told lawmakers.

Calum Semple, who is part of a panel that advises the British government, told BBC radio that E484K was the mutation of most concern", and had occurred spontaneously" in the UK variant.

The name E484K, in laymans terms, is like map coordinates. The number 484 is the exact location of the mutation, the letter E is the amino acid that it was originally and the letter K is the amino acid that it has mutated to.

Concern over the South African variant, with its E484K mutation, has already prompted authorities in England to begin a door-to-door mass testing drive in areas where cases of the variant have been found in people with no link to South Africa, while mandatory quarantine in hotels for arrivals from South Africa is yet to come into force.

Though the number of reported cases of the UK variant with the concerning mutation are small, scientists said that it demonstrated how Britains high prevalence of cases meant that it was not enough simply to prevent new variants being imported.

This report would seem to suggest that under conditions of very high levels of virus replication even the most stringent of border controls, although they may delay spread, are unlikely to prevent the appearance of new variants," said Jonathan Stoye, virologist at The Francis Crick Institute.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor


London, Feb 4 : The coronavirus infection rate in the UK is "still alarmingly high" to consider relaxing social distancing guidelines, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned.

Addressing a virtual Downing Street news briefing on Wednesday, Johnson said that 90 per cent of those aged over 75 in England had received the first dose of a Covid vaccine, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Prime Minister said that although the number in hospital was beginning to fall, the National Health Service (NHS) was still under "huge pressure".

Earlier in the day, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said 10 million people in Britain have been given the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, which means 15 per cent of the population have had their first coronavirus jab.

Joining Johnson for the press briefing, Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty said it looks as if Britain is past the peak of its current wave.

"I think that most of my colleagues think we are past the peak. That doesn't mean you can never have another peak, but at this point in time, provided people continue to follow the guidelines, we are on the downward slope of cases, hospitalization and of deaths in all four nations of the UK, so I think we do think, at this point, this peak at least, we are past," he said.

The country aims to deliver a first dose to 15 million of the most vulnerable by mid-February and to offer all adults their first dose by autumn.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.

Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

As of Thursday, the country's overall caseload and death toll stood at 3,882,972 and 109,547, respectively.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Jenn Ridder

Jenn Ridder, who was national states director of Biden for President, has joined Precision Strategies to lead its mobilization & campaign management practice.

During the campaign, Ridder led a team of 3,000 staffers in 32 battleground and expansion states and oversaw a $120M budget.

That push led to a record vote for Biden/Harris amid a political environment challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to joining Team Biden, Ridder was campaign manager for the short-lived Democratic presidential primary run by then-Montana Governor Steve Bullock.

In 2018, she handled the successful campaign of Jared Polis for Colorado governor.

At Precision, Ridder will provide clients with organizing, data targeting, political strategy and movement-building expertise.

Stephanie Cutter, co-founder of Precision, called Ridder one of the best and most sophisticated campaign managers across both political parties.

Jen OMalley Dillon, who ran Bidens campaign, is a co-founder of Precision. She moved to the White House as deputy chief of staff.
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Congress clearly had an awareness around the extent to which the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program was being manipulated by fraudsters to access benefits, and have tasked the U.S. Department of Labor and states unemployment agencies to put some additional safeguards around verification processes, Richards said in an interview with the Tribune last week.

Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged with killing two people and injuring another during demonstrations on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, listens to defense attorney John Pierce during an extradition hearing in Lake County in Waukegan, Ill., on Oct. 30, 2020. (Nam Y. Huh/Pool via Reuters/File Photo)

Kenosha Prosecutors Seek Arrest Warrant for Accused Shooter Rittenhouse

Prosecutors in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, have asked a judge to issue a new arrest warrant for Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teen charged with shooting three people, killing two of them, during unrest in August 2020 in Kenosha.

In a motion filed with Judge Bruce Schroeder on Feb. 3, the prosecutors alleged that Rittenhouse violated his bail conditions because several attempts to contact the teenager have failed and that he didnt inform the court of his change of address within 48 hours of moving.

The prosecutors have asked the judge to order Rittenhouse to update his address immediately, issue a warrant for his arrest, and boost Rittenhouses bail by $200,000.

The motion indicates that prosecutors learned Rittenhouse was no longer living at his Antioch, Illinois, address after the court mailed him a notice and it was returned as undeliverable and, on Feb. 2, Kenosha police visited the address Rittenhouse had filed with the court only to be greeted at the door by someone else. The man residing at the address told police he had been living in the rented apartment since mid-December 2020.

Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger said the address discrepancy is serious, writing in the motion, rarely does our community see accused murderers roaming about freely, Fox 6 reported.

Rittenhouse attorney Mark Richards filed a response to the prosecutors motion on Feb. 3, saying the teenager and his family are at an undisclosed safe house due to death threats. Richards said he offered to give prosecutors the new address in November 2020 if they would keep it secret, but they refused. He said Rittenhouse has remained in constant contact with him.

Richards said Rittenhouse has made all his court appearances since posting a $2 million bond in November 2020 and being allowed to walk free.

The teenager is accused of fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz during a demonstration on Aug. 25, 2020, days after the police-involved shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha.

Rittenhouse told police he was attacked while he was guarding a business and that he fired in self-defense. He faces multiple charges, including intentional homicide, reckless endangerment, and being a minor in possession of a firearm. If convicted, Rittenhouse faces up to life in prison.

His case has taken on political overtones, with supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement painting Rittenhouse as a trigger-happy white supremacist, while conservatives upset over property destruction during protests have portrayed him as a patriot exercising his right to bear arms during unrest.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : Zoom users can now control their meeting room experienced from their mobile devices, eliminating the need for users to touch the shared in-room controller.

The video chat app has announced the general availability of new Zoom Rooms innovations that will help organisations safely re-enter the office and sustain an 'everywhere workforce'.

"Pair your iOS or Android mobile client to a Zoom Room, easily join meetings on the Zoom Rooms directly from your client and your mobile client is automatically placed in companion mode during the meeting," the company said in an update late on Wednesday.

With the Zoom Rooms Controller app on your mobile, you'll have access to additional room controls, including the ability to start or join a meeting and full audio, video, and participant controls.

With supported cameras, Zoom users can see how many people are in a room in real time on the Dashboard and on the Scheduling Display, to ensure social distancing mandates are met and meeting spaces aren't overcrowded.

"As the world plans to safely reopen businesses, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and government entities, we are focused on innovating across our platform to support their needs," said Oded Gal, Chief Product Officer of Zoom.

Zoom users can also monitor a room's environment and air quality.

"Neat Bar", a Zoom Rooms Appliance, includes an advanced set of capabilities called "Neat Sense", which lets you monitor your meeting rooms for things like air quality, humidity, carbon dioxide, and volatile organic compounds to keep occupants safe and healthy.

People can now send a Zoom Rooms for Touch whiteboard to Zoom Chat or email.

"If it's a personal Zoom Room, you can also send it to your chat groups. This helps streamline content sharing outside the meeting room, greatly improving cohesiveness in the new hybrid workforce," the company said.

-IANS na/

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
RTHK: Myanmar junta blocks Facebook, WhatsApp

Myanmar's junta blocked Facebook in the name of ensuring stability on Thursday and activists said at least three people were arrested at a street protest against the coup that ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi faces charges for illegally importing communications equipment after the army takeover on Monday that has drawn Western condemnation and calls on the junta to respect her party's landslide victory in November elections.

Opposition to the junta has emerged very strongly on Facebook, which is the country's main internet platform and underpins communications for business and government. Facebook's WhatsApp messaging was also blocked.

Facebook was still available sporadically and demonstrators in the second city of Mandalay used it to livestream the first such street protest since the coup in a country with a bloody history of crackdowns on demonstrations.

"People's protest against military coup," read one of the banners.

The group of around 20 people chanted: "Our arrested leaders, release now, release now."

Three people were arrested after the protest, three separate student groups said.

The social network has also been used to share images of a campaign of disobedience by staff at government hospitals across the country, with doctors stopping work or wearing ribbons in the red colour of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

Pictures shared on Wednesday showed workers at the agriculture ministry joining the campaign too.

Other signs of anger have emerged. For two nights, people in Yangon and other cities have banged on pots and pans and honked car horns, with images circulating widely on Facebook.

"Lights are shining in the dark," said Min Ko Naing, a veteran of past campaigns against military rule, in a call to action. "We need to show how many people are against this unfair coup."

The Ministry of Communications and Information said Facebook, used by half of Myanmar's more than 53 million people, would be blocked until February 7 because users were "spreading fake news and misinformation and causing misunderstanding". (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The French state failed to take sufficient action to fight climate change, a court has ruled in a case brought by a group of non-governmental organisations (NGO).

The Paris administrative court, in its ruling, recognised ecological damage linked to climate change and held the French state responsible for failing to fully meet its goals in reducing greenhouse gases.

President Emmanuel Macron, who has been vocal about his support for climate change action, pushed in December to beef up the European Unions 2030 targets to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 55% compared with 1990 levels  up from the previous 40% target.

Vehicles in Paris during a pollution spike (Michel Euler/AP)

But Oxfam France, Greenpeace France and two other organisations say Mr Macrons lobbying for global climate action is not backed up by sufficient domestic measures to curb emissions blamed for global warming.

France is missing its national targets that had been set under the 2015 Paris Agreement to curb climate change, and the country has delayed most of its efforts until after 2020.

The court ruled there was a link between ecological damage and deficiencies by the state in respecting its own goals.

It decided that awarding money was not appropriate in this case. Instead, reparations should centre on fixing the failure to respect goals for lowering greenhouse gases.

The four NGOs who brought the case called the decision a first historic victory for the climate as well as a victory for truth, saying that until now France had denied the insufficiency of its climate policies.

French president Emmanuel Macron has been vocal about his support for climate change action (Justin Tallis/PA)

The court gave itself two months to decide on measures to repair the problem and stop it from getting worse.

But it did ask the French state to pay each of the four organisations bringing the action a symbolic euro each, a common practice in France.

The government said in a statement that it took note of the decision, and provided a list of actions in the pipeline to allow France to respect in the future the objectives it set.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal went further, acknowledging that the country had fallen behind on its goals.

Its perfectly fair to say that our country has been lagging behind these past years in the fight against climate change, he said.

But he added that we are tackling these issues.

Among other things, he cited 30 billion euro (26 billion) earmarked for greener energy policies.
Before deputy Clyde Kerr III took his own life Monday outside the Lafayette Parish Sheriffs Office, he left haunting final words in a series of social media videos.

Kerr, a father and military veteran, was 43 years old.

In Kerrs videos, he talked directly to the camera on a range of issues, from police brutality against Black people and mental health needs in policing, to division in society and childrens exposure to murder, violence and other negative or traumatic influences. He also describes his struggle to reconcile his identity as a Black man with his profession while hinting at his impending suicide.

Being a Black man in law enforcement can be difficult, said Lafayette City Marshal Reggie Thomas, the first Black person elected to a citywide position in Lafayette.

Thomas said he watched some of the videos Kerr posted and could tell the man was deeply concerned about the way police work is going. One video that particularly resonated was of Kerr relating a conversation he had with his son in the aftermath of George Floyd's death at the hands of police.

"He had to talk to his son about how you have to react with a police officer," Thomas said. "Nobody should have to have that conversation."

Kerrs videos have garnered thousands of views since his death and are catalyzing conversation online and in the community about addressing mental health needs and the current state of policing.

Kerr said he was done serving a system that doesn't care about people like him.

"You have no idea how hard it is to put a uniform on in this day and age with everything that's going on," he said.

"My entire life has been in the service of other people ... y'all entrust me to safeguard your little ones, your small ones, the thing that's most precious to you, and I did that well. I passed security clearance in the military ... but that has allowed me to see the inner workings of things."

The videos show a man who professed he was upset by the state of society: Ive had enough.

While Kerrs videos focused on the outside world, he made small statements referencing personal turmoil. He spoke on the trauma of working the night of Lafayette Police Cpl. Michael Middlebrooks death and persevering through struggles in his life. According to court records, Kerr and his wife divorced in 2016, reconciled and again divorced in 2020.

But in his videos Kerr insisted, repeatedly, that his decision to kill himself was a conscious choice made in his right mind as a protest. He also said the need for dramatic and bold action was made clear to him a week before his death and intimated it was part of a higher calling. He said he would pass this baton to the next guy if he could, but this was his mission.

Will Sutton: Lafayette deputy Clyde Kerr's 2020 heartbreak, racist 'justice' and our pain Like many of us, Im sure Lafayette Parish Deputy Clyde Kerr III was looking forward to the new year, putting 2020 behind. Last year was so ba

He cited the deaths of Black people at the hands of police: Botham Jean, shot in his own apartment in Dallas in 2018; George Floyd in Minneapolis; Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky; and Trayford Pellerin, who was killed by Lafayette Police Department officers in August.

"If this feels right to you as a person, then something is wrong with you," he said.

"I understand we have a tough job, but we signed up for this. We need help. Because when you deal with the bottom rung of society, that does not give us an excuse to just do whatever you want, and that's what we're doing and we're not being held accountable."

In two of the videos, taken on Friday, Kerr sat in his cruiser outside his assigned schools; children could be heard on the playground in the background, as Kerr mentioned sharing a last wave with the students though they were unaware this would be their final interaction with him.

Blue Rolfes, spokesperson for the Diocese of Lafayette, said the St. Genevieve community is reeling from the loss and school leaders are organizing counseling sessions for students and staff.

[Deputy Clyde Kerr] was well known for his big smile, frequent conversations with students and staff, and friendly fist bumps. We will continue to keep him and his family in our prayers. He will be greatly missed, St. Genevieve school leaders said in a newsletter to parents.

Kerrs statements on mental health, particularly in policing, struck a chord with Thomas. Early in his 30-year career with the Lafayette Police Department, Thomas said, there was a stigma surrounding any officer who sought counseling, noting that "you were looked upon as being weak."

But that has changed in recent years.

"We realized we need to do something because, nationally, a lot of officers are committing suicide," he said.

Today, LPD requires any officer who is involved in a "critical incident" to get counseling. He also said officers can get counseling without letting the department know.

"It can be anonymous," he said. "The department still pays the bills, but there is no name associated with it."

Thomas suggested law enforcement agencies may need to do more.

"Should it be something we do annually? Why not? We qualify on our weapons two times a year," he said. "There are officers who've been with the police department for 30 years who have never seen a counselor. Maybe we should require counseling once a year for everyone, not just those who have been involved in critical incidents."

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Thomas said law enforcement agencies also need to have difficult conversations about the issues Kerr raised in his videos.

"Leaders of the agencies have to sit down and talk about what we're going to do differently in policing our communities," he said. "We have to seriously talk about local police reform. Not nationally  let's talk about Lafayette. Let's listen to the citizens."

'A natural leader'

Clyde Rudolph Kerr III was many things.

"Rudy" was a son of New Orleans, his dad the famed New Orleans jazz trumpeter and educator Clyde Kerr Jr., who passed away in 2010. Both men were St. Augustine High School Purple Knights.

Kerr was a soldier who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, a lawman, and a hero to the students at St. Genevieve School, where he was a school resource officer. Kerr joined the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office in June 2015 and had served as a patrol deputy and SWAT team member before joining the school resource officer program, according to a statement from the agency.

My heart goes out to Deputy Kerr, his immediate family and to all of the brothers and sisters he has at the sheriffs office. We will do everything in our power to support our employees as we all grieve, Sheriff Mark Garber said in the statement.

Todd Dwyer and Kerr became friends after working at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Police Department together in the early 2000s. Kerr would visit the Dwyers home every week, playing with their 8 and 4-year-old children, cooking out or dreaming up his next big plan. Kerr was disciplined but also had an infectious energy, the kind of guy everyone wanted to know and be friends with, his friend said.

No matter where he was in the world, what was going on, everybody was always smiling who was around him, Dwyer said.

The construction safety specialist said Kerr was the friend he went to for difficult conversations and hard truths  about race, politics, religion and the world their children were growing up in. Dwyer said the men didnt keep secrets from one another. He and his wife noticed a shift in Kerr in the last two weeks, but the lawman was never explicit about taking his life.

Dwyer said in conversations about struggles and life they thought he was considering a career change or other life move  not suicide. He said its possible there was unspoken turmoil under Kerrs sunny facade, but there are too many what-ifs well never have answers to now.

I just think if I could have 10 more minutes to try to talk him out of it, and if [policing issues] was his point and what he was trying to draw attention to, the thing Id press on him ... in his career that he currently does, the lives he touches ... he has that chance or that position to make a difference in each one of those kids lives each year, no matter how little time they have, Dwyer said.

Dwyer said hes still trying to process his initial grief and is focused on supporting his own children and Kerrs sons as they adjust to life without their father. Kerrs longtime friend said he has not watched the 43-year-olds suicide tapes, and doesnt plan to for some time, but did see a brief snippet. He barely recognized his best friend, he said.

The face and the eyes that I saw in just the two seconds of watching it was nowhere near the person that I knew for the last 20 years. It was like whoever that was  it was not Rudy. Hed already checked out, Dwyer said.

Calvin Richard, who graduated from St. Augustine a year ahead of Kerr, recalled how he and Kerr had thoughtful discussions about the need to reform law enforcement in the U.S. following George Floyd's murder last year. But he said Kerr at the time gave no indication that he was as distressed as he was in his final days.

"You wouldn't see this coming," Richard said. "We never had any conversations of this being on his mind."

The Marble Falls, Texas resident remembered Kerr as a capable man and fast learner who was able to take command of the tasks before him. Richard said as teens the two worked a summertime job together in the Orleans Parish Civil District Courts records room and he was impressed by how swiftly Kerr mastered the particulars of the job as the junior employee.

"I could see he was a natural leader, Richard said.

Richard said the famously tight-knit St. Augustine community was collectively grieving. Perhaps the most obvious indication was the many alums who had switched their social media avatars to the school logo with a black ribbon around it.

Duson Police Chief Kip Judice, a former sheriffs office sergeant who said he recruited Kerr to agency, said he was also shocked to hear of Kerrs suicide.

Clyde was a warrior. Clyde was a guy who I would go into any situation with as backup and not have a worry in the world, not have to worry about my back, Judice said. When I got notified, my response was absolutely impossible. I thought someone spelled the name wrong or something.

Resources

The sheriff's office said crisis intervention team members are available to provide counseling and support services to deputies and family members impacted by the news. The statement said year-round counseling and mental health services are also available.

Kerrs death and the events leading to his suicide are under investigation, LPSO said.

If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, here are some resources:

Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255). It's a free, 24/7 confidential service that provides people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, or those around them, with support, information and local resources.

Text "START" to 741741, the Crisis Text Line.

Call the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 (press 1) or text a message to 838255. It connects veterans and service members in crisis and their families and friends with qualified, caring U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs responders through a confidential toll-free hotline, online chat or text 24/7.

Gay, lesbian and transgender youth can call the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386 anytime; from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Central time on Thursdays and Fridays, they can text "Trevor" to 202-304-1200 to start talking.

Advocate staff writers Kristin Askelson, Ben Myers and Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed to this report.
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Current drilling on the Marban project focuses on expanding mineralization outside of the proposed pit areas outlined in the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") released on September 08, 2020 . The 2020-2021 drilling program consists of 50,000 metres to test extensions of the deposits and zones outside of the PEA pit areas. New drilling results from seven drill holes include:

Drilling Highlights:

1.2 g/t Au over 9.7 metres in hole O3MA-20-012 and 2.0 g/t Au over 5.4 metres in hole O3MA-20-015 in a new zone named Golden Bridge Zone

over in hole and over in hole in a new zone named 1.5 g/t Au over 6.3 metres in hole O3MA-20-028 near-surface outside of Kierens PEA pit shell

over in hole near-surface outside of Kierens PEA pit shell 34.8 g/t Au over 1.2 metres in hole O3MA-20-013 near-surface inside the Kierens PEA pit shell

over in hole near-surface inside the Kierens PEA pit shell 13.5 g/t Au over 1.3 metres and 2.8 g/t Au over 4.3 metres in hole O3MA-20-013 associated with albitized dykes

over and over in hole associated with albitized dykes 4.6 g/t Au over 1.2 metres in hole O3MA-20-012, including 9.6 g/t Au over 0.5 metre at Gold Hawk

A 3D-model of the Malartic property and the Marban project is available on the Company's website at https://o3mining.com/presentations/drill-results.

"Late last year, we published a positive PEA on Marban and committed to making it even better through continued exploration. By investing the time and money into our drill program we continue to grow the various Marban deposits and the results will be included with the next resource update, which will underline how the development of Marban is becoming an even more attractive possibility. Drilling has successfully intercepted mineralization in new areas including what we think is a new parallel structure to Marban called Golden Bridge, which after more work, could be brought into the project economics and further add to the benefits of a future production scenario," said President and CEO Jose Vizquerra.

The new Golden Bridge zone discovery is defined by three drill holes covering an area of 175 metres by 100 metres at 175 metres vertical depth and remains open to the west, at depth, and up to the surface. O3 Mining believes that the near surface Golden Bridge zone offers the potential to generate a new open pit resource, just 200 metres from the PEA Norlartic pit. Initial interpretation suggests that the Golden Bridge zones are associated with an east-west trending splay of the Marbenite and Norbenite shears. If proven, this would offer a lateral exploration potential of an additional 650 metres along the Golden Bridge structure. The two intercepts associated with albitized dykes in O3MA-20-013 are 65 meters apart in the hole and are located at a vertical depth of 450 metres on average. The zones remain open laterally and at depth.

The intercept in hole O3MA-20-028 expands the near-surface mineralization 30 metres east of previously reported intercepts in holes O3MA-20-005 and O3MA-20-006 (see press release November 03, 2020).The intercept in hole O3MA-20-013 within the Kierens PEA pit shell shows the high-grade nature of mineralization, which will be beneficial to the project economics. The intercept at Gold Hawk supports the continuity of the zone over 75 metres down dip from the previously reported high-grade intercept in hole O3MA-20-008 (see press release November 24, 2020).

The primary objective of these holes was to cross the Kierens-Norlatic corridor at shallow depth while drilling extensions at depth of the Gold Hawk zone. These new results suggest that the Kierens and Norlartic ore bodies come closer to the surface than previously interpreted and, could potentially connect when properly delineated. Additionally, the discovery of the Golden Bridge zone shows the potential to expand resources associated with splay structures connecting the Norbenite and Marbenite shears. A total of 38 drill holes totalling 20,591 meters have been drilled since the beginning of the campaign in August 2020 at the Marban Project, focusing on the Kierens, Kierens NW, Gold Hawk, Orion, MK, North Shear, North North, and Marban NE zones. Assay results from 27 drill holes are pending. Now that the winter conditions allow accessing humid lands, the focus will shift over to the Marbenite Deep, Marban East Deep (both adjacent to Marban pit) as well as at North North and North Shear. Follow-up drilling on the intercepts released today will occur during the summer months as the Company prioritizes areas only accessible during winter.

Table 1: Drill Hole Intercepts (only intercepts above 5 g/t Au * m are reported, cut-off 0.3 g/t Au above 200 m and 1.0 g\t Au below 200 m)

Drill Hole From To Interval Au (g/t) Zone O3MA-20-011 42.0 55.5 13.5 1.4 Kierens O3MA-20-011 63.0 64.5 1.5 5.9 Kierens

O3MA-20-013 36.2 37.4 1.2 34.8 Kierens O3MA-20-013 43.6 46.6 3.0 2.3 Kierens O3MA-20-018 19.0 20.0 1.0 9.4 Kierens O3MA-20-028 49.8 56.1 6.3 1.5 Kierens (outside of pits) O3MA-20-012 589.8 591.0 1.2 4.6 Gold Hawk Incl. 589.8 590.3 0.5 9.6 Gold Hawk O3MA-20-012 185.8 195.5 9.7 1.2 Golden Bridge O3MA-20-015 205.8 211.2 5.4 2.0 Golden Bridge O3MA-20-013 460.0 461.3 1.3 13.5 Albitized dyke O3MA-20-013 524.4 528.7 4.3 2.8 Albitized dyke

NOTE: True width determination is currently unknown but is estimated at 65-80% of the reported core length interval for the zones.

Table 2: Drill Hole Details

Drill Hole ID Azimuth () Dip () Length (m) UTM E UTM N O3MA-20-007 211 -71 744 276523 5337866 O3MA-20-011 209 -72 66 276544 5337900 O3MA-20-012 211 -71 744 276523 5337866 O3MA-20-013 206 -73 912 276480 5337934 O3MA-20-015 187 -68 658 276337 5337961 O3MA-20-018 210 -67 729 276372 5337985 O3MA-20-028 210 -43 162 276915 5337649

The Kierens zone has been intersected at shallow depth in four drill holes. Holes O3MA-20-011 and O3MA-20-013 hit the Kierens zone in the middle of the proposed Kierens pit and confirmed the continuity of the mineralization. Hole O3MA-20-028 is located 175 m SE of the Kierens proposed pit limit and returned 1.5 g/t Au over 6.5 m expanding the open-pit potential further east. The three holes intersected quartz-calcite stockwork associated with up to 5% disseminated pyrite in a basaltic unit crosscut by gabbroic dykes. The Kierens zone is within the hanging wall of the Norbenite shear located at the contact with the ultramafic rocks. Hole O3MA-20-018 intersected the Kierens zone at the western extremity of the proposed pit. It intersected a stockwork of quartz-calcite veins related to gabbroic dykes hosted in sheared komatiite that returned 9.4 g/t Au over 1.0 m.

The Marbenite shear is separated from the Norbenite shear by a 150 m thick tabular granodiorite intrusion. During the fall, O3MA-20-001 intersected stockwork quartz calcite veins in a weakly sericitized and pyritized portion of the granodiorite that yielded 4.4 g/t Au over 1.5 m (see press release November 24, 2020). Holes O3MA-20-012 and O3MA-20-015 show that the previously observed stockwork forms a continuous structure within the granodiorite now recognized as the Golden Bridge zone. Both holes intersected a stockwork consisting of 15% quartz-calcite veins associated with disseminated pyrite as well as molybdenite stringers. Hole O3MA-20-012 intersected 1.2 g/t Au over 9.7 m and hole O3MA-20-015 returned values of 2.0 g/t Au and 2.0 g/t Ag over 5.4 m. The new mineralized zone remains open at depth, up-dip, and 650 m to the west. Follow-up holes will be drilled next summer on the up-dip and westward extensions.

Hole O3MA-20-013 crosscut a series of albitized dykes that resulted in strong biotization of the surrounding ultramafic rocks. Gold is found associated with the biotized ultramafic rocks with few quartz-calcite veinlets as well as within the dykes. The first intercept returned 13.5 g/t Au over 1.3 m where mineralization is restricted to the biotite zone, while the second intercept of 2.8 g/t Au over 4.3 m is related to the dyke and its altered walls.

Hole O3MA-20-012 intersected the Gold Hawk zone 75 m below the high-grade intercept of hole O3MA-20-008 that returned a spectacular grade of 383 g/t over 2.0 m (see press release November 24, 2020). The mineralization in hole O3MA-20-012 related to the Gold Hawk zone yielded an intercept of 4.6 g/t Au over 1.2 m consisting of a 15 cm quartz-calcite-chlorite vein within an iron-rich basalt in contact with a mafic dyke in the hanging wall of the Marbenite shear. The vein is related to a high-grade interval of 9.6 g/t Au over 0.5 m. The geological context is the same as in hole O3MA-20-008 and shows the Gold Hawk zone's depth potential depth potential of the Gold Hawk zone.

Figure 1: Malartic Property Drilling Map

Figure 2: Marban Project Drilling Map

Figure 3: Longitudinal Section - NE

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed, prepared, and approved by Mr. Louis Gariepy. (OIQ #107538), VP Exploration, who is a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

Quality Control and Reporting Protocols

True width determination is currently unknown but is estimated at 65-80% of the reported core length interval for the zones. Assays are uncut except where indicated. Intercepts occur within geological confines of major zones but have not been correlated to individual vein domains at this time. Half-core samples are shipped to Agat laboratory in Val-d'Or, Quebec, and Mississauga, Ontario for assaying. The core is crushed to 75% passing -2 mm (10 mesh), a 250 g split of this material is pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns (200 mesh) and 50 g is analyzed by Fire Assay (FA) with an Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) finish. Samples assaying >10.0 g/t Au are re-analyzed with a gravimetric finish using a 50 g charge. Commercial certified standard material and blanks are systematically inserted by O3 Mining's geologists into the sample chain after every 18 core samples as part of the QA/QC program. Third-party assays are submitted to other designated laboratories for 5% of all samples. Drill program design, Quality Assurance/Quality Control ("QA/QC"), and interpretation of results are performed by qualified persons employing a QA/QC program consistent with NI 43-101 and industry best practices.

About O3 Mining Inc.

O3 Mining Inc., an Osisko Group company, is a gold explorer and mine developer ready to produce from its highly prospective gold camps in Quebec, Canada. O3 Mining benefits from the support, previous mine-building success, and expertise of the Osisko team as it grows towards being a gold producer with several multi-million ounce deposits in Quebec.

O3 Mining is well-capitalized and owns a 100% interest in all its properties (133,557 hectares) in Quebec. O3 Mining trades on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX.V: OIII) and OTC Markets (OTCQX: OIIIF). The company is focused on delivering superior returns to its shareholders and long-term benefits to its stakeholders. Further information can be found on our website at https://o3mining.com/

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that is based on expectations, estimates, projections, and interpretations as at the date of this news release. The information in this news release about the transaction; and any other information herein that is not a historical fact may be "forward-looking information". Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, interpretations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "interpreted", "management's view", "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 information and are intended to identify forward-looking information. This forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Corporation, at the time it was made, involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the companies to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, risks relating to the restart of operations; further steps that might be taken to mitigate the spread of COVID-19; the impact of COVID-19 related disruptions in relation to the Corporation's business operations including upon its employees, suppliers, facilities and other stakeholders; uncertainties and risk that have arisen and may arise in relation to travel, and other financial market and social impacts from COVID-19 and responses to COVID 19. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the parties cannot assure shareholders and prospective purchasers of securities that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither the Corporation nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such forward-looking information. The Corporation does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

SOURCE O3 Mining Inc.

Related Links

https://o3mining.com/


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Full results from Friday's state track meets

Get your full results from the AA, A and B boys and girls state track meets here.

Sixteen out of every 100 Kenyans are likely to get cancer before the age of 75, and 12 are also likely to die before the same age, new statistics show.

Globally, 19.3 million people were diagnosed with cancer and 10 million died of the disease in 2020, according to the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Breast, lung, colorectum, prostate, and stomach cancers account for 8.9 million cases globally.

According to the latest report -- Globocan 2020 -- breast, cervix, prostate, oesophagus, and colorectum were the leading types of cancers in the country. In Kenya, the new global data suggests that the burden of the disease has risen to 42,116 cases and 27,092 deaths. This means that there were about 115 cases and 74 deaths daily.

Most prevalent

Children and rural populations are increasingly becoming more vulnerable to cancer than it was earlier thought. Further, the most frequent age for female patients was 52, while for men it was 62. The most prevalent cancer in women was breast cancer and cancer of the cervix, while for men it was cancers of the esophagus and prostate.

To investigate demand and supply factors for cancer control, the study surveyed seven of the 47 counties in Kenya in 2013 and 2014. It sampled 1,048 patients with cancer records and 12 healthcare facilities.

Accessing cancer screening and treatment was one of the major hurdles as most cancer care services in Kenya were concentrated within a 5kilometre radius of each other in Nairobi.

Vaccination of girls

Cervical and breast cancers continue to record the leading numbers of death in the country, followed by cancers of the oesophagus, prostate, and stomach. Last year, the country launched a mass vaccination of girls against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer.

However, due to Covid-19, a severe decline in the coverage of HPV vaccine for 10-year-old girls, which currently stands at 46 per cent, was recorded. Kenya officially has a free vaccination programme with two doses, six months apart, for all 10-year-old girls.

The pandemic, says Prof Jessie Githanga, a consulting oncologist at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), has worsened the situation.

"Things have been very difficult at KNH because most patients went from early stage to late stage because they couldn't access treatment. When they test positive for coronavirus, it's more difficult for them," noted Prof Githanga.

In men, prostate, oesophagus, colorectum, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and stomach are the leading cancers in the number of recorded cases while breast, cervix, oesophagus, colorectum, and ovarian cancers are leading in women. Stomach, colon, rectum, breast, and cervical cancers were typically considered diseases of the old, with most diagnosed in Kenyans aged more than 50 years.

But oncologists at KNH, which treats a majority of cancer patients in Kenya, are recording a worrying trend -- the patients are getting younger by the day and most come in when the disease has advanced, reducing their chances of surviving five years after diagnosis.

Colon and rectal cancer

Stomach, colon and rectal cancer is increasingly affecting younger patients in Kenya. For a type of cancer that dominated the diagnosis of older patients, doctors are warning that the disease is fast rising in patients below 53 years.

"Most people seeking treatment for colon and rectal cancer in all the major hospitals, both public and private, are presenting with metastases and locally advanced disease. Rectal cancer in Kenya looks bad. Very bad. We are talking sacral adherent, prostate involvement, fistula, perianal ulceration and pelvic side wall fixation. The disease is also increasingly affecting younger people," Dr Alex Muturi, a surgeon, recently posted on his Facebook

A metastatic cancer, or metastatic tumour, is one that has spread from where it started into other areas of the body. Dr Muturi added that the numbers are rising because of two things: lack of a screening programme, and high cost of diagnosis. This is coupled with lack of a high index of suspicion both from the patients and doctors.

"The truth is we do not have a colon cancer screening programme in the country. We do not have a screening programme for any cancer.

Although the country has national cancer screening guidelines, Dr Muturi explained in his post that a programme would enable anyone who needs a test to get it based on risk dependent prioritisation.

"A national screening programme means cost of care and therefore the ability to afford is not the number one determinant of being screened."

Colon cancer

Colon cancer is a type of cancer that begins in the large intestine (colon). The colon is the final part of the digestive tract. It usually begins as small, non-cancerous (benign) clumps of cells called polyps that form on the inside of the colon. Over time, some of these polyps can become cancer.

Research conducted for five years by a team of oncologists in patients with colon and stomach cancer showed that colon and rectal cancer cases in Kenya are growing, with an estimated 2,724 new cases and 1,721 deaths every year. The study was conducted from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2018 at the KNH cancer treatment centre and the referral hospital's records department of 478 patient charts --248 males and 230 females. The mean age of patients with colorectal cancer was 53.

Dr Andrew Odhiambo, an oncologist and lecturer at the University of Nairobi, says in patients diagnosed with colon and rectal cancer, 18 per cent of the 182 cases died within the first year of being diagnosed.

"Colorectal cancer occurs in a relatively young population in our country and most patients present with advanced disease," said Dr Odhiambo, adding that young patients have more aggressive disease.

Leading counties

Further, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Murang'a and Nairobi counties lead with the highest prevalence cases (187) in the country. Majority of the cases presented with signs of blood in their stool, a condition known as hematochezia, the doctors noted. The records also showed that the patients had abdominal pain, changes in bowel movement, and their intestines were obstructed.

Gastric cancer, also known as stomach cancer in Kenya, has also been documented to present at a younger age and in advanced stages, resulting in poor patient outcomes. Results by Dr Mohamed Maalim, a physician, and a team of oncologists, of 438 patients, showed that many died within six months of diagnosis. Colon cancer is more common in women, with about 2,724 Kenyans getting it every year, according to the World Health Organisation's Globocan data.

Covid-19 pandemic

Making matters worse is the coronavirus pandemic, which has further delayed diagnosis and treatment for many patients.

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"There was a patient with skin cancer who needed surgery. However, to do the procedure, they needed a pre-admission Covid test, which unfortunately turned positive and as a result, the procedure had to be postponed until such a time when their results were negative," described Dr Odhiambo.

He also said restriction on movement during the pandemic saw many patients' access to treatment greatly impacted, especially among newly diagnosed patients.

"Patients who had no faith in county chemotherapy care had no choice but to believe in the system, while those who only relied on India had to find other countries that accepted patients," added Dr Odhiambo, saying that home care services also increased out of fear of contracting Covid-19 in hospitals, which had been categorised as high risk areas.

Nearly 31 per cent of the total cancer burden in sub-Saharan Africa is attributable to infectious agents like bacteria, viruses, fungi, among others. Some infections can cause long-term inflammation in a part of the body leading to changes in the affected cells and in nearby immune cells, which can eventually lead to cancer.

In Kenya, a study published in the African Academy of Sciences suggests that 30.8 per cent and 48.2 per cent of the total cancer cases sampled in KNH and MTRH respectively were associated with infectious agents, while 27.6 per cent and 44.4 per cent were attributable to infections in the two hospitals respectively.

"The sad reality is that even those who can afford private care are also presenting late. Let's question those haemorrhoids, those amoebiasis, those 'food poisonings' that go on for weeks, those 'damu kidogo tu kwa choo' (a little blood in the stool) and those 'a bit of kukaukiwa na choo (hardened stool)," added Dr Muturi.
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Heavy rains have left hundreds of Zimbabweans homeless after their homes built on wetlands flooded. Authorities are refusing to help saying those left homeless are squatters who illegally built on the wetlands. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe.
Durham, NC - Alessio Cortellini, M.D., was awarded The Oncologist's 3rd Annual Young Investigator Award for his research on evaluating the risk of immunotherapy treatment to patients with pre-existing autoimmune disease. The Oncologist journal established this award to foster advancements in the field of oncology by honoring a young researcher who is principal author of a high-impact article with the greatest potential to improve patient outcomes.

In his winning paper, Dr. Cortellini and his team provided a clear estimation of the increased risk of developing immune-related adverse events overall, and of relapsing of the underlying immune disease for patients with both inactive and active autoimmune diseases receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors. These findings should allow clinicians to properly counsel their patients and deliver immunotherapy in a safer way.

"This fine article addresses a very important question for clinicians confronted with a patient needing checkpoint therapy, but worried about underlying autoimmune disease," said Bruce Chabner, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The Oncologist and Clinical Director Emeritus of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. "This is very helpful information, and alerts us to the real risk entailed in this therapeutic situation."

Dr. Cortellini is currently a consultant medical oncologist and visiting researcher at Imperial College London. He is working within the early phase clinical trial unit, led by Dr. David Pinato. His aim is to build an expertise in immunotherapeutic agents, with different mechanisms of action and in the early phase of clinical development.

Learn more about Dr. Cortellini or read the winning paper Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Advanced Cancer and Pre Existing Autoimmune Diseases Treated with Anti?Programmed Death 1 Immunotherapy: A Real World Transverse Study.

###

About The Oncologist: Now in its 25th year, this internationally peer-reviewed journal focuses on clear and concise interpretation addressing the multimodality diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life of the cancer patient. Each issue is meant to impact the practice of oncology and to facilitate significant communication in the introduction of new medical treatments and technologies. The Oncologist is the official journal of the Society for Translational Oncology (STO).

About AlphaMed Press: Established in 1983, AlphaMed Press, with offices in Durham, NC, San Francisco, CA, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, publishes three internationally renowned peer-reviewed journals with globally recognized editorial boards dedicated to advancing knowledge and education in their focused disciplines. The Oncologist is devoted to community and hospital-based oncologists and physicians entrusted with cancer patient care. STEM CELLS is the world's first journal devoted to this fast-paced field of research. STEM CELLS Translational Medicine (SCTM;) is dedicated to significantly advancing the clinical utilization of stem cell molecular and cellular biology. By bridging stem cell research and clinical trials, SCTM will help move applications of these critical investigations closer to accepted best practices.
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Sunday Igboho, the self-acclaimed Yoruba activist, has apologised to the Ooni of Ife, Enitan Ogunwusi, for describing him as a Fulani slave.

Mr Igboho admitted in a video on Wednesday night that his tongue misbehaved when insulting Mr Ogunwusi.

The apology came less than 24 hours after he accused Mr Ogunwusi of not telling President Muhammadu Buhari about the travails of Yoruba people during their last meeting in Abuja.

He levelled the accusation in a virtual town hall with Yorubas in the Diaspora on Wednesday. He described Mr Ogunwusi; former governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu; Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde; and Oluwo of Iwo, Abdulrasheed Akambi, as Fulani slaves.

He claimed he would unleash an attack on Mr Ogunwusis home if the monarch failed to support him.

The Yoruba nation agitator insulted the monarch, and this triggered furore on social media. He was criticised by many Yoruba indigenes who had been supporting his agitation.

Apology

Mr Igboho in an interview with a Facebook TV, Isokan Omo Oodua TV, sought for forgiveness for insulting Ooni and consequently said he meant to describe him as his father.

I was told that I insulted the Ooni of Ife. I am sorry. Our culture forbids insults on elders, especially traditional rulers. But because I was not happy with the situation of things in Yorubaland, my tongue misbehaved.

The matter is a case of father and son. I cannot insult Ooni and if it appears like that, he should forgive me.

Mr Igboho recently gained media attention after he issued a seven-day quit notice to herders in a community in Oyo. When the ultimatum expired, he led youth to the community and destroyed properties worth millions of naira.
[February 04, 2021] Lectra partners with Microsoft to boost digital transformation in the fashion industry

PARIS, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Lectra announces its partnership with Microsoft, which will help brands and retailers in the fashion industry focus on both technological innovation and digital acceleration. The commercial and technological partnership between the two brands is the result of several years of collaboration. This partnership was initiated by Lectra in 2015, when the company chose Azure for the development of some of its solutions, in particular Kubix Link, Lectra's collaborative platform for managing product information, specifically designed for the fashion industry. The agreement signed today strengthens the existing bond between the two companies. It notably stipulates a collaborative approach to their customers in the fashion industry in France, Italy, as well as internationally. A strategic choice in the digital age

A key player in Industry 4.0 in the fashion, automotive and furniture industries, Lectra designs smart industrial solutions that help brands, manufacturers and retailers develop, produce and market their products. Always placing innovation at the heart of its approach, Lectra has been using cutting edge Industry 4.0 technologies since 2015, including artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), big data and cloud technology. "Microsoft Azure provided us with the scalability, security and flexibility we needed to innovate and reduce time-to-market," explains Maximilien Abadie, Chief Strategy Officer at Lectra. This partnership, which strengthens the existing bond between the two companies, also shows Lectra's desire to take advantage of this momentum by supplying all the latest technologies that enable players in the fashion, automotive and furniture industries to go digital and thus transform their business model. Lectra's objective is to support its customers through the Industry 4.0 revolution. The digitization of processes and data, as well as shared visibility across the entire ecosystem, are the first steps. Why Microsoft

In addition to Azure's technological strengths, Lectra decided to partner with Microsoft for several reasons: Both brands are driven by innovation. Lectra invests 12% of its turnover in R&D each ear. Microsoft encourages business innovation through partnerships with suppliers such as Lectra.

A long-term strategic vision focused on the challenges faced by their mutual customers. Microsoft and Lectra are joining forces to bring even more powerful solutions to fashion industry players. Both companies use technological breakthroughs to reinvent business models or create new ones.

A worldwide presence. As Lectra has customers in more than 100 countries, it is essential for the company to choose a partner with a strong international presence.

Marketing and sales support. Microsoft will help Lectra in these two areas to accelerate the adoption of its Kubix Link solution.



Why Lectra

Microsoft's choice was based on two key aspects: Lectra's expertise in the fashion industry. For more than 40 years, the company has worked hand in hand with brands, manufacturers, and distributors in this sector. Lectra helps them transform their business models, processes, core activities, and tools. They support all major changes at each stage of value creation.

The potential of the Kubix Link solution. This smart, intuitive, and scalable platform helps brands and retailers reinvent teamwork, connecting all internal and external stakeholders, from ideation to physical and digital points of sale. They can therefore make the most of their product data and processes and create a unique omni-channel experience for consumers. "While digital transformation has sped up since the start of the pandemic, we are proud to partner with Lectra to support the acceleration of the digital transformation in the fashion industry. Combined with the power of Microsoft Azure, the Kubix Link platform offers new opportunities to fashion brands in terms of agility, collaboration, and visibility. It allows us to accelerate the emergence of Industry 4.0 through the winning combination of product lifecycle management (PLM), product information management (PIM) and digital asset management (DAM) solutions," explains Agnes Van de Walle, Director of One Commercial Partner, Microsoft France.

The next steps

Today, Lectra's ambition is to "become a key player of Industry 4.0 in the fashion, automotive and furniture industries by 2030," adds Maximilien Abadie. The company intends to achieve this objective by harnessing the full potential of new technologies, in partnership with Microsoft, with a view to constantly providing breakthrough innovations. About Lectra

For companies that breathe life into our wardrobes, car interiors, furniture and more, Lectra is crafting the premium technologies that facilitate the digital transformation of their industry. Lectra's offer empowers brands, manufacturers and retailers from design to production, providing them with the market respect and peace of mind they deserve. Founded in 1973, today Lectra has 34 subsidiaries across the globe, serving customers in over 100 countries. With close to 1,800 employees, Lectra reported revenues of 280 million euros in 2019. Lectra is listed on Euronext (LSS). For more information, please visit www.lectra.com. Follow Lectra on social networks:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/8538/

https://twitter.com/LectraOfficial

https://www.youtube.com/user/LectraTechChannel?hl=fr

https://www.facebook.com/LectraOfficial/ Media contact:

Lectra - Headquarters

Adeline Fogel

Public Relations Manager

t: +33 (0)1 53 64 42 37

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(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG executives ignored warnings from colleagues about troubled steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta as they channeled $1.2 billion of client funds to his businesses, according to people familiar with the matter.Bankers in Credit Suisses commodity trade-finance unit blacklisted Guptas Liberty Commodities Ltd. in 2016 because they suspected some of its deals werent legitimate, the people said. When they learned about two years later that the bank was lending to his companies through a suite of investment funds, which eventually grew to $10 billion, they flagged their worries to leaders in compliance and the division that housed the loans, one of the people said.The disclosure that Credit Suisse may have put clients at risk despite internal concerns over Guptas businesses adds a new twist to the debacle stemming from the March implosion of Greensill Capital, the finance firm at the center of the three-way relationship.Investigations, LawsuitsThe U.K. Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Guptas group of companies for suspected fraud, including in its financing deals with Greensill, according to a May 14 statement. Credit Suisse has sued to force Guptas Liberty Commodities into insolvency and has since shut the funds that made the loans and launched an internal investigation. Investors are staring at losses as the bank confronts embarrassing lawsuits.We are currently focusing our efforts on recovering our investors money, Will Bowen, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in London, said in an emailed statement, adding that the banks internal probe will focus on all of the issues linked to the funds. We are committed to learning the lessons and will share the relevant lessons learnt at the appropriate time.Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Gupta Family Group Alliance, or GFG Alliance, a collective of businesses linked to Gupta including Liberty Commodities, denied any wrongdoing.The Greensill saga represents just one of the two disasters that rocked Credit Suisse in the first half of 2021. Since Greensill began unraveling, the bank has announced a $5.5 billion hit from the blowup at Archegos Capital Management.ApologiesFormer Chairman Urs Rohner apologized to shareholders and his successor, Antonio Horta-Osorio, who arrived at the end of April, has promised a sweeping strategy review.Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein, who was head of the division that oversaw trade finance, wasnt aware of the internal concerns about Gupta that had prompted the bank to cut him off, according to a person familiar with the matter.Employees at the trade-finance unit, which lends money for the buying and selling of commodities, cut ties with Gupta in 2016 after becoming skeptical toward his Liberty Commodities, the people said. They distrusted the documents the company provided, triggering doubts about its transactions, they said. In one example reported by Bloomberg, the company had presented another bank with what seemed to be duplicate shipping receipts. Credit Suisses commodity team had stopped working with Gupta after identifying suspicious shipments while the banks credit-structuring team lobbied against the Greensill funds, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.A spokesman for Gupta has denied any wrongdoing.Banking TiesLiberty Commodities pledged assets to Credit Suisse as security for borrowings in 2013 but by early 2016, all such commitments had been extinguished, indicating that the financing relationship had ceased, U.K. Companies House filings show. And while Guptas company listed the Swiss bank as one of its lenders in its 2014 annual report, it didnt in the following years report, which is dated May 2016, according to the filings.Their counterparts at other banks, including Macquarie Group Ltd. and Sberbank PJSC, halted trading with Liberty Commodities around the same time because of similar concerns; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also stopped in 2016, Bloomberg has reported.Nevertheless, executives at Credit Suisses asset-management division -- which creates investment products for clients and charges a fee for overseeing them -- began arranging a suite of funds focused on supply-chain finance in 2017. The entities bought securitized loans packaged by Greensill, a firm created by Australian businessman Lex Greensill. Much of the debts were linked to Guptas businesses.WarningsOfficials at the commodity trade-finance unit were concerned when they found out about the funds links to Gupta and took their fears to Thomas Grotzer, general counsel for the banks Swiss division. They also warned Luc Mathys and Lukas Haas, the bankers who helped oversee the trades at the asset-management unit.Grotzer was promoted last month to interim global head of compliance at Credit Suisse. He didnt respond to requests for comment. Mathys, head of fixed-income at the asset-management division, and Haas, a portfolio manager, were put on temporary leave in March. Neither responded to requests for comment.The bank pushed ahead with the funds and marketed them to investors as being made up of short-term debt secured on invoices, assets considered so safe that Credit Suisse gave the largest vehicle its lowest rating for risk. Yet part of the loans were linked to mere possible future revenues.Other parts of the bank continued working with Gupta as well. Credit Suisses investment bankers were due to lead an initial public offering for Libertys U.S. steel arm, which was ultimately pulled, according to a statement from the company. Gupta also announced that the Swiss bank would finance his planned acquisition of Thyssenkrupp AGs steel unit, which fell apart earlier this year.Credit Suisse has so far recouped about $5.9 billion of the $10 billion in these supply-chain funds, but it remains unclear how much will be returned ultimately to investors. Loans to Guptas businesses are among a batch of debts that are the principal sources of valuation uncertainty, the bank said earlier this month.Liberty Commoditiess external legal advisors investigated alleged rumors concerning the paperwork it used in 2019, according to Mitchell, the spokesman for GFG Alliance. They found no evidence to substantiate the rumors, nor was the company ever subject to further complaints or proceedings, he said.LCL has ongoing banking relationships with separate financial institutions, Mitchell said, referring to Liberty Commodities. The trade-finance market has been hugely challenging for all but the very largest commodities traders in recent years. Nevertheless, no financial institution has been left out of pocket as a result of lending money to LCL. On the contrary, they have received substantial commercial returns.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
on Thursday announced the launch of its maiden direct flight connecting with Male.

Effective February 11, will operate a direct service four times a week Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday - between and Male, a release from the airline said here.

Currently, with the lifting of travel restrictions, has resumed its operations, connecting Male to India



Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bengaluru with daily direct services, it said.

This new route will be serviced by the airlines next-generation Airbus A320 neo aircraft, further strengthening GoAirs growing international network in the south Asian region, it said.

Kaushik Khona, Chief Executive Officer, GoAir, said "Passengers travelling from will now have convenient additional options to travel to Male, thus making their travel experience enjoyable and comfortable."



Flight G8 1533 will depart from Hyderabads Rajiv Gandhi International airport at 1130 hours, and arrive at the Maldives' Velana International Airport at 1330 hours (LT).

On the return leg, flight G8 4033 will depart Male at 1430 hours (LT) and arrive in Hyderabad at 1730 hours, the release added.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has conceded before the scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that it had received funds from slain Al Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden, said the country's Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Farrukh Habib.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday after hearings of foreign funding cases against the PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) by the scrutiny committee, Habib said that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif laid the foundation of foreign funding in Pakistan by receiving funds from Osama bin Laden to topple former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's government, Dawn reported.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader said that the PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party had failed to provide the details of their donors.

He also criticised the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and said its chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had received funds from Libya and Iraq.

A few days back, Pakistan former envoy to the US, Abida Hussain revealed that Osama bin Laden had supported and extended financial assistance to Nawaz Sharif.

"Yes, he (Osama bin Laden) supported Mian Nawaz Sharif at one time. However, that is a complicated story. He (Osama) used to extend financial assistance [to Nawaz Sharif]," Express Tribune quoted her as saying.

Abida, also an ex-cabinet member of Nawaz Sharif's government, recalled that at one-time bin Laden was popular and liked by everyone including the Americans but at a later stage, he was treated as a 'stranger'.

Nawaz Sharif, who has been the prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, has been accused, time and again, of taking money from slain terrorist Osama bin Laden in order to promote and fund jihad in Kashmir. He served as prime minister from 1990-93, 1997-98, and 2013-17.

Sharif, the 70-year-old supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) who was ousted from power in 2017 by the Supreme Court on corruption charges, is in London for medical treatment.

Osama was killed in a midnight raid by the US Navy SEALs in Pakistan's garrison town of Abbottabad in 2011.

Pakistan had officially denied having any knowledge of the terror chief until he was shot dead in a raid by US forces. Pakistan has been accused of using its soil to perpetrate terror in neighbouring countries.

(ANI)

Also Read: Farmers' Protest: US backs India's new farm laws, says these reforms will improve efficiency of markets
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Reliance Marcellus signs agreement with Northern Oil and Gas on 03 Feb

Reliance Marcellus, LLC (RMLLC) a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL), announced the signing of agreements to divest all of its interest in certain upstream assets in the Marcellus shale play of south-western Pennsylvania.

These assets, which are currently operated by various affiliates of EQT Corporation (EQT), have been agreed to be sold to Northern Oil and Gas, Inc (NOG), a Delaware corporation, for a consideration of $250 million cash and warrants that give entitlement to purchase 3.25 million common shares of NOG at an exercise price of $14.00 per common share in next seven years.

A Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) has been signed between RMLLC and NOG on 03 February 2021 for this sale and the transaction is subject to customary terms and conditions of closing.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the 2020 presidential candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahamas application to inspect six (6) documents of the Electoral Commission (EC).



The legal team of John Mahama is asking for six documents including the originals of the constituency presidential election result collation forms (form 9) for all constituencies, the originals of all constituency presidential election results summary sheet (form 10) and the originals of the regional presidential election collation forms (form 11) for all regions.



They are also asking for the originals of the regional presidential election results summary sheets (form 12) for all regions and the original of the declaration of the presidential results form (form 13) as well as the records of the alleged update to the purported declaration of presidential election results on 9th December 2020, of the results of four (4) constituencies in the Greater Accra Region.



Lead counsel for Mr. Mahama, Tsatsu Tsikata said: these are plain circumstances which necessitate a reference back to the original documents which are in the custody of the first respondent (EC) so that there could be a proper validation of what the correct figure is, he said.



In reaction to this, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Otchere Darko queried: "what really is the issue"



The so-called Form 13 (Declaration of Presidential Results Form) is already filed as Exhibit 4 and attached to witness statement of Jean Mensa. Theres only one Form 13 used and only one in dispute and the EC has filed it. So, what really is the issue, Mr Tsikata? What koraaa? he tweeted











The so-called Form 13 (Declaration of Presidential Results Form) is already filed as Exhibit 4 and attached to witness statement of Jean Mensa. Theres only one Form 13 used and only one in dispute and the EC has filed it. So, what really is the issue, Mr Tsikata? What koraaa?

 Gabby Otchere-Darko (@GabbyDarko) February 3, 2021

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
AS the white pirogue drifted in the waters just off Belle Garden in Tobago early yesterday morning, fishermen working nearby knew something was wrong.

What they saw in the small vessel stunned them.

Fourteen bodies, all of them male, along with a skull and other skeletal remains, were piled inside the vessel as it floated four miles off Belle Garden, police confirmed.

The bodies were all clad in tracksuits and green rain jackets and were severely decomposed, police investigators said.
Over the past six months, Googles campaign to drive opposition to the news media bargaining code has been gradually turned up to 11. What started with private lobbying of MPs and YouTube videos with comedians has escalated to a public threat to shut down search in Australia, as well as dire warnings displayed at the top of every search page.

These warnings claim that the principles of an open internet are under threat because Google is being asked to pay for linking to publisher websites. Yet the dream of a free and open internet ceased to exist years ago, with just a few huge businesses governing an increasingly centralised web, monetising engagement with content created by the investment of others.

The dream of a free and open internet ceased to exist years ago. Credit:Bloomberg

The internet has become an attention economy, dominated by a small number of very large US tech companies. In fact, Google and Facebook are the internet for most Australians, or at least the key gateway to it. Google has a monthly audience of 20 million and Facebook 18 million, according to Nielsen.

Where people go online is largely determined by these two companies algorithms, which remain opaque despite their central role in determining what news and information people see. In the words of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, this makes them unavoidable trading partners for news publishers.
She recently confirmed her move to Dubai.

And Georgia Harrison looked effortlessly stylish in distressed jeans and jade green swimwear on Wednesday as she relaxed on the beach in the United Arab Emirates city.

The former Love Island star, 26, enjoyed a glass of wine from the comfort of a sun lounger as she displayed her svelte figure in her Instagram snap.

Cut a chic figure: Georgia Harrison looked effortlessly stylish in distressed jeans and jade green swimwear on Wednesday as she relaxed on the beach in Dubai

Georgia swept her blonde tresses up in a neat bun and enhanced her visage with full coverage make-up.

She added a touch of sparkle with pendant earrings as she captioned the upload: 'Bored of ordering a large glass for one. Who wants to make it a bottle ?'

Georgia has certainly been enjoying the sunny perks of living in UAE after relocating to Dubai in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The post comes after Georgia's ex-boyfriend Stephen Bear was arrested at Heathrow Airport on January 15 for allegedly filming them without her knowledge as they had sex. He denies the claims.

Stunning: The former Love Island star, 26, enjoyed a glass of wine from the comfort of a sun lounger as she displayed her svelte figure in her Instagram snap

New lifestyle: Georgia has certainly been enjoying the sunny perks of living in the United Arab Emirates, after relocating to Dubai in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic

The blonde believes former boyfriend Bear showed an intimate recording of them to least 'two friends' and claims the footage was being widely shared on WhatsApp.

Georgia also alleges he shared screenshots of the video to followers on his OnlyFans account, but the social media star has denied it was her in the video.

Essex police have since announced a formal charge is yet to be made while the investigation continues, with Bear released on bail until February.

In a statement to MailOnline, a spokesperson confirmed: 'A 31-year-old man from Loughton, who was arrested on suspicion of disclosing private sexual images or film without consent with intent to cause distress, voyeurism, harassment and obstructing a police officer, has been released on bail until 10 February.'

The former TOWIE star has since thanked her fans and 'everyone that has reached out' following his arrest.

In a statement given to The Sun, she said: 'I am passionate about supporting victims of revenge porn and hopefully by coming forward it will give others the courage to do the same.

'I have a fantastic team around me including friends, family and colleagues who are just some of the many reasons I have be able to stay positive right now.'

It hasn't been the easiest of months for Georgia, with the beauty also having to hit back at critics claiming she's on holiday in Dubai.

Taking to Instagram on Saturday, she said: 'I rented out my flat, sold my car and moved to Dubai months ago. I'm not stuck here, I live here.'




Governor Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and Sese Industrial Services, U.S. Corp. officials announced Thursday that the Axle Manufacturing company will locate new operations in Tennessee, investing $42 million and creating 240 jobs.Sese Industrial Services will build a new 300,000-square-foot Axle Assembly plant at 6153 Hickory Valley Road in Chattanooga. Products manufactured at the facility include Axle Components for the Volkswagen electric vehicle line.Sese Industrial Services operates under parent company Grupo Sese, an international logistics conglomerate headquartered in Zaragoza, Spain.Grupo Sese provides logistics, distribution and assembly services primarily in the automotive sector. The company already has operations in Chattanooga and a longstanding history with Volkswagen.Over the last five years, TNECD has supported 40 economic development projects in Hamilton County, resulting in approximately 5,700 job commitments and $1.6 billion in capital investment.Tennessee has built its reputation as global leader in the automotive industry and is at the forefront of the electric vehicle evolution. I welcome Sese Industrial Services to Tennessee and thank the company for its significant investment in Hamilton County.  Governor Bill LeeOne out of every three projects we land is the result of foreign direct investment, and we continue to proactively recruit companies and foster our international partnerships. Spanish-owned companies employ more than 1,500 people across Tennessee, and we appreciate Sese Industrial Services for choosing to create 240 jobs in Tennessee.  TNECD Commissioner Bob RolfeAt Grupo Sese, we are thrilled to initiate our Industrial Automotive activities in USA in such a historical location as Chattanooga, Tennessee, serving our valued customer Volkswagen, and more so on their all-new electric vehicle models. We would like to thank all local and state authorities of the State of Tennessee for their outstanding guidance, help and support in this strategic project of Grupo Sese. We expect to develop a best-in-class workforce and foster the international projection of Tennessee as a global leader in the automotive industry.  Alfonso Sese, president, Grupo SeseWe know that a skilled workforce attracts great employers. Chattanooga is excited to welcome Sese Industrial Services to our community and we are grateful for their investment in our city,  Chattanooga Mayor Andy BerkeWe welcome Sese Industrial Services as the latest international company to locate in Hamilton County. This is a great way to start 2021, with the promise of 240 new jobs for Hamilton County residents. We look forward to a long relationship with Sese Industrial Services and applaud their decision to invest $42 million at Enterprise South.  Hamilton County Mayor Jim CoppingerTVA and EPB congratulate Sese Industrial Services on its announcement to expand operations and create hundreds of new job opportunities in Chattanooga. Helping to foster new jobs and investment in the Valley is fundamental to TVAs mission of service, and we are proud to partner with Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development to help further that mission and support Sese Industrial Services future business success.  John Bradley, TVA senior vice president of Economic DevelopmentThese 240 jobs will be a significant boost to our local economy. Companies like Sese Industrial Services continue to choose to do business here because of our tremendous workforce and our focus on building the foundation for a strong economic future. I congratulate them on this project as well as our local officials, Governor Lee, Commissioner Rolfe and all who helped secure these jobs. I look forward to continuing to partner with them in our efforts to bring new and better paying jobs to Tennesseans.  Senator Bo Watson"Sese Industrial Services is a company that is truly on the move and benefiting from Chattanoogas prime location and distinct advantage as a transportation and logistics hub for the region. We are grateful for their investment and congratulate them for their remarkable success creating new jobs in this growing sector of our business community.  Rep. Robin Smith
New Delhi, Feb 4 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday emphasised on the need of unity in the country to achieve the goal of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' and make India a great power in the world.

Addressing people in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur at the Centenary celebrations of 'Chauri Chaura' incident through video conference, the Prime Minister said unity had helped us to achieve freedom from the British rule and it will also help us in achieving our goal for 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'.

"The power of unity that broke the chains of slavery, the same power will also make India the great power in the world. This power of unity is the basic foundation of self-reliant India," the Prime Minister said.

Greeting the locals in Gorakhpur in the regional Bhojpuri language to connect with them, Modi said the government's aim to make India self-reliant was for the welfare of 130-crore Indians as well as for the benefit of the world.

Modi also explained how India dispatched necessary medicines to the people across the world during Covid-19 crisis and that the country also played a major role in bringing back Indians from over 50 different countries during the pandemic period. "India also sent foreigners to their countries during the period," the Prime Minister further said.

"Currently", Modi said, "India has been manufacturing Covid-19 vaccine and has established itself on top in inoculation of these vaccines".

He said our freedom fighters would have been feeling proud to see India providing vaccines to foreign countries amid this crisis situation.

Modi also mentioned that there is a need for extraordinary efforts to make this campaign a success.

Mentioning the importance of Budget 2021 presented in Parliament on February 1, the Prime Minister said there is a glimpse of government's effort in this Budget and it will give a "new boost" to the steps taken to deal with the challenges during the Covid-19 crisis.

Modi took part in the Chauri Chaura centenary celebrations which will be celebrated in all schools across the state throughout the year from Thursday (February 4) at 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The year-long celebrations will feature drawing, poster and quiz contests as well as slogan and poetry writing, speech and essay writing competitions.

The day marks 100 years of the 'Chauri Chaura' incident, a landmark event in the country's fight for independence. A group of freedom fighters had set ablaze a police station at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district of the then United Province (now Uttar Pradesh) on February 4, 1922, to protest against the high-handedness of the British regime. The incident claimed the lives of 22 policemen and three freedom fighters.

The Prime Minister also released a postal stamp dedicated to the centenary during the event.

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was also present on the occasion.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio reported 2,274 new K-12 student coronavirus cases and 968 new staff cases for the week of Jan. 25 through 31.

Thats slightly down from the previous week, when the state reported 2,426 K-12 cases and 1,103 in staff. The week prior, the state reported in increase of 2,679 cases in K-12 students and 1,312 in staff. About 34,813 student cases and 20,451 staff cases have been reported since Sept. 7, when reporting guidelines went into effect.

Cases are reported for students and staff participating in on-site activities and instruction. About 9% of the states overall cases are in children, according to most recent state data.

Cases are ticking down as coronavirus spread slightly slows in Ohio, with Gov. Mike DeWine pushing back the states curfew from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. The 21-day average for the daily increase in cases dipped below 5,000 on Thursday, the first time since November.

In the meantime, more schools are returning to buildings. As of Thursday, about 64% of districts are reported as working in a five-day-a-week learning model. Only about 5% are reported as learning fully remotely, according to data from the Department of Education.

Districts and schools that are receiving vaccines during February committed to returning to buildings by March 1, though no consequences for not meeting that deadline are outlined. DeWine has often stated that the decision to give school staff vaccines is a policy decision to get kids back in schools.

He reiterated that on Thursday, when asked how he would respond to criticism on vaccinating younger teachers when some older Ohioans still dont have the vaccine, and repeated the concerns hes heard from parents over how kids have fallen behind remote learning.

Ive had letters, Ive had emails -- it would break your heart, DeWine said.

More coverage:

-- Pfizer vaccine shipments to Ohio to increase by 40% in mid-February

-- Why same 84 Ohio counties are on coronavirus red alert again this week, though orange counties arent at bottom for new cases

-- 4,120 new coronavirus cases reported in Ohio: Thursday update

-- If youve had coronavirus and recovered, do you need the vaccine? And if so, is one shot enough?
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 03:35:19|Editor: huaxia

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MINSK, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Belarus and China signed an agreement on the construction of municipal housing in Belarus, the Economy Ministry said on Thursday.

Belarusian Economy Minister Aleksandr Chervyakov and China's ambassador to Belarus Xie Xiaoyong signed the agreement.

China intends to build 1,166 municipal apartments in 20 houses in six regions of Belarus. The building area totals approximately 66,000 square meters.

China provides technical and economic assistance for the implementation of the project.

Citizens in need of better housing conditions and who have the right to receive housing for social use will receive these apartments. Enditem
Former President Donald Trumps legal defense against his second impeachment is filled with absurd constitutional arguments, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the lead House impeachment manager, reportedly told fellow Democrats on Wednesday. And Democrats are prepared to refute all of them.

The Houses 80-page brief filed with the Senate on Tuesday includes advance rebuttals of every one of the Trump teams arguments for the trial, which is set to begin next week.

Democrats forcefully rejected the argument that a former president cannot be impeached or tried after leaving office, which will likely be Trumps central defense. They dismissed the claim that he was simply engaging in free speech, another argument made by Trumps team. Democrats refuted the argument that Trump did nothing wrong  as he still claims in his legal filing  when he ordered his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol as Congress met to count the electoral votes securing President Joe Bidens win on Jan. 6.

The House brief contains a detailed description of the events that led up to Jan. 6 and the presidents involvement in inciting the insurrection at the Capitol, but those facts are difficult to dispute. They were broadcast live on television and social media platforms by both the press and the insurrectionists themselves. Many lawmakers were there when it happened.

More complex, though, are the rebuttals of the legal and constitutional issues that Republicans are likely to lean on to acquit the president. Already, many GOP lawmakers have suggested the entire trial should be dismissed.

House Democrats are prepared for those arguments, too. Heres how they plan to dismantle them.

Ex-Presidents Cant Be Tried

Trumps main legal defense is that presidents cannot be impeached or tried once they leave office. Since he cannot be removed from office through impeachment, he cannot be barred from future office, they also argued.

Trumps lawyers say that removal from office by the Senate of the President is a condition precedent which must occur before, and jointly with, disqualification to hold future office, and since Trump is no longer in office, such a punishment is irrelevant to any matter before the Senate.

The House impeachment brief contains a 25-page rebuttal of the argument that ex-presidents cannot be impeached and tried. This is the longest section of the House brief. And it specifically anticipates that this attempt to dismiss the impeachment trial will be Trumps main strategy, given the overwhelming strength of the case against him.

Donald Trump tells supporters at the Jan. 6

It begins by describing the context by which the Constitutional Convention viewed impeachment at the time that the provision was added to the U.S. Constitution. This context is important as it reveals that the Framers of the Constitution presumed that impeachment would apply to former officials, as it did in England and some of the states of the soon-to-be-formed Union.

During the debate over language in the Constitution, Virginias George Mason raised the impeachment in England of former Governor General of Bengal Warren Hastings. This high-profile impeachment case was well-known in the former colonies of the British Empire, and it would have been equally well-known among the convention attendees that Hastings was impeached after he left office. When Mason raised this example, no one objected.

The Framers also argued that the point of the impeachment power was to prevent a president from using corrupt means to stay in office or overturn the results of an election.

The Executive ought ... to be impeachable for ... Corrupting his electors, statesman Gouverneur Morris said.

By necessity, this kind of misconduct would usually occur near the end of a Presidents term in office, the House brief states. Given their intense focus on danger to elections and the peaceful transfer of power, it is inconceivable that the Framers designed impeachment to be virtually useless in a Presidents final days, when opportunities to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power would be most tempting and dangerous.

Impeachment was also designed by the Framers as a deterrent to corrupt behavior by the president. William Davie called it an essential security for the good behaviour of the Executive, and James Iredell said it will be not only the means of punishing misconduct, but it will prevent misconduct.

But if impeachment could be so easily avoided by a corrupt or lawless president simply resigning from office or committing their crimes at the end of their term, then the impeachment power would have no such deterrent effect.

The Framers did not commit such a glaring blunder, the House Democrats brief states. To protect the Republic, they designed the impeachment power to cover anyone who engaged in abuse or corruption while entrusted with public office  thereby ensuring that any wrongdoers infamy might be rendered conspicuous, historic, eternal, in order to prevent the occurrence of likely offenses in the future.

The Constitutions Framers were also informed by the constitutions of the various states and how they treated impeachment. In several states, the executive was impeachable only after he had left office. In Virginia, for example, Thomas Jefferson was impeached (and ultimately acquitted) after he left office as governor. By making the president impeachable while still in office, the Framers sought to enact a more expansive impeachment power.

[T]he Framers saw themselves not as restricting the impeachment power in comparison to the states, but rather as broadening it, the brief states.

This is proved by the argument put forward by Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 69. The president, Hamilton wrote, would stand upon no better ground than a governor of New York, and upon worse ground than the governors of Maryland and Delaware. The governor of Delaware could be impeached only after leaving office, meaning that Congresss power to impeach the president while in office was an expansion of the impeachment power in that state.

The House Democrats went far beyond Trumps brief in laying out the Constitutions impeachment powers. Trumps brief mentions only one of multiple sections that define the impeachment power. The Houses brief explains them all.

The only clause that Trumps lawyers cite from Article I of the Constitution is: Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States.

As the House brief notes, the Constitution doesnt state that both punishments must happen. It just offers them both as options.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the lead House impeachment manager, introduces the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate on Jan. 25. (Photo: Senate Television via ASSOCIATED PRESS)

[T]he Constitution did not confer a right on the accused to escape trial entirely because one of the penalties is unavailable, the House brief states. If a defendant made that contention in court, her argument would be rejected out of hand.

Trumps defense conveniently excludes another part of the Constitution: Article I, Section 3, Clauses 6 and 7, as House Democrats note in their brief (emphasis theirs):

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

The bolded words here, Person and Party, are broader than other terms used in the impeachment clause in Article II, which references all civil Officers of the United States.

Trumps defense relies on the argument that because he is a former civil officer, rather than a current one, he cant be convicted. The fact that the Framers do not reference civil officers in this portion of the Constitution suggests they did not want to restrict punishment to current officials, Democrats argue.

That leaves only a single possible explanation for why the Framers used Person and Party rather than civil Officers in Article I, Section 3: they wanted to ensure that the text of the Constitution covered the impeachment, conviction, and disqualification of former officials for high crimes and misdemeanors committed while they were in office, the House brief states.

As for the impeachment clause in Article II, which reads, The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors, it should not be read to solely apply to civil Officers, House Democrats argue, noting that Article I uses broader language and the Framers were working from a tradition that covered former officials.

Congress has already impeached former officials, as the House brief notes, including ex-Sen. William Blount in 1798 and ex-Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876, and provides the context that existed at the time the impeachment power was debated at the Constitutional Convention.

In both cases, the Senate held impeachment trials for former officials and did not vote that such trials were impermissible. In Blounts case, the Senate voted to dismiss the impeachment based on the understanding that members of Congress could not be impeached. For Belknap, the Senate voted 37-29 to affirm that former officials may be impeached after leaving office and that the Senate, therefore, had jurisdiction to hold a trial.

Unlike the Blount and Belknap cases, however, Trump was impeached while in office. This places his case on even stronger grounds than those precedents.

The First Amendment

Outside of the question of whether a former president may be tried for impeachment, Trumps lawyers aim to argue that Trump cannot be penalized for inciting his supporters to insurrection because that would infringe on his First Amendment right of free speech.

Like all Americans, the 45th President is protected by the First Amendment, Trumps brief states. Indeed, he believes, and therefore avers, that the United States is unique on Earth in that its governing documents, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, specifically and intentionally protect unpopular speech from government retaliation. If the First Amendment protected only speech the government deemed popular in current American culture, it would be no protection at all.

Such an assertion of First Amendment free speech rights is absurd on its face, the House brief argues. [T]he First Amendment protects private citizens from the government; it does not protect government officials from accountability for their own abuses in office.

Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 after the then-president told them at a rally to march on it and that he would join them. (Photo: zz/STRF/STAR MAX/IPx)

Trump was not a private citizen when he called on his supporters to march on the Capitol and fight like Hell or youre not going to have a country anymore. He was the president of the United States.

[T]he notion that a President can attack our democracy, provoke violence, and interfere with the Electoral College so long as he does so through statements advocating such lawlessness would have astonished the Framers, the House brief says.

Private citizens and government officeholders are held to a different standard when it comes to an assertion of First Amendment protections.

As the leader of the Nation, the President occupies a position of unique power, the House brief says. And the Supreme Court has made clear that the First Amendment does not shield public officials who occupy sensitive policymaking positions from adverse actions when their speech undermines important government interests.

Bill of Attainder

Trumps lawyers also claim that any conviction of the former president would amount to a bill of attainder, or a punishment enacted by a legislature targeting a single private citizen without trial.

But Trump is facing an impeachment trial in the Senate under rules enacted under the Constitution for official acts that constitute high crimes and misdemeanors committed while in office as the president. And he was impeached by the House of Representatives for these acts while in office.

There is thus no basis for President Trump to object to the Senates jurisdiction over him (or to raise related Bill of Attainder Clause concerns), the House brief states. The trial of a former official for abuses he committed as an official  arising from an impeachment that also occurred while he was in office  poses no risk of subjecting private parties to punitive legislative action targeting their private conduct.

Chief Justice John Roberts Will Not Preside

Finally, Trumps lawyers argue that any impeachment trial where Chief Justice John Roberts does not preside is not a legitimate trial as the Constitution mandates the chief justice preside when the president is impeached.

When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside , the Constitution states.

But Trump is no longer the president. The Constitution does not provide for more than one president at a time. Biden is the president. Since Trump is not the president anymore, the chief justice need not preside.

Moreover, the House brief states, the reason the Chief Justice is summoned is to ensure the Vice President does not preside over a trial where conviction would result in her becoming the President; obviously, that concern is not implicated in the trial of a former president.

Related...

Trump's Impeachment Defense Keeps Pushing Dangerous Election Claims

Harvard Law Professor Explains Why Donald Trump's Free Speech Defense May Not Stick

Senate Finally Reaches Deal Giving Democrats Control Of Committees

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
15 million loan to ProCredit Bank to ease access to finance for MSMEs in Moldova

New finance available to boost economic recovery

Business investments to meet high standards, become greener and more competitive

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a 15 million loan to ProCredit Bank to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Moldova. The new financing, supported by European Union (EU) funds, will help companies to become more competitive and seize new export opportunities.

The financial package will allow businesses to invest in the modernisation of their equipment and production processes to EU standards in product quality, health and safety measures and environmental preservation. The support comes at a crucial time, with the coronavirus pandemic having a severe impact on local businesses and limited access to finance available.

The support is part of the EU4Business-EBRD credit line, for which the EBRD provides finance to MSMEs through partner financial institutions, while the EU makes additional funds available to identify, verify and promote the most suitable equipment as well as incentive payments to MSMEs following the successful completion of upgrades.

Ensuring high product standards allows companies to become more export-oriented and trade their goods widely, while also making them more competitive on the local market. At the same time, consumers across the country benefit from such improvements when purchasing these products.

Angela Sax, EBRD Head of Moldova, said: It is one of our priorities in the country to support businesses with much-needed finance and in their ambition to export their products. This is more important than ever following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on businesses. Together with our partners we work to provide new opportunities to small businesses and to build a sustainable, green and well-integrated economy in Moldova.

Peter Michalko, EU Ambassador to Moldova, commented: With this new EU4Business-EBRD credit line, the European Union aims to improve access to finance for Moldovan MSMEs, as well as to tackle the challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic. We hope that this assistance for entrepreneurs will bring tangible benefits and improve the life of all Moldovan citizens. Under the Team Europe approach, EU institutions, EU Member States and financial institutions have mobilised considerable resources to provide the necessary healthcare equipment, improve access to finance for SMEs and support the digitalisation and greening of the economy. Team Europe support is also provided for key areas such as local development, good governance, human rights, rule of law and non-discrimination.

Olga Bulat, ProCredit Bank Management Board Chairperson, says: Our clients trust has motivated ProCredit Bank to diversify, improve and create new competitive services as well as to utilise the latest technologies in customer service, promote environmentally friendly measures and implement European standards in the Moldovan banking market for more than 14 years. The new funding will assist businesses that focus on modern technology and will offer the possibility of benefiting from favourable financial terms and free technical assistance. We are happy to be able to support our customers and maintain and develop our long-term partnerships, especially in these difficult times.

The EBRD is one of the largest institutional investors in Moldova. To date, it has invested around 1.42 billion in more than 140 projects in the country to support private businesses and key infrastructure and to build a greener and more sustainable economy.
Good morning, North State. Here's what you need to know to start your day on Feb. 4.

California boosts vaccination effort as part of federal pilot program

Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Biden Administration have unveiled plans to open mass vaccination sites in California. Gov. Newsom is promoting the Los Angeles and Oakland sites as part of a larger effort to target under-served communities. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will run the new sites with state help.

Shasta County could be placed into the red tier

Shasta County Public Health officials say the county is moving in the right direction. In a public health conference, health officials said the average weekly case and positivity rates for coronavirus are dropping. That means Shasta County could move into the red tier in as little as two weeks. Public Health leaders are urging people to avoid large gatherings with Super Bowl Sunday this weekend.

California unemployment chief vows changes after audits

The new director of Californias Unemployment Department has vowed the state will not repeat mistakes that delayed payments and made it easier for fraud to take place. California had a historically low unemployment rate of 3.9% at the start of 2020 after 10 years of economic growth. Since then, the EDD has processed more than 19 million claims.

CUSD decided to continue AM/PM model for spring semester

The Chico Unified School Board voted Wednesday to remain in the AM/PM in-person model for the remainder of the school year. A survey done by the Chico Unified Teachers Association shows over 90% of secondary educators preferred staying in the current AM/PM model. The decision was met with a protest outside the board meeting with some hoping for full-time in-person classes.

Biden to signal commitment to US diplomats and allies with State Department visit

President Joe Biden will make his first major policy address during today's visit to the state department. The speech would mark Bidens first major policy address since taking office. President Biden is facing a host of foreign policy challenges, from Iran and North Korea to Russia, China, and the war in Afghanistan, which began 20 years ago this fall.

LAST CHANCE TO WIN A COPY OF THE PULLED FROM THE SHELVES ROCKY JOHNSON AUTOBIOGRAPHY & RAISE MONEY FOR WORLD CANCER DAY

My old friend Phil Thompson is raffling off a copy of the Rocky Johnson autobiography, which was pulled from the shelves and will never be released again, in order to raise money for World Cancer Day. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Cancer Support Community in Kentucky, a cause very close to Phil's heart.

I can personally attest to the legitimacy of the raffle and invite everyone to spread the word on this as well as take part in a chance to win one of the rarest pro wrestling books out there in the wild!

The official details:

In honor of World Cancer Day (02/04), I am raffling off a brand new copy of Soulman: The Rocky Johnson Story. As many of you know this book is long out of print. 100% of the proceeds will be going to Cancer Support Community here in Northern Kentucky to help support their Men's Programming (www.mycancersupportcommunity.org). Each chance will be $20.00. I will be doing the drawing on 02/12 at 7pm on Facebook Live. Mike Johnson, Mark James and Barry Rose can and will vouch for my integrity and character. PLEASE help me support a wonderful agency and possibly grab a very rare copy of The Rock's Dad's Book!!

Paypal iamphiltee@aol.com

Venmo Phil-Thompson-50

cashapp $iamphiltee

zelle iamphiltee@aol.com

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WASHINGTON  A Mexican law has stopped the United States from rapidly turning away migrant families at one of the busiest sections of the southwestern border, forcing agents to resume releasing families into the country, according to three Biden administration officials.

The Trump administration began turning back migrants entering the United States in March, citing the threat of the coronavirus, and the emergency rule effectively sealed the border from asylum seekers. But because of a law Mexico passed in November that prohibits the detention of immigrant children and families, the country has stopped accepting such families from South Texas, an area typically susceptible to illegal crossings, officials said.

The recent shift has alarmed officials at the Department of Homeland Security and presents an immediate challenge to the Biden administration. Homeland security officials have said the emergency rule was necessary to prevent the coronavirus from spreading in detention facilities along the border, even as it prevented vulnerable families from having their asylum claims heard. An increasing number of families have been held in recent weeks in such facilities in the Rio Grande Valley, as well as in Del Rio, Texas, officials said.

Stephanie Malin, a spokeswoman for Customs and Border Protection, said because of pandemic precautions and social distancing guidelines, some facilities had reached full safe holding capacity.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated the centenary anniversary events in memory of the Chauri Chaura incident in Uttar Pradesh and said that farmers have been behind the progress of India and also played a key role in the Chauri Chaura incident in India's freedom struggle.

PM Modi also said that the steps taken by the government in the last six years made them self-reliant and led to the growth in the agriculture sector even amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

Addressing people at the centenary celebrations of the Chauri Chaura incident in Gorakhpur via video conferencing, Prime Minister Modi said, "Farmers have been behind the progress of the country. They also played an important role in Chauri Chaura struggle. In the last six years, steps have been taken to make farmers self-reliant. As a result of this, the agriculture sector has grown even during the pandemic."

The PM added, "It is unfortunate that the martyrs of Chauri Chaura incident have not been discussed as much as they should have been. Although they have not been given significance in the pages of history, their blood is in the soil of the country and keeps inspiring us."

The Prime Minister also talked about other steps taken in the interest of farmers.

"We have taken several steps in the interest of farmers. To make 'mandis' profitable for farmers, 1,000 more mandis will be linked to e-NAM (National Agriculture Market)," the Prime Minister said.

"We have to pledge that the unity of the country is our priority and its respect above everything. With this feeling, we have to move forward along with each and every people of India," he added.

Over the Union Budget 2021-22, he said, "This year's Union Budget will help increase the speed of India's growth which is the need of the hour during the pandemic."

Highlighting that the world has praised how India has dealt with the pandemic, the Prime Minister said: "Several countries in the world are learning from our vaccination programme. We are working to provide health facilities in villages so that people will not have to rush to the cities for medical treatment."

He also released a postage stamp to mark the beginning of the centenary celebrations of the Chauri Chaura incident.

"Incident of Chauri Chaura was not limited to a police station being set on fire. The message of the incident was huge. Due to various reasons, it was treated as a minor incident, but we should see it in context. The fire was not just in the station but in the hearts of people," he said.

The centenary celebrations and various events planned by the state government have started in all 75 districts of the state this morning.

During a protest by a group of freedom fighters in Uttar Pradesh, police opened fire on the protesters in 1922. As a result, the agitated group set fire to a police station in Chauri Chaura, killing around 23 policemen and other officials at the chowki.

Disturbed by the violence, Mahatma Gandhi had called off the Non-Cooperation movement, which became a significant milestone in the country's freedom struggle.

The killing of the Chauri Chaura policemen had resulted in the arrest of hundreds of protesters with 228 of them being put on trial, six of them dying during it, and 172 ordered to be hanged to death with the remaining sentenced to long-term imprisonments after a hasty eight-month trial.





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Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
A woman is suing the federal government after a U.S. Border Patrol agent crashed into her vehicle, according to court documents.

Agent Luis Carlos Coria crashed the government vehicle he was operating into Rita Ybarras vehicle on March 12, 2019, when Coria disregarded a red traffic light, states a complaint filed on Nov. 4

An initial pretrial and scheduling conference was held on Wednesday in a Laredo federal court.

Records alleged that Coria failed to utilize the units emergency sirens if it were that he was on the way to an alleged emergency. Ybarra suffered injuries and damages caused by the negligent and wrongful acts and omissions of Coria, states the complaint.

The employee of the government had a duty to exercise the degree of care that a reasonably careful person would use to avoid harm to others under circumstances similar to those described in this case, states the complaint.

Ybarra sustained severe bodily injuries and damages. She believes that some of her injuries are permanent and have had serious effects on her health and well-being, according to the complaint.

Ybarra is suing for the recovery of past and future medical expenses, past and future physical pain and mental anguish, lost wages, past and future physical impairment, the market value of her totaled vehicle, all in an amount in excess of the minimum jurisdictional limits of this court.

Attorney Roderick C. Lopez is representing Ybarra. The case remains open.
While the list of signatories for the e-petition also reflects a signature of Boris Johnson, in his capacity as a west London Conservative Party member of Parliament, Downing Street on Wednesday categorically denied that the United Kingdom Prime Minister had signed the petition.

London : British Parliament's Petitions Committee will consider a Westminster Hall debate in the House of Commons complex on the issue of farmers protests and press freedom in India after an online petition attracted over 106,000 signatures.

India has called the remarks by foreign leaders and organisations on protests by farmers as 'ill-informed' and 'unwarranted', asserting that the matter pertains to the internal affairs of a democratic country.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi issued a statement on Wednesday to highlight that the Parliament of India had passed 'reformist legislation' for the agricultural sector, which 'a very small section of farmers' have some reservations about and therefore the laws have been kept on hold while talks are held.

Emphasising that the protests must be seen in the context of India's democratic ethos and polity, the MEA in its statement said some vested interest groups have tried to mobilise international support against the country.

'Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken.

'The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible,' the MEA statement said following some high-profile celebrities tweeting over the agitation by farmers.

In London, a UK government spokesperson said, "Media freedom is vital for the protection of human rights and journalists all around the world must be free to do their job and to hold authorities to account without fear of arrest or violence."

"Free press plays a crucial role in our democracies and the government are putting their full weight behind this including through our membership of the Media Freedom Coalition," the spokesperson said.

The petition on the official Parliament petitions website, entitled 'Urge the Indian Government to ensure safety of protesters & press freedom', calls on the British government to make a public statement on the "#kissanprotests & press freedoms'.

All e-petitions on the Parliament website that cross the 10,000 signatures mark require the UK government to make an official statement and any petitions that cross 100,000 signatures must be considered for a debate.

The House of Commons said the government's response to the petition is expected later this month and the debate is under consideration.

"Petitions that receive 100,000 signatures will be considered for a debate in Parliament. Debates in Westminster Hall -- where petitions debates take place -- are currently suspended, but Committee will make an announcement on scheduling this debate as soon as possible," a House of Commons spokesperson said.

Some of the signatories of the petition reflect names of cross-party parliamentarians including Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MPs Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Preet Kaur Gill, who have been particularly vocal over the issue on social media and most recently raised concerns over the blockage of 'water, electricity and internet' to protesting crowds.

Meanwhile, the Indian Journalists' Association (IJA) in the UK joined other international media organisations to express concern over the arrest of journalists covering the farmers' protests and urged the Indian government to ensure the safety of journalists in the country.

'The freedom of press is an important pillar of any democracy and authorities must ensure that journalists are able to do their jobs -- reporting accurately and without bias -- however challenging the circumstances,' it said in a statement.

Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at several Delhi border points since November last year, demanding the government to repeal the three farm laws and legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

Defending the three contentious agri laws, the MEA said, "These reforms give expanded market access and provided greater flexibility to farmers. They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming."
Do you feel like good moral behavior is on the decline? Are you shocked by what is acceptable behavior today? If you read history, however, youll notice bad behavior continuing forward since Adam and Eve. The Bible addresses standards for godly behavior through strong characters in Bible history and direct instruction.

This article will examine Bible passages in which three strong women in the Old Testament played a major role in furthering Gods kingdom. The article will also paint a broad picture of strong women based on other Scripture.

Who Are Examples of Strong Women in Scripture?

Several Old Testament women stand out as examples of practicing Christian behavior.

Miriam

Miriam, with her brothers Moses and Aaron, led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. Miriam rounds out the trio of leaders as a woman of action who lifts the spirits of the wandering Hebrew people at an important time.

Miriam was a feisty leader from her early years. As a young girl, Miriam helped rescue baby brother Moses, hidden by his mother to avoid the pharaohs decree that all baby boys be killed. Miriam watched the pharaohs daughter lift Moses from the reeds on the bank of the Nile River. Then Miriam fetched their Hebrew mother, who nursed Moses until the pharaohs daughter raised him as her own royal son (Exodus 1:22Exodus 2:10). Miriam saved the first leader of the Israelites heading to the Promised Land.

Miriam continued to support Moses in his leadership of the Israelites. She showed her pluck in leading the celebration after God parted the waters of the Red Sea. The Israelites had safely arrived on the far shore of the sea andobserving the dead bodies and ruined chariots of the drowned Egyptian army in this wild escape adventurethey were ready to party. Miriam led the women in banging a tambourine, dancing, and singing for joy, The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea (Exodus 15:19-21).

I imagine exhausted men lounging along the bank at the far side of the Red Sea, watching the festivities and perhaps joining in the rousing chorus of the song of praise. Miriam and her girls took the lead role in remembering to give thanks to God for saving them on their perilous journey. Miriam was a lively cheerleader for Gods chosen people, passionate in all her ways, who encouraged the Israelites to persevere and follow the long course to the Promised Land.

Miriams sense of girl power comes not without its struggles, however. She wanted a more important role in the exodus; she wanted to be farther up the mountain, as high as Moses on Mount Sinai. She demanded of God, Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? This bossy older sister wanted more props. Miriam was brought up short by God. She was stricken with leprosy and exiled for a week outside the Israeli camp (Numbers 12:2-15). This is rough discipline from the Lord of the Israelites. It is similar to how an Old Testament father would have punished an impudent daughter.

A leader serves how God sees fit, we may infer from this narrative. He uses our abilities to further his mission. And we are not always happy with the role we are to play or the tasks we are asked to accomplish.

Often, I have felt undervalued in my roles of wife, mother, and employee, worrying about what everyone else in the family or at my workplace was doing. Who wants to clean the litter box or drive children to all their activities? Who wants to do all the footwork and let the committee chairmen get credit? Yet I am a supportive creature by nature. Sometimes, as in Miriams case, we are cornered into using gifts the way God wants us to in our life journey, not the way we would like to use our gifts. That is leading as a strong woman of God. A true leader serves others.

The Bible narrative identifies Miriam as the prophetess (Exodus 15:20). She listened with her heart to what God called her to do with her people.

Deborah

Deborah was another strong woman of the Bible, one of the rare women in ancient Hebrew days who did have power as a judge and prophet. She held court under a palm tree in a serene setting near Jordan, where the emigrating Israelites culture and beliefs were oppressed by the dominant culture of the Canaanites. Deborah was the Israelites queen for a time and led them through the Battle of Mt. Tabor.

God told Deborah he would deliver the 900 iron-plated chariots of the Canaanite army under the command of Sisera into her hands. Her Hebrew army commander Barak told Queen Deborah he would attack Sisera with his 10,000 soldiers only if Deborah went into battle with him. Deborah agreed to lead the Israeli troops and she prophesied, Very well . . . I will go with you . . . (but) the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman. Sure enough, Baraks Israelite army, directed by Deborah, prevailed over Siseras Canaanites and peace ruled in the region for 40 years after the battle (Judges 4:9-16, 31b). The Hebrew peoples faith in their God and identity as His people grew as a result of Deborahs steely actions.

In her battle victory duet with Barack, giving God the praise, Deborah referred to herself simply as a mother in Israel (Judges 5:7). She was another strong woman, true to Gods calling, and a servant of her people.

Abigail

Abigail also served her people in the Old Testament account of her wise and generous bequest to her future husband and king, David. When her surly and mean, greedy, no-good, first husband Nabal refused to return hospitality to David, Abigail quickly and covertly intervened to avoid Davids slaughtering Nabals and Abigails tribe.

David and his men were in Nabals region during sheep hearing season. David declared it was a festive time and sent ten of his soldiers to Nabal for provisions. Nabal would be returning a favor if he gifted Davids men; Davids soldiers had protected Nabals shepherds and livestock when they were encamped in Davids territory. The cordial invitation to donate food to Davids soldiers was refused, though Nabal had a stronghold of 3000 sheep and 1000 goats. Nabal wanted to provide strictly for his own servants, he said, not strangers.

David and his troops were on the way to seek revenge for Nabals huge breach in hospitality when Abigail met them with a caravan of donkeys loaded with 200 loaves of bread, meats, and wine. Standing before this receptive, hungry audience, Abigail launched into a long speech:

I did not see the men my master (David) sent, Abigail said. She claimed she knew nothing of her husbands despicable actions and was now making up for it with David. Referring to herself as your servant, she fed master Davids camp and cooled his anger. Abigails long speech before dinner is full of flatterywith a reference to a powerful slingshotand favorable predictions for Davids life. Her speech changed Davids heart.

After the feast, Abigail came clean and told Nabal what she did for David. Shocked at his wifes behavior, Nabals heart failed him and he became like a stone. Nabal was dead in 10 days and Abigail lived happily ever after as the second or third wifedepends how youre countingof the future King David. (1 Samuel 25:2-44)

Was she deceptive? Maybe not, since her actions appear to be more intuitive and impulsive than premeditated. Was she a convincing speaker? Most definitely. She talked David into putting down his weapons of revenge. Your conscience will be clearer if you dont attack Nabals household, she told him.

Abigail had a generous heart and a kind spirit. God used Abigails strengths to persuade a future king not to fight his own war.

Bible Verses about Strong Women

Miriam, Deborah, and Abigail exhibit the traits of womanhood praised in Proverbs 31: She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come Proverbs 31:25.

Her actions reveal that Deborah was nothing if not strong and dignified, a war general. Abigail was strong in going against her husbands decision, bravely facing David, and telling Nabal what she did. Miriam must have been laughing when she threw a little partywith her tambourine, song, and dancethat encouraged the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land.

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue Proverbs 31:26.

Her words are inspired by God when Deborah speaks to Barak, telling him shell go to battle again the Canaanites. God gave her confidence she would receive honor. Abigail oozes kindness in her words and gifts for David. Miriams spirit expresses itself when she opens her mouth with wisdom and sings for joy.

How Does the Christian Definition of Strong Differ from that of the World?

A strong woman has Christlike strength.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control Galatians 5:22-23a.

A strong Christian woman lives by the fruits of the Spirit. She heeds the urging of the Spirit by studying the Bible, praying, and reflecting. Her life becomes an act of worship, the phrase Ashley Judd used in her memoir, All That is Bitter and Sweet, to describe her work as an advocate for struggling people in Southeast Asia.

God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day Psalms 46:5.

Bible womens lives and our lives often do not go as expected. More powerful armies did not defeat a smaller army and a woman assumed battle leadership in Deborahs historic time. A womans wordsspoken or in songled followers in all three of the strong womens Bible narratives, in a culture in which women were usually kept silent.

God worked within these women and blessed their success. The women did not go it alone. Accepting who they were, being their own marvelous selves, they relied on Gods strength and were victorious.

Encouraging Bible Verses about Strong Women and Role Models

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart Proverbs 3:3.

Mary the mother of Jesus kept all these things in her heart (Luke 2:19). As strong women, we need to speak with discretion. Read the article When She Speaks to learn when and how to speak in blessed family, work, and friend relationships.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" Galatians 3:28.

Strong women are empowered by God to be strong people. Encouraging Bible verses apply to men and women. This article on Bible verses for women will boost your spirits.

What Does it Mean to Be a Female Role Model in Christ?

Jesus recognized Mary of Bethanys strength in the New Testament account of Jesus visit to Mary and Martha of Bethanys home. Mary knelt at Jesus feet and soaked up his words while her sister Martha fussed with household chores she thought were necessary to accommodate their holy house guest. Jesus said to the two women, Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her (Luke 10:38-42). There will always be time to do housework. Jesus wont always be with them.

As a party planner and holiday hostess, I admire Martha for taking the initiative to invite Jesus to their home. Marthas strong character is also displayed in her fulfilling her responsibilities, the grind of cooking, cleaning, and worrying. I remember exhausting routines when my children were young, and I worked and went to school. Mary, on the other hand, lived in the moment; she savored time with and instruction from Jesus. He made it clear that Marys role was more important; it took strength to stop everything and listen to Jesus, to tap His divine wisdom, instead of being swallowed by housework and entertaining duties. There is a time to cease the busyness and listen, Jesus implies.

May the stories of Bible women inspire you to set Christlike priorities and a plan of action in your life. Listen to God for guidance and listen to others. Remember the examples set so long ago. The names change and the setting differs, but the same concerns arise in our lives. We may be called to unify an unfocused group, like Miriam; we may fight a battle with dignity and courage like Deborah; and we may pour sweetness on hurt and anger, like Abigail.

Further Reading

Bible Verses for Women

Photo credit: Unsplash/Becca Tapert

Betty Dunn hopes her articles in Crosswalk.com help you hold hands with God, a theme in her self-published novel Medusa. A former high school English teacher and editor, she is working on new writing projects from her home in West Michigan, where she enjoys woods, water, pets, and family. Check out her blog at Betty Dunn and her website, www.elizabethdunning-wix.com

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Founded in 2005, Wyzant offers an expansive digital network of more than 65,000 tutors from a broad spectrum of academic and professional fields. Wyzant seamlessly connects students to the perfect tutor for online or in-person lessons geared toward their unique needs. Wyzant tutors serve learners of all ages and backgrounds, offering in-depth guidance on topics including English, language arts, physics, calculus, coding, LSAT test prep, music and more.

"Wyzant expertly brings together students and world-class instructors. We're excited to welcome Wyzant's talented team to IXL and build a strong partnership rooted in a love of learning," said Paul Mishkin, CEO of IXL.

"Wyzant and IXL have a shared mission of making personalized learning accessible for everyone," said Andrew Geant, CEO of Wyzant. "This partnership will allow Wyzant to innovate and invest in new ways to improve the online tutoring experience for students and expert tutors. Coupled with IXL's resources, expertise and reach, we are excited to help millions more learners of all ages accomplish their goals."

The acquisition will be finalized during Q1 2021. Lazard served as the exclusive financial advisor to Wyzant in the transaction.

Tutoring any time, any place

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to limit in-person meetings, Wyzant makes it easy to access and communicate with qualified tutors from anywhere in the world through its free online learning tool . Students simply search for or request a tutor, and Wyzant offers subject matter experts who best fit their needs. Wyzant then creates a space for students to collaborate with tutors face-to-face through video chat and an interactive whiteboard for solving problems.

Flexible scheduling options ensure that students can get help from the right person at a convenient time. Wyzant also offers in-person tutoring in regions across the United States including New York City, Washington D.C., Dallas, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and more.

Support for all learners

Parents across the nation are being tasked with homeschooling their children, but many don't possess a firm enough grasp of subject matter to do so. Wyzant's Homeschooling Concierge takes the guesswork out of finding the perfect private tutor for a family's at-home education goals.

Wyzant for Higher Ed brings high-quality, affordable tutoring to more than one million college students and working adults seeking a credential or degree. The company also recently launched Wyzant for Business , a corporate benefits package offering subsidized, online instruction for employees who want supplemental learning for their children or for their own career advancement.

The evolution of IXL

Wyzant is IXL's latest strategic acquisition over the past four years. In March 2020, IXL added Vocabulary.com , the leading educational destination for improving literacy through vocabulary building. In 2019, IXL completed the acquisition of Education.com , an online learning resource serving 23 million teachers and parents. ABCya , the creator of more than 400 educational computer games and apps for kids, joined the IXL family in 2018.

Founded in 1998, IXL Learning's flagship product is IXL , a personalized learning platform that helps every student become a strong, confident learner. Featuring a comprehensive K-12 curriculum, the IXL Real-Time Diagnostic, personalized guidance and actionable Analytics, IXL is proven to improve learning outcomes for all students.

About IXL Learning

Currently used by 11 million students and by schools in 95 of the 100 top districts, IXL is an integrated learning platform that supports personalized learning in math, English language arts, science, social studies and Spanish. With more than 80 billion questions asked and answered around the world, IXL is helping schools and parents successfully boost student achievement. The IXL family of products also includes Education.com , ABCya and Vocabulary.com . To learn more about IXL, visit www.ixl.com , facebook.com/IXL and twitter.com/IXLLearning .

About Wyzant

Wyzant takes the guesswork out of finding a qualified tutor you can trust. Since 2005, millions of students all over the globe have looked to Wyzant for help in subjects ranging from math and science to computer programming and foreign languages. It's easy to browse profiles and reviews, message tutors, book lessons and conduct tutoring online using Wyzant's powerful online learning platform. At Wyzant, there are no commitments or expensive pre-paid packages. Every lesson is pay-as-you-go, and if you don't love your first hour with a new tutor, it's free, guaranteed.

Press Contact

Eric Bates

IXL Learning

[email protected]

650-436-5534

SOURCE IXL Learning


Falling demand for peach blossom trees grown in northern Vietnamese localities, despite high quality and appealing prices, has put sellers in Ho Chi Minh City on pins and needles.

Makeshift stalls selling peach blossom trees from Hanoi, northern Hai Duong Province and Thai Binh Province erected at the 23/9 Park in District 1 and the Gia Dinh Park in Go Vap District have welcomed fewer customers than previous years in recent days.

The number of peach bonsai trees, which are popular traditional decorations for the Lunar New Year holiday in Vietnam, Uy, a seller hailing from Thai Binh, has sold for three days is less than one-fifth of the figure last year.

Uy said that the selling prices have been 35 percent lower than the previous Lunar New Year holiday.

Peach blossom trees are on sale at the 23/9 Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, February 2021. Photo: Nguyen Tri / Tuoi Tre

In previous years, many people went to buy [peach blossom trees] to gift others early, but this year stores are too empty [of customers], Uy said.

At a booth next to Uys, Nguyen Thi Huong, hailing from Hai Duong Province, was unhappy as she just sold three peach blossom trees for a total sum of VND8.5 million (US$367), or VND5.5 million ($238) lower than the price last year.

This year, the trees are more beautiful, with a lot of buds, but the prices are too low, Huong said.

A seller takes a nap as no customers visit a makeshift peach blossom shop at the 23/9 Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, February 2021. Photo: Nguyen Tri / Tuoi Tre

The low demand is caused by fewer gatherings and parties that need ornamental trees for decoration due to COVID-19, according to Ngo Minh Hoang, a customer in District 1.

Sellers are expecting better sales in the next three to six days so that they will still be able to return home timely for the Lunar New Year celebrations, which will start next week.

Peach blossom trees are for sale at the 23/9 Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, February 2021. Photo: Nguyen Tri / Tuoi Tre

A customer buys a pair of peach blossom trees from a makeshift peach blossom shop at the 23/9 Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, February 2021. Photo: Nguyen Tri / Tuoi Tre

A customer buys a pair of peach blossom trees from a makeshift peach blossom shop at the 23/9 Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, February 2021. Photo: Nguyen Tri / Tuoi Tre

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Panaji, Feb 4 (UNI) Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday accused opposition parties of motivating external forces to create an unrest in the state, which he said, had been victim of propaganda for the last several months.

In a tweet, he said,'Goa has been a victim of propaganda for the past several months, which has been significantly fueled by external forces. Some of the opposition parties in Goa have also been motivating such external forces to create an unrest in the state. #IndiaAgainstPropaganda.'

The Chief Minister, however, said that no propaganda would derail his sincere efforts towards building a progressive state.

A magnet in the new iPhone 12 can potentially disrupt the function of some implantable medical equipment, according to recent findings from a Michigan hospital system.

Last month, cardiologists from Henry Ford Health System found that the magnet in the iPhone 12 is strong enough to deactivate defibrillators, and potentially pacemakers and other medical equipment.

The group submitted their findings to the medical journal HeartRhythm, which published the report last month. Since then Apple has added a warning to its website and the FDA has begun conducting its own laboratory testing.

We hereby report an important public health issue concerning the newer-generation iPhone 12, which potentially can inhibit lifesaving therapy in a patient, particularly when the phone is carried in an upper chest pocket, the doctors wrote in a letter to the editor published by HeartRhythm.

Henry Ford cardiologists Dr. Gurjit Singh and Dr. Joshua Greenberg tested the interaction between the iPhone 12 series and a patient with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, which can be used in patients with high-risk cardiac conditions.

An implantable pacemaker is used to pace the heart when a patient has a slow heart rhythm or their heart cant beat on its own. Meanwhile a defibrillator shocks the heart if its rhythm goes out of sync.

Both devices have a safety magnetic switch, Singh explained. If a defibrillator malfunctions and keeps shocking its user, an external magnet can be used to flip its safety switch.

The newest iPhone uses a stronger magnet than previous versions in order to charge more quickly, Singh said. That gave Greenberg the idea to test the device near implanted medical equipment to see if the magnet was strong enough to deactivate the device.

Throughout multiple tests on a singular patient, the doctors brought the phone close to the individuals chest, causing the safety switch to drip and the defibrillator to stop working. While the doctors hypothesize that it would do the same to a pacemaker, theyre seeking further study to confirm their theory.

Meanwhile, the health system has been in contact with the FDA and Apple about its findings. Apple has published a warning on its webpage, noting that its iPhone might interfere with medical devices.

Though all iPhone 12 models contain more magnets than prior iPhone models, theyre not expected to pose a greater risk of magnetic interference to medical devices than prior iPhone models, reads part of Apples warning.

The company recommends keeping your iPhone or other MagSafe accessories at least 6 inches away from your medical device, or 12 inches away if the phone is wirelessly charging. That same advice used to be common for doctors to give to patients with implantable devices, but Dr. Singh said it isnt as common these days.

Singh said he hopes people take it seriously and avoid putting phones and other devices in their chest pocket if they have an implantable device.

To date, neither cardiologist has heard of any cases in which an iPhone has caused harm to an individual with an implantable device. More research is also needed to determine if theres an effect on cochlear implants and other medical devices.

According to Henry Ford Health System, there are more than 300,000 recipients of an implantable defibrillator or pacemaker each year. The iPhone 12 launched in late October 2020.

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Tehran, Feb 4 : Iran will start receiving doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in February via the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) platform, Minister of Health and Medical Education Saeed Namaki announced.

"AstraZeneca informed us the night before last that it will start delivering 4.2 million doses in February within the framework of COVAX," Namaki said in a video announcement on Wednesday.

Namaki also said that Iran's Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute has been authorised to start clinical trials of its vaccine candidate, and they will hopefully start the trials next week.

At her daily briefing, spokeswoman for the ministry, Sima Sadat Lari, said 6,870 new Covid-19 cases were detected in the past 24 hours, raising the country's overall count to 1,438,286 infections.

Of the newly infected, she noted, 701 had to be hospitalised.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, she added, 79 new deaths related to the coronavirus were registered, taking a death toll of 58,189 in the country.

She said 1,229,391 Covid-19 patients have as of Wednesday recovered or been released from Iranian hospitals.

So far, 9,449,685 tests for Covid-19 have been carried out in Iran, according to the spokesperson.

Iran announced its first Covid-19 cases on February 19, 2020.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

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A further 75 deaths linked to Covid-19 and 1,318 new cases has been confirmed by the Department of Health this evening.

Forty-six of these deaths occurred in February, 27 occurred in January, and two were earlier, bringing the death toll to 3,586.

The median age of those who died is 84 years and the age range is 34-100 years.

There is now a total of 200,744 cases of the virus in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today, 428 are in Dublin, 122 in Cork, 93 in Galway, 78 in Kildare, 77 in Limerick and the remaining 520 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 2pm today, 1,284 Covid-19 patients are in hospital, 188 of which are in ICU.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer said: We know that the over 70s have suffered the greatest burden of mortality and serious illness from Covid-19. Ireland is now in a good position; we can now offer highly effective and safe vaccines to this cohort.

The superior efficacy demonstrated by the mRNA vaccines authorised for use in Ireland, Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna mean that the mRNA vaccines are the right vaccine to provide the highest level of protection available to those over 70.

Over the coming weeks, we will see many more of our vulnerable loved ones receive their Covid-19 vaccinations. This is good news and gives all of us great hope. However, even if you have received your Covid-19 vaccine, you must continue to wash your hands, wear a face covering, maintain a social distance and keep your close contacts to a minimum. Until we have all been vaccinated, we must act as though none of us have been vaccinated.

Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Medical Officer, added: Today we have reached another significant and unwelcome milestone as we report more than 200,000 confirmed cases. We must all redouble our efforts and drive down the incidence of disease in our community.

We are noticing a clear pattern in people with symptoms delaying contacting their GP to arrange a test. It is vital that as soon as you notice that you have symptoms of Covid-19 that you isolate and contact your GP immediately. By acting quickly, we can prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect our vulnerable loved ones.

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the National public health and Emergency Team Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: The next few weeks will be difficult for all of us, as we bring the daily case levels below 1,000 per day, our progress will seem to slow down.

"It is now more important than ever that we continue our efforts to bring case numbers down towards the very low levels we achieved in June and July. In that regard, it is very good news that our estimates of the R number are well below one  in the region of 0.5  0.8.

I noted last week that the testing of close contacts will impact on case numbers in the coming days. We shouldnt be disappointed by this, it shows that we have moved from the mitigation phase of the last few weeks, back to the containment phase where we are tracking down every possible chain of transmission.

Dr Lucy Jessop, Director, National Immunisation Office: The NIO works with colleagues across the HSE and in primary care to administer millions of vaccines every year. We are using our vast expertise and experience to deliver the Covid-19 Vaccination Programme safely and securely.

My colleagues and I in the National Immunisation Office are continuing to work hard to finalise our preparations, ensuring we are ready to administer safe and effective vaccines to the most vulnerable in our society as they are called for vaccination.

It comes as mandatory home quarantine regulations were signed into law last night and came into effect as of midnight.

The new regulations mean anyone arriving into Ireland from today is now legally required to quarantine in their home.

Read More

Failure to do so can be penalised by fines of up to 2,500 and/or six months in prison.

There will be no exemptions from the quarantine laws for people arriving from high risk countries such as South Africa and Brazil.

And Health Minister Stephen Donnelly will also be able to designate countries as high risk if there are concerns about the spread of Covid-19 in certain states.

People with negative Covid-19 tests arriving from countries deemed low risk will be able to leave quarantine if they get negative test five days after arrival.

Read More

Minister Donnelly also extended regulations which require all passengers arriving in Ireland to produce a negative Covid-19 test on arrival. Again, failure to produce a test can result in a 2,500 fine and/or six months in prison.

Anyone arriving without a negative test will be legally obliged to take a test within 36 hours of their arrival in the country. It will also be offence to refuse to get a Covid-19 test.

Passengers arriving in Ireland via Northern Ireland will also be required to produce a negative Covid-19 test and adhere to the new mandatory quarantine rules.
A bat with a GPS tag on its back. Credit: Teague O'Mara

Although scientists knew that some bats could reach heights of over 1,600 meters (or approximately one mile) above the ground during flight, they didn't understand how they managed to do it without the benefit of thermals that aren't typically available to them during their nighttime forays. Now, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on February 4th have uncovered the bats' secret to high-flying.

It turns out that the European free-tailed bats they studiedpowerful fliers that the researchers documented sometimes reaching speeds of up to 135 kilometers (84 miles) per hour in self-powered flightdo depend on orographic uplift that happens when air is pushed up over rising terrain to help them fly high, just as birds do during the day. But, because that's harder to find during the cooler night, they have to rely on just the right sort of areas to reach those high altitudes.

"We show that wind and topography can predict areas of the landscape able to support high-altitude ascents, and that bats use these locations to reach high altitudes while reducing airspeeds," explains Teague O'Mara, of Southeastern Louisiana University and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. "Bats then integrate wind conditions to guide high-altitude ascents, deftly exploiting vertical wind energy in the nocturnal landscape."

To make these discoveries, O'Mara and colleagues fitted the free-tailed bats with high-resolution GPS loggers that recorded their location in three-dimensional space every 30 seconds, tracking them for up to three days during the approximately six-hour night. The data show that bats emerge just after sunset and fly constantly throughout the night before returning to roost.

A dorsal view of a bat with a GPS tag on its back. Credit: Teague O'Mara

They observed that the bats' flight would typically follow the terrain they crossed, but that occasionally they would climb to extreme heights, reaching nearly a mile above ground level in less than 20 minutes. During these high-altitude ascents, the bats would climb faster, longer, and at a lower airspeed than during more moderate ascents to around 300 meters. Most bats descended quickly after reaching their peak elevation, resulting in a kind of rollercoaster flight path.

The researchers were surprised to discover just how predictable the bats' high-flying ascents were across the landscape. The data show that bats are using the same types of placesalthough not necessarily always the exact same locationswhere the wind sweeps up a slope to carry them to high altitudes.

"We were ready to see that these bats flew fast, so that wasn't a surprise to us," O'Mara said. "But the fast, uplifting wind-supported flights were something our team really wasn't looking for or prepared for."

The findings show that bats are solving the problems of flight in similar ways to birdsjust at night, the researchers note.

The region in northern Portugal where the researchers tracked the bats. Credit: Teague O'Mara

"These free-tailed bats seem to find ways to minimize how much energy they have to spend to find food each night," O'Mara said. "It's a pretty incredible challenge for an animal that can only really perceive the 30 to 50 meters ahead of it in detail. It takes a lot of energy to fly up to 1,600 meters above the ground, and these bats have found a way to ride the wind currents up."

Although the researchers already had a pretty good idea based on past work that the bats also could fly amazingly fast, they say this fast-flying ability remains "a bit of an unsolved problem."

"Their small body sizes and large, flexible wings covered in a thin membrane were assumed to prevent these really fast speeds," O'Mara said. "But it's now clear that bats can fly incredibly fast when they choose. It's up to us to figure out how they do that and if it can be applied to other scenarios," such as engineering bio-inspired high-speed and low-energy flight.

Explore further Wind farms along mountain ridges may negatively affect bats

More information: Current Biology, O'Mara et al.: "Bats use topography and nocturnal updrafts to fly high and fast" DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.12.042 Journal information: Current Biology , O'Mara et al.: "Bats use topography and nocturnal updrafts to fly high and fast" www.cell.com/current-biology/f  0960-9822(20)31894-7
As many as 42,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine will arrive at the Cantacuzino Military Medicine Research and Development National Institute on Friday, according to the National COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV), as reported by AGERPRES.

Shipping will be provided by the manufacturing company, with the vaccine doses to be brought to Bucharest by land and stored with the National Storage Centere. Later, they will be distributed to the existing regional centres nationwide.

The administration of the Moderna vaccine in Romania started on Thursday morning using two batches that have arrived so far in the country.

The recommendation for the Moderna vaccine is two doses, with a 28-day gap in between, for people over 18 years of age.

The two vaccine variants available in the EU are very similar. The effectiveness of the two is about the same. The BioNTech Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective in preventing COVID-19, while the Moderna vaccine is 94.1% effective. Both vaccines use mRNA-based technology, according to CNCAV.

The National COVID-19 Vaccine Storage Centre at the Cantacuzino Institute is fully authorised and endorsed by Romania's National Authority for Medicines and Medical Devices, the national authority for medicinal products for human use.

As a wholesale distributor, the Bucharest-based Cantacuzino Military Medicine Research and Development National Institute may possess, store and deliver medicines to which additional criteria apply, such as: products in accordance with Article 806 of the republished Law 95/2006: immunological drugs, and products requesting cold chain supply that entails handling at low temperatures.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

A federal judge has prevented the Indian Health Service from reducing emergency services at an Acoma Pueblo hospital for at least a few more weeks.

The Pueblo of Acoma sued IHS and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in federal court last week over cuts at Acoma-Canoncito-Laguna Hospital.

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Judge Beryl A. Howel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a temporary restraining order to Acoma Pueblo on Jan. 29. The order expires Feb. 28.

Defendants are temporarily prohibited from closing the Acoma-Canoncito-Laguna Hospital or reducing the facilitys current services pending the expiration of this temporary restraining order or further order of this Court, the order reads.

IHS shortened the hospitals operating hours in October and stopped emergency and inpatient services because of staffing shortages.

According to IHS court documents, three emergency room physicians left or were preparing to leave, one ER nurse resigned, and a total of nine clinical nurses resigned.

The hospital resumed emergency services Jan. 1, but had planned to close again on Feb. 1 before Howel issued the order.

Acoma Pueblo says IHS violated federal law by not informing Congress of the changes at least a year in advance, said Greg Smith, an attorney representing the Pueblo.

One point the tribe has repeatedly made to the IHS is to ask how, under any principles of public health policy, you can justify closing a hospital in the middle of a pandemic, Smith told the Journal. The sense is that IHS intends to vigorously litigate this, rather than, in our view and the judges view, comply with the law and do a detailed report of how this affects a Native community, and provide one year notice.

IHS defense lawyers assert that the law has exceptions for a temporary closure that is necessary for medical, environmental, or safety reasons.

Hiring medical staff is more than locating personnel, the attorneys wrote in a document opposing the Acoma motion. These personnel in most instances are relocated, housed, background tracked and they must learn the specific systems and protocols at the hospital. This process takes weeks.

The agency referred to the tribes lawsuit as an eleventh-hour motion that interferes with hospital safety decisions. IHS maintains that CARES Act money cannot be used for the hospitals funding shortages.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, former-U.S. Sen. Tom Udall and U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland have issued letters or statements that denounce the hospital changes.

The Acoma legal team will argue for a preliminary injunction later this month.

A 21-year-old man was shot to death early Thursday on a street in Camden County, authorities said.

Police were called about 2 a.m. to the 1700 block of South 7th Street in Camden on a report of a shooting, according to acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer.

Officers arrived found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead shortly after he was taken to a hospital.

The man was later identified as Alex Fernandez of Philadelphia, according to Mayer and Camden County Police Chief Gabriel Rodriguez.

Anyone with information is asked to call contact Camden County Prosecutors Office Detective Jeremy Jankowski at 856-397-3485 or Camden County Police Detective Sean Miller at 609-706-6590. Tips can also be sent to ccpotips@ccprosecutor.org.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Monrovia  The Ministry of Labour through the National Anti-Human Trafficking Taskforce has established a modern "Safe-Home" for victims and witnesses of human trafficking and child labour as part of the fight against trafficking in persons and child labour in Liberia.

Making the disclosure at the regular monthly meeting of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Taskforce held at the Ministry of Labour, the Chairman of the Taskforce, Labour Minister, Cllr. Charles H. Gibson said that for the first time in the taskforce has established a modern self-home for victims of Trafficking In Persons (TIP) and child labour.

"In our last meeting we listed several programs to roll out as a means of accelerating the fight against trafficking in person and child labour. We have been able to accomplish most of them and as you can see from the agenda items, we have for the first time established modern safe-home; I want to say ultra-modern safe -home. Is a place that even if an official of the American Government child is form in need of assistance and we take that child there, he/she will feel like home, because we made it very modern" Cllr. Gibson told members of the taskforce and partners.

Minister Gibson said the Ministry of Labour working with the Ministry of Justice are committed to ensuring that cases of trafficking and child labour are fast-track at various courts across the country.

He informed the members and partners in the fight against trafficking and child labour that he deployed Labour Commissioners assigned in the fifteen counties and they did a complete docket review of what is obtaining in the counties as it relates to trafficking and child labour. "Interestingly, we discovered that we have two cases in Grand Cape Mount County; we also discovered that there had been a lot of child labour cases and they have been handle at police stations and not going to court because child labour issues usually involved families.
Covid survivors are almost twice as likely to suffer side effects from Pfizer's vaccine compared to those who have never contracted the virus, data suggests.

Figures from a symptom-tracking app show 33 per cent of people who had already been struck down the virus endured at least one mild side effect  such as fatigue or a headache a week after getting their jab.

For comparison, the rate was just 19 per cent among non-Covid sufferers.

The ZOE Covid-19 Symptom Study app revealed the most common side effect was fatigue, with nine per cent. It was followed by headaches (eight per cent) and chills (four per cent).

Meanwhile, the data also showed most of the side effects  known as systematic because the whole body is affected  appeared within 48 hours of getting vaccinated.

Only three per cent experienced complications lasting beyond three days.



The ZOE Covid-19 Symptom Study app revealed that 33 per cent who had previously contracted the virus experienced one or more mild side effects after seven days compared to 19 per cent of non-Covid sufferers

Covid survivors are almost twice as likely to suffer side effects from Pfizer 's vaccine compared to those who have never contracted the virus, data suggests

Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King's College London who heads up the ZOE Symptom app which also estimates infections throughout the country, said that the data suggests that the first dose for those who have previously had Covid behaves like a booster jab.

The study analysed data from people of all ages who had 40,000 doses between them.

It found 37 per cent had pain or swelling near the site of the jab after the first dose, which increased to 45 per cent after the second dose.

Data also showed 14 per cent of participants reported at least one side effect within seven days following the first dose, compared to 22 per cent after the second jab suggesting the top-up dose causes a stronger immune response.

The figures showed 13 per cent of men logged at least one side effect within seven days, compared to 19 per cent of women who had received the vaccine.

The under-55s were more likely to experience a side effect, with 21 per cent logging at least one symptom compared to 14 per cent of over-55s.

Commenting on the effects after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination, he said: 'It is really suggesting that if you have had Covid before your first vaccine it is behaving a bit like the second one  like a booster.

He described how the higher rate of side effects seen in people who had previously Covid suggests that: 'People already had an immune response and they are getting an even bigger booster so that their immunity is going to be stronger.'

Professor Spector added: 'I am expecting once we analyse and get a bit more of the data we are going to show that this group who previously had Covid, maybe six months before, have an even bigger protection, even bigger than the 53 per cent after that single dose.

So far the UK has placed orders for 367million doses of the seven most promising Covid vaccines  made by AstraZeneca , Pfizer , Moderna, Valneva, Janssen, GlaxoSmithKline and Novavax  at a cost of 2.9billion

Pfizer/BioNTech's breakthrough jab was the first in the world to be proven to successfully block severe Covid-19 last year and it gained approval in the UK on December 2

Covid survivors may only need one vaccine dose because they already have antibodies People previously infected with coronavirus may only need one dose of the vaccine, a new study suggests. Researchers found that participants who had contracted COVID-19 in the past and received one shot had antibody levels similar to - and even higher than - those who had never been infected and were given two doses. Additionally, virus survivors were more likely to report side effects after being immunized such as pain at the injection site, fever and fatigue. The team, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, says giving previously infected individuals only one dose would 'spare them from unnecessary pain and free up many urgently needed vaccine doses.' Advertisement

'I think it invites the question about whether with a bit more data we might be able to say that these people don't need a second booster and that really they have already had their first one which is the Covid and the second one which is the first vaccination.

'That would potentially save around 10million vaccines or at least it could be delayed maybe several months more.'

The breakthrough jab was the first in the world to be proven to successfully block severe Covid-19 last year and it gained approval in the UK on December 2.

It uses brand-new technology and is known as a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine. Conventional vaccines are produced using weakened forms of the virus, but mRNAs use only the virus's genetic code.

An mRNA vaccine is injected into the body where it enters cells and tells them to create antigens. These antigens are recognised by the immune system and prepare it to fight coronavirus.

Studies showed the two-dose vaccine could prevent severe illness in 95 per cent of people who were injected with it.

The Government has ordered 40million doses, enough to vaccinate 20million Brits, but only a handful of million Brits have received the jab so far.

Having vaccines on order is not the same as having them ready to go. Manufacturers are still trying to ramp up production to deliver the agreed supplies around the world.

The UK ran into some logistical difficulties when trying to roll the vaccine out last year which stalled how quickly it could be deployed.

The downside to mRNA vaccines is that they need to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures and cannot be transported easily.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 05:44:55|Editor: huaxia

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TRIPOLI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Thursday welcomed the 7th round of talks of the Libyan Joint Military Commission (JMC) held in the city of Sirte, some 450 km east of the capital Tripoli.

"UNSMIL welcomes the convening of the 7th round of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC) at its headquarters in Sirte, from Feb. 4 to 7, to continue the planning for the implementation of the cease-fire agreement signed on Oct. 23, 2020 in Geneva," UNSMIL said in a statement.

The meeting will focus on expediting the opening of the coastal road to enable safe passage of citizens and goods, building on the progress achieved in previous rounds of the JMC talks, according to the statement.

Demining experts from both sides, in addition to UNSMIL staff, will attend the meeting to provide technical support and discuss the way forward to clear mines and remnants of war in the areas under the control of each party, it said.

The Commission will also finalize discussions with the UNSMIL on the necessary requirements for the deployment of UN monitors in support of the Libyan cease-fire monitoring and verification mechanism.

The east-based army and the UN-backed government had been engaged in a deadly armed conflict for more than a year in and around Tripoli, which ended in early June 2020 with the UN-backed government announcing its takeover of all western Libya after withdrawal of the east-based army.

In October 2020, the Libyan delegations to the 5+5 Joint Military Commission talks in Geneva signed a permanent cease-fire agreement.

In November 2020, the Commission agreed on terms for the cease-fire implementation, which includes returning all forces back to their camps, exchanging all prisoners, removing landmines in cooperation with the UN teams and Libya's General Intelligence Service, and combatting hate speech. Enditem

New Delhi, Feb 4 : Actress Nidhhi Agerwal has confirmed that she will star with Telugu superstar Pawan Kalyan in his upcoming film.

While she remains tightlipped on details of the film, Nidhhi exclusively tells IANS: "Yes, I am doing a film with Pawan Kalyan and it feels like a dream come true to be a part of this particular project. This is my ninth film, so I am looking at this as my golden film." Talking about shooting with Pawan Kalyan, Niddhi gushes: "He is simply amazing and so good to work with. All I can say is that he is the best!" Besides the film with Pawan Kalyan, Nidhhi is also busy finishing two other projects.

"I am shooting between Chennai and Hyderabad. There is a Tamil film being directed by Magizh Thirumeni that I am shooting for in Chennai, and another film that I am shooting in Hyderabad, which will be over in the next couple of days," she informs.
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In a conversation with Canadian-American automotive engineer Sandy Munro, Tesla chief Elon Musk explained some of Model 3s production issues. Munro sat with Musk for an interview at the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica, Texas where he asked the executive why some Teslas seem to have problems while some seem to be pristine. The Tesla chief replied that it took some time for the company to iron out the production process and that it was hard to get everything right during the cars production ramp.

If youll recall, Tesla had problems addressing the production bottlenecks on the Model 3 line, and it took a few months to achieve the kind of volume the company was aiming for. One of the issues the Model 3 suffered from, as Inside EVs reported last year, was paint issues  some cars had paint that were thinning in some places and had paint flakes and blemishes. Now, Musk has admitted that some cars didnt get enough time to dry.

Some Model 3s also suffered from panel gap issues wherein which their gaps had inconsistent sizing. The car doors gap, for instance, could be a millimeter wide at the top but then widen to 3 millimeters near the bottom. Munro previously said that panel gap issues could be solved by using the mega casting technique, which is already used to cast the Model Ys rear chassis as a single component. Musk said it was impossible to do that for the Model 3s assembled at Teslas Fremont factory, because only the automakers newer plants will get the equipment needed to do mega castings. You can watch the Munros and Musks conversation below:
Staff at Wilker Auto Conversions have expressed their shock and concern at the announcement of a three-week shut-down of the production plant in Offaly.

The shut-down, from Friday, February 12 until Monday, March 8, will affect 80 workers at the Clara plant which converts vehicles into ambulances for the HSE and other clients.

The company confirmed this morning that the planned shut-down is due to Brexit related problems in its supply chain from the UK which has resulted in shortages of key components.

SIPTU Organiser, Derek Casserly said: We are seeking an urgent meeting with management to discuss in detail the reason for this decision which has caused shock and concern among workers and the wider community in county Offaly. Wilker Auto Conversions is one of the largest employers in Clara.

We are calling on the company to ensure our members do not suffer any unnecessary financial loss because of this shut-down and that every effort is made to eliminate supply chain difficulties in the future. Our members had previously been advised that the company was 'Brexit ready' and that it did not anticipate any difficulties in its supply chain.

The company says it is working with employees yo ease the financial burden brought on by the temporary layoffs and adds that it it is continuing to work to rectify supply chain issues.
Kourtney Kardashian has been enjoying the good life in the Turks And Caicos as they rest of the world shelters in place during the spread of COVID-19.

And on Wednesday the 41-year-old siren posted yet another swimsuit photo to her Instagram account which has a stunning 109M followers.

In her caption the mother of three said she has a secret recipe for a healthy drink.

Drink up: Kourtney Kardashian has been enjoying the good life in the Turks And Caicos and on Wednesday the 41-year-old siren posted yet another swimsuit photo as she said she has a secret recipe for a healthy drink

The KUWTK standout said she puts Komucha in her tequila drink.

She said, '@poosh February SHOP DROP !! 10 new items added - (including the kombucha thats in my tequila punch ) Happy shopping!'

On her POOSH page the same photo was shared: 'New product drop alert (and this is one you wont want to miss)... must-have essentials.'

with a cute pal: She had her hand in her hair as she posed with this friend in the same suit

The reality TV star had on an orange bikini while putting her foot up on a wood table in a cabana.

The ex of Scott Disick has been modeling several swimsuits while on the trip with Kylie, Kim and Khloe.

Earlier this week she was in a cherry-red Sommer Swim bikini that allowed her to show off her sizzling cleavage as well as her enviably flat midriff and knockout legs.

One day earlier Kourtney and her half-sister Kendall Jenner posed for an Instagram picture in their swimsuits whilst sat at the edge of the pool.

Sandy day" Here the star is seen in her orange suit while on a lounge chair

The Poosh founder and the 25-year-old supermodel had their backs to the camera allowing their string bikinis to emphasize their backsides.

In another snapshot the dynamic duo could also be seen sitting in the hot tub while tucking into plates of sliced fruit.

Later, college graduate Kourtney wore a bikini on the beach with her phone in hand as she said, 'Can you hear me now?'

Kourtney's latest Instagram comes amid a swirl of rumors that she is dating Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker who is 45 years old.

'A little fun in the sun': Kardashian put her sensational assets on display while posing up a storm on her Instagram

Looking fab: The 41-year-old reality TV bombshell shared an Instagram album that showed her dripping wet as she rose up out of the pool

When you got it: She opted for a cherry-red bikini that allowed her to show off her sizzling cleavage as well as her enviably flat midriff and knockout legs

'They've been dating for about a month or two. They've been friends for a long time but it's turned romantic. Travis has liked her for a while,' a People source said.

Over the weekend they are said to have traveled out to the luxurious Palm Springs country house owned by Kourtney's mother Kris Jenner.

Kourtney has three children with her ex partner Scott Disick whom she had an on-off romance with from 2006 until 2015.

Thirsty: Kourtney shared another photo and poked fun at her 'thirsty content'

Rearview: One day earlier Kourtney and her half-sister Kendall Jenner posed for an Instagram picture in their swimsuits whilst sat at the edge of the pool

So healthy: In another snapshot the dynamic duo could also be seen sitting in the hot tub while tucking into plates of sliced fruit

Since then Kourtney's dating history has included Younes Bendjima, an Algerian model who is 14 years younger than she is.

She was briefly linked to model Luka Sabbat, 23, who is friends with Kendall - but he told The Cut in February 2019, 'We're definitely not dating.'

Meanwhile Scott is dating Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin's daughter Amelia, a 19-year-old model who has been open about her past experiences with anorexia.

Phony: Later, college graduate Kourtney wore a bikini on the beach with her phone in hand as she said, 'Can you hear me now?'

There he is: Kourtney's latest Instagram comes amid a swirl of rumors that she is dating Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker who is 45 years old

Before that he had a two-year relationship with Lionel Richie's daughter Sofia, who would take joint trips with Scott, Kourtney and the children.

Scott began dating Sofia when she was 19, and prior to her he was linked to Bella Thorne when she too was 19.

In a new trailer for the final season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kendall said that Kourtney and Scott are 'definitely made for each other.'

The show is ending this year after its upcoming 20th season and then the Kardashian-Jenner women will move onto an undisclosed new project at Hulu.
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VATICAN CITY, FEB 4 - Pope Francis on Thursday voiced solidarity with musicians hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. "My thoughts go out to all those who have been affected: to the musicians, who have seen their lives and professions disrupted by the demands of distancing; to those who have lost their jobs and social contact; to those who have had to cope, in difficult contexts, with the necessary training, education and community life," Francis said in a video message to the 4th International Conference on Music, organised by the Pontifical Council for Culture, in collaboration with the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of the Ateneo Sant'Anselmo, Vatican News reported. He added his hope that "this aspect of social life can also be reborn, that we can return to singing and playing and enjoying music together." Concluding his video message, Pope Francis asked a question, one which he says "comes naturally in the situation in which we find ourselves, caused by the pandemic." "Is the silence we live empty or are we in the process of listening? Is it empty or are we in the process of listening? Will we allow, afterwards, the emergence of a new song?" The Pope also expressed his hope that participants' reflections, on the theme 'Texts and Contexts', "may enrich ecclesial communities and those who work in the field of music, an area that is very important for liturgy and evangelisation." As is well known, noted the Pope, "the Bible has inspired countless musical expressions, including fundamental pages in the history of music." He offered the examples of Gregorian chant, Palestrina, and Bach to stress that "it has inspired a great variety of compositions on the five continents" and that various contemporary composers have also dealt with the sacred texts. "The Church's musical heritage, in fact, is very varied and has ample space, in addition to the liturgy, for concert performances, in schools and catechesis, and even in the theater," he adds. The Pope then reflected on the importance of silence in music, saying that "a good musician knows the value of silence, the value of pause." "The alternation between sound and silence is fruitful and allows for listening, which plays a fundamental role in every dialogue," he said. The common challenge is to listen to each other, he said, noting that in the liturgy "we are invited to listen to the Word of God." Music, too, he added, can help the biblical texts to "speak" in new and different cultural contexts, so that the divine Word can effectively reach minds and hearts. (ANSA).
Hunstville Hospital CEO David Spillers said the current coronavirus vaccine site at John Hunt Park in Huntsville will get more doses so it can be one of Alabama's large-scale clinics.

Starting Monday, Spillers said they plan to administer 1,000 more shots per day at John Hunt. This would put the daily number of doses near 2,000 per day, or three doses every minute, Spillers said.

This will be appointment only. Walk-ups are discouraged, Spillers said Wednesday.

It will operate from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

You can try to get appointments HERE

On Tuesday, the Alabama Department of Public Health said eight large scale driver-through clinics will open Monday in Alabama.

The clinics are in Anniston, Birmingham, Dothan, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Selma and Tuscaloosa will open the week of Feb. 8.

Feb. 8 is the day that more people in Alabama become eligible to receive the vaccine, including those 65 and older, teachers, grocery store workers and more. Learn more HERE

Stay with WAAY 31 for updates

John Hunt Park site to serve as North Alabama's large-scale drive through coronavirus vaccine clinic
NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC) regrets today's unanimous Supreme Court decision in the Guelph Treasure case (Federal Republic of Germany v Philipp), which sends the plaintiffs back to Germany to seek justice for their Holocaust-era art restitution claims. "Unfortunately, Germany's record on these matters has been deficient," said Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC Director of International Jewish Affairs.

Over twenty years ago, the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, adopted at an international conference organized by the State Department, were heralded as a new means for survivors and their heirs to regain ownership of their looted artwork. Though not legally compelled to do so, governments agreed that they would examine the provenance of their state museum collections and return any art that was originally acquired by Nazi seizures or forced sales.

In Germany, these cases are handled by the Limbach Commission, which ruled in 2014 in favor of the Berlin museum that possessed the collection known as the Guelph Treasure. That decision led the collection's heirs to seek redress in a U.S. Court.

The Limbach Commission and the attorneys representing the German Government maintained before the Supreme Court that the 1935 sale of the artwork was free and uncoerced, despite the longstanding principle in Holocaust asset matters that any sale occurring after 1933, when the Nazis came to power, should be considered a forced sale. The attorneys for Germany further argued that the looting of Jewish property should not be considered as a part of the genocide of Jews, another principle that until now has governed Germany policy on Holocaust restitution matters.

The Limbach Commission has earned a reputation for its long delays, lack of transparency, and decisions that disfavor the claimants. It will now be up to the German courts and the German government, if necessary, to address these deficiencies.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org




Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4) To celebrate her daughter Dahlias first birthday, actress Anne Curtis is raising funds to help vulnerable babies and kids in need.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Curtis announced she began a fundraiser to help humanitarian aid organization UNICEF give disadvantaged children the childhood they deserve.

Theres nothing we want more than for all children to be given the best start at life, Curtis wrote on social media, adding that her family will match whatever amount is raised through the campaign.

On the fundraising page, the 35-year-old celebrity said donations will be used to purchase and provide water kits, food, vaccines, and learning materials, among others, to the selected children.

The campaign has raised over 27,000 as of publishing.

For more details, click here.

Source: Reuters

Frontline workers in Rajasthan that are to be vaccinated in the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive will be asked to specify the reason if they refuse to get vaccinated.

The personnel of police, home guard, civil defence, Rajasthan armed constabulary and the jail department are to be vaccinated in Phase-2 starting February 4, state officials told Hindustan Times.

According to the news report, in a circular issued by the home department, superintendents of police (SPs) and police commissioners of Jaipur and Jodhpur are instructed to ask frontline workers refusing to get vaccinated, the reason for their refusal.

If personnel are apprehensive, afraid or misled due to any misconception or rumour related to vaccines side effects etc, they should be convinced, said V Sarvana Kumar, special secretary, home department.

According to the Health Ministry, nearly 4.5 million beneficiaries have been administered shots of coronavirus vaccine under the countrywide exercise till February 4.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

In a span of 24 hours, 3,10,604 people were vaccinated across 8,041 sessions. 84,617 sessions have been conducted so far, the Union Health Ministry said revealed.
Then-Vice President Mike Pence walks to the West Wing of the White House after addressing staff on the steps of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, in the White House complex on Jan. 19, 2021. (Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)

Pence Announces Creation of Post-White House Transition Office

Former Vice President Mike Pence has announced the opening of a new post-White House transition office in the Washington, D.C., area.

In a statement on Feb. 3, Pence said the office will manage the correspondence, scheduling requests, public statements, and official activities for him and his wife, Karen Pence.

The vice president and Mrs. Pence look forward to continuing to elevate causes that are near and dear to their hearts and serving the American people when called upon, the statement from the office reads.

Pences last public appearance was Jan. 20, the day of the presidential inauguration, when he attended President Joe Bidens swearing-in ceremony. Former President Donald Trump didnt attend the event and instead opted to deliver a speech to supporters before returning to his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

Upon returning to his home state of Indiana on Inauguration Day, Pence wished Biden and his administration well.

Its been the greatest honor of my life, Pence told a small group of supporters in Indiana about serving in the White House.

It is great to be back home again. Thank you for coming out, he added. To be able to fly home to my hometown means more than I can tell you.  Thank you for your support. We thank you for your prayers. We felt them every day.

Among supporters of Trump, Pences reputation took a hit in recent weeks as he presided over the joint session of Congress to certify President Joe Bidens win on Jan. 6. A day before the joint session, Pence spokesman Marc Short said there was no constitutionally backed mandate for Pence to challenge the electoral vote, as Trump and his supporters had suggested.

Trump also pilloried Pence on Twitter for presiding over Congress during the certification, accusing him of not having the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify  USA demands the truth!

Pence didnt publicly respond to Trumps statement.

The Pences are currently residing in Northern Virginia and plan to move back to Indiana in the summer, according to the statement.

Details on how to make scheduling requests and send correspondence to the former vice president and former second lady will be forthcoming, it says.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
First social impact bond to be introduced in Armenia

Support will be directed at local agricultural sector

Slovak Republic providing donor study

Improving the lives of smallholder farmers in the Shirak region of north-western Armenia is the goal of a pilot programme announced today by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The two institutions signed a letter of intent to structure a social impact bond, an innovative financing tool linking financial success to the delivery of measured social outcomes. Social bonds provide investment to address social problems by funding preventive measures. When the social outcomes improve, investors are repaid their initial investment plus a return for the financial risk that they took.

This will be the first social impact bond introduced in Armenia and it will be dedicated to supporting the development of the local agribusiness sector. The Slovak Republic is providing financial support for the services of Social Finance, a consultancy, to build on the findings of a feasibility study prepared by the UNDP.

Dimitri Gvindadze, EBRD Head of Armenia, said: The EBRD and UNDP share the common objective of promoting the development of agribusiness in Armenia and making the economy more inclusive. Today we are formalising our partnership and leveraging our strengths to attract private-sector investment and activities. Supporting inclusive and sustainable development is one of our priorities in Armenia.

Dmitry Mariyasin, UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia, said: UNDP supports sustainable development in Armenia. The country is to be a pioneer in the use of new innovative financial mechanisms, such as social impact bonds, for unlocking private and public capital for national development priorities, including agriculture. We are delighted to be part of this process. He also thanked all donors and partners for their efforts to make this joint undertaking a success.

The EBRD is the leading institutional investor in Armenia, active in all sectors of the economy. Since the start of its operations in the country in 1992, the Bank has invested 1.47 billion in 187 projects there, in the financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors, with 91 per cent of those investments in the private sector.

UNDP is the leading United Nations organisation fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality and climate change. Working with a broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, UNDP helps nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and the planet. UNDP in Armenia was established in March 1993 and supports the government in meeting its development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals.
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[February 03, 2021] Class Action Alert: Frank LLP Notifies Trustpilot's Subscribers of Deceptive Business Practices Alleged in New Federal Suit

Frank LLP announces the filing of a federal class action lawsuit against Trustpilot Inc. and Trustpilot A/S (together, "Trustpilot"), famous for the Trustpilot.com customer-reviews website. The suit alleges Trustpilot subscribers-mainly small to mid-sized companies-were subjected to deceptive business practices, among other violations of the law. Trustpilot.com earns billions of dollars a year posting consumer reviews of businesses by claiming to offer a platform internet users can trust, because its integrity is not for sale. The new complaint alleges Trustpilot did sell its integrity, to companies reviewed on its site. Worse, while Trustpilot promised many paying companies it would help them game the reviews system, it actually helped only a handful of high-paying, large companies do this. Meanwhile, small and medium-sized companies with tight budgets got nothing for precious dollars they spent on annual "subscriptions" for Trustpilot's services. And when media reports blew the lid off the scheme, and subscribers were eager to cancel, Trustpilot sent them "auto-enroll" emails designed to go straight to subscribers' junk folders so the email went unread until it was too late to cancel. This class action suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, seeks compensation for this group of mainly small to mid-sized companies in the U.S. IF YOU ARE OR HAVE BEEN A TRUSTPILOT SUBSCRIBER AND WISH TO SPEAK TO AN ATTORNEY ABOUT CLAIMS YOU MAY HAVE AGAINST TRUSTPILOT, EMAIL INVESTIGATIONS@FRANKLLP.COM. TO READ A COPY OF THE NEW CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT AGAINST TRUSTPILOT, CLICK HERE. Founded in Denmark in 2007, Trustpilot grew exponentially by filling a hole in the online-review market. Other sites like Yelp (News - Alert) and TripAdvisor focus on online reviews of mainly bricks-and-motar businesses like restaurants and hotels. Trustpilot focused on online reviews of businesses which themselves operated mainly online.



Trustpilot's website was popular, but not profitable, as its content was free. To increase revenue, Trustpilot began selling annual "subscriptions" with benefits that would purportedly help companies reviewed on Trustpilot improve their online reputations. For example, a favorable Trustpilot star-ranking for a subscribing company would be embedded as an image in Google (News - Alert) search results about that company. Trustpilot's revenues grew, but profits remained elusive, as Trustpilot struggled to attract subscribers, especially in the U.S. Critics of Trustpilot long wondered how the site could maintain integrity when it relied on reviewed companies for profit. Beginning in late 2018, investigations by top British media outlets confirmed Trustpilot was selling its integrity to the highest bidders-large, wealthy companies who got help gaming the reviews system to falsely boost their online reputations. Honest, negative reviews about these preferred subscribers were removed, while fake positive reviews about them were allowed to proliferate.

In the wake of this, Google in late 2019 announced changes in its relationship with Trustpilot-most painful for the majority of subscribers, restrictions on visibility of positive Trustpilot scores within search results. For countless honest businesses struggling to simply improve their online presence-an essential goal of any modern company-this erased what little value their Trustpilot subscriptions had. The complaint alleges that Trustpilot prevented subscribers from ending their money-wasting connection to Trustpilot by sending renewal emails from two web domains that it owns. The primary Trustpilot domain, "Trustpilot.com," is Trustpilot's highly visible face. In addition to hosting the site, one of the internet's most popular, Trustpilot uses this domain for nearly every email it ever sends, from addresses ending in "@trustpilot.com." But Trustpilot also owns "Trustpilot.net," which hosts no website and is essentially a zombie domain. No Trustpilot subscriber would recognize an email from an address with "@trustpilot.net"-even if their email application didn't block it as junk immediately. Yet, when Trustpilot faced a wave of subscriber cancellations on the back of its integrity scandal, it used "@trustpilot.net" addresses to send subscribers emails automatically re-enrolling them for another year's subscription (and at higher rate). Subscribers did not see these emails originating from the zombie "Trustpilot.net" domain, and did not realize until seeing a new charge on their credit account that Trustpilot had secretly locked them in for yet another year. If they did complain, Trustpilot said it was too late to cancel. The complaint further alleges that the scheme worked out well for Trustpilot. It has recently crowned itself a "unicorn"-an online startup valued at $1 billion or more, a distinction relatively few European firms achieve. The complaint alleges that this valuation was largely supported by gains in revenues from U.S. subscribers deceived into new subscriptions they did not want and could not get out of. Building on its unicorn status, Trustpilot has begun plans to sell shares in an initial public offering, securing its financial future. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE NEW CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST TRUSTPILOT, CLICK HERE. Frank LLP is a national firm based in New York. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting consumer protection litigation. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210203006017/en/

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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Five people were rescued from a burning building in south Belfast on Thursday morning after a car had been set alight.

Police have launched an investigation into the attack which occurred at 6.30am in Eglantine Place.

Detective Sergeant Natalie Moore explained that police are treating the incident as arson with intent to endanger life.

After they were rescued, the five people, including one child, were put into the care of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. It is understood one of the adults was taken to hospital.

Expand Close The scene on Elgantine Place in south Belfast where firefighters recused two residents from a fire on Thursday morning. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye / Facebook

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Four fire appliances, one high reaching appliance and 24 firefighters were in attendance at the height of the blaze.

A vehicle in a ground floor apartment car park had been set alight before the fire spread to other vehicles and the building above.

A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service stated that smoke from the car fire had entered the residential flats.

Expand Close The scene on Elgantine Place in south Belfast where firefighters recused two residents from a fire on Thursday morning. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye / Facebook

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Firefighters wore breathing apparatus and used three jets to extinguish the fire.

The fire is currently under control and crews are dampening down the area. The road remains closed but diversions are in place.

SDLP south Belfast councillor, Gary McKeown has said that those behind the reckless incident should have more regard for their community and could have taken lives.

This arson attack in Eglantine Place had the potential to take lives, so I am very thankful that the fire service was able to bring the situation under control and rescue the affected residents," he said.

"This attack, in the dark of night, was reprehensible and reckless, and has no place in our city. I condemn it completely.

"We could have been waking up to the news of fatalities today, so it doesn't bear thinking about what could have happened.

He added: I would urge anyone with any information to contact the police and assist with their investigations.

Expand Close The scene on Elgantine Place in south Belfast where firefighters recused two residents from a fire on Thursday morning. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye / Facebook

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Sergeant Moore added: Officers and Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene and a number of residents were evacuated.

Enquiries into this reckless attack, which we are treating as arson with intent to endanger life, are continuing, and I would appeal to anyone who was in the area this morning, and who saw any suspicious activity to call our detectives on 101, and quote reference number 235 of 04/02/21.

A report can also be made online using our non-emergency reporting form via www.psni.police.uk/makeareport

You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org
Midlanders Jenny Cudd and Eliel Rosa have been indicted by a grand jury on five federal charges, according to court documents filed Wednesday. Theyre each facing a felony charge for obstructing a Congressional proceeding, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and four misdemeanors.

Cudd and Rosa were each indicted on charges of:

--Obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting. This is a felony punishable by a fine, up to 20 years in prison, or both. The indictment alleges Cudd and Rosa obstructed an official proceeding before Congress by entering and remaining in the U.S. Capitol without the authority to do so and engaging in disruptive conduct.

--Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine and up to one year in prison. Cudd and Rosa allegedly entered a restricted area of the Capitol building unlawfully while then Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and former Vice President Mike Pence were temporarily visiting, according to the indictment.

--Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine and up to one year in prison. The indictment alleges Cudd and Rosa engaged in disorderly conduct with the intent to disrupt Government business and official functions.

--Disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine and up to six months in prison.

--Parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine and up to six months in prison.

Cudd and Rosa were arrested on Jan. 13 for their participation in riots at the Capitol building and released on personal recognizance bonds that afternoon.

A court hearing scheduled for Thursday was moved to a later date after the grand jury indictment was filed Wednesday. The case has now been assigned to Washington, D.C., District Judge Trevor N. McFadden.
Physicians training on novel technologies and surgical devices by other already experienced physicians, known as proctoring, is a fundamental aspect of medicine.

Travel and visitor restrictions intended to curb the global COVID-19 pandemic have put a temporary hold on in-person physician proctoring -; which is often required by the FDA or other regulatory bodies before surgeons can introduce new technologies in their practice -; thus delaying the introduction of new medical devices and techniques across multiple medical specialties.

In a new article published in the Journal of Neurointerventional Surgery, the NeuroInterventional Radiology (NIR) team at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center (LHMC) described their preliminary experience with remote supervision for the introduction in clinical practice of new technology for the treatment of brain aneurysms.

A cloud-based software allowed real-time, bidirectional audiovisual streaming from the NIR operating room to an expert physician in Canada who successfully supervised the first U.S. use of a new type of flow diverting implant used to treat intracranial aneurysms.

Led by Ajay K. Wakhloo, MD, Ph.D., the NIR team reported that the remote physician proctoring -; or teleproctoring -; was very successfully implemented in their practice and that it potentially could eliminate the need for in-person supervision.

"Traditionally, proctoring entails the physical presence of the supervising physician in the operating room to provide direct and real-time guidance to the operator using new technology," said Wakhloo, who is Chief of NeuroInterventional Radiology at LHMC.

"With no clear horizon for lifting the current restrictions in place due to the global pandemic, teleproctoring could potentially allow the continuation of clinical trials and the introduction of new devices for the benefit of our patients in clinical practice."

In May 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services revised physician proctoring rules to allow it to occur via real-time interactive audio and video during the COVID-19 pandemic at least through 2021.

To evaluate the usefulness of teleproctoring, Wakhloo and colleagues selected three patients with brain aneurysms who would benefit from treatment with a new flow diverting stent that is already in use in Canada.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the use of the new stent but also required that the device's first use be proctored by a physician with experience using it. The physician in Canada with the most experience with the novel device was selected as proctor.

Because current travel restrictions prevented the Canadian physician from supervising in person, the NIR team and LHMC administrators decided to conduct the procedures under remote supervision.

"By eliminating the need for in-person proctoring, teleproctoring has a great potential to expand patient access to novel neurointerventional procedures and technologies," said first author Emanuele Orru', MD, a neurointerventional radiologist at LHMC.

"Doctors familiar with new techniques in our field are few, and proctors routinely need to travel nationally or internationally in order to provide much-needed training to other physicians, often resulting in delay of care. This technology could shorten the time patients must currently wait to schedule a procedure or enable patients who might otherwise need to travel for treatment to receive state-of-the-art care closer to home."

All patients were provided with information about the procedure and signed consent forms specific to teleproctoring.

Specialized software successfully streamed encrypted, de-identified -; and thus in compliance with the U.S. health privacy law known as HIPAA -; in real-time high-resolution images and vital signs between the Canadian proctor and U.S operators. With access to live video of the radiological images, as well as of the operators' hands and of the operative table, the proctor provided uninterrupted step-by-step guidance throughout the cases and reported complete spatial and situational awareness, without any significant lag or delay in communication.

The interventions went as planned with no complications, taking about as long as similar procedures carried out under routine circumstances. All three patients were discharged home the day after the procedure.

We demonstrated that teleproctoring can be applied safely and effectively to real-world neurointerventional practice. We suggest telemedicine warrants further consideration not only to help mitigate the adverse effects of the global pandemic but also to determine how a streamlined integration of high-quality image broadcasting systems and robotics can open new pathways for physician training assistance and ultimately safer and more readily available delivery of patient care, even in remote areas." Ajay K. Wakhloo, MD, PhD, Chief of NeuroInterventional Radiology, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center
China Could Face Population Collapse as Birth Rate Plummets: Experts

The National Bureau of Statistics of the Communist Party of China stated at a press conference on Jan. 18 that it would be postponing the release of Chinas birth data for 2020. But according to data released by some local governments, the mainlands population appears to be declining, and at an alarming rate in some areas where the births have dropped by more than 20 percent.

Liang Jianzhang, the founder of Chinas leading travel website Ctrip.com and professor at Peking Universitys Guanghua School of Management, warned in a Feb. 1 opinion article published in Chinas leading business publication Caixin that population collapse in the mainland has arrived.

He said that as Chinas birth rate cannot be increased substantially, the countrys population decline will not stop.

According to Liang, Guangzhou citys population saw approximately 195,500 births last year, a decrease of 9 percent from 2019; Wenzhou city saw approximately 73,230 births, a year-on-year decrease of 19.01 percent; Hefei city saw a decrease of 23 percent compared with 2019; and the birth population in Taizhou city decreased by 32.6 percent. No jurisdictions have yet to report an increase in the birth rate.

To put this into context, for the first three quarters of 2020, the birth rate in the United States declined approximately 5 percent, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. A Brookings Institute report found that during the Spanish Flu epidemic, birth rates in the United States fell by 12.5 percent.

The number of births in Guangzhou in 2020 was the lowest in 10 years, and Wenzhou saw its lowest birth rate in past 6 years.

Children accompanied by their parents and caretakers attend an art class at the I Love Gym center in Beijing, China, on May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

The CCP first introduced the idea of a birth control policy in 1955, and implemented its one-child policy in 1979. However, since 2013, it has been loosening the policy, saying that if one of the parents is an only child, they can have two children. In 2016, it revised the number of children allowed by law to two.

However, public data shows that Chinas population has been decreasing from 2016 to 2020the new born population in 2016 was 17.86 million, but from 2017 to 2020, births dropped to approximately 17.23 million, 15.23 million, 14.65 million, and 13.80 million respectively.

Chinas lowest official birth rate was in 1961 at the end of the Great Famine, when only 11.8 million babies were born.

Taiwanese scholar Wu Sezhi wrote in a recent opinion article that apart from its two-child policy, China does not appear to have a program encouraging its citizens to have more children. Wu laid this down to the CCPs limited resources now faced with a weakened economy from international factors coupled with the impact of the pandemic.

Wu also said that, in the long run, Chinas aging population will cast a big shadow over its economic development. He predicts that the impacts of Chinas population decline will be more severe than that experienced by other countries as China still has a very large urban-rural wealth gap. The country also lacks a complete industrial development process.

Reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus in line with the long-established formula of the federation is off the table in any future peace talks and any deal should be negotiated between two equal sovereign states, Turkey's foreign minister said Tuesday.

Mevlut Cavusoglus remarks after talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar could further complicate a meeting that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres intends to convene next month to gauge chances of resuming dormant peace talks.

Greek Cypriots strongly reject any deal that would legitimize the east Mediterranean island nations ethnic partition, which came about in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup aimed at union with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the islands northern third.

Cavusoglu said it would be pointless to keep rehashing the idea of a federated Cyprus made up of two separate zones, which has failed to produce any results over five decades of negotiations. He said Greek Cypriots must come to terms with the de facto situation on the island and negotiate based on sovereign equality that would lead to a two-state deal.

There are already two communities on the island of Cyprus, two peoples, two states. So there is a de facto situation whether they recognize it or not. This needs to be formalized, Cavusoglu said.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, elected last October on pledges of a two-state deal and even closer ties with Ankara, fully backed Cavusoglus approach.

Guterres said last week that the U.N.s mandate in facilitating peace talks expressly refers to federation as the basis of any settlement, in line with what both sides agreed decades ago.

But he said that wont preclude either Greek or Turkish Cypriots, or representatives from Cyprus guarantors  Greece, Turkey and Britain  from putting forward any new ideas about how to proceed.

The fact that I stick to the mandate I received doesnt mean that Im not open to listen to everybody and to take the conclusions of that discussion, based on whatever the parties can come to a common view about the future," Guterres said.

Turkeys top diplomat again accused Greek Cypriots of being unwilling to share with Turkish Cypriots the potential wealth from the island's offshore hydrocarbon reserves.

The Cypriot government is unwilling to negotiate the countrys sovereign rights with the breakaway Turkish Cypriots prior to a peace deal, and insists Turkish Cypriots will be guaranteed their fair share of any hydrocarbons revenue after an accord is sealed.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
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LCRI is a unique effort across the energy landscape, leveraging the collaborative research models of EPRI and GTI to produce industry-leading results for society. This five-year initiative brings together industry stakeholders to accelerate development and demonstration of low- and zero-carbon energy technologies through transformative, clean energy research and development.

"As industry and government take aggressive action to address climate change, LCRI is identifying and accelerating low-carbon options essential to a clean energy future," said Neva Espinoza, Vice President of Energy Supply and Low-Carbon Resources. "Together EPRI and GTI are driving a historic effort, combining our unique technical expertise with deep experience from leading energy companies to make a net-zero future possible."

"The strong interest in technology solutions for low carbon resources is indicative of the challenge to meeting mid-century decarbonization goals," said Mike Rutkowski, GTI Senior Vice President of Research & Technology Development. "We feel the LCRI will provide its sponsors with a means for the scale, leverage, and collaboration needed to address this global challenge."

Sponsors of the initiative represent a broad spectrum of energy industry leaders committed to decarbonization. In joining LCRI, these organizations are demonstrating their profound commitment to meeting emissions reductions goals and advancing the innovative technologies needed to get there.

Alliant Ameren American Electric Power Arizona Public Service CenterPoint Energy CPS Energy ConEdison Consumers Energy Dominion Energy Duke Energy Exelon Corporation GE Intermountain Gas Company Lincoln Electric System Los Angeles Department of

Water & Power Missouri River Energy

Services Mitsuibishi Hitachi Power

Systems, America National Fuel National Grid Nebraska Public Power

District New York Power Authority NOMAC Oglethorpe Power Portland General Electric PPL Corporation Salt River Project SoCalGas Southern California Edison Southern Company Tennessee Valley Authority Tri-State Generation and

Transmission Association WEC Energy Group Xcel Energy

The body of technical work around LCRI continues to grow. A public whitepaper, "An Introduction to Low-Carbon Fuels," is available now for download, and a technology research plan will be unveiled in the second quarter of 2021 outlining the initiative's research and development priorities. More information and resources are available at www.LowCarbonLCRI.com.

About EPRI

The Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI, www.epri.com) is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization that conducts research and development relating to the generation, delivery and use of electricity for the benefit of the public, on a non-discriminatory basis. An independent organization, EPRI brings together its scientists and engineers as well as experts from academia and industry to help address challenges in electricity, including reliability, efficiency, health, safety and the environment. EPRI's members represent more than 90 percent of the electricity generated and delivered in the United States, and international participation extends to nearly 40 countries. EPRI's principal offices and laboratories are located in Palo Alto, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; Knoxville, Tenn.; and Lenox, Mass.

About GTI

GTI is a leading research, development, and training organization addressing global energy and environmental challenges to enable a secure, reliable, abundant, and clean energy future. For 80 years as an independent not-for-profit, GTI has been developing technology-based solutions that benefit industry, government, and consumers.

GTI research initiatives solve important global energy challenges across the industry's value chainsupply, conversion, delivery, and end use. From concept to commercialization, GTI offers an integrated systems perspective to expand the supply of clean and affordable natural gas and renewable energy; ensure a safe and reliable infrastructure; deliver solutions for efficient and environmentally responsible use of energy; reduce and manage carbon emissions; and advance energy systems innovations that protect air, land, water and communities while enhancing economic growth. www.gti.energy

Contacts:

Aimee Mills

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White House Calls Announcement 'Major First Step'

(TNS)  The worlds automakers say theyll cooperate with California officials and President Joe Biden on greenhouse gas emissions, ending a nasty dispute with Gov. Gavin Newsoms administration over the regulatory framework for combating climate change.The Coalition for Sustainable Automotive Regulation, a group led by Toyota, Subaru and many other major carmakers, announced Tuesday that its pulling out of a lawsuit pitting California against the federal government over tailpipe carbon emissions. The group called its decision a gesture of good faith and said it is ready to negotiate on new greenhouse gas rules.After four years of putting us in reverse, it is time to restart and build a sustainable future, grow domestic manufacturing, and deliver clean cars for America, Gina McCarthy, the White Houses national climate advisor, said in a statement. We need to move forward  and fast. We are looking forward to building back better and creating good-paying, union jobs right here in America that ensure our future is made in America by all of Americas workers.Newsom, on Twitter, thanked the automakers for dropping your climate-denying, air-polluting, Trump-era lawsuit. The carmakers announcement comes two months after General Motors and Nissan withdrew from the lawsuit, a repudiation of then-President Donald Trump two weeks after he lost his re-election fight to Biden.All told, the auto industry is now completely onboard with Biden and California after siding with Trumps decision to significantly weaken carbon emissions standards on motor vehicles.Trump attacked a set of rules, developed by the Obama administration and the California Air Resources Board a decade ago, that would require automakers to reduce carbon emissions  and increase fuel mileage  by around 30% between now and 2025.Shortly after Trump took office, his administration rolled out a far gentler rule that called for minimal changes in carbon emissions and fuel economy. Trumps administration went a step further by revoking Californias unique power to set its own air-pollution standards. By doing so, Trump undermined Californias clean car program, which forces automakers to sell hybrids and all-electric vehicles in the state in increasing numbers.Trumps move generated multiple lawsuits and split the auto industry. Five automakers  Ford, Volkswagen, Honda, BMW and Volvo  made a deal in 2019 with Newsom and the Air Resources Board to support California and follow a slightly weakened version of the original Obama rules, giving carmakers an additional year to achieve the emissions reductions.Other automakers, including GM and Toyota and the rest of the Coalition for Sustainable Automotive Regulation, sided with Trump in litigation that was filed over his weaker rules.Exactly what happens next is unclear. A White House official told McClatchy that Tuesdays announcement from the automakers was seen within the administration as a major first step.Dan Becker, an auto industry expert at the Center for Biological Diversity, said hes heard automakers are trying to sell the Biden administration on a carbon regulation comparable to the deal Newsoms administration made with the five carmakers in 2019. Becker said the California deal is too lenient.Its not up to what the climate demands, Becker said. If California is to be the basis for a future Biden standard, it needs to be far tougher than what California has already agreed to.




WASHINGTON, DC - FEB 4, 2021 -- Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and West Health Policy Center found that in many parts of the country, Black people are less likely than white people to live near a pharmacy, clinic, hospital or health center that can administer COVID-19 vaccines.

In 69 counties, home to 26 million people, Black residents are significantly more likely than whites to live more than a mile from the closest vaccination facility. These counties are especially concentrated in Georgia, Missouri, Louisiana, Virginia, Texas and Alabama. And a third of them are located in urban areas, including Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Detroit, New Orleans and New York City.

Troublingly, nearly three-quarters of the counties with these racial disparities in vaccine access also have a high rate of new COVID-19 infections - which tend to be more fatal and severe among Black Americans than whites - with a daily average of more than 50 new cases per 100,000 during November 2020 to January 2021.

Racial disparities in vaccine access are already apparent. Earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that of the 13 million Americans who were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the first month of the rollout, only 5% were Black.

"It's important to adopt a data-driven approach to make sure we get vaccine distribution that's equitable," said Inmaculada Hernandez, Pharm.D., Ph.D., assistant professor at the Pitt School of Pharmacy and senior author of the study. "Not all counties have the same limitations in existing infrastructure, and that variability is what public health policy should be focused on. We won't be able to vaccinate everyone if we adopt a one-size-fits-all strategy statewide."

"Pharmacies should be easy to access, but in some places there's low capacity or low density, and the flood gates are opening," said Lucas Berenbrok, Pharm.D., assistant professor at the Pitt School of Pharmacy and first author of the study. "When barriers are present, like driving times, there needs to be a plan to reach those people. We can't forget about them." This new analysis comes as an update to the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and West Health Policy Center's open-access VaxMap, which was created in December to measure vaccination facility density and driving distance of all residents to locations where COVID-19 vaccines will be administered. In the earlier iteration, there was an emphasis on measuring barriers to vaccine access for people over the age of 65.

As with the previous maps, the researchers used geographic information system (GIS) software to map nearly 70,000 potential COVID-19 vaccine administration facilities. In addition to the maps showing average facility density and driving distance at the county level, the researchers also created an interactive map showing the location of each individual facility, so anyone can check their nearby options.

"As President Biden and his team work to administer 100 million vaccines in 100 days, it is critical that state and local agencies take these geographic and demographic challenges into account to provide additional resources to areas that are underserved," said Tim Lash, president of West Health Policy Center. "If we are to reach herd immunity and emerge on the other side of this pandemic, we must ensure age, race and zip code do not define access to a vaccine and future health outcomes."

"Our maps identified areas of the country where temporary vaccination sites in locations like parking lots, stadiums and fair grounds will be needed to ensure all Americans have access to a vaccine," said Sean Dickson, director of health policy, West Health Policy Center. "We hope that this analysis will equip the new administration and state and county governments with information about where greater support is needed."

###

About the West Health Policy Center and West Health

Solely funded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West, West Health is a family of nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations including the Gary and Mary West Foundation and Gary and Mary West Health Institute in San Diego, and the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center in Washington, D.C. West Health is dedicated to lowering healthcare costs to enable seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services that preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life and independence. Learn more at westhealth.org and follow @WestHealth.

About the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy

The University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy has been developing leaders who have been driving the future of pharmacy for over 135 years. We investigate, discover and create ways to improve patient health and, through partnerships, change practice and improve efficiency of care. Pitt Pharmacy ranks in the top ten in NIH-funded research and in the top fifteen in U.S. News and World Report among schools of pharmacy. The School of Pharmacy leads the way in education, personalizing education and getting students to expert faster. Chartered in 1878, the School of Pharmacy is among the oldest pharmacy schools in the country.

[February 04, 2021] OTC: ILUS, ILUS International Completes Acquisition of The Vehicle Converters LLC (TVC), Increasing ILUS Group Manufacturing Capability in Preparation for the ILUS EV & FireBug Technology Roll Out

Dubai, UAE, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- ILUS International (OTC: ILUS): The Vehicle Converters LLC, known as TVC, is a Dubai-based $3mil dollar annual revenue business (Pre Covid) operating as a specialist manufacturer and converter of service vehicles, primarily Medical, Military, Police, Fire & Rescue response vehicles, usually small rapid response type vehicles. TVC has converted more than 8,000 of the most advanced vehicles for some of the biggest brands in the world and is listed on almost every major Preferred Supplier List in the Middle East and North African Market. Many of the leading governments globally have been researching the possibility of having joint first responders in a single vehicle, meaning 1 small vehicle arrives with multi trained multi-skilled responders instead of sending a Fire Truck, Ambulance and Police vehicle to a small incident, wasting taxpayers money. The TVC medical & police vehicle experience combined with Firebugs patented fire technology would make a world-leading solution that would be very difficult for any competitor to compete with.

The management team at TVC is highly experienced and operates a good corporate governance system that fits strongly with the ILUS model. ILUS management believes that the strategic value of the acquisition will provide a return on this investment in a very short time. The FireBug & TVC factories will merge into one single facility during the second quarter of 2021, allowing consolidation, scale, substantial cost savings and skill enhancement. The acquisition was paid for in cash and restricted shares. The revenue consolidation into the ILUS group is a building block and the strategic value is placed on the manufacturing capacity, skill sets and established routes to market. While FireBug already supplies to many top brands in the Middle East, the Acquisition of TVC will speed up the access to a huge customer base of almost every top brand in the Oil & Gas, Military, Civil Defense & Medical Sector in the Middle East and North Africa Market. TVCs experience in the specialist vehicle market will allow the FireBug Group to expand their offering to customers in the rest of the world where TVC has not been active and FireBug is active in more than 20 countries. This gateway should bring exponential growth for both companys core producs and open the door to develop some new game changing products. In addition to the core products, TVC has developed a range of products that are non-core to the ILUS group, the margins are very attractive and utilize the same manufacturing process and the products have an outstanding customer base and strong cashflow, and would create another platform for EV sales later, so ILUS will continue to develop this cautiously and structure it in a way that could allow possible divestment in future and does not distract from the core focus of the group.



While TVC has strong manufacturing skills and IP, FireBug brings new more advanced, environmentally friendly, more cost-effective & longer lasting, lower maintenance & lighter-weight technologies. FireBug has its own Co-Polymer plastic vehicle body manufacturing technology and this will be introduced into the TVC products, replacing the old fashioned conventional GRP and Metal vehicle bodies with almost indestructible co-polymer bodies. Importantly TVC has the assembly capability to scale up the production of the ILUS ERaptor for the region. TVC has been successful over the years, providing vehicle conversions under partnerships with OEM vehicle manufacturers for the Middle East Market and ILUS will look to develop this further.

Ultimately the TVC customer base in the region, who are mostly Blue Chip, Government departments and various agencies, are under immense pressure to move to EV. This opens the door for the ILUS EV sales. ILUS is heavily focused on the development of an expanded EV offering in the future. The majority of the sectors which ILUS Group target have not been modernized for decades so the demand for modernization way supersedes the supply. The Middle East and North Africa Market (MENA) has a population of 580mil people and is undergoing extensive re-focus and huge investment moving away from oil dependency, creating the opportunity for change. The market is largely under-serviced with the products that TVC supply and naturally being a desert, water saving is vital, which supports the FireBug water saving technology. One example is Saudi Arabia, who is creating an entire new Region called NEOM, which is a 2 Trillion Saudi Riyals (+$500 Billion) development, the demand for ILUS & TVC products in the region is incredibly large. Nicolas Link, CEO of ILUS, says that he expects that the acquisition of TVC will allow the group to maximise the potential in the region and exponentially grow revenue far quicker than could be done organically. The operational cost savings and efficiencies have a tremendous added value to the group too, and the benefit of a well established and respected brand like TVC will no doubt enhance ILUS, the brand, and shareholder value. Both companies look forward to integrating the businesses and expanding the ILUS business in the Middle East & North Africa. For further information on the companies please see their communication channels website: www.ilus-group.com Twitter : OTC_ILUS Contact: Nicolas Link CEO email : nick.link@ilus-group.com Irina Shatalova PhD,MBA, (PA to the CEO and Investor Relations) Email: Irina.Shatalova@ilus-group.com

Website: www.thevehicleconverters.com Source: ILUS Related Links: http://ilus-group.com http://raptor-utv.com https://thevehicleconverters.com



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Gaza, Feb 4 : The Islamic Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, said that it was yet to decide on the "form of participation" in the upcoming general elections.

"It is too early to talk about the form of Hamas' participation in the upcoming elections," Xinhua news agency quoted Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the Hamas political bureau, as saying at a press briefing here on Wednesday.

"Participating in the legislative and presidential elections depends on what we agree on in the Cairo dialogues," al-Hayya said, adding that there are probably "multiple options" for the form of Hamas' participation in the elections.

But al-Hayya said no one is allowed to step back from the elections.

He said that his movement wants to move forward until the end of the election process.

"The Hamas movement wants all factions to be involved in the elections," he added.

Leaders of 14 Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah movement, will start a comprehensive national dialogue in Cairo on February 8.

The dialogue aims to reach agreement on the mechanism of holding the general elections in the Palestinian territories.

On January 15, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree setting specific dates for holding the legislative and presidential elections, in addition to a vote for the Palestinian National Council.

Under the decree, legislative elections will be held on May 22, presidential elections on July 31, and the Palestinian National Council elections on August 31.

The last legislative elections were held in the Palestinian territories in late 2006 when the Hamas movement won a majority.

Abbas was elected as the president of the Palestinian Authority in 2005.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Glenn Huskie has been all over the world holding various key positions for international hospitality brands, the latest no less than Global SVP for Accor Luxury Brands Design and Technical Services. Always looking for ways to bring value, he joins Wood Couture founders Paolo Della Casa and Filippo Sona in the pursuit of shaking the hospitality-manufacturing industry.

1. We often assume that a successful company is a sign of effective leadership. What is your leadership style?

My leadership style follows 3Hs - Humility, Honesty and Hard Work. I believe in leading towards achieving a goal and, it's about teamwork and people. The ethos I've carried throughout my career is that my team is family. I make sure I have the right people, I look after them and put them first. Give people responsibility, trust, and empowerment to enable them to do their job. Give them the tools, the time and push them - throw people into the deep end, they WILL swim! It's a saying often used, and it's true. I believe in sharing knowledge and insight, and building people up to deliver because skills and industry know-how can be learned. As long as we work hard, remain humble and honest, anything is possible.

2. How do you think about value for your clients?

There are different ways to look at value, and different stakeholders will have different metrics for it. For us, there are 3 stakeholders for whom we bring value: (1) We deliver quality at the right price to help meet owner-investor budgets; (2) We protect interior designer's vision and design integrity; (3) We make sure that the items we deliver meet the hotel operator's brand & aligns to industry requirements. We can also say that there is a fourth stakeholder, possibly the ultimate stakeholder, which is the guest for whom we contribute to their experiences.

3. How can one drive innovation in this age of technology?

Technology moves so rapidly that we are increasingly more able to acquire information & materials faster, smarter, and more efficiently for our businesses and planet. At Wood Couture, we leverage what technology offers to create efficiencies and bring value to our clients and partners. For example, our bespoke 3D modeling software is customized to decrease resources dedicated to prototyping. We also simulate stress tests to ensure that items we create are able handle the wear for its intended use. We're always coming up with more ways to save time, cost and deliver products that are usable, reliable and don't severely impact our planet.

4. Describe Wood Couture in one word

Excellence. We provide great attention to detail throughout the process from designing, production and through to delivery. Our value proposition for total quality is hinged on a mantra of excellence. We are a 21st Century supplier, here to shake up the industry but maintaining the traditional qualities of trust & respect in our relations with all stakeholders in the process.

With Glenn on board, Wood Couture strengthens its capabilities to deliver value taking a 360-degree approach to all projects & their stakeholders.

Interior Designers, ensuring design integrity

Hotel Operators, upholding hotel industry brand standards

Investors, protecting investments & timetables.

For media inquiries:

Marianne Munoz at [email protected]

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 04:25:46|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for efforts to promote tolerance, understanding and dialogue on the occasion of the first International Day of Human Fraternity.

Around the world, deep-seated discrimination, acts of intolerance and hate crimes persist against people simply because of their religion or belief, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. Such vile acts are an affront to internationally agreed human rights and the values of the United Nations, said Guterres in a video message at an interactive panel to mark the first International Day of Human Fraternity.

"Cultural diversity and freedom of belief are part of the rich tapestry of our civilizations. As we commemorate the International Day of Human Fraternity, let us commit to do more to promote cultural and religious tolerance, understanding and dialogue," he said.

Miguel Moratinos, the high representative for the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), which co-sponsored the interactive panel, said observing an international day of human fraternity is needed now more than ever before.

"We are not only facing the ramifications of a pandemic, but also the contagious virus of hate, discrimination and racism," he told the panel.

The antidote is human fraternity which embodies compassion, solidarity, unity and mutual respect, he said.

The UNAOC stands ready to work with all member states, religious leaders and civil society to strengthen inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue in order to enhance mutual respect, cultural diversity and freedom of religion and belief, said Moratinos.

"In today's spirit, let us re-commit to building together a better world where there are many cultures, many religions, many civilizations, but one humanity," he said.

The UN General Assembly in December 2020 designated Feb. 4 each year as the International Day of Human Fraternity. Enditem
Facebook services in Myanmar were disrupted on Thursday, days after the army seized power, as UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the world must rally to ensure the military putsch fails.

Myanmar plunged back into direct military rule on Monday when soldiers detained de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders in a series of dawn raids, ending the country's brief experiment with democracy.

The coup has sparked international condemnation and fears the military will drag 54 million people back to the decades of junta rule that turned Myanmar into one of Asia's most impoverished and repressive nations.

With soldiers and armoured cars back on the streets of major cities, the takeover has not been met by any large street protests.

But people have flocked to social media to voice opposition and share plans for civil disobedience, especially on Facebook -- which for many in Myanmar is the gateway to the internet.

On Thursday, Facebook and internet monitors confirmed service providers were restricting access to some services, including Facebook itself, its messaging app, WhatsApp and Instagram.

"We are aware that access to Facebook is currently disrupted for some people," a company spokesperson told AFP.

"We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information."

NetBlocks, which monitors internet outages around the world, said multiple internet providers in Myanmar were restricting access "as operators comply with an apparent blocking order".

'Coup must fail'

Army chief Min Aung Hlaing's coup has left the international community scrambling to respond.

On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Guterres said he would pressure Myanmar's generals to reverse course, in his most forceful comments yet.

"We will do everything we can to mobilise all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails," Guterres told The Washington Post.

"After elections that I believe took place normally and after a large period of transition, it's absolutely unacceptable to reverse the results of the elections and the will of the people," he added.

Min Aung Hlaing justified his coup by alleging widespread voter fraud during November's election, which international observers and Myanmar's own election monitor declared broadly fair and free.

Suu Kyi, who has not been seen in public since she was detained, won a huge landslide with her National League for Democracy (NLD) while the military's favoured parties received a drubbing.

Myanmar's junta-era constitution ensures the military retains considerable influence, including a quarter of parliamentary seats and control of key ministries.

But analysts say top generals feared their influence was waning and were dismayed by the enduring appeal of Suu Kyi with voters.

On Wednesday authorities brought an obscure charge against the 75-year-old to justify her ongoing detention.

According to her party, she was charged with an offence under Myanmar's import and export law after authorities found unregistered walkie-talkies at her home.

A similarly unorthodox charge under the country's disaster management law against President Win Myint revolved around him allegedly breaching anti-coronavirus measures last year by meeting voters on the campaign trail.

The United States said it was "disturbed" by the charges.

- Limited options -

Myanmar's military has declared a one-year state of emergency and said it would hold new elections once its allegations of voter irregularities were addressed.

That has caused huge anger inside the nation. But opposing the military is fraught with risk.

During junta rule, dissent was quashed with thousands of activists -- including Suu Kyi -- detained for years on end.

Censorship was pervasive and the military frequently deployed lethal force, most notably during huge protests in 1988 and 2007.

The new government has already issued a warning telling people not to say or post anything that might "encourage riots or an unstable situation".

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Tuesday but failed to agree on a statement condemning the coup.

To be adopted, it required the support of China and Russia, which both wield veto power as permanent Security Council members and are Myanmar's main supporters at the UN.

Diplomats said Russia and China asked for more time to finesse the Security Council's response.

International options may be limited.

Senior generals like Min Aung Hlaing are already international pariahs and under US sanctions for the army's brutal crackdown against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, a campaign UN investigators have described as a genocide.

The military also has decades of experience brushing off and circumnavigating sanctions from the junta years.
The report highlights an array of statistics about the rising costs of housing, childcare, food, and travel, while debt among the Canadian population significantly rises

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Greedyrates, a leading personal finance site, has released a report examining the past decade of Canadian spending habits. The report found that Canadians are feeling overwhelmed as burgeoning debt looms over the population and the rising costs of housing, childcare, food, and travel is heavily contributing to Canadian normalization of a dependence on debt.

The white paper study was conducted by GreedyRates in late 2020 with research accumulated from a variety of sources, including official government statistics, surveys, and independent media analysis. The survey highlighted that Canadians are struggling with unprecedented economic uncertainty as they try to cope with a constantly changing financial landscape. Many are struggling with increasingly expensive necessary expenditures while also often tempted by everyday indulgences like eating out at restaurants and international travel. The report found that the measure of household debt to disposable income now stands at 155%.

As basic living costs continue to rise, Canadians are increasingly forced to choose between servicing their debt and adding to their savings, or covering the cost of necessities such as housing and education  the cost of childcare alone rose as much as 20% in some Canadian cities in only three years. With a record-setting amount of household debt, the report found that many Canadians are living paycheck to paycheck  a reality primarily due to childcare expenses becoming increasingly burdensome, the weakening Canadian dollar, and the rising food costs of meat, fruits, and vegetables.

While COVID-19 pandemic is set to overturn existing trends, such as high housing costs, other trends will be significantly exacerbated by the economic ramifications of the pandemic. While some Canadians have been able to use the pandemic to reduce spending and chip away at personal debtthanks, in part, to significant government aid and loan deferral programsothers may soon find themselves more strapped than ever, and possibly out of options.

"Personal finance advice and analysis is a critical factor to helping Canadians navigate their debt and financial challenges," said Danit Ianovici, Head Editor of GreedyRates. "COVID-19 has inevitably exacerbated the financial situation of many, and it is crucial that people are equipped with the knowledge they need to get out of debt and better prepared for the year ahead."

Other findings of the report include:

A third of Canadian households rent rather than own their homes.

Almost half of Canadians reported that cutting back on spending is a priority.

More than 60% intend to eat less often in restaurants.

29% have expressed concerns with having children due to costs.

The full report can be downloaded from the GreedyRates website here.

About GreedyRates

GreedyRates is a personal finance publisher that delivers expert information to empower consumers in all areas of their financial lives. We aim to inform and educate Canadians across a variety of topics from personal budgets and investment portfolios to mortgage rates and credit card benefits. Our vision is to be the leading source for financial guidance in Canada.

In addition to guides and reviews on products and services, greedyrates.ca can be trusted to consult relevant experts, track key trends, and offer fair and reasoned perspectives needed to make the right financial decisions at every stage of life. Our content helps people make smarter, more informed decisions about their money and ensure they utilize the best tools to build a more secure financial future.

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Prudential PLC - London-headquartered insurance firm - Appoints two new non-executives with pan-Asian experience to join its board, starting on May 1. Says Chua Sock Koong, one of the new directors, currently is a non-executive director of Bharti Airtel Ltd in India and a member of Singapore's Council of Presidential Advisors. Adds Ming Lu, the other new director, is currently a partner and head of KKR Asia Pacific, a leadership role in KKR Asia's growth and expansion.

"The board is appointing individuals with the experience and skills to guide Prudential's transformation into a business focused exclusively on Asia and Africa. Chua Sock Koong has had a distinguished career with operational experience in many of our key markets, while Ming Lu has a long track record of investing and developing businesses throughout Asia," says Chair Shriti Vadera.

Current stock price: 1,223.50 pence

Year-to-date change: down 9.2%

By Zoe Wickens; zoewickens@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Health official: 'I am hopeful for the brighter days ahead'
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister on Thursday accused the of trying to govern the capital through the "backdoor", claiming the Union cabinet has cleared a proposal to give more powers to the Lieutenant Governor.

Reacting to media reports saying the on Wednesday approved amendments to the Government of NCT of Delhi Act, the AAP leader told a press conference that the move is "against democracy, Constitution and will of the citizens of Delhi".

"The central government has passed a law in the Cabinet to snatch power of Delhi's elected government and give it to Centre-appointed Lieutenant Governor. The Delhi government will not have power to take its own decisions. The wants to govern Delhi through backdoor as people chose not to elect them in three consecutive elections," he claimed.

The BJP, however, said this is an important step to ensure proper governance in the capital.

Sisodia alleged that the government at the has secretly worked to get the GNCTD (Amendment) Bill cleared, subverting the mandate of a democratically-elected government.

Terming the bill as the murder of constitutional democracy, he said that the central government wants to impede Delhi's development and progress by enhancing LG's power.

"It is clearly mentioned in our Constitution that barring police, land and public order, everything else falls under the ambit of an elected government in Delhi. In its reading of the Constitution, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court has also clearly distinguished the powers of the elected government and LG. But, the BJP, which has faced defeat thrice in the past, wants to govern Delhi through a proxy," he said.

"The LG will use this Act to unnecessarily intervene in the matters of public interest and impede the progress of Delhi. In the last five years, LG has invariably hindered the decisions made by Delhi government. Due to this, many progressive schemes such as mohalla clinic, CCTV, free electricity and water, school infrastructure improvement and others have been delayed, the cost of which is borne by the people of Delhi," he added.

Sisodia alleged that the doesn't want world class education and health facilities, free electricity and water for the people of Delhi.

"Hence, it is using secretive and unconstitutional ways to impede the progress of Delhi. The BJP hasn't been able to provide basic facilities to the public in party-ruled states. Rather than working on development in other states, it is trying to deprive the people of Delhi by giving unlimited powers to the LG in such an undemocratic manner," he said.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that the Centre's decision to amend the Government Of NCT of Delhi Act is an important step to ensure proper governance in the capital.

"Repeated instances of conflict between the Arvind Kejriwal government and the Lt. Governor of Delhi during last 6 years have put the prestige of the national capital and people's lives and welfare at stake," he said.

The latest incident of Delhi government withdrawing DTC buses from police duty is a "glaring example" showing why national capital Delhi's law and order and other important administrative powers cannot be left with the state government, Kapoor added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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A Chicago Department of Public Health spokesman deferred comment to the Chicago Public Library, which said the library system is very proud of its staff members who have been working during the pandemic, and noted the City has aligned with the States interpretation, which keeps such workers in later vaccine phases. CPL has had 53 positive cases since the start of the pandemic, but a spokesman noted that is 5% of the total library staff and lower than the overall community infection rate.
BALLETT Study will measure the impact of comprehensive genomic profiling on access to, and uptake of, personalized medicines and on clinical outcomes for patients

PierianDx, the global leader in clinical genomics knowledge, today announced a partnership with the Belgian Society of Medical Oncology (BSMO) to study the impact of comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) on clinical outcomes of late-stage cancer patients. As part of the study, nine sites across Belgium will use the PierianDx interpretation and reporting solution, Clinical Genomics Workspace (CGW), to help determine the best therapeutic options for treatment.

Current approaches to precision medicine testing often mean that tests are outsourced to large international organizations or that they are run by independent regional labs, neither of which result in standardized clinical care systems or improved collective knowledge. In response to these challenges, the BSMO has established the BALLETT (Belgian Approach for Local Laboratory Extensive Tumor Testing) study to evaluate the impact of CGP.

CGP uses next-generation sequencing (NGS) to analyze hundreds of genes and biomarkers in tissue samples from biopsies or blood and detect those that are clinically relevant in driving cancer growth. Illumina will provide its CGP panel for tissue samples, TruSight Oncology 500 (TSO500), and NovaSeq 6000 and NextSeq sequencing platforms for the study. Clinical interpretation of the sequencing data will be carried out using the PierianDx Clinical Genomics Workspace (CGW) solution.

CGW provides a streamlined, standardized analysis platform in which EU drug approvals and guidelines are matched to complex genetic variants detected in patient tumor DNA and RNA, all within a GDPR-compliant environment. Using the platform, the nine participating Belgian laboratories can collaboratively review variant pathogenicity and clinical impact for their local samples while also benefiting from the knowledge of other clinical laboratory CGW users from around the world. At the same time, the nine Belgian laboratories will provide this standardized testing and analysis close to the patient's home, where they receive cancer care, accelerating treatment initiation. As this study will also monitor the patient outcomes during and following treatment, a true indication of those longer-term clinical benefits will be derived.

Dr. Brigitte Maes of the Jessa Hospital in Belgium, Coordinator of BALLETT study said, "As part of Belgium's broad approach to advancing precision medicine the study will generate valuable insights into the value of CGP versus currently reimbursed sequencing approaches. For example, in addition to genetic mutations that drive cancer formation, CGP will also identify cancers driven by the TMB biomarker which can guide patients towards immunotherapy treatments. This means that the study will give access to additional treatments which may not have been considered through more traditional diagnostic testing."

Dr. Rakesh Nagarajan, Founder of PierianDx states, "We are ecstatic to be part of this groundbreaking study. The CGW platform is in use by over 25 countries to share knowledge and facilitate better treatments and patient outcomes, and now the clinicians involved in this study will benefit from this collective knowledge while incorporating European-specific data sources, which are curated and maintained by PierianDx." He adds, "Not only will this study measure the impacts of CGP but it will provide a justification, framework, and a blueprint for other clinical laboratories around the world that wish to implement similar initiatives."

About PierianDx

Founded in 2014 out of Washington University in St. Louis, PierianDx is focused on advancing cancer diagnostics and making targeted therapeutics more accessible to healthcare systems, laboratories, and patients worldwide. Its industry-leading clinical genomics technologies, CAP and CLIA accredited laboratory, IVD-ready knowledgebase and reporting solution, and expertise deliver the most integrated, trusted, and collaborative approach across the clinical care spectrum. From genomic sequencing and biomedical informatics in the laboratory to reporting and decision support at the patient's bedside, PierianDx drives the adoption of genomics in clinical care and accelerates the fight against somatic cancer and hereditary germline diseases. For more information visit www.pieriandx.com.

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India is home to 42 wetlands of international importance, also known as Ramsar sites.

A dedicated Centre for Wetland Conservation and Management (CWCM) has been set up under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, at the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) in Chennai. The new governmental centre was announced by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Babul Supriyo on World Wetland Day on 2 February 2021. CWCM, as per a Press Information Bureau press release, has multiple roles to play in the conservation of wetlands. It will address specific research needs and knowledge gaps to address wetlands and their management and bring capacity development and cutting-edge research to wetlands in India. It is also positioned to apply integrated approaches for conservation, management and wise use of India's 42 globally-significant 'Ramsar' wetland sites, according to the release.

Almost 4.6 percent of India's land area are wetlands, spanning 15.26 million hectares. 2021 commemorates the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, which is celebrated annually as "World Wetlands Day" on 2 February. Ramsar sites are wetlands designated to be of global importance under the Ramsar Convention, also known as the (international) Convention on Wetlands. The intergovernmental Ramsar treaty was established in 1971 by UNESCO.

On #WorldWetlandsDay India gets its first Centre for Wetland Conservation and Management. #DoyouKnow, Wetlands of international importance are also known as Ramsar sites. India has 42 such sites. pic.twitter.com/YjKgUimg0B  MoEF&CC (@moefcc) February 2, 2021

The newly-established CWCM will support partnership and networks with national and international agencies that work on wetlands, according to the release. It will allegedly also act as a knowledge hub and facilitate exchanges between States and Union Territory Wetland authorities, users, managers, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners. The Centre will also help national and State/UT governments plan, monitor, design and implement policy and regulations, as well as carry out targeted research for effective conservation strategies.

At the launch of the Centre, Supriyo also released a publication about the diversity of fauna in India's Ramsar sites.
HUDSON, Wis., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Phillips-Medisize, a Molex company and leader in the design, development, and manufacturing of drug delivery, diagnostic, and MedTech devices, collaborates with Subcuject, a global innovator of proprietary device platforms, to bring a ground-breaking wearable bolus injector to market. The On-Body Delivery System technology, based on osmosis, is now available for the next stage of drug-specific wearable injector solution development following Subcuject's intellectual property filing of the concept.

Phillips-Medisize, a Molex company in collaboration with Subcuject, features the wearable injector platform for convenient and cost-effective self-administration of large and viscous doses.

"We are very pleased to collaborate with Phillips-Medisize to complete the development and manufacturing needed to bring our product innovation to pharma customers successfully," said Jesper Roested, CEO of Subcuject. "Together, we can address the emerging need for inexpensive, prefilled, and single-use injectors that can deliver drugs at about 1mL per minute."

The new Wearable Osmotic Bolus Injector is designed to be a low-cost, patient-friendly, prefilled wearable injector for single-use. The product uses osmosis to generate the force to complete a full injection cycle, requiring minimal components, which reduces development time and costs. Moreover, no additional electronics or batteries are required, resulting in further cost reductions and a lower environmental impact. Subcuject's management team and board have decades of experience and a track record in MedTech, pharma, and drug delivery.

"Teaming with Subcuject to develop an affordable, versatile wearable injector leverages our combined strengths and global expertise in proprietary device platforms," said Paul Chaffin, president of Phillips-Medisize. "We're excited to develop the technology and pave the way toward commercialization."

Additionally, Subcuject and Phillips-Medisize are exploring the opportunity to meet the growing demand for larger-volume drug delivery. The device will enable patients to self-administer certain medications almost anywhere, instead of requiring healthcare professionals to do so in a clinical setting.

"The urgent demands for quality and affordable patient care are driving momentum across the entire drug-delivery sector, including the wearable injector segment," said Paul Jansen, a leading drug-device consultant, and Subcuject board member. "The collaboration between Phillips-Medisize and Subcuject combines technology innovation, proven engineering, and manufacturing expertise to speed and scale the realization of this exciting new product." Founded in 2017, Denmark-based Subcuject is a technology development company focused on developing an innovative and proprietary device platform for wearable bolus injection. The company is backed by Danish venture funds VF Venture and Capnova.

Phillips-Medisize: End-to-End Expertise

For more than 80 years, Phillips-Medisize has engaged with leading Healthcare and Life Science companies to develop innovative products that help people live healthier, more productive lives. The company's unique end-to-end capabilities, from design and development, to global manufacturing, allow Phillips-Medisize to accelerate time to market while driving significant cost efficiencies. On average, Phillips-Medisize commercializes 50 new products a year for customers, including the first-to-market FDA-registered drug-delivery device utilizing a connected health system.

About Phillips-Medisize

Phillips-Medisize, LLC, a Molex company, provides innovation, development, and manufacturing solutions to the pharmaceutical, diagnostics, and medical device market segments. Backed by Molex's combined global resources and its parent company Koch Industries, Phillips-Medisize is positioned to help deliver innovative products that help people live healthier, more productive lives. For more information, please visit www.phillipsmedisize.com or www.molex.com.

SOURCE Molex Incorporated

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An outback pub is at the centre of a social media firestorm amid accusations a sign demanded Indigenous patrons ordered drinks away from white Australians.

Kirby's Katherine Hotel in the Northern Territory sparked heated debate on Facebook on Thursday after images of signs placed at its bar were uploaded to a public page.

'Good afternoon everyone and have a look at what these employees of Kirby's put up for us black people in this bar,' Indigenous man Terrance Frederick wrote in a post on Facebook, along with images of the signs.

Mr Frederick said he uploaded the images as 'I wanted everyone see this so yous can have your own say and what you think about this sign'.

A pub in the Northern Territory has sparked heated debate online after this image of two controversial signs were posted to Facebook

There were two signs - one which read 'F**k off dat ways' and another that said 'No f**ky f**ky dis ways'

There were two signs, one which read 'F**k off dat ways' and 'No f**ky f**ky dis ways'.

Each sign had an arrow underneath the wording and were attached to a retractable barrier in front of the bar.

Hundreds of people on social media suggested the signs referred to dialect used by some of the local Indigenous community.

'Looks racist to me, everyone knows that's our slang,' one commentator wrote.

One person who commented on the post claimed it was 'racism at its finest' while another said the signs were 'disgusting'.

But others said they did not believe the sign was racist in anyway.

'I don't think it's them being offensive on purpose,' one person said. 'Nowhere in this sign does it refer to black people,' another said.

The pub manager, Billy Harney, told Daily Mail Australia the signs were not meant to convey any racial connotations but 'it's now been portrayed as something that it is absolutely not and caused people to be offended by it'.

'This had nothing to do with racism, race segregation or Covid-19 restrictions, this was simply to help the bar staff be able to do their jobs and get in and out of the bar,' Mr Harney said.

The images went viral after they were uploaded to Facebook on Wednesday with the following caption

Terrance Frederick, who uploaded images of the signs to Facebook, said: 'I wanted everyone see this so yous can have your own say and what you think about this sign'

Social media reaction after the images of the signs were posted to Facebook

'What most people on Facebook don't realise is this was right at the entrance to get into the bar. So to the right you can go get a drink, to the left, you walk straight into the bar or into the office.'

Mr Harney said the barrier and signs were put up during a busy local pool competition and while new couches were delivered to the venue to stop competitors encroaching on the bar area.

'I get along with everyone pretty well so we talk to each other in Territory language... so in my own Territory words I've told them to get out of the barrier, this happens a few times and every time it's back and forth Territory banter between the pool players and myself.

'I decided to have a laugh and make a sign. The whole pub had a laugh and that was it. Until the sign was posted to Facebook, people were laughing about my sign and telling me to f**k off too.'

Daily Mail Australia contacted the man who originally posted the photos to Facebook for comment.
We at The Spur Group strongly believe each one of us plays a role in improving our society. Creating a welcoming environment  that not only accepts but celebrates all people  starts with us, individually and collectively.

We are excited to announce that The Spur Group has joined Washington Employers for Racial Equity, a coalition of 65+ corporate leaders representing businesses that believe racial equity is achievable in Washington state.

With a goal to invest a combined $2 billion to support racial equity over the first five years, the coalition aims to build equity and opportunity for all.

We at The Spur Group strongly believe each one of us plays a role in improving our society. Creating a welcoming environment  that not only accepts but celebrates all people  starts with us, individually and collectively, said Randy Karr, CEO of The Spur Group. We gathered input from our employees to determine short-term and long-term goals for equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging. Joining this coalition is a step forward toward the goal.

Since the summer of 2020, coalition members have been on a journey to listen, learn, and better understand the causes and impacts of racial inequity in Washington. Members started by gathering data and listening to Black community and business leaders; diversity, equity, and inclusion specialists; and data and research experts. One key finding states the experiences of Black Americans are 1.5 to seven times worse than the baseline experiences of white Americans, according to a 2018 report from The Racial Equity Institute.

Washington Employers for Racial Equitys report includes other key findings that document inequities Black Washingtonians and their families experience across multiple dimensions of life  healthcare, education, criminal justice, personal finance, and the corporate workplace. The interrelated effects of these inequities compound over time, across generations, and exist regardless of socioeconomic status or education level. Further, COVID-19 is only magnifying disparities.

The coalition begins with specific goals for 2030, including driving equity for Black Washingtonians in the corporate sector, supporting Black-owned businesses, and pursuing actions and policies that will support equity across Washington communities.

About The Spur Group

The Spur Group delivers go-to-market consulting that drives results that matter. Our mission is to help our clients turn customer, partner, and employee experiences into competitive advantages.

In todays competitive environment, traditional go-to-market strategies often fail due to siloed approaches and lack of thought partnership. The Spur Groups relentless client-obsession, disciplined, human approach and end-to-end expertise bridges data, processes and strategy to drive business results  empowering you to gain actionable insights, grow revenues faster, improve partner return, create stronger connections, and fuel execution excellence. To learn more, visit http://www.thespurgroup.com.


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New Delhi: Opposition parties on Thursday launched a vociferous attack on the Centre over its handling of the farmers' agitation, callings its dialogues with the protestors "monologues", even as the ruling BJP defended the new laws asserting that its government is committed to the welfare of peasants and increase their incomes.

Attacking the government, Opposition parties said trenches have been dug, barbed wires put up, and spikes installed at the sites of farmers' protests, whereas bridges should have been built to win over them. The BJP highlighted the farm welfare measures and tore into the shifting of goalposts by the Opposition.

Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, Congress MP Deepinder Singh Hooda said the government has no right to question the patriotism of farmers as they are the ones who have made the country self-sufficient in food.

He hit out at the government saying it should show a big heart and accept the demands of farmers by repealing the farm laws. "You talk about making (the country) self-sufficient. Let me warn you that a self-obsessed government cannot make Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-sufficient India)," he said.

Hooda lamented that there has not been a single word of condolence from the government yet on 194 farmers who lost their lives during the ongoing agitation.

Resuming the discussion, Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD said the government has lost the patience to hear and any criticism is painted as anti-national. He noted that one has not seen such an aggressive approach even towards the neighbouring nations who came into Indian territory. "Patriotism is not be worn on sleeves but carried in heart," he said making use of poetry and sarcasm.

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Contesting the government's claim of having 11 rounds of dialogue with agitating farmers, he said its ministers "believe in monologue and not dialogue".

Digvijaya Singh of the Congress lashed out at the government, saying measures like demonetisation to the CAA were "blunders that hit the people hard". He said the void between the Modi government's promises and implementation was big and it could not win the hearts of people. He said the prime minister had "lost their trust". "You have got a majority but dissent is essence of democracy," Singh noted.

The former prime minister and JD(S) leader, H D Deve Gowda, called farmers the backbone of the country. He said miscreants and anti-social elements were behind the events on Republic Day and all political parties have condemned their actions and agree that they need to be punished. "But the farmers' issue should not be mixed with it, he said and added that the issue should be dealt with amicably."

However, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government is committed to farmers' welfare and will help increase their incomes. He said it will provide Rs 1 lakh crore additional income to farmers that will be generated by converting waste into energy. The minister said the heap of waste at Ghazipur will also be cleaned soon to create energy.

Pradhan also said the government has come up with a scheme to procure ethanol worth Rs 20,000 crore which will help increase farmer's income. He attacked Congress for not bringing a law on MSP of crops despite being in power for long. "You question those working honestly for farmers' welfare farmers," he said.

"The Opposition Congress cannot appreciate such government efforts as it has never done except for hailing its dynasty," he said. "Those born with a golden spoon cannot digest when a tea-seller, son of a woman cleaning utensils in other houses for livelihood, takes reins of the government and that is why they talk against the government," he said, adding that "the public is watching them".

BJP member Jyotiraditya Scindia said the government has taken a host of steps in the last six years to increase their income. Scindia attacked his former party Congress for changing its stand on the three legislations, saying that the Opposition party has favoured similar laws in its manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

"Opposition parties will have to change their habit of going back on their words and wondered for how long they would continue to harm the interests of the country," he said. Scindia said the opposition has insulted the President, the country and the democracy by boycotting the President's address.

Swapan Dasgupta (nominated) stressed the need for upgrading in the farm sector. "If we can rise above this basic partisanship and welcome the Centre in the states and states with each other, I think we can be looking forward not merely to a 11 per cent (GDP) growth but a growth which can be 15 per cent which can be envy of the whole world," he said.

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien pressed the government to repeal the three farm laws and offered a ''Repealing Bill 2021' drafted by him for the purpose. He also demanded a proper inquiry into the death of a farmer during the tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day.

He claimed the government had failed the migrant workers and also India's federal structure. "They have failed the media. You can intimidate and threaten media barons but not the young media persons (on the ground)," he said.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh said his party would continue to support the farmers protesting against three farm laws. He alleged that the current dispensation is just working for the benefit of some of the industrialists.

CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya asked the government to withdraw the three contentious farm laws and hold talks with the agitating farmers. He criticised the move to put barricades, cement blocks, concertina wires and spikes at the farmer protest sites on Delhi's border points.

N R Elango of the DMK asked the government to withdraw the three farm laws. Banda Prakash of the TRS asked the government to complete the project promised to Telangana during the reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh.

Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) MP M V Shreyams Kumar on Thursday said the government has remained a mute spectator while democracy is being "butchered" just a few kilometers away from the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Earlier Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy introduced a new Bill - The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
A Proud Boys Hawaii leader and a prominent Texas member both face new conspiracy charges after officials say they planned the Capital riot.

Nicholas DeCarlo, of Burleson, and Nicholas R. Ochs, of Honolulu, were indicted for conspiracy to obstruct Congress on Wednesday following their arrests last month.

The indictment against Ochs, 34, and DeCarlo, 30, said the two men agreed before January 6 to travel to Washington to 'stop, delay and hinder' the certification of President Joe Biden's election victory, the Justice Department said.

The riot led to five deaths, including a Capitol Police officer.

Among other things, the pair stand accused of scrawling 'Murder the media' on a door of the Capitol and stealing a pair of flexible handcuffs that belonged to Capitol police.

If convicted, DeCarlo and Ochs face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, the Justice Department said.

Social media posts by a third man arrested Wednesday indicate that he and others may have planned the raid in retaliation to the stabbing of a Proud Boys member at an earlier march.

Ethan Nordean, 30, said: 'You took our boy in, and you let our stabber go.'

The indictment against Ochs, 34, and DeCarlo, 30, said the two men agreed before January 6 to travel to Washington to 'stop, delay and hinder' the certification of President Joe Biden's election victory, the Justice Department said. They are pictured with Jacob Chansley, right

Nicholas DeCarlo, of Burleson, right, and Nicholas R. Ochs, of Honolulu, left, were indicted for conspiracy to obstruct Congress Wednesday following their arrests last month. Among other things, the pair stand accused of scrawling 'Murder the media' on a door of the Capitol and stealing a pair of flexible handcuffs that belonged to Capitol police

After entering the Capitol, Ochs and DeCarlo posted videos of their actions on social media in real time and 'defaced the U.S. Capitol by scrawling onto its Memorial Door the words 'MURDER THE MEDIA',' it said.

Ochs is pictured in a crowd of protesters storming the Capitol building on January 6

Seattle Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean, 30, who also goes by the name Rufio Panman, is the self-described 'Sergeant of Arms' of the Seattle Chapter of the Proud Boys.

He urged supporters to 'bring back 1776' ahead of the violent siege, according to a complaint filed by the FBI. In a Proud Boys live-stream video on January 6 he said: 'You took our boy in, and you let our stabber go.'

That appears to be a reference to the arrest of leader Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio and the dropped charges of another man accused over the stabbing of a Proud Boys member on December 12.

In an archived podcast he says: 'The police are starting to become a problem.'

Ochs had told CNN he was working as a journalist, adding: 'We didn't have to break in, I just walked in and filmed. There were thousands of people in there -- they had no control of the situation. I didn't get stopped or questioned.'

Neither Ochs or DeCarlo is accredited as a journalist by Congress.

Social media posts by a third man arrested Wednesday indicate that he and others may have planned the raid in retaliation to the stabbing of a Proud Boys member on December 12

At least one proud boy stabbed after random lone protester fights with multiple proud boys. This protester was the only one around in a mob of a few hundred pbs and fought with one prior to this video starting and him brandishing a knife pic.twitter.com/OeK3Zwp9cv  barely informed with elad  (@elaadeliahu) December 13, 2020

If convicted, DeCarlo and Ochs, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for the state legislature and is pictured with Roger Stone, face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison

The FBI has been looking particularly closely at the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and other far-right groups and anti-government militias as they investigate the Capitol riots.

The Proud Boys have been designated a hate group by the watchdog organization Southern Poverty Law Center.

'Their disavowals of bigotry are belied by their actions: rank-and-file Proud Boys and leaders regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists. They are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric,' reads a narrative from the watchdog.

Ethan Nordean, pictured, has been arrested by the FBI over his participation in the Capitol siege

In a September pre-election debate with Biden, Trump told the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by.'

On Thursday it was reported that the group's former lawyer Jason Lee Van Dyke is revoking the right for them to use the Proud Boys name.

Van Dyke - who was previously accused of attempting to join neo-Nazi group The Base - argued one of the reasons for revoking the trademark includes the Proud Boys link with right wing extremism, The Daily Beast reports.

Seattle Proud Boy Nordean has been charged in federal court in the District of Columbia with obstructing or impeding an official proceeding, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and aiding and abetting, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Nordean, who uploaded a video on Parler encouraging his fellow members to 'Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us', in the days before the siege, has also been charged with knowingly entering or remaining in restricted building or grounds and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, which each carry a maximum penalty of one year in prison.

Nordean, shown circled inside the Capitol, is the self-described 'Sergeant of Arms' of the Seattle Chapter

Prosecutors allege that Nordean was 'near the front of the crowd of rioters' and was among those who breached the Capitol.

Nordean was seen in photos and videos marching at the front of the group with Joseph Biggs, the self-described leader of the Proud Boys and an infamous conspiracy theorist.

Biggs has also been arrested, along with Proud Boys member Dominic Pezzola - who was pictured smoking a cigar in the Capitol and talked about killing former Vice President Mike Pence.

Ethan Nordean, left, is pictured with Robert Gieswein, right, who was one of the first to enter the Capitol

Photos and screenshots of videos included with the complaint show that Nordean 'was among those who entered the U.S. Capitol building after rioters forced entry and pushed past Capitol Police officers.'

'Nordean was an active poster on the social media site Parler, where he identified himself as 'Rufio Panman' and utilized the username @REBELRUFIO,' the complaint reads.

Posts Nordean made to Parler indicate that he and other Proud Boys planned to attempt 'to overwhelm police barricades and enter the United States Capitol building,' the complaint reads.

Nordean posted to Parler looking to obtain paramilitary gear for the group to wear during the violent siege.

Nordean, right, posted a photo to Parler dressed in paramilitary gear two days before the siege

WHO ARE THE PROUD BOYS? Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes started the all-male Proud Boys in 2016. McInnes and the Proud Boys have described the group as a politically incorrect men's club for 'Western chauvinists' and deny affiliations with far-right extremist groups that overtly espouse racist and anti-Semitic views. The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center designated the Proud Boys as a hate group, saying that its members often spread 'outright bigotry' and 'anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric' over the internet, and have posted social media pictures of themselves with prominent Holocaust deniers, white nationalists and 'known neo-Nazis.' Current national leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, marched in the infamous Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in 2017. Proud Boys have been involved in a series of high-profile violent clashes at political events. In New York City in October 2018, police arrested several Proud Boys members who brawled with anti-fascist protesters following a speech by McInnes at a Manhattan Republican club. Proud Boys members also have frequently clashed with counterprotesters at rallies in California and Oregon. Most recently, the group took part in the siege on the Capitol on January 6, where some members were seen breaking into the building. In February, they were designated a terrorist group by Canada. Advertisement

'Anyone looking to help us with safety/protective gear, or communications equipment it would be much appreciated, things have gotten more dangerous for us this past year, anything helps,' he posted to Parler on December 27.

Nordean later uploaded a video to Parler on January 4 titled 'Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us.'

The video show Nordean and other Proud Boys dressed in tactical gear along with the phrase Back the YELLOW, which is commonly used to show support for the group, the complaint reads.

In another video posted January 4, Nordean said that Proud Boys were 'never going to look good [protecting the community], because violence doesn't look good.'

Nordean added that the Proud Boys were going to 'bring back that original spirit of 1776 of what really established the character of what America is.'

Two days after the Capitol siege, Nordean posted a picture of himself with the caption 'Violent extremist' which the FBI lambasted 'as an effort to make light of the public condemnation of Nordean's and others' participation in the riot.'

Nordean also posted a picture on January 8 of a Capitol Police officer deploying pepper spray 'with a caption celebrating disparaging police officers,' the complaint reads.

'If you feel bad for the police, you are a part of the problem,' Nordean wrote.

'They care more about federal property than protecting and serving the people.'

On Wednesday, the Canadian government added the Proud Boys to its list of terrorist organizations, USA Today reported.

'Canada will not tolerate ideological, religious or politically motivated acts of violence,' Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said.

A government official told the outlet that if a member engages in violent acts, they could face terrorism charges.

Giving money to the Proud Boys or buying the organization's merchandise would also be a crime, the outlet reported.
Einsteinium, the elusive 99th element on the periodic table, has been created and captured, allowing some of its properties to be characterised for the first time.

Not naturally occurring on Earth, the so-called 'synthetic element' was discovered among the debris of the first hydrogen bomb in 1952.

Since then, very few experiments have been undertaken with einsteinium, because it is exceptionally radioactive and extremely difficult to produce.

Researchers from the US, however, have used cutting-edge technology to create 250 nanograms of the element.

This basic property determines how einsteinium will bind with other atoms and molecules and is key to understanding the kinds of chemical interactions it can have.

Einsteinium  the elusive 99th element on the periodic table  has been created and captured, allowing some of its properties to be characterised for the first time

Not naturally occurring on earth, the so-called 'synthetic element' was discovered among the debris of the first hydrogen bomb (pictured), codenamed 'Ivy Mike', in 1952

'There's not much known about einsteinium,' said paper author and heavy element chemist Rebecca Abergel of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

'It's a remarkable achievement that we were able to work with this small amount of material and do inorganic chemistry.

'It's significant because the more we understand about [einsteinium's] chemical behaviour, the more we can apply this understanding for the development of new materials or new technologies.'

This, she explained, could help not only with finding applications for einsteinium directly, but also with the rest of the actinides  the block of 15 metallic and radioactive elements with atomic numbers between 89 and 103.

At the same time, the new findings could also help chemists to identify new trends within the elements that make up the periodic table.

In their study, Professor Abergel and colleagues produced their einsteinium sample in the so-called High Flux Isotope Reactor in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, one of the few facilities in the world capable of making the element.

The material was made by bombarding curium  another radioactive actinide series element  with neutrons in order to trigger a long chain of nuclear reactions that ultimately yields the desired einsteinium.

Making meaningful amounts of pure einsteinium, however, is extraordinarily challenging and the team's sample ended up contaminated with a californium.

This prevented them from using X-ray crystallography  the gold standard for obtaining structural information on highly radioactive molecules  on their sample, forcing them to develop new approaches and tools to study their einsteinium.

A second problem arose as a result of COVID-19, the pandemic forcing the team to shutdown their lab before they could complete many of their planned follow-up experiments on the sample.

Even though they produced one of einsteinium's more stable isotopes, it still only had a 'half-life'  the time taken for half of the material to decay into something else  of 276 days, meaning much of their sample was gone by the time they returned.

EINSTEINIUM: THE BASICS Pictured, a 300 microgram sample of einsteinium, held in a quartz vial Einsteinium is a soft, silvery metallic element with the symbol 'Es' and an atomic number of 99 (that is, is nucleus contains 99 protons). Like all the other elements in the so-called 'actinide series', it is extremely radioactive. When seen in the dark (as pictured left), samples of einsteinium are seen to glow blue. It was first detected in the wake of the the first-ever hydrogen bomb in 1952. As a so-called 'synthetic element', einsteinium is not found naturally on the Earth. At present, it has found no application outside of basic scientific research. It was named in honour of the physicist Albert Einstein. Advertisement

Since then, very few experiments have ever been undertaken with einsteinium, because it is exceptionally radioactive and extremely difficult to produce. Researchers from the US (pictured), however, used cutting-edge technology to create 250 nanograms of the element

Nevertheless, the researchers were able to subject their einsteinium sample to analysis with luminescence spectroscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy  revealing both the bond distance and some other properties of the element.

'Determining the bond distance may not sound interesting, but it's the first thing you would want to know about how a metal binds to other molecules,' explained Professor Abergel.

Understanding how the atoms in a molecule containing einsteinium might be arranged can give scientists an idea of the chemical properties of such molecules, and improve understanding of chemical trends across the periodic table.

'By getting this piece of data, we gain a better, broader understanding of how the whole actinide series behaves,' Professor Abergel said.

'And in that series, we have elements or isotopes that are useful for nuclear power production or radiopharmaceuticals.'

The findings, Professor Abergel explained, could help not only with finding applications for einsteinium directly, but also with the rest of the actinides  the block of 15 metallic and radioactive elements with atomic numbers between 89 and 103 (pictured here in green)

Working with einsteinium also teases the possibility of exploring the chemistry that lies beyond the edge of the present periodic table and possibly even the discovery of an entirely new element.

'We're really starting to understand a little better what happens toward the end of the periodic table, and the next thing is, you could also envision an einsteinium target for discovering new elements,' explained Professor Abergel.

'Similar to the latest elements that were discovered in the past 10 years, like tennessine, which used a berkelium target, if you were to be able to isolate enough pure einsteinium to make a target, you could start looking for other elements.'

This, she added, could bring us closer to the theorized 'island of stability', where nuclear physicists predict isotopes may have half-lives of minutes or days  unlike microsecond or less half-lives commonly found among the superheavy elements.

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Nature.
Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called for a quick release of Egyptian fishermen detained in Eritrea during a phone call on Wednesday with his Eritrean counterpart Osman Saleh.

The fishermen have been detained for illegal fishing in the Eritrean territorial waters, a practice that the Egyptian Ministry of Emigration has warned against.

This comes two weeks after relatives of more than 70 fishermen in the northern governorate of Dakahlia have reported their detention in each of Saudi Arabia and Eritrea, according to media reports.

Saudi Arabia released the Egyptian fishing boat it had seized, with 35 Egyptian fishermen on board.

During the phone call with Saleh, Shoukry affirmed Egypts keenness that the fishermen be freed as soon as possible within the framework of the good relations between Egypt and Eritrea, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Shoukry also followed up on the safety of the detained fishermen and the good treatment they receive.

According to the Wednesday statement, the consular sector at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry convened to discuss the measures and guidelines required to prevent similar incidents in the future, the statement added.

Many fishermen have also been seized also in Tunisia over illegally fishing in the Tunisian territorial waters.

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Samyukta Kisan Morcha, or United Farmers Front, a coalition of farmers spearheading the protests, said the measures are part of multiple attacks being organized by the government, police and administration. The group has said it will hold a three-hour nationwide strike on February 6. (Image: AP)

Opposition parties on Thursday tore into the government's handling of the farmer protest against three contentious farm reform laws, saying ministers believe in monologue and trenches have been dug, barbed wires put up and spikes installed when bridges should have been built to win over farmers.

Opening the second day of discussion on a motion thanking the President for his address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD said the government has lost the patience to hear and any criticism is painted as anti-national.

"With folded hands, I request you to please understand the pain of farmers. In harsh winter you stopped water supply and toilet facilities, dug trenches, put barbed wires, and installed spikes," he said. "Such aggressive approach wasn't even heard of towards the neighbouring nations who came inside (the Indian territory)."

To the response to a tweet by pop star Rihanna on the farmer protest, he said the democracy will not be weakened by a tweet but by the approach of the government.

In a veiled reference to cold storage chain and godowns built by private corporates such as Adani Group, he said, "Your backbone is the farmer. 303 (seats won in last general elections) did not come from cold storage or godowns but from these very people."

"We will support you but every world against you is not anti-national. Patriotism is not be worn on sleeves but carried in heart," he said in his speech loaded with poetry and sarcasm.

Stating that protests and agitations are the lifeblood of democracy, he contested the government statement of 11 rounds of dialogue have concluded with agitating farmers, saying its ministers "believe in monologue and not dialogue."

"They talk of having given this and that to farmers, but there is no place for language of charity in a democracy. The monologues should be ended," he said.

Jha said critics and agitating farmers have been painted as 'Khalistani', 'Naxals' and Pakistani agents and its citizens pitted against each other just like the agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

"You have lost the patience of hearing, you only dictate," he said. "The governments are formed to build bridges but you have built walls."

Referring to the over two-month-long agitation by farmers on the border entry points to the national capital, he said trenches have been dug, barbed wires erected and spikes installed to cut off farmers.

"I haven't been to a border but pictures I have seen don't resemble anything close to what has been done around farmer agitation sites," he said, adding water supply as been snapped and toilets facilities taken away.

"Who are you fighting? They are your own farmers," he said. "The country is not made up of police, arm, Jan gan man and Vande Mataram. The country is made of relations and you have soiled those relations."

Bihar, he said, ended minimum support price (MSP) based crop procurement in 2006 and it now has only contractual labourers and not farmers.

"Bihar has been turned into a labour-supply state. You want Bihar model in Punjab and Haryana?" he asked.

He wondered what would have been the reaction if the JP movement would have happened during the present regime.

Participating in the debate, Digvijaya Singh of the Congress lashed out at the BJP government, saying right from demonetisation to the CAA were blunders that hit the people hard.

Quoting former PM Manmohan Singh, he said demonetisation was a monumental mismanagement, organised loot and legalised blunder.

Almost 50 lakh people were rendered jobless and micro, small and medium enterprises were destroyed, he said.

Singh said the void between the Modi government's promises and implementation was big and it could not win the hearts of people, whether the poor, farmers or labourers.

The senior Congress leader also accused the government of mismanaging the COVID-19 pandemic and fuelling corruption.

Terming the three farm laws "anti-farmers", he said the prime minister had lost their trust and even the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh was opposed to some of the government's moves and took a jibe at him asking whether he wants to keep relations with RSS.

In democracy, he said, if people's sentiments are seen as revolution than it is autocracy.

"You have got majority but dissent is essence of democracy," Singh said.

Former prime minister and JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda called farmers the backbone of the country and said miscreants and anti-social elements were behind the events of Republic Day and all political parties have condemned their actions and agree that they need to be punished. But the farmers' issue should not be mixed with it, he said and added that the issue should be dealt with amicably.

Delhi witnessed violence on Republic Day during the farmers' tractor rally called to highlight their demand for repeal of the Centre's three farm laws.

Deviating from the designated route for the tractor parade, some protesting farmers clashed with police and reached the historic Red Fort and hoisted flags from some domes as well as the flagpole there.
China's Foreign Ministry warned Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that no "secessionist activities" will succeed after the island established a trade office in the South American country of Guyana.The DPP's latest move is considered a diplomatic win for the island that has continued to lose allies in an aggressive poaching campaign from China in recent years.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded to the move on Thursday, demanding that those concerned "avoid setting up any official institutions with each other, and take practical measures to correct mistakes."The Guyana facility will focus on cooperation in areas like agriculture, education and trade, Taiwan's Foreign ministry said in an announcement on Thursday.It does not represent the establishment of formal diplomatic ties.

Speaking to a daily briefing, Wang also commented on the transit of a U.S. warship through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, saying China "closely monitored" the ship.Wang said that the country will remain on "high alert at all times" and stand ready to "respond to all threats and provocations."

China always fiercely opposes any signal of U.S. military support for Taiwan, that relies on Washington for defensive weapons and political backing in the face of Chinese threats to annex the island by force.Asked about the U.S. State Department's response to the BBC's Wednesday report on the systematic sexual abuse in Xinjiang's internment camps, Wang called on the U.S. to avoid being "misled by the fake news."

Since 2016, China has swept a million or more Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities into prisons and indoctrination camps that the state calls training centres.Finally, Wang commented on the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's call on international community to make sure Myanmar's military coup fails.

Wang said all of the U.N. Security Council's actions should be conducive to Myanmar's "stability and peaceful reconciliation" and should avoid "complicating the situation."

The coup deposed national leader Aung San Suu Kyi a little over a year after Chinese President Xi Jinping made a show of support to her with the first visit by a head of state from Beijing to Myanmar since 2001.

Before Monday's coup, the country's relations with China already were complicated by Chinese investments in its infrastructure and the Myanmar military's campaigns along their shared border.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Full results from Friday's state track meets

Get your full results from the AA, A and B boys and girls state track meets here.

As yet, it remains to be seen exactly what President Biden has in store for Americas network of charter schools. Following the Democratic Party primaries, the Biden-Sanders Unity Taskforce called for accountability for charter schools and a ban on federal funding of for-profit chartersapproximately 12 percent of the total. Increasing accountability does not necessarily sound like a hostile act against charters but the taskforce is specific that this will involve requiring all charter schools to meet the same standards of transparency as traditional public schools, including with regard to civil rights protections, racial equity, admissions practices, disciplinary procedures, and school finances. For those of us who have followed the charter school debate over the years, this statement appears to be framed with the concerns of these schools opponents in mind.
Former Vice President Mike Pence announced his first post-White House plans on Thursday - he's joining the conservative Heritage Foundation as a distinguished visiting fellow.

Pence will play a variety of roles at the think tank, a favorite of conservatives, including delivering a series of speeches on policy issues, writing a monthly column for its news outlet The Daily Signal, and advise the foundation on various matters.

Heritage President Kay James touted Pence's 'conservative principles' in announcing his appointment.

'His allegiance to the Constitution and commitment to advancing a conservative policy agenda make him an outstanding fit for The Heritage Foundation,' she said in a statement.

Pence is expected to announce additional plans in the coming weeks.

Former Vice President Mike Pence announced his first post-White House plans - he's joining conservative Heritage Foundation as a distinguished visiting fellow

On Wednesday, he announced he's opened a transition office in Northern Virginia and is living in a Washington D.C. suburb before returning to Indiana this summer.

'Mr. and Mrs. Pence are residing in Northern Virginia and plan to move back to Indiana this summer,' the statement said.

And it indicated a possible return to public life for Pence, who served as governor of Indiana before joining Donald Trump on the 2016 presidential ticket.

'The Vice President and Mrs. Pence look forward to continuing to elevate causes that are near and dear to their hearts and serving the American people when called upon,' the statement said.

The office is located in Arlington, across the Potomac River from Washington. Pence, like Donald Trump, receives federal funds to set up a transition office to complete any outstanding work. Trump set up his office in Palm Beach, Fla. Pence also still has Secret Service protection.

The statement comes after reports that Pence was homeless and jobless with some speculation he was couch surfing. Pence sold his Indiana home after he became governor and lived in the state gubernatorial mansion. As vice president, he was provided as house in the Naval Observatory.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen are living in Northern Virginia before returning to Indiana this summer, the Pences are seen in Columbus, Ind., on January 20th

Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff share a light moment as they send-off former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence

Pence is seen as a 2024 presidential candidate although he's said nothing about making his own White House bid. He will form a policy-focused fundraising committee that would help him maintain a relationship with donors, NBC News reported, and it would give him a measure of influence in the 2022 midterm election.

Pence has made no public appearances since Inauguration Day. He's only sent one tweet - on January 29th - praising the March for Life that took place that day.

Pence, unlike Donald Trump, attended Biden's inauguration ceremony, sitting in the stands as Biden took the oath of office.

He had defied Trump and certified Biden's win, coming out of a secure location in the Capitol on January 6th, after rioters attacked the building and interrupted the process.

Pence denounced the attackers and returned to presiding over the certification ceremony, gaveling it to a close in the early morning hours.

Trump had called on Pence to block the certification, which Pence did not have the constitutional authority to do and said he would not carry out.

Some of the mob could be heard chanting 'Hang Mike Pence.' The Washington Post reported they got within 100 feet of the vice president.

Mike Pence watches Kamala Harris take the oath of office on Inauguration Day

Mike Pence waves goodbye to Vice President Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff on Inauguration Day

Former Vice President Mike Pence and Karen Pence walk off their government ride to Columbus, Indiana, on Inauguration Day

The incident fractured the relationship between the two men. And it angered many rank-and-file Republicans who didn't like Trump's demands of Pence, who was famously loyal to the president.

In the closing days of the Trump administration, Pence filled a leadership void left by the outgoing president. He spoke with incoming-Vice President Kamala Harris to congratulate her on her victory. Trump never called Biden.

Pence also took over many duties traditionally done by an outgoing president, including receiving a briefing at FEMA on inauguration security, stopping at a federal office building to thank executive operators for their work, final photo-ops with staff and their families, handing out challenge coins, and thanking the troops for their service.

Pence stopped at the U.S. Capitol in his final week in office to thank National Guardsmen ahead of the inauguration ceremony.

'Thank you for stepping forward for your country,' the vice president told the guardsmen, who huddled up around him as the Capitol Dome stood, lit up in the background.

On Inauguration Day, Pence was greeted warmly by former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton at Biden's swearing-in. He skipped President Trump's departure ceremony to be at the Capitol for the peaceful transfer of power.

After the ceremony ended, Pence and his wife Karen flew to Columbus, Indiana, where they thanked supporters who turned out to greet them.

'There's no place like home,' Pence told them.

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The International Criminal Court Thursday convicted Dominic Ongwen, a former Ugandan warlord for war crimes and crime against humanity.

Mr Ongwen was a member of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) which waged war against the Ugandan State for several years.

In a statement posted on its website, the ICC said it found Mr Ongwen guilty for a total of 61 comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005.

Mr Ongwen will be sentenced on a later date, the ICC said.

Read the full statement by the ICC below.

Today, 4 February 2021, Trial Chamber IX of the International Criminal Court (ICC or Court) found Dominic Ongwen guilty for a total of 61 comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005. The verdict may be appealed by either party to the proceedings within 30 days after the notification of the Judgment.

ICC Trial Chamber IX, composed of Judge Bertram Schmitt, Presiding Judge, Judge Peter Kovacs and Judge Raul Cano Pangalangan, analysed the evidence submitted and discussed before it at trial and found, beyond any reasonable doubt, that Mr Ongwen is guilty of the following crimes:

attacks against the civilian population as such, murder, attempted murder, torture, enslavement, outrages upon personal dignity, pillaging, destruction of property and persecution; committed in the context of the four specified attacks on the Internally Displaced Persons camps (IDP camps) Pajule (10 October 2003), Odek (29 April 2004), Lukodi (on or about 19 May 2004) and Abok (8 June 2004); sexual and gender based crimes, namely, forced marriage, torture, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, forced pregnancy and outrages upon personal dignity he committed against seven women (whose names and individual stories are specified in the judgment) who were abducted and placed into his household; A number of further sexual and gender based crimes he committed against girls and women within the Sinia brigade, namely forced marriage, torture, rape, sexual slavery and enslavement; and The crime of conscripting children under the age of 15 into the Sinia brigade and using them to participate actively in hostilities.

The Chamber found that these crimes were committed in the context of the armed rebellion of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA)against the government of Uganda. The LRA, including Dominic Ongwen, perceived as associated with the government of Uganda, and thus as the enemy, the civilians living in Northern Uganda. This concerned in particular those who lived in government-established IDP camps.

The Chamber found that Dominic Ongwen is fully responsible for all these crimes. The Chamber did not find evidence that supported the claim that he suffered from any mental disease or disorder during the period relevant to the charges or that he committed these crimes under duress or under any threats.

Following this verdict, the Chamber will impose on Dominic Ongwen the sentence for the crimes of which he has been convicted. For this purpose, it will receive submissions on the appropriate sentence by the Prosecutor, the Defence for Dominic Ongwen and the legal representatives of the participating victims. A decision in this regard, including as concerns the timeline of the proceedings leading to the imposition of the sentence, has also been issued by the Chamber today. The ICCs founding treaty, the Rome Statute, does not provide for a death penalty; the sentence may be up to 30 years of imprisonment (and under exceptional circumstances a life imprisonment) and/or a fine. Furthermore, a phase dedicated to the reparations to victims will be opened.

Background: The trial in this case opened on 6 December 2016. The Prosecution and the Defence have completed the presentation of their evidence. The Legal Representatives of Victims also called witnesses to appear before the Chamber. On 12 December 2019, the Presiding Judge declared the closure of the submission of evidence in the case. The closing briefs were filed on 24 February 2020. The closing statements took place from 10 to 12 March 2020.

Over the course of 234 hearings, the Office of the ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, presented a total of 109 witnesses and experts, the Defence team lead by Krispus Ayena Odongo presented a total of 63 witnesses and experts and 7 witnesses and experts were called by the Legal Representatives of the Victims participating in the proceedings. The judges ensured the respect of the rights guaranteed by the Rome Statute to each of the parties, including the right to question the witnesses.

A total of 4095 victims, represented by their legal counsels Joseph Akwenyu Manoba, and Francisco Cox, as well as Paolina Massidda, respectively, have been granted the right to participate in the proceedings. They have expressed their position on matters heard before the Chamber and were authorised to examine witnesses on specific issues.

The Trial Chamber issued 70 oral decisions, and 506 written decisions during the trial phase of the proceedings. The total case record, consisting of the filings of the parties and participants and the Chambers decision, currently includes more than 1760 filings.
The Taos News delivered to your Taos County address every week for a full year! We offer our lowest mail rates to zip codes in the county. Click Here to See if you Qualify. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
HCL Technologies on Thursday said it plans to hire 1,000 employees in the next few months for its campus at MIHAN (Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport) in Nagpur.

Currently, the company has 2,000 employees working at the campus, where it plans to create a global IT development centre. This will include efforts to recruit, train and employ local talent and create sustainable ecosystems for them, HCL Technologies said in a statement.

The new hiring will include freshers as well as experienced candidates

In the last four years, the company has hired and nurtured over 15,000 candidates in centres like Madurai, Lucknow, Nagpur and Vijayawada. These candidates are now an integral part of HCL Technologies, HCL Technologies Corporate Vice President Srimathi Shivashankar said.

The company also asked candidates interested in starting their IT career with HCL Technologies to apply for its training and hiring programme.

Also read: HCL Tech to hire 20,000 people in next 4-6 months: CEO Vijayakumar

Also read: HCL Tech Q3FY21: Revenue reaches $10 billion-mark; FY21 guidance at 2-3%
Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media

BRIDGEPORT  Two people are in custody after officers pursued a suspicious vehicle on Hollister Avenue Wednesday morning, according to police.

Around 9:15 a.m., officers engaged in a pursuit after responding to a call about a suspicious vehicle in the 200 block of Hollister Avenue. Police said the vehicle was stolen and used in an armed robbery in Stratford.
SUNRISE, Fla., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Interim HealthCare Inc., the nation's leading franchise network of home care and personal care, healthcare staffing, and hospice services, ranked No. 1 in the Senior Care category of Entrepreneur magazine's annual Franchise 500. This marks the company's third consecutive year achieving this ranking, while also moving up 40 spots in 2021 to No. 101 overall. The Franchise 500 is the world's first, best and most comprehensive franchise ranking.

Interim HealthCare has a long history of providing franchise offerings that span the continuum of care. The company is currently mobilizing its nationwide franchise network to assist with staffing COVID-19 vaccine distribution centers to ensure the efficient delivery to seniors, essential workers and eventually the full U.S. population. In addition, the company is focused on filling the ongoing demand for healthcare workers with jobseekers who have a passion for service in the home healthcare space.

"I'm proud of our franchisees' continued dedication to providing quality care to patients in the preferred and most efficient site of care: their home. The value of home-based care has become particularly relevant, especially in light of challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has created for stakeholders of our country's complex healthcare ecosystem," said Jennifer Sheets, president and CEO of Interim HealthCare. "This recognition validates our differentiation as a franchise brand in not only supporting the increased demand of the aging population, but also providing a full range of home healthcare services from complex medical care to hospice. It also further demonstrates Interim HealthCare's sustained growth potential as a stable, timeless, multiple service line and revenue stream business opportunity."

Placement in the Franchise 500 is a highly sought-after franchise industry honor making it one of the company's most competitive rankings ever. Recognized as an invaluable resource for potential franchisees, the Franchise 500 ranks companies based on outstanding performance in areas including unit growth, financial strength and stability, and brand power.

"2020 was a challenging year for everyone, but it was also a year of unusual opportunity," says Jason Feifer, Entrepreneur editor-in-chief. "Franchises were able to be nimble and innovative, serving the needs of franchisees and customers in ways that will resonate for many years to come. We believe that, when we eventually look back on this time, we'll see it as a moment when many brands defined themselves for the future."

Interim HealthCare worked tirelessly over the past year to empower its franchise owners to connect with communities and national leaders, helping to answer the call for COVID-19 support. As a result, the company has risen as one of the most successful business opportunities for future owners and operators, proven by its strong leadership through the pandemic. Some of its many innovative responses to the crisis included:

Introducing the first specialty program specifically designed to address and support the unique challenges of those diagnosed with COVID-19, based on the company's proprietary HomeLife Enrichment standard of care.

Creating a trailblazing solution to address the PPE shortage by sourcing and procuring fairly priced critical inventory and offering it to the home care industry globally. This ensured that all safety precautions could be followed by Interim HealthCare's network of franchise owners and operators to protect and care for patients and employees.

Pushing for advocacy and awareness at the state and federal levels for home healthcare's recognition as a mission-critical part of the complex healthcare ecosystem, by ensuring inclusion of home healthcare as "essential workers" and enabling owners and staff to continue providing their crucial services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Launching Made For This, a nationwide, purpose-driven recruiting campaign. Among its target audiences are those suffering job loss or displacement in other customer-service related sectors (food service, retail, hospitality) who are invited to consider a new career path in home healthcare.

In Entrepreneur's continuing effort to best understand and evaluate the ever-changing franchise marketplace, the company's 42-year-old ranking formula continues to evolve as well. The key factors that go into the evaluation include costs and fees, size and growth, support, brand strength, and financial strength and stability. Each franchise is given a cumulative score based on an analysis of more than 150 data points, and the 500 franchises with the highest cumulative scores become the Franchise 500 in ranking order.

To view Interim HealthCare in the full ranking, visit www.entrepreneur.com/franchise500. Results can also be seen in the January/February 2021 issue of Entrepreneur, available on newsstands January 26th.

For more information about Interim HealthCare's franchise opportunities, please visit: https://www.interimfranchising.com.

About Interim HealthCare Inc.

Interim HealthCare Inc., founded in 1966, is a leading national franchisor of home care, hospice and healthcare staffing. It is part of Caring Brands International, which also includes UK- and Ireland-based Bluebird Care and Australia-based Just Better Care, both well-known franchise brands in their countries. With 575 franchise locations in eight countries, including Saudi Arabia, Caring Brands International is a global healthcare leader.



Based in the US and First in Home Care , Interim HealthCare is unique in combining the commitment of local ownership with the support of a national organization that develops innovative programs and quality standards. The only major franchise brand in its category to offer the full continuum of care, the company strives to improve the delivery of home healthcare and staffing services through 330 plus locations servicing the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Ranked #1 for the third year in the row by Entrepreneur magazine, franchisees employ nurses, therapists, aides, companions and other healthcare professionals who provide 25 million hours of home care service to nearly 200,000 people each year, meeting a variety of home health, senior care, hospice, palliative care, pediatric care and healthcare staffing needs. For more information or to locate an Interim HealthCare office, visit www.interimhealthcare.com .

SOURCE Interim HealthCare Inc.

Related Links

http://www.interimhealthcare.com



At the very least, COVID-19 might be classified as 'social murder' argues BMJ editor

Politicians around the world must be held to account for mishandling the covid-19 pandemic, argues a senior editor at The BMJ today.

Executive editor, Dr Kamran Abbasi, argues that at the very least, covid-19 might be classified as 'social murder' that requires redress.

Today 'social murder' may describe a lack of political attention to the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age that exacerbate the pandemic.

When politicians and experts say that they are willing to allow tens of thousands of premature deaths, for the sake of population immunity or in the hope of propping up the economy, is that not premeditated and reckless indifference to human life, he asks?

If policy failures lead to recurrent and mistimed lockdowns, who is responsible for the resulting non-covid excess deaths?

And when politicians wilfully neglect scientific advice, international and historical experience, and their own alarming statistics and modelling, because to act goes against their political strategy or ideology, is that lawful?

He acknowledges that any nation's laws on political misconduct or negligence are complex, and not designed to react to unprecedented events, but says after more than 2 million people have died, "we must not look on impotently as elected representatives around the world remain unaccountable and unrepentant."

If citizens feel disempowered, who might hold negligent politicians to account, he asks?

He points out that official scientific advisers have often struggled to convince politicians to act until it is too late or kept silent to avoid public criticism, while much of the media is complicit too, "worried about telling pandemic truths to their readers and viewers, owners, and political friends."

It is this environment that has allowed covid denial to flourish, for unaccountability to prevail, and for the great lies of 'world-beating' pandemic responses to be spun, argues Abbasi.

When citizens find no accountability among their leaders, and feel unsupported by experts and the media, the law remains one form of redress, he writes. Indeed, some legal avenues, including criminal negligence and misconduct in public office, are being explored, although proving any such claims will be difficult and drawn out.

What's left then in this circumstance is for citizens to lobby their political representatives for a public inquiry; for professionals in law, science, medicine, and the media, as well as holders of public office, to put their duty to the public above their loyalty to politicians and to speak out, to dissent lawfully, to be active in their calls for justice, especially for the disadvantaged.

"Politicians must be held to account by legal and electoral means, indeed by any national and international constitutional means necessary. State failures that led us to 2 million deaths are 'actions' and 'inactions' that should shame us all," he concludes.

In a linked editorial, Clare Wenham at the London School of Economics asks what went wrong in the global governance of covid-19?

Looking at the latest report from the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, she argues that the system we have established for global health security cannot respond adequately to a health emergency.

She calls for collaborative action to fix the identified weaknesses, but acknowledges that given the politicisation of responses globally, any efforts to develop a standardised response to health emergencies will have to overcome serious challenges to secure agreement among all member states.

"We need a targeted review that names and shames governments, rather than obscuring them with generalisations," she writes. "I look forward to bolder reports from the independent panel that consider not only the economic and social effect of the pandemic but the failure of Western governments too."

###

Externally peer reviewed? Yes (Abbasi editorial); No (Wenham editorial)

Evidence type: Editorial; Opinion

Subjects: Response to covid-19 pandemic

We are confident that this will help us build greater awareness of Andersons role in the global autism community, all while supporting website visitors with needed information and resources, said Eliza Bozenski, Chief Development Officer

Executives from Anderson Center for Autism (ACA) announced today that the organization has gone live with a new website built by Dunn Solutions Group.

The site, which showcases program information, video interviews, admissions and human resources portals, details on events, autism-related resources, and giving/sponsorship options, among other areas of interest, was designed in the spirit of what we do, said Patrick Paul, CEO and Executive Director at Anderson Center for Autism. With a clean look and easy-to-navigate layout, we hope that it reflects our commitment to people with autism, who tend to prefer visual storytelling. Although most of our students wont necessarily use the site, we felt it was important to capture the essence of our work through our digital real estate, and I think that weve really achieved that goal. Were very excited to get feedback from the families we serve and the broader communities we reach from all over the United States and the world.

Autism now impacts 1 in 54 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control (2020). The neurological disorder with no known cause or cure presents with sensory processing and communication challenges. Anderson, which first opened its doors in 1924, now provides educational, vocational, residential, and recreational programs for people with autism from all over the country. One of its initiatives, Anderson Center International, even trains professionals who come from dozens of countries from all corners of the globe.

The website was the result of months of remote collaboration during the global pandemic. Anderson's Development and Information Technology teams worked via teleconference calls with Dunn Solutions, a digital commerce and business transformation consultancy located in Chicago, IL. Anderson draws students from the Chicago area, along with participants from throughout the country.

It is truly awe-inspiring to see a project like this come to life at a time when in-person meetings with our website developers were off the table. The effort speaks to the power of digital communication and the fact that remote work is really having its moment right now, said Eliza Bozenski, Chief Development Officer, Anderson Foundation for Autism. Dunn Solutions has brought tremendous value to our organization. We are confident that this will help us build greater awareness of Andersons role in the global autism community, all while supporting website visitors with needed information and resources.

Dunn Solutions is proud to be part of Anderson Center for Autisms new digital presence, said William Dunn, President of Dunn Solutions. It was important to create a website that not only was pleasing to look at but also communicated important information about ACA around their programs, capabilities, and partners to truly be a resource to the community they serve.

Added Paul: When families are exploring residential and educational opportunities for their loved ones, or community leaders are looking to gain a deeper understanding of what they can do to help carry out our mission of optimizing the quality of life for people with autism, we believe this new website will provide them with the same kind of warm welcome and high-level resources that we deliver every day at Anderson Center for Autism.

Learn more by visiting andersoncenterforautism.org.

About Anderson Center for Autism:

Anderson Center for Autism is a nonprofit organization based in Staatsburg, New York that provides educational, vocational, and residential services to people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism presents with communication, social, and sensory processing challenges and now impacts 1 in 54 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Our mission at Anderson Center for Autism is to optimize the quality of life for people with autism. For more information, call 845.889.9208 or visit http://www.AndersonCenterForAutism.org.

About Dunn Solutions:

Dunn Solutions (http://www.dunnsolutions.com) is a digital commerce and business transformation consultancy focused on delivering Velocity to its clients. Velocity is achieved by the combination of both speed and direction. Dunn Solutions helps its clients achieve speed by automating business processes and direction using advanced analytics. Dunn Solutions aligns with organizations to optimize their unique processes and help them discover the most profitable routes to business success. Dunn Solutions has been delivering Velocity to organizations since our inception in 1988. Dunn Solutions is headquartered in the Chicago area and has offices in Minneapolis and Bangalore, India.

Contact:

*Marybeth Cale, publicist, Anderson Center for Autism; marybeth@calecommunications.com, 845.750.3763

*Eliza Bozenski, Chief Development Officer, Anderson Foundation for Autism; ebozenski@andersoncares.org, 845.889.9594

*Mallorie De Riggi, Marketing Manager, Dunn Solutions; mderiggi@dunnsolutions.com, 847.673.0900 x 109
Review at a glance









L ocked down like everyone else over the past year, Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters never went away. Grohl started sharing tall tales of his rock and roll life online as @davestruestories and provided some of the most joyful moments of 2020 by challenging Ipswich 10-year-old Nandi Bushell to drum battles on YouTube. Meanwhile, his bands 2003 single Times Like These made a strong case for being the song of the moment, hitting number one in the UK in May in a new guise as a Band Aid-style charity cover version, then rising to prominence again as a key part of the soundtrack to Joe Bidens inauguration ceremony.

Its hard to resist the songs promise of a new day rising, and heartwarming to see that, having found fame in a band steeped in misery, Grohls post-Nirvana career has been so much fun. The last Foo Fighters world tour, across 2017 and 2018, saw the frontman screaming his head off in front of vast crowds for well over two hours every night.

Last year they would have had every reason to celebrate  this album, Medicine at Midnight, is their landmark tenth and was due to be released in 2020 for the 25th anniversary of the band  but theres nowhere to party. That must frustrate a man who lives for the stage. However, you wouldnt know it from the nine song line-up here. The headline hes been offering in interviews is that this is their dance record, which isnt immediately obvious amid the tornado of guitars, but it is consistently brilliant fun.

As with the previous album Concrete and Gold, Adele producer Greg Kurstin is at the controls, encouraging poppier touches such as the massed female backing vocals that launch the opening track Making a Fire, and a galloping guitar line reminiscent of Queens Keep Yourself Alive on Love Dies Young. They also find room for a beat that would qualify as funky on Cloudspotter and recall quieter Beatles moments on the softly drifting ballad Chasing Birds  a rare spell of calm.

No Son of Mine is a Motorhead-inspired monster, a headbanging blast of crashing drums and furious riffing. Waiting on a War sounds like it could be a concert centrepiece, with its journey from acoustic beginnings to a second half that feels like the band have been shot out of a cannon. The only disappointment is that these songs wont be heard in a stadium any time soon.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacob Soll, University Professor and professor of philosophy, history and accounting, has been awarded the Charles & Agnes Kazarian Sabbatical Research Fellowship to support his research for a book on the history of government net worth.

The fellowship was awarded by the Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation.

Soll's research focuses on the importance of understanding government net worth  government assets less government debts  and its historical roots across Europe, Asia and the Americas. He studies philosophies of wealth, and how to calculate accurate valuations.

"Discovering and documenting the historical wisdom of government net worth will be a powerful force for advancing a more financially equitable society," said Paul B. Kazarian, chairman and president of Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation.

Soll said: "I undertake the Kazarian Sabbatical Research Fellowship understanding the serious responsibility of communicating the extraordinarily valuable philosophical lessons to be learned from the past millennia of the best management of government net worth. This research will also provide important material for teaching in the USC School of Philosophy's major in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE)."

A professor of philosophy and accounting at the University of Southern California, Soll has been awarded numerous prestigious prizes including two NEH Fellowships, the Jacques Barzun Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and, in 2011, the MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the "Genius Grant."

Professor Soll's books include: Publishing The Prince : History, Reading, and the Birth of Political Criticism (University of Michigan Press, 2005), which examines how Machiavelli's work popularized and influenced modern political thought; The Information Master: Jean-Baptiste Colbert's Secret State Intelligence System (University of Michigan Press, 2009), which investigates how Louis XIV's famous finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, fused financial management and library sciences to create one of the first modern information states; The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations (Basic Books, 2014), a sweeping history of accounting and politics, drawing on a wealth of examples from over a millennium of human history to reveal how accounting can be used not only to build kingdoms, empires and entire civilizations, but also to undermine them; and Free Market: The History of a Dream (Basic Books,forthcoming 2022), an analysis of the origins of free market philosophy, natural law, and contemporary economic ideas.

URL: https://dornsife.usc.edu/assets/sites/1321/docs/USC_Kazarian_Sabbatical_Soll_PR_27.01.2021.1200.pdf

About the Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation: The Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation's core competency is to improve public financial management and financial literacy. At its core is a focus on an entity's or individual's balance sheet supplemented with other financial statements prepared in accordance with international accounting and auditing standards. Kazarian Foundation spending since founding plus year-end 2020 assets is over $250 million.

Contacts:

Jacob Soll

USC Professor of Philosophy, History and Accounting

[email protected]

Christopher Magarian

The Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation

[email protected]

SOURCE Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation

Related Links

https://kazarianfoundation.org


Criminal proceedings into the involvement of minors in illegal activities have begun under the procedural guidance of the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office in connection with the preparation of children and adolescents in the uncontrolled territories of Donbas to participate in hostilities, the website of the Prosecutor General's Office reported on Wednesday, February 3.

"The pretrial investigation established that since 2017, representatives of illegal armed groups of the Russian Federation in the so-called pseudo-patriotic clubs and military camps have been preparing girls and boys aged 10 to 17 to participate in hostilities. The militants teach teenagers to shoot from large-caliber weapons and Kalashnikov rifles. In addition, they distort the essence of the current events and put a hostile attitude towards Ukraine into the consciousness of children," the message says.

In total, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, there are more than ten such organizations operating in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk region, in particular, the so-called public military-patriotic movements "Young Guard of Donbas," "Amazons," "Patriot," "Bastion," and "Steppe Wolves."

"According to law enforcement officers, since the beginning of the armed conflict in the Donetsk region, members of the illegal Russian-led forces have involved more than 100 children in illegal activities," the department said.

The actions of Russian-occupation forces are classified according to the relevant part 1 of Article 304 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The pretrial investigation continues.

A Maryland police corporal has been charged with four counts of misconduct after an internal investigation determined that he failed to investigate rape and sexual abuse cases and attempted to hide the files.

Cpl. Gwynne Tavel of the Annapolis Police Department was charged with the four misdemeanor counts in connection to four cases he presided over from 2017 to 2020, according to court records.

The cases were marked closed in February, April and May 2020 by Tavel, who allegedly did little to no investigation into the cases and made no arrests in connection to them.

Among the cases were three women who were raped or sexually assaulted and a possible crime involving two children. It is not known why he failed to investigate the cases.

Cpl. Gwynne Tavel (pictured) of the Annapolis Police Department was charged with the four counts of misconduct for cases he presided over from 2017 to 2020

'A sworn police officer failed to carry out his duties as a detective in four alleged sexual assault cases by failing to investigate them properly and then inappropriately closed the cases to conceal his inaction and cover his behavior, amounting to misconduct in office,' Sgt. Hil O'Herlihy said in the charging documents, obtained by the Capital Gazette.

O'Herlihy, a professional standards official for the department, was the arresting officer identified on court records.

Tavel has been suspended without pay, leaving the police force in December for active duty in the National Guard.

The 34-year-old police officer joined the Annapolis Police Department in August 2015, following his time at the Baltimore Police Department. In 2019, Tavel was promoted to corporal.

Tavel is said to have changed multiple open cases to closed or inactive - designate for cases that have ended in an arrest and/or exhausted all leads

Tavel is said to have changed multiple open cases to closed or inactive, a term used for cases that have ended in an arrest and/or exhausted all leads.

During an initial search, O'Herlihy discovered four closed cases that had no supplementary documents detailing the steps towards completing the investigation.

Tavel was assigned a case of a rape in October 2018 where a woman reported blacking out during a night out drinking. She woke up in pain in her rectum.

Tavel has been suspended without pay, leaving the police force in December for active duty in the National Guard

At a local hospital, the woman was given a sexual assault forensic examination (SAFE) and her case was transferred to Tavel after it was determined that the incident happened in Annapolis.

Tavel wrote two, one-sentence reports acknowledging that he received the case but no further work was conducted.

'He did not speak to the victim, potential witnesses or attempt to speak to potential suspects, despite potential suspects being identified in the AACo police report,' O'Herlihy stated.

16 months later, Tavel is said to have changed the status of the case to inactive. He placed the file in the inactive filing cabinet 'in an apparent attempt to hide what he had done,' according to charges.

A woman reported in another case where in August 2018 she passed out after drinking, waking up to discover that a person was having sex with her. She passed out and woke up again, only to discover that she was naked in a closet with her assailant.

While Tavel identified a suspect in the investigation and provided photos of a potential suspect to the victim, the woman could not identify the man in the photos.

Tavel would stop working on the case, filing the case as closed in April 2020 on the claim that the victim did not want to proceed with the investigation. The case was placed in the same inactive cabinet.

The 34-year-old police officer joined the Annapolis Police Department in August 2015

Sgt. Andrew Ascione, who was re-assigned the case - would later call the victim, who told him that she never told Tavel that she didn't want to continue in the investigation.

In November 2017, a woman reported being raped by a man she met in a recovery house. Tavel was assigned the case, writing that the victim had inconsistencies in her statements after he interviewed her.

While Tavel identified the suspect - who had two previous sexual assault allegations - he didn't interview the man. The corporal proceeded to close the case, marking it as such in April 2020.

Tavel was assigned a case involving a two half brothers - ages 12 and 8 - in September 2019. A Child Protective Service officer implicated that there was evidence that there was sexual abuse between the two boys.

Eight months later and Tavel had not investigated the complaint, police asserted. He changed the case status to 'Unfounded' in May 2020. Cases are marked as such when they are found to be false or baseless throughout the course of the investigation.

Police described Tavel as having lied on documents when he claimed that there was no victim statement made for the complaint.
I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have sparked claims that this year's series will be returning to Wales.

The presenting duo said they'd be 'very happy' to remain in the UK for filming when the series returns later this year, joking they 'wouldn't miss the jet lag' from travelling Down Under.

Last year's I'm A Celebrity was relocated to Gwrych Castle in Wales after plans to record the usual show in Australia became impossible during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Will they be back? I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have sparked claims that this year's series will be returning to Wales

Speaking to Digital Spy magazine, Ant said: 'If during coronavirus we have to stay put and do it in Wales again, I'd be very happy.

'We were very welcomed in Wales. There were cardboard cut-outs of me and Dec in the butcher's, and the local school did a tribute. We'd happily go back there. We'd miss the sunshine, mind.'

Dec added that he 'wouldn't be disappointed' if filming was once again taking place in Wales later this year, adding: 'The people in Wales were lovely. They made us feel very welcome.

'I had a lovely time. I will miss the sunshine, but I will not miss the jet lag of coming back from Australia.'

Next series? The presenting duo said they'd be 'very happy' to remain in the UK for filming when the series returns later this year

Last year's I'm A Celebrity saw author Giovanna Fletcher crowned series champion after 12 celebrities moved into the derelict Gwrych Castle.

It was reported last month that ITV bosses had already secured use of the castle for another series if the Covid crisis prevented a return to Australia.

A source told The Sun: 'Ultimately they are at the mercy of COVID-19 restrictions.

'Formally an agreement is in place for the use of Gwrych Castle this year. Should the show need to be held there again it has all got the green light.'

ITV hired the 19th century castle for six weeks in 2020, costing 1million, after Covid-19 ruled out the usual setting in Australia.

The network also announced an extreme Covid Management Plan to ensure the series ran smoothly.

Changes: Last year's I'm A Celebrity was relocated to Gwrych Castle in Wales after plans to record the usual show in Australia became impossible during the COVID-19 pandemic

This included the celebrities being tested every three days and crew members wearing proximity buzzers, masks and getting temperature checks on arrival.

The celebrities also had to isolate for two weeks ahead of their arrival.

The new venue was warmly received by viewers, with some even calling for the show to make Wales its new permanent home.

While other fans suggested it alternate years between Wales and Australia.

The full Ant & Dec interview can be read in issue six of Digital Spy magazine, available now exclusively on Apple News+
Indias government has warned Twitter that it must obey its orders to remove inflammatory content or employees will face potential jail time, Buzzfeed has reported. The government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made the edict after Twitter unblocked 257 accounts criticizing Modis government around farmer protests, after initially blocking them.

The accounts in question come from government opposition leaders, investigative journalism site The Caravan, along with other critics, journalists and writers. Some used the hashtag #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide, referencing controversial proposed laws that farmers have said will reduce their income and make them more reliant on corporations.

After initially blocking the accounts, Twitter reversed its decision, saying the tweets constituted free speech and were newsworthy. In response, the IT ministry ordered them blocked again. Twitter is an intermediary and they are obliged to obey directions of the government. Refusal to do so will invite penal action, it told Twitter in a notice. It added that the hashtag was being used to abuse, inflame and create tension in society on unsubstantiated grounds.

The Caravan, which didnt use the hashtag, said it was merely doing its job. We dont understand why suddenly the Indian government finds journalists should not speak to all sides of an issue, executive editor Vinod K. Jose, told BuzzFeed News. This is really problematic, added internet activist and MediaNama editor Nikhail Pahwa.

Modis government was also incensed by western celebrities including Rhianna and Greta Thunberg who tweeted their support. Some Modi supporters railed against the tweets, including Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut. No one is talking about it because they are not farmers, they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, she wrote.

The latest development means Twitter, once again, must choose to either protect its employees and commercials interests, or be accused of aiding censorship in a volatile political situation. However, it may be forced to comply due to Indias IT laws that force social media platforms to remove any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource that could affect public order.
Hyderabad, Feb 4 : The Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the Director General of Police to take immediate steps to block illegal instant loan apps.

The court said the police should take strong measures to check the loan apps indulging in illegal practices.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Hima Kohli, gave the direction on a petition seeking action against the apps for harassing borrowers.

Lawyer Kalyan Deep, who filed the petition, pleaded for stringent action against the apps as their harassment is leading to suicides by borrowers.

The court also asked the DGP to submit a report on the activities of loan apps and action taken against them. It also sought a report from Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda Police Commissioners about the cases booked in loan apps scam.

It was towards the end of December that the Telangana Police began the crackdown on illegal instant loan apps following suicide by five persons.

Director General of Police M. Mahender Reddy had said 50 cases were registered in connection with the instant loan apps.

During the last one month, more than 30 accused including four Chinese nationals were arrested by Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda police, the three commissionerates which cover Greater Hyderabad.

The first arrests were made on December 22 during the crackdown by Hyderabad and Cyberabad police on five call centres in Hyderabad and Gurugram.

The police found in their investigations that the companies were offering small loan amounts through different apps and collecting repayments by way of harassment and blackmailing.
The Information Minister-designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has thrown more light on the ban on marriages following the restrictions imposed on social gatherings by President Akufo-Addo.

During the President's 23rd Covid-19 update last Sunday, he imposed an indefinite ban on wedding ceremonies, as well as funerals. This decision left people wondering as to why religious gatherings had been allowed while weddings and funerals were banned.

However, during a press briefing on Tuesday, Mr Oppong Nkrumah explained that the president did not ban marriages and funerals but the social activities surrounding these events were banned.

"The president did not say that marriages are banned. What the president said is that, what in Ghana we call wedding, the full-blown wedding where we have a big party with a reception and people dancing and eating, sitting at reception tables, etc., that is what has been banned," he added.

He also said marriages that are held in churches and mosques are allowed but under strict Covid-19 protocols.

Furthermore, he clarified that burials are allowed but should be done privately with a maximum of 25 persons under strict covid-19 protocols.

"The president did not ban burial services... . what is banned are funerals where typically in the Ghanaian community we will all gather, shake hands, the announcement of people, then they'll call for a song, people will come and dance, where there is a little party associated with it. That is what has been banned," he said.

The directives are based on data that shows that the upsurge in cases as a result of disregard for protocols at social gatherings.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the ambassadors of G7 and European Union countries to Ukraine exchanged opinions on Ukraine's cooperation with international partners, reforms in Ukraine, and ways to peacefully resolve the conflict in Donbas at their meeting on Wednesday, the Ukrainian President's Office said.

Since the last meeting in this format held in 2020, Ukraine has seen a series of events jeopardizing its state system, and resolute steps aimed at tackling these challenges have been taken, Zelensky said.

Specifically, the president briefed foreign diplomats on the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council's February 2 decision to impose sanctions on a number of media outlets.

"I would like to note the work of the Security Service of Ukraine in the fight against the danger of Russian aggression in the information space. Sanctions against the media are always a difficult decision for any government except for the authoritarian one. This decision is not emotional, it has been maturing, it has been prepared for a long time on the basis of information from many Ukrainian government agencies. This is by no means an attack on freedom of speech, this is a well-founded decision to protect national security," Zelensky said.

The sanctioned television channels have long been actively used for disinformation campaigns in Ukraine that are designed to undermine the country's reforms, its policy in favor of European and Euro-Atlantic integration and to promote the aggressor state's hybrid influence on political processes in Ukraine, the president said.

Head of the Ukrainian President's Office Andriy Yermak, in turn, said sanctions were imposed on these media outlets on the basis of strong evidence.

"Freedom of speech, freedom of work of journalists has been and remains a priority for the Ukrainian state," Yermak said.

Zelensky, for his part, added that nothing threatens freedom of speech in Ukraine.

"Ukraine has perhaps the largest concentration of free broadcasters and media in the region," Zelensky said, adding that the Ukrainian authorities would act exclusively in accordance with the law.

The participants in the meeting also focused on Ukraine's judicial reform and steps to sort out the situation triggered by the Ukrainian Constitutional Court's decision. Zelensky also outlined further steps to reform Ukraine's judicial system and to draw up a 2021-2025 strategy for the development of the judicial system.

The president said that a tentative presentation of this entire judicial reform was due to take place on Wednesday.

"This is a large number of bills, successive steps that will lead to the purification of the judiciary in Ukraine. Tomorrow, after a meeting with me, with the Commission on Legal Reform, we will understand the deadlines for the implementation of all these steps and start preparing for the public presentation of judicial reform in Ukraine," Zelensky said.

During the meeting, Zelensky also presented the key achievements of Ukraine in implementing reforms. In particular, he noted the important role of the law on reforming the Security Service of Ukraine, which became a real step towards implementing EU and NATO standards. The Security Service reform also creates preconditions for further progress in economic liberalization and business facilitation in Ukraine, he said.

During the meeting, the parties also exchanged views on the security situation in Donbas and the way negotiations on peacefully settling this conflict have been going.

On February 2, Zelensky enforced a decision by the National Security and Defense Council on imposing special personal economic and other restrictive measures on a number of individuals and legal entities.

The decision among others applies to Verkhovna Rada member from the Opposition Platform - For Life party Taras Kozak and the legal entities Ariadna TV, Novy Format, TV Vybor, 112 TV Television and Radio Company, Leader TV, Partner TV, News 24, and New Communications acting as the founders of the television channels 112, NewsOne, and ZIK, which are believed to be associated with Viktor Medvedchuk, one of the leaders of the Opposition Platform - For Life party.
Who is wielding the baton: BJP on comments by foreign personalities on farmer protests

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: There has been a sudden outpouring by some foreign personalities on the farmer issue. The Ministry of External Affairs hit back on Wednesday with a strongly worded statement telling such personalities to check facts and also pointed out that the farm laws were passed by the Indian Parliament after a debate.

The question is whether the remarks by the foreign personalities is a proof of propaganda. BJP's National IT Cell Chief, Amit Malviya tells OneIndia that this sudden concern of global celebrity voices against India's government begs the question, who is wielding the baton.

Farmers protest: Greta Thunberg tweets 'toolkit', deletes and updates; Creates uproar

Malviya further said asked if there is a concerted global effort to destabilise India from outside. Who gains from destabilising India, Malviya also asked.

No propaganda can deter India's unity! No propaganda can stop India to attain new heights! Propaganda can not decide India's fate only 'Progress' can. India stands united and together to achieve progress, Union Home Minister, Amit Shah said in a tweet, while hitting out to the foreign individuals who spoke on the farmer protests.

The comments also elicited a strong response from the Ministry of External Affairs. The MEA said that the Parliament of India, after a full debate and discussion, passed the reformist legislation relation to the agricultural sector. These reforms give expanded market access and provides farmers with greater flexibility to farmers. They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming.

A very small section of farmers in parts of India have some reservation about these reforms. Respecting the sentiments of the protesters the government of India has initiated a series of talks with their representatives. Union Ministers have been part of the negotiations and eleven rounds of talks have already been held. The government even offered to keep the farm law on hold and none other than the PM has made this offer, the MEA said.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

Yes it is unfortunate to see vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda on these protests and derail them. This was egregiously witnessed on January 26. A cherished national commemoration, the anniversary of the inauguration of the Constitution of India was besmirched and violence and vandalism took place in the Indian Capital, the MEA further added.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 12:01 [IST]
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The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) signed on Wednesday a memorandum of cooperation via video conference with the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), the first of its kind between CAS and UAE research institutes.

CAS Vice President Zhang Yaping and UAEU Executive Vice President Ghaleb Albreiki signed the memorandum, under which the two sides agree to step up exchange and cooperation in areas such as renewable energy, water resource, transportation, information technology and artificial intelligence.

Chinese Ambassador to the UAE Ni Jian and UAE Ambassador to China Ali Al Dhaheri also attended the meeting and witnessed the signing.

Noting that the UAE is among the first countries to participate in the clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccines developed by Chinese firms, the CAS vice president said he hoped the two sides could cooperate more in this area.

For his part, Albreiki said the cooperation between CAS and UAEU is not only beneficial to the two countries but the international scientific community as well.

Ni, the Chinese ambassador, said "civilizations make progress by learning from each other through more exchange," expecting achievement by the bilateral cooperation on scientific research and education.

CAS, one of the world's leading research organizations, is the linchpin of China's drive to explore and harness high technology and the natural sciences for the benefit of China and the world.

The UAEU is the first comprehensive national university in the UAE.
There is a search for new methods to fight air targets triggered by a rapid development of drones, which pose a major danger to the warring parties and numerous economic, infrastructure objects and mass events in peacetime, Colonel PhD Military Science V. Tikshaev and Retired Lieutenant-General PhD Military Science V. Barvinenko write in the Military Thought magazine.

Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

Pishchal-PRO anti-drone system (Picture source: Rostec)

The Syrian experience of fighting mini and micro drones demanded to upgrade radars and Pantsir missile-gun systems, as well as EW, which detects and jams drone control radio networks and makes them fall. Some drones can be intercepted and landed. It was confirmed in Syria.

It makes it necessary to operate a big number of cheap and effective weapons against mini and micro drones, which do not demand a lot of highly-skilled operators. It made many countries, including Russia, design various methods to fight drones, suppress them and destroy.

The main research guideline aims at creating specialized radio reconnaissance means and jammers of drone navigation channels. The operational drones and information about them was available in various formats from 2015 at Interpolitex, MAKS shows, Advanced Law Enforcing Technologies Day, and Army forum.

Practically all specialized counterdrone weapons in Russia are created by defense enterprises. They initiate the design and hope to find customers. It determines the creation of tools based on the same principles and close in characteristics.

Mobile multirole counterdrone Sapsan-PRO system jams radio signals of navigational, communication and control systems in a radius of 12 km. Stationary Kupol, Rubezh-Avtomatika and Taran-PRO operate in a radius of 1.5 km. Sapsan-Bekas and Repellent have a radius of 15 km.

Portable electromagnetic guns REX 1 and Pishchal-PRO operate in a range of 2 kilometers in the limits of optical visibility. SERP system can detect small drones in city conditions and jam their control channels at a distance of 20 km.

Solaris-N automatic system with artificial intelligence has been designed to protect major territories against drones. It can jam drones on a space of 80 km.

Cheremukha radio monitoring system detects drones and calculates the location of their control posts. Many objects are already protected against drones by Strizh, Skvorets, Garpun, Solovei, Snegir and other systems. The experience of fighting small drones shows that jammers should be the main weapon against swarms of drones.

Other guidelines include the creation of antidrones with nets, laser, beam, and sound means and software. Antidrones are drones with weapons, including explosives, which blast off when a hostile drone is approached. They can be engaged solo or in a swarm. In Russia, such antidrones include reusable unmanned vehicle Vepr-12 armed with a carbine or Kalashnikov rifle. Ordinary nets of thin fiber are effective against drones.

Russia has designed Karnivora reusable unmanned vehicle with a net to catch hostile drones. Counterdrone laser weapons for warships and land forces can be designed on the basis of Peresvet system.

Sound and software counteraction tools are created. The sound impact on gyroscopes destroys drones if resonating frequencies coincide. South Korea has created such a craft. Software tools intercept drone control. The use of electromagnetic systems to destroy drones by a powerful impulse is being considered.

 Copyright 2021 TASS / Army Recognition Group SPRL . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Iran is defending its hosting of a senior Taliban delegation for an entire week in a move that analysts say is aimed at highlighting its influence and cultivating ties with the potential future government of Afghanistan.

The delegation, led by Taliban political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, held talks with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, amid criticism by many who pointed to Taliban atrocities and abuses by the extremist group, mainly the 1998 killings of seven Iranian diplomats and a journalist in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif after it was overrun by Taliban militants.

The Taliban did not claim responsibility for the killings, which brought Iran and the militant group to the verge of war, with Tehran deploying tens of thousands of troops along its border with Afghanistan.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh defended the Taliban visit at a press conference where he noted that "the Taliban is part of today's reality of Afghanistan" and the government in Kabul had been informed of the trip. He added that Tehran had offered to facilitate peace talks between the militant group and the Afghan government.

"There are talks about the nature and activities of this group, we did not forget our martyrs in Mazar-e Sharif," Khatibzadeh said, adding that the visit was in line with the stalled negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government in Doha.

When asked about the slaying of the officials and the IRNA reporter in Mazar-e Sharif, Taliban spokesman Soheil Shahin was quoted by domestic media as saying that "it had happened" before Taliban forces arrived in the Afghan city.

Looking To The Future

Tehran backed the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in the Afghan civil war and Iran was reported to have provided the United States with military and intelligence support to help defeat the Taliban, while also playing a constructive role at the 2001 Bonn conference that created the first post-Taliban government in Afghanistan.

In recent years, the two sworn enemies have forged ties amid reports of clandestine visits by Taliban members to Iran and accusations, denied by Tehran, that it has been arming the militants.

In the past two years, Tehran has publicly displayed contacts with the Taliban amid the United States' talks with the militant group that resulted in an agreement signed in Doha in February 2020, which U.S. President Joe Biden's administration said it was reviewing.

Andrew Watkins, a senior International Crisis Group analyst for Afghanistan, says Iran, like other neighboring states, is hedging its bets on the future of Afghanistan. "Engaging officially with the Taliban is not only a safe strategic move, given the potential for the U.S. and NATO to withdraw troops [from Afghanistan] -- thus giving military and political momentum to the Taliban, [enough] perhaps to even potentially topple the current Afghan government," Watkins told RFE/RL.

"It is also politically safe, as the past two years of the U.S.'s diplomatic engagement with the Taliban has provided ample justification to any other state in the region to do the same," he added.

Iran Has Clout, For Peace Or Otherwise...

Shahram Akbarzadeh, a professor of Middle East and Central Asian politics at Australia's Deakin University, says Iran is determined to be noticed as a key player. "Iran is sending a message to the United States, Afghans, and the region that it has clout, influence, and interest in the future of Afghanistan and needs to be taken seriously."

"It is signaling to the United States that it can play a constructive role in peace negotiations -- on the flip side, the Iranian leadership is saying that if they are not taken seriously, Iran can spoil the peace," Akbarzadeh added.

Amin Tarzi, the director of Middle East studies at the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia, says that despite the bad blood between them, Iran and the Taliban have found themselves on the same side in their desire to see Western forces leave Afghanistan.

Tarzi adds that in recent years, Iran's strategy has been to assist with the peace process while at the same time cementing its ties with the Taliban. "It is possible that the current Iranian charm offensive with their former nemesis could result in the Taliban, or segments within the movement, becoming Iran's long arm in Afghanistan, whether the Taliban become a part of the Afghan government or remain as a loyal or armed opposition," he said.

Highlighting Tehran's rationale for its rapprochement with the Taliban, Akbar Ganji, the editor of the hard-line daily Javan, which is affiliated with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said that "making Afghanistan unsafe for the U.S. presence [by using] the Taliban" is important for Iran.

"The expulsion of the United States from Afghanistan was the dream of [Qasem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC's external Quds Force, who was assassinated in a U.S. drone strike in 2020], and if the Taliban completes this important task our national security and interests are secured," he wrote in a commentary.

Ganji said Iran may oppose some of the Taliban's goals, but he added that if engaging the Taliban will "weaken the extremist group Islamic State, ensure the safety of Shi'a, and deprive Americans from a good night's sleep, it is necessary."

He also suggested that Tehran may have reached the conclusion that Iranian diplomats had been murdered "with the coordination of intelligence services of a third country," which he did not name.

That claim was also made by lawmaker Fada Hossein Maleki, a former ambassador to Afghanistan, who blamed the 1998 attack on Iranians in Afghanistan on "foreigners and security services of a third country." He claimed there is evidence to prove it.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 18:50:11|Editor: huaxia

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WINDHOEK, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has recorded a worrisome rise in cases of pangolin poaching in the past year while cases involving rhino and elephant have been receding, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta said on Thursday.

Shifeta said the highest number in poaching cases included pangolin which stood at 308 recorded in 2020. And the cases of pangolin poaching included those that were stolen live and skinned.

The Namibian minister also said rhino poaching figures went down by more than 20 between 2019 and 2020 while elephant poaching went down from 13 to 11 in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

"A number of higher level perpetrators were also arrested in Namibia between 2019 and 2020 while using middlemen and our strategy now is to go after the king pins and middlemen who drive the poaching syndicates. The point is to nip the poaching in the bud," he said.

Shifeta applauded all stakeholders including private sectors who are contributing to the combating of poaching in Namibia. Enditem
A new ice road that connects the Northwest Angle to the rest of Minnesota via Lake of the Woods has become a lifeline for resort owners whose businesses have been crushed by international travel restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUPPLIED A round trip via the Northwest Angle's guest ice road costs between $120 and $145, depending on a tourist's destination.

A new ice road that connects the Northwest Angle to the rest of Minnesota via Lake of the Woods has become a lifeline for resort owners whose businesses have been crushed by international travel restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A product of a centuries-old mapping mistake, the Northwest Angle is the northernmost point of the contiguous United States. Its residents can only visit their American neighbours if they travel by boat or float plane or drive through Manitoba.

Since last spring, business owners in the community of approximately 100 have watched tourism revenue plummet.

The geographic oddity has not been exempt from Ottawas non-essential international travel restrictions; community members are only allowed to travel through Manitoba for grocery and health-care trips.

"This is a story of hardworking business owners who woke up one day and were caught between two countries in a pandemic," said Joe Henry, executive director of Lake of the Woods Tourism, during a phone call from mainland Minnesota Thursday.

SUPPLIED Northernmost point marker in the Northwest Angle

Henry said U.S. officials have unsuccessfully lobbied their Canadian counterparts to make a travel exception for the detached territory so residents and tourists can travel the 80-kilometre stretch of road to the Manitoba-Minnesota border.

In the summer, shuttle boats took American tourists back and forth on Lake of the Woods, but business owners grew increasingly anxious as the pandemic wore on while the lucrative ice-fishing and snowmobiling season approached.

"Our winter season brings in, typically, as much tourism as our open-water season," Henry said.

Concerned business owners started meeting on evening video conference calls to draw up a plan. They decided to pitch in to create a guest ice road, which would cost upwards of $30,000 to build and thousands more to maintain.

The first day of operations on the 50-kilometre ice road, which ends at Springsteel Resort in Warroad, Minn., was Jan. 18. The speed limit is 40 km/h.

Depending on a tourists destination, a round-trip costs between $120 and $145 per vehicle.

"It keeps them fighting another day. (Resorts) are operating on 30 to 60 per cent revenue for winter," Henry said, adding hes uncertain what will happen when winters over.

He said the community has many practical ideas on how to safely allow for travel on the Manitoba stretch between the Northwest Angle and the border, such as exploring a pilot car or the use of GPS devices, but it needs the Canadian government's approval.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
But he added, We can better target the number  Im OK with that.

It was part of a two-track strategy that Mr. Biden and Democrats are employing to speed through the relief package: Show Republicans that they have the votes to pass an ambitious plan with only Democratic backing, but offer to negotiate some details in hopes of gaining Republican support.

Later Wednesday, the president met for an hour and a half at the White House with leading Senate Democrats. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, emerged from the meeting, saying there was universal agreement we must go big and bold.

We want to do it bipartisan, but we must be strong, Mr. Schumer said. We cannot dawdle, we cannot delay, we cannot dilute, because the troubles that this nation has and the opportunities that we can bring them are so large.

Some Republicans have argued that the next round of stimulus checks should go to Americans most in need. Under Mr. Bidens plan, the full $1,400 payment would be limited to individuals earning no more than $75,000 a year, but those with higher incomes would receive smaller checks.

The presidents signal that he was open to compromise on the matter came a couple of days after he met at the White House with 10 Republican senators who are seeking a $618 billion package they said could win bipartisan backing. Their proposal calls for checks of up to $1,000 that would go only to individuals earning less than $50,000 a year, with the full payment limited to those whose annual income was $40,000 or below.

Republicans, though, seemed unified against the plan unless Mr. Biden made significant concessions.

If there are no changes, why I wouldnt think any one Republican will be voting for his proposal, said Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, a member of the group that met with Mr. Biden on Monday.

As for the $15 minimum wage included in Mr. Bidens plan, Mr. Romney said flatly, Thats not going to get passed.
( ) Chairman Mike Kirk talks to Proactive London, and highlights the company's current positive progress in Morocco. It looks like the company will be very busy too for the first half of 2021 with a clients trial of MSAR technology in Morocco continuing to advance into Phase 2, as well as operations progressing apace in Utah.

Mike talks investors through the company's current Covid-resilience strategy citing that star asset in their portfolio, MSAR fuel, which is an emulsified fuel that can be a substitute for heavy fuel oil and diesels.

Planning and preparation for a larger industrial-scale trial is underway, the aim being to fast-track the commercial scale trial and de-risk commercial roll-out.

Details here too on Quadrise's major new transaction with one of the world's biggest shipping companies.
New Delhi:

Enraged by pro-Modi slogans at a recent BMC function, the Shiv Sena on Friday said Modi bhakts (a term loosely used for Modi supporters) would lead to his downfall just like those of former PM Indira Gandhi led to hers.

The Shiv Sena statement came days after BJP corporators raised pro-Modi slogans during a cheque-handing ceremony at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters.

Shiv Sena in an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana said, today, those who are unnecessarily shouting pro-Modi slogans, are actually maligning his image. There was a time when the slogans in the name of Indira Gandhi were chanted too. Her bhakts had insulted the nation by shouting slogans like Indira is India and that insult triggered a spark of revolution which culminated into her defeat.

Sena said even winning 1971 war against Pakistan could not stop Indira Gandhi govt from losing elections.

The truth is that Indira Gandhi not only won the war against Pakistan in 1971 but also made Pakistan go down on their knees by dividing that country. We want to tell the BJP leadership that Gandhi still lost and that was because of the excessive Indira bhakti (worship) displayed by her supporters, the editorial said.

Calling BJP a friend, Shiv Sena cautioned BJP about the bhakts and said they can led to their fall too.

Our friend (the BJP) should remain cautious of its own bhakts. Those shouting pro-Modi slogans today may become the reason for his own downfall tomorrow, the edit said.

The Shiv Sena and the BJP corporators on Wednesday shouted slogans against each other during a Sena-controlled BMC function where the government was handing over an advance cheque of the GST compensation worth Rs 647 crore.

(With PTI inputs)

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Help Available for Families Whose Children Are Being Exploited, Trafficked

After her own harrowing ordeal when her daughter was trafficked for sex, a Houston-area mother has set up a program to help families whose lives have been upended by child predators and traffickers.

Kelly Litvak founded ChildProof America in 2017 and, on March 1, will launch a helpline and program for families who are in crisis mode.

For now, the helpline will be available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays. Its an opportunity for parents to call and have lengthy conversations, Litvak told The Epoch Times on Feb. 3.

Its more of a, Help me understand the behaviors my child is displaying, What is this I found on the cellphone? My child has gone. What are resources that we can tap into?

Litvak said ChildProof America is already getting calls from desperate parents around the country, more so since the pandemic has kept children at home and online even more.

The calls are coming in from places as far-flung as Seattle, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, California, Colorado, and the larger Houston area.

Some of those calls will turn into cases that the new Family Guides program will be involved in.

A case is a parent that is calling because they have a child in some stage of crisis. That child can be in the home and engaging with predators through social media. That child can have been identified as leaving that home and having an in-person interaction, Litvak said.

For example, Litvak outlined a recent extremely alarming case involving a 12-year-old girl. The girl had no devices at home but was required to be on a computer at school, where she started opening social media accounts.

One evening, the girls mother was checking her homework and found the social media accounts.

And on one account, there were 84 men talking to this little girl, Litvak said. And the girl had taken a picture of  the front of her house  telling one of these predators, This is my bedroom here, this window on the left.

She gave the address and invited this man to come through the window to get access to her.

Litvak said the girls mother took a thumbdrive of all the conversations to the police but was told they couldnt do anything. So she called ChildProof America and was linked up with her local Internet Crimes Against Children department.

Family Guides Program

To begin with, the Family Guides program will only be available for those in the greater Houston areas of Katy, Woodlands, Memorial, and Sugar Land.

A potential new Family Guides case will go through a screening process to determine whether the child is likely in a trafficking situation, said Litvak. If so, two case volunteers, who have been through extensive training and background checks, will be assigned to the family for up to 90 days.

When parents call us, they dont even really know what human trafficking is, they just know their kids in troublesomebody is pursuing them for sex. They dont really understand the whole mythology behind human trafficking, and the brainwashing, the control, and the threats, Litvak said. So theyre getting a really quick education on the issue, which only increases their fear.

But they need to know what theyre dealing with. So we inform and educate, empower, equip, provide best resources, and stay with them for 90 days.

The volunteers will help the family navigate the crisis and provide help with anything from law enforcement to extraction, understanding trauma, and victims rights.

The family will also receive a resource guide of vetted services. Its local, federal, secular, faith-based, all the way from tattoo removal, to extraction, to counseling for trauma, to residential treatment facilities, for minors and adults, Litvak said.

I would have given anything for that when we were going through this with Courtney. I was so bombarded with so many people telling me who to call, I couldnt even process. I was frozen, you know, youre in a state of panic. And you have a very difficult time processing all the resources while youre scared to death for your childs life.

Litvak has about 15 volunteers lined up for the Family Guides program as well as the helpline. More volunteers are on standby to provide meals to families in the program, while local chapters of the National Charity League have committed to providing care packages for siblings.

Even if youre just delivering a casserole, you need to understand human trafficking, Litvak said, regarding the training provided.

About Courtney

Livaks daughter Courtney became a target at her suburban high school in Katy, Texas. She was carefully groomed by fellow students, or spotters, who were eventually paid a finders fee by her first pimp.

The spotters invested almost a year from the time they befriended Courtney to when they handed her over to her first trafficker.

My life was worth a sum to [them], Courtney told The Epoch Times in a previous interview. They took their time, and they slowly broke down those barriers and boundaries to where I myself had not noticed the process in which I had strayed so far.

They were also careful to wait until she was 18 before pressuring her to leave home, rendering her parents and law enforcement almost useless in their ability to get her back.

For the next several years, Courtney sold herself for her traffickers, receiving no money personally and so brainwashed that she thought she was doing it for the greater good of her surrogate family.

The main form of brainwashing that I see as a constant in every situation is to convince this person that you love them so much that youll allow them to do whatever it takes to provide to the team, to be an asset, Courtney said. They will give you permission. They love you so much, but they want you to boss up and to be independent and to bring something to the table.

Behind the brainwashing is the victims wish to fill emotional needs, something Courtney says was present in everyone she met while she was being trafficked.

Courtney eventually escaped that life and is now an ambassador for ChildProof America. She is also a member of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, which is run by the State Department.

Under Their Noses

Litvak said 99 percent of the calls she receives from around the country are from educated, white-collar parents in suburban communities.

They dont want to think that this very nice school that theyre paying a lot of money for their kids to attend can possibly have any kind of [exploitation]. These are highly vulnerable communities, she said. Four years ago, before this all started with Courtney, I was exactly the same way.

Litvak said she used to think human trafficking was something that happened overseas.

Were a joke to traffickers. I mean, theyre just coming in saying, We have free rein in this community, these people, these parents have absolutely no clue,' she said. I mean, the pimp was able to come and take my daughter off-campus during school hours, and the teachers marked her present.

My goal, above everything, is to absolutely equip every family with this education. And if we do that successfully, Family Guides wont be necessary.

For Help

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

CyberTipLine.com or 1-800-843-5678

ChildProof America

Helpline: 1-833-CPGUIDE (274-8433)

ChildProofAmerica.org


A British woman is facing two years in jail in Dubai after her Ukrainian flatmate reported her to police for saying 'f*** you' in a WhatsApp row.

The woman, 31, a human resources manager from Gloucestershire, made the comment in October amid an argument over who used the dining table for work during lockdown.

The woman had previously lived trouble-free in Dubai since 2018.

She had decided to return home permanently to be close to her family and start a new job.

However, she was barred from leaving Dubai and hauled off a flight home to the UK on Saturday.

The Briton had already shipped her belongings home and was securing herself a seat on one of the limited flights when she was pulled aside by airport authorities.

She was then told she could not leave and that there was a police case against her.

The woman had previously lived trouble free in Dubai since 2018 but is now facing a criminal case (stock photo)

After being shuffled between police stations, she discovered that her flatmate had lodged a police complaint against her over the argument, claiming she had felt offended.

She now faces jail or a hefty fine because the flatmate refuses to withdraw the complaint.

The woman told the Sun: 'I can't believe what my flatmate has done  she has been so spiteful.

'I pleaded with her to withdraw the complaint but she said, "This is a criminal case".'

Speaking today to Detained In Dubai, she added: 'I would never have expected a European to take advantage of the UAE's strict laws.

'We shared a flat and we were all casual with one another.

'I've never been in trouble in my life, and I'm shocked that I've been criminalised over a private WhatsApp exchange with someone whom I lived with.

'What's worse, the messages were from months ago and only now, when I've shipped all of my belongings, booked a flight and when my visa is about to expire, do I even find out about this case.

'I tried to plead with her to drop the case, but she doesn't seem to care about the impact this is having.'

Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai and Due Process International, who is representing the woman, cautioned visitors to the Emirates in a statement issued today.

She discovered that her flatmate had lodged a police complaint against her over the argument, claiming she had felt offended. She now faces jail or a hefty fine as the flatmate refuses to withdraw the complaint (stock photo)

She said: 'We are assisting a British woman who has been held in Dubai over a private WhatsApp message that included a single swear word said in the heat of a stressful, lockdown-induced household dispute.

'The UAE's overreaching cybercrime laws have been responsible for numerous arrests of foreign nationals.

'Visitors to the UAE can be arrested, detained and prosecuted over a swear word, an offensive statement or derogatory comment said in the heat of the moment, and the UAE's cybercrime laws are extraterritorial, meaning that the statement could have been made from outside of the UAE.

'The absurdity of these laws allows for husbands and wives, colleagues, friends, school kids, vindictive and spiteful individuals and provocateurs to hold jail cards over people they interact with, and they don't even need to know them.

'Complete strangers are able to report social media comments they find offensive to the authorities and under the laws, they will be prosecuted, fined and even imprisoned.'

'Legal proceedings in Dubai are lengthy, and a frivolous case like this can take months to go through the local system, causing no end of suffering.

'With hotel accommodation, legal fees and visa overstay fines, an absurd allegation can quickly escalate into tens of thousands of pounds, loss of employment and in a worst case scenario, a prison sentence.

'The human toll is often unimaginable, especially when family members are separated.'
Swanu president Tangeni Iijambo has requested President Hage Geingob to consider replacing the food bank programme with the universal Basic Income Grant (BIG) to fight poverty in the country. The food bank initiative was established in 2013 by Geingob to assist needy and vulnerable community members with food rations as a way of cushioning them against hunger.

According to Iijambo, the replacement of the food bank will help the Geingob administration to introduce a minimum wage for retail sector workers, while more money would be freed up to fund students at institutions of higher learning. He said government will also be in a position to raise corporate income tax by introducing a new tax on all financial transactions.

"Introduce a wealth tax immediately, reduce personal income tax, create stimulus package for the agricultural sector with special focus on communal and small emerging commercial farmers," Iijambo proposed this week. Iijambo added the introduction of a BIG should not only come as an immediate response to the coronavirus pandemic but as a lasting measure towards eliminating poverty in Namibia. "The introduction of a BIG is not only advisable and sound policy but must be extended beyond the current period of economic and social upheaval," he sustained.

The member of parliament emphasised that an income grant would move the nation a step further in liberating labour from the clutches of capitalist control and exploitation, allowing people for the first time to choose to change jobs without being threatened by poverty.

"We must reject the principle that people have to work to earn their income and move towards the idea that people deserve to be able to live even if they cannot work," he claimed. The BIG Coalition of Namibia, spearheaded by the Economic and Social Justice Trust, has proposed a monthly grant of N$500.

However, the ministry of poverty eradication and social welfare believes the proposed BIG for unemployed Namibians between the ages of 18 and 59 is indeed feasible, albeit at a less than N$400 a month.

The ministry's executive director, Esther Lusepani, last year said this was concluded after the finalisation of the government feasibility study meant to determine whether the country can introduce an income grant to benefit roughly 1.2 million unemployed people.


Consolidates Further Tenure In The WA Goldfields

Perth, Feb 4, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) is pleased to announce a number of acquisitions and divestments in line with the regional consolidation strategy focussed on gold in the Western Australian goldfields (Figure 1*).HIGHLIGHTS- Company completes a number of acquisitions and divestments as part of its regional consolidation strategy focused on gold in the Western Australian Goldfields- Tenement Sale Agreement completed with private consortium for the acquisition of the Phoenix Gold Mine, 5km north of Coolgardie for $80,000 cash:o Phoenix has historically been worked as a small narrow vein underground mine with historic production grades over 50g/t Au and limited exploration below 100m depth- Tenement Sale Agreement executed with Tasex Pty Ltd for the acquisition of the Parkeston and Perkolilli prospects, 5km south of Kanowna Belle for $85,000 cash:o Tenure covers 20km2 contiguous with the Company's 100% owned Boorara project- Kanowna West exploration license E26/220 now granted, Broadarrow prospecting License P24/5348 acquired for $8,000 cash and three Blue Dam prospecting licenses acquired for $9,000 cash- Divestment of non-core Area 54 prospect, 70km NW of Coolgardie to Gold Tiger Ltd for $120,000 cash payable over four years and spending a minimum of $300,000 over the same period to earn 90%- Divestment of Prospecting License P24/5116 immediately west of the Eureka gold mine to Warriedar Mining Pty Ltd for $200,000 in shares. Warriedar acquired by TNT Mines Ltd ( ASX:TIN ) with Horizon now holding 1.52 million shares in TIN- Detailed assessment of new projects underway with drilling in the June Quarter 2021Commenting on the acquisitions and divestments, Managing Director Mr Jon Price said: "Horizon's intimate knowledge and experience in the WA goldfields region has enabled a number of value accretive acquisitions to be completed in line with our regional consolidation strategy."The Company is also pragmatic and open to divestment of non-core assets that have another natural owner and the deal with Warriedar/TNT Metals enables them to progress with development plans at Eureka with Horizon shareholders retaining upside through our TNT shareholding.""The Horizon team has done an excellent job building the asset portfolio with these latest deals essentially cash positive and we will continue to work with our neighbours for mutual gain."Since 2016, the Company has added over 600km2 of tenure to the asset portfolio on major geological structures, all located within 75km of the proposed Boorara mill site being evaluated as part of the consolidated Feasibility Study. The aim is to build a strong pipeline of development assets underpinning a long-term sustainable production profile and adding to that pipeline organically through large scale resource growth and new discovery exploration programs.*To view the tenement list and figures, please visit:About Horizon Minerals Limited

Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed.

Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline.

Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage.
HARTFORD  A city man concealed his identity for more than a year after he committed a homicide in Puerto Rico, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

U.S. Marshals from the Violent Fugitive Task Force and Hartford police arrested Jeffrey Lopez-Alameda Thursday morning in the 200 block of Hillside Avenue.

Officials said he was wanted in connection with a 2019 homicide in Puerto Rico. They provided no additional information about the homicide.

On May 31, 2019, authorities in Puerto Rico issued an arrest warrant for Lopez-Alameda, charging him with first-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons violations.

Investigators said Lopez-Alameda fled Puerto Rico after the April 2019 homicide, obtained a stolen social security card and assumed the identity of Radames Negron Gonzalez.

Lopez-Alameda got a Connecticut license using the stolen social security card and had been living in the state under the stolen identity for over a year, officials said.

It should be noted that Jeffrey Lopez-Alameda ... was so good at concealing his identity that his neighbors and fiancee were unaware of his real name, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Hartford police worked with U.S. Marshals from the violent fugitive task forces in Connecticut and Puerto Rico to apprehend Lopez-Alameda without incident in Hartford. He was transported to police headquarters and is awaiting extradition to Puerto Rico.
In New Orleans, the planning commission and City Council can band together to rename streets. Baton Rouge has many more steps, including the approval of a majority of homeowners on a street.

After last year's killing of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of White Minneapolis police officers, cities nationwide looked at whether it was appropriate in the 21st century to have streets named after 19th century Confederate war heroes, or others with ties to white supremacy.

Critics say Baton Rouge panel took 'softball approach' toward Confederate street names New criticisms are emerging over the effort to consider changing Baton Rouge street names honoring Confederate generals, with the head of the 

New Orleans' city council renamed the Jefferson Davis Parkway, then appointed a nine-member commission to evaluate street names across the city. The city Code of Ordinances says the Council can change street names with approval from the Planning Commission.

The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board last year renamed Lee High School to Liberty High, but all parish streets with a Confederate theme remain, including Confederate Avenue.

Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

The city-parish's Unified Development Code says a person or group must first apply for a name change through the Planning Commission, then most homeowners on the street must approve. After public hearings, the matter goes before the Planning Commission and Metro Council.

If the effort is successful, the residents must pay for new street signs.

Changing East Baton Rouge's procedure rests with the Planning Commission, Metro Council or a citizen-led petition.
OTTAWA - Privacy watchdogs say U.S. firm Clearview AI's facial-recognition technology resulted in mass surveillance of Canadians and violated federal and provincial laws governing personal information.

Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien speaks during a news conference in Ottawa, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - Privacy watchdogs say U.S. firm Clearview AI's facial-recognition technology resulted in mass surveillance of Canadians and violated federal and provincial laws governing personal information.

In a report Wednesday with three provincial counterparts, federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien said the New York-based company's scraping of billions of images of people from across the internet was a clear violation of Canadians' privacy rights.

Clearview AI's technology allows for the collection of huge numbers of images from various sources that can help police forces, financial institutions and other clients identify people.

The report by Therrien and privacy-protection authorities for Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec said Clearview AIs technology allowed law enforcement and commercial organizations to match photographs of unknown people against the companys databank of more than three billion images for investigation purposes.

The probe concluded that Clearview AI had amassed highly sensitive biometric information without the knowledge or consent of individuals.

The watchdogs said this created a risk of significant harm to people, noting most of them have never been, nor ever will be, implicated in a crime.

"This is clearly unacceptable," Therrien told a news conference.

Clearview AI told the investigators that Canadian privacy laws do not apply to its activities because the company does not have a real and substantial connection to Canada, and that consent was not needed because the information was publicly available.

The commissioners rejected these arguments.

The watchdogs found Clearview AI not only collected the images of Canadians but actively marketed its services to law-enforcement agencies in Canada.

The RCMP became a paying customer and a total of 48 accounts were created for law enforcement and other organizations across the country, the commissioners said.

Therrien announced last year that Clearview AI would stop offering its facial-recognition services in Canada in response to the privacy investigation.

The move included the indefinite suspension of Clearview AI's contract with the RCMP, its last remaining client in Canada.

However, the company rejected the commissioners' recommendations to stop collecting images of people in Canada and delete previously collected images and biometric details.

The watchdogs warned Wednesday that if the company continues to resist, they will pursue other actions available to them under the law.

Therrien's office is completing a related investigation focusing on RCMP use of Clearview AI's technology.

The company says it aims to help law-enforcement agencies solve the toughest cases, and its technology comes with strict guidelines and safeguards to ensure investigators use it only for its intended purpose.

Doug Mitchell, a lawyer for the firm, said Clearview AI collects only public information from the internet, which is explicitly permitted under Canadian privacy law.

"Clearview AI is a search engine that collects public data just as much larger companies do, including Google, which is permitted to operate in Canada," Mitchell said Wednesday.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett tweeted that Clearview AI should appear before the House of Commons information, privacy and ethics committee "to be held accountable for their actions."

Therrien and his provincial counterparts are developing guidance for law-enforcement agencies on the use of facial-recognition technologies. They expect to publish guidelines for consultation this spring.Public Safety Minister Bill Blair lauded Therrien's efforts and said the government would "continue to work with him" to ensure Canadians' privacy is respected.

Dozens of groups and individuals working to protect privacy, human rights and civil liberties want the Trudeau government to ban the use of facial recognition surveillance by federal law-enforcement and intelligence agencies.

In an open letter to Blair last July, they called the technology highly problematic, given its lack of accuracy and invasive nature, and say it poses a threat to Canadians' fundamental rights.

They told the minister that in the absence of meaningful policy or regulation governing facial recognition, it cannot be considered safe for use in Canada.

OpenMedia, which works to keep the internet surveillance-free, said Wednesday it should never have been possible for police to adopt Clearview AI's tool.

"Essentially, Clearview AI makes everyone a suspect every time the police use it," said OpenMedia's Bryan Short.

A Quebec photographer wants a judge to order the RCMP to destroy all the images of Canadians it obtained through the tool.

Ha Vi Doans proposed class-action lawsuit in Federal Court seeks damages for her and other Canadians whose photos and related information were allegedly part of the massive database compiled by Clearview AI.

Her lawyer, Lev Alexeev, said the commissioners' report confirms that Clearview AI "engaged in illegal mass surveillance."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2021.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 21:12:26|Editor: huaxia

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WINDHOEK, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's government forked out around 5.04 million Namibia dollars (336,000 U.S. dollars) to individuals, farmers and conservancies for livestock loss, crop damage, injuries to people and loss of life under the Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) Self Reliance Scheme in 2020, Minister of Environment, Pohamba Shifeta, said Thursday.

Shifeta said HWC conflict incidents recorded in 2020 saw 813 livestock, consisting of 413 cattle, 12 donkeys, 234 goats and 154 sheep, killed by wild animals.

Furthermore, the minister said for crop damages, 3,450 hectares were damaged by wild animals consisting of elephants with 3,346 hectares, 55 hectares by buffaloes and 49 by hippos.

"One person was injured by a baboon, six by buffaloes, one by elephant, one by hippo, three by leopards, and two by lions. Unfortunately, we had two lives lost, all caused by crocodiles," he added.

Meanwhile, Shifeta thanked members of his ministry who are involved in assisting communities and farmers in reducing human-wildlife conflict. Enditem
Businesses and TDs have criticised Eir for a prolonged outage that affected thousands of customers and some vital services this week.

The outage began on Tuesday and lasted until Wednesday evening.

It became one of the longest-running telecoms outages in recent times in Ireland. Eir has not disclosed the source the problem, although it is currently engaged in a major overhaul of its mobile and urban fixed line networks.

While Eir customers took to social media to complain about the issue, businesses and institutions were also forced to issue statements, with the ESB apologising to customers who were trying to get through to the utility by phone

"Our phone service is impacted by an ongoing external issue," the ESB said. "We are working with Eir to resolve this as quickly as possible."

The outage has been described as "unacceptable" by some TDs.

"Thousands of customers, including those working from home, frontline workers, and teachers and their students, continue to be undermined by a service that falls far below the standards expected of the country's main telecoms provider, said Michael McNamara, Independent TD for Clare.

A spokesman for Eir declined to give any indication of the nature of the problem or when it might be resolved.

"Some customers are having intermittent issues with voice calls and they are working on a resolution at the moment," the spokesman said.

The issue has affected some users of GoMo, the discount mobile operator owned by Eir, as well.

Eir is currently engaged in a large-scale upgrade program of its urban fixed line network.

The company has promised to introduce fibre-to-the-home connections in cities, where Virgin Media currently has a near-monopoly on high speed broadband services.

The company was harshly criticised in late 2020 by a cross section of government officials and TDs, including Communications Minister Eamon Ryan, for customer service standards. Chief executive Carolan Lennon apologised for the lapses, saying that things were improving.

The Eir outage comes soon after a survey released by the telecoms regulator, Comreg, showed that a quarter of Irish people say their broadband has become worse since the start of the pandemic.

More than one in seven also say that their mobile signal has deteriorated since last March. The figures, taken from a survey of 1,000 people, also show that three quarters of us now rely on home broadband far more than before the pandemic started, with families particularly dependent on it.
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VICTORIA - British Columbia health officials say there's an encouraging trend in the COVID-19 curve in the province with the efforts of residents making a difference.

Dr. Bonnie Henry talk about the next steps in B.C.'s COVID-19 Immunization Plan during a press conference at Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Friday, January 22, 2021. British Columbia health officials say there's an encouraging trend in the COVID-19 curve in the province and the efforts of residents are making a difference. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

VICTORIA - British Columbia health officials say there's an encouraging trend in the COVID-19 curve in the province with the efforts of residents making a difference.

It comes as the state of emergency was extended again in B.C. on Tuesday, allowing officials to use its extraordinary powers to respond to the pandemic.

In a joint statement, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix reported 429 new cases and eight deaths, bringing to 1,218 the number of fatalities liked to COVID-19.

The statement says with people in B.C. following the restrictions, the COVID-19 spread is slowing and that puts the province in a better position to deal with the uncertainties of new variants.

However, a statement from Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says some people still refuse to follow safety rules for their own "selfish needs."

Between Aug. 21 last year and Jan. 29, more than 800 violations were issued, including 141 $2,300 tickets to owners or organizers who contravened the health officer's orders on gatherings or events.

"Additionally, since the pandemic began, police agencies in British Columbia have issued 90 violation tickets to individuals who were in contravention of the Federal Quarantine Act, totalling $98,929," the statement says.

The provincial government can extend the state of emergency declaration every 14 days and the original declaration was made on March 18, 2020.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2021.
Sean Hannity, who is one of the most conservative media personalities on television, slammed Majorie Taylor Greene during his show on Wednesday over her belief in QAnon conspiracy theories that he has no 'earthly clue' why anyone would believe.

During a segment on The Sean Hannity Show, the TV host explained Greene's rise to power after winning Georgia's 14th congressional district with 74 per cent of the vote before pointing out and dismissing some of her wild claims.

Hannity started with Greene's belief that a plane did not hit the Pentagon during the 9/11 attacks.

'Sorry, but we all know as a fact that a plane did hit the Pentagon, and it was a real,' Hannity told his viewers.

The next conspiracy theory he tackled was one in which Greene claimed that California wildfires were started by a secret Jewish space laser.

One of the most influential and conservative media personalities on television, Sean Hannity, slammed Majorie Taylor Greene during his show on Wednesday over her belief in QAnon conspiracy theories that he has no 'earthly clue' why anyone would believe

One of the conspiracy claims Hannity tackled involved a video that surfaced of Green mocking a Parkland survivor and claiming he was a trained actor. 'I think kids are off the table. The poor kid had been through hell; the families had lost loved ones, they are all watching this,' he said

Hannity's condemnation comes just a day after Greene (pictured in January) received a standing ovation from Republicans after refusing to apologize for her conspiracy theories

'I have no earthly clue whatsoever what would cause someone to believe such a thing,' Hannity said.

The host continued: 'Also, recently disturbing, a video surfaced showing Taylor Greene chasing down and, kind of, berating a kid that survived the Parkland school shooting. And she accused him of being a trained actor.

'I'm sorry. I don't go there. I think kids are off the table. The poor kid had been through hell; the families had lost loved ones, they are all watching this,' he added.

In conclusion, Hannity said: 'From my perspective, it is not a single conservative I know that shares those conspiratorial beliefs, or supports the action confronting young people, claiming that a school shooting that happened didn't happen.

'I don't know a single conservative or a single Republican; frankly, that even knows what QAnon even is, let alone buys into whatever those beliefs are'.

Hannity's condemnation comes just a day after Greene received a standing ovation from Republicans after refusing to apologize for her conspiracy theories.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, House Republicans will be forced to go on record over Greene's conduct. Democrats could vote as early as Thursday on removing Greene (pictured) from both her committee positions in a blow to McCarthy's attempt to keep the issue off the House floor

TAYLOR GREENE'S BIZARRE CLAIMS The California Camp Fire which killed at least 85 was caused by a space laser linked to the Rothschilds and the state's high-speed rail. PG&E admitted it was caused by a faulty power line and went into bankruptcy to fund a $13.5bn settlement and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin cut off a child's face while she was alive, Clinton wore it as a mask so the terrified child would produce 'adrenachrome' and then organized the killing of a cop who knew about it.

The Las Vegas massacre was organized by Democrats to help them ban guns and shooter Stephen Paddock was not a lone wolf.

There's no evidence of a plane hitting the Pentagon on 9/11.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre which cost the lives of 17 students was a 'false flag planned shooting.'

' I am told that Nancy Pelosi tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that we need another school shooting in order to persuade the public to want strict gun control.'

Seth Rich leaked Hillary Clinton's emails and was murdered in revenge by her aide John Podesta because the emails revealed that a D.C. pizza restaurant had a child-smuggling operation in its basement. It does not even have a basement.

The world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles and the Q in QAnon exists and is the 'best chance to take them out.'

Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett are Muslims.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was replaced by a body double.

She wasn't the person who posted a call to assassinate Nancy Pelosi to her own Facebook page. Advertisement

About half the Republican caucus got to their feet, as she spoke briefly at a private meeting of the House conference, to applaud her.

It capped a wild day in which she saw off GOP leader Kevin McCarthy's demand she say sorry for a string of bizarre claims - then said he was 'all talk and no action' and called Mitch McConnell 'Mr Big Turtle'.

McCarthy said he would take no action against Greene after the two spent hours in talks on Tuesday night.

Instead he tried to see off a civil war in his own caucus over Greene by declaring war on Democrats on their attempts to remove her from committee assignments.

McCarthy acknowledged that Greene had peddled false claims on 'school shootings, political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories' but said that she had acknowledged that her words as a member of Congress had 'greater meaning' and that he would 'hold her to her word'.

Democrats had demanded that Republicans remove Greene from her assignments to two powerful committees - the Education and Labor Committee, and the Budget Committee - for her bizarre conspiracy claims and calls for violence against their leaders.

McCarthy offered a compromise to move her off both committees and put her on the Small Business Committee, on the basis that she owns a gym - an offer which Democratic number two Steny Hoyer turned down on Wednesday at lunchtime.

McCarthy responded by refusing to do anything and instead attacked Democrats for allowing Ilhan Omar to hold committee roles, accusing her of 'anti-Semitic tropes' and having Eric Swalwell on the Intelligence Committee despite the FBI warning him to stop associating with a Chinese spy.

'I understand that Marjorie's comments have caused deep wounds to many and as a result, I offered Majority Leader Hoyer a path to lower the temperature and address these concerns,' McCarthy said in a statement detailing his proposed compromise.

'Instead of coming together to do that, the Democrats are choosing to raise the temperature by taking the unprecedented step to further their partisan power grab regarding the committee assignments of the other party.'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded with her own statement which referred to McCarty as Q-CA and said: 'As No 2. Senate Republican John Thune warned Tuesday, McCarthy has chosen to make House Republicans 'the party of conspiracy theories and QAnon' and Rep. Greene is in the driver's seat.'

'After several conversations and literally running away from reporters, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Q-CA) made clear that he is refusing to take action against conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene,' the House speaker wrote in a scathing statement against her Republican colleague on Wednesday afternoon.

'As a result, the House will continue with a vote to strip Greene of her seat on the esteemed House Committee on Education & Labor and House Committee on Budget,' she continued. 'McCarthy's failure to lead his party effectively hands the keys over to Greene  an anti-Semite, QAnon adherent and 9/11 Truther.'

Meanwhile, on Thursday, House Republicans will be forced to go on record over Greene's conduct.

Democrats could vote as early as Thursday on removing Greene from both her committee positions in a blow to McCarthy's attempt to keep the issue off the House floor.

On Wednesday afternoon during the House Rules Committee meeting, Chairman James McGovern said it was necessary for Democrats to take action because 'internal' issues within the GOP are causing Republicans to drag their feet on doing anything to respond to Greene's conduct and comments.

'We're here today because, to be honest with you, the Republican leadership has not dealt with this,' McGovern said during the Zoom meeting. 'And it is unclear whether they're able to deal with it based on internal political strife.'

Ethics Committee Chairman Ted Deutch  notably who represents the Florida district where the Parkland school shooting occurred  agreed with McGovern's stance.

'We wouldn't be here, in this position today  and before we start it, I'm sorry that we're here but we wouldn't be here if Republican leadership hadn't rewarded Representative Greene with seats on the Budget Committee and the Education and Labor Committee despite her behavior, despite her actions,' Deutch said.
Updated Information for Visa Applications

Announcement

Notice | COVID-19 VISA Arrangements

29 January 2021



As part of a wide range of travel measures announced on the 26 January, and in light of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, with effect from 29 January 2021, the Department of Justice has temporarily ceased accepting new visa/ preclearance applications globally.



This is effective from close of business 29th of January 2021. Increasing travel restrictions and the measures introduced as part of the Governments efforts to interrupt the transmission of COVID-19 means that travel may not be possible, and even if possible, it is not advisable unless absolutely essential. It is currently against the law for any person (regardless of nationality or passport) to travel within Ireland for non-essential purposes and people can be fined for doing so. Enforcement of this has been strongly increased over that last few days.



The situation will continue to be reviewed in consultation with the relevant authorities in the coming weeks.



We intend to resume accepting applications as soon as safety concerns abate. Certain Priority/Emergency cases will continue to be processed and these include the following:

Workers or self-employed persons exercising critical occupations including healthcare workers, frontier and posted workers as well as seasonal workers as referred to in the Guidelines concerning the exercise of the free movement of workers during the COVID-19 outbreak;

transport workers or transport service providers, including drivers of freight vehicles carrying goods for use in the territory as well as those merely transiting;

patients travelling for imperative medical reasons;

pupils, students and trainees who travel abroad on a daily basis and Third-country nationals travelling for the purpose of 3rd level study;

persons travelling for imperative family or business reasons;

diplomats, staff of international organisations and people invited by international organisations whose physical presence is required for the well-functioning of these organisations, military personnel and police officers, and humanitarian aid workers and civil protection personnel in the exercise of their functions;

passengers in transit;

seafarers;

journalists, when performing their duties.



If your application falls into one of these categories, you can apply on-line in the usual way. Once youve completed the on-line application, you should follow the instructions given on the summary page as to where you should submit your application.



If you are unsure as to whether you require a visa/preclearance to enter Ireland you can check here by entering your nationality.



These measures are designed to support our public health restrictions on movement, including into and out of Ireland.



The strong advice therefore is that everyone, regardless of their nationality or visa/preclearance status, or where they started from, who cannot provide proof of an essential purpose to travel to or within Ireland, should not travel to Ireland.



As of midnight 27th January 2021, in addition to countries who were visa required prior to that date, passport holders of the following countries are now also required to apply for an entry visa or transit visa, as appropriate, before travelling to Ireland:

Argentina

Bolivia

Brazil

Chile

Colombia (transit visa now required  this country is already subject to entry visa requirements)

Ecuador (transit visa now required  this country is already subject to entry visa requirements)

Guyana

Paraguay

Peru (transit visa now required  this country is already subject to entry visa requirements)

South Africa

Suriname (transit visa now required  this country is already subject to entry visa requirements)

Uruguay

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Roughly 1% of New Jersey residents have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine, sparking inquiries and concerns as to whether or not this means they no longer have to mask up.

The short answer? Yes, they do.

David Cennimo, an infectious disease specialist for the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, said the most pessimistic reason why residents who have been inoculated should continue wearing a mask while in public and unable to social distance is because they could be in the minority of people for whom the vaccines are not effective.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been found to prevent 95% of cases of the virus, and the Moderna vaccine, 94.5% effective.

Beyond this reason, Cennimo said that its significant to note that medical experts dont know that people who have been given the vaccine cant still transmit the coronavirus.

Im vaccinated, but I dont know that I am not infected with COVID, Cennimo said. I know that I feel well; I know that I dont have a fever. But I could be harboring the coronavirus in my nose right now; I could be breathing it out  so because of that its still my responsibility to wear a mask, because I dont know that Im infection-free.

And thats one of the hardest things to explain to people, because if you got it in your head that I just needed to get the vaccine and then everything was going to be good, then were just going to go back to normal, we dont have the data to tell you you can go back to normal yet, Cennimo said.

Its equally important to recognize that immunity does not kick in immediately after becoming vaccinated. It takes a week after the second dose for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to become 95% effective. For Modernas vaccine, efficacy reaches 94.5% two weeks after become fully vaccinated, The Washington Post reported.

I even have friends in medicine who were like, Oh, I want to go out to eat, I got my vaccine today. I was like, Please tell me youre joking, Cennimo said. You could go out to eat, but you could have gone out to eat yesterday. You got the vaccine in the last 24 hours; theres nothing different happening in your body.

So, will there ever be a time when New Jersey residents no longer have to wear a mask?

At some point, but not in the immediate future. While initially projecting that 60% to 70% of the U.S. population must be inoculated to achieve herd immunity, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and presidential advisor, has since revised this language and said that it may take closer to 90 percent immunity to bring the coronavirus to a halt, The New York Times reported.

Until then  even if youve been fortunate enough to become vaccinated  wear a mask.

Tell us your COVID-19 vaccination stories, send us a news tip or questions about the vaccination process on our tip form.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Caroline Fassett may be reached at cfassett@njadvancemedia.com.
A diplomat has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Belgium over a foiled bombing in the first trial of an Iranian official for suspected terrorism in the European Union since Iran's 1979 revolution.



Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi was found guilty on February 4 of attempted terrorism after a plot to bomb a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition group, near Paris in June 2018.

Three other defendants also received jail sentences.



The planned attack on the rally was thwarted by a coordinated operation between French, German, and Belgian security services.

Assadi, who refused to appear in court, invoking his diplomatic status, was arrested while on holiday in Germany and handed over to Belgium.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh "strongly" condemned the sentencing, calling it "illegal and a clear violation of international law, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention," according to state TV.

However, prosecution lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier said the ruling shows that "a diplomat doesn't have immunity for criminal acts...and the responsibility of the Iranian state in what could have been carnage."

Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said that "the justice system has ruled on facts of terrorism and made a clear statement about it."

Rik Vanreusel, a lawyer for one of the civil parties, said it was "an historic day...a day of justice.

"We can be proud of brave little Belgium, who decided not to just expel diplomats but to prosecute, imprison, and condemn heinous international acts of terrorism," Vanreusel told reporters.

Iran has repeatedly dismissed the charges, saying the allegations by the NCRI, which Tehran considers a terrorist group, are false.



The NCRI is the political wing of the exiled Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an exiled opposition group that is seeking to overthrow the Islamic republic.



The 2018 rally's keynote address was given by Rudy Giuliani, an ex-mayor of New York City who has served as former U.S. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer. Newt Gingrich, an erstwhile conservative speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt were also among prominent guests at the event.



The United States considered the MEK a terrorist group until 2012. Its designation was removed following a lobbying campaign and pledges to end its violent militancy. Giuliani is among those who lobbied on its behalf.



French officials have said Assadi was in charge of intelligence in southern Europe and was acting on orders from Tehran.



Two of Assadi's suspected accomplices were arrested in Belgium in possession of explosives and a detonator.



European countries have blamed Iran for other suspected moves against dissidents, including two killings in the Netherlands in 2015 and 2017 and a foiled assassination in Denmark. Tehran has denied involvement.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP
(SAN ANTONIO, February 4, 2020) - The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) received a technology grant via special discounts from Dell Technologies to support advanced technologies and a new research infrastructure platform at the university. Through the substantial savings to UTSA, this technology grant enables and supports UTSA's ability to attract leading research scholars and students. With the grant, UTSA invested in a hybrid cloud approach that utilizes solutions from Dell Technologies to help deliver research in data science and cybersecurity.

With the support of the technology grant, UTSA will invest in a broad range of Dell Technologies infrastructure solutions, including servers, storage, networking and data protection, that will serve as the foundation of all research produced at the solutions institution. This includes several of the latest Dell Technologies innovations ranging from a high performance computing system (HPC) for data and compute intensive projects, storage for big data workloads, software-defined networking and disaster recovery and business continuity. This will provide reliable services, reduce operating expenses, transform procedures and operating models as well as offer supercomputing resources as a service.

Designed for future expansion, increase performance, optimize storage and maximize skill sets, UTSA's new HPC cluster features 156 nodes of Dell EMC PowerEdge servers capable of 353 teraflops (TFLOPS), an increase of nearly 200 TFLOPS over its current SHAMU HPC cluster.

The technology grant will allow UTSA University Technology Solutions (UTS), under the leadership of Vice President for Information Management and Technology, Kendra Ketchum, to establish a research infrastructure that meets the federal guidelines, policies and regulations of National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and Texas statutes. The advanced platform will spur innovation and elevate research at UTSA.

"This grant will have a profound impact on our research mission, particularly in the areas of cybersecurity and data science," said UTSA President Taylor Eighmy. "The platform will elevate our research infrastructure at UTSA, and we are grateful to Dell Technologies for its deep commitment to advancing research technology."

Several research programs at UTSA will directly benefit from the grant including the Open Cloud Institute, Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) and Matrix AI Consortium. The work of these research organizations drives UTSA's mission toward becoming a nationally recognized research university. UTSA continues to work toward attaining National Research University Fund (NRUF) eligibility and aims for an R1 designation by the Carnegie Commission. These designations will position UTSA to align with members of the prestigious Association of American Universities.

"Now more than ever, technology is critical to how we innovate and how we advance society," said Adam Garry, senior director, education, Dell Technologies. "It is critical that we prepare future generations with skills in emerging technology, and that our local universities, like UTSA, have access to what they need to innovate, discover and have the greatest positive impact on society. With Dell Technologies infrastructure, UTSA can ensure researchers have access to the compute and storage demands of this growing research institution."

"Dell's technology donation to UTSA's knowledge enterprise will drive further transdisciplinary research across the university including the humanities and the arts as we expand the research IT infrastructure to be inclusive for all," said Bernard Arulanandam, vice president, research, economic development and knowledge enterprise, UTSA. "Our dedicated research centers and institutes will benefit from this investment, by spurring additional high research activities and engaging even more undergraduate and graduate students in the investigative process."

In 2021, the university will unveil a location on campus that will be named after Dell Technologies to honor the company's commitment to research excellence at UTSA.

###

About UTSA

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is a Hispanic Serving University specializing in cyber, health, fundamental futures, and social-economic development. With more than 34,000 students, it is the largest university in the San Antonio metropolitan region. UTSA advances knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. The university embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property--for Texas, the nation and the world.

WASHINGTON (AP)  The legal sparring around Donald Trump's impeachment trial is underway, with briefs filed this week laying out radically different positions ahead of next week's Senate trial.

House prosecutors and the former president's defense team are putting forward their arguments about Trump's role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and on the legality of even holding a trial. They're also debating the First Amendment and a blunt assessment by Democrats that the riot posed a threat to the presidential line of succession.

Here are some of the takeaways from the arguments of both sides:

SINGULARLY RESPONSIBILE

Who's responsible for the riot? Democrats say there's only one answer, and it's Trump.

The Democrats contend that Trump was singularly responsible" for the Jan. 6 attack by creating a powder keg, striking a match, and then seeking personal advantage from the ensuing havoc. They say it's impossible to imagine the riot unfolding as it did without Trump's encouragement, and they even cite as support a fellow Republican, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who said essentially the same thing.

Trump's lawyers, by contrast, suggest he can't be responsible because he never incited anyone to engage in destructive behavior. They concede there was an illegal breach of the Capitol that resulted in deaths and injuries. But they say the people who are responsible  the ones who entered the building and vandalized it  are being investigated and prosecuted.

FIRST AMENDMENT FAULT LINE

Trump's lawyers don't dispute that he told supporters to fight like hell before the Capitol siege. But the defense says that Trump, like any citizen, is protected by the First Amendment to express his belief that the election results were suspect. He had an opinion that he was entitled to express, they say, and if the First Amendment only protected popular speech, it'd be no protection at all.

House Democrats don't see it that way. For one thing, they say the First Amendment is meant to protect private citizens from the government, not to allow government officials to abuse their power. And while a private citizen may have a right to advocate for totalitarianism or the overthrow of the government, no one would seriously suggest that a president who adopted those same positions should be immune from impeachment.

LINE OF SUCCESSION

The impeachment managers state that loyalists egged on by Trump directly endangered the safety of lawmakers who fled the House and the Senate as the rioters poured in.

Among those affected were the government's most senior leaders.

Those in the line of succession for the presidency after Trump  then-Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley  were all in the Capitol and forced to flee for safety. Trumps conduct not only endangered the life of every single Member of Congress," the Democrats wrote, but also jeopardized the peaceful transition of power and line of succession.

The brief details chilling threats to Pence and Pelosi as rioters ransacked the building and specifically hunted them. According to the document, which cites media outlets and videos, insurrectionists shouted, Hang Mike Pence! and called him a traitor because he'd indicated he would not challenge the electoral count, as Trump wanted. One person is alleged to have said that Pelosi would have been torn into little pieces had she been found.

The Democrats also describe the terror felt by lawmakers and staffers during the siege. Some Members called loved ones for fear that they would not survive the assault by President Trumps insurrectionist mob, the impeachment managers wrote.

DENY, DENY, DENY

Thats the message from Trumps defense team, which used the word denied or denies a whopping 29 times in its 14-page brief.

Trumps team denies that the impeachment trial can be held because he is no longer in office. They deny that he incited his supporters to violence. And they deny he did anything wrong on Jan. 6, or the weeks leading up to the riot, when he whipped his supporters into a frenzy by convincing them, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that the election had been stolen from him.

When Trump told the crowd, If you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore, he was merely pressing the need to fight for election security in general, Trump's lawyers claim. He was not attempting to interfere with the counting of electoral votes, even though he had demanded that Pence do just that.

It is denied that President Trump ever endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government, they wrote. It is denied he threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch Government."

Rather, they say, he "performed admirably in his role as president, at all times doing what he thought was in the best interests of the American people.

There was no widespread fraud in the election, as has been confirmed by a range of election officials across the country and by former Attorney General William Barr. Nearly all the legal challenges to the election put forth by Trump and his allies were dismissed.

HISTORY LESSON

Both sides are at odds over whether a trial is permissible now that Trump has left office  and the seemingly arcane argument could be key to his acquittal.

Trump's lawyers say the case is moot since he is no longer in the White House and the Senate therefore doesn't have jurisdiction to try him in an impeachment case. Many Senate Republicans agree, and 45 of them voted on that basis to end the trial before it began. A two-thirds vote of the Senate would be required for Trump's conviction.

It is true that no president has faced impeachment proceedings after leaving office, but House managers say there's ample precedent. They cite the case of former Secretary of War William Belknap, who resigned in 1876 just hours before he was impeached over a kickback scheme. The House impeached him anyway, and the Senate then tried him, winning a conviction. Democrats also note that Trump was impeached by the House while he was still president.

The framers of the Constitution intended for the impeachment power to sanction current or former officials for acts committed while in office  with no January exception, Democrats wrote. Not only that, they say, the Constitution explicitly allows the Senate to disqualify from future office a former official it convicts.

That possibility, they suggest, makes the case against Trump  who could mount another White House run in 2024  anything but moot.
The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz Announces Investigation of Genesis Healthcare, Inc. (GEN) on Behalf of Investors

The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz is investigating potential claims against the board of directors of Genesis Healthcare, Inc. ("Genesis" or the "Company") (NYSE: GEN) concerning whether the board breached its fiduciary duties to shareholders.

If you are a shareholder, click here to participate.

On January 5, 2021, George V. Hager, Jr. retred as Chief Executive Officer of Genesis Healthcare. The Company announced that Mr. Hager received a special cash bonus of $650,000 in addition to his severance benefits. News reports pointed out that Mr. Hager had received a $5.3 million "retention benefit" while COVID-19 spread rapidly throughout the Company's facilities. As of December 20, 2020, there were over 14,000 confirmed cases and nearly 3,000 deaths caused by COVID-19 at Genesis Healthcare's facilities.







Our investigation concerns whether the Company's board of directors breached its fiduciary duties to shareholders and/or grossly mismanaged the Company in connection with the above alleged misconduct.

Follow us for updates on Twitter (News - Alert) : twitter.com/FRC_LAW.

If you still hold Genesis shares purchased before April, 2020 and wish to discuss this matter with us, or have any questions concerning your rights and interests with regards to this matter, please contact Frank R. Cruz, of The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-914-5007, by email to info@frankcruzlaw.com, or visit our website at www.frankcruzlaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number and number of shares purchased.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005980/en/
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that COVID-19 restrictions in Ukraine will be extended until April 30, and this is most likely not the deadline.

Shmyhal said this at a meeting of the European Business Association, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"We will extend the quarantine until April 30 but, unfortunately, this is most likely not the final date when the quarantine will be completed. It will most likely continue in one form or another," he said.

He said that COVID-19 restrictions might change. In particular, they could be eased or there could be a transition to an adaptive form of quarantine, Shmyhal said.

On December 9, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a decision initiated by the Ministry of Health to extend the quarantine until February 28, 2021, with restrictions tightened for the period from January 8 to 24.

op
LONDON, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In a recent webinar, Prime Minister Timothy Harris addressed some of the achievements contributed by St Kitts and Nevis' Citizenship by Investment Programme both on the islands and in the broader investment migration industry. Established in 1984, the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis was the first to birth the CBI concept. It operates the world's longest-standing programme, opening its doors to foreign direct investment once applicants contribute via the Sustainable Growth Fund. The route, introduced in 2018, is considered the fastest and most straightforward path to a second citizenship.

According to PM Harris, the programme has been "integral" in the state's response to enhancing the quality of life on the dual islands. CBI has helped the government improve various sectors of society, including education, telecommunications, housing and aviation. St Kitts and Nevis also launched its Poverty Alleviation Programme with funds from the CBI Programme, enabling low-income families with a monthly stipend of $500. Most notably, since the global coronavirus outbreak, St Kitts and Nevis' CBI Programme has also been instrumental in keeping the nation afloat.

Aside from supporting citizens, the CBI Programme has witnessed a transformation over the last three decades that has contributed to it being recognised as a 'Platinum Standard' brand within the investment migration industry: "To have survived in an industry for over 30 years is no small achievement. So, we have the benefit of history, we have the benefit of being there longer, we have a better understanding of the marketplace, and we have become the most innovative in the marketplace and the most responsive. I think for all these, we are proud to say that we are what we really are - the Platinum brand, the oldest and the best and that certainly provides dividends for all who participate and of course for our country of St Kitts and Nevis," PM Harris said.

Successful applicants under St Kitts and Nevis' CBI Programme unlock increased global mobility with travel to 156 countries and territories, alternative business prospects and the ability to pass citizenship down for generations to come, establishing a future legacy for you and your family.

pr@csglobalpartners.com

www.csglobalpartners.com
No drug has been politicized quite like hydroxychloroquine.

Former President Donald Trump touted the anti-malaria medication as a game changer in the treatment of COVID-19 and repeatedly pushed for its use, despite federal health officials saying the drug did not help hospitalized patients.

But Dr. Andrew Ip and his team at Hackensack Meridian Health wanted to take another look. What about the coronavirus patients who are mildly ill?

Ip, director of the division of outcomes and value research at the hospital systems John Theurer Cancer Center, was aware of the politics surrounding hydroxychloroquine. But that wasnt his concern.

Our investigators dont really have a bias one way or the other, said Ip, who is also a lymphoma doctor. Were just trying to get the data out there.

And the data says the drug just might help  at least some coronavirus patients.

In a recently published study in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Infectious Diseases, the team at Hackensack Meridian found that hydroxychloroquine could help prevent hospitalizations among people who are mildly ill and in the early stages of COVID-19.

It was a surprise because it was a drug that most people had already written off because of the initial studies for hospitalized patients, Ip said.

He conducted a retroactive study looking at data already compiled by Hackensack Meridian hospitals from March to mid-May. It included more than 1,200 outpatients who had contracted the virus but developed only mild symptoms.

There were nearly 100 outpatients who received hydroxychloroquine. To the researchers surprise, only one in five who received the drug needed to be hospitalized. To Ip and his colleagues, this was significant, as one in three outpatients who did not receive the drug were hospitalized.

Despite Trumps erroneous statements last year about the drug and despite all the experts who came out against it, Ip and his colleagues believe hydroxychloroquine could actually have a place in treating COVID-19.

The search started in the spring and summer of last year, when Ip and his colleagues sought a treatment to combat the early phase of the disease. They were considering a variety of drugs, including blood thinners, steroids and immunosuppressants.

Despite all the remedies applied since the start of the pandemic, the study notes that to date, there are no treatments endorsed by the World Health Organization or Infectious Disease Societies of America for outpatient management of early disease.

Hydroxychloroquine became politicized when Trump began endorsing it, incorrectly lauding it as a potential COVID-19 miracle cure, even while his own experts cautioned against its use.

The drug had been prescribed and studied early in the coronavirus crisis. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked its emergency use authorization in June, saying it found hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine showed no benefit for decreasing the likelihood of death or speeding recovery.

The following month, the FDA said there were reports of serious heart rhythm problems and other safety issues, including blood and lymph system disorders, kidney injuries, and liver problems and failure associated with the drug.

But Ip and his team continued to sift through data on a group of outpatients from last year who had received the drug. They found that the group of mildly symptomatic patients was less likely to be hospitalized.

We saw a benefit, Ip said. This is, again  we did this study around June or July when we actually looked at the data and analyzed it. And so, this was at the time period when everyone was canning the drug as it did not work. Or it doesnt seem to be a benefit.

Dr. Stephanie Silvera, an epidemiologist at Montclair State University, said she thought the study was very well designed and well analyzed.

So in that way, it was a pretty sound study, she said. So I think that gives us a little more confidence in the results.

But Silvera said she would be interested in seeing further research that fleshed out the limitations of the study, including the lack of diversity of the study group, which she felt was a fairly narrow racial and socioeconomic snapshot of the population.

The group that received the drug included six African Americans, one Asian, 15 Hispanics and 57 whites. The group, Silvera said, was also made up of those who likely had existing access to medical care. She said she would like to see results involving those who were less likely to seek care.

Nonetheless, she thought the study was a beneficial addition to the existing literature on the drug and deserved further investigation.

Its a good example of a strong study that has still has limitations  as all studies do, Silvera said.

Ip acknowledged those limitations, especially the small sample size. He emphasized that the study is not an endorsement of the drug.

This is a very, very  in the world sense  small study from New Jersey, and only a handful of hospitals in New Jersey, Ip said.

But he added: What we are suggesting is, we seem to have found a correlation, not a causation  and theres a big difference there  a correlation that maybe this drug improved our New Jersey Hackensack patients from getting to the hospital, which is important, especially when we studied this, and that it should probably be studied further.

The researchers also found no reports of cardiac arrhythmia in their sample of outpatients as a result of taking the drug.

The data wasnt controversial  not in scientific terms. It was only controversial in that the drug had become something of a political symbol. Ip even noted that getting the data published took some time.

It was a little difficult to get it published, Ill be honest, he said.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com.
Equine Guelphs Gut Health & Colic Prevention online short course runs February 8-19. Standardbred Canada members can get a special 15% discount for this online course on TheHorsePortal.ca/SC.

This course provides valuable insight for anyone that has an interest in improving the management of horse health. The take-away is that good management saves horse lives and reduces expensive vet calls. said a student of the course.

This is one of the courses offered in the online educational program partnership for SC members. The next short course following Gut Health is Fire & Emergency Preparedness which will be offered from March 8  15.

SC members also have the opportunity to enroll in a two-week online Racehorse Respiratory Health Course (valued at $95). This course is available FREE to the first 150 SC members that are in good standing to register into the course. The course is filling up fast but there are still spots available! This course will be offered from March 22 - April 2. Respected experts from the racing industry include course instructor, Dr. Melissa McKee from Ontario, and guest expert, Dr. Patty Hogan from New Jersey.

Standardbred Canada members will be able to access their page for information on the free Racehorse Respiratory Health course and 15% course discount at TheHorsePortal.ca/SC.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a motion Feb. 1 to intervene in a lawsuit challenging the approval of a major resort in a wildfire-prone area of Lake County.

Becerra seeks to join a lawsuit filed last August by the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society challenging the environmental impact report (EIR) for the Guenoc Valley Mixed Use Planned Development project.

According to a press release from Becerras office, the EIR certified by the Lake County Board of Supervisors last July fails to adequately analyze and mitigate the increased wildfire risk associated with the project, as well as the greenhouse gas emissions and other adverse environmental impacts.

Lake County residents have borne the brunt of many of the recent wildfires that have ravaged our state, Becerra said. They deserve to know that the increased wildfire risks resulting from any new development in their area have been properly considered  and mitigated.

Located on 16,000 acres in southeast Lake County, the Guenoc projects first phase includes five hotels with 127 hotel units, 141 resort residential units, 385 residential estate villas, two wineries, and various resort amenities and infrastructure.
Today, Acer Malaysia announced that they will be launching a new 2-in-1 Air Purifier machine called the acerpure cool. The original price is RM1299 but there will be a promotional sale on 5 February for RM899. Then from 6-9 February, it will be on sale for RM999 while stocks last.

If you're wondering about the features, the acerpure cool is a 2-in-1 air circulator and purifier combined. It is equipped with 3-in-1 HEPA filter paired with Ag+ Silver Coated Filter so is sure to keep the air in your home fresh as possible. On top of that, it also comes with a pre-filter, activated carbon filter and HEPA 13 main filter which can remove pet hair and dander, dust, as well as 99.97% of 0.3m, suspended particles and bacteria.

There's also a PM1.0 air quality sensor which supports real-time indoor air quality monitoring, the reading is displayed via 3 LED indicator lights of green, yellow and red colour. As you can see from the image, the fan support 90 up-down swing and 80 left-right oscillation. It also has a silent mode as quiet as 26dB.

Available at selected Acer official online stores and Acer concept stores, the acerpure cool comes together with a free replacement HEPA filter worth RM199 while stock lasts. Lastly, any Acer laptop or desktop in the select Acer official online stores and Acer concept stores will be entitled a special offer to purchase acerpure cool at RM999 + extra HEPA filter. This will apply from 10 February until 31 March 2021.
We have a great obligation to people who put their lives on the line for the nation, said Dr. Victor J. Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine.

Celia Nieto, 44, an intensive care nurse in Las Vegas, said many Americans had scant appreciation for the tribulations that she and her colleagues face day after day. There is the physical exhaustion of lifting and turning patients on their bellies so they might breathe easier, the never-ending scramble to adjust ventilators and pain medication, and the mental anguish of telling relatives she doesnt have the time to help them FaceTime with their loved ones.

It feels like were failing, when in actuality were working with what weve got and we dont have enough, she said. We feel quite helpless, and its a real injury to our psyches.

Dr. Donald Pathman, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said he was struck by the early results of a study he has been conducting on the pandemics effect on clinicians who serve in poor communities. Many of the 2,000 medical, dental and mental health professionals who have participated in the survey so far say they are disillusioned.

There is a lot of personal trauma, Dr. Pathman said. Many people have been scarred by their experiences during the pandemic, and they will look to leave their practices.

In interviews, doctors who have recently left the field or are considering early retirement said the pandemic had exacerbated frustrations spurred by shifts in the business of medical care that often required them to work longer hours without increased compensation.

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, the first Medal of Valor awardee to be appointed chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in decades, said looking after soldiers morale and welfare is just as important as accomplishing missions.

Sobejana received the highest military award for leading a ranger unit in a deadly clash against more than 150 members of the Abu Sayyaf group in Basilan in 1995. Some 30 bandits were killed in that encounter.

Seven soldiers died in the five-hour firefight while nine were wounded, including Sobejana. His right forearm was so severely hurt that he can only salute using his left hand until this day.

Ang naisip ko lang is I will survive that battle, Sobejana recalled in a one-on-one interview with CNN Philippines. So with that determination to live, I was able to effectively lead my men. Despite our inferior number e talagang na-motivate ko pa rin yung aking mga kasamahan during that encounter na talagang harapin yung kalaban.

[Translation: All I though was I will survive that battle. So with that determination to live, I was able to effectively lead my men. Despite of our inferior number, I really motivated them to face the enemy.]

Sobejana brings with him this near-death experience and other dangerous encounters as he takes over the helm of the AFP 26 years later. Knowing how it feels to be deployed to the far-flung, conflict-stricken areas of Mindanao, he said he will continue to do what he does best  motivating his men  who are now 180,000-strong.

I always strike a good balance between mission accomplishment and looking after the morale and welfare of our men, Sobejana said. He used to tell troops on the ground: Our soldiery is complete because we are here in this part of the country.

High morale also translates to better quality service, said Sobejana, a member of the Philippine Military Academys Hinirang Class of 1987. He previously commanded several units in Mindanao before being appointed head of the Philippine Army in July 2020.

Target: Local terrorist groups

Sobejana said the AFPs modernization program will continue under his watch, adding that the country is on track to achieving the goal of having world-class defense capabilities by 2028  enough to be a big deterrent against external forces. About 27 billion is allocated this year to buy more defense equipment, including a second frigate for the Navy.

What the Sobejana-led AFP will focus on is to cause a big blow if not totally eradicate the local terrorist groups, the chief of staff said. He mentioned the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing New Peoples Army, which the executive department recently designated as terrorist organizations, as well as Islamic militant groups Abu Sayyaf, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Dawlah Islamiyah-inspired groups, Maute, and remnants of the Ansar Al-Khilafa Philippines.

With his limited stint of six months when he goes on mandatory retirement, he said he will go fast against these groups while taking deliberate steps to target only the real threat and avoid any collateral damage.

Sobejana has until July 31 to lead the AFP, giving President Rodrigo Duterte another chance to choose the countrys next top soldier.

When St. Ignatius died, I was born. St. Ignatius is the soldiers saint so we pray that with the intercession of St. Ignatius in everything that we do, we are able to make a difference, solve the insurgency as well as terrorism," Sobejana said. "Im calling our people to rally behind us."

Catch CNN Philippines' exclusive one-on-one interview with AFP Chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana on Thursday, 8:30 p.m.
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The federal government has begun the establishment of artisanal mineral processing clusters for the development of selected minerals in the six geopolitical zones.

The initiative is to ensure effective harmonisation of minerals' exploitation as well as to derive the right revenue for government.

The Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah, disclosed this during the handing and taking over ceremony of landed property donated by the Ebonyi State government for the establishment of artisanal and small-scale processing clusters for the south-east zone in Abakaliki.

Ogah, in a statement made available to THISDAY in Abuja by the Director of Press of the ministry, Mrs. Etore Thomas, clarified some contrary media speculations that," he boycotted the initial date of Friday, 29th January, 2021 scheduled for the event."

Continuing, he disclosed that the overreaching goal of the development of artisanal and small-scale miners would increase efficiency in mining and mineral processing operations; increase mineral production and revenue generation; enhance safer mining practices; boost the ease of doing mining business as well as create employment and wealth for sustainable growth in the sector

The minister who stated that the federal government would soon embark on infrastructural development of the cluster area, revealed that, "upon completion, the cluster will provide common facilities that will enable easy formalisation of the artisanal mining activities in lead/zinc supply."

He thanked Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, for keying into the programme and providing the land for the project without hesitation, adding that the choice of Ebonyi state for citing the lead/zinc processing cluster was predicated on the fact that it is endowed with large commercial deposits of these minerals.

In his remarks, Umahi urged the media to always verify their story before going to press.

he airport.

He appreciated the federal government for choosing Ebonyi State as host for the project, saying the processing cluster would develop the south-east immensely.
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A Northern Ireland teenager who sang the Fields of Athenry to the PSNI has been fined 610 and told to learn the entire song.

Thomas Martin (19) of Parkhead Crescent also pleaded guilty to resisting and obstructing police on June 5, 2020.

The defendant appeared at Newry magistrates on Wednesday via video link.

The court heard that the PSNI observed a number of males walking with open bottles of beer and consuming them.

Officers approached them on Edward Street in breach of council regulations on street drinking.

The police spoke with the males with the defendant beginning to sing the Fields of Athenry loudly and being obnoxious to the constables.

He was warned about his behaviour, but continued.

When the details of the males were being noted, Martin became further physical and verbally abusive towards police.

He was then arrested.

Defence solicitor, Ciaran Downey said his client has been keeping bad company of older males.

I have seen the body warn camera footage (PSNI), said Mr Downey.

He became involved in something that had nothing to do with him.

A bit of bravado, showing his youth.

The incident was more of a drunken struggle rather than any real intent.

He has one similar record from last year.

He had previously moved to Portstewart to take up some work.

He was then held on remand in another matter.

Bail has been difficult as he has no family and has spent his life in care since he was a child, added the solicitor.

District judge Eamonn King enquired to what song the accused had been singing, which was then revealed to be the well-known Irish ballad song of being held in prison during famine times in Ireland.

Does he know it well? asked Mr King.

He might in Hydebank (youth offenders) learn the entire lyrics to the song.

He can then sing it with the correct reflection of the sentiments contained in the song, added the judge.

Martin was further fined an offenders levy.
Government has unveiled proposals of new regulations and laws on ownership and management of land, especially in Buganda region that put the burden on purchasers to ensure the land they are buying has no encumbrances.

In a January 29 statement, Minister of Lands Beti Kamya said the strengthening of the laws is intended to protect bibanja holders (tenants) and bonafide occupants from arbitrary evictions.

This comes after President Museveni attributed his recent election defeat in Buganda to land grabbing and corruption.

Mr Museveni, while meeting National Resistance Movement (NRM) party parliamentary caucus last week, said he would not tolerate land grabbing and corruption in his next term in office, which starts in May and ends in 2026.

Land grabbing incidents are high in Buganda, which Ms Kamya attributes to the 1900 Buganda Agreement with the British colonialists which she said created dual ownership of land by both landlords and tenants.

Ms Kamya said government will create a register at the sub-counties with the list of landlords and their respective tenants to aid judicial officers to use it before determining land cases in courts.

"It will be mandatory for any buyer to search the sub-county register and acquire a letter on the status of occupancies," Ms Kamya said.

The government will also establish district mediation committees that shall handle land disputes before they are sent to court.

In the proposed changes, government will provide assistance to tenants and landlords to ascertain the actual size of their land and administrators.

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"The government will facilitate the process of updating the registry with current landlords or administrators. It will formulate guidelines on enhancing security of tenants by occupancy and provide legal aid services at sub-county level to assist landlords obtain letters of administration," she said.

The government intends to roll out the process of implementing the options on mailo land under the National Land Policy which include leasing, land sharing, land buyout and issuance of certificates of occupancy.

Buganda Kingdom reacts

Buganda Kingdom spokesman Noah Kiyimba welcomed the new government proposals on land, but said even without them there are enough laws to deal with the existing wrangles.

"The weakness in Uganda has been enforcement of the land laws and corruption in the law enforcement agencies and Judiciary," Mr Kiyimba said.

He said it will also be better to sensitise the bibanja holders and landlords to know their obligations.
We learn to trust as children, when our life is marked by dependency. (Jacob Lund/Shutterstock)

The Trust Imperative

Human beings depend on trusting relationships, and suffer deeply when trust is broken

Almost anyone with an email account has heard from a Nigerian prince offering them millions to help them transfer some money.

And weve all heard stories of peopleoften friends or loved onesfalling for a phone scammer pretending to be a government agent asking for money or identity information.

And then there is the internet itself, the Wild West of deception where ads popping up in social media feeds and on legitimate websites promise deals on items that turn out to have been too good to be true.

We live in an era of dishonesty, when politicians let us down so often we take it for granted and companies promise their products will change our lives, which they never do. Those fast food burgers look nothing like the picture on the menu and even our egg cartons lie to us, showing happy chickens in open fields when the reality is closer to a concentration camp.

It is little wonder that people dont give their trust as easily as they used to. According to a 2019 report measuring public trust since the 1950s, only 17 percent of Americans today say they can trust elected officials do what is right just about always (three percent) or most of the time (14 percent).

Compare that to when the study began asking about trust in 1958, where about three-quarters of Americans trusted the federal government to do the right thing almost always or most of the time.

Trust in everything from doctors, to retailers, to the pharmaceutical industry has fallen, and that has real consequences for our well-being.

You cant see, touch, or taste trust, but you can definitely sense when you have it, and feel when you dont.

This sense weaves the fabric of society together, and it unravels with suspicion and betrayal. We keep trusted companions close, and distance ourselves from those we believe untrustworthy.

We rely on our sense of trust to identify reliable, honest, and upfront people we can rely on without having to constantly question their motives or follow up every statement with an investigation.

Trust does more than make life easier, it makes it bearable.

But what happens when the bond of trust is broken. Research suggests its more than just a botherit can be deeply traumatic.

Born to Trust

Why do we hold such strong feelings about trust? According to author and psychiatrist Dr. Peter Breggin, trust is a part of who we are as human beings, and has been since the very beginning.

What makes human beings unique is our trust, mutuality, and our cooperation, Breggin said. When we took down a mammoth, it wasnt because we had fangs, hooves to kick with, or thick hides to protect us. We did it because we cooperated. We trusted each other enough to watch our backs in a brawl with a giant beast.

In a recent paper published in the American Psychological Association Journal, Breggin explains that our need for trust starts at birth. Unlike animals that can take on the world soon after they spring from the womb, humans are born very vulnerable and helpless. We depend on years of dedicated care and nurturing before we can make it on our own.

There is such an intimacy and dependency that is built into human beings. A human being grows up with a huge need of feeling worthy of love, Breggin said. We have a huge need to trust somebody.

This experience with parents lays a pattern that plays a major role later in life. We default to a trust that extends others in authority positions, such as politicians. This comes with a risk.

Because we hold trust in such high regard, deception can be devastating.

Thats what destroys us, Breggin said. We revert to childhood helplessness, and that always gets us into trouble.

Trust is so essential to our mental health that Breggin believes betrayal may be at the root of mental illness. Ask anyone who has been lied to or wronged by someone they trusted deeply: the experience can make you depressed and anxious. You begin to question reality and doubt yourself. Paranoia is an obvious manifestation, but psychosis can be a symptom, too.

Whether its bipolar or schizophrenia  whats really going on if you talk to the person who is hallucinating or lying in bed all day is that they feel like they cant trust anything thats going on around them in the world. And they feel utterly unlovable.

Antipsychotic medication is the standard treatment for extreme cases, but Breggin believes drugs get in the way of his main objective: building trust. His treatment starts with a promise, one that many of his clients have never heard before: Tell me anything you want and Ill never drug you or force you into a hospital against your will.

Im not a miracle worker, but very often about halfway through the conversation, Ill say, Do you know youve stopped looking at the hallucination on the ceiling. You stopped looking terrified. Theyll say, This is the first break Ive had in a month, Breggin said.

Ill say: Thats because youre trusting me. And were talking honestly about stuff. And if we can maintain that relationship, youre going to grow and youre going to get better.

Too Trusting

Because of the pain that results when your trust is violated, one bad experience may tempt you to cut off everyone as a reflex of self-preservation. Why risk it? But Breggin warns that living without trust doesnt make you objective, it just makes you paranoid.

Its in our nature to trust, but because we live in a world of scams and mind games, we must also be careful not to blindly give it to any opportunist who asks for it.

Lynell Ross, a director of an online education company, said she learned this lesson the hard way. A few years ago, Ross was helping her sister through a difficult time in her life, but she found that her aid only seemed to create more tension.

My sister became angrier and angrier at me but wouldnt be honest about why. I kept helping her clean out her house, sell items, and look for a smaller place to downsize, Ross said. Later, I found out that she wanted to move in with my husband and I, but never asked us directly.

Ross said the situation was so distressing she ended up in the emergency room thinking she was having a heart attack, a common experience for those who have had a panic attack.

Her cardiologist found nothing wrong, so Ross examined her feelings.

I had been too trusting, and needed to learn the lesson to stop enabling her, and allow her to live with the consequences of her own behavior, she said.

For Ross, her sisters actions represented a form of manipulation. Playing the victim and using guilt to get an advantage are actions that can undermine the trust between two people.

The person carrying out this manipulation may not be entirely aware of their actions. Even these forms of deception, however, can destroy a relationship.

Changing Circumstances

We want to trust others. We crave the connection it brings. But since trust is such a sensitive issue, we may feel the sting of betrayal even when the other person meant us no harm.

Alex Montagu, a New York lawyer and certified meditation teacher, suggests that this confusion may make us too quick to label others untrustworthy.

As a lawyer, Ive seen a fair number of partnership disputes, Montagu said. Did the partners trust each other when they first entered into the partnership? The answer in all cases is yes. Was that trust merited? The answer invariably is yes. Then why the dispute? The answer is changed circumstances (or in some cases very misplaced expectations as to outcome, skill or performance).

Montagus advice to avoid unmet expectations both in personal affairs and in business is to make the terms clear upfront. Clear communication can help us avoid the assumptions and expectations that can leave one feeling tricked or deceived.

Crumbling Public Trust

Communication and clarity help build trust, while secrecy and deception erode it. But when the details arent clear, we rely on experience and instinct to guide us in who to trust.

Unfortunately, this sense is only as good as our ability to read the signals and some people are very good at faking these signals. And then there is the way a warm smile and a pretty face telling us the words we want to hear can win our hearts. Such tactics can distract us from a gut feeling that may point to lies and deceit.

Authority figures are notorious for taking advantage of this. Propaganda is designed to capture public trust with an attractive image and bright promises, while managing to minimize or completely obscure the flaws that would give us a clearer picture. Scapegoats and fear can also be used to distract us from looking at the bigger picture and thinking things through. We should know better, but too often we dont.

Were conditioned to trust authority figures in a more intimate way than we may realize. Breggin said its well established in psychology that we grant authority to others on the same basis we gave it to our parents and caregivers when we were young. Its an inborn process that comes from our early dependence.

We have to be consciously aware that they are not our parents, Breggin said.

While we teach our children to be wary of strangers, we ourselves may fall into this pattern without even realizing it.

And when that habit of trust in authority figures breaks, its significant and difficult to repair. The past year has damaged our trust in authorities even more significantly than the downward trend seen for decades. The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that the pandemic and economic crisis, as well as the global outcry over systemic racism, and political instability have led to an epidemic of misinformation and widespread mistrust of societal institutions and leaders around the world.

The media, which has fed this loss of trust with its never-ending negativity bias, has taken a huge hit in trust as well. Over the past century, our reliance on mainstream media as a trusted source for reliable information had grown strong and cozy. But the Edelman report shows that this relationship is crumbling. It found that 56 percent of Americans now agree with the statement that journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations,  and that 58 percent think that most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public.

When Edelman re-polled Americans after the 2020 election, figures had deteriorated even further.

This loss of trust comes with severe consequences. Just consider what it means to live in a world in which you dont trust the people and institutions that have power over significant aspects of your life. It is little wonder that depression and anxiety have risen in recent years.

Because trust has such a profound effect on our well-being, Breggins advice is to put less of it into some distant expert or authority, and more into those with whom youre closest to. Strong relationships based on trust with those we interact with most often can give us a deeper sense of safety in an otherwise uncertain world.

One of the things we can do is remind ourselves that we believe in a loving God, and that we can see evidence of that God in our lives, Breggin said. Another great help is to keep personal relationships of trust and love.

It can be comforting to have someone you can rely on. But Breggin cautions us to be careful who we trust, because this bond is a sacred and intimate thing.

That doesnt mean we have to be suspicious and fearful, but it does mean that we should be conscious about what authorities, institutions, and people we defer to without question.

Trust may often be inborn, but it should also be earnedand often verified.
An October 2019 survey about automation and the future of work showed that, for the time being, most U.S. workers feel their jobs are relatively safe from automation. Of the 1,500 U.S. workers surveyed nationwide, more than 75 percent said they do not view their jobs as being at risk of elimination due to new automation technologies in the next decade. And they're right. Automation isn't shrinking the human workforce; it's helping us do more with the same number of people.

It's Enhancing the Human Workforce

There's this pervasive fear that A.I. technology and automation are going to unilaterally replace humans in the workforce, and it's just not true. In his TEDx Talk, Pedro Uria-Recio, who spearheads digital and A.I. innovation for corporations and startups, brilliantly said, "A.I. does not automate jobs. It automates certain skills in jobs." While A.I. is not synonymous with automation--A.I. is machines mimicking human behavior and intelligence, while automation focuses on streamlining repetitive, instructional tasks without human intervention--Uria-Recio's point applies equally.

The move toward automation, in most cases, simplifies monotonous, physical, and quantitative tasks where there is no room for any interpretation. These are the types of tasks that can be executed with automation, pushing the people who previously managed them to learn, develop, and refine the uniquely human skills required to move up the ladder. Such skills include empathy, ideation, creativity, social aptitude, and judgment.

Dotcom Distribution's clientele comprises brands whose fulfillment process is what we call high-touch, but we've always incorporated useful automation tools. Early on, we replaced hand-labeling and hand-manifesting packages with conveyors and print-and-apply machines to enhance efficiencies, redeploying the employees who used to manage those functions to other areas, like picking and experiential packing. Now, in the face of an e-commerce revolution, we are looking at implementing A.I.-based technology to optimize areas like slotting and inventory management. The people assisting in those roles will manage the tools and use the data to drive efficiencies in the warehouse.

It Creates New Jobs

It's no secret that manufacturing jobs have long been shipped overseas to save on costs. But today, advanced automation is playing a role in creating new manufacturing jobs. As this technology becomes better and cheaper, it has become more feasible to build things domestically, allowing smaller companies to lower unit costs of production, thereby gaining a competitive edge. This leads to business growth, which typically necessitates more, and higher-paying, jobs.

American bicycle manufacturer Kent International's story illustrates this theme beautifully. In 2014, Kent's CEO, Arnold Kamler, brought back 10 percent of the company's bike production from China to South Carolina, where he'd bought an abandoned factory, creating 140 jobs in a distressed industrial town. In an interview, Kamler explained the impact of the automaton technology he'd invested in, saying, "Typically, bicycle spokes are dropped into the hub one at a time by hand. This machine does it automatically and only in about 30 seconds. Using the same amount of people, we can do about three times as many hubs in a day."

When asked whether employees are threatened by the technology, Kamler said, "We're not replacing other jobs with these robots. What we're doing is we're adding more equipment that makes us more efficient." Kent production manager Albertus Jones added, "A lot of people have that misconception that automation decreases jobs. It's just a different type of job, a more skilled job."

The adoption of automated systems and machinery is creating opportunities for workers to transition into and grow within uniquely human roles. At Dotcom, it's creating jobs in our IT and maintenance departments, where redeployed employees are assuming roles where they are managing the software behind those machines and maintaining the equipment.

It Improves the Customer Experience

When marrying automation with human employees, it's important to distinguish where the machine's job ends and personal contact begins. When it comes to the customer experience, automation of repetitive, routine affairs should be implemented as a means to enable human counterparts to focus on delivering value-add service and meaningful experiences. In other words, figure out what parts of the customer experience will benefit most from automation and address accordingly, equipping your people to jump in at critical moments to facilitate customer acquisition, conversion, satisfaction, and loyalty.
ALBANY  The state Senate majority conference advanced a host of bills Wednesday seeking educational equity in New York, including creating pathways for more people of color to become educators.

The legislation requires investment in "grow your own" teacher initiatives, expands eligible religious holiday observances for SUNY and CUNY students, seeks ways to increase SUNY participation in financial aid grants for underserved populations, and provide more support, training, and mentorship opportunities for educators.

The Senate Majority is committed to tearing down the barriers that create inequities in our school systems, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said. This legislation package continues those efforts through advancing programs to attract diverse educators, strengthening the community of underrepresented educators, and establishing a task force to study educator diversity. We know that our children learn better when they see themselves in their teachers.

In the Capital Region, schools serve more students of color than ever, but most of these young learners will never encounter a teacher who looks like them, according to state education data.

Less than three percent of educators at local public schools were teachers who identified as Native American, Black, Hispanic, Asian or multiracial, according to a 2019 report from the state Education Department.

Statewide, teacher diversity increased between 2011 and 2017, with the state adding 1,400 teachers of color, but most of those gains are concentrated in New York City. In other parts of the state  including the greater Albany area  the portion of minority teachers appears to be declining, according to the report.

State-funded educator diversity programs tend to be concentrated downstate and there is not a single program in the Capital Region, according to the data. One of the most effective ways to boost teacher diversity is by creating "grow your own" teacher preparation programs, which expose young adults to the possibility of teaching as a career path.

"Grow your own programs help address teacher shortages and remove barriers for people of color who want to teach," said Sen. John Liu, D-Queens, in a statement.

Liu sponsored the bill that would set up grow your own initiatives at school districts, boards of cooperative educational services and higher education institutions to attract underrepresented candidates into the teaching profession.

Sen. Shelley Mayer, a Democrat from Yonkers who chairs the chamber's education committee, said education works best when it acknowledges and reflects the diversity of its communities and when key structural inequities within education are addressed by policy change.

"This package of legislation reflects our commitment to educating all New Yorkers from Pre-K through college," Mayer said.

The measures, which passed the upper chamber of the Legislature in the first days of Black History Month, call for a study in college affordability and push ahead efforts to improve curricula regarding the experience and contributions of African Americans.

One bill moves the Amistad Commission from the Department of State to the Education Department. The Amistad Commission was created in 2005 to review the state's curricula regarding the transatlantic slave trade and slavery in America, and make recommendations for improvement.

The legislation also convenes statewide and regional conventions to bring together underrepresented teachers to discuss experiences, best practices, and provide mentorship and networking opportunities. It also establishes a task force on educator diversity.

I'm proud to sponsor two bills we passed this weekthe first days of Black History Monththat deal with racial justice in education," Sen. Robert Jackson, a Manhattan Democrat said. "Being a teacher from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group can be very isolating and make it hard to do your job well. By directing NYSED to hold an annual convention for underrepresented teachers, we are directing resources to improving the support networks for these teachers so they can provide an even better education to the diverse children of New York State.

The bills must pass both houses of the Legislature and be signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to become law.
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NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With the Biden administration's goal of reopening schools in the first 100 days, new evidence from RAND Corporation and Mathematica, commissioned by The Rockefeller Foundation, finds that regular Covid-19 testing in primary and secondary educational settings is critical to getting students and teachers back to in-person instruction. The reports include early results from six K-12 testing pilots, funded by the Foundation and facilitated by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Foundation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and an independent assessment of school testing programs across the country. Among other things, the reports found that weekly testing of all students, teachers, and staff can reduce in-school infections by an estimated 50 percent and would give teachers the peace of mind to return to the classroom, but managing the complex logistics of an effective testing program requires significant resources.

"We want schools to be the safest place in a community next to the home, and widespread in-school Covid-19 testing helps make that possible," said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. "The classroom is so important for a child's development, not only for educational reasons, but to restore free school meals, to give children a social outlet, and to provide myriad school-based services that are vital, especially for low-income children."

Last week, CDC called for schools to reopen as soon as possible with precautions such as masking, social distancing, and testing in place. The new Foundation-supported reports review testing programs across the country that took a variety of Covid-19 precautions, including screening testing.

"As the pandemic continues to evolve and new variants and additional challenges emerge, combining proactive prevention measures like masking and distancing with science-based testing protocols can both protect students, teachers, and staff from Covid-19 and detect new cases before they spread," said Andrew Sweet, Managing Director of Covid-19 Response and Recovery at The Rockefeller Foundation. "When evidence-based measures are implemented at schools, families, teachers, and staff should feel safe coming back to in-person learning."

Building the Evidence for Reopening Schools

As a result of the MOU between the Foundation and HHS signed in October 2020, the government agency supplied 140,000 Abbott BinaxNOW Covid-19 antigen tests to support six pilot projects in Louisville, Ky.; Los Angeles; New Orleans; Tulsa, Okla.; the District of Columbia; and State of Rhode Island. The Mathematica report studied the efforts of the pilots to implement testing protocols developed by the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security with support from the Foundation. Based on early learnings from the schools that have implemented or plan to use the antigen tests to screen for the virus in their schools, as well as results from statistical models designed to estimate the potential value of regular testing, the pilots surfaced several key considerations about the acceptability and feasibility of designing and setting up school-based testing programs, as well as the potential effectiveness of these programs. They include:

Weekly screening testing of all students, teachers, and staff can reduce in-school infections by an estimated 50 percent.

Screening only teachers and staff is less effective, with estimated reductions in in-school infections ranging from 5 percent for monthly testing to 20 percent for twice weekly testing.

The logistical and regulatory requirements for conducting screening testing in schools are complex and challenging to navigate, and schools would benefit from substantial support and coordination from local, state, and national education and public health authorities.

Community engagement in program design is essential for acceptance.

Clear communications about the testing program, delivered by trusted messengers, is needed to help the school community understand the strengths and limitations of the program and encourage them to participate.

"Our report provides cross-cutting considerations and implications to guide other schools and districts across the country that are considering implementing antigen testing," said Divya Vohra, Researcher at Mathematica. "Our findings can help schools and public health leaders decide how to add antigen testing to their suite of strategies to mitigate the spread of Covid-19."

The RAND Corporation report serves as a compilation of promising practices from a review of Covid-19 testing programs implemented by K-12 schools nationwide and a deep dive of 10 schools, districts, and states who were early adopters of Covid-19 testing. It includes recommendations to school leaders, district officials, and policymakers on how to make widespread Covid-19 testing in schools feasible, acceptable, and effective.

The experiences of early adopters of Covid-19 testing show that regular testing can be effectively integrated into schools' Covid-19 response plans and can help families and staff feel comfortable participating in in-person instruction. In a RAND survey of nearly 1,000 former public-school teachers (included in the report), roughly half of teachers who quit teaching due to Covid-19 report that they would be willing to return if there were widespread vaccination or regular Covid-19 testing.

However, even for the most well-resourced districts and schools, launching a Covid-19 testing program was a major undertaking that required access to rapid-turnaround tests, additional staffing or strong partners for logistical support, technical assistance for the design and execution of testing programs, and a strategy for successfully engaging the school community to participate in testing. Among the recommendations to support Covid-19 testing in schools, the report calls for:

Expanding federal and state funding, streamlining requirements to reduce barriers, convening learning networks, and continued investment in new testing solutions that are convenient to administer and ease the logistical burden on schools.

Conveying clear, consistent, and science-based messages on the importance of testing to reduce risk and creating support services for teachers and families to get tested and isolate due to a positive test result.

Providing practical guidance on how to implement a testing program, expanding laboratory capacity and access to tests that return results rapidly, promoting use of standardized performance indicators and data platforms to support decisionmaking, and providing resources for local public health departments to better respond to positive tests.

"Our research found that schools saw a lot of value in testing and went to great lengths to make it possible," said Laura Faherty, Project Lead and a Physician Policy Researcher at RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization. In addition, in order "to make testing widespread and equitable, schools will need funding and technical assistance so that they can launch testing programs similar to what these early adopters were able to put in place," said Benjamin Master, Project Co-lead at RAND Corporation.

Reopening Schools Equitably  An Urgent Priority

Remote learning is not a substitute for in-school instruction. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the already existing disparities in our nation's public education system. Students, especially those most underserved, are deeply suffering  they are socially isolated, missing meals, facing abuse and neglect, and falling behind in school.

"After nearly one full year of disrupted learning, it has never been more urgent to safely reopen schools," said Mike Magee, CEO of Chiefs for Change, a bipartisan network of state and district education leaders supported by The Rockefeller Foundation. "Children need in-person instruction and the face-to-face support they get at school. We must ensure schools have the resources to bring children back into the classroom, and that those resources are distributed equitablywith an emphasis on helping the children who have suffered the most during the pandemic, including students of color, those from low-income families, and children with disabilities."

School reopening is an incredibly complex issue and schools, especially in underserved communities, need funding and support. Testing in schools is expected to cost about $8.5 billion per month for the remainder of the Spring 2021 school year, according to The Rockefeller Foundation's most recent National Testing Action Plan, released in December 2020. The costs of such a plan are considerable, but according to some estimates, the investment could add back at least $350 billion in lost revenue and growth. Momentum is growing to dramatically expand screening testing in K-12 schools, and The Rockefeller Foundation is developing a detailed testing playbook that will be released later in February 2021 to provide detailed guidance to districts and schools on how to set up testing programs. By building on the important insights and implementation lessons from the early adopters of Covid-19 testing in schools, the United States can now tackle the challenge of reopening K-12 schools with the urgency it deserves.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation advances new frontiers of science, data, and innovation to solve global challenges related to health, food, power, and economic mobility. As a science-driven philanthropy focused on building collaborative relationships with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation seeks to inspire and foster large-scale human impact that promotes the well-being of humanity throughout the world by identifying and accelerating breakthrough solutions, ideas, and conversations. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at rockefellerfoundation.org and follow us on Twitter @RockefellerFdn.

About Mathematica

Mathematica applies expertise at the intersection of data, methods, policy, and practice to improve well-being around the world. We collaborate closely with public- and private-sector partners to translate big questions into deep insights that improve programs, refine strategies, and enhance understanding.

About RAND Corporation

The RAND Corporation is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.

SOURCE The Rockefeller Foundation

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Montreal, Feb 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Feb, 2021 ) :US facial recognition technology firm Clearview AI illegally conducted mass surveillance in breach of Canadians' privacy rights, Canada's privacy commissioner said Wednesday following an investigation.

"What Clearview does is mass surveillance and it is illegal," Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien told a teleconference.

An investigation by the watchdog found the New York-based firm, whose technology allows law enforcement and others to match photographs of unknown people against its databank of more than 3 billion images, had violated Canadian privacy laws.

It found that Clearview AI had collected highly sensitive biometric data scraped from websites and social media platforms without users' knowledge or consent, and disclosed personal information "for inappropriate purposes," creating risks of significant harm to individuals.

Police forces, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and other organizations across Canada had created 48 accounts with the company.

The privacy commissioner recommended that Clearview AI stop offering its facial recognition services to Canadian clients, stop collecting images of people in Canada and delete those already in its database.

The company pulled out of the Canadian market in 2020, but rejected the other guidance.

"In disagreeing with our findings, Clearview alleged an absence of harms to individuals flowing from its activities," said the report.

Company founder Hoan Ton-That has said the technology has been made available to more than 600 law enforcement agencies globally, raising concerns about police surveillance.

Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube (Google) and LinkedIn (microsoft) have protested against the unsanctioned use of their users' photos, but Clearview has reportedly declined to delete them.

Officials in Britain and Australia have launched similar investigations of the company's practices, which is also the subject of a complaint in France.
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Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, in partnership with H.E. Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, First Lady of Ghana and Ambassador of Merck More than a Mother together with the Ministry of Health of Ghana, mark World Cancer Day 2021 themed I am and I will through their Cancer Access Program to build cancer care capacity with the aim of increasing the limited number of Oncologists across the continent.



Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation, Most Influential African (2019 & 2020) & African Woman of the Year 2020 emphasized, We at Merck Foundation strive to make the African healthcare professionals highly competent and fully independent by providing the best in class multidisciplinary oncology and cancer care training to young doctors from all over Africa. I am proud of our success to reshape and advance the public cancer care sector and to increase the limited number of oncologists by more than 70 new oncologists to be the first in 24 countries. And to form a Multidisciplinary Oncology Care teams in many countries consist of; Medical, Surgery, Pediatrics, Gynecology, Radiation Oncologists, Nursing, Pathologist and Radiology Technician. We are definitely making history in Africa through training the first oncologists and first cancer care teams in many countries such as; The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Liberia, Guinea Conakry, Central African Republic, Chad, and Niger. Our key objective is to provide quality and equitable care to patients who never had anyone to care for them before.



The Cancer Access program has scaled up & strengthened efforts and activities in more countries because "we are committed to cancer care landscape transformation in the continent. Together we can fight Cancer Every Day and lead Africa to a Better Future".



It has also "provided scholarships to more than 64 Ghanaian Doctors in different specialties including Diabetes, Preventative Cardiovascular Medicine, Sexual and Reproductive medicines, Biotechnology of Human Assisted Reproduction and Embryology, Respiratory medicine and Acute Medicine and Embryology.



Merck Cancer Access Program



Launched in 2016, the Merck Cancer Access Program provides One-, two- and three-years fellowship, master degree, and Diploma programs for African doctors in India, Egypt, Kenya, and Malaysia.



We are committed to lead Africa to a better future through transforming the landscape of Cancer care in the continent. We will soon scale up and strengthen our efforts and activities in more countries across Africa, added Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej.



Meanwhile, Merck Foundation also recently introduced 2 years online PG Diploma in Cancer and Clinical Oncology from the UK.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Man kills crying daughter in Maharashtra

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Mumbai, Feb 04: A man has allegedly killed his 20-month-old daughter after his wife asked for Rs 5 to buy a snack for the wailing child in Maharashtra's Gondia district, a police official said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Tuesday at Lonara village, located over 900 km from here, following which the 28-year-old accused, Vivek Uike, was arrested, he said.

The child was crying and asking for 'Khaja' (a sweet snack made of wheat flour) from her mother.

Miscreants shoot Bihar BJP spokesperson amid opposition criticism over rising crime

When the woman asked for Rs 5 from her husband to buy the snack and pacify the baby, he allegedly picked up the child and smashed her head on a door repeatedly, the senior police official from Gondia said.

The girl's mother tried to intervene, but could not save the child.

The baby received severe injuries on her head and other body parts and died on the spot, the official said.

The mother later informed the police, following which the body was sent to a hospital for postmortem, he said.

Based on police complaint filed by the woman, Uike was arrested and booked under charges for murder, he said.

According to the official, the couple got married in 2018, but the woman later left his home for about a year as he allegedly used to beat her under the influence of alcohol.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

In 2019, she returned to his home in the village, he added.

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The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) has issued new guidance spelling out best practices for New York-regulated property/casualty insurers that write cyber insurance. This serves as the first guidance the regulator has issued on cyber insurance in particular.

Cybersecurity is the biggest risk for government and industry, bar none, said DFS Superintendent Linda Lacewell in a press release issued by her office. Cyber insurance is critical to managing and reducing the extraordinary risk we face from cyber intrusions. After extensive dialogue with industry and experts, we are issuing guidance to foster the growth of a robust cyber insurance market that can effectively help protect us against the growing cyber threats we face.

As part of the guidance, called the Cyber Insurance Risk Framework, DFS is calling on regulated insurers to establish a formal strategy, approved by the insurers board or other governing entity, for measuring cyber insurance risk based on the insurers size, resources and geographic distribution, among other factors.

In particular, insurers are urged to take measures to manage and eliminate exposure to silent cyber insurance risk, which occurs when cyber exposures exist within a traditional property and liability policy that does not specifically include or exclude cyber risk.

Because silent risk can reside in many different types of policies, even insurers that write little or no cyber insurance need to measure and manage silent risk in their non-cyber insurance policies, Lacewell stated in the guidance.

Regulated insurers are also encouraged to evaluate their systemic risk, including the impact of cyber events on third party service providers, and recruit and hire cybersecurity expertise. The framework calls for more of a partnership between insurers and their insureds as well, asking insurers to not only educate insureds and insurance producers about the value of cybersecurity, but also assess gaps and vulnerabilities in their insureds cybersecurity and require that insureds notify law enforcement in the event of a cyber attack.

The Rise of Ransomware

Cyber insurance is a relatively new area of insurance for most insurers, with the first cyber insurance policy  called an Internet Security Liability Policy  launched less than 30 years ago in 1997. However, DFS says the industry has grown rapidly since then. In 2019, the U.S. cyber insurance market was $3.15 billion, and it is estimated that by 2025, it will be more than $20 billion, according to DFS.

From the rise of ransomware to the recently revealed SolarWinds-based cyber-espionage campaign, it is clear that cybersecurity is now critically important to almost every aspect of modern life  from consumer protection to national security, Lacewell stated in the guidance.

Lacewell, in a December interview for Insurance Journals Insuring Cyber Podcast, discussed how the shift online due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to new vulnerabilities that cybercriminals are exploiting. One particular example of this exploitation is the rapid rise in ransomware attacks.

Making Waves: How New York Became a Leader in State Cyber Regulation New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) Superintendent Linda Lacewell spoke with Elizabeth Blosfield during the most recent episode of the Insuring Cyber Podcast about how she has always seen New York as a leader in cybersecurity and innovation. After being confirmed to her post as DFS Superintendent in 2019, this is a legacy she aims to further. When I came into DFSit quickly became apparent to me that the waves of innovation are crashing on the shores of everything that we regulate, she says.

I think the insurance industry has really stepped up, Lacewell said. They went to work from home very rapidly, which shows that their emergency plans were robust, and they rolled it out very quickly and appear to have done so without much in the way of the issue. With that being said, the bad actors out there globally are hard at work themselves. The increase in ransomware attacks has become the center of gravity when it comes to cyber crime and cybersecurity, and its causing billions of dollars in damages across the board.

Indeed, ransomware attacks have continued to increase in both cost and frequency, with a 2020 survey by DFS finding that from early 2018 to late 2019, the number of insurance claims arising from ransomware increased by 180% and the average cost of a ransomware claim rose by 150%.

Whats more, DFS said the number of ransomware attacks reported to the regulator almost doubled in 2020 from the previous year. With this in mind, it recommends against making ransom payments, which it says can fuel the cycle of ransomware as cyber criminals use them to fund even more sophisticated attacks. Federal entities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the the U.S. Treasury, have recently issued similar warnings against making ransom payments.

DFS most recent Cyber Insurance Risk Framework comes after the regulator has had an ongoing dialogue with the insurance industry and experts on cyber insurance, including through meetings with insurers, insurance producers, cyber experts and insurance regulators across the U.S. and Europe, according to DFS release.

This is the latest move by DFS to build on its cybersecurity efforts for insurance consumers and the insurance industry, following DFS cybersecurity regulation that first took effect in March 2017 and was rolled out over two years, as well as the 2019 establishment of a new cybersecurity division at DFS to oversee all aspects of its cybersecurity regulation and policy.

Insurers play a critical role in mitigating and reducing the risks of cybercrime, Lacewell said in the guidance. We commend the progress many insurers have made in managing their cyber insurance risk to date and look forward to continuing to work with the industry to address challenges in the cyber insurance market.

Topics Carriers Cyber New York

Cyber

In search of a smarter Einstein

Einstein is the Department of Homeland Securitys intrusion detection system. It observes traffic flowing in and out of federal networks, allowing the government to target threats identified by a database of known malware. That makes it unlikely Einstein ever could have detected the malware implanted into SolarWinds Orion because it was delivered to agency networks through a trusted update.

However, overhauling Einstein to identify unknown or zero-day threats would be far too costly, cybersecurity analysts said. The most viable path forward, they argued, would be to install new capabilities, necessarily bolstered by private industry.

Kiersten Todt, formerly executive director of the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, was blunt about Einstein's record. "There are no real strong success stories of Einstein," she said. "When you look at what happened with SolarWinds, they essentially outsmarted Einstein."

"The challenge with detecting activity like the SolarWinds hack is that the hack is accomplished through 'authorized' malware," said Philip Reitinger, president and CEO of the Global Cyber Alliance.

To detect that malware, a defensive system would either have to deny all communications that are not explicitly whitelisted or establish a user activity baseline capable of singling out abnormalities for investigators to pursue. "That can be difficult to do and resource intensive," he added.

Michael Hamilton, a former vice chair for a government coordinating council focused on critical infrastructure protection, described a similar method as the most likely way forward for DHS to improve Einstein. Although its precise capabilities are classified, Hamilton speculated the program's age -- Einstein was originally developed in 2003 -- is a sign it may not be baselining user activity in the way he and Reitinger described.

Hamilton said that "it's not likely they throw it out and start over," noting the program's sunk costs. "My understanding is that it cost $6 billion to develop."

An official from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency declined to comment specifically on the program's methods when asked about the analysts' suggestion.

"Einstein intrusion detection and prevention capabilities primarily rely on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) intrusion-detection capabilities, which utilize CISA's access to cyber threat intelligence to detect, and block where appropriate, suspected malicious cyber activity," the official said.

Whatever new capability or program DHS establishes, Todt said it must be predicated on industry playing a larger role than it does with Einstein.

"Government cannot do this by itself nor should it," she said. "I think Einstein was predicated on government doing it by itself."

Mike McNerney, co-founder and chair of the Institute for Security and Technology, said another fundamental challenge Einstein faces is the government's ongoing transition to the cloud.

"While it [Einstein] may continue to be a part of the government's security approach, there are other products and technologies better suited for the cloud," he said. "Combined with greater access control initiatives, the more networked-based Einstein is arguably less useful."

The White House has started accounting for the damage done in the wake of SolarWinds attack. Within days of being sworn in, Biden ordered the new director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, to provide a sweeping intelligence review of the hack.

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H), a member of the Senate committee responsible for overseeing DHS, said Biden must "engage in a top-to-bottom review of how this was able to happen and go undetected for so long, and what needs to be done to strengthen the federal government's cybersecurity."

This article was first posted to FCW, a sibling site to Defense Systems.
Judge orders documents from June Medical Services Supreme Court abortion case to be unsealed

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In a victory for pro-life activists, a federal judge ordered the release of documents from a recent Supreme Court case that abortion providers fought to keep under seal.

In an order written last Thursday that was published this week, Magistrate Judge Richard Bourgeois of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana ordered the release of several documents related to the 2020 case June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo.

In that case, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Louisianas Unsafe Abortion Protection Act, which required abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, was unconstitutional because it created an undue burden for women seeking abortions. June Medical Services, along with other abortion providers, filed the lawsuit against the law.

Bourgeois court ruling lists some of the documents that abortion providers had hoped to keep under seal, including hospital bylaws, admitting privileges or procedures, (and) credentialing processes or procedures as well as testimony pertaining to clinic conditions and practices, and/or hospitalizations relating to abortions.

While many documents that abortion providers sought to keep under seal will be released under the order, a handful of documents will remain confidential.

Jeff Landry, the Republican attorney general of Louisiana, reacted favorably to Bourgeoiss order to unseal documents.

For too long, the public has been barred from critical information relating to the safety of women and girls in Louisiana, said Landry. The State has fought for more open access; yet journalists and elected officials alike were prohibited from accessing public facts only because they had become part of the courts record.

Today, that affront to our First Amendment is over, he added. Now the public may be able to see the full record in cases where abortion providers are seeking to minimize regulation against a backdrop of documented health and safety violations, destruction of medical records, and medical malpractice.

Landry contends that access should never be able to supersede safety.

As explained in a court filing submitted on their behalf, a group of journalists, academics and legislators had sought access to the court records, arguing that they needed the documents to write and publish news stories and law review articles analyzing the Supreme Courts decision, as well as to pass new laws that do not create an undue burden.

The record documents proposed to be sealed are of vital importance to the applicants, the court filing argued. In this case this Court, the Fifth Circuit, and the Supreme Court all viewed the same facts yet came to different conclusions. This is because, in part, the undue burden standard that potentially renders an abortion law unconstitutional is a fact-specific standard.

The brief claims that without these documents, the Applicant Journalists and Other Members of the Media and Applicant Academics will be constrained in their ability to write and publish on the Supreme Courts holding because they will be limited to a sanitized record that reveals only what Plaintiffs want to see.

Those seeking access to the court records argued that Supreme Court precedent from the 1978 case Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc. proves that they had a First Amendment right to access the documents.

The aforementioned Supreme Court case found that the courts of this country recognize a general right to inspect and copy public records and documents, including judicial records and documents.

Under federal law, these public documents can only remain under seal if a party can demonstrate good cause for protecting them from public scrutiny.

The plaintiffs seeking to keep the documents from being unsealed argued that unsealing would reveal the identities of the abortion providers.

However, evidence exists that several aspects of these identities are already known, lawyers for the movants assert.

The publics right to access judicial records is not absolute, but given such a right, to deny intervention would be inappropriate, Bourgeois wrote in the order. Intervenors seek to assert and protect the publics general right to access judicial records, an essential interest that is not currently represented, and therefore, intervention is justified and appropriate.
Tens of thousands of protesters march in the streets in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong on Dec. 8, 2019. (Sung Bi-lung/The Epoch Times)

Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Movement Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by US Lawmakers

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has nominated Hong Kongs pro-democracy movement for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to recognize all those who have built and maintained human rights and democracy in the city.

We are nominating a movement that has peacefully advocated for and maintained human rights and democracy in Hong Kong since 1997 and continues to fight against the erosion of these rights, a group of lawmakers led by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) wrote in a letter (pdf) to Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Nobel Peace Prize committee, dated Jan. 31.

A number of democracy advocates are already in jail, some in exile, and many more awaiting trials where they are expected to be convicted and sentenced in the coming months for the sole reason of peacefully expressing their political views through speech, publication, elections, or assembly, the group, all members of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, wrote in a letter published Wednesday.

Proud to nominate the #HongKong pro-democracy movement for a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. Its important to uplift & highlight those whoin spite of great obstacleswork to promote human rights and democracy. https://t.co/qDVpPly6Gp  Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) February 4, 2021

The letter states that the nomination is to give voice to those fighting in recent years against the erosion of rights and freedoms guaranteed to Hong Kongs citizens by international treaty and the citys constitution.

It cites recent efforts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its allies to actively suppress voices for human rights and democracy, noting that many pro-democracy activists are either in jail or exile for the sole reason of peacefully expressing their political views through speech, publication, elections, or assembly.

The nomination comes months after Beijing warned against anyone politicizing the award. During a visit to Norway half a year ago, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned against giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Hong Kong pro-democracy activists.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivers a speech at an annual symposium on international situation and Chinas diplomacy in Beijing, China, on Dec. 13, 2019. (Jason Lee/Reuters)

In the past, today and in the future, China will firmly reject any attempt by anyone to use the Nobel Peace Prize to interfere in Chinas internal affairs, Wang told reporters. The position of the Chinese side is rock firm on this principle.

The Chinese regime has also warned the United States multiple times against interference in [Chinas] internal affairs in Hong Kong and elsewhere.

Just this week, Yang Jiechi, head of the Chinese Communist Partys Central Foreign Affairs Commission called on the United States to stop interference in the affairs of Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang, which all matter to Chinas sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Read More Beijing Tells Biden Administration to Play by the CCPs Rules

Nearly 100 people in Hong Kong have already been arrested under the CCPs sweeping national security law, which was imposed on June 30, 2020, and punishes vaguely-defined crimes such as secession and subversion of the one-party communist state.

In December 2020, prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and two of his longtime colleagues were handed prison sentences for their roles in a mass protest that occurred in front of the citys police headquarters in 2019.

Pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow arrive at the Eastern Court by police van after being arrested in Hong Kong, on Aug. 30, 2019.(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Wong, 24, was sentenced to 13 1/2 months after a court session at the West Kowloon Magistrates Court. Fellow pro-democracy activists Agnes Chow, 23, and Ivan Lam, 26, received prison sentences of 10 months and seven months, respectively.

All three pleaded guilty to the charge of inciting others to take part in the unauthorized assembly on June 21, 2019. Wong also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of organizing an unauthorized assembly, while Chow also pleaded guilty to taking part in an unauthorized assembly.

During the 2019 demonstration, thousands of protesters besieged the police headquarters in Wan Chai district, blocking nearby roads and entrances into the building. They gathered to oppose an extradition bill that would have allowed people in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China for trial. The extradition bill has since been scrapped.

The lawmakers letter concludes by saying that a Nobel Peace Prize would honor the Hong Kong pro-democracy movements bravery and determination that have inspired the world.

The winner of the prize will be announced in October, and the award will be presented in December.

Frank Fang contributed to this report.
House Impeachment Brief Against Trump Threatens Freedom of Speech of All Americans: Dershowitz

Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Thursday that the House impeachment brief against former President Donald Trump, which seeks to undermine Trumps First Amendment-based argument in his defense, amounts to a dangerous broadside against the freedom of speech of all Americans.

Writing in an op-ed for The Hill, Dershowitz made a case against a key argument contained in the brief (pdf), namely that the First Amendment does not apply at all to impeachment proceedings, signals Congressional willingness to take aim at freedom of speech more broadly.

The brief filed by the House managers advocating the conviction and disqualification of citizen Donald Trump contains a frontal attack on freedom of speech for all Americans, Dershowitz wrote. It states categorically that the First Amendment does not apply at all to impeachment proceedings, despite the express language of that amendment prohibiting Congress from making any law, or presumably taking any other action, that abridges the freedom of speech.'

The legal scholar then challenged another statement in the brief, namely that the First Amendment exists to promote our democratic system.

This categorical statement surely would have surprised the Framers of the First Amendment, who believed in freedom of speech but not so much in democracy, Dershowitz wrote. The Framers of our constitutional system thought they were building a republic, with limited suffrage and many checks on democracy,' he added, arguing that freedom of speech is essential to keeping it a republic, but not necessarily a democracy.

So, no, the First Amendment does not exist only to protect our democratic system. It exists to protect our liberty, regardless of what system we choose, he wrote.

Dershowitz said that the argument made by the authors of the House brief that the First Amendment doesnt apply to presidents or others who attack our democracy, is the same as that made by Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his acolytes decades ago when they sought to deny First Amendment protection to communists and others who were seen as enemies of democracy and who, if they had come to power, would have denied the rest of us our freedoms, including that of free speech.

Freedom of speech must include those who would replace democracy with other systems of governance. It must even include those who advocate severe restrictions on freedom of speech, as many young left wing radicals do today. They, too, must be allowed to express their dangerous views, he argued.

The House brief argues that the First Amendment protects private citizens from the government but it does not protect government officials from accountability for their own abuses in office.

Holding Trump accountable through conviction on the article of impeachment would vindicate First Amendment freedomswhich certainly offer no excuse or defense for President Trumps destructive conduct, the briefs authors argue.

Even if the First Amendment were applicable here, private citizens and government officials stand on very different footing when it comes to being held responsible for their statements, they wrote.

Citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings in cases Branti v. Finkel and Elrod v. Burns, they argued that, as the leader of the Nation, the President occupies a position of unique power. And the Supreme Court has made clear that the First Amendment does not shield public officials who occupy sensitive policymaking positions from adverse actions when their speech undermines important government interests.

The House brief alleges that Trump incited a mob that breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by sowing doubt about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.

Trumps legal team denies the allegation and argues in a memo (pdf) that the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president. The team also argues that Trump exercised his First Amendment rights in calling into question the results of the election.

After the November election, the 45th President exercised his First Amendment right under the Constitution to express his belief that the election results were suspect, since with very few exceptions, under the convenient guise of COVID-19 pandemic safeguards states election laws and procedures were changed by local politicians or judges without the necessary approvals from state legislatures, the legal team wrote.

Like all Americans, the 45th President is protected by the First Amendment, they wrote. Indeed, he believes, and therefore avers, that the United States is unique on Earth in that its governing documents, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, specifically and intentionally protect unpopular speech from government retaliation.

If the First Amendment protected only speech the government deemed popular in current American culture, it would be no protection at all, they added.

Dershowitz sentiment that the reasoning featured in the impeachment brief is a threat to freedom of speech more broadly was echoed in a statement by Trump adviser Jason Miller, who said: not only will President Trump be on trial next week. The First Amendment will be on trial next week because the Democrats arent going to stop with attacking President Trump, they want to go after the free speech and the rights of all Americans.

Democrats face an uphill battle in the Senate in their pursuit of an impeachment conviction against Trump. Forty-five Republican senators voted in favor of a resolution calling the trial unconstitutional, since Trump is now a private citizen. With the Senate split 5050, the impeachment managers would have to convince 17 Republicans that the trial is constitutional and that Trump is guilty of inciting an insurrection.

Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.
The U.K. coronavirus variant seems to be causing lung damage faster than previous strains, according to preliminary patient reports in northern Hai Duong Province.

Nguyen Trung Cap, deputy director of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said most of the patients in Hai Duong did not have noticeable symptoms, making it difficult to determine the exact time of exposure. Cap and his colleagues were sent by the Ministry of Health to Hai Duong, Vietnam's biggest Covid-19 hotspot at present, to work at Chi Linh Town's Field Hospital 1, where 165 patients are being treated.

"We felt that signs of lung damage seem to appear earlier than in patients infected by previous strains. But as the sample size is still small, no definitive conclusion could be drawn yet," he said, adding the findings are insufficient to prove whether the new variant could be deadlier or cause more severe effects.

Echoing Cap's observation, Tran Van Giang, deputy head of the Virus-Parasite Department at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said he has also not seen "more severe symptoms" in patients infected with the new variant. The percentage of carriers with noticeable signs of pneumonia and respiratory failure is not much different compared with that during the previous wave, he added.

Due to concerns the new variant may progress the disease more quickly, patients have been placed under extra surveillance, Cap said.

More transmissible

The new variant has already been known to allow airborne transmission, including through droplets and aerosols, according to Cap.

Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, director of the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said the new variant could also infect human cells more easily. Studies on the U.K. coronavirus variant have shown mutations on the viral genome that encodes its "spike" protein make it easier for the virus to infect human cells.

Le Quoc Hung, head of the Tropical Disease Department at Cho Ray Hospital in HCMC, said the U.K. variant is 30 percent more virulent and 70 percent more transmissible than previous strains. As northern Vietnam is currently experiencing cold weather, that factor may allow the virus to stay viable for longer periods of time in the environment, compared to hotter regions like in central Vietnam, he added.

The Ministry of Health on Tuesday said the new Covid-19 wave sweeping through Vietnam since late last month was caused by the U.K. coronavirus variant, after gene sequencing revealed 11 Covid-19 cases in Hai Duong and one in HCMC to be infected by the strain.

Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said the variant's higher infectivity and shorter incubation period explained the rising number of community cases through the past week, which has now amounted to 366 in 10 cities and provinces.
UN chief wants to make sure Myanmar coup fails

WORLD: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday (Feb 3) he would do everything in his power to pressure Myanmar and make sure that this coup fails.

militaryMyanmarpolitics

By AFP

Thursday 4 February 2021, 09:42AM

Soldiers ride in PTL-02 ant-tank 6x6 armoured vehicles in Myitkyina, Kachin state, as Myanmars ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi was formally charged two days after she was detained in a military coup. Photo: AFP.

Myanmar plunged back into direct military rule on Monday when soldiers detained de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders in a series of dawn raids, ending the countrys brief experiment with democracy.

We will do everything we can to mobilize all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails, Guterres said in a conversation with The Washington Post.

After elections that I believe took place normally and after a large period of transition, its absolutely unacceptable to reverse the results of the elections and the will of the people.

When asked about the indictment of Suu Kyi, 75, Guterres said that if we can accuse her of something, (it) is that she was too close to the military, is that she protected too much the military.

I hope that democracy will be able to make progress again in Myanmar but for that all the prisoners must be released, the constitutional order must be reestablished, he added.

The UN chief also lamented that the Security Council has been unable to agree on a common statement about Myanmars coup, after an emergency meeting initiated by Britain.

According to a draft text proposed at the beginning of the week for negotiation and obtained by AFP, the Security Council would express its deep concern over and condemn the coup, and would demand the military immediately release those unlawfully detained.

The Council would also demand that the one-year state of emergency be repealed.

As of last night, according to diplomats, negotiations were continuing between the 15 Council members, particularly with China and Russia, which on Tuesday blocked the statements adoption.

It also emerged yesterday that a Myanmar court has granted a police request to detain Aung Sang Suu Kyi until Feb 15 for illegally importing and using communications equipment, after private security staff at her Naypyitaw residence were found to be holding unlicensed walkie-talkies following Mondays military coup.
The Sweeteners Market is poised to experience spend growth of more than USD 18.41 billion between 2021-2025 at a CAGR of over 3.62%. The report also provides the market impact and new opportunities created due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Request free sample pages

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210203005384/en/

SpendEdge has announced the release of its Global Sweeteners Market Procurement Intelligence Report (Graphic: Business Wire)

Read the 120-page research report with TOC and LOE on "Sweeteners Market Procurement Intelligence Report, Pricing Outlook in Geographies that include APAC, North America, South America, and MEA, and insights into best practices to optimize procurement spend."

SpendEdge's reports now include an in-depth complimentary analysis of the COVID-19 impact on procurement and the latest market data to help your company overcome sourcing challenges. Our Sweeteners Market procurement intelligence report offers actionable procurement intelligence insights, sourcing strategies, and action plans to mitigate risks arising out of the current pandemic situation. The insights offered by our reports will help procurement professionals streamline supply chain operations and gain insights into the best procurement practices to mitigate losses.

Information on Latest Trends and Supply Chain Market Information Knowledge centre on COVID-19 impact assessment

Insights into the Market Price Trends

Suppliers in this market have moderate bargaining power owing to moderate pressure from substitutes and a moderate level of threat from new entrants.

Buyers can benchmark their preferred pricing models for sweeteners Market, Procurement, Management with the wider industry information and identify the cost-saving potential.

Insights to help buyers identify and shortlist the most suitable suppliers for their Sweeteners Market requirements. This procurement report answers the following questions:

Am I engaging with the right suppliers?

Which KPIs should I use to evaluate my incumbent suppliers?

Which supplier selection criteria are relevant for?

What are the Sweeteners Market category essentials in terms of SLAs and RFx?

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Insights into strategies that will help buyers optimize their category management practices. The report answers the following questions:

What should be my strategic procurement objectives, activities, and enablers for the Sweeteners Market category?

What negotiation levers can I pull for cost-saving?

What are Sweeteners Market procurement best practices I should be promoting in my supply chain?

Some of the top Sweeteners Market suppliers enlisted in this report

This Sweeteners Market procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies.

Tate Lyle Plc

The Archer Daniels Midland Co.

Cargill Inc.

Sudzucker AG

Tereos SCA

Louis Dreyfus Company BV

Roquette Freres SA

Ingredion Inc.

Wilmar International Ltd.

Nordzucker AG

Get access to regular sourcing and procurement insights to our digital procurement platform- Contact Us

Table of Content

Executive Summary

Market Insights

Category Pricing Insights

Cost-saving Opportunities

Best Practices

Category Ecosystem

Category Management Strategy

Category Management Enablers

Suppliers Selection

Suppliers under Coverage

US Market Insights

Category scope

Appendix

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Surge in Covid-19 cases in Zamboanga probably from new strains THE SURGE in Covid-19 cases in Zamboanga City may have been caused by new s...
The ambassadors have welcomed "constructive engagement" with the Fund.

The Ambassadors of the G7 countries (USA, UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan) have met with the International Monetary Fund's Resident Representative in Ukraine Goesta Ljungman.

Following the meeting, the parties agreed that an independent National Bank of Ukraine, strong anti-corruption institutions, and a comprehensive judicial reform constitute a base of Ukraine's prosperity.

The G7 envoys "welcomed Ukraine's constructive engagement with IMF," reads their respective tweet.

Read alsoNBU Governor elaborates on IMF tranches for UkraineCentrality of independent NBU, strengthened anti-corruption institutions, and comprehensive judicial reform will lead Ukraine to prosperity and meeting international commitments, the diplomats believe.

Background

Earlier, G7 envoys voiced concerns over the attempts to roll back anti-corruption reform in Ukraine in connection with the judgment handed down by the Constitutional Court on October 27, 2020, barring the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption from vetting asset declarations and identify conflict of interest.

Reporting by UNIAN
Most Britons believe Brexit has helped the UK's vaccine drive - as the EU struggles with a chaotic rollout and supply shortages.

A poll for MailOnline shows the contrast between the rapid progress in Britain and the problems in the bloc has not been lost on the public.

Some 35 per cent said leaving the EU had been useful for the massive national effort, compared to 20 per cent who thought it had been a hindrance.

Around a quarter said they thought it had a neutral effect, and 19 per cent said they were not sure, according to the research by Redfield & Wilton Strategies.

While the UK hit the milestone of 10million people given jabs yesterday, the EU's programme has descended into a shambles with the central regulator far slower to sign off jabs and the bloc moving too late to secure supplies.

The fallout on the continent triggered threats from Ursula von der Leyen to bar exports to the UK and impose a hard border with Northern Ireland, which was later humiliatingly dropped.

And Emmanuel Macron was among the leaders who launched baseless attacks on the effectiveness of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca jab - even though the EU has been desperately trying to obtain stocks.

In the poll for MailOnline 35 per cent said leaving the EU had been useful for the massive national effort, compared to 20 per cent who thought it had been a hindrance

Ministers have claimed that Britain was able to act far more nimbly to sign contracts and get vaccinations going because of Brexit and using its own MHRA watchdog.

Boris Johnson roasted Keir Starmer yesterday for having supported the UK staying in the European Medicines Agency after Brexit.

He taunted a clearly infuriated Sir Keir at PMQs yesterday that the UK's Covid-19 vaccine programme would still be at the 'starting blocks' under Labour.

The poll for MailOnline found that in the East of England the proportion surveyed who said Brexit had helped was as high as 45 per cent.

Even in Scotland, which voted heavily for Remain, more people thought it had been useful for vaccines, albeit only by 29 per cent to 28 per cent.

Nicola Sturgeon wriggled today as she was grilled over whether Brexit had been helpful on vaccines.

During an interview on ITV's Good Morning Britain, the First Minister was asked about comments made by SNP MP Dr Philippa Whitford last July when she said the UK Government should be working on procurement with EU partners.

Susanna Reid what had happened over recent months 'must be one of the most powerful arguments for Brexit'.

The SNP leader replied snippily: 'I think there's a bigger point but I'm not going to sit here and say anything other than I think it's really good that the UK has managed to procure as much vaccine and that the UK as a whole is getting ahead in terms of vaccine.

The vaccine fallout on the continent triggered threats from Ursula von der Leyen to bar exports to the UK and impose a hard border with Northern Ireland, which was later humiliatingly dropped

Nicola Sturgeon wriggled today as she was grilled over whether Brexit had been helpful on vaccines

'We all have an interest in seeing all countries get the populations vaccinated because this is a global pandemic but I think the UK is in a very strong position.

'That the vaccination procurement and the approval of the vaccines started while the UK was still in the EU transition period, the rules around the European Medicines Agency would have allowed that to happen anyway.'

She added: 'Of course you can make that argument but sometimes I think it's a slightly over-simplistic argument, but we should all be pleased that the vaccination programme is going so well.

'The issues around Brexit are much wider and more fundamental but even on this narrow point I think if you were to apply really detailed scrutiny it wouldn't be quite that simple.

'The UK, even if it had still been in the EU under the rules of medicines approval would still have been able to take decisions around vaccines as it has done.'

:: Refield & Wilton Strategies polled 1,700 adults online on February 3. Data were weighted to represent the wider population.

If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us

We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.
A German minister has raged at Ursula von der Leyen's 'really s**t' vaccine strategy and said that Berlin cannot 'let this s**t repeat itself' as anger mounts over the EU's chaotic handling of the roll-out.

Vice-chancellor Olaf Scholz attacked von der Leyen by name in a stormy cabinet meeting on Monday, according to Bild.

Scholz - whose party opposed von der Leyen's appointment as European Commission chief in 2019, pointing to a series of blunders when she was German defence minister - is said to have described the vaccine debacle as a 'disgrace'.

Angela Merkel is said to have defended von der Leyen at Monday's meeting but finds herself under fire for letting Brussels take charge of the vaccine drive, with the bloc struggling to get hold of doses and lagging behind Britain in handing them out.

Only 2.34 per cent of the EU's 447million population has received a vaccine dose so far, with Germany barely above average on 2.36 per cent - while the UK has managed a much more impressive 14.21 per cent.

German vice-chancellor Olaf Scholz, pictured right with Merkel at the chancellery in Berlin on Wednesday, is said to have raged at von der Leyen in a cabinet meeting on Monday

Germany has given vaccine doses to only 2.36 per cent of its population so far, barely above the EU average of 2.34 per cent - and far behind Britain on 14.21 per cent

As well as von der Leyen, German ministers are said to be dissatisfied with EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides - who is under fire for failing to get a Pfizer vaccine contract until November when Britain and the US had deals in place last July.

Referring to Kyriakides as the 'feet-up commissioner', Bild said German health minister Jens Spahn had gone to Merkel with his concerns about her last year.

Brussels insiders claimed that Kyriakides was even struggling to get through to Pfizer executives on the phone, while Spahn would be put through to the boss.

Delays in Pfizer and AstraZeneca shipments and bureaucratic health rules in countries such as Germany and France have been among the problems plaguing the EU roll-out since it began in December.

In addition, EU leaders themselves have been accused of sowing unjustified doubts about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines.

Von der Leyen's European People's Party is today holding an event to promote vaccine use called 'A Jab To Fake News'.

But earlier this week, von der Leyen herself said that the EU had started later because it 'agreed not to compromise' on safety - implying that the UK had done so.

Emmanuel Macron was also criticised for questioning the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been approved by EU regulators.

Brussels reacted furiously after AstraZeneca said it would deliver fewer doses than planned to mainland Europe - while continuing to supply the UK in full.

But the EU's move to impose export controls led to further humiliation for the bloc when it opened the door to checking jab shipments as they crossed the Irish border, only to swiftly abandon the idea amid an outcry from both the UK and Ireland.

The crisis has even prompted calls for Europe to turn to Russia and China's vaccines which until now were largely ignored in the West - with Ireland today becoming the latest country to say it will look at Moscow's Sputnik V product.

Merkel has defended allowing the EU to take charge of the vaccine drive, insisting that 'a virus that affects us all cannot be defeated by any country alone'.

But her vice-chancellor launched a scathing attack on Brussels at Monday's meeting, saying that the EU's strategy for ordering vaccine doses had been 'really s**t'.

He added that ministers could not allow 'this s**t' to repeat itself back in Germany, where authorities are struggling to ramp up the pace of vaccinations.

Merkel is said to have let Scholz complain before finally cutting him off when he attacked von der Leyen by name.

But the chancellor finds herself almost the only person in Germany's ruling coalition willing to defend von der Leyen, sources in her party told Bild.

Angela Merkel (left) is facing criticism for letting her former cabinet colleague Ursula von der Leyen (second left) take charge of the vaccine roll-out for the entire European Union

An 86-year-old woman receives a vaccine in Germany where the government is facing criticism over the sluggish immunisation drive

Scholz is the highest-ranking cabinet member from Merkel's junior coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), and is set to lead the party into the September election which will mark the end of Merkel's 16-year reign.

In 2019, when von der Leyen was nominated as European Commission chief, the SPD published a paper calling her an 'inadequate and inappropriate candidate'.

Accusing von der Leyen of having 'overestimated herself from the beginning', the SPD bemoaned the 'shabby' state of the military under her 'weak leadership'.

Problems included glaring gaps in military readiness, with fewer than half of Germany's Eurofighter and Tornado jets ready for combat, as well as a scandal over far-right extremism in the ranks.

The internal coalition politics forced Merkel to abstain on a vote among European leaders to nominate von der Leyen.

Merkel held a summit with state leaders, EU officials and pharmaceutical firms on Monday in a bid to speed up the vaccine drive, but it brought no concrete results.

The chancellor has said that everyone would be offered a vaccine by the end of summer 2021, but Britain is on track to reach that target much sooner.

While around two million people have received a first dose of a vaccine in Germany, Britain has given the same level of protection to more than 10million as of Wednesday - despite Germany's larger population.

While the EU boasts of having deals for 2.3billion doses in the bag, it has struggled to get supplies amid the delays in Pfizer and AstraZeneca shipments in recent weeks.

Separately, Germany and France have both restricted the AstraZeneca jab to under-65s - further limiting their ability to protect the most vulnerable groups.

European leaders such as Emmanuel Macron have raised doubts about the AstraZeneca vaccine (pictured) which are not shared by British regulators

German regulators pointed to the small sample size of elderly patients in the Oxford/AstraZeneca trial, meaning any effectiveness figure would be meaningless.

But Britain is using the jab for all age groups, with AstraZeneca pointing to trial results showing that 100 per cent of seniors generated antibodies.

Merkel again defended the EU's policies, saying EU regulators were right to take their time over approving the AstraZeneca jab.

As well as being far behind Britain, which fully cut ties with the EU on January 1, the 27-member bloc is also moving much slower than the United States or Israel.

Admitting to some missteps, von der Leyen told French newspaper Le Monde: 'When you take urgent decisions, and in this year of crisis we've taken around 900, there's always the chance of missing something.'

The EU has also approved the Moderna jab in addition to the Pfizer and AstraZeneca products, but the supplies so far have failed to bring about a rapid vaccine drive.

As a result, there has been growing interest in the Russian and Chinese products which until now had largely been scorned by Western countries.

Scientists voiced alarm after Moscow registered the Sputnik vaccine last summer before Phase III trials had even been completed.

But those doubts were eased on Tuesday after The Lancet published results of trials involving 20,000 volunteers showing an overall 91.6 per cent efficacy rate.

'There are no arguments left for critics of this vaccine, the article in The Lancet is a checkmate,' said Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

Merkel said this week that 'all vaccines are welcome' in the EU, adding that she had spoken to Vladimir Putin about the Russian-made jab - whose developers have already approached a German firm about joint production.

The chancellor has previously offered Putin the help of Germany's official Paul Ehrlich Institute in assisting Russia with the application process for EU regulators.
Trump rejects call to testify at his impeachment trial FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump holds a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress in Washington

By Makini Brice and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former President Donald Trump's lawyers on Thursday rejected a request from Democrats to testify at his impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate next week, dismissing their invitation as a "public relations stunt."

Democrats in the House of Representatives accuse Trump of inciting insurrection when he urged supporters to "fight" his election defeat before they stormed the Capitol, fought with police and sent lawmakers scrambling for safety.

Five people died, including a Capitol police officer.

"The president will not testify in an unconstitutional proceeding," Trump adviser Jason Miller told Reuters. In an open letter, Trump's attorneys, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, called the request a "public relations stunt."

The attorneys this week rejected the impeachment charge and asserted his claims that his election defeat was the result of widespread fraud - which were baseless - were protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Democratic lawmaker Jamie Raskin, the lead House impeachment manager, wrote in a letter to the Republican Trump and his attorney inviting the former president, who left office on Jan. 20, to provide testimony under oath.

"If you decline this invitation, we reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions (and inaction) on January 6, 2021," Raskin wrote.

In their response, Trump's lawyers wrote to Raskin: "Your letter only confirms what is known to everyone: you cannot prove your allegations against the 45th President of the United States, who is now a private citizen."

Several senators said it would have been a bad idea for Trump to testify. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a vocal Trump ally, told reporters: "I don't think that would be in anybody's interest."

For two months after losing his re-election bid to President Joe Biden, Trump loudly argued that he lost due to rampant electoral fraud, claims that were rejected by multiple courts and state election officials.

Trump's lawyers and most Republican senators have challenged the constitutionality of the trial. They have said the Senate does not have the authority to hear the case because Trump, also a Republican, has already left office and cannot be removed.

Such an argument would allow Republican senators - who hold half the seats in the chamber - to vote against Trump's conviction on procedural concerns instead of directly supporting his comments.

A two-thirds majority of the 100-member Senate would have to support the charge to convict Trump, meaning 17 Republicans would need to join all 50 Democrats in backing it.

The Senate impeachment trial of Trump, the first U.S. president to face such a trial twice, is due to begin next week.

Trump's first impeachment trial, on charges of abuse of power and obstructing Congress after he appeared to pressure the president of Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son, resulted in an acquittal by the Senate, where Republicans held the majority at the time and denied Democrats' attempts to present witnesses.

(Reporting by Makini Brice and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Eric Beech in Washington and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Scott Malone, Dan Grebler and Howard Goller)
English French

ROUYN-NORANDA, Quebec., Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Radisson Mining Resources Inc. (TSX-V: RDS, OTC: RMRDF): (Radisson or the Company") is pleased to announce significant high-grade gold intercepts from the ongoing 130,000 m exploration drill program at its 100% owned OBrien gold project located along the Larder-Lake-Cadillac Break (see location map 1 and location map 2), halfway between Rouyn-Noranda and Val-dOr in Quebec, Canada.



Key highlights

Deep drilling highlights resource expansion potential at depth along high-grade trend #1,

 OB-20-174W1b

 24.22 g/t Au over 3.00 m core length, approx. 280 m below the resource boundary, including consecutive intercepts of

 34.10 g/t Au over 1.00 m,

 26.20 g/t Au over 1.00 m, and

 12.35 g/t Au over 1.00 m

 OB-20-181 : Multiple high-grade intercepts 120 m to 170 m below the resource boundary

 13.74 g/t Au over 1.70 m (incl. 28.70 g/t Au over 0.80 m ), and

 19.63 g/t over 3.40 m including consecutive intercepts of,

 22.40 g/t Au over 1.10 m

 18.25 g/t Au over 1.20 m , and

 18.35 g/t Au over 1.10 m

 OB-20-174W1b is a wedge off pilot hole OB-20-174, which also intercepted multiple mineralized zones (albeit lower grade) 30 m to the west of the above high-grade intercept.

 OB-20-174 and OB-20-174W1b are the deepest holes drilled along trend #1 since the beginning of this drill campaign in 2019.



  core length, approx. 280 m below the resource boundary, including consecutive intercepts of   and   : Multiple high-grade intercepts 120 m to 170 m below the resource boundary  (incl. ), and  including consecutive intercepts of,   , and   OB-20-174W1b is a wedge off pilot hole OB-20-174, which also intercepted multiple mineralized zones (albeit lower grade) 30 m to the west of the above high-grade intercept.  OB-20-174 and OB-20-174W1b are the deepest holes drilled along trend #1 since the beginning of this drill campaign in 2019. 130,000 m drill program (commenced Aug 2019) underway at OBrien.

 60,499 m completed thus far with results pending for 11,360 m

 60,499 m completed thus far with results pending for 11,360 m Cash balance of approx. $14.5 M



Notable drill results

Hole Zone From (m) To (m) Core Length (m) Au (g/t) Uncut Comments OB-20-174W1B 1,017.00 1,020.00 3.00 24.22 South Porphyry*VG Including 1,017.00 1,018.00 1.00 34.10 And 1,018.00 1,019.00 1.00 26.20 And 1,019.00 1,020.00 1.00 12.35 OB-20-181 850.50 852.20 1.70 13.74 South Mafic Volcanic*VG Including 851.40 852.20 0.80 28.70 AND 893.60 897.00 3.40 19.63 South Porphyry Including 893.60 894.70 1.10 22.40 And 894.70 895.90 1.20 18.25 And 895.90 897.00 1.10 18.35





1. VG denotes the presence of visible gold 2. Core length or down hole width. True widths are estimated at 70% to 80% of down hole width. To the extent possible, primary intercepts reflect minimum mining width (1.5 m true width) consistent with assumptions used in the 2019 resource estimate. 3. Assay grades shown uncapped. A capping factor of 60 g/t Au was used in the 2019 resource estimate 4. Table includes only intercepts that meet 5 g/t Au cut-off and minimum mining width constraints used in the 2019 MRE. For a full listing of drill results from current drilling program click here.

Resource expansion potential at depth along mineralized trend #1 (300 m east of the old OBrien Mine)

Hole OB-20-174w1b returned 24.22 g/t Au over 3.00 m core length (see figure 3 for Au grade distribution) at a vertical depth of 930 m approximately 280 m below the boundary of resources. In addition, OB-20-181 returned multiple high-grade intercepts including 13.74 g/t Au over 1.70 m core length (vertical depth of 785 m) and 19.63 g/t Au over 3.40 m (vertical depth of 820 m), the high-grade intercepts were respectively obtained approximately 120 m and 170 m below the resource boundary.

OB-20-174w1b is a wedge off pilot hole OB-20-174 which also intersected multiple lower-grade mineralized zones approximately 30 m west of the above intercept. OB-20-174 and OB-20-174W1b are the deepest holes drilled since the beginning of the program to test the extension of mineralized trend #1.

The high-grade intercepts obtained in hole OB-20-174w1b and OB-20-181 appear to have been obtained in the same geological units. These intercepts along with other previously released intercepts including 66.71 g/t Au over 4.70 m (OB-19-92W2b), 37.76 g/t Au over 2.00 m (OB-19-98W2), 23.57 g/t Au over 2.60 m (OB-19-107), 45.33 g/t Au over 2.20 m (OB-20-148W1) and 110.97 g/t Au over 2.50 m (OB-20-167) demonstrate continuity of high grade mineralization down to a vertical depth of 950 m and up to 350 m below currently defined resources on trend #1.

Drilling at OBrien continues to validate the litho-structural model while highlighting resource growth potential laterally and at depth

Drilling to date has continued to define and expand three high-grade mineralized trends, located approximately 300 m, 600 m and 900 m respectively to the east of the old OBrien Mine. Mineralized trends identified bear similarities with structures previously mined at OBrien down to a depth of 1,100 m (historical production of 587 koz grading 15.25 g/t).

Drilling so far has demonstrated continuity of mineralization well below the boundary of defined resources in all three trends, which remain open for expansion laterally and at depth. In trend #1, drilling has highlighted continuity of mineralization down to a vertical depth of 950 m, approximately 350 m below the boundary of resources that are limited to a vertical depth of 600 m. In trend #2, drilling has highlighted continuity of mineralization down to a vertical depth of 770 m, approximately 300 m below the boundary of resources that are mostly within 400 m from surface. In trend #3, drilling has traced mineralization down to 500 m vertical depth from surface. Current resources are mostly confined to between surface and 240 m vertical depth.

Almost all drilling conducted as part of the ongoing campaign has been within a strike length of approximately 1 km to the east of the old OBrien mine, representing only a small portion of more than 5.2 km of prospective strike that Radisson controls along the Cadillac Break.

60,499 m of drilling completed to date with assays pending for approx. 11,360 m

This release represents approximately 3,196 m of drilling. Released results to date (since the commencement of drilling in August 2019) represent approximately 39% of the 130,000 m envisioned to be complete by the end of 2021. As of January 31, 2021, the company remains well funded with approximately $14.5 m in cash.

Figure 4. Visible gold in OB-20-174, OB-20-174W1b and OB-20-181

Figure 5. OBrien Gold Project: Resource Block Model @ 5.0 g/t cut-off; Longitudinal section looking North

Figure 6. OBrien Gold Project: Cross section  1st mineralized trend

QA/QC

All drill cores in this campaign are NQ in size. Assays were completed on sawn half-cores, with the second half kept for future reference. The samples were analyzed using standard fire assay procedures with Atomic Absorption (AA) finish at ALS Laboratory Ltd, in Val-dOr, Quebec. Samples yielding a grade higher than 5 g/t Au were analyzed a second time by fire assay with gravimetric finish at the same laboratory. Samples containing visible gold were analyzed with metallic sieve procedure. Standard reference materials, blank samples and duplicates were inserted prior to shipment for quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program.

Qualified Person

Kenneth Williamson, M.Sc., P.Geo., Senior Advisor, Geology and Nicolas Guivarch, M. Sc., P.Geo., Exploration Manager are the qualified persons pursuant to the requirements of NI 43-101, and have reviewed and approved the technical disclosure in this press release.

Radisson mining resources Inc.

Radisson is a gold exploration company focused on its 100% owned OBrien project, located in the Bousquet-Cadillac mining camp along the world-renowned Larder-Lake-Cadillac Break in Abitibi, Quebec. The Bousquet-Cadillac mining camp has produced over 21,000,000 ounces of gold over the last 100 years. The project hosts the former OBrien Mine, considered to have been the Quebecs highest-grade gold producer during its production (1,197,147 metric tons at 15.25 g/t Au for 587,121 ounces of gold from 1926 to 1957; Kenneth Williamson 3DGeo-Solution, July 2019). For more information on Radisson, visit our website at www.radissonmining.com or contact:

On behalf of the board of directors

Mario Bouchard

CEO and Director

For more information on Radisson, visit our website at www.radissonmining.com or contact:



Hubert Parent-Bouchard

Director, Corporate development

819-763-9969

hpbouchard@radissonmining.com

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release including, but not limited to, those relating to the intended use of proceeds of the Offering, the development of the OBrien project and generally, the above About Radisson Mining Resources Inc. paragraph which essentially describes the Corporations outlook, constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the time of this press release. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Corporation as of the time of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. These estimates and assumptions may prove to be incorrect. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can directly or indirectly affect, and could cause, actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements and future events, could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward looking information can be found in Radissons disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com .

By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that estimates, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions do not reflect future experience. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about managements endeavours to develop the OBrien project and, more generally, its expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as a number of important risk factors and future events could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates, assumptions and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators of Canada. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law.
But A Glitch wades only shin-deep into the complex logic thats attached to this speculation. Were shown Philosophy 101 stalwarts Plato and Descartes as its pioneers. Theres interview footage with the contemporary philosopher Nick Bostrom, but nothing on his significant forebears W.V. Quine or Alfred North Whitehead.

These ideas have consequences, and these days, theyre sometimes dire. Throughout the movie, Ascher threads in a phone interview with a man who came to believe the world depicted in The Matrix was genuine. This belief led him to kill his parents. The director edits the material so that, if the viewer doesnt already know who this individual is, the end of the account plays as a suspense narrative reveal. Its exploitative and opportunistic. But not atypical of the movies slick sensory overload, which doesnt disguise its fundamentally glib approach.

A Glitch in the Matrix

Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Amazon, FandangoNow and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.
The Article of Impeachment rushed through the House of Representative by Democrats charges Donald Trump with incitement of insurrection. As I argued here, this charge is less than compelling.

Indeed, the one statement cited in the article as inciting an insurrection  if you dont fight like hell youre not going to have a country anymore  falls woefully short of supporting the Dems claim. Politicians urge supporters to fight hard all the time.

If you want to know what real incitement of a mob is, look no further than Chuck Schumer. As Mollie Hemingway reminds us, Schumer had this to say last year as he led a mob to the steps of the Supreme Court while a case was being heard:

I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You wont know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.

(Emphasis added)

This isnt general language urging supporters to fight. This is threatening language directed specifically at two Supreme Court Justices. Hemingway notes that even Larry Tribe, the prominent leftist lawyer, condemned Schumers language.

The Houses Article of Impeachment tries to find menace in Trumps politically standard exhortation to fight by incanting (without more) the word context. So lets consider the context of Schumers clearly menacing statement. Says Hemingway:

Schumers threats came just 17 months after the Supreme Court had been besieged and attacked by abortion activists upset at Kavanaughs confirmation. . .[H]ordes of protesters broke through a police barricade and attempted to beat down the 13-ton bronze doors of the court. . .Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, who attended Kavanaughs immediate swearing in, were hit with water bottles and tomatoes when their car left the court afterward. Some 164 people were arrested in that protest.

What price did Schumer pay for inciting a mob against two Supreme Court Justices? None. Sen. Josh Hawley urged that Schumer be censured by the Senate, but nothing came of this effort, even though Republicans controlled the Senate at the time.

The Senates failure to take any action in response to Schumers call for a whirlwind to hit two Supreme Court Justices, in the context of recent rioting at the Court, makes a mockery of Trumps impeachment for his generic call on his supporters to fight.
Can anyone complete Gods intentions for ones life? Because of our weaknesses and sins, our reach will always exceed our grasp. No man is noble enough, and no woman has enough years to accomplish every goal and dream.

When we are young, this does not occur to us. In our youth, all of life with all its possibilities stretches out before us. We feel immortal, and everything seems possible. But then the years passnot quickly, but constantly. Our children grow up, and we grow old. One by one, options close, and life seems short, given all that we hoped to do and see. Disappointments make us wonder what comes next. Is there more? Jesus tells us what comes next in Matthew 24 and 25.

Matthew 25:40, And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

What Is Happening in Matthew 25:40

Jesus says, When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory (25:31). Every phrase makes a point. Jesus, the Son of Man, will return to the earth personally. He will return in glory, accompanied by the host of his angels. In his power, he will take his throne.

At that time, Jesus will gather all the nations and all angels to his throne and seat of judgment (25:32, 41; Rom. 14:10). Then he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (25:32). Over and over, Jesus implored his disciples to watch and be ready for that day. Since no signs will forecast the hour of Jesus return (Matthew 24:36), the only course is to be ready and watchful at all times. Then Jesus told two parables that describe the way of preparation; both parables deserve a review.

In the first parable, ten maidens wait for a wedding procession that was long delayed (25:1-13). Five maidens brought enough oil for the wedding procession, and five did not. The five who had no oil asked the other five to share their oil, but the five who were prepared refused. This hardly seems loving or neighborly, but the parable has no concern for the golden rule. Jesus bends the story's details to the main lesson: We must be ready, and readiness is not transferable. Some things are not transferable; readiness for Jesus is one of them.

The second parable, the talents (25:1430), portrays readiness in active terms. David Garland writes in his book that Vigilance is not a passive waiting and watching, but consists of active, responsible service. When Christ returns, he will not ask if one had the date right but What have you been doing? Whenever Jesus may return, we will be caught in the actin the act of serving him, or not.

Throughout Matthew 2425, Jesus emphasizes deeds. Toward the end, he turns to the origin of those deeds. In the parable of the talents, when the master went away, he entrusted his wealth to two servants who set to work at once. They were eager to please their master, to labor for his gain. When he returned, they gladly gave their profits to him. The root of such service is love, the kind of love most often exemplified in families. We find satisfaction in serving people whom we love.

The parable also features a third servant who did no work for his master. He did nothing with his masters wealth but buried it in the ground and handed it back to him. The dialogue reveals his reasons. He says, I was afraid, and calls his master a hard man who would seize whatever he produced. He has no love for his master. So then, we prepare for Jesus return by performing evidential works of righteousness, works that grow from the love of the king. The virgins oil and the stewards talents both represent deeds of loving obedience. Such deeds keep us ready for the day of judgment, Matthew 25 shows.





Photo credit: Getty Images/GordonImages

What Does Matthew 25:40 Mean?

Jesus praises the righteous for performing these acts of kindness to him, and he blames the rest for failing to show kindness. The righteous are surprised by Jesus commendation. We should observe the precise form of both his praise and their surprise.

Jesus blesses the righteous not for feeding the poor, but for feeding him. But they cannot recall the event: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? (25:37). Jesus replies, Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (25:40). By contrast, the wicked are surprised, but in the opposite manner: Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? (25:44). Jesus replies, I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me (25:45).

Thus, if anyone failed to help Jesus brothers, they failed him. As Jesus sees it, failure to aid the least of his brothers is sacrilegea refusal to aid Christ himself. In Calvins words, So then, whenever we are reluctant to assist the poor, let us place before our eyes the Son of God, to whom it would be base sacrilege to refuse anything.

Who Are "the Least of These"?

Jesus describes both what we ought to do and for whom we ought to do itfor the least of these brothers of mine (25:40, 45). By my brothers, Jesus means my disciples, as Matthew 12:4849 and 28:10 show. The term little ones means disciples throughout Matthew (10:42; 18:6, 10, 14; cf. 5:19), and least is the superlative of little. The least seems to be the weakest members of Jesus spiritual family.

Along this line, when Jesus sent his disciples to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, he said that anyone who welcomed his disciples welcomed him and would be rewarded for it (10:4042). This makes us wonder: is Jesus saying he will judge the nations based on how they treat his disciples?

Yes and no. The Bible certainly says believers ought to be especially quick to come to fellow believers' aid (Gal. 6:10). Love for Jesus disciples and messengers certainly proves that someone has responded properly to the gospel message. But Moses and Jesus both commands, Love your neighbor as yourself, so we also have a debt to all neighbors (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 19:19; 22:39).

Further, the Bible often says our treatment of the poor and the needy tests the genuineness of our faith (Prov. 31:20; James 2:1416). For example, when Amos accuses Israel of faithlessness, he cites their treatment of the poor. They sell out, crush, and trample the needy (Amos 2:67; 4:1; 8:46). But when Job proves he is Gods friend, he says, I was a father to the needy (Job 29:16).

What Does Jesus Teach about Helping Those in Need?

Works are the evidence, but not the basis for Jesus judgment. The basis or cause is our heart response to Jesus. But our works either prove or disprove our claim that our heart and mind trust in Jesus. We know the Bible says we are justified by faith. How then can we be judged by works?

First, the entire Bible teaches all our works will be examined. We will account for them all on the last day (Ps. 62:12; Jer. 17:10; Matt. 16:27; 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Peter 1:17; Rev. 20:12). But this is not salvation by works because our works follow our heart commitments.

In the last line of Psalm 62, David says, Lord,  surely you will reward each person according to what he has done (62:12). But hear it in context. David says,

My soul finds rest in God alone.

He alone is my rock and salvation.

Trust in him at all times, O people 

though your riches increase,

do not set your heart on them.

 you, O God, are strong, 

you, O Lord, are loving.

Surely you will reward each person

according to what he has done. (Ps. 62:12, 8, 1012)

Because David trusts the Lord alone, he is confident that his life, including his works, reflects that trust. He is confident that the Lord will see Davids loyalty in his deeds. Our words and deeds witness and testify to our heart commitment on judgment day. They supply public, verifiable evidence of our hearts condition (Matt. 7:1718; 12:3335; James 2:1426).





Photo credit: Getty Images/Biserka Stojanovic

What Does This Mean for Us?

Matthew 25:40 teaches several vital things about eternal destinies. First, they are eternal. Jesus tells the righteous: Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world (25:34). But he tells the cursed: Depart  into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (25:41).

There is symmetry here. The wicked go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life (25:46). Yet, there is a difference. The Lord always intended to spend eternity with his people. We inherit the kingdom prepared  since the creation of the world (25:34). But God prepared hell for the devil and his angels, not for humanity.

The basis for our eternal destiny is our response to the gospel and the messengers who bring Gods word, whether they do so by formal preaching or quiet testimony. Jesus says both the sheep and the goats will be surprised on the last daybut not at their destiny. If you love Jesus, repent of your sins, know him as Savior, and follow him daily; it is your enduring aspiration to see Jesus face to face. Believers will be joyful, not surprised at their destiny. Nor will unbelievers be stunned to hear that Jesus neither knows nor welcomes them. After all, they neither knew nor welcomed him, and they had no desire for heaven.

The surprise lies not with the destiny assigned but with the reason given. Neither sheep nor goats knew their deeds were so weighty. The righteous did not perform to gain a reward but to show love to the needy, especially Jesus disciples. But then such deeds will count because they were free gifts, not calculated acts.

Live in Faith

Our task today is to prepare to meet Jesus, our good king. We do this not by looking for signs of his return but by trusting him, loving him, looking to see the Great Shepherd, the Son of David, the Son of God, every day. We follow him and live as he lived, not to earn His favor, but from pure delight in him. And when we fail, we remember. The same Jesus who urged you to love your neighbor died on the cross, to bear the penalty of sin when you do not love him or your neighbor. Grace will cover those failings, so that he will bless us.

Because of our faith and the good deeds that sprang from itfeeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the prisonerhe will say, Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your masters happiness (Matt. 25:21).

This world is good but flawed and very short compared to eternity. Through time and eternity, God the Father, Son, and Spirit is Lord of the living. By his love, he put the powers of death to death through His finished and sufficient work. As we trust him, we prepare to live with him forever.

Photo credit: Getty Images/trumzz

Dave Jenkins is happily married to Sarah Jenkins. He is a writer, editor, and speaker living in beautiful Southern Oregon.

This article is part of our larger resource library of popular Bible verse phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy to read articles that answer your questions about the meaning, origin, and history of specific verses within Scripture's context. It is our hope that these will help you better understand the meaning and purpose of God's Word in relation to your life today.

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UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna and her collaborator, Emmanuel Charpentier, recently won a Nobel Prize for their work on CRISPR, the revolutionary gene-editing technology that could help eradicate genetic disorders, create fossil fuel alternatives, improve crops and improve the health of livestock.

Doudnas breakthroughs, and others, received a boost from a little-known law, the Bayh-Dole Act.

The law induces private-sector investment into research and development projects that commercialize university research. It also allows universities to retain the resulting royalties. Royalty payments earned by UC Berkeley reward inventors, support teaching, bolster public service and fund research infrastructure  such as a building that first housed Jennifer Doudnas Innovative Genomics Institute, a hotbed of research on CRISPR.

Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980 to grant ownership of patents covering inventions its researchers discover using federal funds. Before its enactment, the federal government owned the patents. The governments process for turning those discoveries into real-life products was inefficient, and inventions languished.

Once federal grantees could own their inventions, and receive royalty payments for licensing them, commercialization of these discoveries soared. The legislation has enabled the private sector to commercialize thousands of products, has led to the launch of more than 13,000 startups, and has brought over 200 medicines to pharmacy shelves nationwide.

One life-changing therapy invented on a college campus  and one that advanced the entire field of cancer therapy  is ipilimumab, known by its brand name Yervoy. In the mid-1990s, using grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, UC Berkeley immunologist James Allison discovered how to program a persons immune system to combat cancer.

Thanks to Bayh-Dole, UC Berkeley filed patents in 1995 to protect the invention. Patents proved critical, as drug manufacturers do not invest in expensive, risky and lengthy R&D projects without patent rights.

Still, the process of developing Yervoy was arduous because Allisons approach to battling cancer was unproven. To test whether Allisons approach would work, drug developers needed to take a giant leap of faith that releasing the brake in a patients immune system would unleash its ability to seek out and destroy tumor cells.

Fortunately, in 1998, NeXstar licensed UC Berkeleys patents and began the drug development process. NeXstar was subsequently acquired by Gilead, which sub-licensed the rights to Medarex in 1999. Medarex humanized the antibody and attracted Bristol-Myers Squibb as a partner in 2005, which funded expensive clinical trials  without any guarantee that theyd result in a commercially successful product  and acquired Medarex in 2009 for $2.4 billion.

Yervoy finally won FDA approval in 2011  16 years after patents were filed  to treat metastatic melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Allisons T-cell activating invention is now used to treat 15 types of cancer, including Hodgkins lymphoma, colon cancer and breast cancer. His ingenuity skyrocketed business investments in cancer immunotherapy and earned him a Nobel Prize in 2018.

Patents were necessary to attract private-sector investments by a series of companies. Universities do not have the resources or skills  or the legal status or mandate  to turn their researchers ideas into consumer products.

Instead, universities protect promising discoveries by patenting them and licensing rights to the private sector, which performs the risky and challenging work of turning these discoveries into real-life treatments. In 2019 alone, Americas largest biopharmaceutical companies invested $83 billion, roughly double the NIHs entire budget, into developing breakthrough medicines. Private investors poured billions more into small startups.

Thanks to the commercial success of Yervoy, tens of millions of dollars were reinvested into research at UC Berkeley to refuel the cycle of innovation.

Unfortunately, some misconceptions about Bayh-Dole could chill future private-sector interest in developing university discoveries. Some critics have suggested using Bayh-Doles march-in rights, which allow the government to relicense patents in rare circumstances, to dictate the price of drugs. No drug developer will invest billions into unproven technologies if the government could intervene to limit drug prices, profits and return on investment. Instead, a drug developer would turn to company-funded research discoveries that are free of government pricing encumbrances. The pre-Bayh-Dole era of languishing university inventions would return.

Critics who propose using Bayh-Dole to control drug prices continue to argue their case but have not yet succeeded. To date, the NIH has rejected 10 petitions to exercise march-in rights, confirming Congresss intent.

For 40 years, Bayh-Dole has created a policy environment where scientific innovation  kickstarted by federal research grants but overwhelmingly funded by the private sector  can flourish. And as long as politicians dont misconstrue the law to serve a different purpose, itll enable lifesaving breakthroughs such as those of Jennifer Doudna, James Allison and many others for decades to come.

Carol Mimura is former executive director of the Office of Technology Licensing at UC Berkeley and current UC Berkeley assistant vice chancellor for intellectual property & industry research alliances.
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Dear Prudence,

My husband has a history of encounters with sex workers. He disclosed this before we started dating exclusively, and while I cant say it didnt bother me at all, I was prepared to look past it, and weve been able to comfortably discuss it throughout our relationship. Now we are planning on having an open marriage after the pandemic. This is for several reasons and feels like a very mutual decision. The issue is that hes been asking if he can see prostitutes again as part of this arrangement. This bothers me, but I am second-guessing my discomfort because it would be safe sex, in an arrangement that guarantees no strings attached, and I think what worries me the most is just how it sounds. Should I try to be more open-minded about this?

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Am I Being Close-Minded?

Its possible that youve picked up on some of the many social and legal stigmas against sex workers over the course of your life. You may wish to reexamine your general discomfort (Melissa Gira Grants work is an excellent place to start), but you should do so in your own time, and not for the purpose of acceding to your husbands request. The terms, limits, restrictions, and scope of your open marriage should suit both of you, and you shouldnt try to push yourself into saying yes just because you can acknowledge some of the practicalities and benefits of seeing sex workers. Making sure you dont rush each other into something youre not ready for is just as important a component of a healthy open relationship as safer sex practices. You dont need to be ashamed of discomfort in an open relationshipits not an impediment to happiness that you need to rid yourself of, but an indicator of a need waiting to be met. Im not prepared for our open relationship to include sessions with sex workers is a perfectly reasonable limit that does not harm sex workers nor place outrageous restrictions on your husbands potential dating pool.

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If this new arrangement with your husband is going to work, you should be as honest with him as he is with you. Remind yourself that your goal is not to become maximally open-minded on every subject specifically as it relates to your open marriage. Its to create sustainable rules and limits wherein you can both pursue new experiences at your own pace, while remaining securely attached to each other.

Get Prudie in Your Inbox We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.

Dear Prudence,

My girlfriend, Lara, is a nurse who regularly works 60-hour weeks in the COVID unit. We moved in together six weeks into shutdown, partly so I could make sure she was resting, eating, and occasionally getting some fresh air. Things got a little better over the summer, but theyve ramped back up again. The death of a patient she has a particular connection with often hits her especially hard, and on those days shell come home, take a shower, eat a little something, then asks me to make love to her and hold her until she falls asleep. This makes me uncomfortable because on those days, she doesnt seem to participate in sex. She responds to my touch but doesnt want to kiss, and almost as soon as its over, she will dissolve into sobs and I hold her until she falls asleep. Sometimes I will stop because I dont think she is into it, but she will plead with me to keep making love to her. She always seems fine the next day, and when I check in afterward, she says that she knows its awkward, but it helps her. She doesnt know why, but it feels like thats what she needs. She doesnt want to talk about her patients or what happened to trigger the emotions.

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She does talk to a therapist once a week and will schedule an emergency session if she is feeling especially drained. At her therapists suggestion, she also keeps a notebook where she writes about the patients she has and the ones she has lost to help her process. We go on regular runs and bike rides, enjoy making dinner together, watch TV, and have an otherwise normal sex life. She genuinely seems happy, except for these episodes, which are becoming more frequent. How can I best support my girlfriend? Should I keep doing what she is asking me to do, or should I refuse and try to get her to process her feelings another way? After making love to her like this, I often just feel like I am taking advantage of her or just using her body, even though she is asking me to. I dont see how this is helping her but I dont want to assume to know better than she does.

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Overwhelmed Girlfriend

It sounds like youre already doing a great deal to support Lara, and I dont have anything to add to the list of what youre already doing. When it comes to these periodic requests for mostly checked-out sex, I want you to think of yourself as having a series of equally sound options that you can consider and reconsider during each individual occurrence, rather than a blanket decision. These episodes are fraught and complicated, and one can imagine why she might welcome the particular combination of intensity and disconnection that comes from consensual but disengaged sex. She may feel so exhausted and wrung-out yet desperate for touch, for intimacy, and for release. Since shes been consistent and clear before, after, and during these encounters that they are what she wants, I think you should take her at her word. This sex may not be grounded in a warm, direct connection, but it seems to make tears, catharsis, and relief more readily accessible for her later on, when shes feeling safe and cared-for in your arms. (If Lara had told you that she felt like you override her consent, or deliberately avoided seeking it out, or that she had been in a state of mind where only afterward could she recognize that her ability to give consent was impaired, I would have a different answer for you.)

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But your feelings and comfort also matter during these sexual encounters, even as you acknowledge that theyre primarily about relieving Laras distress. Its understandable that youd want to support her in such a fashion, but you may still find this kind of sex challenging and draining or even unwanted, and you have every right to say no. If you want to discuss this with her, choose a time when youre both relatively relaxed, when youre not about to have sex, and when she hasnt just finished a difficult shift, and try to come up with a strategy that seems possible for both of you.

Lara seems like a conscientious, self-aware, compassionate person, and so do you. Its clear youre both doing the best you can under incredibly difficult circumstances. Talk about what you can do, what you cant do, and what youre not sure about; ask her to do the same to the best of your ability. Follow her therapists recommendation together and write down a few shared basic principlesmaybe even a shorthand for signaling that you need to pause or stop such sex in the future. Good luck.

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 Send questions for publication to prudence@slate.com. (Questions may be edited.)

 Join the live chat every Monday at noon. Submit your questions and comments here before or during the live discussion.

 Call the voicemail of the Dear Prudence podcast at 401-371-DEAR (3327) to hear your question answered on a future episode of the show.

Dear Prudence,

My younger brother Joe bought his first home at 24. He works in a pretty horrible industry with negative environmental effects (think oil and gas) and has made a ton of money. He took advantage of a housing program meant to keep low-income families in the city center to buy a new house with no down payment. He will not stop lording it over me: constantly sending me photos of his new decor, his handyman projects, and every new side table. I work for a nonprofit. I find myself feeling resentful every time my brother pats himself on the back for basically kicking poor people out of the neighborhood.

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Ive tried to be noncommittal about his house texts, even not responding for days, but hell continue to send them. It doesnt help that our only surviving parent is into carpentry and gives Joe a ton of positive attention for his projects around the house. It only fuels the fire. Im worried Ill someday snap and go off on Joe for being an awful person. How can I get him to stop lording this over me while still being genuinely happy for his good fortune?

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Lord of the Manor

I also do not want you to snap and go off on Joe, especially since it doesnt seem lie youve had even a conversation about your feelings on a number of different subjects. I think hed feel completely ambushed, and not without reason, either. Saying Cool and Huh and nothing in response doesnt communicate a very clear picture, so its no wonder that your noncommittal strategy hasnt worked and your resentment is only increasing. The good news is that you do not need to legislate your many complicated feelings about your brothers choices in order to ask him to cut down on the home improvement updates. All you have to say is that while its great that hes enjoying the renovation, you dont want to get regular updates on his carpentry projects and would rather talk about something else.

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You might want to consider having a conversation with your brother about his life choicesbut first you should do the internal work necessary to actually ask questions in a mild, respectful fashion. If you were to bring up any of these issues now, I fear you would unleash a torrent of resentments, assumptions, and rebukes that you might later regret. I dont doubt that his industry is deeply compromised, and I share your opinion of his decision to exploit a home-buying program meant to help poor families, but I dont think it necessarily follows that everything your brother does is an attempt to make you feel bad. You also do not have to be genuinely happy for his good fortune. Thats not an emotional goal you need to set for yourself. It also might be worth questioning whether your brother is consciously attempting to lord this over youwhether everything he does is bad because hes made some seriously selfish choicesor whether hes simply sharing something hes excited about.

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Help! My Girlfriend Doesnt Respect Our Safe Word During Sex.

Danny M. Lavery is joined by Annalee Newitz on this weeks episode of the Dear Prudence podcast.

Subscribe to the Dear Prudence Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Dear Prudence,

For five years, I basically raised my boyfriends girls, Kelsey and Kendra. The mother was not in the picture. My relationship with their father grew toxic and abusive. Their father put me in the hospital. I pressed charges, he pleaded out to a year in jail, and his mother took the girls. I was never allowed to say goodbye. They were in elementary school then, and they are grown now. My heart has been scarred, but I later met a wonderful man and now have three sons of my own.

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Kendra recently reached out to me, and the conversation went south quickly. She accused me of abandoning her and her sister. Her father never got help and ended up in and out of jail. She also accused me of faking my assault and other vile things. I was so shaken that I couldnt pick up the keys to my car. I feel such guilt, even though I know there was nothing I could have done differently. I ended up blocking Kendra on social media after she repeatedly tried to contact my family. Now Kelsey is reaching out. She doesnt act like her sister, but they are closeshe just wants to understand. I dearly loved these girls once, but all this has made the memories come back. I am having nightmares. My husband tells me I dont owe them anything. I dont know what else I can do here.

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Didnt Fake It

What a bewildering, awful reminder of the abuse you suffered at your exs hands, and all the more awful for coming from an unexpected quarter. Im so sorry. Kendra made it very clear she is not interested in having a real conversation or in acknowledging your history of abuse. You did right to block her. I dont know what your response has been to your husbands assertion that you dont owe Kendra and Kelsey anything. It may be that, given your history, you feel as if you do. If you dont find language of obligation or debt useful here, allow me to provide an alternative. You have loved Kendra and Kelsey, and you lost contact with them against your will. Your relationship with these girls was severed as a direct result of your ex-boyfriends abuse. You dont know, and cannot control, what the girls were told about you while they were growing up. It may be that an honest and loving conversation about the past would prove healing and meaningful to all of you, but if that is not possible, as Kendra has shown, then you shouldnt put yourself in harms way.

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If Kelsey is unable or unwilling to denounce her sisters position, then it would not be possible for the two of you to have a real conversation that might increase her understanding of what happened when she was a child. You may decide that you are not interested in such a conversation even if Kelsey were willing to do so, on the grounds that further contact with her would bring you closer into Kendras orbit (and possibly other members of this abusive family) and endanger your hard-fought peace. That would be understandable. Given that Kelsey and Kendra are close, it seems like Kelsey is simply applying different tactics in order to relitigate the same question, and keeping your distance might be the best (even the only!) thing you can do here.

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Dear Prudence Uncensored

It doesnt necessarily follow that if he gets excited about revarnishing his floors that its the moral equivalent of throwing a kindergartener out the window.

Danny Lavery and Christian Brown discuss a letter in this weeks Dear Prudence Uncensoredonly for Slate Plus members.

Dear Prudence,

I am a 20-year-old woman with a friend named Samantha. Weve known each other for three years. I attempted suicide two years ago, and Im still working on healing. Samantha also struggles with depression and is currently in therapy. However, she relies on me for most of her emotional counsel. She will vent about her difficulties and hopeless feelings. I have advised her to share this with her therapist or call a hotline, but she refuses. She often forgets to ask if Im in a stable mental state before she starts to vent. When I try to set a boundary with her, she bottles things up and spirals further. Samantha has told me that I make her life better. She used to have a crush on me (which has passed) and calls me her closest friend, but I dont reciprocate. I dont want to abandon her since Ive been in a similar situation and it is very difficult, but I cannot continue relapsing and being miserable. Can you help me?

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Conflicted

Im so sorry; this sounds like a terribly painful situation. Its clear that you want to do right by Samantha without sacrificing your own well-being, and I do believe thats possible. Lets start with your use of the word abandon here. Telling someone repeatedly, as you have, that you are not available to discuss serious emotional crises or bouts of hopelessness on demand due to your own history with suicidal ideation is a reasonable and caring thing to do. If that someone ignores that boundary not once but many times, and as a result you scale back on your friendship, that is not abandonment. That is sanity! Thats the best way for you to be as kind toward yourself as you have been toward Samantha, and its the best way to honor your ideals about what friendship ought to be. As you yourself have tried to point out, she has a therapist of her own and other possible sources of support; shes also known for quite some time that the nature of your relationship is difficult and painful for you. This is not new, shocking information. When youve tried to set this boundary in the past, you say that Samantha bottles things up and spirals further. The silver lining there is that it does not sound like Samantha calls you repeatedly or tries to argue you out of your position, which is a hopeful sign for her future progress.

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The key to making these boundaries stick in the present is to consider what kind of support you might need to keep yourself from rushing in to fix things the next time she bottles up. Telling her you can no longer have these one-sided conversations does not necessarily mean she is going to start having them with her therapist right away. She may very well continue to struggle before she tries another solution. Who can you turn to for support in such an instance? How can you remind yourself that you are not the only form of help that Samantha has available to her? Developing a plan of your own, even if its just a list of people you can call for reassurance, will help you prioritize your own well-being in a moment when all of your habits and instincts are telling you, Drop everything and call her! You have to do it, or else youre abandoning someone to suffer in the very way you suffered three years ago. Those voices may be powerful, but they are very much mistaken. Loving with limits is a good thing, not abandonment. Any voice that tells you otherwise, whether it comes from a friend or inside your own head, is very much in the wrong.

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Now available in your podcast player: the audiobook edition of Danny M. Laverys latest book, Something That May Shock and Discredit You. Get it from Slate.

Dear Prudence,

Im a college senior, and Im supposed to graduate in May, and Im terrified. There are no jobs in my field in my area, so I know Im going to have to move. I lived on my own for about three months, and it was a categorical disaster. Ive lived at home for the rest of the time Ive been in college. I plan on moving to an area where a lot of my family lives (and where jobs are aplenty), but I still feel stuck. I dont even know where to begin. My parents arent much help, and I cant break the news to them until right before it happens. The whole process seems so overwhelming that I often push it to the back of my mind, but D-Day is looming closer. Do you have any advice?

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Deer in the Headlights

You dont have to turn to your parents for help, but if you dont know where to begin, Id start by sharing your concerns with someone in your colleges career development office, if you have one. The alumni association, your academic adviser, and campus counseling services are all good options too. No one of them will be able to address every element of your conundrum, but taking it apart piece by piece and tackling one issue at a time will go a long way toward making graduation feel less like the event horizon of a black hole. It may also help to get a second opinion on some of the conclusions youve drawn while youve been panicking in silence! Thats not to say you have to mistrust your every instinct, but you should certainly be running decisive statements like There are no jobs in my field in my area, so I know Im going to have to move past a few other people to see if they can catch anything you may have missed. One of the few upsides to the pandemic has been the increased availability of remote work. Maybe someone in the career development office can help you look for relevant entry-level jobs that would enable you to stay in your current city for the time being. You may very well be right, but even if all you get from others is confirmation, youll still have more support and counsel as you try to tackle your problems.

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Classic Prudie

Before he met me, my husband was engaged to another woman who passed away only weeks before their wedding. Her mother contacted my husband with an upsetting story of her daughter appearing in her dreams repeatedly. The mother believes the spirit of her daughter is tormented and unable to pass over because she has unfulfilled business, namely the wedding which never occurred. The mother has asked my husband to take part in some creepy spiritual wedding ceremony so that her daughter can find peace and enter the afterworld. After he said no in the nicest possible way, she has continued to pester and plead with him. Now he thinks he should just do it for the sake of putting an elderly grieving woman at peace. While I dont believe in such superstition I find it weird and plain wrong for my husband to marry another woman, even if she has been dead for years. We have been fighting over this insane issue. Am I being stubborn or am I right in thinking this is twisted and inappropriate?
Indore girl creates record after getting admission in college at age of 13

India

oi-Briti Roy Barman

Bhopal, Feb 04: Tanishka Sujit from Madhya Pradesh has created history by pursuing BA at the age of 13 at an Indore college. She cleared her 12th class examination in 2020 while she was 12-year-old.

She was directly promoted to 10th standard from fifth standard and later from 10th standard to 12th standard after the state education department made special provision for seeing her extra-ordinary abilities and skills.

After passing the 10th and 12th class exams, Tanishka made it to the India Book of Records and Asia Book of Records respectively.

As there is no such provision in the education policy of Madhya Pradesh that would allow any student to jump classes, Tanishka's parents had to struggle to get special permission.

Sujit and Anubha used to run a small school in Indore but they never taught their daughter in their school, fearing that people might question her abilities.

Unfortunately, Tanishka's father recently passed away due to COVID-19.

"My mother used to go to Bhopal and requested the education department authorities to promote me directly to class 10th from class 5th. This took around one year and during that period I cleared 6th class examinations as well. I am one of a kind student in Madhya Pradesh who has jumped classes and is now studying in college at such a young age," Tanishka Sujit told ANI.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

"My mother used to go to Bhopal and requested the education department authorities to promote me directly to class 10th from class 5th. This took around one year and during that period I cleared 6th class examinations as well. I am one of a kind student in Madhya Pradesh who has jumped classes and is now studying in college at such a young age," Tanishka Sujit told ANI.

Tanishka says she wants to become a justice.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 15:32 [IST]
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

Gov. Jared Polis is calling for the Biden administration to reconsider U.S. Space Commands impending move away from Colorado Springs and to keep the Bureau of Land Management headquartered in Grand Junction.

Polis, Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that the decision to relocate U.S. Space Command to Huntsville, Ala., could undermine our countrys ability to respond to national security threats in space if allowed to continue without review.

In former President Donald Trumps waning days in office, his administration selected Redstone Arsenal, an Army installation in Huntsville, over five other finalists to serve as Space Command's new home base. Among those finalists was Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, which has served as the commands headquarters since it was re-established in 2019, and before that from 1985 to 2002.

The Colorado Springs base is set to continue to serve as Space Commands headquarters through 2026 but Polis, Primavera, Suthers and the coalition cited concerns over transparency, impartiality, and bias in the decision to relocate the command to Alabama.

There is evidence that President Trumps political considerations influenced the timing and final decision, the group wrote in its letter to Austin. This decision and this process cannot stand unreviewed without the risk of stain on this new administration.

Polis also knocked the challenges and missteps taken by the Trump administration in relocating the Bureau of Land Managements headquarters to Grand Junction, but said in a separate letter to President Joe Biden the federal agency should remain in Colorado.

This move was done not without challenges and missteps by the prior administration, Polis said in the letter. While some argue that the flawed implementation was disruptive to the BLM workforce, reversing this move now would only lead to further disruption and waste taxpayer funds, have damaging impacts to local communities in Colorado, and would hurt and displace the over 100 employees and families who now call Colorado home.

The Trump administrations decision to move BLM away from Washington drew criticism from some who said the move was intended to weaken the agency. Biden declined to comment on a potential move back to Washington while on the campaign trail.

Polis letter comes after Colorados federal Senate delegation and Republican House members also sent letters to Biden urging him to keep BLM headquartered in Grand Junction.
Legislature sources told PTI that Patole handed over his resignation to deputy speaker Narhari Zhirwal on Thursday

Mumbai: Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Nana Patole, tipped to be the next chief of the state unit of the Congress, resigned from his post on Thursday.

Legislature sources said Patole handed over his resignation to deputy speaker Narhari Zhirwal.

Patole, the MLA from Sakoli in Bhandara district, is likely to replace revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat as state Congress president soon, according to party sources.

The Congress shares power with the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra. A delegation of Congress ministers, headed by Thorat, had recently met the party leadership in Delhi.

The budget session of the state legislature is to begin from 1 March.

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HAMILTON, Bermuda, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Seadrill Limited ("Seadrill" or the "Company") (OSE:SDRL,OTCQX:SDRLF) announces that it has entered into a forbearance agreement with certain creditors in respect of nine out of the group's twelve senior secured credit facility agreements.

The purpose of the forbearance agreement is to allow the Company and its stakeholders more time to finalise negotiations on the head terms of a comprehensive restructuring of its balance sheet. Such a restructuring may involve the use of a court-supervised process. The Company continues to evaluate capital structure proposals from its financial stakeholders; whilst no agreement has been reached at this point it is expected that potential solutions will lead to significant equitization of debt which is likely to result in minimal or no recovery for current shareholders.

Pursuant to the forbearance agreement, the consenting creditors have agreed not to exercise any voting rights to, or otherwise take actions, in respect of certain events of default that may arise under those senior secured credit facility agreements as a result of the group not making certain interest payments, until and including the earlier of 15 February 2021 and any termination of the forbearance agreement.

Forbearance has not yet been agreed with respect to certain events of default or termination events that may arise under the three remaining senior secured credit agreements, the Company's New Secured Notes, leasing arrangements for the West Hercules, West Linus and West Taurus and a bilateral guarantee facility with Danske Bank. Without a forbearance in respect of these arrangements, a non-payment of interest or other amounts due under the senior secured credit agreements, the Company's New Secured Notes and/or the leasing arrangements could result in the creditors under these arrangements having the right to accelerate or otherwise enforce their rights under them.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes forward looking statements. Such statements are generally not historical in nature, and specifically include statements about the Company's plans, strategies, business prospects, changes and trends in its business, the markets in which it operates and its restructuring efforts. These statements are made based upon management's current plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risks described from time to time in the Company's regulatory filings and periodical reporting. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the impact of each such factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward looking statement.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

For further information, please contact:

Media questions should be directed to:

Iain Cracknell

Director of Communications

+44 (0)7765 221 812

Analyst questions should be directed to:

Hawthorn Advisors

[email protected]

+44 (0)203 7454960

CONTACT:

[email protected]

020 3745 4960

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/seadrill-limited/r/sdrl---seadrill-announces-forbearance-agreements,c3279219

SOURCE Seadrill Limited
The debate about whether it is right for Gospel artistes to collaborate with secular musicians has been reignited again.

The discussion has heated up after Gospel musician Celestine Donkor featuring secular musicians Akwaboah and Efya on her song Thank You, Yedawase.



While some Gospel artistes have expressed disapproval saying believers did not need to be yoked with unbelievers, a section of the public believes that there should be no discrimination in God since He is for everyone.



And veteran Gospel artiste Helena Rhabbles has waded into the controversy saying secular acts should not be condemned because not all of them are indecent.



According to her, there are some good Christians among the secular artistes. One thing I know is that not all secular artistes are indecent, there are some who are good Christians and love God.



"So it will be wrong for anyone to generalise that putting any secular act on your song is not good. However, it comes down to the person you are featuring. You need to ask yourself who you are and what you stand for.



"Then you check the person you are putting on the song. Who is that person? What does the person stand for? Whatever it is, does it align with yours? If you are able to answer in the affirmative then it is ok to have that person on but if not then I dont see the need to have the person.



"This is important because whether you like it or not, whoever you put on the song will affect you in one way or the other, she told Graphic Showbiz.



Helena Rhabbles also noted that the artiste must scrutinise the verse the person he/she is featuring is bringing on board. "You know what you want, you should not allow just any lyrics on your song.



"You need to know the lyrics the person is adding to yours. Let us not forget that even the bible says we have the right to everything but it is not all that is good for us.



Having lived in the United States for two decades, Aunty Helena as she is affectionately called, advised artistes to be accepted in Ghana before going abroad.



I will advise that before anyone comes to launch an album in the states or a single, the person should work on the song being well received in Ghana first.



"This is because most often, people outside call Ghana to ask if they have heard of the song or album you have launched there. So, it is easy to cross borders if your song is well received in Ghana.









Source: Graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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AUSTIN, Texas and PURCHASE, N.Y., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the need for economic relief and assistance continues to grow around the world, so do the complexities and challenges in meeting those needs. Mastercard and Oracle hope to change that through the launch of an automated, end-to-end solution to help governments, non-profits and financial services firms streamline the delivery of economic assistance around the world.

The new integrated Oracle and Mastercard solution automates the process of helping those in need  from determining program eligibility to the accurate and timely distribution of funds, in turn removing inefficiencies, reducing operational costs, and enhancing fraud prevention.

The Mastercard and Oracle solution offers several key features that meet the disbursement needs of many financial assistance programs:

Eligibility Determination: Sophisticated rules-driven eligibility determination and payment calculations capabilities are established by Oracle Service.

Sophisticated rules-driven eligibility determination and payment calculations capabilities are established by Oracle Service. Eligibility Verification : Interactive wizards, secure digital uploads and video conferencing allow constituents to confirm the documentation and steps required to verify eligibility, and to prove that they meet requirements in the absence of in-person interactions amid the pandemic.

: Interactive wizards, secure digital uploads and video conferencing allow constituents to confirm the documentation and steps required to verify eligibility, and to prove that they meet requirements in the absence of in-person interactions amid the pandemic. Application Process : A digital, rules-driven application process for benefit programs is accessible anywhere, anytime.

: A digital, rules-driven application process for benefit programs is accessible anywhere, anytime. Online Access: Online and mobile self-service portals deliver highly personalized and automated advice.

Online and mobile self-service portals deliver highly personalized and automated advice. Funds Access: Providing choice, flexibility and convenience, recipients can select their preferred payment method, whether through virtual or physical prepaid cards or to their debit cards via Mastercard Send, which facilitates near real-time* push to card payments backed by the network security of Mastercard's debit technologies.

In 2020, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti launched the Angeleno Card Program in partnership with the Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles to provide direct financial assistance to families hit hardest by the pandemic. The City worked with Mastercard and Oracle on a solution to streamline the verification and eligibility of people applying for support, and in three months, the program distributed more than 35,000 cards to households across Los Angeles, serving more than 100,000 people with over $36 million in direct financial assistance. Following the success of the initial pilot, Mastercard and Oracle are now working to replicate the solution in other cities across the United States and around the world.

"We empathize with the complex challenges faced by governments mobilizing to deliver relief in a timely fashion," said Rob Tarkoff, executive vice president, Oracle Advertising and Customer Experience. "By joining forces with Mastercard, we are bringing together decades of public sector expertise, Oracle's powerful, automated self-service, eligibility and case management capabilities and Mastercard's innovations in digital payments. The result is that it is now easier than ever for governments to prioritize scarce funds and bring immediate assistance to those who need it most."

"The pandemic has underscored the need for governments and organizations to streamline and digitize the disbursement process to ensure that qualifying residents receive relief payments quickly and securely," said Miguel Gamino, executive vice president, Enterprise Partnerships and Head of Global Cities at Mastercard. "By pairing our secure and innovative solutions with Oracle, we can enable economic assistance programs at scale and deliver payment solutions that are both cost-effective and fast, in turn supporting those in need."

*Actual posting times for approved transactions will depend on the receiving financial institution.

About Oracle

Oracle offers suites of integrated applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com.

About Mastercard

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.

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Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has signed three MoUs with Turkmenistan aimed at strengthening economic and development cooperation through investment in vital sectors that would benefit the economies of both countries.

The first MoU involved the establishment of an investment company in Turkmenistan with a target capital of AED370 million ($100 million), whereby investment opportunities and development projects are to be presented for ADFDs considerations, said the statement from ADFD.

In the initial stage, ADFD and Turkmenistan will contribute AED58.7 million ($16 million) for investment in vital sectors such as energy, agriculture, tourism and industry. This amount will be shared equally by the two parties.

According to the agreement, the Turkmen government will present project proposals to ADFD for financing, after which the Fund will take its decision based on its feasibility assessments.

The second MoU provides for studying the possibility of investing in a project to establish a chemical industry complex in Turkmenistan for AED642.7 million ($175 million) to produce polyvinyl acetate.

The third MoU creates the possibility to study opportunities to finance infrastructure projects in various sectors, including renewable energy and air transport, thereby promote cooperation between ADFD and Turkmenistan.

ADFD Director-General Mohamed Saif Al Suwaidi signed these MoUs with Rahimberdi Jepbarov, Chairman of the Board of the State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan; in the presence of Berdiniyaz Matiyev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan; Ahmed Alhay Alhameli, Ambassador of the UAE to Turkmenistan; Serdarmammet Garajaev, Ambassador of Turkmenistan to UAE and several other officials from both sides.

"The MoU reflects ADFDs keenness to expand its investment and economic partnerships with the government of Turkmenistan," stated Al Suwaidi.

"They also represent a quantum leap in the economic cooperation between the UAE and Turkmenistan," he added.

He pointed out that the two-decade relationship between ADFD and Turkmenistan was founded on trust and mutual respect.

"The Fund has been working as a strategic partner of Turkmenistan for about 20 years to meet sustainable development goals. The MoUs will further contribute towards achieving development priorities of both sides through meaningful investments," he stated.

Ambassador of Turkmenistan praised the UAE over the constructive role it played through ADFD in financing infrastructure projects in developing countries.

He pointed out that the MoUs would strengthen bilateral relations. "They will create new economic opportunities for us, which will help us to drive the growth of economies of the two countries," he said.

Abu Dhabi Fund seeks to forge strategic partnerships with various countries and contribute to their economies by financing development projects, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
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While it may look like a typical heritage facade, behind the front door of this old worker's cottage lies a spectacular family home that has just been named one of the best in Australia.

The Best of Houzz Awards 2021 dubbed Balmain House in Sydney one of the best homes in the country this year, thanks to its seamless blend of an old front with a modern interior and rear, and the house's distinct glass walkway that connects the two sections.

The entertainer's home boasts four bedrooms, two impressive bathrooms and a central courtyard with a glass walkway to the master bedroom retreat.

While it may look like a typical heritage facade, behind the front door of this old worker's cottage (pictured) lies a spectacular family home that has just been named one of the best in Australia

The Best of Houzz Awards 2021 dubbed Balmain House in Sydney one of the best in the country this year, thanks to its seamless blend of an old front with a modern interior and rear, and the house's glass walkway that connects the two sections

The home has been dubbed an entertainer's paradise, thanks to the fact that it has spaces where you can entertain guests that are both indoors and outdoors (pictured)

Renovated in 2013 by acclaimed architect Justin Loe, the property has gone on to win countless awards and it has even been showcased on Australia's Best Houses on TV.

'We loved the character of the worker's cottage and wanted to maintain that facade, so we set out to do something quite special behind the front door,' the owners told Domain.

'This includes the glass walkway we created to connect the two sections of the house, which fully opens up so that it becomes an integrated, all-weather, indoor and outdoor space.'

'We loved the character of the worker's cottage and wanted to maintain that facade, so we set out to do something quite special behind the front door,' the owners said (one of the bedrooms pictured)

Renovated in 2013 by acclaimed architect Justin Loe, the property has gone on to win countless awards and it has even been showcased on Australia's Best Houses on TV (kitchen pictured)

Alongside the impressive indoor/outdoor space with a retractable roof and barbecue cooking area, the house on Lawson Street in Balmain also has an open plan stone kitchen and spacious additional loft in one of the bedrooms.

This serves perfectly as a children's bedroom or work from home space.

There is also a wide fireplace in the living room, that means the home is as cosy in the winter as it is open-plan in the summer months.

The Houzz judges praised the fact that the home still boasts its original c1900 freestanding worker's cottage exterior, while being thoroughly modern and kitted in the latest fixtures and fittings inside.

There is also a wide fireplace in the living room, that means the home is as cosy in the winter as it is open-plan in the summer months (pictured)

Alongside the impressive indoor/outdoor space with retractable roof and barbecue cooking area, Balmain House also has an open plan stone kitchen and entertaining space (pictured)

The home has been designed to 'celebrate family and entertaining guests' according to the real estate agent Monique Dower (bedroom pictured)

'This home has been designed to celebrate family and entertaining guests,' real estate agent Monique Dower said.

'It brings everyone together in a central location while also providing division when it's time for work, study or sleep.'

Balmain House sold for $3.2 million in November 2020. For more information, please click here.
The color purple appears several times in the Bible, usually in a robe draping one of the kings of ancient Israel. But the search for an authentic artifact dyed the royal color from the time of King David has always proved elusive.

That changed this week, after researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority, Bar Ilan University and Tel Aviv University said they had identified pieces of fabric dyed true purple dating to the 10th century BCE, when the Hebrew Bible says David and Solomon ruled in Jerusalem.

This is the first piece of textile ever found from the time of David and Solomon that is dyed with the prestigious purple dye, Naama Sukenik, curator of organic material at the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a joint statement.

The three scraps were among several discovered by archaeologists in recent years in the Timna Valley, the site of a vast ancient copper mining operation in southern Israel. Direct carbon dating revealed that the fabrics hark back to about 1000 BCE.

Timna was likely part of the kingdom of Edom, bordering the kingdom of Israel to the south. The biblical Book of Samuel relates how David and his army battled and conquered the Edomites.

The Old and New Testaments mention that David, Solomon, and the priests of the Jewish Temple, as well as Jesus some centuries later, all wore purple garments, and according to ancient sources, purple textiles were highly valued and a symbol of nobility.

Sukenik said that the vast majority of the ancient textiles excavated by archaeologists around the world were dyed with colors derived from plants. But the purple dyes in the Timna Valley find were made from another source: the secretions of mollusks.

The use of animal-based dyes is regarded as much more prestigious, and served as an important indicator for the wearers high economic and social status.

The remnants of the purple-dyed cloth that archaeologists unearthed at Timna are not only the most ancient in Israel, but in the Southern Levant in general, she said. The only other true purple-dyed textiles found in the region were from the Roman period: two from Masada and three from a cave in the Judean Desert.

To determine which mollusk species produced the dyes found on the Timna textiles and how the various hues were created, researchers identified dry molecules belonging to specific sea mollusk species.

Zohar Amar, a professor from Bar Ilan University, traveled to Italy, where mollusks are a favorite dish and therefore plentiful, to help reconstruct the precise origin of the dyes. The process took us back thousands of years, and has allowed us to better understand obscure historical sources associated with the precious colors of azure and purple, Amar said.

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal PLOS ONE, believe that in order to produce the vivid purple and azure (tekhelet) dyes worn by King David and Jesus, biblical-era dyers had to extract tiny amounts of dyestuff from thousands of mollusks, and then exposed it to varying amounts of light. More light produces azure; less light, purple.

Discovering ancient textiles made of perishable organic materials such as wool is exceedingly rare because they decompose quickly. The arid conditions at Timna preserved the fabrics.

As a result of the regions bone-dry climate we are able to recover organic materials such as textile, cords and leather from the Iron Age, from the time of David and Solomon, providing us with a unique glimpse into life in biblical times, said Erez Ben-Yosef, an archaeologist at Tel Aviv University. The state of preservation at Timna is exceptional.

Although archaeologists have not found any permanent settlements in Edomite territory, Ben-Yosef said, the fact that the textiles were discovered there indicates that the nomads who resided there lived in a stratified society and that some people must have had elite status and wealth.

The research at Timna has showed us that even without such buildings, there were kings in our region who ruled over complex societies, formed alliances and trade relations, and waged war on each other.

A nomadic society was not measured in palaces and monuments of stone, he said, but in items that were valued at the time.

Ben-Yosef said this insight can be applied to the kingdom of David, which archaeologists continue to search for. Many believe that excavations conducted near the Old City of Jerusalem have unearthed the palace. Others are less certain.

If the buildings excavated in Jerusalem were built by someone other than David, there is no need for despair, Ben-Yosef said. The wealth of a nomadic society was not measured in palaces and monuments made of stone, but in things that were no less valued in the ancient world, like purple dye.

David may not have expressed his wealth in splendid buildings, he added, but with objects more suited to a nomadic heritage such as textiles and artifacts. It is wrong to assume that if no grand buildings and fortresses have been found, then biblical descriptions of the United Monarchy in Jerusalem must be literary fiction.
By Susan Schurman

Ill never forget walking into Reagan National Airport and seeing my boss, John J. Sweeney, the formidable president of the AFL-CIO, heading for the check-in line by himself.

Normally, anyone of his stature would be surrounded by an entourage of lieutenants and staff. But there he was, all alone, pulling his own suitcase. I walked over to say hello and he immediately asked, Can I take your bag, Sue? I actually laughed out loud and responded, I think I am supposed to take yours, Boss.

Sweeney, who led the nations largest federation of labor unions from 1995 to 2009, but never lost the character and values that made him a regular guy, passed away Monday at the age of 86. His death is a blow to workers in New Jersey and across the country.

The son of working-class immigrants, Sweeney was elected president at a time when the labor movement was confronting the challenges of globalization. American industrial unions were hemorrhaging members, and a resurgent right-wing assault on workers rights to organize and unionize made it increasingly difficult to turn the tide.

Sweeneys steadfast focus on convincing the Federations member unions to return to their roots and organize workers launched the biggest change in the American labor movement since the merger of the AFL and the CIO in 1955. He also led unions away from the Cold War obsession with anti-communism toward support for democracy around the world.

Committed to diversity, Sweeney hired women and historically underrepresented minorities into leadership positions on his staff. Despite pressure to hire one of the good ole boys, he chose me, a 50-year-old gay woman, to serve as founding president of the AFL-CIOs premier training center, the National Labor College, from 1997 to 2007. It grew from a small labor studies center into a fully-accredited, degree-granting institution because of his unqualified support for improving workers access to higher education.

On a personal level, Sweeney was the most impressive boss I ever worked for. Unfailingly respectful, fair, and willing to listen to new ideas and differing opinions. He stood up for the rights of workers, especially low-wage workers, and he never let his lofty position go to his head.

I remember bumping into Sweeney at Baltimores Pimlico Race Course one year before the Preakness Stakes. Again, no entourage. Just Sweeney walking around by himself, talking with workers, because thats what he did. We ended up wandering around the track together, sampling offerings at the drinks tent, and betting. We both lost.

But thats the kind of guy he was: a labor leader who would show up at events, large and small, all over the country, if he felt workers would appreciate his being there. Sweeney was imbued with the ethos of Catholic social justice teachings. These values governed his life and work, and he never strayed.

May you rest in peace John, knowing that, through your work, the torch has passed to another generation and, through us, will be passed again. Solidarity Forever!

Susan Schurman is a Distinguished Professor and former Dean of the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

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Liberal senator James Paterson will take over as chair of Federal Parliaments powerful intelligence and security committee as it looks to begin hearings into right-wing extremism and foreign interference at Australian universities.

Senator Paterson will replace Western Australian MP Andrew Hastie, who was appointed Assistant Minister for Defence in Prime Minister Scott Morrisons cabinet reshuffle in December.

Liberal senator James Paterson will head Parliaments powerful security and intelligence committee. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The Victorian senator is known as a hawk on China and along with Mr Hastie was a driving force behind the Wolverines, a bipartisan group established to speak up against Chinas growing assertiveness.

He named the inquiry into violent extremism and a review into foreign interference in Australian universities as key priorities for his first year in the role.
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BRIDGEPORT  A local man is charged with sexually assaulting a Waterbury woman he met online.

Miguel Rodriguez, 28, of North Avenue, was charged Sunday with first-degree sexual assault and second-degree unlawful restraint.

He was being held in lieu of $50,000 bond.

Police said on Sunday morning, officers were dispatched to a home on Bridgeports North Avenue. A woman complained on the phone she had been raped in the house but had managed to lock herself in the bathroom, police said.

When officers arrived at the house, police said they were met by a man later identified as Rodriguez who told them that a woman he had brought home the previous night had locked herself in the bathroom and was falsely claiming she had been raped.

Police said officers managed to convince the woman to come out of the bathroom. Once out, she was taken to Bridgeport Hospital for evaluation.

They said she told them she had met Rodriguez through a dating app and after messaging each other for several weeks, she had agreed to let him pick her up at her Waterbury home Saturday night.

She said they had gone back to Rodriguezs home where they drank and watched movies, police said. But at some point, Rodriguez allegedly jumped on the woman, ripped off her clothes, choked and raped her, police said the woman told them.

The woman said she managed to grab her phone and run into the bathroom, police said.
South Africa: N Cape to start vaccinating frontline workers next week

The first Coronavirus shots in the Northern Cape will be given next week, as South Africa gears up for the biggest vaccination campaign in its history.

Premier Dr Zamani Saul said the distribution of the first batch of vaccines, which landed at OR Tambo International Airport on Monday, will be delivered to the province between 7 and 9 February 2021.

This means that the vaccination of healthcare workers, in line with the phased approach of the vaccine rollout plan, will kick-start on 10 February.

Saul revealed this during the Provincial COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Plan briefing on Thursday.

The 14 000 vaccines doses, expected to be delivered by Biovac early next week, will be distributed to 10 000 patient-facing personnel from the public healthcare workers, while 4 000 will go to the private sector.

The additional vaccines will be used to immunise the remaining healthcare employees, followed by the categories identified in phases two and three.

According to the Premier, the distribution of the vaccine will follow the three-phase approach, focusing on the most vulnerable.

Phase one will focus on 14 000 frontline healthcare workers at 15 vaccination centres, while the second instalment is aimed at essential workers, people in congregate settings, pensioners and those with underlying health conditions.

Phase three will focus on the remaining population," said Saul.

The inoculation of government frontline workers is expected to be wrapped up by the end of March, while the private sector will run a parallel process.

Saul said the access to the COVID-19 vaccine is high on governments agenda.

Thats our priority number one, particularly with regards to protecting our frontline workers, he said, adding that the countrys target is to inoculate 67% of the population by the end of 2021.

In the province, government aims to immunise 900 000 citizens by the end of the year to reach herd immunity.

Security and training

Meanwhile, government is leaving nothing to chance, as preparations are underway to safeguard the in-demand lifesaving vaccines.

The transportation to and security of primary distribution sites in the provinces, including the Northern Cape, will be done by vehicles fitted by tracking systems and escorted by Fidelity Armed Response and SAPS, Saul told the media.

The province has since trained about 245 staffers the provincial Department of Health who will be responsible for all vaccination sites through the South African Vaccination and Immunisation Centre.

He said the rollout will be led by a Vaccine Task Team, managed by the Head of Pharmaceutical Services, comprising clinical and non-clinical staff, as well as representatives from organised labour.

Freedom of choice

It should be noted that everyone has a choice whether they want to be vaccinated or not. No one will be forced to vaccinate. Its voluntary," said Saul.

However, Saul said vaccination is the best defence to fight serious infections such as COVID-19.

Practice non-pharmaceutical behaviours

Saul has called on citizens to continue to practice non-pharmaceutical behaviours, which include the correct wearing of masks, hand washing with soap and physical distancing.

He said people should also seek prompt medical care when showing symptoms and isolate post-exposure or after receiving a positive test result.

Electronic Vaccine Data System

He also encouraged the health professionals to register on Electronic Vaccine Data System launched on Wednesday.

South Africa officially received its first shipment of one million Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines this week.

The county procured 1.5 million vaccines from the Serum Institute of India (SII), licensed to produce a vaccine that has been developed by the multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, in collaboration with the University of Oxford.

The second batch is scheduled to arrive later in the month from the company, while others are expected to arrive in the next coming months.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

Former Okahandja regional councillor and National Council member Steve Biko Booys was remanded in police custody after making a first court appearance on rape charges yesterday.

Booys (42) made a short appearance before magistrate Kandiwapa Nangombe in the Okahandja Magistrate's Court a day after his arrest on two counts of rape.

In the charges Booys is facing, the state is alleging that he raped a 21-year-old woman at Okahandja on 16 January and also on 17 January. It is also alleged that the complainant was raped while she was affected by intoxicating liquor or a substance that mentally incapacitated her or by sleep.

The magistrate ordered that Booys should remain in custody after public prosecutor Veruka Njembo opposed the granting of bail, due to a fear that Booys would interfere with the investigation of his case if released. Njembo also said it would not be in the public interest or the interest of the administration of justice to have Booys released on bail, as that may send a wrong message to society, taking into account the scale of violence against women in Namibia.

Njembo further said the complainant in the case has made a statement in which she said she was fearing for her safety, which he said was a matter that needed to be investigated.

Defence lawyer Trevor Brockerhoff indicated to the magistrate that Booys would approach the court with an application to be granted bail "when the time is right". He also asked Nangombe to order that Booys should be detained at Seeis Police Station east of Windhoek, rather than at Okahandja, as Booys is "a politically exposed person" and it is feared that his life might be endangered at his hometown.

Booys' case was postponed to 8 April for further investigations to be carried out. Nangombe also directed that he should be detained at Seeis Police Station.

Swapo member Booys was the regional councillor of the Okahandja constituency from 2009 until last year's regional election near the end of November. He also represented the Otjozondjupa region in the National Council from 2015 until he resigned as a member of parliament in March last year to take up the position of Otjozondjupa Regional Council chairperson.
On Nov. 10, amid a surge in coronavirus cases, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order putting limits on bars and restaurants. The most notable of these was a ban on indoor dining after 10 p.m.

Murphy called the numbers at the time devastating. The seven-day average for new cases was 28.91 cases per 100,000 people.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Businesses that are open | Homepage

On Wednesday, as Murphy lifted the ban ahead of Sundays playing of Super Bowl LV, that seven-day average was 40.39 per 100,000.

Thats about 40% higher than when the ban went into effect.

Is the chart not displaying? Click here.

I feel confident in signing this order because of the recent trends in our hospitals and our rate of transmission, Murphy said Wednesday at a new briefing. We believe that we can make this expansion without leading to undue further stress on our health care system.

While the situation is more serious now than when the restrictions were put into place, there have been some positive signs in recent weeks. The seven-day rolling average for new cases peaked on Jan. 13 at 63.94 and has fallen by 37% in the three weeks since.

State hospitalizations hit a second-wave peak of 3,841 on Dec. 23, and have since dropped to 2,986 as of Wednesday.

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Nick Devlin is a reporter on the data & investigations team. He can be reached at ndevlin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @nickdevlin.
The charge d'affaires of the United States Embassy in Bucharest, David Muniz, and the commander of Aviano's 31st Fighter Wing, Brigadier General Jason E. Bailey, visited, on Thursday, the 71st General Emanoil Ionescu Air Base in central-western Campia Turzii, Cluj County, according to AGERPRES.

David Muniz pointed out, on this occasion, that the USA has invested, since 2015, over 143 million dollars in the base at Campia Turzii.

The presence of the US Air Force at Campia Turzii is a telling example of the continued strengthening of the bilateral partnership on matters of security and investment in money, hard work and blood sacrifice that the US and Romania are making to protect this region and the Alliance from current and emerging threats, David Muniz told a news conference.

He thanked, on behalf of President Joe Biden, the Air Force military present for service at the Campia Turzii and also the Romanian Armed Forces for their continued support of the US Forces and the strategic partnership between the two countries.

In his turn, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Major General Dr. Viorel Pana, underlined, in the same press conference, the importance of the Romanian-American cooperation in the field of security.

"Today's activity represents another very important moment, through which we strengthen the cooperation in the field of security, a vital component of Romania's Strategic Partnership with the USA. In the current conditions, and I do not mean the fight we are waging against a still unknown enemy, SARS-CoV-2, but rather to the provocative actions of the various regional actors in the Black Sea area, which have become a commonplace. Ensuring the integrity and sovereignty of the airspace of the members of the North Atlantic Alliance has become an essential peacetime mission and through this deployment we demonstrate an appropriate posture and strengthen the collaboration between allies. The USA and Romania share the same values, as evidenced by the signing of the Romanian-American roadmap by the US Secretary of Defense, Mr. Mark Esper, and Minister of Defense Nicolae Ionel Ciuca, respectively, in October 2020, in Washington," said Viorel Pana.

An MQ-9 Reaper aircraft was presented at the event in a static exhibition.

A detachment consisting of MQ-9 Reaper aircraft and about 90 soldiers belonging to the United States Air Force is being deployed, for the next months, in the 71st General Emanoil Ionescu Air Base in Campia Turzii.

The US military will carry out intelligence, surveillance and research missions in support of NATO operations, and the Romanian Air Force, through the the 71st General Emanoil Ionescu Air Base, will provide the necessary technical, operational and logistical support to carry out missions throughout Romania. .

The presence of US partners on our country's territory represents an opportunity for development, testing and evaluation of combat capability, according to the Ministry of Defense, the joint activities being a key element in increasing the level of interoperability between the two parties.

The collaboration between the United States of America and Romania contributes to the consolidation of the collective defense capability and to enhancing regional security, the Ministry of Defense further mentions.
National Statement Delivered by Ambassador Byrne Nason at UNSC Briefing on Syria - Chemical Weapons

Statement

Thank you very much, indeed Madam President.

I want to offer my congratulations and full support to you in taking on the Presidency of this Council in month of February.

I also would like to thank Under-Secretary General Nakamitsu for her briefing today.

Madam President,

Ireland unequivocally condemns any use of chemical weapons. The international community, and this Council in particular, ought not to remain silent in the face of the use of such weapons. Such violations of international law must not go unaddressed. Accountability is vital.

I would like to make three short points today.

First, I want to reiterate Irelands full confidence in the OPCW, and in the diligence, professionalism and impartiality of its staff.This has been clearly demonstrated in the rigorous work and reporting of the Technical Secretariat, including the Declaration Assessment Team, the Fact-Finding Mission, and the Investigation and Identification Team, in addressing chemical weapons and their use in Syria.

Given the importance of this work Under Secretary-General, I would like to ask you, in relation to the worsening health crisis in Syria as a result of COVID, what do you think is the realistic timeframe for the OPCWs various deployment operations to return to full capacity on the ground in Syria? And how can we minimize the risk that the pandemic is used as a pretext for lack of political will?

My second point is that the the problems that we face in Syria, the gaps and inconsistencies in its initial declaration, and the JIM and IIT reports on chemical weapons use which attributed use to the Syrian authorities in several instances, are issues that we take very seriously.

We believe this Council should act urgently, should act in a united way, to address this issue. Otherwise, we fail the victims of these attacks in Syria, and we risk undermining the established global norm against the use of these appalling weapons.

Finally Madam President, the Syrian authorities bear the responsibility, the immediate responsibility, to fulfill their obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and Security Council Resolutions, and to cooperate actively, openly and in good faith with the OPCW.

The OPCW Executive Council has set out the actions Syria needs to take to return to full compliance with the CWC. I regret that Syria did not respond in the timeframe envisaged by the Executive Council and now I urge Syria to take immediate action on these.

In the absence of these, Ireland will support action by the Conference of States Parties to the CWC to address Syrias non-compliance.

Thank you

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Drugs, prostitutes, shady dealings, a quickie marriage  President Joe Biden's son Hunter is too easily depicted as sleaze in human form.

Who else would have left his wife and jumped into bed with his recently departed brother's widow only for her to end the affair when he got a stripper pregnant?

Is it only Hunter who could have received two special waivers to join the military and be commissioned at a special ceremony in the White House, but then blow his chance on his very first day when a blood test came back positive for cocaine?

Who but Hunter who could receive a diamond from a would-be Chinese business partner whose existence would come to light in divorce papers?

Now the president's son is getting to tell his side of his unsavory life  warts and all  in a book that could embarrass his father even further, less than three months into his term in the Oval Office.

Beautiful Things  the as yet unexplained title of Biden's tome  promises to center on his well-publicized struggles with substance abuse according to Gallery Books, an imprint of publishers Simon & Schuster.

Its April 6 release was announced Thursday, Hunter's 51st birthday.

Biden is likely to have received an advance of up to $2 million for writing the book and stands to make millions more if he allows his life story to be filmed. Robert Downey Jr. has already been mentioned as the ideal person to play him on the silver screen.

Memoir: Hunter Biden's book Beautiful Things, being published in April, was acquired by Simon & Schuster in the fall, at the height of concerns over the contents of his laptop which revealed his business dealings in China and Ukraine and showed him apparently smoking crack

In a snippet released by Gallery, Biden writes in his book, 'I come from a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love.' Hunter and his sister Ashley hugged Joe and Jill Biden after he was sworn in as president

Infamous: The picture of Hunter Biden in bed with what appears to be a crack pipe emerged from his laptop around the same time as he signed his book deal

Already author Stephen King, who knows a thing or two about horror, is praising the book, calling it 'a harrowing and compulsively readable memoir.'

'Hunter Biden proves again that anybody  even the son of a United States President  can take a ride on the pink horse down nightmare alley,' King writes in a publicity blurb.

'Biden remembers it all and tells it all with a bravery that is both heartbreaking and quite gorgeous. He starts with a question: Where's Hunter? The answer is he's in this book, the good, the bad, and the beautiful.'

Fellow authors Dave Eggers, who wrote his own memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and Anne Lamott, who has written about her battle with alcoholism, have also lauded the book.

In a snippet released by Gallery, Biden writes in the book, 'I come from a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love.'

And certainly that part is true, Hunter has witnessed the deaths of his mother, sister and brother and despite all his troubles his father has always stood by him.

'My son, like a lot of people, like a lot of people you know at home, had a drug problem,' Biden said during a presidential debate with Donald Trump last September. 'He's overtaken it. He's fixed it. He's worked on it, and I'm proud of him. I'm proud of my son.'

The White House issued a statement Thursday from Joe and Jill Biden echoing that sentiment.

But Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary avoided answering whether the book was subject to government clearance.

Biden and the White House have promised that his family would not benefit from his administration, and already Kamala Harris' niece Maya Harris' has been warned against further moves to cash in on her family name, which have included a book about her aunt and a clothing range.

Asked about Maya Harris last week, Psaki said: 'It's the White House's policy that the president's name should not be used in connection with any commercial activities to suggest or in any way, in any way they could reasonably be understood to imply his endorsement or support.'

But Thursday she changed tone on Hunter, reading the statement, from the Bidens which said: 'We admire our son Hunter's strength and courage to talk openly about his addiction so that others might see themselves in his journey and find hope.

'This is a personal book about his personal struggle.'

But now the question remains: How true-to-life will the rest of Hunter's book be to that 'struggle?' Will it reflect honestly on the numerous scandals that have surrounded him or will it just put a gloss on the sordid doings of a man who would most likely be shunned by polite society if he weren't the First Son of the United States?

Hunter Biden's life got off to a dire start. He was just two when his mother Neilia and his younger sister Naomi were killed when their station wagon was T-boned by an 18-wheeler at an intersection as the family went Christmas shopping.

Hunter and older brother Beau were in the car and seriously injured.

Who could play him? Robert Downey Jr. has already been floated as a big-screen version. He too has battled drugs in public

Six weeks later Joe Biden was sworn in after winning election to the Senate for the first time. He took his oath of office in the hospital so he could be near his little boys.

In the years that followed, Hunter had all the advantages of being the offspring of a well-connected father. He graduated law school and got a job with a bank holding company that had strong ties to then-Senator Biden. He rose to the rank of executive vice president.

Next he was a lobbyist, then he got a position in the Department of Commerce during Bill Clinton's presidency. In 2006 George W. Bush appointed him to a five-year term on the Amtrak board of directors, a post he left when his father was elected vice-president.

Hunter Biden seemed to have it all. He was married with three daughters, living in a chic section of Washington, D.C., but in 2013 his life started to unravel in spectacular fashion.

He was commissioned into the Navy Reserve as a public relations officer. He had to get two special waivers, one due to his age and one because of a previous drug incident. He called it 'the honor of his life.' His father joked: 'We have a lot of bad judgment in my family. My son, who is over 40, just joined the United States Navy.'

But on his first day on base in Norfolk, Virginia, he failed a drug test. He claimed he had been given a cigarette which he smoked not knowing it contained cocaine. He was given an administrative discharge in February 2014.

The next year his 46-year-old brother Beau died after a long struggle with brain cancer. Within weeks Hunter and his wife Kathleen split and he moved in with Beau's widow Hallie and her family.

The marriage's end came when he downed a whole bottle of vodka. Kathleen knew he had battled alcohol addiction for years and had always told him that if he started drinking again, it was over between them.

As soon as he moved out, Hunter enrolled in outpatient rehab taking drugs that would make him nauseous if he drank. When that didn't work, he went to an inpatient facility using the pseudonym Hunter Smith for privacy.

Then hackers broke into the data of Ashley Madison, a dating service that encourages married men to cheat, using the slogan 'Life is Short, Have an Affair'.

Among the names discovered was Robert Biden  Hunter is his middle name. Though Hunter initially denied it was him, it was the final blow for his long-suffering wife and she gave up any last hope of saving their 22-year marriage.

New life: Hunter Biden came to Joe Biden's inauguration with his second wife, Melissa Cohen, and his baby son Beau - named for his dead brother - as well as his three daughters from his first marriage. navy, his two-year-old daughter with stripper Lunden Roberts, 29, was not present nor was her mother

Public life: Hunter Biden (center) has been part of a family in the public eye almost since his birth along with his late brother Beau (left), stepmother Jill (far left), and sister Ashley (right)

Past: Hunter Biden became so addicted to illicit sexual thrills that he once spent $11,400 on a single night of debauchery at a New York strip club and shelled out more than $21,000 to one adult 'live cam' adult website

It didn't take him long to move in with his sister-in-law. 'Hallie and I are incredibly lucky to have found the love and support we have for each other in such a difficult time, and that's been obvious to the people who love us most,' he said when his new romance was discovered. 'We've been so lucky to have family and friends who have supported us every step of the way.'

PUBLISHER SIGNED UP DONALD TRUMP, HIS NIECE MARY AND NOW HUNTER BUT DUMPED JOSH HAWLEY Simon & Schuster has released books by Donald Trump and Sean Hannity, along with such anti-Trump bestsellers as former National Security Advisor John Bolton's 'The Room Where It Happened' and presidential niece Mary Trump's 'Too Much and Never Enough.' The publisher signed up a book last fall by a leading Trump supporter in Washington, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, but dropped it in the wake of Hawley's support for the Jan. 6 protest that led to the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who wrongly believed that the president had been reelected. Advertisement

Whether Kathleen was one of those who was so overjoyed by his new relationship is unknown, she has never commented publicly. But in her divorce papers she held nothing back about the rest of his life.

'Throughout the parties' separation, Mr. Biden has created financial concerns for the family by spending extravagantly on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs, and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations) while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate bills,' she said.

Still the hits kept coming. On October 28, 2016, just days before Trump would beat Hillary Clinton and win the White House, Hunter returned a rented silver Jeep Compass to Hertz at Prescott Airport in Arizona.

Kathleens divorce papers also referred to a 2.8 carat diamond that Ye Jianming, the head of a Chinese energy company had given Hunter. She called it one of his personal indulgences, although he claimed he had given it away in case it was seen as a possible bribe.

In it he left his cell phone and a wallet containing two driver's licenses both in the name Robert Biden, Beau's old attorney general badge, credit cards and a Secret Service business card.

A glass pipe  which tested positive for cocaine  and a bag of white powder were also found inside the Jeep, which was littered with 'white powdery substance.' Hertz reported it to the police but Arizona authorities decided against prosecuting Hunter because there were no fingerprints on the pipe that could definitively tie him to it.

He later said he was on his way to another stint in rehab in Sedona, Arizona. He landed in Los Angeles and realized he had left his wallet on the plane. While waiting for it to be returned he went to Pershing Square and asked a homeless man where he could buy crack.

On the drive to Arizona 'a large barn owl 'flew over the hood of the car and then seemed to follow him, dropping in front of the headlights,' causing him to lose control and crash.

He says he is still not sure if the owl was real or a drug-induced hallucination,

Missing: Lunden Roberts, Hunter Biden's stripper baby-mama, and their daughter Navy - who he fought against recognizing and supporting - was not at the inauguration

Hunter and Hallie split in 2019. No reason was given but the family claimed it was amicable. Within days though a likely cause was revealed. Lunden Roberts, a former college basketball star filed suit saying Biden was the father of her year-old child.

Biden cast doubt on Roberts's story, others believed him. After all, how would the vice president's son have met the daughter of a gun shop owner from Southside, Arkansas?

The answer soon became clear. Roberts had worked under the stage-name Dallas at the all-nude Mpire Gentlemen's Club in the nation's capital to help pay her way through George Washington University.

It was just the sort of place his wife had said he frequented. Suddenly Kathleen's claim about how Hunter wasted the family's money began to look more like the truth and less of a wild allegation made in the heat of a bitterly contested divorce.

Biden fought tooth and nail, claiming in court that Roberts's daughter, who she called Navy Joan, was not his. But as in his case involving another Navy, science was his downfall. A paternity test proved he was the dad.

But Hunter moved on. He met South African film-maker Melissa Cohen, who is 17 years younger. They married in a hush-hush rooftop ceremony on May 16, 2019 after knowing each other for a little more than a week. Ten months later they had a son.

There are other issues Biden might try to explain in his memoir. Just how did he get to be on the board of the Ukrainian company Burisma, despite having no background in the energy business, and exactly how much was he paid?

And what about that water-damaged computer that he dropped off for repair in Wilmington, Delaware, but never went back to pick up? And what's with those infamous picture of him seemingly asleep with a crack pipe in his mouth or in the bath with a cigarette?

All could be revealed on April 6  or then again, Hunter might gloss over it all and just write a story about 'a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love.'
On Monday, John Hunt Park will be North Alabama's large-scale coronavirus vaccine clinic. This happens the same time more frontline workers and people 65 years and older will be eligible to get the vaccine.

Starting Monday, about 2,000 people will be getting the coronavirus vaccine at John Hunt Park. The CEO of Huntsville Hospital, David Spillers, said they are up for the challenge.

"We feel comfortable we can handle that number of people," he said. "That's probably about 1,000 more than we had anticipated next week, but we're going to staff up and get those done."

Huntsville Hospital will soon be administering three shots every minute at the Jaycee Community Building.

Spillers said the increase in doses will speed up the process of getting people vaccinated.

"We're going to get more people moved up from the schedule of people that have signed up and get those people vaccinated earlier than we would have without those additional doses of the vaccine," said Spillers.

He hopes more locations will soon be able to get the vaccine so it can be accessible to more people, especially with the coronavirus variants.

As of Wednesday, no variants of the coronavirus have been reported in North Alabama, but now is not the time to start relaxing on safety measures.

Local leaders say there's one main common denominator between the three different COVID-19 variants; each are significantly more contagious than the COVID-19 we've seen this past year.

Spillers said both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will do a good job of protecting you from variants if you continue to follow CDC recommendations.

Ive heard people say, well this vaccine, its only going to be 60% against this particular variant. There were many years where our flu shots were 60% effective, and it does a really good job of keeping the flu down. So, 60%, thats a whole lot better than 0.60% and then you throw on top of that masking, social distancing, and sanitizing the way weve become accustom, well still do a very good job getting control of the pandemic if people would do that.

Spillers said he thinks some of the vaccines may end up needing a booster shot, depending on how the variants mutate. There's currently no definitive answer.

Mayor Tommy Battle encourages people to get vaccinated, regardless of the type of COVID-19 vaccine.

We need to make sure everyone takes the vaccine. Everybody, if you take the vaccine, if you as a community take the vaccine, well be able to look at this in the rearview mirror. Well be able to get through this and be done with it.
The is scheduled to hear on Friday a plea filed by comedian Munawar Faruqui, who is accused of hurting religious sentiments by allegedly passing objectionably remarks about Hindu deities during a show, challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court order denying him bail.

Faruqui's plea would come up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices R F Nariman and B R Gavai.

Faruqui and four others were arrested on January 1 following a complaint by a BJP MLA's son that alleged objectionable remarks about Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were passed during a comedy show at a cafe in Indore on New Year's day. One more person was arrested subsequently.

The high court, in its order passed on January 28, had refused to grant him bail noting that to "promote harmony" is one of the constitutional duties.

It had also turned down the bail plea of another accused in the case.

In its order, the high court had said it would not comment on merits of the case, but based on the material seized, the witnesses' statements and considering the fact that probe was going on, no case was made out for grant of bail.

"The evidence/material collected so far suggests that in an organized public show under the garb of stand-up comedy at a public place on commercial lines, prima facie, scurrilous, disparaging utterances, outraging religious feelings of a class of citizens of India with deliberate intent, were made by the applicant," it had said.

There was a possibility that "more incriminating material" would be collected, and further, a similar case has been registered against Faruqui in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, the high court had noted.

"That apart, there is also specific assertion by the counsel for the complainant that the applicant, along with other co-accused persons, (were) allegedly making outraging filthy jokes in social media deliberately against Hindu Gods, Lord Shriram and Goddess Seeta, hurting religious sentiments of Hindus for the last 18 months, despite protest on various social media platforms. There is nothing on record to the contrary," it had said.

As per the First Information Report, the comedy show was held at a cafe in 56 Dukan area of Indore on January 1. Eklavya Singh Gaud, son of BJP MLA Malini Laxman Singh Gaud, had filed a complaint against Faruqui and others.

Gaud had said that he and his associates had gone to watch the show where alleged indecent jokes were made about Hindu gods and goddesses and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

He forced the organizers to stop the show, he had said.

Faruqui and others were arrested for the alleged offences punishable under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including section 295-A which deals deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class.

They were also accused of holding the show amid COVID-19 pandemic without permission and were booked under other relevant provisions of the IPC.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

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Massachusetts restaurants hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic may have another opportunity to recoup unprecedented losses, as lawmakers have worked a $25 billion grant program into the $1.9 trillion relief package pushed by President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders in Congress.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a budget resolution that paves the way for a $25 billion grant program targeting restaurants, Mother Jones reported on Monday.

News of the potential fund comes as restaurants across the country are still reeling from plummeting traffic, capacity limits and curfews implemented as safety precautions.

According to The New York Post, the fund would allow eateries ranging from restaurants, bars, pubs, wineries, food stands and food truck businesses to apply for grants up to $10 million to help recover 2020 pandemic losses. Chains or franchises with 20-plus locations will not be eligible, the Post reported.

The proposal is about five times smaller than the RESTAURANTS Act, a $120 billion package on the table last year seeking to provide real economic support that acknowledges unique restaurant assistance needed to survive.

In September, Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said the RESTAURANTS Act could have passed the Democrat-led House of Representatives, but that then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would have to get off his ass and take up something that is important to the American people.

The latest effort to bolster the restaurant industry  which generated $854 billion in sales in 2019  can likely be replenished if funds deplete, similar to how Congress and former president Donald Trump injected more cash into the small-business Paycheck Protection Program.

It pains me to say this, but $25 billion is going to go fast, Stephen Clark, vice president of government affairs for the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said in an interview Wednesday. He noted the group had been pressing for federal aid for our industry for a long time.

Clark cited a food service industry report, prepared by Aaron Allen & Associates as the pandemic heightened last year, showing that the $854 billion in nationwide sales in 2019 was more than hotels, airline passenger travel, public transport, professional sports, cruise lines, taxis and ride sharing, and cinemas  combined.

The National Restaurant Association initially projected an even bigger 2020, at almost $890 billion in sales. But the pandemic has shut down or temporarily closed businesses and forced unprecedented traffic downturns, leading to hundreds of billions of losses nationwide.

For Massachusetts, that meant about 93% of restaurant staff were laid off or furloughed last spring  more than 211,000 workers, according to the National Restaurant Association. By comparison, the association said 261,000 employees were working within the state at restaurants and bars in February. The overall restaurant industry employs about 300,000 people statewide, but about a third of those laid off have not yet returned to work, Clark said.

The industry in Massachusetts generates about $19 billion in annual sales, which Clark said are likely down between 20% and 25% in 2020.

But Clark said many restaurant owners have expressed optimism heading into the spring, when a number of people are going to want to come out and connect with family and friends after being all cooped up for months.

He said owners are enthusiastic about potential new grants as the nation comes off a second wave of helpful PPP funds and more than $650 million in state grants targeting restaurants and retailers that helped many businesses stay afloat.

People were clamoring for help and theyre finally starting to get it, Clark said. Plus, we have vaccinations and shots in the arms happening. The mindset has turned to optimism as we know what were dealing with. Were starting to get less and less restrictions and hopefully percentage capacity gets lifted, and well have a full spring season, where last year, we werent even open those months, and those are pretty busy times.

Matthew Bonaccorsi, spokesman for McGovern, told MassLive on Thursday that any money for our restaurant industry is a good thing, and Chairman McGovern will continue to push for as much as possible, as soon as possible, to save local businesses and workers from catastrophe.

Bonaccorsi added that McGovern, chair of the House Rules Committee, is very hopeful that more money can be added to this program once the initial allocation is used.

Clark hopes the newly proposed grant program helps address some loopholes in the PPP, namely that the small business loan program didnt provide as much help to newer restaurants without previous revenues, or to businesses in downtown areas that have nearly zero traffic and theres less incentive to have workers.

William Tranghese, spokesperson for Rep. Richard Neal, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the congressman knows just how much restaurants around the country are hurting right now, and at no fault of their own.

He is pushing to deliver as much relief as possible, as quickly as possible, so that once it is safe to do so, millions can return to their place of employment or favorite local spot, Tranghese said.

The Senate on Tuesday voted to tie Bidens comprehensive rescue plan to annual budget reconciliation, a move that sidesteps the need for Republican support in the evenly-split U.S. Senate, as reconciliation bills only require a majority to advance.

The vote came two days after 10 Republicans pitched a $618 billion relief plan and called on Biden to make good on promises of unity through a bipartisan deal.

The Senate began debating Bidens $1.9 trillion package on Thursday. In addition to the $25 billion grant fund for restaurants, the proposal calls for more than $400 billion to cover $1,400 stimulus checks for millions of Americans; $400 billion for vaccines and to reopen schools; $35 billion to help local governments boost small businesses; and increased supplemental unemployment insurance, from $300 to $400, through September.

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Study coauthor Isaac Hart of the university of Utah compares a healthy talus bone from the Lehi horse with one heavily impacted by arthritis. Credit: William Taylor

A new analysis of a horse previously believed to be from the Ice Age shows that the animal actually died just a few hundred years agoand was raised, ridden and cared for by Native peoples. The study sheds light on the early relationships between horses and their guardians in the Americas.

The findings, published today in the journal American Antiquity, are the latest in the saga of the 'Lehi horse.'

In 2018, a Utah couple was doing landscaping in their backyard near the city of Provo when they unearthed something surprising: an almost complete skeleton of a horse about the size of a Shetland pony. Scientists and the media took note. Preliminary data suggested that the horse might be more than 10,000 years old.

"It was found in the ground in these geologic deposits from the Pleistocenethe last Ice Age," said William Taylor, lead author of the new research and a curator of archaeology at the CU Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Based on a detailed study of the horse's bones and DNA, however, Taylor and his colleagues concluded that it wasn't an Ice Age mammal at all. Instead, the animal was a domesticated horse that had likely belonged to Ute or Shoshone communities before Europeans had a permanent presence in the region.

But Taylor is far from disappointed. He said the animal reveals valuable information about how Indigenous groups in the West looked after their horses.

"This study demonstrates a very sophisticated relationship between Indigenous peoples and horses," said Taylor, also an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology. "It also tells us that there might be a lot more important clues to the human-horse story contained in the horse bones that are out there in libraries and museum collections."

Written in bone

Taylor leads an effort funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, called "Horses and Human Societies in the American West." And he's something akin to a forensic scientistexcept he studies the remains of ancient animals, from horses to reindeer. He said that researchers can learn a lot by collecting the clues hidden in bones.

"The skeleton that you or I have is a chronicle of what we've done in our lives," Taylor said. "If I were to keel over right now, and you looked at my skeleton, you'd see that I was right-handed or that I spend most of my hours at a computer."

When Taylor first laid eyes on the Lehi horse in 2018, he was immediately skeptical that it was an Ice Age fossil. Ancient horses first evolved in North America and were common during the Pleistocene, he said, going extinct at about the same time as many other large mammals like mammoths. This horse, however, showed characteristic fractures in the vertebrae along its back.

"That was an eyebrow raiser," Taylor said.

He explained that such fractures often occur when a human body bangs repeatedly into a horse's spine during ridingthey rarely show up in wild animals, and are often most pronounced in horses ridden without a frame saddle. So he and his colleagues decided to dig deeper.

Researchers conduct 3D digitization of bones from the Lehi horse in order to identify skeletal features linked with horseback riding. Credit: William Taylor

DNA analyses by coauthors at the University of Toulouse in France revealed that the Lehi horse was a roughly 12-year-old female belonging to the species Equus caballus (today's domestic horse). Radiocarbon dating showed that it had died sometime after the late 17th century. The horse also seemed to be suffering from arthritis in several of its limbs.

"The life of a domestic horse can be a hard one, and it leaves a lot of impacts on the skeleton," Taylor said.

He added that scientists originally believed that the horse was so ancient in part because of its location deep in the sands along the edge of Utah Lake: Its caretakers appear to have dug a hole and intentionally buried the animal after it died, making it look initially as if it had come from Ice Age sediments.

And despite the animal's injuries, which would have probably made the Lehi horse lame, people had continued to care for the marepossibly because they were breeding her with stallions in their herd.

Hidden history

For Carlton Shield Chief Gover, a coauthor of the new study, the research is another example of the buried history of Indigenous groups and horses.

He explained that most researchers have tended to view this relationship through a European lens: Spaniards brought the animals to the Americas on boats, and white settlers shaped how Native peoples interacted with them.

But that view glosses over just how uniquely Indigenous the horse became in the Americas after those first introductions.

"There was a lot going on that Europeans didn't see," said Shield Chief Gover, a graduate student at CU Boulder and a tribal citizen of the Pawnee Nation. "There was a 200-year period where populations in the Great Plains and the West were adapting their cultures to the horse."

For many Plains groups, horses quickly changed nearly every aspect of life.

"There was more raiding and fewer battles," Shield Chief Gover said. "Horses became deeply integrated into Plains cultures, and changed the way people moved, traded hunted and more."

He and Taylor hope that their research will, alongside Indigenous oral traditions, help to shed light on those stories. Taylor, for his part, suspects that the Lehi horse may not be the only set of remains mistakenly shelved with Ice Age animals in museum collections around the country.

"I think there are a lot more out there like this," he said.

More information: William Timothy Treal Taylor et al, Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Lehi Horse: Implications for Early Historic Horse Cultures of the North American West, American Antiquity (2021). Journal information: American Antiquity William Timothy Treal Taylor et al, Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Lehi Horse: Implications for Early Historic Horse Cultures of the North American West,(2021). DOI: 10.1017/aaq.2020.109
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The British government said on Thursday it was telling social media giants to take down posts containing coronavirus disinformation over concern that many in minority communities were refusing to be vaccinated.

"My message to all of them, whether it's Twitter or Facebook... you must, must, must be responsible and play your part in taking this disinformation down as soon as we flag it up to you," vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told MPs.

The government's COVID-19 disinformation unit, which was set up in March, constantly monitors social media platforms and asks them to take down any messages deemed inaccurate.

The government is concerned that large numbers within black African and south Asian communities are reluctant to take part in the massive vaccine drive, partly because of mistrust.

The death rate in both communities is around double the rest of the country and Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited a vaccine centre in a south Asian community in northern England on Monday in a bid to boost uptake.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Zahawi stepped across the political divide earlier this week to pen a joint article in Sunday's Observer newspaper, reassuring those nervous about being vaccinated.

"We are calling on people from ethnic minority backgrounds to get their COVID vaccineit is safe, it is effective and it could save your life or the life of someone you love," they wrote.

"This is an issue of vital importance and one that transcends party lines."

'Distrust'

The pair acknowledged that "in the past minorities have not been properly included in some medical research", but COVID vaccines "have been safely and widely tested across a range of ages and ethnic groups".

"It is, however, incredibly important to acknowledge these lower levels of trust that some from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds have in the institutions set up to represent them, and we will continue to do all we can to address this," they added.

A health official in Birmingham, England's second city, has warned that in some areas up to 50 percent of people refused a vaccine appointment when offered one.

"That was more common in parts of the city where we had much higher Asian and African-Caribbean communities and in some of our most deprived communities," said city public health director Justin Varney in the Birmingham Mail newspaper.

A BBC London radio presenter meanwhile told the city's public health director on Wednesday there "distrust" among the black community.

"They tell me they have never been put first. Why are they being put first now?" he asked during a webinar.

Kevin Fenton denied the claims, saying vaccinations were prioritised by age, not ethnicity.

Andrew Hayward, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) that advises the government, told BBC radio that escape from lockdown depended on enough people getting jabs.

"Once the most vulnerable people, particularly those over 50 and those with chronic illnesses, are vaccinated then yes I think we can see a significant return to normality," he said.

Explore further UK survey: Ethnic minorities less likely to take COVID jab

 2021 AFP


Gov. Eric J. Holcomb, the Indiana State Department of Health and other state leaders will host their media briefing to provide updates on COVID-19 and its impact on Indiana.

Posted: Feb 3, 2021 6:46 PM

Malawi Police have explained the charges that have been slapped on former Malawi National Examinations Board (Maneb) executive director Gerald Chiunda and three others in relation to the cancelled 2020 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations.

National police spokesperson James Kadadzera said Chiunda who was arrested alongside Ishmael Faki, chief examination development officer, Joseph Chilombe, chief examination officer, and Owen Kutho, head of security have been charged for contravening Maneb Act.

Maneb Act (1987) mandates the board to take charge of the process if localising the development and administration of national examinations.

Kadadzera said the four, who are currently being held at Zomba Police Station, have been charged for allegedly failing to exercise due care in relation to the safety of national examination materials and that they failed to take reasonable steps for the security of national examination materials in accordance with the Maneb Act.

"Their arrests follows findings of police investigations into the matter," said Kadadzera.

He said the four twill appear in court for prosecution.



Washington: As Scott Morrison works to convince Craig Kelly to rein in his more eccentric views on the coronavirus, he need only look at the US Congress to see that things could be far worse.

Kevin McCarthy, the most senior Republican in the US House of Representatives, is facing the challenge of how to deal with Marjorie Taylor Greene, a first-term congresswoman from Georgia whose inflammatory rhetoric makes Kellys Facebook posts seem tame.

Democrats are calling on Marjorie Taylor Greene to be stripped from her committee assignments for her extreme views. Credit:AP

Before entering Congress, Greene voiced support for QAnon - the wild conspiracy that regards Democrats as Satan-worshipping paedophiles. She berated mass shooting survivors in public, claiming mass shootings were actually hoaxes.

She used Facebook to advocate the killing of prominent Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and argued that laser beams from space started the deadly 2018 California wildfires.
A man who had sex with a 14-year-old girl has been spared jail and a conviction.

Max Patrick Edwards, 21, met the young girl on a social media app Wink and invited her over to his Marsden home in Queensland after a week of online chat.

Edwards called an Uber for the girl to be dropped to his house on the night of February 10 last year.

Max Patrick Edwards (pictured) had sex with a 14-year-old girl, but has been spared jail and a conviction

'They began kissing and ultimately had sexual intercourse on the couch,' Crown Prosecutor Elizabeth Kelso told the Beenleigh District Court, The Courier Mail reported.

Edwards on Thursday pleaded guilty to one count of carnal knowledge of a child under the age of 16.

The girls mother caught the pair out after incessantly calling her daughter while she was with Edwards.

Edwards dropped the girl home, where she confessed to her mother what had happened.

Her mother then went and confronted the 21-year-old.

'What have you done with my daughter?', she asked, the court heard.

Edwards told the mother he did not have sexual intercourse, but later admitted he had 'protected' sex in a phone conversation.

He then tried to deny the admission in a police interview.

Judge Craig Chowdhury did not jail Mr Edwards or record a conviction.

He cited factors including Edwards had worn a condom, had a stable job, no criminal past and the victim consented to the activity - which did not involve alcohol or drugs.

Edwards was given an 18-months' probation.
WASHINGTON - Chinese propaganda videos have gloated over the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and subsequent impeachment proceedings, portraying them as signs of the decline of "American-style Democracy," according to a research report published Thursday.

One video pushed by a Chinese propaganda group said the United States was "completely running naked in front of the world" after a mob supporting President Donald Trump breached the Capitol. A second video called the country "permanently damaged" and "a failed state."

"Their greatest asset has been American division," said Ben Nimmo, director of investigations at Graphika, a network analysis firm that produced Thursday's report. "Bad news for America has been good news for them. Because the overall narrative they've been building is China's rising and America's falling."

The first of the Chinese videos debuted within 24 hours of the events.

For China's government, the Capitol riot wasn't just a way to spar with the United States over the merits of democracy. Chinese officials used it to justify their government's crackdown in Hong Kong and noted that the roundup of protesters in Hong Kong resulted in fewer deaths than the assault on the Capitol.

China Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying also drew the comparison at a news conference on Jan. 7.

"The Hong Kong police showed maximum restraint and professionalism and no protester ended in death," she said. "However, as you mentioned, there are already four deaths in Washington of which the situation is less violent and destructive than that in Hong Kong."

Graphika has been tracking the Chinese propaganda operation - which it calls "Spamouflage" because the messages are spread through online spammy distribution techniques - since 2018, but its backers and other details remain unknown. The videos and social media posts are consistent with official Chinese government media and have been promoted online by government officials, but the operation's relationship, if any, to the Chinese government or its ruling party is unknown, Nimmo said.

The videos' narration is delivered in a robotic voice speaking fractured and sometimes-ungrammatical English. English and Chinese subtitles appear on-screen, below images grabbed from news reports about American unrest, political turmoil and national struggles in fighting the coronavirus.

"The United States, which has always promoted democracy and human rights, has become a country of riots, conflict and curfew," said one recent video featuring clips from the attack on the Capitol that resulted in five deaths.

That video and others also featured clips of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a subscriber to conspiracy theories whose recent election has roiled congressional leadership. Her move to impeach President Biden has been a subject of some of the propaganda videos.

The Spamouflage campaign showed signs of reaching wide international audiences last year, including in Venezuela and Pakistan, with some videos viewed thousands of times. But takedowns by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have limited the operation's reach more recently, Nimmo said. The videos focusing on the Capitol attack and Trump's impeachment have been viewed only several dozen times each, suggesting the companies' moves against the operation have been effective.

The videos compare the Capitol siege to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019, saying that outrage about the Jan. 6 attack showed an "American double standard" given that Hong Kong's protests were praised by some U.S. officials, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Hours before the Capitol riot, Hong Kong authorities arrested dozens of members of the political opposition, effectively neutralizing the city's democracy movement. The unprecedented move came as the United States was distracted by the Senate runoffs in Georgia and then the riot.

After the Capitol attack, China's propaganda apparatus quickly seized on the opportunity to point out that Hong Kong's legislature was also trashed by rioters and argue that China was only doing the same thing as the United States by restoring law and order.

The Chinese state-run tabloid Global Timestweeted, "@SpeakerPelosi once referred to the Hong Kong riots as 'a beautiful sight to behold' - it remains yet to be seen whether she will say the same about the recent developments in Capitol Hill."

- - -

Dou reported from Seoul, South Korea.
After winning hearts in with Raat Akeli Hai and Serious Men, Nawazuddin has begun 2021 with various interesting projects. Nawazuddin recently flew to London for the shoot of his next title, Sangeen. An actor par excellence, he has always aced all his performances. Helmed by Jaideep Chopra, Sangeen is a thriller starring Nawazuddin along with Elnaaz Norouzi. Being aware of the tough conditions in London, Nawazuddin posted a photo on his social media profile stating that the show must go on when he embarked on his journey. He also shared how different the shooting experience in London has been for him all this while. The actor is in a sort of a bio-bubble where he leaves the Hotel for the shoot and returns to the room straight after wrapping the days schedule.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui mentioned, This is the first time that I am shooting in London and I cannot visit the different places around this beautiful city. I understand the present situation and the conditions that we are shooting in and am adhering to all the necessary norms and respect everyone who is fighting hard against this pandemic. The entire unit is working very hard and we hope to wrap up the schedule in time.

As we rightly understand, there are multiple restrictions and Nawazuddin with his crew is following all the protocols as directed. We are glad that the talented actor has begun with such great enthusiasm as he has multiple upcoming projects. He already has three movies in the pipeline, apart from Sangeen i.e, Kushan Nandys romantic comedy- Jogira Sa Ra Ra, Mostofa Sarwar Farookis drama flick No Land's Man and Sejal Shahs untitled movie. We cant wait to see Nawaz create magic once again for all his fans!


Northern Ireland's post-Brexit trading arrangements - a set of rules referred to as the Northern Ireland protocol - will be debated by MPs in the House of Commons on Monday.

The debate was triggered by an online petition launched by the Brexit-supporting DUP earlier this month, as part of its campaign to have the protocol scrapped.

Monday's proceedings take place just hours after a coalition of unionist parties announced plans to challenge NIs new trading rules in the courts.

But what is the Northern Ireland protocol all about?

The NI protocol was agreed as part of the Brexit deal and is designed to protect the Good Friday Agreement by avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland.

To allow goods to move freely between NI and the Republic of Ireland and avoid that hard border, NI remained in the EU's single market for goods.

But NI also stayed in GBs market too because it is still part of the UK.

Irish Sea border

After Brexit, NI's border with the ROI also became the UK's new border with the EU.

And because the UK and the EU now follow different customs rules, there needed to be a border somewhere on the island of Ireland.

As a solution, the UK and EU government agreed to a deal that would see customs checks at NI's ports, creating a de facto border down the Irish Sea, which is now commonly referred to as the 'Irish Sea border'.

Why are the DUP and unionists not happy with the new arrangements?

There has been some disruption to trade because checks are required on some goods entering NI from GB and vice versa.

This is because the UK no longer follows EU customs rules, while NI continues to do so.

The most onerous checks are on animal and plant-based products because the UK and EU follow different standards on these items.

The full range of checks has not yet been implemented with a number of grace periods still running.

This disruption to trade has angered the unionist community. But perhaps more importantly, unionists believe the new arrangement has cut NI adrift from the rest of the UK.

Unionists, who define themselves as British, say the protocol poses an existential threat to NI's constitutional status within the UK.

What is Article 16?

Article 16 is a technical term given to a Brexit clause that allows the UK and the EU to suspend any part of the agreement that causes "economic, societal or environmental difficulties".

The DUP say the Irish Sea border ticks those boxes and is therefore calling on Mr Johnson to trigger the clause to remove elements of the protocol.

The prime minister has previously said he would consider triggering Article 16. But neither he nor the DUP has set out what would replace the protocol.

Legal challenge to the protocol

On 21 February DUP leader Arlene Foster and her MPs announced they are launching a legal action challenging the protocol.

They said they are joining other unionists from across the UK in judicial review proceedings unless alternative post-Brexit trade arrangements are put in place that secures their consent.

NI's other unionist parties - the Ulster Unionists Party and Traditional Unionist Voice - later said they are supporting judicial review proceedings.

Unionists have argued that the protocol undermines the Act of Union and the Northern Ireland Act, which gives legislative effect to the 1998 Good Friday/Belfast agreement, which established devolved powersharing.
PM confirms commitments under memo with RES producers, first tranche from Guaranteed Buyer to be sent on Thursday

The first tranche from state-owned enterprise Guaranteed Buyer in the framework of debt repayment to RES generation companies will be sent to producers of "green" electricity on Thursday, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said.

"Today, the first tranche from Guaranteed Buyer will go to repay debts to RES," he said during an online meeting hosted by the European Business Association on Thursday.

The volume of the tranche was not specified by the prime minister.

At the same time, Shmyhal said that Ukraine confirms its readiness to meet its commitment under the memorandum with investors in RES.

At the same time, Interfax-Ukraine sources in the government claimed that a decision was made to evenly distribute UAH 1.8 billion between National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom and RES generation companies out of the UAH 5 billion that NPC Ukrenergo has already transferred to Guaranteed Buyer as part of loans taken from state-run banks in the amount of UAH 10.25 billion.

"Today, Guaranteed Buyer will transfer approximately UAH 0.9 billion to renewable energy generation and green electricity producers," the source said, noting that work is still underway on further distribution.
Lucknow, Feb 4 : The number of farmers, protesting against farm laws at the Ghazipur border, is expected to witness a massive surge over the next two days.

The various Khap Panchayats in western Uttar Pradesh that have been holding meetings in different districts have decided that at least one member from every farmer family will join the protest in Delhi.

The farmers will begin moving to the Ghazipur border over the weekend.

A BKU leader, who did not wish to be named, said, "Movement to Ghazipur border will not be in groups as police is not allowing farmers to join protests at the border and have barricaded the routes leading to Ghazipur. We are drawing up a strategy which will help us in reaching Ghazipur without inviting police action." Key BKU leaders have been asked by the leadership to stay away from the media spotlight and work quietly for the movement.

Gaurav Tikait, son of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Naresh Tikait, has taken over the reins of the movement in western Uttar Pradesh, while his uncle Rakesh Tikait is leading the agitation from the front in Delhi.

Gaurav, while addressing a meeting in Mathura on Wednesday, said, "Bill vapasi nahi to ghar vapasi nahi. We will move ahead with the agitation and there is no question of backtracking." The BKU has held similar meetings in Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat to muster farmer support and the response, to put it mildly, has been overwhelming.

The BKU also contacted prominent lawyers and social influencers to explain the 'black farm laws and their implications to farmers across the country'.

"We will take to the social media and post videos in different languages to enable our brothers in other states to understand the reasons behind the protest. These videos will explain in detail the black farm laws," the functionary said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
[February 04, 2021] Alaska Airlines offers international fliers VeriFLY mobile health passport for required COVID docs

SEATTLE, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- International guests arriving in the U.S. can streamline their required COVID-19 documents starting Feb. 5 using the third-party app VeriFLY. The free and secure app offers fliers expedited check-in and verification for their arrival to the U.S., to help give confidence that they meet the entry requirements for their arrival to the U.S. Why the need? In early January, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention announced an order requiring international airline passengers entering the U.S. to have proof of a negative COVID test. The order explains that the test must be taken within three days of departure to the U.S., and that fliers must complete a health attestation form. VeriFLY is a mobile app that acts as a digital health passport to supplement the guest travel journey as they fulfill U.S. entry requirements. Similar to Alaska Airlines' Pre-Clear program, the app allows for real-time verification of COVID-related credentials, like health questionnaires and diagnostic lab results. Guests will be able to store proof of their negative COVID test, or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19, in addition to their health attestation form in the app to help optimize the document verification process and get them on their way. Although proof of a negative COVID test is mandatory for travelers to enter into the country, usage of VeriFLY is not. Alaska Airlines guests will have the option to use the app for faster verification but will still be obligated to present the essential health documents as required by the CDC's order regardless. VeriFLY will be limited to one person per mobile device and requires an internet/mobile data connection to acquire/access passes and credentials. Adults must attest on behalf of those under the age of 18, so minors are not eligible for VeriFLY. How does the app work? Download and create a user profile

First, the guest must download VeriFLY from the App Store or Google Play at least seven hours prior to departure, preferably as early as possible prior to departure, then register a user profile with a photo. This step will also require email authentication.



Browse and add destination

Then, guests will need to browse the app to select the country of destination and add their inbound flight details.



Complete and upload documents

Once the profile is set up and the flight information has been confirmed, the app will generate a pre-travel "to-do" list with the necessary requirements for the country (in this case, the app will display all of the mandatory items needed for entry into the U.S.based on the CDC's order.) Here, the guest will upload their required health documents and complete the attestation form.







Receive travel pass verification

After all documents have been uploaded, VeriFLY may take up to six hours to validate that the guest's information is correct and confirmed. If the guest's VeriFLY information cannot be confirmed, the guest will need to follow the manual process in adherence to the CDC's rule.



Present verified profile at the airport

At the airport, the guest must present their certified VeriFLY profile to an Alaska Airlines agent (first point of contact). Once the guest's information is validated, the guest can continue normal check-in without additional test verification. Upon arrival to the country, no other VeriFLY processes will be in place. The guest will be subject to the standard U.S. port of entry's arrival procedure. Alaska Airlines is exploring using this app in other markets that have entry requirements. Learn more about the CDC requirement at https://www.cdc.gov and VeriFLY at www.myverifly.com.

About Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines and its regional partners serve more than 115 destinations across the United States and North America. The airline provides essential air service for our guests along with moving crucial cargo shipments, while emphasizing Next-Level Care . Alaska is known for low fares, award-winning customer service and sustainability efforts. Guests can earn and redeem miles on flights to more than 800 destinations worldwide with Alaska and its Global Partners . On March 31, 2021, Alaska will officially become a member of the oneworld global alliance. Learn more about Alaska at newsroom.alaskaair.com and blog.alaskaair.com . Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK). View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alaska-airlines-offers-international-fliers-verifly-mobile-health-passport-for-required-covid-docs-301221879.html SOURCE Alaska Airlines

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The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) has expressed concern over the continued discharge of raw sewerage into the environment by the Bulawayo City Council.

The environmental management body said since 2011, it has issued the local authority with 34 orders and five tickets for flouting environment management laws.

"In 2010, a docket was opened at ZRP Queens Park for the burst sewer pipes in Kingsdale over Umguza River that had been discharging effluent for two years. The local authority repaired the then broken sewer pipes," said EMA in a letter while responding to a petition by the Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights (MIHR).

"In 2011, 25 orders, four tickets and one docket were issued and all were complied with.

"From 2013 to 2017, a total of nine orders and one ticket were issued. Currently, there are two dockets which were opened in 2019 that are still pending."

EMA cited Sauertown deep section and Silver Crescent in Kelvin West as the major problematic spots.

MIHR recently lobbied EMA to take legal action against the local authority for failure to timeously repair sewer pipes and collect waste in residential areas.

For the past weeks, the local authority has not been collecting rubbish in the city due to several challenges including the recently ended strike by council workers.

Because of failure by the local authority to collect refuse, heaps of garbage have been piling up in open spaces in some areas as residents and businesses resort to dumping solid waste in undesignated areas posing a serious health hazard particularly in the light of Covid-19.

EMA also noted that some of the cases were still before the courts.

Currently, the local authority is implementing major rehabilitation works on its water and sewer system under the Bulawayo Water and Sewerage Services improvement Project (BWSSIP) funded by the African Development Bank.
NEW LONDON  A Norwich man was sentenced to nearly five years in prison in connection with a 2019 assault and shooting, according to federal prosecutors.

Judge Janet Bond Arterton sentenced Tremaine Dowdell to 57 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

A federal grand jury in New Haven on Oct. 3, 2019 returned an indictment charging Dowdell, 27, with possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. He pleaded guilty on July 2, 2019.

Authorities said Dowdell and three others assaulted a man outside the H&T Mart on Ocean Avenue in New London on Sept. 14, 2019. The store was open at the time of the incident, which was captured on surveillance footage, authorities said.

The footage showed Dowdell and the three others physically attack the victim outside the storefront, officials said. Officials said the footage later showed Dowdell take a gun from his pants and fire a single shot toward the victim, who was standing near the stores front door. Authorities said the bullet missed the victim.

When officers arrived, they found a single shell casing.

Authorities said after actively evading law enforcement, Dowdell was found and arrested at a Sprague residence on Nov. 5, 2019. At the time of his arrest, he was in possession of a loaded gun with an obliterated serial number. Officials said investigators found about 33 grams of crack cocaine floating in a toilet tank.

He has been detained since his arrest.

Dowdells criminal history includes state felony convictions on burglary, larceny and failure to appear offenses, officials said.



SISKIYOU, Calif. - Siskiyou County Public Health announced a vaccination clinic will take place on Feb. 12 for people to receive the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

The vaccination clinic will be for those who received the first dose on Jan. 22.

The clinic will be at the Siskiyou County Fairgrounds from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and an appointment is required.

To make an appointment, visit the Siskiyou County Public Health COVID-19 webpage or call (530) 841-2134.

Prior to arriving at the Fairgrounds, there is required paperwork that needs to be completed and can be found here.

Identification, vaccination record card and a mask are required items to bring.

LEVERKUSEN (dpa-AFX) - Bayer (BAYZF.PK, BAYRY.PK, BYR.L) has reached up to $2 billion agreement with plaintiffs' attorneys to settle future lawsuits over claims that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. The settlement will provide future plaintiffs, who contract non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using Roundup, up to $200,000 in compensation. Bayer inherited thousands of lawsuits against Roundup inventor Monsanto Co. when it acquired the U.S. agriculture giant for $63 billion in 2018. Bayer said plaintiffs' class counsel are filing Wednesday a motion for preliminary approval of the class agreement with Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, who presides over the Monsanto Roundup multi-district litigation. Bayer noted that elements of the revised plan include the establishment of a fund to compensate qualified claimants during an initial four year program, an advisory science panel whose findings would not be preclusive but can be used as evidence in potential future litigation involving class members, and a robust notice program. The plan also includes research and diagnostic programs that were part of the original class agreement. Monsanto will request permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to include a link to information concerning whether Roundup Products cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma on all Roundup labels. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Rosa Parks, who fought for civil rights long before the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott in 1955, was born on Feb. 4, 1913.

Parks, in December 1943, joined and became secretary of the local NAACP chapter, which her husband, Raymond, already belonged to. Even before that she and her husband helped with the defense of the Scottsboro Boys - nine black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women aboard a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931, according to history.com.

She is best known, however, for the bus incident on Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery.

Parks, 43, got on the bus after work.

As per a city ordinance, she was supposed to sit in the back of the bus because she was black. The rear of the bus was full. She sat down beside a black man in the third seat from the front. Two other black men sat across the aisle.

Two stops later, white passengers had filled up the front seats and were having to stand up. The driver told Mrs. Parks and the three men they would have to leave their seats.

All three men obeyed. Mrs. Parks, in what she insists was a spontaneous impulse, refused to move. The driver called police and she stayed in jail briefly until the $100 bond was posted, wrote Ray Jenkins in The Patriot on March 5, 1956.

I had given up my seat before, but this day, I was especially tired. Tired from my work as a seamstress, and tired from the ache in my heart, Parks said. Later she said, People always say that I didnt give up my seat because I was tired, but that isnt true. I was not tired physically  No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

Rosa Parks Day is celebrated either on her birthday, Feb. 4, or Dec. 1, the day she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger.

Parks actions on that day lead to a citywide boycott of the buses that resulted in the end of segregation on public buses.

Parks was found guilty and fined $10 plus court costs.

A few days after the incident, the black community created the Montgomery Improvement Association. The association elected a president  the Baptist preacher, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Black people stopped using the busses. Churches organized carpools. According to newspaper reports at the time, the boycott cost the bus line $3,200 a day. The boycott went on for more than a year, ending on Dec. 20, 1956, when the busses were desegregated.

It got worse long before it ever got better.

Rosa and her husband both lost their jobs right after the bus boycott started, according to biography.com.

Two years later, in 1957, Parks and her family moved to Detroit where her family lived but they couldnt find work there either. Rosa took a job in Virginia but her employer, who had offered her accommodations for her mother and husband, did not follow through so she returned to Detroit.

Her husband, Raymond, who was a barber, had to receive more training in order to get a job. Rosa still couldnt find full-time work then had to have surgery for an ulcer and again for a tumor in her throat.

By July 1960 the family was drowning in debt and had no income. In 1961 Raymond found work as a barber and she found work at a sewing company.

Parks continued to be involved in the civil rights movement. She volunteered in 1964 for the congressional campaign of John Conyers. After he won, she worked in his office from 1965 until 1988 when she retired.

She died Oct. 24, 2005, in Detroit, Mich., at the age of 92.

The front seats of buses in Montgomery and Detroit were draped in black ribbons in honor of her until her funeral. After death she flown to Montgomery where she lay in repose before a memorial service. She then was transported to Washington, D.C., to lie in honor in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

After her body was returned to Detroit, she lay in repose in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Her funeral on Nov. 2, 2005, was seven hours long.

Rosa Parks was born on Feb. 4, 1913. She died in 2005.BN

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Washington state lawmakers are once again looking to pass a set of data privacy regulations that will grant consumers the right to access, transfer, correct and delete data that companies hold on them.Known as the Washington Privacy Act , Senate Bill 5062 was initially proposed by Sen. Reuven Carlyle , D-Seattle, in 2019. It aims to create an awareness of how citizen data is being used and what personal rights surround the data being held in company databases.The privacy act, Carlyle said, differs from previous versions of the bill after several changes were made. The first change is the specification of companies that would be affected by the bill, which include companies that provide services and products targeted to Washington residents with access to data of over 100,000 consumers a year; or those that obtain over 25 percent of their revenue from selling and processing personal data from more than 25,000 consumers.The second change centers on providing Attorney General Bob Ferguson with the necessary legal tools to enforce the act. And the third change to the bill focuses on providing the government and companies with a framework to contact trace data.Its all about transparency, Carlyle said. You should be able to easily access a global platform and look at the data companies have about you and then correct that data and decide whether or not you want to have a relationship with that company.An example Carlyle used to further explain this is: If you were to use a DNA testing service, like Ancestry.com or 23andMe, youd want to have the right to delete your data from their database after you review the results, right?This bill, he said, offers the same thing just with company databases.In addition to changes made to the bill, tech industry giants like Microsoft and Amazon have voiced support for the approach to protecting consumer privacy.We know data privacy issues are complex and greatly impact every sector of the economy, Amazon VP of public policy Brian Huseman said in a letter to senator Carlyle. Although we have long supported a federal approach to privacy, we appreciate the critical work underway at the state level.As for Microsofts response to the bill, Irene Plenefisch, the companys government affairs director, recently wrote in a Microsoft blog post , After extensive deliberations on this bill in recent sessions, the last significant issue to be resolved is determining the appropriate enforcement mechanism. Based on what we have seen in other jurisdictions, Microsoft remains confident that the best way to protect Washington consumers is to create a robust enforcement mechanism within the attorney generals consumer protection division.To enforce the bill, Attorney General Ferguson would focus on specific patterns of abuse, such as whether or not browsers are capturing data and inappropriately selling it to marketers or checking to see if ISPs capture data in ways that may not be in the public interest.However, a couple of organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have spoken out against the state's data privacy plan.If you take a closer look at the language of the bill, there are loopholes that undermine peoples rights to protect their privacy, Jennifer Lee, a technology and liberty manager at ACLU-WA, said.One of the bills biggest loopholes, Lee said, is having the option to opt out of companies privacy policies but not having the option to opt in. By having an opt-out option, it makes it more difficult for individuals to know what their rights are by making them wade through different companies privacy policies in order to make an informed decision.Another concern by the ACLU is the bills enforcement mechanism.The bill provides sole enforcement to the attorney general, who will look for systematic patterns of abuse but not specific violations of companies towards individuals, Lee said. Individuals wont be able to sue companies for violating their privacy.A possible alternative to the bill, Lee said, is the Peoples Privacy Act , sponsored by Washington state Rep. Shelley Kloba.One of the main differences between the Peoples Privacy Act and the Washington Privacy Act is the option to opt in to company privacy policies, which provides individuals with the power to decide how companies use their data and whether or not they have access to it.The bill also aims to prevent personal data from being used beyond a primary transaction and provides strong protections against biometric data collection and the use of facial recognition tech in public areas such as parks, restaurants and schools.As for the Electronic Frontier Foundations response to the bill, Hayley Tsukayama, a legislative activist for EFF, said, We have been opposing this bill for quite some time. The model of the bill is not consumer protective and basically allows companies to say they are considering consumers privacy and generate reports about privacy but [it does] not actually provide meaningful protections of privacy.One way to rectify this issue, Tsukayama said, is to include a broad private right of action option that would allow consumers to sue companies that violate their privacy.People can sue companies for product defects or breach of contracts, she said, why is this any different? I think privacy harm should be included in that.
Brexits contentious Northern Ireland Protocol cannot work, and must be replaced, First Minister Arlene Foster has said.

Writing in Thursdays Daily Telegraph, Mrs Foster said the Prime Minister had committed to protecting the UK internal market by all legislative means necessary, including triggering Article 16 and that he must now back up those words with tangible actions.

The DUP leader is quoted as saying: The Northern Ireland Protocol has not worked, cannot work and in light of our proposals to the Government, needs to be replaced.

She warned that simply extending grace periods for businesses could not solve the wholly disproportionate checks implemented since the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, and that the regions political and economic links to the UK were at risk.

Mrs Foster made the remarks following crunch talks on the protocol between Northern Irelands leaders and the UK and EU.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove and European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic held a virtual meeting with Mrs Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill on Wednesday evening.

Physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, which are required under the protocol, have been suspended amid threats and intimidation of staff.

Michael Gove, Minister for the Cabinet Office (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Police have insisted there is no evidence that loyalist paramilitaries are involved in the sinister campaign, instead blaming disgruntled individuals and small groups.

Speaking after the meeting the DUPs Jeffrey Donaldson said the protocol was damaging the relationship between Britain and Northern Ireland and that permanent solutions were needed to ensure the region has unfettered access to the UK market.

Mr Donaldson described the trade difficulties as not just short term, but long term.

Thats why we need not just a short-term fix or tinkering around the edges of this or kicking the can down the road, he told RTE News.

We need a permanent solution that will ensure that we continue to have unfettered access to the UK market and that the EU is able to protect its market, and we need that accommodation reached as soon as possible.

DUPs Jeffrey Donaldson (Brian Lawless/PA)

Mr Donaldson said the Irish Government needed to recognise that the union has to be preserved as well as protecting the EU single market.

If were going to see the East-West, Great Britain-Northern Ireland relationship diminished then we cant be expected to see a situation where there are normal North-South relationships because the two are inter-twined  one impacts on the other, he said.

Therefore we need the Irish Government to recognise that it is the totality of the relationships here including the crucial relationship between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK that has to be preserved and protected as well as protecting the EU single market.

Sinn Feins Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill said the EU Commission vice-president was very forthright and pressed the point that the protocol needed to be implemented in its entirety.

He said the EU expects rigorous implementation of the protocol, she said.

Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill (Liam McBurney/PA)

Ms ONeill called for calm heads and leadership from all quarters at the meeting.

Ms ONeill said the vice president of the commission was emphatic that there was no intention by the EU to cause difficulty when it moved to suspend part of the Northern Ireland Protocol last week.

He put his hands up and said they had made a mistake and that they moved to rectify that mistake very quickly, she said.

EU Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic (right) and EU Ambassador to the UK, Portuguese diplomat Joao Vale de Almeida (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Ms ONeill said Mr Sefcovic apologised on behalf of the commission and asked the leaders to judge the EU on its track record in terms of its support for the peace process both financially and politically.

He was very gracious in his apology around that and recognised that it caused some tensions, she said.

I accept that apology in the way in which it was intended, she added.

The European Commission was forced to backtrack on a threat to suspend part of the protocol on Friday but the episode angered loyalists and unionists and emboldened them to press their demands for an end to the protocol.

Ms ONeill also said Mr Sefcovic was focused on finding solutions.

She said: There are flexibilities inbuilt [in the protocol] which he thinks havent even had a chance to work out yet.

Ms ONeill welcomed his commitment to travel to the UK to find ways to resolve the issues that have emerged, adding that she believed it was a very pragmatic and very constructive way to move forward.

The EU Commission vice president is to travel to London for further talks on the matter next week.

Mr Sefcovic said if all aspects of the Northern Ireland Protocol were put into practice he believed the issues raised at the meeting could be resolved.

Earlier the DUP rejected claims it is whipping up tensions over Irish Sea trade in an effort to get the protocol ditched.

Mrs Foster said it was absolutely ridiculous to suggest her party was inflating concerns around trade disruption to pursue a political objective.

First Minister Arlene Foster said it was absolutely ridiculous to suggest her party was whipping up fears (Liam McBurney/PA)

On Tuesday, the DUP announced a series of political moves aimed at frustrating the operation of the protocol amid mounting unionist and loyalist concerns that Northern Irelands place within the UK is being undermined.

Its strategy includes opposing any protocol-related legislation at the Stormont Assembly and refusing to participate in any exchanges with the Irish Government related to the operation of the protocol.

Ms ONeill has accused the DUP of reckless behaviour, claiming political unionism was trying to whip up tension and fear.

Mrs Foster and senior DUP colleagues had a separate virtual call with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday ahead of the engagement with Mr Gove and Mr Sefcovic.

Mr Gove and Mr Sefcovic chair the UK/EU Joint Committee tasked with implementation of the protocol.

The protocol is a mechanism agreed by the UK and EU as part of the withdrawal talks to ensure a free-flowing Irish border.

Graffiti reading No Irish Sea border near Belfast City centre (David Young/PA)

Unionists and loyalists are deeply unhappy with the new arrangements, which came into force on December 31, believing the protocol has created a barrier between the region and the rest of the UK.
Brasilia, Feb 4 : Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro met the new presidents of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, and of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, to present his ideas on healthcare, economic recovery and state reform, to be debated in Congress.

Lira, from the Progressive Party, and Pacheco, from the Democrats Party, were elected by their peers on Monday, both with Bolsonaro's support, reports Xinhua news agency.

"This dialogue did not begin today, it began during the campaign itself. We have suggested guidelines for the presidents of the House and the Senate, and they can be absolutely sure: the climate is the best possible and harmony will prevail between us," Bolsonaro said after the meeting at the government headquarters on Wednesday.

Lira and Pacheco also advocated for dialogue and harmony between the legislative and executive powers, safeguarding their independence.

Previously, Lira and Pacheco signed a joint document detailing the priorities of the Congress.

"The main objective is the safe, speedy and smart confrontation of the pandemic (of the novel coronavirus disease), with the availability of vaccines, of course. And the economic recovery of Brazil," said Pacheco.

The new legislative year was to be inaugurated on Wednesday afternoon with a solemn opening session of Congress, which traditionally begins with the reading of a message from the nation's president.
This weeks blizzard turned into a windfall for intrepid teenagers who discovered the old-fashioned rewards of shoveling snowfor big bucks due to a flurry of demand.

Kyle Barreto, a 17-year-old in Brooklyn who started shoveling this winter, said he used to be addicted to lounging with videogames and television. But after months trapped indoors by the pandemic, he jumped to join a friend seeking snow jobs during the storm.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

Working from dawn until 11 p.m. in temperatures that dipped into the 20s Monday, they made about $500 to share. They were at it again on Tuesday, despite sore backs and arms. I used to sit home all day," Kyle said. I finally have something to do."

His mom, Melissa Lopez, was thrilled. Im excited hes off the couch," she said.

As the storm pounded the Northeast, homeowners scrambled to find help digging out via friends and social media. Many werent ready for such a rapid pileup. The National Weather Service said some spots near New York City saw more than two feet of snow by Tuesday morning.

Some of the desperate paid hundreds of dollars to get the blustery job done.

The average price for snow removal hit $150 for a townhouse in the city Monday, and $190 for a standard suburban home, according to Shovler, an app that matches clients with snow job-seekers. On top of that, tips averaged $25, with some as high as $99.

Shovler Chief Executive Daniel Miller said at least 1,000 jobs were completed in the New York metropolitan area Monday, and thousands more were expected Tuesday and Wednesday. The rates, he said, are the highest since the company started in 2016. Quick accumulation, snow depth, temperatures and size of the property factored into pricing on the app, he said. At times on Monday, New York City was getting 2 inches or more of snow an hour.

The snow accumulation is very large so it is only fair to compensate shovelers more for their work," Mr. Miller said by email.

He said the average price for shoveling a driveway that parks four cars, a medium sidewalk, and medium walkway on Tuesday was $200, compared with $55 for the storm of Jan. 18, 2020.

Chris Vazquez, a 17-year-old senior at Xaverian High School in Brooklyn who recruited his friend Kyle to work with him on a day school was closed, said his dad posted his phone number in a neighborhood Facebook page, and then someone reposted it in another one. By noon Monday Chris had 15 job offers. On Tuesday the duo had at least seven more bookings.

Chris said he usually charged $20 to $100 for stoops and sidewalks, depending on size. His only equipment: Just good old muscle and a good shovel."

Joe Pastore, who is in his 60s and needed help clearing a large sidewalk in front of his house in Brooklyn, was relieved to find the pair after striking out with other efforts. He expected to pay at least $100 and waxed nostalgic for his youth when kids were all expected to shovel for their parents free of charge.

Theres not that many young kids to help out like years ago," he said. I want to get a condo. Its too much. Every time this happens my wife tells me we have to sell."

Some people looking for help had left New York City due to the coronavirus pandemic and so couldnt tackle the walkways at the empty homes they temporarily left behind. By city rules, homeowners and businesses can face fines if they dont clear their sidewalks within a certain number of hours.

Susie Sonneborn, who lives in Montclair, N.J., wanted her teenage sons to clear snow for two New York City families who had just bought houses nearby but hadnt moved in yet. She wasnt sure what would be an appropriate charge. I dont want to extort anyone but its brutal work," she said.

Her 13-year-old son, Wylie Blim, said he was happy getting $15 to $20 for a sidewalk and path to the doorway. He said he would be game to ask neighbors if they wanted help, but Im a little uncomfortable knocking on doors because of Covid."

Ben Horrigan, a 17-year-old in Montclair, said he found that he fared better if he let homeowners name the price. Theyre usually more generous than I am to myself," he said. Usually theyll say, Is $40 good? when I would have said $20 or $30."

Ben said a store owner would pay him about $100 to keep its sidewalk clear, and his parents paid him $30 for the driveway. What about parents who expect their own kids to do it free? Well, fortunately thats not the case here," he said.

Kevin Williams, a 17-year-old in Chatham, N.J., earned $100 for clearing a neighbors driveway for three hours Monday night, when snow was about two-feet deep. He said he had planned to volunteer for his high schools community service club, but the neighbor wanted to pay him because the job was so huge. In a previous storm, about two years ago, he got $60 for the same site.

He likes shoveling better than a job he had in eighth grade, when he made $1,200 putting up Christmas lights for a half-dozen homes. Twigs fell in his eyes, and to string the lights properly he couldnt wear gloves.

Shoveling is not too hard, to the point where I despise it," he said.

In some affluent neighborhoods, teenagers found their business had dried up in recent years because so many homeowners bought snowblowers. Its a perfect case study for how automation has affected the workforce," said Marcus Brotman, a 17-year-old in Westfield, N.J. An avid shoveler in middle school, he remembered making $100 on a regular snowy day.

Marcus didnt really miss the backbreaking labor in the bitter cold, however. Now Im a lifeguard," he said. I can make $100 by sitting in a chair in the sun."

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Laptop users watch out. Your favourite personal computer could be out of stock in stores and online retailers over the next few weeks.

Reason? A global semiconductor shortage is now impacting the availability of the electronic chips used in laptops.

Electronic dealers told Moneycontrol that this scarcity is expected to last for at least eight to ten weeks. Moneycontrol had earlier reported how the global semiconductor shortage had hit the automobile makers hard.

This is not particular to India. We have been informed that the shortage is due to sudden surge in demand for laptops and inadequate supply of chips amidst remote working, said Ashfaque Siddiqui, owner of electronics retailer, Siddiqui & Co, in Mumbai.

In this country, the domestic laptop market is estimated to be US& 6 billion, with an annual growth of 18 percent. Large players in India include HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, and Asus.

India does not have local semiconductor manufacturing capacity and imports all the chips/circuits from Taiwan, which is considered the worlds largest production hub for computer chips.

What are semiconductors and how are they used in laptops?

Semiconductors are tiny chips that control the critical functions of an electronic device. Mostly made from Silicon, this tiny device controls the basic functions of products such as smartphones.

For example, when you search for a product on your computer or try to access your email on the laptop, it is this semiconductor chip that implements these functions and provides accurate solutions. These chips are the core of any device and hence a shortage would mean that production must be halted.

The manufacturing process for such devices requires a specialised facility called semiconductor fabs (semiconductor fabrication plants). Even a tiny speck of dust that is not visible to the naked eye can hamper the chips efficiency. Hence, it takes several years of experience and completely dust-free factories to produce these chips.

Why is there a shortage?

When the Coronavirus-linked lockdown was announced across the globe from March 2020 onwards, all stores and production facilities had to shut down. In India, manufacturing was totally closed for close to seven weeks across sectors.

By June 2020, the Unlock phase was announced, production activities had resumed wholly, and stores started to open. Amidst this, work-from-home (WFH) was being followed across companies. Schools and colleges had also moved classes online.

This led to a sudden rise in demand for laptops among working professionals and students. Moneycontrol had reported earlier how demand for products like laptops had surged by close to 50 percent due to WFH.

So, while the demand escalated, semiconductor makers were not entirely prepared. Revenge buying was also reported in several parts of the globe, especially China, leading to a further shortage.

Professionals across China suddenly wanted to upgrade their devices and electronic store sales for laptops soared from July onwards. With the Chinese New Year around the corner, laptops are among the most sought-after gifts since WFH continues. So, all the production capacity is being diverted to this sudden demand, which is leading to this shortage, said the deputy director-India and South Asia for a global semiconductor maker.

Industry sources said that semiconductor makers are working on overcoming this shortage, but it could take close to two months for the situation to normalise.

Bhaskar Purkayastha, who owns Global Electronics at Chandni Chowk in Delhi, admits that they are primarily selling older version of the laptops from their existing inventory.

Newer products are taking time to hit the market. We are now seeing one household with two to three laptops for working couples and their children, as against one laptop earlier. Even though the three laptops could be basic ones, it has led to increased demand and inventory is getting wiped out, he added.

According to Purkayastha, ever since the Diwali sales period, demand for laptops have shot up by close to 60 percent in the Mumbai and Delhi electronics markets alone!

His store also has a branch in IT-hub Bengaluru, which has seen close to 30 percent surge in sales.

"The expectation was that people will start going back to physical offices from January 2021 onwards. But that is not the case. Working constantly on personal laptops also means that it could be subject to wear-and-tear and hence upgradation is required," said Chirag Sharma, who owns a string of stores in Kolkata's Bow Bazaar electronics market.

The senior vice president of a multinational IT devices manufacturer told Moneycontrol that in the first stage, entry-level laptops could see normalcy by next month.

"In India, the highest demand is for laptops in the Rs 15,000-20,000 range. Hence, this is a segment where shortage is high," he added.

Could having local production help?

The government is already working on developing semiconductor production facilities in India. Moneycontrol had reported that semiconductor fabs for electronic devices like laptops and mobile phones would be set up with tax incentives.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has already worked out a Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS). Here, it is proposed to offer financial incentives of 25 percent of capital expenditure for the manufacturing of goods that constitute the supply chain of an electronic product.

Under this project, production of items like chips, diodes, optical fibre preform, circuits and semiconductor wafers will be incentivised, among others. India is surely, if slowly, moving in the right direction.
Taylor Swift used her very own dress to sew together a teddy bear for Gigi Hadid's newborn daughter Khai.

Nicknamed 'Ugly Bear', the heartfelt and homemade gift was similar to one Taylor possessed as a child, Gigi revealed in an interview with Vogue.

'It's misshapen, and she called it Ugly Bear,' the model, 25, told the magazine. 'She had one when she was little.'

'She called it "Ugly Bear"': Taylor Swift used her very own dress to sew together a teddy bear for Gigi Hadid's newborn daughter Khai

There have been no shortage of luxury gifts given to baby Khai ever since Gigi and her boyfriend Zayn Malik welcomed her into the world this past fall.

Among the presents was one from 'Auntie Donatella', who gave the youngster a Versace-logo sweatshirt.

Khai even was given her very own Simon Porte Jacquemus micro handbag.

The many gifts have not gone unnoticed by Gigi, who has written everyone a thank-you note for their thoughtful gestures.

That's her girl! Hadid's newborn daughter Khai has been given a number of luxury gifts

The cover girl also revealed she welcomed her first child at her family ranch in Bucks County, Pennsylvania on September 20 with Zayn, her mother, Yolanda; her sister, Bella; and a local midwife and her assistant by her side.

Admitting that she looked 'crazy' during labour, Gigi described her experience by stating, 'I was an animal woman'.

Revealing that she had no idea she had even given birth amid the wild experience and exhaustion, she explained that she looked up to see new dad Zayn cradling their newborn after catching their daughter,

She noted: 'I had to dig deep. I knew it was going to be the craziest pain in my life, but you have to surrender to it and be like, "This is what it is". I loved that.'

Domestic bliss: Gigi and her long-time, on-off boyfriend Zayn Malik welcomed their first child together last year (pictured 2017)

Although she made it through, Gigi confessed that there were times in her labour where she had second thoughts about having a natural birth.

'There definitely was a point where I was like, I wonder what it would be like with an epidural, how it would be different', she mused.

'My midwife looked at me and was like, "You're doing it. No one can help you. You're past the point of the epidural anyway, so you'd be pushing exactly the same way in a hospital bed."'

Gigi added that she could see 'terror' in the eyes of her family members, but could also see that they remained tremendously proud of her efforts.

'I know my mom and Zayn and Bella were proud of me, but at certain points I saw each of them in terror,' Gigi recalled. 'Afterward, Z and I looked at each other and were like, "We can have some time before we do that again"'.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb held his weekly COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday afternoon. Within it, Indianas State Health Commissioner detailed some changes involving schools in the Hoosier State.

Dr. Kristina Box stressed the point that we are not yet out of the woods. She detailed a care package heading to Indiana schools.

One million KN95 masks will be going to schools for staff and students as well as an additional 600,000 masks for K-6 students. Those shipments will start next week.

The state will also be providing BinaxNOW antigen test cards. These are nasal swab rapid tests to help schools test symptomatic students and teachers. That way, if a student or teacher is positive, the school will know immediately and can more quickly isolate them.

Finally, Dr. Box says they are making changes to the definition of close contact for classroom exposures only. Data from schools in the state indicate that only 3-5% of infections occur in the classroom.

Effective this coming Monday, quarantines or contact tracing will no longer be required if students remain three feet apart and are wearing masks. Students are teachers can also return to school after only a 10-day quarantine if they never develop symptoms, or after a seven-day quarantine depending on when they test negative and which test they receive.

We hope that these steps will help to decrease the disruption that COVID-19 continues to cause in our educational system and lead to quicker isolation of individuals which will reduce the spread of the virus, Dr. Box said.

Dr. Box says just two months ago, we were without a vaccine. Now, the interest in the vaccine by Hoosiers is almost overwhelming. She went through exactly where Indiana is with COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

Click Here to watch the full press briefing.

Over 611,000 Hoosiers have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Wednesday. Thats an increase of 134,000 from last week. Of those individuals, more than 166,000 Hoosiers have received both doses of the vaccine and are fully vaccinated.

Since the state expanded vaccine eligibility to Hoosiers between 65 and 69 years of age on Monday, officials say more than 144,000 people in that age group have made appointments to be vaccinated.

To date, more than 875,000 unique Hoosiers ages 65 and older along with health care workers and first responders have been vaccinated or have an appointment.

Nearly 43,000 residents of long-term care facilities have received their vaccine along with 17,000 staff in these facilities.

Even as more Hoosiers receive their vaccine, we are still very limited in the number of Hoosiers we can vaccinate due to national supplies, Dr. Box concluded, We will not achieve herd immunity for many months, and the new variants of the virus that are emerging will require us to remain vigilant about masking, social distancing, staying home if youre ill, and getting tested.

As long as vaccine supply remains limited, Dr. Box says the state will continue prioritizing those most at risk to die from COVID-19. State health officials are looking at who to prioritize next when all Hoosiers 60 and older who want a vaccine can get one. The state will continue using data to drive that decision moving forward.

Kolkata:

Leaders from various parties on Friday slammed the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) government for preventing them from visiting riot-hit Basirhat with the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) politicos saying they would meet the governor on Saturday to demand President's Rule in WestBengal.

"We wanted to go and meet the people there to restore peace, but the TMC government did not allow our leaders. The state government does not want the cooperation of opposition parties," state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said.

He said the BJP would organise a rally in Kolkata on Saturday to condemn the role of the state government. "We will also meet Governor K.N Tripathi and demand in writing the imposition of President's Rule in the state," he said.

He said the state government should take the help of the Centre to restore law and order in Basirhat and alleged that'jehadi' elements were fomenting trouble there. The state BJP chief claimed one person was killed in the riot and demanded that the state government give a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a job to the family of the victim.

Also Read: BJP, CPM delegations stopped from entering Basirhat

TMC leader and minister Jyotipriya Mullick said that the state administration was trying to restore peace and all should cooperate when the chief minister has appealed for it. "Why are the opposition parties in a hurry? They can gothere later," he said. State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, who was also stopped from visiting Basirhat, said, "The main intention of our visit was to tell the people there to live together in peace".

CPI-M MP Md Salim, who too was stopped from visiting Basirhat with a left delegation, alleged the police hasfailed to control the riots. "They are stopping peace lovers and not those fomentingriots," he alleged and said "instead of controlling riots,the chief minister was busy quarrelling with the Governor."

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
We have a great obligation to people who put their lives on the line for the nation, said Dr. Victor J. Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine.

Celia Nieto, 44, an intensive care nurse in Las Vegas, said many Americans had scant appreciation for the tribulations that she and her colleagues face day after day. There is the physical exhaustion of lifting and turning patients on their bellies so they might breathe easier, the never-ending scramble to adjust ventilators and pain medication, and the mental anguish of telling relatives she doesnt have the time to help them FaceTime with their loved ones.

It feels like were failing, when in actuality were working with what weve got and we dont have enough, she said. We feel quite helpless, and its a real injury to our psyches.

Dr. Donald Pathman, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said he was struck by the early results of a study he has been conducting on the pandemics effect on clinicians who serve in poor communities. Many of the 2,000 medical, dental and mental health professionals who have participated in the survey so far say they are disillusioned.

There is a lot of personal trauma, Dr. Pathman said. Many people have been scarred by their experiences during the pandemic, and they will look to leave their practices.

In interviews, doctors who have recently left the field or are considering early retirement said the pandemic had exacerbated frustrations spurred by shifts in the business of medical care that often required them to work longer hours without increased compensation.
In technical terms, the Good Friday Agreement is the political foundation of the governance and management of Northern Ireland in a complex framework involving external supports and interlocking institutions. Ambitious enough, in a way. But within its formal frame, the agreement carries a much grander narrative. Standing full-square against the grain of British and Irish history, the Good Friday Agreement stands or falls by its capacity to bridge (in its own words) from the tragedies of the past to a future defined by the achievement of reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust, and the vindication of human rights for all, by exclusively peaceful means and in equality, partnership and mutual respect. The agreement succeeds as the great sea change or it falls this side of revenge.

The agreement has roots in a core premise: Northern Ireland, and stable non-violent politics in the north of Ireland, depends on finding a viable point of accommodation to include people who feel British and Irish. Both now and into the future. It is a truth that might have been obvious since Gladstone. Then, no configuration of power on the island of Ireland could apparently satisfy British loyalists and Irish nationalists. Before the First World War that conflict almost brought the British Empire to civil war. After that war, it brought partition, borders and Irish wars. And in the 1970s it brought carnage.

Many still think of the peace process of the 1990s as a local event, driven by Northern Irish politicians. But if that had been its tap-root, the agreement would never have survived. Both its origins and resilience relied at least as much on careful frameworks hammered out between Britain and Ireland  on radical Northern Ireland compromises on self-determination, sovereignty and consent, on the acknowledgement of mutual citizenship and a hair-trigger institutional balance  and on the collaboration of the British and Irish governments in the decades since 1998. Underpinning the legitimacy of the new order was an international diplomatic coalition, secured by the normative force of universal human rights.

It is hard to imagine a more damaging turn than Brexit. The primary vehicle for inter-government partnership became an arena of contest. Asserting our own borders, our own money and our own laws translates in Northern Ireland into the question who is we?. Not only is anything that is our own not theirs by definition, but played out as international power politics the fragile heart of Northern Ireland breaks predictably into friends and enemies. Read More Preventing this by upholding the agreement in all its parts has been the repetitive mantra of Ireland, the EU and the United Kingdom since 1998. I hope it remains possible. The outcome of a hard Brexit and four years of negotiating hostility and insult is a customs frontier and new lines of division. But wherever the trade border was to fall, someone in Northern Ireland would find themselves in a place they did not choose and would never have been brought to choose. Probably for that reason, nobody in Northern Ireland was asked; it was done to us and for us (?) by people all upholding our agreement. The emergency brake in the new world is Article 16 of the Ireland-Northern Ireland Protocol. But since day one on 1 January, Ulsters Unionists have been insisting that the practical disruption to some supplies is emergency enough to require that it is pulled. Then last week, without reference to anyone else, the Commission invoked Article 16 while lashing out in a rage over continent-wide frustrations over vaccine availability. In an instant, less than one month after the protocol came into force, the Commission reframed Northern Ireland from microcosm of European efforts to sustain international peace into external threat to be controlled and bullied into line. The direct involvement of the European Commission in Article 16 has made of Northern Ireland an international incident waiting to happen. And made Northern Ireland a potential arena for international confrontations. In wartime tones, the First Minister accused the Commission of a hostile act. Only frantic Irish government rearguard action forced a retraction. In managing the customs border between UK and Ireland, the Commission has become a key internal collaborative partner in Northern Ireland, but it was not obvious that this had influenced decisions. Inevitably, and not without grounds, anti-Europeans in Northern Ireland redoubled their opposition to Commission unilateralism. Not that a solution lies in anti-Europeanism either. It is a fair bet that a hard border in Ireland in response to unionist demands would survive even less than a month. This time the British and Irish governments have scrambled to hold the line. The protocol remains intact  just. But the larger challenge is to consider whether the politics and the institutions of the agreement remain adequate to the risks. Drift within Northern Ireland, anger about the protocol, polarisation over borders and governments and institutions with other fish to fry are all evident. Equality, partnership and mutual respect are in short supply. The alternative to collaboration is that Northern Ireland will draw everyone into confrontation. But if Britain, Ireland and the EU really mean all that stuff about the Good Friday Agreement it may now require intentional action. For a while yet, that inevitably means pragmatic flexibility on extensions of grace periods. But unavoidably, it also looks like the governments proactively assuring themselves that the new arrangements really do protect a viable place for genuine accommodation between Britishness and Irishness, without which there is no deal. Likewise, the debate about a United Ireland that has unsurprisingly taken off since 2016 is essentially same old, same old unless all sides also grapple explicitly with the bigger question that the agreement tried to answer in 1998: what is the peaceful route to reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust? Because on that depends the success of all constitutional projects. In the active management of the issues now obviously arising from Brexit, the indispensable task of steering a course from a tragic past to a shared future must remain centre stage. Duncan Morrow is professor at Ulster University in the School of Applied Social and Policy
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The Brazilian government announced Wednesday it was negotiating the purchase of 30 million coronavirus vaccine doses from Russia and India, after regulators made it easier for the treatments to win emergency-use authorizations.

Until now, only the AstraZeneca/Oxford shot and China's CoronaVac have been permitted in Brazil, the second-hardest-hit country after the US, with more than 226,000 deaths from COVID-19.

Brazil's health surveillance agency said it would no longer require final Phase 3 trials to be carried out in Brazil, clearing the way for the emergency authorization of the vaccinations.

The health ministry said it is meeting from representatives from Russia and India on Friday to finalize details of a deal, which would see some 18 million doses delivered this month, and 12 million more in March.

The move comes after The Lancet medical journal this week published results showing Sputnik Vnamed after the Soviet-era satelliteto be safe and 91.6 percent effective, allaying concerns over transparency.

Brazil began vaccinations January 17, starting with medical workers, the indigenous population and the elderly.

With 212 million inhabitants, Brazil has suffered an average of 1,062 deaths and 50,000 cases per day in the past week.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 AFP
4 February 2021

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources plc

("Conroy Gold" or "the Company")

NEW GOLDDISCOVERIES IN GLENISH LICENCE AREA

Extensive new gold-in-soil anomaly discovered 2km Northeast of the Glenish gold target

Gold outcrop discovery indicates extension of Glenish gold target mineralisation to East

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources plc (AIM: CGNR), the gold exploration and development company focused on Ireland and Finland, is pleased to announce further gold discoveries on its Glenish gold licence: a large new gold-in-soil anomaly, and a new gold mineralised outcrop indicating an extension of the Glenish Gold target.

The newly discovered gold-in-soil anomaly lies 2km northeast of the Glenish gold target and is located at Corlongford on the border between the Glenish gold licence and the Clontibret gold licence. The anomaly covers an area circa 500 metres by 400 metres and is bisected by the Orlock Bridge Fault Zone which is a major control on gold mineralisation in the Longford-Down Massif.

Rock chip sampling in the Glenish Licence area has discovered gold in bedrock in two areas, one within the Glenish gold target and adjacent to a previous gold mineralised zone announced (as announced by the Company on 30th April 2020) with values up to 0.2 g/t gold, the other 200 metres to the East of the Glenish gold target suggesting that the Glenish gold target may extend further than previously indicated by gold- in-soil sampling.

This release has been approved by Kevin McNulty PGeo, who is a member of the Company's technical staff and holds a BSc/MSc in Geology and Remote Sensing, in accordance with the guidance note for Mining, Oil & Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in respect of AIM Companies, which outlines standards of disclosure for mineral projects.

Professor Richard Conroy, Chairman commented:

"The continued progress on the Company's Glenish licence, including the discovery of a substantial new gold anomaly at Corlongford close to the border with the Clontibret licence, is highly encouraging and gives further credence to the estimates of 8.8 million potential contained ounces gold in the Clontibret-Clay Lake-Glenish gold target areas. This is in addition to the 517,000 ounces gold (JORC 2012) resource at Clontibret. I am looking forward to accelerated progress in the coming year as part of a joint venture relationship and the Company is planning accordingly."

For further information please contact :

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources plc Tel: +353-1-479-6180 Professor Richard Conroy, Chairman Allenby Capital Limited(Nomad) Tel: +44-20-3328-5656 Nick Athanas/Nick Harriss Brandon Hill Capital Limited (Joint Broker) Tel: +44-20-3463-5000 Jonathan Evans



First Equity Limited (Joint Broker)

Jason Robertson

Tel: +44-20-7330-1883 Lothbury Financial Services Tel: +44-20-3290-0707 Michael Padley Hall Communications Tel: +353-1-660-9377 Don Hall

Visit the website at:www.conroygold.com
One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021
Some of the rioters who stormed the US Capitol in early January chanted their demand to hang Mike Pence. But some likely thought the former vice president was already dead.

In fringier corners of former President Donald Trumps base, particularly those influenced by the QAnon conspiracy theory, theres a rumor that Pence was executed by a Trump-run military tribunal last year. So were the Obamas, the Clintons, President Joe Biden, and Chief Justice John Roberts. News reports showing them apparently reacting to current events, the story goes, are simply computer-generated. Or maybe holograms. Or actors? Or clones!

This is, of course, absurd. Its also utterly unassailable: We cant take Biden around for a doubting Thomas routine with every conspiracy theorist. Even if we could, theres no external proof this sort of theory cannot account for and dismiss.

But most remarkable about this belief is that some significant portion of the people who hold it would describe themselves as evangelicals. Their social media bios are festooned with phrases like conservative Christian, Bible-believing Christian, fighting for faith, John 3:16, God-fearing, Christian, wife, and mother. They share Bible verses, sometimes in the same post as their conspiracy theorizing. They express faith that God will accomplish the overhaul of American governance of which the imagined executions are just one part. They might go to churchmaybe your church.

Most politically engaged Americans generally, and Christians specifically, dont believe anything quite so wild. But this theory about high profile executions is not quite the aberration we might hope. [I]n my experience and in my conversations among pastors, we are growing more and more alarmed by the prevalence of belief in conspiracy theories and far-fetched political ideas, especially since the election, said Daniel Darling, who is a pastor, the senior vice president of National Religious Broadcasters, a CT contributor, and author of books including A Way with Words: Using Our Online Conversations for Good.

Darlings perspective, which he shared with me in an email interview in January, is backed up by new survey data from Lifeway. Fully half of Protestant pastors in America say they frequently hear members of [their] congregation[s] repeating conspiracy theories they have heard about why something is happening in our country, that poll found. The trend seems to be strongest, said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, in politically conservative circles, which corresponds to the higher percentages in the churches led by white Protestant pastors.

With most pastors I talk to, its a fraction of their congregations, Darling told me, perhaps among the most politically engaged or the most plugged in online. And yet it is enough of an element that it has many pastors worried, he continued, especially about how captive many [Christians] are to their preferred media outlets, which are growing more and more extreme, and how seemingly resistant many are to hearing reasonable rebuttals.

The effect is an epistemic crisis, and it is not exclusively a fringe phenomenon. The subtler lie can be the strongestIf you think you are standing firm, be careful that you dont fall! (1 Cor. 10:12). This crisis is more than a pressing political problem; its also an urgent matter of Christian discipleship, for Christians are supposed to be people of truth (John 8:3132).

Epistemology is simply the study of knowledge: What do we know and how do we know it? What are trustworthy sources of knowledge? Is the world really as we perceive it? If truth exists (as Christians affirm), can we access it rightly? We are in an epistemic crisis because our answers to these questions in the public sphere are a disastrous mess.

Article continues below

An epistemic smog is pouring into our homes and our heads via autoplay and infinite scroll.

The last five years of American politics have been a time of alternative facts and truth [that] isn't truth. Accusations of fake news, some fair and some cynically slanderous, fly fast and thick. Mainstream media outlets are rejected for being flawed or biased (an oft-deserved critique!), but the pseudonymous digital rumor-mongers rising to replace them are worse. Too many on the Right embrace dreampolitikif it feels right, believe itwhile among too many on the Left, a totalized emphasis on personal experience as a mediator of knowledge renders communication impossible across the lines of identity. The upshot is were certain about things that dont warrant certainty and doubtful of basic facts. An epistemic smog is pouring into our homes and our heads via autoplay and infinite scroll.

I wanted to talk to Darling because I think I can describe this problem well. I certainly know it when I see it, includingto my dismayin my own family. But I commonly feel at a loss as to what to do about it. I know what it looks like in my life to practice what Graeme Wood at The Atlantic called mental hygiene (which I would say is a spiritual hygiene, too). The struggle is internal, and familiar to all who consume media, Wood wrote, and for me it has meant limitstoo often brokenon the time and content of my media consumption, as well as a daily routine that includes reading Scripture before my phone.

But what about other people, people who may not even recognize the epistemic crisis exists? I cant impose my limits and routine on them. G. K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy advised against arguing with the conspiracy theorist, recommending instead to give him air, to show there is something cleaner and cooler outside the suffocation of a single argument. But what does that look like in the age of smartphones, when an endless font of controversy and confusion is always in our pocket?

Public commentarylike this very articlecan only do so much, Darling told me. It serves a purpose, he wrote, but this has to be solved relationally and in the local church. Too many evangelicals are catechized more by their favorite niche political podcast and pundits and politicians than by the Bible, he continued, a characterization which I suspect might be unwelcome, but which is indisputable if we consider the time allotted to each.

So perhaps pastors need to return to this kind of old-fashioned preaching that warns against bad influences and urges us to renew our minds (Rom. 12:2) with Scripture, Darling said, while including in their discipleship practices a sustained and nuanced emphasis on what it means to engage politics in a healthy way. Churches can use small groups, recommending reading, research, and podcasts, as well as classes to train and encourage members. To fail to address political engagement and content consumption, Darling argued, means ceding that ground to the fear merchants and media conglomerates who trade eyeballs for profit.

And all this must happen in the context of Christian love: in friendship; in prayer and fasting and spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:1018); in bear[ing] with each other and forgiv[ing] one another (Col. 3:13). We may not be able to argue people out of epistemic crisisbut we can appeal, Darling concluded, to Christian virtue and mission, asking questions like: Is this really worth our time and energy? Does it help us to live a life worthy of the calling [we] have received (Eph. 4:1)? Does it turn anyones mind toward Christ? We neednt believe in Clone Biden for the answer to be no.

Bonnie Kristian is a columnist at Christianity Today.

[ This article is also available in Portugues, Francais, , and . ]
With the pandemic temporarily shutting down bars and nightclubs in many states, staying in has officially replaced going out. But the party doesnt have to end just because you're not imbibing at your favorite watering hole. You can easily curate a bar space at home to enjoy a homemade version of your go-to cocktail.

"Ive had clients skeptical about installing wet bars who are now using them all the time, says Nina Magon of Houston-based firm Contour Interior Design. A designated bar space will help make cocktail hour feel all the more special.

Whether you're looking to go small scale with a stylishly stocked bar cart or are ready to transform an unused nook into a proper wet bar, our experts have a few tips to lift your spirits. Here's what you need to know to get your at-home bar ready for business.

1. Go for moody colors and accessories

Photo by Erin Melkonian Designs

Want to channel that dark, mysterious old-school cocktail bar vibe?

Using moody, masculine colors and a bronzed mirror brings to mind the feeling of a classic cocktail bar, says Magon.

If you're decking out a nook or corner of a room, try using a dark paint color or textured wallpaper to separate the area from the rest of the room.

To get a real bar feel, consider adding a wood and mirror backbar that has a shelf, stemware holder, and mounting hardware, like the Seville backbar mirror ($400, Home Depot).

2. Select sophisticated seating

No bar would be complete without bar stools, and using them in your home can really set the tone.

Recently Ive really been re-creating a lounge-style atmosphere for clients. This includes a traditional bar top with bar stools, says Magon.

Magon recommends the Erik Buch teak and black leather bar stools ($4,550 per set, 1stDibs.com). A more budget-friendly option would be a backless bar stool like the Julien bar and counter stool ($99.50 to $129.00, Grandinroad.com).

3. Have bar cart, will travel

Photo by Erin King Interiors

A bar cart is great for its versatility, convenience, and style, especially when square footageand budgetis limited.

"A good bar cart can pivot and serve another purpose. Think side table by day and drink service by night," says Anthony Gianacakos of New York Citybased firm Anthony George Home.

He says the Crestwood bar cart ($1,470, Arteriors) with its pared-back form and antique brass finish can work with a number of design aesthetics, and the clever design of the bottom rack keeps bottles upright. Also, consider a metal, wood, and leather bar cart ($150, Target).

If you're looking for more of a cabinet design, consider a midcentury bar cabinet ($799, West Elm) or the Cambridge mahogany bar ($462, Home Depot).

4. Bar none for accessories

Geometric wine rack Crate & Barrel

Becoming a master mixologist means you need the right tools and accessories.

"Regardless of your bar's scale, accessories are everything, says Gianacakos.

He says a set of Frances decanters ($390, Arteriors) has organic asymmetry that can very easily dress up or down your space, and work well for bar enthusiasts who like to infuse their own spirits."

Consider the bar tool set ($90, Crate & Barrel) and the 11-bottle wine rack ($46, Crate & Barrel) that both come in gold, copper, graphite, or silver. And what would a bar be without a cocktail shaker? Try the Usagi cobbler shaker ($42, Amazon).

5. The bar is always open

Wet bar sink Kohler

Where to put a wet bar in your home comes down to personal taste and convenience.

Kim Lewis, an interior designer from Austin, TX, says homeowners should consider the space in their home where theyd like to wind down at the day's end, such as an upstairs porch or a cozy living room near the TV.

Ive also integrated a home bar in the primary suite for a jump-start on coffee in the morning, says Lewis.

Designing a wet bar gives homeowners an opportunity to experiment with different styles of fixtures and finishes in their home. For example, try a lounge-approved statement faucet like the Artifacts gentlemans bar sink faucet ($776, Kohler.com) and the Brinx top-mount bar sink ($1,332, Kohler.com).

6. Up your cocktail game outdoors

Outdoor bar Pottery Barn

If you have the space, the ultimate home bar experience can also be taken outside.

Daniel Germani, an architect and designer based in Phoenix, says the new normal of 2020 completely transformed how people entertain at home, causing demand for outdoor living spaces to skyrocket.

I love integrating a bar into the outdoor experience. It satisfies that craving we all have these days to get out of the house, says Germani.

Germani designed the Elements Collection for Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens that offers smart storage solutions to accommodate outdoor wine fridges and Kegerators.

The bold pops of color also bring instant happiness to the space, which we all need right now, he says.

For your outdoor bar, consider the Hallsville three-piece bar set ($355, Wayfair) or the Chatham FSC mahogany ultimate bar ($2,499, Pottery Barn), or the acacia island and hutch ($2,248, Pottery Barn).

The post 6 Designer Tips for Creating the Ultimate at-Home Bar appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
HARRISBURG, PA, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate both announced the introduction of Protecting the Right to Organize Act in Congress. Our pro-union U.S. Senator Bob Casey is a co-sponsor as well as the following pro-worker congressional members: Rep. Michael Doyle, Rep. Connor Lamb, Rep. Matthew Cartwright, Rep. Susan Wild, Rep. Mary Scanlon, Rep. Madeleine Dean, Rep. Dwight Evans, Rep. Brendan Boyle, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick. We look forward to adding more co-sponsors in the future.

On behalf of the 700,000 workers of our Commonwealth's union movement, the officers of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, President Rick Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder, released the following statements:

"Pennsylvania workers are about to see a new day for their rights on the job. The multi-billion-dollar union-busting industry will do everything it can to continue to deprive and attack workers' rights. But the power of working people will seize this moment, and their voices will be heard. We commend our Commonwealth's bi-partisan delegation of PRO Act co-sponsors for their commitment to all working people. We urge the rest of our representatives to do sign on and support this step toward economic justice," remarked President Rick Bloomingdale.

"So-called 'right to work' laws are the last actual vestige of Jim Crow legislation. Designed by an architect of hatred, these laws aimed to keep Black workers out of unions in the South. It worked so well in depriving all working people of their rights on the job that corporations and anti-union interests exported this legislation to every state they could to destroy workers' rights across the Country. The PRO Act will finally remove this discriminatory attack on economic rights in America. This is an historic act in the fight to dismantle systemic discrimination and racism," stated Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder.

SOURCE PA AFL-CIO
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A patient dies after hackers launch a ransomware attack against a hospitals computers, delaying her treatment.

This may sound like the plot of a sci-fi thriller, but it really happened last fall at a German hospital  and experts say its only a matter of time before ransomware attackers target your business.

More sophisticated and destructive ransomware attacks are on the rise, according to government regulators and law enforcement officials. The primary targets: Businesses in highly regulated industries such as health care, finance and government contractors, as well as companies whose older computer system cant be regularly patched or supported by anti-ransomware software.

Ransomware attackers know businesses have a lot to lose  in productivity and potential fines and penalties  so will feel cornered into paying the ransom. Companies must decide between paying the ransom or facing prolonged business or data loss.

The FBI and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend against paying ransoms. Payment doesnt guarantee decrypted or returned files, and it may even embolden attackers to launch future assaults.

The Department of Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, recently warned companies that payments made to ransomware attackers might violate U.S. sanctions. This includes businesses that facilitate ransomware payments to cyber actors on behalf of victims, including financial institutions, cyber insurance firms and companies involved in digital forensics and incident response.

In recent years, the OFAC has used its cyber-related sanctions program to designate numerous bad actors as targets of U.S. enforcement. In addition to these groups, ransomware payments that require the transferring of funds to other sanctioned entities, governments or areas of the world may violate U.S. law.

Businesses that pay these ransoms may face civil penalties that carry a hefty price tag  up to $20 million  even if they dont know theyre engaging with someone on the blocked list.

While the intent of OFACs recent advisory is clear  to limit the flow of funds to sanctioned actors and disincentivize them from engaging in future attacks  the means for implementing the policies is less clear. Identifying ransomware attackers can be challenging, making it difficult for businesses to evaluate their risk of violating sanction regulations. Continued monitoring of enforcement is in order to see what kind of posture the OFAC takes on these issues.

In the meantime, businesses can take steps to guard against ransomware attacks  and it starts with employees.

The individual user continues to be the weakest point of vulnerability for any organization. Most ransomware attacks come cloaked as phishing scams, waiting for an unwary user to click on a malicious link.

Further complicating matters is the move by many organizations to store information on the cloud. When moving data to the cloud, an organization still retains liability for that data in the eyes of the law.

Cultivating a culture of compliance with security policies provides the most effective safeguard against ransomware attacks.

Adam D. Bruski is a senior counsel in the law firm Warner Norcross + Judd LLP who practices in business and corporate services and cybersecurity and privacy issues. He penned this piece as part of the Daily News' Community Connections initiative, and can be reached at abruski@wnj.com.

The Minority Leader and MP for Tamale South, Hon Haruna Iddrisu has urged President Nana Akufo Addo to comply with Article 89 ( 2 ) of the Constitution which enjoins the President to appoint some qualified category of persons to the Council of State in consultation with Parliament.



These include one person who has served as Chief Justice, one person who has once served as Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, and one person who has once served as Inspector General of Police, according to article 89 ( 2) of the Constitution.



Hon Haruna Iddrisu is unhappy that sometimes such appointments are made by the President and published by the media without the knowledge of Parliament and said such practice must stop.



Commenting on the issue the MP for Okai Koi Central Hon Patrick Yaw Boamah said the publication in the media about the appointments made by the President to the Council of State is not related to article 89 ( 2) of the Constitution.



However, the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Bagbin said, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu is right for raising the concern.



President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has made appointments to the Council of State for his second term.



The President named 11 persons including the immediate past Chair of the Council, Nana Otuo Siriboe, to form part of the composition of the Council according to a release from the Jubilee House.



The full members are:



1. Nana Otuo Siriboe II, Juabenhene

2. Archbishop Justice Ofei Akrofi

3. Mr. Sam Okudzeto

4. Mr. Stanley Blankson

5. Prof. Ato Essuman

6. Alhaji Aminu Amadu

7. Dr. Margaret Amoakohene

8. Mrs. Georgina Kusi

9. Mrs. Alberta Cudjoe

10. Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton VI

11. Alhaji Sule Yiremiah



The President, subject to consultation with Parliament, has also appointed, in accordance with Article 89(2)(a)(i)(ii) and (iii), Georgina Theodora Wood, a former Chief Justice, Lt. Gen. J.B. Danquah, a former Chief of Defence Staff of the Armed Forces, and Nana Owusu Nsiah, a former Inspector General of Police, to the Council.

Source: Emmanuel Akorli/Parliamentary Correspondent/Peace Fm









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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"Weve long been admirers of Advantechs quiet but powerful presence in the market, guided by K.C. Lius leadership and vision, and are pleased to partner with them on this impactful fund." says Ken Forster, Executive Director of Momenta.

Momenta Ventures has partnered with Advantech, a global Industrial Intelligence leader, to launch the AIoT Ecosystem Fund, a target USD 50 million venture capital fund focused on digital industry. Aimed at early growth stage companies at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT), the AIoT Ecosystem Fund will deliver venture capital investment and direct value-creation to innovators in North America and Europe.

K.C. Liu, CEO of Advantech stated, Advantech is committed to enabling an intelligent planet. This starts at the industrial edge with early innovators in energy, manufacturing, smart spaces, and supply chain management. We are committed to funding innovation and are actively cultivating these companies through our global Advantech ecosystem. Were pleased to have Momenta as a partner in this important endeavor.

Ken Forster, Executive Director of Momenta added, Weve long been admirers of Advantechs quiet but powerful presence in the market, guided by K.C. Lius leadership and vision, and are pleased to partner with them on this impactful fund. This is our third Digital Industry Fund since our founding almost a decade ago, each of which has been investing in later stage innovators. We believe the impact of the innovators across our key sectors is only at its start.

Momenta will lead investments and drive acceleration through its award-winning advisory and talent practices, partnering with Advantech to leverage their hardware and software industrial intelligence solutions and their commercial access.

The fund will invest in Series A and B, early growth stage companies, headquartered in the EU, EFTA, US, and Canada, that provide digital solutions in the energy, manufacturing, smart spaces, and supply chain sectors.

The AIoT Ecosystem Fund will be formally launched during the 2021 Advantech Connect Online Partner Conference, a premier conference for embedded Innovation and AIOT. The event will be live streamed in 2 time zones, sign up for free:

Click here to sign up for the live stream for Europe

Click here to sign up for the live stream for the US

About Momenta

Momenta delivers digital innovation, growth and leadership across energy, manufacturing, smart spaces and supply chain. Since 2012, weve advised over 125 clients, placed over 200 leaders, and invested behind 40+ innovators. Led by deep industry practitioners, our global presence and sector focus provides our clients with highly relevant innovation, growth and talent. For more information, visit http://www.momenta.one, join the @MomentaPartners conversation or contact info@momenta.one.

About Advantech

Advantechs corporate vision is to enable an intelligent planet. The company is a global leader in the fields of IoT intelligent systems and embedded platforms. To embrace the trends of IoT, big data, and artificial intelligence, Advantech promotes IoT hardware and software solutions with the Edge Intelligence WISE-PaaS core to assist business partners and clients in connecting their industrial chains. Advantech is also working with business partners to co-create business ecosystems that accelerate the goal of industrial intelligence. (http://www.advantech.com)

Momenta Contact:

Principal Partner

Sandra Mueller

Tel: +41 41 562 00 07

sandra@momenta.one

Advantech Contact:

Brand Development & Public Relations Dept.

Jennifer Huang

Tel: +886-2-2792-7818, Ext. 7388

Mobile: +886-987-246-804

jennifer.huang@advantech.com.tw
The Biden administration is preparing to notify Congress and others that it will dramatically increase US admissions of refugees.

Officials and people familiar with the matter say Biden plans to announce this week that he will increase the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States to more than eight times the level at which the Trump administration left it.

Former President had drastically reduced the refugee admissions cap to only 15,000 before he left office. Biden's plan would raise that number to 125,000, an increase of 15,000 over the high ceiling set by former President Barack Obama before he left office.

The officials and others, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal announcement, said Biden will make his plan public during a visit to the State Department on Thursday.

Biden may also address asylum claims for residents of Hong Kong there, according to one official. He indicated during his campaign that he was interested in providing protection to people persecuted by the Chinese government.

The sources said Biden would not necessarily override the record low cap of 15,000 that Trump set for the current budget year. Instead, the 125,000 figure would be proposed for the budget year beginning October 1. The president is required by law to first consult Congress on his plans before making a determination.

Advocates had said that the backlog of tens of thousands of cases by the Trump administration had made it unlikely Biden's target of resettling 125,000 refugees could be reached this year. It will take time to rebuild the pipeline. More than one-third of US resettlement offices were forced to close over the past four years with the drop in refugee arrivals and hundreds of workers were let go.

But some say Biden should not wait to raise the annual target for admissions.

"We hope that President Biden will substantially raise the refugee admissions goal immediately, as he consistently committed to on the campaign trail," said Sunil Varghese of the New York-based Refugee Assistance Project.

"The president has the authority to raise refugee admissions mid-year to address the many humanitarian crises in the world, including those that have emerged or escalated recently, such as the situation facing pro-Democracy protesters in Hong Kong."



Another issue that may be addressed Thursday is a review of vetting procedures, according to the officials and others.

The Trump administration had put in place extreme background checks that had brought the programme to a standstill, advocates say.

The Trump administration also narrowed eligibility this year, restricting which refugees are selected for resettlement to certain categories, including people persecuted because of religion and Iraqis whose assistance to the US put them in danger.

Biden is expected to do away with those categories at some point and have the programme return to using the long-standing referral system by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that makes selections based on a person's need to be resettled.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse's lawyers say the teen has not vanished and has instead been moved to a secret safe house ahead of his murder trial after receiving death threats - but they're refusing to disclose where.

Rittenhouses legal team, led by Mark Richards, made the claims in response to Wisconsin prosecutors requesting an increase in bond and new arrest warrant for the 18-year-old, alleging he broke the conditions of his $2 million bail.

The teen, who is charged with shooting dead two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last August, has been accused of moving addresses without notifying the court as required under his terms of release.

Rittenhouses failure to disclose his whereabouts has reportedly inhibited law enforcements ability to monitor him, according to court papers filed by the Kenosha County District Attorneys Office on Wednesday.

However, in a separate filing, Richards said his defense team knows Rittenhouses whereabouts, is in constant contact with him, and said the teen has been moved to a safe house in response a succession of graphic death threats the teen received.

Richards also contended that he believes the defense should be able to keep the location of where the teen is staying a secret, in the interests of his safety.

The defense further claimed that a 'high ranking' member of the Kenosha Police Department also previously told them to deliberately list a false address for where Rittenhouse was staying on court papers in order to protect him.

The lawyers of Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse say the teen is not missing and claim he has been moved to a secret safe house ahead of his murder trial because of a series of death threats allegedly made against him

Rittenhouses legal team, led by attorney Mark Richards (shown right with Rittenhouse), said they are aware of the teen's location but said they should be permitted to kept it secret

Rittenhouse was released on $2 million cash bail back in November, following a fundraising campaign from right-wing activists and conservative celebrities.

Officials reportedly became aware of his change of address on January 28, after a mailed notice to his home in Antioch, Illinois was returned to sender without a forwarding address.

After visiting the listed address, Kenosha authorities discovered that another man had been living at the home since mid-December.

On Wednesday, court documents filed with Judge Bruce Shroeder disclosed that prosecutors are essentially unable to find Rittenhouse, despite his bond motion specifically requiring him to give written notice to the court if his address was to change.

As a result, the Kenosha District Attorneys Office requested a $200,000 increase on Rittenhouses bond, and asked for a fresh arrest warrant to be issued for the teenager.

In a criminal case as serious as this one, it is critically important that the court be able to monitor the defendant's whereabouts at all times, the motion states. After all, it is extremely unusual for a defendant facing a charge of first-degree intentional homicide in Kenosha County to post cash bond and be released from custody pending trial.

Rarely does our community see accused murderers roaming about freely.

The motion also pointed to the GoFundMe effort that raised the sum to bail him out, adding he has little incentive to comply with his bail conditions because he didnt foot the bill.

Prosecutors further blasted Rittenhouse for what they called his carefree attitude after he was pictured drinking in a bar with members of the Proud Boys immediately after his arraignment on January 5. Pictured showed the teen flashing white supremacist signs and wearing a t-shirt reading Free as F***.

The defendant is free from custody with minimal incentive to comply with his bond conditions, the motion states. He posted no money, so he has no financial stake in the bond. He is already facing the most serious possible criminal charges and life in prison, so in comparison, potential future criminal penalties are insignificant.

Rittenhouse, center, has been slammed for his 'carefree attitude' after he was pictured drinking after his release from jail

Prosecutors have ripped Rittenhouse for drinking 3 beers in the company of known Proud Boys

Prosecutors also criticized Rittenhouse for flashing white supremacist signs at the bar

In response, Rittenhouses attorney, Mark Richards, argued in his own motion that police previously advised the defense to deliberately list the wrong address to protect his client who had been receiving death threats.

Richards provided Law & Crime with court filings which oppose the state's motion to increase the bond amount, along with an example of a graphic and sexually-explicit death threat Rittenhouse was sent last month.

The filings state: 'John Pierce [Rittenhouse's former attorney] was directly informed by a high-ranking member of the Kenosha Police Department not to provide the address of the Rittenhouse Safe House because of the numerous threats made against Kyle and his family.'

Pierces affidavit states: 'Due to threats made against Kyle, I was concerned for his immediate safety while transitioning out of police custody after his bond was posted. Because of these concerns, I coordinated Kyles release with Captain Bill Beth of Kenosha County Sheriffs Office several days prior to actually posting his bond.

'After arriving at the Public Safety building, I reported to Joint Services and tendered the personal bond amount for Kyle. I was instructed to fill out a form and provide Kyles personal information, including his address and social security number.

'While I was completing this form, I was approached by a Kenosha Police Department Captain, who offered his assistance.

'I asked the Kenosha Police Captain what address to put on the form. The Kenosha Police Captain told me that I "absolutely should not" provide the address of the physical location of the Rittenhouse Safe House on the form, but to instead provide his home address in Antioch, Illinois.'

His defense team says they reached out to prosecutors in November to discuss providing the court with Kyle's new address, but the assistant district attorney would not allowed it to be filed under seal.

It is noteworthy that the State has only now decided to file a motion to increase bond in this case, despite having corresponded with [the defense] regarding the change in Kyles residence over two months ago, Richards wrote.

The Kenosha District Attorneys Office requested a $200,000 increase on Rittenhouses bond, and asked for a fresh arrest warrant to be issued for the teenager

WISN obtained the filing, pictured, which shows mail sent to Rittenhouse was returned

Rittenhouse is pictured above scampering to his feet after shooting dead one protester (seen in the foreground)

Rittenhouse is accused of fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum (right) and Anthony Huber (left) during a demonstration August 25. He is also accused of shooting a third man in the arm, who survived

Rittenhouse is accused of fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz during a demonstration August 25 that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha.

Former NYPD Blue actor Ricky Schroeder and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell helped stump up the cash to free him along with other supporters.

Attorney Lin Wood shared a photo of Rittenhouse alongside Schroeder just hours after he was free and captioned it 'FREE AT LAST!!!'

Before the lawyer's account was banned by Twitter, he also tweeted: 'Just off phone with Kyle. With tears in my eyes, I listened as he expressed thanks to The People for your prayers, donations & support. He prayed every day & night & said God lifted him up every time he fell. Kyle is a hero. So are his supporters. Keep him in your prayers.'

Rittenhouse told police he was attacked while he was guarding a business and that he fired in self-defense.

He faces multiple charges, including intentional homicide, reckless endangerment and being a minor in possession of a firearm. Wisconsin law doesnt permit minors to carry or possess a gun unless theyre hunting.

Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty to seven charges in January and his trial is slated to start on March 29.



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The New York City Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee expresses its full support for the Chicago teachers struggle against the dangerous and indeed criminal drive to resume in-person instruction in Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Their determined fight to save lives and resist the herd immunity policies pursued by the entire political establishment is the spearhead of a growing movement of educators and all workers throughout the US and globally.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already killed nearly half a million people in the US alone and is expanding daily, with new and more infectious variants spreading largely undetected throughout the country.

Contrary to the propaganda emanating from the corporate news medialed by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal the overwhelming body of scientific evidence proves that schools are major vectors for the spread of the disease.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is making every effort, in collaboration with Chicagos Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot, to suppress educators resistance to a policy that will inevitably result in a massive increase in deaths among teachers, students, their families and the wider community.

The back-to-school drive is the central domestic policy of the new Biden administration and the Democratic Party, which, just as much as the Republicans, is a party of the corporate and financial elite. Their sole interest is the continued flow of profits, no matter what the cost in human life.

Instead of upholding the demands and protecting the lives of rank-and-file members, the CTU bureaucrats agree with Lightfoot and the Biden administration that schools should reopen during the pandemic before community-wide inoculation against COVID-19. They are pursuing the same sort of miserable compromise that the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) reached with New York Citys Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio to reopen schools here last fall, which has proven disastrous for educators, students, parents and the entire working class.

On September 29, at which point 211,124 Americans had already succumbed to COVID-19, de Blasio and the UFT collaborated to reopen the largest school district in the country. This set the precedent for other Democrat-led cities to reopen schools, and the districts faulty data is now being used by the Democrats and unions to falsely claim that schools can be reopened safely with minimal precautions and increased testing.

On the contrary, studies globally have shown that closing schools is among the most significant measures to reduce infections and deaths from the virus. Since New York City and thousands of other districts reopened in the fall, the death toll in the US has more than doubled to 460,398 today.

New research by a Princeton University professor reveals that positive cases among NYC Education Department staff have doubled during the first three weeks of January, compared to the totals from September through December. There have been 12,500 new cases among public school students in January alone. With the disastrously slow vaccination program and the emergence of new, more infectious variants, the situation will only worsen in the coming months. Despite this, Mayor de Blasio insists that schools are safe and continues to push for a full reopening.

The fight against the murderous back-to-school policy of the ruling class and the refusal to close non-essential businesses, with full compensation to those affected, until the pandemic is brought under control, pits teachers and all workers against the entire political and economic system. The pandemic has brought to the surface and exacerbated the enormous social chasm between the rich and the working class, which has been growing for decades.

Chicago teachers can place no confidence in the treacherous leaders of the CTU and must build the Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee as the center of opposition to whatever miserable deal the CTU attempts to sell to reopen schools. You must orient toward other sections of workers throughout the city and metro region, and with educators and other workers across district and state lines.

We urge you to advance your struggle with the full confidence that educators in New York City and a network of rank-and-file committees across the US and internationally will support your fight, including in Los Angeles, San Diego, Northern California, Texas, Alabama, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, as well as Germany, the UK, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Australia, and a growing number of cities and states worldwide.

In New York City, our committee has fought to unite educators with Hunts Point produce market workers who went on strike last month, as well as transport and logistics workers, health care workers and more. We call for general strike action to close all schools and nonessential workplaces, which is the only way to contain the pandemic while the population is safely vaccinated.

With the utmost urgency, we call for all educators, autoworkers, health care workers, service industry workers, food production workers and all workers to form rank-and-file committees independent of their feckless unions. These committees must prepare for and organize for nationwide general strike action to close all schools and nonessential workplaces in order to put an end to the suffering and death of all workers, and to provide ample financial resources for all nonessential workers to stay home safely until the pandemic is contained.
COCOA, the government's smartphone app that notifies users if they might have come in contact with someone who has been infected with the novel coronavirus, has been malfunctioning on Android smartphones since late last September, the health ministry announced on Wednesday.

This means that 30% of the app's users have been unable to use its functions for four months. The ministry apologized and expressed its intention to fix the system by mid-February.

"I feel that we have to take great responsibility," Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura said at an emergency press conference on Wednesday evening. "We want to deeply reflect on that and do our best to regain the public's trust."

COCOA - covid-19 Contact-Confirming Application - is a contact-tracing app introduced by the health ministry last June to prevent the spread of infection. The government has been requesting people entering the country to download the app as part of border control measures and encouraging restaurants and event venues to use the app as well. So far, 10,000 users have logged their positive virus tests into the app.

If a user who tests positive enters the number issued by the public health center into the app, other users who have come in contact with the person - within 1 meter for more than 15 minutes - within the past 14 days will be notified.

According to the announcement, the issue occurred on Sept. 28, when the ministry's contractor modified the app. The settings were changed in such a way that the app incorrectly determined there was no contact even though there was.

As a result, people using the modified app did not receive any notifications.

The problem was discovered in January when the contractor checked the issue after seeing a number of users claim on social media that they never received any notifications, even though they must have come in contact with an infected person.

Android is Google's operating system on smartphones. The version on Apple's iPhones has not been affected.

According to the ministry, the application has been available for download since last June. As of Wednesday, there were 24.64 million downloads, of which the Android version accounted for 31% or about 7.7 million downloads.

The ministry said it will instruct the contractor to ensure thorough quality control of the service and increase the number of experts to verify the operation of the app to prevent any future issues.

COCOA has undergone seven updates because of frequent problems, such as the app displaying "No contact confirmed" even after receiving a contact notification, and the inability to properly register users who tested positive.

The health ministry has also had problems twice in a computer system handling applications for employment adjustment subsidies, including one that applicants' personal information was able to be viewed by others.
KILLEEN, Texas, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On Friday, Jan. 29, 2021, The Carlson Law Firm helped more than 800 veterans and their families file a lawsuit against Iran. The suit alleges that Iran sponsored terrorist acts that led to the killing or attempted killing of U.S. Armed Forces members and U.S. Government contractors.

According to the lawsuit, which is brought pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), Iran provided material support and resources to the enemy forces who planned and orchestrated terrorist attacks in Iraq.

The suit asks Iran to compensate victims of state-sponsored terrorism for the mental anguish, bereavement, grief, loss of society and comfort, as well as punitive damages to surviving family members of those killed in action and those living with their injuries.

Of the named plaintiffs:

122 are immediate family members of service members and contractors who were killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom;

368 were injured in Iraq as a direct result of the terrorist attacks; and

as a direct result of the terrorist attacks; and 382 are immediate family members of former Armed Forces members and contracts injured in Iraq.

The Carlson Law Firm is a Veteran-owned and operated injury law firm dedicated to advocating for injured veterans throughout the U.S. in domestic and foreign acts. The firm filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with co-counsel Matthew D. McGill of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, LLP in Washington D.C.

"These veterans and their families are living with an extraordinary amount of grief and some of them have injuries so severe that their lives have been completely changed forever," Carlson Law Firm Managing Partner Craig Carlson said. "As a veteran, I take my oath seriously and will do everything I can to ensure that Americans serving abroad in any capacity do not become the target of state-sponsored terrorism. It's important to me, personally, to stand up and continue standing up for my brothers and sisters in uniform."

For more information and to find out if you or a veteran close to you is eligible to file a lawsuit against Iran, call 800-359-5690 to speak with a qualified member of our team.

About us

The Carlson Law Firm is a veteran-owned and operated law firm based in Killeen, Texas. The firm is committed to providing exceptional legal services in the areas of personal injury, medical malpractice, product liability, class actions, bankruptcy, family law, criminal defense, military criminal defense, nursing home abuse, and consumer protection. The Carlson Law Firm has been successfully representing clients for nearly 45 years with 14 locations across Texas and one in California.

Media Contact:

Kazia Conway

[email protected]

Twitter , Facebook

SOURCE The Carlson Law Firm

Related Links

https://www.carlsonattorneys.com


Nakuru county government and tenants are headed for a clash after the devolved unit started the process of recruiting real estate agents to recover millions of shillings in rent arrears.

Thousands of tenants residing in defunct municipal council houses which were inherited by the devolved unit have defaulted in paying rent since the advent of devolution running into millions of shillings.

Efforts by the county government enforcement department to evict the tenants have faced headwinds as the county continues to lose revenue.

Most of the estates such as the sprawling Kivumbini, Paul Machanga, Kaloleni, Kimathi, Shauri Yako and Flamingo among others are believed to be the hideouts of the terror gang group popularly known as "Confirm" which has swindled Kenyans millions of shillings through fake mobile transactions.

The county is also owed millions of shillings by traders who own stalls in Bondeni, Shabab, Top market and Free Area markets who have not been paying their rents.

Past efforts by the county government to evict the tenants in some of the estates such as Flamingo, Kivumbini and Kimathi has faced tough resistance from some of the tenants who regrouped and attacked the enforcement officers.

The matter has been complicated further as some of the politicians support the "Confirm" gang and have in some instances bailed them out after they are arrested by police.

However, this may now become a thing of the past after the county started the process to hire real estate agents to recover the arrears.

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Last month the devolved unit put a tender notice in the local dailies requesting for proposal for real estate agents.

"The County Government of Nakuru invites qualified, interested and eligible bidders for the request for the proposal for a real estate agent. Bids are to be received on or before Tuesday, February 9, 2021, at noon," read the tender notice signed by Benjamin Njoroge, the County Secretary and Head of Public Service.

"It will no longer be business as usual. The county cannot afford to lose revenue from tenants who have refused to pay for rents yet they continue to occupy the houses and market stalls. They will now deal with the Real Agents," said a senior Housing Officer, who could not be named as he is not the county spokesperson.

However, some of the tenants claimed that the county had a poor record-keeping system and feared to pay the rents as some of the processes were still done manually.

"I have witnessed an incident where a tenant paid the rent for six months but there were no available records to prove he had paid the rent," said a tenant at Kaloleni estate.
Fire officials suggested in a social media post that the man suffered a heart attack, but the Cook County medical examiners office ruled that he died due to burns and injuries to his respiratory system. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 9:58 p.m., officials said.

Russia and Iran are among the top authoritarian states extending their tentacles of repression abroad to target exiles, a new report by Freedom House says.



The report published on February 4, says the Russian government "conducts highly aggressive" transnational repression activities abroad, relying "heavily" on assassination as a tool to target former insiders and other individuals perceived as threats by the Kremlin.



The Russian campaign accounts for seven of 26 assassinations or assassination attempts identified globally by the U.S.-based nongovernmental organization between 2014 and 2020.



The group says the Iranian regime has been linked to five assassinations or assassination attempts in three countries, and plots were thwarted in at least two others. The campaign targeted dissidents and journalists the authorities often labelled "terrorists."



Pakistan, Azerbaijan, and all five Central Asian republics -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan -- are also among countries that target their nationals abroad, using tactics such as assaults, detentions, and unlawful deportations.

'Pattern Of Violence And Intimidation'



According to the report, titled Out Of Sight, Not Out Of Reach, human rights activists, dissidents, as well as their families "face a worldwide pattern of violence and intimidation perpetrated by the authoritarian regimes they hoped to avoid by fleeing abroad."



Freedom House says there have been at least 608 cases of direct, physical transnational repression since 2014 against victims in 79 host countries.



China "conducts the most sophisticated, global, and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world," the report says. Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are also identified as leading states targeting their nationals abroad.

"The scale and violence of these attacks underscore the danger that people face even after they flee repression," Freedom House President Michael Abramowitz said in a statement, adding that putting an end to the practices is "vital to protecting democracy and rolling back authoritarian influence."



The report says the Kremlin commonly uses assassination in its transnational repression efforts. It cites the case of former intelligence officer Aleksandr Litvinenko, who died following radiation poisoning in London in 2006, while a nerve agent was used in the attempted assassination of former intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018.



"At a minimum, in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Germany, and the United Kingdom, the Kremlin has shown a willingness to kill perceived enemies abroad, it says, adding that these attacks also come against the backdrop of numerous unexplained deaths of high-profile Russians in exile, their business partners, and other potential targets of the Russian state."



The Russian government is also responsible for "assaults, detentions, unlawful deportations, and renditions in eight countries, mostly in Europe."



Russia is responsible for 38 percent of all public Red Notices in the world, making it the most prolific abuser of the Interpol notification system that Freedom House says the Kremlin uses to harass and detain exiles.

'Sophisticated' Campaigns



Russians abroad who are engaged in political opposition also face "surveillance and sophisticated hacking campaigns," which are paired with control over key cultural institutions operating abroad, including the Russian Orthodox Church, in an effort to exert influence over the Russian diaspora.



Meanwhile, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, employs "a brutal direct campaign to control the Chechen diaspora" in what Freedom House describes as "a unique example of a subnational regime operating its own transnational repression campaign."

Of the 32 documented physical cases of Russian transnational repression, "a remarkable 20 have a Chechen nexus, according to the report, which notes that three Chechen exiles have been murdered in Europe over the last two years.



Freedom House says Tehran has resumed assassinations of exiles in Europe and Turkey in recent years following a lull in the 2000s.



It cited the case of former Iranian intelligence officer Masud Molavi, who was gunned down in Istanbul in November 2019, a killing ascribed by Turkish and U.S. officials to the Iranian government.



In Belgium, an Iranian diplomat charged with plotting to bomb an exiled opposition group's gathering is currently standing trial.



Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has led "operations to kidnap exiles from other countries and forcibly repatriate them," with Freedom House citing the "particularly outrageous" case of opposition journalist Ruhollah Zam, who was executed in Iran in December 2020 after being "abducted" from Iraq.

Tehran has used in some cases a combination of bilateral pressure and co-optation of other countries' institutions to achieve detentions and deportations," it says, adding that Iranian authorities also used Interpol to harass exiles "even though the clear lack of judicial independence in the country should limit the credibility of its notices."



The Iranian state uses other tactics to pressure those involved in opposition politics or independent journalism, including smear campaigns such as the creation of fake news websites that mirror real ones and falsification of statements by journalists in order to discredit them.

Coercion By Proxy



In January 2020, Reporters without Borders (RSF) counted 200 Iranian journalists living overseas who had been threatened, including 50 who had received death threats.



These threats are frequently paired with coercion by proxy in which family members within Iran are threatened or detained in order to silence exiles.



Iranian authorities also run highly "sophisticated" spyware campaigns, with Iranians abroad receiving "complex spear-phishing attempts."

In Central Asia, Freedom House says Tajik exiles have "faced the largest wave of transnational repression" in the former Soviet Union during the period under study spanning the period from January 2014 through November 2020, as the government of President Emomali Rahmon consolidated power at home and targeted the opposition that fled abroad.



"Thirty-eight of 129 coded incidents from the region originated from Tajikistan, showing extensive detentions as well as unlawful deportations, renditions, an assault, an unexplained disappearance, and one assassination, it says.



Azerbaijani authorities also "aggressively target" opposition figures and journalists abroad, having conducted five renditions -- from Ukraine, Georgia, and Turkey -- since 2014. In four of those cases, the victim was a journalist or a journalist's spouse.



Kazakhstans transnational repression has focused on political opposition figures and former insiders, especially Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive former banking official and outspoken critic of the government, his family, and associates.



Freedom House counted five cases of transnational repression by Kyrgyz authorities, including four involving the targeting of ethnic Uzbeks who fled Kyrgyzstan following clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan in 2010. The four were detained at Bishkek's requests in Russia but eventually released following legal challenges.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to two years and eight months in jail on February 2, Tuesday, for violating the terms of his parole from a 2014 sentence for embezzlement in a case. The 44-year-old Kremlic critic said that he was politically motivated in that case. His original sentence of 3.5 years was shortened by 10 months, the time he had served earlier under house arrest in the case.

A video of Navalny has been doing rounds on the internet where he was captured making multiple 'heart' gestures to his wife Yulia during a court session on February 2. The footage has left netizens emotional and praying for his safety.

In the one and a half minute long video shared by ABC news on Twitter, Alexei can be seen making hand gestures, aiming it at his wife. The teary eyed Navalny is standing behind the court's glass enclosure during the session with a smile plastered on his face, while he has been ordered a sentence for almost 3 years. It has been reported that Navalnys lawyers have said that the opposition leaders would appeal against the ruling.

Alexey Navalny makes a heart gesture as his wife and supporters look on while a Russian court orders the opposition leader to more than two years in a prison camp. https://t.co/q55pftUboA pic.twitter.com/kb5Q7pGrpl ABC News (@ABC) February 2, 2021

Netizens are applauding his bravery and his love for his wife, while some condemned the court's decision. Twitter users filled the comments section with praise for his courage, calling him a 'real hero'.

What courage ... Mary Jane Bryksa (@MaryJaneBryksa) February 3, 2021

Amazing and that is a heart, that is from a real hero. lacy (@lacyl21) February 2, 2021

Many shared how the video broke their heart and they are praying for his safety.

This man is a hero and I pray so hard to the universe for this man's safety. TjTeej (@TamienotTammy) February 3, 2021

This broke my heart. tweetiepie2 (@tweetiepie210) February 3, 2021

Heartbreaking jackie nedell (@jacksrose) February 3, 2021

Another viewer said that "he is a nice guy who doesn't deserve this."

This is so sad! He is a really nice guy and does not deserve this! #FreeAlexyNavalny Annie Hall* (@PWesterner) February 2, 2021

One of the users said that Navalny and his wife are both "amazingly strong", giving her hope of morality in the world. She shared that she is also scared to death for him.

Alexey and his wife are both amazingly strong. Thy are amazing and give me hope of morality in this world. I am also scared to death for him. Mrs. McDougal (@LisaMcDougal13) February 3, 2021

Netizens couldnt stop themselves from sending prayers and wishes to Navalny.

May the Spirits of light surround and protect Navalny Namaste Tere (@Teram323Tere) February 3, 2021

Many users shared how they are scared for his life now.

Im worried Navalny will be assassinated while in prison. The poisoning happened when he was free, its pretty easy to have an accident in prison. #FreeNalvany Nonilex (@nonilex) February 2, 2021

The guy has courage I can't even fathom. He KNEW this is what would happen when he returned. And yet he risked it for the love of his country. Dirk G (@DabneyDoRight) February 2, 2021

Navalny, considered one of the most prominent critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested while returning to Russia from Germany on January 17, where he survived a suspected assassination attempt and was recovering from being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent back in August 2020. He and his allies claim that Putins security services are behind the assassination attempt.

Massive protests rocked Russia after the verdict when thousands of people joined in on unsanctioned protests with more than 5000 people being detained.
[February 04, 2021] Rasmussen College to Offer Master's Degrees for Under $10,000

Rasmussen College, a regionally accredited private college, today announced new, lower tuition prices for all of its online Master's degree programs. Qualified students will be able to take any Master's degree program at Rasmussen College for under $10,000 beginning April 2021 and into the future. Rasmussen College will be the first institution to have a full portfolio of Master's degree programs available for under $10,000. "Rasmussen College is embracing the dynamic shifts in higher education driven by COVID-19 and other marketplace factors," said Dr. Ann Leja, interim president, Rasmussen College. "Offering master's programs for under $10,000 allows students greater access to graduate degrees with less financial burden. It is one more way we can support our students every step of their educational journey." By lowering the price of all Master's degrees to under $10,000, the College is reducing tuition by as much as 50 to 62 percent. This effort is designed to help encourage economic rebound through education by allowing affordable access to a full portfolio of Master's degree programs. Rasmussen College is helping students return to school or start their master's program sooner by providing high-quality education at an affordable price. "Rasmussen College is a leader in providing flexible and affordable graduate education ith this new competitive pricing model," said Dr. Joy Henrich, dean of Graduate Education, Rasmussen College. "Our master's programs are designed for busy working adults and priced to make a high quality graduate education more accessible. Students enrolling in one of our Master's degree programs can also leverage their previous experience with competency-based education (CBE), which allows them to quickly move through what they already know and focus on new material."



Rasmussen College's Master's degree program offerings include: Master of Business Administration

Master of Human Resource Management

Master of Healthcare Administration

Master of Public Health

Master of Science in Nursing

Master of Science in Data Science For more information about Rasmussen College and its Master's degree programs now available for under $10,000, please visit https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/masters/.

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Opinion Article

4 February 2021

Replete with world-renowned vineyards, wineries, and culinary experiences, Napa Valley has a stellar reputation as a top destination market both domestically and abroad. However, numerous wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the market. While the long-term effects of the wildfires have yet to be determined, the local economy remained relatively strong, and the impact on regional visitation from the San Francisco Bay Area and on hotel performance as a whole was relatively minimal, at least until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.



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Recent Napa Valley Wildfires

Source: HVS, San Francisco Chronicle  Photo: HVS

STR data for year-end 2017 showed an occupancy increase of 6.8% and a total hotel revenue increase of 9.2% from the previous year. Furthermore, from 2016 through 2018, visitor spending in Napa Valley increased by 15.9%, and visitor growth increased at a rate of 8.9%, suggesting that the area quickly recovered from the minimal impact of the wildfires that occurred during that time.



While the wildfires are short-term occurrences from which hotels can quickly rebound, the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has significantly depressed the Napa Valley's hotel performance since the end of March 2020. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) in Napa Valley dropped below $20 in May 2020, the earliest data publicly available for that year. Reportedly, some drive-to destination markets in the region, especially South Lake Tahoe, have experienced relatively rapid recoveries amid the pandemic, thanks to those markets' outdoor attractions and activities. RevPAR in South Lake Tahoe dropped to approximately $3.00 in April 2020 but rebounded to over $80.00 by the end of August 2020, which is only $4.00 less than what was recorded in August 2019. Meanwhile, tourism in Napa Valley is closely tied to wineries and dining experiences, which have been highly restricted during the pandemic. Furthermore, the restrictions on international travel, limited domestic travel outside of California, and constraints on groups have greatly hindered demand. International travel has historically made up 20% of visitors in Napa Valley (with a high volume of spending), and meeting/group business has typically generated roughly a third of demand. Without the demand from these segments, the recovery of tourism in Napa Valley has been especially challenging in this unprecedented time.



To further understand hotel performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, we reviewed Napa County's hotel occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), and RevPAR from May through November 2020, comparing the levels to those registered in 2019.

Napa County Hotel Occupancy

Source: Visit Napa Valley, STR, and HVS  Photo: HVS

Napa County Hotel ADR

Source: Visit Napa Valley, STR, and HVS  Photo: HVS

Napa County Hotel RevPAR

Source: Visit Napa Valley, STR, and HVS  Photo: HVS

To understand the historical trends in occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR, as shown above, the demand mix, seasonality, and external factors on demand must be considered. May, June, and September typically represent the greatest periods of demand from group-related sources, while the July, August, October, and November are usually peak months for transient-related demand. Furthermore, demand is notably supplemented from the San Francisco Bay Area during the foggy and colder months of the year. Harvest, which runs from August through October, typically increases leisure demand, boosting ADR in the region. As such, the accommodated groups tend to be smaller and associated with higher-end incentive travel and executive-level meetings.



As illustrated above, both occupancy and ADR began to recover when businesses reopened in June 2020. Napa Valley experienced a surge of visitors around the Fourth of July holiday; moreover, ADR in July only registered a -4.5% YOY change from 2019. Thereafter, local hoteliers focused primarily on maintaining healthy occupancy, which hovered around 50% from August through October. However, the Glass Fire in Napa County, which lasted from late September through late October 2020, damaged world-class wineries and iconic resort properties, such as the Meadowood Napa Valley and Calistoga Ranch, an Auberge Resort; moreover, other areas in the region were affected by the smoke, which further deterred tourism in Napa Valley. Hotels accommodated fire crews, evacuees, and PG&E workers at discounted rates during the wildfire, resulting in comparatively high occupancy but low ADR in October. In November, RevPAR reached the greatest point of recovery in 2020 when transient travelers returned to the market after the fire.



However, due to the spike in COVID-19 cases, a regional stay-at-home order was imposed on December 17, 2020, prohibiting indoor dining and implementing stricter regulations at wineries in Napa County. Visit Napa Valley reported that hotel occupancy in Napa County has remained under 20% since the new stay-at-home order commenced in December 2020. Visit Napa Valley forecasts that hotel revenue in 2021 will still be down, about 30% from the 2019 level, and it does not foresee the market recovering fully until 2023 given the dissipated group businesses, cancellations of large festivals and events, and absence of international travelers.



Despite the impacts of the ongoing pandemic, market participants' confidence in this market over the long term remains high. The Marriott Napa was sold in October 2020 at over $100 million (rounded at $364,000 per key), and new ownership plans to invest major capital to upgrade the property. In addition, several hotels in the greater Napa Valley area are under construction. The Four Seasons Resort & Residences Napa Valley is nearing completion and is anticipated to open in the early spring of 2021. Construction of the Stanly Ranch, an Auberge Resort, was placed on hold during the pandemic; however, per our market interviews, construction is anticipated to resume in the near future. Local planning officers also reported that developers' interest in new development and expansion projects has remained strong despite the pandemic, indicating continued confidence in Napa Valley's lodging market. Many of these projects include a residential component, which helps to make the projects financially feasible and provides an earlier cash flow to developers. Furthermore, second-home or resort-residential demand was notably high in 2018/19, with the Four Seasons Residences selling out at a rapid pace. However, the onset of the pandemic has driven demand even higher, as many San Francisco Bay Area residents have opted to buy in the Napa Valley.



In this unprecedented time, Napa Valley is no exception to the challenges that the tourism industry is facing around the world amid the pandemic. The market experienced months of low hotel occupancy and ADR, and the course of the pandemic, along with the lifting of restrictions on wineries, restaurants, large events, and group gatherings, remains uncertain. Nevertheless, developers' and buyers' interest in Napa Valley continues to be strong, and we expect Napa Valley to remain a top destination market over the long term.



Other Contributor: McKenna Luke, MAI
LOS ANGELESFalconStudios.com on Wednesday announced the world premiere of the bareback special release, "The Weekend." The new update features the debut of all-new exclusive Dean Young with returning exclusive Josh Moore directed by Alter Sin. "The Weekend" is now live on FalconStudios.com.

Josh Moore and Dean Young are enjoying their weekend getaway at a stunning flat outside of the city. After spending some time relaxing, the two handsome studs cant keep their hands off each other.

The natural and vibrant chemistry that both Josh Moore and Dean Young exude with each other really made this a treat to film," said director Alter Sin. "Thanks to Falcon Studios for trusting me with their top talent, and I hope fans enjoy it cause it's a good one!

FalconStudios.com, featuring more than 2,500 gay adult scenes and the world premiere of "The Weekend," is available for promotion through the Buddy Profits affiliate program.



Affiliates can choose between $35 pay-per-signup or 50% revshare for all memberships they refer, including trials. Affiliates are encouraged to visit BuddyProfits.com for promotional material. For more information about the Buddy Profits affiliate program, contact the Affiliate Manager at [email protected].
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
If Mark David Chapman had social media, he wouldnt have shot John Lennonhe would have tweeted about him.

Thats a quote from Sandy Petty (aka Fuse"), the protagonist of Eric Dezenhalls latest work of fiction, False Light.

Fuse is a middle-aged reporter at the crossroadsabout to be pinched out of existence by the inanity of social media and an aggressive young reporter, while simultaneously dealing with a salty teenage daughter, a father with dementia who has tortured him for years, doubts about why his wife is still with him and frequent lapses into bittersweet memories of his childhood and an unreturned romantic advance on top of admiration, jealousy and resentment for a friend he has known for years who comes to him for help.

Dezenhall takes Fuse on a mission to avenge that friends daughter, the victim of a sexual predator who plies his trade as a gotcha investigative reporter on a YouTube-like platform that has turned him into a media darling.

Pacho Craigs MO is to corner unsuspecting targets on video with questions that dance around direct allegations but put his targets in an awkward and very damning false light.

Fuse is old-school. Still rockin a flip phonethe story takes place pretty much in current dayand generally going through his day stumbling around things he cant use, or as Dezenhall coins it, TICU (things I cant use).

But he taps into the savvy he developed from years of investigative reporting for a Washington Post-like paper to make things right.

A subplot of the story explores an incestuous relationship between his paper and a powerful PR firm that Fuse unwittingly sticks his nose into, placing him squarely in the sights of an aggressive young reporter on staff hellbent on putting old Fuse out to pasture.

Along the way, Dezenhall reveals insights into how to understand and handle the media he mustve used many times for clients in his real-life crisis communications practice.

Fuses immediate advice to his friend is to not go to the police on behalf of his daughter, who could quickly have her own reputation defamed in the media.

Dezenhall takes a hard look at the #metoo movement through the eyes of Fuse, whose brutally honest assessment is that things dont always work out in the end.

The story takes off when Fuse enlists former colleagues and some shady characters hes depended on for years in his own reporting to set up the big sting to take down Pacho.

Ive lived in the D.C. area for 30 years and always enjoy movies and books that visit local spots I know well.

Dezenhalls story moves around from downtown D.C. and a steak restaurant on Connecticut Ave. (where he once took me out for lunch in the early 2000s) over to Georgetown and the C&O canal along the Potomac River and up to Chevy Chase and the tony Maryland suburbshome to fancy country clubs and wealthy lobbyists and lawyers inhabiting houses far too big for their own good.

The story has an Its a Wonderful Life theme to it, with Fuse coming to grips with his own frailty and life choices as he happily and skillfully engineers an unconventional yet appropriate version of justice for the predator that took advantage of his friends daughter.

Not bad for someone afraid to push a floor button on an elevator. (Youll have to read the book to get that reference.)

Dezenhall is CEO of his own crisis communications shop, Dezenhall Resources, in Wash., D.C. He makes regular appearances on major cable TV and radio outlets in addition to writing for the Daily Beast and Huffington Post.

This is his seventh novel. To pre-order the book, which will be released on Feb. 23, click here.
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Universal mail-in balloting and looser ballot integrity laws are poison to fair, honest elections. Go ask Donald Trump. Trump lost by whiskers in five battleground states last November. A switch of approximately 139, 350 votes (out of 23.8 million cast) across those states would have reelected Trump. Democrats fixed the systems just enough. And, in many instances, with Republican assistance, in the name of easier voting access thanks to COVID restrictions. Thus turned the nations course.

Trump losing last year had little to do with Democrats running better ground games, per some explanations. Porous voting laws and highly insecure mail-in balloting, with multiple opportunities to commit fraud or mishandle ballots, were culprits. They proved to be licenses to steal. There were other irregularities, too, but those two factors were primary.

Peter Navarros report about the presidential contests, issued last December: The Immaculate Deception: Six Key Dimensions of Voting Irregularities, makes a compelling case for greatly abused elections systems in six pivotal states.

Theres good news, though. Outcries from the grassroots for change are being heard by conservative GOP legislators in, at least, three critical states: Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona. Moves are underway to tighten laws and either repeal or restrict mail-in balloting. The superior play is outright repeal. Republicans have a penchant for trying to improve bad laws or policies, rather than ending them. ObamaCare should have been killed off when the GOP ran Congress in 2017-19.

On the national level, Democrats and conservative Republicans are squaring off, too. Democrats have introduced the radical Vote at Home Act.

From The Epoch Times, January 29, 2021:

Democrat lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill dubbed the Vote at Home Act, which seeks to massively expand vote-at-home ballot access, enacting automatic voter registration and providing voters with pre-paid ballot envelopes.

The measure sounds innocuous, but would effectively force the Democrats California elections model in 49 other states. If successful, and if the legislation withstood court tests, Democrats would enjoy huge advantages.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), the measures principal sponsor, remarked in a written statement (see the link above) that it was ridiculous to expect Americans to take a little time away from school or work to show up at polling places to vote, typically once every two years.

U.S. House Republicans had previously introduced their own elections reform legislation. Per the Republican Study Committee, in an undated release:

To achieve these ends, the Save Democracy Act would prohibit or reform current practices that weaken the security, oversight, and administration of elections for federal office. The Save Democracy Act stands in contrast to Democrats For the People Act, which embodies the Lefts crusade to implement policies favoring their candidates rather than a fair and legal process.

The short-term peril lies in down-ballot contests. Election overhauls must happen prior to the midterms. Thats for statewide, congressional, and state legislative battles in 2022.

This from a very biased CNN Source news report, January 29, 2021:

The [GOP state legislatures reform] measures, if passed, could have a significant impact on upcoming 2022 midterm elections, as Republicans have failed to hold a majority in the Senate but have noticeably gained members in the House.

The GOP winning control of the U.S. House would put a critical break on the Democrats run at imposing even more ruinous legislation on the country. Republicans may need to swing only five seats. The Senate is more problematic in that 20 Republican seats are up versus 14 for Democrats, but the GOP is all the more hampered if playing fields are skewed.

GOP-controlled state legislatures hang in the balance, too. There are 36 governorships up in 2022. Those include battleground states Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Republicans need to hold Arizona and Georgia, while making serious runs at the other three states. What happens in legislative and gubernatorial contests in those states will have a direct bearing on GOP fortunes in the 2024 presidential sweepstakes.

The mainstream media grasps the peril to Democrats. Stopping or seriously crimping mail-in balloting -- along with other needed reforms  revokes Democrats license to manufacture votes. Vote manufacturing also includes counting flawed ballots that in previous election years would have been rejected. Tightening definitions of ballot integrity are a must.

As Stalin famously said, its less about who votes than who counts the votes. Transparency in tallying ballots is also required. GOP poll watchers were impeded from doing their jobs in Detroit and Philadelphia last November; that was a dead giveaway of Democrats intentions.

The question arises: If Democrats gamed the system in battleground states, tilting contests to Biden and away from Trump, why, then, didnt they repeat the trick in down-ballot races? The simple answer is that Trumps presidency was remaking the nations political landscape. Doing so would disadvantage Democrats for a generation. Trump was the fulcrum. Democrats priority was to beat him and recapture the presidency. Thats where their energies went.

Democrats fully appreciate the stakes in 2022. Theyll do their level best to not only protect permissive elections laws but make them looser.

In the coming fights to win back elections integrity, conservatives need to understand what and who theyre up against.

A group, the National Vote at Home Institute, is indictive of how Democrats and the left organize in very interlocking and sophisticated ways to not only advance universal mail-in balloting but provide detailed execution. Note that the group bears the same name as Wydens aforementioned legislation. There are no coincidences on the left.

The Institute is a coalition of progressive groups and a bipartisan outfit, the Bipartisan Policy Center, which includes some usual RINO suspects. The ACLU, Common Cause, League of Women Voters, Rock the Vote, and the National Association of Letter Carriers, which would benefit from increased U.S. Postal Service budgets to deliver mail-in ballots, are among the generally left-leaning groups. Phil Keisling, a Democrat, who served as Oregon secretary of state in the 1990s -- hence, the groups tie-in to Wyden -- is best known for having championed the state's vote-by-mail system. It was a first of its kind in the nation.

The Institute isnt doing anything unethical or illegal. However, though it positions as nonpartisan, in fact, its no such thing. Its leadership and partners attest to the underlying partisan makeup of the organization. Its nonprofit status bars it from political advocacy, yet it clearly facilitates programs and means of overhauling elections systems that give Democrats the edge.

Conservatives have groups, too, like Got Freedom?, which provides a limited scope of support in countering elections fraud. The Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society has been aggressive legally in elections fraud in the states, and its efforts continue. What conservatives need is a grassroots-oriented organization similar to the National Vote at Home Institute, which is dedicated to educating voters and elected officials in the whys and hows of elections integrity, as well as allied groups in the states.

A conservative counter to the National Vote at Home Institute needs to occur sooner, not later. The clock is already ticking toward the 2022 midterms. Meanwhile, conservative lawmakers must press ahead with repeals and reforms of egregiously bad elections laws, which they may have helped pass with the best intentions last year but resulted in elections irregularities that will forever taint the 2020 presidential contests. The damage done to the Republic is grave enough. More harm to our elections systems may prove fatal.

J. Robert Smith can be found on Parler @JRobertSmith, when Parler returns, and is new to Gab, again @JRobertSmith. He also blogs at Flyover.

Image: Thomas Nast
Farmers are being asked to help an agriculture student's final year research project exploring how producers clear their fields of cover crops.

The research aims to highlight the most common methods of termination/destruction and barriers around adopting alternative methods.

Farmers integrate cover crops to their cropping rotations between cash crops, otherwise soil would be left bare or fallow.

But the cover crops must be terminated effectively to reduce potential weed, pest and disease burden before the subsequent cash crop is established.

James Burman, a BSc (Hons) Agriculture student at Harper Adams University, is urging farmers to take part in the research.

Regenerative or sustainable agriculture practices have always been of interest to me and I believe they are becoming ever-more important," he said.

The way farmers are receiving subsidy support from the government is changing post-Brexit with the likelihood of being replaced with ELMS.

"Cover cropping is likely to become increasingly popular as it helps to achieve some of the aims set out by the proposed ELMS."

His hypothesis is that most farmers will rely on using chemicals for terminating cover crops, particularly glyphosate, which through debate has a questionable future.

Other methods include mechanical methods using implements such as roller crimpers, with some species of cover crop suitable for grazing in situ, providing extra sources of fodder for livestock.

The 21-year-old is calling for farmers to assist with his final year project, An Investigation into the Termination of Cover Crops in UK Agricultural Systems by completing his survey.

The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and is due to close on 28 February.
[February 04, 2021] America's Best TAMPs, 2021 Edition: New Guide for Financial Professionals Unveiled by TheWealthAdvisor.com

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TheWealthAdvisor.com, a Marina Media, LLC outlet, today announced their annual issue of "America's Best TAMPs - 2021 Edition," which features thirty of the top TAMPs in the U.S.A. TAMP or turnkey asset management program is typically a fee-account technology platform that advisors, broker/dealers, insurance companies, banks, law firms, and CPA firms can use to help oversee and optimize the return of their clients' investments. This 70-page complimentary guide presents the winner's list  30 TAMP solution providers who represent nearly $2 trillion in managed wealth. They offer services to financial advisory firms around the country. Providers include well-known names like Orion, Envestnet, AssetMark, and SEI  all public companies - and now Morningstar joins the list. Scott Martin, Editor-in-Chief

America's Best TAMPs "This 70-page complimentary guide presents the winner's list  30 TAMP solution providers who represent nearly $2 trillion in managed wealth. They offer services to financial advisory firms around the country. Providers include well-known names like Orion, Envestnet, AssetMark, and SEI  all public companies - and now Morningstar joins the list," said Scott Martin, Editor-in-Chief, America's Best TAMPs. America's Best TAMPs - 2021 Edition presents the following information: Why (despite increased competition) the TAMP landscape is as wide open as ever How to navigate the "robot revolution" and become a lucrative hybrid 24 unique advantages the right TAMP can offer advisors and their firms The different types of "fee models" and how to select the right one The pros and cons of building client portfolios from outside models The quickest way to get started as a TAMP or add TAMP capabilities TOP RANKING TAMPS LEAD THE WAY "Orion, Envestnet and Morningstar ranked among the leading TAMPS in America according to the new report issued by TheWealthAdvisor.om. TAMPs offer advisors outsourced alternatives to investment management. Cost savings and access to the best and brightest managers in the business are the reasons this marketplaces has grown to $2 trillion under management," said Martin.



"Some of these models are truly breathtaking in their ability to raise the efficient frontier, but they get lost on the infinite shelf, buried in the sheer diversity of niche strategies available as well as the endless index copycats," said Martin. "We want to make sure advisors using these platforms don't miss the real innovators available, especially when so many of them outperformed everything else around last year. If advisors want to give their clients differentiated outcomes and differentiate themselves in the process, I urge them to familiarize themselves with these new approaches to the classic portfolio. Each brings something different to the table." Orion Advisor Solutions was recognized by readers as the #1 TAMP of the year. "Outsourced asset management has never played a more vital role in the fiduciary future of our industry. In order to thrive as entrepreneurs and offer an outstanding client experience, advisors need individualized investment strategies in a tech-enabled framework that links to every step of the advisor-client journey. We're humbled by this recognition from The Wealth Advisor's readers," said Eric Clarke, CEO, Orion Advisor Solutions.

Readers can download a complimentary copy of the America's Best TAMPs guide here: http://americasbesttamps.com INTRODUCING THE DIGITAL DASHBOARD Readers can download not only the guide but can also access a Digital Dashboard that allows advisors to receive live updates on developments and announcements. "A once-a-year industry handbook is going to be obsolete almost the minute we publish it. In an accelerated world, advisors need to make sure they're looking at the right numbers. That's why we've launched the Digital Dashboard. It updates live whenever the listed companies need to signal new developments such as new strategies, new tools, a helpful blog post advisors might want to see, and so forth. The Dashboard also incorporates live contact links. Advisors can use the contact links to build relationships," said Martin. Readers can access Digital Dashboard here: http://tamps.com ABOUT THEWEALTHADVISOR.COM Since 2009, The Wealth Advisor has provided news, opinion, and education for wealth managers and advisors alike. The outlet brings their readers the latest insights vital to their business, reducing the need to pour through dozens of news and industry publications. The Wealth Advisor is headquartered in Los Angeles, California with correspondents in LA, New York and beyond. The Wealth Advisor is part of Marina Media, LLC. Learn more at www.TheWealthAdvisor.com. Press Contacts:

Marie Swift or Leesy Palmer

Impact Communications, Inc.

913-649-5009

LeesyPalmer@ImpactCommunications.org

MarieSwift@ImpactCommunications.org Related Images americas-best-tamps-2021-guide-for.png

America's Best TAMPs, 2021: Guide for Financial Professionals Unveiled by TheWealthAdvisor.com

Digital Dashboard Feature Provides More Responsive List; Orion Advisor Solutions voted #1 TAMP View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/americas-best-tamps-2021-edition-new-guide-for-financial-professionals-unveiled-by-thewealthadvisorcom-301221871.html SOURCE The Wealth Advisor

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Awesome Ministries To Give Away Food Awesome Ministries USA will give away free food at Central Baptist Church in Hillsboro Saturday, February 6, from 1 to 3 p.m.



The food is provided by Tarrant Area Food Bank. Those who were issued a card in the past are asked to bring it with them.



The church is located at 1100 Old Bynum Road. For more information, contact Pam at 254-284-1968.


Baghdad, Feb 4 : Authorities in Iraq's Nineveh said that 10 bodies, believed to be of Islamic State (IS) militants, were retrieved under the debris of devastated buildings in the provincial capital of Mosul.

The bodies were found when the municipality of Mosul was removing the rubble of dozens of devastated buildings on the bank of the Tigris River in the Shahwan neighbourhood in the old city centre, Hussam Khalil from the Civil Defense told Xinhua on Thursday.

Khalil added that the 23 decomposed corpses were believed to be IS terrorists who were killed during the battles to liberate the city in mid-2017.

The municipality found explosive belts, weapons, and roadside bombs near the bodies, he said, adding that the municipality will continue removing the rubble from the devastated areas, especially in the old city centre.

On Monday, Khalil had confirmed the discovery of 23 bodies while removing the rubble from the city's Ras al-Kour neighbourhood.

Over the past years, the provincial authorities have carried out campaigns to retrieve hundreds of bodies for people killed and buried under rubble.

They are either IS militants or civilians who were prevented by the extremist militants from leaving their homes during the fierce battles and heavy bombardment in the city, which is located some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

In July 2017, Iraq officially declared the liberation of Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, from the IS after nearly nine months of fighting to dislodge the extremist militants from their last major stronghold in the country.

The IS had taken over Mosul in 2014 after the terror group defeated the Iraqi Army.

After seizing control of the city, the IS executed some 4,000 Iraqi Security Force prisoners, and dumped their bodies in the single largest known mass grave in Iraq, at the "Khafsa Sinkhole".

This mass grave was uncovered during the Battle of Mosul (2016-17).
SHELTON  The citys 2020 grand list increased 1.49 percent over the previous year  giving local government leaders some positive economic news during the pandemic.

The net grand list sits at $4,897,082,456 in total assessments, which is 70 percent of market value, an increase of $72,055,852 from 2019, according to a preliminary grand list report completed by Assessor William H. Gaffney III and submitted to the mayors office on Sunday.

This years grand list increase comes one year after the percentage jumped 1.87 percent from 2018 to 2019.

Mayor Mark Lauretti credited the continued grand list growth  even during a pandemic  to the citys low mill rate (22.42) and quality of life, which has led developers and businesses to make Shelton home, and with them, the additional tax revenue.

We are consistently affordable ... it is what makes Shelton attractive for people and businesses, Lauretti said, adding that the grand list has grown each of the last 30 years under his watch.

The rapid pace of downtown redevelopment  with several projects already underway and more planned in the coming months  will aid in further continuing the grand list growth, according to Lauretti.

He also pointed to the years of development along Bridgeport Avenue as another positive sign of growth. Lauretti said further proof is Gary Plastic Packaging Corp.s relocating from New York to 710 Bridgeport Ave.

The plastics manufacturer will occupy 207,000 square feet of the building, which also houses PerkinElmer, for manufacturing, office, warehouse and distribution services. The company also plans to hire some 300 people from the area, according to Lauretti.

Lauretti said in his more than two decades in office, except for only a couple of years, the city has either lowered the mill rate or left it untouched. The most recent increase came in 2019, when the mill rate was increased from 22.15 to 22.42.

No one else is doing that ... this gives Shelton a predictability that I believe that residents and businesses appreciate, and gives us a significant advantage, Lauretti said.

We spent our money wisely, and we have had growth in every area of city government  and that has resulted in a affordable, safe, high quality of life here, Lauretti added. Businesses want to come here. Residents want to come here. That has led to the citys continued growth.

More than 85 percent of the grand list is comprised of real estate, which lists at $4,109,754,516, a 1.14 percent increase from the previous year. Personal property increased 1.50 percent, or $6,173,340, rising to $416,785,290. Motor vehicle assessments were at $370,542,650, rising $19,749,955, a 5.65 percent spike from 2019.

The assessors release also included the total assessments for the citys top taxpayers for the 2020 grand list, which was again led by Robert Scinto at $247,875,847. Scinto was followed by United Illuminating Co. at $62,849,930; Aquarion Water Co. at $46,083,200, Pitney Bowes Inc. at $36,241,100 and Merion Shelton LLC at $30,253,380.

In Connecticut, assessed values represent 70 percent of the market value.

Top 10 Taxpayers 2020 Grand List Name Total Assessed Value Robert Scinto $247,875,847 United Illuminating Co. $62,849,930 Aquarion Water Co. Of CT $46,083,200 Pitney Bowes Inc. $36,241,100 Merion Shelton LLC $30,253,380 Shelton Properties LLC Trustee $27,999,620 Brightview Shelton LLC $26,376,620 CRE Ivy Brook LLC $23,851,135 Shelton Square Ltd. Partnership $20,405,000 714LLC $19,819,330 See More Collapse

brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com
Ambassador of Belarus V.Rybak meets the Minister Culture and Tourism of Turkey



On February 3, 2020, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Turkey, Victor Rybak, met with the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.

During the conversation the high level of political relations between Belarus and Turkey and the importance of further expanding cooperation in the field of culture and tourism were emphasized.

In the context of intercultural interaction, the interlocutors discussed the possibility of organizing mutual days of culture in 2022, timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries. The implementation of the joint project of the International Music Festival East-West in Alanya was discussed.

During the meeting, an interested exchange of views took place in the context of inbound tourism to Belarus. The parties outlined concrete steps for effective and mutually beneficial cooperation in this area.

At the end of the conversation, the head of the Belarusian diplomatic mission handed over diplomas and letters of thanks to the winners and prize-winners from Turkey of the VII International Children's Drawing Contest Children all over the Planet are Friends, organized by the National Center for Artistic Creativity of Children and Youth of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus.

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he mural says Love You and is located on Pool Techniques, Inc.s wall.

The company also funded the project at its location at 2514 W. Ohio Ave. The organization is trying to paint positive quote murals throughout the city and inspire youth to be positive and create.

Artworks Midland is also looking to create another mural of the city of Midland with the Youth Art Project at The FaFa Gallery. The organization is currently looking for sponsors to help fund the mural. Sponsors will have their name or logo added to the mural. Those interested in sponsoring can call 432-556-0150 or 432-212-8104.

Artworks Midland also will host a Live Rooftop Art Show on Feb. 20. The event will start at 6 p.m. and last until 11 p.m. at the Doubletree by Hilton Midland Plaza. Live arts, live music and drinks will be available. There is a $10 cover charge.
Ministers last night gave the strongest signal yet that the 30billion takeover of Arm could be blocked as the British chip designer's former boss called for it to return to the stock market in London.

As the row over the proposed acquisition by US rival Nvidia escalated, the Government said it was 'examining the deal carefully' and 'will not hesitate to investigate further and take appropriate action'.

The comments  which raised the prospect that the deal could be blocked  came as pressure mounted on competition regulators to launch a separate full-scale probe.

Support: Former Arm chief executive Warren East said he would welcome the tech firm's return to the London stock market if the takeover by Nvidia falls through

The close attention of both the Government and the Competition and Markets Authority poses twin threats to the proposed sale of Arm by owner Softbank to Nvidia.

Former Arm chief executive Warren East - now boss of engineer Rolls-Royce - said he would welcome the tech firm's return to the London stock market if the takeover by Nvidia falls through.

He said: 'I would be glad to see it under public ownership. I was always very proud to be head of a global leader listed and based in the UK.

It would be great if Britain could have more global leading tech companies, there aren't many.'

Arm was listed on the London stock market before being sold to Softbank for 24billion in 2016, a deal that drew heavy criticism for then prime minister Theresa May.

And pressure is mounting on British regulators to launch a full scale investigation into the proposed sale to Nvidia. The CMA said earlier this month that it would look at the deal and ask rivals to comment.

It is understood that since January 6 some of the UK's largest chip and semiconductor companies have written to the CMA asking for the deal to be blocked on competition as well as security grounds.

Takeover fears: As the row over the proposed acquistion by Nvidia escalated, the government said it 'will not hesitate to investigate further and take appropriate action'

There are industry fears that should the deal go through then it could lead to price hikes and make markets less competitive. There are also worries about heavy job cuts at the company's headquarters in Cambridge.

One source close to the situation said: 'There are many companies in the industry that do not like the deal and have been providing feedback.'

Fast growing chip designer Graphcore has also publicly spoken out against the deal on competition grounds.

Chief executive Nigel Toon said: 'The deal is bad for technology, it is anti-competitive and needs to be looked in depth. 'It is bad for competition and bad for the industry.'

The CMA is understood to have received views on the deal and expressions of interest. A formal investigation hasn't started yet and there is no fixed time.

The European Union is also preparing to launch its own investigation into the proposed takeover, making it the fourth regulator worldwide to eye the deal.

Others to have begun their own investigations include the US Federal Trade Commission and officials in Beijing.

Arm's largest customers are mostly based in the US, including Apple, Qualcomm and Broadcom. They rely on Arm's technology and fear that when it falls under the control of Nvidia, their competitor, they will be disadvantaged.

In October Jensen Huang, Nvidia's chief executive, rejected these concerns. He said: 'I can unequivocally state that Nvidia will maintain Arm's open licensing model. We have no intention to 'throttle' or 'deny' Arm's supply to any customer.'

Insiders believe the demanding regulatory hurdles make it more likely the deal will be scuppered amid hopes Arm could return to the London stock market.

But despite the increased scrutiny, Nvidia said it was sticking by the deal, adding that gaining regulatory approval was always likely to be a long process.

A spokesman said: 'It always takes several months to clear a major transaction. We said in September when we completed the deal it would take 18 months. We are confident we can maintain approvals.'
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HARRISBURG  In a rarely used move, leaders in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have agreed to employ an emergency tactic to allow voters to decide whether survivors of decades-old sexual abuse should have a chance to sue the perpetrators and institutions that covered up the crimes.

The chambers decision follows the shocking admission this week that human error by the Wolf administration would prevent voters from deciding the issue during the May primary. The news devastated Pennsylvanias community of survivors, who have long pushed for a two-year reprieve in the statute of limitations so they can bring litigation, and led Secretary Kathy Boockvar to resign.

State Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks), a survivor of child sexual abuse and a longtime champion of the two-year window, said Thursday that he had received commitments from Republicans who control both chambers to run an emergency constitutional amendment so that the referendum can appear on the ballot this spring.

Senate Republicans, however, signaled caution about using the tactic, saying only that they are committed to reviewing what the House sends over.

To date, we have not committed to any specific legislative strategy, but are committed to supporting the victims who were impacted by the departments extreme carelessness, said Jennifer Kocher, spokesperson for the Senate GOP, calling the mistake by Boockvars agency colossal negligence.

Emergency amendments, according to the state constitution, can be used in situations where the safety or welfare of the commonwealth requires prompt change. Unlike traditional constitutional amendments, which require the legislatures approval in two consecutive sessions, an emergency amendment needs to be voted on only once in both chambers. If it receives two-thirds approval, it can then immediately be positioned to appear on the ballot.

Emergency constitutional amendments have been used only three times before, all in the 1970s, according to House staff. The first time was in response to dangerous flooding, according to state constitutional experts.

That fact alone could leave it vulnerable to litigation.

Bruce Ledewitz, a professor at Duquesne University School of Law, said he does not believe the two-year window meets what a court would define as a major emergency.

It just doesnt sound like something a court would say is about to threaten the safety of the commonwealth, he said.

Creating a temporary legal reprieve for older survivors has been decades in the making. But it gained momentum after the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office released a scathing grand jury report in 2018 that documented how top Roman Catholic leaders in Pennsylvania covered up decades of child sex abuse involving more than 1,000 victims and hundreds of priests.

The report led to a tense and emotional debate in the state Capitol over the best way to help child sexual-abuse survivors who were too old, under the states statute of limitations, to sue over the long-ago abuse.

Many Republicans in the state Senate opposed opening a two-year window through traditional legislation, saying they believed that route would violate provisions in the Pennsylvania Constitution that prevent retroactive punishment. Lobbyists for the Catholic Church and the insurance industry at the time also fiercely lobbied against any retroactive changes.

Ultimately, the legislature agreed to push the measure through as an amendment to the state constitution, a lengthier process but one Republicans argued would be less susceptible to successful litigation.

In their 2019-20 session, both chambers approved a traditional constitutional amendment on the subject. And when the new two-year session began last month, the House passed the measure for a second time, and it was well on its way to being put to a vote in the Senate.

If it had passed there, as it was widely expected, voters would have had the ultimate say in May.

But earlier this week, it was revealed that the Department of State had failed to advertise the proposed two-year window. Under state law, the agency is required to advertise any proposed constitutional amendment both times it is approved by the legislature.

That never happened in 2019. Because of the error, the legislature would have had to start from scratch, approving it in this two-year session, as well as the next  with 2023 being the earliest Pennsylvanians would be able to vote on the change.

After the mistake was revealed, Boockvar, head of the Pennsylvania Department of State, announced she would resign.

Gov. Tom Wolf said human error was behind the lapse. Department of State officials have refused to give details about what went wrong.

Speaking on the House floor Thursday, Rozzi said the emergency route would put voters back on track to decide on the two-year window this May.

It is unclear when the House will vote on the emergency amendment, which was first pushed by House Minority Leader Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia).

Despite the tight deadline, House Democrats said they are confident theres enough time to move the measure through both chambers and get it on the ballot. They noted that the advertising requirements for emergency constitutional amendments are less stringent.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 14:12:56|Editor: huaxia

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LISBON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Europe needs to privilege scientific careers to "lead the ecological and digital transition," which are the priorities of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), Portuguese Minister of Science and Technology Manuel Heitor said on Wednesday.

The European Commission announced the launch of the new European Research Area, which aims to "encourage researchers to pursue a career outside the academic world," during a video conference where the ministers of the 27 EU member states responsible for research and innovation discussed the "development of public and private research careers" with Mariya Gabriel, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

The meeting came one day after the official launch of the Horizon Europe program for 2021-2027.

"Europe needs more scientists, and scientific development requires above all to invest in people, to invest in careers, to develop Europe's ability to attract talent, to train scientists in close collaboration with higher education institutions and universities in particular," Heitor said.

He highlighted "the work of the German presidency, which prepared the set of packages that are particularly important for Europe in the area of research and innovation."

Heitor also highlighted the need to create a system that brings together information on European researchers, recruitment and patterns of mobility and career development.

"We will put the emphasis on designing and outlining what our governance will be in the near future. The aim is to strengthen regulation between business and academia," said Gabriel in a remote speech at the joint press conference with Heitor and Thomas Rachel, German minister for education and research.

"It is important to strengthen the synergies between education, research and innovation," she said.

Meanwhile, the European commissioner stressed the need for an observatory to help the EU "monitor the situation" of careers in research. Enditem
GREER, S.C., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the USA approaches half-a-million COVID-related deaths and new cases surge, the CDC continues to recommend the use of cloth masks, despite scientific research showing their very poor effectiveness in preventing the spread of viruses, such as COVID-19. While many homemade masks only filter 3% of particles, Carolina Face Mask & PPE, a domestic mask producer, says their masks filter 95% or more. As epidemiologists around the globe warn that homemade masks aren't doing enough, many European countries, including Germany and France, have now mandated medical-grade masks to be used in public settings.

Carolina Face Mask & PPE was formed to stabilize the domestic supply of PPE. The company's masks are made in America for America using American raw materials.

When the pandemic initially hit, the U.S. found itself severely under-equipped, lacking the machinery to produce PPE at the necessary rate. Because America sourced PPE primarily from overseas suppliers, there weren't enough masks for doctors, much less for the general public. Consequently, the CDC recommended that the general public wear reusable cloth masks to preserve medical-grade masks for healthcare workers. However, since early 2020, the situation has changed as dozens of companies across the USA, such as Carolina Face Mask & PPE in South Carolina, invested in mask production machinery to stabilize domestic PPE supply.

"We saw our frontline workers and citizens in desperate need of PPE. As veterans, our initial reaction was that we had to step up," says Rick Gehricke, COO of Carolina Face Mask & PPE. "In a matter of weeks, we set up the entire production line, sourcing American-made raw materials to ensure we could sustainably provide high-quality PPE in bulk."

In order to ensure safety, Nelson Laboratories independently tested CFM's facemasks, certifying that the company's masks exceed ASTM-F2100 standards, offering a bacteria and particle filtration rate greater than 99%. Despite this certification, the masks can't be labeled as "medical-grade masks" or used in medical facilities - until CFM gains FDA certification, which takes up to a year and an investment of tens of thousands of dollars.

Once realizing that its masks couldn't help frontline workers anytime soon, CFM hoped to go direct to consumers. However, the CDC's website explicitly discourages people from using medical-grade masks, so most people have no idea that their current reusable masks offer minimal protection. CFM invested in several digital platforms to spread the word about their highly effective masks, but with no success.

"Big Tech is blocking domestic mask producers at every turn," Gehricke says. "Google, Facebook, all of them have hidden us from search results and blocked our ads despite following every rule and even providing our certification documents." Warehouses are sitting full of masks that exceed medical-grade standards, yet millions of Americans unwittingly continue to risk their lives wearing ineffective cloth masks.

"We have millions of life-saving masks at our fingertips, but due to big tech blocking us, FDA over-regulating us, and the CDC refusing to update protocols, our hands are tied," explains Gehricke.

As many European countries have already announced, if we want to stop the spread, research indicates that people need to ditch the cloth masks and use laboratory-tested, high-quality masks. When will the USA get on board?

Carolina Face Mask & PPE currently offers small quantities of 50-1,000 masks online for consumers. CFM can also provide millions by special order (carolinafacemaskandppe.com). To schedule an interview with Carolina Face Mask or to tour the production facility:

Contact:

Rick Gehricke, COO of Carolina Face Mask & PPE

Phone: 843-441-1997

Email: [email protected]

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Carolina Face Mask Produces Masks with 99% Filtration

Carolina Face Mask & PPE was formed to stabilize the domestic supply of PPE. The company's masks are made in America for America using American raw materials.

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Prince Harry's not happy, it's been reported today.

This revelation isn't a massive surprise.

The ever-surly Duke of Sussex has looked thoroughly miserable for the past few years as he's waged furious battles against everyone from the media to his own brother and father-in-law.

When Harry's not issuing angry statements or suing people, he's hypocritically lecturing us all on things like reducing our carbon footprint while he uses private jets like taxis.

And honestly? It's all become very tedious and rather sad.

What happened to that cheery, cheeky young guy that everyone loved because he never took life too seriously?

When Harry and Meghan abruptly quit Royal duty last January, he was forced to give up being Captain General of the Royal Marines, Honorary Air Commandant of RAF Honington in Bury St Edmunds, and Commodore-in-Chief, Small Ships and Diving, Royal Naval Command for a year pending a Buckingham Palace review of 'Megxit' which comes up next month

I'm sure the Queen will do what she has always done throughout her magnificent reign, and that's the put the country and the Monarchy before personal feelings. And that means telling Harry he's not getting his military titles back

I've seen more cheerful funeral directors than haunted Harry in his endless grim-faced hostage videos preaching 'equality' from his Californian mansion.

Of course, I have my own theory about his constant testiness but let's not trigger the lunatic Meghan Markle fanbase into another slathering lather of abusive rage (it always amuses me when I hear Meghan moaning about social media abuse given that her supporters are comfortably the most vicious and vile trolls in cyberspace history).

Instead, let's focus on the specific cause of Harry's current anger which is the impending loss of his military titles.

When Harry and Meghan abruptly quit Royal duty last January, he was forced to give up being Captain General of the Royal Marines, Honorary Air Commandant of RAF Honington in Bury St Edmunds, and Commodore-in-Chief, Small Ships and Diving, Royal Naval Command for a year pending a Buckingham Palace review of 'Megxit' which comes up next month.

As that deadline approaches, Harry's 'friends' have been busy briefing the media that he is 'determined' to hang onto the titles.

But the Queen is said to be equally determined that her grandson shouldn't have them restored, believing it's impossible to be a 'half-in, half-out' royal.

And, as always, Her Majesty is absolutely right.

I don't doubt for one moment that Harry cares passionately about the armed forces.

He was a good soldier himself, rising to the rank of Captain and serving two tours of Afghanistan during a 10-year military career.

(My brother-in-law taught Harry and Prince William at the Sandhurst Military Academy and was very impressed by both of them.)

Harry also deserves great credit for creating the brilliant Invictus Games for wounded veterans.

But none of this justifies him being allowed to retain honorary military titles he was given through his royal status when he still performed royal duties.

In a recent legal action, which he won, over an article alleging he had snubbed the Royal Marines, Harry described his commitment to the military as 'steadfast and unquestionable'.

Harry wants to have to his royal cake and eat it. He knows that his earning power in America is built almost exclusively off the back of him being a Prince and he and Meghan being the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

The Queen won't like telling Harry he can't have his military titles back, because she loves her wayward grandson and is very proud of his military record, but she has to or the reputation of the Royal Family will be even further damaged by the Megxit saga than it already has been. Pictured: The Queen sits alongside Prince Harry and Meghan at the Queen's Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace in March 2020 - a week before they formally quit as senior royals

And I'm sure that in his eyes, that's true.

But nobody's questioning his personal loyalty to the military.

If you've served in a war for your country, that is a given.

What is being questioned is his ability to physically commit, in the UK, to the three military organizations he wants to represent.

That is the $100 million question, which coincidentally is the amount of money he and Meghan are believed to have secured from Netflix for a series of woke documentaries.

The answer, surely, is nowhere near enough?

And even if Harry did promise to fly endlessly back and forth across the Atlantic to fulfil all his military duties, vastly ramping up the size of his carbon footprint in the process, why should the Queen allow it?

The bottom line is that once again, Harry wants to have to his royal cake and eat it.

He knows that his earning power in America is built almost exclusively off the back of him being a Prince and he and Meghan being the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

He also knows that being able to add the words 'Captain-General', 'Air-Commandant' and 'Commodore-in-Chief' to his business card will make him even more commercially appealing in a country that worships the military.

But I don't think he should be able to use ANY of these titles now he's renounced royal duty.

The moment he and his wife quit Britain for a new celebrity life in America, they gave up their right to trade off their royal association.

Or rather they should have done, yet it didn't happen.

Instead, they've been allowed to ruthlessly and greedily exploit their titled regal status for huge financial gain and haven't had to perform any of the humdrum royal duties that justify it.

It's outrageous that Meghan and Harry swan around America selling themselves off their titles to the highest bidder - and makes an absolute mockery of their endless whining about how they had to flee the Royal Family and Britain to find 'freedom'. Pictured: Prince Harry lays a wreath at the Los Angeles National Cemetery on Remembrance Sunday after the Queen refused to allow a wreath to be laid for him at a ceremony in the U.K

Prince Harry and Meghan wanted freedom from boring royal duty but the right to keep their royal titles without doing any of the work to merit them. He can't be an absentee armchair general from 5000 miles away in Santa Barbara  just as he couldn't have fought the Afghanistan war from his palace quarters in Kensington

And every new money-spinning deal they announce must stick in the gullet of all the other royals back in the UK who ARE putting a dutiful shift in on a daily basis, not least during a pandemic when they've all worked their purple socks off.

The Queen won't like telling Harry he can't have his military titles back, because she loves her wayward grandson and is very proud of his military record, but she has to or the reputation of the Royal Family will be even further damaged by the Megxit saga than it already has been.

You can't have the Captain-General of the Royal Marines gobbing off about politics or making gazillions from a streaming company that's been trashing the royals with The Crown.

Frankly, if I were the Queen, I would go further and tell Harry in the 12-month review that he and Meghan can't be Duke and Duchess of Sussex anymore either.

It's outrageous that the pair of them swan around America selling themselves off their titles to the highest bidder - and makes an absolute mockery of their endless whining about how they had to flee the Royal Family and Britain to find 'freedom'.

If you want freedom, my little pony-tailed latte-slurping lentil-munchers, then call yourselves simple Henry and Meghan Windsor and see how many dollars fly into your booming bank accounts then.

No, they wanted freedom from boring royal duty but the right to keep their royal titles without doing any of the work to merit them.

And it stinks.

But the Queen probably won't press that nuclear button. Not yet anyway.

Instead, I'm sure she will do what she has always done throughout her magnificent reign, and that's the put the country and the Monarchy before personal feelings.

And that means telling Harry he's not getting his military titles back.

He can't be an absentee armchair general from 5000 miles away in Santa Barbara  just as he couldn't have fought the Afghanistan war from his palace quarters in Kensington.
FLORENCE, FEB 4 - A former Carabiniere got four and a half years in jail on appeal Thursday for raping two American university students in Florence in September 2017. In the first-instance trial, Marco Camuffo had been sentenced to four year and eight months. His sentence was cut by two months because the aggravating factor of violating his duty, for which he has since been convicted by a military court, was removed. Camuffo and another Carabiniere met the two young women outside a disco on the night of September 6-7 2017 and took them home in their patrol car before raping them. The other Carabiniere, Pietro Costa, did not opt for a fast-track trial like Camuffo, and got a five and a half year sentence in February last year, which he is currently appealing. Both officers were expelled from the paramilitary police corps after their cases went to trial. The pair claimed the students had taken the initiative before they had sex and they had not noticed that they were drunk, as turned out in subsequent lab tests. (ANSA).

The group's Openreach arm has now installed 5G masts in 125 towns and cities

( ) saw a slight easing in its profits decline in the last quarter although the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to have a negative effect.

Profit guidance for the full year was maintained by the FTSE 100 telecoms group, with cash flow guidance also tightened up.

Profit before tax of 1.6bn for the nine months to end-December 2020 was down 17% year-on-year, compared to a 20% reduction in the first half of the year.

Revenue fell 7% to 16.1bn as COVID-19 continued to affect both consumer and enterprise units, as well as declines in legacy copper wire products and sales of businesses in Spain, Latin America and France.

BT's chief executive Philip Jansen emphasised the companys operational progress, saying it had continued to deliver for our customers and invest in our networks, our modernisation programme, and our products and services in recognition of the ever-increasing need for improved and faster connectivity.

On superfast broadband, he said BTs Openreach arm has now installed 5G masts in 125 towns and cities and laid optical fibre to the premises (FTTP) for 4mln homes and offices, with Openreach currently completing around 17,000 FTTP orders per week.

With no material impact expected from the Brexit deal and our resilient results so far this year I remain confident in our EBITDA expectation of at least 7.9bn for 2022/23, Jansen added in the results statement, with EBITDA for the current year guided for 7.3bn-7.5bn.
Authorities said Thursday that charges will not be filed against five deputies in the May 23, 2020, arrest of Reginald Arrington Jr. on Old Lee Highway.

However, District Attorney General Neal Pinkston says the incident shows that better training is needed for Hamilton County Sheriff deputies.

Authorities said, "During the arrest, Mr. Arrington and the deputies became involved in a physical altercation on the side of the road. Mr. Arrington was eventually transported to the county jail for booking. Upon receiving and reviewing body-cam footage from the deputies involved in the incident, Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) to investigate the incident. While that was taking place, General Pinkston also contracted with a national use-of-force expert, Emanuel Kapelsohn, to independently review the entire case file. (Mr. Kapelsohns report will be provided as an attachment to this release.) As a result of those investigations, no charges will be filed against the officers. However, Mr. Kapelsohn and General Pinkston believe this situation could have been prevented with better HCSO training on how to best escort detained subjects.



"General Pinkston said there are several factors that lead to the decision not to prosecute. Most importantly, despite repeated efforts by the TBI, Mr. Arrington would never cooperate with the investigation or submit to an interview. All interview requests were made through his civil lawyers. Mr. Arrington also declined to cooperate or speak with the DAs office, despite numerous requests that were made through his civil lawyers.



"During the investigation, three of the officers involved said that Mr. Arrington tried to reach for a deputys service weapon. Despite not being able to see this on any of the dash cam videos, if the officers believed Mr. Arrington was reaching for a weapon, lethal force could have been an option for HCSO deputies against Mr. Arrington. No lethal force was ever used. With all of these factors taken into consideration, the TBI concluded that the deputies use of force was appropriate under the given circumstances. However, the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy and the use-of-force expert strongly concluded that better training is needed for HCSO deputies. If these deputies had received the best training on how to handle handcuffed detainees, that would have prevented some, if not all of this incident.



"General Pinkston said this incident should not end here."

He said, As I said last year when we released the dash-cam videos to the public, what I saw in the videos was troubling. I dont enjoy ordering investigations into law enforcement agencies, but sometimes it is required. I sincerely hope the sheriffs office will use the findings in this investigation to improve training so incidents like this do not take place in the future.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Austin Garrett said, Earlier today Sheriff Jim Hammond received General Neal Pinkstons findings and appreciates him providing this information to the HCSO and public. The Sheriff, HCSO executive staff, and Training Division will be reviewing the findings together and once complete will proactively address any issues.

"Shortly after this arrest occurred, Sheriff Hammond ordered an Administrative Review to be conducted to ensure our policies and procedures were followed. Before the findings were released, the HCSO Training Division and leadership had already identified areas of improvement in our Use of Force applications. This resulted in HCSO taking proactive measures that improved on our application of force or response when dealing with handcuffed suspects who display either active or passive resistance while in our custody. This enhanced training has already been included in our 2021 mandatory In-Service Training.

"We encourage the public to comply when dealing with Law Enforcement officers, this alone reduces the likelihood of confrontations. However, we always welcome recommendations as it relates to our training. Every day HCSO deputies go out with the mission of protecting and serving our community, and we are focused on providing our deputies with the best training possible to protect our employees and better serve our community.

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Former president Joyce Banda's son has died on Wednesday of coronavirus disease ( Covid-19).

Geofrey Banda was admitted to Bingu National Stadium field hospital for Covid-19 four days ago.

Anorld Mnelemba, an aide to the former president says on his Facebook wall that the body of Banda will be buried today at Area 18 cemetery in Lilongwe.

His death came amid reports that the Bingu National Stadium field hospital had run out of oxygen supplies, health authorities have confirmed.

Spokesperson for ministry of Health said the problem has been caused by a mechanical fault at Industrial Gas company in Lilongwe.

Malango said fresh oxygen supply had been ordered from Afrox Limited in Blantyre.

He said the situation had been occasioned by a rise in demand for oxygen at the facility.

The field hospital at Bingu National Stadium is four days old in operation and has 300 beds.

The oxygen from Blantyre will be transported by road as it is dangerous to transport it by air which some people suggested to government to use army helicopter.
A guard opens the gate at the entrance to Camp VI, a prison used to house detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, March 5, 2013.

Citing coronavirus health risks, a judge indefinitely postponed the appearance in a U.S. military court of a Guantanamo prisoner accused of masterminding the 2002 Bali bombings and two Malaysians to answer terror-related charges, the Office of Military Commissions said Wednesday.

Indonesian national Hambali, whose real name is Encep Nurjaman, along with Malaysians Mohammad Nazir Lep and Mohd Farik Bin Amin, were earlier scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 22 at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Col. Charles L. Pritchard, the judge assigned to the case, noted in his ruling on Tuesday that it was risky for lawyers and court personnel to travel to the base amid the pandemic, Ron Flesvig, spokesman for the Office of Military Commissions, told BenarNews.

The military judge in the case of U.S. v. Nurjaman, et al, has continued the arraignment scheduled for February 22, the Office of Military Commission said in an email.

The judges ruling  indicated that the risk to the health and safety of participants in the arraignment due to the global COVID-19 pandemic is high and that, under the circumstances, a continuance of the arraignment is reasonable. The Commission did not provide a new date for the arraignment.

A continuance is the legal term for a postponement.

Among other reasons cited by the judge for delaying the arraignment were that not everyone had been vaccinated against the coronavirus and the plan to inoculate detainees had been suspended, Flesvig said.

The judge further ruled that it might be more reasonable for all those involved in the case to travel at the end of the summer, Flesvig added.

The team of one of the defendants had requested a postponement because of the pandemic, Flesvig said.

The prosecution had joined that request and asked for a 40-day postponement, in light of the evolving efforts by the federal government to fight the pandemic and update health protection policy to meet changing conditions.

The three accused, who have been incarcerated at the infamous prison facility since 2006, face charges linked to deadly bombings in Bali and Jakarta in 2002 and 2003, the U.S. military said last week.

On Jan. 21, the Pentagon announced plans to go ahead with their military trial. A week later, Col. Pritchard had set Feb. 22 as the date for them to answer the terrorism-related charges.

Hambali faces eight charges while the Malaysians face nine, according to charge sheets uploaded online by the Office of Military Commissions.

All three are charged with conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, terrorism, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, and destruction of property, according to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

The two Malaysians also face a charge of accessory after the fact  all in violation of the law of war.

U.S. authorities said the charges do not carry the death penalty.

Indonesia blamed JI for 2002 Bali attack

A DoD profile of Hambali described him as an operational mastermind for Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asian militant group affiliated with al-Qaeda  the group that carried out the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Indonesian authorities blamed JI for carrying out bombings that killed 202 people in Bali in October 2002  the deadliest terrorist attack to date in Indonesia.

Pentagon officials, meanwhile, allege that Hambali helped plan that attack and the 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that left 12 dead.

On Jan. 22, Malaysias counterterror chief told BenarNews that the country welcomed the U.S. decision to refer charges against Hambali and the two Malaysian Guantanamo Bay inmates to a military tribunal, saying justice would be served by trial proceedings.

But, Achmad Michdan, an Indonesian lawyer who represents Hambali, told BenarNews he would like to see the trial moved from the U.S. base in Cuba.

He said the Indonesian government had stated in the past that Hambali was stateless and did not hold a national ID card when he was arrested in 2003.

Indonesian officials indicated in 2016 that if Hambali were to be released, they would be reluctant to accept his repatriation for fear that his return could spur a revival among domestic terror cells.
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Love can strike anywhere in Philly  over a Citywide Special at Bob & Barbaras, while waiting in line at the PPA impound lot, or when eyes lock across the glass case housing the giant megacolon at The Mutter Museum  but love can only be certified under the law in one spot, the Wedding License Bureau at City Hall, which, until now, has offered no sense of place at all.

Thats about to change with a new marriage selfie mural from Mural Arts Philadelphia set to be installed in the bureau next week. Created by Mural Arts staff artist Nathaniel Lee, the installation features favorite Philly photo spots for newlyweds across the city, from the LOVE sculpture to City Hall.

In just four weeks, Lee designed, produced, painted, and will install the mural at the Register of Wills Wedding License Bureau in Room 415 of City Hall so its up in time for Valentines Day next week.

This is a legacy project for me; its the type of thing Ill be able to tell my grandkids about, Lee said. Plus, its in City Hall so it wont get developed into a Starbucks or anything.

Register of Wills Tracey Gordon, who first considered bringing a photo booth into the Wedding License Bureau before reaching out to Mural Arts to see if theyd be interested in a collaboration, said this will be the first cosmetic upgrade to the office in decades.

It has not been upgraded in a very, very long time, said Gordon. My predecessor was there for 40 years and the furniture was here before he came.

Gordon, who took office in January 2020, said before COVID-19 hit, shed often see couples who came in for marriage licenses take selfies in the bureau to celebrate the occasion. But the outdated decor and bare walls offered little sense of place in the photos, beyond a cold government office.

What if, she thought, those photos could scream: Were in Philadelphia and were in love!

Im a hopeful romantic, although divorced, Gordon said. Even though this is a business and its serious business, it should be fun. You should leave with something warm.

When Gordons staff reached out to Mural Arts Philadelphia, they were immediately on board, she said. Mural Arts, which had some money left over from a project that was sidelined because of COVID-19, was able to re-allocate the funds and do the mural at no cost to the Register of Wills Office, which oversees the Wedding License Bureau, according to a Mural Arts spokesperson.

At Mural Arts, we think a lot about human connection and how that has been missing in our world lately, executive director Jane Golden said in a statement. When we heard from the Register of Wills that people were getting married in front of a blank wall, we thought that art could combat this emptiness.

In a typical year, about 10,000 marriage licenses are issued at the Wedding License Bureau and 850 weddings are performed across the hall in a small judges chamber. Among the more notable wedding licenses issued by the bureau, whose records predate the American Revolution, was the 1951 license for the marriage between Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner, who later wed at the Germantown home of a local dress manufacturer.

A total of 107 weddings were performed at the bureau last year before COVID-19 restrictions shuttered the office in the second week of March. On April 1, the bureau reopened for emergency marriage licenses only and issued about 550 such licenses  many of which were granted to people who needed to get on their significant others health insurance  before it reopened to the general public on an appointment-only basis in July.

On a normal Valentines Day, 50 weddings are performed by five different judges across from the bureau, but weddings on site are still on hold due to the virus, and there is no scheduled date when they might resume.

While newlyweds cant yet get photographs with the mural, the 150 people who are applying for a marriage license each week now can.

Lee included City Halls iconic clock tower in his mural and positioned its William Penn topper so Penn will appear to be blessing couples below. He put in the Liberty Bell to symbolize the freedom people have in marriage today, and he included the Philadelphia Museum of Art stairs (aka the Rocky steps) to illustrate that sometimes, marriage can be a struggle.

Lee created the painting, which is 10 by 10 feet with large golden rays of a dawning sun emanating out well beyond that, on a mural cloth canvas at the Mural Arts studio at Sweetbriar Mansion in Fairmount Park.

He plans to transport the mural to the Wedding License Bureau on Monday and fuse it to the wall like permanent wallpaper using a mural cloth method, he said.

When this was just a blank, white wall, it could be a wall anywhere, he said. I wanted it to be very much here, and very much Philly.
Behind the scenes boardroom shenanigans have taken centre stage at Debswana Diamond company, as the search for the substantive Managing Director enters the final home stretch.

Information gathered by this publication from highly placed sources at the global diamond mining giant have revealed that there is a deliberate plot to get rid of the two general managers for Jwaneng and Orapa, Letlhakane and Damtshaa Mines (OLDM) Messrs Koolatotse Koolatotse and Bakani Motlhabani respectively. "There is a plot to sweep out the old guard which is associated with the late Albert Milton and fingers are pointed at the two GMs," sources alleged.

While Motlhabani is regarded as a potential candidate for the MD position, Koolatotse is viewed as a dark horse but the two are said to be influential in decision making as they are regarded as products of Debswana.

"Debswana has a standing culture of always believing and trusting those that they have trained and the two were sponsored by the diamond company from BGCSE at Maruapula School until tertiary education," revealed the source.

The Acting Managing Director who is in pole position to take over as the substantive for Debswana and becoming the first woman to lead the diamond company, Lynette Armstrong, is alleged to have ordered a lifestyle audit on Koolatotse and Motlhabani.

The audit is said to be led by Head of Internal Audit, Mmametsi Setlhare and some are reading malice over the audit of the two GMs who are her immediate subordinates, second in command in the hierarchy at Debswana.

Both Setlhare and Armstrong worked together at BCL Mine in the Finance department. "While is normal to do audit on the executive, this one raises eyebrows as it comes at a time when the board is about to make determination on the next GM," revealed a source at the diamond mining company.

Already some of the targeted executives have been sent some short messages warning them about the impending audit. "Guys I must tell you today, your sins are to pronounce citizen empowerment with much vigor and unapologetic voices. Should the planned frivolous audit miss you, watch out for your social life! You're disturbing a very powerful and deeply rooted cartel," reads a short message text (SMS) sent to the targeted executives.

Koolatotse, who was appointed GM Jwaneng Diamond Mine in 2018, denied ever applying for the MD post, saying he is relatively new in his position and still has a lot to learn and make his mark. Further, Koolatotse denied ever receiving any warning about a looming lifestyle audit on him or any executive in the business. "I am not aware of any impending lifestyle audit in the company, which could affect me," said Koolatotse.

Koolatotse confirmed being a strong proponent and supporter of the Citizen Economic Empowerment policy that advocates for economic empowerment of locals by being awarded contracts in the value chain of the business. He is not apologetic about it, he vows. "We have to empower Batswana and allow them to participate in the mining industry and this we will achieve at Debswana," he said, confidently.

In a brief response late Friday, Motlhabani declined to comment on the allegations. "Kindly contact our head of Corporate Affairs as she is mandated to speak to the media," he said.

Debswana Corporate Affairs Manager - External, Agatha Sejoe also dismissed allegations of a suspected witch-hunt saying they are not aware of any on-going lifestyle audit in the business. "In reference to your enquiry, please be informed that Debswana is not aware of such an audit, therefore we have nothing further to share," she said in her short response.

This publication wanted to know if it is true that the acting Manging Director has instructed Head of Internal Audit to conduct a lifestyle audit on Koolatotse and Motlhabani and what led to that decision. Although she had been asked about the candidacy of Koolatotse and Motlhabani for the MD post, Sejoe did not answer the question.

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The citizen economic empowerment policy (CEE) which has seen contracts of some foreign entities terminated is said to be not sitting well with some companies. The leadership of companies that lost Debswana businesses in recent times are said to be adamant that executives aligned to the late Milton are behind their termination. "There is a deeply rooted and powerful cartel which has some former senior government officials in their books, which is not happy with the CEE policy at Debswana and want to get rid of all its proponents," revealed a source.

Most of the former and current senior government officials are said to have been benefiting from foreign companies as they facilitated their coming to Botswana and registration process and recruitment of personnel.


WELLESLEY, Mass. and WATERTOWN, Mass., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In their first joint community investment, the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation and Tufts Health Plan Foundation are giving $1 million to 42 organizations across the region to expand vaccine education, awareness and outreach in communities of color. Five Maine organizations will receive a total of $125,000 in funding. Just one month after Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan announced their combined organization, this investment is an immediate response to emerging needs in Black and Brown communities across the region disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

"We are at an inflection point in the pandemic," said Thomas Croswell, chief executive officer of the combined organization of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, and a member of the Tufts Health Plan Foundation board. "As vaccine production and distribution are ramping up, important education efforts are taking place to address community concerns and we need to support them."

Grant recommendations were informed by community organizations, public health leaders and other key stakeholders engaged in the vaccine rollout in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

"With the pandemic continuing to have a devastating impact on Black and Brown communities, this funding will give a boost to organizations across the region working tirelessly to support the needs of their community members and create awareness around the importance of the vaccine," said Michael Carson, president of the combined organization of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, and chairman of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation board.

Grants will support a range of organizationsfrom statewide organizations to local community nonprofits. They include faith-based organizations, trusted Black/Latinx-led community nonprofits, and organizations with experience coordinating multilingual efforts.

One of the organizations receiving a grant is Somali Bantu Community Association of Lewiston, Maine.

"Our Somali Bantu Community are individuals who come from the rural part of Southern Somalia. Many don't read or write in their language and have difficulty understanding COVID protocols," said Muhidin Libah, executive director of the Somali Bantu Community Association. "Now that we have the vaccine, there is a lot of misinformation circulating in our community. With these grant funds, we will work with community health workers to help our Somali community understand what they can do to protect themselves from the virus and the importance of getting the vaccine. We are very thankful for this support from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation and Tufts Health Plan Foundation."

The full list of nonprofit organizations receiving grants is:

Connecticut Total Grants: $225,000

Greater Bridgeport Area Prevention Partnership ( Bridgeport ), $20,000

), Hartford Health Department ( Hartford ), $30,000

), Health Equity Solutions ( Hartford ), $50,000

), Human Resources Agency ( New Britain , Bristol , Burlington , Farmington , Plainville , Plymouth ), $20,000

, , , , , ), Ministerial Health Fellowship ( Hartford , Middletown , New Britain , Meriden ), $20,000

, , , ), Project Access of New Haven ( New Haven ), $20,000

( ), Stamford Health Dept/The Family Centers ( Stamford ), $15,000

), URU, The Right to Be ( New Haven ), $50,000

Maine Total Grants: $125,000

Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition ( Portland ), $20,000

), Portland Minority Health Department ( Portland ), $40,000

), Presente! Maine ( Portland ), $25,000

( ), Somali Bantu Community Association ( Lewiston ), $20,000

), Wabanaki Public Health ( Millinocket ), $20,000

Massachusetts Total Grants: $350,000

African Community Education Program ( Worcester ), $20,000

), Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association (Lowell), $25,000

Greater Boston Latino Network ( Boston ), $25,000

), Greater Lawrence Community Action Council (Lawrence), $25,000

La Colaborativa (Chelsea), $25,000

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition ( Boston ), $45,000

), Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers ( Boston ) $50,000

) New North Citizens Council ( Springfield ), $20,000

), One Holyoke Community Development Corporation ( Holyoke ), $20,000

), Pinnacle Partnerships ( Brockton ), $20,000

), Public Health Institute of Western Mass. ( Springfield ), $30,000

), Resilient Sisterhood Project ( Boston ), $20,000

), Worcester Interfaith ( Worcester ), $25,000

New Hampshire Total Grants: $125,000

Amoskeag Health ( Manchester ), $40,000

), Granite State Organizing Project ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Granite State United Way ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Lamprey Health Care ( Nashua ), $20,000

), Manchester NAACP ( Manchester ), $10,000

), Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services ( Nashua ), $20,000

), New Hampshire Alliance of Immigrants and Refugees ( Manchester , Concord ), $15,000

Rhode Island Total Grants: $175,000

Children's Friend ( Providence ), $15,000

), Comprehensive Community Action Program ( Cranston ), $20,000

), Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center ( Newport ), $10,000

Community Center ( ), Local Initiatives Support Corporation RI ( Providence ), $20,000

), ONE Neighborhood Builders ( Providence ), $20,000

), Progreso Latino ( Central Falls ), $15,000

( ), Thundermist Health Center ( Woonsocket ), $20,000

), United Way of Rhode Island ( Providence ), $35,000

( ), West Elmwood Housing Development Corp. ( Providence ), $20,000

About the combined organization of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

The combination of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care represents the coming together of two of New England's most iconic nonprofit health care companies. Representing nearly 90 years of combined service to our members and the community, together we are building upon our diverse legacies and innovative collaboration by making it our purpose to guide and empower healthier lives for our members  no matter their age, health, race, identity, or income.

We strive to be a different kind of nonprofit health and wellbeing company, with a broad range of health plans, and innovative tools that make navigating health and wellbeing easier, guiding our members at every step of their health care journey to better health outcomes. We are committed to providing high-quality and affordable health care, improving the health and wellness of our members, and creating healthier communities throughout New England.

About Tufts Health Plan Foundation

Established in 2008, Tufts Health Plan Foundation supports the health and wellness of the diverse communities we serve. The Foundation has given more than $45 million to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island nonprofits that promote healthy aging. Tufts Health Plan Foundation funds programs that move communities toward implementing age-friendly policies and practices that are relevant, focus on older adults, and include them in community solutions. Visit tuftshealthplanfoundation.org for grant program information.

About the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation

Created in 1980, the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation supports Harvard Pilgrim's mission to improve the quality and value of health care for the people and communities we serve. The Harvard Pilgrim Foundation provides the tools, training and leadership to help build healthy communities throughout Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. In 2020, the Harvard Pilgrim Foundation awarded more than $10.4 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in the region. Since its inception in 1980, the Foundation has awarded $165 million in funds and resources throughout the four states. For more information, please visit www.harvardpilgrim.org/foundation.

SOURCE The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation

Related Links

www.harvardpilgrim.org


President will announce an end Thursday to US support for a grinding five-year Saudi-led military offensive in that has deepened humanitarian suffering in the Arabian peninsula's poorest country, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

The move would fulfill a campaign pledge by Biden, whose administration plans to pursue diplomacy to end the overall conflict in

Biden also is announcing the choice of Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to as soon as Thursday afternoon, when the president is due to speak at the State Department. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the selection, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. The Gulf-based newspaper The National first reported the pick.

Lenderking has been a deputy assistant secretary of state in the agency's Middle East section. A career foreign service member, he has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries inside and out of the Middle East.

began the offensive in 2015 to counter a Yemeni Houthi faction that had seized territory in Yemen and was launching cross-border missiles at

A Saudi-led air campaign since then has killed numerous civilians, and survivors display fragments showing the bombs to be American-made. The conflict has deepened hunger and poverty in Yemen, and rights experts say both the Gulf countries and Houthis have committed severe rights abuses.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
1. Yes. The public must have assurances that ethical standards are met by everyone.

2. Yes. As long as an independent board hears the grievances, its a worthwhile idea.

3. No. The concept is too broad. It should be limited to the citys elected officials.

4. No. There are plenty of stipulations in place already. An ordinance is a waste of time.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without seeing how it would be structured and applied.

Vote

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said there is 'no such thing as LGBT' after activists clashed with police during a month-long protest at an Istanbul university.

'The LGBT, there is no such thing,' Erdogan said during a televised address to his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK) on Wednesday.

'This country is moral, and it will walk to the future with these values.'

Last week, activists hung a poster showing the Kaaba in Mecca, Islam's holiest site, draped in a rainbow flag, outside the office of an Erdogan-appointed rector.

Erdogan gave the university's top spot to former political candidate Melih Bulu, which is seen as undemocratic by the college's students and teachers. They are demanding his resignation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told members of his party 'there is no LGBT' during a televised address on Wednesday

Erdogan called the protesters 'terrorists' during his speech, adding they will not be allowed to disrupt the country with their actions.

'This country will not be run by terrorists. We will do whatever is needed to prevent this,' Erdogan said, adding that the protesters lack Turkey's 'national and spiritual values'.

'Are you students or terrorists trying to raid the rector's room?' he added. 'This country will not again live a Gezi event in Taksim, will not allow it. We have not stood with terrorists and we will not.'

The unrest marks some of the largest demonstrations since 2013 when hundreds of thousands of people marched against government plans to build replica Ottoman barracks in Istanbul's Gezi Park.

A violent eviction of a sit in protest, lead to 3.5million Turks taking to the streets in 5,000 rallies across the country.

Among their concerns were the erosion of the free press, expression, assembly and Erdogan's Islamist government's erosion of secularism.

Twenty-two people were killed and 8,000 injured during the demonstrations.

Students of the Bogazici University hold an LGBT flag as they stage a protest in support of their detained friends in front of a courthouse in Istanbul on Wednesday

On Tuesday police launched tear gas and sprayed crowds of over 1,000 in Istanbul with rubber bullets.

Images from the scene showed protesters clashing with riot police and some with bloodied faces.

They are demanding the former AK party candidate resign, and the protests have spurred a nationwide debate over the ruling party's reach, and led to separate protests in Ankara.

This week demonstrations turned violent, leading to clashes with police in the country's two main cities, and the arrest of 300 students.

Erdogan called the protest movement 'LGBT youth'. Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu on Tuesday called the protesters 'LGBT deviants' on Twitter.

On Saturday Soylu wrote 'four LGBT freaks' were arrested for 'inciting hatred' with the poster of the Kaaba.

The post was hidden by Twitter for violating its 'hateful conduct' rules.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price condemned the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric surrounding the debate.

A Turkish man bleeding talks with a policemen on Tuesday during a demonstration in Istanbul

Price said, that freedom of expression, 'even speech that some may find uncomfortable, is a critical component of vibrant functioning democracy.'

'The United States....stands shoulder to shoulder with all those fighting for their fundamental democratic freedoms,' he said.

Bulu, the protest's focus, said he is 'never thinking about resigning'.

The main opposition party leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has called for Bulu's resignation.

Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas urged Bulu in an open letter to 'sacrifice' his position instead of 'academic peace, youth and our future'.

Bulu, who once applied to the AK Party to run for parliament, told broadcaster HaberTurk that the 'crisis will be totally finished within six months.'

On Tuesday, academics again gathered on the Bogazici campus with their backs turned to the rector's building in protest and chanted 'Melih Bulu resign,' carrying signs reading '159,' the number of those detained on Monday.

Protesters clash with riot officers during demonstrations in Istanbul on Tuesday

Furkan Dogramaci, 23, a Bogazici graduate last year, said a 'lynching campaign' against the LGBT community was launched to thwart the protest's real aim.

The government response aimed at 'dividing, separating us and ending this movement,' he said.

University student Enes Gozukucuk, 23, who was among protestors on Monday when police detained 51 people, said the protests were against Bulu's appointment not the government.

'We could have solved these issues amongst ourselves in the school. There was no need for violence from government forces,' he said.
As if the airline sector needed another trouble on top of the reduced travel demand due to the pandemic, oil prices at their highest in a year are set to raise jet fuel costs for the industry that has been suffering a lot from the lockdowns, flight bans, border closures, and quarantines with COVID-19.

Oil prices hit a one-year high this week amid signs of a tightening oil market and risk appetite from investors and speculators.

Higher crude oil prices, however, mean higher fuel prices for airlines, which have been one of the worst-hit industries in the pandemic.

This is just one of a litany of concerns when it comes to the airline industry. We would avoid these companies and that group, Chad Morganlander, portfolio manager Washington with Crossing Advisors, told CNBCs Trading Nation this week.

According to the analyst, airlines are indebted, and higher oil prices are making them less profitable and flexible.

The latest data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) shows that as of January 29, the jet fuel price globally was 5.3 percent higher than a month ago.

The airline industry needs a lot more people to be vaccinated to allay fears and to make governments allow travel without quarantine restrictions.

Jet fuel demand will be the last segment of fuel demand that will recover from the pandemic.

Airline travel will continue to suffer in the first half this year and will only recover, and jet fuel consumption with it, in the back half of 2021, when mass vaccinations are poised to allow traveling to more destinations quarantine-free, according to the worlds largest independent oil trading firm, Vitol. Vaccination passports could be inevitable for the tourism and airline industries to rebound from the pandemic hit, Mike Muller, the head of Vitols operations in Asia, said at the online Gulf Intelligence conference, as carried by Bloomberg.

Continued low demand for jet fuel will account for 80 percent of the 3.1-million-bpd gap in oil demand this year compared to pre-pandemic levels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in December.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The International Criminal Court on Thursday convicted a former commander in the notorious Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army of dozens of war crimes and crimes against humanity ranging from multiple murders to forced marriages.

Dominic Ongwen, who was abducted by the shadowy militia as a 9-year-old boy and transformed into a child soldier and later promoted to a senior leadership rank, will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

The judgment outlined the horrors of the LRA's attacks on camps for displaced civiliansin northern Uganda in the early 2000s, and of Ongwen's abuse of women forced to be his ``wives.''

Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt said that Ongwen's history as an abducted child turned fighter could be considered at the sentencing stage of the trial.

But he made clear: ``This case is about crimes committed by Dominic Ongwen as a fully responsible adult as a commander of the LRA in his mid- to late 20s.''

The senior commander in the brutal Ugandan rebel group Lord's Resistance Army is charged with 70 crimes including murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.

Defense lawyers cast Ongwen as a mentally damaged man who was effectively stripped of his free will by years of brutality in the ranks of the LRA after being captured on his way to school as a 9-year-old child.

``Mr. Ongwen is a victim and not a victim and perpetrator at the same time,'' defense lawyers wrote in their closing brief at the end of the trial that began just over five years ago.

Prosecutors, however, called Ongwen ``a pivotal figure in the LRA's campaign of terror across northern Uganda in the early 2000s'' and told judges that he planned and directed attacks that left dozens dead.

``He presided over a regime of human misery whereby children were forced to become murderers and sex slaves,'' prosecutors argued in their final trial brief summing up their case.

Prosecutors charged Ongwen with commanding an LRA unit that attacked camps for displaced people in northern Uganda in 2003 and 2004.

The court's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, told judges at Ongwen's trial that his traumatic upbringing in the cult-like militia led by one of the world's most-wanted war crimes fugitives, Joseph Kony, could be a mitigating factor if he is convicted. But it could not be used as a defense against what Bensouda said was Ongwen's choice ``to embrace the murderous violence used by the LRA and make it a hallmark of the attacks carried out by his soldiers.''

The Lord's Resistance Army, which began in Uganda as an anti-government rebellion, is accused of atrocities including mass killings, recruiting boys to fight and keeping girls as sex slaves. At the peak of its power, the group was a notoriously brutal outfit whose members for years eluded Ugandan forces in the bushland of northern Uganda, where the civil war forced hundreds of thousands into camps for the internally displaced.

When military pressure forced the LRA out of Uganda in 2005, the rebels scattered across parts of central Africa. Reports over the years have claimed Kony was hiding in Sudan's Darfur region or in a remote corner of Central African Republic, where LRA fighters continued to kill and abduct in occasional raids on villages, and where Ongwen was arrested in 2015.

Kony became internationally notorious in 2012 when the U.S.-based advocacy group Invisible Children made a viral video highlighting the LRA's crimes. By that time the group had already been weakened by defections as it splintered into smaller, highly mobile groups led by commanders eager to evade capture. Uganda's military estimated in 2013 that the group comprised no more than a few hundred fighters.

Invisible Children said this week that 108 children abducted by the LRA remain missing.

The United States and others announced they were ending a manhunt for Kony and his lieutenants in 2017, and Ugandan officials say they no longer consider the LRA a threat to national security.

Short link:


State Track: Arrows' Mack and Heesch among six area event winners on opening day

Watertown seniors Cooper Mack and Maggie Heesch and four other area athletes notched event wins Friday during the opening day of the 2021 State High School Track and Field Meet.
Plans by Coast leaders for the region to chart its own political path is gaining momentum, with reports indicating that discussions are revolving around whether or not to walk out of ODM.

Governor Hassan Joho and his Kilifi counterpart Amason Kingi on Tuesday met with at least 25 legislators from the region in a strategic meeting that lasted almost five hours.

Speaking exclusively to Nation after the meeting at The Dhow House, Nyali, Governor Kingi said their deliberations have left out both ODM leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto, and solely focused on the unity of the region.

"Our main agenda here is unity. We have met the MPs, first for strategy purposes, and for that reason, we are going to form our unity and not lean on Mr Odinga or Mr Ruto. This is a Coast-based issue meeting," said Mr Kingi.

Reliable sources told the Nation that part of the main agenda was whether the unity of the region should be achieved while the leaders are still in ODM or they form a Coast-based party.

Raw deal

A majority of the leaders who attended the meeting were from ODM. Coast MPs who are allied to DP Ruto were conspicuously missing from the meeting.

"We're going to bring everyone on board because we will at no stage bring the issue of Raila or Ruto, and we believe if it's for the purpose of our region, no leader would say No," said Mr Kingi when asked about the absent MPs.

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The governor said the region is charting its own course because "it has been given a raw deal for quite some time by ODM party".

He said to solidify the unity's agenda, all the six Coast governors are going to meet this month in Taita Taveta to discuss the same. "We have always been represented by ODM as a region and now we want to stand on our own. With time you will see the fruits of this journey that we have just started," said Mr Kingi, who had planned the meeting.

Mr Joho shared the same sentiments, saying the Coast region has supported ODM for long, and it is Mr Odinga's turn to return the favour by supporting the governor for presidency in 2022.

Second term

Speaking last Thursday, Mr Joho announced that he will use the ODM party to contest for the presidency in 2022.

"I was Kisauni MP and now governor for a second term through ODM. I have been with Raila for long and I am now going to contest for presidency through the Orange party. We have supported them for long and this time they should support us," said Mr Joho when he issued tittle deeds to residents of Kisumu Ndogo in Nyali

Yesterday when asked about the differing sentiments, leaders at the meeting revealed that it was a strategy that Mr Kingi and Mr Joho were using to push for the unity agenda.

Lamu Woman Rep Ruweida Obbo said there was need for Coast to be part of the national discussion. We do not want to be taken as fools. What we want is to be on our own so that we can be heard as a region," said Ms Obbo who also revealed that another meeting which will be led by Mr Joho will be held in Lamu on February, 20.
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At a time when disagreements between school districts and teachers unions seem even more common than usual thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the Upper Freehold Regional School District and its union are in agreement on how to address plummeting classroom temperatures while still remaining safe: remind teachers they dont have to keep their windows open all the way.

During the Fall semester, open windows had not been a big issue for the preK-12 district, which has taken a hybrid learning approach for the 2020-21 school year for its 2,200 students from Upper Freehold Township and the Borough of Allentown. State and federal guidance suggest classroom windows should be open  though not how far open  to enhance ventilation and minimize the chance of transmitting the virus.

But when outdoor temperatures in the district dipped into the teens during the past two weeks, the rapid flow of warm air out of open windows made some classrooms feel more like meat lockers.

At Stone Bridge Middle School, for 500 students in grades 5-8, the mercury sank to 45 degrees in one classroom, NJ Advance Media learned, which was confirmed by Pam Koharchik, president of the Upper Freehold Regional Education Association, the teachers union.

We were all told to keep our windows open to help with the ventilation from the beginning, Koharchik said. But, she added, In all fairness, though, once the administration was informed of this, they made changes very quickly.

The cooperation is in contrast to strained management-labor relations in other districts that have sought to implement in-person classes. In Montclair, for example, the district has threatened a lawsuit to order teachers back into the classroom to benefit students educationally and emotionally, while public school teachers in Lakewood hinted at strike to try and force the all-in-person district to satisfy their safety concerns.

The changes made by the district came after Koharchik asked Superintendent Mark Guterl to look into the situation last week. After checking with building staff and reviewing the guidance, Guterl said the administration concluded that the simple solution was to tell, or remind, Stone Bridge teachers that simply opening windows a couple of inches would be sufficient to enhance the efficient and relatively new ventilation system at the middle school, which was built 10 years ago.

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In the winter we have said, crack your windows, dont open them all the way, said Guterl, who said some teachers were demonstrating an abundance of caution on behalf of their students. Teachers obviously care about their kids deeply, they want their kids to be safe.

In addition, Guterl also said janitors were told to stop opening windows ahead of time in rooms where classes were scheduled to be held that day.

Though all classes were cancelled on Monday due to the snowstorm, Koharchik said on Tuesday that she had not heard any complaints or concerns from members about either temperature or safety in their classrooms.

You can have disagreements but you can still find common ground, she said.

Koharchiks satisfaction with Guterls response to the window issue is consistent with cooperation between the district and the union on the decision by the administration and Board of Education to hold in-person classes under a blended learning program this year, including two days a week for middle and high schoolers students, four days for elementary students, and 5 days for pre-kindergarteners.

The district requires masks, has arranged desks to maximize social distancing, and in some cases has erected clear plastic barriers to separate students, and provided air purifiers and other supplies, Koharchik and Guterl said. The superintendent said the unions cooperation in the blended learning plan has been fantastic.

State and federal guidance does not specify how far to open windows in order to enhance classroom ventilation. In fact, the guidance suggests that windows dont necessarily need to be open at all.

Open windows if A/C is not provided, the New Jersey Department of Education suggests, without further detail, in its Road Back school reopening plan, under Critical Area of Operation #2: Classrooms, Testing, and Therapy Rooms.

At the federal level, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers similarly flexible guidance in a section headed, Operating schools during COVID-19: CDCs Considerations.

When weather conditions allow, increase fresh outdoor air by opening windows and doors, the CDC states, without getting more specific than that.

Koharchik said she could not say definitively that all of the unions members would be comfortable closing their windows, mostly or all the way.

Every individuals going to have a different degree of comfort, she said. But we believe that everything that can be done is being done.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com.
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As your administration adapts its vaccination communication and operation strategies, we encourage you to follow these best practices.This article outlines best practices for:COVID-19 affects every citizen in your community, which means you need to leverage every possible communication channel to keep your citizens informed about the ongoing virus risks, community mandates and restrictions, testing center locations and vaccine availability. Use the following communication channels for maximum reach and impact:A continually updated, mobile-responsive COVID-19 and vaccination resources Web page. Link to it from a primary homepage graphic or pop-up modal for ease of access. 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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
An assessment published this week in the journal The Lancet HIV provides new insight about an initiative to integrate treatment of opioid use disorder along with HIV in Vietnam.

The study marks one of the first scientifically robust assessments of a new model of treating HIV in lower or middle income countries where injection drug use is a major cause of HIV infection. It also suggests the importance of building support for peer and community connections to tackle the opioid epidemic that continues to ravage the United States in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study was led by scientists and physicians at Hanoi Medical University and Oregon Health & Science University.

"Our study suggests that countries that want to expand treatment for opioid use disorder with buprenorphine should consider interventions to support retention on treatment directed at family networks, peers and community health workers," said co-author Todd Korthuis, M.D., M.P.H., a leader in addiction medicine at OHSU and the study's principal investigator.

Korthuis, professor of medicine (general internal medicine and geriatrics) in the OHSU School of Medicine, became involved in initiating the program in Vietnam after serving as a Visiting Fulbright Scholar in 2012-13.

The new study is the first multisite randomized trial to compare HIV clinic-based buprenorphine therapy compared with simply referring HIV patients to methadone clinics for opioid use disorder treatment. The study examined outcomes for opioid use disorder and for HIV, and how well participants stuck with treatment.

Researchers found that ongoing support is critical.

"We understand that addiction is a brain disease, so people have relapses," senior author Le Minh Giang, M.D., Ph.D., chair of global health at Hanoi Medical University, said in a podcast hosted by The Lancet HIV. "In many cases, the patients left the opioid use disorder treatment and then relapsed into drug use. That's problematic for people who don't have good support from clinical staff."

Buprenorphine, also known as Suboxone, can be prescribed and used outside a specialty addiction clinic, whereas methadone must be closely monitored in part because of a higher risk of overdose in unsupervised settings. Between July of 2015 and February of 2018, a total of 281 people were enrolled in a pilot project to treat people with buprenorphinea first in Vietnam.

"It's a more flexible treatment than methadone maintenance," Korthuis said. "You can integrate it into HIV clinics and, theoretically, in primary care clinics. Methadone has to be very carefully controlled in a specialty setting."

The new study found that access to buprenorphine is essential for countries aiming to expand access to treatment for opioid use disorder, especially among patients also being treated for HIV.

"One of the things I was impressed with, is the very tight social fabric in Vietnam," Korthuis said in The Lancet podcast. "It's impossible not to overstate the role of the family, the role of the neighborhood and the role of the community in every aspect of life, including health care."

In fact, Korthuis is already implementing a similar outreach model in several rural counties in Oregon through an initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health. Known as Oregon HIV/Hepatitis and Opioid Prevention and Engagement, or Oregon HOPE, the initiative relies on peers who have recovered from addiction to engage their neighbors in prevention and treatment services.

The program is currently active in several counties across southern and eastern Oregon.

"Community health workers who really know their neighborhoods are really good at engaging people in addiction treatmentand keeping them in treatment," Korthuis said.

Explore further Physician-pharmacist collaboration may increase adherence to opioid addiction treatment

More information: P Todd Korthuis et al, HIV clinic-based buprenorphine plus naloxone versus referral for methadone maintenance therapy for treatment of opioid use disorder in HIV clinics in Vietnam (BRAVO): an open-label, randomised, non-inferiority trial, The Lancet HIV (2021). P Todd Korthuis et al, HIV clinic-based buprenorphine plus naloxone versus referral for methadone maintenance therapy for treatment of opioid use disorder in HIV clinics in Vietnam (BRAVO): an open-label, randomised, non-inferiority trial,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/S2352-3018(20)30302-7
Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville was appointed Wednesday to sit on the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee along with three other panels, the states junior Republican senator said in a statement.

The state is home to several military installations, including Maxwell Air Force Base and Ft. Rucker near Montgomery, Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville and the Anniston Army Depot along with then-President Trump tapping Huntsville to be the future headquarters of U.S. Space Command -- a decision that has since been mired in political controversy.

I am honored to be selected to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee and represent the nearly half a million active-duty military, National Guard, reservists, and veterans who call Alabama home, Tuberville said in a statement released Wednesday night. Our heroes from Alabama put service above self to protect our freedoms, and our state has a long history of military excellence.

Tuberville was also selected to sit on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; and the Veterans Affairs Committee.

On the agriculture panel, Tuberville said he would work to expand broadband access to rural areas among other issues.

I am thankful to have a seat at the table on a committee that is so important to folks back home, and Alabamas rural communities can rest assured Ill be a strong voice for them in Washington, he said.

As a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Tuberville said he will continue to fight for patient-centered solutions in our health care system over big government mandates.

Tuberville said his work on the Veterans Affairs Committee would revolve around expanding healthcare access to Alabama veterans.
India is ready to supply various weapons systems, including missiles and electronic warfare systems, to countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday. Rajnath Singh said that organising a conclave of countries in the IOR on the margins of the international event "Aero India-2021" shows the importance India attaches to the vision of common growth and stability and constructive engagements with them.

Delivering his keynote address at the IOR Defence Ministers' Conclave, he said, "India is ready to supply various types of Missile systems, Light Combat Aircrafts/Helicopters, Multi-Purpose Light Transport aircraft, Warship and Patrol Vessels, Artillery Gun systems, Tanks, Radars, Military Vehicles, Electronic Warfare Systems and other weapons systems to IOR countries."

Addressed the IOR theme-based Seminar on Building Collective Maritime Competence towards Security and Growth for All in the Region at Bengaluru. It is essential to tap the enormous potential of Ocean based Blue Economy to extend economic growth and prosperity for all countries. pic.twitter.com/I6xdYbakWE  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) February 4, 2021

"Our efforts are to synergise the resources and efforts in the Indian Ocean, including, defence Industry industrial cooperation amongst participating countries," Singh said.

Many of the IOR countries are becoming globally competitive and are developing new technologies, including defence shipyards for design and shipbuilding, which can be jointly harnessed through regional cooperation efforts, the Minister said. He said the Indian aerospace and defence industries present an attractive and significant opportunity for foreign companies across the supply chain to take their cooperation to newer levels.

He said, "This Conclave is an initiative to promote dialogue in an institutional and cooperative environment that can foster the development of peace, stability and prosperity in the Indian Ocean Region. India is the largest country and has a vast coastline of 7500 Kms in the IOR region, has to play an active role for peaceful and prosperous co-existence of all IOR countries."

"We all have a shared asset, that is, the Indian Ocean. It is an important lifeline to international trade and transport as it commands control of major sea-lanes carrying half of the worlds container ships, one-third of the worlds bulk cargo traffic and two-thirds of the worlds oil shipments," he also added.

"As Prime Minister Narendra Modi articulated in 2015, SAGAR -Security and Growth for All in the Region- is the theme of our Indian Ocean Policy. This outlook towards the Indian Ocean Region emanates from the ingrained element of our civilizational basic ethos Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which means that the entire world is a family. Therefore, IOR conclave should focus on security, commerce, connectivity, fight against terrorism and intercultural exchanges among participating countries," he also stated.

Singh added, "We, therefore, have to join hands in looking at these threats in unison, because ones threat today may be anothers tomorrow. Maritime resources will be key to sustained growth and development of nations across the Indian Ocean Region in the ongoing century. We have already seen the negative impact of conflicting claims in some maritime areas of the world. We must, therefore, ensure that the maritime expanse of the Indian Ocean is peaceful and is optimally harnessed for the benefit of all nations in the region."

He added, "Together, we have demonstrated our mutual respect for a rules-based order, setting an example of how abiding with international law will enable harnessing the global commons for the good of all."


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February 3, 2021

Federal judge in Oregon orders state to vaccinate inmates along with correctional workers

As reported in this local press piece, "A federal judge ordered Oregon officials late Tuesday to immediate offer state prison inmates COVID-19 vaccines." Here is more about this notable ruling:

U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman granted a temporary restraining order as part of a larger case by a group of prison inmates. Theyve criticized the states response to the pandemic inside prisons and argue its violated the U.S. Constitution. Beckermans ruling applies to more than 12,000 inmates who live in one of the states 14 prisons. Defendants shall offer all [Adults in Custody] housed in [Oregon Department of Corrections] facilities, who have not been offered a COVID-19 vaccine, a COVID-19 vaccine, she wrote.... Gov. Kate Brown is also named in the lawsuit. Browns communications director, Charles Boyle, confirmed Wednesday that the state wont appeal the decision. The courts decision is clear, Boyle said in a written statement. We will move ahead with a weekly approach that will integrate adults in custody into our Phase 1a distribution plans.... Beckermans order comes as the Oregon Department of Corrections has struggled to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 3,000 inmates have tested positive for the virus. Of those, 42 people in custody have died; including 20 in January alone. From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was clear that our countrys prisons were uniquely vulnerable to the transmission and spread of the virus, Beckerman wrote in her 34-page order. Oregon prisons have not been spared from this reality, as COVID-19s toll continues to mount behind bars.

The full 34-page ruling is available at this link, and the press coverage does not fully highlight the important point that Oregon was prioritizing vaccinations for prison workers but not for people confined to prison. Here are a few paragraphs from the start of the opinion:

Defendants are aware of the higher risk of COVID-19 exposure and infection to individuals living and working in congregate living facilities, and do not dispute that vaccination is an essential component of protecting against COVID-19 exposure. For these reasons, defendants Governor Brown and Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Director Patrick Allen (Allen) have prioritized in Phase 1A of Oregons COVID-19 Vaccination Plan the vaccination of those living and working in congregate care facilities and those working in correctional settings. Yet, Governor Brown and Allen have excluded from Phase 1A individuals living in correctional settings. The Court acknowledges the difficult and unenviable task faced by defendants Allen and Governor Brown: they must determine the order in which Oregon citizens will receive a lifesaving vaccine that is limited in supply during a global pandemic. The question of which groups of Oregonians should receive priority is best left to the policymakers, and is not the question before this Court. The narrow question before the Court is whether prioritizing those living and working in congregate care facilities and those working in correctional settings to receive the vaccine, but denying the same priority for those living in correctional settings, demonstrates deliberate indifference to the health and safety of those relying on the states care. Our constitutional rights are not suspended during a crisis. On the contrary, during difficult times we must remain the most vigilant to protect the constitutional rights of the powerless. Even when faced with limited resources, the state must fulfill its duty of protecting those in its custody. See Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104 (1976) (It is but just that the public be required to care for the prisoner, who cannot, by reason of the deprivation of his liberty, care for himself.) (quotation marks and citation omitted). For the reasons that follow, the Court finds that the law and facts clearly favor Plaintiffs position, and therefore grants Plaintiffs request for preliminary injunctive relief.

February 3, 2021 at 06:20 PM | Permalink

Comments

Getting the CV-19 vaccine to prison inmates is a major issue here in Kentucky that the Governor and the Commissioner of Public Health have not wanted to tackle, because it would take vaccine doses away from other deserving people who have not violated the law, such as the elderly older than 60, who are also high risk. They don't want to address the fact that jail and prison inmates are the only people in America who have a Constitutional (as opposed to a statutory) right to medical and healthcare. Since March 2020, 6,729 Kentucky prison inmates have contracted CV-19, for a positive rate of 5,530 inmates out of every 10,000inmates. 4 out of every 7 Kentucky prison inmates have contracted CV-19. 40 Kentucky prison inmates have died, or 30 per 10,000 inmates. 989 Kentucky prison guards have also contacted CV-19 and 5 guards have died from it. Almost 25% of all state and Federal prison inmates in America have already contracted CV-19, so the Government should prioritize getting them the vaccine, even if it is not politically popular with the free world.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | Feb 3, 2021 7:17:03 PM

The corrected number for the number of Kentucky prison guards who have contracted CV-19 is 898. Although the press has not yet written about the issue, the Kentucky Department of Corrections has been covering its shortage of guards (due to the number of guards who have contracted CV-19) by drafting probation and parole officers into mandatory overtime to work as prison guards! Indeed, some Kentucky probation and parole officers have previously worked as guards in Kentucky's jails and prisons. Of course, the probation and parole officers are not happy, because of their increased risks of contracting CV-19, while working as prison guards. Ironically, most Kentucky probation and parole officers are now working from home, with laptop computers and cell phones. Only high risk parolees and probationers (including registered sex offenders) still have to report on a monthly basis during the CV-19 era. Most probationers and parolees in Kentucky now only check in with their supervising officers by telephone once a month, and no longer have to pay supervision fees.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | Feb 3, 2021 7:27:23 PM

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If Donald Trump can be impeached for urging peaceful protest at the Capitol, why isnt Chuck Schumer being impeached for far, far worse rhetoric aimed at intimidating members of the Supreme Court he specifically named into voting his way. I mean morally, because obviously The Dems use impeachment to score political points, not as a serious remedy for misbehavior as those dead white males, the Founders, intended.

The invaluable Molly Hemingway of The Federalist remembers Schumers call for insurrection:

Less than one year ago, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York led a mob on the steps of the Supreme Court while a case was being heard and tried to thwart the natural deliberation of justices by violently threatening two of them to rule in favor of his and other Democrats preferred outcome. I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You wont know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions, Schumer threatened the two most recently confirmed justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

"I wanna tell you, Gorsuch...." (YouTube screen grab)

The threat was so alarming that even leftist activists such as Laurence Tribe condemned it. Schumer received a rare, same-day rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts, who said, Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned Schumers remarks as astonishingly reckless and completely irresponsible. However, Sen. Josh Hawleys efforts to censure Schumer for his violent threats were scuttled.

Mark Levin believes that Schumer ought to be on trial. Via Breitbart:

Levin explained to host Sean Hannity [last night on FNCs Hannity] that Schumers rhetoric led to protesters attempting to storm the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. [I] want to talk quickly about Chuck Schumer  you mentioned it, Levin said. He threatened two U.S. Supreme Court justices. He threatened the Supreme Court. He assembled a mob on the stairs of a Supreme Court that tried to break into the Supreme Court, but for that 13-foot bronze door there. And he warns those justices that they are, in fact, in for hell if they dont vote the way he wants. He threatened the Supreme Court. He used the Kavanaugh hearings him as Mollie Hemingway so brilliantly wrote, to convene a mob, to disrupt hearings.' Who the hell does this clown, Schumer, think he is? Levin continued. Stomping all over the Constitution with a 50-50 vote in the Senate, trying to impose his will on the American people, on the whole country, and now going to have a rogue trial? Hes the one that should be on trial and all the other reprobates that have for decades been threatening the American people and making outrageous comments to try to stir up and create fringies among their own base.

Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

You can be sure that Patrick Leahy, who will be presiding over the Senate trial of President Trumps second impeachment (because John Roberts refused to dignify the farce), will try to rule out of order any consideration of the rhetoric of Schumer or any other Democrat when Trumps lawyers present his defense. But they can raise the issue and be ruled against in front of the American people. Social media will do its best to limit the publics access to the record, but this is a fact that is relevant and whose suppression only increases the publics interest.

As the now-tired joke puts it, "If it weren't for double standards, the Democerats would have no standards at all."

Update. A friend has a suggestion:

Ive thought that Trump should hold a competing press event in the Capitol, but outside the impeachment chamber. You said it right, Leahy will overrule attempts to use examples of others actually inciting violence. Trump could put on his case without being overruled. Pelosi may try to have him removed, but, wow, make Trumps day!

Hat tip: J.J. Sefton
The government should not question the patriotism of farmers as they are the ones who have made the country self-sufficient in food, Congress Rajya Sabha member Deepinder Singh Hooda said on Thursday.

Participating in the debate on a motion thanking the President for his address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, he also said that the government should show a big heart and accept the demands of the farmers by repealing the three new farm laws.

Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting against the laws for over two months at Delhi's border points and demanding that the legislations enacted in September last year be repealed.

Attacking the Centre, Hooda said, "You talk about making (the country) self-sufficient. Let me warn you that a self-obsessed government cannot make an Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-sufficient India)."



"The government has no right to question the patriotism of farmers as they have made the country self-sufficient in food and are feeding the 135 crore people of India. They have been doing so since Independence," he said.

Farmers are protesting against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The Centre has maintained that the laws are pro-farmer



The MP from Haryana said there has not been a single word of condolence from the government yet for the farmers who lost their life during the ongoing agitation.

"Hundreds of lives have been lost but there hasn't been a single letter of condolence from the government. I listened to the statements of all BJP members. For these 194 families, words of condolence are far fetched, they were not even mentioned," Hooda said.

Farmers are fighting for protection of minimum support price (MSP) and consumers, he said.

"Be it the Pagdi Sambhal Jatta movement of 1905, be it the Champaran Satyagrah, be it the Bardoli movement of Gujarat, farmers have not lost as much lives in any agitation as they have lost in this agitation," Hooda said.

Attempts have been also made to crush the voice of farmers by calling them traitors and allegations have been made against them that they have been funded by Pakistan and China, he claimed.

Congress, among other opposition parties including BJP's former allies Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena, has lent its support to the farmers' agitation.

After the prime minister's statement that he just a phone call away, fences have been put at Delhi borders, temporary toilets have been removed and internet has been shut down in areas where farmers are protesting, Hooda said.

Farmer organisations have distanced themselves from the incident at the Red Fort on January 26 and they should be trusted and action must be taken against culprits, he said.

CPI MP Binoy Viswam said that he has visited the protest sites and there he saw paramilitary and government forces are armed to treat farmers as "enemies".

The government should tell the nation if the protesting farmers are the country's enemy and if they are not then listen to them repeal the farm laws, he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines could be rolled out early next year.

A global alliance against COVID-19, COVAX, has donated a total of 16,008,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Nigeria.

In a distribution forecast published yesterday, the coalition said the AstraZaneca/Oxford vaccine doses would cover the first half of 2021.

A total of 336 million doses were announced to be donated to over 120 countries.

COVAX, which is co-led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and GAVI Alliance, was launched in 2020 to mobilise resources for innovative and equitable access to COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments and vaccines.

It said delivery of the vaccines in Nigeria is estimated to begin as of late February.

Between 35 and 40 per cent of the doses are expected in the first quarter of the year while the remaining are due in the second quarter.

The coalition, however, added that the donation is under indicative distribution, meaning that it only provides interim guidance to countries and may be subject to change.

It also said the interim distribution plan was announced in anticipation of the WHO emergency use listing (EUL) yet to be granted for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The vaccine is licensed to Serum Institute of India (SII) and was donated under the advance market commitment (AMC) plan to make them available to low-income countries.

Since December 2020, Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines have been rolled out in various countries amid efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Anchorage, AK -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/04/2021 -- Crowson Law Group offers a wide array of services to protect the rights and entitlements of Alaska personal injury victims and their families. They have an experienced and dedicated team of lawyers who helps injury victims across the state of Alaska. The law firm is always available to assist clients in every step of the way, and they will work hard to ensure that their clients get a good settlement in their case.



The company spokesperson said, "For one to be able to file for a medical malpractice lawsuit, there are certain things which must be met. There must be proof that the injured victim hired the doctor, and the doctor agreed to be hired by him or her, and the doctor himself or herself began treating the injured victim. Also, the doctor must have been negligent in diagnosis or treatment.



The injured victim must prove that it is most likely than not that the doctor's incompetence directly caused the injury. For legal advice and representation, clients can contact us."



Motorcycle accidents have a higher injury rate as compared to motor vehicle accidents. To receive compensation for the injuries one might sustain or incur property damage, they should find Alaska motorcycle accident lawyer for assistance. At Crowson Law Group, they have experienced and skilled motorcycle accident lawyers who handle motorcycle injuries and work at upholding motorcycle operators' rights. They can examine and evaluate a case to determine the fault and the necessary evidence required to help a client's claim. Clients can visit the law firm's office in Wasilla for a free case evaluation with their motorcycle injury attorneys.



Offering insight on how to have a successful personal injury negotiation settlement, the company spokesperson said, "Similar to a negotiation that is carried out when purchasing a product or service, personal injury negotiation settlements are carried out in the same manner. The back and forth arguments are what determines whether one will get fair compensation or not. The main factor that will determine whether one will get the right financial recovery is how well they will be prepared with the proper evidence and how they will respond to questions. To those who don't want to take a chance and limit their compensation, then the only option is to have a personal injury lawyer guide them through the process."



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[February 04, 2021] Modern building management - Thingsfactory Launches TF-1000, an Intelligent Centralized Building Controller

MONTREAL, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thingsfactory today launches an intelligent technology that will revolutionize modern building management: the TF-1000. This innovation is the ultimate in prevention, detection and asset protection. This intelligent centralized building controller has the ability to detect anomalies in real time, analyze them and ultimately take actions to minimize the impact of any incident.

Prevention - Detection - Protection

The TF-1000 is equipped with intelligent and autonomous sensors connected to a highly sophisticated LORA radio system, encrypted and immune to interference. These sensors communicate with the controller without intermittence and convey a phenomenal amount of information in real time. Thanks to its dedicated artificial intelligence processor, the TF-1000 analyzes each piece of information in a fraction of a second to detect anomalies or specific conditions previously "learned" by the system. Not only do the artificial intelligence algorithms programmed into the TF-1000 make it possible to detect anomalies, but it is also possible to teach the controller new analysis criteria depending on the age and condition of the building, as well as on the use of the system. In addition, since buildings evolve over time, the flexibility of the system makes it possible to connect all existing and future building services. It is this "deep learning" capability and adaptability that makes the controller so efficient for building management. Anomaly detection = instantaneous actions

Depending o the programmed intervention scenarios and in the event of anomaly detection, the TF-1000's intelligent system instantly intervenes on protective equipment, such as control valves, to limit damage. For example, in the event of water damage, the TF-1000's intelligent system will automatically shut off the building's water supply to limit damage.



In short, this scalable, centralized building automation system can contribute to tangible improvements in building security, the quality of services offered to tenants and the well-being of residents, in addition to optimizing the energy efficiency of buildings by promoting better management of space heating and cooling. Quotes

"Thingsfactory has seen major advances in research and development over the past year. We are proud to unveil today the results of this work, which has made it possible to create products that not only showcase Quebec's genius in IoT and AI, but that will also have a real impact in reducing material, financial and human losses. 



-Pierre Gauvin, CEO and Founder, Thingsfactory



For information: In Canada, please contact

Opti-Com Solutions (Authorized Distributor)

Phone (888)-883-6137

Email quote@opti-com.ca In the United States, please contact

Steve Copley (Direct Sales)

Phone (440) 732-5547?

Email steve.copley@thingsfactory.com Or write to us at sales@thingsfactory.com About Thingsfactory:

Founded in 2015 and based in Montreal, Thingsfactory is an Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence product development company specializing in real-time monitoring of critical systems and prevention of material, financial and human losses. With more than 25 years of experience in product and software development, operations management and software development for large-scale international clients, Thingsfactory's founders and employees take pride in designing and building high-quality products that combine performance and security. More information at http://thingsfactory.com



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The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
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The Management of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) on Thursday in Abuja cleared the air on the allegations levelled against the commission`s Executive Chairman, Muheeba Dankaka.

Twenty out of the 37 commissioners wrote a petition against Mrs Dankaka, accusing her of carrying out a secret recruitment and giving majority slots to her kinsmen from Kwara State.

The 20 aggrieved commissioners, in their petition, alleged that Mrs Dankaka unilaterally recruited 22 employees out of which 11 of were from her senatorial district in Kwara State.

They alleged this was a breach of the FCC Act and, therefore, requested the intervention of The Presidency.

Briefing the journalists on the allegations, FCC most Senior Director, Vincent Onobun, expressed worry over the incident as he noted that it was negatively affecting the workers performance.

For some days, the commission was brought to the public domain through allegations on issues ranging from rule of law, due process, guidelines and extant circulars.

With due respect, the allegations have been written without thorough understanding by the petitioners of the working of government and the guiding rules governing it.

We are trying to respond to all the allegations that are trending because we are greatly affected by the negative publicity of the incident, Mr Onobun said.

He said the FCC Fifth Board led by Mrs Dankaka assumed office in July 2020 after inauguration by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He pointed out that Mr President`s directive to Mrs Dankaka was clear and that is to uphold the tenets of fairness, justice and equity.

Mrs Onobun said the presidents directive is encapsulated in the FCC Establishment Act.

Allegations

Speaking further on the recruitment, Mr Onobun explained that the board on assumption of office in July 2020 cancelled the employment which was carried out without due process by her predecessor.

Mrs Dankaka said Mr Onobun, has not conducted any recruitment exercise.

He listed some of the controversial areas to include duty allowance, waivers not to advertise, award of N35 million contracts, stepping down of contracts, among others.

The commission and indeed Nigeria runs Economic Growth Recovery Plan (EGRP), therefore, the issue of the alleged N35 million contracts is part of the rolling plan that commenced in 2018 for which a release was expected in 2019.

In fact, this was before the new chairmen resumed. Our books are open and anyone in doubt can take the liberty of cross checking these facts, Mr Onobun explained.

(NAN)
Whenever the subject of disinformation, hate speech, or harassment on social media platforms comes up, someone inevitably suggests these problems could be solved if Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram outlawed anonymity and forced users to sign up using their real names. The past week has seen a revival of this argument: in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Andy Kessler said that trying to solve these problems by tweaking Section 230the clause in the Communications Decency Act that gives digital platforms protection from liability for content they hostwould be too difficult, and so ending anonymity is the only solution. The know your customer rule for Wall Street is designed to stop money laundering, Kessler suggested, so maybe it can work for rhetoric laundering. At the very least, he said, it would make it easier for people to sue random Twitter users for defamation, etc.

How would verifying the identity of users be accomplished? Kessler doesnt really know for sure. Require a credit card, like Apple does to use its app store? Maybe, he writes. A drivers license? Passport? A trip to the post office or DMV? Kessler has some company in his notions: Citing the article in a tweet, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, chairman of the chambers Homeland Security Committee, said he was concerned that Congresss involvement in Section 230 reform may lead to more harm than good, and that one solution worth considering was to end user anonymity on social media platforms. Social media companies need to know who their customers are so bad actors can be held accountable.

Johnson was soon joined by Sen. John Kennedy, who says he is working on legislation that would require social media users to verify their identities. Doing this would cause a lot of people to think about their words before posting, Kennedy said. According to one news report, the senator is confident the proposal would be constitutional and added that many newspapers require users to identify themselves in comment sections.

ICYMI: Myanmars embattled press faces a military coup

There are a number of reasons to be skeptical about the idea that removing anonymity would even be possible, let alone positive. For one thing, Jeff Kosseff, a law professor at the US Naval Academy, said the courts have repeatedly upheld a First Amendment right to anonymity, citing the anonymous authors of the Federalist Papers, among others, and this right has also been recognized for internet forums and other digital platforms.

In a 1995 case, for example, the Supreme Court was pretty explicit about the need to protect anonymity, according to Mike Masnick of Techdirt, a longtime free-speech advocate. Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority, the court said in its decision, and thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliationand their ideas from suppression. In addition to significant doubts about whether it would be constitutional or not, Masnick and others note that requiring real names wouldnt stop the problems that Johnson and Kennedy complain about. Anyone who has spent any time on Facebook is well aware that people are more than happy to say the most terrible thingsto engage in abuse, harassment, and the peddling of disinformationwhile using their real names.

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And free-speech advocates like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union point out that anonymity protects a wide range of vulnerable people from potential backlashnot just in countries with totalitarian or repressive governments, but in the US. Whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg, or Watergates Deep Throat, have relied on anonymity in order to highlight wrongdoing at the highest levels of government, and newspapers and other media outlets rely (perhaps too much in some cases) on anonymous sources in order to report on corruption and other malfeasance. And in addition to those cases, there are countless survivors of sexual abuse, religious persecution, racism, and other evils who rely on anonymity to prevent reprisals. In short, requiring real names by law would probably be unconstitutional, wouldnt prevent any of the harms that are usually mentioned, and could put people at risk.

Heres more on anonymity:

Online aggression : Although many people believe that anonymity fuels abuse and harassment online, because it gives people the freedom to say whatever they wish without fear of reprisal, a recent study of online behavior found the exact opposite. According to the researchers, results from a major social media platform over a period of three years show that in the context of online firestorms, non-anonymous individuals are more aggressive compared to anonymous individuals.

: Although many people believe that anonymity fuels abuse and harassment online, because it gives people the freedom to say whatever they wish without fear of reprisal, a recent study of online behavior found the exact opposite. According to the researchers, results from a major social media platform over a period of three years show that in the context of online firestorms, non-anonymous individuals are more aggressive compared to anonymous individuals. An abuse of power : In an essay written when Google+ (the companys ill-fated attempt at a social network) started requiring real names the same way that Facebook does, danah boyd, a sociologist and Microsoft researcher who spells her name without capital letters, wrote that such policies are an abuse of power. The people who most heavily rely on using pseudonyms in online spaces, boyd says, are typically those who are most marginalized by systems of power. Real name policies are an authoritarian assertion of power over vulnerable people.

: In an essay written when Google+ (the companys ill-fated attempt at a social network) started requiring real names the same way that Facebook does, danah boyd, a sociologist and Microsoft researcher who spells her name without capital letters, wrote that such policies are an abuse of power. The people who most heavily rely on using pseudonyms in online spaces, boyd says, are typically those who are most marginalized by systems of power. Real name policies are an authoritarian assertion of power over vulnerable people. The real world: Denise Paolucci, a former MySpace staffer, said on Twitter that she has been running enforcement teams for two decades at various social services, and removing anonymity does nothing to reduce online abuse: in fact, platforms with real name or verification requirements have more frequent and more destructive cases of abuse. Such policies assume that people will only be abusive anonymously, she says, and that presumption is 100 percent contrary to fact. People are utterly vile proudly, openly, and publicly under their offline identity.

Other notable stories:

ICYMI: The Courts Beat

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Mathew Ingram is CJRs chief digital writer. Previously, he was a senior writer with Fortune magazine. He has written about the intersection between media and technology since the earliest days of the commercial internet. His writing has been published in the Washington Post and the Financial Times as well as by Reuters and Bloomberg.
For the past four years, the committee has done extensive work on disinformation efforts. Mr. Warner said that experience could guide the panel as it looks at how extremists groups spread propaganda and how foreign powers amplify it.

Unlike most corners of Capitol Hill, and unlike the House Intelligence Committee, Mr. Warners panel has managed to operate, for the most part, with bipartisan agreement. All but one senator on the committee backed its five-volume report on Russian interference. Completed last year, the Senate investigation was perhaps the definitive word on Moscows interference efforts and found that Russia had disrupted the 2016 election to help Donald J. Trump become president.

Mr. Warner said on Wednesday that the bipartisan record of the committee was important for him to preserve, and that he intended to begin work with closed-door meetings to make the case to other committee members about the threat the groups represent and how they could be exploited by outside powers.

Democrats and Republicans on the committee have expressed interest in examining antigovernment extremist groups, Mr. Warner said. But he acknowledged the political sensitivities after the Capitol attack and Mr. Trumps support among far-right factions of those groups. Making the case that antigovernment groups are a problem not only in the United States but also in Europe is one way to build consensus on the issue. The committee, Mr. Warner said, will begin its discussions in private sessions so lawmakers can have a candid and less political conversation.

Beyond an investigation of antigovernment extremism and foreign efforts to promote it, Mr. Warner said the committee would work on pushing for new protections for whistle-blowers and making it more difficult to dismiss inspectors general, government officials charged with finding waste, fraud and abuse.

Mr. Trump last year fired Michael K. Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community. It was Mr. Atkinson who investigated the whistle-blower complaint about Mr. Trumps call with his Ukrainian counterpart in 2019 and ultimately delivered that report to Congress.

At Ms. Hainess confirmation hearing last month, Mr. Warner began his questioning by describing how his own views on the Chinese government had changed, thoughts he repeated in his interview. He said he was wrong to have believed that China would democratize the more it was brought into the world order.
A man in quarantine at the Four Points hotel speaks with a friend standing on the street below in Perth on January 31, 2021, (Trevor Collens/AFP via Getty Images)

Leading Physician Frustrated at WA Mismanagement of CCP Virus Quarantine

A prominent medical professional has expressed frustration at the hotel quarantine system in Western Australia (WA) and believes that the lockdown resulted from health officials ignoring the warnings of medical experts.

WA Australian Medical Association president Dr. Andrew Miller has blamed the lack of a strict mask policy and air ventilation within the quarantine hotels to combat airborne transmission as the cause of the lockdown.

It has been clear to scientists that airborne spread, whilst not always the dominant method of transmission is certainly an important method of transmission, said Miller speaking to reporters at a press conference on Wednesday. If we dont adopt an approach that mitigates against and protects us against airborne spread in stuffy indoor situations then we will fail again, and again, and again.

After testing over 30,000 people, the WA Premier has reported no new local cases of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, since the start of the five-day lockdown on Monday.

A general view shows the Four Points hotel, used to quarantine people, in Perth on January 31, 2021(Trevor Collens/AFP via Getty Images)

Authorities are still investigating how the guard who was on duty at Four Points by Sheraton contracted the UK virus strain.

WA Director of Communicable Disease Control Paul Armstrong said that quarantine staff working in high-risk situation would now be required to wear a mask at all times. The previous policy had only required security guards to wear masks if they were to come into close contact with the infected guests.

If they [the security guards] hear anybody coming to the doors or theres an inkling that the door is going to be opened, theyve got ready access to masks and eyewear, and theyre trained and advised to put that on, said Armstrong.

On Wednesday, WA Health Minister Roger Cook clarified that the security guard was not in contact with the infected guest he was monitoring.

The security guard did not approach the door during the day. However, obviously you can understand with seven different visits during that day to the person in question, it would appear that there is some spread of the disease, Cook said.

Authorities are examining the possibility of air-borne transmission or surface contamination but Armstrong state that, Its a working hypothesis. We havent really nailed it yet.

The lockdown is expected to end on Friday if no new local cases are recorded. The premier has also said that the community must see 14 days of no transmissions before life returns to normal.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 23:41:47|Editor: huaxia

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VALLETTA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Zodiac culture exhibition was held both online and offline on Thursday as part of events celebrating the Chinese Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 12.

Local visitors can enjoy the exhibition hosted by the China Cultural Center in Malta on its website, or go to Pjazza Teatru Rjal, an open-air theater in Valletta, by following anti-virus restrictions.

The exhibition, featuring an array of colorful designs and installations, mainly focuses on the legends, myths and symbolism associated with the zodiac animal of the year 2021, the Ox.

Integrating online and offline forms, the exhibition becomes a highlight of the program celebrating "Happy Chinese New Year" in Malta in 2021, said Yang Xiaolong, director of the China Cultural Center in Malta.

At the site of the offline exhibition, visitors could learn basic knowledge about the unique Chinese Zodiac culture from 12 big boards presenting the characteristics of each zodiac.

The outdoor exhibition held in cooperation with Pjazza Teatru Rjal is another example of the deep cultural exchange between China and Malta, Yang told Xinhua.

In the run-up to the Chinese Spring Festival, more cooperation events will be executed between the two cultural organizations. On Feb. 7, Pjazza Teatru Rjal will use its social media to broadcast the 3D magic and acrobatic show "Golden Cudgel." On Feb. 10, it will hold the virtual exhibition of personalized zodiac design.

Furthermore, a customized version of Chinese zodiac stamps for the year of the Ox has been circulated as a result of cooperation between China Cultural Center and Malta Post Office, the first time of such collaboration in Malta. Enditem
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Passenger traffic at airports in tier 2 and 3 cities of the country is higher than pre-COVID levels, a senior official of global airlines body IATA said on Wednesday. "In domestic, we have seen a strong expansion in new destinations and the deployment of new flights.Unused and under utilised airports in India are starting to see additional passenger activity," Amitabh Khosla, country director of International Air Transport Association (IATA) said during a seminar at AeroIndia 2021.

India resumed its scheduled domestic passenger flights on May 25, 2020 after keeping them suspended for a period of two months due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. "Airline networks themselves are in the state of transition. Post restart, we have seen a growing number of tier-2 and tier-3 cities where the traffic at the airports is higher than it was during the pre-COVID levels," Khosla said.

The IATA has around 290 airlines as its members. Khosla said airlines are expected to get one-third of the revenues from air cargo this year as compared to 12 per cent in 2019.

While global passenger traffic is expected to come to pre-pandemic level only in 2024, the air cargo traffic is expected to reach pre-COVID level by March 2020, Khosla mentioned.

Schedule international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international flights have been operating since May last year under Vande Bharat Mission and air bubble arrangements found with various countries.

Also read: Beware of fake job offers: IndiGo issues advisory

Also read: Coronavirus pandemic: Regular international flights likely to resume from summer
The Knot released its annual Real Weddings Study on Wednesday. Samantha Lee/Insider

Wedding website The Knot released its "Real Weddings Study" for 2020.

Of those who were legally married in 2020, 52% postponed their receptions to the first half of 2021.

But experts say these weddings are unsafe and couples should postpone longer.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The wedding website The Knot conducts an annual survey, the "Real Weddings Study," which uses data from engaged couples to report on the latest trends in the wedding industry.

The Knot's 2020 "Real Weddings" survey sheds light on how couples have adapted their wedding plans in light of the coronavirus pandemic. It surveyed over 7,600 American people whose weddings were originally supposed to take place between March and December of 2020.

The study looked at everything from the average size of 2020 weddings to how many of these couples canceled their nuptials altogether. Based on The Knot's survey, the majority of couples rescheduled their weddings for early 2021 - but experts say that having a big reception in the first half of the year still isn't a good idea.

More than half of couples moved their weddings to the first half of 2021, according to The Knot's study

According to the study, only 7% of respondents chose to cancel their weddings as a result of the pandemic, with the majority either postponing or scaling down their celebrations.

The study found that 52% of couples surveyed - about 1 in every 2 couples - who were legally married in 2020 were planning to host their wedding receptions in the first half of 2021 and host upward of 125 guests.

The majority of couples who rescheduled their weddings are hoping to get married in the first half of 2021. Rawpixel/iStock

Read more: Getting ordained, rejiggering seating charts and dance floors, and negotiating vendor contracts: How 4 wedding planners are prepping for the future of the events industry

The couples who plan to go forward with their early 2021 wedding receptions might feel like their intentions are reasonable because COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed across the country.

Story continues

In addition, many states are starting to loosen their coronavirus restrictions despite the high number of cases across the US, which may signal to some couples that their early 2021 weddings could happen as they hope.

For instance, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday announced that weddings of up to 150 guests would be permitted in the state again beginning in mid-March, as Brides reported.

But experts are warning that these events could still be quite risky, and masks and social distancing will still be necessary for them to take place at all.

Experts don't think weddings will be safe in the first half of 2021

Although the vaccine news is promising, it will still be a long time before the coronavirus isn't a threat to the majority of the US and global population - which means weddings won't be safe over the next few months.

As Insider previously reported, most Americans won't even get their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine until at least May, let alone their second dose.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has said that America cannot have a "degree of normality" until 70 to 85% of the population is vaccinated. At the time of writing, not even 2% of Americans have been vaccinated, according to CDC data.

As a result, guests and staff likely won't be vaccinated at weddings scheduled for the first half of 2021, putting everyone who attends these events at risk.

Plus, many couples invite guests from outside the country to their weddings, which can further increase the risk of transmission of the virus. The CDC is mandating that international travelers provide proof of a negative coronavirus test before and after they arrive in the US and quarantine upon their arrival, but these restrictions aren't foolproof.

Read more: Behind jobs that appear glamorous: Here's what it's actually like to be a luxury destination wedding planner

Dr. Edgar Herrera Sanchez, an infectious-disease expert and vice-chairman of Orlando Health's Infectious Disease Group, told Insider's Julia Naftulin that he thinks couples shouldn't plan to have big weddings in 2021 at all.

"I don't think you'll be able to have a spring wedding. It just doesn't seem feasible," Sanchez said.

He added: "It would be a very big travesty for any person who gets the virus now and dies from it because it is something that can be prevented. Unfortunately, I see it every day, just people dying from this."

The vaccine can't guarantee protection

It's unlikely that the majority of a couple's wedding guests would be vaccinated at a wedding taking place in the first half of 2021.

Even if a large portion of their guests were vaccinated, there's nothing a couple could do to ensure there's a 0% chance of someone contracting or spreading the virus at their event in the first half of the year.

As the CDC states, the vaccine helps protect the patient from getting COVID-19, but it's still unclear how well vaccinations prevent transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19.

It will also likely be months before the US reaches any type of herd immunity.

Until more people are vaccinated and we know more about how well the vaccines prevent the spread of the coronavirus, weddings and any other type of large gathering will be dangerous for engaged couples, their guests, and the people they hire to work the event.

Experts think 2021 weddings will be unsafe. Joaquin Corbalan P/Shutterstock

If couples do want to get married in 2021, they should keep the event small, it should be held outside if possible, and they should require masks and social-distancing.

Read more: From a $10,000 celebration at a country club to a 6-figure ceremony in Central Park, 7 real couples share how they budgeted for their weddings

Despite many couples' apparent plans to celebrate, the respondents from The Knot's study seemed to understand that reality might get in the way of their hopes.

The "Real Weddings Study" stated that 47% of surveyed couples "acknowledge final guest size will depend on COVID-19 and statewide mandates as the postponed event gets closer."

In addition, 19% of those surveyed will require their guests to be vaccinated before attending their weddings, and 36% will ask their guests to be tested for the virus.

You can read the entirety of The Knot's 2020 Real Wedding Study here.

Read the original article on Insider
Opposition MDC Alliance Harare West legislator Joana Mamombe and Cecelia Chimbiri have been denied bail by Harare Magistrate Stanford Mambanje.

Magistrate Mambanje remanded the two in custody to February 18, 2021.

Speaking soon after ruling defence lawyer Charles Kwaramba of the Zimbabwe lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said they will contest the ruling at the High Court.

"Bail was refused on the basis that there is little reason to trust the duo that they will not commit offences while on bail. We don't agree with the decision and we will contest it and obviously we will appeal against the refusal to grant bail," said Kwaramba

He said believes the previous offences which the two are already facing were not considered because one is innocent until proven guilty.

"We don't believe that those issues were considered, what was considered was just one, whether their conduct shows the disposition to commit offences. We are saying it can't because they are innocent until proven guilty. Whatever charges they faced before they are still to face trial. We still believe that the presumption of innocence must take precedence at the moment." he said.

MDC Alliance national deputy spokesperson Clifford Hlatswayo accused the ruling Zanu PF of harassing innocent citizens.

"It is clear that Zanu PF is in panic mode. Zanu PF fears the people, there is no doubt that Zanu is at its latter stages of decomposition. They are harassing innocent people to make matters worse they are young women. The matter they are being accused is a simple matter that can be dealt with at a police station. This is a clear testimony that its victimisation to the people of Zimbabwe to any dissenting voice.

He concurred with Kwaramba that they are going to approach the High Court and dispelled the charges against the duo.

"This is a warfare, obviously our lawyers are going to approach the High Court. It must be proved in a court of law, you must give someone an opportunity to prove themselves. The magistrate said where the matter was committed no one knows. This is political persecution." he added.

Mamombe and Chimbiri are facing charges of undermining police authority after they allegedly shouted obscene language at police officers in Harare.
Tokyo, Feb 4 (Sputnik) The Japanese Foreign Ministry welcomed on Thursday the Russian-US decision to prolong the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) for five years.

On Wednesday, Moscow and Washington exchanged official notes on the extension of New START for another five years with no revisions. The treaty is now set to expire on February 5, 2026.

This treaty regulates the reduction of nuclear warheads and delivery systems, as well as demonstrates the progress in the US and Russian nuclear disarmament. Our country welcomes its prolongation for five years. Our country expresses hope that this progress will go beyond the United States and Russia, and will result in the establishment of a broad structure of arms control that will include more types of weapons in more countries, the ministry said in a statement.

Japan has also pointed its wish to cooperate on arms control with the new US administration led by President Joe Biden.

New START has been in force since 2011 and was due to expire on February 5 before the extension. It is the only remaining legally binding agreement on arms control between the two countries that own the world's largest nuclear stockpiles. The deal is premised on the proposition that each side ultimately reduces its nuclear arsenal to a total of 700 missiles, 1,550 warheads and 800 launchers.

SPUTNIK GNK 0720
Adnan Sami's son and Pakistani composer Azaan Sami Khan on Thursday unveiled the cover and tracklist of his debut solo album, Main Tera. Image Source: IANS News

Adnan Sami's son and Pakistani composer Azaan Sami Khan on Thursday unveiled the cover and tracklist of his debut solo album, Main Tera. Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, Feb 4 : Adnan Sami's son and Pakistani composer Azaan Sami Khan on Thursday unveiled the cover and tracklist of his debut solo album, Main Tera.

"I wanted to do my album for many years, and have managed to infuse a lot of personal elements in it. It has come from a lot of places and has everything that I have personally composed. I've had the fortune of working with tremendous music producers," Azaan said.

The album, which comprises nine tracks, also features the voice of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

Azaan has composed music in Pakistani films like Parey Hut Love and Parwaaz Hai Junoon, and has a fan base in that country.

"For me, fans and listeners are the most important. So far, they have given me so much love for my compositions in films, so it is equally important for them to know that I haven't compromised on anything when it comes to sharing my album with them. The idea is to give them the absolute best experience that I can," he declared.

The album is set to release on February 10.
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When Kristin and Clay Hefty decided to turn their two-story duplex on Allensworth Street near Mahncke Park into a short-term Airbnb rental, they knew they didnt want the apartments, one upstairs, one down, to look like any others in the city.

Fortunately for them, the couple has a leg up on most of their competition: shes an architect and hes in construction, and together they own the Dado Group architectural firm located downtown. Theyve used their expertise to give the 1928 building its own personality, transforming the interior into a style best described as midcentury modern beach house.

People who stay in an Airbnb dont want a sterile hotel. They want something fun. So the more interesting you can make the place look, the more likely they are to book it, Kristin said. While Clay manages the properties, Kristin did most of the interior design, from the furniture down to the kitchen scrub brushes.

Its super important that you have something that differentiates you from all the other rentals on the platform, Kristin said.

Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer

They were thrilled, for example, when a renter recently commented thanking them for having several books about marine explorer Jacques Cousteau in one of the apartments. Thats not something youll find in every Airbnb, Clay said with a smile.

Operating under the name Boutikibnb, their experience designing short-term rentals both comfortable and unique might well serve as a blueprint for other would-be operators.

Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer

The duplex can only be rented in its entirety, usually to families and friends traveling together, and sleeps up to 16. The downstairs apartment has two bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms while the upstairs has two bedrooms and one bathroom. Each apartment has a full kitchen, so groups have plenty of privacy.

Rates range from $250 to $500 per night, depending on time of year, and occupancy varies from two to five nights per week, according to Kristin Hefty.

On ExpressNews.com: Take a peek inside one of San Antonios greenest homes, with itys smart water heater, high efficiency windows and plenty of foam insulation

When the pandemic hit, the Heftys were forced to abandon their downtown office. And with three young children, working from home wasnt an option. So they temporarily returned to the duplex, where they quickly became aware of its shortcomings.

Thats when we decided to upgrade things and give it some more personality, Kristin said.

With wood flooring throughout and a scattering of area rugs, the apartments been appointed with plenty of stylish, midcentury furnishings rescued from Clays beach house in Rockport, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Also brought from the coastal house: a large, wooden pelican perched on a marine piling that serves as a doorstop; most of the seascape artwork and a plastic crab with a clock in its shell hanging in the kitchen.

Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer

Kristin also used several vintage pieces, including a mirror and desk that was Clays grandmothers and her grandmothers vanity, which now holds a computer monitor. Scattered about are also are a few oil-burning lamps that Clays grandfather converted to electric.

On ExpressNews.com: Couple builds its mid-century country dream retirement home in Boerne

Everything doesnt have to be new, so we do a lot of shopping at estate sales or thrift shops, Kristin said. But if we cant find something we need, we have no problem going to West Elm or Target. Theyre also fans for the midcentury vintage and reproduction furnishings and decor sold at Mod Pod on Broadway.

She said one of her guiding principles when decorating the rentals was to add items that are a little campy but still feel modern. To add to the fun, theyve furnished both rentals with a classic record player and stocked each with themed album collections they buy online: Latin music upstairs, Hawaiian music downstairs.

They say they know their guests listen to the music because theyll often find Latin records upstairs and the Hawaiian records downstairs.

Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer

But a short-term rental owners job is never done and Kristin Hefty often finds herself tweaking things to make them better. Take the small shelving unit in a wall niche upstairs. Its filled with a variety of doodads: bleached sand dollars, a pair of elephant book ends, books, plates and more.

Theres no theme here, no focus, said Kristin said one recent afternoon. Its just stuff. One gets the feeling the shelves will soon be in for a rethinking.

Clay contributes his own quirky sensibilities to the place, too. He installed the electric fireplace inside the decommissioned fireplace on the ground floor, for example, and hung the deer head that lives in one of the bedroom closets. And he came up with the idea of providing each new guest with a packet of marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate syrup to make smores on the backyard firepit.

Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer

Thats part of the fun of running an Airbnb, he said. Fun that will continue as the couple now is renovating a second rental property, a fourplex on nearby Brahan Boulevard.

5 ways to welcome guests to your short-term rental Make sure the rental fully stocked essentials - toilet paper, hand soap, dishware and cookware - and easy-to-follow instructions for the WiFi, TV and thermostat. Get to know your guests beforehand so you can provide personal touches such as directions to and information about places they plan to visit. Send guests a welcome note ahead of their visit and recommended local activities and attractions. Include a hard copy for when they check-in. Respond quickly if guests have issues during check-in or the rest of their stay. Provide guests with a premium experience, which means quality mattress, linens and bedding. Source: VRBO.com See More Collapse

With her degree in architecture from the University of Texas, Austin, Hefty concedes she may have a leg up on others when it comes to designing an attractive short-term rental. But with so many sources of design inspiration available  including but not limited to Pinterest, YouTube, books and magazines  she argues that almost anyone can develop an understanding of the basics of good design.

Its just a gut feeling, but eventually you get a sense of what looks right and what doesnt, she said, especially if youre not afraid to experiment and try different things.

And should all else fail, she added, its OK to steal ideas. Nowadays nothing is really original, theres so much all around us its hard not to be influenced by what everybody else is doing.

rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini
EUGENE. Ore.  Lane County residents can now pre-register for the coronavirus vaccine on the countys website.

Pre-registration for the vaccine is open to all members of the public.

The pre-registration information effort will help create a centralized database to help vaccinating health partners countywide contact those who want to be vaccinated and schedule an appointment when they are eligible.

Anyone with internet access is encouraged to pre-register on the online portal. Those without internet access, or who have problems navigating the internet, are encouraged to ask friends or loved ones to assist them in pre-registering online.

Lane County Public Health will also be offering pre-registration by phone in the near future.

Those who are pre-registering should do so only once and either by internet or by phone, not both.

Anyone who has already pre-registered with a healthcare provider or with their workplace should not register again on Lane Countys website, as doing so will slow down the process.

If you are in Phase 1A and have not heard from Lane County Public Health or a local provider about getting a vaccine, you should pre-register using the new link.

If you provide an email address, you will receive an email confirmation once your registration has been received.

Pre-registering does not mean you will be contacted to schedule an appointment right away. Lane County will follow Oregon Health Authority eligibility guidelines and the timeline for vaccinations will depend on supply. Even for those who are eligible to receive a vaccine, it may take time before there are enough doses to offer vaccination appointments.

Some personal demographics will be collected during the registration process to identify which phase/group people are in. The information entered will only be used for the vaccination effort and will not be shared outside of the HIPAA compliant partners distributing vaccines. As vaccine becomes available, those who register will be contacted by Lane County Public Health or a vaccinating health partner to schedule an appointment.

How the registration process will work:

Step 1: Register via the online link provided or by phone. Please take your time to answer each question as accurately as possible. (The web page may not load due to high traffic volume. If you get an error message, try again later.)

Step 2: If you register online and provide an email address, you will receive a confirmation email that Lane County received your registration.

Step 3: You will receive a weekly, automated email letting you know who is currently eligible and that you are still registered.

Step 4: When you are eligible and Lane County has doses available, it will contact you to schedule a vaccination appointment via the contact information you provided on the form.
U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey and U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney reintroduced a bill that could authorize $50 million in annual funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study gun violence prevention over five years.

As gun violence and gun sales continue to rise during the coronavirus pandemic, now more than ever, the CDC needs robust funding for gun violence prevention research, said Markey. Our legislation will make this funding permanent for the next five years, and help us to fully understand the causes of this scourge as we work to put an end to gun violence in Massachusetts and across the country.

Markey has long been an advocate for the prevention of gun violence. In 2014, he introduced a bill to allocate the CDC $10 million each year to research the same prevention as he introduced Thursday, the Gun Violence Prevention Research Act. Four years later in 2018, he proposed a $100 million bill to extend Massachusetts gun standards nationwide.

In December 2019, Markey and Maloney helped secure $25 million for gun violence research at the CDC in the year-end spending agreement, marking the first time Congress approved federal funding for the study of gun violence since an appropriations rider called the Dickey Amendment was put on the books in 1996.

At a rally outside Boston City Hall, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Markey joined with various groups like Moms Demand Action and the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.

Safer, saner gun laws for every single person in America, Markey said to a crowd outside Boston City Hall. We want the house to vote because the [National Rifle Association] owns the Republican party.

Sen. Ed Markey joined with the Director of the Racial Justice Program, ACLU of Massachusetts Rahsaan Hall, President, NAACP Boston Tanisha Sullivan and Chairperson of the Indivisible Mass Coalition Debbie Paul on Boston Common to express their concern over the counting of votes in the 2020 election. (Douglas Hook / MassLive)

According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, the summer months have traditionally been the most deadly.

In 2020, at least 43,495 people died as a result of gun violence across the U.S. Massachusetts is indicative of the rest of the nation with some cities recording a rise of gun-related violence up at least 50%.

Shootings are up 53% in Worcester and 60% in Springfield and Brocktons are up 35%. In Boston, fatal shootings are up 58% and non-fatal shootings are up 33% according to a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling in October.

Springfield saw seen 71 gunshot victims in 2020, 15 fatal and 56 non-fatal, according to the Springfield Police Department.

Since the summer, Commissioner [Cheryl] Clapprood assigned a Springfield police officer to a regional gang task force, Springfield police spokesperson, Ryan Walsh said. Every six weeks, the Springfield Police Department takes part in an intelligence-sharing meeting with local, state and federal agencies specific to trends and patterns with gangs and gang members in western Massachusetts.

He told MassLive that the department has seized 275 firearms in 2020, which is a record amount of firearms, 213 of those were captured during arrests.

Tangela Clark holds a picture of her daughter Tamara Clark who was shot dead in Springfield on the evening of June 26, in Forest Park. She marched from Springfield Police Department to city hall to bring attention to the unsolved shootings of her daughter and others children. (Douglas Hook / MassLive)

Sen. Markey believes that the funding to the CDC will help create evidence-based solutions to the ongoing public health crisis and save thousands of lives every year.

We know of the commonsense solutions like the need for better and more robust background checks and the need to renew the assault weapons ban, but we must also seek other solutions. And we do that by studying gun violence like the public health crisis it is, said Maloney. I am hopeful that the research that this bill funds will help us design evidence-based policy solutions to combat gun violence and prevent thousands of senseless deaths every year.


Navigate is a purpose-driven employee engagement technology company with a nimble and customer-focused approach to helping organizations, with a mission to spark a cascade of positive change by applying their technological capabilities to the field that enables them to make the most impact: health and wellbeing. The company's platform, with over one million active users, aims to bring all aspects of health and happiness together with a single point of entry to a comprehensive engagement and benefits ecosystem.

Navigate, an employee engagement technology company, has launched a new brand as it looks to continued growth in 2021

As organizations have moved to remote operations and increased focus on employee engagement, Navigate has been able to help these organizations better support their workforces and meet their changing needs. Subsequently Navigate has seen unprecedented growth in annual recurring revenue as both existing and new clients build out their wellbeing and engagement programs.

"We've been glad to see more organizations prioritize employee engagement and wellbeing, and we have been fortunate to see this growth over the past few years. Our new brand and website position us well to continue down that path," said Troy Vincent, Founder & CEO, Navigate Wellbeing Solutions. "At Navigate, we are on a journey with our clients, inspiring and guiding them toward their goals, and in turn enabling them to live more fulfilling lives. And our new brand more effectively represents that commitment."

The company's revamped website, www.navigatewell.com includes an in-depth overview of the values-based approach to its products and service. "Our new website has a clean, modern, and easy-to-use design and user experience, while communicating the essence of who Navigate is and our dedication to the people we serve." said Meg Whitty, Vice President of Marketing.

The company's new brand design is inspired by individual journeys, interconnectedness, partnership, and support. It captures the idea of progress and movement toward something stronger and more complete. The new company logoformed with two intertwined, gradated N letterformsembodies partnership with and unyielding support for Navigate's clients.

Navigate partnered with Chicago-based One Design Company, a research-driven design and development studio, on its new brand positioning, visual identity, and website development.

For more than 10 years, Navigate has assisted organizations by connecting their business goals, purpose, mission and values with wellbeing opportunities for employees. Navigate's overall purpose of Doing Good Things for others remains the same as does its robust platform and service model.

Please visit www.navigatewell.com to explore the new website and learn more about the suite of engagement products and services offered.

Navigate Wellbeing Solutions

Navigate is a purpose-driven employee engagement technology company helping organizations spark positive change in the employees, clients, and communities they serve. Navigate's platform brings all aspects of health and happiness together with a single point of entry to a comprehensive engagement and benefits ecosystem. For over 10 years, Navigate has assisted organizations nation-wide across thirteen different industries by connecting their business goals, mission and values with tailored wellbeing solutions for their teams. Navigate is headquartered in West Des Moines, IA.

SOURCE Navigate Wellbeing Solutions

Related Links

https://www.navigatewell.com


COVID-19 has been cruel to Michelle Smith.

Smith, a gym owner in Colorado Springs, Colorado, got sick in early November. "I've never felt so ill," she said. "It was pretty horrific."

The 38-year-old mother of two went from being a model of physical fitnessshe was in training for a bodybuilding competitionto someone who needs to take a nap to recover from the strain of making a cup of tea.

She wants to talk about her ongoing complications, which include joint pain and heart issues that keep her from working out.

But she hesitates.

She feels humbled, confused and an "insane amount of guilt for even having the audacity to talk about the fact that I'm struggling in these areas of my life, when there are people who have been on ventilators and having to learn how to walk again," when people have died or are mourning those who did.

"So who am I to talk?"

Such feelings are not unique to Smith. The Facebook group where she converses with other COVID-19 survivors is sprinkled with mentions of various kinds of guilt, including people who had mild illness while colleagues were hospitalized, and people who recovered when their spouses did not.

Survivor's guilt often afflicts people who live through trauma, and COVID-19 is no exception, said Nadine Kaslow, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta.

"There's different definitions of it, but some people feel guilty" when they survive a situation that other people did not, said Kaslow, a former president of the American Psychological Association. "In a more extreme case, they feel like they did something wrong."

It's common in people who have survived cancer, heart transplants and experiences such as combat or mass shootings. Kaslow said it tends to hit people with high levels of empathy for others.

It can cause flashbacks and sleep problems, she said, and make people feel irritable or unmotivated. It's been linked to problems as serious as suicide.

Survivor's guilt can be akin to post-traumatic stress disorder, which affected more than a quarter of COVID-19 survivors in one Italian study. But it's also separate from PTSD, Kaslow said.

It takes many forms with COVID-19, she said. People who had mild cases might ask, "How did I live when other people died?" Health care workers who fell ill might feel as if they failed to carry their share of the load borne by their colleagues.

Even the uninfected can suffer. "Some people are feeling survivor guilt because they're getting through this pandemic relatively unscathed and other people are not," Kaslow said.

Ellen Hendriksen, a clinical psychologist at Boston University's Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, said survivor's guilt often masks deeper, more painful feelings.

Making ourselves feel responsible for a loss is a way of asserting control over random situations, she said. That could apply whether someone is thinking about the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have died or something more personal, such as the loss of a parent or spouse.

"While guilt is uncomfortable, it is less uncomfortable than mourning, and grieving, and feeling sad," said Hendriksen, who has written about survivor's guilt for Psychology Today.

Guilt also can be triggered when people review the pastsuch as if someone who didn't have symptoms and didn't know they had the virus ended up spreading it.

"We have to remember that we didn't have access in the past to the knowledge and experience we have in the present," Hendriksen said. "That we didn't know we were carrying it. We would have done things differently had we had access to that knowledge."

One of the first steps to coping with survivor's guilt is to acknowledge the underlying feelings it might be masking, Hendriksen said. If you've lost something or someone to the pandemic, "grieve that loss. Because if we don't, it leaks out in other ways."

Kaslow said people also should acknowledge there is no shame in being alive. "It's OK that you survived and other people didn't," or that your illness was mild, she said. "You don't have to give yourself a hard time with that."

Someone whose guilt is causing severe problems, such as persistent flashbacks or nightmares, should seek professional help, she said. (The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers help at 800-273-8255.)

Others might benefit by realizing that feeling guilt is commonand normal. But fixating on it doesn't help, Kaslow said.

"I really encourage people to try to redirect their guilt energy in more productive ways."That includes acknowledging things you're grateful for. And reaching out to help others. "It helps to engage in productive, positive activities," she said.

Smith has tried to do just that, by sharing her story despite some of her reservations. She suspects more survivors feel guilt than are letting on.

"Talking about it is really cathartic," she said. "I think that that does help. And knowing that other people are getting some relief by hearing my story, because it's mimicking theirsmaybe that's part of helping the survivor's guilt."

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / Magna Terra Minerals Inc. (the "Company" or "Magna Terra") (TSXV:MTT) is pleased to announce additional results from a systematic exploration program (the "Exploration Program") at its 100% owned Great Northern Gold Project ("Great Northern"), located in western Newfoundland. The Exploration Program was focused on the Jacksons Arm Trend, an extensive altered and mineralized geological corridor that has not been previously explored, and included geological mapping, prospecting, soil sampling as well as Light Detection and Ranging ("LiDAR") and Induced Polarization ("IP") and Magnetic geophysical surveys. The Company also initiated a first phase 1,600 metre diamond drill program within a portion of the Jacksons Arm Trend with results pending. Additionally, the Company has extended its property size southward along the Jacksons Arm Trend based on the success of the Exploration Program to date.

As announced on October 15th, 2020 the Company has extended the strike of the Jacksons Arm Trend by 40% to 2.4 kilometres and collected numerous gold-bearing grab and float samples during the mapping and prospecting program (Exhibit A). Analysis of recently acquired LiDAR and IP and Magnetic geophysical data demonstrates that the previously announced mapped alteration zones, structures and gold samples are coincident with geophysical anomalies (Exhibit B and C).

Exploration Highlights

700 metre extension of alteration and mineralized zones to the southeast - now to 2.4 kilometres strike length;

Grab samples* up to 26.90 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold confirming results of previous sampling;

24 of 114 grab and float samples assaying between 0.10 g/t and 26.90 g/t gold;

Identification of key geological environments and structures, along strike to the north and east, that form favourable hosts for gold mineralization;

Identification of numerous IP chargeability and magnetic anomalies coincident with mapped alteration zones and mineralized structures; and

Based on these results the Company acquired additional claims to the immediate south of the Jacksons Arm Trend.

*Grab samples are selected samples and are not necessarily indicative of mineralization that may be hosted on the property.

"The coincidence of IP chargeability and magnetic anomalies with mapped surface mineralization, alteration and structure is significant because it indicates the presence of sulphides near surface. Our mapping and prospecting has demonstrated that gold is closely associated with sulphides similar to other deposits within the region. We view this positive correlation between mineralized samples, alteration, structures and the geophysical dataset as a positive indicator of prospectivity and will use this information with the soil geochemical data, once available, to determine if there may be other prospective areas not recognized through surface exposure. The results to date, with the scale of the alteration system observed in this previously unexplored area, has provided numerous additional priority targets for follow-up drilling this year, beyond the recently completed phase one 1,600 metre drill program."

~ Lew Lawrick, President and CEO, Magna Terra Minerals Inc.

Exploration Program

The Exploration Program comprised flying a LiDAR survey of the entire Great Northern Project, 52 kilometres of line-cutting, ~30 line kilometres of geological mapping and prospecting, 51 line kilometres of ground IP surveying and 59 line kilometres of ground magnetic surveying, collection of 114 rock samples (63 rock samples previously reported in a press release dated October 15, 2020) and 1,284 soil samples. The program was designed to test the potential extension of the Jacksons Arm Trend where it remains open to the north along strike and to the east along the folded contact between the faulted granite and volcanic/sedimentary contact (Exhibit A).

LiDAR Survey, Geological Mapping and Prospecting

An airborne LiDAR survey was completed over the Great Northern Project area and used to identify and interpret key bedrock structural features that represent favourable hosts to gold mineralization including a series of NNE striking fault zones with coincident IP chargeability and magnetic gradient anomalies.

As reported in a news release dated October 15, 2020, assays were received for 63 samples out of a total of 114 with assays from grab and float samples up to 26.90 g/t gold and 19 of 63 samples assaying greater than 0.10 g/t gold. Results have been received for the remaining 51 grab and float samples with assays up to 2.71 g/t gold, with 5 of 51 samples assaying greater than 0.1 g/t gold (Exhibit A).

Geological mapping and prospecting have confirmed gold grade and location of mineralization from previous sampling in addition to extending the strike of exposed alteration and gold mineralization by 700 metres southeast. The Jacksons Arm Trend now has an extent of 2.4 kilometres and remains open to the north along strike and to the east along the folded contact between the faulted granite and volcanic/sedimentary contact (Exhibit A).

Ground Magnetics and Induced Polarization Geophysical Surveys

Magna Terra contracted Abitibi Geophysics ("Abitibi") to complete an OreVision 2D ground IP and magnetics survey at Jacksons Arm. The IP and magnetic surveys were completed between October 3rd and November 19th, 2020 and comprised 51 line kilometres of 2-dimensional time-domain dipole-dipole survey at 25 metre dipole spacing (a=25 m), n=1 to 10. The survey was completed on east-west oriented lines spaced 100 metres apart and extended on a previous survey complete by Metals Creek Resources nearly a decade prior. Abitibi also completed a 59 line kilometre ground magnetic survey over the same east-west grid lines.

Numerous IP chargeability anomalies were identified on the property which may reflect sulphide mineralization and associated alteration within the host rocks. These anomalies are often associated with the major lithological contacts and shear zones as well as late crosscutting faults across the property, often associated with anomalous rock samples (Exhibit B). Specifically, anomalies are associated with the targeted granite and volcanic/sedimentary contact north along strike and to the east along the folded contact adjacent to the Jacksons Arm Trend. Numerous other anomalies have been identified in the grid area.

Ground magnetic data shows a strong coincidence between anomalous rock and soil samples and zones of strong magnetic contrast, that likely represent lithological contacts and or zones of magnetic destruction associated with alteration (Exhibit C). Similar to the IP survey data, zones of magnetic contrast are associated with the deformed granite/sedimentary contact to the north and east of the Jacksons Arm Trend.

Soil Sampling

A total of 1,284 B-horizon soil samples were collected on the east-west grid and covering the northern and eastern extend of the Jacksons Arm Trend. The soils were collected at 25 metre spacing along lines spaced 100 metres apart. Samples have been submitted to Eastern Analytical Limited in Springdale, NL for gold and 34-element ICP analysis. Results are pending and will be presented in a follow-up news release in the near future.

Property Expansion

The early results of the Exploration Program has encouraged the Company to acquire an additional 600 hectares of ground to the immediate south of the Jacksons Arm Trend via map staking. The expanded land package covers the southern extension of prospective geology, geophysical and geochemical anomalies.

Pandemic Considerations

The Company has critically considered logistical matters given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure that this Exploration Program and all future programs are executed in a way that ensures the absolute health and safety of our personnel, contractors, and the communities where we operate.

The Company would like to thank the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador for partial funding of the exploration program under the Junior Exploration Assistance Program.

Qualified Person and Technical Reports

This news release has been reviewed and approved by David A. Copeland, P. Geo., Chief Geologist with Anaconda Mining Inc., a "Qualified Person", under National Instrument 43-101 - Standard for Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Rock samples were analyzed for gold at Eastern Analytical Ltd. in Springdale, NL ("Eastern"), using standard fire assay (30 g) pre-concentration and Atomic Absorption finish methods. Eastern is a fully accredited firm within the meaning of NI 43-101 for provision of this service.

"Grab samples" are selected samples and are not necessarily indicative of mineralization that may be hosted on the property.

About Magna Terra

Magna Terra Minerals Inc. is a precious metals focused exploration company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Magna Terra owns three district-scale, advanced gold exploration projects in the world class mining jurisdictions of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Further, the Company maintains a significant exploration portfolio in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina which includes its precious metals discovery on its Luna Roja Project, as well as an extensive portfolio of district scale drill ready projects available for option or joint venture.

Forward Looking Statements

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.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information. All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, failure to establish estimated mineral resources, the possibility that future exploration results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, changes in world gold markets or markets for other commodities, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Magna Terra Minerals Inc.

Lewis Lawrick

President and CEO, Director

647-478-5307

Email: info@magnaterraminerals.com

Website: www.magnaterraminerals.com

Exhibit A: Geology and Rock Sample Map of the Jacksons Arm Trend with LiDAR background, showing current extent of the 2.4 km long alteration zone.

To see an enhanced view of image, click the following link: https://storage.googleapis.com/accesswire/media/627828/MAGNATERRA-MAP1-020421.jpg

Exhibit B: Ground IP Chargeability Map at Jacksons Arm Trend, Great Northern Project showing the coincidence of IP Chargeability anomalies with the Jacksons Arm Trend with key mineralizing structures, alteration systems and surface mineralization.

To see an enhanced view of image, click the following link: https://storage.googleapis.com/accesswire/media/627828/MAGNATERRA-MAP2-020421.jpg

Exhibit C: Ground Magnetic Contour Map, Jacksons Arm Trend, Great Northern Project showing the coincidence of magnetic anomalies within the Jacksons Arm Trend with key mineralizing structures, alteration systems and surface mineralization.

To see an enhanced view of image, click the following link: https://storage.googleapis.com/accesswire/media/627828/MAGNATERRA-MAP3-020421.jpg

SOURCE: Magna Terra Minerals Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627828/Magna-Terra-Identifies-Numerous-Additional-Exploration-Targets-at-the-24-Kilometre-Jacksons-Arm-Trend-Great-Northern-Project-Expands-Property-Package
Kravchuk says Ukraine should impose sanctions on the Russian Federation and put pressure pursuant to international law.

Head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbas Leonid Kravchuk says the participation of the United States in talks on Donbas could reinforce the Normandy format, which currently includes Ukraine, Germany, France, and Russia.

"I think the issue of the U.S. participation  it would be necessary in the Normandy format since it could be possible to significantly reinforce this format and significantly increase its influence on the Russian Federation's aggressive actions," he told Ukraina 24 TV channel, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

Read alsoFM Kuleba: Consensus needed for U.S. to join Normandy talks on DonbasKravchuk reiterated the Geneva format of negotiations with the participation of the U.S., the European Union, Ukraine, and Russia had been created since the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine in 2014.

"But later, for some reason, our government at that time decided that it could implement [the then President Petro] Poroshenko's peace plan through the Minsk format, and, unfortunately, in my opinion, it was a mistake," Kravchuk said.

Asked whether Russia would agree to the U.S. joining the Normandy format talks, the official said: "I think it will never agree to anything."

"But this does not mean at all that we should look at Russia and do what it wants. It does not agree in the [UN] Security Council ... It takes a stance that is an open violation of the norms and principles of international law," Kravchuk said.

He said Ukraine would persistently, systematically and conclusively respond to Russia's actions.

Also, Kravchuk stressed Ukraine should impose various sanctions in different forms on the Russian Federation and put pressure pursuant to international law. In his opinion, Ukraine should force Russia into acting within the framework of such a law.

According to earlier reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he would like to involve U.S. President Joe Biden in the Normandy format, or create another, parallel format with the United States and Russia to address the Russian occupation of Crimea among other issues.

Normandy format: What is known

The Normandy format is a type of meetings in a quadripartite format, involving Ukraine, Germany, France, and Russia, where issues of Russian armed aggression against Ukraine are discussed.

The name of the format comes from a summit of four leaders, which first took place in Benouville, a commune in the Normandy region, northwestern France, on June 6, 2014.

Reporting by UNIAN
AG Nessel, Bipartisan Coalition Reach $573M Settlement with McKinsey & Co. for 'Turbocharging' Opioid Epidemic with Purdue Pharma

AG Nessel, Bipartisan Coalition Reach $573M Settlement with McKinsey & Co. for 'Turbocharging' Opioid Epidemic with Purdue Pharma

Ryan Jarvi 517-599-2746 Attorney General

February 4, 2021

LANSING  Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined 46 other attorneys general in a $573 million settlement with one of the worlds largest consulting firms, McKinsey & Co., resolving investigations into the companys role in working for opioid companies, helping those companies promote their drugs, and profiting from the opioid epidemic.

The settlement, after payment of costs, will be used to abate problems caused by opioids in the participating states. Michigan will receive more than $19.5 million from the settlement. This is the first multistate opioid settlement to result in substantial payment to the states to address the crisis.

In addition to providing funds to address the epidemic, the agreement calls for McKinsey to prepare tens of thousands of its internal documents detailing its work for Purdue Pharma and other opioid companies for public disclosure online. In addition, McKinsey agreed to adopt a strict document retention plan, continue its investigation into allegations that two of its partners tried to destroy documents in response to investigations of Purdue Pharma, implement a strict ethics code that all partners must agree to each year, and stop advising companies on potentially dangerous Schedule II and III narcotics.

"This settlement illustrates that attorneys general across this nation are committed to holding companies accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic and equally dedicated to securing financial resources to assist our residents and communities as we continue to address the widespread suffering caused by this crisis, said Nessel. I want to be clear, this one case, while significant, is only the beginning, and our collective efforts are underway to obtain extensive additional support for those grappling with addiction and to ensure those responsible for creating it answer for their actions.

The effort is supported by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. I appreciate the ongoing and important work of the Department of Attorney General to ensure accountability for the opioid crisis that has harmed so many families here in Michigan, Whitmer said. Todays filings describe how McKinsey contributed to the opioid crisis by promoting marketing schemes and consulting services to opioid manufacturers, including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, for over a decade. The complaint, filed with the settlement, details how McKinsey advised Purdue on how to maximize profits from its opioid products, including targeting high-volume opioid prescribers, using specific messaging to get physicians to prescribe more OxyContin to more patients, and circumventing pharmacy restrictions in order to deliver high-dose prescriptions.

When states began to sue Purdues directors for their implementation of McKinseys marketing schemes, McKinsey partners began emailing about deleting documents and emails related to their work for Purdue.

The opioid epidemic has led to considerable harm to individuals and communities in Michigan over the last 20 years. During this time, thousands of Michiganders have died from an opioid overdose. On an economic level, these deathsand the impacts on Michiganders who have struggled with opioid addictionhave created considerable costs to Michigan in the form of health care, child welfare, criminal justice, and many other programs needed to lessen the epidemic. It has also resulted in lost economic opportunity and productivity. On the social level, opioid addiction, abuse and overdose deaths have torn families apart, damaged relationships and eroded the social fabric of communities.

Todays filing is the latest action Attorney General Nessel has taken to combat the opioid epidemic and to hold accountable those who are responsible for creating and fueling the crisis. In December 2019, Michigan became the first state in the country to sue major opioid distributors as drug dealers when it filed a lawsuit against Cardinal Health Inc., McKesson Corp., AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. and Walgreens in Wayne County Circuit Court. That case remains in litigation.

The states investigation was led by an executive committee made up of the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont. The executive committee is joined by Attorney General Nessel and the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A copy of the Michigan settlement will be available once entered by the Ingham County Circuit Court and signed by the judge.
Former Reserve Bank of Australia governor Bernie Fraser is supporting Philip Lowes push to increase the dole, saying a rise in unemployment benefits is in the best interests of the nation and criticism of the central bank boss from Coalition MPs is misplaced.

RBA governor Dr Lowe said on Wednesday the base rate of JobSeeker should be increased because of fairness prompting criticism from Liberal MP Tim Wilson for overstepping his mandate. Mr Fraser has now hit back at the backbencher over this claim, saying he was pleased Dr Lowe was venturing into areas that arent strictly in the narrow area of monetary policy.

Former RBA governor Bernie Fraser is supportive of an increase in the dole. Credit:Penny Bradfield

The RBA Act says the bank should direct its activities towards keeping stable prices, keeping inflation under control, promoting employment and growth but theres also a line about the general welfare of the Australian community, Mr Fraser said.

I think theres more than enough reasons in all those legislative prescriptions of the bank framework for the governor to speak out on these matters and I am glad that he does, frankly.
[February 04, 2021] Government of Quebec Signs New Wind Power Purchase Agreement

RES wind project sold to First Nation Partnership; Secures Power Purchase Agreement MONTREAL, Feb. 4, 2021 /CNW/ -- RES is pleased to announce that Hydro-Quebec has signed a?Power Purchase Agreement with Parc eolien Apuiat S.E.C., a partnership between the Innu First Nation communities in Quebec and Boralex Inc. The Partnership is concurrently purchasing the 200MW wind project from RES, which is located in the Cote-Nord region of?Quebec, Canada. RES wind project sold to First Nation Partnership; Secures Power Purchase Agreement with Government of Quebec RES?launched?the evelopment of the site in 2012?and teamed?in 2016 with?Boralex?to develop the Apuiat project. This is a flagship project for participating Innu First Nation communities who shall be project owners alongside Boralex, situated on their Nitassinan (traditional territories), with RES today selling down its interest to the long-term owners.



RES and Boralex?worked together on the permitting and?design of the project, drawing?upon RES' 39 years of experience developing renewable energy projects in Quebec and around the globe.? The?Apuiat?project will create approximately 300 jobs during construction, with approximately 10 permanent jobs staying in the region to maintain operations over 30 years. "As a company which is committed to decarbonizing all electricity generation, RES is proud to have initiated the Apuiat project and helped the Government of Quebec's commitment to clean power," said Peter Clibbon, RES Senior VP of Development. "Our partnership with Boralex allowed us to advance a high-quality project which both aligns with community interests and values, as well as contributing to reducing the effects of climate change."

About RES

RES is the world's largest independent renewable energy company active in onshore and offshore wind, solar, energy storage, transmission and distribution. At the forefront of the industry for 39 years, RES has delivered more than 19 GW of renewable energy projects across the globe and supports an operational asset portfolio exceeding 7 GW worldwide for a large client base. RES has secured 1.5 GW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) enabling access to energy at the lowest cost. RES employs more than 3,000 people and is active in 10 countries. RES in Canada is headquartered in Montreal and has developed 1100MW of constructed wind project in Quebec and built a further 800MW in the rest of Canada. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/government-of-quebec-signs-new-wind-power-purchase-agreement-301222549.html SOURCE Renewable Energy Systems Limited

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Plans to get 75 per cent of workers back in the office are in disarray after the detection of a case of COVID-19 in a hotel quarantine worker.

A day after announcing that the return to work would be accelerated, allowing three-quarters of office workers to get back to their desks from next Monday, Premier Daniel Andrews threw out the plans at a late-night press conference on Wednesday.

Return-to-work plans are up in the air. Credit:Getty

Instead, current caps allowing 50 per cent of private sector employees and 25 per cent of public servants in the workplace would remain in place.

Those restrictions came into effect on January 18, having been delayed a week by the Black Rock cluster.
HOLYOKE  A state trooper is on unpaid leave after an alleged drunken driving incident last month that injured a Holyoke police officer.

A spokesman for the state police confirmed Trooper Peter McMahon, a member of the statewide gang unit, was suspended over the incident and an internal affairs investigation is ongoing.

Sources familiar with the incident say McMahon was pulled over on the side of Route 5 when Holyoke police officers encountered his car. The trooper appeared to be unconscious behind the wheel. Officers rapped on the window, startling McMahon, who allegedly hit the gas, rolling into a Holyoke police cruiser.

One officer suffered minor injuries, sources said, and McMahon was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Holyoke police refused to provide the report related to the incident, arguing McMahon has not yet been criminally charged and the report is not yet a public record.

McMahon is not yet in the court system despite the fact that the alleged incident occurred weeks ago, suggesting he was never arrested. Consequently, there is no electronic footprint to show the charges against McMahon or when he may be required to appear in court.

McMahon could not be reached for comment.

A spokesman for Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said prosecutors were generally apprised of the incident, but could not provide specific details.

The office is aware of the incident and is awaiting the necessary documentation to initiate the court process, said James Leydon of the district attorneys office.

David Procopio, spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police, said he had no additional documentation to offer since the case is still subject to an internal investigation.

News reports show McMahon became a trooper in 2013 and worked in barracks in Northampton and Shelburne before being transferred to the gang unit, which investigates criminal activity across the state, including in hot spots such as Holyoke.

News reports also show McMahon is a U.S. Army veteran who did two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was named Veteran of the Year in 2016 by the United Veterans of Holyoke.

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New Delhi, Feb 4 : Continuing its streak of low numbers of single-day coronavirus cases, India reported 12,899 new infections in the last 24 hours, even as its overall tally mounted to 1,07,90,183, health officials said on Thursday.

For nearly a week, the country has recorded less than 15,000 new infections daily. Also, the daily Covid-19 death toll has been below the 300-mark for more than a month now.

On January 19, India had reported 10,064 new cases, the lowest this year. Last year, the lowest 9,633 cases was recorded on June 3.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that there were 107 more Covid-19 fatalities, taking the overall death toll to 1,54,703.

As per the Ministry's data, there are 1,55,025 active cases at present after 17,824 patients were discharged in a day. Till now, 1,04,80,455 persons have been discharged so far.

The recovery rate has increased to 97.13 per cent, while the fatality rate is down to 1.43 per cent.

A total of 19,92,16,019 samples have been tested for Covid-19 up to February 3. Of these, 7,42,841 samples were tested on Wednesday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

As many as 44,49,552 corona vaccine doses have been administered in India since the drive began on January 16 after approval for 'Covishield' and 'Covaxin'.

As per the Health Ministry, India is in fifth position globally in terms of the vaccine doses administered in the country, despite the fact that many countries had launched their vaccination campaigns before India.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Abuja, Lagos  A former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, yesterday rebuked governors of All Progressives Congress (APC) that are said to be pushing for former President Goodluck Jonathan to run in 2023 on their party's platform, saying they are a bunch of hypocrites.

But the ruling party's interim chairman, Yobe State Governor Mala Buni, refuted the speculation about Jonathan, explaining that the party has nothing like that on its agenda.

Lamido, a former presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election, spoke yesterday while fielding questions on The Morning Show, the breakfast programme on ARISE NEWS Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers.

The subterranean moves by APC to draft the former president into the next presidential race became public in November 2020 when a delegation of APC governors, led by Buni, stormed the Abuja home of Jonathan to felicitate with him on his 63rd birthday anniversary.

Besides Buni, others on the delegation were Ebonyi State Governor, Chief David Umahi, who recently defected to the APC from the PDP; Kebbi State Governor, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu; Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Badaru, and a former President of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnamani.

Sources had told THISDAY that the governors used the opportunity of the birthday visit to subtly present their proposal to Jonathan to run in 2023.

Lamido accused the ruling party of entrenching the culture of hatred and divisions among Nigerians.

He, therefore, urged Nigerians to choose between unity and hatred in the forthcoming elections, saying the PDP represents a united Nigeria, development, security and progress.

He said: "The years of the APC have brought hatred among Nigerians - a divided Nigeria full of insecurity - with a culture of hate. What the APC says in the North is different from what it says in the South. APC is a party of double-talks. In the North, the APC has brought divisions among father and son and families.

"Before the APC, Nigerians were united, but look at what it has done to a once united country. Before the APC, Nigerians were living in brotherly and sisterly lifestyles. Look at the level of insecurity now. Look at the hatred in the country."

Lamido faulted the APC's moves to draft the former president into the 2023 race, wondering why the party would be clamouring for the return of a man it had described as "weak and clueless" and has spent the better part of its years in power demonising.

"To me, I think that they are being merely hypocrites. They (APC governors) are looking for him; is it because there are no presidential materials in the APC? This is one of the heights of hypocrisy," he stated.

On zoning in the 2023 presidential election, Lamido expressed hope that the PDP will address the matter when the time comes.

He said: "If you go for zoning, I am prepared for it. I may offer myself but I will abide by the decision of my party.

"Again, if it is for merit, I will put myself forward. If it is for merit and quality, I will wait for the decision of my party. I believe in collectivity as a party man. But for competency, let the party choose the best."

Speaking on how to tackle the insecurity in the country, particularly the herdsmen and farmers' clashes, Lamido urged Yoruba leaders that foisted President Muhammadu Buhari on Nigerians to look for solutions with the president.

He said: "I support the Northern Elders Forum that there is no need evicting the Fulani from the South as it is an evil wind that will blow the nation no good. Let those that brought Buhari on us speak to him on the solution; after all, they brought him as the president."

When asked to name those that brought Buhari to power, Lamido said: "The Tinubus, Fasholas and the Osinbajos. They came with their propaganda. Those who brought President Buhari should speak out now."

Reacting to the clamour for restructuring, he said he is a pan-Nigerian, explaining that the present agitation in the country is basically a product of bad governance.

He said: "PDP was in government for 16 years and they left behind good development, growth and security, but with just five years of the APC, see the mess the country is in.

"In the next general election, the choice before Nigerians is to choose between good and bad; between the APC that is sowing division and hatred and the PDP. The choice is for Nigerians to make, not me. I'm a pan-Nigerian."

Lamido also called for collaboration from all Nigerians in order to effectively address the country's major challenges such as insecurity and lack of trust.

He insisted that the APC has brought so much hatred and division to Nigeria, adding that the antidote for healing is trust through collective collaboration.

"Banditry in the North has caused a lot of havoc to the people and Nigerians should see the challenge of insecurity as a collective challenge that needs collaboration of all Nigerians to address," he said.

However, the APC has denied widespread insinuations that it is planning to field Jonathan as its candidate in the 2023 presidential election.

Buni told the BBC Hausa Service yesterday that there was nothing like courtship in the matter as politics is all about actual talking.

He said: "Those peddling such information, they are afraid. But for now, there is nothing in the APC which has anything to do with the aspiration for 2023.

"Even if someone wants to base assumption on our recent visit to him during his birthday, we were there because of his capacity as a former president of Nigeria.

"Again, even if there is nothing, when we are talking of peaceful coexistence, we must give credit to former President Jonathan on the issue of peace - how he accepted defeat in 2015 and resigned to fate. That has qualified him to be a statesman and he is now among our fathers."

Buni said it is customary to visit one another and exchange pleasantries.

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He added: "Our visit to Jonathan was pronounced because of his status as a former president. That could be why some may think there was something beneath.

"There are numerous of such visits to leaders of PDP and APC. Why are others not being mentioned but Jonathan?"

When asked whether the APC would support Jonathan if he indicates interest in the 2023 race, Buni said that would be a new discussion, entirely.

"Even in America where we got this democracy, I've not seen where people are being confined to a limit," he stated.

Asked whether the APC is still indecisive on Jonathan, Buni said: "You are talking of democracy and at the same time talking of giving him. Don't forget even when President Buhari went to revalidate party membership in Daura, he said it is the people at the grassroots that will select leaders upwards. That no one should expect to be crowned from Abuja. This has shown that in APC now, it is from the lower level upwards. Not that people would be imposed from the top.

"Then who are we to say we are considering Jonathan? How? It has to be a party affair and once it is a party affair, then we are talking about the people. So, we have nothing like that on our agenda. What we have now, and is of importance to us, is to ensure peace amongst party members. Also, to bring members of other political parties, whichever party it might be, whoever wants, should come into the APC. This is our plan for now.

"We are yet to start talking about aspirants; we are not in any discussion about aspirants."
Then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden at the reviewing stand to watch President Barack Obama's Inaugural Parade from in front of the White House in Washington on Jan. 20, 2009. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Hunter Biden to Release Book Beautiful Things

President Joe Bidens son Hunter will chronicle his personal struggle in the upcoming memoir Beautiful Things, according to his publisher.

The book will center on the younger Bidens well-publicized struggles with substance abuse, said Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. The book is slated to come out on April 6.

In his harrowing and compulsively readable memoir, Hunter Biden proves again that anybodyeven the son of a United States Presidentcan take a ride on the pink horse down nightmare alley, author Stephen King wrote for the book. Biden remembers it all and tells it all with a bravery that is both heartbreaking and quite gorgeous. He starts with a question: Wheres Hunter? The answer is hes in this book, the good, the bad, and the beautiful.

Biden wrote in his book: I come from a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love.

And the president and first lady, Jill Biden, released a statement on Thursday.

We admire our son Hunters strength and courage to talk openly about his addiction so that others might see themselves in his journey and find hope, they said.

Its not clear if the book will make reference to the younger Bidens controversial business deals that became the subject of scrutiny during the 2020 presidential campaign.

Hunter Bidens business deals came under fire after the New York Post published a report that cited emails and messages procured from a laptop that allegedly had belonged to the presidents son about his business deals in Ukraine. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) also raised questions last year about whether there was a conflict of interest.

Hunter Biden joined the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma in 2014, around the time his father, then U.S. vice president, was helping conduct the Obama administrations foreign policy in the country. Trump and others argued that the younger Biden exploiting his fathers name.

Then-candidate Biden, during a presidential debate with President Donald Trump in late 2020, insisted that he didnt know about his sons business dealings and denied allegations of corruption.

And last year, Hunter Biden confirmed the Department of Justice was looking into his tax affairs. Biden has denied any wrongdoing.

Simon & Schuster has come under fire from conservatives after refusing to publish a book by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) following the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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A Russian photographer who was convicted of killing and torching his model wife has been ordered to stay in jail after his early release was overturned following a public outcry.

Dmitry Loshagin, 44, was jailed in 2015 after breaking the neck of Yulia Loshagina, 26, on the rooftop of their $1million penthouse in Yekaterinburg in August two years earlier.

A court ruled the convicted killer could be released three years early but prosecutors have backed Yulia's family and overturned the decision and he will remain behind bars.

A court ruled photographer Dmitry Loshagin (right), 44, must remain in jail to see out his sentence after being convicted of killing his model wife Yulia Loshagina's (left)

Yulia had been pictured by her husband for glamour magazines in Russia.

After quarrelling at a party in 2013, Loshagin lashed out at his wife, breaking her neck, and she was never seen again, judge Alexandra Evladova said, who sentenced him to almost ten years in jail.

A first trial acquitted him, but he was convicted at a second hearing even though he never admitted his guilt.

Evidence at both trials said Yulia was 'violently raped' an hour before her death.

There were unproven claims that he had killed Mrs Loshagina (pictured) because he believed she had a lover and feared she had infected him with HIV

A court ruled the convicted killer could be released three years early but prosecutors have backed Yulia's family (pictured on the night of her death)

After her body was torched, her face and hands were so badly disfigured that her body could only be identified by DNA evidence.

There were unproven claims that he had killed her because he believed she had a lover and feared she had infected him with HIV.

There were also allegations that she died during a bizarre sex session with Loshagin.

Reports in newspapers said Yulia was killed by a professional assassin hired by her alleged lover, an unnamed 'elderly' state official whose identity was hidden, amid fears their relationship would be revealed.

The model was allegedly killed on the stairs (pictured) of Loshagin's rooftop penthouse in Yekaterinburg

After her body was torched, her face and hands were so badly disfigured that her body could only be identified by DNA evidence

Russian detectives discounted claims she had a secret boyfriend despite Loshagin giving them the name of a man he suspected she was seeing.

'They didn't pay attention,' he said.

'As an investigator told me: "According to our statistics, as a rule, a husband kills. So, you'll be in jail".'

Loshagin's release was blocked after the victim's mother Svetlana Ryabova told the judge: 'Your Honour, there is nothing worse than burying your children.

'I remember how they lived, how Loshagin treated her.

Loshagin (left) lashed out at his wife (right), and broke her neck, said judge Alexandra Evladova, in convicting him of murder in 2015, when he was sentenced to almost ten years in jail

Russian detectives discounted claims Mrs Loshagin (pictured) had a secret boyfriend despite Loshagin giving them the name of a man he suspected she was seeing

'He is a terrible person. There is no certainty that he will not commit another such crime.'

A state prosecutor agreed there were 'no grounds' for the convicted murderer's early release.

In court earlier he had rejected that he needed to change and reform himself in prison.

He was quoted as saying: 'Why should I improve? I do not need it. I am fine.'

Loshagin's release was blocked after a campaign by the victim's mother Svetlana Ryabova (left) and brother Mikhail (right)

Loshagin's lawyer said he had paid financial compensation to his wife's family, and said it was safe to release him to live at his mother's home.

Rita Grachyova, who became a campaigner for women's rights after her then husband chopped off her hands with an axe, said Logashin should have served at least 20 years.

She condemned 'soft' sentences and early releases in domestic abuse cases in Russia.
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General view of oil tanks and the Bayway Refinery of Phillips 66 in Linden, N.J., on March 30, 2020. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

Oil Gains on Continued OPEC+ Cuts and US Stocks Draw

LONDONOil prices extended gains on Feb. 4 after the OPEC+ alliance of producers stuck to its reduced output policy and U.S. crude stocks fell, with optimism over a new U.S. pandemic relief bill adding further price support.

Brent crude futures gained 24 cents, or 0.41 percent, to $58.70 a barrel by 1346 GMT, having earlier hit their highest level since Feb. 21 last year at $59.04.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 32 cents, or 0.57 percent, to $56.01 after reaching its highest settlement level in a year on Feb. 3 at $55.69.

Supporting factors outweigh negative developments at the moment, said PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga, citing high compliance with OPEC+ production cuts and its declared target to accelerate stock depletion.

The extra 1 million barrel per day (bpd) Saudi cuts that started this month imply further stock draws until at least the end of the first quarter, Varga added.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies, a group known as OPEC+, extended its oil supply pact at existing levels on Feb. 3, suggesting that producers are happy the cuts are draining inventories while uncertainty remains over the outlook for a recovery in demand as the COVID-19 pandemic lingers.

A document seen by Reuters on Feb. 2 showed that OPEC expects output cuts to keep the market in deficit throughout 2021, even though the group reduced its demand forecast.

The market was further bolstered by news that Democrats in the U.S. Congress took the first steps toward advancing President Joe Bidens proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid plan.

The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits decreased last week, suggesting that the jobs market was stabilizing as authorities start to loosen pandemic-related restrictions on businesses.

Also supporting prices, U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell by 994,000 barrels last week to 475.7 million barrels, the lowest level since March, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Feb. 3. Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a rise of 446,000 barrels.

Refineries are back in business, which is supportive for crude, said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at The Price Futures Group in Chicago.

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Bayside mayor Laurence Evans is all smiles. Some Brighton locals less so after the Supreme Court finally gave the go ahead for the $10.6 million Dendy Street Beach Pavilion redevelopment, dismissing the Brighton Foreshore Associations appeal against a VCAT decision to grant a planning permit two years ago. Contentious to say the least.

Mayor Evans says the decision allows council to get on with building a fit-for-purpose pavilion to improve the visitor experience.

But the BFA thinks it is monstrous and critics attack the councils $1 million legal fees defending the project and its encroachment on foreshore areas.

The 800-strong Brighton Life Saving Club is pleased, given facilities are 60 years old.

The fight has been going for four years. Actually, it began 145 years ago in 1876 when a local Committee of Defence fought off a 19th-century development in the courts, which led to the colonial government passing the Brighton Land Vesting Act 1877. This transferred the Brighton Beach Reserve Crown land to the mayor, councillors and burgesses of the Borough of Brighton for purposes of public recreation.

Looking from the historical perspective, art activities were started before the introduction of Christianity. At that time sculpture did exist. Due to the contact with foreign countries painting came to Ethiopia in 4th century, said Girma Bulti Fine Arts Curator in the Ethiopian Fine Arts Heritage.

As to Girma, earlier for the teaching purpose of Christianity, biblical stories were illustrated on the walls of the inside part of the churches in the form of narration. This venture created the opportunity for the development of fine and arts in this country.

Though paintings were an indigenous experience, the coming of foreigners further strengthened the practice. Local painters were using flower powders, soil and clays for coloring purpose.

From the 4th century onwards the Coptic and the byzantine art culture influenced the way of local paintings. The art of painting also started to pick steam for the purpose of decorating churches and monasteries. It served as an instrument for the expansion of the Christianity.

Collection of paintings was also undertaken inside and outside the church compound.

The coming of foreigners who had experience in art paintings helped local painters to blend the traditional paintings with the outside one.

The traditional paintings continued up to the era of King Lalibela, who built the Rock-Hewn Church in the 11th century. The styles were made to continue up to the 16th century.

The two-dimensional paintings were portraying biblical stories in a narrative way.

Later, the coming of foreigners played a crucial role in transforming the two-way dimension in to three which proportionated distance, proximity, darkness and light.

It has an objective of conveying messages to viewers.

For example, drawing big elliptical eyes, the domination of Saint Mary from Egypt and the style of the paintings focused on the message and the background. It also has a tendency towards realism.

The three-dimensional painting style adopted from foreign painters served for making decoration of palaces. Such style of painting developed as a modern one up to the 20 century.

The expansion of modern way of fine arts gradually eroded the originality of the religious way of paintings. In the religious art the painter is confined in limited creativity. It presents biblical narratives without adding or deducting.

The realistic approach came through secularism provided space to the painters to broaden their imagination and enhance creativity. Nowadays, painters have begun to draw kings, heroes and battlefront achievements. At this stage art became a more independent profession.

The religious painter was only allowed to explain about God and his creations and spiritual-ness of human beings. The artist was not allowed to write his name under the picture and such rules discouraged the activities of people to know the owner of the paintings.

The transition from religious to secular art gave way to artists to explain the day to day activities of the society. They began to depict their own literature through three-dimensional painting. The Ethiopian culture of dining, wedding, grieving and expressing happiness events began to be reflected.

However, according to Victor an art historian, due to the development of paintings through the influence of European art, Ethiopian artists seem to have lost their original and cultural religious painting style.

According to Girma, the modern painting style exposed the Ethiopian culture to the outside world. Tourists introduced Ethiopian artists oversees this in turn strengthened ties with foreign countries. Currently, many Ethiopian fine arts and paintings are available in museums abroad.

In the 17th century, when Gonderian kings established their kingdom modern art got expanded.

The paintings were named after "Gonder". Even if at that time arts were originated religiously, they were developed in secular and cultural styles.

As to Girma, earlier from the beginning of religious arts human beings drew pictures on the wall of their caves. That is why linguists say that the first mankind's' language was picture.

Later art materials began to serve for bartering commodities in the market. After that art began to be utilized for religious purposes. Later to the secular purposes and in all countries arts developed in such manner.

The transition of traditional arts into the modern one did not go in a smooth manner rather it went topsy-turvy until it got acceptance by upper and lower class of the society.

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In the 20th century, the first artists who learnt fine arts abroad among others were the renowned Alefelege Selam and Afework Teklie. Later Tadesse Belayneh and Tadesse Mamecha attended their art education abroad. Other artists also learned in Britain, France and Russia.

Alefelege Selam played a pivotal role in establishing the first art school with the consent of Emperor Haile Selassie I in Addis Ababa.

He prepared arts education category and curriculum and taught paintings to Ethiopian art students in a globalized manner.

As to Girma, as compared to the previous time, societies attitude towards art is changed and improved. The expansion of education and the exposure of Ethiopians to foreign cultures and ways of life contributed to this development.

The demand for Ethiopian paintings by foreigners and local hotel owners increased from time to time. Currently, looking paintings in exhibitions and mansions, hotels and residential homes is common.

The rising of income of artists also motivated them to display more devotion for the profession. The National Museum is trying its level best to encourage artists by preserving their work and organizing events. However, to enhance its institutional works, it should conduct researches, panel discussions and art exhibitions.
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KY Couple Plead Guilty to Trying to Buy Infant

By The Associated Press

BOWLING GREEN - A Kentucky couple has pleaded guilty to trying to buy a 1-month-old baby from the childs mother.The Bowling Green Daily News reports 39-year-old Catarina Jose Felipe and 46-year-old Pascual Jose Manuel, both of Bowling Green, agreed to plead guilty in exchange for the charge being reduced to a misdemeanor.Felipe and Manuel pleaded guilty Tuesday and were sentenced to two years of conditional discharge each.Manuel said through an interpreter that they didn't know how the laws worked and were only trying to adopt a child.The mother, 32-year-old Maria Domingo Perez of Bowling Green, received the same sentence earlier.
MONTREAL - While the prospectof mass vaccination has raised hopes of the COVID-19 crisis soon waning, oncologists and cancer researchers say one of its grim legacies may be a lingering increase in cancer mortality rates.

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MONTREAL - While the prospectof mass vaccination has raised hopes of the COVID-19 crisis soon waning, oncologists and cancer researchers say one of its grim legacies may be a lingering increase in cancer mortality rates.

The pandemic caused a "dramatic" drop in cancer screenings such as mammograms and colonoscopies, leading to fewer diagnoses, according to Dr. Gerald Batist, the head of the Segal Cancer Centre at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital.

Diane Van Keulen, shown in a handout photo, a lung cancer patient from Ontario, has been battling the disease since 2019. She says she delayed her potential recovery and treatment out of fear of COVID-19. THE CANADIAN PRESS HO-Diane Van Keulen Mandatory Credit

"It just looks like less people were diagnosed, and they were, but there weren't fewer people with that diagnosis," Batist said in a phone interview. "They simply weren't found."

According to a report released last month, the Quebec government estimates that some 4,119 people with cancer went undiagnosed due to a drop in screening programs. At the Cedars Cancer Centre of the MUHC, new patients were down 22 per cent compared with the previous year, while the number of cancer surgeries declined 11 per cent.

The trend was similar in other provinces. In Alberta, for example, the number of new invasive cancer diagnoses reported to the provincial cancer registry declined 10 per cent relative to 2019 after the pandemic hit, according to Alberta Health Services, which noted that those numbers would be expected to increase due to a growing and aging population.

Even Nova Scotia, which has comparatively few COVID-19 cases, saw a 15 per cent reduction in the number of cancer surgeries booked over the summer, likely due to a shutdown in screening services and people having trouble accessing their primary care physicians, according to the senior director of the province's Cancer Care program. Dr. Helmut Hollenhorst said it is possible that the temporary suspension of cancer screening programs and other services during the first wave may result in more patients being diagnosed at a later stage in the future, but there is no data yet to confirm this.

Batist said that in Montreal during the first wave, doctors were forced to triage cancer patients, deciding which ones could wait longer for surgeries without affecting their prognosis  an anxiety-inducing prospect for patients and physicians alike.

"We felt for the most part that our judgments were right," he said. "And for some cases, it was detrimental to the patients."

Batist said it will take a couple of years to know whether the interruptions will have a negative impact on survival rates. But he says that, anecdotally, he and other doctors are seeing newly diagnosed patients come in with more advanced cancers, perhaps reflecting a delay in screening.

Diane Van Keulen, a 60-year-old lung cancer patient from Beaverton, about an hour north of Toronto, knows the impact the pandemic can have on patients.

At the beginning of August, after a recent bout of chemotherapy, she resisted going to the emergency room for three weeks out of fear of catching the virus, despite severe gastrointestinal and heart issues. When her husband finally insisted on taking her into the hospital on Aug. 22, she learned that her symptoms were due to one of her tumours having tripled in size within weeks.

"I delayed my own potential recovery and treatment because I was too terrified to go into the waiting room," she said in a phone interview.

Van Keulen is now on a new drug that is helping. But she wonders what might have happened had she gone to hospital earlier. "Rather than the tumours growing as big as they did, they would have been a bit smaller when I started this treatment, and maybe the treatment would have been more effective," she said.

Cancer advocates say the pandemic has affected patients in countless ways, from the stress of delayed treatments to the difficult logistics of hotel stays for multi-day treatments.

For many, one of the hardest parts has been having to face life-altering appointments alone due to restrictions on visitors and travel bans, according to Jackie Manthorne, the president and CEO of the Canadian Cancer Survivor Network.

"One woman from P.E.I. (told me) her family's on the Prairies, and she can't go there and they can't go to P.E.I.," Manthorne said. "She's afraid she won't see them again."

Van Keulen says that her cancer is advanced enough that none of her treatments were delayed. But she says her care still suffered, partly because most doctors' appointments shifted online, depriving her physician of the ability to observe her condition.

During the pandemic's second wave, Batist says, hospitals have started to catch up on delayed procedures. In recent weeks, the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 has dropped, freeing up resources.

Cancer research has also suffered during the pandemic due to the cancellation of major fundraisers, lab closures and the shift of some resources toward the COVID-19 effort. Last year, the Canadian Cancer Society's research budget was slashed due to a drop in fundraising, even though government funding was maintained, according to the group's vice-president for research.

"It does have an immediate and very strong effect on the charitable sector, and their ability to continue with their research funding at the same level," Dr. Judith Bray said in a phone interview.

While the group managed to shift to online fundraising, and labs are getting back to work, she says it will be a while until they're at full pace.

But Batiste and Bray maintain that the pandemic's impact on cancer research has not been all negative.

Both noted that COVID-19 has increased global research collaboration, sped up processes, created a push for open-access publications and highlighted the crucial role of scientists  all of which can help cancer research in the future.

Bray notes that some of the therapies studied to fight the pandemic could potentially help cancer patients as well, noting that the mRNA technology used in the COVID-19 vaccines was originally developed in the oncology field.

"I do think that in the end, research overall, scientific research and particularly health research will benefit from some of the things we've had to do," she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan 4, 2021

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Nova Scotia has seen a reduction in the number of new cancer patients. The reduction is, in fact, in the number of cancer surgeries performed over the summer.
Hyderabad, Feb 4 : Telugu actor Maadhavi Latha on Thursday complained to Cyberabad police about those making abusive and vulgar comments about her on social media.

She called on Cyberabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar and submitted a complaint against some groups and individuals trolling her and posting objectionable content on social media.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, she alleged that some people were targeting her for speaking on issues like attacks on temples in Andhra Pradesh.

Maadhavi, who joined the BJP in 2018, said ever since she joined politics some people had been making personal attacks on her. She blamed some groups linked with the TRS, the YSR Congress, the Congress and the TDP and few caste groups.

"Some sections of media and social media are resorting to my character assassination. If some girls are caught in some case, they are dragging my name and publishing my picture," she said.

The actor said the trolling and objectionable posts were causing her mental agony. "My patience has a limit. I can't take this anymore. I hope the police will take the action," she said.

Alleging that she is also being threatened by some people, Maadhavi said if necessary she would approach police for a gun license.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 09:37:49|Editor: huaxia

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QUITO, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador is ready to go to the polls on Sunday to elect a successor to President Lenin Moreno and legislative members of the National Assembly (Congress) amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's National Electoral Council (CNE) announced on Wednesday.

"We are ready to go to the polls on Sunday, Feb. 7," said Diana Atamaint, the president of the CNE, adding that the CNE's role is to ensure "the electoral process will take place with security guarantees so the people go to vote and those who are elected have the legitimacy the people are going to give them."

Speaking at a joint press conference with authorities in charge of security and logistics, the official invited the public to vote safely, saying protective measures will be in force at voting stations to prevent possible transmission of COVID-19.

According to the experience of other countries that have organized elections during the pandemic, infections don't increase where there is proper organization and regulation, she said.

Electoral absenteeism may increase among vulnerable older persons who are wary of going to the polls, said Atamaint.

In Ecuador, electoral absenteeism rate has historically averaged around 25.6 percent.

Just over 13 million Ecuadorians are eligible to vote in the general elections for a president, vice president, 137 members of the National Assembly and five representatives to the regional Andean Parliament.

Preliminary results of a quick count by the CNE of votes cast for president will be announced between 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. local time (0030 and 0100 GMT on Feb. 8), Atamaint said. Enditem
HADERA, Israel, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Virtual Assistant Academy (VAA), a Philippines-based organization, is now helping Amazon sellers find the best virtual assistants for their business. VAA is the world's first company with specialized skills in virtual assistant services for Amazon sellers. The company's popular Amazon VA service covers locating, screening, training and supporting high-quality Amazon VAs in the Philippines and matching them with Amazon sellers across the globe. The company also offers PPC specialists, social media experts, and graphic design experts in addition to Amazon experts.

To find out more about Virtual Assistant Academy (VAA), please visit https://www.vaaphilippines.com .

The term virtual assistant refers to someone providing administrative support to business owners online or offsite. Amazon virtual assistants offer an array of skills and perform multiple tasks to help sellers grow their Amazon business. An Amazon virtual assistant can perform everyday tasks, such as

competitor analysis and market research;

inventory management;

customer service;

listing creation and optimization;

order processing and much more.

With virtual assistants' help, Amazon sellers can reduce overhead significantly while minimizing employee obligations and freeing up their time.

VAA is the brainchild of successful private label Amazon business owners Gilad and Hila Freimann. They needed extra help in their daily Amazon operations and founded VAA after a futile search for a VA in the Philippines. To ensure the best candidates' selection, the company screens them thoroughly based on their dedication, commitment and skills. VAA always takes adequate steps to ensure that its virtual assistants are up to date on the latest tools, features and trends in Amazon.

"We invest significant resources in our VAs, including a thorough screening and selection process, intensive month-long Amazon training for accepted candidates, ongoing professional development and a warm, supportive community. For Amazon sellers, hiring with VAA means partnering with a highly skilled and motivated Amazon VA who is committed to a long-term working relationship. You can rely on your VA as a dedicated employee who will deliver consistently high-quality work on an efficient, ongoing basis. And that means peace of mind for you," Gilad mentions.

To benefit from VAA's high-quality Amazon support services, business owners must first set up a consultation with Gilad Freimann. He matches businesses with their most suitable VAs and helps them ascertain the required number of monthly hours. After a thorough assessment of the company and its requirements, the ideal VA is chosen from its talent pool.

"Every Amazon business is different, and the right VA is different too. Your chosen VA will have the skills and personality to best meet the goals of your business. For example, if your main requirement is customer service, we'll choose a VA who is sociable, service-oriented and patient, with the ability to provide the very best service to your customers. If you need assistance with your PPC campaigns, we'll select for you one of our PPC experts who is highly analytical and numbers-oriented," Gilad added.

To find out more about hiring an Amazon expert, please visit the official website of Virtual Assistant Academy (VAA).

Contact Name : Gilad Freimann

Contact Phone: 972526919934

Contact Email: [email protected]

About VAA:

VAA specializes in locating, screening, training and supporting high quality Amazon VAs in the Philippines, and matching them after with Amazon sellers all over the world. VAA has Amazon trained VA's, PPC Specialists VA's, Social Media and Graphic Designers.

SOURCE VAA Philippines

Related Links

https://www.vaaphilippines.com


Editor

Zaldy Dandan is the recipient of the Best Editorial Writer Award of the Society of Professional Journalists, and the CNMI Humanities Award for Outstanding Contributions to Journalism. His three books are available on amazon.com
Feb. 4, 1961

Storms leaves behind 13 inches of snow in city, more elsewhere

A winter storm bore down on Northeast Pennsylvania the evening of Feb. 3. On the morning of Feb. 4, it left 13 inches of snow in Scranton and up to 23 inches in the rural areas of the region.

A Pennsylvania Highway Department spokesperson said that some 800 workers were out battling the elements to get the areas roadways cleared.

As the city of Scranton was dealing with 13 inches of snow, other spots in the region had to deal with more. Daleville received 18 inches of snow and reported snow drifts up to four feet tall. Tunkhannock officials measured 18 inches and reported that 75% of their secondary roads were impassable.

The storm also trapped 17 Boy Scouts and three leaders at Goose Pond. The boys were from the Immaculate Conception Chapter Troop 84. The road leading to the camp was expected to be cleared later in the day on Feb. 4.

The storm caused the closures of most of the stores and businesses in downtown Scranton, grounded flights at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Airport and forced the suspension of bus travel by Martz and Scranton Transit Co. The storm also caused the postponement of several funerals and social engagements.

Fire hits Kingston High School

During the height of the snow storm, firefighters from Kingston and neighboring communities were called out to put down a general alarm blaze at Kingston High School.

The fire was discovered at 3:15 a.m. on Feb. 4 by the nightwatchman.

The fire was contained to the schools auditorium where it destroyed the stage, 1,390 seats, equipment and the curtains. The school estimated the damage to be close to $200,000. The schools cafeteria, located beneath the auditorium, sustained smoke and water damage.

The schools offices and classrooms were not damaged in the blaze.

Star of Windjammer visits city

Kaera Terland, 21-year-old native of Norway, was in Scranton to promote the new film Windjammer.

Terland, a junior at Dartmouth, was one of the stars of the film that was being called a cinemiracle production. The documentary film chronicled the journey of the training ship Christain Radich on its trans-Atlantic trip from Oslo to New York City and back.

The film was shot in a wide-angle format and was to be shown at Cinerama Theaters across the world.
State Bank of India (SBI)'s net profit fell 6.93% to Rs 5,196.22 crore on 1.06% decrease in total income to Rs 75,980.65 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Q3 December 2019.

Profit before tax (PBT) dropped 36.27% to Rs 6,990.77 crore in Q3 FY21 as against Rs 10,969.66 crore in Q3 FY20. Tax expense tumbled 66.68% to Rs 1,794.55 crore in Q3 FY21 compared with Rs 5,386.30 crore in Q3 FY20. The result was declared during market hours today, 4 February 2021.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at Rs 1,17,244.23 crore as on 31 December 2020 as against Rs 1,25,862.99 crore as on 30 September 2020 and Rs 1,59,661.19 crore as on 31 December 2019.

The ratio of gross NPAs (GNPA) to gross advances stood at 4.77% as on 31 December 2020 as against 5.28% as on 30 September 2020 and 6.94% as on 31 December 2019. The ratio of net NPAs (NNPA) to net advances stood at 1.23% as on 31 December 2020 as against 1.59% as on 30 September 2020 and 2.65% as on 31 December 2019. On proforma basis, GNPA stood at 5.44% and NNPA stood at 1.81%.

The bank's provisions and contingencies soared 42.59% to Rs 10,342.39 crore in Q3 FY21 over Rs 7,252.90 crore in Q3 FY20. Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) has improved to 90.21%, rising 848 bps Y-o-Y and 202 bps Q-o-Q (quarter-on-quarter).

Net Interest Income (NII) for Q3 FY21 rose 2.27% sequentially and 3.75% Y-o-Y (year-on-year). Domestic NIM for the quarter was at 3.34%, has remained stable sequentially. Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) has improved by 77 bps Y-o-Y to 14.50% as on December 2020.

Total deposits grew at 13.64% YoY, out of which current account deposit grew by 11.33% YoY, while saving bank deposits grew by 15.99% YoY.

Credit Growth stood at 6.73% YoY, mainly driven by Retail (Personal) Advances (15.47% YoY), SME (5.62% YoY) and Corporate Advances (2.23% YoY). Home loan, which constitutes 23% of Bank's domestic advances, has grown by 9.99% YoY.

Slippage ratio as on 31 December 2020 at 1.27% (including proforma slippages) while collection efficiency at 96.5%.

SBI rose 1.16% to Rs 339.75. State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services statutory body. As of 31 December 2020, the Government of India held 56.92% stake while Life Insuarnce Corporation of India held 9.61% stake in the bank.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG executives ignored warnings from colleagues about troubled steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta as they channeled $1.2 billion of client funds to his businesses, according to people familiar with the matter.Bankers in Credit Suisses commodity trade-finance unit blacklisted Guptas Liberty Commodities Ltd. in 2016 because they suspected some of its deals werent legitimate, the people said. When they learned about two years later that the bank was lending to his companies through a suite of investment funds, which eventually grew to $10 billion, they flagged their worries to leaders in compliance and the division that housed the loans, one of the people said.The disclosure that Credit Suisse may have put clients at risk despite internal concerns over Guptas businesses adds a new twist to the debacle stemming from the March implosion of Greensill Capital, the finance firm at the center of the three-way relationship.Investigations, LawsuitsThe U.K. Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Guptas group of companies for suspected fraud, including in its financing deals with Greensill, according to a May 14 statement. Credit Suisse has sued to force Guptas Liberty Commodities into insolvency and has since shut the funds that made the loans and launched an internal investigation. Investors are staring at losses as the bank confronts embarrassing lawsuits.We are currently focusing our efforts on recovering our investors money, Will Bowen, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in London, said in an emailed statement, adding that the banks internal probe will focus on all of the issues linked to the funds. We are committed to learning the lessons and will share the relevant lessons learnt at the appropriate time.Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Gupta Family Group Alliance, or GFG Alliance, a collective of businesses linked to Gupta including Liberty Commodities, denied any wrongdoing.The Greensill saga represents just one of the two disasters that rocked Credit Suisse in the first half of 2021. Since Greensill began unraveling, the bank has announced a $5.5 billion hit from the blowup at Archegos Capital Management.ApologiesFormer Chairman Urs Rohner apologized to shareholders and his successor, Antonio Horta-Osorio, who arrived at the end of April, has promised a sweeping strategy review.Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein, who was head of the division that oversaw trade finance, wasnt aware of the internal concerns about Gupta that had prompted the bank to cut him off, according to a person familiar with the matter.Employees at the trade-finance unit, which lends money for the buying and selling of commodities, cut ties with Gupta in 2016 after becoming skeptical toward his Liberty Commodities, the people said. They distrusted the documents the company provided, triggering doubts about its transactions, they said. In one example reported by Bloomberg, the company had presented another bank with what seemed to be duplicate shipping receipts. Credit Suisses commodity team had stopped working with Gupta after identifying suspicious shipments while the banks credit-structuring team lobbied against the Greensill funds, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.A spokesman for Gupta has denied any wrongdoing.Banking TiesLiberty Commodities pledged assets to Credit Suisse as security for borrowings in 2013 but by early 2016, all such commitments had been extinguished, indicating that the financing relationship had ceased, U.K. Companies House filings show. And while Guptas company listed the Swiss bank as one of its lenders in its 2014 annual report, it didnt in the following years report, which is dated May 2016, according to the filings.Their counterparts at other banks, including Macquarie Group Ltd. and Sberbank PJSC, halted trading with Liberty Commodities around the same time because of similar concerns; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also stopped in 2016, Bloomberg has reported.Nevertheless, executives at Credit Suisses asset-management division -- which creates investment products for clients and charges a fee for overseeing them -- began arranging a suite of funds focused on supply-chain finance in 2017. The entities bought securitized loans packaged by Greensill, a firm created by Australian businessman Lex Greensill. Much of the debts were linked to Guptas businesses.WarningsOfficials at the commodity trade-finance unit were concerned when they found out about the funds links to Gupta and took their fears to Thomas Grotzer, general counsel for the banks Swiss division. They also warned Luc Mathys and Lukas Haas, the bankers who helped oversee the trades at the asset-management unit.Grotzer was promoted last month to interim global head of compliance at Credit Suisse. He didnt respond to requests for comment. Mathys, head of fixed-income at the asset-management division, and Haas, a portfolio manager, were put on temporary leave in March. Neither responded to requests for comment.The bank pushed ahead with the funds and marketed them to investors as being made up of short-term debt secured on invoices, assets considered so safe that Credit Suisse gave the largest vehicle its lowest rating for risk. Yet part of the loans were linked to mere possible future revenues.Other parts of the bank continued working with Gupta as well. Credit Suisses investment bankers were due to lead an initial public offering for Libertys U.S. steel arm, which was ultimately pulled, according to a statement from the company. Gupta also announced that the Swiss bank would finance his planned acquisition of Thyssenkrupp AGs steel unit, which fell apart earlier this year.Credit Suisse has so far recouped about $5.9 billion of the $10 billion in these supply-chain funds, but it remains unclear how much will be returned ultimately to investors. Loans to Guptas businesses are among a batch of debts that are the principal sources of valuation uncertainty, the bank said earlier this month.Liberty Commoditiess external legal advisors investigated alleged rumors concerning the paperwork it used in 2019, according to Mitchell, the spokesman for GFG Alliance. They found no evidence to substantiate the rumors, nor was the company ever subject to further complaints or proceedings, he said.LCL has ongoing banking relationships with separate financial institutions, Mitchell said, referring to Liberty Commodities. The trade-finance market has been hugely challenging for all but the very largest commodities traders in recent years. Nevertheless, no financial institution has been left out of pocket as a result of lending money to LCL. On the contrary, they have received substantial commercial returns.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
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In its frontal attack on Mr. Murdochs company, Smartmatic argues that Fox cast it as a villain in a fictitious narrative meant to help win back viewers from Newsmax and OANN. Those two networks saw ratings surges in the weeks after the election, thanks to their embrace of the fiction that Mr. Biden was not the rightful victor. The Smartmatic suit also argues that Mr. Giuliani and Ms. Powell sought to enrich themselves and improve their standing with Mr. Trumps supporters by making claims that were damaging to the company.

After Smartmatic sent a letter to Fox requesting a retraction for what it called false and misleading statements about the company and threatening legal action, each of the shows led by the three Fox anchors aired a segment in which an election expert, Eddie Perez, debunked a number of false claims about Smartmatic. The prerecorded segment, broadcast in December, showed Mr. Perez responding to questions from an off-camera voice. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Perez said that the finished product almost looked like a deposition.

Smartmatics complaint described not only the reputational and financial damage the company said it had suffered, but also the harm done to the United States by the claims promoted by Mr. Trumps allies and the Murdoch-controlled networks he had long favored.

Fox Corporation, with about 9,000 employees, is run by Mr. Murdoch, 89, and his elder son, Lachlan, its chief executive. A penalty of $2.7 billion would be hefty. Fox Corporation made $3 billion in pretax profit on $12.3 billion in revenue from September 2019 to September of last year. The company is valued at about $17.8 billion.

Ms. Bartiromo, the host of shows on Fox Business and Fox News, conducted an interview with Mr. Trump on Nov. 29, his first lengthy TV interview after the election. Ms. Pirro, a onetime prosecutor whose Justice with Judge Jeanine is a staple of Fox Newss Saturday night lineup, has been friends with Mr. Trump for decades.

Don Herzog, who teaches First Amendment and defamation law at the University of Michigan, said that the suits main argument made sense. You cant just make false stuff up about people, he said. He expressed doubt about the suits linking the false statements on Fox to the Capitol attack, however, saying the events of Jan. 6 had no bearing on whether the defendants had harmed Smartmatic.

The suits success would depend on a variety of factors, Mr. Herzog added, including whether Smartmatic can persuade a jury that the company did not have the standing of a public figure before Mr. Giuliani and Ms. Powell made it better known.
Feb. 2 wasnt just Groundhog Day, it also marked the last day of holidays which began during the latter part of last year with the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe and ending on the Day of La Candelaria, another honored by those who celebrate the Dia de Los Reyes, or the Day of the Three Kings.

Just like with any other holiday during 2020 and the beginning of 2021, individuals were discouraged from gathering to celebrate around the community. Of course, this is due to the global COVID-19 pandemic which has led to a similar story for many of the holidays from last year.

Many individuals weighed in to LMT this year on their thoughts on missing another holiday due to COVID-19. And they shared how the city governments guidelines and their own efforts to push safety measures meant missing out on valued time with families and friends.

In the Catholic Church we celebrate Jesus 40th day after birth, Nati Mireles said. Candles are blessed in the Dia de la Candelaria. Some families celebrate by "levantando el nino Dios," or what translates to picking up the baby Jesus as a sign that he has risen. A rosary is recited and a special meal is eaten.

Most people stated that they did not celebrate at all on the Feb. 2 holiday, as well as any other previous holiday due to fear of the virus. They stated that they must be more conscious considering the continued struggles the pandemic has caused locally, recently with Laredo even sitting No. 1 in the nation for the better part of the last two weeks in new COVID cases, according to The New York Times. This has not allowed many to feel they can relax and let their guard down.

I hope nobody thinks of celebrating anything in these times of crisis, Janie Garcia said. We must be more conscious of what is happening.

Individuals like Delia Rodriguez and Norma Hamilton reported that they have not done much celebrating since the pandemic began last March in Laredo. As a matter of fact, Hamilton stated that her family did not even have any traditional tamales on the Feb. 2nd holiday, the main food served on the day.

Others stated that they did not just not celebrate because they did not want to be part of the problem. And many are also currently facing difficult situations in which their family members are in the hospital now fighting for their lives because of the virus.

My daughters second birthday, and my 37th birthday, we will not be able to celebrate as we wished because of respect and because we miss my mother-in-law that is at LMC, Isabel Trevino said.

Some believe that they plan to continue celebrating amid the pandemic. However, they said that they do not have to have large groups of family members involved during the celebrations or holidays, just their own nuclear families at home. They stated that this has worked out well for many.

Celebrating does not mean having all 20 people in the family, Esmeralda Lima said. On the contrary, simply having those who occupy the house in these difficult times is when we must celebrate health and religion with those that live with us.

Lima stated that her celebration for the 2nd of February was as traditional as it could be. It also featured many of the elements that the Day of the Calendaria features but within the comforts of her home and with her family. This is a way they have celebrated throughout the past year, and they have had great health and festive days.

We're making menudo, and it's called a celebration because we're thankful that we're here in my household. We're only five including my two babies, Lima said. The only way the pandemic has affected us is not attending church physically for the sake of my children. We'd go every year to bless our candles on this day, but as long as us five under this roof remain healthy, there will always be a celebration to God.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health have confirmed at least one case of COVID-19 in Connecticut that contained a mutation that could make the virus less susceptible to vaccine.

The mutation, known as E484K, has been detected in strains of the virus that were first documented in South Africa and Brazil, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers in the United Kingdom have also found the mutation in 11 samples of a highly-infectious variant first detected there, known as B.1.1.7.

Dr. Tara Alpert, a postdoctoral fellow studying the spread of the novel coronavirus at the Yale School of Public Health, said the E484K mutation has not been found in the B.1.1.7 variant in Connecticut.

We havent found it in Connecticut yet, she said Tuesday. We have found the E484K in a non-B.1.1.7 strain, and those have popped up occasionally across many different lineages.

One was found in Connecticut with preliminary evidence for four more.

In a statement Thursday, Dr. Nathan Grubaugh clarified the mutation was found but it was not associated with a variant of concern.

These mutations (E484K) are found independently on SARS-CoV-2 throughout the US and the world and are not known to have an impact on vaccines outside of the context of the other mutations found on the concerning variants (e.g. B.1.1.7 [UK], B.1.351 [South Africa], or P.1 [Brazil]). Based on our current understanding, finding the E484K mutation alone is not a cause for concern for vaccine resistance, the statement said.

That comes as hospitalizations and positivity rates have remained relatively low in recent weeks. On Wednesday, there were 26 fewer COVID hospitalizations, dropping the statewide total to 874  the lowest its been since Nov. 21.

There were 482 new infections reported Wednesday out of 12,782 tests, for a daily positivity rate of 3.77 percent. The seven-day positivity rate hovers just below 4 percent, at 3.89 percent.

Despite low positivity rates and declining hospitalizations, two dozen more COVID-related deaths were also reported, bringing the states death toll to 7,157.

The prospect of a highly infectious strain of the virus that could also reduce the effectiveness of vaccines is concerning, because it could potentially spread rapidly and prolong the pandemic, health experts have warned. But the seriousness of the mutation remains uncertain.

Theres also enough uncertainty about what the mutation actually means that it is kind of unclear how serious it is, but it is something that we should watch very closely, Alpert said.

She stressed that while the mutation is present in the variant first detected in South Africa, and is thought to put the virus at a higher risk of immune escape, those findings are preliminary.

Its also possible the mutation could be solved with a booster shot developed by a vaccine maker.

So far, Connecticut officials have said 16 cases of the B.1.1.7 strain have been confirmed in the state. The first U.S. cases of the South African variant, known as B.1.351, were found in South Carolina late last month.

Some in the science community have begun using a hurricane-naming system for the alphabet soup of mutation names. So E484K has become Eric, while another mutation called N501Y is known as Nellie.

So far, its unclear exactly how Eric showed up in Connecticut.

Hes popped up across multiple lineages, Alpert said.

Part of the reason the U.K. first identified B.1.1.7 was because the nation does more genome testing than the U.S.

If we had an emerging variant, we would not catch it until it was quite dominant already, Alpert said.

Alpert said the B.1.1.7 variant is of greater concern for the immediate future, because of its high rate of transmission. The variant is thought to be about 50 percent more infectious, according to the CDC.

Its kind of what we talked about at the beginning of the pandemic where we want to try to flatten the curve, Alpert said. If we have a more infectious virus thats circulating, the hospitals are already facing capacity limits, so if we push that even further and we have more infections very quickly, then well overwhelm the hospital system and well have a greater proportion of deaths.

The CDC has warned B.1.1.7 could become the dominant strain in the U.S. by March.

So far, Alpert said testing has shown the variant is not the dominant strain in Connecticut, likening it to the beginning of the pandemic in March. But it very much can be if we kind of behave like normal, she added.

I dont think people need to freak out and everybody needs to stay at home, but I do think we need to be extra careful, she added.

That means avoiding people as much as possible, including having groceries delivered or getting takeout instead of sitting down in a restaurant.

The only opportunity we have to control it is right now, before it gets too large, Alpert said.
The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) suspended the decision of Pechersky District Court of Kyiv to transfer the case on suspicion of Deputy Head of the President's Office Oleh Tatarov to another pretrial investigation agency pending the consideration of this issue by the HACC Appeals Chamber.

According to the press service of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the HACC Appeals Chamber adopted the relevant decision on Thursday, on February 4.

"The HACC Appeals Chamber also obliged the SBI, by 13:00 on February 10, 2021, to provide the HACC Appeals Chamber with the above-mentioned decision of Pechersky District Court, which the SBI investigators demanded, allegedly under the pretext of investigating the actions of the prosecutor general on unlawfully changing the SAPO prosecutors in the proceedings of NABU, and thereby blocked the consideration of the appeal complaints legally in the HACC Appeals Chamber," the NABU said in a statement on the Facebook page.

As reported, the NABU detectives served Deputy Head of the President's Office Oleh Tatarov with charges, as he is accused of providing unlawful benefits by a group of persons to ensure the issuance of an inaccurate written opinion of a forensic expert (Part 3 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) under the investigation of the case of misappropriation of property of the National Guard of Ukraine.
Officials at Parkridge Health System say as the COVID-19 pandemic persists across the United States, people who are at-risk for lung cancer and other forms of cancer continue to delay routine, potentially lifesaving cancer screenings. To ensure the safety of its patients, colleagues and the communities it serves, Parkridge Health System has "taken every precaution to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and cultivate a safe environment in which patients may undergo screenings that can detect cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages."



"Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, accounting for a quarter of all cancer deaths," officials said. "In part, this is because the disease is often not identified until it reaches its later stages when it is more difficult to treat."

To increase the chance of better outcomes, the American Cancer Society recommends annual low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) lung screening for at-risk patients who:



 are 55-77 years old and are in good health;

 currently smoke or have quit smoking within the past 15 years and have a 30 pack-year history of smoking; and

 have no symptoms of lung cancer, which can include a new cough or shortness of breath.



Studies show that screening can reduce the risk of death by 20 percent for this patient population, said Minerva Covarrubias, MD, pulmonologist at Parkridge Health. Thats why we strongly recommend that at-risk patients maintain their annual screening regimen and that those who havent undergone screening before schedule an appointment as soon as possible. Finding the cancer early is a key to successful treatment.



How Screening Works:



Parkridge Health providers use LDCT technology to take images of the lungs. The technology delivers a lower dose of radiation, which allows patients to safely undergo screening every year. The screening is not invasive, which means no needles are used and no medications are required.

Lung cancer screening is covered by most insurance providers as a preventive service for high-risk individuals. A physician order is required for insurance coverage, so patients should consult their primary care provider  and consult with their insurance provider  before scheduling an appointment.
Video: Fedpol

Swiss police have doffed their police hats to An Garda Siochanas Jerusalema dance challenge video by flying the tricolour from their Federal Police Headquarters today.

The Federal Police released a video this morning congratulating the Gardai for absolutely nailing the challenge.

Swiss Police had nominated the Gardai after their own performance, and it was a test the Gardai passed with flying colours.

In honour of this brilliant performance, the Swiss Police declared we are all Irish in Switzerland today.

The video shows armed Swiss police transporting a secure briefcase, which is opened to show a tricolour that the officers fly from a Federal Police building window.

The Swiss Police Twitter account thanked the gardai for creating moments of pure joy.

The Irish instalment of the now global sensation has gone viral with over 1.2m views in just two days.

It shows gardai from across Ireland partaking in the choreographed dance challenge from some of Irelands most beautiful and well-known attractions.

Police forces across the globe have taken part in the challenge in an attempt to raise spirits, with the NYPD, Gendarmerie, South African and Indian Police all among the international forces to step up to the Jerusalema Challenge.
A recent survey by PwC has shown 92 per cent public support for Nigeria's Finance Act 2020.

On the changes to existing laws from the Finance Act, the survey showed that majority of respondents were excited about the reduction of minimum tax from 0.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent of turnover.

The survey which was released during PwC Nigeria's executive roundtable on the Finance Act 2020 and Economic Outlook for 2021, held virtual recently, targeted CEOs, C-Suite executives and MSMEs and focused on the impact of changes to existing laws by the Finance Act 2020 and other significant government policies, to businesses and taxpayers in Nigeria.

Country Senior Partner, PwC Nigeria, Mr. Uyi Akpata, noted that considering the impact the pandemic was having on Nigeria's economy, it was important for businesses to understand the forces shaping Nigeria's economy in 2021.

"That this knowledge will help them minimise potential risks and take advantage of the fiscal policies the government had enacted to stimulate the recovery of the Nigerian economy," he said.

While delivering the keynote address on the economy and government's policies towards the recovery, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, emphasised that the administration was committed to enabling economic recovery and stimulating inclusive growth through policies and interventions designed to foster economic resilience and business sustainability.

Thus, the Finance Act 2020, was aimed at supporting vulnerable households and businesses while improving fiscal discipline and procurement efficiency, enhancing economic competitiveness, encouraging domestic investors and enhancing macroeconomic stability amid the challenges posed by the COVID19 pandemic.

Partner and Chief Economist PwC Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Nevin, noted 10 themes that policymakers and businesses needed to consider in 2021, saying Nigeria must as a priority find its development path.

According to the report, Nigeria holds as much as $900 billion worth of dead capital in residential real estate and agricultural land.

"The value of the federal government's abandoned properties alone, according to the Nigerian Institute of Builders, is projected to be about N230 billion.

"And about a half of Nigeria's population live in cities, of which almost 80 per cent of them are living in substandard conditions. Finding the political will to act and unlock Nigeria's dead real estate assets will have a transformative impact on the lives of Nigerians.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Business Governance By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

"Out of the 10 themes, another important theme to consider was Nigeria's Gross Fixed Capital Formation, which in 2019, stood at less than 20 per cent," it added.

And PwC estimated that Nigeria would need an investment rate of at least 26 to 28 per cent of GDP to achieve seven per cent growth.

Speaking about Nigeria's economy, Nevin further noted that it was distorted by the exchange rate volatility; fuel subsidy regime; and the power sector.

He said addressing these three big distortions would be taking the giant step to restructure the country's economy holistically; achieve the 7 per cent GDP growth, and improve the lives of the average Nigerian, Kevin added.

Fiscal Policy Partner and West Africa Tax Leader PwC Nigeria, Taiwo Oyedele, who shared insights on how the Finance Act 2020, and other significant changes that have been made to existing laws, will shape Nigeria's tax environment in 2021, noted that there were no easy choices or a silver bullet given the limited fiscal space for incentives and to deliver on counter-cyclical measures. He commended the policy direction of the government not to introduce new taxes or increase the rate of existing taxes. While commending the government for the reduction in minimum tax rate, he advocated for a permanent removal of the tax which often tax companies that are vulnerable especially when they are loss making.
In that time even his closest political friends admit he has survived, more so than thrived, in the face of almost constant criticism from critics about his performance as leader. He has won two party room ballots since the election and some of his allies are in constant look-out for another. His Black Lives Matter comments earned the wrath of Amnesty International and had some of his strongest supporters within Parliament questioning his judgment. Its easy to do the pile on, McCormack says. A pile-on generally only lasts one news cycle, 24 or 48 hours, sometimes for me a bit longer, but Im still here. Im not a quitter. Never have been. You look at an interview you have and you think maybe I could have been more careful with my words, or I could have done that a bit better. I am far from perfect. And the ridicule isnt only in the press or the party room. His own family Whatsapp comprising his wife, Catherine and adult children Georgina, Alexander and Nicholas, can also be a rich source.

Lampooning from The Betoota Advocate is regularly shared in his familys WhatsApp group. Credit:Instagram The recent lampooning hes received from satirical news site The Betoota Advocate is regularly shared in the group. References to the Deputy Prime Minister in the past months include him promising to have a COVID vaccine jab directly into his brain on live television to prove it is safe and his face wrapped in 48mm x 18.29m duct tape as the Liberals put in place measures to protect their non-idiot image while PM is on holidays. Nothing is off-limits to them, he says. Its all fair game, but if they think its unfair criticism they are the first to stand beside me or sometimes in front of me, in support. Catherine and the kids are my biggest supporters. Last week Barnaby Joyce, who resigned as Nationals leader in 2018 after it emerged hed had an extramarital affair with his adviser Vikki Campion, again made his views clear that he was unhappy about the direction of the party and its place within the Coalition.

Loading There is a problem, the problem needs fixing, it is in how the relationship works and for there to be a Coalition it has to be in form, it has to be in substance like it was in the past, Joyce said. We have been doing it the polite way ... weve been doing it behind closed doors. Weve been doing all the things they tell us to do but its just not working. Joyce has ruled out again challenging for the role but is unapologetic about his public criticisms. In an interview last week he said, as the longest-serving MP in the party room, he was entitled to speak his mind without touting for the leadership. I am going to make sure Im still standing up for my party, he said.

The pair, unsurprisingly, do not enjoy a close relationship. Colleagues level criticism at McCormack for not doing enough to bring Joyce and former resources minister Matt Canavan back into the tent. The group, which also includes Llew OBrien and David Gillespie, believes McCormack has not taken on board its concerns and it has only gone public as a last resort. Others suggest nothing McCormack could do would please Joyce who believes his successor and his supporters played a role in his downfall by briefing the media. (Allegations McCormack has always denied). McCormack says he has listened to them and reached out but believes, when in government, the Coalition must come first. He was reminded of that last week at Anthonys state funeral. Who did Doug Anthonys family turn to for the eulogy? None other than John Howard AC  a long-serving Liberal prime minister, McCormack says.

Loading It was a Coalition send-off. We cant govern without them, they cant govern without us. He says he often has differences of opinion with Morrison, but it doesnt serve the nation for me to publicise that. The majority of Nationals MPs believe he will lead the party to the election but cant really be sure he could survive another challenge. McCormack says his focus is on his job at hand. Building $100 billion of infrastructure across the country, creating jobs in regional Australia and speaking up for rural communities.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 09:09:40|Editor: huaxia

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SHANGHAI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Tesla China announced that its supercharger manufacturing factory in Shanghai was put into production on Wednesday, less than half a year after the project was officially launched in August 2020.

With an investment of 42 million yuan (about 6.5 million U.S. dollars), the 5,000-square-meter plant has an annual capacity of 10,000 superchargers, mainly the V3 model, at the initial stage. The company claimed a V3 supercharger can add 250 km of range by charging for 15 minutes.

Previously, Tesla's superchargers used in China were all imported from the United States.

The company said the opening of its China supercharger plant will contribute to the popularization of its V3 supercharger in the country.

To date, Tesla has opened more than 730 supercharging stations across China. Enditem
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
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LONDON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

The openbusinesscouncil.org / citiesabc.com Global Digital Transformation Summit Awards is an online event with the aim to strengthen businesses, startups and government's strategies post COVID-19.

/ Global Digital Transformation Summit Awards is an online event with the aim to strengthen businesses, startups and government's strategies post COVID-19. The awards jury panel is made up of technology influencers and academics in partnership with the World Smart Cities Forum, and top universities.

The awards will recognize and celebrate innovative businesses and solutions having a positive impact on Society.

120+ top experts and government officials on a 3-day summit/awards event will be on April 20th and 21st, with the awards taking place on April 22nd .

and 21st, with the awards taking place on . The previous summit included government officials like Minister of Science and Technology of Japan ; Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for IT Development in Ukraine , Deputy Minister of Science and Technology in Vietnam ; Minister of Communications of Malaysia , AI and tech experts like Ben Goertzel and Eric van der Kleij .

openbusinesscouncil and citiesabc present the Global Digital Transformation Summit and Awards, to tackle challenges and opportunities for businesses, cities and governments in a time of COVID-19.

The digital transformation openbusinesscouncil 3-day summit provides access to a unique audience and has indirect digital streaming in social media, that reaches over 10 million people. The participants include global tech thought leaders, top entrepreneurs, startup organisations, accelerators, investors, authors and governments involved in business tech innovation.

Dinis Guarda, and Hilton Supra Founders of openbusinesscouncil / citiesabc, said: "We started the openbusinesscouncil summit and awards after working with global businesses and governments where we recognised the urgency to create awareness for digital transformation, 4IR tech to empower businesses and SMEs in the framework of Society 5.0."

The openbusinesscouncil digital summit will cover the following topics:

4IR / Society 5.0 - / Smart business & Smart Government Digital Transformation in the context of - AI Blockchain / Robotics, AI and Machine Learning Energy - Renewable Energies / Green cities / Sustainable solutions / Green Deal / Carbon Neutral Smart Cities - Supply Chain & Infrastructure / The Circular Economy / Govtech / Healthtech / Proptech FinTech - ESG Investments / VCs & DeFi (Decentralized Finance) Social Impact - Accessibility / Financial Inclusion / Empowerment /Data Literacy

The openbusinesscouncil citiesabc digital awards on the 22nd of April will showcase and champion the excellence of innovation and technologies by startups within the following six categories:

AI; Blockchain, DeFi; Smart Cities; Digital Wellness, Wellbeing, HealthTech; Social media /Big Data/ Analytics; Social Impact

The jury includes leading personalities like Professor Yu Xiong, Associate Dean International Surrey University; Jaewon Peter Chun, President at World Smart Cities Forum, and Michael Stanley Jones, United Nations, Debra Ruth Global tech and social impact influencer among others.

The awards participation is open for any businesses, startups and organisations involved in creating innovative solutions in the six award categories. Winners of the awards will have access to over $1m in total prizes which include investment opportunities, media outreach, PR, other business credits and startups' incentives.

The inaugural summit reached 50,000+ live views 300,000+ post-live views with a global media outreach in social media and PR of over 10 million people. The April 2021 summit and awards are expected to far exceed this with the addition of more key speakers and participants.

The award registration is open for businesses, startups, companies and organisations:

https://openbusinesscouncil.org/summit/application-form/

The event will be streamed in the fast-growing Dinis Guarda YouTube Podcast series https://www.youtube.com/c/DinisGuarda/videos

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/openbusinesscouncil-summit-and-awards-tickets-136828817677

For more information https://openbusinesscouncil.org/summit/

Summit & Awards video: https://youtu.be/hb9hnc9NHu0

Media and Contact: Serafima Semkina

serafima.semkina@ztudium.com

+447771321078

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1432676/openbusinesscouncil.jpg
People arriving in Ireland from abroad are now legally required to quarantine at home.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly signed new regulations into law on Wednesday night giving effect to the Governments recent decision to introduce a system of mandatory quarantine for arrivals into the State.

The regulations came into effect at midnight.

Minister for Health @DonnellyStephen has signed regulations that will introduce a system of mandatory quarantine for arrivals into the State.



These regulations apply since midnight last night.



MORE INFO: https://t.co/CgC22zuIOu #StayHome #holdfirm  Department of Health (@roinnslainte) February 4, 2021

Under the regulations, passengers who arrive from any destination must quarantine for 14 days either at home or at an address specified on their Passenger Locator Form.

Failure to do so can be penalised by a fine of up to 2,500 euro or six months in prison, or both.

There are limited exemptions from the quarantine laws for essential reasons. These include workers for repair and maintenance of critical infrastructure.

But there will not be any exemptions for people arriving from high risk countries such as Brazil and South Africa.

Expand Close Health Minister Stephen Donnelly signed into a law new regulations requiring people arriving in Ireland to quarantine (Julien Behal Photography/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Health Minister Stephen Donnelly signed into a law new regulations requiring people arriving in Ireland to quarantine (Julien Behal Photography/PA)

The clear Government and public health advice is that everybody should avoid non-essential travel completely, Mr Donnelly said.

He added that the public health advice is that people subjected to mandatory quarantine should self-isolate within their homes to assist in protecting those around them.

Further work on additional legislation to implement mandatory quarantine at a designated facility for those arriving from countries with variants of concern, such as Brazil and South Africa is being progressed and will be implemented as soon as possible.

The Health Minister will have the power to designate countries from which travel represents a public health risk due to the presence of variants of concern.

Mr Donnelly also extended the mandatory requirement for all arriving passengers to have a negative PCR test.

Passengers who arrive in the state without proof of a negative PCR test may be fined 2,500 euro or receive six months in prison, or both.

There are very limited exemptions from this test requirement including for essential transport workers, Gardai and Defence Forces personnel in the course of their duties.

Anyone who arrives without a negative test will be required to take a test within 36 hours of arrival.

It is an offence not to take the test and can result in a fine of up to 2,500 or a prison sentence of up to 6 months, or both.

People who travel into Ireland via Northern Ireland will be required to have a negative PCR test result and to observe the statutory quarantine regime.

A 32-year-old Georgia man had about 3.4 pounds of suspected crystal methamphetamine with a street worth of $160,000 under the flooring of the trunk of a Nissan Sentra when he was arrested Friday in the parking lot of a Bethlehem Township hotel, authorities say.

Daniel Espinosa, of Flowery Branch, had driven to the Lehigh Valley in order to sell the drug in bulk that afternoon, court papers signed by a state narcotics agent and a township police investigator say.

An undercover officer had seen Espinosa pull a plastic bag of suspected meth from that part of the car, court papers say. That led agents from the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office and members of the Northampton County Drug Task Force to surround Espinosa just before 2:20 p.m. in the parking lot of The View Inn and Suites, court papers say.

Once in custody, Espinosa gave authorities permission to search the car and they found 1,542.2 grams of what field tested as crystal meth, court papers say. Espinosa used a cellphone to arrange the sale and two were recovered along with the drugs, court papers say.

After being read his rights, Espinosa admitted to bringing the drugs to Bethlehem Township to sell them, court papers say.

Espinosa was arraigned Friday night before District Judge Robert A. Hawke on charges of possession with intent to sell a control substance, possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of a cellphone, records show. He was housed in Northampton County Prison in lieu of $750,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 19 in District Judge Patricia Broscius court in the township, records show.

Espinosa remained behind bars on Thursday, records show. Court records dont indicate an attorney for him.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting lehighvalleylive.com with a subscription.

Tony Rhodin can be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com.
MEXICO CITY  Authorities in Mexico have arrested a dozen police officers for the massacre of 19 people, including several migrants, an incident which the countrys interior minister said Wednesday was part of a larger pattern of migrant abuse at the hands of government agents.

The 12 officers, part of the police force of Tamaulipas, a state along the United States-Mexico border, were arrested on Tuesday and charged with homicide, abuse of authority and providing false information, authorities said.

The killings last month in Tamaulipas were completely unacceptable, the interior minister, Olga Sanchez Cordero, said at a morning news conference on Wednesday, adding that any complaints of abuse by Mexican police should be fully investigated. Migrants are being harassed she added, and many women have been abused and raped.

Mexico has suffered record levels of violence in recent years, with more than 30,000 people killed last year alone. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador campaigned on a promise of stanching the bloodshed with hugs not bullets but has thus far been unable to make a meaningful dent in the carnage.

WASHINGTON - The top House Republican leader moved Wednesday to keep his splintering party intact - declining to take concrete action against a freshman lawmaker whose extremist rhetoric prompted widespread outrage, while also moving to protect a senior party leader who faced calls for her ouster after backing Donald Trump's impeachment.

The moves from Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reflected the delicate path the GOP is blazing through the post-Trump political landscape as it seeks to regain power in Washington.

On one hand, the party needs to regain its appeal with traditional Republicans - a wing of the party exemplified by Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 House GOP leader and daughter of a former vice president who trashed Trump's conduct surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. After McCarthy argued strongly on Cheney's behalf in a private meeting Wednesday evening, Republicans voted 145 to 61 to reject a call for her resignation backed by Trump loyalists.

On the other hand, the GOP risks losing the support of Trump's most fervent supporters, many of whom increasingly subscribe to outlandish, baseless claims - such as those espoused by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who is facing a Democratic-led vote Thursday on whether to expel her from committee assignments.

While McCarthy on Wednesday condemned Greene's comments questioning the veracity of school shootings, encouraging political violence and promulgating anti-Semitic falsehoods, he said he would not bow to demands that she be removed from her committees. Instead, he accused Democrats of pursuing a "partisan power grab" by seeking to control the minority party's internal decision-making.

"They chose to do something Congress has never done," he told reporters.

McCarthy's decision to turn the uproar over Greene into a partisan brawl rather than more strongly police the rhetoric inside the GOP ranks suggests he is determined to keep the Republican tent as big as possible as he seeks the House majority in the 2022 midterms - even if it risks more quarreling inside his ranks in the months and years ahead.

Washington Post photo by Salwan Georges

"You elected me leader, let me lead," McCarthy told Republicans in his closing remarks on Cheney's behalf, according to a GOP lawmaker inside the room. The speech prompted an ovation that could be heard from more than 50 feet away outside the room.

About an hour earlier, Greene had received an ovation of her own after expressing contrition for some of her most outrageous comments made on social media - including questioning the 9/11 attacks, blaming a space ray directed by a Jewish cabal for a deadly wildfire and doubting school shootings. She also, according to Republicans in the room, apologized for putting her colleagues in a difficult spot. The Republicans spoke on the condition of anonymity to relay the contents of a private meeting.

But, publicly, Greene has so far maintained a pugnacious posture toward her critics, adopting a Trump-like aversion to surrender.

"I won't back down. I'll never apologize. And I'll always keep fighting for the people," she tweeted Saturday.

On a podcast with right-wing provocateur Dinesh D'Souza published Wednesday, Greene took aim at GOP leaders for not standing more squarely behind her: "It's me this week, and it'll be someone else next week, and our leaders are too weak to stand up against it. That is why Republican voters will not vote for them anymore."

In the face of McCarthy's refusal to act against Greene, House Democrats moved to advance a measure stripping Greene of her committee assignments, setting up a floor vote Thursday. While members are occasionally removed from panels over allegations of misconduct, those decisions are typically made by their own party's leadership.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Democrats were forced to act after McCarthy and other Republicans declined to do so on their own. Democrats acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the move but said it was necessary given the nature of Greene's conduct.

"We have never had a member like this before," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the Rules Committee chairman. "This is truly sick stuff."

Greene was elected last year after having embraced the baseless QAnon ideology during her campaign. She suggested in social media videos taped before her election to Congress that mass shootings were "false flag" events staged by gun-control advocates and has also made social media postings supporting calls for the assassination of prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Those statements - some of which were only recently widely publicized - and the GOP's decision last week to place Greene on the House education and budget committees have heightened calls for action from Democrats and sparked rising frustrations from Republicans who fear their entire party will be tarred by association.

"That's not what the Republican Party stands for," said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee who served as governor during the 2018 mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school that Greene has publicly questioned.

"What she said about Parkland is wrong, disgusting," Scott added. "I was there an hour, just a few hours after it happened. I talked to the families that lost their loved ones. . . . She's not going to be the face of the party, and it's wrong, what she said."

McCarthy met with Greene on Tuesday evening in his Capitol office, and McCarthy immediately afterward called a snap meeting of the House GOP steering committee, which recommends committee assignments, but the group took no action.

With Democrats threatening to advance a resolution stripping Greene from her panels, McCarthy and Hoyer spoke by phone Wednesday. McCarthy told reporters later in the day that he proposed moving Greene from the Education and Labor Committee, which has jurisdiction over school security, to the Small Business Committee.

Hoyer then announced that the vote to revoke Greene's committee assignments entirely would move forward, saying in a statement that "it is clear there is no alternative."

In a statement, McCarthy called his proposal a way to address the "deep wounds" caused by Greene's comments and "a path to lower the temperature."

"Instead of coming together to do that, the Democrats are choosing to raise the temperature by taking the unprecedented step to further their partisan power grab regarding the committee assignments of the other party," he added.

Hoyer declined to detail his discussions with McCarthy to reporters but said that the House had an obligation to act.

"We're not really concerned about it being an embarrassment to the [Republican] party, but we certainly are concerned about her being an embarrassment to the Congress of the United States," he said, adding that in his 40 years of congressional service, he could not recall any comparable behavior.

Privately, Republican leaders and their aides have sought to rally their members around process arguments, arguing that it would set harmful precedents to punish a member for statements he or she made before joining Congress and to have the majority party remove a minority member from committees without the minority party's consent.

Several Republicans - including McCarthy - have sought to draw a comparison with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the hard-left lawmaker who courted controversy in 2019 after making alleged anti-Semitic comments. Unlike Greene, however, Omar apologized for her remarks, and Democratic leaders orchestrated a vote on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred, which Omar supported, to move past the controversy.

The debate played out at an afternoon meeting of the House Rules Committee, which prepared the committee measure for the floor vote Thursday. Republicans on the panel all denounced Greene's remarks but called for a more deliberate approach to taking action against her.

"We ought to follow a process that will allow us in a deliberative way to establish the facts and discuss the implications and move from there," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the panel's top Republican, who called Greene's comments "extraordinarily disturbing."

But McGovern noted that Greene has refused to publicly apologize for her remarks and said he was not concerned about creating a slippery slope.

"If the precedent's going to be that if somebody advocates putting a bullet in the head of a member . . . if that is going to be the new determination as to what it takes to throw people off of committees, I'm fine with that," McGovern said.

About an hour later, inside an auditorium underneath the Capitol, Republicans lined up behind microphones to air their views on Cheney - kicking off a meeting that would drag on for hours.

Cheney herself, according to attendees, refused to apologize for her backing of Trump's impeachment vote and voiced support for settling the issue with a vote Wednesday night.

That presented a conundrum for McCarthy, who has gone from publicly holding Trump responsible for the riot and recommending his censure to visiting Trump at his Florida estate last week to secure his support for Republicans ahead of the 2022 midterms. Meanwhile, he has sent mixed signals on his support for Cheney and kept silent for days as anger rose about Greene's remarks.

Inside the room, McCarthy made his pitch: With the majority within the GOP's grasp after unexpected gains in November's elections, the party could not afford a messy internal leadership squabble.

"We need to unite for us to take the majority and govern," McCarthy told the gathering, according to a lawmaker in the room.

Republicans said McCarthy's speech turned what could have been a close vote into a resounding defeat for the hard-right flank, which had argued that Cheney's anti-Trump stance - and the way she delivered it - made her unfit to lead the party.

Both the effort to oust Cheney and the reluctance to sanction Greene are tied up in the party's internal debate over whether to create more distance from Trump, who has denigrated Cheney, praised Greene, refused to denounce QAnon, and will stand trial next week in the Senate on the impeachment charge that he incited the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

"I don't think this is about Liz Cheney," said Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), a Cheney ally, as she entered the meeting Wednesday. "This is about the direction of our party and whether or not we're going to be a minority dedicated to just one person, or we're going to be a united Republican majority."

Democrats have already signaled they plan to make the rise of extremism on the right a campaign issue going forward, launching a $500,000 ad campaign this week tying several swing-district Republicans to QAnon and the violence at the Capitol over the reluctance to impeach Trump.

"Washington Republicans have made their choice - they chose to cave to the murderous QAnon mob that has taken over their party," said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in a Tuesday statement.

In his statement on Greene on Wednesday, McCarthy said her remarks "do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference" and noted that the House voted in October to condemn QAnon.

"I made this clear to Marjorie when we met," he said. "I also made clear that as a member of Congress we have a responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard than how she presented herself as a private citizen. Her past comments now have much greater meaning. Marjorie recognized this in our conversation. I hold her to her word, as well as her actions going forward."
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 04:16:13|Editor: huaxia

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RIGA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- With the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year, on Feb. 12) approaching, the Chinese Embassy in Riga on Wednesday delivered gift parcels with New Year greetings, face masks and bottles of liquid soap and disinfectant to members of the local Chinese community.

The ceremony took place on a street in front of the embassy building in order to reduce COVID-19 infection risks. Chinese Ambassador to Latvia Liang Jianquan inquired in detail about the expats' life, work and studies and commended their spirit of unity, mutual support and self-protection, as well as their tenacity in work, studies and the fight against the pandemic.

The ambassador said that the epidemiological situation in Latvia remains difficult and voiced hope that the expats will refrain from non-essential travel ahead of the Lunar New Year, which will hopefully bring health, safety and prosperity.

Xia Xiaolei, vice chairman of Latvia's Federation of Chinese Emigrants and Ethnic Chinese, said that the "coming Lunar New Year will be an unusual festival -- in the midst of the pandemic, we have received gift parcels from our homeland, which have warmed our souls." Enditem
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 09:38:30|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- At least three Washington Gas workers were injured on Wednesday in a gas line explosion which also caused fire in the eastern U.S. state of Virginia, the Fairfax County fire department said.

The three workers were taken to a hospital with burns and injuries that were believed to be non-life threatening, it added.

The flames, which burned out before 4 p.m. local time, destroyed a house and several cars.

An investigation into the cause of the explosion is underway. Enditem
The European Union has funded a project to improve personalized treatments for ovarian cancer with nearly 15 million euros for five years

The European Union has funded a project to improve personalized treatments for ovarian cancer with nearly 15 million euros for five years. The international DECIDER project has partners from 14 organizations in seven EU countries.

In Europe, over 40 000 women die of ovarian cancer every year. In addition to surgery, most patients are treated with platinum-based chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the effect of the chemotherapy often decreases during the treatment cycles, and currently there are few effective treatments to those patients who develop resistance to platinum-based drugs.

The project starts in February and will develop diagnostic tools to identify earlier and more reliably patients whose cancer is not responding to the current treatments. The research also aims to discover effective combination treatments based on the data measured from the tumours.

"Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality in the world and as the population ages, the incidence of cancers will only increase. Any new tools that enable better and more targeted treatment of cancers in the future will not only decrease the amount of human suffering, but also the burden on healthcare," says Sampsa Hautaniemi, a professor at the University of Helsinki and coordinator of the DECIDER project.

Artificial intelligence to integrate and visualise patient information for doctors

In the project, a patient's response to treatments is predicted using methods, which use, among others, histopathological and genomic data from the patient. Genomic changes and aberrations in gene functions are used to find effective, personalized treatments.

"We will develop an open source program, which will integrate and visualize all relevant data from a patient. Using this information, doctors can more easily identify effective drugs for their patient," says Hautaniemi, whose research group works in the project on method development as well as analysis, integration and interpretation of the data measured from the tumours.

An important part of the project is collaboration with SMEs in developing, producing and registering diagnostic kits, producing a drug-sensitivity test based on the tumour tissue samples, developing image based diagnostics of digital samples, and developing data pseudonymisation and anonymisation techniques necessary for the management of sensitive patient data for privacy risk protection.

All patients participating in the research are treated in Finland, and Finnish patient organizations have an important advisory role in the project.

Legal researchers address ethical and legal concerns

In addition to medical research, the project also includes a legal work package that addresses the ethical and legal concerns that may arise in the project. Furthermore, the legal researchers will also study whether there are inconsistencies between the pharmaceutical regulatory system and other relevant legislation.

"Our aim is to overcome legal challenges that impede or slow down the provision of new treatments for chemotherapy resistance in high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients. We want to facilitate the commercialisation and availability of personalized therapies in an ethically and legally sustainable manner," says Professor Paivi Korpisaari.

###

DECIDER (Clinical Decision via Integrating Multiple Data Levels to Overcome Chemotherapy Resistance in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer) partners and persons in charge of the research:

University of Helsinki, Finland (Sampsa Hautaniemi, Olli Carpen, Paivi Korpisaari)

Hospital District of Southwest Finland (Johanna Hynninen)

HUS Helsinki University Hospital, Finland (Anni Virtanen)

Karolinska Institutet, Sweden (Jussi Taipale)

Danish Cancer Society, Denmark (Tuula Kallunki)

Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany (Julio Saez-Rodriguez)

Institut Pasteur, France (Benno Schwikowski)

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy (Elisa Ficarra)

Insitute for Research in Biomedicine, Spain (Fran Supek)

Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain (Salvador Capella)

Aiforia Technologies Oy, Finland (Kaisa Helminen)

VEIL.AI Ltd, Finland (Tuomo Pentikainen)

2cureX A/S, Denmark (Ole Thastrup)

AB ANALITICA SRL, Italy (Diego Boscarino)

In advisory role representing cancer patients viewpoint: Cancer Society of Finland and Association of Cancer Patients in Finland.

The project has been funded by European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 965193.

Further information from:
The Mallory Ramirez Agency-Allstate in Orange has reopened after the office was significantly damaged by Hurricane Laura last fall.

The Greater Orange Area Chamber of Commerce marked the reopening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week at the office, at 2496 MLK King Jr. Drive, Suite D.

The agency had been in business almost four months after Lauras winds tore the roof off the office building.

The renovation complete, the Mallory Ramirez staff moved from their temporary space on Roundbunch Road and are open for business, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Synergy HomeCare of Southeast Texas is hosting a drive-thru job fair from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Silsbee Library on Feb. 12.

Synergy has seven offices in the Houston and Beaumont area, plus branches in 38 states.

Candidates will have a prescreening from their car and set an appointment for office interviews to help encourage social distancing.

The company said it is responding to a growing need for caregivers in the area. It expects to hire about 100 people by spring.

Candidates with at least six months experience or education and certification are in high demand, but the company is also recruiting beginners that can train at the Synergy HomeCare Skills Lab, 4180 Delaware St. in Beaumont.

Francescas is expected to stick around a little longer after its sale to a private equity firm was approved in January.

A bankruptcy court signed off on the sale to an affiliate of TerraMar Capital and Tiger Capital, which has committed to keeping at least 275 Francescas locations open.

The brand had at least 551 stores, including one at Parkdale Mall in Beaumont, open as of Jan. 19, so there will likely be some closures in some markets.

We are extremely pleased with the interest in Francescas during a robust auction process and that TerraMar emerged as the winning bidder, CEO Andrew Clarke said in a statement. TerraMar shares our belief in the future of the business, has proven experience in supporting companies like ours through the next phase of growth and is committed to a revitalized Francescas.

Clarke will remain as CEO.

jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/jd_journalism

[February 04, 2021] TrueGreen to deliver Australia's first hydrogen powered city bus through its investment in Foton Mobility

SYDNEY, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Foton Bus Australia is excited to announce a strategic partnership between Foton Bus Australia and The TrueGreen Mobility Group, to form a new company named Foton Mobility Pty Ltd. The strategic partnership has been established to deliver Australia's first, high quality Hydrogen Powered Buses. Foton Mobility will introduce a range of Hydrogen bus products in the coming years, commencing in early 2021 with the first 12.5-metre low floor city bus, powered by Toyota Fuel cells. Foton Mobility will be headed by Neil Wang in the capacity of CEO. Neil is well-known within the transport industry, with extensive experience in both traditional and new energy buses. As part of this strategic partnership, Foton Mobility also announces the engagement of Gemilang Australia as Foton Mobility's engineering, aftersales and technology support partner. This partnership enables Foton Mobility national infrastructure to support the rollout of both Hydrogen bus fleets and hydrogen fuel supply plus reliable and robust aftersales service. Th first four Foton Mobility Hydrogen buses using the Toyota Fuel Cells are currently being manufactured with delivery in Australia scheduled for April 2021. Orders are now being taken for 2021 deliveries with the ability to produce and deliver up to 200 Hydrogen city buses for Australia this calendar year.



Excitingly, as part of the announcement made today, Foton Mobility wishes to inform the planned establishment of a production facility at the TrueGreen Clean-Tech Manufacturing Village in Moss Vale NSW. This Australian facility will be capable of locally producing hydrogen buses in Australia by Q2, 2022. This production facility will create new, clean-tech jobs for Australia and bolster Australia's sovereign manufacturing capabilities. Foton Mobility is 100% Australian owned. About Foton

Foton Group belongs to the largest China commercial vehicle group, Beiqi Group. Beiqi Foton is the OEM of Cummins engine and Daimler Truck. Foton has already sold more than 40,000 units of Zero-emission buses around the world including 600 Hydrogen bus. Beiqi Foton, SinoHytec, Toyota, and the other two companies established an R&D joint venture for commercial vehicle fuel cell systems. All Foton Australia fuel cell engines are from this project and are directly supported by this joint venture company. www.foton-global.com/ About TrueGreen Mobility Part of the TrueGreen Group Impact Invest Group, TrueGreen Mobility are Australia's largest and most progressive Zero-emission mobility group. With investments in companies such as Nexport, Gemilang, EV Direct and various other clean-tech operations, the group are at the forefront of the Zero-emission mobility transition in Australia. www.truegreengroup.com SOURCE TrueGreen Impact Group; Foton Mobility

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[February 04, 2021] LAND Electric Motorcycles to Order up to 2,000 Coil Drivers from Exro

LAND signs agreement with Exro for Coil Driver order volume of up to 2000 units in the first year

LAND is a fast-growing player in the emerging lightweight electric motorcycles market and was founded by Scott Colosimo , the CEO at Cleveland CycleWerks

, the CEO at Cleveland CycleWerks Exro will ship the first Coil Driver to LAND in February 2021 to optimize performance in their District motorcycle CALGARY, AB, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Exro Technologies Inc. (TSXV: EXRO) (OTC: EXROF) (the "Company" or "Exro"), a leading clean technology company which has developed a new class of power electronics for electric motors and batteries, is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with LAND Electric Motorcycles ("LAND E-Moto" or "LAND") to produce up to 2000 units of the Coil Driver this year. LAND (E-Moto) is an innovative electric motorcycle manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. LAND produces a US made, powerful, lightweight electric motorcycle called the District that showcases innovative vehicle design and craftsmanship for an enhanced riding experience. LAND is founded by industry veteran Scott Colosimo, who also founded Cleveland CycleWerks, which has been manufacturing gas motorcycles for more than 11 years. Exro and LAND have agreed to cooperate to optimize the powertrain for the District motorcycle with the Coil Driver. This integration is expected to improve performance for the District motorcycle and enable a new powertrain system solution in the emerging lightweight electric motorcycles industry. Exro will ship the first Coil Driver to LAND this February for vehicle integration and validation testing to be completed by second quarter of 2021. After vehicle integration is completed, Land will begin purchasing the Coil Driver for their motorcycles. "We are thrilled to be working with Exro", said Scott Colosimo, Chief Executive Officer of LAND. "We believe integrating Exro's Coil Driver technology with our product will allow LAND to achieve best-in-class performance and efficiency." "We are so glad to be collaborating with LAND to optimize their motorcycle's powertrain", said Sue Ozdemir, Chief Executive Officer of Exro. "This collaboration takes us another step closer t revenue growth and commercialization of our Coil Driver technology."



About Exro Technologies Inc. Exro is a clean technology company pioneering intelligent control solutions in power electronics to help solve the most challenging problems in electrification. Exro has developed a new class of control technology that expands the capabilities of electric motors, generators, and batteries. Exro enables the application to achieve more with less energy consumed.

Exro's advanced motor control technology, the Coil Driver, expands the capabilities of powertrains by enabling two separate torque profiles within a given motor. A major advancement in the sector, dynamic motor configuration enables efficiency optimization for each operating mode resulting in reduction of energy consumption. The controller automatically selects the appropriate configuration in real time so that power and efficiency are intelligently optimized. For more information visit our website at www.exro.com . LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/exro-technologies-inc Twitter https://twitter.com/exrotech Facebook https://www.facebook.com/exrotech/ ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sue Ozdemir, Chief Executive Officer CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, that could cause actual results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing these forward-looking statements are reasonable based upon the information currently available to management as of the date hereof, actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/land-electric-motorcycles-to-order-up-to-2-000-coil-drivers-from-exro-301222231.html SOURCE Exro Technologies Inc.

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ROME, FEB 4 - Premier-designate Mario Draghi will start talks with Italy's political parties on Thursday in the Lower House after the former head of the European Central Bank (ECB) was handed a mandate by President Sergio Mattarella to try and form a new government. Outgoing Premier Giuseppe Conte quit last week after the centrist Italia Viva (IV) party pulled its support for his executive, depriving it of a majority in the Senate. Mattarella, who as president is the arbiter of Italian politics, on Tuesday called on the parties in parliament to get behind a high-profile non-political executive after efforts to patch up the alliance that had backed Conte's government failed. Draghi, who said Wednesday that his priorities will be defeating the COVID-19 pandemic and "relaunching" the country, must now see if an eventual government led by him will have a working majority in parliament. The consultations with the parties are expected to last a couple of days. It is not certain that a Draghi government would be able to enjoy a comfortable majority. Ex-premier and IV leader Matteo Renzi has welcomed the decision to give Draghi a mandate. Two other parties in what was the ruling alliance, the centre-left Democratic Party (PC) and the left-wing LeU group, may well back it too. But the other former coalition partner, the 5-Star Movement (M5S), has said it wants a "political" executive. There is also speculation that the divisions within the M5S could lead to a full-blown split. League leader Matteo Salvini, whose party is top in the polls and is the driving force of the centre-right opposition, has indicated he could give some support to a Draghi government as long as it is for a limited period of time and the nation has early elections in the near future. Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) also appears ready to cooperate with Draghi. But the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) has reiterated that it wants elections as soon as possible. Draghi envisions a cabinet made up of non-political technocrats like himself, sources said. But the parties of the former ruling coalition are reportedly pushing for a cabinet made of a mix of experts and political figures. (ANSA).
Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, say goodbye to law and order Joe.

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Britain is on course to vaccinate all over-50s against Covid-19 by April 7 at the current rate of immunisation, MailOnline estimates reveal as debate rages through Government about when lockdown can be lifted.

It comes after vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi, Chris Whitty and SAGE scientists have signaled that they want all over-50s to be offered an injection to keep hospitalisations low before society reopens.

The protection offered by one dose of coronavirus vaccine takes two to three weeks to kick in, the latest evidence suggests, meaning the UK would be on track for measures to be lifted at the end of April at the current rate.

If the UK vaccine drive accelerates from last week's daily average of 345,000 people per day and is able to sustain its maximum rate of 600,000 doses a day, then the over-50s target could be hit by mid-March.

Department of Health sources were keen to downplay hopes, however, and said that giving out second doses could significantly slow down the rollout from March, while Mr Zahawi said the country could not be 100 per cent confident of vaccine supply.

But anti-lockdown Tory MPs are pushing for measures including school reopening to be eased sooner when the 15million most vulnerable people are vaccinated by mid-February  but Boris Johnson has ruled out any lockdown relaxation before March 8.

Sceptics claim the 'goalposts are being shifted' and the focus is moving away from controlling deaths and hospitalisations with dire warnings about the threat of mutant coronavirus and continued strain on the NHS.

Mark Harper, chair of the lockdown-sceptic CRG block, said once the top nine groups are vaccinated, which he believes is likely to be by the end of May, restrictions should be lifted altogether. And former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith told MailOnline: 'The trouble is they are now being beaten up by the scientists. The scientists are giving them all sorts of new reasons why you can't unlock.

'Of course for the scientists it doesn't make any difference really because they get paid anyway.'

Experts estimate that the effects of mass vaccination could start to show through in falling numbers of people being admitted to hospital in mid-February, and then significantly fewer people dying from March. They said there would also be an impact on infections, perhaps sooner, but this would be less noticeable.

The UK today announced a further 20,634 coronavirus cases and 915 deaths  both down a quarter on last week. Another 469,016 people got their first vaccine dose yesterday, taking this week's total to 1.19million in just three days. Mr Zahawi said one in five adults have received a first jab already, with nine in 10 over-75s reached.

One researcher, Leeds University's Professor Daniel Howdon, said there appears to already have been approximately 25 per cent declines in death rates among over-80s since December, although it is not yet clear whether this is a result of vaccination.

And Professor Karl Friston, a neuroscientist and disease modeller at University College London, today claimed Britain 'might attain herd immunity by as early as July', although he admitted to being 'optimistic' and said the true success of the vaccination programme will depend on how well the jabs prevent the virus from spreading.

Claiming that between only 50 and 70 per cent protection via vaccination or natural immunity could be enough to thwart the virus, he said: 'The bottom line is that vaccination appears to be having a tangible effect on confirmed new cases and daily death rates recorded over the past few weeks.'

At a rate of 345,000 first doses per day  the current average  it will take until February 17 to vaccinate all of the top four priority groups, and then the remaining 17million over-50s and at-risk people could be reached in 49 days, or seven weeks, by April 7. At an average rate of 600,000 per day from today onwards  something the NHS has shown itself to be capable of, but which would require a lot of things to go right such as constant supplies, perfect organisation and even faster rates as people start to need second doses from mid-March  the first four groups could be done by Februayr 11 and all over-50s by March 12

Analysis shared on Twitter by Professor Daniel Howdon, a health economist at the University of Leeds, suggested there appears to already have been approximately 25 per cent declines in death rates among over-80s, although it is not yet clear whether this is a result of vaccination. This graph shows how the death rate among 85 to 89-year-old people started declining in January even when the outbreak was around its peak, which he said could be linked to vaccine coverage

The Covid-19 Actuaries Response Group, an organisation of volunteer experts, said in January that the effects of the UK's mass vaccine rollout would start to be seen in falling hospital admissions and deaths from mid-February, and then in reduced death rates from March. There would also be a drop in infection rates but this will be less noticeable. The research was produced before the vaccine programme hit its current speed, on January 11

University of Warwick research published in January, before the current vaccination data became available, suggested that if a vaccine could prevent 65% of transmission, as Oxford now says its vaccine does, the country's death rate could be kept to the low hundreds per day or fewer from late March onwards if the rule of six is kept in place. The model is based on a large majority of the population having a vaccine with that level of effectiveness

But modelling handed to SAGE in January predicted that easing restrictions from mid-February will cause a third wave of coronavirus that will peak at more than 1,000 deaths a day.

However, while the rollout is expected to speed up, there is still a 'lumpy' supply chain and ministers insist 'our limiting factor remains supply', which Mr Zahawi said today was 'becoming more stable'. Other barriers to full speed vaccination may be the fact that only some GP surgeries are working on Sundays, and people will start to need second doses from early March, which will limit the numbers of unique people who can be reached.

WHY CAN'T WE VACCINATE PEOPLE FASTER? The UK's vaccination programme, while rocketing ahead at a rate of around 400,000 people per day this week, is being held back from going faster by limits in supply, Government ministers say, and there may also be bottlenecks in delivery at the weekends, with some GP surgeries not offering jabs on Sundays. SUPPLY Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, was pressed today on how long it would take to complete vaccination of the 31million people in the nine priority groups. He said: 'I don't want to commit to a date without going through it with a very fine toothcomb with the whole team, because our limiting factor is the supply of vaccines ultimately. 'With any manufacturing process, especially one that is new, there are challenges around that, as we've seen in Europe and as we saw in the early days in the UK as well.' Pfizer and AstraZeneca, the manufacturers of the jabs being used in Britain, have both faced manufacturing problems in recent weeks. Pfizer had to scale back its deliveries in January while it upgraded its factory in Belgium, and AstraZeneca took longer than expected to reach its 2million doses per week target for the UK because early batches were less fruitful than expected. AstraZeneca, which manufactures in the UK, has also been embroiled in a bitter row with the EU over cutting back the continent's supplies  although both the company and the UK Government have insisted this hasn't hit British stockpiles. Matt Hancock yesterday described the UK's 'lumpy supply' when asked about a dip in vaccination numbers on Sundays. DELIVERY Lower jab numbers on Sundays has emerged as a trend in recent weeks and doctors have admitted not all GP surgeries offering vaccines are open on a Sunday. Several GPs, who asked not to be named, told MailOnline that a large number of practices shut on Sundays and do not offer appointments  despite No10 insisting the immunisation drive is 24/7 operation. It echoed claims made by Scotland's national clinical director yesterday who said the closure of surgeries on Sundays was hampering the vaccine rollout north of the border. The Royal College of GPs said said family doctors were 'doing everything they can' to get the vaccine to those who need it most, with 'some' but not all practices providing services seven days a week. Economists from the Institute for Economic Affairs told MailOnline that there is 'no incentive' for family doctors, who've been juggling the vaccine rollout and battling Covid on the frontlines of the second wave, to work seven days a week. It suggested GPs be offered commission on every jab done on a weekend. Advertisement

At least one more vaccine should also come into use in March  Moderna's  with the possibility of Johnson & Johnson and Novavax jabs also getting approval before then.

The current rate of the NHS's vaccination programme shows it is on target to hit its target of offering jabs to the 15million most vulnerable people by mid-February. Last week's rate means it needs just two more weeks to get there.

Officials say they will 'offer' the vaccine to everyone rather than say they will successfully give it to them, because some are likely to refuse to have the jab and others won't be able to have it for medical reasons.

The 15m people include everyone over the age of 70 as well as NHS and social care workers, and those with serious long-term health conditions that put them at a high risk of dying if they catch Covid-19.

Although they are the number one priority for the Government, there are now concerns that vaccinating them alone will not be enough to end the brutal national lockdown.

There are 17million people over the age of 50 who make up priority groups four to nine and who will need to be reached once the top four priority groups have been done.

At a rate of 345,000 first doses per day  last week's average  this would take 49 days, or seven weeks. From February 17 that would mean they could all be reached by April 7.

At an average rate of 600,000 per day from today onwards  something the NHS has shown itself to be capable of, but which would require a lot of things to go right such as constant supplies, perfect organisation and even faster rates as people start to need second doses from mid-March  the first four groups could be done by February 11.

Then it would take just 29 days to reach the 17million outstanding over-50s and high-risk people; four weeks and a day, ending on March 12.

After the most at-risk groups have been vaccinated, the Government plans to offer jabs to everyone aged 18 and over in the UK. There will be around 21million of them left by this point, according to the JCVI.

At the realistic 345,000-per-day rate this could be achieved in 61 days  from April 7 this would take until June 7.

At the hyper-fast 600,000 per day  which would likely be impossible by this point because millions of people would be having their second doses, soaking up most of the NHS's daily capacity  it would take 35 days. From March 12, this would end on April 16.

The estimates are based on an unlikely 100 per cent uptake rate and on the country having a big enough supply to cope with the number of doses needed each day which, from March, will include second doses for people who got their first jab at the start of the programme.

Politicians and scientists alike have trumpeted the success of the vaccine rollout so far and are optimistic it will bring the epidemic to an end.

UCL's Professor Karl Friston has modelled the impact of the vaccine rollout, considering how immunity from vaccines and from past infection among the millions of people who have had the virus already could impact the R rate.

He suggests that 'herd immunity', a state in which the virus struggles to spread, or can't spread at all, because so few people are susceptible to it, could be reached by the summer.

He said today: 'The bottom line is that vaccination appears to be having a tangible effect on confirmed new cases and daily death rates recorded over the past few weeks.

15% OF BRITS 'REFUSING COVID VACCINE' WITH RATES HIGHER IN BAME GROUPS About 15 per cent of Britons are refusing the coronavirus jab and uptake rates are lowest among ethnic minorities, Britain's vaccine tsar revealed today. Nadhim Zahawi, the Covid jab deployment minister, said it's the highest uptake of any vaccination programme run by the NHS, including the annual flu jab. But Mr Zahawi, who was born in Iraq and moved to the UK aged nine, added although figures suggest uptake is high, vaccine hesitancy 'is skewed heavily towards BAME communities'. Scientists believe uptake of 85 per cent would be enough to achieve herd immunity, when so many people are immune to a disease that it peters out. Mr Zahawi told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'At the moment this is the highest uptake of any vaccination programme including all of the flu vaccination programmes the NHS have run. 'So currently the UK is a standout country in terms of people wanting to keep themselves safe by being vaccinated and keep their families and communities safe.' SAGE  number 10's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies  has warned low uptake among minority groups could pose a 'significant risk' to Britain's vaccine drive if enough people turn the jab down. Advertisement

'If the vaccination programme continues to unfold at its current pace  and lockdown is eased gradually as a function of declining prevalence  we might attain herd immunity by as early as July.

'This encouraging (perhaps optimistic) forecast accommodates fluctuations in viral transmissibility. However, there is a lot of uncertainty about transmission risk that should nuance any interpretation of these predictions.

'These long-term predictions reflect a material response to the third lockdown that is clearly evident in declining incidence, hospital admissions and daily death rates. At present, the reproduction ratio is estimated to be the lowest it has been since late April but is likely to rise gently again as restrictions are eased over the forthcoming months.'

Professor Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, said at a Downing Street press conference last night that it now looks as though all over-50s will need to be immunised in order to stop hospitals loading up with Covid patients again.

He said: 'If you look at the situation for people that have gone into hospital only 54 per cent of all the people who go into hospital are over that age [70].

'So what this means is that once we vaccinated down to 70 and above  plus those who care for them, frontline NHS staff and frontline care workers  we should significantly reduce the number of deaths.

'But we will reduce by a much smaller number the number of people going into hospital...

'If we vaccinate all the way down to the people over 50, and those who have actually got pre-existing health conditions, you then get through virtually all the people who have a high chance of dying.

'So this is around 98 per cent of those who die are in that group. Importantly around 80 per cent, just over 80 per cent of all of those who go into hospital.'

Professor Whitty added: 'So the first wave which is the aim is to complete on the 15th of February we would expect a situation where we can stop a very high proportion of the deaths but rather a smaller proportion of the pressure on the NHS - those very large numbers in hospital.

'As you go onto the next wave, down to those over 50 we have further in roads into reducing deaths and also significantly reduce the pressure on the NHS.'

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi appeared to indicate this morning that the government is looking at the top nine risk categories as the trigger point for a widespread downgrading of measures. So far the PM has only said that he will unveil a route map out of lockdown on February 22, after the first four most vulnerable groups have been covered.

SIGN OF DEATH RATES STARTING TO DECLINE IN OVER-80S, SCIENTIST CLAIMS Professor Daniel Howdon, a health economist at the University of Leeds, revealed on Twitter that the fatality rate among over-80s appears to be falling fast in the wake of the vaccination programme. He said: 'All 80+ groups are showing quite big (~25%) falls in the CFR [case fatality ratio] vs 75-79 group. All very tentative for now but I think of interest.' Professor Howdon, using Public Health England data, noted that the proportion of Covid-positive people over the age of 90 who were dying appeared to have dropped from 46.8 per cent at January's peak to 34.7 per cent in the most recent week. In 85 to 89-year-olds it fell from 40.6 per cent to 30.5 per cent, he said, in 80 to 84-year-olds it dropped from 32.9 to 24.4 per cent, and in 75 to 79-year-olds from 20.6 to 17.6 per cent. A graph shared by Professor Howdon showed how the death rate among 85 to 89-year-old people started declining in January even when the outbreak was around its peak, which he said could be linked to vaccine coverage He said that less pressure on hospitals or longer lags between people catching the virus and dying could account for these effects but also suggested it was 'not too unreasonable' to expect to see an effect from vaccines. Over-80s have been getting vaccinated since December 8, with more than 80 per cent of them now having had a first dose. Professor Howdon added he was 'going to keep an eye on it. Even if this isn't an effect now, if vaccination reduces deaths more than cases then we should see one soon enough.' Advertisement

Mr Zahawi declined to give a date for when the first nine groups in the priority list will have received their vaccine, but said people could 'do the maths'.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Nadhim Zahawi said: 'We will set out our target (for vaccinating groups 5-9) after we have hit our February 15 target.

'But you can do the maths. We did 600,000 in a single day  the deployment infrastructure that we've built can do as much vaccines as we get supply, so the limiting factor will be vaccine supply.

'You can see that in the next 10 or so days, we've got to do another almost touching five million and so if we keep that rate up we will very quickly go down the list of the top nine.'

Pressed on whether that meant it would take another 35 days from February 15 to have jabbed all 31 million people in the first nine cohorts, Mr Zahawi replied: 'That assumes the supply, so I don't want to commit to a date without going through it with a very fine toothcomb with the whole team, because our limiting factor is the supply of vaccines ultimately.

'With any manufacturing process, especially one that is new, there are challenges around that, as we've seen in Europe and as we saw in the early days in the UK as well.'

Meanwhile, SAGE member Professor Andrew Hayward gave a similar message as he said there could be a 'significant return to normality' after all over-50s are vaccinated.

'Once the most vulnerable people, particularly those over 50 and those with chronic illnesses, are vaccinated then yes I think we can see a significant return to normality,' he said.

However, Prof Hayward said he still hoped the UK will be 'more or less back to normal for the summer'.

Experts have warned that lockdown must not be lifted too soon or an uncontrollable third wave of Covid could begin and kill thousands more people, smashing through efforts to protect the country with vaccines.

Warwick University experts on the Government's SAGE committee said in a paper published last week that easing restrictions too soon could case deaths to spike back above 1,000 per day, even with effective vaccines in play.

They explained that even though the vaccines we have appear to work very well, not everyone can or will accept the jab, and no vaccine can ever protect 100 per cent of the people who do get it.

People who couldn't be vaccinated for medical reasons  those who have an extremely weak immune system, for example  will not be protected, and neither will people who turned the jab down, or those in the proportion of people who it fails to protect. A 95 per cent effective vaccine, for example, would still allow five out of 100 people to get Covid-19.

OXFORD JAB CUTTING TRANSMISSION 'COULD SAVE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF LIVES' Oxford's Covid vaccine could save tens of thousands of lives because it can cut the likelihood of catching coronavirus and passing it on by around two thirds, scientists say. Modelling produced by SAGE members from Warwick University predicted that more than 150,000 more people could die in 2021 if lockdown rules were lifted in March or April and vaccines did not stop people from spreading the virus. But with a 60 per cent infection-blocking capability  slightly lower than the 67 per cent that Oxford claims its vaccine is capable of  this could be halved, saving tens of thousands of lives. This is critical because uptake will not be 100 per cent and not everyone who gets the vaccine will be protected by it, meaning the virus will still be a danger to some. Lifting lockdown after vaccinating people with jabs that don't stop the spread, the Warwick experts warned, would lead to 'an uncontrolled wave of infection in which only those successfully immunised will escape.' Research published in January by the University of Warwick suggested that if a vaccine could prevent 65% of transmission, as Oxford now says its vaccine does, the country's death rate could be kept to the low hundreds per day or fewer from late March onwards if the rule of six is kept in place. The model is based on a large majority of the population having a vaccine with that level of effectiveness And even doing so with the Oxford vaccine rolled out to millions of people could still lead to a spike of 1,500 deaths per day if lockdown was lifted in February in exchange for the rule of six, or 2,000 per day if lockdown ends completely in July. Looking at how the daily death counts could change over the course of 2021, the experts found that only vaccines blocking 85 per cent of infections, and a gradual release of lockdown rules over the course of the year, would stop thousands more from dying. Jabs that block 60 per cent of infections might still allow the peak of daily deaths to hit 2,000 per day if lockdown was lifted gradually but completely from February to August, they found. The peak would likely come in September. The daily death count would be closer to 2,500 with vaccines that didn't block infections, or around 700 for ones that blocked 85 per cent. Those peaks would be earlier, in the summer. On easing lockdown over the course of the entire year, into around December 2021, would lead to a peak of just under 1,500 deaths per day for the 60 per cent infection-blocking jab, with the peak in January 2022. Advertisement

The discovery that Oxford's vaccine appears to cut the risk of someone catching coronavirus and passing it on by two thirds is promising and suggests it could slash transmission even between people with mild symptoms or none, which would dampen a third wave.

But the Warwick experts, in research produced before the vaccination programme hit its current levels of success, warned that at least 50,000 people are likely to die in 2021 and this could be much higher if rules are lifted too soon.

The wrote in their paper: 'Even maintaining [early September] levels of NPI [non-pharmaceutical interventions; social distancing rules] control and having a highly efficacious vaccine we estimate over fifty thousand deaths are likely to occur from January 2021 due to the slow decline in cases from its current high level.

'Early relaxation of control measures or low infection efficacy can lead to a pronounced subsequent wave of infection.

'If we wish to completely lift all restrictions once both phases of the vaccination campaign are complete, we predict a substantial outbreak with a large number of associated deaths.

'When the vaccine is not infection blocking, removing NPIs triggers an uncontrolled wave of infection in which only those successfully immunised will escape.'

They predicted that between 99,000 and 123,000 more people could die in 2021 if lockdown and social distancing come to an end, even in an 'optimistic' vaccine scenario.

In less gloomy news, however, some experts claim they are already starting to see the effects of vaccination in the death rates of the most elderly people in the country.

Professor Daniel Howdon, a health economist at the University of Leeds, revealed on Twitter that the fatality rate among over-80s appears to be falling fast in the wake of the vaccination programme.

He said: 'All 80+ groups are showing quite big (~25%) falls in the CFR [case fatality ratio] vs 75-79 group. All very tentative for now but I think of interest.'

Professor Howdon, using Public Health England data, noted that the proportion of Covid-positive people over the age of 90 who were dying appeared to have dropped from 46.8 per cent at January's peak to 34.7 per cent in the most recent week.

In 85 to 89-year-olds it fell from 40.6 per cent to 30.5 per cent, he said, in 80 to 84-year-olds it dropped from 32.9 to 24.4 per cent, and in 75 to 79-year-olds from 20.6 to 17.6 per cent.

He said that less pressure on hospitals or longer lags between people catching the virus and dying could account for these effects but also suggested it was 'not too unreasonable' to expect to see an effect from vaccines.

Professor Howdon added he was 'going to keep an eye on it. Even if this isn't an effect now, if vaccination reduces deaths more than cases then we should see one soon enough.'

Tory anger is mounting over 'goalpost shifting' on lockdown today as ministers and scientists suggested all over-50s should get vaccines before any 'significant' easing.

Pressure is growing on Boris Johnson to commit to a major relaxation of the draconian measures within weeks, after the UK's rollout of jabs hit the milestone of 10million people covered.

But there is alarm that the bar for allowing the economy to get back up and running is being lifted, with dire warnings about the threat of mutant coronavirus added to concerns about the strain on the NHS.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi appeared to indicate this morning that the government is looking at the top nine risk categories - around 32million people - as the trigger point for a widespread downgrading of measures. So far the PM has only said that he will unveil a route map out of lockdown on February 22, after the first four most vulnerable groups have been covered.

Mr Zahawi refused to give a date for when the nine categories in phase one of the rollout will be complete.

Meanwhile, SAGE member Professor Andrew Hayward gave a similar message as he said there could be a 'significant return to normality' after all over-50s are vaccinated.

BENEFITS OF VACCINE SCHEME COULD SHOW WITHIN WEEKS Experts on the Covid-19 Actuaries Response Group of volunteers say that the effects of the Covid vaccine programme could start to be seen within weeks. The number of people being admitted to hospital with Covid-19 and dying of it could begin to fall from mid-February, they predicted, and then the numbers of people dying could begin to come down from early March. They said: 'We know from the medical trial data that it is possible to be infected up to two weeks after the first shot.' And it may now only take a couple more weeks for the effects of mass vaccination to show through in data. Now that more than 10million have had a vaccine  one in every five adults in the UK  and around half of them were vaccinated two weeks ago so now have protection against Covid, there may be enough coverage to impact on the spread of the virus and rates of serious illness. The report published by the Actuaries Response Group estimated that vaccination would impact data showing cases after 20 days (although this would be a small impact because the numbers are much larger), for hospitalisations it would show after 26 days, for hospital deaths 34 days and for officially recorded deaths, 47 days. It said: 'There are many variables which will impact the actual benefits that we see as the vaccine rolls out, most notably the speed of the roll-out, but also the vaccine effectiveness and the take-up in the various groups offered the vaccine. 'The other factor is the overall infectivity in the country  all of the results we show are expressed as proportional reductions from any given starting point, rather than as absolute figures. 'Nevertheless, if the programme goes reasonably to plan it can be expected that there will be an 85 per cent to 90 per cent reduction in Covid-19 deaths by the middle of March, although the reporting of this will take a little longer to emerge completely.' Advertisement

'Once the most vulnerable people, particularly those over 50 and those with chronic illnesses, are vaccinated then yes I think we can see a significant return to normality,' he said.

However, Professor Hayward said he still hoped the UK will be 'more or less back to normal for the summer'.

There were claims today that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is again leading calls within Cabinet for lockdown to be eased as early as possible - in contrast to the more cautious tone adopted by Mr Johnson recently.

A supporter of Mr Sunak told the Telegraph: 'Rishi is concerned that the scientists have been moving the goalposts in recent weeks. It's no longer just about hospitalisations and protecting the NHS but cases and case numbers.'

They said Mr Sunak was adamant this third national squeeze must be the final lockdown and heralded it a 'fat lady sings moment' - the point at which Britain draws a line under a cycle of lockdowns for good.

Treasury sources played down the reports this morning, insisting those are 'not things he has said'. But they were hailed by lockdown-sceptic Tory MPs, who said he was 'quite right'.

Asked on Today whether the government was shifting the goalposts on when lockdown can ease, Mr Zahawi said: 'I think you've got to make sure your vaccination programme has protected the top nine categories in phase one...'

He reiterated that the PM will set out a roadmap and the intention is for restrictions to loosen 'gradually' from March 8, starting with schools.

Mr Zahawi declined to give a date for when the first nine groups in the priority list will have received their vaccine, but said people could 'do the maths'.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Nadhim Zahawi said: 'We will set out our target (for vaccinating groups 5-9) after we have hit our February 15 target.

'But you can do the maths. We did 600,000 in a single day  the deployment infrastructure that we've built can do as much vaccines as we get supply, so the limiting factor will be vaccine supply.

'You can see that in the next 10 or so days, we've got to do another almost touching five million and so if we keep that rate up we will very quickly go down the list of the top nine.'

Pressed on whether that meant it would take another 35 days from February 15 to have jabbed all 31 million people in the first nine cohorts, Mr Zahawi replied: 'That assumes the supply, so I don't want to commit to a date without going through it with a very fine toothcomb with the whole team, because our limiting factor is the supply of vaccines ultimately.

'With any manufacturing process, especially one that is new, there are challenges around that, as we've seen in Europe and as we saw in the early days in the UK as well.'

More than 75 years since the Swedish painter Hilma af Klint died in obscurity and two years after she became an overseas word-of-mouth sensation, the Art Gallery of NSW is to launch the first major survey of the artist in the Asia Pacific.

Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings will open on June 12, supported by Destination NSW which is banking on the show driving local and interstate tourism with its mystery of a pioneering abstract artist and occultist who believed her art was a revelation from higher guides from the spirit world.

Hilma af Klint at her studio at Hamngatan 5, Stockholm, circa 1895. Credit:Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm

The first major solo exhibition of the artists work in the US in 2019 was both a critical and commercial success, breaking the Guggenheim Museums audience records.

During her lifetime, the private af Klint produced more than 1300 paintings, most of which were rarely seen or exhibited. Upon her death in 1944 aged 81, she also left 124 notebooks with the stipulation that her work should not be publicly displayed until 20 years after her passing.
The Supreme People's Court (SPC) has ruled that appeal cases in which defendants have been sentenced to death should be heard in a courtroom by second-instance courts, in the SPC's latest interpretation of the revised Criminal Procedure Law.

The judicial interpretation issued Thursday by the SPC also stipulates that appeal hearings should also apply where those facing the death penalty have been given a two-year reprieve.

SPC official Shen Liang hailed the interpretation, which further clarifies the capital case trial procedures, as an important measure to strictly enforce the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law.

It will help strengthen human rights protection in the judicial process and prevent wrongful convictions, Shen said.

In hearing second-instance cases with a suspended death sentence, a comprehensive review of the facts found in the first-instance judgment and the applicable law will be conducted in strict accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law, with a focus on the disputed or questionable parts of the first-instance judgment, according to Shen.

The revised Criminal Procedure Law was adopted by China's top legislature in October 2018, the third revision after the law was promulgated in 1979.


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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lupaka Gold Corp. ("Lupaka" or the Company") (TSX-V: LPK, FRA: LQP) provides an update on progress with its international arbitration claim against the Republic of Peru.



After a number of minor delays due to the holiday period and the required sourcing of available candidates with the agreed profile, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has provided a final list of candidates for the third and final arbitrator to chair the Tribunal.

With this list complete, the parties will indicate their preferences and ICSID will then make the final decision as to the third arbitrator within the next few weeks. Please note that Lupaka and the Republic of Peru have previously appointed their respective arbitrators. Once the chair is appointed, the Tribunals initial steps will be to organize the procedural rules and calendar for the remainder of the proceedings.

For ongoing updates with respect to the arbitration, please refer to the Companys website (www.lupakagold.com/projects/arbitration).

For background on the basis for the arbitration please refer to the Companys previous news releases, also available on the website (www.lupakagold.com/news/#2020).



With respect to the arbitration proceedings, Lupaka is represented by the international law firm, LALIVE (www.lalive.law), and has the financial backing of Bench Walk Advisors (www.benchwalk.com).

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 this news release.

About Lupaka Gold

Lupaka is an active Canadian-based company focused on creating shareholder value through identification and development of mining assets.

About Bench Walk Advisors

Bench Walk Advisors is a global litigation financier with over USD 250m of capital deployed across in excess of 100 commercial cases. Bench Walk and its principals have consistently been ranked as leading lawyers and litigation funders in various global directories.

About LALIVE

LALIVE is an international law firm with offices in Geneva, Zurich and London, that specializes in international dispute resolution. The firm has extensive experience in international investment arbitration in the mining sector, amongst others, and is currently representing investors and States as counsel worldwide.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Gordon Ellis, C.E.O.

gellis@lupakagold.com

Tel: (604) 985-3147

or visit the Companys profile at www.sedar.com or its website at www.lupakagold.com
By Ivan Ssenabulya

The International Criminal Court has convicted former LRA Senior commander Dominic Ongwen 61 counts of the 70 charges he was battling.

The convicted crimes comprised war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed to civilians in IDP camps of Lukodi, Pajule, Idek and Poka between October 2003 and June 2004 in Northern Uganda.

Ongwen was tried by a panel of three judges presided over by Bertram Schmitt, who found him guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the charges.

The panel based the verdict on evidence of over 100 witnesses during the trial which kicked off on 6th December 2016.

Prosecution brought 69 witnesses and the Defense team used 54 witnesses including experts and legal representative of the victims.

Ongwen, is the first member of the Lords Resistance Army to appear before ICC and to be convicted.
BENGALURU, India, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Beginning in January of 2021, ACL Digital, part of the ALTEN Group and based in the Silicon Valley has partnered with Infosim GmbH & Co., as a worldwide system integrator of StableNet.

As Telecom Operators and Managed Service Providers seek new revenue opportunities, legacy Operations Support Systems (OSS) domains and complex multi-vendor infrastructures continue to pose significant barrier in transitioning to an on-Demand Digital Service Provider paradigm.

Developed entirely at its headquarters in Germany, StableNet is a highly automated network & service management solution that allows for the maintenance and oversight of complex networks through a single graphical user interface (GUI). Infosim and ACL Digital would jointly address challenges of Global Market Network & Service Management Automation Themes in the area of Hybrid-Network Visibility, Consumer Experience Management, Multi-Cloud Monitoring, as well as Network & Services Operations.

"Infosim C3 mantra for Cross Silos, Cross Technologies, and Cross Vendors is integral to ACL Digital's Telco Cloud and Edge Cloud competency. We are excited and equally confident that our partnership with Infosim would address the most intricate challenges faced by Service Providers globally. We believe that this strategic partnership will enable an enhanced value proposition to our clients," said ACL Digital CEO Ramandeep Singh.

"The cooperation between Infosim and ACL Digital has the potential to open the way for many exciting opportunities across the globe. We are encouraged by ACL Digital's holistic, innovative approach towards digital transformation and we see a shared commitment to finding long-term, customer-centric solutions," said Infosim CEO Dr. Stefan Kohler.

ABOUT ACL Digital

ACL Digital is a design-led Digital Experience, Product Innovation, Experience Infrastructure, and Consulting offerings leader. A pioneer in delivering Business Innovation, Integration and Transformation through disruptive technologies, ACL Digital brings in competitive advantage and fresh perspectives to address the most prevalent business and technology challenges. Our market-proven framework, design patterns, virtualized components, and accelerators help Telco & Networking enterprises in their journey towards next-gen solutions. ACL Digital portfolio of network transformation services at a high level includes 5G, 4G, Edge and MEC, Service Orchestration and Cloud Infrastructure Automation Orchestration, Network Security and SASE.

With a multi-cultural and transnational talent and as part of the ALTEN Group comprising over 37,000 employees spread across more than 25 countries, it promotes a collaborative knowledge-building environment.

ABOUT Infosim

Infosim is a leading provider of automated Service Fulfillment and Service Assurance solutions for Telcos, ISPs, Managed Service Providers, and Corporations. Since 2003, Infosim has been developing and improving upon StableNet for its Telco and Enterprise customers. Infosim is privately held with offices in Germany (Wuerzburg - Headquarters), USA (Austin, TX), and Singapore. Infosim takes pride in the engineering excellence of its high quality and high performance products, made possible by its team of highly-skilled and committed employees. All products are available for a trial period and professional services for proof of concept (POC) can be provided upon request.

ABOUT StableNet

Infosim develops and markets StableNet, the leading automated network and services management platform with a 4-in-1 solution that combines Inventory, Configuration, Fault, and Performance Management. It is available in two versions: Telco (for Telecom Operators and ISPs) and Enterprise (for IT and Managed Service Providers). Given the many operational and technical challenges of managing distributed and mission-critical IT infrastructures, StableNet is the vendor-independent solution in today's multi-vendor environment.

SOURCE ACL Digital

COLUMBIA, Md., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) will conduct its first-ever series of observations from Germany in March 2021. Many of the observations seek to answer fundamental questions in astronomy, including how stars can transform galaxies and what is the origin of cosmic rays in the Milky Way galaxy.

SOFIA, a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center, DLR, recently completed scheduled maintenance and telescope upgrades at Lufthansa Technik's facility in Hamburg, Germany. Now, the observatory will take advantage of its proximity to science teams at the Max-Planck Institute of Radio Astronomy in Bonn and the University of Cologne, which operate the Instrument called German Receiver at Terahertz Frequencies, or GREAT, to conduct research flights from the Cologne Bonn Airport.

"We're taking advantage of SOFIA's ability to observe from almost anywhere in the world to conduct compelling astronomical investigations," said Paul Hertz, director of astrophysics at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This observing campaign from Germany is an excellent example of the cooperation between NASA and DLR that has been a strength of the SOFIA program for over 25 years."

SOFIA regularly goes to Christchurch, New Zealand, to study objects only visible in the skies over the Southern Hemisphere and completed one science flight from Germany in 2019. But this is the first time a multi-flight observing campaign will be conducted over European soil. Over the course of six weeks, SOFIA will conduct about 20 overnight research flights that will focus on high priority observations, including several large programs that were rescheduled from spring 2020 due to the COVID -19 pandemic.

With new COVID-19 safety procedures in place, SOFIA will use its GREAT instrument to search for signatures of celestial molecules, ions and atoms that are key to unlocking some of the secrets of the universe.

The observations include:

How Stars Affect Their Surroundings

In stellar nurseries like Cygnus X, newborn stars can destroy the clouds in which they're born. Researchers will use SOFIA to create a map of ionized carbon, a gas the young stars are heating, to better understand this process. Ionized carbon's chemical fingerprint can determine the speed of the gas at all positions across the celestial clouds. The signal is so strong that it reveals critical details that are otherwise hidden from view deep inside natal clouds. The data may also help explain the source of the mysterious bubble-like structures that were detected by the Herschel Space Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope but have yet to be fully understood.

Searching for Clues About Cosmic Rays

The team will search for gases that can reveal the presence of cosmic rays, highly energetic charged particles that stream through our Milky Way galaxy. When a hydrogen atom combines with another element, such as argon or oxygen, simple molecules called hydrides are formed, some of which can be used to find cosmic rays. While cosmic rays can be detected directly within our solar system, astronomers know much less about their presence elsewhere in space. By measuring the concentration of hydride molecules, SOFIA's observations will help researchers understand how common cosmic rays are in different parts of our galaxy, providing clues about the origin of these mysterious particles.

Understanding the Evolution of The Cigar Galaxy, or M82

SOFIA previously found that the Cigar galaxy's powerful wind, driven by the galaxy's high rate of star birth, is aligned along the magnetic field lines and transports a huge amount of material out of the galaxy. Now, researchers will study ionized carbon gas, which traces star formation, to learn how this intense star birth and wind are affecting the evolution of the galaxy.

About GREAT

SOFIA's GREAT instrument works like a radio receiver. Scientists tune to the frequency of the molecule they're searching for, like tuning an FM radio to the right station. The instrument can also look for changes in signals that provide insights into how stars affect their surroundings, similar to how a radar gun bounces a signal off a moving car to determine its speed.

About SOFIA

SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center. NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley manages the SOFIA program, science, and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association, headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute at the University of Stuttgart. The aircraft is maintained and operated by NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703, in Palmdale, California.

About USRA

Founded in 1969, under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences at the request of the U.S. Government, the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) is a nonprofit corporation chartered to advance space-related science, technology and engineering. USRA operates scientific institutes and facilities, and conducts other major research and educational programs, under Federal funding. USRA engages the university community and employs in-house scientific leadership, innovative research and development, and project management expertise. More information about USRA is available at www.usra.edu.

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Collingwood star Jordan De Goey  who has appeared before court for the first time on a charge of indecent assault  will face a contested hearing in August, towards the end of the 2021 AFL season.

Mr De Goey appeared via a video link before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday after he was last year charged with indecently assaulting a woman in Kew in 2015, when he was 19 and in his first year with the Magpies.

Jordan De Goey at Collingwood training last month. Credit:Getty Images

Charge sheets allege Mr De Goey, 24, and co-accused Jake Edginton, 25, indecently assaulted the woman on June 21, 2015. Collingwood were not playing that weekend as the team had a bye.

Both men are yet to formally enter a plea but will contest their charges at a three-day hearing to start on August 9. A magistrate alone will rule whether the men are guilty or not guilty. Both are on bail.
OTTAWA - A bill to expand access to medical assistance in dying has emerged intact from a Senate committee but it's not likely to remain unscathed for long.

Conservative Sen. Don Plett arrives to the Senate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on October 28, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - A bill to expand access to medical assistance in dying has emerged intact from a Senate committee but it's not likely to remain unscathed for long.

The Senate's legal and constitutional affairs committee accepted the bill Wednesday in a matter of minutes, without amendment.

But it did so only because members agreed in advance to hold off proposing amendments until the legislation returns next week to the Senate for final debate.

And several senators made it clear they fully intend to propose amendments when the time comes.

"We can debate this at length at third reading, we can do amendments at third reading," said Sen. Don Plett, leader of the Conservative Senate caucus.

"As I don't think it is any secret, I am inherently opposed to the entire piece of legislation ... There are a few of us. I'm not alone."

Indeed, it has become clear during the committee's extensive hearings on the bill that many senators have profound objections  some, like Plett, because they think it goes too far and others because they think it doesn't go far enough.

Committee members essentially agreed to shelve their concerns for now, in the interests of getting the bill back to the Senate as a whole quickly.

The government wants the legislation passed by Feb. 26  the thrice-extended, court-imposed deadline for complying with a 2019 Quebec Superior Court ruling which struck down a provision that allows assisted dying only for those who are nearing the natural end of their lives.

That deadline could still be in jeopardy if, as seems likely, the Senate makes substantial amendments to the bill. The amended version would have to go back to the House of Commons to decide whether to accept or reject the amendments before shipping it back to the Senate, where senators would have to decide whether to approve the bill even if some or all of their amendments were rejected.

In theory, the bill could bounce repeatedly back and forth between chambers.

The bill would scrap the near-death proviso but retain the concept to create two eligibility tracks for an assisted death: a relaxed set of rules for people who are at the end of life and more stringent rules for those who are not.

It would also explicitly prohibit the procedure for people suffering solely from mental illnesses.

Some senators and constitutional experts believe that exclusion contravenes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees equal treatment under the law, regardless of physical or mental disability.

Other senators and disability rights advocates argue the bill is unconstitutional because it sends the message that the lives of people with disabilities are not of equal value.

One amendment that will almost certainly be proposed would call on the government to refer the bill to the Supreme Court of Canada for authoritative advice on its constitutionality.

Among other likely amendments:

 A sunset clause on the mental illness exclusion, giving the government a year to come up with guidelines for allowing assisted dying for people suffering solely from mental disorders.

 A clause specifying that discussion of medical assistance in dying must be triggered by the patient, not by medical practitioners.

 A clause to strengthen the conscience rights of medical practitioners, likely specifying that those who have moral or religious objections to assisted dying do not have to refer a patient to someone who will provide the procedure.

 Various amendments to restore some of the eligibility criteria relaxed in Bill C-7 for people who are near death.

 Various amendments to remove some of the more stringent eligibility conditions imposed on people who are not near death.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2021.
RJD MP Manoj Jha is Opposition candidate for Rajya Sabha Deputy Speaker

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jah on February 4 said that Indias democracy will not be weakened by anyones tweet.

Jha was referring to governments reaction to tweets by celebrities including international pop icon Rihanna and teen climate activist Greta Thunberg who came out in support of the farmers' protest against the Centre's new agriculture reform laws.

Our democracy is strong, it will not be weakened by anyones tweet," Jha said during the discussion on Presidents address. The Rajya Sabha has allotted 15 hours for discussion on Motion of Thanks to the Presidents address in which the farmers protests and related issues will be discussed.

The Centre on February 3 slammed international artists and activists for their comments in support of farmers protest, calling them neither accurate not responsible.

Jha, in his comments, slammed Centres response to farmers protest accusing it of indulging in a monologue instead of a dialogue.

The government has been flaunting that they offered many things to farmers. I want to emphasise, we need to change the language. The nation doesnt just mean a map on a piece of paper. The governments come to build bridges not to break them (relations), Jha said.

The Opposition parties boycotted the president's address on January 29. In his address, President Ram Nath Kovind condemned the violence during the tractors rally on Republic Day while asserting that with the new three agricultural reforms, the government has provided new facilities and rights to farmers.

Enacted in September 2020, the three laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector. But the opposition parties allege that the farm laws were brought 'without any consultations with states and farmer unions and lacked national consensus'.

Thousands of protesting farmers, primarily from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at several Delhi border points for over two months, demanding the repeal of the laws, and a legal guarantee on minimum support prices (MSP) for their crops.
Childhood sweethearts Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal's intimate yet dreamy wedding left everyone gushing over the couple's happy union. The two tied the knot at The Mansion House Resort in Alibaug on January 27, amidst close family members and friends. Amongst those in attendance was filmmaker Kunal Kohli who also happens to be Varun's cousin. Recently, the director revealed some lovely details about the wedding.

Kunal Kohli revealed that the whole idea behind Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal's wedding was to keep it amongst their close family members and friends. The filmmaker was all praise for Varun and Natasha's friends and stated that after the ceremony, everyone became even closer to each other. Kunal also praised the Coolie No. 1 actor and his wife for choosing their friends well.

Also Read: Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal's Wedding Guest List To Be A Star-Studded One; To Include These Celebrities?

Talking about the same with Hindustan Times, Kunal Kohli revealed, "The whole idea was to just keep it to the close family and very, very close friends. There were four-five friends of his, whom everyone knows from school. We were sharing stories. It was very nice, a close-knit environment of friends like family and family-like friends. That was what was wonderful about it." Praising, the couple's friends, the director further added, "I always say, 'You can't choose your family but you can choose your friends,' and I am glad he has chosen his friends well. Likewise for Natasha. Both of them have a wonderful set of friends. It was just like one big family and we were all happy to be together in the privacy of everything."

Also Read: Varun Dhawan And Natasha Dalal's Wedding Venue Is Nothing Less Than A Visual Delight; See Pics

Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal's wedding and Mehendi pictures also went on to break the internet. The couple received several congratulatory messages from their industry friends and fans. They are now rumoured to be heading off to Turkey soon for their honeymoon.
A man wearing a mask against coronavirus walks past an NHS advertisement about COVID-19 in London, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. British health authorities plan to test tens of thousands of people in a handful of areas of England in an attempt to stop a new variant of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa spreading in the community. The Department of Health says a small number of people in England who had not travelled abroad have tested positive for the strain. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Britain's health chief said Wednesday that a new study suggesting that a single dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine provides a high level of protection for 12 weeks supports the government's strategy of delaying the second shot so it can protect more people quickly with a first dose.

Britain's decision has been criticized as risky by other European countries, but Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the study "backs the strategy that we've taken and it shows the world that the Oxford vaccine works effectively."

Hancock's comments came after Oxford University released a study showing the vaccine cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds and prevented severe disease.

Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals research and development at AstraZeneca, said no patients experienced severe disease or hospitalization three weeks after receiving a first dose, and that efficacy appeared to increase up to 12 weeks after the initial shot.

"Our data suggest you want to be as close to the 12 weeks as you can" for the second dose, he told a news conference.

The study has not been peer-reviewed yet and does not address the efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the other one currently in use in the U.K. Pfizer recommends that its shots be given 21 days apart and has not endorsed the U.K. government's decision to lengthen the time between doses.

Pharmacist Bhaveen Patel administers a dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca covid vaccine to Joshua Labor at a coronavirus vaccination clinic held at Junction Pharmacy in Brixton, London, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP)

But the Oxford research was greeted with excitement by U.K. officials under pressure to justify their decision to delay the second dose.

"That reduction in transmission, as well as the fact there is no hospitalizations, the combination of that is very good news. And it categorically supports the strategy we've been taking on having a 12-week gap between the doses," Hancock told Sky News.

Some countries, including France, have authorized the AstraZeneca vaccine only for use in people under 65, saying there is not enough evidence to say whether it works in older adults. Belgium has authorized it only for people 55 and under.

Yet one of the lead researchers on the Oxford vaccine project, Dr. Andrew Pollard, said "we expect it to be highly effective in older adults" and said more data should be available in the next few weeks.

A rose among floral tributes laid in memory of Captain Tom Moore on the village green in Marston Moretaine, England, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Captain Tom Moore, the 100-year-old World War II veteran who captivated the British public in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic with his fundraising efforts for health care workers, died Tuesday. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Britain has Europe's deadliest coronavirus outbreak, with more than 108,000 deaths, and is in its third national lockdown as authorities try to contain a new, more transmissible virus variant first identified in southeast England.

Other variants are also a concern. Public health officials in England are going door to door, trying to test all adults in eight targeted communities in an attempt to stop a new strain first identified in South Africa from spreading further.

So far 105 cases of the variant have been identified in the U.K., 11 of them in people with no links to overseas travel. Scientists say there's no evidence the South African variant is more serious than the original virus but it may be more contagious. There are also concerns that current vaccines may be less effective against that variant because it contains a mutation of the virus' characteristic spike protein that existing vaccines target.

Britain's Health Secretary Matt Hancock wears a face mask as he leaves 10 Downing Street, in London, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Hancock said Wednesday a new study suggesting that a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine may reduce transmission of COVID-19 categorically supports the government's strategy of taking more time between injections.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

A police volunteer carries a box of home testing kits for COVID-19 from Britain's Department of Health as they go house-to-house distributing them to residents, in Woking, England, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, during England's third national lockdown since the coronavirus outbreak began. British health authorities plan to test tens of thousands of people in a handful of areas of England, including parts of Woking, in an attempt to stop a new variant of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa spreading in the community. The Department of Health says a small number of people in England who had not travelled abroad have tested positive for the strain. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Police volunteers use large bags to collect completed COVID-19 home testing kits that residents received earlier in the day, in Woking, England, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, during England's third national lockdown since the coronavirus outbreak began. British health authorities plan to test tens of thousands of people in a handful of areas of England in an attempt to stop a new variant of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa spreading in the community. The Department of Health says a small number of people in England who had not travelled abroad have tested positive for the strain. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Distributors working in a pair together go door-to-door giving out home testing kits for COVID-19 from Britain's Department of Health, in Woking, England, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, during England's third national lockdown since the coronavirus outbreak began. British health authorities plan to test tens of thousands of people in a handful of areas of England, including parts of Woking, in an attempt to stop a new variant of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa spreading in the community. The Department of Health says a small number of people in England who had not travelled abroad have tested positive for the strain. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

That is a worry as the U.K. races to vaccinate its own population against the virus. Almost 10 million people have received the first of their two shots, including the bulk of people over 80 and those in nursing homes.

Pollard said Oxford scientists believe the AstraZeneca vaccine will continue to offer protection against new variants of COVID-19, although they are still waiting for data on that.

He said even if the virus adapts "that doesn't mean that we won't still have protection against severe disease.''

"If we do need to update the vaccines, then it is actually a relatively straightforward process. It only takes a matter of months, rather than the huge efforts that everyone went through last year to get the very large-scale trials run," he told the BBC.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Dominic Ongwen was a child soldier and a commander of one of Africa's most notorious rebel militias. His fate will now be decided by the International Criminal Court in the Hague. But can a victim be a perpetrator, too?

Murder, rape, torture, mutilation, slavery and the deployment of child soldiers: Dominic Ongwen faces a string of horrific charges. He is currently on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands, for 70 counts of crimes against humanity. Ongwen led a brigade of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) -- one of Africa's most brutal rebel groups. For more than 20 years its fighters subjected northern Uganda to a reign of terror before withdrawing to neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.

The ICC launched proceedings against Ongwen in 2016. The trial came to a conclusion on Tuesday. In closing statements, prosecutors called for Ongwen to be found guilty on all charges. But it is a tricky case. Ongwen denies the allegations and says he was a victim himself before becoming a perpetrator.

Victim turned perpetrator

In 1988, when Ongwen was just 14, he was abducted by members of the LRA on his way to school. His was a fate shared by tens of thousands of other children in northern Uganda. LRA leader Joseph Kony always insisted that he was fighting for a Christian Uganda and for the rights of the marginalized people in the north of the country. In reality, he and his fighters abused the children, turning them into child soldiers and sex slaves. Often their first mission sent them back to their home villages where they were forced to abuse and kill their own relatives.

Ongwen's past as a child soldier is what makes this case so unusual. "It is significant because what is being debated is the role and responsibility of abducted children who were forced to join the rebels," as Nicholas Opiyo tells DW. The Ugandan human rights lawyer says another important factor should be borne in mind as well: "Joseph Kony had a great degree of spiritual control over the children and convinced them that he was something akin to a god. This is the first case ever to come before the ICC in which witchcraft forms the basis of the defense."

Ongwen himself was abused, indoctrinated and forced to watch as the LRA killed scores of defenseless people. But he obediently followed orders and became one of Joseph Kony's deputies. In 2004, for instance, Ongwen's troops attacked the Lukodi refugee camp in northern Uganda and massacred more than 60 people. An estimated 100,000 people have been executed by the LRA since 1987, and although it is a shadow of its former self, the LRA continues to operate in central Africa.

Victims lost everything

"It's easy to say that Dominic Ongwen was abducted as a child and did not know what he was doing," says Charles Tolit Atiya from Makerere University's Human Rights and Peace Center in Kampala. "On the other hand, there are numerous people who became victims of his brutality. They were disfigured and have lost everything."

In 2005, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and four of his deputies, among them, Dominic Ongwen. Kony is still on the run. The other three deputies are dead. At the beginning of 2015, Ongwen fell into the clutches of Central African Republic (CAR) rebels who handed him over to the US Army. A few days later he was extradited to the Hague.

Uganda shares the blame

Alexander Ochen, now a teacher, knew Dominic Ongwen. The 47-year-old was also an LRA commander. Like Ongwen, he was abducted by the rebel militia as a teenager. "Some of us were forced to do what we did to survive. Many of those abducted were killed," Ochen said shortly after the start of the trial. He seriously doubts whether holding a trial in an international court 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) away was a good idea. "I was secretly praying he would be given amnesty and that a system of community courts would be set up so that victims and perpetrator could face one another. That would help the healing process," said the former LRA commander.

Human rights lawyer Opiyo hopes the ICC will take into account the fact that the Ugandan state and the international community share blame. In his opinion, they failed to protect the children from abduction by the rebel groups. "The fact that Ongwen did these things against his will -- under duress and threat of death -- should be a powerful mitigating factor."

Uganda's government gave amnesty to Alexander Ochen -- along with thousands of other LRA fighters who have returned home to their villages. Many people in northern Uganda are of the opinion that local court proceedings are a better way of achieving healing and reconciliation. "The victims have clearly stressed that they are concerned with justice, with seeing their communities rebuilt and receiving reparations, not with a prison sentence in the Hague," says Opiyo. He criticizes the fact that the trials did not take place in Uganda, which he calls "the epicenter."

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'Our failure as a society'

Opiyo believes the most sensible thing to do would be to reintegrate Ongwen into society and ask the public for forgiveness. Though he says a jail sentence would still be appropriate. Beyond deciding Ongwen's fate, the ICC ruling will also determine what kind of compensation the victims of the civil war can expect.

The conclusion of the trial is not just important for the LRA's victims, says the lawyer. "Many child soldiers live in the hope that their role as victims will be recognized one day. That our failures as a society, as an international community, will be recognized and that they will be adequately compensated." The closing of the Ongwen case could mark the beginning of that process.

This article has been translated from German
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LEHI, Utah, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SimpleNexus (https://simplenexus.com/), developer of the leading homeownership platform for loan officers (LOs), borrowers, real estate agents and settlement agents, today announced accelerated momentum in 2020 marked by expansive market growth and product innovation.

"The reason SimpleNexus continues to sweep the mortgage space is that it is the single-most complete homeownership journey platform for homebuyers and a relentlessly efficient lender tool," said Founder and CEO of SimpleNexus Matt Hansen. "From home search to application and from eClosing to securing homeowners insurance, SimpleNexus is truly a one-stop homeownership hub."

SimpleNexus has become one of the nation's fastest-growing firms, having ranked on the Inc. 5000 for three consecutive years and the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for two consecutive years. The firm's 2020 growth was capped by a $108 million Series B funding round led by Insight Partners and supported by TVC Capital.

"SimpleNexus has established itself as a fast-paced innovator in the digital mortgage space," said TVC Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner Jeb Spencer. "First it set the gold-standard for on-the-go usability and now it's defining what a seamless homeownership platform should be. We are excited to support the company as it blazes the trail to creating a harmonious homeownership journey."

SimpleNexus grew staff by 63% over the last 12 months as it worked to enhance its platform with dozens of new features designed to facilitate a more streamlined, "from anywhere" lending experience for all stakeholders in the mortgage lending process. For instance, last February saw the addition of Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA)support and in-app review of Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter (DU) findings. July marked the release of SimpleNexus ConnectUs Chat, a messaging feature that supports real-time loan file collaboration between LOs, borrowers and real estate agents. In August, SimpleNexus debuted SimpleNexus eClosing, which enables hybrid and RON closings for purchase and refinance loans.

Also in 2020, an independent, third-party analysis conducted by MarketWise Advisors showed that lenders using SimpleNexus consistently produce more loans and spend less on per-loan operational expenses, receiving nine-times ROI from their spending on the platform. SimpleNexus maintains 98% customer retention, a rare feat in the SaaS world.

To date, SimpleNexus empowers 300 mortgage lenders to "do more," by connecting its 32,000 active LO users with more than 3 million borrowers and 141,000 real estate partners to produce 13 million mortgages totaling more than $3 trillion in volume.

About SimpleNexus, LLC:

SimpleNexus is a homeownership platform transforming the mortgage experience and connecting borrowers, loan officers, real estate agents and settlement service providers throughout the homebuying process. The platforms' native mobile toolset enables lenders to originate, process and close home loans from anywhere with increased efficiency and convenience. Loan officers can manage their loan pipelines, order credit, run pricing, send pre-approvals, sign disclosures and execute eClosings - all on the go. SimpleNexus provides borrowers with a single sign-on experience from home search to the application, document upload, eClose and beyond for a more streamlined homeownership journey.

Twitter: @SimpleNexus #digitalmortgage #mortgageindustry #mortgagelending

*LOGO link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/19-0724s2p-simplenexus-300dpi.jpg

This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com

SOURCE SimpleNexus
Scientists gave Russia's Sputnik V vaccine the green light on Tuesday, saying it was almost 92 percent effective in fighting COVID-19 based on peer-reviewed late-stage trial results published in the international medical journalThe Lancet.

The Sputnik V vaccine is the fourth worldwide to have Phase-3 results published in leading peer-reviewed medical journals following the shots developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.

The results, collated by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow that developed and tested the vaccine, were in line with efficacy data reported at earlier stages of the trial, which has been running in Moscow since September.

The results were based on data from 19,866 volunteers, of whom a quarter received a placebo, the researchers, led by the Gamaleya Institute's Denis Logunov, said in The Lancet.

Since the trial began in Moscow, there were 16 recorded cases of symptomatic COVID-19 among people who received the vaccine, and 62 among the placebo group, the scientists said.

This showed that a two-dose regimen of the vaccine  two shots based on two different viral vectors, administered 21 days apart  was 91.6 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19.

"Our interim analysis of the randomized, controlled, phase-3 trial of Gam-COVID-Vac in Russia has shown high efficacy, immunogenicity, and a good tolerability profile in participants aged 18 years or older," co-lead author Dr. Inna V Dolzhikova said at the media briefing.

Pfizer's shot had the highest efficacy rate at 95 percent, closely followed by Moderna's vaccine and Sputnik V while AstraZeneca's vaccine had an average efficacy of 70 percent.

Sputnik V has also now been approved for storage in normal fridges, as opposed to freezers, making transportation and distribution easier, Gamaleya scientists said on Tuesday.

Experts said the phase-3 trial results meant the world had another effective weapon to fight the deadly pandemic and justified to some extent Moscow's decision to roll out the vaccine before final data had been released.

"Stopping the COVID-19 pandemic requires the introduction of different vaccines based on different mechanisms of action to cover diverse global health demands. Our vaccine, along with other SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, helps to diversify the world SARS-CoV-2 vaccine pipeline," said co-lead author Dr Denis Logunov at the media briefing.

(CGTN)
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SANTA FE  Legislators advanced a proposal Wednesday to expand subsidies to the state's health insurance exchange for residents with modest incomes who don't qualify for Medicaid.

Supported by the administration of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the bill would substitute a state surtax on insurance premiums for a slightly smaller federal fee that expired late last year after its repeal.

Proceeds would be used to pay down premiums and other out-of-pocket costs for individuals and families obtaining insurance through the state's medical insurance exchange for individuals and small groups, an outgrowth of the Affordable Care Act.

A House committee voted 7-3 along party lines, with Republicans in opposition to advance the surtax rate increase on health insurance premiums.

Supporters of the initiative include New Mexico Superintendent of Insurance Russell Toal, who says the subsidy should attract more insurance customers to the state marketplace and ultimately lower monthly insurance premium payments.

The larger the pool, the greater the risk is spread and the greater potential for lower premiums, he said.

Advocates for small businesses voiced opposition, fearing the tax increase would put a greater financial burden on employer based health plans.

Especially in a pandemic and with rising health care costs, we're really worried about the impact, said Jason Espinoza, state director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

State insurance regulators hope the measure might extend coverage to 23,000 who are uninsured.

States including Colorado, Delaware and New Jersey have enacted a similar fee.

In New Mexico, it could increase state government revenues by an estimated $153 million annually. About $115 million would go toward lowering consumer costs for insurance, and the rest would be transferred to the state general fund.

New Mexico completes the transition this year to its own self-contained marketplace for insurance. About 43,000 people relied on the exchange for insurance access last year.

President Joe Biden last week ordered government health insurance markets to reopen for a special 60-day sign-up window, offering uninsured Americans a haven amid the pandemic.

New Mexico residents have flocked to Medicaid health care, with 43% enrollment statewide as of November as the virus wreaks economic havoc and shifts the way people receive health care.

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A made-in-Ottawa tool can help emergency physicians predict which patients with mini-strokes are at greatest risk of having a major stroke within the week, according to a study published in The BMJ.

"Mini-strokes can be a warning that a larger stroke is coming," said, emergency physician and senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa. "Thankfully, we're very good at preventing subsequent strokes if patients come to the emergency department promptly."

A mini-stroke, or transient ischemic attack (TIA), is a temporary blockage of the brain's blood supply. The symptoms are similar to stroke - drooping face, weakness in the arm or leg, loss of vision, and slurred or jumbled speech. Unlike a stroke, symptoms usually last minutes to hours, and do not cause permanent damage.

If a TIA is not treated, there is up to a 1 in 10 chance of having a subsequent stroke. The risk is greatest in the first week.

"TIA or mini-strokes are quite common - we see one to two patients a day at The Ottawa Hospital emergency departments," said Dr. Perry. "We developed the Canadian TIA Score to help us better identify who is at greatest risk of stroke and needs care most urgently. On the flip side, it also helps us gives patients at low risk some peace of mind."

The Canadian TIA Score uses thirteen pieces of information collected in the emergency department to categorize patients as being at low (less than 0.5 percent), medium (2.3 percent), or high (6 percent) risk of having a stroke within the week.

"For high-risk patients we do absolutely everything we can while they are in the ED, including diagnostic imaging, starting treatment and bringing in a neurologist," said Dr. Perry. "For medium-risk patients, we do similar things but refer them to a stroke prevention clinic, where they can see a neurologist in a day or two. Low-risk patients can safely start their treatment as a neurology outpatient or with their family doctor."

The tool was validated in 13 Canadian emergency departments over five years. Of the 7,607 patients enrolled who had TIA or a minor stroke, 17 percent (1,293) were categorized as low risk, 71 percent (5,400) were categorized as medium risk and 13 percent (989) were categorized as high risk.

Overall, 108 patients (1.4 percent) in the study had a subsequent stroke within the week, while 83 (1.1 percent) had surgery to improve blood flow in their neck to prevent a stroke. This low rate of stroke is testament to the preventative care provided in the ED.

The study showed the Canadian TIA Score accurately categorized patients into the three risk groups, and performed significantly better than the existing ABCD2 score. That score only categorizes TIA patients as being at low or high risk of a stroke, which is not always helpful to physicians.

"The Canadian TIA Score can now be safety used in emergency departments, where it can help physicians make the best care decisions for patients with mini-strokes," said Dr. Perry.

The Canadian TIA Score can help ensure that patients like Peter Nephin are prioritized for urgent care. In 2020, the avid cyclist felt a persistent tingling in his right arm while reading at the cottage. When his wife noticed he had a new speech impediment, they rushed to the local emergency department. They were sent to The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, the regional stroke centre, where imaging showed a 55 percent blockage and a blood clot in one of Peter's neck arteries. He stayed in hospital for a few days, where he received blood thinners to get rid of the clot and surgery to remove the blockage.

"It was a scary time, but the staff at the hospital help calm you down. I felt like I was being well looked after -they had my life in their hands," said Peter, who is now in good health with no lingering effects from the TIA.

TIA is a medical emergency. Anyone who experiences symptoms should call 911 or have someone drive them to an emergency department if their symptoms have fully resolved.

"Three quarters of the patients in our study said this was their first mini-stroke, and over a third arrived by ambulance" said Dr. Perry. "It's a reminder that you should always take stroke symptoms seriously, even if they seem to pass quickly."

The Canadian TIA Score is available online and through The Ottawa Rules app.

###

Reference: Prospective validation of Canadian TIA Score and comparison with ABCD2 and ABCD2i for subsequent stroke risk after transient ischaemic attack: multicentre prospective cohort study. Jeffrey J Perry, Marco L A Sivilotti, Marcel Emond, Ian G Stiell, Grant Stotts, Jacques Lee, Andrew Worster, Judy Morris, Ka Wai Cheung, Albert Y Jin, Wieslaw J Oczkowski, Demetrios J Sahlas, Heather E Murray, Ariane Mackey, Steve Verreault, Marie-Christine Camden, Samuel Yip, Philip Teal, David J Gladstone, Mark I Boulos, Nicolas Chagnon, Elizabeth Shouldice, Clare Atzema, Tarik Slaoui, Jeanne Teitlebaum, Kasim Abdulaziz, Marie-Joe Nemnom, George A Wells, Mukul Sharma. The BMJ. Feb 3, 2021.

Funding: The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Research at The Ottawa Hospital is also enabled by generous donations to The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.

About The Ottawa Hospital

The Ottawa Hospital is one of Canada's top learning and research hospitals, where excellent care is inspired by research and driven by compassion. As the third-largest employer in Ottawa, our support staff, researchers, nurses, physicians, and volunteers never stop seeking solutions to the most complex health-care challenges. Our multi-campus hospital, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, attracts some of the most influential scientific minds from around the world. Backed by generous support from the community, we are committed to providing the world-class, compassionate care we would want for our loved ones.

http://www. ohri. ca

About the University of Ottawa

The University of Ottawa is home to over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroads of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We are one of Canada's top 10 research universities--our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today's challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe.

http://www. uottawa. ca

Media Contact

Amelia Buchanan

Senior Communication Specialist

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Cell: 613-297-8315

ambuchanan@ohri.ca
An Australian woman with an eye for high-end fashion has transformed $8 Kmart sandals into an iconic 'designer' style worth $460 with a $1.50 colouring pen.

Joanne Turnbull spent 20 minutes 'therapeutically colouring' the studs of the 'Beach Jelly Thongs' with a gold Sharpie to mimic the 'Rockstud Bow Sandals' from Italian luxury label, Valentino Garavani.

The 'Rockstud' design, which is also sold in a $1,420 high-heeled version, is a favourite among A-list celebrities including Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez.

'I have my own Valentino's and have saved about $480!' Ms Turnbull posted alongside photos of her handiwork in a Facebook community group.

Scroll down for video

Not bad for under $10: An Australian woman transformed $8 Kmart thongs (left) into a brilliant dupe of the iconic $460 Valentino Rockstud sandals (right) using a gold Sharpie

Questioned by a member about her total savings, Ms Turnbull clarified that she has seen the Valentino originals on different websites for prices ranging from $460 to just over $500.

'Either way, it's a huge saving,' she added.

Photos of the shoes, which have garnered 350 'likes' since they were uploaded online on Wednesday, have won widespread praise from thrifty fashionistas.

'Kmart knows where it's at, awesome job,' one woman replied.

Ms Turnbull transformed the Kmart sandals (left) with a gold Sharpie (right) which she said she bought for $1.50, bringing her total spend to $9.50

A second added: 'I never knew I needed these thongs as much as I do now.'

Dozens branded her creativity 'amazing' and said they planned to do the same.

Others were equally impressed but blasted luxury labels for charging such eyewatering prices for simple designs.

'Great job, but who would pay over $500 for these?' one woman wrote.
Law enforcement officers seized nearly $4 million worth of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in two connected searches spanning Lehigh County and Bucks County, authorities said Thursday.

The first search happened Jan. 29 in Bedminster Township, Bucks County, when a patrol officer stopped the driver of a Jeep allegedly swerving four times over a fog line. The driver, later identified as 28-year-old Christian Ochoa, of Texas, consented to a police search of the Jeep, the Bucks County District Attorneys Office said.

Police seized in the search one kilogram of heroin/fentanyl and nine kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $1.2 million, according to Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub.

That stop led to a second seizure on Wednesday at the Trexler Truck Stop in Upper Macungie Township, in which a search warrant was obtained. A K-9 unit from the Central Bucks Regional Police Department helped investigators seize nine more kilograms of heroin/fentanyl, valued at $2.7 million, from a tractor-trailer owned by Ochoa, Weintraub said. He noted the rig had the logo Ochoa Transport Services on it.

The two searches also led to the recovery of more than $43,000 in cash; a handgun; six cellphones; additional drugs, including almost $29,000 in Percocet painkillers; and four Jesus Malverde candles, known as the patron saint of narcotics traffickers, according to Weintraub.

Authorities say Ochoa was driving drugs across the country and likely headed to New York before being stopped by police. Edith Tomasa Rodriguez Cardenas, 27, of California, was identified as a passenger in the Jeep.

We saved somebody else a lot of heartache and pain, Weintraub said in a statement.

The arrests, Weintraub added, were likely part of a much larger drug-trafficking organization and the district attorney plans to use partnerships with federal agencies to track the source of the drugs.

Ochoa and Rodriguez Cardenas each were charged in the Jan. 29 traffic stop with drug possession with intent to deliver; conspiracy to commit drug possession with intent to deliver; possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Ochoa additionally was charged with a traffic offense.

Charges are pending in the Upper Macungie incident, investigators said.

Ochoa and Rodriguez Cardenas were arraigned Saturday before District Judge Michael W. Petrucci, who set bail at 10% of $1 million each. In lieu of bail, Ochoa and Rodriguez Cardenas were taken to the Bucks County jail, where they remained Thursday.

Ochoa and Rodriguez Cardenas are both due back in court for a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled Feb. 8 before District Judge Gary Gambardella.

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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.
Ireland is the 12th most prosperous economy in the EU 27, not its wealthiest, when a different and possibly more appropriate measure that looks at household consumption is used, according to Patrick Honohan, a former governor at the Central Bank.

His research, 'Is Ireland really the most prosperous country in Europe?', which was published by the Central Bank, confirms that GDP significantly overstates the size of the Irish economy but also shows that alternative measures developed in recent years to remove the accounting distortions caused by the multinationals could also be overstating the level of prosperity for Ireland's households.

Mr Honohan said that although being far from comprehensive, a metric, known as "actual individual consumption, or AIC, of household welfare when adjusted for the relatively high level of retail prices and house prices here, suggest that Irish prosperity is 12th, or around mid-ranking, of all the EU's 27 countries.

"On this measure, then, Ireland falls behind not only the UK but all six of the original founder members of the EEC, along with Austria and the three Nordic member states," Mr Honohan said in the research.

"Indeed, Irelands AIC per capita is only about 95% of the EU average, down from 115% in 2006-7. No wonder many questioned the quality and extent of economic recovery even before the pandemic hit," he said.

Mr Honohan told the Irish Examiner that his purpose was not to try to set up a new metric for Ireland's economy. He was responding to discussions that Ireland was the second wealthiest after tiny Luxembourg in the EU, on the basis of the GDP measure, he said.

Ireland is still a wealthy country but "this first-in-class ranking is clearly misleading," he said in the research for the Central Bank.

"Where, then, could Ireland be more accurately ranked? When we dig into the available data in the more relevant parts of per capita income and consumption, we find that Irelands relative international position is somewhere between eighth and 12th in the European Union  a lot lower than is commonly presumed," he said.

"The lower-ranking comes not only from removing the distortions from multinationals but also from taking account of the fact that consumer prices in Ireland are relatively high," he said in the research.
The Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has condemned what he described as the attack and eviction of herdsmen in some parts of the country.

In a statement issued late last night, the governor expressed concern about video clips being circulated on media platforms showing how citizens of a particular ethnic group are being massacred and their property destroyed.

He said although he was unable to confirm the authenticity of the video clips, he noted that their impact on the peaceful co-existence of Nigerians is a source of concern.

"The government of Kaduna State notes with grave concern, video clips circulating on social media platforms like WhatsApp in which citizens of a particular ethnicity are being massacred and their properties destroyed in parts of Nigeria.

"This is coming amidst avoidable rhetoric, frenzied ethnic profiling and unlawful eviction of citizens from their places of domicile", El-Rufai said.

The governor added that many citizens of Kaduna State had reached out to him as their governor to confirm the authenticity of these video clips.

"Some alleged that these incidents have the support of leaders of the places where attacks have occurred.

"While I am unable to confirm the authenticity of the video clips, their impact on the peaceful co-existence of our people is a source of concern."

El-Rufai called on all Nigerians living in Kaduna State " to respect law and order and the rights of all citizens to live in peace and security wherever they reside or work. "

He also appealed to "governor of other states to make similar statements, and disavow these attacks and massacres.

"We must avoid anarchy and vigorously promote the rule of law and the right of all citizens to life, liberty and livelihoods wherever they choose to reside.

"Elected and appointed public leaders across the country must act on their constitutional obligations to protect all citizens, uphold order, and contribute to a climate for peaceful resolution of all issues," El-Rufai said.

He said, "In Kaduna State, we are learning from decades of unfortunate and needless experiences.

"We have faced the tragic manifestations of the indigene-settler divide. This has been compounded by criminal activities that often have fatal consequences.

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"But the victims of criminal actions like banditry and kidnapping in our state cut across all ethnic and religious groups.

"We have resisted the attempt to tag all members of any ethnic group for the criminal actions of some of their members."

He said his administration has always upheld the right of every citizen to live and pursue legitimate livelihoods wherever they choose.

"This is why we ordered the arrest of persons who issued an unlawful eviction notice to our citizens of a certain ethnicity in 2017.

"The impunity and calculated disregard for a common humanity that prompted such irresponsible rhetoric is sadly at play again.

"The genuine fears felt by people across the country for their safety and security imposes a responsibility on all leaders to ensure that these anxieties are assuaged and urgent steps taken to relieve human misery and stop the criminal actions that menace our citizens and their property," the statement said.
US President Joe Biden has told Prime Minister Scott Morrison he is eager to visit Australia in his new role in a phone call between the two leaders in which the pair talked about reducing global emissions, the growing challenge of China and the military coup in Myanmar.

Less than two weeks after taking office, Mr Biden told Mr Morrison it would be a high priority for his administration to work with allies and partners within the Indo-Pacific region.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has spoken with US President Joe Biden. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer, AP

Mr Morrison, who has been criticised by Labor for being overly close to Mr Bidens predecessor, Donald Trump, said the conversation on Thursday morning was very warm and there was nothing to fix in the relationship between the two nations.

He said to me again today, he sees the Australia-US relationship as providing the anchor for peace and security in our region, Mr Morrison told reporters in the prime ministerial courtyard on Thursday.
Mexico is on the verge of approving the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, following the publication an study of early results, Mexican officials said Tuesday.

Mexico's Assistant Health Secretary, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, the government's pandemic spokesman, said that the Health Ministry signed a contract Monday for 400,000 doses of Sputnik V that will arrive later this month. He said regulatory approval was expected within hours.

A dozen countries have already approved the Russian vaccine for use, including Bolivia and Argentina, where Lopez-Gatell visited in January to learn more about it.

He acknowledged that there had a been a "legitimate concern" among Mexicans, but that the early results published Tuesday in the medical journal The Lancet should alleviate them.

"The Russian Sputnik V vaccine is safe, it has 92% efficacy against COVID, it can be used safely and is effective in seniors," Lopez-Gatell said. "It allows us now to accelerate the step of vaccination against COVID in Mexico."

The Mexican government on Tuesday also launched a new website for people over the age of 60 to register for vaccination appointments.

Mexico has so far given about 675,000 doses of vaccine, all of them from Pfizer. Mexico has a population of 126 million.

Once approved, the Russian vaccine would become the third to receive emergency approval in Mexico.

The regulating agency approved the Pfizer vaccine in December and AstraZeneca's in January. Mexico turned to the Russian vaccine following delays in obtaining others it was counting on.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin one week ago, a conversation that took place one day after the Mexican President announced that he had been infected with COVID-19, a disease from which, according to Lopez-Gatell, he is already recovering and asymptomatic.

Lopez Obrador remains in isolation and away from the public spotlight.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
The DUP has said permanent solutions are needed to the contentious Northern Ireland Protocol to ensure the region has unfettered access to the UK market.

Jeffrey Donaldson said the protocol was damaging the relationship between Britain and Northern Ireland.

He made the comments following crunch talks on the protocol between Northern Irelands leaders and the UK and EU.

British Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove and European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic held a virtual meeting with First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill on Wednesday evening.

Mr Donaldson described the trade difficulties as not just short term, but long term.

Thats why we need not just a short-term fix or tinkering around the edges of this or kicking the can down the road, he told RTE News.

We need a permanent solution that will ensure that we continue to have unfettered access to the UK market and that the EU is able to protect its market, and we need that accommodation reached as soon as possible.

DUPs Jeffrey Donaldson (Brian Lawless/PA)

Mr Donaldson said the Government needed to recognise that the union has to be preserved as well as protecting the EU single market.

If were going to see the East-West, Great Britain-Northern Ireland relationship diminished then we cant be expected to see a situation where there are normal North-South relationships because the two are inter-twined  one impacts on the other, he said.

Therefore we need the Irish Government to recognise that it is the totality of the relationships here including the crucial relationship between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK that has to be preserved and protected as well as protecting the EU single market.

Speaking after the meeting, Sinn Feins Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill said the EU Commission vice-president was very forthright and pressed the point that the protocol needed to be implemented in its entirety.

He said the EU expects rigorous implementation of the protocol, she said.

Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill (Liam McBurney/PA)

Ms ONeill called for calm heads and leadership from all quarters at the meeting.

Ms ONeill said the vice president of the commission was emphatic that there was no intention by the EU to cause difficulty when it moved to suspend part of the Northern Ireland Protocol last week.

He put his hands up and said they had made a mistake and that they moved to rectify that mistake very quickly, she said.

EU Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic (right) and EU Ambassador to the UK, Portuguese diplomat Joao Vale de Almeida (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Ms ONeill said Mr Sefcovic apologised on behalf of the commission and asked the leaders to judge the EU on its track record in terms of its support for the peace process both financially and politically.

He was very gracious in his apology around that and recognised that it caused some tensions, she said.

I accept that apology in the way in which it was intended, she added.

Ms ONeill also said Mr Sefcovic was focused on finding solutions.

She said: There are flexibilities inbuilt [in the protocol] which he thinks havent even had a chance to work out yet.

Ms ONeill welcomed his commitment to travel to the UK to find ways to resolve the issues that have emerged, adding that she believed it was a very pragmatic and very constructive way to move forward.

The EU Commission vice president is to travel to London for further talks on the matter next week.

Mr Sefcovic said if all aspects of the Northern Ireland Protocol were put into practice he believed the issues raised at the meeting could be resolved.

Earlier the DUP rejected claims it is whipping up tensions over Irish Sea trade in an effort to get the protocol ditched.

Party leader and Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster said it was absolutely ridiculous to suggest her party was inflating concerns around trade disruption to pursue a political objective.

Physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, which are required under the protocol, have been suspended amid threats and intimidation of staff.

First Minister Arlene Foster said it was absolutely ridiculous to suggest her party was whipping up fears (Liam McBurney/PA)

Police have insisted there is no evidence that loyalist paramilitaries are involved in the sinister campaign, instead blaming disgruntled individuals and small groups.

On Tuesday, the DUP announced a series of political moves aimed at frustrating the operation of the protocol amid mounting unionist and loyalist concerns that Northern Irelands place within the UK is being undermined.

Its strategy includes opposing any protocol-related legislation at the Stormont Assembly and refusing to participate in any exchanges with the Irish Government related to the operation of the protocol.

Ms ONeill has accused the DUP of reckless behaviour, claiming political unionism was trying to whip up tension and fear.

She said much of the trade disruption witnessed since the protocol came into operation on December 31 was as an inevitable consequence of Brexit.

Mrs Foster and senior DUP colleagues had a separate virtual call with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday ahead of the engagement with Mr Gove and Mr Sefcovic.

Mr Gove and Mr Sefcovic chair the UK/EU Joint Committee tasked with implementation of the protocol.

The protocol is a mechanism agreed by the UK and EU as part of the withdrawal talks to ensure a free-flowing Irish border.

Graffiti reading No Irish Sea border near Belfast City centre (David Young/PA)

Unionists and loyalists are deeply unhappy with the new arrangements, which came into force on December 31, believing the protocol has created a barrier between the region and the rest of the UK.

Tensions have been heightened following the controversial events of last Friday, when the European Commission was forced to backtrack on a threat to suspend part of the protocol.

The botched move by the EU would have struck at the heart of the protocols main function  to facilitate a free-flowing Irish border  by placing restrictions on vaccines moving into Northern Ireland from the bloc.

While the EU stepped back from the brink, after an evening of frantic diplomacy, the episode further angered loyalists and unionists and emboldened them to press their demands for an end to the protocol.
London: Chinas English-language satellite news channel has been thrown off-air in Britain after its media regulator ruled it was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

And CGTN will also face sanctions over its reporting on the Hong Kong protests, including for broadcasting forced confessions. The regulator said it had three other investigations ongoing into CGTNs coverage.

The title screen of a programme called How Xi Jinping Led Chinas COVID-19 Battle, from the CGTN archive is seen as it plays on a computer monitor in London. Credit:Getty

Ofcom, the regulator, said its decision was the result of an investigation into who owned CGTN. It found the channel was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

Under British law, political bodies cannot hold broadcast licences.
Piers Corbyn has been arrested over leaflets comparing Britain's vaccination programme to Auschwitz.

Police said the Covid-19 conspiracy theorist, 73, was detained for 'malicious communications and public nuisance'.

The brother of former Labour leader Jeremy came up with the 'concept' for a pamphlet which features a cartoon drawing of the Nazi death camp.

Above the gates leading into Auschwitz - where 1.2million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust - a sign reads 'vaccines are safe path to freedom'.

Below is an Evening Standard article with the same headline and a caption reading: 'This cynical newspaper headline is in the tradition of the Nazi slogan 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (work sets you free) whereas in reality, the truth is the opposite.'

Corbyn is credited for the 'concept' and Alexander Heaton - who was charged with breaking restrictions during protests in May - for the drawing.

The brother of former-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, 76, (left) came up with the 'concept' for a pamphlet which features a cartoon drawing of Nazi concentration camp

Covid-19 conspiracy theorist Piers Corbyn has been slammed for a 'disgraceful' leaflet comparing Britain's vaccination programme to Auschwitz (pictured)

Corbyn voluntarily went to a London police station to answer questions today after receiving a phone call urging him to do so.

He was arrested there but has not yet been charged. Corbyn said officers also searched his flat but did not remove any leaflets, The Evening Standard reports.

He said the police asked him whether the leaflets had 'malicious intent' - but didn't question whether handing them out during lockdown broke the rules.

Corbyn confirmed his arrest but said it was 'completely absurd' to call him anti-Semitic because he was 'married for 22 years to a Jewess'.

The term 'Jewess' is highly-outdated and has accumulated negative connotations - but it is not widely considered a slur.

He told The Jewish Chronicle: 'Obviously her mother's forebears fled the Baltic states just before the war because of Hitler or the Nazis in general.

'I've worked with Jewish leading world scientists over the last 30 years.

'I've also employed Jewish people in my business Weather Action, one of whom was a superb worker.'

Labour MP Neil Coyle - who complained to the police about the leaflets being handed out - said: 'This is good news for those who want everybody to get vaccinations and be made safe as quickly as possible.

'And it is good news for those who do not want vile Holocaust imagery shoved through our letterboxes by crackpots.'

A 37-year-old man has also been arrested today. Police have not officially confirmed either man's name.

Auschwitz-Birkenau (pictured) was a concentration and extermination camp used by the Nazis during World War Two

A police spokesperson said: 'A 73-year-old man was arrested in Southwark on Wednesday, 3 February on suspicion of malicious communications and public nuisance.

'A 37-year-old man was arrested earlier the same day in Bow, east London, on suspicion of a public order offence.

'Both men were taken to a south London police station. They have since been bailed to return on a date in early March.

'The leaflet contained material that appeared to compare the Covid-19 vaccination programme with the Holocaust.'

The document, which has Corbyn's name and website address on the back, was put through the doors of homes in Barnet and Southwark, prompting outrage online.

The leaflet also appears in digital form on Corbyn's website 'Stop New Normal' - which links to his fund to help pay off the fines incurred by repeated lockdown breaches.

Mayor of Lambeth Philip Normal shared a picture of the leaflet to Twitter and said: 'Anti-Semitism, racism, hate is not tolerated in my house, or this country, or the planet Earth.'

The picture sparked outrage online, with many horrified onlookers slamming the spread of disinformation and the comparison to the Holocaust as 'disgraceful.'

One user, Nick Pettigrew wrote: 'To be dangerously stupid about vaccines is one thing.

'But to use concentration camp imagery while you're doing it is disgraceful.'

Another commented: 'My great grandmother died of sepsis in a concentration camp.

'To equate life saving medicine with them is absolutely one of the most enraging things I've ever seen.

'Anti-semitism truly knows no bounds.'

The picture sparked outrage online, with many horrified onlookers slamming the spread of harmful disinformation and the comparison to the Holocaust as 'disgraceful'

A Jewish charity slammed the leaflets as 'despicable' and said it is not about concerns over vaccines but about 'trolling Jews'.

Director of enforcement and investigations at Campaign Against Antisemitism Stephen Silverman said: 'Piers Corbyn is an arch conspiracy theorist who was among the first to claim anti-Semitism allegations against his brother were part of an Israeli plot.

'Comparing the lockdown to the Auschwitz death camp, as former BNP leader Nick Griffin and others have done, is despicable.

'To deliberately distribute leaflets making that comparison is vintage Piers Corbyn harassment and baiting of Jews, and demonstrates that this is not about protesting lockdowns, it is about trolling Jews.'

His brother Jeremy was suspended from the Labour Party after saying anti-Semitism in Labour was 'overstated' in the wake of a damning Equality and Human Rights Commission report into anti-Semitism in the party.

The report ruled that Labour had broken equality law under his leadership. But he was reinstated as a member by the National Executive Committee three weeks later.

Another leaflet posted alongside the Holocaust comparison featured baseless and false claims that vaccines cause a range of conditions such cancer, autism and infertility.

Mr Corbyn was fined by police after leading a New Year's Eve anti-lockdown protest in Central London

Mr Corbyn, 73 was among 17 people who were arrested for breaching Health Protection Regulations at a demonstration at Speaker's Corner on January 2

Former-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) was suspended from the party after saying anti-Semitism in Labour was 'overstated' in the wake of a damning Equality and Human Rights Commission report into anti-Semitism in the party

Piers has been arrested at lease twice in 2021 for repeatedly breaching lockdown to protest against lockdown measures intended to slow the spread of Covid-19.

On January 2, he was among 17 people who were arrested for breaching Health Protection Regulations at the demonstration at Speaker's Corner, in Hyde Park.

A crowd of between 200 and 300 people gathered to protest against lockdown restrictions and their civil liberties being curtailed.

It came after Corbyn was fined and arrested on New Year's Day after leading a New Year's Eve anti-lockdown protest near the London Eye, in the centre of the capital.

Corbyn posted a video of what was dubbed the 'NYE Party of Parties' on his Twitter feed, proclaiming: 'TOTAL SUCCESS! #NYEPartyofParties by London Eye.

'Over 1000 defied all threats +chanted #LetLondonLive! & #Corbyn4London after I announced I will stand for Mayor! Thank you +well done all!'

The conspiracy theorist has now been arrested at least five times since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and has received fines totalling more than 10,000.
The Rotary Club of Fredericks Service Partnership Grant Committee recently awarded 17 grants totaling $60,000 to local nonprofit organizations. Grants are funded primarily through proceeds from the Clubs signature fundraiser, the annual Leprechaun Luau.

These Service Partnership Grants are awarded annually to local nonprofit organizations whose missions align with Rotary Internationals seven areas of focus, including basic education and literacy, peace and conflict prevention and resolution, and community needs identified in the ALICE report such as community health and wellness, quality of life for children, families, and the aging population. and affordable housing.

Recipients included:



African American Resources-Cultural and Heritage Society - Seeking Common Ground: How Two Congregations Confront a Racist Past

Blessings in a Backpack - Weekend Food for low-income children

Boys & Girls Club of Frederick County - Madison Club

Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership - Sharing Resources for Families

City Youth Matrix - Expansion of Service

Empowered to Live, Inc. - Project GUIDE (To Understand and Identify Desired Employment)

Frederick Community College Foundation - Project Forward Step at FCC

I Believe In Me Inc. - Educational Support for At-Risk Youth

Interfaith Housing Alliance - Credit Cafe

Listen Love Pray Foundation - "Great Life Plan" interactive recovery program at Frederick Rescue Mission

Mission of Mercy, Inc. - Free medical and dental care for seniors

Old Line Performing Arts, Inc. - Musical Instrument Procurement

Seton Center, Inc. - DePaul Dental Program

Spanish Speaking Community of MD, Inc. - Critical Services Partnership with Frederick County Public Schools

Student Homelessness Initiative Partnership - New Horizons Academy

The Phoenix Foundation of Maryland - Transportation for Phoenix Recovery Academy Students

United Way of Frederick County - The Prosperity Center: Pathways to Financial Stability

Chaired by longtime Rotarian Patricia Hanberry, the Service Partnership Committee included Tiffany Ahalt, Ian Bartman, Jayne Bongard, Dave Bufter,Patti Hagemann, Rachel Mandel, Nancy Newmister, Ellen Pfeiffer, Helen Propheter, and Greg Rausch.

I am thankful to the to The Rotary Club of Fredericks Service Partnership Grant Committee for their time and especially the effort they put into making these difficult funding decisions, said Hanberry. As well as to the Community Foundation for providing the online and technical support for this entire process.

Since the launch of the Service Partnership Grants program four years ago, the Rotary Club of Frederick has provided nearly $300,000 in service partnership grants to nonprofits that serve the Frederick community. Learn more about this years grant recipients and how to apply for the 2021-22 grants at frederickrotaryclub.org.
When people 70 or older became eligible in Louisiana for the coronavirus vaccine in January, New Orleans resident Phil Costa started calling around for an appointment.

He turns 70 this month, and wanted to get vaccinated as soon after his birthday as he could.

When he tried local hospitals, he was told he needed to wait to schedule an appointment. Instead, after reading on social media that some Louisiana residents were heading to Mississippi for a shot, he drove the two hours to Laurel, Miss. He was in and out with his first dose in 25 minutes.

I have to wait eight more days to make an Ochsner appointment, said Costa, a lawyer. By that time, Ill have had both vaccines in Mississippi.

A small but growing number of Louisiana residents are making the short trip into Mississippi for the coronavirus vaccine. By mid-January, 271 people from Louisiana had received a shot in Mississippi, according to data from the Mississippi Health Department. Within two weeks, that number had increased to 820. In total, 5,337 vaccines have been given to people with an address outside of the state.

Its still a tiny percentage of the 235,057 people the state has vaccinated, but word is spreading online. A group called NOLA Vaccine Hunters, started by a Tulane University medical student, has grown to nearly 2,000 members searching for cross-border vaccine appointments and other ways to find shots. It has spawned spin-offs in other parts of the country as people search for available doses.

It has kind of been taken over as a bunch of people in Louisiana helping to get people to Mississippi, said Brad Johnson, 28. Which is not its intended purpose.

He said he founded the site to try and help avoid vaccine spoilage.

The cross-border rush is a symptom of vaccine supply constraints as well as the patchwork of state eligibility requirements that make some people eligible for a vaccine in one state but not the other. In Arkansas, teachers are currently eligible. In Colorado, journalists and state government workers can get one. In Washington state, people over 50 are eligible if they live in a house with two or more generations.

In Louisiana, people who are currently allowed to receive a vaccine include health care workers, students and staff at health schools and people over 70. In Mississippi, people over 70 are eligible, but so is anyone over 16 with one of several common health conditions, including diabetes, being overweight or being a smoker.

Cancer is also one of the qualifying conditions, but guidelines dont specify if that means someone currently undergoing treatment or whether someone who had benign skin cancer removed might qualify.

Caroline Senter, 58, operates a bed-and-breakfast in New Orleans and is a breast cancer survivor. She got a shot in Pascagoula on Monday.

I dont want to come close to death again, said Senter. I had friends who died of COVID.

Mary Reed, 63, learned about traveling to Mississippi through the NOLA Vaccine Hunters site after finding the group through a Google search. She got her first shot last week in McComb, about an hour and a half drive from her home in Walker.

Shes also a breast cancer survivor, but nobody made her prove it. She rolled up to a drive-thru site, no ID or medical documentation needed.

+2 As coronavirus variant gains ground in Louisiana, officials predict 'another spike in our future' Two additional cases of a more infectious variant of the coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom have been found in Louisiana and a

I guess its basically on the honor system, said Reed.

A 39-year-old from New Orleans who visits meatpacking plants for work got the shot on Tuesday.

I feel kind of guilty going over there to get it, said the man, who didnt want to use his name and declined to say how he qualified under Mississippis rules, but noted he has an underlying condition. There are probably people here that need it.

Tiffany Temple has been refreshing Mississippis vaccine appointment site for weeks. She lives in New Orleans, but shes been trying to secure appointments for her parents and in-laws, all in their 70s and Mississippi residents. But the hotline was always busy and the site always had the same message in red letters at the top of the screen: No first dose appointments available at this time.

So when she saw online that people in Louisiana were going to Mississippi for a shot, she was confused  and a little angry.

It just really struck a nerve, said Temple, a 45-year-old banker. Especially because my parents are older. My dad has a heart condition. I was like, oh my gosh, how is this happening? It got worse when people were like, Im from Pennsylvania and want to drive down.

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Her family has seen firsthand the impacts of not having the vaccine.

"Were African American and there has been a lot of conversation in our community about vaccines and the historical experiences, said Temple. It has impacted our friends and family. A really close friend of mine passed away and were having his memorial service virtually today at 3 oclock.

Many people in the vaccine hunters Facebook group are praising Mississippis easy enrollment process, which allows for a centralized sign-up. Louisiana prioritized a broad geographic reach through hundreds of pharmacies, but required people to call each provider individually to check for appointments.

+4 Black patients are wary of a coronavirus vaccine. Can Louisiana research fix decades of distrust? In August, Xavier University President Reynold Verret rolled up his sleeve and got a shot as part of a clinical trial for coronavirus vaccines.

I think the website is a great idea in terms of getting slots, said Temple, who grew up in Pass Christian and frequently traveled the 40 minutes back there to visit her family before the pandemic. But what happens when you have a senior citizen who is not tech-savvy and maybe they dont have family? Even beyond senior citizens, there are people who dont have access to the internet. Who is helping them?

This is a question that troubles epidemiologists, who know that scarce resources are often not accessible to those who need them most.

If the vaccine doses are allocated to serve the citizens from one jurisdiction and you're from another, you're basically jumping the line on the people from the jurisdiction, said Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist from Tulane University who helped develop Louisianas prioritization tiers. I have a little bit of ethical difficulty with that.

At the same time, she has empathy for people with serious conditions who have been inside their houses for a year.

I have friends who are cancer survivors, said Hassig. I (tell them) if you have an opportunity to get it, definitely do it. When people seek out the vaccine because they have an illness that puts them at risk, Hassig said she cant fault them.

Louisiana residents can sign up for a vaccine using their home address, members of the group said. They are under the impression they arent breaking any rules.

When asked if Louisiana residents were eligible for vaccines in Mississippi, Liz Sharlot, a spokesperson for Mississippis Department of Health, said in an email: If you live in Mississippi or work in Mississippi, you may be vaccinated. We have no identification requirements.

Sharlot said that people traveling to Mississippi for the vaccine were not a concern.

While its certainly easier for people to get the shot in Mississippi if they can get there, Hassig pointed out it may be because the people who need it in Mississippi arent finding it as easy to access.

Even though Louisiana has stricter requirements for eligibility, a higher percentage of the population has received the shot: 8.1% in Louisiana compared to Mississippis 7.2%.

Louisiana has used 65% of its vaccine supply vs. 55% in Mississippi.

If its that easy for people from Louisiana to get vaccine in Mississippi, that suggests they're not working very hard to get to the population who really need it, said Hassig, referring to older people who are most likely to die or be hospitalized with coronavirus.

Several people traveling to Mississippi for the vaccines point out that they meet that states requirements and residents from the two states often interact.

I know people who live in Mississippi who come to Louisiana for the vaccine because theyre part of the Ochsner system, said Costa. I work downtown. There are a lot of people in my building living in Diamondhead or Bay St. Louis. I would like to see them get vaccinated too, because were going to mingle. The virus doesnt know state lines.

Temple wrote a post Monday in the group expressing her frustration that people in other states were getting vaccinated before her elderly family members. Soon after, her inbox was flooded with tips. Members said they would stay up and do shifts to help her secure the appointments. They told her to try at two oclock in the morning, or said her parents should drive four hours to another site.

She couldnt imagine sending her parents four hours away, or asking her mother-in-law, who has lupus and breast cancer, to stalk the site in the middle of the night.

But using the tips they gave about the time of day to check, refreshing relentlessly and ignoring the statement in red saying there was no availability, she was able to get four appointments, one for each elderly family member.

Opinion Article

4 February 2021

As we've discussed in previous blogs, there has been an uptick in lawsuits filed against hotels alleging a failure to list accessible features on their website as required by the ADA. While many of these cases have been successfully defended in federal courts, new filings continue to surge and many plaintiffs are turning to state courts which have different requirements for dismissal. Martin Orlick, Chair of JMBM's ADA Compliance & Defense Group, explains why we should expect these cases to continue in 2021 and what hotels should be looking out for.

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We previously warned the hotel industry of the inevitable explosion of ADA website lawsuit filed against hotels. Well, that time is here.

In 2020, we saw a surge of lawsuits filed against those in the hotel industry, alleging the failure to comply with 28 C.F.R. Section 36.302 (e) of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires hotels to list their accessible features on their websites as well as on the websites of online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Travelocity, Orbitz, hotels.com, etc. We expect this surge of lawsuits to continue well into 2021.

Whether you are a national "flag" or the owner of a small portfolio of hotels, the 2010 ADA's, C.F.R. Section 36.302 (e) applies to your hotel properties and websites. This section of the ADA has been effective since March 15, 2012 and requires hotels to describe accessible features in hotels and guest rooms offered through its reservations services in enough detail to reasonably permit individuals with disabilities to assess independently whether a hotel or guest room meets their accessibility needs.

Although most hotel systems have implemented policies, practices and procedures to ensure they comply with Section 302 (e), many others have not adequately complied with the requirements. These requirements can be quite tricky to implement and it is a very tight balance to comply with the rule while not opening up your property to ADA litigation.

Why the surge in lawsuits?

Beginning in the last quarter of 2020, we saw a dramatic uptick in the number of ADA website lawsuits, even outpacing Title III architectural barrier cases. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, plaintiffs' ADA law firms have filed more than 100 Section 302 (e) cases against California hotels. These cases have been filed against a growing number of long-time clients of the firm by a handful of plaintiffs who claim they intend to visit these hotels once COVID-19 travel restrictions are lifted. We see many of the familiar plaintiffs who seem to have shifted their attention from architectural barrier cases to Section 302 (e) lawsuits.

There appear to be several key reasons for this shift. First, many hotels have not complied with Section 302 (e) after nearly 9 years. Second, in the world of high speed, high volume ADA litigation, it is far easier and far cheaper for plaintiffs to bring ADA website cases than to pay to retain an ADA consultant to physically inspect every hotel they want to sue. To perform pre-filing Rule 11 due diligence for Section 302 (e) cases, one need only visit the defendant's website or the websites of their OTAs to quickly test for compliance. This savings drops directly to the bottom line and speeds up the filing of complaints.

Section 302 (e) cases can be won

In some jurisdictions, federal judges are dismissing Section 302 (e) cases filed by serial litigants for failure to credibly allege they genuinely have Article III standing to file the lawsuit. (See The Court Dismisses Lawsuit for Lack of Standing - Proving Once Again These Cases Can Be Won.)

JMBM's ADA Compliance & Defense lawyers have had significant success defending against these cases and have had a number of these cases dismissed for lack of Article III standing. We are seeing similar deficiencies in the surge of these cases filed in California and expect federal courts to summarily dismiss them. Perhaps that's why a number of plaintiffs' ADA firms have turned to California's Superior Court where Article III standing is not a threshold jurisdictional requirement. Federal standing rules require federal judges to regularly review their cases for federal standing at every stage of the litigation including the original complaint, irrespective of whether the defendant raises the issue. State courts, on the other hand, are not courts of limited jurisdiction and are not so bound, though plaintiffs will still need to show the imminent danger of an injury in fact to obtain injunctive relief.

For more information on this topic, see our other blogs:
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they will never get a COVID-19 vaccine if they can help it, a new poll reveals.

It comes as COVID-19 deaths in the US surpass 450,000 amid a vaccine rollout that got off to a painfully slow start and was hampered by distrust of the shots.

Monmouth University's poll, released Wednesday, found that nearly two months into the rollout, only half of Americans want the vaccine as soon as possible.

And Republicans were more likely to refuse the shot, with 42 percent saying they will avoid getting vaccinated if at all possible.

Both COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the US - made by Pfizer and Moderna - are safe and at least 94 percent effective, but the new survey suggests that public confidence in the shots is still relatively low.

Monmouth University surveyed 809 Americans about a wide range of their attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic and the US response.

Nearly a quarter of Americans say they will likely never get a COVID-19 vaccine, and just half of people surveyed by Monmouth University say they will get one as soon as possible

The American effort to get COVID-19 under control has been mired in mistakes, delays and general disorganization.

Still the development and emergency approval of two coronavirus vaccines in under a year was a monumental feat for science.

But scientists have a saying about vaccines: Vaccines don't save lives - vaccinations save lives.

In that light, the US has struggled.

Technically challenged though it was to make vaccines in record time, the bigger challenge was convincing Americans to take them.

During months of development, surveys showed time and time again that the main reason Americans were reluctant to get vaccinated was fear that the shots had been developed to fast to be proven safe.

And conspiracy theories fanned the flames of mistrust, as social media exploded with wild theories that the COVID-19 vaccine contained a tracking microchip, or simply was actually designed to give people coronavirus.

There is no merit to either theory.

Republicans were 10-times more likely to say they would never get a vaccine than Democrats, and 25 percent of Independents plan to refuse vaccination

Yet mistrust persists. More than 33.7 million vaccines have been administered in the US. About 21 cases of anaphylactic shock - a severe allergic reaction - were reported in connection to Pfizer' vaccine. during the first week of vaccinations.

Nine were found in connection to Moderna's shot, between December 21 and January 10.

One death is being investigated by the FDA after a man died of a rare blood disorder days after receiving a Pfizer vaccine.

There have been no deaths confirmed to be caused by either vaccine, and side effects are generally mild, and include symptoms like chills, muscle aches and fatigue, which are a normal result of the immune system revving up in response to the shot.

Older Americans are more likely to want to be first in line for a shot, Monmouth's poll found, with 67 percent wanting to get it as soon as they could, or having already received it.

Democrats, too were eager, and 72 percent said they would get the shot as soon as it was offered to them, or had already done so.

Younger adults are on the fence, with 52 percent ready to get the shot immediately, or already having gotten one or more dose.

The never-vaccine group leaned right and tended to be younger.

More than a quarter of people under 65 said they would never get the shot if they weren't required to.

And 42 percent of Republicans said they would never get a vaccine, compared to 10 percent of Democrats and 25 percent of Republicans.

Though the survey was fairly small, it suggests that public health messaging still a ways to go in its effort to convince Americans that COVID-19 vaccines are worth it.

If it is reflective of the larger population, nearly 25 percent of people won't get vaccinated.

And that's a critical proportion because experts think that 75 percent is at the lower range of how many people need to be vaccinated in order for the US to reach herd immunity against COVID-19.
The BS Yediyurappa government in Karnataka is facing the heat from the two prominent communities in the State to push their demand for better reservations with the Central government.

Seers from one community  the dominant Panchamshali sub-sect of the Lingayats  are on a 'padayatra' from Kudalasangama to Bengaluru demanding they be given reservation under the 2A category, which could give them access to nearly 15% quota in education and jobs. Currently, Panchamshalis are in the 3B category, which has only a 5% reservation.

While the Karnataka government has always maintained it has a greater say with the central government in getting issues sorted as the same party is in power in both places, this 'padayatra' demanding internal reservation within the Lingayat community comes as an embarrassment to Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa, whose vote bank is also from this sect.

Seers, who started their padayatra from the holy place for the Lingayat community Kudalasangama, have been joined by hundreds of supporters along the way. They are expected to reach the State capital, Bengaluru, by February 15.

The government's bid to intervene on Thursday failed as two ministers of the Panchamshalis met the seers and requested them to call off their agitation and promised that the State Backward Classes Commission would study the demand and submit a report to the government on the matter, after which a decision would be taken.

The seers, however, said they would go ahead with their padayatra.

The seer leading the protest, Jaya Mruthyunjaya Swami, said: We welcome the decision of the CM to ask the backward classes commission to do a study on our demand. We hope the commission will give a positive report. Our padayatra is peaceful and we will continue this. Our appeal is only that, before our padayatra reaches Bangalore by February 15, please issue the government order. We feel we have won to some extent. We will go ahead with our padayatra till then."

Panchamshalis form almost 70 per cent of the Lingayats, and this agitation has upped the pressure on Yediyurappa who hails from a different sub-sect, but has many Panchamshalis in his Cabinet.

The other community that is also agitating for better quotas is the Kuruba community, which is also significant in number in Karnataka.

Rural Development Minister K.S. Eshwarappa is himself steering this agitation, and the Kurubas, who are currently categorised as OBC, want a Scheduled Tribe tag. Kurubas are traditionally a shepherd community and they also plan a mega convention on Sunday in Bengaluru.
LOS ANGELES - The California Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit Wednesday that sought to overturn a ballot measure that makes app-based ride-hailing and delivery drivers independent contractors instead of employees eligible for benefits and job protections.

FILE - In this Jan. 12, 2016, file photo, a ride share car displays Lyft and Uber stickers on its front windshield in downtown Los Angeles.Drivers for app-based ride-hailing and delivery services are suing to overturn a California ballot initiative that makes them independent contractors instead of employees eligible for benefits and job protections. The lawsuit filed Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2-021 in the California Supreme Court said Proposition 22 is unconstitutional because it limits the power of the Legislature to grant workers the right to organize and excludes drivers from being eligible for workers' compensation. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

LOS ANGELES - The California Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit Wednesday that sought to overturn a ballot measure that makes app-based ride-hailing and delivery drivers independent contractors instead of employees eligible for benefits and job protections.

Justices declined to hear the case brought by drivers and unions opposed to the measure. The case can be filed in a lower court.

The lawsuit claimed the measure was unconstitutional because it limits the power of the Legislature and excludes drivers from being eligible for workers compensation.

Proposition 22 passed in November with 58% support and shielded companies like Uber and Lyft from a new state labour law that would have required app-based services to treat drivers as employees and not independent contractors.

It was the most expensive ballot measure in state history with Uber, Lyft and other services putting $200 million behind the effort to undo a law that had been aimed squarely at them by labour-friendly Democrats. Unions, who joined drivers in the lawsuit, spent about $20 million to challenge the proposition.

When the lawsuit seeking speedy review was filed directly with the Supreme Court last month, Mary-Beth Moylan, associate dean of McGeorge Law School in Sacramento, said the first challenge would be getting the court to take the case.

Moylan said the high court could simply kick the case to a lower court if it felt there was no urgency to it and there were factual  not just legal  issues to weigh first.

Many drivers for the services had opposed the measure because they wanted to maintain the flexibility to set their own schedules.

Were thankful, but not surprised, that the California Supreme Court has rejected this meritless lawsuit, said Jim Pyatt, a Modesto retiree who drives for Uber, in a statement from a group that supports Proposition 22. Were hopeful this will send a strong signal to special interests to stop trying to undermine the will of voters.

Opponents of the referendum had said the companies exploited drivers and the ballot measure would deny them benefits required for many types of other workers.

The parties who brought the case said they were disappointed and would continue to challenge the measure but didnt say how or if they would refile the case.

Make no mistake: we are not deterred in our fight to win a livable wage and basic rights, plaintiff Hector Castellanos said in a statement from Proposition 22 opponents. We will consider every option available to protect California workers from attempts by companies like Uber and Lyft to subvert our democracy and attack our rights in order to improve their bottom lines.

Proposition 22 granted the delivery services an exemption from AB5, a landmark labour law that would have required providing drivers with protections like minimum wage, overtime, health insurance and reimbursement for expenses.

Uber and Lyft had challenged AB5, which threatened their business model, in court. They threatened to leave the state if voters rejected the measure.

Under the measure, drivers remain independent contractors exempt from mandates such as sick leave and workers comp but are supposed to receive alternative benefits, including a guaranteed minimum wage and subsidies for health insurance if they average 25 hours of work a week.
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The member of Parliament for Kade constituency, Alex Kwadwo Agyare says he will see the rightful authorities and lobby for roads in his constituencies to be reconstructed.





This follows a highway robbery incident at Pramkese in the Kwaebibirim municipality on Monday evening which caused the life of a police officer.



The officer, Lance Corporal Moses Nartey had been dispatched with one other colleague to avert a robbery incident on the Akyem Pramkese- Takyiman road following a distress call.



The armed policemen drove in a hired taxi to the robbery scene since the station had no official vehicle to be used for the operation.



According to the Chief of Akyem-Pramkese, Barimah Ofori Frimpong II, the robbers who had laid an ambush in a nearby bush opened fire on the police team when the lead officer, Lance Corporal Nartey alighted from the Taxi.



He explained that his other colleague who attempted to retaliate was also shot in the process.



The armed men, the chief said escaped after sensing the residents had got wind of the attack and were on their way to cause their arrest.



Residents in the area say bad roads in the area have exposed them to a series of highway robberies.



However, their new Member of Parliament, Alex Kwadwo Agyare has assured to fix the problem and equipped the police to combat such crime.



We deserve better roads that are safe for everyone. So, I will talk to the authorities to fix our roads after years of neglect. That means resurfacing the worst roads and fixing problem potholes. Just like the government is doing across the country, there will be an improvement here. He said in an interview



Adding that, I believe in the police and I know the criminals will be brought to book. There shouldnt be any fear and panic. I assure the people of my support and I will do whatever I can to support the police and the people.



Alex Kwadwo Agyare also expressed his condolences to the deceased family and the police fraternity in the area.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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US President Joe Biden has reversed a Trump administration policy that prohibited US funding for nongovernmental groups that provide or refer patients for abortions.

The Global Gag Rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, was enacted in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan. Since its introduction, the policy has been instated by each Republican president and rescinded by each Democrat president.

Under President Donald Trump the policy was made more stringent on two occasionsonce in 2017 when his administration passed the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy and again in 2019 with a further expansion of its implementation.

The Global Gag Rule requires non-governmental organizations (NGOs) based outside the US that receive US government global health assistance to certify that they will not use any funding to provide legal abortion services, referrals, or information to clients, or to advocate for the liberalization of a country's abortion law. It also applies to non-US based NGO sub-grantees of organizations getting moneyeven if they don't receive US global health assistance. The policy applies to US government and non-US government funds alike.

The policy allows for limited exceptions. For example, NGOs may provide information, referrals or services for legal abortion in cases of rape, incest, or when the pregnancy threatens the life of the pregnant person. However, our research shows that these exceptions are not always understood or followed in practice.

We collaborated with the African Population Health Research Centre and L'Institut National de Sante Publique et Communautaire to study the effects of the Global Gag Rule in Kenya and Madagascar. In both countries, we found that the Global Gag Rule weakened national health systems by disrupting NGO partnerships and fragmenting service delivery. In turn, this created barriers to women's sexual and reproductive healthcare access.

Our research provides fresh evidence of the devastating effect that the Gag Rule has had on projects, particularly over the past four years. It points to the importance of the repeal, but also underscores why, to truly pave the way towards reversing the effects of the Gag Rule, the US Congress must permanently repeal it through legislation.

What we found

Research participants in Kenya described increased difficulties referring women for contraception, legal abortion, and post-abortion care. This is because some organizations chose to end sexual and reproductive health programs that included abortion in order to receive US government funding.

Additionally, we found that some organizations unnecessarily restricted their family planning or post-abortion care services, which are permitted, due to confusion about the policy's stipulations or fear of losing US government funding opportunities.

In Madagascar, we found evidence of negative effects on women's access to family planning services. This was true even though abortion is illegal there.

The impact on one NGO illustrates how. The NGO was a major partner to Madagascar's Ministry of Health. It provides safe abortion in other countries where it's legal. But the NGO lost US government funding after declining to sign the Global Gag Rule. As a result, it stopped receiving funding and supplies from USAID. This meant that it had to reduce family planning outreach in some rural areas, and ended support to nearly 200 public and private health facilities.

Women described facing many barriers when trying to access contraceptives. These included higher fees to obtain a contraceptive method, stock-outs in many health facilities, and having to travel to multiple locations in search of their preferred method.

One woman in Madagascar mentioned that buying the method is a "problem because the money is needed to buy food for the family, but you have to take some out to buy the method."

Some women ended up with an unintended pregnancy because they could not obtain their contraceptive method.

Expansion under Trump

Under former Republican presidents the Gag Rule applied only to US government family planning assistance. This stood at $575 million in 2016.

But the changes made by Trump expanded the policy to apply to most categories of US government global health assistancewhich in 2016 stood at US$9.5 billion.

This meant that a greater number of NGOs working in a variety of health areasfrom HIV to nutrition to child healthwere newly affected.

One huge implication was that, for the first time, the Global Gag Rule was attached to President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funding. In the case of Kenya, this made up to 58% of HIV funding to Kenya.

As a result, we found that the delivery of the country's HIV and sexual and reproductive health services has been fractured.

NGO representatives said they were forced to choose between US government funding and projects related to HIV and other sexual and reproductive health services, despite USAID's own promotion of integrated services.

In addition, the policy's on-again-off-again history makes it very difficult to repair the damage it causes. Even when the policy is not in effect, some NGOs are wary of rebuilding or reinvesting in abortion-related work, for fear of its reinstatement.

What now?

The repeal of the Global Gag Rule by President Biden is a necessary step towards improving women's sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. But it will not be enough to reverse the effects that it's had over the last four years.

Clear communication and guidance about the policy reversal from US government donors to global health implementing partnersin multiple languageswill be critical to end its implementation and mitigate against the rampant confusion and fear that it has created for civil society across countries. It will take NGOs time to re-establish relationships and services that they ended.

In addition to permanently repealing the Gag Rule, there needs to be renewed investment in comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and services from the US government and national governments in order to rebuild and strengthen national health systems and contraceptive supply chains.

Explore further How the global gag rule affects women's health

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, has urged African leaders to leverage emerging technologies and innovation to curtail the energy poverty in the continent.

Kyari, who made the comment at the first quarter 2021 Public Lecture Series of Usman Dan-Fodio University, Sokoto, recently, explained that though the global transition to renewable energy would keep gaining momentum, crude oil will continue to be relevant in the coming decades.

However, he noted that the NNPC was fully prepared to lead Africa in transition to low-carbon and renewable energy, but admitted that renewables will likely not be enough to satisfy the growing world energy need.

He said: "African governments and institutions must therefore rise to the occasion, to leverage technology and innovation to support energy sufficiency, industrialisation, job creation and economic growth.

"Global transition to renewable energy will definitely continue to gain momentum, but the pace may not be fast enough to offset the impacts of worldwide economic expansion and population growth.

"Oil will remain very much relevant in today's global energy mix and the future. But as transition to cleaner energy gains momentum especially across the developed countries, oil companies must continuously improve operational efficiency and reduce their costs to remain relevant."

He posited that global energy consumption would grow from 2018 levels by about 50 per cent by 2050, stressing that it was apparent that oil and gas will continue to be a crucial component of the world's future energy.

"The world will keep burning significant proportion of fossil fuels to sustain the anticipated progress and growth, especially in Asia and Africa.

"Modern day energy transition is hinged on the desire to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

"Movers of this interest are motivated by among others, the quest for sustainable energy supply, climate change considerations, enabling technologies, innovations and the overall socio-economic impact of the transition," he noted.

The GMD opined that the later discovery of crude oil as an important energy source of the 20th century had supported tremendous economic and technological growth the world over.

According to kyari, scientific development and advancement in technology have over the years shaped the dominance of oil as primary energy source and as a game changer in the progress of human society.

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"Oil industry has changed the fortunes of both producing and consuming nations, creating wealth and prosperity that catalysed the growth of other sectors of the global economy," he opined.

The NNPC boss further called for the diversification of energy sources so as to improve global access to energy especially in developing countries and urged all stakeholders to collaborate if this is to be made possible.

"The growth of oil industry is in many ways associated with the industry's strategic role of powering the global economy and the collaborative interests of key stakeholders including policy makers, the academia, manufacturers and other experts.

"These stakeholders shape the direction of the industry and continuously improve capabilities across exploration, deep offshore access, shale oil production, oil and gas processing and transportation.

"This type of collaborative trend is again critical in navigating the next energy transition. The oil and gas industry alone cannot drive substantial innovation without sustained collaboration with universities, research institutes, manufacturers, policy makers and regulators," he noted.
MDOT receives $600,000 grant for innovative projects to reduce COVID-19 spread on public transit buses

MDOT receives $600,000 grant for innovative projects to reduce COVID-19 spread on public transit buses

Michael Frezell, MDOT Office of Communications, 517-281-6519 Transportation

Fast facts:

- MDOT will receive $600,000 in grants to be distributed to six public transit agencies to demonstrate innovations to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

- Projects involve automated wheelchair securement systems and a contactless fare system.

February 4, 2021 -- As part of the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) Public Transportation COVID-19 Research Demonstration Grant Program, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) will receive $600,000 to be distributed to five public transit agencies in rural and urban areas for innovative projects. The program supports strategies to develop, deploy, and demonstrate innovative solutions that improve the operational efficiency of transit agencies and enhance the mobility of transit users affected by the COVID-19 public health emergency.

"Public transit remains a vital service for many citizens getting to work, school, shopping, or doctor's appointments," said Jean Ruestman, MDOT Office of Passenger Transportation administrator. "We continue to work with our partner transit agencies to look for grants for innovative solutions to protect passengers and transit workers from the virus."

Blue Water Area Transportation Commission in St. Clair County, Saginaw Transit Authority Regional Services (STARS), Jackson Area Transportation Authority, Marquette County Transit Authority, and Western-Washtenaw Area Value Express (WAVE) will receive funding to install automated wheelchair securement systems in their buses. Developed by Q'Straint, this system will allow passengers to self-secure their wheelchairs safely and will help eliminate close contact with the bus driver.

Charlevoix County Public Transportation will receive funding to integrate a new mobility on-demand/contactless fare payment system with the agency's dispatch and scheduling system. In partnership with Routematch by Uber, the contactless fare payment system eliminates cash transactions, which reduces virus transmission and promotes safety and confidence in using public transit.

Announced on Jan. 19, the FTA awarded about $15.8 million for 37 projects in 35 states. Specific focus areas were vehicle, facility, equipment, and infrastructure cleaning and disinfection; exposure mitigation measures; innovative mobility such as contactless payments; and measures that strengthen public confidence in transit service.

Information around this outbreak is changing rapidly. The latest information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine, visit Michigan.gov/COVIDVaccine.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

A motorbike rider has been airlifted to hospital after a crash at Noosa Heads.

Police believe the 54-year-old crashed on Sunshine Beach Road just before10.30pm on Wednesday when he was entering a right-turn lane near Bicentennial Drive and lost control of the motorcycle.

The Victorian man, who suffered a head injury, was taken to Noosa Hospital before he was airlifted to Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital in a critical condition.

He remains in hospital.

The Forensic Crash Unit is investigating the crash.
A relic from San Francisco's long-gone Sutro Baths and other historic items were reportedly stolen from the site of the former Cliff House restaurant last month.

The black wool swimsuit with "Sutro Baths" across the chest is valued at $2,000, U.S. Park Police said. Other items included art, tools and additional swimsuits with different designs, but police said the black swimsuit dating back to the early 1900s was one of the more "unique items." (See a gallery of the items at the bottom of this story.)

U.S. Park Police

The incident that happened between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Jan. 26 is under investigation.

Park Police investigators have clear camera footage showing two individuals and are sharing an image (below) in hopes of locating the suspects.

If you recognize the people pictured, contact Park Police anonymously at 415-561-5150 or or uspp_tipline@nps.gov.

Park Police said there has been an increase in vandalism and theft throughout the region during the pandemic.

U.S. Park Police

The stolen items belong to the Hountalas family, the owners of the former restaurant at the iconic Cliff House, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean and the Sutro Baths ruins, officials said. The family maintains a special use permit to continue to occupy the building through March 2021 and has begun to organize an auction to sell the personal property they collected in the restaurant, police said.

You can see a gallery of the some of the stolen items below, including a brown Sutro Baths swimsuit (also valued at $2,000), a wooden horse and a framed photograph of Playland at the Beach, the former amusement park at Ocean Beach just south of the Cliff House.

A passion project of S.F.'s 24th Mayor and self-made millionaire Adolph Sutro, a series of seven grand pools fed by the Pacific Ocean at Lands End opened on March 14, 1896. The Sutro Baths offered 20,000 bathing suits and 40,000 towels for rent, and historic photos show swimmers sporting the one-piece jumpers.

Sepia Times/Sepia Times/Universal Images Gro

The baths never turned a profit, leaked money and waned in popularity during the Great Depression. Developers demolished Sutro's engineering feat in 1964 to build high-rise apartments. A fire destroyed what remained of the baths in 1966, and the city abandoned the apartment plan. Today, concrete ruins from the Sutro Baths remain, lending history and wonder to the oceanfront.

The swimsuits remain symbols of the turn of the 20th century in San Francisco. Sen. Dianne Feinstein famously wore one of the swimsuits under a trench coat as a member of S.F.'s Board of Supervisors at the grand opening of Pier 39 in 1978. Feinstein had made a bet with the developer, promising to "cut the ribbon in a bikini" if he finished on time.

A spokesperson for the National Park Service told the San Francisco Chronicle the goal for the Cliff House is to find a new restaurant tenet.

SFGATE Managing Editor Katie Dowd contributed to this story.
First publication to document high spatiotemporal resolution and pattern discrimination by retinal ganglion cells expressing ChrimsonR-tdT in non-human primates

Findings are compatible with vision restoration at a visual acuity above the legal threshold for blindness defined by the World Health Organization

Regulatory News:

GenSight Biologics (Paris:SIGHT) (Euronext: SIGHT, ISIN: FR0013183985, PEA-PME eligible), a biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders, today announced that the journal Communications Biology has published results from the study of GS030- Drug Product (GS030-DP) in non-human primates (NHP).

The paper*, published in the January issue under the title "Optogenetic therapy: high spatiotemporal resolution and pattern discrimination compatible with vision restoration in non-human primates", is the first peer-reviewed article constituting a proof-of-concept for retinal ganglion cell (RGC) activation following optogenetic gene therapy with GS030-DP (rAAV2.7m8-ChrimsonR-tdT) in non-human primates. Specifically, the spatiotemporal activation of RGCs allowed for pattern discrimination leading to an estimated Snellen visual acuity of 20/249, superior to the level of legal blindness.

"We are proud to have these results, which have been used to support the IND approval of our Phase I/II clinical trial PIONEER with GS030, published in Communications Biology," commented Bernard Gilly, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of GenSight. "This Phase I/II clinical trial is currently recruiting retinitis pigmentosa patients with bare light perception and its objective is to demonstrate that NHP observations translate into useful visual restoration in these patients".

GS030-DP (rAAV2.7m8-ChrimsonR-tdT) is an optimized viral vector expressing the light-sensitive opsin ChrimsonR. When activated by amber light, ChrimsonR renders its host cell photosensitive, a function lost in retinal diseases causing the degeneration of photoreceptors. Optogenetics combine the cellular expression of light-sensitive opsins with fine-tuned light stimulation generated by a wearable optronic visual stimulation device (GS030-MD).

Preclinical studies generated key findings that supported the initiation of the first-in-human Phase I/II clinical trial PIONEER evaluating the safety and tolerability of the GS030 combined therapy (GS030-DP GS030-MD) in patients with late-stage retinitis pigmentosa.

"This preclinical study represents an important milestone towards the clinical validation of this approach to restore some vision in blinding retinal conditions. This journey that started more than a decade ago with the collaboration between my team at Institut de la Vision in Parisa and Pr. Botond Roska, has also benefited from scientific synergies with the team of Ed Boyden at the MIT," said Jose-Alain Sahel, MD, co-founder of GenSight and of the Institut de la Vision, Director of the IHU FOReSIGHT and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "We expect that the results of the clinical trial PIONEER will indeed confirm the potency of the approach in the interest of patients.

Expression of ChrimsonR-tdT in the retina of non-human primates was safe and well tolerated

The intravitreal injection of rAAV2.7m8-ChrimsonR-tdT and the expression of ChrimsonR-tdT in the retina did not induce any significant immune reaction or intraocular inflammation. Under ambient lighting, no photophobia or vision-related changes in behavior was noted in any of the animals injected with rAAV2.7m8-ChrimsonR-tdT. Of note, the wavelength of amber light needed to activate ChrimsonR is much safer than that of highly phototoxic blue-shifted lights.2

The AAV2.7m8 vector showed high transduction efficiency in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs)

The modified viral vector AAV2.7m8 was generated using in vivo-directed evolution and selected for its ability to efficiently transduce retina cells when injected in the vitreous.1 The article authored by Gauvain et al. showed that, in macaques injected intravitreally, AAV2.7m8 transduced RGCs more efficiently than the wild-type AAV2 vector. A strong cellular expression of ChrimsonR-tdT was observed in the perifovea, where RGCs are most concentrated. Interestingly, the fluorescent marker protein td-Tomato fused to ChrimsonR seemed to increase the expression of functional opsin.

The therapeutic dose of rAAV2.7m8-ChrimsonR-tdT was defined as 5 1011 vg/eye, which allowed for greater light sensitivity and higher cellular expression in a wider area of the retina.

ChrimsonR-tdT generated a photocurrent with high temporal and spatial resolution

In functional assays (256-mutlielectrode arrays), the RGCs expressing ChrimsonR-tdT were only activated by amber light at a minimal intensity of 1015 photons cm-2 s-1 and did not show any response to ambient light.

The ex vivo retinal stimulation assays also showed that the electrophysiologic response of RGCs expressing ChrimsonR precisely followed the duration and frequency of the light pulses used to activate the opsin. Moreover, localized stimulation of RGCs induced a response coherent with the size and position of the light pulses.

Optogenetic stimulation of RGCs expressing ChrimsonR-tdT can support restoration of visual acuity

The electrophysiological activity of RGCs expressing ChrimsonR-tdT was consistent with the direction and speed of a moving stimulus. Furthermore, the spatiotemporal activation of treated retinas was specific to the shape of the moving symbols presented (square, circle, cross of different sizes), indicating the ability to discriminate between patterns. This level of pattern discrimination corresponded to a Snellen visual acuity of 20/249 (1.1 LogMAR), a level above the threshold of blindness (20/400) defined by the World Health Organization.3 The authors concluded that "These results lay the groundwork for the ongoing clinical trial, PIONEER, with the AAV2.7m8-ChrimsonR-tdT vector for vision restoration in patients with retinitis pigmentosa."

The paper is available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-020-01594-w.

GenSight Biologics expect to release early findings in the first patients of the PIONEER trial later in the first half of 2021.

*About the paper:

Optogenetic therapy: high spatiotemporal resolution and pattern discrimination compatible with vision restoration in non-human primates

Authors:

Gregory Gauvain1, Himanshu Akolkar1,2, Antoine Chaffiol1, Fabrice Arcizet1, Mina A. Khoei1, Melissa Desrosiers1, Celine Jaillard1, Romain Caplette1, Olivier Marre1, Stephane Bertin3, Claire-Maelle Fovet4, Joanna Demilly4, Valerie Forster1, Elena Brazhnikova1, Philippe Hantraye4, Pierre Pouget5, Anne Douar6, Didier Pruneau6, Joel Chavas6, Jose-Alain Sahel1,2,3, Deniz Dalkara1, Jens Duebel1, Ryad Benosman1,2, Serge Picaud1

Affiliations:

1 Sorbonne Universite, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, 17 rue Moreau, F-75012 Paris, France.

2 Department of Ophthalmology, University Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

3 CHNO des Quinze-Vingts, INSERM-DGOS CIC 1423, 28 rue de Charenton, F-75012 Paris, France.

4 Departement des Sciences du Vivant (DSV), MIRcen, Institut d'imagerie Biomedicale (I2BM), Commissariat l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), 92260 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France.

5 ICM, UMRS 1127 UPMC U 1127 INSERM UMR 7225 CNRS, Paris, France.

6 Gensight Biologics, 74 rue du faubourg Saint Antoine, F-75012 Paris, France.

References:

Dalkara D, Byrne LC, Klimczak RR, Visel M, Yin L, Merigan WH, Flannery JG, Schaffer DV. In vivo-directed evolution of a new adeno-associated virus for therapeutic outer retinal gene delivery from the vitreous. Sci Transl Med. 2013 Jun 12;5(189):189ra76. Vicente-Tejedor J, Marchena M, Ramirez L, Garcia-Ayuso D, Gomez-Vicente V, Sanchez-Ramos C, de la Villa P, Germain F. Removal of the blue component of light significantly decreases retinal damage after high intensity exposure. PLoS One. 2018 Mar 15;13(3):e0194218. World Health Organization, International Classification of Diseases 11 (2018):

https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en#/http%3a%2f%2fid.who.int%2ficd%2fentity%2f1103667651

About GenSight Biologics

GenSight Biologics S.A. is a clinical-stage biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders. GenSight Biologics' pipeline leverages two core technology platforms, the Mitochondrial Targeting Sequence (MTS) and optogenetics, to help preserve or restore vision in patients suffering from blinding retinal diseases. GenSight Biologics' lead product candidate, LUMEVOQ (GS010; lenadogene nolparvovec), has been submitted for marketing approval in Europe for the treatment of Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), a rare mitochondrial disease affecting primarily teens and young adults that leads to irreversible blindness. Using its gene therapy-based approach, GenSight Biologics' product candidates are designed to be administered in a single treatment to each eye by intravitreal injection to offer patients a sustainable functional visual recovery.

About GS030

GS030 leverages GenSight's optogenetics technology platform, a novel approach to restore vision in blind patients using a combination of ocular gene therapy and tailored light-activation of treated retinal cells. In diseases causing degeneration of photoreceptors, a therapeutic gene encoding a light-sensitive protein (ChrimsonR-tdT) is introduced into retinal ganglion cells (RGC) to turn them into photosensitive cells, and thereby restore the ability of the retina to respond to light. Chrimson-tdT is a light-sensitive channelrhodopsin that is activated by high intensities of amber light. An external wearable medical device is therefore needed to stimulate the treated retina. The light-stimulating goggles (GS030-MD) encode the visual scene in real-time and project a light beam at a specific wavelength and intensity onto the treated retina. Treatment with GS030 requires that patients wear the external wearable device to enable restoration of visual function. With the support of the Institut de la Vision in Paris and the team of Dr. Botond Roska at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, GenSight is developing GS030 combined optogenetic therapy to restore vision in patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Of note, GenSight's optogenetics approach is independent from the specific genetic mutations causing blindness. This technology could be applied to other diseases of the retina in which photoreceptors degenerate, like dry age-related macular degeneration (dry-AMD).

About Optogenetics

Optogenetics is a biological technique that involves the transfer of a gene encoding for a light sensitive protein to cause neuronal cells to respond to light stimulation. As a result, it is a neuromodulation method that can be used to modify or control the activities of individual neurons in living tissue and even in-vivo, with a very high spatial and temporal resolution. Optogenetics combines the use of gene therapy methods to transfer a gene into target neurons with the use of optics and electronics (optronics) to deliver the light to the transduced cells. Optogenetics is widely used by research laboratories throughout the world and holds clinical promise in the field of vision impairment or degenerative neurological disorders.

About Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP)

Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is a family of orphan genetic diseases caused by multiple mutations in numerous genes involved in the visual cycle. Over 100 genetic defects have been implicated. RP patients generally begin experiencing vision loss in their young adult years, with progression to blindness by age 40. RP is the most widespread hereditary cause of blindness in developed nations, with a prevalence of about 1.5 million people throughout the world. In Europe and the United States, about 350,000 to 400,000 patients suffer from RP, and every year between 15,000 and 20,000 new patients with RP lose sight. There is currently no existing curative treatment for RP.

a Serge Picaud, Jens Duebel, Deniz Dalkara and Gregory Gauvain

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Fifteen MPs from 10 opposition parties, including the SAD, DMK, NCP and the Trinamool Congress, were stopped by police from reaching Ghazipur border on Thursday to meet farmers protesting against new farm laws, a leader said.

According to SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal who coordinated the visit, the leaders were not allowed to cross the barricades and reach the protest site.

Besides Badal, Supriya Sule from NCP, Kanimozhi and Tiruchi Siva from the DMK, Saugata Roy from the TMC were part of the delegation. Members of the Conference, RSP and the IUML were also part of it.

During a discussion in Parliament on Wednesday, several opposition parties asked the government to withdraw the three contentious farm laws without making it a prestige issue and not to treat the agitating farmers as "enemies".

Stringent security continued at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, one of the key protest sites where thousands of farmers are camping with a demand that the Centre repeal the new agri-marketing laws enacted last September.

The protesting farmers have expressed the apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.

However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.

Eleven rounds of formal talks between the government and the protesting farmer unions have failed to break the deadlock. While unions have stuck to their main demand of repeal of the laws and legal guarantee of MSP, the government has offered some concessions including keeping these laws on hold for 1-1.5 years. Even the Supreme Court has stayed the laws for two months and set up a panel to look into the matter.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

Christians in Denmark are bothered over a proposal for a new law requiring sermons to be translated into the national language and submitted to the government.

The proposal for the new law that would require sermons to be translated in Danish and submitted for the government's review is supported by Social Democrat Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen himself. The proposed rule is intended to control extremist Muslim preaching but Christian organizations are worried that it would only restrict speech and religious freedom, Christian Headlines reported.

In his letter dated Jan. 27, Europe's Anglican bishop Robert Innes expressed his concern over the impact of the proposed law on religious freedom, hoping that the government would "pause to reflect on the potential implications of such proposals."

"I believe this overly restrictive step would constitute a limitation on freedom of expression, which I know is prized in Denmark, as one of the world's oldest democracies," Innes wrote.

The bishop also told The Guardian that if adopted, other countries may copy the proposal.

He added that the proposal poses practical problems contending the feasibility of the sermon's weekly translations that are usually delivered spontaneously.

"Preachers don't always write full text of their sermons, they might write notes. They might preach extempore as the archbishop of Canterbury sometimes does and there are questions of idiom and nuance which requires a high level of skill in translation of course. It is a high bar. It is a skilled art and it is an expensive skill as well," he said.

According to Evangelical Focus, German-speaking churches are also worried.

The main pastor of Copenhagen's St. Petri church, Rajah Scheepers, articulated her sentiments to Domradio saying, "There is much concern."

"We do not only hold services on Sundays, but also baptisms, weddings and funerals, throughout the week. It is not realistic to expect that we simultaneously translate all these gatherings or that we translate them in advance," she added.

Roman Catholics are also against the proposal. Nordic Bishops Conference General Secretary Anna Mirijam Kaschne said that it would only endanger freedom of religion.

"All church congregations, free church congregations, Jewish congregations, everything we have here in Denmark - 40 different religious communities - will be placed under general suspicion by this law. Something is happening here which is undermining democracy," Kaschne told the Catholic News Service.

Thomas B. Mikkelsen, the Evangelical Alliance Denmark chairman, doubts the effectiveness of the proposed regulation.

"The law aims to protect our community from the growth of radical Islamism, but the law will probably not be effective in that regard. Radical groups tend to establish themselves on the margins, in a parallel society, and never apply for official recognition. I do not think a new law will affect them in any way," Mikkelsen said.

The proposed "Law on Sermon in Languages Other than Danish" is expected to be debated this month in the Danish Parliament.

Targeting imams who are preaching in Arabic, the Danish government said that the law aims "to create greater openness about the preaching of religious preachers in Denmark when they preach in languages other than Danish," the Church Militant wrote.

Denmark is home to 270,000 Muslims who go to 115 registered mosques, the report said.
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Luanda  The minister of Justice and Human Rights, Francisco Queiroz, considered last Wednesday in Luanda that the recent invasion of a police station in Cafunfu area, north-eastern Lunda Norte Province, and the aggression on police officers is a violation of human rights.

Francisco Queiroz, who was speaking at the end of a meeting with civil society in the auditorium of the Ministry of the Interior, said that during the rebellion some police and military personnel were beaten up, even slightly burned.

Francisco Queiroz stressed that the so-called "Protectorado Portugues da Lunda Tchokwe" (Portuguese Protectorate over Lunda Tchokwe region) is an organization that has no legitimacy to dialogue on behalf of this region.

To the minister, the members of civil society are valid interlocutors, but he disqualified those who have no legitimacy and who pursue ends against the constitution and integrity of the territory.

To these, he said it's impossible to find a channel for dialogue.

However, the government official acknowledged that there was an excess on the police side, a practice that has to be reviewed.

He made it known that there will be an inquiry to hold those who acted in an excessive manner to account.

Regarding the facts that occurred in Lunda Norte, the minister clarified that the Attorney-General Department (PGR) is already investing the case.

In the referred rebellion that was banned by the National Police six citizens of the referred protectorate died. They marched with firearms, machetes and other types of lethal objects.

Regarding the meeting with members of civil society, the minister said that it served for an in-depth analysis of the situation that took place in that north-eastern part of Angola, the historical, sociological and political perspective, in addition to issues related to the living conditions of the populations, not only from Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul, but also from other regions of Angola.

Representatives of Maos Livres association (Hands Free, In English), Platform Woman in Action and CICA - Council of Christian Churches in Angola attended the meeting.

Francisco Queiroz, who was speaking at the end of a meeting with civil society in the auditorium of the Ministry of the Interior, said that during the rebellion some police and military personnel were beaten up, even slightly burned.

Francisco Queiroz stressed that the so-called "Protectorado Portugues da Lunda Tchokwe" (Portuguese Protectorate over Lunda Tchokwe region) is an organization that has no legitimacy to dialogue on behalf of this region.

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To the minister, the members of civil society are valid interlocutors, but he disqualified those who have no legitimacy and who pursue ends against the constitution and integrity of the territory.

To these, he said it's impossible to find a channel for dialogue.

However, the government official acknowledged that there was an excess on the police side, a practice that has to be reviewed.

He made it known that there will be an inquiry to hold those who acted in an excessive manner to account.

Regarding the facts that occurred in Lunda Norte, the minister clarified that the Attorney-General Department (PGR) is already investing the case.

In the referred rebellion that was banned by the National Police six citizens of the referred protectorate died. They marched with firearms, machetes and other types of lethal objects.

Regarding the meeting with members of civil society, the minister said that it served for an in-depth analysis of the situation that took place in that north-eastern part of Angola, the historical, sociological and political perspective, in addition to issues related to the living conditions of the populations, not only from Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul, but also from other regions of Angola.

Representatives of Maos Livres association (Hands Free, In English), Platform Woman in Action and CICA - Council of Christian Churches in Angola attended the meeting.


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Northern Irelands police chief Simon Byrne has vowed to put loyalist thugs in east Belfast on the back foot (Niall Carson/PA).

Northern Irelands police chief has vowed to put loyalist thugs in east Belfast on the back foot.

At one stage only six officers faced a group of around 50 masked people in Pitt Park off the Newtownards Road on Tuesday.

It is believed the force thwarted an attempted attack on a house in the area.

PSNI chief constable Simon Byrne said: We are the people that police east Belfast.

We have stepped up resources, we will work with the community to see can we identify people.

There is no place for thuggery and intimidation and we want to keep these people on the back foot while we remain on the front foot.

The UVF has been linked to the incident.

Scores of men wearing face coverings and hoods or hats to conceal their identity were seen in the area in a video circulated on social media.

A small number of police officers were seen in the video.

Policing Board member Gerry Kelly, Sinn Feins Assembly member, has said police attended the scene while the group was still roaming the community and made minimal efforts to intervene.

Mr Byrne briefed the Policing Board on Thursday.

He added that his officers has reacted in a fast-moving and spontaneous fashion after receiving information.

Numbers of police escalated from an initial two neighbourhood officers to include an inspector who took charge of the operation.

Mr Byrne said: We are following up lines of inquiry to identify and bring to book those people.

East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson has said the local community was living in fear.

Sinn Fein West Belfast MP Paul Maskey said he was concerned by the footage.
State Track: Arrows' Mack and Heesch among six area event winners on opening day

Watertown seniors Cooper Mack and Maggie Heesch and four other area athletes notched event wins Friday during the opening day of the 2021 State High School Track and Field Meet.
Dhaka, Feb 4 : After 19 years, a court on Thursday sentenced 50 Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) workers, including MP Habibul Islam Habib, over the 2002 attack on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's convoy in Satkhira.

The verdict was given by Humayun Kabir, Chief Judicial Magistrate of the Satkhira court.

During the verdict on Thursday, 34 accused out of 50 were present before the court.

All the accused are activists and workers of the BNP, with Habib and two others facing 10 years in prison.

Another of the 50 accused, BNP arms cadre 'Tiger Khokon' is already serving jail time in another case.

Of the 50 people, 15 of them including, local BNP leader Abdul Kader Bacchu, are absconding.

On August 30, 2002, the convoy of Sheikh, the then Leader of the Opposition, came under an attacked in Kalaroa upazila by the BNP Arms Cadres with rapid firing and bomb blasts.

She was on her way back to Jessore after visiting a freedom fighter's wife in Satkhira, who was raped by BNP workers, on the instructions of Habibul Islam Habib, the then lawmaker and the district president of the party.

Hasina survived the attack but more than 12 of the Awami league leaders and activists were injured in the attack.

On September 2, 2002 Moslemuddin, the commander of freedom fighters of Kalaroa filed a case against 70-75 people, including Juba Dol leaders Ashraf Hossain and Abdul Quader Bachchu accusing them of the attack.

It was dismissed by the then Jamaat-BNP led government due to not being recorded at the police station.

The case was considered as a statement on October 15, 2014 by the Supreme Court. Later, the investigating officer filed a chargesheet in the court against 50 people.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Deputy Premier John Barilaro has described allegations in The Sydney Morning Herald about the state of regional hospitals in NSW as horrific.

Mr Barilaro said some of the reports - which included allegations that public health officials are covering up and failing to investigate preventable deaths - were so disturbing they warranted an immediate investigation by the NSW Health Department and could not wait for an upcoming parliamentary inquiry.

Nationals leader John Barilaro has called for action over the state of regional NSW hospitals. Credit:Louie Douvis

However, that suggestion was criticised by Labor, which argued the allegations were far too serious for the government to essentially investigate itself.

Opposition health spokesman Ryan Park said he would be referring the allegations to the independent Health Care Complaints Commission.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Grand Rapids officials expect this is the last winter for their sidewalk snow removal pilot before a decision is made to expand it citywide, drop it altogether or implement it in limited areas of the city.

The trial run of the program calls for a city-hired contractor to clear snow after significant snowfall from specific sidewalks in parts of the city.

The pilot was initially slated to run just last winter, but few major snowfall events that season meant contractors only went out about twice to clear sidewalks in portions of the city. Needing more data, the city extended the pilot into this winter at a cost of $100,000.

The sidewalks covered this season are the same as last, and its about 100 miles of the 922 miles of sidewalks in the city.

Every winter event with a snowfall of 3 inches of snow or more, contractors are activated once the accumulation stops to clear the sidewalks. So far this season, its happened four times.

The pilot is expected to end in March, generally the last month of snow in Michigan winters.

Robert Swain, acting manager of Public Works, said he expects this to be the pilots final season before city staff decide whether to expand it citywide, implement it only in specific areas, such as business districts, or just pass on continuing it in any form.

The pilot was pitched as a way to see if a citywide sidewalk snow clearing service was viable, both financially and practically, and wanted by residents. The pilot is modeled after similar services in East Grand Rapids and Wyoming.

Related: Routes set for Grand Rapids sidewalk snow removal pilot

While theres no firm dollar figure of what citywide coverage could cost, Swain said its safe to ballpark it around $922,000 or more, which would be the cost of the current miles covered extrapolated to citywide coverage.

Thats a tough ask right now, Swain said, because city budgets are tight due to revenue reductions from the pandemic-related economic downturn.

Swain said after this second year of the pilot concludes, staff and possibly resident stakeholders will look at feedback and costs to decide whats next for a sidewalk snow removal service in the city.

One possibility, Swain said, is to keep the program small-scale but targeted at sidewalks in business districts in the city.

I would think that would be a potential in-between compromise, he said. We see some value, especially with businesses struggling still, to keep those sidewalks clear along Wealthy Street, along Lake Drive and up and down Division and Monroe, even if its maybe a public-private partnership between us and one or two vendors to keep those open for business and economic development.

So far, there hasnt been much resident feedback this season.

Swain said hes only aware of two calls, both complaints, from residents about the program. One was that the contractor didnt do a good enough job clearing the sidewalk, and the other was that the contractor didnt clear the sidewalk at all.

Swains team, sent out after the call, found the sidewalk wasnt cleared because the contractors hadnt gotten to it yet.

Swain wanted to remind residents in the pilot area that the contractors dont fully clear the sidewalk. Generally, about a half-inch of snow is left on the sidewalk so scrapers on the mini-plows used dont scratch the walkway.

If it isnt packed down, sometimes all or most of the snow is removed.

Residents are still responsible for clearing that last half-inch or so of snow or ice within 24 hours of a winter event. If they dont, theyre liable to be ticketed by the city.

Swain said he hasnt had to send the contractors back out to clear a sidewalk they hadnt done properly the first time. He said he doesnt have start and stop time data on how long it takes the contractors to clear the city sidewalks during a snow event.

About 80% of the sidewalks covered in the pilot are on network streets, and the remaining 20% on neighborhood streets.

The contracted sidewalk snow removal happens on about two dozen main roads, including sections of Knapp Street, Richmond Street, Monroe Avenue, Leonard Street, Plainfield Avenue, Fuller Avenue, Walker Avenue, Bridge Street, Ottawa Avenue, Michigan Street, Fulton Street, Market Avenue, Division Avenue, Wealthy Street, Lake Drive, Franklin Avenue, Hall Street, Burton Street, Madison Avenue, Eastern Avenue and Kalamazoo Avenue.

A detailed map is available here.

The routes were chosen based on poverty levels, population of older adults, population of people with disabilities, pedestrian traffic levels, unemployment percentage, population of school-age children, distance to transport stops and past concentrations of sidewalks and snow removal complaints.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - Champaign County Republican Rep. Jim Jordan backed controversial Georgia Republican Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenes election to Congress with campaign cash and an endorsement calling her exactly the kind of fighter needed in Washington to stand with me against the radical left,

Jordan is also vocally opposing Democrats efforts to remove her from the committees that Republicans assigned to her upon her arrival in Congress.

Democrats have criticized Greene for expressing support for QAnon conspiracy theories, endorsing social media statements that called for executing Democratic Congress members, and questioning whether school shootings were staged, among other things. Theyve scheduled a Thursday afternoon vote on removing her from her seats on the House education and budget committees.

Republicans declined to discipline Greene after discussing it at a meeting on Wednesday night where Greene apologized for her past QAnon support.

Jordan has publicly opposed sanctions against her. In a Fox News interview, Jordan said if this goes forward, thats just one more blow to the First Amendment and thats what should scare every single American. He said Democrats should not be allowed to decide committee assignments for Republicans, and Republicans shouldnt decide who Democrats assign to committees.

No one is condoning the remarks that she made, Jordan told Fox News Ive not heard any Republicans say that those were appropriate.... I told the Democrats, if you guys keep going down this road, keep attacking people, their First Amendment free speech rights, where does it end? It wont stop with Republicans. Itll go to all of us ... Thats between her and her voters, which is the way its supposed to be in a constitutional republic where we have a democracy.

Marjorie Greene Endorsed by Congressman Jim Jordan! Thankful for the endorsement from Congressman Jim Jordan, President Trump's top ally in Congress! I look forward to fighting the Socialist Democrats alongside him as the first-ever Congresswoman representing Northwest Georgia! Here is our radio running on radio stations across Northwest Georgia! Save America. Stop Socialism. #sass -- Marjorie Posted by Marjorie Taylor Greene on Thursday, April 23, 2020

Jordan issued an early campaign endorsement of Greene, calling her exactly the kind of fighter needed in Washington to stand with me against the radical left. His campaign committee gave her a $4,000 donation and a political action committee run by the House Freedom Caucus that Jordan co-founded donated more than $100,000 to Greenes campaign treasury, according to tallies by the Center for Responsive Politics.

In a campaign ad that Jordan recorded for Greene, Jordan said the candidate would help him and then-President Donald Trump take on Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and drain the swamp.

Marjorie Greene is 100% pro-life, pro-family, pro-gun, and pro-Trump, Jordan continued in the ad. Im supporting Marjorie Greene for Congress. I hope you will too.

Greene followed up on Jordans remarks by saying she looked forward to winning the election and working with Jordan to support Trump, defend our conservative values and stand up to Soros, Bloomberg, the fake news media, socialist Democrats and China.

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Sherrod Brown hopes Senate can pass $15 hourly minimum wage and coronavirus aid for local governments with or without Republican support

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Senators grill Ohios Rep. Marcia Fudge at her confirmation hearing to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

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Rob Portman talks about his future plans and whats ahead for the Republican Party

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Bengaluru, Feb 5 : Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman, K. Pratap Chandra Shetty on Thursday resigned from his post.

After the Janata Dal-S forged a new alliance with the BJP, it was clear that Shetty would have had to resign from his post.

However, on December 15 last year, the specially reconvened day-long session in the Council witnessed uproarious scenes, with Deputy Chairman, S.L. Dharme Gowda being pushed and dragged from the Council Chairman's seat, which he had occupied even before the quorum bell rang.

In his farewell speech in Kannada addressing Council members, Shetty stated that his hands were tied with Gowda's sudden demise, and as a result of this, he had to continue "unwillingly".

On December 29, Gowda's body was found on a railway track in Chikkamagaluru, a few kilometres away from his farmhouse. This further complicated the matter, with both the ruling and the opposition parties trading barbs against each other on this death.

"I am deeply hurt with an unsavoury incidents that took place on December 7 to 12, and December 15 last year. One of the oldest Upper House which has a history of 113 years... this House was never a witness to such unpleasant scenes. This will remain as the saddest moment of my life," Shetty said.

"This was not the case when I had joined politics 37 years ago and most of my contemporaries will surely agree with my view point," he said.

"The floor strength alone cannot be the only yardstick to assess one's popularity or reputation. The politics is always decided by the majority whether inside the House or outside. But I wish for the House to deliberate more about issues concerning the country's majority -- Dalits, backwards, and farmers instead of focussing more on just floor strength," he added.
A group of Wisconsin middle school teachers have been suspended after giving students an assignment asking them how they would 'punish' a slave.

Sixth graders at Patrick Marsh Middle School in Sun Prairie were asked the question during a lesson on the first day of Black History Month while learning about the laws of ancient Mesopotamia.

The 11-12-year-old students were asked to imagine that they were handing out punishments in accordance with a set of laws called Hammurabi's Code.

A screenshot of the lesson shared by The Wisconsin State Journal showed the following scenario: 'A slave stands before you. This slave has disrespected his master by telling him, 'You are not my master!' How will you punish this slave?'

A group of Wisconsin middle school teachers have been suspended after giving students an assignment asking them how they would 'punish' a slave. Pictured: A screenshot of the assignment shared by The Wisconsin State Journal

Principal Rebecca Zahn apologised for the assignment in a joint statement with the school's assistant principal, saying it had not been 'racially conscious'.

'Our intent missed the mark, and for that we are deeply sorry,' it said. 'Going forward, we will be sure to think critically about whether our intent matches our impact'.

NBC reported that the Sun Prairie Area School District has placed the teachers involved on leave while it investigates the assignment.

What is Hammurabi's Code? The Code of Hammurabi was a set of 282 laws established by King Hammurabi in order to unite the Mesopotamian city-states. The Babylonian king reigned from 1792 to 1750 B.C. and expanded the city-state of Babylon along the Euphrates River to unite all of southern Mesopotamia. The code established standards for commercial interactions as well as setting fines and punishments. The 282 edicts are all written in if-then form. For example, if a man steals an ox, then he must pay back 30 times its value, according to History.com. They cover everything from family law to professional contracts and often include different forms of justice depending on the social class of those involved. Hammurabis Code was carved onto a massive, finger-shaped black stone stele (pillar) that was looted by invaders and finally rediscovered in 1901. It is currently in the Louvre, Paris. Source: History.com Advertisement

'We deeply regret that this lesson took place, and we also recognize that this was a breakdown in our curricular processes and our district-wide focus on equity,' a statement from the district said.

'In addition to immediately addressing this situation, it is important that we commit to changing our curriculum and professional development for all staff.'

However, The Wisconsin State Journal has raised questions about the origin of the lesson, which did not come from the district's official curriculum.

The paper reported that the lesson appeared to come from a website used by teachers to buy and sell educational materials. The district has not confirmed this.

The site, Teachers Pay Teachers, had a $4 lesson plan available on Monday that included the exact wording of the assignment given to the Patrick Marsh students, The Wisconsin State Journal reported.

The site has since removed the lesson, describing it as 'unacceptable, inappropriate and antithetical to TpT's values'.

Marilyn Ruffin, the only person of color on the Sun Prairie School Board, is among those questioning why unsanctioned educational materials were used at all.



'This was not a district-approved website to even go to to even get lesson plans from there,' Ruffin said. '[The teachers] never got approval to do that,' she said on Wednesday, according to The Wisconsin State Journal.

Teachers frequently draw from a wide range of sources when creating lesson plans, including textbooks, colleagues, their district's curriculum and online networks of teachers, which can lead to inappropriate material making its way into lesson plans.

Dazarrea Ervins said she was 'shocked' when her son Zayvion Hopkins showed her the assignment and questioned whether the school's email to parents was a sufficient response.

'I can see how they're learning about this era, but the wording of the question and the statementit was just wrong,' she told WMTV.

'While an email communication from the school admits they have caused harm to students and their families, we beg the question - in the current climate in which we live, do they really understand the damage that has been caused by such an assignment?'

Hopkins said he has felt 'unsafe and unwelcome' at school following the lesson.

On Wednesday, WMTV reported that Hopkin's family had hired an attorney, saying they wanted the school to be held responsible.

Attorney B'Ivory LaMarr said the assignment was 'disgusting and unacceptable' and said those who 'shape the minds of our next generation' should be held accountable.

'When school districts have not had to face disciplinary actions for their behavior, they will continue to operate using the same mentality,' LaMarr said, according to WMTV.

'What has happened in this school district is appalling, and it is our hope that Zayvion's courage will serve as a catalyst for change.'

Sixth graders at Patrick Marsh Middle School (pictured) in Sun Prairie were asked the question about how to punish a slave during a lesson on the first day of Black History Month while learning about the laws of ancient Mesopotamia

Parents and experts have pointed out that asking children to imagine themselves inflicting violence on another person is problematic, while asking them to imagine themselves as slaveholders is out of step with the norms on teaching about slavery, which focus on the enslaved people.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported that the full online version of the lesson found on Teachers Pay Teachers started: 'Students become judges and deliver sentences'.

The paper pointed out that, in one question, the assignment refers to a slave as 'it'.

'A man and a barber stand before you,' the lesson reads. 'The man is accused of tricking the barber into marking a slave for sale when it really was not really for sale.'

Some online have said that the lesson was not inappropriate because it was set in the context of ancient Mesopotamia, rather than the United States.

The ancient region is often referred to as the birthplace of civilization and covers part of what is now the Middle East, between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

The Code of Hammurabi, which the lesson referred to, was issued by a Mesopotamian ruler though it is not clear whether the harsh punishments detailed were ever adopted.

One such punishment would allow a slave owner to cut off a slave's ear if they were disrespectful.

Patrick Marsh Middle School is among several schools to have faced backlash over their lessons on slavery.

NBC reported that a Missouri elementary school placed a teacher on leave in 2019 after they asked students to set a price on slaves.

That same year, a Long Island teacher reportedly asked students to 'write something funny' about pictures of slavery.


President Joe Biden on Thursday announced his intention to massively increase the cap on annual refugee admissions to the United States, which fell to a historical low under Donald Trump.

In line with a campaign promise, Biden said he would set at 125,000 the cap on admissions as part of the country's refugee resettlement program, against the current 15,000.

'We offered safe havens for those fleeing violence or persecution' in previous years, when America's 'moral leadership on refugee issues' encouraged other nations to open their doors as well, Biden said.

'So today I'm approving an executive order to begin the hard work of restoring our refugee admissions program to help meet the unprecedented global need,' he added.

'It's going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged, but that's precisely what we're going to do.'

President Joe Biden announced he is raising the cap on refugee admissions to the United States to 125,000 per year, far higher than the cap imposed by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump

Syrian refugees fleeing the Turkish incursion in Northern Syria wait to receive water, bread and lentil soup in October 2019. In 2020, just 6,740 refugees headed to U.S. shores, according to resettlement data by the United Nations refugee agency

President Donald Trump dramatically decreased the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. during his four years in office as part of his hard-line approach to immigration

The United States has an extensive history of welcoming refugees and is one of the world's largest resettlement nations.

But after nearly 79,000 refugees headed to US shores in 2016, the numbers plunged, with just 6,740 arriving in 2020, according to resettlement data by the United Nations refugee agency.

The executive order 'will raise refugee admissions back up to 125,000 persons for the first full fiscal year of the Biden/Harris administration,' which begins October 1, the president said.

Biden's announcement earned swift praise from UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, who said it would send a compelling message to other countries to follow suit.

'The action today by President Biden will save lives. It's that simple,' Grandi said in a statement, adding that the expansion shows that 'strength is rooted in compassion.'

He added that despite the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, which has left more than 2.2 million people dead worldwide, 'we remind countries of the life-threatening circumstances that refugees face and encourage them to continue to expand their resettlement programs.'

Biden said he would direct the State Department, where on Thursday he delivered his maiden foreign policy speech as president, to consult with Congress about making a 'downpayment' for raising the refugee cap as soon as possible.

The UN estimates that there are 25.9 million refugees worldwide, most of whom are hosted in developing countries.

Biden's announcement came as he took the podium at the State Department, which was his first cabinet agency visit.

There, Biden said Russia needed to free Alexei Navalny 'immediately' as he said the United States will no longer 'roll over' to President Vladimir Putin like 'my predecessor.'

The tough and anti-Trump talk came Thursday when Biden made his first trip to a cabinet agency, the State Department, under the leadership of his longtime aide, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and called for 'reclaiming our credibility and moral authority.'

'Much of which has been lost,' Biden uttered.

There, Biden also said he would 'take on directly' the challenges posed the the U.S.'s 'most serious competitor,' China.

'We'll confront China's economic abuses, counter its aggressive coercive action [and] push back on China's attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance,' Biden said.

'But we're ready to work with Beijing when it's in America's interest to do so,' the new president added.

Biden made the same point about Russia, explaining why he agreed to extend the START treaty for five years.

'To preserve the only remaining treaty between our countries safeguarding nuclear stability,' Biden said.

'At the same time, I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions interfering with our elections, cyber attacks, poisoning its citizens, are over,' the president said.

Biden spoke with Putin six days into his presidency and said he would not hesitate to 'raise the cost on Russia' if need be.

Biden called Navalny's imprisonment 'politically motivated.'

'And the Russian efforts to suppress freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are a matter of deep concern to us and the international community,' Biden said.

'Mr. Navalny, like all Russian citizens, is entitled to his rights under the Russian constitution,' the president continued. 'He's been targeted targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition.'

Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, was poisoned in August and then arrested last month for violating parole stemming from a 2014 charge, which had barred him from running for office.

At the State Department, Biden also took on Myanmar's coup.

'There should be no doubt that in a democracy force should never seek to overrule the will of the people or attempt to erase the outcome of a credible election,' Biden said. 'The Burmese military should relinquish power they have seized, release the advocates and activists and officials they have detained, lift the restrictions on telecommunications and refrain from violence.'

Throughout his remarks, Biden admitted that he believed the U.S. reputation had been badly damaged by President Donald Trump's 'America First' posturing - and by the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill.

'Though many of these values have come under intense pressure in recent years, even pushed to the brink in the last few weeks,' Biden said. 'The American people are going to emerge from this moment stronger, more determined and better equipped to united the world in fighting to defend democracy, because we have fought for it ourselves.'

He pointed to some of the first moves he made in office domestically as proof the U.S. was back on track.

Biden then made the announcement about refugees.
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US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians
Nina (the distinguished German actress Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier) have waited decades to love one another freely. At the beginning of Two of Us, the retired women  their romance long hidden under the guise of friendship  prepare to leave France for new beginnings in Rome. Timid, dutiful Madeleine, a widowed mother whose nickname is Mado, must first come out to her children before realizing her dream, but tragedy strikes before she can speak her truth. A stroke leaves Mado speechless and paralyzed, throwing the couple even deeper into the closet during already devastating times.

Filippo Meneghettis pulsing romantic drama forges heartache and intrigue out of Ninas tireless efforts to connect with her impaired lover. Played with palpable desperation and ferocity by Sukowa (Hannah Arendt, Lola), Nina is relegated to the status of friendly neighbor by Mados unsuspecting children. Yet she craftily maneuvers her way into Mados life with a tenacity that never overshadows her pain.
Tom Cronin and Bob Loevy: "Colorado is one of two states in the Rocky Mountain West not conforming to the Republican pattern in the region and supports the Democrats. In the present decade of elections (2010 to 2018), Colorado averaged 52.2% Democratic. The other Rocky Mountain state voting for the Democrats was New Mexico, at 53.6% Democratic."

Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
India is drawing up a list of countries that it could potentially supply with modern missile systems as part of New Delhi's bid to emerge as a major arms exporter, according to Indian press reports. The list includes Egypt.

On Jan. 7, the Times of India reported that New Delhi had made a list of friendly countries to which it could sell advanced Akash missile systems and BrahMos cruise missiles over the next few years.

Indian weapons researcher Amiet R. Kashyap told Al-Monitor that Egypt along with the Philippines, South Korea, Algeria, Greece, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Venezuela, and Bulgaria are interested in the missile systems.

Egypt has shown interest in BrahMos, a cruise missile developed by India and Russia. According to the Indian defense and space news site Livefist, an Egyptian delegation had visited the BrahMos pavilion at DefExpo India in Chennai back in 2018. Egypt's interest in this type of missile first emerged in 2016, according to the Indian Financial Express.

The Egyptian delegation, which included former Minister of State for Military Production Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Assar and chief of the Armament Authority of the Egyptian Armed Forces Maj. Gen. Tareq Saad Zaghloul, met with Sudhir Kumar Mishra, the CEO of BrahMos Aerospace.

The BrahMos, which has a range of 290 kilometers (180 miles) and a speed of Mach 2.8, is a medium-range cruise missile that can be launched from a submarine, ship, aircraft or land at altitudes from 10 to 15,000 meters (33 to 50,000 feet), and can carry warheads of up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds).

BrahMos is a product of BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between Russias Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia and the Indian Ministry of Defenses Defense Research Development Organization.

Kashyap noted that BrahMos Aerospaces Indian and Russian teams have discussed potentially exporting these systems to some mutually agreed upon countries.

Under the Inter-Governmental Agreement signed in 1998 between India and Russia, questions of exporting to a third country are to be decided jointly by the two countries.

Meanwhile, Egypt has been building up ties with both India and Russia.

Speaking about Egypt possibly acquiring the BrahMos systems, Kashyap said, Maybe AERO India 2021, Asia's largest aerospace exhibition [Feb. 3-5], will reveal something on that. Egypt has not yet announced that any of its officials will be attending the exhibition.

The Russian government, in 2018-2019, allowed BrahMos to export to a third country. The Indian Ministry of Defense also granted [BrahMos] permission to export some key [missile] systems. India is aiming to achieve a target of exporting defense equipment worth $5 billion by 2025, and systems like the BrahMos will play a role, Kashyap added.

Each BrahMos unit costs some $2.75 million.

Neither the Egyptian military nor BrahMos Aerospace responded to requests for comment. However, retired Egyptian Maj. Gen. Adel al-Omda, an adviser to the Nasser Higher Military Academy and a member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, told Al-Monitor that Egypt seeks to diversify its weapons sources.

Omda added that diversifying its weapons sources will shield Egypt from outside influence over its political decisions.

International human rights organizations are pressing the administration of US President Joe Biden to stop arms deals with Egypt. The United States has provided annual military aid worth $1.3 billion in the form of arms deals to Egypt since the Camp David Peace Agreement between Egypt and Israel was signed in 1978.

Omda pointed out, Egypt is a sovereign state. Until it possesses advanced weapons and from various sources, it will not have the freedom to make political decisions based on parity, not subordination.

Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rose to power in 2014, Egypt has focused on doubling its arms deals with several countries, most notably Russia, France, Germany and Italy.

Egypts arms imports tripled from 2010 to 2014 and 2015 to 2019, making it the worlds third largest arms importer, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in March 2020.

Omda noted that Egypt faces challenges that require increasing its military capacity, notably in the Suez Canal, the energy-rich eastern Mediterranean and politically unstable Libya.
N. Ramesh Kumar urged the people to use the app to complain about poll-related irregularities and assured to attend to such complaints promptly. (Photo:DC/ Narayana Rao)

VIJAYAWADA: State Election Commissioner N. Ramesh Kumar launched a software application called eWatch to keep tab on poll-related irregularities, here on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that it was an in-house software application developed at the request of the State Election Commission by Reliance Jio for use in the ensuing gram panchayat elections.

Explaining the importance of the app, Kumar stated that it was user-friendly. He urged the people to use the app to complain about poll-related irregularities and assured to attend to such complaints promptly. The action taken report would be sent to the complainants, he said.

He maintained that the Commission did not mistrust existing apps like Nigha and cVigil, but only wanted to conduct the elections in a more transparent manner with zero-tolerance to violence and poll-related irregularities like booth capturing. He said that the moment they received a complaint of severe nature like booth capturing, their job was to de-escalate the situation within half-an-hour by attending to it promptly. He warned that district collectors and SPs would be held responsible if they failed to resolve such grave violations.

He called upon the district collectors to give widespread publicity on usage of the newly launched app to enable more number of people to use them. He lauded the district administrations, particularly young officers holding key positions, for making all requisite arrangements for the conduct of polls.

He said, I appeal to the people living away from their native villages to return on poll day and exercise their franchise.

Earlier, State Election Commission secretary K. Kannababu explained about the functioning of the app by saying that it could be downloaded from Google Play Store and people can register on it. He said that all the complaints would reach the call centre and after getting segregated based on the nature of the complaint, they would reach the district collectors and the SEC for follow-up action. He said that the identity of the complainants would not be disclosed. He also said that the app is tamper-proof.

Petition against eWatch to be heard today

A lunch motion was filed in the High Court on Wednesday raising objections over the use of eWatch app, developed by a private firm, instead of the government-run app like cVigil to receive complaints on poll-related irregularities.

Petitioner K. Sudhakar from Prakasam district filed the plea through his counsel Jayarami Reddy against the privately developed app being launched by the State Election Commission, which is a constitutional body.

Hearing the petition against state election commissioner N. Ramesh Kumar, Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami said that the plea would be heard on Thursday.
A prominent Lebanese publisher and strong critic of the Shia militant Hezbollah group was found dead in his car Thursday morning, shot in the head with two bullets, a security official said.

Lokman Slim, a longtime Shia political activist and researcher, was found in Addoussieh village in the southern province of Nabatiyeh, after he had gone missing for several hours, the official said.

His wife, Monika Borgmann, and his sister had posted on social media earlier that Lokman was not answering his phone for hours and he had not been seen since Wednesday evening.

The circumstances of Slim's death were not clear and there were no immediate details.

The security official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said an investigation is underway to determine what happened.

Slim and his wife lived in the southern suburbs of Beirut where they ran Umam Productions, a film production house. His family owns a publishing house and Slim often hosted public debates and political forums.

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A U.S. Army paratrooper navigates Sicily Drop Zone to a safe landing at Fort Bragg, N.C., Dec. 3, 2020, during non-tactical airborne operations hosted by the U.S. Army Reserve's U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) and the 82nd Airborne Division. (U.S. Army photo by Maj. Sean Delpech)

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New Delhi: Twitter India on Thursday removed two of the tweets by Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, citing a violation of the platform's rules.

The actor has been criticising protesting farmers over their agitations against the Centre's three farm laws.

Kangana Ranaut

When tried to access the two tweets, a message appears, reading, "This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules."

In one of the tweets, the actor had talked about "eradication" of "cancer" from the country.

This is not the first time that Twitter has taken action against Ranaut. The actor's handle was last month briefly suspended after she posted a tweet in reference to the controversy surrounding Amazon Prime Video series "Tandav".

Rihanna

In the tweet, the actor had used the phrase "time to take their heads off", which was reported by many users as offensive.

Ranaut has been actively posting on Twitter since Tuesday when international pop star Rihanna came out in support of the farmers' agitations.
When two sheets of graphene are stacked atop each other at just the right angle, the layered structure morphs into an unconventional superconductor, allowing electric currents to pass through without resistance or wasted energy.

This "magic-angle" transformation in bilayer graphene was observed for the first time in 2018 in the group of Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at MIT. Since then, scientists have searched for other materials that can be similarly twisted into superconductivity, in the emerging field of "twistronics." For the most part, no other twisted material has exhibited superconductivity other than the original twisted bilayer graphene, until now.

In a paper appearing in Nature, Jarillo-Herrero and his group report observing superconductivity in a sandwich of three graphene sheets, the middle layer of which is twisted at a new angle with respect to the outer layers. This new trilayer configuration exhibits superconductivity that is more robust than its bilayer counterpart.

The researchers can also tune the structure's superconductivity by applying and varying the strength of an external electric field. By tuning the trilayer structure, the researchers were able to produce ultra-strongly coupled superconductivity, an exotic type of electrical behavior that has rarely been seen in any other material.

"It wasn't clear if magic-angle bilayer graphene was an exceptional thing, but now we know it's not alone; it has a cousin in the trilayer case," Jarillo-Herrero says. "The discovery of this hypertunable superconductor extends the twistronics field into entirely new directions, with potential applications in quantum information and sensing technologies."

His co-authors are lead author Jeong Min Park and Yuan Cao at MIT, and Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi of the National Institute of Materials Science in Japan.

A new super family

Shortly after Jarillo-Herrero and his colleagues discovered that superconductivity could be generated in twisted bilayer graphene, theorists proposed that the same phenomenon might be seen in three or more layers of graphene.

A sheet of graphene is an atom-thin layer of graphite, made entirely of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice, like the thinnest, sturdiest chicken wire. The theorists proposed that if three sheets of graphene were stacked like a sandwich, with the middle layer rotated by 1.56 degrees with respect to the outer layers, the twisted configuration would create a kind of symmetry that would encourage electrons in the material to pair up and flow without resistance -- the hallmark of superconductivity.

"We thought, why not, let's give it a try and test this idea," Jarillo-Herrero says.

Park and Cao engineered trilayer graphene structures by carefully slicing a single gossamer sheet of graphene into three sections and stacking each section on top of each other at the precise angles predicted by the theorists.

They made several trilayer structures, each measuring a few micrometers across (about 1/100 the the diameter of a human hair), and three atoms tall.

"Our structure is a nanosandwich," Jarillo-Herrero says.

The team then attached electrodes to either end of the structures, and ran an electric current through while measuring the amount of energy lost or dissipated in the material.

"We saw no energy dissipated, meaning it was a superconductor," Jarillo-Herrero says. "We have to give credit to the theorists -- they got the angle right."

He adds that the exact cause of the structure's superconductivity -- whether due to its symmetry, as the theorists proposed, or not -- remains to be seen, and is something that the researchers plan to test in future experiments.

"For the moment we have a correlation, not a causation," he says. "Now at least we have a path to possibly explore a large family of new superconductors based on this symmetry idea."

"The biggest bang"

In exploring their new trilayer structure, the team found they could control its superconductivity in two ways. With their previous bilayer design, the researchers could tune its superconductivity by applying an external gate voltage to change the number of electrons flowing through the material. As they dialed the gate voltage up and down, they measured the critical temperature at which the material stopped dissipating energy and became superconductive. In this way, the team was able to tune bilayer graphene's superconductivity on and off, similar to a transistor.

The team used the same method to tune trilayer graphene. They also discovered a second way to control the material's superconductivity that has not been possible in bilayer graphene and other twisted structures. By using an additional electrode, the researchers could apply an electric field to change the distribution of electrons between the structure's three layers, without changing the structure's overall electron density.

"These two independent knobs now give us a lot of information about the conditions where superconductivity appears, which can provide insight into the key physics critical to the formation of such an unusual superconducting state," Park says.

Using both methods to tune the trilayer structure, the team observed superconductivity under a range of conditions, including at a relatively high critical temperature of 3 kelvins, even when the material had a low density of electrons. In comparison, aluminum, which is being explored as a superconductor for quantum computing, has a much higher density of electrons and only becomes superconductive at about 1 kelvin.

"We found magic-angle trilayer graphene can be the strongest coupled superconductor, meaning it superconducts at a relatively high temperature, given how few electrons it can have," Jarillo-Herrero says. "It gives the biggest bang for your buck."

The researchers plan to fabricate twisted graphene structures with more than three layers to see whether such configurations, with higher electron densities, can exhibit superconductivity at higher temperatures, even approaching room temperature.

"If we could make these structures as they are now, at industrial scale, we could make superconducting bits for quantum computation, or cryogenic superconductive electronics, photodetectors, etc. We haven't figured out how to make billions of these at a time," Jarillo-Herrrero says.

"Our main goal is to figure out the fundamental nature of what underlies strongly coupled superconductivity," Park says. "Trilayer graphene is not only the strongest-coupled superconductor ever found, but also the most tunable. With that tunability we can really explore superconductivity, everywhere in the phase space."
GATINEAU, QC, Feb. 3, 2021 /CNW/ - The COVID-19 pandemic has tested Canadians in many ways. However, as Canadians work together in the fight against COVID-19, they must continue to plan for the future. For some, this includes saving for their child's education after high school. Supporting families and at-risk communities, and making it easier for them to prepare for life's important milestones, is a core part of the Government's plan to build a stronger and more resilient country.

That is why the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough, today announced up to $6.7 million in funding for Phase II of the Canada Learning Bond Pilot Project, supported by a public call for proposals to choose partner organizations. Through this investment, the Government of Canada will fund projects to help increase awareness of the Bond and reduce barriers to access so that children who need it most can benefit from this education savings incentive.

This second phase builds on the success of Phase I, which provided funding to 12 community-based projects across Canada. Phase I projects are testing innovative approaches to reach vulnerable Canadians where they live and in ways that support their needs. Workshops, one-on-one sessions, animated videos and other creative methods have been used to raise awareness and support enrolment in the Bond in communities across Canada.

For Phase II, eligible organizations may receive up to $1 million in funding over two years for projects that test ways to help people access Registered Education Savings Plans and the Canada Learning Bond. Projects will focus on children from families with low incomes, children of single parents, children in care, children and families living in rural or remote regions of Canada, and youth transitioning to post-secondary education. They will also need to take into account barriers related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Charities and not-for-profit organizations, organizations from the education, social services and employment services sectors, municipalities and Indigenous organizations are encouraged to review the applicant guide and apply by March 17, 2021.

Quote

"We all want what is best for our children. But some Canadians face challenges, and saving money may not be as easy as it once was. That is why the Canada Learning Bond is such a valuable tool in helping prepare a child for success. And yet, our most vulnerable communities are the ones that face the greatest barriers to accessing this beneficial support. With the funding I am announcing today, we can help reach and support more Canadian families so they can build a better tomorrow."

 Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough

Quick Facts

The Canada Learning Bond is available for eligible children from low-income families born in 2004 or later and provides an initial payment of $500 plus $100 for each year of eligibility, up to age 15, for a maximum of $2,000 .





plus for each year of eligibility, up to age 15, for a maximum of . As part of Budget 2017, the Government of Canada committed $12 million in grants and contributions to launch the Canada Learning Bond Pilot Project. The Pilot Project provides funding to community-based initiatives offering supports that help families plan for their child's post-secondary education.





committed in grants and contributions to launch the Canada Learning Bond Pilot Project. The Pilot Project provides funding to community-based initiatives offering supports that help families plan for their child's post-secondary education. The Government of Canada also offers the Canada Education Savings Grant to help save for a child's future. The Grant consists of a basic amount of 20% on the first $2,500 in annual personal contributions to a Registered Education Savings Plan (which is available to all eligible children regardless of family income), as well as the additional amount of the Grant, which is:







also offers the Canada Education Savings Grant to help save for a child's future. The Grant consists of a basic amount of 20% on the first in annual personal contributions to a Registered Education Savings Plan (which is available to all eligible children regardless of family income), as well as the additional amount of the Grant, which is: 10% on the first $500 of annual personal contributions for children from families with an adjusted income greater than $49,020 and up to $98,040 ; or

of annual personal contributions for children from families with an adjusted income greater than and up to ; or

20% on the first $500 of annual personal contributions for children from families with an adjusted income of $49,020 or less.

Related Products

Backgrounder: The Canada Learning Bond Pilot Project

Associated Links

Canada Learning Bond

Apply for funding for Phase II of the Pilot Project

Registered Education Savings Plan

Education savings

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SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada

For further information: For media enquiries, please contact: Marielle Hossack, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough, 819-654-5552, [email protected]; Media Relations Office: Employment and Social Development Canada, 819-994-5559, [email protected]

Related Links

www.hrsdc-rhdsc.gc.ca


[February 04, 2021] 23andMe to Merge with Virgin Group's VG Acquisition Corp. to Become Publicly-Traded Company Set to Revolutionize Personalized Healthcare and Therapeutic Development through Human Genetics

SUNNYVALE, Calif. and NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 23andMe, Inc., a leading consumer genetics and research company, and VG Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: VGAC), a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Virgin Group, announced today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement. Upon completion of the transaction, estimated in the second calendar quarter of 2021, VGAC will change its New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) ticker symbol, and the combined company's securities will trade under the ticker symbol "ME". 23andMe Overview 23andMe's mission is to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome. The company pioneered direct-to-consumer genetic testing, giving consumers unique, personalized information about their genetic health risks, ancestry and traits. 23andMe is the only consumer genetic testing company with multiple FDA clearances for over-the-counter health and carrier status reports. The company is dedicated to empowering its customers with information they can use to make better decisions about their healthcare, helping them to live healthier lives. 23andMe offers its customers the option to participate in genetic research. To date, more than 80% of customers have chosen to participate. This participation, which has helped create a premier re-contactable database for genetic research, enables 23andMe to analyze genotypic and phenotypic data and to discover new genetic insights. These insights unlock future opportunities across health, therapeutics and other areas. 23andMe's dedicated therapeutics group leverages the company's research platform to help discover novel treatments for patients with serious unmet medical needs. The company has generated a broad pipeline of more than 30 therapeutic programs, spanning oncology, respiratory, cardiovascular diseases and more. "As a fellow industry disruptor as well as early investor in 23andMe, we are thrilled to partner with Sir Richard Branson and VG Acquisition Corp. as we approach the next phase of our business, which will create new opportunities to revolutionize personalized healthcare and medicine," said Anne Wojcicki, CEO and Co-Founder of 23andMe. "We have always believed that healthcare needs to be driven by the consumer, and we have a huge opportunity to help personalize the entire experience at scale, allowing individuals to be more proactive about their health and wellness. Through a genetics-based approach, we fundamentally believe we can transform the continuum of healthcare." "Of the hundreds of companies we reviewed for our SPAC, 23andMe stands head and shoulders above the rest," said Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group Founder. "As an early investor, I have seen 23andMe develop into a company with enormous growth potential. Driven by Anne's vision to empower consumers, and with our support, I'm excited to see 23andMe make a positive difference to many more people's lives." Key Transaction Terms On February 4, 2021, VG Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: VGAC) entered into a definitive agreement to combine with 23andMe through a combination of stock and cash financing. The business combination values 23andMe at an enterprise value of approximately $3.5 billion. The transaction is expected to deliver up to $759 million of gross proceeds through the contribution of up to $509 million of cash held in VG Acquisition Corp.'s trust account and a concurrent $250 million private placement (PIPE) of common stock, priced at $10.00 per share. Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group, and Anne Wojcicki, CEO and Co-Founder of 23andMe, are each investing $25 million in the PIPE and are joined by leading institutional investors, including funds managed by Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Altimeter Capital, Casdin Capital and Foresite Capital. As part of the transaction, 23andMe's existing equity holders will roll 100% of their equity into the combined company. Assuming no public shareholders of VG Acquisition Corp. exercise their redemption rights, 23andMe will be capitalized with up to $984 million in cash to fund operations and support new and existing growth initiatives. The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of each of 23andMe and VG Acquisition Corp., is subject to approval by VG Acquisition Corp.'s shareholders and other customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2021. A more detailed description of the transaction terms and a copy of the Agreement and Plan of Merger will be included in a current report on Form 8-K to be filed by VG Acquisition Corp. with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). VG Acquisition Corp. will file a registration statement (which will contain a proxy statement/prospectus) with the SEC in connection with the transaction. Advisors Citi is serving as lead financial advisor, capital markets advisor and placement agent to 23andMe. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP is serving as legal counsel to 23andMe. Credit Suisse acted as lead financial advisor, capital markets advisor and placement agent to VG Acquisition Corp. LionTree Advisrs acted as financial advisor and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is serving as legal counsel to VG Acquisition Corp.



Investor Management Presentation 23andMe and VG Acquisition Corp. management will host a conference call on February 4, 2021 at 8:00 am ET to review an investor presentation. The conference call can be accessed at https://mediacenter.23andme.com/company/investors/ . A recording of the webcast will be available online following the conference call, through VG Acquisition Corp. at https://vgacquisition.com/investor-relations/ and 23andMe at https://mediacenter.23andme.com/company/investors/ . The presentation will also be filed with the SEC by VG Acquisition Corp. as an exhibit to a Current Report on Form 8-K, which can be viewed on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov .

About 23andMe 23andMe, Inc., headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, is a leading consumer genetics and research company. Founded in 2006, the company's mission is to help people access, understand, and benefit from the human genome. 23andMe has pioneered direct access to genetic information as the only company with multiple FDA clearances for genetic health reports. The company has created the world's largest crowdsourced platform for genetic research, with 80% of its customers electing to participate. The 23andMe research platform has generated more than 180 publications on the genetic underpinnings of a wide range of diseases. The platform also powers the 23andMe Therapeutics group, currently pursuing drug discovery programs rooted in human genetics across a spectrum of disease areas, including oncology, respiratory, and cardiovascular diseases, in addition to other therapeutic areas. More information is available at www.23andMe.com. About VG Acquisition Corp. VG Acquisition Corp. was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, amalgamation, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. The management team includes Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Company, a renowned global entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group; Josh Bayliss, the Company's Chief Executive Officer and director, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the Virgin Group and is responsible for the Virgin Group's strategic development, licensing of the brand globally and management of direct investments on behalf of the Virgin Group in various companies around the world; and Evan Lovell, the Company's Chief Financial Officer and director, who is the Chief Investment Officer of the Virgin Group and is responsible for managing the Virgin Group's investment team and portfolio in North America. More information is available at https://vgacquisition.com/ . Forward-Looking Statements This communication contains certain "forward-looking statements" including statements regarding the anticipated timing and benefits of the merger (the "Transaction") between VG Acquisition Corp. ("VG") and 23andMe, Inc. ("23andMe"). The words "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "could", "estimate", "expect", "intends", "may", "might", "plan", "possible", "potential", "predict", "project", "should", "would" and similar expressions may identify forward looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on 23andMe's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects, but there can be no assurance that these will be as anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the control of 23andMe) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, among others: the inability to complete the Transaction; the inability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the proposed Transaction, including due to the failure to receive required security holder approvals, or the failure of other closing conditions; and costs related to the proposed Transaction. Except as required by law, VG and 23andMe do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional Information VG intends to file with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-4, which will include a preliminary proxy statement of VG and a prospectus. The definitive proxy statement and other relevant documents will be mailed to stockholders of VG as of a record date to be established for voting on the business combination. Shareholders of VG and other interested persons are advised to read, when available, the preliminary proxy statement, and amendments thereto, and the definitive proxy statement because these documents will contain important information about VG, 23andMe and the Transaction. Shareholders will also be able to obtain copies of the registration statement and the proxy statement/prospectus, without charge, by directing a request to: VG Acquisition Corp. 65 Bleecker Street, 6th Floor, New York NY 10012. These documents, once available, and VG's annual and other reports filed with the SEC can also be obtained, without charge, at the SEC's internet site (http://www.sec.gov). This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Participants in the Solicitation VG, 23andMe and their respective directors, executive officers, other members of management and employees may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from VG's shareholders in connection with the Transaction. Information regarding the names and interests in the proposed transaction of VG's directors and officers is contained in VG's filings with the SEC. Additional information regarding the interests of such potential participants in the solicitation process will also be included in the registration statement (and will be included in the definitive proxy statement/prospectus) and other relevant documents when they are filed with the SEC. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/23andme-to-merge-with-virgin-groups-vg-acquisition-corp-to-become-publicly-traded-company-set-to-revolutionize-personalized-healthcare-and-therapeutic-development-through-human-genetics-301222219.html SOURCE 23andMe, Inc.

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President Donald Trump was working behind the scenes from Mar-a-Lago to try to undermine Rep. Liz Cheney within the Republican conference for she was overwhelmingly reelected to her leadership post  and amid his frustration at his Twitter ban has taken to penning insults for others.

Cheney faced an uproar after voting with Democrats and nine other Republicans to impeach Trump on a charge of 'incitement of insurrection'  but blew away predictions by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz and others that there were enough votes to strip away her leadership post.

Trump spent his time in office inveighing against 'RINOS' and Republicans who stood against him, and people close to him took the move against Cheney as a post-presidency test of Trump's strength in and control over the party.

President Donald Trump and his allies viewed the effort to depose Liz Cheney as a test for the party. Trump is reportedly chaffing at his Twitter ban, and has been penning insults that others can use online

One House member who led the charge against Cheney and even flew to Wyoming to speak against her is Trump loyalist Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, calling the race a 'battle for the soul of the Republican Party.'

In another time, Trump himself might have been throwing off Tweets insulting the most powerful House member to cross him on impeachment.

But with Twitter having banned him after the Jan. 6 riot, Trump wrote out insults and 'observations' for others to use, the DailyBeast reported.

According to the DailyBeast Trump has been penning insults for others to use on Twitter

Liz Cheney (R-WY) departs after a House Republican Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 3, 2021, where she was backed by an overwhelming majority of her conference despite the push by Trump loyalists

Trump loyalist Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) flew to Wyoming to blast Cheney

Twitter suspended Trump's account after the Jan. 6 riot

A source with direct knowledge of the situation told the publication Trump suggested the farmed out insults for others to use, while people close to Trump cast the Cheney situation as a test of his sway.

Trump loyalists within the GOP Conference had hoped to take down Cheney in a demonstration of their continued sway  after Senate Minority Leader denounced Trump after the riot and issued a rare public statement of support in an internal House contest by backing Cheney.

Although Wednesday night's results sent mixed messages about the civil war within the GOP  Cheney kept her post while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene avoided internal sanction  the results also revealed far more Republicans were willing to cross Trump on a secret ballot than in a public declaration.

Just 61 Republicans voted to oust her with 145 voting to keep her in her leadership role.

Trump last tweeted about Cheney in July, going after her after she voiced support for Dr. Anthony Fauci and backed a primary challenger for Rep. Thomas Massie, (R-Ky.). He also retweeeted Gaetz saying Cheney was working behind the scenes against Trump and his agenda.

Trump wrote then: 'Liz Cheney is only upset because I have been actively getting our great and beautiful Country out of the ridiculous and costly Endless Wars. I am also making our so-called allies pay tens of billions of dollars in delinquent military costs. They must, at least, treat us fairly!!!'
The University of Manchester has terminated a research project with a state-owned Chinese company with alleged links to human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims.

It comes after a parliamentary committee accused China Electronics Technology Group (CETC) of providing technology and infrastructure used in the persecution of the ethnic minority group.

Tom Tugendhat, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, had written to the university over its Department of Physics and Astronomy's research partnership with the company.

According to credible reports from both Human Rights Watch and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, CETC is one of the main architects of the Chinese governments surveillance state in Xinjiang, China, providing both technology and infrastructure that is being used for the identity-based persecution of more than one million people, predominantly Uyghur Muslims," the MP said in his letter.

The Chinese government has been accused of widespread abuse in the northwestern Xinjiang province, including mass internment, slave labour and allegations of forced sterilisation.

China at first denied the existence of the internment areas. It later acknowledged them, but denied any abuses and says the steps it has taken are necessary to combat terrorism and a separatist movement.

The Foreign Affairs Committee is attempting to determine the extent of British involvement with organisations who are implicated in the situation as part of an inquiry.

In his letter, the chair asked the University of Manchester about its partnership with CETC, including whether staff had raised concerns and the university knew about alleged links with Uighur persecution when the relationship was agreed.

Professor Martin Schroder, the universitys vice-president and dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, said the institution has "now taken steps to terminate the current agreement" with CETC while it assesses the relationship.

He said the university had already been reviewing the relationship, after a licence application for a joint project was rejected.

I also confirm that, as far as I am aware, the university had no prior knowledge of any credible reports stated in your letter, or from any other source, linking CETC's technology with the persecution of Uyghur Muslims. Your letter is the first to do so, he told the committee in a letter.

He added: I confirm that as I am aware no members of staff at the University have raised concerns about the collaboration with CETC38, and no desires have been expressed or steps taken by the University or CETC38 to develop collaboration between these two organisations in the areas of artificial intelligence, big data or advanced materials.

Mr Tugendhat said he was pleased that the university has decided to suspend its relationship with CETC following the committees intervention.

Although we welcome the universitys move to withdraw from any further projects with CETC, it is surprising that the university had not been made aware that CETCs technology was being used to aid the atrocities taking place in Xinjiang detention camps. Our letter was apparently the first they knew of it," the Tory MP said.

He added: It remains imperative that British institutions, educational and otherwise, are fully informed of who it is they are working and sharing research with.

A lack of curiosity could inadvertently lead to some of our most well-respected businesses and universities entering into a relationship which  inadvertently or otherwise  sees them complicit in the systematic abuse of the human rights of the Uyghurs and other minority groups.

The university said their research collaboration with CETC aimed to significantly advance the field of radio astronomy.

The projects worked towards an objective of disseminating research results in the public domain through publication in academic journals and as is standard in collaborative research projects, results of the work undertaken were shared between the parties in accordance with the terms of the agreement," Mr Schroder said in his letter to the commitee.

They had already completed one project, had a licence application rejected for a second, and have now withdrawn a third application for a project, he said.

A University of Manchester spokesperson said: The University is reviewing its collaboration with China Electronics Technology Group Co. Ltd (CETC38) following the rejection of a licence application by the governments Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) in relation to a specific project with the company.

This took place in January and predates any correspondence with the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Since then, we have taken steps to terminate the current agreement with CETC38 whilst assessing the relationship."

The spokesperson said the university had recently undertaken more work to address the potentially complex risks and issues arising from international research partnerships.

One of the aims is to provide a strengthened degree of assurance about potential new research partners with the Universitys guiding principles, values, missions and goals, they said.

Additional reporting by agencies
Little Rock, Ark.  Complaining about what he called indoctrination in schools, former President Donald Trump created a commission that promoted patriotic education and played down Americas role in slavery. But though hes out of the White House and the commission has disbanded, the cause hasnt died. Lawmakers in Republican states are now pressing for similar action.

Proposals in Arkansas, Iowa and Mississippi would prohibit schools from using a New York Times project that focused on slaverys legacy. Georgia colleges and universities have been quizzed about whether theyre teaching about white privilege or oppression. And GOP governors are backing overhauls of civic education that mirror Trumps abandoned initiatives.

Republicans behind the latest moves say theyre countering left-wing attempts in K-12 schools and higher education to indoctrinate rather than teach students. Teachers, civil rights leaders and policymakers are fighting back, saying students will suffer if states brush over crucial parts of the nations history.

The idea of simply saying youre not going to use certain materials because you dont like what theyre going to say without input from professionals makes no sense, said James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association.

Statehouse fights over whats taught in public schools are nothing new. Arkansas lost a court battle over a 1981 law that required the teaching of creationism in its classrooms, and in recent years conservatives have waged battles over how evolution, climate change and other topics are taught. But the latest efforts show just how much Trumps rhetoric on race continues to resonate in the mostly rural and white states he won.

The proposals primarily target The New York Times 1619 Project, which examined slavery and its consequences as the central thread of U.S. history. The project was published in 2019, the 400th anniversary of the first arrival of African slaves. The project was also turned into a popular podcast and materials were developed for schools to use.

A measure pending in Arkansas Legislature criticizes the project as a racially divisive and revisionist account of history that threatens the integrity of the Union by denying the true principles on which it was founded.

Republican Rep. Mark Lowery, who sponsored the measure, called slavery a dark stain, but said the project minimizes the Founding Fathers and cited criticism from some historians about parts of it.

It should not be taught as history, he said.

Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas has also been a frequent critic of the project.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the lead essay in the project, called it a work of journalism that wasnt intended to replace whats being taught in schools. Born and raised in Iowa, one of the states looking to prohibit the projects use, Hannah-Jones said its clear the project is being used to whip up political fears.

Its one thing to not like a particular piece of journalism, its another thing to seek to prohibit its teaching, she said.

The Pulitzer Center, which partnered with the Times to develop 1619 Project lesson plans, said its heard from more than 3,800 K-12 teachers and nearly 1,000 college educators who planned to use them. Of those, only about two dozen were from Arkansas.

Jonathan Rogers, a journalism teacher at Iowa City High School, said hes used the projects podcast in his classes.

(Students) definitely responded to thinking about using different sources or alternative storytelling, Rogers said. Also, just hearing Black voices is so important when were talking about diversity and perspectives, whether its historical events or current events.

Other measures would go even further than targeting the 1619 Project, including a broader bill Lowery said hes reworking that currently calls for banning courses that promote social justice for one racial group. In Oklahoma, one bill would allow teachers to be fired for teaching that the U.S. is fundamentally racist, or other topics deemed divisive.

Critics say that, besides eating away at local control, the proposals show an unwillingness to address the countrys shortcomings as well as its successes.

This country does have a history that we have to reckon with and that sometimes our education system glosses over, said Rep. Emily Virgin, the top Democrat in the Oklahoma House.

After taking office, President Joe Biden revoked the report submitted by the commission Trump formed in response to the 1619 Project. Widely mocked by historians as political propaganda, Trumps 1776 Commission glorified the countrys founders and played down the role of slavery.

American parents are not going to accept indoctrination in our schools, cancel culture at work, or the repression of traditional faith, culture and values in the public square, Trump said when he announced the panel last year.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a close ally of Trumps, last month proposed $900,000 to ramp up her states civics curriculum to emphasize the U.S. as the most unique nation in the history of the world. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is proposing a $3 million Patriotic Education Fund to combat what he called revisionist history.

Across the country, young children have suffered from indoctrination in far-left socialist teachings that emphasize Americas shortcomings over the exceptional achievements of this country, Reeves said when he announced it.

In Texas, where academics have long clashed with the states GOP-controlled education board on controversies that include lessons exploring the influence Moses had on the Founding Fathers, Gov. Greg Abbott last week told lawmakers that students must learn what it means to be an American and what it means to be a Texan. But Abbott hasnt elaborated on what changes he may seek.

Its unclear how far these proposals will go, even in solidly red states. Two Mississippi Senate committees ignored, and killed, the 1619 Project ban.

In Arkansas, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has said he believes such issues are usually better addressed locally. Hes asked the states top education official to work on alternative legislation that would allow parents to challenge instructional material at the local level.

The proposed limits especially strike a nerve in Arkansas, where divides over race remain more than six decades after the 1957 integration of Little Rock Central High School. Until 2018, the state commemorated Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lees birthday on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr.

One member of the Legislative Black Caucus said she was worried about the proposals effect on the states image.

It will have an economic impact because it will seem as if this state is running from its own history, said Democratic Sen. Linda Chesterfield, a Black retired history teacher.

The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Myanmar citizens hold a picture of leader Aung San Suu Kyi outside the United Nations venue in Bangkok after the Myanmar military seized power in a coup, Feb. 2, 2021

Some might find it odd that Myanmars military, the Tatmadaw, ousted Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup detat. After all, how often does a Nobel Peace Prize laureate defend a genocidal military campaign against the Rohingya before the International Criminal Court at The Hague?

For the Tatmadaw, the drubbing that Suu Kyis National League for Democracy inflicted on its Union Solidarity and Development Party in the November 2020 elections was not just a humiliation, but an existential threat. The NLD won 86 percent of all contested seats in the two chambers of parliament. The USDP won only 5 percent.

Even with the militarys constitutionally allocated 25 percent of parliamentary seats, Suu Kyi was getting perilously close to having the three-quarters of total seats needed to seek a referendum to amend the constitution and strip it of provisions that enshrine the militarys political role.

In launching the coup, the military announced that it would hold onto power for a year before relinquishing it to a civilian government. That seems unlikely. We can probably expect a situation similar to what happened in Thailand after the 2014 coup, as Gen. Min Aung Hlaing angles for the presidency in a distinctly minority government.

The coup also will have negative repercussions for the stateless Rohingya.

Democracy in Myanmar wasnt great for the Rohingya. The freeing of the press opened the way for hate speech, and there were few votes in defending the widely reviled ethnic minority. Recall that the November election was not held in parts of Rakhine state due to the two insurgencies there.

So what does the coup detat mean for the Rohingya?

More than 1 million Rohingya refugees live in squalid camps in Bangladesh. This is an intractable situation. As unlikely as it was that Suu Kyis civilian government would have allowed the return of the Rohingya en masse, any return now is all but impossible to foresee in the short term.

Repatriation talks have been drawn out and the few agreements in principle have not been implemented. Two rounds of repatriation talks  in November 2018 and August 2019  broke down. A mere 460 refugees were returned between 2018 and late 2020. Myanmar seemed willing to accept the return of a mere 550 Hindu Rohingya, but Bangladesh fears thats where the repatriation stops if they agree.

The Myanmar government refused to grant the Rohingya returnees citizenship, residency rights or other legal protections. Satellite photos have shown that the military has been constructing camps in the Rohingya villages they razed.

Rohingya refugees look out from a bus headed to a Bangladeshi navy ship in Chittagong that will take them to be relocated to Bhashan Char Island in the Bay of Bengal, Jan. 30, 2021. [AFP]

At the same time, it is naive to think that Suu Kyis NLD government would have accelerated the return of the Rohingya.

The hyper nationalistic National League for Democracy is the dominant party representing the interests of ethnic Burmans, who comprise 68 percent of the populace.

Most Burmans ascribed to the Tatmadaws line that the Rohingya have no legal claim to citizenship and that they are illegal Bengali immigrants. Suu Kyi had shown little interest in countering that narrative. She publicly whitewashed ethnic cleansing and evidence of widespread rape of Rohingya women.

Her government did express some willingness to take back more refugees in November 2020. The NLD was coy about their intentions to amend the 1982 Citizenship Law, having prioritized other constitutional amendments.

A third repatriation meeting was held in January 2021, but little came from it. Bangladesh accused Myanmar of failing to expedite the security vetting, while Myanmar rejected Bangladeshs call for a village-by-village return.

With the coup, it is unclear when and if those talks will resume. Bangladesh seems resigned for a protracted stalemate and continues their phased resettlement of 100,000 refugees to the low-lying island of Bhashan Char.

While the Tatmadaw may continue to allow handfuls of refugees to return, they will be cantoned in camps. Myanmars government has been issuing those who returned National Verification Cards, which define them as stateless, but its unclear whether it authorizes them a path to citizenship or offers other legal protections.

For the Rohingya living in the camps, their sense of hopelessness will only grow. That is good news for militants such as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which benefits from their peoples despair. Membership in armed groups affords a degree of protection and access to scarce resources.

If the junta is even more intransigent in negotiating the return of the refugees, then Bangladesh has few palatable alternatives. There is limited bilateral trade. The junta is already diplomatically isolated and resilient to outside pressure.

Which leaves one tool that Dhaka has thus far seemed reluctant to use: the covert arming  directly or indirectly  of groups such as ASRA and the better armed and equipped Arakan Army. This entails risks for Bangladesh, most importantly the Tatmadaws total cessation of repatriation talks.

It seems unlikely that the Tatmadaw will resume repatriation talks in order to salvage their international reputation and get some sanctions lifted. The senior military leadership has already factored in the diplomatic costs of their coup.

They are a regime that is absolutely impervious to international criticism of their human rights record. The senior leaders are already under sanctions, and the country is awash in dragon money. They have calculated that countries such as China that will help them evade sanctions, and ASEAN will not push them.

The military is likely to turn to some of the more rabid monks, such as Wirathu and the virulently anti-Muslim Ma Ba Tha, to legitimize their power grab. Much of the Buddhist clergy is likely to side with the public as anti-military resistance mounts.

But hardline clergy may see this as an opportunity. They could leverage their support for the regime to prevent any more repatriation of the Rohingya as well as foment crackdowns against other Muslim and religious minorities.

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College and at Georgetown University in Washington. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense, the National War College, Georgetown University or BenarNews.
Announcement of Periodic Review: Moody's announces completion of a periodic review of ratings of Singapore Management UniversityGlobal Credit Research - 05 Feb 2021Singapore, February 05, 2021 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has completed a periodic review of the ratings of Singapore Management University ("SMU") and other ratings that are associated with the same analytical unit. The review was conducted through a portfolio review discussion held on 2 February 2021 in which Moody's reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology(ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers. The review did not involve a rating committee. Since 1 January 2019, Moody's practice has been to issue a press release following each periodic review to announce its completion.This publication does not announce a credit rating action and is not an indication of whether or not a credit rating action is likely in the near future. Credit ratings and outlook/review status cannot be changed in a portfolio review and hence are not impacted by this announcement. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history.Key rating considerations are summarized below.SMU's Aaa ratings reflect its baseline credit assessment (BCA) of aa1 and a one-notch uplift based on Moody's assumption of a high likelihood that the university will receive extraordinary government support in the event of acute liquidity stress. Moody's assessment of support is based on SMU's prominent position within Singapore's university system and the importance of universities to the country's key policy goal of increasing participation in higher education. Moody's also assigns a very high default dependence between the university and the national government, reflecting the shared exposure to prolonged economic shock.SMU's BCA reflects its strong ties with the Government of Singapore (Aaa), ample internal liquidity, favorable operating performance characterized by healthy margins, continued diversification of tuition revenue despite its narrow focus, and a significant share of subsidized debt, which minimizes its debt burden. 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German engineering consulting firm selects Deltek for real-time project insight and financial management to scale with its business growth

LONDON, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Deltek, the leading global provider of software and solutions for project-based businesses, announced today that Dorsch Gruppe  a respected consulting and engineering partner for industrial clients, private investors and public institutions in all regions of the world  has selected Deltek as its global ERP partner. By moving to Deltek, Dorsch will be able to scale the platform as it grows its business, plus get the real-time project insight across all its entities with a unified ERP solution.

Headquartered in Germany with around two thousand employees located in the Middle East, India, Thailand and Africa, Dorsch is one of Germany's largest independent planning and consulting engineering partners for clients in industry, private investors and public institutions. Dorsch's previous ERP system was disconnected and provided little transparency between project management and financial management. Its complex global business requires the ability to process multi-currency and multi-company financials, in addition to providing accurate, real-time information easily accessible to all employees globally. After a thorough search for a partner and system that would meet all its requirements, Dorsch selected Deltek over multiple ERP vendors.

"We look forward to partnering with Dorsch to deliver complete visibility, control and insight into their projects. We design our solutions with the user in mind, allowing tight, efficient, and scalable control over their processes. Deploying Deltek Project ERP in the Cloud, Dorsch will have the real-time data it needs for its finances and projects, to make life easier, agile and more efficient as they grow," said Neil Davidson, Regional Vice President at Deltek. "We are thrilled to welcome Dorsch to Deltek Project Nation, and work side by side with them to complete the transition from their existing ERP system to Deltek, so they can support their mission and meet the expectations of their customers around the world."

"In 2020, we took a good look at our systems in place to ensure they were centralized and flexible, allowing our employees to work from any location needed. As we considered which companies to partner with, Deltek stood out amongst its competition and impressed us with its proven ability to deliver projects in consulting and engineering industries around the globe," said Andreas Schweinar, Managing Director and Group CFO at Dorsch Gruppe.

For more information about Deltek and its solutions, visit Deltek.com.

About Dorsch Gruppe

For 70 years, Dorsch has been a reputable consulting and engineering partner for clients from industry, private investors and public institutions. With around 2,000 employees Dorsch Gruppe ranges among Germany's biggest independent planning and consulting enterprises. Dorsch is represented internationally through 10 branch offices and numerous offices in more than 40 countries. The portfolio of services comprises airports, transport and infrastructure, water and environment, building and urban planning, oil and gas, development cooperation as well as asset management.

About Deltek

Better software means better projects. Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for project-based businesses. More than 30,000 organizations and millions of users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek for superior levels of project intelligence, management and collaboration. Our industry-focused expertise powers project success by helping firms achieve performance that maximizes productivity and revenue. Learn more at www.deltek.com.

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When it comes to vaccinating people against COVID-19 as quickly as possible, Israel is the undisputed world champion so far. In per capita terms, the country has administered more than 55 doses of either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine for every 100 residents. A full third of its population has already received at least the first of the two required doses.

No other nation comes close. In fourth and sixth place, respectively, the United Kingdom (15 doses per 100 residents) and the United States (10 doses per 100 residents) trail far behind.

The main driver of Israels rapid rollout  an efficient nationalized health system in which all 9 million citizens hold identity cards and register their electronic medical files with one of the countrys four national health maintenance organizations (HMOs)  is not something other nations can emulate on the fly. And Israels refusal to vaccinate all but a handful of Palestinians has been deeply controversial for both ethical and medical reasons.

An Orthodox Jewish man receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 11 as a part of a nationwide vaccination campaign. (Ilia Yefimovich/dpa via ZUMA Press)

Yet the rest of the world can still learn a lot from whats happening there. Now that such a huge share of Israelis have been vaccinated, experts are looking at the countrys experience as a kind of real-world, real-time experiment, with far more participants than any clinical trial and unique data that could start to answer some of our most pressing questions about the power of vaccines to curb the pandemic.

Here are four key takeaways from Israels latest numbers:

The vaccines look like theyre as effective as promised  even against the U.K. variant

The launch of Israels vaccination campaign on Dec. 20 coincided with the start of its third  and largest  wave of infections. Two weeks later, the country reentered its version of strict lockdown, and even today its averaging as many cases as it did during the peak of its previous surge in September.

This has caused some confusion. If the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines work so well, onlookers have wondered, then why is Israels outbreak still raging? Adding to concerns were comments late last month from the countrys coronavirus czar claiming that a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine appeared less effective than we had thought, based on preliminary data. (Israel struck a deal with Pfizer for a stable pipeline of doses in exchange for patient data.)

Story continues

But these fears about effectiveness may finally be put to rest with the release of results from the worlds first big controlled investigation into how a COVID-19 vaccine performs outside of clinical trials.

Of 163,000 Israelis given both doses of the Pfizer vaccine by Maccabi Healthcare Services, the nations second-largest HMO, just 31 were diagnosed with COVID-19 during their first 10 days of full-strength protection, the Times of Israel reported late last week.

A health worker holds a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

Maccabi then compared that number to the number of infections over the same period among an equivalent sample of Israelis with similar age and health profiles who hadnt been vaccinated  and found that members of the control group were 11 times more likely to test positive.

The upshot? According to Maccabis calculations, the Pfizer vaccine is 92 percent effective at preventing infection starting seven days after the second dose  a result thats right in line with Pfizers own clinical data. Subsequent waves of real-world data this week have continued to confirm the 92 percent number.

This is very, very good news, Anat Ekka Zohar, Maccabis top vaccine statistics analyst, told the Times of Israel. It is the first study in the world that looks at such a large number of fully vaccinated patients.

And the good news doesnt stop there. Of the 31 fully vaccinated Maccabi members who did test positive, not a single person needed to be hospitalized. They have very, very light symptoms, Ekka Zohar reported. We are talking about headache and a mild feeling of sickness, and they are almost completely without fever. Its really a very light illness.

In other words, full vaccination seems to make any COVID-19 infection that slips past the bodys bolstered defenses even less risky, on an individual level, than the flu. This is an incredible level of protection. Clinical trials have also shown that all five vaccines with public results can prevent deaths and nearly eliminate hospitalizations.

A woman receives the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Feb. 2. (Sebastian Scheiner/AP)

Whats more, Israels latest surge has been supercharged by the U.K. variant known as B.1.1.7, which is significantly more transmissible than earlier versions of the virus and now accounts for about 70 percent of all cases there  yet the Pfizer vaccine doesnt seem to be any less effective because of it. Again, clinical trials previously suggested that B.1.1.7 wouldnt be able to evade the vaccines. But real-world data is reassuring.

Israels rapid vaccination rollout may finally be starting to reverse its winter surge

Its one thing for a vaccine to protect an individual person; the data from clinical trials has consistently been very encouraging on that front. But its another thing for vaccination to start to protect a population  and turn the tide of a pandemic. No clinical trial can predict when or how that will happen.

Yet it may be starting to happen in Israel.

Beyond health care workers, the first big group of Israelis eligible for vaccination were residents over 60. Today, about 72 percent of them have already received their second dose.

The result, according to Eran Segal, a computational biologist at Israels Weizmann Institute, is that over the past two weeks cases in this age group have fallen 41 percent, hospitalizations have fallen 32 percent and critical illness has fallen 27 percent  trend lines not seen during any previous, pre-immunization lockdown, and not seen today in any other (read: less vaccinated) age group. In addition, such declines were most pronounced in cities that vaccinated the most residents early on.

We say with caution, the magic has started, Segal tweeted Monday.

Emergency service volunteer Tom Eisenman assists Miri Buchbuch, 84, to an ambulance from her home on Feb. 2 to receive the Pfizer vaccine in Beit Shemesh, Israel. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP)

All real-world data comes with caveats. In Israels case, the precise (and likely conflicting) impact of the lockdowns and new strains is hard to quantify, and people who get vaccinated and tested for COVID-19 are not necessarily representative of an entire population.

Still, Segals numbers suggest that even as more transmissible variants increase infections across other age groups, a population that is largely vaccinated will start to be immune, so to speak, from that spread.

Which is exactly the sort of shift in the dynamics of the pandemic that everyone is hoping mass vaccination can trigger.

The side effects have been minor

This week, researchers from Israels Health Ministry released a report that should also calm the nerves of anyone whos anxious about the risks of vaccination.

In the worlds most detailed data yet on how the Pfizer vaccine makes people feel, the Health Ministry reported Tuesday that just 6,575 of nearly 2.8 million Israelis sought medical assistance for side effects after their first shot, or less than a quarter of 1 percent. The figure after the second shot, which is said to pack more of a punch, was nearly identical at 0.26 percent (or 3,592 of nearly 1.4 million recipients), suggesting that even more uncomfortable side effects almost never escalated to formal medical complaints.

According to researchers, any symptoms were similar in frequency and character to symptoms reported after other vaccines given to the population  both mild and soon [to] pass.

Workers from the Maccabi Health vaccination center administer doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine inside the Givatayim Mall parking garage in Tel Aviv in January. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

Arm pain accounted for 50 percent of first-shot complaints and 22 percent of second-shot complaints. Some 41 percent of first-shot and 73 percent of second-shot complainers reported feeling generally unwell.

An average of just 17 patients per million sought hospitalization after the first shot; that number fell to just three patients per million after the second shot.

People around the world should feel reassured, Yoav Yehezkelli, a physician and Tel Aviv University public health expert who was not involved in the study, told the Times of Israel.

In the future, demand could be more of an issue than supply

Israels vaccination campaign has been moving so quickly, in fact, that health care providers are finding it increasingly difficult to get people to come in and be vaccinated, with the Health Ministry reporting Monday that the countrys daily rate of vaccinations had fallen by nearly half from two weeks earlier, even as eligibility was recently extended to anyone over 35 as well as students ages 16 to 18.

As a result, local providers have discarded thousands of thawed but unused doses and invited younger, technically ineligible residents to get inoculated. Israel is expected to officially open its vaccination campaign to all ages nationwide by next week.

A teenager in Tel Aviv receives a coronavirus vaccination in January. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

Its a problem that seems utterly alien to Americans, whove grown accustomed to supply shortages and crashing appointment websites. But the U.S. could eventually find itself in a similar position. Like Israel, the U.S. has already reserved enough doses of various vaccines to immunize its entire population (and then some). And like Israel, where the vaccination rate is much lower among Arabs and ultra-Orthodox citizens than among other groups, vaccine hesitancy may eventually pose a challenge in the U.S. too.

According to a recent CNN poll, 30 percent of U.S. adults say they wont even try to get vaccinated once theyre eligible. That number climbs to 43 percent among 18- to 34-year-olds and soars to 56 percent among Americans who approve of former President Donald Trump, who spent much of the 2020 election downplaying the viruss severity.

It remains to be seen how durable this resistance is and what threat it poses to achieving population-wide herd immunity, which experts define as the point when so many people gain protection through either vaccination or prior infection that the virus can no longer easily spread from host to host.

The gold standard, they say, will be getting about 75 percent of Americans (or 240 million people) fully vaccinated. But given that no vaccines have been approved for the 25 percent or so of Americans who are under 16, hitting that 75-percent mark in 2021 would effectively mean vaccinating 100 percent of eligible adults. Thats hard to do when 30 percent of them say they arent even willing to try.

Israels experience should serve as a valuable preview of how declining demand might affect vaccine uptake  not to mention how (and whether) the problem can be solved.

____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Berwyn, Pennsylvania--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Annovis Bio Inc. (NYSE American: ANVS), a clinical-stage drug platform company addressing Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the European Patent Office (EPO) granted the Company's patent for a method of treating acute nerve and brain injuries by administering ANVS405 after the injury.

"This new patent, covering acute indications, joins our two patents covering our primary disease targets, AD and PD, which both originate from a patent family that claims ANVS401 for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases," commented Maria Maccecchini, Ph.D., CEO of Annovis. "While Europe has allowed the whole acute injury patent, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has asked us to split the original application into a number of patents, each one covering individual diseases that our drug targets. Therefore, we have filed divisional applications for traumatic brain injury, stroke, and spinal cord injury. We expect to receive additional patent allowances in the future, and we will continue to provide further updates as we execute on this process."

The USPTO approved the Company's first PD patent (US 10,383,851) in August 2019. The EPO approved Annovis Bio's first AD patent (EP 2683242) on March 12, 2020. The EPO approved Annovis Bio's first acute patent (EP 3334425B1), which provides intellectual property protections through 2036, on December 16, 2020.

ANVS401 and ANVS405 can work in chronic and acute indications because nerve cells die by the same mechanism in these diseases. ANVS401 and ANVS405 stop the toxic cascade leading to nerve cell death. Capitalizing on that knowledge, Annovis Bio is conducting two Phase 2 studies to show in both AD and PD patient populations that what was demonstrated in animals can be reproduced in humans and that ANVS401 protects the nerve cells from dying, and by doing so, preserves the associated function.

About Annovis Bio

Headquartered in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Annovis Bio, Inc. (Annovis) is a clinical-stage, drug platform company addressing neurodegeneration, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's in Down Syndrome (AD-DS). We believe that we are the only company developing a drug for AD, PD and AD-DS that inhibits more than one neurotoxic protein and, thereby, improves the information highway of the nerve cell, known as axonal transport. When this information flow is impaired, the nerve cell gets sick and dies. We expect our treatment to improve memory loss and dementia associated with AD and AD-DS, as well as body and brain function in PD. We have two ongoing Phase 2a studies: one in AD patients and one in both AD and PD patients. For more information on Annovis, please visit the company's website: www.annovisbio.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release contain "forward-looking statements" that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "expect," "believe," "will," "may," "should," "estimate," "project," "outlook," "forecast" or other similar words, and include, without limitation, statements regarding the timing, effectiveness and anticipated results of ANVS401 clinical trials and the approval of any allowances or additional patents. Forward-looking statements are based on Annovis Bio, Inc.'s current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including the risk that additional patent allowances may not be received. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in the section titled "Risk Factors" in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and Annovis Bio, Inc. undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.

Investor Relations:

Dave Gentry, CEO

RedChip Companies Inc.

407-491-4498

Dave@redchip.com

SOURCE: Annovis Bio Inc.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73661
The 12-hour ordeal that saw a young woman stabbed and forced into the boot of her own car started between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in the south-west Sydney suburb of Claymore.

Three women  24-year-old victim Nisha Phillips and alleged kidnappers Kayley Ketley, 24, and Latia Henderson, 18  are believed to have been together at a suburban home before Ms Phillips was wounded and taken south against her will.

Latia Henderson and Kayley Ketley have been charged over the alleged kidnapping. Credit:Facebook

She would not be rescued until 11.50am on Wednesday at Berrima in the Southern Highlands, when police stopped the Holden Commodore and pulled Ms Phillips out of the boot, suffering from stab wounds to her thigh, knee and arm.

Ms Phillips had caught the attention of a passing truck driver on the Hume Highway who saw her hand waving out of the boot through a hole created by a missing tail-light, forced out of its socket by the prisoner. The driver called triple zero around 11.30am, prompting a rapid response from highway patrol officers to intercept the car.



Frontier Nutrition, a US and Bangladesh-based business specialising in fortified snacks, has raised US$6m in a series B funding round.

The round was led by New York investment company Adjuvant Capital, backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation among others.

Frontier, which is US-based with an operating subsidiary in Dhaka, Bangladeshs capital, has a stated desire to tackle malnutrition in the country through the production of low-cost, fortified snacks.

It said the financing will be used to bring manufacturing of several products in-house, launch a sales and marketing campaign to raise awareness of its brand Hashi Khushi and develop new products.

Michael Chang, principal at Adjuvant Capital, will join Frontier Nutritions board.



Founded by Eddie Bearnot and Tanveer Ali in 2016, Frontier Nutrition develops, manufactures and markets fortified snacks that treat and prevent malnutrition and cost just $0.06 per serving. Currently operating in Bangladesh under the brands Hashi Khushi and Nutri+, Frontiers range of products include lentil butter, chocolates, powdered drinks and biscuits. They are sold in more than 50,000 outlets across the country.

Chang said: Frontiers suite of micro-nutrient fortified snack foods provides a unique solution to addressing malnutrition among mothers and children in Bangladesh. The products are competitively priced, locally produced and, perhaps most importantly, tailored to the Bangladeshi palette, making them an attractive snacking alternative.

"We couldn't be more excited to be part of Frontier's growth story as they work to scale distribution of these impactful products to women and children across the country."

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The funding round was joined by DSG Consumer Partners, a Singapore-based venture capital fund investing in nascent consumer brands in India and south Asia, as well as return investor DSM Venturing, the investment arm of DSM, the Netherlands-based ingredients group said to be the largest producer of micro-nutrients worldwide.

Other investors included Shazi Visram (founder of US baby-food firm Happy Family Organics) and Seth Goldman (chairman of Beyond Meat and co-founder of US drinks maker Honest Tea).
Iran welcomes a cessation of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding the Karabakh conflict, as it will contribute to the Islamic Republic's security as well, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said, answering the question from Vestnik Kavkaza.

"We are glad that the war between our neighbors Azerbaijan and Armenia ended thanks to Russia's peace initiative and Vladimir Putin's efforts," the Iranian ambassador said in the first place.



Kazem Jalali stressed that since Azerbaijan and Armenia are Iran's neighbors, "the Islamic Republic's national security is linked to the security of our neighbors." "Creating conditions to ensure security in relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia can help to increase our country's security," he stressed.



The Iranian diplomat recalled that Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif recently visited the countries involved in the Karabakh post-war process. "Based on the results of these visits, appropriate measures will be taken in terms of economic cooperation, so that all countries of the region can interact with each other, in particular, within the framework of the "3+3" format," Kazem Jalali said.



"The Caucasus is a very important region for Iran. In terms of politics, security and economy, we could raise the level of our relations with the countries of the South Caucasus. We must not allow other countries to interfere in the affairs of our region," the Iranian ambassador to Russia concluded.
Nation has made up its mind to walk ahead and not waste time: PM Modi

India's power is truly represented by its sustained economic growth: NITI Aayog CEO

India will examine claim of single-dose version of Sputnik V vaccine: NITI Aayog

PM Modi to chair Niti Aayog's Governing Council meeting on February 20

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair Niti Aayog''s Governing Council meeting on February 20 where issues related to health, economy and labour reforms will be discussed, official sources said on Thursday.

The council, the apex body of Niti Aayog, includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, several union ministers and senior government officials.

Prime Minister Modi is the Chairman of Niti Aayog.

None can take the land of our farmers: PM Modi

The council will deliberate on issues related to health, including COVID-19 vaccination programme, labour reforms and state of the economy, the sources said.

The Governing Council will also review action taken on the agenda items of the previous meetings and deliberate upon the future developmental priorities.

The Governing Council meets regularly, and its first meeting took place on February 8, 2015.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the Governing Council did not meet last year.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 17:30 [IST]
Seoul, Feb 4 : South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday held phone talks with his American counterpart Joe Biden over the Korean Peninsula issue and other matters, the presidential Blue House in Seoul said.

During the 30-minute conversation, Moon proposed that Seoul and Washington make joint efforts to advance the denuclearization of and the permanent peace settlement on the Peninsula, Xinhua news agency reported.

The two leaders exchanged opinions about other global issues, such as climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, global economic recovery, among others, according to the Blue House.

They agreed to continue close communications and to hold summit as early as the pandemic is stabilized.

It was their first phone dialogue since Biden was sworn in as the US President on January 20.

They talked over phone on November 12, 2020 following Biden's presidential election victory.
In this episode:

Marjorie Taylor Greene didn't get to Congress on her own. Michael Kranish explores how prominent Republicans promoted the follower of the extremist QAnon ideology, helping to usher her to power and ultimately deepening rifts in the party. Rachel Chason explains the skepticism amongst nursing home workers to get the coronavirus vaccine. Across the Franco-Swiss border, Rick Noack finds a tale of two very different ski resorts where pandemic rules clash and regional policies are hurting tourism.

Read More

The Super Bowl is coming. And we're running out of chicken wings.

Presidents come and go, but these curtains are forever

Somaliland's quest for recognition passes through its ancient caves

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WASHINGTON - The top House Republican leader moved Wednesday to keep his splintering party intact - declining to take concrete action against a freshman lawmaker whose extremist rhetoric prompted widespread outrage, while also moving to protect a senior party leader who faced calls for her ouster after backing Donald Trump's impeachment.

The moves from Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reflected the delicate path the GOP is blazing through the post-Trump political landscape as it seeks to regain power in Washington.

On one hand, the party needs to regain its appeal with traditional Republicans - a wing of the party exemplified by Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 House GOP leader and daughter of a former vice president who trashed Trump's conduct surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. After McCarthy argued strongly on Cheney's behalf in a private meeting Wednesday evening, Republicans voted 145 to 61 to reject a call for her resignation backed by Trump loyalists.

On the other hand, the GOP risks losing the support of Trump's most fervent supporters, many of whom increasingly subscribe to outlandish, baseless claims - such as those espoused by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who is facing a Democratic-led vote Thursday on whether to expel her from committee assignments.

While McCarthy on Wednesday condemned Greene's comments questioning the veracity of school shootings, encouraging political violence and promulgating anti-Semitic falsehoods, he said he would not bow to demands that she be removed from her committees. Instead, he accused Democrats of pursuing a "partisan power grab" by seeking to control the minority party's internal decision-making.

"They chose to do something Congress has never done," he told reporters.

McCarthy's decision to turn the uproar over Greene into a partisan brawl rather than more strongly police the rhetoric inside the GOP ranks suggests he is determined to keep the Republican tent as big as possible as he seeks the House majority in the 2022 midterms - even if it risks more quarreling inside his ranks in the months and years ahead.

Washington Post photo by Salwan Georges

"You elected me leader, let me lead," McCarthy told Republicans in his closing remarks on Cheney's behalf, according to a GOP lawmaker inside the room. The speech prompted an ovation that could be heard from more than 50 feet away outside the room.

About an hour earlier, Greene had received an ovation of her own after expressing contrition for some of her most outrageous comments made on social media - including questioning the 9/11 attacks, blaming a space ray directed by a Jewish cabal for a deadly wildfire and doubting school shootings. She also, according to Republicans in the room, apologized for putting her colleagues in a difficult spot. The Republicans spoke on the condition of anonymity to relay the contents of a private meeting.

But, publicly, Greene has so far maintained a pugnacious posture toward her critics, adopting a Trump-like aversion to surrender.

"I won't back down. I'll never apologize. And I'll always keep fighting for the people," she tweeted Saturday.

On a podcast with right-wing provocateur Dinesh D'Souza published Wednesday, Greene took aim at GOP leaders for not standing more squarely behind her: "It's me this week, and it'll be someone else next week, and our leaders are too weak to stand up against it. That is why Republican voters will not vote for them anymore."

In the face of McCarthy's refusal to act against Greene, House Democrats moved to advance a measure stripping Greene of her committee assignments, setting up a floor vote Thursday. While members are occasionally removed from panels over allegations of misconduct, those decisions are typically made by their own party's leadership.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Democrats were forced to act after McCarthy and other Republicans declined to do so on their own. Democrats acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the move but said it was necessary given the nature of Greene's conduct.

"We have never had a member like this before," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the Rules Committee chairman. "This is truly sick stuff."

Greene was elected last year after having embraced the baseless QAnon ideology during her campaign. She suggested in social media videos taped before her election to Congress that mass shootings were "false flag" events staged by gun-control advocates and has also made social media postings supporting calls for the assassination of prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Those statements - some of which were only recently widely publicized - and the GOP's decision last week to place Greene on the House education and budget committees have heightened calls for action from Democrats and sparked rising frustrations from Republicans who fear their entire party will be tarred by association.

"That's not what the Republican Party stands for," said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee who served as governor during the 2018 mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school that Greene has publicly questioned.

"What she said about Parkland is wrong, disgusting," Scott added. "I was there an hour, just a few hours after it happened. I talked to the families that lost their loved ones. . . . She's not going to be the face of the party, and it's wrong, what she said."

McCarthy met with Greene on Tuesday evening in his Capitol office, and McCarthy immediately afterward called a snap meeting of the House GOP steering committee, which recommends committee assignments, but the group took no action.

With Democrats threatening to advance a resolution stripping Greene from her panels, McCarthy and Hoyer spoke by phone Wednesday. McCarthy told reporters later in the day that he proposed moving Greene from the Education and Labor Committee, which has jurisdiction over school security, to the Small Business Committee.

Hoyer then announced that the vote to revoke Greene's committee assignments entirely would move forward, saying in a statement that "it is clear there is no alternative."

In a statement, McCarthy called his proposal a way to address the "deep wounds" caused by Greene's comments and "a path to lower the temperature."

"Instead of coming together to do that, the Democrats are choosing to raise the temperature by taking the unprecedented step to further their partisan power grab regarding the committee assignments of the other party," he added.

Hoyer declined to detail his discussions with McCarthy to reporters but said that the House had an obligation to act.

"We're not really concerned about it being an embarrassment to the [Republican] party, but we certainly are concerned about her being an embarrassment to the Congress of the United States," he said, adding that in his 40 years of congressional service, he could not recall any comparable behavior.

Privately, Republican leaders and their aides have sought to rally their members around process arguments, arguing that it would set harmful precedents to punish a member for statements he or she made before joining Congress and to have the majority party remove a minority member from committees without the minority party's consent.

Several Republicans - including McCarthy - have sought to draw a comparison with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the hard-left lawmaker who courted controversy in 2019 after making alleged anti-Semitic comments. Unlike Greene, however, Omar apologized for her remarks, and Democratic leaders orchestrated a vote on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred, which Omar supported, to move past the controversy.

The debate played out at an afternoon meeting of the House Rules Committee, which prepared the committee measure for the floor vote Thursday. Republicans on the panel all denounced Greene's remarks but called for a more deliberate approach to taking action against her.

"We ought to follow a process that will allow us in a deliberative way to establish the facts and discuss the implications and move from there," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the panel's top Republican, who called Greene's comments "extraordinarily disturbing."

But McGovern noted that Greene has refused to publicly apologize for her remarks and said he was not concerned about creating a slippery slope.

"If the precedent's going to be that if somebody advocates putting a bullet in the head of a member . . . if that is going to be the new determination as to what it takes to throw people off of committees, I'm fine with that," McGovern said.

About an hour later, inside an auditorium underneath the Capitol, Republicans lined up behind microphones to air their views on Cheney - kicking off a meeting that would drag on for hours.

Cheney herself, according to attendees, refused to apologize for her backing of Trump's impeachment vote and voiced support for settling the issue with a vote Wednesday night.

That presented a conundrum for McCarthy, who has gone from publicly holding Trump responsible for the riot and recommending his censure to visiting Trump at his Florida estate last week to secure his support for Republicans ahead of the 2022 midterms. Meanwhile, he has sent mixed signals on his support for Cheney and kept silent for days as anger rose about Greene's remarks.

Inside the room, McCarthy made his pitch: With the majority within the GOP's grasp after unexpected gains in November's elections, the party could not afford a messy internal leadership squabble.

"We need to unite for us to take the majority and govern," McCarthy told the gathering, according to a lawmaker in the room.

Republicans said McCarthy's speech turned what could have been a close vote into a resounding defeat for the hard-right flank, which had argued that Cheney's anti-Trump stance - and the way she delivered it - made her unfit to lead the party.

Both the effort to oust Cheney and the reluctance to sanction Greene are tied up in the party's internal debate over whether to create more distance from Trump, who has denigrated Cheney, praised Greene, refused to denounce QAnon, and will stand trial next week in the Senate on the impeachment charge that he incited the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

"I don't think this is about Liz Cheney," said Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), a Cheney ally, as she entered the meeting Wednesday. "This is about the direction of our party and whether or not we're going to be a minority dedicated to just one person, or we're going to be a united Republican majority."

Democrats have already signaled they plan to make the rise of extremism on the right a campaign issue going forward, launching a $500,000 ad campaign this week tying several swing-district Republicans to QAnon and the violence at the Capitol over the reluctance to impeach Trump.

"Washington Republicans have made their choice - they chose to cave to the murderous QAnon mob that has taken over their party," said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in a Tuesday statement.

In his statement on Greene on Wednesday, McCarthy said her remarks "do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference" and noted that the House voted in October to condemn QAnon.

"I made this clear to Marjorie when we met," he said. "I also made clear that as a member of Congress we have a responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard than how she presented herself as a private citizen. Her past comments now have much greater meaning. Marjorie recognized this in our conversation. I hold her to her word, as well as her actions going forward."
The new anomaly is 2 kilometres northeast of the Glenish gold target on the border with the Clontibret gold licence.

( ) has announced further gold discoveries on its Glenish gold licence in Ireland.

In a statement, Conroy said it had identified a new gold-in-soil anomaly and a new gold mineralised outcrop indicating an extension of the Glenish gold target.

The new anomaly is 2 kilometres northeast of the Glenish gold target on the border with the Clontibret gold licence.

Rock chip sampling showed gold in bedrock in two areas, said Conroy, one within the Glenish gold target and the other 20 metres to the east of the Glenish target.

Conroy said this suggests the Glenish gold target may extend further than previously indicated by the gold-in-soil sampling.

In a statement Professor Richard Conroy, the group's chairman said: The continued progress on the companys Glenish licence, including the discovery of a substantial new gold anomaly at Corlongford close to the border with the Clontibret licence, is highly encouraging and gives further credence to the estimates of 8.8 million potential contained ounces gold in the Clontibret-Clay Lake-Glenish gold target areas.

This is in addition to the 517,000 ounces gold (JORC 2012) resource at Clontibret."
Unexplainable delays in securing COVID-19 vaccines!

In a week when countries in Africa among them South Africa, Egypt, Mauritius and Morocco rolled out Covid19 vaccination programmes, President Mokgweetsi Masisi has failed to deliver a concrete plan for the acquisition of the vaccine and its rollout to the population of just over two million people.

Apart from side remarks made by Masisi while visiting frontline workers last week, the nation waits with baited breath for the President and the Covid-19 Presidential Task Force to present a clear road map of the way forward. So far, the only updates by the Task Force are shocking revelations of escalating positives cases and deaths at local health facilities.

Teacher trade unions have slammed the Minister of Basic Education (MoBE) for a casual approach in dealing with surging Covid-19 positive cases detected in schools. Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU) and Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) have been calling for temporary closure of schools to curb the spread of the virus.

A Covid19 Survey conducted by BOSETU in schools has made shocking discoveries where over 300 students, 30 teachers and 10 support staff have tested positive in 24 schools across the country. Surprisingly, it is business as usual in most of the affected schools while a large number of students and teachers are missing in action as they remain quarantined in their homes.

Good Hope Senior is the most affected school with 35 students testing positive with school's contact tracing exercise on-going. The school is still operational in spite the numbers being high.

According to BOSETU, Shakawe Senior Secondary School is currently not operational owing to contact tracing with 30 students confirmed to have tested positive and all in the school are in quarantine.

Moshupa Senior Secondary School has been closed immediately after one of teachers tested positive and all the teachers in the school are going for testing as they are currently quarantined.

Six (6) teachers have tested positive at Segoditshane Primary School with BOSETU worried that contact tracing is not done in spite of the situation and therefore the school is on business as usual mode.

In an interview on Friday, BOSETU Secretary General Tobokani Rari said in view of the surging Covid-19 cases in schools, the union demands that all schools be closed for at least 14 days. He said since schools re-opened amidst the surge in the second wave which is hitting Botswana hard as shown by new cases and deaths, schools are the most vulnerable.

"Of course there is evidence as shown by the numbers from our survey that teachers are badly exposed. The student community is badly exposed and consequently, this will expose the whole communities where these schools are located. Consequently, the whole nation will become exposed," said Rari.

Rari expressed concern that the situation seen from their report is made worse by the fact that the Public Health Department through DHMTs across the regions have let the guard down too. He added that they have compromised procedures in relation to contact tracing and quarantining.

"We have seen situations where teachers and/ or students would be confirmed to be positive and their close contacts tested but still allowed to remain in the school environment to continue working. This exhibits the highest level of carelessness on the part of the Public Health department as they fail to enforce preventative procedures and protocols," said Rari, observing that it is either the health department is utterly incompetent or they are overwhelmed or it is an indication of a total breakdown of their systems.

"In view of the foregoing, we call upon government to temporarily close down schools at least for 14 days while the situation is being monitored and the Department of Public Health clean up their act," said Rari, cautioning that government may lose the battle against Covid19 in schools.

Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) Secretary General Agang Habana said they maintain the position that schools should be closed, noting that the positive cases have surged in schools as per reports. He said BTU will also compile numbers of infected teachers and students to demonstrate how the pandemic is ravaging schools, cautioning that the situation will soon be out of control.

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"We are deeply worried by government's reluctance to act on this worsening situation. BTU has also decided to suspend right away its activities putting into consideration the surging cases," he said.

Molao speaks

In an interview on Friday, Minister of Basic Education Fidelis Molao could not be drawn to discuss the situation of Covid-19 cases in schools under his portfolio. He curtly claimed that schools are safe.

Curiously, Molao went on a tirade complaining about media interviews done by teacher trade unions. "I have informed the trade unions that we will talk to each other. I expect that we should talk to each other and not at each other," he said. The Coordinator of Presidential Task Force team Dr Kereng Masupu could not be reached for comment.
The Scottish Government has said it will enforce quarantine for all overseas travellers arriving in the country (Steve Parson/PA)

A quarantine arrangement between the UK and Ireland is the favoured solution, Professor Jason Leitch has said.

Scotlands national clinical director said the best case scenario for avoiding a third wave of coronavirus will be to include the Republic of Ireland in measures due to the existence of a common travel area with the UK.

The Scottish Government has said it will diverge from current UK policy which will see a system of managed quarantine brought in for travellers arriving from certain countries.

Expand Close Nicola Sturgeon has said the UK proposals on traveller quarantine do not go far enough (Jane Barlow/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Nicola Sturgeon has said the UK proposals on traveller quarantine do not go far enough (Jane Barlow/PA)

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said those measures do not go far enough and her Government will bring in such a system for all travellers from overseas, while also lobbying Westminster to tighten the rules.

Speaking at the Covid-19 Committee at Holyrood, neither Prof Leitch nor Scottish Constitution Secretary Mike Russell could give a date for when the new measures will be put in place.

But Prof Leitch said: The public health advice would be that a five-country solution would be the favoured solution  you can imagine why, its not rocket science.

Dealing with any access, via Dublin, from another country would be helpful to us.

He said if an agreement cannot be struck with other countries in the UK and Ireland, measures should still be put in place in Scotland to ensure coronavirus does not come back in through international travel.

Ive said many times at this committee, it doesnt matter where your low prevalence area is  it could be just Dumfries and Galloway, it could be just the Western Isles, it could be Scotland, it could be the whole common travel area  you have to keep the virus out once youre at low levels, Prof Leitch said.

On timescales for the system, Prof Leitch told the committee there is time for Scotland to react, stressing it should be in place as virus rates in the country drop.

We do have a little bit of time for this, because unfortunately we are presently exporting virus, not importing virus, he said.

Our prevalence is high. Denmark just closed to UK nationals, other European countries are closing to UK nationals, its not really a decision for us yet, but as we get this number down, it will become absolutely crucial that we do not import for a third wave.
What does the post-Covid future hold for self-applied health kits? Cancer diagnosis? Cholesterol tests? Thyroid analysis?

Dubliner Peter Foley, whose 100m LetsGetChecked startup is now one of the biggest home testing medical startups around, thinks its more far-reaching than any one of those things.

Hes preparing his company for personalised DNA books on people that concentrate  and automate  tests and treatments based on a persons core genetic makeup.

I think part of our evolution, which you might see quite soon, is based on a layer of genetics that will sit out front, he says, sitting in his Dun Laoghaire office.

Well be able to identify risk factors about people based on genetic information. We can say that you've got a higher probability of developing, say, Lynch syndrome [colorectal cancer] or cholesterol or a range of different issues. That, then, becomes the book of you, which will evolve over time as more information becomes available based on sequencing your DNA.

In a certain light, this sounds a little dystopian and not unlike the premise of the Ethan Hawke sci-fi movie, Gattaca.

But Mr Foley, 34, sees it in much more pragmatic terms.

Out of that, we can then say that you, Adrian, should get screened for five particular things every year based on your risk profile, he tells me.

"You don't even have to remember to do it, the tests would just arrive into your home. Youd get your results back and then wed have telehealth consultations and e-prescriptions ready. We could also generate the risk models to tell you your probability of developing a heart attack in the next 10 years. This is about being predictive about healthcare and then giving people the knowledge and information to act sensibly in getting that risk score down.

Expand Close Testing times: A home-delivered LetsGetChecked Covid test / Facebook

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Whatsapp Testing times: A home-delivered LetsGetChecked Covid test

While predicting that this should be available soon, none of LetsGetCheckeds current 100-plus home delivery tests can quite do it yet. Despite doing over 2m tests (and over 1m Covid tests), the company is mostly geared up for samples from finger-pricks, urine or stools.

A genetic test would be based on a saliva sample, so be an entirely different tests that we would have to run, he says.

But Mr Foley has put LetsGetChecked into a position to start it this year.

This week, he announced the opening of a new laboratory in Dublin that will be used scale up the number of tests the company can do in Ireland and 19 markets on the eastern side of the Atlantic.

Its a major expansion for the company, which recently landed a $71m (59m) round  bringing total funding to over $100m  and is already solidly set up in the US market with its own laboratory, product and supply chain.

LetsGetChecked is hiring rapidly, with 10 already secured for the new lab and 140 pencilled in as a recruitment target in the near future.

The way people engage with

At the moment, we do a lot in the routine diagnostics piece, he says. So we would help people manage cholesterol issues, we provide treatments, we deliver your medication to your door and we have consultations with our physicians and our nurses. Wed call it a true virtual healthcare platform. The next stepping stone in the evolution of the business is to bring genetics to the fore.

In the meantime, the company has been busy working with airlines to arrange Covid tests that fit in with some countries travel requirements. This has focused mainly on carriers with US routes (American, British Airways and others), as US authorities have been more liberal on travel arrangements than European countries.

It works by getting a test 72 hours before youre due to fly.

So you have this super-tight window of someone in New York giving us a sample, which we read in our lab in California and get results back to them within 72 hours, before they got on an airplane, says Mr Foley. I think we're probably one of the only companies in the world that can do it this quickly because we own the full supply chain. It's our lab, our manufacturing, our product.

Is this an expansion area?

We're partnering not only with other airlines, but some of the booking platforms for accommodation and travel, he says. And you'll see more of that.

While LetsGetChecked seems to be good at striking up arrangements with big companies, it has met less success with Irish authorities. In early 2020, it tried to offer testing facilities to the Irish Government at a time when the State was struggling to get a handle on its infrastructure.

But while the company had clear, established processes for testing, the Government just stopped returning its calls. The situation left Mr Foley slightly upset.

It was certainly frustrating, he says. We didn't get any clear answers. We were one of the biggest and most proficient instruments for Covid testing, with an incredible capability to be able to get into people's homes and do it efficiently. We just would have loved to have been able to contribute.

Was LetsGetChecked not having a lab in Ireland a contributory factor to being blanked?

I don't think so, he says. It might have been more to do with the optics of samples going to America, which I would understand.

Might that episode have been an additional trigger, among others, to setting up the ambitious Irish lab announced this week?

No, its just that we wanted to be doing more on the ground here, he says. We were taking samples [here] and transporting them into the American system, but it wasn't really getting the traction we wanted. So with that in mind, we just decided to build our own lab here.

While genetic-based medical diagnostics and airline-ready testing may seem like the zeal of a founder whose startup is expanding rapidly, Mr Foleys interest in all of this didnt just come about in 2014 or 2015, when the company was launched. He says that hes been thinking about access to medical processes since he was told as a teenager that he had testicular cancer.

When I was when I was about 14 or 15, I got a kick in the nuts playing rugby, he says. I was walking around with a pain for a long time. That was an awful process. It [obtaining a diagnosis] went on way, way too long. So yeah, I think that was probably a driver in putting me down this path to this company. It has been in the back of my mind.

The basic point about LetsGetChecked, he says, is you shouldnt have to negotiate all of the rungs that traditional medical processes put in your way  calling up clinics, visiting them, waiting in them, following up umpteen times afterwards  just to look after your basic physical health.

People shouldn't die of colon cancer.

Because the system is set up the way it is, people dont get checked. They stay away from doctors for years on end. And then some of them get bad news.

If you get diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, it's not a good ending, he says. If you get diagnosed at stage one, you're going to make it. So if you have this kind of inaccessible process of booking an appointment with your doctor, and then going to see them again, and then waiting for results, that's just nonsense. People shouldn't die of colon cancer.

While this is a fair point, is it not also fair to point out that services such as LetsGetChecked are part of a broadening health care system that increasingly offers quicker, better solutions for those who can pay the service fees? (LetsGetCheckeds tests range from 59 to 239, with Covid tests at 129.)

He acknowledges the point, but says that theres still a lot to admire in the Irish public health system.

There are definitely layers of a healthcare system in Ireland, but the layers, I feel, aren't as extreme as you would see elsewhere, he says.

I think ultimately, the public system in Ireland is pretty good. In the US, if you don't have insurance, it's pretty dark.

Although much of LetsGetCheckeds attention in the last 12 months was about Covid testing, its bread and butter is testing for the usual maladies that people suffer from.

Colon cancer is not going away, he says. Things like diabetes aren't going away. People still have issues with cholesterol. All of these things are still a problem. But your more conventional method for accessing care by going to a doctor's office has partially been cut off. I think what we're seeing off the back of this pandemic, is that the way people engage with healthcare is going to be different. Its not going to be the way it was in the past. And I think that that has been a long time coming.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / Adcore Inc. (the "Company" or "Adcore") (TSXV:ADCO)(FSE:ADQ), a leading provider of machine-learning ("ML" and "AI") powered advertising technologies used by digital agencies and advertisers to leverage digital marketing in an effortless and accessible way ("Effortless Advertising"), today announced that it has engaged Virtus Advisory Group ("Virtus") to assist enhancing the Company's exposure to the Canadian investment community.

"We are thrilled to be working alongside the Adcore team to educate the investment community about Adcore's unique and exciting product offerings," said Babak Pedram, President of Virtus Advisory Group. "We look forward to sharing the company's developments with our network of investors in Canada."

Omri Brill, CEO of Adcore, stated, "Since going public in Canada over 18 months ago, we have continued to expand our technology offering and grow our client base around the world. We look forward to working with Virtus to facilitate investor introductions and further broaden our exposure within the Canadian investment community."

In connection with the engagement (the "Agreement"), Adcore will pay Virtus a monthly fee of $8,000 CAD. In addition, Virtus will be granted incentive stock options to acquire 150,000 shares of the Company, at an exercise price of $1.15 per share for a 4 year term, subject to approval by the Company's Board of Directors and the TSX Venture Exchange. The options will vest in equal portions over twelve (12) months from the grant date.

The Company's engagement of Virtus is subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.

ABOUT ADCORE

Adcore is a leading provider of machine-learning powered advertising technologies used by digital agencies and advertisers to leverage digital marketing in an effortless and accessible way ("Effortless Advertising") with the goal of scaling activity and maximizing ROI.

By combining extensive industry knowledge and experience with its proprietary artificial intelligence engine, Adcore offers a unique digital marketing solution. In addition to being named numerous times on Deloitte's Fast 50 Technology list, Adcore is a certified Google Premier Partner, Microsoft Partner, Facebook Partner and TikTok Partner.

Established in 2006, the Company employs over forty people in its headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel and satellite offices in Melbourne, Australia, Toronto, Canada and Hong Kong, Greater China.

For more information about Adcore, please visit https://www.adcore.com/investors/

ABOUT VIRTUS ADVISORY

Founded in 2013, Virtus Advisory Group specializes in Capital Markets Advisory and Investor Relations for small-cap and micro-cap companies exclusively within the Technology & Healthcare sectors. For more information, please visit https://virtusadvisory.com/

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements about the Company. Wherever possible, words such as "may", "will", "should", "could", "expect", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict" or "potential" or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.

Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

For further information please contact:

ADCORE INC. https://www.adcore.com/investors/

Omri Brill, CEO Martijn van den Bemd,

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When Mitch McConnell begins to seem like a voice of reason, you know that the going has gotten truly weird.

Because McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky who is now the Senate minority leader, is no ones idea of a model of moderation. On the contrary, hes long been a politician who gathers power to advance his conservative principles.

But now comes McConnell weighing in on some doings inside the Republican Partys House conference. This, too, is quite unusual, as you dont generally see senators telling those in the House of Representatives how they should conduct their affairs.

House Republicans are all atwitter over Rep. Liz Cheneys vote in support of impeaching former President Donald Trump. Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is No. 3 in the House GOP leadership, and her conservative bona fides, one might suggest, are unimpeachable.

But with so many House Republicans still under Trumps thumb, her vote of conscience was just too much for many to take. Thus began a move to strip her of her leadership position.

Separately, first-term Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, has created a firestorm with her statements and Facebook postings urging violence against Democratic lawmakers and her support of a paranoid, fringe conspiracy cult that begins with a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles and gets stranger from there.

Take a step back to consider what this says about todays Republican Party: Cheney is blackballed for doing what she believes is the right thing, yet Greene receives her committee assignments, her embrace of truly dangerous ideas notwithstanding.

Welcome to the once-Grand Old Party, 2021-style.

Here was McConnell, who said Greenes loony lies are a cancer on the Republican Party:

Somebody whos suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.s airplane is not living in reality. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.

Seems kind of difficult to argue with, doesnt it?

Our nation needs two reality-based political parties, preferably with one promoting a center-left agenda, the other backing center-right policies. Theres room in that mix for varieties of ideas, but there are limits.

Republicans must stand firmly with McConnell on this one.
An important metric for understanding the state of the U.S. coronavirus vaccine rollout took a dip on Tuesday. Should it be cause for concern?

For the first time in a week, the seven-day average for daily new reported vaccinations given to Americans declined, to about 1.32 million from roughly 1.35 million, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The numbers are viewable on this New York Times chart).

The one-day totals have been on the decline since hitting 1.69 million doses administered on Jan. 30. By comparison, the one-day total for Tuesday was about 558,000.

But in an interview Wednesday, Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, said it was too early to be worried  and she emphasized that long-term vaccination trends appeared headed in the right direction.
Lauding 'Atmanirbhar (self reliant) farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus. He further said that the crop growers are the backbone of our country's democracy.

"Farmers have been behind the progress of the country. They also played important role in the Chauri Chaura struggle. In the last six years, steps have been taken to make farmers self-reliant. As a result of this, agriculture sector has grown even during the pandemic," PM Modi said.

ALSO READ: Welcome Steps to Improve Efficiency of India's Mkts, Says US on Farmers' Stir But Backs Peaceful Protests

Highlighting government's measures for farmers' growth, the prime minister said, "We have taken several steps in the interest of farmers. To make mandis profitable for farmers, 1,000 more mandis will be linked to e-NAM."

The Chauri Chaura incident took place on February 4, 1922 at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district when a large group of protesters participating in the Non-cooperation movement, clashed with police who opened fire. The demonstrators attacked and set fire to a police station, killing all of its occupants. The incident led to the death of three civilians and 22 policemen.

The UP government has planned a year of celebrations in all 75 districts of the state in the memory of the martyrs.

PM Modi's statement comes as thousands of farmers have been protesting at the Delhi borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of the three laws -- Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act. The protesting farmers have expressed the apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.

However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture. Eleven rounds of formal talks between the government and the protesting farmer unions failed to break the deadlock. While unions have stuck to their main demand of repeal of the laws and legal guarantee of MSP, the government has offered some concessions including keeping these laws on hold for 1-1.5 years. Even the Supreme Court has stayed the laws for two months and set up a panel to look into the matter.
Senior Arts Reporter

Sungura musician Somandla Ndebele is one of those who have never embraced virtual platforms in a bid to stay relevant and promote the music since the Covid-19 lockdowns started last year.

Many still question why the musician has not been pro-active in pushing his brand on online platforms, yet he is one of the biggest artistes in the Sungura genre.

Ndebele has been in music for so long that he has helped a lot of other musicians, some dead by now, who developed into big brands.

To date, he has produced 25 albums, two DVD albums and several singles, yet it seems he is yet to strike the right chords to underline his profile in sungura.

In an interview, Ndebele said although he has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic like any other musician, he has never thought of using virtual platforms as he has resorted to hustling in other areas to survive.

The "Rovambira" hitmaker released a new album last year, but never thought of marketing it on social media.

Ndebele said he was surprised that someone decided to upload the album on social media without his approval.

"I am well and had taken a sabbatical because of the Covid-19," said Ndebele. "Since the lockdowns, things are bad and hard for us, especially musicians who relied on live shows.

"I have been surviving on hustling, doing almost everything so that I can feed my family. They were used to me doing musical shows or even having proceeds from music sales, but things have changed.

"I have not been on social media for long, although I have some accounts there. I released an album 'Gumbomutsvairo' in December and was shocked to see it playing on social media. Who uploads people's music on social media?"

Ndebele said piracy was destroying artistes, while social media needed to be handled well.

"I was told that the album was already on YouTube and I said to myself, piracy has struck again," he said.

"There is something that needs to be done, especially helping 'old dogs' like us in the music sector. Some might not know how it is done, but workshops and seminars would help."

Ndebele said he never thought of doing virtual platform shows because he had no time as he was hustling.

"I have heard a lot about the virtual platforms which have been taking place and Nash TV approached me, but the deal did not pass," he said.

"I hope maybe in weeks to come I will have the chance to perform because it is long since I have been on stage."

Commenting on his latest offering "Gumbomutsvairo" which has five tracks, Ndebele said the album was inspired by social life.

"The album was released during the lockdown period and if you listen to it very well, most of the songs are about societal settings from love, hustling to social morals," he said.

Ndebele said he would be dropping another album this year, which he was already working on.

On how artistes could be helped when it comes to using virtual platforms, brand strategist and music critic, Takemore Mazuruse, said a good musician should be dynamic and reinvent with obtaining trends.

"Maintaining an analogue culture when everything has gone digital won't help anyone," he said.

"I know artistes are used to the traditional ways of pushing music through live shows and CD sales, but it's high time they embrace the digital way of streaming their music and selling it online.

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"With good online presence and followers, a musician can easily make thousands of dollars through online sales. They just have to invest in quality music production and effective marketing of their projects."

Mazuruse said artistes should take their music as a business and invest in it.

"Artistes must not take their art as a part time," he said.

"As trends across the globe have proved, music is business and an artiste's approach to their music determines the outcome.

"It's high time they professionalise, invest in a good corporate image as musicians, have meaningful online presence coupled with quality and well-thought content that speaks to their brand culture on their social media platforms.

"That way they will create a community of followers that can support their art and buy the music."
Recently, a trucking company, Forward air has just recovered from a ransomware attack. Even though the incident has already been dealt with, the company said it left a $7.5 million mark on the Q4 financial results. Furthermore, the company has vowed that even amidst the attack, it will not pay the ransomware demand.

According to ZD Net, the dent was reported as a loss of revenue outside of the cost that the company had spent on dealing with the ransomware incident. It was an unfortunate circumstance in its Less than load trucking business.

The company has released a Sec Document explaining the nature of losses that it incurred. The company reported that the problem happened "primarily because of the company's need to temporarily suspend its electronic data interference with customers.

The Hades Ransomware Attack Causes Suspension in Company Activities

The incident happened way back in December 15, 2020. It was reported as an attack using the Hades ransomware. It has hurt the company financially by forcing it to turn all of its IT systems down in order to fix the issue.

As reported by Freight Waves, because of the suspension, necessary operations in Forward air have been disrupted. Drivers and employees were barred from accessing necessary documents and transport requirements. As a result, most essential activities involved in the company's line of work has been cancelled. This has resulted to the loss of revenue of $7.5 Million.

Read more: Fonix Ransomware Decryptor Released for FREE After Group Shuts Down, How to Claim Master Decryption Key?

Forward Air and Other Companies Would Rather Start from Scratch than Pay for Ransom Demand

Although forward Air has successfully made it past the attack, the company reported in its SEC filing the amount of cost it had to pay because of the attack and even the loss of revenue it has suffered because of it. This is an example of a circumstance that proves most security researchers recommend prevention measures from ransomware attacks rather than by fixing it when it is already there.

The SEC documents that were released did not mention that the company would have any plans in paying for the ransom demand or dealing with it through a cyber insurance policy.

As reported by Coveware, it has been a trend now that more companies are deciding not to pay for the ransom demand after finding out that ransom gangs do not always permanently remove stolen data. Furthermore, companies who became a victim of ransomware choose to start from scratch over again. Despite this trend going on, the rise in ransomware attacks has peaked in year 2020. Furthermore, ZD Net reports that an amount of at least $350 million has been made by gangs for ransom attacks in 2020. This has risen to about 311% since 2019.

Related Article: Hacker Group DarkSide Building New Storage System in Iran, Service Will Leak Victims' Stolen Information!

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Written by Nikki D

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
[February 04, 2021] UnitedHealth Group Announces Executive Leadership Actions

The Board of Directors of UnitedHealth Group has named Sir Andrew Witty as chief executive officer, succeeding David S. Wichmann, who retires after successfully guiding the company through a period of growth and innovation and the deeply challenging onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. "As we have come to know firsthand during his time at UnitedHealth Group, Andrew Witty combines an extraordinary breadth and depth of health care experience, sophisticated strategic thinking and outstanding leadership development skills, making him uniquely well-positioned to help the company take the next steps on its steady path to grow and deliver for its shareholders and the customers and people we are privileged to serve," said Stephen J. Hemsley, chairman of the UnitedHealth Group Board of Directors. "I am deeply honored to help guide one of the most consequential organizations in health care, where our responsibility is to execute flawlessly and deliver on our potential each day," said Witty. "Together with my partners Dirk McMahon and John Rex, we have the right strategy, and tremendous people and capabilities throughout the organization to continue strengthening our efforts to improve the health system for everyone. Dave Wichmann is leaving a powerful legacy of service to others and commitment to innovation for us to build upon." Witty was named CEO of Optum in March 2018 and added the role of president, UnitedHealth Group, in November 2019. He previously served as a UnitedHealth Group company director. From April 2020 to December 2020, Witty took an unpaid leave of absence from his company positions to serve as a Global Envoy for the World Health Organization's COVID-19 efforts. He also served as an advisor to the UK Government COVID Vaccine Taskforce. From 2008 to 2017, Witty was CEO and a director of the leading pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK). He will rejoin the UnitedHealth Group Board of Directors and becomes CEO immediately, with Wichmann continuing in a transition period through March 2021. "Dave is an outstanding leadr, and the Board and I are deeply appreciative of his contributions to the company's continued success," Hemsley said. "As CEO, Dave helped build an unmatched set of distinctive capabilities, market positions and capacities that will continue to contribute to a high-performing and more equitable health system for everyone. Dave's restless spirit, growth mindset and determination for UnitedHealth Group to lead in the development of the next-generation health system in a socially conscious way will serve as a model of servant leadership for years to come."



Witty, Chief Financial Officer John Rex, and Dirk McMahon, as the new president and chief operating officer, will constitute the company's Chief Executive Office. McMahon has served as CEO of UnitedHealthcare since June 2019. Prior to this role, McMahon was president and chief operating officer, Optum. McMahon has served in a number of leadership positions across the enterprise since joining the company in 2003, including CEO, OptumRx, overseeing UnitedHealth Group's pharmacy benefit management programs, along with various management positions in information technology, operations and finance. Before joining UnitedHealth Group, McMahon was head of airport operations worldwide for Northwest Airlines.

As executive vice president and CFO of UnitedHealth Group since June 2016, Rex has an expansive operating, growth and finance portfolio. He joined the company in 2012 as executive vice president and CFO of Optum. Prior to that, Rex was a leading equity research analyst, served as a strategy and operational consultant, and practiced as a certified public accountant across several health care sectors. "Dirk's unparalleled operational track record is grounded in his deep engagement with and understanding of the people of the organization and the needs of customers and consumers, and I am grateful he will be helping drive the enterprise forward. In John Rex we have an industry-leading executive with a demonstrated track record in strategy, business development and finance whose acumen will help guide the continued, sustainable growth of our company," said Witty. "I am eager to partner with John and Dirk and our 330,000 colleagues throughout the company to advance the health of those we serve," said Witty. Wichmann joined UnitedHealth Group in 1998 and became its CEO in September 2017. He served as CFO from 2011 until mid-2016 when he became president. He had previously led UnitedHealthcare and UnitedHealth Group's enterprise-wide operations and technology efforts, along with external development, M&A and integration activities at the company. The company reiterated its 2021 outlook for adjusted net earnings of $17.75 to $18.25 per share and its commitment to a long term 13% to 16% growth rate. About UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is a diversified health care company dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and helping make the health system work better for everyone. UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services through two distinct platforms: UnitedHealthcare, which provides health care coverage and benefits services; and Optum, which provides information and technology-enabled health services. For more information, visit UnitedHealth Group at www.unitedhealthgroup.com or follow @UnitedHealthGrp on Twitter (News - Alert) . View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005587/en/

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In towns, cities and villages, young men are disappearing, especially known supporters of the opposition National Unity Platform led by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, the fiercest challenger to President Museveni and runner-up in the January 14 general election.

Grim accounts are emerging from relatives, friends and former abductees about the unexplained disappearances and many narratives point an accusing finger at security services. Many youths have been picked from their homes in the dead of the night by gun-wielding men, others have been grabbed off the streets in broad daylight while others have simply run and gone into hiding.

Joseph Lubega, the boxer, who captained team Uganda to the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, has just walked out of captivity after what he called a "terrible ordeal" of one month behind bars. Interviewed about his ordeal in captivity by The Observer, Lubega said he knew he was a dead man.

He said he spent every single day in jail between December 2020 and January 2021 thinking about how his obituary would read. He also toyed with some lines that would be printed on his tombstone. Walking with a limp and struggling to endure searing back pain, Lubega draws a painfully poignant portrait of his suffering in captivity.

Lubega, commonly known as "Joe Vegas" in his home area of Kaabaganda off Bombo road near Maganjo-Kagoma in Wakiso district, said his physical pain pales in comparison to the psychological trauma he is trying to overcome right now. He said he is still a haunted man.

On December 29, Lubega attended a burial. On his way back home, he was grabbed by unknown people and taken to an undisclosed location. Although he faintly remembers how events unfolded on that fateful afternoon as he tried to get back to his five children and wife Allen Kaggwa, Lubega recalls feeling dazed, after taking a cup of tea with colleagues he had travelled with.

"I remember being dragged and beaten in the sides, probably before I blacked out. But I cannot tell you how the whole episode panned out. I only remember waking up in a very dark place. I did not know where I was. But I could only hear people's voices, yet I could not even see them," Lubega said.

No sooner had he gained consciousness, than a big door opened. By its structure, Lubega said, it seemed to lead to a dungeon. Food was brought, yet at the same time, he was ordered out. He said he couldn't make out the face of his jailer. He said he could see his head gear, an army uniform, cargo pants (with many side pockets), and a gun. At that point, he said, it dawned on him that he had been abducted.

"The soldier asked me what Bobi Wine's plan B was. I told him I did not know what he was talking about. Soon after, I was blindfolded and dragged out, only to be battered endlessly. They kept telling me that I was training a group of boxers to disrupt the elections, which was not true," Lubega said.

That was simply the start of the torture sessions. Beyond the beatings, which were done with gun butts and batons, the psychological torture was more distressing, he said with a worried look. "

Apart from being in a smelly place, we ate right in front of our toilet, we moved guided by our sense of touch, since we could not see, we never knew what time of day it was. And seeing no light at all is so unbearable. The experience of feeling blind is depressing, you cannot imagine," Lubega said.

Worse still, Lubega recalled that when his tormentors walked into the dark room, which he referred to as some hell on earth, they would not hesitate to taunt him: "They used to tell me, Vegas, say your last prayers, because you do not have much time left on earth."

By that time, Lubega's close friend Zebra Ssenyange had been killed and he did not know. But as Lubega tried to pray to keep strong, he thought about his young children and beautiful wife. He pleaded with his captors, he cried profusely day and night as he tried to persuade his captors to spare his life.

Lubega said facing the prospect of death is such a difficult thing. The fear overwhelms you to a point that praying becomes really difficult. You get into survival mode especially when there is no escape route. Despite all the fatigue and agony, Lubega could not sleep.

He kept getting nightmares about his looming death. The thought of himself in a coffin loomed large. He also thought about what would be written on his tombstone.

"I kept awake most of the time, crying until I could cry no more, wondering what I had done to deserve such treatment," Lubega said.

Ironically, he was not alone. His wife Allen Kaggwa was running mad at home, where they have a small farm. The stress got to her and she decided to close the salon she was running in Makerere.

"Not having the father of my children at home was unbearable. I did not have answers for the children. At the same time, I did not think I could pay the rent in Makerere anymore; so, I closed the salon," Kaggwa said.

She said she was so distraught because she didn't know where her husband was yet news of Zebra Ssenyange's murder had just broken. On top of that, their home became another horror movie.

"I could only sleep during day. But at night, I was awake all through, worried about what could happen to us under the cover of darkness," Kaggwa said.

She said that one night, at about 2 am, people drove into their compound and parked. At first, she thought Lubega had come back. However, she couldn't hear any sound of movement or voices outside. The occupants of the car simply sat tight. She said she remained still until about 6am when they drove away.

Such scare tactics did not stop Kaggwa from looking for her husband. Using social media, TV and radio, she made a rallying call to whoever could help her find Lubega. The situation seemed hopeless all around. She reached out to police and other people, who had last seen Lubega at the burial.

However, a week ago, a neighbour knocked on her bedroom window at 6 am and told her that she had news of Lubega's whereabouts. She said Lubega had been dumped somewhere in Bombo. Kaggwa quickly went to the location and found Lubega helpless and unconscious.

The reunion was emotional. Kaggwa cried as she tried to get her hubby onto his legs without much success. For Lubega, he still feels like he is back from the dead.

"I was picked from the dark room, blindfolded. As I walked up the staircase, to the waiting car, my captors kept telling me, Vegas, this is the final hour. Time to meet your creator. I was overcome by grief and imaginations of what the afterworld would be like for me. I felt weak in the knees. I was already dead as these fellows held a gun to my head," Lubega said.

When Lubega finally woke up and saw his wife and later his children, he was very excited. He doesn't wish anyone to go through his ordeal. While in the dungeon, he recalls that more abductees were brought in from several places around the country.

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The only way they consoled each other, was by telling stories of their abduction. Strangely, they couldn't see each other since they were in a very dark place but they connected. They vowed that whoever survived would alert the dead colleagues' families.

To-date, Lubega says he doesn't know what happened to his inmates, much as he remembers their names. But as he continues to get treatment for his physical wounds, Lubega is more worried about the psychological wounds; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

He cannot sleep because he keeps getting nightmares of being killed. He is a haunted man.

DOCTOR'S ADVICE

However, according to Julius Kikooma, a psychologist at Makerere University College of Humanities and Social Sciences, depending on how much trauma weighs on a victim's mind, it is difficult to know the impact before proper diagnosis is done.

He said people who suffer from PTSD emerge from a very dark place that brought them distress and discomfort to their mental capacity (brain) over a protracted spell.

If one lived under the threat of death constantly or under so much fear and anxiety caused by being incarcerated against their will, tortured and so forth, it is very possible they will suffer from PTSD. This can present with sleep disorders (lack of sleep), endless anxiety, restlessness, hearing of voices, hallucinations and nightmares, among other things.

Once such symptoms persist, the victim must seek medical help. Interviewed about the rampant kidnaps, Gen Jeje Odongo, the minister of Internal Affairs, told journalists recently that he needs specifics like names of the victims and places where the kidnap happened.
Despite pledging to reverse the Trump administrations anti-immigrant policies, President Joe Biden has overseen the deportation of hundreds of immigrants and refugees since assuming office on January 20. Last week saw Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deport 15 people to Jamaica on Thursday and 269 people to Guatemala and Honduras on Friday. More deportation flights are scheduled for next Monday.

After a much hyped 100-day moratorium on deportations was announced by the White House a federal judge in Texas ruled on January 26 that it could not be enforced. The ruling, however, did not require the government to actually schedule them. The judge was appointed by President Donald Trump and approved a challenge brought by the states attorney general, Ken Paxton, who drafted a lawsuit challenging the 2020 presidential election results on behalf of Trump.

Immigrants await word on their status (Source: Democracy Now!)

Within 6 days of Bidens inauguration, Texas has HALTED his illegal deportation freeze, Paxton tweeted following the decision. *This* was a seditious left-wing insurrection. And my team and I stopped it.

US District Judge Drew Tipton granted the temporary restraining order against enforcing the 100-day moratorium that went into effect on January 22. Tipton said the Biden administration had violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act and did not make clear why a pause in deportations was necessary.

On Friday, Tipton said he would extend his order until February 23. The Biden Justice Department has not issued an appeal to Tipton or a federal court to block the order.

It is unclear how many deported immigrants fell under new guidelines given to the Department of Homeland Security and its agencies that took effect Monday.

In El Paso, Texas, officials deported a woman who witnessed the 2019 massacre at a Walmart which left 23 people dead. According to her lawyer, she had agreed to be a witness against the shooter and met with the local district attorneys office.

Rosa, who was only identified by her first name for fear of her life in Juarez, Mexico, a city rife with gangs and violence, was pulled over last Wednesday for a broken brake light and was detained based on previous traffic warrants. She was then handed over to ICE and deported before she could reach her attorney.

ICE had issued a detainer, a means by which immigrants are detained for immigration violations on the same day they are arrested. The district attorneys office in El Paso confirmed that they had given Rosas attorneys the needed documents to request a US visa for crime victims, but in a statement also said that Rosa is not a victim of the Walmart shooting case.

Honduran officials also confirmed that 131 people landed on Friday on a deportation flight from the US. A flight that landed in Guatemala had 138 people arrive on Friday, with another 30 people expected to arrive the following Monday, according to officials there.

President Biden signed three executive orders on Tuesday that he claimed would create a more fair, orderly, humane immigration system. Biden also declared a task force that would supposedly reunite migrant children separated from their families for crossing the US-Mexico border.

Bidens choice for homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, the first Latino to head the repressive agency, was also confirmed by the Senate this week.

Theres a lot of talk, with good reason, about the number of executive orders that Ive signed. Im not making new lawIm eliminating bad policy, said Biden when speaking to reporters in the Oval Office as he signed the three orders.

Biden called the separation of children at the border a moral and national shame. It should be noted that this policy was upheld for all eight years of the previous Obama-Biden administration, which deported and broke up more immigrant families than any other administration in US history. Shocking images of children held behind fences were taken in 2014, when Biden was vice president.

The changes contained in Bidens order are thoroughly cosmetic, intended to do away with the most politically embarrassing aspects of the last administrations anti-immigrant policies while still retaining, and in some cases expanding, the governments vast deportation machine.

The task force for separated children will not enforce anything but merely provide recommendations on how to reunite families and issue a report within 120 days and every 60 days thereafter on its progress.

A statement from American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Galernt to NPR said, What we need now is an immediate commitment to specific remedies, including reunification in the U.S., permanent legal status and restitution for all of the 5,500-plus families separated by the Trump administration.

He added, Anything short of that will be extremely troubling given that the U.S. government engaged in deliberate child abuse.

Bidens second order rescinded the Migrant Protection Protocols program, or the Remain in Mexico program, as dubbed by Trump. The protocol condemned migrants and refugees to stay in Mexico while their asylum cases played out in the US indefinitely, essentially denying them sanctuary.

The exact details of Bidens plan and how it will assist migrants stuck in squalid camps at the border was unclear. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters to lower their expectations of immediate immigration reform, saying: Thats going to take some time. Its not going to happen overnight.

Immigrant advocates have expressed disappointment with Bidens new executive orders, including Linda Rivas, an immigrant attorney and director of the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, who represents people caught up in the Remain in Mexico program.

She told CNN how she has been trying to console her clients over the last week, including a Honduran mother who was raped while waiting in Mexico under Trumps policy and is now worried about her 11-year-old son. Rivas explained the current situation for asylum seekers: Definitely a loss of hope. The trauma they are enduring is unimaginable.

The third order requires a top-to-bottom review of recent regulations, policies and guidance that have set up barriers to our legal immigration system. This included revoking Trumps public charge rule, which prevented immigrants from getting a green card, or permanent residence, if they had or were even just likely to receive public assistance, such as housing subsidies.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has made clear it will be expanding the number of detained immigrant children held in camps along the US-Mexico border by reopening a facility in Carizzo Springs, Texas, designed to hold upwards of 700 children and perhaps more if needed.

The camp will jail unaccompanied children over age 13 who are medically cleared from COVID-19 quarantine, according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which is responsible for immigrant children.

Currently, there are some 4,730 children held by the ORR. The agency has been also dealing with COVID-19 infections among children and staff, with a total of 1,748 confirmed cases among children. According to the agency, more than 21,000 coronavirus tests have been given and the majority of infected have recovered and been moved from quarantine.

The Department of Homeland Security under Biden is also poised to expand its processing capacity with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) building soft-sided structures in Donna, Texas, near the Rio Grande Valley, because a nearby processing center is being closed for renovation.

The continued deportations and expansion of detention camps under Biden make a mockery of those who claimed a Democratic administration would reverse Trumps anti-immigrant policies and provide humane and immediate sanctuary for refugees and asylum seekers. Only the most superficial changes have been announced, and hardly enforced at that, while much of the same policies have been kept.
The Malian security forces have neutralized around twenty militants in clashes with terrorists, following an attack on a military camp belonging. to the armed forces, the army said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) The Malian security forces have neutralized around twenty militants in clashes with terrorists, following an attack on a military camp belonging. to the armed forces, the army said.

The terrorists ambushed the camp located in the central region of Mopti early on Wednesday and the incident turned into an hours-long fight between the jihadists and the Malian defense troops, assisted by the forces of the French-led Barkhane mission.

"Enemy side: about twenty terrorists and motorcycles neutralized and then an armored vehicle immobilized thanks to the combined efforts of the Malian military aviation and that of the Barkhane force," the military said in a statement published late on Wednesday.

It added that the army lost nine soldiers in the clashes, and six others were wounded and hospitalized.

The 5,000-strong Barkhane operation was launched by France in 2014 to curb the terrorist threat in the Sahel region. In addition to the French forces, the operation involves the troops of the G5-Sahel member states - Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania
On Tuesday afternoon, Michigan officials launched a program aimed at helping people over 25 without college degrees pay for community college or skilled trades training.

As of 1 p.m. Wednesday, more than 19,000 people have already applied for community college tuition assistance. And the state is no longer taking new applications for state scholarships to help cover costs of private skilled training programs, according to Michigans Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

The Michigan Reconnect program  a bipartisan initiative backed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, state lawmakers in both parties and business and education groups  is open to people who are at least 25 years old, a Michigan resident for at least a year and have a high school diploma or equivalent, but not a college degree.

Related: Michigan residents over 25 without degrees can now apply for tuition-free community college, skills training

For applicants seeking a community college degree, the program pays the balance of tuition and mandatory fees after any other state and federal financial aid the applicant is eligible for is applied. Scholarships funded by Michigan Reconnect will be accepted by all Michigan community colleges, although applicants who want to attend a community college outside of their district will only be covered for the in-district rate of tuition.

Eligible Michigan residents can visit the Michigan Reconnect website for more information and to apply. An estimated 4.1 million Michigan residents could be eligible, state officials said Tuesday.

Initially, the state was also offering scholarships of up to $1,500 for tuition at a private training school or program in high-demand fields like manufacturing, construction, information technology, health care and business management.

In less than 24 hours, more than 1,700 people applied for the skills scholarships, said Erica Quealy, deputy communications director for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. That program is now closed to applicants, but its important to note that many community colleges offer skills certificates and Michiganders can likely pursue those credentials through their community college, Quealy said.

The speed at which the skilled trades scholarships were snapped up came as a surprise to Bob Schwartz, CEO of the Royal Oak-based Here to Help Foundation.

Schwartz heard about the skilled trades scholarship program around 9:30 a.m. Thursday and hoped to direct some of the participants in the foundations Returning Hope to Returning Citizens program to apply  but by the time he checked the site a few minutes later, applications were already closed.

How could that have been disseminated so quickly? he wondered. It just was announced yesterday. I cant fathom.

For many of the formerly incarcerated people who seek assistance through the groups program, going to school while working could prove a bigger hurdle than pursuing a skilled trades certificate, Schwartz said. Hes hopeful the state is eventually able to offer more scholarships to defray the costs of those programs.

The program is being funded initially by a $30 million appropriation in the current state budget that had bipartisan backing. Officials said this week they anticipate similar levels of ongoing funding in future budget cycles.

Previously, the state offered a similar option for front-line workers through the Futures for Frontliners program, which was open to workers without an associate or bachelors degree who were deemed essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 120,000 residents applied to that program, Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Acting Director Susan Corbin said Tuesday, adding that 30,000 of those applicants who didnt qualify as a front-line worker will automatically be made eligible for Michigan Reconnect.

Quealy said most applicants find out if theyre eligible for Michigan Reconnect funding as soon as they apply, and will receive an email outlining the next steps they need to take. The earliest a prospective student could enroll in community college classes is the summer semester, she said.

Related coverage:

Michigan front-line workers eligible for tuition-free community college under state program

Thousands of essential workers to attend GRCC for free through Futures for Frontliners program

Eastern Michigan University, Washtenaw Community College partner in Futures for Frontliners program

Whitmers free-college plan: Would it really improve college graduation rates?
A state appeals court has ruled that a Hudson County murder suspect should be given access to the source codes of the cutting-edge DNA software that prosecutors say links his saliva to evidence in a 2017 shooting that killed a man and injured a child.

Its the first time New Jersey courts have discussed the emerging field of probabilistic genotyping, which mathematically analyzes DNA samples. Such technology marks a profound shift in DNA forensics, the state appeals court said in a 74-page published ruling Wednesday.

The science has never been used in a New Jersey case, and therefore, Corey Picketts legal team must be given access to the softwares inner workings so they can properly cross examine prosecutors expert witness in his case - a man who designed the TrueAllele program for his company, Cybergenetics.

State prosecutors and Cybergenetics argued against granting access to Pickett, with the company saying its highly competitive, trade secret information that could be sold for profit if out in the open. It has 170,000 lines of source code and dense mathematical text, the decision says, quoting the designer.

But the appeals court said if prosecutors want to use the technology, the defense team can see how it works. The decision grants Picketts team access to not only the code, but also to supporting documents right down to testing, design, bug reporting, change logs, and program requirements.

And it can be divulged safely to the defense using an order issued by the trial court judge to protect the companys intellectual property rights, the appeals decision says.

The decision is not just a win for Picketts defense, but for the entire New Jersey legal system, said Jennifer Sellitti, spokeswoman for the state Public Defenders Office, which is defending Pickett and argued for him in the appeal.

Decisions like this are important, not just for the defense, but to ensure the science is reliable and used properly, she said. This is a win for everybody.

Because this matter is still pending in the courts, we cannot comment, Hudson County Prosecutors Office spokesperson Jennifer Morrill said.

Due to the importance of the case, the appeals court allowed outside organizations and lawyers to weigh in with their opinions, including the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, The Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey, The Innocence Project and The Legal Aid Society, as well as the New Jersey Attorney Generals Office. The decision can be read here.

Pickett is charged with murder in the April 2017 killing of a man in Jersey City in which a 10-year-old girl was wounded in her car while her mother dashed into a store to pick up a takeout food order.

Pickett and the other suspect were arrested nearby, and investigators found two guns and a ski mask during the arrest. During DNA testing, which found material in saliva found on the ski mask, not all the samples met the criteria for traditional DNA testing.

So prosecutors sent it to Cybergenetics, which found Pickett was the source of the DNA on one of the guns and the ski mask by using TrueAllele, authorities said. The program works by applying an elaborate mathematical model to estimate the statistical probability that a particular individuals DNA is consistent with data from a given sample, the decision says.

The appeal grew out of pre-trial motions in Picketts case, as prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over the science and access to the program and how it works, after prosecutors called Cybergenitcs cofounder, Dr. Mark Perlin, who designed TrueAllele, to expertly testify, which he did for two days in 2019.

The appeals court also said that giving the defenses own expert access to TrueAllele s software serves justice because it will help independently evaluate the program. And, the trial judge will have a better understanding of the program, too.

Without that opportunity, defendant is relegated to blindly accepting the companys assertions as to its reliability, the decision says.

And, Anything less than full access contravenes fundamental principles of fairness, which indubitably compromises a defendants right to present a complete defense.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com
SALEM, Ore.  A restaurant in Springfield has been fined more than $9,000 for violations of the state's coronavirus restrictions following an inspection by Oregon OSHA, despite "attempts to thwart the process."

State regulators said that Along Came Trudy remained open indoors while under county Extreme Risk restrictions, and also failed to ensure that customers wore a face covering while not eating and drinking.

The total fine of $9,215 stems from an inspection in response to multiple complaints about the business, according to OSHA. The agency said that the inspection went through even though there were "armed people" standing outside the business, who threatened regulators.

RELATED: Salem gym hit with Oregon's largest-yet fine for defying COVID-19 closures

It is our expectation that employers comply with public health measures that we know are effective at decreasing the risks to workers and reducing the spread of this disease. And we have been able to resolve most concerns about COVID-19 and the workplace constructively and without formal enforcement visits, said Michael Wood, administrator for Oregon OSHA. However, as this case demonstrates, we will continue to carry out enforcement actions where appropriate and particularly where employers knowingly disregard standards.

OSHA said that Along Came Trudy's owner, Trudy Logan, demonstrated that she knew about the restrictions and willingly defied them. The investigation formally opened on December 21, though the business allegedly committed the violations beginning around December 3, continuing to do so afterward.

"During the inspection, Logan said she asks customers to wear face coverings, but does not enforce the requirement if they refuse to do so," OSHA said.

Businesses have 30 days to appeal citations like this one.
The WCO has been enhancing its support for the Small Island Economies (SIEs). As part of this effort, the WCO, in cooperation with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Customs, organized a WCO/JICA Joint Sub-regional MTP Preparatory meeting for the Pacific Islands on 26 January 2021. The meeting took place virtually with the participation of six Customs administrations in the Pacific, namely Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu, as well as the Oceania Customs Organization (OCO) Secretariat.

With a view to stepping up its support to the SIEs, the WCO agreed with JICA, one of the active donors in the region, to seek a possibility to support Customs modernization in the Pacific through the Master Trainer Program (MTP), the flagship program of the WCO/JICA Joint Project. The MTP is aimed at developing sustainable training capacity in the Pacific by 1) developing a pool of well-experienced trainers and (2) developing regionally featured training materials and programs to be used by these trainers. Upon completion of the MTP, successful alumni are expected to become a regional asset and contribute to the sustainable economic development of the Pacific islands through Customs modernization.

Following the successful organization of the WCO/JICA Joint Sub-regional MTP Introductory Webinar which took place in August 2020, and during which the Customs administrations in the Pacific agreed to take collaborative actions to launch the MTP, the MTP Preparatory Meeting was organized to discuss the latest capacity building needs in the Pacific and to identify the priority topic(s) to be covered by the program. As a result of the active exchange of views and ideas, the Customs in the Pacific Islands identified revenue related topics, such as Customs valuation and HS classification, as priority topic(s) to launch MTP in the Pacific Islands.

Both the WCO and JICA welcomed the active sharing of views and ideas during the meeting and agreed to continue their collaborative work to launch the MTP to ensure more sustainable capacity development in the Pacific Islands.

For more details, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- M.T.O. Tamarkoz App is proud to offer the newly produced music by Zendeh Delan, specifically created for meditation, relaxation and movement meditation. These 31 songs complement the intricate discipline of Tamarkoz, the art of self-knowledge through concentration and meditation. They have been arranged to quiet the mind, relax the body and awaken the heart.

The Tamarkoz App provides practices to reduce stress, relax, improve focus, enable better sleep, and gain a more positive perspective on life through Tamarkoz techniques of Mind Relaxation, Breathing Exercises, Movement Meditation, Deep Relaxation, Imagery and Heart Tamarkoz.

"Zendeh Delan is music from another realm. It is truly tranquilizing music that can be used for meditation and more. It is perfect to wake up to, play as background music during work, or just listen to to pull away from all stresses that one deals with during daily life, especially during these very trying times." says Tamarkoz instructor Dr. Lynn Wilcox, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, California State University, Sacramento.

The Zendeh Delan ensemble consists of a group of eager, young students of Sufism who have come together to learn and share their experiences under the guidance of His Holiness, Professor Nader Angha, the Sufi Master of M.T.O. Shahmaghsoudi School of Islamic Sufism, which has centers situated in over six continents. While in isolation, during the Covid-19 pandemic, they virtually came together and created these beautiful tracks that are now available on the Tamarkoz App.

The music used in Zendeh Delan originated from the ancient modes of Persian classical music, which are said to have been passed down verbally or "heart to heart" for centuries. Zendeh Delan literally translates to "Awakened Hearts." Each mode represents a distinct, pure emotion extracted into music at times of deep yearning, fervent love, and spiritual ascent. Zendeh Delan combines these ancient modes with modern beats and melodies to create eccentric and introspective experiences.

The Tamarkoz method is rooted in the 1400-year-old practice of Sufi Meditation. Scientific research shows that this method significantly decreases perceived stress, heart rate, anxiousness and depression, while it significantly increases positive emotions of love, joy, compassion, contentment, amusement, awe, and pride. Currently, Tamarkoz classes are offered for units of academic credit to students at various universities including UC Berkeley and UC Davis.

For more information, visit www.zendehdelan.org or www.tamarkozapp.com .

SOURCE MTO Tamarkoz Association

Related Links

https://www.tamarkozapp.com


President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the National Policy on Abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in November last year, kicking off a campaign to eradicate the vice in the country by 2022.

With slightly more than a year left to the 2022 deadline, what achievements have the national campaign made?

The government and other non-State actors have made major strides in trying to win the decades-long cultural practice.

Public Service and Gender Cabinet Secretary Prof Margaret Kobia in September last year pointed out the achievements made so far, in the battle to eradicate the vice.

Prof Kobia revealed that the government had revised the eradication of FGM Policy to align with current realities, developments and the Constitution of Kenya 2010.

She noted that the ministry has developed focused interventions to address FGM in key sectors such as health, education, security, access to justice and public information while emphasizing participation as human rights approach to empowering girls and women.

Community dialogues

The CS added that the ministry had developed nine programs of actions to help the government eradicate the vice by 2020. They include promoting education and community dialogues, enforcement of FGM laws, engaging boys and men, girls and women and entrenching FGM content in schools among others.

Other programs include strengthening capacity building, addressing cross-border FGM, addressing FGM in emergencies and humanitarian situation and women empowerment.

"County anti-FGM steering committees chaired by the County Commissioners that have been established will be responsible for providing county-specific strategic policy direction, mobilizing resources for FGM prevention and response, besides being an integral part of the inter-governmental county gender sector working group," the CS said during a meeting with cultural, religious and the region's administration leaders at the Kenya School of Government in Kabarnet, Baringo County.

The government and other anti-FGM crusaders have also led other initiatives to get elders and circumcisers support the 2022 campaign.

The initiative has started bearing fruit after elders in West Pokot and Marsabit counties denounced FGM, terming it retrogressive, and vowing to join hands with the government in the fight.

In August last year, Marakwet cultural leader Mr Chelang'a Cheptoo also registered his support for the anti-FGM campaign. In September the same year, Maasai Council of Elders in Narok, acknowledged that FGM was no longer a cultural rite as it had been overtaken by time and caused harm to women and girls.

Joined anti-FGM campaign

The Borana Council of Elders locally known as Guma Gayo also renounced the vice in October terming it illegal.

Public Service and Gender Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Rachel Shebesh has been leading the campaign to prevail upon circumcisers to abandon the practice. A number of circumcisers in Garissa, Tana River and Wajir counties have already joined the anti-FGM campaign.

During a meeting attended by Ms Shebesh recently, Ms Galina Gurre from Garissa, downed her circumcision tools of trade, handed them to the Gender ministry and pledged to be an anti-FGM crusader in her locality.

The government now uses the converted circumcisers as anti-FGM champions in their respective communities.

Speaking in Tana River County recently during an anti-FGM awareness tour, Ms Shebesh said the government would link the circumcisers to alternative sources of income.

"We have to talk to them to abandon the harmful practice. Ending FGM is very important to the wellbeing of girls and women not just because it's the law; the scars left after the act are lifelong and women live with the trauma forever," said Ms Shebesh.

Last month, the Anti-FGM Board revealed that it was now targeting the Church to help with the battle. The board chairperson Ms Agnes Pareiyo said the agency was collaborating with church leaders to launch and undertake anti-FGM campaign to the 22 FGM hotspot counties.

She said church leaders are crucial as they interact with all members of the society and are highly respected.

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Ms Pareiyo, speaking recently during a meeting of religious leaders in Narok, said the religious leaders will be tasked with preaching on the dangers of circumcising girls.

Budgetary allocation

Despite the strides made so far, however, there remains a myriad of challenges including scarce budgetary allocation, lack of political will and medicalisation of FGM.

Ms Eva Komba the Gender and Advocacy lead at Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Kenya Forum says the campaign can be realised if the resources were adequate.

She says there is need to sort out structural challenges at household and community levels to deal with issues like poverty, gender inequalities, climate change which are some of the key issues that push communities to cut girls.

"Girls help families survive during times of scarcity of food and other resources. During this Covid-19 period, we have seen an increase in cutting of girls and it is, therefore, time to address the societal economic issues that perpetuate FGM," she says.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Over a long weekend in 2019  just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit  over 500 American voters from across the country gathered to discuss some of the most pressing issues of the 2020 election. Credit: Helena

As Americans grapple with how to tackle some of the country's most pressing problems, coming together to address those challenges is critical. But in an atmosphere where partisan tensions run deep, is that even possible? Under the right conditions, Stanford scholars James Fishkin and Larry Diamond think so.

Fishkin and Diamond have been refining a method called Deliberative Polling, a technique that Fishkin first started exploring in 1988 as a fellow at Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. The approach brings people from varied backgrounds together for a moderated discussion about issues that members of the general public say matter to them. Participants are asked to put their political labels aside and to instead consider the different sides of an argumenta practice that is rare in today's current climate, said Fishkin.

"Left to our own devices, most people either don't pay much attention or if they do, they tune into their favorite news sources or their social media feeds and they only hear one side of the argument that is most congenial to them. That's part of what's been driving us apart," said Fishkin, the Janet M. Peck Chair in International Communication in the School of Humanities and Sciences.

Fishkin has found that Deliberative Polling, which ensures a judgment-free environment, is one way for people to listen and learn about competing viewpoints.

"Most citizens don't take the time to become anything like ideal citizens or informed citizens. So in a way, this is a way of asking, "What if they did? How would democracy be different?" It turns out it would be very different," said Fishkin, director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy (CDD).

So far, Deliberative Polling has been used over 110 times in 30 different countries. Bulgarians turned to it to inform policy-making about supporting the country's marginalized Roma population; in Northern Ireland, it was used by a local community to help bridge the divide between Protestants and Catholics so they could talk about the future of schools in their district. And residents in the Zeguo Township in Zhejiang, China, found the technique so helpful in their annual discussions about the government budget that they have used it for some 15 years. It is even being used at Stanford to seek faculty input on proposals for the structure, composition and areas of focus for the proposed school of climate and sustainability.

Bringing people together

In 2020, in collaboration with Helena, a non-partisan institution devoted to identifying and solving societal problems, Fishkin and Diamond brought together the largest, most representative sample of the U.S. electorate for a deliberative polling experiment they called America in One Room.

Just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, over 500 American voters, recruited from across the country by NORC at the University of Chicago from across the country, were brought together for four days at a conference center in Texas. The Helena project's goal was to have the group discuss what a previous national sample had identified as the most pressing issues of the 2020 election: immigration, health care, the economy, the environment and foreign policy. This is one of the foundational concepts to Fishkin and Diamonds' approach: agenda topics are informed by the people, for the people.

Participants, or as they were called by the America in One Room organizers, "citizen delegates"because "you want to convince people that their voice matters and that they will be listened to," Fishkin said,  engaged in moderated, small-group conversations to discuss these issues from their own perspectives. Participants also attended plenary sessions with opposing politicians and experts.

To inform their discussions, attendees were given background analysis of nearly 50 policy proposals put forward by some of the presidential candidates running in the 2020 election. Included in these materials were balanced arguments for and against each proposalall vetted by an advisory group.

Notably absent from much of the literature, however, were words that could suggest a "tribal" political identity, said Diamond.

"In the briefing materials and as much as possible, in the discussion, we very consciously avoided the following four words: Democrat, Republican, Trump, Obama. We tried to get people just to talk about the issues without stereotyping themselves or one another," he said.

Citizen delegates stayed in the same group throughout the weekend, which allowed them to build personal connections with one another. For some, it was the first time they interacted extensively with people far removed from their own daily lives. Conservative professionals talked with homeless people and low-income people engaged with corporate executives, Diamond described.

"People began to see one another as human beings," Diamond said. "They got to know one another and they began to develop something that is so rare in our hyper-polarized society: empathy."

As people learned how others would be personally affected by a proposed policy change, attitudes shifted.

Before participants took part in America in One Room, they were asked to rate their support (or opposition) for some 49 policy proposals they would be discussing. The researchers found extreme partisan-based polarization between Democrats and Republicans on 26 of the proposals. But after a weekend of deliberation, the two parties moved closer on 22 out of the 26 proposals and in 19 of those, movements were significant, Fishkin and Diamond reported in a paper presented at the Sept. 2020 meetings of the American Political Science Association.

Deliberative democracy  informed and moderated discussion that transcends partisan identities  can lead to a depolarized and more democratic society, according to Stanford researchers James Fishkin and Larry Diamond. Credit: Stanford University

In addition to surveying attendees, the researchers also administered similar questionnaires to another 844 American voters who stayed home and did not participate in the deliberative polling experiment. This control group showed little change in their opinion, the researchers reported.

One of the most polarizing issues was the deportation of undocumented immigrants. Before deliberation, 79 percent of Republicans supported the proposal "undocumented immigrants should be forced to return to their home countries before applying to legally come back to the U.S. to live and work permanently." After deliberation, the number was halved: 40 percent said they supported the policy.

While no undocumented immigrants participated at the America in One Room event, their stories were told by their family members or acquaintances who were in attendance. These perspectives ultimately persuaded some Republicans who learned about the plight of refugees and asylum seekers to hold a more sympathetic view of immigrants, the researchers report.

Republicans were not the only ones who changed their mind; Democrats were also swayed. For example, 70 percent of Democrats supported the policy that "people should be automatically enrolled in a more generous version of Medicare." But after deliberation, it dropped to 56 percent.

"If you have a moderated discussion with diverse others, you open up to people from different socio-demographic backgrounds and different points of view, you learn to listen to them as well as speak to them. If the discussions are in-depth enough, people will depolarize," said Fishkin, noting that this effect was not the scholars' intention when they developed the exercise. "We did not design the deliberative poll with the aim of depolarizing, although it has turned out to have that effect."

The researchers also found that people came to like each other more. After deliberation, dislike between the two parties diminished: Democrats' "feeling thermometer" ratings of Republicans rose 13 points with deliberation. Republicans' ratings of Democrats went up 14 points.

Bringing deliberative democracy to scale

Fishkin recognizes that engaging the public with Deliberative Polling requires organization and infrastructure; one of its main criticisms is that it is costly and timely to administer.

That's why Fishkin and Alice Siu, the associate director at CDD, are working to scale the method more broadly. For example, they have collaborated with Ashish Goel, a professor of management science and engineering, and his team to build a digital platform for facilitating discussion. In lieu of a human moderator, a chatbot regulates the conversation. Through online automation like this, there is no limit to how many Americans can get involvedbut only if they are willing, Diamond emphasized. "You need intentionality," he said.

Another way Fishkin and Siu are spreading their approach is through schools. They've developed a toolkit to help teachers incorporate deliberative democracy into civic studies curriculum that includes research assignments and discussion exercises that aim to simulate an environment similar to that in America One Room where students can discuss issues with one another with mutual respect.

"It's actually a more effective form of civic education we believe than conventional civic education because anything very active is better than something passive and," Fishkin said, pointing to evidence from one study and another nationwide experiment with over 300 high schoolers that tested the Stanford Online Deliberation Platform.

What deliberative democracy reveals

Fishkin and Diamond contend that deliberative democracy does more than just uncover what people believeit also reveals why people think the way they do. Understanding what motivates people's beliefs and assumptions can be a useful tool to inform and advance public policy, the scholars believe.

"Knowing what arguments resonated and the reasoning behind certain arguments can be very helpful to policymakers in understanding if they want to bring the people along on an issue," Diamond said.

The scholars hope that the public, including policymakers, will take notice of what their approach reveals about their fellow Americans.

"One of the most important misconceptions about political polarization in the United States is the assumption that people and society are hopelessly divided and that the root cause of our political paralysis in Washington is that we all hate one another and across party lines and have these unassailable divides," said Diamond.

Diamond and Fishkin say it is critical to find opportunities to incorporate deliberation into politics and the political system, such as changing the incentive structure of primary voting. Typically, only highly-motivated voterswho tend to be more extreme in their viewsturn out to vote in a primary election. This leads to more extreme candidates being nominated and a feeling among elected officials that they shouldn't deliberate because they can't afford to politically, Fishkin said.

"We have to institutionalize ways which will get the public voice on a more regular basis of what they would think. That, I think, is the way of ending the uncivil war that we've been finding ourselves in lately," Fishkin added. "There is value and even joy in listening to one another and thinking about arguments and life perspectives that we haven't thought about before."
Shirley Weber Takes Oath to Serve as California Secretary of State

On Jan. 29, former Assemblymember Shirley N. Weber, who represented parts of San Diego and its eastern suburbs in the lower house of the state legislature for eight years, has been sworn in as Secretary of State of California.

In her new role as the states top election official, the former chair of the California Black Legislative Caucus replaces Alex Padilla, who Gov. Newsom appointed to represent California in the U.S. Senate.

I will be the 1st Black woman to serve in this role and only the 5th Black person to serve as a constitutional officer ever #RepresentationMatters, Weber tweeted, celebrating her confirmation and the mark she has made on California political history.

Later, she thanked the people of California for placing their confidence in her and promised to fulfill the duties of the role.

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I am humbled to be able to continue to stand up for Californians as Secretary of State, Weber said. I thank the governor for his nomination, the state senators and the Assembly members who voted to confirm my appointment, and the Californians who expressed their faith in my ability to assume this critical office. I look forward to lifting up and defending our democratic values of inclusivity and participation in this new role.

Both houses of the state legislature unanimously confirmed Weber. On Thursday, Senators gave Weber their nod with a 20-0 vote. No republicans voted.

The day before, her former Assembly colleagues approved her appointment by a 70-0 vote.

Dr. Weber is a tireless advocate and change agent with unimpeachable integrity, Gov. Newsom praised Weber when he appointed her in December.

The daughter of sharecroppers from Arkansas, Dr. Webers father didnt get to vote until his 30s and her grandfather never got to vote because he died before the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, the governor continued. When her family moved to South Central Los Angeles, she saw as a child her parents rearrange furniture in their living room to serve as a local polling site for multiple elections. Now, shell be at the helm of Californias elections as the next Secretary of State  defending and expanding the right to vote.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) tweeted After the Senate confirmed Weber.

This is a loss for the assembly, but a huge gain for our state. @ShirleyWeberPHD has been an incredible leader of our house. We will miss her, but I know she will serve as secretary of state with the same strength and leadership she brought as a legislator.

The California Legislative Black Caucus released a statement on Webers official swearing in as California Secretary of State.

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Dr. Shirley Weber was officially sworn in by Governor Gavin Newsom as Californias first African American Secretary of State and the fifth African American to serve as a Constitutional officer in the states 170-year history.

Dr. Weber leaves behind an incredible legacy as a legislator of the 79th Assembly District in San Diego. Elected to the California State Assembly in 2012, Dr. Weber was often referred to as the moral conscience of the legislature. As an Assemblymember, Dr. Weber staunchly advocated on social justice, education, criminal justice reform, and equity for people of color.

In her role as Secretary of State, Dr. Weber will continue to be an advocate for civil rights and adamantly defend all eligible voters that seek to participate in the democratic process. The California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) extends our congratulations and immense gratitude to Secretary of State Dr. Weber for her leadership as our Immediate Past Chair. We look forward to working with her on our shared values advocating on behalf of the African American community.

Diversity in leadership is critical to truly being a California for All. The CLBC remains dedicated to increasing African-American participation and representation in all levels of government.

In the Assembly, Weber authored several high-profile bills that became law, including a measure that created one of the strongest laws against police use of force in the country. Another set up an 8-member commission to study Californias role in the enslavement of  and discriminatory practices against  Black men, women and children, and the ways the state may be liable for those actions.

No date has been set yet for the special election to replace weber in the states 79th Assembly District. But late last month, Webers daughter, Akilah Weber, who is a medical doctor based in San Diego, announced her candidacy to run for the seat her mom just vacated.
The HSE must own the mistakes of the past or risk losing the confidence of women in the CervicalCheck cancer screening programme.

On Wednesday, Lynsey Bennett settled her case against the HSE and the laboratory involved in her missed cancer diagnosis.

The mother-of-two was diagnosed with cervical cancer in January 2017 following a series of smears since 2010, which failed to detect disease. Following medical treatment, the cancer returned in 2018.

Now seriously ill, the 32-year-old broke down as she expressed relief that the court ordeal was over.

I can now focus on my own fight to stay alive for as long as I can, she said through tears.

While her case was settled, the claim that her cancer was allowed to develop and spread undetected was denied.

There was no apology, only a letter of regret from the chief executive of the CervicalCheck programme.

Lynsey is one of many women who have been dragged through the courts to settle their claims.

It is not long ago that Patricia Carrick settled her case before the courts only to die within weeks, leaving four children behind.

Ruth Morrissey and Emma Mhic Mhathuna, who also died, faced court battles that only served to compound the damage done.

Ruth Morrissey, who passed away in July, also settled her case. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Tragically, there are dozens more women likely to face a similar court ordeal in the absence of a tribunal that meets their needs.

Government promises in 2018 that women would not face an adversarial legal process now ring hollow for those at the centre of around 140 pending legal actions.

While the CervicalCheck Tribunal was formally established last October and is technically up and running since December, it is not yet clear if it has heard any cases to date.

The tribunal was set up to mediate claims arising from the CervicalCheck controversy, which identified missed cancer diagnoses in 221 women as well as issues around governance and open disclosure. Women can opt to pursue their case in the courts or the new tribunal mechanism.

In recent weeks, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly accepted that discussions with campaigners over the scope of the tribunal, in particular the statute of limitations and whether women can return if their cancer recurs, reached an impasse late last year.

He said, however, that he was satisfied that the tribunal was the most appropriate venue for CervicalCheck claims and that it was entirely up to the women affected whether to use it.

Campaigners from the 221+ group, which represents women and families affected by the screening failings, feel they are not being heard.

In the wake of the Bennett settlement this week, 221+ founder and campaigner Vicky Phelan did not hold back when calling out the HSE and State Claims Agency for failing to admit that mistakes were made.

Vicky Phelan called out the HSE and State Claims Agency for failing to admit that mistakes were made. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

The Limerick mother-of-two, who is currently receiving treatment in the US for new tumours, hit out at what she described as a disturbing and troubling narrative being used by the HSE that a small number of cancers  interval cancers  will be missed through screening.

A force for change following the CervicalCheck debacle, Ms Phelan tweeted: What we are seeing is a deeply disturbing narrative beginning to resurface despite the fact that in all cases that have been heard, to date, for failures in cervical screening  negligence has been established and women have been compensated and we will all die as a result.

Increasing public trust and confidence, she said, will require an acknowledgement by the screening programme, and those involved, that harm was done and that it failed women, as well as meaningful engagement with patient advocates.

Vicky and Lynsey, and sadly many others, have shown immense strength and courage in the face of great adversity. They are among dozens of women affected by the CervicalCheck failings whose very lives are on the line or have already been lost.

And that is one of the most heart-breaking aspects of this debacle, which unfortunately will leave an enduring legacy of loss for the children and families left behind.

While positive changes have been made to the screening programme since the 2018 Scally Review public trust and confidence has not yet been restored.

The HSE has moved to set out the limitations of the screening programme and how two cancers can be missed in every 1,000 women screened.

There is a risk, however, of these limitations being conflated with the mistakes of the past something that Ms Phelan was at pains to point out this week.

It was not merely a case that some cancers were missed. The Scally Review found the screening programme was doomed to fail and reflected a whole-system failure, in addition to poor governance issues and the non-disclosure of information to patients.

In the midst of a global pandemic which led to screening being suspended last year, CervicalCheck now faces a new set of challenges to catch up on a backlog of appointments.

How it deals with the continued fallout of past failings will be critical to restoring faith in the screening programme now and into the future.
WOODS HOLE, Mass. -- Egg cells start out as round blobs. After fertilization, they begin transforming into people, dogs, fish, or other animals by orienting head to tail, back to belly, and left to right. Exactly what sets these body orientation directions has been guessed at but not seen. Now researchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have imaged the very beginning of this cellular rearrangement, and their findings help answer a fundamental question.

"The most interesting and mysterious part of developmental biology is the origin of the body axis in animals," said researcher Tomomi Tani. An MBL scientist in the Eugene Bell Center at the time of the research, Tani is now with Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

The work by Tani and Hirokazu Ishii, reported this week in Molecular Biology of the Cell, shows that both parents contribute to the body orientation of their offspring. For the animal species studied in the research (sea squirts), input from the mother sets the back-belly axis while that of the father does so for the head-tail axis.

"Both the maternal and the paternal cues are required to establish the body plan of the developing animal embryo," stated Tani.

This research addresses fundamental questions in developmental biology and may also provide clues as to why things sometimes go wrong. Such knowledge could benefit fields as diverse as medicine and agriculture.



The prevalent theory of how the body axis is set has been that actin filaments inside the egg, which are involved in cell motion and contraction, power the rearrangement of cytoplasmic material in the egg after it has been fertilized. But seeing this happen has been a challenge because the onset of the process takes place rapidly and over very small distances within living cells.

To overcome these hurdles, Tani and Ishii used a fluorescence polarization microscope, a technology developed a few years ago at MBL by Tani, Shalin Mehta (now at Chan Zuckerberg Biohub) and MBL Senior Scientist Rudolf Oldenbourg, along with scientists at other institutions. This technology makes it possible to image events taking place at distances measured in nanometers, or thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. The methodology is also a familiar one to Tani and others.

"Using polarized light for looking at dynamics of molecular order is a tradition of MBL imaging," Tani noted, one that began with pioneering live-cell studies by Shinya Inoue in the 1950s.

When polarized, light waves oscillate either partially or completely in only one direction: up/down, left/right, clockwise/counterclockwise, and so on. That's why a filter will let polarized light through in one orientation, but block it when rotated.

Tani and Ishii attached fluorescent probe molecules, which glow when illuminated with the right light, to the actin in eggs of sea squirts (Ciona), a marine species often studied by researchers as a model for animal development. The probe-actin link was very rigid, Tani said, allowing the microscope to detect the orientation of the actin molecules by working with polarized light.



So, if the actin all pointed in one orientation, the researchers spotted it. If the actin was jumbled, they could see that too. When Tani and Ishii looked at unfertilized eggs, they saw a mostly random arrangement of actin. After fertilization, a calcium ion wave passed through the egg and the actin filaments lined up and contracted along the orientation that was at a right, or 90o, angle to the future back/belly axis. The cytoplasm then moved. This body plan formation process began just after fertilization.

The fertilized egg orientation research is being followed up with other investigations. One of the long-term goals of such imaging is to detect and understand the force in the developing embryo that shape its morphology, its form and structure.

"We hope that the molecular orders in the cytoskeleton tell us something like 'field lines' of mechanical forces that organize the morphology of multicellular organisms," Tani said in discussing future efforts.

###

By Hank Hogan

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery - exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.
A New Jersey grand jury on Wednesday indicted a state corrections officer for allegedly pepper spraying an inmate without justification and lying about it in official reports, authorities said.

Jovanny Galindo, 33, of Neptune City, faces charges of official misconduct, aggravated assault, tampering with public records and falsifying or tampering with records, according to the state Attorney Generals Office.

Galindo, who worked at Mid-State Correctional Facility, an approximately 700-bed prison on the grounds of Fort Dix, was suspended from his position as a senior correctional police officer, officials said. He was initially charged last year.

Prosecutors alleged that on June 16, 2020, Galindo confronted a seated inmate and sprayed him in the face with oleoresin capsicum spray, commonly called pepper spray, without any apparent justification. In his special custody report and use of force report the officer claimed the inmate ignored an order, became argumentative, and verbally threatened Galindo, which the officer claimed prompted him to use the spray, according to the state.

The officers account in his reports, however, was false, prosecutors said. An investigation by the Attorney Generals Office of Public Integrity and Accountability and state Department of Corrections revealed the alleged falsehoods and found the officers actions violated the prison systems use of force policy.

We are committed to holding correctional police officers accountable if they engage in misconduct and jeopardize the safety of inmates, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said in a statement. When correctional police officers abuse their authority, it impacts the rights and welfare of inmates, as well as the safety and security of the prison environment.

An attorney listed for Galindo and a corrections department spokesperson could not be immediately reached Wednesday night.

Separately, the state corrections commissioner has faced a chorus of calls to step down over the agencys handling of the coronavirus pandemic and allegations of abuse at New Jerseys only womens prison, Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, where the Attorney Generals Office is also investigating.

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Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com.
The question used to be when will I get my Covid-19 vaccine? Now its where will I get it and which brand?

The decision not to make the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine the preferential jab for the over-70s has created a whole new set of dilemmas which may not be easily fixed.

It may sound like an exaggeration to call it a vaccine famine  but when the supply of jabs is set against the population demand it highlights just how far short deliveries fall. The over-70s alone comprise half-a-million people. They will all require two shots so one million doses are needed.

Now Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are the vaccines they are getting except in some exceptional cases. There have been dips in delivery volumes from Pfizer in recent weeks due to upgrading of its Belgium plant but they average over 40,000 doses a week.

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Moderna has only delivered a few thousand doses, and they come every two weeks. Pfizer is to increase deliveries from February 15, and there will be significantly more coming here in the second quarter.

A lot of the Pfizer doses coming here now are already spoken for and must be given as second doses to frontline healthcare workers and residents and staff in long-term care homes.

There are 81,000 over-85s, the first group of the over-70s who are due to be vaccinated starting next week. The HSE will have to find some Pfizer or Moderna vaccines for them but it will not stretch to 81,000 initially. A reasonable timescale for rollout is needed.

Waiting patiently

The first two priority groups for vaccination were the over-65s in long-term care, their staff and frontline healthcare workers. There are still 117 nursing homes yet to be fully catered for due to outbreaks.

And there are around 70,000 frontline healthcare workers who have not yet received a first dose.

The first 35,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrive next week but they cannot be given to long-term care residents as per instructions from chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan. So will they be diverted to frontline healthcare workers? The vaccine is 60pc effective in younger age groups and would be suitable for younger healthcare workers. Around 400,000 doses in total are due by the end of March.

The fourth group behind the over-70s are healthcare workers not in direct patient contact, like pharmacists and dentists. If there is surplus will they be offered a first dose sooner?

Location, location

Where will the vaccination of the over-70s take place? The original plan was to vaccinate them in GP surgeries after they were sent an appointment by their doctor.

Now that they are to be given the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, there are complications around temperature control which could create difficulties for administration in surgeries  although they could yet be overcome.

Will, as has been suggested, parish halls and community centres be used? It will mean a longer journey for some older people who may not have transport and may be reluctant to use the bus or train. GPs preference is to give the vaccines in their surgeries, possibly with several doctors clubbing together.

Earlier this week, in a HSE vaccination update, it was announced that 150,500 people had received first doses and 49,300 a second dose. Nearly 200,000 got some injection out of 207,330 delivered.

Loss of confidence

It has yet to be seen if there has been a loss of confidence in the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. It is effective and safe, but there is not yet enough evidence to show how much protection it gives to older age groups. That is because the majority of people in trials were under 55 years of age.

A further study with older people is under way and the results should be through at the end of March. There is a high degree of confidence that it is very effective, but until the data is verified that is not proven. The National Immunisation Advisory Committees (NIAC) advice to people is that if they are offered a Covid-19 vaccine, they should take it. They have all been through rigorous assessment by the European Medicines Agency.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is very effective in preventing hospitalisation and there are studies indicating it may reduce the chance of one person infecting another.

Exceptional cases

Professor Karina Butler of the NIAC has spoken of the urgency to vaccinate older age groups given the high levels of virus which is still circulating.

There may yet be a role for giving the AstraZeneca vaccine in some cases, for instance if somebody is housebound or very reluctant to travel for a jab. There is probably a strong argument for mobile vaccination centres to cater for people in rural areas.

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Premier Li Keqiang heard a report on the domestic efforts for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to take effect and get implemented when chairing the State Council executive meeting on Wednesday, and called for deepening reform and opening-up to promote industrial upgrading.

Competent departments have accelerated domestic work for its implementation. To date, legal review of the provisions, and formulation of the conversion plan for the tariff concession commitment schedule on trade in goods, have been completed. Substantive progress has been achieved in the technical preparations for implementing the cumulation provisions of the rules of origin. As much as 85 percent of the 701 binding obligations stipulated in the agreement are ready to be enforced.

"The RCEP agreement, signed among 15 participating countries, is beneficial to all," Li said. "Promoting its implementation is an important step to expand opening-up and advance reform. To keep major economic indicators within a reasonable range and consolidate recovery and growth, reform and opening-up should remain a key driving force."

The meeting highlighted the need to speedily push forward the reform of relevant domestic management mechanisms, step up the formulation of domestic management regulations on origin and implementation guidelines, refine work procedures and make targeted technical preparations to ensure that the agreement can be executed on the ground as soon as it takes effect.

In light of the new circumstances of a more open environment and greater competition following the implementation of the agreement, the meeting reaffirmed the need to sort out and refine the country's manufacturing quality standards and rules in line with the advanced international industrial standards. To further open up the service sector, preparations shall be made in raising standards and improving rules.

Inter-agency coordination shall be enhanced. Relevant domestic regulations and policies shall be sorted out and refined expeditiously in accordance with the agreement, and sector-specific plans drafted in selected key areas for RCEP implementation. Efforts shall be made for early consultations among participating countries on the conversion for tariff commitment schedules and for product-specific rules of origin, and on the guidelines for implementing the rules of origin, as institutional safeguards for the implementation of the agreement.

"The RCEP agreement is not merely about reducing or exempting tariffs. It specifies the cumulation provisions of rules of origin. Fully understanding and implementing the cumulative rules of origin will help lower the threshold for enjoying tariff concessions, promote intra-regional trade cooperation, and stabilize and strengthen the regional industrial and supply chains," Li said.

The meeting also required more training regarding RCEP implementation, to familiarize enterprises, especially micro and small firms, with the provisions and the tariff concession by participating countries, and with the application procedures and documentation required for the certificate of origin.

Guidance will be provided to businesses to shape a stronger sense of urgency for transformation and upgrading and a firm commitment to professional expertise, pursuit of excellence and greater management, to better participate in international cooperation and competition.

"The RCEP agreement is both an opportunity and a challenge. Intensive training programs should be organized to help businesses become well-informed about the agreement. Implementation of the agreement can be an opportunity to enable the manufacturing industry to move towards medium and high-end, upgrade product quality, and raise market competitiveness," Li said.
ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jeremiah's Italian Ice  the hottest brand in the frozen dessert category  is continuing its rapid growth. As 2021 kicks off, the brand is projected to open 35 new locations in states like Texas, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina, as well as open its first locations in Louisiana and Colorado. This is a 250% increase from the number of locations the brand opened in 2020, when it opened 10 new stores. Jeremiah's Italian Ice was listed on QSR Magazine's 2021 40/40 List as one America's hottest fast casual restaurant concepts. In 2020, the brand was listed by QSR as a concept to watch for its growth and mission to reawaken the frozen dessert industry.

"The resiliency of the Jeremiah's concept has been clear throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which has positioned us for even further growth in 2021," stated Nicole DiPietro, vice president of Jeremiah's Italian Ice. "Our continued success has attracted a lot of new franchise partners, and we are eager to build on the momentum we built in 2020 and share our delicious Italian Ice and Soft Ice Cream with new communities across the country."

In addition to its increased growth projections for 2021, Jeremiah's Italian Ice is announcing that it will be serving its famous Italian Ice and Soft Ice Cream at eight different events at the Daytona International Speedway this coming year.

"We are always looking for new and exciting ways to enhance the fan experience at all the events we host here at World Center of Racing," said Daytona International Speedway President Chip Wile. "We already know about the delicious treats at Jeremiah's Italian Ice because they have a location at One Daytona, across the street from the speedway. They are a great addition to the already incredible lineup of food offerings and we are excited about the partnership."

To continue its growth momentum despite a national pandemic, Jeremiah's quickly pivoted to a virtual Discovery Day format in just under two weeks early in the year. This quick adaptation allowed the brand to award 20 new units in March and April of 2020 at the pandemic's onset, as well as to surpass its number of units awarded in the previous year.

To help guide the brand's rapid expansion, Jeremiah's Italian Ice partnered with Pivotal Growth Partners  an experienced team of franchise veterans who've led some of the top brands in foodservice to award-winning growth.

"Our ability to adapt our processes during COVID-19 has prepared us for further success in 2021," added Cameron Cummins, Co-Founder of Pivotal Growth Partners and Chief Development Officer for Jeremiah's Italian Ice. "Throughout 2020, the Jeremiah's Italian Ice model continued to prove why it is a frozen force to be reckoned with in the QSR space, and that has positioned us for additional growth and development."

Jeremiah's Italian Ice awarded a total of 101 units across 35 franchisee groups in 2020. Jeremiah's has been able to continue its rapid growth pace by signing 21 multi-unit agreements throughout 2020  a trend the brand is projected to continue as it starts off 2021. In addition to the 101 units awarded to franchisees, Jeremiah's also awarded an additional 162 units among six area representative groups, which will help the brand expand its presence in states such as Louisiana, Georgia, and North Carolina, among others.

"2020 was a year of growth, introspection, and gratitude," stated CEO and Founder of Jeremiah's Italian Ice Jeremy Litwack. "It was a year of unprecedented growth for our brand, and a year that made my high school dream of sharing my passion for serving tasty frozen treats and flavorful guest experiences, come to life. I am incredibly proud of the Jeremiah's Frog Squad and am humbled to be part of a company that stays true to its mantra to Live Life to the Coolest."

To learn more about the Jeremiah's Italian Ice franchise opportunity, please visit: www. jeremiahsfranchise.com/

About Jeremiah's Italian Ice

Founded in 1996 and franchising since 2019, Jeremiah's Italian Ice has come to be known not only for its superior frozen treats, but also its outstanding customer service, community involvement, and a fun brand image that embodies the Jeremiah's motto - LIVE LIFE TO THE COOLEST. Focused on delivering flavorful experiences to each and every guest, Jeremiah's is committed to serving its vibrant, flavorful treats up with a smile in a lively environment. With more than 30 locations throughout Florida, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas, Jeremiah's is offering franchises across the Southern United States, with an initial focus on Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Nevada, and Mississippi. For more information, visit https://jeremiahsice.com/.

About Pivotal Growth Partners

Pivotal Growth Partners (PGP) is a full-service Growth & Development Firm with an unparalleled track record of success in growing franchise brands. The experienced team at PGP has awarded & developed more than 5000 franchised businesses across the US and internationally, working with startups and some of the world's largest companies. With a combined 50+ years of experience and a network of growth and development partners, Pivotal Growth Partners creates value, growing small, regional companies into nationally acclaimed brands. PGP deploys proven processes and systems to effectively grow a business, by creating a "Results Focused" Franchise Growth & Support Culture within its brands. For more information, visit www.pivotalgrowthpartners.com.

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(Newser)  The former Columbus, Ohio, police officer who fatally shot Andre Hill within 10 seconds of encountering him has been indicted in Hill's death. Adam Coy, who was fired in December a week after the incident, was arrested and indicted on a murder charge as well as felonious assault and two counts of dereliction of duty, the Columbus Dispatch reports. "The grand jury found the truth: Andre Hill should not be dead," Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said when announcing the indictment Wednesday night. Police were responding to a non-emergency call about a car engine being turned on and off when they came upon Hill at the entrance to the garage of a home at which he was an invited guest. Coy said he mistook the key ring Hill was holding for a gun; the unarmed Black man was also holding up his cellphone when Coy fired.

story continues below

The dereliction of duty counts are for failing to turn on his body camera and for not warning his fellow officer that he believed Hill was dangerous, though Coy's attorney says he did the latter. Police also failed to render medical aid for several minutes as Hill lay dying, though they did handcuff him. Per the family's lawyer, an autopsy commissioned by the family determined Hill's life might have been saved had officers offered first aid immediately. Says Coy's lawyer, per ABC 6, "He feels terrible that his actions on duty caused a loss of life. Even though he was mistaken that he didnt have a gun, that mistake was an honest belief, and it was reasonable based on the totality of the situation." 10TV rounds up other local reactions. Coy is jailed pending a Friday morning bond hearing. His attorney says he plans to plead not guilty that day, WCMH-TV reports. (Read more Andre Hill stories.)
International leaders and experts advocate for rights-based family planning, examine threat COVID-19 poses to reproductive health

BALTIMORE, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 7,000 people attended this week's global online forum, "Not Without FP," to champion the important role family planning plays in universal health coverage (UHC) schemes, and explore the impact of COVID-19 on sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide.

The forum convened at a pivotal time  as the international community plans to move beyond its Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) goals and UHC gains traction globally  made even more complex by the COVID-19 pandemic and growing civil unrest and inequity.

"These disruptive events, while painful, can be important opportunities to transform the way we think and do our work," said Jose G. Rimon II, director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, host of the two-day forum. "It will take a massive mindset change and more global collaboration to ensure family planning is an essential service that's accessible to all."

Sessions featured presentations on how various family planning actors  including women themselves  are responding to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Senegal, Uganda, the United States and elsewhere.

Just days after U.S. President Joe Biden repealed the Mexico City policy  also known as the "global gag rule," which severely limited funds for reproductive healthcare services abroad under the previous administration  USAID's Acting Administrator Gloria Steele addressed forum participants in her first public appearance since assuming office.

USAID is a key supporter of FP2020, a global partnership that promotes universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and rights. As FP2020 prepares to embark on a new decade of partnership  and transition to FP2030  Executive Director Beth Schlachter said, "Family planning is a key intervention for countries in reaching universal health coverage. Because for women and girls, access to contraception is a fundamental component of primary healthcare."

Other speakers included Dr. Indu Bhushan, CEO of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), the world's largest government-sponsored healthcare program providing free services to more than 550 million people in India; Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, United Nations Special Rapporteur, medical doctor and syndicated sexual health columnist; and Mechai Viravaidya, an activist and leader also known as the "Condom King" for his innovative work destigmatizing condoms and promoting safe sex and family planning in Thailand.

"Not Without FP" serves as a springboard to the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) 2021, scheduled to be held in Pattaya City, Thailand, and co-hosted by the Gates Institute, the Kingdom of Thailand's Ministry of Public Health, The Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and local NGO Population and Community Development Association.

Thailand's decades of success in family planning and UHC made it a natural partner for ICFP. Anutin Charnvirakul, the Kingdom of Thailand's deputy prime minister and minister of public health, opened the virtual forum on 2 February with an overview of his country's strategies, including the critical role government plays in making healthcare services widely accessible through district hospitals and community-based programs.

The voices of community members were represented throughout the event as participants relayed first-person stories in "Real Talk, Real Voices, Real FP," discussed their roles as religious leaders and healthcare workers, and shared youth perspectives.

Session and panel recordings from "Not Without FP" are accessible online and can be found here.

About Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health

Located in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Gates Institute is dedicated to the advancement of scholarship and science for social change. The Institute conducts and facilitates cutting-edge research in family planning, adolescent and youth reproductive health and populations dynamics, and translates science into evidence-informed policies, programs and practice. For more information, please visit www.gatesinstitute.org.

About International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP)

Since 2009, the International Conference on Family Planning has served as a strategic inflection point for the global reproductive health community. In addition to being the world's largest scientific conference on family planning and reproductive health, ICFP serves as an international platform for countries, organizations, and individuals to make important commitments and celebrate achievements. Sponsored by the Gates Institute, the ICFP convenes every two years and is scheduled to meet in Pattaya City, Thailand, in 2021.

For more information, please visit www.icfp2021.org.

Media Contact:

Katherine Davis

Davis Communication Strategies

+1 303 884 6261

[email protected]

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SOURCE International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP)
A judge on the Colorado Court of Appeals has called on the states Supreme Court to weigh in on the ability of people charged with crimes to benefit from law changes that take effect before their convictions.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Virginia Senate Approves Measure to Abolish States Death Penalty

Virginias Senate approved a bill on Feb. 3 that would make Virginia the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty if the measure becomes law.

The 2117 vote in the Democratic-majority chamber was split along party lines, with 21 Democrats for and 17 Republicans against the measure. One lawmaker, Republican state Sen. Bill Stanley, abstained.

The bill, SB 1165, sponsored by state Sen. Scott Surovell, a Democrat, now awaits the approval of Gov. Ralph Northam, also a Democrat; Northam has said he supports the legislation.

The House of Delegates approved its version of the legislation, HB 2263. The 156 vote consisted of two Republicans joining 13 Democrats in favor of the bill. One person abstained.

The House bill includes a provision that replaces the death penalty with a life sentence without parole, time off for good behavior, or conditional release. The Senate and House bills will need to reconcile the provision before Northam can sign off on the measure.

The Senates passage of the bill is a tremendous step toward ending the death penalty in Virginia, Northam said in a statement.

Its time for our commonwealth to join 22 other states and abolish the death penalty, Northam said. I applaud every senator who cast a courageous vote today, and I look forward to signing this bill into law.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam speaks to the press about a mass shooting, on June 1, 2019. (Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images)

Virginia has executed more people than any other state, he added. The practice is fundamentally inequitable. It is inhumane. It is ineffective. And we know that in some cases, people on death row have been found innocent.

Virginia has executed more people than any other state, with 1,391 executions in total, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In recent history, Virginia is second to Texas in the number of executions since 1976, the year the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty.

I cannot think of anything that is more awful, unspeakable, and wrong for a government to do than to use its power to execute somebody who didnt commit the crime theyre accused of, Surovell said on Feb. 3 as he introduced the Senate bill, according to The Associated Press. The problem with capital punishment is that once its inflicted you cant take it back, it cant be corrected.

The Senate vote came after a lengthy floor debate. Democrats raised concerns about the death penalty, alleging racial disparities in its application, and pointed to research to support the argument that the death penalty doesnt deter crime. Meanwhile, Republicans urged state lawmakers to oppose the bill, saying it wouldnt give victims families a chance at justice and voicing concerns that people convicted of heinous murders would be eligible for parole.

Stanley, who ultimately abstained from the vote, initially co-patroned the bill, and opposed capital punishment. He later denounced actions from Democrats after they rejected Republicans attempts to amend the bill. The amendments that Stanley proposed would have guaranteed that those convicted of aggravated murder would be sentenced to life without parole.

This could have been coming out today as a bipartisan effort to end the death penalty. Instead, its a party-line effort, Stanley said, the AP reported.

Another two amendments were introduced by state Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment, a Republican. The amendments called for allowing the death penalty for those convicted of killing law enforcement officers, and for those convicted of multiple murders during a single incident. Both were also rejected, WAVY.com reported.

President Joe Bidens campaign, in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, said that Biden wants to eliminate the federal death penalty.

Because we cannot ensure we get death penalty cases right every time, Biden will work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal governments example. These individuals should instead serve life sentences without probation or parole, Bidens campaign website previously stated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(CNN) - Denmark and Norway have joined a slew of European nations saying they won't give the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to people over 65, their national health agencies confirmed on Thursday.

Both cited a lack of data available on the use of the vaccine in older groups.

"We have reviewed the documentation, and until we have seen more data on efficacy among the elderly, it is our recommendation that the vaccine from AstraZeneca should first and foremost be an offer for people under 65," Bolette Sborg from Denmarks National Board of Health said in a statement.

We want to make sure we have the best data and background for the vaccine policy at the national level, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Institute of Public Health told CNN.

On Wednesday, Belgium recommended not administering the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to people over the age of 55, following similar decisions in France, Germany, Austria and Sweden which restricted its use for people under 65.

Also on Wednesday, Switzerland declined to authorize the vaccine for any age group, saying data submitted by AstraZeneca were "not yet sufficient to permit authorization" of the vaccine.

In response to Switzerlands decision, an AstraZeneca spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday: AstraZeneca has now been granted a conditional marketing authorization or emergency use in close to 50 countries, spanning 4 continents, including most recently in the European Union.

We are confident that our vaccine is effective, well-tolerated, and can have a real impact on the pandemic, the statement added.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA)  the EUs regulator -- has approved the vaccine without an age restriction.

In a statement made when granting conditional marketing authorization of the vaccine, the EMA said that in spite of a lack of data, protection was expected in older adults.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Denmark and Norway join European nations recommending against AstraZeneca vaccine for older people"
Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev on February 3 lauded the ongoing Aero India International 2021 air show and expressed happiness on Moscow being one of the biggest exhibitors at the event. The 13th edition of Aero India show is taking place right now organised by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Air Force Station Yelahanka, Bengaluru. In a statement, Russian envoy Kudashev said, Highly appreciate efforts of the Indian organizers to hold in the current conditions the 13th edition of Aero India 2021 - one of the most prominent exhibitions in the world.

"I am very proud to note that Russia will be one of the biggest exhibitors at the Aero India 2021. We plan to demonstrate Su-57, Su-35 and MiG-35 fighter jets, helicopters Ka-52, Ka-226, Mi-17B-5, Mi-26, S-400 systems, and many others," he added.

The Russian-Indian defence ties constitute the main pillar of the special and privileged strategic partnership between both the nations, noted Kudashev while adding that both countries are moving towards the implementation of all priority projects.

"We are successfully moving towards implementation of all priority projects - S-400 systems deliveries, AK-203 Kalashnikovs contract, Ka-226 helicopters supplies and production in India, as well as an advanced cooperation in the areas of combat aviation (including Su-30MKI), main battle tanks (T-90), frigates, submarines and missiles, along with joint production of the unique Brahmos," the Russian envoy said.

Read - Aero India 2021: Check Out Aero India 2021 Virtual Registration, Timings, Tickets And More

Read - Roar In The Sky: Breathtaking Manoeuvres By IAF Daredevils At Aero India 2021 Launch

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at Aero India 2021

While speaking at the Aero India 2021, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that the event had truly gone digital and global. He said, In order to maximise the reach and participation, the event is being conducted in a hybrid format with a concurrent virtual exhibition which will integrate Seminars, B2B interactions etc. It will be not incorrect to say, that Aero India 21 has truly gone digital and global. While inaugurating the 13th edition of the event which is organised every two years, Singh also hailed Karnataka as an attractive destination for the defence and aerospace industry. He said at the start of the three-day show, The existing supply chains, developed by aerospace and engineering firms, an investor-friendly government, with simplified procedures and fast-track business approvals through the single-window mechanism, combine to make Karnataka a very attractive destination for the industry.

Read - Aero India 21: 'Plans To Spend $130 Bn On Military Modernisation', Says Rajnath Singh

Read - Roar In The Sky: Breathtaking Manoeuvres By IAF Daredevils At Aero India 2021 Launch


Americans Abandoning Free Speech Better Brace for the Consequences





Government will happily suppress misinformation in favor of misinformation of its own.



By J.D. Tuccille

February 03, 2021 " Information Clearing House " - In the panicked aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the powers-that-be dusted off wish lists of surveillance-state powers and began monitoring and tracking us in ways that affect our lives two decades later. The political turbulence of recent years, culminating in the Capitol riot on January 6, may similarly liberate the political class to do its worstthis time with free speech as the target. The effort will likely again enjoy support from members of the public eager to surrender their freedom.

"We need to shut down the influencers who radicalize people and set them on the path toward violence and sedition," argued columnist Max Boot in The Washington Post. His solution? Carriers should drop Fox News and other conservative cable news outlets if they don't stop spreading "misinformation." Boot also believes that "Biden needs to reinvigorate the FCC" to impose British-style controls over the newsnever mind that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) doesn't have the authority to regulate cable outlets that it has over broadcasters that use public airwaves.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) agrees that the public needs to be protected from speech she considers false and misleading. "We're going to have to figure out how we rein in our media environment so that you can't just spew disinformation and misinformation," she insisted.

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Challenging the value of unrestrained speech and debate has become something of a cottage industry. After the ugly exchanges that erupted in the Capitol riot, CNN pointed out that "questions emerge about unrestrained free expression, long championed by First Amendment theorists as a benefit to society, no matter how ugly and hateful." The network quoted scholars who conclude that the Internet and free speech protections make it too easy to exchange bad ideas.

None of these fans of speech restrictions explicitly advocate suppression of activists or ideologies; they favor controls on what they claim are false, extremist, or misleading communications. But they don't explain why reversing speech protections would accomplish their goals when misinformation existed long before modern jurisprudence, filling the pages of the country's newspapers and fueling political contests despite legal peril. Nor do they explain why they're so eager to hand more control over speech to government officials who have a historically rocky relationship with truth.

There's former President Donald Trump himself, of course, who is at the center of much of the current controversy over speech and who has a history as a serial fabulist on matters from trade to immigration to elections. A "reinvigorated" FCC exercising the powers of Max Boot's imagination would have been run by commissioners appointed, in part, by him.

That more-intrusive FCC would also have been run by commissioners appointed by Trump's predecessor, President Barack Obama. Obama, too, had a problem telling the truth about issues ranging from health care to government records and earned "the lie of the year" label from PolitiFact in 2013.

Government officials even lie to each other, as then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper did to Congress to conceal the inconvenient truth about domestic surveillance by the NSA.

Protections for free speech, it's worth pointing out, aren't some perfect counter to false and extreme ideas. Instead, they're a recognition of core individual rights. But they're also a pragmatic acknowledgment that putting government agencies in charge of suppressing misinformation just gives one team of bullshit artists an advantage over their less-powerful competitors.

Some fans of speech suppression think they've found a solution in privatized muzzling.

"Large cable companies such as Comcast and Charter Spectrum, which carry Fox News and provide much of its revenue in the form of user fees, need to step in and kick Fox News off," urges Boot. CNN emphasizes that "the First Amendment protects against government, not private organizations, stymieing expression."

It's absolutely true that private companies have the right to control who uses their platforms and how they do so. But let's remember that there's an unpleasant history of them exercising the censor's pencil as proxies for dominant political factions, either out of sympathy or as a result of legal arm-twisting.

After evolving First Amendment jurisprudence made it safer for print media to criticize politicians, then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt infamously held radio licenses hostage in return for positive coverage. "It did not take long for broadcasters to get the message," historian David Beito wrote for Reason in 2017. "NBC, for example, announced that it was limiting broadcasts 'contrary to the policies of the United States government.'"

That practice has become increasingly popular as a means for governments to evade accusations that they're muzzling critics.

"Of course, Twitter is a private company," Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny cautioned after the tech giant suspended Donald Trump's account in the wake of the Capitol riot. "But we have seen many examples in Russian and China of such private companies becoming the state's best friends and the enablers when it comes to censorship."

The ultimate risk is that respect for free-wheeling speech is devalued in the eyes of many as a thing to be cherished in itself. Instead, it may become a resented obstacle to be worked around by innovators who aren't bound by allegedly archaic legal protections. They can then feel virtuous in suppressing expression they consider bad, or hateful, or an example of "misinformation."

If popular support for free speech continues to erode, it's difficult to see how legal protections survive for long without foundations in the wider society. A culture of free speech can't prevail if the culture comes to prefer censorship. Eventually, people who've come to believe it's better to challenge "bad" ideas not with other ideas but with a muzzle will erase or reinterpret protections for speech.

Then, government officials with wish lists of expanded powers ready to go will eagerly step in to save the country from "influencers who radicalize people." The influencers will take their communications to underground channels or else adopt the martyr role of dissidents. And officials will try to suppress misinformation from those influencers in favor of misinformation of their own.
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has urged Russians to overcome their fear and free the country from a bunch of thieves in a message from his prison cell.

Mr Navalny, who was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison earlier this week, said in a statement posted on his Instagram account that iron doors slammed behind my back with a deafening sound, but I feel like a free man because I feel confident Im right and thanks to support from you and my family.

Mr Navalny, 44, an anti-corruption campaigner who is Russian President Vladimir Putins most determined political foe, was arrested on January 17 upon returning from his five-month convalescence in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning, which he has blamed on the Kremlin.

Russian authorities deny any involvement and claim they have no proof that he was poisoned despite tests by several European labs.

Expand Close Police officers detain a Navalny supporter during a protest in St Petersburg (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police officers detain a Navalny supporter during a protest in St Petersburg (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP)

A Moscow court on Tuesday sent Mr Navalny to prison, finding that he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany. The sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that Mr Navalny has rejected as fabricated and the European Court of Human Rights has ruled unlawful.

He said his imprisonment was Putins personal revenge for surviving and exposing the assassination plot.

But even more than that, its a message from Putin and his friends to the entire country: Did you see what we can do? We spit on laws and steamroll anyone who dares to challenge us. We are the law.

Protests against Mr Navalnys arrest and jailing have spread across Russias 11 time zones over the past two weekends, drawing tens of thousands in the largest show of discontent with Mr Putins rule in years.

In a no-holds-barred response, police arrested over 10,000 protest participants across Russia and beat scores, according to arrest-monitoring group OVD-Info.

Expand Close Police officers detain a man during protests after Alexei Navalny was sentenced to a jail term (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police officers detain a man during protests after Alexei Navalny was sentenced to a jail term (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

Many detainees spent hours packed into police buses after detention facilities in Moscow and St Petersburg quickly ran out of space.

After a long wait, they were crammed into overcrowded jail cells with no precautions to prevent them from being infected with the coronavirus.

Mr Navalnys associate Maria Pevchikh tweeted a picture of a detention facility, where 28 people were packed into one cell intended for eight, ridiculing the charges against Mr Navalnys allies accused of violation of coronavirus restrictions.

Some of the detainees said their cells lacked beds and they had to sleep on the floor, while others complained there were not enough beds and inmates took turns to get a nap.

Expand Close Lyubov Sobol, a Russian opposition activist, is driven in a prison car to the headquarters of the Investigative Committee in Moscow (Vladimir Kondrashov/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Lyubov Sobol, a Russian opposition activist, is driven in a prison car to the headquarters of the Investigative Committee in Moscow (Vladimir Kondrashov/AP)

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov shrugged off questions about detainees waiting for many hours on police buses and being squeezed into cramped cells by saying they had themselves to blame.

The situation wasnt provoked by law enforcement. It was provoked by participants in unsanctioned actions, Mr Peskov said during a call with reporters.

The number of detainees is larger than detention facilities can handle. Its larger than what could be quickly processed, and that, unfortunately, causes such consequences.

He said that Russia will not listen to Western criticism of Mr Navalnys sentencing and the police action against protesters.

We arent going to take into account such statements regarding the enforcement of our laws on those who violate them and Russian court verdicts, Mr Peskov said.
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Haire enlisted in the U.S. Navy after graduating high school and completed a tour in Vietnam. Haire became a hair stylist after his discharge and then worked for the U.S. Post Office for more than 35 years, where he was promoted to a supervisory role.
Thunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX) ('Benton' or 'the Company') is pleased to announce that it has commenced its second phase of drilling on the Far Lake project located 80km west of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The program will consist of 3,000m and is designed to test the depth and strike of the newly discovered FL11 Zone where the Company intersected wide zones of copper mineralization including 0.15% copper over 60.4m including 0.35% Cu over 15.6m and 1.43% Cu over 2.6m (see Company news release dated January 19, 2021). The Company will also test the Main (Discovery) Zone at depth as well as various high-priority geophysical anomalies identified by a 3D IP survey which was completed in mid-January. Preliminary data has identified chargeability targets from near surface to 800m in depth that coincide with the FL#1 and FL#2 structures which contain and control the Cu-mineralization discovered to-date.

Stephen Stares, President and CEO of the Company, stated: "We are very excited to begin the next drill campaign at Far Lake. It is very rare to see such widespread copper mineralization over such a large area, especially in this underexplored geological environment. We look forward to seeing what this drill program delivers for the project."

Equity Holdings

Benton continues to be very encouraged by the progress made by Clean Air Metals Inc. ("Clean Air"), in which Benton holds 24.6 million shares. Clean Air has two drill rigs operating on the Thunder Bay North and Escape Lake Copper-Nickel-PGM project and has released excellent drill results from its ongoing drill campaign. Benton looks forward to receiving ongoing encouraging drill results and future project advancement.

Benton also holds 3.94 million shares of Quadro Resources Ltd, which is advancing various projects in Newfoundland and Ontario. Additionally, Benton holds 3.6 million shares of Maxtech Ventures Inc. Maxtech has an Option and Joint Venture agreement on Benton's Panama Lake gold project in the Red Lake mining region. Further, Benton holds 1 million shares of Sokoman Minerals Corp. which has recently released excellent drill results from its Moosehead Project in Newfoundland, and 1.36 million shares of Metallica Metals advancing Benton Saganaga Gold project. Benton also has two NW Ontario projects optioned to Rio Tinto Exploration Canada (the Bark Lake and West Baril Lake Copper-Nickel PGE projects).

QP

Nathan Sims (P.Geo.), Senior Exploration Manager for Benton Resources Inc., the 'Qualified Person' under National Instrument 43-101, has approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release and prepared or supervised its preparation.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Inc.,

"Stephen Stares"

Stephen Stares, President

About Benton Resources Inc.

Benton Resources is a well-funded Canadian-based project generator with a diversified property portfolio in Gold, Silver, Nickel, Copper, and Platinum group elements. Benton holds multiple high-grade projects available for option which can be viewed on the Company's website. Many projects have an up-to-date 43-101 Report available.

Parties interested in seeking more information about properties available for option can contact Mr. Stares at the number below.

For further information, please contact:

Stephen Stares, President & CEO

Phone: 807-475-7474

Email: sstares@bentonresources.ca

CHF Capital Markets

Cathy Hume, CEO

Phone: 416-868-1079 x231

Email: cathy@chfir.com

Website: www.bentonresources.ca

Twitter: @BentonResources

Facebook: @BentonResourcesBEX

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements."

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73610
Mumbai, Feb 4 : The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film Black, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji, released 16 years ago on this day. Rani, who essayed one of the most challenging roles of her life in the film, surprises you by saying she was initially reluctant to do the role.

"At first I was reluctant to do the film when Sanjay offered me the role. Not because I had any doubts about the film or the character as such, because working with Bhansali is a dream for any actor," Rani recalled.

She plays the specially-abled girl Michelle McNally, born with visual and hearing impairment. The story traces her bond with her teacher, played by Big B.

"I had already been a huge fan of his work after watching 'Devdas'. So, for me to get an opportunity to work with Bhansali was huge. However, as an actor, I wasn't very confident that I would be able to pull off the role that Sanjay was offering me. I discussed this with Sanjay and asked him, 'are you sure you are asking me to do this role, I think it is a very difficult part, something which I have not even envisaged ever in my life'," Rani said.

She was "quite intimidated" at first but it was entirely Bhansali's belief in her that helped them make "Black".

"When he told me that he believed I would be able to pull off the character and that he would be there with me at every step guiding me through the role, and give me as much help as is I needed to basically study the character of Michelle McNally through the real people who are speech, sight and hearing impaired, I felt confident," she said.

"Sanjay fulfilled his promise because I actually went through intense training and learning the sign language and interacting with all the impaired people for 6 months and that's how I was able to then get into the character of Michelle," Rani added.

She was deeply touched by Dilip Kumar's kind words for her.

"The fact that when Mr. Dilip Kumar watched the film, he wrote a letter of appreciation for my work and for me -- I think that was one of the highest compliments I received as an actor, from an actor of legendary repute like Dilip Kumar. Getting blessings and a pat on my back from a thespian like him is no less than an honour," she said.

Rani shared that her father, late filmmaker Ram Mukherjee, has worked with Dilip Kumar. The late filmmaker was screenplay writer of Dilip Kumar's 1964 release, Leader. She has "literally grown up hearing tales about his work and professionalism".

"I have been a huge fan of his work from childhood. We as a family have always looked up to him as an elder in the family so obviously a letter of appreciation for my work written from him is something I will always cherish," she said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Niamh Morrison has a small tattoo under her wrist with Love, Faith, Hope written inside tiny colourful hearts.

This was the mantra which got her through a lung cancer diagnosis, but she said it all started with a gut feeling there was something more seriously wrong than her first symptoms indicated.

Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in Ireland with about 2,430 diagnosed annually. The outcome depends on both the type of cancer a person has and when it is discovered.

In 2018, Ms Morrison was 36 and a fan of regular brisk walks around the parks in Limerick city, juggling two young children with a busy job in the charity sector.

However, that May, she became someone who struggled to walk up the nearby hill to Thomond Park. Her energy levels dipped and she was gripped by bouts of heartburn which glass after glass of milk could not lessen.

She said: I had a hoarse voice, Id never had a sore throat before. I was losing weight. The whole time, I just didnt feel like myself. I never had a cough or anything though.

Also in today's Special Feature:

The cancer signs you can watch out for - Doctors are calling on people to get in touch and ask about changes in their health

- Doctors are calling on people to get in touch and ask about changes in their health Cancer services could suffer for a decade - An Irish oncologist tells the European Parliament Covid-19's impact on cancer services is devastating

With a history of diabetes in her family, she became worried about this possibility and tried to book an appointment with her GP for assessment.

However, there were no appointments for two weeks. Ms Morrison put down the phone and decided she could not wait, she needed more urgent help.

She went to the pharmacist and told him everything. She asked how she could control her symptoms for a few more weeks, but he had a better suggestion.

I was telling him how I was feeling, and as I went on and on he said a new GP had started nearby, she said.

She was a new doctor in the area, so Id never met her but that was how I am still here now.

At that point, Ms Morrison did not know you can go to a doctor who is not your own family doctor. And luckily as this doctor was new, her appointment books were open.

Within weeks, Ms Morrison was at University Hospital Limerick getting scans and X-rays of her lungs.

In June, she was diagnosed with both diabetes and lung cancer, hearing the final confirmation of lung cancer when she was already in the hospital with pneumonia.

I was really still expecting diabetes. I was shocked, I couldnt really believe it was lung cancer. I thought that was something for older people in their 60s and 70s, she said.

Ms Morrison was told it was non-smoke-related cancer. She never asked what stage it was, she knows the lesion they found on her lungs was 5mm and she knows they took it out. That is enough for her.

That operation was in September 2018. Her children, then aged just seven and five, stayed in Limerick while she was in St James Hospital in Dublin for a week.

She said: Dr Ronan Ryan was the one who told me they got everything, I was so delighted, I threw my arms around him. You wouldnt be able to do that now.

Ms Morrison still gets regular scans, but no longer has to go to Dublin as a clinic runs in Limerick now to help reduce travel around the country.

Back then, she told very few people what she was going through, but now she thinks it is better to talk about cancer and reduce peoples fears.

I didnt talk to a lot of people about being sick, I used the Irish Cancer Society website, you can log on and read stories from other people who have cancer, she said.

Niamh Morrison relied on support groups through UHL and the Cancer Society after her operation. Photo: Brian Arthur

She relied on support groups through UHL and the Cancer Society, and said she always found someone to call on.

Now, however, Ms Morrison openly tells friends to get checked if they have a cough, and has become braver about asking people to stop smoking or at least smoke far away from her.

I would say listen to your body, early detection is the best way to get going with treatment, you have to listen to yourself really, she said.

Dont put things on the long finger, always remember to have love, hope, and faith.

The cancer signs you can watch out for

A cancer diagnosis is frightening but the message from the HSE for World Cancer Day is that knowing what to look for and getting an early diagnosis can really help.

Doctors and GPs are urging people to come and see them despite the on-going pandemic and to remember to list all their symptoms during the initial telephone consultations.

For #WorldCancerDay join a free public webinar on Food for thought: Eating to Reduce Cancer Risk on 4th February @ 13:00. Hosted by the Irish Cancer Prevention Network and @trust_indi. Register here: https://t.co/2GHt8gW0lW pic.twitter.com/a1bAgKpP0F  HSE Ireland (@HSELive) February 1, 2021

Dr Una Kennedy, GP advisor to the HSEs National Cancer Control Programme, said referrals for cancer diagnosis went into a sharp decline at the start of the pandemic but have been recovering.

She said the latest figures on referrals for prostate cancer showed it is at 90% of the number at the same time in 2019.

The concern and the question now is whether people are coming in at a sufficiently early stage. Everybody knows you have got to pick up cancer early, she said.

What we are trying to say to people is that it is a frightening thing to have a diagnosis of cancer but it is so much less scary if you pick it up early.

"It is really important to pick it up early.

Cancers are different, with a range of symptoms which people can watch out for at home, she said.

A significant indicator for breast cancer is a lump or bump on the breast. She added that if anyone notices a lump on any part of the body which seems to be growing, that should be investigated.

Signs of bowel cancer include bleeding or blood in the faeces.

Dr Kennedy said:

As a general rule if you are bleeding anywhere that you shouldnt have bleeding, it should be investigated.

This would include coughing up blood or for women bleeding in-between periods.

Another sign is unexpected weight loss, that is losing weight when you have not planned for this.

Another potential sign for some cancers is a cough which does not go away.

Dr Kennedy said people should always tell their GP about an unexplained cough even when the pandemic has subsided. Coughs can indicate lung problems other than Covid-19.

Read More Irish researchers help identify genes which can predict breast cancer

She said: If you have a cough that is not going away, then you have to get checked out.

People should not worry about bothering the doctor, she said, something patients often say to her when they come with an advanced illness.

We cant help people if we dont know about them and we really want to help, she said.

Cancer services could suffer for a decade

It could take a decade for cancer services to fully recover from the impact of Covid-19, according to a top oncologist.

Professor Seamus OReilly, oncologist at Cork University Hospital addresses the European Parliament today on the shocking impact of this virus for all patients.

The problem with Covid is chaos; order has been replaced by chaos, he told the Irish Examiner. He will present on a new American modelling study which found a 10-year impact on cancer services based on a six-month shut-down.

Prof. OReilly said: This is totally relevant for the Irish situation, this is why the vaccine programme is so important because it will restore normality.

Treatment is often postponed now when nurses are re-assigned to Covid-19 wards or staff are on Covid-leave.

And patients are alone in facing these problems as they are more vulnerable to the virus.

Covid is unique in that it brings isolation with it, there is a cruelty as patients need to constantly cocoon, he said.

Patients with cancer are imprisoned by Covid.

Prof. OReilly said cancer patients should be prioritised for vaccination. He is also worried about the changing interaction with patients due to increasing use of online technology.

Prof. OReilly said: You dont have contact with the patients, it is in the silence you learn more or you see someones eyes going to a relative when you mention something. Now even if we see someone, they come in alone.

Crucial research into less common but virulent types of cancer, including brain or pancreatic cancer, has in some cases slowed, said Orla Dolan, CEO of Breakthrough Cancer Research (BCR).

Professor Seamus O'Reilly will present on a new American modelling study which found a 10-year impact on cancer services based on a six-month shut-down. Photo: Larry Cummins

They support research all over Ireland, and she said: We have had some disruptions.

In some cases, time-sensitive research was stopped when labs were closed, some researchers transferred to Covid-19 projects and even a simple thing like going to a hospital lab to collect samples became fraught with difficulty.

Despite this, 20 research projects were greenlit, and Dolan is hopeful a greater focus on research will encourage funding for scientists to work in teams as seen with the Covid-19 vaccines.

Right now we are all sitting at home waiting for science to deliver a vaccine to us, thats how cancer patients feel all the time, she said.
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Parliament LIVE Updates: Lok Sabha has been adjourned for the day amid Opposition's protests and sloganeering. No legislative business was conducted today, but the Question Hour could be held for about 15 minutes. Some members also managed to lay papers on the table of the House amid din

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Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said some of the Members exceeded their time. "So the time will be reduced from their party's quota." When members start complaining, Naidu said, "I am not going to bargain."

"The farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western UP are fighting on behalf of farmers from across the nation. They are not traitors. They are not Khalistanis," he said.

"Who is a nationalist? Arnab Goswami? Kangana Ranaut? Goswami broke the Official Secrets Act. He knew beforehand about the Balakot attack. But you are sheltering him," he said.

"It is not right for the country that our government is conspiring to malign the farmers' movement. We are all ashamed by the incidents of 26 January. But who is Deep Sidhu, the man responsible for the incident? So many of the farmers are missing since 26 January. We don't know whether the police have killed them in an encounter," he said.

Raut named AAP MP Sanjay Singh, Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor to question why they were being branded as traitors. "May be the government has removed all penal sections from the CrPC except for sedition," he said.

Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena said, "Yesterday, Dharmendra Pradhan said, 'listen to the truth'. For the last six years, we have been hearing falsehoods which have been paraded as truths. Today, if anyone speaks the truth, he is branded as a traitor."

"If you want to give MSP, then why not put that down in print, in the law? The very people you are bringing the law for are saying they don't want it. And you are insisting on imposing it on them," he said.

Satish Chandra Mishra of BSP said, "To stop the farmers' movement you have dug up ditches. Let me tell you, you are digging these ditches for yourself. You have laid down spikes on the road. Even the Indo-Pak border doesn't have such fortification. If you are ready to put these laws in abeyance for 18-months, then why not put these laws away for good? Why don't you put your ego aside?"

Dhindsa further said, Agriculture is a state subject but here, the Centre has come up with these laws that no one wants. The laws should have been brought after discussion with the farmers. I appeal to the Prime Minister to listen to the farmers in a respectable way, that is the only way to resolve this dispute.

SAD MP Sardar Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said the the government insists that the three new farm laws are for the benefit of farmers, even though farmers are protesting them. "They have been demanding complete rollback of the farm laws, but nothing is happening. On the Republic Day violence, those who were behind the incident are not caught but the farmers are being blamed. These are farmers who have made the maximum sacrifices for the country, he said.

Bajwa pointed out that MPs were not allowed to visit protest site. He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to become a statesman, meet the farmers and tell them the Centre will repeal the Bills.

"The farmers are protesting on their own. They are collecting money from their fellow villagers to fund the protest. We fed the Bangladesh prisoners of war for two years. But you are not giving water to our own farmers. The barricades of Ghazipur looks like Berlin Wall. Is this world's biggest democracy? These are the scenes from Afghanistan, in Saddam's Iraq, in Libya," he said.

Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa claimed in the Rajya Sabha that the farm Bills were passed in the House in an undemocratic manner and the Opposition was not given the chance to seek division. He also accused the government to use back-door entry to enact the laws at a time when the country was grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also said that the validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act and farm laws should be decided immediately.

He further said that the farm laws were brought through ordinance during the pandemic, calling the move unconstitutional. You didn't speak to state government, didn't send it to committee. And then you ask why are people protesting? The constitutionality of the three farm laws must be checked at once and they should be repealed, Sharma said.

He also expressed sympathies for police personnel and officers who lost their lives during the 26 January violence in Delhi. No one has the right to attack those who are discharging their duties. The Red Fort incident has sent shockwaves across the nation and it should be investigated, he said.

Congress Anand Sharma said that farmers were forced to fight for their rights and to get justice. Government of India is responsible for the situation that has arisen. I want to pay tributes to the 194 farmers who died during the protests, he said.

Over 6 crore farmers have not received a single penny out of 24.65 crore total farmers in the country, he said quoting to government records.

"You said you will double farmers income, in six years they have not given 50 percent above production cost to farmers," he said.

"This government has always said that they will double farmers' income, but Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, within a month in June 2014 all States gave a diktat that even if one rupee above MSP is given then action will be taken. States then stopped giving bonus to farmers," he said. He went on to say that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi convinced the Cabinet to change the Land Acquisition Act to give four times compensation to farmers.

"No one can forget Champaran satyagraha led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1917. Congress has been part of this history, Gandhi said that laws that cannot protect you, then to disobey it is your duty and responsibility," he said.

Calling the President's address a "sarkaari" speech, Mallikarjun Kharge recounted the history of pro-farmers' movements initiated by the Congress.

Tomar also said that while once there was food shortage, there is now a surplus and focus has to move to farmers' earnings. Rs 1.15 lakh crore has been provided to farmers through DBT, he said.

"When PM Kisaan Yojana was launched it was envisaged for 14.5 crore farmers with Rs 75,000 crore allocation. Despite many efforts, 10.75 crore farmers were registered, we are trying to add others. West Bengal has not joined, yet 70 lakh would be added immediately. Under present circumstances, Rs 65,000 crore have allocated, which is why Rs 10,000 crore has been reduced from the Budget. As and when registration increases, we will ensure the scheme will not be short of any funds," he said.

Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar said additional funds will be allocated when more farmers are registered in the scheme, in response to Congress MP Anand Sharma's appeal to increase the PM Kisaan Yojana budget.

We have tried to double farmers income and the three farm bills are a step in this direction. These bills are going to increase the income of farmers, he concluded his speech.

Farmers are being misled that others would occupy their land if these laws are implemented. Let me know if there is a single provision in Contract Farming law which allows any trader to snatch away the land of any farmer, he said, further claiming that it is Punjabs Contract Farming Act that contains penal provisions.

Stating that people of a particular state are misinformed, Tomar said, "I have been asking farmer union leaders from months on what is 'Black' in farm laws so that I can make it right.

Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that even though the government is ready to make amendments in the farm laws, there is nothing wrong in the legislations.

Bhunder said that after a year or two, corporated will have a monopoly in farm lands and produce and there will be no control on holdings. "You asked how will a farmer lose land? When a big company comes, it will dictate terms. There will be no control on price, farmers will be under debt and will eventually lose their lands. Have you given guarantee of MSP in the law?" he asked.

"You say the laws enable contract farming. But on the other hand, you have diluted Essential Commodities Act and brought trade laws. A small or marginal farmer is pitted against a large corporate. How will he fight them," he asked.

Shiromani Akali Dal MP Sardar Balwinder Singh Bhunder said in the Rajya Sabha that farmers are aware of the hidden agenda behind the farm laws.

BJP's Neeraj Shekar condemns the Opposition for boycotting the President' Ram Nath Kovinds address. He went on to request farmers to understand the politics behind the Opposition supporting them. "These parties want to rule Punjab and Haryana," he said.

Jangra, in his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, raised the issues related to the craftsmen and workers of India. Jangra praised the Made in India, Mudra Yojna and vocal for local schemes launched by the Narendra Modi government.

Rajya Sabha has concluded the discussion of Motion of Thanks to the President's Address. Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respond on Monday.

"If some foreigner is supporting the movement, then what is the problem. They are not giving us or taking anything away from us," he said. Commenting on a futile attempt of 15 members of Parliament to reach Ghazipur and meet protestors on Thursday, the BKU national spokesperson said the MPs should have sat on the ground on the other side of the barricading where they were stopped by the Delhi Police.

For all the global uproar the farmers' movement against the new agri laws has caused, the man at its centre seems oblivious of the celebrity support he has been getting. Rakesh Tikait, the 51-year-old Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader from the hinterlands of Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh, welcomed the support from international artistes and activists, including Rihanna and Greta Thunberg, but acknowledged he does not know them.

Various opposition parties like the Shiv Sena, SAD, NCP, Samajwadi Party and Left parties on Friday demanded in Rajya Sabha that the three new farm laws be repealed and fresh ones brought after wider consultations. Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, the members of opposition parties attacked the government for dubbing the farmers protesting against the farm laws as "anti-nationals" and for "defaming" their agitation.

The Standing Committees on Social Justice will present its report in the Lok Sabha, while Union ministers including Smriti Iraani and Harsh Vardhan will lay papers on the table of the House. MoS Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal is due to make a statement and the Lower House is also scheduled to deliberate on a number of private member pills.

"It is a totalitarian administration. They are not even listening to their own political people on the ground. If you speak to BJP MLAs or MPs off the record, they are not happy and they can feel the angst rising in the people of India, in the common man who voted for (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi," the former MP said.

In an interview with PTI, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) vice president alleged that the current leadership of the country is far removed from sentiments and is not perturbed by riots, deaths or big agitations as it is "cocooned" in its own bubble.

Chaudhary, who has participated in a number of 'kisaan panchayats' in western Uttar Pradesh and is campaigning aggressively against the Centre's farm laws, said the government must immediately withdraw the legislations and draft them afresh after taking the consent of farmers.

Asserting that farmers will not settle for anything less than the repeal of the new farm laws, RLD vice president Jayant Chaudhary on Friday said the government's "strong arm tactics" will not work against the tillers and the nails being laid on roads for them would turn out to be the nails in the "political coffin" of the BJP.

Lok Sabha Om Speaker started the proceeding with Question Hour. Members raised questions related to the Health Ministry and Union Minister Harsh Vardhan provided responses. However, Opposition members continued their protest for the fourth straight day unabated. Slogans of "Take back black laws" and "Stop with the Dictatorship" kept echoing in the House.

Lok Sabha was adjourned till 6 pm after members kept on with their protests and disrupted the question hour.

BJP's Jagdambika Pal asked the Health Minister if India is exporting vaccines to its neighbours in keeping with its Neighbourhood First Policy. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that vaccines have been exported to 15 countries so far. "A total of 22 countries have sought India's vaccines. In some nations, we have given vaccines in the form of grant. While 56 lakh does have been given as grants, 105 lakh doses have been supplied under contracts"

"This budget is a booster rocket for the economy. The country is proceeding on a V-shaped recovery path and will immensely benefit from this booster rocket. It will firmly place the country on a non-inflationary growth trajectory, which is going to sustain for a very long period of time," he told PTI.

Describing the 2021-22 Budget a "booster rocket" for the economy, BJP leader Jayant Sinha on Friday said it will place India on the path of non-inflationary growth and make this decade "Roaring 20s" for the country. This Budget has focused on supply-side investment and this is going to ensure that the country has a non-inflationary growth for very long period of time, Sinha, who chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, said.

Lok Sabha has been adjourned for the day amid Opposition's protests and sloganeering. No legislative business was conducted today, but the Question Hour could be held for about 15 minutes. Some members also managed to lay papers on the table of the House amid din

Various opposition parties like the Shiv Sena, SAD, NCP, Samajwadi Party and Left parties on Friday demanded in Rajya Sabha that the three new farm laws be repealed and fresh ones brought after wider consultations. Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, the members of opposition parties attacked the government for dubbing the farmers protesting against the farm laws as "anti-nationals" and for "defaming" their agitation.

The Standing Committees on Social Justice will present its report in the Lok Sabha, while Union ministers including Smriti Iraani and Harsh Vardhan will lay papers on the table of the House. MoS Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal is due to make a statement and the Lower House is also scheduled to deliberate on a number of private member pills.

"It is a totalitarian administration. They are not even listening to their own political people on the ground. If you speak to BJP MLAs or MPs off the record, they are not happy and they can feel the angst rising in the people of India, in the common man who voted for (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi," the former MP said.

In an interview with PTI, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) vice president alleged that the current leadership of the country is far removed from sentiments and is not perturbed by riots, deaths or big agitations as it is "cocooned" in its own bubble.

Chaudhary, who has participated in a number of 'kisaan panchayats' in western Uttar Pradesh and is campaigning aggressively against the Centre's farm laws, said the government must immediately withdraw the legislations and draft them afresh after taking the consent of farmers.

Asserting that farmers will not settle for anything less than the repeal of the new farm laws, RLD vice president Jayant Chaudhary on Friday said the government's "strong arm tactics" will not work against the tillers and the nails being laid on roads for them would turn out to be the nails in the "political coffin" of the BJP.

Lok Sabha Om Speaker started the proceeding with Question Hour. Members raised questions related to the Health Ministry and Union Minister Harsh Vardhan provided responses. However, Opposition members continued their protest for the fourth straight day unabated. Slogans of "Take back black laws" and "Stop with the Dictatorship" kept echoing in the House.

Lok Sabha was adjourned till 6 pm after members kept on with their protests and disrupted the question hour.

BJP's Jagdambika Pal asked the Health Minister if India is exporting vaccines to its neighbours in keeping with its Neighbourhood First Policy. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that vaccines have been exported to 15 countries so far. "A total of 22 countries have sought India's vaccines. In some nations, we have given vaccines in the form of grant. While 56 lakh does have been given as grants, 105 lakh doses have been supplied under contracts"

"The predicament of the railways is that the profits earned from freight business are utilised to compensate for the lossess incurred on passenger and other coaching services, thereby adversely affecting both freight and passenger business. It, therefore, becomes imperative that both freight and passenger fares are rationalised prudently," it said.

A parliamentary panel has raised concerns over the losses incurred by the Indian Railways passenger services especially due to its social service obligation, and suggested that the national transporter rationalise both freight and passenger fares "prudently".

"This budget is a booster rocket for the economy. The country is proceeding on a V-shaped recovery path and will immensely benefit from this booster rocket. It will firmly place the country on a non-inflationary growth trajectory, which is going to sustain for a very long period of time," he told PTI.

Describing the 2021-22 Budget a "booster rocket" for the economy, BJP leader Jayant Sinha on Friday said it will place India on the path of non-inflationary growth and make this decade "Roaring 20s" for the country. This Budget has focused on supply-side investment and this is going to ensure that the country has a non-inflationary growth for very long period of time, Sinha, who chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, said.

Lok Sabha has been adjourned for the day amid Opposition's protests and sloganeering. No legislative business was conducted today, but the Question Hour could be held for about 15 minutes. Some members also managed to lay papers on the table of the House amid din

Parliament LATEST News and Updates: Lok Sabha has been adjourned for the day amid Opposition's protests and sloganeering. No legislative business was conducted today, but the Question Hour could be held for about 15 minutes. Some members also managed to lay papers on the table of the House amid din.

Lok Sabha has reconvened amid loud sloganeering from Opposition members. Meanwhile, Union ministers laid papers on the table, including written responses to questions.

In a vociferous attack on the Centre, Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa on Friday compared the barricades set up at the farmers' protest site at Ghazipur with the Berlin Wall and concentration camps

The predicament of the railways is that the profits earned from freight business are utilised to compensate for the lossess incurred on passenger and other coaching services, thereby adversely affecting both freight and passenger business, the Standing Committee said.

Lok Sabha was adjourned till 6 pm after members kept on with their protests and disrupted the question hour.

Lok Sabha has started and so has the sloganeering by opposition members. Question Hour proceedings begin.

Rajya Sabha has been adjourned for the day and will reconvene at 9 am on Monday. The Lok Sabha, however, will begin session shortly

Rajya Sabha has concluded the discussion on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address. The Union Ministers will respond to all points raised by members related to their respective ministries on Monday.

BJP MPs Anil Jain and Neeraj Shekar began their addresses to the Rajya Sabha by hitting out at the boycott of President Ram Nath Kovind's address to a joint sitting of the Parliament.

Shekar urged farmers to understand the politics behind the Opposition supporting them, adding that these parties "want to rule Punjab and Haryana".

Congress' Akhilesh Prasad Singh warned while addressing the Lok Sabha that a government that doesn't respect farmers will not last long, adding that the Centre should not insult farmers.

Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that even though the government is ready to make amendments in the farm laws, there is nothing wrong in the legislations.

Trinamool Congress' Saugata Ray gave an adjournment motion notice in the Lok Sabha over the alleged "repression of farmers by police with the use of bar wires, spikes, trenches" at protest sites.

Hitting out at the Centre for imposing internet shutdowns in tense areas, with the latest in Haryana following violence during protests by farmers, Congress MP Anand Sharma said India has become the internet shutdown capital of the world.

Congress' Pratap Singh Bajwa sought a time-bound, Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the change in the Republic Day tractor rally route. Bajwa also claimed in the Rajya Sabha that the farm Bills were passed in the House in an undemocratic manner and the Opposition was not given the chance to seek division

Satish Chandra Mishra of BSP hit out at the Centre for digging ditches and laying down spikes to stop the farmers' movement, adding that even the India-Pakistan border doesn't have such fortification.

Lok Sabha proceedings were disrupted for the third consecutive day on Thursday as protests by Opposition members demanding a separate discussion on the three contentious farm laws created uproar, leading to repeated adjournments of the House.

The House was convened five times within the day but the session could only achieve only part of the business listed for the day.

The Lower House witnessed the introduction of The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) 2021, two questions in the Question Hour, laying down of some papers, and roughly thirty minutes of discussion in the Zero Hour, all alongside fierce sloganeering from Opposition.

The Rajya Sabha, meanwhile, witnessed a fiery debate on the farmers' issue as members debated the Motion of Thanks to President's Address. Opposition parties assailed the government over its handling of the farmer protests, saying BJP ministers "believe in monologue and not dialogue".

Lok Sabha

As soon as the House assembled at 4 pm, members of the Opposition started shouting slogans against the Central Government and the three farm laws. Few questions related to the ministry of roads and highways were replied to by Union minister Nitin Gadkari. But the sloganeering continued.

"Question Hour is the right of MPs... This behaviour is not good and I again request you all to return to your seats so that the House proceedings run properly," said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

"Shouting slogans and showing placards are against parliamentary tradition," he added.

But the Opposition members refused to relent forcing Birla to adjourn the House till 5 pm after about 20 minutes of proceedings. When the House reconvened at 5 pm, members of the Opposition again started raising slogans.

Some ministers and members laid papers on the table of the House, and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad introduced the Arbitration and Conciliation Amendment Bill, 2021.

Meenakshi Lekhi, who was in the Chair, asked the members to return to their seats, but they continued with their protests. Soon, she adjourned the House till 6 pm after about 15 minutes of proceedings.

When House reassembled at 6 pm, the Opposition continued its protests shouting slogans and showing placards.

Rajendra Agrawal, who was in the chair, appealed to the members to go back to their seats so that the House can function normally.

"You have every right to raise any issue that you would like to. Please exercise this right. Please go to your seats, please don't show the placards. You can raise your issues through the discussion on the motion thanking the President for his address," he said.

However, the Opposition ignored his pleas and continued the protests, forcing Agrawal to adjourn the House till 7 pm after just 10 minutes of proceedings.

At 7 pm, it took less than five minutes for the House to be adjourned again, this time till 8.30 pm. However, the late evening leg of today's session was slightly more productive as the Zero Hour was held for roughly 30 minutes before the House had to be adjourned for the day.

The Opposition sloganeering continued uninterrupted for the entire duration that the House was in Session.

Rajya Sabha

Opposition parties on Thursday launched a vociferous attack on the Centre over its handling of the farmers' agitation, callings its dialogues with the protesters "monologues", even as the ruling BJP defended the new laws asserting that its government is committed to the welfare of peasants and increase their incomes.

Attacking the government, Opposition parties said trenches have been dug, barbed wires put up and spikes installed at the sites of farmers' protests, whereas bridges should have been built to win them over.

The BJP highlighted the farm welfare measures and slammed the Opposition for disrupting the House proceedings.

Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, Congress MP Deepinder Singh Hooda said the government has no right to question the patriotism of farmers as they are the ones who have made the country self-sufficient in food. He hit out at the government saying it should show a big heart and accept the demands of farmers by repealing the farm laws.

"You talk about making (the country) self-sufficient. Let me warn you that a self-obsessed government cannot make Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-sufficient India)," he said.

Hooda lamented that there has not been a single word of condolence from the government on 194 farmers who lost their lives during the ongoing agitation.

Resuming the discussion, Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD said the government has lost the patience to hear, and any criticism is painted as anti-national.

He noted that one has not seen such an aggressive approach even towards the neighbouring nations who came into Indian territory.

"Patriotism is not be worn on sleeves but carried in heart," he said making use of poetry and sarcasm. Contesting the government's claim of having 11 rounds of dialogue with agitating farmers, he said its ministers "believe in monologue and not dialogue".

Digvijaya Singh of the Congress lashed out at the government, saying measures like demonetisation to the CAA were "blunders that hit the people hard". He said the void between the Modi government's promises and implementation was big and it could not win the hearts of people.

He said the prime minister had "lost their trust".

"You have got majority but dissent is the essence of democracy," Singh noted.

Former prime minister and JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda called farmers the backbone of the country. He said miscreants and anti-social elements were behind the events on Republic Day and all political parties have condemned their actions and agree that they need to be punished.

"But the farmers' issue should not be mixed with it," he said and added that "the issue should be dealt with amicably".

However, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government is committed to farmers' welfare and will help increase their incomes. He said the Central Government will provide Rs 1 lakh crore additional income to farmers that will be generated by converting waste into energy.

The minister said the heap of waste at Ghazipur will also be cleaned soon to create energy. Pradhan also said the government has come up with a scheme to procure ethanol worth Rs 20,000 crore which will help increase farmer's income.

He attacked Congress for not bringing a law on MSP of crops despite being in power for long. "You question those working honestly for farmers' welfare farmers," he said.

"The Opposition Congress cannot appreciate such government efforts as it has never done except for hailing its dynasty," he said.

BJP member Jyotiraditya Scindia said the government has taken a host of steps in the last six years to increase their income.

Scindia attacked his former party Congress for changing its stand on the three legislations, saying that the Opposition party had favoured similar laws in its manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

"Opposition parties will have to change their habit of going back on their words and wondered for how long they would continue to harm the interests of the country," he said.

Scindia said the opposition has insulted the President, the country, and the democracy by boycotting the President's address.

Swapan Dasgupta (nominated) stressed on the need for upgrading the farm sector. "If we can rise above this basic partisanship and welcome the Centre in the states and states with each other, I think we can be looking forward not merely to an 11 percent (GDP) growth but a growth which can be 15 percent which can be the envy of the whole world," he said.

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien pressed the government to repeal the three farm laws and offered a "Repealing Bill 2021" drafted by him for the purpose. He also demanded a proper inquiry into the death of a farmer during the tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day. He claimed the government had failed the migrant workers and also India's federal structure.

"They have failed the media. You can intimidate and threaten media barons but not the young media persons (on the ground)," he said.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh said his party would continue to support the farmers protesting against three farm laws. He alleged that the current dispensation is just working for the benefit of some of the industrialists.

Highlighting the Centre's resolve to double farmer income by 2022, O'Brien said at the current rate this will not happen till 2028. "In Bengal, in TMC government, from 2011 to now, not doubled, farmer income has tripled in West Bengal," he said. The Trinamool MP said the farm laws were not sent to a select committee for scrutiny and accused the government of failing the sanctity of the Parliament.

CPM Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya asked the government to withdraw the three contentious farm laws and hold talks with the agitating farmers. He criticised the move to put barricades, cement blocks, concertina wires, and spikes at the farmer protest sites on Delhi's border points.

NR Elango of the DMK asked the government to withdraw the three farm laws.

Banda Prakash of the TRS asked the government to complete the project promised to Telangana during the reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh. Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) MP MV Shreyams Kumar on Thursday said the government has remained a mute spectator while democracy is being "butchered" just a few kilometers away from the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at Delhi's borders for over two months demanding rollback of the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

Earlier Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy introduced a new Bill - The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

With inputs from PTI

A former scout leader who has been jailed for abusing ten boys has called for gardai to find the rest of his "many victims" so that he can "put an end to all of this".

David O'Brien (69) of Benburb St, Dublin has been sentenced twice at the Circuit Criminal Court, first in 2015 for sexually abusing six boys and then in 2018 for indecent assault on another four. All the offences occurred in the 1970s and early 1980s.

At the Court of Appeal a lawyer acting for O'Brien on Tuesday revealed that the former scout leader is currently before the Circuit Court in relation to another offence. He said his client doesn't remember the names of his "many victims" and is therefore unable to make use of a provision in the Criminal Justice Act that allows a person to admit guilt to offences not before the court to have them taken into account in sentencing.

Counsel added that it is virtually impossible for O'Brien to do anything but it is within the power of gardai to find the members of the scouting unit to "hopefully put an end to all of this". At a previous hearing it emerged that O'Brien told gardai in 2016 that he abused 30 to 40 boys during his time as a scout leader.

In reply Mr Justice John Edwards said it was not a matter for the three-judge Court of Appeal.

The court had earlier heard an appeal by O'Brien against the severity of the eight-year sentence with 16 months suspended imposed on him in 2018. Padraig Dwyer SC for O'Brien said that the sentencing judge, Judge Karen O'Connor, failed to take into account that O'Brien had already served a sentence for offences that were all committed around the same time. The two sentences together totalled 14 years with three years suspended. Mr Dwyer submitted that 11 years in prison is not a typical sentence for the type of institutional sexual offending his client had pleaded guilty to. He also pointed out that his client had come forward to gardai as far back as 1997 and admitted to abusing boys in his care but for reasons unknown no prosecution was ever brought. He further submitted that his client is not accused of any offence since he left the scouts in the early 1980s.

Mr Justice Edwards, presiding, with Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, dismissed the appeal in an oral judgement. Mr Justice Edwards said the fact there were ten victims with the aggravating factor of a serious breach of trust by a person in authority "could easily have justified a cumulative net sentence of 11 years."

He said the sentencing judge was fully alive to the fact O'Brien had already served a sentence and took that into account. Dismissing the appeal, he said the court found no error in principle and added: "On the contrary, our impression is that the sentence was constructed conscientiously and with great care."

At the sentence hearing in 2018 Judge O'Connor said the offending was aggravated by the breach of trust and by three of the victims being warned not to tell anyone. She commented that the victims were deprived the innocence of childhood.

She said the case was mitigated by O'Brien's guilty plea, his remorse and the fact he co-operated with gardai. Judge O'Connor sentenced O'Brien to two years imprisonment on a single count of indecent assault relating to each of the four complainants. She ordered that these sentences would run consecutively to each other for an effective operating sentence of eight years imprisonment.

She suspended the final 18 months of this eight years sentence on condition that O'Brien come under the supervision of the Probation Service for 12 months post release.

In his victim impact statement, which he read out in court, the first victim said that the abuse changed his life forever.

The man said that he came from a working class family and his father gave him money to buy a uniform, rucksack and sleeping bag for his first camping trip.

He said that he never went back to the scouts after being assaulted on the trip and his father went ballistic due to the apparent waste of money. He did not tell his father about the abuse until shortly before his death.

After he finished giving his statement, Judge O'Connor told the man that it was very courageous of him to read out his statement in court and that his father would have been proud of him.

The second victim, in a written statement, said he suffered trust issues as a result of what happened to him. He said he knew what had happened to him was not right but could not speak up about it.

The third victim declined to make a victim impact statement.

The fourth victim said he developed an acid reflux due to stress, which required multiple surgeries. He attributed the condition to abuse he suffered on the scouting trip.
Theres good news about emotional intelligence: Its a learned ability. One certainty is that emotional intelligence often increases with ones age  its called maturity. But dont wait until you get older and wiser; start building your EI now with these suggestions:

Ask questions and then listen. The easiest thing to do to increase your EI is to ask questions in conversations rather than making statements. Keep comments about yourself to no more than two or three sentences. Then you must listen  really listen  to what the other person says. What is often passed off as listening is just waiting for the other person to finish speaking.

Surround yourself with smart people. A trait of people who lack emotional intelligence is that they believe they have to be the smartest person in the room. Worse, many of these same individuals feel that they must tell others how smart they are. In contrast, emotionally intelligent people want to be surrounded by smart people and even people who are smarter than they are.

Praise others freely  without adding a caveat. Emotionally unintelligent people rarely use praise. Even when they do pay someone a compliment, they feel they have to tack on some qualifier or criticism. For example: That was a good report you did, but you have a long way to go to meet my standards. Or they might say: That was a pretty good presentation you gave for the board, but if I was delivering it, I would have done it differently. Its better to not give a compliment than to give it with a caveat. This type of person isnt a mentor to others. They inspire no one.

Stop talking. We have all been in meetings and at social events when others cannot stop talking about themselves. You cant prevent anyone from doing that, but you can assure youre not guilty of it yourself. If you are talking, you arent learning.

Keep it short. Even your presentations should be as brief as possible. I have known only one health care executive in my lifetime who I didnt think could improve on his or her oral presentation skills. It is Dr. Jack Ryan. I sought his advice years ago when I was asked to give a commencement address. His only advice was; Always leave them wanting to hear just a little bit more.

Dont take yourself too seriously. Another technique worth cultivating is to develop a self-deprecating sense of humor. People who lack emotional intelligence often dont ask for help and advice from those who report to them. Consequently, their employees feel as if the boss believes she has all the answers, and so they dont volunteer information that would be helpful to both the boss and the organization.

Improving your emotional intelligence requires a self-directed learning process. No one is going to do it for you. Improving your EI is up to you. First determine what you want your ideal self to be. Then, attempt to determine your real self. (For example, What are my strengths and gaps?) The learning agenda should be built on your strengths and reduce your gaps.

The best EI learning agenda helps you focus on what you want to become, which is your own ideal self rather than someone elses idea of what you should be. In improving your emotional intelligence, practice new behaviors, thoughts, and feelings at every opportunity. Its also a good idea to develop supportive and trusting relationships with people who allow you to change. And always remember that youre in control. You, and no one else, control three things: what you think, what you say, and how you behave.

Building ones emotional intelligence cannot and will not happen without a sincere desire and concerted effort to do so  but you can do it.

Terence Moore, former President of MidMichigan Health and author of Lessons in Leadership and Career Survival, authored this column as part of a monthly series focusing on career survival and advancement for the Midland Daily News. He may be contacted at tfm43@speednetllc.com.
George McDonald, who walked away from a corporate career and spent 700 lonely nights feeding mendicants, crack addicts and runaways in Grand Central Terminal, laying the foundation for a second act as the founder of the Doe Fund, a nonprofit that has provided housing and jobs to thousands of formerly incarcerated and homeless New Yorkers, died on Jan. 26 in Manhattan. He was 76.

His wife, Harriet Karr-McDonald, said the cause was cancer.

Since its founding in 1985, the Doe Fund has become a sprawling organization, with an annual budget of around $65 million. As its leader and public face, Mr. McDonald gained prominence in New Yorks political and philanthropic circles.

The Doe Fund is best known for its army of garbage baggers and street sweepers in blue jumpsuits deployed to neighborhoods across Manhattan and Brooklyn, all of them embodying Mr. McDonalds philosophy about how best to ameliorate homelessness and break the cycle of prison recidivism: Give people opportunities to re-enter society through steady if humble work.

His views grew out of the many conversations he had with homeless people during his long period as a volunteer distributing food.
15:04 | Lima, Feb. 3.





"In these cases, the patient may already have certain problems of shortness of breath and problems while exercising because he/she becomes tired very easily," he indicated.





However, the physician pointed out that a patient with 50% lung involvement already has a severe disease, will require oxygen, and needs to be hospitalized.









"We have patients with 90% lung involvement. These patients are in the ICU and have a high risk of mortality. We have even seen cases of severe 100% involvement, in which the risk of mortality is even higher," he expressed.





Prevention





Moreover, the physician recommended that people, who have mild symptoms, should periodically measure their oxygen saturation level using a pulse oximeter that they must own.





Bejarano also indicated that each patient should measure his/her saturation four times a day. If this level falls below 92%, he/she must be hospitalized because that person has a lung involvement of more than 50%, as well as needs oxygen and medications.




The first Wrap Hack Cafe will serve one the largest college towns in the country

GSRX is focused on creating and acquiring authoritative brands in the nutritional supplement and restaurant industry

GSRX Industries Inc (OTCPINK:GSRX) announced Thursday that it will be launching a virtual delivery only restaurant (VDOR) called Wrap Hack Cafe in March.

The first Wrap Hack Cafe will serve the State College, Pennsylvania market, the company said, utilizing the GrubHub network to deliver orders.

State College is home to Penn State University, with an annual enrollment of more than 45,000 graduate and undergraduate students, making it one of the largest universities in the US.

"Food delivery apps have been reshaping the restaurant industry, and with the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, how and where people eat has dramatically changed, CEO Troy Nihart said in a statement. We will continue to build out more VDORs, with leaner operational and start-up costs, that can quickly adapt to emerging food trends. VDORs will be a permanent fixture of business operations in the foodservice industry."

The company also recently announced plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to Pennsylvania from Puerto Rico.

GSRX is focused on creating and acquiring authoritative brands in the nutritional supplement and restaurant industry. It deploys cutting edge marketing strategies to drive revenue growth through exceptional customer experiences.

Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel
A British millionaire businessman has drowned in Barbados after being warned by locals not to venture into the sea in rough conditions.

Mark Smith, 61, had recently moved to the Caribbean from his 1.2million home in Sheffield, South Yorkshire after splitting from his wife and had reportedly been living with a new partner.

A rescue mission was launched by the local coast guard after Mr Smith went missing in waters off Smith Sunset Crest, St. James at around 8.30am on Sunday morning.

Mark Smith, 61, had recently moved to the Caribbean from his 1.2million home in Sheffield, South Yorkshire after splitting from his wife (pictured together above)

Mr Smith, who has an estimated wealth of 6.8million in assets, had repeatedly been warned by other beach-goers not to venture into the water due to the adverse conditions.

A witness said the millionaire was hit by a large wave. He did not see the man resurface and could not find him after looking for him.

One local was quoted by local media reports as saying: 'We screamed ''Do not go in the water".

'The man walked in the sea still and the rip current dragged him out.'

A rescue mission was launched by the local coast guard after Mr Smith went missing in waters off Smith Sunset Crest, St. James at around 8.30am on Sunday morning

Mr Smith, who has an estimated wealth of 6.8million in assets, had repeatedly been warned by other beach-goers not to venture into the water (File image)

Officials confirmed that his body was pulled from waters less than a mile off the coast on Monday.

A neighbour close to where Mr Smith had been staying in Barbados described the business man as 'lovely'.

'He was a really nice guy. He would do anything for anybody,' she told the publication.

Smith leaves behind two children.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, shown at the 2019 Illinois State Fair in Springfield, is among 53 attorneys general who sued the McKinsey consulting firm over its role in the opioid crisis while working for Purdue Pharmaceuticals.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4) The Land Transportation Office said it was still waiting for a formal notice on the suspension of the car seat law.

This was revealed by LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante during the Laging Handa briefing on Thursday.

"A formal notice about that ay inaantay pa namin. Pero kahit wala yun, ang ginagawa natin sa pagpapatupad niyan ay wala namang hinuhuli, kundi kung sakali makita sila na hindi tumutupad sa pamantayan ay... pinapaalalahanan tungkol sa probisyon na 'yon," he said.

[Translation: We are waiting for a formal notice on that. But even without it, we will not be apprehending anyone, instead if they are seen not following the rule... they are reminded about that provision.]

Galvante said they are not focused on apprehending anyone, but instead want to inform people about the law. He hopes this allays motorists' fears they would be arrested or fined.

He added there are provisions that must still be followed.

"May mga probisyon naman 'yan na kailangan sundin. Halimbawa, yung pagpapalawig ng kaalaman... Kung sakaling isususpend yung batas, ang LTO po magpapatuloy sa pamamahagi ng information material o pagcoconduct ng seminars or meetings para ipaalam sa madla ang nilalaman ng batas," he said.

[Translation: There are provisions that still need to be followed. For example, information dissemination... If the law is suspended, the LTO will continue to distribute information material or conduct seminars or meetings to let the public know about the law.]

Republic Act 11229 or the Child Safety in Motor Vehicles Act was signed in 2019 and was supposed to be implemented on February 2. However, it has come under fire with some saying not everyone can afford a car seat.

Earlier, the Department of Transportation said they favored the deferment of the full implementation of the Child Safety in Motor Vehicles Act amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transportation Assistant Secretary Goddes Libiran said the LTO may strictly implement the new guidelines in at least six months, but she added Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade already suggested to extend this for as long as the country is in the pandemic since installing child car seats also entails costs.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, along with Senators Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, Sonny Angara, Joel Villanueva, and Sherwin Gatchalian filed Senate Resolution no. 633 that also pushes for the postponement of the law's implementation.
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Amitabh Bachchan tested a savvy new option to go around the set while at work, and that is a three-wheel toy bike. The 78-year-old took to social media to share a photograph in which he was seen wearing a three-piece suit while riding the three-wheel bike on the sets of one of his projects.

"Toy boy .. work does that to you," Big B wrote late on Tuesday while sharing pictures of himself riding and posing on a tech-enabled bike.

He explained the story behind the images on his official blog, and also revealed that it was also used to help a female colleague who was nursing a plastered foot.

T 3801 - .. toy boy .. work does that to you !! pic.twitter.com/27zycwnB7k Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) February 2, 2021

"When work becomes toy boyish .. and the need to travel within gets buggied and driven within confines of the set .. then its is time to resolve the actual need for colleague that has her foot in plaster and cannot move without help of wheel chair .. so .."

"Provide her with my own hospital vehicle , so she can have the comfort of not using walkers or crutches .. just a friendly gesture for a lady in some distress ... but the head phones of the genesis play at the superior heads that never enter the ear lobes , merely surround the area about with some superior technology .. a technology that changes as rapidly as the window that appears on the Mac when depressed," he added.

The actor is currently busy shooting for Ajay Devgn's "MayDay".

"MayDay" reunites Big B and Ajay Devgn, who have worked together in Major Sahab, Khakee, Satyagraha and Hindustan Ki Kasam. The film sees the two stars collaborate after over seven years since "Satyagraha" released in August 2013.

The film is directed and produced by Ajay. It is said that Ajay will be seen as a pilot in the film. Rakul Preet will be seen as a co-pilot in "MayDay", billed as an edge-of-the-seat drama. Details about Big B's character is under wraps.
Press Release

February 4, 2021 De Lima files bill to uphold academic freedom in UP Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has introduced a measure seeking to uphold academic freedom in the University of the Philippines (UP) to ensure that exchange and expression of ideas are free from intimidation from coercive forces of the State within the university premises. De Lima, a social justice and human rights champion, filed Senate Bill (SB) No. 2035 amending for the purpose Republic Act (RA) No. 9500, otherwise known as "The University of the Philippines Charter of 2008." "While it is important to protect our national security, it is likewise important to afford our academic institutions the democratic space conducive to free exchange of ideas and critical thinking, which leads to more effective participation in the national conversation," she said. "It must be emphasized that nothing in this bill prevents any lawful exercise of the law enforcement powers of the President through the PNP and other civilian law enforcement units, within the bounds of the Constitution and the guidelines of due process," she added. In a letter dated Jan. 15, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana informed UP President Danilo Concepcion of the DND's decision to end the agreement with the university, citing information that communists are supposedly recruiting students inside campuses of the state university. The agreement, first hatched under the Cory Aquino administration in June 1989, provided that the military and the police were prohibited from entering the premises of any UP campus or its regional units without prior notice to the university's administration. "For the DND to abrogate that accord - albeit mistakenly - without considering the issues that led to its creation, is to betray that goal of promoting critical thinking and active citizenry in the guise of preventing recruitment by rebellious forces," said De Lima. Notably, De Lima's SB No. 2035 seeks to enact and make permanent the UP-DND Accord of 1989 to protect the academic freedom of the country's premiere academic institution. "The bill provides for guidelines in which our armed forces and law enforcement units may operate within the U.P. campuses and promotes peaceful co-existence with the U.P. Community in protecting the campuses and maintaining peace and order," she said. "This bill prohibits military operations within the campuses, except under conditions of lawless violence, invasion, or rebellion, and during civil defense operations upon invitation by U.P. authorities," she added. The lady Senator from Bicol stressed that the government must always encourage public discourse as a matter of determining policy to let citizens know that national issues can be resolved without resorting to violence. "The government policy must always be that free flow of ideas and discourse will dispense the need for violence, rather than ideas against the government of the day are met with state-sponsored violence," said she.
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India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) to charge customers for failed ATM transactions due to insufficient balance. A transaction that is unsuccessful due to insufficient funds in the account, customers have to pay an extra amount as a penalty.

There are options like missed call and SMS facility which allows customers to keep a tab on the balance in their savings account. Before making an ATM withdrawal it is better to always check your balance.

SBI allows 8 free transactions to its regular savings account holders in a month in the metro cities. These include free transactions from 5 SBI ATMs and 3 ATMs of any other bank. 10 free ATM transactions from non-metro cities in which 5 transactions can be made from SBI, while 5 from other banks ATM, according to the SBI website.

SBI will charge a fee of Rs 20 plus GST for transaction decline due to insufficient balance. There are few examples where ATM transaction fails, and as a result, no cash is dispensed, although cash gets debited from ones account. No need to worry, just safely keep your transaction slip and register the complaints online with SBI.

Here are the steps to register a complaint with SBI

-Log-in to the SBI website, then go to its CMS portal.

- Fill in the details like Customer Type, Account Number, Name of Complainant, Branch Code, Mobile Number, Email ID, Category of Complaint, Product & Services, and Nature of Complaint.

-Just after filling in all these details, enter the Captcha code and then click on the submit button.

-After successful submission, you will receive a complaint number through which you can know the status. You will also receive the complaint number through SMS and email.

-Your complaint will be investigated and resolved within 7 days. You will also receive a message about what action has been taken on your complaint.
Denmark May Force Churches to Submit Sermons to Govt: There Is Much Concern, Pastor Says Share Tweet

A proposed Danish law that would require sermons be translated and submitted to the government has sparked concern among Christians throughout the region.

The proposed legislation would require that all sermons not delivered in the countrys native language be translated into Danish and submitted to the government, although it is not clear yet if the sermons must be submitted before or after they are delivered. The bill has the backing of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Although the legislation is intended to control radical Muslim groups in the country  more than 250,000 Muslims live in Denmark  it has drawn pushback from many Christians.

Anglican Bishop Robert Innes of the European diocese wrote a letter to Frederiksen Jan. 27, expressing concern over the proposal's impact on religious liberty.

I believe this overly restrictive step would constitute a limitation on freedom of expression, which I know is prized in Denmark, as one of the worlds oldest democracies, he wrote.

Innes told The Guardian newspaper he fears that other countries may copy the bill if it is adopted.

That would be a very worrying development indeed, he said.

The proposal also has practical problems, the bishop said, arguing it is not feasible to translate a weekly sermon delivered extemporaneously.

Preachers dont always write full text of their sermons, they might write notes, Innes said. They might preach extempore as the archbishop of Canterbury sometimes does and there are questions of idiom and nuance which requires a high level of skill in translation of course. It is a high bar. It is a skilled art and it is an expensive skill as well.

Evangelical Focus, a news website dedicated to Christian news on the continent, said German-speaking churches also are concerned.

We do not only hold services on Sundays, but also baptisms, weddings and funerals, throughout the week, said Rajah Scheepers, who serves as pastor of St. Petri church in Copenhagen. It is not realistic to expect that we simultaneously translate all these gatherings or that we translate them in advance.

Scheepers said, There is much concern.

Catholic churches, too, oppose the idea. Anna Mirijam Kaschner, general secretary and spokeswoman of the Nordic bishops' conference, said the proposed law would harm religious liberty.

"All church congregations, free church congregations, Jewish congregations, everything we have here in Denmark  40 different religious communities  will be placed under general suspicion by this law, she said, according to the National Catholic Reporter. ... Something is happening here which is undermining democracy.

Photo courtesy: Ben White/Unsplash

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
The Quinnipiac survey found that more than two-thirds of Americans supported Mr. Bidens coronavirus relief package, with wide majorities also backing certain key elements  including a permanent increase to a $15 minimum wage and a round of $1,400 stimulus checks to individuals. On the question of the stimulus payments, even 64 percent of Republicans supported them.

On a range of other Biden policies, the poll found widespread support: rejoining the Paris climate accord, opening a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and ending Mr. Trumps ban on travel from some predominantly Muslim countries.

It bears mentioning that pollsters across the country undercounted support for Mr. Trump in November for the second straight time; until survey researchers complete a full post-mortem analysis of 2020 polling, it will be impossible to rule out the possibility that some polls may still be missing a share of his supporters.

Still, in general, the smart Republicans are trying to pick their battles, said Robert Cahaly, a Republican pollster in Georgia who has worked with candidates in both the partys populist wing and its establishment.

Mr. Biden, for his part, will be looking to capitalize on Republicans compromised position. In the end, America wanted a president that was more empathetic, but people do not want a president that looks weak, Mr. Cahaly said.

But he and other Republican strategists cautioned that if Mr. Biden moved too hastily on legislation that was seen as left-leaning, he could face a backlash from some of the disaffected Republicans who supported him in November. Ms. Chamberlain said that if Mr. Bidens environmental policies were perceived as harming the economy, he could find himself in a hole. I think you let them pass laws left and right, and then you expose them for what they are, Ms. Chamberlain said of her suggested strategy for Republicans.

Americans are not holding their breath for a new dawn of bipartisanship. Just 21 percent of respondents in the Monmouth poll said they were highly confident that Mr. Biden would be able to persuade lawmakers in Washington to work together more. Another 39 percent were somewhat confident.
Sinovac releases first vaccine trial data on seniors, seen as boost to China expanding inoculation

Sinovac photo: (Global Times/Li Hao)

The inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac was well tolerated and induced humoral responses in adults aged 60 years and older, the newly released results from the Phase I and Phase II clinical trials showed, which experts said will support China in expanding the use of the COVID-19 vaccine in elderly groups.

The Phase I and Phase II clinical trial findings of the Sinovac vaccine were released in Lancet medical journal on Wednesday. Sinovac claimed it was the first report of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine tested in older adults aged 60 years old and above.

Vaccine efficacy is usually reduced in older adults due to immune senescence, but findings showed Sinovac's vaccine is well tolerated and immunogenic in healthy adults aged 60 years and older, and neutralizing antibody responses to live novel coronavirus are not reduced in this population.

Experts believe this data will support China in its push for vaccination among elderly people.

On Wednesday, Sinovac's application for the conditional market launch of its inactivated COVID-19 vaccine CovonaVac was accepted by Chinas drug regulator, which is seen as a major step forward in making Chinese vaccines available for public use.

Sinovac's vaccine was approved for urgent use in China in July 2020 and has been administered for key groups.

Feng Duojia, president of the China Vaccine Industry Association, told the Global Times on Thursday that Phase III data and approval from drug authorities are needed for elderly people to be vaccinated.

Sinopharm is likely to announce Phase III data earlier than Sinovac, as the former has already been granted conditional market approval.

Feng said that those two pharmaceutical companies are likely to announce their Phase III data on elderly and child groups around Chinese New Year.

An immunologist in Beijing told the Global Times on condition of anonymity that judging from vaccinations in other countries, elderly groups are more vulnerable to safety problems.

As the pandemic in China was quickly quelled, Chinese vaccine producers did not include many elderly people in their trials, so more caution is required.

However, it is a sign that China is pushing forward vaccination of elderly groups, the immunologist said.

According to the Lancet report, Sinovac did a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1/2 clinical trial of CoronaVac in healthy adults aged 60 years and older in Renqiu, North China's Hebei Province.

A total of 72 participants with an average age of 65.8 were enrolled in the Phase I clinical trial. Each intervention group and placebo group had 24 participants.

In the Phase II clinical trial, it recruited 350 participants with average age of 66.6. Each intervention group had 100 participants and the placebo group had 50.

All adverse reactions were mild or of moderate severity. The most frequently reported reactions were injection site pain, which occurred among 39 participants, and fever, which occurred among 14 people.

Most of the adverse reactions occurred within seven days of vaccination and participants recovered within 48 hours.

As of Aug 28, 2020, eight serious adverse events, considered unrelated to vaccination, have been reported by seven participants, or 2 percent of the total. All serious adverse events were considered to be unrelated to either the vaccine or the placebo.

The six-month follow-up analysis will continue. As of January 20, no vaccine-related serious adverse events have been reported.
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Sweden's climate and environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Thursday again extended her support to the ongoing farmers' protests at the border areas of Delhi, hours after Zee News exposed her. After the Delhi Police has also registered a case against Greta, she took to micro-blogging site Twitter saying that she supports "their peaceful protest".

READ | Delhi Police files case against Sweden's climate activist Greta Thunberg over her tweets on farmers' protests

The teen activist also said that "no amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that". Greta tweeted, "I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that."

I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest.

No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest  Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 4, 2021

The Delhi Police on Thursday filed a case against the activist over her tweets on farmers' protests near the borders of Delhi. On February 3, the teen activist took to micro-blogging website, Twitter, to express her concerns over farmers agitation and shared a post stating solidarity with the farmers.

We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India.

https://t.co/tqvR0oHgo0  Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 2, 2021

The Delhi Police has registered a case against Greta under Section 120B and 153-A of the Indian Penal Code. Thunberg has come out in support of the ongoing farmers protest against the BJP-led Central government's new agri laws. An international conspiracy to defame India in view of the ongoing protest by farmer unions on the border areas of Delhi has come to the fore.

Greta Thunberg tweeted, We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India. She also shared a document through her Twitter handle showing clearly a sinister conspiracy to defame India on the international fora.

Thunberg shared a toolkit document for the ongoing farmers protest against new agri laws. The document shared on her Twitter handle exposed a sinister conspiracy to defame India on the international stage. The climate activist later deleted the tweet from her Twitter handle. This document gives a detailed plan of accelerating the farmers' stir taking place on the outskirts of Delhi.

Amid the ongoing protests by farmers on the border areas of the national capital, several international personalities have extended their support. However, Zee News has unmasked the real motive behind this which is to target the democracy of India. Greta Thunberg is known worldwide for spreading awareness about climate change and for this she also criticized former US President Donald Trump.

The key points of the document are:

* Participate in (or organise an) on-ground protest: Share solidarity Photo/Video Message by email preferably by January 25 (solidarity messages for farmers at Delhis border).

* Digital Strike: #AskIndiaWhy Video/Photo Message - On or Before January 26. It has also written that Prime Minister and the Agriculture Minister should be tagged beside the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization and World Bank to oppose the Agricultural Bill.

* Twitter Storm on February 4-5 2021: Share solidarity Photo/Video Message by preferably by February 5, latest by February 6.

* On February 13-14, there is talk of large demonstrations around the Indian embassy and government institutions abroad.

* Contact a local Representative: It is paramount to put international pressure on Indias Government.

* The document also names two big business houses as they allegedly manufacture wealth by working hand-in-hand with the current Regime to exploit the worlds people, lands, and culture.

* It has also been said that the plan that was prepared for January 26 has happened exactly the same in the whole world and India.

* A special email address--ScrapFarmersAct@Gmail.Com has been asked to send photos and videos in support of farmers.

* In this document it was also told what you should do to take part in the farmers' movement.

The Swedish climate activist extended her support to the farmers and their movement after pop star Rihanna came out in support of the protesting farmers. Earlier, Rihanna posted a Tweet about the farmers' protest with a news update and captioned the post asking her followers and fans using the trending #FarmersProtest hashtag. why arent we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest, Rihanna said.

Notably, farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26, 2020, against the three newly enacted agricultural laws.
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 21:36:13|Editor: huaxia

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BEIRUT, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun urged on Thursday public prosecutor to conduct investigations into the assassination of activist Lokman Slim, who was found dead in his car with five gunshot wounds, said a statement by Lebanon's Presidency.

The president also stressed the need to expedite the probes in order to clarify what led to this crime and the parties behind it.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mohammad Fahmi condemned the "horrific crime" of the assassination of the 59-year-old political activist and researcher.

"I have contacted security services' leaders to follow up on the circumstances and repercussions of the assassination," he said.

Lebanese media reported earlier in the morning that Lokman Slim was found dead in a car he had rented from a company, hours after his disappearance.

The incident took place while Slim was on his way back from visiting a friend's house in a village in southern Lebanon, according to a post published by his sister on Facebook.

Newly appointed Prime Minister Saad Hariri also condemned the assassination of Slim, while warning of what he called "the dangers of returning to the series of assassinations and the targeting of activists."

Slim was known for his political positions opposed to Hezbollah. Enditem

Almost a year since Rwanda confirmed its first Covid-19 case, mental health experts in organisations of the survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi say that mental illness challenges have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

According to Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), depression prevalence is at 11.9 per cent within the general population and as high as 35.6 per cent are genocide survivors. This means one in three genocide survivors faces trauma.

Prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) stands at 3.6 per cent.

Speaking to The New Times by telephone, Aimee-Josiane Umulisa, the Healing Activities Coordinator at Rwandan Graduate Genocide Survivors Organisation (GAERG), says that restrictions that are put in place to protect Rwandans from contracting the virus have left some of the survivors lonely and heightened their fear and anxiety.

GAERG works with about 2,500 people who are split into 168 groups spread all over 25 districts countrywide.

She explains that the members of these groups face different mental health challenges including depression, PSTD, alcoholism and anxiety among others.

70 per cent of the 2,500 are battling both PTSD and depression.

The challenges

Umulisa explained that with the outbreak of Covid-19, the biggest challenge that her organisation is dealing with at the moment is with survivors aged between 60 and 80 who are battling serious mental health related issues like migraines, insomnia, extreme anxiety, fear with many thinking that they are about to die.

The same group is the most vulnerable to the virus.

"The challenge right now is that they cannot congregate in their groups where they find solace in talking freely with peers. That means that they are now battling loneliness which mostly escalates into other health concerns," she said.

She pointed out that they had incorporated the use of phones to reach these people but that also comes with its own set of challenges.

"There are very many beneficiaries who live in remote areas who do not own phones. However, we have 200 community-based counselors and 20 psychologists who live within their communities that may be reachable whenever the patient's issues escalate," she explained.

Need for livelihood support

The Coordinator of Avega Counselling Project, Louise Bajeneza, told The New Times that her office mostly fields calls from members who are struggling for basics livelihood requirements.

Avega is the association of widows of the Genocide against the Tutsi.

Bajeneza explained that even before, survivors were living with pain from their traumatic experience during the genocide but the outbreak of the pandemic came in and worsened the situation.

She said that one of the biggest challenges for most has been the stress that came with their limited opportunities to work and fend for their families.

"We are basically dealing with people who tell you that they are thinking too much because they only manage to feed their families when they work. They are unable to do so due to the changes that came with Covid-19. Some completely lost their jobs. It can be stressful," she said.

Financial constraints

The Executive Secretary of IBUKA, the Umbrella Organisation of genocide survivors, Naphtal Ahishakiye said in an interview that there are two types of people dealing with mental illness.

He explained that the first category consists of people who occasionally break down based on a particular incidence while the other category is of people who live with mental illness and are assigned psychologists who deal with them on a daily basis.

Ahishakiye pointed out that while dealing with members on the grassroots level to keep a keen eye on survivors who need urgent medical help has worked in some cases, it has met challenges due to financial constraints.

"These organisations don't have sufficient funds to do these follow-ups. We are basically telling these people to volunteer and use their resources to make these calls, to check in on the patients because we don't give them facilitation," he said.

He said that because of this, the survivors are all not being reached.

"In 2019, we had about 3,656 people who had such challenges and about 3,087 of them got immediate onsite support while 569 serious cases were transferred to hospitals. In 2020 after the pandemic hit, we had about 1200 and 401 got transferred to hospitals," he said.

Under-funded sector

The Director of Survivors Fund (SURF); Samuel Munderere said that the Covid-19 crisis has increased mental health challenges among the survivors, where lockdowns enforced by the government to mitigate the spread of the virus have left some without the means to access their medication.

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He also pointed out the challenge that some survivors who were participating in group therapy sessions were unable to continue due to restrictions on movement, setting most of them steps back on their progress.

He reminded that the current challenges that survivors are facing is a reminder of the funding gaps in mental healthcare.

"Considering that globally, mental healthcare is underfunded and its effects underestimated, there is a big funding gap that needs to be addressed fast because the effects of Covid-19 are going to be felt for years to come," he said.

The Director of the Psychiatric Care Unit at the Rwanda Biomedical Center, Dr Jean-Damascene Iyamuremye, told The New Times in a previous interview that there is need for more funds to be injected in this area to support treatment.

"Mental health is still underfunded yet we need to coordinate activities of treatment and prevention, fighting stigma against victims and we need to raise awareness regarding access to treatment," he said.
Midlanders Jenny Cudd and Eliel Rosa have been indicted on five federal charges for their participation in riots at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, according to a grand jury indictment filed Wednesday.

Theyre each facing charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Cudd and Rosa were previously charged with misdemeanors for entering and remaining on restricted grounds and disorderly conduct or violent entry. Grand juries are required for the indictment of felonies at the federal level.

According to the indictment, Cudd and Rosa unlawfully and knowingly entered the Capitol building with the intent to disrupt Congressional proceedings while then Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and former Vice President Mike Pence were temporarily visiting the building.

The two Midlanders traveled to Washington, D.C., together and both entered the Capitol building after riots broke out there, according to posts on Cudds since-deleted social media pages. In an excerpt of one Facebook live video that went viral on Twitter, Cudd said, We did break down Nancy Pelosis door and somebody stole her gavel. She later denied entering any lawmakers offices in news interviews.

On Monday, Cudds attorney requested permission for Cudd to travel to Mexico for a work-related bonding retreat. A judge had not yet ruled on that motion to travel as of Thursday.

During a court appearance on Jan. 21, a federal judge revoked Cudd and Rosas travel privileges outside the continental U.S. They were also ordered not to travel to Washington, D.C., unless it was related to their case and to inform pretrial services of any travel within the U.S.

Cudds attorney stated that the trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico, was booked prior to the Capitol riots and prepaid. The weekend retreat for Cudds employees and their spouses is supposed to take place from Feb. 18-21.

A court hearing scheduled for Thursday has been moved to a later date.
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The rank-and-file education safety committees in Germany and the UK have adopted the following statement of solidarity with the protesting teachers in Chicago. We call on our readers to spread the word and support the resolution.

We, the rank-and-file safety committees of educators and students in Europe, express our support for and solidarity with the ongoing struggle by educators in Chicago. In the third-largest school district in the United States, teachers are taking a stand to save lives and prevent the deadly reopening of schools as the coronavirus pandemic rages out of control.

Across Europe, governments are pursuing the same homicidal policy as in the US of placing profits before lives and pushing to keep schools open. Whether it is Boris Johnson in the UK, the Grand Coalition of the Social Democrats and Christian Democratic Union in Germany, the Macron government in France, or elsewhere, the policy is the same.

Chicago teachers and supporters demonstrate (Source: CTU Facebook)

The reason for this is clear to us: schools are being used as holding pens for children, and teachers are being employed as babysitters in unsafe conditions, so that parents can be forced to return to work and corporate profits can be maintained throughout the pandemic.

This is despite consistent evidence and warnings by scientists that schools play a major role in the transmission of the virus, with new, more contagious variants such as the one first identified in the UK are already firmly established and spreading internationally.

The trade unions will not organize any opposition to this policy. On the contrary, they either call openly for keeping schools open, as in France, or, where they have called for temporarily closing schools, as in the UK, it has only been after teachers had already begun to take mass action to prevent schools from opening.

If there is to be a struggle against the reopening policy, it must be organized independently by educators, students and parents. That is why the struggle developing in Chicago is of the utmost significance. It points the way forward for workers and students internationally.

We, the rank-and-file committees of educators and students in Europe, pledge to do everything we can to make this struggle known in Europe, and to make it the spearhead for an international political general strike, for the closure of schools and non-essential workplaces, and the implementation of a scientific plan to combat the pandemic.
HONG KONG, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CNOOC Limited (the "Company", SEHK: 00883,NYSE: CEO, TSX: CNU) today announced its business strategy and development plan for the year 2021.

In the extremely challenging year of 2020, under the leadership of the Board of Directors, the Company's management, together with all staff, overcame the huge impact from low oil price and the pandemic of COVID-19. During the period, while strictly implementing pandemic prevention and control measures, the Company invested great efforts in growing its oil and gas reserves and production, further reduced costs and enhanced efficiency, promoted reform and innovation, and ensured the safety in production. Thanks to all these measures, the Company's net production hit a record high of approximately 528 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in 2020.

In 2021, the Company will continue its efforts in strengthening its resources base with targeted net production of 545-555 million BOE, of which, production from China and overseas account for approximately 68% and 32%, respectively. It also plans to drill 217 exploration wells and collect approximately 17 thousand square kilometers 3-Dimensional (3D) seismic data. 19 new projects are expected to come on stream, which mainly include Lingshui 17-2 gas fields development, Lufeng oil fields regional development, Caofeidian 6-4 oil field in offshore China, Buzzard oil field phase II in the UK and Mero I oil field in Brazil.

The Company's total capital expenditure for 2021 is budgeted at RMB90 billion to RMB100 billion. The capital expenditures for exploration, development and production will account for approximately 17%, 61% and 20% of the total capital expenditure, respectively.

The Company's net production for 2022 and 2023 are estimated to be 590-600 million BOE and 640-650 million BOE, respectively.

Mr. Xu Keqiang, CEO of the Company, said, "In 2021, under the theme of high-quality development, the Company will be committed to steadily increasing its oil and gas reserves and production, focusing on investment efficiency, maintaining its cost competitiveness, while actively pursuing the concept of green and low-carbon development, to create excellent returns for our shareholders."

Notes to Editors:

More information about the Company is available at http://www.cnoocltd.com

*** *** *** ***

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding expected future events, business prospectus or financial results. The words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors the Company believes are appropriate under the circumstances. However, whether actual results and developments will meet the expectations and predictions of the Company depends on a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause the actual results, performance and financial condition to differ materially from the Company's expectations, including but not limited to those associated with fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas prices, macro-political and economic factors, changes in the tax and fiscal regimes of the host countries in which we operate, the highly competitive nature of the oil and natural gas industry, the exploration and development activities, mergers, acquisitions and divestments activities, environmental responsibility and compliance requirements, foreign operations and cyber system attacks. For a description of these and other risks and uncertainties, please see the documents the Company files from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 20-F filed in April of the latest fiscal year.

Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. The Company cannot assure that the results or developments anticipated will be realised or, even if substantially realised, that they will have the expected effect on the Company, its business or operations.

*** *** *** ***

For further enquiries, please contact:

Ms. Jing Liu

Manager, Media & Public Relations

CNOOC Limited

Tel: +86-10-8452-3404

Fax: +86-10-8452-1441

E-mail: [email protected]

Bunny Lee

Porda Havas International Finance Communications Group

Tel: +852 3150 6707

Fax: +852 3150 6728

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE CNOOC Limited

Related Links

http://www.cnoocltd.com


The U.K. media regulator Ofcom on Thursday banned Chinese state media giant CGTN from broadcasting in the country, citing violations of its license conditions.



Ofcom announced the move in a statement on its website, saying its investigation had concluded that CGTN's license was "wrongfully held" by Star China Media.



"We have decided it is appropriate to revoke the licence for CGTN to broadcast in the U.K.," the agency said, adding that further investigations into impartiality and privacy complaints would be concluded soon.



"In the U.K., broadcasting laws ... state that broadcast licensees must have control over the licensed service  including editorial oversight over the programs they show," the statement said. "In addition, under these laws, license holders cannot be controlled by political bodies."



It said a probe into the ownership structure of CGTN had found that Star China Media had no editorial responsibility for the satellite TV station's output, while an alternative license-holder proposed by CGTN was rejected as unsuitable.



"We have been unable to grant an application to transfer the license to an entity called China Global Television Network Corporation (CGTNC) ... because crucial information was missing from the application, and because ... it is controlled by a body which is ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)," Ofcom said.



It said that since September 2020, CGTN had repeatedly failed to respond to important questions, or to offer any update linked to its claim that the ownership issue would soon be resolved by corporate restructuring.



Almost immediately, China said it had lodged "stern representations" to the BBC over its coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing the broadcaster of "politicizing" the pandemic and putting out "fake news."



China's foreign ministry said the BBC should "stop harboring ideological bias, stop smearing China, uphold professional ethics, and do objective, fair reporting on China."

Broadcasting forced confessions



But a rights group that has campaigned against CGTN over its involvement in forced, televized "confessions" welcomed the news.



"CCP propaganda @CGTNOfficial is finally kicked out of #UK after years of @SafeguardDefend campaigns against its #forcedconfessions, breaches of privacy and the fact - that it is illegally broadcasting because it's controlled by a political body," the rights group Safeguard Defenders said via its Twitter account on Thursday.



The group said in an August 2020 report to the United Nations that state media organizations and Chinese state security police had produced dozens of televised forced "confessions" in the years since CCP general secretary Xi Jinping took power, often involving severe duress and torture.



Safeguard Defenders listed a total of 87 televised confessions between July 2013 and January 2020, many of which were the result of "extreme physical or emotional coercion."



It said detainees were kept in conditions that create immense stress and feelings of fear, including months of solitary confinement, and were regularly sleep deprived under lights that are kept switched on 24 hours a day.



Some had undergone hours of interrogation during which they were subjected to beatings, electric batons, restraints, and denial of bathroom breaks.



As well as being broadcast on state TV in China, several "confessions" were broadcast on Chinas overseas Communist Party TV channels, including CGTN/CCTV-9 in English and CCTV-4 in Chinese, or by the pro-Beijing Hong Kong media, Safeguard Defenders said.



Ofcom has already upheld a complaint from former British journalist and private investigator Peter Humphrey against CGTN for treating him unfairly and infringing his privacy when it filmed his "confession" to alleged violations of privacy.



China Global Television Network (CGTN) is a group of six international language channels launched by CCTV on Dec. 31, 2016, under the aegis of the Central Propaganda Department.



It was tasked with the enhancement of China's international broadcasting capacities with disseminating the CCP's guiding principles and policies, according to publicly available documents at the time.



In February 2020, the U.S. State Department designated five Chinese state media entities including CGTN "foreign missions," meaning that they are considered to be the official representatives of a foreign government on U.S. soil.



Reported by He Ping for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

[February 04, 2021] DSS Provides Update on Impact BioMedical Share Dividend

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Document Security Systems, Inc. (DSS or the Company) (NYSE American: DSS), a multinational company operating businesses focusing on brand protection technology, blockchain security, direct marketing, healthcare, real estate, and securitized digital assets, today announced the record date for its previously announced special share dividend of Impact BioMedical has been changed to a yet to be determined future date expected to coincide with the effective date of an S-1 related to the Companys planned dividend shares of Impact BioMedical.

We remain fully committed to completing the spinoff of Impact BioMedical in an IPO and sharing this success with our shareholders through a special share dividend, stated Frank D. Heuszel, CEO of DSS. After consultation with the NYSE, the previously announced record date for our special share dividend of Impact BioMedical has been revised, and a new date will be announced as the timeline for our related S-1 process becomes clearer. We anticipate this will happen later in the second quarter. DSS originally announced a two-part special share dividend of shares of common stock of Impact BioMedical: two shares of Impact BioMedical for every one share of DSS common stock held as of September 7, 2020; and a second tranche of an additional two shares of Impact BioMedical for each common share of DSS held at a yet to be determined record date. The previously announced record date for the first tranche of September 7, 2020 has been revised, and the Company now intends a single special dividend of four Impact BioMedical shares for every one share of DSS common stock held as of a new record date that will be announced at a later date. The share dividend is expected to be issued upon the S-1 becoming effective. While there can be no assurance that Impact BioMedical will be taken public and/or that any dividend of Impact BioMedical shares will occur, particularly due to unforeseen circumstances including fulfilling the pre-requisite criteria during the IPO application process and market forces beyond the Company's control, it is the intention of management and the Board to take Impact BioMedical public. Shareholders interested in receiving the Bonus Shares will be required to hold their DSS shares from the record date through the payment date. DSS announced the closing of its acquisition of Impact BioMedical on August 21, 2020. Impact BioMedicals ownersip of a suite of antiviral and medical technologies has been valued at $382 million by Destum Partners, known globally for its high level of expertise and capability in independently valuing and advising on pharmaceutical technology. On May 26, 2020, Impact BioMedical disclosed that it received a valuation of $933 million for this suite of technology from a different independent valuation firm. Unlike the previous valuation, the new valuation takes into consideration numerous additional disease applications of the suite of antiviral and medical technologies.



About Impact BioMedical, Inc.

Impact BioMedical, Inc. (Impact BioMedical) is a wholly owned subsidiary of DSS. Impact BioMedical strives to leverage its scientific know-how and intellectual property rights to provide solutions that have been plaguing the biomedical field for decades. By tapping into the scientific expertise of GRDG Sciences, LLC, Impact BioMedical pledges to undertake a concerted effort in the R&D, drug discovery and development for the prevention, inhibition, and treatment of neurological, oncological and immuno related diseases. For more information on Impact BioMedical visit http://impbio.com/. About Document Security Systems, Inc.

DSS is a multinational company operating businesses focused on brand protection technology, blockchain security, direct marketing, healthcare, real estate, and securitized digital assets. Its business model is based on a distribution sharing system in which shareholders will receive shares in its subsidiaries as DSS strategically spins them out into IPOs. Its historic business revolves around counterfeit deterrent and authentication technologies, smart packaging, and consumer product engagement. DSS is led by its Chairman and largest shareholder, Mr. Fai Chan, a highly successful global business veteran of more than 40 years specializing in corporate transformation while managing risk. He has successfully restructured more than 35 corporations with a combined value of $25 billion. For more information on DSS visit http://www.dsssecure.com. Investor Contact: Dave Gentry, CEO

RedChip Companies Inc.

407-491-4498

Dave@redchip.com Safe Harbor Disclosure This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions 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. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to the Company's intended use of proceeds and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those projected. These risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, include: risks relating to our growth strategy; our ability to obtain, perform under and maintain financing and strategic agreements and relationships; risks relating to the results of development activities; our ability to attract, integrate and retain key personnel; our need for substantial additional funds; patent and intellectual property matters; competition; as well as other risks described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the prospectus and in our other filings with the SEC, including, without limitation, our reports on Forms 8-K and 10-Q, all of which can be obtained on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made and reflect management's current estimates, projections, expectations and beliefs. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law.



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An expected $9 million blowout for a Queensland government-owned energy operators new IT system could take a further bite out of its declining financial returns to the states coffers.

Two high-risk issues relating to the security and authorisation of online payments, addressed immediately by the states six energy entities, were uncovered as part of the audit that found their profits had dropped significantly because of low energy prices.

Generators CleanCo, CS Energy and Stanwell, along with transmission and distribution corporations Powerlink, Energex and Ergon, and retailer Ergon Energy Queensland, were all included in the audit. Credit:Glenn Campbell

Queensland Auditor-General Brendan Worralls report, tabled on Thursday, found the entities internal controls to ensure reliable financial reporting were generally effective, though the number of lower-risk matters had increased across the 2019-20 financial year.

While we were able to rely on them, we identified two significant deficiencies [high-risk issues] in internal controls  both related to security of online payments, the report said.
BATON ROUGE, La., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Michael Baker International, a global leader in engineering, planning and consulting services, announced today that Daniel Thornhill, P.E., has been promoted to Office Manager for the firm's Baton Rouge, Louisiana, office. In his new role, Mr. Thornhill will focus on creating new business opportunities and providing operational management, staff management and project oversight for the office.

"Daniel joined Michael Baker last year as Department Manager  Transportation, a continuation of his 24-year career of delivering numerous transportation projects in Louisiana and surrounding regions," said Juan Contreras, P.E., Senior Vice President and Gulf Coast Regional Director at Michael Baker International. "In his new role, he will bring an energetic and balanced approach to client engagement, strategic business development, team leadership and project execution to solidify our position in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast Region."

Mr. Thornhill previously served as a Senior Project Engineer with Thompson Engineering and as Project Manager and Project Engineer with Neel-Schaffer, Inc. in Louisiana and Alabama. Mr. Thornhill's extensive consulting experience includes roadway design, corridor/traffic operation concept analysis, bridge design, hydraulics design, subsurface drainage design and sidewalk beautification projects. His clients have included the East Baton Rouge Department of Transportation & Development (EBR DTD), Louisiana DOTD, Lafayette Consolidated Government and St. Tammany Parish Department of Public Works, among others.

Mr. Thornhill holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Louisiana State University.

About Michael Baker International

Michael Baker International is a leading provider of engineering and consulting services. The firm's Practices encompass all facets of infrastructure, including design, civil engineering, planning, architecture, environmental, construction and program management. For more than 80 years, the company has been a trusted partner, providing comprehensive services and solutions to commercial clients and all branches of the military, as well as federal, state and municipal governments. Embracing emerging technologies and the latest innovations  like intelligent transportation and design-build project delivery  Michael Baker is an industry leader that delivers expertise and quality. The firm's more than 3,000 employees across nearly 100 locations are committed to Making a Difference for clients and communities through a culture of innovation, collaboration and technological advancement. To learn more, visit https://mbakerintl.com/.

Contact: Julia Covelli

[email protected]

(866) 293-4609

SOURCE Michael Baker International

Related Links

http://www.mbakerintl.com


The Bexar County Sheriffs Office has identified the two men it believes are responsible for shooting a Balcones Heights police sergeant Wednesday afternoon.

During a news conference on Thursday, Sheriff Javier Salazar said they are searching for 27-year-old Wilfredo Montemayor and his brother 30-year-old Sijifredo Montemayor. Salazar said the younger brother is suspected of shooting Sgt. Joe Sepulveda in cold blood at the SOL apartments, located at 6945 West Interstate 10.

Sepulveda and another officer, Edgard Ortiz, were called to the apartments at 1:30 p.m. for reports of suspicious persons and a possible vehicle burglary.

In the parking lot, Sepulveda made contact with two suspects in a white pickup truck. It was then Wilfredo allegedly started shooting at the sergeant, Salazar said. The 18-year veteran returned fire, but was shot and fell on the ground.

Ortiz, with the help of civilians, dragged Sepulveda to cover as Ortiz continued to fire at the suspects, an act Salazar said may have saved the sergeant's life.

Sepulveda was shot at least twice in the upper body.

Ortiz drove his partner to the hospital in their patrol vehicle. Sepulveda was immediately taken into surgery.

As of Thursday morning, Sepulveda was out of surgery and recovering with his family by his side, said Balcones Heights mayor Suzanne de Leon.

We are so grateful that he will be OK, De Leon said.

The sheriff said the Montemayor brothers will face attempted capital murder charges when they are caught, adding that the two men are "dangerous and desperate" and advised them to turn themselves in.

Anyone brazen enough to put a gun in an officers face and pull the trigger in broad daylight is brazen enough to do anything, Salazar said. Youre not going to get away, you wont have a moments rest because we will find you.

Dozens of police vehicles and BCSO's Regional Mobile Outreach center were camped outside of the apartment complex through the night and into Thursday morning as dozens of investigators worked to track down the Montemayors.

Investigators have been tracking down down possible associates and residences where the two men may have gone to. Officials have also been in contact with authorities in Medina County and Bandera County and the Border Patrol in case the men attempt or have left the county.

Salazar said the two men may have connections in some South Texas border cities and could possibly flee into Mexico in desperation. The sheriff warned that anyone who is harboring the brothers will also face charges.

The two may have also changed their clothes, appearance and vehicle since the shooting, officials said. At least one of the brothers may have been hit by the gunfire, Salazar said.

On Wednesday, BCSO released images of a man wearing a Spurs jersey and a black cap it wanted in connection with the shooting. Salazar said the man was questioned and released but may still face charges. The sheriff did not say how that man may have been involved with the incident.

Anyone with information on the Montemayor brothers should call BCSO at 210-335-6000 or email bcsotips@bexar.org. Crime Stoppers is also offering a $5,000 reward for information. To submit a tip, call 210-224-STOP.




Chris Pratt's camp is denying that he sent racist tweets in 2012 and 2013 after a pair of offensive tweets attributed to him were circulating online Wednesday, as his reps say they are fakes.

The 41-year-old Avengers star's rep told TMZ the actor didn't post a pair of racially-offensive messages that were dated in 2012 and 2013.

'Chris never tweeted the offensive things that are being circulated today,' a rep for the actor told the outlet. 'Any suggestion that he did is not only totally false but also defamatory.'

The latest: Chris Pratt's camp is denying that he sent racist tweets in 2012 after a pair of offensive tweets attributed to him were circulating online Wednesday, as his reps say they are fakes. The actor was snapped last year in LA

The tweets Pratt's camp said were phony read, 'Muslims scare me so much,' and 'calling another n**** a 'n*****' is hilarous idc.'

A Twitter executive told the outlet that 'strongly believe these [tweets] to be fake' as the purportedly fake tweets were trending on Wednesday.

The Minnesota-born actor's rep said that he's never deleted any old tweets, and that another referring to body image - that read '#MissUniverse In a way they all look like Miss Hungry' - was authentic.

Pratt fell into online controversy last fall after he under fire from critics questioning why he has not been more engaged in politics, given his platform as one of Hollywood's biggest names.

The Avengers star's rep told TMZ the actor didn't post a pair of racially-offensive messages that were dated around 2012 and 2013

The Minnesota-born actor's rep said that he's never deleted any of tweets, and that another referring to body image - that read '#MissUniverse In a way they all look like Miss Hungry' - was authentic

Some branded Pratt as 'Hollywood's Worst Chris' as they pointed to his involvement in the conservative Zoe Church in Los Angeles as evidence that he's secretly a fan of former President Donald Trump.

Pratt's pals in the Marvel Cinematic Universe including Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana and Robert Downey Jr. defended his character.

Pratt's wife Katherine Schwarzenegger joined the conversation by replying to an Instagram post about the controversy from E! as the author and new mother, 31, wrote in a comment: 'Is this really what we need?'

'There's so much going on in the world and people are struggling in so many ways,' Katherine continued. 'Being mean is so yesterday. There's enough room to love all these guys. Love is what we all need not meanness and bullying. Let's try that.'

Wife to the rescue: Katherine Schwarzenegger defended her husband via Instagram

Schwarzenegger replied to an Instagram post about the controversy from E!, which asked followers which Hollywood Chris 'has to go?'
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 01:42:40|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Another 20,634 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,892,459, according to official figures released Thursday.

The country also reported another 915 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 110,250. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

A seven-year-old with known underlying health conditions is among the latest reported deaths of people who have tested positive for coronavirus in England, the Evening Standard newspaper reported.

"While the risk from the virus to children is low, people with underlying conditions are known to be at higher risk of serious disease," according to the London-based newspaper.

Patients were aged between seven and 102 years old and all except 30 -- aged 40 to 99 -- had known underlying health conditions.

Earlier Thursday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Britain remained "on track" to complete the vaccination of the top priority groups, which cover 15 million people, by mid-February.

Meanwhile, one in five of all adults in Britain have already received a jab, according to Hancock.

"We are on track to deliver the commitment we have made of offering the jab to all of the top four priority groups by Feb. 15," Hancock told reporters.

"I'm just so proud of the team who are delivering this, it's going really, really well... Today we passed the threshold of one in five of the population who have been jabbed already."

Also on Thursday, British vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi said Britain is "getting safer every day" as more people are given coronavirus vaccines, but the infection level is still "alarmingly high".

Nearly 10.5 million people in Britain have been given the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to publish detailed plans for easing lockdown on Feb. 22 after the "milestone" of 10 million first-dose vaccinations was passed in the country.

However, there are 32,000 people in hospital with coronavirus and the level of infections is "alarmingly high", he said.

Zahawi said 39 new vaccination sites have opened this week as part of the British government's "ambitious plan" to roll out the vaccines. Britain aims to offer all adults their first dose by autumn.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
Alejandro Ccasa waited six days in a line of more than 200 people to fill an oxygen tank that his uncle needs because he is infected with the coronavirus that has killed thousands in Peru.

The drama to find medical-grade oxygen for coronavirus patients in Peru is similar to that in other Latin American countries.

Now, family members are exhausted and in debt because of their efforts to find help for their loved ones.

Ccasa buys oxygen from one of the few places that offer the vital element at 5.5 US dollars per cubic meter. With the demand for oxygen spiking, resellers have increased the price six times.

"We do our best to get oxygen," Ccasa, 28, said after sitting on the floor, putting his hands together to thank God for getting him to the top of the queue.

The oxygen demand of patients who are cared for at home and do not go to hospitals in Peru due to lack of beds is unknown.

Hospitals require about 250 tons of oxygen per day and the largest local production company barely generates 220 tons, according to official data.

Filling an oxygen tank requires not only money and time but also mental fortitude. Over six days, Ccasa has seen others receive calls letting them know that their relative had died because the oxygen did not arrive.

The search for the vital element has left thousands of Peruvians in debt, spending all their reserves.

Alejandro's uncle, Santiago Ccasa, has been using oxygen for seven days, forcing the family to spend 6,800 US dollars. In Peru, the basic monthly salary is 255 dollars.

Desperate, many people looking for oxygen have fallen for social media scams, police said.

Every morning the agents verify that the line in front of the oxygen distributor recently visited by Ccasa is orderly and try to kick out any resellers, who sometimes pretend to be relatives of the sick to buy cheap oxygen and sell it at a higher price.

Ccasa has visited more than 15 oxygen distributors throughout the city. His uncle, a tailor, began with discomfort in the body and his health has been deteriorating day by day. His oxygen saturation level had even dropped to 34%, his nephew said.

Portable oxygen concentrators, machines that generate oxygen and have become an alternative to the tanks, are scarce and those available "have exorbitant costs," Ccasa said.

Peru began to experience a second wave of coronavirus cases in January, which has resulted in the collapse of hospital emergency rooms. Many people, including Ccasa's uncle, gave up on going to a hospital because he knew that he would not find a bed.

In less than a year more than 41,000 have died from the virus in Peru and more than a million have been infected.

In 10 regions of the country, including Lima, there is a two-week lockdown that has led to the closure of gyms, churches and casinos. Curfew begins at 6 p.m.

Due to the high demand for oxygen, Ccasa's 10-cubic-meter tank will only be filled to less than half.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Beijing:

The US is trying to flaunt military force to harm the countrys sovereignty in name of freedom of navigation after two American bombers flew over the disputed South China Sea disregarding Beijings claims over the area, China said.



The B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam airbase flew over South China Sea on late Thursday as part of operations intended to demonstrate the US commitment to freedom of navigation, the US Air Force said in a statement.



Asked about the flight by the US bombers, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media here that there was no problem with freedom of navigation or overflight for the East and South China Seas.



But China resolutely opposes individual countries using the banner of freedom of navigation and overflight to flaunt military force and harm Chinas sovereignty and security, Geng said.

ALSO READ: China asks India, US not to disturb peace in South China Sea



China and Japan have a dispute over the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. In a statement, the Defence Ministry said China always maintained its vigilance and effectively monitors relevant countries military activities next to China. The Chinese military will resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security as well as regional peace and stability.



China claims sovereignty over all of South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims. China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Beijing has built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region.



Since Donald Trump took over the Presidency, US dispatched two warships close to the artificial islands built by China to assert freedom of navigation.



The US flights over the South China Sea came as Trump is due to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg to discuss among others the latest ICBM test by North Korea, which could reach US state of Alaska.



Trump has expressed unhappiness over China not doing enough to contain its ally North Korea.

ALSO READ: Freedom of navigation important, India says maritime disputes should be resolved peacefully

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
A police officer in Mexico is being hailed as a hero after he foiled an attempted assassination on three government officials at a restaurant on Tuesday.

Surveillance video footage shows the hitmen running towards the entrance of the eatery in Villa de Oluta, a municipality in the southern state of Veracruz.

The cop can be seen sitting at a table next to Veracruz district attorney Marisela Rojas, local Congresswoman Florencia Martinez, and an unnamed councilman when one of the gunmen steps into the restaurant and draws his weapon.

The alert agent, who is assigned to Rojas' security detail, quickly stands up and engages the shooter as Rojas, Martinez and customers dive to the ground.

One of the three assassins (top right) stares his targets (bottom left) at a restaurant in Veracruz, Mexico, on Tuesday before he opened fired and nearly killed district attorney Marisela Rojas and Congresswoman Florencia Martinez. No injuries or casualties were reported. The shooter and two accomplices have not been arrested

An alert police officer, who works as part of the security detail team for Veracruz district attorney Marisela Rojas, opens fire at one of the three hitmen at a restaurant on Tuesday

Florencia Martinez, a Congresswoman representing the Mexican state of Veracruz, thanked the courageous effort exhibited by a police officer when three armed men opened fire inside a restaurant where she was dining with district attorney Marisela Rojas on Monday. The governor of Veracruz said the attack was related to the current investigation being carried out by Rojas' office after two people were shot dead at a bar

The gunman and his two accomplices, who were armed with military rifles, continue to fire inside the restaurant.

The police officer has to duck to avoid being struck before he sends them running away.

The officials and the customers were not injured.

Security forces were deployed for a ground and air search throughout Villa Oluta and the nearby cities of Acayucan, Soconusco, Suyula and Texisepec.

The governor of Veracruz, Cuitlahuac Garcia told reporters Wednesday that the attack was related to the ongoing investigation of a January 15 bar shooting in Acayucan that left two people dead.

Garcia said that several arrests were made - without pointing out if all three shooters were detained - and that the vehicle used by the gunmen in the assault had been located and seized.

A message on Rojas' Facebook account lauded the cop's courageous effort in saving the lives of many during the attack.

Surveillance camera captured the moment three armed men attempted to rush inside a restaurant and execute three Veracruz government officials

A police officer shields himself from fire during a shootout with three hitmen inside a restaurant in Veracruz, Mexico, on Tuesday

El Delirio, a restaurant in Villa Oluta, a municipality in the Mexican southern state of Veracruz, was the scene of Monday's failed assassination attempt against three government officials

'Today more than ever I thank God for allowing me to live one more day; also to all the people for their messages of support and especially to all the law enforcement agencies, as well as to officer for his bravery and reaction,' she wrote.

'Today, there was an attack while I was eating with part of my work team, where the district attorney was also present. Thanks to the prompt reaction of the security agent there were no injuries or wounds.'

The attack was the second against a district attorney in Veracruz since April 22, 2020 when Raul Tellez was shot dead in Acayucan.
Headteachers in the Tamale Metropolis of the Northern Region have boycotted classrooms to protest against the assault of the headteacher of Nyohini Junior High School (JHS).



We would not return to our schools until all those who assaulted our colleague are arrested and prosecuted, they declared.



This was contained in a communique presented to the Tamale Metropolitan Director of Education and signed by Mr. Musah Adam and Mr. Issahaka Abdul-Hafiz, chairman and secretary respectively.



The headteachers claimed that well built young men stormed the Nyohini JHS and subjected the headteacher to severe beatings for 30 minutes.



According to them, it was not the first time that a headteacher had been beaten and that it had happened on a number of occasions in the past.



They described the action of the unruly men as barbaric and worrying.



The headteachers indicated that they have been living in fear and that something ought to be done to guarantee their safety in schools.



They, therefore, called on the authorities to immediately take steps to deal with the culprits of the crime.



We are further calling for an in-depth investigation on the incident in order to unearth its root cause, they appeal.



The Metropolitan Director of GES, Mr. Amatus D-Tug-Uu assured the headteachers that the culprits would be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the country.



He stated that the matter would be reported to the authorities concerned for prompt action to be taken.



Mr. D-Tugu-Uu mentioned that his office would also liaise with the police command for further action.



He, however, appealed to headteachers to return to school while the authorities take steps to apprehend the perpetrators of the crime to face prosecution.

Source: The Ghanaian Times









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Initiatives already launched or in the planning stages under the new leadership team include curriculum updates designed to embrace distance education, additional student and career services resources to elevate student outcomes, and a focus on becoming the employer of choice in the communities we serve. The University is also pleased to announce the launch of a new aesthetics program at the Janesville, WI campus, and an expansion of the Bridgeview, IL campus to accommodate growing student demand on Chicago's South Side.

These projects and others build on the legacy of hair salon and day spa visionary Mario Tricoci. Mario founded Tricoci University to raise the bar in beauty education and produce the most highly skilled professionals in the industry.

Today, 16 years later, the University remains at the forefront of beauty industry training. Even in 2020, a year of unprecedented challenges because of the coronavirus pandemic, Tricoci University exceeded its accreditation benchmarks for graduation, placement and licensure by creating a safe and innovative learning environment  driven by changes initiated mid-year by the new leadership team.

Leading the new team is:

Nate Swanson , Chief Executive Officer, whose background includes Chief Operating Officer roles at CareerStep, a leading healthcare training company, and at American Intercontinental University, a Career Education Corporation company. His achievements in six years at CareerStep included significant growth and cultural transformation, including more than doubling the company's course offerings, redesigning the student lifecycle to improve student engagement and completion rates, and building a culture that was twice recognized as one of Utah's Best Companies to Work For.

The new executive team also includes:

Dr. Elizabeth Cook , Chief Operations Officer  With nearly 20 years of post-secondary education experience and leadership at various universities, Dr. Cook has a strong focus on the student experience, academic quality, operational efficiency, and compliance. Most recently, Dr. Cook served at DeVry University leading student services for the Southeast as well as serving as Campus Dean overseeing multiple campus operations.

 With nearly 20 years of post-secondary education experience and leadership at various universities, Dr. Cook has a strong focus on the student experience, academic quality, operational efficiency, and compliance. Most recently, Dr. Cook served at leading student services for the Southeast as well as serving as Campus Dean overseeing multiple campus operations. Kerry Kopera , Chief Financial Officer - Kerry has over 30 years of higher education experience and previously served as Vice President of Finance/CFO at DeVry University , Vice President of Finance at National-Louis University and audit manager at Arthur Andersen.

- Kerry has over 30 years of higher education experience and previously served as Vice President of Finance/CFO at , Vice President of Finance at and audit manager at Arthur Andersen. Joy McClure , Chief Admissions Officer  Joy joined Tricoci University as Vice President of Admissions in January 2019 and previously held senior admissions posts at multiple institutions including the Art Institute of Atlanta .

Joy joined Tricoci University as Vice President of Admissions in and previously held senior admissions posts at multiple institutions including the . Pam Duff , Vice President of Human Resources  Pam has had many years of diverse human resources experience in the hospitality industry, including six years as the Corporate Director of HR at Wyndham Hotels and Resorts and most recently the Area Director at Laredo Hospitality.

"Our mission as a team is to build on Tricoci University's legacy of innovation to become the educator and employer of choice in the communities we serve," Swanson said. "We are fortunate to be working with one of the top brands in the industry, and we are committed to investing in our people and campuses to build upon that reputation to ensure that Tricoci remains the leader in the beauty education field for years to come."

About Tricoci University of Beauty Culture

Tricoci University of Beauty Culture is a premier beauty education provider with 16 locations throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Tricoci University is focused on producing salon-ready graduates that are prepared for successful careers in the beauty industry. Founded by international beauty industry leader Mario Tricoci, Tricoci University is developing a new type of beauty professional by using innovative teaching methods, an interactive learning platform, and upscale facilities. All guest services are provided by students under the supervision of licensed instructors. For more information about Tricoci University of Beauty Culture please visit www.tricociuniversity.edu .

SOURCE Tricoci University of Beauty Culture

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Scientists at Bielefeld University's Faculty of Physics have succeeded for the first time in imaging the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus with a helium ion microscope. In contrast to the more conventional electron microscopy, the samples do not need a thin metal coating in helium ion microscopy. This allows interactions between the coronaviruses and their host cell to be observed particularly clearly. The scientists have published their findings, obtained in collaboration with researchers from Bielefeld University's Medical School OWL and Justus Liebig University Giessen, in the Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology.

'The study shows that the helium ion microscope is suitable for imaging coronaviruses - so precisely that the interaction between virus and host cell can be observed,' says physicist Dr Natalie Frese. She is the lead author of the study and a researcher in the research group Physics of Supramolecular Systems and Surfaces at the Faculty of Physics.

Coronaviruses are tiny - only about 100 nanometres in diameter, or 100 billionths of a metre. So far, mainly scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been used to examine cells infected with the virus. With SEM, an electron beam scans the cell and provides an image of the surface structure of the cell occupied by viruses. However, SEM has a disadvantage: the sample becomes electrostatically charged during the microscopy process. Because the charges are not dispersed from non-conductive samples, for example viruses or other biological organisms, the samples must be coated with an electrically conductive coating, such as a thin layer of gold.

'However, this conductive coating also changes the surface structure of the sample. Helium ion microscopy does not require a coating and therefore allows direct scanning,' says Professor Dr Armin Golzhauser, who heads the research group Physics of Supramolecular Systems and Surfaces. With the helium ion microscope, a beam of helium ions scans the surface of the sample. Helium ions are helium atoms that are each missing an electron - they are therefore positively charged. The ion beam also charges the sample electrostatically, but this can be compensated for by additionally irradiating the sample with electrons.

Furthermore, the helium ion microscope has a higher resolution and a greater depth of field.

In their study, the scientists infected cells - artificially produced from the kidney tissue of a species of monkey - with SARS-CoV-2 and studied them in dead state under the microscope. 'Our images provide a direct view of the 3D surface of the coronavirus and the kidney cell - with a resolution in the range of a few nanometres,' says Frese. This enabled the researchers to visualise interactions between the viruses and the kidney cell. Their study results indicate, for example, that helium ion microscopy can be used to observe whether individual coronaviruses are just lying on the cell or are bound to it. This is important in order to understand defence strategies against the virus: an infected cell can bind the viruses, which have already multiplied inside it, to its cell membrane on exit and thus prevent them from spreading further.

'Helium ion microscopy is well suited for imaging the cell's defence mechanisms that take place at the cell membrane,' says virologist Professor Dr Friedemann Weber, too. He is investigating SARS-CoV-2 at Justus Liebig University in Gieen and collaborated with the Bielefeld researchers on this study. Professor Dr Holger Sudhoff, head physician at the University Clinic for Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Medical School OWL at Bielefeld University, adds: 'This method is a significant improvement for imaging the SARS-CoV-2 virus interacting with the infected cell. Helium ion microscopy can help to better understand the infection process in COVID-19 sufferers.'

Helium ion microscopy is a comparatively new technology. In 2010, Bielefeld University became the first German university to acquire a helium ion microscope, which is used primarily in nanotechnology. Worldwide, helium ion technology is still rarely used to examine biological samples. 'Our study shows that there is great potential here,' says Golzhauser. The study appears in a special issue of the Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology on the helium ion microscope.

###

Original publication:
KENNESAW, Ga., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UpSwell Marketing, a marketing firm that specializes in helping local businesses expand their customer base, today announced that marketing veteran Eric Goodstadt is leading the company as its new CEO. With over 20 years of marketing experience Goodstadt brings a wealth of industry knowledge and a track record of success to his new role.

Eric Goodstadt

"Over 99% of businesses in the US are small businesses; they are the backbone of our society, and the COVID-19 pandemic has had a daunting impact on them," said Goodstadt. "The team at UpSwell has been the foremost leader in small business promotion and customer acquisition for more than a decade. I'm excited to join forces with this talented team to take UpSwell Marketing to the next level in our efforts to reinvigorate the small business community."

Goodstadt has held leadership positions at several established national and global organizations. Most recently, Goodstadt served as president of Manifest, one of the nation's largest, independent digital and content marketing agencies. During Goodstadt's tenure Manifest added several high-profile clients such as Aflac, Edward Jones, Staples, and AARP. Under Goodstadt's leadership Manifest also won the Agency of the Year designation in 2019 from the Content Marketing Awards and was designated three consecutive years as one of the Best and Brightest Places to Work for in the Nation.

UpSwell Marketing is a full-service agency offering over 20 digital and print capabilities that help small and medium-sized businesses attract more customers while optimizing their marketing budgets. UpSwell, founded in 2020 through the merger of Muscle Up Marketing and Mudlick Marketing, has more than 12 years of marketing experience serving over 10,000 clients, executing more than 150,000 campaigns, and a track record of helping clients acquire over 10 million new customers and counting.

Visit upswellmarketing.com to learn more about the UpSwell team and its comprehensive, data-driven marketing offerings for small businesses.

Press contact:

Cydne Wright

470-377-0069

[email protected]

Additional resources:

Like UpSwell on Facebook

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About UpSwell Marketing

UpSwell serves independent and franchise businesses whose growth is based on their ability to attract customers from their local communities. UpSwell helps drive the maximum number of customers for the 10,000 businesses it serves through data-driven, hyper-local digital and print marketing solutions. The full-service marketing agency has been serving clients since 2008 and has executed more than 150,000 successful campaigns. For more information visit upswellmarketing.com

SOURCE UpSwell Marketing

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The Telegraph

Boris Johnson married his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, in a private ceremony on Saturday morning, becoming the first Prime Minister to marry in office for nearly 200 years. Mr Johnson, 56, and Ms Symonds, 33, married at Westminster Cathedral, in central London, where their son, Wilfred, was baptised last year. The ceremony came days after the couple were reported to have sent "save the dates" to family and friends for a celebration of their marriage on July 30, 2022. Downing Street declined to comment on the ceremony, with some senior members of Mr Johnson's staff unaware of the wedding until after it had taken place. A member of staff at the Catholic cathedral, which is around a mile from Downing Street, said they had only discovered the identity of the couple a day before the wedding. How did the Prime Minister marry in a Catholic church? Mr Johnson and Ms Symonds have been engaged since late 2019, but Mr Johnson has repeatedly declined to comment on plans to marry. Asked in March whether he was planning a wedding later this year, he said: "The wedding industry is certainly going to come roaring back, in common with many other sectors of the economy." The couple were married by Fr Daniel Humphreys, who had baptised Wilfred in a small ceremony in the cathedral's Lady Chapel last year.
Armenia ex-minister of emergency situations hospitalized with heart attack

Mher Grigoryan: Clarification of border points is possible only after withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia

Suspicious deal: Whether there was profit from buying DNA IDs?

Armenia ex-president says current authorities are trying to blame Russia for defeat in war

4 people killed in Afghanistani bus attack

Robert Kocharyan: This war could not have happened, it was a consequence of the policy of the authorities

Kocharyan: I have to ask people how it happened that overwhelming majority elected this leader

Armen Gevorgyan presents 'Armenia' bloc program: We offer the concept of a working country

Biden's administration proposed to leave unchanged amount of financial support to Armenia

US Embassy in Baku calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian POWs

Luxembourg MFA calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

Russia peacekeepers climb to Armenia Gegharkunik Province village positions

Biden strongly condemns manifestations of antisemitism in US

Iran intensifies its diplomacy amid Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions

Armenia acting PM on forthcoming snap parliamentary elections: We hope to get 60% of votes

Lukashenko accuses West of destabilizing situation in Belarus

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief on snap elections: No legal basis for postponing, suspending any function

Armenias Pashinyan is met by Yerevan district residents chanting against him

We are ready to be fully engaged in negotiation process to resolve Karabakh issue, says Armenia acting PM

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan gives interview to Russia TV channel

Armenia acting premier: We are ready to start withdrawing troops at any moment

Canada MFA expresses concern over 6 Armenian soldiers capture by Azerbaijan troops

There are omissions in registration documents of political forces that applied to Armenia Central Electoral Commission

Armenia Central Electoral Commission chief: There is activeness in Yerevan for the past day or two

Three new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Group of US Congress members threaten Azerbaijans Aliyev regime with sanctions

Chicago mayor is sued for allegedly refusing interview with white reporter

Iran exports oil to US for first time after long interval

"Armenia" bloc top 50 MP candidates are announced

42 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sri Lanka public beach is covered in charred plastic pellets due to fire in container ship

US preparing list of targeted sanctions on Belarus authorities

China believes it will own America by 2035, Biden says

15 al-Shabab militants killed in Somalia

Newspaper: Armenia political forces that applied for running in election impatiently await CEC decision

Newspaper: Changes are expected in Artsakh

California prisoner who considers himself Satanist beheads cellmate, dismembers his body

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM's "mutually beneficial" proposal to collapse state system?

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Iran President hails brotherly ties with Azerbaijan

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

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France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

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Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

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Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Empire State Bank will open and operate a new branch office in one of Staten Islands newest office buildings, Corporate Commons Three in Bloomfield.

Empire State Bank expects to open the new South Avenue Branch for retail operations before spring, said Linda A. Lacewell, superintendent of the state Department of Financial Services (DFS).

Empire State Banks approval reaffirms DFSs commitment to expanding banking services to every person in New York State, said Lacewell. Not only will the people of Staten Island have more banking options, but also the opportunity for the community to access financial services and products to grow and prosper financially.

Said Philip Guarnieri, the companys chief executive officer: We are so pleased to have been offered the opportunity to be the bank to establish a banking center at Corporate Commons Three. We will be the only bank to service 530,000 square feet of office space. Our relationship style of service will allow us to establish banking relationships with the tenants of this location and surrounding buildings on the South Avenue business corridor.

Corporate Commons Three -- the latest addition to Richard and Lois Nicotras unique Bloomfield-based Corporate Park of 1.5 million square feet amid a 415-acre preserve -- is a new state-of-the art, eight-story building.

Empire State Bank has two other banking locations on Staten Island -- in New Dorp and Castleton Corners -- and a business loan center in Meiers Corners. With the new branch office, Empire State Bank will operate a total of six branch offices and two representative offices located in the New York City boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens.

As of Sept. 30, 2020, Empire State Bank had total assets of $495.4 million, according to DFS.

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World map showing forested regions that are sources of carbon emissions (purple) and where they are carbon sinks (green), or areas that absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere. Credits: Harris et al. 2021 / Global Forest Watch / World Resources Institute

Using ground, airborne, and satellite data, a diverse team of international researchers - including NASA scientists - has created a new method to assess how the changes in forests over the past two decades have impacted carbon concentrations in the atmosphere.



In addition to better understanding the overall role of forests in the global carbon cycle, the scientists were also able to distinguish between the contributions of various forest types, confirming that among forests, tropical forests are those responsible for the largest component of global carbon fluctuations - both absorbing more carbon than other forest types, and releasing more carbon into the atmosphere due to deforestation and degradation.

While clearing land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities increases carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the primary cause of the global carbon dioxide increase over the last century is from human activities that burn fossil fuels such as coal and oil. On balance, trees and other plants pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

The forest carbon flux map from web-application Global Forest Watch, and accompanying study published in Nature Climate Change on Jan. 21, show these carbon fluctuations from forests in unprecedented detail. This was published just one day after the United States rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement - an international effort to limit global temperature rise which specifically highlights reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

Through photosynthesis, forests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to produce oxygen, complementing the collective breathing of other life on Earth that inhales oxygen and expels carbon dioxide.

According to the researchers, forests collectively absorbed around 15.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from Earth's atmosphere each year between 2001 and 2019, while deforestation, fires, and other disturbances released an average of 8.1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Forests around the world are estimated to absorb about 7.6 billion metric tons, acting as a net carbon sink of roughly 1.5 times the annual emissions from the entire United States.

"Forests act as a two-lane highway in the climate system," said principal investigator Nancy Harris, who serves as the Research Director for the World Resources Institute (WRI) Forests Program. "A detailed view of where both sides are occurring - forest emissions and forest removals - adds transparency to monitoring forest-related climate policies."

This new methodology integrates data sets from numerous sources, including on-the-ground reports, aerial data, and satellite observations, to create the first consistent global framework for estimating the carbon flux specifically for forests.

This is a change from the current annual reporting of national forestry data, which still varies between countries despite standardized guidelines from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), often determined by the resources available in that region. Such a lack of uniformity in the data means that global carbon estimates can contain a sizeable degree of uncertainty.

"The good thing is that we know there is uncertainty and we can actually quantify it," says co-author Lola Fatoyinbo, a scientist from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "All estimates come with an uncertainty around them, which is going to keep getting smaller and smaller as we get better data sets."

The biomass estimates for the study were based on NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) data, which was primarily designed to track changes in ice sheet coverage but also provides topography and vegetation data.

Going forward, NASA's Carbon Monitoring Systems Biomass Pilot, which combines satellite and field data to improve estimates of vegetation and carbon stocks, NASA's ICESat-2, and the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) - a laser-equipped instrument aboard the International Space Station that records the three-dimensional structures of the world's temperate and tropical forests - are expected to further improve understanding of carbon removal rates across forest landscapes going forward. As part of the GEDI team, Fatoyinbo says they will be making multiple relevant data products such as tree canopy profiles and global maps of aboveground biomass that will be useful for making future carbon estimates.

"This is kind of a major shift in the paradigm of monitoring forests," says Sassan Saatchi, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and a co-author of the study. "It brought in a new picture of where the big changes are happening, in terms of both the land surface losing carbon to the atmosphere and also absorbing carbon from the atmosphere."

The new approach also helped identify which forest types have higher uncertainties, highlighting tropical forests, as well as temperate forests in the Northern Hemisphere. "Where the uncertainties are large, that's where we need to focus and get more data to quantify better," Saatchi says.

Once new data are available, it is relatively easy to crunch the new numbers.

"The way this was set up is in a cloud computing platform," says Fatoyinbo. "If there is a new data set that comes out that is much better than was previously available, you can just go in and swap it. This used to be something that took years to do, and now you could do it in a few hours."

While the outputs aren't expected to change significantly, the uncertainties will shrink, providing scientists with a clearer picture of the global carbon cycle and helping to inform policy makers. For example, the study shows that 27% of the world's net forest carbon sinks are found within protected areas, such as national parks.

Governments looking to reduce their emissions need data that is as accurate and current as possible. Fatoyinbo says that "this is one framework that can really help with that."



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Delhi Police has filed an FIR against the 'toolkit' shared in a tweet posted by the teen climate activist Greta Thunberg in support of the farmers' protests in India. Apart from Greta, pop icon Rihanna's solidarity with the farmers' agitation attracted global attention to the matter.

According to earlier reports, Delhi Police had booked Greta Thunberg and charged the teen with Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race) and Section 120B (criminal conspiracy). However, the police clarified that nobody has been named in the FIR.

A report by NDTV stated that the Delhi Police filed the FIR against the "elements" who were trying to take advantage of the farmer protests and "one account" had posted a toolkit that was authored by a group called the "Poetic Justice Foundation".

According to Delhi Police, the foundation belongs to a "Khalistani organisation". Praveer Ranjan, Special Commissioner of Police, said the toolkit "exposes the conspiracy by an organized overseas network" to instigate the farmer protests.

Greta who is also rumoured to have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year, had tweeted, "We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India" on Tuesday night (February 2). Two days later, she reacted to being called out by netizens on social media and wrote, "I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest."

Heres an updated toolkit by people on the ground in India if you want to help. (They removed their previous document as it was outdated.)#StandWithFarmers #FarmersProtesthttps://t.co/ZGEcMwHUNL  Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 3, 2021

I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest.

No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest  Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 4, 2021

Before Delhi Police's action, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement on Tuesday asking celebrities to refrain from sensationalising the issue for the sake of popular hashtags.

"Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken. The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible," it read.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs said that it is "unfortunate" that some vested groups are garnering international support. MEA's statement had been shared by several Bollywood celebrities including, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Karan Johar, Suniel Shetty and others.

ALSO READ: Rihanna & Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Bring International Attention To Farmers' Protest In India

ALSO READ: Swara Bhasker, Sayani Gupta, Anubhav Sinha Slam B-town Colleagues For Sharing MEA's Statement
A wisecracking cleaning robot is being rolled out to hospital wards in a bid to 'put a smile on patients' faces' and help in the fight against the deadly coronavirus.

Autonomous bot Ella, built by LionsBot, has already proved her worth during a demo at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Kent where she kept the reception 'spick and span'.

As a result of the successful demo, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust expressed an interest in leasing two of the gadgets for use on a paediatric ward.

Ella interacts with anyone she comes into contact with on the wards by telling 'hilarious gags and even singing', according to LionsBot.

The trust say they will use the robots in hospital reception areas to mop the large floors and free up human cleaners to focus on potential Covid-19 touch points.

Autonomous bot Ella, built by LionsBot, has already proved her worth during a demo at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Kent where she kept the reception 'spick and span'

ELLA THE CLEANING AND JOKE TELLING ROBOT MOP Launched in April 2020, Ella is a scrubbing and disinfecting robot. She is also able to interact with people by telling jokes and singing. Built by Singapore tech firm LionsBot, Ella is one of 16 models. She comes packed with integrated sensors to detect and avoid obstacles. The robot is able to navigate around areas at speed, while also cleaning and disinfecting floors she crosses. She can put herself on charge at the end of a shift or when work is done. Advertisement

Ella took part in a demonstration on Tuesday to see how she would fit in to her new surroundings.

It saw her roam the paediatric Hedgehog Ward at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury, Kent, leaving the children amused.

She left young patient Jimmy Edwards, nine, with a big grin after cracking the joke: 'How do trees access the internet? They log on.'

The robot's blue LED eyes even begin to squint and her head begins to wobble to mimic laughing as a playful giggle echoes out of her speaker system.

In a separate visit to Maidstone Hospital, Kent on Friday January 22, Ella was filmed quipping: 'The earth's rotation really makes my day.'

The NHS Trust is hoping to have a cleaning robot in each of its two hospitals in the near future to clean the floor of the main reception areas.

Having Ella do the flooring means it dries quicker and frees up cleaners to sanitise touch points - vital in stopping the spread of Covid-19.

The bots will then be deployed to the children's wards in the summer months when strain is expected to ease, so they can entertain poorly kids.

The Trust's Assistant General Manager for Facilities Sarah Gray said Ella 'put a smile on the faces of some of our youngest patients' when she visited the ward.

'The Trust is currently looking at leasing the robots which will help free up our domestic cleaners,' Gray explained.

Ella left young patient Jimmy Edwards (pictured), nine, with a big grin after cracking the joke: 'How do trees access the internet? They log on'

She said they 'currently spend a lot of time mopping the large floor space on a regular basis - especially during the winter months - so they can carry out vital touch point cleaning around the two sites which is essential during the pandemic.

'As the robots interact with anyone they come in to contact with, the plan is to redeploy them during the summer months to the children's wards so children and young people can enjoy them.'

LionsBot have four different LeoBot families - a scrubbing expert, a vacuum genius, a silent mopper and a small but strong worker which can pull a whopping 450kg.

The 16 various models are packed with well-integrated sensors to detect and avoid obstacles while nimbly navigating areas at speed.

They are controlled by a special smart phone app with pre-set cleaning modes and can be hooked up together to efficiently work simultaneously.

Once they've completed their assigned duties, the smart bots self-dock and auto charge so they are ready for their next shift.

The Singapore automation company says on its website: 'Created to be engaging, LionsBot cleaning robots are injected with personalities via their emotional responses, such as through their expressive eyes and voices.

'Our humanised robots also embody Singaporean traits; for instance, friendliness, diligence and efficiency which are reflected via the interactive features and high productivity.'
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atico Mining Corporation (the Company or Atico) (TSX.V: ATY | OTC: ATCMF) is pleased to report of an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource and reserve estimate as on September 30th, 2020 for the El Roble Mine located in Colombia.



Our infill and mine vicinity exploration drilling at El Roble mine has partially replenished some of the mined resources since the previous reserve and resource update in 2018. The updated reserve report shows the operations ability to continue delivering robust cashflow for the Company in the years to come, especially in the current metal price environment, said Fernando E. Ganoza, CEO. We will continue looking for opportunities to further extend the life of mine at El Roble while also aggressively drilling for additional massive sulphide deposits on the contiguous 6,300 hectare land package we control.

Resource and Reserve Estimate Highlights

Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources are estimated at 1.17 million tonnes averaging 3.26% Cu, and 2.33 g/t Au.





Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves are estimated at 1.00 million tonnes averaging 3.02 % Cu, and 1.76 g/t Au.





A conversion rate of 87% of Measured and Indicated resources to Proven and Probable reserve categories over the current resource estimate.



El Roble Resource and Reserve Estimate

The updated mineral resource and reserve estimate for El Roble was prepared by staff and consultants of Miner SA, an Atico Mining operating subsidiary. Mr. Thomas Kelly (SME Registered Member 1696580) has reviewed the resource and reserve estimate and acted as the independent qualified person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101. The Mineral Resources and Reserves reported herein were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by CIM Council. This resource and reserve estimate is based on all data available through September 30, 2020.

Category Tonnes



(000) Cu



(%) Au



(g/t) Proven 950.2 3.05 1.78 Probable 51.3 2.51 1.45 Proven + Probable Reserves 1,002 3.02 1.76





Category Tonnes



(000) Cu



(%) Au



(g/t) Measured Resources 1,039 3.31 2.29 Indicated Resources 135 2.89 2.62 Measured + Indicated Resources 1,174 3.26 2.33





Category Tonnes



(000) Cu



(%) Au



(g/t) Inferred Resources 17 0.49 3.41

Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves are as defined by CIM definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves 2014. Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves are estimated as of September 30th 2020. Mineral Reserves are reported using an NSR breakeven cut-off value of US$104.44/t (cost basis October 2019 to September 2020) for the Zeus body. Mineral Resources are reported based on an NSR cut-off grade of US$54.39/t (cost basis October 2019 through September 2020), Metal prices used were US$1,543.13/troy ounce Au and US$ 3.01/t Cu. Metallurgical recoveries are based in the historical recovery (El Roble process plant results October 2019 through September 2020): Au is 57.94% and Cu is 92.13%. Metal payable recovery used 90.67% for gold and 94.87% for copper (basis October 2019 through September 2020). Reserves are based on break-even cut-off grade of 1.80 percent copper equivalent, which is based on actual El Roble operating costs from October 2019  September 2020 along with other factors Density was estimated for each ore-body (Goliath = 3.34t/m3, Maximus = 3.50t/m3, Maximus Sur = 3.26t/m3, Zeus = 3.53t/m3). Mineral Resources, as reported, are undiluted. Mineral Resources are reported to 0.89% CuEq cut-off. CuEq for each block was calculated by multiplying one tonne of mass of each block by block grade for both Au and Cu by their average recovery, metal payable recovery and metal price. If the block is higher that CuEq cut-off, the block is included in the estimate (resource or reserve estimate as appropriate). Mineral Resources are Inclusive of Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources estimated will be converted into Mineral Reserves. There are no known legal, political, environmental or other risks that could materially affect the development and mining of the Mineral Reserves in the Zeus deposit; Mineral Reserves were reviewed by Mr. Thomas Kelly, RM-SME, president of Andes Colorado Corp., who is a Qualified Person for the estimate and independent of Atico Mining and its subsidiaries; Figures in the table are rounded to reflect estimate precision; small differences are not regarded as material to the estimate; Reserves are estimated based on mining material that will be mined, processed and smelted.



Resource and Reserve Estimation Methodology

The Mineral Resource estimation considers channel and core samples, in addition to the underground mine mapping for the construction of three-dimensional wireframes of the lithology and mineralized bodies. Estimation of grades in the block models only considers samples located inside the mineralized bodies solid, which are applied to anomalous grade or top cut treatment and a further compositing process. The model was constructed using 2m x 2m x 2m blocks, which represents the selective mining unit (SMU). The orebodies estimation is conducted separately body by body and element by element (Cu and Au). The methods used for grade estimation are cubic inverse distance (Goliat, Maximus and Maximus Sur Orebodies) and Ordinary Kriging (Zeus Orebody).

A density factor specific for each ore-body was assumed for conversion of block volumes to tonnes (Goliat = 3.34t/m3, Maximus = 3.50t/m3, Maximus Sur = 3.26t/m3, Zeus = 3.53t/m3). Mineral Resources are reported to 0.88% CuEq cut-off. For each block, the CuEq value was calculated by multiplying one tonne of mass of each by block grade by its average recovery, metal payable recovery and metal price. Blocks with CuEq grade higher than the CuEq cut-off were included in the resource estimate.

Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves were derived from the Measured and Indicated Resources by applying modifying factors related to mining methods, mining dilution and historical operating costs detailed as follows: mining (US $56.94/t), processing (US $15.95/t), general services (US $7.89/t), on-site administration and indirect (US $14.03/t), selling and concentrate shipping (US $9.63/t). Operating costs total US $104.44/t and comprise the lower NSR value for reserve reporting purposes. Mining dilution was estimated at variable percentages depending on the mining activity and labour, and ranges from 3.5% for breasting within the ore-body to 13.5% for crown pillar recovery.

The resource and reserve models have been validated by reconciliation against actual mined production continuously for several years with reconciliation results being acceptable for all ore bodies that have experienced a significant amount of production.

A full NI43-101 report authored by Mr. Thomas Kelly will be available on www.sedar.com within 45 days of this news release.

El Roble Mine

The El Roble mine is a high grade, underground copper and gold mine with nominal processing plant capacity of 1,000 tonnes per day, located in the Department of Choco in Colombia. Its commercial product is a copper-gold concentrate.

Since obtaining control of the mine on November 22, 2013, Atico has upgraded the operation from a historical nominal capacity of 400 tonnes per day.

El Roble has Proven and Probable reserves of 1.00 million tonnes grading 3.02% copper and 1.76 g/t gold, at a cut-off grade of 1.3% copper equivalent as of September 30th, 2020. Mineralization is open at depth and along strike and the Company plans to further test the limits of the deposit.

On the larger land package, the Company has identified a prospective stratigraphic contact between volcanic rocks and black and grey pelagic sediments and cherts that has been traced by Atico geologists for ten kilometers. This contact has been determined to be an important control on VMS mineralization on which Atico has identified numerous target areas prospective for VMS type mineralization occurrence, which is the focus of the current surface drill program at El Roble.

Qualified Person

Mr. Thomas Kelly (SME Registered Member 1696580), advisor to the Company and a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 standards, is responsible for ensuring that the technical information contained in this news release is an accurate summary of the original reports and data provided to or developed by Atico.

About Atico Mining Corporation

Atico is a growth-oriented Company, focused on exploring, developing and mining copper and gold projects in Latin America. The Company operates the El Roble mine and is pursuing additional acquisition opportunities. For more information, please visit www.aticomining.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Fernando E. Ganoza

CEO

Atico Mining Corporation

Trading symbols: TSX.V: ATY | OTC: ATCMF

Investor Relations

Igor Dutina

Tel: +1.604.633.9022

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.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. The securities being offered 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 in the United States, or to, or for the account or benefit of, a "U.S. person" (as defined in Regulation S of the U.S. Securities Act) unless pursuant to an exemption therefrom. This press release is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of the Company in any jurisdiction.

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, without limitation the use of net proceeds, are forward-looking statements. Forward- looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties and are based on certain factors and assumptions. 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. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companys expectations include uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology, continuity and grade of mineral deposits; uncertainty of estimates of capital and operating costs; the need to obtain additional financing to maintain its interest in and/or explore and develop the Companys mineral projects; uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones for the Companys mineral projects; the world-wide economic and social impact of COVID-19 is managed and the duration and extent of the coronavirus pandemic is minimized or not long-term; disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic or other health and safety issues, or the responses of governments, communities, the Company and others to such pandemic or other issues; and other risks and uncertainties disclosed under the heading Risk Factors in the prospectus of the Company dated March 2, 2012 filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who is no stranger to controversies created an uproar after she tweeted in support of the farmers' protest. She also shared a toolkit or a document but later deleted it, leading many to criticise her. However, she shared an updated toolkit and said that the first one was deleted as it was outdated.

"Here's an updated toolkit by people on the ground in India if you want to help. (They removed their previous document as it was outdated) #StandWithFarmers #FarmersProtest," she tweeted.

Heres an updated toolkit by people on the ground in India if you want to help. (They removed their previous document as it was outdated.)#StandWithFarmers#FarmersProtesthttps://t.co/ZGEcMwHUNL  Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 3, 2021

The toolkit aims to "enable anyone unfamiliar with the ongoing farmers' protest in India to better understand the situation and make decisions on how to support the farmers based on their own analysis". The document also showed how supporters of the farmers' protest could help on social media and on ground.

Meanwhile, a section on social media believes that there is a plan at the international level to defame India over the farmers' protest.

Multiple international celebrities and personalities spoke in favour of the farmers' protest. Popstar Rihanna created quite a stir on social media by sharing a CNN report on the suspension of internet on the protest sites and saying, "Why aren't we talking about this?" Porstar Mia Khalifa and Kamala Harris' niece Meena Harris also spoke in favour of the farmers' protests.

Following this, a host of Indian celebrities tweeted against criticism from international celebrities. "External forces can be spectators but not participants," said Sachin Tendulkar, while Akshay Kumar said, "Let's support an amicable resolution, rather than paying attention to anyone creating differences."

Indias sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants.

Indians know India and should decide for India. Let's remain united as a nation.#IndiaTogether#IndiaAgainstPropaganda  Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) February 3, 2021

The Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement and said that some vested interest groups have tried to enforce their agenda on these protests, and derail them. "Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken," the statement said.

Also read: Rihanna's tweet on farmers protest: Cricketer Monty Panesar invites pop singer for interview

Also read: It's Rihanna vs Kangana on farm protests
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There is a principle often found in the Bible wherein God gives people over to their sins and delusions if they refuse to humble themselves and repent. Consequently, the more we reject the truth, the more deluded we become, and the more we reject the Lords moral standards, the more perverse we become.

We find this principle in Romans 1, which describes the spiritual and moral declension of the human race. In sum, because we rejected God, He gave us over to foolish idolatry. Then, as we persisted in sin, He gave us over to sexual immorality, then to sexual perversion, then to every kind of moral evil.

We find this same principle in 2 Thessalonians 2, but this time in terms of delusional beliefs, as those who reject Gods truth will end up following the Antichrist.

As Paul wrote, The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

Notice carefully: God Himself sends these persistent unbelievers a powerful delusion. They are hardened in their sin, just as Pharaoh was in Exodus. (For a detailed treatment of the Hebrew verbs involved in the biblical account, see here.)

In some cases, we simply reap what we sow, meaning that, the more we walk in error, the further we get into error. The more we walk in disobedience, the more we disobey. (See Galatians 6:7-8.)

In other cases, as with the texts just referenced, God actively gives people over to delusion and deception. This is the judgment they experience for refusing to yield.

Today, we are witnessing a similar phenomenon, be it with people reaping what they have sown or with God giving them over to delusion. Either way, it is frightening to watch this unfold here and now, right in front of our own eyes.

For example, those who continue to believe in the QAnon conspiratorial myths are now espousing even more extreme and bizarre theories.

There can be no reality check because reality no longer has any meaning.

It was one thing when, in the days before Joe Bidens inauguration, the conspiracy theorists told us that the thousands of National Guard troops that flooded the Capital were there to install Donald Trump, not protect Biden.

Yes, we were assured, both Biden, Mike Pence, and others would be arrested, and Trump himself, the rightful president, would be inaugurated.

The theory was bizarre and preposterous, without any foundation in fact, yet the inauguration had not yet taken place. But for those given over to delusion, the events of January 20th presented no problem at all.

Biden, we were told, was not actually installed as our 46th president. It appeared to be him but was not. Trump is still in control. Soon enough the whole world will see. (For a variation of this, actually fact-checked by USA Today, see here.)

This is the madness of delusion. There are no facts. There is no reality. There is only perception.

Thankfully, many QAnon followers did wake up. They had their reality check, with many commenting, Weve all been played.

As Forbes reported, As Joe Biden was sworn in as president, QAnon followers finally saw their hope for the stormwhen President Donald Trump would bring down the deep state and expose a far-reaching child-sex-trafficking ringdisappear, leaving followers of the unhinged conspiracy theory in despair and searching for answers, while one of the most prominent adherents gave up.

On the Christian charismatic, spiritual front, were witnessing a similar phenomenon when it comes to the failed Trump prophecies.

Some leaders have apologized for their wrong words, however well-intentioned the prophecies may have been. And many believers have recognized that these prophetic leaders have erred, calling for honesty and accountability without throwing them under the bus.

But many others have dug in their heels.

Some of those claiming the mantle of prophet have told us that Trump has actually been inaugurated by God, and that it is he, not Biden, who is currently the legitimate, even governing president.

Others are insisting that the big turnaround is still to come, with new dates set for March or April or sometime in the next four years (!). Yet these very same voices guaranteed us that Trump would be inaugurated on January 20th, reaffirming their words in the days leading up to that date. Why the need to shift the dates now? Did God lose track of the time?

As for those of us who would call for accountability, based on clear New Testament principles (see 1 Corinthians 14:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21; 1 John 4:1), we are accused of attacking the prophets, or criticizing the prophets, or shaming the prophets. Dont touch Gods anointed, we are told with threatening intonation. God will strike us if we do.

Still, its one thing for those who made the failed predictions to defend themselves. Its another thing for their followers to do so as well, castigating anyone who would dare point to reality. As one of my colleagues noted, it is a bizarre fulfillment of what God said through the prophet Jeremiah over 2,500 years ago: A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and My people love it this way. But what will you do in the end? (Jeremiah 5:30-31, my emphasis)

The path to delusion has many roadblocks along the way. One of those is called reality. Once we deny that, we are well on our way to dangerous deception.

So, to one and all I say: it is high time for a serious reality check. Those who truly love God will never be hurt by the truth.
She recently celebrated her son Levi's second birthday.

And on Thursday, Jordan Ablett revealed that her son recently experienced another important milestone - his first haircut.

Posting to Instagram, the wife of AFL legend Gary Ablett Jnr shared a sweet photo of her son sitting on his dad's lap as he got his blond locks chopped.

Milestone: She recently celebrated her son Levi's second birthday. And on Thursday, Jordan Ablett revealed he experienced another important milestone - his first haircut. Pictured with his dad Gary Ablett Jnr

'Our boy got his first haircut! Thank you and sorry to @joeyscandizzo for what was both great and terrible all at once,' she captioned the post.

In the image, Levi was beaming in the mirror, while Gary pulled a funny face behind him.

Jordan also shared a short clip of the hairdresser trimming Levi's hair with a comb and scissors.

Chop, chop! Jordan also shared a short clip of the hairdresser trimming Levi's hair with a comb and scissors

It comes after Gary shared a gushing tribute to his son on his second birthday after he and wife Jordan revealed the child suffers from a rare degenerative disease.

Little is known about Levi's condition, but Ablett said he has daily injections and regular trips to the hospital for tests in his birthday tribute.

'Happy birthday my son. How great it is to be your Dad,' Ablett began the post.

Growing boy: Levi's first haircut comes after Jordan (pictured) and Gary celebrated their son's second birthday in January

'You've only been in this world for two young years and yet you've already taught us many lessons that often take a lifetime to learn.

Ablett said he 'loves the quality time' he shares with Levi and went into detail about his son's treatment for his condition.

'Whether it's 2am in the morning while I'm trying to settle you but you just want to play with my face,' he wrote.

Sweet: Gary shared a gushing tribute to his son on his second birthday after he and his wife Jordan revealed the child suffers from a rare degenerative disease

Health: Little is known about Levi's condition, but Ablett said he has daily injections and regular trips to the hospital for tests in his birthday tribute

'Whether it's holding your hand at the hospital for another test or when you have to have your daily injection.'

The father then concluded the tribute, saying he 'loves giving you (Levi) your bottle each day while we look into each other's eyes for a good 10 minutes'.
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Taking over the brand in 2017 as its first female CEO (and one of a handful in the Richemont Groups history), Chabi Nouris driving force at Piaget has been to marry the brands deep roots in watchmaking with its well-earned reputation for magnificent jewellery.



Nouris path to the head of one of Richemonts biggest brands has been imbued with a passion of traditional craftsmanship and savoir-faire. Her multilateral approach made her an ideal candidate to enter the Richemont group in 1997, where she rose in the ranks to eventually become Head of Retail Operation for Europe and the Americas at Cartier in 2003, then Jewellery Group Manager in 2005. She stayed with the renowned watch and jewellery maison for 11 years, and after a short stint at the British American Tobacco company, the call from Richemont came again, except this time from Piaget to be their Chief Marketing Officer in 2014. There, her experience in the watchmaking and jewellery field paid off as she steered Piaget towards rejuvenating and modernising its global image.

Chabi Nouri  Piaget

While Piaget is justifiably well-known for its jewellery collections, the brand also has a rich history in ultra- thin watches, dating all the way back to 1957. Nouri has focused on that aspect, introducing the Altiplano Ultimate Concept in 2018. This revolutionary model broke the record set the previous year for the worlds thinnest automatic watch with its 2mm thickness (case included). Production of this concept watch proved to be an entirely different challenge, one that Nouri decided to capitalise on. Not until almost two years later did the brand announce the commercial version of the Altiplano Ultimate Concept, still just as thin, yet entirely customisable for the client. As such, it vividly embodied Nouris doubling down on Piagets two opposite yet united identities, thus proclaiming that craftmanship manifests itself as much in beautiful gemsetting as it does in innovative mechanics.

*On the occasion of GMT Magazine and WorldTempus' 20th anniversary, we have embarked on the ambitious project of summarising the last 20 years in watchmaking in The Millennium Watch Book, a big, beautifully laid out coffee table book. This article is an extract. The Millennium Watch Book is available on www.the-watch-book.com, in French and English.

Order now
ATLANTA, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Insurance Risk Services of Georgia (IRSG) was requested to complete an Insurance Risk Assessment on Georgia's towing industry for transportation insurance carriers because Georgia had the highest number of towing-related insurance claims in the U.S. for the several years. This assessment found 78% of Georgia tow providers operate illegally, and Atlanta's rate is higher at 87%. As a result, insurance carriers are pulling out of the tow industry or placing language into policies that change coverages and place policy restrictions on tow providers from towing specialty and high-end vehicles due to high repair/replacement costs.

Vehicle Recovered and loaded and secured illegally

Roadside assistance companies provide roadside dispatching and payment towing services to insurance, automotive manufacturers, motor-clubs, and shops. The risk assessment found these roadside companies, who are making a profit for their services, are exposing Georgia motorists to extreme financial risk with the use of tow providers that fail to meet legal standards and training. Roadside companies ignore legal mandates required for towing companies by using unqualified companies and in some cases, conduct illegal activity such as picking up vehicles unattended (auto-theft). Most Atlanta tow companies have no concept of determining the rates needed to cover the required expenses to operate legally. Roadside dispatch companies say the money is with the call volume, but this does not cover the labor clock. Roadside assistance does this to maximize profits and then hide behind vendor contracts that shield the liability and accountability. When vehicle damages occur, the motorist is left to deal with the problem with the tow provider and the insurance company of the motorist. Complaints have been constantly made for years with dealerships, the BBB, and various state and federal agencies with no action.

With Georgia tow operators failing to meet legal requirements, insurance adjusters are denying tow-related claims for various legal reasons, causing motorists to face financial risk and hardship. Statistics show the approval rate for Georgia tow-related insurance claims at 22%, and the average time to process a commercial transportation claim is 143 days from the date of filing and then the settlement is usually a fraction of the claim.

Roadside assistance dispatchers often provide motorists with inaccurate information about services, coverage, and limits. Motorists tend to believe once a request is made, service is dispatched. False! Roadside dispatchers must find a tow provider to accept the job for the rate they are willing to pay. This can take hours and often, does not happen. Leaving a motorist with the false belief that service is on the way.

Roadside assistance companies pay about $33 per tow hook-up. This does not cover the operational costs for a legally compliant tow company operating in Atlanta. According to national research data, the cost to run a tow truck in Atlanta is $79 per truck hour. Vehicle type, problem, equipment, and labor all factor in determining the cost. Roadside assistance tries to pay one service rate and ignore everything else like labor, equipment, and wait-time, leaving motorists with a rude surprise after waiting a few hours only to find the tow provider cannot complete the service because the wrong equipment was dispatched or labor and equipment are needed that are not financially covered. Don't look for payment from Roadside Assistance, because OCGA 40-53-4 places the financial responsibility with the motorist/vehicle owner and no one else.

Research your needs, get educated about needed towing equipment for your vehicle, if you don't have it, you will pay a tow provider to supply it. Perform due diligence, look for tow providers that specialize in your needed situation. This will save you time and money. When using roadside assistance, be cautious if they request a payment, they are adding their profit on top of the actual cost of service. If your vehicle is antique, specialty or valued over $75,000, forget roadside assistance (because the tow provider will not have the insurance). Hire a reputable tow company that has equipment and training that specializes in your situation (parking garage, missing tire, etc.). If a tow operator arrives and uses chains, stop them immediately and get a different tow provider because chains will damage the vehicle at the owner's expense.

Related Images

vehicle-loaded-improperly-illegally.jpg

Vehicle Loaded Improperly & Illegally

Vehicle Recovered and loaded and secured illegally

SOURCE Insurance Risk Services of Georgia
MONTREAL, Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Osisko Metals Incorporated (the "Company" or "Osisko Metals") ( TSX-V: OM ; OTCQX: OMZNF ; FRANKFURT: 0B51 ) is pleased to announce that Pine Point Mining Limited, its 100%-owned subsidiary that controls the Pine Point project, has submitted an Environmental Assessment Initiation Package to the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board. This key step will commence the Environmental Assessment (EA) process for the Pine Point Project.



The initiation package includes a detailed Project Description, the Developers Assessment Proposal detailing the information to be included in the Developers Assessment Report on which the assessment will be based along with supporting documents.

The EA should be completed in approximately eighteen months. Following the successful conclusion of the EA, permit applications for the proposed mine will be submitted to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board and it is expected to take approximately 12 months to process by the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board.

At the completion of the permitting process, the project will be green lighted for the construction and operation of the proposed mine.

Hydrogeological & In-fill Drilling Update

Drilling is progressing at Pine Point with the completion of 2 holes in the R190 prismatic deposit and 2 hydrogeological test holes in the Western and Central Zones of the Project. The Winter program will consist of a total of twenty holes: ten holes designed for hydrogeological & infill, two holes for infill only, and eight holes for hydrogeological purposes only which will be drilled outside of the mineralized trends. Encouragingly, none of the holes drilled to date are producing water to surface. All completed holes will be monitored for water outflow until such time as flow tracing and pumping tests can be performed in Q2 of this year.

About Osisko Metals

Osisko Metals Incorporated is a Canadian exploration and development company creating value in the base metal space. The Company controls one of Canadas premier past-producing zinc mining camps, the Pine Point Project, located in the Northwest Territories for which the 2020 PEA has indicated an after-tax NPV of $500M and an IRR of 29.6%. The Pine Point Project PEA is based on current Mineral Resource Estimates that are amenable to open pit and shallow underground mining and consist of 12.9Mt grading 6.29% ZnEq of Indicated Mineral Resources and 37.6Mt grading 6.80% ZnEq of Inferred Mineral Resources. Please refer to the technical report entitled Preliminary Economic Assessment, Pine Point Project, Hay River, North West Territories, Canada dated July 30, which has been filed on SEDAR. The Pine Point Project is located on the south shore of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, near infrastructure, paved highway access, and has 100 kilometres of viable haulage roads already in place.

The current Mineral Resources mentioned in this press release conform to NI43-101 standards and were prepared by independent qualified persons, as defined by NI43-101 guidelines. The abovementioned Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability. The quantity and grade of the reported Inferred Mineral Resources are conceptual in nature and are estimated based on limited geological evidence and sampling. Geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological grade and/or quality of continuity. Zinc equivalency percentages are calculated using metal prices, forecasted metal recoveries, concentrate grades, transport costs, smelter payable metals and charges (see respective technical reports for details).

For further information on this press release, visit www.osiskometals.com or contact:

Robert Wares, CEO

Osisko Metals Incorporated

(514) 861-4441

Email: info@osiskometals.com

www.osiskometals.com

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves predictions, expectations, interpretations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and constitute forward-looking information. This news release may contain forward-looking information pertaining to the Pine Point Project, including, among other things, the results of the PEA and the IRR, NPV and estimated costs, production, production rate and mine life; the expectation that the Pine Point Project will be an robust operation and profitable at a variety of prices and assumptions; the expected high quality of the Pine Point concentrates; the potential impact of the Pine Point Project in the Northwest Territories, including but not limited to the potential generation of tax revenue and contribution of jobs; and the Pine Point Project having the potential for mineral resource expansion and new discoveries. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management, in light of managements experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, including, without limitation, assumptions about: favourable equity and debt capital markets; the ability to raise additional capital on reasonable terms to advance the development of its projects and pursue planned exploration; future prices of zinc and lead; the timing and results of exploration and drilling programs; the accuracy of mineral resource estimates; production costs; operating conditions being favourable; political and regulatory stability; the receipt of governmental and third party approvals; licences and permits being received on favourable terms; sustained labour stability; stability in financial and capital markets; availability of equipment; and positive relations with local groups. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information are set out in the Companys public documents filed at www.sedar.com. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange 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.

Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 4 : The police at the Taliparamba police station in Kannur district remained silent even as people gathered in large numbers at an 'Adalat' attended by Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shailaja without adhering to the Covid-19 protocols.

Padmanabhan A.M., a local person who was present at the function, complained to the police about the 'callous' attitude of the people and the officials who were in charge of the programme.

Padmanabhan told IANS over phone, "It was total chaos as people came in large numbers without following any social distancing measures." It may be noted that the same Taliparambu police had initiated legal proceedings against 400 Congress workers, including Kannur District Congress Committee chief Satheeshan Pacheni, for violating Covid protocols while participating in the "Aiswarya Kerala Yatra" of opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.

Speaking to IANS, Pacheni said, "This is the new Kerala. The police had charged us for violating Covid protocols, but now the same protocols are being violated at a function attended by the state health minister, but no action has been taken." Kerala has just overtaken Karnataka to become the second most affected state by the Covid-19 pandemic after Maharashtra, reporting as many as 6,102 new cases on Thursday.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2021) - Psyched Wellness Ltd. (CSE: PSYC) (OTCQB: PSYCF) (FSE: 5U9) (the "Company" or "Psyched") a life sciences company focused on the production and distribution of artisanal functional and psychedelic mushrooms, is pleased to share an update on the previously announced study to determine the therapeutic values of muscimol for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory purposes via a nerve derived immunity and neuroprotective modulation models.

The study, led by Brian Tancowny, a scientific advisor to the company, is focused on determining the effectiveness of the Company's AME-1 extract and the active compound muscimol from the Amanita Muscaria mushroom for potential dual antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. An initial set of preclinical tests examining potential allergenicity have been completed and results demonstrate that AME-1 does not have any allergenic properties in an invitro cell-based mast cell model. These initial findings support that AME-1 is not allergenic and as such will not show signs of hypersensitivity when used in a supplement form. Subsequent studies are being conducted to further support these findings and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory studies are also underway.

"These early results are very encouraging from a scientific and health standpoint to demonstrate that AME-1 has no underlying danger and triggering a protective response." says Brian Tancowny, a scientific advisor to the Company.

Jeff Stevens, CEO of Psyched Wellness said, "The research from these studies supports what we already believe-that this special compound will have therapeutic benefits. It is our job to continue to work hard to uncover AME-1's potential, and our research and development team will continue to examine all potential ways that that Amanita Muscaria can have positive impacts on health and wellness."

For further information, please contact:

Jeffrey Stevens

Chief Executive Officer

Psyched Wellness Ltd.

Tel: 647-400-8494

Email: jstevens@psyched-wellness.com

Website: http://www.psyched-wellness.com

For media relations, please contact:

Anne Graf

KCSA Strategic Communications

agraf@kcsa.com

786-390-2644

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider have reviewed or accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About Psyched Wellness Ltd.:

Psyched Wellness Ltd. is a Canadian-based health supplements company dedicated to the distribution of mushroom-derived products and associated consumer packaged goods. The Company's objective is to create premium mushroom-derived products that have the potential to become a leading North American brand in the emerging functional food category. The Company is in the process of developing a line of Amanita muscaria-derived water-based extracts, teas and capsules designed to help with three health objectives: promote stress relief, relaxation and assist with restful sleeping.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information and Statements

This press release contains 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. 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 Psyched Wellness Ltd. current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by Psyched at the date of the information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information, including, without limitation, (i) the accuracy of the Toxicology Assessment, (ii) the safety of Amanita Muscaria consumption and the safety and purity of any extracts thereof, and (iii) the uses and potential benefits of Amanita Muscaria. Given these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, you should not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof, and Psyched 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. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are described under the caption "Risk Factors" in Psyched Wellness Ltd. management's discussion and analysis for the six months ended May 31, 2020 and covering the subsequent period up to July 27, 2020 ("MD&A"), dated July 27, 2020, which is available on Psyched Wellness Ltd. profile at www.sedar.com.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state, province, territory 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, province, territory or jurisdiction.

This news release includes data that has been obtained from third party sources, including the findings from the Toxicology Assessment. The Company believes that the data is accurate and that its estimates and assumptions are reasonable, but there is no assurance as to the accuracy or completeness of this data. Third party sources generally state that the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but there is no assurance as to the accuracy or completeness of included information. Although the data is believed to be reliable, the Company has not independently verified any of the data from third party sources referred to in this news release or ascertained the underlying assumptions relied upon by such sources.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/73627

Publicis Groupe in India has announced the launch of Pub Fit, a group wide wellbeing initiative aimed at employees mental and physical health. The launch of the initiative was attended by Publicis Groupe APAC CEO Anupriya Acharya in conversation with wellbeing specialist Dr Marcus Ranney.

The initiative is aimed at making physically and mentally healthier and more antifragile. A series of social media posts across the groups handles mention that the initiative will be a series of interventions throughout the year to enable everyone to be the best versions of themselves.
-LNBA reacts to U.S sanctions against Cllr. Sherman

Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) president Cllr. Tiawon Gongloe says the United States Treasury Department's decision to sanction one of Liberia's brilliant lawyers, Cllr. Senator H. Varney G. Sherman has cast doubt over all Liberian lawyers, warning that they all may be presumed the same if self - cleansing isn't done.

"Nobody in the Bar feels good about this decision because it casts doubt over all Liberian lawyers, and he's one of our brilliant lawyers, many people are following him, he's a role model for lot of lawyers in terms of the knowledge of the law and all of that," Cllr. Gongloe told an interview with judicial reporters Tuesday, 26 January.

During the interview, Cllr. Gongloe differs with the reaction made against the U.S. Treasury Department by the Liberian Judiciary which claims that the information contained in the statement issued by the US Treasury Department is insufficient to serve as a basis for sanction against Sherman and the referenced judicial actors.

Cllr. Gongloe warns that rather than being more protective, Liberians should be introspective, do a lot of soul - searching and see what is possible to make them look good as a country.

"All of us in the legal profession, in the civil society, in the government, it is about how we look collectively to the world. It is about our collective security, our development. If one of the shining stars in the legal profession is perceived this way, that is not good for us," Cllr. Gongloe explains.

"We have to be honest to ourselves that the United States and its organs ... are better equipped for evidence than we are," Cllr. Gongloe argues.

He argues that this decision did not come from the State Department which speaks politically. Instead, Cllr. Gongloe notes that it is the Treasury Department which is a technical department, urging that when something comes from the Treasury Department, it must be taken more seriously than even the State Department.

The LNBA president states that he cannot say that the U.S. Treasury Department acted without evidence, a contrast to the Liberian Judiciary's reaction to the U.S. institution's sanctions against Sherman and others.

He notes that the Treasury Department acted within the confines of the law, thus advising all lawyers in Liberia including Justices, Judges and everyone to police and guide themselves because the world is watching them on a daily basis, especially with the internet service available.

Cllr. Gongloe reminds Liberian authorities of how the past government of imprisoned former President Charles Ghankay Taylor was challenging the U.S. and the United Nations to show evidence to back their claim about Taylor's involvement in neighboring Sierra Leone's war.

"The government at that time was saying: Where is the evidence? Where are the satellite footages showing people crossing from Liberia to Sierra Leone? That argument did not hold water. It didn't change anything," Cllr. Gongloe recalls. He notes that the international community went ahead through the special court and indicted Taylor, tried and convicted him.

But he says everyone is being watched, and therefore cautions all lawyers in Liberia to be careful because the world is smaller than one may think.

"There are too many things that can record, just don't do anything wrong because there's no secret in public office or in the practice of law. Whatever you do wrong will leak out, so let us be ethical," Cllr. Gongloe cautions.

On 10 December 2020, the U.S. reported that Senator Sherman who chairs the Liberian Senate Judiciary Committee, offered bribes to multiple judges associated with his trial for a 2010 bribery scheme, accusing him further of having an undisclosed conflict of interest with the judge who ultimately returned a not guilty verdict in July 2019.

The U.S. report indicated that Senator Sherman was hired by a British mining company in an effort to obtain one of Liberia's last remaining mining assets, the Wologizi iron ore concession during which he advised the company that, in order to obtain the contract, they first had to get Liberia's procurement and concessions law changed by bribing senior officials.

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Reflected in the report also is a case concerning a 2016 indictment of Sherman by the Liberian government, along with several other government officials, for their involvement in the USD $950,000 bribery scheme.

Three years later in 2019, the report states that the presiding judge acquitted all individuals accused of being involved in the bribery scheme, and adds that Sherman's acts of bribery demonstrate a larger pattern of behavior to exercise influence over the Liberian judiciary and the Ministry of Justice.

But Liberia's judicial branch of government insists that the information contained in the statement issued by the US Treasury Department is insufficient to serve as a basis for sanction against the referenced judicial actors here, weeks after Senator the US placed sanction against Senator H. Varney G. Sherman for bribing judges.
It will be lights, camera, action as students from across Ireland battle it out to be crowned winner of the rescheduled 2020 Junk Kouture Grand Final this Thursday at 7pm on RTE2.

Like most live events last year, Covid-19 led to the postponement of the 10th annual Junk Kouture final in 3Arena Dublin in April 2020, but the curtain didnt fall on Junk Kouture as the team persevered to produce an equally wonderful alternative to their yearly live show.

And now for the first time ever, the Junk Kouture Grand Final supported by the Creative Ireland Programme will be televised, beaming the incredible designs of students into the homes of the nation and showcasing these talented young people who have waited so patiently throughout the pandemic for their moment to shine.

Filmed in breathtakingly beautiful new venues across Ireland, the final has been adapted for the times we live in, not only granting students the opportunity to model their creations in a safe way but to also gain the experience of being one of the stars of a television production.

Hosted by 2FM presenters Laura Fox and Emma Power, viewers at home can expect an extravaganza of performance, art, design, sustainability and high fashion on the night, as students pull out all the stops to impress an expert panel of judges including X-Factor judge Louis Walsh and judge of RuPauls Drag Race Michelle Visage.

There will also be a special musical performance from pop princess and 2FM Rising artist Aimee, who will perform her new single Bulletproof.

All students will strut their stuff in designs made entirely from everyday junk: whether that is old tyres, toothbrushes or burnt toast, anything goes when it comes to Junk Kouture. The golden rule is the outfit must be made from 100% recycled materials.

The winner of Junk Kouture 2020 will walk away with 1,000 with a further 2,000 for the winning school. There will be many other awards up for grabs on the night too at the Winners Party, broadcast on junkkouture.com straight after the main show, including the bright Enterprise Award and the Waste2Wear Creative for a Cause Award.

Meanwhile, the RTE Audience Choice Award will allow the audience at home to have their say by voting for their favourite design on app.junkkouture.com. The winning design will receive an RTE Audience Choice Award trophy and the experience of starring in their very own bespoke social media campaign on RTE's social channels for their design. Voting is now open and and closes 6pm this Friday.

One person who knows that winning feeling is winner of the 2019 competition Maxim OSullivan, 18, who has remained a steadfast member of the Junk Kouture community since his win in 2019. Maxim attended Cannes Film Festival in May 2019 and The Royal Film Performance with the World Premiere of 1917 at ODEON Luxe Leicester Square in London in December 2019.

Maxims winning design Cinematic embodied the iconic Phoenix Cinema in Dingle, created with a clever use of materials sourced from a recent makeover of the cinema which has been owned by Maxims family since the 1970s.

Maxim OSullivan

Junk Kouture Judge Louis Walsh said: I have been judging Junk Kouture for 10 years now and I have to admit, I really feared that the 10th final might not go ahead. There were times when we all thought how can we make this happen? but I am so happy that Junk Kouture has managed to overcome every obstacle and organise an unforgettable show for everyone.

"Its just incredible how things have been turned around and now the final will be on television for the very first time.

"Its the 10th year of Junk Kouture and things are certainly bigger and better than ever. What is even more amazing is that despite Michelle being on the other side of the world, we will be able to judge this competition together side by side thanks to technology. I am so glad to be involved and see what the students have in store for us. They are what Junk Kouture is all about and I cant wait to see who is going to be the next big thing."

Louis Walsh, Maxim O'Sullivan and Michelle Visage
New Delhi, Feb 4 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi may speak in the Rajya Sabha on Monday during the motion of thanks to the President's address, according to sources.

All eyes will be on the Prime Minister during this speech, if it happens.

Sources say the Prime Minister may reply to all the concerns and questions raised by opposition leaders over the farm laws in his address.

Explaining the rationale behind the three farm laws is likely to have enormous political significance in the backdrop of the ongoing farmers' agitation.

This year, the Budget session of Parliament has witnessed massive pandemonium owing to the impasse over the three farm laws.

The House has been adjourned a number of times and the issue has been generating a lot of controversy over the last two days.
The Acting Public Works Minister of Liberia, Ruth Coker-Collins has debunked a wide speculation that the government of Liberia through the Ministry of Public Works has abandoned the road construction of the Gbarnga-Salayea road in the Country.

It has been widely speculated in some quarters in Bong and Lofa Counties that the government of Liberia through the Ministry of Public Work has stopped the road project on ground that the government doesn't have money to complete the project.

She spoke in an exclusive interview with this paper recently in Waterside, Bong County, when she led a team of Public Works officials to visit the Gbarnga-Salayea project site.

But contrary to the speculation, acting Public Works Minister Collins stated that no project, once commenced by the Weah led government will be abandoned.

She further revealed that the government of President George M. Weah remains committed to roads connectivity in Liberia, despite the prevailing economic situation affecting every sector of the country.

She said works are ongoing at various locations including the campsites where materials and equipment are stationed.

She was accompanied by officials of the Infrastructure Implementation Unit (IIU) and inspected the ongoing works at the CHICO query and other corridors along the 81km stretch of road in the Country.

The Gbarnga-Salayea road construction is being done by the China Henan International Cooperation Group (CHICO), a Chinese state-owned construction and engineering company in Liberia.

She said that the movement of equipment from one camp to another along the same project area had been misconstrued by some residents of both counties.

According to her, the construction of roads under the leadership of President Weah remains a top priority.

The construction of the Gbarnga-Salayea road consists of construction works to attain an all-weather asphalted road of an approximate length of about 81 km and a width of 7.5 m, (with 1.5 m. shoulders on each side) between Gbarnga, the capital city of Bong County in the northeast region of Salayea, one of the six districts located in Lofa County
Oh, brother. If you wanted to create a new family fun game Name the Worst of Pa. this Week, youd have competitive choices.

Theres our vaccine distribution, or Operation Molasses. Theres a monumental government screwup impacting victims of child-sex crimes. And theres a state budget plan seeking more of your money that kinda sounds like calliope music.

Good thing there was a snow day. The week coulda been worse.

As is, the Keystone State, once again, looks like a place for the Keystone Kops. Or for public officials running around in big shoes, wigs, with seltzer bottles.

We dont have three branches of government. We have three rings under a tent.

And Philadelphia! Hired college kids for a vaccination center who pocketed doses, took pictures vaccinating each other, and botched appointments for seniors.

Question: How does a state with riches and resources, science and scholarship, always manage to appear politically pathetic?

Answer: Practice, practice, practice.

Topic A is the vaccine. Yet another pile of CDC data shows Pennsylvania still lagging behind a majority of states in terms of vaccinating its citizens.

This after Gov. Tom Wolf initially touted our vaccine rollout as phenomenal, and later (presumably after realizing, OK, maybe somewhat less than phenomenal) claimed we ranked in the middle of states.

Yeah, see, the middle isnt 40th or 39th, which is where we hover.

And whats our Department of Health say? It says we rank in the top five. Yep. In terms of administered doses, we rank in the top five. So, see, were doing great!

Well, at least were doing great spin. We rank in the top five if you use raw population numbers. Wed rank in the top five for anything to do with population  one-armed men, blue-eyed girls  because were the fifth most-populous state.

Guess who ranks above us in terms of administered doses? The four larger states: California, Texas, Florida, New York.

But CDC data reflecting efficiency, namely the percentage of a states population that has gotten at least one shot, shows Pennsylvania 39th -- below the national average, below every neighboring state.

So, stop. Its no time for spin. Its time to do better, as Wolf promised.

Speaking of doing better, I imagine our Department of State (DOS), wishes it could just do basics.

Instead, it flat-out failed a simple duty related to child-sex crimes detailed in a 2018 grand jury report: abuse by 300 Catholic clergy over several decades, with 1,000-plus victims and a massive coverup by the Church.

In the wake of the report, remedies included changing the state Constitution to give survivors a two-year window to sue abusers and institutions after statutes of limitations expire.

But the departments colossal error, leading to Secretary Kathy Boockvars resignation, prevents voters from approving such change as soon as this Mays Primary Election  and at least for another two years, barring a rarely-used emergency amendment fix by the legislature.

All the department had to do was meet a requirement to advertise the change statewide. This must be done each time the legislature passes a proposed constitutional amendment in two successive sessions.

It wasnt done in the last session. So, the multi-year process to get a proposed amendment to voters now has to start all over again.

Incompetence is too mild a word. As the state Office of Victim Advocate put it, This additional victimization to survivors is unconscionable.

And hard to understand. Changing the constitution doesnt come with a checklist? A date trigger? An alert? I get cellphone alerts for a haircut.

And, of course, the state department, after playing good vs. evil with Republicans throughout 2020, just handed the-election-was-rigged crowd a whole new gospel to preach.

Speaking of preaching, Gov. Wolf is preaching big new spending for education and the same ol, same ol: natural gas tax, legal weed, income tax hike, higher minimum wage.

This in a budget delivered virtually that has virtually no shot at passing. Not saying its all bad ideas. But Wolfs new tax and spending plans are to Republicans a viral variant of Wolfs old tax and spending plans: toxic, in need of eradication.

He couldnt get these things in prior years when the legislature was less conservative. Hard to see how he gets them now. Especially since he has such a loving working relationship with lawmakers.

(He doesnt. Thats sarcasm.)

So, enjoy your state, get the vaccine, expect the usual budget slapstick, and hope the future has fewer choices for Name the Worst of Pa. this Week.

John Baer may be reached at baer.columnist@gmail.com.

More from PennLive

Gov. Wolf proposes Pa.s biggest tax increase ever, but it would be a tax cut for many

Pa. budget: Gov. Tom Wolf calls for historic funding increase for public schools

Wolf calls for minimum wage hike, natural gas tax to pay for economic recovery projects
HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global technology company, today announced it has signed a five-year Digital Workplace Services Agreement with Airbus. HCL will establish a modernized digital workplace to enhance the user experience and service quality for the majority of Airbus employees globally. HCL was selected as Airbus preferred partner as it was able to offer the broadest combination of standard functionality and innovation capabilities to generate greater efficiency and improved time to market. HCLs Fluid Workplace Model will enable Airbus to deploy the latest digital technologies and will rapidly simplify Airbus existing IT processes and optimization of delivery costs, using unique end-to-end management services to cover the information and operational technology landscape.

Were delighted to be working with Airbus as a key strategic partner in its digital workplace transformation journey. The combination of HCLs scale transformational expertise and management capabilities of IT and OT landscape will enable Airbus to remain at the forefront of innovation and deliver leading-edge user experiences, said Sandeep Saxena, Executive Vice President (UK&I, France & Benelux), HCL Technologies.

About HCL Technologies

HCL Technologies (HCL) empowers global enterprises with technology for the next decade, today. HCLs Mode 1-2-3 strategy, based on its deep-domain industry expertise, client-centricity and entrepreneurial culture of Ideapreneurship, enables businesses to transform into next-gen enterprises.

HCL offers its services and products through three business units: IT and Business Services (ITBS), Engineering and R&D Services (ERS) and Products & Platforms (P&P). ITBS enables global enterprises to transform their businesses through offerings in the areas of applications, infrastructure, digital process operations and next generation digital transformation solutions. ERS offers engineering services and solutions in all aspects of product development and platform engineering. P&P provides modernized software products to global clients for their technology and industry specific requirements. Through its cutting-edge co-innovation labs, global delivery capabilities and broad global network, HCL delivers holistic services in various industry verticals, categorized as Financial Services, Manufacturing, Technology and Services, Telecom and Media, Retail and CPG, Life Sciences and Healthcare, and Public Services.

As a leading global technology company, HCL takes pride in its diversity, social responsibility, sustainability, and education initiatives. For the 12 months ended December 31, 2020 HCL had consolidated revenue of US$ 10.02 billion. Its 159,682 Ideapreneurs operate out of 50 countries.

For more information, visit www.hcltech.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005539/en/

Jakarta: Medical workers across Myanmar began a civil disobedience protest against Mondays coup, wearing red ribbons and declaring they wont work for the new military government.

The army takeover that ousted the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi over allegations of fraud in Novembers elections could not have come at a worse time for a country battling a steady rise in COVID-19 cases with a dangerously inadequate health system.

Medical workers across Myanmar have begun a civil disobedience protest against the coup, pinning red ribbons and declaring they wont work for the military government. Credit:AP

We want to show the world we are totally against military dictatorship and we want our elected government and leader back, said Dr. Zun Ei Phyu, who lives in Yangon, the biggest city and commercial capital. We want to show them we will follow only our elected government. Not the military.

Health workers in government hospitals and facilities issued a statement on Wednesday opposing the coup. Photos were shared on social media showing workers with red ribbons pinned to their clothes or holding printed photos of red ribbons. Others used a three-finger salute that has become a symbol of pro-democracy protests in neighboring Thailand, where a former general has led the government since a 2014 coup.
[February 04, 2021] 120Water Forms Advisory Board of Industry Leaders to Drive Innovation

ZIONSVILLE, Ind., Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 120Water, a leading digital water platform, announced the formation of an Advisory Board to provide insight to help 120Water continue innovating solutions and services that will drive growth and add value to customers.

In 2020, 120Water achieved 250 percent revenue growth and expanded its customer base to 19 states. Key product and service innovations included a COVID-19 wastewater monitoring solution, the Lead Service Line Probability Finder to help municipalities map their existing lead service lines, and an automated communications module and Public Transparency Dashboard to help utilities comply with new Lead & Copper Rule communications mandates. The Advisory Board consists of the countrys foremost authorities on water quality, including: Tom Ferguson, managing partner at Burnt Island Ventures, a San Francisco-based early stage venture fund for the water sector. He previously was with Imagine H2O, a nonprofit that empowers people to deploy, develop and scale innovations to solve water challenges globally, where he managed the Acceleratr program.

Adam Tank, a digital water expert and innovator who has worked to bridge the gap between innovative technology and one of the world's most valuable resources: water. Tank is the director of software solutions for Transcend Water, a developer of SaaS solutions that help water companies quickly generate engineering-grade water treatment facility designs. He also has served as director of smart cities for SUEZ, and led the digital water division at General Electric, where he developed new smart products and services for water utilities.

Jim Williams, general manager, Peerless-Midwest/SUEZ, a water supply contracting and hydrogeologic services company. Williams has spent more than 30 years with Peerless-Midwest, and was a catalyst for the companys acquisition by SUEZ in 2016. An accomplished water industry professional, Williams is the immediate past president of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), and has served on the board of directors of Water For People.





As we prepare for our next phase of growth, we have thoughtfully expanded our leadership, advisors and board of directors to provide insight to drive new products and services, said Megan Glover, CEO of 120Water. With the addition of our new Advisory Board members we are positioned to continue solving the complex and costly challenges faced by water systems while empowering water professionals to protect public health. About 120Water

Water professionals across the country rely on 120Water to streamline and modernize their most complex drinking water and wastewater initiatives. The 120Water platform consists of sample & filter kits, cloud-based software, and services used to manage and execute water programs at scale while saving operational resources. 120Water solutions are used across the United States for clients including the city of Newark (NJ), Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, Chicago Public Schools, and Indiana Finance Authority. More information is available at 120Water.com and on Twitter @120_Water.

For information contact: Linda Muskin, 847-432-7300

lmuskin@teamclarus.com Mara Conklin, 847-816-9411

mconklin@teamclarus.com



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This initiative will focus on upgrading information levels on implanting, administration and maintenance of chemo ports amongst all cancer stakeholders and caregivers.

BD-India (Becton, Dickinson and Company) has announced the launch of a specialist educational programme on chemo ports on World Cancer Day, observed on February 4, every year.

This initiative will focus on upgrading information levels on implanting, administration and maintenance of chemo ports amongst all cancer stakeholders and caregivers. Experts believe that the intensive information and knowledge around ports can greatly improve the treatment regime & quality of life for breast cancer patients significantly.

Dr Harit Chaturvedi - Chairperson, Max Institute of Cancer Care, Delhi emphasises Chemo ports have contributed significantly in improving the journey for cancer patients. One prick at every chemo session is a great assurance necessary for a person who has to go through this week after week for a few months.

Pavan Mocherla, Managing Director-BD-India/South Asia said,  Our new initiative, Port Shala has been designed specifically to generate awareness around cancer and chemo ports. It will enable nurses and technicians to enhance their skill and knowledge on care and maintenance of chemo ports for breast and colon cancer patients.

PortShala aims to aid continuous learning about new and developing science in chemo ports and facilitate a deeper understanding of chemo port usage amongst healthcare workers, cancer caregivers and patients. Based on the principle of 4As namely awareness, application, adoption and advocacy, PortShala will comprise of hands-on programmes, webinars and virtual experience sharing platforms for the medical fraternity to update on the latest technology and knowledge.
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Malawi Police at Nthalire in Chitipa have arrested a 20 year-old woman for allegedly killing her own child.

Police identified the suspect as Mphatso Kaonga from Lwayo village in the area of traditional authority Nthalire in the district.

It is reported that the suspect had a one year and nine months old baby girl who was sick often.

On Monday she left home (Mahowe) for Nthalire trading centre with her baby.

On the way it is believed that she killed the baby by suffocating her with a piece of cloth and threw her body in a toilet.

When she returned to her home village after some days, she was cornered of the missing child and later she revealed the ordeal.

The scene was visited by the police and the health personnel from Nthalire after a tip who found the body in a decomposed state.

It is alleged that she killed the baby because she was tired with her frequent illnesses.

She will appear in court soon to answer murder charges.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has opened the consultative conference on Wednesday between regional states leaders and the federal government.

According to reliable sources close to the meeting said the first day of the summit focused on issue of election procedure for Somaliland MPs.

The sources also revealed that the regional state leaders called Senate speaker Abdi Hashi told him the issue was discussed with the Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Guled and presented the their discussion in the summit.

On Tuesday Somali Senate speaker Abdi Hashi notified Galmudug leader Abdi Kariye QorQor that he will be attending the FGS-FMS conference in Dhusamareb without an official invitation since the dispute over the election procedure for Somaliland MPs was on agenda for talks.

He was later blocked from attending the summit.

Dhusamareb IV summit is bringing together Somali political leaders including President Farmaajo the leaders of Galmudug, Southwest, Hirshabelle, Puntland, Jubbaland.

Prime Minister Roble is also attending the summit along with Benadir governor Omar Filish.

Farmaajo has less than a week left for his four year term and stressed out the importance to hold transparent elections.

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I sympathize with the neighbors, Buchanan said. I think some trust was lost, according to them, by the initial process a year ago when the parking garage plan came in front of the plan commission and the neighbors hadnt been involved at all. Im amazed how much developers and the hospital are willing to change their plans. I appreciate the neighbors and Im also sympathetic to their desires. I favor the plan commission recommendation. If the hospital can do it with one less floor, thats what Id be in favor of.

We all know about cats and their curiosity, and Ive witnessed that many times with Darlin, my therapy cat, who tries to run through every open door and jump into every open cabinet. I have also observed that cats can be vengeful and pilfering little dickens.

Case in point: My cat and I have a routine - early to bed and early to rise. Once, in a world far away and hard to remember (i.e., pre-pandemic) I was having fun with friends and lost track of time, returning home at a late hour. The first thing I noticed was my cat, with her back to me, curled up and glaring at the carpet. The next thing that caught my eye was that the various piles of paper that line my home office central were scattered all over the living room floor with several that were ripped and apparently chewed. And then I saw that my entire candle collection that is usually on the cocktail table was strewn about the room as well.
Good morning.

There is a fair bit of snow on the roads, so morning commuters might want to give themselves extra time for their trip.

Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal and Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand will announce a partnership to strengthen economic development opportunities later this morning.

Ottawa is proceeding with efforts to help Hong Kong residents remain in Canada instead of returning to face China's clampdown on democracy.

 Adam Treusch, assignment editor
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
A COVID-19 patient from Hanoi visited many places, including two coffee shops and a massage parlor, in Ho Chi Minh City before he tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, according to an epidemiological investigation.

The patient has been identified as 45-year-old N.A.S., who works as a notary in the capital city.

His test result was confirmed by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday. He was then coded patient No. 1,883.

S. had come into close contact with an infected patient at Notary Office No. 3 at 6 Duy Tan Street, Dich Vong Hau Ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi on January 27, according to the health ministrys epidemiological investigation.

At least twenty-two people who had been confirmed as his direct contacts at Notary Office No. 3 have tested negative once.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health released his detailed travel history on January 29.

At 6:30 am, S. took flight VN7245 operated by Vietnam Airlines to Ho Chi Minh City. His seat was 23C.

He arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at 9:00 am and caught a taxi to a coffee shop on Bui Vien Street in District 1.

The coffee shop is 50 meters from Sabroso Cafe, located at 211 Bui Vien.

He sat on the sidewalk at the coffee shop for 15 minutes. A waiter and a Filipino customer were present at the venue at that time.

Patient No. 1,883 then walked to Sabroso Cafe to meet his friend D. and the latters wife and kid for an hour.

Two servers got into contact with S., one of whom lives in Nha Be District, Ho Chi Minh City while the other dwells in Binh Duong.

At 11:00 am, D. drove S. in a car to meet L.

D. then went home in the same car.

Around noon, S. and L. had lunch at Bun Bo Hanh on Banh Van Tran Street, Ward 7, Tan Binh District.

Both went on to have coffee at 149/12 Banh Van Tran Street Ward 7, Tan Binh District, where they had contact with two staff members.

From 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm, they used services at a massage parlor on Nguyen Chi Thanh Street in District 5, where they came into contact with 10 employees.

At 5:00 pm, the two men visited T. in Tan Binh District.

L. left T.s house after 5-10 minutes whereas S. stayed there.

T.s wife, son, and niece were upstairs when S. and L. were present downstairs.

T. took S. by motorbike to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Tan Binh District and returned home.

At 7:45 pm, S. caught flight QH242 operated by Bamboo Airways to Hanoi and arrived at Noi Bai International Airport at 10:00 pm. His seat was 35C.

Patient No. 1,883 had also come into contact with multiple people in Hanoi, which has recorded 21 local infections since last week, prior to his diagnosis.

Health authorities have been calling on those flying or coming into contact with the patient to keep in touch with local medical facilities to have their health monitored.

Vietnam has documented 1,948 coronavirus cases, including 1,059 domestic infections, as of Thursday morning, with 1,461 recoveries and 35 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The country has logged 366 local infections since a new COVID-19 wave hit it on January 27.

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As of the beginning of 2021, Egypt and the UK are exchanging goods according to a new Association Agreement signed early in December 2020. The agreement replaces the Egypt-EU Association Agreement that previously governed relations between the two countries but had to be discarded with the exit of the UK from the EU.

The conclusion of the agreement was imperative to ensure stable and continuous relations between the parties, director of trade in goods at the Ministry of Trade and Industry Iman Refaat told a webinar organised by the British-Egyptian Businessmens Association.

In the absence of such an agreement, both parties would have reverted to Most Favoured Nation (MFN) terms of trade, she said, explaining that this would have meant that Egypt would have imposed an average of 19 per cent tariffs on goods imported from the UK while the UK would have imposed an average 5.7 per cent tariffs.

The new agreement covers trade in goods, including provisions on technical matters like rules of origin, preferential treatment, and quotas. It also covers trade in services, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property, and government procurement.

The UK is one of Egypts major trading partners, with total bilateral trade in 2019 reaching 3.6 billion pounds sterling. UK exports to Egypt accounted for 2.3 billion pounds sterling.

While Egypt has already ratified the agreement, the UK is in the process of doing so and could finish in February, said Paul Mullard, senior trade policy advisor at the UKs Department of International Trade.

The whole point of the agreement was to ensure continuity; hopefully, it does that, Mullard said, adding that it also provides for a dialogue mechanism to tackle any concerns that could come up during implementation.

Refaat reiterated that the agreement provides an opportunity to enhance relations on both sides. She said Egyptian agricultural exports had high potential in the UK market, with UK statistics showing that UK imports of fruit and vegetables were 11.5 billion pounds sterling in 2019 vs exports of 1.3 billion pounds sterling.

Egypts exports of fruit and vegetables were around 160 million pounds sterling in 2019.

According to Refaat, for trade in goods, tariff commitments have been transferred, while for agricultural produce tariff rate quotas have been resized to take into account principles agreed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and historic utilisation rates.

Strawberries are an exception, since here Egypt is able to increase the tariff-free volume of quotas.

During the negotiations we agreed that the further liberalisation of agricultural produce would be at the top of future agendas, Refaat said.

The new agreement is a window of opportunity, according to Ahmed Ezzeddin of Fed International for Industry and Trade, which has been exporting food products to the UK for 30 years and more recently has also been exporting home textiles made of linen and Egyptian cotton.

Ezzeddin said that over the past three months there has been increasing interest by UK companies in Egyptian exports. He explained that such companies had earlier sourced their goods from the EU, but because they had been forecasting disruptions when the transitional period was over before the UKs leaving the EU went into full effect at the beginning of last month, they had been looking for new sourcing countries.

This is an opportunity for Egyptian companies to grow, he said, adding that there still needed more work to be done to build awareness among British companies through match-making meetings and trade missions.

Refaat pointed to the opportunities for the UK if it were to take advantage of Egypts multiple international agreements such as the Greater Arab Free Trade Area and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA).

Egypt is conducting several projects in Africa to enhance its position as a regional hub for international trade and energy, Refaat said, adding that there were many opportunities for UK companies to invest in Egypt and to take advantage of the access the agreements could give UK products in the African market.

The UK is a big fan of AfCTA, Mullard said, adding that it had been studying how to use the AfCTA and Egypts bilateral trade agreements to deepen relations between the UK and Egypt and the rest of Africa.

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BEVERLY, Mass., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Supporting Strategies, a provider of outsourced bookkeeping services, controller services and operational support, is pleased to announce the recent hire of Hayden Huff. She will serve as Business Development Partner at Supporting Strategies | Boston.

In her new role, Huff will establish and nurture relationships in the Boston area to drive brand awareness and growth and be an invaluable source to the company's business partners. She will also work with clients to ensure they receive superior service and to determine how her team can help them thrive through support from the Supporting Strategies network.

"I'm thrilled to be joining a team that not only feels passionate about their work, but also has a genuine interest in each client's business," Huff says. "I have a strong desire to help our clients and partners grow, and I am ecstatic about the opportunity to be an irreplaceable resource, a connector and available to help."

Prior to joining Supporting Strategies, Huff served as Account Executive with a provider of cloud-based payroll and human capital management software. After breaking open a cold territory in Philadelphia, where she averaged the highest revenue per unit sold on her team, she earned a promotion to Boston, where she fostered relationships with key strategic partners and was responsible for lead profiling and generation in her market.

Earlier in her career, Huff was an Account Manager and Recruiter with an IT staffing and managed services firm. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Missouri.

"We couldn't be more excited to have Hayden join our team," said Janean Sullivan, Business Development Manager at Supporting Strategies | Boston. "She brings so much passion, energy and drive into everything she does along with a track record to prove it. There is no one better suited to grow our flagship office to new heights."

Supporting Strategies | Boston serves clients in a wide range of industries, including technology, life sciences, professional services and nonprofit organizations.

About Supporting Strategies

Supporting Strategies provides outsourced bookkeeping services, controller services and operational support to growing businesses. Since 2004, our locally owned and operated offices have served thousands of companies, helping business leaders free up their time, focus on their core competency and streamline their business. Our experienced, U.S.-based professionals use secure, best-of-breed technology and a proven process to deliver a full suite of services, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, bookkeeping, financial analysis, payroll administration and more. For more information, please visit supportingstrategies.com.

SOURCE Supporting Strategies | Boston

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PITTSBURGH, Feb. 4, 2021 - Researchers at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) demonstrate that changing the gut microbiome can transform patients with advanced melanoma who never responded to immunotherapy--which has a failure rate of 40% for this type of cancer--into patients who do.

The results of this proof-of-principle phase II clinical trial were published online today in Science. In this study, a team of researchers from UPMC Hillman administered fecal microbiota transplants (FMT) and anti-PD-1 immunotherapy to melanoma patients who had failed all available therapies, including anti-PD-1, and then tracked clinical and immunological outcomes. Collaborators at NCI analyzed microbiome samples from these patients to understand why FMT seems to boost their response to immunotherapy.

"FMT is just a means to an end," said study co-lead author Diwakar Davar, M.D., a medical oncologist and member of the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program (CIIP) at UPMC Hillman and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "We know the composition of the intestinal microbiome--gut bacteria--can change the likelihood of responding to immunotherapy. But what are 'good' bacteria? There are about 100 trillion gut bacteria, and 200 times more bacterial genes in an individual's microbiome than in all of their cells put together."

Fecal transplant offers a way to capture a wide array of candidate microbes, testing trillions at once, to see whether having the "good" bacteria on board could make more people sensitive to PD-1 inhibitors. This study is among the first to test that idea in humans.

Davar and colleagues collected fecal samples from patients who responded extraordinarily well to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy and tested for infectious pathogens before giving the samples, through colonoscopy, to advanced melanoma patients who had never previously responded to immunotherapy. The patients were then given the anti-PD-1 drug pembrolizumab. And it worked.

Out of 15 advanced melanoma patients who received the combined FMT and anti-PD-1 treatment, six showed either tumor reduction or disease stabilization lasting more than a year.

"The likelihood that the patients treated in this trial would spontaneously respond to a second administration of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy is very low," said study co-senior author Hassane Zarour, M.D., a cancer immunologist and co-leader of the CIIP at UPMC Hillman as well as a professor of medicine at Pitt. "So, any positive response should be attributable to the administration of fecal transplant."

Analysis of samples taken from FMT recipients in this study revealed immunologic changes in the blood and at tumor sites suggesting increased immune cell activation in responders as well as increased immunosuppression in non-responders. Artificial intelligence linked these changes to the gut microbiome, likely caused by FMT.

Davar and Zarour hope to run a larger trial with melanoma patients, as well as evaluating whether FMT may be effective in treating other cancers. Ultimately, their goal is to replace FMT with pills containing a cocktail of the most beneficial microbes for boosting immunotherapy--but that's still several years away.

"Even if much work remains to be done, our study raises hope for microbiome-based therapies of cancers," said Zarour, who holds the James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin Chair in Melanoma Immunotherapy Research at UPMC Hillman.

###

Additional authors on the study include Amiran Dzutsev, M.D., John McCulloch, Ph.D., Richard Rodriguez, M.B.A., Jonathan Badger, Ph.D., Marie Vetizou, Ph.D., Alicia Cole, Miriam Fernandes, Ph.D., Stephanie Prescott, M.S.N., C.R.N.P., Rachel Costa, M.S., Ascharya Balaji and Giorgio Trinchieri, M.D., of the National Cancer Institute; Joe-Marc Chauvin, Ph.D., Robert Morrison, M.D., Richelle Deblasio, Carmine Menna, Quanquan Ding, Ph.D., Ornella Pagliano, Bochra Zidi, Ph.D., Shuowen Zhang, Hong Wang, Ph.D., Scarlett Ernst, Amy Rose, Yana Najjar, M.D., and John Kirkwood, M.D., of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center; Andrey Morgun, M.D., Ph.D., of Oregon State University; Ivan Vujkovic-Cvijin, Ph.D., and Yasmine Belkaid, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and Amir Borhani, M.D., Marc Schwartz, M.D., and Howard Dubner, M.D., of Pitt.

Funding for this study was provided by Merck and the NCI (R01 CA222203 and P30 CA047904).

To read this release online or share it, visit http://www. upmc. com/ media/ news/ 020421-Davar-Zarour-Science [when embargo lifts].

About UPMC Hillman Cancer Center

UPMC Hillman Cancer Center is the region's only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and is one of the largest integrated community cancer networks in the United States. Backed by the collective strength of UPMC--which is ranked No. 15 for cancer care nationally by U.S. News & World Report - and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center has nearly 80 locations throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and Maryland, with cancer centers and partnerships internationally. The more than 2,000 physicians, researchers, and staff are leaders in molecular and cellular cancer biology, cancer immunology, cancer virology, biobehavioral cancer control, and cancer epidemiology, prevention, and therapeutics. UPMC Hillman Cancer Center is transforming cancer research, care, and prevention -- one patient at a time.

About the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

As one of the nation's leading academic centers for biomedical research, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine integrates advanced technology with basic science across a broad range of disciplines in a continuous quest to harness the power of new knowledge and improve the human condition. Driven mainly by the School of Medicine and its affiliates, Pitt has ranked among the top 10 recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1998. In rankings recently released by the National Science Foundation, Pitt ranked fifth among all American universities in total federal science and engineering research and development support.

Likewise, the School of Medicine is equally committed to advancing the quality and strength of its medical and graduate education programs, for which it is recognized as an innovative leader, and to training highly skilled, compassionate clinicians and creative scientists well-equipped to engage in world-class research. The School of Medicine is the academic partner of UPMC, which has collaborated with the University to raise the standard of medical excellence in Pittsburgh and to position health care as a driving force behind the region's economy. For more information about the School of Medicine, see http://www. medschool. pitt. edu .

http://www. upmc. com/ media

Contact: Erin Hare

Mobile: 412-738-1097

E-mail: HareE@upmc.edu

Contact: Cyndy Patton

Mobile: 412-415-6085

E-mail: PattonC4@upmc.edu


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Student gets religious accommodation to high school's sex ed requirement

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A public high school in Illinois has approved a students request for a religious exemption from a required sexuality program after a national legal group voiced concern that the student faced the threat of possible discipline for her refusal to take part in the program.

The First Liberty Institute announced Thursday that senior Marcail McBride's parents are satisfied with the offer from administrators at Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora for their daughter to complete an alternate assignment instead of participating in the schools Student Gender and Sexuality Program.

In a statement, the legal group said that the academy reversed its position and approved senior Marcail McBrides request for a religious accommodation.

We are grateful to President [Jose] Torres and school officials at IMSA for following the law by granting our client an accommodation, First Liberty Institute Counsel Keisha Russell said in a statement.

Schools should respect the religious beliefs of their students. Marcail and her parents are pleased that she will not be punished for acting according to her conscience.

On Tuesday, Russell sent a letter to Torres urging the IMSA to grant McBride an accommodation from the requirement that students participate in the program that the family felt contradicted their religious beliefs on sexuality and gender identity.

In the letter, Russell claimed that the family first submitted a written request for their daughter to be excused from the program in November. The program, he said, forced the student to participate in activities and discussions regarding human sexuality that require, pressure, or coerce her to violate her religious principles.

The program thus does not respect differing religious beliefs about gender and sexuality and pressures students to affirmatively signal their agreement with the curriculum, Russell argued.

The program "classifies anyone who believes homosexuality is sinful or immoral as being in the same category as those who are repulsed by it or think it is 'crazy.' It also rewards students who affirm the program's teachings with SafeZone stickers and pins and calls them an "ally."

The legal group reported that Associate Director of Student Affairs, Chief Hearing Officer Dana Ginnett sent an email ordering McBride to complete the program by Jan. 30 or face disciplinary action. Ginnett allegedly cited a school policy requiring students to attend all required assemblies and meetings of a non-academic nature.

On Monday, the student was reportedly informed that the IMSA Student Affairs Department would conduct a disciplinary hearing this week. The next day, First Liberty Institute intervened by sending Russells demand letter to Torres.

Tami Armstrong, head of the schools public affairs office, told CP on Tuesday that the school had reached out to the student's parents and offered an alternative solution that will resolve this matter.

She again confirmed Wednesday that the school had provided accommodations to the schools diversity and education requirements for the student.

First Liberty Institute Director of Communications Chris Freund told CP Wednesday that instead of participating in the program, McBride will have to write a brief essay on creating a safe environment at school for all students.

We take these matters seriously, and will use this as an opportunity to review all of our practices and ensure that our students feel safe and welcomed at IMSA," the school assured in a formal statement.

"IMSA embraces an inclusive environment where all students feel supported and are extended a sense of belonging regardless of race, class, gender, religion, accessibility, and socioeconomic status identity.





Taiwan and Somaliland have begun implementing parts of a previously signed cooperation agreement, which is part of a development program aimed at boosting Somaliland's agricultural production.

The Somaliland Ministry of Agriculture and officials from the Taiwanese embassy held a joint meeting in Hargeisa on Tuesday to announce a new program that will see Somaliland farmers increase their productivity.

Roble Abdi Muse, director of the Somaliland Ministry of Agriculture, said the program is part of a series of projects being implemented by the self-declared nation Taiwan.

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"It is a project designed in a collaborative manner, with the ministry adding that Taiwan will bring in the rest. This project is different from other projects in that it is a pilot project," said Director Roble.

"Taiwan will set up a farm in the country, which will serve as a showpiece so that the farm will use modern methods to produce more land."

The project will help Somaliland farmers increase their productivity by cultivating limited land, which has boosted their income and agricultural production.
Press Release

4 February 2021

Whitbread, the owner of the Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn hotel brands, is gearing itself up for a successful summer of staycations in Scotland with four new hotels due to open in the coming months.

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The new hotels include a new super-sized Premier Inn in Glasgow city centre, a new hotel on Edinburgh's Princes Street and the most northerly Premier Inn in the UK at Thurso in the Highlands.

Together the hotels will add more than 550 new bedrooms into Premier Inn's growing network in Scotland and are expected to create around 150 new year-round jobs ahead of the busy summer trading period.

Alex Flach, Development Director at Premier Inn, said: "We expect that this summer will be a busy year for staycations so it's fantastic to have four new Premier Inn hotels opening in such popular locations in Scotland - from prime city centre sites to adventure tourism hotspots."

"Despite the challenges posed by Covid-19, we are committed to growing our network of Premier Inn hotels in Scotland and see strong long-term demand for our bedrooms in both urban and popular leisure locations. Our goal is to deliver new Premier Inn bedrooms into strategic locations where our brands are not currently represented and where we wish to improve our network and product for our guests."

"We're actively on the lookout for new opportunities to make it even easier for both leisure and business travelers to enjoy the country affordably."

The 249-bedroom hotel in Glasgow's St Enoch Square - a prime location in the city centre - was handed over to Premier Inn's operation team on Friday [15th January].

The hotel will be the first in Scotland to include the Bar + Block Steakhouse restaurant brand and grows Premier Inn's network of hotels in the centre of Scotland's largest city to over 1,200 rooms.

On Edinburgh's world-famous Princes Street, Whitbread will open a new 136-bedroom hotel, adding additional capacity to one of Premier Inn's strongest markets where it sees huge year-round demand for its bedrooms.

The opening also increases Premier Inn's network to over 1,000 bedrooms in Edinburgh city centre.

The most northerly Premier Inn will open in Thurso in May, located on the North Coast 500 tourist route in the Highlands, which is becoming increasingly popular for staycations and adventure tourism. Completing the line-up is a new Premier Inn and Beefeater in Hamilton town centre, where Whitbread is responding to a high-level of demand from business travellers and regenerating a key city centre site.

Whitbread has been growing strongly in leisure locations in Scotland in recent years, with new additions to its network at Aviemore (February 2020) and Oban (February 2019) as well as extensions to popular trading hotels in Edinburgh and Inverness.

Outside of the UK, Whitbread's expansion plans are focused on Germany where it has an open and committed pipeline of 12,000 hotel rooms across 68 hotels in key towns and cities across the country.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from Teamsters Local 96 President Wilder Reed regarding a fire on a gas line in which three bargaining unit members employed by Washington Gas (WGL) were injured:

"Earlier today three members of Teamsters Local 96 were injured in a fire while on a job in Springfield, Virginia. All three members are receiving medical care for non-life-threatening injuries. We are in touch with them and the union is thankful that their injuries were not more severe.

"This incident serves as a reminder of the incredible bravery, dedication and heroism that essential service workers at WGL bring to their jobs every single day. We ask that the public keep our members and their families in their thoughts and prayers."

For more information on Teamsters Local 96, go to https://www.teamsterslocal96.org/.

Contact:

Matt McQuaid, (617) 894-0669

[email protected]

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Related Links

http://www.teamster.org


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In her recent Global Opinions column for The Washington Post, prominent Turkish analyst Asli Aydintasbas cited a senior adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as having told her that Turkey is ready to normalize relations with Armenia after helping its regional ally Azerbaijan defeat the country in a short and bloody war last November to wrest back control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The official now says they could engage with their historic foe and even open the border crossing, she noted. The unnamed official told her, The problem for us has always been Armenian occupation of Azeri territory. Thats now resolved. If Armenia is willing to take a step, we are ready.

The assertion chimes with Turkeys long-held policy that it would not establish diplomatic relations with its eastern neighbor nor reopen borders with it until it withdrew from Nagorno-Karabakh. The borders were sealed in 1993 to show solidarity with Azerbaijan over Armenias occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-majority enclave that was bestowed by Joseph Stalin to Baku to keep the satellites divided and firmly under Soviet grip.

Critics say Turkeys apparent magnanimity smacks more of its recent efforts to fix its battered ties with Washington without making the concessions that are actually being demanded of it, namely to get rid of its Russian S-400 missiles immediately. While Aydintasbas agrees that Turkey may be driven by expediency she argues that this is irrelevant. Sometimes self-serving positions end up producing positive outcomes. This is the first time Turkish officials are formulating a very clear proposal to normalize relations with Armenia, Aydintasbas told Al-Monitor. I hope the international community can encourage this.

The United States and Switzerland were burned once already in 2009, when Turkey signed what was then hailed as historic set of accords they had helped broker with Armenia to forge diplomatic ties and reopen their common borders only to have Erdogan cave to Azerbaijani pressure and walk away.

Aydintasbas insists, however, that Azerbaijan no longer poses a hurdle. Turkish officials underline that they have spoken to [President Ilham] Aliyev and have his consent, she said. Cavid Aga, an Ankara-based Azerbaijani analyst and blogger, believes, however, that Azerbaijan would object to any border opening that preceded the opening of a proposed corridor connecting Nakhichevan, an Azerbaijani enclave on the Turkish border, with Azerbaijan proper. We cant go to Nakhichevan like in Soviet times. We either have to take a flight, which doesnt happen due to [COVID-19 related] quarantine, or pass through rugged Iranian territory. So, if Turkey opens borders with Armenia this would seem unjust to us, he said.

Setting aside such considerations, what of Armenia? Is it willing to take a step?

Not any time in the near future, asserted a senior Armenian diplomat speaking on condition that he not be identified by name. The diplomat contended that the Turkish overtures were linked to President Joe Bidens vows to join a growing number of nations that have formally recognized the mass murder of more than a million Ottoman Armenians in 1915 as a genocide. Turkey has for decades spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying to avert such recognition and blames the deaths on exposure to the elements, hunger and disease in the midst of conflict. Most credible historians agree that it was a genocide.

Turkeys open support to Azerbaijans war of aggression in the form of its top military expertise, consultants, weapons as well as recruitment and transportation of Islamic mercenaries [from Syria] resuscitated century-old held Armenian fears of genocide, the diplomat said. It is shocking that a country may stick to genocidal intent for a century, without feeling an inch of guilt for what it its predecessors did, [rather than] acknowledge and repent for the crime, he added.

Such sentiments are widespread. Reconciliation with Turkey would likely deliver a fatal blow to beleaguered Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who faces popular calls for his resignation over his handling of the war. Jake Hanrahan, creator of the independent conflict journalism platform Popular Front who recently traveled to Nagorno-Karabakh, reckons the Armenian people would be absolutely disgusted by any rapprochement with Turkey. There are literally Turkish flags visible from [the Armenian-held town] Stepanakert [in Nagorno-Karabakh] right now hanging from [Azerbaijan-held] Shushi, a place where Armenians had their heads cut off on camera by Turkish-backed Azerbaijani forces, he told Al-Monitor. If the Armenian government decides to do this now, they will lose what scraps of faith they had from the people of Karabakh, Hanrahan added.

Hanrahan was referring to several gruesome videos that circulated on social media as the war raged on showing Azerbaijani forces decapitating two men believed to be Armenians. They stake the head of one on a pigs carcass, saying, This is how we get revenge  by cutting heads. Amnesty International said footage of the beheadings was authentic. It accused both sides of committing war crimes.

Laurence Broers, Caucasus program director at Chatham House, concurs that amid such bitterness Turkish-Armenian dialogue is hard. A humiliating defeat in which Turkey played a key role is of course not an enabling context for normalization. Any such process should be just that  a process, built up over time and realized across multiple dimensions  societal, cultural, ideational  not just as a geopolitical tradeoff, he said.

It was just the sort of process he describes, aimed at healing the wounds of the Armenian genocide, that the globally acclaimed Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala was determinedly promoting before he was jailed on bogus terrorism charges in October 2017. He is due to appear in court again on Feb. 5. Freeing him would bring Turkey into compliance with the European Court of Human Rights, which has ruled that Kavalas detention is unlawful. It would also add credence to claims that Turkey is sincere about reaching out to Armenia.

Kavalas fate is unlikely to sway Armenia even though reconciliation with Turkey would serve it economically  it would help the landlocked nation reduce its dependence on Russia. But Richard Giragossian, director of the Regional Studies Center, a think tank in Yerevan, believes that Armenia may not have much agency in the matter. Armenias now entrenched reluctance may become less of an obstacle and more of a minor inconvenience, Giragossian said, citing two reasons: First Turkey may initiate a unilateral effort to reopen the border, threatening to isolate Armenian leaders by forcing them into a self-defeating refusal.

His second reason, that normalization may come from an agreement between Russia and Turkey that is forced on Armenia, sounds counterintuitive. But Giragossian argues that Russian President Vladimir Putin would view it as an important way to bolster the Eurasian Economic Union by extending its borders to Turkey. Russian border guards control that border and the Russian-owned Armenian railway network will benefit. For Moscow its a further way to isolate Georgia, he said.

Broers counters that the hard-power approach may deliver swift results but is no guarantee of stability. With Russias previous monopoly in the South Caucasus challenged by Ankaras decisive intervention on the side of Azerbaijan and now largely contained in the security sphere, Turkey will need to decide whether it wants to exercise its influence as another hegemon over Armenia or to have a different kind of relationship rooted in soft and economic power. Turkeys aggressive stance in Syria, Libya and the eastern Mediterranean suggest that it will likely plump for the former. The whole dynamic of regionalization suggests Turkey is looking for near-abroad theaters' in which to project hegemony. Hegemonic power gets you a long way in the South Caucasus, but ultimately also falls victim to regional fracture, Broers concluded.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Guwahati, Feb 4 : In the run-up to the Assam Assembly elections, the state's regional parties are consolidating themselves to ensure multi-cornered fight and diminishing chances of the traditional bipolar politics.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) already announced to continue its alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and to forge a coalition with new ally United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) after discarding present ally Bodo Peoples' Front (BPF).

Meanwhile, the main opposition Congress also formed a "Mahagathbandhan" (grand alliance) with three Left parties -- the CPI-M, the CPI, the CPI-MLL -- as well as the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and the Anchalik Gana Morcha, regional parties having a political base among the Muslims and indigenous people respectively.

In the latest development, on Thursday, two major regional parties -- the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and the Raijor Dal (RD) -- announced they would fight the ensuing polls together, leaving the other two combinations wary. Both the AJP and the RD are offshoots of the violent agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in 2019.

Former All Assam Students' Union (AASU) leader Lurinjyoti Gogoi, who recently floated the AJP, announced the alliance, after a three-hour-long meeting on Thursday with the jailed leader Akhil Gogoi, also the the supremo of Raijor Dal.

Gogoi, who was jailed immediately after he led the agitations against the CAA in December 2019, is currently undergoing treatment for his various ailments at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.

Gogoi also said on Thursday said that his party is in touch with the BPF and Autonomous State Demand Committee from Karbi Anglong, both have substantial base among the indigenous people in central-western Assam.

"Our regional party alliance would field candidates in all the 126 seats," he said. The AJP and RD leaders have so far rejected offers to join the Congress-led grand alliance.

After the outcome of the Bodoland Territorial Council polls in early December last year, the BJP dumped the BPF and announced to support its new allies the UPPL and Gana Suraksha Parishad (GSP) to take power in the politically significant autonomous body.

After announcing their alliance, Congress leaders, including state unit President Ripun Bora, had claimed that "a tsunami of votes" would be cast in favour of the "Mahagathbandhan".

However, BJP leader and Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had retorted that "only Bangladesh can help the Congress get a tsunami of votes in the upcoming Assembly elections".

Both the BJP and the Congress have expressed confidence of securing 100 seats in the 126-member Assembly in the polls, expected to be held along with those to the Assemblies of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry in April-May.

Political analyst and writer Rajkumar Kalyanjit Singh said that though the BJP has downplayed the apparent threat from either the AJP or RD or any alliance they might cobble up but the saffron party is equally wary of the alliance of the two regional force denting their performance in about 45 seats across eastern Assam.

The BJP, in the last assembly polls in 2016 wrested power in Assam from Congress and became the single largest party in the state with 60 MLAs, while its allies -- the AGP and the BPF -- have 14 and 12 members in the house respectively.

The Congress and the AIUDF had fought separately in 2016, and managed 26 and 13 seats, respectively.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday ruled in favour of Tehran, where it said that the case brought by Iran against the United States following Washington's unilateral withdrawal from a 2018 nuclear deal, can be heard. The UN court has decided to hear the case in which Iran accuses the United States of violating a 1955 friendship treaty following exit from the deal and then reimposing economic sanctions. Iran had sought the court's interference in 2018, months after the Trump administration left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Read: 'Humanitarian Gesture': Iran Agrees To Free Crew Members Of Seized South Korean Ship

The United States, Iran and other members of the UN Security Council had signed a deal in 2015, which required Tehran to limit its uranium enrichment programme and in return, Washington would ease sanctions against the Islamic Republic. However, after Donald Trump assumed office, he unilaterally withdrew the United States from the deal and reimposed sanctions, crippling the already struggling economy of the country. Months later, Iran petitioned in the court, which on Wednesday ruled in favour and said it will hear the case.

Read: Iran Ready For New Relationship With US, But The Clock Is Ticking: FM Javad Zarif

'Another legal victory'

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif called it another "legal victory" for Iran following October 2018 ruling, referring to the court's preliminary order asking the United States to remove all sanctions on the export of medicines and medical devices to the country. "Iran has always fully respected international law. High time for the US to live up to  international obligations," Zarif said hours after the court ruled in favour of Iran.

The @CIJ_ICJ just dismissed all US preliminary objections in the case brought by Iran over unlawful US sanctions.



Another legal victory for Iran following 3 Oct. '18 Order.



Iran has always fully respected int'l law. High time for the US to live up to  int'l obligations.  Javad Zarif (@JZarif) February 3, 2021

Read: Joe Biden's Presidency May Put An End To Years Long Enmity Between Saudi Arabia And Iran

This comes amid talks in Washington to rejoin the 2015 pact, which US President Joe Biden had promised to look into after getting elected. The United States has already appointed a new special envoy for Iran, whose job would be to negotiate with all concerning parties and advise the President on whether to rejoin the nuclear deal. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wants Iran to first return to complying with the deal before the US decides on whether to ease sanctions and rejoin the agreement.

Read: Iran Says 'one Signature' Cannot Fix Nuclear Deal, Calls For Relief From US Sanctions

(Image Credit: AP)


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FCW Insider: Feb. 4

The Navy's Task Force One Navy report looks to STEM training, recruitment, grooming policies as paths to encourage diversity and inclusion.

During his time as mayor, Marty Walsh pursued actions to increase the amount of minority-, women- and veteran-owned contractors in Boston.

Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) will chair a new subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee focused on cybersecurity, emerging tech and information systems.

Federal employee groups and unions had requested that Biden remove the panel's members.

Jennifer Granholm, the former governor of Michigan, is poised to become energy secretary as the agency continues to grapple with the fallout of the SolarWinds Orion hack.

Quick Hits

*** A coalition of trade groups including the Information Technology Industry Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Professional Services Council are urging congressional leaders to include a $9 billion boost to the Technology Modernization Fund as proposed in President Biden's pandemic relief and recovery legislation.

"Aging IT at the Federal and state levels has hindered the ability of governments to quickly and efficiently get dollars, programs, and services to Americans in need," the groups wrote in their Feb. 2 letter to House and Senate leaders.

*** Michael Regan, Biden's nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency, repeatedly stressed the roles of science and law as guiding principles for the agency at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

"Our priorities for the environment are clear," Regan said in his opening statement. "We will restore the role of science and transparency at EPA. We will support the dedicated and talented career officials."

If confirmed, Regan will oversee an agency with low morale among its workforce, said committee chairman Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.). The agency's workforce has also shrunk over the past four years from 15,553 employees in March 2016 to 14,488 employees as of March 2020, according to OPM data.

Regan's statements come soon after the Biden-Harris administration released a memorandum late last week that underscored the role of "scientific integrity and evidence-based policymaking" free of political interference.
A self-described 'paedo hunter' has released videos of himself confronting men who he claims were on their way to meet with underage girls for sex.

The father said he posed as a teenager online and began talking to a 30-year-old married man, who allegedly said he would pay $50 for oral sex.

The man and a friend filmed themselves approaching the alleged predator in a Gold Coast car park while he allegedly waited to pick up the girl, who never existed.

'What are you doing here? Are you coming to meet a 14-year-old girl?' he asked the unsuspecting man, who was sitting inside his parked car.

'No I'm not,' he responded, before the vigilante told him he 'has the messages' on his phone.

The 'paedo hunter' then told the man he couldn't try and flee as he had parked him in.

'I've got the messages on my phone. You were talking to me,' he said.

A young father posed as a teenager online and began talking to the 30-year-old man, who allegedly told the 'girl' he would pay her $50 for oral sex

The man quietly said 'I'm sorry' before Mr Lambropoulos' friend chimed in and called him a 'f**king dog'.

'I'm sorry. That's all I can say,' the man told the pair.

He responded: 'You're going to be sorry when this is all over Facebook, all over YouTube.'

The man then begged him not to upload the footage of the encounter, before trying to grab his phone.

'Please, please. I'm begging you... it's a big f**king mistake,' he said, while putting his hands together in a prayer motion.

The vigilante's friend then threatened to 'cave' the man's head in if he ever tried to talk to another minor.

The man then asked to kiss the pair's hands in another futile attempt to stop the video from being put online.

The paedo hunter's friend the threatened to 'cave' the man's head in if he ever tried to talk to another minor

'What are you going to tell [your wife] when she sees this? Why don't you go f**k your wife? What do you wanna f**k a 14-year-old girl for?' the paedo hunter asked.

'I wish I could smash your face in right now c**t, but I'm not going to jail for you. I'll let someone else see this video online and they can do it,' the friend added.

'This is the best punishment for people like you. I could smash your face in but your face is going to heal. The internet is not going to heal, everyone is going to see this forever.'

The two friends then gave the man an ultimatum; either they upload the footage to the internet, or call the police.

'Please don't do this, I'm begging you. I made a big f**king mistake,' he said before starting to cry. 'I have a wife, I have family.'

The paedo hunter demanded the man admit he is a 'f**king dog' before again telling the man he would either upload the footage or call the police.

'What do you want me to do? You want me to put this online or do you want me to call the police? If I put it online I'll let you go now you can drive off and do whatever the f**k you want,' he said.

'Or do you want me to bring the police here? Which one?'

The man then mumbled: 'Just put it online' before putting his head on his steering wheel.

The pair then captured footage of the man's licence plate before eventually walking back to their car.

The young father regularly poses as an underage girl online, and films his public encounters with alleged paedophiles who have tried to seduce who they believe are minors.

Last week he confronted a security worker in his mid 20s who also tried to meet up with a 14-year-old girl.

When first confronted by him, the man tried to laugh off the incident and claimed he knew he wasn't really talking to a young girl.

Another video shows the paedo hunter approaching a 27-year-old man in a car park, after he exchanged sexually explicit messages with who he thought was a 14-year-old girl

He then defended himself as 'all talk' and blamed the 'innocent chat' on his mental health issues.

'I've had the worst week and just having someone to talk to was nice,' the man, who was also approached while sitting in his car, told the self-described 'pado hunter'.

'I had no intention... I just wanted to talk. I swear to god I wasn't going to do anything.'

The paedo hunter then asked the man why he would send a video of himself masturbating if he has no sexual intentions with the girl.

'You can talk to someone your own age, you don't need to send dick pics to a 14-year-old girl to make yourself feel better and try and f**k her and take her virginity in your car,' he said.

The man even had a towel on his passenger seat because the paedo hunter, posing as the teen, said she would bleed from sex as she is a virgin.

Another video shows the vigilante approaching a 27-year-old man in a car park, after he exchanged sexually explicit messages with who he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

Queensland police urged against vigilantism, and advised people to call authorities rather than taking matters into their own hands.

'The Queensland Police Service appreciates community assistance in reporting local criminal activity,' a spokesperson said.

'Information received from members of the public is continually instrumental in identifying and disrupting criminal offences.

'In the first instance, members of the community are encouraged to report offences to police.'
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

As humankind steps into new frontiers in space exploration, satellites and space vehicles will need to pack more cargo for the long haul. However, certain items, like dish antennas used for wireless communication, pose a challenge since they cannot be very densely packed for flight because of their signature bowl shape.

Now, researchers at Texas A&M University have used the principles of origamithe ancient Japanese art of paper foldingto create a parabolic structure from a flat surface using a shape-memory polymer. When heated, the researchers showed that the shape-memory polymer changes its shape in a systematic way that mimics folds. This reshaping lifts the material into the shape of a dish. Further, they also showed that their origami-engineered dish antennas performed as efficiently as conventional smooth dish antennas.

"Initially, we were largely focused on self-folding origami structures: how would you make them, how would you design them into different shapes, what material would you use?" said Dr. Darren Hartl, assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. "Having answered some of these questions, we turned to some real-world applications of origami engineering, like adaptive antennas, for which there has been very little work done. In this study, we combine folding behavior and antenna performance and address that gap."

The researchers have described their antenna design in the journal Smart Materials and Structures.

Antennas come in various designs and their major function is to transmit or receive information in the form of electromagnetic waves. Some antennas, like the ones for communicating between a television and a space-bound satellite, are curved in the shape of a parabola. This ensures that the electromagnetic waves hitting the bowl-shaped antenna are reflected and converge to a small point of focus. By extension, when these antennas transmit electromagnetic waves, they do so in a narrow direction, a feature known as directionality.

Thus, parabolic reflectors are a natural choice for space applications since they either pick up or send information in a specific direction. However, their shape makes them inconvenient to store in space vehicles where there is limited room. This problem is exacerbated when many antennas need to be stored onboard.

One way to address this hurdle is origami engineering. Using this technique, flat, 2-D structures can be folded into elaborate 3-D shapes. If parabolic antennas can be made flat using origami, they can be stacked or rolled up inside of a rocket, and when ready for deployment, be unrolled and folded into a parabolic shape. However, Hartl explained that folding a piece of flat material into a smooth bowl is difficult and nonintuitive.

Using cardstock and a shape-memory polymer, Dr. Hartl and his team can create complex 3D structures from flat 2D surfaces. Credit: Texas A&M Engineering

"Conventional origami design entails folding thin sheets of material at sharp creases. Engineering structures, on the other hand, have a thickness, and the choice of material can make it hard to get these sharp creases," he said. "Consequently, we need to create folds that exhibit smooth bending."

To facilitate paper-like folding at the creases, the researchers turned to shape-memory composites that change their shape when heated. In addition, these materials are inexpensive, lightweight, flexible and capable of being stretched multiple times without being damaged.

First, they built a flat 2-D surface using strips of shape-memory composites and cardstock. Simply put, pieces of stiff cardstock, which formed flat facets, were held together by the shape-memory composites, similar to how the ribs of an umbrella hold the fabric in place. Further, at the vertices where the composites meet, they cut out tiny holes to serve as corner creases when the assembly folds into a 3-D parabola.

When heated, the researchers showed that the composites changed their shape by bending systematically, eventually lifting the cardstock pieces into a parabolic bowl-like shape. They also tested if their multifaceted parabolic reflector worked as efficiently as a smooth parabolic antenna and found that the two antennas performed comparably.

Hartl said this research is an important step toward using the principles of origami to make highly functional engineering structures that can be stowed compactly and easily deployed when needed.

"In addition to other applications, future advances based on this research will likely result in morphing reflector antennas for military and space telecommunication applications," he said.

Other contributors to this research include Sameer Jape, Milton Garza and Dr. Dimitris Lagoudas from the aerospace engineering department; Joshua Ruff and Francisco Espinal from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Deanna Sessions and Dr. Gregory Huff from Pennsylvania State University; and Edwin A Peraza Hernandez from the University of California, Irvine.

Explore further Here's how origami could be used to shape the future of engineering

More information: Sameer Jape et al. Self-foldable origami reflector antenna enabled by shape memory polymer actuation, Smart Materials and Structures (2020). Sameer Jape et al. Self-foldable origami reflector antenna enabled by shape memory polymer actuation,(2020). DOI: 10.1088/1361-665X/abaac2
Researchers at NUI Galway have identified genomic signatures in women developing the most common type of breast cancer that can be associated with long-term survival. The NUI Galway team analysed the genomes of breast cancer patients to look for associations with survival rates using advanced statistical techniques.

Carried out by Lydia King during her studies in NUI Galway's MSc in Biomedical Genomics programme, the research has been published in the international journal PLOS ONE.

Early detection by national screening programmes and timely treatment for patients diagnosed with "luminal" types of breast cancer have resulted in excellent prognoses with survival rates of over 80% within five years of treatment. The challenge of long-term survival however is not as well understood and studies have shown that more than half of all recurrences for luminal breast cancers takes place after this time point. Identifying patients most likely to suffer relapses would therefore be invaluable to patient monitoring and choice of therapies.

Genomes are the collection of all DNA in the chromosomes of cells containing all of our inherited genetic information. Cancer is often described as a disease of the genome because it is a consequence of alterations in the instructions encoded within some of our cell's DNA that lead to them proliferating without restraint. These alterations are a hallmark of a tumour and can range from single base-pair errors in the DNA code to the duplication or deletion of entire chromosome arms. The level of alterations in the genome of a cancer cell is known as 'genome instability'.

The NUI Galway team focused on whether an overall measurement of genome instability in cancer cells from luminal breast cancer patients, observed at diagnosis and before treatment started, could provide additional information in predicting their long-term survival. To test this hypothesis, they analysed data from the Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC) led by Cambridge University.

METABRIC is one of the first multi-centre studies aimed at uncovering links between the clinical and genomic properties of biopsies taken from over 2000 patients suffering from primary breast carcinoma enrolled between 1977 and 2005. The richness of having both high quality genomic data and the up-to-date clinical data makes the METABRIC database a very powerful resource for researching breast cancer.

Lydia and her colleagues calculated the level of genome instability across all 2,000 patient genomes, then used multivariable statistical modelling to identify distinct long term survival outcomes for luminal subtype breast cancer patients. This enabled them to confirm the significantly worse prognoses for luminal A patients suffering from the most extreme levels of genome instability in their tumour biopsies.

Importantly, the NUI Galway researchers were able to stratify the patients into groups and link the genome instability score with clinical classifications. This provided clear evidence that patients diagnosed with Luminal A breast cancer that had high levels of genome instability exhibited similar patterns of reduced survival commonly seen in patients suffering from the more aggressive Luminal B subtype. Since patients identified as either Luminal A or B subtypes normally receive different treatments, the result suggests that incorporating genomic analysis into clinical care could improve diagnosis and allow oncologists to tailor treatments for individual patients. This approach of using genomic analysis is known as "precision (or genomic) medicine" and is helping to define a new standard of care in many areas of clinical practice.

Senior author of the paper, Dr Aaron Golden of NUI Galway's School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics, said: "This is an excellent example of how interdisciplinary research is supposed to work in the genomics data sciences. This started out as a speculative idea between myself, a physicist, and my colleague Dr Andrew Flaus, who is a biochemist from the School of Natural Sciences, and was taken by Lydia for her MSc dissertation project. We then received the invaluable assistance of our statistician colleague Dr Emma Holian and through Lydia's phenomenally hard work we could demonstrate the promise of precision genomics in cancer treatment."

Commenting on this result, Dr Pilib O Broin, Programme Director of NUI Galway's MSc in Biomedical Genomics, added: "This is a fantastic result for Lydia and her supervisors and highlights the enormous benefits of training interdisciplinary scientists like Lydia who possess both the statistical and computational skills as well as the domain knowledge necessary to generate new biological insights from genomics data with the potential to improve patient care."

###

Lydia has since graduated with her Masters and has taken up a place as a PhD student in the Science Foundation Ireland funded Centre for Research Training in Genomics Data Science led by NUI Galway where she is continuing her work on the analysis of cancer genomes.

The PLOS ONE manuscript titled 'Survival outcomes are associated with genomic instability in luminal breast cancers' can be read at: https:/ / journals. plos. org/ plosone/ article?id= 10. 1371/ journal. pone. 0245042

-Ends-





Investment, consumption expected to fuel expansion





Effective investment, particularly from the private sector, and stronger consumption are expected to propel high-quality growth in China this year, according to experts.





Zhu Ning, a deputy dean and professor at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, or SAIF, said on Jan 24 that investment and consumption would lead to strong growth momentum during the year and play vital roles in leading the nation's economic rebound.





As part of the country's new development model, investment and consumption are expected to play new roles.





Investment, particularly in the high-tech and social sectors, will rise notably this year, spurring consumer spending, Zhu said.





Last year, retail sales in China fell by 3.9 percent year-on-year, while investment grew by 2.9 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics, or NBS, said on Jan 18.





"As distortion due to COVID-19 diminishes and average household incomes pick up, consumer spending confidence is likely to rise, while last year's low base for consumption will add to such growth this year," Zhu said.





"In addition, there is likely to be a notable improvement in the employment situation this year, with a robust resumption of business activities."





Last year, investment in high-tech industries rose by 10.6 percent year-on-year, 7.7 percentage points above the overall level. Investment from the nation's private sector reached 28.93 trillion yuan ($4.48 trillion), up by 1 percent year-on-year.





Zhu, noting that 2021 is the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), a strategic policy framework for the nation's development blueprint, said this is usually the time when more long-term infrastructure investments are planned.





"In particular, high-tech and social investment is expected to lead the way this year, as both play a key role in high-quality development and effective fiscal spending," he added.





Zhu noted that COVID-19 has changed people's lives and consumption habits, meaning that more investment in new infrastructure will become increasingly crucial this year.





He said additional investment should go to high-quality education, more-accessible childcare and care for the elderly, as it will also help boost consumption.





Long Shaobo, deputy director of the Center for Public Economy and Public Policy at Chongqing University, said investment in new infrastructure and high-tech will help optimize the overall investment structure and quality.





"There has been robust rise in building new infrastructure, including 5G base stations. These are important aspects for improving lives and are expected to make our investment more effective in coping with the impact of COVID-19," Long said.





Support needed





Presiding over a State Council symposium on Jan 21, Premier Li Keqiang said, "Chinese people and market players have shown strong resilience in facing the unforeseen shock brought by the pandemic, and this is a very important fundamental for China's steady economic recovery."





The premier's remarks were reported in a statement released by the State Council after the seminar.





Zhu, the SAIF professor, said: "Private investment is and always will be critical for China to achieve high-quality development. Capital from the private sector is a vital supplement to that of the State."





He added that private investment is more responsive to evolving market dynamics, as it optimizes resource allocation and flexibility, adding to the effectiveness of conventional State investment.





The figures issued by the NBS last month showed that investment from the private sector rose by just 1 percent last year, compared with 2.9 percent growth in overall investment. Notably, investment in the manufacturing sector declined by 2.2 percent.





Zhu said the sluggish growth was partly due to a sudden "liquidity crunch" for private businesses in the first half of last year due to the pandemic.





Long said such a decline may even suggest that the market in general is cautiously optimistic, but he stressed that forceful measures are needed to bolster sentiment.





Xiao Lisheng, a senior international finance researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that while the level of investment in infrastructure and real estate will remain "basically appropriate", outlays in manufacturing will re-emerge and take a lead in boosting overall investment this year.





"With COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out in Europe and the United States, major global economies are likely to see a quick recovery, driving up overseas demand. This, in turn, will boost China's manufacturing sector," Xiao said.





Zhu said that to boost private businesses, stronger efforts are needed to level the playing field for them compared with State-owned ones. Private businesses should also have unimpeded financing channels and benefit from cost-cutting policies such as reduced taxes and fees, he added.





Since the pandemic emerged, the government has introduced policies to support the market and get businesses rolling again. Such measures include cutting taxes and fees, provisionally deferring social insurance payments, and finding ways to directly benefit smaller businesses.





The State Council recently urged authorities to strictly curb any arbitrary charges imposed on businesses, in order to reduce their burden.





Hailing such moves, Zhu expects the reductions in taxes and fees introduced early last year to be extended, given the complexity of the pandemic and the economic situation.





He stressed that building a multilevel capital market, particularly the bond financing market, is crucial to helping directly finance smaller, private businesses.





"This will allow the level of risk return to help in allocating financial resources to the market, instead of managing risk and lending requirements from conventional banks, thus solving financing woes for smaller, private businesses," he said.

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LAPEER, MI -- A Metamora man has been arraigned on charges related to the shooting death of a Lapeer High School student.

Dillon Daniel Downey, 19, of Metamora, was arraigned Wednesday, Feb. 3 in Lapeer County District Court on one count of manslaughter without malice, a 15-year felony, and one count of felony firearm.

The charges are related to the shooting death of 18-year-old Kaden James Ryan, Metamora Township Police Chief David Mallett said.

Metamora Township police were called out at approximately 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, for a report of an accidental shooting complaint in the Ideal Villa Mobile Home Park off South Lapeer Road.

Ryan, a Lapeer High School student, was found with a gunshot wound to the torso, police said.

Officer Cameron Plowman attempted lifesaving measures on Ryan before he was transported by Lapeer County EMS to McLaren Lapeer Region hospital.

Ryan was later pronounced deceased by emergency room physicians, police said.

After an initial investigation, officers took Downey into custody.

Troopers from the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division were called to the location to process the scene for evidence. Several pieces of evidence were obtained and are being processed.

Michigan State Police, Lapeer County Sheriffs Office, Dryden Township Police and the Metamora Township Fire Department also responded to the scene.

Ryan was born Dec. 16, 2002 in Lapeer, according to his obituary. He was a senior at Lapeer High School and was looking forward to graduating this spring.

He loved working on cars with his Dad and followed through with this passion by enrolling in the auto body program at Ed-Tech. Kaden loved shoes, video games, Nike apparel and Mickey-Ds!! Kaden loved to make the people around him happy, the obituary reads.

A GoFundMe page has been started to help the family with funeral expenses.

The incident remains under investigation.

Read more on MLive:

2 men shot in Flint, suspects in custody after vehicle pursuit

Police looking for missing woman last seen in Flint

Michigan man commuted by Gov. Whitmer gets $266K for dream home via GoFundMe

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Thursday welcomed President Joe Biden's plans to end US support for offensive operations in Yemen, saying it was a step towards ending the long conflict.

"We hope this will be the beginning of a decision to stop the war on Yemen," senior Huthi political official Hamid Assem told AFP. "America's reputation has been tarnished by the killing of the people of Yemen."

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For the first time, a small group of air travelers flying from Germany and Estonia to the United Arab Emirates has tested the health data platform and app SimplyGo in a live environment. As part of the trial project, SimplyGo is partnering with technology provider SITA. SITAs advanced technology platforms and experience in border management, airport, and airline operations were crucial in distributing the SimplyGo platform across continents.

Ahead of the trial, some travelers obtained negative Covid-19 results via their SimplyGo app before boarding. Another group had a positive result or did not have a test done at all. They were ultimately denied check-in and boarding. The data was then securely stored on the SimplyGo platform to be accessed by airlines and border officials authorizing boarding of the plane and eventual arrival at the destination country, the United Arab Emirates. Integration to the UAE government systems was made possible through the Advance Passenger Processing (APP) platform delivered by SITA. Integrating SimplyGo with APP forms part of SITAs Health Protect ecosystem, simplifying and automating the inclusion of health data into existing airline, airport, and government processes.

Enable traveling again with secure data infrastructure

Both direct and connecting flights were successfully tested. Travelers were able to fly roundtrip from Munich to the United Arab Emirates and from Tallinn to the United Arab Emirates via Frankfurt. In both examples, the SimplyGo platform stored their approved COVID-19 test results, and, at the point of check-in, the traveler was approved or denied traveling by the relevant border officials using SITA APP.

Peter Bauer, the founder of SimplyGo, said: The trial demonstrated that SimplyGo technology supports travelers and airlines in adhering to health requirements and secure systems. The app is extremely simple for travelers to use. Just a few clicks and users securely store their COVID-19 test or vaccination information, making it accessible for airlines and border officials. Theres no paperwork or bar code at the check-in needed; all data is managed securely and highly protected from fraud. This trial is the first step in rolling out SimplyGo, to help restore confidence in air travel and to ensure safer and more efficient air travel for all.

Jeremy Springall, Vice-President SITA AT BORDERS, said: As the technology provider for the air transport industry, we are working closely with governments, industry bodies, and border organizations globally to mitigate health risks of travel during the pandemic.

SITAs Health Protect ecosystem enables interoperability and acts as a bridge between health passport schemes, airlines, airports, and governments. It comprises a suite of solutions, including SITA Health ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization), SITA APP, and SITA Flex for in-airport passenger flow monitoring. Selecting the right combination of products and integrating with a health pass system like SimplyGo, ensures governments are aware of who is intending to travel and their health status. Governments can then make informed decisions on who to allow to travel. Were excited for the potential of SITAs Health Protect ecosystem to support the industry recovery in 2021 and enable safer, simpler travel experiences for passengers.
Two members of a Romanian organised crime gang who made dozens of fake credit cards and used them in Dublin shops in the wake of a deep skim of UK bank customers' details have been jailed.

Daniel Almajanu, 35, made fake cards using a card reader/writer machine, while Albert Gimy Linul, 29, visited various shops buying things with the fake cards, including cartons of cigarettes, which were then sold on.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that during an extensive skimming operation in the UK, a Romanian criminal gang based there used a deep insert skimmer to collect details of customers of HSBC bank outlets.

Both Almajanu and Linul were considered to be members of that organised crime group, the court heard. The court heard Almajanu made fake cards using this information and then gave the fake cards to Linul.

Linul, of Prussia Street, Dublin, used the cards to buy cartons of cigarettes on a number of occasions in several newsagents in Dublin and these cartons were sold on for profit.

Garda Ciaran Ronan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau told the court that Linul stole a total of 1,185 from the UK bank.

Passing sentencing on Wednesday, Judge Melanie Greally said evidence was given that these offences represent an offshoot of an organised and sophisticated international fraud.

Judge Greally said it was accepted that Linul was operating at a relatively low level. She said Almanjanu was responsible for recruiting his co-accused and played a pivotal organisational role.

She sentenced Linul to three years' imprisonment and sentenced Almajanu to four years and four months imprisonment. She backdated both terms of imprisonment to the dates the men went into custody.

Linul pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing a total of 60 fraudulent bank cards at various locations in Dublin between February 13 and February 14 last year.

He also pleaded guilty to eight counts of using a fake HSBC bank card at a number of Dublin shops, 10 counts of theft and two counts of attempted theft from HSBC on dates between November 1, 2019, and February 4, 2020.

Almajanu, of North Circular Road, Dublin, pleaded guilty to two counts of having custody of 53 fake bank cards and one count of making 65 fake bank cards at various locations in Dublin between January 1 and February 13 last year.

He also pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a laptop specifically designed to make false cards.

Both men were arrested when gardai noticed them acting suspiciously in Temple Bar in February last year. A number of fake cards were found in their possession and in Almajanu's car.

Gardai found more cards in the Prussia Street flat, along with a Lenovo laptop and a card reader/writer machine used for making fake cards. A number of cartons of cigarettes were also discovered.

Additional evidence

Linul has two previous convictions in Ireland for dangerous driving and handling stolen property and 22 previous convictions abroad  including in his native Romania  for theft, fraud and drug offences.

Almajanu, who is also originally from Romania, has no previous convictions here, but four convictions in Romania and the UK for similar fraud offences.

Olan Callanan, defending Linul, said his client was well educated and attended college before he dropped out and worked in construction and car washes. He moved to the UK to work in construction and got involved in low level criminality over there, the court heard.

He was deported from the UK and moved to Ireland shortly afterwards, where he got involved in this operation. He has been in custody since last February, is doing well there and is the unofficial barber on his prison floor landing, Mr Callanan said.

Aidan McCarthy, defending Almajanu, said his client knows what he did was wrong and is remorseful for his actions. He has also been in custody since his arrest.

Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Cryan, of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, described the convictions on RTE on Wednesday as highly significant.

This gang, he said, was the target not just of gardai but also the Belgian, UK and Romanian police and was the focus of Europol and Eurojust.

The gang has also been linked to human trafficking, money laundering and prostitution.

More than 90% of cyber-enabled fraud is committed online. No PIN number is required to use fraudulent card details in the US and the authorities there believe the gang stole as much as $20m.
SEATTLE - Boeing Co. has said it will outsource a significant amount of information technology work to Dell starting in April, including support of cloud services, databases and information technology. The move is expected to eliminate 600 jobs.

FILE - In this April 20, 2020, file photo, a line of Boeing 737 MAX jets sit parked on the airfield adjacent to a Boeing production plant in Renton, Wash. Boeing Co. has said it will outsource a significant amount of information technology work to Dell starting in April 2021, including support of cloud services, databases and information technology. The Seattle Times reported that Susan Doniz, vice president for information technology and data analytics for Boeing, told employees Thursday, Feb. 4 that the eliminated jobs represent about 10% of the company's IT staff. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

SEATTLE - Boeing Co. has said it will outsource a significant amount of information technology work to Dell starting in April, including support of cloud services, databases and information technology. The move is expected to eliminate 600 jobs.

Susan Doniz, vice-president for information technology and data analytics for Boeing, told employees Thursday that the eliminated jobs represent about 10% of the company's IT staff, The Seattle Times reported.

Doniz said affected employees, most of whom are not unionized, must either find different work within the company, apply to work for Dell or be laid off.

The move is expected to increase the company's efficiency, simplify operations and advance our digital transformation, she said.

Boeing declined to provide a breakdown of the affected jobs by state. The Times suggested in its report that the biggest layoff hits could come at Boeing's major offices in the Puget Sound region, St. Louis and Charleston, South Carolina.

This is a change we would have made even without a global pandemic, Doniz said. She added that the pandemic certainly quickened our pace.

Company officials have also announced plans to reduce factory and office space by more than 5 million square feet (465,000 square meters) over the next few years, and move toward a more remote operation.

Boeing shed 20,000 jobs companywide last year and has said it needs to cut 11,000 more this year, making it harder for the affected IT employees losing their jobs to find new work in the company.
Drills 7.3 Meters of 11.5 grams per tonne (gpt) Gold, Including 2.3 Meters of 19.5 gpt Gold - True Thickness

COEUR D'ALENE, ID / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / New Jersey Mining Company (OTCQB:NJMC) ("NJMC" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that its current core drilling program at the Golden Chest has intercepted 7.3 meters that assayed 11.5 grams per tonne (gpt) gold (including 2.3 meters of 19.5 grams per tonne true thickness) in drill hole (GC 21-193) on the southern end of the property in the area known as the Joe Dandy. The Joe Dandy area is the southernmost of the six named ore shoots currently identified at the Golden Chest Mine. The true thickness of the vein is estimated to be 6.3 meters.

GC 21-193 is a vertical hole that intercepted the vein at a depth of 158.5 meters and demonstrates the deepest intercept of the vein this far south in exploration drilling completed to date at the Golden Chest. This intercept is very significant as it shows high-grade, thick sequences of the vein and is more than 400 meters south and 125 meters below the current underground mining area (stopes). See Golden Chest Long Section below.

NJMC's 2021 drill plan is based on its "Deep Rooted" ore shoot model. By drilling these deeper holes in the farthest flanking extents of the property, NJMC is showing deeper and better grade continuity of the Joe Dandy and the other five gold-bearing ore shoots. This new discovery in the underexplored Joe Dandy ore shoot follows-up on a drill intercepts from 2012 exploration drilling.

NJMC President and CEO John Swallow stated, "We are following a very logical narrative based on current production goals in the Skookum Shoot and assuming similar potential for all six identified ore shoots at the Golden Chest. At this stage of our growth and as we transition from both open pit and underground mining to increased underground mining, the 30,000-foot view of our program is more than just a cursory evaluation. The possibility of a new mill near the mine is not only based on our continued success with early-stage exploration in the Murray Gold Belt - the potential for up to 10,000 ounces of production from each of the six individual ore shoots is quickly becoming a reality."

NJMC's VP of Exploration, Rob Morgan explains, "We feel that through this program the importance of these results in the Joe Dandy brings us closer to the source of Golden Chest mineralization. With two drills turning, the drill program began with a high-grade intercept (GC 20-182T: 0.2 meters of 74.6 grams per tonne gold, true thickness) in the northernmost ore shoot, the Katie Dora, and because of weather we moved that drill to the Paymaster. The second drill has been on the Joe Dandy and will continue to delineate this high-grade section of vein. Following the Joe Dandy drilling, this rig will move to probe below current stope levels in the Skookum area and then test increasing depths in the Paymaster area. A total of 5,000 meters of drilling are planned to be completed before spring."

Mr. Morgan continues, "The southern area of the Golden Chest region is where the Thompson Pass Fault, Murray Peak Fault, and Idaho Fault all intersect forming a structural knot. Mineralization is spatially related to the Idaho Fault, and the large vein system was encountered just below the Idaho Fault and sills of quartz monzonite and lamprophyre. Visible gold grains were found in immediate contact with the intrusive rocks and some of the mineralization is interpreted to be related to igneous activity. The igneous rocks are related to the Murray Stocks and this deposit type is orogenic gold-quartz veins with an igneous association. The granitic rocks are conspicuously absent from the surface and are mostly seen by subsurface drilling."

Quality assurance/quality control

All of the samples were analyzed by American Analytical of Osburn, Idaho, an ISO certified laboratory. Samples were analyzed using lead collection fire assay with a gravimetric finish. A series of known assay standards are submitted with each drill hole as part of a quality assurance-quality compliance program.

Qualified person

NJMC's Vice President of Exploration, Robert John Morgan, PG, PLS is a qualified person as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information and data included in this press release.

About New Jersey Mining Company

Headquartered in North Idaho, New Jersey Mining Company is the rare example of a vertically integrated, operating junior mining company. NJMC produces gold at the Golden Chest Mine and recently consolidated the Murray Gold Belt (MGB) for the first time in over 100-years. The MGB is an overlooked gold producing region within the Coeur d'Alene Mining District, located north of the prolific Silver Valley. In addition to gold, the Company maintains a presence in the Critical Minerals sector and is focused on identifying and exploring for Critical Minerals (Rare Earth Minerals) important to our country's defensive readiness and a low-carbon future.

New Jersey Mining Company possesses the in-house skillsets of a much larger company while enjoying the flexibility of a smaller and more entrepreneurial corporate structure. Its production-based strategy, by design, provides the flexibility to advance the Murray Gold Belt and/or its Critical Minerals holdings on its own or with a strategic partner in a manner that is consistent with its existing philosophy and culture.

NJMC has established a high-quality, early to advanced-stage asset base in four historic mining districts of Idaho and Montana, which includes the currently producing Golden Chest Mine. Management is stakeholder focused and owns more than 15-percent of NJMC stock.

The Company's common stock trades on the OTC-QB under the symbol "NJMC."

For more information on New Jersey Mining Company go to www.newjerseymining.com or call:

Monique Hayes, Corporate Secretary/Investor Relations

Email: monique@newjerseymining.com

(208) 625-9001

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 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended that are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by such sections. Such statements are based on good faith assumptions that New Jersey Mining Company believes are reasonable, but which are subject to a wide range of uncertainties and business risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the risk follow on drill success in identified ore shoots at the Golden Chest Mine may not result in mineable widths, increased production or a larger resource, the risk the mine plan changes due to rising costs or other operational details, an increased risk associated with production activities occurring without completion of a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability, the risks and hazards inherent in the mining business (including risks inherent in developing mining projects, environmental hazards, industrial accidents, weather or geologically related conditions), changes in the market prices of gold and silver and the potential impact on revenues from changes in the market price of gold and cash costs, a sustained lower price environment, risks relating to widespread epidemics or pandemic outbreak including the COVID-19 pandemic; the impact of COVID-19 on our workforce, suppliers and other essential resources and what effect those impacts, if they occur, would have on our business, including our ability to access goods and supplies, the ability to transport our products and impacts on employee productivity, the risks in connection with the operations, cash flow and results of the Company relating to the unknown duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other uncertainties and risk factors. Actual results, developments and timetables could vary significantly from the estimates presented. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. NJMC disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE: New Jersey Mining Company

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627826/New-Jersey-Mining-Makes-New-Discovery-at-Golden-Chest
Tennessee Man Sent to Prison in 2013 Kalamazoo County SAKI Case

Tennessee Man Sent to Prison in 2013 Kalamazoo County SAKI Case

Ryan Jarvi 517-599-2746 Attorney General

February 4, 2021

LANSING  Justice has finally been served in a 2013 sexual assault of a minor through the work of the Kalamazoo County Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) team, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting announced today.

Roosevelt Johnson, 64, of Memphis, Tennessee, and formerly of Kalamazoo, was sentenced on Monday to serve up to 35 years in prison by Judge Pamela Lightvoet in Kalamazoo County 9th Circuit Court. Johnson pleaded no contest Dec. 18 to first-degree criminal sexual conduct as a habitual offender, fourth offense.

The crime, which had not been reported, was discovered in 2016 through the SAKI program as it allowed for the testing of the victims kit. The kit was previously untested because it was believed that the only evidence inside it was that of the victim engaging in consensual sex with another minor. Once the kit was tested, it revealed two DNA profiles  the other minor and a match for Johnson, who has a history of domestic violence.

The lengthy prison sentence in this case is entirely appropriate given the facts, Nessel said. Our communities must be protected against those who commit sexual assaults against children and other vulnerable victims. I appreciate the hard work put into resolving this case by the Kalamazoo County Prosecutors Office and the SAKI team and their commitment to pursuing justice on behalf of sexual assault victims.

Mr. Johnsons rape of this young victim, who was barely a teenager at the time, is deserving of every day of the sentence that he received. His incarceration is a fitting punishment and is one that will protect other young girls and women from him, Getting said. I am very proud of the work being done by Erin House and the Kalamazoo SAKI team. The partnership between the Kalamazoo Prosecutors Office and the Attorney General has brought justice to sexual assault victims in this, and in other cases, that otherwise would not have happened.

The Kalamazoo SAKI project, established in 2017, is funded by the Michigan Legislature and involves a partnership between the Michigan Department of Attorney General, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutors Office and the YWCA of Kalamazoo. The goal of this program is to address previously untested sexual assault kits and, when possible, provide resolutions for victims.

Too often sexual abuse of children goes unreported because children are afraid that no one will believe them. This victims family began to recognize signs that something was wrong with this child almost immediately after the rape, but the truth of the trauma of what had occurred did not come out until the SAKI team became involved, said Erin House, special assistant attorney general who leads the Kalamazoo SAKI team. This case serves as a difficult reminder of the prevalence of child sexual abuse in our community and the need for education and support for children and families so these kinds of secrets can be brought to light more quickly.

The Michigan Legislature funded the testing of all 3,600 untested rape kits across the state in 2013. In 2016, funding was expanded to include financial support for the investigation and prosecution of these cases. The program has expanded over the years to also include six counties, with State funding for both the Washtenaw and Wayne counties sites being authorized in fiscal year 2020. Other counties include Calhoun, Ingham and Jackson.
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden has formally stopped the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany that was ordered last year by the Trump administration but had never actually begun.

Speaking at the State Department on Thursday, Biden said the troop pullout would be halted until Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin does a review of Americas troops presence around the globe. Austin, he said, will ensure that our military footprint is appropriately aligned with our foreign policy and national security priorities.

Last year, then-President Donald Trump announced that he was going to pull out about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 U.S. troops that are stationed in Germany. The U.S. has several major military facilities in the country, including Ramstein Air Base, the headquarters for U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command, and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American hospital outside the United States.

Trumps order met resistance from Congress as well as from within the military, which has long relied on Germany as a key ally and base of operations. Trump announced the troop cuts after repeatedly accusing Germany of not paying enough for its own defense, calling the longtime NATO ally delinquent for failing to spend 2% of its GDP on defense, the alliance benchmark.

The Pentagon began a review, to determine which troops would be redeployed to other locations and which would remain in Germany. That study has been ongoing, and there have been no reductions or changes to U.S. troop levels since Trumps announcement.

Austin hinted at a likely reconsideration of the order in a conversation with his German counterpart last week.

Chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the issue of troop cuts came up during Austins call with German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, and that Austin made it clear that he wants to review Americas force posture around the globe.

What he did assert to the defense minister was that whatever decision we make, well do it in consultation with her and her government, Kirby said, adding that Austin made it very clear that he values the support that weve received for so many years from Germany.

German officials have hoped that order will be rescinded by the new administration, and the German Defense Ministry said that in Austins call with Kramp-Karrenbauer he emphasized that Germany is highly valued as a station and that American soldiers feel very comfortable here.

The U.S. continues to consider its presence in Germany as an important part of joint security, the Defense Ministry said in a readout of the call.

_____

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaves the stage after delivering a speech during the International Conference on The Future of Asia, in Tokyo, May 30, 2019.

Leading newspapers in Bangladesh on Wednesday expressed frustration over a media environment in which a major investigative report leveling allegations against senior leaders and key institutions in the country had been met with silence in the domestic press.

Editorials in The Daily Star and The Dhaka Tribune noted that media outlets had widely reported on the government response to an Al Jazeera report published on Monday, without describing allegations it contained.

We are facing the absurd situation of publishing the government response without publishing what the government is responding to. So far, we have neither carried what the Al Jazeera reported nor any synopsis of it, The Daily Star wrote in its Wednesday editorial.

The Tribunes editorial, meanwhile, said the nations Digital Security Act has had a chilling effect on Bangladeshi media.

The silence of the Bangladeshi media in this instance has been all-encompassing and deafening, the Tribune wrote.

The reason for our silence is simple: The current state of media and defamation law in Bangladesh, and how it is interpreted by the judiciary, makes it unwise for any Bangladeshi media house to venture into any kind of meaningful comment on the controversy.

The nations Digital Security Act contains language proscribing reporting that is so broad in its scope and threatens such draconian consequences that no responsible editor can take the chance of publishing reports that might even conceivably fall into its purview.

A BenarNews review of at least 10 prominent Bengali- and English-language news portals on Wednesday found that they all based their reports on news releases from the foreign ministry and the army, while none of them included Al Jazeera allegations.

Allegations

The Feb. 1 report by Qatari-based television network Al Jazeera alleged that Bangladesh army chief Gen. Aziz Ahmed kept close links with his two foreign-based brothers who are on the run from justice after being convicted of the 1996 murder of a rival political leader.

The Al Jazeera documentary linked Aziz to corrupt deals with at least one of his brothers, who the report said had been able to travel to Bangladesh to meet with the army chief despite being a fugitive.

The report said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had previously hired Azizs brothers Haris and Anis Ahmed as bodyguards when she was opposition leader. It alleged that the Ahmed clans fortunes have been long intertwined with that of Hasina.

It claimed that the military had secretly purchased surveillance equipment manufactured by an Israeli company, even though Bangladesh does not recognize Israel and forbids nationals from traveling there or engaging in commerce with Israelis.

The Bangladesh foreign ministry and army dismissed the allegations contained in the documentary and accompanying stories.

The Bangladesh foreign ministry in a statement on Tuesday described the report as false and defamatory and anti-Bangladesh propaganda.

It however did not specifically address any of the charges leveled against Aziz Ahmed in the report.

The report is nothing more than a misleading series of innuendos and insinuations in what is apparently a politically motivated smear campaign by notorious individuals, it said, linking them to the extremist group Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the largest Islamic parties in Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Army said the surveillance equipment had been procured from Hungary for an army contingent deployed in a U.N peacekeeping mission, and that the Al Jazeera allegation was based on false information.

Mature decision

The Daily Star editorial praised the government for its mature decision not to block Al Jazeeras report or its spread on social media.

It also expressed frustration over the lack of reporting in the domestic media on allegations that it said raised questions about the security of the country and the integrity of its institutions.

There are people who served the PM at various times, especially during her days of struggle, who are now taking full advantage of her sense of gratitude and indulging in influence-peddling for payment in some of our highly sensitive areas, The Daily Star said.

There is reference to our purchase of sensitive listening devices from Israel, a country that we do not recognize. There are also the issues of false passports, NID cards and bank documents that should be looked into, especially as they involve institutions on whose integrity and honesty our security depends.

Considered by many the leading English-language newspaper in Bangladesh, The Daily Star has a circulation of 44,000 and an editor who faces dozens of criminal charges over its journalism.

Mahfuz Anam faces 81 criminal charges filed since 2016, one of his lawyers told BenarNews.

All of the cases were criminal in nature such as defamation and others. Currently, the courts have issued stay orders on the cases, Chaitanya Chandra Halder said.

Mahfuz Anam turned down a request to be interviewed for this article.

Fear of a free press

Passed in 2018, the Digital Security Act empowers police to make arrests on suspicion and without a warrant. Fourteen of its 20 provisions do not allow for bail, so that whenever an accused is brought before a magistrate, he or she is almost automatically sent to jail.

A media advocacy group, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said that the Bangladesh medias decision to self censor was not surprising, while the draconian law requiring it reflected the governments fear of a free press.

By and large we are seeing how much of a chilling effect the Digital Security Act has had in Bangladesh, Aliya Iftikhar, senior CPJ Asia researcher, told BenarNews.

In the past year, we have seen dozens of frivolous DSA cases filed against journalists, and many of them have been detained for months at a time under the draconian law, for no reason other than they dared to publish critical reports. So it is not surprising that after seeing numerous colleagues in jail, the media in Bangladesh is choosing to self-censor, Iftikhar said.

The Bangladesh government is showing its weakness with its constant fear of a free press.
Cat are usually not known for neediness, but this kitten in China wants all the attention from her owner.

The ten-month-old British shorthair named Liu Yi appears to enjoy cuddling with her owner so much she can't stop rubbing her head against the man's neck.

Ms Liu, who owns the cat with her husband, told MailOnline that their clingy moggie loved to show affection.

The ten-month-old British shorthair named Liu Yi in China appears to enjoy cuddling with her owner, Mr Luo, so much she can't stop rubbing her head against the man's neck

Ms Liu captured the adorable scene on Sunday at her home in the city of Guangyuan, southwest China's Sichuan Province.

She was spending some time with her husband, Mr Luo, who works in a different city and only comes home for the weekends.

But the woman's pet cat seemed to be more excited than her to see Mr Luo as the kitten jumped onto the man's back and began rubbing him affectionately.

In an adorable clip, Liu Yi appears to be in sheer bliss as the meowing feline gently rubbed her head against Mr Luo's neck.

The man can be heard saying in amusement: 'What are you trying to do?'

His kitten replies by continuing to snuggle up to him, refusing to leaving him alone.

In an adorable clip, Liu Yi appears to be in sheer bliss as the meowing feline gently rubbed her head against Mr Luo's neck. The man can be heard saying: 'What are you trying to do?

Ms Liu told MailOnline that her British shorthair had a gentle demeanour and loved showing affection towards her and her husband. Pictured, Mr Luo plays with the British shorthair

Ms Liu told MailOnline that her British shorthair had a gentle demeanour and loved showing affection towards the couple.

'Liu Yi is quite clingy with me and my husband,' the woman said. 'But other people couldn't hug her for even just a few seconds.

Liu Yi, translated as 'Six One', is named after the date she was picked up by the Chinese couple from the airport after purchasing the kitten from a private breeder.

'She is very gentle, like a little angel,' Ms Liu added. 'I think she was trying to comfort him and wanted him to play with her.'

Ms Liu, who owns the cat with her husband, told MailOnline that their clingy moggie loved to show affection and was trying to ask her partner for playtime. Mr Luo is seen with Liu Yi

Amused by the scene, Ms Liu filmed the video before sharing it on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok.

The footage quickly became trending, with many social media users expressing their envy.

One pet owner wrote: 'I'm so jealous. My cat would never do this, even if I beg him!'

Another commenter gasped: 'This cat is like a clingy girlfriend!'
CLIFTON PARK  With growing concern over the number of solar arrays popping up in open fields throughout Clifton Park, the town board has adopted a six-month moratorium on new ground mounted solar panels.

Approved on Jan. 11, the moratorium does not affect projects that are already approved or are moving through the approval process, including the controversial array set to go on Hubbs Road. However, Supervisor Phil Barrett said the break will give the town a chance to take a step back, reassess and analyze applications for the green energy generator.

Questions have arisen during these processes that we should address in a thorough study and then decide on alternatives to the code moving forward, Barrett said. The moratorium provides time for that process to occur.

Clifton Park residents oppose solar array

Director of the towns Planning Department John Scavo, who will be conducting the study, said that the town currently has, or is considering, seven solar array projects. The first one was built on the towns capped landfill in 2015. One is currently under construction on Grooms Road, and two more are being considered  one on Appleton Road and another on Blue Barns Road.

The solar array on Anthony Papas farm on Hubbs Road, which has upset neighbors who say their property values will plummet as the panels are unslightly, will go forward. However, no construction date has been set for the 16,896-panel project on 22 acres.

Susan Burton, who spoke for Clifton Park Friends of Open Spaces during the public hearing prior to the moratoriums adoption, said her group enthusiastically supports the moratorium.

Let me begin by saying that the Friends does not oppose solar power but does believe that these installations should conform to the conservation residential zoning in western Clifton Park, she said. It is this district that has been heavily impacted by commercial solar projects  The solar panel development threatens to convert the green (conservation) open space concept into a solar panel zone.

The moratorium, in effect through July 11, pauses new applications for 25 kilowatts of capacity and does not interrupt plans for solar panels installed atop homes.

Barrett said in addition to residents' concerns, the moratorium is necessary as the number of solar array proposals continues to increase. He attributes that to the state's push for more green energy.

Obviously, New York state has established the proliferation of green energy projects as a top priority, Barrett said. Couple that with seemingly unending amount of subsidy money, the pressure will only build as far as future applications for ground-mounted solar arrays. We expect pressure to continue. The moratorium will give us time to step back and make adjustments."

Glenville embraces solar



At the same time, the neighboring town of Glenville in Schenectady County enacted its first-ever law allowing commercial solar farms on Wednesday.

The legislation created a zoning overlay permitting the development of solar farms on parcels at least 30 acres in size and located within a half-mile of existing sub-stations.

Its a very limited area where we will allow these solar farms, Supervisor Chris Koetzle said.

The towns two sub-stations are located off Swaggertown Road and on Washington Avenue in Scotia.

The legislation comes after years of discussion, said Koetzle, who characterized the law as a compromise deal that satisfied both the pro and con sides of the debate, including residents who previously raised concerns about aesthetic impacts.

Encouraging solar development is part of Koetzles Solar for Parks initiative designed to embrace clean energy while providing a new funding source for the towns growing parks system, which includes three parks and two nature preserves.

Solar for Parks will eventually replace the towns primary source of parks funding  a $1,000 per-plot subdivision recreational fee levied on housing developers  with a $7,000-per-acre greenspace impact public benefit fee," a measure Koetzle believes will drive hundreds of thousands of dollars into the towns parks capital fund when paired with payment in lieu of taxes agreements with developers.

With just 3 percent of the towns housing subdivisions built since 2010, the one-time fee is no longer a sustainable model to maintain a growing parks system with increasing demand, Koetzle said.

Over time, the town envisions using the revenue to create a formal parks department.

Glenville is already home to one solar facility, a GE solar array located at the former site of the town landfill on Barhydt Road, which was made possible after the county teamed up with GE in 2019 to develop up to nine solar sites in the county.

Once fully charged, Koetzle said the site will save taxpayers nearly $60,000 per year, a savings of almost $1.5 million over the 25-year agreement.

No commercial solar applications are currently pending, but Koetzle expects to draw some applications later this year now that the legislation has been adopted.

The push towards solar is just one plank of the supervisors clean energy vision.

Glenville has also installed 16 electric vehicle charging stations on town property and will propose a pilot program to test a fleet of electric vehicles. The town has also adopted a feasibility study designed to explore bolstering walkability.

Numerous improvements to the towns park systems are also planned for 2021, including a new 8,000-foot playground at Maalwyck Park designed with a focus on inclusivity for children of all abilities, as well as a new walking path and boat launch.

Koetzle, who is up for re-election in November, also aims to build a new six acre park at Dutch Meadows to honor veterans, as well as a seasonal stage at Indian Meadows to host community events.
Allison Beam, Pennsylvanias new Secretary of Health, will meet with PennLives Editorial Board at 9:30 a.m. Friday in a Zoom event broadcast on Facebook Live, to discuss the challenges of her new position and plans to improve distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in the commonwealth.

Gov. Tom Wolf appointed Beam to replace Dr. Rachel Levine, who accepted the position of Assistant Health Secretary in the administration of President Joe Biden. But her departure comes as the state is struggling to distribute the first vaccines to healthcare workers, people over 65 years old and those with serious health issues.

The PA advocacy group PennPIRG has released a scorecard giving the state an F for not doing enough COVID-19 testing, and many people are complaining about the difficulty of using the states website to schedule vaccinations.

The virus is spreading like wildfire, but our testing capacity has increased at a glacial pace. Were calling on Governor Wolf to ramp up testing, but the state needs federal support to make it happen. Failing to widely test for COVID-19 puts everyone in Pennsylvania at greater risk and prolongs economic damage, said Emma Horst-Martz, PennPIRG Advocate.

Meanwhile, seniors are being asked to navigate complicated websites that direct them to pharmacies or healthcare providers with recorded messages and few, if any, openings for vaccinations. And as doctors urge people to sign up for vaccinations, many are finding it impossible to do so.

Tune in to PennLives Facebook page to join the Editorial Board meeting on the new secretarys plans to roll out the vaccine and defeat COVID-19.

Quality local journalism has never been more important. You deserve the best. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.
FLINT, MI - Bishop International Airport has its next police chief.

The Flint airport announced Thursday, Feb. 4 that Lieutenant Wayne McIntyre will take the reins as chief of public safety from Christopher Miller, who retired in January after 20 years on the job.

We couldnt have chosen a more dedicated and passionate law enforcement official to lead our airport into a new chapter of public safety, so we can continue to protect our passengers and airport community, said Airport Director Nino Sapone in a news release.

McIntyre has spent 32 years working in law enforcement.

He graduated from the police academy in 1989 and later graduated from fire and paramedic schools before starting at the airport in 1990 while also working with the Genesee County Sheriffs Office.

McIntyre retired from the sheriffs office in 2009 to work full-time at the airport. He is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I am truly honored to be able to continue my career at Flint Bishop in this new role, McIntyre said. I look forward to leading both our police and fire departments as we work together to better serve the community.

Read more on MLive:

Surprise parade sends off retiring Flint Bishop Airport Police Chief Christopher Miller

Bishop Airport Police Chief Christopher Miller retiring after 20 years on the job

Passenger traffic inching closer to normal at Flint Bishop Airport

Flint mayor grants key to the city to 6 city leaders in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
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I am so confident you will love complete access to our content that today I can offer you 30 days access for 1*.

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An innocent game of fetch gone horribly wrong very nearly cost a beloved family dog his life when he was impaled by a stick.

Dr Kate Gazzard was playing with her assistance dog Bootsy, when she threw a stick that landed on a 45 degree angle in a park on the Sunshine Coast.

Bootsy, a two-year-old border collie cross kelpie, leaped at the stick and stabbed himself in the neck as his owner watched on in disbelief.

Border collie cross kelpie named Bootsy (pictured) was impaled by a stick during a game of fetch with his owner in the Sunshine Coast

Bootsy had to have emergency surgery to remove the 15cm stick that pierced his throat, shoulder and neck

'I saw him drop, gasping for air as his throat started filling up with blood,' Dr Gazzard told Daily Mail Australia.

The 15cm stick snapped in half and pierced deep into Bootsy's throat, down his chest and into his right shoulder.

Luckily, their local vet was only 500m away to intubate and ventilate Bootsy within two minutes.

Bootsy had emergency surgery to remove the stick and he spent three days in intensive care.

Bootsy's owner Kate Gazzard (pictured, left) said she's relieved to have her beloved dog back home

A 15cm stick (pictured) stuck in the ground at a 45 degree angle that impaled Bootsy during a game of fetch with his owner

'The surgeons told us to prepare for the worst', Dr Gazzard said.

For the next three days, Bootsy didn't eat or drink but was able to come home, to the relief of his family.

But he developed pneumonia and was rushed back to the vet and was on oxygen for another three days.

'I've been traumatised. He had an oxygen tube down his nose and was on four types of anti-biotics', Dr Gazzard said.

Bootsy underwent multiple trips to the vet after a 15cm punctured through his shoulder during a trip to the park

Bootsy's owner Kate Gazzard said her dog's horrific accident has been one of her most crushing moments

Once Bootsy arrived home, he was again rushed back to the hospital after suffering a gastric bleed.

Dr Gazzard said for the first 10 days, her beloved dog remained calm and would get lots of cuddles from the nurses.

'I begged them to let me stay overnight at the vet, we've never been a part before,' she said.

Instead, Bootsy was left with his favourite toy lion and finally returned home to complete his recovery.

'I feel very lucky to have my little boy home'.

Ms Gazzard said Bootsy's accident was one of her most 'crushing moments', but the support she recieved from friends and family lifted her spirits.

'It's been an incredibly horrific rollercoaster, but it's been the support of friends and family online that reassure me it's not only me fighting for Bootsy's life,' she said.

Bootsy was gifted plenty of rubber sticks and balls to help with his speedy recovery.
Cranfield University is working with Q-Flo, Cambridge University and NHS England to record experimental airflow data from a modern NHS ambulance under different driving conditions.

Collection of the data, which is being funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, will explore the effective installation of filtration units which are able to remove virus molecules, including COVID-19 aerosols.

Professor Helen Atkinson CBE, FREng, Pro-Vice-Chancellor - Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing at Cranfield University, who is overseeing the project, said: "We're very pleased to be able to support the Royal Academy of Engineering's Engineering X Pandemic Preparedness scheme along with our project partners Q-Flo, Cambridge University and NHS England.

"There are currently nearly 30,000 paramedics in the UK and thousands of ambulances nationwide. Airflow patterns inside ambulances are complex and not well documented - mapping these flows will enable the optimised installation of filtration systems and reduce the potential exposure of NHS ambulance crews to COVID-19 aerosols in their vehicles."

Phil Pimlott MBE, Assistant Director Operations South Central Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) and Chair of the UK National Strategic Ambulance Fleet Group (NSAFG), said: "SCAS, on behalf of the NSAFG, is very pleased and excited to be involved with this project and is fully committed to working with the group in an area that has been a challenge for ambulance services and the NHS for numerous years.

"The success of this project will be extremely positive for the patients we carry and care for as well as assisting our ambulance crews across the UK and potentially the world in delivering the highest care they can give to patients."

The project will provide flow maps from the ambulance interior over a range of driving conditions up to 70 mph. COVID-19 aerosol sizes, that can be inhaled, are generally less than 10 microns in diameter and particles of this size tend to follow flow patterns without settling onto surfaces.

Dr Adam Boies, Reader in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and partnership director in the Aerosol Centre for Doctoral Training, said: "Effective filtration strategies for PM10 particles are increasingly seen to return environments to safe levels of operation following viral release whereby suspended particles that remain after droplet drying may remain indefinitely without dilution or active removal."

The flow data will facilitate the integration of an active virus filter (AVF) system - TorStranTM - developed by Q-Flo Ltd, which takes in contaminated air and captures individual virus molecules, including those contained in airborne droplets, then destroys the virus molecules and returns clean air to the environment.

Martin Pick, Chief Operating Officer of Q-Flo, said: "The collaboration with Cranfield has been positive and perfectly timed. The TorStran Activer Virus Filter will help to keep people safe, reducing the risk of infection, but it is critically important that we understand where to position the unit to ensure maximum effectiveness."

Knowledge of the flow field is key to allowing Q-Flo to effectively integrate their filtration system into NHS ambulances. The current filtration design is at an advanced phase, meaning a significant roll out of the product could occur in the next 12 months.

Work to collect the data is already underway and a flexible mounting system has been fitted inside an ambulance interior for the light source and imaging system. Calibration and testing of the flow visualisation system in a stationary and moving ambulance has already begun, enabling the acquisition of image datasets from selected regions of the vehicle.

Cranfield's Multi-User Environment for Autonomous Vehicle Innovation (MUEAVI) - a 'smart' road test environment, which is a first of its kind in the UK, built alongside a research airport within the controlled setting of a university campus - is being used in the research for instrumentation testing and data capture at low speeds with an emergency 999 ambulance provided by SCAS.

Data from the project will be openly published, allowing other vehicle designers to improve their ventilation systems.

The project is also expected to lead to other larger projects, such as modelling of airflows in vehicles using computational fluid dynamics, leading to greater refinement of vehicle filtration systems.

The approach will also aid cabin design and provide leverage for further work to measure and model flows in other significant transport systems, such as buses, aircraft and trains, where COVID-19 infection still presents known risk. Any future pandemic will also benefit from the knowledge gained in this research.

###
Myanmar's junta blocked Facebook and Whatsapp in the name of ensuring stability on Thursday after protests against military rule were streamed online.

Activists said at least three people were arrested at a street protest against the coup that ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Opposition to the junta has emerged very strongly on Facebook, which is the country's main internet platform and underpins communications for business and government.

Facebook's WhatsApp messaging was also blocked.

Nobel Peace laureate Ms Suu Kyi faces charges for illegally importing communications equipment after the army takeover on Monday that has drawn Western condemnation and calls on the junta to respect her party's landslide victory in November elections.

Facebook will be blocked until February 7 after the site was used to livestream street protests against Monday's coup

The army seized power on Monday after detaining Aung San Suu Kyi (below) and other leaders in a series of dawn raids

Ousted Ms Suu Kyi has been formally charged with possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies. She has not been seen in public since the military coup on Monday

Facebook was still available sporadically and demonstrators in the second city of Mandalay used it to livestream the first such street protest since the coup in a country with a bloody history of crackdowns on demonstrations.

'People's protest against military coup,' read one of the banners.

The group of around 20 people chanted: 'Our arrested leaders, release now, release now.'

Three people were arrested after the protest, three separate student groups said.

Reuters was unable to contact police for comment.

The social network has also been used to share images of a campaign of disobedience by staff at government hospitals across the country, with doctors stopping work or wearing ribbons in the red colour of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

Doctors are posing for photos and raising three-finger salutes, a protest gesture used by democracy activists in neighbouring Thailand

Medical staff are wearing red ribbons as a show of solidarity and protest against the military takeover

Pictures shared on Wednesday showed workers at the agriculture ministry joining the campaign too.

Norway's Telenor Asa, Myanmar's leading mobile network operator, said it had no choice but to comply with the directive to block Facebook.

'Telenor does not believe that the request is based on necessity and proportionality, in accordance with international human rights law,' it said in a statement.

Facebook spokesman Andy Stone urged authorities to restore connectivity 'so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information'.

Some people used VPNs to evade the blockage.

Twitter, which was not blocked, saw an increase in new users.

#CivilDisobedienceMovement was the top trending hashtag in the country, with #JusticeForMyanmar close behind.

Facebook was used to livestream protests against the military coup in Mandalay, leading to the crackdown on social media in Myanmar

Dissenters banged pots and pans and honked car horns in a display of protest against the new regime

Other signs of anger have emerged.

For two nights, people in Yangon and other cities have banged on pots and pans and honked car horns, with images circulating widely on Facebook.

'Lights are shining in the dark,' said Min Ko Naing, a veteran of past campaigns against military rule, in a call to action.

'We need to show how many people are against this unfair coup.'

The Ministry of Communications and Information said Facebook, used by half of Myanmar's more than 53 million people, would be blocked until February 7 because users were 'spreading fake news and misinformation and causing misunderstanding'.

Ms Suu Kyi has not been seen since her arrest along with other party leaders.

Myanmar's soldiers walk near the congress compound in Naypyitaw after detaining leaders and seizing power

The NLD won about 80% of the vote in the Nov. 8 polls, according to the election commission.

However, the military has refused to accept the result, citing unsubstantiated allegations of fraud.

The United Nations said it would ratchet up international pressure to ensure the will of the people is respected.

'We will do everything we can to mobilise all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails,' United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during an interview broadcast by The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Addressing the coup in Myanmar was a priority for the United States and Washington was reviewing possible sanctions in response, the White House said on Wednesday.

The army's actions have been met with a growing chorus of international condemnation

The United Nations said it would ratchet up international pressure to ensure the will of the people is respected

President Joe Biden discussed the situation in calls with the leaders of South Korea and Australia, the White House said.

The chair of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Parliamentarians for Human Rights, Charles Santiago, said the charges against Ms Suu Kyi were ludicrous.

'This is an absurd move by the junta to try to legitimise their illegal power grab,' he said in a statement.

Police said six walkie-talkie radios had been found in a search of Ms Suu Kyi's home in Naypyidaw that were imported illegally and used without permission.

The NLD itself has yet to comment on the charges.

Ms Suu Kyi spent about 15 years under house arrest between 1989 and 2010 as she led the country's democracy movement, and she remains hugely popular at home despite damage to her international reputation over the plight of Muslim Rohingya refugees.

The military had ruled Myanmar from 1962 until Ms Suu Kyi's party came to power in 2015 under a constitution that guarantees the generals a major role in government.

The junta headed by Army chief General Min Aung Hlaing has declared a one-year state of emergency and appointed himself head of a new cabinet stacked with former and current generals.

He has promised to hold fair elections, but has not said when.
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President Vladimir Putin has continued efforts to quash massive protests in Russia, spurred by the arrest and sentencing of recently returned opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Robyn Dixon reports from Moscow.

Christopher Rowland explains how the Pfizer drug company is squeezing extra doses from overfilled vials of its coronavirus vaccine.
Gaborone  President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi will participate in the virtual 34th ordinary session of the African Union (AU) scheduled for February 6-7.

According to a press release from the Ministry of International Affairs and Cooperation, the summit will be held under the theme: Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want.

The theme draws from one of the main components of AU Agenda 2063; Aspiration Five, which calls for the promotion of a continent with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, values and ethics.

The summit will consider a range of issues including progress reports on AU institutional reforms and the organisation's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, it will appoint the top leadership of the African Union Commission including chairperson and deputy chairperson.

The summit will be preceded by the 38th ordinary session of the AU executive council which will also be held virtually February 3-4.

Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Dr Lemogang Kwape will represent Botswana in the council meeting.

Source : BOPA
An expected $9 million blowout for a Queensland government-owned energy operators new IT system could take a further bite out of its declining financial returns to the states coffers.

Two high-risk issues relating to the security and authorisation of online payments, addressed immediately by the states six energy entities, were uncovered as part of the audit that found their profits had dropped significantly because of low energy prices.

Generators CleanCo, CS Energy and Stanwell, along with transmission and distribution corporations Powerlink, Energex and Ergon, and retailer Ergon Energy Queensland, were all included in the audit. Credit:Glenn Campbell

Queensland Auditor-General Brendan Worralls report, tabled on Thursday, found the entities internal controls to ensure reliable financial reporting were generally effective, though the number of lower-risk matters had increased across the 2019-20 financial year.

While we were able to rely on them, we identified two significant deficiencies [high-risk issues] in internal controls  both related to security of online payments, the report said.
Australians have died being denied access to potentially life-saving medical treatments by big government, claims Coalition MP Craig Kelly in comments about COVID-19 made on a podcast by controversial ex-TV host Pete Evans.

The maverick MP told Evans government has interfered with the doctor-patient relationship to prevent doctors prescribing the two medications Kelly pushes on his Facebook page - hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly during Question Time. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Doctors and scientists have published overwhelming evidence that the drug Mr Kelly most admires does not effectively treat or prevent COVID-19, and may cause serious harm, including heart complications.

Government says, Well we dont care what you think as a doctor or an expert in this field. We, as big government, know better, and you are not allowed to prescribe hydroxychloroquine, he said.
LANSING, MI  A high profile report detailing how Michigan should overhaul its dam safety regulations to help prevent another catastrophe like the Edenville and Sanford dam failures last year is headed to the governor and state lawmakers following some eleventh-hour revisions.

The Michigan Dam Safety Task Force delayed its final report on Wednesday, Feb. 3, over concerns with the tone of certain passages, which prompted the advisory body to seek some changes after its final meeting.

A finalized document is expected by the weeks end.

The task force has developed 86 draft recommendations on ways to improve the states regulatory oversight of dams, which come five months after members were convened to flyspeck the program by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).

Related: Aging dams force a reckoning in Michigan

Task force members and top officials in Gov. Gretchen Whitmers administration hope the legislature will back the substantial policy changes outlined in the report. Certain actions can likely be accomplished by administrate or executive action, but many would require legislative approval.

Draft recommendations include establishing a new revolving loan program for dam improvements and removals, a new emergency response fund, new licensing requirements for dam owners that address qualifications and financial capabilities, new insurance and record-keeping requirements, more frequent inspections and other management changes.

There will be legislative conversations, said Michigan EGLE Director Liesl Clark, who later alluded to meetings with state lawmakers whom she did not name.

There will be pieces of this that the legislature is interested in picking up and creating more context, detail, and frankly putting their stamp on, said Clark, who added that budget conversations are expected, and Whitmer will be eyeing an executive action very shortly.

The potential changes come in the wake of the Edenville and Sanford dam failures, which unleashed a flood that inundated the Midland area and left a trail of destruction through several counties last May. About 10,000 people were forced to evacuate during the flood, which caused more than $200 million in estimated damages.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has proposed a $15 million fine against Boyce Hydro, which owned the dams.

The task force held eight meetings, including one solely for taking public comment. The final meeting Wednesday veered from detailed revisions to recommended action to discussion about whether to soften some passages urging swift action, which the group ultimately voted to do.

Paul Malocha, a consultant with Stantec, said certain judgments made in the reports second chapter about the overall state of dams in Michigan seemed out of our charge.

All the things we write in here should be flowing out of the core recommendations, said Malocha, who was soon after backed-up by fellow group member Bill Rustem.

There is some language that certainly could and probably should be toned down just a little bit, said Rustem, former advisor to governors William Milliken and Rick Snyder. I do see some language that that could be changed and not be quite as, um Im going to use a bad phrase, but kind of fear-mongering.

Brett Fessell, a river restoration ecologist with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, defended a sense of urgency conveyed in some sections. This is a significant issue, a significant challenge, and I would tend to think that the public, in particular, would probably be more supportive of the urgency in tone, he said.

Other task force members felt similarly. Doug Jester, a partner in the 5 Lakes Energy firm, said a call to action seems an order given that there is an urgency to not let this problem fester yet longer after multiple decades of festering.

John Broschak, a vice president at Consumers Energy in charge of hydroelectricity, said hes learned a lot about dams not regulated at the federal level  and thats left him worried, particularly after getting a tour of the Edenville Dam area following the flood. I did not realize the actual status of the non-FERC regulated dams and Im very concerned, he said.

Broschak, who was one of the task force officers, said he was unapologetic about the reports tone and I would like to see us even go further on the call to action.

I want to be bold. I want this to make a difference, Broschak said. I want it to send the right message, because I certainly recognize the process going forward. Its not like everyones going to say, thank you, we will do exactly everything you said. There is going to be a tremendous amount of opposing views  which is fine, thats the way our process works  but, the bolder we are, the better chance we have to address a ticking time bomb in the state and protect peoples property values and up to and including their lives.

Evan Pratt, a Washtenaw County water resources commissioner who chairs the task force, reminded the group that the dam problem will only get worse as time passes, and that it will take additional time for any recommended actions to be approved and implemented.

Every recommendation thats deferred means that you get to where you want to go more slowly and that you set the bar for where you want to end up a little lower, Pratt said. I totally understand that not all of the recommendations may be taken up, but I dont really apologize for saying this is urgent. Its been absorbed a long time.

Related stories:

FERC proposes $15M fine for Edenville Dam owner

Debris removed from Sanford Dam months after flood

Aging hazard dams force a reckoning in Michigan

Timeline: The Edenville Dam saga (before, during and after)

Dam failures, flood impact havent subsided for these families

A year after emergency drawdown, Morrow Lake refill begins

Michigans aging dams are a public safety issue

Michigan steps up dam oversight, but much work remains
New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Congress lawmakers on Thursday moved an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha over the newly enacted Central farm laws.

"I hereby give notice of my intention to ask for leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the business of the house for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent importance, namely: The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services) Act, 2020 pushed through by Parliament, have the potential to subjugate India's farmers to a handful of crony capitalists," said the notice read by Congress MP Manish Tewari.

In the Rajya Sabha, the discussion started after the Opposition agreed to discuss the farm laws during the motion of thanks to the President's address. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said: "The government has cited that there is no ritual of discussing anything before the motion of thanks, so all the Opposition lawmakers have agreed to discuss the motion of thanks and take up the farmers issue then." The government has to find a way out though it has refused to withdraw the farm laws, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the all-party meeting had said that the laws could be put in abeyance for 18 months.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also urged the government to resolve the issue at the earliest.

He asked: "Why is the government fortifying the place? Are they afraid of farmers? The farmers are the country's strength, and the government should talk to them and resolve the issue." "The impasse is not good for our country and the farmers will not back down. The government must withdraw the farm laws. So, it is better to withdraw them today," he added.

A British woman facing two years in jail in Dubai over a 'f*** you Whatsapp message to her flatmate has spoken of her 'nightmare' as she fights to get back to the UK.

The 31-year-old said she is 'banging her head against a brick wall' as she tries to find out if she will be prosecuted for the WhatsApp jibe sent over three months ago.

The human resources manager from Gloucestershire fears she will lose her new job back in Britain as she will be stranded for weeks until a flight ban is lifted.

The 'terrified' British woman is running out of money and forced to sleep on a friend's sofa.

Speaking exclusively to Mail Online, she said: 'This is just a nightmare and the thought of losing my new job is too much.

'I've no apartment and no job and no money. My visa to stay here runs out on February 12th and the police just don't seem to understand.

'I'm banging my head against a brick wall. No one cares.'

The woman had previously lived trouble free in Dubai since 2018 but is now facing a criminal case (stock photo)

The Briton was banned from leaving Dubai at the weekend when she discovered her Ukrainian flatmate had filed a criminal complaint under the UAE's strict cybercrime laws.

The pair had rowed over the use of a dining room table in the flat they shared during lockdown.

The former flatmate has refused to withdraw it the complaint.

The Briton, who has asked not to be named, has been told the criminal case against her will not proceed until her mobile phone has been examined by forensic teams with Dubai police.

She has admitted sending a f*** you message during a row over the use of a dining room table during lockdown.

But prosecutors have yet to bring a case as they are waiting for a forensic report into her phone.

The woman said: ' They cannot send a report until the forensics compiles the report on my phone, even though I said the word and did not deny it. The prosecutors still need the report but no one knows when that will be done. I call every day.'

'I've no idea what is going on, what is coming next and how long it could take.'

The Briton had already shipped her belongings home and was securing herself a seat on one of the limited flights when she was pulled aside by airport authorities.

She was then told she could not leave and that there was a police case against her.

Laleh Shahravesh was charged with making a defamatory statement over a Facebook post calling her husband's second wife a horse

The HR managers plight is similar to that of a mum Laleh Shahravesh who was charged with making a defamatory statement over a Facebook post calling her husband's second wife a horse.

Shahravesh, from Richmond, Surrey, had flown to Dubai after the death of her husband.

It was only when she attempted to leave she found out her ex's second wife had made a complaint over the Facebook post made two years previously.

Shahravesh was fined 625 after a court appearance and was allowed to leave Dubai in April 2019.

The HR manager has appealed to the British Embassy for help but they are unlikely to get involved and intervene in the Dubai justice system.

Detained in Dubai CEO, Radha Stirling, who is representing the woman, said: 'This is a terrifying situation for anyone to face. She had to attend several different police stations, where staff have limited English and communication is difficult.

'Every officer seemed to have a different take on what would happen to her, how long it would take and if she'd be allowed to go. Most people find this experience traumatising.

'The police confiscated her passport and her mobile phone to gather the evidence,' Stirling added.

'The police took the woman's statement which admitted the rude word, but they still feel the need to process her phone through their forensic department, a process in itself, that can take weeks or months.

'Nothing is clear and nothing is logical. If she's admitted the crime in her statement, do they really need to drag her through a lengthy evidence gathering process?

'We have approached the British consular office for assistance, and the UAE's Ambassador to Britain to investigate the matter.

'Without intervention, the woman is likely to spend months in the UAE, awaiting judgment which may or may not be a prison sentence. This is no way to treat visitors and expats in Dubai'.

The Brit discovered that her flatmate had lodged a police complaint against her over the argument, claiming she had felt offended. She now faces jail or a hefty fine as the flatmate refuses to withdraw the complaint (stock photo)

The woman told the Sun yesterday: 'I can't believe what my flatmate has done  she has been so spiteful.

'I pleaded with her to withdraw the complaint but she said, 'This is a criminal case'.'

Speaking yesterday to Detained In Dubai, she added: 'I would never have expected a European to take advantage of the UAE's strict laws.

'We shared a flat and we were all casual with one another.

'I've never been in trouble in my life, and I'm shocked that I've been criminalised over a private WhatsApp exchange with someone whom I lived with.

'What's worse, the messages were from months ago and only now, when I've shipped all of my belongings, booked a flight and when my visa is about to expire, do I even find out about this case.

'I tried to plead with her to drop the case, but she doesn't seem to care about the impact this is having.'

Her lawyer had previously criticised the UAE's 'overarching cybercrime laws'.

Stirling said: 'The UAE's overreaching cybercrime laws have been responsible for numerous arrests of foreign nationals.

'Visitors to the UAE can be arrested, detained and prosecuted over a swear word, an offensive statement or derogatory comment said in the heat of the moment, and the UAE's cybercrime laws are extraterritorial, meaning that the statement could have been made from outside of the UAE.

'The absurdity of these laws allows for husbands and wives, colleagues, friends, school kids, vindictive and spiteful individuals and provocateurs to hold jail cards over people they interact with, and they don't even need to know them.

'Complete strangers are able to report social media comments they find offensive to the authorities and under the laws, they will be prosecuted, fined and even imprisoned.'

'Legal proceedings in Dubai are lengthy, and a frivolous case like this can take months to go through the local system, causing no end of suffering.

'With hotel accommodation, legal fees and visa overstay fines, an absurd allegation can quickly escalate into tens of thousands of pounds, loss of employment and in a worst case scenario, a prison sentence.

'The human toll is often unimaginable, especially when family members are separated.'
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A former National Chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, yesterday described the visit of some serving All Progressives Congress (APC) governors to former President Goodluck Jonathan to allegedly woo him to contest the 2023 presidential elections under APC platform as huge joke.

Baraje added that Jonathan would never be taken in by the political antics of the governors who visited him under the guise of felicitating with him during his last birthday anniversary.

The former APC-turned PDP stalwart added that the governors' visit is not a threat to the PDP as a political party.

Baraje spoke with journalists in Ilorin, Kwara state capital as part of activities to mark his 70th birthday.

He said: "The Jonathan I know will not be hoodwinked by the APC governors overtures. Dr Jonathan will continue to talk and laugh with them, If they are not careful some of them that went on that visit might end up declaring for PDP. The issue of wining Jonathan to their side is not a threat to PDP because we know and trust Jonathan. We know who he is. We know that he realizes that PDP had done more than enough in his life and he is always saying it. So we are very confident of the former president."

On the crisis rocking his party PDP nationwide, the politician sounded optimistic that the party would come of the crisis stronger and spring surprises in the 2023 polls.

"There is very big hope for the PDP in 2023. PDP has a kind of internal control mechanism to resolve crisis not like any other party," he waxed upbeat.

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Baraje said that "like any political party anywhere in the world you must have differences. It is only abnormal when it is becoming a tradition. Mark you it is not only in PDP. It is worse in other parties. And I make bold to say that it is worst in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). I make bold to say that by the time the crisis in APC snowballs and bursts, there would not be APC again.

"The PDP has already started kicking the ball rolling. We have set up a committee headed by former Senate President Bukola Saraki. His reconciliation committee is to bring back cooperation, integration and rehabilitation of the party. It was officially launched in Abuja.

"PDP works in a wonderful way. What looks impossible today will become a reality when the 2023 election year gets closer. In fact, 11th hour to 2023 is when you will know the capacity of the PDP. Even with my short stint with APC before I quickly ran back to PDP I still met that tradition there.

"Today, we have been talking to one another. I am happy that committee of former chairmen, committee of former national secretaries, committee of former speakers and committee of former Senate presidents are all meeting. Committee of former governors is also meeting at various levels.

"By the middle of this year you will begin to see the magic that PDP will do. Efforts are on and we believe it is going to be very fruitful."
Moffitt's 'bar rescue' bill advances

A bill seeking to extend a delay on payment deadlines for certain alcohol permits quickly cleared an N.C. House Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee.





The measure, House Bill 4, applies to businesses hurt by the governors executive order restricting travel and business operations, and mass gatherings. Payment of fees  according to the proposed committee substitute for the bill  shall not be required until 90 days after the date all executive orders responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and limiting the full operation of the permittee are rescinded or expire.



Further, the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission would reinstate or reactivate any permits it canceled or moved to inactive status. Permit holders closed during the pandemic could seek refunds of fees paid in 2020-21.



Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Henderson, a primary sponsor of the bill, said to expect an active biennium on issues related to legislation pertaining to alcohol and the state-run system.



H.B. 4 advances to the House committee on rules and operations.



More than 120 bars across North Carolina in January lost their licenses because they hadnt paid fees to the state. Most fell behind on their fees because they were out of money; Gov. Roy Cooper had shut down all private bars as part of his COVID-19 regulations.



The General Assembly had passed a law delaying the deadline for paying license fees for 90 days, but that period passed, and private bars  unless they had outdoor seating  remained closed. The ABC started suspending or revoking permits Jan. 4.



The ABC quickly walked back its decision about the licenses after hearing from bar owners, as well as lawmakers, including Moffitt. As part of the agreement, bar owners not only will be able to keep their licenses but also will have any late-payment penalties waived.



The new bill, though, would cement the deferrals in law. The aspect of the bill addressing bars affected by the executive order would be retroactive to June 30 of last year.
Kangana Ranaut Calls Taapsee Pannu 'Ugly' & 'Atrocious' In A Heated Exchange, Latter Says Being Toxic & Abusive Is In Her DNA

The debate surrounding the ongoing farmers protest in the country is all flared up as Bollywood stands divided on the issue. On Thursday actresses Taapsee Pannu and Kangana Ranaut had a heated exchange after Taapsee tweeted hinting at international pop sensation Rihannas tweet on the farmers protest.

Taapsee in her original tweet wrote, If one tweet rattles your unity, one joke rattles your faith or one show rattles your religious belief then its you who has to work on strengthening your value system not become propaganda teacher for others.

If one tweet rattles your unity, one joke rattles your faith or one show rattles your religious belief then its you who has to work on strengthening your value system not become propaganda teacher for others.  taapsee pannu (@taapsee) February 4, 2021

Kangana Ranaut who has been pretty clear on her stand in the matter and is against the protests, took a dig at Taapsee calling her a 'B grade person', a 'freeloader', and 'dumbo' and asked people to ignore her.

The Manikarnika actress in her tweet wrote, B grade logon ki B grade thinking, one should stand up for ones faith motherland and family, yehi Karm hai yehi Dharm bhi hai .... free fund ka sirf khane wale mat bano... iss desh ka bojh... thats why I call them B grade ... ignore them free loaders ...

In another tweet Kangana wrote, Yeh her only achievement is it be a sasti copy.... since she styled herself like me people started noticing her, librus r happy to find not just sasti also atrocious, ugly and more than willing to be anti national as well, Never saw such a wannabe,desperate and clueless moron...

While Taapsee refrained from replying to Kangana directly she did reply to a few others on Twitter and made her opinions on Kangana pretty clear. Replying to one person calling her queen the actress wrote, Hahahhhaha. Arre is word ka toh copyright patent hai just like the curly hair n being an opinionated person.

When another user wrote sharing careen shots of Kangana and Taapsee exchange and said shes clearly rattled someone and called Kaganas tweets toxic and abusive, the Thappad star replied saying But what if those are the basics of someones DNA? Or RNA? Or even platelets.

Looks like @taapsee's tweet really rattled someone. This would have been funny had it not been this toxic or abusive. pic.twitter.com/XGvg0574il  Bodhisattva #DalitLivesMatter (@insenroy) February 4, 2021

Taapsee Pannu on Wednesday had lauded Rihanna for her tweet on the protests while Kangana Ranaut took a swipe at the pop sensation and called her a fool.
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG executives ignored warnings from colleagues about troubled steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta as they channeled $1.2 billion of client funds to his businesses, according to people familiar with the matter.Bankers in Credit Suisses commodity trade-finance unit blacklisted Guptas Liberty Commodities Ltd. in 2016 because they suspected some of its deals werent legitimate, the people said. When they learned about two years later that the bank was lending to his companies through a suite of investment funds, which eventually grew to $10 billion, they flagged their worries to leaders in compliance and the division that housed the loans, one of the people said.The disclosure that Credit Suisse may have put clients at risk despite internal concerns over Guptas businesses adds a new twist to the debacle stemming from the March implosion of Greensill Capital, the finance firm at the center of the three-way relationship.Investigations, LawsuitsThe U.K. Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Guptas group of companies for suspected fraud, including in its financing deals with Greensill, according to a May 14 statement. Credit Suisse has sued to force Guptas Liberty Commodities into insolvency and has since shut the funds that made the loans and launched an internal investigation. Investors are staring at losses as the bank confronts embarrassing lawsuits.We are currently focusing our efforts on recovering our investors money, Will Bowen, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in London, said in an emailed statement, adding that the banks internal probe will focus on all of the issues linked to the funds. We are committed to learning the lessons and will share the relevant lessons learnt at the appropriate time.Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Gupta Family Group Alliance, or GFG Alliance, a collective of businesses linked to Gupta including Liberty Commodities, denied any wrongdoing.The Greensill saga represents just one of the two disasters that rocked Credit Suisse in the first half of 2021. Since Greensill began unraveling, the bank has announced a $5.5 billion hit from the blowup at Archegos Capital Management.ApologiesFormer Chairman Urs Rohner apologized to shareholders and his successor, Antonio Horta-Osorio, who arrived at the end of April, has promised a sweeping strategy review.Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein, who was head of the division that oversaw trade finance, wasnt aware of the internal concerns about Gupta that had prompted the bank to cut him off, according to a person familiar with the matter.Employees at the trade-finance unit, which lends money for the buying and selling of commodities, cut ties with Gupta in 2016 after becoming skeptical toward his Liberty Commodities, the people said. They distrusted the documents the company provided, triggering doubts about its transactions, they said. In one example reported by Bloomberg, the company had presented another bank with what seemed to be duplicate shipping receipts. Credit Suisses commodity team had stopped working with Gupta after identifying suspicious shipments while the banks credit-structuring team lobbied against the Greensill funds, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.A spokesman for Gupta has denied any wrongdoing.Banking TiesLiberty Commodities pledged assets to Credit Suisse as security for borrowings in 2013 but by early 2016, all such commitments had been extinguished, indicating that the financing relationship had ceased, U.K. Companies House filings show. And while Guptas company listed the Swiss bank as one of its lenders in its 2014 annual report, it didnt in the following years report, which is dated May 2016, according to the filings.Their counterparts at other banks, including Macquarie Group Ltd. and Sberbank PJSC, halted trading with Liberty Commodities around the same time because of similar concerns; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also stopped in 2016, Bloomberg has reported.Nevertheless, executives at Credit Suisses asset-management division -- which creates investment products for clients and charges a fee for overseeing them -- began arranging a suite of funds focused on supply-chain finance in 2017. The entities bought securitized loans packaged by Greensill, a firm created by Australian businessman Lex Greensill. Much of the debts were linked to Guptas businesses.WarningsOfficials at the commodity trade-finance unit were concerned when they found out about the funds links to Gupta and took their fears to Thomas Grotzer, general counsel for the banks Swiss division. They also warned Luc Mathys and Lukas Haas, the bankers who helped oversee the trades at the asset-management unit.Grotzer was promoted last month to interim global head of compliance at Credit Suisse. He didnt respond to requests for comment. Mathys, head of fixed-income at the asset-management division, and Haas, a portfolio manager, were put on temporary leave in March. Neither responded to requests for comment.The bank pushed ahead with the funds and marketed them to investors as being made up of short-term debt secured on invoices, assets considered so safe that Credit Suisse gave the largest vehicle its lowest rating for risk. Yet part of the loans were linked to mere possible future revenues.Other parts of the bank continued working with Gupta as well. Credit Suisses investment bankers were due to lead an initial public offering for Libertys U.S. steel arm, which was ultimately pulled, according to a statement from the company. Gupta also announced that the Swiss bank would finance his planned acquisition of Thyssenkrupp AGs steel unit, which fell apart earlier this year.Credit Suisse has so far recouped about $5.9 billion of the $10 billion in these supply-chain funds, but it remains unclear how much will be returned ultimately to investors. Loans to Guptas businesses are among a batch of debts that are the principal sources of valuation uncertainty, the bank said earlier this month.Liberty Commoditiess external legal advisors investigated alleged rumors concerning the paperwork it used in 2019, according to Mitchell, the spokesman for GFG Alliance. They found no evidence to substantiate the rumors, nor was the company ever subject to further complaints or proceedings, he said.LCL has ongoing banking relationships with separate financial institutions, Mitchell said, referring to Liberty Commodities. The trade-finance market has been hugely challenging for all but the very largest commodities traders in recent years. Nevertheless, no financial institution has been left out of pocket as a result of lending money to LCL. On the contrary, they have received substantial commercial returns.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
A growing number of Republicans are taking sides in a brewing House battle over the shape of the party after the Donald Trump presidency.

The rift is cranking up pressure on Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as he decides this week whether to sideline conspiracy theorists and secure a place for anti-Trump voices in the partys leadership.

Leading the charge was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who denounced the extremist rhetoric of representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, while offering a gesture of support for Liz Cheney, the No. 3 House GOP leader, who voted last month to impeach Mr Trump.

He was joined by several other Republican lawmakers, as well as pillars of the conservative establishment, who together warned that sidelining Trump critics from the party while tolerating purveyors of social-media-driven paranoia would spell long-term disaster  a cancer for the Republican Party and our country, as Mr McConnell put it.

Senator Todd Young, a McConnell confidant, called Ms Greene nutty and an embarrassment to our party.

Ms Greene, meanwhile, boasted of raising more than $85,000 in the 24 hours following Mr McConnells statement on Monday and fired back on Twitter: The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully.

Read More

The debate over the future of the GOP comes a day before House Republicans were scheduled to meet privately to debate whether Ms Cheney  the daughter of a former vice president who has spent a lifetime in Republican politics  can continue in her role as GOP conference chairwoman.

They are also facing pressure to swiftly remove Ms Greene from two House committees after the unearthing of social media posts in which she endorsed the assassination of prominent Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi; promulgated conspiracy theories involving the same; and claimed mass shootings in Las Vegas and Florida were false flag operations staged by supporters of gun control.

At the centre of the pressure is Mr McCarthy, who has maintained his position as the top House Republican leader by hewing closely to Mr Trump and an evolving GOP electorate that eagerly embraced the former presidents hard-edge populism while casting aside much of the partys conservative orthodoxy.

However, a significant minority are eager to move the party away from Mr Trump and toward a more policy-driven foundation.

Mr McConnell has dismissed Ms Greenes statements as loony lies that have nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.

Ms Cheneys fate as a GOP leader will be debated in a private meeting of Republican lawmakers.

While some Trump loyalists have made clear they intend to turn the meeting into a session to air long-simmering grievances, it is largely up to Mr McCarthy how the challenge will be resolved.

Read More

 Washington Post
Normand Dube arrives for his sentencing, Monday, December 10, 2018 in St. Jerome, Que. A fugitive Quebec man dubbed the "pilot to the stars" on the lam since mid-December has turned himself in to Quebec provincial police. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
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Weekly News Digest February 4, 2021  In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today. For other up-to-the-minute news, check out ITIs Twitter account: @ITINewsBreaks.



CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items. Anythink Library System Announces Events for Its One Kind Word Project Anythink libraries in Colorado is launching the One Kind Word Project, a 3-week initiative that encourages customers to share messages of kindness through personal notes and recordings. This program was originally launched in 2017 and has since grown to include more opportunities to participate. This year, residents can pick up notecards and artistic supplies at their local Anythink to create custom cards that spread cheer to those in need. Cards can be returned to the library, where they will be collected and distributed to organizations across Adams County. Another aspect of the project allows people to call 303-405-3222 to leave or hear uplifting messages from fellow community members. Callers can also sign up to have messages automatically delivered to their phones once a day (text and data rates may apply). Customers can also tune in to 91.9 FM while using Anythinks curbside services or log on to anythinklibraries.org to hear messages. There will be virtual workshops with author Kat Vellos and Colorado poet laureate Bobby LeFebre: In the three-part series, Cultivating Connection, Kat Vellos will share strategies and activities for cultivating fulfilling friendships in adulthood. On Friday, Feb. 26, Bobby LeFebre will present Holding Space, a performance and interactive conversation that investigates the nuance and complexities of kindness, social justice, love and collective consciousness. These workshops are free and open to all. For more information, read the news item.

Send correspondence concerning the Weekly News Digest to NewsBreaks Editor Brandi Scardilli
TOKYO, Feb 4, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Olympus Corporation (Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO: Yasuo Takeuchi) announced today that it has been selected(1) by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) to implement the Japan-Russia Medical Cooperation Promotion Project in the field of endoscopy for the fiscal year ending March, 2021. Under the project, Olympus will promulgate gastrointestinal endoscopic/laparoscopic techniques in support of a five-year oncology plan launched by the Russian government in 2019.(2)As part of the project, Olympus will facilitate online training programs for gastrointestinal endoscopic/laparoscopic techniques taught by Japanese oncology specialists for Russian endoscopists and oncologists. The bilateral project is being carried out in cooperation with Russia's two premier cancer centers, the N. N. Blokhin Cancer Research Center and the P. Hertsen Moscow Oncology Research Institute branch of the Russian National Medical Research Radiological Centre (NMRRC) as well as Asian Medical Education and Training Support (AMETS).(3) As part of the project's initiatives, Olympus commits to disseminate Japan's world-leading technologies for early diagnosis and treatment in Russia, contributing to the improvement of oncology treatment and research in the region.Objectives of the MHLW's Japan-Russia Medical Cooperation Promotion Project in the Field of Endoscopy (April 2020 - March 2021):1. To help advance the Russian government's oncology plan by implementing cancer educational activities for facilities and doctors specializing in that branch of medicine. These activities will take place primarily at Russia's two premier cancer centers, the N. N. Blokhin Cancer Research Center and the P. Hertsen Moscow Oncology Research Institute within the NMRRC.2. To provide opportunities for training and knowledge sharing on the latest medical technologies by Japanese physicians, contributing to the improvement of gastrointestinal cancer measures, from diagnosis to treatment, particularly for colorectal cancer.Program activities were unveiled at the Japan-Russia Symposium on Colorectal Cancer Management and at the Signing Ceremony of the Memorandum of Cooperation among AMETS and the two Russian cancer centers, which were held on January 19. The signing ceremony was attended by Japanese and Russian government officials, including Mr. Sergey Muraviev, Director-General, International Cooperation and Public Relations Bureau, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Dr. Teiji Takei, MHLW Assistant Minister for Global Health and Welfare, and Mr. Takeshi Matsunaga, Embassy of Japan in Russia. In addition, 1167 healthcare professionals from all over Russia attended the symposium virtually.Supported by the MHLW since 2017, Olympus has provided its endoscopic systems for the Endoscopic Training Center at Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, in addition to supporting training activities with Japanese physicians serving as instructors. The Japan-Russia Medical Cooperation Promotion Project is one of such initiatives by Olympus that MHLW has supported. Moving forward, Olympus will continue to assist with the training of Russian endoscopists, aiming to spread the application of endoscopic diagnosis, treatment and surgery.(1) Selection was made in June, 2020(2) Preventive program centered around cancers in the Russian government's national "Healthcare project" that aims to reform its healthcare system. The program, which is promoted by the directors from the two major cancer centers mentioned above, targets an early cancer detection rate of 63% or greater, 5-year survival rate of 60% or greater, and a mortality rate of 17.3% or less. Colorectal cancer is currently the second most prevalent type of cancer in Russia.(3) A general incorporated institution whose mission is to help spread access to Japan's world-class endoscopy and other medical technologies throughout Asia by providing human resource training support and medical-related education, and by contributing to the development of academic research. (Chairman: Seigo Kitano, President of Oita University)For questions or additional information, please contact:Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)Matthias Gengenbach+49 4023773 5867matthias.gengenbach@olympus-europa.comJapan and Asia PacificYuka Horimoto+81-90-2490-1071yuka.horimoto@olympus.comSource: OlympusCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Leading owner Barry Maloney is hoping that Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup favourite Minella Indo will put an uncharacteristic tumble last time at the eighth fence in the Savills Chase behind him in Sundays feature contest at Leopardstown.

The hugely-exciting eight-year-old, who is 6-4 favourite with the sponsor for the weekend highlight, was unbeaten this season before that having cruised to victory in both a Grade 3 chase at Wexford in October and then at one higher level at Navan the following month.

Maloney said: Look it was a very novicey mistake last time  he got too close and never rose up. Hed not put a foot wrong before that and hopefully it was a one-off. Rachael [Blackmore] was up on him last week and jumped a few and he was jumping beautifully with no adverse effects and were hopeful.

Asked what the reports from home were since that unfortunate mishap, Maloney continued: Hes been great  he only got half a race last time and were excited to get this run into him. Hes the kind of horse who needs a lot of work and were looking forward to him running.

Before last time hes never been out of the three, mostly in the two, and look, hes been unbelievable. Hes one of those horses that were very privileged to be involved with and were hoping that he will redeem himself and were very excited for the race.

Possible Irish combatants dominate Paddys market for the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Minella Indo, trained by Waterford wizard Henry De Bromhead, currently resting on a co third favourite 8-1 together with Santini and new kid on the block Royale Pagaille.

Minella Indo has twice visited Prestbury Park before taking the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle at the incredible odds of 50-1 in 2019 before finding just Champ too powerful in last seasons Festival Novices Chase (then known as the RSA Insurance Novices Chase).

He will definitely go for the Cheltenham Gold Cup if all goes well on Sunday, declared Maloney. Hell head to the Gold Cup for sure and look, in the RSA last year his jumping was faultless until the last fence and for whatever reason, he got over it but not very well.

Had he jumped the last fence like he jumped the rest of them, Champ wouldnt have got to him. Allaho was there after the last and fair play to Champ, but had he jumped it, he would not have been caught  no way.

Fingers crossed hes favourite for Sundays race and hes in against the big boys. He fluffed his lines last time and he needs to deliver this time.

Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup Odds

Paddy Power: 6-4 Minella Indo, 5-2 Kemboy, 100-30 Melon, 9-2 Delta Work, 16 The Storyteller

Cheltenham Gold Cup NRNB Odds

Paddy Power: 3 Al Boum Photo, 7 A Plus Tard, 8 Minella Indo, Royal Pagaille, Santini, 10 Champ, 14 Frodon, Kemboy, 20 Allaho, Delta Work, Lositintranslation, Melon, Presenting Percy, Waiting Patiently, 25 Cyrname, Imperial Aura, 33 Bristol De Mai, Monalee, Native River, Saint Calvados, Samcro, 40 bar
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PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Feb, 2021 ) :Over 20 government officials received a two-day training on "Pakistan's International Human Rights Reporting Obligations" organised by Huqooq-e-Pakistan Project, a joint initiative by the Ministry of Human Rights & European Union, and UNDP Pakistan.

The training, which was inaugurated by Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights Department Masood Ahmad, was aimed at enhancing the technical and operational capacities of the officials of the KP Human Rights and Minority Affairs Department and the KP Treaty Implementation Cell in reporting and implementation of international human rights commitments of Pakistan.

Secretary Masood Ahmad appreciated the support of Huqooq-e-Pakistan project in developing and implementing a flagship human rights training and capacity-building programme. He acknowledged the contribution of GSP plus status in Pakistan's economy especially after economic crisis caused by 2010 floods. He said that it is the responsibility of the state to protect the rights of citizens.

"The training will enhance the knowledge base of government officials that is required in fulfilling their mandates with respect to international human rights reporting. With better capacity, the relevant departments would be able to effectively reflect the government's efforts for protection and promotion of human rights in their reporting for international commitments," the Secretary said.

Executive Director, Huqooq-e-Pakistan Project, Ali Dayan Hasan gave an overview of the HeP Project and its training objectives.

He stated that the training program is designed in consultation with human rights stakeholders to ensure that the trainings reflected Pakistan's realities and perspectives.

"Huqooq-e-Pakistan is the only human rights capacity-building project on this scale undertaken by the EU anywhere in the world which aims to foster relations between the EU and Pakistan by aiding Pakistan in meeting its human rights reporting obligations. It therefore represents positive and constructive human rights diplomacy," added Ali Dayan Hasan.

The EU Promotion of Human Rights in Pakistan (Huqooq-e-Pakistan) is a European Union (EU) funded programme with the objective of supporting the continued efforts of the Government of Pakistan for the promotion of human rights.

At the end of the training, Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights Department Masood Ahmad and Mr. Ali Dayan Hasan, awarded certificates to qualifying participants.

In his concluding remarks, he thanked Huqooq-e-Pakistan, the Ministry of Human Rights, the EU, and participating institutions and expressed hope that this engagement would deepen in the months and years to come. He further stated that these trainings will facilitate stakeholders in understanding the reporting process, provides effective tools for reporting aiding in fulfilling the state's treaty body obligations under the UN system.
Ant Group plans to spin off its consumer-credit data operations, people with knowledge of the matter said, a concession to aggressive regulators that should help the Chinese fintech giant get its massive public share sale back on track. Hiving off the treasure trove of data on more than 1 billion people is a key part of Ants business overhaul in response to a regulatory crackdown that resulted in the abrupt suspension of its $37 billion initial public offering (IPO), which would have been the worlds biggest, the people told Reuters. The data spinoff, along with Ants ...
Extremists and the Pleasures of Destruction

Commentary

Its a matter of speculation how far a persons political opinions are determined by his temperament, his circumstances, and his ratiocination, but its certainly true that many extremists make their choice young, burn their boats, and then cant returnat least for a very long timeto normal life.

For personal reasons unnecessary to go into, I was reading recently a biography of the French anarchist of the Belle Epoque, Alexandre Jacob (18791954). He was a very interesting person. He left school early and by the age of 14, he was planning explosions with dynamite. He became a very accomplished and prolific burglar of the houses of the wealthy, using the proceeds not to enrich himself but to fund anarchist organizationsrather a contradiction in terms, one might think.

Once, while burgling the house of someone whom he had thought to be a rich aristocrat, he discovered that the rich aristocrat was, in fact, poor, and he therefore took nothing from the house. But he wasnt always a model of chivalry, and was quite prepared to kill the police, whom he regarded as paid lackeys of the rich. During his eventual trial, his allies threatened the jurors, and (such was their sense of justice) their wives and children, with death if they passed too harsh a verdict against him.

Jacob was eventually sent to the prison in French Guiana for life, a kind of death penalty that dared not speak its name, since the average life expectancy there was 5 yearsthe number of deaths every year being more or less the same as of the new prisoners so that the prisoners never grew more numerous. Nearly 380 of the 500 prisoners who arrived with him died within six months of arrival.

While imprisoned, Jacob killed two people and tried to escape 17 times. But he was highly, even brilliantly, intelligent and calmed down with age. Eventually he was released and became a reasonably successful businessman in France until the German occupation ruined him (he refused to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the black market).

He never expressed regret for what he had done, but did express doubts about the wisdom of violent action. He committed suicide at the age of 75.

A mugshot of Alexandre Marius Jacob on April 28, 1903. (Public Domain)

In his adolescence, Jacob, who hated the rich ex officio and almost denied them their humanity, was impressed by anarchist literature, with passages such as the following: It is important to demolish all buildings that are a symbol of oppression. No vestige of the past shall be respected. All monuments that could serve as a rallying point for any authority whatever should be destroyed, without pity or remorse. Blow up churches, convents, barracks, prisons, town halls.

Then there is to be a bonfire of records of public debt and marriages, share certificates, mortgages, in fact, all documents relating to the present state of affairs.

The writer continues: All this will seize your heart because you will say, Notre-Dame and the old Gothic cathedrals into which our ancestors put their soul are masterpieces. But while they remain standing, the human mind will not be able to free itself of the prejudices of which they are the stone embodiment  the best would be to destroy the museums despite the protests against revolutionary vandalism and the curses of future archaeologists.

I dont suppose I have to point out the analogies with certain youthful political groups today. There have long been people who could look at the Taj Mahal, altogether miss its sublime beauty, and proceed at once to lament and reprehend the social injustice that must have been required to build it, at a time when most people were at, below, or barely above the subsistence level.

There is a certain kind of person who, while walking through Versailles, wonders first how they could ever have dusted it or kept it clean; this kind of person is now outnumbered by the kind who sees in every monument of the past the injustice of the society in which it was produced, as if it were injustice turned to stone.

And since justice is the only desideratum that they recognize, and by which they are obsessed, they wish to destroy all that was built or created in periods of injustice. If civilization itself was the work of periods of injustice, so much the worse for civilization.

Away with it as a vestige of the hated past!

It goes without saying that the justice with which the iconoclasts and vandals are obsessed is always of a very peculiar sort (it continues to surprise me how little protest there is against the very expression racial justice, than which few expressions could be more racist); but at any rate, they are always judging the past, as they judge the present, against an impossible standard of perfectionperfection, that is, according to their own conception of what the world ought to be.

If we take the Belle Epoque in which Jacob grew up, it goes without saying that there was very much wrong with it. The regime of the Third French Republic was less enlightened, and certainly more hypocritical, in its penal policy, than was that of the preceding Imperial regime of Louis Napoleon or, a fortiori, of the present day. However, that would hardly be a reason to pull down all of Paris that was erected during it, or to burn the books that were produced during it (including the many that were published exposing the cruelty of the prisons of French Guiana).

The destructive urge, said the anarchist Bakunin, is also a constructive urge. But the urge to destroy as such, that is to say irrespective of what is destroyed, is not at all constructive. On the contrary.

To destroy, to smash, are primitive pleasures, and when they are allied to an ideological purposethe promotion of a religion, social justice, and so onits a pleasure of almost orgasmic intensity. Indeed, to throw a brick through a window in the name of the good of humanitycould any pleasure be greater?

Theodore Dalrymple is a retired doctor. He is contributing editor of the City Journal of New York and the author of 30 books, including Life at the Bottom. His latest book is Embargo and Other Stories.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

JOHANNESBURG (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2021) OHANNESBURG, February 3 (Sputnik), Thabiso Lehoko - South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday morning launched the Electronic Vaccination Data System to keep track of everyone who receives the COVID-19 vaccine as South Africa gears up for its historical mass vaccination campaign.

"It is a pleasure to launch the electronic system. This digital health system will provide critical data and an electronic database system built on the system already implemented. We welcome all to enroll. More than 34000 health workers have already registered. It takes less than two minutes to register and you can also register at the vaccination line," Mkhize said during an online event.

The Department of Health's acting Chief Operating Officer, Milani Wolmarans, took time to show the participants through the registration process.

"Within three minutes of registering you will receive an SMS message on your phone confirming your registration followed by another step where you will receive a message with a scheduled appointment," Wolmarans explained during the webinar.

Lesley Bamford, the acting chief director of the Child Youth and school Health at the National Department, said at the beginning of phase one, priority will be given to health care workers at hospitals, community centers and Primary health care, and general practitioner centers.

"Phase 2 registrations will not yet be up and running. We will start and use a similar process. Self-enrollment is efficient but not a requirement for those who do not have resources. Provision will be made at the sites for those who do not have cell phones and data to register.

As a department we are highly promoting the use of self-enrollment," Bamford said.

Wolmarans has made the assurance that the system will not crash.

"The system is in line with National and international safety standards. Will the system crash after a million people have been registered? No, it is built on a platform that is already managing 59 million records by the Enterprise Architecture. This system improves administrative access," Wolmarans told the webinar.

Mkhize emphasized that anyone who works with patients or in a hospital must register.

"Anyone who touches patients, anyone who works with patients have to register, medical aid will cover but if you drop out of medical aid scheme you will fall under the government sponsor. You must just give us correct information if you have medical aid, if you don't government will assist. Many people are not under medical aid and we understand because this is a national programme. We also thank the team for ensuring this system," Mkhize explained.

On Monday, South Africa received the first batch of the one million vaccines from India's Serum Institute. The vaccines have gone for an assessment before they can be rolled out in two weeks. The government intends to inoculate 40 million people, representing 67 percent of the country's population of 60 million, by the end of the year.

On Tuesday, the authorities said 2,649 new cases had been recorded over 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 1,458,958. The results came from 28,942 tests at a positivity rate of 9.15 percent.
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Lekhi mocks Thunberg, says India should give her child bravery award

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 4: Taking a swipe at young climate activist Greta Thunberg, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said on Thursday that the Indian government should give her "child bravery award" for uploading a document providing "proof about hatching a conspiracy to destabilise" the country.

Lending her support to the farmers' agitation against the three farm reform laws, the teen activist had shared "a toolkit for those who want to help". "Here's a toolkit if you want to help," tweeted Thunberg, which takes the user to a document containing details on ways to support the protest.

In the document, various urgent actions, including creating a Twitter storm and protesting outside Indian embassies, were listed which were needed to be taken to support the farmers' protest.

The toolkit has been cited by some critics as a "proof" of her conspiracy to fuel protests in India. Lekhi tweeted, "I propose Greta Thunberg for Child bravery Award which Govt of India should bestow on her as she has done a huge service by uploading the document providing proof about hatching of a conspiracy to destabilise India from 1/1/ & leading up to 26/1/2021."

As Thunberg reiterated her support on Thursday to the protests, Lekhi reacted, "She is just a child! What I despise are the people who have proposed her name for Nobel. A child who doesn't understand sustainable farming practices, stubble burning or diversification of crops, water resource management can't even be nominated, bad for civil society & credibility."
Authorities are searching for two people suspected of stealing historic memorabilia from San Franciscos Cliff House nearly one month after the restaurant announced its permanent closure.

United States Park Police said two people broke into the building near Ocean Beach in the early hours of Jan. 26. Historic art, tools and an early 1900s bathing suit from the old Sutro Bathhouse valued at $2,000 were among the items stolen, police said.

The burglary happened nearly a month before a planned two-day online auction of the 157-year-old landmarks memorabilia, artwork and decorative furnishings. The pilfered bathing suit was one of the items up for auction, according to the firm organizing the event.

A representative of Rabin Worldwide, the company overseeing the Cliff House auction, said in an email that the auction is moving forward as planned.

Thankfully the thieves did not take a lot of stuff, Orlee Rabin, a principal at Rabin Worldwide told The Chronicle. They did take a variety of interesting items, but they actually left some behind. They took them out of the building and then left them on the street, and a bystander was about to go for a run at Ocean Beach and saw them and realized where they were from and managed to get them back to the Cliff House.

We miraculously had one of the bathing suits and three other items returned. There are good people out there in San Francisco, and were very relieved.

In a press release announcing the auction, Rabin promised a chance to own a piece of San Francisco history, and called the Cliff Houses decor a testament to the bygone era of the establishment, as well as to relics of San Francisco landmarks of yesteryear: the Sutro Baths and Playland at the Beach.

Police said they have clear security footage of the two individuals, and they have compiled a list of items that were stolen or vandalized, including a wooden horse and framed antique pictures and posters.

Julian Espinoza, a spokesman for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, said there has been an increase in vandalism and theft throughout the region during the pandemic, and park officials and police are working to increase security at the Cliff House.

The Cliff House closed in December after longtime operators Dan and Mary Hountalas, who ran the property since 1977, failed to reach a new lease agreement with the historical sites owner, the National Park Service.

But the property may not remain vacant for long. The National Park Service confirmed on Tuesday that it will immediately make use of the space while it searches for a tenant, and the goal is for the building to house a restaurant under a new name.

Protection of the Cliff House continues to be a major priority during our pandemic operations and we are continuing to explore short-term options for this public space, Espinoza said in an email statement Thursday.

Park officials and police are working with the San Francisco Police Departments burglary task force and are seeking the publics assistance to identify the individuals and recover the stolen items.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Park Police anonymously at 415-561-5150 or 888-361-3332. Tips can also be emailed to uspp_tipline@nps.gov.

Vanessa Arredondo is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vanessa.arredondo@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @v_anana
London: Chinas English-language satellite news channel has been thrown off-air in Britain after its media regulator ruled it was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

And CGTN will also face sanctions over its reporting on the Hong Kong protests, including for broadcasting forced confessions. The regulator said it had three other investigations ongoing into CGTNs coverage.

The title screen of a programme called How Xi Jinping Led Chinas COVID-19 Battle, from the CGTN archive is seen as it plays on a computer monitor in London. Credit:Getty

Ofcom, the regulator, said its decision was the result of an investigation into who owned CGTN. It found the channel was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

Under British law, political bodies cannot hold broadcast licences.
Bust of Confucius, Confucius Institute building on the Troy University campus, Troy, Ala., on March 16, 2018 (Kreeder13 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Australian University Vice-Chancellor Vows Never Again to Confucius Institute

ADELAIDE, Australia  As he takes up a vice-chancellorship at The University of Adelaide, Prof. Peter Hj, the former vice-chancellor of the University of Queensland (UQ), has said that the decision to allow China to provide course funding through the Confucius Institute at UQ was a stupid thing to do and should never have happened.

When you run a university there are lots of things happening in an institution with 6,000 people, most of whom are independent thinkers. As soon as we learnt about it, we said: never again, Hj told The Australian.

He added: It was a stupid thing to do.

He also denied that the Confucius Institute was involved in the formulation of the courses at UQ.

Hjs remarks come after more than a year of facing extensive criticism for his and UQs ties to the Chinese regime which were prompted when the university attempted to expel a student, Drew Pavlou, for leading a peaceful rally in support of freedom in Hong Kong.

Pavlou was attacked at the demonstration by pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) supporters after Brisbane Chinese Consulate General Xu Jie, who was also working as an adjunct professor at UQ, labelled the rally an anti-China separatist activity.

The incident sparked the current inquiry into the national security risks affecting the Australian university sector. Federal parliamentarian Bob Katter, who was integral in launching the inquiry, told The Epoch Times in August last year that an investigation was necessary because foreign communist dictatorships were influencing Australian universities and their leadership.

There were also calls for UQ to lose its federal funding.

Queensland Senator Malcolm Roberts said that UQ needed to remember where the bulk of their funding comes from and that it had to assure the Australian taxpayer that they are an Australian university and not an overseas agent of the communist party.

Hj asserted that while Australian universities previously engaged with China to ensure their financial survival, they will have to approach their dealings with China differently now because the world has changed very quickly.

Geopolitically, the world has changed. Our relationship with China is seen through a different lens that says we want to engage, but we cant compromise our values, he said.

Hjs closeness to China remains a point of concern for some academics even after his reflective remarks.

Geoff Wade, an academic at Australian National University and a China hawk, wrote on Twitter that Hj has strong ties to Beijing, and noted he had received a prestigious award in recognition of his contribution to the global Confucius Institute Network.

Australia: Peter Hj crawls along the Road to Damascus: The University of Queensland should have never accepted course funding from the Confucius Institutehttps://t.co/pVL5Irub0A pic.twitter.com/h1bLtVbWF9  Geoff Wade (@geoff_p_wade) February 3, 2021

CCP Compromises Academic Freedom

In a recent submission (pdf) to a parliamentary inquiry into the national security risks affecting the higher education and research sector, Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted that colleges and universities around the world with ties to the Chinese regime, or with large student populations from China, experience threats to academic freedom in a systematic way.

Human Rights Watch found various threats to academic freedom resulting from Chinese government pressure. Chinese authorities have long monitored and conducted surveillance on students and academics from China and those studying China on campuses around the world, the submission said.

Further, the submission said that many academics expressed discomfort to HRW about the presence of Confucius Institutes on their campuses.

They said the presence of such institutions fundamentally compromised their institutions commitment to academic freedom, especially when Confucius Institutes had been invited to their campuses without broad faculty consultation.

In 2019, Victoria University in Melbourne cancelled the screening of a documentary critical of Confucius Institutes after the universitys Confucius Institute complained, the submission said.

HRW also noted that few academic institutions have moved to protect academic freedom on their campuses around the longstanding issues of visa bans on academics working on China, Chinese surveillance, and academic espionage and censorship.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
Filing For City, School Elections Continues Through February 12 The filing period for candidates seeking area city and school positions in May elections will continue through Friday, February 12. After the filing period ends, any cities or school districts requiring elections to fill seats will hold them Saturday, May 1.



Following is an updated list of cities and school districts that have announced openings:



The City of Hillsboro will accept applications for the position of mayor and places one, three and five on the council. The seats are currently held by Mayor Andrew Smith and council members Eric Fleming, Dana Robinson and Leann Richmond, who was recently appointed to the council. At press time, all incumbents had filed as candidates.



The City of Hillsboro elects council members by precinct/places. The city is divided into five precincts/places and candidates must live in the precincts they serve. They are designated council member places one through five.



The mayor and place six on the council are elected at-large, which allows every registered voter to cast a vote for those positions.



The mayor and places one, three and five are elected in odd-numbered years, and places two, four and six are elected in even-numbered years.



All positions serve two-year terms, and there are no term limits. Information on qualifications for candidates and applications are available by contacting City Secretary Karen Warren at 214 East Elm Street, by calling 254-582-3271 or by emailing kwarren@hillsborotx.org.



The City Council was set to officially call for the election at the regular meeting Tuesday, February 2.



Hillsboro Independent School District (ISD) will have two seats available on its Board of Trustees. The school board spots currently held by Dr. Chris Teague (at large) and Amanda Scarborough (District 1) will be expiring. Those interested can apply at the Hillsboro ISD Administration Building, located at 121 East Franklin Street in Hillsboro, or call 254-582-8585 for more information.



The City of Whitney will have the mayor's position and two council seats available. They are currently held by Mayor Trey Jetton and council members Brian Burkhart and Robin Sliva. Anyone interested in filing for one of the two-year terms may do so at Whitney City Hall, located at 115 West Jefferson Avenue in Whitney, or call 254-694-2261.



Whitney ISD will have three school board positions open, with the three-year terms of Jill Hall, Annette Ayers and Jason Sneed expiring. Those interested can file at the Whitney ISD Administration Building, located at 305 South San Jacinto Street, or call 254-694-2254 for more information.



The City of Blum has announced that it will have three council seats and the mayor's position on the ballot. The two-year terms of Mayor Chryle Hackler and council members Brandon Munn, Roy Hackler and Jack Williams will be expiring. For information about filing, call Blum City Hall at 254-874-5772.



Blum ISD has two three-year terms available. They are currently held by Joe Maxwell and Jonathan Arrington. The school is located at 310 South Avenue F, or call 254-874-5231 ext. 603.



The City of Abbott will have the two-year terms of the mayor and two council members available. Mayor Anthony Pustejovsky and council members Ryan Kaska and Kevin Scheler currently hold the spots. Filing is at Abbott City Hall Monday and Tuesday from 8 a.m. until noon.



Abbott ISD will have the three-year school board terms currently held by Craig Sustala and Tiffany Stalker available in May. Filing will be at Abbott ISD, located at 219 South First Street, or call 254-582-3011.



The City of Bynum has three two-year council positions available this year. Seats expiring in May are currently held by Diane Nowlin and Rick Reed, and another position was vacated when council member Casi Wood was elected as mayor. For more information, call the city at 254-623-4400.



Bynum ISD has two three-year terms currently held by Robert Hopson and Kenneth Brown available. The school is located at 704 Toliver, or call 254-531-2341.



Hubbard ISD has two three-year school board positions available. They are currently held by Lyndsey Crump and Blake Wragge. Call 254-576-2564 for information about filing.



The City of Mount Calm will have the mayor's position and two council seats on the ballot. The positions are currently held by Mayor Jimmy Tucker and council members L.C. Cornish and Matt Childre.



Mount Calm ISD will have three board positions available for three-year terms. The seats are currently held by Keith McCaghren, Brian Dunlap and Janice Andrews. The school is located at 200 North Coates, or call 254-993-2611.



The City of Covington has three council seats on available. They are currently held by James Milam, Jessica Utter and Holly Reyna. For more information about filing, call 254-854-2373.



Covington ISD has three seats available on the school board. They are three-year terms currently held by Shane Johnson, Dusty McLain and Kevin Ray. The school is located at 501 North Main Street, or call 254-854-2215.



Malone ISD has two seats available on its Board of Trustees, with the three-year terms of Enereo Pineda and Jamie Stephens expiring. The school is located at 202 West Hackberry Street, or call 254-533-2321.



Milford ISD will fill three, three-year school board seats. Currently serving in those positions are Carlos Phoenix, Karen Powell and Gary Wimbish. The school is located at 205 Third Avenue, or call 972-493-2911 for more information.



Requirements For



School Board Candidates



To be elected to a school board, an individual must be: a qualified voter, 18 years of age or older, a United States citizen, a Texas resident, a registered voter, not determined to be totally or partially mentally incapacitated by an appropriate court, and not finally convicted of a felony.



Requirements For



City Candidates



General qualifications to serve in an elected city position include: must be 21 years of age or older on at the beginning of the term; must be a registered voter of the city; must have lived in the city for the previous 12 months; must not owe back taxes or liabilities to the city; must not be an employee of the city.



Angelina Jolie joined four of her six children as they watched the US Election results in a captivating image from her new British Vogue shoot.

Taken at her $25 million Los Angeles home last November, the actress, 45, looked radiant as she witnessed the event unfold alongside Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 14, and 12-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.

The screen star - who also shares sons Maddox, 19, and Pax, 17, with ex Brad Pitt - shared her positive outlook towards the next few years as she said: 'Well, I put a lot of my hopes for the future on the younger generation.

'I put my hopes for the future': Angelina Jolie joined her kids as they watched the US Election results in her British Vogue shoot (L-R: Shiloh, 14, Zahara, 16, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 12)

'Maybe thats because I live with six kids, aged 12 to 19, so I see that particular group  and I certainly see how much more pressure they are under than we were at their age. Theyre overwhelmed with a lot of information that we were sheltered from.

'But I see Mad online speaking in Russian to someone or talking to Korea, or Shi saying hi to her friends in Namibia, I see theres this new way young people can connect and know each other in this global way. Its how theyll start to solve our problems.'

Democratic Party's Joe Biden and Kamala Harris defeated the Republican Party ticket of then-president Donald Trump and vice president Mike Pence following an epic four-day election.

Opting for a sophisticated appearance, the filmmaker wore a plain grey jumper and a maxi skirt, while her kids were dressed in casual outfits.

'I wanted it to be close to their dad': The actress' photos were taken at her $25M Los Angeles home last November, which is just five minutes away from ex Brad Pitt's home (pictured)

Elsewhere in the interview for the publication's March edition, the thespian declared she is focused on 'healing our family' after struggling through a 'pretty hard few years' amid her bitter divorce from Brad, 57.

The Tom Raider icon admitted she is still dealing with the fallout from her 2016 split from the actor, but said she finally feels as though her happiness is 'slowly coming back'.

Angelina gave a rare insight into how her life has changed since the end of their romance as she featured in cosy images at her mansion - which she says she bought as it is just five minutes away from the Ocean's Eleven star's house.

'I wanted it to be close to their dad, who is only five minutes away,' the TV and film star said of the sprawling property, which was once owned by late director Cecil B DeMille.

'The past few years have been pretty hard': The humanitarian, 45, has been single ever since she separated from fellow thespian Brad, 57, in September 2016 (pictured in 2011)

'They're helping me': The Girl, Interrupted star also shares sons Maddox, 19, and Pax, 17, with her former partner (pictured together in 2019)

The humanitarian has been single ever since they separated in September 2016, following two years of marriage and a 12-year relationship.

The exes are said to be 'in a better place' after battling over finances and the custody of their children.

The Girl, Interrupted star shared: 'The past few years have been pretty hard. I've been focusing on healing our family. It's slowly coming back, like the ice melting and the blood returning to my body.

'I'm looking forward to my fifties - I feel that I'm gonna hit my stride in my fifties. Though we were on the trampoline the other day, and the children said, ''No, Mom, don't do that. You'll hurt yourself.'' And I thought, ''God, isn't that funny?''

'I've been focusing on healing our family': The former couple are said to be 'in a better place' after battling over finances and the custody of their children (pictured in 2015)

'There was a day I was an action star, and now the kids are telling me to get off the trampoline because I'll hurt myself.'

The Unbroken star also touched on her role as the special envoy from the UN Refugee Agency.

Angelina said: 'I started in my early twenties, putting on my boots and backpack, and going out to try and figure out what the hell was going on in the world.

'I tried to give myself a broader education than Id had at school. I grew up in a very empty place, in many ways, so had to go to find a wider understanding.'

Out soon! See the full feature in the March issue of British Vogue from February 5

The Maleficent actress first took on her humanitarian duties following her trip to Cambodia for Tomb Raider back in 2000.

She visited the Asian country - where she met and subsequently adopted Maddox with ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton - for a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) field mission.

The TV and film star later travelled to Pakistan, where she donated $1 million (821,980) in response to an emergency appeal.

Angelina - who co-founded the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative nine years ago - has since taken a hands-on approach in promoting a number of causes, including education, women's rights and conservation.

All 27 international Vogues are dedicating their March issues to Creativity. Each issue is a celebration of those who encourage us to look at life in a new way, featuring portfolios of the brightest young stars in fashion, music, art and film, alongside inspiring editorials and extraordinary fashion through each Vogues local lens.

See the full feature in the March issue of British Vogue available via digital download and on newsstands Friday 5th February.
Nearly 4.5 million (44,49,552) beneficiaries have been administered shots of coronavirus vaccine under the countrywide exercise till Thursday morning.

In a span of 24 hours, 3,10,604 people were vaccinated across 8,041 sessions. 84,617 sessions have been conducted so far, the Union Health Ministry said today.

Also Read | The health nudge is merely a mirage

"India has achieved a significant achievement in its fight against the global pandemic," the ministry highlighted.

"India has been the fastest country to achieve 4 million COVID19 vaccinations in just 18 days. Many other countries have had a head start of almost 65 days. India launched the countrywide COVID19 vaccination drive on 16th Jan 2021," it added.

Meanwhile, India has reached a total of 1,07,90,183 coronavirus cases, with 12,899 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Thursday.

The country has recorded 17,824 discharges and 107 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total discharges and death toll to 1,04,80,455 and 1,54,703.

The national coronavirus recovery rate is now at 97.13%, while the Covid-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.43%.

The total number of active coronavirus cases stands at 1,55,025, which comprise 1.44% of the total caseload, as per the Union Health Ministry.

So far, the central government has released 6,309.90 crore to the states/UTs under the Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package during 2020-21.

The government has also procured 38,867 ventilators at a cost of 1,850.76 crore since January 2020 till date, according to the union health ministry on Tuesday.

Highlighting the expenditure incurred on Covid-19 pandemic related efforts, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, said that during the Financial Year 2019-20, 11,13.21 crore was also released to the states/UTs under National Health Mission towards management and containment of Covid-19.

The government procured 178.14 lakh PPE coveralls at a cost of 1,540.34 crore, 432.40 lakh N-95 masks for 339.47 crore, 173 lakh goggles for 369.16 crore and 242.10 lakh gloves for 31.75 crore, respectively, Choubey told Rajya Sabha.

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Nearly a quarter of millennials cited "2020/The Pandemic" as the primary reason for creating an estate plan. Tweet this

The study also explored end-of-life planning. A quarter (26%) of millennials specified wanting to donate their organs. The most common final resting place choice was cremation (47%), followed by a traditional burial (25%). Almost half of millennials (35%) prefer a celebration of life ceremony over a traditional funeral. Millennials also included specific song requests for memorials, including various artists like Whitney Houston, Bob Dylan, and Jack Johnson.

"We saw a huge increase in the number of Millennials completing wills last year, which is a positive trend considering that more than 60% of adult Americans do not have a will in place," says Cody Barbo, Founder and CEO of Trust & Will. "We decided to study the Millennial audience specifically to see how the unrest we experienced in 2020 acted as a trigger for younger audiences to consider their end-of-life and estate planning."

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of individuals seeking estate planning solutions, especially online, has more than doubled as the realization of the impact of the virus has come to a head.

Methodology:

Trust & Will analyzed data from 17,925 individuals aged 25-to-40 in a proprietary study, exploring specific insights and behaviors of the millennial generation around estate planning. To view the full study, visit www.trustandwill.com/learn/estate-planning-study . To listen to the top requested memorial songs, visit the Trust & Will Spotify playlist . Visual graphics representing top findings from "Millennials and Estate Planning in an Unprecedented Year" can be found here .

ABOUT TRUST & WILL

Since 2017, Trust & Will has helped more than 180,000 members successfully plan their legacy. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Trust & Will is on a mission to provide families a better way to plan for the future. We make estate planning simple, affordable, and accessible for everyone by providing a secure way to set up your plan online in minutes. We've modernized estate planning with a design-first approach, layered on top of incredible customer support to help people throughout the process. In response to COVID-19, Trust & Will launched the Frontline Heroes Initiative, which has provided more than 11,000 free estate plans to healthcare professionals and teachers. To learn more, please visit trustandwill.com.

SOURCE Trust & Will

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Upcoming political events in the Bay Area. Events take place online unless otherwise noted:

SATURDAY

Racism and policing: A look at law enforcements disproportionate use of force against people of color. Speakers include social justice activist Signe Waller Foxworth, Gerald Smith of the Oscar Grant Committee against Police Brutality and State Repression, and Vallejo civil rights attorney Melissa Nold. Hosted by the Oakland Greens, Bay Area System Change Not Climate Change, and the Alameda County Peace and Freedom Party. 2:30 p.m. More information is here.

SUNDAY

Strange Fruit: History of the anti-lynching song, written by Abel Meeropol and made famous by Billie Holiday. Hosted by the Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco. 10 a.m. More information is here.

MONDAY

Stacey Abrams: Rebroadcast of Georgia voting rights activists 2019 talk at the Commonwealth Club. 6 p.m. More information is here.

TUESDAY

Electoral reform: Hoover Institution fellow Larry Diamond on institutional changes that may be needed to preserve U.S. democracy. Hosted by the Commonwealth Club. Noon. More information is here.

Black feminism: A teach-in on Black feminism, socialism and the work of Angela Davis. Panelists include Barbara Ransby, history professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago; Neferti X.M. Tadiar, professor of womens, gender and sexuality studies at Barnard College; and feminist activist Bettina Aptheker. Sponsored by San Jose State University Human Rights Institute. 3 p.m. More information is here.

The Black Church: A preview of PBSs series The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song. KQED community advisory board panelist Nicole Blake leads a discussion on how congregations have adapted to the challenges of the pandemic and confronted civil unrest after the police killing of George Floyd. Hosted by KQED. 6 p.m. More information is here.

WEDNESDAY

Life after Trump: Steve Kettmann, editor of the new collection of essays Now What? The Voters Have SpokenEssays on Life After Trump, in discussion with two of the books contributors, journalist Cynthia Tucker and former Donald Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci. Hosted by the Commonwealth Club. 10 a.m. More information is here.

The Purpose of Power book club: Akonadi Foundation president and civil rights advocate Lateefah Simon discusses Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garzas The Purpose of Power. Hosted by Mannys. 5 p.m. More information is here.

Fighting disinformation: An online conversation about the future of journalism and the movement to push back on the spread of disinformation through social media. With Geeta Anand, dean of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and Tristan Harris, former Google design ethicist and star of the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. Hosted by Cal Performances and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. 7 p.m. More information is here.

THURSDAY

Rebuilding trust: Ethan Zuckerman, founder of the Institute for Digital Public Infrastructure, discusses his new book, Mistrust, and how public trust in institutions can be rebuilt with New York Times journalist Kara Swisher. Hosted by the Commonwealth Club. 3 p.m. More information is here.

Angela Davis: Longtime activist and professor emerita at UC Santa Cruz gives keynote address in the human rights lecture series hosted by the San Jose State University Human Rights Institute. 5 p.m. More information is here.

FEB. 12

Anita Hill documentary: Screening of Freida Lee Mocks 2013 documentary, Anita Speaking Truth to Power, on Anita Hills testimony against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas confirmation during 1991 Senate hearings. Hosted by the Mechanics Institute. 6 p.m. More information is here.

FEB. 13

Executive Order 9066: A discussion about the order incarcerating Japanese Americans in World War II. Panelists include Shirley Ann Higuchi, author of Setsukos Secret: Heart Mountain and the Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration; former Assembly Member Warren Furutani, descendant of prison camps survivors; former Rep. Mike Honda, a camp survivor; and Dale Minami, who headed the legal team that overturned the conviction of Fred Korematsu. Hosted by the Japanese American Museum of San Jose and the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center. 1 p.m. More information is here.

FEB. 14

Executive Order 9066: 41st annual San Jose Day of Remembrance commemorating the order incarcerating Japanese Americans in World War II. Hosted by the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee of San Jose. 3 p.m. More information is here.

FEB. 17

The Purpose of Power book club: Oakland Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee discusses Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garzas The Purpose of Power. Hosted by Mannys. 5 p.m. More information is here.

FEB. 18

UC President Michael Drake: Discusses challenges for the University of California, including the pandemic and its economic impact and concerns about racial equity, with Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. 11 a.m. More information is here.

FEB. 19

Executive Order 9066: Day of Remembrance commemorating the order incarcerating Japanese Americans in World War II, featuring speakers from UC Berkeley Muslim Student Association and Nikkei Resisters. Hosted by the UC Berkeley Nikkei Student Union. 6:30 p.m. More information is here.

FEB. 23

Erin Brockovich: Environmental activist delivers the Wallace Stegner Lecture on environmental issues can have an impact. Hosted by the Peninsula Open Space Trust. 7 p.m. More information is here.

FEB. 25

The Purpose of Power book club: Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza discusses her book The Purpose of Power. Hosted by Mannys. 5 p.m. More information is here.

To list an event, please email Chronicle politics editor Trapper Byrne at tbyrne@sfchronicle.com

An outspoken father has sparked a furious debate after ranking international cuisines from best to worst, describing Mexican food as 'cat vomit' and Italian for 'plebs'.

Bruno Bouchet, from Sydney, shared his 'definitive' rankings of 17 cuisines from all around the world, with France, Vietnam and Japan taking out the top spots, while popular dishes from India, Italy and Mexico languish at the bottom of the scale.

'The 100 per cent accurate international cuisine power rankings. Don't bother commenting, this isn't up for discussion,' the self-proclaimed 'list king' wrote on Instagram.

An outspoken father has sparked a furious debate after ranking international cuisines from best to worst, describing Mexican food as 'cat vomit' and Italian for 'plebs'

Poll What's your favourite dish? French snails American fried chicken Vietnamese pho Turkish gozleme Japanese sushi Aussie fairy bread Indian curry British scotch eggs Italian pizza Chinese san choy bow Mexican tacos What's your favourite dish? French snails 35 votes

American fried chicken 87 votes

Vietnamese pho 90 votes

Turkish gozleme 40 votes

Japanese sushi 130 votes

Aussie fairy bread 28 votes

Indian curry 322 votes

British scotch eggs 86 votes

Italian pizza 171 votes

Chinese san choy bow 37 votes

Mexican tacos 95 votes Now share your opinion





Classic escargots, which are French edible snails, was controversially awarded the coveted top spot in the 'God tier' category, along with Vietnamese pho [noodle soup] and Lebanese kibbeh [meatballs].

American fried chicken and Japanese sushi were featured in the second-best 'royalty tier', alongside Turkish gozleme.

In the centre of his rankings, Bruno put Australia's iconic fairy bread, Greek chicken souvlaki, Spanish paella and Thai beef salad in the 'Adam Sandler tier', or what he describes as the middle ground of 'take it or leave it'.

'When it comes to Aussie food, I need to give a tip of the hat to chicken parmi, the Bunnings snag and lamingtons. I know that by default Aussies are down on themselves culturally... but I gotta call it as I see it,' Bruno explained.

However, one person quickly pointed out: 'Chicken parmigiana is Italian.'

The 'pleb', also known as the second-lowest tier, consisted of Italian pizza, Korean beef bulgogi bibimbap, Indian curry and British scotch eggs while Chinese san choy bow, Mexican tacos and German chicken Hanchen-schnitzel stood at the bottom of the barrel in the 'cat vomit' tier.

Not everyone agreed with Bruno's rankings, including his friend, a former NRL star, Beau Ryan who urged him to 'swap French with Chinese before I drive to your house...'

Bruno Bouchet, from Sydney, shared his 'definitive' rankings of 17 cusines from all around the world, with France, Vietnam and Japan taking out the top spots, while popular dishes from India, Italy and Mexico languish at the bottom of the scale

Many were furious with the 'ridiculous' list, especially the low placement of their favourite cusines such as Indian, Mexican and Italian.

'What the f*** at the Indian food placement. I actually thought we were in worldwide agreement that is it by far the dominant cuisine. Mexican also doesn't deserve this treatment,' Zoe wrote.

Bonnie said: 'You've lost my respect mate. Why is American food rated so high? This is so wrong for so many reasons.'

Kath slammed Bruno, saying: 'Italian on the pleb tier? Are you having a laugh? Hands down the world agrees it's the best cuisine. You are well and truly cooked. Shame on you.'

Others believed Bruno - who's from a French background - deliberately put popular cuisines like Italian and Mexican at the bottom of the rankings just to rile people up

Josie added: 'Fairy bread above pizza? Vaffanculo.' The Italian term 'vaffanculo' means 'f*** you' or is slang for 'vulgar'.

And another added: 'Love Indian but it kind of all tastes the same. Did a Mexican hurt you in your past life? Because that's harsh, they deserve to be in the royalty tier.'

Others believed Bruno - who's from a French background - deliberately put popular cusines like Italian and Mexican at the bottom of the rankings just to rile people up.

'You're just trying to get into arguments with this one, aren't you,' one wrote.

Surprisingly, some said they agreed with his list.

'100 per cent with the Chinese, Aussie needs to be cat vomit because I feel we don't have any food tradition. Also I'm going to be controversial aren't Lebanese and Turkish kinda the same? All in all another great list,' one wrote.
(CNN) - Africa is to receive nearly 90 million COVID-19 vaccines in February in what will be the continents largest ever mass vaccination campaign, the World Health Organization announced in a statement on Thursday.

In the statement, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said: Africa has watched other regions start COVID-19 vaccination campaigns from the side-lines for too long. This planned roll-out is a critical first step to ensuring the continent gets equitable access to vaccines.

We know no one will be safe until everyone is safe, he added.

Most vaccines will be from the AstraZeneca/Oxford AZD1222 vaccine and subject to the vaccine being listed for emergency use by WHO. The WHO is currently reviewing the vaccine and the outcome of the review is expected soon.

The statement adds that around 320,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine  which has received WHO Emergency Use Listing  have been allocated to four African countries  Cabo Verde, Rwanda, South Africa and Tunisia, which are able to store and distribute doses at minus 70 degrees Celsius.

The initial phase of 90 million doses will support countries to immunize 3% of the African population most in need of protection, including health workers and other vulnerable groups in the first half of 2021, the statement adds.

The WHO says it aims to vaccinate at least 20% of Africans by providing up to 600 million doses by the end of 2021, according to the press release.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Africa will receive nearly 90 million vaccines from COVAX by February"
Ava Maroney, of Pittsburgh, sleds down Burgess Park hill. Ava and her family are in town visiting her grandparents and spending time outdoors. The family has a couple other sledding spots in the area they still want to try out, including Pithole Road in Oil Creek State Park.


As the planet warms, glaciers are retreating and causing changes in the world's mountain water systems. For the first time, scientists at the University of Oxford and the University of Washington have directly linked human-induced climate change to the risk of flooding from a glacial lake known as one of the world's greatest flood risks.

The study examined the case of Lake Palcacocha in the Peruvian Andes, which could cause flooding with devastating consequences for 120,000 residents in the city of Huaraz. The paper, published Feb. 4 in Nature Geoscience, provides new evidence for an ongoing legal case that hinges on the link between greenhouse gas emissions and particular climate change impacts.

"The scientific challenge was to provide the clearest and cleanest assessment of the physical linkages between climate change and the changing flood hazard," said co-author Gerard Roe, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences.

In 2016, Roe and colleagues developed a method to determine whether an individual glacier's retreat can be linked to human-induced climate change. The retreat of mountain glaciers has several consequences, including creating basins in the space left by the retreating glacier. Precipitation and meltwater collects in these basins to form glacial lakes. Recent work has shown a rapid worldwide growth in the number and size of high-elevation glacial lakes.

"We believe our study is the first to assess the full set of linkages between anthropogenic climate change and the changing glacial lake outburst flood hazard," Roe said. "The methods used in our study can certainly be applied to other glacial lakes around the world."

The new study first calculated the role of human emissions in the observed temperature increase since the start of the industrial era around Palcaraju Glacier. It finds that human activity is responsible for 95% of the observed 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warming in this region since 1880.

The authors then used the UW-developed technique to assess the relationship between these warming temperatures and the observed long-term retreat of the glacier that has caused Lake Palcacocha to expand. Results show it is virtually certain, with greater than 99% probability, that human-induced climate change has caused Palcaraju Glacier's retreat.

Lead author Rupert Stuart-Smith, a doctoral student at Oxford, then used two methods to assess the hazard of glacial lake outburst flooding, in which an avalanche, landslide or rockfall induces a tsunami wave that overtops the lake's banks, to pinpoint how Lake Palcacocha's growth affects the flood risk faced by the city of Huaraz below.

"We found that human influence on climate -- through greenhouse-gas emissions -- is responsible for virtually all of the warming that has been observed in the region," said Stuart-Smith, who spent the summer of 2019 at the UW. "The study shows that warming has caused the retreat of the Palcaraju Glacier, which in turn has greatly increased the flood risk."

The study provides new evidence for an ongoing case in the German courts in which Saul Luciano Lliuya, a farmer from Huaraz, has sued RWE, Germany's largest electricity producer, for its role in creating global warming. The suit seeks reimbursement for current and future flood-risk reduction measures.

"Crucially, our findings establish a direct link between emissions and the need to implement protective measures now, as well as any damages caused by flooding in the future," Stuart-Smith said.

This is not the first time Huaraz has been threatened by climate change. In 1941, an outburst flood from Lake Palcacocha, resulting from an ice and rock slide, killed at least 1,800 people. The study also found this flood to be influenced by human-induced climate change -- making it one of the earliest identified fatal impacts of climate change.

The lake's recent growth strains decades of engineering efforts since the 1970s to contain the lake's water.

"Around the world, the retreat of mountain glaciers is one of the clearest indicators of climate change," Roe said. "Outburst floods threaten communities in many mountainous regions, but this risk is particularly severe in Huaraz, as well as elsewhere in the Andes and in countries like Nepal and Bhutan, where vulnerable populations live in the path of the potential floodwaters."

###

Other co-authors are Myles Allen and Sihan Li at the University of Oxford. The study was funded by the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council, the U.S. National Science Foundation and a grant from the University of Oxford.

For more information, contact Roe at groe@uw.edu or Stuart-Smith at rupert.stuart-smith@ouce.ox.ac.uk.
Mombasa  Deputy President William Ruto is expected to begin a three-day tour at the Coast during which he will commission projects undertaken by allied lawmakers in the region and hold a series of fundraisers.

The DP is set to begin his tour in Kwale County on Thursday and thereafter spend two more days in Mombasa.

"The DP will be in Mwagulu town of Lunga Lunga to officiate the commissioning of projects funded by the CDF," Lunga Lunga MP Khatib Mwashetani, Ruto's host in Kwale, said on Wednesday.

The DP is also expected to lead several fundraising events for churches in the region.

In Mombasa, Ruto will grace a youth empowerment event Kadongo grounds in Kisauni.

Nyali MP Mohammed Ali will host Ruto in his backyard for the official launch of Kwale Bulo primary and secondary schools.

Ruto will thereafter attend a fundraiser for bobaboda youth group at Frere Town grounds.

On Saturday, the DP will be in Jomvu and Changamwe constituencies for yet another set of youth empowerment events.
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 11:38:21|Editor: huaxia

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SEOUL, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday held phone talks with U.S. President Joe Biden over the Korean Peninsula issue and other matters, the presidential Blue House said.

During the 30-minute conversation, Moon proposed that Seoul and Washington make joint efforts to advance the denuclearization of and the permanent peace settlement on the peninsula.

The two leaders exchanged opinions about other global issues, such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic recovery, among others, according to the Blue House.

They agreed to continue close communications and to hold summit as early as the COVID-19 pandemic is stabilized.

It was their first phone dialogue since Biden was sworn in as the U.S. president on Jan. 20. They talked over phone on Nov. 12, 2020 following Biden's presidential election victory. Enditem
A worker at a Dundee winery died earlier this week after collapsing while cleaning manufacturing equipment, officials said.

Armando Aguilar-Yanez, a 39-year-old McMinnville resident, was found unconscious at the 12th and Maple Winery Co. around 10:30 a.m. Monday, said Sgt. Brian Hagen, a Newberg-Dundee Police Department spokesman.

Workers and emergency crews attempted to resuscitate Aguilar-Yanez, Hagen said, but were unsuccessful.

The initial investigation by police has found no evidence of foul play, Hagen said in a statement.

Aaron Corvin, a spokesman for the Oregon Occupational Safety & Health Administration, said the agency was investigating the death but could not divulge further details about the incident until the investigation was complete.

It was unclear what caused Aguilar-Yanez to lose consciousness and a call to the Yamhill County Medical Examiner was not immediately returned Thursday morning.

A representative for the winery declined to comment.

-- Kale Williams; kwilliams@oregonian.com; 503-294-4048; @sfkale
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 00:32:33|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Around 10 million people in Britain have been given the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Wednesday, hailing it as a milestone in the ongoing national effort against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hancock made the remarks as Britain is stepping up its effort to speed up coronavirus vaccine rollout to bring the pandemic under control.

Meanwhile, mass testing is undergoing in parts of Britain as more coronavirus "mutations of concern" were found in the country.

Earlier Wednesday, the team behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine said a vaccine to tackle the coronavirus variants could be ready to deploy by October.

Andy Pollard, director of the Oxford vaccine group, said the team is already planning to tweak the vaccine, adding it is a relatively quick process and would only need small trials to be done before the rollout.

Early study had suggested that COVID-19 variants which have the E484K mutation, seen in variants related to South Africa and Brazil, could reduce the efficacy of vaccines.

However, Pollard said that there is still strong evidence that the existing vaccine will work well against the mutations that have emerged, according to the BBC.

Britain aims to deliver a first dose to 15 million of the most vulnerable by mid-February and to offer all adults their first dose by autumn.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Enditem

Neumed CEO Kang Hee-won, center, poses with Kyung Hee University President Hahn Kyun-tae, left, and Professor Kim Ho-cheol of Kyung Hee University's College of Korean Medicine during a donation ceremony at the school, Wednesday. Courtesy of Neumed





By Nam Hyun-woo







Neumed, a domestic biotech company developing drugs derived from natural materials, will donate 1 billion won ($894 million) to Kyung Hee University's College of Korean Medicine, in a bid to nurture studies on the medical use of herbs and other natural materials.







The company said Thursday that its CEO Kang Hee-won and Professor Kim Ho-cheol of the university donated 1 billion by 2027 to the college during a donation ceremony on Wednesday, in order to improve infrastructure for studies on the medical use of natural materials. Kim is the founder of Neumed.







This year, Neumed and Kim each donated 200 million won and 50 million won to the college. From next year, they will donate 100 million won and 25 million won to the college every year until 2027.







The college will use Kim's donation towards scholarships for Korean medicine students and assisting other researchers, while the fund from Neumed will be used for improving research infrastructure at the college. The college will set up medical herb banks and a museum in the school.







"We hope the donation can be a help support the progress in basic Korean medicine studies," Kim said. "Also, we will continue making efforts to nurture the museum and herb banks in order for the school to be a medical herb research hub."







Kang added that the company decided to make a long-term donation to the college, as part of its goal to promote the medical advantages of natural materials, and it will enhance cooperation with Kyung Hee University in the field of natural materials research.







Neumed is a biotech company involved in developing drugs and health functional food ingredients using herbs and other natural materials. The company has recently finished phase 2a clinical trials on its medical herb-based stroke treatment candidate. It has also obtained new investigational drug approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on its idiopathic short stature treatment candidate.







So far, Neumed has signed 22 license-out deals with Kyung Hee University and has been carrying out a series of joint research projects.







He also warned that if they indulged the effort to strip Ms. Greene of her assignments, Democrats could try to target other Republicans, according to three people familiar with his comments, who insisted on anonymity to divulge the private exchange.

Ms. Greene faced a greater backlash from Republican colleagues in the Senate after Mr. McConnells criticism.

Shes not going to be the face of the party, Senator Rick Scott of Florida, the chairman of Senate Republicans campaign arm, said of Ms. Greene. Mr. Scott, who was governor in 2018 when a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla., said her effort to portray the shooting as faked was disgusting.

Its beyond reprehensible for any elected official, especially a member of Congress, to parrot violent QAnon rhetoric and promote deranged conspiracies, Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, wrote on Twitter. Its not conservative, its insane.

The divergent reactions from House and Senate Republicans illustrated the extraordinary turmoil in the party as it struggles to define itself without Mr. Trump in the White House.

For her part, Ms. Greene offered a modicum of contrition in a brief speech on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the remarks, and received applause from some lawmakers. She apologized for espousing a number of conspiracy theories and emphasized that she no longer believed in them.

But she sidestepped the issue of a Facebook post she made in 2018, unearthed by Media Matters for America, suggesting that a devastating wildfire that ravaged California was started by a laser beamed from space and controlled by a prominent Jewish banking family with connections to powerful Democrats.
A council admin worker stole 6,000 from his employer to pay off his 200-a-day cocaine debt in a cycle to work scheme voucher scam.

Trafford Council-worker John Buckley, 24, approved six fraudulent 1,000 cycle to work scheme vouchers for himself which he spent on several bikes in Halfords.

Buckley, from Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, then sold off the bikes on Facebook for 500 each to pay off the debt he accrued from spending '200 a day on cocaine'.

Buckley pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position and will be sentenced next month.

Under the Government scheme, employers provide vouchers which can be spent on bikes and equipment in various retailers nation-wide.

Bosses then recoup the cash in tax-efficient installments taken out of their employee's monthly wage.

Trafford Council-worker John Buckley, 24, (pictured) approved six fraudulent cycle to work scheme vouchers for himself - totaling 6,000 - which he spent on several bikes in Halford

Buckley - who was also addicted to Xanax - acted as a finance administration support worker who approved cycle to work applications made by his colleagues.

He then amended their wages to account for the monthly payments.

But when Buckley approved 6,000-worth of vouchers for himself to use, he did not set up salary sacrifice payments.

Buckley redeemed the vouchers at Halfords and bought numerous bikes, before selling them on Facebook for 500 each.

In one Facebook post, he wrote: 'Fully legit, just using a voucher from the cycle to work scheme.'

Buckley, from Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, then sold off the bikes for 500 each to pay off the debts he accrued from spending '200 a day on cocaine', Manchester Magistrates' Court (pictured) heard

He had been working for Trafford Council for a year when he started applying for and approving his own applications, Manchester Magistrates' Court heard.

Prosecuting for Trafford council, Kyle Maycock said: 'When [Buckley's] role ended, he moved to a different position, but he continued to apply for the cycle to work scheme on six different occasions.

'He claimed the maximum amount up to 1,000, so the defendant received 7,000.

'The first application was July 17, 2018, but he set up the salary sacrifice details and so the defendant was not charged with that offence as it was correctly set up in keeping with his role.

'However, he didn't set this up for the other applications and obtained 6,000 and redeemed the vouchers at Halfords.

'He sent an email to the credit control at Halfords asking for the voucher to be brought forward, he then processed it himself.

'He then posted an advert on Facebook selling the vouchers stating "fully legit, just using a voucher from the cycle to work scheme".'
After TMZ released video Tuesday of country music star Morgan Wallen saying a racial slur late night while among friends, theres been an avalanche of fallout.

His record label suspend his recording contract. Radio stations wiped Wallens songs from their playlists. Since Wallen had been lighting up charts and streaming systems like Christmas trees, those moves were even more striking. The Academy of Country Music announced, it will halt Morgan Wallens potential involvement and eligibility for the upcoming ACM Awards cycle.

Other country stars, like Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini, weighed in on social media, condemning Wallens actions. Grammy winning Alabama native Jason Isbell  whose music mixes rock, folk and country  also commented, via socials. Isbells perspective is interesting because Wallen previously scored a hit by covering one of Isbells signature tunes, Cover Me Up.

On Wednesday, Isbell voiced his support on Twitter for musician T.J. Osborne, retweeting a story about the Brothers Osborne frontman coming out as gay. A fan by asking Isbells, thoughts on the talented, yet apparently a very intolerant young star MW?

Isbell responded, Wallens behavior is disgusting and horrifying. I think this is an opportunity for the country music industry to give that spot to somebody who deserves it, and there are lots of black artists who deserve it.

Wallens behavior is disgusting and horrifying. I think this is an opportunity for the country music industry to give that spot to somebody who deserves it, and there are lots of black artists who deserve it. https://t.co/14B77zLgMR  Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) February 3, 2021

Another fan on Twitter chimed in, all American rock/pop music was built on the backs of African Americans. To which Isbell replied, Id argue that the music wasnt built on the backs of black people- Black people actually BUILT the music. Then it was taken from them. Country music, too.

After a Twitter user commented about how alcohol mightve factored into the Wallen incident, Isbell, whos been sober for several years, wrote, If he makes real change, his life will be just fine. But if he isnt held accountable, black people in the industry will know how little country music really cares about them, even now. And thats much sadder to me than alcoholism. He then added, Alcohol doesnt make you use that word. They dont actually put Jack Daniels blood in it.

I didnt say tar and feather the boy. If he makes real change, his life will be just fine. But if he isnt held accountable, black people in the industry will know how little country music really cares about them, even now. And thats much sadder to me than alcoholism. https://t.co/G1wVwpzI6V  Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) February 4, 2021

In the now infamous TMZ video, Wallen is heard saying Take care of this p---y ass n------ outside his home, following a night of partying in Nashville. After TMZ obtained the video, taken from a TikTok vid shot by Wallens neighbor, Wallen issued an apology. Im embarrassed and sorry, Wallen told TMZ. I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.

This isnt Wallens first brush with controversy. Saturday Night Live dropped him as a musical guest last fall. after videos surfaces of Wallen ignoring COVID-19 protocols while partying in Tuscaloosa. However SNL later rebooked Wallen for a show in December and even satirized the fall incident in a sketch that episode.
analysis

Since its premiere at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival, the feature This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection has been touring the world's film festivals.

Everywhere it goes it attracts critical praise and awards - over 25 of them now. At the Sundance Film Festival it won a special jury award for "visionary filmmaking" for its director, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese. It is the first Lesotho film ever to have been included in the foreign language category or "best foreign film" category of the Academy Awards.

Here's the film's official summary: when her village in rural Lesotho is threatened with forced resettlement because of a reservoir development, 80-year-old widow Mantoa (Mary Twala Mhlongo) finds a new will to live and ignites the spirit of resilience within her community.

The film's producer, Cait Pansegrouw from Urucu Media, met director Mosese in the Realness Screenwriting Residency programme, which she helps organise.

Mosese is a self-taught filmmaker who fell in love with cinema while watching 16mm films in a town hall in Maseru. He attracted attention with his much-talked-about 2019 feature Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You. Though born and raised in Lesotho, he mostly resides in Berlin.

Pansegrouw is herself no stranger to controversial films that tackle taboo subjects head on. The most well-known of these might be Inxeba (The Wound, 2017) which she co-produced. Anna-Marie Jansen van Vuuren interviewed her.

What makes the film so special?

The film is very close to my heart. But its the director, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, is the "tour de force" behind its success - and the reason why it pulls at the heartstrings of viewers from all over the world.

I believe the film's narrative is a personal one for him. Could you elaborate on this?

Firstly, it is inspired by his grandmother who lives in a village that is right now on the verge of being forcibly resettled. But as a child Lemohang and his family were evicted from their home to make way for water infrastructure in Lesotho. Since then, Lemohang is someone who has never really felt part of society, he has always felt like an outsider. And now even more so as a Masotho man living in Europe. And then when he returns to Lesotho, he is still considered to be an outsider, because of his German residency. Thus, he is really interested in one's relationship with one's homeland and what it means.

Another theme of the film is life and death. The main character, Mantoa, is preparing for her death by arranging her funeral and saying farewell to those around her... ?

Lemohang calls this "the brutal march of time". By that he means that nature can be cruel in its treatment of mere mortals. Tied to that, he is also fascinated by how modernity is clashing more and more with tradition - and what that means, particularly for rural communities that do not know any other way of existing.

The film critiques development authorities who are expanding Lesotho's dams and water infrastructure. Do you hope that this film will play a role in creating awareness about the social injustice taking place in Lesotho?

Most of South Africa's water actually comes from Lesotho. Annually Lesotho exports an estimated 780 million cubic meters of water to South Africa. It is recognised as Africa's largest water transfer scheme in history. A lot of communities in Lesotho suffer immensely because their water is being sent away. They have a water shortage, although their environment is actually a water source.

Therefore, a lot of work is currently being done with rural communities because they don't have the tools to take on the government about this. They are not aware of their rights or the instruments that are in place for them to fight for a more just relationship between South Africa and Lesotho.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Lesotho Entertainment By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

Is this what drew you to the film?

We didn't make this film with an agenda for it to be some kind of expose or political statement about the water scenario. But I am hopeful that the film will open audiences' eyes to this multifaceted, complex issue. It's not just about the water shortage or about people being resettled. When they are uprooted, it affects people's ability to live sustainable, meaningful lives. Families are often torn apart and individuals' sense of identity is forever rocked by an experience like this. And what we also deal with in the film is the fact that people's ancestral graves are destroyed in the process of land being flooded in order to create more dams and reservoirs.

This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection is scheduled for a run in South African cinemas in June 2021.

Anna-Marie Jansen van Vuuren, Lecturer, Tshwane University of Technology
Reviewing the novel coronavirus pandemic situation in the country, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that India's 47 districts have not reported any new Covid-19 cases in the last 3 weeks. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan also added that 251 districts in the country have not registered any new death in the same period.

Addressing a press conference here, Bhushan said that the active cases in the country is less than 1.60 lakhs and declining.

"India's COVID-19 cumulative positivity rate is 5.42 per cent and it is continuously declining. The COVID-19 positivity rate last week was at 1.82 per cent. There are two states that have 70 per cent of the active cases -- Kerala and Maharashtra. Only Maharashtra and Kerala have more than 35,000 active COVID-19 cases. A total of 47 districts have not reported new COVID19 cases in the last 3 weeks and 251 districts have not reported any COVID-related deaths in the last 3 weeks," Bhushan said.

"The recovery rate has crossed 97 per cent mark and the death due to COVID-19 is also declining. India's cases per million population are 7,819 and the number of deaths per million population is 112. The tests per million population are 144,359," he added.

Bhushan said that a total of 45,93,427 doses of vaccines have been administered in the country.

"India has become the fastest nation to reach 4 million COVID-19 vaccinations. It took only 18 days to administer the first 4 million vaccines. While we are doing the immunization of health care and frontline workers across the country, we are using 1239 private as vaccination session sites. At the same time, we are using 5912 public hospitals as vaccination sites," he added.

Explaining about the assessment System, a feedback mechanism practised through the Co-Win platform, Bhushan said that a personalized SMS sent to all beneficiaries a day after vaccination.

"A total of 97 per cent people who have received COVID-19 vaccine are satisfied The results are based on the feedback registered by vaccinated people. Out of 37,10,34,000 people, 5,12,128 have responded," he said

"Madhya Pradesh ranks first in immunising the state's healthcare workers; praiseworthy performance The state has been immunised 73 per cent of its health care workers in just 18 days," he added.

Bhushan asserted, "There is a very structured and robust system of AEFI monitoring in this country. It has been further strengthened in view of COVID19 vaccination. We have 8563 Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) so far, when we have done vaccination in lakhs. This is 0.18 per cent of vaccinated people."

Moreover, Balram Bhargava, DG ICMR said,"The 3rd sero-survey was done from Dec 17, 2020 to Jan 8, 2021. A general population of 28,589 individuals were included & another group of 7,171 healthcare workers were also included...Above the age of 18 years the sero-prevalance was 21.4%."

He further added,"Amongst healthcare workers, sero prevalence was highest overall with 25.7%. Statistically it was not different between doctors, nurses, field staff & paramedics, but it was highest among doctors and nurses with 26.6% as against the administrative staff which was 24.9%."

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SBI General Insurance, one of the leading General Insurance companies in India, has pledged to support the cancer treatment of underprivileged kids suffering with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. For enabling this, SBI General has launched the campaign, #MakeHopeWin starting on World Cancer Day (4th Feb 2021).

Under this campaign, SBI General has pledged to donate Rs. 500 for every general insurance policy issued through their digital assets, towards this cause. The donated funds will be extended to enable treatment and post treatment care of cancer affected underprivileged kids through CanKids Kidscan NGO.

Under the umbrella of this campaign, SBI General also aims to bring in some hope and positivity through the ones affected by cancer. As a part of the campaign, the Company will urge cancer survivors to share their stories of grit and strength on social media which in turn will provide hope to more people battling with cancer, thereby together we all can #MakeHopeWin.

PC Kandpal, MD & CEO, SBI General said, At SBI General, it has always been our endeavour to contribute to the society at large. According to World Health Organization (WHO) report, every year approximately 1.16 million new cancer cases are observed in India. It is estimated that one in 10 Indians will develop cancer during their lifetime and one in 15 will die of the disease. Considering such facts, at SBIG, we have conceptualized and launched this initiative called #MakeHopeWin.

With this initiative, we intend to help the underprivileged kids by contributing towards their treatment through the Cankids Kidscan NGO, by donating Rs.500 for each policy sold digitally from 4th to 28th Feb 2021. We will also encourage our engaged social community of lakhs of followers to rally behind this important cause and support it. Through this integrated campaign, we will help share experiences and showcase the power of community and working together for providing hope.
EDITORS NOTE: NJ Cannabis Insider is hosting a two-day business and networking conference March 9-10, featuring some of the states most prominent industry leaders. Early-bird registration is open. Tickets are limited.

Longtime New Jersey cannabis advocate Leo Bridgewater was named among 10 recipients in a national business accelerator program for underrepresented entrepreneurs in the industry.

Bridgewater, a Trenton-based consultant and well-known figure in New Jerseys run to legalize cannabis, received a $50,000 grant from Eaze, one of Californias largest marketplaces for legal cannabis and delivery.

Bridgewaters business vision entails using profits from the cultivation and processing space for vocational rehabilitation and uplifting a network of self-sufficient equity businesses that can lead the charge in establishing generational wealth within underrepresented communities.

When you talk about minority inclusion and equity, these are things were not talking about in our understanding of this plant or this industry, said Bridgewater, who is also the national director of Veterans Outreach with Minorities for Medical Marijuana, and instrumental in getting PTSD added as a qualifying condition for medical use in New Jersey.

The initial investment will allow Bridgewaters consultant business to look toward getting cultivation and processing licenses once the states cannabis market opens up to adult consumers. Eaze would then consider carrying his companys products on its menu.

Bridgewater runs a consulting company, BridgeH2O, and also has a strain named after him by the same at Harmony Dispensary in Secaucus. The strain was named after him for his advocacy work for veterans suffering from PTSD.

Creating a path for other economic ecosystems of color to thrive within the state will be key, said Bridgewater, who was recently profiled by NJ Cannabis Insiders CannaInfluencers series ahead of last years elections.

Making sure this industry is reflective of its consumers is something thats going to be really, really, really important if were to be leaders in this industry, he said.

The business accelerator, known as Momentum, will entail a 12-week program including mentorship from Eaze employees combined with a slate of industry experts, said Jennifer Lujan, director of Social Impact at Eaze.

Bridgewater was among 250 applicants for a 2021 cohort and was the sole recipient from New Jersey. Of the 10 recipients, only two others besides Bridgewater were not from California.

Providing recipients with an additional opportunity to grow their business at the end of the program is critical, Lujan said.

Theyre able to present to leading investors, industry experts, professionals in dispensaries and even to the Eaze team, their businesses for either a chance to get investment, shelf space or even potentially be on the menu for Eaze, she said.

Social equity brands becoming self-sufficient and thriving is a matter of making sure there is access to business infrastructure, said Darius Kemp, Eazes head of Equity and Community Change.

What we do is we find the partners that are able to meet the demand capabilities of our customers and then we basically rev their engine with as much gas as possible, he said. (Eaze has signed on as a sponsor for NJ Cannabis Insiders March virtual conference.)

After spending time in the industry as a longtime advocate and consultant, Bridgewater said that moving into the cultivation and processing side of the cannabis business is about setting an example.

I have to become that which Ive been screaming for, he said.

Jelani Gibson may be reached at jgibson@njadvancemedia.com Follow him on Twitter @jelanigibson1.
It seems Donald Trump and his legal team have differing views on the question of just what sort of defense he should offer when his trial begins next week.

Im beginning to think he should argue that he is innocent by reason of insanity.

Thats the only explanation I can imagine for his continued insistence on a reading of the Constitution that represents a repudiation of the doctrine of states rights that we conservatives hold so dear.

The Twelfth Amendment leaves up to the states the question of how presidential electors are chosen. It was Trumps effort to employ a liberal interpretation of that amendment that got him into this mess.

In a brief released earlier in the week, Trumps defense attorneys were still pushing that angle. The brief argued that Congress had a duty not just to certify the presidential election but to determine whether certification of the presidential election vote was warranted and permissible under its rules.

Nope. The 12th Amendment gives the states, not the Congress, the powers of certifying electors. (Dont tell CNN.)

The sole role allotted to Congress is to observe the counting of the votes, at which point The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President.

There is an obvious reason no Congressional certification is needed: If one party has a majority in Congress and the other partys candidate has a majority of the electoral votes, then the opportunities for mischief would be boundless.

The same holds for the role of Vice President. If Mike Pence had the power to reject electoral votes, he could have rejected the slates favoring his opponent Kamala Harris.

Yet when Pence tried to tell Trump that, he became the target of a storm of angry tweets.

One New Jersey conservative who has had long experience observing Trump in action is Seth Grossman of Atlantic City. Hes an ultra-conservative and strict constructionist as well as being a lawyer.

The day after that Jan. 6 debacle in D.C. he posted a piece headlined Vice President Pence Did His Job. Donald Trumps Lawyers Didnt Do Theirs.

Any American who calls him or herself a conservative must understand and respect our Constitution, Grossman wrote. Vice-President Pence did what the Twelfth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution required him to do.

Grossman told me that in his Atlantic City days The Donald had a habit of hiring politically connected lawyers.

He hired them for their power-broker abilities not their litigation abilities, Grossman said. Some of them would have a hard time winning a case in landlord-tenant court.

Trumps latest pick for defense attorney, Bruce Castor of Pennsylvania, seems to be taking a more sensible tack. In an interview yesterday he indicated Trumps defense will not focus on the claim the election was stolen.

There are plenty of questions about how the election was conducted throughout the country, but thats for a different forum, and I dont believe thats important to litigate in the Senate trial because you dont need it, Castor said on KYW radio. President Trump has plenty to win with what he has.

Last week Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul forced a vote on the issue of whether the Constitution permits trial of an impeached president after he has left office.

Pauls side lost by a 55-45 margin. But it will take a two-thirds majority to convict Trump, so it looks like hes safe.

But if Trumps legal team were to focus on his efforts to get Congress to overturn the election, the Constitution would not be on his side.

Consider that phone call he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2 during which the president had two of his lawyers on the line as he said I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes.

Georgia had certified its results back on Dec. 8, as did the other states.

As a lawyer it floored me, said Grossman. I could not think of a single lawyer I know who would let a client make a phone call like that.

The dodge that Trumps lawyers employed to get around the Twelfth Amendment was the Electoral Count Act of 1887. But that act applies to instances in which a state sends to Congress two competing slates of electors.

Trump had already tried that trick. After the election, he implored the GOP-controlled legislatures of several key states won by Biden to appoint alternate electoral slates. All refused.

By the time the electors were chosen, Trump had no constitutional options left. So he turned to unconstitutional options.

The Democrats would love nothing more than to offer a blow-by-blow account of the result. Grossman said Trump would be well-advised to keep a low profile during the trial.

He should not dignify a sham proceeding by appearing, said Grossman.

Or by talking.

ADD - TRUMP HAS NO ONE TO BLAME BUT HIMSELF FOR HIS PERFORMANCE:

Check this article about a post-mortem on his ill-conceived campaign.

Suburbanites  who bolted from Trump after 2016  also played a major role. The report says that the former president suffered a double-digit erosion with White College educated voters across the board.

Its no wonder, after Trump shafted suburbanites by eliminating the SALT (State and Local Taxes) deduction that many suburbanites relied on when they bought their homes.

Its nice to court the voters in the red states who dont need those deductions. But Trump overlooked what should have been his No. 1 constituency.

Hes got no one but himself to blame for that.
(Newser)  Some neighbors in Palm Beach argue that former President Trump isn't allowed to live at his Mar-a-Lago estatebut after a legal review by the town's attorney, Trump probably won't have to find a new home for the second time in two months. In a memo to the town council, attorney Skip Randolph recommended that the president be allowed to live at the club despite an agreement stating that guests can't reside there for more than 21 days a year, the Washington Post reports. Randolph told the council that the zoning code allows employees to live at private clubs, so there is nothing banning Trump from living at the club if he is a "bona fide employee." Trump attorney John B. Marion says that as president of the corporation that owns the club, Trump definitely has bona fide employee status.

story continues below

In 1993, when Trump turned the historic estate into a private club, he agreed not to live there, but "absent a specific restriction prohibiting former president Trump from residing at the Club, it appears the Zoning Code permits him to reside at the Club," Randolph wrote. He recommended that the council debate the issue further after hearing from Trump and other parties involved. The issue is expected to come up at a council meeting next week. The Hill reports that a permit to demolish a helipad at Mar-a-Lago was issued Tuesday. Town authorities say helipads aren't usually allowed but an exception was made to permit one at Mar-a-Lago during Trump's presidency. (Read more Mar-a-Lago stories.)
Lahore Confidential is an espionage thriller starring Richa Chadha and Arunoday Singh that is too tepid to even be infuriating.

With Kunal Kohli at the helm, it is natural to have some expectations from this thriller that blends espionage and romance. Kohli, after all, directed Fanaa (2006), which was so much more than its lovely music and the blazing chemistry between Kajol and Aamir Khan  it was a film that took a stand on the Kashmir imbroglio, a stand that is likely to create a storm among todays Censors.

Kohlis Lahore Confidential  created by journalist-turned-author S Hussain Zaidi and written by Vibha Singh  is, however, an insipid, please-all project. It is neither here nor there nor anywhere, signifying perhaps the dilemma of a team that is determined not to be rabidly Islamophobic in the manner of Kesari, Padmaavat, and a handful of other Bollywood films of the past seven years, but is also afraid to take a position that would antagonise the current Indian establishment, and does not quite know how to pull off that balancing act yet deliver a substantial, intelligent film. The result is a poorly written, wishy-washy story further hampered by passionless direction and sub-par production values.

This outcome is unfortunate, not only because of the track record of some of the names in the credits, but also because Lahore Confidential begins well. Early on, we are introduced to Ananya (played by Richa Chadha) who is an employee of the Indian governments Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and is being pestered by her mother (Alka Amin) to get married. Ananyas favourite companions are her books. The interactions between this nagging parent and her independent-minded offspring are amusing and have an energy that largely goes missing in the rest of the film.

It is particularly entertaining to witness the mothers dilemma as her anxiety to get her daughter married clashes with her prejudice against Pakistan when confronted with the likelihood of the young woman hooking up with a Pakistani man.

This possibility arises when Ananya is sent on an assignment to the neighbouring country to establish a relationship with a well-connected event manager in Lahore called Rauf Ahmed Kazmi (Arunoday Singh) who could turn out to be an important source for R&AW. There too, some fun is to be had in Ananyas dealings with her colleague Yukti (Karishma Tanna), an R&AW agent with a dont-care attitude, a love for sex and a habit of objectifying men, in sharp contrast to the tendency of popular culture to incessantly objectify women. Richa Chadha does shy well, especially in that one scene in which she admits to a blossoming interest in Rauf in a conversation with Yukti. And Tanna as Yukti is a firebrand.

It is all downhill from there though. At 1 hour and 8 minutes, Lahore Confidential is unusually short for a Bollywood film, but it is far from being crisp and clever as you might expect from that unconventional length.

Firstly, Chadha and Singh dont have particularly great chemistry, which serves as a millionth reminder that sparks are possible on screen only when good actors meet in well-directed, well-written scenes  look no further than the raging inferno between Singh himself and Aditi Rao Hydari in Sudhir Mishras Yeh Saali Zindagi (2011).

Second, the plot is dependent on Ananya being stupid and R&AW being stupider. Indias premier intelligence agency as depicted by Lahore Confidential is even dumber than the spies in Neeraj Pandeys Baby (2015) that starred Akshay Kumar.

In Ananyas professional failings though, the script reveals something that goes beyond mindless writing  it reveals the writers bias. Those initial chats between Ananya and her mother were not, as it turns out, the innocuous humorous introductory scenes they seemed to be at the time; in fact, they were placed there to establish Ananya as a particular type of woman who, in the eyes of the writer (as in the eyes of society at large), is assumed to be emotionally fragile because she is single past a certain socially acceptable age  Ananya in the denouement shows herself up to be the standard, patronising stereotype of the spinster as a lonely, desperate woman, ergo vulnerable, ergo gullible. This pigeon-holing is less blatant than the writing of the Veronica character in Homi Adajanias Cocktail, and is therefore more likely to appeal to even the supposedly liberal viewers subconscious bias. In retrospect it then becomes clear that Yukti was constructed to tick all the checkboxes in Bollywoods stereotype of a strong woman: she drinks, she smokes, she is sexually promiscuous, she swears.

But it is pointless being irritated with such a half-hearted production. Even before the weak writing is revealed, it is hard to see past the entire films plastic look and scene after scene with hardly any human beings around in public spaces apart from the principal characters.

Although it has not been publicised as such, Lahore Confidential seems to be a follow-up to Zee5s 2020 short feature London Confidential, which was about Indian undercover operations in London and was also created by S Hussain Zaidi. London Confidential is deficient reference material for anyone wanting to make a quality espionage flick in Bollywood. If the team of Lahore Confidential wanted inspiration from their home ground, they need not have gone too far back in time: Meghna Gulzar aced the genre with her brilliant Raazi in 2018. Or maybe they could have just rewatched Fanaa?

Lahore Confidential is too tepid to even be infuriating. Where oh where is the Kunal Kohli we once knew?

Lahore Confidential streams on Zee5.

Rating: *
The Mekong River is shown in front of the town of Houeixay in Bokeo province, Laos, in a photo taken in late January 2021.

Water levels on a stretch of the Mekong River along the border of Thailand and Laos, already low because of equipment testing at Chinas upriver Jinghong Dam, have failed to rise again, raising concerns in communities living downstream, sources say.

Chinese authorities at the end of December had announced that discharges of water from Yunnan provinces Jinghong Dam would be reduced from 1,900 cubic meters per second to 1,000 cubic meters per second starting on Jan. 5.

Though testing was set to end on Jan. 24, water levels in the area have still not been restored, sources in the area say.

The Mekong River water level is still low, and a long stretch of sand has emerged because the Chinese are not yet releasing water, the owner of a floating restaurant in the town of Chiang Saen in Thailands Chiang Rai province told RFA on Feb. 2.

It looks like China doesnt care about people living downstream, added Niwat Roikaew, a member of the Thai environmental NGO Love Chiang Khong Group, based in the Chiang Khong district of Chiang Rai province.

The Mekong River is now low like this every year, and this has severe impacts on everyone living downstream.

Suwit Kulapwong, coordinator of the Lower Mekong River-Esan Network, a Thai NGO, said that Thai authorities should file a complaint against China for breaking its promise to restore water flows to their previous level.

The promise was that China would have increased their discharge of water by Jan. 25. China should treat those of us who live downstream fairly, Suwit said. I understand that China was holding water back for repairs, but China shouldnt hold on to the water forever.

I dont understand why the MRC and its members are so quiet about this, Suwit said, referring to the Mekong River Commission, a Southeast Asian intergovernmental organization that works to jointly manage water resources and promote sustainable development along the Mekong.

Besides the Chinese dams, the Xayaburi Dam in Laos also impedes water flows from Laos to Cambodia and Vietnam, Suwit added.

'The river is still dry'

Authorities and residents in Bokeo province in northern Laos confirmed on Jan. 28, three days after water flows were to have been restored, that levels on the river in their area were still low.

Yes, the Mekong River is still dry, said an official of Bokeos Natural Resources and Environment Department, speaking to RFA on condition of anonymity.

The water level in the province is now only two meters deep, but sometimes it goes up and down, he said.

The Mekong River has been dry since last month, a villager added in Bokeos Hoeixay district. All boats here have been ordered to dock due to the drought and because of the threat of COVID-19."

Levels may rise again

Speaking to RFA on Tuesday, Brian Eyler, Southeast Asia Program director at the Washington D.C.-based Stimson Center, said that the Mekong Rivers level in Chiang Saen, predicted to be severely low by the next day, would soon begin to rise again.

The extremely low levels might only be temporary, as Chinas dry season releases are likely soon to begin again, he said.

Higher than normal levels of wetness in Chinas portion of the upper basin are filling Chinas reservoirs, Eyler said And for the last three years meaningful releases from Xiaowan and Nuozhadu [Dams] have begun around this time of year, raising the level of the river in the Golden Triangle and beyond far higher than its normal dry season level.

China has been a target of criticism from the international community for its cascade of 11 mega-dams on the Mekong River, which China calls the Lancang, with the lower Mekong basin experiencing severe drought over the past year and some stretches of the river even drying up entirely.

In October 2020, Beijing agreed to share data with the MRC, as some 60 million people in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam use the river for agriculture and fishing.

Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Richard Finney.
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This file photo provided on Dec. 24, 2020, by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), shows soil samples, seen inside the A compartment of the capsule brought back by Hayabusa2, in Sagamihara, near Tokyo. Japanese space experts said Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, they will examine water in soil samples that their Hayabusa2 spacecraft brought back from a distant asteroid to find out how it dehydrated as part of their search for clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth. (JAXA via AP, File)

Japanese space experts said Thursday they will examine soil samples brought back from a distant asteroid in an attempt to find the source of heat that altered the celestial body, in their search for clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth.

Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said they have made a preliminary examination of 5.4 grams (0.19 ounce) of soil, far more than the minimum 0.1 gram sample they had hoped for, which the Hayabusa2 spacecraft brought back in December from the asteroid Ryugu, more than 300 million kilometers (190 million miles) from Earth.

About 3 grams (0.1 ounce) of the black granules are from Ryugu's surface and were gathered when Hayabusa2 touched down on the asteroid in April 2019. About 2 grams of larger fragments, up to about 1 centimeter (0.4 inch), were obtained from under the surface in a crater made by Hayabusa2 when it landed a second time three months later.

Based on near-infrared spectrophotometer analysis of data transmitted by Hayabusa2, JAXA scientists found that the asteroid was exposed to extremely high temperatures both on its surface and underground, possibly caused by an internal source of heat or planetary collisions rather than heat from the sun.

Kohei Kitazato, a University of Aizu planetary scientist working with JAXA, said his team found indications of heat exceeding 300 degrees Celsius (572 degrees Fahrenheit) both on the asteroid surface and underground.

This optical microscope file photo provided on Dec. 24, 2020, by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), shows soil samples, seen inside C compartment of the capsule brought back by Hayabusa2, in Sagamihara, near Tokyo. Japanese space experts said Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021 they will examine water in soil samples that their Hayabusa2 spacecraft brought back from a distant asteroid to find out how it dehydrated as part of their search for clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth. (JAXA via AP, File)

He said the soil underground would not reach that temperature from the heat of the sun alone, suggesting that radiative internal heat or planetary collisions affected Ryugu when it was still part of a parent body billions of years ago, causing evaporation of its water.

His earlier study, jointly conducted with Brown University scholars and more than 30 other institutions, was published in the magazine Nature Astronomy last month.

JAXA is continuing an initial examination of the asteroid samples ahead of fuller studies next year. Scientists will also examine possible traces of organic matter in hopes they will provide insights into the origins of the solar system and life on Earth.

Following studies in Japan, some of the samples will be shared with NASA and other international space agencies for additional research.

Hayabusa2 is continuing on an 11-year expedition to another small and distant asteroid, 1998KY26, to study possible defenses against meteorites that could fly toward Earth, while conducting various tests that could be used in future Japanese space missions, including its planned 2024 MMX sample-return mission from one of the Martian moons.

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Chris Pratt came under fire online once again. But this time, he got wrongfully canceled over fake tweets.

On Wednesday, Pratt's name conquered Twitter's top trending topics. The actor, unfortunately, went viral over his alleged racist and sexist tweets years ago.

Twitter users slammed the 41-year-old "Guardians of the Galaxy" star after an individual shared his alleged old posts.

One of the tweets reportedly said, "#MissUniverse in a way they all look Miss Hungry." But according to Yahoo! News, only one of the screenshots was actually real.

In October 2012, Pratt posted a photo of a Bank of America pen with the label "Made in China" engraved on it.

He hit people's nerves with the caption, "I feel like somebody smarter than me could make a joke about this."

Aside from these posts, Twitter users began to treat him as a "dead" person since he has lied low on social media for a while now.

What People Said About Chris Pratt

As a long-time subject of criticisms, the "Avengers" star suffered again from damaging accusations. Some haters even brought back Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth's names on the table.

One Twitter user said, "#ripchrispratt idk who that man is, anyway stan chris evans instead"

"I don't know what is going on but anyway we all know that these two are the best chris's #ripchrispratt," another one wrote alongside a photoset of Evans and Hemsworth together.

Another chimed in: "y'all are gonna have his costars coming on here talking about how good of a person and christian he is again #ripchrispratt"

Chris Pratt Canceled

Prior to this damaging event, Pratt already received the nickname "worst Chris."

Previously, he was trolled on the same social networking site as the "worst Chris in Hollywood," causing him to be kicked out of a Twitter poll.

A challenge by screenwriter Amy Berg asked the internet which famous Chris--Pratt, Hemsworth, Evans or Chris Pine--has to go.

It was a major boomerang to the actor, as it only happened after he reportedly announced that he would support former POTUS Donald Trump.

Some people also pointed out at that time that the actor's views and his alleged support for anti-LGBTQ churches made him the worst Chris.

As of writing, neither of the issues has been addressed by Chris Pratt yet.

See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles
The Leslie Saunders Insurance Agency, the only woman-owned certified insurance, benefits, and training company in the United States has agreed to acquisition by Branch Benefits Consultants, Nevadas largest minority-owned independent insurance agency. The acquisition will allow for expanded services to the customers as well as create jobs and more opportunities nationwide, fueling the economy.

As with any company one has owned for over 20 years, deciding on a business succession process is a complex decision. Being always forward-thinking, Leslie Saunders was clear when the time and partner were right. I knew it was time to sell while there was upside potential, and a new generation to scale the business in ways I couldnt, says Leslie Saunders, President of the Leslie Saunders Insurance Agency. After extensive research, I found the perfect buyer to fit the needs of my clients and couldnt be more thrilled about the future.

The partnership acquisition with Leslie Saunders Insurance Agency for me is first about legacy preservation, says Quincy L Branch, President and CEO of Branch Benefits Consultants. Being a 2nd generation insurance agency owner, I see and understand the value of what Leslie has built over her 30+ year career. LSI has been an asset to the ACDBE airport programs and I look to ensure that it continues, he adds.

For professionals such as Ms. Saunders and Mr. Branch, strategic business deals go beyond revenue and job creation. It feeds to the community as well, which is more important now than ever. Mr. Branch notes, as a successful independent agency Leslie Saunders Insurance Agency has been able to support local charities and other community-based initiatives via countless donations and volunteer hours, which is important to us. Both believe that having connections to all the airports in the U.S. will allow the firm to continue to have an impact in numerous communities across the United States.

Official management change was completed on 12/31/20 and the company assumed the new brand as of 1/1/2021.

About Leslie Saunders Insurance Agency

Leslie Saunders is the only certified woman-owned insurance, benefits and training company in the U.S. WBE/DBE certifications extend to all 50 states and Puerto Rico, covering 240 airports and providing a range of insurance products for corporate and public entities. The company designs and implements employee benefits plans and creates and deploys HR training systems for small and large businesses alike, including many women-owned firms, airports and airport concessionaires. Travel, trip cancelation and pet insurance are also available. LSI also offers general liability, workers compensation, as well as aircraft liability for drones, helicopters and jets. For more information about Leslie Saunders Insurance Agency, Inc. Visit http://www.lesliesaunders.com for more info.

About Branch Benefits Consultants

Established in 2011, Branch Benefits Consultants, (BBC) has successfully expanded on the agency partnership first established in 2000 by then sister company Branch-Hernandez & Associates. As Nevada's largest minority-owned independent insurance agency, BBC has quickly established itself as one of the premier agencies in the industry. As a company that values and embraces diversity, CEO Quincy Branch cultivates a team of insurance professionals that specialize in personal, commercial and employee benefits products offerings. Learn more at http://bbc-ins.com
Gbarnga  Liberian laws are written in English and traditional leaders and other local authorities find it difficult to fully understand these laws which has made the customary laws dominant in the rural parts of the country.

A project under the title "strengthening the capacity and Resilience of traditional leaders on Statutory system, human rights and COVID-19 in Bong County", which was launched on January 22, 2021 in Gbarnga, Bong County is looking to explain and simplify key human rights and other statutory laws to traditional leaders and locals in three districts in Bong County-Jorquelleh Districts #1 and 2 and Suakoko.

The project with funding provided by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is being implemented by Her Voice Liberia, a local civil society organization working in the areas of access to justice, human rights and other thematic areas.

Speaking at the launch, Marzu Y. Stubblefield, a representative of UNDP said UNDP over the years has supported the Judiciary particularly Criminal Court E in Liberia.

She said UNDP support is meant to strengthen the justice sector in the country and the Government of Liberia in its efforts to build a society based on the principles of rule of law, human rights, and justice.

The UNDP official added that the UN agency will continue to provide support to the formal court system, as the support is designed to be catalytic, increasing public confidence in the sector, strengthening state-society relations and creating an enabling environment for development.

"While the reach of formal courts have in recent years been expanded to rural areas, 80% of Liberians mainly in the rural areas, reportedly pursue justice through traditional means. Many particularly in the rural areas do not pursue the formal court system of getting justice but seek the informal mean. This means that most of the cases are heard by traditional leaders and these traditional Leaders that are part of the Justice actor chain will need to understand their roles in determining cases in line with the legislation. This will require defining new roles and aligning with human rights norms and gender equality," she indicated.

For the program, she noted that UNDP hopes that when the traditional leaders are trained they will implement in accordance and promised that UNDP would provide similar support for the program to extend to other counties if the impact is made and traditional leaders are making use of what is being thought.

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Also speaking, the Paramount Chief for Jorquelleh District, Chief Mary Lateh said they as traditional leaders do not fully understand the statutory laws and rely on the customary laws to handle issues in the various towns and villages under their control.

Chief Lateh said while it is true the customary laws are being used, whenever issues emerge it is the statutory laws that is mostly used to prosecute people in the courts and as such it is very good for them as traditional leaders and chiefs to understand the statutory laws.

The traditional chief said she will ensure that the project makes the required impact in her district because the project is very important to all traditional leaders and chiefs.

Dakeh Paye, Traditional Investigator for Bong County who spoke on behalf of all traditional leaders that attended the launch of the project expressed happiness for the project.

Investigator Paye said in order for the traditional leaders and chiefs to know which cases to handle and which ones to refer to the Statutory legal system, they need to understand the key differences between the customary and statutory system something he said is not possible when they do not understand many of the statutory laws of Liberia.
Stabbings are on the increase

Four Dublin councillors will table an emergency motion at today's city council meeting, calling on Justice Minister Helen McEntee to act on previously suggested changes to knife crime laws.

The move would double the sentence for knife crime to 10 years.

Former Fianna Fail justice spokesman Jim O'Callaghan had proposed the change.

However, the Government has said there are no plans to amend the current legis- lation.

In the space of just over a week, Dublin's north inner city has witnessed a spate of knife crimes.

Teenager

A 14-year-old boy has been charged in connection with a knife attack that led to an office cleaner needing life-saving surgery after she was stabbed in the neck on January 20.

Last Tuesday, a teenager was stabbed on East Wall Road and died from his injuries.

Two days later, a man was stabbed in Seville Place.

The four councillors - Nial Ring, Christy Burke, Anthony Flynn and Cieran Perry - will call on the justice minister to immediately reintroduce Mr O'Callaghan's private mem- ber's bill.

The councillors will also call on the minister to immediately set up a task force to address, research and analyse the causes of the increase in knife crime.

Last October, around the time of the sentencing of a youth for the killing of Dublin teenager Azzam Raguragui, a Justice Department spokes- man said the Government is "very aware of the concerns which many members of the public hold with regard to the issue of knife crime".

Mr Ring said the impact of the recent knife attacks cannot be underestimated.

"People are literally living in fear and looking to the authorities for action," he said.

Mr Perry said legislation is "only one part of the jigsaw, but ultimately we need buy-in from the affected comm- unities".
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced Thursday that all of Region 4 moved to Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois Plan, effective immediately.

The region was the last of 11 in Illinois to have COVID-19 mitigations lessened. Other Region 4 counties include Bond, Clinton, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington.

Edwardsville Mayor Hal Patton talked to a reporter by phone Thursday about the change.

Its very exciting to see we are able to move in a better direction, he said. Its better news than we expected.

To move to this phase from Tier 1, test positivity rates needed to be less than or equal to 6.5 percent for three days in a row (seven-day average); and staffed ICU bed availability had to be greater than or equal to 20 percent for three consecutive days; and no sustained increase in COVID patients in hospital (seven-day average of seven of 10 days).

It means residents have been smart and safe, protecting themselves and others, Patton said. Theres a light at the end of the tunnel.

As of Feb. 3, the Madison County Health Department reported: a 9.14 percent seven-day average case positivity rate; 128 new cases; three new deaths and 442 total deaths; 33 patients in county hospitals and three on hospital ventilators.

Were turning the corner on this and were moving out of the high-risk category but were not out of the woods yet, Patton said.

In addition, 16,242 vaccines have been given, 12,628 (4.8 percent) of them were first doses with the remainder (1.37 percent) as second doses.

San Gabriel Memory Care in Glen Carbon has a pop-up to greet visitors to its website, noting that everyone in its Godfrey facility has been vaccinated while its Glen Carbon and Highland residents will be inoculated on Feb. 9 and 10, respectively.

According to verbiage on its website, the facility has been hyper-vigilant about testing.

Each San Gabriel resident is tested three times a day, once on each shift, for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and is given a temperature reading. If any resident shows signs or symptoms of COVID-19 and/or has an elevated temperature, he or she will receive a Madison County Health Department-approved COVID-19 test from the building nurse.

Edwardsvilles Emergency Management Coordinator, James Whiteford, issued his own media release on Thursday outlining many of the IDPH points.

What Phase Four means for Madison County residents

Masks and social distancing are still required but indoor dining and drinking is now permitted for up to 10 people, with seated areas arranged for at least six feet between parties. Standing areas in restaurants or bars should be limited to no more than 25 percent of standing area capacity. Food service should follow these guidelines.

Buffets and self-service food stations (e.g. hot and cold bars, bulk items, baked goods) should stick to additional minimum guidelines. Self-serve beverage fountains are allowed with additional precautions.

Establishments with standing area are encouraged to convert them into seated areas to limit patrons from moving throughout the premises.

Retails and service counters continue to have a limit of 50 percent occupancy; same for personal care services.

Bowling alleys and skating rinks, along with indoor playgrounds are to remain closed but other indoor recreation facilities can open up to 50 customers or 50 percent of capacity, whichever is less. However, dance floors should remain closed.

Museums can have up to 25 percent occupancy and any guided tours should be limited to 50 or fewer people per group.

Meetings and social events can have up to 50 people or 50 percent of room capacity, whichever is less. If the facility permits, multiple groups may meet under the same roof if they are socially distanced in separate rooms, however, multiple meeting sessions should require presenters to rotate rooms or arrive virtually on a screen, not allow the audience to change rooms.
Mumbai, Feb 4 : Reliance Marcellus, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited on Thursday announced the signing of agreements to divest all of its interest in certain upstream assets in the Marcellus shale play of south-western Pennsylvania.

These assets, which are currently operated by various affiliates of EQT Corporation, have been agreed to be sold to Northern Oil and Gas (NOG), Inc, a Delaware corporation, for a consideration of $ 250 million cash and warrants that give entitlement to purchase 3.25 million common shares of NOG at an exercise price of $14 per common share in next seven years.

A Purchase and Sale Agreement has been signed between Reliance Marcellus and NOG on February 3, 2021 for this sale and the transaction is subject to customary terms and conditions of closing.

Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. acted as financial advisor to Reliance and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as its legal counsel.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Human trials of a Covid-19 vaccine combining a British shot from AstraZeneca and Oxford University with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine will begin next week in Azerbaijan and some Middle Eastern nations, a Russian official said on Thursday. AstraZeneca said in December it would start clinical trials to test combining the two vaccines to see if this could boost the efficacy of the British shot. Both vaccines involve two doses, an initial shot and a booster, and use harmless adenoviruses as vehicles, or vectors, to carry genetic instructions into the body to prompt cells to ...
Virtual ceremony held on International Day of Human Fraternity streamed for worldwide viewers as UN Secretary-General Guterres and Latifa Ibn Ziaten receive awards

ABU DHABI, UAE, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity held its annual award ceremony today with messages of congratulations conveyed to the 2021 honorees by His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed Al-Tayeb - the 2019 honorees.

Recognized for their respective efforts to advocate for peaceful resolution to conflict and advocacy of values outlined in the Document on Human Fraternity, both UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and Moroccan-French activist, Latifa Ibn Ziaten, were presented as the two honorees of the 2021 award.

Anchored around the picturesque setting of the Founder's Memorial, in Abu Dhabi, the awards ceremony included the acceptance speeches of the two honorees, along with messages from Pope Francis and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed Al-Tayeb.

With the award inspired by the UAE's founder and his lifelong commitment to humanitarian values, the Founder's Memorial was a perfect backdrop to a truly moving, visual experience. With the ceremony online, viewers from all over the world are able to tune in to join in the celebrations and watch the honorees accept their award.

In his goodwill message to both 2021 honorees, His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, said:

"Firstly, I must begin by saying that His Holiness Pope Francis has been a courageous brother and constant friend on the path of fraternity and peace. Such efforts have seen the United Nations General Assembly adopting the anniversary of the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity, February 4th, to be the International Day of Human Fraternity, which will now encourage universal support in pursuing the spread the intercultural dialogue, co-existence, and human fraternity. This is a victory for human dignity everywhere.

"I also extend my greetings and blessings to His Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, as an honoree of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity. It is clear that his wide-range of humanitarian efforts exerted through the UN have sought to rid humanity of the sufferings of conflicts, and ease the negative effects of the pandemic."

"Joint 2021 honoree, Latifa Ibn Ziaten is a rare role model for the world. Her generosity of spirit and steadfastness in her ability to transform personal suffering into a message of security and safety for all, is a victory for all humanity and a reminder of the good that is always capable of defeating the forces of evil."

Addressing the event from The Vatican, Pope Francis spoke of the importance of human fraternity as the 21st century's key challenge, saying:

"To the Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, I thank for the companionship during this journey of reflection and the writing of the Document [on Human Fraternity]. I know it wasn't an easy task but together we helped each other, consolidating in true fraternity.

"Today, fraternity is the new frontier of humanity. Either we are brothers or we destroy ourselves. It is the challenge of our century; the challenge of our time. Human Fraternity means respect, to listen with an open heart, and to have strength in our principles.

"Born from the same father, with different cultures and traditions, we are all still brothers; and respecting our different cultures and traditions, our different citizenships, we must build this fraternity not negotiate it. It is time to listen and for sincere acceptance."

The Secretary-General of the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity, and contributing author to the Document on Human Fraternity, Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, added:

"On this day of celebration for human fraternity, we are indeed honored to have received the support of two of the world's most influential world leaders and previous honorees of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, united with a common message and purpose - to advance humanity as one family, undivided.

"The 2021 honorees - Latifa Ibn Zaiten and UN Secretary-General Guterres - are truly representative of the values championed in the Document on Human Fraternity, which forms the assessment criteria for the award. Indeed, their respective efforts to address some of the world's key socio-cultural and political issues are an inspiration to all and role models for many who will also heed the call to act."

Marking the second anniversary since the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity by the Pope and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, the International Day of Human Fraternity was introduced by the UN General Assembly, in December 2020; the date chosen to commemorate the historic meeting of the Pope and Grand Imam, at the document's signing, in 2019.

In addition to the awards ceremony and as part of the wider celebrations of the first International Day of Human Fraternity, several key landmarks in both The Vatican and Abu Dhabi will be lit up on Thursday evening.

The nominations process for the 2022 awards will open 1stMay 2021 and end of December 2021. To find out if you qualify as a nominator or to nominate a candidate for next year's award, go to: www.zayedaward.org.

About ZAHF

The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity seeks to honor the legacy of the founder of the United Arab Emirates by celebrating people everywhere who embody through their work his lifelong commitment to human fraternity. It is awarded by the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity and includes a financial prize of one million dollars. It was created in February, 2019, to mark the historic meeting in Abu Dhabi of the head of the Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Francis, and His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmad al-Tayeb, to co-sign the historic Document of Human Fraternity. Pope Francis and Grand Imam al-Tayeb were the first honorary co-recipients of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity.

About HCHF

Formed in 2019, the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity is an independent committee dedicated to achieving the aspirations of the Document for Human Fraternity by bringing people across the world together, in the spirit of peaceful co-existence. The committee comprises a diverse group of international religious leaders, scholars and cultural leaders.

Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1433318/ZAHF_2021_Honorees_Acceptance_Speeches.mp4

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1433316/2021_Zayed_Award_for_Human_Fraternity.jpg
Pa. COVID-19 mask mandate will be lifted by June 28 or sooner

Pennsylvania announced Thursday that the commonwealth will eliminate its mask mandates by June 28 as COVID-19 cases drop and vaccinations increase.
Editor: How can any Democratic politician justify offending constituents by attempting to change Wyoming Avenue in Scranton to Biden Avenue?

How many Republicans and Democrats would be offended by a street renaming? This is by no means fair and equitable. I would like anyone to give me one thing President Joe Biden accomplished in his 40-plus years in politics. All he did was make himself and his family wealthy at your expense.

He just took office and with the swipe of his pen, he may put thousands of hardworking people on the Keystone XL pipeline out of good-paying jobs. Wheres his conscience?

You can say what you want about former President Trump, good or bad. He certainly had his faults, but he created jobs and did not destroy them. If any name should be on a street sign, it should be someone who really deserves it, such as former President Ronald Reagan for freeing the hostages in Iran or Michael Metrinko, the Olyphant native who spent 444 days in captivity in Iran.

These individuals are worthy of being honored. In my opinion, Biden is dangerous. Hold on for the ride ahead  we are in serious trouble as a country.

GREG E. POTOCHNICK

MOSCOW

Editor: I think the Central Scranton Expressway should be co-named in recognition of President Joe Biden.

It should be made into the President Joe Biden/Central Scranton Expressway. It ties together the president with his birthplace, Scranton. It would be way more noticeable being situated along Interstate 81, versus a more obscure city street. It also would require few changes of address, if any.

I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a civil or mechanical engineer but there appears to be space on some of the existing Central Scranton Expressway signage support structures to attach signage denoting the co-naming.

GIRARD HISTED

ARCHBALD

Editor: Regarding the push to rename a street for President Joe Biden, I guess that Times-Tribune editors and most citizens of Scranton completely missed the eight-minute video Biden recently put out, saying goodbye and thanks to his lovely, wonderful hometown.

He described the joys of living there and growing up there and being a part of the community. Unfortunately the video message was directed at Bidens actual hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, not Scranton, Pennsylvania. We didnt get a thank-you video.

So, why would people in Scranton rename a street for a guy whos been blowing smoke for 20 years? Yes, he lived here briefly but if you watch that video its very clear that Biden considers Wilmington to be his hometown.

People of Scranton are just the rubes he uses to play an angle for votes. Watch the video and make up your own mind. Information is powerful when people can actually see it.

DOUG BALISH

SPRING BROOK TWP.

Editor: Why would people in Scranton even consider changing the name of Wyoming Avenue to honor President Joe Biden?

He he has done nothing for Scranton and only comes here for votes. Biden already has part of a street named after him in the Green Ridge section. Officials must put their priorities in the right place. Scranton isnt rich enough to waste money like that.

JEAN DOWNEY

SCRANTON

Editor: It may be way too early to think along these lines, but the property for sale at North Washington Avenue and Electric Street  the former Scranton State School for the Deaf  would make a great spot to put the future Joe Biden presidential library.

That is, if four years from now he still considers himself the scrappy boy from Scranton.

TERRY COSTELLO

SCRANTON

Editor: According to an apparent tinfoil hat theorist (Socialist plot, Feb. 1), while he was in Congress, President Joe Biden,  accomplished nothing noteworthy.

If the wayward writer means that Biden did not incite an insurrection against our democracy at the Capitol, or that he did not ignore and downplay a deadly pandemic that is on track to kill more than a half-million Americans, then that assertion would be correct. As a senator, Biden did nothing that disturbingly noteworthy.

However, as vice president he oversaw the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, then the biggest economic recovery plan in our countrys history. He helped rebuild the American economy and saved the American auto industry, lifting us out of the Great Recession. President Obama chose him to spearhead the Cancer Moonshot program to help rid our nation of one its most insidious diseases as we know it.

In 1994, Sen. Biden sponsored the original Violence Against Women Act. It led to a major decline in intimate partner violence, from 2.1 million victims in 1994 to 907,000 in 2010.

Another of Bidens noteworthy Senate accomplishments was securing passage of arms limitation agreements in 1979 between the United States and the Soviet Union. It reduced the risk of global nuclear disaster. He also served as primary Senate sponsor of the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008, helping law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute child predators.

But these and Bidens other noteworthy accomplishments are all in the past. As the misinformed letter writer and others of his ilk cower under their covers and fret about the potential of a socialist Pizzagate deep state takeover by pedophiles, there surely will be  to their deep displeasure  more Biden achievements.

VINCE MORABITO

SCRANTON
[February 04, 2021] Small Business Satisfaction with Merchant Services Providers Declines amid COVID-Related Struggles, J.D. Power Finds

With more than half (51%) of U.S. small businesses acknowledging significant sales revenue declines as a result of COVID-19, overall satisfaction with the merchant services providers that enable small businesses to process card and mobile wallet payments has declined from 2020. According to the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Merchant Services Satisfaction Study,SM released today, challenges with customer service, cost of service, and underwriting and onboarding have been more pronounced among businesses experiencing significant sales declines during the past year. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005045/en/ J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Merchant Services Satisfaction Study (Graphic: Business Wire) "In recent years, merchant services providers have introduced technology innovations that make it easier than ever for small businesses to accept card and digital wallet payments," said Paul McAdam, senior director of banking and payments intelligence at J.D. Power. "This past year demonstrates that the technology is consistently meeting market needs, but achieving real, lasting customer satisfaction is as much about service levels as it is about technology. Payment processors should anticipate that many of the challenges and financial pressures small businesses faced in 2020 will continue to be a factor for the foreseeable future and tailor their customer-facing strategies to address those needs." Following are key findings of the 2021 study: Overall satisfaction declines: Overall small business customer satisfaction with merchant services providers is 836 (on a 1,000-point scale), down slightly from 2020. Among businesses that cite significant revenue declines due to COVID-19, the average satisfaction score is 827. Satisfaction among businesses that have experienced COVID-19-related disruptions are also significantly lower with contact center representatives; automated voice response (IVR) services; underwriting and onboarding; and cost of service. Tech performs well, while service suffers: While scores for service-related experiences such as interactions with the contact center nd underwriting and onboarding have declined in this year's study, overall small business customer satisfaction with technology functionality, reliability and ease of use are among the highest-scoring factors in the study. Satisfaction highest among e-commerce merchants: Among all sales channels evaluated, overall satisfaction with their merchant services providers is highest among E-commerce small businesses (851). This group also has the highest level of understanding of pricing and fees, as well as higher satisfaction with the options and tools available to manage chargebacks. However, satisfaction increases most among small businesses that accept card and digital wallet payments in physical (card present) environments. This year, satisfaction is higher among these businesses in the areas of timeliness of resolving service requests and clarity of pricing and fees.



Study Ranking Square ranks highest in merchant services satisfaction with a score of 857. PayPal (News - Alert) (852) ranks second. Bank of America Merchant Services (849) and PNC Merchant Services (849) rank third in a tie.

In the months prior to study fielding, many small businesses experienced unprecedented levels of disruption and change. Along with the effects of the pandemic, some small businesses were introduced to new payment processor brand names resulting from merger integrations at FIS, Fiserv and Global Payments. Some customers of Bank of America Merchant Services experienced the dissolution of the joint venture between Fiserv and Bank of America. Two of the banks in the study, PNC Merchant Services and Wells Fargo (News - Alert) Merchant Services, utilize Fiserv to provide merchant services to their small business clients. Fiserv (shown in the rank chart as First Data is now Fiserv) also manages direct, standalone merchant services businesses that are distinct from these bank relationships. The J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Merchant Services Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 3,253 small business customers of merchant services providers. The study was fielded from September through November 2020. For more information about the U.S. Merchant Services Satisfaction Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/resource/us-merchant-services-study. To view the online press release, please visit http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2021008. J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies. J.D. Power is headquartered in Troy, Mich., and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company's business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com. About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules: www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005045/en/

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This McDreamy announcement comes following many years of collaboration between Dempsey and the Porsche brand. The Hollywood star took part in several prestigious racing events, like the 24 Hours of Le Mans , American Le Mans, or the Porsche Supercup, just to name a few. As for some of the cars hes driven, they include the Porsche 911 RSR, 997 GT3 RSR and the 997 GT3 Cup.Porsche has always held a special place in my life. Whether as a race car driver or co-owner of a racing team, the brand radiates a special passion for me and the feeling to strive for top performance, which I always felt connected to. I am very happy to be part of the lifestyle world of Porsche Design outside of motor sport and to represent Porsche Design Eyewear as a brand ambassador in 2021, said the actor.Porsche Design Eyewear will showcase four sunglasses and prescription glasses models during this years campaign, starting with the new Porsche Design P8688 A Liquid Titanium model, featuring Vision Drive lens technology  the ones that Dempsey is wearing in these images.According to the company, these sunglasses are perfect for driving thanks to their Polarized XTR lenses (they feature a high-performance polarization filter and UV400 protection). The lenses also feature a contrast-enhancer that absorbs blue light components better than conventional units, increasing overall color perception, contrast, and glare protection As for the frame, its made from ultra-light titanium, allowing for a bold yet minimalistic look.We are proud to partner with Patrick Dempsey, who is not only a world-renowned movie and television star but someone who was born with a passion for motor sport. This is a perfect combination, and it makes him the ideal ambassador for Porsche Design. His authenticity and international fame will help us to further increase visibility for our Eyewear category worldwide and have a positive effect on overall brand awareness, said Porsche Design boss, Jan Becker.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade decided to close down two key bodies that scrutinised the nations overseas aid programs partly over a need to find departmental budget savings.

DFAT moved in August to shut the Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE), an independent branch of the department that reported directly to its secretary on the effectiveness of Australias aid programs.

The Morrison government has quietly started reversing some of the aid cuts in recent years as it looks to support the regions recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit:Justin McManus

It decided to cut the ODEs staff from 13.5 full-time employees to five and merge its functions into other areas of the department.

DFAT also decided to scrap the Independent Evaluation Committee (IEC), an external oversight body that sat above the ODE and was designed to improve the quality of evaluations of Australias aid program.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  In a remarkable development, a Staten Island justice on Wednesday recused himself from presiding over a retrial of Eric Bellucci, the Annadale man convicted of murdering his parents over 10 years ago.

I cannot abide another round of hearings to determine the defendants (mental) fitness, Justice William E. Garnett said during a remote conference with prosecutors and the defense. I have spent enough time and energy on this case in which any rational person would agree that the defendant slaughtered his parents on Oct. 13, 2010.

Garnett read a letter which he said was delivered to Justice Desmond Green asking to be relieved from the case.

Green is Staten Islands administrative judge.

Two months ago, in a stunning reversal, a state appellate court overturned the jurys verdict which found Bellucci, 40, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for slaying Arthur and Marian Bellucci inside their Poillon Avenue home.

Garnett had presided over that trial in state Supreme Court, St. George, nearly five years ago.

The Appellate Division, Second Department, ruled the judge should have granted defense and prosecution requests for an additional pretrial mental exam of Bellucci, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic.

Under the circumstances, when confronted with evidence that the defendant was not taking his required medication and was not able to communicate rationally with his attorney, the Supreme Court should have granted the joint applications of the People and the defense to have the defendant examined  to determine his fitness to proceed, the appellate court said in a unanimous four-member ruling.

Trial fitness means a defendant understands the charges against him and can aid in his defense.

An appellate court said a judge should have allowed another psychiatric test of Eric Bellucci, seen in this undated photo, prior to his murder trial in June 2016.

The panel also said Garnett should not have ordered defense lawyer Mario F. Gallucci to present an insanity defense over Belluccis objections.

A defendant can be deemed fit for trial, yet still claim he was insane or mentally incapacitated at the time of the alleged crime.

The appellate court ordered the case returned to state Supreme Court for trial, pending another determination of Belluccis trial fitness.

Bellucci, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole, remained in custody. He was not part of Wednesdays remote conference.

During the trial, prosecutors maintained an enraged Bellucci coldly and calculatingly killed the victims because his parents had discussed getting him mental treatment.

They had also previously removed several guns he owned from the home.

Compounding his ire, Bellucci believed he was being cut out of the family home health care business, created and run by his mother, despite his having little or no role in it, said prosecutors.

According to trial testimony, Arthur Bellucci was stabbed 33 times; Marian Bellucci was stabbed nine times.

The victims were 61 and 56, respectively.

Afterward, the defendant jetted to Israel, where he was captured when he tried to buy a plane ticket to China.

Eric Bellucci had been convicted of brutally stabbing Arthur Bellucci, 61, left, and Marion Bellucci, 56 in their Annadale home.

In finding Bellucci guilty, jurors rejected the insanity defense which Gallucci had presented at Garnetts instruction.

The lawyer contended the defendant, who suffered from delusions and was once hospitalized, was psychologically tormented and didnt know what he was doing when he savagely stabbed his parents.

Bellucci, meanwhile, had testified that he killed his parents in self-defense when his father attacked him inside their home.

Prior to the trial, on four occasions through early 2015, the defendant had been found unfit to proceed and was hospitalized.

However, in June 2015, an expert deemed Bellucci, who had been taking his prescribed medicine, competent to stand trial.

But the expert also said the defendant would likely decompensate and experience increased psychiatric symptoms should he refuse his medicine, according to the appellate court ruling.

In November of that year, Garnett found Bellucci capable of standing trial based on recent exams, the defendants testimony at a pretrial hearing and his demeanor at multiple court proceedings.

The judge also noted Bellucci had actively participated in his defense and, years earlier, completed a year of law school, which included passing a criminal-law course.

But about two months before the start of the trial in June 2016, Gallucci and Assistant District Attorney Wanda DeOliveira sought another psychiatric test.

They said Bellucci had refused to take his medicine after being transferred from a secure psychiatric facility to Rikers Island in the middle of the previous summer.

His behavior toward Gallucci since that time had been irrational and delusional, said the joint application to the court, according to Advance/SILive.com reports.

Garnett denied the requests, stating Bellucci had a right to have his case resolved and not remain in Article 730 limbo.

Article 730 of the state Criminal Procedure Law refers to trial fitness and mental-competency exams.

Yet considering Belluccis refusal to take his medicine and his inability to communicate rationally with his lawyer, Garnett should have granted the joint request for another mental fitness test, the appellate court said.

The victims, Arthur and Marian Bellucci, were stabbed inside their Poillon Avenue home in Annadale in October 2010.

Garnett stood by his decision on Wednesday.

He said at the time of his ruling he had presided over criminal cases for 25 years and made many fitness determinations.

I believed then and still believe now that the defendant was fit for trial, said Garnett. Although fit, he was arguably insane on the day of the murders. The defendants chosen defense of justification was incredible in light of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Self-defense is a type of justification defense.

In ordering the insanity defense, Garnett said he wanted to give the defense a chance to allow jurors to consider Belluccis state of mind when he slayed the victims.

My intentions were good, said the judge. This defense was the only viable one.

Retrying the case without an insanity defense will be a mere inquest, Garnett said.

For those reasons, the judge said, he cannot fairly decide the defendants fitness, and after having heard the trial testimony, I am absolutely convinced that the defendant is guilty.

Garnett set a Feb. 17 conference date. Another judge is expected to be appointed to the case then.

Gallucci said he wasnt surprised by Garnetts request for recusal.

Judge Garnett tried his best to give Mr. Bellucci a fair trial, he said. Unfortunately, the law in New York states that a defendant has to agree to a psychiatric defense. I have spoken to Mr. Bellucci several times since he has been returned, and we both look forward to his next trial.

After the appellate court ruling, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon said prosecutors are committed to obtaining justice for the victims of this horrendous crime.

He said then that his office was reviewing all legal options, which include seeking Court of Appeals review and retrying a competent Eric Bellucci, if necessary.

Number 10 has launched the world's first trial into whether mixing and matching coronavirus vaccines is safe and can enhance protection against the disease.

The study of more than 800 patients will look at the effect of giving someone an initial dose of the Oxford University jab, followed by the Pfizer one, and vice versa.

Scientists will trial other vaccine combinations as more are approved and rolled out across the UK over the course of the year-long research.

Experts believe the 'mix and match' approach could stimulate different parts of the immune system and give better, longer lasting immunity.

The tactic could also help Britain deal with supply shortages which has held back the UK's otherwise successful vaccination rollout.

The study, run by the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium (NISEC), will investigate whether mixing vaccines can protect people from new variants of the virus.

UK regulators have so far only approved giving patients two doses of the same vaccine and the new study will not impact anyone currently being invited for a jab.

Currently the Oxford University/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccines are the only two being rolled out in the UK.

Ten million Brits have had at least one dose of either. A third, made by Moderna, has been approved but supplies won't arrive until spring.

Two other vaccines, including ones made by Johnson and Johnson and Novavax, are on the cusp of being approved and several more promising candidates are in late stage trials.

Number 10 has launched the world's first trial into whether mix-matching coronavirus vaccines is safe and provides high protection against the disease

Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Senior Responsible Officer for the study, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said: 'This study will give us greater insight into how we can use vaccines to stay on top of this nasty disease'

The new study, named Com-Cov, will initially look at mixing doses of the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines, as well as different intervals between doses.

The study will initially test eight different combinations, and include dosing schedules that are either 12 weeks apart or 28 days apart.

Blood samples will be taken over time to measure antibody levels - proteins which indicate how much protection someone has - in the participants.

Scientists suggest Oxford vaccine can be combined with Sputnik shot to offer enhanced coronavirus protection Combining the Sputnik and Oxford vaccines could offer the best protection against Covid-19 mutations, scientists suggested yesterday. One dose of each may boost the immune response and better combat the changing strains, according to the funding body behind the Russia-made jab. Trial results out on Tuesday showed Sputnik is 92 per cent effective against Covid-19 after two jabs. Only 16 of 16,500 people given it had symptoms. No one died from the disease or needed hospital treatment. Kirill Dmitriev, of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said combining it with the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab could help. We generally believe that two shots of different vaccines AstraZeneca and Sputnik  may actually work better because immunity gets stronger, he told BBC Radio 4s World At One. This idea, called heterogeneous boosting, is at the core of the Sputnik vaccine because we use two different shots and believe this is the best way to fight with mutations, and this also fosters a partnership between different vaccine manufacturers. Asked whether the UK had contacted RDIF about acquiring some of the vaccine, Mr Dmitriev said: Not yet, but I think once we have proven the efficacy of an AstraZeneca-Sputnik combination, I think it is possible to have this discussion with the UK. Russia became the first country to register a Covid vaccine for emergency use back in August, despite it only having been tested on a handful of people. Scientists say the findings  published in The Lancet  show it has joined the ranks of Pfizer, Oxford, Moderna and Janssen as a proven effective vaccine. The Russian vaccine, which works in the same way as the Oxford jab, was found to be 74 per cent effective at blocking Covid after just a single dose and worked for all ages. In a comment published with the paper, Professor Ian Jones, of the University of Reading, said: The Sputnik V vaccine has been criticised for unseemly haste, corner cutting, and an absence of transparency. But the outcome reported here is clear and the scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated, which means another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of Covid-19. Dr Julian Tang, a clinical virologist at the University of Leicester, added: Despite the earlier misgivings about the way this Russian vaccine was rolled out more widely... this approach has been justified to some extent now. Advertisement

If findings show the combined effect of the jabs is safe and induces a strong immune response, the researchers say it would make vaccine implementation more flexible and lay the groundwork for introducing additional booster doses, should they be needed.

Those aged 50 and over - who are most at risk of falling very ill with Covid - are being called on to participate in the research, with 820 patients expected to take part in total.

They will be recruited over the course of February through the NHS Covid-19 Vaccine Research Registry, with initial results expected to become available during the summer  'in time to inform policy use of booster vaccines amongst younger cohorts'.

The team will also be looking to see whether mixing doses will offer protection against coronavirus variants, including the alarming strains that emerged in South Africa, thought to be spreading in the community in Britain, and Brazil.

Both appear somewhat resistant to the current crop of two-dose vaccines, although not enough to make them useless.

The researchers will do this by taking blood samples from people who have been given a mix-matched dosing regimen and exposing it to the new variants in a lab.

It is not yet known what the effects are of mixing vaccines which use completely different technology.

Pfizer and Moderna's, for example, use brand-new mRNA technology, which utilises copy of a natural chemical called messenger RNA to produce an immune response.

Oxford's, on the other hand, uses a traditional adenovirus vector, a weakened form of the common cold which carries instructions to cells teaching them to fight Covid.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, who is the senior responsible officer for the study, said: 'Given the inevitable challenges of immunising large numbers of the population against Covid-19 and potential global supply constraints, there are definite advantages to having data that could support a more flexible immunisation programme, if needed and if approved by the medicines regulator.

'It is also even possible that by combining vaccines, the immune response could be enhanced giving even higher antibody levels that last longer; unless this is evaluated in a clinical trial we just won't know.

'This study will give us greater insight into how we can use vaccines to stay on top of this nasty disease.'

The study is being run by the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium (NISEC) across eight different sites across England  which includes London, Oxford, Southampton, Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham and Liverpool.

The research is the first to determine the effects of using different vaccines together to protect against Covid-19.

This approach, where vaccines work better if a different jab is used for boosting, is known as heterologous boosting and is used in certain types of vaccines such as hepatitis B and tuberculosis.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said: 'This is a hugely important clinical trial that will provide us with more vital evidence on the safety of these vaccines when used in different ways.

'Nothing will be approved for use more widely than the study, or as part of our vaccine deployment programme, until researchers and the regulator are absolutely confident the approach is safe and effective.

'This is another great step forwards for British science, expertise and innovation, backed by Government funding  and I look forward to seeing what it produces.'

Dr Andrew Garrett of ICON Clinical Research added: 'This is a welcome announcement and the trial represents a positive step forward, both in the UK and internationally.

'It initiates the next stage of vaccine development, which is to establish optimal dosing for approved vaccines and their combinations.'

It comes after the UK passed the landmark of 10million vaccine doses yesterday, amid hopes that all adults could have received Covid jabs by the end of August. Around 353,000 jabs were administered on Monday.

Then-President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive for a Christmas Eve dinner with their family at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Dec. 24, 2019. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump Resigns From Screen Actors Guild: Your Organization Has Done Little

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday, in a now-rare public statement, said he is resigning from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) union, according to a letter.

Trump sent the letter to SAG President Gabrielle Carteris, criticizing the union and news outlets.

I write to you today regarding the so-called Disciplinary Committee hearing aimed at revoking my union membership. Who cares! Trump wrote to Carteris after SAG voted to say that Trump violated the unions guidelines after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

While Im not familiar with your work, Im very proud of my work on movies such as Home Alone 2, Zoolander, and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; and television shows including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saturday Night Live, and of course, one of the most successful shows in television history, The Apprenticeto name just a few! Trump wrote in the letter.

The president also wrote that he helped news outlets during his four years in office, namely MSNBC and CNN, which dedicated wall-to-wall coverage of his policies, tweets, public addresses, and featured a number of various anonymously-sourced reports.

His letter noted that the cable news television business was a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics, adding that he created thousands of jobs in media due to the coverage of his presidency.

Which brings me to your blatant attempt at free media attention to distract from your dismal record as a union, Trump added. Your organization has done little for its members, and nothing for mebesides collecting dues and promoting dangerous un-American policies and ideasas evident by your massive unemployment rates and lawsuits from celebrated actors, who even recorded a video asking, Why isnt the union fighting for me?

I no longer wish to be associated with your union, Trump went on to say, adding: As such, this letter is to inform you of my immediate resigning from SAG-AFTRA.

The Epoch Times has reached out to SAG for comment.

Carteris last month asserted that the president attacked the values that this union holds most sacred following the Jan. 6 Capitol breach. A number of Democrats and some Republicans claimed Trump incited a crowd to break into the Capitol during the Joint Session of Congress. Trump said that the protesters should leave the premises and condemned the violence.

Trump was a member of the union since 1989.

Meanwhile, the Senate is slated to hold a second trial for Trump after the House impeached him over his remarks on Jan. 6. His attorneys, in a court brief, asserted that it is unconstitutional for a former president to be impeached while they added that his speech was protected under the First Amendment.

Before Jan. 20s inauguration of President Joe Biden, Trump departed Washington and now resides at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. Last week, he confirmed that he met with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and talked about how Republicans could re-capture the majority in the House of Representatives.
North American firm Jazz Pharmaceuticals has agreed to acquire cannabis-based medicinal drug company GW Pharmaceuticals for $7.2bn (6bn) in a cash and share deal.

The company has a manufacturing plant in Athlone, Co Westmeath.

British-based GW Pharmaceuticals is the maker of the first drug derived from the cannabis plant to win approval in the US.

The company sells a medication, Epidiolex, for children with severe epilepsy. The drug was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2018.

The drugs active compound, cannabidiol, produces an anti-convulsant effect through its interaction with prominent components of the nervous system. The plants from which the compound is drawn are bred to be low in THC, the chemical associated with getting high.

GW is also in late-stage trials for another cannabis-based product to treat multiple sclerosis, and is working on candidates for autism and schizophrenia.

Jazz has an array of medications for cancer and other conditions and diseases, but is best known for its high-priced narcolepsy treatment Xyrem, which had sales of $1.64bn in 2019. However, with the drug due to lose exclusivity soon, revenue from it was expected to peak at $1.75bn in 2020.

The deal may lend further legitimacy to a growing segment of cannabis companies that focus on pharmaceutical-grade products. Such approaches are much safer in terms of regulatory risk, and allow the companies access to Europes markets.

As well as having a manufacturing presence here, Jazz Pharmaceuticals has its corporate headquarters in Ireland. The company has a stockmarket value of $8.7bn (7.2bn). The proposed deal has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

GWs rigorous approach to developing and producing its products has made the company a much-touted example of the potential for cannabis which many say is in the early stages of research and development for medical purposes despite its long history of recreational use.

More deals featuring cannabis companies in the US are expected as the industry anticipates regulatory headway under the new Democratic administration.

by Ngoc Lan

At the initiative of the Redemptorists, a group of 40 young people brought gifts and solidarity to villages in Na Ri district, one of the areas most affected by COVID-19.

Hanoi (AsiaNews)  The Lunar New Year is an opportunity for prayer and solidarity for 100 million Vietnamese, including the Catholic community, but this year, it comes just as the COVID-19 pandemic is surging again.

Some 40 young people from the Redemptorist missionary group in Hanoi are an example of this spirit. Accompanied by Fathers Joseph Tran Huu Hoan and Joseph Nguyen Van Toan, and two nuns of the Congregation of the Lovers of the Holy Cross in Hanoi , the group travelled to some villages, Na Ri district (Bac Kan province), north-eastern Vietnam, some 200 kilometres from the capital.

The young people prepared 100 banh trung (squared rice cake) which they handed out in Na Ri along with as many gift packages with rice, noodles, fish sauce and sweaters.

They also brought a tank with 5,000 litres of drinking water and a well drill, thanks to some benefactors who donated 80 million Vietnamese dong (US$ 3,500 dollars) for this project.

Hanoi Redemptorists have already been carrying out their ministry for some years in Na Ri, which is home to about 120 Catholic families. Originally from Ninh Binh and Thai Binh provinces, the Catholic families moved here in search of better opportunities between 1973 and 2000.

Today, one of our confreres, Father Michael Nguyen Cong uc, is permanently present here, said Father Joseph Nguyen Van Toan.

We came with young people to this missionary area to experience the Lunar New Year together with families who belong to Tay, Nung, H Mong and Dao ethnic groups. The New Year is a very important moment in the history and tradition of the Vietnamese people .

The young people learnt about the needs of the people who live scattered in the area; but they also learnt about solidarity, sharing their joy with brothers and sisters who live in harsh conditions, especially in the winter cold.

While aware that the pandemic situation is very dangerous in some provinces in the north of the country, they still wanted to reach out to this periphery to share food, clothes and the hope that a new spring will soon arrive in the land of Vietnam.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
To survive the open ocean, tiny fish larvae, freshly hatched from eggs, must find food, avoid predators, and navigate ocean currents to their adult habitats. But what the larvae of most marine species experience during these great ocean odysseys has long been a mystery, until now.

A team of scientists from NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, the University of Hawai'i (UH) at Manoa, Arizona State University and elsewhere have discovered that a diverse array of marine animals find refuge in so-called 'surface slicks' in Hawai'i. These ocean features create a superhighway of nursery habitat for more than 100 species of commercially and ecologically important fishes, such as mahi-mahi, jacks, and billfish. Their findings were published today in the journal Scientific Reports.

Surface slicks are meandering lines of smooth surface water formed by the convergence of ocean currents, tides, and variations in the seafloor and have long been recognized as an important part of the seascape. The traditional Hawaiian mele (song) Kona Kai `?pua describes slicks as Ke kai ma`oki`oki, or "the streaked sea" in the peaceful seas of Kona. Despite this historical knowledge and scientists' belief that slicks are important for fish, the tiny marine life that slicks contain has remained elusive.

To unravel the slicks' secrets, the research team conducted more than 130 plankton net tows inside the surface slicks and surrounding waters along the leeward coast of Hawai'i Island, while studying ocean properties. In these areas, they searched for larvae and other plankton that live close to the surface. They then combined those in-water surveys with a new technique to remotely sense slick footprints using satellites.

A DIVERSE MARINE NURSERY

Though the slicks only covered around 8% of the ocean surface in the 380-square-mile-study area, they contained an astounding 39% of the study area's surface-dwelling larval fish; more than 25% of its zooplankton, which the larval fish eat; and 75% of its floating organic debris such as feathers and leaves.

Larval fish densities in surface slicks off West Hawai?i were, on average, over 7 times higher than densities in the surrounding waters.

The study showed that surface slicks function as a nursery habitat for marine larvae of at least 112 species of commercially and ecologically important fishes, as well as many other animals. These include coral reef fishes, such as jacks, triggerfish and goatfish; pelagic predators, for example mahi-mahi; deep-water fishes, such as lanternfish; and various invertebrates, such as snails, crabs, and shrimp.

The remarkable diversity of fishes found in slick nurseries represents nearly 10% of all fish species recorded in Hawai?i. The total number of taxa in the slicks was twice that found in the surrounding surface waters, and many fish taxa were between 10 and 100 times more abundant in slicks.

"We were shocked to find larvae of so many species, and even entire families of fishes, that were only found in surface slicks," said lead author Dr. Jonathan Whitney, marine ecologist at NOAA, former postdoctoral fellow at the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR) in UH Manoa's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST). "This suggests they are dependent on these essential habitats."

AN INTERCONNECTED SUPERHIGHWAY

"These 'bioslicks' form an interconnected superhighway of rich nursery habitat that accumulate and attract tons of young fishes, along with dense concentrations of food and shelter," said Whitney. "The fact that surface slicks host such a large proportion of larvae, along with the resources they need to survive, tells us they are critical for the replenishment of adult fish populations."

In addition to providing crucial nursing habitat for various species and helping maintain healthy and resilient coral reefs, slicks create foraging hotspots for larval fish predators and form a bridge between coral reef and pelagic ecosystems.

What's more, the slicks host larvae and juvenile stages of many forage fishes like flying fishes that are critical to pelagic food webs.

"These hotspots provide more food at the base of the food chain that amplifies energy up to top predators," said study co-author Dr. Jamison Gove, a research oceanographer for NOAA. "This ultimately enhances fisheries and ecosystem productivity."

CONCENTRATING DEBRIS

While slicks may seem like havens for all tiny marine animals, there's a hidden hazard lurking in these ocean oases: plastic debris. Within the study area, 95% of the plastic debris collected into slicks, compared with 75% of the floating organic debris. Larvae may get some shelter from plastic debris, but it comes at the cost of chemical exposure and incidental ingestion.

"Until we stop plastics from entering the ocean," Whitney said, "the accumulation of hazardous plastic debris in these nursery habitats remains a serious threat to the biodiversity hosted here."

A BROAD IMPACT

In certain areas, slicks can be dominant surface features, and the new research shows these conspicuous phenomena hold more ecological value than meets the eye.

"Our work illustrates how these oceanic features (and animals' behavioral attraction to them) impact the entire surface community, with implications for the replenishment of adults that are important to humans for fisheries, recreation, and other ecosystem services," said Dr. Margaret McManus, co-author, Professor and Chair of the Department of Oceanography at UH Manoa. "These findings will have a broad impact, changing the way we think about oceanic features as pelagic nurseries for ocean fishes and invertebrates."

###
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade decided to close down two key bodies that scrutinised the nations overseas aid programs partly over a need to find departmental budget savings.

DFAT moved in August to shut the Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE), an independent branch of the department that reported directly to its secretary on the effectiveness of Australias aid programs.

The Morrison government has quietly started reversing some of the aid cuts in recent years as it looks to support the regions recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit:Justin McManus

It decided to cut the ODEs staff from 13.5 full-time employees to five and merge its functions into other areas of the department.

DFAT also decided to scrap the Independent Evaluation Committee (IEC), an external oversight body that sat above the ODE and was designed to improve the quality of evaluations of Australias aid program.
ROME, FEB 4 - Italy's GDP will rise 4.3% in 2021 and 3.7% in 2022 thanks largely to investments from the EU's Recovery Fund, the parliamentary budget office (UPB) said Thursday. ISTAT said Tuesday that Italy's GDP fell by 8.8% in 2020 with respect to the previous year. The UPB said Thursday that GDP in 2022 will however be lower than it was in 2019. It said risk factors remained. (ANSA).


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GARDAI have launched an investigation after a body was found inside a burning car in North Cork. It has been reported in several media outlets that the body is that of a woman, aged in her 70s, but this has not been confirmed by gardai.

"At around 4.30pm gardai were alerted to a car that was on fire in the Doneraile area. Gardai discovered a body, gender and aged unknown, inside a car that was on fire. A search of the area was carried out and a man, age also unknown, was rescued by gardai from a nearby river. This man is currently receiving medical attention in Cork University Hospital," said a garda spokesperson.

The scene is currently preserved and a technical examination is to be carried out by the Garda Technical Bureau. T

The Office of the State Pathologist has been informed and a post mortem is to be carried out, the results of which will determine the course of the investigation.

Gardai are appealing for anyone who was in the Doneraile area between 3pm and 5pm today, particularly anyone with mobile phone footage or dashcam footage, to contact Fermoy Garda Station on 025-82100 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666-111.
Shrugging off the disruptions of the year gone by, businesses and agencies are looking for a strong revival in 2021. Over the next few weeks, Adgully  as part of its annual TRENDING NOW endeavour  will be presenting the strategies and views of a cross-section of industry leaders as they go about reclaiming lost time and market opportunities and build for a stronger future, armed with the lessons of 2020.

In this interaction with Adgully, Rohit Dosi, Director, Microsoft Advertising, InMobi, sheds light on how trust has become a critical factor for consumers in the new normal, and how digital has been an anchor that has addressed the needs for consumers during the lockdown.

Post pandemic, consumers say they will buy brands they trust. Digital is traditionally seen as a low trust media, at least in India and less developed countries. How will that factor into brands digital strategies?

There has been a seismic shift in Indias digital landscape over the past 5 years. With over 755 million Internet users in India, clearly Indians are going online to meet their needs. Be it banking, buying groceries, or relaxing with your favourite shows, Indians are leading digital lives. Trust is a critical factor for consumers in the new normal, and digital has been an anchor that has addressed the needs for consumers during the lockdown. As countless users began to search online for their needs, we saw significant spikes in associated search volumes. The hyperlocal delivery category saw a rise of 26% year on year in Q2 2020, home decor queries rose by 38%, and investment related queries rose by 77% during the same period. Therefore, consumer intent very much exists, it has just shifted significantly to online channels in the last year.

Several brands have pivoted their strategies, embracing a direct to consumer approach to ensure that they are where their consumers are  online. This will be a critical approach in the next few years, with customer points of sales continuing to shift. As brands continue to build online store fronts, I believe marketers have an important role to play; they will be responsible for a significant portion of the user experience from product discoverability, engagement, right up to conversion, driving the end to end experience for the new age Indian consumer.

Within digital advertising what are the growth trends? Search, social, video and display are not growing at the same pace. What does that indicate about these formats and marketers faith in them?

For billions of users across the globe, the Internet begins with search. Though at first glance some may debate the growth on direct search platforms, on closer evaluation we see some incredible growth. Cortana, Microsofts intelligent assistant, has been asked 18 billion questions since its launch. Similarly, alternative platforms are on the rise; DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, which are powered by Microsoft, have seen an immense rise in popularity. Ultimately, Search Advertising gives marketers the tools to ensure that they are able to own the top spot in front of high intent users. According to the 2020 We Are Social Report, 81% of Internet users search for a product/ service online before making a purchase. With searchers knowing exactly what they are looking for, search ads are a means to reach users in a targeted, non-intrusive manner, as it is grounded in queries surfaced by consumers. By meeting consumers in the moments they are looking for you, marketers can ensure high brand recall and drive enhanced conversions with search ads helping them maintain an edge over their competition.

As digital media becomes more ubiquitous, what will be the ask from marketers from a more mature digital media market?

Digital media has always been held to a higher standard when compared to other channels due to the mediums ability to track and measure. That being said ,I think marketers are looking towards driving deeper engagements with partners to truly understand their consumers. Through closer collaboration across ecosystem partners, marketers can leverage the power of data to drive personalised experiences at scale.

Brands are increasingly evaluating their digital marketing maturity as they plan to not only survive, but thrive in a post-COVID-19 world. An organisations capacity in delivering seamless brand experiences can be characterised by four maturity levels: Nascent, Emerging, Connected, and Multi-moment. Brands today are looking to work with partners who will help bridge this gap as they move from the Nascent to the Multi-moment.
One would have thought that air is one place where birds can have unrestricted flying space but given how many drones are out there now, it is not surprising that once in a while birds bump into them and one would assume that doesnt make them really happy. And one eagle made sure to convey that.

A video of an eagle taking off with a drone is going viral on social media and has left netizens amused.

Twitter

The undated video shows the drone filming a beach and heading toward the shore until the eagle plucks it and flies away with it.

The clip, which was originally shared on Facebook, later went viral on several social media platforms.'Eagle plucks a drone out of the sky and flies off with it, wrote a user @buitengebieden while posting the clip on Twitter.

The video sparked hilarious reactions online. One user wrote, Reminds me of the scene in the movie, The eagles are coming, the eagles are coming while another joked, The eagle's chicks are going to be very confused by the food mom brought home. A third one said, Literally a Birds eye view

Eagle plucks a drone out of the sky and flies off with it.. pic.twitter.com/7vpV97EV6d  Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden_) February 2, 2021

Last year when environmental quality analyst and drone pilot Hunter King was mapping shoreline erosion near Escanaba in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with a Phantom 4 Pro Advanced quadcopter from 162 feet in the air, the drone was attacked by an eagle, that sent the drone plummeting into Lake Michigan.

The drone, worth $995 (Approx Rs 70,000) was making its return journey at a speed of 22 miles per hour, when it was attacked by the eagle and sent into a downward spiral.

Representational Image/YouTube

The drone and eagle rivalry could be the new form of the man-animal conflict.

Also Read: This Drone Will Save Our Planet By Planting 1 Billion Trees In 8 Years Using Special Seeds
By Tess Williams, Anchorage Daily News (TNS)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska  Three hikers who died in an avalanche in the Bear Mountain area near Chugiak were found Wednesday, Alaska State Troopers said.

Late Tuesday night, 54-year-old Thomas Devine of Chugiak, 43-year-old Matthew Nyman of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and 50-year-old Edward Watson of Miami were reported missing after they hadnt returned from a hike near Bear Mountain, troopers wrote in an online report. Bear Mountain is located in Chugach State Park near Mirror Lake and Peters Creek.

The group was last heard from around 10:30 a.m. before they left for the hike, troopers said. They were due back in the parking lot by 5 p.m. When the group didnt return, they were reported overdue to the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, troopers said.

On Wednesday morning, troopers and the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group began a ground search of the area and found a recent avalanche, troopers said.

In the avalanche slide area, the bodies of the three hikers were discovered buried in the snow, troopers wrote.

The hikers werent carrying personal locator beacons or avalanche beacons, troopers said. (When actively used, avalanche beacons  often carried by backcountry skiers and snowmachiners  transmit a signal that makes it easier for local searchers to pinpoint their location.) The circumstances surrounding the slide, along with avalanche conditions at the time of the incident, were not immediately clear Wednesday night.

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Hydrangea Earrings by Alexia Connellan Pink is a color that looks flawless on every woman, and this capsule collection is the perfect gift to spark some joy in shades of pink, fuchsia, and red this Valentine's Day. Make yourself or a special someone blush with delight!

There is a magnitude associated with Valentines Day. The holidays significance endures alongside ones love for others, a penchant for generosity, and an appreciation for all the long-lasting. Over the years, the gifting of fine jewelry has become a February 14th staple. During the pandemic, many have found love to be the cornerstone of balance and joy, and as Valentines Day approaches, Alexia Connellan has developed a capsule collection, featuring one-of-a-kind pieces in a variety of precious pink gemstones, to symbolize once-in-a-lifetime love.

The Toi et Moi rings namesakes are represented in the gemstones, a cushion pink and magenta spinel pairtwo stones for two lovers. Its unique use of spinels, and graduated pink sapphire to white diamond melee band, are a thoughtful graduation of color and individualityemphasizing the harmony amongst the gems, while celebrating the separate beauty of each. I acquired these two gems at the same time and they always looked like a loving couple to me. Their colors and shapes complemented each other so well that I could not bear to split them up into two separate pieces of jewelry. I decided to put them together in the Toi et Moi ring and let these two soulmates remain together forever, says Connellan.

For a regal look, Connellans talented jewelers handcrafted the Queen of Hearts Pendant, and the Princess of Hearts Pendant. The Queen of Hearts has a 1.03 ct. round unheated Burmese Ruby set in the center, surrounded by 2 cts. of heart-shaped diamonds, on a platinum chain. Similar in style and concept, the Princess of Hearts features a 1.3 ct. round unheated pink spinel, on an 18K pink gold chain, and is also surrounded by 2 cts. of heart-shaped diamonds.

Connellan says, "Pink is a color that looks flawless on every woman, and this capsule collection is the perfect gift to spark some joy in shades of pink, fuchsia, and red this Valentine's Day. Make yourself or a special someone blush with delight!

For the woman who loves earrings, Alexia Connellan has created distinguishable, and stunning works of art for the Valentines Day capsule collection. The Spiral Earrings add a modern twist on the pearl meets gemstones combination, glittering from all angles with graduated pink sapphire and diamond melee, as well as pairs of pink Akoya pearls and pink morganites. For something different, Connellans earrings offer an elegant twist on classic gemstones. The Hydrangea Earrings also mix pearls with pink gems, featuring 14 mm round south sea pearls with pink sapphire melee, set into 18K peach and pink gold.

Pink is a celebrated color for Valentines Day. Pink is a universal symbol for femininity, compassion, love, and romance. The pink gemstone jewelry created by Alexia Connellan offers once-in-a-lifetime luxury, for the rare love of a lifetime. To learn more about Alexia Connellan, or to inquire about sales, visit alexiaconnellan.com, or email boutique@alexiaconnellan.com. For inquiries regarding this press release, contact Pietra Communications at 212-913-9761, or email info@pietrapr.com.

About Alexia Connellan

Alexia Connellan creates bespoke fine jewelry, inspired by architecture, vibrant tropical colors, and the lushness of nature. Throughout her childhood, Alexia spent summers visiting her grandmother in Jamaica, surrounded by the elegance of Jamaican Georgian architecture, absorbing the styles balance, proportion, and joy of color. Her meticulous approach to design has earned her three prestigious American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) Spectrum Awards, as well as red-carpet prestige.

Recognizing that many mining communities are composed of BIPOC, just like her, Connellan is committed to ethics and sustainability in sourcing and design. She uses ethically sourced Artisanal and Small-Scale Mined (ASM) colored gemstones and post-consumer recycled diamond melee, in her pieces whenever possible. Connellan aims to both benefit the environment, and bring more money and resources directly to local mining communities. An advocate for change, she encourages fellow designers to question gold and gemstone sources about mining practices, instilling a positive mark on the trade. Visit alexiaconnellan.com to learn more.
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During the quarter, the company increase landholding by 28% increase to 215,000 - thus greatly consolidating position over targeted drilling prospects.

The company will drill up to 5 wells to test key prospects for its maiden drilling campaign.

( ) ( ) has taken some concrete measures, including increasing land holding, expanding drilling program and raising capital, in the December quarter to boost operations

During the quarter, the company increased the landholding of its Colorado Helium Project by over 28 % to 215,000 acres thus consolidating its position over the targeted drilling prospects.

The companys Enterprise and Galileo P50 prospective helium resources increased by 16% to 3.5 billion cubic feet of total net recoverable helium.

Maiden drilling campaign

In mid-November, the company expanded the maiden drilling campaign to a minimum of three wells and up to five wells to test several prospects in its portfolio in addition to Enterprise.

An expanded drilling campaign will maximise the prospective resources tested in the companys maiden campaign and deliver clear advantages over the previously planned single well at Enterprise.

The US team has completed a further site visit to evaluate a potential follow-up location at Enterprise as well assess potential well locations at the Galactica, Pegasus, Voyager, and Galileo prospects with permit applications to follow.

Engineering estimates have confirmed dry hole drilling costs of US$300,000 with a further US$100,00 required to complete the well as a producer upon success.

The companys proposed wells are technically simple being shallow and vertical, low impact due to their rural location and do not have the issues associated with hydrocarbon production.

Helium prospects and leads in Colorado

During the quarter, the company increased its acreage position by 28% in the highly prospective Las Animas region in Colorado, USA, acquiring - 32,848 gross acres for a total of US$470,000 at the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land auction in December.

The company is also investigating the impact of the recent executive order of President Biden and secretarial order of the Secretary of the Interior on the delivery of these leases to the Company.

The companys total land position in Las Animas at the end of the quarter totalled 215,000 gross acres inclusive of the leases won in the December BLM auction.

Blue Star now has high-net contiguous leasing over 7 prospects, including Enterprise, Galileo, Pegasus, Galactica, Argo, Voyager and Prometheus.

The company will choose up to 5 wells to test a number of key prospects for its maiden drilling campaign.

The Companys total land position in Las Animas at the end of the quarter totalled 215,000 gross (160,000 net) acres (inclusive of the leases won in the December BLM auction)

Enterprise and Galileo prospective resources

During the quarter, the prospective helium resources independently assessed at the Enterprise and Galileo prospects were increased by 16% to 2U (P50) 3.5 BCF of total net recoverable helium.

The updated assessment of the Enterprise and Galileo prospects accounts for material additional leased acreage acquired since the first assessment as well as a general audit of the calculations by independent global consultants Sproule.

The prospects are on the Lyons Formation Helium Play, which is proven in the area by the historical Model Dome field.

The company remains positive that, based on the work it has done to date, the chance of development, upon discovery, is strong.

Blue Star has identified several development options and held discussions with service providers to select a preferred option and supplier.

New Ventures  Helium

Blue Stars cash at the end of the December 2020 quarter was approximately $4.9million

During the quarter, the company issued 171,428,572 new ordinary shares at a placement price of 3.5 cents a share to raise $6million.

Looking forwards, the company is focused on delivering its drilling program in Las Animas, Colorado and it continues to review upstream helium opportunities in North America that become available to evaluate any fit with its stated strategy.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
The opening of the first five-star Sheraton Kyiv Olimpiyskiy hotel of Marriott Hotels & Resort is scheduled for the second quarter of 2022, the hotel developer said.

"In connection with coronavirus [COVID-19] disease, we plan the opening in the second quarter of 2022," Construction Investment Company TM told Interfax-Ukraine about opening dates of the hotel.

According to the company, the hotel project provides for 208 rooms, of which 199 are standard rooms with an area of 40 square meters, eight suites (70 square meters) and one presidential suite (190 square meters).

The hotel will also house two restaurants, one of which is a panoramic, wellness zone, and conference halls with a total area of 1,100 square meters with coworking functions.

As reported with reference to the Marriott press release, the opening of the Sheraton hotel in Kyiv was scheduled for 2021.

As reported, earlier in September 2020, the Board of Directors of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) approved the allocation of $27 million for building Sheraton Hotel in Kyiv.

The construction of the five-star Sheraton Kyiv Olympiyskiy hotel in the territory of the Olympiysky Stadium is being carried out by Construction Investment Company TM, which signed a hotel management agreement with the hotel operator Marriott Hotels & Resort.

Construction Investment Company TM was founded in 2004, and its core business is construction of residential and non-residential buildings.
The daughter of murdered Belfast man Danny McClean has said she and her family will "not stop fighting for justice".

Emma McClean took to social media to speak of her heartache after her father was shot dead in north Belfast on Tuesday night.

The PSNI have since launched a murder investigation into the death of McClean, who had been involved with dissident republican groups and had previously been jailed for dissident republican activity.

It has also emerged McClean was facing weapons charges when he was killed.

Ms McClean wrote: "I have no words at the moment just that my daddy didnt deserve this at all.

"I appreciate all comments that I have received so far but all I can say is that my daddy was my world, my rock, my everything!

"As much as he was my sticking plaster I loved him! He was my all."

She added: "My daddy didnt deserve this, I wont stop fighting for justice!!!!

"Daddy I love you and Im so sorry that I wasnt with you! I would trade places in a heartbeat if I could, you had so much to live for, things will never the same without you! I love you! And you will never walk alone."

McClean spent at least five years in the British Army before before dramatically switching allegiances and becoming involved with violent republicanism, namely Oglaigh na hEireann (OnH), though in recent years he became detached from the terror gang following accusations of being an informer.

Sources say his previous involvement with the British Army was the vehicle with which his attackers used to justify his brutal murder last night.

Graffiti has previously appeared in west Belfast accusing McClean of being an informer and he had been made aware by police that his life was under threat.

The shooting happened shortly before 9pm in the Cliftonville Road area of north Belfast.

McLean (54) was in the vicinity of McGrath's bar in the area when he was attacked.

Residents said they heard a series of shots being fired during the attack.

Expand Close PACEMAKER BELFAST 02/02/2021 Forensics at the scene of a shooting Incident in the Cliftonville Road area of north Belfast this evening, 2nd February. Pic Pacemaker / Facebook

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Whatsapp PACEMAKER BELFAST 02/02/2021 Forensics at the scene of a shooting Incident in the Cliftonville Road area of north Belfast this evening, 2nd February. Pic Pacemaker

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A PSNI spokesperson said: Detectives have launched a murder investigation following the report of a shooting in north Belfast tonight, Tuesday, 2nd February.

We received a report around 8.15 pm, that a man had been shot in the Cliftonville Road area of the city.

Officers attended, along with colleagues from NIAS. Sadly, a man has been pronounced dead.

"We would urge anyone who was in the area at the time or who may have any information which may assist us with our inquiries to contact 101 or alternatively information can be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The shooting has been widely condemned by Northern Irish politicians.

Sinn Fein MLA for North Belfast, Caral Ni Chuilin, said:

My first thoughts are with the family of the man who was brutally killed on the Cliftonville Road tonight.

Its important to bear in mind that at the heart of this tragedy is a grieving family.

The local community are absolutely shocked and stunned by this killing.

People want an end to the shootings and the guns off the streets.

I am appealing to any witnesses to this shooting to come forward to police and call on local people to assist the PSNI investigation."

DUP councillor for north Belfast, Dale Pankhurst, said: There can be no place for guns on our streets nor any motive for murder.

Both the First and Deputy First Minister condemned the shooting.

After coordinating with county officials and the Lone Star Family Health Clinic, Montgomery County Meals on Wheels set up two vaccination sites for the organizations home-bound seniors.

Around 200 vaccines will be given out across the Wednesday and Friday vaccine events.

When the vaccines were made available to Meals on Wheels, the organization called the 800 senior clients that they work with to find out who wanted to get the vaccine. Those who were interested gave the organization the necessary information so all the seniors had to do was show up at the appropriate time.

To make it easier, the vaccine sites are sites that Meals on Wheels already use for meal distribution, so many of their clients already knew how to get there. Wednesdays event took place at the EMC Senior Center in New Caney. The Friday event will be held starting at 10:30 a.m. at the West Montgomery County Community Center in Magnolia.

Carrie Watkins, strategic relations manager at Meals on Wheels, said she is sure the organization will hold another vaccine event is presented with the opportunity again. All of the seniors vaccinated today will be guaranteed the second dose. They will be contacted at the appropriate time to schedule another appointment.

Well take care of seniors any way we can, Watkins said.

For residents who could not get a ride to the event, Meals on Wheels helped coordinate transportation for them.

Related: Conroe ISD, Memorial Hermann team up for vaccination site

The event came together as a partnership between Meals on Wheels, Lone Star Family Health Clinic, the Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and Precinct 4 Commissioner James Metts.

Currently, residents in categories 1A and 1B are eligible to get the vaccine. This includes front line health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, residents older than 65, and residents older than 16 with a health condition that could put them at increased risk of COVID-19.

The county has held several events to distribute the vaccine as it is made available, including in communities at higher risk or with less access, like Tamina.

Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough has been at several of these events and heard residents concerns regarding the pandemic and the vaccine.

Ive got to tell you, they were happy, they were happy with getting it, even if they were way back in the line, Keough said of the residents he spoke to earlier this week at a vaccination event at the county fairgrounds that distributed nearly 1,700 doses.

The sooner more people are vaccinated, the sooner we can return to some semblance of normal, Keough said. Some residents have expressed to him the peace of mind getting the vaccine has given them. Keough has received the first dose of the vaccine and is scheduled to get the second soon. He doesnt want people to be nervous to get vaccinated.

Weve done the work on it, the results have been out there long enough to know that this is a good thing, he said. They need to do this.

Delores McClere, 85, received her first dose of the vaccine at the Wednesday event, driven by her daughter. She said that when Meals on Wheels called her they jumped at the chance to get an appointment.

Weve been looking and trying to get on a list somewhere constantly, she said. So when they called, we answered.

She was a little nervous about getting the shot but it didnt hurt. It was worth the short wait they had to get in. She encourages other seniors to get it too.

As more vaccines are made available, Keough said the county will distribute them with military precision and Chick-fil-A quality.

jamie.swinnerton@chron.com
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  Clinical trials for the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine will begin this week, the Department of Science and Technology said Thursday.

"Ang nadinig ko pong plano ay...mukhang mauuna ang Janssen, at within this week ay mag-uumpisa na sila. 'Yun namang iba pa...ay either February or March," DOST Secretary Fortunato de la Pena said during the Laging Handa briefing.

[Translation: The plan I heard is...that it seems Janssen will go first, and they will start within this week. The others will start...either in February or March.]

The Janssen vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration to hold local clinical trials last year. It was developed by the Belgium-based firm Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which is owned by the U.S. multinational company Johnson & Johnson.

The other companies De la Pena was referring to were Chinese companies Clover and Sinovac.

De la Pena said clinical trials are still part of Phase 3 testing and could last for just one month "or even less."

"Yung mga kausap natin ay mga nasa Phase 3 trials, at yung vaccine clinical trials ay makakadagdag para sa kanilang datos sa efficacy...Itong paggawa ng vaccine trials dito sa atin ay makatutulong para ho sa kanila na vaccine developer... At sa atin naman ay makabubuti rin dahil malalaman nating kung ano ang epekto sa Pilipino o sa ating ethnic group," he added.

[Translation: The ones we have been talking to are in Phase 3 trials, and these trials will add to their data on efficacy...Holding clinical trials here will help vaccine developers... And this will help us as well because we will know how they affect Filipinos or our ethnic group.]

De la Pena said testing is done in places where there is a high incidence of COVID-19 cases, which should be consistently high over the last two weeks before the start of clinical trials.

He said a list of possible sites has been given to vaccine developers.

"Inaabangan...na lang kung sila'y mag-uumpisa na, kung alin 'yung the best according to the data of the epidemiology bureau," he said, adding that they cannot disclose the sites because of a confidentiality disclosure agreement.

[Translation: We are just waiting for data from the epidemiology bureau to determine where they can best start.]

Participants in the trials will be chosen by the vaccine companies. De la Pena said they hired research organizations  Filipino companies experienced in vaccine trials  for the purpose.

Should participants experience any adverse reactions, De la Pena said they will be the responsibility of the vaccine company.

On the subject of the World Health Organization solidarity trials, De la Pena said they would be meeting on Friday to hopefully get "more definite news."
Both authors interrupt their narrative with what appears to be unrelated text. While J.P. Pomare uses the more conventional newspaper reports and extracts from the diary of an undisclosed witness at a mysterious trial, Iain Ryan takes us on an excursion into a fantasy world inhabited by a barbarian called Sero and a few requisite orcs. Its a bold experiment but there may be a limit to how far a genre can be stretched until the wheels fall off the willing suspension of disbelief.

It may be a coincidence. Two psycho-thrillers by two of Australias most interesting next-gen crime writers featuring an unreliable female narrator whose professional standards are slipping. While men writing from a female perspective is hardly new: Madame Bovary, cest moi, said Flaubert, and Stieg Larsson launched a tsunami of somewhere-on-the-spectrum, ass-kicking Lisbeth Salander wannabes, these new books clearly invite debate about trends in the gender politics of crime fiction today.

The Spiral begins promisingly  although the epigram from French philosopher Gilles Deleuze about the danger of being trapped in the dream of the other should be taken seriously. Dr Erma Bridges is on her way back to Brisbane from Spain to face a disciplinary hearing: something to do with her former students and alleged sexual misconduct.

Credit:

Ermas field of research is young-adult fiction, including the Choose Your own Adventure and Fighting Fantasy gamebooks she avidly collected during her own youth. The shift into a fantasy world when she falls asleep and the character of Sero the Barbarian first appears almost makes sense.

But things start to get crazy fast. Female students are going missing from the university, including Ermas research assistant, Jenny, who is in possession of the data Erma needs for her next book. This includes an interview with the elusive Archibald Moder, author of the Zone Mover fantasy series.

Inexplicably, a deranged Jenny resurfaces and tries to kill Erma who recovers and moves to Thailand to perfect her Muay Thai fighting skills.

Hill County COVID-19 Update

by County Judge Justin Lewis



(Monday, February 1, update) The county fair was last week and by all reports was a success. I want to thank the Fair Board, the participants, numerous volunteers, the ag teachers and 4-H folks that helped out. These individuals made extensive modifications to the format to ensure a safe and socially distanced fair could take place for our children. I want to especially recognize Tammy Christian, the ag teacher from Penelope, for being the steam that powered the engine. She was pulling double, or maybe triple, duty but youd never know that talking to her. She kept us where we needed to be and was instrumental in pulling off this COVID-modified event. Thanks, Tammy!



As a follow up to my previous reports on vaccination efforts in Hill County, I want to relay to you, the reader, what we are attempting to do to expedite getting vaccines to Hill County residents. While county government usually plays no direct role in the vaccination process, I feel Hill County should be doing everything we can to ensure our citizens are not overlooked in this process.



To that end, Hill County, together with Ascension Health, the Hill Regional Hospital and other local partners have drafted and submitted a plan to the State of Texas to become a vaccination hub. We believe we have the capacity to run a local vaccination clinic here in the county. Our goal is aggressive; we want to vaccinate 30,000 individuals in 10 weeks.



Unfortunately, standing in the way of our plans at the moment is the lack of vaccines. The State of Texas, this last week, did not approve any additional hubs for the state. Their reasoning is that the federal government is not allocating more vaccines to the state. For the last three weeks, there has been no increase in the number of new vaccines allocated to Texas for first round shots.



I am hopeful that if the Food and Drug Administration gives emergency approval to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine later this week, that there will be millions of additional doses that could be sent to the state. If that were to occur, then the state would be able to allocate more doses to hubs. More importantly, I believe from what the state is saying, they would also approve more hubs to vaccination distribution.



I have fielded innumerable calls regarding how to get a vaccine. I have talked to every muckity-muck in the state, and my best advice is to get on a list somewhere. There is simply more demand for vaccines than the federal government has vaccines available. Make no mistake, Hill County has been advocating for weeks for vaccines to come to our county and we will continue to do so. However, the vaccine allocations are controlled by the state and federal governments, and we are at their mercy. As soon as I have any news on this subject I will let you know.



As you may recall, I have avoided publishing numbers for some time because I didnt think they were accurately reflecting what we were seeing in Hill County. I have made multiple phone calls and emails in the last month with the DSHS regarding our case data. I have previously written about my concerns regarding the information, so I wont rehash it here. However, I believe that progress is being made in getting our numbers up-to-date. The DSHS folks promised me they would update our line list by February 1, and they did. There is a one-time jump of cases to clear the backlog that they had not been able to enter. It is a big one-time jump, 1,522 cases. Below, I have copied an excerpt of an email sent to me last week so you can see what I see.



As was mentioned on our monthly county call, Region 7 has had a challenge with our COVID-19 internal database being backlogged due to the number of new cases coming in and amount of time it takes to verify, remove duplicates and enter the information. The good news is we have solved the challenge in uploading data to our internal database. However, the solution will cause a one-time large increase in total number of cases on the DSHS Dashboard and on the line list Monday, February 1, 2021. The majority of these cases are from December and January. Cases over two weeks old will be flagged and should not show up on the DSHS Dashboard as active cases. Per our calculations, you can anticipate seeing an increase of approximately 1,522 cases on your line list for your county on Monday.



Getting this data correct is important to me. Without it we cannot know the true scope of what we are dealing with, how to respond to it and how to plan ahead for future needs.



I have some good news for you. The hospitalization rate is at 13.33% today. That is down from 16.5% on Friday. This is our first day under 15% in months and at the beginning of this year we were in the 30% range. We are moving in the right direction! If we can make seven straight days under 15% hospitalization rate, the governor will lift the high hospitalization rate designation for our region. That means some businesses now closed can re-open, and other business that are currently open can increase their capacity. Please keep up your efforts to help lower this rate.



The numbers 



Texas: Active - 364,238; Fatalities - 35,988; Recovered - 1,974,572; Total - 2,087,170



Hill County: Active on DSHS Line List - **141; Active on DSHS Website - *750; Fatalities:**62; Recovered:*3,188; Total Cases - +4,000



*Remember these numbers are estimates from the state.



**These numbers are not.



+Total cases is calculated by adding the total confirmed cases and the total probable cases.



I have again called DSHS to get an explanation for the discrepancy between the state website and the actual updated list they have provided me today. Ill let you know what they say, but Im fairly certain at this point that the data being fed into their formula is not being checked for accuracy. I included the total case count for Hill County today to show you the jump in cases. I normally dont use this number because it doesnt tell us anything other than there have been cases. Also, there more than likely have been many more cases that werent diagnosed due to mild or no symptoms, which just reinforces that the total number doesnt tell us much. I believe the number of active cases is still the best indicator of our progress in the fight against this virus.



By Zip Code Reported



In The Last 14 Days:



Abbott 4



Aquilla 4



Blum 3



Covington 5



Hillsboro 57



Hubbard 11



Itasca 14



Mertens 4



Milford 3



Mount Calm 2



Penelope 2



Rio Vista 1



Whitney 29



By Age Reported In



The Last 14 Days -



< 10 14



10 -19 24



20-29 17



30-39 20



40-49 12



50-59 17



60-69 17



70-79 12



80+ 8



The county continues to operate a testing center at 200 E. Franklin St. in Hillsboro. The hours of operation are from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The center provides both drive thru and walk up testing services. Please register ahead by texting DOCSTX to 41411.



We are going to get through this together. We must keep our chins ups. There have been, and will continue to be, ups and downs, progress and setbacks in our fight against COVID-19. When everything you read or see is doom and gloom, I want you to remember that we have made it this far together. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I dont believe its another train. I truly believe we are heading out of this nightmare, but we still have a way to go. There will be more bad news and more disappointments, because that is how life always is, but we are making steady progress towards a day when this is just a bad memory.



Until then, check up on your neighbor and be kind to all. Remember to wear your mask, wash your hands and practice social distancing.



God Bless Hill County.




PARIS, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- HOPIUM (FR0014000U63 / symbol: MLHPI), French car manufacturer of high-end hydrogen vehicles, announces today the success of its capital increase carried out with cancellation of shareholders' preferential subscription rights for a final amount of  5 million with a limited circle of investors, in accordance with article L.411-2 I of the French Monetary and Financial Code.

The operation resulted in the issuance of 584,795 new shares with a unit par value of  0.01, i.e. 4.998% of the Company's current share capital, at a price of  8.55 per share (issue premium included), for a total amount of 5 million euros (i.e. 4.76% of the post-transaction share capital of the Company).

Olivier LOMBARD, Chairman and CEO, said on this occasion: "I would like to thank the investors and partners who are carrying this project by my side. They are choosing the future and strengthening us with their experience. This step will help structure the Company furthermore by operating additional key recruitments, while finalizing the development of the first rolling prototype of Hopium Machina."

The settlement-delivery of the new shares issued within the framework of the Private Placement and their admission to the Euronext Access Paris market will take place no earlier than February 7th, 2021. The new shares will bear current dividend rights and will be admitted to trading on the Euronext market. Access Paris under the same ISIN code FR0014000U63 - MLHPI.

Following the Operation, the Company's share capital now consists of 12,284,795 shares with a par value of 0.01 euro each.

To the best of the Company's knowledge, the shareholding breakdown after completion of the transaction is as follows:

Number of shares % of Capital OLIVIER LOMBARD 6 311 633 51% FLOATING 5 973 162 49% TOTAL 12 284795 100%

As an indication, the participation of a shareholder holding 1% of the Company's share capital prior to the Operation will turn to 0.95%.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 211-3 of the General Regulations of the French Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF), the offer of the Company's shares within the framework of this capital increase carried out within the framework of a private placement, has not given rise to a prospectus submitted for approval by the French Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF).

Detailed information concerning the Company, in particular relating to its activity, its results and the corresponding risk factors, can be found in chapters 5 and 6 of the Company's information document, which can be consulted, as well as other regulated information and all of the Company's press releases on its website (https://www.hopium.com/#Investors).

About HOPIUM

Founded by Olivier Lombard, the youngest winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Hopium is the result of his experience as a professional racing driver. Olivier Lombard has been driving hydrogen-powered racing cars for 7 years, making him an expert in the field. The race was like an open-air laboratory which made it possible for Olivier Lombard and his team to reflect on new mobility solutions to meet contemporary environmental challenges. While the transportation sector alone is responsible for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions, the company is positioning itself as a player in climate change.



Hopium brings together a team of leading partners and experts, at the forefront of innovation in the hydrogen fuel cell and automotive engineering sectors.

www.hopium.com

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Until the covid pandemic hit, India aspired to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025. While this may still be a worthy goal to chase, the Indian economy will have to bear the brunt of the pandemic for some time. Even before the crisis hit, the government had prioritized the infrastructure sector as the key to its economic growth agenda. And now more than ever, infrastructure development will play a key role.

The 100 trillion National Infrastructure pipeline, establishment of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and several schemes to revitalize the transport infrastructure only corroborate the governments resoluteness to prioritize the sector. Some estimates suggest that a 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) investment in the sector can increase the overall GDP growth rate by 2%.

However, the central government has been shouldering the maximum burden of financing large infrastructure projects in India. Between 2012-13 and 2018-19, the governments share of infrastructure investment increased from 26% to 41%. In the same period, share of states declined from 45% to 32%.

In the post pandemic era, inopportunely governments have been forced to shift priorities to other sectors that require critical funding such as health, education and employment. Planning large immunization programs and announcing incremental stimulus packages have stressed government budgets extensively.

Overall, it is estimated that India needs to spend 235 trillion on infrastructure development from 2021-30. This is more than thrice the sectoral expenditure of the previous decade (nearly 77 crore). To fulfill this yawning gap, the government has been proactively nudging all the stakeholders such as the private sector, state governments, banks, development finance institutions (DFIs) and foreign institutional investors to fund large-scale Infrastructure projects. Except DFIs, the response from various stakeholders has been lukewarm.

If we look at the private sector, it is distressing to note that the share of private investment in infrastructure has declined from 34% to 23% between fiscal years 2011-15 and fiscal years 2015-20. Overall, the private sector has become cautious on account of delays in project execution, low revenue realization in public-private partnership projects and limited access to debt-financing.

Similarly, domestic banks who were actively lending to the sector in the early 2000s have taken a step back on account of rising non-performing assets, delay in statutory clearances and asset-liability mismatches. Since 2014-15, loans to infrastructure sector as a share of total bank credit has been on a decline: from almost 14%, the share has fallen to below 10% in 2018-19.When ICICI bank, which had historically been at the forefront of credit lending in the sector, announced the closure of its project finance division in 2019, the extent to averseness of domestic banks to lend to the sector truly came to light.

Similarly, if one looks at sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other institutional investors, they have primarily invested in operating assets with clear revenue profile and have not shown interest in greenfield investments across sub-sectors.

So how do we ensure a robust funding mechanism for Indias infrastructure sector?

With the pandemic, garnering adequate capital for the infrastructure sector seems a mammoth task. The solution lies in setting up a robust financial institution, which can be at the forefront of Indias infrastructure growth story. This is the appropriate time for the country to set up a National Infrastructure Bank. This bank can be formed with a vision of achieving three key objectives First, provide long-term and flexible funding for Infrastructure projects that match the project tenure requirements. Second, act as a platform for attracting private excess global debt capital. Third, bring to the market innovative financial solutions that reduce risk and improve return profiles.

Many countries are thinking in this direction and have started to act. Set up in 2017, Canadian Infrastructure Bank plans to invest and raise more than $35 billion to help build new infrastructure that will accelerate Canadas transition to a low-carbon economy and strengthen economic growth. In November 2020, the UK announced the establishment of a new infrastructure bank as part of the governments spending review.

To give Indias infrastructure sector a further boost, a National infrastructure Bank can be the third key element along with the already existing robust project pipeline and favorable public policy.

Suresh Subudhi and Shubhika Bilgrami are, respectively, managing director, and lead knowledge analyst, Boston Consulting Group

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The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the French Development Agency (AFD) this week launched a new 3.5 million Euro project to support development of community conservancies in Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area of Namibia and Botswana.

Southern Africa's Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, which straddles Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, each year experiences large scale migrations of megafauna, in particular elephants, where 50% of the total population of African elephants can be found.

However, the area is also home to poor rural communities whose livelihoods depend on agriculture, fishing and hunting and who are not always able to meet their basic needs due, in part, to erratic rainfall and frequent droughts.

Under the Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme, the new project will partner with the governments of Botswana and Namibia to address threats from unsustainable levels of wildlife hunting in some areas, habitats closure and fragmentation, which prevent animals from reaching the resources they need to survive, as well as poaching and killing of animals as a result of human-wildlife conflicts.

"The focus of the project is to benefit both the wildlife and ecosystems in the Transfrontier Conservation Area and the resilience of local communities that rely on them, at least in part, for food and income," said Mette Wilkie, Director, Forestry Division, FAO.

The project will focus on supporting the development of a network of community conservancies and community-based organizations that help manage community-owned land to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources for the benefit of local livelihoods.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Namibia Wildlife By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

Namibia already has an impressive network of 86 community conservancies, which collectively cover 20 percent of the country and are home to nearly 230,000 people.

"This project aims to establish an effective network of community conservancies since they have proven to be a powerful means to combat rural poverty," said Gilles Kleitz, Director of the AFD Ecological Transition and Natural Resources Department. "In Namibia, for instance, conservancies contributed more than $10 million in benefits such as income, employment remuneration, and in-kind, for example meat, to conservancy members in 2018. The overall economic contributions from these benefits amounted to more than $62 million, including the creation of over 5,300 jobs from conservancy related operations and enterprises."

The project will be implemented with the support of technical partners such as Wild Entrust Africa in Botswana and the World Wildlife Fund in Namibia and will focus on Botswana's Khaudum -Ngamiland wildlife dispersal area as well as in Namibia's community conservancies of the Zambezi Region and around Khaudum National Park.

The results of the project will contribute to the creation of policies aimed at fostering community conservancies development, sustainable hunting and wildlife conservation and enhanced institutional and legal frameworks needed to implement these policies.

The Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme is already promoting a similar approach in Zambia and Zimbabwe. It also ensures a participatory and community rights-based approach across all its sites.

The Domino Sugars sign, a Baltimore fixture that has cast its red neon glow across the Inner Harbor since 1951, will be retired March 1.

At sunset that day, the refinerys rooftop will darken, but only for four months. Crew will remove and replace the 120-by-70-foot sign, one of the last, most visible vestiges of Baltimores once-mighty industrial past.

If the $2 million project goes as planned, an LED-powered sign will light up on the Fourth of July and the sugar importer hopes no one notices the difference. The new sign will be more durable and environmentally friendly, but it is designed to match the look of the original.

We want to keep it exactly the same, said Tom Chagin, a Domino corporate engineer and the project manager.

From its perch 160 feet above the harbor, the Domino sign has presided over 70 years of Baltimore history, becoming an enduring symbol of the citys manufacturing heyday while many of the refinerys industrial neighbors disappeared to make way for encroaching residential waterfront development.

The signs size and consistency has made it a favorite reference point for Baltimoreans in a constantly changing city. As other businesses have come and gone, most recently under the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sugar refinery continued to sweetly hum beneath the burning neon.

The signs prominence on the Baltimore skyline  for all but a brief stint during the energy crisis of the 1970s  has led to countless appearances in Baltimore-based television shows, movies, art, wedding photos and even tattoos.

Joseph Abel, the research historian at the neighboring Baltimore Museum of Industry, said the sign represents the spirit of Baltimores manufacturing heritage and serves as a reminder of the impressive longevity of the sugar refinery, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year.

I cant even imagine the city without it, he said.

Ready for replacement

Several times a year, Domino receives calls from brides that have nothing to do with their dessert menus. Will the sign be lit for our waterfront reception on Saturday night? Could somebody repair one of the letters before then?

Originally fabricated by Artkraft Strauss Co., which made many of the signs in New York Citys Times Square, the hand-drawn letters were installed in 1951, three decades after the Domino refinery opened.

To appreciate the reason the company wants to replace it, you need to take an old freight elevator to the ninth floor, go past a few heavy steel doors, and climb some stairs and two rooftop ladders.

Decades of exposure to the Baltimore elements have left the yellow letters faded and rusting, with holes pockmarking the borders. Birds and high winds have broken some of the 650 unprotected neon tubes stretching 4,400 linear feet, and rainwater has infiltrated the connectors. Its expensive to maintain, and few neon benders, the craftsmen who can repair it, remain in business.

The company hasnt settled on what to do with the old sign once its removed.

Were going to need to get a better look at the letters as they come down to determine what can be saved, said Peter OMalley, a Domino spokesman. We would like to give them to museums or other nonprofits if there is interest.

Officials recently hung pieces of the LED signs g on the old one to make sure it matches, using a colorimeter. It might appear brighter at first because of the fresh paint, despite using 33,000 fewer kilowatt hours of energy and producing 23.48 fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Flexible LED tubing is expected to be far more durable than the delicate glass neon tubes.

Switching out the 12- to 20-foot letters presented a challenge. Chagin considered various options: a crane on a barge, a crane from the rear of the refinery, even a helicopter. All proved too costly or impractical. After six months of planning, he settled on another strategy: elevators.

Workers will carry pieces of the new, aluminum letters up nine floors in one freight elevator, then one more floor in another. They will guide them carefully through a 10th-floor window to the roof, then use pulleys to hang them on the recently reinforced steel frame on the rooftop.

Fittingly, the new sign is being manufactured locally.

Paul Gable, owner of Gable, a sign design and manufacturing firm in Curtis Bay, said he is using a straight-on drone photo to reproduce what he called a rare classic, at a scale 50 times larger than a normal storefront sign.

Gable cant wait for the reveal at nightfall on Independence Day.

The city of Baltimore has every reason to be really, really excited about not just this sign being re-lit he said, but hopefully being there to stay for as long as the first one was.

Blue-collar to the core

A five-pound bag of Domino sugar always could be found in the pantry of Steve Vaughns childhood row house in Dundalks West Inverness neighborhood.

Domino holds a special place in many Baltimoreans hearts as a huge brand that helped probably sustain a lot of families and build a lot of lives off of the incomes, the 38-year-old said.

Vaughn mentioned Domino in the same breath as Bethlehem Steel, a former Baltimore manufacturing powerhouse that employed tens of thousands who made the steel that built the nation.

A city like ours, Baltimore, is built on that, he said. Were blue-collar to the core, starting from the bottom, working our way up-type people. Thats what pride is really all about, knowing where you come from and staying humble.

That hometown pride is why Vaughn, a tattoo artist who goes by the nickname Stevie Monie and owns the New American Tattoo Co. on Eastern Avenue, has inked his best renderings of the Domino sign on the skin of several customers over 20 years.

It isnt as common a request as the Maryland flag or the National Bohemian logo. But those who get Baltimore- or Maryland-themed tattoo sleeves usually ask to include the Domino sign somewhere, alongside crabs, black-eyed Susans, Orioles and Ravens.

Its a staple for our city, Vaughn said. We, oddly enough, are proud of that little thing  something as simple as Domino Sugar coming from here.

The Domino sign is beloved Baltimoreans and visitors alike, said Laurie Schwartz, president of the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore.

The red glow reflecting across the water from the refinery rooftop each night is part of Baltimores history that is still living, she said.

Ive got to applaud them for recognizing that and the important role it plays in Baltimore and our identity, Schwartz said. Lets all hope most people will not be able to tell the difference.

A connection to the neighborhood

Snow blanketed the outdoor furniture Monday night on Dan Strodels rooftop deck in Riverside, which offers a postcard-worthy view of the Inner Harbor.

Hes taken hundreds of photos of the harbor, often waking up at sunrise to capture the moment when the light of dawn meets the glow of the still-lit Domino sign.

Strodel, 59, compared the sign to the giant Bromo Seltzer bottle that once adorned the tower of the same name and the advertisements once painted on the brick exteriors of many small businesses. Part of its beauty is in its old-timey simplicity, he said, blasting out to the world: We make sugar.

The new sign is Dominos latest and highest-profile investment in its relationship with its residential neighbors. The company sends holiday cards and welcome packages to new homeowners. It sponsors the Locust Point Civic Association, as well as the Riverside Neighborhood Associations summer concert series. It paid for a backstop and dugouts at a neighborhood little league field.

It isnt just because the refinery relies on dredging, which is partially taxpayer funded, for sugar ships to reach its piers.

Were proud of the fact that its become a beloved part of the Baltimore skyline, said OMalley, the Domino spokesman. Its important to us to be a good neighbor.

Few of the 510 full-time Baltimore refinery employees and the 120 workers in related jobs in maritime, trucking and warehousing still walk to work the way many did decades ago.

But at least one is a neighbor of Strodels in Riverside, he said.

Whats neat is to see him get up early and walk out the door, and hes headed down to work at Domino, and the sign is looking right at him, he said. Theres still a connection to the neighborhood.

--

Colin Campbell of The Baltimore Sun wrote this story. Baltimore Sun researcher Paul McCardell contributed to this article.

(c)2021 The Baltimore Sun

Visit The Baltimore Sun at www.baltimoresun.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
US scholar backed by Japanese firm twists historical facts



A controversy has arisen over a Harvard University professor's paper on Japan's wartime sex slavery. In an academic journal, he claimed that "comfort women were prostitutes," something a right-wing Japanese newspaper then gave prominent coverage to. It is truly appalling and unacceptable that the professor insulted the former sex slaves, who were mobilized by the Japanese army before and during World War II, suffered unspeakable human rights abuses, and lived in pain for their whole lives. He has thus also derided the efforts of women globally to oppose wartime sexual violence.



Professor John Mark Ramseyer of Harvard Law School published the thesis, titled "Contracting for sex in the Pacific War," in the March issue of International Review of Law and Economics. In the paper, he described "comfort women" as prostitutes who made huge profits by dealing with brothel operators. By doing so, he absolved the Japanese government and military from their responsibility in committing crimes against humanity. He explicitly distorted historical facts.



Ramseyer is Mitsubishi professor of Japanese legal studies at Harvard Law School. Mitsubishi Group, an enterprise involved in war crimes that mobilized Koreans and put them into forced labor during WWII, provided him with the post by donating $1 million to Harvard. Professor Ramseyer also received a medal from the Japanese government for his contributions to Japan. As a major in Japanese law, he is not a history scholar; still, Ramseyer has released a series of papers on sex slavery and forced labor victims, making claims identical to those of the Japanese right wing.



Ramseyer's acts of distorting the history of aggression and human rights violations, by taking sides with Japanese right-wing nationalists and receiving support from the Mitsubishi Group, present a clear case of a conflict of interest, as well as a denial of academic conscience.



However hard Japanese ultra right-wingers and their foreign friends might try to erase Japan's past atrocities, they will not be able to stem the tide of the international human rights movement, which refuses to allow a recurrence of wartime sexual violence, like the Japanese military's forceful mobilization of sex slaves. Professor Ramseyer must apologize to sexual slavery victims and all citizens of the world who oppose crimes against humanity.







The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
JACKSON, Miss. (WTVA) - The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) will now use reminder emails to schedule second doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

MSDH says anyone who has already received the first dose will receive an email with instructions on scheduling second dose appointments.

Mississippians can continue to make appointments by calling the vaccination hotline: 877-978-6453.

Two coronavirus vaccines, manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech respectively, have been available to Americans since December.

Each vaccine requires two doses. The second dose is administered several weeks after the first dose.

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine - two shots, 21 days apart

Moderna vaccine - two shots, 28 days apart

Appointments can also be made online at covidvaccine.umc.edu.

Related - Schedule Alabama appointments online

Keep up with the latest COVID-19 news at wtva.com/coronavirus.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The Red Cross launched a plan Thursday to help vaccinate 500 million people against COVID-19 in over 100 countries, warning that leaving out the world's poorest could seriously backfire.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it would throw its weight into the distribution and acceptance of vaccines among some of the hardest-to-reach communities.

The Geneva-based IFRC said it would spend 100 million Swiss francs ($111 million, 92.5 million euros) on the push and was already working with governments in more than 60 countries to see where its help could be the most effective.

"The current lack of equity in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is alarming and could backfire to deadly and devastating effect," IFRC secretary general Jagan Chapagain told reporters.

He said nearly 70 percent of vaccine doses administered so far had been in the world's 50 richest countries while only 0.1 percent had been deployed in the poorest 50.

"It could prolong or even worsen this terrible pandemic," Chapagain said, noting that if the virus continued to circulate and mutate in large areas of the globe, even those who have been vaccinated in wealthier countries would not be safe.

He called for richer countries to share vaccines once they had immunised their most vulnerable populations.

Otherwise, "the emergence of variants in far-away low-income countries will shatter the illusion of safety in wealthier countries," said Chapagain.

The IFRC, which calls itself the world's largest humanitarian network, said it will bolster national vaccination efforts, including supporting logistics and countering misinformation about vaccine efficacy.

IFRC health director Emanuele Capobianco it was already supporting vaccination campaigns in Austria, Brazil, Morocco and Kuwait, among other countries.

It is also aiming to reach refugees and undocumented migrants.

On Wednesday, the Covax programme to ensure equitable worldwide access to COVID-19 vaccines published its first distribution list.

Some 145 countries are set to receive an initial 337.2 million dosesenough to immunise 3.3 percent of their collective population by mid-2021, with first deliveries expected in late February.

For many poorer countries, the scheme will be their only way of accessing vaccines.

"The equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines between and within countries is more than a moral imperative: it is the only way to solve the most pressing public health emergency of our time," said Chapagain.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

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The U.S. House on Wednesday approved a budget resolution that would pave the way for President Joe Bidens $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill to pass by majority vote.

While the budget resolution would trigger a procedure known as reconciliation and allow congressional Democrats to pass the stimulus without Republican votes, Biden and Democrats who met with the president on Wednesday said they still wanted to get GOP buy-in.

While he supports bipartisanship, he also understands there is a fierce urgency of getting this done, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez told NJ Advance Media after a 90-minute meeting with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Democratic committee chairs like himself. Yes, we would love to have Republicans but not at the cost of doing something that is big and bold.

One area of compromise could be scaling back the $1,400 stimulus payments. Under the current proposal, some families earning more than $400,000 could get a check.

Further targeting means not the size of the check, it means the income level of people who receive the check, and thats something that has been under discussion,: said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki. There hasnt been a conclusion, but certainly hes open to having that discussion.

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons said the topic was broached during an hour-long meeting with fellow Delaware Democratic Sen. Tom Carper and Biden, who used to represent the state in the Senate.

We did have a conversation about the direct payments and how those might be modified in a way to ensure theyre targeted but President Biden was clear with us and with our caucus that hes not going to forget the middle class, Coons said.

Hes not going to walk back from a real commitment he made, not just in Georgia but nationally, to deliver targeted relief to those Americans most in need.

Psaki said she expected changes to the bill before Biden signed it into law.

The president, having served in the Senate for 36 years, fully recognizes that the bill he proposed, that he did a primetime address on two weeks ago, that may not look exactly like the bill that comes out, she said Wednesday at her daily press briefing.

One possible compromise would be to provide the full $1,400 only to individuals making no more than $50,000 and married couples making no more than $100,000, the Washington Post reported. The current proposal set the thresholds at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found 78% of Americans supported the $1,400 stimulus payments, with only 18% in opposition. Republicans backed the direct payments, 64% to 32%.

Struggling to pay the bills, American households need an infusion of cash and need it now, Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy said. So give it to them, is the resounding judgment of the public.

The poll of 1,075 U.S. adults was conducted from Jan. 28-Feb. 1 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

Biden already rejected a proposal by 10 Senate Republicans to shave the package by more than two-thirds, to $618 billion.

Democrats still bear the scars from 2009, when their stimulus bill in response to the Great Recession was scaled back in order to attract Republican support. Biden was vice president at the time, and the limited spending resulted in a more tepid recovery.

History teaches us that the failure to do more created more economic pain, Menendez said.

The GOP package also stripped out Bidens proposal for $350 billion federal aid to help state and local governments pay the salaries of health care workers, teachers and other public employees. Menendez called the money an absolute necessity and Coons called any effort to pass a bill without state and local aid a nonstarter.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

The House vote, largely along party lines, was 218-212. The Senate plans to debate the bill beginning Thursday.

Congressional Republicans complained that the stimulus would increase the deficit, even though they used the same process in 2017 to pass a tax law that the Congressional Budget Office said would increase the deficit by the same $1.9 trillion as Bidens proposal.

Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, used the debate to lash into Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey in response to Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., who said the Biden plan delivers bold relief to the American people and deserves strong bipartisan support here in the House.

Smith said New Jersey had received $9.5 billion in taxpayer bailouts snd would get another $9.5 billion under the stimulus plan.

That very same government has enacted lockdown policies directly leading to the closure of more than 3,000 small businesses and that state, very sadly, actually has the highest per capita death rate of all states, he said.

Since New Jersey was one of the hardest hit at the start of the pandemic, it is true that its coronavirus death rate remains the highest in the country. And it is true that about one-third of the states small businesses have closed.

New Jersey is the densest state in the nation and was one of the earliest states to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Murphy spokeswoman Alyana Alfaro said. Since the pandemic began, Governor Murphy has taken decisive action to protect the lives of as many New Jerseyans as possible while also responsibly easing restrictions and ensure economic health for our state.

In addition, New Jersey received just $2.4 billion under the CARES Act and would have received $8 billion under the stimulus bill proposed in December until the state and local assistance was stripped from the final bill.

Smith did not respond to a request for comment on how he came up with the figures.

In 2019, his state of Missouri received $23.6 billion more from Washington than it paid in federal taxes, 14th highest of the 50 states, while New Jersey received $10.3 billion less, ranking 49th, according to the State University of New Yorks Rockefeller Institute of Government.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has forwarded the names of the immediate past Service Chiefs to the Senate as non-career Ambassadors-Designate.

In a letter to Senator Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, President of the Senate, the President said: In accordance with section 171 (1), (2) (c) & sub-section (4) of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, I have the honour to forward for confirmation by the Senate, the under-listed five (5) names of nominees as Non-Career Ambassadors-Designate.

The nominees are: Gen Abayomi G. Olonisakin (Rtd ), Lt Gen Tukur Y. Buratai (Rtd), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Rtd), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (Rtd), and Air Vice Marshal Mohammed S. Usman (Rtd).

The President urged the Senate to give expeditious consideration to the nominations.

Femi Adesina

Special Adviser to the President

(Media and Publicity)
Opinion Article

4 February 2021

Married to an Aussie for nearly 40 years, it's given me a more informed perspective on how Australia, and New Zealand for that matter, have faired during this pandemic. Without getting into the statistics, which you can look up on Google on your own time, it's plain to see that many countries in APAC have handled this crisis commendably when compared to those nations in other parts of the globe. And thus, hoteliers should look down under for guidance on what's next for their properties, wherever they are.

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Let's first take a step back and consider two big events in Australia's history that will perhaps give more context for why Australia has done so well, even when compared to other Commonwealth nations that have a similar system of governance as passed down from the British Empire.

Australia has always been a land of 'scarcity breeds ingenuity'. Even before the terraforming efforts of early European settlers, the continent has been always been hostile to stable living conditions. It's about four-fifths desert, with the farmable areas constantly shifting between floods and droughts (now exacerbated by climate change), and home to some of the most poisonous animals on the planet.

Aussies are true pioneers as they've always had to learn quickly to survive to the needs of a given environment or time period. Amongst many other factors, this is perhaps one of the leading undercurrents to explain why this country was the first nation to give women the right to vote in federal elections in 1902. And no doubt this attitude of constantly shifting one's mindset to adapt to the times has played in a role in how well the country has responded to the coronavirus crisis.

Second to consider from the annals of history would be the cane toads. While most of you may recall the joking reference to this event in a classic episode of The Simpsons, it is perhaps the pinnacle of examples of the dangerous effects of bringing invasive species into new ecosystems where no natural predators exist. If you think murder hornets are bad, look back to the intentional introduction of a handful of cane toads from the Americas to the Australian mainland in 1935 as a means of improving the sugar crop. There are now millions of this pest, predominantly in Queensland, and no clear way to eliminate them because their skin contains toxins that will kill most would-be predators upon ingestion.

As this introduction occurred several generations ago, it has influenced Australia's policy towards the environment and, importantly, its people's understanding of the importance of quarantine. Long before COVID-19, arriving in Australia via any airplane always entailed some form of disinfecting spray prior to disembarking as well as a highly detailed questioning of your prior travels at customs. With the cane toads as the age-old push for strong environmental controls (and amongst other factors as before), this has meant that, overall, the current generation of Australians was predisposed to having a better comprehension of the benefits of lockdown heading into the pandemic.

Those two historic precedents aside, one policy that Australia has enacted now is one that every hotelier should consider when mulling over how to strategically reposition a property for the post-Covid world. In a broad definition of its new policy, the nation requires all incoming travelers to quarantine for 14 days at a designated hotel, all at the traveler's expense for a flat fee of $3000 and with no direct contact to the outside world during this period. New Zealand goes a step further by requiring travelers to get a Covid test during this time, with refusal to get tested resulting in a second 14-day stretch of isolation.

With the push to get the engines of international travel churning again, this model may be adopted by other nations as a means to accommodate long-haul arrivals and help get hotels some revenues while still not inviting new localized surges of coronavirus cases. Particularly as many properties situated in larger urban markets (that is, popular arrival points for international travelers) are in dire straits when it comes to servicing debt, this 'quarantine hotel' proposition may present a path to solvency when faced with no other viable options for generating enough revenues to keep the doors open.

Still, it's a double-edged sword. Being known as an isolation center comes with a hefty amount of reputational baggage that's almost irreversible in the public's eye. That is, once you make the decision to start harboring quarantining travelers for a fixed fee in order to attain some more short-term cashflow, you may end up shutting your property off from other sources of revenue because customers from other segments will come to view your hotel as a place with an increased likelihood of infection.

In most cases, this represents a binary switch and not one that should be considered lightly. While it may come to pass that we get out of this craziness without having to adopt the Australian model on a global scale, it is nevertheless one possibility that you should be aware of. And certainly there are other lessons you can learn about hotel management in the post-Covid world from Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and other APAC nations that have kept their numbers lower than most, so please keep reading and try to learn from those who are faring best.
Britain on Thursday launched a trial to assess the immune responses generated if doses of the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca Plc are combined in a two-shot schedule.

The British researchers behind the trial said data on vaccinating people with the two different types of coronavirus vaccines could help understanding of whether shots can be rolled out with greater flexibility around the world. Initial data on immune responses is expected to be generated around June.

The trial will examine the immune responses of an initial dose of Pfizer vaccine followed by a booster of AstraZeneca's, as well as vice versa, with intervals of 4 and 12 weeks. Both the mRNA shot developed by Pfizer and Biontech and the adenovirus viral vector vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca are currently being rolled out in Britain, with a 12-week gap between two doses of the same vaccine.

It is expected more vaccines will be added to the trial when they are approved and rolled out. Recruitment for the study starts on Thursday, with over 800 participants expected to take part, the researchers said. That makes it much smaller than the clinical trials that have been used to determine efficacy of the vaccines individually.

The trial will not assess the overall efficacy of the shot combinations, but researchers will measure antibody and T-cell responses, as well as monitor for any unexpected side effects. Matthew Snape, an Oxford vaccinologist who is leading the trial, said initial results could inform vaccine deployment in the second half of the year. "We will get some results through, we expect, by June or thereabouts that will inform the use of booster doses in the general population," he told reporters.

The trial is looking to recruit people over the age of 50 who may be at higher risk than younger people and have not been vaccinated already. AstraZeneca's shot is also being tested in combination with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, and British drugmaker's research chief has said more studies on combining vaccines should be done.

Also read: Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine slows down coronavirus transmission: Study
The Delhi Police on Thursday filed a case against Sweden's climate and environmental activist Greta Thunberg over her tweets on farmers' protests near the borders of Delhi. On February 3, the teen activist took to micro-blogging website, Twitter, to express her concerns over farmers agitation and shared a post stating solidarity with the farmers.

READ | DNA Exclusive: Greta Thunberg exposed; Zee News unmasks her motive to target India's democracy over farmers protests

The Delhi Police has registered a case against Greta under Section 120B and 153-A of the Indian Penal Code. Thunberg has come out in support of the ongoing farmers protest against the BJP-led Central government's new agri laws. An international conspiracy to defame India in view of the ongoing protest by farmer unions on the border areas of Delhi has come to the fore.

READ | How Greta Thunberg tried to defame Indian democracy: Read the full document

Greta Thunberg tweeted, We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India. She also shared a document through her Twitter handle showing clearly a sinister conspiracy to defame India on the international fora.

READ | Exposed: Greta Thunberg shares document to help protesting farmers, says RSS-BJP are fascistic ruling party

Thunberg shared a toolkit document for the ongoing farmers protest against new agri laws. The document shared on her Twitter handle exposed a sinister conspiracy to defame India on the international stage. The climate activist later deleted the tweet from her Twitter handle. This document gives a detailed plan of accelerating the farmers' stir taking place on the outskirts of Delhi.

Amid the ongoing protests by farmers on the border areas of the national capital, several international personalities have extended their support. However, Zee News has unmasked the real motive behind this which is to target the democracy of India. Greta Thunberg is known worldwide for spreading awareness about climate change and for this she also criticized former US President Donald Trump.

Amid the ongoing protests by farmers on the border areas of the national capital, several international personalities have extended their support. However, Zee News has unmasked the real motive behind this which is to target the democracy of India. Greta Thunberg is known worldwide for spreading awareness about climate change and for this she also criticized former US President Donald Trump.

The key points of the document are:

* Participate in (or organise an) on-ground protest: Share solidarity Photo/Video Message by email preferably by January 25 (solidarity messages for farmers at Delhis border).

* Digital Strike: #AskIndiaWhy Video/Photo Message - On or Before January 26. It has also written that Prime Minister and the Agriculture Minister should be tagged beside the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization and World Bank to oppose the Agricultural Bill.

* Twitter Storm on February 4-5 2021: Share solidarity Photo/Video Message by preferably by February 5, latest by February 6.

* On February 13-14, there is talk of large demonstrations around the Indian embassy and government institutions abroad.

* Contact a local Representative: It is paramount to put international pressure on Indias Government.

* The document also names two big business houses as they allegedly manufacture wealth by working hand-in-hand with the current Regime to exploit the worlds people, lands, and culture.

* It has also been said that the plan that was prepared for January 26 has happened exactly the same in the whole world and India.

* A special email address--ScrapFarmersAct@Gmail.Com has been asked to send photos and videos in support of farmers.

* In this document it was also told what you should do to take part in the farmers' movement.

The Swedish climate activist extended her support to the farmers and their movement after pop star Rihanna came out in support of the protesting farmers. Earlier, Rihanna posted a Tweet about the farmers' protest with a news update and captioned the post asking her followers and fans using the trending #FarmersProtest hashtag. why arent we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest, Rihanna said.

Notably, farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26, 2020, against the three newly enacted agricultural laws.
In Maridi, clean water frees up women's time and improves community health.

Mary Nosa Duku is a mother of six children and a widow. She is also the vice-secretary of the Maridi borehole management committee that is in charge of ensuring that the only source of clean and safe water in the village is well maintained.

"My role is to ensure that the borehole is functioning well. I also help the treasurer in collecting monthly tariffs from the community, which is then used to maintain the borehole," explains Ms. Duku.

Ms. Duku lives in Maridi, west of South Sudan's capital city Juba, where an estimated 50 per cent of the population lacks access to safe and clean drinking water.

In South Sudan, only 10% of the population has access to safely managed and basic service sanitation, according to WHO and UNICEF. Drinking dirty and contaminated water leads to water borne diseases such as cholera and other diarrheal diseases, a leading cause of death among children in the country.

Yet, for years, Ms. Duku walked for more than three kilometres every day to fetch water from a contaminated stream.

"Diarrhea cases were very common in my family, especially among my children. They often missed school and this affected their grades," says Ms. Duku.

Today, she hardly walks a kilometer before she collects clean and safe drinking water for her family from the borehole. This frees up her time so she can spend it with her family.

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Ms. Duku is not the only one who has greatly benefited from the borehole that was installed by Amref Health Africa through support from Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

For Ms. Esther Lavik, a friend of Ms. Duku's family, the borehole has changed her family. As a Wildlife Services Officer and a farmer, Ms. Lavik now has enough time to focus on her job and farming which she loves.

With more access to safe and clean water, Ms. Lavik's family is healthy and safe. "I have time to concentrate on my job and I now have more time to work on my farm. I no longer spend a lot of my time going to fetch water," she says.

Maridi Girls Boarding Secondary School is also a key beneficiary of the borehole project.

"We had a huge challenge of not having clean drinking water in the school. Our students wasted a lot of time going to fetch water from a nearby stream. Since the borehole was constructed near our school, students can now focus on their studies," says Mr. Bulle Emmanuel, the headteacher.
A 1988 Holden Commodore could sell for $200,000 despite being in the 'roughest' condition a classic car expert has ever seen.

The HSV VL SS Group A Walkinshaw became rusty and severely run-down while sitting in a shed in country New South Wales for the last 20 years.

It will now be sold at a Grays auction in Brisbane, Queensland at the end of February after another model that gathered dust in a barn sold for $204,709 in December.

Another Walkinshaw in pristine condition sold for $340,000 back in 2018.

The 1988 HSV VL SS Group A Walkinshaw fell into disrepair while sitting in a shed in country New South Wales for the last 20 years. Classic car expert Rian Gaffy (pictured with the Holden) said 'it's probably the roughest Walkinshaw I've ever seen but it's all genuine'

Classic car expert Rian Gaffy said 'it's probably the roughest Walkinshaw I've ever seen but it's all genuine' in a promotional video for Grays.

'It needs a resto [restoration] but it's still one of the most original Walkinshaws you'll ever see, like it hasn't been touched, hasn't been tampered with,' he said.

'You just don't see them like this.'

The car roof has a severe rust amount of rust at the front, a tyre is completely torn, the steering wheel is ripped and the interior is filthy.

'It needs a full repaint but it's all there - still got the original engine, it's got all the original running gear in it,' Mr Gaffy said.

'The interior trim is in surprisingly good condition, it's dusty and dirty but it'll come up good with a clean and a shampoo - it's got the armrest, got all the belts.'

Mr Gaffy said the interior trim is in 'surprisingly good condition' and may be dirty but will 'come up good with a clean and a shampoo'

Despite sitting idle for 20 years, the car still runs and has the original headlights, while the engine remains the same except for the addition of braided hosing

Despite sitting idle for 20 years, the car still runs and has the original headlights, while the engine remains the same except for the addition of braided hosing.

The car is just one of 750 made and still has the original sticker with the number 619 to show its authenticity.

It also has the original owners book, which shows it was sold new in Queensland in 1988 before it found its way to a NSW shed in the late '90s, where it remained for more than 20 years.

'These things are super collectible, we've sold a couple over the last couple years and made 200 [thousand] plus,' Mr Gaffy said.

'They're just a great car, limited build. Any Australian car muscle car that's a limited build is just always very collectible.'

The car's steering wheel is ripped while interior has gathered dirt. It was sold new in Queensland in 1988 before it found its way to a NSW shed in the late '90s, where it remained for more than 20 years

A Walkinshaw in pristine condition (pictured) sold for $340,000 back in 2018

The Walkinshaw that sold for $204,709 in December last year after gathering dust in a bar had less rust and a cleaner interior trim than the model that will be auctioned by Grays on February 21.

Mr Gaffy said it's 'hard to say' how much the classic car will sell for but estimates it will go for anywhere between $150,000 and $200,000.

'The market has been very strong for the last few months and HSVs [Holden Special Vehicles] are in particularly high demand,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'They're very sought after for their collectability and some people like buying them just to restore them.'
Mauritius has been appointed as the coordinator of the African Group at the World Trade Organisation. The African group consists of all 43 African WTO members and provides a forum to exchange views on how best to improve Africas participation in the WTOs multilateral trading system.

The role of the coordinator is to speak as one voice on behalf of Africa at the WTO, thus strengthening the negotiating influence of the continent on issues of common interest. As coordinator, Mauritius will lead the African Group at Expert, Ambassadorial and Ministerial levels up to the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) that would tentatively take place in December 2021. Against the backdrop of the coming into force of the AfCFTA, this position will give Mauritius an opportunity to increase its engagement with other African countries, particularly on their trade interest.

On 29 January 2021, the Honourable Minister Nandcoomar Bodha participated in a virtual WTO Informal Ministerial Gathering and expressed the views and expectations of the African Group for MC12. The Hon. Minister stressed the need for WTO to appoint a Director General at the earliest in order to facilitate preparations for the MC12. He further explained that Africa seeks, from the MC12, an outcome that would address Economic Recovery, Sustainability and Inclusivity.

Other priority subjects for the African Group are the deepening of the Special & Differential Treatment principle, finding a just and fair outcome to the outstanding negotiations on fisheries and agriculture and the possibility of granting a TRIPS waiver in order to ensure that all WTO members receive timely and equitable access to affordable vaccines and therapeutics.

The Ministers expressed their determination to maintain a credible multilateral trading system and to restore a fully functional WTO dispute settlement system. Several Ministers also supported new initiatives launched in response to global challenges such as the structured discussions on Trade and Environmental Sustainability.

The meeting called for tangible outcomes, by MC12, on the Joint Statement Initiatives. Inter alia finalizing the process on Services Domestic Regulation and making substantial progress on E-commerce and Investment Facilitation as well as on Trade and Womens Economic Empowerment.

In conclusion, the Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to engage in the preparations for MC12 in order to advance key issues.

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1. Yes. The public must have assurances that ethical standards are met by everyone.

2. Yes. As long as an independent board hears the grievances, its a worthwhile idea.

3. No. The concept is too broad. It should be limited to the citys elected officials.

4. No. There are plenty of stipulations in place already. An ordinance is a waste of time.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without seeing how it would be structured and applied.

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A true-crime series is revisiting the murder of a popular New Jersey radio host who was shot to death by a member of a local biker gang on the order of her doctor husband after she threatened to expose their illegal drug ring.

April Kauffman, 47, was gunned down in her Linwood home by a hired hitman in May 2012. The case went unsolved for five years before her husband, Dr. James Kauffman, and a member of the Pagans Outlaw Motorcycle Gang were charged with the crime.

In an exclusive clip from an upcoming episode of the Oxygen series Killer Motive, her connection to the dangerous biker gang is explored in depth, including James Kauffman's suggestion that they could be responsible.

Scroll down for video

Hitman: April Kauffman, 47, (left) was murdered by a member of the Pagans Outlaw Motorcycle Gang on the order of her husband Dr. James Kauffman (right)

Revisited: April Kauffman's daughter Kim Pack opened up about her mom's murder on a new episode of Oxygen's Killer Motive

April Kauffman was a local businesswoman who hosted weekly talk shows and advocated for military veterans. She had received a governor's award for outstanding community service a few days before her death.

'Some of the members of their group were probably veterans, attended veteran events,' April Kauffman's daughter Kim Pack explained in the clip. 'They weren't coming over for tea or barbecues or anything like that, but I'm sure she's crossed paths with some of these individuals.'

Investigators initially wondered if April Kauffman had somehow crossed the motorcycle gang.

'The fact that April Kauffman was a woman, and the Pagans Outlaw Motorcycle group view of women, in general, plays into it,' FBI Special Agent Daniel Garrabrant told Killer Motive host Troy Roberts.

Lead: In an exclusive clip from the episode, April Kauffman's connection to the dangerous biker gang is explored in depth

Same circles: 'Some of the members of their group were probably veterans, attended veteran events,' Pack explained. 'I'm sure she's crossed paths with some of these individuals'

Thoughts: 'In the Pagans Motorcycle Group, women aren't equal to men and they don't count equally,' FBI Special Agent Daniel Garrabrant said

'Basically, in the Pagans Motorcycle Group, women aren't equal to men and they don't count equally. So they didn't view her as being worth very much.'

However, the truth was far more sinister.

Prosecutors said James Kauffman was running an illegal opioid ring with the Pagan Motorcycle Club. He gave free prescriptions to people sent by Ferdinand Augello and Augello would receive $1,000 per script or a number of pills after the script was filled.

In the summer of 2011, April Kauffman wanted a divorce, but after James Kauffman objected, she threatened to expose the drug ring, Atlantic County prosecutor Damon Tyner said in 2018.

Evidence: Prosecutors said James Kauffman was running an illegal opioid ring with the Pagan Motorcycle Club and worked with gang leader Ferdinand Augello

Monster: James Kauffman ordered a hit on his wife after she threatened to expose the drug ring if he didn't grant her a divorce

Murder: Francis Mulholland was hired to shoot April Kauffman twice in a bedroom in her home. He died of a heroin overdose about a year later

Tyner said that James Kauffman told Augello about his wife's threats and solicited him to have her killed, adding that he 'was intent to have her killed, as opposed to losing his financial empire.'

James Kauffman was alleged to have propositioned a number of individuals to murder his wife, including a man named Francis Mulholland.

On the morning of May 10, 2012, authorities said Mulholland was given a gun  and at least $20,000 in cash  to carry out the murder.

April Kauffman was shot twice in a bedroom in her home, and her body was found by a handyman.

Crime scene: The case went unsolved for five years before her husband, James Kauffman, and Augello were charged

Loss: Friends and family are pictured leaving the Beth El Synagogue in Margate, New Jersey, after April Kauffman's funeral

Mulholland died of a heroin overdose about a year later.

James Kauffman was arrested in 2017, five years after the murder. He was charged with murder in addition to racketeering related to the illegal distribution of narcotics through his former medical practice.

Authorities said he brandished a handgun as agents executed a search warrant and said, 'I'm not going to jail for this!' A hostage negotiator soon persuaded him to surrender.

On January 26, 2018, James Kauffman, 68, was found dead in his cell at 9:20 am in what authorities termed an apparent suicide at the county jail in Kearney.

No trial: James Kauffman killed himself in jail before he could be brought to trial In 2018. He maintained his innocence up until his death

Justice: Augello was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of April Kauffman, conspiracy to murder her husband, and charges related to the drug ring

According to NJ.com, James Kauffman suffocated himself and a six-page suicide note was discovered. He was not on suicide watch.

He didn't hang himself, but instead tied something around his neck and laid face down on his bunk. As a result, it appeared he was still sleeping and staff doing rounds didn't notice anything wrong until he didn't respond.

James Kauffman had long maintained his innocence, a stance his attorney, Louis Barbone, repeated just weeks before his death.

Augello, who was charged with finding someone to kill April Kauffman, was found guilty in October 2018 of her murder as well as conspiracy to murder her husband James Kauffman and charges related to the opioid business run out of the doctor's medical practice.

He was sentenced to life in prison in December 2018, but he has maintained his innocence.
Olesya Stasiuk, chief of the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide, has sat down with UNIAN to tell about inclusive and digital projects, true history and Russian fake stories about the Holodomor, as well as why and how should children be told the truth about this crime.

In a pandemic, cultural institutions were forced to reconsider their approaches to work and learn to engage visitors without actually opening their doors to people. For example, lockdown did not prevent the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide from implementing two international and eight national projects. Museum head Olesya Stasiuk has told UNIAN about working amid a pandemic, their digital efforts, and countering Russian disinformation.

Who is the core of your visitors? What age groups do you focus on?

Before the pandemic, 60% of our visitors were foreign tourists, and only 40% were Ukrainians. During a pandemic, the ratio remains the same. But I would like to see the opposite.

I will not say that we focus specifically on any age category. These are young people, older people, and eyewitnesses of the Holodomor. Through interviews, we help them talk about their pain, let them understand that their memories are important. Their suffering and this crime will be remembered. Last year, a single online resource, Svidchennia [Testimonies], was launched, and together with volunteers, we digitized and published eyewitness accounts of the Holodomor and the mass artificial famines of 1921-1923 and 1946-1947.

Should every Ukrainian visit your museum at least once?

To understand the history of Ukraine of the XX century and what's happening now, this is a must. Ukrainians need to know the truth about the Holodomor genocide and why this crime was possible. As Lenin said: "Repeat in ten years, and even better  in another ten years, again."

This crime was first tested in 1921-1923. The Bolsheviks saw that due to famine, Ukrainians could be brought to their knees. Accordingly, the famine of 1932-1933 was crafted. With the famine of 1946-1947, which is called "postwar", it was the same  taking wealthy villagers' belongings, putting people in collective farms, confiscating grain. The scale was lower, however, because the communist government no longer needed to kill so many people anymore. They just had to drive Ukrainians into collective farm slavery.

Should parents tell their children about the Holodomor?

Yes, children need to be told from the age of five or six. Then they will understand the reasons to faithfully protect their country's independence. Knowing the truth about the Holodomor is a safeguard against its recurrence in the future. After all, this is what could be done to people when their country is occupied.

By the way, the museum has developed an orientation lesson for first-graders. The lesson is based on the topic of human rights and mutual respect. But it was difficult for us to find first-graders for the trial lesson, because teachers and parents are cautious. I emphasize: there is nothing horrifying for children in our lesson. Kids are fine with it. The best thing is when they bring their parents to the museum in a few days.

When telling about the Holodomor to children in high school, it's right to appeal to the documentary base. Teens should be persuaded as they might have misconceptions about this crime.

This year we plan to publish a textbook "The Holodomor  the genocide of the Ukrainian nation" for 10th graders. The Holodomor Research Institute had been preparing it for several years so that teachers would not have to search for information on the Internet (it may be fake). By the way, last year we encountered the appearance of the "sham" site of the Holodomor Museum, where various myths were presented alongside our truthful information. For example, that there was an all-national famine, not genocide of Ukrainians ... We reported this to law enforcement. Usually, such sites are created in Russia.

What should a parent tell a child when lighting a remembrance candle at home?

The best answer I heard from my three-year-old daughter when on Remembrance Day we came to see the sculpture of a girl with spikelets. She said: "Wow, people gave her so many candles and so much bread. Mom, if she has so much light and bread, she will never grieve that she died hungry. And if we don't remember them and light a candle, it will be dark and scary for her and she'll be crying. "

Why do foreigners come to the museum? This is not their history, after all.

But this is the history of Europe. In the 1930s, grain from the Soviet Union was exported. Some countries were aware that the communist government was tailoring a famine in Ukraine, so they refused to buy grain from the USSR (countries such as Austria and Switzerland). So there was some reaction. But in some countries, governments knew, but no reaction ensued. For example, in 1933, Germany bought 70% of the grain exported by the Soviet Union. And all this is the history of Europe. Seventeen countries have already recognized the Holodomor as genocide. In memory of the crime, other countries should follow suit.

In your opinion, what else can Ukraine do to ensure that more governments recognize the Holodomor as genocide?

We need to understand the importance of this recognition and work systematically in each country.

Could it be due to the fact that so few actual witnesses of the Holodomor are still alive that many countries have not yet recognized it?

It is very unfortunate that witnesses pass away. We have little time to record interview with the remaining ones. However, eyewitness accounts were also collected back in the late 1980s and 1990s, with the issue getting into limelight during Viktor Yushchenko's presidency. And the problem is that the successor to the Soviet Union, Russia, continues to this day to deny genocide on international platforms. For example, they claim there was an "all-national famine" because people were also dying of starvation in the North Caucasus. But in fact there were places of compact settlement of Ukrainians in Russia.

If there was an "all-national famine," where are your monuments and mass graves, why not honor the victims of that famine?

Russia is doing everything to shift public focus away from the main thing. But for us this issue is clear. There was genocide of Ukrainians, it was an international crime. So it's not subject to any debate.

Is it due to Russian propaganda that even some Ukrainians reject facts that the Holodomor was actually a thing?

Russia wasted a lot of energy, time, and money to deny the crime committed by communists. For 70 years, we've been under Russian occupation, subjected to propaganda. The last person sentenced for mentioning the Holodomor heard his verdict in 1986. We once had the People of Truth exhibition, a special tribute to those who, putting their careers, their freedom, or even their lives at stake, did everything they could to preserve and circulate the truth about the Holodomor.

For example, in the late 1980s, acclaimed researchers Lidia Kovalenko and Volodymyr Manyak wrote a Black Book about the Holodomor. So, Ms. Lydia would tell her colleagues that her husband had been killed ... It wasn't a car accident, as formally reported. They were intimidated because of their research into the Holodomor.

There's been less ignorance for the past years. More and more Ukrainians realize the Holodomor was in fact an act of genocide. The only thing is that we would like to explain more to the public what genocide is. It's not just mass murder through famine. Genocide is about destroying culture, destroying church, faith, intelligentsia, it's about moving children from one group to another, Russification and physical destruction or prevention of childbirth. If we understand what genocide is and show how massive it was in 1932-1933, people will perceive modern-day developments differently. We would like to tell the public more than they already know.

What do you need to this end?

Financial support from the government precisely for public projects (we do have support for construction or exhibits). Educational projects could be set up, as well as TV projects.

Last year there were some issues with financing the construction of the second stage of the museum. How are things going now?

The museum is not engaged in construction, we are working on filling the second stage of the exhibit. As far as I know, everything is fine, construction is underway.

So the exhibition should be ready by 2023?

Yes, we plan to make it by the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor genocide, by November 2023.

I would like to note that over the years, our team has been aware of the museum's issues and needs. For example, for us it's a victory to put inscriptions and names on sculptures across the museum, at the entrance. That's because we used to hear something like: "People think that it's a museum of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

We also asked construction workers to put installations for temporary exhibits in an open-air setting. That's for the people who happen to walk by could get some information.

A screen has already been installed outside, where you can watch a schedule of upcoming events in the museum, our news and video features. After all, we saw how people have doubts about actually coming inside the museum, harboring certain prejudices about the exhibit. For example, there was this one teacher leading a group of students, telling them: "Kids, I won't be taking you inside. There are horrific photos of people dying of famine. Let's walk around the premises, I'll tell you everything myself."

For our planet, the year 2020 was about lockdown and quarantine restrictions due to a pandemic. But what were the main challenges for the museum?

Perhaps the most high-profile event was the act of vandalism against the Bitter Childhood sculpture on the night of August 22, 2020. This sparked public outrage in Ukraine and beyond. We received great support from embassies and consulates. An instant reaction soon helped restore the sculpture. Hence, the idea of deploying an honorary guard in the museum. After all, the museum is part of the President's protocol ceremony. Foreign leaders visit the museum along with their delegations.

Is that an Honorary Guard provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs?

That's right. These can be cadets, this will look nice and raise the status of the place. We would like the Honorary Guard to appear as soon as possible. We will negotiate with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Last year, we signed a memorandum of cooperation  they hand over to us declassified digitized case files from their archives. These are unique documents relating to the Law of Spikelets and facts of cannibalism.

Also last year there was an urgent need for going digital, to make visitors feel safe. Therefore, we made the museum more accessible online. We created a video tour and educational training courses, an "Audio Guide for Everyone" (a 40-minute audio tour translated into 33 languages). We are the first museum in Ukraine to translate our tour into so many languages.

With the support of the Ukrainian Culture Fund, we adapted our sightseeing tour for the blind, as well as the site, in accordance with international web accessibility standards. This will make it easier for visually impaired visitors to gain access to the content.

You are actively promoting digital projects. Aren't you worried a bit that visitors might stop actually visiting in person?

I don't think online projects will reduce traffic. On the contrary, those who saw the information online want to come to the museum. People want to see things with their own eyes and talk with guides.

Do you have further plans as for inclusive projects?

We'll keep up this work. We want to enhance access to the first stage of the museum, where reconstruction works are now underway. In the hall, we'll put up tactile signs for the visually impaired, install Braille boards by the sculptures of angels, a sculpture of a girl with spikelets, and at the entrance. We plan to soon present the tour in sign language.

How does someone in a wheelchair get to the museum? I only saw stairs.

We do have an elevator. It's currently being repaired but once the work is over, there'll be no problem.

What other projects in your museum would you like to talk about?

Last year we did two international and eight national projects. I've already mentioned the audio guide, allowing foreign tourists to hear the tour in their native language. We are proud of the expedition project, which together with the Ukraner platform was implemented under a grant from the Ukrainian Culture Fund, having collected 120 video testimonies of Holodomor witnesses, as well as unique exhibits. If it's okay, I appeal to your readers: if you have in your possession any items relevant the Holodomor genocide period, please donate them to the museum. We guarantee that the family story of each such donated piece will be told. The item will be seen by entire Ukraine  and beyond. It's important.

Also with the support of the Ukrainian Culture Fund, a mobile application was created, named Track Holodomor History, which tells about Kyiv in the times of the Holodomor.

Two exhibitions were showcased: "Maria" (by a Canadian artist of Ukrainian origin Lesya Marushchak) and the world's first painting about the Holodomor "1933" and an exhibition telling about its author, the emigre artist Viktor Tsymbal. More than 200 new pieces have been added to our stock. Five publications on the Holodomor have been released.

Are you capable of attracting investment to your projects?

I won't rush with conclusions, but negotiations kicked off last year.

Are there any world museums at whose experience you should look?

We are interested in the approaches and formats applied by various world museums, because we are creating a new museum. But we cannot imitate anyone, because this is the unique, the world's first and only museum of the Holodomor-genocide of Ukrainians.

Iryna Petrenko

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F

or those hoping that the end of the transition period would mean never hearing about Brexit again, the last few weeks will have been something of a disappointment. Concealed somewhat by Covid restrictions and the general global economic downturn, Brexit has already started to have some dramatic and malign effects across the UK. At the more trivial level there are the price hikes for French wines; more serious is the permanent and complete collapse of the Scottish shellfish industry, and the acute economic pain and political distress in Northern Ireland.

There are many who blame the Northern Ireland protocol for the current crisis in relations between the EU and the UK. There is something in that, because Brussels and London have both tried to weaponise it in recent weeks. Indeed even before it came properly into operation, the British governments Internal Market Bill proposed to override the protocol at the unilateral and complete discretion of HM Government. This was the first breach of trust, and was in due course withdrawn.

Following that came the EUs clumsy invocation of Article 16 of the protocol during the vaccines war. That too shook confidence in the new arrangements and destroyed trust among all concerned.
NICOSIA, Cyprus, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cyprus is offering an enticing deal for tech companies and ICT specialists to put down roots in the island. Named as the most improved country in the IMD World Competitiveness Centre 2020 report, the country has made unprecedented moves to secure its future as both an established international business centre and an emerging tech hub.

Through the new Immigration Framework initiative, companies are entitled to employ up to 15 third country nationals as directors and middle management executives and any number of qualified third country nationals, who possess wanted ICT skills. New incentives cover many ICT specialists, including software and system engineers; ICT and enterprise solution architects; machine learning engineers; web developers and designers; cyber security specialists and AI, robotics and big data specialists.

The initiative complements existing national strategies to integrate innovative tech that include generous fiscal incentives to attract IT start-ups and regional headquarters and is being spearheaded by Invest Cyprus, the national investment promotion agency. The authority acts as the first point of contact for all foreign investors and international companies looking to relocate or expand their business to Cyprus.

George Campanellas, Chief Executive of Invest Cyprus, said that the impact of the coronavirus meant many tech companies were choosing to move to more cost efficient and less crowded countries that offered a better lifestyle alongside strong telecommunication and digital infrastructures.

"The world is changing and with Europe fast becoming a tech haven for talent and companies, Cyprus provides a very safe and attractive destination for tech firms and non-EU investors," he said.

"We are now taking enquiries from tech companies on a daily basis. We have visited California and other tech hubs in the US, and cities in Israel, Ireland and Eastern Europe countries and we can see that Cyprus is well positioned to become among the top European destinations for setting up regional headquarters and development centres."

Effectively, the new Immigration Framework to support tech companies moving to Cyprus means there are no restrictions on the maximum duration of stay of third country nationals and employees with residence and employment permits have direct access to family reunification with their spouse and minor children, provided that the necessary conditions of the relevant legislations are met.

Cyprus's geographic location makes it easily accessible to Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and North America, and its low corporate tax rate has already attracted several major international ICT companies. These include NCR, a world leader in consumer transaction solutions that picked Cyprus as the preferred location to host its MENA operations; Amdocs, a leading multinational software and services provider; Wargaming, a world-renowned video game developer; and Viber, the popular online communications platform.

Full details on the new initiatives package can be found on the Invest Cyprus website at www.investcyprus.org.cy.

About Invest Cyprus

Invest Cyprus (Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency) is the national investment authority of Cyprus dedicated to attracting and facilitating foreign direct investment into the country.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1433328/Invest_Cyprus_Logo.jpg

Contact:

Arilena Constantinou

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SOURCE Invest Cyprus

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opinion

Jordan and Lebanon are including Syrian refugees in their vaccination campaigns. If we don't live up to our commitments to refugees we risk a lost generation

For the world's poorest people, COVID-19 has brought social and economic catastrophe. Up to 115 million likely fell into extreme poverty in 2020, the World Bank estimates. Most live in low- and middle-income countries, especially in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Even progress on vaccines is tempered by uncertainty about when these will reach vulnerable populations worldwide.

The vulnerable include refugees and internally displaced people uprooted by conflict. The U.N. Refugee Agency, UNHCR, warns that their number has now passed 80 million, equal to the population of Germany. For example, in Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq, COVID-19 has pushed a million Syrian refugees and 180,000 internally displaced people into poverty, along with over 4 million people in host communities.

Today, 85% of refugees are hosted by low- and middle-income countries. The current economic contraction is compounding crises of conflict, violence, and food insecurity that were already pushing communities to the brink. These countries' infrastructure, health, education, and social protection systems are not set up to cope with a shock on this scale. Short of an urgent increase in humanitarian and development support, countries risk drastic, long-term destabilisation.

The desperation among refugees is stark. UNHCR staff report more instances of self-harm, including suicides in countries as different as Uganda and Lebanon, a sign of acute anguish. Yet many refugees are able and willing to give back to host communities if they have the opportunity. In Jordan, France, and Peru, for example, refugees with a background in public health or medicine have joined frontline responders in the pandemic response.

Even last February, before the pandemic, the World Bank estimated that, in 10 years, up to two-thirds of people living in extreme poverty would be in countries affected by fragility and conflict, where progress on poverty was reversing. Amid protracted conflicts, four out of five refugees now live in host countries for five years or more.

Since the start of the pandemic, UNHCR and the World Bank have stepped up health, water, sanitation, and hygiene services to protect people forced to flee. We have worked with host country governments to ensure that the displaced are included in pandemic response and economic recovery efforts.

But the economic crisis means efforts must be stepped up further: people forced to flee need long-term help more than ever. In 2019, more than half the world's 7 million school-age refugees did not attend school. Now, with COVID-induced closures, severe learning loss risks a lost generation of refugees with few job prospects and little hope.

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Refugee populations with the best access to job markets were typically in cities, but the coronavirus and recession have both hit urban areas hard, making them vulnerable to losing incomes, particularly the self-employed and informal workers. Social and economic stress could spill over into violence, triggering new waves of displacement.

Host countries can benefit by including refugees and internally displaced people in recovery efforts and ensuring their access to public health, education, and labor markets. Many are making commendable efforts. Jordan, for instance, is including Syrian refugees in its national vaccination campaign and Lebanon has just committed to doing the same. Refugees have no safety net, and even data on their socioeconomic status is often lacking. Including them-in national statistics, in emergency response and long-term recovery-makes them visible, helping us understand the scope of the challenge and how we can help.

Investing in refugees cannot be the responsibility of host countries alone. In December 2018, the international community joined together on the Global Compact for Refugees, which commits donors and multilateral institutions to this shared responsibility as a global public good. We must live up to that commitment to refugees and host communities in spirit and deed.

Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Filippo Grandi is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Axel Van Trotsenburg is the World Bank's Managing Director of Operations
Fourteen-day quarantine will continue to be applied on foreign experts, investors, entrepreneurs, management officials and Vietnamese entering Vietnam from other countries,

said Foreign Ministrys Spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang at the ministrys regular press briefing on February 4.

Foreign Ministrys spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang

Amid the complicated developments of COVID-19 recently, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has issued a decree on a number of urgent measures on COVID-19 prevention and control, while the Government Office has released a notification on the PMs conclusion at a cabinet meeting on the matter, she noted.

In the documents, the PM asked authorities of localities to promptly direct the control of the pandemic in a super fast manner, while strengthening efforts to thoroughly extinguish the pandemic, taking samples for large-scale COVID-19 testing, and the strict implementation of the 21-day quarantine policy, said the spokesperson.

As of the beginning of February 4, the number of community infections in Vietnam since January 27 had reached 329, bringing the total number of locally infected patients to 1,022./.VNA

Foreigners who choose Vietnam as their second home While many Vietnamese find their way to developed countries to make a living, many European and American businesspeople consider Vietnam, particularly Da Lat, a good land.
[February 03, 2021] The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz Announces Investigation of Tyson Foods, Inc. (TSN) on Behalf of Investors

The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz announces an investigation of Tyson Foods, Inc. ("Tyson" or the "Company") (NYSE: TSN) on behalf of investors concerning the Company's possible violations of federal securities laws. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. On December 15, 2020, the New York City Comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, issued a letter to the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission (" SEC (News - Alert) ") calling for an investigation into Tyson's failures to carry out its stated coronavirus protection policies. The letter stated that Tyson's steps "to protect employees were grudging and minimal, such as letting workers use bandanas or sleep masks." The Company also "penaliz[ed] workers who take sick leave to avoid contact with any exposed workers" and, "as of December 3, 2020, Tyson ha[d] the highest number of COVID-19 cases of any company in the meatpacking industry [and] twice as many deaths as any other meatpacking company."



On this news, the Company's stock price fell $1.78 per share, or 2.5%, to close at $68.25 per share on December 15, 2020, thereby damaging investors. Follow us for updates on Twitter (News - Alert) : twitter.com/FRC_LAW.

If you purchased Tyson securities, have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Frank R. Cruz, of The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-914-5007, by email to info@frankcruzlaw.com, or visit our website at www.frankcruzlaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210203006008/en/

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Oregon lawmakers heard Wednesday evening about the experiences of a third woman who investigators said faced unwanted advances from Rep. Diego Hernandez, D-Portland, and reasonably feared he might undermine her work at the Capitol if she declined.

On Tuesday night, the four-member House Committee on Conduct voted that Hernandez violated the Legislatures human resources rules against sexual harassment and creating a hostile workplace in his treatment of two other women. Both of those women work in Oregon politics and both had consensual relationships with Hernandez, one longer-term and one relatively brief.

The latter woman, known in investigation files and committee discussion as Subject 1, testified on camera Tuesday, giving a detailed account of Hernandezs relentless and aggressive efforts to reengage her in a relationship, including a specific veiled threat to get her disciplined or fired from her Legislature-linked job.

Hearings, which are scheduled to continue for a fourth straight evening Thursday, stream on the Legislatures website. A hearing is also now scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday as well.

The House Committee on Conduct, which is composed of two Democrats and two Republicans and includes two lawmakers of color, is making determinations as it goes on the facts of the case. After completing that work, committee members will decide whether to impose consequences on Hernandez.

In recent days, a number of groups and individuals including elected officials have called for Hernandez to resign or be expelled by a vote of the House. He easily won reelection in November.

A third woman who in mid-2017 had a brief relationship with Hernandez, known as Subject 4, had another woman read her statement to the committee Wednesday night about how wronged I was by Rep. Hernandez.

I do not owe Rep. Hernandez my silence in exchange for his service, said the woman, who also said Hernandez demonstrated he does not understand what is wrong with his treatment of women. She said that other unnamed sitting lawmakers have committed more serious transgressions than Hernandez and it was unfortunate that Hernandez, one of the few Latino or Latina lawmakers in Oregon, is being taken to task first. At the same time, the woman said Hernandez work to advance policies that help many Oregonians is not a ticket or an indulgence for injury to women.

On Monday night, the woman who had a long-term relationship with Hernandez submitted a statement that described Hernandez pattern of controlling and abusive behavior and accused him of gaslighting my experience. The victim, known as Subject 2, had another woman read the statement during the live hearing, although the reader was not pictured on camera.

The woman who had a brief relationship with Hernandez in early 2017 she said she felt compelled to testify to the committee on live video in order to defend her credibility because of how Hernandez publicly downplayed and otherwise mischaracterized his behavior. Hernandez said when accusations first surfaced that House Speaker Tina Kotek tried to get women to complain about him to punish him for a vote on trims to public employee retirement benefits.

Hes created a completely fantastical story about angry ex-girlfriends who were recruited in a coordinated effort to push him out of the Legislature because of a single vote he took, a narrative that is nothing but a couple of bad breakups and dating when youre young is hard, the woman said, referring to Hernandez various explanations for the situation over the last year.

Hernandez did not appear at the Monday or Tuesday night hearing but was represented by his lawyer, Kevin Lafky. Hernandez said in a statement read by his lawyer on Monday that it was a violation of his rights for only him or his lawyer, but not both, to be allowed to participate in the hearings.

The woman who testified Tuesday night was a lobbyist when she briefly dated Hernandez at the start of 2017, after meeting him in a professional capacity in 2016, she said. She soon told Hernandez she no longer wanted a romantic relationship, a decision she made in part because his behavior was possessive and manipulative, including going through her phone without her permission, the woman told lawmakers.

In subsequent months, the woman said, she remained in touch with Hernandez but he consistently shifted conversations from professional and legislative matters to personal topic and his continued desire for them to spend time together.

He wasnt taking no for an answer, which was making me nervous and uncomfortable, she said.

One day, an anonymous gift package arrived at her home. Soon after, she left work at the Capitol and found flowers  again anonymous  on the windshield of her car. The anonymous gifts arriving at my home and my place of work made me feel very exposed and vulnerable, like someone was watching me, she said. Hernandez eventually confirmed he left the flowers and sent the gifts.

The woman repeatedly told Hernandez she did not want a relationship, but he continued to pursue her, according to her testimony Tuesday night and findings of independent investigators hired by the state.

In the summer of 2017, the woman agreed to meet Hernandez before he was scheduled to attend an event with the intent to again make clear she was drawing a line she did not want him to cross. Honestly, I felt worn down by his continued requests and I was striving to maintain a professional relationship, she said. He suggested they meet up again after the event and the woman said she neither agreed or disagreed. Near dusk that evening, she said, Hernandez showed up at the entrance to her apartment building and phoned for her to let him in.

It was clear to me at that point that I had completely lost any measure of control over the situation, said the woman, who lived in a first-floor apartment with many windows. She hid in her closet until Hernandez left, she testified.

Yet Hernandez continued to push to spend time with her and when the woman accepted a job as executive director of the House Democrats political organization, he suddenly had more access and power over her since he was a leader in the caucus, she said. He became less requesting of her time and more insistent upon it, she testified.

She avoided him when they were both at a professional conference in October 2017, the woman said, but after the conference she received a text message from him that she perceived to be a veiled threat.

While telling me that I was the perfect fit for the position, he openly criticized my work performance at the conference that weekend and accused me of drinking too much, she said. He offered that he was sharing this with me and no one else, but that he and I should meet in person to sort out how to work together better moving forward.  I felt like this was an attack on my credibility from someone who had influence and power over my job  I was feeling cornered 

The woman said that lawmakers response to the case will set a precedent for the type of behavior that will be tolerated at the Capitol in the future. She said that if Hernandez does not resign, lawmakers should seriously consider expelling him.

-- Hillary Borrud; hborrud@oregonian.com; @hborrud

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
Hunter Biden is a lawyer and former lobbyist whose work helped lead to the first impeachment of Trump. Biden joined the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma in 2014, around the time his father, then U.S. vice president, was helping conduct the Obama administrations foreign policy in that region. Trump and others have insisted that Biden was exploiting his fathers name, and they raised unsubstantiated charges of corruption. The House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump in 2019 after learning that he had pressured Ukraines president to announce it was investigating the Bidens. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.
Create: Find poetry in the pages of your newspaper. Erasure poems can help you find your voice when its hard to tap into your creative juices.

Allow yourself some joy. At Home has our full collection of ideas on what to read, cook, watch and do while staying safe at home.

And now for the Back Story on 

Traveling post-vaccine

Our Tripped Up column, which answers questions about travel, gave one of our readers this advice about her plans to hop on a flight to see her grandchildren after her second vaccine shot, including what health and safety precautions she still needs to take.

Is it safe to travel by subway, train, bus or plane after I have been vaccinated? What are the proper protocols for protecting others?

Even before the vaccines arrived, mass transit was rarely labeled by health officials with blanket terms like safe or unsafe. Studies conducted over the summer suggested that when certain criteria are met, subways are safer, from a viral-transmission standpoint, than one might assume. A trove of new research indicates that the chance of contracting the coronavirus while flying is low. For trains and planes alike, the focus is  and will continue to be  concrete, actionable measures that mitigate risk, like high-efficiency air filtration, enhanced disinfection, mask requirements, social distancing and capacity limits.

The basic protocols for protecting others (masks, distancing, hand-washing) havent changed.

I know its frustrating, especially for grandparents, because it almost feels like the goal posts have been moved again, Dr. Keri N. Althoff, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said. But weve always said that you cannot just rip your mask off and run around like its 2019 once youre vaccinated. Weve all learned not only how important our individual health is, but also how interconnected we are.

Thats it for this briefing. See you tomorrow morning.  Natasha

Thank you

Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh provided the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.

 Were listening to The Daily. Our latest episode is about Mexicos drug cartels.

 Heres our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Long, boring job (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here.

 Johanna Barr, an editor on our Politics desk, is joining the Metro desk as senior editor for news and planning.

Osaka - Many different catalysts that promote the conversion of glucose to sorbitol have been studied; however, most offer certain properties while requiring compromises on others. Now, researchers from Osaka University have reported a hydrotalcite-supported nickel phosphide nanoparticle catalyst (nano-Ni 2 P/HT) that ticks all the boxes. Their findings are published in Green Chemistry.

Sorbitol is a versatile molecule that is widely used in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals industries. There is therefore a pressing need to produce sorbitol in a sustainable, low-cost, and green manner.

The nickel catalysts that are commonly used in the industrial hydrogenation of glucose to sorbitol are unstable in air and require hash reaction conditions. Rare metal alternatives--despite being more efficient--can be expensive and are susceptible to poisoning.

nano-Ni 2 P/HT is stable in air and has a high activity for the hydrogenation of glucose to sorbitol. In addition, nano-Ni 2 P/HT produces a particular sorbitol structure, known as D -sorbitol, at more than 99% yield. This high selectivity means that a high-purity product can be obtained.

The nano-Ni 2 P/HT-catalyzed hydrogenation can be carried out in water. Moreover, the catalyst shows good conversion and selectivity when the temperature is just 25C--compared with 100-180C for conventional processes--or when the hydrogen gas pressure is only 1 bar--compared with 50-150 bar. The energy saved by using these mild conditions would lead to greener and more sustainable procedures, as well as reduce operating costs.

"Our nano-Ni 2 P/HT catalyst outperformed conventional nickel alternatives in terms of both the catalytic activity and the amount of D -sorbitol that was produced, which is very encouraging," study first author Sho Yamaguchi explains. "nano-Ni 2 P/HT also gave a better yield of D -sorbitol than a commercially available noble metal catalyst."

Repeated use of the catalyst showed that nano-Ni 2 P/HT could be recycled with no significant loss of performance. The reaction could also be carried out at high glucose concentration (50 wt%), which demonstrates the viability of the catalyst for large scale use.

"The continual improvement of industrial catalyst is necessary to achieve sustainable, low-cost production with an environmental conscience," says study corresponding author Takato Mitsudome. "We believe our catalyst will make an important contribution, not only to D -sorbitol production, but to the development of other processes that support the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics industries."

###

The article, "Air-stable and reusable nickel phosphide nanoparticle catalyst for the highly selective hydrogenation of D -glucose to D -sorbitol," was published in Green Chemistry at DOI: https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1039/ D0GC03301D

About Osaka University
The NNG team expands its professional knowledge in several areas with the appointment of Heikki Laine: he has previous experience as a talented engineer, technology strategist, and registered patent attorney. He represents perspectives and knowledge that will help identify and develop quality products to create value for NNG's customers and partners.

With more than 15 years of product and strategic experience in startups and Fortune 100 companies behind him, Laine demonstrated his expertise in driving innovation and digital transformation. Before joining NNG, he developed simulation software for self-driving vehicles as Vice President of Product and Marketing at Cognata. Prior to that, he worked on Honeywell's aerospace portfolio and had spent more than 10 years at HARMAN, where he managed automotive product strategy.

"I'm thrilled to join NNG and its leadership team at such an exciting time in its evolution. I look forward to working with such a remarkable team and to accelerating company growth, as we continue to define the future of automotive software," said Heikki Laine about his appointment.

ABOUT NNG LLC

NNG, a global automotive software house, works to provide the best in-vehicle experience for all. The company delivers solutions of exceptional value for connected navigation, cyber security, and user experience.

Known for its iGO Navigation software, its solutions are primarily used in white-label products for major car companies. NNG's navigation is installed on over 60 million devices globally, with 38 car brands and growing.

Represented on all continents, NNG's offices include: US, Brazil, Switzerland, Hungary, Israel, China, South Africa, Japan, Russia, and south east Asia ensuring highly localized solutions and aggregation of the best content available on each market.

Read more: https://nng.com

Follow:

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SOURCE NNG
ELK CITY, Idaho, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Therapeutic Solutions International, Inc., (OTC Markets: TSOI), announces today the signing of a Master Sales Agreement with Community Shield LLC of Sheridan Wyoming to distribute its science-based nutraceutical line of products.

Products to be included in the Master Sales Agreement currently consists of QuadraMune, NanoStilbene, NeuroStilbene, NanoPSA, Nano Plus, Nano Cannabidiol, and ProJuvenol. Future products will be added to Master List as commercialized and provide same levels of discount.

"Execution of this sales agreement by our new Vice President of Business development Famela Ramos, is a significant milestone for us. Community Shield LLC is a company focused on developing innovative ways to deliver optimum health care to specific communities based on science and not opinions or politics, makes CSL an ideal partner," said Timothy Dixon, President and CEO of TSOI. "Since our Company is laser focused on operating as an 'innovation factory', we rely on external partnerships such as this to provide sales and marketing for our nutraceuticals, which results in a mutually beneficial relationship."

"While nutraceuticals are a multibillion-dollar market, we at Therapeutic Solutions International pride ourselves on being 'science first'. Every product that we sell is backed by laboratory data, and in some cases clinical data," said Famela Ramos, Vice President of Business Development. "We are enthusiastic to enter relationships with specialized groups who are positioned to accelerate awareness of our natural and science-based catalogue of products."

"Our ability to distribute the revolutionary products of TSOI is a key element in protecting community health. Science is taking major strides in therapeutic technologies and their importance to immune system health. TSOI is an industry-leader in developing these technologies," said Steve Scholl, Principal of Community Shield LLC.

About Therapeutic Solutions International, Inc.

Therapeutic Solutions International is focused on immune modulation for the treatment of several specific diseases. The Company's corporate website is www.therapeuticsolutionsint.com, and our public forum is https://board.therapeuticsolutionsint.com/

About Community Shield, LLC

Community Shield was founded on one principle: helping our community. Our goal is to continuously develop revolutionary ways to help our community cope with these uncertain times without fear of the unknown. The last thing you want is to feel unsafe navigating our new lifestyle  worried about getting sick or the large number of germs and bacteria now living on the various surfaces of your belongings and surroundings. Community Shield can help our communities shift to the "new normal."

[email protected]

SOURCE Therapeutic Solutions International

Related Links

https://www.therapeuticsolutionsint.com


A police raid in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday uncovered a forgery ring responsible for the production of fake medical and teaching certifications.

Police officers confirmed on Wednesday that they had cracked a forgery ring that produced bogus government agency seals and documents.

They exposed the illicit operation earlier on Wednesday while searching the apartment and workplace of three suspects: Vu Xuan Nghia, Le Huynh Duy Anh, and Cuong Huynh Phat Dat.

Police officers seized four personal computers, 12 printers, one mobile hard drive with 500 gigabytes' worth of certificate blueprints, 50 plastic stamps, one seal maker, two inking stamps, 3,600 blank certificates, 110 school profiles, 1,300 rubber stamps, and several other documents and items related to the operation.

A forged doctor of medicine degree is seized in this photo supplied by police, February 3, 2021.

According to a preliminary probe, the suspects had also created websites to promote their certificate forgery service, though most of their communication was done via social media.

Many of the seized certifications are medical and teaching degrees with specific names.

Fake certifications are a major detriment to the society, police said.

Police forces are working to investigate the suspects and close the case.

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Gaborone  Motorcycle rider, Brady Armstrong, has promised the best performance in the Dakar Rally 2022.

Speaking in an interview with BOPA, the 23-year-old Armstrong promised to raise the Botswana flag high in the Dakar Rally, following outstanding performance by Ross Branch and Vincent Crosbie in the race.

He pointed out that Branch had helped him to reach his dream of participating in the Dakar Rally, stating that Branch would also train and educate him on the rally.

Armstrong said in preparation for the Dakar Rally 2022, he would take part in local and international motor sport competitions to appraise his commitment and competiveness in motor sport.

He noted that the Dakar Rally was complex and that it was important to learn and familiarise himself with the use of technologies mounted on the bike that help to navigate the road and other important things during the ride.

Armstrong said he would use the experience he gained during national competitions like the 1 000km Desert Race and others to prepare for the Dakar Rally 2022.

He said he expected to use the 1 000km Desert race competitions, junior competitions and regional competitions to prepare for Dakar Rally 2022.

Armstrong said he started his riding career with Lobelo Racing Club in Francistown, where he excelled in junior races and also competed in regional competitions in Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

He applauded Botswana Motor Sport Federation for its continued support for motor sport growth and development in Botswana.

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Armstrong said he appreciated the association for efforts in developing and modernising motor sport in Botswana, as most riders and drivers had been affiliating to international motor sport associations.

He further encouraged young Batswana to invest in becoming riders and drivers of motor sport to grow Botswana tourism.

He said starting training at a tender age could sharpern their skills and help in realising one's dream of becoming a rider.

For his part, Armstrong's trainer, who is also his father, Gregg Armstrong said he was pleased with his son's performance in local and international competitions adding that he was hopeful that he would do well in the Dakar Rally 2022.

"Since he has completed his schooling in South Africa, he would train in Botswana and gain technical advice and guidance from Branch," he added.

The older Armstrong said they were focusing on technical and mental aspects of the training, adding that they were currently in discussions with their team in Netherlands, to have a mini competition that could prepare the rider for the 2022 race.

Source : BOPA
A union representing Frontier Communications workers in Connecticut said the states approval of a plan for the Norwalk-based utility company to leave bankruptcy was a missed opportunity.

(Wednesdays) decision commits Frontier to expanding its fiber footprint and provides additional protections for Frontier technicians and customer service representatives who are necessary to improving service in Connecticut, said Dave Weidlich, president of the Communications Workers of America, Local 1298, in a statement.

However, we believe this was a missed opportunity to follow the lead of other states who have put stronger conditions on Frontier related to capital investment, broadband deployment and workforce retention.

The union had called for stronger commitments from the telecom company in the lead up to Wednesdays decision. Those commitments included deploying fiber-optic cable to 200,000 homes in the state, and agreeing to $400 million in capital investments in the state.

A draft decision by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority last month only asked that the company expand fiber broadband to 100,000 homes by 2024. It also stipulated the company remain headquartered in the state for two years, during which it commit to no layoffs.

The Federal Communications Commission approved the plan last month.

A Frontier spokesman said the company was pleased to receive PURAs approval regarding the change of control proceedings , but he declined further comment.

The union statement also said the union appreciated the work of PURA staff, and other state officials who reviewed Frontiers reorganization plan.

Weidlich said CWA remains committed to working with Frontier to provide the best possible service to Connecticut customers and to ensure that Frontier lives up to both the letter and spirit of this decision.

We hope that this decision will serve as a starting point for Frontiers continued investment and that Frontier makes a strong, ongoing commitment to Connecticut homes and businesses to provide Connecticut with the connectivity we deserve, he said.

Staff writer Luther Turmelle contributed to this report


The Palestinians will receive 10,000 doses of Russias Sputnik V vaccine on Thursday, enough to cover 5,000 people, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila told Voice of Palestine radio.

The Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, launched a vaccination campaign on Tuesday after a small delivery of doses from Israel, Reuters reported.
Brady Corporation, a global leader in safety, identification, and compliance solutions, is hosting a free webinar on Solutions for Cable & Wire Identification & LIVE hands on demo broadcasting on February 17 at 3 to 4 PM, Dubai time.

Well identified wires, cables and components give professionals an immediate insight into how an installation works and how it is connected.

This enables them to perform repairs, installation updates and upgrades faster, in a safer, more secure way and with a reduced risk of human error. There is a lot more to professional identification labels than meets the eye.

Depending on the context of their job, it is better to choose a more resilient material that ensures legibility for the lifetime of a cable or component, Brady said in a statement.

The online event will be an opportunity for professionals to learn about the best practice in cable and wire identification with a live stream of the hands-on demonstration and ask questions. Farah Montenegro, Local Product Expert at Brady Corporation is the speaker at the webinar.

The main agenda of the webinar is:

1. Importance of professional labelling;

2. Norms and specifications;

3. Wire and cable identification;

4. Do It Yourself on-site label printing power - Live Demo broadcasting;

5. Questions & Answers

Date and time: Wednesday 17.02.2021, 03:00 - 4:00 PM Dubai time

Speaker: Farah Montenegro, Local Product Expert, Brady Corporation

Number of participants is limited, so please reserve your place now.
From left, professor Yohannes Abate talks with graduate students Marquez Howard and Neda Aghamiri about equipment used for nanoscale imaging and spectroscopy in his lab. Credit: Andrew Davis Tucker/UGA, prior to March 2020.

When we think about the links to the futurethe global transition to solar and wind energy, tactile virtual reality or synthetic neuronsthere's no shortage of big ideas. It's the materials to execute the big ideasthe ability to manufacture the lithium-ion batteries, opto-electronics and hydrogen fuel cellsthat stand between concept and reality.

Enter two-dimensional materials, the latest step in innovation. Consisting of a single layer of atoms, two-dimensional materials like graphene and phosphorene exhibit new properties with far-reaching potential. With a capability to be combined like Lego bricks, these materials offer connections to future products, including new means to convey both power and people, with more-efficient energy transmission, and solar- and wind-powered vehicles on roads and in skies.

A study led by University of Georgia researchers announces the successful use of a new nanoimaging technique that will allow researchers to test and identify these materials in a comprehensive way at the nanoscale for the first time. Now, there's a way to experiment with new materials for our big ideas at a really, really small scale.

"Fundamental sciencesmall-scale electrical conductivity, light emission, structural changeshappen at the nanoscale," said Yohannes Abate, Susan Dasher and Charles Dasher MD Professor of Physics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and lead author on the new paper. "This new tool allows us to visualize all of this combined at unprecedented specificity and resolution."

"Since we cannot see atoms with traditional methods, we needed to invent new tools to visualize them," he said. The hyperspectral imaging technique allows scientists to inspect electrical properties, optical properties, and the mechanical properties at the fundamental length scale, simultaneously.

Credit: University of Georgia

The hyperspectral imaging research is supported by grants from the United States Air Force and the National Science Foundation. The researchers created a one-atom thick sheet of two kinds of semiconductors stitched together, similar to assembling an atomic Lego, with properties not found in traditional thick materials. With single-atom-thick crystals, each atom is literally exposed on the surface, combining atomic properties that result in new properties.

"At the heart of materials science is the need to understand fundamental properties of new materials, otherwise it is impossible to take advantage of their unique properties," Abate said. "This technique puts us one step closer to being able to use these materials for a number of potential applications."

Those include various forms of electronics or light-emitting systems applications. How to verify the effect of very small changes in atomic composition, conductivity and light response of single-atom-thick materials simultaneously has been the challenge until now, Abate said.

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, who envisioned nanotechnology as early as the 1960s, predicted that as scientists became able to choose and replace certain kinds of atoms, they would able to fabricate practically any imaginable material.

"More than half a century later, we're not there yet, but where we are, we can visualize them, and at that scale there are new issues that can arise and we have to understand those properties as a part of understanding the large scale material properties, before we can use them," Abate said.

The paper is published in the journal ACS Nano.

Explore further Laser light exposes the properties of materials used in batteries and electronics

More information: Alireza Fali et al, Photodegradation Protection in 2D In-Plane Heterostructures Revealed by Hyperspectral Nanoimaging: The Role of Nanointerface 2D Alloys, ACS Nano (2021). Journal information: ACS Nano Alireza Fali et al, Photodegradation Protection in 2D In-Plane Heterostructures Revealed by Hyperspectral Nanoimaging: The Role of Nanointerface 2D Alloys,(2021). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c06148

LTTS wird in der Kategorie "Produkt" fur seine innovativen Losungen in den Bereichen Gesundheitswesen und Smart Campus ausgezeichnet Chest rAI i-BEMS

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), ein weltweit fuhrendes reines Ingenieurdienstleistungsunternehmen, gab bekannt, dass zwei seiner digitalen Losungen mit den BIG Innovation Awards 2021 in der Kategorie "Produkt" ausgezeichnet wurden. Die Auszeichnung wird von der Business Intelligence Group in den USA verliehen.

LTTS wurde fur seine innovativen Produkte ausgezeichnet Chest rAI, das KI-basierte Brustkorb-Rontgenanalysesystem von LTTS, das Radiologen bei der Verbesserung der Diagnosegeschwindigkeit und -genauigkeit unterstutzt, und das von LTTS entwickelte Rahmenwerk fur die Gebaudeautomatisierung, i-BEMS, das als IoT-Losung fur Unternehmen fungiert und alle Campusablaufe in einem System vereinheitlicht.

Weltweit gibt es einen akuten Mangel an Radiologen, was zu verzogerten Auswertungen und Entscheidungen und damit zu langeren Wartezeiten fur Patienten fuhrt. Die KI-gestutzte Losung von LTTS unterstutzt Radiologen durch eine schnelle Sichtung von Anomalien im Rontgenbild, Annotation und automatische Berichtserstellung. LTTS wurde fur die Entwicklung eines Produkts gewurdigt, von dem Millionen von Menschen profitieren werden.

LTTS wurde auerdem dafur ausgezeichnet, dass das Unternehmen sein Angebot an die "neue Normalitat" angepasst und ein neues Modul, i-BEMS Shield, fur eine sicherere Arbeitsplatzumgebung geschaffen hat. i-BEMS, die intelligente Gebaudelosung von LTTS fur eine Zukunft nach COVID, ermoglicht Funktionen wie die automatische Temperaturerfassung, die Uberwachung der Luftqualitat in Gebauden und die intelligente Uberwachung der Einhaltung sozialer Distanzierungsnormen.

Maria Jimenez, Chief Operating Officer der Business Intelligence Group in den USA, sagte: "Die Pandemie hat den Menschen das echte Potenzial der Technologie vor Augen gefuhrt, um unser Leben wie nie zuvor positiv zu beeinflussen. Die Welt hat in den letzten Monaten einige der besten Innovationen gesehen, darunter die Demokratisierung des Zugangs zu modernen medizinischen Technologien. Die Rolle von Ingenieurdienstleistungen bei diesen Umbruchen ist anerkennenswert und wir schatzen die konsequenten Beitrage von LTTS an dieser Front."

Dr. Keshab Panda, CEO und Managing Director bei L&T Technology Services, sagte: "Wir freuen uns sehr uber die Verleihung des prestigetrachtigen BIG Innovation Award, der die vorbildliche Arbeit der LTTS-Ingenieure fur unsere weltweiten Kunden auszeichnet. Mit einem beeindruckenden digitalen Portfolio, das mehr als 550 Technologiepatente umfasst, vereint LTTS kontinuierlich Ideen und Innovationen mit Investitionen in neue Technologien, um differenzierte technische Losungen zu liefern, die speziell fur komplexe reale Probleme in der Industrie entwickelt wurden. Nachdem wir uns mit fuhrenden Kopfen der akademischen Welt zusammengetan haben, um Innovationen wie das Brustkorb-Rontgenanalysesystem zu entwickeln, ist LTTS davon uberzeugt, ein exzellentes Okosystem zu schaffen, um den Wandel zum Wohle der Gesellschaft weiter voranzutreiben."

Die BIG Innovation Awards zeichnen Organisationen und Menschen aus, die in Unternehmen auf der ganzen Welt neue Ideen zum Leben erwecken. Sie werden von einer Expertenjury vergeben, zu der eine ausgewahlte Gruppe von Wirtschaftsfuhrern und Fuhrungskraften aus der Industrie gehort.

Uber L&T Technology Services Ltd

L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) ist eine borsennotierte Tochtergesellschaft von Larsen Toubro Limited, die sich auf Engineering- und F&E-Dienstleistungen (Engineering and R&D, ER&D) fur Kunden auf der ganzen Welt konzentriert. Wir bieten Beratungs-, Planungs-, Entwicklungs- und Prufdienste entlang des gesamten Lebenszyklus der Produkt- und Prozessentwicklung an. Zu unseren Stammkunden gehoren 69 Fortune-500-Unternehmen und 53 der weltweit fuhrenden ER&D-Unternehmen aus den Bereichen Industrieprodukte, Medizinprodukte, Transport, Telekommunikation und Hi-Tech sowie der Prozessindustrie. Unser Firmensitz befindet sich in Indien und wir haben rund 16.000 Mitarbeiter, die auf 17 globale Designzentren, 28 globale Verkaufsburos und 62 Innovationslabore verteilt sind (Stand: 31. Dezember 2020).

Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter https://www.ltts.com/

Die Ausgangssprache, in der der Originaltext veroffentlicht wird, ist die offizielle und autorisierte Version. Ubersetzungen werden zur besseren Verstandigung mitgeliefert. Nur die Sprachversion, die im Original veroffentlicht wurde, ist rechtsgultig. Gleichen Sie deshalb Ubersetzungen mit der originalen Sprachversion der Veroffentlichung ab.

Originalversion auf businesswire.com ansehen: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210129005542/de/

Contacts:

Aniruddha Basu

L&T Technology Services Limited

E-Mail: Aniruddha.Basu@LTTS.com

Tel.: +91 806767 5707
Kanpur:

The Centre will set up bio-toilets at Ganga ghats, an official told in Kanpur on Friday.



In the first phase, the bio-toilets, to be set up under the Centre's Namami Gange project, would come up at six ghats, said project member Tanveer Ahmad.



While two such toilets would be set up at the Massacre Ghat, Gola Ghat, Magazine Ghat, Koyala Ghat, Guptar Ghat and Bhagwatdas Ghat would have one bio-toilet each, he said. The move would benefit those living in the settlements on the banks of the river, he added.



The Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) had given a green signal to the project at the three ghats falling under its jurisdiction, said Ahmad.



Though the work at the KMC ghats would begin soon, the process in the cantonment-supervised area would start only after getting permission from the authorities concerned, he added.



There is a special kind of bacteria in the tank that stores the excreta in a bio-toilet, which consumes the solid particles, while the watery content evaporates. These toilets would serve the desired purpose only if at least 200 people used them daily, said Ahmad.



Namami Gange, a pet project of the BJP-led NDA government, aims at cleaning the holy river and its tributaries in a comprehensive member. The project comes under the Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, headed by Uma Bharti.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
South Jacksonville village trustees are scheduled to meet in regular session at 7 p.m. today in Village Hall, 301 Dewey Drive.

Among the items on the agenda are:
Washington  President Joe Biden will make clear Thursday that the world should expect a more diplomatically engaged United States moving forward, starting with him putting the brakes on Donald Trumps plan to withdraw thousands of U.S. troops from Germany.

Biden will also announce in a speech at the State Department that the U.S. will stop supporting Saudi Arabias military offensive in the long-running war in Yemen in hopes of ending one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

We must meet this new moment of accelerating global challenges  from a pandemic to the climate crisis to nuclear proliferation  challenges that will only be solved by nations working together in common cause, Biden will say, according to excerpts of the speech released by the White House.

Bidens most public diplomatic efforts of his young presidency will signal to the world that Americas back after four years in which Trump pressed an America First mantra.

Trump last year, despite congressional resistance, announced plans to redeploy about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 U.S. troops stationed in Germany, which hosts key American military facilities like the Ramstein Air Base and the headquarters for U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command.

Trump announced the pullback after repeatedly accusing Germany of not paying enough for its own defense, calling the longtime NATO ally delinquent for failing to spend 2% of its GDP on defense, the alliance benchmark.

No reductions or changes have been made to U.S. troop levels since Trumps announcement. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hinted at a likely reconsideration of the order in a conversation with his German counterpart last week, chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

Austin told German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer that the U.S. would make its decision in consultation with her and her government, Kirby said. German officials have hoped that the order would be rescinded by the new administration.

During Thursdays visit to the State Department, officials said, Biden also plans to announce that he will increase the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States to more than eight times the level at which the Trump administration left it.

Trump drastically reduced the refugee admissions cap to only 15,000 before he left office. Bidens plan would raise that number to 125,000, surpassing the ceiling set by President Barack Obama before he left office by 15,000.

The timing of Bidens visit so early in his term is deliberate, as much symbolic as it is a nod to his interest in foreign policy and his years as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he represented Delaware.

Trump had waited more than a year to visit the department, making his first appearance only for the swearing-in of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2018, and repeatedly assailed it as part of a deep state out to undermine his administration. Trump denigrated and dismissed its employees and unsuccessfully tried over multiple years to slash its budget by up to 35%.

Biden, by contrast, chose longtime confidant Antony Blinken to be his secretary of state, aiming to reinvigorate an American diplomatic corps that had been depleted and demoralized under four years of the Trump administration.

He will be greeted by employees eager to hear that diplomacy has returned to the top of the presidential agenda and that the expertise of long-serving foreign service officers will be valued. Although Bidens first nominations and appointments to senior positions at State have trended heavily toward political appointees, the president and Blinken have pledged to promote career staffers.

To that end, the Biden administration is set to name a longtime U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Tim Lenderking, as its special envoy in Yemen. The move comes as Biden is searching for a diplomatic end to the Saudi Arabia-led military campaign that has deepened humanitarian suffering in the Arabian peninsulas poorest country. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the selection, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement.

Lenderking, a career foreign service member, has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The State Department visit comes after Biden moved on Wednesday to extend the last remaining treaty limiting Russian and American stockpiles of nuclear weapons, acting just two days before the pact was set to expire. It also follows days after a coup in Myanmar that has emerged as an early proving ground of Bidens approach to multilateralism.

Biden may also address asylum claims for residents of Hong Kong, according to one official. He indicated during his campaign that he was interested in providing protection to people persecuted by the Chinese government.

Officials said Biden would not necessarily override the record low refugee cap of 15,000 that Trump set for the current budget year. Instead, the 125,000 figure would be proposed for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. The president is required by law to first consult Congress on his plans before making a determination.

Advocates had said that the backlog of tens of thousands of refugees left by the Trump administration had made it unlikely Bidens target of resettling 125,000 refugees could be reached this year. It will take time to rebuild the pipeline. More than one-third of U.S. resettlement offices were forced to close over the past four years with the drop in refugee arrivals and hundreds of workers were let go.

Another issue that may be addressed Thursday is a review of vetting procedures for refugees, according to the officials and others. The Trump administration had put in place extreme background checks that had brought the program to a standstill, advocates say.

The Trump administration also narrowed eligibility this year, restricting which refugees are selected for resettlement to certain categories, including people persecuted because of religion and Iraqis whose assistance to the U.S. put them in danger.

Biden is expected to do away with those categories at some point and have the program return to using the long-standing referral system by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees that makes selections based on a persons need to be resettled.
Green-Schools, in partnership with Irish Water, are supporting students and their families during lockdown with a series of Stay Home resources aimed at helping them learn more about water, one of our most fascinating and precious resources.

With students and their parents adapting to the challenges of home schooling, these online resources are designed to be fun, entertaining and easily accessible. From water-themed videos to quizzes, experiments and much more, there is a host of activities for students of all ages to enjoy doing at home.

The programme includes 13 weeks of activities targeted to three different age categories of Junior Primary (Infants to 2nd Class), Senior Primary (third to sixth class) and Secondary School. So there is something for all age groups to enjoy and learn from.

All the experiments are designed to be simple enough to carry out at home using easily available materials. For example, students can learn all about how evaporation works using just some empty jam jars, a saucer, paper, scissors and a marker. Or they can make their own water filter with an old plastic bottle, sand and gravel.

Other activities include a chance to view chapters from The Story of Water, a documentary that focuses on the critical value of this precious natural resource and explores the ongoing threats to its future - both globally and in Ireland. Chapters included in the Stay Home resources cover topics such as water treatment, pollution and wastewater.

Irish Waters sponsorship of the Green-Schools Water Theme is in its eighth year and in that time over 2,000 schools have attended interactive Water Workshops and Walk for Water Events. Last year alone, Green-Schools saved over 600 million litres of water. As well as running workshops and Water Ambassador training for students in participating schools, Green-Schools also runs an annual poster and video competition on a water theme. Due to Covid 19 restrictions and school closures, the Green-Schools programme has successfully moved much of its interaction online for the current school year, with new content and innovative virtual events.

Cathy Baxter, Green-Schools Manager, said: With home schooling now the norm for the vast majority of students and their parents we are pleased to be able to do our bit to help by providing these free resources to help everyone learn more about water and how precious it is. Since making the Stay Home resources available via the Green-Schools website and on social media we have had an incredible response from all over the country. So far close to 10,000 people have engaged with the Stay Home water resources alone online.

Colm Ward, Irish Waters Regional Communication Specialist, added: We are delighted to partner with the Green-Schools Water Programme in supporting students and their families at this time. Irish Water is proud to be sponsoring the Green-Schools Water Theme for the eighth year in a row  a programme which has seen tens of thousands of Irish students learn more about the value of water and how we can all help to safeguard this precious resource for the future.

The Green-Schools Stay Home activities are available on the Green-Schools website at https://greenschoolsireland. org/green-schools-stay-home- water/. They can also be found on the Green-Schools social media channels with the hashtag #GreenSchoolsStayHome. The Story of Water documentary is available to view in its entirety or as individual chapters on the Irish Water website at www.water.ie/storyofwater

If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us

We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.
More than 90% of Ukrainians support protests against the increase in tariffs for housing and communal services, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from January 27 to February 1.

According to the research, when answering the question how the respondents feel about the rallies against the increase in tariffs, 91.1% answered that they rather or completely support them. At the same time, 6.3% do not support them, and 2.6% found it difficult to answer the question.

Also, according to the survey, 55.4% of respondents rather or completely support the idea of resigning the current government and forming a new Cabinet of Ministers. 29.2% do not support it, and 15.4% found it difficult to answer the question.

60.7% of respondents rather or completely support the idea of dissolving parliament and holding early elections. 27.7% do not support the idea, and 11.5% found it difficult to answer the question.

Also, 47.6% of respondents rather or completely support the idea of resignation of President Zelensky and the holding of early elections, 41.1% do not support it, and 11.4% found it difficult to answer the question.

The all-Ukrainian poll was conducted by personal interviews using tablets (CAPPE). 1,205 respondents living in 86 settlements of all regions of Ukraine (except for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea) were interviewed according to a 3-stage stochastic sample with a quota selection at the last stage, which is representative for the population of Ukraine aged 18 and over.

In Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the survey was conducted only in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities.

The statistical error of the sample (with a probability of 0.95 and excluding the design effect) does not exceed: 2.9% - for indicators close to 50%, 2.5% - for indicators close to 25%, 1.9% - for indicators close to 12%, 1.3% - for indicators close to 5%.
Ireland is not one of the most prosperous countries in Europe, but actually ranks below average once distortions in economic data are accounted for, according to former Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan.

In a new economic letter published today by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), Prof Honohan says that Ireland has "an unrealistically high ranking" in international comparisons due to the use of misleading GDP figures and relatively high prices in the domestic economy.

He says although Ireland ranks second in the EU 28 behind Luxembourg using GDP measures, the country falls to eighth according to GNI*  modified gross national income  a statistic preferred by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Read More

According to actual individual consumption (AIC), an alternative indicator of household welfare, Ireland actually sits below average in the EU, with an AIC of 95pc of the EU average, down from 115pc in 2006-2007.

That result places Ireland at 12th  below the UK and all six of the founding members of the European Economic Community, as well as Austria and the three Nordic member states.

Prof Honohan's letter tries to take account of statistical distortions when comparing average economic prosperity across different countries.

It is well understood in Ireland that gross domestic product (GDP) is a limited proxy measure for overall wealth and spending power because the activities of multinationals and aircraft leasing companies are included.

However, GDP is still the preferred measure for bond investors who fund government spending, since the figure captures the entire taxable economy within a country.

Prof Honohan argues that AIC removes the artefacts of Ireland's position as a global trading platform for certain large industries and focuses on the actual current living standards of households, adjusted for price differences.

The result, he says, is that Ireland ranks "a lot lower than is commonly presumed"  above eastern European states and most Mediterranean EU members, but definitely not in Europe's top tier.

Surprisingly, the country's relative ranking is even lower today than in the late 1990s, indicating the long-term economic damage caused by the financial crisis.

Government austerity, higher taxes and prices 27pc higher than the EU average are largely responsible for that change, Prof Honohan says.

"No wonder many questioned the quality and extent of economic recovery even before the pandemic hit," he writes in the letter.

Read More




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YPSILANTI, MI  A downtown Ypslianti brewery believes a 131-year-old community landmark thats often joked about should be celebrated.

At the intersection of Cross and Summit streets sits the Ypsilanti water tower, known to residents by many names, most of them based off its conspicuous design. In 2003, when Cabinet magazine hosted a contest to find the worlds most phallic building, the water tower took home the title.

However, Ted Badgerow, part-owner of Ypsi Alehouse, 124 Pearl St., which uses the tower in its logo, calls the building a remarkable symbol of Ypsilanti.

Were hoping some folks come in, safely of course, to celebrate the symbol of the water tower right here at Yspi Alehouse, Badgerow said.

Badgerows brewing prowess began back in 1982 with the short-lived Real Ale Company, a microbrewery in the historic Chelsea Clocktower in downtown Chelsea.

So here we are with Ypsi Alehouse, the second time around starting a brewery, still dealing with towers, Badgerow said.

The Ypsi Alehouse, which opened in 2015, is located in the Centennial Center Building, a structure with a unique history of its own, Badgerow said.

This building were in wasnt built by some entrepreneur, it was over 200 private citizens of Ypsilanti who ponied up the money and had this wonderful structure built, the Huron Hotel, which opened on New Years Day in 1923, Bagderow said.

The water tower that was built as part of a city waterworks project in the 1880s, is a historic structure, as much as it is a directional cue for Ypsilanti residents, Badgerow said.

Located on the highest point in Ypsilanti, the tower was completed on Feb. 3, 1890, costing more than $21,000, according to the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority. Made of Joliet limestone, the water tower is 147 feet tall, has an 85-foot base and holds 250,000 gallons of water when full.

The structure reminds him of home, said Badgerow, who came to the area in the late 1960s and has lived in Ypsilanti since 1999.

It wouldve been 1969 when I first saw the tower, he said. I was in town for my high school in Sparta Michigans cross country team and I remember seeing the bust of Demetrios Ypsilantis right next to it.

Ypsilanti founders named their town after Ypsilantis, a military officer who died in 1833, in admiration for his role in the fight for Greek independence.

Folklore and urban legends surrounding the water tower have been passed on by generations of Eastern Michigan University students, Badgerow said.

There are legends about when the water tower will fall over, Badgerow said.

Using the water tower in his businesses branding was a natural choice, Badgerow said, mentioning that other businesses have featured it, as well as other landmarks, in their logos throughout his years in town. 734 Brewing, 15 E. Cross St., also uses the water tower in its logo.

Ypsi Alehouse, which reopened its dining room at limited capacity on Monday, Feb. 1, is proud to feature Ypsilanti history in its artwork, Badgwerow said.

If we were in Depot Town maybe wed have train tracks in our branding, but the water tower was the go-to for this neighborhood, Badgerow said.

READ MORE FROM THE ANN ARBOR NEWS:

Wisdom and encouragement from Ypsilantis mentoring barber goes mobile

Man pleads guilty to role in repeated drive-by shootings in Ypsilanti-area neighborhood

Ypsilanti woman in wheelchair killed after being hit on Michigan Avenue
Paxton, IL (60957)

Today

A clear sky. Low near 40F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

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But as more shippers seek alternatives to air and ocean challenges, border choke points and pandemic restrictions are adding to transit times, and intermodal prices are also rising fast

Prohibitive air and soaring ocean spot freight rates and a lack of containers available for loading in China that have added to costs and transit time uncertainties have led Asia-Europe shippers to switch to rail freight services in ever greater numbers ahead of Chinese New Year factory closures from 12 February onwards, according to leading forwarders.

The surge this year builds upon strong and growing demand for Asia-Europe rail freight capacity that increased progressively last year and accelerated in the final quarter, as cargo owners and their logistics providers sought more reliable and stable alternatives to congestion, rollovers, and spiralling costs of ocean freight transport  which had eroded the normally substantial price differential between Asia-Europe ocean versus rail transport.

However, demand has surged further this year, despite strongly rising costs for the increasingly tight rail freight capacity, along with border delays on some routes creating backlogs and adding to supply chain logjams.

Onno Boots, regional president and CEO for Asia Pacific at forwarding group Geodis, told Lloyds Loading List that growth across all modes had been phenomenal in January as demand on the Asia-Europe trade lane peaked ahead of Chinese New Year.

Boots said that rail services from Asia into Europe were currently a highly competitive proposition as an alternative to ocean transit times, especially given the lack of available containers for loading in China, which was adding to costs and delays to ocean freight.

Surge in volume

Weve seen a surge in volume yet again (in 2021) for our rail product, partly driven by conversion from ocean freight, he said. Rail has consistently doubled in turnover (annually) during the last four years. I expect 2021 to be no different.

Average spot ocean shipping freight prices from Asia-Europe on the Shanghai-Rotterdam and Shanghai-Genoa container shipping lanes are up 327% and 227% year-on-year, according to the latest World Container Index assessed by Drewry. Shippers report being quoted figures far in excess of $10,000 per FEU for a guaranteed container and delivery time, making rail alternatives more competitive  despite reports of steeply rising costs for Asia-Europe rail freight in the final quarter.

Lack of space and soaring prices on scheduled container services to Europe from Asia had even prompted Geodis to charter its own vessel which, Boots said, had seen swift uptake.

He added: Ocean freight rates have been increasing since September and air freight rates even earlier than that due to the pandemic. We estimate that the switch from ocean to rail freight to be (equivalent to) around 20% to 30% (of the growth in China-Europe rail freight)  given that (China-Europe) rail freight as a mode of shipment for the market was already growing 60% year on year in 2020 as a result of the squeeze in air freight from the movement of PPEs and blank sailings and the lack of containers affecting ocean freight.

However, Boots said that increased shipments on Asia-Europe rail services at the start of 2021 were also being driven by the cancellation of blocktrain services in December by the China rail operators or authorities.

Border delays

Border delays are also slowing some rail shipments, according to Zafer Engin, head of value-added services at DHL Global Forwarding China. But the delays on the so-called northern route were nothing like the 10 days claimed by one operator of services using a more southerly routing.

Engin told Lloyds Loading List that delays at the Polish-Belarusian border were currently negligible but delays at Chinese borders were averaging 2-3 days for Westbound and 1-3 days for Eastbound cargo due to severe winter conditions and new pandemic regulations.

He added: We are working closely with our partners to ensure as smooth a passage as possible.

Engin also reported heavy demand for rail options. He said China-Europe rail freight volumes had doubled since the start of Covid-19 outbreaks as shippers sought modal alternatives.

Demand for rail services is driven by Covid-19 impact on air and ocean freight markets, he said. In 2020 air capacity was drastically reduced by passenger flight cancellations that same time have driven air freight costs up. Ocean freight was impacted by pandemic regulations, and transit times have been extended.

Stability of transit times and rates

Rail freight transit times and rates  with the exception of the last quarter of 2020 year  remained stable, and gave customers more confidence to use this mode of transport.

Anecdotal reports indicate that China-Europe rail freight rates have roughly doubled in the last few months of 2020, due to the strong demand from shippers forced out of the air and ocean markets by tight capacity and equipment shortages. But demand for China-Europe rail freight services has remained strong, while some reports indicate that China-Europe ocean freight rates have even surpassed prices for some China-Europe rail freight services since October, despite the rising rail freight costs.

A source close to one freight forwarder told Lloyds Loading List that those higher China-Europe rail costs had made the profitability of China-Europe rail services more marginal for forwarders, whereas it had previously been a very high-margin business for European logistics providers.

Structural changes

Nevertheless, another factor favouring rail freight has been structural changes in the China-Europe trade, in particular the large amounts of PPE equipment that has been shipped by both companies and governments. There were whole block trains dispatched from China to Europe carrying only PPE in 2020, said Engin.

Lockdown policies in many European countries have also driven up sales of consumer electronics that helped people to adjust to new home-office reality. Many companies started to use railway, or increased rail freight usage to move such valuable cargo from China to Europe.

The uptick in demand prompted DHL to start a new fast service to Southern Poland via Ukraine last year. This connection uses wide gauge railway tracks from China-Kazakhstan border directly to Slawkow in Poland, said Engin.

This terminal is located conveniently for customers in Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, we have signed Memorandum of Understanding with Ukrainian Railways and Center of Transport Liski, to drive rail connectivity between China and Ukraine, and ultimately to also facilitate trade between the other European and Asian markets via China and Ukraine.

Engins said DHL was also actively looking at new lanes and thinking how we can reduce transit times yet maintain or increase carbon efficiency compared to air freight.

Image: Shutterstock.com
Brussels, Feb 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Feb, 2021 ) :EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell jets to Moscow on Thursday under pressure to confront the Kremlin over the jailing of Alexei Navalny and a crackdown on protesters.

The visit -- the first to Russia by a top EU envoy since 2017 -- has drawn criticism from some European capitals worried Moscow will spin it as evidence Brussels is keen to return to business as normal.

But Borrell insists he will deliver "clear messages" to the Kremlin despite it blanking Western calls to release President Vladimir Putin's most prominent domestic opponent Navalny, who was on Tuesday given a jail term of almost three years.

"It is when things are not going well that you must engage," the former Spanish foreign minister said on Monday.

The EU's ties with Russia have been in the doldrums since Moscow seized Crimea and began fuelling the war in Ukraine in 2014 -- and there are concerns about its involvement in Belarus, Syria, Libya, central Africa and the Caucasus.

Borrell is eager to sound out his veteran counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the chances of cooperation on issues including enlisting Russia's help in reviving the Iran nuclear deal and tackling climate change.

But it will be the jailing of Navalny and detention of thousands of demonstrators across Russia by baton-wielding security forces that dominates his visit.

- Nonsense, says Kremlin - The EU foreign policy chief is under no illusions that he can pressure Moscow into freeing Navalny -- and the Kremlin has already warned him off.

"We hope that such nonsense as linking the prospects of Russia-EU relations with the resident of a detention centre will not happen," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Moscow stands "ready to do everything" to develop ties with Brussels, but the Kremlin is "not ready to listen to advice" on the issue of Navalny, he said.

The authorities have poured cold water on attempts to set up a meeting with Putin's nemesis and Borrell will settle for talks with civil society representatives.

Back in Europe calls are growing from some nations for the EU to bulk up on sanctions it slapped on six Russian officials in October over the nerve agent poisoning that left Navalny fighting for his life in Germany.

EU foreign ministers last week agreed they would revisit the issue if he was not released.

"After this ruling, there will now also be talks among EU partners. Further sanctions cannot be ruled out," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert.

An EU statement said foreign ministers would discuss "possible further action" at a meeting on February 22.

Navalny himself called at the European Parliament last year -- two months before his fateful return to Moscow -- for sanctions to hit the oligarchs and money-men he accuses of protecting Putin's wealth.

But European diplomats say that any measures, if they come, would likely just target officials and functionaries directly involved in the clampdown.

There have also been calls for Germany to halt the highly contentious Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to bring Russian gas to Europe.

Continental powerhouse Berlin has rebuffed the clamour and Borrell insists Brussels has no power to make Germany pull the plug.

"I don't think that it is the way to resolve the problem with Navalny," Borrell said.

"The Russians won't change course because we tell them we will stop Nord Stream." For Moscow the visit looks set to be used as a chance both to deflect from its own issues and show that the West still wants to talk to it regardless.

- 'Not a sign of weakness' - "On the one hand, the Kremlin is eager to portray the EU as a weak actor with a lot of internal problems," said Susan Stewart from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

"On the other hand, despite official rhetoric, the Kremlin is still keen to demonstrate that western actors are interested in cooperating with Russia, since this increases its status and legitimacy." But with European leaders set to debate their overall approach to Russia at upcoming summits in the next few months, diplomats in Brussels insisted this was the right time to visit Moscow.

"There are reasons to go there to pass on messages," one European envoy said.

"This mission is not a sign of weakness."
New York  The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, welcomed the Government of South Sudan's approval to establish transitional justice mechanisms, including the African Union Hybrid Court for South Sudan.

The Special Adviser noted that this decision is a crucial step towards establishing accountability for serious human rights violations, many of which may constitute atrocity crimes, that have taken place since violent conflict broke out in December 2013. "The decision is an important initial step towards justice and accountability for the many victims who have suffered brutal crimes during the conflict in South Sudan, including heinous acts of sexual and gender-based violence" said the Special Adviser.

She also commended the move as positive progress in the implementation of the 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and called for swift and concrete action to operationalize the Court. The Hybrid Court is envisioned to have jurisdiction with respect to the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other serious crimes, including gender-based crimes and sexual violence.

In addition to the Hybrid Court, the Special Adviser stressed the need to establish the other mechanisms under Chapter V of the R-ARCSS, including the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing and the Compensation and Reparation Authority. All institutions should observe the 35 per cent women representation threshold in line with the peace agreement.

Special Adviser Nderitu also encouraged the Government of South Sudan and the African Union to work collaboratively with other initiatives that promote accountability, including the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan established by the Human Rights Council, which is mandated to determine and report the facts and circumstances of, collect and preserve evidence of, and clarify responsibility for alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights.
Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2021 5:31 pm

The Office of Chehalis Basin (OCB) will host a virtual public meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17.

During the session, staff will provide an update on the actions under consideration to restore aquatic species habitat and reduce flood damages for basin communities as part of the Chehalis Basin Strategy, according to a press release.

This is a major opportunity for the public, particularly Chehalis Basin residents, to directly weigh in on the strategys development ahead of the Chehalis Basin Boards recommendations on which actions to include as part of the long-term strategy, the Office of the Chehalis Basin wrote in a press release.

The strategy includes a proposed dam on the upper reaches of the Chehalis River near Pe Ell along with millions of dollars for aquatic species habitat restoration.

The boards recommendations are expected by the end of March 2021.

The Chehalis Basin Strategy is a long-term plan designed to address precipitous decline of salmon and other aquatic species and the certainty that catastrophic flooding will once again devastate the Basin, according to the press release.

This is an opportunity for basin residents and others to hear the latest information directly from our team, get answers to their questions and directly shape decisions that could impact our daily lives and certainly the future health of the region, said OCB Director Andrea McNamara Doyle.

To register for the Feb. 17 meeting, visit ChehalisBasinStrategy.com.

This is the second of three public meetings since Gov. Jay Inslee requested that the board examine a potential basinwide approach to flood damage reduction that does not include a dam, while also further evaluating ways to reduce or mitigate negative impacts associated with the proposed dam.

The third and final meeting before the board makes its recommendation on the long-term strategy will take place virtually on Tuesday, March 9.

A meeting recording will be distributed for later viewing for those who are unable to attend. Chehalis Basin residents and others may also contact the OCB directly via email, phone or mail:

Send mail to Office of Chehalis Basin, Washington Department of Ecology, 300 Desmond Drive SE, Lacey, WA, 98503, call 360-407-6000 or email info@chehalisbasinstrategy.com.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-05 05:33:58|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The situation in embattled Tigray of Ethiopia is dire, UN humanitarians said on Thursday, citing hundreds of thousands of people who lack essential services and are still without assistance.

"Economic activity, electricity, communication and basic services remain largely disrupted, especially in rural areas, where two-thirds of the population lives," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a release. Banks remain closed, except in Mekelle, the capital city of Tigray.

The conflict disrupted public administration and the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide essential services, OCHA said. During the November harvest season, the fighting broke out, leaving unharvested crops in fields and a lack of food in markets.

The onslaught of COVID-19 and an infestation of desert locusts contributed to rising malnutrition. The conflict cut key vital supply access, it said.

Some 1.3 million children are out of school since the beginning of the conflict. Many schools are now sheltering internally displaced people. There are reports of separated children, forced recruitment, missing family members and severe sexual and gender-based violence allegations.

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 80 percent of the hospitals remain unfunctional, while medical supplies delivered are not sufficient, the humanitarians said.

The United Nations continues to call for full, immediate, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to provide urgent assistance and protection to those in need, OCHA said.

"The United Nations is encouraged that recent high-level visits have resulted in productive exchanges with Ethiopian authorities, who appreciate the potential for further deterioration should humanitarian needs continue to go unmet. The United Nations looks forward to making progress on the assurances received at the highest levels."

Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the government's positive engagement with senior UN officials. The visitors included High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, Undersecretary-General for Security and Safety Gilles Michaud and the World Food Programme's executive director David Beasley.

Guterres said he was seriously concerned over the situation in the Tigray region. Enditem
Russian senators propose blocking social media for announces of unauthorized actions

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

14:28 04/02/2021

MOSCOW, February 4 (RAPSI)  The Federation Council Commission on Information Policy had proposed to amend the legislation to the effect that social networks could be blocked for calls to take part in unauthorized actions, senator Alexey Pushkov informed at a briefing on Thursday.

The provisional Commission is of the opinion that it is necessary to improve the Russian legislation with the aim to prevent the use of social media for mobilization of citizens with the purpose to commit unlawful acts. The Commission also finds it necessary to introduce a system of punishments for the said offences ranging from respective fines to be introduced to the Code of Administrative Offences to temporal or constant blocking of internet platforms, Pushkov noted.

The senators believe that foreign internet companies are directly or indirectly used for the purposes of committing potentially punishable acts when announcing unauthorized rallies of January 23 and 31.
Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 Republican, fended off a challenge from her conferences right flank to strip her of her leadership position in a secret ballot vote held late Wednesday night after she voted to impeach Donald J. Trump last month.

The lopsided vote, 145 to 61, according to two people familiar with the results, showed that even as a majority of House Republicans opposed impeaching Mr. Trump, most were not prepared to punish one of their top leaders for doing so  at least not under a blanket of anonymity. It amounted to both a victory for Ms. Cheney, who refused to apologize for voting to impeach Mr. Trump, and a vote of confidence in Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the top Republican, who delivered an impassioned speech in Ms. Cheneys defense.

Were not going to be divided and were not going to be in a situation where people can pick off any member of leadership, Ms. Cheney said at a news conference after the vote. It was a very resounding acknowledgment that we need to go forward together.

A fierce and at times painful debate played out in a private meeting in the Capitol on Wednesday night, as lawmakers rose to both air their grievances against Ms. Cheney and defend her.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 23:55:51|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia said Thursday that the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs, one of the basic norms governing international relations, should be upheld.

In a phone conversation between Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the two sides also pledged to jointly preserve global and regional strategic stability.

The international situation is at an important watershed, Wang noted, adding that at such a time, it is even more important for China and Russia to strengthen strategic communication.

Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered speeches respectively at the World Economic Forum Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda.

The two leaders echoed each other's positions in their speeches, voicing strong determination to uphold multilateralism and jointly tackle global challenges at the beginning of the year, Wang said.

The two heads of state, he said, put forward a China-Russia plan to jointly prevail over the COVID-19 pandemic and revitalize the global economy, injecting positive energy and stability into the volatile international landscape.

The two heads of state have also agreed to celebrate this year the 20th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, pointing out the direction for deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between the two countries, Wang said.

Both sides should take this opportunity to add new dimensions to this important treaty and send a clear message to the world that the two countries will safeguard the security of themselves and along their peripheries, he added.

Both China and Russia attach great importance to innovation, Wang noted, adding that the two countries should join hands to reinforce complementary advantages and strive for major achievements by holding the Russia-China Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation.

The two sides should earnestly promote trade and investment facilitation on the basis of mutual benefit, synergize the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union to establish regional industrial chains, supply chains and value chains, so as to lay a solid foundation for mutual benefit and win-win results, Wang said.

Wang recalled Lavrov's annual press conference in which the Russian minister said "we can talk endlessly about Russian-Chinese cooperation that embraces a very wide range of spheres," saying that China totally agrees with the remarks.

China sees no limit or restricted area for China-Russia strategic coordination that is all-weather and all-dimensional, Wang said.

The two countries have conducted efficient coordination within multilateral frameworks and safeguarded international fairness and justice as well as legitimate interests of developing countries, he added.

China firmly supports the measures Russia has taken to safeguard its national sovereignty and social stability, and is willing to work with Russia to continuously strengthen coordination on such issues as rejecting interference in internal affairs and fighting against false information, Wang said.

For his part, Lavrov said the importance of Russia-China relations has long gone beyond bilateral to gain international and regional significance. The two heads of state have maintained close exchanges, which has provided important strategic guidance for the development of bilateral relations, he said.

Lavrov said Russia is very satisfied with the anti-pandemic cooperation between the two countries.

Russia is ready to strengthen cooperation with China in vaccine research, development and production, as well as in pandemic prevention and control, so as to eliminate the impact of the pandemic on practical cooperation, he said.

Russia and China should intensify strategic coordination and steadily advance bilateral and multilateral agendas within the year, Lavrov said.

Noting Russia is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China on international and regional issues, Lavrov said the two sides should firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests, jointly and staunchly defend multilateralism and safeguard international and regional stability.

The two sides also had in-depth exchanges on issues of common concern such as relations with the United States, and reached new consensus. Enditem
Full results from Friday's state track meets

Get your full results from the AA, A and B boys and girls state track meets here.
FOX Arena will broadcast the 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards Live next month to Australian viewers.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host the ceremony, held virtually from both Los Angeles and New York, on March 1st (Australian time). E! will also broadcast The 2021 Golden Globe Awards: Live from the Red Carpet special from 10.00am Live.

The nominations for the 78th Golden Globes, announced overnight by Sarah Jessica Parker and Taraji P. Henson, honour excellence in television and film and include the outstanding lineup below, all available now to watch On Demand on Foxtel.

Worldwide hit thriller series The Undoing earned four nominations, including Nicole Kidman for Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, Hugh Grant for Best Actor, Donald Sutherland for Best Supporting Actor and a nod for Best Limited Television Series.

Fan favourite murder mystery The Flight Attendant received two nominations: Kaley Cuoco is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical or Comedy TV Series and the series is also nominated for Best Musical or Comedy Series.

Critically acclaimed British anthology film series Small Axe was honoured for both Best Limited Series and Best Supporting Actor for John Boyega.

Australias own Cate Blanchett is nominated for Best Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for her stunning turn in Mrs America, Mark Ruffalo has received a nod for Best Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for his incredible performance in I Know This Much is True and Matthew Rhys received a nomination for Best Actor in a Drama Series for his lead role in the hit Perry Mason remake.

Supernatural drama series Lovecraft Country received a nod for Best Television Series (Drama) and rising star Anya Taylor-Joy was nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture  Musical/Comedy for the film Emma, based on the Jane Austen classic.

Hosted by incomparable comedy duo Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, this year, the Golden Globe Awards ceremony will be held virtually from both Los Angeles and New York, with Fey broadcasting live from New Yorks Rainbow Room, Poehler from the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles and nominees from various locations around the world.

In addition to the nominees announced today, the 2021 Golden Globes will honour Jane Fonda with the Cecil B. DeMille Award and Norman Lear with the Carol Burnett Award.

The Golden Globe Awards are awards bestowed by members of The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, recognising excellence in film and television globally.

Live Monday, March 1 at 12.00pm AEDT, with a replay at 7.30pm AEDT on FOX Arena.

Related
press release

Special License for Billionaire Dan Gertler Undercuts Magnitsky Sanctions

A coalition of Democratic Republic of Congo and international nongovernmental organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have written to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and urged them to revoke a decision by the Trump administration in its waning days. The last-minute US government action effectively removes for a year sanctions against Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler.

The US government had sanctioned Gertler for helping Congo's former president, Joseph Kabila, loot his country's resources. He was added to the very first Global Magnitsky sanctions list in December 2017 for "opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals in [Congo]." Last month, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) discretely signed a license allowing Gertler and his companies to access the US financial system until January 31, 2022. Putting him back in business not only undermines the fight against corruption in Congo but also emboldens those ready to enrich themselves at the expense of Congolese people's human rights. It also raises questions about the implementation of the Magnitsky sanctions, an important element of the US arsenal to promote human rights abroad.

The US found that Gertler, who nurtured a close friendship with Kabila and his family for over two decades, was acting as a middleman for deals between Kabila and oil companies that reportedly deprived Congo of US$1.63 billion between 2010 and 2012 alone. This loss in revenue could have funded about half of the country's health budget, which was already far lower than regional standards, and a minimum of adequate health care, according to a World Health Organization-supported study.

Such gross corruption is a key reason why successive Congolese governments have largely failed to harness the potential of its vast natural resources for the benefit of its people. Most Congolese live in extreme poverty, nearly half of children are malnourished, and only one in five homes have access to sanitation. It might also explain why Kabila refused to step down from the presidency when his constitutionally mandated two-term limit ended in December 2016. When the stakes are this high, this kind of corruption can undermine the democratic process.

President Joe Biden's administration should demonstrate that it is serious about restoring the US as a partner in the global fight against kleptocracy. The government should investigate the deal OFAC granted Gertler and take appropriate action, including revocation.

AUTHOR: Sarah Saadoun Senior Researcher, Business and Human Rights
[February 04, 2021] 3M and Discovery Education Open Call for Entries for America's Next Top Young Scientist

ST. PAUL, Minn. and SILVER SPRING, Md., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 3M (NYSE: MMM) and Discovery Education are excited to announce that the 2021 3M Young Scientist Challenge (#YoungScientist ) is now open to entries. As the nation's premier middle school science competition, the annual 3M Young Scientist Challenge invites students in grades 5-8 to compete for an exclusive mentorship with a 3M scientist, a $25,000 grand prize, and the chance to earn the title of "America's Top Young Scientist." Competition entries are accepted at YoungScientistLab.com until the April 27, 2021 deadline. 3M's Young Scientist Challenge is now open for entries at YoungScientistLab.com until the April 27, 2021 deadline. Each year, the 3M Young Scientist Challenge recognizes the grand prize winner, 10 finalists, the Improving Lives Award winner, and up to 51 state merit winners nationwide who have demonstrated a passion for solving everyday problems to improve the world around them. To enter, students in grades 5-8 need an original idea that helps solve an everyday problem in their community. They are invited to submit their solution in the form of a one to two-minute video explaining the science behind it. A diverse group of judges will evaluate entries based on creativity, scientific knowledge, and effective communication skills. Videos will not be judged on production skills and may be recorded on cell phones or basic digital cameras. Previous challenge finalists have collaborated with 3M scientists to create solutions to a wide variety of real-world problems, including water conservation, food waste, alternative energy sources, cancer treatments, energy consumption, and transportation efficiency. The 2020 winner, 14-year-old Anika Chebrolu, found a molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which may help support work to find a cure for COVID-19. In June 2021, 10 finalists will be chosen to participate in an exclusive summer mentorship program where they willwork closely with and learn from a 3M scientist. Each finalist receives the opportunity to compete in the final event  an interactive competition comprised of hands-on challenges, presentations, live judging, and more. At the final event, to be held on October 18-19, the grand prize winner and the Improving Lives Award winner will be announced.



"At 3M, using science to solve the world's toughest challenges is at the core of everything we do. For 14 years, and especially now, in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic, we have been incredibly proud to see what happens when young people are inspired to combine their individual passions with STEM learning  the world of possibilities that opens to them is endless," said Denise Rutherford, senior vice president of Corporate Affairs at 3M. "The 3M Young Scientist Challenge encourages STEM exploration in students at all levels and continues to demonstrate that any idea, big or small, can help change the world for the better. We are enthusiastic to see this year's entries and are sure to be inspired." In its 14th year, the 3M Young Scientist Challenge continues to inspire and challenge middle school students to think creatively and apply the power of STEM to real-world solutions. Hundreds of young scientists have had the opportunity to share their innovations through the 3M Young Scientist Challenge and past winners have gone on to be named TIME's first ever "Kid of the Year", give TED Talks, file patents, found nonprofits, named on Forbes 30 Under 30 list, ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and exhibit at the White House Science Fair. These young innovators have also been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Forbes, Business Insider and on national television programs such as Good Morning America, CNN's Cuomo Prime Time, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and more. Learn more and meet all past finalists at YoungScientistLab.com.

"There's simply nothing like the 3M Young Scientist Challenge  a place where students come together to solve global problems in the quest to make the world a better place," said Lori McFarling, President of Corporate & Community Partnerships at Discovery Education. "The 3M Young Scientist Challenge pairs today's students with real-world scientist mentors to help them bring their STEM vision to life. We're excited to welcome this year's young scientists and can't wait to see where their innovation takes us." The award-winning 3M Young Scientist Challenge supplements the 3M and Discovery Education program  Young Scientist Lab  which provides no-cost, dynamic digital resources for students, teachers and families to explore, transform, and innovate the world around them. All resources are available through YoungScientistLab.com. Additional digital resources, content and professional resources are available at www.3M.com/scienceathome, featuring 3M scientists and guests performing simple, at home experiments for kids aged 6-12, and via the Corporate Education Partnerships Channel on Discovery Education's award-winning, flexible K-12 learning platform, a digital service featuring high-quality resources and instructional supports for educators enriching student learning and extending it to the real world. About 3M

At 3M, we apply science in collaborative ways to improve lives daily as our employees connect with customers all around the world. Learn more about 3M's creative solutions to global challenges at www.3m.com or on Twitter @3M or @3MNews . About Discovery Education

Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. Through its award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and the largest professional learning network of its kind, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning, creating immersive STEM experiences, and improving academic achievement around the globe. Discovery Education currently serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 140 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and like-minded organizations to empower teachers with customized solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/3m-and-discovery-education-open-call-for-entries-for-americas-next-top-young-scientist-301221821.html SOURCE 3M

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Environmental activists and labor unions have worked together in the past, but are now on opposite sides of a heated dispute. The disagreement partly involves the building of an oil pipeline between Canada and the United States.

The U.S. is currently the worlds largest producer of oil and gas. However, the administration of President Joe Biden aims to bring the countrys release of carbon gasses to net-zero by 2050.

One of Bidens first acts was to cancel the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The administration also said it is reducing the amount of oil and gas production permitted on federal land.

The reactions to the administrations moves show the difficulties of forming policy that affects many different groups. Climate activists celebrated the cancellation of the Keytone XL pipeline. But labor unions want to keep projects from being stopped.

Mike Knisely is secretary and treasurer of the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council. He said he has been asking state officials to talk to the president about the effects of his climate policy on union members.

I tell them they need to get back with Biden and ask if this all really has to happen on Day Two of the new administration, Knisely said. He said he is unhappy that theres almost no common ground (on pipelines) with the environmental community.



Climate groups have had successes in recent years. They have persuaded large investors to reduce financial holdings in the fossil fuel industry. They also have sought to get banks to avoid financing oil drilling in Arctic areas of the United States.

But a number of important labor unions have members who work on pipelines, in oil refineries and in industries tied to the energy industry. That includes the International Teamsters and North Americas Building Trades Unions. Those unions opposed the move to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline. They also are moving against threats to other pipelines.

Environmental groups want to block oil imports from Canadas oil sands. They also are intensifying efforts to close three other pipelines. Two pipelines, known as Line 3 and Line 5, are operated by the Canadian company Enbridge. The company Energy Transfers Dakota Access Pipeline, or DAPL, is the other.

Unlike the Keystone XL, the three other pipelines are currently operating. The Enbridge lines bring oil and fuel from Canada. The DAPL sends oil from North Dakota to the Midwestern states and Gulf Coast. Legal cases and government rules threaten all three pipelines.

A White House spokesman said the Biden administration is considering a recent court decision that called for an environmental study of the DAPL.



Phillip Wallace is a business representative for Pipeliners Union 798 in the state of Minnesota. Wallace said he was concerned the new administration may try to stop the DAPL. His union is planning demonstrations to support its building once COVID-19 restrictions ease.

On Friday, environmental protesters stopped construction on a Line 3 work area in Minnesota. It was one of several actions this year that has resulted in arrests.

If KXL cant pass the climate test for Biden, then Line 3 surely cannot, said Winona LaDuke. She is executive director of Honor the Earth, an indigenous environmental group.

Unions are also increasing support for Enbridges Line 5 pipeline. It runs under waters where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan meet. Activists want to close the pipeline but Enbridge says it is trying to improve it to protect the environment.

Enbridge recently received a state permit to build a tunnel for the pipeline. The company still needs permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In November, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered the pipeline closed. However, the United Steelworkers union has been trying to build support with lawmakers to keep the line operating.

In a statement, the group told Reuters that the United Steelworkers union strongly supports both the Line 5 replacement project and the continued operation of the existing pipeline. The group said hundreds of its union members and their communities need the jobs created by Line 5 to support their families.

Im Alice Bryant.

Reuters news agency reported this story. Alice Bryant adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

union n. an organization of workers formed to support their interests

net-zero n. a situation in which nothing is gained and nothing is lost

fossil fuel n. a fuel, such as coal, oil or natural gas, that is formed from dead plants or animals

drill v. to make a hole in the earth in an effort to find oil or water

refinery n. a manufacturing center where a raw material is purified and changed

indigenous adj. naturally coming from a place; native

tunnel n. a passage underground
As the 13th National Party Congress is approaching, Vietnamese people in the Czech Republic have expressed high expectations for the once-in-five-years event.

Hoang Dinh Thang, President of the Union of Vietnamese People Associations in Europe and Honorary Chairman of the Vietnamese People Association in the Czech Republic (Photo: VNA)

Hoang Dinh Thang, President of the Union of Vietnamese People Associations in Europe and Honorary Chairman of the Vietnamese People Association in the Czech Republic, voiced his belief in the success of the 13th National Party Congress, scheduled to take place in Hanoi from January 25 to February 2.

According to him, the Party and State have made thorough content and personnel preparations for the congress, including collecting opinions from people both at home and abroad about the draft documents to be submitted to the event.

Most of overseas Vietnamese are well aware that the Party and State have successfully carried out the resolutions issued at the 12th National Party Congress in early 2016, gaining significant achievements in developing the economy and promoting Vietnams stature in the international arena, he noted.

The year 2020 was full of difficulties for the whole world, but Vietnam became a bright spot when it secured the concurrent successes of curbing the pandemic and sustaining economic growth. The country also succeeded in performing important international duties, boosting international economic integration, and enhancing external relations in both bilateral and multilateral aspects.

Those accomplishments are a source of pride for Vietnam and also show the unanimity of the entire political system and the whole people, both at home and abroad, in national development, Thang said.

He voiced his hope that via this times congress, the Party and State will continue paying attention to the overseas Vietnamese community by issuing concrete policies that help them be more connected with the homeland and better integrate into host societies.

Vietnamese people in Europe also expect Vietnams relations with European countries will be further strengthened to reach a new height, and they will serve as an important bridge in this process, he added.

Nguyen Van Son, Secretary of the Part cell at the SAPA Trade Centre and Director of the Prague Centre of Vietnamese Language (Photo: VNA)

Nguyen Van Son, Secretary of the Part cell at the SAPA Trade Centre and Director of the Prague Centre of Vietnamese Language, also showed his pride in recent national development achievements and believed in the Partys leadership and the success of the coming National Party Congress.

He said overseas Party members like him are delighted with the Party and States drastic actions in the corruption fight as well as thorough personnel preparations for the congress.

With 20-year efforts to maintain the teaching and learning of Vietnamese language at the Prague centre, Son appreciated Party and State leaders support for this work, adding that he hopes the Vietnamese Embassy in the Czech Republic will coordinate with agencies in the homeland to help maintain the language teaching and learning in the European nation.

Vietnamese people form one of the largest foreigners communities in the Czech Republic and was also recognised as an ethnic group there./.VNA
AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Turnbridge Equities (Turnbridge), a vertically integrated real estate investment and development firm, is announcing new leases with Nike, Alo Yoga and Hermes at Music Lane, the 320,000-square-foot, three-block mixed-use destination on South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas. These three transactions bring the retail space to 98% committed, essentially completing retail leasing at the walkable, open-air development.

Nike has leased 5,708 square feet and Alo Yoga secured 3,876 square feet of space at Music Lane and follows the 7,600 square-foot lease luxury brand Hermes finalized in December. Music Lane is comprised of 92,000 square feet of retail including abundant shopping and dining options, planned office space leased by Deloitte, Gensler, Tritium, Altran, EF Education, and Ojo Labs, and hospitality space leased by Soho House.

When plans for Music Lane commenced in 2016, Turnbridge recognized Austin as a city on the rise, identified the best location in the market for development, and worked for years to assemble a site that would yield a rich and iconic mixed-use project to contribute to the environment. Soho House was secured first as the anchor tenant, which set the tone for the type of exciting, aspirational retail mix that would become a new benchmark for the market.

Since then, numerous other retailers have secured space at Music Lane, including Everlane, Le Labo, Frame, Buck Mason, Allbirds, Nak Armstrong, Equinox, Parachute, Reformation, Lululemon, Two Hands, Loveshack Fancy and several others. Notable eateries including Mediterranean restaurant Aba have also opened its doors at the development.

"The completion of retail leasing at Music Lane fulfills our vision of bringing an authentic high-street retail experience to the Austin market," said Andrew Joblon, founder and managing principal of Turnbridge. "When we started this project five years ago, Turnbridge believed that the location and character of the iconic South Congress Avenue made it perfectly suited for a vibrant new retail corridor."

"It's been gratifying to see the strong interest in Music Lane as well as the continued leasing momentum with world renowned brands, even during the recent pandemic. We've created a true urban oasis in downtown Austin, and we're thrilled to welcome all our tenants to this dynamic location," added Roger Plourde a Principal at Turnbridge who oversaw the project.

Music Lane is located at 1011 South Congress Avenue and serves as a gateway between downtown and South Austin. The development connects visitors to Austin's roots while providing an elevated shopping and lifestyle experience. The development includes pedestrian-friendly paths and green space in addition to premier retail options and restaurants that enhance the unique culture of South Congress Avenue. All shopping and dining offerings at Music Lane continue to follow all local, state and CDC guidelines to promote proper social distancing and encourage the use of face coverings on-site.

About Turnbridge Equities

Turnbridge Equities, founded in 2015 by Andrew Joblon, is a privately-held, vertically-integrated real estate investment and development firm with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Miami, and Austin. Turnbridge is an SEC registered investment advisor, Turnbridge RE Fund Management Company I LLC, with assets under management in excess of $1.7 billion. Turnbridge's full-service platform and extensive relationships enable the company to acquire, develop, reposition, and operate real estate and generate value for its investors and partners. Turnbridge and its principals seek to bring high levels of creativity and thought leadership to drive the results of each of its investments. With a track record of implementing successful investment strategies, Turnbridge has capitalized on emerging trends and monetized value in advance of market shifts. Disclaimer: This does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any interests in any Turnbridge projects.

Contact :

Great Ink Communications, Ltd.  212-741-2977 or [email protected]

Tom Nolan

Francisco Miranda

SOURCE Turnbridge Equities

Related Links

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Esken Limited ( ) agreed the sale of Stobart Air and Carlisle Airport to Isle of Man-based private investment firm Ettyl.

Stobart Air was reacquired from the failed Connect Airways in April last year but has since lost its main contract with Aer Lingus when it expires in December 2022.

Esken said the sale of Carlisle Airport will also allow it to focus solely on Southend Airport, the hub of its current operations.

In a complex series of transactions, Esken said the sale of Stobart Air is expected to result in a loss on disposal of approximately 8mln after professional fees, while it will book a profit of 10mln for the sale of Carlisle Airport.

: Former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg addresses his staff and the media after announcing that he will be ending his campaign, in New York City on March 4, 2020. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Bloomberg Urges Biden to Stand Up to Teachers Unions Fighting Return to In-Person Classes

Former Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg this week urged ex-rival President Joe Biden to stand up to teachers unions who are fighting attempts to resume in-person learning.

I think what were doing to poor kids is a disgrace, Bloomberg, a three-term mayor of New York City, said on MSNBCs Live with Stephanie Ruhle. These poor kids are not in school, they will never recover from thisand they had a bad education experience anyways. We have not had good schools for poor kids and this now is just so much worse. The president has to stand up to the unions.

Teachers say, Well, I dont want to go back because its dangerous. We have a lot of city and state and federal employees who run risksthats part of the job, he added. You run risks to help America, to help your state, to help your city, to help your family, and theres just no reason not to have the schools open.

Studies show the quality of learning in online classes is inferior to learning in person. Schools in every state have reopened, but some remain closed.

Mentioning how low-income families have a harder time with virtual learning because they have fewer resources, Bloomberg disparaged how the union in Chicago is trying to prevent the resumption of regular school.

Its time for Joe Biden to stand up and to say the kids are the most important things, important players here, he said. And the teachers just are going to have to suck it up and stand up and provide an education, otherwise these kids have no chance whatsoever.

Returning to in-person classes has not contributed greatly to transmission of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19, researchers have found.

In an op-ed in his media outlet, Bloomberg pointed to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that found little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission.

In short, getting kids back into classrooms should be a national priority. More local leaders are recognizing that, but in some cases, districts have tried to reopen, only to be stymied by unions, he wrote, adding later: To help more districts reopen, President Joe Biden should reassure union leaders that he takes teacher safety seriously. But he also needs to apply some pressure to states and cities.

Supporters of the Chicago Teachers Union participate in a car caravan, as negotiations with Chicago Public Schools continue continue in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 30, 2021. (Eileen T. Meslar/Reuters)

Unions are demanding heightened safety measures in order to agree to send teachers back. The Chicago Teachers Union, for instance, released a non-exhaustive list that includes mandating masks, improved ventilation, and a plan to shut down if a zip code is at a positivity rate above 3 percent.

We continue to teach remotely because of our members unity, their commitment to their school communities, and their fearless solidarity, Jesse Sharkey, president of the union, said in a statement this week.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, told reporters Thursday that a deal still hasnt been reached.

Schools are safe, Lightfoot said at a press conference. My patience is up.

Biden while campaigning promised to open schools back up across the country in his first 100 days in office. His administration has since said Congress needs to pass a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package in order to make that happen. [delete]

President Biden has been very clear that he wants schools to reopen and actually to stay open. And that means that every school has the equipment and the resources to open safelynot just private schools or schools in wealthy areas, but all schools, Jeff Zients, the presidents COVID-19 response coordinator, said in a briefing on Wednesday.

And thats why we need the American Rescue Plan passed now. It includes money to get schools better access to testing, enables smaller class sizes, acquire the necessary ventilation, ensure everyone has [personal protective equipment], and that schools are properly sanitized.

Asked about Bloombergs comments on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters: The president believes schools should be open. Teachers want schools to be open. Families want schools to be open. But we want to do it safely. And Im not sure that any parent in this country would disagree with wanting their kids to go to school in a safe environment where theres ventilation, where proper precautions are taken, whether its masks or social distancing. And thats his priority.
RTHK: US urges India to talk to protesting farmers

The US embassy in New Delhi urged India's government on Thursday to resume talks with farmers whose months-long protests over agricultural reforms erupted into violence last week.

India's Foreign Ministry said it had "taken note" of the comments and underlined ongoing efforts between Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and farmers groups to resolve the situation.

"We encourage that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue," a US embassy spokesperson said in a statement that also offered general support for the government's efforts to "improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment".

Modi's government has held multiple rounds of talks with representatives of thousands of farmers who have camped, mostly peacefully, on the outskirts of New Delhi since late last year.

But no talks have been held since January 26., when some protesters clashed with police in the heart of the capital following a military parade to mark Republic Day, and no indication has been given of when they might resume.

Television images of protesters occupying the ramparts of New Delhi's historic Red Fort and later clashing with police drew international attention to the confrontation between Modi's government and the farmers. The farmers, who enjoy most support in northern India's breadbasket states, argue that three new farm laws will hurt their interests while benefiting large firms.

But the government says the reforms will bring much-needed investment to a farm sector that accounts for nearly 15 percent of India's US$2.9 trillion economy but about half its workforce.

Earlier this week internet services were temporarily suspended in some areas, drawing widespread criticism, including from international activists and celebrities.

"We recognise that unhindered access to information, including the internet, is fundamental to the freedom of expression and a hallmark of a thriving democracy," the US embassy spokesperson said. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The case of a woman who was murdered and dumped next to a toilet block in Africa four years ago is finally being investigated by Australian authorities.

Elly Warren, from Melbourne, was on a diving and volunteering program when she was killed during a night out in the Mozambique tourist village of Tofo in November 2016.

Local police have since done almost nothing to solve the case, with her father Paul Warren spending $50,000 on his own search for answers.

Mr Warren has made two trips to the African nation over the last four years after taking the investigation into his own hands.

He has been assisted by former Victorian Police detective Charlie Bezzina, who says it's unconscionable Mr Warren has been left to conduct inquiries himself.

But this week in a surprising breakthrough, Mr Warren received a phone call from the Australian Federal Police, telling him they been ordered by a coroner to travel to Mozambique to investigate his daughter's death.

Local police have spent the four years since doing almost nothing to solve the case, leaving her father Paul Warren to spend $50,000 on his own search

The Australian Federal Police have been ordered by a coroner to travel to Mozambique to investigate Elly Warren's death

Elly Warren (pictured), 20, from Melbourne was on a diving and volunteering program in the village of Tofo in Mozambique when she was murdered and possibly raped in 2016

'If you had a daughter who died from suspicious circumstances in a Third World country, you would expect Australian authorities to investigate properly,' Mr Warren told news.com.au.

'Most Australians would expect that. Everybody I've spoken to asks me why the AFP didn't go straight in. What did we get? F** all. We were on our own.'

African police ruled the 20-year-old's death was an accident, despite her being found lying with her face in the sand and her underwear pulled down to her knees.

Police in Australia were privy to this, but didn't take any action.

'If this ever happens to another family, they've gotta get over there. I can tell you now, through diplomatic channels, it takes time and if they don't do that you'll lose everything,' Mr Warren said.

He said he regrets getting his daughter's body cremated, potentially destroying possible forensic evidence.

Mr Warren received a tip-off about a man in Tofo who 'spikes tourists' drinks and steals from them' in March. He shared the information with a private investigator (Elly pictured)

Mr Warren said he regrets getting his daughter's body cremated, potentially destroying possible forensic evidence

Victorian Coroners Court documents show Mozambique authorities will cooperate in a joint investigation.

Mr Warren said the fact it has now been confirmed that Ms Warren was murdered has given him renewed hope.

The breakthrough comes after Mr Warren late last year solicited the help of German investigator Nick Greger, who believes an African drug lord murdered Ms Warren.

Mr Greger planted a sex worker in the court of a local drug kingpin, and secretly recorded him bragging about crime and murder.

The covert operation code-named Student was carried out by Mr Greger from Germany as coronavirus travel bans prevented him from traveling to Africa.

Local sex workers were quizzed over Zoom on whether they'd be interested in cosying up to a crime lord as part of an international operation to catch a murderer.

Mr Warren believes the gang leader is a prime suspect in his daughter Elly's murder

They launched a four-week-long undercover operation in August and a sex worker infiltrated the gang and obtained recordings of the gang leader (Elly pictured above)

'It didn't make sense to send a white person there because they would garner too much attention and the locals who live in fear of these gangs and are not going to say anything,' Mr Greger said.

'So I come up with a plan to recruit a local woman to befriend the prime suspect.'

Mr Geger gave his contact on the ground an idea of what kind of girl he was looking for but the first few women he spoke to were 'not bad enough and not ruthless enough'.

But eventually he found the perfect candidate.

'She comes from the kind of environment where killers and gangsters are not a rare thing,' Mr Greger said.

'So when I described the mission she was not scared at all. She was absolutely relaxed.'

Mr Greger was acting on a tip-off Mr Warren was given by a South African woman who holidayed in Tofu during March.

Pictured: Melbourne woman Elly Warren, who was murdered in Mozambique four years ago

She wrote to him on Facebook and said she was quietly warned to 'stay away' from a group of people that locals believed were responsible for Elly's death.

Last year Mr Warren also announced a $25,000 reward for information about her murder before his plans for more visits were curbed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Another theory included speculation Ms Warren may have fallen victim to a bungled robbery attempt by the gang and been accidentally killed after she tried to resist.

Mr Warren said they could have dumped her body, which was found by the side of a toilet block, because they knew the police would try to cover-up the rape and murder of a foreign tourist.

Mr Warren explained he had handed over a full brief of intelligence on the gang leader to consular officials in the Australian embassy in Pretoria, South Africa.
Matt Hancock today revealed he has asked the Australian government for advice on hotel quarantine as ministers face growing pressure over why the roll-out of the policy has been delayed.

The Health Secretary said he had spoken to his Australian counterpart to try to learn lessons from their approach, with compulsory self-isolation for returning travellers in government-backed accommodation having been in place there for months.

Mr Hancock said 'we are clear that there is more that needs to be done' and 'we have got to get this right' as he defended the amount of time it is taking to get the UK programme up and running.

The new border proposals were earlier savaged by an industry boss who claimed his firm is yet to hear from the Government on how the policy will actually work.

Rob Paterson, the UK chief executive of Best Western Hotels, said his company is being 'kept in the dark' by ministers and 'we simply haven't heard anything'.

Mr Paterson blasted the Government for announcing the proposals without a detailed blueprint as he said if he did the same on a major project 'I am not sure I would have a job'.

Boris Johnson suggested yesterday that Mr Hancock would set out the full details of the plans today only for Downing Street to then insist that was a 'misunderstanding'.

The PM's Official Spokesman said at lunchtime that 'there are operational aspects of the programme that need to be completed' and details should be set out 'next week'.

Mr Paterson suggested questions over cost and insurance are likely to be two of the main reasons why there is a delay.

Hotel firms will argue that without knowing the full details of what is required it is impossible for them to assess how much it would cost for them to take part amid fears small passenger numbers would make it financially unviable for many.

That is linked to the matter of insurance because companies will want to know how the programme will be underwritten should sites be under-utilised and should they suffer major outbreaks which require them to be put into total lockdown.

There had been speculation that hotel quarantine could begin from February 15 but the continued delay in setting out the details means there are growing fears that date will be pushed back.

The plans will see travellers returning to the UK from 'red list' countries - those where coronavirus variants have been discovered or where case numbers have rocketed - forced to pay to self-isolate in a Government-approved hotel for 10 days.

The criticism of the roll-out of the policy came amid speculation that Spain could be added to the 'red list' after it recorded its first variant case last week and because of its close proximity to Portugal which is already banned.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock today revealed he had asked his Australian counterpart for advice on hotel quarantine

Rob Paterson, the UK chief executive of Best Western Hotels, said his firm is being 'kept in the dark' by ministers over Boris Johnson's hotel quarantine plans

It is still unclear when quarantine hotels will be up and running in the UK. A Best Western Hotel located in Hounslow near Heathrow Airport is pictured

Boris Johnson facing mounting Tory backlash over plans to ease lockdown Tory anger is mounting over 'goalpost shifting' on lockdown today as ministers and scientists suggested all over-50s should get vaccines before any 'significant' easing. Pressure is growing on Boris Johnson to commit to a major relaxation of the draconian measures within weeks, after the UK's rollout of jabs hit the milestone of 10million people covered. But there is alarm that the bar for allowing the economy to get back up and running is being lifted, with dire warnings about the threat of mutant coronavirus added to concerns about the strain on the NHS. Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi appeared to indicate this morning that the government is looking at the top nine risk categories - around 32million people - as the trigger point for a widespread downgrading of measures. So far the PM has only said that he will unveil a route map out of lockdown on February 22, after the first four most vulnerable groups have been covered. Mr Zahawi refused to give a date for when the nine categories in phase one of the rollout will be complete. Meanwhile, SAGE member Professor Andrew Hayward gave a similar message as he said there could be a 'significant return to normality' after all over-50s are vaccinated. 'Once the most vulnerable people, particularly those over 50 and those with chronic illnesses, are vaccinated then yes I think we can see a significant return to normality,' he said. However, Prof Hayward said he still hoped the UK will be 'more or less back to normal for the summer'. There were claims today that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is again leading calls within Cabinet for lockdown to be eased as early as possible - in contrast to the more cautious tone adopted by Mr Johnson recently. Advertisement

International travel is already prohibited under UK lockdown rules unless it is essential.

Ministers hope the hotel quarantine plans will help protect against importing Covid-19 variants which could threaten the nation's vaccination drive.

But the roll-out has been chaotic with the Government still unable to say when the hotels will be up and running.

Mr Paterson was asked during an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning if ministers had told his company what they want.

He replied: 'No, not at all. We got the understanding that quarantine hotels was something that was going to be considered in the UK quite some time ago now and we are yet to understand exactly what the protocols are required of the hotels.

'We have set out a set of protocols, we have shared that information, or suggested protocols, and we have offered our support and we are yet to hear anything.'

Asked if the Government had given any indication about how many travellers hotels could be asked to accommodate, Mr Paterson said: 'No. I think in any normal company if you went out and announced a programme nationally and you hadn't thought about how you were going to plan that and you hadn't spoken to the people involved, I am not sure I would have a job if I did that in my company.

'To this day it seems logical to me that you would sit down with the airlines, the airport operators and the hotel operators and thrash this out on a Zoom call or whatever it might be.

'To this day we simply haven't heard anything despite multiple offers.

'We have connections in Singapore and Australia and New Zealand who are doing this that we could learn from and easily get on the phone and offer their support and we are just a bit surprised that we just haven't heard anything.'

Mr Paterson said his company had not been provided by the Government with anything 'other than very broad information' on the policy and that 'we haven't had any discussions at all'.

He added: 'We have offered that help. We have got a lot of experience with the quarantine or managing Covid positive environments through the project we did with the NHS.

'As I say, we have all these contacts in other countries that have already rolled this out for some time, they could offer some really valuable support and we are just simply kept in the dark.'

Most people believe Brexit has helped UK vaccine drive Most Britons believe Brexit has helped the UK's vaccine drive - as the EU struggles with a chaotic rollout and supply shortages. A poll for MailOnline shows the contrast between the rapid progress in Britain and the problems in the bloc has not been lost on the public. Some 35 per cent said leaving the EU had been useful for the massive national effort, compared to 20 per cent who thought it had been a hindrance. Around a quarter said they thought it had a neutral effect, and 19 per cent said they were not sure, according to the research by Redfield & Wilton Strategies. While the UK hit the milestone of 10million people given jabs yesterday, the EU's programme has descended into a shambles with the central regulator far slower to sign off jabs and the bloc moving too late to secure supplies. The fallout on the continent triggered threats from Ursula von der Leyen to bar exports to the UK and impose a hard border with Northern Ireland, which was later humiliatingly dropped. Advertisement

Mr Paterson said that questions over the cost of the policy and insurance are likely to be two of the main issues holding up the roll-out.

On the issue of money and costs, he said: 'I think that is one of the challenges because if you take a hotel that is currently closed and they open that hotel, there is big expense to open that hotel so a hotelier is only going to open that hotel if there is a genuine business need.

'Now, if they open that big hotel at the airport or wherever it might be and five people turn up to pay because there is no block booking here, we understand customers are going to pay, then they're going to be losing more than they are losing now when it is closed.

'We need some assurance of what demand levels are going to be and then once they turn up, to understand the pricing we need to understand what security protocols are needed.

'We have cleaning protocols and we have suggested security protocols and etc but we are just not sure exactly what that means.

'In Australia they have perimeters and all sorts of different things that we would need to factor into our pricing to understand.'

Mr Paterson said insurance is also a hurdle to be overcome so that hotels know they are covered financially should the circumstances arise where they have to go into total lockdown because of a large-scale outbreak.

'That is one of the big, big challenges in this and we have had some experience with insurance,' he said.

'Insurers are a bit nervous about this and that is a real question that we want to try to understand from Government what the requirements are and who would underwrite that.'

Mr Hancock, who is in charge of the hotel quarantine policy, said this afternoon: We have strengthened measures at the border and we are clear that there is more that needs to be done, in fact I was talking to my Australian counterpart earlier today because they have these quarantine hotels so to speak in Australia and we will be bringing forward further measures. We have got to get this right.

At the moment you cannot come into the UK without the need for isolation, that is a very important part of keeping Britain safe.

Asked why the plans have been delayed, the Health Secretary said the Government is 'working to make sure that we get this right' and that he is 'working at pace to further strengthen the measures at the border'.

Ministers are expected to meet today to discuss whether the existing 'red list', which is currently made up of 33 countries, needs to be expanded.

The Government is facing growing calls from Labour and some Tory MPs to introduce a blanket hotel quarantine requirement for all UK arrivals.

Boris Johnson under pressure to speed up reopening of schools Boris Johnson was coming under increasing pressure to speed up the reopening of English schools today as Wales confirmed its intention to restart some primary classes after the February half term. Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething confirmed that some of the youngest age groups would go back to school from February 22 under a similar plan to that underway in Scotland. In contrast, English schools are not due to reopen until March 8, and the Prime Minister last night was resisting mounting pressure to accelerate. Tory MPs called for the move after new research showed that as well as saving lives, the Oxford vaccine will cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds. There was also concern that with English pupils risk falling further behind their counterparts. Mr Gething told Times Radio that the 'first priority' for the Welsh Government is to start a return to face-to-face teaching in some schools, despite coronavirus cases being 'quite high'. 'We've got to go in small steps and schools are the first priority and hopefully, straight after the half-term break, we'll be able to see our youngest children return to face-to-face learning in primary schools,' he said. Advertisement

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, said: 'The Government's plans around quarantine are in disarray.

'Not only do they fail to go far enough - leaving open the door to potential vaccine resistant strains - they can't even implement the half-baked plans that have been announced.

'It's now over six weeks since the South African strain was discovered and yet there is almost no reliable quarantine system in place. Conservative incompetence is putting people at risk.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he believes hotel quarantine should apply to every international arrival, with exemptions only for people supplying medicines or food.

He said: 'We're calling for quarantine for everybody who arrives in the UK from any country.

'There will have to be exceptions for medicines and foods  there always is  but for everybody else that is not within those exceptions, a full quarantine.

'And the reason for that is because, in the first wave, 0.1 per cent of cases came from China where we had restrictions, 62 per cent came from France and from Spain where we didn't have restrictions.

'There is every reason to think the variant will behave in the same way and that's why we're saying to Government, "we're in a race now, virus against vaccination, let's secure our borders while we carry out the vaccination process".'

Mr Johnson warned yesterday that Britain cannot shut its borders completely to prevent mutant coronavirus strains getting into the country as he denied ignoring SAGE advice on the issue.

The PM insisted closing off the country altogether was 'not practical'.

Yvette Cooper, the Labour chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said it is 'troubling' that the Government 'don't seem to be talking to some of the major hotel chains already'.

She said: 'We've always been warned about both second waves and new variants; the work should have been done a long time ago.

'The problem is, of course, as long as we're waiting, not just for this system but for stronger measures, we know that the system isn't working at the moment.

'We can see that because the South Africa variant is spreading across the country, that's the evidence that too many cases are getting into the country, then spreading in the country.'

Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said this morning quarantine hotels are 'part of a much bigger plan'.

'If you come to the UK, already you have to quarantine for 10 days, you have to have a test within three days before travel, you have to fill in a passenger locator form we already have a robust border policy,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Challenged over how 'robust' measures actually are, he said: 'You have to have a pre-departure test before you arrive  people have to have that or they will be turned away.

'When you arrive, you have to quarantine, even without the hotel quarantine operation yet in place, so the border policy, I think, with the passenger locator forms, where greater enforcement is taking place now than ever before, is robust.'

Mr Zahawi said Mr Hancock will soon set out further details on the policy.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain programme: 'Next week the Secretary of State for Health will be setting out the operational elements of this policy.

'We will absolutely be setting out how the quarantine hotels will work next week.'

Asked whether he had been frustrated by the delay in implementing the tighter border restrictions, Mr Zahawi replied: 'No, because it is one part of a greater piece.'
Arad border police caught 19 Afghans and Tunisians who tried to leave the country illegally, hiding in trucks checked at the Nadlac II Border Checkpoint or walking to the border with Hungary, according to AGERPRES.

According to a press release sent on Thursday by the Arad Border Police, five migrants from Afghanistan, aged between 16 and 19, were found in a truck driven by a Romanian.

During the inspection of the car, the border police noticed two other people walking past the counters where the document checks are carried out, establishing that they are people from Tunisia, aged 21 and 25 years.

Also in Nadlac II Border Checkpoint, 12 people were discovered in two trucks driven by a Romanian and a Turkish citizen.

"Both drivers were transporting, according to the documents accompanying the goods, textiles, respectively detergent from Romania for companies from France and the Czech Republic," the release reads.

Following the checks, it was established that the migrants are from Afghanistan, are between 16 and 21 years old and seek asylum seekers in our country.

In all cases, investigation is being made into how migrants arrived in trucks, with drivers risking criminal liability.
Denton, TX (76205)

Today

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Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.
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According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Field Devices Calibration Services Market is accounted for $97.32 million in 2017 and is expected to reach $158.92 million by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period. Some of the key factors boosting the market are increased utilization of temperature and humidity calibration services in different industries and availability of a wide range of services. However, loss of industrial productivity during device calibration hampers the market growth of field devices calibration services market.

Calibration is a service carried out to compare the performance of a field device/instrument against the standard specifications. It identifies the fault of the instrument, reduces the downtime of an instrument, and enhances productivity. Calibration services are one of the most important services under instrumentation services, as they are a must for testing and maintenance devices.

Based on Type, Electrical Calibration refers to the process of verifying the performance of, or adjusting, any instrument those measures or tests electrical parameters. This discipline is usually referred to as dc and low frequency electrical metrology. Due to this properties the segment is said to be enhanced.

By Geography, North America is anticipated to exhibit the considerable growth due the major revenue contributor to the field devices calibration services market throughout the forecast period. The increase in production of shale oil and gas in the US and Canada demands calibration services for high-power rated instruments, as such instruments work under hazardous situations and improper working of equipment can cause a huge revenue loss.

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Some of the key players in Global Field Devices Calibration Services market are ABB, Branom Instrument, Endress+Hauser, Exova, Fluke Calibration, GE, HiTek, Honeywell, Keysight Technologies, Rockwell Automation, Rohde & Schwarz, Siemens, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Transcat and Yokogawa.

Types Covered:

 Electrical Calibration

 Mechanical Calibration

 Pressure Calibration

 Temperature and Humidity Calibration

 Other Types

End Users Covered:

 Discrete Industry

 Process Industry

 Other End Users

Regions Covered:

 North America

o US

o Canada

o Mexico

 Europe

o Germany

o UK

o Italy

o France

o Spain

o Rest of Europe

 Asia Pacific

o Japan

o China

o India

o Australia

o New Zealand

o South Korea

o Rest of Asia Pacific

 South America

o Argentina

o Brazil

o Chile

o Rest of South America

 Middle East & Africa

o Saudi Arabia

o UAE

o Qatar

o South Africa

o Rest of Middle East & Africa

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Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

A 19-year-old accused of killing an 84-year-old San Franciscan by pushing him to the pavement as he walked through the citys Anza Vista neighborhood pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of murder and elder abuse.

Authorities say Antoine Watson of Daly City ran across the street and shoved Vicha Ratanapakdee, who was out for a morning walk on Jan. 28. Ratanapakdees head struck the pavement, and officers called to the scene found him collapsed on the sidewalk near Anzavista and Fortuna avenues. They administered first aid before he was taken to the hospital. He died on Saturday.
Familiarity can rob us of delight. Becoming overly comfortable with an object, location, or saying potentially causes us to ignore its uniqueness or relevance. It is like a song on the radio; what once was catchy and meaningful is rendered dull and meaningless when listened to too often. The same thing can happen with the truths of scripture. The popularity of certain verses can, if left unchecked, cause us to miss the full impact of Gods Word on our lives.

This is no truer than in the case of 1st Corinthians 13. Here, Pauls words about the nature of love have long been heralded as one of the most profound articulations on love ever written. Furthermore, and it has become the go-to passage for wedding ceremonies and marriage vows. It is on posters, t-shirts, and countless memes. When Christians think of romance, it is a good bet that somewhere along the way, these words will be referred to.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

There is only one problem with this: Paul is not writing about romance! This passage does not describe the relationship between husbands and wives, boyfriends, or girlfriends. Paul is not attempting to describe the institution of marriage. His statements about love simply do not refer to sentimental expressions of fondness, or squishy feelings of puppy-like attraction. To hear this verse in this way is to mishear Pauls call for our Christian lives. Frankly, what Paul says is a lot more profound, and a whole lot more radical.

To understand exactly what Paul is getting at, and how important this word is for our lives today, we need to understand three things about the love described in 1 Corinthians 13

1. Love Is about Living the Spirit-Filled Life

1 Corinthians 13 follows directly on the heels of chapter 12. This may sound like a no-brainer, but it is important to remember. The two chapters must be read together. This is how Paul expected his letter to be read. In chapter 12, after a lengthy discussion on spiritual gifts, Paul advises the Corinthians to eagerly desire the greater gifts. 'How does one do so?', one might ask. Luckily, Paul answers that question in the next statement: I will show you the most excellent way (12:31). This most excellent way (of living the Spirit-filled life) is the way of love.

Love is how Christians live out their relationship with Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Love expresses how the Christian life has been transformed. Spiritual gifts, such as tongues, prophesy, or words of knowledge, are not exercised to the bolstering of the spiritual ego. They are to be manifestations of love. If our workings of spiritual gifts do not lead others, or ourselves, into a deeper experience of Christian love, then we have missed the way of Jesus.

The same is true for Christian ministry. In chapter 12 Paul puts forward his image of the Christian community as a body. Just as a body is made up of many parts, so too the Christian community involves a multitude of people, all working together for a common purpose. Each component of the community is honored and uplifted. This is true whether one is a teacher, a preacher, or a worker of miracles. Again, the question comes: How do we know that one is engaging in ministry in the way of Christ? The answer is love.

For Paul, the logic is clear. Paul highlights various examples of spiritual gifting and then roots them in the context of the Christian community. He then discusses how each ministry works together for the good of the whole. Finally, everything holds together through the empowering work of love. Love transforms us. Love flows through us. Love is fundamental to living a Spirit-filled life. If we don't have love, can we really say we have the Spirit?

2. Love Is Rooted in Jesus

Recognizing this priority of love in our spiritual lives does not yet answer the question of how we define 'love.' The contemporary usage of this word can be far-reaching. After all, we use the same word to describe our devotion for the Lord and our fondness for bacon-jam! Surely the two are not equal.

The word Paul uses throughout 1 Corinthians 13 is the Greek word agape. While our contemporary usage of 'love' can be quite broad, agape was narrowly defined. It was not used for love of spouse or partner, nor did it express the camaraderie of friendship. These expressions of affection were taken up by different words: Eros, for romantic or intimate love; and Phileo, for familial love. Agape is a unique type of love. The word describes the selfless, sacrificial manner of love, seen primarily in Gods love toward humanity. It is best to understand agape as the love that finds its source in the presence of God. In fact, John the Apostle literally writes, God is Agape (1 John 4:8). Ultimately, this divine, sacrificial love of God is seen in the incarnation. Jesus declares this very reality when he says, For God so agape-ed the world that he gave his one and only son (John 3:16). Jesus is the incarnation of agape.

Love is not a principle. Love is not a philosophy. Love, in this context, is certainly not an emotion. In the Christian understanding, Love is a person  and that person is Jesus. When God incarnated himself in human flesh, Love walked upon the earth. It was Love that was born in a manger; Love was crucified on the cross. The use of the word agape, therefore, expresses the reality of Gods presence amid human life.

Agape, describes Gods unyielding, unstoppable, self-sacrificing love toward the world, seen in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus, we cannot understand the call to love without rooting ourselves in the presence of Jesus. Without Jesus in our lives, the call to love expressed in 1 Corinthians 13 is nonsensical. When Paul writes about love he is speaking about a way of life that is empowered by the Spirit and connected to Jesus.

3. Love Embraces Community

We can now begin tackling what exactly Paul is getting at in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul is writing about the way Christians live in the world. He is not speaking about the romance of two lovebirds but of the witness of the Christian community. Love speaks to how Christians express Christs love to the world. Christians ought to agape others, as Christ has agape-ed us (John 13:34).

While this may appear simple enough, these words are packed with meaning. To be patient and kind, for example, is to act in the same manner as Christ. Our patience toward one another is ultimately rooted in Christs eternal patience toward us. The kindness we receive in Jesus must be mirrored in the kindness we share with others. To do otherwise is to undercut the flow of the Spirit within us.

When Christians are rude or aggressive, they are negating the very life to which Christ calls them. Furthermore, the call to love others demands that we recognize that we are not the only ones that Christ loves. We simply cannot be dismissive of someone to whom Christs love is directed. After all, if Christ is patient, kind, and forgiving toward others (as he is towards us), what right do we have to be anything different?

This is the fundamental principle that undergirds this entire passage. Christians are to express toward others the very love that Christ expresses to us. We cannot accept Christs offer of agape love and refuse to express that outwards. To do so would be the highest form of insult  to Christ and to our neighbor. As God expressed Gods love toward us so too must we express the love outwards to one another.

A Radical Word

Because we know this passage so well, we tend to forget how profound this is. Pauls words here are as life-changing today as they were in the first-century world. In an age known for its 'cancel-culture,' the call to be patient and kind is radically transformative. Christ calls us to express love to those outside our circles of friendship and communion. Make no mistake, Christs love is to be expressed to the very people we would otherwise choose to ignore. If we find ourselves hating another group of people, for any reason, we can be sure that it is to them that Christs love is to be expressed. Echoing Christs parable of the Good Samaritan, Christians are called to express agape love to the very people we may be tempted to disregard, even reject. It is to those who differ from us, who may even be opposed to us, we are called to be patient rather than dismissive. Instead of being rude, opinionated, or aggressive, Christ calls us to kindness. Pride, boastfulness, arrogance, or vanity destroys the work of Christs love in our lives. There is no place for these things in the loving heart of the Christian.

Of course, we all have people we dislike. We all have people we would rather not associate ourselves with. This occurs as much for those within the church as those outside the church. Whether our separations are based on political, social, or theological divides, we all have people that we see as the other. This is a part of the fallen nature of humanity. Christ, however, empowers us to move beyond this. Christ calls us to love those whom he loves, to serve those whom he serves, and to be as radical in our expressions of this love as he was. If Christians would but fully embrace the spirit-filled, Jesus focused way of agape love, we could, quite literally, change the world.

Photo credit: GettyImages/coffeekai

Reverend Kyle Norman is the Rector of the Anglican Parish of Holy Cross in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He has a doctorate in Spiritual Formation and is often asked to write or speak on the nature of Christian community, and the role of Spiritual disciplines in Christian life. His personal blog can be found here.

This article is part of our larger resource library of popular Bible verse phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy to read articles that answer your questions about the meaning, origin, and history of specific verses within Scripture's context. It is our hope that these will help you better understand the meaning and purpose of God's Word in relation to your life today.

"Be Still and Know that I Am God"

"Pray Without Ceasing"

"Fearfully and Wonderfully Made"

"All Things Work Together for Good"

"Do Not Fear"

New Delhi: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday issued a press statement expressing concerns over the developments in Myanmar and called for the release of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint.

The statement said, "Members of the Security Council expressed deep concern at the declaration of the state of emergency imposed in Myanmar by the military" and the "arbitrary detention of members of the Government, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint and others. They called for the immediate release of all those detained".

On Monday the country saw a bloodless coup with the military overthrowing the civilian government in an action that led to strong reactions globally. Interestingly, the UNSC statement doesn't use the word coup.

UNSC members in the statement "emphasized the need for the continued support of the democratic transition in Myanmar" and "stressed the need to uphold democratic institutions and processes, refrain from violence, and fully respect human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law."

The country saw elections last year with National League for Democracy getting huge support. The actions by the military halts the democratic transition for the country, which started in 2010 after the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The top UN body "encouraged the pursuance of dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar". Concerns have also been expressed at the "restrictions on civil society, journalists and media workers" in the statement.

The UNSC had met on Tuesday to discuss the issue. UK is the president of the UNSC for this month and had backed the discussion on the issue at the high table. The statement mentions the Rohingya crisis with the UNSC members reiterating the "need to address the root causes of the crisis in Rakhine State and to create conditions necessary for the safe, voluntary, sustainable, and dignified return of displaced persons".

The statement saw strong support to regional organizations, in particular the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and welcomed the ASEAN Chairs Statement dated February 1, 2021, on the issue. The ASEAN statement called for adherence to the principles of democracy, the rule of law, and good governance.

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A Windhoek resident convicted of culpable homicide over a road accident in which three people were killed was yesterday sentenced to a fine of N$15 000 and a suspended prison term of four years.

Magistrate Leopold Hangalo sentenced Morne Mouton (25) in the Windhoek Regional Court after saying that in his view Mouton deserved some mercy.

Mouton was sentenced to a fine of N$15 000 or three years' imprisonment and an additional prison term of four years, suspended for five years on condition that he is not convicted of culpable homicide during this period.

Hangalo said culpable homicide is a serious offence, because lives are lost. In Mouton's case the interest of society should be considered as well as the fact that he was a first-time offender, the magistrate said.

"Factors that have a bearing on your blameworthiness are that the crimes were not premeditated and appear to have been committed on the spur of the moment. Evidence about you inherently being a wicked or violent person is lacking.

"I am further of the view that this is an instance where the circumstances are such that the court should show mercy on you," Hangalo said.

Mouton was convicted after it was found that he negligently caused the death of three people - Windhoek City Police officer Manfred Gaoseb and civilians Werner Simon and Joshua Ngenokesho - in a collision on Sam Nujoma Drive in the Hochland Park area of Windhoek in the early morning hours of 4 July 2015.

The incident took place when a car driven by Mouton, who was 20 years old and a Grade 12 pupil at the time, crashed into the side of a stationary police vehicle facing oncoming traffic on the side of the road on which Mouton was travelling, and also hit Gaoseb, Simon and Ngenokesho, killing them.

Mouton was released on bail after his lawyer, Sisa Namandje, requested this at the end of a presentence hearing in the Windhoek Regional Court last week.

He had been free on a warning from the court until he was remanded in custody after he had been found guilty of culpable homicide in a judgement delivered in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court nearly two weeks ago.
CHICAGO - A new study by Northwestern University researchers finds involvement with firearms by high-risk youth is associated with firearm violence during adulthood.

"Association of Firearm Access, Use, and Victimization During Adolescence with Firearm Perpetration During Adulthood in a 16-year Longitudinal Study of Youth Involved in the Juvenile Justice System" will publish in JAMA Network Open at 10 a.m. CST, Thursday, Feb. 4. Access the full study online.

The longitudinal study of juvenile justice youth is the first to analyze firearm victimization and access during adolescence and its association with firearm violence in adulthood.

The study is based on data collected in the Northwestern Juvenile Project. In the mid-1990s, researchers interviewed 1,829 randomly selected youth who were newly admitted to juvenile detention. The investigators then followed them for the next 16 years no matter where they were living -- conducting a total of 17,766 face-to-face interviews. The study's overall goal was to ascertain the health needs and outcomes of youth in the juvenile justice system.

"Youth in the juvenile justice system are disproportionately poor and from racial/ethnic minority groups," said behavioral scientist Dr. Linda Teplin, the Owen L. Coon Professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "They are at high risk for nearly every dire outcome, including death by firearm. To date, more than 10% of our sample have died, nearly half of these from firearm injuries."

In the current paper, Northwestern Medicine researchers found that participants who had been victimized by a weapon as adolescents were between two and three times more likely to perpetuate firearm violence as adults. They also found those with access to a firearm during adolescence were far more likely to perpetuate firearm violence as an adult.

"We anticipated that involvement with firearms might continue beyond adolescence. But we were surprised that being victimized during adolescence would be associated with perpetrating as an adult," Teplin said.

Firearms deaths are a significant public health problem in the U.S., accounting for nearly 200,000 homicides between 2003 and 2018. Despite an overall decrease in homicides over the past three years, the proportion involving firearms peaked in 2018 accounting for 72% of homicides.

The Northwestern researchers investigated three aspects of firearm involvement during adolescence: use (to threaten, shoot); access (ownership, firearm in the home, ease of access, gang carries a firearm); and victimization (gunshot injury, threatened with a weapon). Nearly all types of firearm involvement during adolescence were significantly associated with the perpetration of firearm violence during adulthood.

"Unfortunately, firearm involvement -- both perpetration and victimization -- is the norm, not the exception, in these high-risk adolescents," notes author Dr. Leah Welty, professor in preventive medicine at Feinberg. The investigators found that prior to age 18, three-fourths of males had shot or threatened someone. Three-fourths had been threatened themselves, and one in 10 had been shot. "Girls were not immune," Welty said. "Nearly two-thirds of females had been threatened with a weapon."

"Clearly, being victimized during adolescence has consequences," Teplin said. "Youth victimized at school may perform poorly, cut classes and ultimately drop out, limiting their employment opportunities. They may then join gangs or sell drugs, increasing their exposure to high-risk situations. Finally, exposure to violence -- whether in the home, at school or in the streets -- may cause youth to carry firearms to protect themselves. In this way, victims become perpetrators."

The researchers offer several recommendations communities and households might take to address this public health crisis and reduce firearms deaths.

"We need preventive interventions that target high-risk youth like our participants. Neighborhoods also matter. Firearm violence is concentrated in blighted urban communities where it's easy to obtain guns and find places to hide them. Youth may borrow from friends or rent from their gang," Teplin said.

The authors also recommend training pediatricians to educate parents on the safe storage of firearms. When weighed against the risk of injury and death, the cost is negligible at $25 for a pistol-sized lock box.

The researchers will next investigate intergenerational patterns of firearm victimization and perpetration.

###

Teplin will present research from the Northwestern Juvenile Project at the virtual 2021 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting. For information about media registration, email media@aaas.org and include "AAAS Annual Meeting" in the subject line.

Teplin will moderate the scientific session "Consequences of Incarceration on Health Inequity and Racial Injustice" at 2 p.m. EST, Monday, Feb. 8. During the session, she will also present "Consequences of Incarceration in Detained Youth: A 15-Year Longitudinal Study."

In the press briefing that follows the scientific session at 3 p.m. EST, Feb. 8, Teplin will discuss how the experience of incarceration affects age-appropriate life course achievement, such as socioeconomic well-being, interpersonal functioning and mental health, as well as how consequences differ by sex, race and ethnicity.
Importers of commodities in The Gambia on Thursday informed the legislators of the National Assembly Select Committee on Trade that the demurrage charges on imports is the only main factor contributing to price hikes of basic commodities in the country.

According to them, there is high demand on essential commodities such as rice, sugar and oil in Africa while its production is very low and the increment on the demurrage on trade in containers is about US$3000 to US$4000 respectively.

They confirmed to the committee that in the midst of covid-19 pandemic, they have series of difficulties in importing especially when it comes to shipping them to The Gambia as most of the ports in the Eastern part of India and Pakistan have to operate the way they were operating before the pandemic came to effect.

They added that before the pandemic, to ship a container of rice from India to Gambia costs them around $1600 but right now it is around US$3800-US$4000 and at the same time, factories and suppliers are not working constantly.

"We had a series of meetings with the Ministry of Trade and they asked us to produce our weekly sales, our weekly prices and our weekly stock levels," they added.

They said that the fact that they had some stocks in sugar prior to the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic has greatly helped, outlining that without the stocks, the price of sugar would have been higher than it is right now.

"Although we are trying our best to sell at the cheapest price and not to increase our prices as it is not in our favour in our line of businesses," they affirmed.

They also said that the closure of business transactions and loss of jobs have immensely contributed to the factors affecting the rise of prices in commodities.

The chairman of the Trade Committee, Muhammed Mahanera, said the information would guide the committee as they engage the stakeholders to ensure that the persistent price hike on commodities is reviewed and fixed at a reasonable price.
United Nations, Feb 4 : India has warned against chemical weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists noting the reports of the resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) terror group in Syria.

"India remains concerned about the possibility of such dangerous weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorist organisation and individuals," R. Ravindra, a Deputy Permanent Representative of India, told the Security Council on Wednesday.

"Terrorist groups have taken advantage of the decade-long conflict in Syria to entrench themselves posing a threat to the entire region. Reports of the resurgence of the IS in the region are being heard with increasing frequency," he said after the Council heard a briefing on the implementation of its resolution against chemical weapons in that country.

That Resolution adopted in 2013 expressly demanded that "non-State actors" or terror groups "not develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer, or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery".

Ravindra said: "The world cannot afford to give these terrorists any sanctuary or dilute its fights against these terrorist groups." The UN's High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu, who briefed the Council on the implementation of its resolution, alleged that Syria was not fully in compliance with it.

"At this stage, due to the identified gaps, inconsistencies, and discrepancies that remain unresolved, the declaration submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic cannot be considered accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)," she said.

She said that there were 19 outstanding issues and one of them was about a chemical weapons production facility that a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) determined had been used to manufacture such weapons although Damascus has denied such use.

The issue of chemical weapons in Syria has pitted Russia, with some backing from China, against the Western nations which are vehemently opposed to the government of Bashar al-Assad.

With New Delhi in the middle, Ravindra said: "India has consistently underlined the need for impartial and objective investigation into any alleged use of chemical weapons, scrupulously following the procedures and provisions laid down in the (Chemical Weapons) Convention." New Delhi also has close ties with Syria.

"India has consistently called for a comprehensive and peaceful resolution of the Syrian conflict through a Syrian-led dialogue," Ravindra said.

India has "contributed to the return of normalcy and rebuilding of Syria through humanitarian assistance and human resource development" and was now ready to provide it with Covid-19 vaccines, he said.

As for the CWC, Ravindra said India attaches high importance to it.

He said it "is a unique, non-discriminatory disarmament instrument and serves as a model for the elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction".

He added that India was the first country to be declared the first signatory to the CWC to be declared a chemical weapon-free state.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4)  The House Special Committee on Senior Citizens has approved a bill providing free dialysis coverage for senior citizens.

Under House Bill 7859 filed by Senior Citizens Party-list Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes, the cost of hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and other Department of Health-approved dialysis procedures conducted at freestanding dialysis centers and accredited hospitals will be reimbursed by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or PhilHealth.

In seeking the bill's approval, Ordanes said chronic kidney disease has become one of the causes of death among senior citizens, with demand for dialysis increasing by 400% in the past 10 years.

During the hearing, the government's vaccination program for senior citizens was also discussed in light of the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines.

National Commission of Senior Citizens Chairman Franklin Quijano urged the government to streamline protocols for vaccinating the elderly since many of them might have difficulty traveling to hospitals or health centers.

"There are senior citizens who would not be able to move to barangay halls so I guess we should consider this also as a very important move by the government," he said.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Medina of the Oriental Office of Senior Citizens Affairs urged the government to step up its information campaign on the benefits of vaccination for the elderly.

Medina noted that some senior citizens are wary of getting vaccinated against preventable diseases.

"What we need is total education about this vaccination. Because of the effect of Dengvaxia, some senior citizens are doubting the effect of this vaccination," he said.

Senior citizens are entitled to receive free vaccines against flu and pneumonia under the DOH's national immunization program.

Exposure to lead, a toxic metal, can result in severe effects in children, including decreased ability to learn, permanent neurologic damage, organ failure, and death. CDC and other health care organizations recommend routine blood lead level (BLL) testing among children as part of well-child examinations to facilitate prompt identification of elevated BLL, eliminate source exposure, and provide medical and other services (1). To describe BLL testing trends among young children during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, CDC analyzed data reported from 34 state and local health departments about BLL testing among children aged <6 years conducted during JanuaryMay 2019 and JanuaryMay 2020. Compared with testing in 2019, testing during JanuaryMay 2020 decreased by 34%, with 480,172 fewer children tested. An estimated 9,603 children with elevated BLL were missed because of decreased BLL testing. Despite geographic variability, all health departments reported fewer children tested for BLL after the national COVID-19 emergency declaration (MarchMay 2020). In addition, health departments reported difficulty conducting medical follow-up and environmental investigations for children with elevated BLLs because of staffing shortages and constraints on home visits associated with the pandemic. Providers and public health agencies need to take action to ensure that children who missed their scheduled blood lead screening test, or who required follow-up on an earlier high BLL, be tested as soon as possible and receive appropriate care.

CDC identifies no safe BLL in children and considers a blood lead reference value (BLRV) of 5.0 g/dL* sufficient to prompt clinical and public health intervention (1,2). Among children aged <6 years, very high BLL (>70 g/dL) can cause neurologic problems (e.g., seizures or coma), organ failure, and death. Lower, but still elevated, BLL can affect the nervous system, causing permanent neurologic damage, behavioral disorders, and cognitive impairment (1). In the United States, the most common childhood lead exposures are from lead-based paint that was used in pre-1978 housing, lead-contaminated soil or lead-containing pollutants from industrial sources, and water from old lead pipes and fixtures (3). Very young children might ingest lead dust or paint because of their tendency to put fingers or objects (toys or paint chips) in their mouths, and they more readily absorb lead because their bodies are rapidly developing. Primary prevention focuses on reducing lead exposures in homes, schools, and communities. Secondary prevention consists of BLL screening as part of routine well-child examinations. Early identification of children with lead exposure can help identify and eliminate lead sources (and future exposures for other children); reduce their BLL over time; and link children with high BLLs to medical, nutritional, and educational services. Medicaid-enrolled children are required to be screened at ages 12 and 24 months; many states have additional screening requirements (4).

In 1995, elevated BLLs became a nationally reportable condition (5). CDC funds 53 state and local childhood lead poisoning prevention programs to conduct ongoing surveillance of BLL testing among children. During May and June 2020, CDC received anecdotal reports of declines in BLL testing. To understand BLL testing trends during the COVID-19 pandemic, including after a national emergency was declared in March 2020, CDC requested that state and local health departments report the total number of children aged <6 years with BLL tests by month during JanuaryMay 2019 and JanuaryMay 2020. This activity was reviewed by CDC and was conducted consistent with applicable federal law and CDC policy. Health departments could also submit qualitative information. Based on the 20072010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data and subsequent trends** (1), an estimated 2.0% of children who did not have a BLL test were conservatively assumed to have levels exceeding the BLRV.

Data for the period of interest for children aged <6 years were received from 34 state and local health departments, including the District of Columbia and New York City. Overall, the number of children aged <6 years who had BLL tests during JanuaryMay 2020 (948,844) was lower by 33.6% (480,172) than the number who had BLL tests during JanuaryMay 2019 (1,429,016) (Figure), resulting in an estimated 9,603 children with elevated BLLs being missed. During the analysis period, the number of children with BLL testing was lower during every month during JanuaryMay 2020 compared with the number with testing during the same period in 2019; the largest proportional decrease (66.4%) occurred in April 2020. During the early pandemic period (MarchMay 2020), the number of children with BLL tests (481,199) decreased by 52.5% compared with the same period in 2019 (880,812). Despite geographic variation, all 34 responding state and local health departments reported decreased BLL testing during MarchMay 2020 compared with testing during 2019 (Table). Several health departments reported difficulties in conducting home nursing visits and environmental investigations following identification of children with BLL above the reference value because of staffing shortages and difficulties conducting home visits. In addition, some families whose children had elevated BLLs were no longer in the listed residence.


TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IMPROVATE, which connects between Israeli technology companies and governments, held its Communication Africa 2021 conference in collaboration with Spacecom, a satellite communication provider, the owners and operators of the Amos satellites fleet. Spacecom specializes in advanced communication solutions and provides a wide range of satellite-based communication services throughout Africa, Middle- east and Europe.

The conference heard from government ministers and senior officials about the significant challenges faced by African nations in deploying nationwide government services and the importance of communications networks and connectivity as an enabler.

The new services presented by Spacecom meet all the needs raised by the participants and provide African countries with full internet and communications coverage, enabling acceleration of state development, and improving services provided to citizens in all fields of life.

Spacecom CEO Mr. Dan Zajicek unveiled at the conference two new advanced services for states, the NationSAT and the DCP (Digital Community Platform) which are based on the exclusive capabilities of the Amos-17 satellite and provide most sub-Saharan African countries with complete nationwide coverage, irrespective of location, and financing models that enable the immediate and long-term provision of services.

Keynote speaker, the Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, said that properly deployed satellite communication can be absolutely transformative for Africa. "I think that there will be enormous interest in Africa in how this satellite technology can help with connectivity and communication." Blair said that Africa provides huge opportunities for the Israeli tech sector, "It is an opportunity for Israel to showcase what it can do".

IMPROVATE Founder and chair Irina Nevzlin: "Advanced communications solutions allow countries with large land areas to get connected in ways which would not be possible with conventional grids. As we know, with this new way of communication comes connectivity, and with connectivity comes opportunity. Our goal at IMPROVATE is to help companies turn opportunity into reality."

Participating in the conference were ministers, deputy minister, directors general of government ministries, regulators, senior executives from the African space industry, ambassadors and investors from a number of African countries, including Mali, Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania and South Sudan. On the Israeli side, the conference was attended by the senior management of Spacecom, headed by its CEO, Mr. Dan Zajicek, as well as the former minister of communications, MK Yoaz Hendel.

Spacecom CEO Mr. Dan Zajicek said: "The communications that we provide are the broadest foundation for the development and progress of African nations. Spacecom has set a goal that every person in Africa will be able to connect to the internet and benefit from government services. We have made investments and we have deployed infrastructure; we have changed the equation. The challenge now is not necessarily a technological one but is also a question of decision making."

Mr. Aviv Ronai. VP Marketing & Product at NovelSat, which provides content connectivity solutions for video broadcast and broadband connectivity, said: "Connectivity is essential to remote areas and is an enabler of social growth throughout Africa. Satellite is the only thing that can provide s connectivity over such large areas."

Mr. Arie SznajHead of International Finance, Bank Leumi, said that Leumi has seen a major shift of projects it finances toward Africa over the past decade. "We believe that satellite telecom and internet services will encourage the development of human capital and economic growth in countries where satellite connections are implemented. Leumi as a financial institution sees great importance in assisting its clients in these fields."

IMPROVATE CEO Ms. Ronit Hasin Hochman: "The Amos satellite fleet paints the globe blue and white and now enables African countries as well to benefit from advanced communications that improve all areas of life. IMPROVATE is proud to help bring space technologies to Africa."

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEOgKYacj5A

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1433171/IMPROVATE_Tony_Blair.jpg
Impeachment managers Representatives Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Stacey Plaskett (D-U.S. Virgin Islands at-Large), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) deliver an article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate for trial on the Capitol, in Washington, on Jan. 25, 2021. (Melina Mara/Pool via Reuters)

An Unconstitutional Farce of a Senate Show Trial

Commentary

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach then-President Donald J. Trump on Jan. 13, just one week before he was scheduled to leave the Oval Office.

The presidency was transferred to Joseph R. Biden on Jan. 20, when he took the sacred oath. At that moment, Trump ceased to be the U.S. president.

And yet Democrats in the Congress have insisted on scheduling a Senate trial for Feb. 9 to remove a man from the Oval Office who is no longer there. They fully intend to hold an impeachment trial for a private citizen.

This latest farce is even more ridiculous than the one the nation was forced to endure almost exactly a year ago, when they impeached Trump for a phone call to the newly elected leader of Ukraine. Despite the fact Trump never attempted to strong-arm Volodymyr Zelensky by threatening to withhold millions in military aid to Ukraine unless Zelensky agreed to start an investigation into the Biden family, Democrats voted to impeach him. That led to a Senate trial in which Trump easily escaped conviction.

Its hard to see how Trump could be convicted this time around either, as the impeachment article that will be used at the forthcoming trial is nonsensical on its face.

The impeachment article claims that when he gave his speech on Jan. 6 at the Ellipse, just a short distance from the White House, Trump incited those listening to him to march to the Capitol Building and attack the joint session of Congress as it was engaged in counting the electoral votes from the Nov. 3 presidential election.

The impeachment article is entitled Incitement of Insurrection and directly charges Trump with whipping up a violent mob and then unleashing it at the Congress.

There are multiple problems with this narrative:

Official court filings reveal that some of the alleged key instigators of the violence at the Capitol Building had been planning their attack for days in advance. This means their attack could not have been incited by listening to Trumps speech. The official timeline of that day shows that the attack on the Capitol began before Trump finished his speech. It takes about 40 minutes on foot to walk from the Ellipse to the Capitol. If Trump incited a mob, and pointed it at the assembled Congress, the attack at the Capitol would have started much later than it did because of this 40-minute walk. Trumps speech at the Ellipse is available in its entirety online, and nowhere in the speech does he urge any violence or any kind of an attack on the Capitol Building or the Congress assembled within it. Trump closed his remarks that day by asking for a peaceful and respectful protest. Somehow his calm statements about walking down Pennsylvania Avenue and peacefully protesting with the crowd outside the Capitol building is transformed by his detractors into his raging for them to storm the building and to attack members of Congress. There has never been such a thing as an unarmed insurrection in American history. The Shays rebellion of 178687, the Whiskey Rebellion of 17911794, and similar insurrections were lengthy events that spanned weeks, months, sometimes even years that involved armed people attacking state and federal authorities. This event at the U.S. Capitol Building was not an armed insurrection of any length. It was several dozen unarmed people forcing their way into a building and occupying some offices for less than an hour. To call that an insurrection is to cheapen and degrade what that word really means.

Because this impeachment article is completely nonsensical, it cant stand up to any challenges and will therefore collapse under its own absurd weight when the Senate trial is held.

The U.S. Constitution, the federal governments founding document, clearly lays out how a Senate trial of an impeached president is conducted. The show trial the Democratic Party has engineered for a private citizen who isnt a federal office holder any longer is about as far from the constitutional framework as its possible to get.

For example, the Constitution clearly states that its the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who presides over any Senate trial of an impeached president.

Current Chief Justice John Roberts made it clear he wants nothing to do with it. That didnt stop the Democrats, who simply appointed one of their own, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), to oversee the proceedings.

Find me the clause in the Constitution where it says, And if the Chief Justice refuses participation, the Senate shall appoint one of its own partisan members to preside over the impeachment trial of a private citizen. I cant seem to find it, but surely it must be in there somewhere.

Either that or we now have a federal government thats completely detached from the Constitution that it is supposed to adhere to. If politicians can simply toss the Constitution aside and make it up as they go along, why even have a Constitution in the first place?

Because this is the position of many of the Republicans in the Senate, they have refused to participate in this travesty. When all senators were expected to be present for the official delivery of the House of Representatives impeachment article, only 3 of the 50 Republican senators bothered to show up: Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Roger Marshall of Kansas.

It should be recalled the Democrats failed to get a conviction at the last Senate trial on two impeachment articles by votes of 5248 and 5347. Romney was the only Republican to vote with Democrats to remove Trump from office during last years trial.

This time, they need Romney and 16 other GOP senators to agree with the claim that Trump incited an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. It seems highly unlikely Democrats will find the 17 GOP Senate votes they will need.

In fact, this impeachment trial stunt is highly likely to backfire on Democrats in epic fashion. The central charges are absurd, and by making them, theyll open all kinds of doors for the Trump legal defense team.

Brian Cates is a writer based in South Texas and author of Nobody Asked For My Opinion  But Here It Is Anyway! He can be reached on Telegram at t.me/drawandstrikechannel.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
NIA nets key naxalite involved in killing of 4 policemen at Jharkhand

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 04: The National Investigation Agency has arrested a key accused in connection with the killing of a police personnel in Latehar, Jharkhand.

The NIA arrested Mrityunjay Kumar Singh, aged 34, who is said to have a close nexus with the CPI (Maoist) leadership, who were involved in the killing of 4 police personnel by the cadres of the outfit.

ED takes possession of attached assets in case against naxal leader

The case pertains to the attack on a police patrolling party by the naxalites on November 22 2019 at Lukaiya More in District Latehar. 4 police personnel were martyred and their arms and ammunition were looted. The state police had earlier arrested and chargesheeted 6 persons.

PM Modi: India registered record agricultural produce during times of coronavirus| Oneindia News

After taking over the probe, the NIA conducted searches at several places and during the operation, the premises of Singh was raided and Rs 2.64 crore was recovered. It was also revealed that a day before the incident, Singh had met Ravindra Ghanjhu Regional Committee Member of CPI (Maoist) at Bearjanga forest, and had provided him money for the attack.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 8:11 [IST]
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A policy change will allow the families of thousands of disabled children to receive additional supports while struggling with the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Massachusetts received federal approval to issue Pandemic EBT benefits - more commonly known as P-EBT - to the families of an estimated 2,600 children who are disabled.

Certain children with disabilities are eligible, including those who qualify for Medicaid because they receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

These grandparents and all the kinship families are the true heroes here: raising their disabled grandkids, nieces and nephews at home, especially during the pandemic, said Patricia Baker, a senior policy advocate with the Mass Law Reform Institute, which assisted in advocating for the policy clarification. No one in the Commonwealth should feel food insecure but unfortunately, we are dealing with record levels of hunger as the COVID-19 crisis continues on. Were glad we could assist the Baker Administration in advocating for this critical policy clarification under the National School Lunch Program and we are ready to assist in implementation.

Pandemic EBT, or P-EBT, is a relief program created out of the CARES Act for families whose children qualify for free and reduced lunch.

The program was launched in Massachusetts in April to help low-income families across the state cover the cost of missed school meals while their children learn remotely. It was extended in September to support students starting the school year remotely.

In Massachusetts, about half of all families - more than 500,000 students - qualify for free or reduced-priced breakfast and lunch.

State officials are working to ensure these children continue to qualify for free or reduced-price school meals once they return for in-person learning.

Late last year, Massachusetts became the first state to receive federal approval to issue P-EBT benefits through the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year.

This benefit is important during a time of increased food insecurity for families in the state due to the economic impact of COVID-19, said Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders. We will continue to maximize every opportunity to address nutritional needs of children and families, and use all federal food assistance programs and flexibilities during the public health emergency.

Eligible families receive varying amounts based on a students enrollment. Families with children enrolled in fully-remote learning models receive $117 a month per child. Students enrolled in a hybrid-learning model receive $58 a month each.

Parents and guardians who already receive benefits will get their P-EBT benefits on their existing EBT card. Families who do not receive benefits from the Department of Transitional Assistance, but received a P-EBT card this year, will get their P-EBT benefits on their existing P-EBT card. Newly eligible students will receive their P-EBT benefits on their existing card if their families already receive benefits or will be mailed a P-EBT card if they do not. Families who lost their P-EBT card can request a new one here.

P-EBT benefits can be used anywhere Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are accepted, including online from Amazon and Walmart. Many families eligible for P-EBT may also be eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and are encouraged to apply.

P-EBT benefits supplement rather than replace free grab and go meal sites still available this school year.
U.S. President Joe Biden intends to discuss not only areas of cooperation with Russia, but also touch upon differences directly, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

She stressed that Biden made clear that while there are areas where the U.S. and Russia can work together - say, New START.

"The president has concerns about a number of areas of their reported interference, whether its in elections; in the hacking, reports of bounties on American troops. Theres an ongoing review thats happening," Psaki noted.

She said Biden intends to discuss differences directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"But Biden will also, of course, talk broadly about foreign policy. This will not be a laydown of his vision for every issue and every foreign policy issue. He will have plenty of time to do that," Psaki noted.
A federal court judge in Oregon has ordered the state prison system to inoculate every inmate who wants to be vaccinated against Covid-19. The order, the first in the nation, comes as many states have declined to make vaccinating prisoners a priority, even though severe virus outbreaks inside prisons have been common.

The ruling, handed down Tuesday night by Stacie Beckerman, a federal magistrate judge, said the states 12,100 prison inmates should be vaccinated as soon as possible. It was not clear on Wednesday whether the state intended to appeal.

Our constitutional rights are not suspended during a crisis, Judge Beckerman wrote in her opinion. On the contrary, during difficult times we must remain the most vigilant to protect the constitutional rights of the powerless. Even when faced with limited resources, the state must fulfill its duty of protecting those in custody.

The director of the Oregon Department of Corrections, Colette S. Peters, said in a statement Wednesday that the department was prepared to offer and administer additional vaccines. (Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this item mistakenly said the statement was issued Tuesday.)
Somalia will receive the COVID-19 vaccine this February, according to the World Health Organization.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Somalia, Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik said that Somalia will receive 1.2 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.

The vaccine is a combination of first and second hand and will be given to 600,000 Somalis.

Dr. Malik also said that in March and April they will receive another vaccine for 20% of the Somali population.

Vaccines for 20% of the Somali population are free, provided by the Covax Center, a joint venture between the World Health Organization and GAVI.

The 1.2 million vaccines will be vaccinated by health, municipal and frontline workers, and is sufficient for 3% of the country's population.

Meanwhile, Somalia has announced 19 new cases of COVID19 bringing the number of confirmed cases in the country to 4,8114.

132 patients have also succumbed to the disease.
The Egypt-based Enara group for renewable energy services signed on Dec. 28, 2020, a cooperation protocol with the Chinese Chint energy company to establish a project aimed at locally manufacturing solar panels from silica-rich sand  a first in Egypt.

Mohammad Adel, project development manager at Enara, told Al-Monitor over the phone that cooperation with the Chinese company will mark a quantum leap in the field of solar energy in Egypt, considering that the company has great experience in this field and has already installed three solar energy stations in the Benban solar power complex in Aswan governorate.

Adel said that the Enara group is seeking to boost local manufacturing, localize modern technology and exchange global experiences in the fields of energy and agriculture by using new and renewable energy sources. He said the group is also seeking the governments contribution in its development plan to boost the Egyptian economy.

The project, he explained, will achieve a major breakthrough in the field of solar energy generation and is a first in Egypt.

Enara signed a cooperation protocol on Jan. 25 with the National Organization for Military Production (NOMP), affiliated with the Ministry of Military Production, and the Nasser Social Bank with the aim of funding small clients and prompting them to use solar energy in the agricultural sector.

The Nasser Social Bank is contracted with the Ministry of Social Solidarity to fund the small projects approved by the ministry.

Sherif el-Gabaly, chairman of the board of directors of Enara, told Al-Monitor over the phone that he was happy about the fruitful cooperation with the Ministry of Military Production and the Ministry of Social Solidarity, as it would benefit the agricultural sector in Egypt.

Gabaly said that one of the most important current goals of the Enara group was the generation and distribution of electricity to the agricultural sector, especially considering that it represents one of the most important sources of national income and is responsible for achieving food security, meeting local needs of food commodities, diversifying production and maximizing the added value of agricultural production.

He noted that Enara, in cooperation with Chint, will work to start implementing the national project in coordination with the Ministry of Military Production.

Gabaly explained that the companys projects include investments in the infrastructure and renewable energy sectors, and pointed out that it obtained a loan of $200 million from several international financial and financing institutions, as it cooperates with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the African Development Bank and the World Bank.

Minister of State for Military Production Mohammed Ahmed Morsi said during the signing of the protocol with the NOMP and the Nasser Social Bank that the agreement aims at benefiting from the energy overcapacity in the Ministry of Military Production units and subsidiary companies in order to implement national development and service projects for various ministries and agencies in the country to ultimately serve citizens.

He pointed out that the protocol aims at exploiting the partnership between the NOMP and Enara as a consortium with the aim of implementing and equipping water wells to be fueled by solar energy through the military production companies supplying the necessary equipment for solar energy systems such as solar panels and stabilizers.

Morsi added that Enara handles the designs, installations and supplies related to the solar energy systems.

In a statement issued on Jan. 25 by the Ministry of Solidarity on its website, Morsi explained that the mission of the consortium under this protocol is to provide an integrated technical and financial offer to small and medium investors in the agricultural sector in order to invest in the use of solar energy in the agricultural sector by operating water pumps using solar energy instead of diesel and other fuels.

He indicated that the project aims at selling, supplying, installing and operating 1,000 wells as a start to provide a source of electricity that is economically, environmentally and socially feasible.

Morsi continued that the program includes the provision of five different capacities for solar irrigation systems with the possibility of adjusting the capacity in line with the different water needs of agricultural investors. Within the framework of this project, he said, solar energy irrigation systems will be promoted.

Asked about the funding of projects undertaken by young investors, Mohammad Ashmawy, chairman of the board of directors at Nasser Social Bank, told Al-Monitor that the bank will fund small and medium-sized projects for solar energy irrigation systems provided that the funding is paid to the consortium that includes the NOMP and Enara. The funding will allow the consortium to implement the investors projects in terms of design, supply, installation and operation contracts of solar-powered irrigation systems.

Energy projects in Egypt have come to represent a great priority in recent years in terms of filling the electric power generation deficit. Over the past years, the government has worked to exploit natural resources to generate electric energy, especially solar energy, as many projects were opened in several regions of the governorates of the country.

In November 2020, the Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker said during the International Conference of the Institute of National Planning  titled Energy and Sustainable Development  that Egypts electricity production has doubled since 2014, bringing the total electricity production by the end of 2019 to 28,000 megawatts (MW).

Shaker noted that Egypt is encouraging the private sector to participate in the production of renewable energy, be it through solar power or wind power electricity generation projects.

He gave the example of the Benban solar power complex, the largest solar energy project in the world, which is being implemented in partnership with the private sector.

The complex, located 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Aswan city in Upper Egypt, includes 32 solar power plants with a production capacity of 1,465 MW, i.e., about 90% of the Aswan High Dams total production capacity. The complex covers an area of 37 square kilometers (14 miles) where the sun shines throughout the year. The $2.4 billion project is being carried out by 39 specialized companies.

Mohammad Saad el-Din, head of the Energy Committee at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, told Al-Monitor that Egypts plan for the coming period aims at optimally utilizing solar energy especially in light of large untapped areas in the country where such projects could be implemented.

He said that Egypt is seeking to reach 20% of renewable energy in electricity uses by 2030.

Saad el-Din emphasized that solar energy is not linked to oil prices, nor is it affected by the occurrence of tensions or conflicts in the region, which makes it a safe source of energy.

He explained that Egypt consumes about 26 gigawatts (GW) per year and has a surplus of 6-8 GW, and interconnection power lines with Saudi Arabia and Sudan are currently being built to invest such surplus.
This POC demonstrates our belief that Arvitam can preserve your organization's digital assets with a lightweight, low-resource solution, that meets compliance standards across every department.

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As employees continue to work remotely during the pandemic, a policy-based enterprise archiving solution ensures that your organizations data is properly accounted for and meets all regulatory standards, said Jeff Castella, Infotel Corp.s software division managing director. This POC demonstrates our belief that Arvitam can preserve your organizations digital assets with a lightweight, low-resource solution, that meets compliance standards across every department.

Arvitam currently complies with more than 500 international standards and regulations, including ISO 14721, NF Z 42-013, NF Z 42-020, ISO 15489, MOREQ, and ISO 2700. It also supports archiving for a wide variety of enterprise communication tools including Microsoft Office, Adobe, Hubspot, Quickbooks, Filenet and many others. Arvitam is ideal for organizations that have undertaken digital transformation initiatives and process large quantities of client-facing documents on a recurring basis and is ideally suited for a multitude of industries in addition to the ones mentioned in this release.

Because of its flexibility in ingesting a wide range of record types and accommodating the breadth of international compliance standards weve encountered, we believe this product can be used in any industry, added Castella. But it really excels in industries with decades of archives because of its indexing and compression capabilities.

Infotel Corp offers full support to any prospecting organization that decides to take advantage of a POC of Arvitam. To acquire the 30-day trial package, please visit https://arvitam.com/demo-arvitam/ or submit an inquiry to Infotel at our contact us page.

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Infotel Corp. is the North American headquarters of Insoft Infotel, the software division of the Paris-based Infotel Group. Infotel Group provides enterprise software solutions and services that help organizations manage the data and application sprawl created by the prevalence of the world wide web. The product portfolio features solution capabilities ranging from mobile technologies to the mainframe.

Founded in 1979, Infotel has the experience to work across varying network systems, relational databases, object languages, servers, and operating systems inside the largest organizations in the world.

For more information on Infotel Corp., please visit https://www.infotel.com/us/.


The wife of Hillsong founder Brian Houston has begged for forgiveness after using 'offensive' language including a shocking slur in an audio book describing the couple's sex life.

Bobbie Houston, 63, issued a grovelling apology saying she has 'deep regrets' over her choice of words in the 2003 tape where she revealed how she keeps fit and healthy to ensure she and her pastor husband can maintain regular bedroom antics.

Mrs Houston's Kingdom Women Love and Value their Sexuality was full of her tips and tricks for Christian wives on how to keep their husbands satisfied.

'If I carry weight I feel like a re***d, how are you going to do anything to surprise your man when you need a hydraulic crane just to turn over in bed?' she said on the tape.

Bobbie Houston, the wife of Hillsong founder Brian Houston (pictured together) said she has 'deep regrets' over using 'offensive' language during a 2003 audio book describing the couple's sex life

Mrs Houston said in a statement posted on the Hillsong website the comments were made when she was teaching the subject of healthy marriage, intimacy and family.

'In that teaching I used certain words and examples that were unwise and offensive, and especially so in a world where appropriate and sensitive language is of absolute critical importance,' Mrs Houston said.

'I unreservedly and humbly apologised then for any hurt incurred and I do so again.'

Mrs Houston said she has spent more than two decades seeking to champion the rights of women 'but that was not reflected in my comments'.

She runs Hillsong's ministry for women and organises an annual conference attended by upwards of 47,000 women focusing on health and wellbeing.

'We live in a world where words carry enormous weight and consequence and rightfully so,' Mrs Houston said.

Mrs Houston had provided tips and tricks for Christian wives on how to keep their husbands satisfied on the Kingdom Women Love and Value their Sexuality audio book

'Life brings with it many lessons and moments of deep regret. I hope and pray that those affected will find it in their hearts to forgive me.'

In the audio book box set, she urged women to keep up their pelvic floor exercises to ensure their 'plumbing bits' were in perfect working order and even recommended plastic surgery, The Daily Telegraph revealed.

I unreservedly and humbly apologised then for any hurt incurred, and I do so again - Bobbie Houston

'Have plastic surgery if it makes you feel better and it is for the right reasons, and girls, pelvic floor exercise  can you believe I am saying this? You know, I have heard that orgasm is not as strong if you are really sloppy in that area.'

In another part of the audio, Mrs Houston shed more light on her energetic sex life and encouraged fellow women to hone 'good' skills in the bedroom.

'We need to be good at sex ourselves so that if the world happens to come knocking we can tell the story of God in our lives,' she said.

'Without being lurid or untruthful; I have a great marriage and a great sex life'.

She was quick to clarify that she was only referring to sex 'within the confines of marriage'.

Mrs Houston revealed in a bizarre 2003 tape that she keeps fit and healthy to ensure she and her Hillsong founder husband Brian (pictured together) can maintain regular bedroom antics

Mrs Houston, who co-founded the now global Christian organisation with her husband in 1983, also said women should consider having plastic surgery if it is 'for the right reasons'.

'When it comes to personal hygiene and maintenance works, for example, get your teeth fixed, a mouth is supposed to be very desirable,' she said.

'Minimise the negative of ageing, ageing does strange things to us. It discolours your teeth. Things sag when you get older.

'Old people's habits, don't go there before you have to. Who cares if you have a face lift, but do it for the right reason.'

Mrs Houston said even as she ages, she will continue pampering herself and prioritising her looks.
Nairobi  The National Cohesion and Integration Commission has named former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko, MPs Simba Arati, Sylvanus Osoro and Johana Ng'eno in a list of shame published on Wednesday.

Arati and Osoro were at the centre of a physical scuffle at a burial function in Kisii county.

The Dagoretti North MP who was addressing mourners when a seemingly irrated Osoro rushed toward the podium and attempted to grab the microphone. Nge'no is also facing charges of incitement.

Arati was castigating Deputy President William Ruto and linking him to corruption and 2007 post-election violence.

Also on the list of the shame are unruly goons who disrupted rallies held by Deputy President William Ruto and ODM Leader Raila Odinga in Burma Market and Githurai.

NCIC Chairperson Reverend Samuel Kobia said politicians who will appear in the list three times will not be eligible for election.

Kobia said the agency will henceforth be publishing the names of persons, or institutions whose words or conduct undermine peace in the country in a list of naming and shaming.

"We are working with other agencies just to make sure that this person will not be eligible to be elected to a position whether it is MCA, MP , Governor or whichever. This is something if it happens politicians will certainly think twice before they involve themselves in that action," Kobia stated.

He made the pronouncement while cautioning politicians to avoid being the cause of chaos, else they will face dire consequences.

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"There is the criminal approach that we have and that is where we work with the DCI and the DPP inorder for such persons to also be prosecuted," NCIC Chairperson added.

The Cohesion agency has further petitioned parliamentarians to amend the NCIC Act to give them sharper teeth to bite even as the political campaigns begin to heat up as the country gears up for the 2022 General Election.

"We are also working with the Parliamentary Committee so that this also will be built into the Act, this is what we feel we make us be seen as if we are not only biting but biting hard," he told a news conference in his office.

The NCIC warned politicians out to cause ethnic unrest in the country ahead of the 2022 General Election that it is monitoring activities and utterances and will take necessary legal action against them to tame the habit.

"The intolerance that we have witnessed in the recent weeks and months are only symptomatic of what is likely to happen and even to get worse if it is not dealt with urgently. We need to deal with this interference because we know it is what led us to 2007/2008 post-election violence," said Kobia.

The cohesion commission in the meantime named Fafi MP Abdikarim Osman Mohamed and Njoro MP Charity Kathambi for upholding Chapter 6 of the Constitution of Kenya.
GOVERNMENT received a total of $7.37 billion from oil, gas and quarrying/mining companies in fiscal 2018, with the largest payment of $2 billion coming from majority State-owned National Gas Company (NGC).

However, for the period 2019 to 2020, unaudited figures indicate a declining trend in revenue.
On Jan. 30 Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress, tweeted a picture of a snowball fight at the U.S. Capitol. The 1923 photograph was a bittersweet reminder of a time when one of the citys iconic buildings wasnt bristling with police, but was a place to make laws and go sledding.

Less than a month after Donald Trump encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol, it looks likely that the building could end up behind permanent security fencing. Temporary fencing, topped with barbed wire, now encloses a Green Zone that stretches into the monumental core of the city. Last week, Yogananda Pittman, the acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, said permanent fencing may be necessary.

It would be a tragedy if that happens. But these things generally play out according to a fixed script. First, there is a massive failure of security. Then, security experts call for limiting public access. The fences never come down; the streets are never reopened. It happened after the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, which led to the closure of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which radically transformed important public buildings.

But this time should be different. The building  the preeminent symbol of our democracy  is too important to lose. What happened on Jan. 6 was a human failure, not an infrastructure failure. This was a tragedy of incompetent leadership, failed intelligence and a giant mess of missed communications. Yet some of the people involved in the debacle may be instrumental in deciding on security measures.

The short-lived insurrection was planned and executed in public. There was no doubt it was coming. And there was never any doubt that Trump was capable of and willing to incite the crowd.

Yet, because our lawmakers and security personnel were unwilling to acknowledge the toxicity in plain sight, they would disfigure a building that they occupy at the sufferance of the electorate.

They would fortify and severely disrupt one of this countrys finest cities against a menace that can be stopped only where it is brewing, outside of Washington.

The U.S. Capitol isnt particularly great architecture, which is why it would be an architectural loss to fence it in.

The importance and meaning of this building lie mainly in its use. The building is a hodgepodge. Like a rambling farmhouse, it has grown enormously as the American family has grown, from two smallish legislative chambers connected by a wooden walkway to a sprawling and rather awkwardly distended building with more than 600 rooms, 1.5 million square feet and, since 2008, an enormous basement and visitors center.

The magic of the building has more to do with its homely approachability than its size or magnificence. Because it sits atop Jenkins Hill (as Capitol Hill once was known), it is visible throughout much of Washington. Like a cathedral on the skyline of a European city, the Capitol governs by omnipresence, yet theres always a little thrill when you get near it. That is fundamental to democracy: You think, as you approach the building, that you shouldnt be allowed to get so close to something so important, so essential, so historic, and then you realize that you live in democracy and that this kind of access is exactly what democracies do.

That delightful juxtaposition is how democratic states survive. They take risks to remain open, and that openness is rewarded with a sense of service and even loyalty among the governed.

The White House is a mansion and a home, and access always will be limited by the extraordinary security demands of protecting the president and his family. The U.S. Supreme Court is the citys ivory tower, and it revels in a sense of cloistered detachment. The Capitol, however, is the peoples house.

We need to know everything we can about who attacked the Capitol, who led them, and what they are planning next. The next attack on the Capitol will involve people with guns and other weapons driving cars or taking trains and planes to Washington. They should be stopped where they are now, not at barricades that wall off our elected representatives from the people they serve.

It has been hard to measure the severity of the damage. Its a gravely serious matter. But many of the people involved seem to be louts and simpletons, in thrall to conspiracy theories so outlandish that ordinary people cant even imagine what it might be like to believe such codswallop.

Closing off the Capitol would be a symbolic victory for the insurrectionists. It would prove their power to permanently alter civic life and inflame ideas about elite leaders no longer answerable to the people. It would give permanent architectural expression to the sad and self-defeating ideology of the insurrectionists themselves: fearful and angry and closed off from genuine civic life.

PHILIP KENNICOTT is the art and architecture critic of The Washington Post.
WILMINGTON, Del., Feb. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rigrodsky Law, P.A. announces that it is investigating CoreLogic, Inc. (CoreLogic) (NYSE: CLGX) regarding possible breaches of fiduciary duties and other violations of law related to CoreLogics agreement to be acquired by affiliates of Stone Point Capital and Insight Partners. Under the terms of the agreement, CoreLogics shareholders will receive $80.00 in cash per share.



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(JTA)  Btselem, a leading Israeli human rights group, says that the entirety of Israel should be considered an apartheid state.

Left-wing Israeli groups for years have deemed Israels West Bank occupation, or aspects of it, to be an apartheid system. A former prime minister warned in 2017 that Israel was approaching apartheid if it maintained its occupation of the Palestinian territories.

But this is perhaps the first time a prominent Israeli human rights group has applied the term to all of Israel.

A regime that uses laws, practices and organized violence to cement the supremacy...
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company
will start receiving doses of the vaccine in February via the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) platform, Minister of Health and Medical Education Saeed Namaki announced.

" informed us the night before last that it will start delivering 4.2 million doses in February within the framework of COVAX," Namaki said in a video announcement on Wednesday.

Namaki also said that Iran's Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute has been authorised to start clinical trials of its vaccine candidate, and they will hopefully start the trials next week.

At her daily briefing, spokeswoman for the ministry, Sima Sadat Lari, said 6,870 new Covid-19 cases were detected in the past 24 hours, raising the country's overall count to 1,438,286 infections.

Of the newly infected, she noted, 701 had to be hospitalised.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, she added, 79 new deaths related to the coronavirus were registered, taking a death toll of 58,189 in the country.

She said 1,229,391 Covid-19 patients have as of Wednesday recovered or been released from Iranian hospitals.

So far, 9,449,685 tests for Covid-19 have been carried out in Iran, according to the spokesperson.

announced its first Covid-19 cases on February 19, 2020.

--IANS

ksk/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 17:06:04|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend a high-level dialogue in Beijing with European entrepreneurs via video link on Friday.

Li will make a speech and have exchanges with the entrepreneurs attending the dialogue, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced Thursday. Enditem
A Chinese company has lodged a proposal to build a $39billion city on Australia's doorstep, in a move that's likely to make Australian national security analysts nervous.

The plan revealed in leaked documents would see a shining new city constructed on the Island of Daru in Papua New Guinea - just 200km north of Australia's Cape York in the Torres Strait.

The Beijing-backed Hong Kong registered company, WYW Holding Limited, are behind the scheme which was submitted to the PNG government in April last year.

If approved, 'New Daru City' would include a major sea port, an industrial zone as well as a commercial business precinct.

The 100km square development project would also house a resort for tourists and vast residential areas.

A Chinese company has lodged a proposal to build a $39billion city on Australia's doorstep, in a move that's likely to make Australian national security analysts nervous. Pictured: Chinese President Xi Jinping

The plan revealed in leaked documents would see a shining new city constructed on the Island of Daru in Papua New Guinea - just 200km north of Australia's Cape York in the Torres Strait

It comes after the Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company, which is controlled by the Chinese government, recently inked a Memorandum of Understanding with the PNG government to build a $204million fishery complex in Daru - an area of PNG which has no commercial fisheries.

Under the proposal for New Daru City, the potential deal would be 'predicted on an agreed Sovereign Guarantee based on a long-term BOT [Build Operate Transfer] contract'.

This means the Communist Party-backed firm would have total ownership of the venture for a designated period of time yet to be determined.

Over the past year Australia has become the target of an increasingly aggressive and belligerent Beijing.

China imposed a litany of unofficial bans and arbitrary tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Australia exports after Canberra called for an inquiry into the origin of the coronvirus pandemic - and the subsequent cover-ups which followed.

Five of Australia's top beef distributors were hit with blanket bans along with cotton, timbre, seafood and coal producers.

The wine industry Down Under was hit with a crippling 212 per cent tariff - contravening the two nation's 2015 Free Trade agreement - while barely growers also had an 80 per cent barrier slapped on exports.

Australia is now preparing to take legal action against China at a World Trade Organisation tribunal, but the process to have the tariffs removed could take several years.

As Beijing now looks to set up a mega city in Australia's backyard with the diplomatic relationship continuing to deteriorate, it's feared China could have an ulterior motives and a secret plan to turn the area into a naval base.

Under the proposal for New Daru City, the Communist Party-backed firm would have total ownership of the venture for a designated period of time. Pictured: Children jump over a dirty drain on the PNG island of Daru

It is feared China could have an ulterior motive with secret plans to turn Daru (pictured) into a naval base

WYW Holding Limited said in the documents they had already began 'preliminary discussions with representatives of Western Province'.

But any plans to build such and ambitious project would be met with immense difficulty.

Daru, with a population of about 20,000 is currently in the midst of tuberculosis epidemic and the region is critically underdeveloped.

Michael Shoebridge, the national security program director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's said China and it's corporate proxies often approach provincial governments to try and get controversial infrastructure projects off the ground - as they are less security conscious than national administrations.

The authoritarian regime tried a similar move in Australia when Victorian Premier Danial Andrews signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative - a decision which was later overruled by the federal government on the grounds of national security concerns.

'The big message is really that Australian policymakers and leadership cannot be complacent in any way about Chinese presence and intent in PNG,' he told The Australian.

'Chinese entities and actors are demonstrating that they are opportunistic and entrepreneurial, and the environment is a reasonably permissive one for that kind of behaviour.'

Daru, with a population of about 20,000 is currently in the midst of tuberculosis epidemic and the region is critically underdeveloped. Children in Daru hold up fish to the camera

The proposal for New Daru City comes after the Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company, which is controlled by the Chinese government, recently inked a Memorandum of Understanding with the PNG government to build a $204million fishery complex in Daru. Pictured: Fishing boats in Daru

Chinese development projects under President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative have long been met with skepticism by democratic Western nations.

The global infrastructure scheme launched in 2013 hands out huge loans to impoverished nations already laden with debt in expectation of support for its strategic objectives.

International observers have described the initiative as 'debt-trap diplomacy'.

In the case of PNG, the cost of building New Daru City would be $5billion above the entire nation's annual GDP.

Nations on Australia's doorstep in the South Pacific region have been a central focus of China.

'Our research shows that the small and fragile economies of the Pacific are among the most vulnerable to potential debt problems, while several Pacific countries already appear to be among those most heavily indebted to China anywhere in the world,' analysts from the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program wrote.

'Our analysis suggests that China's lending practices in the Pacific have not been so problematic as to justify accusations of debt trap diplomacy  at least not yet.'

The Prime Minister of PNG, James Marape (pictured), has played coy about the proposed deal, claiming he is 'unaware' of the project.

But Mr Pryke said 'the sheer scale of lending, combined with inadequate controls' will make it difficult to avoid 'potentially unsustainable loans'.

Australia's northern neighbor - the Solomon Islands - joined the Belt and Road Initiative after switching its diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan in 2019.

A report by the ABC in February 2020 revealed the nation was also in discussions with a Chinese businessman for a $151billion dollar loan - and amount 77 times the country's annual GDP.

The Prime Minister of PNG, James Marape, has played coy about the proposed deal, claiming he is 'unaware' of the project.

But his spokesperson said PNG would not stand in the way of beneficial foreign investment.

'If a foreign investor wants to come to PNG with multimillion Kina investments, PNG will not stop them, on condition that all our laws are complied with and local Papua New Guineans benefit from these types of projects,' the spokesman said.

Daniel Andrews (pictured in China's Tiananmen Square) signed a deal with China under the country's controversial Belt and Road Initiative in October 2018
Livingston Co. to Resume Daily Classes Feb. 23

By West Kentucky Star Staff

SMITHLAND - Livingston County Schools plan to return to daily in-person classes starting February 23.In a letter to families, Superintendent Victor Zimmerman said many parents and staff have been looking forward to this, and he does not anticipate any delays in the plan.Zimmerman said the decision to increase in-person attendance is based on the fact that teachers will get their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on February 17.Students who attend in-person classes will come to school on Tuesday through Friday each week. Mondays will remain as a home study or virtual day, and for teachers to prepare lessons for full-time virtual students.Zimmerman said the Kentucky legislature has overridden Governor Beshear's vetoes of laws that would reign in his executive authority during the pandemic. On Wednesday evening, a Franklin County Judge issued a restraining order that keeps the new laws from going into effect for 30 days, or until a ruling can be made on a lawsuit filed by Beshear. Zimmerman acknowledged lawsuit, and said the district will continue to consult with the local health department regarding their schedule.
Galveston, TX (77553)

Today

A few isolated thunderstorms developing overnight under partly cloudy skies. Low around 75F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

A few isolated thunderstorms developing overnight under partly cloudy skies. Low around 75F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
After a private meeting Wednesday night of the House Republican conference meant to hold together an increasingly divided party, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., defended controversial freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. But as he lauded Greene's apology to Republicans for her history of outrageous rhetoric on social media, McCarthy also claimed that the extremist ideology she supports was foreign to him.

"I think it would be helpful if you could hear exactly what she told all of us - denouncing Q-on, I don't know if I say it right, I don't even know what it is," said McCarthy, referring to QAnon, a radicalized movement based on false claims that the FBI has deemed a domestic terrorism threat.

McCarthy's comment set off immediate backlash, with critics pointing out that the minority leader has addressed QAnon before in TV interviews and at news conferences.

"He has said QAnon before. He knows full well what QAnon is," MSNBC's Brian Williams said Wednesday night.

On CNN, Chris Cuomo noted that QAnon played a major role in the attempted insurrection in the Capitol last month.

"You should just remind him next time you see him: Remember all those signs that the people were holding up as they savagely attacked our Capitol? Remember it said QAnon? That's QAnon," said Cuomo Wednesday night after showing a clip of McCarthy's comments

A spokeswoman for McCarthy did not immediately respond to a message from The Washington Post early on Thursday.

McCarthy's response came after he chose not to revoke Greene's committee roles as a rebuke for her comments online that encouraged political violence and pushed anti-Semitic falsehoods. Greene has falsely claimed the California wildfires were caused by lasers in space owned by a coterie of Jewish bankers and that both the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand and the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., were examples of a "false flag" operation.

Greene has not publicly denounced QAnon. She has also not publicly apologized for her posts on social media and recently maintained on Twitter that she "will never apologize."

Democrats plan to hold a House vote on Thursday to remove the representative from her committee assignments.

Despite McCarthy claiming ignorance of QAnon, he has referenced it in past interviews. In an Aug. 20 interview with Fox News's Shannon Bream, McCarthy condemned the extremist ideology.

"Let me be very clear, there is no place for QAnon in the Republican Party. I do not support it," he said.

During a news conference in November, a reporter asked McCarthy if he had concerns about new members like Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., who have supported QAnon, potentially creating controversy for the House GOP. The House minority leader responded that both representatives "denounced Q-on," mispronouncing QAnon.

QAnon played a central role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by radicalizing many of the rioters, The Post reported. Many of the people who stormed the Capitol had clothing and flags promoting QAnon.

In response to McCarthy's comments and his decision not to censure Greene, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the minority leader a "coward" for ignoring calls from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other prominent party members to sideline the Georgia representative.

"As No 2. Senate Republican John Thune warned Tuesday, McCarthy has chosen to make House Republicans 'the party of conspiracy theories and QAnon' and Rep. Greene is in the driver's seat," Pelosi said in a statement.
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Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID
Philippa Day, a 27-year old single mother of two from Nottingham, is one of a growing number of benefit claimants whose death was due to a callous, indifferent and unaccountable system run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Philippa Day (source: Facebook/Philippa Day)

The DWP made repeated errors in her claim to benefit. Philippa was found dead at home after taking an overdose in October 2019 following her Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefit being stopped.

A draft internal process review (IPR) of her case has been published after it was obtained by the Disability News Service (DNS), which mounted a legal challenge following government lawyers attempts to block its release during the inquest into the Philippas death.

The DNS released the review to the coroner on January 15 and they include conclusions drawn by senior DWP staff into how Philippas claim for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) had been dealt with from late 2018 till her death in October 2019.

The DWPs investigation exposed repeated failings in both procedure and policy and detailed six serious errors that had been made by three civil servants, leading up to her death.

The report raised serious concerns about the way in which Capita, one of the two private contractors used to carry out PIP assessments, had made changes to its procedures following Philippa's death.

The inquest coroner, Gordon Clow outlined 28 specific instances where systematic errors had led to failures by benefits officials and said Philippa Day's long struggle with the benefits system had been a stressor in her decision to take the overdose in August 2019. Philippa went into a coma and died several months later on October 15.

Philippa had struggled with her mental health for years, with a history of self-harm, suicide attempts and numerous stays in psychiatric hospital.

She had been claiming Disability Living Allowance initially for her type 1 diabetes since she was 16 and had been asked to claim PIP in November 2018 in the hope that she would receive additional help for her mental health needs.

Just months before her death she had her benefits cut from 228 to 60 a week, a decision that was wrong, leading to her having to put up a gruelling fight to get them reinstated. This led to her becoming increasingly anxious and worried about having to attend future benefits assessment.

Philippa was then asked to attend a PIP assessment but was unable to do so because of agoraphobia and the anxiety she experienced.

The psychiatric nurse who had been working with her, Tessa Rand, contacted an official from Capita, and pleaded with them to reassess her at home, saying her patient was terrified and in immense distress at having to attend an assessment at a centre. The person Rand spoke to refused the request and asked her to provide written evidence as to why a home visit was necessary.

Days after this conversation, Philippa received a letter from the DWP warning that she would lose her benefits if she did not attend a face to face assessment.

When Philippa's unconscious body was found, she had the letter from the DWP next to her. Notes were later found on her computer saying that her dealings with the DWP made her feel trapped and isolated from the world.

The court heard a recording of a telephone call Philippa had made to the DWP in June 2019 where she is pleading with an official to reinstate her benefits to give her something to live for because she was hungry, penniless and in increasing despair.

Philippa's sister Imogen told the inquest that Philippa had discussed the continued problems she had experienced with the benefits agency, and how these problems had made her suicidal thoughts a lot worse.

Capita, who carried out the PIP assessment, had been repeatedly informed about the difficulties Philippa faced and were aware that she had a long history of significant mental distress, inpatient admissions to psychiatric hospital and that she experienced agoraphobia.

Capita's own internal incident report carried out a year after Philippa died acknowledged that mistakes were made by three members of staff, including an assessor who had completed the initial review wrongly suggesting that she should attend a PIP assessment centre. Two call centre staff had failed to take steps that would have prevented her having to attend a centre.

Dr Shah Faisal, Capita's chief medical officer, admitted that with the benefit of hindsight there had been sufficient medical evidence available to decide Philippa Day's claim through a paper-based review, without having to put her through a face to face assessment.

The coroner said that Philippa had been eligible for PIP throughout the 11 months, at both enhanced rates for this benefit, that the DWP could have obtained the information it needed to ensure she received those benefits, and she should not have been told she would have to attend a face to face assessment.

There have been long standing criticisms of the PIP assessment process by claimants and campaign groups, yet in July 2019 Capita were awarded a two-year extension on its contract worth 112 million.

Last year a report by the National Audit Office found that at least 69 suicides could be linked to problems with benefit claims since 2014 and raised that the DWP had failed to investigate many of the cases properly.

The family of Errol Graham, who starved to death in June 2018 following his benefits being wrongly stopped, have been shown a summary of the DWPs IPR examining the circumstances surrounding his death. Leigh Day solicitors acting for Errols family recently obtained the IPR as part of their High Court judicial review claim against the DWP.

The DWP have carried out 69 internal process reviews in the last five years following the suicide of a benefit claimant. However, analysis carried out by DNS of data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and DWP suggests there could have been as many as 750 benefit claimants of working age who took their lives in 2018 alone.

Personal Independence Payment was introduced in 2013 to replace Disability Living Allowance primarily as a cost-cutting measure. At the time the government expected that 600,000 fewer people would receive PIP when fully operational, with overall expenditure being 2.5 billion a year lower than it would otherwise have been.

Fully 75 percent of PIP assessments taken to taken to tribunal are successfully overturned.

The tragic case of Philippa Day highlights the way in which many vulnerable benefit claimants are treated by a sadistic system. In December, an inquest heard that a 28 year old man, Roy Curtis, had his benefits stopped when he did not to attend a fit-to-work assessment in September 2018. Roy was anxious about visiting a job centre due to agoraphobia. Following the withdrawal of benefits, his body was found in a mummified state at his home after lying dead for nine months.

As far as the government are concerned, Philippa Day, Errol Graham, Roy Curtis and many others who have died at the hands of this brutal system do not matter. The Conservative government has so far resisted calls to extend the 20-a-week boost to the Universal Credit (UC) benefit, saying only that will outline its plans in March. The Treasury, under pressure, brought in the measure at the start of the pandemic, and opposes making the 6 billion-a-year payment permanent. It is estimated that the removal of the 20 week UC uplift will affect some of the poorest in society, with an estimated 730,000 children thrown into poverty.
It was former federal minister Christopher Pyne who once described opposition as a special kind of hell for the Liberal Party. While it isnt exactly a walk through the Treasury Gardens for Labor, Liberal MPs seem particularly uncomfortable when they are kicked out of their ministerial offices and relegated to the opposition benches.

Pyne argues that while Labor is the party of the labour movement, Liberal MPs are far more suited to running the show than philosophising about big ideas.

He made this observation while reflecting on the years following his partys 2007 federal election loss, but his observation seems to resonate with Victorian Liberals on Spring Street who are living this so-called hell.

Opposition Leader Michael OBrien in Parliament. Credit:Eddie Jim

After two embarrassing state election defeats and a string of messy factional fights, most of the states Liberals agree that their party is further away from government than ever before.
Source: Reuters

Ant Group Co has agreed a restructuring plan with Chinese regulators under which the fintech giant will become a financial holding company, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said, potentially easing founder Jack Mas regulatory woes.

The plan calls for putting all of Ants businesses into the holding company, including its payment processing and technology offerings in areas like blockchain and food delivery, the person said, declining to be named due to confidentiality constraints.

Bloomberg News first reported Ant had reached an agreement with Chinese regulators about the proposed restructuring.

An announcement about the restructuring, which will result in the company being subject to capital requirements similar to those for banks, could come before the start of Chinas Lunar New Year holiday on Feb. 11, the Bloomberg report said.

An agreement on the restructuring of Ant, an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, would ease investor concerns about a regulatory crackdown on billionaire Mas business empire.

The catalyst for Mas current woes was an Oct. 24 speech in which he blasted Chinas regulatory system, leading to the suspension of Ants $37 billion initial public offering just days before its dual-listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Regulators have since launched an anti-trust probe into the tech sector with Alibaba taking much of the heat, besides pushing Ant to revamp its business structure to bring it under tighter regulatory supervision.

Ma, who is not known for shying away from the limelight, subsequently disappeared from the public eye for about three months, triggering frenzied speculation about his whereabouts. He re-emerged last month with a 50-second video appearance.

Despite the agreement with the regulator on revamping Ant, whose businesses include consumer lending and insurance products distribution, the anti-trust probe into Alibaba would continue to cloud the outlook for Mas empire.

Bloombergs report said that Ant was still exploring opportunities to revive its stock market listing, citing one person familiar with the matter. It said it was unclear how long authorities would need to sign off on a listing.

Ants financial holding structure is expected to weigh on its valuation, as the fintech firm was valued as a technology firm in its previous fundraising rounds. Typically, valuations are much higher on technology firms than on financial companies.

Ant, which earlier on Wednesday declined to comment on the Bloomberg report, also declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. Chinas central bank did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

Alibabas Hong Kong-listed shares closed 0.4% higher on Wednesday. They had tumbled early in the session after the company reported third-quarter results and warned it faced a near-term challenge from changing regulations.

It also warned that Ants business prospects and IPO plans are subject to substantial uncertainties.

Currently, we are unable to make a complete and fair assessment of the impact that these changes and uncertainties will have on Alibaba Group, it said.
British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons said she welcomes the decisive actions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to combat disinformation, which is causing real damage to the country.

"I welcome President Zelensky's bold action in tackling disinformation, which causes real harm to Ukraine. I also welcome his assurances on the need to protect media freedom and plurality in Ukraine," Simmons said on Twitter on Thursday.

As reported, on February 2, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky put into effect the NSDC decision to impose sanctions on individuals and legal entities.
New Delhi:

From August, 2017, the one-lakh daily passengers of the Mumbai Metro would be able to use different types of medical treatment at only Rs 1 at five stations - Andheri, Ghatkopar, Sakinaka, Marol Naka and DN Nagar.



Reliance Metro has provided a permit to Dr Rahul Ghule - former medical officer of the Arthur Road jail - the man behind these one-rupee clinics. These clinics which will be established at these stations from August along with pharmacies. These centres will also have the sample dropping services for pathology tests.



The permission for the new set of clinics was given after the good response from similar clinics at the Dadar, Ghatkopar, Kurla and Vikhroli stations. The letter of confirmation from Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL), reads, "We are pleased to inform you that we have accepted your proposal for setting up and operating Magicdil Health Services at Mumbai Metro Line." "We will replicate the same facilities that are available in other centres," said Dr Ghule.



The main aim of the clinics, however, would be to offer emergency health services within the golden period of any accident. "In any accident, the golden period is the most important. If a patient is provided with quick emergency medical aid, like oxygen, then the morbidity rate can be controlled. After that, we can shift them to any nearby hospital through the ambulance of railway," he said.



The clinics would have doctors available twenty-four by seven and visiting specialists to help patients with their health issues. "We are collaborating with various private hospitals and specialized doctors to provide better treatment to patients at these centres. These facilities would also help in decreasing the pressure on tertiary-level medical establishments and saving more lives," Ghule added.



Patients can also use the facility of getting pathology tests done at subsidized rates, since the mobile clinics have a collaboration with Thyrocare. Patients can submit their samples to the centres that would further relay them for analysis to pathology centres, after which the reports could be collected again at the stations.
Health officials around the world are raising concerns about new virus variants that are more contagious or resistant to existing vaccines.

Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said Wednesday it will work with a German biopharmaceutical company to develop new vaccines targeting emerging variants of COVID-19 amid concerns that some mutations are making the virus harder to combat. GSK plans to invest 150 million euros ($181 million) to support the research of the Tubingen, Germany-based CureVac, which is developing vaccines that use messenger RNA to attack the disease. GSK also said it will help make up to 100 million doses of the companys existing COVID-19 vaccine candidate this year.

The increase in emerging variants with the potential to reduce the efficacy of first-generation COVID-19 vaccines requires acceleration of efforts to develop vaccines against new variants to keep one step ahead of the pandemic, the companies said in a statement.

The announcement comes as public health officials around the world raise concerns about new virus variants that are more contagious or resistant to existing vaccines. While viruses mutate constantly, most of the changes cause little concern. But scientists are closely tracking these mutations to make sure they quickly identify variants of concern.

Authorities in England this week are conducting house-to-house coronavirus testing in targeted communities in a bid to snuff out a new variant before it spreads widely and undermines a nationwide vaccination program.

British authorities want to test about 80,000 people in eight areas where the variant, first identified in South Africa, is believed to be spreading after a handful of cases were found in people who had no contact with the country or anyone who travelled there.

Public health officials are concerned about the variant first identified in South Africa because it contains a mutation of the virus characteristic spike protein targeted by existing vaccines. The mutation may mean the vaccines offer less protection against the variant.

We believe that next-generation vaccines will be crucial in the continued fight against COVID-19 , GSK Chief Executive Emma Walmsley said in the statement. This new collaboration builds on our existing relationship with CureVac and means that together, we will combine our scientific expertise in mRNA and vaccine development to advance and accelerate the development of new COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

In its full-year earnings published Wednesday, GSK said it expects further disruption for its vaccine business during the first half of the year given governments prioritization of COVID-19 vaccination programs and the resurgence in late 2020 of the pandemic.

It said this is expected to affect adult and adolescent immunizations, including Shingrix against shingles, notably in the US Despite this, it expects a rebound in the second half of the year and that vaccine revenues in 2021 will be flat or grow slightly.

Overall, GSK saw sales in 2020 rise by one percent to 34.1 billion pounds ($46 billion) and net profit increase 21 percent to 6.4 billion pounds ($9.6 billion).
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[February 04, 2021] WorldRemit Announces Winners in Canada of Holiday Season Promotion to Help Filipino Beneficiaries Start a Business

WorldRemit, a leading digital cross-border payments business has announced the winners of its recent Grainsmart store franchise promotion to help customers give their beneficiaries the opportunity to start a business in the Philippines. Customers qualified for the promotion by sending money to the Philippines and nominating a beneficiary of their choice. The winners include frontline healthcare workers and teachers from a number of countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom. Beneficiaries will now be opening Grainsmart stores across the Philippines in places that include Cebu, Davao, San Carlos and Tagum City. "We're so pleased to give recipients this great opportunity to start a business that will help them to support their families and become more financially stable. The franchisees have the option to expand these businesses and potentially create job opportunities for members of the wider community. This underlines our commitment to helping Overseas Filipino Workers to support those dearest to them back home," said Earl Melivo, Country Director for the Philippines at WorldRemit. Benjamin Batac, CEO at Grainsmart added, "It's an honour to partner with a company like WorldRemit that shares our values. With many of the franchise contracts already signed, this promotion will create sustainable jobs and also give much-needed support to Filipino farmers, many of whom are facing challenges due to the pandemic and recent natural disasters." Winner Cleofe Kreutzmann said, "I immigrated to Canada in 2006 in search of ways to help family. I had a promising career as a romance novelist and entrepreneur in the Philippines but decided to go abroad to be of more help to my family. I'm so pleased to give my sister Monneth the opportunity to start a business in Paranaque, she's such a smart and talented woman. She gave up a successful career to set up a small store so that she could spend more time with her children and take care of our mother. Having been born into a poor family, we're both very passionate about pursuing education and careers that will lead to a better life. Our father died due to our lack of means and access to regular medication and healthcare services back then. W both vowed that this will be the last time one of our family members will be taken away without a good fight. Despite our own ambitions, both of us decided to carry our own crosses in 2006 which determined where we are now. While I work hard in Canada, my sister devoted her life to taking good care of the resources I am sharing for the family and to ensure that our mother not only has the medicine and care she deserves but ensuring her quality of life continues in honour of our father who loved her deeply. I'm now continuing a career path in a foreign country while Monneth is trying to explore many avenues in retailing. "Basta mabebenta at pagkakakitaan", she is ready to sell. The Pangkabuhayan Package we won will not only give us the jump start we need for a solid and long-lasting enterprise but ensure that poverty will hopefully no longer continue to the next generation of our family".



Each Grainsmart franchise business package includes: 60 sacks (25 kg each) of rice

A tablet that's fully set up for a bills payment center account

Business signage, marketing collateral, and other business paraphernalia

An online training and mentorship program - to provide guidance for setting up the business for success. As well as the COVID-19 pandemic, Filipinos have also had to deal with the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Goni and Typhoon Vamco, which have displaced thousands and destroyed livelihoods.

Take advantage of competitive exchange rates for the Philippine peso by visiting www.worldremit.com or downloading the app. Winners were announced on the WorldRemit Facebook (News - Alert) page (https://www.facebook.com/WorldRemit/). For more details visit www.worldremit.com/pangkabuhayan. WorldRemit WorldRemit is a leading digital cross-border payments business. We disrupted an industry previously dominated by offline legacy players by taking international money transfers online - making them safer, faster and lower-cost. We currently send from more than 50 countries to 130+ receive countries, operate in 6,500 money transfer corridors worldwide and employ over 1,100 people worldwide. On the sending side WorldRemit is 100% digital (cashless), increasing convenience and enhancing security. For those receiving money, the company offers a wide range of options including bank deposit, cash collection, mobile airtime top-up and mobile money. Backed by Accel, TCV and Leapfrog - WorldRemit's headquarters are in London, United Kingdom with regional offices in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Africa, Somaliland, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Belgium. For more information visit www.worldremit.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005518/en/

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The Justice Department has issued an 'urgent plea' for help from prosecutors across the United States amid 'a significant influx of cases' following the Capitol riot.

In an internal email seen by ABC an official wrote: 'The (office) has an urgent need for assistance with prosecuting hundreds of criminal cases.

'Based on the importance and immediacy of the need, we ask each United States Attorney to consider whether he or she can offer critical assistance to the (office in Washington).'

The U.S. attorney's office in Washington has so far taken on every case. The acting U.S. attorney in Washington, Michael Sherwin said: 'The cases are all being charged here in D.C.'

The Justice Department has issued an 'urgent plea' for help from prosecutors across the United States amid 'a significant influx of cases' following the Capitol riot, pictured

The email, sent last week, said anyone volunteering to help 'may serve from their home districts or in the District of Columbia' in a reassignment that could last nine months.

More than 170 people have been charged in connection with the January 6 Capitol attack involving suspects from all over the country; the feds have identified at least 400 people they say may have committed crimes at the siege.

One former official, who said: 'There's a clear resource issue, and the fact that the D.C. office has to have prosecutors come in from outside to prosecute these cases magnifies this point.

'The importance of some of these cases is going to be lost when you're bringing hundreds of them.'

The DOJ is also said to be considering whether to charge those involved in the deadly storming under a federal law usually used against organized crime.

Under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, prosecutors can combat certain ongoing racketeering crimes such as murder, kidnapping, bribery and money laundering.

The 1970 statute provides for hefty criminal penalties including up to 20 years in prison and seizure of assets obtained illegally through a criminal enterprise.

The email, sent last week, said anyone volunteering to help 'may serve from their home districts or in the District of Columbia' in a reassignment that could last nine months. U.S. Capitol Police with guns drawn watch as rioters try to break into the House Chamber

The siege by supporters of former President Donald Trump left five dead including a police officer. It is not yet clear if cases arising from it meet 'statutory elements' necessary for a RICO charge, the former federal official said.

Prosecutors in a RICO case would need to show that the far-right groups qualify as a 'criminal enterprise' and that members of the enterprise engaged in a pattern of two or more related crimes beyond the Capitol riots.

US attorneys around the country had pledged to prosecute rioters under their authority.

Peter McCoy, the US attorney in South Carolina, was one of many to pledge: 'Let me be perfectly clear.

'Anyone who traveled from the District of South Carolina with intent to aid this travesty or commit acts of destruction will be prosecuted by (my office).'

But the U.S. attorney's office in Washington has so far taken on every case.

The acting U.S. attorney in Washington, Michael Sherwin said in the days following the riot: 'The cases are all being charged here in D.C.

'And what makes this case, in particular, unprecedented and unusual and extremely complex is the fact that after the event, obviously thousands of people went back to their home districts. And that has complicated things.'

'QAnon Shaman' Jacob Anthony Chansley has been charged with civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, demonstrating in a Capitol building and other counts

Kevin Seefried, who was seen carrying the flag, was arrested in Delaware along with his son, Hunter Seefried. Prosecutors said both entered the Senate Building through a broken window before Kevin Seefried was seen carrying around the Confederate flag in photos that caught attention from news outlets and social media

Now the Justice Department has been forced to ask for help in the capital from their 93 U.S. attorneys' offices.

They are looking for responses by the end of this week.

A Justice Department spokesman told ABC: 'The Department decided to prosecute all cases stemming from the Jan. 6th siege of the capitol out of the Washington, DC, office because that is where the crimes occurred.'

President Joe Biden's administration has warned that domestic extremism is a growing threat following the Capitol rampage, a sharp departure from the way Trump regarded extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

In a September pre-election debate with Biden, Trump told the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by.'

Trump supporters storm the Capitol Building following the 'Stop The Steal' rally where they assembled to protest the 2020 election results

Justice Department spokeswoman Kristina Mastropasqua declined to comment about the potential use of the RICO statute beyond pointing to prior statements by the senior federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia, Michael Sherwin, that he would charge people based on what the evidence showed.

Sherwin has said a wide range of criminal charges are being contemplated, including trespassing, assault and seditious conspiracy.

The RICO law was crafted to help prosecutors convict top Mafia leaders who ordered others to commit crimes. RICO cases are complex, often take years to develop, and require approval from Justice Department leadership.

'RICO was designed to address the Godfather - the person who doesn't get their hands bloody,' said Jeffrey Grell, an attorney who specializes in RICO law. 'You would really only use RICO to go after the kingpins or the leaders.'
When Vee Rivera retired in 2013, one of her goals was to fish and crab with her husband, Gato, on Pacifica Pier, an L-shaped public pier where anyone can fish for free. Soon they became part of the landscape.

Most of the people we see there are regulars, Rivera said. We know their names; we know what they do. Its like a family there.

Though it was closed briefly in the spring, the pier became an even more important outlet for recreational fishers like the Riveras during the pandemic. But after a temporary shutdown because of high swells in December, city officials closed the pier indefinitely on Jan. 12, after its west-facing wall was damaged.

The timing couldnt have been worse for the Riveras and many others who flock to the pier during recreational Dungeness crab season, which began Nov. 7. Its one of the only places in the Bay Area to catch Dungeness crab without a license  and without a hazardous walk on uneven rocks on a jetty or into dangerous waves. During shelter-in-place, many have relied on recreational crabbing for stress relief and to put food on the table. With the Pacifica Pier closed, many crab fishers are having to cast off from shore to catch the crustaceans, which is not ideal for older crabbers.

Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle

Even before the pier closure, recreational crabbing had taken on something of a frenzied air, with this seasons late start to commercial crabbing and impacts of the pandemic.

With the pandemic, not everyones going to work, (and) my sales have just exploded, said Robert Nguyen, whose small business, Torpedo Crab Snares, makes and sells the devices many area crabbers use. He was completely sold out for a few weeks this winter. I can only make so many in a day.

Catching your own Dungeness crabs can be smart economically, especially this year. The current market price is about $10 or more a pound in stores, so a typical crab, at about 2  pounds, is worth $25. Recreational crabbers, who are not allowed to sell their crabs, can keep up to 10 crabs on each outing as long as they meet size restrictions, meaning a days haul could be worth $250. While rock crabs can also be caught in the Bay Area, Dungeness are more highly coveted.

There was a sense of demand for the crabs because they werent available in the market this past Christmas, said Jennifer Lynn Raymundo, who has fished for many years but started recreational crabbing this season along with her boyfriend. If you get a Dungeness crab, that was like a $50 bill, so it was like a prize.

Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle

Thats all the more reason locals are missing the Pacifica Pier. When its busy, it lights up the senses: Its stinky, slippery and dotted with saltwater puddles, raw bait and fish guts, but also a delightful place. The fishers who gather there can be competitive, but there is also a lot of sharing  of food, bait, fishing tips and camaraderie. The pier group is mixed in age and ethnicity; often you see multiple generations hanging out, cooking food, playing music and speaking different languages. Many go not to fish but to view sunsets, take photos, look for whales and even spot the occasional great white shark.

The pier was built in 1973 partly to run a sewage line into the ocean. It can be swamped by water during high swells, especially in the winter. Last months closure happened after king tides and high swells caused a railing to crumble and left a gaping 40-foot hole.

Pacifica is seeking proposals from engineering consultants for repairs, but it may be months or longer before it can safely reopen, said Lisa Petersen, the towns director of public works.

If the cost is significant, then it would put the city in a position of needing to look for financial assistance, she said. The goal would be to find the funding if the city doesnt have the funding. I know people love the pier, and we do, too.

Jeff Chiu / Associated Press

Yet many fishers are concerned that repairs may never happen. Other public piers, such as those in San Mateo and Berkeley, closed permanently in recent decades after suffering structural damage.

The recreational fishing community says holding onto a pier is not just about having a place to catch fish or crab, but also about maintaining a culture and community that have formed over the years.

I have good friends that I only see when I go to the pier, said Mike Aveno, who has been crabbing for four seasons. So if the pier closes, theres a good chance Ill never see them again.

The piers closure has also affected Pacifica businesses. The Chit-Chat Cafe, a small restaurant at the end of the pier, has been closed for over a month during what would typically be the best time of year for business.

The pier is (usually) loaded with fishermen, said Paul Kukielka, who has co-owned this Chit-Chat and another location in Pacifica with his wife, Amy, for 18 years. Thats what we rely on to stay open. Its hurting pretty bad.

Stephen Lam / Special to The Chronicle 2019

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Daly City resident Marc Tapiador said that he has been fishing and crabbing at the pier since he was 10, when his uncle would take him, and has many fond memories. One year, we caught 30-plus salmon each.

Some recreational fishers have moved to the jetty at Half Moon Bay. Some row or paddle into the ocean and drop pots or nets from kayaks or paddleboards. Others have turned to crabbing off of Bay Area beaches, using long rods with snares.

All of these options, however, pose some level of danger for anyone who is not agile.

Pacifica Pier is really the only place for older people to go, said Ismael Rivera. His mother, Vee, cant go to the jetty or beach with him to crab because she cant swim. Im kind of bummed that I dont get to fish with my parents anymore.

The elder Riveras made it to Pacifica Pier only a few times this winter before it closed.

Stephen Lam / Special to The Chronicle 2019

Vee delights in recalling how she got her start at the pier when she first retired, as one of the few women at the time. Because shes petite, she can throw her line only so far, while others cast 50 feet out.

Recreational Dungeness crab fishing Except when off a man-made structure like a pier or a jetty, recreational Dungeness crab fishing requires a California fishing license, and crabbers are not allowed to keep Dungeness crabs caught inside the bay. Crabs need to be at least 5  inches wide at the widest part of the shell. The crabber must have a crab gauge. Recreational crabbers can keep female crabs, though many choose not to due to the fact that they can bear up to 2.5 million eggs. Torpedo Crab Snares: Robert Nguyen is one of several local crabbers who make crab snares, which he sells for $18 to $28. https://www.torpedocrabsnares.com. See More Collapse

But (sometimes) Im the one whos catching the crab. They call me Lucky Lady, she said. Its just that feeling of hooking the crab. Thats why every year during the crab season, were so excited to go. Were really going to miss it.

Momo Chang is a freelance writer based in the East Bay and the alumni coordinator for Oakland Voices, a project of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. Email: food@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @_momo_chang

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Legislative Secretary to the Minister Responsible for the Water Security Agency Lyle Stewart speaks during the announcement of the Lake Diefenbaker irrigation project, July 2, 2020.

The Oregon Health Authority on Wednesday announced 649 new coronavirus cases and 10 more deaths as Gov. Kate Browns office said it would comply with a judges order to begin vaccinating inmates in state prisons.

Officials will not challenge an order from a federal judge requiring Oregon to vaccinate prisoners sooner that the states planned March timeline.

Browns office said accelerating vaccinations for prisoners will not impact the schedule for teachers and seniors, who are or will soon become eligible. But its not immediately clear how thatll be possible or, if accurate, why the state didnt initially choose to vaccinate prisoners sooner.

Wednesday marked the 18th consecutive day with confirmed or suspected coronavirus infections below 1,000.

Cases, hospitalizations and the rate of positive tests remain significantly below records set in December.

Oregon is nearing the 2,000-death milestone and will likely surpass it this week. At least 42 of the deaths are among Oregonians serving prison sentences.

Where the new cases are by county: Baker (5), Benton (32), Clackamas (40), Clatsop (5), Columbia (1), Coos (16), Crook (7), Curry (1), Deschutes (20), Douglas (19), Harney (4), Hood River (1), Jackson (41), Jefferson (7), Josephine (22), Klamath (4), Lake (2), Lane (91), Lincoln (8), Linn (21), Malheur (5), Marion (66), Morrow (1), Multnomah (57), Polk (26), Umatilla (31), Union (7), Wallowa (3), Wasco (4), Washington (62) and Yamhill (40).

Deaths: The state Wednesday released details of 23 fatalities announced Tuesday and of 10 deaths announced Wednesday.

Oregons 1,959th death linked to coronavirus is an 87-year-old Clackamas County man who tested positive Jan. 22 and died Jan. 30 at his residence.

The 1,960 fatality is a 96-year-old Clackamas County woman who tested positive Jan. 21 and died Jan. 29 at her residence.

The 1,961st death is a 95-year-old Clackamas County woman who tested positive Jan. 18 and died Jan. 30 her residence.

The 1,962nd fatality is a 61-year-old Clackamas County man who tested positive Jan. 1 and died Jan. 19 at his residence.

The 1,963rd death is a 96-year-old Clackamas County man who tested positive Dec. 31 and died Jan. 11 at his residence.

The 1,964th fatality is an 85-year-old Clackamas County woman who tested positive Dec. 28 and died Jan. 11 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

The 1,965th death is a 90-year-old Hood River County woman who tested positive Jan. 21 and died Jan. 31 at her residence.

The 1,966th fatality is an 87-year-old Columbia County woman who tested positive Dec. 15 and died Jan. 8 at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center.

The 1,967th death is a 61-year-old Lane County woman who tested positive Dec. 10 and died Jan. 25 at her residence.

The 1,968th fatality is a 70-year-old Jackson County man who tested positive Jan. 15 and died Jan. 30 at Providence Medford Medical Center.

The 1,969th death is a 66-year-old Jackson County man with no underlying medical conditions who tested positive Dec. 28 and died Jan. 28 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center.

The 1,970th fatality is a 64-year-old Marion County man who died Jan. 30 at Santiam Hospital. His death certificate listed COVID-19 as a cause or significant condition contributing to his death.

The 1,971st death is a 62-year-old Marion County man who tested positive Jan. 21 and died Feb. 1 at Salem Hospital.

The 1,972nd fatality is a 68-year-old Marion County woman who tested positive Dec. 21 and died Jan. 26 at Salem Hospital.

The 1,973rd death is a 79-year-old Marion County man who tested positive Dec. 7 and died Jan. 29 at his residence.

The 1,974th fatality is a 58-year-old Morrow County man who tested positive Jan. 30 and died Feb. 1 at Good Shepherd Community Hospital.

The 1,975th death is an 83-year-old Multnomah County man who tested positive Nov. 23 and died Jan. 9 at his residence.

The 1,976th fatality is a 66-year-old Multnomah County man who tested positive Nov. 13 and died Dec. 9 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

The 1,977th death is an 87-year-old Multnomah County man who tested positive Dec. 5 and died Dec. 31 at his residence.

The 1,978th fatality is a 73-year-old Multnomah County woman who tested positive Dec. 22 and died Jan. 24 at her residence.

The 1,979th death is a 95-year-old Multnomah County woman who tested positive Jan. 8 and died Jan. 31 at her residence.

The 1,980th fatality is an 81-year-old Multnomah County woman who tested positive Jan. 27 and died Jan. 30. State officials are confirming where she died.

The 1,981st death is a 69-year-old Yamhill County woman who tested positive Jan. 21 and died Jan. 26 at Willamette Valley Medical Center.

The 1,982nd fatality is a 59-year-old Baker County man who tested positive Feb. 1 and died Feb. 1 at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center.

The 1,983rd death is a 99-year-old Clackamas County woman who tested positive Jan. 26 and died Jan. 24 at her residence.

The 1,984th fatality is a 64-year-old Clackamas County woman who tested positive Jan. 24 and died Jan. 25 at her residence.

The 1,985th death is a 71-year-old Deschutes County woman who tested positive Jan. 20 and died Jan. 28 at her residence.

The 1,986th fatality is a 94-year-old Jackson County woman who tested positive Jan. 4 and died Jan. 31 at her residence.

The 1,987th death is an 86-year-old Marion County man who tested positive Jan. 25 and died Jan. 31 at his residence.

The 1,988th fatality is a 65-year-old Umatilla County man who tested positive Jan. 11 and died Jan. 26 at his residence.

The 1,989th death is an 81-year-old Multnomah County woman who tested positive Nov. 29 and died Jan. 2 at her residence.

The 1,990th fatality is a 72-year-old Umatilla County man who tested positive Jan. 16 and died Jan. 29 at his residence.

The 1,991st death is a 98-year-old Yamhill County woman who tested positive Jan. 21 and died Jan. 30. State officials are confirming where she died.

Unless noted above, each person who died had underlying health conditions or state officials were working to determine if the person had underlying medical conditions.

The prevalence of infections: The state reported 575 new positive tests out of 15,079 tests performed, equaling a 3.8% positivity rate.

Who got infected: New confirmed or presumed infections grew among the following age groups: 0-9 (24); 10-19 (82); 20-29 (144); 30-39 (97); 40-49 (87); 50-59 (78); 60-69 (57); 70-79 (38); 80 and older (18).

Whos in the hospital: The state reported 266 Oregonians with confirmed coronavirus infections in the hospital Wednesday, four more than Tuesday. Of those, 63 coronavirus patients were in intensive care units, two more than Tuesday.

Vaccines: Oregon reported 471,966 doses of vaccine have been administered, or about 67% of the doses received. Oregon reported 17,720 newly administered doses, which includes 12,173 on Tuesday and the remainder from previous days.

Since it began: Oregon has reported 144,605 confirmed or presumed infections and 1,991 deaths, among the lowest per capita numbers in the nation. To date, the state has reported 3,233,826 lab reports from tests.

-- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, (GAASI) announces its plan to take a company-owned SkyGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft to the United Kingdom later this year to undertake a series of operational capability demonstrations for NATO allies, including the Netherlands. The UKs Protector program is a derivative of SkyGuardian with a range of UK modifications and the Royal Air Force (RAF) is supporting this visit.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GAASI) announces its plan to take a company-owned SkyGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft to the United Kingdom later this year to undertake a series of operational capability demonstrations for NATO allies, including the Netherlands. The UKs Protector program is a derivative of SkyGuardian with a range of UK modifications and the Royal Air Force (RAF) is supporting this visit.

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Flight Operations with Maritime-Configured MQ-9B SkyGuardian (Picture source: GA-ASI)

The GA-ASI aircraft will be configured with maritime capability, including a multi-mode maritime surface-search radar with Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar imaging mode, an Automatic Identification System receiver, and a High-Definition, Full-Motion Video sensor equipped with optical and infrared cameras. This will build on previous GA-ASI demonstrations showcasing the unmanned advantage, which include the transatlantic flight of SkyGuardian in 2018, maritime demonstrations in Greece in 2019 and last years validation flights in Japan.

The series of civilian and military capability events is expected to kick off in July at the Royal Air Forces Waddington Air Base and will culminate with the MQ-9Bs participation in the UK-led Joint Warrior exercise that will showcase how maritime capabilities can be integrated with other air, surface and land platforms. SkyGuardian flights will further develop GA-ASIs revolutionary Detect and Avoid capability, which will enable Protector to fly in unsegregated UK airspace. It will also assist RAF Waddington, the future home of the RAF Protector fleet, to best prepare to integrate the new aircraft into its daily operations.

MQ-9B represents the next generation of RPA system having demonstrated airborne endurance of more than 40 hours, automatic takeoffs and landings under SATCOM-only control and the Detect and Avoid system. Its development is the result of a company-funded effort to deliver an RPA that can meet the stringent airworthiness certification requirements of various military and civil authorities.

MQ-9B has garnered significant interest from customers throughout the world. The UK Ministry of Defence selected MQ-9B SkyGuardian for its Protector program, and in 2020 signed the production contract for deliveries to the Royal Air Force. SkyGuardian was selected by the Australian Defence Force under Project Air 7003, and the Belgian Ministry of Defense signed a contract for SkyGuardian.
Biden Administration in Push to Put Harriet Tubman on $20 Bill

After four years of push back from the administration of Donald Trump, Underground Railroad heroine Harriet Tubman may finally appear on U.S. currency.

The Treasury Department is taking steps to resume those efforts to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday, Jan. 25.

[The Biden administration] is exploring ways to speed up that effort. Its important that our notes, our money reflect the history and diversity of our country, and Harriet Tubmans image on our new $20 note would certainly reflect that, Psaki commented.

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In April 2016, then-President Barack Obama announced that Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Obama wanted the release of the new bill to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment in 2020 that gave women the right to vote.

However, Trump had expressed an affinity toward Confederate figures and sang the praises of Jackson, claiming that he had led the U.S. to great success during his two-terms in office from 1829 to 1837.

Jackson, a slave owner, joined the Confederate army after Virginia seceded in 1861. He served under Gen. Robert E. Lee during the Civil War.

Tubman, an escaped slave, led countless people to freedom. Trump suggested that he might consider placing her image on a $2 bill, but not replace Jackson.

President Biden has vowed to right the many wrongs of the Trump administration, including working toward improving race relations in America and offering more opportunities to people of color. Tubman would be the first African-American woman featured on U.S. currency.

The $20 currently features a former president, Andrew Jackson, who not only owned slaves, but ordered the death march of thousands of Native Americans, NNPAs General Counsel A. Scott Bolden wrote in a 2019 editorial.

Euphemistically called Indian Removal, the Trail of Tears made way for white settlers to claim millions of acres of southern land, Attorney Bolden wrote.

He continued:

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The attempted erasure of Tubman represents yet another move in the Trump playbook to disconnect racial reality from white fantasy. Harriet Tubman should be a respected and lauded icon for people of every race and ethnicity. Did she not personify American ideals, at the risk of her own life? As a Black woman in antebellum times, she was vulnerable to capture, prison, assault or lynching, but did she falter? Did she not refuse to kneel to any man or any king? Did she not fight for freedom against overwhelming odds? Are these not the qualities we hold dear in our American heroes?
Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2021 5:33 pm

Rose Hill House, or Rose, as Judi Costello affectionately calls her, remembers Vader before it was officially a city, when it was still called Little Falls (or maybe even Kraft) and when the downtown had a wooden sidewalk and even an opera house.

A sign welcoming people to Vader declares that it was established in 1891, although it officially became a city in 1906. Rose Hill House was built in 1895. Rose Hill House is one of only five homes built in the 1890s still standing in Vader. Costello, who purchased it about a year ago, said the next oldest homes in Vader were built around 1907 and later, which is why restoring her beloved Rose holds such a place in Costellos heart.

And shes hoping to create a movement around Vaders historic places through an initiative Costello started earlier this year called Vader Old Houses Matter. In January, Costello sold T-shirts, books and baked goods to help raise money for a needed fix to Rose Hill House. She said she was excited to learn so many Vader residents care as much as she does about the small towns history.

It was just a lot of support from community members who are thrilled with what Im doing and want to support it, Costello said.

Costello has been an investor for 40 years and owns four properties in Vader, including the building where she houses her thrift store and the Little Falls Community Center. She and her husband also own Apple Electric and have lived in a home connected to that business since moving to the community 13 years ago.

Rose Hill House went on the market three or four years ago, and Costello officially purchased it in January 2020, becoming just the third person to own the home in its 126-year history. Costello said she had always been drawn to the three-story home, and it became something of a running joke with her and her friends that no one else should buy it because thats Judis house, she recalled with a laugh. In 2015, Costello wrote and published the book Rose Hill: The Adventures of Madison in Little Falls. She said she set out to simply write a love story about a man and a historic house, but midway through the writing process realized that she was writing about the house that had so captivated her for so many years, so she dedicated the book to Rose even before they had met.

I have a connection to the house, she said. I dont know what it is exactly, but I love every inch of this house.

Rose Hill House had fallen into disrepair in the years before Costello purchased it, and she said she wanted to make it shine again. She said she was thrilled to find on the inside that other than someone entering the house at one point when it was vacant and removing all of the glass doorknobs, the homes original charms were largely intact. With her own sweat, and the help of YouTube, Costello has spent the last year bringing the dilapidated home back to its former splendor.

One disappointment Costello said she experienced in the renovation was that she did not find any kind of treasures in the walls or floors that are so common to come across in historic homes. Costello said she remedied this by adding her own items under some of the finishes so that future generations will have something to find.

The next person will be greatly surprised by what I left behind, she said.

Costello is in the process of applying to have Rose Hill House added to the historical registry for the state of Washington. It is a similar list to the National Historical Registry, to which Vaders Ben Olsen House and Evangelical Church of Vader belong, but without certain restrictions and requirements for property owners. She said she has hopes that her Vader Old Houses Matter campaign could eventually grow to encompass all of the historic homes in the city, to encourage the community to keep these gems alive. One of her long-term wishes is that someday the owners of Vaders historic properties might be willing to participate in some sort of historic tour or map that could create buzz around their small town.

And Costello isnt alone in her assertion that Vaders past is likely a key to brightening its future. The citys development regulations require new buildings on A Street between Sixth and Seventh, considered the historic business district, to include wooden facades consistent with the earliest look of downtown Vader, as outlined in the citys community action plan. Vaders newest Comprehensive Plan, approved in May 2020, lists the Vaders Victorian homes as one of the resources likely to attract visitors and new residents alike:

Once a thriving center of commerce and culture, then a ghost town, Vader is now in the midst of a community-wide renaissance. An active Main Street, renovated Victorian homes, and tree-lined sidewalks and roadways combine to create a comfortable turn-of-the-century feel. While growth in recent years has been negligible, the current population of 643 represents a major rebound from the 1960s and 70s, when the population dipped to below 400. Since the 1970s, the population has steadily climbed and has now surpassed the citys 1910 population of 631.

And it seems to be working, Costello noted. She said there are 12 new homes being built in Vader at this moment, likely drawn there by the relatively inexpensive property. As COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease across the region, Costello said she is hopeful that these new Vader residents will get the chance to see the historic charm of their new residence and come to embrace it like she has.

Thirteen years later, I still love it, Costello said of Vader. We have our ups and downs, our ins and outs, our likes and our dislikes but at the end of the day, we all live here.
Photo: (Photo : Screenshot from GoFundMe)

A young girl is finally home after nine months of hospitalization due to coronavirus.

Stella Martin, the four-year-old girl from New Mexico, was given a celebratory send-off by hospital staff when she went home.

Stella tested positive for coronavirus last April. She stayed in the University of New Mexico Hospital since then due to coronavirus and other discovered illness. The young girl spent five months in the Pediatric ICU. In October, she was transferred to the CTH Acute Service.

ALSO READ: Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, Playgrounds Are Closing; but Parents and Charities Oppose





The 4-year-old girl had other complications.

The young girl is finally home after nine months of hospitalization due to coronavirus that she might have contracted from her father.

In April 2020, she tested positive for coronavirus. That is also when doctors discovered that Stella had transverse myelitis. It is a condition where the spinal cord becomes inflamed.

According to Stella's mom, Cassandra Yazzie, They said since COVID was an infection, that the good antibodies were attacking her spinal system when fighting off the COVID virus."

Aside from this condition, Stella's lung also collapsed. That caused the young girl to fall into a coma.

While Stella was fighting for her life, the young girl's mom had to keep herself together. Cassandra also had to endure losing her husband's death due to coronavirus and her father's death as well. She said in an interview with Good Morning America, "I had no time to break down, and that's what I did with her and her sister."

ALSO READ: Oklahoma Grandma Who Survived COVID-19 Celebrated Her 103rd Birthday, Was Surprised by Friends and Family





The young girl is finally home after nine months of hospitalization due to coronavirus.

In a short video uploaded by the University of New Mexico Hospital, hospital staff gave Stella a send-off.

While the young girl was in her stroller, staff clapped their hands for the brave battle that the four-year-old girl had to endure.

In the caption, the hospital shared, "After a severe bout with COVID-19, 4-year-old Stella Martin is leaving UNM Hospital."

After a severe bout with COVID-19, 4-year-old Stella Martin is leaving UNM Hospital. 



Stella came into the hospital in April after contracting COVID-19. She spent over 5 months in the Pediatric ICU and arrived in the CTH Acute Service in October. pic.twitter.com/8yfIUHonsl  UNM HSC (@UNMHSC) January 27, 2021

Some netizens find the video touching, especially after what the young girl had to go through during those nine months in the hospital.

ALSO READ: Mysterious COVID-19 Related Sickness in Children on the Rise





Family sets up the GoFundMe campaign.

Now that the young girl is finally home after nine months of hospitalization due to coronavirus, the family would like to keep their young girl healthy. They have been asking for donations through a GoFundMe page.

According to the page donations will be used "if anything goes wrong with our ride or anything insurance doesn't cover again."

Stella is staying at home and is happy to sleep through the night.

As of writing, the campaign has already gathered more than 32,000 US dollars.

ALSO READ: Phoenix Woman Takes Care of Her Five Siblings After Mom Died Due to COVID
GRAFTON  Let the good times roll on the river at the second annual Mardi Gras-fton and parade.

Revelers can stand or stroll along Main Street and check out unique shops, wineries, bars and restaurants, many of which will join the celebration with specials and giveaways. A Bangin Noise Parade parade starts at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, at Drifters, 1505 W. Main St.

Weve been in contact with IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) and IDOTs Joe Monroe said to be safe and be smart, Grafton Mayor Rick Eberlin said. Its masks up and keep your distance. If people are fearful, they wont be there.

The daylong celebration throughout town is from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The parade will be led by a brass band and everyone can bring their own pots and pans, or whatever they want to play. All are welcome and participation is free. People are encouraged to wear their best Mardi Gras-fton costume to win a prize for the best costume, but can come as they are.

Several businesses  including Drifters, the Hawg Pit and the Grafton Oyster Bar  are planning specials, and music will be provided by Steve Mellas and Jackie Adcock after the parade.

The Grafton City Council passed a resolution for the parade and obtained the proper and required permits from IDOT, Eberlin noted. The one-quarter-mile parade will proceed to the Hawg Pit to keep the party going.

Most businesses encourage wearing mask and following social distancing marked by signs on doors and storefronts.

The city asks for masks up and social distancing for places like the post office and the gas station, but Im a big believer in individual choice, Eberlin said.

More Information If you go: What: Mardi-Gras-fton When: 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 13; parade starts at 2 p.m. Where: Kicks off at Drifters,' 1505 W. Main St., Grafton Info: www.graftonilchamber.com See More Collapse

Guest houses and lodges also are offering winter getaway specials and packages to make a weekend of it.

Visit www.graftonilchamber.com for more information.
Despite its amazing vaccine credentials, GlaxoSmithKline has not had a good war against Covid-19.

It has been disappointing for chief executive Emma Walmsley that results from its collaboration with Frances Sanofi have fallen way behind, and it has dropped a partnership with Chinas Clover.

No one can accuse GSK of despairing. Along with its pre-tax profits of 6.97billion, it revealed a fresh effort to defeat all mutations of the coronavirus by working with Germanys Curavac to develop a next-generation vaccine.

Virus fight: GlaxoSmithKline has revealed a fresh effort to defeat all mutations of the coronavirus by working with Germany's Curavac to develop a next-generation vaccine

GSK may have been beaten to the post by Pfizer, Oxford Astrazeneca, Moderna et al, but there must be confidence that when it does reach the finish line it will have something valuable in the locker.

After all, it has vaccines for hard-to-beat conditions including cervical cancer, some strains of meningitis, shingles and new monthly jabs for HIV sufferers.

GSKs latest financial results are lacklustre and it cautions that 2021 may be tricky. Covid increased demand for over-the-counter medicines such as Panadol, but is disrupting sales of prescription drugs as surgeries cut capacity.

It doesnt have the best pipeline of new drugs, although research star Hal Barron is seeking to put some zip into its work on immune drugs and genetics with the promise of 57 vaccines and medicines, mainly aimed at infectious diseases, by 2026.

Walmsleys plans for extracting more value for shareholders by hiving off its strong consumer healthcare arm from pharma have so far failed to excite investors.

But as AZ has demonstrated with immunology, new compounds require patience. In the meantime, it is possible to draw comfort from the fact that the sum-of-the-parts worth of GSK is far higher than the current market value of 64.5billion.

An early Covid win, and some stardust from Barron, could quickly turn the stock market tide.

Lets draw a breath and be grateful that GSK is part of the UKs world-leading research base which gives hope for the UKs post-Covid, post-Brexit future.

Star turn

Italy has a history of reaching out to technocrats when the economy hits the buffers.

It has hit the jackpot in the shape of Mario Draghi, former chairman of the European Central Bank, who will always be remembered for his 2012 pledge to do whatever it takes to save the euro.

It signalled the start of the ECBs large-scale bond-buying and refinancing for Europes failing banks.

Having held the eurozone together at its most vulnerable moment, can Draghi do the same in his native country?

No one has a better skill-set as a central banker. The EU needs him to succeed if the weakest link among the continents big three nations is to be strengthened.

If Draghi could rally the diverse political voices of the eurozone behind his rescue nearly a decade ago, one might imagine that repairing Italys toxic politics might be easy. But the rise of populist sentiment, itself a reaction to years of stagnation and high unemployment, means it will be tough.

Output plummeted by 9 per cent in 2020 and public debt stands at 170 per cent of national output.

In Italy the debt is less of a problem because of the willingness of savers to hold large amounts of bonds in their portfolios.

Draghis immediate task will be to pull the fighting coalition factions together to create a credible plan to draw down some 188billion of the EUs 676billion Covid rescue funds.

The idea is to use the funds to make Italy more digitally connected, greener and competitive.

It is not an agenda that appeals the radical-Right Five-Star movement.

However, a credible fiscal plan together with Draghis presence should shore up confidence on financial markets.

But with Italy you can never quite tell.

Postal history

What a difference a regime change can make. The departure of Swiss-based Rico Back and the arrival of Keith Williams for a spell as executive chairman at Royal Mail (new CEOs are now in place) has seen the 30-year war with the unions hosed down.

The posties are among the unsung heroes of the pandemic, delivering to front doors in all weather and in the face of a rampant virus.

Now they have agreed faster delivery of new tech, designed to speed up customer service, and a big focus on parcels, in exchange for a decent pay deal.

Peace in our time.
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Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349
| By Charles Schelle

On the western edge of South Dakota, Aimee Uhrig, RN, BSN, CCM, lives near an old gold rush town steeped in American history, not far from Mount Rushmore, American Indian reservations, and the rugged Black Hills National Forest.

Carolyn Apanavage, BSN, RN-BC, CEN, of Managed Care Advisors works as a medical case manager for the UMB COVID-19 Hotline from her New Market home as her son, Brayden, attends virtual school in the background. Matthew Paul D'agastino/University of Maryland, Baltimore

When she picks up the phone, shes connected with University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) faculty, staff, and students looking for help with COVID-19 through the UMB COVID-19 Hotline. With UMB a leader in helping to end the pandemic through clinical trials, research, and public health policy decisions on a national level, it dawned on Uhrig that some of the very people she helps to keep safe at work are the same folks she sees on TV or in the newspaper sharing their expertise. She's a connection to history being made.

When we got in the middle of this and we started realizing some of the people were talking to are in the middle of the studies, it was like, Whoa, this is stuff I would have read about in my Weekly Reader as a kid, said Uhrig, who has worked in telephonic nurse case management since the 1990s.

East of Uhrig by 1,600 miles, her co-worker Carolyn Apanavage, BSN, RN-BC, CEN, is ready to call back UMB patients from her newly constructed townhome in New Market, Md., steps from Lake Linganore.

All she has to do is look over her shoulder to see her son Brayden completing his third-grade assignments during virtual schooling, as so many parents can relate.

The small home office is cozy for two, decorated with awards, degrees, and a few reminders of pre-pandemic life. On one wall is a photo of Apanavage carrying Brayden as a toddler down the Ocean City boardwalk; on another is a purple-filled concert photo of her favorite country music star, Kip Moore.

It feels good. I was an ER nurse for 10 years. This is a drastic change of pace for me. I almost felt guilty at the beginning of this because I was not on those front lines like I used to be, Apanavage said. Being a part of the pandemic with such a huge system feels like Im doing something.

While they work for Bethesda-based Managed Care Advisors (MCA), they are contracted by UMB to operate and maintain the UMB COVID-19 Hotline, which is also available for University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) and Faculty Physicians, Inc. employees.

UMB is putting faces to the names of the nurse case managers whom faculty, staff, and students have only interacted with by phone and may never meet. (View the photo gallery above to meet the team.)

It brings me incredible pride and gratitude to know that by doing what we do best, we have been able to make a difference in the lives of so many struggling to balance family, school, and work while facing the real possibility of COVID-19 exposure and/or infection, said Lisa M. Firestone, president and CEO of Managed Care Advisors. It is truly a privilege to be part of the UMB team.

Here From The Start

Uhrig and Apanavage have supported the hotline since the beginning, and have become like family, being a vital part of helping to stop the spread of COVID-19 by compassionately guiding the UMB community through symptoms, diagnosis, exposure, and high-risk travel.

The team has truly enjoyed this, Uhrig said. Its a feeling of thats what you signed up for when you want to be a nurse. But I think for some of us, its more than that. This was a pandemic. This was worldwide. Maybe we were giving back. Maybe we were somehow able to help people to sort things out. Maybe we were just a voice on the end of the phone.

Apanavage joined MCA in January 2019. A year later, her work became all-things COVID. In the middle of it all, she moved into a new home in August. Shes even recruited a couple members of the team.

In the beginning, Apanavage and her colleagues printed Word documents and PowerPoint slides that showed a flow chart of what to do based on the symptoms or information shared by a caller. Its an on-paper algorithm that she now has memorized.

It was hard at first, especially with the exposures, she said. Theyd say, Oh, I walked into a patients room, and I had this type of mask and the patient had no mask on. I was there for 20 minutes. You had to figure out their risk level. That was the harder part because no one fit into the cookie cutter of low, medium, and high risk. Sometimes you use clinical judgment to make the best determination of whether they should quarantine or keep working.

Thats a tall order at UMB, where there is so much overlap among the clinical, academic, and affiliations. Each Thursday, MCA talks to UMB staff, led by Marianne Cloeren, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine, who oversees the COVID-19 Hotline.

Like many campuses, UMB had to build a COVID response on the fly, as the pandemic evolved, Cloeren said. This hotline is a critical link in keeping our community safe, and we consider these nurses a part of our UMB Infection Prevention team.

Cloeren and company review issues, emerging concerns, and new guidance on a regular basis. A common question is figuring out where UMB employees do their day-to-day work with so much overlap between the University, hospital, and other areas. That determines whether to send people to internal or external testing sites, and makes sure people are calling the right number.

Just figuring out whos who is a challenge for everybody, Apanavage said.

High Volume

From March through Dec. 31, 2020, 8,424 calls have been placed to the hotline. They are first answered by operators who document reported information and redirect calls, forwarding appropriate cases to the nurse case managers. Of the 8,424 calls, the nurse case managers have provided ongoing support to more than 4,507 employees, physicians, professors, and students, or about 15 cases a day. There are cases to follow-up on that were reported during the evenings, then a flood of fresh calls when the morning shift starts.

An eight-hour telework shift can fly by with calls and cases to care for and information to relay to UMB contact tracers. Every day is different with guidance needing to be tweaked here or there. Lately, vaccine-related calls are trending, Apanavage said. One new question: Have you had a COVID-19 vaccine in the last 48 hours?

I always encourage people that theyre doing the right thing by saying, 'You called the hotline, you reported your symptoms and your positive tests,' Apanavage said.

Calls can take anywhere from five to 20 minutes. The longer calls involve someone asking for help upfront to figure out what they can and cant do, whether thats about if they can send their child to daycare or should plan for time off depending on symptoms and test results. The occasional small talk or banter in between symptom checking has provided some lighter moments.

I think people sometimes walk away from their conversation with us thinking, Oh, there really is a human on the other end of the line, Uhrig said. We dont get into peoples daily lives but every now and then somebody will offer a nugget, and I find it enjoyable.

Amanda Jackson, regional director of sales and marketing of The Peninsula Chicago said in an email that the hotel is honored to have received the #1 ranked hotel in the city of Chicago and #3 hotel in the country award from U.S. News and World Report Best Hotels 2021 rankings. Jackson added that The Peninsula Chicago has a long history of remaining in the top tier of hotels and doesnt believe the coronavirus pandemic was a factor in this years ranking.
Some officials fear the one-key militias are a sign of things to come, something Afghans have long feared: A lawless country broken up into fiefs ruled by the Taliban and warlords

Mazar-i-Sharif: A network of shadowy power brokers and warlords, bankrolled by the Afghan government and the national police force, is luring disadvantaged people into joining militias, sometimes under false pretenses, out of a growing desperation to hold territory around highways in the countrys north, according to former militia members and local officials.

These key arteries, which are the few means of road travel between the provinces, have increasingly become the front line for an emboldened Taliban insurgency. To protect them, local officials in Balkh province are manning highway outposts with often untrained Afghans, who are given little more than a rifle and the promise of a paycheck if they survive. Others have been offered construction jobs, only to arrive and realise there is no repair work to be done.

The militia members are dropped in areas too dangerous to flee and only picked up weeks or months later, dead or alive.

The crooked recruitment practice is the latest indication that Afghanistans security forces have been hollowed out by degrading morale and poor recruitment as Taliban attacks continue at an unrelenting pace across the country.

It also signals a resurgence of warlordism, a distinct echo of a past civil war when the country was fractured into territories ruled over by strongmen and a disturbing warning of where the countrys future may lead as peace negotiations in Qatar stall and a possible complete American withdrawal is just months away.

Interviews with more than a dozen local officials, former militia members, security officers, family members and even some of the commanders who acknowledged their involvement uncovered details about the militia network and the quiet support it is receiving from those in high levels of the Afghan government. They also revealed the toll taken on the families whose loved ones are being recruited to their deaths.

My son lacks any military experience, he is disabled, said Sayed Mir, whose son Jawed nearly died at an outpost after being shot in the neck. He is not someone who should be taken to war.

Balkh province was once one of the most stable provinces in the country. Its position along the border with Uzbekistan and on a key trade route from Turkmenistan lifted the local economy after the US invasion in 2001. But in recent years, stability there has steadily declined as the government in Kabul has struggled with controlling provincial leadership and supplying the north with a sufficient number of security forces.

In July 2020, Sayid Jawad, a resident of Balkh, thought he had been hired to rebuild a government outpost destroyed by Taliban attacks for $150 a month, the kind of money he hadnt earned in a long time.

At the base roughly 15 miles from his home in Mazar-i-Sharif, Jawad, 27, soon realised there was nothing in need of repair. A day later, he was handed a Kalashnikov rifle and received a simple order over the radio from the district governor: Fight or die.

I asked them if we were here to do construction work or get killed, Jawad said.

He had unwittingly joined a one-key militia, a reference to unregistered cars that are imported into Afghanistan as spare parts, thereby dodging government taxes and a record of registration. In the case of militias, it means theres no proof of member enrollment, freeing commanders from having to pay their recruits  if they survive.

The one-key is the most dangerous job on both sides of the war, Jawad said, back in his home in Mazar-i-Sharif. If you get killed, your family wont receive condolence money or your salary.

He added that it was like signing up to commit suicide.

Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, tried to defer questions to the Ministry of Defence before saying there would be an investigation into such militias.

We havent had such cases in the past, Arian said.

Balkhs governor did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The extent of the one-key militia network remains unclear. While one Afghan government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they were used across the country as a cheap substitute for depleted forces, there is no official record of the militias at the provincial or national level. The only paperwork required for enrollment  a problematic term given that in some cases people are effectively kidnapped and forced to fight  is a national identification card.

In Afghanistans south, some police commanders collect the salaries of dead or retired officers, and instead of restaffing their ranks, they recruit locals who are off the books, only paying them a portion of the salary, said Haji Mahmood Noor, a district mayor in Kandahar province.

Of the 16 people in his base outside Mazar-i-Sharif, Jawad, who had previously spent several years in the army, said all the men had been lured there by the promise of construction work. Despite fighting at night and trying to train his compatriots during the day for nearly three months, in the end, he was never paid, he said.

Jawads neighbour, Jawed, was recruited under the same guise and then shot in the neck during a firefight.

While Jawad was an army veteran, Jawed, 25, who like many Afghans goes by one name, had never touched a rifle. He was born partially deaf and with a speaking impairment.

They didnt let me say goodbye to my family, they took me to the base and we were stuck there for two months, Jawed said from his living room, the healed bullet hole visible along with the larger exit wound at the base of his neck.

The people who tricked Jawad and Jawed into joining were part of the web of recruiters responsible for staffing the one-key militia network in Balkh, allies of Atta Muhammad Noor, a longtime power broker and warlord in the province who fought the Soviets in the 1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s. During the civil war, he was a commander in Jaimat-i-Islami, an Islamist party in the countrys north. He then became Balkhs governor shortly after the US invasion in 2001 and refused to leave his position after President Ashraf Ghani fired him in 2017.

Despite his eventual exit from the office, Noor retains nearly de facto oversight over the current governor and the security network in place, according to local officials.

Some officials fear the one-key militias are a sign of things to come, something Afghans have long feared: A lawless country broken up into fiefs ruled by the Taliban and warlords, much like what happened in the 1990s. The return to prominence of such shadowy power brokers represents one more issue that the Joe Biden administration must confront as it weighs whether to honor the 1 May timeline for withdrawal set by the Donald Trump administration.

Captain Mohammed Fawad Saleh, the officer in charge of a police battalion, is the centerpiece of Balkhs one-key militias  in charge of not just the highways and their constellation of checkpoints but also of distributing recruits to outposts along those same roads.

Every month that he holds his allotted outposts, Saleh receives a stipend from provincial officials or Noors affiliates, several people told The Times, though the captain and his aide denied any such arrangement. Some of the money is meant to be divided among the militia members, several sources confirmed, but is rarely distributed. Saleh said he has nothing to do with the payments.

These purported dealings have only underscored the fate of territories once well-protected by Western troops. The reliance on such makeshift fighting forces demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the United States financial investment of more than $70 billion in weapons, equipment and training meant to prop-up the Afghan security forces that are now barely able to hold the countrys major cities.

We didnt get any uniforms or body armour. I was wearing the same salwar kameez as I am now, Jawad said, pointing to a hole in his trousers clearly burned and torn from flying debris. What is the government for? If I could harm them, I would.

Carved into Mazar-i-Sharifs defensive walls, Salehs headquarters is both a police base and where he keeps his luxury SUVs and several horses, evoking his own warlordlike aura.

The use of militias is an act of desperation, he said, as his requests for more soldiers and police have been ignored by Kabul officials. He commands about 340 people, but needs 500. The US air support is gone, he added, and the Afghan air force always comes too late, if at all.

Thats why we use one-key militia, Saleh said.

Sayid Mohammad, a tribal elder in Mazar-i-Sharif, said that he and other families complained last year to Balkhs provincial council about the militias recruiting practices, and eventually Saleh was fired.

Two months later, however, he returned to his duties. Saleh would not elaborate on why he was fired or rehired, just that the government needed him because outposts were falling to the Taliban.

Seeming to justify the deceit in his methods, he said, People wouldnt join the one-key militia without experience because they know the consequences.

Even if the highways stay open, the trade-off of security for human lives has left a trail of heartbroken families and devastated communities.

In Mazar-i-Sharifs oppressively poor Ali Abad neighbourhood, where one elder said more than 50 men had been recruited, Fatima cried for her son, Gholam Ali, who willingly joined the militia to pay off a loan. He was shot and killed last fall. Ali, 38, had worked for more than a year in the militia but was infrequently paid.

I begged him not to go, Fatima said, sobbing. He said, What can I do? My wife is asking for food, my kids are asking for food. There is no other way, the only way is to go and join the militia.

Fahim Abed and Thomas Gibbons-Neff c.2021 The New York Times Company

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Experts are "waiting on possibly an avalanche of trauma" in children as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.

The stark warning came from Dr Dominic McSherry, a childhood development psychologist at Ulster University.

While Dr McSherry focuses primarily on complex trauma in vulnerable children, he noted that Covid-19 had exacerbated what is known as 'simple trauma' in many young people across Northern Ireland.

"This is where children experience single incidents of trauma that have negative impacts on their lives," he said.

"There's a lot of serious illness for parents and grandparents - more than 100,000 people in the UK currently.

"Below that are hundreds of thousands of children who have experienced the deaths of a family member or one of them becoming very ill.

"We know children get very anxious in relation to any illness with their parents. It's a shock to the core of their security.

"Children may not have been able to grieve properly and we're waiting on possibly an avalanche of trauma. We need to be prepared for it so that we can respond properly."

Local children are 25% more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression compared to young people in other parts of the UK, according to a survey published by the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) last October. Another study by Queen's University last year found one in five people here met the criteria for Covid-related post-traumatic stress disorder.

These anxieties often manifest within adults and are passed down to children, said Louise Gault, a counsellor for the Belfast suicide prevention charity PIPS.

"For people who have anxiety about going out, Covid is almost self-fulfilling," she added.

"They're almost being proven right in that the world's really dangerous and they better not go out. That's an intergenerational thing and is passed onto kids.

"I have young people coming to me that are generally anxious and they can't really tell you what they're anxious about."

Ms Gault said she used to deal with more adults, but now, working for PIPS, half of her clients are aged 17 or under.

She explained that where teenagers previously sought out help for difficulties with studying or sleeping, a large number of young people were now displaying general anxiety.

"I think part of it is because parents are very aware and they hear in the media that mental health is going to be desperately affected by Covid. We have to look after our kids," she added.

"It's a two-edged sword. I've had a couple of young people drop out of guidance counselling because they really only came because their parents wanted them to, instead of seeing what the child can cope with themselves and learning to build up a tolerance of really difficult feelings and situations."

Dr McSherry said only time and objective research would give an accurate picture of how the coronavirus pandemic had affected young people.

He also stressed, however, that the main findings coming through from preliminary studies were that "behavioural issues are increasing".

"(But) emotional issues for older children have actually improved, which is a strange finding," he added.

A Freedom of Information request to the HSCB revealed that during the first lockdown - from March to June - the number of patients admitted to Holywell Hospital because of mental health or addiction issues rose from 32 to 85.

Childline NI also reported a 25% increase in children contacting its for advice because of maltreatment.

Ms Gault said young people needed to be shown there was hope and light at the end of the tunnel, both in terms of Covid-19 and mental health struggles.

She added: "If they get through to the other side, that is building resilience in that they have coped with this situation. Things do change. Nothing stays bad for ever."
Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell reported a profit of 4.85 billion for 2020, down 87 percent on the year, from $16.46 billion booked for 2019.

While the result was negatively affected by the pandemic, Shell still managed to remain in the black, unlike peers including BP and Exxon. The company was also upbeat for this quarter, raising its dividend to $0.1735 per share from $0.1665 per share to be distributed for the final quarter of 2020.

2020 was an extraordinary year, chief executive Ben van Beurden said at the release of Shells results. We have taken tough but decisive actions and demonstrated highly resilient operational delivery while caring for our people, customers and communities. We are coming out of 2020 with a stronger balance sheet, ready to accelerate our strategy and make the future of energy. We are committed to our progressive dividend policy and expect to grow our US dollar dividend per share by around 4% as of the first quarter 2021.

Like the rest of the European supermajors, Shell has accelerated its shift to renewable energy and other new business ventures, spurred by the oil price crash brought about by the pandemic that wreaked havoc on spending plans and growth strategies. Its latest move in that direction was the acquisition of the biggest EV charging network in the UK, ubitricity, for which the company did not disclose any financial details.

In the meantime, however, in addition to the price-related troubles, Shell was recently hit with a Dutch courts ruling it was responsible for two oil spills that happened in Nigeria 13 years ago. The ruling of the Dutch court is setting a precedent for future lawsuits brought against oil firms in the countries where they are based, instead of the countries where oil spills or oil pollution has allegedly taken place.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
February 03, 2021 " Information Clearing House " - In 2004, journalist Ron Suskind quoted a Bush White House advisor, reportedly Karl Rove, as boasting, Were an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. He dismissed Suskinds assumption that public policy must be rooted in the reality-based community. Were historys actors, the advisor told him, and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.

Sixteen years later, the American wars and war crimes launched by the Bush administration have only spread chaos and violence far and wide, and this historic conjunction of criminality and failure has predictably undermined Americas international power and authority. Back in the imperial heartland, the political marketing industry that Rove and his colleagues were part of has had more success dividing and ruling the hearts and minds of Americans than of Iraqis, Russians or Chinese.

The irony of the Bush administrations imperial pretensions was that America has been an empire from its very founding, and that a White House staffers political use of the term empire in 2004 was not emblematic of a new and rising empire as he claimed, but of a decadent, declining empire stumbling blindly into an agonizing death spiral.

Americans were not always so ignorant of the imperial nature of their countrys ambitions. George Washington described New York as the seat of an empire, and his military campaign against British forces there as the pathway to empire. New Yorkers eagerly embraced their states identity as the Empire State, which is still enshrined in the Empire State Building and on New York State license plates.

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The expansion of Americas territorial sovereignty over Native American lands, the Louisiana Purchase and the annexation of northern Mexico in the Mexican-American War built an empire that far outstripped the one that George Washington built. But that imperial expansion was more controversial than most Americans realize. Fourteen out of fifty-two U.S. senators voted against the 1848 treaty to annex most of Mexico, without which Americans might still be visiting California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Utah and most of Colorado as exotic Mexican travel spots.

In the full flowering of the American empire after the Second World War, its leaders understood the skill and subtlety required to exercise imperial power in a post-colonial world. No country fighting for independence from the U.K. or France was going to welcome imperial invaders from America. So Americas leaders developed a system of neocolonialism through which they exercised overarching imperial sovereignty over much of the world, while scrupulously avoiding terms like empire or imperialism that would undermine their post-colonial credentials.

It was left to critics like President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana to seriously examine the imperial control that wealthy countries still exercised over nominally independent post-colonial countries like his. In his book, Neo-Colonialism: the Last Stage of Imperialism, Nkrumah condemned neocolonialism as the worst form of imperialism. For those who practice it, he wrote, it means power without responsibility, and for those who suffer from it, it means exploitation without redress.

So post-World War Two Americans grew up in carefully crafted ignorance of the very fact of American empire, and the myths woven to disguise it provide fertile soil for todays political divisions and disintegration. Trumps Make America Great Again and Bidens promise to restore American leadership are both appeals to nostalgia for the fruits of American empire.

Past blame games over who lost China or Vietnam or Cuba have come home to roost in an argument over who lost America and who can somehow restore its mythical former greatness or leadership. Even as America leads the world in allowing a pandemic to ravage its people and economy, neither partys leaders are ready for a more realistic debate over how to redefine and rebuild America as a post-imperial nation in todays multipolar world.

Every successful empire has expanded, ruled and exploited its far-flung territories through a combination of economic and military power. Even in the American empires neocolonial phase, the role of the U.S. military and the CIA was to kick open doors through which American businessmen could follow the flag to set up shop and develop new markets.

But now U.S. militarism and Americas economic interests have diverged. Apart from a few military contractors, American businesses have not followed the flag into the ruins of Iraq or Americas other current war-zones in any lasting way. Eighteen years after the U.S. invasion, Iraqs largest trading partner is China, while Afghanistans is Pakistan, Somalias is the UAE (United Arab Emirates), and Libyas is the European Union (EU).

Instead of opening doors for American big business or supporting Americas diplomatic position in the world, the U.S. war machine has become a bull in the global china shop, wielding purely destructive power to destabilize countries and wreck their economies, closing doors to economic opportunity instead of opening them, diverting resources from real needs at home, and damaging Americas international standing instead of enhancing it.

When President Eisenhower warned against the unwarranted influence of Americas military-industrial complex, he was predicting precisely this kind of dangerous dichotomy between the real economic and social needs of the American people and a war machine that costs more than the next ten militaries in the world put together but cannot win a war or vanquish a virus, let alone reconquer a lost empire.

China and the EU have become the major trading partners of most countries in the world. The United States is still a regional economic power, but even in South America, most countries now trade more with China. Americas militarism has accelerated these trends by squandering our resources on weapons and wars, while China and the EU have invested in peaceful economic development and 21st century infrastructure.

For example, China has built the largest high-speed rail network in the world in just 10 years (2008-2018), and Europe has been building and expanding its high-speed network since the 1990s, but high-speed rail is still only on the drawing board in America.

China has lifted 800 million people out of poverty, while Americas poverty rate has barely budged in 50 years and child poverty has increased. America still has the weakest social safety net of any developed country and no universal healthcare system, and the inequalities of wealth and power caused by extreme neoliberalism have left half of Americans with little or no savings to live on in retirement or to weather any disruption in their lives.

Our leaders insistence on siphoning off 66% of U.S. federal discretionary spending to preserve and expand a war machine that has long outlived any useful role in Americas declining economic empire is a debilitating waste of resources that jeopardizes our future.

Decades ago Martin Luther King Jr. warned us that a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

As our government debates whether we can "afford" COVID relief, a Green New Deal and universal healthcare, we would be wise to recognize that our only hope of transforming this decadent, declining empire into a dynamic and prosperous post-imperial nation is to rapidly and profoundly shift our national priorities from irrelevant, destructive militarism to the programs of social uplift that Dr. King called for.
The New York Times

Dalee Sullivan looked straight ahead into her computers camera and started making her case to the judge. She referred to transcripts, emails and policies she had pulled from the student handbook at Alpine High School. The school, she contended, had made errors in tabulating grade-point averages: Classes and exams that should have been included were left out, and vice versa. Sullivan had won Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments and, in her freshman year, was a member of the mock trial team. But she is not a lawyer. She is 18, and she graduated from the lone public high school in the small West Texas town of Alpine just a week ago, which was the reason she was in court to begin with. This serves to prove that no matter the outcome of the GPA contest, and no matter how many times we had the school recalculate the GPA, Sullivan told the judge during a hearing on Friday, the Alpine Independent School District was going to make certain I could never be valedictorian, even if I earned it. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times School officials said she ranked third in her class. Sullivan disagreed. She could not find a local lawyer who would agree to take on her case. A firm in Dallas told her it would, she said, but estimated the case could cost her $75,000  far more than she could afford. Instead, she figured out how to write a request for an injunction and represented herself in the 394th District Court of Texas. She believed that her GPA could, in fact, have been higher than one or both of the students ahead of her, making her worthy of the title salutatorian or even valedictorian. She and her parents had protested her rank for the past month, and she claimed that the school intentionally did not invite her to an awards event where top students were honored. The school district has said that it calculated her grades repeatedly, and that each time Sullivan still ranked third. In a statement on Friday, school officials declined to discuss the allegations raised by Sullivan, saying the district was not at liberty to discuss the individual student. Although we respectfully disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit, the statement said, we take student and parent concerns very seriously and will continue to address the students concerns. It is not entirely unheard-of for disputes over top spots in high school graduating classes to escalate to litigation. The competition over such accolades can be an intense, even ruthless, zero-sum game. And in the fight to be valedictorian, there is more at stake than just bragging rights. In Texas, the highest-ranking high school graduates can receive free tuition for their first year at in-state public institutions. Sullivan and her parents were inspired by a case last year in Pecos, Texas, about 100 miles from Alpine, where two students claimed to be valedictorian amid confusion over a glitch in the schools tabulations. One of the students  with professional legal representation  filed for a restraining order and sought an injunction to block Pecos High School from naming its valedictorian. After Sullivan could not get a lawyer, her parents were disappointed but willing to drop the matter. But she refused. She got advice and records from the family in the case in Pecos, using the petition in that case as a guide to start writing her own. Her parents  her father, a rancher; her mother, a forensic interviewer  read it over and helped her tidy up the language. We arent even close to being lawyers, Sullivan said. In Alpine, a town of roughly 6,000 people in Texas Big Bend Country, some who know Sullivan said they were surprised she would take this on. There are other ways to spend ones last summer before college. (She plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina and major in biophysics with the aim of going into medicine.) But she had always been serious about school and a bit steely in her resolve. Shes already going to college, she already has scholarships, said Teresa Todd, a local government lawyer who is a longtime friend of Sullivans mother and whose sons are close in age to Sullivan. She worked really hard for this, and I think all kids deserve to know where they fall in the pecking order. Kids have to show their work, Todd added. Why doesnt the school have to show their work? She said she offered some advice to Sullivan ahead of her hearing: Be herself. Be respectful. Dont let the other side get you off your game. Sullivan conceded some nervousness before the hearing, especially after filings from the school districts lawyers cited a slew of legal precedents and were peppered with terminology she did not know. But overall, she was confident. I have all the evidence, she said. I have all the facts. And no one knows it as well as I know it. All sorts of cases land in the 394th District Court, whose jurisdiction covers five counties roughly equivalent in size to the country's nine smallest states combined. The court hears criminal cases, divorce proceedings, and now a fight over high school grading. Judge Roy B. Ferguson has a reputation for taking the judicial medley in stride. His courtroom had a flash of viral fame in February when a video clip of a lawyer trapped behind a filter that made him appear to be a fuzzy white kitten in a Zoom hearing boomeranged around the internet. (Im not a cat, the lawyer said.) Ferguson found the humor in it. He added a reference to the unlikely episode to the courts website and accepted an invitation to discuss it at a symposium on remote judicial hearings in Poland. In a recent criminal proceeding, when a lawyer apologized for audio complications, Ferguson replied, Youre not a cat, so youre one step ahead! With Sullivan, he was patient and explained procedure in a way he would not have to with a professional. When she asked a question that was too broad, he encouraged her to narrow the scope. (He often presides over high school mock trials, among them, the State of Texas v. Luke Skywalker.) Kelley Kalchthaler, a lawyer representing the school district, argued that Sullivan had not exhausted the districts grievance process. We dont think the court has jurisdiction over this case, she said, and all parties should be dismissed. She also raised objections to much of the evidence Sullivan wanted to include, contending that it was hearsay or questioning the relevance to the case. In several instances, Ferguson agreed. All right, Ms. Sullivan, are you ready to present evidence in support of your request? Ferguson said. You bear the burden here for this temporary injunction. Sullivan laid out her case. Its not an accurate reflection of my high school career, she said of her final transcript, so its already done irreparable damage. She wanted an independent audit of honor graduates grades. She did not get that on Friday. Ferguson ruled that the dispute needed to go through the school districts grievance process. Still, the case was not closed. If she was not pleased with the outcome, the judge told her, she could come back to court. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.  2021 The New York Times Company

Lisa Lawlor was just 17 months old when her parents died

A woman who was the only child left orphaned by the Stardust fire has told of how the tragedy has left an indelible mark on her life.

Lisa Lawlor, now 41 and living in Swords, north Dublin, with her children, describes the heartache of growing up as an orphan in her book The Stardust Baby.

In an emotional interview with The Daily Telegraph ahead of the 40th anniversary of the tragedy later this month, she opened up about how the death of her parents Maureen (23) and Francis (25) Lawlor during the devastating fire on Valentines Day 1981 at the Stardust nightclub in north Dublin changed her life forever.

Her young parents were among the 48 people who died after being trapped inside the disco when a raging inferno broke out.

While her father initially managed to make it outside, he went back inside the burning building to find his wife but both perished, leaving 17-month-old Lisa without her parents.

While she acknowledges how her fathers decision to go back inside showed how much he loved his wife, she said she feels a small bit of resentment towards him for his actions that ultimately left her an orphan.

The day that fire happened was the day my identity was taken, she told the newspaper, I became Stardust Baby.

She said the media interest in her as the only orphan of the disaster made growing up a challenge as she was always photographed every Christmas and Valentines Day and told by her paternal grandmother who raised her to smile for the cameras.

Anxiety

Id be crying and shed say, Quick, dry your eyes. Quick, go out and smile.

It was really confusing, she told the paper. The pressure was huge.

Ms Lawlor said she developed anxiety while at primary school and had fears that her grandmother, whom she called Mam, would also die while she was at school, prompting her to leave school at 16.

But now as a mother of three children, Craig (18), Frances (10) and Lennon (7), she has finally found contentment living in Swords with her children.

I have found a path to happiness through my children, and my heart is filled with love for them, she wrote, adding, that while the horrible fire almost 40 years ago still haunts her, she has never given up hope.

Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Governments Campaign to Squelch It" is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
The storm drain in north Belfast where Noah was found

Police have launched an investigation into how access was gained to a storm drain where the body of Belfast teenager Noah Donohoe was discovered last summer.

Confirming the move last night, the PSNI said the new investigation would centre on "access to the storm drain network, convenient to Premier Drive/Northwood Road in north Belfast, which is owned by the Department for Infrastructure".

"Police are working in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive and Public Prosecution Service and have informed the Donohoe family of the development," a PSNI spokesperson said.

The storm drain investigation will take place in addition to the coroner's probe into the teenager's death.

Noah (14), a pupil at St Malachy's College, went missing in south Belfast on June 21 last year.

His body was found in the storm drain in the north of the city and close to the M2 motorway six days later following a massive search operation.

A post-mortem examination established he died as a result of drowning and a coroner's hearing was later told there was no evidence that he was attacked or that anyone else was involved.

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The PSNI said last year they believed Noah entered the drain in the Northwood Road area.

He had cycled to the area from his home in south Belfast and, shortly before he went missing, was seen with no clothes on.

Prior to that he was seen falling off his bike in Shore Road.

Noah's disappearance led to a wide-scale search operation across Belfast, involving police, community rescue teams and the local community.

Police have previously said there was no reason to suspect foul play in Noah's death, but his family have continued to call for answers.

An SDLP spokesperson said last night: "Noah Donohoe's disappearance and death is any family's worst nightmare and the strength and resolve that Noah's mother Fiona and his family have shown over the last year has been incredible.

"We support their campaign for the truth regarding his tragic death and will do everything in our power to help them."

Last week Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill met with the Chief Constable Simon Byrne to raise "grave concerns" over the PSNI handling of the investigation into the teenager's death.

"I have met with the Donohoe family, continue to engage with them and they have my full support in terms of getting truth and justice around what happened to Noah.

"I think any mummy in that position that Fiona is sitting in today, not having answers about what happened to her wee boy, could not fail to be heartbroken," the Sinn Fein vice-President said.

In January, Coroner Joe McCrisken, who is overseeing an inquest into the schoolboy's death, revealed that a new book about Noah has been referred to the Attorney General.

Fiona Donohoe said she was "sorry" to hear about the publication of 'The Noah Donohoe Scandal' by Donal Lavery.

Ms Donohoe confirmed that the publication had nothing to do with her family, their campaign to find out the truth about Noah's death, and she did not endorse it.

A full inquest into Noah's death is set for January 2022.
Alberta Premier Urges Federal Agencies to Be More Transparent Over Mandatory Quarantine Locations

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney urged federal agencies to be more transparent about where Canadians are being directed to stay to self-isolate after returning from abroad.

There are reports of Canadians returning from abroad being directed to self isolate in airport hotels, with federal agencies failing to disclose where they will be staying, Kenney said in a statement on Monday. We understand the need for quarantine requirements, but ask that federal agencies be more transparent.

People entering Canada have an obligation to inform themselves about and comply with testing and quarantine requirements. But federal agencies like CBSA and PHAC could avoid a lot of anger and confusion if they were more transparent about where people will be staying, the premier wrote on Twitter.

Kenneys comments on Monday came after reports of Canadians being detained and sent to quarantine facilities without knowing where they were going and without their families knowing being informed.

On Jan. 31, a woman waited at the Calgary airport to pick up her son who had been living in the United States for two years and was returning to Canada for school which is scheduled to start on Feb. 24.

Rebekah McDonald, in a video posted on social media, said that when her son, Ethan, arrived, he was ushered by authorities into a van and taken to an undisclosed quarantine facility after they concluded he took the wrong COVID-19 test in the United States. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

McDonald said she wasnt allowed to speak with her son, 20, and was denied knowledge of his whereabouts.

They wont let me talk to him. They wont let me see him. They wont come and talk to me. The border patrol services say that they have nothing to do with it. They wont tell me who has to do with it. They wont tell me whos picking him up. They wont tell me where hes going. They wont tell me anything. And they say he doesnt have a choice. They say that its the law. They say that I dont have the right to talk to him, to see him. And they are taking him against my will, and his will, she said in an emotional video posted on Instagram.

Travelers arrive at the Calgary Airport in Calgary, Canada, on May 10, 2018. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

A similar situation happened to Nicole Mathis, a worship leader at The Summit Church in Edmonton. Authorities at the Calgary airport rejected her negative COVID-19 test results, citing a wrong test taken in Dallas, and escorted her to an unknown hotel for quarantine. Her husband, Chris Mathis, lead pastor at the same church, wrote a post on Facebook detailing what happened on Jan. 28.

[Nicole] arrived in Calgary tonight and when she got there she was greeted by a Police Officer and a health official. They rejected her results and told her she needed to go immediately to an isolation facility. She was told if she resisted she would be arrested. She called me, and I immediately asked to talk with the officer. I talked with both a Police Officer and the AHS [Alberta Health Services] official, they reiterated what she had said to me.

I asked for the address of where she would be, they said they could NOT give me the location address as it was confidential. I asked for their names, again they would not give me any information or their names. I pushed, I questioned, I tried to fight but they said they would arrest her if she resisted. They would NOT give me any information on where they were taking my wife.

She was not allowed to get her vehicle from the airport, she was immediately put in a white van surrounded by police escorts and taken to an unknown facility that is under full surveillance and has security at every entrance and exit. You can imagine I am barely keeping myself together wondering what in the world has happened in our country in what seems to be overnight.

After Mathiss post, Calgary police released a statement about the incident without naming Nicole Mathis.

In early January 2021, new travel regulations were put into effect by the Government of Canada, which are enforced by the Public Health Agency Canada (PHAC). PHAC determined that a traveller arriving at the airport on the evening of Thursday, January 28, 2021 would need to quarantine, the police department wrote.

Calgary Police Service involvement in this matter was limited to walking with PHAC [Public Health Agency Canada] as they escorted the traveller to a transport vehicle outside the airport to be taken to a designated hotel.

Additional questions surrounding restrictions and procedures in place for mandatory quarantine can be directed to PHAC.

Please see below for a statement in relation to the incident at Calgary International Airport involving Public Health Agency Canada. #yyc pic.twitter.com/VMFSfAgR5r  Calgary Police (@CalgaryPolice) January 30, 2021

According to Transport Canadas website, returning travellers without access to a COVID-19 test in the country they were in, (typically) have a choice between taking a COVID-19 molecular test upon arrival or being directed to a federal quarantine at the point of arrival.

In the case of Mathis, she had taken an antigen test, which was deemed unacceptable by Canadian authorities. She said in a video on Facebook that it was frustrating not being able to be the one to choose to go on my own.

As for McDonalds case, she said in a follow-up video, that a wrong test was booked for Ethan, but said that the situation was mishandled by authorities.

This is not acceptable. I mean, there are ways of treating people and dealing with things appropriately, McDonald said. And I think being a good citizen. It is our responsibility to hold people in power accountable for their actions.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Jan. 29 morning that more measures will be introduced in the coming weeks, including mandatory PCR testing at Canadian airports for people returning to the country. Travellers must wait for their test results for up to three days in approved hotels at their own expense, which is expected to be around $2,000, he said.

Those who test negative will then have to quarantine at home with significantly increased surveillance and enforcement. Those with positive test results will be immediately sent to quarantine in designated government facilities to ensure they are not carrying the more transmissible variants of the virus.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), an organization that seeks to defend the constitutional freedoms of Canadians through litigation and education, announced on Jan. 29 that it would file an immediate legal action against the Liberal government for subjecting Canadians to mandatory quarantine, at their own expense, after returning from international travel, regardless of their negative COVID status.

These measures are a blatant violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including the right to enter and leave Canada, the right to liberty and security of the person, the right to not be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned, the right to retain legal counsel, and the right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, the JCCF said in a statement.

With reporting by Andrew Chen.
In her new role, Sonia will partner with Sony/ATV's global and U.S. offices to provide strategic leadership and support to UK and International teams. She will also create initiatives to further enhance the employee experience, align company values and build a culture of diverse and high performing teams across global territories.

Sony/ATV Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources Elicia Felix-Hughey stated, "I am excited to welcome Sonia to Sony/ATV. Her strategic leadership and insights will add enormous value as we continue to transform our approach to people and culture, which is a strategic priority for our organization."

Sonia Grant-Yendell said, "There has never been a more critical time to be focused on the importance of people, so I am extremely excited to take on this amazing role and to partner with the incredible team at Sony/ATV. I'm thrilled to support the continued success and growth of the business and its employees on a global scale."

With an HR career spanning over fifteen years, Sonia was most recently Head of HR at intu Properties plc, where she helped spearhead a complex, four-month long transfer of over 2,000 employees across to 20 providers. Prior to intu, she worked internationally for ten years with Credit Suisse Trust and Generali Worldwide, where she was instrumental in developing leadership and talent programs for Europe, East Asia and the Caribbean.

###

SOURCE Sony/ATV

Related Links

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The company has now completed the next phase of infill drilling at the deposit and highlights include 3.70 metres of 2.37 grams per ton gold

"It is gratifying to see that the system we will be mining appears to continue on strike to the North and down-dip," said Javier Cordova, Soma's president and CEO

Soma Gold Corp ( ) ( ) has reported encouraging drill assays from its Cordero-Balvina mine project in Colombia, which shows potential for even stronger economics at the mine where production is expected this June or July.

The company has now completed the next phase of infill drilling at the deposit and highlights include 3.70 metres (m) of 2.37 grams per ton (g/t) gold, including 0.70m of 7.23 g/t gold.

"It is gratifying to see that the system we will be mining appears to continue on strike to the North and down-dip," said Javier Cordova, Soma's president and CEO in a statement.

"The gold grades and the vein thickness continue to indicate the potential for even stronger economics than we have been experiencing. We are eager to begin mining operations at Cordero-Balvina in the near term. A higher head grade will translate into higher monthly gold production numbers."

On Wednesday, Soma said the Fenix Portal, which will give it access to the Cordero-Balvina deposit, was approximately 35% of the way to reaching the ore body at Level 3. The first phase of the decline totals 890 meters. The decline will then continue for an additional 610 meters to provide access to lower mine levels.

The average grade in Cordero-Balvina is 6.2 g/t versus the 3.6 g/t the company has been mining at its Los Mangos and La Ye deposits.

Soma Gold owns two adjacent mining properties in Antioquia, Colombia with a combined milling capacity of 675 tons per day (tpd) and permitted for 1,400 tpd. The La Ye mine is currently operating and producing, and the El Limon mine and mill are scheduled to begin operating in Q1, 2021. Internally generated funds will be used to finance a regional exploration program.

The company has planned and will fund from operating income, 20,000m of drilling for its advanced exploration projects: Cordero-Balvina, Deep Limon and Alacran-Dimantina and its conceptual and greenfield projects Limoncito and Canon de Rojas.

In addition, a regional exploration program will include mapping and sampling of small miner workings previously identified in mining concessions.

The company says there is "significant potential" for high-gold-grade discoveries in this essentially unexplored yet highly mineralized region where the company has consolidated more than 25,000 hectares of mining concessions.

Shares advanced over 5% to C$0.40 each in Toronto.

---Updates for share price---

Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com
[February 04, 2021] WorldRemit Announces Winners in the USA of Holiday Season Promotion to Help Filipino Beneficiaries Start a Business

WorldRemit, a leading digital cross-border payments business has announced the winners of its recent Grainsmart store franchise promotion to help customers give their beneficiaries the opportunity to start a business in the Philippines. Customers qualified for the promotion by sending money to the Philippines and nominating a beneficiary of their choice. The winners include frontline healthcare workers and teachers from a number of countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Beneficiaries will now be opening Grainsmart stores across the Philippines in places that include Cebu, Davao, San Carlos and Tagum City "We're so pleased to give recipients this great opportunity to start a business that will help them to support their families and become more financially stable. The franchisees have the option to expand these businesses and potentially create job opportunities for members of the wider community. This underlines our commitment to helping Overseas Filipino Workers to support those dearest to them back home," said Earl Melivo, Country Director for the Philippines at WorldRemit. Benjamin Batac, CEO at Grainsmart added, "It's an honour to partner with a company like WorldRemit that shares our values. With many of the franchise contracts already signed, this promotion will create sustainable jobs and also give much-needed support to Filipino farmers, many of whom are facing challenges due to the pandemic and recent natural disasters." Winner and Beneficiary Mayvonne Morales said, "I was born and raised in Cebu but have lived in Las Vegas for the last 30 years. The Filipino culture of supporting family and friends is so important to me. I still can't believe I have won this Pangkabuhayan prize! It all started when I got a message from a childhood friend in the Philippines asking for financial help because her mom was in the hospital with kidney problems. I know how it is to be sick with kidney issues because I have been through that in January of 2015. So I went ahead and sent money to my friend via WorldRemit since it's very convenient just on my phone. It is fast and just for a minute or two the recipient will receive the money and above all they have the highest exchange rate compared to other remittance companies that I have researched. After I sent the funds I got notified right away that the transaction went through successfully. After that another screen popped up asking me if I wanted to enter in a draw for pangkabuhayan in the Philippines. I filled out te form, sent and forgot about it, that was sometime in November of 2020. Every year since 2015, I visit Cebu to give thanks to Senior Sto Nino for the gift of life. When I was diagnosed with acute kidney failure in 2015, it was the awakening moment of my life. I realized that living in this world is not only about me and my dreams. It's about making a difference in my own little way. I always set aside money for the Philippines so when I go I can put it into projects which include donating to a feeding program for children and buying printers for an elementary school in the north of Cebu. When I received the call to say I had won the prize I thought it was a scam because I've been wanting to open a rice or grocery store in the Philippines for so long! I'm so happy with this opportunity given to me after my retirement to continue my journey here in the Philippines and to touch people's lives in my own little way".



Winner Shirley Fe Torrecampo who lives in Arizona with her husband, plans to move to Cabuyao Laguna where they will run the Grainsmart business. Shirley said, "My husband Emmanuel and I have been working as teachers in the US for the last 5 years. We were supposed to go back home to the Philippines last May but couldn't travel due to the border closures. We've been using WorldRemit ever since we moved to America and to win this competition feels like fate! I'm really excited about opening the store and running our own business for the first time". Each Grainsmart franchise business package includes:

60 sacks (25 kg each) of rice

A tablet that's fully set up for a bills payment center account

Business signage, marketing collateral, and other business paraphernalia

An online training and mentorship program - to provide guidance for setting up the business for success. As well as the COVID-19 pandemic, Filipinos have also had to deal with the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Goni and Typhoon Vamco, which have displaced thousands and destroyed livelihoods. Take advantage of competitive exchange rates for the Philippine peso by visiting www.worldremit.com or downloading the app. Winners were announced on the WorldRemit Facebook (News - Alert) page (https://www.facebook.com/WorldRemit/). For more details visit www.worldremit.com/pangkabuhayan. WorldRemit WorldRemit is a leading digital cross-border payments business. We disrupted an industry previously dominated by offline legacy players by taking international money transfers online - making them safer, faster and lower-cost. We currently send from more than 50 countries to 130+ receive countries, operate in 6,500 money transfer corridors worldwide and employ over 1,100 people worldwide. On the sending side WorldRemit is 100% digital (cashless), increasing convenience and enhancing security. For those receiving money, the company offers a wide range of options including bank deposit, cash collection, mobile airtime top-up and mobile money. Backed by Accel, TCV and Leapfrog - WorldRemit's headquarters are in London, United Kingdom with regional offices in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Africa, Somaliland, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Belgium. For more information visit www.worldremit.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005490/en/

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News Around the Republic of Mexico



Cofepris Authorizes Emergency Use of Sputnik V Vaccine



The first shipment of 400,000 doses of the Russian vaccine against Covid-19 could be received as early as this month. Mexico City - Mexican health regulator COFEPRIS on Tuesday authorized Russia's Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, for emergency use after the country entered into a contract to secure millions of vaccine doses.



In a morning news conference, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said Mexico's contract provided for 7.4 million doses between February and April, with more due in May. "This gives us an enormous opportunity to accelerate vaccination in Mexico," he said.



Mexico began administering the Pfizer vaccine in December, but in the face of delayed deliveries and limited supplies from other manufacturers, the country is seeking to obtain as much vaccine supply as possible for its population of 126 million.



Latin American nations, including Argentina and Mexico, showed an early interest in locking down supplies of the Russian vaccine, but global interest in Sputnik V was bolstered on Tuesday after peer-reviewed results from its late-stage clinical trial were published in The Lancet international medical journal.



According to results published in The Lancet, data of 19,866 volunteers were included in the efficacy analysis. The study showed that the two-dose regimen of Sputnik V given at 21 days apart demonstrated the efficacy of 91.6% against Covid-19.



Sputnik V has been approved for storage in normal refrigerators, rather than freezers, according to scientists at the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow that developed it. This ease of transportation and distribution has appealed to Mexico, which has hard-to-reach rural areas and a struggling national health care system.







Regarding the



He also said that 10,000 vaccination points have been identified throughout the country, which includes health facilities, public spaces and plazas, schools and recreation centers; The 'Roadrunner Brigades' will travel to hard-to-reach areas to deliver the vaccines.



Regarding people of other nationalities, he said that they are considered part of Mexico's national vaccination plan. Those who do not have a CURP will be identified with a state- or province-specific code to complete their registration.



"The national plan includes nationals, residents from abroad, those who were born abroad or who are temporarily in the country; But all, all of the people who are in Mexico, will be vaccinated against COVID-19," he assured.



Due to the diversity of vaccines that will be available in Mexico, each person will receive the vaccine that corresponds to their vaccination center. Lopez-Gatell stressed that the population can be sure that all the vaccines that are to be administered will meet the requirements of quality, safety and efficacy.



In this regard, the general director of Health Promotion, Ricardo CortAs AlcalA, announced that on the



Sources: - Mexican health regulator COFEPRIS on Tuesday authorized Russia's Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, for emergency use after the country entered into a contract to secure millions of vaccine doses.In a morning news conference, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said Mexico's contract provided for 7.4 million doses between February and April, with more due in May. "This gives us an enormous opportunity to accelerate vaccination in Mexico," he said.Mexico began administering the Pfizer vaccine in December, but in the face of delayed deliveries and limited supplies from other manufacturers, the country is seeking to obtain as much vaccine supply as possible for its population of 126 million.Latin American nations, including Argentina and Mexico, showed an early interest in locking down supplies of the Russian vaccine, but global interest in Sputnik V was bolstered on Tuesday after peer-reviewed results from its late-stage clinical trial were published in The Lancet international medical journal.According to results published in The Lancet, data of 19,866 volunteers were included in the efficacy analysis. The study showed that the two-dose regimen of Sputnik V given at 21 days apart demonstrated the efficacy of 91.6% against Covid-19.Sputnik V has been approved for storage in normal refrigerators, rather than freezers, according to scientists at the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow that developed it. This ease of transportation and distribution has appealed to Mexico, which has hard-to-reach rural areas and a struggling national health care system.Regarding the online registration platform to access the COVID-19 vaccine, the Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion mentioned that it will be available to all older adults. Those who live in areas without internet access will be contacted by the nation's servers.He also said that 10,000 vaccination points have been identified throughout the country, which includes health facilities, public spaces and plazas, schools and recreation centers; The 'Roadrunner Brigades' will travel to hard-to-reach areas to deliver the vaccines.Regarding people of other nationalities, he said that they are considered part of Mexico's national vaccination plan. Those who do not have a CURP will be identified with a state- or province-specific code to complete their registration."The national plan includes nationals, residents from abroad, those who were born abroad or who are temporarily in the country; But all, all of the people who are in Mexico, will be vaccinated against COVID-19," he assured.Due to the diversity of vaccines that will be available in Mexico, each person will receive the vaccine that corresponds to their vaccination center. Lopez-Gatell stressed that the population can be sure that all the vaccines that are to be administered will meet the requirements of quality, safety and efficacy.In this regard, the general director of Health Promotion, Ricardo CortAs AlcalA, announced that on the coronavirus.gob.mx website you can access the vaccination registry for older adults, as well as information on the various vaccinations against COVID.Sources: SecretarAa de Salud a pharmaceutical-technology.com a Reuters a AFP News



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Some 30 years ago a man named John Brockhoeft planned two bombings at abortion clinics and womens health centers in Ohio and Florida. Brockhoeft was sentenced to seven years in prison (he served five) for the firebombing of one clinic; he had already served 26 months for scheming unsuccessfully to bomb another. Brockhoeft called himself a freedom fighter and kept a prison newsletter detailing his missions. It was an era when headlines were filled with the number of abortion providers who were either targeted or assassinated.

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Three decades after his last clinic bombing, the same Brockhoeft livestreamed his arrival at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He called the moment his fight for our beloved President Donald J. Trump.

Brockhoeft is, at once, a longtime anti-abortion extremist and a Trump-loving rioter. Hes not alone.

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Few of the anti-abortion activists who were Trump rioters are quite as extreme as Brockhoeft. But there were plenty of still-quite-zealous activists inside the Capitol mob on Jan. 6. This spectrum of pro-life extremists included Derrick Evans, the now-former West Virginia legislator, whose presence in Washington that day led to his arrest and forced resignation. Evans was previously known for his hobby as a harasser of women at a local abortion clinic, where he wore his MAGA hat for the occasion. Also there that day was Abby Johnson, known for her purported conversion from Planned Parenthood worker to anti-abortion and antibirth control extremism. Also, there was Jason Storms, who worked for the anti-abortion group Operation Save America and called Jan. 6 Revolution 2.0.

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The link between longtime anti-abortion extremists and todays Trump rioters and white nationalists hasnt been sufficiently scrutinized. But there is a strong tie between anti-abortion terrorism and Christian white nationalism, said Mary Alice Carter, senior adviser for the reproductive rights research group Equity Forward. Abortion is unacceptable to white nationalists, Carter said, because of the white supremacist idea of having as many white Christian babies as possible, both to fight the declining birth rate and to hold off the rising immigrant population.

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Perhaps the connection between the two populations and their methods is not being made often because crimes against women and their healthand the people of both genders who care for them, like doctorsare rarely equated with other kinds of terrorism.

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Yet at least 12 other anti-abortion activists all along the extremist continuum showed up at the Capitol that day, according to the reproductive rights group Abortion Access Front.

The reason people dont take the anti-abortion terrorists seriously is due to what I call abortion exceptionalism, Carter said. This exceptionalism is based on the thinking that pro-life extremism is different from other radical movements, that its a single-issue form of activism and mostly religiously motivated. This is not always the case.

Ive reported at clinics in Mississippi, Indiana, and New York and talked to the anti-abortion protesters who throng in front. These crowds tend to be uniformly white, older. The majority of those within them are male. These activists had no problem regularly hassling or yelling at the much younger women entering or leaving by the clinics doors.

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Groups like these, as well as more formal older groups such as Operation Rescue in the 1980s and 90s, have a playbook. In addition to persistent harassment, in 1991, say, more than 2,000 anti-abortion activists were arrested in Wichita, Kansas, where they sought to shut down the citys three abortion clinics. There were also years of terrorism against abortion providers where the extremists were both anti-abortion and general-interest Christian supremacists. That included Eric Rudolph, a serial clinic bomber best known for his attack on the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, who wrote in his 11-page confession, Because I believe that abortion is murder, I also believe that force is justified in an attempt to stop it. His bombing spreewhich included bombing a lesbian barwas, in his mind, part of a single struggle against a monstrosity of a government that permitted abortion.

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The clinic invasions of the past parallel tactics at the Capitol earlier this month, David Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University who specializes in abortion rights, told me. Just like the rioters on Jan. 6, participants of both movements have aggressively invaded buildings, with the object of terrifying those inside and shutting down all activity. Until it was limited by the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in 1994 and other measures like it, clinic harassment was the method of the most vocal anti-abortion groups.

Both QAnon, the conspiracy subculture that a number of the Trump rioters were a part of, and anti-abortion radicals share another similarity in their worldview, reproductive rights historian Karissa Haugeberg of Tulane University told me: Manichean simplicity. Good women have children, bad women dont. Good people want to protect children from pedophiles, so they support Trump, and bad people do not, said Haugeberg. It is a kind of thinking, she said, that can justify committing heinous acts.

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These groups also rely on their own sets of so-called alternative facts. Anti-abortion activists Ive interviewed, for instance, like to claim that there is a correlation between having an abortion and a woman getting breast cancer (there is not). Similarly, the Trump rioters had their own set of untrue beliefs, including the overarching insistence that more votes had been cast for the former president than for Joe Biden.

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And both employ a dodge-and-weave approach to promoting violence. Operation Rescue and other anti-abortion activist groups often ranted about doctors who performed abortions, singling them out by name, only to profess dismay when those same doctors were targeted by threats or assassination. The organizers of Trumps Jan. 6 rally and the speakers there similarly told the crowd that the election was being stolen from them, that they were the equivalent of Revolutionary War patriots, and that the moment of crisis had arrivedand then, feigning surprise, denounced the attack on the Capitol after the mob took them at their word.

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The entwining of these groups has been on full display over the past year. The January action wasnt Brockhoefts first Trump-era rally; he also showed up at the Ohio Statehouse, protesting COVID protection measures in April. He posted to his Facebook page that week: I was happy to stand with fellow Ohioans yesterday in a rowdy protest against the house arrest that the government has been using covid-19 as an excuse to subject us to. Abby Johnson posted to Facebook proudly on Jan. 6, Got a little bit of pepper spray in my lungs. Activists had arrived from the group Operation Save America as well as March for Life and Apologia Studios, the production arm for the anti-abortion right-wing media.

While this mishmash of pro-lifers who rioted for Trump might feel new, in truth anti-abortion extremists and white right-wing activists have shared common cause for decades. They are united by a sense of grievance and the readiness to pursue escalating violence. Reproductive justice supporters have long known what happens if these kinds of threats arent taken seriously. The Capitol attack confirmed it.

[February 04, 2021] InnoCare Brings On Hillhouse as Strategic Investor, Vivo Capital Increases Holdings

InnoCare Pharma (HKEX: 09969), a leading biopharmaceutical company, announced today two subscription agreements with Gaoling and YHG, a company of Hillhouse Capital Group, and Vivo Opportunity Fund, L.P, a company of Vivo Capital VIII, LLC. The two investors subscribed 191,613,000 and 18,895,000 new shares respectively, for a total of 210,508,000 new Shares, representing about 16.33% of the existing total issued Shares of the Company as at the date of this announcement and approximately 14.04% of the total issued Shares of the Company as enlarged by the allotment and issue of the Subscription Shares. The subscription price of HK$14.45 per share represents an 8.32% premium to the average closing price of the five trading days immediately preceding the date of the Subscription Agreements (not including 2 February 2021). Hillhouse Capital adheres to the philosophy of value investing, and Vivo Capital focuses on investing in high-quality companies in the fields of life science and healthcare. The two investors are fully in line with InnoCare's core value of "Science Drives Innovation". InnoCare has built an integrated new drug development platform and continues to build a more competitive product pipeline. In addition to the self-developed Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor orelabrutinib, which was approved for marketing at the end of last year, InnoCare has developed over a balanced pipeline of 10 drug candidates for the treatment of malignant tumors and autoimmune diseases. For example, the company's pan-FGFR inhibitor ICP-192, which is currently in being studied two phase II clinical trials for the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma and urothelial carcinoma in China, has shown promising early efficacy data in patients with FGFR gene alterations. At the same time, InnoCare is also conducting phase I clinical trials of ICP-192 in the United States. Second-generation pan-TRK inhibitor ICP-723 is in phase I clinical trials in China for the treatment of advanced or metastatic solid tumors carrying NTRK fusion genes, which include indications such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, thyroid cancer, etc., as well as patients who are rsistant to the first generation of TRK inhibitors. In addition, InnoCare has been conducting multi-center and multi-indication clinical trials of orelabrutinib in China and the United States, including a global phase II clinical trial for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.



Based on the long-term investments, Hillhouse Capital has attached great importance to the biotech sector and values company's long-term growth capabilities. The strategic investment from Hillhouse demonstrated the recognition of InnoCare's strong innovation capabilities. As one of InnoCare's early and cornerstone investors, Vivo Capital has shared many experiences and resources with InnoCare, helping the company become a leader in the innovative drug field.

Dr. Jasmine Cui, the co-founder, Chairwoman and CEO of InnoCare said, "I am very pleased that Hillhouse Capital has joined as a strategic investor. At the same time, Vivo Capital has increased its holdings. The biotech industry needs continuous innovation and capital support. We believe that, through our joint efforts, InnoCare will develop more high-quality innovative drugs to benefit patients in China and around the world." About Hillhouse Capital Founded in 2005, Hillhouse Capital has focused from the outset on long-term, structured investing, seeking to discover and create value. Hillhouse has become a leading venture capital and private equity investment organization in Asia in terms of both scale and performance. Its assets under management come mainly from visionary domestic and international institutional investors. As an investor in value with global vision, Hillhouse aims at sustainable and long-term growth. Hillhouse looks for the best entrepreneurs and managers to help companies improve their strategic performance on an ongoing basis through technology innovation, independent research, industry expertise, and world-class operations and management capabilities. It is also keen to tap the potential of entrepreneurs and work together with them to create value. Hillhouse's investment portfolio covers areas such as biopharmaceutical & life sciences, original technologies & enterprise services, consumer & retail, and advanced manufacturing. About Vivo Capital Founded in 1996, Vivo Capital is a healthcare investment firm focused on investing in and building high quality companies. Vivo employs a unique multi-pronged strategy of identifying and working with companies with promising development and commercial stage products. Vivo Capital is headquartered in Palo Alto (News - Alert) , California, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei. About InnoCare InnoCare is a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing, and commercializing first-in-class and/or best-in-class drugs for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. We strategically focus on lymphoma, solid tumors, and autoimmune diseases with high unmet medical needs in China and worldwide. InnoCare has branches in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, New Jersey, and Boston. This release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". The forward-looking statements made in this article only relate to events or information as of the date the statement is made. Except as required by law, we have no obligation to update or publicly revise any forward-looking statements and unexpected events after the date of forward-looking statements, regardless of whether new information, future events or other circumstances appear. Please read this article carefully and understand that our actual future results or performance may differ materially from expectations. All statements in this article are made on the publication date of this article and may change due to future developments. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210203006051/en/

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The names of the plaintiffs have not been disclosed so far.

Two unnamed individuals have filed lawsuits with the Supreme Court of Ukraine contesting the Presidential Decree enacting a package of sanctions imposed on a number of TV channels.

That's according to the press service of Ukraine's Judiciary.

Read alsoMedia freedom gives no right to spread "malicious propaganda"  U.S. envoy to OSCE"Today, the Administrative Court of Cassation, which is part of the Supreme Court, received two claims from citizens challenging the decree of the President of Ukraine, dated February 2, 2021, No. 43/2021 'On the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of February 2, 2021, 'On the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions).' As per Appendix 2, personal sanctions were applied to a number of TV channels in line with the NSDC decision. The claims submitted to the court, have been assigned case file No. 9901/22/21 and No. 9901/23/21," the statement says.

Zelensky's ban on pro-Russian media outlets

President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 2 enacted a package of sanctions put forward by the National Security and Defense Council, effectively blocking a number of media assets, including 112 Ukraine, ZIK, and NewsOne TV channels that had been multiple times accused of preaching pro-Russian rhetoric, formally owned by Taras Kozak  an MP and ally of Vladimir Putin's crony Viktor Medvedchuk.

Commenting on own move, President Zelensky said he strongly supports freedom of speech, but not "propaganda financed by the aggressor country."

SBU security service chief Ivan Bakanov said, "There is a big difference between freedom of speech and outright anti-Ukrainian rhetoric. Freedom of speech ends where signs appear of encroachment on territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine."

U.S. diplomats in Ukraine have supported the move and called for joint efforts "to prevent disinformation from being deployed as a weapon in an information war against sovereign states."

Meanwhile, the European Union's External Service said it was "assessing the implications" of the ban on TV channels.

Reporting by UNIAN
RTHK: US Republicans won't punish controversial lawmaker

Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday opted not to punish newcomer Marjorie Taylor Greene for incendiary comments including support for violence against Democrats, and turned back an attempt to oust a leader who had voted to impeach President Donald Trump.

The twin actions, taken in a closed-door meeting, amounted to an uneasy truce for a party that has faced internal strife following Trump's tumultuous presidency.

By a vote of 145-61, Republicans voted not to strip Representative Liz Cheney from her position as the No. 3 House Republican. Cheney, like nine other House Republicans, had voted to impeach Trump on charges of insurrection after the deadly January 6 attack on the US Capitol. The other 197 had voted against impeachment.

Republicans also decided not to take action against Greene, who has propagated a series of unfounded conspiracy theories and has been a vocal supporter of Trump's false assertion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

McCarthy said Greene had renounced her contentious past comments, including her support for the QAnon conspiracy theory. Greene has also supported calls for violence against Democratic lawmakers, according to CNN.

Greene still faces an effort by Democrats who control the House to strip her of two high-profile committee assignments, with a vote likely on Thursday.

"Anybody who advocates assassinations of members of Congress or anybody, I don't believe should enjoy the privilege of serving on a committee," Democratic Representative Jim McGovern said after the House Rules Committee voted to advance the motion. He said she should resign or be expelled from Congress.

Representative Tom Cole, the senior Republican on the rules panel, called Greene's remarks "extraordinarily disturbing." But he and other committee Republicans said Democrats should not be deciding the committee assignments of their party.

Greene, 46, who represents a Georgia district, took office just last month, while Cheney, 54, the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, served in Republican administrations before first winning election to Congress in 2016. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2021-02-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
DETROIT - You could own a sweet piece of Michigan history and become the next Willy Wonka, of sorts. Alinosi Ice Cream and Candy has put, what it calls, its thriving business on the market, which includes its abandoned 1950s ice cream shop.

Alinosi is currently a two-person operation with the owner and a chocolatier, operating five days a week. The business makes ice cream and French-style chocolates which are distributed wholesale to various Metro Detroit grocery stores and restaurants.

The $595,000 price tag comes with the old soda fountain, abandoned in 1991, located at 12748 East McNichols Avenue in Detroit. Stepping inside looks like something youd see on Happy Days.

The manufacturing end of the business, the kitchen, is on the other side of the building, Heather Dell of Good Company Realty told MLive. The soda shop has just been dark since 1991. Its almost like a museum.

The Alinosi Ice Cream and Chocolate business, along with the abandoned soda fountain at 12748 East Mcnichols Avenue in Detroit are for sale. (Photo courtesy of Good Company Realty)

Dell says the business side of things is thriving, but the owner wants to retire. She says he would be happy to stay on for a short time and help show the new owner how to run the business.

Its truly a piece of Detroit that needs and wants to live on. The owners are just ready to retire and hoping to find somebody that wants to possibly reopen the soda shop, as well as continue manufacturing the ice cream, spumoni and chocolates. Theres even a refrigerator truck as part of the package.

Dell says all the clients and connections are already in place for the next owner to essentially turn the key and get started.

Alinosi has more demand than they even know what to do with. Its a simple third generation family business and hes just ready to retire. The amount of momentum thats already there and all of the business connections should make the transition for the next owner pretty easy.

The Alinosi Ice Cream and Chocolate business, along with the abandoned soda fountain at 12748 East Mcnichols Avenue in Detroit are for sale. (Photo courtesy of Good Company Realty)

Alinosis primary products are ice cream and spumoni, but they also make French-style chocolates. The master chocolatier is willing to stay on for the new owner.

They make gorgeous French-style chocolates. They also make their own fillings, source their own nuts, have their own copper kettles and stone cooling slabs. Its a really neat operation.

The soda fountain has essentially been preserved. Dell says it looks and feels like 1950 in there and comes with just about everything the new owner would need to reopen it.

The original neon sign which was on the outside of the building is still intact. The counters, the actual soda fountains, the coolers, the stools... everything is there. Theyve even got the giant molds ready to make those three-foot tall chocolate rabbits many Detroiters remember when they were kids.

Alinosi has been around for 100 years. The family had numerous soda shops in the area. Along with numerous local grocery stores and restaurants, you can indulge in Alinosi ice cream and chocolates at the Alinosi Chocolate Bar Cafe in Grosse Pointe Woods. This business is not part of the sale as it is independently owned and operated.

Here is a link to the listing. You can contact Heather Dell from Good Company Realty at 248-464-1116 or via email.

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[February 04, 2021] Quad Donates $25,000 to the Brandcenter at VCU to Support Vision for a More Diverse Creative Industry

In support of the important work underway to advocate for the advancement of diverse talent in the creative industry, Quad is contributing $25,000 to a scholarship program at the Brandcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), a two-year full-time master's program dedicated to developing the next generation of creative talent. The Brandcenter at VCU is among the preeminent advertising and design programs in the country, and Quad's donation will directly support the Brandcenter & Rising Endowed Scholarship, which provides need-based assistance to diverse students looking to make an impact in the fields of advertising, marketing, branding and communications. "Quad is proud to partner with the Brandcenter to help diversify the talent pipeline for creative problem-solvers," said Joel Quadracci, Chairman, President & CEO of Quad, who noted that people of color are historically underrepresented in the creative industry. "Our contribution to the Brandcenter is meant to open doors that were otherwise closed, and bring new, diverse and very needed perspectives to our profession." According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), data collected from 165 agencies representing more than 40,000 employees show that Black and African American employees make up just 5.8% of the industry; Hispanic or Latinx, 8.7%; and Asian/Asian American, 4.2%. O those identifying as Black or African American, 68% are in administrative or entry-level roles; 43.5% are non-management professionals; 27.6% are managers or directors; and just 4% are vice presidents or higher, excluding C-suite roles.



Added Vann Graves, Executive Director of the Brandcenter: "We are committed to making the esteemed Brandcenter education available and accessible to a diverse student body, and Quad's generous contribution will help us advance our efforts. We are proud of the opportunities we have in place at the Brandcenter to prepare and support talented, diverse students who then go on to become leaders within their agencies, companies and beyond." Quad's support of the Brandcenter is part of the company's commitment to drive positive, sustainable change in diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programs. This commitment is in line with its long-standing Values and mission to create a better way, every day, for its employees, clients and communities.

About Quad Quad (NYSE: QUAD) is a worldwide marketing solutions partner dedicated to creating a better way for its clients through a data-driven, integrated marketing platform that helps reduce complexity, increase efficiency and enhance marketing spend effectiveness. Quad provides its clients with unmatched scale for client on-site services and expanded subject expertise in marketing strategy, creative solutions, media deployment (which includes a strong foundation in print) and marketing management services. With a client-centric approach that drives its expanded offering, combined with leading-edge technology and single-source simplicity, Quad has the resources and knowledge to help a wide variety of clients in multiple vertical industries, including retail, financial/insurance, health care, consumer packaged goods, publishing and direct-to-consumer. Quad has multiple locations throughout North America, South America and Europe, and strategic partnerships in Asia and other parts of the world. For additional information visit www.Quad.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210204005741/en/

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The Covid-19 death toll now stands at 440, with the deaths of 15 more people yesterday.

The Ministry of Health reported the deaths in its daily update yesterday evening.

One of the new deaths occurred in Tobago. The Tobago Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development disclosed that the patient was a 38-year-old male with co-morbidities.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 14:27:58|Editor: huaxia

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BRUSSELS, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- European leaders have shown an openness to the use of COVID-19 vaccines developed by any supplier once they pass the European Union's (EU) tests.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that coronavirus vaccines from Russia and China could be approved for use in the EU if they "show all the data," AFP quoted the bloc's lawmakers as saying.

If Chinese producers "show all the data... then they could get... a conditional market authorization like the other ones," von der Leyen told EU lawmakers at a meeting.

A commission spokesman said Tuesday that one of the criteria for the EU contracts for vaccines was that producers had the capacity to produce them inside the bloc.

Europe is now facing a vaccine shortage as pharmacies are supplying vaccines slower than anticipated.

The EU has so far signed agreements with six vaccine suppliers but the vaccines approved by the bloc are from U.S.-Germany joint venture Pfizer and BioNTech, British-Swedish multinational AstraZeneca, and Moderna from the United States.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that every COVID-19 vaccine is welcome in the EU as the bloc is facing vaccine delivery difficulties.

"Serbia is vaccinating faster. Serbia is vaccinating with the Chinese vaccine. We have always said that every vaccine trying to obtain approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is very welcome," Merkel said in a televised interview with the German public broadcast ARD program "Farbe bekennen."

The German chancellor affirmed that by the end of summer everyone in Germany could be able to get at least the first of the two necessary vaccinations. So far nothing has gone wrong with the national vaccination campaign.

Merkel's remarks were echoed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said that all vaccines that are approved by European and national health authorities will be welcome in France.

Decision-making on vaccine should be scientific, rather than political, Macron told TF1 television on Tuesday.

Spanish Health Minister Carolina Darias said Wednesday that Spain will be "open" to the use of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine once authorized by the EMA.

For now, Hungary is the only EU member state that has authorized the use of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine and the Russian vaccine.

One of EU's Balkan partners, Serbia, has approved a wide portfolio that includes vaccines produced in Russia and China. The country received a million doses of China's Sinopharm vaccines in mid-January. Enditem
Franklin County Sheriff's DepartmentBy WILLIAM MANSELL, ABC News



(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Former Columbus, Ohio, police office Adam Coy has been charged with murder in the shooting death of Andre Hill, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Wednesday.



Coy has been arrested and charged with one count of murder, one count of felonious assault and two counts of dereliction duty.



"I believe the evidence supports the indictment," Yost said during a press conference Wednesday night.



Hill, 47, was shot to death by Coy on Dec. 22. Officers were responding to a 311 non-emergency call for a noise complaint.



Police body camera footage released in December showed officers handcuffing an apparently lifeless Hill after shooting him multiple times and then standing around for five minutes and 11 seconds without rendering first aid.



Hill had a cellphone in his left hand, but no weapons when he emerged from a friend's garage.



Coy was fired in January after an investigation determined that his use of deadly force was not reasonable.



His bail hearing will be held Thursday.



ABC News' Bill Hutchinson and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.



This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.



Copyright  2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(Newser)  After serving his country for six years, Air Force veteran Joel Marrable died in a Veterans Affairs facility covered in more than 100 fire ant bites. The 73-year-old's three adult children are now suing the government, alleging that the bites contributed to his death days later. According to the negligence lawsuit, Marrable, who had advanced lung cancer, was bedridden and unable to defend himself when ants invaded his room at the Eagles Nest Community Living Center in Atlanta on Sept. 2, 2019. He was bitten more than 100 timesbut his family wasn't notified. He was briefly relocated but was returned to the same room and was bitten "dozens and dozens" of times on Sept. 5, the lawsuit states, per the Military Times. He died two days later.

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The lawsuit says outside medical experts dispute a VA-ordered autopsy's finding that the bites didn't contribute to Marrable's death. Attorney Brewster S. Rawls tells the New York Times that there is "poison" in the bites and "the shock of the bites and the toxins, cumulatively, were just enough to push the poor man over the edge." Marrable served from 1962 until his honorable discharge in 1968. According to the lawsuit, he was "lucid and alert" before the ant attacks and had been "planning to live out his remaining months in peace, surrounded by loving friends and family." The lawsuit is seeking $20 million in compensatory and punitive damages from the government and pest control company Orkin. (Read more Department of Veterans Affairs stories.)
Global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. has reached a $573 million settlement with a 47-state coalition, including Connecticut, resolving their investigations that the firm allegedly contributed to the opioid crisis by trying to boost the pain-drug sales of pharmaceutical companies, including Stamford-based OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma.

Announced Thursday, the agreement was hailed by state attorneys general, including Connecticuts William Tong, as a breakthrough in the current round of litigation that will send direct payments to the states for efforts to tackle the opioid epidemic. Connecticut will receive $7.5 million, including an initial payment of $6.2 million during the next year.

3 1 of 3 Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Kathy Willens / Associated Press Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Its a big step forward in holding wrongdoers accountable for their role in the opioid-and-addiction crisis, Tong said in an interview. And its a big step forward to helping victims and their families in Connecticut with treatment, prevention and addiction science. It puts vital resources behind all that were trying to confront in the opioid crisis.

Despite the agreement, McKinsey is not admitting any wrongdoing or liability. The company said in its own announcement that it believes its past work was lawful and has denied allegations to the contrary.

We chose to resolve this matter in order to provide fast, meaningful support to communities across the United States, Kevin Sneader, global managing partner of McKinsey, said in a statement. We deeply regret that we did not adequately acknowledge the tragic consequences of the epidemic unfolding in our communities. With this agreement, we hope to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis in the U.S.

McKinsey issued a similar public apology in December about its work with Purdue.

Purdue declined to comment on the settlement.

Among other settlement terms, McKinsey agreed to continue investigating allegations that two of its partners tried to destroy documents in response to probes of Purdue, implement an ethics code to which all its partners must agree each year and stop advising companies on potentially dangerous Schedule II and Schedule III narcotics, according to Tongs office.

The agreement also calls for McKinsey to prepare for online public disclosure of tens of thousands of internal documents outlining its work for Purdue and other pharmaceutical firms. The firm has also agreed to adopt a document-retention plan.

Connecticut was part of a 10-state executive committee that negotiated the settlement.

We always could use more (funds), Tong said. But this is a negotiated share, and once you divide $573 million between 47 states, five territories and the District of Columbia, this is what you end up with.

Other members of the executive committee included the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts.

McKinseys cynical and calculated marketing tactics helped fuel the opioid crisis by helping Purdue Pharma target those doctors they knew would overprescribe opioids, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. They knew where the money was coming from and zeroed in on it. Under the terms of todays agreement, the company will finally end its illegal conduct, deliver more than half a billion dollars into communities across the nation and will never be able to help perpetrate this type of fraud and deception again.

Five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia are also included in the settlement. Nevada, West Virginia and Washington were the only states not listed in the announcement from Tongs office.

The agreement is separate from the approximately $8 billion settlement that Purdue reached last October with the U.S. Department of Justice. That deal also involved the company pleading guilty to criminal charges of defrauding the government and violating anti-kickback laws. At the same time, the Sackler family members who own Purdue reached their own $225 million settlement with the department.

Extensive allegations

New court filings connected to the settlement outline the states allegations that McKinsey helped to stoke the opioid crisis by selling marketing schemes and consulting services to opioid manufacturers, including Purdue, for more than a decade.

Another trove of related records was submitted last November as part of Purdues bankruptcy proceedings. Those filings built on allegations in Massachusetts lawsuit against Purdue that McKinsey urged Sackler members to decide whether to turbocharge the sales engine.

One McKinsey proposal, which was developed in 2017, suggested paying rebates to insurance companies for each patient who overdosed or developed opioid-use disorder, according to the November filings.

McKinsey also has faced strident criticism of its work with Purdue from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

Blumenthal was Connecticut attorney general when the state and 25 others reached in 2007 a nearly $20 million settlement with Purdue related to allegations that the company failed to properly disclose the risks of abusing OxyContin. The same year, Purdue and three former executives pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to OxyContin marketing as part of a $635 million settlement with the Justice Department.

In a series of tweets Thursday, Blumenthal praised the states worthy steps against McKinsey, but also called for further action.

Our successful legal action against Purdue Pharma in 2007 failed to stop them from addicting and killing people in part because McKinsey was advising how to do it more adroitly. McKinsey has horrifying culpability for Purdues criminality, Blumenthal said. Individuals at McKinsey are not  but should be  held accountable for their deadly advice. They may have aided and abetted Purdues admitted criminal lawbreaking. Federal prosecutors must investigate.

Bankruptcy case carries on

Meanwhile, Purdue is still trying to reach through its bankruptcy a comprehensive settlement of several thousand lawsuits filed by local and state governments alleging that the company fueled the opioid crisis by fraudulently marketing OxyContin.

The company and the Sacklers have denied the allegations, but they have proposed a settlement that they value at more than $10 billion for efforts to combat the opioid epidemic.

A settlement does not appear imminent because 24 non-consenting states, including Connecticut, have rejected Purdue and the Sacklers offer because they see it as insufficient.

I dont believe that the Sacklers have reckoned with their responsibility, Tong said. As far as I can tell, they have not offered any potential settlement or resolution that meets their obligation to pay for the damage that theyve caused.

A message left for a Sackler spokesperson seeking their response to Tong was not immediately returned.

Legal experts see the McKinsey settlement as potentially strengthening the negotiating position of the non-consenting states.

It gives a kind of benchmark that the attorneys general are going to use. It shows the breadth and depth of the liability, said Robert Bird, a professor of business law at the University of Connecticut. Its yet another warning shot across the bow that Purdue Pharma is exposed to a substantial monetary liability.

Tongs office said it is also pursuing and investigating claims against some of the countrys largest pharmaceutical distributors, which it has accused of flooding the market with pain drugs far above levels needed for legitimate prescriptions.

In the past few years, opioids have been involved in more than 90 percent of fatal drug overdoses in Connecticut. In 2019, 1,127 people in the state died from opioid-involved overdoses, up 19 percent from 2018, according to the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In the first six months of 2020, 635 died from opioid-involved overdoses.

The scale of the addiction crisis is massive, Tong said. Purdue is one piece of it, the Sacklers are one piece of it and McKinsey is one piece of it. But there is so much more than that.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott
KABUL- Deputy Foreign Minister Mirwais Nab received Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Kabul Jassim bin Mohammad Al-Khalidi to discuss bilateral affairs and progress in the Afghan peace process.

Deputy Foreign Minister stated that the Taliban have increased violence and have maintained their strong ties with Al Qaeda and other international terrorist groups. Mr. Nab highlighted the role of Islamic Scholars of Saudi Arabia in condemning war and violence in Afghanistan.

While affirming that the Taliban had yet to cut ties with Al Qaeda, Ambassador Al-Khalidi assured the Deputy Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabias continued supports for peace and stability in Afghanistan and highlighted the role of religious scholars in this regard.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Senior House Foreign Affairs Committee member Brad Sherman (D-CA) demanded answers from U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Lee Litzenberger following reports that the U.S. envoy congratulated the Aliyev regime for restoring its territorial integrity and pledging U.S. funds to rebuild on occupied Artsakh lands, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Azerbaijani and Turkish forces initiated an unprovoked attack against Armenia on September 27, 2020, leading to six weeks of devastating fighting that killed an estimated 5,000 people and forced more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee from Karabakh.

According to a press statement issued by Azerbaijans Ministry of Economy on January 27th, in a meeting with Azerbaijans Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov, you congratulated Azerbaijan for restoring its territorial integrity and expressed the United States readiness to take part in rebuilding lands that recently came under Bakus control as a result of the war.

The United States is an active member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group process. U.S. engagement in the OSCE process is necessary to find a permanent settlement to the Artsakh conflict that protects the security of Artsakh and helps to ensure another war does not break out. I appreciate the statement Secretary Blinken gave during his confirmation hearing to this end.

Ambassador Litzenberger, your remarks to Azerbaijans Economy Minister are extremely concerning, and are all together out of step with Secretary Blinkens statements to date. Thus, I would appreciate responses to the following questions:

 Is it the policy of the United States to commend Baku on its successes as a result of the

recent war, which was initiated by Azeri aggression?

 Is it the policy of the United States to encourage investments in Azerbaijan meant to marginalize Artsakh? Brad Sherman said in his letter.

Australia's Star Scientific has signed a deal with the Department of Energy in the Philippines to use its hydrogen tech. The partnership could see Star Scientific transform every coal-fired power plant in the nation to green hydrogen, while also using the tech to provide desalinated water.From pv magazine Australia In December, S&P Global Platts awarded its "Emerging Technology of the Year Award" to Australia's Star Scientific for its Hydrogen Energy Release Optimizer (HERO). Star Scientific's technology can transition coal-fired electricity plants to green energy, desalinate water in a clean ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
EBRD, DEG and GEF lend Yellow Door Energy a total of US$ 31.2 million senior secured loans for the development, construction and operation of eight solar plants in Jordan

The portfolio with a total capacity of 48.3MW will sell electricity solely to private off-takers

It will be supported by donor funding from Spain and the EU.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and DEG are providing Yellow Door Energy, a leading sustainable energy provider for businesses, with a US$ 10.6 million loan in local currency for the development, construction and operation of a portfolio of eight solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in Jordan.

The EBRD local currency financing is complemented by a loan mobilised by the Bank of up to US$ 5 million provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a parallel US$ 15.6 million senior loan in local currency from the DEG, the German development finance institution, and an equity contribution from Yellow Door Energy. Spain is also providing results-based payments of up to 1.5 million, as well as technical assistance together with the European Union.

The portfolio of plants will supply the entirety of the electricity generated to five private consumers: Umniah (telecommunications industry), Carrefour supermarkets, Safeway supermarkets and Taj Mall (retail industry) as well as Classic Fashion (garments manufacturing). In total, 48.3 MWp of renewable energy capacity will be added to Jordans power system, generating over 81 GWh of renewable electricity per year during the lifetime of the project. The plants are also expected to reduce CO 2 emissions by more than 49,000 tonnes per year.

The project, designed under an innovative structure aggregating the risks inherent to the construction and operating of commercial solar projects, is the largest portfolio of private-to-private renewable projects involving supply directly to the private sector under Jordan's Wheeling Regulations. These regulations allow customers to establish and lease or own renewable energy plants and, if necessary, connect them to the transmission or distribution system at remote locations in order to generate power for their own consumption.

Lastly, the project has been registered with Verras Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), a leading global voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) programme and will benefit from support provided by Spain in the form of technical assistance to facilitate the establishment of a digitalized Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (D-MRV) system, and results-based payments to monetise its GHG emission reductions. Such emission savings will be monitored and reported through the advanced D-MRV system being developed by the EBRD that will enable efficient verification of climate impacts in an automated, transparent and robust way. It will showcase how digitalisation and automation could facilitate scaling-up of project innovations under existing and emerging carbon market mechanisms and results-based climate finance instruments.

This is the EBRDs second project in Jordan under the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Private Renewable Energy Framework (SPREF), supported by the Global Environment Facility and the Clean Technology Fund. The Framework is also under the umbrella of the Regional Dialogue Platform on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, created by the Union for the Mediterranean.

Yellow Door Energy was founded in 2015 in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, with the aim of providing sustainable energy solutions for businesses. Today, the company has over 110 MW of solar projects in the Middle East and South Asia. Yellow Door Energys shareholders include the International Finance Corporation, Mitsui, Equinor and APICORP.

Historically, Jordan has been overwhelmingly reliant on hydrocarbon imports to meet its energy needs. Over the last decade, Jordan has successfully developed its renewable energy sector, particularly solar, in order to remove the dependence on imported hydrocarbons and reduce their environmental impact. As of today, the country has exceeded its original renewable energy target of 10 per cent of generated energy, with the figure now standing at 20 per cent. Jordan is working towards a new goal of 30 per cent by 2030.

In this transaction, HSBC acts as the offshore account bank and the offshore security agent. Arab Bank acts as the onshore account bank and the onshore security agent.

DEG is part of the KfW Group, which has been working in Jordan since 1961 and has invested 1.7 billion since 2007.

Since the start of its operations in Jordan in 2012, the EBRD has provided more than 1.4 billion in financing for 54 projects there.

ABOUT YELLOW DOOR ENERGY

Yellow Door Energy is the leading sustainable energy partner for businesses, serving commercial and industrial customers in the Middle East and South Asia. The companys solar and energy efficiency solutions enable businesses to reduce energy costs, improve power reliability and lower carbon emissions. Yellow Door Energys shareholders include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Mitsui, Equinor, and APICORP. www.yellowdoorenergy.com
Sunrise host Samantha Armytage and weatherman Sam Mac continued to discuss their supposed 'feud' live on the breakfast show on Thursday.

During a cross to Sam for the weather report, Samantha jokingly heaped praise on him after a concerned viewer asked her why she 'dislikes' him.

Carrying on with the cheeky joke, Samantha's co-host David 'Kochie' Koch told Sam that he 'doesn't like him either.'

'Does anyone on this show like me?' On Thursday, Sunrise's Samantha Armytage and Sam Mac addressed their 'feud' live on air

'Here is our darling, wonderful, handsome weatherman who we adore with all of our hearts in Brisbane,' Samantha gushed as she introduced Sam.

Sam joked that he could feel Samantha's 'authenticity.'

'I can feel the authenticity, this is amazing...,' he said.

'Here is our darling, wonderful, handsome weatherman': During a cross to Sam, 38, for the weather, Samantha jokingly heaped praise on him after a concerned viewer asked her why she 'dislikes' him

At one point, Samantha clarified their supposed 'feud' and said: 'I never said I hated you, I just said, sometimes I like you.'

Sam then asked if Kochie could do the segues into his live weather crosses from now on, before the veteran media personality hilariously quipped: 'Honestly, I don't like you either!'

It led Sam to ask: 'What about the cash cow? Does anyone on this show like me?'

Awkward! Carrying on with the cheeky joke, Samantha's co-host David 'Kochie' Koch told Sam that he 'doesn't like him either'

On Wednesday, Samantha revealed the truth about her 'hatred' for weatherman Sam.

The 44-year-old shared a post to Instagram stories addressing their friendship, after a concerned viewer asked Samantha why she 'dislikes' Sam.

'I have a question for you. When you cross to Sam Mac for weather, it comes across that you seem to dislike him with some comments. Not sure if you are aware?,' the viewer asked.

Samantha jokingly responded: 'A message from one our concerned viewers... Don't worry Danielle. I really like Sam Mac... sometimes.'

Speaking out: On Wednesday, Samantha revealed the truth about her 'hatred' for weatherman Sam. The 44-year-old shared a post to Instagram stories addressing their friendship, after a concerned viewer asked Samantha why she 'dislikes' Sam

She also shared a series of hilarious photos of the pair and wrote: 'Sam and I have a great relationship... He's always nearby when we're on an OB [outside broadcast].'

Sam then responded to Samantha's post by sharing a video to his Instagram story and expressing his thoughts on their friendship.

'I feel like I need to address this. One of our viewers at Sunrise wrote into the show this morning and asked the question to Sam Armytage, "Do you dislike Sam Mac?"' he said.

Proof of their friendship: She also shared a series of hilarious photos of the pair and wrote: 'Sam and I have a great relationship... He's always nearby when we're on an OB [outside broadcast]'

'One big happy family': Sam then responded to Samantha's post by sharing a video to his Instagram story and expressing his thoughts on their friendship

'Sam responded to Danielle and went on to post a photo montage highlighting how close our friendship is.'

He went on to say that the pair have had many memorable moments and 'in fact the whole Sunrise team has been one big happy family.'

'But Danielle, perhaps your question should have been to me asking if I dislike Sam Armytage because the answer is yes.'

'I know this is going to sound petty but I can't be friends with someone who has more Instagram followers than me and again maybe I've overreacted here but that's why I refused to go to her wedding,' he joked.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / Sativa Wellness Group Inc. (CSE:SWEL) ("Sativa Wellness" or the "Company") is pleased to announce changes in the board of directors of the Company (the "Board"), who will be responsible for setting the strategic direction of the Company for the coming year.

Further to the Company's news release dated January 29, 2021 regarding the Annual General and Special Meeting of the shareholders held on January 26, 2021 (the "Meeting"), each of Geremy Thomas and George Thomas have been appointed as directors, and Geremy Thomas has been appointed as Executive Chairman of the Board. Following the Meeting, Henry Lees-Buckley is no longer Chief Executive Officer of the Company effective February 3, 2021. In addition to his role as Executive Chairman, Geremy Thomas will act as the interim CEO until such time as the Board appoints a new CEO.

Each of Jonathan Wearing and Angus Kerr have resigned from the Board as of February 1, 2021, as Chairman of the Board of the Company, and as Non-Executive Director, respectively.

In addition, Joseph Colliver has resigned from the Board and as Chief Financial Officer effective February 2, 2021. Joseph Colliver has agreed to continue as Chief Financial Officer to support the strategic review of the Company and the appointment of his successor through his three month notice period.

The Company wishes to thank all former directors and officers for their contribution to the Company. The Company will continue to evaluate new candidates to fill the vacancies left on the Board.

Clive Thomas Standish has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director effective February 3, 2021 to add strength to the Board. His career experience includes NM Rothschild and being a Director of the UBS AG Executive Board, which gives the Company significant additional strategic and capital markets strength at the Board level.

F urther information on Clive Standish:

Clive Standish currently has an interest of 418,838 common shares in the Company, representing 0.14 % of the Company's issued share capital.

Current Directorships Previous Directorships Ardenside Aneus Pty Ltd The Multifamily Housing Reit Limited Exhall Pty Ltd Multifamily Asset 1 Limited Mentor Foundation UK Ganymed Pty Ltd

Except as set out below, there is no further information regarding Clive Thomas Standish, aged 67, that is required to be disclosed pursuant to Rule 4.9 of the AQSE Growth Market Apex Rulebook.

Clive Standish's professional career began with N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd in London. In 1979 he was appointed a partner with Dominguez & Barry in Australia and became a member of the Melbourne Stock Exchange in 1980. He was the founding Executive Director at Dominguez Barry Samuel Montagu Limited and subsequently Head of Capital Markets and Managing Director until 1991 and then CEO of SBC and Warburg Dillon Read Australia.

In 1998, Clive Standish was appointed Chairman and CEO for Asia Pacific UBS AG and member of the Managing Board and subsequently member of the Group Executive Board. In 2003 he moved to Zurich as Group Chief Financial Officer UBS AG until 2007 when he retired from the Board of UBS AG.

Geremy Thomas, Executive Chairman, said: "I am pleased to be back at the helm. I will be focusing the business on activities that generate cash and profit and will be making cost reductions in other areas."

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Geremy Thomas

Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors

Sativa Wellness Group Inc.

+44 (0) 20 7971 1255

enquiries@sativawellnessgroup.com

www.sativawellnessgroup.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Company's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or 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", or "believes" "plan is" or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur", "will be achieved" or "shortly"..

Although Sativa Wellness believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. In particular, there is no guarantee that any cost synergies will be realized, overhead costs will be reduced, a new CFO will be appointed, or that the new Director will be approved by the Exchange. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this press release, and Sativa does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Sativa Wellness Group Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/627770/Sativa-Wellness-Group-Inc-Provides-Board-of-Directors-Update
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government led by Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh is supporting the conversion of a sizable population of the state into Christianity.

BJP National secretary and co-incharge of Andhra Pradesh Sunil Deodhar said that the YSRCP government is strategically promoting conversion in the state to create a dedicated electorate on the basis of religion.

Deodhar told IANS that Reddy is planning to convert a sizable population into Christianity and thinking about winning the next few elections with their support. "Reddy thinks a large Christian population will ensure electoral victory and his continuity as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. To achieve this, he turned a blind eye to reports of mass conversions," he said.

Deodhar claimed that the morale of people involved in conversion is high with support of the state government. "Mass conversion is routine and it is done openly. We object to such a thing happening under the patronage of the state government," he alleged.

Deodhar further alleged that Reddy wants everyone to become Christian in Andhra Pradesh. "Large scale mass conversion is going on in Andhra Pradesh and the state government's failure to act against it has supported it. Hoardings and posters about mass conversion are visible in the state but no action has been taken against anyone. When someone objects, posters or hoardings are removed but the administration does not take action against such acts on its own," Deodhar further said.

According to Deodhar, a large number of people who belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community who have converted to Christianity still write "Hindu" as religion in their official documents to get government benefits of reservation.

"Taking SC benefits being Christian is illegal and anti-Christianity. Such an act is also against the teachings of Jesus Christ. It is also injustice to the SC community of Andhra Pradesh who still follow Hinduism," he said.

Deodhar pointed out that such people who follow Christianity and still take advantage of SC reservation must be identified. "Video recording people attending Churches and scrutiny of attendance register must be done to identify these people who are lying to take benefits SC reservations," he demanded.
Good news about vaccines

For once, we have some good news to talk about: the prospect of another vaccine coming online in the U.S., and a long-awaited indication that at least one vaccine reduces transmission, not just the severity of Covid-19.

Lets start with the remarkable turnaround of the experimental vaccine from Novavax, a Maryland-based company that has never before brought a vaccine to market.

Last fall, Novavax postponed U.S. clinical trials because of manufacturing delays, jeopardizing the companys $1.6 billion federal contract and leaving some to wonder whether they should write off the companys shot entirely. In December, Novavax watched from the sidelines as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were approved.

But things have changed. Novavax announced last week that its vaccine produced robust protection in a large British trial and that it worked  although far less well  in a smaller study in South Africa. The company has also been able to quickly recruit volunteers for its U.S. trials because the two authorized vaccines have been difficult to get, and many see the Novavax trial as their best chance to get vaccinated.
Denmark and Norway have become the latest European countries to recommend people aged over 65 should avoid the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.

Medical regulators in both countries said more evidence about the vaccine's effectiveness among older people is needed before it can be safely recommended to them.

Germany, France and Sweden have also discouraged people aged over 65 from taking the jab, while Switzerland has refused to approve it, saying 'new studies' are needed.

It comes after a mighty row between the EU and AstraZeneca over the supply of jabs, and despite the fact that Oxford scientists who developed the vaccine and UK PM Boris Johnson have dismissed concerns about its safety.

On Thursday, Denmark's health authority said there is a lack of evidence to support the AstraZeneca jab's efficacy for over-65s but will still recommend it to younger people who are not at risk of serious illness from the virus.

Meanwhile a Norwegian health official said: 'It's not because the vaccine doesn't work on those who are older, but because its documented effect is so limited for this age group.'

Denmark has been using Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and its first delivery of the AstraZeneca jabs is expected next week.

The vaccine has been approved by the European Medicines Agency but a number of countries believe there is not enough data to analyse its effectiveness among older age groups.

Denmark has become the latest country to recommend people aged over 65 should avoid the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine

Denmark has been using Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and its first delivery of the AstraZeneca jabs expected next week. Pictured: a nursing home resident receives the second dose of a Pfizer vaccine in Copenhagen

It comes amid a blazing row in Europe over the vaccine rollout, with German vice chancellor Otto Scholz slamming Ursula von der Leyen's 'really s**t' strategy, saying Berlin cannot 'let this s**t repeat itself'.

Scholz - whose party opposed von der Leyen's appointment as European Commission chief in 2019, pointing to a series of blunders when she was German defence minister - is said to have described the vaccine debacle as a 'disgrace'.

Angela Merkel is said to have defended von der Leyen at Monday's meeting but finds herself under fire for letting Brussels take charge of the vaccine drive, with the bloc struggling to get hold of doses and lagging behind Britain in handing them out.

Only 2.34 per cent of the EU's 447million population has received a vaccine dose so far, with Germany barely above average on 2.36 per cent - while the UK has managed a much more impressive 14.21 per cent.

Supply delays to the continent have been compounded by the fears among European leaders about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca jab, causing further rancour in the debate.

German vice-chancellor Olaf Scholz, pictured right with Merkel at the chancellery in Berlin on Wednesday, is said to have raged at von der Leyen in a cabinet meeting on Monday

Germany has given vaccine doses to only 2.36 per cent of its population so far, barely above the EU average of 2.34 per cent - and far behind Britain on 14.21 per cent

AstraZeneca has been open about initial tests in which only 10 per cent of the participants were 65 or older.

However, there are trials ongoing throughout the world to prove its efficacy further in the older age groups.

Oxford data published this week also suggests the jab is 76 per cent effective after just one dose, and may also prevent 67 per cent of infections.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Britain of compromising on safety by giving swift approval to the jab.

Continental objections to the jab come amid a furious row between the EU and AstraZeneca over lagging supply, which has seen newly-unshackled Brexit Britain storm ahead in its immunisation roll-out.

Last Friday, the European Medicines Agency, the Bloc's regulator, granted approval to the AstraZeneca vaccine for all age groups.

European leaders such as Emmanuel Macron have raised doubts about the AstraZeneca vaccine (pictured) which are not shared by British regulators

The British Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the jab in December, well before its European counterparts.

As a result of the fast approval and Britain's investment in its vaccine programme, the UK - which finally quit the EU on January 1 - has taken the lead in the roll-out stakes.

The UK committed 1.67billion to ordering doses, while the EU spent only 1.57billion for its 27 member states.

That works out to 25.00 per capita for Britain, compared to 3.51 for Europe.

Germany's medicines regulator, STIKO, did not reveal the specific data used to come to their conclusion about not recommending the jab for over-65s.

But last week as the jab war raged between London and Brussels, two prominent German media outlets claimed the efficacy for over-65s was below 10 per cent.

The reports were firmly rejected by AstraZeneca as well as by the German health ministry.

'A false claim does not become true just because it is repeated,' a German health ministry spokesman said of the reports.

He noted that it is a known fact that the AstraZeneca trials involved fewer older people than other manufacturers'.

But 'that the efficacy is only eight percent is incomprehensible and in our view, wrong,' he added.

STIKO said that apart from the 'limitation' in data on older people, the vaccine was 'considered appropriate' for 18 to 64-year-olds.

The UK committed 1.67billion on Covid vaccines before it was known whether they would be effective - more than the 1.57billion the EU put forward for its 448million people, with Britain spending 25.00 per capita compared to 3.51 for Brussels. The US government spent 7.9billion in total, according to the figures from science analytics firm Airfinity, an outlay of 24.02 for each of its 330million people

EU country's vaccination programmes have been lagging behind other nations as the bloc continues to struggle with its rollout following the fiasco

British regulators had said that 660 older people took part in the Oxford AstraZeneca trials, acknowledging that there were too few to derive an efficacy figure for that specific group.

The trials showed one out of 341 older vaccine recipients testing positive for Covid-19, compared to one out of 319 who received a dummy jab - making a senior-specific comparison almost pointless.

But the vaccine did generate antibodies in all the over-65s who received two doses of the jab, which AstraZeneca cited as evidence that they had 'strong immune responses to the vaccine'.

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said that older people had not been vaccinated until later in the trial because 'very ethical' Oxford scientists wanted to confirm there would be no negative side-effects.

'They're very ethical, and very academic. So they didn't want to vaccinate older people until they had accumulated a lot of safety data in the 18 to 55 group,' he said.

'They said it was not ethical to vaccinate old people until they had enough safety data in younger people.

'Other companies took this risk, went ahead and vaccinated older people faster or earlier. If you start earlier, you have more data. Essentially, because Oxford started vaccinating older people later, we don't have a huge number of older people who have been vaccinated.'

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, pictured in Brussels on Sunday, has come under pressure over the EU's slow jab rollout and her attempt to control vaccine exports

EU Vaccine approval: State of play Approved for the EU BioNTech/Pfizer (German/US, mRNA vaccine, 95-percent efficacy according the European Medicines Agency): 600 million doses. Its first-quarter deliveries to EU member states were cut by as much as half, but the company vows they will be back to normal by mid-February. Moderna: (US, mRNA vaccine, 94-percent efficacy): 160 million doses. AstraZeneca (Anglo-Swedish, adenovirus, 60-percent efficacy): 400 million doses. It was meant to have delivered more than 100 million doses in the first quarter, but on December 22 said that would be cut to 31 million. Von der Leyen announced on Sunday that would now be boosted to 40 million. Pending approval Johnson & Johnson (US, adenovirus, efficacy unknown): 400 million doses. The Commission says 100 million should be delivered by June if this single-shot vaccine is approved. CureVac (Germany/US, mRNA, efficacy unknown): 405 million doses. Sanofi/GSK (France/UK, recombinant spike protein, efficacy unknown): 300 million doses. After a disappointing Phase 2 trial, the companies are trying a different antigen formulation and are now aiming for production late this year. The Commission is also in exploratory talks with Novavax (US, recombinant spike protein, efficacy unknown) for up to 200 million doses and with Valneva (French, inactivated virus vaccine, efficacy unknown) for up to 60 million doses. Advertisement

But Mrs Von der Leyen reignited the row today as she accused Britain of compromising on the safety of its citizens.

Her comments came after she pinned the blame for the vaccine supply shambles -that saw Brussels threaten Britain with a vaccine export ban - on her deputy Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for Trade.

The under-fire European commission president said she was committed to her role, and that she should be judged at the end of her term in 2024.

She also refused to apologise for the coronavirus vaccines row last week that saw Brussels threaten to introduce a hard Irish border to block vaccine exports to the UK.

Speaking on Monday, Mrs von der Leyen defended the EU's slower vaccine approvals policy, while criticising Britain's for compromising on 'safety and efficacy'.

'Some countries started to vaccinate a little before Europe, it is true,' she said in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde when asked about Britain.

'But they resorted to emergency, 24-hour marketing authorisation procedures. The commission and the member states agreed not to compromise with the safety and efficacy requirements linked to the authorisation of a vaccine,' she said.

'Time had to be taken to analyse the data, which, even minimised, takes three to four weeks. So, yes, Europe left it later, but it was the right decision. I remind you that a vaccine is the injection of an active biological substance into a healthy body. We are talking about mass vaccination here, it is a gigantic responsibility.'

Through her spokesman, Mrs von der Leyen also threw her deputy leader under the bus over the EU vaccine shambles, that saw Brussels decide to trigger Article 16 before performing a later U-turn.

Brussels accused pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca of breaching its contract with the EU, amid suspicion that the company had supplied the UK with stock that was meant to go to countries in the bloc.

Britain used emergency procedures to grant market approval to the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed with Oxford University, and signed a contract three months earlier than the EU, which used a slower approval process.

Mrs von der Leyen said she did not take personal responsibility for the decision to trigger Article 16 of the Brexit treaty, which would have seen a hard 'vaccine border' in Ireland to stop vaccines from being smuggled through a back door, but she did admit the decision was an error.

Pictured: German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaking after a vaccine 'summit' that brought together key players. She renewed a promise to offer every German citizen a vaccine by the end of September

France's president Emmanuel Macron (pictured Thursday) has astonishingly claimed the AstraZeneca vaccine is 'almost ineffective' on people who are over 65 years of age

How did the UK end up as one of the world's leading countries on the vaccine roll-out? The UK is one of the world's leading countries when it comes to the speed of the roll-out of its coronavirus vaccination programme - a fact made all the more impressive given where the nation started when the pandemic hit early last year. At that point the country had just one vaccine manufacturing site - a facility in Liverpool which made flu jabs. But the Government quickly set up a vaccine task force in April to make sure the UK was well-positioned to benefit from medical breakthroughs. The experts appointed to the task force reportedly recommended seven projects for investment within its first two weeks, according to The Times. Advance purchase orders were hammered out by the task force with suppliers despite the fact there were no guarantees that any of the vaccines would work or that they would be signed off by regulators. That early work meant the UK was in pole position to receive the jabs, if and when they were shown to be effective and safe. The task force's strategy means two companies have been relied upon to do much of the heavy lifting during the UK's vaccine roll-out: Pfizer and AstraZeneca. The UK ordered 40 million doses from the former and 100 million doses from the latter. Agreements are also in place with a handful of other would-be suppliers should their products get the green light. The speed with which the UK moved on vaccines was perhaps best illustrated this week when Pascal Soriot, the chief executive of AstraZeneca, revealed the deal with Britain was agreed three months before the EU's. The UK's supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine is made at sites in Oxford and Staffordshire before it is put into vials at a facility in Wrexham, while the Pfizer jab is made in Belgium. Every new batch of vaccine in the UK has to be safety tested by the National Institute of Biological Standards and Control in Hertfordshire before it can be sent for delivery. This process takes about four days and once each batch has been rubber-stamped it is taken to secure Government warehouses where the NHS takes over the process and decides where the doses will be sent. The physical roll-out of the vaccine is headquartered from an NHS office in London, with doses sent to more than 1,400 vaccine sites across the country. It is easily the biggest vaccination drive in the history of the health service and many believe it will become an annual programme. Advertisement

Instead, the European commission president said that the responsibility lay with Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for Trade.

'This regulation falls under the responsibility of Mr Dombrovskis,' Eric Mamer, the European Commission's chief spokesman, said on Monday of the former prime minister of Latvia.

'In my country we have a saying, 'Only the Pope is infallible,'' Mr Mamer said.

'Mistakes can happen along the way the important thing is that you recognise them early on.'

Speaking herself during the newspaper interview, Mrs von der Leyen said: 'I know how sensitive the Irish subject is. But when you take urgent decisions - in this year of crisis, the Commission has taken almost 900 - there is always a risk of missing something. I am relieved that we were able to find a solution.'

The legislation was met with a fierce backlash, and was amended after Mr Johnson and the Irish prime minister Micheal Martin called Mrs von der Leyen.

After years of Brexit negotiations between Britain and the EU to avoid a hard border on the island, the move would have created a 'vaccine border'.

It was announced without notifying either Ireland or Britain.

Von der Leyen's initial comments attempting to avoid blame were met with scathing criticism from Alexander Stubb, the former prime minister of Finland, who campaigned to be appointed European Commission president himself.

'Number one rule of any leader: if your organisation screws up; never, ever blame your team publicly,' he said in response.

To add to her woes, von der Leyen's predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker said he was 'very much opposed' to her export restriction measures during a speech in Stuttgart on Sunday.

The Brussels-imposed export controls were introduced last week to supervise vaccines leaving the bloc for other countries, after AstraZeneca said it was cutting supplies to the EU in the first quarter of 2021.

'It all went too slow, it all should have been done more transparently, even though that would have been difficult,' Juncker said.

Mr Mamer said the regulation to create an 'export transparency mechanism', which included the Article 16 measure, was passed provisionally and hurriedly by the College of Commissioners on Friday.

'We believe that we are on the right track since the beginning of this pandemic in ensuring there is as cohesive and as effective a European response as possible,' he told The Daily Telegraph.

The EU and many of its 27 members have faced criticism over their sluggish rollout, with fewer than 10million people getting a dose so far across the entire bloc.

Von der Leyen's European Commission has invested 2.7 billion euros ($3.3 billion) to secure 2.3 billion doses from companies making potential vaccines, mostly using European factories.

Three vaccines are so far authorised for use across the EU's 27 member countries: one by German outfit BioNTech with US giant Pfizer; one by US company Moderna; and most recently one by Anglo-Swedish group AstraZeneca.

All three firms are undershooting on delivery schedules for the January-March first-quarter period.

While excessive bureaucracy in countries such as France and Germany has been one reason for the slow start, the EU has also struggled to get hold of enough supplies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday defended the European Union's troubled vaccine drive, saying there were 'good reasons' the rollout had got off to a slower start than in some other countries.

Speaking after a vaccine 'summit' that brought together key players, Merkel renewed a promise to offer every German citizen a vaccine by the end of September.

Merkel had convened the online talks in response to growing anger in the 27-member bloc over the sluggish rollout of Covid-19 jabs, which has been beset with delivery delays and piled political pressure on EU leaders.

'It is true that in some areas, the pace became slower, but there were good reasons for it to be slower,' Merkel told reporters in Berlin.

Merkel, the leader of Europe's largest economy, acknowledged that the United States, Israel and Britain were further along with their inoculations.

But she said the EU had deliberately avoided rushed emergency approvals, as seen in the UK, to bolster public 'confidence' in the jabs.

The EU had also at times negotiated 'for a very long time' to ensure pharma companies took on enough liability, she said.

And the bloc chose not to sacrifice data protection, Merkel added, in a nod to Israel's deal with Pfizer/BioNTech to offer data on its inoculation campaign in exchange for doses.

German media has been scathing about the EU's troubled vaccine drive, with the topselling Bild daily calling it a 'disaster'.

Mrs Von der Leyen did not join Merkel's meeting with top German politicians, but the EU commissioners for health and the internal market did.

A string of vaccine makers also took part, including Pfizer, BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and CureVac.

'The months ahead will be challenging. We must all continue working together in solidarity to find solutions,' said Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides.

Like other EU leaders, Merkel has come under fire for the decision to pursue an EU-wide rather than a national strategy on inoculations.

She has said a go-it-alone drive would have inflated prices, left pockets of the continent more vulnerable to the pandemic and poisoned political unity in the bloc.

The German debate has been supercharged by the start of a general election year to choose a successor to Merkel, who has led the country since 2005.

The Social Democrats (SPD), junior partners in Merkel's loveless 'grand coalition' government, at the weekend demanded she produce a 'roadmap' toward the September vaccinations goal.

Pfizer and BioNTech have slowed down production to make manufacturing changes, while AstraZeneca said it was cutting supplies to the EU in the first quarter of 2021.

That prompted outrage from Brussels, which imposed export controls last week to supervise vaccines leaving the bloc for other countries.

Pharmaceutical companies have since made public pledges to make up for the shortfalls with additional doses later on - though none has pledged to speed up the initial delivery, meaning the EU's Covid pain will drag on for some time.

BioNTech and Pfizer have promised to send up to 75million extra doses to the bloc in the spring thanks to progress at key manufacturing sites.

Meanwhile Mrs von der Leyen, who signed the vaccine contracts on behalf of the bloc, said Sunday that AstraZeneca would deliver 40million doses in total in the first quarter - 30 per cent more previously promised - but shipments will not start until the second week of February.

And chemicals giant Bayer announced that from 2022 it would produce a coronavirus vaccine that fellow German pharmaceuticals company CureVac is developing.

CureVac CEO Franz-Werner Haas said his company would also produce several hundred million doses of its own vaccine by the end of 2021.

CureVac's mRNA vaccine has yet to receive the green light from regulators, but German health minister Jens Spahn said it was 'on its way to approval in the coming weeks'.

French pharma group Sanofi agreed last week to help produce 125 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

A European source said on Monday that Germany was putting 'tremendous' pressure on the Commission to improve the vaccine rollout, adding that von der Leyen's position had been 'severely weakened'.

The Brussels-imposed export controls were introduced last week to supervise vaccines leaving the bloc for other countries, after AstraZeneca said it was cutting supplies to the EU in the first quarter of 2021. Pictured: health worker draws a dose of the AstraZeneca's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in Newcastle upon Tyne, Britain, January 30

While Brussels boasts of having a portfolio of 2.3billion doses, it has paid dearly for failing to sign its agreement with AstraZeneca until August last year.

Meanwhile, the EU's contract with Pfizer was not signed until November 2020, two days after the company had announced its successful trial results.

The Pfizer rollout did not begin until the very end of December, and even a month later the daily vaccination rates in countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain are well below those in Britain and the US.

Brussels did sign a deal with Moderna days before Britain, but again this was after the jab had already passed clinical trials.

And the EU was again shown to be lagging when the Novavax trial results were published last week showing 89.3 per cent efficacy.

While Britain has 60million doses ordered, the EU has only conducted 'exploratory talks' with the manufacturer, which were completed in December.

Even then, the 200million doses envisaged in an 'exploratory contract' are a smaller stockpile when adjusted for population size than Britain has ordered.

The EU also has other agreements in place with vaccines from Sanofi-GSK and CureVac, which have yet to conclude clinical trials.

Each EU member state is responsible for its own rollout. Most are giving priority to the elderly and frontline health workers.

Almost all the vaccines require two jabs for a full vaccination. (Johnson & Johnson is aiming for a single-shot regimen, subject to trials and EMA approval.)

Collectively, the European Union as of Saturday had provided 2.4 doses per 100 people, according to official sources collated by the website Our World in Data.

Top performers are Malta (6.08 doses per 100 people), Denmark (4.47), Slovenia (3.65) and Romania (3.50).

The bigger countries are trailing: Germany has given 2.8 doses per 100 people, France 2.34, Italy 3.16 and Spain 3.1.

The countries leading the world in giving jabs are Israel (54.7 per 100 people, with most of those over 70 already having been vaccinated with their two injections), the United Arab Emirates (33.7) and Britain (13.9).

Britain, which left the EU last year, is focused on giving the maximum number of people one injection and stretching out the time before they become completely vaccinated through their second injection.

France and other EU countries, in contrast, say they are maintaining stocks to give the second jab as recommended, even if that means a slowdown in their first jab programme.

Some EU countries, particularly in the poorer east of the bloc, are sensitive to the cost of vaccinating their populations. The logistical challenge of the mRNA-type vaccines that require sub-Arctic temperatures is also a factor.

While the price of each vaccine has been kept secret in the European Commission's contracts, a Belgian minister's tweet in December - deleted afterwards - gave a breakdown.

The Moderna vaccine was listed as most expensive, with Brussels paying 14.70 euros a dose. The BioNTech/Pfizer one 12 euros. The AstraZeneca vaccine came in at 1.78 euros a dose.
Chinese state-owned broadcaster CGTN has been thrown off UK airwaves in a 'long overdue' move after an investigation found the license holder had links to China's Communist Party.

British broadcasting watchdog Ofcom launched a probe into the China Global Television Network last July.

It followed concern over biased coverage of Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and 'show trial' news reports of a corruption case against Briton Peter Humphrey in China.

Ofcom has now revoked its licence, under laws which state that any licensee must have editorial control of the programmes shown and must not be controlled by political bodies.

Former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith today told MailOnline that the Ofcom decision is 'a huge move and long overdue.'

He added: 'The problem is too many people in the UK who were in positions of power have gone along with it for too long.'

But moments after Ofcom published its decision, China announced it had lodged 'stern representations' to the BBC over what it said was 'fake news' coverage of Covid-19.

Ofcom found last year that CGTN had breached the broadcasting code by failing to preserve due impartiality in its coverage of the pro-democracy Hong Kong protests. Pictured:

Chinese state-owned broadcaster CGTN has been thrown off UK airwaves in a 'long overdue' move after an investigation found the license holder had links to China's Communist Party. Pictured: Chinese officials launching the station in 2016

Ofcom's investigation concluded that Star China Media Limited (SCML), the licence-holder for the service, did not have editorial responsibility for the news channel's output.

An application to transfer the licence to an entity called China Global Television Network Corporation (CGTNC) was also denied.

CGTN: The Chinese state-owned broadcaster's controversial reports The China Global Television Network has often been criticised for allegedly sharing misinformation and making false allegations against opponents of the Chinese government. CGTN's most high-profile controversies include: Peter Humphrey Ofcom launched an investigation into CGTN - previously CCTV - following broadcasts which showed former British journalist Peter Humphrey appearing to confess to a criminal offence, and reported his conviction and an apology. Mr Humphrey, 64, was jailed for more than two years by a court in Shanghai in 2014, in connection with a corruption case involving pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. The two reports from CCTV identified Mr Humphrey but his face was blurred. The 2013 footage was broadcast across Chinese media as well as  astonishingly  in Britain. China's star TV presenter James Chau, a Cambridge-educated journalist who counts the Duchess of Sussex among his friends, solemnly introduced the shocking footage to viewers. But according to Mr Humphrey, the entire broadcast was a lie. Hong Kong protests The network has previously been investigated by Ofcom for its coverage of the Hong Kong protests, which took place in 2019 until late 2020. The media watchdog said the channel often focused on violence by protesters against police officers while ignoring attacks by the authorities on members of the public. It said the output echoed the views of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong government without providing sufficient balance from those with alternative views, the Guardian reported. However, CGTN claimed it was 'particularly challenging' to air pro-democracy views on the Hong Kong protests because those demonstrating were reluctant to talk on camera. Simon Cheng In November 2019, CGTN aired a video of a UK consular employee in captivity appearing to 'confess' to consorting with prostitutes. A week later, he filed a complaint with Ofcom. Nick Pollard In September 2019, the British TV executive resigned from his post as consultant and advisor to CGTN. He explained he was leaving due to CGTN's failure to comply with Ofcom's rules on impartiality regarding coverage of the Hong Kong protests. Advertisement

This was because 'crucial information was missing from the application, and because we consider that CGTNC would be disqualified from holding a licence, as it is controlled by a body which is ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party,' Ofcom said.

It said it had given the satellite news channel 'significant time to come into compliance with the statutory rules. Those efforts have now been exhausted.'

And 'following careful consideration, taking account of all the facts and the broadcaster's and audience's rights to freedom of expression, we have decided it is appropriate to revoke the licence for CGTN to broadcast in the UK,' it said in a statement.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs later released a statement accusing the BBC of 'fake news' in its coronavirus reporting.

It said coverage broadcast on January 29 about coronavirus had 'linked the pandemic to politics' and 'rehashed theories about covering up China.'

It alleged the BBC used a clip to say the Chinese virus prevention department had used violence to enforce the law, when it was actually a clip about an anti-terrorism exercise.

The BBC said in response: 'We stand by our accurate and fair reporting of events in China and totally reject these unfounded accusations of fake news or ideological bias.

'The BBC is the world's most trusted international news broadcaster, reporting to a global audience of more than 400 million people weekly without fear or favour and in accordance with our editorial standards.'

Julian Knight MP, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, welcomed Ofcom's decision.

'Today's ruling is confirmation that the Chinese Communist Party is the ultimate controller of its broadcasts which is not permitted under UK law,' he said.

'CGTN had already breached broadcasting codes with a forced confession, and failure on impartiality over coverage of the Hong Kong protests.

'It should be seen as a strong warning that the power to broadcast carries with it responsibility and accountability. Failing this bar will not be tolerated.'

Ofcom launched an investigation into CGTN - previously CCTV - following broadcasts which showed British journalist Peter Humphrey appearing to confess to a criminal offence, and reported his conviction and an apology.

Mr Humphrey, 64, was jailed for more than two years by a court in Shanghai in 2014, in connection with a corruption case involving pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.

The two reports from CCTV identified Mr Humphrey but his face was blurred. The 2013 footage was broadcast across Chinese media as well as  astonishingly  in Britain.

China's star TV presenter James Chau, a Cambridge-educated journalist who counts the Duchess of Sussex among his friends, solemnly introduced the shocking footage to viewers.

But according to Mr Humphrey, the entire broadcast was a lie.

The investigator, who was arrested with his wife and business partner Yu Yingzeng while probing alleged corruption at pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, insists that the footage masked the truth of his ordeal.

Mr Humphrey claims that he and his wife are innocent and the so-called 'confession' was a sham  confected from doctored footage captured after he had been plied with sedatives.

Speaking previously from his home in Surrey, Mr Humphrey told The Mail on Sunday: 'It was a travesty of my human rights.

Ofcom launched a probe into China Global Television Network last July following complaints of two news reports on the case of Peter Humphrey (pictured during a broadcast) in China

Mr Humphrey, 64, was jailed for more than two years by a court in Shanghai in 2014, in connection with a corruption case involving pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. He denies any wrongdoing

'I was stripped of my dignity, drugged, caged and had my words twisted to create the impression I confessed. But I never did and I never will.

'The grief and humiliation I suffered was overwhelming. During that forced confession and the two years I endured in prison, they set out to crush my spirit. I'm left with scars that are still healing.'

After his release, Mr Humphrey complained to Ofcom, alleging unfair treatment and breach of privacy in two news reports on the case aired on CCTV, which has since been renamed CGTN.

In a ruling published in July, Ofcom said it had upheld the complaint, calling it a 'serious' breach of its code of conduct.

It added CCTV's airing of footage of him in custody 'had the potential materially and adversely to affect viewers' perception of him'.

It 'did not take sufficient steps to ensure that material facts had not been presented, omitted or disregarded in a way that was unfair to Mr Humphrey'.

He was also not given an 'appropriate and timely opportunity' to respond to the claims and had a 'legitimate expectation of privacy' because he had not given consent.

In 2020, Ofcom found CGTN had breached the broadcasting code by failing to preserve due impartiality in its coverage of the Hong Kong protests.

The media watchdog said the channel often focused on violence by protesters against police officers while ignoring attacks by the authorities on members of the public.

China's star TV presenter James Chau, a Cambridge-educated journalist who counts the Duchess of Sussex among his friends, solemnly introduced the shocking footage to viewers

Ofcom's investigation concluded that Star China Media Limited (SCML), the licence-holder for the service, did not have editorial responsibility for the news channel's output. Pictured: Xi Jinping

It said the output echoed the views of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong government without providing sufficient balance from those with alternative views, the Guardian reported.

However, CGTN claimed it was 'particularly challenging' to air pro-democracy views on the Hong Kong protests because those demonstrating were reluctant to talk on camera.

The regulator is due to reach a decision about sanctions for the breach shortly.

An Ofcom spokeswoman said: 'Our investigation showed that the licence for China Global Television Network is held by an entity which has no editorial control over its programmes.

'We are unable to approve the application to transfer the licence to China Global Television Network Corporation because it is ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, which is not permitted under UK broadcasting law.

'We've provided CGTN with numerous opportunities to come into compliance, but it has not done so. We now consider it appropriate to withdraw the licence for CGTN to broadcast in the UK.'

The move comes after Labour called last year for the broadcast watchdog to review the operating licence of Russian news outlet RT.

The Kremlin-backed broadcaster, formerly Russia Today, was fined 200,000 for 'a serious breach' of impartiality rules in 2019.

The programmes were mostly in relation to major matters of political controversy and current public policy - namely the UK Government's response to the Skripal poisoning in Salisbury and the Syrian conflict.

In 2012, Ofcom revoked Iranian state-owned Press TV's licence to broadcast in the UK.

It was also fined 100,000 after broadcasting an interview with a journalist while they were being held in an Iranian prison, which Ofcom said was 'obtained under duress'.
CLEVELAND, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Though Costco has maintained throughout the COVID-19 pandemic that space limitations have made offering curbside delivery services at its stores next to impossible, the big-box chain has finally given in, announcing in January the launch of a curbside pickup pilot program at three locations in New Mexico:

Curbside pickup has exploded during the pandemic as a way to make customers, who are shopping online more than ever before, feel comfortable and safe visiting stores and to limit in-store traffic.

According to the Freedonia Group's National Online Consumer Survey (conducted November  December 2020 ), 35% of respondents noted reported having used grocery store curbside pickup for the first time because of the coronavirus pandemic.

), 35% of respondents noted reported having used grocery store curbside pickup for the first time because of the coronavirus pandemic. As COVID-19 cases continue to climb in the US and new, more highly transmissible variants of the virus develop, more people are asking if even weekly grocery shopping trips are too risky.

risky. As a result, expanding digital ordering, delivery, and pickup capabilities is expected to remain a key focus of grocery retailers  especially large national chains like Costco and Walmart, but increasingly smaller and midsized local and regional chains as well.

From Packaging to Refrigeration Equipment, Grocery E-Commerce Is Creating Opportunities

Recent research from the Freedonia Group identifies rising use of online grocery services is boosting demand for a range of products, from packaging to commercial refrigeration equipment. For more information and discussion of opportunities, see Freedonia's extensive collection of off-the-shelf research, as well as related reports from our sister publisher, Packaged Facts.

About The Freedonia Group  The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, is a leading international industrial research company publishing more than 100 studies annually. Since 1985 we have provided research to customers ranging in size from global conglomerates to one-person consulting firms. More than 90% of the industrial companies in the Fortune 500 use Freedonia Group research to help with their strategic planning. Each study includes product and market analyses and forecasts, in-depth discussions of important industry trends, and market share information. Studies can be purchased at www.freedoniagroup.com and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.

Press Contact:

Corinne Gangloff

+1 440.842.2400

[email protected]

SOURCE The Freedonia Group
The company anticipates the acquisition will increase Dalrada's annualized revenue by $2.5MM. Tweet this

Stem cells, the basic building blocks of life, are found in the body's organs, tissues, blood, and immune system. Stem cells have the ability to regenerate into additional stem cells or differentiate into specialized cells, such as nerve, muscle, or blood cells.

As a drug-free non-invasive treatment for many internal health conditions, Pacific Stem Cells, LLC provides its clients regenerative therapy as a potential solution for the prevention, detection and treatment of cellular breakdown associated with aging and a variety of other conditions.

Stem Cell Therapy is sought to treat a wide variety of medical conditions, ranging from orthopedics, pain management, cardiology, pulmonology, rheumatology, chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetes & diabetic neuropathy, neurology, autoimmune disorders and in surgical procedures. aesthetic, cosmetic and plastic surgical procedures, including wound healing and limb salvage, and also a recent study has shown benefits against severe COVID-19 using umbilical-cord derived mesenchymal stem cells. The global stem cells market size is expected to reach USD 17.9 billion by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 8.2%.

For additional details visit http://pacificstemcells.com/

About Dalrada Health Products

A subsidiary of Dalrada Financial Corp., Dalrada Health Products is focused on solving health problems around the world. The company develops products and services that address the unmet needs of consumers due to accessibility, affordability, or availability. With operations in the U.S., Malaysia, and India, Dalrada Health Products can reach underserved markets through strong partnerships and the development of efficient supply chains. Dalrada Health Products is committed to solving universal health problems through improved methodologies resulting in products and services that benefit the global marketplace. For details, visit www.dalradahealth.com. For information on GlanHealth visit www.glanhealth.com

About Dalrada (DFCO)

Dalrada Financial Corp. (OTCQB: DFCO, "Dalrada") solves real-world problems by producing innovation-focused and technologically centered solutions on a global scale. Delivering next-generation manufacturing, engineering, and healthcare products and services designed to propel growth, Dalrada is a team of industry experts and an organization built upon a strong foundation of financial capital. The Company and its subsidiaries are positioned for stable long-term growth through intelligent market research, sound business acumen, and established operational infrastructure. For more information, visit https://dalrada.com or call 1-858-283-1253.

Disclaimer

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding future revenues and sales projections, plans for future financing, the ability to meet operational milestones, marketing arrangements and plans, and shipments to and regulatory approvals in international markets. Such statements reflect management's current views, are based on certain assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events, or performance may differ materially from the above forward-looking statements due to a number of important factors, and will be dependent upon a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional financing that will allow us to continue our current and future operations and whether demand for our products and services in domestic and international markets will continue to expand. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof or to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard to these forward-looking statements or the occurrence of unanticipated events. Factors that may impact the Company's success are more fully disclosed in the Company's most recent public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its annual report on Form 10-K.

SOURCE Dalrada Financial Corp.

Related Links

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Actor Hal Holbrook, Who Played Twain, Dead at 95

By The Associated Press





NEW YORK - Hal Holbrook, the award-winning character actor who toured the world for more than 50 years as Mark Twain in a one-man show and uttered the immortal advice "Follow the money" in the classic political thriller "All the President's Men," has died. He was 95.Holbrook died on Jan. 23 in Beverly Hills, California, his representative, Steve Rohr, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.Actors across the spectrum mourned Holbrook's passing, including Bradley Whitford, who called him an "incredible actor" and Viola Davis, who wrote "RIP to the always wonderful Hal Holbrook."Holbrook pursued a busy career in theater, television and movies, winning five Emmys and a Tony. His more than two dozen film credits ranged from Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" to Oliver Stone's "Wall Street." He was a steady presence on TV as well, having appeared on such shows as "The West Wing," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Bones."But his most famous movie role was as a key source for Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward (played by Robert Redford) in the 1976 adaptation of "All the President's Men," the bestselling account by Woodward and fellow Post reporter Carl Bernstein about their investigation of Richard Nixon's administration and the Watergate scandal that led to his resignation.Holbrook played the mysterious informant "Deep Throat" (later revealed to be FBI official Mark Felt) who provided key information to Woodward. The most famous tip, uttered from the shadows of a parking garage  "Follow the money"  became an instant catchphrase but was never said in real life. The line was invented by screenwriter William Goldman."Follow the money" may have been his most famous film words, but Twain was his defining role. The association began in 1954 when an instructor at Ohio's Denison University gave Holbrook the role as part of a thesis assignment.Holbrook and his first wife, Ruby Johnson, later created a two-person show, playing characters from Shakespeare to Twain. After their daughter, Victoria, was born, he started working on a one-man Twain show while working on the soap opera "The Brighter Day."Holbrook, raised in Cleveland, was 29 when he first performed as Twain (who was portrayed as 70) and eventually developed the role into a two-act, one-man show called "Mark Twain Tonight!," taking it to schools, nightclubs and theaters. He took it to Broadway three times  1966, 1977 and 2005  and won a Tony Award as best dramatic actor for the 1966 version."The truth is that he's been wonderful company," Holbrook told The Plain Dealer newspaper in 2017. "It would be an understatement to say I like him. He never ceases to amaze me. Even after all these years, I'm still stunned by his insight into the human character. So much of what he had to say more than 100 years ago is right on the money for today."In 1959, after years of honing his material in small towns, Holbrook debuted his Twain at an off-Broadway theater in New York to high critical praise. "Mr. Holbrook's material is uproarious, his ability to hold an audience by acting is brilliant," said The New York Times. The New Yorker called it a "dazzling display of virtuosity."Holbrook would tour as Twain  with the writer's familiar white suit and white hair  whenever he wasn't busy with other acting jobs. He would update the show to fit the times and performed the role by his account some 2,200 times. He hung up the white suit in 2017."He did a ton of work over the years, never less than first-rate, but the Twain performances approached perfection, and they will stay with me forever," tweeted Michael McKean.He was meticulous in his preparations, taking as long as 3 1/2 hours to don his makeup and insisting on oversized stage furniture so that, at 6 feet tall, he wouldn't appear larger than the 5-feet-8 1/2-inch Twain was. He read books by and about the author and scoured newspaper files in search of interviews with Twain and stories about his lecture tours.During a performance on the open-sided stage at Wolf Trap near Vienna, Virginia, lightning flashed and thunder cracked just as Holbrook reached toward the humidor for a cigar. He scuttled backward. A roar of laughter followed. Holbrook looked out over his glasses at the audience. When he could be heard again, he spoke: "He wasn't talking to you."Over the years, Holbrook took "Mark Twain Tonight!" to numerous foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia. His audiences included Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Carter.When he wasn't portraying Twain, Holbrook showed impressive versatility. He was Burt Reynolds' crotchety father-in-law in the 1990s TV series "Evening Shade." He appeared as Abraham Lincoln in two different miniseries on the 16th president and won one of his Emmys for the title role in the 1970-71 TV series "The Senator."Other notable stage credits included "After the Fall," "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" and "I Never Sang for My Father." In 2008, at age 82, he received his first Oscar nomination for playing a lonely widower who befriends young wanderer Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) in director Sean Penn's "Into the Wild."In 1980, he met actress Dixie Carter when both starred in the TV movie "The Killing of Randy Webster." Although attracted to one another, each had suffered two failed marriages and they were wary at first. They finally wed in 1984, two years before Carter landed the role of Julia Sugarbaker on the long-running TV series "Designing Women." Holbrook appeared on the show regularly in the late 1980s as her boyfriend, Reese Watson. She died in 2010. Holbrook was reportedly buried next to her in her hometown of McLemoresville, Tennessee.Holbrook had two children, Victoria and David, with his first wife, and a daughter, Evie, from his second marriage to actress Carol Rossen. He was stepfather to Mary Dixie Carter and Ginna Carter.
1. Yes. The public must have assurances that ethical standards are met by everyone.

2. Yes. As long as an independent board hears the grievances, its a worthwhile idea.

3. No. The concept is too broad. It should be limited to the citys elected officials.

4. No. There are plenty of stipulations in place already. An ordinance is a waste of time.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without seeing how it would be structured and applied.

Vote

View Results



Each year, the 3M Young Scientist Challenge recognizes the grand prize winner, 10 finalists, the Improving Lives Award winner, and up to 51 state merit winners nationwide who have demonstrated a passion for solving everyday problems to improve the world around them.

To enter, students in grades 5-8 need an original idea that helps solve an everyday problem in their community. They are invited to submit their solution in the form of a one to two-minute video explaining the science behind it. A diverse group of judges will evaluate entries based on creativity, scientific knowledge, and effective communication skills. Videos will not be judged on production skills and may be recorded on cell phones or basic digital cameras.

Previous challenge finalists have collaborated with 3M scientists to create solutions to a wide variety of real-world problems, including water conservation, food waste, alternative energy sources, cancer treatments, energy consumption, and transportation efficiency. The 2020 winner, 14-year-old Anika Chebrolu, found a molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which may help support work to find a cure for COVID-19.

In June 2021, 10 finalists will be chosen to participate in an exclusive summer mentorship program where they will work closely with and learn from a 3M scientist. Each finalist receives the opportunity to compete in the final event  an interactive competition comprised of hands-on challenges, presentations, live judging, and more. At the final event, to be held on October 18-19, the grand prize winner and the Improving Lives Award winner will be announced.

"At 3M, using science to solve the world's toughest challenges is at the core of everything we do. For 14 years, and especially now, in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic, we have been incredibly proud to see what happens when young people are inspired to combine their individual passions with STEM learning  the world of possibilities that opens to them is endless," said Denise Rutherford, senior vice president of Corporate Affairs at 3M. "The 3M Young Scientist Challenge encourages STEM exploration in students at all levels and continues to demonstrate that any idea, big or small, can help change the world for the better. We are enthusiastic to see this year's entries and are sure to be inspired."

In its 14th year, the 3M Young Scientist Challenge continues to inspire and challenge middle school students to think creatively and apply the power of STEM to real-world solutions. Hundreds of young scientists have had the opportunity to share their innovations through the 3M Young Scientist Challenge and past winners have gone on to be named TIME's first ever "Kid of the Year", give TED Talks, file patents, found nonprofits, named on Forbes 30 Under 30 list, ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and exhibit at the White House Science Fair. These young innovators have also been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Forbes, Business Insider and on national television programs such as Good Morning America, CNN's Cuomo Prime Time, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and more. Learn more and meet all past finalists at YoungScientistLab.com.

"There's simply nothing like the 3M Young Scientist Challenge  a place where students come together to solve global problems in the quest to make the world a better place," said Lori McFarling, President of Corporate & Community Partnerships at Discovery Education. "The 3M Young Scientist Challenge pairs today's students with real-world scientist mentors to help them bring their STEM vision to life. We're excited to welcome this year's young scientists and can't wait to see where their innovation takes us."

The award-winning 3M Young Scientist Challenge supplements the 3M and Discovery Education program  Young Scientist Lab  which provides no-cost, dynamic digital resources for students, teachers and families to explore, transform, and innovate the world around them. All resources are available through YoungScientistLab.com. Additional digital resources, content and professional resources are available at www.3M.com/scienceathome, featuring 3M scientists and guests performing simple, at home experiments for kids aged 6-12, and via the Corporate Education Partnerships Channel on Discovery Education's award-winning, flexible K-12 learning platform, a digital service featuring high-quality resources and instructional supports for educators enriching student learning and extending it to the real world.

About 3M

At 3M, we apply science in collaborative ways to improve lives daily as our employees connect with customers all around the world. Learn more about 3M's creative solutions to global challenges at www.3m.com or on Twitter @3M or @3MNews .

About Discovery Education

Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. Through its award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and the largest professional learning network of its kind, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning, creating immersive STEM experiences, and improving academic achievement around the globe. Discovery Education currently serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 140 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and like-minded organizations to empower teachers with customized solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.

SOURCE 3M

Related Links

www.3m.com


Representative image of a bulk carrier at the Ningbo Zhoushan port in China's Zhejiang province. (Image: Reuters/Stringer)

Indian rice exports have got a shot in the arm with the Andhra Pradesh government allowing shippers to make use of the Kakinada deep-water port that will help double shipments and cut the waiting time for ships.

In an order issued on February 3, the Andhra government allowed the Kakinada deep port to be used for rice export by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) to help clear congestion at the Kakinada anchorage port.

APEDA supervises and registers Indian rice exports.

The deep-water port will be used temporarily to clear rice shipments until the anchorage port is developed to handle the huge traffic.

It takes 30 days for loading rice. With the deep water port coming into use, the time will be cut to 20 days, according to BV Krishna Rao, The Rice Exporters Association President.

Faster shipment

Pawan Agarwal, Special Secretary, Logistics, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said the move followed his visit to the Kakinada port in January where he found a large number of ships berthed in deep sea water waiting for the consignment to be loaded at the anchorage port.

We are extremely grateful to the Andhra Pradesh Government for allowing us to use the deep sea water port, he said.

The problem at the Kakinada anchorage port was that we load three lakh tonnes of rice every month. Though 20 vessels come for loading, rice consignments are loaded in only seven vessels, Rao said.

The Kakinada deep port is alongside the anchorage port under the control of the Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board. It was idle most of the time but the port workers did not allow its use.

Just because a few people did not want the deep-water port to be used, it could not be a reason to deny export. The logistics secretary impressed upon the state government to open it up and thus help in doubling the handling capacity to over six lakh tonnes, Rao said.

Rise in rice demand

Congestion had built up as rice from India, which has been holding huge stocks thanks to record harvest last season and a good kharif crop this year, has been in demand in the global market.

India had 18.66 million tonnes of rice as stocks besides 40.4 million tonnes of paddy that can yield 27.07 million tonnes of rice as on January 1, 2021.

Also read: Indias Jan-Oct rice exports higher than all of last years shipments

The country produced a record 118.43 million tonnes of rice last season (July 2019-June 2020). Rice production during the kharif season that ended in November has been estimated at 102.36 million tonnes against 101.98 million tonnes the previous season.

Indian rice was sought by countries such as China, the worlds largest producer of the foodgrain, and Vietnam, the third-largest exporter of the cereal, after decades. Both the countries bought significant quantities of rice.

Exports to China and Vietnam are continuing as Indian rice is cheaper by at least $100 a tonne to its nearest competitor Thailand, Rao said.

Indias 25 percent broken white rice is quoted at $396 (Rs 28,900) a tonne, while 5 percent parboiled is quoted at $402 (Rs 29,325). In comparison, Vietnams 5 percent broken is quoted at $515 (Rs 37,375) a tonne and Thailands 5 percent broken at $535 (Rs 39,025).

The global rice market had to turn to India as the crop in Vietnam and Thailand, the second-largest exporter of the grain, was hit by floods and drought, respectively.

However, China and Vietnam have opted to buy lowe-priced 100 percent broken rice, which could be used as porridge or for making noodles or even replacing corn as poultry feed in China.

India is projected to export at least 16.50 million tonnes of rice, including basmati, during the August 2020-July 2021 marketing year, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

This year, too, we should be doing well on the rice export front. We are exporting close to one million tonnes of rice every month, Rao said.

Overall, non-basmati rice in the 2020 calendar year has been projected at about 12 million tonnes. This calendar year exports are projected to be around the same level from India as Thailands production is unlikely to recover due to water shortage.

Also read: Indian rice exporters start new year on a positive note as Vietnam buys after decades, Bangladesh lowers import duty

The opening up of the deep-water port will ensure that no ship will be kept waiting in the deep waters and we need not pay demurrages to foreign countries, Rao said.

This new facility will help in exporting rice in bulk and jumbo bags, which will make shipments to east and west Africa easier.

Loading rice in jumbo bags will help us to send the shipment to any destination port. We can even pack based on the order, The Rice Exporters Association President said.

Logistics secretary Agarwal said the government would look at such a logistics bottleneck if users bring it to its notice. We will definitely look into what can be done, he said.

(Subramani Ra Mancombu is a journalist based in Chennai who writes on commodities and agriculture)
Recently, Nicholas Kristof addressed his New York Times column to his conservative hometown friends in Yamhill, Ore., urging them to hold liberals accountable while doing the same for right-wing extremists, kooks and charlatans. In that spirit  and with Nicks cheerful acquiescence  I offer a rejoinder in the form of a letter to my liberal friends.

Dear Friends,

No, I cant relax! And, no, Im not worried the Biden administration is going to send Trump voters to re-education camps, impose Cuban-style socialism or put out the welcome mat for MS-13. Im just afraid that Democratic leaders might look to the very Democratic state of California as a model for Americas future.

You remember California: People used to want to move there, start businesses, raise families, live their American dream.

These days, not so much. Between July 2019 and July 2020, more people  135,400 to be precise  left the state than moved in. The website exitcalifornia.org helps keep track of where these Golden State exiles go. No. 1 destination: Texas, followed by Arizona, Nevada and Washington. Three of those states have no state income tax, while Arizonas is capped at 4.5 percent for married couples making more than $318,000.

In California, married couples pay more than twice that rate on income above $116,000. Californians also pay some of the nations highest sales tax rates (8.66 percent) and corporate tax rates (8.84 percent), as well as the highest taxes on gasoline.

Some of my liberal friends tell me tax rates dont matter in terms of the way people work and economies perform. Uh-huh. Still, Id have an easier time accepting the argument if all those taxes went toward good schools, safe streets, solid infrastructure or fiscal health.

How does California fare on these fronts? The state ranks 21st in the country in terms of spending per public school pupil, but 37th in its K-12 educational outcomes. It ties Oregon for third place among states in terms of its per capita homeless rate. Infrastructure? As of 2019, the state had an estimated $70 billion in deferred maintenance backlog. Debt? The states unfunded pension liabilities in 2019 ran north of $1.1 trillion, according to an analysis by Stanford professor Joe Nation, or $81,300 per household.

And then theres liberal governance in the cities. In San Francisco, District Attorney Chesa Boudin has championed the calls for decriminalizing public urination, public camping and blocking sidewalks, and open-air drug use.

Predictably, a result of decriminalization has been more actual criminality. Recent trends include an estimated 51 percent jump in San Francisco burglaries and a 41 percent jump in arsons. For the Bay Area as a whole, there has been a 35 percent spike in homicides.

Yes, homicides have been rising in cities around the country. But those trends themselves owe much to liberal governance in like-minded jurisdictions like Seattle and New York, with their emphasis on depolicing, decarceration, defunding, decriminalization and other deluded attempts at criminal-justice reform.

Funny, you dont hear this about the places Californians are fleeing to. Austin, the preferred destination of San Francisco exiles, remains one of the safest big cities in America (and its run by a Democrat). Another thing you dont hear from Texas: a board of education voting  as San Franciscos just did  to strip the names of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Paul Revere from schools, on grounds of sinning against the more recent commandments of progressive dogma. Not that it really matters, since all these schools remain closed for in-person learning, thanks to teachers unions.

And then there is Californias political class. Democrats hold both U.S. Senate seats, 42 of its 53 seats in the House, have lopsided majorities in the state Assembly and Senate, run nearly every big city and have controlled the governors mansion for a decade. If ever there was a perfect laboratory for liberal governance, this is it. So how do you explain these results?

For four years, liberals have had a hard time understanding how any American could think of voting for Republicans, given the partys fealty to the former president. Ive shared some of that bewilderment myself. But  to adapt a line from another notorious Californian  Democrats wont have Donald Trump to kick around anymore, meaning the consequences of liberal misrule will be harder to disguise or disavow. If California is a vision of the sort of future the Biden administration wants for Americans, expect Americans to demur.

My unsolicited advice: Like Republicans, Democrats do best when they govern from the center. Forget California, think Colorado. A purple country needs a purple president  and a political opposition with the credibility to keep him honest.
UK scientists have launched the world's first study examining whether different coronavirus vaccines can safely be used for two-dose regimens, an approach they say could give extra flexibility and even boost protection against Covid-19 if approved.

Participants in the 13-month study will be given the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines in different combinations and at different intervals, the UK Department of Health and Social Care said in a news release.

'If we do show that these vaccines can be used interchangeably in the same schedule this will greatly increase the flexibility of vaccine delivery, and could provide clues as to how to increase the breadth of protection against new virus strains,' said Matthew Snape, chief investigator and associate professor in pediatrics and vaccinology at the University of Oxford.

Enrollment in the UK government-funded study is currently underway and preliminary results are expected over the summer, the news release said.

The current vaccine dosing regimen for the general public will remain unchanged in the UK, it said. But should the study show promising results, the government may consider revising the recommended vaccine regimen.

The study will also seek to determine if vaccination is more effective with a four-week or 12-week gap between the two doses. More than 800 people are expected to take part in the trial and will begin receiving their shots by mid-February.

Analysis released Wednesday by Oxford scientists but not yet peer reviewed suggested there could be higher efficacy with more spaced-out doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

Minister for Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment Nadhim Zahawi said the new trial would provide vital evidence on the safety of the two shots when used in different ways.

'Nothing will be approved for use more widely than the study, or as part of our vaccine deployment programme, until researchers and the regulator are absolutely confident the approach is safe and effective,' he said.

Jonathan Van-Tam, England's deputy chief medical officer, said that given the challenges of rolling out mass vaccination of populations and 'potential global supply constraints,' there were advantages to having data to support a more flexible immunization program, if needed and approved by the regulator.

'It is also even possible that by combining vaccines, the immune response could be enhanced giving even higher antibody levels that last longer; unless this is evaluated in a clinical trial we just won't know,' said Van-Tam.

Currently, official guidance from the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation states that the second dose should be with the same vaccine as for the first dose. 'Switching between vaccines or missing the second dose is not advised as this may affect the duration of protection,' it adds.

However, in certain circumstances where a patient attends a site for a second vaccination and what was given for the first dose is either unknown or unavailable, it is 'reasonable to offer one dose of the locally available product to complete the schedule,' guidance states, particularly if the individual is at high risk of infection or is unlikely to attend again.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization do not currently recommend interchanging coronavirus vaccines, since no data is currently available that examines whether doing so would still provide the same level of protection.

Successful vaccination rollout

The UK has been one of the world's worst-hit nations during the pandemic, with among the highest confirmed Covid-19 deaths proportionate to its population.

It has, however, shown global leadership by launching a successful vaccination program, becoming the first country to approve and administer a clinically tested vaccine. More than 10 million people in the UK, around 15% of the population, have received at least one dose to date.

The UK aims to have offered everyone in the four groups identified as most vulnerable -- including all those over 70 and frontline health and social care workers -- a first vaccine dose by mid-February. And Health Secretary Matt Hancock said earlier this month that vaccines would be offered to every adult in the UK 'by the autumn.'

Meanwhile, the vaccine rollout is picking up pace in the United States, the country that has seen the highest number of cases and deaths from Covid-19 worldwide.

Nearly 34 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered so far in the US, according to data published Wednesday by the CDC. That means just over 8% of the US population -- more than 27 million people -- have now received at least one dose of the vaccine, and about 6.4 million people have been fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.

At the current rate, every adult in the US could be fully vaccinated in about a year. Assuming 75% of US adults must be fully vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, the US could reach this threshold by around Halloween.

Israel, with a population of about nine million, has led the world with its vaccination program.

All Israelis aged 16 and over are now eligible immediately to receive a coronavirus vaccine, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said Thursday. 'Come in your masses. Take advantage of a situation which exists in almost no other country in the world. This is the only way we will beat corona -- together,' the minister said in a statement.

Health Ministry figures show that 3.3 million people have received a first dose, of whom more than 1.9 million have also received their second shot.

Other countries are struggling to overcome problems with vaccine supply and distribution. Last week, a war of words erupted between the European Union and AstraZeneca after EU officials said they had been told by the company that it intended to supply 'considerably fewer' doses in the coming weeks than had been agreed because of production problems.

And South America accounts for roughly 15% of the world's reported Covid-19 cases, but less than 3% of the global vaccine doses administered so far, according to data collected by Oxford University.

About 70% of the total coronavirus vaccine doses administrated globally have been in the 50 wealthiest countries, while only 0.1% of them have been administrated in the 50 poorest countries, according to analysis by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The IFRC described the disparity as alarming and said it could result in 'deadly and devastating' consequences, warning that if large areas across the globe remain unvaccinated, the virus will carry on circulating and mutating.

Data questions over AstraZeneca vaccine

As vaccination programs in Europe gather momentum, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, France, Austria and Germany have all decided against recommending use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for people over 65 due to a lack of data on that age group.

On Wednesday, Belgium recommended not administering the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to people over the age of 55, citing a lack of sufficient data.

On the same day, Switzerland declined to authorize the vaccine for any age group, saying data submitted by AstraZeneca was 'not yet sufficient to permit authorization' of the vaccine.

In response to Switzerland's decision, an AstraZeneca spokesperson said in a statement: 'AstraZeneca has now been granted a conditional marketing authorisation or emergency use in close to 50 countries, spanning four continents, including most recently in the European Union.'

'We are confident that our vaccine is effective, well-tolerated, and can have a real impact on the pandemic,' the statement added.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) -- the EU's regulator -- recommended authorizing the vaccine for use among the 27 member states without an age restriction.

In a statement made when granting conditional marketing authorization of the vaccine, the EMA said that in spite of a lack of data, protection was expected in older adults.

Meanwhile, Denmark plans to introduce a digital vaccine passport in an effort to reopen society, help businesses and ease travel, the government announced Wednesday in partnership with Danish businesses.

The scheme would initially apply to business travelers and could eventually enable all Danes to go to restaurants, conferences, music festivals and sporting events -- all of which have been restricted since a nationwide lockdown was imposed on December 15, a measure due to last until February 28.

The government hopes that by the end of February, citizens will be able to prove they have received a Covid-19 vaccination as it will be registered online.

Pandemic handling judged

A new poll from the Pew Research Center, conducted in November and December, finds widely differing views in the four nations surveyed -- the United States, Germany, France and the UK -- about their own country's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Just 41% of Americans approve of how their country is handling the pandemic, a new survey from the Pew Research Center finds. Asked simply whether the country is doing a bad or a good job, 58% of those polled came down in the 'bad' category.

Meanwhile, Germans overwhelmingly approve of their country's handling of the pandemic, with 77% rating it as 'good.' In France, 54% of those polled approve of their country's handling and in the UK, 48% did.

The survey of 4,000 adults across the four countries also found that 74% of Americans say the pandemic is affecting their everyday lives a great deal or a fair amount, up from 67% in June.

'Only in Germany do fewer than half of those surveyed say the coronavirus has changed their life, while 52% say their life has not changed much or not changed at all,' Pew said.

But people in all four countries are optimistic about future pandemics. In the US, 67% say they feel optimistic about the country's ability to handle future crises. In Germany, 77% do, while in the UK that figure stands at 68% and in France at 60%.
Full results from Friday's state track meets

Get your full results from the AA, A and B boys and girls state track meets here.
The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) on Wednesday began the official distribution of 10,000 prepaid meters to households across Osun.

The free meters distribution, which was launched under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), kicked off from Aratumi Community, Ilesa Garage Area of Osogbo.

In his remarks, Mr Adewale Obajemu, IBEDC Head Metering, said the exercise was in consonance with the 2020 free meter distribution (metering programme) of the Federal Government, to non metered households across the country.

Obajemu, said the distribution/metering was totally free and at no cost to their customers, adding that customers were not expected to pay for meter installation or inherent services.

"The meters are free for customers listed on our billing platform, those collecting estimation billing.

"IBEDC is expected to distribute/install 104,000 meters in the first phase across our franchise.

"But what we are launching now is Phase Zero, where 10,000 meters will be distributed to households across Osun.

"The 10,000 meters distribution (Phase Zero) is what we have started in Osogbo and customers are to know that they are not to pay any money to anybody or pay any charges for the meters.

"What the customers, however, needed to have for the installation of the meters to their houses is their Bank Verification Number (BVN).

"This will help to secure the meters, and as well, serve as insurance that the meters will be protected by the customers they are assigned to and for easy tracking of the meters," he said.

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In his comments, Mr Akin Ogunleye IBEDC Osun Regional Head said the free metering was the initiative of the Federal Government and the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) and Meter Manufacturers.

Ogunleye said the mass metering programme would help to erase the estimated billing problems when electricity consumers were all metered.

He said those that had been given the free meters should, however, endeavour to maintain and protect them, as well as vending (buying electricity recharge) on them.

The Osun Regional Head appealed to customers not to bypass or engage in meter tampering or energy theft, saying that anybody caught would be arrested and prosecuted by the law enforcement agents.

A beneficiary of the free meter programme and a Community Head in Aratumi, Mr Faremi Adebayo, thanked the IBEDC and Federal Government for the free meter initiative.

Adebayo said it had really eased the financial burden procuring a prepaid meter would cost them.

He said that over 50 houses in his community had been metered.

The community head thanked IBEDC for the kind gesture in selecting his community as the first set of beneficiaries of the mass metering programme.
SPRINGFIELD  The city needs more.

That was the message this week as city councilors met with local department heads and with aides to federal elected officials to plead for more money, more testing and more vaccines to confront the coronavirus pandemic.

Councilor Jesse Lederman, chairman of the COVID-19 Response Committee, said Wednesday that his meetings will continue weekly as a platform to respond to the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and plan for a just recovery that serves all of our neighborhoods.

He and other councilors urged equity in coronavirus testing and vaccine programs so that minority residents and senior citizens are assured of access.

While there is a mass COVID-19 vaccination site at the Eastfield Mall on Boston Road, as well as a separate testing site there, more must be done, councilors said.

Health Commissioner Helen R. Caulton-Harris said outreach efforts are occurring and will be expanded. A neighborhood COVID-19 testing site will begin next Tuesday at the Rebecca Johnson School in the Mason Square area, occurring each Tuesday, and there are also plans for a testing site at the Putnam Vocational Technical Academy on State Street.

Aides to U.S. Rep. Richard Neal and U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey met with the councilors by Zoom, and all promised to keep up the fight for more coronavirus funding for the state and local communities.

Some councilors said it would be particularly helpful if more funds went directly to Springfield rather than to the state. City finance officials said it would also be of great help if the federal grant funds for COVID-19-related costs could be expedited.

Council President Marcus Williams said that, within the minority community of Springfield, there is a lot of concern about the safety of the vaccines, tied to historical events that left those communities feeling certainly marginalized and victimized.

He asked if there is work that can be done at the federal level to dispel some of the myths about the vaccines, particularly in approaching communities of color with the cultural sensitivity it needs to take the vaccine.

Warren has stated that it starts with trust, building trust and having trust with these communities to make sure that they know it is a safe vaccine, said her aide, Raekwon Wheeler. That includes being transparent on racial data related to the virus, he said.

Councilor Timothy Allen said ensuring equity in the vaccine distribution process is a challenge, particularly with getting people to the sites and registering.

We have so many marginalized people in Springfield and getting them registered is one thing, getting them an appointment is a second thing, getting them to the appointment is a third thing, and getting them to do it again three weeks later, the logistics are really overwhelming, Allen said. The challenges in a city like ours are bigger than they are in many other cities and towns.

Melissa Olesen, of Markeys office, said addressing the problem includes directing more federal funds to the vaccination rollout itself, along with plans to have the distribution expanded through pharmacies.

Vaccines are given free to the public.

Kareem Kibodya, aide to Neal, said the federal effort is centered on an aggressive vaccine program and making sure there is sufficient funding allocated to provide vaccines to everyone and to address equity and racial disparity.

Some councilor also called for continued efforts on the federal level to provide funds to communities to offset reductions in revenues under the coronavirus, and also urged more efforts to extend unemployment relief aid.

Lederman said he will draft a letter from councilors to the state, urging the state to prioritize local distribution, especially in communities like Springfield where we have the capacity to administer, to ensure that all neighborhoods have access to the vaccine.
Burma Myanmar Social Media Users Slam China, Russia for Blocking UN Move to Condemn Coup

A composite of screenshots showing social media posts denouncing China and Russia's stance on the coup in Myanmar. / Screenshots

YANGONThousands of social media users including some elected lawmakers from Myanmars National League for Democracy (NLD) have joined a campaign on social media denouncing China and Russia after the two countries blocked a UN Security Council statement condemning the military coup.

On Tuesday, the Security Council held an emergency meeting on Myanmar, but was unable to agree on a statement condemning the military regime after China and Russia asked for more time to consider it. However, diplomats said negotiations would continue.

Following the development at the UN, a public campaign condemning China and Russia began circulating widely on both Facebook and Twitter, the most popular social media platforms in Myanmar. One post widely shared on social media reads: We should condemn Russia and China for offering support and shelter for unlawful military government. Loud and Clear!

Some Twitter users expressed the view that China and Russia always support the Myanmar military to advance their own interests. They called on other social media users to join the campaign.

Another post shared by Facebook users reads: We should not forget to denounce Russia and China. We need to oppose them as enemies that they are helping [the military] to threaten countrys sovereign and democratically elected government.

Dr. Wai Phyo Aung, an elected NLD lawmaker who joined the social media campaign, told The Irrawaddy, We do not accept this unlawful act by the military. As a lawmaker from the NLD, I want the international community to know it.

We want these two countries to stand with us as they have influence over the Myanmar military, Dr. Wai Phyo Aung said, adding, Thats why I joined the campaign.

Since Mondays military takeover, Myanmar internet users have launched social media campaigns opposing the military regime with tags such as civil disobedience, stay-at-home-movement and save Myanmar. Many civilians have posted messages on Facebook asking Western countries to save Myanmar from the military regime.

Ko Aung Myat, a university student who joined the campaign on Twitter, said, We need international strength to oppose the militarys action. We will continue to condemn China and Russia if they keep standing with the military.

We will let them know clearly that the militarys action is totally against us, Ko Aung Myat said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called on the international community and key players to do everything possible to ensure that the coup in Myanmar fails.

The foreign ministers of the G7, which groups Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, along with representatives of the EU, condemned the coup in Myanmar and called on the military to end the state of emergency and restore the democratically elected government to power.

However, both China and Russia have failed to condemn the coup in Myanmar so far. In an effort to avoid using the word coup, Chinese state-owned media even described the militarys toppling of the government as a major cabinet reshuffle. Chinas Foreign Ministry on Wednesday rejected any suggestion that Beijing gave tacit consent to the military coup.

Despite the countries shared border, anti-China sentiment in Myanmar hardened over six decades of rule by the previous military government, which counted Beijing among its few international allies. It turned to China as its major supplier for much-needed military hardware and allowed the country to exploit Myanmars natural resources.

Myanmar is also a long-time buyer of Russian arms and sends officers to Russian military academies for training. Russian Defense Minister General Sergey Shoigu visited Naypyitaw last month aiming to expand defense cooperation. During the visit, Myanmar and Russia agreed that Russia will supply Myanmar with Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems, Orlan-10E surveillance drones, and radar equipment.

During the visit, military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing praised Russia as a loyal friend that has always supported Myanmar, according to Russian media.

Both China and Russia voted against a UN Security Council resolution criticizing the Myanmar military over the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine state.

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As Venezuelas crisis continues to force many people to flee, the Jesuit Refugee Service calls on the government of Colombia to protect the human rights of migrants.

By Devin Watkins

Jesuit Refugee Service Latin America and the Caribbean (JRS LAC) has sounded the alarm regarding the plight of Venezuelan migrants seeking entry into neighboring Colombia.

In a statement, JRS alleged that Colombian authorities have sought to prevent the irregular entry of Venezuelan migrants with an excessive use of force, which has led to the overturning of canoes transporting them.

The organization linked to the Society of Jesus decried the actions as detrimental to human dignity and the protection of the fundamental rights of migrants and refugees.

Countless irregular migrants

Recent studies show that Venezuelan immigrants to Colombia number around two million. More than half of them lack immigrant visas or residency permits.

The exodus has been fueled by Venezuelas political, economic, and social crisis, which has been ongoing since 2015.

Respect for human rights

In its statement, JRS urged Colombian and regional authorities to put measures in place to protect the life and human rights of all, regardless of their nationality and immigrant status, with special attention to border areas.

The group also called for the government to apply existing mechanisms which guarantee the right of entry for those seeking asylum.

Living border, shared experiences

JRS said the Colombia-Venezuela border is a living border, surrounded by a shared culture.

The statement urged authorities to recognize this binational reality and to protect the natural, cultural, and historical interaction that represents the identity of the inhabitants of the border region.

JRS LAC also appealed to those who live in the area to remember their common history, overcoming wounds and encountering one another through reconciliation and practices that promote healthy coexistence."

Difficult situations

In addition to the difficulty of arriving in Colombia, rights groups say that, once there, many Venezuelan migrants risk being forced into armed groups or working on illegal plantations.

They also face discrimination, sexual violence, and trafficking, as well as enduring poor sanitary conditions.
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors newswire

( ) has announced further gold discoveries on its Glenish gold licence in Ireland. In a statement, Conroy said it had identified a new gold-in-soil anomaly and a new gold mineralised outcrop indicating an extension of the Glenish gold target. The new anomaly is 2 kilometres northeast of the Glenish gold target on the border with the Clontibret gold licence.

PLC (LONM:SRC), the construction materials group, has said it expects to report full-year results that are ahead of current market expectations. The group said the strong trading reported in its December 9, 2020, market update continued through to the end of the year. SigmaRoc expects to report revenues for 2020 of around 124mln, up 77% year-on-year, while underlying earnings (EBITDA) are expected to be 54% higher than the year at before at 23.8mln.

( ), the cell-engineering and life sciences company, has raised 40mln by placing shares at 700p each  a premium to last nights closing price of 670p. Proceeds from the share subscription will be used to strengthen MaxCyte's balance sheet to enable the company to accelerate projects in its development pipeline. The newly issued shares represent around 6.9% of the companys enlarged share capital. Subscribers to the share issue featured a mixture of new and existing investors, including D1 Capital Partners, T. Rowe Price, ArrowMark Partners, Baron Capital Group and First Light Asset Management, alongside existing investors Casdin Capital and Sofinnova Partners.

( ) said it has taken a 25% stake and become the lead investor in Pluto Digital Assets PLC, a crypto venture capital and technology firm focused on projects in the decentralised technology and finance spaces. The crypto mining firm said it has invested 1mln into Pluto at 3p per share as part of an investment round to raise 2.5mln. Argo said its contribution was satisfied entirely by the holding of 75,000 Polkadot tokens it had originally purchased in the first quarter of 2019 for US$75,000 (55,163).

( ) ( ) said it has signed multi-regional distribution agreements with a company called Medison Pharma. Medison will sell Amryts Juxtapid product in Canada and Lojuxta and Myalept in Israel. In a statement, Amryt chief executive, Dr Joe Wiley, said: Todays announcement is another positive development as we continue to grow our commercial assets in existing and new territories and we further progress towards our goal of becoming a global leader in rare and orphan diseases."

( ) said it has completed the acquisition of Joy Transporters Ltd, giving it full ownership of the Saltpond and Cape Coast projects in Ghana. The company described the Saltpond and Cape Coast portfolio as a highly prospective ground holding with high priority pegmatite targets. The exploration area is positioned adjacent to IronRidges Ewoyaa lithium project, which is host to a 14.5mln tonne mineral resource.

( ) said its wholly-owned Aussie subsidiary, Panther Metals Pty, has beefed up its board with two appointments. Ranko Matic and Daniel Tuffin have joined the team down under. Matic is a qualified chartered accountant with more than 30 years' experience in the areas of financial and executive management, accounting, audit, business and advising companies. Tuffin has a wealth of experience specific to Panther Metals Pty, Panther said.

Sativa Wellness Group Inc ( ) has updated investors on appointments to its board, saying Geremy Thomas and George Thomas have both been appointed as directors, with the former becoming its executive chairman. The cannabidiol (CBD) specialist said following a meeting of shareholders on January 26, 2021, Henry Lees-Buckley is no longer its chief executive as of February 3, adding that Geremy Thomas will act as interim CEO until a replacement is appointed.

PLC, a company producing synthetic cannabinoids products that is understood to be backed by David Beckhams DB Ventures has announced float plans. Cellular is raising 8mln through a share offering that would value it at 20mln. Proceeds from the IPO will be used to develop and launch a new range of premium consumer products, prospective investors were told. Cellular said it is aiming to be the London Stock Exchanges first pure-play consumer CBD brands business.

Bushveld Minerals Limited ( ) has said it expects to produce around 13%-20% more vanadium in 2021 than in 2020. Group production for 2021 is projected to be between 4,100mln tonnes of vanadium (mtV) and 4,350 mtV. Volumes should be weighted towards the second half of the year due to a 35-day maintenance shutdown at the Vametco plant in South Africa scheduled for the first quarter of the year. As well as the maintenance work, the group will seek to remove certain production bottlenecks at the plant. In a separate announcement, Bushveld revealed that despite cranking out the vanadium at increasing rates during 2020, ore reserves have not reduced significantly, according to the latest mineral resource estimate for the Vametco vanadium mine near Brits on the Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex.

Supply@ME Capital PLC ( ) has said that following the publication of Audited Accounts for the period ended December 31, 2019, and Interim Results for the six months ended June 30, 2020, last week, the company has successfully addressed the technical DTR breach regarding the timing of financial statements. Immediately following publication, Supply@ME made a formal request to the FCA for the lifting of the temporary suspension of its Listing and the resumption of dealings in the company's ordinary shares. The FCA is currently performing the regulatory steps required for the restoration of the listing and re-commencement of dealings. The process has taken longer and is more complex than normal due to the change in accounting reference date, reverse takeover transaction occurring during the period, and multiple financial statements that have been issued. The company also confirmed that no FCA investigation is underway. Supply@ME expects to make a further announcement regarding the lifting of the temporary suspension and resumption of dealings in the company's shares as soon as possible.

Proactive Research has issued a report on SourceBio International PLC ( ) which has made a huge impact on its return to public markets. Analysts Emma Ulker says: "We estimate that the current scale-up provides a peak capacity for up to 9mln revenues per month, prospects for sustained penetration in public and private testing markets, and to cater for evolving testing requirements. Equally, SBI is set to respond to the anticipated tsunami of neglected cases requiring diagnostics, research & development (R&D) support via its Stability Storage segment, and Genomics services, related to non-COVID care once a recovery begins, which should facilitate a turnaround in its other three core divisions."
Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III on Thursday announced a $573 million settlement with one of the worlds largest consulting firms, McKinsey & Company. The settlement resolves the companys role helping opioid companies promote their drugs and profit from the opioid epidemic, said officials. The Tennessee Attorney Generals Office took a lead role in the investigation and negotiations resulting in this settlement with a coalition of attorneys general from 47 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories.

After payment of costs, funds from this multistate opioid settlement will be used to abate problems caused by opioids in the participating states. Tennessee will receive $15,217,532. Thursdays filing is the latest action the Tennessee Attorney Generals Office has taken to combat the opioid epidemic and to hold accountable those who are responsible for creating and fueling the crisis.

In addition to providing funds to address the crisis, the agreement calls for McKinsey to prepare tens of thousands of its internal documents detailing its work for Purdue Pharma and other opioid companies for public disclosure online. In addition, McKinsey agreed to adopt a strict document retention plan, continue its investigation into allegations that two of its partners tried to destroy documents in response to investigations of Purdue Pharma, implement a strict ethics code that all partners must agree to each year, and stop advising companies on potentially dangerous Schedule II and III narcotics.

General Slatery said, We appreciate McKinsey taking responsibility for its part in the opioid crisis and how quickly and decisively the states and territories acted, together and on a bipartisan (yes, bipartisan) basis, to bring this to a conclusion. We will finally get some funds directed to address this longstanding problem.

Thursdays filings describe how McKinsey contributed to the opioid crisis by promoting marketing schemes and consulting services to opioid manufacturers, including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, for over a decade. The complaint, filed with the settlement, details how McKinsey advised Purdue on how to maximize profits from its opioid products, including targeting high-volume opioid prescribers, using specific messaging to get physicians to prescribe more OxyContin to more patients, and circumventing pharmacy restrictions in order to deliver high-dose prescriptions.

When states began to sue Purdues directors for their implementation of McKinseys marketing schemes, McKinsey partners began emailing about deleting documents and emails related to their work for Purdue.

The opioid epidemic has caused considerable harm to individuals and communities in Tennessee where more than a thousand people die every year from opioid overdose, said officials. The state also has one of the highest opioid prescription rates- more than six million in 2018.

The settlement and complaint can be viewed here once available: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2021/pr21-05-complaint-judgment.pdf

The states investigation was led by an executive committee made up of the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont. The executive committee is joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
If you ask Zac Zepeda how hes doing, he says, OK. He just got his COVID-19 vaccine, he adds.

At 72 and retired from USAA after 30 years, Zepeda can look back at a life well-lived. He attended San Antonio College, served in the military during the Vietnam War and graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

He has been married for 44 years, to the same woman, he jokes, and they have two adult children.

Zepeda is a survivor of sexual assault and abuse. He was 12, in seventh grade at a Catholic school, when it happened. His predator was a young, popular Catholic priest named Michael J. OSullivan.

The first incident was in 1961 in the sacristy of Blessed Sacrament Church on Oblate Drive, he said. A sacristy is the room behind or near the altar where priests prepare for service and don their vestments for Mass.

The abuse ended in 1962.

He was such a charming person, Zepeda said, recalling that many children chose confirmation names in his honor, Michael or variants of it.

So, when Zepeda says hes OK, its only in the context of all this  only in the way in which victims like him can say theyre OK, only in the way that such survivors manage to live, work and heal.

Two years ago, a tearful, sometimes angry Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller went before cameras and released a landmark list naming 54 credibly accused priests in cases dating back to 1941.

It was part of a national reckoning that came after decades of mostly newspaper reports of crimes and cover-ups that forced the Vatican to repent.

Since its list was released, along with a concurrent report by a commission that looked at the evidence and delivered damning conclusions, the Archdiocese of San Antonio has been mostly mum on the topic.

It has been hard to tell what it has done or continues to do to address these cases and others that likely surfaced after 2019, when some victims might have summoned the courage to report their priest abusers.

Dioceses statewide revealed nearly 300 perpetrators. San Antonios list was the longest.

It included 10 credible allegations against OSullivan, starting in 1962, when he was at Blessed Sacrament. He re-offended, was dismissed and ended up in a diocese in Georgia. He re-offended and returned to Ireland, where new allegations surfaced.

By 2006, 45 years after sexually assaulting and abusing Zepeda, actions were taken to remove OSullivan from the priesthood. He reportedly died in 2013.

Zepeda didnt know his abuser was in Ireland when he vacationed there that same year.

Today, hes the co-leader of SNAP San Antonio, a local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The archdiocese has responded to Zepeda in one way, legally. He says hes closing in on a settlement with the archdiocese that will pay for his continued counseling, which he says has done wonders for him.

No punitive damages are being sought, he said.

Surprisingly, Zepeda never left the church and serves as a deacon at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Helotes.

Hed rather not speak of the details of his abuse, only that OSullivan told him what happened was something special between us.

Zepeda told no one for decades.

He says hes disgusted with the archdioceses record since 2019. The list seems to have become static. I dont see a whole lot of movement from the archdiocese.

SNAP San Antonio feels the same.

Like other survivors, Zepeda had hoped the archdiocese, especially the archbishop, would have reached out and walked with survivors.

He tried to get in to see the archbishop, he said. But every effort has been short-stopped. It angers me, he said. Its why I got active in SNAP.

Zepeda says individual priests have shown compassion and have addressed centuries of misdoings. But I havent seen it from the top, he said.

Garcia-Siller did apologize to victims in 2019. He was contrite and moving.

But thats the thing about apologies. Sometimes, one isnt enough to mend a wound and get it to heal. Sometimes, one apology cant cover a crime so massive, a deceit so evil.

Zepeda, and other survivors Ive recently interviewed for this and another upcoming column, say its time for church leaders to re-atone and update its lists publicly.

The word repent offers some advice in its prefix. Re means again or back.

Its also a good time. Feb. 17 is Ash Wednesday, the start of weeks of penitence before the celebration of Easter.

eayala@express-news.net
A health-care administrator who finally learned how to make basics like Jell-O. A millennial who moved into a tiny Winnipeg apartment that transformed the way she cooked. A 12-year-old who used meal kits to prepare restaurant-quality dishes for her family.

A health-care administrator who finally learned how to make basics like Jell-O. A millennial who moved into a tiny Winnipeg apartment that transformed the way she cooked. A 12-year-old who used meal kits to prepare restaurant-quality dishes for her family.

Shut-in amid COVID-19, those are just a few of the people in Manitoba who can be cited as a reason why leading supply chain experts believe the province has become Canadas "home-cooking capital."

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Andrew Stambrook, with his homemade lasagna, never knew much cooking until the pandemic struck.

And experts told the Free Press those consumption trends are here to stay  impacting the way people will interact with food and how much they pay.

Surveying a sample of over 10,000 people from coast to coast, a new report by the Agri-Food Analytics Lab measured if Canadians are more food literate in 2021 than before the pandemic.

"The results are definitely an interesting look at the uncertainty of everything happening," said lead author Sylvain Charlebois, food management professor at Dalhousie University.

Roughly a quarter of all Canadians claim they have self-prepared all meals consumed since the onset of COVID-19. And a total of 55.9 per cent of respondents said they have prepared most meals themselves.

But when asked about the number of recipes known, figures fluctuated from province to province and showed incremental change from 2019.

"We can see that the pandemic forced people to stay at home and so cook more at home than they ever have before," Charlebois said in an interview. "Whats more insightful though is looking at what kind of things they were cooking, and whether that was the same or something different."

Data from the report shows most Canadians often found comfort in cooking staples they already knew, save for one or two new recipes they learned. Yet overall findings show the pandemic has enticed younger generations like Gen Z or millennials to learn a lot more recipes than older ones, like Boomers or Generation X.

"To us that signals a strong variation thats swinging across these trends," said Charlebois. "Frankly, we expected more changes, given how domesticated weve all become."

The report offers some insights about why that might be. Researchers looked into which aspects have affected decisions on household consumption.

They found health (at 70.5 per cent) is the highest-ranking reason for food choices, followed by economy (52.7 per cent), environment (28.3 per cent) and community (at 23 per cent).

"At the peak of all of this," said Charlebois, "is the fascinating fact that Manitoba has now become Canadas leading province in home cooking."

For Andrew Stambrook, an administrative supervisor in Winnipeg, these trends are not surprising. "Its a little embarrassing to admit, but I really never knew much cooking at all before  like barely even Jell-O or scrambled eggs," he said.

"When we got stuck at home and couldnt go visit people, my wife started teaching me over any day off, and we bought all these groceries over and over to do that. Now, I cook almost all my own lunches."

Susan Jurkowski said her 12-year-old daughter Charlotte didnt know much cooking before either. "There was a little bit of baking here and there, but when she didnt have to go school every single day, it all changed very quickly."

Now, Charlotte cooks "big, glamorous" dinners using meal kits from Hello Fresh. "Its exciting for us every single night what shell whip up," said her mom Susan.

Victoria Avanthay wouldve done a lot more eating out when she moved to Winnipeg from rural Manitoba in the beginning of 2020. "Well, had it not been for the pandemic that is," she said.

"I bought all these apartment-sized appliances and been making minimal trips to the grocery store," she said. "Without the option to eat at restaurants, somehow that translated to cooking with a diverse array of foods and not the same 10 meals Id repeatedly make before. Its all completely different."

Marketing and consumer behaviour analyst Naomi Mandel said businesses have begun to take notice of these trends. "Its no surprise why meal kits are taking off and grocery chains are raking skyrocketing revenues," said the Arizona-based researcher.

"If youre going to look at any type of food-related businesses in major cities in America or Canada, youll easily see a specific emphasis being put on things that can be done at home," added Mandel.

"Thats probably something restaurants will struggle to compete with in the future."

temur.durrani@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @temurdur
Gold is one of the favourite investments of Indians. No wonder India is the second-largest consumer of gold (after China).

But India produces hardly 0.2 percent of its yearly consumption. Thats why Indias hunger for gold is satisfied through imports. After oil, gold is the most imported item for India.

As an investor, you are concerned about what returns you can expect from gold. Right?

Two friends have a conversation on the subject. Enter Swarnim and Shantaram..

Swarnim: I told you to buy Gold in April and May 2020. Look at the prices now.

Shantaram: Yes, I remember. But I did not invest. When I invest, I do it for the long-term, be it gold, equity, or property. Plus, I am not bullish on Gold returns in the long-run, i.e., 10-15 years and beyond.

Swarnim: Why? Gold has always given good returns. Why wont it continue in the future?

Shantaram: How much returns do you think gold has given in the last 40 years, on an average?

Swarnim: First of all, why are we talking about 40 years, and not 2/ 5/ 10/ 20 years?

Shantaram: Fair question. Simply because if we look at a short period, the returns may show a biased picture.

If you look at the last two years, gold prices in India went from Rs 32,000 to Rs 52,000. Thats a great return of 27 percent compounded annually.

And if you look at the property, it has not done well in India in the last 5-6 years. Still, most of wealthy Indians are rich because of the properties they own.

I will not base my investment decisions on these figures because

(1) I believe that short-term predictions can be fatal for my financial goals, and

(2) A majority of my investments are for my long-term financial goals beyond 10 years (childrens education, marriage, and my retirement).

Thats why looking at a long-term picture will give me the right direction.

Also read: What's the best way to buy gold?

Swarnim: Got your point. But why precisely 40 years?

Shantaram: 40 years is the working life of an individual, during which he invests in various assets. And in this time, he witnesses both good and bad returns. So if you take 40 years of data, it gives you a realistic and practical picture.

Swarnim: Fair enough. So what is the returns in gold in the last 40 years?

Shantaram: Whats your guess?

Swarnim: 15 percent-20 percent?

Shantaram: Its 8.8 percent. (Source: www.gold.org)

Swarnim: Thats all?

Source: www.gold.org

Shantaram: Yes. And this is before tax. By the way, Fixed Deposits gave similar returns over this period.

Swarnim: Thats strange. Quite unbelievable.

Shantaram: It is unbelievable because our memory is of the last 10-15 years of gold data. And let me state another interesting fact. The 8.8 percent is in Rupee terms. In dollars, returns in gold are hardly 2.9 percent. (Source: www.gold.org)

Source: www.gold.org

Swarnim: Now, how is that possible? It is gold at the end of the day!

Shantaram: Indian rupee depreciated vis-a-vis dollar in the last 40 years. From Rs 8 per dollar, it is now above Rs 73 per dollar. Thats more than nine times depreciation.

Understand it this way: assume there was no appreciation of gold in the last 40 years. You bought gold worth $1 in 1981. Therefore you paid Rs 8. Lets say the price of gold is the same $1 today as well. But you will get Rs 73 for your gold investment today. That is, your investment has appreciated from Rs 8 to Rs 73.

Swarnim: Oh! I never thought of it that way. So, now, whats your view of the future?

Shantaram: I do not expect the demand for gold to increase at the same rate as it has increased in the past. There are three simple reasons for this:

-The new generation is not fond of gold jewellery, the way previous generations were.

-The cash component is coming down in the economy. Significant investments in gold happened in India with black money.

-I do not expect the rupee to depreciate a further nine times in the next 40 years.

Also, look at this data:

World and Indias population in 1980: 450 crores/ 70 crores

World and Indias population in 2020: 760 crores/ 138 crores

Worlds population increased by 70 percent in the last 40 years, and Indias population almost doubled. Plus, the World (& Indias) economic condition has improved in the last 40 years. Even this population and the economic development could not help gold give good returns.

Swarnim: This has altered my perspective completely.

Shantaram: One last point. When do people buy more and more gold? When there is economic uncertainty. Thats why 2020 was good for gold.

So, if you believe that gold will give good returns in the next 15-20-30 years, you are betting on the economys disaster. Because good economic growth cannot go along with good returns in gold.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-02-04 20:55:35|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Public Security has launched a crackdown on illegal sand mining along the Yangtze River.

The one-year campaign, aimed at protecting the ecology and improving navigation safety of waterways, targets illegal sand dredging in 10 provincial-level regions along the river, the ministry said.

Police will focus on solving a number of major criminal cases and dismantling rings involved in illegal sand mining, transport and sales, in a bid to curb such criminal activities along the Yangtze River.

In 2020, police cracked over 1,300 cases of illegal sand dredging, capturing about 1,900 suspects, the ministry said. Enditem
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Officers of the Volta Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service on Wednesday intercepted a bus with illegal immigrants from Benin and Togo at the Asikuma Inland Checkpoint in the Volta Region.



The 51 ECOWAS nationals, included 49 Beninese and two Togolese, who were travelling on board a Hyundai vehicle with registration number AW9955-19.



Deputy Superintendent of Immigration Philip Essuman, Commander of the checkpoint, in a release copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the suspects were arrested after scrutiny during a routine stop and search at the checkpoint.



He said they were suspected to have gained entry into the country illegally from neighbouring Togo, using unapproved routes.



The suspects, comprising 15 females and two minors, were sent to the Aflao GIS Command and written statements confirmed that commercial motorbike operators on the Togo side of the border aided their entry.



DSI Essuman said the driver of the vehicle Osei Asibbey was arrested and handed over to the Aflao Command.



He said the suspects claimed they were on transit to Abidjan, the Ivorian capital but were sent back to Togo.



The Commander appealed to travellers using the Asikuma and Sogakope inland checkpoints to comply with the various security measures.



Mr Felix Klu-Adjei, Volta Regional Public Relations Officer of the Command, said it was a crime to facilitate the entry into the country of immigrants and warned recalcitrant members of the public would face the rigours of the law.



We are entreating all citizens and individual drivers who frequently use the Asikuma and Sogakope Inland Checkpoints, as a matter of responsibility and obligation to the state, cooperate with current strategic security arrangements; which is aimed at tracking illegal immigrants at the said locations, he said.

Source: GNA









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After confusion over scheduling appointments for a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a Gloucester County mega-site, officials on Wednesday reminded people the follow up doses would be available at the facility.

County officials have said they worked with the state to make sure those who got their first shots of the vaccine at the Rowan College of South Jersey would receive the required second dose. The county issued an update following stumbling blocks that included errors in a state-run system leading to double bookings and a limited supply of the shots.

Any individual who received their first dose at the Gloucester County Mega Vaccination Site will be accommodated for their second dose at the site, the county said in a statement.

Those who received the Moderna vaccine should already have been contacted for the second appointment, according to officials. If not, the county asked individuals to call its coronavirus hotline at 856-218-4142.

In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, many individuals were sent appointment times via e-mail from the state, according to the countys statement.

The email would have included a date, time and QR code for your second dose. The QR code will be at the very bottom of the email, the statement said. If you did not receive an email from the state regarding our Pfizer second dose, please report to the Gloucester County Mega Vaccination Site on the date on the back of your CDC card between 2-6 p.m. Your appointment will be honored.

Officials reminded people to bring their vaccine cards, which carries a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seal, to the second appointments.

Moving forward, all individuals who leave the mega-site will receive an appointment to return for their second dose with our backup system database, the Gloucester County statement said. You may still receive an email from the State Registration system but we do not want to leave that to chance.

The countys COVID-19 Vaccine Hotline is available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m for questions and can be reached at 856-218-4142.

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Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com.

According to news published by the Daily Sabah and Middle East Eye websites on February 3, 2021, last year, Turkey has launched consultations with the United Kingdom to acquire a new or second-hand aircraft carrier. Citing the Middle East Eye website, Turkey has requested the purchase of a new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier, but now Turkey would like to launch the construction of its first indigenous aircraft carrier.

According to news published by the Daily Sabah and Middle East Eye websites on February 3, 2021, last year, Turkey has launched consultations with the United Kingdom to acquire a new or second-hand aircraft carrier. Citing the Middle East Eye website, Turkey has requested the purchase of a new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier, but now Turkey would like to launch the construction of its first indigenous aircraft carrier.

Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

The TCG Anadolu is an amphibious assault ship that can be configured as a light aircraft carrier. (Picture source Twitter Oguzhan Eren)

According to information published by the Middle East Eye website, United Kingdom would have offered the possibility to sell the design of an aircraft carrier and provide technical support during the construction in Turkey. This information was denied by the United Kingdom. After the consultations with the British government, Turkey has decided to build its own ship, instead of purchasing it.

In December 2020, it was announced that Turkey and the United Kingdom have signed a free trade deal (FTA), to create a strategic partnership with effects beyond trade and economy, the British envoy to Ankara has said, informing that Ankara and London have also agreed to negotiate on a more ambitious and comprehensive agreement. The FTA will also increase collaboration between British and Turkish companies in the defense sector.

Recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that the Turkish Naval Industry has the capacity to develop and manufacture its own aircraft carrier.

Turkey has already built its indigenous TCG Anadolu, an amphibious assault ship that can be configured as a light aircraft carrier. The ship will have a ski-jump ramp at the front of the flight deck. This allows short take-off vertical-landing (STOVL) jet fighters to be operated. Navy Recognition has announced on January 11, that Turkish naval forces will receive this year's new multipurpose amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu.

The TCG Anadolu will have a length of 231 m, a beam of 32 m, a draught of 6.9 m with a displacement of 24,660 tons in "light aircraft carrier" mission configuration or 27,079 tons in "LHD" mission role. It will have a 5,440 m flight deck and a 990 m aviation hangar which can accommodate either 12 medium-size helicopters or 8 heavy-lift helicopters. When the aviation hangar and the light cargo garage are unified, the ship can carry up to 25 medium-size helicopters.

Earlier this week Sir Keir Starmer presented a party political broadcast beside a Union Flag, promising to rebuild our country.

Can you imagine his predecessor as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, wrapping himself in the flag? Only if it were the Palestinian one, or possibly the Irish tricolour, in homage to his long-standing apparent support for the IRA.

Sir Keir wants to rebrand his party. A strategy presentation leaked to the Guardian newspaper urges Labour to make use of the Union flag, veterans [and] dressing smartly as part of a campaign to win back the trust of disillusioned voters.

According to the Guardian, which has seen the presentation, it is aimed at what the party calls foundation seats  those formerly Labour red wall constituencies in which many hundreds of thousands of voters defected to the Tories at the December 2019 general election. (Labour has said the report was made by a third party and is not party strategy.)

Sir Keir, pictured above, wants to rebrand his party. A strategy presentation leaked to the Guardian newspaper urges Labour to make use of the Union flag, veterans [and] dressing smartly as part of a campaign to win back the trust of disillusioned voters (file photo)

How likely is it that the Labour Party will succeed in persuading lost voters that it has sincerely embraced Queen and country? Lets just say that it is going to be an uphill task.

In the first place, Sir Keir himself is going to have his job cut out. We should perhaps not attach too much importance to a video unearthed by the Guido Fawkes website in which he unashamedly boasts that he often used to propose the abolition of the monarchy. This was said in 2005, which is quite a time ago.

Opinions can change. Of course they can. But the clip inevitably plants seeds of suspicion. It makes us ask whether this smooth, metropolitan, human rights lawyer is really the statesmanlike British patriot he is cracking himself up to be.

By the way, if Sir Keir wants to come across as a measured statesman he had better control himself better than he did after Prime Ministers Questions in the Commons yesterday. He is said to have lost it after Boris Johnson rightly accused him of having wanted Britain to stay in the dysfunctional European Medicines Agency.

The normally urbane Labour leader is alleged to have ranted at Boris, and according to some reports had to be pulled away from him. Sir Keir has subsequently apologised. Still waters run deep.

To return to his endorsement of patriotism: might there be an element of acting? Of trying to appear what he isnt? In recent months we have seen him  the most ardent of Remainers  drop the cause like a hot potato in the hope of endearing himself to pro-Brexit Labour voters who turned to the Tories.

Let us nevertheless, in a spirit of generosity, assume that his new found enthusiasm for the Union Flag is not a cynical ploy, and that the Labour leader is being utterly genuine.

The trouble is that if ex-Labour voters are prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt, they may find it more difficult to extend this indulgence to other members of the Shadow Cabinet.

How likely is it that the Labour Party will succeed in persuading lost voters that it has sincerely embraced Queen and country? Lets just say that it is going to be an uphill task, writes Stephen Glover (pictured: file photo of the Queen in 2017)

Admittedly, nearly all the hard-line Corbynistas have been purged from the Labour Front Bench. Yet there are plenty of shadow ministers, all of the so-called soft Left, who would not be very plausible ambassadors for a re-fashioned, proudly patriotic Labour Party.

People might not find especially convincing the spectacle of Emily Thornberry, Shadow International Trade Secretary, lustily singing Rule Britannia. It was she who, in 2014, sneeringly tweeted a photo of a house covered in St Georges flags with a white van parked alongside.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy might also not carry instant conviction with red wall voters. In 2019 she refused on BBC1s Question Time to say whether she thought Churchill was a hero or a villain.

And last month she attracted justifiable ridicule when she praised a report which had suggested replacing Britains armed forces with a gender-balanced human security corps. I cant see these sentiments going down well in down-to-earth ex-Labour seats such as Sedgefield, Workington and Ashfield.

Nor can I easily imagine Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner winning back many hearts and minds. Not long ago in the Commons, she called a Tory MP, who in 2019 had won a red wall seat from Labour, scum.

In any case, I doubt whether these or other Shadow Cabinet ministers would aspire to being enthusiastic members of any such rebranding. Some of them might try, but their hearts would hardly be in it.

A handout photograph released by the UK Parliament showing Boris Johnson taking part in the weekly PMQ's in a socially distanced session at the House of Commons on Wednesday

Even greater misgivings can be expressed about the dozens of hard-line MPs who were propelled on to Labour backbenches by Left-wing constituency associations in the Corbyn years, and cant be purged by Sir Keir. Theyre not going to join any patriotic bandwagon. They are much more likely to oppose one.

The fact is Sir Keir Starmer leads a divided party  or, more precisely, a party which has fragmented and cant be easily reassembled. One portion has its roots in parts of the Midlands and North, and is predominantly working-class, pro-Brexit and culturally conservative. The other is mainly metropolitan, culturally progressive, more middle-class and more Left-wing.

Unless these two separated pieces are put back together again, Labour is unlikely to win the next election, the more so as it has been almost wiped out in its traditional stronghold of Scotland. Sir Keir knows this, which is why he has decided to play the patriotic card.

Its true that Boris Johnson and the Tories have their own divisions, though they are of a different sort. Many traditional Tory voters share with red wall converts similar views about Queen and country, as well as Brexit.

But there are important differences to do with the economy. For the most part, Tory voters in the South dont want higher taxes and higher public expenditure. Red wall Conservatives generally do  which is why the MPs they voted in, led by Jake Berry, have been demanding more infrastructure spending in the North.

If Sir Keir wants to come across as a measured statesman he had better control himself better than he did after Prime Ministers Questions in the Commons, writes Stephen Glover

Sooner or later, the causes of fiscal prudence on the one hand and of government largesse on the other are going to collide in the Tory Party, and there will be an almighty explosion. Battles lie ahead for the Prime Minister and Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor.

I suspect, though, that looming Tory economic dissension, however tumultuous, will be easier to patch up than the profound tribal and ideological differences that beset Labour.

Neither Sir Keir nor progressive Labour MPs will convince former Labour voters of their new patriotic agenda unless they are credibly sincere. Pretence is a dangerous ploy in politics. Voters are apt to sniff it out.

According to a Labour official quoted in the Guardian: They dont believe any of this stuff. Theyre just saying whatever they think will get them votes. If that is true, few will be persuaded.

Incidentally, I cant help wondering whether Sir Keirs outburst yesterday may not have been partly contrived to show red wall ex-Labour voters that he isnt the desiccated intellectual patsy they may think he is. I expect I am being over suspicious.

Of course, its perfectly possible that Boris and the Tories will manage to lose the red wall by disastrous policies, though there is no sign yet of their doing so. But its hard to see Sir Keir Starmer convincing voters that the modern Labour Party really stands for Queen and country.
Distribution of Parkinson's disease hotspots (red points) and coldspots (blue points) in the canton of Geneva. Credit: LASIG

In a new paper, a team of EPFL spatial-analysis experts and neurologists from Geneva University Hospital (HUG) show that the probability of developing Parkinson's disease is higher in the canton of Geneva's urban centers than in its rural areas. This constitutes an important contribution to the study of the causes of this neurodegenerative disease, which are still poorly understood.

Parkinson's disease, which progressively destroys certain types of brain neurons, affects some 15,000 people in Switzerland. It's the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's. Its frequency increases with age and it tends to occur more frequently in men. Although the cause is still largely unknown, scientists agree that in most cases a combination of hereditary and environmental factors play a role.

By studying the geographic distribution of Parkinson's patients in a given area, scientists can identify clusters of higher or lower prevalence and, based on this, extrapolate potential environmental risk factors. In 2018, HUG neurologists Pierre Burkhard and Vanessa Fleury carried out Switzerland's first assessment of the incidence of Parkinson's disease, in the canton of Geneva. They used their findings to compile an anonymized database of Parkinson's patients. "Prof. Burkhard had noticed that several of his patients lived close together, and thought there might be localized clusters of the disease in the canton. Then I worked with him to find a way to scientifically substantiate his hypothesis," says Fleury.

Fleury met with Dr. Stephane Joost and his student Rebecca Himsl, after being put in touch by the Population Epidemiology Unit at HUG and Prof. Idris Guessousa long-time research partner of EPFL's Geographic Information Systems Laboratory (LASIG). Himsl subsequently selected this topic for her Master's project. Bringing clinicians and spatial-analysis experts together on a cross-disciplinary team proved to be highly effective. "We looked at the situation from an epidemiological point of view and asked: Are there places where Parkinson's disease is more prevalent than elsewhere?" says Himsl, now a flood-risk analyst for a Canadian company. The results of the study were published in Parkinsonism & Related Disorders on 1 February.

New perspectives

The study's findings are enlightening, above all in terms of the methodology used, which puts forth a new approach to environmental epidemiology research. The team linked environmental and epidemiological data regarding the age, gender and address of the canton's 1,115 Parkinson's disease patients, and drew up detailed maps of case distribution based on specific environmental exposure factors. To create a control group, they incorporated data on 12,614 Geneva residents collected by the Population Epidemiology Unit's Health Bus between 1995 and 2014. This approach based on individual cases differs from the more conventional method of aggregating data, which can be less accurate for detecting highly localized areas of disease prevalence.

Distribution of Parkinson's disease hotspots and coldspots in the canton of Geneva, associated with air pollution. Credit: LASIG

"A very complex set of causes"

"We geolocated patient groups taking into account known confounding factors such as age and gender. This allowed us to pinpoint local hotspots with a higher prevalence of Parkinson's disease. Such spatial dependence concerns a small percentage of patients (6%), but remains statistically significant even after all factors that could contribute to Parkinson's disease have been eliminated," Himsl explains. Her findings, generated in part by a probability model, also make it possible to identify "coldspots"areas where fewer people than average are affected by Parkinson's disease.

The study shows that most Parkinson's hotspots are located close to downtown Geneva, in contrast to coldspots, which are situated on the outskirts. "There is a significant positive correlation between these hotspots and the degree of air pollution, which leads us to suspect that there is a link between Parkinson's and atmospheric pollution. Our study highlights two key facts: the multifactorial nature of Parkinson's disease, and the importance of improving air quality to prevent the disease," explains Fleury. Joost adds: "It's all part of a very complex set of causes. Sometimes, however, we can identify a dominant factor, as we did here, which is very likely air pollution."

Matching resultswith two exceptions

When Joost picked up Himsl's work after she graduated, he incorporated data recently made available by the Greater Geneva agglomeration concerning concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and suspended particulate matter. He then superimposed these data on Himsl's maps and saw that they matched up across all the hotspotsexcept for the Eaux-Vives district near the city center, where air quality seems to be better, and the Les Delices coldspot, which shows high levels of nitrogen dioxide. "We will now try to identify one or more possible explanatory factors and publish them in a new paper," says Joost, who already posits that a confluence of positive factors close to home may reduce the risk of developing the disease.

"Thanks to the areas of prevalence that the study identified, it could be of use to healthcare providers," says Joost. "We have shown that there is a greater likelihood of developing Parkinson's disease in certain types of neighborhoods, which could lead policymakers to introduce measures to protect residents or improve facilities in these communities. Our findings will also help the HUG neurologists we worked with, who can now focus on looking for other factors that explain the onset of this disease."

Explore further Improving prediction of Parkinson's disease

More information: Vanessa Fleury et al. Geospatial analysis of individual-based Parkinson's disease data supports a link with air pollution: A case-control study, Parkinsonism & Related Disorders (2021). Vanessa Fleury et al. Geospatial analysis of individual-based Parkinson's disease data supports a link with air pollution: A case-control study,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2020.12.013

The Salvation Army is selling the building that was home to its Jersey City Adult Rehabilitation Center and Family Store, moving the rehab program out of Hudson County.

The Erie Street property is listed for $15 million and is under contract, according to a listing on LoopNet.com. It lies just blocks from the Soho Lofts, Cast Iron Lofts and other luxury residential projects that are on the rise in the section of Jersey City dubbed Soho West  South of Hoboken, West of New York.

Residents of the rehab program, meanwhile, have been relocated to Newark, the Salvation Army said, adding that its community center on Bergen Avenue will remain open.

The four-story 60,000-square-foot building has living accommodations for more than 100 residents, according to a flyer created by broker Sanchez Bodden Lerner LLC. It also included a thrift store.

The broker and the Salvation Army declined to discuss the status of the sale.

Much of the property is zoned for a residential building up to 75 feet tall or an office building, commercial building or restaurant or club up to 70 feet tall. A section of the property along 14th Street, however, is zoned for a shorter commercial building such as a hotel.

Its a fantastic location that has multiple use possibilities, said Steve Bodden of Sanchez Bodden Lerner.

The Salvation Army announced plans to consolidate its rehab services last May after analyzing need and cost.

Although there will be a period of transition, we hope to serve even more individuals after the restructuring is complete, Major James Betts, divisional commander for The Salvation Army in New Jersey, said at the time. The move with our rehabilitation program will be beneficial in the long run while our regular social service programs will continue to be run out of our existing Corps and Community Centers throughout the state, including our location on Bergen Avenue in Jersey City.

Newarks facility supports more than 100 men and was renovated to enable the consolidation. The Salvation Armys two other New Jersey adult rehabilitation centers are in Trenton and Paterson.

The Bergen Avenue community center, meanwhile, hosts religious services, as well as religious school, daycare and afterschool programs, and also includes a food pantry.